Twitter Skippy Not!Fic
Twitter Skippy Not!Fic
author: reena_jenkins
rated: PG
pairing: pre-Mike Carden/Kevin Jonas
warnings: not!fic, High School AU, pining, written on Twitter over a year ago
fandom: Bandom (Cobra Starship, The Academy Is…, Disney's Jonas Brothers)
Author's Notes: Ages and ages ago on Twitter, bessyboo was all, "SO WHO'S WRITING THE AU where awesome big bro Gabe finds out his brother is gay, and promptly tries to set him up with EVERYONE HE KNOWS...on a series of disastrous dates, and meanwhile he is totally falling in love with coffee barista (or possibly bookshop-worker) Kevin?"
And this ISN'T that story, but it's got books? And implied coffee? And some pining? I was supposed to be writing a paper, but instead I wrote this. bessyboo is a terrible influence.
Gabe is the big brother, right? And Mike is his younger brother. And this is an AU, so it doesn't really matter how they're related...stepbrothers, or half-brothers, or something, even though they don't exactly look alike and they have different last names. Anyway, Gabe's the loud and overt one, always in your face and never afraid to make a spectacle. It's just who he is: loud music, loud clothes, no apologies for putting his nose in your business without asking. Mike's...not like that. If he were in a Jane Austen novel, he'd be 'reticent' or 'retiring', but since the only Austen novel he'd ever read was for eleventh-grade English, and he DIDN'T empathize with Elinor's plight, okay, it's just that Marianne is the kind of person where it's really difficult to live in their shadow and he knows what that's like, shut UP Bill - well, he's not in a fucking Austen novel, so we'll just call him 'surly' and have done with it.
Anyway.
So, Gabe's never been exactly quiet about his hookups. He's more into the "if you're wearing pants, let me take them off for you" school of thought, actually: boy, girl, or in between, if they're wearing pants, Gabe's more than willing to help get them off. And it's not just because he's off to college and meeting new people and being (more) excitable - Gabe's always been pretty much the life of the party. Mike....is the kind of guy who grabs a beer, sits on the couch, and glowers at the drunken make-outs happening on the other end. He's not ANTIsocial...Mike's great at the one-on-one, most of the time, but he doesn't really go out of his way to make new friends. It makes being Gabe's younger brother....difficult. Also it explains the fact where there might be a rumor circulating about how he'd eaten a live duck once ("Everything but the beak and feet," Bill snickers, and then Mike has to punch him in the shoulder for being a dick. Bill's his best friend, but it really sucks sometimes since he takes so much enjoyment out of making Mike miserable).
So there's that.
But back to the Austen thing - they've moved on now, in English, from Jane Austen to Byron and Shelley ("Like Justin and Kelly, but with fewer bikinis," Bill whispers to him from the seat one aisle over. And then Mike has a terrible mental image of the Romantic poets having their, like, secret poetry club retreat meetings...only it's also an orgy, and Byron has Justin's crazy 'fro, and the Missus Shelley is singing Miss Independent in her Frock of Antiquity. It's a REALLY weird mental image, and so Mike has no other choice but to kick Bill's chair. And then Bill falls out of his chair 'cause he SO wasn't expecting that (he so should've, the fucker), and Mike laughs, and then they both get lunch-time detention for disrupting class for the third time this week). And they actually get a choice about what they want to read this unit, so OF COURSE Mike goes with Frankenstein. It's a book about monsters and mutilations and flaming pitchforks - who would choose anything else? - but Bill goes with Mister Shelley, 'cause, like, he wants to tap into the collective unconsciousness of his SOUL or something, and poetry will help him do that. Whatever, Bill's been smoking with Travie behind the Stop'n'Shop lately - maybe that actually makes sense to them.
