"Honey, I'm homo!"
Kevin heard the door close behind Scotty, who was apparently in a good mood. Kevin went into the living room to greet his husband with a quick kiss.
"You sound cheerful."
"How can I not be?" Scotty's voice is still jaunty as he hangs his jacket by the door, "Work was great, it's Friday afternoon and we're leaving for the winery to spend the evening with your family, and then the night at the picturesque hotel close by."
"Yes, with my family, have you met them… you know at a social event with alcohol?" Kevin asks sarcastically.
Scotty smiles brightly as he walks into the bedroom to pack his things.
"How bad could it be, Kevin?" Scotty pulls out a bag from a closet and puts it on their bed. "They behaved really well at our wedding," Scotty is quite for a few seconds before adding "You're the one who ran away when we were supposed to consummate."
"You're never going to let that go, are you?" Kevin asks with a smirk and sits down next to the bag.
"Nope." Scotty puts a t-shirt in the bag and kisses Kevin's cheek. "So anyway, who'll be there?"
"Oh you know, the usual and some potential investors." Kevin seems more relaxed and crosses his legs, leaning backwards on the bed. "And from what I've heard, with the great addition of Julia's family."
Scotty looks up from the closet, raising his eyebrows, demanding Kevin to go on.
"Her parents don't go along with Tommy that well, especially after the kidnapping when Lizzie was born. You should bring those black pants." Kevin says suggestively.
Scotty turns around to face Kevin. He has a hesitant look on his face. "These?" He tugs at a pair in the closet and Kevin nods a bit. "They're snug enough to show off my credit card number from a pocket. I feel comfortable with your family, but that's too much."
"What?" Kevin whines. "There will literally be endless amounts of wine and then you in tight pants. Now that is a good Friday night."
Scotty disappears into the bathroom to collect his toiletries. He can hear Kevin rifle through his bedside table drawer and expects an indecent proposal when he reenters the bedroom.
"What about this then?" Kevin says, jiggling a bottle of hot strawberry massage oil in his hand. Scotty laughs and puts his toilet bag in the already full bag next to Kevin, and then closes it.
"Oh Mr. Walker…" he says and throws himself on top of Kevin right across the bed.
Later in the evening, at the winery
Kevin pushes the button on his car keys, and the click behind him tells him it's locked. Scotty is slowly walking in direction of the entrance to the big green back yard. Kevin walks up to him and takes his hand and they exchange smiles.
"You ready, love?" Kevin asks and squeezes Scotty's hand.
"For tonight? Yes. For the comments about us being late? No." Scotty smirks and the remark makes Kevin blush.
--
"There you are? Whatever made you this late?" Tommy welcomed the two of them by the door, smoothly handing them each a glass of wine.
"Traffic." They both answered with one voice. The look on Tommy's face, and on Sarah's, standing near-by obviously didn't believe them.
"I already welcomed everybody." Tommy seems to be stressed. "Talk to Julia's cousins, they seem bored." Tommy points in direction of two 20-somethings, sitting next to each other, sipping wine. He then quickly disappears into the crowd.
"Glad you're getting it on. Someone should." Sarah says, her too sounding bored.
Kevin is about to object when Kitty interferes. She's wiggling an empty glass, suggesting she's been there for a while. She hugs both Kevin and Scotty, much to their surprise. Her unanticipated aptitude for physical contact was however explained when they smelled the wine from her.
"Wow, Kevin, you smell so good." She says.
"You're one to talk." Kevin mutters and Scotty nudges him lightly.
"Yeah what is that?" Sarah leans in to sniff Kevin's neck, making him jerk away his upper body.
"It's sweet." Sarah starts.
"With a round and mature bouquet?" Scotty suggests.
"You smell like sweet strawberry bubblegum." Kitty says, hungrily grabbing a new glass of wine from a passing waiter.
"And you have a hickey!" Sarah sounds suddenly uplifted when she sees the irregular dark spot on Kevin's neck.
Again Kevin jerks away, this time pushing his sisters away.
"It's not!" He corrects his collar. "Personal space." He says, drawing an invisible ring around him.
"Mom!" Kitty takes her mother's wrist as she walks by them. "Kevin has a hickey."
"Kitty, you had that same voice every time you wanted me to ground one of your siblings."
"No more wine for Kitty-bitty." Sarah teases.
When the bunch seems otherwise engaged, Kevin and Scotty left the spot. Kevin was blushing more than ever, and Scotty couldn't help but thinking it was extremely cute. He gave Kevin a quick kiss, not realizing a man in his 60's was their spectator.
The man's eyes grew wide when he saw the two men, and he froze in his position. Kevin quickly regained his composure. He held out his hand to man.
"Hi, I'm Kevin Walker." He did his best to sound like the family lawyer that he actually was. He knew he had met this man before, but had trouble placing him.
The man politely, but somewhat repudiated shook Kevin's hand.
"Ben Ridge, Julia's father."
"Right, right. We met at the wedding." Kevin said, more to himself than to Julia's dad. Scotty also holds out his hand.
"Scotty, I'm Kevin's husband." He says when they shake.
Ben Ridge still has the biggest eyes they've ever seen on a person.
"Okay." Is his reply. He finishes his wine and looks out into the room, Kevin guesses to spot the nearest glass filled with wine.
Again the two of them are alone in the big back yard, now both with astonished, yet highly entertained smiles.
"I'm afraid to say this, because I have a feeling that every conversation tonight will be this weird, but let's go talk to those cousins." Kevin suggests.
Scotty laughed gently and nodded in reply. They both finished their wine and exchanged the glasses for some new Merlot, and headed in direction of Julia's cousins.