A/N: Just clarify, this story takes place in an AU where Jason wasn't murdered.
The first time FP noticed Kevin at the Twilight Drive-In, it wasn't even really Kevin that he was noticing. It was the girl beside him, Alice Cooper's daughter, who was dressed in clothing FP was sure that her mother wouldn't approve of, even though it looked like something Alice would have had no objection to wearing back when she was that age. In fact, FP had to stop himself from doing a double-take; with her close resemblance to teenage Alice both in looks and in clothing choice of short-shorts and a tank top, the girl had him wondering for a moment if he was randomly going through some kind of hallucinatory flashback.
But when he spotted the boy beside Alice's daughter, he relaxed slightly. It was Keller's kid, and he and Alice's daughter had been joined at the hip for a while now; he'd seen them around town together often enough, at Pop's, at the Bijou. He thought they might have done a presentation together last year at the high school's parent-teacher night, but he couldn't remember, and he wasn't sure if they were dating or not, but he didn't know and didn't actually care.
He did note, though, as he passed by them and glanced back over his shoulder, that Keller's kid was also dressed like he wanted to get laid. Tight jeans to show off his long legs, a tight blue t-shirt to advertise his arm and chest muscles (kid was cut, FP would give him that), and that tousled hair look that boy bands seemed to favor.
But since neither of those kids held any significance in FP's mind, he quickly dismissed them from his thoughts, only briefly wondering if Jughead could be bothered with either of them during his break.
Before going to see Jughead at the projection booth, he checked in with Sweet Pea.
"Ready for another night of being a pain in the ass?" FP asked him as he joined the crowd of Serpents who were waiting for the show to begin so they could start making trouble. Personally, FP found Hiram's scheme to be a little bit too indirect to be all that effective, but who the hell was FP object if the man wanted to keep giving them cash for some dumbass plan?
"I'm ready to fight some of these Bulldog assholes," Sweet Pea growled in response. "Swaggering around as if they own the place, telling us that this is their turf and that we don't belong when it's on our side of town—I could really go for a brawl or twelve, FP."
"Don't," FP warned him immediately. "If these Northsiders think you're here to fight, they'll think they can just have the police boot you out and then you'll be gone. But if they think us Southsiders are here for fun, that we're here to stay, they won't want nothing to do with this place."
Sweet Pea scowled. "Fine. I'll put up with it for now. But I'm not happy about it. Especially with Alice Cooper's spawn strutting around here, hanging off of Keller's bastard."
FP shrugged. "Either of them giving you grief?"
"It gives me grief to have look at their faces," Sweet Pea replied vehemently, before adding, "There's been a few Ghoulies hanging around, too. None of them have ever tried to start something with us, but it's just a matter of time."
"Hmph." FP absorbed his words with a nod. He didn't come around often to check on progress at the drive-in, but maybe he should, let the Ghoulies know they weren't intimidated by them. "I'll keep that in mind. If you need me, I'm going to to see Jug."
However, his son didn't exactly greet his arrival with warmth or welcome.
When FP entered the projection room, Jughead only glanced up at him once before turning back to his laptop, his mouth tightening. "The door says 'Employees only,' " he told him irritably.
FP ignored the implied criticism. "How ya doing?"
"Fine." Jughead eyed him with contempt. "You must think you're father of year, checking in on me like this."
FP stifled a sigh; he really didn't want to deal with Jughead's anger at him for Gladys leaving, but he knew he would have to at some point or another. "Saw a couple of kids from school here," he said, wishing briefly that he knew the names of Alice and Keller's kids. "You might be able to hang out with them during your break."
Jughead evidently disagreed. "Dad, I've got work to do. So, unless you need something—"
"Don't need anything," FP told him, cutting him off. "Just . . . know you can come back to the trailer anytime, all right?"
Momentarily softening, Jughead gave him a small smile. "All right, Dad."
FP nodded in acknowledgement and then left, closing the door behind him.
From that point forward, FP made a habit of stopping by the drive-in more often to ward off any Ghoulies lurking around. He didn't think they would try anything, especially not when the Serpents had better numbers and better turf, but he still wanted to make sure his people were being taken care of.
