Fic: If I Could Talk To The Animals [1/2] (skippy, PG13, bandom)

[sparrowsverse]

~~~

The sun was shining brightly onto the children’s park. Families were gathered as children ran from sandbox to sandbox. Swings to monkey bars to baseball diamonds.

Smoke drifted from the small charcoal grills, the smell of hot dogs and hamburgers wafted through the air as blankets were set on the ground. Plastic picnic sheets were placed over wooden tables as more food was distributed across the flat surface.

Denise Jonas looked up from where she had been unpacking the hotdog buns to see Kevin wander off to a sandbox. “Kevin! You stay where I can see you young man!”

Kevin gave her a small wave and proceeded to start playing in the sand, hands moulding the grains into resembling a small mound.

Happy and content with playing by himself, a flash of colour distracted him and he looked up. A butterfly was flying past him. Stopping what he was doing, Kevin watched as the butterfly flew in patterns around him, going from flower to flower. He lifted his arm up to coax it towards him.

Kevin then looked in awe when the butterfly decided to fly closer and land on his hand. He was dirty from playing in the sandbox at the park and he was amazed something so pretty decided to land on him.

“You’re pretty,” Kevin giggled at the insect and slowly raised his hand to get a better look.

The butterfly was black and red and it was staring at Kevin.

~*I know*~

Kevin’s eyes went huge. He leaned in close. “Did you just talk to me?”

The butterfly’s little feet danced on the spot and Kevin’s eyes went wider as it nodded at him.

He did the only thing he could think of. “MOMMY!” Kevin yelled. Startled, the butterfly flew off to a nearby flower bush.

Denise came running, Kevin’s brother Joe carried in her arms as she slowly bent down near Kevin. “Are you all right? Are you hurt?”

Kevin shook his head and sniffled. “Don’t know. No.”

“Okay,” Denise said slowly as she stood up and took Kevin’s hand. She took him back to the picnic table Kevin Sr. had set the food on.

“Everything all right?” he asked as he took in Kevin’s white face.

“We don’t know,” Denise said quickly as Kevin Sr. came around and picked Kevin up, placing him on the bench of the table. A juicebox was placed in Kevin’s hands.

“What happened, sweetie?” Denise asked gently.

“I was playing in the sand, making a castle,” Kevin said in between sips, as he stared at his parents wide-eyed. “And a butterfly landed on my hand.”

“All right,” Kevin Sr. said slowly. So far nothing bad.

“And then the butterfly talked to me and I could talk back to it!” Kevin finished, swinging his legs, feet kicking at the air.

Denise and Kevin Sr. stilled. Joe gave a cry.

“The butterfly talked to you, sweetheart?” Denise asked carefully as she took Joe away from resting on her hip and gently rocked him in her arms, trying to calm him down.

Kevin nodded very quickly. “It scared me.”

“The butterfly or being able to talk to it?” Kevin Sr. asked, bending down.

Kevin slurped down the rest of his juice, his bottom lip quivering. “Being able to talk to it.”

“Okay,” Kevin Sr. said softly. He stood up and picked Kevin up, sitting on the bench and placing Kevin on his lap. “What happened there, Kevin, was perfectly okay.”

Kevin sniffled and handed his empty juice box back. Kevin Sr. took it and placed it on the table.

“There are certain people who can talk to anima ls,” he said gently, rubbing Kevin’s back. “It’s just a small percent of the world, but it’s nothing to be scared about or ashamed of.”

“I can talk to animals?” Kevin asked hesitantly.

Kevin Sr. shook his head. “It doesn’t work like that, unfortunately. People can only Speak to one kind of animal. You can only Speak to butterflies, but someone else might be able to Speak to cats.”

Kevin wrinkled his nose. “Can’t I pick who I Speak to?”

Kevin Sr. chuckled. “No, sorry, kiddo.” He had to grin at the disgruntled look on his son’s face.

“I guess talking to a bug is okay,” Kevin sighed as he snuggled in against his Daddy.

Both parents breathed a little sigh of relief. While they never expected their son to gain the ability to Speak, it wouldn’t be a big change in their lives.

Just something different.

The next day Kevin Sr. took his son to City Hall and registered him as someone with the ability to Speak. There was a database filled with the known people who could Speak to animals and insects. It was just basic data to keep records of who could Speak to which animals and insects. The database ranged from different ages, the oldest on record being ninety-five to the youngest being three.

