Anonymous (9/12)
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"I’m sorry. Where are you going tonight?" Sarah asked, trying to repress her laughter.
"I’m going to a karaoke bar," Kevin replied, attempting to ignore her mocking.
"Well, can straight people go?" she asked.
"Why?" he responded, suddenly afraid.
"Uh, because I’m going with you."
"What? No. Sarah - "
"Oh come on, Kevin. This family should have, like, a bat signal for things this good."
"Is anyone in this family capable of ever just supporting someone else?"
"I am supporting you."
"I meant from afar," Kevin said, sighing.
***
"Kevin! Fancy seeing you here."
Kevin turned quickly away from the bar and looked at Scotty, who was grinning down at him.
"Oh, well. Sarah wanted a night out, and she loves karaoke, so..."
"Oh, you’re Sarah?" Scotty said, reaching in front of Kevin to shake her hand. "I’m Scotty."
"Hi Scotty, nice to meet you."
"I’m here with some friends. You guys are welcome to come and join us."
"Maybe we will," Kevin said. "Later."
"Yep," Sarah said, smiling widely. "First we have to decide what we’re singing for our big duet."
"Really?"
"No," Kevin interjected, while Sarah nodded behind him.
"OK, well, I'm glad that's settled," Scotty said with a grin. "I’ll see you later."
Scotty walked away, and Kevin tried not to shiver at the feel of Scotty’s hand dragging across his shoulder. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then he turned to Sarah.
"Great. Now he wants me to sing."
"Oh, you’re singing, baby."
Kevin spent the next hour resisting her begging and her commands. Finally, she admitted defeat and went up to the stage alone. She began singing Cher to the cheers and whistles of the bar patrons. Kevin focused on Scotty, however, who had left his table to get another drink. Kevin walked over to the bar and stood just behind him.
"Buy you a drink?"
Scotty turned around quickly, relaxing and smiling when he saw Kevin. He leaned slightly closer. "Do you always bring your sister to gay bars?"
Kevin laughed, using the noises of the bar as an excuse to move even closer. "She can be quite insistent."
"I thought maybe she was your beard."
Kevin tilted his head inquisitively.
"A member of Senator McCallister’s senior staff, alone at a gay bar," Scotty clarified. "What would people think?"
"Ah," Kevin said, nodding. At a sudden swell of clapping and cheers, Kevin stepped even closer, placing a hand on Scotty’s waist and leaning to say into his ear. "Once they met you, they wouldn’t blame me."
Scotty snorted. "Smooth," he said. "Your sister’s quite the star," he added, changing the subject.
"She knows how to work a crowd," Kevin agreed.
"When are you going to sing?" Scotty asked, and Kevin laughed.
"Never!"
"Oh, come on!"
Kevin smirked. "Will you make it worth my while?"
Scotty rolled his eyes, unable to completely stop his smile. "Kevin...we have to stop this."
"Stop what?"
"You know what," Scotty said. "We work together. Sort of."
"So what? Who cares?"
"I do! Besides - I’m seeing someone, remember?"
"Right. The online guy who stood you up."
"Exactly."
Kevin pulled back slightly. "You’re sure?"
Scotty paused, then nodded. Swallowing, he said. "We can be friends. That’s it."
Kevin shrugged. "Fine," he said. "If that’s what you want."
"That’s what I want," Scotty said, not entirely convincingly.
***
Scotty stumbled slightly as he walked into his apartment. After the conversation with Kevin, he proceeded to have a few more drinks than he normally would have. He wasn’t upset, he told himself, and he didn’t regret anything. He was just having fun with some friends. He very carefully reached out to the table and put his keys down.
"I’m not drunk," he said aloud.
Oh, who was he kidding? He was lucky he didn’t kill anyone on the way home. Or get pulled over, for that matter. Scotty swallowed thickly, walking into the kitchen to get a glass of water in a probably futile attempt to prevent a hangover. He then sat down at his computer, signing into the dating program. He grinned stupidly when he saw a message from Kevin-33.
Dear S.W.
Greetings from halfway around the world. No end to this stupid trip in sight.
Talk to you later,
Kevin
Scotty laughed happily. He knew he had made the right decision. It didn’t matter that Kevin was suddenly being nice - actually, much, much more than nice - to him. That paled in comparison to the connection he had with...the other Kevin. He hit reply and stared at the keys for a while. It was hard to make out the individual letters, and he didn’t think he’d manage to type a long, detailed letter, so he settled for carefully typing:
miss you love you
***
Kevin bit his lip as he read the e-mail, trying not to feel - insanely - jealous of himself.
***
"Hiya Kevin," Vicky said cheerfully.
"Hey Vicky. Is Scotty working?"
"Yep, I’ll get him for you."
"Thanks," Kevin said.
