some Skippy bits and pieces.
So I haven't been writing a whole lot lately, but these are two bit and pieces of stories that I wrote at one time or another, and I don't know that I'm going to go back to. Thought I would post for your enjoyment...
The one in which Nick Jonas has a Presence
It was really the only safe-haven at the moment. If Mike went back to the bus or the green room there would inevitably be someone asking questions, and almost everywhere in between ran the danger or who he would run into. The stage was safe, empty as no one had been dragged out to their sound check quite yet. Mike had made himself comfortable in a folding chair with his acoustic propped across his knees.
The sound of footsteps wasn’t particularly startling, as he’d been expecting someone to stumble upon his hiding place eventually. As they got closer Mike didn’t even look up. Nick Jonas had a presence about him and to be honest Mike had been around the entire family enough to know it. He just kept working on tuning the guitar to his liking, letting the silence stretch between the two of them.
“Did you know that Kevin’s the reason my parents got married?”
Mike’s fingers fumbled then but he still didn’t look up. He could feel that Nick was probably smirking just a little, self satisfied with having gotten Mike off his game.
“My parents got married and seven months later Kevin was born,” Nick said slowly. “Luckily, y’know, it worked out for them; they love each other and they wanted more kids, but they don’t want any of us to make the same mistakes that they did.”
Mike finally looked up, raising a skeptical eyebrow at Nick. Nick may have been questionable but there was no doubting that Joe’s ring was purely for show.
“We’re all old enough to do the math,” Nick went on, ignoring the look, “It kills Kev a little bit. He feels responsible and at the same time like he has to follow the rules.”
“It’s not like he can get knocked up,” Mike mumbled. It wasn’t as though the same thing could happen.
“It’s Kevin, it’s the principle of the thing.”
Mike nodded. That was honestly how Kevin worked, and how he’d been right from day one.
“So,” Nick slid his hands into the pockets of his sweatshirt, and leveled Mike with a look, “Decide if you can live without it and fucking fix it.”
Mike didn’t say anything as Nick turned and left the stage, just looked out at the empty stadium, his fingers absently playing the chords that Kevin had shown him on a quiet night in New Jersey the year before.
The one in which Kevin visits Mike for Christmas
It was weird because it was Mike’s apartment, not somewhere that his family lived. There weren’t any siblings or parents, or even roommates, who were going to barge in without knocking. It was just him, Mike and the dogs. Joe and Nick had mocked him with their stern lecture before he left to catch his flight, one about family values and living in sin. Thank God they hadn’t gotten Frankie involved, or their mom. She’d had her own chat with Kevin, instructing him to have a good time. He was her oldest and she trusted him. There hadn’t been any accusations in her words.
There was so much subtext in those conversations.
But now Kevin was alone on the plane. Mike was an oldest child too, but Kevin had met Mike’s mother and it was completely obvious that she had very different expectations for her son.
He swallowed hard and shifted in his seat, putting it back a little so that he could try to get some sleep.
When the plane touched down in Chicago he was loose and pliant with sleep. They’d been going straight for the past two months and even though they’d started vacation a few days before the flying jetlag was making him tired again. He shrugged on his backpack and followed the signs through O’Hare to baggage claim.
He was a bit more awake as he headed toward the arrivals gate in search of Mike.
He’d found, in the past, that people didn’t always recognize him without his brothers. Nonetheless, he was dressed down in a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt advertising one of the SUNY schools. That usually helped to throw them off even more.
The first familiar face that he spotted was Bill, probably because Bill towered over just about everyone. He was as dressed down as Kevin had ever seen him, but still calling attention to himself, holding a sign that read ‘Kevin Jonas look-alike.’
If it had been Joe Kevin would have hit him. He let a smile tug across his lips as he neared them; who was he kidding. He approached without looking around because Mike had to be right there, and hit Bill swiftly upside the head.