Beyond the Serpents, the drive-in had a few other regulars whose continued appearances caught his attention: Alice's daughter and Keller's son, or, as he would learn from a begrudging Jughead, Betty and Kevin. Every time he was there, they were also there, always dressed like they were trying to get picked up. At first, FP half-wondered if they'd also been hired by Hiram, maybe to convince the populace of Riverdale that in addition to the drive-in having a gang problem, it was also a popular spot for teenage prostitution. But Betty's goal soon became clear when FP spotted her at the concession stand one night before the show began, trying to chat up Jughead, who seemed far more interested in the Twizzlers he was buying than her. Regardless, FP resigned himself to a furious phone call from Alice once she discovered that her daughter was taken with someone she deemed as unsuitable as FP's son.
Still, FP couldn't figure out why Keller's kid—Kevin—was always at the drive-in as well. But maybe Betty's back-up plan for seducing Jughead was to offer him a threesome. FP hoped his son was smart enough to take them up on it.
Regardless, though, Kevin Keller was here with them, and FP knew that there would be hell to pay from Sheriff Keller for all of them if his precious son were to come to any harm on the Southside. So he told Sweet Pea and the other Serpents to keep an eye on him. Most of the Serpents were too interested in self-preservation to take the risk of going after the sheriff's kid, but FP didn't trust the Ghoulies to be smart enough not to.
Sweet Pea in particular was rather unhappy with the additional task. "Don't you think I get my fill of watching Northsiders by not being able to get away from seeing your son reject that chick who's obviously macking on him every night?"
"Think of it as a welcome change," FP told him without much sympathy.
But even so, when Kevin seemed to need help one night, it was FP who got stuck reluctantly shambling to his rescue like the knight in shining armor he wasn't.
The situation wasn't dire: the movies were finished for the night, and FP saw Kevin parting ways with Betty, who herself was heading off to the projection booth. (Maybe Jughead was finally getting laid? Good for him.) Meanwhile, Kevin himself was making his way alone through the dark, deserted area to where his car was parked in the far back. And as FP stood to watch his progress, he realized that there was a group of Ghoulies off in that same darkened part of the lot, skulking in the shadows like their namesake, barely visible. Kevin's path would take him right by there, making him easy prey if they decided to jump him.
In a split second, FP made a decision that would hopefully prevent Tom Keller from being out for his blood.
Taking off after Kevin, he managed to catch up with him and loop an arm around his shoulders.
Kevin tensed and made a motion to whirl away from him. "What are you—"
"Just trust me on this," FP hissed, tightening his grip and drawing Kevin's closer as they approached the spot where the Ghoulies were waiting. "I'll explain in a few minutes, promise."
"All right," Kevin replied lowly, and FP ignored the doubt in his voice and instead concentrated on keeping his features locked into stoicism as they passed by the Ghoulies—without incident, luckily.
He also ignored the warm sensation coiling in the pit of his stomach at the feeling of another body pressing flush against his—it just had been a while, that was all, nearly three whole months since Gladys left. At least, that's what he told himself; he wasn't going to be caught dead lusting after the sherrif's kid.
Still, he kept his grip on Kevin's shoulders and didn't let it loosen until they'd arrived at Kevin's red pickup. Because he wanted to protect Kevin. Because he wanted to save his own skin, he told himself.
"Saw some thugs waiting there," FP explained as promised. "Didn't want anything to happen to you."
Kevin gave him a smile, one that sent a fluttering sensation through FP that he tried to dismiss as just weariness after a long day.
"Thank you for that," he replied, genuine gratitude in his voice that stirred more of the fluttering within FP. He offered his hand. "It's Mr. Jones, isn't it? Jughead's dad?"
"Yeah, that's me," FP said roughly. "You can call me FP, though," he added impulsively, wondering not even a split second later why he'd said that.
And yet when Kevin gave him another smile and said, "Well, thanks for your help, FP," he knew exactly why, even as he tried to push the knowledge away.
"You don't need a ride anywhere, do you?" Kevin continued.
