Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2000 19:37:23 CET From: Chris Hanson Subject: Flowers Never Bend With The Rainfall Part 2 Disclaimer: This story is a product of my imagination. I am not implying that Nick Carter or any of the Backstreet Boys are gay. This story contains sexual relations by adult males. If you are not into that or it is illegal in your state/country, please leave now. I am not a native English speaker. Thus there might be some spelling and grammar mistakes. I hereby apologise for those. Also I am not into much American slang, so the language might seem a bit formal. Sorry for that. This is also my first attempt to write such a story. Thanks to all you who have sent e-mail to me. You know who you are. I really appreciate it! Now on with the story... "Flowers Never Bend With The Rainfall" by Chris Hanson. Part 2 "So, you staying here long?" Nick asked as they both waved to Aaron as he went inside. "Well...actually I haven't decided yet...I don't feel like going home anyway," Lars answered silently feeling the tears press against his eyes. He hadn't really thought about that. But he knew one thing. He could not ever forgive his parents the pain they had caused. He could feel a hand on his shoulder. He lifted his head and saw that Nick had moved closer to him. "You okey?" he asked a bit worried. "Yeah...sorry 'bout that," Lars stammered. "Don't be...You wanna talk about it?" Nick moved a little closer to Lars again. "No thanks...It's kind of personal. I'll be okay though. Seriously, I'll be okay." Lars managed to grin, but inside him the voices started again. "Faggot! Pansy! Faggot! Pansy!" He tried to shut them out of his head, but without success. "Uhh..sorry Nick...I have to head inside...sorry..." Lars stuttered as he rose to his feat and headed towards the house. "Nice meeting you Lars," Nick shouted somewhat worried after him as he quickly rushed inside the house. Lars ran to his room and threw himself onto the bed. He started to cry heavily. He felt all the emotions from earlier, from the time before he tried to kill himself, swell up again. He cried and cried. Then he felt a touching his shoulder, and turned around to see his aunt sitting next to him on the bed. She took him into a deep and affectionate embrace. "Come on, honey. Let it all out. It's okay. Just let it out," Martha said in a comforting voice. They sat like that for ages, until there were no more tears left inside Lars. Lars looked up at his aunt, his eyes all red and puffy from all the crying. "The voices..." he stammered. "They won't go away...make them stop aunt Martha." Martha could see the child inside her nephew. Scared and uncertain. She could feel his body shiver. She looked into his eyes and saw nothing more than a deep blue ocean of suffering and pain. She wished she could do something to ease that pain, but she knew there were little she could do besides comfort him and provide a good steady home for him. "This decides it. You are not going home. You are staying here with us," she stated. Lars looked into his aunt's face, and she saw the appreciation and gratitude in his eyes. "Thank you," he whispered. Martha continued to hold Lars until he finally fell asleep in her arms. She put him down and tucked him in, turned of the light and closed the door. When she emerged from the room she almost ran into John. "How is he?" he asked concerned. "Well, I think we have got ourselves one messed-up kid in there," she sighed. "Who can blame him with those parents," John said. "No, I think I should have a little talk with my brother. I mean, I'm not letting Lars go home and be turned down by his parents again. I don't think he could handle that. So, if it's okay with you I want him to stay with us on a permanent basis." "Of course it's okay with me. You know I love that kid like he was my own son," John answered. "Ohh..you're so sweet," Martha said as she gave her husband a long passionate kiss on the lips. "Also," Martha whispered, "our 'son' was playing soccer with our neighbour this afternoon." She had a devious smile on her face. "I think maybe that could be good for him." John smiled. "But let him find out for himself," John said seriously as they headed for bed. -------------------------- The sun forced its way through the cracks in the curtain, and the rays hit Lars straight in the face and made him wake up. He rolled slowly out of bed, stretched a bit, and then headed for the shower. He spent about half an hour under the hot water. When he emerged from the shower he felt somewhat better, and felt as ready as he guessed he would at present moment, to face the world. When he entered the kitchen, there was no one there. On the kitchen table there was a note from his aunt, telling they were both at work and wouldn't be home until around 5 p.m. Lars grabbed some cereal and milk, though he wasn't very hungry. As he sat by the kitchen window he saw, through the window, Nick heading towards the house. 