Date: Fri, 12 Jul 2002 12:27:44 -0400 From: Leo Huang Subject: Tales of a Superhero Band Chapter 14 With thanks to Jordi, Aeoros, Rune and Mikey for being the coolest friends on the net! Thanks for being there guys! Especially dedicated to Justin, Jeremy and Louis. The three of you have inspired more new parts of this story. Quidditch and lightsabers forever, brothers! :D Especially for Justin: I never expected when I first met you that we'd be together. How did I ever end up with someone like you, so loving, caring and thoughtful? What did you see in me that made you smile that extra sweetly for me? How did I get a boyfriend that has the same name as Mr. Timberlake, the star I've admired for so long? You may not be an angel, but you sure are my heaven. Love you! :) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Disclaimer: This story is fictional, and says nothing about the orientations of any member of the boyband N Sync, or any other character, celebrity or otherwise. If you are under 18 or 21, or live in a country where it's illegal to read something like this, leave, though I seriously doubt you will. If you don't like the idea of two guys in a relationship with each other, or having sex with each other, what are you doing here in the first place? Though maybe none of the characters will be appearing, ideas taken from these places will show up: Buffy, Copyright 20th Century Fox, Created by Joss Whedon X-Men, Copyright Marvel Comics, Created by Stan Lee Charmed, Copyright WB, Created by Aaron Spelling Harry Potter, Copyright JK Rowling (due to James' addition of Harry Potter to his Dark Knight series, I find myself adding it in too, but the character may never appear in the story. However, loving Quidditch as much as I do... :D ) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Chapter 14 - The Big Break I had no idea where Joey's house was, and Joey was in no condition to tell me, with all his occasional outbursts of sobgs. He was taking the ordeal really badly, and I was at a loss on how to help him. The only place I decided I could bring him to was my house. Deciding that the others did not need to know about this, I turned us both invisible as I walked through the front door. I just hoped that Reuben missed his computer enough to not leave his room. What I did not expect was to find Justin sitting on the couch in the living room. The smell of alcohol and cum seemed to grow stronger as we left Lance's house, and I was sure Justin could smell them both as we entered. He would probably get the wrong idea. "Dylan?" Justin asked, his voice suddenly taking on an edge that I've never heard before. Damn, I hated being right. "Yeah, it's me," I said, not turning visible. "What are you doing here?" "Waiting for you," Justin said coldly. "I came back this morning and I couldn't find you anywhere." "You didn't go back to your own house first?" I asked, a little snappily. Justin avoided my question. "Why don't you just become visible and we can talk face to face. Don't think I can't smell the booze on you." "You know I don't drink," I stated matter-of-factly. Justin rolled his eyes, and widened them as though he was a little kid remembering something interesting. "Oh, that's right," he said, "I forgot! You don't drink, you don't smoke, you don't have sex with your boyfriend." I growled in frustration. "Can we just get over it? I told you, I'm not ready for that yet." Justin's voice cooled the room a couple of degrees. "Oh really. Then why is it I smell sex all over you?" "Justin, I don't want to start a shouting match again, so can you please leave? I'll explain everything later." "NO! I DESERVE AN EXPLANATION RIGHT NOW!" Justin's scream probably shook dust from the beams. So much for not getting anyone's attention. Within seconds, everyone was downstairs to see the cause of the commotion. Even Faith, Jimmy and Leon were there, despite it being none of their business. In fact, it was no one's business except Justin's and my own, but if he chose to air it out in front of people, then I'd play by his rules. I faded into view again with Joey, still looking a mess, desperately clinging to my arm. "Joey!" Justin said, contempt dripping like venom from his lips. "I should have guessed that you two had something on. 'Not ready for sex' my ass!" I raised my voice in anger. "It's not what it looks like, so don't jump to conclusions without giving me a chance to explain." "And what the fuck could you possibly say that would make this look right?!" Justin shrieked. I saw Reuben's face twist in anger as he stormed in front of Justin and glared him in the eyes. "Lay off him, he said he has a good reason," Reuben growled. "Mind your own business," Justin replied hotly. "This is between my boyfriend and I." "This is my business," Reuben stated bluntly. Joy and Melvin stood on either side of Reuben. "Our business. Dylan is our friend." "Then ask him why the hell he's been sleeping with Joey!" Justin screamed again. "He didn't say he did," Joy replied. "Let him explain." "Shut up, bitch!" An