Work Text:
LOOKING FOR LOVE by Natasha Barry
Posted to SQUIDGE 2007, edited 2023. Kevin/Jason, BROTHERS AND SISTERS. The events at the Kitty Walker and Robert McCallister engagement party.
My mother’s house is getting trashed. There will be nothing left for any of us to inherit, the lawyer in him piped in.
Giving the downstairs the once over from the relative safety of the stairs, Kevin spied Jason McCallister amongst the minions. The McCallister clan was huge, but Jason was tall and he towered over them.
Would have towered over Kevin, as well, only Kevin was doing his best to treat him the same as all the other McCallisters present: that is, ignore him.
Not that anyone tall and gorgeous was easy to ignore, so Kevin felt he’d earned himself a pat on the back. But he’d also compartmentalized Jason into that category he had of Not A Chance, and therefore didn’t consider reopening that file. They were too incompatible, and Kevin didn’t think it was all on his end. After all, two people had to be wanting a relationship or friendship with any compromises to occur. Perhaps Jason was into compromising; Kevin was too tired to think about it.
He might have called Jason after their disastrous blind date, but first he had to find out more about the man. After all, he’d misjudged Jason – or at least the man’s politics or character. But it wasn’t his sister who solved the mystery, it was Robert McCallister. Kevin’s date had been Jason McCallister: he’d never known or suspected, as he’d never condoned such a setup, as matchmaker Kitty Walker well knew. No wonder he hadn’t been given his blind date's full name.
Still, he would have called the next day, if only to offer an explanation, only now future brother-in-law Robert declared Jason wanted nothing to do with him. Well, that was fine with Kevin, a little bruising, but fine. They might have been cordial with each other but not friends. That would never be.
Through circumstances, they’d even been the co-organizers of this engagement party. But that didn’t involve a lot of talk or interaction, and it was handled amicably enough, on both sides.
It would have been a venue hosting this shindig rather than his mother standing there in misery contemplating the milieu if Kevin hadn’t lost his temper on seeing the proposed location. Though Jason had the same picture in mind, he had to have known how unsuitable the venue was, even if he’d never admit to it. Without Jason’s voicing his opinion on the venue, in Kevin’s view the man was teetering on that gay Litmus test for décor.
A strangely passionless person, Jason McCallister. Like his brother, apparently having the depth of a corn flake and just as wishy-washy.
He’d been with more interesting men recently, both Scotty and Chad, and even going further back than that. It hadn’t been a settled year and he was feeling restless. All sorts of changes going on in the family, life and death issues, but this year would end the same as the other years, for him. Alone.
He continued down the stairs and nearly into the arms of his mother.
“I am so sorry,” he told her, surveying the mess along with her.
“It’s all right, honey. You did your best. It was a good idea. I just hope the house survives.”
He said, “It survived us.”
“That it did." She grinned. “Good house,” as if acknowledging a dog. “It’s a strong house with good bones. It's seen a lot with us Walkers.”
“But it hasn’t seen the McCallisters.”
“Kitty looks lovely. And Robert is so handsome. A golden couple.”
“You resent them moving in together?”
“I don’t know.”
“Seems foolish; a Republican candidate for president living in sin.”
“We’ll see. The world is changing all the time. Now that Jason, he is one beautiful man. It’s a good thing I’m older and he’s gay.”
“Now, Mom.”
“I know.” She sighed. “Don’t want to make you feel bad. Too bad, though. And he seems stable, especially from everything Kitty’s told me about him.”
“I don’t know.”
“You got along until you insulted his brother.”
“I insulted a candidate, who was his brother. I feel like I was pushed under the bus. He should have told me who he was. I did try to apologize, you know.” He’d really liked the guy, the most attractive guy he’d met since Chad, for sure, and the man was apparently OUT, not someone he’d have that tug-of-war with that ruined things for him with the actor. The emotional devastation of Scotty and then Chad, was just too much for him to go through that again, at least so soon. He felt like he should have somebody vetting his prospective partners, but obviously not his conservative Republican big sister.
