Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2000 14:13:39 -0700 (PDT)
From: Dennis Urban <denn0113@yahoo.com>
Subject: Sounds of Silence, Chapters 14 - 16

Legal Disclaimer and Authors Note: First off, this is fiction, nothing is
meant or implied about the sexuality, persuasions, etc of any or all of the
members of Boyzone. This is I repeat an entirely fictional work. Hey we can
all dream. If any of the members of Boyzone,  should happen to read this,
Hey I am not trying to be insulting or anything at all. If you have
comments, ideas suggestions etc. write to me. Hey you never know. The same
goes for all of you loyal and caring readers feel free to write me at
Denn0113@yahoo.com

First off I would like to state if your unable to handle male/male
sexuality, romance, etc don't read on. If your underage or it's not legal
for you to read this where you are don't read on.  If the subject of abuse
in any form is not something you can handle I advise you not to read
on. Please note that I am not being funny hear.

Now for the note part: Abuse is a very sad and serious topic of
discussion. I am dealing with it here in a very simple and straightforward
manner. This is a topic that has a lot of meaning for me. I myself am a
survivor of abuse. I will not go into the details. I am not writing this
for pity or sympathy. I am trying to explain part of how my perspective
comes into play. I dealt with being abused for over 15 years. I was abused
as a child up to and through my teens. As a child I faced all forms of
abuse including sexual abuse. First off rape and sexual abuse are not about
sex. They are about power and control. The abuser/rapist gets off on the
fact that they are in control and able to hold power over you. I have a
area of discussion about this particular topic on my website. If you are
going to write me and take an attitude about how I tackle this topic, guess
what I am going to respond in kind. If you can't be civil than don't bother
to write me. If you go beyond rude and are insulting and/or flaming in your
comments I will be sending a copy of the e-mail to both your e-mail/isp
provider along with a complaint to them as well as doing the same to the
e-mail provider I use. I won't respond at all except to tell you that  you
have been reported for harassment. This is a precautionary warning and
statement. I haven't as of yet had someone do so, but fore-warned is fair
to you and me both. That said, read on if your legally able to do so and
enjoy.


Sounds of Silence

`Hello Darkness my old friend, I've come to talk with you again, Because a
vision softly creeping, left it's seeds while I was sleeping. but the
vision that was planted in my brain still remains within the sounds of
silence'

"Well... I suppose the best idea would be for me to drop you off at your
hotel, so you don't get lost again. But if you really want to we could go
over to my place and talk some more if you want." At Stephen's grin when I
said the last I knew what we would end up doing.

And Now...


Chapter 14

At Stephen's grin, I knew we were going to end up going back to my
house. 'All right' I thought to myself. 'That's fine. It's not like
anything is going to happen. I won't let it. I'm not up for the one night
stands and such.' Standing up, I spoke. "Well if your ready shall we go?"

"Of course," Stephen said. "Now which way is it back to your place and do I
get to meet your puppies?"

"Of course you get to meet them if you want, and we can just head down a
few blocks further and then make a left. It's not even a ten minute walk."
I replied with a grin. "So Stephen, if you don't mind my asking you silly
and most likely annoying questions shall we talk on the way back?"

"Of course we can, as long as I can ask you questions as well." Stephen
replied with a twinkling in his eye that warned me it was going to be
interesting.

"All right then Stephen, when did you know what you were gay? and more
importantly why are you coming back with me a strange man to my home?"

"Well let me answer them in reverse. Because I can tell that I can trust
you, I follow my instincts and they are rarely if ever wrong. As far as
being gay, I suppose I always knew that I was. The guys know that I am, and
are all right with it. We do tend to not mention that fact to the press
though." Stephen said. "Now my turn, how come an obviously cute and great
guy like you is single? And don't try telling me it's because of the
volunteer work you do, I don't buy that."

"Aw, darn. You took away my patent answer." I replied with a gentle
laugh. "No the truth is that with the volunteer work and odd hours that I
keep, I just haven't found anyone. I suppose it would help to look as well,
but I just haven't bothered to."

"Why not, your quite a catch from what I can see and anyone would be lucky
to have you. So what's the real reason behind this no boyfriend." Stephen
persisted, as we neared the block where I lived.

"Well it's a bit of this and that. I just haven't looked, odd hours and all
the rest." I replied nervously. "I don't suppose your going to leave it at
this?"

Shaking his head no, I prepared to lie. "Well we are here at my humble
abode." I said, gesturing to the entrance. "Let's finish the conversation
inside and I'll spill all the gruesome details."

As we walked up the few steps to the entrance, I prayed for a miracle. I
didn't want to tell him all about my past. It wasn't that important, after
all. As I turned the key in the lock, I heard the tell tale signs of the
puppies preparing to charge.

