Disasterology 101 (52 page)

“You make me
sick
, you degenerate son of a—”

“I don’t need your approval, and I certainly won’t tolerate your insults,” Kevin said quietly, and somehow managed to keep his emotions in check, but man, that hurt. “I’d tell you that I’m still the same, but I’ve known you far too long. You’ll never be able to keep an open mind about this.”

“Have you touched Derek?”

Kevin recoiled in horror, and stared at Paul for what felt like an eternity, doing his best not to lose the contents of his stomach in front of everybody. He never deluded himself in thinking his friendship with Paul had a snowball’s chance in hell of surviving Kevin’s sexual orientation, but not once had he considered the guy would make such an accusation.

Face burning with embarrassment, he looked at the people surrounding them, and cringed at the disgust he could see on their faces. Kevin wanted to die. He wanted to slug Paul for what he’d said. He wanted to go back to his place and start the day all over again.

“Don’t you ever let me catch you around Derek again,” Paul threatened. “If I find out you even
look
at him I’ll—”

Kevin took off his sunglasses, and turned to look at his former friend without bothering to disguise his contempt . “I’ve been like a father to Derek since you walked out on his mom,” he said, damn proud that his voice didn’t quiver. “Linda says she doesn’t have a problem with me being gay, and neither does Derek. You’re not going to stop me from seeing my godson.”

Paul got up from his seat and closed in on Kevin. “He’s
my
son.”

“Too bad you’re just remembering that now,” Kevin growled. He got up and pushed Paul away in the process. “Go back to your fiancée, Paul.”

“You listen to me, you—”

“That’s enough,” a third person said.

Kevin and Paul turned to look at Barry Kocsis, a divorced parent who never missed a game, and was now standing behind them with another three dads. They all looked pissed as hell.

Great
.

Convinced he was about to get forcibly removed from his son’s soccer game, Kevin started collecting his things. He had no problems sitting somewhere else. “No need to get physical, guys,” he said. “I’m out of here.”

“Stay put, Kev,” Barry said, surprising the shit out of him. “It isn’t you who needs to go the fuck away.”

Okaaaaaaay then.

“You’d better not be referring to me.” Paul—obviously the village idiot—challenged Barry, who was also known as Mr. Anabolic since the tenth grade.

“You’ve got some balls, showing up here and questioning Kev’s integrity,” Barry said through gritted teeth. “Any of us here can attest to his love and dedication to your son. He’s been there for him every time you haven’t, and always treated Derek the same way he treats TK. If you think you can come out of nowhere and imply Kev’s been inappropriate with the kid because he happens to be gay, you’re sadly mistaken.”

“Gay doesn’t mean child molester,” one of Barry’s buddies interjected. Stuart…or was it Henry? Whatever. Kevin was too perplexed by the small group’s unexpected defense of his character to be able to think of the guy’s name.

“Daddy? What’s going on?”

Kevin was so distracted by the argument that he didn’t notice Brianna had reached him until he heard her soft, uncertain question. His daughter was twelve years old, but he scooped her up in his arms and hugged her tightly. He didn’t want her to catch wind of Paul’s opinion of her father.

“It’s nothing, princess.” He glanced around again. The peanut gallery still looked disgusted, but this time Kevin could see all eyes were on Paul, and they didn’t seem too pleased with the guy. Could it be possible they were more troubled by his former friend’s words connotation than they were by Kevin’s sexual orientation? “What are you doing up here?”

“You have to come with me.” The concern on her angelic face was promptly replaced by a bright smile full of happiness when she pointed somewhere over his shoulder. “Cedric’s here!”

“
What?
”

Kevin’s head snapped to the side, and sure enough, there he was, thugged out to the ninth degree, dressed in loose blue jeans, red sneakers, what looked like a red, long-sleeve t-shirt, and a black hoodie two sizes too big for his tall, lean frame.

And a do-rag.

The boy was wearing a half-red, half-black do-rag, along with over-sized sunglasses, and the biggest ear gauges Kevin had seen on him to date. They were so big, he could easily make them out from the distance, and there were at least a hundred feet between them.

“Shit,” Kevin said under his breath. “What the hell’s he doing here?”

“He’s playing soccer with TK!”

“Yeah….” Kevin shot a quick look at Paul, Barry and company, and turned back to look at Cedric. “Yeah, I see that.” Apparently the game had finished while he’d been busy trying not to argue with Paul, and now his son was kicking a ball around with his boyfriend, who at the moment looked like a fucking member of one of the most notorious gangs in New York. “This is
so
not good.”

Kevin understood the reason behind Cedric’s over-the-top outfit, but he hated it. He was getting enough bullshit from people over his gayness as it was. The last thing he needed was for his boyfriend to show up looking like a delinquent, as that would certainly get folks to question his judgment.

“Daddy! Come down, Daddy.” Ava’s shriek caught Kevin’s attention...along with everybody else’s. “’Ric sez we can get ice cream if you ’n Mommy say’s okay!”

Shit.

“I want a milkshake instead,” Brianna said. “Do you think Mommy would let us go to your house, Daddy? I know it’s not your weekend, but I’d like to watch The Goblet of Fire with Cedric if he can today.”

