Date: Thu, 28 Dec 2000 13:54:15 EST
From: Kb79@aol.com
Subject: Life's Discoveries, Chapter 7, Boybands

DISCLAIMER: This story is a work of fiction. The characters are real people
but are being written in fictional situations. This is not saying anything
about the sexual orientation of anyone mentioned.

WARNING: This story deals with homosexual themes. If this offends you,
don't read. If you are under 18 years of age, don't read. If reading this
story causes you to break any laws, don't read.

FEEDBACK: I'd like to know what you think, email me at Kb79@aol.com

Last Time on Life's Discoveries...

The door bell rang.

"We expecting anyone?" AJ asked.

Everyone shook their head no.

"I'll get it." Nick said, as he went over to the door.

Nick slowly opened the door a crack to see who it was, as soon as he did,
three women came storming in the house.

"Leighanne?!?" Brian yelped.

"Amanda!" AJ shrieked.

"Rachel!" Howie exclaimed.

And now we continue...

Life's Discoveries Chapter 7 By: Kelly

The three women who had just stormed into Nick's house were probably the
most beautiful array of contrasts 3 women could be.

Flowing curls of blonde hair, with crystal blue eyes.

Straight raven hair, with eyes so dark the wildness they possessed danced.

Wavy strands of red hair that made the most perfect cut of amber jealous,
with green eyes that smiled for her.

Three completely different women, tied by very similar situations.

Leighanne, Amanda, and Rachel, best of friends, all serious girlfriends of
Backstreet Boys.

Howie and AJ ran over to their girlfriends, hugging them tightly and
enjoying the pleasure of kissing someone you love dearly, but haven't seen
in a long time.

"What are you doing here Poopy?" AJ asked, drawing back from Amanda. "This
is a kickin' surprise."

"Well you came home, normally your first stop is family, and then you come
to me. I waited all day. The I called Leighanne and Rachel. They hadn't
heard from Brian or Howie either, so we knew something was up. I called
your mother, and she told me you were staying with Nick while she had
company. So here we are."  Amanda explained, she then made a sweet face,
the kind she constantly used to make AJ believe she was such an innocent
little angel. "I missed you, I wasn't going to wait any longer to see you."

"Shit girls, we're sorry. We completely forgot. Things have been a little
hectic." Howie offered, wrapping his arms tighter around Rachel.

"Normally we wouldn't take that as an excuse, but we heard what happened."
Rachel said.

"You heard?" AJ asked.

"Yeah, Kris called Leighanne that night, we have a short, hysterical
version of the story." Amanda admitted, rolling her eyes slightly.

"She didn't tell me much though, we don't really know what the whole story
is."  Leighanne finally spoke. She had been waiting for Brian to come to
her. "What's going on Baby?"

Brian looked over at Leighanne, but he didn't speak or make any motion to
move.

Leighanne walked over to Brian and placed a hand on his cheek. She saw the
pain in his eyes and immediately knew something was horribly wrong.

"Oh Brian... What happened?" Leighanne asked, almost frightened all the
sudden.

"I... we..." Brian stuttered, struggling to find anything to say.

Leighanne wrapped her arms around her boyfriend and whispered in his
ear. "I love you baby, whatever it is, we can work through it."

Brian melted in Leighanne's arms and buried his head in her shoulder.

Leighanne could feel Brian's tears through her thin blouse. She wanted to
get him alone. Leighanne knew Brian wasn't going to give her the whole
truth in front of everyone. And if he was this weak in her arms, he
definitely needed to talk.

"Sweetie, let's go up to your room, we can talk, okay?" Leighanne asked
Brian, pulling him away from her shoulder a little.

He nodded slightly.

"Guys?" Leighanne turned to everyone else. "Brian and I are going to go
upstairs for a bit is that okay?"

"Of course." Nick answered. "Brian is staying in the guest room, where you
two stayed last month. Take your time, we'll be fine."

"Thanks Nicky. We'll be back soon." Leighanne smiled at Nick as she led
Brian up the stairs.

Once Leighanne and Brian were upstairs and secured behind the bedroom door,
Amanda and Rachel turned to everyone.

"What is going on? What the hell happened in the past two days?" Amanda
questioned, she did not enjoy having her time with AJ being taken away from
her.

"What have ya heard?" AJ asked.

"Let's all sit down, we can discuss it." Rachel suggested.

So the group all headed toward the couches in the living room. Howie and AJ
sat with their girlfriends on the large couch, Kevin and Lance took the
loveseat, and Nick slumped into an armchair.

When everyone was settled, Amanda began to fill them in on what the girls
knew so far. "Kristin called Leighanne, as was said earlier, the minute she
got home the other night. She was hysterical, she just kept saying the
engagement was off, she had given Kevin back the ring, and..." Amanda
trailed off a little, hesitating at the words that would be coming
next. Spitting out that Kevin was a fag didn't seem to be the right thing
to say at this moment, not that it usually stopped her.

