SDS Holiday Fic Exchange (pinch hit): Like Tumbled in the Mad River
Title: Like Tumbled in the Mad River
Author: amkave
Recipient: kalimai
Word Count: ~1600
Prompt: I loooove AUs! I am kind of obsessed with AU where the Jobros didn't end on Disney, turned into an Indie rock band. Also I love all the Kevin got warped by the Way bros because they stayed in NJ. I love Magical Au, crack, all the AU in the world as long as they're happy ending.
Warnings: None. Very tame. Pre-slash
Author's Notes: Okay - so I hit the "magical AU" and possibly the "crack" part of the prompt... Other than that, I'm not really sure. This got wordy and unwieldy, but I think I've cut out the boring bits... Hope you enjoy!
Summary: Between working at the Hard Luck Cafe, and shelving books at Elsewhere, Kevin has to remember one thing. Anything could happen in Bordertown.
Twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, Kevin washed dishes in the Hard Luck Café on Ho Street. Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays he worked part time at Elsewhere Books. Sparks gave him the job one day when he’d wandered in with his guitar. Back when he was still new to Bordertown and hadn’t, as they say, shook the dust of the World out of his hair.
He’d spent the first afternoon in Elsewhere entertaining a gaggle of kids under the age of five and their parents. A mixed group of human and halfie. He hadn’t met Wolfboy until he’d come back the next day when Sparks told him he could have the job. Frankly, Wolfboy had scared the hell out of him for weeks until he realized Wolfboy, while being Bordertown’s only resident full-time werewolf, was also a complete pussycat. Kevin learned to sign at the University Without Floors just so Wolfboy could “talk” to him without making him stop what he was doing to go read a note.
When he first got to Bordertown, Kevin fell in with the Diggers and stayed at their Carmine Street Safe House. He’d shied away from the gangs - both the Pack and the Wharf Rats gave him the creeps, and he was too new for any of the mixed gangs to be interested. The Diggers weren’t too bad - they were a little “feed the world” crunchy granola for him, but he appreciated the place to stay, and didn’t mind pitching in.
Kevin had brothers back in the World, and even if he’d left (run away, his traitorous mind supplied in a voice that sounded remarkably like Nick at his pouting pain-in-the-neck little brother best), he never minded doing his fair share of chores. The Diggers appreciated his work ethic, but theirs was a transitory place at best. He knew he couldn’t stay.
After he’d landed the job at the Hard Luck he’d started looking for a place of his own. Once he’d also got the job at Elsewhere, he’d lucked into rooming with some guys Wolfboy knew. They were one of Bordertown’s up-and-coming bands - the Killjoys. Four guys, two of them brothers, in a three room squat in Old Town with cold running water and spotty electricity.
Kevin had scrounged up three large soup pots and if he had enough electricity to bring them to a boil, he could half fill the tub, mix in some cold water and take a bath. He usually managed that about twice a week - after his stint at the Hard Luck.
The guys liked him because he cleaned the squat, was quiet, understood the nuances of creativity - didn’t interrupt them when they were hit by the flow, and didn’t take up much room - or complain that they were a bunch of filthy pigs (which, well, anyone who’d ever spent time in the squat before Kevin always marveled at the after Kevin effect).
Plus, he was gainfully employed with actual jobs. Their last roommate had moved on leaving them in a bit of a lurch.
Kevin actually liked each and every one of his roommates. Ray had epic hair - even curlier than Kevin’s own. The brothers Way were hilarious and earnest and absent-minded - especially with their coffee cups - Kevin kept rescuing cups from the weirdest places to dump out and wash. And Frank, as crazy and ruthless as he could come across, he was also unbearably sweet sometimes.
Kevin liked his roommates. He kind of wished they would bathe a little more regularly, but other than that, their small squat felt like home more and more, and he thought of the World and his brothers less and less. Which played havoc with his overworked sense of guilt fiercely, but he repressed that as much as he could.
Kevin brought leftovers home from the Hard Luck twice a week (usually the leftovers didn’t last long, but Kevin liked that he could feed his roommates regularly). Wolfboy always held back one copy of the newest issue of the Stick Wizard comic book so Kevin could have it (he left it lying around the squat for his roommates to enjoy).
In a strange way he figured he used his roommates as stand ins for his brothers (even if his roommates were all older than him). Kevin had always needed to take care of something. And his roommates had no problem with him trying to take care of them.