audible slap was heard, followed by Joy's scream of pain, and Reuben's shout of rage. Melvin looked furious, but he still held the enraged Reuben away from Justin. Joy was in tears, and everyone was shocked. At that moment, I lost it. "GET OUT!" I yelled. Justin looked shocked. He was about to say something, but I cut him off. "FREAKIN' GET OUT!" "No!" Justin said. "Get your friends to leave, then I'll talk." "You think I want to talk to you?!" I screamed. Joey, who had been whimpering the whole time began to wail. "You care more about your friends than you do about me!" Justin hissed. "I refuse to be in a relationship with you if your friends keep getting in the way! Now, choose: me, or those assholes you call 'friends'?" I was stunned. He was giving me an ultimatum, one that was meant to be difficult to choose. But it was so easy, so very simple. I walked over to Justin, my face calm. I leant over, moving my lips towards his. He smiled uncertainly, but leaned towards me and locked his lips with mine. We kissed for a moment, then I broke off. "Goodbye Justin," I said, watching his face fall. "Are you so foolish and arrogant to think that I would give up my friends for you?" Realisation hit him hard, overwhelming him. He stared at me, his mouth gaping like a fish out of water, his eyes filling with tears. He choked, "No, Dylan, I'm sorry." "It's too late," I said, quelling the sadness that threatened to rise up and consume me. "You made me choose, and I've chosen. It's too late to go back, Justin." "No," Justin whispered. "Nonononono." "Yes," I said, holding the tears back. "Bye Justin." His tear-streaked face was so full of anguish that I could barely watch as he stumbled out the front door. I felt as thought my heart was being ripped into pieces. I wanted to call out to him, ask him to come back, but I choked on the words. I wanted to reach out to him and pull him back, but my whole body felt numb and lifeless. I felt a strong arm on my shoulder, and turned to see Melvin staring back at me with his clear brown eyes. He could tell what I was thinking, and he looked with sympathy at me. "Let him go, he made his choice, and you made yours." I couldn't help it anymore. I grabbed Melvin and began to cry my heart out. I don't know how long I stayed that way, but I cried until I couldn't cry any more. Then I felt Joey's arms around me. "I'm so sorry," he whispered. "I'm such a screw-up." I turned around to reassure him that he wasn't, but he bolted out of the house before I could say a word. "Joey, wait! Come back!" He either didn't hear me, or chose to ignore me. "I don't understand." I had tried to contact Joey, Justin, or any of the Nsync guys without success for the past week. I could understand why Justin wouldn't want to speak to me, but I still couldn't figure out Joey's reasons for running away. I decided to let it go. When they are ready to contact me, they will. Things had pretty much gone back to normal after last week's incident, but I was still trying to get used to waking up alone in bed without Justin's form lying next to me. Reuben thought I got over it pretty quickly, but Melvin had said that all Filan's were strong people. I would have scoffed if it wasn't for the fact that it was pretty true. Only Shane's father was still alive, my father and my other uncle having died before. The three segments of the Filan clan were used to being in danger because of our powers, and we moved on quickly. To survive, we had to. It took Reuben and Joy a while to get used to, especially since not more than two days after the break-up, I had gotten the email Shane had talked about, and I was apparently "too happy about it to have just broken up" according to Joy. In an attempt to cheer me up, Joy arranged a holiday for us at her father's house in Columbus, Ohio. I would be leaving for Ireland after the holiday, so I packed more clothes than anyone else, not knowing how long I would be there. I printed a few copies of the email out and placed them in various bags and pockets of my clothes in case I lost the information. "Someone's a little too excited about this," Melvin commented as I pass him a copy to keep with him in case anything happened to my copies. I dumped some clothes into my suitcase, then slipped another copy of the email in. "You can't be too careful about things like this." Melvin groaned. "Dylan, it's just a game." "And that attitude is precisely the reason why you didn't make the league!" I laughed. Melvin just rolled his eyes and sat on my bed, crumpling some of my clothes (and probably a few copies of the email). "What's all this league thing about?" Joy asked. She helped me pack a few items into another bag, then grabbed one of the sheets of paper and read it aloud. "Dear Mr Filan, it is my pleasure to inform you that your team, the Flaming Filans, as made it into the European Quidditch Minor League. The EQML is a new league designed to give teams from various European countries a chance to enter the various Quidditch Major Leagues. Not only will you be competing against