The conversation around Kevin came to an end, and he
felt
everybody around him shift their attention from Paul to Cedric. Two seconds later the commentary started.

“Is that your boyfriend?” one person asked.

“Can’t be. Tough guys like him don’t take it up the—”

“Is he packing?”

“He looks dangerous,” another person said.

“Look at that get-up.”

“What the fuck….”

“We can’t let him be around the kids.”

Kevin hugged Brianna tighter and suppressed the furious growl building within his chest. He couldn’t decide what had him more upset: the judgmental comments people were making, or Cedric’s presence in the park.

He wanted to yell. He was so damn frustrated he could’ve throttled Cedric for pretty much rubbing Kevin’s gayness in the faces of people he’d known most of his life, and Kevin wasn’t even a violent man.

But he was happy, too. Hell, he was ecstatic to see Cedric. Had he not been in the middle of a critical incident, he’d have run to his boyfriend, and planted a kiss on him with God, family and homophobes as witnesses.

“I don’t think he wants to harm the kids.”

“How can you tell?”

The commentary continued. Some voices Kevin recognized; some others he didn’t.

“Faggots shouldn’t be allowed around kids.”

“I love his outfit.”

“Weren’t we just discussing the difference between gay and pedophile?”

“He looks like a teenager to me.”

After
Kevin finished throttling Cedric for showing up unannounced to his son’s game, because he hadn’t planned for this, he’d have kissed him. He wasn’t prepared to not only defend the man he still was, but to justify Cedric’s looks and style as well.

Are you listening to yourself? Why would you have to justify anything?

Kevin stood taller, and watched the events taking place in the field. The same kids that had been calling TK names, and trying to get him to eat dirt earlier, were now laughing and high-fiving one another.

Chasing the ball being expertly kicked by Cedric.

No hard feelings.

No tension between them.

Was that Cedric’s doing? Did seeing a gay man with cornrows on his head, and several piercings on his face, kicking a soccer ball like a pro, make homosexuality cool in those boys’ eyes? Did they even know Cedric was gay? Did Kevin have Cedric to thank for TK’s restored status among his friends?

“Daddy, let’s go get ice cream!” Ava called out to him again.

Kevin wished he could get his baby girl to shut up, and stop calling people’s attention to them. He wished he’d never told Cedric about his plans for that day.

Why the hell is he here?

It didn’t make sense.

“How come you didn’t tell us Cedric was coming, Daddy?” Brianna asked him.

“I didn’t know.”

As simple as that.

Kevin had spent most of the week at Cedric’s place, but gone home Thursday night. He’d wanted to give Cedric some space, and it was time he started boxing up his stuff. They had talked on the phone until very late the previous night, but Cedric had failed to mention his plans.

“How dare you bring your boy toy around us decent citizens? You’re more fucked up than I ever thought, Kevin.”

Paul’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts, but Kevin didn’t look at his former friend. “Watch what you say around my kid,” he growled. “Or I’ll fuck you up” was clearly implied in his tone.

“Shut up, Paul,” Barry ordered.

“You’ve said enough,” one of his friends said.

“Kevin is a good man.”

Kevin had no idea who said that, but he appreciated the vote of confidence.

“But what about him, though?”

The commentary went on and on.

“Look at how he’s dressed.”

“Who cares about the outfit when he’s so good with kids?”

The thing was, Kevin knew for a fact Cedric wasn’t good with kids. He hadn’t spent time with many, and he didn’t have any significant experience dealing with them. Hell, he was allergic to the germs they carried, and terrified of the chaos they could create.

Yet there he was, dressed in what was probably his best put-off-people outfit, rubbing TK’s head with one of his gloved hands, and kneeling in front of Ava so that she could kiss him on his cheek. Kevin could only imagine how much that little gesture would cost Cedric, but damn if he wasn’t grateful for it.

Then he picked her up.

Cedric smiled at Kevin’s little girl, put his big hands around her tiny waist, threw her up in the air, and rested her body against his left hip. She gave him an Eskimo kiss. Cedric took his towelettes out, and very nonchalantly wiped Ava’s hands, and his own face. He appeared to be chuckling when he looked up the bleachers and waved at Kevin.

“Put me down, Daddy,” Brianna demanded, and the moment he did, she waved at Kevin’s boyfriend. “Hi, Cedric!”

TK came back with his gear bag, and after exchanging a few words and a laugh with Cedric and Kevin’s
parents
, they all moved towards the bleachers.

Cedric was talking to his parents.

Jesus.

Kevin looked around frantically. He wanted to intercept them. Stop them from getting too close and—

And
what
? Pretend that he wasn’t absolutely in love with the boy wearing the crazy outfit? That he didn’t respect the shit out of Cedric for fighting against his crippling condition, and coming to his son’s game?

You’re a fucking jerk, Kev
.

The rest of the world ceased to exist as he followed every step Cedric took. The closer he got to him, the more difficult it became for Kevin to breathe.

TK looked at Cedric with ill-disguised adoration. Ava prattled away. People murmured around him. Brianna kept pulling at his hand, and all Kevin could think of was how he’d been so mad at Cedric for showing up.