I'm Not Gay, I Swear! | McPriceley

Chapter Thirteen

A/N: I swear, this is the last trashy chapter. Itll get better after this.

Steve Blade really wasn't that bad of a guy. He was quite kind to Connor, with a smile always present on his face.

So Connor was kind of confused when he got the feeling Kevin didn't like him.

But then again, Kevin didn't really like Connor in the first place, either.

Or Chris.

Or James.

But he turned around eventually for all of them, so maybe it would be the same with Steve.

Except... Connor didn't exactly think so.

There always seemed to be a tension between the two, with constant glares and cold silences. And sometimes even snarky remarks underneath their breaths. Connor didn't exactly understand why. Maybe there was more going on between them than what meets the eye. But one thing was for sure: Connor needed to get them to like each other.

But how exactly he was going to do this... he didn't know.

First things first, though, he needed to talk to them individually.

. . .

He and Kevin were walking throughout the streets, hand in hand, just roaming wherever they could. They liked to do this just to get some time for themselves, since they couldn't exactly do anything romantic together back at Kevin's home.

Since it was getting closer to December, they were both dressed in warmer clothes. Or rather, Connor was. Kevin was just in his regular jacket, seemingly unbothered by the cold, while Connor was wrapped up in a coat, a hoodie underneath it. At first Kevin had made fun of him for wearing so many layers of clothing, but as the day went on, he couldn't help but feel a bit cold. Of course, he'd never admit that to Connor.

As they were walking down an empty sidewalk, Connor finally took in a deep breath before turning to Kevin. "So... what do you think about Steve?"

Kevin was taken aback by the question. "Uh, he's okay, I guess. Why?"

"Well, you guys seem to kind of... how do I put this... hate each other," he said bluntly.

Kevin scoffed. "Hate each other? What would give you that impression?"

"You two can hardly have a conversation with each other without it ending in a heated battle. Sure, you may not yell at each other, but I can hear the anger in your voices. I just want to know what's wrong."

Kevin stared at him for a moment before letting out a small sigh. "I... I don't know. I just... I get a bad feeling about him. I don't know how to explain it..."

Connor glanced at him for a few moments before grinning. "Are you jealous of him?"

A light blush made its way across Kevin's face, yet he tried to hide it with a scowl. "What? No! Of course not! Why would I be jealous of him?"

"I dunno... but that would explain why you seem to hate him so much. Plus, it'd be so adorable that you'd get jealous over me."

"Well I do love being adorable... but, no! I am not jealous of him. End of story."

Connor just chuckled at him, obviously not believing what Kevin told him. "Right... okay. Whatever you say."

"It's true!" Kevin exclaimed.

"Okay, okay," Connor said. "But even if you were jealous, there would be nothing wrong with that."

"Yeah, yeah," Kevin muttered. "But even so, you should ask Steve what his problem is, too."

"Already planned on it. I just have to find time to be able to talk to him."

"Alright... just be careful around him. I just still still there's something off about him."

"And you're not jealous?" Connor laughed. "But of course. What really could go wrong?"

"Lots of things could go wrong. But I guess I could try to be more positive," he mumbled.

"You definitely could. I promise, everything will be alright," Connor reassured him.

Kevin smiled at him. "Okay. I believe you. Now, come on, let's go get some hot chocolate. You look freezing."

"Sure you don't want to get some hot chocolate because you're cold?"

"Maybe. But I'll never tell."

...

"Steve, mind if I talk to you in private?"

"Oh, uh, sure," the man responded, looking a bit confused.

It had only been a few days since Connor had talked to Kevin about the whole Steve and him issue. Kevin did seem to be doing a bit better, being a bit more optimistic, yet Connor could tell that he was still a little wary around Steve.

"So... what did you want to talk about?" Steve asked once the two of them had strayed away from the rest of the group.

"Well, er, it just seems that you and Kevin have a lot of... tension between each other," Connor started to explain.

"Really? I thought we were getting along quite well. Did he say something?"

"No, no, it was all me. I just don't want there to be a problem between you two. So if there's anything you'd like to tell me..."

"I... I don't think I have a problem with him. I'm sorry if I gave off that impression. I don't want to cause problems within the group."

"It's fine, really! I just would hate for there to be tension between you two."

"Right," Steve nodded. "I just want to be your friend, after all."

Connor found it a little strange that Steve said "your" instead of including everyone, but pushed it aside. "Yeah... well, uh, hopefully now you two will seem a little less tense with each other."

"I will work on that. Again, I'm sorry for seeming that way. I wouldn't want to make you upset."

There it was again. He was only talking about Connor.

"Right. Well, we should probably head back to the group. They probably are wondering about us."

Steve hesitated just a second before nodding again. "Okay. Let's go then."

Connor and Steve headed back over to their friends, a few of them giving them a strange look as they returned, but nothing more.

As they all started talking again, Connor couldn't help but give Steve a wary side glance. After that talk with him... he did start to notice something being a bit off. Maybe Kevin was right. Maybe Steve wasn't exactly who he portrayed himself to be.

Maybe his whole persona was just a giant lie.