It didn’t seem to have hurt that much because Bill just laughed. Kevin would have asked but there was a hand in the hood of his sweatshirt, tugging him to the right. Mike’s lips pressed to his forehead and Kevin wrapped his arms tightly around him. He held on for a moment, inhaling deeply against Mike’s shoulder.
Mike stepped back and grabbed the duffel that Kevin had dropped on the floor.
“Let’s go,” he said without offering anymore of a greeting.
Bill threw an arm over Kevin’s shoulders as they headed out into the parking lot, “Jonas, I was so excited when Mike told me that you were coming to join us for the holidays. I’ve planned a week of crazy shenanigans to introduce you to our fair city.”
Kevin caught Mike rolling his eyes. He dug a set of keys out of his pocket as they approached a nice Civic and opened the trunk to drop Kevin’s bags inside.
“Well?”
Kevin jolted back to reality as he realized he’d been staring.
“Umm… I’m kind of beat, Bill.”
“See,” Mike said, “I told you, you can just drop us at my place. I promise I will call you before this weekend.”
Bill looked at them thoughtfully, “I suppose, but you Michael had better take care of my favorite Jonas.”
“Of course,” Mike replied, tossing the keys at him and climbing into the backseat of the car.
Bill flashed Kevin a grin and Kevin didn’t even hesitate before climbing into the back as well.
Mike didn’t even react until they were pulling out of the garage. He reached across the seat between them and took hold of Kevin’s hand. It wasn’t much but Kevin let the corners of his mouth quirk up into a smile.
-
“Are you sure you don’t want me to come up for a bit?” Bill asked, as Mike was pulling Kevin’s bags out of the trunk, “We could play Boggle.”
Mike slammed the trunk closed and walked up to the passenger window, bending over so that he was at Bill’s level, giving Kevin an excellent view of his ass.
“No,” he said simply.
“Okay,” Bill flashed an amused grin, “I will come to take him to safety if I don’t hear from you within 48 hours.”
“Goodnight Bill,” Mike said very pointedly before pushing off from the car.
The tension in Kevin’s stomach rose again as he followed Mike into the building and the elevator. Mike had a grip on his wrist but wasn’t pulling him close. The apartment that Mike let them into on the third floor was very him. It was cluttered and not necessarily clean and it looked lived in. There were definite signs that he was barely there. As he finished scanning the room and his eyes landed on Mike he found him staring, watching Kevin’s reactions. He smiled.
“C’mere,” Mike said, wrapping a hand around the back of Kevin’s neck and pulling him in. The kiss was easy and light for a moment and then Mike tilted his head just a little and Kevin opened his mouth a little more. The two of them made out languidly against the hallway wall until Kevin’s day caught up with him and he yawned into the kiss.
Mike ducked back, smoothing his hand across Kevin’s neck.
“You really are tired, huh, Kid?”
Kevin closed his eyes because he really didn’t want to be. He smoothed a hand over his eyes and agreed, “Yeah.”
It was still relatively early in the evening but Mike directed him down another hallway. As they headed into the room at the end of the hall Kevin’s stomach clenched a little because it was clearly Mike’s bedroom. The only people he’d ever shared a room with before had been his brothers or his parents, never mind a bed.
Mike’s hand was steady on his back as he closed the door behind them and began to toe off his shoes and tug his shirt over his head. Kevin followed suit mostly out of habit, fumbling a little with the sweatshirt he was wearing.
Mike passed him a pair of sweatpants before going around and tugging down the blankets on one side of the bed.
“I promise, I don’t bite,” he said when Kevin paused and looked at him after he finished changing.
Something in Kevin’s stomach loosened a little.
“You are a filthy liar, Mike Carden,” he said as he climbed into bed. “Disney has covered up ample evidence against that.”
Mike chuckled as he dropped down onto his back and pulled Kevin in against his side.
His voice softened a little, “Nothing you don’t okay.”
It made Kevin shiver a little. He alternately loved and hated it when Mike treated him with kid gloves. Mostly though he was kind of relieved. Mike didn’t have anyone to put on a show for and he still chose to put Kevin’s principles first. He lifted his head and started kissing along the underside of Mike’s jaw.
