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rsadelleIf I made a list of my favorite stories I never wrote, this would be near the top of it. One of my bingo squares is runaway/street kid. I'm a big fan of flipping things around, so I wanted to do this the unlikely way and have Kevin be the street kid. I also wanted to write a story where Mike is on really good terms with his parents. I wrote the beginning and the beginning of the alternate version, but never finished it, despite thinking about it a lot. I did, however, outline the whole thing in an email to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
icanbreakthesky, so this includes that as well as the bits I actually wrote.
The beginning:
The soup kitchen is Bill's idea. He's trying to get on Christine's parents' good side, at least enough that they'll stop being quite so draconian with her, and he thinks volunteering at a church-run shelter is a way to do it. Mike's there because Bill asked, and because he has to live with Bill and knows the bitching if he doesn't go will be worse than just sucking it up and spending a couple of hours dishing up soup to the homeless.
The fact that they actually serve soup is a surprise to him, but when he asks about it, the guy training him explains that it's healthy, it keeps, and the liquid helps prevent dehydration, which all sounds reasonable to Mike.
They're there at dinner time, and it's mostly older men and mothers with children, and a few younger guys in groups, but there's a guy Mike guesses is about his age who comes through alone and thanks him in a surprisingly high voice. He's a little more on the cute side than the people Mike usually hooks up with, but he thinks the guy's not bad.
Mike catches glimpses of him through the line of people that shuffle by him, and the guy sits alone and seems to be praying before he starts eating. No one sits with him.
After Mike's been ladling soup for long enough that he's glad swimming keeps him strong, the guy who's in charge tells him that since things are slowing down, he can go mingle.
Mike's not sure exactly who he's supposed to mingle with, but he grabs a plate and loads it up with the cookies on the tray in the kitchen and takes it out into the room. He sits across from the guy he noticed earlier and puts the cookies in the middle of the table. He takes one and gestures at the guy to help himself.
"Thank you," the guy says, and Mike really wasn't imagining how high his voice was.
Mike shrugs. "No problem. I'm Mike."
The guy nods. "Kevin."
Mike nods back and takes another bite of his cookie. He wants to ask Kevin what he's doing here - his clothes are too nice, and even as wary as he seems to be, he's friendlier than most of the other people who came through the line - but he's guessing that's not the right thing to do.
*
The outline:
Okay, here's my runaway/street kid plot (for which I need to research the timeline): Mike is already out of the house, living in the apartment with Bill and whomever else they lived with (I have it in my head that it was Nick Scimeca and Tony Marino, but I need to fact check). Bill is trying to get in good with Christine's parents, so he and Mike go volunteer at a soup kitchen (where, Mike is surprised to learn, they actually serve soup).
There Mike meets Kevin, who is homeless. Volunteering becomes a regular thing, so Mike sees him like twice a week. Then he sees him hanging around outside a venue where they're waiting in line for an FOB show, and gets Pete to put Kevin on the list and Kevin hangs out with them when they go to a diner afterwards. Kevin orders just juice or something, and Mike orders fries and pancakes and gives half of them to Kevin. Another time, he sees him before a TAI concert and puts him on the list.
Somewhere in there, the guy Mike is hooking up with (but they're not really dating) breaks up with him. Also somewhere in there Mike gives Kevin his phone number and is quite surprised to find that Kevin has a cell phone.
Kevin says, "My brothers pay for it. They've been working since they were kids, so they have their own money."
There's some story bits where they become friends, and then Mike tells Kevin he can come crash on their couch. Kevin gets a job at a coffee shop (possibly with Jon Walker) and they play guitar together. Eventually someone (possibly Nick, if I can figure out when Nick and De'Mar became NickandDe'Mar) moves out, and Kevin becomes an official roommate.
One day Mike answers the door and it's Joe and Nick (this story may have too many Nicks), who are in Chicago for a show and came to visit - without their parents knowing. They say something about how Kevin could come back, and Kevin says that no, he can't.
In the meantime, AJ and other Mike are leaving the band. Mike, Bill, and Adam want to keep their band because they have music and a name. Mike suggests they could have Kevin audition. "He already knows all our songs."
Adam says, "If we get your jailbait boyfriend to be our guitarist, who are we going to get to drum?"
Mike pokes him in his skinny little side and says, "Who are you calling jailbait?" But what Adam said sticks in his mind, and he calls his mom and asks if he can bring friends over for dinner.
He takes Bill and Kevin, and he's kind of watching Kevin as he notices the rainbow magnets and PFLAG calendar/information stuff on the fridge. Over dinner, Mike's mom tells him about some friend's son, and Mike says, "Just because he's gay doesn't mean I want to date him."
Later, when they're back at the apartment putting away leftovers, Kevin says, "You're gay."
Mike says, "You are too. That's why they kicked you out."