"And that I'm gay?" Kevin asked softly.

"Yeah, she kept saying she always knew, how could she had pretended for so
long." Rachel replied.

"I'm not sure how I pretended for so long." Kevin mentioned.

Lance put a hand on Kevin's shoulder and rubbed it lightly, a small sign of
support.

"How have you been? The engagement ending was obviously rough, but how has
the whole 'coming out' gone?" Rachel asked Kevin.

"A lot of it has been a series of unexpected incidents." Kevin filled them
in on what happened in the past 48 hours, it was a shortened version, but
the rest of the guys sat back and let him tell it. "AJ, Howie, and Nick
have been really cool about this all, oh yeah, and Lance too. Things with
Brian are still kinda rough."

"He's really been that bad about all of this?" Rachel asked gently.

Kevin sighed.

*Upstairs*

"So what's up Brian?" Leighanne asked, after she had made him lay down on
the bed. She was sitting up next to him, lightly caressing the side of his
face.

Brian rolled over on his side and looked up at her. "I hate Kevin."

"What?" Leighanne said in shock. "No you don't, he is your cousin, you love
him."

Brian looked down at the bed spread and began to mindlessly trace the
pattern with his fingertips. "How could I not hate him? Have you heard what
he is?"

"What he is?" Leighanne questioned.

"He's a fag! A fucking queer! How could I not hate him???" Brian was
reaching hysterical again.

Leighanne pulled Brian up by the collar of his shirt and slid behind
him. She pulled him from around his waist and forced him to lay against
her. She began to run her finger through his curly hair, gently.

"I need you to calm down. Do you understand me Brian? I know the guys let
you get hysterical, but I don't accept that." Leighanne instructed as she
felt Brian tense. "We are going to discuss this calmly and rationally."

Brian turned on his side and buried his head into Leighanne's chest.

"You don't hate him. Don't try and pass it off as that, tell me what's
really wrong?" Leighanne slipped her arms around Brian to hold him close.

"I hate him Leigh, I'm not lying, right now I hate him so much." Brian
insisted.

"How could you hate him, he's your cousin! I'm sorry Brian, but I'm not
understanding this at all. How can you hate family? How can you hate the
person that introduced us?" Leighanne was explaining passionately. "Do you
remember that? On the set of the video that day? Kevin was the one who
introduced the two of us. I know that I'll simply love him forever just
because of that, besides all the other reasons, like the fact he is your
family and one of your best friends."

Brian relaxed a little against Leighanne. She was right. Without Kevin the
two of them would never have gotten together. He was too nervous to go up
to her that day on the set, luckily Kevin had handled it all for him. Kevin
always did stuff like that for him.

"I know." Brian whispered. "I know."

Leighanne's eyes widened in surprise. "You know? Then why? Why are you
treating Kevin like this?"

"I don't know Leigh..." Brian curled himself around his fiancée and
clung to her. "I'm really confused."

"Aww, baby." Was all Leighanne said as she held onto her little man
tightly.

The two of them laid in each others arms for a while without saying
anything. They took advantage of every moment they had to be together.

*Downstairs*

Howie had taken Rachel into the room he was staying in. The two of them
were busy "catching up" on the past few weeks.

Nick, Kevin, and Lance had all gone into the kitchen to make coffee. At the
moment they were sitting in silence, nodding off every few seconds. They
were dying for the girls to go home so they could go to bed, but would
never say so, because they knew that the guys had not seen them in so long.

AJ was still in the living room with Amanda. She had continually rolled her
eyes and made small snorts during Kevin's explanation before. AJ was hoping
he was the only one who had caught it, but he was also dying to know why
his girlfriend had been acting like that.

"What the hell was up with you before Poopy?" AJ asked softly.

Amanda turned from him and ran her perfectly sculpted nails through her
thick hair.

"Would you please not call me that!" Amanda said harshly. "That is one of
the most ridiculous nicknames I have ever heard for a woman like me."

AJ hung his head. "I'm sorry Amanda. I never knew you didn't like it."

"Well I don't!" She shot at him.

"Okay, okay, I'll never call you that again, but that still doesn't answer
my question." AJ looked up at her.

"What was up with me? This whole Kevin being gay thing, that's what's
up. This is pathetic! He's gay now? What is that all about? He's only a few
months from being married! It sounds like a well developed plan to stay
single for a little longer if you ask me." Amanda explained with a sneer.

AJ was shocked. "What?"

"You heard me. I don't buy it!" Amanda spit out.

"You're nuts! Did you hear him speak? Were you even listening? This is very
serious! Something he has been unable to deal with for a very long time!
This is not some plot!" AJ was amazed at her behavior.

