Disclaimer stuff: I don't know the Backstreet Boys, I doubt that I ever will, I'm not denying the eligibility of Kevin and Kristin's marriage, but I can hope can't I? I am not making any assumptions about the sexuality of the BSB or any other celebrities who may appear in this story, they are merely the product of my imagination and their appearances, lifestyles and careers happen to bear a striking resemblance to those of the real life celebrities they resemble.
Right, now I'd like to make a couple of recommendations, especially for anyone who's about to start writing on the archive: Forever, Josh and Just, My New Life, JC's Hitchhiker, Reformation, Get Another Boyfriend, JC Dreams, Jamie's Romance, and there are so many others I can't think of now, though I'm sure I'll think of them at some point, and add them to the list.
Finally, there's all the stuff about me being English, so if something doesn't make sense, then I'm sorry but it was our language first and you changed it, so don't blame me!
On The Streets - Part 13
"What's all this then?" I heard a booming voice from the door of the bedroom. Nick and I had read the Merchant of Venice for about an hour, then we moved onto the Poetry Anthology. I found Nick was actually quite good at poetry, but then considering he basically recites it to music for a living, it's not really such a surprise. Kevin had walked in and found Nick and I lying on the bed. We'd found out that sitting cross-legged for more than three-quarters of an hour can cause severe cramps. I looked up at Kevin and saw him standing silhouetted in the doorway. Although we had all the lights on in the bedroom, the sunlight coming through the window in the living room made the hallway outside much brighter.
"Hey Kevin, just giving Nick his first lesson." Kevin pouted at me.
"You weren't there when I woke up. I was hoping you'd be there." Kevin looked genuinely upset.
"Sorry Kevin, but my previous profession didn't really allow me to sleep much after having sex, I got kinda used to having to walk out right away afterwards, so I don't fall asleep anymore after doing it, I'm sorry." I looked up at Kevin apologetically, trying to explain to him why I hadn't stayed with him.
"Well, I suppose that's ok, what are you reading anyway?"
"We've just moved onto poetry, we got bored with the Merchant of Venice." I smirked at Kevin.
He jumped onto the bed so that he was lying between Nick and me and grabbed the poetry book in his hand. "Hmmm, boring! Come on, let's go out somewhere, we've got the evening free, and we're in Paris, this is supposed to be one of the most romantic cities in the world! Come on!" He jumped over me and landed on my side of the bed and started to pull me up.
"Kevin! No! I was in the middle of teaching Nick! You don't just pull me away from something like that! Stop it!" Kevin didn't stop pulling, so I yanked my arm away from his grip. He stood there stunned.
"You can teach Nick anytime! We can go out tonight though!"
"Yeah, but now I've started a lesson with Nick, it's not fair if you just come and pull me away!"
"But you've had over an hour, I mean how long can you go for, and besides, we won't be out for long, why can't you just get back to it when we get back?" I was standing by now facing Kevin.
"Because I agreed to teach Nick when I came on tour with you, not because it's part of my job, but because he's my friend, now, we can go out tomorrow night, or we can go out later if you want, but we are not going out now."
"Jared, it's ok, I don't mind, you can go out now with Kev if you want, I mean he's right, we can take lessons anytime."
"No Nick, that's not fair, what's to say this won't happen again? He's just acting like a spoilt child, Kevin, you can't just come in here and interrupt Nick's lessons, that's not fair!"
"Spoilt Child!" Kevin shouted, obviously flustered, and he threw his hands in the air. He stalked out the room and slammed the door to the suite. I let out a sigh and sat down on the bed.
"You shouldn't have called him that."
"Why not? That's how he was behaving!" I answered Nick.
"Because Kevin gets like this sometimes, he always gets what he wants, and whenever somebody calls him spoilt when he's behaving like this he goes off and sulks for days. Sometimes he doesn't even show up for rehearsals." Nick was pretty shaken by the scene, but I was surprised by what he said: Kevin didn't seem the type to be spoilt, and least of all to always get what he wants. I mean, what type of a person who always gets what they want hires prostitutes?
I forced Nick to carry on with the lesson. I hated to have arguments in vain, and in this case I definitely wasn't going to back down, I mean Kevin was acting like a jerk - what right did he have to end the lesson when he chose? After half an hour I gave up though - Nick had become unteachable since Kevin's little outburst. I picked up the books and placed them on the dresser and said goodbye to Nick. I walked out the suite and across the hall to Kevin's suite and knocked on the door. There was no answer. I knocked again louder. Finally I heard the door opening. It was Kevin. When he opened the door I saw that his hair was dishevelled and had fallen all over his face and he had quite obviously been crying. His eyes suddenly opened wide when he saw me.
"Jared?" He asked with an incredulous yet joyful tone.
"Yes Kevin it's me, what's the matter, why are you crying?" I asked him, concerned as to what had happened since he'd walked out Nick's room so angry.
