Date: Thu, 06 Jul 2000 14:52:56 EDT From: That's The Way I Like It Subject: gay/celebrity/boy-bands/by-my-side By My Side Chapters 9-10 It's baaack. ;-) Enjoy! As always, please don't read if you have some kind of problem with gay sex, and remember that - alas - this is just fiction and isn't documented on videotape anywhere. This will be the end of this story for now, although I might decide to pick it up again in the future. Let me know if there is interest in doing that, and a special thanks to everybody who wrote to me about this story to tell me you were having fun reading it. CHAPTER NINE "Run, J! Run!" D yelled at me over his shoulder as he took off. I was laughing so much, it wasn't easy to run, but I scrambled my skinny ass right out of there, and as soon as I made it out of the building, D put two fingers in his mouth and whistled real loud like the Mexican kids at my middle school used to do. "I'm coming, yo!" I said, and I ran across the street in the rain, slipping a little in my funky new shoes and smacking my hand down on the hood of a car stopped in front of me. "Sorry dude." I kind of signalled the driver like to say thanks for not killing me but he yelled something at me in French and drove away. So I stood there with my arms out. "You want a piece of this? Bite me, Monsieur!" "Come on, J," D said, laughing so much he was shaking. "Let's go." My ass was freezing in Montreal. D and I decided to make a break for it after rehearsal and go get in trouble somewhere. We were supposed to do an outdoor gig tonight - I don't know what crackhead thought that was gonna fly - but now we have play time. Of course, Uncle Steve tried to keep us in the hotel saying maybe we could rent a movie. I don't think so, dude. I felt a little bad about ditching Kaos, but if you had to spend more than five minutes with Uncle Steve, you'd be running out that door with me too. Even Train thinks the guy is a twat. "This place looks good and sleazy," D said, but he looked nervous. He always tries to act down, but he is a geek at heart. I understand; I'm a geek too. Besides, some big Frenchie guy could probably beat the crap out of both of us with one hand scratching his ass. "It's even sleazy enough for B-Rok," I said when I saw Bri sneaking down a back hallway. "Oh, he's here?" D tried to sound casual, but whenever he gets excited about anything he starts squeaking when he talks. "I just saw him, Minnie Mouse," I said. "Go get us some beers, dude." I went and sat at a little table in the back on a high chair, trying to look casual. I lit up a cig and checked out the pool tables. All taken and probably for the night. Bastards. I took a long drag off my ciggie and made eye contact with a couple chicks at the table next to ours. They looked amused. Women are like fucking aliens to me. I wasn't up to dealing with their shit. Ya know, it's just easier with guys. D came back with the beers. "So you really saw the Rokster, he he. Do you think he was going to take a piss, or was he with somebody?" "I dunno," I shrugged, gulping my drink. "Well, this should be interesting," D gasped. I had a strange thought cross my mind and I kind of shot D a look. "Yo Howie." "Sup." "You and Rok... you guys never messed around at all, huh." "What?" D looked around us. He doesn't like random people knowing he fucks guys. "No, no. Jeez, watch your mouth." I smirked and slid my empty glass over to him. "Go get me another beer, bro. Maybe you'll be at the bar when Rok gets out of the john." *** "Okay Nicky," Uncle Steve said. "I'm going to turn out the lights. Now remember, I'm just next door if you need anything." "Uh huh," I said, cuddling the blankets around me. "Remember, the bathroom is right there," Steve said. "I put a glass of water on the nightstand. It won't be that cold, though. And there's some aspirin-" "I knoooow," I said. "Night night, Nicky." "Nahnah," I kind of mumbled. When he closed the door, I threw the blankets off and slammed my hands down. I'm so mad! I'm so SICK of my Uncle Steve and I'm so bored and I'm so lonely. Everybody sucks! Fuck them all. They all run off and leave me 'cos I'm too young. I lied. I'm not sick at all, just mad and ... Ugh! I kicked my legs. Uncle Steve knocked on the door real quiet and I hauled the blankies back up. "I thought I'd bring you a cold wash cloth for your forehead," he said. "Please, just let me sleep," I said. "Okay? Please?" "Okee dokee," he said. "Night night." I was lying there in the dark and I was kind of starting to fall asleep, even though it was still early, and I thought I heard Boo's voice, singing something, quiet, kind