Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2001 19:12:05 -0700 (PDT)
From: NCfan <ngclle@yahoo.com>
Subject: boy-bands/the debt 3

Hello!  I guess I'm not on a writing streak now.  It's just a matter of
whether I have enough time to write.  But it has been fun and I hope you
guys enjoy reading it.

Disclaimer: I do not know the BSB nor do I claim to know their orientation.
All this writing is fiction.  Anyone under 18 should stop reading as this
story contains content of an adult nature.

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

Brian woke up with a start and noticed that his arms were wrapped around
Nick's lithe body.  Brian sighed contentedly.  Nick was a great pillow.
Even Kevin had to admit that.

Brian slid his fingers into Nick's silky hair and felt the boy shudder
under his touch.  Nick was too simple.  He responded to every single thing
with such spontaneity Brian couldn't help but laugh each time.

But there was a burden weighing heavily on Brian's mind.  He had yet to
tell Nick that he wanted more than to just be friends.  But how could he
say it when Nick still didn't know what love was all about?  And sure Nick
commented on how cute guys were, but he said the exact same thing about
girls as well.  He was clueless to the point of sheer ignorance when it
came to romance.

AJ and Howie both agreed that Nick was a hopeless case that wouldn't
benefit from their erotic experiences.  Brian merely smirked at that
thought then, but he was starting to see AJ's and Howie's point,
frighteningly enough.

There was one other point bothering him . . . Kevin.  He was starting to
notice Kevin being rather loose around Nick these days.  Kevin, who was the
enforcer of rules, the brain of the group, went completely irrational when
it came to Nick.  Sometimes, he would be overly strict nagging at Nick on
the most insignificant detail.  Other times, he would let Nick off the hook
without a second thought.  He drove Nick nuts, and Brian felt his heart
swell from pity.

Brian suddenly felt a hard plop on his head as Nick's hand hit him squarely
on the forehead in an attempt to stretch.

"Ow!" Brian cried, rubbing his forehead with the back of his hand.

Nick ignored the cry.  "Your head was in the way!" he replied, smiling
while keeping his eyes closed.

"You brute!" Brian poked Nick's tummy making Nick squirm.

"Well, maybe if your head wasn't so big . . . " Nick grinned as he tried
unsuccessfully to move away from Brian.

"Has it occurred to you that your hand, not my head, that may be
. . . huge?" Brian tossed the insult into the air as Nick's mind glossed
over it.

"No," Nick answered obliviously.

Brian jerked Nick's shoulders towards him.  Nick's head fell back from the
force and fell underneath Brian's face.  "All right you squirt, that does
it.  You're being obnoxious!" Brian cried out into Nick's ears.

Nick's eyes widened from the closeness.  "I'm not obnoxious!" He replied
with indignation as he turned his body away from Brian, hugging his pillow
protectively.

Brian sighed as he tapped Nick's shoulders.  "That's not what I meant.
You're just so adorably sweet."

"Does that give you a right to verbally abuse me?" Nick pouted.

Brian had to laugh, but decided to his best judgment to refrain.  "Nick,
you make me out to be a beast or a bully.  I meant the term obnoxious
affectionately."

Nick eyed Brian suspiciously.  "I don't see what's so affectionate about
the word obnoxious!"

"That's silly!" Brian countered.  "Didn't you hear the way I said it?  My
tone was full of compassion!"  Brian was trying really hard to choke back
his laughter.  Nick was way too simple-minded.  He loved playing with the
boy's mind.

Nick cringed and thought it through.  "If you say so . . . "  He sounded
slightly convinced, which made Brian even more amused.  Nick was way too
trusting.

Brian smiled sweetly before checking the clock.  He cringed.  Ten minutes
before the photo shoot!  "Damn!" He cried out.

Nick chuckled.  "You squeal like a mouse."

Brian furrowed his eyes in contempt.  "I do not."

"Are we late?" Nick replied lazily.

"Ten minutes till the photo shoot!" Brian informed Nick.

Nick began to stretch.  "Kevin will have our limbs dangling from the
corners of the building!"

"Then what are you waiting for?" Brian said, exasperated as he pulled Nick
out of bed.  Before Nick could balance himself, Brian ran towards his
luggage and dug out some clothes, making a huge mess.

Nick, on the other hand, sauntered to the drawers and pulled out a decent
pair of pants and shirt.  Brian didn't know how it had happened, but Nick
was actually done in five minutes while Brian was still running around like
a fireball, sweaty and panicking.