"You don't hate me?" Kevin asked, hopefully.
"No, Kevin what are you talking about, can we go inside please?"
"When you got so angry at me, I thought you were, well, you know, you didn't want to come back to me."
"Kevin, what are you talking about? Of course I want to come back to you, why wouldn't I? Kevin what's going on? We only had a little argument and you're acting like I've said I wanted to break up with you or something!" Kevin and I were sat on the couch. I had my arm behind him and we both sat with one leg tucked up underneath our bodies.
"Nick, um, I mean, there's something you should know about me and Nick." I nodded my head, motioning for him to proceed. "Um, well, Nick's bisexual. He, he, he stole my last boyfriend." I gasped. That was actually a shock. Nick seemed like such a nice guy - I couldn't see him stealing somebody's boyfriend.
"But he just said you behave like that sometimes, you just like to get what you want sometimes."
"No, I was just trying to get you away from him." A light dawned over me - Nick had been flirting with me. I just hadn't noticed, or maybe I had been too engrossed in Kevin to notice. He had touched me more than any of the other guys, he'd always sat really close, and when we had been lying on the bed, we couldn't have got much closer. Kevin almost landed on top of us when he jumped on the bed. " I can't believe he'd say something like that about me! He's getting seriously out of hand here!" Kevin jumped off the couch and ran towards the door of the suite. He flung it open and ran across the hall. I stood up and started to follow him. I heard him bang on the door of Nick's suite and as I came out of Kevin's suite, I saw Nick's door open, Kevin's arm coil back and his fist land flat bang in the middle of Nick's face. When I'd seen action movies or Bruce Lee films and somebody punched somebody and they went flying back, I always thought it was special effects. I was wrong.
I heard a crash in Nick's suite and Kevin stalked into the room after him. I quickly followed behind him. I heard another one of the suite doors open - I think it was Howie's as I walked into Nick's suite. The scene I saw shocked me - Kevin had picked Nick up by the collar and was holding him against the wall. Nick's nose was obviously broken and somewhat more severely than mine had been. Blood trickled down his face and I could see the beginning of a pair of black eyes. He was staring at Kevin, wide-eyed with shock. "Kev...Kevin? What are you doing? Let go of me!"
"How could you? How could you do it again? Well, I don't care! I love Jared more than I ever loved Rick and I'm not giving him up without a fight, so come on if you want him so bad fight me for him!" Kevin was shouting right in Nick's face. He dropped Nick and his knees buckled beneath him. Howie came running into the room and was followed by Brian.
"Kevin what are you doing?" Howie shouted at him.
"Kevin! Back off!" Brian shouted at his cousin.
Kevin glared at both of them, then at me. I was disappointed with Kevin, partially because he actually thought Nick would win me over with his little flirts, but partially because he had resorted to violence. He saw the disappointment in my eyes. I walked out the room and made my way downstairs to my own room. This was Kevin's mess, not mine, and he was gonna have to clean it up.
[Author's note: Several readers have asked to see this story from another character's point of view, so for the remainder of this chapter, unless stated otherwise, the first person is Kevin, and all other characters relate from him.]
Kevin's point of view
Jared walked out the room. He looked upset at me. Why? I did what anyone would have done. I can't believe Nick tried it again! He tried to steal my boyfriend away from me again! I'm gonna fucking beat him! No! That's what made Jared walk off in the first place. I've got to work out why he did that - why did he leave?
"Kevin, what the hell are you doing?" Howie was standing there, talking to me very calmly.
"This little...SHIT! Tried to steal my boyfriend from me again."
"Kevin, I'm sure he wasn't trying to steal Jared from you, were you Nick?" Nick didn't answer.
"You see? He's just a little shit who steals other people's boyfriends! I love Jared, I'm not giving him up, he's mine!" The other guys looked at me for a second, then looked back over to Nick.
"Nick, just tell us the truth. Did you or did you not try to steal Jared from Kevin?" Nick looked up at me with a look of fear in his eyes. Then he looked over at the other guys who looked back at him expectantly. He let out a long sigh.
"Well, have you seen him? I mean look at him guys! I mean he's gorgeous! Who wouldn't...?" He started rambling on.
"NICK!" Brian and Howie both shouted at him. He looked stunned for a second. "You deserve whatever Kevin gave to you." Brian finished. Then he walked out.
"Nick, come on let's get you down to the doctor, I think you need to have someone look at that nose." Howie said. "And Kevin, I suggest you go talk to Jared, I don't think he liked the way you handled the situation." Is that what Jared was angry about? How I punched Nick or just the fact that I confronted him? I was about to ask Howie what he meant, but I saw him half carrying-half supporting Nick out the room. I stood in Nick's room for a second, the living room decidedly darker than it was before as the sun set outside. What a hell of a first day in France!
