"Does this look okay?" Connor took a step back from the wall. They were adding finishing touches to the walls of the newly painted classroom.

Kevin nodded, "It's fine. It's better than that at least," he pointed to where Elder Church was working on.

"Fuck you Price~," Elder Church sang without looking in their direction once.

Kevin rolled his eyes and turned his attention back onto his side of the wall. Kevin looked better today. But he was quiet, and his movements sluggish. Connor tried his best not to hover.

"Should we take a break? We've been going at it all afternoon, huh?" Connor suggested when he saw Kevin dip his brush into thin air, and continued painting as if he had actually gotten it into the tin of paint a few inches away.

"Let's go to the Kafe. I need some coffee," Kevin dragged Connor towards the exit by his arm.

"Am I invited?" Elder Church put down his brush.

"Sure," Kevin shrugged.

—

"There's just something about this coffee that's different from the coffee we make back at the hut," Elder Church contemplated and passed his cup over for Connor to have a try.

"Tastes the same to me. Yuck!" Connor shuddered and stuck his coffee-coated tongue out, "No offense, Sadaka," Connor smiled at Sadaka, who was manning the Kafe. She gave a nonchalant shrug and continued brewing more coffee.

"You're so boring, McKinley," Elder Church shook his head, "You don't drink alcohol, you don't drink coffee. Do you even know how to have fun?"

"That's uncalled for, Elder Church. I am very fun," Connor raised an eyebrow.

Elder Church scoffed, "Clearly."

Connor looked over at Kevin, who was slumped over the counter on his elbows. His second cup of coffee in steaming away his right hand, and his head in his left.

"Are you okay?"

Kevin's eyes flickered up to meet Connor's, "You need to stop asking me that."

"Well excuse me for being concerned," it came out harsher than what Connor intended, "After yesterday."

All Connor wanted to do was to help, but he couldn't, because Kevin wouldn't talk to him, or anyone else. Connor knew it wasn't because Kevin thought that talking was useless, no, it was because Kevin was still trying to turn it off. Even though Connor had told him countless times that he had been wrong, and turning it off never works.

Connor wished he could go back in time and slap his past self in the face for all the awful things he had done, and all the horrible advice he had given.

Kevin was trying his hardest to push everything down and lock it in a box, and Connor could already see the mess the inevitable blow-up was going to make. It was almost like watching a car crash in slow-motion, except that the car was heading straight at Kevin, and Kevin had asked Connor to just be there and watch.

Connor was getting majorly frustrated at being told to pretend that everything was fine and ignore the fact that his boyfriend was suffering. This was one of the few times when Connor wished to get out of Uganda as soon as possible.

"What happened yesterday?" Elder Church asked in passing, and then realised that he was being nosy, "Wait, never mind. Pretend I've never spoken."

Connor didn't answer, it wasn't up to him to. Kevin didn't answer either, so the three of them just sat and finished their drinks in silence.

Elder Church drained his coffee in one long gulp, "You two clearly need to talk," and left the coffee stand.

Connor drummed his fingers against the wooden counter, unsure of what he could say without starting a fight.

Kevin broke the silence, "We're due for a shopping trip to Kitgum, aren't we? Kalimba mentioned that we could get a chalkboard for the new classroom. I was thinking that we can just buy some chalkboard paint, because I'm not sure how we can fit a whole chalkboard onto the bus."

The last thing Connor wanted was to talk about some stupid classroom supplies. This was exactly the thing that Connor didn't want happen, for Kevin to sweep everything under the rug and move on.

He stood up, "I'm not going to do this."

"You don't want to go to Kitgum?" Kevin asked.

Connor clutched at his own hair, "I'm not going to stand at the sidelines and watch you get hit by a car!"

Kevin's eyes darted around warily, as if he was expecting an actual car, "What…car? Like in Kitgum?"

"I'm not talking about freaking Kitgum, Kevin! Gosh! Stop taking everything so literally!" Connor gritted his teeth.

"Are you okay?"

Connor finally broke, "Am I okay? Am I okay?! Are you kidding me right now?!" He inhaled deeply and held out a hand, "I'm going for a walk."

If he didn't leave right now, he was going to regret it.

Connor needed to talk about Kevin to someone who's not Kevin. He needed to talk to Poptarts right now.

The crunching of the leaves under his shoes was getting increasingly annoying. Even the chirping of the birds were grating on Connor's nerves.

Connor forced himself to stop, and take more deep, calming breaths.

"Crap."

He had left Kevin all by himself.

It had seemed like the lesser of two evils at the time.

—

"Please be there, please be there," Connor repeated under his breath as he rounded the corner.

If Kevin wasn't there, he was going to- Oh thank Lord!

Kevin was still sat at the Cafe, except now he had given up on staying upright on his stool, and was sprawled over the counter.

Connor walked over and he realised Kevin was asleep, his mouth slightly opened. How could someone even fall asleep right after drinking two cups of coffee?

Connor looked up at Sadaka, who gave him a disapproving glare.