FP couldn't help but be disappointed that they would be parting, but he reminded himself he should be relieved for the opportunity to escape. "Nah, I got my bike over there." He jerked his thumb behind him. "You'd better get going." He knew it would be best to put some distance between this kid and himself, especially with the direction his thoughts were urging him toward, but idiotic as it might have sounded, he also didn't want the kid to think badly of him.
Even though it shouldn't matter to you, a warning voice, one that FP ignored all too often, reminded him in the back of his head.
And sure enough, as he waved goodbye to Kevin and watched the taillights of his truck fade into the night, he wasn't able to entirely squash the hope that he would see Kevin again.
Be it a gift or a curse, FP got his wish: Kevin was at the drive-in the next time FP stopped by. Not only that, but he approached him while he was there, coming up to where FP had parked his Dodge pickup.
"Nice to see you again," he said, aiming a smile at FP that FP knew shouldn't make him soften but did anyway.
"You, too," FP said appreciatively, eyeing Kevin's attire. Tonight he wore yet another pair of tight jeans and, taking a leaf out of Betty's book, a tight tank top to match, a stretchy black one that not only showed off every one of his muscles, but also rode up an inch or two above the waist of his jeans as he moved, exposing the bottom of his hard abs.
"I'm on my lonesome here tonight," Kevin went on. "You don't mind if I sit here with you, do you?"
"Er, I—" FP heard the question but couldn't quite fully process it, too distracted by the tantalizing expanse of toned and tanned flesh that was showing at Kevin's midriff.
He raised his eyes to meet Kevin's and just found a hopeful, unassuming smile on his face, and he didn't have the heart to deny him.
"Yeah, sure," he said, trying to keep his voice as casual as he could.
"Great." Kevin hopped up onto the lowered tailgate of FP's Dodge and gave him another smile that made FP weak at the knees and sent caution bells ringing through his head. "I'm so glad we can be together."
"Yeah," FP breathed, unable to help himself, even in spite of the warnings flying through his head. "Yeah, I know you are."
He sat down beside Kevin and tried not to feel too pleased when Kevin slid over closer to him, but his good spirits couldn't be dampened, not even when he found himself the subject of various questioning and skeptical glances from his fellow Serpents, taking time to communicate their confusion in between their efforts at causing chaos for the other attendees.
It was one thing for him and his Serpents keep an eye on Kevin just to save their own skins. But it was entirely another to publicly be seen welcoming the kid.
And he was a kid, FP told himself, as his gaze drifted from monitoring his gang to Kevin, who was still watching the screen and ignoring the rowdy Serpents around him, the light flickering over his face. Kevin was in Jughead's grade at school. Yes, he was probably sixteen, which was old enough to know what he wanted, in FP's opinion, but he was still young, probably much too young for him to think about.
But still, Kevin's age didn't bother FP as much as the idea of getting in trouble because of it. Even now, he couldn't resist noticing the wide, smooth section of collarbone his tank top showed off, and suddenly, his mind was filled by the thought that he could take upon himself to cover it in hickeys.
His gaze was lingering too long and he knew it, and Kevin must have known it, too, because after a few moments he turned to catch FP's eye.
"See something you like?" he asked softly in a suggestive tone.
Aw, hell. FP swallowed. He'd never had the strength to resist a throaty murmur whenever one was directed his way.
"Just . . . liking your necklace," FP lied, reaching up a hand to finger the dark leather cord that was strung with round, shining seashells that hung close to Kevin's neck like a choker.
Cowrie shells, some distant part of his brain supplied. He recognized them because Jellybean, fascinated by the ocean at the time, had checked out a book on seashells from the library last summer (or had it been two summers ago?) and showed every picture of every shell to every member of the family at least a dozen times. She'd begged him and Gladys to take her to the seashore to collect seashells of her own, but they hadn't been able to afford the gas.
At the reminder of his failed marriage and fractured family, FP went to withdraw his hand, but Kevin, who'd tilted his head back with his eyes closed, luxuriating in his touch, straightened and snagged FP's wrist before he could fully pull away.