Nick looked strangely at Brian.  "Don't worry.  Kevin's been kinda nice
these past few days.  He'll let us slip by with very few caustic words, I
assure you."  Nick's voice was full of childish confidence.

Brian, on the other hand, looked doubtful.  "Maybe to you," Brian muttered
under his breath, but before he realized it, Nick had caught the meaning
behind his words.

"What did you say?" Nick asked, curious.

"Nothing."

"No, you said something."

"Nothing."

"Tell me."

"Oh, all right.  Don't you notice that Kevin treats you nicer than the rest
of us?" Brian finally surrendered.

"And at times, he treats me worst than all of you combined!" Nick's eyes
widened at the memories of an angry Kevin that one time that Nick didn't
notice and nearly got hit by a car.  He shuddered when he remembered how
angry Kevin had been.

"Never mind," Brian mumbled as he urged Nick out the door.  He sighed.
Nick was too simplistic sometimes.  But Brian wasn't.  He was keen enough
to know that there was a reason to every action.  And he was almost afraid
to acknowledge Kevin's reasons.

Nick gazed at Brian uncertainly before he continued walking.  Brian could
tell the hurt in Nick's actions.  He always became quiet when he was upset.

With Frank trailing Brian and Nick, the three left the hotel swiftly and
headed for the limo.  As they stepped up to their chauffeur, Brian suddenly
noticed a change in Nick.  The boy's cheeks became white with pallor as he
started to stare across the street.

Brian looked towards the direction where Nick's eyes were focused on, only
to see a tall looking man who was staring right back at Nick.  He looked to
be around Nick's age, but his eyes were hollow and his complexion, sallow.

Before Brian was able to comment on the situation, Nick headed for the limo
and immediately got inside.  As Brian got inside next to Nick, he noticed
Nick's hands shaking and his breathing erratic.

"Care to tell me what's going on?" Brian said, eliciting a startle from his
blond friend.

Nick jumped a foot off the seat.  "Sorry.  I . . . that guy across the
street . . . I think I saw him . . . uh . . . last night."

"You think he's stalking you?" Brian asked, worried.  The last thing he
wanted was for some psychopath to have his eyes set on Nick.

"I don't know."  Nick's blue eyes widened.  The tears started to form at
the edges, making Brian shiver.  He knew that Nick was always on the
nervous side.  Everything seemed to set the boy off.  But Nick's sixteen
now.  Shouldn't he have lost some of that fear?

Brian placed a hand on Nick's thing and rubbed it gently.  "Frank's here.
He'll keep you safe.  Just don't go anywhere without him, okay?  He's very
protective of you!" Brian said as he recalled how Frank treated him this
morning.  Frank was a fiend when it came to protecting his own.

Nick nodded slowly.  They were off to the photo shoot without any other
complications, to Brian's relief.

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

When they finally got to the photo shoot session, true enough, Kevin was
standing inside tapping his feet impatiently, his arms crossing his chest
in a stern manner.  Brian felt himself become cold.  Not again.  He didn't
need a lecture at this moment.  Nick was trailing behind him reluctantly.
Brian sighed.  At 16, Nick was still a boy.  At least, he still acted like
one.

Kevin instinctively jumped when he saw Nick and Brian.  He stared
disapprovingly at Nick, shoving Brian aside in the process.  "Do you have
any idea how long we've been waiting for you?"

Brian stepped in, attempting to calm Kevin down.  "We just woke up a little
late," Brian countered.

Kevin turned from Brian back to Nick.  "I mean, with Brian, since he was on
the red eye last night, he has an excuse.  I would like to hear yours!"
With that, Kevin stepped towards Nick, making the blond boy shudder.

Nick looked helplessly at Kevin, his hands still trembling from that
morning.  "I . . . I'm sorry."

Kevin's tall figure shadowed Nick.  He reached out to grab the boy by the
shoulders.  "Did you know that I was worried about you?"

Brian felt heated from Kevin's irrational anger.  "He just overslept like I
did.  We didn't go to bed until late last night!"

Kevin ignored Brian's pleas and stared straight into Nick's eyes.  "Did you
not fall asleep like you should last night?  What's all this with monsters
and stuff.  I thought you were beyond that stage, but now . . . "  Kevin
had a look of disgust on his face.

Nick's tears started to form once again.  His mind still hadn't recovered
from last night.  Yet, Kevin was making it no better.  "Sorry!" he cried
out before running out the door.

Brian stiffened.  Surprisingly, his legs didn't budge.  He wanted to run
out after Nick, but decided to stay back and give Kevin a piece of his
mind.  From the corner of his eye, he saw Frank run out after Nick and felt
relieved that at least somebody was looking after the boy.

