With A Bang
Title: With A Bang
Fandom: Jonas Brothers/The Academy Is...
Pairing: Kevin Jonas/Mike Carden
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Kevin meets Mike, girls don't make any sense, and Frankie is Awesome. Also, there's hidden Evan Taubenfeld references.
A/N: Seriously, nothing happens in this. There's some very, very subtle flirting that goes over Kevin's head, but that's it. No kissing, no sex, nothing. Just Kevin being adorable and hopefully a lot of humor. This is also the first fic I've ever written from Kevin's POV.
WARNING: THIS IS A BLATANT SELF-INSERT. BUT, my character doesn't really matter a whole lot. Not really. It just happens that this is part of a much, much, much bigger and more random fic that is probably never going to get finished but is still a lot of fun to write.
Wordcount: 3,515
Jessy bounces into the room, all smiles. She’s singing, off-key and terrible but so happy while she does it Kevin doesn’t have the heart to call her on it. “Attention, attention! May I have all your eyes and ears, to the front of the room, if onlyyyyyyyyyyyy, if only for one sec-ond. Oh! Kevin! Kevin, Kev, Kevy! Guess what, guess what!”
Kevin grins back because he can’t help it. Smiles make him happy and Jessy’s always smiling, ergo Jessy makes him happy. Nick taught him that word last week, ergo. He likes it; he might just start using it all the time. He’s already looking forward to the next interview he can drop it in.
“Let me guess! Um,” he pauses, screws up his face like he’s thinking really hard, “You bought me a pineapple smoothie?”
Kevin had taken to watching Psych with Jessy and she’d dragged him into a smoothie shack last week and ordered two giant pineapple smoothies, but it turned out that Jessy’s dislike of pineapples extended into smoothie form and Kevin had drank both of them because they were yummy, even if it’d given him a brain freeze.
“No! Well, I mean, I can. Later. But not what I was talking about. Where are your brothers?”
“Upstairs in Joe’s room. Nick dragged him up there an hour ago and locked the door?”
Jessy freezes and Kevin is reminded that Jessy has a strange fixation with his brothers’ relationship and he probably shouldn’t have mentioned that. “Really? Was Nick mad? Did he have that look, that dark, smoldering look he gets when he’s angry and possessive and jealous because Joe’s daring to -”
“Jess!” Mandy interrupts, coming into the kitchen behind Jessy. “Not the time. Focus.”
“Right, sorry. JOE! Nicholas! Get your ridiculously hot, illegal ass down here! You, too, Frankie!”
There’s a thundering of feet and Frankie appears first, jumping over the last step. He hugs Jessy around the middle. She beams, ruffles his hair with one hand and digs into her pocket with the other, pulls out a jelly bean and hands it over. Frankie shrugs and pops it into his mouth, climbing up onto one of the stools next to Kevin.
Joe and Nick follow a minute later. Nick’s got his hands in his hair, trying to tame his curls, and Joe’s wearing his megawatt smile. “I will have you know, Jessica, that I am not illegal.”
“I wasn’t talking about your ass, Joe. Don’t you know I’m a Nick girl?” Jessy winks at Nick, who frowns.
“I’m deeply disturbed by how blatantly you announce it.”
Jessy shrugs, “I feel no shame. Oh my God, guys, guess what?” and just like that, she’s bouncing in place and back to being happier than Kevin can honestly remember seeing her since the day they met.
“What already?” Frankie asks, pouting. “You’re as bad as Joe, always getting excited without telling anyone what’s so cool.”
“It’s no fun if you don’t guess,” Jessy sighs, crosses her arms and leans back against the counter.
Mandy rolls her eyes, “What Jess isn’t saying, is that we’ve got some friend in town, they gave us tickets for their show, and we’re going. All of us, Frankie included.”
“Really?” Frankie perks up and grins. Both girls nod and he jumps off his stool, “Awesome!”
He takes off up the stairs, happy without even knowing where they’re really going. Nick frowns, “Who are we seeing?”
“The Academy Is. We know the guys, well. Some of the guys. William, that would be Beckett, the lead singer, called us earlier to let us know they had some extra tickets.”
“So, come on!” Jessy grabs one of Nick’s hands and one of Joe’s and tugs them upstairs, calling over her shoulder, “Manda, Kev’s all yours! Make him pretty!”
Kevin has a muffin halfway to his mouth when he freezes, looks over at Mandy and takes in her smirk. He swallows hard, suddenly afraid. “Um.”
“Don’t worry,” Mandy’s smirk grows, “I’ll be gentle.”
“Not funny,” Kevin whines. Mandy grabs him by the wrist and tugs him up and towards the stairs, “Aw, but my muffin!”
Mandy seems to know exactly what she wants to dress him in and she mostly just spends the next ten minutes digging through his clothes looking for whatever it is. She shoves a wad of clothes against his chest and directs him towards the bathroom.
