Just Another
Title: Just Another
Author: tagalongcookies
Recipient: akire_yta
Prompt: JONAS tv show-verse, where Kevin is a student at highschool with a very secret boyfriend. Bonus points for Macy and Stella being awesome BFFs.
Word Count: 1,827
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Mike doesn't like being Kevin's dirty little secret. JONAS AU.
Author's Note: Thanks to allypsis, mayqueen517 for helping brainstorm with me and appending_fic for beta-ing the shit out of this. You guys are all amazing and all remaining mistakes are mine!
“I want to meet your parents.”
“Mmmm.” Kevin nuzzles into Mike’s chest, totally ignoring Mike’s statement. They’re both on Mike’s bed, trading lazy kisses and cuddling. Mike respects Kevin’s decision not to have sex, but that doesn’t mean they can’t do other things. Besides, Mike secretly loves cuddling, Kevin knows. Kevin has used this to distract Mike on many occasions.
Mike pulls back and Kevin frowns. He leans in to capture Mike’s lips but Mike dodges him, propping himself up sideways with his arm under his head.
“Kevin, I want to meet your parents,” Mike repeats. Kevin shakes his head automatically before shifting forward to press his body into Mike’s warmth. Jersey in January is cold, but Kevin thinks Mike is a nice eco-friendly alternative to cranking up the central heating.
Apparently Mike doesn’t agree. He thwarts Kevin’s stealth cuddling moves by actually sitting up and looking at Kevin with an annoyingly serious expression.
“Kevin,” Mike says. “This is important.”
Kevin sighs, sitting up as well. He might as well try to put himself on equal footing, at least physically, even as he brings out tired words that he’s used before. “I don’t think we’re ready for that yet, Mike.”
“You’ve met my parents,” Mike points out in a reasonable voice. “They love you.”
“That’s because they think I’m a good influence,” Kevin says smugly. He really is an excellent influence on Mike, getting him to do all his homework before he gets a chance to kiss Kevin. Mike also doesn’t drink or smoke as much around Kevin because Kevin doesn’t like the taste and Mike doesn’t like it when Kevin’s unhappy.
Mike looks around at his walls, covered in posters of rockers glaring, and glances down at his ratty band tee and ripped jeans. “You don’t think your parents will think I’m a good influence?”
“That’s not the point,” Kevin answers, because obviously Kevin’s former-pastor father will not think a scruffy boy from the local public school who plays a kick-ass guitar and gets detention a lot for listening to his headphones in class is a good influence.
Mike looks at Kevin a little challengingly. “So what is the point?”
Kevin’s so, so tired of this argument. He just wants to cuddle with Mike again, maybe be little spoon with Mike’s arms wrapped around him or even just put his head in Mike’s lap, doze there, but he’s pretty sure Mike would call a foul. Unfair distractive tactics or something.
“Trust me, you don’t want to meet my parents.”
Mike catches Kevin’s gaze, light eyes steady. “I really, really do.”
“They won’t have anything nice to say,” Kevin tries to explain, frustrated. He feels like Mike isn’t getting it, doesn’t understand why this is so hard for him. Mike’s already out to his parents. They never judged as Mike brought home both guys and girls. Kevin’s one-third of a guaranteed family-friendly, nationally famous band. He’s met plenty of out gay people in the entertainment industry, but his parents never invited any of them over for dinner. It’s always been a passive rather than an active homophobia, a quiet understanding that even though they’re famous now, their family’s lifestyle will never change.
“All of them? Your parents and your brothers and even Stella and Macy?” Mike asks, his voice hardening a little. And, wow, Mike doesn’t get annoyed with Kevin very often, not seriously. Kisses and cuddles probably won’t be enough to placate Mike this time.
“I don’t know. I just don’t think it would be a good idea.”
“But they’re important to you,” Mike insists, refusing to let it go. “We’ve been together for six months, Kev, I want to meet the people that matter to you.”
