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Arnold followed Kevin out of the mission hut and into the pitch black Ugandan night. The sounds of crickets screaming surrounded them. Arnold thought for a moment about all the dangers Nacho Cheese warned them about when they first got to Uganda, but he was more focused on Kevin. Kevin, barely standing with his trembling arms pulled around himself in an imitation of a hug and blood splattered on his face and torso.
He ran over to his mission companion. “Buddy! Hey, hey, look at me.” He said, tilting Kevin’s head down so that they made eye contact. “You’re gonna be alright, buddy! Just keep breathing.” Arnold tried his best to comfort Kevin, who was clearly having a panic attack. His eyes seemed to stare right through Arnold and his cheeks were paper white. The biggest sign that Kevin was having a real crisis was when he didn’t shake Arnold’s hand off of his shoulder like he would every time Arnold tried to touch him.
Kevin tried to say something, but all that came out was a strained whine. It hit Arnold like he was the one who got shot. He wasn’t used to seeing Kevin like this. Kevin was supposed to be smiling and convincing the villagers to get baptized so that he could go to Planet Orlando, whatever that was.
“Hey, Kevin, you’re okay! It’ll be okay! You and me are gonna baptize all these Africans, remember? I’m here for you, buddy.” Arnold smiled weakly and pulled Kevin into a loose hug, trying to avoid touching all of the rapidly drying blood on him. He rubbed his hand over Kevin’s back a few times, but that only seemed to make Kevin tense up more.
“No, no! It’s not going to be okay, Elder! None of these people will accept Heavenly Father with a crazy warlord running around shooting people! I can’t do something incredible when no one will listen to me! I was supposed to be in Orlando changing the world with a normal companion! Now I’m stuck in Africa and I’m stuck with you and I’m stuck at zero baptisms!” Kevin cried, shoving Arnold away from him before his legs gave out and he collapsed to the ground. His head fell into his hands and shaky sobs racked his body.
Arnold felt tears well up in his eyes and swallowed thickly. He wanted to burst into tears with Kevin, but he knew he had to comfort him before anything else. He knelt down so he was on eye level with the other boy, his hand resting on his back. He opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by loud wheezing punctuating Kevin’s sobs. Kevin was gasping for breath with tears running down his face.
“You gotta breathe, buddy. It’ll be okay, even if it isn’t right now. It may not be perfect, but.. you can still do something incredible. You’re doing something incredible right now by just being here, buddy! You know how incredible I think you are.” Arnold’s hand drifted up to Kevin’s face, wiping his tears. They quickly got replaced by more. Kevin seemed to relax at his words, though. His breathing slowed, the gasping for air now replaced by shaky rasping.
“You really think I can still be incredible?” He looked up at Arnold, his body still trembling from sobs. Kevin’s eyes were still wet with tears. Arnold nodded and wrapped his arms around Kevin.
“I’m s-so sorry you.. you have to see me like this, Elder.” Kevin stammered, leaning into the hug, even putting his own arm around Arnold. He leaned his head into the crook of Arnold’s neck, tears soaking into the other boy’s shirt. “I’m sorry for get.. getting your shirt wet.” Snot dripped out of his nose. Arnold couldn’t have cared less about his shirt. He tried to bite back a smile at the reciprocated hug.
They stayed like that for a while, their bodies intertwined and leaning on each other. Arnold wasn’t sure how long they stayed outside for, but as he heard rustling in the foliage around them, he quickly remembered the dangers Nutella told them about on their first day. He pulled away from the hug and a pang of guilt surged through him as Kevin looked at him confused, silently asking him to hug him more.
“Hey, pal, we need to go back to the mission hut.” Arnold cooed, taking Kevin’s hands in his own gently. “How about we wash that blood off of you?” Kevin tensed up at the mention of the now dried blood on him, his eyebrows knitting together. Arnold didn’t like seeing Kevin sad at all.
“O-okay. That sounds like a good idea.” Kevin rasped, wiping snot from his nose. The occasional tear still ran down his face and his eyes were red from crying, but other than that he seemed to be winding down from his panic attack.
Arnold got up first, taking Kevin’s hands in his own and hoisting him up. They tried to walk, but it became clear that Kevin was in no condition for that. His wobbly legs gave out and he tumbled to the ground. Before he could hit it, though, Arnold already had his arms around him keeping him from falling. A strange look flashed across Kevin’s face as they stared into each other’s eyes, their faces so close that their noses were touching. Arnold pulled away and helped Kevin stand again, a sheepish smile on his face.
They walked the rest of the way back to the mission hut with Kevin leaning on Arnold and Arnold’s hand snaked around Kevin’s waist. It took them a while to get back, but the still-hot-but-not-as-hot air of the hut made it very worth it. Kevin was still shaking and desperately clinging onto Arnold so that he wouldn’t fall down again.
It seemed as though the rest of the Elders had already fallen asleep when they entered. They crept through the common area and to the bathroom, trying not to make sound so that they could clean the blood off of Kevin semi-peacefully. At the entrance to the bathroom, though, they found Elder McKinley staring them down with his arms crossed.
