**************************************************************************** Author's Notes: Okay, this is my first proper chapter, if you like. I mean, the one before was bit strange, by anyone's standards. Although people did seem to like it! Just to clear up any confusion that my proof-reader (I love you Martin!) pointed out, this story is totally unrelated to Little White Lies. This chapter might confuse things, cos it could have carried on where LWL finished off, but that's not intentional. If relationships seem to carry on, it's only for the sake of a good read. Got it? Good. Now just read that ickle disclaimer below (c'mon, you know you want to!) and get on with the story. You know it makes sense.
Standard disclaimer: You know the drill. Too young? Don't read. Too homophobic? Don't read. Too repressed? Don't read. Think this is real? Seek help. Like The Backstreet Boys? Read on. Start to believe they're actually gay? Well, just don't start stalking them. Then I guess we'll all be okay. ****************************************************************************
'Look at the stars, look how they shine for you.' - Yellow, Coldplay
********* Chapter 1 *********
"Sleep well?" Howie smirked as a stony-faced Kevin sat down to breakfast. They were currently staying in a expensive-looking Hotel somwhere in New York, somewhere that Kevin to remember. It didn't matter anyway; all they were doing was promotion. After a while it all started to feel the same. And they were only staying for another week, which wasn't very long in theory, although it felt like centuries until Kevin could spend some quality time with himself. Kevin looked over his shoulder, in a somewhat paranoid manner, before replying.
"Well, after I saw my boyfriend sneak out of our room at about two in the morning, I did have a tiny bit of trouble getting back to sleep."
"Ooh, you think he's doing the dirty on you?" Howie asked, intrigued. Kevin noticed, with annoyance, that Howie looked pleased with this possibility.
"I didn't say that, did I?" Kevin scowled. "He wouldn't dare cheat on me. What's the point? It's not like he has an overactive sex drive." He muttered the last sentence with an overwhelming sensation of vexation.
"Ah, still not getting any from him?" Howie smile grew a few centimetres wider. Kevin wondered with exasperation why he even bothered telling him stuff like that.
"He says he needs time." Kevin started buttering some toast. "He's too young, he's not ready, he wouldn't be able to match up to my other lovers." He slammed the knife down. "Who does he think I am, for fucks sake? I haven't had that many lovers before him."
"Kevin, you can't even remember how many lovers you've had." Howie told him. "What did you say it was, over thirty?"
"Well," Kevin bit into the toast, "Like I said, it isn't that many."
"And that's not even counting the women." Howie shook his head. "I think I'd feel pretty nervous about losing my virginity to a man with a worse track record than Madonna."
"You're not helping." Kevin told him. "So where do you think he got to last night?"
"Okay, I admit it." Howie held his hands up in mock-surrender. "He was with me."
"Like fuck he was." Kevin scowled again.
"I don't know, Kev." Howie shrugged. "He's not exactly been acting completely sane recently. Ever since you two started dating, actually."
"Yeah, I've noticed that too." The conversation was suddenly intruded by a third voice. Kevin and Howie both spun around to see AJ standing at the door, smirking.
"How long have you been standing there?" Kevin asked.
"Long enough to hear that Nicky crept out last night." AJ walked over to the table and sat down. "He has come back, right?"
"He was fast asleep when I came down to breakfast." Kevin scowled. "I'd be pretty tired as well if I snuck out in the middle of the night."
"Look, just chill out." AJ told him. "He's back safe and sound, isn't he?"
"Until the next time." Howie smiled. He was greeted with a hard punch to his arm, courtesy of Kevin.
"There's not gonna be a next time." Kevin told him resolutely. "And if there is, I'll follow him and see where he goes."
"Careful Kev, if you pull that leash any tighter, you'll choke the poor boy." AJ smirked. He looked across at Howie, and they started laughing loudly.
"Fuck you." Kevin told them. "I'm not that protective over him."
"Course not, Kevin." Howie shook his head, his large brown eyes filled with fake sincerity. "The phrase 'under the thumb' doesn't spring to mind at all when people watch you two together." Him and AJ descended into wild laughter. Brian chose to enter the room at this point, and looked at the scene in confusion.
"Something funny?" He asked, as he sat down. Kevin glared at the laughing pair.
"No, not in the slightest." He answered his cousin. "The doctor obviously forgot to anaesthetize them this morning."
"Whatever." Brian poured some milk onto his cereal. "Where's Nick?"
"Asleep." Kevin muttered.
"He was worn out by last night." Howie smiled. "Much to Kevin's annoyance."
"What did you do to him?" Brian asked.
"Nothing. That's what he's annoyed about." AJ replied, smirking.
"He snuck out." Kevin glared at Howie and AJ before they started laughing again. "Came back at about five in the morning."
"Why didn't you go after him?" Brian asked, concerned. "I would have." Kevin sighed. That was so like Brian to pretend that if he were still dating Nick, he'd be the perfect boyfriend. Even so, Nick had left Brian for Kevin, Kevin remembered smugly, so Brian couldn't have been that perfect.
"I was too tired." Kevin looked at him, his eyes challenging. "I'm Nick's boyfriend, not his babysitter."
"Yeah, some relationship. Have you actually got any further than first base yet?" Brian asked bitingly. It was his turn to look smug.
"I'm not putting any pressure on him." Kevin refused to be humiliated. "Unlike some people, I respect that Nick's still young and innocent."
"He wasn't so innocent when I was with him." Brian took a large spoonful of his cereal. "But I guess that's a side of him you'll never get to see."
"Fuck you." Kevin glowered.
"Well, you certainly won't be fucking Nick." Brian answered. Howie and AJ watched the sparring match with amusement. They had become a regular occurrence, ever since Nick's sudden switch of boyfriends.
"Don't you think I should be the judge of that?" A soft voice suddenly spoke. They all looked round to see Nick standing at the day, his eyebrows raised in defiance. Brian swore under his breath.
"Someone should really put some kind of alarm on that door." He muttered. Nick walked over to the table, four sets of eyes bearing into him.
"What?" He sat down. "So I slept in? It is our day off, isn't it?"
Kevin could see Howie about to say something, probably referring to last night, and shook his head warningly at him. Howie's mouth closed again.
"Sleep well?" Kevin asked Nick, his voice dripping with sweetness.
"Not really." Nick murmured. There seemed to be some kind of change in him, something that none of his band mates could place. A distant kind of light in his eyes.
"Why not?" Kevin asked never taking his eyes off his boyfriend.
"I don't know." Nick refused to make eye contact with any of them. "I just didn't. Is insomnia a crime now?"
"Insomnia isn't, no." Kevin told him. "It's when it goes further than that."
"You know I crept out, Kevin." Nick finally looked at him, his blue eyes glaring. "Why not just ask me where I went?"
"I'm waiting for you to tell me." Kevin leaned back in his chair, his whole demeanour suggesting he was comfortable with showing Nick up. Nick looked around at their questioning faces and finally stood up, pushing his chair back roughly.
"I was with Howie." He shouted before storming out of the room. As the door slammed behind him, the others sat in silence for a while until Howie, unable to resist, opened his mouth to speak.
"Don't Howie." Kevin warned him. "Just...don't." He followed Nick out of the room, shaking his head. Howie stretched luxuriously after he had left.
"Well, even if Nick wasn't with me, I have to admit the kid's got taste. Using me as an alibi, you don't get much better than that." He smiled self-satisfactorily.
Brian sighed, burying his head in his arms. Sometimes, he honestly believed that he was the only sane one in the group.