Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2003 23:23:36 +0000 (GMT)
From: goldenknight <goldenknightuk@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Dreams of an Angel - 8 (gay/boybands)

Hi again. Here's the next part of Dreams of an Angel. Hope you enjoy
it. And thanks again for the cool feedback guys. You guys are the coolest!
:) If you have any suggestions or comment, well, the email addy is below,
so you know where to drop the note. Oh by the way, in the following part of
the story, I mentioned the incidences in New York and Dallas. These are
really related to Marvel's 'Fall of the Mutants' series; X-Factor #24 and
onwards (The New York incident) and the Uncanny X-men #225 and onwards (The
Dallas incident). The two occurs simultaneously.

	Onwards to the boring part! Legal matters! Hehehe. You can press
'fast-forward' now.

	Well, first of all, this story, as you will certainly find out
soon, is TOTALLY fictional. So! If any of you truly believe in it... well,
my brother is studying psychiatry right now for his final medical
examination in April, so maybe I'll just refer you to him. You'd make a
good delusional subject. Secondly! None of the guys in the Backstreet Boys
are gay! (No matter how hard I wished it :P). But nobody say we couldn't
dream it, heh heh. Thirdly, Warren Worthington is actually a character from
Marvel Comics, X-men known as Angel or recently Archangel. Okay fine, I
admit it. I'm bored and I am making a pathetic attempt to make life a lil'
bit interesting. Its not like I'm gonna publish it or something. What else
to talk about hmm? Oh, there may be some adult gay scenes in this
story. Unlike my brother, I don't mind writing naughty stuff ;) so! If
you're underage, naughty, naughty! I can only ask you to go away, but I
cannot do anything else to stop you from reading on anyway. Hell! I've been
sneaking into the internet to watch gay porns since I was 13! So, if your
parents or whoever responsible for you catch you, don't say I didn't warned
you. However, if you're homophobic... well maybe I can seduce you enough to
turn you around heh heh. I do so love a challenge ;)

	Anyway, enough talk. Any comments or boos or suggestion or
whatever, just sent it to the same address as in NNTs,
goldenknightuk@yahoo.co.uk . Yeah, we shared the same address. Don't
ask. Long story.

	Okay then! On to the show. Now, don't be shy now. If you got any
comments or suggestions, just drop me a note. You do the request, and I'll
do the show.

	Andy

*********************************

That night, Nick sat alone on the balcony of his room, thinking of
everything that has occurred that day. It's hard to believe that he is a
mutant. True that being an empath doesn't really makes him appears
different compared to other people. But he doesn't have to hide behind an
illusion like Warren, so at the very least, he is thankful of that. But
still...

The TV is on in the sitting room behind him. Deep in his thought, he must
have forgotten to switch it off. Looking at his watch, he realized that
it's nearly midnight. Normally, on a boring night like this, he'd be asleep
by this time. But sleep is the last thing in his mind right now.

An empath. If someone approaches him at any time before today telling him
that he has the ability to manipulate someone else's emotions, Nick would
have laughed so hard the guys would have to commit him into a psychiatric
hospital. Who would have thought he could do such a thing?

Jean told him that the empathy has been kicking in since he was 15. Well,
at least that explains the headaches and his bouts of moody behavior and
the rest of the guys' bouts of moody behavior too. Jean explained that at
times, someone else's emotion would get past his cracked mental shield and
that would explain his occasional sudden changes in mood. Yeah, he
remembers that one time when the Backstreet Boys was on tour with
Nsync. Nick was in of his happiest moods in his life after having a great
day kicking Brian's ass in basketball. Later, after dinner with both
groups, Justin Timberlake strode in with a thundercloud on his head as he
got into one of his bad mood from hell. Soon enough, Nick felt his happy
mood slowly changing to the point where he felt like he was going to murder
someone. Poor Lance, who was sitting next to him and has been trying to
chat up with him. He still remembers the poor guy's expression after being
on the receiving end of one thunderous tongue-lashing from Nick that cause
even Justin to look at him as if he is half-Magneto, half-Devil. Well, at
least now, Nick knew what happened.

