Kevin and Justin

All the usual disclaimers apply: Please stop reading if you are underage or homophobic.

This is a work of fiction - nothing is being implied about the sexuality of any of the people portrayed below.

Author's notes:

1. I'm not used to thinking of mobile phones as 'cell phones'. In Australia, they're generally called 'mobiles' and that's what I'm most comfortable calling them. However, as I'm dealing with American characters, when they mention mobile phones, they'll say 'cell phone/s'. Just note that outside of 'conversations' this may not hold true. Big hint: this chapter mentions mobile phones! :)

2. Though everyone should already know this anyway, I'll just re- iterate it... This is a work of fiction and I'm using 'artistic license' throughout the story. Which basically means that my characters may not 'fit in' with what you know about the real people they're based on (e.g. nicknames, what sort of underwear they wear, etc.). Please don't hold it against me if I get something wrong - I can't research EVERYTHING about the real-life people that my characterisations are based on!

3. I don't know a lot about the 'Boys of Summer' (?) tour, even after having read several stories in the archive that mention it. So, in my universe, 'N Sync and BSB are the only two bands on the tour. I thought I should mention this right up front, so that you don't start wondering where the additional 'cast' are.

So, with that in mind, here's the next instalment of 'Kevin & Justin'.

Kevin & Justin - Chapter 4

Brian was the only one who remained calm at the revelation that Justin was missing.

"He's probably just in his room. Don't worry guys!" he admonished them. He walked out of A.J.'s suite and strode to Kevin's door. Knocking didn't seem to produce any results. Nor did turning the doorknob: the door was locked and no-one had a master key to the suites. He turned around and faced the massed talents of two of the world's most popular bands.

"We should try their phone. Maybe they're just asleep and can't hear the knocking from their bedroom," he suggested, sounding unconvincing even to himself.

Even though it was only a slim chance, Lance flew back into A.J.'s room, as if catapulted. By the time they had all joined him, he had already listened to the phone in Kevin's room ring for the third time. He glanced nervously at the faces arrayed around him. "No answer yet."

He let the phone ring for a full minute before he hung up and tried again.

Placing the receiver back in its cradle after the second call, he shook his head to indicate no-one was answering the phone. He was on the verge of crying, along with JC.

"Well, our final option is to get someone in Reception to come up with a key to their room, but that could raise a lot of unwanted questions," A.J. said. "Personally, I think they're not in their room. Either they've both disappeared to the same place - maybe the restaurant or one of the terraces, or they've left separately. I'm not too worried about Kevin: I don't think he's too far away and he can take care of himself. But Justin..."

"There are a couple of options, as A.J. has pointed out," Chris said, filling the pause. "I think we should check with the front desk first, in case they saw Curly leaving. If they haven't, then Justin is still somewhere in the hotel. I'm sure we'd be able to find him - we have enough people here to do a thorough search of the building."

"Good idea," Lance agreed, brightening. "Let me check with the front desk."

"Do you think Kevin is okay?" Nick asked Brian softly.

"Yeah Nicky, I think Kevin is fine. He wouldn't do anything stupid. He's probably just out walking, or working off some steam in the gym."

"Kev works out?" JC enquired, having overhead their softly spoken conversation. He had calmed down considerably now that they were 'actively looking' for Justin.

"Yeah, Kevin is almost a fanatic," Brian replied.

"I wonder if that's the place to start looking?" JC asked. "If Justin IS with Kevin, and Kevin is in the gym, then we should check there first."

"It's a thought... But let's wait and see what Lance comes up with."

They heard Lance finishing his conversation with the front desk. He turned a relieved looking face to his friends. "He's still somewhere in the hotel! The desk clerk has been there for the past hour, and she hasn't seen anyone leaving the hotel who matches Justin's description. She was at her desk the whole time - I checked and made sure of that."

"Well, that's a relief," Chris said. "So he's somewhere in the hotel. Where could he be?"

"Let's check the hotel brochures. That should tell us what's open at this time of night. Then we'll split up into groups and go looking for him," suggested Howie.

Lance 'leapt' into action once more and hurriedly picked up the dossier, which was lying next to the phone.

"Okay let's see. There's the pool deck. That's on the 14th floor. The gym's on that floor too. Both are still open." He paused as he scanned the rest of the booklet. "There are two restaurants still open at the moment. One is on the 1st floor and the other is on the 3rd. And the only other place that's still open is the bar on the ground floor."

