Circumstances Part 1
Title: Circumstances
Author: exmptfromsanity
Recipient: scratches_i_am
Prompt: A fic where there is a scene in the bathroom where Kevin and Mike are brushing their teeth. (Think of the scene from Bring It On with Torrance and the dude brushing their teeth. totally sexy.) or High School/University AU where Kevin and Mike are in band/orchestra together and there is a cameo by the girls in Rasputina. (Chicks on Cellos! Sexy)
Word Count: 11,754
Disclaimer: If only it was real but alas, unfortunately I don’t own a thing.
Summary: Kevin has a big, fat crush and a guitar class with Mike. Did I mention Kevin shares a dorm room with one Adam T. Siska… or that Mike happens to live with Bill who basically runs campus? Meanwhile the band is planning a huge surprise for the President’s annual Winter Soiree.
Author’s Note: So, I think I used just about everything… but nothing is exactly the focal point of the story. I hope you enjoy.
Music: Because I was sick for two weeks I listened to a lot of Christmas music while writing this, and feel the need to share it here.
“Sisky! Sis-Adam! Seriously, we are going to be so late,” Kevin hissed, trying to grab his sheet music and pull on his sneakers at the same time, only succeeding in landing awkwardly on his half-made bed.
“Kevin, relax,” Sisky laughed, tugging a t-shirt on over his head. “It’s band. No one cares.”
“We have a new band director this year. Just because Professor Wentz never cared doesn’t mean he won’t.”
Sisky heaved a sigh and slung his backpack over his shoulder. “Fine, let’s go.”
Kevin had dreaded starting school during his freshman year. Chicago was so far away from home and he feared that he just wouldn’t fit in with the guys in his dorm. Luck had placed him in a double with Adam Siska and the rest had been history. Adam had dragged Kevin down to the band office with him as soon as Kevin let it slip that he dabbled in guitar and piano, among other instruments. Then he’d dragged Kevin across campus to his brother’s dorm to borrow his car, and for senior parties on the weekends. He’d never let Kevin stay in to study on a Friday or Saturday night. In return Kevin made sure Adam got up for class and actually finished his big assignments, even if it was only hours before it was due.
This was probably while they were still living together two years later. They were polar opposites in terms of studying and partying, but they’d gotten close. Kevin credited Adam with making Joe looking at him in awe the year before when he’d started as a freshman, amazed to see a brother who actually had a life on campus.
He and Sisky skidded into the crowded classroom just after nine. The room was crowded with students, most of them lounging and chatting about summer. Sisky immediately began climbing through the chairs that were neatly arranged to reach the back where the Butcher had his drum kit set up and Michael Guy was helping a new girl tune her violin. Kevin followed along, cleaning up Sisky’s wake of knocked aside chairs and plopping down into an empty chair between the drums and the piano.
He looked around. There was no professor in the classroom. Sisky was totally going to give him hell for rushing them to class later. Slowly, he tipped the chair back so it was propped against the wall and leaned his head back against the plaster.
He was almost asleep when the door banged open loudly and he jumped, tumbling out of his chair and onto the floor.
“So sorry I’m late everyone,” came a woman’s voice as Kevin scrambled up off the floor. “Traffic was horrible and I’d nearly forgotten how awful the entrance to campus is before 8:30 classes.”
Kevin couldn’t help but stare. The woman at the front of the room was short, and not at all what he’d expected. Mr. Wentz had been a bit eccentric, wearing hoodies under his suit jackets. And strange colors but this woman was something else. She wore a beaded headband that seems straight out of the ‘60s, a shiny cloak-like shirt over a blouse and a skirt. Bohemian and Victorian were the words that came to mind.
“My name is Melora Creagar,” she said, “I’m going to be your band instructor this semester. I trust you’ve all met MelissaBell” she ran the two names together like they were one, “my TA. So, first things first, music out, and we’ll run through some scales before we start anything. Forget the music in your folders. I’ve selected a new arrangement for the winter concert. Frankly, the old selections were not at all to my taste.”
The warms up were eventful as she made her way around the room, introducing herself to students and commenting on technique, little things, making casual conversation. She stopped and stood by the piano as Kevin ran through some scales, laughing at Sisky’s enthusiastic playing of his upright bass.
“How long have you been playing, Mr. Jonas?”
“Twelve years,” Kevin replied. Band was easily the class where Kevin was most confident in his abilities.
“You look like you can multitask while playing.” She glanced back between the Butcher and Sisky, who were in the midst of one of their eyebrow conversations, “Ever do any singing while you play?”
Kevin nodded again, “My brothers and I played and sang with the church choir back home.”
A devilish smile crossed her lips, “Excellent.”
Kevin only felt slightly unnerved as she headed back to the front of the room. Professor Wentz was seeming less and less strange by the minute.
Class was almost over before they actually moved on to try a complete song. It was one of their major pieces from the past spring so most of the band was already familiar with it, so it didn’t sound as horrible as it could have.
Kevin focused on his piano part, aware of the other instruments and playing to them. It completely threw him off when there was the sudden crash of a cymbal that was so loud and out of place it seemed to make everyone jump. The discordant notes of the entire band caused his shoulders to tense.
All heads turned toward Butcher’s kit where the sound had come from. Butcher was leveling an annoyed glare at the guy who was holding a spare drumstick, looking guilty but not at all ashamed. He was about Butcher’s height, taller than Kevin, decked in jeans and a Ramones t-shirt, with long hair hanging in his face.
Butcher smacked the guy with his drumsticks and he jumped out of the way laughing, pushing his hair out of his face and showing off a bright grin. Kevin’s throat suddenly felt tight.
“Mr. Carden,” Professor Creager greeted, “To what do we owe the pleasure of you interrupting my class?”
Carden held up a fistful of papers. “I thought I would drop these off.”
She smiled genuinely and allowed him to come to the front of the room and hand her the forms.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” she said, clearly happy, “If any of you are interested in picking up a guitar class this semester I officially have enough students to do so. Add-drop isn’t over for another week. Now, Mr. Carden, if you don’t mind, I would rather not have your discordant drumming ruining my class. I will see you tomorrow morning.”
Kevin stared as he left, long enough that he stumbled through the opening of the song, enough that Sisky shot him that look. He wiggled his eyebrows as though to say shut your mouth, Kev, you’re drooling. Kevin turned to focus all of his attention back on the piano.
-
The next afternoon Kevin buried his face in his arms, hitting it with a thud against his desk in the student government office. Who had thought it was a good idea to take Economics? It had fit into his schedule and it was a social science… technically so it fit in with all the Psychology and Sociology classes he was taking. But he had over a hundred pages to read for Thursday and he was bored to tears ten pages in.
“It’s too soon for that, Jonas,” a voice said from behind him. “Not even a week into the semester and already you’re resorting to personal violence.”
Kevin smiled. “Hi Bill,” he mumbled into his arms.
Bill was the senior class president, a good friend of Sisky’s, and the person who had really pushed Kevin to run for vice president during his freshman year. Bill was the picture of cool, undisputedly the biggest flirt on campus; head, not only of the student government, but also the student activities board and editor of the student newspaper.
One of Bill’s fingers poked into Kevin’s shoulder and when he didn’t respond reached past him and picked up the textbook that was open on the desk.
“Economics…” he mused, “With Kisatsky. Jonas, what were you thinking?”
“Clearly I wasn’t.” Kevin replied, finally sitting up.
Bill was giving him an amused look as he snatched another one of the rolling chairs and slouched down into it. He began reading aloud from the introduction, exaggerating the words, and when he finished with the first long and boring paragraph he raised his head, slowly arching an eyebrow at Kevin.
“Did you and Adam smoke before signing up for classes?”
Kevin snorted. Sisky, absolutely; but him? Bill knew him better than that.
“I think class might kill my GPA,” Kevin lamented.
Bill glanced between him and the book. “Not to mention your sanity.”