He opened his mouth to speak before being interrupted by a raspy “Please..” from Kevin. Arnold was never the best with faces, but he tried as best he could to give the other Elder a ‘he-is-so-not-okay-and-if-you-do-not-let-me-do-this-so-help-me-god’ look. Clearly it worked as Elder McKinley scowled but let the two pass and slinked off into his own bedroom, whisper-screaming at them that they would have a serious conversation about this tomorrow.
The door to the bathroom creaked open and the two companions stumbled in, with Arnold sitting Kevin down on the toilet as he began to run a bath. He opened the door again to get out, but was stopped by Kevin’s hand shooting out and grabbing his forearm. He looked down at Kevin, confused.
“Um. Can you please help me take a bath? I- I don"t think I can do it alone.” Kevin blurted out like the words were burning his mouth as he said them. He closed his eyes and pulled away like he was expecting to get physically hurt. His eyes darted open after a long beat of silence. He looked up at Arnold, who had a look of shock mixed with joy on his face.
“Y-yeah! Of course, buddy! Anything you want!” He beamed, shutting the door behind him. “I think you might need to get naked to take a bath. I’ll look away!” Arnold covered his eyes and turned to face a corner of the room.
“You’re going to need to see me naked anyway..” Kevin muttered with a small smile on his face, chuckling at Arnold.
“But watching you is-! It’s more inappropriate.. And stuff..” Arnold tried to defend himself, blush spreading across his face. Thankfully, it was already covered by his hands. Kevin chuckled softly again before awkwardly taking his clothes off and getting into the bath.
“You can look now.” Kevin said. As Arnold turned around and knelt in front of the bath, he averted his eyes. It was his turn to start blushing and getting flustered. He had clearly underestimated how embarrassing it would be to be naked in front of Arnold. Weirdly, it didn’t feel wrong for either of them. Arnold would have to think about that tomorrow.
He started running Kevin’s hair under the water, scrubbing the cheap shampoo that Elder McKinley kept the bathroom stocked with into it. He made sure to get all the dried blood out of it, combing his fingers through. Kevin hissed whenever Arnold pulled too hard through the blood, and Arnold profusely apologized every time, no matter how much it hurt.
He grabbed a towel and started to scrub the blood off of Kevin’s face and arms. It took longer than expected. As Arnold tried to get the blood out of all of the nooks and crannies of Kevin’s face, he realized he had leaned in far too close. He could feel Kevin’s warm breath on his face and noticed an expression he couldn’t quite place in Kevin’s eyes as they stared at one another. He shot away from his face, blushing and nervously laughing.
“Um, I think that’s all of the blood.” Arnold smiled, his cheeks still very red from the intimate nature of what they just did. He didn’t bother going back to his corner and grabbed a towel from the hook on the door, drying Kevin off and trying his best not to look at his groin. He failed. Arnold helped Kevin get back into his temple garment, avoiding eye contact as much as he possibly could and covering his groin with his hand.
He snuck his hand around Kevin’s waist again. He didn’t need much support walking anymore, but Arnold was too worried about his companion to let go. He didn’t even want to let go of him once they got to their room so that they could sleep. He sat Kevin down on his own bed reluctantly. As he stripped down to his own temple garments, a shy smile grew on his face.
“Hey, Kev?”
“You really should be calling me Elder.”
“Yeah, okay. Anyways, Kev.. Do you think I can sleep with you tonight? Just in case you.. um.. have another panic attack in the middle of the night. ‘Cause that was really scary.” Arnold tried to defend his question a little too loud than he intended. Blush grew on his face even more and he looked down at his feet, his hands fidgeting behind his back like a kid caught in the cookie jar.
“That’s a good idea, Elder. Fine.” A small, tired smile grew on Kevin’s face. Arnold beamed and his eyes twinkled with joy. He ran to Kevin’s side and tackled him onto his bed. A wheeze shot out of the other boy as Arnold squeezed him tightly, pulling him under the blanket.
Kevin flicked off the lights and shifted onto his back, with Arnold quickly following suit and spooning him. With their height difference, it looked more like he was wearing Arnold like a backpack, but neither of them cared. Arnold nestled his head into Kevin’s neck, silently smiling into it.
“Goodnight, Kevin!”
“Goodnight, Arnold.”
Arnold’s smile only grew at Kevin using his first name, even if it was probably just a mistake from being so tired. He felt something stirring in his stomach as he held Kevin close. That ‘something’ threatened to turn into anxiety about baptizing the Africans, the warlord threatening the village, and the very strong feelings for Kevin he felt growing. For now, though, everything was about as good as it could be. Kevin was in his arms, his breathing already slowing and becoming more uniform. He must have been really tired from his panic attack. Arnold felt sleep pulling at his eyes, too. Without thinking, he pecked Kevin on the cheek before closing his eyes and drifting to sleep.