In exchange, they took him out to see Bordertown. Ray taught music three days a week at the University Without Floors, Mikey Way, the younger of the Way brothers, hung around the Letterville Music Shoppe so much they gave him a job. Just stocking shelves, or helping customers find things a couple of times a week. Gerard Way, Mikey’s older brother, a former Wharf Rat and current street artist - paints and chalks didn’t last long on Bordertown streets due to the weirdness of the magic of the Border, but Gerard was fairly philosophical about it. He said at least this way he’d never run out of “canvas.” Frank, well, no one knew what Frank did during the day. He had a vast network of friends and always seemed to be off helping someone or fixing something. But he always had new guitar strings, which Kevin appreciated, as his guitar was nearly the only thing he had left from the World.
At least three nights a week, they took him to the clubs to hear music, or play music. Danceland or the Dancing Ferret, for the more popular sound, or club hopping on Carnival Street. Gerard took him to the galleries starting with the Mock Avenue established galleries and moving onto Carmine Street where the up and coming artist show their work in hole-in-the-wall shops - or even set up right on the street.
Kevin was happy in Bordertown, he found a place that felt a little like it could be home. He fit better here than he ever did in the World or with his family, where his secrets and private shame seemed to choke him with unhappiness. Here, he was just Kevin, Hard Luck dishwasher, Elsewhere Books employee, occasional busker in Fare-You-Well Park. He roomed with (and took care of - even if they would laugh at that) the Killjoys, an up-and-coming B-town band.
He should have figured it was all going too well.
Spring in Bordertown was different then spring in the World. The magic eddies leaking from the Realm went a little... weird in spring. Usually the magic left humans alone, affecting only electronics and technology, making the Bordertown “grid” unstable. The converse was also true, that the World technology affected magic in wildly bizarre ways. Cautionary tales to newbies always included a discrete finger pointed in Wolfboy’s direction. No one could untangle the curse affecting him, although Kevin knew Wolfboy was surprisingly okay with that.
Kevin was busking in Fare-You-Well Park when he was caught by a strong magical current. Reality warped around him for a sharp moment and his vision went purple and swimmy before he passed out.
When he came to, he was looking up into concerned eyes set in a slightly scary face. Kevin’s first thought was wow. hot. The guy smirked. His second thought was ow as he tried to move.
“Whoa, kid, don’t move. You got knocked for a loop, huh?” With this, Kevin realized the guy was holding on to him and flushed.
Mmmmm... Pretty. the voice was deep and rough and it didn’t sound like his own interior voice. It didn’t even sound like the voices of his conscious - which sounded less like Jiminy Cricket and more like his brother Nick, or sometimes, when he was feeling especially ashamed of himself the voice was the smooth tones of his father. Interestingly, his you know better voice never sounded like his brother Joe.
Geez, kid do you ever stop? the disembodied voice came again. Kevin frantically tried to find the source - disembodied voices were very disconcerting! Especially when they didn’t sound like his usual voices!
”Well, that answers the question if it was two-way.” The man was peering at him, still smirking. “So. This is kinda weird - even for Bordertown.”
“What?”
“This little mental telepathy thing we seem to have going on.” The man shifted so he was sitting more comfortably, and gently took Kevin’s guitar setting it aside carefully. “You got a name kid?”
“Of course I have a name! I’m Kevin. Who are you and what do you mean about the telepathy comment?” Kevin was indignant.
Call me Mike. We got whammied by some kind of blast from the Realm, and now I can hear your thoughts and you can hear mine. Do you SEE my lips moving? I ain’t a ventriloquist. Kevin looked, and indeed, the man’s lips were not moving, and his eyes were scary-intense.
Kevin’s vision swam and black spots started to dance before the guy whacked him hard between the shoulder blades Breathe, kid, geez.
Kevin sucked in an enormous breath. The man - Mike - nodded to his guitar.
“You’re pretty good on that. I was listening before you swooned.” The smirk was back.
Kevin felt the blush rush to his cheeks. He refused to think that smirk was attractive in any way shape or form!
The smirk grew. You’re thinking kind of loud, kid. Nice to know I’m so definitely not attractive.
Kevin groaned softly, humiliated.
“Kid - Kevin. Why don’t you let me take you home. Maybe between the two of us we’ll know someone who can turn this off - or at least mute it, right?”
Kevin nodded in agreement. There was a Bordertown blessing, or warning, or maybe it was a curse - at the moment Kevin wasn’t too sure.