Kevin can hear what Mike’s really saying, the slightly desperate tone of I want to matter to you, too, but Kevin can’t give Mike that reassurance any more than he already has. He’s not risking his family, friends, fame, everything just so he can laugh and cuddle and make out with Mike Carden a few times a week. He can’t.
Kevin rolls off the bed and puts on his jacket. Mike doesn’t try to stop him as he leaves.
--
Kevin’s spent the last week trudging from school to band practice to his bed, his family watching with a fair amount of concern as Kevin’s usual smile appears barely once a day instead of being practically a part of his uniform. Mike had texted Kevin twice the day after they argued, a simple we relly need 2 talk, kid, followed by a btw thats not a breakup ok? just call me.
Kevin had wanted to text back, he really did, but he hadn’t had anything new to offer Mike. He still can’t introduce Mike to his parents. He still can’t introduce Mike to any of his friends, because the idea of his friends knowing about this before his family just seems wrong.
He tries to remember if Mike had told his friends or his parents about Kevin first. Kevin realizes he’d never been a secret in Mike’s life. Kevin had fit seamlessly into Mike’s life from the beginning, trading khakis and blazers for hoodies and skinny jeans and tagging along to concerts with Mike and Billvy and Sisky and their gaggle of skinny, vaguely musical friends.
With Mike, Kevin had always been able to be himself, all the artifices of prep school and fame stripped away. Kevin misses that feeling, but he misses Mike more, with his ability to play every video game theme on guitar and random love of Nick Hornby novels.
“Hey, Kevin, Joe said you’d be up here.” Stella pauses, clothes clutched loosely in her hand. Kevin’s curled up on his bed, the covers tucked around him. “Kevin, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Kevin affixes a fake smile to his next lie: “I’m just tired.”
“Uh huh,” Stella says, giving Kevin a look. Nick and Joe always say that Kevin is an awful liar; he supposes it’s true. “Well, if nothing’s wrong, then you can stand up for a minute while I make some adjustments to this outfit.”
Kevin figures giving in to Stella will be much less hassle then having her drag him bodily from the bed (it’s happened before). He dutifully gets up, leaving his blankets crumpled on the bed, and tugs on the jacket Stella briskly hands him.
As he holds his arms out, letting Stella pin the sleeves, he lets Stella chatter at him. It’s nice, comforting in a way that all of Joe and Nick’s concerned looks are not. It’s a reminder of normal, which is what Kevin really wants right now.
“And so then I told Macy, I don’t care if Joe goes with a date, I really don’t, but if she tries to get him to match his outfit with her tacky dress I am absolutely not dressing him ever again because it’s my name on his clothes. If he has bad style once, then people think I have bad style always. Period. And then Macy said that I shouldn’t let my feelings for Joe get in the way of my professional work, which I think is ridiculous because the whole issue is about professional reputation which Joe obviously has no regard for.”
“Mm-hmm,” Kevin says. He’s not sure how Stella manages to talk so much with pins in her mouth but he supposes they teach that in fashion school or something. Or maybe it’s a girl thing. Kevin’s never understood girls; he’s not surprised he ended up liking a guy.
Or guys, Kevin corrects himself. It’s not like Mike’s the only guy he’ll ever date. But the thought of either of them dating other people only makes Kevin’s heart sink further into his chest.
“Hey, Stella?” Kevin asks, interrupting Stella’s current thread of speech which included something about a fashion show. “Would you ever introduce one of your boyfriends to your parents?”
“Are you kidding?” Stella scoffs as she yanks on a hem. “I can barely keep dating a guy long enough for him to take me to dinner, let alone introduce him to my parents.”
“Would you ever, though?”
“Well yeah, obviously someday I’ll have to.” She looks a little more thoughtful now, the buzz of constant chatter finally slowed. “He’d have to be really important. I wouldn’t want to put him or my parents through unnecessary stress. But yeah, if he mattered that much to me, of course I’d want him to meet my parents.”
Kevin thinks about this for a minute. “But what if your parents didn’t like him?”
“If he was that important in my life, my parents would do their best, you know? I think they’d want me to be happy.” Stella puts her sewing materials down for a second. “Kevin, are you dating somebody right now?”