Kevin sat on the chair in the office of the nice lady who was asking him questions, his daddy right beside him.

It was mostly asking how old he was (five, which he knew), what did he Speak to (a butterfly, like he had told her earlier) and he watched as his daddy was given some papers to look at.

There were a lot of other questions being asked, but mostly at his dad so Kevin tuned them out as he looked at the office walls. It looked so boring in here.

Kevin sighed and swung his feet in the chair.

His daddy shot a look at him and he stilled. He had to be good. Daddy promised him ice cream afterwards if he was good.

“Now, since you didn’t see your son talk to the insect in question, we just wish to do a simple test.” She smiled at Kevin Sr.

“Of course.” Kevin Sr. smiled back pleasantly.

She pressed a button on her phone and the door opened, letting an office assistant into the room, holding a glass bowl with a butterfly inside and a mesh type of material stretched across the top.

“Oh!” Kevin said suddenly as he jumped off the chair and ran to the other woman.

“Kevin!” Kevin Sr. said sharply.

Kevin stopped and looked at his daddy. “Sorry, Daddy.”

“It’s okay, but we don’t want you running into the nice lady and accidentally hurting her,” he said, gently reprimanding his son.

Kevin nodded and looked up at the lady. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay, sweetie,” she said and ruffled his hair. They walked back over to the desk.

The bowl was set on the desk and Kevin peered at it with wide eyes. He could hear a voice coming from inside, but it sounded muffled.

He looked at the lady behind the desk. “The voice sounds all soft.”

She nodded at the other lady that came in and Kevin watched as the mesh was taken off the top.

The butterfly soared out. ~*FREEDOM*~

Kevin giggled at the voice as the Butterfly flew around the room. “Hey! Over here!” he called out to the insect.

The butterfly flying through the air turned around and headed towards Kevin. It landed in his hair. ~*Hey, you spoke!*~

Kevin looked up as the butterfly carefully crawled down and perched on his nose. “Hi!” Kevin chirped. “You’re pretty!”

And the butterfly was very pretty. It was blue and had white spots running along the edges of its wings.

~*And you’re smart, for a human*~

Kevin giggled.

Kevin Sr. watched carefully as his son talked to the butterfly.

“Well, I think we can safely assume your son can Speak to butterflies,” she smiled at them both.

“What about caterpillars? They’re another form of a butterfly,” Kevin Sr. asked, turning his attention back to the woman. Her name was Joan or something like that. He couldn’t quite remember; he was more concerned about his son. A quick glance at the name tag confirmed it.

“Well we can certainly test that easily enough,” Joan said. “We have another box with a caterpillar inside waiting in the other room. We didn’t want to confuse your son with two insects.”

Kevin Sr. nodded and glanced at his son, who was chatting animatedly at the butterfly on his nose. He kind of wished he had his camera right now; Denise would’ve wanted a picture of this.

As Kevin chatted to the butterfly, the woman who brought the insect in earlier left the room and then returned with another glass bowl in her hands.

This one was a leaf jungle paradise inside and Kevin turned his head to see something wiggle inside. “What’s that?” he asked as he came over to look, the butterfly now perched in his hair.

~*Mmm, green food! Green food is nummy!*~

Kevin giggled as he peered into the bowl, watching the fuzzy insect. “You’re a caterpillar!”

~*Food!*~

Kevin ignored his daddy and the other women in the room, watching the caterpillar instead.

Joan smiled and turned her attention back to Kevin Sr. “And I think we have our answer.”

Kevin Sr. let out a little sigh of relief. “So what does this mean for Kevin?”

“Nothing in his life has to change,” Joan reassured him. “He can live as normally as he wants. The ability to Speak doesn’t change his day-to-day activities in anyway. We’ve also found with younger Speakers when they hit college they tend to go into fields that work with their Speaking ability. Veterinarians, animal massage therapists, just to name a couple of occupations.”

Kevin Sr. nodded. “So he could become some sort of bug scientist?”

She glanced down at her book. “They’re called lepidopterists. Scientists who study butterflies and moths.”

He looked pensive.

“Now I’m not saying he has to, but it is an option.” Joan smiled warmly at him.

Kevin Sr. looked at his son, his head swirling with ideas and a future he was slowly planning for his oldest son.