of far away. I went into the bathroom and I could hear him louder through the wall. I sang a little back to him and he stopped. Then I went to the window of the bathroom and opened it. It was raining really hard outside but he did the same thing. We just looked at each other for a sec. I felt so warm inside when I saw his beautiful green eyes. They're as deep and sparkly as two oceans. "I miss you, Boo," I said. Tears were running down my face mixed in with rain. "Bunny," he said soft, "I miss you so bad." "Come be with me," I said. "I told my uncle I'm sick." "Um," Boo said, looking down at the ground. We were like on the seventh floor. "I don't know how I can get in there, but I can try." "Maybe I should try," I said. "Since I'm littler." "No way," Boo said real quick. "I'll do it." He slid most of himself out the window and then he grabbed the sill of mine with one hand. "Here goes nothing," Boo said, and he swung all the way out so he was holding himself up with one hand on his window sill and one hand on mine. He was getting really wet! "Here, let me help," I said, "take my hand." I was in the bathtub and I was already holding his one arm. Boo let go real fast and tried to grab at my windowsill with the other hand, he almost fell, but I was helping and he grabbed it the next time. He was breathing hard and he looked kind of scared. "Should I pull you in?" I asked. "No," he said, "get out of the tub so I can get in." "But what if you fall?" I said kind of loud. Boo hissed at me to be quieter. Oops. He pushed real hard against the windowsill and his face was red, and he sort of did a push-up against it, then fell over forward so his whole upper part of his body was inside! Then I helped him slide the rest of the way in. "Damn," Boo said. He cut himself a little on the window and he was all scraped and totally wet. I started crying. "You're here," I said, "I can't believe you're here!" "Shh, please," Boo said, "if Steve hears us, I'm gonna be really mad I did this for nothing." He took off his clothes and hung them up on the shower curtain, and then he started to dry off with a towel. I was staring at his beautiful body when Boo smiled at me and my heart melted. "You know how much I love you, baby?" he said. "You could have died," I said. "You're the most amazing man in the world." "Yeah," Boo laughed, "I'm Superman." He tried to act like it was no big thing. "You are, to me," I said, and we started kissing so passionate and hard I almost passed out from not breathing... *** A word to the wise. Try to check out the potties before you get funky. Our door would not lock right and there wasn't a lid for the john, so there were gonna be four legs in the stall no matter what. I straddled the toilet and hoped that the guy wouldn't let the door swing open too wide. His lips were wrapped around my cock, sucking it real good, when I heard other people come in the men's room. I bit my lip and closed my eyes, wanting to concentrate on cumming fast, and believe it or not, it was kind of turning me on that other guys would know we were messing around. Maybe they were getting hard thinking about what we were doing... Yeah, they would love to be in this dude's place, sucking my pretty young dick, getting a mouthful of my sweet cum... The guy who was blowing me took me to town with his mouth, I could feel the head of my dick in his throat, almost bending from the pressure and the suction... I moaned a little when I shot my load, pumping my hips up and into his face and grabbing his hair with one hand, the other hand up on the wall to balance myself. Then I zipped up my jeans real quick and stepped over the dude to go wash my hands. It's not like I have to get boned by J. Crew models, but these dudes in the john were FUGLY. So I washed up real quick and casual and hurried my ass out of there. They were all mumbling and grumbling in French and one of them followed me out to the main room. Just before I got out of the hallway, he grabbed my arm. "Mumble mumble mumble," he said. (I don't speak French) "Whatever, dude," I said. "Je ne parle pas." "You are Eeenglish?" he asked. "American," I frowned. Do I look like a fucking Brit twit? "You are prostitute?" he asked. I choked. "Shit, no! Now if you'll excuse moi!" I yanked my arm out of his grasp and walked into the main room of the bar. He was pissed and he shoved me from behind so I smacked right into this little barrier. I wasn't real comforted when the couple who was sitting right there got up and cleared out of the way. Frenchie was mad and he was all in my face. "Sorry man," I said, "you're confused