And then, there was also the time when AJ brought some girl back to his
room in yet another tour, and at that time, Nick was occupying the room
next to him. Well, that explains the Queen Mother of All Horniness that he
has to go through throughout that session, keeping him awake all night with
a mega-erection from hell.

Well, that was only two of the several incidences that the guys creatively
classified as 'Nick's mood swing eruption.' Other incidences also occur
that could only be explained from his empathy. One would be during the
time, in yet another tour, when Nick himself is in one of his Doomsday
mood. It started subtly during dinner with the rest of the guys, until one
of AJ's prank, that should normally have been passed off with a weary sigh,
uncharacteristically pissed Kevin off so bad that he actually punched the
poor man on the face, which in turn pissed Howie off long enough to throw
one solid B-52 punch on Kevin's face, leading to a very angry Brian coming
down on Howie like a vengeful Angel of Death, followed by AJ's retaliation
as he perform his own personal version of Jihad that would shamed even
Osama bin Laden... and the whole thing goes downhill from there. Suffice to
say, they totally wreck the room beyond repair, it took half of the whole
tour crew to break them all up and they have to cancel the show as Kevin
and Howie ended up with a broken arm and nose... amongst other
injuries. Nick himself ended up with one black eyes and a bleeding
lip. Hell! Brian and AJ were actually clawing at each other on the floor
with a goddamn fork in their hands!

'Wow... I caused all that?' Nick thought to himself in wonderment. 'If I
can do that, it's no wonder Jean persistently insisted that I learn to
control my empathy.'

Leaning against the soft cushioned chair he sat on, he stares at the night
sky. Howie would go into a major berserking frenzy if he ever find out
about him. Even worst if he finds out about Warren plus Warren's role in
the cause of Jessica's death.

Howie and Jessica met outside a mall somewhere in New York. Jessica was a
24 years old blind girl whom Howie accidentally bumped into when he was
rushing and shouting towards his car as it was being towed away as the
result of parking at the space reserved for disable people. The poor girl
stumbled to the floor awkwardly, spilling her grocery items all over the
floor in the process. It took Howie a moment to realize that Jessica is
blind. Ashamed, he helped her back up, never ceasing his apologies ('I'm
sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!...' and on and on) and
they ended up having lunch together and eventually dinner. Nick met her
quite a number of time when Howie took her up to meet them. Hell, Howie
even brought her onto one of their tour once. Everyone was sure that love
is inevitable between the two of them, and small wonder. She is a sweet
girl. Howie likes her. Nick likes her. The rest of the guys like her. Even
the touring crew likes her, considering that one day Nick found her
giggling and gossiping with the rest of the make-up crew as they perform
their own personal makeover on her. The best thing about her was that she
doesn't really care about their fame, their looks or their money. Instead,
she love their songs very much and that really touched Nick's heart and
Nick was sure it touches the rest of the guys' heart too.

Her bad luck lay from the fact that she lives with her 30 years old sister
at the top of a 5 stories apartment near Manhattan. At about a week before
her death, Howie tried to persuade her to go on another tour with him. But
Jessica sadly declined because her sister, who works as a secretary at one
of the major companies in New York, finally managed to get herself a 3
weeks holiday and Jessica would like to spend some time with her. Then,
news came of the chaos that is happening in New York and Dallas. Rumors
mentioned that mutants are involved. In New York, a huge ship floated over
the city. Some sort of terror was occurring all over the city and then the
ship suddenly went out of control, hitting skyscrapers and buildings alike,
sending huge stone debris flying everywhere. One of the debris landed right
on Jessica's apartment, and being located at the top floor of the building
really didn't help the whole situation. The rescue team found Jessica and
her sister clasped in each other's arms, dead, half buried under a pile of
mortars and steel bars.