"You can keep going," he said softly, his eyes luminous and his fair skin glowing in the dim light of the screen, his thumb gently massaging the back of FP's hand, sending tingles shooting through his skin.
And that was when FP knew he was in trouble.
Since he was a teenager, FP had always fallen in love hard and fast, and it had always ended badly. Not just with Alice, but with any girl he'd dated. He'd thought Gladys had been the exception, but her departure at the beginning of this summer had proved otherwise.
And getting involved with a teenager could end much, much worse for him than it had for him with anyone else.
He couldn't risk that right now. He should be concentrating on how to get his family back, not on more things that would eventually come back around to fuck him over.
Wrenching his hand away, FP let out a long breath before turning to speak to Kevin. "You should leave. Now."
Confusion and hurt flooded Kevin's face. "What? But I—"
FP waved over two of his Serpents. "Fangs and Toni will walk you to your truck." He fixed Kevin with a hard stare. "Don't come around here anymore."
Kevin stared at him for a moment longer but then looked away as FP's Serpents approached. Rising from the tailgate, he walked away with them without another word.
For a moment, FP watched him go again, until the three figures vanished between the rows of parked cars. Then he wandered over to find Sweet Pea.
"Forget what I said a while ago about holding back," he told him with a shrug. "Raise all the hell you want."
A savage smile spread across Sweet Pea's face. "Will do, FP. Will do."
The Serpents took to their new freedom with relish, and within a few weeks, the mayor's office decided the drive-in is worth neither the trouble nor the expense of keeping open. The Twilight Drive-In held its closing night at the end of September, the final show of its final season. FP dropped by briefly to see if he could catch a moment with Jughead, but what he instead found was Kevin with two girls, one of them the Lodges' daughter and the other one of them the Blossoms' daughter. He was smiling and laughing with them, seeming no more worse off than he had before FP rejected him.
An instant passed as FP stopped in his tracks and watched Kevin from a distance, completely unseen by him. But then he forced himself to start moving again, reminding himself there was no point in regretting saving himself trouble.
Betty must have truly been an Alice when it came to getting her way, because somehow, through some miracle, she managed to win over Jughead. Either his son was a smoother operator than FP had ever thought or he just wasn't as completely uninterested in life around him as he seemed, but either way, good for him.
Less good, though, was when FP wandered over to Fred Andrews's house at Betty's invitation for a birthday party he'd already advised against, wanting to provide Jughead with a birthday present even if his son wasn't thrilled about the celebration. As much as he loved Jug, though, he couldn't help but be slightly exasperated to learn that there was some expectation that he would provide supervision.
"You're the only adult here," Jughead told him unceremoniously, a hint of satisfaction entering his voice, doubtlessly knowing the news would annoy FP. "I guess that makes you responsible for all of us."
Figuring he goddamn deserved a drink if he was going to be putting up with the shrieking teenagers all around him, FP snagged a bottle of beer from the cabinet where Fred had always kept the six-packs (like hell was he fighting his way to one of the kegs) and then made his way to the outdoor cellar steps. Fortunately for him, the stairs were in the one part of the yard that wasn't populated by high-schoolers, and he lowered himself onto the stone steps gratefully, glad that he had a few moments of something like peace to enjoy before he had to go inside and start doing whatever responsible adults did.
But he didn't even get halfway through his beer before footsteps crunched on leaf-covered ground behind him, and FP reflexively turned to find Kevin approaching him.
"Hi," Kevin said quietly, his hands in his pockets.
"Hey," FP said conversationally, pushing aside the stab of guilt within him. He decided not to say anything more until Kevin did, thinking that maybe he could wait him out and escape this conversation. And yet, a part of him still didn't want that.
For a moment, neither of them spoke, instead just listening to the booming bass of the music and the whoops of Kevin's classmates from nearby parts of the yard.
"I didn't see you again," Kevin said. "I stopped going to the drive-in, even when Betty asked me, but she still went, and she said you weren't there."