“No!” Kevin shoots back quickly, his jaw tensing.
“Uh-huh. So what’s with the sudden interest in my love life?”
Kevin tries for his best charming look. “Stella Malone, I have always been interested in all aspects of your life.”
“Kevin Lucas,” Stella says, parroting Kevin’s smooth tone. “You always just roll your eyes when I talk about boys with Macy.”
“I didn’t want to talk about boys before.” The words slip out of Kevin under his breath but still loud enough for Stella to hear.
Her mouth drops a little in shock, the pins falling to the floor. Kevin rewinds the words in his head, once, twice, and shit. He didn’t mean to say it quite like that.
“Are you saying you want to talk about boys now?” Stella asks finally.
Kevin hesitates. “Yeah,” he admits. “I guess, yeah.”
Stella bites her lip. “Wow. Okay, so, um. Your parents don’t know yet?”
Kevin shakes his head. “Nick and Joe don’t, either. Don’t tell them?” He asks, his voice plaintive.
“Don’t worry,” Stella says, smiling slightly. “I have plenty of practice with keeping secrets from Joe.”
Kevin smiles, too, but for a different reason. He’s finally realized what he has to do. Stella won’t have to keep his secret for very long.
--
The next night, Kevin finally calls Mike back.
“Hey.”
Kevin can hear the exhaustion in Mike’s rough voice and the slight tinge of sadness, even through the tiny phone speaker. He’s become an expert in Mike-ology the last six months.
“Hey,” Kevin answers. Neither says anything for a moment, and Kevin takes a deep breath. Mike’s usually the one making the moves in their relationship; it’s time for Kevin to take the first step. “Remember what you said the other day?”
“Yeah,” Mike answers warily.
“I want to talk to you about that.”
“I haven’t changed my mind, Kev.” Mike exhales. “I don’t want to break up, but it sucks that you might not even think we have a relationship to end--”
“Mike, Mike,” Kevin interrupts, his voice desperate and happy. “My parents want to meet you, too.”
Author: tagalongcookies
Recipient: akire_yta
Prompt: JONAS tv show-verse, where Kevin is a student at highschool with a very secret boyfriend. Bonus points for Macy and Stella being awesome BFFs.
Word Count: 1,827
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Mike doesn't like being Kevin's dirty little secret. JONAS AU.
Author's Note: Thanks to allypsis, mayqueen517 for helping brainstorm with me and appending_fic for beta-ing the shit out of this. You guys are all amazing and all remaining mistakes are mine!
“I want to meet your parents.”
“Mmmm.” Kevin nuzzles into Mike’s chest, totally ignoring Mike’s statement. They’re both on Mike’s bed, trading lazy kisses and cuddling. Mike respects Kevin’s decision not to have sex, but that doesn’t mean they can’t do other things. Besides, Mike secretly loves cuddling, Kevin knows. Kevin has used this to distract Mike on many occasions.
Mike pulls back and Kevin frowns. He leans in to capture Mike’s lips but Mike dodges him, propping himself up sideways with his arm under his head.
“Kevin, I want to meet your parents,” Mike repeats. Kevin shakes his head automatically before shifting forward to press his body into Mike’s warmth. Jersey in January is cold, but Kevin thinks Mike is a nice eco-friendly alternative to cranking up the central heating.
Apparently Mike doesn’t agree. He thwarts Kevin’s stealth cuddling moves by actually sitting up and looking at Kevin with an annoyingly serious expression.
“Kevin,” Mike says. “This is important.”
Kevin sighs, sitting up as well. He might as well try to put himself on equal footing, at least physically, even as he brings out tired words that he’s used before. “I don’t think we’re ready for that yet, Mike.”
“You’ve met my parents,” Mike points out in a reasonable voice. “They love you.”
“That’s because they think I’m a good influence,” Kevin says smugly. He really is an excellent influence on Mike, getting him to do all his homework before he gets a chance to kiss Kevin. Mike also doesn’t drink or smoke as much around Kevin because Kevin doesn’t like the taste and Mike doesn’t like it when Kevin’s unhappy.