Kevin nodded in agreement and took the book back, tossing it into his bag. He kicked the bag under his desk and leaned back to chat with William. It was too early in the year for them to have much to do, but there was no reason to go back to his room when they had a meeting in an hour.
Joe was nothing more than a class senator, not ambitious enough about student government to run for something that required more commitment, but he strolled into the room half an hour later, dropping onto the corner of Kevin’s desk and proclaiming loudly.
“I hear a hot guy interrupted your band practice this morning.”
Kevin felt himself flush. He was going to kill Sisky when he got back to the room.
Seriously. Butcher would understand… and help him hide the body.
He busied himself with straightening his desk, trying to ignore Joe, but Bill chimed in, his words careful but certainly related.
“You know, that new guitar class is the same time as your economics class.”
-
It had taken Kevin a few days to procure a guitar for the class. He had one at home but he mostly played piano at school so he hadn’t brought it with him. Finally Sisky had gotten him one on loan from his brother. He dropped it off just as Kevin was running out the door to go to his first class. It had to run in the Siska family, being late for everything.
He was out of breath by the time he got to class and he pushed open the door only to have roughly half a dozen heads turn in his direction. He recognized most of them. Carden and Michael Guy were there, in addition to Joe’s friends Marshall and Ian. Joe Trohman was sitting in the front of the room, probably just auditing the class, and there were a few freshmen huddled in the back corner.
“Sorry,” he said. It came out gasping.
“Mr. Jonas, good to see you,” Professor Creager said, her smile growing. “Come grab a seat. Look at that Mike, we’ve found you a practice partner.”
Kevin shot Michael-Guy a look as he grabbed a seat around their little group. Since when did anyone call him Mike? He accepted the syllabus and tucked it into the outside pocket of the guitar case.
“I’ll let you read that over yourself but the basics are that we are going to be learning some technique and doing some projects. You are to rehearse for three hours a week with a partner. You’ll be working with Mike. If you have issues with anything in there and you can ask me questions next class
“Now, gentlemen,” she grinned and there was an excited gleam in her eyes as she addressed the whole class again, “I am going to swear you all to secrecy- Chislett, Jonas- this means you, we are going to be learning a piece to play in the middle of the band performance at the Christmas concert. This is meant to be a technique and learning class but I’ve seen most of you play and I’m certain that we can rock the president’s concert in December.”
There were a few chuckles from the back, mostly because President Franklin was known for being strict and traditional. Kevin bit his lip nervously.
Class was over before Kevin really got his bearings but no one seemed to be in a rush to leave. Kevin nudged Michael- Guy’s chair with his foot, ready to ask when he was going to be around to practice. To his right Carden turned around in his chair and looked him up and down, almost like he was appraising him. Kevin froze- he was going to kill Sisky, slow and pain-.
Then Carden grinned. It was maniacal, to say the least. He stuck out a hand into the space between them.
“Hey,” he said, “I’m Mike.”
People liked to cast Kevin in the idiot role a lot but it all clicked really fast. Oh shit.
“What’s up, Kev?” Michael Guy asked, finally turning away from Joe to give him his attention.
For a moment, a really long, awkward moment, Kevin didn’t answer either of them. Finally he shook himself out of it and reached out to shake Mike’s hand.
“Kevin,” he said.
“I know.” Mike responded. Duh. Creager had only said his name a dozen or so times during class. Kevin kind of wanted to shrink down into his chair.
Mike didn’t seem to be aware of Kevin’s embarrassment as he pressed on, “So, when’s a good time to practice?”
When Kevin got back to his room Sisky was there, his laptop open on his desk. Kevin knew for a fact that he should have been in his advertising class, and said as much as he stuck the guitar in his closet.
“I think my time could be better spent working on my graphic design assignment.”
Kevin grunted in acknowledgement before dropping face-first onto his mattress.
“Could guitar have possibly been that bad?” Sisky laughed from across the room.
Kevin just mumbled into his pillow.
“Can’t hear you, man.”
Kevin turned his head so that he was looking at his roommate. “Mike Carden is my rehearsal partner for the semester.”
Sisky’s eyes lit up and he let out a rather evil laugh, gripping tightly to his chair to keep from falling over.
“Oh, this is great! Wait until I tell Bill!”
“Bill?” Kevin asked, confused.
“Mike’s been Bill’s roommate since freshman year.” Sisky announced. It was easy to see the gears turning and the plans forming in his head.
He just stared for a moment before groaning and burying his head under his pillow, muttering an annoyed, “don’t tell Joe,” as Sisky’s laughter became even more hysterical.
-
Kevin shifted the guitar case over his shoulder as he let himself into the senior apartment building. He and Mike had settled on Tuesdays and Thursdays to practice since neither had afternoon classes, and Kevin was already aware of where Bill’s room was. He made his way upstairs and knocked on the door to room 203. A moment later it was flung open, unsurprisingly, by Bill.
“Jonas!” He sounded more excited than usual and quickly ushered Kevin into the kitchen. Clearly he and Sisky had been chatting. Perfect.
“Michael!” He yelled, “Your cohort is here!”
A moment later Mike appeared in the doorway of one of the bedrooms, leveling a murderous glare in Bill’s direction. Kevin was stuck between being worried and secretly glad that someone else found Bill’s odd sort of enthusiasm annoying.
“You take good care of my favorite Jonas.”
“We’re playing guitar, Bill,” Mike said flatly, “Not going on an expedition to the North Pole.”
“No, it’s far too early in the season for that,” Bill said, waving them off.
“You want to practice in here,” Mike nodded into his room, “away from all the distractions.”
If Bill heard the comment he was practiced enough not to react.
Kevin nodded nervously and ducked past Mike. He shut the door behind them as Kevin looked around. He’d expected messy but it was actually a lot cleaner than he’d thought it would be. Most of Mike’s textbooks were piled on a makeshift bookshelf and the floor was only cluttered by a few sweatshirts and video game controllers. Show fliers were tacked to the bulletin board and a poster of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon cover was hanging over the desk. Mike dropped down onto the made bed with his acoustic so Kevin turned the desk chair so that they were facing one another.
“So, what did you think of the music Creager wants us to learn?” Mike asked.
“Umm… honestly, I haven’t even looked at anything yet.” Kevin said. He could feel a flush spreading up the back of his neck. Mike had clearly been one of the people who was eager to get the class going and Kevin hadn’t even bothered to look at what they were playing.
The look that crossed Mike’s face seemed to be one of annoyance as Kevin dug out his folder. He watched Kevin for a moment before he started talking again.
“It’s a good mix. We’re starting out with some classic rock, a lot of older stuff, and then there are a few weeks where we’re writing our own stuff or playing whatever we want.”
Kevin shifted through the sheet music. He had a lot of these songs on his ipod in the very least.
“What kind of stuff do you usually play?” Mike asked, “Not this?”
Kevin heard the teasing in his voice, just like he’d heard back in high school.
“It is, I just…” Kevin trailed off for a moment. “I learned to play guitar and piano in church and then started writing with my brothers. I don’t think I spent the required amount of teenaged time learning the classics.”
“Oh,” Mike looked a little surprised at his answer. He reached for Kevin’s sheet music and looked through them until he found the song he seemed to be looking for. “Why don’t we try this one then; it’s kind of close to the worship type stuff they play in the chapel.”
Kevin looked over the sheet music for a moment and when they both started in on the song he couldn’t tear his eyes away from Mike’s hands; he was practiced and even though they’d both been playing about the same amount of time it was clear that he played a lot more than Kevin did.
He got so distracted that he stumbled halfway through the song.
Mike shook his head, tossing his hair back out of his face.
“You’re concentrating too hard, Kid. Relax.”
Yeah, relax. Like that was going to happen.