Nora had met the junior McCallister and found him charming and reasonable, but this was her son. “Then it’s his fault for being rude and intolerant.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
He left Nora Walker to saunter past the extremely loud and obnoxious McCallister clan and went outside to garner himself another drink. As he felt a pat on the back, he turned and saw brother Tommy slipping past him in the other direction. Except for that, Kevin kept a blind eye to most of what was happening around him, figuring he’d deal with the mess when the unblessed event was over and done with.
His sister WOULD HAVE TO MARRY into a party that was pro-war and anti-gay. Once the Democrats decided who was their anointed, he’d be campaigning on that ticket’s behalf, and against his brother-in-law. Might make for some interesting news reports, on the battling Walkers, but he had to go with his conscience and without his sister’s marriage, he’d still be backing the other candidacy.
At one point he spotted the dark-garbed – looking funereal, he thought, for a party – and hunky Jason McCallister from his peripheral vision, but he kept on past him. The man was fucked-up, so totally fucked-up in being so holier than thou, Kevin only wished he hadn’t made a fool of himself over that coffee date so he could be more appropriately disdainful.
Instead they’d managed to pull the arrangements of a party together through their mutual hard work, finding some joy in overcoming a potential milestone, and they’d honestly gotten along, with the minimum of sniping involved. His future brother-in-law’s brother even had some contacts he could pull out of a hat; maybe gays who owed him favors, who knew. But after their first meeting at the venue, Kevin and Jason mainly were on cell phones to communicate progress.
=====
Jason was silently fuming over the “Come on, you hate this as much as I do” Kevin had gifted him with at the venue, wondering at the man’s obvious contempt for him. He had thought he should be the aggrieved party, and if anyone was owed an apology it was him, but there was none forthcoming, not then or since.
Then Jason recalled Kevin had attempted a sincere apology at the time, albeit within a state of confusion, but he’d only grabbed his keys and left. So maybe Kevin had a right to injury, after all.
Now, with this the first in each other’s company – or, at least, territory – since their meeting at the prospective venue, Jason felt the man was ignoring him. He’d hoped they were past that, but a look around reminded him his family wasn’t exactly on their best behavior and perhaps he should have warned Kevin when the man was deciding to hold the party at the Walker house. In a way, Jason had been hoping the man who practiced consummate rudeness would get just what he was deserving. Unfortunately, in this revenge scenario, Jason had not taken two things into account. One, that more than Kevin would be suffering. A glance at Nora’s face and he knew that woman didn't deserve this. Two, that his actions regarding Kevin, his need to see the man punished, was hardly worthy of a man of the cloth.
Why did Kevin upset him so much anyway? Lots of people hated his brother. Lots of people loved him. Why did it matter what Kevin thought? Because his brother was marrying into that family? Or is it because Kevin had such vivid blue eyes and pale skin and those pouting red lips which made his heart pulse with desire? Not to mention the curly dark hair which put him in mind of a statue, that depiction of the young lover of a Roman emperor. The man was adorable, and Jason suspected a happy Kevin was quite a treat. Yet Kevin seemed oblivious. But he couldn’t say Kevin was avoiding him either, since Kevin seemed to be avoiding the entire McCallister entourage.
Moving towards Kevin, yet apparently unnoticed, Jason stopped short on seeing his cousin, Stephanie, accosting the poor man.
“Is it true you dated Chad Barry?” Her voice was ringing out.
“Yes, it is.” Kevin was surprised but agreeable. “You must be reading it off the Skini Mini.”
“He is so gorgeous. What a shame. What was that like?”
“He picked me up at the gym. He had a lovely girlfriend named Michelle. I could introduce you, if you’d like.”
The implication was clear to Jason, but clearly flew right over Stephanie’s head.
With a bored expression on his face, Kevin joined in a huddle with assorted Walkers.
“Looks like we escaped a Nora meltdown.” This coming from Tommy, the eldest Walker brother.
“She seems okay,” said Kevin, who then moved off.
