He opens them with a wince, his key digging into his palm. He looks up and stops walking, nearly dropping his keys altogether.

"Hey."

He shakes his head. "Go home, Kevin."

"You said if we were going to talk, we'd have to do it in LA. We're in LA. So we need to talk." He rakes a hand through his hair, mussing up the mass of curls usually styled so closely to his head. "Please?"

"I've been working for nearly eighteen hours, Kevin. I'm not in a good or particularly forgiving mood."

"I get that. And maybe you're not going to forgive me at all, but it's been almost a week, and…and I've tried to call and I can't because you'll blow me off on the phone and so I'm here, and I…I really need to talk to you. Please?" Kevin's eyes are shadowed and tired, so blue even in the dim yellow glow of the street light.

"Yeah. Okay. Where's your car?"

"I took a cab."

Scotty laughs and shakes his head. "You Walkers are nothing if not dramatic gestures." He unlocks the car and turns, and Kevin's right there. "Your place?"

Kevin shakes his head. "Yours."

His eyebrows go up at the suggestion. They've never been to Scotty's place. It's small and overcrowded and half the time there are people crashed out on the couch. "My place."

Kevin nods and slides his fingers along Scotty's jaw, tracing it even as Scotty clenches his teeth. His breath is warm on Scotty's skin, his lips wet and parted. "Please?"

He steps back and swallows, away from the heat Kevin generates. "I've got my college roommate and her cat at my place."

"I like cats."

"I don't." Scotty watches him. "So, I'll take you home."

Kevin nods and exhales, sliding into Scotty's car. Scotty sucks in mouthfuls of air, still tinged with the hint of wildfires and ash somewhere in the hills, and then slides in beside Kevin and starts the car.

They drive in silence, Kevin's eyes on him. As much as Scotty loves being looked at, especially - though he hates to admit how much - by Kevin, it's unnerving, disconcerting.

"Justin and I both donated." Scotty jumps at the soft sound of Kevin's voice, the uncertainness of it. "I…I know what it's like to be…different. To be alone. I don't…I…that's what I was thinking. And I didn't say it very well. I was surprised and flattered and scared and…and I reacted badly and I lashed out and I…I lashed out at you, and I'm sorry."

Scotty doesn't say anything, just drives the now familiar streets to Kevin's apartment building. He glances over out of the corner of his eye and Kevin's head is on the window, his eyes closed.

"You're not scared. Not like me." Kevin sighed, his voice softer still. "You just are who you are and damn the consequences. I…my family…I'm the one they all turn to. I'm the one who solves all their problems. I'm the…Kevin doesn't have emotional problems, you see. He doesn't have romantic entanglements. Kevin's just there for them. All the time. He answers questions, he makes things better and…I want to make this better, and I don't know how, because if I were you, I'd hate me. Hell, I'm not you, and I hate me."

"I don't hate you."

"You should. I was rude and thoughtless. I was…I said…God, I don't even want to think about what I said. Since when did I start to feed into that thought process? Since when do I want someone who thinks like me and acts like me and only agrees with me?"

Scotty reaches over and touches Kevin's thigh carefully. Kevin's eyes close tighter and he sucks in a breath. "I don't hate you. And if you really only wanted someone who agreed with you, you'd never have gone out with me in the first place." He smiles as the corner of Kevin's mouth curls up. "We're here."

Kevin straightens and then turns to look at Scotty. "Y-you want to come up?"

"It's late, Kevin, and I'm tired and I have to work tom-" His words are cut off as Kevin leans in, swift and determined and sure, his mouth moving over Scotty's, taking advantage of his parted lips. Scotty makes a sound, unsure even to himself if it's encouragement or protest, though he thinks the former as Kevin's hand slides up his thigh and he moves in closer.

Kevin breaks the kiss, but stays there, breathing in Scotty's short, sharp exhalations, making it harder still to breath. Making everything harder as his hand strokes a slow path along the length of Scotty's thigh. "Come up."

"Kevin," he shakes his head, only to be caught in another kiss, another touch. Kevin's hand settles at the top of Scotty's thigh, his thumb sweeping an arc along the press of Scotty's erection against his black uniform slacks. He groans, entirely encouragement this time, and tangles a hand in Kevin's tie and pulls him closer still.

Kevin laughs against the kiss, shifting off his seat and practically laying against Scotty. "Come up so we don't have to do this in your car."

Heat rockets through Scotty and he swallows hard. His heart is pounding and blood is rushing loudly in his veins. His voice sounds foreign to his own ears, deep and low and rough and wanting, shaking. "Do what?"

"You don't really want our first time to be in an economy car, do you?"

Scotty groans as Kevin's hand covers his cock, warm against him through the fabric of his slacks. "It's…it's not…they're called fuel-efficient now." He reaches down and unhooks his seat belt and grabs Kevin's hand, tugging it away from him. "Kevin…"

Kevin sinks back in his seat. "Right. Right. Sorry." He stares down at his hands, and Scotty can't help but look at them, remember the feel of them. Kevin's hands are shaking and he clasps them together quickly to still them. "Thanks for the ride."

He fumbles with the door handle and manages to make it out of the car, but not before Scotty scrambles out and comes around. "Kevin."

"No. It's okay. I mean, I…It's not what you want. It's fine. I mean, we keep mis-stepping, right? Keep doing it wrong. Maybe it's better that you just hate me and we can…"

"I don't hate you."

"Yeah, well, you don't want to sleep with me either, so we're sort of at an impasse."

"I do want to sleep with you."

"Forget it. It was a bad idea from the start, and obviously my family's not taught me how to act nice to people or be in public, and you've been subjected to us enough, so thanks for the ride ho-"

"I think I'm sort of in love with you."

"-me."

Scotty smiles ruefully and shrugs, shoving his hands into his pockets. "And I think it's not…a good thing for me to be. I know you've had relationships and boyfriends and…You and I are different, and in a way that I don't think…works."

"You think you're in love with me, so you're breaking up with me." Kevin nods, his eyes on Scotty, though Scotty doubts he's seeing him. "That makes sense. To me. You should be a Walker. You'd fit right in." He shakes his head and breaks the gaze finally. "Thanks for the ride."

"Kevin." Scotty sighs and then reaches out, grabbing Kevin's arm as he starts to walk away. "Kevin."

He stops, eyes closed. He clears his throat and the muscles beneath Scotty's fingers quiver. "Let go, Scotty. Please?"

His voice is pitched low, pleading. "Kevin."

Kevin's breath catches and he inhales, and Scotty can see the wet thickness of Kevin's lashes even in the dimness of the parking garage. "Let me go."

He tries, but his fingers won't open, his hand won't do anything but turn Kevin, pull him closer. This time the kiss is desperate and needy and possessive, and Scotty curves a leg around the back of Kevin's, lets his momentum carry them both back against the car. His hand tightens on Kevin's arm and the other one goes up to the back of Kevin's neck, holding him against him, devouring the taste of him.

Kevin groans and Scotty breaks away, panting roughly. "I love you."

"You just said we wouldn't work."

"I know." He kisses him again, needing to feel their lips together, their tongues entangled, their bodies hard and demanding. "But you're walking away, and that's like agreeing and we don't agree on anything."

"We don't," Kevin nods and kisses him, biting at Scotty's lower lip. Scotty moans and his hips roll forward and any second now their first time is going to be on the back of a fuel-efficient car. "And you're always wrong."

Scotty laughs and slides his hand off Kevin's arm around to his ass, pressing him harder against him. "I'm always right."

Kevin shakes his head and pulls away, catching Scotty's hand and tugging him toward the elevator. "Not this time."