-
Two weeks later Kevin’s crush on Mike Carden was nowhere near gone. The band was already well into building their set list for the winter concert and Kevin knew his parts almost without thinking. It was probably for the best as it gave him more time to focus on his guitar. It hadn’t been too long since he’d played but finding time to practice on his own made him less likely to trip over himself when he inevitably got distracted on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
On Saturday mornings he got up and went to brunch with Joe while Sisky slept in. No matter how late they were out the night before it was ingrained in both of them to be up early. The first weekend of October they sat in the dining hall for almost an hour, Joe regaling Kevin with stories of the off campus party he’d gone to the night before. Kevin responded with the Student Leaders’ retreat he’d gone on the previous weekend.
In the end Joe walked back up to the room with him, dropping down onto his bed and bringing up a new topic quietly, as not to wake Sisky.
“So Adam says you’re still hung up on this Carden guy,” he whispered. “You haven’t had a crush since Zac, and this guy… he’s nothing like Zac, Kev.”
Kevin bit his lip grinning, “I think that’s part of the appeal.”
Their parents had taken it hard when Kevin had come out back in high school. Zach had been appropriate, gone to their church and been a basketball hero. He’d been nice to Kevin even when a lot of kids had called him those awful names behind his back and to his face.
“Okay, so different, but Carden? The guy looks more like he’d murder you in your sleep than so much as look at you.”
Sisky barked a laugh from the other side of the room, alerting both of them to the fact that he was awake. They both jumped at the sound and Joe threw a pillow across the room in retaliation.
“Kevin likes dirty rock stars, Joe, always has. You’re going to have to learn to live with it.”
Kevin frowned, “How-”
“Because your crush on Frank freshman year was really obvious and you totally thought Wentz was hot until you realized how bizarre he was.”
Kevin groaned as Sisky named their freshman year RA and their old band director, both embarrassing now that he looked back.
“Mike’s a good guy, you could do worse.”
“Does he know you’re gay?” Joe asked.
Kevin shrugged. It was pretty common knowledge but it wasn’t something he’d told Mike explicitly.
“I just think he seems more like the kind of guy who’d beat the crap out of you when he finds out.”
Sisky sat up faster than Kevin could remember seeing him move before. His usually relaxed poise was gone.
“No,” he growled, sounding far more than annoyed as he chucked Kevin’s pillow back at Joe forcefully, “He’s not. And if you think that I’m not sure I want you in my dorm anymore.”
“I’m just worried about Kevin!”
“Would I be friends with someone who would do that to him?”
There was a long silence. Kevin felt like he should have said something but he wasn’t sure what. Joe was his brother and Sisky his best friend; they both cared about him, but they’d both been with him for vastly different experiences.
“Stop treating him like a freak who can’t look out for himself and just go back to teasing him about having a crush like a normal brother,” Sisky stood and ducked out of the room before either of them could say anything else.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” Joe said when the door was closed. “I’d worry no matter who it was.”
“I can look out for myself, Joe,” Kevin said slowly, “It’s a lot better here than it was at home. No one cares that much.”
“But you don’t know this guy.”
Kevin almost laughed, “It’s a crush. It’s not like I even have a chance with him. I mean, what are the chances he likes me, pretty low.”
“Kev-”
“Would Sisky be friends with him if he was that kind of guy? Or Bill? I’ll grow out of it in a few months and by that point I’ll have a friend who can probably scare off those kinds of homophobic assholes with his murderous look.”
“Okay.” Joe said, “If you’re sure.”
Joe was gone when Sisky came back. He dropped down onto Kevin’s bed next to him.
“Mike thinks you’re a sheltered kid,” he said. “He doesn’t take advantage of people and he doesn’t hate anyone who doesn’t deserve it.”
“Bill wouldn’t still be living with him if he was,” Kevin agreed. “Joe just remembers how much high school sucked for me.”
“College is a whole different world.”
“I know. And I like to think I’m a lot less sheltered than I was when we started school here.”
Sisky laughed, slinging an arm over Kevin’s shoulder. “I like to think our corruption is working its magic. Now, Bill’s having a party tonight. We are going.”
-
Parties at Bill’s apartment were never boring. When he and Sisky walked in the room was already way more crowded than rules allowed. Brendon was trying to entice Ryan to dance with him on the table while Spencer just tried to make sure he didn’t knock over any of the half-full bottles. The rest of the common room was crowded with people and he could hear laughing coming from both sides and both sets of rooms. Sisky disappeared into the masses, leaving Kevin to mingle.
Kevin headed off to the left, grabbing a beer from the fridge and wandering into Bill’s room. He and Travie had a beer pong table set up and a crowd of people cheering them on.
“Celebrity shot!” Bill yelled when he spotted Kevin. He reached through the crowd to grab his arm and drag him to the end of the table.
“I haven’t had anything to drink yet, Bill,” he said as Travie and Gabe cried foul from the other end of the table.
“Excellent, I’m on a losing streak.”
“Who are you playing with?”
“Well, I was playing with your brother, and then one of the Alexes, and Gabe - the traitor- but they all seem to have abandoned me,” Bill explained as he pressed the ping pong ball into Kevin’s hand.
Kevin grinned and sank a shot. He wasn’t escaping before the game ended.
He made his getaway from the table once he and Bill had won, leaving Gabe and Travie arguing that they’d cheated while Greta and Bob, and a few of the Alexes stole the table to start a new game. He spent the next few hours mingling with the entire student government (as they descended on Bill’s dorm room nearly every weekend), and playing DJ with the Butcher.
He stumbled into the room Michael Guy shared with the Butcher to find Mike and Michael rocking out with a few of their guitars. They were surrounded by the girls that frequented Bill’s parties. He stood in the doorway and listened as they played the Get Up Kids and Pink Floyd. Brendon was there, singing along while he tried drunkenly to tune a spare guitar.
They were all laughing as Mike pushed Brendon off the bed with his foot. A few of the freshmen girls started cooing over Brendon, which he would totally milk for the rest of the night. One of the girls from campus activities, Chelsea, leaned over, whispering conspiratorially to Mike. He laughed, even louder, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pressing a sloppy kiss to her cheek.
That made Kevin want to sink into the floor a little. It wasn’t as though he’d expected Mike to like him or anything, but seeing firsthand that he didn’t have a chance was always like a slap in the face.
He retreated from the doorway and made his way to the couch where his brother was draped across the cushions.
“Sisky hates me,” he moaned as Kevin sat down.
“No he doesn’t,” Kevin chided, “And if it makes you feel any better, Mike is in the other room with some girl.”
Joe made a face, “I’m sorry, Kev.”
Kevin shrugged. “Sober up and I’ll make Sisky come with me to dinner tomorrow.” No one could keep fighting over dining hall sundaes
Soon enough Joe was replaced by Bill. The party was winding down and he wasn’t quite as drunk as he had been earlier.
“Kevin, why aren’t you playing guitar with the Michaels.”
Kevin grinned, “They seem sort of busy with those girls, Bill.”
Bill frowned, shaking his head in disagreement. He was probably right; the ladies all loved Kevin.
“How am I just meeting your roommate now, Bill? Wouldn’t I have met him at parties before?”
“Michael spent a lot of time off campus,” Bill explained. “He was captain of the swim team, blew his shoulder out last spring so,” he made a shoo-ing motion, “not this year. But, he’s not swimming, and he’s not working so he has much more time to party with us college-folk. I told him, ‘Michael, you need to quit your job and actually spend some time being a normal college student - partying, drinking, causing general mayhem.’ It’s much more fun than work.”
Well, that made a little bit more sense.
-
Professor Creager’s dress today was a little bit less ‘20s flapper, and a little bit more gypsy peasant. There were a lot of beads and Kevin kept getting distracted.
Mondays were dedicated to practicing music for the winter concert and even though it was still up around sixty degrees outside they were running through their Jingle Bells/Oh Holy Night medley.
Melissa slid down onto the piano bench next to Kevin. Someone was supposed to be ‘playing’ with Kevin during the show so he’d been learning the two person version that Creager had figured out over the summer.
