After sending an e-mail to Jubilation Lee about her tables being ready for pick up, Kevin got off work almost immediately and hiding in a random alley a few blocks off his workplace, took to flight to make haste towards the mansion. Later, he would slip into his room from its window (he always made sure this was open, it made for an easy comeback) and after stowing away his work things, had gotten ready. Shower, dressing up, looking and smelling more decently and then picking up his basic necessities: his phone, his wallet, the likes.
He posted a note on his door, saying he won't be around until late, and out the window he flew, again -- his direction: down South to Georgia. It was his father's 60th birthday and he'd promised him that he would join him for a little celebration. Kevin made sure to make his promise sound a bit difficult to attain but really, even if he didn't do this every year, he could and without problems. He just thought everyone would find it suspicious that someone supposedly from Arkansas who has work and other priorities found it easy to attend these birthdays religiously -- which was why he skipped out in some of them.
A little over an hour later, he would arrive in a nearby winehouse to buy his father's favorite brandy then hailed a taxi to drive him over to his old house. By the time he would have arrived, supper would have already started and his relatives would be with his father on welcoming him back home. Kevin put on his best smile (not that any other won't be genuine) and patted and embraced those he was closest to: his father, Uncle Patrick, Cousin Bill, Aunt Nancy...they were the ones he really remembered in his childhood despite having been withdrawn then.
"Happy Birthday," he greeted after and presented his father the box of Black Stork XO -- much to the old man's amusement and laughter.
"Thank you, Kevin...you really are my son," his words shook the entire house to laughter as he opened the box of brandy and pulled the bottle out to look at it. "This would be great with the cheesecake Jessica just bought," he told everyone and they agreed with smiles and nods. To the taller man, he held him by his arm with the bottle protectively around his own, "Well, you must be famished! When did you arrive?"
"Just a little while ago," was Kevin's honest but vague answer as he followed his stocky father towards their dinner table. There was practically an entire feast crammed into the rectangular space with a massive platter of lobsters right in the middle of it all -- his father's favorite. There was also corn and chicken, some breads, some nuts among a few others. He found himself pulling the seat closest to his father later, and dinner started.
"How have you been, Son?"
"I'm...still alive as you can see," it would have been meant as a joke and Kevin belatedly tried to make it one as he glanced at his father and nodded but after all those mutant activities he's been pulling with the entire Brotherhood, it was almost difficult to mean it that way. "Work hasn't been very busy as before but I'm getting by just fine...one's enough, Dad."
"One's never enough, Kevin," his father gave a hearty 'ha!' when he laid one last lobster on his plate before helping his other guests to it. "And your new apartment?"
"It's as I've told you," he responded as he started with his lobster, "The sink has some problems but it's not that serious."
"Did you call a plumber, though?"
As a personal joke, he made a mental note to e-mail James about it. "No, not yet," Kevin shook his head. But with the way his father looked at him, he immediately added, "I'll put one in before this week ends, though."
"Even faster, that's the way to it," as always, his father had something more to say, lifting his glass of orange to drink from. "When I get a leak here, I don't let it sit, you know? I call Gordon the moment I see one. Else, it's only going to get really bad, you know?"
"Every time?"
"Well, if the problem's minor, I fix it myself," when he saw Kevin nodding with a little smirk on his face as he chewed on the white meat, he lifted his elbows a bit as opposed to throwing his hands. "Gotta save some money, you know?"
"I try to do the same, Dad. That's why I've been delaying the call."
"You've been plumbing?"
The sudden old voice was responded to with laughter, Kevin holding his forehead by his hand as he smiled along. "No, Grandma, I'm still in my current job."
Later, his cousin would explain to his Grandma Luisa what it was they were talking about.
"Well aside from work," Nancy joined in, turning to him from her side of the dinner, "How's your life in Arkansas?"
"Any girls yet?"
"There's been some," Kevin said with a little nod (though aside from a few girls he was friends with at work, his love life was still not flourishing at the moment. His standards required the superiority of genes, after all.) as he sliced through his chicken and he tried a grin when one of his cousins echoed 'Some?!' though to the keen at eye, it might have appeared a little less genuine. "I'm still gauging," he bit the white strip off his fork as everyone cheered for him.
His father only laughed and shook his head.