"Okay, BSB guys: grab your cell phones and select a partner!" Brian said quickly. "JC, care to come with me to the 14th floor? We'll check out the pool and the gym. The rest of you can take care of the other possibilities. As soon as you find Justin, or Kevin for that matter, call the others and let them know! If you don't find either of them, come back here. We'll all meet back here, and if they're still missing, we'll take the next step."

Brian didn't bother waiting to see if anyone agreed with him or not. He grabbed JC by the arm and pulled him out of the room. He raced back to his suite and grabbed both his and Nick's mobiles. On the way back out, he almost smashed into Nick, who was striding to their room in search of his phone. Nick's partner was Lance.

"Here's your cell phone Nick. Good luck!" Brian handed over the mobile, then took off at a trot.

"Yeah, you too Bri."

"Just so you know Brian," Lance called out, "A.J. and Chris will be checking out the bar, and Joey and Howie the restaurant on the 3rd floor. Nick and I will check out the restaurant on the 1st floor."

"'Kay, got it!" Brian called, opening the doorway to the stairwell. He wasn't in the mood to wait for the elevator to arrive.

JC hastily followed and caught up with him just as he exited the stairwell on the 14th floor.

"Do you really think they'll be in the gym?" he asked Brian.

"I don't know, but I'm sure hoping so! I don't want to think of what it could mean to find that my cousin is missing!" He fell silent as he felt a shiver go down his spine. Then turning to look at JC, he continued, "I guess you'd feel the same way about Justin?"

The bleak expression on JC's face was all the answer he needed. However, JC also nodded slowly in answer to his query.

They checked out the pool first, as they had to pass it on their way to the gym. Brian suggested that JC stay in the hallway, just in case Justin and/or Kevin walked by, while he checked the terrace and pool area.

A few minutes later, he reappeared and shook his head, indicating to JC that he hadn't seen them.

They resumed their trek to the gym, silently praying that their missing friends would be there.

They turned the corner and entered the gym. Both stopped dead in their tracks. Kevin and Justin were there: fiercely hugging each other, and crying softly.

Brian and JC looked at each other. Brian briefly glanced back at the pair in concern before turning to face JC once more. He indicated with his head that they should leave and saw JC nod in agreement. They turned around and left the gym without disturbing the crying duo.

Once well away from the gym, Brian pulled out his phone and called Nick.

"Frick?" answered Nick in a hopeful tone.

"Yeah Frack, we've found them. They're both in the gym," Brian explained, not hiding the relief in his voice.

"Oh thank God!" Nick replied, his voice almost breaking.

"Look Nick, can you do me a favour and call Howie and tell him? I've still got to call A.J."

"Sure Frick. What do we do after that?"

"Let's just head back to A.J.'s room, okay?"

"Okay. Thanks Bri! See you soon."

"'Bye Nick."

Both Howie and A.J.'s groups were informed, much to their relief as well. Soon, they had all assembled back in A.J.'s room.

"So where are they?" asked Chris, peering behind JC and Brian, as if expecting their missing colleagues to be following the two of them.

"We left them in the gym," Brian replied carefully. "They seemed to be really involved in discussing something, and we didn't want to interrupt them. But they're fine. We'll see them either later tonight or tomorrow, no doubt."

JC didn't say anything. They had discussed what they would tell the others as they made their way back to A.J.'s. Brian had felt like telling everyone the truth, but JC had argued that that would just cause everyone to feel guilty again.

He thought it was best to keep the others in the dark about what they had seen in the gym, especially now that the two groups had talked things through and had come up with their plans. That way, the guys would be able to approach both Kevin and Justin with a positive attitude!

Although Brian hadn't been convinced, he had eventually conceded to JC's arguments.

"Ugh, it will have to be tomorrow in my case," Joey replied, getting to his feet. "I'm wasted! And I've got to get up early too! Oh why did I agree to take on Lance's job?" he wailed.

Lance and Chris laughed, taking absolutely no pity on Joey. After all, Lance hadn't offered him the job. Joey had taken it by force!

"I have to agree with Joey... I'm for bed," Lance said. "I know I don't have to get up early tomorrow," he cast a smug glance at Joey before turning back to face the others, "but I can't shake the habit overnight. I'll be up early whether I like it or not." He got up and turned to face Joey once again. "Come see me in the morning and we'll talk about the schedule."

Joey nodded his head in resignation. "Okay."

"'Night guys," Chris said.