“Shall we?” she asked.
“Of course, mademoiselle,” Kevin said with an over exaggerated nod of his head.
The two of them were laughing as Creager counted them into the song. There were still a lot of rough patches but they had a lot of time to work and by mid-November this would be all they were playing.
“Melissa,” Sisky asked as they paused and Creager started to emphasize to Michael Guy and the others in the string section the oomph she wanted from them. “I thought you played in the horn section.”
“I do,” she agreed.
“So, who’s playing with Kevin during the show?”
“Why, I am of course.”
“Oh.”
She winked at Kevin as she got up and crossed the room to where the actual horn section were going over sheet music.
“Dude, out of your league. And shouldn’t you be paying attention to Creager rather than drooling.”
Sisky spun his upright bass around, giving Kevin a look. “You’re one to talk. Better hope Carden doesn’t come to the show or you’re not going to be able to play.”
Kevin bit his lip hard as he turned back to the piano.
“Now, ladies and gentlemen,” Creager called them back to attention, “Where it is marked in the middle of this song we are going to stop playing. A few of the music-involved teachers will be making a quick speech. Each of your sections will be pulling up and playing what starts on page five of your sheet music.”
Michael Guy flashed a grin in Kevin’s direction and Creager was positively beaming from the front of the room. If they kept this a secret until the show Kevin would be shocked.
-
One of the first projects that Creager had assigned them for guitar was to teach their partners a song, and to compose something new. He and Mike had surprisingly fallen into a comfortable practice routine. The door to Mike’s apartment was usually left open so Kevin could let himself in and the two of them closed themselves in Mike’s room for almost two hours.
Mike had taught him to play an old jazz song. Kevin was planning on teaching Mike one of the songs they’d played in his church. He played it through once so Mike could hear it.
Mike was grinning while he watched him.
“So, this was high school for you, going to church and playing guitar and piano? I’ll bet you and your brothers were little rock star terrors.”
“For a few years, yeah,” Kevin laughed. “The church was a really big thing in our town. There were some problems the last year and a half but… well, we dealt with them.”
Mike raised an eyebrow. “What kind of problems?”
Inwardly Kevin groaned. “A lot of people in the church, and a lot of kids at school, they weren’t really happy when I came out.”
“They didn’t…” Mike trailed off. “You were okay, right?”
“I never got the crap kicked out of me, no,” Kevin explained, “But a lot of my friends turned out not to be my friends anymore and when word got out past the high school there were some people who were uncomfortable with me being at church for a while. I got shoved around in the halls a few times, and people said horrible things, mostly behind my back. It was hard on Joe and our brother Nick. People gave them a hard time too.”
He hadn’t realized he’d been looking down, completely absorbed in picking out a few chords on his guitar until Mike’s hand pressed against the strings a few inches up.
He looked up to find Mike looking at him, expression unreadable.
“I’m sorry people were assholes. You don’t deserve that.”
Kevin let out a long breath. He hadn’t doubted Sisky’s promise that Mike wasn’t that type of guy, but it was nice to have anyone tell him that.
“Thanks.”
“It’s better here, right?”
“A college in Chicago is a lot more accepting than a small town in Jersey, unsurprisingly,” Kevin shrugged, “And Sisky is the best roommate I could ask for, and Bill-”
“Doesn’t let anyone get away with giving you a hard time,” Mike finished for him. “Or let them care for that matter.”
Kevin nodded. Exactly. It would have been creepy if Mike and Bill hadn’t known each other for so long.
“So, do you have a boyfriend or anything?” Mike asked after silence had lapsed between them for a moment.
“No,” Kevin replied shortly. “Can we please not, I don’t know, spend so much time talking about this?”
Mike blushed distinctly and sat back on his bed, readjusting his guitar across his lap.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry. Here, why don’t you umm… why don’t you show me the first few chords of that song again. Once we get it down we can start writing a Prohibition era hymnal to knock Creager out with our creativeness.”
Kevin couldn’t help but laugh at Mike’s phrasing.
“Yeah, okay, so it starts like this…”
-
Even though he was going to be performing Kevin was on the committee for the president’s holiday dinner and concert. Bill was the head of said committee, just as he had been every year since Kevin had started college. They’d been planning and running through ideas since summer but once they began nearing Halloween Bill started calling meetings.
That was why Kevin found himself swinging by Joe’s dorm after spending the morning at the gym and walking with him up to the senior apartments. Bill’s apartment door was propped open and Katy and Travis were gathered around the table, papers spread between them.
Joe made a beeline for the fridge to grab a soda and Kevin dropped down onto the couch next to Katy.
“Poodle!” she squealed, hugging his arm.
Kevin grinned because Joe was totally jealous. When she let go he carefully draped his arm across the couch behind her.
“So,” Bill announced, perching his long body on the arm of the couch to call the meeting to order. “We’ve got some of the plans ready for spreading the word about this year’s bash.”
Travis snorted, “If President Franklin hears you call it that we’re going to get in so much trouble.”
“I’m sorry, the soiree,” Bill corrected. He picked up several pieces of paper from the table.
“So this is the flier we’re going to be hanging in the dorms, the one for the classrooms and campus center, and the one we’re going to send out to parent’s and esteemed alumni.” The student version was one of Travis’ artistic creations promising free food, good music and a ‘surprise.’ The other forms were slightly quirky but presented the general information that was required for all student activities: time, place and events.
“Surprise?” Joe asked.
Bill wiggled his eyebrows, “Don’t worry, young Jonas, we’ll keep that information out of the hands of the responsible adults.”
“I’m going to make copies of everything during my office hours tomorrow,” Spencer said, coming into the room. “The Alexes are going to run around and hang them all up and stuff envelopes.”
That was awful grunt work. Spencer had conned Kevin and Sisky into doing it freshman year and Kevin had never volunteered again. Fortunately, Spencer had a hell of a bitch-face and the Alexes were terrified of him… something about a promise of them losing their senate seats. Really, Spencer Smith was going to end up president someday, or the head of a dictatorship, Kevin couldn’t be certain.
“Today,” Spencer continued, “We need to go over menu, seating arrangements and Bill and I were thinking about table-toppers and mailbox stuffers to entice more of the student population to go.”
Kevin and Katy were in charge of decorations, ordering mailbox stuffers, and table centerpieces. Katy seemed to have Bill’s contagious energy about the dinner.
“We sent out mini silly string cans for the spring carnival last year,” she told Kevin conspiratorially. “Mix them in with Christmas candy, those leis and bottle openers from last year and we’ll have a party!”
They were going full-on Christmas for the table centerpieces, gift boxes, and snowmen. Spencer joined them once he was done with the seating setup and they were going over the breakdown of how many of each they needed when Kevin looked up just in time to watch Mike and Butcher head in the door.
Mike nodded to the group before heading into his room. Kevin nodded back and turned his attention back to the chart he and Spencer were marking up. The familiar music that began pouring out of Mike’s room caught his attention and he didn’t realize he’d been listening intently until Spencer snapped his fingers in front of Kevin’s face to bring him back to the real world.
“Sorry.”
“Uh huh,” he chuckled.
When they were finished Kevin made his way to the door of Mike’s room and leaned against the doorframe, “Is that the new Jimmy Eat World album?”
Mike turned away from his computer where there were a word document and his e-mail open. A slow smile pulled across his face, “Yeah it is. You like them?”
Kevin nodded, “Clarity was the first non-church song I learned to play on guitar.”
“Most played album on my ipod,” Mike agreed, “You got this one yet?”
“No, haven’t gotten out to buy it yet.”
Mike dropped his chair down onto all four legs and reached into his desk, pulling out a jewel case and handing it over to Kevin. “You would be the kind to need to buy it rather than just go download it. It’s good.”
“I’ll get it back to you tomorrow,” Kevin promised.
“Mike shrugged, “No rush. Besides, I know where to find you if I need it.”