“Put them on and straighten your hair. You may need to get it cut…”
“What?” Kevin yelps. He isn’t cutting his hair, he’s not. Not just because Mandy tells him to. But then she might sick Jessy on him, and Mitchel had warned them all. He’d said that Jessy was scary and could scar them for life and he was Mitchel, almost five years younger than Kevin and still a lot cooler. And braver.
“I’m giving you the pixie look back,” Mandy answers immediately, as if that makes any sense.
“I’m not a pixie! Or a girl! That’s Joe.”
Mandy rolls her eyes as she turns around, looking at his hats. “Change!”
“Okay, okay!”
Kevin sighs and ducks into the bathroom, shutting the door in Joe’s face.
“Kev! Not fair!”
“Beat you fair and square, Danger!” Kevin yells back through the door.
Kevin changes quickly. Mandy had chosen him a bright blue shirt, probably the tightest pair of black jeans he owned, and one of his leather jackets. He bends his knees and stretches a little, wonders if he’ll even be able to sit in these jeans. Finally, he shrugs and picks up the flat iron.
He really hopes Mandy wasn’t serious about the hair cut.
Mandy drives because Jessy is fucking psychotic in city driving and it freaks them all out. At some point during the ride, Jessy handcuffs Joe to Nick and everyone kind of stares at her for a while before she notices “What? Scene girls are scary. They’ll either try and steal Joe or grope Nick. Seriously, you three,” she jabs a finger into Joe’s nose, Kevin’s cheek, and Nick’s forehead, “Keep close to us, okay.”
“That includes you, Frankie,” Nick makes sure to tell their youngest brother.
“No it doesn’t,” Jessy frowns, “He’s Frankie. He’s totally cool enough to manage a concert without holding our hand. That’s why we let him pick out his own clothes.”
“I’m hurt,” Joe pouts. Nick rolls his eyes and shakes his wrist, the handcuffs clinking together.
“This better not end up on the internet.”
Jessy grins and uses Mandy’s cell phone to take a picture. “Girls like holding hands with boys in handcuffs. But they really like holding hands with boys handcuffed to other boys.”
“Girls are weird.” Frankie comments.
“Yes, yes, they are, Frankenstein, but unfortunately it’s up to you to carry on the Jonas name.”
Frankie frowns, “What?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Nick says sharply. Jessy smirks and turns around in her seat.
There’s blissful silence for about two seconds and then Jessy squeals and fumbles to roll down the window, hanging half-way outside. “SISKY! I see you there! Ferret!”
Kevin leans forward, “Why is Jessy shouting random animal species out the window? Can I? OTTER!”
Mandy laughs, “No, Kev. We’ll explain in a minute.”
Mandy finds a parking spot and Jessy tumbles out of the front seat, starts running as soon as her feet hit the pavement. Mandy calls after her, because Jessy is an idiot who just ran into oncoming traffic, but she doesn’t even glance back, just jumps atop of some tall dude in a hat and jeans that look painted on.
“WILLIAM!” Jessy’s excited shriek makes Kevin wince from where he’s standing across the street. He doesn’t even want to imagine how the guy must feel with her close enough to be wrapped around him.
Mandy crosses the street as soon as it’s clear, an arm draped around Frankie’s shoulders, leaving Kevin and his other two brothers to follow after. Jessy has finally let go of the guy, and wow, up-close he is really tall. He’s also extremely good looking and just standing next to him makes Kevin feel small and stupid in a way he’s never felt before. Usually, he’s standing next to Joe and Joe never makes him feel small and stupid. Next to Joe, Kevin is a freaking genius.
The guy lets out a loud laugh and hauls Mandy against his side with a long arm, and Mandy rolls her eyes but tucks an arm around the guy’s shockingly thin waist and hugs back. “Hey, Bill. You miss us?”
Bill huffs, “Of course I did!”
There’s a blur of jeans and hoodie and hair and Jessy is being tackled, rather forcibly. She’s knocked back against a tour bus, but just laughs loudly and wraps both arms around her attacker’s neck and hugs like she’s trying to suffocate him. “Sisky!” she giggles, pushes him back so that she can look at his face. She grins impishly and ruffles his hair, messy blonde curls that flop over one eye with the other side cut short.
“You brought me a munchkin!” The blond squats down to Frankie’s level and high fives him.
“That’s Frankenstein. And those losers are Kevin, Nick, and Joe. But Frankie’s the cool one, right?”
“Yah,” Frankie agrees, “It’s hard being this awesome.”
Bill and Sisky both laugh and its Bill’s turn to high five Frankie. Joe shifts next to Kevin, not used to being ignored, and then Jessy is grabbing Kevin by one hand and hauling him forward.
“Come on, Kev! You’ve got to meet Mike. You can, like, orgasm over guitars or whatever.”
Kevin blushes. He still isn’t used to how blasé Jessy is about things like sex and orgasms. Kevin thinks Joe would have been like her, if they hadn’t been homeschooled. That’s a pretty scary thought, really.