~~~

It was a few days later and Kevin Sr. was planting a bush with small buds about to bloom. Glancing at the book to the side and then back to the bush, he sat back and wiped a hand across his forehead.

“Is it planted, Daddy?” Kevin asked excitedly as he came up beside his Dad.

“Just finished, kiddo.” Kevin Sr. smiled at his son.

“Yay!” Kevin cried and went to inspect the plant. “And the book said butterflies will like it?”

Kevin Sr. nodded. “That is what the book says. We’ll see if it attracts any.”

Kevin grinned and started poking the small flowers.

To help his son with his ability, Kevin Sr. had gotten a bunch of books from the local library all about butterflies. They talked about planting certain shrubs and flowers to help supply the butterfly population with food and a place to lay eggs.

A butterfly garden, it was called in the books.

“I hope lots come,” Kevin said as he looked up from his plant inspection.

“I’m sure lots will come, Kevin,” Kevin Sr. reassured his son. “It’ll just take a little bit of time and we can always plant more flowers and things that are needed.”

Kevin beamed at his daddy and wrapped his tiny arms around him. “Thank you, Daddy.”

“You’re welcome, kiddo,” Kevin Sr. said as he returned the hug.

Pressing a kiss to his daddy’s cheek, Kevin detangled himself and walked around the backyard, looking for any butterflies.

Kevin Sr. shook his head, amused, as Kevin inspected various plants and the large tree in the backyard.

The butterfly they had brought home from the Registry flew past Kevin’s head and Kevin Sr. watched as his son babbled excitedly at the insect and they started some sort of game of tag. Kevin Sr. grinned as the butterfly landed in Kevin’s hair and Kevin spun around in a circle.

He felt his wife come up behind him.

“He looks like he’s having fun,” she said.

“He is,” Kevin Sr. said as he stood up and brushed the dirt off his pants. He turned around and took Joe from her arms. “And how is my little guy here?”

“Our little guy here has decided ‘no’ is his new favourite word,” she sighed.

“NO!” Joe yelled in agreement, legs kicking out.

Kevin Sr. laughed. “Well, this will certainly be interesting for a while, dear.”

She just grinned. “We are just blessed, that’s all.”

He nodded and wrapped a arm around his wife’s waist, Joe held tightly against his chest as Kevin finally stopped spinning and flopped backwards.

They chuckled, hurrying forward to check on Kevin.