30 seconds later there was a knock on the door. Lars went to open it. It was Nick of course. "Hi Lars," Nick said cheerfully. "Good morning," Lars answered a bit shyly. "You want us to do something together today?" he asked a bit clumsy. "Uh..ehh..sure," Lars stammered. He was still breathtaken by the good-looking blond. At the same time, Lars began to wonder where he had seen this guy before. He knew there was something familiar about him. But he just shrugged and invited Nick inside so he could finish his breakfast. "You're aunt and uncle are great, don't you think?" Nick said. "Yeah, they are the best." Lars signaled Nick to sit down. "Well, it turns out I'm gonna stay here for quite some time," Lars said. Lars didn't know if it was just his imagination, but it seemed as Nick was extremely happy by this. "Cool," he exclaimed. "Yeah, I think so too," Lars said. There was a sudden silence between them. Lars glanced over at Nick and could see Nick suddenly turn away. 'Oh my God, is he checking me out?' Lars wondered, but just shrugged it off. 'No, it must be my imagination'. "So..." Lars begun. "What do you wanna do?" "Well, maybe we could go to the mall or something?" Nick suggested. "Sure, I love shopping!" Lars answered excitedly. "Well, I guess we have something in common then," Nick laughed. "What if I meet you outside in, let's say, 15 minutes?" "Yeah, sure!" 15 minutes later Lars stood outside Nick's house, awaiting the arrival of his blond friend. When Nick finally came out, 5 minutes late, he was wearing a baseball-cap and black shades and Lars could hardly recognise him. They spent the entire day shopping and having fun at the mall. As they sat down in a quiet cafeteria, Lars couldn't help but gaze at the gorgeous boy in front of him. "What?" Nick asked cheerfully. "Do I have something in my face?" He laughed. "Uhh...no...eh..sorry. It was nothing." Lars stuttered. By now, Lars was certain he had seen Nick before, but he could not quite remember where. Nick and Lars talked for about an hour, some about their interests and hobbies, and also some about Nick's relationship with Lars aunt. It turned out that Martha was like a second mother to Nick. They were very close. Lars was about to ask Nick if they should head home and play some soccer when he was interupted by a sudden scream. "OH MY GOD! IT'S NICK CARTER!!!!" It was a girl, she could not be more than 14, 15 at most. "Shhhh!" Nick motioned for the girl to come over to the table. "If you keep quiet now, I give you an autograph and a kiss on the cheek," he giggled. He wrote an autograph on a piece of paper and on her hand. Then he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, whick made her blush severely. Then she ran off, obviously to run to her friends and tell that she had met THE Nick Carter. "I knew it! I knew I had seen you before," Lars said rather excited, "You are Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys!" "At you service," Nick laughed. "I guess you're not a fan then." "Ehhh...sorry. Can't say I am," Lars answered. "But I knew I had seen you before, though." Nick laughed and blushed a bit. He had never felt quite at ease by the whole star thing. He looked upon himself as a normal boy of 19. He just happened to be in a quite successful band. "I just hope this won't change anything between us," Nick asked a bit worried. "Of course not," Lars answered soothingly. "It's just that I don't have many friends that really are NICK's friend and not BSB NICK's friend," he explained. "Beside the guys of course." Lars suddenly felt a nearness to Nick, like he had known him for years. They decided to head home before Nick was recognised again. The two boys managed to reach their houses without further incidents. Lars and Nick sat on the steps to Lars' house and talked. They talked for hours about their lives until now. Lars, of course, left out the parts of his life that had happened the past months. Again Lars felt very close to Nick, and he could tell by the way Nick openly talked about his life, that he felt very much the same. They both felt that this was the start of a very strong friendship. When Martha and John came home from work, they saw their nephew and Nick talking. Martha could see the awe in both their eyes when they looked at each other. She smiled. 'This will do them both good,' she thought. "Hi boys," John said. "You've had a good day, I guess?" He grinned. "Oh yeah," Lars and Nick answered in unison. "I am now officially friends with a BACKSTREET BOY," Lars screamed like a 15 year old girl. Nick punched him playfully in the side. "You wish." He grinned. Martha asked Nick if he was staying for dinner, but he declined. "I am heading over to Kevin and Brian's in an hour," he explained. "We have to discuss something about our upcoming tour." Lars looked disappointed. "You wanna come with me?" Nick asked looking pleadingly at Lars. Lars had trouble hiding his excitement. "Yeah!" Nick of course noticed the eagerness on his friend. "Hey you!" he exclaimed. "I thought you weren't a Backstreet fan." He smiled. "Ohh...I think I can be persuaded into listening to your music," Lars answered. He tried to remember which songs by them he actually had heard. Lars only could remember three songs, "Everybody", "I want it that way" and "Larger than life". Nick grinned as Lars began to whistle the melody of "I want it that way". "I think we have a "in the closet" BSB fan here." Nick laughed. "You can come out now, you know!" Lars stopped breathing for a moment. 