Connor tapped on Kevin's shoulder gently, "Hey."

Kevin stirred, but didn't wake up. Connor put his hand on Kevin's forehead for good measure. It was sweaty, but cool.

Connor tapped harder, "Kevin, wake up."

When Kevin finally woke up, he just stared wearily at Connor, "What do you want?"

"I'm sorry," Connor sat down on a stool, "It's just- You make me so angry sometimes," Connor shook his head. That was probably not the right thing to say. It wasn't Kevin's fault that Kevin was, for the lack of a better word, messed up. It was Connor's fault for being patient enough with him.

"I seem to make you angry a lot, don't I?" Kevin remained laid over the wooden counter.

"No, no. It's not- Scratch that. I'm not angry, I'm worried," Connor tried to explain, "I'm really worried about you."

"You shouldn't."

"How can I not?!" Connor threw his arms up in defeat, "You keep saying that you're fine, but you're not, Kevin. You don't have to be fine all the time, you know? Nobody does, and nobody expects that of you."

"What do you want me to do then?" Kevin mumbled.

"I don't know, Kev. I'm not saying you have to let all your feelings out all the time, but you shouldn't just turn it off and pretend that they're not there. Someday you're just going to implode," Connor couldn't really put his thoughts into words, "I'm not explaining this very well am I?"

Kevin shook his head.

"I just wish that you would tell me what's bothering you. I know, I don't have the ability to magically make things better. I wish I do, really. But, I just want you to know that you don't have to deal with all the crap on your own. I'm not just here to share your joy, Kev. I want to be able to share your burden too," Connor shrugged, "For better, for worse, right?"

"We're not married, Connor," Kevin chuckled, but his expression turned serious as he thought about it, "But okay. I'll try."

Sadaka cooed, "Aw, you boys are so cute," She turned to Kevin, "Now Elder Price, next time he's being mean to you again, tell me and I'll give you a free cup of coffee, to throw it in his face!"

"What?!" Connor frowned, "I wasn't mean?"

"Oh yes you were, Elder McKinley," Sadaka wagged her finger at Connor.

Connor held Kevin's hand, determined to make Kevin smile again, "I'm sorry. Please don't throw hot coffee at me. How am I going to be an actor without this?" he gestured to his face.

Kevin gave him a tiny smirk, "Don't worry, I won't. I won't waste a perfectly good cup of coffee on your stupid mug."

—

It took Kevin two days to get over the residual lethargy from his episode at the clinic and the sedative that Gotswana had given him.

Connor was glad that Kevin had actually heeded his advice. He could tell that Kevin was trying. Trying to open up to Connor. Or maybe he was still too tired to keep up with his charade. Connor would have to wait and see if he reverts back to Elder Kevin 'I'm fine' Price after he has fully recovered.

They were on Kevin's bed, limbs entwined, after another long day of work, just chatting about nothing in particular.

Arnold had gone to Nabulungi's again, but had promised that he'll be back. Connor already knew he would. Arnold always comes back without fail, for Kevin. Probably because Arnold still felt guilty for everything that has happened to his companion.

"I haven't had a hell dream in a long time," Connor said, while playing with a stray strand of Kevin's hair, "Ever since we left the Church actually."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Although the run-of-the-mill nightmares aren't any better, in my opinion. Too close to reality," Connor shuddered, "What about you? Any disturbing dreams lately?"

"I guess you could call them that, but nothing that's keeping me from sleeping, so I guess I'm-" If Kevin said the 'f' word again, Connor was going to-, "Coping."

"Do you want to talk about them?"

Kevin shrugged. Connor considered it to be a milestone. Two days ago, Kevin would have said 'no' and moved on to another topic.

"What are they about?" Connor prodded.

"Things that happened," Kevin left it at that, and snuggled in closer with Connor.

Baby steps.

"Do you uh- remember them when you wake up?"

Kevin sighed, "Some of them. I would wake up with my heart racing, thinking that I'm still in the…the dream. Then I would hear Arnold snoring away in the other side of the room, and I'd know that it was just a stupid dream."

Connor kissed the top of Kevin's head and held him tighter, "Any good dreams?"

Kevin grinned, "Uh huh."

"Was I in them?"

"The night after the party," Kevin recounted excitedly, "I dreamt that we went to my favourite place in the whole world."

"Let me guess, Orlando, Florida?"

"Of course. We went on all the rides at Disneyland, there weren't any queue at all! And we had Epcot all to ourselves when the fireworks started. And Mickey came out to announce that we've won a contest, so we got free Starbucks for life."

"Your dreams aren't very realistic, are they?" Connor laughed at the absurdity of it all. It was all so 'Kevin'.

He still remembered the huge, sweaty crowd of people at the parks when he visited it in the summer of freshman year. That was one of the reasons Connor never understood how Orlando could be anyone's favourite place in the whole world.

Kevin's voice became quiet, "Sometimes, just sometimes, I wished that I would wake up, and realise that Uganda was just a dream."