Behind them, Kevin can hear Nick launch into a conversation with Bill and Joe and Sisky start talking about ferrets. Kevin doesn’t really like ferrets. Or weasels. He’d only been around a weasel once and the thing had run up his pant leg. Somewhere, Kevin thinks his mom still has the video of him shrieking like a girl. It’s Joe’s favorite piece of blackmail. Kevin is suddenly very afraid that Sisky is going to sell Joe his ferret and Kevin will have to start watching out for ninja ferrets looking to run up his pant leg at a moment’s notice.
They’re met at the door by a small man and Jessy’s eyes lit up as she hugs him, “Hi! Tony, how’ve you been?”
The guy eyes her, “You’re not going with us, are you?”
“Nope! Just here for the show. Do you have our passes?”
“Oh! Yah, Bill did say we’d need some backstage ones tonight. Give me a second…” Tony ruffles around in his pockets and starts pulling things out. Cell phone, iPod, wallet, wad of cash, marker, bit of paper, ball of string, phone charger, Kevin is amazed by the amount of things the guy can fit into the tiny pockets of his hoodie. He wonders if maybe Tony is a magician. That’d be pretty awesome, especially if he could pull a rabbit out of a hat because Kevin likes rabbits. Their noses wiggle. Finally, the guy makes an ‘a-ha!’ sound and hands over passes.
Jessy takes two, hands the rest back over, and kisses Tony on the cheek before tugging Kevin into the venue. It’s small and intimate in a way Kevin isn’t used to with their shows and he finds himself missing the days when they played at places roughly the same size.
There’re a few people at the merchandize tables and Kevin has a sudden memory of playing hide-and-go-seek with Frankie before a show, finding him hiding beneath one of the tables their mom was handling before Nick got sick. There are two guys at the bar and a third sitting on the stage with a guitar in his lap. Jessy drags him over to the bar.
“Butcher!” Jessy yells. Kevin thinks he may be deaf before the concert even begins. The guy she throws herself at this time is shirtless. He isn’t wearing anything but green Capri pants and bright yellow river-shoes. He’s got a scraggly beard and he’s covered in tattoos. He’s slightly scary.
The other guy, to be frank (haha, wrong Jonas), is all together terrifying. He looks at Kevin through a curtain of dark hair, his lips curling dangerously. He looks like an axe murder. Like he’s thinking about breaking a beer bottle on the bar and using the shards to slice Kevin open. Kevin might be shaking in his (very stylish, thank you) boots right now.
Also, Kevin faintly notes in some part of his brain that isn’t panicking, crazy axe murder guy is also strangely, ridiculously hot. Like, Kevin has always liked bad boys, but this guy takes it to a whole new level and it’s sexy.
That doesn’t mean Kevin isn’t still terrified. Because he is.
The guy brings a cigarette to his lips (Kevin thinks, ew, gross, but is smart enough not to say anything), and inhales. He exhales on a laugh, a dark chuckle more than anything. A laugh worthy of a serial killer. Kevin is reminded that he really doesn’t know Jessy all that well and it’s possible that she has lured him to his death.
“Aw, Jess,” Kevin wants to shudder. Scary guy or not, he has a really hot voice. “You brought up a Jonas?”
“I brought you four Jonaii, Carden, my friend. Put that out, anyway. Smoking will kill you, you know. It’s gross. Why do you do it?” Jessy puts her hands on her hips as she scolds the murderer like she was his mother. “This is Kevin. Frankie is off being awesome outside, but you totally need to meet him next. Kevin, say hi,” she hip-checks him, which Kevin doesn’t think is fair because it pushes him closer to the axe murderer known as Carden.
“Um, hi?” Kevin’s voice squeaks and he can’t help but flush.
Carden seems more or less amused, his lips quirking just a bit more. “Well, aren’t you adorable.”
Kevin understands that Carden is either making fun of him or insulting him, but he’s not sure which one. It sounds a little like both.
Jessy rolls her eyes, takes the cigarette from Carden’s hand, and stubs it out into an ash tray. “You’ll thank me when you don’t have lung cancer.”
Carden snorts quietly, “Want something to drink?”
“Coke please. Kev, you want something?”
For some reason, Kevin catches Carden’s eye. Carden arches an eyebrow and sips at his own drink, which is definitely not a Pepsi. Kevin bites his lip.
Jessy and Mandy had gotten the okay from their parents to take them on this trip (mostly needed because of Frankie) but after, Joe and Kevin had been taken aside and reminded that they had responsibilities and were expected to set a good example for Nick and Frankie. Neither Jessy nor Mandy drank, so it hadn’t seemed like a big deal. Except now it clearly is a deal and Kevin. Well, Kevin is curious.
“I’ll, um. Have whatever you are?”