'I'm in the closet all right,' he thought. 'But he does not know, does he?' He thought about it for a moment, but just shrugged it off. They decided to meet outside in thirty minutes. Lars quickly grabbed something to eat. "You like him, don't you?" Martha asked. "Oh auntie, I've never felt such at ease with someone before," he answered. "I think I'm...eh..uhh.." "You think you're falling for him right?" Martha finished for him. He nodded. "Yeah, I think so." "You know that you eventually have to tell him how you feel." "I know. But not now. I don't know if he could handle me being gay, and I cannot afford losing the friendship right now. I need it too much" Martha looked in awe at the maturity of her nephew, and she could not believe that it was the same boy that broke down in her arms the night before. Thirty minutes later Nick and Lars met outside. As they smiled at each other a limo pulled up to the curb. "I thought we could travel in style today," Nick smiled. "I hope you don't mind?" he asked. Lars was lost for words. He had never been in a limo before so he ran towards it and opened the door right as the driver was about to do it. Nick just laughed and smiled to the driver. "His first limo drive," he explained to the him. The driver just smiled back. About ten minutes later the limo pulled up before quite a large modern styled house. "Wow," Lars exclaimed. "It's huge. So, who of the guys live here?" he asked. "Kevin, Bri and Howie," Nick answered. Lars tried to picture them inside his head, but could not quite put the faces and names together, so he just shrugged it off and thought that he soon enough would have the answer to it. They entered the house. As soon as the entered the living room they saw the four other group members in quite a heavy discussion. As they noticed the two newcomers they all smiled. "Nick!" they all exclaimed at the same time. Then they looked confused at me. "Guys! This is Lars. He's Martha and Jack's nephew," Nick explained. Each of the Backstreet Boys came up to Lars and shook his hand and presented themselves. Lars felt welcome right from that point. He sat in the couch and listened to the guys' meeting. He glanced at Nick on every opportunity. He also noticed that Nick glanced at him as well, when he thought no one was paying attention. This made Lars feel warm inside. 'Oh my God, could he be?' he thought to himself. After the guys were finished discussing their upcoming tour they spent rest of the evening chatting with Lars. They wanted to know all about Norway and him and how long he was to be in the US, and how long he had known Nick. "Well we actually just met yesterday," Lars explained. "But I guess we really hit it off. And I can't believe that I really is friend with a BACKSTREET BOY." he screamed like a little girl again, which made the boys laugh hysterically. "Well, I hope we can be friends as well, Lars" Kevin said sincerely. "We don't have many friends that like us for who we are, and it seems as though you really don't care that we are famous. Nick told me you didn't recognise him and that you weren't that big fan of our music." "Uuuuuh...he IS," Nick smirked. "He's just not ready to come out of the closet yet." This made Lars blush. 'You don't know, Nick. You don't know,' he thought to himself. The other guys all laughed at Nick's comment. "I think we could be friends Kevin," Lars said seriously. "I have really enjoyed spending time with you all tonight." "Likewise," the guys stated in unison. "Well I hate to break this up," Lars said disappointinly, "but I guess I'm not quite used to US time yet. I think I head home for bed now." "I follow you home. Let's take the limo!" Nick jumped up. "I won't argue with that," Lars agreed. The guys followed them outside, Brian took Nick aside and walked a bit away from the rest of the guys. "Nick! What the hell are you doing?" Brian asked. "You are not ready for this yet, you know it. And you don't even know if he's gay." "Brian!" Nick answered a bit annoyed. "We're just friends." "Oh yeah, I saw the way you *looked* at him today." Nick just stared to the ground. He could feel the tears fall from his eyes. "Bri, I need him...I think I'm...eh...I'm falling for him, Brian." Nick started to cry now. "Oh, Nick," Brian comforted his friend. "I don't want you to be hurt again, you know, after the incident with your parents and all..." Nick stopped crying after some minutes. Brian dried the tears away from Nick's face and kissed him on the forehead. "Be careful Nick!" Brian pleaded his bestfriend. "Next time maybe I won't be able to save you." "I know, Bri. I just think he's so great. I know I met him only yesterday, but there is just a connection between us..." Nick started to head back to the limo. Brian looked at him from behind with a worried look on his face. 'Please don't hurt him Lars! Please be gentle.' Brian sighed, then he headed back to the others. TO BE CONTINUED So that was part 2 of my story. I hope you like it. Feedback is WANTED and you can e-mail your comments, suggestions and questions to chris_h81no@hotmail.com. I answer all mails that are sent to me. Until next time...take care.