Life couldn’t be better for the Jonas family.

~~~

14 Years Later

Mike scowled as he jogged through one of the dog parks that seemed to be popping up lately. He didn’t see the point.

His feet hit the pavement a bit harder as he turned around a bend and tried not to think of the past few months. But he couldn’t keep his thoughts quiet.

He didn’t want it to be Butcher in the end to tell Tom he had been kicked out of the band, but if Mike saw Tom, he’d punch the guy in the face. Bill had been breaking apart and Sisky didn’t want to be involved at all.

So it had been left to Butcher.

Slowly inhaling and then exhaling, Mike tried to concentrate on his breathing as the hood from his hoodie slipped off.

Grimacing, Mike slowed his pace down and pulled the hood back over his head. He gave himself a shake and continued down the path.

Things hadn’t been helped further by a suicidal Bill running away to LA over the weekend. Mike had wanted to kill Bill when he finally had come off the plane for worrying everyone like that. He just hugged Bill instead and took him home.

The only good thing was that most of their second album had been written. Mike didn’t want to think about the cost it took to get it written.

As he turned around a corner, Mike had to slow down and look at the small crowd gathered. Stopping, Mike approached the group and tried to see what everyone was looking at.

“What’s going on?” he asked someone.

“Some guy is climbing the tree and collecting butterflies,” the person whispered at him.

Mike just raised an eyebrow. “And that’s why everyone is looking?”

“Someone heard him Speaking to the butterflies.”

That got Mike’s attention. Only ten percent of the world’s population could Speak to animals. Someone who could Speak was definitely a sight to see.

But all Mike could think was, Butterflies? Really? What kind of person can Speak to Butterflies?

He got his answer when a kid with curly hair dropped out of the tree, a jar cradled to his chest and something fluttering inside.

Mike had to grin when the kid looked up, his eyes widened and mouth forming into a little ‘o’ at all the people looking at him. Mike continued to watch as the kid gathered a couple more jars on the ground and carefully tucked them into a satchel that he slung over his shoulder and let rest at his hip.

The kid quickly moved forward, pushing past the crowd of people. His hands were wrapped around the satchel, protecting its precious cargo.

Mike moved out of the way for the kid and the kid glanced up to mumble a ‘thanks’. Mike had to blink. The kid was cute. Pouty lips, curly hair that was putting Sisky’s hair to shame with some wicked sideburns down the side of his face and wide, innocent brown eyes.

And then the kid disappeared through the crowd and Mike mentally swore. He started to push people out of his way to try and find the mystery kid again and only succeeded in pissing people off.

“Fuck,” Mike muttered under his breath as he glanced around from his spot. He didn’t really believe in love at first sight. Lust, maybe. But for some reason, the kid called out to Mike in a way he never really thought possible.

And Mike had just lost him.

This definitely wasn’t his week.

~~~

Mike spent the next two days jogging through the same park so often Sisky said he was worried that Mike was going to collapse from exhaustion.

“I’m fucking fine,” Mike snarled at him as they walked through the dog park.

“You’re running yourself into the ground, Mike,” Sisky said. “We almost lost Bill and, well, you know. We don’t need to lose you either.”

Mike glared at him. “Fine. I’ll lay off a bit.”

“Good,” Sisky grunted and poked Mike in the side.

Mike retaliated and soon the two were tumbling onto the grass. It ended with Mike sitting on top of Sisky, arms up in the air.

“Winner!”

“Get off me you fucker, you’re heavy!” Sisky shouted, spitting out a few blades of grass.

Mike’s response was to bounce on Sisky’s back a couple of times.

“Fucker!” Sisky shouted again.

“Um...”

The two looked up and Mike had to bite back a grin. There was his butterfly guy.

“Are you okay?” the kid asked hesitantly, the satchel from before he was hugging against his chest.

Mike stood up quickly. “Sisky’s fine.”

The kid blinked and peered around Mike to look at Sisky. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” Sisky wheezed out and slowly stood up.

And then the kid was glaring at Mike. “You shouldn’t beat up on people like that. What if you had hurt him?”

“Sisky?” Mike asked, confused. Why was the kid giving him a lecture? “Sisky’s fine. We were just having some fun. Plus, he started it.”

Sisky rolled his eyes. “Did not.”

Mike turned around, glaring at him. “You did so. You started poking me!”

Sisky stuck his tongue out and then they heard giggling. They looked to see the kid was laughing at them, mouth hidden behind his hand.

Mike was screwed. The kid was cute, could Speak and had an awesome laugh.

“So, my would-be rescuer, what’s your name?” Sisky asked, jamming his hands into his hoodie pockets.

“Uh, Kevin,” Kevin replied, one arm still around the satchel and his other arm held out, hand extended.