or something." "You fucking prostitute, fuck you so much!" he yelled. Whoah! He punched me right in the stomach and I literally got the wind knocked out of me, I couldn't breathe and I felt like there would be a big ol' indentation in my body where his fist went in. All of a sudden Bone and D were there, and they were actually standing in front of me to protect me, trying to talk to the guy. "Look, he's with us, okay?" D was saying, talking so fast the guy probably couldn't understand him. "Dude, let us buy you a beer," Bone was saying. Even in the extreme pain I was in, I almost laughed, since of course Bone ain't old enough to buy anybody beer and he never has any money. He meant, let D buy you a beer. "It ain't worth it," Bone said. I gotta give these two props. They looked like they were pissing in their pants, but they were stickin up for me. The guy backed off with some more French mumbling and I limped over to sit down in a booth nearby. "That'll teach ya," D said, still very freaked out looking. "Shut up, okay," I said. I almost felt like I had to puke. "Let's go chill somewhere more PG-13," Bone said. "Okay you guys?" "Yeah," I nodded. When we were on our way out, I kind of mumbled, thanks. They both nodded and just patted me on the back. *** We couldn't wait to make love to each other, but it was pretty cold on the bathroom floor, and after we brought each other to orgasms with our mouths, Nicky led me by the hand into his bed. We sat together, just holding each other close and kissing. I had to stop for a second because I started crying. "You are so precious to me," I whispered in his ear. Ever since I realised that getting older didn't mean that I loved older guys, I dreamt of finding the perfect moment in time, the perfect body and face, the perfect soul. That's Nicky. He's partly a child and partly not a child. He's more beautiful than any woman but he's one hundred percent boy. He has the sweetest and most innocent presence of any creature on this earth. Making love to him is a gift from God. One tiny part of me is afraid that a love this perfect can't last. Nicky can't stay like this forever. Can't he? It's my blessing and my curse to love and lust for somebody like him. We stretched out our naked bodies side by side and Nicky lay one long leg over mine, sliding up close to me and running his soft, full lips over my neck and collarbone, his one hand touching my nipple wonderingly. I slid my hands over the plump cheeks of his ass and parted them gently, tracing my fingers over the sweet pucker of his hole, loving the sound of Nicky sighing in my ear. He turned over and rubbed his butt against my erection. I kissed his neck and held his small, throbbing cock in my one hand, squeezing it lightly as I began to move my hips in rhythmn. We were both trying to be very quiet, and it helped things to last longer; we drew out every touch and savoured it. I was aching to be inside him and Nicky was panting and whimpering, he wanted it so much. I tilted his ass up a little and whispered for him to bite down on the pillow so he would be quiet. I guided my stiff cock into Nick's ass, pushing hard to get the head inside and then resting it there to let him adjust. Nicky groaned into the pillow and I pinched his hard nipples and lifted one of his legs a little and I pushed my cock further into him. I grabbed Nicky by the waist and I began to pump deeper in and pull out slightly, as he clenched himself down on me and thrust his butt back against me. He moaned loudly into the pillow as he came again, pumping his dick with one hand, and then he began to feed me his cum, letting me suck his fingers clean as I fucked him. I was getting close when we heard a knock on the door and we froze. "Nicky, are you okay in there?" It was Uncle Steve. "Uh huh, yeah, I'm fine," Bunny said hurriedly, breathing hard. The door started to open and Bun sat up in bed. "Hold on one sec!" he yelled. My cock was still in his ass and we looked at each other, panicked. "Under the bed," Bunny whispered. I had to scramble to get under there in the dust, painfully aware of the fact that I was butt naked and sweaty. I had just gotten under when Steve came in. "Are you sure you're okay?" Steve was asking. "Do you have a fever?" What is wrong with this man? Surely he would assume that his nephew was masturbating and give him a little privacy? "I'm fine," Bun choked out. He was probably red as a tomato. My baby has a tendency to blush. "I just have to use the bathroom," Steve said. "Then I'll leave you alone. Okay?" He went in and I had a horrifying thought. My clothes were still