A little later, when dinner was finished and dessert was well on its way to ending, too, Kevin would find himself leaning against one of the archs of his previous home, a glass of brandy on one hand as the cheer fell to a faint resonance behind him. A hand was in his pocket as he took a sip; glancing at the wall clock, he would find that he'd have to take off pretty soon if he wanted to be home by midnight.
Strange...how his home now referred to a base of operations and not the one he stood in now whose walls have sheltered him until he'd moved out.
"Thinking of going soon, Kevin?"
Kevin turned to see his father with a fresh glass of brandy; he shook his head. "Nahh, just...standing around. I miss this place."
"I'm glad," his father clinked glasses with him at that and they sipped from them. "So, when are you leaving for Arkansas?"
"Tomorrow morning, I'll be in Arkansas after lunch."
"You have a place to stay?"
"Yeah," he gestured to the door. "Just a taxi ride from here."
His father nodded at that and drank his brandy, "I remember when you first flew to Arkansas, I was pretty worried. I wasn't sure how you'd manage there on your own after how you've been when you were younger."
"I did grow up a bit," Kevin said, sipping again. "And Uncle Jim was there to help me along."
"When that mutant demonstration happened, that really sent me to church," his father laughed a rather hoarse one when he said that and he shook his head at the memory of it. "Damn glad you weren't harmed by it."
Kevin said nothing. If his father only knew, that demonstration was the event that introduced him to the Brotherhood. It was true, he was unharmed...but given the reputation they had now, if his father knew he was a mutant, he was sure there would be an argument sparking out of his revelation.
"Your cousin Lenard was actually supposed to move to Connecticut," his father glanced behind him to see if Lenard was still around. Again, Kevin held his response. "And then that protest in Cromwell happened. Jesus..." he shook his head, "He was supposed to send his daughter in there, y'know? When he read about the mutant enrollment, though, he thought again. Really, I'm just glad he decided to stay here." he chuckled and smiled to Kevin, "Those mutants...you don't really know what'll happen next with them around."
"Yeah," he smiled a bit too awkwardly.
"You know anyone?"
"I'd be damned if I do."
"Good boy," his father laughed with him when he said this and he finished his brandy.
Kevin, too, emptied his glass as he rested his eyes on a particular stain on one of the walls of the house when silence washed over them. A minute later, hasty footsteps echoed through the hallway and his cousin Jessica would be tugging her five-year old son who seemed a little too anxious about everything around him. "Leaving so soon?"
"It's late and my son still has school," Jessica said with a little laughter as she flipped her blonde locks back; Kevin could notice the firm grip she had on the boy's wrist. "Well, it was nice seeing you again, Kev. Too bad we can't hang out longer."
"I'll e-mail you if I can take some leave," Kevin reached to hug her by one arm.
After saying goodbye to his father, too, Jessica started towards the hallway to the door, muttering things to her son they would have ignored until she cried a, "Don't touch that!" which was followed after by heavy things collapsing and a thousand other gasps. Kevin and his father sped towards where everyone was looking.
On the floor was a crumpled bookshelf with what looked like saw dust pooled under its three feet -- the last was lost with half of the shelf's wall to its side. The boy was looking at his hand while Jessica was reprimanding him.
"What happened?"
"Oh, it's just that..." she'd instantly grown pale when she saw everyone watching them, stood up and started towards the door, again. "I, I'm really sorry about this. I'll buy you a new one but we have to go -- g, good night!!"
Everyone had asked her to stay but she wouldn't look back. Kevin's eyes kept on the dead shelf which looked very much like it was attacked by a million termites, suddenly.
"She's been having this problem since January," his father sighed and shook his head, whispering. "Turns wood into saw dust...I used to tell everyone no one's a mutant in my blood but now, I can't be too sure." when his son turned to him, he added, "They're moving to Genosha next month."
"Genosha?"
"Yeah," his father nodded at him. "That mutant-loving nation." with another sigh, he said, "I feel sorry for her and the boy, though...they don't deserve this."
That frown had struggled free of his control. Kevin's grip tighetened around his glass at the words of his father who'd turned and asked a relative to fetch the vacuum cleaner while others started picking up his books.
By midnight, Kevin had bade goodbye to everyone and hailed a taxi to drive him to a nearby inn. Stepping out of his ride, he started towards his supposed destination but very quickly left and took a right towards a nearby alley when the taxi had gone. Deep into the darkness, warm air burned around him and he lifted off the concrete to dart into the skies.