Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2001 16:11:08 -0800 (PST) From: Adam Irwin Subject: Brotherhood Disclaimer This story is not real. None of the characters and I share a personal relationship, and I know nothing of their true lives. This is pure fiction, and should be taken as so upon reading. You should be 18, because the is the legal age in the United States to read sexual stories. But if you are in a country where their is no legal age then that is cool, just make sure you follow your laws. You should also accept that their is homosexuality in this story, and it is between characters of 'Nsync and the Backstreet Boys. If you have read this disclaimer, and you followed it, then you can continue reading. Notes from the Author Okay, so this story is an alternate universe story. I've done some stories about high schools, and they went pretty well. Actually my one high school story got me the most replies I've ever had, and it was the shortest story I've ever written. So I figured I would try my luck at something similar but all together different. This story is a college based story, focusing on Justin, Nick, and Kevin in a fraternity. You'll also see JC, Lance, Brian, Britney, and Christina in their too. As of now I'm not sure if Joey or AJ will appear, but they could later on in the story. As for Chris and Howie, they will both appear as professors. Cuz Chris is old, and Howie is just, well I don't know, he seems professional to me. The story will deal with the dark subject matter of abuse and the effects it has, not only on the abused, but the abuser, friends, and acquintances. It is serious in nature, and I hope to project that through my story. I admit however that the subject matter may not be appropriate for every type of audience, and I leave you to be the judge of that for yourself. This chapter will inform you of only Nick, Justin, and Kevin's roles in the story. The others will come into play later on. Any feedback can be sent to golden_silence27@yahoo.com or baby_brown7@hotmail.com I will write back to all feedback, the good or the bad. And I appriciate all e-mails that are sent, so please send me anything. Well, not anything, but you know what I mean. Chapter 1 - Hidden Justin walked through his frat house slowly. The hallway he was in was empty, he liked it that way. His body was beaten, and had any of his 'brothers' seen the markings they would have offered help he would have been ashamed to take. He was wearing only a pair of tight boxer briefs around his waist, barely covering any part of his body, let alone the brusies, which numbered in the twenties on his chest and arms. His face was still perfect, something that his boyfriend had never once touched in anger. It wasn't that Justin was scrawny or unable to fight back, he just couldn't. In fact, Justin was quite muscular, and tall too, but his boyfriend was still taller and stronger. Not to mention always angry and had Justin even thought of telling someone, he knew what would happen. Fighting back wouldn't have done any better either, with one hit Justin would have turned to run and Kevin would have easily caught him. But Justin was convinced that Kevin loved him, and so late at night he would leave Kevin's room in the house and walk quietly back to his room the floor above. Justin was a freshman, Kevin a junior, and that meant Kevin had say over Justin in the house. Barely a day went by when Kevin didn't give Justin some punishment, seemingly for nothing, but usually because he suspected Justin was getting to close with another brother. Something Justin got extra punishment for in the dark of night. As he came to his room, he knew not to open the door too loudly, or flick on the lights. He didn't want to wake up his roomate Nick. That was the last thing he needed, if Nick saw what damage he had, he knew that he would have to tell the truth. He smiled as he heard the familiar snoring. Shutting the door he walked over to his bed and slid under the covers. He made sure to pull both his sheet and comforter over him, so he wouldn't risk them falling off and his bruises being revealed in the morning. But of course, by morning the swelling would go down and they would be just black and blue or purple marks, they wouldn't catch that much attention. Sleep came with ease, it always did. In his dreams he was not in a battering relation, and he wasn't sore all over. Dreams are different then reality though. 