in there! I lay there praying that he was so stupid that he wouldn't even notice. I heard a toilet flush and then the door click shut again. Bun got out of bed and locked the door as I slid back out. "Do you think he noticed my clothes?" I whispered to Nicky, who was dusting me off. He paused, a little shocked since he'd obviously forgotten about that. "I dunno," he said, and he looked up at me. "You know, my Aunt Deb always sez Steve wouldn't notice if she got set on fire until the next morning when nobody made coffee." "Well," I said, "I think we've been saved by Steve's Steveness." I kissed Nicky on the mouth. "Looks like we have the rest of the night to get reacquainted." CHAPTER TEN It's very funny that some people think we call A.J. Bone because he's skinny. Or because he's horny. Or even because he wears that cheeseball choker necklace. Nobody rolls a better joint than Alexander James McLean, a.k.a. Bone. Oh, I know, I know, it's against the law and it's bad for you and we should set a good example. Whatever. Bite me. We had good cause for celebration. No more Jabba and no more Uncle Steve. It was just us guys on a picnic, and we didn't have to go back for rehearsals until much later that evening. We have four more shows, and then it's back to O-Town. Me and Kevin and Howie are gonna try to get a place together. Right now Howie's with the rents, and Kev and I are shacked up with Jabba - not a pretty scene. We had to bail on Kev's last place. Kind of hard to pay the rent without any income, but things are looking up for us now. Everything is chill ... everything is ga-roovy baby. I was just smoking my herb and watching Kev and Frack making us burgers. Frack doesn't know what the hell he's doing, but he's starving to death, so he'll do anything to get the food done quicker. He's a cute kid when he isn't being a pain in the ass. "What's on your mind, Rok?" Bone parked his miniature booty next to mine on the wooden bench. "Just thinkin' about when we get back to Florida." "Yeah, I know. It seems like this tour went by so fast." "Wanna hear something scary?" "Sure." "I think I feel like I grew up a little on this tour." "That is scary, Rok. Cut it out." We both laughed. "You know, like that stuff with Josh. You meet a cool person, you connect with them, and you find out he's gonna die..." "We're all gonna die, man," Bone said with a little grin. "Nah, I know what you mean." "That was kind of a reality check, I guess. You have to remember what's most important in life." "And it's not lots of casual sex?" I smirked at Bone; I knew he was mocking me. "I dunno," I said, grinding out the butt of the joint in the dirt. "Maybe I'm ready to meet somebody and get into a serious, romantic relationship. Full-time, monogamous ... spiritual." I took a few steps away from the bench before I whipped around and stuck my tongue out in Bone's face. "HAAHAAAHAA! Yeah, RIGHT!" Bone burst out laughing and sat there shaking his head at me as I strutted off to hunt down my lunch. *** "Smells good, guys," I said, walking past the grills. "Thanks, Howie," Nicky grinned, with his mouth full of half-chewed-up food. "Bunny, stop eating chips or you won't be hungry for the burgers," KFC said, putting his hands on his hips and wiping off some of the grease on the apron he was wearing, which said "LE CHEF" on it. "I have lots of room," Nicky said, patting his stomach. He fed Kev a chip; his eyes lit up as he watched Kevin laughing when part of it fell to the ground. "Los locos," I said to Alex with a wink, while I cracked open a can of coke. "They are cute together," A.J. said with a sad little smile. I put an arm around him. "It's gonna be okay, bro," I said. "Thanks D," A.J. said, and he rested his head on my shoulder. "My Latin partner in crime." I laughed a little and we just stayed that way. It felt real comfortable and easy. Rok came over and started messing with Nicky, and within a minute, they were chasing each other around the two grills, throwing things at each other and laughing their asses off. Kev got mad, but it's not like anybody is gonna take LE CHEF seriously. Especially not today. "So you guys are all gonna get a place together," A.J. was saying absent-mindedly. He always got very thoughtful when he smoked and wanted to have deep conversations, unlike most of us who just get goofy. "Yep," I said, taking a big gulp of my soda. "Kevin needs somewhere private to rape Nicky." Oops... bad thing to say. I'm an asshole sometimes! "Sorry Bone," I said, giving him a hug. "It's okay, man," A.J. said, but we kept holding on to each other. "Him and Kev are good