-
on to part 2
---
Author: exmptfromsanity
Recipient: scratches_i_am
Prompt: A fic where there is a scene in the bathroom where Kevin and Mike are brushing their teeth. (Think of the scene from Bring It On with Torrance and the dude brushing their teeth. totally sexy.) or High School/University AU where Kevin and Mike are in band/orchestra together and there is a cameo by the girls in Rasputina. (Chicks on Cellos! Sexy)
Word Count: 11,754
Disclaimer: If only it was real but alas, unfortunately I don’t own a thing.
Summary: Kevin has a big, fat crush and a guitar class with Mike. Did I mention Kevin shares a dorm room with one Adam T. Siska… or that Mike happens to live with Bill who basically runs campus? Meanwhile the band is planning a huge surprise for the President’s annual Winter Soiree.
Author’s Note: So, I think I used just about everything… but nothing is exactly the focal point of the story. I hope you enjoy.
Music: Because I was sick for two weeks I listened to a lot of Christmas music while writing this, and feel the need to share it here.
“Sisky! Sis-Adam! Seriously, we are going to be so late,” Kevin hissed, trying to grab his sheet music and pull on his sneakers at the same time, only succeeding in landing awkwardly on his half-made bed.
“Kevin, relax,” Sisky laughed, tugging a t-shirt on over his head. “It’s band. No one cares.”
“We have a new band director this year. Just because Professor Wentz never cared doesn’t mean he won’t.”
Sisky heaved a sigh and slung his backpack over his shoulder. “Fine, let’s go.”
Kevin had dreaded starting school during his freshman year. Chicago was so far away from home and he feared that he just wouldn’t fit in with the guys in his dorm. Luck had placed him in a double with Adam Siska and the rest had been history. Adam had dragged Kevin down to the band office with him as soon as Kevin let it slip that he dabbled in guitar and piano, among other instruments. Then he’d dragged Kevin across campus to his brother’s dorm to borrow his car, and for senior parties on the weekends. He’d never let Kevin stay in to study on a Friday or Saturday night. In return Kevin made sure Adam got up for class and actually finished his big assignments, even if it was only hours before it was due.
This was probably while they were still living together two years later. They were polar opposites in terms of studying and partying, but they’d gotten close. Kevin credited Adam with making Joe looking at him in awe the year before when he’d started as a freshman, amazed to see a brother who actually had a life on campus.
He and Sisky skidded into the crowded classroom just after nine. The room was crowded with students, most of them lounging and chatting about summer. Sisky immediately began climbing through the chairs that were neatly arranged to reach the back where the Butcher had his drum kit set up and Michael Guy was helping a new girl tune her violin. Kevin followed along, cleaning up Sisky’s wake of knocked aside chairs and plopping down into an empty chair between the drums and the piano.
He looked around. There was no professor in the classroom. Sisky was totally going to give him hell for rushing them to class later. Slowly, he tipped the chair back so it was propped against the wall and leaned his head back against the plaster.
He was almost asleep when the door banged open loudly and he jumped, tumbling out of his chair and onto the floor.
“So sorry I’m late everyone,” came a woman’s voice as Kevin scrambled up off the floor. “Traffic was horrible and I’d nearly forgotten how awful the entrance to campus is before 8:30 classes.”
Kevin couldn’t help but stare. The woman at the front of the room was short, and not at all what he’d expected. Mr. Wentz had been a bit eccentric, wearing hoodies under his suit jackets. And strange colors but this woman was something else. She wore a beaded headband that seems straight out of the ‘60s, a shiny cloak-like shirt over a blouse and a skirt. Bohemian and Victorian were the words that came to mind.
“My name is Melora Creagar,” she said, “I’m going to be your band instructor this semester. I trust you’ve all met MelissaBell” she ran the two names together like they were one, “my TA. So, first things first, music out, and we’ll run through some scales before we start anything. Forget the music in your folders. I’ve selected a new arrangement for the winter concert. Frankly, the old selections were not at all to my taste.”
The warms up were eventful as she made her way around the room, introducing herself to students and commenting on technique, little things, making casual conversation. She stopped and stood by the piano as Kevin ran through some scales, laughing at Sisky’s enthusiastic playing of his upright bass.
“How long have you been playing, Mr. Jonas?”
“Twelve years,” Kevin replied. Band was easily the class where Kevin was most confident in his abilities.
“You look like you can multitask while playing.” She glanced back between the Butcher and Sisky, who were in the midst of one of their eyebrow conversations, “Ever do any singing while you play?”
Kevin nodded again, “My brothers and I played and sang with the church choir back home.”
A devilish smile crossed her lips, “Excellent.”
Kevin only felt slightly unnerved as she headed back to the front of the room. Professor Wentz was seeming less and less strange by the minute.
Class was almost over before they actually moved on to try a complete song. It was one of their major pieces from the past spring so most of the band was already familiar with it, so it didn’t sound as horrible as it could have.
Kevin focused on his piano part, aware of the other instruments and playing to them. It completely threw him off when there was the sudden crash of a cymbal that was so loud and out of place it seemed to make everyone jump. The discordant notes of the entire band caused his shoulders to tense.
All heads turned toward Butcher’s kit where the sound had come from. Butcher was leveling an annoyed glare at the guy who was holding a spare drumstick, looking guilty but not at all ashamed. He was about Butcher’s height, taller than Kevin, decked in jeans and a Ramones t-shirt, with long hair hanging in his face.
Butcher smacked the guy with his drumsticks and he jumped out of the way laughing, pushing his hair out of his face and showing off a bright grin. Kevin’s throat suddenly felt tight.
“Mr. Carden,” Professor Creager greeted, “To what do we owe the pleasure of you interrupting my class?”
Carden held up a fistful of papers. “I thought I would drop these off.”
She smiled genuinely and allowed him to come to the front of the room and hand her the forms.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” she said, clearly happy, “If any of you are interested in picking up a guitar class this semester I officially have enough students to do so. Add-drop isn’t over for another week. Now, Mr. Carden, if you don’t mind, I would rather not have your discordant drumming ruining my class. I will see you tomorrow morning.”
Kevin stared as he left, long enough that he stumbled through the opening of the song, enough that Sisky shot him that look. He wiggled his eyebrows as though to say shut your mouth, Kev, you’re drooling. Kevin turned to focus all of his attention back on the piano.
-
The next afternoon Kevin buried his face in his arms, hitting it with a thud against his desk in the student government office. Who had thought it was a good idea to take Economics? It had fit into his schedule and it was a social science… technically so it fit in with all the Psychology and Sociology classes he was taking. But he had over a hundred pages to read for Thursday and he was bored to tears ten pages in.
“It’s too soon for that, Jonas,” a voice said from behind him. “Not even a week into the semester and already you’re resorting to personal violence.”
Kevin smiled. “Hi Bill,” he mumbled into his arms.
Bill was the senior class president, a good friend of Sisky’s, and the person who had really pushed Kevin to run for vice president during his freshman year. Bill was the picture of cool, undisputedly the biggest flirt on campus; head, not only of the student government, but also the student activities board and editor of the student newspaper.
One of Bill’s fingers poked into Kevin’s shoulder and when he didn’t respond reached past him and picked up the textbook that was open on the desk.
“Economics…” he mused, “With Kisatsky. Jonas, what were you thinking?”
“Clearly I wasn’t.” Kevin replied, finally sitting up.
Bill was giving him an amused look as he snatched another one of the rolling chairs and slouched down into it. He began reading aloud from the introduction, exaggerating the words, and when he finished with the first long and boring paragraph he raised his head, slowly arching an eyebrow at Kevin.
“Did you and Adam smoke before signing up for classes?”
Kevin snorted. Sisky, absolutely; but him? Bill knew him better than that.
“I think class might kill my GPA,” Kevin lamented.
Bill glanced between him and the book. “Not to mention your sanity.”