Sisky grabbed the hand and shook it vigorously. “Name’s Sisky. The bastard who was beating me up is Mike.”

Mike gave Sisky a playful shove, dislodging him from Kevin’s hand with a yelp. “Pay no attention to him.”

“Okay?” Kevin said, bewildered, and tucked his arm back around the satchel.

“More butterflies?” Mike asked, deciding to just go for it.

Kevin’s eyes went wide. “What?”

“I was jogging through this park the other day and saw you come down from the tree with the jars of butterflies,” Mike explained.

“Oh yeah, that. No, no butterflies today,” Kevin said sheepishly. “It’s, just, it’s getting colder outside and I wanted to see if there were any stragglers in the trees. I study butterflies at the university and they have a greenhouse set up to house the little guys.”

Mike nodded like it made sense. It did in a way. “And you Speak to them?”

“How’d you guess?” Kevin asked with a grin.

“Well, the butterflies in jars from the other day, you collecting them and plus the group gathered around watching you guessed,” Mike said, ticking off points on his fingers. He grinned. “And you just confirmed it.”

Kevin chuckled. “Guess you got me there.”

“Are you two done flirting?” Sisky asked as he hip-checked Mike out of his way.

Kevin blushed as Mike lost his balance and nearly went face first into the grass.

“Let’s go get coffee, Kevin,” Sisky said and started to push Kevin down the path. “Tell me more about the pretty, pretty butterflies you can Speak to.”

Mike steadied himself and vowed to kill Sisky as he caught up to the two.

In no time at all, they arrived at a Starbucks and Kevin baulked a little.

Mike and Sisky exchanged a look.

“C’mon, my treat,” Mike said firmly as he pushed past the two and into the coffee store.

Kevin started to protest as they lined up. “Oh, you don’t have to...”

Sisky laughed and clapped Kevin on the back. “Don’t worry about it, butterfly boy, we should take advantage of Mike while he’s being so generous.”

Mike aimed a glare at Sisky. “Who said I was treating you? You were mean to me in the park.” He sniffed and then flicked Sisky on the shoulder.

Sisky gasped, hands coming up to his chest. “Mean? Moi? Who just hit my shoulder?”

Mike just ignored him and looked at Kevin. “What do you want to drink?”

“Um,” Kevin hummed, looking around wildly.

“Want me to order for you?” Mike asked.

Kevin nodded quickly.

“Oh! Hey! They have their cookie crumble drinks in,” Sisky said with a grin. He started poking Mike’s shoulder. “Get us that, Mike!”

Mike rolled his eyes as they got to the front counter. “Like you need more sugar in your system, Sisk.” But he dutifully ordered three cookie crumble mochas.

Sisky cheered loudly as Mike handed the money over.

Once their drinks were made, they headed over to a table tucked away into a corner of the shop.

“Here,” Mike said as he handed Kevin his drink. Sisky was slurping his noisily.

“Thank you,” Kevin said softly as he stirred his drink. He looked up at the two. “Am I being kidnapped?”

Sisky and Mike exchanged a look and then burst out laughing.

“Kidnapping? What the fuck, Kevin?” Mike asked, grinning.

“Nah, we’re not kidnapping you,” Sisky said. He stirred his drink. “You seem like cool people.”

Kevin blushed and went to sip at his drink. “I’m not cool people,” he mumbled.

“Hey, not everyone would let us drag them off for coffee,” Mike pointed out. “That’s pretty cool.”

Kevin looked up. “I thought this was a mocha?”

Sisky giggled. “He’s got you there, Mikey.”

Mike kicked Sisky under the table.

“We all have a mocha,” Mike said as he sipped at his drink.

“So, Kev, Kevinroonie, Kevster, you study butterflies at the university, what else?” Sisky asked as he threw an arm around Kevin’s shoulder. Kevin blinked.

“What else what?” Kevin asked confused.

“What else do you do besides study,” Mike translated.