Anything could happen in Bordertown.
Author: amkave
Recipient: kalimai
Word Count: ~1600
Prompt: I loooove AUs! I am kind of obsessed with AU where the Jobros didn't end on Disney, turned into an Indie rock band. Also I love all the Kevin got warped by the Way bros because they stayed in NJ. I love Magical Au, crack, all the AU in the world as long as they're happy ending.
Warnings: None. Very tame. Pre-slash
Author's Notes: Okay - so I hit the "magical AU" and possibly the "crack" part of the prompt... Other than that, I'm not really sure. This got wordy and unwieldy, but I think I've cut out the boring bits... Hope you enjoy!
Summary: Between working at the Hard Luck Cafe, and shelving books at Elsewhere, Kevin has to remember one thing. Anything could happen in Bordertown.
Twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, Kevin washed dishes in the Hard Luck Café on Ho Street. Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays he worked part time at Elsewhere Books. Sparks gave him the job one day when he’d wandered in with his guitar. Back when he was still new to Bordertown and hadn’t, as they say, shook the dust of the World out of his hair.
He’d spent the first afternoon in Elsewhere entertaining a gaggle of kids under the age of five and their parents. A mixed group of human and halfie. He hadn’t met Wolfboy until he’d come back the next day when Sparks told him he could have the job. Frankly, Wolfboy had scared the hell out of him for weeks until he realized Wolfboy, while being Bordertown’s only resident full-time werewolf, was also a complete pussycat. Kevin learned to sign at the University Without Floors just so Wolfboy could “talk” to him without making him stop what he was doing to go read a note.
When he first got to Bordertown, Kevin fell in with the Diggers and stayed at their Carmine Street Safe House. He’d shied away from the gangs - both the Pack and the Wharf Rats gave him the creeps, and he was too new for any of the mixed gangs to be interested. The Diggers weren’t too bad - they were a little “feed the world” crunchy granola for him, but he appreciated the place to stay, and didn’t mind pitching in.
Kevin had brothers back in the World, and even if he’d left (run away, his traitorous mind supplied in a voice that sounded remarkably like Nick at his pouting pain-in-the-neck little brother best), he never minded doing his fair share of chores. The Diggers appreciated his work ethic, but theirs was a transitory place at best. He knew he couldn’t stay.
After he’d landed the job at the Hard Luck he’d started looking for a place of his own. Once he’d also got the job at Elsewhere, he’d lucked into rooming with some guys Wolfboy knew. They were one of Bordertown’s up-and-coming bands - the Killjoys. Four guys, two of them brothers, in a three room squat in Old Town with cold running water and spotty electricity.
Kevin had scrounged up three large soup pots and if he had enough electricity to bring them to a boil, he could half fill the tub, mix in some cold water and take a bath. He usually managed that about twice a week - after his stint at the Hard Luck.
The guys liked him because he cleaned the squat, was quiet, understood the nuances of creativity - didn’t interrupt them when they were hit by the flow, and didn’t take up much room - or complain that they were a bunch of filthy pigs (which, well, anyone who’d ever spent time in the squat before Kevin always marveled at the after Kevin effect).
Plus, he was gainfully employed with actual jobs. Their last roommate had moved on leaving them in a bit of a lurch.
Kevin actually liked each and every one of his roommates. Ray had epic hair - even curlier than Kevin’s own. The brothers Way were hilarious and earnest and absent-minded - especially with their coffee cups - Kevin kept rescuing cups from the weirdest places to dump out and wash. And Frank, as crazy and ruthless as he could come across, he was also unbearably sweet sometimes.
Kevin liked his roommates. He kind of wished they would bathe a little more regularly, but other than that, their small squat felt like home more and more, and he thought of the World and his brothers less and less. Which played havoc with his overworked sense of guilt fiercely, but he repressed that as much as he could.
Kevin brought leftovers home from the Hard Luck twice a week (usually the leftovers didn’t last long, but Kevin liked that he could feed his roommates regularly). Wolfboy always held back one copy of the newest issue of the Stick Wizard comic book so Kevin could have it (he left it lying around the squat for his roommates to enjoy).
In a strange way he figured he used his roommates as stand ins for his brothers (even if his roommates were all older than him). Kevin had always needed to take care of something. And his roommates had no problem with him trying to take care of them.
