#manvin

The thing was, while a taur-run butchershop was certainly interesting enough to get anyone to come take a look- after all, taur ate little meat themselves- it wasn’t interesting enough to make people come back on its own. At least, not enough for taur. Hoof-To-Mouth wasn’t even conveniently placed, far enough from the more sprawling taur residences that it was clear it relied on humans and kelpies for most of its revenue. Add to that the fact that Kevin got plenty of animal protein already from delivery purchased while he was in the throws of a project, and really there was no reason for him to ever bother with the place past that first, curious investigation.

So, he’d been making them up for seven months.

Every recipe he experimented with, or time he had the Tennysons over at mealtime, was another excuse to head a twenty-minute trot out of his way and pay a visit to what had quickly become one of his favorite establishments, with one of his favorite people behind the counter.

Manny Armstrong, son of the owner and budding actor, was a gift. A sturdily built camel with warm brown skin and eyes, a great sense of humor, and a smart mouth. What wasn’t there to love about a man who honestly laughed at even Kevin’s stupidest jokes? Made his own? Who didn’t hesitate to insult any clients he griped about? And who’d quickly opened up enough to gripe about his own annoying customers so that Kevin could return the favor? He melted around kids and always had a story about pranks or dares to tell when the place was empty and they could just chat while Manny got chores done. Confident, bold, stubborn, he was amazing.

Of course, Kevin hadn’t done anything ‘untoward’, as Gwen would call it, no matter how interested he was. He may have been dragged to adulthood more than he was raised but he still knew better than to flirt with somebody when they couldn’t turn you down, even if Manny didn’t seem the type to let that stop him. Plus, while he’d been able to determine that he was (somehow, unbelievably) single, he hadn’t been able to learn such important things as ‘does he even like guys’ yet. So, he visited a few times a week, chatted as much as they could, and went home to drown in love poetry and long-legged sculptures. Let himself imagine Manny smiled brighter than was normal when he came in the door.

(He’d brought the Tennysons with him once, because much as he loved them Gwen would poke and prod forever until he told her who had him all wound up, and had left with a very good chicken and the two of them grumbling about dealing with a pair of morons. Very rude of them, Manny was a fucking delight.)

But altogether that meant that when Kevin came into the shop looking for a rump roast that he totally needed, definitely, certainly wasn’t going to just stop off and donate it at the nearest soup kitchen on his way home, no sir, and Manny handed over a ticket to some play he had a part in along with the meat, all ease and smiles, well.

“Should we really be having this discussion when Rad’s not here?” The living room went quiet, everyone taking a moment to look amongst themselves, a silent bid for agreement. Argit was the one to break the silence, burying his fingers in Ken’s hair nonchalantly.

“Given he’s home three months out of the year at most? Yes.” Ken rolled his eyes and sat up for a brief moment before deciding, fuck it, he was comfy, and setting his head back in Manny’s lap. The floor wasn’t the softest thing to sit on, but there wasn’t room left on the couch, he didn’t want to sit alone, and Ossy shit or no curling up with Alan and Cooper would always be awkward for him.

“I just think, this is the sort’ve discussion we should have the entire family for.”

“He’s got a point,” Alan added, curled up in Cooper’s lap in one of the armchairs, “it doesn’t seem right.”

“Right my ass,” Argit shot back, “he doesn’t hang around long enough for discussions.” Ken patted Argit’s leg while Kevin fiddled with one of his ears soothingly. Yeah Rad sometimes shared Kevin with them (really everyone shared Kevin- except for Alan, obviously, given the whole uncle & nephew thing) but he came home for Argit and their mutual partner sometimes got aggravated at just how much time he spent off on jobs. As it was, he shook the two of them off and jabbed a finger at Cooper. “How long are you willing to wait for kids?”

Cooper went quiet and looked at Manny, who did the same. Both had the same contemplative look on their faces. For about twelve seconds.

“The rat has a point.”

“He really does.” Scowling, Alan elbowed Cooper.

“We are not planning children without the entire nesting here, damnit!”

“Oh come on, we didn’t even see him last time he was home! He walked in, locked himself away with Argit for a few hours, and then left again!”