The point being, Mike's left by himself without his best friend in the group that's doing Frankenstein. Well, not by HIMSELF, himself - there's like, other people in his group, and he's pretty sure that that guy Patrick is actually pretty smart (wasn't he in, like, the advanced learning group in elementary school? 'Cause that's probably the last time they really talked to each other, but Mike's pretty sure Patrick's a smart kid, so maybe he can do most of the work and let Mike just keep his deep thoughts to himself), and then there's Victoria (who's more Gabe's friend than Mike's, and how terrible is it that his brother's not even in the same school as him anymore and still going to end up interfering in his life, he just KNOWS IT, because Gabe is a gossip HOUND and so is anyone who's friends with him, so probably he and Victoria will end up talking about Mike's unfortunate style choices or something. And yes, Mike KNOWS that's a little narcissistic to think he's always the topic of conversation, but this is GABE we're talking about: he REALLY doesn't know any other mode but overshare, okay? And for some reason, Mike's life has been his favorite topic of conversation for the last few months, even though he should have all that college shit to distract his attention). And then there's Jonas.
Kevin Jonas, who's bubbly about small animals (there might actually be a kitten sticker stuck inside his planner, but Mike's not sure - he only saw it the once, and doesn't actually know Jonas well enough to liberate said planner from his backpack for a closer look. Not that he'd want to, or anything) and kinda dorkily spastic and was totally sympathetic to Mike's feelings about Elinor last unit (shut UP, Bill, seriously, Mike's not an Austen character no matter how many times you say it, okay?), and wears these neckerchiefs that would be totally weird except for the fact that they draw attention to that spot under his jaw that Mike really, maybe, kinda-sorta-definitely wants to lick. Or maybe bite. Or maybe blow on, and see if it gives Jonas the shivers.
So they're in the same group, and this would be the perfect time to get to know each other better - maybe even in that "Hi, it's nice to meet you, want to take our pants off together?" way that Gabe is so good at - if this were a teen movie or a sitcom or even a shitty pop song. But remember that rumor about Mike and the duck? Well, it's not exactly the scariest one about him floating in the halls, and maybe the perpetual glower Mike wears adds a little to that (he's never done time in juvie OR prison, he's just grumpy that Gabe and Bill and Sisky and Victoria are all such interfering motherfuckers, all the time), but it all boils down to the fact that Jonas is, apparently, petrified of him. And while Mike makes a much better impression one-on-one that he does from afar, the fact that Jonas keeps scootching his chair to the far side of their little island of desks during English has maaaaaaaaaaybe made things a little difficult as far as getting that one-on-one time together actually goes.
So Mike maybe laments a little bit, to Bill and Travie and Sisky and Gabe, even though he knows they'll be all interfering in his business as a result, because what else is he supposed to do? Because Jonas is basically this big floppy puppy of awesome, and not only does he get that shambling green monsters are awesome, but also that Shelley's perspective on the HUMAN CONDITION is relevant to things like modern culture and current politics, and that one time in class Jonas even asked if Mike wanted to borrow a pencil (which, okay, was LISA FUCKING FRANK, but that pretty much just made Mike want to lick Jonas's fingers, and this is a PROBLEM because as soon as Mike took the pencil, Jonas went right back to being skittish and avoid-y). And, like, what the hell is Mike supposed to do? His glower is a part of his personality, thank you VERY MUCH Bill, and he cannot actually wear purple jeans and green hoodies and terrible sunglasses the way Gabe does. His fashion choices DO NOT LEAN in that direction.
So it's not as though Mike is surprised when Gabe tells Victoria about Mike's crush ("I do not have a CRUSH, I just want to lick him a little. And maybe bite him where other people can see it. If anything, it's an infatuation. Which is NOTHING LIKE JANE AUSTEN, Bill," but Bill thinks he's protesting too much, and then Mike has to punch him on principle. Their friendship involves a lot of punching), and then Victoria makes the suggestion during English the next week that she and Patrick will do the presenting-to-the-class part of their presentation, if Mike and Jonas will make the posterboard. And Patrick agrees with her because he's always one of those kids who stands in front of the class and talks, even if they have the option for a written report instead, and so Mike and Jonas are left to negotiate when they've got free periods at the same time (and Mike maybe glares extra at Victoria for butting in on Gabe's behalf (because that is EXACTLY what this maneuver was), but she seems immune to the strength of his stare. Probably from looking at Gabe's clothes all the time).