together. I don't want to break that shit up." "Right," I said. "It's crazy, but it works for them." I just looked at Alex. He came off so hard, but inside he was vulnerable. Young. Unsure of himself. Even with the shades on, I could read him like a book. Of course, we've known each other forever. "I was wondering about you and Rok, actually," he said, kind of talking to my shoulder. "Maybe since you'll be living together... you'll hook up too." "Me and Rok?" I laughed. "No?" Bone looked up over his shades. "Alejandro," I said, laughing, "no more wacky weed for you today. You've gone mental." I let him go and patted him on the back. "Besides," I go, "I'm not even gay." He didn't say nothing for a minute and then we both started laughing like fools. *** My stomach hurt from laughing, and from potato chips. I rolled around on the grass grabbing my tummy and moaning... "I hate you Frick ..." "You're a bitch, Frack!" "You are!" "No, you are!" "I know you are, but what am I?" "Oh, you're begging for it now!" Frick attacked me and pinned me down, pressing one of his knees into my chest. "Let me go ... butt munch ..." "Ah haha, your face is so red! You look like a tomato!" "Quit it, fart breath!" "Brian, get off of him!" "He started it." "I mean it - off." I lay on my back and smiled up at Boo, my knight in shining armour. "He was hurting me," I said in a baby voice, "that meanie face." "Get up, presh," Boo said, trying to be strict, but his eyes were laughing. I crawled up slowly and wrapped myself around my love. "You're going to get covered with grease," Boo said, patting me on the behind. "Love grease," I said, and I started giggling, ow, my tummy... "Come on, cutie, let's flip the burgers," Boo said, and he took my hand and we walked together to the grills. This is the most perfect day of my life. The sun is out and the sky is bright, deep blue. There is a wind way high in the tops of the trees, so the little clouds move around the horizon, drifting smoothly like ships on the water. You can smell wild flowers and pine trees and of course Boo's wonderful cooking. Did you know he's a great chef, too? I felt so happy I wanted to burst; I wanted to remember every detail of that day and keep it safe for the rest of my life, so I could always go back there and run around in the hot sunlight, my friends and the love of my life by my side. *** It was just one of those days where you sit back and kind of take stock. I knew I was happy with my life, but maybe I wasn't quite appreciating how lucky I really was. I was lucky to get out of Kentucky, for starters. Sure, there were days I questioned if I was doing the right thing, but would I rather be living with my parents, in homophobe hell, working at the Red Lobster? Singing didn't seem like a real job because it was too much fun. People who don't sing maybe don't understand what a huge mental and physical release it is to belt out a song, to be at one with the music. I would say it's like sex, but then you all might start thinking I am just some kind of pervert. I would hate for that to happen. Getting our own place would be nice, too, even though I knew Kev and Howie were a little carried away with what we could really afford. Damn label whores. I don't know how I got surrounded by all these queens. I laughed to myself thinking about them; you know I am only joking and I love all those guys. They are my brothers. OK, Harry is my brother too, but he's straight and not as much fun to go clubbing with. Of course, sometimes the other guys think I'm a little shallow. I do work hard at giving off that image. It's tough to explain, I guess, but when you build up a wall around you like I had to, it's not always easy to let down your guard. So I'm not Mr. Touchy Feely. But maybe I could try a relationship. A boyfriend. What a concept. Me, the king of the wham-bam-thank you-sir? Yes, many young men will weep when they hear I'm off the market. But I could try it out, you know, just for shits and giggles, as Bone would say. There are all kinds of gay couples, the ones who pretend like they fit into "normal society" and the ones who know they are never going to be accepted. There are the ones who want a wedding with a big white cake and mom there bawling her eyes out, and the ones who are going to pretend they are just buddies until the day they die. The ones like Nicky and Kev, who aren't legal anywhere in the world. And the ones who use being gay as an excuse to never settle down. Sure, it makes things harder. It just depends on what is important to you, like I said to Bone before. I'm not making any promises here; I