He turned around, resting his elbows on the bar and exhaling slowly. It had been almost a week since the karaoke bar. He had had no contact with Scotty, although the following morning, S.W. had sent him a rather embarrassed e-mail trying to downplay the drunken one from the night before. He had stared at the screen, thinking long and hard about what the best response would be. Finally, Kevin-33 replied simply that it hadn’t freaked him out. He doubted that would make things any easier for their real-life relationship, but he couldn’t stand the thought of Scotty being upset with him - the other him - both hims - or whatever.
Kevin shook his head. He thought things were complicated before.
"Kevin?"
He turned around to see Scotty walking up to him. Vicky followed behind him, stopping further down the bar - although, Kevin noted, not far enough away where she couldn’t hear what they were saying.
"Hi," he said softly to Scotty. "I just...I just wanted to see how you were."
Scotty looked away. He nodded once. "I’m fine. Great."
"OK, um...when do you get off work?"
Scotty sighed. "Kevin."
"Friends," he interrupted quickly, then added, "You said we could be friends."
Scotty closed his eyes, biting his lower lip. He looked at Kevin and nodded quickly in capitulation. "Four," he said.
"I’ll meet you outside?" Kevin said.
Scotty lightly pressed his tongue to his front teeth, exhaling. "I feel like ice cream. That’s friendly, right?"
Kevin grinned.
***
"So tell me about him," Kevin said as he circled his spoon along the edge of his bowl. "Ken."
Scotty glanced at him suspiciously. "Why?"
Kevin shrugged. "I’m curious."
Scotty sighed, picking up a spoonful of ice cream and putting it in his mouth. Kevin watched as Scotty pulled the spoon out, his tongue dragging along the plastic utensil. Scotty swallowed, then quickly licked his lips. Kevin dug his fingernails into his thigh - friends, friends, friends, he chanted to himself.
"He’s...smart," Scotty finally said. "And sweet. Kind of vulnerable."
"Sounds like a loser," Kevin said, and Scotty glared at him.
"He’s not a loser, and I can leave right now."
Kevin laughed. "Sorry," he said. "I just am having a hard time understanding how you can be so sure you want to be with this guy when you haven’t even met him."
Scotty made a thoughtful face before moving to get another spoonful of ice cream. "Because I can talk to him. Right from the very beginning, I felt a connection."
"There’s more to a relationship than talking," Kevin replied.
"True, but if you can’t talk about things, then everything else will eventually crumble." Scotty glanced up at Kevin, then leaned forward slightly as he added, "This might come as a surprise, Kevin, but not everyone wants a relationship based on arguing and drama."
Kevin leaned forward to meet him. "You started all our arguments," he whispered.
Scotty moved back, laughing. "We’re not talking about you and me."
Kevin paused, taking a bite of his own ice cream. He exhaled, looking around the shop. "But for all that talking, how much do you really know about him? He could be lying."
"Lying about what? We’ve never talked about anything that would require lying."
"What do you mean?"
"We tried not to talk about anything too personal."
"Convenient," Kevin said.
Scotty snorted. "What’s that supposed to mean?"
"You don’t know anything about this guy, and he probably wanted it that way. He’s probably a serial killer."
Scotty rolled his eyes. "He’s not a serial killer."
"You don’t know that. He might have missed your date because the police almost caught up with him."
Scotty laughed, shaking his head. "He missed our date because he got sent out of the country for business."
"Uh-huh," Kevin said. "Recruiting young girls for a prostitution ring."
"Maybe he’s building a school. For orphans."
"Maybe he doesn’t even have a job and just spends all day in his mother’s basement, playing video games and seducing men over the internet."
"Well, he’s pretty damn good at it."
"Oh!" Kevin leaned forward again, asking conspiratorially, "So you two don’t have personal conversations, just intimate ones?"
"I didn’t say that."
"You didn’t have to."
"You know, Kevin. You don’t have to feel threatened by him, just because he can be sexier with only words than you can with your whole body."
Kevin snorted. "Yeah, well, I wouldn’t talk until you’ve actually seen his body."
Scotty shook his head, laughing. "I don’t care about looks."
"Everyone cares about looks."
"Well, I have a feeling he’ll be my type."
"Your type is 400 pound guys with acne scars all over their faces?"
"There’s someone for everyone," Scotty replied with a wink.
"Seriously - you have no clue how this guy looks?"
"He has blue eyes," he told Kevin.
Kevin stared back at him. "Oh, that narrows it down. He could be anyone." Kevin took a chance and added, "He could be me, for crying out loud."
Scotty smiled at him, shaking his head as he explained, "The mystery’s part of the fun."
Kevin sighed in frustration.
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A/N: I may or may not be able to update over the next few days. Real life. I'll do my best!