"Figured nothing good could come out of that place for either us." FP didn't mention that one of the reasons he'd kept away was in case Kevin ignored his warning, and took a long swig of beer in an attempt to avoid Kevin's gaze, but found himself meeting his eyes anyway. Once he did, he wished that he hadn't; the longing was clear on Kevin's face, and at the sight, FP felt it reignite and stir within himself once again.
"Something good came for me," Kevin replied, sincerity painstakingly obvious in his voice.
FP blew out a long breath. "Kid, your life must be a fucking trainwreck if you're referring to me as your 'something good.' "
"You were good to me." With movements that seemed like they shouldn't have been as fluid as they were, Kevin slipped into the space beside FP, the narrow staircase requiring them to sit with their thighs pressing against each other.
They were dangerously close now. In the October chill, FP could feel the heat radiating off of Kevin's body.
Their faces less than a foot apart, FP turned to look at Kevin. "What is it you want?"
"You," Kevin breathed. "Badly. And I can tell you want me back, so don't pretend like you don't."
"Yeah, well." That same warmth from before was rolling through FP's stomach at his close proximity to Kevin, at his admission that FP's feelings were reciprocated. "Wanting you and getting to have you are two different things."
"Why should they have to be?" Kevin asked desperately, drawing in even closer to him. "You can already have me, FP."
The statement brought another rush of heat to flare through him, and this time, even though he tried, he couldn't quash it completely. "Yeah?" FP asked, watching him, very aware of his own breathing growing heavier. "You know, my wife left me for a reason. Do you really want to be my rebound from her walking out?"
Kevin placed a hand on FP's thigh, sending a spike of arousal through him, which wasn't entirely diminished when Kevin looked straight at him with overbright eyes.
"I just want to be something to someone," he said hoarsely. "So I'm not going to say no to being something to you."
With that, he closed the gap in between them, bringing his lips to FP's, and tired of fighting his impulses, FP kissed back, wrapping his arms around Kevin's shoulders. For a moment, he closed his eyes, just enjoying the warmth of another body pressing in close to his, relishing in the knowledge that as down and out as he might have been, he was still wanted.
When they seperated, FP reached out and ran his fingers along Kevin's jaw, his own rough calluses against Kevin's smooth skin. "You really want me, then?"
For the first time that night, a hint of a smile played at the corner of Kevin's lips. "Shouldn't that be obvious by now?"
FP chuckled, stretching an arm and pulling Kevin close again. "Listen, I'm not gonna spin you any promises of eternal love or a romance to last the ages, because I don't like to make too many promises I can't keep. And there's really not much I can promise you."
"I don't need promises," Kevin replied firmly. "I just . . . listen, back when Betty was going to the drive-in every night during the summer, I would always tag along and hope against hope that someone would notice me, that someone might be interested. But the only person who ever approached me was you. That's got to mean something."
It struck FP once again that Kevin, while seeming old enough in some ways, was still young in other ways and naïve enough to believe that there was still meaning to everything, instead of life just being filled with random events and accidents, some good and some bad. Of course, these days, there was certainly more bad than good in FP's life.
He was about to open his mouth and tell Kevin as much, but he thought better of it before the words formed on his tongue. Because even now, at what was possibly the lowest point in his life, when his wife had rejected him and his boy was furious with him, too much so to even live in the same home as him, there was still someone who wanted to be with him. Maybe not him in particular, but him nonetheless.
Really, who was he to tell Kevin not to hope?
So FP stifled his riposte and instead just responded with a shrug of his shoulders and a noncommittal, "Could be," as he tucked Kevin's head into his neck, intent on just holding him and enjoying the contact for a few moments.
Yeah, FP had made some terrible choices, he'd be the first one to admit that. Dating Kevin—or having whatever they apparently had together now—could eventually turn out to be yet another one. But one more consequence in addition to all the others hed already had against him wasn't much for FP to concern himself with at this point, so he didn't.
Instead, he decided, he could just let himself see Kevin as something good in his life for now, just as Kevin saw him.
Note: I love FP/Kevin, and I was happy to write this story, but I know it's more than a little bit angsty. Let me know if you'd like to see a happier follow up, or if you have another idea for this couple.