Jessy giggles, “Corrupting the pure already, Mike? That’s gotta be a record. Watch over my Kevy. I’ve got to go rescue Chizzy from Joe. Joseph Jonas, what are you doing? Your Australian accent sucks, okay? Even I think that. You’re probably making poor Michael Guy’s ears bleed.”
Kevin squeaks as Jessy marches off, looks up at Carden (Mike?) and swallows hard. “Um. Hi?” he offers again.
All he gets in return is a smirk.
They spend the concert at the front of the stage, with hoods pulled up to block their faces. Joe and Nick are still cuffed together. Nick’s head is bobbing to the beat and Joe is moving, rocking on his heels, because Joe is Joe and he’s always moving. Frankie is mouthing along to the words, apparently having had the chance to learn them with all the time he’s spent with the girls lately. Jessy and Mandy are losing their minds, screaming out the songs at the top of their lungs and rocking out.
Sisky grabs William’s microphone halfway through the set and the pair kind of melt together, much like Kevin has seen Joe and Nick do a million times. William drapes an arm around Sisky’s shoulders, leans on him and rests his cheek on blonde curls.
“We’ve got some friends in the audience tonight and this is for them.”
Kevin freezes because he knows that beat, knows the guitar work even if they’ve made some changes to it. It sounds off, different but still good and he even in the low-lighting, Kevin can see Nick frown, eyes calculating as he makes note of all the changes.
It’s weird, hearing the song from a voice other than Joe’s. William’s voice is different, he sings at a different note and the changes to the song accentuate that. It works and Nick nods a little to himself and Kevin can tell he’s pleased.
The song changes, shifts perfectly from Burnin’ Up to Kings of Leon’s Sex on Fire and Joe’s eyes lit up. Jessy makes a face, rolls her eyes at William, who smirks back at her. They only do a few lines before the song is changing again.
Kevin doesn’t recognize it, but Jessy and Mandy both scream so loud Frankie covers his ears and glares up at them. They belt out the song, just about the only ones in the crowd doing so. William points at them, holds the mic out, the music cuts out, and the girls scream, Pumpkin pie. It doesn’t make sense, not from what Kevin’s been able to make out from the song, but they’re grinning harder than Kevin’s ever seen them and William laughs, nods, and brings the mic back up to finish off the song.
The band finishes the set quickly and disappear backstage. Jessy tugs at Kevin’s hand and he grabs a hold of Joe’s wrist so he isn’t lost in the crowd. He can see Mandy has Frankie’s hand and he doesn’t trust many people with his brothers, but he trusts these girls.
The girls head backstage, where the drummer is lounging around (still shirtless). Carden, the scary-looking but surprisingly talented guitarist from before, is pulling his shirt over his head, dragging it through his sweat-soaked hair and wiping his face.
Kevin tries (and fails) to not stare.
Carden catches him staring and, again, smirks at Kevin knowingly. It sends a wave of heat through the eldest Jonas and he turns away, cheeks burning hot and jeans noticeably tighter.
It’s confusing. Kevin has always liked guys as much as he’s liked girls, but he’s always had Danny and now he doesn’t. He’s just been noticing other people a lot more, like when he hung out with Zac last week and suddenly realized that, wow, Zac Efron really is unnaturally good looking and Kevin still isn’t sure why he’d never noticed before.
But, this guy isn’t like Zac. He’s not… Not pretty. Everything about him screams danger and that is just really hot. But, also, scary and weird.
Kevin decides he’s just going to ignore Carden. That plan works in the way it totally doesn’t, because every time he looks up, Carden is staring right at him with his lips curled into a dark smile and Jessy rambling on and on at his side.
Kevin doesn’t stop blushing for hours.
Later, when they’re all back home, Kevin finds himself in the kitchen, alone with a tub of ice-cream until Jessy jumps up onto the counter, coming out of nowhere like a ninja with a spoon in her hand. They eat in silence for a while and then she nudges his knee with her foot and he tilts his head up to look at her. She’s grinning so hard it looks like it might hurt a little.
“So. What’d you think of Mike?”
Kevin blushes all the way to his toes and Jessy squeals, claps her hands, and kisses his cheek, her lips cold and sticky from the ice-cream. He wipes at his cheek with the pads of his fingers and shoves at her lightly.
“What was that for?”
“You like him!”
“I don’t!”
“You do! I’m so excited!”
“I don’t like him! He looks like he’d murder me in my sleep.”
She waves off his comment, “Oh, he’s a big softie! Just avoid him during Halloween, because that’s some scary shit. And, anyway, he totally likes you. He has this thing for sweet, innocent guys. Mike has a type.”
Kevin opens his mouth to ask about Halloween, but then it clicks and, “He likes me?”
Jessy giggles and jumps down from her perch. “Maybe,” she calls over her shoulder as she runs up the stairs.
“Jessy! What did you mean he likes me?” He chases after her, ice-cream forgotten.
It’s a melted bucket of goo in the morning and Kevin still hasn’t gotten his answers, but he’s maybe a little bit hopeful.