Kevin nodded in agreement and took the book back, tossing it into his bag. He kicked the bag under his desk and leaned back to chat with William. It was too early in the year for them to have much to do, but there was no reason to go back to his room when they had a meeting in an hour.
Joe was nothing more than a class senator, not ambitious enough about student government to run for something that required more commitment, but he strolled into the room half an hour later, dropping onto the corner of Kevin’s desk and proclaiming loudly.
“I hear a hot guy interrupted your band practice this morning.”
Kevin felt himself flush. He was going to kill Sisky when he got back to the room.
Seriously. Butcher would understand… and help him hide the body.
He busied himself with straightening his desk, trying to ignore Joe, but Bill chimed in, his words careful but certainly related.
“You know, that new guitar class is the same time as your economics class.”
-
It had taken Kevin a few days to procure a guitar for the class. He had one at home but he mostly played piano at school so he hadn’t brought it with him. Finally Sisky had gotten him one on loan from his brother. He dropped it off just as Kevin was running out the door to go to his first class. It had to run in the Siska family, being late for everything.
He was out of breath by the time he got to class and he pushed open the door only to have roughly half a dozen heads turn in his direction. He recognized most of them. Carden and Michael Guy were there, in addition to Joe’s friends Marshall and Ian. Joe Trohman was sitting in the front of the room, probably just auditing the class, and there were a few freshmen huddled in the back corner.
“Sorry,” he said. It came out gasping.
“Mr. Jonas, good to see you,” Professor Creager said, her smile growing. “Come grab a seat. Look at that Mike, we’ve found you a practice partner.”
Kevin shot Michael-Guy a look as he grabbed a seat around their little group. Since when did anyone call him Mike? He accepted the syllabus and tucked it into the outside pocket of the guitar case.
“I’ll let you read that over yourself but the basics are that we are going to be learning some technique and doing some projects. You are to rehearse for three hours a week with a partner. You’ll be working with Mike. If you have issues with anything in there and you can ask me questions next class
“Now, gentlemen,” she grinned and there was an excited gleam in her eyes as she addressed the whole class again, “I am going to swear you all to secrecy- Chislett, Jonas- this means you, we are going to be learning a piece to play in the middle of the band performance at the Christmas concert. This is meant to be a technique and learning class but I’ve seen most of you play and I’m certain that we can rock the president’s concert in December.”
There were a few chuckles from the back, mostly because President Franklin was known for being strict and traditional. Kevin bit his lip nervously.
Class was over before Kevin really got his bearings but no one seemed to be in a rush to leave. Kevin nudged Michael- Guy’s chair with his foot, ready to ask when he was going to be around to practice. To his right Carden turned around in his chair and looked him up and down, almost like he was appraising him. Kevin froze- he was going to kill Sisky, slow and pain-.
Then Carden grinned. It was maniacal, to say the least. He stuck out a hand into the space between them.
“Hey,” he said, “I’m Mike.”
People liked to cast Kevin in the idiot role a lot but it all clicked really fast. Oh shit.
“What’s up, Kev?” Michael Guy asked, finally turning away from Joe to give him his attention.
For a moment, a really long, awkward moment, Kevin didn’t answer either of them. Finally he shook himself out of it and reached out to shake Mike’s hand.
“Kevin,” he said.
“I know.” Mike responded. Duh. Creager had only said his name a dozen or so times during class. Kevin kind of wanted to shrink down into his chair.
Mike didn’t seem to be aware of Kevin’s embarrassment as he pressed on, “So, when’s a good time to practice?”
When Kevin got back to his room Sisky was there, his laptop open on his desk. Kevin knew for a fact that he should have been in his advertising class, and said as much as he stuck the guitar in his closet.
“I think my time could be better spent working on my graphic design assignment.”
Kevin grunted in acknowledgement before dropping face-first onto his mattress.
“Could guitar have possibly been that bad?” Sisky laughed from across the room.
Kevin just mumbled into his pillow.
“Can’t hear you, man.”
Kevin turned his head so that he was looking at his roommate. “Mike Carden is my rehearsal partner for the semester.”
Sisky’s eyes lit up and he let out a rather evil laugh, gripping tightly to his chair to keep from falling over.
“Oh, this is great! Wait until I tell Bill!”
“Bill?” Kevin asked, confused.
“Mike’s been Bill’s roommate since freshman year.” Sisky announced. It was easy to see the gears turning and the plans forming in his head.
He just stared for a moment before groaning and burying his head under his pillow, muttering an annoyed, “don’t tell Joe,” as Sisky’s laughter became even more hysterical.
-
Kevin shifted the guitar case over his shoulder as he let himself into the senior apartment building. He and Mike had settled on Tuesdays and Thursdays to practice since neither had afternoon classes, and Kevin was already aware of where Bill’s room was. He made his way upstairs and knocked on the door to room 203. A moment later it was flung open, unsurprisingly, by Bill.
“Jonas!” He sounded more excited than usual and quickly ushered Kevin into the kitchen. Clearly he and Sisky had been chatting. Perfect.
“Michael!” He yelled, “Your cohort is here!”
A moment later Mike appeared in the doorway of one of the bedrooms, leveling a murderous glare in Bill’s direction. Kevin was stuck between being worried and secretly glad that someone else found Bill’s odd sort of enthusiasm annoying.
“You take good care of my favorite Jonas.”
“We’re playing guitar, Bill,” Mike said flatly, “Not going on an expedition to the North Pole.”
“No, it’s far too early in the season for that,” Bill said, waving them off.
“You want to practice in here,” Mike nodded into his room, “away from all the distractions.”
If Bill heard the comment he was practiced enough not to react.
Kevin nodded nervously and ducked past Mike. He shut the door behind them as Kevin looked around. He’d expected messy but it was actually a lot cleaner than he’d thought it would be. Most of Mike’s textbooks were piled on a makeshift bookshelf and the floor was only cluttered by a few sweatshirts and video game controllers. Show fliers were tacked to the bulletin board and a poster of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon cover was hanging over the desk. Mike dropped down onto the made bed with his acoustic so Kevin turned the desk chair so that they were facing one another.
“So, what did you think of the music Creager wants us to learn?” Mike asked.
“Umm… honestly, I haven’t even looked at anything yet.” Kevin said. He could feel a flush spreading up the back of his neck. Mike had clearly been one of the people who was eager to get the class going and Kevin hadn’t even bothered to look at what they were playing.
The look that crossed Mike’s face seemed to be one of annoyance as Kevin dug out his folder. He watched Kevin for a moment before he started talking again.
“It’s a good mix. We’re starting out with some classic rock, a lot of older stuff, and then there are a few weeks where we’re writing our own stuff or playing whatever we want.”
Kevin shifted through the sheet music. He had a lot of these songs on his ipod in the very least.
“What kind of stuff do you usually play?” Mike asked, “Not this?”
Kevin heard the teasing in his voice, just like he’d heard back in high school.
“It is, I just…” Kevin trailed off for a moment. “I learned to play guitar and piano in church and then started writing with my brothers. I don’t think I spent the required amount of teenaged time learning the classics.”
“Oh,” Mike looked a little surprised at his answer. He reached for Kevin’s sheet music and looked through them until he found the song he seemed to be looking for. “Why don’t we try this one then; it’s kind of close to the worship type stuff they play in the chapel.”
Kevin looked over the sheet music for a moment and when they both started in on the song he couldn’t tear his eyes away from Mike’s hands; he was practiced and even though they’d both been playing about the same amount of time it was clear that he played a lot more than Kevin did.
He got so distracted that he stumbled halfway through the song.
Mike shook his head, tossing his hair back out of his face.
“You’re concentrating too hard, Kid. Relax.”
Yeah, relax. Like that was going to happen.