Then the rumors were confirmed that mutants were involved in that incident
- some outfit who called themselves X-Factor in New York and X-men in
Dallas. Nick and AJ greeted that confirmation in silence. Kevin sighed
sadly while Brian even cried. But Howie... Howie went into a murderous rage
that actually lasted a full day, swearing an oath to do everything in his
power, even spending all his money and selling all his properties, to
exterminate every single mutant in this world. Nick was actually so scared
of Howie at the time, he barely got out of his room at all, and the others,
except Kevin, fares no better.

No, Howie will never forgive mutants for Jessica's death. He even joined
one of those anti-mutant organizations that everyone has been talking
about... 'The Right', Nick thought the name was. Howie took them all to
meet some members of the organization once. Their fanaticism in
exterminating mutants doesn't agree with Nick at all and he was glad to see
Brian, Kevin and AJ doesn't like them too. They are boyband singers and
they are going to stay as boyband singers. No politics, no hidden
manipulations, nope... nothing else. Just sing, dance, greet the fans and
have a good time. Surprisingly enough, even the Nsync guys agreed to
that. Howie was a bit disappointed that the others didn't look his way
about mutants but he just shrugged it off. Maybe he had expected it.

Now, Nick found out that he is a mutant. Silently, he shook his head
sadly. He doesn't even want to THINK of what Howie would do to him if he
ever finds out about that. No, his secret must remain hidden, for his own
sake, and his career. Singing has always been something he loved more than
anything else in his life and he'd do anything to preserve that.

The night breeze blew gently and Nick drew in a deep shuddering breath to
calm himself. If he acts carefully enough, no one will know. True that he
hates keeping secrets from Brian and the others, but some secret must
always be left unspoken; for Nick's sake as well as the others', because if
Howie ever finds out, he would demand Nick to leave the group or he
will. Either way, someone must leave and if that happens, the Backstreet
Boys is history and it'd be Brian, Kevin and AJ who will pay the price. No,
Nick is not going to be responsible for that. He will tell them eventually
when the group finally disbands, but not before.

But his family... now that is an entirely different matter. The Backstreet
Boys is his job. His family is his life. He is not going to live in fear
from his own family. His parents and brother and sisters must know and once
he told them, it is up to them to accept it. If things went good, God is
truly kind. If things went bad... may God help him. At least he'll know
where he stood with his family. But he cannot do it alone. Warren promised
to be there with him when the time comes. And to be honest, Nick is going
to hold that promise on him. He was absolutely serious when he said that he
couldn't do it alone.

Warren. That is another issue he needs to deal with. Warren is simply the
most beautiful creature Nick has ever came across in his life, and it is
that little fact that's what making his tongue curls up deeper into his
mouth like swallowing an unripe plum. He really, really has to stop
thinking like this. Warren's a guy for heaven sake! And right now, Nick is
behaving like some starry-eyed teenage country girl, dreaming of her very
first crush!

But thinking of Warren, with his wings spreading behind him like an angel
out of his bed-time stories, white, pure and divine, is always enough to
make his insides turn into water. He recalled seeing Warren soaring in the
air the night before - it WAS Warren who flew out of the balcony above his
that night! - and gosh! Nick knew he would never forget that image in his
mind. It'll be one of those memories he'd cherish for the rest of his
life. To see such magnificent creature, soaring in the sky where he truly
belongs, free and beautiful... creatures like Warren should not be caged
indoors. He should be flying free amongst the clouds, soaring high as if
trying to reach the heavens.

When Nick was a little boy, he had always believed in angels. He was always
fascinated by them. When he went to the church on Sunday, he'd always finds
himself staring at the various angelic statues in awed silence as the
priest droned on and on with his boring sermons. He would always daydream
of meeting one and the angel would then take him off into the sky where
they would together watch the world below them... a world where the concept
of peace and tolerance has been reduced to nothing more than wishful
thinking. He would always think on how it would feel to have wings and to
soar in the sky like a bird.

Well, Warren is not exactly an angel... but close enough. Nick stared at
his hands dreamily. He could still feel the softness of those feathers when
he actually touched those beautiful wings... so pure, so white... it almost
feels like a sacrilege to touch them, as if his mere mortal touch would
corrupt such purity, such divinity. At least, he could admit that his
childhood dream has been fulfilled... sort of.