“Oh, um, I mess around on the guitar sometimes, I build models,” Kevin said. “Not a lot really. It’s mostly studying. I mean, it’s just my first year of university but I plan on being a doctor.”

Mike was impressed.

“Mike plays guitar,” Sisky said with a grin.

Kevin brightened. “Yeah? Rhythm or lead?”

“Rhythm,” Mike answered as he settled in his seat.

“Cool,” Kevin said with a silly grin. “Are you two in a band?”

“What makes you ask that, Kev?” Sisky asked as he finished of his drink.

“Well, it’s Chicago,” Kevin answered back with his own grin. “It seems like everyone you talk to is in a band.”

Mike burst out laughing. “He’s got us there, Sisk.”

Sisky tossed his head. “We are in a band called The Academy Is... .”

“The Academy Is what?” Kevin asked, confused, as he finished off his drink.

Mike just shook his head, fighting off a grin. “Nothing. That’s our band name. The Academy Is...”

“Oh!” Kevin bit his lip. “Do you guys have any shows coming up?”

Sisky frowned. “Nah. Not right now. We’re working on our second album, but it’s kinda hard-going right now.”

“Why?”

“Had to kick a member out,” Mike said firmly.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Kevin said softly.

“I’m not,” Mike snorted as he rolled his eyes.

“Mike,” Sisky chided him gently.

“No, we’re not talking about this now, it’s over and done with.” Mike glared at Sisky. “We don’t need the fucker anymore.” He stood up and left them at the table as he exited the shop.

Sisky and Kevin watched him go and Sisky sighed. “Sorry about that. What happened is a touchy subject right now.”

“So I see,” Kevin said softly.

Grabbing one of the napkins, Sisky took a pen out of his pocket and wrote something down. “Look, here’s Mike’s number. Give him a call.” He pushed the napkin towards Kevin.

Kevin blinked. “Why?”

Sisky smiled. “He likes you. That was the most animated I’ve seen him in a while and, hey, new friends are always awesome in my book.”

Kevin licked his lips and took the napkin, tucking it into his jeans pocket.

“There we go,” Sisky said with a grin. “Now, you’ll have to excuse me, but I am going to go appease the grumpy Mike.”

Kevin nodded and watched as Sisky left.

New friend, huh? Kevin thought as he collected his satchel and left the store., contemplating the possibilities.

~~~

Mike flopped down into his bed. They had just gotten back from the MTVU Woodie Awards.

Various pictures of them looking like mountain men were already circulating the internet and various forums of the four of them together without Tom. Mike just ignored that empty space.

He wanted some sleep, a shower and food when he woke up, and possibly more sleep. He wasn’t even sure it would happen in that order, either.

As he dug through his dresser drawers for a clean pair of sleep pants, an angry vibrating sound startled him and he blinked rapidly at his phone buzzing.

Reaching for it clumsily, Mike glanced at the tiny screen with the unknown number before pressing the button on the side. If he didn’t know the number, he wasn’t picking it up.

A couple minutes and a clean pair of sleep pants later, his cell proclaimed he had a voice mail. Grabbing it, Mike took it with him to his bed and flipped his phone open. He went through the motions of inputting his password code as he pulled the covers back on his bed.

He had to pause when a familiar voice came over the tiny speakers.

“Hey, uh, Mike, it’s me, Kevin, the butterfly guy. I really hope this is the right number, if it isn’t, please ignore this message. I hope you don’t mind, Sisky gave me your number and besides the abrupt ending a few days ago I was having a good time. I don’t really have many friends beyond insects. Uh, so I was hoping we could be friends. Feel free to give me a call at 555-1258. So yeah. Hopefully talk to you later. Bye.”

Mike saved the message to his phone and smiled. Huh. He’d call Kevin back when he got more sleep. He had no filter between his brain and mouth when he was half asleep and that always proved to be disastrous, even if the rest of his band found it funny as hell.

Tucking himself under the covers, Mike placed his phone on the night table and fell asleep. His dreams were filled with Kevin and his butterflies.

~~~

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