-
Two weeks later Kevin’s crush on Mike Carden was nowhere near gone. The band was already well into building their set list for the winter concert and Kevin knew his parts almost without thinking. It was probably for the best as it gave him more time to focus on his guitar. It hadn’t been too long since he’d played but finding time to practice on his own made him less likely to trip over himself when he inevitably got distracted on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
On Saturday mornings he got up and went to brunch with Joe while Sisky slept in. No matter how late they were out the night before it was ingrained in both of them to be up early. The first weekend of October they sat in the dining hall for almost an hour, Joe regaling Kevin with stories of the off campus party he’d gone to the night before. Kevin responded with the Student Leaders’ retreat he’d gone on the previous weekend.
In the end Joe walked back up to the room with him, dropping down onto his bed and bringing up a new topic quietly, as not to wake Sisky.
“So Adam says you’re still hung up on this Carden guy,” he whispered. “You haven’t had a crush since Zac, and this guy… he’s nothing like Zac, Kev.”
Kevin bit his lip grinning, “I think that’s part of the appeal.”
Their parents had taken it hard when Kevin had come out back in high school. Zach had been appropriate, gone to their church and been a basketball hero. He’d been nice to Kevin even when a lot of kids had called him those awful names behind his back and to his face.
“Okay, so different, but Carden? The guy looks more like he’d murder you in your sleep than so much as look at you.”
Sisky barked a laugh from the other side of the room, alerting both of them to the fact that he was awake. They both jumped at the sound and Joe threw a pillow across the room in retaliation.
“Kevin likes dirty rock stars, Joe, always has. You’re going to have to learn to live with it.”
Kevin frowned, “How-”
“Because your crush on Frank freshman year was really obvious and you totally thought Wentz was hot until you realized how bizarre he was.”
Kevin groaned as Sisky named their freshman year RA and their old band director, both embarrassing now that he looked back.
“Mike’s a good guy, you could do worse.”
“Does he know you’re gay?” Joe asked.
Kevin shrugged. It was pretty common knowledge but it wasn’t something he’d told Mike explicitly.
“I just think he seems more like the kind of guy who’d beat the crap out of you when he finds out.”
Sisky sat up faster than Kevin could remember seeing him move before. His usually relaxed poise was gone.
“No,” he growled, sounding far more than annoyed as he chucked Kevin’s pillow back at Joe forcefully, “He’s not. And if you think that I’m not sure I want you in my dorm anymore.”
“I’m just worried about Kevin!”
“Would I be friends with someone who would do that to him?”
There was a long silence. Kevin felt like he should have said something but he wasn’t sure what. Joe was his brother and Sisky his best friend; they both cared about him, but they’d both been with him for vastly different experiences.
“Stop treating him like a freak who can’t look out for himself and just go back to teasing him about having a crush like a normal brother,” Sisky stood and ducked out of the room before either of them could say anything else.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” Joe said when the door was closed. “I’d worry no matter who it was.”
“I can look out for myself, Joe,” Kevin said slowly, “It’s a lot better here than it was at home. No one cares that much.”
“But you don’t know this guy.”
Kevin almost laughed, “It’s a crush. It’s not like I even have a chance with him. I mean, what are the chances he likes me, pretty low.”
“Kev-”
“Would Sisky be friends with him if he was that kind of guy? Or Bill? I’ll grow out of it in a few months and by that point I’ll have a friend who can probably scare off those kinds of homophobic assholes with his murderous look.”
“Okay.” Joe said, “If you’re sure.”
Joe was gone when Sisky came back. He dropped down onto Kevin’s bed next to him.
“Mike thinks you’re a sheltered kid,” he said. “He doesn’t take advantage of people and he doesn’t hate anyone who doesn’t deserve it.”
“Bill wouldn’t still be living with him if he was,” Kevin agreed. “Joe just remembers how much high school sucked for me.”
“College is a whole different world.”
“I know. And I like to think I’m a lot less sheltered than I was when we started school here.”
Sisky laughed, slinging an arm over Kevin’s shoulder. “I like to think our corruption is working its magic. Now, Bill’s having a party tonight. We are going.”
-
Parties at Bill’s apartment were never boring. When he and Sisky walked in the room was already way more crowded than rules allowed. Brendon was trying to entice Ryan to dance with him on the table while Spencer just tried to make sure he didn’t knock over any of the half-full bottles. The rest of the common room was crowded with people and he could hear laughing coming from both sides and both sets of rooms. Sisky disappeared into the masses, leaving Kevin to mingle.
Kevin headed off to the left, grabbing a beer from the fridge and wandering into Bill’s room. He and Travie had a beer pong table set up and a crowd of people cheering them on.
“Celebrity shot!” Bill yelled when he spotted Kevin. He reached through the crowd to grab his arm and drag him to the end of the table.
“I haven’t had anything to drink yet, Bill,” he said as Travie and Gabe cried foul from the other end of the table.
“Excellent, I’m on a losing streak.”
“Who are you playing with?”
“Well, I was playing with your brother, and then one of the Alexes, and Gabe - the traitor- but they all seem to have abandoned me,” Bill explained as he pressed the ping pong ball into Kevin’s hand.
Kevin grinned and sank a shot. He wasn’t escaping before the game ended.
He made his getaway from the table once he and Bill had won, leaving Gabe and Travie arguing that they’d cheated while Greta and Bob, and a few of the Alexes stole the table to start a new game. He spent the next few hours mingling with the entire student government (as they descended on Bill’s dorm room nearly every weekend), and playing DJ with the Butcher.
He stumbled into the room Michael Guy shared with the Butcher to find Mike and Michael rocking out with a few of their guitars. They were surrounded by the girls that frequented Bill’s parties. He stood in the doorway and listened as they played the Get Up Kids and Pink Floyd. Brendon was there, singing along while he tried drunkenly to tune a spare guitar.
They were all laughing as Mike pushed Brendon off the bed with his foot. A few of the freshmen girls started cooing over Brendon, which he would totally milk for the rest of the night. One of the girls from campus activities, Chelsea, leaned over, whispering conspiratorially to Mike. He laughed, even louder, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pressing a sloppy kiss to her cheek.
That made Kevin want to sink into the floor a little. It wasn’t as though he’d expected Mike to like him or anything, but seeing firsthand that he didn’t have a chance was always like a slap in the face.
He retreated from the doorway and made his way to the couch where his brother was draped across the cushions.
“Sisky hates me,” he moaned as Kevin sat down.
“No he doesn’t,” Kevin chided, “And if it makes you feel any better, Mike is in the other room with some girl.”
Joe made a face, “I’m sorry, Kev.”
Kevin shrugged. “Sober up and I’ll make Sisky come with me to dinner tomorrow.” No one could keep fighting over dining hall sundaes
Soon enough Joe was replaced by Bill. The party was winding down and he wasn’t quite as drunk as he had been earlier.
“Kevin, why aren’t you playing guitar with the Michaels.”
Kevin grinned, “They seem sort of busy with those girls, Bill.”
Bill frowned, shaking his head in disagreement. He was probably right; the ladies all loved Kevin.
“How am I just meeting your roommate now, Bill? Wouldn’t I have met him at parties before?”
“Michael spent a lot of time off campus,” Bill explained. “He was captain of the swim team, blew his shoulder out last spring so,” he made a shoo-ing motion, “not this year. But, he’s not swimming, and he’s not working so he has much more time to party with us college-folk. I told him, ‘Michael, you need to quit your job and actually spend some time being a normal college student - partying, drinking, causing general mayhem.’ It’s much more fun than work.”
Well, that made a little bit more sense.
-
Professor Creager’s dress today was a little bit less ‘20s flapper, and a little bit more gypsy peasant. There were a lot of beads and Kevin kept getting distracted.
Mondays were dedicated to practicing music for the winter concert and even though it was still up around sixty degrees outside they were running through their Jingle Bells/Oh Holy Night medley.
Melissa slid down onto the piano bench next to Kevin. Someone was supposed to be ‘playing’ with Kevin during the show so he’d been learning the two person version that Creager had figured out over the summer.
