By the time Kevin arrived home he was exhausted.  He kept losing his concentration during the meeting, letting his mind wander to more pleasant things like sleep, Jason, sleep and Jason combined- it was a wonder he got any work done at all.  He opened the door to his apartment and smiled, Jason was still asleep on the sofa.  Kevin put his briefcase on the chair and dropped his keys onto the table next to the door, wondering why he could smell lasagna- and coriander, definitely coriander.  However, he didn’t care enough to investigate, so, still smiling, he walked over to Jason.  He looked peaceful, with a small smile on his face.  Kevin crouched down and carefully wrapped him back up in the quilt that was falling off the sofa pressing a light kiss to Jason’s forehead as he stood up

He needed to eat and was wondering where he’d put that take-out menu, deciding to start that whole ‘eating healthy’ thing tomorrow when he realized that the TV was paused on Who Framed Roger Rabbit? He could’ve sworn he’d leant his copy to Paige.

“Kevin?”

Well done, Kevin!  Every time, every single time- you never know when to walk away and let him sleep do you?

He turned around and crouched down next to Jason, “Hey,” he whispered, leaning in for a kiss.  “How do you feel?”

“Better than this morning.  How was work?”

“Tiring.  Sorry I couldn’t get home earlier.”

Neither of them noticed the crowd gathering in the doorway to the kitchen, watching this exchange with amused looks and sappy smiles. 

“It’s okay.”

“You should probably go back to sleep.” Jason shook his head, “If I sleep now I won’t sleep again tonight…and I bet me sleeping on the couch will look a lot more inviting after another sleepless night.”

“Just because your brother thinks I’m a bastard doesn’t make it true, you know-well not all the time anyway,” he amended as Jason raised an eyebrow.

“When did you last eat?” Jason looked at the clock on the VCR.

“About an hour ago.  Your mom made more soup.”

“My mom made- she was here wasn’t she.  I knew this place looked tidier.”

Jason chuckled,  “Yeah she was here.  So was Rebecca – and Tommy – and Sarah – and Kitty but she came with Robert.”  Kevin groaned as Jason listed off their names, ticking each one off on his fingers.

“I’m going to kill them.  When did they leave?”

“Actually, we didn’t.”

Both Kevin and Jason jerked round to face the doorway full of grinning people.  Kevin, however, spun around too quickly and ended up tripping on Jason’s quilt.  The next thing he knew he was facing the ceiling, most of which was covered by large, fluffy quilt. He could hear them all laughing at him- Jason over everybody else.  He managed to untangle his mass of limbs and quilt and turned to insult Jason for laughing at his misfortune.

The look in Jason’s eyes stopped him before his insult was fully formed: his eyes were sparkling.  His face seemed to light up with laughter and he looked healthy again, it was the first time he had seen Jason laugh, really laugh, since he had fallen ill.  It seemed to do him more good than all the medication and sleep put together. 

“Think you can stop laughing long enough to help me up?”

“Come here,” Jason, still partly laughing, reached out a hand to pull him up.  The speed and strength with which he used to pull him up caught them both of guard, and Kevin somehow ended up practically on top of Jason.  Kevin reached up to run one of his fingers down Jason’s cheek. 

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

An uncomfortable cough from the doorway reminded them that they were not alone.  Kevin flashed Jason a smile before crawling off him and turned to face his family.

“Does somebody want to tell me what you all doing here?”

“Watching Roger Rabbit,” Sarah pointed a finger at the screen.  “Your boyfriend and his equally deprived brother have never seen it.”

Kevin’s gaze snapped to Jason, “You’ve never seen Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”

Jason shook his head. 

“Wow.  I though everybody had seen Roger Rabbit.”

“Mom’s made enough food to feed two hundred, never mind the two of you.  Do you mind if we stick around for a bit?  I haven’t seen this film in ages.”  Kevin looked at Jason, who shrugged his shoulders.  Kevin interpreted that as ‘fine with me’. 

“Whatever, Sarah, do what you want, I’m going to get changed.”

He returned 10 minutes later, now wearing an old jumper and a pair of jeans, just as Nora was dishing out large plates of lasagna.  “Mom, just how much food did you make?” Kevin asked, going in to the kitchen for some wine, “Seriously, we are capable of feeding ourselves.”

“Kevin, I know you are, but you’ve been ill and busy with work.  And just what were you going to eat tonight?  All that was in your kitchen was wine, ice cream and some leftover soup.”

“God, it’s like being eighteen again,” Kevin grumbled as he took the bottle of wine and some glasses through to the living room.

“Kevin is that a new jumper?” Kitty asked indicating the jumper he had thrown on.  “It’s nice.”

“Thanks, I don’t think it’s new, just the first thing I saw in my closet.”

