A Scripta

Grim stepped off the plane following Kalius.  He actually had never flown on a plane before, and it was all a new experience for him.  Kalius seemed to know his way around the airport, so Grim merely followed him.

They gathered their bags and Kalius got the rental car.  Grim had to remember his name, Michael LeBonte.  They had discussed his backstory – he was a student at Paragon University (not too far-fetched, as he registered for the winter semester to take an anatomy course).  They met in Atlas Park.  They started going out after about a week.  They moved in together two weeks later.  Fast, yes.

Of course, Grim had no answer to the question, “So are you a hero too?”  He could easily out-and-out lie.  He could hedge.  He wasn’t sure how he was going to handle it.  Hopefully they wouldn’t ask.

They arrived at a Marriott.  Grim - Michael - carried the bags, ignoring the bellboy.  Kevin turned to see him carrying them, and chuckled.  "He's supposed to carry them," he said. 

"I don't mind," Michael said.  Kalius - Kevin, dammit - gave him a look, which Michael read as "You're using magic", so he dropped the bags.  The bellboy struggled to pick them up. He followed them dutifully to his room and Kevin paid him.  Michael gave a disapproving look.  "That was stupid."

Kevin only looked at Michael and then kissed him.  Michael smiled, and then started walking around the spacious room - with a whirlpool.  Michael said, "We should call the base, tell them we're okay."

Kevin nodded, glancing in the bathroom.  "Room for two in this tub," he said.

Michael left a message, then joined Kevin in the doorway.  "Try it out?"  He hugged Kevin around the shoulders. 

"Later.  Let's go see mom."

Kevin parked the car in front of a ranch-style house, with everything on one floor.  Kevin got out of the car, and the two men looked up at the house.

“Ready?”  Kevin asked Michael.

Michael nodded, and they headed up the drive.  Kevin didn’t go to the front door, but to the side one.  They went onto a small glassed-in foyer, and Kevin rang the bell.  Michael was on the stairs, holding the screen door open and leaning against it.  The door opened.

“Kevin!”

“Hi, mom,” he said, dropping the bags and giving her a hug and a kiss.  Michael smiled and watched the scene, studying his mother.  She was dressed simply, like she had been in the middle of cooking or cleaning.  He could see where Kevin got his bright blue eyes from.  Kevin turned and reached a hand to Michael.  “Mom, this is Michael.”

“Hi, Mrs. Nomikos,” he said, and held out his hand to her. 

She smiled at him and shook it firmly.  “Nice to finally meet you, Michael,” she said.  “Come in, come in.”  She stepped aside to let them in.  Michael glanced around the house, very cozy and warm, something he hadn’t seen in a long, long time.

“Can I get you two anything?”

“What do you have?” asked Kevin, dropping his bags at the foot of a set of stairs. 

“I have some lemonade…”

“That’s good.  Michael?”

He nodded.  “That’ll be fine with me.”

They went to the kitchen table and sat down.  His mom brought two ice cold glasses of lemonade.  Michael could see the Christmas tree in the living room from his vantage point in the kitchen.  The whole homey scene made his heart ache a little.

His mom sat down across from them.  “So what have you been doing, Kevin?”

“Keeping busy,” he said and sipped from the glass.

“Doing whatever it is that heroes do?”

He nodded.  Michael realized she didn’t need to know the details.  She turned her attention to Michael.  “Are you a hero, too?”

Shit.  Michael put the glass down and gazed at her.  Kevin answered for him, “Yes.”  He sipped again.  “He’s support.”

Michael smiled.  “I’ll tell you about it sometime.”

“Is Brian coming?” Kevin asked.

“Yes, I believe so…” 

Kevin merely nodded.  Michael glanced at him, and then back at his mom.  “They had words,” she said, and that was all she’d tell him.  Michael nodded, sipped his lemonade.  Then his mother started going into the family, the cousins and the uncles, the people who would be coming for dinner.  He got the hint, listening to her, that this would not be the best place to hang all over his lover like in the warehouse; that the two of them would have to act as friends and not even show any public displays of affection. 

Then Kevin suddenly reached over and took Michael’s hand.  He was getting the same vibes too, and he wasn’t going to let it stop him from showing his affection for his lover.  As far as he was concerned, Kevin – or, more closely, Kalius – was proud of his orientation, and to hell with what other people thought.  Michael wasn’t sure if he was going to like being the guinea pig in this experiment.

Finally, Kevin said, “Mom, I don’t care what Uncle Thomas thinks.  Michael is my boyfriend.”

“It’s your father’s brother,” she said warningly.

“And I don’t care what anyone thinks.”  He held Michael’s hand in both of his.   “They don't have to watch.”

Michael looked down.  He wanted to be the flamboyantly proud gay man that he normally was, but he also wanted to make a good impression. 

“It’s my life, and my choice,” Kevin was continuing.  “And if I want to hold my lover’s hand in public, I will.”

“Kevin, honey,” his mother said calmly, “we're just getting used to your being a hero...”

Michael looked at his lover, and said quietly, “Kevin.”  He smiled.  He patted Kevin’s hand with his other free one.  “It’s all right.”

Kevin ground his teeth.  Michael finished his lemonade and said, "Why don't you show me your old room?"

Kevin nodded at that, and the Kevin brought him upstairs.  There were some innocuous posters on the wall, a computer desk, nothing that would make it seem that this was the room of an immortal Greek soul.  It all looked so normal.  He looked at Kevin and embraced him.

“Kevin – Kal – I know you’re proud to be out now, but we don’t need to throw it in their faces.” 

He stepped back.  “This from you?  Who walks up to villains in the D and comes onto them?”

“There, I don’t care who’s around and I don’t have anyone to impress.  Here, I want to impress your family.”

“You don’t have to impress them, and you don’t have to impress me.”  He looked up at Michael.  “I want you to be yourself.”

“KEVIN!” came a squealing girl’s voice, and Michael broke away just in time to see a girl come tearing down the hall heading right to Kevin.  He smiled, and caught her in his strong arms and lifted her swinging.  She laughed and cried, “Ooh, you’re strong!”

“You’ve gotten heavy, Strawberry,” he said, setting her down. 

“Sherry!”

“Blueberry!”

“SHERRY!”  She poked him in the chest.  She looked to be about ten or eleven, from how Michael judged kids, with bouncing dark pig tails and Hannah Montana clothes.  She looked at Michael.  “Who’s this?”

“It’s my boyfriend, Michael.  Michael, meet my cousin, Sherry.”

“Hi,” Michael said.

“You have a boyfriend?  I thought only girls had boyfriends.”

“Some men do, too,” Kevin explained patiently.

“You’re a fag?”

Michael winced.  Kevin’s eyes grew cold.  “I’m gay, yes.”

She looked a little concerned.  “Daddy’s not going to like that.”

“I know,” Kevin said.  “He’s just going to have to deal with it.”  He peered at Sherry.  “You still love me, don’t you, Cherry?”

“Sherry!” she cried, laughing.  “Of course I do!”  She leaned over and whispered something to Kevin, and he grinned.  “Yes, I know he’s cute.”

Michael looked down, grinning.  Kevin ribbed him and said, “Let’s go see Uncle Thomas.”