Kevin tells him about it.
Then there's more story where, IDK, there's some music stuff going on (Kevin officially joins the band! They find the Butcher! They write music!) and the two of them becoming boyfriends (and sex - because Kevin decided the purity ring thing wasn't for him if he couldn't get married anyway, plus it was a promise he made to his parents and he's honoring the spirit of it anyway by waiting for a serious relationship).
TAI is in LA making a video, and they go see the JoBros play. Mike ends up on a couch with a beer and Michael Guy Chislett, who is one of the JoBros' guitarists. They talk music, and Mike decides Michael is awesome.
In a comfortable lull in the conversation, Michael asks, "Is Kevin your guitarist or your boyfriend? Either way, he looks like he's jealous."
Mike looks over to see Kevin looking at them. When he smiles at Kevin, Kevin smiles back, and then comes over to sit on the arm of the couch next to him. Usually, when he does that, Mike will drape an arm over his thigh and put his hand on Kevin's knee, but he knows better than to do that around Kevin's parents.
Frankie comes over and Kevin makes Mike scoot over so Kevin can sit on the couch with Frankie on his lap. It's late, and Frankie's tired. Mike looks over and sees the way Kevin has one arm across Frankie's middle and is stroking his hair with his other hand and thinks, "Kevin's going to want kids," and then, "Okay, so we'll have kids." It's possibly the scariest moment of Mike's life.
And then, I don't know. I think there's a little bit more story, like about Kevin and Mike moving to LA to be near Kevin's brothers even though he's still not on good terms with his parents, and maybe there's something in there somewhere about Bill being conflicted about TAI's rising popularity being due to Kevin's brothers talking them up.
*
The alternate version would be the interview in some magazine after they're all famous:
Jonas comes in with Mike Carden, TAI's other guitarist. They greet me and then go to the counter to order. They are clearly regulars on a first-name basis with the barista. They ask her about a paper she was writing for a class. She thanks Carden for his suggestion of a book. Jonas and Carden bring their coffees over and sit across from me, their chairs pulled up close.
The truth is both simple and sadly commonplace. "I'm gay," Jonas tells me, "And my parents asked me to leave."
That's all I ever wrote of it, but I was also enamored of this version in which they hold hands at the table and use TAI's catchphrase from this world:
"You are who you are," Jonas says.
Carden puts his hand over Jonas's and finishes the slogan that decorates much of TAI's merchandise: "You love who you love."
icanbreakthesky, so this includes that as well as the bits I actually wrote.The beginning:
The soup kitchen is Bill's idea. He's trying to get on Christine's parents' good side, at least enough that they'll stop being quite so draconian with her, and he thinks volunteering at a church-run shelter is a way to do it. Mike's there because Bill asked, and because he has to live with Bill and knows the bitching if he doesn't go will be worse than just sucking it up and spending a couple of hours dishing up soup to the homeless.
The fact that they actually serve soup is a surprise to him, but when he asks about it, the guy training him explains that it's healthy, it keeps, and the liquid helps prevent dehydration, which all sounds reasonable to Mike.
They're there at dinner time, and it's mostly older men and mothers with children, and a few younger guys in groups, but there's a guy Mike guesses is about his age who comes through alone and thanks him in a surprisingly high voice. He's a little more on the cute side than the people Mike usually hooks up with, but he thinks the guy's not bad.
Mike catches glimpses of him through the line of people that shuffle by him, and the guy sits alone and seems to be praying before he starts eating. No one sits with him.
After Mike's been ladling soup for long enough that he's glad swimming keeps him strong, the guy who's in charge tells him that since things are slowing down, he can go mingle.
Mike's not sure exactly who he's supposed to mingle with, but he grabs a plate and loads it up with the cookies on the tray in the kitchen and takes it out into the room. He sits across from the guy he noticed earlier and puts the cookies in the middle of the table. He takes one and gestures at the guy to help himself.
"Thank you," the guy says, and Mike really wasn't imagining how high his voice was.
Mike shrugs. "No problem. I'm Mike."
The guy nods. "Kevin."
Mike nods back and takes another bite of his cookie. He wants to ask Kevin what he's doing here - his clothes are too nice, and even as wary as he seems to be, he's friendlier than most of the other people who came through the line - but he's guessing that's not the right thing to do.
*
The outline:
Okay, here's my runaway/street kid plot (for which I need to research the timeline): Mike is already out of the house, living in the apartment with Bill and whomever else they lived with (I have it in my head that it was Nick Scimeca and Tony Marino, but I need to fact check). Bill is trying to get in good with Christine's parents, so he and Mike go volunteer at a soup kitchen (where, Mike is surprised to learn, they actually serve soup).