In exchange, they took him out to see Bordertown. Ray taught music three days a week at the University Without Floors, Mikey Way, the younger of the Way brothers, hung around the Letterville Music Shoppe so much they gave him a job. Just stocking shelves, or helping customers find things a couple of times a week. Gerard Way, Mikey’s older brother, a former Wharf Rat and current street artist - paints and chalks didn’t last long on Bordertown streets due to the weirdness of the magic of the Border, but Gerard was fairly philosophical about it. He said at least this way he’d never run out of “canvas.” Frank, well, no one knew what Frank did during the day. He had a vast network of friends and always seemed to be off helping someone or fixing something. But he always had new guitar strings, which Kevin appreciated, as his guitar was nearly the only thing he had left from the World.
At least three nights a week, they took him to the clubs to hear music, or play music. Danceland or the Dancing Ferret, for the more popular sound, or club hopping on Carnival Street. Gerard took him to the galleries starting with the Mock Avenue established galleries and moving onto Carmine Street where the up and coming artist show their work in hole-in-the-wall shops - or even set up right on the street.
Kevin was happy in Bordertown, he found a place that felt a little like it could be home. He fit better here than he ever did in the World or with his family, where his secrets and private shame seemed to choke him with unhappiness. Here, he was just Kevin, Hard Luck dishwasher, Elsewhere Books employee, occasional busker in Fare-You-Well Park. He roomed with (and took care of - even if they would laugh at that) the Killjoys, an up-and-coming B-town band.
He should have figured it was all going too well.
Spring in Bordertown was different then spring in the World. The magic eddies leaking from the Realm went a little... weird in spring. Usually the magic left humans alone, affecting only electronics and technology, making the Bordertown “grid” unstable. The converse was also true, that the World technology affected magic in wildly bizarre ways. Cautionary tales to newbies always included a discrete finger pointed in Wolfboy’s direction. No one could untangle the curse affecting him, although Kevin knew Wolfboy was surprisingly okay with that.
Kevin was busking in Fare-You-Well Park when he was caught by a strong magical current. Reality warped around him for a sharp moment and his vision went purple and swimmy before he passed out.
When he came to, he was looking up into concerned eyes set in a slightly scary face. Kevin’s first thought was wow. hot. The guy smirked. His second thought was ow as he tried to move.
“Whoa, kid, don’t move. You got knocked for a loop, huh?” With this, Kevin realized the guy was holding on to him and flushed.
Mmmmm... Pretty. the voice was deep and rough and it didn’t sound like his own interior voice. It didn’t even sound like the voices of his conscious - which sounded less like Jiminy Cricket and more like his brother Nick, or sometimes, when he was feeling especially ashamed of himself the voice was the smooth tones of his father. Interestingly, his you know better voice never sounded like his brother Joe.
Geez, kid do you ever stop? the disembodied voice came again. Kevin frantically tried to find the source - disembodied voices were very disconcerting! Especially when they didn’t sound like his usual voices!
”Well, that answers the question if it was two-way.” The man was peering at him, still smirking. “So. This is kinda weird - even for Bordertown.”
“What?”
“This little mental telepathy thing we seem to have going on.” The man shifted so he was sitting more comfortably, and gently took Kevin’s guitar setting it aside carefully. “You got a name kid?”
“Of course I have a name! I’m Kevin. Who are you and what do you mean about the telepathy comment?” Kevin was indignant.
Call me Mike. We got whammied by some kind of blast from the Realm, and now I can hear your thoughts and you can hear mine. Do you SEE my lips moving? I ain’t a ventriloquist. Kevin looked, and indeed, the man’s lips were not moving, and his eyes were scary-intense.
Kevin’s vision swam and black spots started to dance before the guy whacked him hard between the shoulder blades Breathe, kid, geez.
Kevin sucked in an enormous breath. The man - Mike - nodded to his guitar.
“You’re pretty good on that. I was listening before you swooned.” The smirk was back.
Kevin felt the blush rush to his cheeks. He refused to think that smirk was attractive in any way shape or form!
The smirk grew. You’re thinking kind of loud, kid. Nice to know I’m so definitely not attractive.
Kevin groaned softly, humiliated.
“Kid - Kevin. Why don’t you let me take you home. Maybe between the two of us we’ll know someone who can turn this off - or at least mute it, right?”
Kevin nodded in agreement. There was a Bordertown blessing, or warning, or maybe it was a curse - at the moment Kevin wasn’t too sure.
Anything could happen in Bordertown.