This is yet another story about those hunky boys of the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync written by a straight woman. Therefore, please excuse my writings if they appear to be a bit screwed due to my lack of knowledge. This story is a work of FICTION (note the term FICTION) and is purely written for the sole purpose of entertainment and enjoyment. These events did not happen to the best of my knowledge and therefore actions taken in this story do not reflect the true nature of the characters involved. This story does not imply anything about the sexuality of the person(s) involved. And if you're an underage teenie or do not wish to read about male/male sexual relationships, this is now the time to shut your lap-top as there will be sexual explicit scenes throughout. Proceed with your own risk. Enough with the warnings, now on with the story.

Tuesday, May 16^th, 2000 will go down in history as the worst day of my life if Britney Spears manages to sell more than 13,000 (all of which will be bought by Miss Spears herself and her management team) copies of her CD. Please, do not succumb to the pressures of radio and MTV. DO NOT buy her latest release. I want to know the size of Justin Timberlake's dick and the best way to find out (other than first hand experience) is to read Britney's tell-all book, which I am sure she'll write to gain publicity if her CD is a complete commercial failure. If you're just dying to spend $20 on another CD this week, check out the latest releases by these artists: Bush, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, or Smashing Pumpkins or save your money and get Everclear's or MatchBox Twenty's latest. Enough with the propaganda and now "A Tale of Two Boybands" for your entertainment pleasure.

"AJ, what the hell are you guys doing here?" Kevin asked, scrambling to his feet. "Where's Brian?"

"Take a wild guess." Nick said.

"He's in Justin's room with JC." Howie answered.

All eyes glared at Howie, who retreated to his shell once again. AJ walked around Kevin, looking him up and down. Immediately, he was able to recognize Kevin's emotional turmoil as evident in his swollen eyelids and red eyes.

"See I told you so." Nick said.

AJ nodded at Kevin as he lay down on Kevin's bed.

"We made a pact and Kevin, you had the balls to break it." AJ said. Nick giggled only to be shunned by AJ. "We had him, but you and Brian not only released him, but fuckin' deliver him back to JC. What the hell did you think you were accomplishing by doing that?!"

"I agreed to the plan so long as no one got hurt." Kevin put his foot down and intensified his glare at AJ. "But the minute you got some psychopath involved, I had to step in. I would have done the same with or without Brian." AJ shrugged his shoulders as if it was nothing. "When Brian found him, Billy was minutes away from raping him."

"We didn't know." Howie murmured from his corner.

"What the hell you think he was going to do?! Have a tea party?!" Kevin hollered. "How could you do that to someone? And you, Nick," Kevin pointed at Nick, "you should understand. Fuck, you guys! You invited some guy who you knew very well had a wrap sheet that included rape and attempted murder and who had sadistic fantasies about certain boyband members. The least you could have done was release him and let him defend himself. Instead, he was tied up and blindfolded. He had no chance. Had it not been for Brian, God only knows what would have happened. We would be delivering Justin's corpse back to LA."

"Why the hell are you so pissed off?! It's not like he's our friend." Nick said, glancing back at AJ for his approving smile.

"Must I remind you which team he's playing for?" AJ placed his hand on Kevin's broad shoulder.

Kevin turned around to face AJ. Their eyes met as AJ looked up into Kevin's eyes. Kevin did not flinch. He grabbed AJ's hand and pushed him away.

"He's a human being. I would have done what I did for anyone. Jeez, AJ, he is just 19. When will you start thinking about the value of human life?" Kevin said.

"Stop playing the good guy card with me. Kevin, you and I both know very well that if he was just some kid, you would have plopped in a lawn chair and watched that live picture show. You did what you did because he's JC's Justin. That's why you handcuffed him to the car to prevent him from running away. You wanted to make sure that you were the one to deliver him back to JC. You're slyer than a fox with your ulterior motives. I did what I did for all of us. You, on the other hand, only thought of yourself."

AJ struck a nerve. He shook his head and motioned the guys to follow him out the room.

"We're leaving now. I expect to hear from you again. You know where we're staying. If you don't come and see us, you know we will."

"Tell Brian, I miss him." Nick said quickly before being dragged outside.

Kevin slammed the door shut after the Boys left. He returned to his bed and lay down, gazing up at the ceiling. He hated himself further because he knew that every word AJ said was true. He did not think about Brian. He could care less about Justin. Everything he did was to win JC back. Everything he did was for himself. Kevin tossed and turned vigorously in his bed. He could not bring himself to sleep, not with all his thoughts deeply entwined in his mind. He turned on the lamp in the room and saw that Brian still had not returned. He looked up on the nightstand and saw JC's letter. He wanted to meet Kevin tonight, yet the night was quickly approaching and still no JC. Kevin got out of bed and dressed up in his usual classy suits. He walked into JC's room. There was no JC. Somehow his legs wondered off to another room down the hall. He knocked softly and invited himself in. As expected, there was JC on the foot of Justin's bed. Justin was sound asleep and JC was sleepily trying to stay awake. Their fingers entwined in one another- a symbol of love as there was not one without the other.