"I've got to speak to Jared." I said to myself, then walked out of Nick's now empty and somewhat more untidy suite and made my way across the hall. I tried the door and it swung open. I called out. "Jared? Jared where are you?" There was no answer, so I tried the living room. He wasn't there, nor was he in the bedroom, and the bathroom door was wide open. I could see in there and it was empty. I walked out the suite again and stopped. He must have gone down to his own room. I ran towards the elevator and pushed the number of his floor. It opened and I ran out. When I got to his door, I knocked loudly. There was no answer. I tried again about a minute later, not so loudly, but still quite insistently. There was nothing. Jared was either ignoring me, or maybe he wasn't in there. I tried the room opposite. It was Tima's room; maybe he'd gone there. As I waited for her to answer the door I thought to myself that he could have gone down to the restaurant again, but I decided to wait to see if Tima knew where he was. I was on the verge of leaving again when the door swung open and Tima stood there. Her tall figure blocked the doorway and she stood with her hands on her hips.
"Mr. Richardson! So nice of you to show up!" I looked at Tima with a confused expression on my face. "Jared's been telling me all about your little antics. He's pretty upset, in fact he's thinking about leaving! Did you really think that someone who truly loves you would leave you for that little dick?!" I looked at her stunned - Tima had never spoken to me like this before - even when she was telling us off for not rehearsing hard enough. I could feel my face pale - did she say he was leaving.
"Tima, I need to talk to him, is he still here." I asked, panicked.
"Yes he's here, but I'm not so sure he wants to talk to you."
"Please Tima! Let me in!"
"Let him in Tima! This won't take long." I heard a strained voice shout from the living room. Tima stepped to one side and allowed me in before shutting the door behind me and following me into the room.
I knelt down before Jared who was sitting on the couch and wrapped my arms around him. He didn't return the embrace. "I'm sorry Jared, I'm really, really sorry."
"What for Kevin? What are you sorry about?"
"What Tima said about how I really thought for a while back there that Nick could take you away - I was forgetting that you really love me and I shouldn't have thought he could steal you from me."
"Is that all?" I looked up at Jared. I saw pain in his eyes. Then I remembered what Howie said.
"And how I handled it - I shouldn't have resorted to violence." Jared smiled, just slightly, and then it dropped.
"Kevin, when I was working on the streets, I saw a lot of violence, I don't just mean fights, or brawls outside pubs, I mean the lot: knifings, murders, drive by shootings..." I was shocked, but I suppose I should have expected as much. "I don't like violence Kevin. If I ever see you raise a finger again, I will be out of here. If you raise it to me, any of the guys, or anyone, I will be gone, and you will never find me. Do you understand?" I sat there with my mouth open for a second - I'd never heard Jared talk this way before. I nodded my head to show my agreement. Then he returned my embrace and we hugged. Tima stood back. I opened my eyes and saw her over Jared's shoulder, and I motioned for her to come forwards. I put my arm around her as well and whispered in her ear.
"Thank you Tima." She pulled back and smiled, then half-escorted, half-pushed us out of her room and shut the door behind us. We both looked at the door kinda shocked at the rough treatment, then looked at each other and burst out laughing. We made our way to the elevators again and pressed the button for our floor. Once we were inside Jared turned to me.
"You know you're going to have to apologise to Nick don't you?"
"Why? He tried to take you away. He was trying to ruin my life again! Why the hell should I even talk to him?" I answered. I was still angry at Nick and I wanted Jared to understand what I'd gone through. "You don't understand Jared, you've never lost somebody you're close to like that, somebody you love romantically. It's like having your heart ripped out and Nick did it to me and I won't let him do it again."
"Kevin we need to talk." Jared said in a tone that brooked no opposition. We made our way to my suite and went into the living room and sat down. Once we made ourselves comfortable, Jared looked up at me, and I saw the pain in his eyes. "Kevin, what makes you think you know something like that? What makes you think that someone I love dearly in that way hasn't been torn away from me?" I looked down at the floor; I guess it was a little brash of me to presume something like that. "Kevin, a few years ago now, I had a boyfriend called Jon. He was a couple of years older than me, and I loved him. He was everything to me. I lived with him, I did everything with him. He even got me a job for a while, but then he was taken away from me." Jared looked to the floor, reliving painful memories.