The one in which Nick Jonas has a Presence
It was really the only safe-haven at the moment. If Mike went back to the bus or the green room there would inevitably be someone asking questions, and almost everywhere in between ran the danger or who he would run into. The stage was safe, empty as no one had been dragged out to their sound check quite yet. Mike had made himself comfortable in a folding chair with his acoustic propped across his knees.
The sound of footsteps wasn’t particularly startling, as he’d been expecting someone to stumble upon his hiding place eventually. As they got closer Mike didn’t even look up. Nick Jonas had a presence about him and to be honest Mike had been around the entire family enough to know it. He just kept working on tuning the guitar to his liking, letting the silence stretch between the two of them.
“Did you know that Kevin’s the reason my parents got married?”
Mike’s fingers fumbled then but he still didn’t look up. He could feel that Nick was probably smirking just a little, self satisfied with having gotten Mike off his game.
“My parents got married and seven months later Kevin was born,” Nick said slowly. “Luckily, y’know, it worked out for them; they love each other and they wanted more kids, but they don’t want any of us to make the same mistakes that they did.”
Mike finally looked up, raising a skeptical eyebrow at Nick. Nick may have been questionable but there was no doubting that Joe’s ring was purely for show.
“We’re all old enough to do the math,” Nick went on, ignoring the look, “It kills Kev a little bit. He feels responsible and at the same time like he has to follow the rules.”
“It’s not like he can get knocked up,” Mike mumbled. It wasn’t as though the same thing could happen.
“It’s Kevin, it’s the principle of the thing.”
Mike nodded. That was honestly how Kevin worked, and how he’d been right from day one.
“So,” Nick slid his hands into the pockets of his sweatshirt, and leveled Mike with a look, “Decide if you can live without it and fucking fix it.”
Mike didn’t say anything as Nick turned and left the stage, just looked out at the empty stadium, his fingers absently playing the chords that Kevin had shown him on a quiet night in New Jersey the year before.
The one in which Kevin visits Mike for Christmas
It was weird because it was Mike’s apartment, not somewhere that his family lived. There weren’t any siblings or parents, or even roommates, who were going to barge in without knocking. It was just him, Mike and the dogs. Joe and Nick had mocked him with their stern lecture before he left to catch his flight, one about family values and living in sin. Thank God they hadn’t gotten Frankie involved, or their mom. She’d had her own chat with Kevin, instructing him to have a good time. He was her oldest and she trusted him. There hadn’t been any accusations in her words.
There was so much subtext in those conversations.
But now Kevin was alone on the plane. Mike was an oldest child too, but Kevin had met Mike’s mother and it was completely obvious that she had very different expectations for her son.
He swallowed hard and shifted in his seat, putting it back a little so that he could try to get some sleep.
When the plane touched down in Chicago he was loose and pliant with sleep. They’d been going straight for the past two months and even though they’d started vacation a few days before the flying jetlag was making him tired again. He shrugged on his backpack and followed the signs through O’Hare to baggage claim.
He was a bit more awake as he headed toward the arrivals gate in search of Mike.
He’d found, in the past, that people didn’t always recognize him without his brothers. Nonetheless, he was dressed down in a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt advertising one of the SUNY schools. That usually helped to throw them off even more.
The first familiar face that he spotted was Bill, probably because Bill towered over just about everyone. He was as dressed down as Kevin had ever seen him, but still calling attention to himself, holding a sign that read ‘Kevin Jonas look-alike.’
If it had been Joe Kevin would have hit him. He let a smile tug across his lips as he neared them; who was he kidding. He approached without looking around because Mike had to be right there, and hit Bill swiftly upside the head.
It didn’t seem to have hurt that much because Bill just laughed. Kevin would have asked but there was a hand in the hood of his sweatshirt, tugging him to the right. Mike’s lips pressed to his forehead and Kevin wrapped his arms tightly around him. He held on for a moment, inhaling deeply against Mike’s shoulder.