So that's how Mike and Jonas end up in the library together the next day during lunch, looking up pictures of Mary Shelley and Romantic-era medicine and modern interpretations of Frankenstein's monster and photocopying them. At first, Jonas is REALLY skittery, even holding his Lisa Frank pencil kinda like how Mike imagines Buffy would hold a really neon-colored stake (or maybe Willow... Mike could see Willow having Lisa Frank pencils, and having one to use when she's cornered by a vamp - maybe on Parent-Teacher Night, before she and Cordelia got locked in the closet together? Would using a Lisa Frank pencil make a vamp dust in rainbow colors? Huh. Weird thought....) and sitting on the very edge of his chair. And of course, that first lunch-meeting, the library's out of colored ink in the copier, so they end up agreeing to meet up after school on Thursday at the public library (Kevin's got something to do with his brothers today and tomorrow - babysitting, maybe? And apparently, Mike not only knows that Kevin has younger brothers, but also is calling him Kevin in his brain. This infatuation thing is pretty infectious).
So they get through the next few days of class fine, and Bill makes a few insinuating remarks, and Gabe brings his laundry home on Wednesday (he only has morning classes on Wednesday, and spends the rest of the day at home instead of on campus, which is how he's able to busybody his way into so much of Mike's lovelife that it's not even funny) and then proceeds to ask if Mike knows about lube and scissoring and where Gabe keeps the stash of condoms in his room (the second row, left-hand dresser drawer, under his formal pants), and then Mike has to punch him.
So there's that.
And then it's Thursday after school, and they have their presentation on Monday, so it's not as though Kevin's going to stand him up at the LIBRARY, right? But Mike may have gotten there early and staked out the study carrel in the back left corner of the reference room, the one where it's not in the direct line of sight from the librarian's desk and there's shelves of, like, atlases on three sides. And then Kevin finally shows up, and they get to work. It's.....good. Not quite as skittish as on Tuesday (like Kevin's come to the conclusion that Mike won't ACTUALLY bite his ear off or knife him or something, even if Mike really kinda does want to maybe mark Kevin up all over and muss him up a bit for everyone else to see), and they spend a few hours together photocopying and cutting and gluing things to their posterboard (and if Kevin uses a little glitter-glue on the edges of the board, well, it's not like Mike minds. Who knows how Victoria and Patrick will react, though).
And somehow, all of a sudden, the library's closing, and Mike's starting to pack up his shit and thinking to himself, "Well, shit. There went THAT chance. Fucking blew it, damnit," all mental-monologue-like, when suddenly Kevin's asking if he wants to walk down to Starbucks with him.
"I mean, it's dark, and the posterboard's kinda unwieldy, y'know? And I don't have a car, so someone else helping to carry it would be nice - getting here in the first place was okay, 'cause my mom dropped me off, but she's at Nicky's recital right now and I forgot to tell her what time I needed a ride. I'll buy you a coffee or something if you want, while I'm waiting for her to show up?"
And Mike can only nod in mute astonishment, because while he's been mentally pervving over Kevin, and beating himself up over not molesting Kevin while he had the chance (dark private library cubbies make for prime molesting places, in Mike's brain, and he TOTALLY DIDN'T DO ANYTHING BUT GAZE LONGINGLY AT KEVIN, he is such a DORK), apparently Kevin isn't afraid of him anymore - or at least, isn't afraid to be in a well-lit, public setting, with a cup of scalding-hot beverage as a weapon with him.
But still, that's an excellent start.
And maybe when they get there, he could ask to taste Kevin's drink by licking his tongue.