"Well whatever it is, I still find it pathetic. I always found Kevin to be
a big joke anyway. What a waste of an amazing body to have no personality
what so ever." Amanda answered.

AJ looked hard at the woman he loved, or thought he loved. How in the world
could she say that kind of thing about someone who was so important in his
life?

"Amanda, I can not believe you think that way." AJ said carefully.

"Well I do. He's a waste of a man." She said to him.

That was more than enough to set AJ off the deep end. But he stayed calm.

"Amanda, I believe it is time you left." AJ said slowly, but there was a
precise edge to his voice.

"I can't leave until Rachel is ready to go, she grabbed a ride with me."
Amanda looked at him strangely.

"I'll make sure she gets home safely, but you need to leave. Now." AJ stood
up and grabbed her coat from off the back of the couch. He thrust it at
her.

"When will I see you again?" She asked, a confused look crossing her face.

"Not anytime soon Amanda." AJ answered.

"What?" Amanda practically shrieked.

"If that's how you feel about my family, if that's the kind of thing you
can say about one of my best friends, we will not be seeing much of each
other." AJ explained further.

"What the hell is your problem? It's just Kevin!" Amanda yelled at him.

"You just proved my point! Now get the hell out of here!" AJ screamed at
her. He flung the front door opened and gestured outside.

Amanda grabbed her coat and ran from the house to her car. Seconds later
she was peeling out of the driveway. AJ slammed the door and turned
around. He looked up and his eyes met those of Kevin, Nick, and Lance.

"AJ? What happened?" Kevin asked.

"How much did you hear?" AJ asked, his voice a little strained with
emotion.

"Most of it. The kitchen is very close to the living room." Nick
mentioned. "We tried not to hear, but..."

"It's okay guys. I know you didn't listen in on purpose. So I guess you
heard we broke up, huh?" AJ asked.

"AJ... if you did that just because of me... It's not worth it... you
shouldn't let her go just for that." Kevin tried to make some sense.

"No! I will not be with someone who does not respect my family! I love you
more than I ever loved her! Good riddance if that's how she feels!" AJ said
passionately, getting a little choked up.

Kevin walked over to AJ and wrapped his arms around him. "I'm so sorry AJ,
I know how much you loved her. I'm so sorry it didn't work out."

"It's okay... It's been ending for a while. I just didn't want to see it. I
do now. Everything will be okay." AJ tried to convince them, and himself.

At that moment Howie and Rachel came down the stairs looking a little
tousled.

"Where's Amanda?" Rachel asked, looking around.

"She left early." AJ answered simply. "I promised her I'd make sure you had
another way home."

"No problem. I'll just catch a ride with Leigh. She said she'd be down any
minute, Brian fell asleep." Rachel explained.

As if on cue, Leighanne came down the stairs.

"Brian is tucked in and fast asleep. Will someone tell him I love him and
will see him tomorrow when you all get up in the morning?" Leighanne asked.

"Sure Leigh, no problem. Would you mind giving Rachel a ride home? Amanda
had to leave early." AJ asked.

"Sure, of course." She looked a little confused, but did not ask any
questions.

Everyone said goodnight to the remaining girls and they left.

"I'm going up to bed, it's been a long day. See you guys in the morning."
Lance said, as he went for the steps.

"Me too." Howie replied. "Goodnight guys."

Howie and Lance went upstairs to their rooms and turned in.

"I'm pretty beat myself, I think I'll go pull out the couch downstairs."
Kevin mentioned.

"Alright, goodnight Kev. Remember, if the couch is hell, I'll trade with
you." Nick said as he gave Kevin a hug goodnight.

"I will." Kevin smiled and went downstairs. "Goodnight boys... Oh, and AJ?
Thanks... I love you too."

Once Kevin was in the basement Nick turned to AJ. "Wanna go up to my room
for a little while?"

AJ just nodded numbly.

They went upstairs to Nick's room and sat down on his large bed.

"Okay man, come here." Nick opened his arms to AJ.

AJ immediately climbed into Nick's arms and released. He allowed himself to
break down in his best friends arms.

Nick wasn't going to make him talk about this now. That could wait until
tomorrow. He wanted AJ just to work this out of his system a little
first. He had just lost the woman he had assumed he'd marry. Nick knew to
give him a little time.

"Wanna stay here tonight?" Nick asked, gently.

AJ nodded against Nick.

"Alright." Was all Nick said.

He released AJ for a second to pull down the bed. He laid AJ down and then
laid next to him, wrapping his arms around him again. They both fell asleep
like that. Actually in a matter of minutes the whole house was fast asleep.

*Well it's a proven fact I'm a complete slacker, but between the holidays
and finals this one took longer than usual. Sorry, hopefully no one was
patiently waiting for over a month. Promise the next one will be out a lot
sooner.*