Brian gave Kevin an icy stare.  "Care to explain?"

Kevin gazed back at Brian with a wary look.  "He needs discipline.  I don't
want him feeling that he could cut corners like that.  He's a growing boy,
and if his parents are not around, then we're responsible.  Like any other
kid, you've got to set limits for him.  You do want him to grow up like a
gentleman, don't you?"  Keving shot back at Brian.

Brian stared at Kevin, exasperated.  "But he's already very good and
well-mannered.  I don't see why he needs any discipline at all.  He's not
obnoxious at all.  He's innocent and naive, but I don't think he's in need
of discipline.  He doesn't throw tantrums.  He doesn't start fights.  He's
always practicing really hard.  He doesn't run around . . . "

Kevin quickly cut Brian off.  "How do you know he doesn't run around
Chicago in the middle of the night?  Were you here?"

"No!" Brian retorted.  "But I trust his judgment not to!"

Kevin frowned.  "He was roaming the streets of Chicago last night!  Frank
told me so."

Brian suddenly realized that he was going to lose the argument.  Without
even thinking, he blurted out the next words.  "If you like him, why not
just say so.  You don't have to create all these restrictions on Nick!"
Immediately, Brian regretted it.  Kevin was his cousin after all.

Kevin looked shock by Brian's words.  With one final stare, he walked off.
Brian sighed.  Nothing was working for him.  With one tear drop sliding
down his cheek, he too ran out of the building.

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

Nick suddenly felt nauseated as his whole body shivered.  But it wasn't
cold outside.  He looked around, only to see that he was far from the
building that sheltered Kevin.  He felt bad.  He shouldn't have fled like
that.  But then again, he was too upset to think maturely.

He was about to run back to the building when he felt cold all over again.
He knew that feeling.  He knew that the presence of that sickly man was
near.  Suddenly, everything seemed depersonalized to him.  He stared around
at his surroundings only to feel dizzy and weak.  He crossed his arms over
his chest, hoping for the coldness to pass.  He thought of Frank trailing
behind him and struggled to crane his neck to find his bodyguard, but for
some odd reason, he knew that Frank was nowhere in sight.

Nick swallowed hard.  He then saw the tall figure of that ghostly man, but
now, the man's complexion was less deathly.  They eyes were still sunken,
but not as bad as last night.  That was the first time Nick had saw the man
in daylight.  Nick backed away instinctively, but the tall man, or rather
boy, walked towards him.  At that moment, all Nick felt was that the whole
world disappeared and only he and the deathly figure existed.  His
breathing became erratic as he felt the fear.

Nick clutched his throat.  He felt as if invisible hands were rubbing
against his entire body in broad daylight.  He felt as if his clothes were
barely clutching his skin.  At that moment, he realized that this deathly
figure was surreal.  It wasn't a part of his imagination, but it wasn't an
illusion either.

He remembered the debt that the figure claimed he owed and felt a pitting
at the bottom of his stomach.  Just when the sallow looking boy was a few
feet from him, Nick felt his legs weaken.  He wanted to turn around and beg
for help, but strangely, people walked by without noticing his despair.  He
backed away farther and farther as the deathly boy advanced.  Nick could
clearly see that the boy was less hideous today.  The guy's golden brown
hair was sifting under the light breezes.

Still, Nick was petrified.  Just when he felt he was going to break down, a
voice tugged him back to reality.

"Nick, wake up!"  Nick's eyes fluttered open as he heard Brian's soft
voice.  He looked up to see Brian carefully cradling him in his arms.

"What happened?" Nick asked, afraid.

"You passed out on the sidewalk!" Brian frowned worriedly.  "Nick, don't
listen to Kevin.  He's been confused lately.  He doesn't know what he's
talking about!"

Nick trembled.  "He's forgiven."  Nick didn't know what to say.  He felt
too foolish to tell Brian that he passed out because he saw a ghost.  Brian
would laugh.

Nick scanned the area behind Brian to see that the sixteen year old boy
that he had seen had disappeared.  He half expected this.  It wasn't the
first time that it had happened.  But the bad thing was, the image of the
boy was getting more real and what he had thought were mere illusions had
slowly seeped into his reality.  Something beyond his realm was going on,
and now, the secret tides had been set in motion.  Nick felt the sudden
shift in the air.  What were once sudden chills had now become haunting
thoughts, and sooner or later, they would be start reality.

And Nick didn't know whether he could face it at all.

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

Thanks for reading!

NCfan
ngclle@yahoo.com