[the end]
author: reena_jenkins
rated: PG
pairing: pre-Mike Carden/Kevin Jonas
warnings: not!fic, High School AU, pining, written on Twitter over a year ago
fandom: Bandom (Cobra Starship, The Academy Is…, Disney's Jonas Brothers)
Author's Notes: Ages and ages ago on Twitter, bessyboo was all, "SO WHO'S WRITING THE AU where awesome big bro Gabe finds out his brother is gay, and promptly tries to set him up with EVERYONE HE KNOWS...on a series of disastrous dates, and meanwhile he is totally falling in love with coffee barista (or possibly bookshop-worker) Kevin?"
And this ISN'T that story, but it's got books? And implied coffee? And some pining? I was supposed to be writing a paper, but instead I wrote this. bessyboo is a terrible influence.
Gabe is the big brother, right? And Mike is his younger brother. And this is an AU, so it doesn't really matter how they're related...stepbrothers, or half-brothers, or something, even though they don't exactly look alike and they have different last names. Anyway, Gabe's the loud and overt one, always in your face and never afraid to make a spectacle. It's just who he is: loud music, loud clothes, no apologies for putting his nose in your business without asking. Mike's...not like that. If he were in a Jane Austen novel, he'd be 'reticent' or 'retiring', but since the only Austen novel he'd ever read was for eleventh-grade English, and he DIDN'T empathize with Elinor's plight, okay, it's just that Marianne is the kind of person where it's really difficult to live in their shadow and he knows what that's like, shut UP Bill - well, he's not in a fucking Austen novel, so we'll just call him 'surly' and have done with it.
Anyway.
So, Gabe's never been exactly quiet about his hookups. He's more into the "if you're wearing pants, let me take them off for you" school of thought, actually: boy, girl, or in between, if they're wearing pants, Gabe's more than willing to help get them off. And it's not just because he's off to college and meeting new people and being (more) excitable - Gabe's always been pretty much the life of the party. Mike....is the kind of guy who grabs a beer, sits on the couch, and glowers at the drunken make-outs happening on the other end. He's not ANTIsocial...Mike's great at the one-on-one, most of the time, but he doesn't really go out of his way to make new friends. It makes being Gabe's younger brother....difficult. Also it explains the fact where there might be a rumor circulating about how he'd eaten a live duck once ("Everything but the beak and feet," Bill snickers, and then Mike has to punch him in the shoulder for being a dick. Bill's his best friend, but it really sucks sometimes since he takes so much enjoyment out of making Mike miserable).
So there's that.
But back to the Austen thing - they've moved on now, in English, from Jane Austen to Byron and Shelley ("Like Justin and Kelly, but with fewer bikinis," Bill whispers to him from the seat one aisle over. And then Mike has a terrible mental image of the Romantic poets having their, like, secret poetry club retreat meetings...only it's also an orgy, and Byron has Justin's crazy 'fro, and the Missus Shelley is singing Miss Independent in her Frock of Antiquity. It's a REALLY weird mental image, and so Mike has no other choice but to kick Bill's chair. And then Bill falls out of his chair 'cause he SO wasn't expecting that (he so should've, the fucker), and Mike laughs, and then they both get lunch-time detention for disrupting class for the third time this week). And they actually get a choice about what they want to read this unit, so OF COURSE Mike goes with Frankenstein. It's a book about monsters and mutilations and flaming pitchforks - who would choose anything else? - but Bill goes with Mister Shelley, 'cause, like, he wants to tap into the collective unconsciousness of his SOUL or something, and poetry will help him do that. Whatever, Bill's been smoking with Travie behind the Stop'n'Shop lately - maybe that actually makes sense to them.