His thoughts moved on to analyze Warren's past... the part Nick preferred
to avoid. But that proved to be impossible and unavoidable. Warren and his
past are one and the same. He cannot think of one and avoid the
other. Someone in Nick's past has once mentioned to him that the past is
what made who you are right now - a small bit of wisdom, Nick agree, but
one he finds impossible to forget. Somehow, it seems to be one of those
small itsy-bitsy thoughts that miraculously found a way to stick
permanently in his mind for all eternity.

Nick cannot deny that Warren has gone though huge bundle load of tough
times in the past. To lose his wings so cruelly... Nick shook his head
angrily as he felt his eyes began to water at the mere thought of that. How
could anyone be so cruel? How could anyone be so heartless? The anger that
suddenly bubbles within his soul surprises him. An angel with his wings
clipped... chaining him from his freedom to fly... there is no greater
crime in Nick's mind than to cage an angel. And Warren has become Nick's
little personal angel... one whom he is willing to fight and defend should
any danger threatens to harm him.

It is obvious that Warren's past is still tormenting him. He briefly
remembered the pain and bitterness he saw in Warren's eyes earlier. Warren
must have been able to hide it perfectly because Nick could see it so
strongly in his eyes and yet, he couldn't feel it using his empathy. Yeah,
Jean has taught him what little she knows about empathy before she left to
Westchester with Hank and so far, he has learned a little bit on how to
feel other people's emotions at will, and how to ignore any alien emotions
that managed to accidentally seep into his mind. He tried to reach out into
Warren's mind secretly, only to hit some sort of barrier - a very solid and
unbreakable barrier because Nick couldn't find even the tiniest crack on
it. Jean has told him that this Professor Xavier guy has long taught all
his students how to shield their mind from any uninvited
intrusion. Curiosity about his new abilities has led him to try to reach
out into Warren's mind... only to discover that Xavier has taught his
students well. Well at least that explains why he didn't accidentally
received Warren's emotions before all the revelation arises.

Nick briefly wondered who these Apocalypse and Marauders are that Warren
has told him about - people that have cause a lot of harm to his
angel. Obviously they are mutants too, only a lot more dangerous and
powerful than Magneto - the only mutant Nick was aware of from the news in
the past. Nick admits that it is a bit scary that there are a lot more
things happening in this world that he and the rest of the world are
unaware of. He is aware that there are lots of other mutants in this world,
and other than Magneto and his Brotherhood or the 'good' mutants that seems
to have been accepted by the American Government like the Fantastic Four
(who owns the Baxter Building in New York) and the Avengers (though the
anti-mutants organization seems to include them in their list as mutants
that need to be exterminated too!), Nick was not aware that there are other
mutants in this world - these Morlocks (though Warren told him that they
were all wiped out by the Marauders), the Marauders, the X-men and
X-Factor, the Hellfire Club!... whoever they are, they must have taken
great care to keep a low profile. Whatever precautions they took, 'The
Right' seems to know them well, and the hatred they have on these mutants
is terrifying.

Nick has heard of the Hellfire Club before, but not in the mutant point of
view. The Hellfire Club is a club that is exclusive only for those who are
rich and famous, and being rich and famous himself as boyband singers, of
course Nick and the others tend to stumble upon some of their members once
or twice in parties and such. It was an absolute surprise to Nick when
Warren told him that the Sebastian Shaw, the current head of the Hellfire
Club whom the group has met once long ago in one of Johnny's party is
actually a mutant, and that he is truly powerful, dangerous, and very, very
evil and that he has been one of Warren's terrible foe for a long time
now. It seems that world domination is at the very top of Shaw's
list... which of course doesn't agree with the other mutants' agenda. It
was also a surprise to learn that Warren, Jean and Hank, and the rest in
Westchester are actually members of this X-men, a band of mutant who fight
to protect humankind and to convince the world that humankind and mutants
can coexist together in peace... which of course was greeted with scorns by
the Hellfire Clubs and Magneto and the other evil mutants.