As I motioned Stephen to precede me, I caught his gasp of suprise as the
puppies pounced on him. Slipping in behind him, I quickly shut the door so
they couldn't slip out.

"Well Stephen these are my two babies." I replied with a wicked
grin. Kneeling down, I called Annabelle over and introduced her to him, as
I calmed her down. "This is Annabelle, who is just shy of being two years
old. She's my oldest one. From the size of her, you couldn't tell that she
was the runt of her litter."

"She's so cute, and your right I wouldn't have thought that. So who is this
other little devil who is so hyper?" Stephen asked as my other baby played
with him.

"That's Mika, she's a darling who I didn't expect to get, but I got
anyway. She just turned one about a month ago. I can't wait till she gets a
bit older and calms down." I replied with a laugh at the last part. "I love
them both, and they are sisters. Both came from the same parents, just
subsequent litters. They of course adore strangers for the most part."

"I can tell. They're just so cute and cuddly." Stephen said. "But don't
they ever stop?"

"The only time they slow down a little is to eat and sleep. Speaking of
which, I should give them a quick bite so they'll settle down." I
replied. Standing back up, I whistled. "Come on you two little demon dogs,
time for your snack." At this they shifted all their attention on to me and
prepared to charge the kitchen. Slipping out into the kitchen, I quickly
got their dishes and gave them their food. As I worked on their snack, I
was grateful for the momentary distraction that they had provided.

Chapter 15

As Jimmy lay sleeping in bed, his dreams were once again haunted by the
past. Nightmares and fears that had been buried thrust their heads up
anew. As he tossed and turned in dreams haunted by images of his father and
silent nights that were filled with horror, he saw things.  Dream begins...

It was late at night on a Friday night, he had been dreaming about the
baseball game he was going to be playing in the next day. Just as he saw
himself sliding into homebase he woke up. It felt like he was dying,
choking on the lack of air. As he started to struggle he opened his
eyes. 'No, oh god no.' he prayed silently in his mind. Here was his dad
again, likely drunk at that.

As he realized all this he stopped struggling and calmed down. "Shhhh. It's
all right Jimmy, it's only me. It's only daddy" his father whispered
softly. "I heard you and worried that you were having a bad dream."

As I shook my head no, knowing better than to speak. As I stared up into
his face, I tried to hide the fear I felt. As I slowly caught my breath I
caught the smell of alcohol on his breath.

"Wha, what's wrong Jimmy? Your not afraid of me are you?" Ed asked. "Ae
Jimmy lad, you know there's nothing to be afraid of don't you?"

As Jimmy pulled away further he knew what was going to come next. As his
dad leaned in the smell of alcohol on his breath all but overwhelming. As
his dad grabbed the back of his head in one hand he leaned in ever
closer.....

Dream Ends.

As Jimmy woke up in a cold sweat he just lay there. His heart pounding away
like a fright engine. 'God, why can't I just not remember all of this. Why
can't I just forget it all. I want to be normal. It was my fault that it
happened.' Jimmy though to himself.

As he slowly calmed down he fell back into a tired and worried sleep.


Chapter Sixteen

"Danny, you still alive out there?" Stephen asked, his voice floating out
to the kitchen.

Startled, I came back to myself. I had been lost for a moment in my
thoughts. "Yeah, I'm still alive. I'll be with you in two secs." I called
back.

As I turned to walk back out to the living room the phone rang. As I
reached over to grab it, I hollered out "Hold on a moment, I'll be right
there." Grabbing the phone, I answered "Hello?"

"Hello sweets, It's me again." Trevor said, in his soft southern
accent. "Seems almost like you've been trying to avoid me. That would be a
bad idea you know."

Catching my breath, I replied softly. "What the hell do you want? Make it
quick, I'm not in the mood for your damn games."

"My, my. Is someone busy playing with a cute little boytoy? All right it's
simple enough. You still owe me big for all you did to me. It's simply
payback time. I want to have what I deserve." Trevor said softly, but
deadly serious.

"Trevor go to hell. I don't owe you anything. You cost me more than you can
ever imagine. If you don't want to regret it get to the point and be done."
I replied angrily. "If you have a point that is."

"Very well then Danny. I still have all those lovely photos of us and the
video's as well. Unless you'd like your performances to go public, I want
cash and a lot of it." Trevor said flatly. "As for your attitude, I would
change it real fast unless you want your picture and mine on the front page
of a bunch of papers country wide. I can just see it right now. 'Famed
Author is a Poof' or 'Author gets his in the END'. Can't you just picture
it Danny?"

"All right, all right. I get your point. How much do you want? How much to
get all those photos, negatives and all the rest?" I asked
submissively. Grinding my teeth I pictured what I would like to do to that
fool.