Mike looks around at his walls, covered in posters of rockers glaring, and glances down at his ratty band tee and ripped jeans. “You don’t think your parents will think I’m a good influence?”
“That’s not the point,” Kevin answers, because obviously Kevin’s former-pastor father will not think a scruffy boy from the local public school who plays a kick-ass guitar and gets detention a lot for listening to his headphones in class is a good influence.
Mike looks at Kevin a little challengingly. “So what is the point?”
Kevin’s so, so tired of this argument. He just wants to cuddle with Mike again, maybe be little spoon with Mike’s arms wrapped around him or even just put his head in Mike’s lap, doze there, but he’s pretty sure Mike would call a foul. Unfair distractive tactics or something.
“Trust me, you don’t want to meet my parents.”
Mike catches Kevin’s gaze, light eyes steady. “I really, really do.”
“They won’t have anything nice to say,” Kevin tries to explain, frustrated. He feels like Mike isn’t getting it, doesn’t understand why this is so hard for him. Mike’s already out to his parents. They never judged as Mike brought home both guys and girls. Kevin’s one-third of a guaranteed family-friendly, nationally famous band. He’s met plenty of out gay people in the entertainment industry, but his parents never invited any of them over for dinner. It’s always been a passive rather than an active homophobia, a quiet understanding that even though they’re famous now, their family’s lifestyle will never change.
“All of them? Your parents and your brothers and even Stella and Macy?” Mike asks, his voice hardening a little. And, wow, Mike doesn’t get annoyed with Kevin very often, not seriously. Kisses and cuddles probably won’t be enough to placate Mike this time.
“I don’t know. I just don’t think it would be a good idea.”
“But they’re important to you,” Mike insists, refusing to let it go. “We’ve been together for six months, Kev, I want to meet the people that matter to you.”
Kevin can hear what Mike’s really saying, the slightly desperate tone of I want to matter to you, too, but Kevin can’t give Mike that reassurance any more than he already has. He’s not risking his family, friends, fame, everything just so he can laugh and cuddle and make out with Mike Carden a few times a week. He can’t.
Kevin rolls off the bed and puts on his jacket. Mike doesn’t try to stop him as he leaves.
--
Kevin’s spent the last week trudging from school to band practice to his bed, his family watching with a fair amount of concern as Kevin’s usual smile appears barely once a day instead of being practically a part of his uniform. Mike had texted Kevin twice the day after they argued, a simple we relly need 2 talk, kid, followed by a btw thats not a breakup ok? just call me.
Kevin had wanted to text back, he really did, but he hadn’t had anything new to offer Mike. He still can’t introduce Mike to his parents. He still can’t introduce Mike to any of his friends, because the idea of his friends knowing about this before his family just seems wrong.
He tries to remember if Mike had told his friends or his parents about Kevin first. Kevin realizes he’d never been a secret in Mike’s life. Kevin had fit seamlessly into Mike’s life from the beginning, trading khakis and blazers for hoodies and skinny jeans and tagging along to concerts with Mike and Billvy and Sisky and their gaggle of skinny, vaguely musical friends.
With Mike, Kevin had always been able to be himself, all the artifices of prep school and fame stripped away. Kevin misses that feeling, but he misses Mike more, with his ability to play every video game theme on guitar and random love of Nick Hornby novels.
“Hey, Kevin, Joe said you’d be up here.” Stella pauses, clothes clutched loosely in her hand. Kevin’s curled up on his bed, the covers tucked around him. “Kevin, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Kevin affixes a fake smile to his next lie: “I’m just tired.”
“Uh huh,” Stella says, giving Kevin a look. Nick and Joe always say that Kevin is an awful liar; he supposes it’s true. “Well, if nothing’s wrong, then you can stand up for a minute while I make some adjustments to this outfit.”
Kevin figures giving in to Stella will be much less hassle then having her drag him bodily from the bed (it’s happened before). He dutifully gets up, leaving his blankets crumpled on the bed, and tugs on the jacket Stella briskly hands him.