don't know if I'm cut out for that kind of song-and-dance. But I guess I figured out over this trip that maybe, deep down inside, I'm a lot softer than I thought I was. *** "Okay guys," I said, "the burgers are done. Come and get it." Like I even had to say anything. They were all pacing around the grills like a pack of wolves. "Oops," I heard Bunny say, and I looked over my shoulder and joined in the laughter. "It's okay," Bun said, picking up the burger from the ground and dusting it off lightly. "I'll eat that one." "Sweetie, just leave it," I said. "We have enough." "No, I can eat it." He was determined now, and so I just let it be. We all fixed ourselves a plate of burgers and sides and sat down to dig in. "Mmm," I said, "just right. This must be one of the ones you made." Bunny beamed at me happily. "Aww," he said, "I wuv you sho mush Booboo, you are sho shweet!" (He had food in his mouth) He took another big bite of his burger and his eyes opened really wide when something made a loud crunching sound. I had to set my food down, I was laughing so hard. "Itshnot funny," Nicky choked out, shaking with laughter. "Probably just a big ol' cicada," I said. "Or a snail," D threw in. "That's right," Bone grinned. "You knew 'LE CHEF' was going to make you a French specialty." "It was the only damn apron in the store," I said, laughing too. "Damn Frenchies," Rok said. "Stop making fun of my Booey," Bun said, sticking his tongue out and hugging me protectively. I leaned over and kissed him on the tip of his nose. Then I just stared into his beautiful wide-set blue eyes. Bunny half-closed them as he pressed his soft lips against mine. I kissed him back and slid my tongue into his mouth. "Hey you two," D said, nudging me in the side. "We're trying to eat here." "We can't help it," Bunny said. "We're in love!" "Well, no shit, Shakespeare," Brian chirped, bending back a plastic spoon and firing some egg salad at him. "Hey!" Bunny laughed. "Don't be starting something you don't want to finish." "You guys," I said, "don't-" Before I could even get the words out, I was wearing egg salad on my head. "Very well," I said. And then I quoted Bugs Bunny: "Of course you realise ... this means war." "Oh, shit!" D laughed. "Run for it, Rok!!!" *** I lay back on the grass with a smile on my face. Kev had gone chasing Rok into the woods with the bottle of squirt ketchup, and of course Nicky was following Kevin wherever he went. I meant what I said to D; I didn't want to see Nicky unhappy, and he was so sad when they were apart. Who knows what the future is going to hold, but for now, I have to just be his friend. It still hurts, don't get me wrong. It might always hurt a little. D lay down next to me; he had taken off his shirt and was lying on it. "Might as well work on my tan," he said. "Good point," I nodded, doing the same. "We're gonna look like albinos when we get back to O Town." D laughed and checked his muscles out a little with his thumb and forefinger. I didn't know if he wanted me to watch him, or what. "It's nice to see Kev finally chill out," D said. We both thought the same thing; it's because he's got Nicky back, today, and when we get home, too. "Yeah, you old farts are kind of uptight sometimes," I said, waiting for the smack upside the head I knew I was gonna get. "Ow." "Old farts," D chuckled. "You just wait. You haven't seen me really come out of my shell yet." "Do I want to?" "Well, I mean, I couldn't be as wild as I really am when I'm living at home with mom and pop!" "I guess not," I grinned. "Not everybody has a mom as cool as mine." "My mom is cool." "But not as cool as mine." "Whatever," D laughed. "Your mom probably encourages you to act like a crazy fool." "Of course she does," I smiled. "Well, once we get set up, we'll have some crazy-ass parties." "You will? You mean when Kevin is out of town." "Hmm... Okay, yeah, you're probably right." I rested my hand on Howie's stomach. It was warm, almost burning to the touch, and we shifted positions slightly to lie closer together. "You'll have to come over all the time anyway," Howie mumbled, falling asleep. "Save me from Rok and Kevin." "Hmm, yeah," I said softly, "I could do that. I could be there with you." I shut my eyes against the golden glow of the sunlight and drifted into a peaceful sleep. When I woke up with Howie by my side, our arms wrapped around each other's bodies, it was like we had never been apart. And so the five of us found ourselves in a whole new chapter of our lives together, but that is for another story and another time. For this time in our lives, we have reached, THE END