"I’m sorry. Where are you going tonight?" Sarah asked, trying to repress her laughter.
"I’m going to a karaoke bar," Kevin replied, attempting to ignore her mocking.
"Well, can straight people go?" she asked.
"Why?" he responded, suddenly afraid.
"Uh, because I’m going with you."
"What? No. Sarah - "
"Oh come on, Kevin. This family should have, like, a bat signal for things this good."
"Is anyone in this family capable of ever just supporting someone else?"
"I am supporting you."
"I meant from afar," Kevin said, sighing.
***
"Kevin! Fancy seeing you here."
Kevin turned quickly away from the bar and looked at Scotty, who was grinning down at him.
"Oh, well. Sarah wanted a night out, and she loves karaoke, so..."
"Oh, you’re Sarah?" Scotty said, reaching in front of Kevin to shake her hand. "I’m Scotty."
"Hi Scotty, nice to meet you."
"I’m here with some friends. You guys are welcome to come and join us."
"Maybe we will," Kevin said. "Later."
"Yep," Sarah said, smiling widely. "First we have to decide what we’re singing for our big duet."
"Really?"
"No," Kevin interjected, while Sarah nodded behind him.
"OK, well, I'm glad that's settled," Scotty said with a grin. "I’ll see you later."
Scotty walked away, and Kevin tried not to shiver at the feel of Scotty’s hand dragging across his shoulder. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then he turned to Sarah.
"Great. Now he wants me to sing."
"Oh, you’re singing, baby."
Kevin spent the next hour resisting her begging and her commands. Finally, she admitted defeat and went up to the stage alone. She began singing Cher to the cheers and whistles of the bar patrons. Kevin focused on Scotty, however, who had left his table to get another drink. Kevin walked over to the bar and stood just behind him.
"Buy you a drink?"
Scotty turned around quickly, relaxing and smiling when he saw Kevin. He leaned slightly closer. "Do you always bring your sister to gay bars?"
Kevin laughed, using the noises of the bar as an excuse to move even closer. "She can be quite insistent."
"I thought maybe she was your beard."
Kevin tilted his head inquisitively.
"A member of Senator McCallister’s senior staff, alone at a gay bar," Scotty clarified. "What would people think?"
"Ah," Kevin said, nodding. At a sudden swell of clapping and cheers, Kevin stepped even closer, placing a hand on Scotty’s waist and leaning to say into his ear. "Once they met you, they wouldn’t blame me."
Scotty snorted. "Smooth," he said. "Your sister’s quite the star," he added, changing the subject.
"She knows how to work a crowd," Kevin agreed.
"When are you going to sing?" Scotty asked, and Kevin laughed.
"Never!"
"Oh, come on!"
Kevin smirked. "Will you make it worth my while?"
Scotty rolled his eyes, unable to completely stop his smile. "Kevin...we have to stop this."
"Stop what?"
"You know what," Scotty said. "We work together. Sort of."
"So what? Who cares?"
"I do! Besides - I’m seeing someone, remember?"
"Right. The online guy who stood you up."
"Exactly."
Kevin pulled back slightly. "You’re sure?"
Scotty paused, then nodded. Swallowing, he said. "We can be friends. That’s it."
Kevin shrugged. "Fine," he said. "If that’s what you want."
"That’s what I want," Scotty said, not entirely convincingly.
***
Scotty stumbled slightly as he walked into his apartment. After the conversation with Kevin, he proceeded to have a few more drinks than he normally would have. He wasn’t upset, he told himself, and he didn’t regret anything. He was just having fun with some friends. He very carefully reached out to the table and put his keys down.
"I’m not drunk," he said aloud.
Oh, who was he kidding? He was lucky he didn’t kill anyone on the way home. Or get pulled over, for that matter. Scotty swallowed thickly, walking into the kitchen to get a glass of water in a probably futile attempt to prevent a hangover. He then sat down at his computer, signing into the dating program. He grinned stupidly when he saw a message from Kevin-33.
Dear S.W.
Greetings from halfway around the world. No end to this stupid trip in sight.
Talk to you later,
Kevin
Scotty laughed happily. He knew he had made the right decision. It didn’t matter that Kevin was suddenly being nice - actually, much, much more than nice - to him. That paled in comparison to the connection he had with...the other Kevin. He hit reply and stared at the keys for a while. It was hard to make out the individual letters, and he didn’t think he’d manage to type a long, detailed letter, so he settled for carefully typing:
miss you love you
***
Kevin bit his lip as he read the e-mail, trying not to feel - insanely - jealous of himself.
***
"Hiya Kevin," Vicky said cheerfully.
"Hey Vicky. Is Scotty working?"
"Yep, I’ll get him for you."
"Thanks," Kevin said.