Maybe.
Fandom: Jonas Brothers/The Academy Is...
Pairing: Kevin Jonas/Mike Carden
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Kevin meets Mike, girls don't make any sense, and Frankie is Awesome. Also, there's hidden Evan Taubenfeld references.
A/N: Seriously, nothing happens in this. There's some very, very subtle flirting that goes over Kevin's head, but that's it. No kissing, no sex, nothing. Just Kevin being adorable and hopefully a lot of humor. This is also the first fic I've ever written from Kevin's POV.
WARNING: THIS IS A BLATANT SELF-INSERT. BUT, my character doesn't really matter a whole lot. Not really. It just happens that this is part of a much, much, much bigger and more random fic that is probably never going to get finished but is still a lot of fun to write.
Wordcount: 3,515
Jessy bounces into the room, all smiles. She’s singing, off-key and terrible but so happy while she does it Kevin doesn’t have the heart to call her on it. “Attention, attention! May I have all your eyes and ears, to the front of the room, if onlyyyyyyyyyyyy, if only for one sec-ond. Oh! Kevin! Kevin, Kev, Kevy! Guess what, guess what!”
Kevin grins back because he can’t help it. Smiles make him happy and Jessy’s always smiling, ergo Jessy makes him happy. Nick taught him that word last week, ergo. He likes it; he might just start using it all the time. He’s already looking forward to the next interview he can drop it in.
“Let me guess! Um,” he pauses, screws up his face like he’s thinking really hard, “You bought me a pineapple smoothie?”
Kevin had taken to watching Psych with Jessy and she’d dragged him into a smoothie shack last week and ordered two giant pineapple smoothies, but it turned out that Jessy’s dislike of pineapples extended into smoothie form and Kevin had drank both of them because they were yummy, even if it’d given him a brain freeze.
“No! Well, I mean, I can. Later. But not what I was talking about. Where are your brothers?”
“Upstairs in Joe’s room. Nick dragged him up there an hour ago and locked the door?”
Jessy freezes and Kevin is reminded that Jessy has a strange fixation with his brothers’ relationship and he probably shouldn’t have mentioned that. “Really? Was Nick mad? Did he have that look, that dark, smoldering look he gets when he’s angry and possessive and jealous because Joe’s daring to -”
“Jess!” Mandy interrupts, coming into the kitchen behind Jessy. “Not the time. Focus.”
“Right, sorry. JOE! Nicholas! Get your ridiculously hot, illegal ass down here! You, too, Frankie!”
There’s a thundering of feet and Frankie appears first, jumping over the last step. He hugs Jessy around the middle. She beams, ruffles his hair with one hand and digs into her pocket with the other, pulls out a jelly bean and hands it over. Frankie shrugs and pops it into his mouth, climbing up onto one of the stools next to Kevin.
Joe and Nick follow a minute later. Nick’s got his hands in his hair, trying to tame his curls, and Joe’s wearing his megawatt smile. “I will have you know, Jessica, that I am not illegal.”
“I wasn’t talking about your ass, Joe. Don’t you know I’m a Nick girl?” Jessy winks at Nick, who frowns.
“I’m deeply disturbed by how blatantly you announce it.”
Jessy shrugs, “I feel no shame. Oh my God, guys, guess what?” and just like that, she’s bouncing in place and back to being happier than Kevin can honestly remember seeing her since the day they met.
“What already?” Frankie asks, pouting. “You’re as bad as Joe, always getting excited without telling anyone what’s so cool.”
“It’s no fun if you don’t guess,” Jessy sighs, crosses her arms and leans back against the counter.
Mandy rolls her eyes, “What Jess isn’t saying, is that we’ve got some friend in town, they gave us tickets for their show, and we’re going. All of us, Frankie included.”
“Really?” Frankie perks up and grins. Both girls nod and he jumps off his stool, “Awesome!”
He takes off up the stairs, happy without even knowing where they’re really going. Nick frowns, “Who are we seeing?”
“The Academy Is. We know the guys, well. Some of the guys. William, that would be Beckett, the lead singer, called us earlier to let us know they had some extra tickets.”
“So, come on!” Jessy grabs one of Nick’s hands and one of Joe’s and tugs them upstairs, calling over her shoulder, “Manda, Kev’s all yours! Make him pretty!”
Kevin has a muffin halfway to his mouth when he freezes, looks over at Mandy and takes in her smirk. He swallows hard, suddenly afraid. “Um.”
“Don’t worry,” Mandy’s smirk grows, “I’ll be gentle.”
“Not funny,” Kevin whines. Mandy grabs him by the wrist and tugs him up and towards the stairs, “Aw, but my muffin!”
Mandy seems to know exactly what she wants to dress him in and she mostly just spends the next ten minutes digging through his clothes looking for whatever it is. She shoves a wad of clothes against his chest and directs him towards the bathroom.