teams from your own country, you will also have the chance to play against other teams from around Europe. The teams have been selected from schools around the continent, and include not only Wizards and Witches of major schools, but also the Hedgewizards and Hedgewitches who have their own teams..." "And blah blah blah about the information on where to meet and the prizes and stuff," Melvin said. "Meeting times with teams and information on the first match and stuff. Signed by Ludovic Bagman, Minister for Sports." Joy looked up from the paper. "How did you know?" "I read the silly thing countless times already," Melvin said. "Wow," Joy said. "First prize is thirty thousand galleons. What the heck is a galleon?" "Wizard currency," I said. "I have no idea about the exchange rate now, though, but it's still a lot." "Well, I hope you guys win," Joy said. "What position do you play?" "Chaser," I replied. "Shane and Rachel are chasers too. My cousin Seamus is a beater, along with my brother Ryan. Seamus' brother Casey is seeker and their sister Aithne is keeper. You should come and watch us play or something." Joy smiled. "Maybe another time. Right now, I'm anxious to see my father. Can we get done packing so we can leave for Columbus already?" "Sure, I'm almost done," I said, slamming the last suitcase shut. "Just let me check my email before we leave." Melvin and Joy both looked over my shoulders as I logged into my email service. Throughout the space of two hours of packing, I had managed to get fifteen emails, most of them junk. Except one. "Oh my goodness," Joy exclaimed. "Is that really...?" My heart began to race as I clicked on the email and it opened up. "Dear Dylan, I'm so sorry, I really am. Please call me and we can make up or something. Please?? :( love, Justin. XXX." I turned to Joy, grinning like a fool. "Is there space for one more person to come?" Bringing Justin along proved to be a mistake. He was cordial to my friends, but otherwise wouldn't speak to them. Likewise, they pretty much ignored him in return. He spent the vacation bringing me to bars and trying to get me in bed, which I told him wasn't going to help. I didn't believe in make-up sex, and we hadn't completely mae-up anyway. The only highlight of the disastrous trip was a fight against a vampire and the Friends of Humanity. (author's note: The Punisher in Celebrities section, Chapter 10 roughly.) We had met a really snobbish wizard then, a muggle-born who had never been formally trained. We also met a crazed man who shot people dead, and a mutant whose name I didn't catch. Other than that, the trip was pretty boring. Justin and I had an argument after the vampire incident, and he had packed up and left without us knowing the next day. He left me a note telling me that he would be in touch, he just needed to sort out his emotions. It didn't hurt as much as the last time he left, so I let him go without too much fuss. If he wanted to sort out his emotions, who was I to stop him? I spent the last day of the holiday hanging out on the beach with my friends and getting myself mentally prepared for being back in Ireland. Shane had sent me an email telling me that he was back home already, and that they've been practicing already. Rachel and Ryan were already there, and I received news that Aithne had quit the team, and her younger brother Malcolm had taken over as Keeper. Aithne had trained Malcolm to take over her position since she had been admitted into the Quidditch Referee Association, and wasn't allowed to play with us any more. All in all, despite all the problems I was having with Justin, I was in a relatively upbeat mood, excited by the prospect of actually playing Quidditch again. Joy, Reuben and Melvin sent me off at the airport, wishing me the best of luck. They all promised to come down and watch some of the matches when they had the chance to. I hugged my friends goodbye and boarded the plane. The plane took off fine, and I enjoyed my window seat in first class. I enjoyed watching the sky and clouds as we flew over the North Atlantic. I closed my eyes and imagined I was out there, flying alongside the plane through the cold air. It was a relaxing scene, and I felt like I was dozing off. A sudden jolt shocked me awake, albeit a little disoriented. The plane jolted again, and began to tip forward. A quick glance out the window told me that the weather should have been fine for flying, bright and blue. But then, what did I know about planes anyway? If Melvin was here, he probably could explain everything better. After all, his father was a pilot, and his elder brother is a pilot. But even so, I had a feeling in my gut telling me that it was no ordinary turbulance. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your pilot speaking," came the voice over the intercom. "I'm crashing us now, hope you had a nice flight." Damn, I hate being right all the time. I could hear people shrieking all over the plane. A few of the air stewards and stewardesses rushed about trying to keep everyone calm, but most of them were sobbing or panicking. One of them, the crew leader, was pounding on the locked door seperating her from the pilots. I didn't know if those doors could be locked, but it didn't matter to me anyway. "Here, let me," I said to the hysterical stewardess. She moved aside, and I charged through the door into the cockpit. Both the pilot and co-pilot were just sitting in their seats, not doing anything. Their eyes were open, and they were breathing, but they seemed paralysed. I slapped the older man in the face. "Hey! Wake up! Snap out of it!" His blank stare was the only reply I got. I focused on my powers, trying to see if there was something controlling him. Sure enough, there was a strange blackish light around him and the co-pilot. I looked at all the instruments in the plane, not comprehending any of their meanings, though I figured that the rapidly dropping numbers weren't a good indicator of our flight destination. I couldn't fly the plane, not in a million years, and screw all those movies where people who've never been trained to fly are able to get down with help via communication with someone in a control tower somewhere. "Damn, damn, damn!" I screamed in frustration. Then I quickly shook my head. This situation requuired clear thinking, so I tried to clear my mind amidst the screaming of terror. Then I saw it. A weak spot in the black aura surrounding the pilots. I concentrated on that weak spot, focusing as much of both my kindred powers and my magic as I could into it to disperse the aura. It began to weaken, then it struggled back against me. I gritted my teeth and concentrated more on it, trying to overcome whoever was on the other end of the power. I heard a loud mental shriek as the black shrouds disappeared from the pilots, and they woke up from their dazed state. "What's going on?" the younger one asked. "No time!" I yelled. "The plane is crashing." Immediately, they both slipped back into control of the plane, and I sighed with relief as the plane levelled off once again, then slowly began climbing. The pilot grabbed the microphone and spoke into it. "Ladies and gentleman, we are sorry about that. It seems that we were affected by some mind-controlling terrorist of some sort, and we have since regained control of the plane. We deeply and sincerely apologise for the whole situation." I felt relieved when we touched down safe and sound in Knock International Airport in County Mayo later that night. After alighting the plane and collecting my luggage, I stopped into the toilet to wash my face. I splashed some cold water on myself, and rubbed my eyes, not wanting to appear like I had been sleeping the rest of the trip (hey, the whole mental battle tired me out!) when I felt as though someone was watching me. Slowly, I glanced upwards into the mirror and saw my own reflection. I turned around, worried that someone was there, but there was no one. Then I felt some mental probing into my mind. I recognised the same energy pattern as the one I fought off on the plane, and I immediately set up mental barriers. My opponent tried to force his way through my barriers, but couldn't get more than what he already had, which wasn't much. a dry whispery voice said in my head. I replied confidently. The mental voice hissed, and then left my mind. I smirked, though I knew whoever it was couldn't see me. He was still weak from losing the fight, and I had few worries that he would try to do anything more for the next few days. I whistled as I walked out of the bathroom, refreshed and confident. I wondered if I was going to get a cab that would drive me to my home in Riverstown, Co. Sligo, or if any of my family was picking me up. In the rush of the vacation, I had forgotten to make plans with them. I shrugged and made my way to the taxi stand. "'Ey plonker! Dis way!" I heard a familiar voice yell. I turned to see a short guy wearing a cap. He had the unmistakable brown eyes and sharp jawline of the Filan clan. He grinned and waved at me to come over. "Brilliant! Oi need someone ter pick me up an' they send de babby," I retorted, slipping back into my Irish accent. It was good to be home. "An' who're yer callin' babby? Oi'm not dat young," my cousin replied hotly. I pulled him into a hug, and he hugged back. "Great ter see yer too, Casey," I said. We released each other and made small talk as he led me to his car. It wasn't too far a journey to Riverstown, and at the way Casey was speeding, I doubt it took more than twenty minutes to reach there. Casey had been chosen to fetch me because of my unearthly arrival time, and since they had run out of room, I was sharing Casey's room with him. Everyone was sound asleep when we reached home, and I didn't bother to unpack. I just took a quick shower and joined Casey in deep slumber. Tomorrow would be a wonderful brand new day. I briefly wondered how Lance, Joey and the rest of the Nsync guys were doing before my mind shut off completely. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Comments, questions? Email dylan@celticwarrior.com