“Still!” A put-upon groan came from Manny’s other side and Mike patted Ken’s shoulder as he stood up.

“Take my seat,” he said. “You already know where I stand on kids, and I’m not even getting involved in this argument- he’s no man of mine- so I’m gonna go grab a snack.” Kevin perked up.

“Grab me a beer?”

“And me?”

“Soda’d be nice…” Ken and Alan bit back laughter as the others turned to Mike expectantly, even as he crossed his arms and glowered at them.

“Do I look like a waiter?”

“Yes.”

“Shut up. Should I be taking notes on your orders?” Even Ken threw the puppy-eyes at him, and he was very good at the puppy-eyes. Mike sighed. “What do you want?”

“Just the beer.”

“And some sodas.”

“Maybe a bag of chips?”

“Ooo, and that bag of jerky I have above the fridge, if you could, doll?”

“And pizza!”

“Michael Jeremy Morningstar if you order him pizza I will hurt you.”

Cooper rolled his eyes so hard at that his whole head moved and threw Mike a grin.

“There’s a frozen one in the second chest freezer downstairs.” Also rolling his eyes, Mike nodded and left the room as Kevin gaped like a man stabbed by his own kin.

“You brought a frozen pizza into my house-”

“Oh chill, Kev,” Alan said, “they need something to eat when we aren’t around.”

“If they really loved us, they’d starve.” Trying not to smile, Manny threw an arm around Kevin’s shoulders, Argit abandoning him to settle in on Ken’s lap instead. “Disloyal blasphemers, the lot of you.”

“Yeah yeah, we’re the worst family you could’ve ever had, at least we’re not Tennysons.”

“Hey!” Ken glowered up at Manny, Argit’s hand going back into his hair.

“You don’t count, Sisriih, you abandoned them to join the Levin-Jones family, remember?”

“It’s the principle of the thing.” He shook his head. “Anyway, that’s another reason to have Rad here, none of you can tell me you don’t want the name ‘Dudesman’ on our kids and we can’t do that without involving him in more than making them.” An indecisive murmur went up, spreading across the room, though Manny just shrugged.

“Mike and I have already discussed it,” he said, “at least one daughter is going to be ‘Manuela Micheline Morningstar’ or so help us.” Again, the room went quiet.

Then Alan nearly fell off Cooper’s lap from laughing too hard. His husband just heaved a sigh and stared at the ceiling, muttering something Ken couldn’t hear under his breath. Meanwhile he and Argit shook their heads, Ken himself fighting back a smile as he did. Kevin, Kevin just stared at his laughing Manny with such a painfully unimpressed, disbelieving look that nobody was really surprised when he slipped out of his grip and headed for the other end of the couch.

“Move over, you two,” he said, forcing himself between them and the arm of the couch, making the whole lot shuffle down as he did, “only decent men I have left.” Argit grinned back at him.

“Well you had to have at least one.”

“It’s just a shame,” Cooper added in, “that we have to lose like a third of our family. If you don’t mind, Kev, since I’m about to be painfully available...” Alan took no notice of this, too busy still laughing with Manny and also too experienced to think Cooper’d drop him over anything less than the heat death of the universe, while Kevin reached out for the blond sympathetically.

“We’re here for you, Coop.”

“You won’t go through this trial alone,” Argit added.

“Thank guys,” Cooper said, pressing a hand to his heart melodramatically- really they all spent too much time with Mike- “it’s nice to know somebody is good and just in this household.” Ken snorted.

“Let’s not go too far. Think Alan and I are the only ones in this house without a record.” Cooper opened his mouth only for Alan to clamp his hand over it.

“Or deserve it.” He snatched his hand back to reveal Cooper’s tongue out and ready, though he still looked fond when he turned to Ken. “Are we sure we even want kids with these guys?” Ken heaved a heavy, put-upon sign, shaking his head even as he wrapped an arm around Argit’s waist.

There was bacon on the table and that was reason enough for Mike and Manny to not even sit down.

“Um, Daffodil? Dearheart?”