"Oh not that much, but since you seem so interested in younger guys, maybe
I'll just raise it a bit. I think a nice round figure like oh half a
million is about right for my tastes. That and I'd like to renew our old
'friendship'."

"Are you freaking nuts?????? I wouldn't renew our old aquantince for
anything." I hissed out. My temper was about to go through the roof. "If
you want the money, that's not a problem, but I'm not ever renewing our
previous aquantince."

"Ah well, we will see. For now I'll leave you to your cute young thing."
Trevor replied with an evil laugh. "Just don't do anything I wouldn't."
With that he hung up.

As I slammed down the phone, I muttered under my breath. What the hell had
I done to have the fates treat me this way. As I sat there for a moment
trying to catch my breath and calm down, I heard a gentle footstep behind
me. As a pair of gentle hands reached out to rest on my shoulders, I softly
sighed.

"Something wrong?" Stephen asked gently. "Can I help at all?" As I simply
shook my head no, he gently rubbed my shoulders.

"It's..." letting out a soft sigh. "It's nothing important. Just a small
problem, is all." I replied just enjoying the moment as this cute kid
gently rubbed my shoulders.

Slowly Stephen leaned down to kiss me on the top of my head. As I felt his
lips touch my head, I briefly froze and then relaxed. Here I was sitting
here, just wishing that I had not been foolish in the past, and I was about
to make a worse mistake.

"Oh Stephen, you have about ten thousand years before you can stop rubbing
my shoulders. God, I have been so stressed out of late." I said softly.

"Mmmmmmmmm, I can tell you seem to be full of knots and tension. Don't you
know that you need to relax. Even on tour we don't get this bad." Stephen
spoke softly as he gently massaged away. "Gah, who ever it was you
certainly are stressed out, I wish I had the damn oils here. It'd make it
easier to give you a truly good massage.

"Don't even say that, you don't know how tempting the idea is to me." I
murmured softly, as he slowly worked the few remaining knots out of my
neck. Besides I don't usually do anything on the first date, and I don't
make exceptions."

At his laugh, I knew he was also at ease with me. "So why don't you finish
telling me what you have managed to avoid so far." Stephen said on the
prowl again, so to speak.

"Umm, what's that?" I asked, already knowing the answer, but trying to
delay the inevitable.

"About why such a great guy and a catch like you is still single. I'm
curious, I have to admit. I would have though you would be off the market."
he replied with a gentle laugh.

"I'm not that ancient, yet you know." I replied laughing. "Let me see, why
I'm not taken. Well I'm not out so that's part of it. I'm very cautious and
careful. I don't rush into things. I keep odd hours and I don't do the
bar/club scene." I replied honestly, skirting the rest of the truth.

"All right, I can believe that, but there's something more. I can almost
tell that there is, so spill or I won't give you peace." Stephen replied in
a teasing tone.

"Oh come on, why would there be more. It's not like I'm a social butterfly
leaving behind a trail of lovers and one night stands." I chuckled. At
Stephen's persistent look, I finally relented. "All right, I did have
someone, one time. It was a bad mistake, I got hurt and seriously burnt. So
I'm just very cautious is all." Shrugging I stood up. "So what can I offer
you to drink?"

"Either Coffee or tea, whichever's easiest for you. Although I do have to
admit to missing the cup of earl grey I'm used to at night." Stephen said a
tad wistfully.

Grinning, I replied. "Really, well I think I might be able to suprise you."
Turning to the side cupboard by the stove, I was humming to myself, as I
pulled down a small tin of loose tea. Measuring out the right amount I
placed in the percolator. Setting it on to heat up, I turned back
around. "Well, I may have a cure for that small bit of homesickness."

"Really, and what's that?" Stephen asked curiously.

"I happen to have a good friend, who runs a small tea and coffee shop. I
keep a small stock of some different loose teas." I replied with a small
grin. "So I just happen to have some very delicious and very high quality
'Earl Grey' tea."

"Oh you brat, here I was afraid you might end up poisoning me, or wot." He
replied in a mock tease.

"Oh you better watch it, if your not nice I may do so anyway." I replied
laughing. "Now I suppose we should of course have a little snack with our
tea, shouldn't we?"

"Well it's usually a nice idea to, but nothing is open this late." Stephen
replied with a shrug. "Unless of course you have a 24-hour bakery in here
as well?"

"Not quite, but I did make up a nice cake earlier today, I usually don't
bother, but something told me to." I replied with a grin. "Of course my
earlier guest devoured most of it" I said with a laugh. "God knows how much
teens eat, and how often."

"Well I have to wonder...Well teens do tend to eat whatever isn't moving
but I suppose I could take a chance..." Stephen said with an absolutely
straight face. That lasted only for about two seconds, before he burst out
laughing and grinning. "Oh god, that was priceless. Your expression there
was so perfect."