The point being, Mike's left by himself without his best friend in the group that's doing Frankenstein. Well, not by HIMSELF, himself - there's like, other people in his group, and he's pretty sure that that guy Patrick is actually pretty smart (wasn't he in, like, the advanced learning group in elementary school? 'Cause that's probably the last time they really talked to each other, but Mike's pretty sure Patrick's a smart kid, so maybe he can do most of the work and let Mike just keep his deep thoughts to himself), and then there's Victoria (who's more Gabe's friend than Mike's, and how terrible is it that his brother's not even in the same school as him anymore and still going to end up interfering in his life, he just KNOWS IT, because Gabe is a gossip HOUND and so is anyone who's friends with him, so probably he and Victoria will end up talking about Mike's unfortunate style choices or something. And yes, Mike KNOWS that's a little narcissistic to think he's always the topic of conversation, but this is GABE we're talking about: he REALLY doesn't know any other mode but overshare, okay? And for some reason, Mike's life has been his favorite topic of conversation for the last few months, even though he should have all that college shit to distract his attention). And then there's Jonas.
Kevin Jonas, who's bubbly about small animals (there might actually be a kitten sticker stuck inside his planner, but Mike's not sure - he only saw it the once, and doesn't actually know Jonas well enough to liberate said planner from his backpack for a closer look. Not that he'd want to, or anything) and kinda dorkily spastic and was totally sympathetic to Mike's feelings about Elinor last unit (shut UP, Bill, seriously, Mike's not an Austen character no matter how many times you say it, okay?), and wears these neckerchiefs that would be totally weird except for the fact that they draw attention to that spot under his jaw that Mike really, maybe, kinda-sorta-definitely wants to lick. Or maybe bite. Or maybe blow on, and see if it gives Jonas the shivers.
So they're in the same group, and this would be the perfect time to get to know each other better - maybe even in that "Hi, it's nice to meet you, want to take our pants off together?" way that Gabe is so good at - if this were a teen movie or a sitcom or even a shitty pop song. But remember that rumor about Mike and the duck? Well, it's not exactly the scariest one about him floating in the halls, and maybe the perpetual glower Mike wears adds a little to that (he's never done time in juvie OR prison, he's just grumpy that Gabe and Bill and Sisky and Victoria are all such interfering motherfuckers, all the time), but it all boils down to the fact that Jonas is, apparently, petrified of him. And while Mike makes a much better impression one-on-one that he does from afar, the fact that Jonas keeps scootching his chair to the far side of their little island of desks during English has maaaaaaaaaaybe made things a little difficult as far as getting that one-on-one time together actually goes.
So Mike maybe laments a little bit, to Bill and Travie and Sisky and Gabe, even though he knows they'll be all interfering in his business as a result, because what else is he supposed to do? Because Jonas is basically this big floppy puppy of awesome, and not only does he get that shambling green monsters are awesome, but also that Shelley's perspective on the HUMAN CONDITION is relevant to things like modern culture and current politics, and that one time in class Jonas even asked if Mike wanted to borrow a pencil (which, okay, was LISA FUCKING FRANK, but that pretty much just made Mike want to lick Jonas's fingers, and this is a PROBLEM because as soon as Mike took the pencil, Jonas went right back to being skittish and avoid-y). And, like, what the hell is Mike supposed to do? His glower is a part of his personality, thank you VERY MUCH Bill, and he cannot actually wear purple jeans and green hoodies and terrible sunglasses the way Gabe does. His fashion choices DO NOT LEAN in that direction.
So it's not as though Mike is surprised when Gabe tells Victoria about Mike's crush ("I do not have a CRUSH, I just want to lick him a little. And maybe bite him where other people can see it. If anything, it's an infatuation. Which is NOTHING LIKE JANE AUSTEN, Bill," but Bill thinks he's protesting too much, and then Mike has to punch him on principle. Their friendship involves a lot of punching), and then Victoria makes the suggestion during English the next week that she and Patrick will do the presenting-to-the-class part of their presentation, if Mike and Jonas will make the posterboard. And Patrick agrees with her because he's always one of those kids who stands in front of the class and talks, even if they have the option for a written report instead, and so Mike and Jonas are left to negotiate when they've got free periods at the same time (and Mike maybe glares extra at Victoria for butting in on Gabe's behalf (because that is EXACTLY what this maneuver was), but she seems immune to the strength of his stare. Probably from looking at Gabe's clothes all the time).