“Are you okay?” There wasn’t bacon in this house. There was never bacon in the house. There wasn’t pork period. Between Kevin and Manny it wasn’t allowed. The fact none of the others were concerned, simply rolling their eyes at them and taking full advantage of the boon, meant nothing. Cooper would eat anything, Argit was weird, and Ken just followed Argit’s lead, which left them to make sure Kevin wasn’t ill, or had finally been hogtied and thrown in a closet by Alan.

“I’m fine,” Kevin called from the kitchen as he stepped into the doorframe, leaning his shoulder against it. “Something wrong?”

“They’re scared of the bacon,” Cooper said before either of them could answer, mouth stuffed with the stuff.

“Pansies, the both of them,” Argit added, earning himself a glower.

“Excuse us,” Mike said, hand over his heart, “for being the only ones who care enough to worry about our man’s wellbeing.” Again, they all rolled their eyes, Kevin biting back a chuckle as they did.

“It’s lamb bacon,” he said, “from the ones we slaughtered back in spring.” For Mike this was good enough, and practically dove into the seat to rectify the nine torturous hours he’d gone without food. Manny was a bit harder, still eyeing the quickly vanishing pile like it might bite him.

“So it’s fine?”

“Yes, dumbass, it’s fine.” Kevin stepped far enough into the dining room to pull Manny down for a quick kiss, leaving a handprint in flour on the back of his neck. “You know I wouldn’t serve you pork, or venison, or any of the other shit you don’t eat.” Manny grumbled his assent as he took his seat.

“Still would’ve been nice to be told.” At those words Kevin sent Argit a heated look. Which made sense, if anyone was going to have a clue… In the ten years they’d known each other those two had kept maybe three secrets in total. It was a testament to those years that Argit was completely unphased.

“I assumed,” he said in his most ‘as the second oldest person in this building I am disappointed in you children’ tone, “that they had enough faith in you to figure you could be trusted with their food. Apparently, I was wrong.” Everyone, including Kevin, rolled their eyes. Alan was probably rolling his eyes back in the kitchen.

“You’re all disasters,” Kevin said, heading back to whatever he was making in there, “I don’t know why I keep any of you.” Neither could any of the rest of them, thankfully, so at least they were on the same page. Manny started piling his plate with fish, eggs, and fruit. Mike put a small handful of the bacon on it for him.

“It’s good, trust me.” And he would know, he’d already put it on a breakfast sandwich and was eating it while moving everything on the table over by their seats. “Pretty sure that was another part of Argit’s revenge for not doing those Tasks he set us.” Manny groaned, rolling his eyes again and biting into a persimmon.

“I don’t know what he expected from us, really. I’m pretty sure cloudberries aren’t even a real thing.” Mike snorted.

He’d been on Osmos V a week before he saw Kevin again.

This surprised him, much like Khoros Osmos V had very little for him to do. There weren’t many aliens on the planet, most of their presence being a variety of hybrids, so he and Helen had spent most of their time getting acquainted with the populace and the area.

The people were nice, if wary, and just aggressive enough for Manny’s liking, and while the land was mostly barren the desert and cliffs overflowed with gems and metals that shone in any light, and even sometimes by their own power, and created a view like no other in the galaxy. Mornings had been spent on a nearby cliff top, chatting with the locals as they sunned. Afternoons had been split between roaming the passageways of the underground city, where they had done everything from help chicks haul water back to their nests from the underground river the city was built around to learning how to keep a fire going with metal and minerals, and exploring the beautiful desert. Helen was already working on finding the best of what the locals called ‘sun stones’ to send home to Alan. Supposedly there was something called a Thunderstone that Cooper would have liked, but she’d yet to see one while they were out.

But they hadn’t seen this “most desirable” youth. The city wasn’t that large, only a few hundred people, so you would have thought the other teen would have shown his face again, if not wandering the passageways then sunning on the cliff. Instead they’d only heard of Kevin. Supposedly they were the reason Manny’s ship was suddenly being upgraded, and the youth’s approval was why everyone was accepting them as well as they were. That one was shocking to hear, they had only met Kevin the once and as soon as Magister Larka had decided to show them their rooms the brunet had wandered off with the excuse of “work to do”. And that had been that.