As he holds his arms out, letting Stella pin the sleeves, he lets Stella chatter at him. It’s nice, comforting in a way that all of Joe and Nick’s concerned looks are not. It’s a reminder of normal, which is what Kevin really wants right now.
“And so then I told Macy, I don’t care if Joe goes with a date, I really don’t, but if she tries to get him to match his outfit with her tacky dress I am absolutely not dressing him ever again because it’s my name on his clothes. If he has bad style once, then people think I have bad style always. Period. And then Macy said that I shouldn’t let my feelings for Joe get in the way of my professional work, which I think is ridiculous because the whole issue is about professional reputation which Joe obviously has no regard for.”
“Mm-hmm,” Kevin says. He’s not sure how Stella manages to talk so much with pins in her mouth but he supposes they teach that in fashion school or something. Or maybe it’s a girl thing. Kevin’s never understood girls; he’s not surprised he ended up liking a guy.
Or guys, Kevin corrects himself. It’s not like Mike’s the only guy he’ll ever date. But the thought of either of them dating other people only makes Kevin’s heart sink further into his chest.
“Hey, Stella?” Kevin asks, interrupting Stella’s current thread of speech which included something about a fashion show. “Would you ever introduce one of your boyfriends to your parents?”
“Are you kidding?” Stella scoffs as she yanks on a hem. “I can barely keep dating a guy long enough for him to take me to dinner, let alone introduce him to my parents.”
“Would you ever, though?”
“Well yeah, obviously someday I’ll have to.” She looks a little more thoughtful now, the buzz of constant chatter finally slowed. “He’d have to be really important. I wouldn’t want to put him or my parents through unnecessary stress. But yeah, if he mattered that much to me, of course I’d want him to meet my parents.”
Kevin thinks about this for a minute. “But what if your parents didn’t like him?”
“If he was that important in my life, my parents would do their best, you know? I think they’d want me to be happy.” Stella puts her sewing materials down for a second. “Kevin, are you dating somebody right now?”
“No!” Kevin shoots back quickly, his jaw tensing.
“Uh-huh. So what’s with the sudden interest in my love life?”
Kevin tries for his best charming look. “Stella Malone, I have always been interested in all aspects of your life.”
“Kevin Lucas,” Stella says, parroting Kevin’s smooth tone. “You always just roll your eyes when I talk about boys with Macy.”
“I didn’t want to talk about boys before.” The words slip out of Kevin under his breath but still loud enough for Stella to hear.
Her mouth drops a little in shock, the pins falling to the floor. Kevin rewinds the words in his head, once, twice, and shit. He didn’t mean to say it quite like that.
“Are you saying you want to talk about boys now?” Stella asks finally.
Kevin hesitates. “Yeah,” he admits. “I guess, yeah.”
Stella bites her lip. “Wow. Okay, so, um. Your parents don’t know yet?”
Kevin shakes his head. “Nick and Joe don’t, either. Don’t tell them?” He asks, his voice plaintive.
“Don’t worry,” Stella says, smiling slightly. “I have plenty of practice with keeping secrets from Joe.”
Kevin smiles, too, but for a different reason. He’s finally realized what he has to do. Stella won’t have to keep his secret for very long.
--
The next night, Kevin finally calls Mike back.
“Hey.”
Kevin can hear the exhaustion in Mike’s rough voice and the slight tinge of sadness, even through the tiny phone speaker. He’s become an expert in Mike-ology the last six months.
“Hey,” Kevin answers. Neither says anything for a moment, and Kevin takes a deep breath. Mike’s usually the one making the moves in their relationship; it’s time for Kevin to take the first step. “Remember what you said the other day?”
“Yeah,” Mike answers warily.
“I want to talk to you about that.”
“I haven’t changed my mind, Kev.” Mike exhales. “I don’t want to break up, but it sucks that you might not even think we have a relationship to end--”
“Mike, Mike,” Kevin interrupts, his voice desperate and happy. “My parents want to meet you, too.”