“Guess I just haven’t seen you wear it before.”

“Yeah, me neither.  Usually when you get new clothes you rave about them for weeks.  It does look familiar though, where did you get it from?”

Kevin glanced at Jason who was grinning slightly.  Kevin knew he was paying more attention to the conversation than the film.

“I don’t remember.”

“You don’t remember.  You don’t remember?”

“Who are you and what have you done with my brother?”

“He might be an alien coming to take over the planet.”

“Yeah, or one of those clone things from Star Wars.”

“You know,” Robert interrupted, “I’m sure Jason knows where the jumper is from, seeing as it’s his.”

Everybody’s heads swiveled round to look at Kevin, whose ears had turned slightly pink.

“I knew I recognized that jumper,” Sarah mumbled.

“You’re wearing Jason’s jumper.”

“It’s no big deal, it’s a jumper.”

“It’s Jason’s jumper!”

“I’m going to ignore you now.”

“Does he usually wear your clothes, Jason?”

“Kitty!”

“What Kevin? I’m only asking.”

Rebecca was staring transfixed- the novelty of watching the Walkers fight had yet to wear off.  Kevin could feel Jason next to him, shaking with suppressed laughter.

“Look, Kitty, it was the first thing I found in my room,” he turned to face Jason, “Do you mind that I’m wearing your jumper?”

“Should I?” Jason managed to keep his voice even but Kevin could see him biting his bottom lip- he thought this was funny!

“No.  Now can we please watch this film?”

There was a pause for a few seconds as they all pretended to watch the film. 

He knew it wouldn’t last and, sure enough, it was Sarah that broke first.

“I think it’s cute.”

“Yeah, me too,” Rebecca chimed in with her first real contribution to the discussion.

“See Kevin,” Sarah wiggled her eyebrows at him. 

“I need another drink,” Kevin moaned and got off the couch, taking his and Jason’s plates with him. 

He stood in the kitchen with his head against the fridge, trying to conjure a plan that would give his family the hint to get up and leave…ah, he was going to have a beer.  And if that alone didn’t inspire any subtle suggestions he was going to go down the fail-safe route of just chucking them out. 

That would probably add to Robert’s list of reasons of ‘why you aren’t good enough for my brother’ but he was too tired to care.

Fortunately for Kevin, it seemed his family had come to the same conclusion on their own and when he returned they were all rising out of their seats to leave.  Jason was kissed goodbye by Nora, Sarah, Kitty, and Rebecca and was patted on the shoulder by Tommy, Robert ruffled his hair on his way past. 

“Give me a call if you want or need anything else.”

“Sure, and thanks, all of you,” he replied, focusing on all of the Walkers.  “Thanks for all the food and stuff.”

Nora stood near the door looking concerned,  “Are you sure you’re ok?  You don’t want anything or need anything?” she asked Jason.

Kevin sighed and gestured to the door, Rebecca held it open while Tommy and Sarah immediately flanked their mother, each grabbing an arm and escorting her out of Kevin’s apartment. 

“Mom, thanks for the soup, but it’s about time you guys left.  I’ll call you tomorrow and let you know how he’s doing.”

She looked like she wanted to protest but Sarah and Tommy were still holding her arms and had managed to get her to the door.

Kevin bent down to kiss her cheek, “Thank you for checking up on him,” he whispered,  “It means a lot – to both of us.”

“You're welcome, sweetie.  If you’re both feeling okay I want you all to come for dinner on Wednesday.”

Sarah groaned.

“Okay, okay, I’m leaving.  Bye, sweetie.  Bye, Jason, honey,” She called back into the apartment.

Kevin groaned in relief as he finally shut the door on them; he felt more tired than he believed possible.  Jason beckoned him over to the sofa and lifted his quilt up so Kevin could lie down with him.  Kevin rested his head on Jason’s shoulder, placing one hand on Jason’s chest and the other under his chin.  He sighed and Jason could feel the tension leaving Kevin’s body as they wrapped their arms around each other.  

“Are you ok?” he murmured into Kevin’s hair, kissing his temple at the same time.  Kevin didn’t look up as he replied, “Shouldn’t I be asking you that question?” Jason grinned, “You’ve been asking me all day.”

“I’m fine- just tired.  It was a long day at work.”

He yawned, as if to support his statement. 

“Do you want to go to bed?”

“Not yet, we’ll go in a minute,” Kevin replied, snuggling closer into Jason’s embrace.

They lay in silence, feeling the rise and fall of each other’s chests as they breathed. 

“Can I ask you a question?” Kevin asked sleepily, waking Jason from his half-slumber.

“Sure.”

“Why is there a blue bunny lying in my bed?”