There Mike meets Kevin, who is homeless. Volunteering becomes a regular thing, so Mike sees him like twice a week. Then he sees him hanging around outside a venue where they're waiting in line for an FOB show, and gets Pete to put Kevin on the list and Kevin hangs out with them when they go to a diner afterwards. Kevin orders just juice or something, and Mike orders fries and pancakes and gives half of them to Kevin. Another time, he sees him before a TAI concert and puts him on the list.
Somewhere in there, the guy Mike is hooking up with (but they're not really dating) breaks up with him. Also somewhere in there Mike gives Kevin his phone number and is quite surprised to find that Kevin has a cell phone.
Kevin says, "My brothers pay for it. They've been working since they were kids, so they have their own money."
There's some story bits where they become friends, and then Mike tells Kevin he can come crash on their couch. Kevin gets a job at a coffee shop (possibly with Jon Walker) and they play guitar together. Eventually someone (possibly Nick, if I can figure out when Nick and De'Mar became NickandDe'Mar) moves out, and Kevin becomes an official roommate.
One day Mike answers the door and it's Joe and Nick (this story may have too many Nicks), who are in Chicago for a show and came to visit - without their parents knowing. They say something about how Kevin could come back, and Kevin says that no, he can't.
In the meantime, AJ and other Mike are leaving the band. Mike, Bill, and Adam want to keep their band because they have music and a name. Mike suggests they could have Kevin audition. "He already knows all our songs."
Adam says, "If we get your jailbait boyfriend to be our guitarist, who are we going to get to drum?"
Mike pokes him in his skinny little side and says, "Who are you calling jailbait?" But what Adam said sticks in his mind, and he calls his mom and asks if he can bring friends over for dinner.
He takes Bill and Kevin, and he's kind of watching Kevin as he notices the rainbow magnets and PFLAG calendar/information stuff on the fridge. Over dinner, Mike's mom tells him about some friend's son, and Mike says, "Just because he's gay doesn't mean I want to date him."
Later, when they're back at the apartment putting away leftovers, Kevin says, "You're gay."
Mike says, "You are too. That's why they kicked you out."
Kevin tells him about it.
Then there's more story where, IDK, there's some music stuff going on (Kevin officially joins the band! They find the Butcher! They write music!) and the two of them becoming boyfriends (and sex - because Kevin decided the purity ring thing wasn't for him if he couldn't get married anyway, plus it was a promise he made to his parents and he's honoring the spirit of it anyway by waiting for a serious relationship).
TAI is in LA making a video, and they go see the JoBros play. Mike ends up on a couch with a beer and Michael Guy Chislett, who is one of the JoBros' guitarists. They talk music, and Mike decides Michael is awesome.
In a comfortable lull in the conversation, Michael asks, "Is Kevin your guitarist or your boyfriend? Either way, he looks like he's jealous."
Mike looks over to see Kevin looking at them. When he smiles at Kevin, Kevin smiles back, and then comes over to sit on the arm of the couch next to him. Usually, when he does that, Mike will drape an arm over his thigh and put his hand on Kevin's knee, but he knows better than to do that around Kevin's parents.
Frankie comes over and Kevin makes Mike scoot over so Kevin can sit on the couch with Frankie on his lap. It's late, and Frankie's tired. Mike looks over and sees the way Kevin has one arm across Frankie's middle and is stroking his hair with his other hand and thinks, "Kevin's going to want kids," and then, "Okay, so we'll have kids." It's possibly the scariest moment of Mike's life.
And then, I don't know. I think there's a little bit more story, like about Kevin and Mike moving to LA to be near Kevin's brothers even though he's still not on good terms with his parents, and maybe there's something in there somewhere about Bill being conflicted about TAI's rising popularity being due to Kevin's brothers talking them up.
*
The alternate version would be the interview in some magazine after they're all famous:
Jonas comes in with Mike Carden, TAI's other guitarist. They greet me and then go to the counter to order. They are clearly regulars on a first-name basis with the barista. They ask her about a paper she was writing for a class. She thanks Carden for his suggestion of a book. Jonas and Carden bring their coffees over and sit across from me, their chairs pulled up close.
The truth is both simple and sadly commonplace. "I'm gay," Jonas tells me, "And my parents asked me to leave."
That's all I ever wrote of it, but I was also enamored of this version in which they hold hands at the table and use TAI's catchphrase from this world:
"You are who you are," Jonas says.
Carden puts his hand over Jonas's and finishes the slogan that decorates much of TAI's merchandise: "You love who you love."
(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-10 07:53 pm (UTC)I appreciate you sharing this outline and it would be an interesting story to read.
"You are who you are," Jonas says.
Carden puts his hand over Jonas's and finishes the slogan that decorates much of TAI's merchandise: "You love who you love.
These were my favorite lines.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-10 09:00 pm (UTC)In my head, that slogan is a huge part of this version of TAI's philosophy.