"Kevin, Jon was a gay rights campaigner. He spoke out on a lot of very controversial issues in England, particularly in London. Kevin have you ever heard of the White Wolves?" I shook my head no. "They were a group of homophobic, fascist bastards who thought it would be funny to kill a few gays." I looked up at Jared, I hoped what I thought he was gonna say next wasn't going to come. "They planted bombs and that sort of thing. They were fucking scum, nothing better." He looked up at me again. "Jon was talking from a pedestal at a Pride parade. He was speaking out on equal rights for gay couples, and a guy in army gear and a wolf mask came up behind him, and stabbed him. The guy ran off into the crowd, and we never caught him. The police weren't much help, and Jon died a few hours later, from massive blood loss, and internal injuries. Now Kevin," Jared was almost sobbing through his tears now. "Although I was scared and couldn't have gone after those bastards because I was so scared, if I hadn't have been scared, I still wouldn't have gone after them - I wouldn't stoop to their level. I lost Jon, he was everything to me, and I lost him. But don't tell me that I haven't had to deal with loss, especially the loss of a loved one. If Jon was still alive today, I would be with him now, and we would be happy. But I lost him, and I found you. Please, don't become what I hate most, I don't know what I'd do if I lost you too." Jared had steeled himself, and was speaking potently, from the heart. His words struck home and I gulped. I couldn't believe I'd accused him of not knowing how it felt, when I didn't know, I don't know that much about Jared's past, I've got to ask him about that. I just hope it isn't all as painful as this.
"I'm sorry Jared." He nodded.
"I think there's someone else you need to say that too." I nodded.
"How about if I arrange for all of us to get together for dinner? I can apologise to him then." He nodded and I smiled at him. We slipped together into a hug and we kissed on the lips.
I phoned round to each of the guys and asked them to meet up downstairs in the restaurant. I apologised to each of them: I wanted Jared to understand that I took his words to heart. What he said really shook me I guess, I even apologised to Brian, and he had been on my side. I asked Howie to get Nick downstairs, as he seemed to be most amicable towards him at the moment. Brian had explained to A.J. what had happened and had had to hold him back to prevent him going to beat Nick himself. They all agreed to meet downstairs in quarter of an hour and Howie would get Nick. I told Jared, and we agreed to go down and wait for each of the guys. A.J. and Brian arrived almost at the same time, and sat down next to each of us. Howie and Nick came down in the same elevator, but Howie walked ahead of Nick, obviously desiring to be as close to him as I had wanted to be earlier. I think all of the guys were pretty disgusted by what Nick had done. Nick walked over to the table and stood behind the chair where he should have sat. I stood up and walked around to him.
"Nick, I can't say I forgive you entirely for what you tried to do, I also can't say I blame you for wanting Jared." I was thankful there was no one else in the restaurant, but each of the guys sat tensed, as if ready to jump on me if I decided Nick's face needed to be rearranged again. I must say though it looked a helluva lot better than it did before, his face had been all swollen and his nose looked terrible before. I guess they have a good doctor somewhere here. I smirked at Nick at my last comment and then carried on. "But, what I did was inexcusable. I shouldn't have hit you; I should've trusted Jared more. I'm sorry." I looked into Nick's eyes. I saw everything all those teenyboppers saw each time they looked at Nick - that look of innocence, those boyish good looks, but that wasn't why I hugged him, that wasn't why I almost started crying on his shoulder. I cried because I almost lost my brother, my friend. I wanted to show Nick I still loved him, and I wanted it back. He showed it to me. He hugged me back tightly, squeezing my back fiercely. As we pulled back, we both had water in our eyes, and we both chuckled at the sight of tears pooling in each other's eyes. Eventually, we pulled back completely and I pulled out the chair for Nick to sit in and waited for him to sit down. I was about to push it in when I looked up and saw Jared looking straight at me with a - devious? look in his eyes. He motioned with his hands and mouthed silently to me: 'push it in - hard!' I smiled back and pushed. Nick suddenly sucked in a gasp as his stomach was pushed in.
"Kev! Kev!" He said in gasping tone. "Ok! Ok! I'm sorry!" He pulled in one last gasp, and then I moved out from behind the chair and allowed Nick to push himself back. He looked up at me with a shocked expression on his face. I just shrugged and pointed to Jared, who was smiling back at Nick devilishly.
"What? Kevin got to punch you! I was the one you were flirting with - shouldn't I get to do something?" He continued smiling. Brian and Howie snorted and A.J. practically cracked up. Nick went very red and looked up at Jared.
"I'm sorry Jared." He looked over at Jared.
"It's ok Nick. I didn't even notice until Kevin pointed it out, and while I know that doesn't make it any better, I do forgive you. I mean come on! Who could resist a face like this?" He took his chin in his hand and twisted it from side to side. Everyone at the table started laughing. I had a feeling Jared wasn't gonna let this one go for a long, long time...
To Be Continued... End of Part 13
Ok, not quite as long this time, but I hope everyone enjoyed it - a bit more conflict this time. I've had a few people who've said that they think it's been too easy for Kevin and Jared, and while I didn't want to break them up completely, I did agree with them at least on some level. Once again, I'm gonna ask anybody if they have any interesting plot twists or any ideas that could be introduced. I have most of France, Spain, Germany and Italy all mapped out in my head at least, but any ideas would be welcome, country specific or otherwise. Hope to get loadsa feedback!