Kevin sighed deeply as he pulled a chair to sit next to JC. He placed a comforting hand on JC's shoulder, rubbing his broad shoulders. They had a date tonight, but here was JC. He chose to be with Justin over Kevin even when Justin could provide no company since he was asleep.

"It took me nearly two hours to get him to sleep." JC began to say. "He looks awfully thin. I could feel his ribs as I held him."

"You don't look too great yourself." Kevin said, noticing the bags under JC's eyes as well as the whiskers on his pale face.

JC continued, "I asked him what happened, but he refused to tell me other than that a bunch of masked men had kidnapped him and locked him up in some abandoned building. He was so great about it, too. He was saying that they were a bunch of hard-core Backstreet Boys fanatics. But, as I listened, I was dying inside. I wonder how afraid he must have felt and I wasn't there to protect him from everything that was happening to him. He must have felt so alone out there."

JC began to tremble as he tried to fight back the tears. However, after days of emotional build-up, JC broke down and tears flowed freely down his slender face. Kevin, saddened by his lover's distraught display of emotional weakness, leaned over to dry JC's face, but was pushed away.

JC continued through the sobs. "It was then that I realized I am lost without Justin. With each passing hour that Justin was not with me, I felt a piece of me was eating away. The excruciating pain was becoming unbearable. He always told me that he is lost without me, but the truth is that I need him as much as he needs me."

"JC, hon, what are you trying to say?" Kevin asked as if he was clueless of their bond.

"Kevin, I think I love him. When I saw you and him lying on the ground in the parking lot, I knew that I had only enough time to save one of you. If something were to happen to you, I'll be devastated. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself for not saving you. "

"But you saved him." Kevin whispered to JC, reminding him of his actions.

Teardrops began to fell on Kevin's face as they did on JC's. JC's trembles intensified. He was now shaking violently, rocking the bed on which the sleeping Justin lay.

"Because if something were to happen to Justin, I'd kill myself just to be with him. Kevin, I'm sorry." JC cried into Kevin's sunken chest, while still holding onto Justin's hand. "I'm sorry." JC kept whispering to Kevin.

Kevin looked down at his ex-lover. He felt his trembles and heard his cries. Momentarily, JC's trembles and cries transcended Kevin. Kevin arched his neck backward and sighed to himself. He pried JC off his chest, telling him that he would go to the bathroom to fetch some towels. He walked into the bathroom and collapsed onto the floor, crying.

Meanwhile, as JC continued to cry, Justin had slowly came out of slumber. Justin looked down at his best friend, crying to himself. Never before in his life had he ever seen JC crying uncontrollably. The mere sight of JC falling weak frightened the young man. Justin squeezed his fingers, tightened the entwined fingers. As he did, JC looked up. He had finished crying. There was no more tear left to shed. JC crawled toward Justin. Their eyes met once. However, once was enough as JC leaned in to kiss Justin, still unaware of Justin's sexuality. Justin's sexuality no longer came in question as Justin opened his mouth to invite JC's intruding tongue. Their tongues met with a sensual massage. Their eyes remained close, blocking everything and everyone that surrounded them.

Kevin exited the bathroom with a warm towel to dry away JC's tears. He fully understood JC's undying love for Justin. He understood that he could never replace Justin in JC's heart. All he could ask for was his friendship. However, all hell broke lose when he encountered the pain in Lance's eyes in the doorway. Lance soon slipped away into the background. He knew and understood that pain. Kevin's heart stopped beating for a second as he felt a dagger struck his heart. Kevin threw the wet towel at JC's back, forcing JC to break lose from Justin's lips, but not from his entwined fingers. Kevin stormed out of the room. JC's fingers slipped past Justin's as he ran after Kevin, leaving Justin in daze as he tried to understand what had just transpired between him and his best friend.

As JC exited Justin's room, Brian entered the room. He had heard some crying and then some shuffling of feet and knew that something was wrong. He came in with no intention other than to help comfort those who were hurt. He had expected to see a few crying faces, but when he entered the room, he found Justin's angelic face covered with tears. He's so sensitive, Brian thought as he sat down next to Justin. Pulling Justin closer to him as JC would, Brian began to rub Justin's icy cold fingers. As if Justin could hear Brian's thoughts, he began to explain through breaks between sobs.

"Brian, I think I'm gay." Justin said before going through another crying spell.

Brian rocked the boy gently in his bed, remembering the first time he realized that he was gay. He was only 20 at the time and the whole world seemed to die around him. He was so alone, so trapped in his malicious cycle of self-hatred. He wanted to ask God why he had to be gay? Why him? But there was no point in asking why because being gay was being Brian Littrell and there was absolutely nothing wrong with it. Brian wanted Justin to feel the same way- to feel that there was nothing wrong with being who he was.

"Just, it's okay." Brian said, lifting Justin's chin so he could look past those teary eyes.

"JC kissed me."

"Oh."

Justin paused to look into Brian's eyes, now welling up with tears. Justin continued to cry in Brian's arms. He wanted nothing more than to tell Brian the feelings he bottled up inside since the first time they kissed. His heart urged him to tell Brian the truth, but his mind said otherwise. At the end, his mind won over his heart. He couldn't bring himself to say that it was not JC, who he loved, but Brian.

ataleof2boybands@1musicrow.com