"All right smart guy, keep it up. Just wait and see what happens." I
replied with a chuckle. "Anyway, the tea is ready, and I'll grab the cake
quick as well. Just sit down and make yourself comfortable."

Turning back to the stove, I got two mugs out and poured the tea into
them. Grabbing a pair of spoons he set them on the saucers with the
mugs. Opening the other cupboard, I grabbed the cake and a knife from the
drawer.

Sliding everything onto a tray I carried it over to the table where Stephen
had sat down at. At his gasp of shock, I knew he was suprised to see a cake
like this one. As we sat and chatted some more over our tea and cake we
both realized how tired we were. As he yawned once more, I decided to call
it a night.

"Well Stephen, love. As much as I have enjoyed your company I do believe
our beds are calling to us." I said trying to stifle a yawn. But not quiet
succeeding.

"I agree" Stephen said yawning. With a grin, he went on "So can I stay
over?"

Rolling my eyes, I replied "Don't even go there, I may be cheap, but I'm
not easy. Besides don't you think your buddies might find it a tad odd that
your not there in the morning?"

"Well...maybe just a little odd. But they trust me...so...." Stephen said
slowly stretching the whole thing out. As I shook my head, he got the
idea. "I suppose it's best not to rush anything just yet is it?"

"What a smart boy you are." I replied with a smug grin. "I like, you a lot,
Stephen. But I'm not about to rush into anything or do something one or
both of us will regret. In the morning, I'm sure you will appreciate the
logic of this. I will walk you back to the hotel though."

"All right, if that's all I can get from you..." he trailed off
suggestively. "All right, all right. I give up."

As we got up slowly, I wondered where this was going to lead in the months
to come. Hell, what was going to happen, when we met again on Friday night
when he least expected it. Ah Stephen, why'd you have to go and be so
cute. I'm so damned tempted to say screw it and well that's a fools idea.

God, what did I do to scare him off like that, Stephen wondered. He's so
damn hot and there's more than just the physical as far as appeal with this
guy. If I'm lucky I may have found that special someone. I just don't know
how he'd take it if I pushed for a real relationship. I know that I want
more than a bloody one night stand with him, but I don't want to push too
hard.

As the two were lost in their thoughts silence reigned supreme in the
house. "Well if we're ready we might as well get along before it gets any
later." I said, breaking the silence that had grown up around us.

Startled Stephen jumped a tiny bit. "Yeah, I guess your right. So do I get
your phone number?" he asked with a grin and a wink. "After all it's a
little bit easier to keep in touch that way."

"Wellll.... I supppose so."I replied teasingly. Grabbing a piece of paper,
I jotted down both my home and cell phone numbers and cautiously labeled
them as such. "All right, just don't loose this or I'll have to kill you,
you know. No seriously though, just don't loose it. Very few folks have my
number as it's easier to avoid the fans that way. I'm sure you know what
that's like." I replied laughing.

"Oh yeah." Stephen replied simply shaking his head. "Well, I hope you will
still be free on Saturday. I would like to see a little more of you before
we move on to the next spot on the tour."

"I promised you didn't I?" I replied, as we were walking out the
door. "Besides I expect I'll see you again before then."

As we slowly walked back up to his hotel, I debated about kissing him good
night when we got there. As we chatted the thought kept on running through
my mind of how cute he was and how nuts I was thinking it could be
something more.

We both paused about a block from the hotel. "Well I guess this is the part
where I say good night, and hope this wasn't a dream?" I asked.

"It's not a dream, but a wish that we both are sharing." Stephen said, as
he leaned in to gently kiss me on my lips. As our lips met we both knew in
that instant that we were meant to be.


That's all for now folks. A hundred thousand apologies for the massive
delay on this and the other stories I have going. I can only say that I ran
into some personal problems at the time I had begun this part and I had to
set it aside. It's all cleared up or nearly so for now. So I will have the
next part of this out in a week max. I will also have a update on the ER
story I have going and a piece I'm co-authoring with a friend. Hey I'm just
a tad busy. But I will see you wonderful folks around. Before you ask, no
there's not going to be a lot of hot sex in the next part. Dream on.

Also for what it's worth here's my recommendations for some really good
stories here in the boy-bands section: Studio in the Country, Flowers Never
Bend With the Rainfall, and of course my fave of all Forever.

Also feel free to AIM or ICQ me anytime. ICQ is 61902044 and AIM is
Saphireflame. I also just got some major revisions to my sight done. Yay,
that was a miracle. Anyway check it out if you want to.
http://members.xoom.com/slashfic As always I love to hear from my fans.
Denn0113@yahoo.com, please feel free to write me. See you soon folks.

Dennis