“Shall we?” she asked.
“Of course, mademoiselle,” Kevin said with an over exaggerated nod of his head.
The two of them were laughing as Creager counted them into the song. There were still a lot of rough patches but they had a lot of time to work and by mid-November this would be all they were playing.
“Melissa,” Sisky asked as they paused and Creager started to emphasize to Michael Guy and the others in the string section the oomph she wanted from them. “I thought you played in the horn section.”
“I do,” she agreed.
“So, who’s playing with Kevin during the show?”
“Why, I am of course.”
“Oh.”
She winked at Kevin as she got up and crossed the room to where the actual horn section were going over sheet music.
“Dude, out of your league. And shouldn’t you be paying attention to Creager rather than drooling.”
Sisky spun his upright bass around, giving Kevin a look. “You’re one to talk. Better hope Carden doesn’t come to the show or you’re not going to be able to play.”
Kevin bit his lip hard as he turned back to the piano.
“Now, ladies and gentlemen,” Creager called them back to attention, “Where it is marked in the middle of this song we are going to stop playing. A few of the music-involved teachers will be making a quick speech. Each of your sections will be pulling up and playing what starts on page five of your sheet music.”
Michael Guy flashed a grin in Kevin’s direction and Creager was positively beaming from the front of the room. If they kept this a secret until the show Kevin would be shocked.
-
One of the first projects that Creager had assigned them for guitar was to teach their partners a song, and to compose something new. He and Mike had surprisingly fallen into a comfortable practice routine. The door to Mike’s apartment was usually left open so Kevin could let himself in and the two of them closed themselves in Mike’s room for almost two hours.
Mike had taught him to play an old jazz song. Kevin was planning on teaching Mike one of the songs they’d played in his church. He played it through once so Mike could hear it.
Mike was grinning while he watched him.
“So, this was high school for you, going to church and playing guitar and piano? I’ll bet you and your brothers were little rock star terrors.”
“For a few years, yeah,” Kevin laughed. “The church was a really big thing in our town. There were some problems the last year and a half but… well, we dealt with them.”
Mike raised an eyebrow. “What kind of problems?”
Inwardly Kevin groaned. “A lot of people in the church, and a lot of kids at school, they weren’t really happy when I came out.”
“They didn’t…” Mike trailed off. “You were okay, right?”
“I never got the crap kicked out of me, no,” Kevin explained, “But a lot of my friends turned out not to be my friends anymore and when word got out past the high school there were some people who were uncomfortable with me being at church for a while. I got shoved around in the halls a few times, and people said horrible things, mostly behind my back. It was hard on Joe and our brother Nick. People gave them a hard time too.”
He hadn’t realized he’d been looking down, completely absorbed in picking out a few chords on his guitar until Mike’s hand pressed against the strings a few inches up.
He looked up to find Mike looking at him, expression unreadable.
“I’m sorry people were assholes. You don’t deserve that.”
Kevin let out a long breath. He hadn’t doubted Sisky’s promise that Mike wasn’t that type of guy, but it was nice to have anyone tell him that.
“Thanks.”
“It’s better here, right?”
“A college in Chicago is a lot more accepting than a small town in Jersey, unsurprisingly,” Kevin shrugged, “And Sisky is the best roommate I could ask for, and Bill-”
“Doesn’t let anyone get away with giving you a hard time,” Mike finished for him. “Or let them care for that matter.”
Kevin nodded. Exactly. It would have been creepy if Mike and Bill hadn’t known each other for so long.
“So, do you have a boyfriend or anything?” Mike asked after silence had lapsed between them for a moment.
“No,” Kevin replied shortly. “Can we please not, I don’t know, spend so much time talking about this?”
Mike blushed distinctly and sat back on his bed, readjusting his guitar across his lap.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry. Here, why don’t you umm… why don’t you show me the first few chords of that song again. Once we get it down we can start writing a Prohibition era hymnal to knock Creager out with our creativeness.”
Kevin couldn’t help but laugh at Mike’s phrasing.
“Yeah, okay, so it starts like this…”
-
Even though he was going to be performing Kevin was on the committee for the president’s holiday dinner and concert. Bill was the head of said committee, just as he had been every year since Kevin had started college. They’d been planning and running through ideas since summer but once they began nearing Halloween Bill started calling meetings.
That was why Kevin found himself swinging by Joe’s dorm after spending the morning at the gym and walking with him up to the senior apartments. Bill’s apartment door was propped open and Katy and Travis were gathered around the table, papers spread between them.
Joe made a beeline for the fridge to grab a soda and Kevin dropped down onto the couch next to Katy.
“Poodle!” she squealed, hugging his arm.
Kevin grinned because Joe was totally jealous. When she let go he carefully draped his arm across the couch behind her.
“So,” Bill announced, perching his long body on the arm of the couch to call the meeting to order. “We’ve got some of the plans ready for spreading the word about this year’s bash.”
Travis snorted, “If President Franklin hears you call it that we’re going to get in so much trouble.”
“I’m sorry, the soiree,” Bill corrected. He picked up several pieces of paper from the table.
“So this is the flier we’re going to be hanging in the dorms, the one for the classrooms and campus center, and the one we’re going to send out to parent’s and esteemed alumni.” The student version was one of Travis’ artistic creations promising free food, good music and a ‘surprise.’ The other forms were slightly quirky but presented the general information that was required for all student activities: time, place and events.
“Surprise?” Joe asked.
Bill wiggled his eyebrows, “Don’t worry, young Jonas, we’ll keep that information out of the hands of the responsible adults.”
“I’m going to make copies of everything during my office hours tomorrow,” Spencer said, coming into the room. “The Alexes are going to run around and hang them all up and stuff envelopes.”
That was awful grunt work. Spencer had conned Kevin and Sisky into doing it freshman year and Kevin had never volunteered again. Fortunately, Spencer had a hell of a bitch-face and the Alexes were terrified of him… something about a promise of them losing their senate seats. Really, Spencer Smith was going to end up president someday, or the head of a dictatorship, Kevin couldn’t be certain.
“Today,” Spencer continued, “We need to go over menu, seating arrangements and Bill and I were thinking about table-toppers and mailbox stuffers to entice more of the student population to go.”
Kevin and Katy were in charge of decorations, ordering mailbox stuffers, and table centerpieces. Katy seemed to have Bill’s contagious energy about the dinner.
“We sent out mini silly string cans for the spring carnival last year,” she told Kevin conspiratorially. “Mix them in with Christmas candy, those leis and bottle openers from last year and we’ll have a party!”
They were going full-on Christmas for the table centerpieces, gift boxes, and snowmen. Spencer joined them once he was done with the seating setup and they were going over the breakdown of how many of each they needed when Kevin looked up just in time to watch Mike and Butcher head in the door.
Mike nodded to the group before heading into his room. Kevin nodded back and turned his attention back to the chart he and Spencer were marking up. The familiar music that began pouring out of Mike’s room caught his attention and he didn’t realize he’d been listening intently until Spencer snapped his fingers in front of Kevin’s face to bring him back to the real world.
“Sorry.”
“Uh huh,” he chuckled.
When they were finished Kevin made his way to the door of Mike’s room and leaned against the doorframe, “Is that the new Jimmy Eat World album?”
Mike turned away from his computer where there were a word document and his e-mail open. A slow smile pulled across his face, “Yeah it is. You like them?”
Kevin nodded, “Clarity was the first non-church song I learned to play on guitar.”
“Most played album on my ipod,” Mike agreed, “You got this one yet?”
“No, haven’t gotten out to buy it yet.”
Mike dropped his chair down onto all four legs and reached into his desk, pulling out a jewel case and handing it over to Kevin. “You would be the kind to need to buy it rather than just go download it. It’s good.”
“I’ll get it back to you tomorrow,” Kevin promised.
“Mike shrugged, “No rush. Besides, I know where to find you if I need it.”
-
on to part 2
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