“Put them on and straighten your hair. You may need to get it cut…”
“What?” Kevin yelps. He isn’t cutting his hair, he’s not. Not just because Mandy tells him to. But then she might sick Jessy on him, and Mitchel had warned them all. He’d said that Jessy was scary and could scar them for life and he was Mitchel, almost five years younger than Kevin and still a lot cooler. And braver.
“I’m giving you the pixie look back,” Mandy answers immediately, as if that makes any sense.
“I’m not a pixie! Or a girl! That’s Joe.”
Mandy rolls her eyes as she turns around, looking at his hats. “Change!”
“Okay, okay!”
Kevin sighs and ducks into the bathroom, shutting the door in Joe’s face.
“Kev! Not fair!”
“Beat you fair and square, Danger!” Kevin yells back through the door.
Kevin changes quickly. Mandy had chosen him a bright blue shirt, probably the tightest pair of black jeans he owned, and one of his leather jackets. He bends his knees and stretches a little, wonders if he’ll even be able to sit in these jeans. Finally, he shrugs and picks up the flat iron.
He really hopes Mandy wasn’t serious about the hair cut.
Mandy drives because Jessy is fucking psychotic in city driving and it freaks them all out. At some point during the ride, Jessy handcuffs Joe to Nick and everyone kind of stares at her for a while before she notices “What? Scene girls are scary. They’ll either try and steal Joe or grope Nick. Seriously, you three,” she jabs a finger into Joe’s nose, Kevin’s cheek, and Nick’s forehead, “Keep close to us, okay.”
“That includes you, Frankie,” Nick makes sure to tell their youngest brother.
“No it doesn’t,” Jessy frowns, “He’s Frankie. He’s totally cool enough to manage a concert without holding our hand. That’s why we let him pick out his own clothes.”
“I’m hurt,” Joe pouts. Nick rolls his eyes and shakes his wrist, the handcuffs clinking together.
“This better not end up on the internet.”
Jessy grins and uses Mandy’s cell phone to take a picture. “Girls like holding hands with boys in handcuffs. But they really like holding hands with boys handcuffed to other boys.”
“Girls are weird.” Frankie comments.
“Yes, yes, they are, Frankenstein, but unfortunately it’s up to you to carry on the Jonas name.”
Frankie frowns, “What?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Nick says sharply. Jessy smirks and turns around in her seat.
There’s blissful silence for about two seconds and then Jessy squeals and fumbles to roll down the window, hanging half-way outside. “SISKY! I see you there! Ferret!”
Kevin leans forward, “Why is Jessy shouting random animal species out the window? Can I? OTTER!”
Mandy laughs, “No, Kev. We’ll explain in a minute.”
Mandy finds a parking spot and Jessy tumbles out of the front seat, starts running as soon as her feet hit the pavement. Mandy calls after her, because Jessy is an idiot who just ran into oncoming traffic, but she doesn’t even glance back, just jumps atop of some tall dude in a hat and jeans that look painted on.
“WILLIAM!” Jessy’s excited shriek makes Kevin wince from where he’s standing across the street. He doesn’t even want to imagine how the guy must feel with her close enough to be wrapped around him.
Mandy crosses the street as soon as it’s clear, an arm draped around Frankie’s shoulders, leaving Kevin and his other two brothers to follow after. Jessy has finally let go of the guy, and wow, up-close he is really tall. He’s also extremely good looking and just standing next to him makes Kevin feel small and stupid in a way he’s never felt before. Usually, he’s standing next to Joe and Joe never makes him feel small and stupid. Next to Joe, Kevin is a freaking genius.
The guy lets out a loud laugh and hauls Mandy against his side with a long arm, and Mandy rolls her eyes but tucks an arm around the guy’s shockingly thin waist and hugs back. “Hey, Bill. You miss us?”
Bill huffs, “Of course I did!”
There’s a blur of jeans and hoodie and hair and Jessy is being tackled, rather forcibly. She’s knocked back against a tour bus, but just laughs loudly and wraps both arms around her attacker’s neck and hugs like she’s trying to suffocate him. “Sisky!” she giggles, pushes him back so that she can look at his face. She grins impishly and ruffles his hair, messy blonde curls that flop over one eye with the other side cut short.
“You brought me a munchkin!” The blond squats down to Frankie’s level and high fives him.
“That’s Frankenstein. And those losers are Kevin, Nick, and Joe. But Frankie’s the cool one, right?”
“Yah,” Frankie agrees, “It’s hard being this awesome.”
Bill and Sisky both laugh and its Bill’s turn to high five Frankie. Joe shifts next to Kevin, not used to being ignored, and then Jessy is grabbing Kevin by one hand and hauling him forward.
“Come on, Kev! You’ve got to meet Mike. You can, like, orgasm over guitars or whatever.”
Kevin blushes. He still isn’t used to how blasé Jessy is about things like sex and orgasms. Kevin thinks Joe would have been like her, if they hadn’t been homeschooled. That’s a pretty scary thought, really.
