Re: Liam/Kevin
There'd been Camelot parties in the time that Kevin had been staying there with his sister, but he hadn't been a member then. He wasn't obligated to put in some kind of appearance (maybe he wasn't now, but since Jess was going it sort of felt that way) and, in fact, he'd managed to arrange to be out of the castle working a job for almost every single one of them since the first he'd mistakenly thought he could evade the consequences of by just staying in Jess's rooms. These guys got... a little out of hand. For someone that wasn't exactly used to being around a whole lot of people that he wasn't actively bringing in for a bounty, the whole scene was kind of a lot. He wasn't exactly sure why he'd thought that joining up, being part of the crazy family, would make it any less 'a lot' than it had been before. Sure, he knew a few more of the people now, they'd seen his sister knock him on his ass on a training mat and commiserated with him about when it had been their turns, but that was people, one-on-one. This was a lot.
Kevin had put in his appearance. He'd had a couple of drinks, followed Jess's example and not tried the punch, watched someone else walk away with their teeth dyed and decided that he was never going to not follow Jess's example at one of these things again... technically, he'd done it. He'd attended his first Camelot party. He could go any minute now.
That felt a little like admitting defeat though. Kevin really didn't do admitting defeat, way more than he didn't do large groups of people.
Outside had felt like a compromise. He could get away from the main crush of partygoers without it looking like he was turning tail and running away from the party, as a whole. They wouldn't have outdoor areas set up if they didn't mean for people to use them. He'd escaped and congratulated himself on his neat solution to the problem. He didn't have to talk to a single other person for the rest of the night if he wanted to, and he could just say he'd been enjoying the bonfires.
Then he saw Liam.
If Kevin said he didn't know what it was about Liam that drew him like a magnet, he'd be lying. He knew exactly what it was. Liam was unfairly attractive and Kevin had noticed that from day one, along with the fact that he was so damn competent. He'd also noticed that the guy was prickly and antisocial and, honestly, that one pulled Kevin in more like a moth to a flame than anything as innocent as magnetism. He just had to see what would happen if he poked past that barrier he put up. And the fact that he was apparently the kind of guy that brought a book to a party was just one more interesting and contradictory point that Kevin found strangely endearing.
"I hear that it's bad manners to read at a party." Kevin hadn't heard any such thing, actually, but it sounded like the kind of rule that his parents might have set once upon a time. Good thing he really hadn't cared much for those rules. He settled down on a cushion of his own, content to see what would happen next. If Liam got prickly over it, it would make Kevin's night more interesting. If he ignored him, at least Kevin could honestly report that he'd spent part of the party keeping someone in his department company.
The very large wolf didn't scare him away any more than the book had. If he tended to bite unprovoked, Kevin had a good feeling Liam wouldn't be walking around Camelot with him freely.