So that's how Mike and Jonas end up in the library together the next day during lunch, looking up pictures of Mary Shelley and Romantic-era medicine and modern interpretations of Frankenstein's monster and photocopying them. At first, Jonas is REALLY skittery, even holding his Lisa Frank pencil kinda like how Mike imagines Buffy would hold a really neon-colored stake (or maybe Willow... Mike could see Willow having Lisa Frank pencils, and having one to use when she's cornered by a vamp - maybe on Parent-Teacher Night, before she and Cordelia got locked in the closet together? Would using a Lisa Frank pencil make a vamp dust in rainbow colors? Huh. Weird thought....) and sitting on the very edge of his chair. And of course, that first lunch-meeting, the library's out of colored ink in the copier, so they end up agreeing to meet up after school on Thursday at the public library (Kevin's got something to do with his brothers today and tomorrow - babysitting, maybe? And apparently, Mike not only knows that Kevin has younger brothers, but also is calling him Kevin in his brain. This infatuation thing is pretty infectious).
So they get through the next few days of class fine, and Bill makes a few insinuating remarks, and Gabe brings his laundry home on Wednesday (he only has morning classes on Wednesday, and spends the rest of the day at home instead of on campus, which is how he's able to busybody his way into so much of Mike's lovelife that it's not even funny) and then proceeds to ask if Mike knows about lube and scissoring and where Gabe keeps the stash of condoms in his room (the second row, left-hand dresser drawer, under his formal pants), and then Mike has to punch him.
So there's that.
And then it's Thursday after school, and they have their presentation on Monday, so it's not as though Kevin's going to stand him up at the LIBRARY, right? But Mike may have gotten there early and staked out the study carrel in the back left corner of the reference room, the one where it's not in the direct line of sight from the librarian's desk and there's shelves of, like, atlases on three sides. And then Kevin finally shows up, and they get to work. It's.....good. Not quite as skittish as on Tuesday (like Kevin's come to the conclusion that Mike won't ACTUALLY bite his ear off or knife him or something, even if Mike really kinda does want to maybe mark Kevin up all over and muss him up a bit for everyone else to see), and they spend a few hours together photocopying and cutting and gluing things to their posterboard (and if Kevin uses a little glitter-glue on the edges of the board, well, it's not like Mike minds. Who knows how Victoria and Patrick will react, though).
And somehow, all of a sudden, the library's closing, and Mike's starting to pack up his shit and thinking to himself, "Well, shit. There went THAT chance. Fucking blew it, damnit," all mental-monologue-like, when suddenly Kevin's asking if he wants to walk down to Starbucks with him.
"I mean, it's dark, and the posterboard's kinda unwieldy, y'know? And I don't have a car, so someone else helping to carry it would be nice - getting here in the first place was okay, 'cause my mom dropped me off, but she's at Nicky's recital right now and I forgot to tell her what time I needed a ride. I'll buy you a coffee or something if you want, while I'm waiting for her to show up?"
And Mike can only nod in mute astonishment, because while he's been mentally pervving over Kevin, and beating himself up over not molesting Kevin while he had the chance (dark private library cubbies make for prime molesting places, in Mike's brain, and he TOTALLY DIDN'T DO ANYTHING BUT GAZE LONGINGLY AT KEVIN, he is such a DORK), apparently Kevin isn't afraid of him anymore - or at least, isn't afraid to be in a well-lit, public setting, with a cup of scalding-hot beverage as a weapon with him.
But still, that's an excellent start.
And maybe when they get there, he could ask to taste Kevin's drink by licking his tongue.
[the end]