Behind them, Kevin can hear Nick launch into a conversation with Bill and Joe and Sisky start talking about ferrets. Kevin doesn’t really like ferrets. Or weasels. He’d only been around a weasel once and the thing had run up his pant leg. Somewhere, Kevin thinks his mom still has the video of him shrieking like a girl. It’s Joe’s favorite piece of blackmail. Kevin is suddenly very afraid that Sisky is going to sell Joe his ferret and Kevin will have to start watching out for ninja ferrets looking to run up his pant leg at a moment’s notice.
They’re met at the door by a small man and Jessy’s eyes lit up as she hugs him, “Hi! Tony, how’ve you been?”
The guy eyes her, “You’re not going with us, are you?”
“Nope! Just here for the show. Do you have our passes?”
“Oh! Yah, Bill did say we’d need some backstage ones tonight. Give me a second…” Tony ruffles around in his pockets and starts pulling things out. Cell phone, iPod, wallet, wad of cash, marker, bit of paper, ball of string, phone charger, Kevin is amazed by the amount of things the guy can fit into the tiny pockets of his hoodie. He wonders if maybe Tony is a magician. That’d be pretty awesome, especially if he could pull a rabbit out of a hat because Kevin likes rabbits. Their noses wiggle. Finally, the guy makes an ‘a-ha!’ sound and hands over passes.
Jessy takes two, hands the rest back over, and kisses Tony on the cheek before tugging Kevin into the venue. It’s small and intimate in a way Kevin isn’t used to with their shows and he finds himself missing the days when they played at places roughly the same size.
There’re a few people at the merchandize tables and Kevin has a sudden memory of playing hide-and-go-seek with Frankie before a show, finding him hiding beneath one of the tables their mom was handling before Nick got sick. There are two guys at the bar and a third sitting on the stage with a guitar in his lap. Jessy drags him over to the bar.
“Butcher!” Jessy yells. Kevin thinks he may be deaf before the concert even begins. The guy she throws herself at this time is shirtless. He isn’t wearing anything but green Capri pants and bright yellow river-shoes. He’s got a scraggly beard and he’s covered in tattoos. He’s slightly scary.
The other guy, to be frank (haha, wrong Jonas), is all together terrifying. He looks at Kevin through a curtain of dark hair, his lips curling dangerously. He looks like an axe murder. Like he’s thinking about breaking a beer bottle on the bar and using the shards to slice Kevin open. Kevin might be shaking in his (very stylish, thank you) boots right now.
Also, Kevin faintly notes in some part of his brain that isn’t panicking, crazy axe murder guy is also strangely, ridiculously hot. Like, Kevin has always liked bad boys, but this guy takes it to a whole new level and it’s sexy.
That doesn’t mean Kevin isn’t still terrified. Because he is.
The guy brings a cigarette to his lips (Kevin thinks, ew, gross, but is smart enough not to say anything), and inhales. He exhales on a laugh, a dark chuckle more than anything. A laugh worthy of a serial killer. Kevin is reminded that he really doesn’t know Jessy all that well and it’s possible that she has lured him to his death.
“Aw, Jess,” Kevin wants to shudder. Scary guy or not, he has a really hot voice. “You brought up a Jonas?”
“I brought you four Jonaii, Carden, my friend. Put that out, anyway. Smoking will kill you, you know. It’s gross. Why do you do it?” Jessy puts her hands on her hips as she scolds the murderer like she was his mother. “This is Kevin. Frankie is off being awesome outside, but you totally need to meet him next. Kevin, say hi,” she hip-checks him, which Kevin doesn’t think is fair because it pushes him closer to the axe murderer known as Carden.
“Um, hi?” Kevin’s voice squeaks and he can’t help but flush.
Carden seems more or less amused, his lips quirking just a bit more. “Well, aren’t you adorable.”
Kevin understands that Carden is either making fun of him or insulting him, but he’s not sure which one. It sounds a little like both.
Jessy rolls her eyes, takes the cigarette from Carden’s hand, and stubs it out into an ash tray. “You’ll thank me when you don’t have lung cancer.”
Carden snorts quietly, “Want something to drink?”
“Coke please. Kev, you want something?”
For some reason, Kevin catches Carden’s eye. Carden arches an eyebrow and sips at his own drink, which is definitely not a Pepsi. Kevin bites his lip.
Jessy and Mandy had gotten the okay from their parents to take them on this trip (mostly needed because of Frankie) but after, Joe and Kevin had been taken aside and reminded that they had responsibilities and were expected to set a good example for Nick and Frankie. Neither Jessy nor Mandy drank, so it hadn’t seemed like a big deal. Except now it clearly is a deal and Kevin. Well, Kevin is curious.
“I’ll, um. Have whatever you are?”