'God! What a fine mess I'm going to descend into.' Nick thought as he
becomes increasingly aware of the fact that he's going to let the X-men
take him in to teach him about his empathy. Once the other evil mutants
learn about this, Nick has no doubt that his name will be added to their
'to kill' list.

Well, now that Nick found out that he is a mutant, he felt like he is about
to enter a totally new world... the 'real' world, he should say. A world
that is totally different than the one he and most of the other humankind
have envisioned all these times. A brief look into this 'real' world seems
to terrifies Nick in more than one levels, as he realized the fact that all
these time, Nick, his family, his friends and the rest of the world are
actually living in the middle of a huge battlefield. A secret war is going
on between mutants it seems, but most of the world seems to be totally
oblivious about it, eventhough they are living in the midst of it.

The ringing of his mobile phone next to him caused him to jump off his seat
stupidly like a startled goat; spewing every sort of foul curses and
blasphemy his mind could think of at that brief moment of time. Time and
again, he has always thought he should lower the ringing volume, but it
keeps slipping off his mind. With a great deal of effort, he pushed back
the desire to hurl the phone off the balcony and laugh at the seemingly
mocking ringing as it falls. Instead, he picked up the phone contemptuously
and pressed the answering button. Who could have called him at this late
hour anyway?

"Nick?" a very familiar voice emerged from the other side of the line.

"Oh, hey Brian." Nick greeted, quickly pushing away his initial impulse to
deliver one of his famous acid-dripping tongue-lashing to the fool who
dared to spoil his moment of solitary. The lashing really *is*
powerful. Ask poor Lance, who had experienced it first hand. Even now, the
scars of that particular encounter are still there for he is still cautious
when interacting with Nick - he makes it a rule to never be with Nick alone
without one of the other guys with him.

"How are you doing, buddy?" Brian asked happily, completely oblivious on
how close he has come to death.

"I'm doing great, Bri. Why are you calling so late? Aren't you supposed to
be in bed with Leigh Ann by this time? What's wrong? Trouble in paradise?"
said Nick, his cheerful mood slowly trickling back.

"We ARE in bed." Brian replied. "She's actually beside me right now. We
were talking about you when we thought that we'd call to see how you're
doing."

"Hey, that's really nice of you. As I said, I'm doing great. Couldn't be
better." Said Nick. "How's Leigh Ann?"

Nick heard some murmuring on the other side followed by the sound of the
phone being passed to another hand.

"Hey Nick!" Leigh Ann's cheerful voice emerges at last. "How's my blond
angel doing?"

"Hey!" Brian's indignant voice appeared in the background, causing Nick to
smile fondly. Those two are truly a perfect for each other.

"Aww... don't worry, sweetie. I still have a whole list of titles all for
you." Leigh Ann purred on the other side, followed by some rustlings and a
giggle from Brian.

"Hey, hey!" Nick laughed. "As much as I love you two being together, I
don't really need to hear any of your pillow talks. Oh! My virgin ears!"

"Very funny, little boy." The woman answered. "Anyway, Brian told me what
happened to you after the last show. Are you all right now? Be honest!"

"I'm doing great, Leigh Ann. Honest!" said Nick for the third time. "Warren
called two of his friends who are doctors and they examined me. I'm okay
now."

"Oooh. Brian told me this Warren's a total hunk. Is that true?"

"Hell yeah. So, you should drop that short twerp now and hook yourself to a
real man." Nick laughed.

"Oh! I heard that! Gimme that!" Nick laughed even harder at hearing Brian's
voice and Leigh Ann's laughter as the phone changed hands again.

"I am NOT short, you little brat!" Brian's voice burst out.

"Really? Man! What exactly DO you see when you look in a mirror, Bri?" Nick
taunts mercilessly.

"It's a small mirror, Nick!" Leigh Ann's voice shouted from the background.

"Hey! At least I got 'the' look!" said Brian crossly.

