Where Were You?

Chapter 1

Kevin could feel something special in the air that morning. And no, it wasn't the delicious aroma of fresh-baked goodness from Absolute Bagels. It was something... incredible, dare he say.

Even so, he gave nothing away as he paid for his bagel and a side of cream cheese-- garden vegetable, just as he had every time he needed a stiff doughnut fix. He decided to skip the coffee this time, as he was already feeling excited about this something in the air. And that's all he wanted to feel-- excited. Not wired.

*~*~*~*

Connor had a slight premonition of worry, but otherwise that morning felt like a pretty ordinary day. Complete with the sleep deprivation that came with getting up earlier than he'd like. All for final rehearsal, which always meant a whole day in the theater, from the witching hour till late evening. Warm-up exercises, dance moves, line readings. Curtain was tomorrow night, and he had all tomorrow morning to sleep in and get today's activities imprinted on his subconscious.

Oh, and Mike the stage manager wanted the color of the right-stage backdrop changed; so the stage hands were there, taking care of last-minute business.

Connor liked the smell of paint; it was the scent of the stage, of progress, of steady work. And he let it fill his lungs as he took a deep breath after finishing twenty repetitions of buck-and-wings, to wake himself up.

Whew. That was a thirsty dance step. Wake-up accomplished, but now his mouth felt like sandpaper. He tried to imagine having to do the step under hot stage lights, and then wondered how well you could conceal a hidden water-backpack-bottle under your costume.

Connor dashed over to the water cooler and gulped four cups in rapid succession; then straightened up and exhaled exuberantly. So exuberantly that he almost didn't hear Poptarts' voice off in the distance.

"Con! Connor!"

Connor wiped his mouth and turned in Poptarts' direction. "What?"

"Come look at the TV. You've gotta see this!"

*~*~*~*

Kevin walked along leisurely-- he didn't want to jump on the subways just yet. It had been a rare day off from his job, when his client for today had cancelled. Connor was already at work himself, having gotten up before sunrise in the freaking summer to go to a rehearsal. And the sky was not-too-sunny, not-too-cloudy, with just the right air temperature. Nice and tranquil.

Having a day off gave him a heightened sense that something special was going to happen today, but so far nothing was being let on by the newspaper headlines. There was some news about the health care decision yesterday by the Supreme Court (which Connor, being more tuned-in to political news than he was, found very important), but otherwise it was the same as it ever was.

"Schrader won't lose his health insurance!" Connor had beamed. "Poor dude was really worried about it-- now he's gonna be OK!"

"He's still teaching at that tough school in New Orleans, isn't he?"

"Yes."

"Is it that tough?"

"Yes-- really tough. Most of his students have to get free meals, and some of them are homeless."

"He's a bigger man than we are," said Kevin. "He's, out of all of us, doing the most to help people's lives."

Connor had paused before asking, "Do you think that kind of puts going on a mission all in perspective?"

Kevin couldn't answer at first. Finally, he had said: "If I had gone where I wanted to go-- Orlando-- then yes. But I'm not sure about that when I think about our mission, in particular."

"Yep... we did quite a bit more than just preach at people, didn't we?"

Kevin had smiled. "That we did."

*~*~*~*

Connor felt his eyes grow wide as he stared at the small TV screen backstage. There it was, at the bottom: "NBC News Special Report-- Supreme Court: Gay Couples Have Right To Marry."

"Oh... em... gosh..." was all he could say.

Poptarts was gazing at him with a big smile on his face. "Call Kevin right away."

Connor didn't move at first.

"I'll try to get a hold of James-- if Mr. Workaholic ever picks up." That made the redhead laugh, and shook him out of his daze.

"Kevin's a workaholic too."

"You'll have much better luck reaching Kevin, trust me." Poptarts shrugged. "I hope James realizes this is special. This is actually a good reason to take a break."

*~*~*~*

Kevin heard a whoop from the dive bar across the street. As he turned his head in its direction, two young men rushed out; laughing, high-fiving and jumping. Then they embraced and kissed repeatedly, laughing through their kisses.

That 'something incredible' just happened right now, thought Kevin as he approached the pair.

"What's happening?" he asked them.

"Dude, we won! We won!" said the shorter of the men, holding onto his jumping partner, who continued: "Go watch the news! Inside, man!"

We won? What did we win? Kevin didn't stop to talk anymore, but did as the other man suggested and ducked into the bar. (A very divey bar indeed, was his first thought-- definitely not his style... even if he liked to go to bars at all.) But at the moment it seemed a lot less dark and gritty; because it was too full of happy shouts, high-fives and assorted congratulations.

Some kind of big game I don't know about?

Then he remembered the two men had been kissing, and remembered Connor's demeanor last night...

Kevin's eyes trailed from two embracing women up to the TV in the corner. CNN announced, in big bold letters: "Breaking News-- Same Sex Marriage Legal In All 50 States".

Kevin instantly drew out his cell phone, but in the middle of dialing, he was interrupted by Connor's familiar number on his caller ID. He picked up and immediately, his ears were beset by Connor's elated voice:

"Kevin! Kevin! Something wonderful happened!"

"What?"

"Turn on the news! Quick!"

"It's on. I see it," said Kevin, turning to the TV and back again. "And yes! I know!"