The others echoed him, as Joey and Lance walked out of A.J.'s room.

"No offence guys, but I'm also ready to get my beauty sleep... Can I please ask you all to leave?" asked A.J., smiling to soften his rudeness. The only people who could have taken offence were JC and Chris. The others were used to A.J. and paid no attention to his rudeness.

Chuckles greeted his request, as everyone got up and started filing out. "'Night A.J." they chorused.

A.J. closed his front door and wearily locked it. He was on his bed and sleeping within a minute, with a relieved smile on his lips.

--*

The others said 'good night' to each other outside, in the hallway, before peeling off to their respective rooms. Soon, JC was the only person left standing in the hallway. Though he also felt tired, he sat down near the door to Kevin's and Justin's room and patiently waited for them to appear.

He had a lot to think about...

Not only about how rotten he felt for causing them both to be hurt, but also about the realisation that Justin was gay.

Try as he might, he couldn't feel any surprise. He thought back over the years that he had known Justin and could recall trivial events, comments and actions which now made perfect sense to him. He realised that he had always known: it had just taken him a while to 'see' the obvious.

And one thing that was patently obvious to him at the moment was that he still thought of Justin as his closest friend. Not even the fact that Justin was gay could make him change his feelings towards his best bud.

Besides, away from the band he had several close friends who were gay, so he knew he could cope with Justin being gay!

He smiled gently as his thoughts turned back to how Justin had acted since meeting Kevin...

A new suspicion started to form in his mind...

--*

Justin and Kevin pulled apart and sat back down on their bikes. Both had given up the thought of doing any more exercise.

"Justin, I know that what I did was wrong. I relied on you when I had no right to. This is my problem, not yours, and I think I'm going to have to solve it by myself."

"How do you plan on doing that?"

"Well, there's really only one way: I'm going to have to spend time with your friends. I don't know if I'll become the best of friends with them, but I'm going to try my hardest to get to know them better, and allow them the chance to do the same with me."

Justin smiled at the determination he could hear in Kevin's voice. Hopefully, after the scene he had caused earlier, Kevin's wish would be easier to accomplish than expected.

He still felt an overwhelming urge to tell Kevin that he would do anything in his power to help him, and after seeing how much pain he was suffering, to also comfort him. But he didn't think it would be a good idea. One wrong word and Kevin might find out that he was gay! Just the thought of that happening was enough to freeze the blood in his veins. Kevin's friendship was too valuable to lose!

Thinking quickly, he decided to change the topic before he said something that would embarrass him or expose him.

"Say Kev, I think I heard Nick say something like 'Rock' earlier. What did he mean by that?"

Kevin smiled, knowing what Justin was attempting to do. He decided to follow Justin's lead anyway...

"'Rok', spelt R-O-K by the way, and 'B-Rok', 'B' and 'Bri' are Brian's nicknames. Nick was probably talking to him at the time he said that."

"That's a lot of nicknames for one person," Justin said.

"I guess," Kevin said, shrugging. "It's really just the one nickname though: B-Rok. But because we use different parts of it, and also because we sometimes shorten Brian's name to Bri, it just sounds like a lot of names.

"His other nicknames, by the way, are 'Frick', 'Seaver' and 'Mr. Joker'. Just don't ask me to explain any of them!" Kevin said, holding up his hands to ward off any suggestion of Justin doing just that.

"Do the others have any nicknames?" Justin asked, smiling at Kevin's antics.

"Yes, but I'll only tell you about them if you return the favour."

Kevin smiled his 'special' smile at Justin as he made his roundabout request.

"It's a deal," responded Justin, grinning back at Kevin as his heart raced in response to that 'special' smile.

"Okay, well let's start with A.J. 'A.J.' is actually sort of a nickname. His real name is Alexander James - that's where the initials 'A' and 'J' come from. But if you try calling him Alex or Alexander, he'll give you the evil eye! His other nicknames are 'Bone' and 'Mr. Cool'."

Kevin snorted to show that he still found the nicknames funny, even though he had heard them countless times over the past six years.

Justin continued to grin. He found it so easy to talk to, and to listen to this wonderful man. Well, most of the time - when he wasn't worried about saying something that would reveal his secret...

"Howie is just 'Howie', or sometimes 'D'. His full name is Howard Dorough: that's where the 'D' comes from. We also call him 'Sweet D' and 'Latin Lover' from time to time. No guesses as to why!" Kevin shrugged his shoulders as he snorted in amusement.