Jessy giggles, “Corrupting the pure already, Mike? That’s gotta be a record. Watch over my Kevy. I’ve got to go rescue Chizzy from Joe. Joseph Jonas, what are you doing? Your Australian accent sucks, okay? Even I think that. You’re probably making poor Michael Guy’s ears bleed.”
Kevin squeaks as Jessy marches off, looks up at Carden (Mike?) and swallows hard. “Um. Hi?” he offers again.
All he gets in return is a smirk.
They spend the concert at the front of the stage, with hoods pulled up to block their faces. Joe and Nick are still cuffed together. Nick’s head is bobbing to the beat and Joe is moving, rocking on his heels, because Joe is Joe and he’s always moving. Frankie is mouthing along to the words, apparently having had the chance to learn them with all the time he’s spent with the girls lately. Jessy and Mandy are losing their minds, screaming out the songs at the top of their lungs and rocking out.
Sisky grabs William’s microphone halfway through the set and the pair kind of melt together, much like Kevin has seen Joe and Nick do a million times. William drapes an arm around Sisky’s shoulders, leans on him and rests his cheek on blonde curls.
“We’ve got some friends in the audience tonight and this is for them.”
Kevin freezes because he knows that beat, knows the guitar work even if they’ve made some changes to it. It sounds off, different but still good and he even in the low-lighting, Kevin can see Nick frown, eyes calculating as he makes note of all the changes.
It’s weird, hearing the song from a voice other than Joe’s. William’s voice is different, he sings at a different note and the changes to the song accentuate that. It works and Nick nods a little to himself and Kevin can tell he’s pleased.
The song changes, shifts perfectly from Burnin’ Up to Kings of Leon’s Sex on Fire and Joe’s eyes lit up. Jessy makes a face, rolls her eyes at William, who smirks back at her. They only do a few lines before the song is changing again.
Kevin doesn’t recognize it, but Jessy and Mandy both scream so loud Frankie covers his ears and glares up at them. They belt out the song, just about the only ones in the crowd doing so. William points at them, holds the mic out, the music cuts out, and the girls scream, Pumpkin pie. It doesn’t make sense, not from what Kevin’s been able to make out from the song, but they’re grinning harder than Kevin’s ever seen them and William laughs, nods, and brings the mic back up to finish off the song.
The band finishes the set quickly and disappear backstage. Jessy tugs at Kevin’s hand and he grabs a hold of Joe’s wrist so he isn’t lost in the crowd. He can see Mandy has Frankie’s hand and he doesn’t trust many people with his brothers, but he trusts these girls.
The girls head backstage, where the drummer is lounging around (still shirtless). Carden, the scary-looking but surprisingly talented guitarist from before, is pulling his shirt over his head, dragging it through his sweat-soaked hair and wiping his face.
Kevin tries (and fails) to not stare.
Carden catches him staring and, again, smirks at Kevin knowingly. It sends a wave of heat through the eldest Jonas and he turns away, cheeks burning hot and jeans noticeably tighter.
It’s confusing. Kevin has always liked guys as much as he’s liked girls, but he’s always had Danny and now he doesn’t. He’s just been noticing other people a lot more, like when he hung out with Zac last week and suddenly realized that, wow, Zac Efron really is unnaturally good looking and Kevin still isn’t sure why he’d never noticed before.
But, this guy isn’t like Zac. He’s not… Not pretty. Everything about him screams danger and that is just really hot. But, also, scary and weird.
Kevin decides he’s just going to ignore Carden. That plan works in the way it totally doesn’t, because every time he looks up, Carden is staring right at him with his lips curled into a dark smile and Jessy rambling on and on at his side.
Kevin doesn’t stop blushing for hours.
Later, when they’re all back home, Kevin finds himself in the kitchen, alone with a tub of ice-cream until Jessy jumps up onto the counter, coming out of nowhere like a ninja with a spoon in her hand. They eat in silence for a while and then she nudges his knee with her foot and he tilts his head up to look at her. She’s grinning so hard it looks like it might hurt a little.
“So. What’d you think of Mike?”
Kevin blushes all the way to his toes and Jessy squeals, claps her hands, and kisses his cheek, her lips cold and sticky from the ice-cream. He wipes at his cheek with the pads of his fingers and shoves at her lightly.
“What was that for?”
“You like him!”
“I don’t!”
“You do! I’m so excited!”
“I don’t like him! He looks like he’d murder me in my sleep.”
She waves off his comment, “Oh, he’s a big softie! Just avoid him during Halloween, because that’s some scary shit. And, anyway, he totally likes you. He has this thing for sweet, innocent guys. Mike has a type.”
Kevin opens his mouth to ask about Halloween, but then it clicks and, “He likes me?”
Jessy giggles and jumps down from her perch. “Maybe,” she calls over her shoulder as she runs up the stairs.
“Jessy! What did you mean he likes me?” He chases after her, ice-cream forgotten.
It’s a melted bucket of goo in the morning and Kevin still hasn’t gotten his answers, but he’s maybe a little bit hopeful.
Maybe.