8 hours later, around 10 in the morning, Nick awoke in his and Justin's bedroom with a yawn. Looking over he caught Justin's form under the covers and smiled. He knew if the brothers were aware of him being gay he would be kicked out, but in the privacy of his room, he had no worries. Watching Justin sleep was one of his favorite affairs, it always brought a smile to his face. Every once in a while, he would even run his hand through the younger brothers curly hair and imagine doing that at night in bed together. Of course, he would never do that unless he was positive Justin was asleep. And the way Justin was squirming, he was almost positive his friend would be getting up shortly. It was when Justin screamed and jumped up that he was proven right. With quickness he was out of his bed and running to Justin's side. "Are you okay Justin?" Nick started to stroke Justin's arm, but the quickness that Justin pulled away Nick was shocked. Looking down he caught sight of all the black and blue marks on Justin's arm, and was even more shocked. "Dude, what are those marks from?" Justin was still reviving from his nightmare and after hearing the words he looked down to see what Nick was looking at. His mind instinctively told him to cover up and he pulled the blankets over his body. "I got in a fight at a bar, no big deal." Justin lied quickly, trying to keep the best straight face he could. Nick just looked at him wearily. "Well, I'm gonna go catch a shower. If you need me or anything, just holler." Nick turned and walked out of the room. He didn't believe the lie, but he knew he wasn't going to get anything else out of Justin now. Justin turned over in bed and wanted to cry. His arm hurt like a bitch from Nick's gently hands, and his chest burned from the bruises. He didn't even want to get up, but he knew if he didn't meet Kevin in the kitchen of the house for breakfast, that it would end up in a meeting in his bedroom later on. And his body needed to heal before that happened. With little speed he inched out of the bed and onto the cold floor. His body almost gave way from the pain, but he had become a master at hiding it, and new by the time he was dressed it would be gone, or at least concealed. Heading towards his closet he pulled out a pair of pants and a long sleeved shirt. It was a nice day outside, but short sleeves were out of the question, he barely even had any undershirts anymore, they just weren't worth it when he couldn't wear them. He knew he probably smelled bad, but he could always shower after his breakfast, it would save him the explanation of his whereabouts to Kevin. As he walked out of the room he could already feel the pain minimizing in his body, but the shirt he had chosen was very irritating to his bruises, he tuned it out. "Hey." Kevin didn't even look up, he just knew Justin was in the room. He was like that, had a sixth sense of things about Justin. "I poured you a bowl of cereal." "Thanks." Justin knew not to be too kind, he didn't know if all the frat brothers had left yet, and being to friendly could have been taken wrong. Well, not wrong, because they would have been right, but Justin definetly didn't want the whole frat to know about him Kevin, that would have only made things worse. "Sorry if it's soggy, but you were a little late." The voice was normal, but Justin picked up on the small inflection towards the end. He flinched involuntarily. "I'm sorry, I'm a little sore, and I had a hard time getting up. I'm really sorry." Justin apologized. "I know you're sorry." Kevin's answer was sharp and quick, and Justin was all too aware of what he meant by sorry. "It's okay though, I'm use to it." Justin was beginning to feel the pain again. The words were leading him to believe he was in for more tonight, and he couldn't handle that. "Unless of course you make it up to me. But not right now, I've got class. Meet me back here around 11." "But I've got a class at...." Justin was cut off when the door of the house shut, it was too late, Kevin was gone. And there was no way he was going to stand him up. "So, who'd you get in the fight with?" Nick sat down at the table surprising Justin. "What?" "The fight, you know, the one that bruised you up pretty bad." Nick replied, trying to act as though he wasn't being inquisitive. He didn't want Justin to think he was prying, but he also wanted to get the truth from him, one way or another. "Oh, some kid at a bar. I didn't catch a name, ya know, that's not how fights usually start." Justin laughed half-heartedly hoping Nick would do the same, but nothing came out of his companion. "Well, I'm here for ya if you need it. I know brothers don't like to get help, but uh, I am bigger then you, so, if you ever wanna confront of him again....I'm around." Nick smiled and grabbed Justin's shoulder. His test worked. Justin flinched quickly and the pain in his eyes hurt Nick just to see. "Justin, maybe you shouldn't go to class. Every time I touch, even gently, you flinch, you're seriously hurting." "No!" Justin answered a little too fast, and quickly shut his mouth. "I mean, I can't, I've got an exam, and I'm, I'm supposed to meet Kevin back here at 11. So, yeah, I gotta go." Justin stood and grabbed his bowl from the table, as he walked to the sink he was very much aware of Nick following him. He was very much surprised when Nick pushed him in the stomach, the pain was unbareable and he was quickly on the ground wincing. Looking up he was surprised to see Nick down at his side. "Dude, I'm sorry, I just, I had to see how much pain you were in. And I knew you weren't going to tell me, so I had to find out. I'm sorry, but you aren't going to classes." Nick slowly ran his hand down Justin's cheek, realizing that it was