"Whatever you say... shorty!" Nick laughed again and he could hear Brian
muttered something that sounds quite dirty, followed by more of Leigh Ann's
laughter.

"Temper, temper, sweetie." Said Leigh Ann as Brian passed the phone back to
her. "So, Nick. When are you gonna come over for a visit?"

"I'm not sure, sunshine." Nick smiled. "Maybe in a couple of weeks. I'm
going off somewhere else first."

"Ohhh, a secret vacation!" said Leigh Ann excitedly followed by Brian
startled 'what?' "Hold on, Nick. Brian is gonna switch on the microphone so
that both of us can talk to you."

There was a brief pause followed by a faint click and a brief crackle.

"Nick? Can you hear me?" Brian's voice emerged suddenly.

"Yeah."

"So! C'mon, Nick. Where are you going? Surely you can tell your favorite
Aunty Leigh Ann, hmm? And don't tell me you're going alone, because I can
tell you're not." Said Leigh Ann.

"C'mon, Nick. Tell us." Said Brian. "Pleeeeease??"

Nick rolled his eyes. God! Brian can truly whine in a small innocent boy
kinda way, and to be honest, Nick has never been able to keep anything from
him whenever he did that! Maybe Brian is a mutant too, with an 'Innocent
Whiny Voice' that could make even Magneto feels guilty of himself, as his
power!

"All right, all right, you've succeeded in ganging up and disarm me." Nick
chuckled. "Warren invited me to go off to Westchester with Jubilee and him
to meet some of his friends there. Remember the school he talked about? The
place where he teaches?"

"Oh, yeah, I remembered." Brian replied curiously. He remained quiet in
thought for a brief moment before continuing. "So you're going there with
Warren, huh?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?" asked Nick in puzzlement. Brian has always been a
quiet and careful thinker and being that doesn't means he's not
bright. Quite the opposite, actually. He prefers to watch and listen, and
picking up bits and pieces of things that puzzles him and then put it all
together. Nick has never been able to tell what Brian is thinking, until he
reveals his thoughts at last, and when he does, its always precise, to the
point and never misses the mark, causing the subject of his thought to
either confess or flee.

"How long are you gonna stay there?" Brian's thoughtful voice came again.

"I'm not sure. Don't worry, Bri, I'm gonna be okay. Warren's a cool guy and
if you want, you can call me and check up on me from time to time."

"Well, if you say so." Said Brian, reluctantly. "On one condition! Promise
me you'll come and visit us soon!"

"I promise," Nick grinned as he agrees wholeheartedly. "Cross my heart,
baby smile and a pouting lips."

"Awwww... isn't he cuteeee?" Leigh Ann laughed.

"Oookay, that's it. I'm hanging up now before she starts thinking of you
more than me." Brian grumbled determinedly followed by another laughter
from Leigh Ann. "Have a good time with Warren, Nick. And take care of
yourself!"

Nick laughed.

"Yes, mom. Bye Leigh Ann."

"Bye, Nick! Oooh! Brian, sweetie, that tickles!" she laughed before the
phone hangs itself up.

Nick simply shook his head as he put down the phone and yawned. He'll visit
Brian in two or three weeks. But in the mean time, he needs to put his life
back together. He need to make some major adjustment in his life now that
he learned that he's a mutant. He also needs to make some contingency plans
in case things turned out to be for the worst. He also needs to plan on how
to get over his present attraction to Warren, which is growing stronger
every minute to the point that borders obsession. He also needs to make an
emergency plan should Howie found out about him. He also... he also... wow,
he has a lot of major planning to do. Talk about making a few adjustments
in his life!

Sighing, Nick leaned back against the cushioned seat, closing his eyes in
weariness. Warren was right. He didn't ask to be a mutant. He didn't ask to
be different from everyone else. But a mutant he is, and he has no choice
but to accept it and live with it. Life goes on, and no amount of moaning
and complaining will change anything. Unaware that sleep is descending upon
him, Nick's thought drifted away and soon, he lose himself into the gentle
embrace of his dreams...

************************************