He turned around, resting his elbows on the bar and exhaling slowly. It had been almost a week since the karaoke bar. He had had no contact with Scotty, although the following morning, S.W. had sent him a rather embarrassed e-mail trying to downplay the drunken one from the night before. He had stared at the screen, thinking long and hard about what the best response would be. Finally, Kevin-33 replied simply that it hadn’t freaked him out. He doubted that would make things any easier for their real-life relationship, but he couldn’t stand the thought of Scotty being upset with him - the other him - both hims - or whatever.
Kevin shook his head. He thought things were complicated before.
"Kevin?"
He turned around to see Scotty walking up to him. Vicky followed behind him, stopping further down the bar - although, Kevin noted, not far enough away where she couldn’t hear what they were saying.
"Hi," he said softly to Scotty. "I just...I just wanted to see how you were."
Scotty looked away. He nodded once. "I’m fine. Great."
"OK, um...when do you get off work?"
Scotty sighed. "Kevin."
"Friends," he interrupted quickly, then added, "You said we could be friends."
Scotty closed his eyes, biting his lower lip. He looked at Kevin and nodded quickly in capitulation. "Four," he said.
"I’ll meet you outside?" Kevin said.
Scotty lightly pressed his tongue to his front teeth, exhaling. "I feel like ice cream. That’s friendly, right?"
Kevin grinned.
***
"So tell me about him," Kevin said as he circled his spoon along the edge of his bowl. "Ken."
Scotty glanced at him suspiciously. "Why?"
Kevin shrugged. "I’m curious."
Scotty sighed, picking up a spoonful of ice cream and putting it in his mouth. Kevin watched as Scotty pulled the spoon out, his tongue dragging along the plastic utensil. Scotty swallowed, then quickly licked his lips. Kevin dug his fingernails into his thigh - friends, friends, friends, he chanted to himself.
"He’s...smart," Scotty finally said. "And sweet. Kind of vulnerable."
"Sounds like a loser," Kevin said, and Scotty glared at him.
"He’s not a loser, and I can leave right now."
Kevin laughed. "Sorry," he said. "I just am having a hard time understanding how you can be so sure you want to be with this guy when you haven’t even met him."
Scotty made a thoughtful face before moving to get another spoonful of ice cream. "Because I can talk to him. Right from the very beginning, I felt a connection."
"There’s more to a relationship than talking," Kevin replied.
"True, but if you can’t talk about things, then everything else will eventually crumble." Scotty glanced up at Kevin, then leaned forward slightly as he added, "This might come as a surprise, Kevin, but not everyone wants a relationship based on arguing and drama."
Kevin leaned forward to meet him. "You started all our arguments," he whispered.
Scotty moved back, laughing. "We’re not talking about you and me."
Kevin paused, taking a bite of his own ice cream. He exhaled, looking around the shop. "But for all that talking, how much do you really know about him? He could be lying."
"Lying about what? We’ve never talked about anything that would require lying."
"What do you mean?"
"We tried not to talk about anything too personal."
"Convenient," Kevin said.
Scotty snorted. "What’s that supposed to mean?"
"You don’t know anything about this guy, and he probably wanted it that way. He’s probably a serial killer."
Scotty rolled his eyes. "He’s not a serial killer."
"You don’t know that. He might have missed your date because the police almost caught up with him."
Scotty laughed, shaking his head. "He missed our date because he got sent out of the country for business."
"Uh-huh," Kevin said. "Recruiting young girls for a prostitution ring."
"Maybe he’s building a school. For orphans."
"Maybe he doesn’t even have a job and just spends all day in his mother’s basement, playing video games and seducing men over the internet."
"Well, he’s pretty damn good at it."
"Oh!" Kevin leaned forward again, asking conspiratorially, "So you two don’t have personal conversations, just intimate ones?"
"I didn’t say that."
"You didn’t have to."
"You know, Kevin. You don’t have to feel threatened by him, just because he can be sexier with only words than you can with your whole body."
Kevin snorted. "Yeah, well, I wouldn’t talk until you’ve actually seen his body."
Scotty shook his head, laughing. "I don’t care about looks."
"Everyone cares about looks."
"Well, I have a feeling he’ll be my type."
"Your type is 400 pound guys with acne scars all over their faces?"
"There’s someone for everyone," Scotty replied with a wink.
"Seriously - you have no clue how this guy looks?"
"He has blue eyes," he told Kevin.
Kevin stared back at him. "Oh, that narrows it down. He could be anyone." Kevin took a chance and added, "He could be me, for crying out loud."
Scotty smiled at him, shaking his head as he explained, "The mystery’s part of the fun."
Kevin sighed in frustration.
Next Chapter
Main Page
A/N: I may or may not be able to update over the next few days. Real life. I'll do my best!