I'm Not Gay, I Swear! | McPriceley

Chapter Six

Connor knocked on the door for the sixth time, starting to become genuinely concerned. "Kevin, you can't stay in there forever."

"You can't tell me what to do," Kevin's muffled voice came from the other side of the door.

A distressed sigh escaped from Connor's mouth as he leaned against the door. "Kevin, please, I just want to patch things up between us."

A few days had passed since Kevin had yelled at Connor, and the redhead had been sure that that would've been more than enough time for Kevin to get over it. But boy, had he been wrong. Apparently when Kevin held grudges, he held them for quite some time. He didn't know when he'd get over it. If he ever was. But this definitely was the opposite of what he was supposed to be doing. By now, he should've had a deep bond with Kevin-- it had almost been a week already. But they were even farther apart than when Connor had arrived. It was almost as if their relationship was moving backwards, rather than forward.

Without warning, Kevin's door opened, causing Connor to stumble forward, almost falling straight onto his face. But Kevin quickly reached an arm out to prevent Connor from fully crashing, and set him upright again. Though his face was completely emotionless. He took in a deep breath. "Alright. Let's talk."

Connor wanted to smile widely and hug Kevin for finally coming through, though he knew that probably wouldn't go over well. Instead, he just nodded.

"I'm sorry for pressing all of these questions and everything on you. I should just try to get to know you, not your problems. Maybe we could start over-- I could try to just be your friend instead of your psychiatrist."

"That sounds nice..." Kevin admitted. "Alright, McKinley, I'm giving you another chance."

Connor went for a small smile. "Thank you. I promise, I won't try to force anymore emotional problem sessions on you."

"You better not. Cause all I want to do is sit on my couch and watch Disney movies all day," he half-joked.

"Disney movies? Really?" Connor asked.

"Yep. I may have a tough exterior, but deep down inside I have an affinity for anything Disney related."

"I definitely wouldn't have guessed that. You are full of surprises, aren't you, Kevin?" Connor chuckled softly.

Kevin couldn't help but smile himself. "Call me Kev."

Connor raised his eyebrows in slight surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah. You've proved yourself to be not that bad of a guy."

"Well I'm glad you think so. I try my hardest."

"Your work has certainly paid off," Kevin told him.

Connor scoffed slightly with a smile. "Who knew you could be so sweet."

"Like you said, I'm full of surprises," Kevin grinned. "But don't ever call me sweet again."

"I'll try not to," Connor said.

"Now, if we're truly going to be friends, I'm going to have to get to know you. I already know that you like musicals, but what else is there to know about you?"

Connor tapped his chin as he thought. "Well, I do enjoy sewing. And tap dancing. And I love anything covered in glitter."

Kevin laughed. "Glitter? I can't say I'm surprised."

"Guess I'm just an open book," Connor hummed a laugh. "What about you?"

"Well, as I said, I love Disney. And I do sort of have an addiction to coffee-- but that's a secret you can't tell anyone. I've already been grounded once for getting caught drinking it. Also, my sleep schedule is complete crap and most of the time I just pull all-nighters."

"Really? Isn't that bad for you?" Connor asked.

Kevin just shrugged. "Yeah. I'm just pretty sure I have insomnia. But it's alright. As long as it hasn't killed me yet, I'm fine."

"Now I feel inclined to force you to sleep for a whole day to make up for all the sleep you've lost," Connor chuckled.

"No way. I will not allow it. Sleep is for the weak."

Connor laughed again. "If you say so."

"So... are you originally from Utah?" Kevin inquired.

"Yeah. I'm technically also Mormon, just like you," Connor explained.

"'Technically...?'"

Connor glanced down at the floor. "I'd... rather not talk about it."

"Ah. So the guy who was so inclined to get me to tell him everything about myself refuses to tell me about him?" Kevin teased.

"Yes, I know, it's very hypocritical. But I really do hate my old life. So I tend not to think about it much."

Kevin nodded slowly. "Oh, okay. Well I hope everything is alright with you now."

"I'm definitely trying my best," Connor told him.

"Well, hey, I think you're doing okay right now. See, just having normal conversations like this is what leads people to trust you more. I'm definitely starting to trust you a bit more."

"Well I'm glad you are. I want to be able to earn your full trust. I just think I'm really rocky right now because you're the first person I've dealt with. I didn't really seem to know how to get you to open up."

"And that's alright. You have to learn some way or another. But this," Kevin gestured to the two of them talking. "Is definitely your best bet."

"Yeah," Connor smiled. "It certainly feels good to be able to talk to you like a normal friend, rather than a patient."

"And it definitely is more efficient on my end. Maybe after a few days of just being my friend, I'll finally start talking to you about my problems."

"So you admit that you do have some problems," Connor noted.

"Well, yeah..." Kevin said. "Deep down inside us, don't we all?"

"I guess so," Connor faltered, leaving a moment of quiet between the two.

Kevin noticed the change in the mood, and instantly felt like he needed to fix it. "Hey, why don't we go watch a movie or something? Do friend-type stuff."

Connor seemed to cheer up at that. "Alright!"

Kevin smiled at him, before gesturing forward with his arms. "Well then after you."

Connor giggled at him. "Are you usually always this big of a dork?"

"Possibly. Guess you're just going to have to find out."

Connor started making his way down the hallway and back to the stairs. "I guess I will have to do just that."