And now here they were.

Manny had asked about transportation on the planet, seeing it had very little in the way of fuel, and one of the locals had described to him a large enclosure behind a nearby ridge that held their beasts of burden. Since Helen had decided to dedicate her day to learning how to cook the local food so the pair didn’t have to rely on the goodwill of others, he had decided to take the time to go investigate. After all, it never hurt to have a real understanding of your area. He’d followed the directions the Osmosian had given him, a complicated set that convinced him that this species had to be psychic to follow them, and, after a good few hours, had crested the mass of stone and gems to find- Kevin.

On looking back the older hybrid hadn’t been alone, the stone paddock had been loaded with animals, mostly of the ‘stone-skinned rhino’ variety although there were a few more reminiscent of dinosaurian walls with legs, but Manny hadn’t really noticed them. The first thing his eyes had seen was the glint of light off machinery and a toned body huddled against the side of one of the rhinos, shielded from the roaring winds. He’d slid down the side of the ridge and jumped the fence before he’d even realized he was moving.

There was a cacophony of roars as the beasts leapt to their feet with shocking grace, all turning and charging for him with murder in their bright eyes

And a whistle. It was hard to hear above the din of wind and rage but as it hit the ear each beast slid to a hard stop, gems and gravel flying through the air. Slowly, as Kevin walked through the crowd delivering scratches and giving short, low barks and booms, they calmed, and dissipated back around their pen. As the last one, a large, scar-ridden thing with a face like a meat-grinder, walked away, the Osmosian gave him a smile.

“All prey species, you’ve gotta be careful not to spook them.” Manny fought back the urge to smile back, instead focusing on watching the beasts warily.

“I’ve never seen a prey animal default to attacking a predator.” Kevin laughed.

“Well, I guess ours are just meaner.” He ran his dark eyes over Manny, just barely beginning to purr before he snapped back to attention, blushing. “So, what are you doing out here?” Blushing as well, Manny followed as Kevin turned and started back into the herd.

“Was just exploring. Figured if I have to live out here I might as well know my way around, you know?” He watched Kevin pick up the machine he’d been tinkering with. “What about you?” Kevin sat back down, leaning against the same rhino, and returned to his fiddling. Manny cautiously sat beside him.

“I just, like to get out sometimes.”

“I thought that was what the whole sunning thing was for.” The tetramand felt kind of bad when Kevin tensed. He wasn’t a nice person by a long shot but, that face didn’t need that frown.

“Energy and I don’t mix, so I don’t sun,” Kevin said, “so instead I come out here. It’s less crowded and I can get my work done without a bunch of chicks asking me questions all the time.”

The silence that fell over them was, awkward to say the least. Manny wasn’t usually big on socializing. For the most part he had no friends besides Helen, Alan, and Cooper, and the younger two he would never have spoken to if he hadn’t been forced onto a team with them. This had left him woefully unprepared for dealing with the sudden desire to speak to someone. Not to argue, or fight, but just to hear their voice, happy, directed at him. Kevin hadn’t said so much as a paragraph to him, probably didn’t even remember his name, and already he wanted to know everything there was about the guy. They’d known each other less than five minutes, he knew nothing about him, and-

“So,” he said, “you seeing anyone?” Kevin turned and looked at him, eyes wide with surprise. He was so going to fuck this up…

“No, I,” Blushing again, Kevin turned away, “I mean, a lot of people are interested, but nobody’s bothered to make a move and there’s nobody I’m interested in enough to go after them myself, so… What about you?” He suddenly turned back with a tight grin and a quick turnaround, “That Helen-girl and you…?” Manny went even redder.

“No no!” he said hurriedly, “Helen and I are just friends. She’s almost my sister. I,” he scratched the back of his neck, “I’m not seeing anyone either.”

“Oh.” Silence falling over them again, Kevin pulled his legs in closer to his body, angling himself away from the larger hybrid as his skin blazed. Manny chewed on his lip as the awkwardness deepened.