the only safe spot for him to touch. "Let's get you upstairs." With care Justin was back on his feet and with Nick's help they were heading towards the bedroom. Nick was doing much of the work, as Justin barely controlled himself from falling or crying. As he laid down in bed all he wanted to do was sleep. "Justin, I gotta know, is this really from a fight." Justin just shook his head up and down, lieing again, but he couldn't tell the truth. Nick smiled, he didn't believe it, but once again he wasn't going to question it. He had his own way of finding out. He had a hunch, and he had the perfect way to find out if he was right, or even close to it. Shutting the door quietly, he walked down stairs, he figured there had to be something on tv to keep him occupied until 11 rolled around. Meanwhile Justin slept peacefully for once. Although he usually went to bed with good dreams, he always awoke to nightmares. They were usually the same too, always focusing on his abuse. The most frequent contained Kevin and his father. Each exchanging blows, first his father and then Kevin. When Justin came out his family had been displeased, but his father had shunned him. On the occasions they did speak, it involved constant pain on Justin's part, from both emotional and physical abuse. And in his dreams he was 15 again, in his bedroom, his eyes shut on the bed as his father smacked him and then Kevin punched him, each time it became more brutal, and each time his screams became louder and louder in the reality of his bedroom. Today, Nick had been awake to hear them, that was new. But like said, Justin was dreaming peacefully. Nick was so kind to him, his hands so gentle, his words so kind. Justin was not used to this kind of affection or behavior from a male, and his dream was now focusing on that. In this dream, he appeared to be 15 like the others, but he was in grand palace, not his bedroom, and he was with only one person. Nick, dressed in all white and extending arms for Justin, walked gracefully towards him, his smile widened. He was definetly having a good dream. Back downstairs, Nick was impatient. It was 10:45 and he was weary of waiting. He had heard nothing of Justin waking up, which made him happy. He needed Justin to be asleep when he tried his idea, then again, he was also happy because it looked like Justin needed lots of sleep. Every thought he had continuously drifted back to his cute, curly headed rommate. No matter what he thought of or did, he couldn't get him out of his head. And the bruises were constantly at the back of his head, his own pain to hard to control at the mere thought of hurting such a beautiful person. If his idea was right, he was going to hurt someone for hurting Justin. If he could. Kevin is pretty big. Not height wise, or weight over Nick, but he's a little more muscular. But Nick had a good thought that he could take Kevin on just pure adreniline from his anger. It was worth giving it try, because he knew, deep down, that he couldn't let Justin hurt anymore, not like that. "JUSTIN!" Nick practically jumped from his seat. That was Kevin's voice. It was time for him to see if his thoughts were right. "Hey Kev, you mind keeping to down? Justin's really sick and he's upstairs sleeping." Nick replied calmly as he walked into the kitchen where Kevin entered the house. "What do you mean he's sick?" Kevin seemed to be fine with it, but Nick could sense a little anger in him. "Well, I was talking to him, ya know, throwing around stories and stuff about last night. And I patted him on the stomach, and he just fell over. He was wincing in pain dude, and I barely hit him. I don't know, I had to help him to bed, and he's been asleep since. I just don't want him to wake up, I called a doctor and they said they would be over later in the day." Nick replied with a forced frown. "No one is touching him, not some doctor either." Kevin replied, his anger seeping through his image. He had bought Nick's lie, and was following right into his trap. "Kev, dude, why not? He's sick, real sick. You can't keep him from medical attention." Nick was slowly becoming more aware of Kevin's presence getting closer to him. "This isn't your business Nick. I'll handle everything, so just take a hike." Nick fell backwards as Kevin pushed him. He was caught off guard, but was able to pull himself up and remain on balance. With speed he lunged back at Kevin, knocking him on the table. Kevin however was able to gain balance, and was easily outdone by Nick's strong and nimble limbs. "Go back to class." Nick pushed Kevin off the table, and Kevin fixed himself. With a low grunt, he walked out of the house, leaving Nick to figure out how to get Justin to talk. TBC... Notes The next chapter will continue along with the plot, and you will meet the other characters and find out their roles in the story. I hope you liked this chapter, and the next will be a little longer, I just had to find an ending point for this one. Let me know what you thought of this chapter by sending an e-mail to baby_brown7@hotmail.com or golden_silence27@yahoo.com Thanks!