Mike stepped back and grabbed the duffel that Kevin had dropped on the floor.
“Let’s go,” he said without offering anymore of a greeting.
Bill threw an arm over Kevin’s shoulders as they headed out into the parking lot, “Jonas, I was so excited when Mike told me that you were coming to join us for the holidays. I’ve planned a week of crazy shenanigans to introduce you to our fair city.”
Kevin caught Mike rolling his eyes. He dug a set of keys out of his pocket as they approached a nice Civic and opened the trunk to drop Kevin’s bags inside.
“Well?”
Kevin jolted back to reality as he realized he’d been staring.
“Umm… I’m kind of beat, Bill.”
“See,” Mike said, “I told you, you can just drop us at my place. I promise I will call you before this weekend.”
Bill looked at them thoughtfully, “I suppose, but you Michael had better take care of my favorite Jonas.”
“Of course,” Mike replied, tossing the keys at him and climbing into the backseat of the car.
Bill flashed Kevin a grin and Kevin didn’t even hesitate before climbing into the back as well.
Mike didn’t even react until they were pulling out of the garage. He reached across the seat between them and took hold of Kevin’s hand. It wasn’t much but Kevin let the corners of his mouth quirk up into a smile.
-
“Are you sure you don’t want me to come up for a bit?” Bill asked, as Mike was pulling Kevin’s bags out of the trunk, “We could play Boggle.”
Mike slammed the trunk closed and walked up to the passenger window, bending over so that he was at Bill’s level, giving Kevin an excellent view of his ass.
“No,” he said simply.
“Okay,” Bill flashed an amused grin, “I will come to take him to safety if I don’t hear from you within 48 hours.”
“Goodnight Bill,” Mike said very pointedly before pushing off from the car.
The tension in Kevin’s stomach rose again as he followed Mike into the building and the elevator. Mike had a grip on his wrist but wasn’t pulling him close. The apartment that Mike let them into on the third floor was very him. It was cluttered and not necessarily clean and it looked lived in. There were definite signs that he was barely there. As he finished scanning the room and his eyes landed on Mike he found him staring, watching Kevin’s reactions. He smiled.
“C’mere,” Mike said, wrapping a hand around the back of Kevin’s neck and pulling him in. The kiss was easy and light for a moment and then Mike tilted his head just a little and Kevin opened his mouth a little more. The two of them made out languidly against the hallway wall until Kevin’s day caught up with him and he yawned into the kiss.
Mike ducked back, smoothing his hand across Kevin’s neck.
“You really are tired, huh, Kid?”
Kevin closed his eyes because he really didn’t want to be. He smoothed a hand over his eyes and agreed, “Yeah.”
It was still relatively early in the evening but Mike directed him down another hallway. As they headed into the room at the end of the hall Kevin’s stomach clenched a little because it was clearly Mike’s bedroom. The only people he’d ever shared a room with before had been his brothers or his parents, never mind a bed.
Mike’s hand was steady on his back as he closed the door behind them and began to toe off his shoes and tug his shirt over his head. Kevin followed suit mostly out of habit, fumbling a little with the sweatshirt he was wearing.
Mike passed him a pair of sweatpants before going around and tugging down the blankets on one side of the bed.
“I promise, I don’t bite,” he said when Kevin paused and looked at him after he finished changing.
Something in Kevin’s stomach loosened a little.
“You are a filthy liar, Mike Carden,” he said as he climbed into bed. “Disney has covered up ample evidence against that.”
Mike chuckled as he dropped down onto his back and pulled Kevin in against his side.
His voice softened a little, “Nothing you don’t okay.”
It made Kevin shiver a little. He alternately loved and hated it when Mike treated him with kid gloves. Mostly though he was kind of relieved. Mike didn’t have anyone to put on a show for and he still chose to put Kevin’s principles first. He lifted his head and started kissing along the underside of Mike’s jaw.