The music selection, which consisted of light rock and pop, now blasted IF I COULD TURN BACK TIME, which Jason found wholly ironic, considering he wished he could time-blast back to that fateful blind date, when Kevin insulted his brother but he’d walked out on the man without explanation. What was that old expression about two wrongs don’t make a right? And, in this case, Kevin had no knowledge at the time as to why Jason had taken offense. An introduction on his part – up front – would not have come amiss.
After a few more false starts at intercepting the man on neutral ground, Jason spied Kevin going into the kitchen and once there spotted him in the pantry. What he was doing there, Jason had no idea. Maybe the man was trying to escape the McCallister clan; in which case, out of luck. It wasn’t as if Jason was being provided a lot of opportunities here. In fact, this was better than trying to garner a conversation with lurching relatives and crazy drunks around. At least he’d have a moment in which to touch base with the man himself; playing it by ear. Quick excuse prepared, Jason hightailed it in there and found Kevin perusing the shelf – of tea varieties? The man must be desperate to escape their company.
A “What are you doing?” was the opening Jason was waiting for.
=====
Kevin was puzzled as to a guest’s entry into the Walker kitchen pantry, then startled when his nemesis gave voice to how many margaritas he’d had. The man knew how many drinks he’d had? Before he could assimilate that fact, he was diverted by the implied insult. After all, though a splendid social drinker, no one could claim he was a problem drinker. Then again, maybe the man’s attitude was payback, since Kevin had insulted the McCallister clan by categorizing them as “insane” and “drunk.” Well, if nothing else, at least the byplay was about to turn entertaining, since the only enjoyment he’d taken from the evening so far was the aforementioned margaritas.
As Kevin drew closer in confrontation, Jason kept up his end of the zingers – a quick Hooray! for another display of gay wit! – but was distracted by the cinematic treat which came before him: the man really had the most beautiful coloring. Something must have clicked into place for Kevin as well, some truth, for the next thing he knew:
“You didn’t come in here looking for a band aid, did you? You came in here looking for me.”
Busted. “Maybe.” But not such a bad thing. He swooped in, claiming that mouth as Kevin nodded his head in confirmation. In provocation? Whichever it was, it was enough.
Thereupon was the kiss that had each of them grinding their lips against each other and tongues combating for dominance even as they gripped each other’s heads lest one should break away. After it was over, lips sore, and both men effectively breathless, in addition to the shock at how they’d conducted themselves, they pulled back, sanity returning as momentary lust was assuaged. They were grown men, and in a private space matters would have gone much further, and there was still the fact they barely knew each other. But for the moment, they were in public, and without saying a word, they had a silent agreement to talk this over later.
Jason felt it was really up to Kevin; he was the one who pursued Kevin, not the other way around, and there was a party to return to which provided Kevin Walker time to consider the implications of dating the brother of the man he loathed.
And did Kevin even know that he was a minister?
For Jason, it was less difficult. He knew more about Kevin than the man did about him. So was he ready to attempt a relationship with Kevin? He was certainly attracted to the man; always had been. Found him sexy, and intelligent and quick-witted, and definitely passionate about his beliefs and certainly their interaction meant the man was hardly a wallflower in the sack. It really came down to Kevin, and whether Kevin could shelve his dislike of McCallisters in general, as well as be okay with Jason’s religious practices, whether they could make a go of it.
My God, Jason gave a silent quiver of a prayer: they were certainly a combustible pair.
Not surprisingly, Kevin sought him out, and Jason, already tuned to the man’s vibrations, turned to confront him. At least the distance and animosity had given way to flirtatiousness and amusement.
Jason was right; Kevin hadn’t known he was a minister. But that complication was dealt with efficiently.
Having already suspected the truth, that the Minister act was no party charade, Kevin had made his decision about seeing the man: “I could use some tradition in my life.”
Jason was relieved. It came to him, with the introduction of their families, they had no hiding places or lies left to tell. Going forward would be easy.
Kevin knew this man was different, that things would have to be different with him. And after the debacles of Scotty and Chad, different is exactly what he needed.
THE END