"Nick's nicknames are 'Frack', 'Kaos' and 'Mr Hyper'. 'Frack' being the complementary nickname to Brian's 'Frick'... We also sometimes call him 'Blondie', just like JC did earlier today with you, or even just 'Nicky'. He hates that by the way! He only lets Brian get away with calling him that, but I guess that's understandable: they've been living in each other's pockets for the past 5 or 6 years!"

"I'll have to remember that for the next time I speak to Nick."

"Good luck," said Kevin, and really meaning it. Nick had a bad habit of becoming volatile when he thought he was being made fun of. "Okay, your turn now. Tell me all, Just!"

"Okay, where to begin...? Well JC is a bit like A.J. - 'JC' is one of his nicknames. We also call him 'Mr. Serious' on occasion - no prizes for guessing why. If you want to annoy him, by the way, call him 'Joshua'." Justin's smirk was echoed by Kevin.

"Chris's nicknames are 'Luckey' and 'Puerto Rico'. He doesn't mind them, but he absolutely hates it when people call him Christopher. Joey is the same. To upset him, call him Joseph. As for his nicknames, we often call him 'Flirt', and on occasion 'Phat-one' - spelt P-H-A-T, by the way.

"Which only leaves us with Lance. He also has quite a few nicknames, but the most often used ones are Scoop and Lansten. We also sometimes call him by his first name, James, but it doesn't annoy him the same way as the others."

"James?" asked Kevin in surprise.

"Yeah, that's his real first name. He just prefers to be called Lance."

Kevin smiled broadly.

"What's so funny?" Justin asked.

"I just realised that Chris is the odd man out on another count."

"What's that?" asked Justin, amused at Kevin's train of thought.

"Well, Chris is the only one in your group who doesn't have a name starting with 'J'!"

"Oh yeah. That's right! James, Josh, Joey and me, Justin."

They both grinned.

"Okay, time to get really dirty. What are your nicknames Kev?"

Justin couldn't help but smirk at Kevin's abrupt change of expression.

"Well, promise you won't laugh?" asked Kevin. "There are quite a few odd ones..."

"I promise."

"I don't know if I can trust you to keep your word," teased Kevin.

"Of course you can. I'm a man of my word. Besides, if I laugh, then there's a big chance that you'll return the favour when I'm telling you my nicknames."

"Okay, I guess I can trust you... The obvious ones are Kev and Kevy, though only my mom really calls me Kevy. Sometimes the guys do, but not that often."

"Any others?" asked Justin.

"Yeah," Kevin replied, grimacing. "There's also 'Kevy-Kev', 'Train' and... 'Mr. Body Beautiful'."

Justin guffawed loudly.

"Hey, you promised!"

"Sorry Kev, it just caught me by surprise. How did you manage to get that name?"

"I don't think I should tell you. It will only make you laugh more!"

"I'd really like to know."

"Maybe some other time Justin... When I don't feel so certain that you'd laugh in my face."

"Okay," acquiesced Justin. "Any others?"

"Yeah there's one more," Kevin said, surprising Justin. "Sometimes the guys call me 'Boo'." Kevin's tone had lost all semblance of humour. Justin could tell that this particular nickname was special to Kevin.

"That's a bit of an odd nickname, but it sounds kinda nice."

"Yeah. The guys call me that when they feel especially close to me, or when they want to cheer me up." He paused as his eyes briefly clouded over in pain. "At least that's what they USED to call me... I haven't heard them say it in a long time."

He hung his head, trying to overcome the wave of sadness that had rolled over him. But mostly, he hung his head so that he could avoid looking at Justin's expression. He knew that he'd 'break down' if he saw Justin looking at him with concern or empathy.

"I'm sorry to hear that Boo," Justin said gently, his voice filled with concern, compassion and warmth.

Kevin's head snapped back up as Justin's words, their tone, and his nickname being uttered by those lips, all combined to pierce his heart.

His eyes urgently sought out Justin's, as if being drawn there by a magnet. He looked deeply into his angel's eyes and instantly felt himself become lost!

Justin immediately sensed the change in Kevin and found himself returning Kevin's soul-searching gaze. He felt as if he was being allowed the special privilege of seeing into Kevin's soul, and he couldn't suppress the sense of wonder that overcome him!

Kevin, in turn, felt the impact of his feelings for Justin and looked away quickly, his eyes misting over with the ache he felt in his heart. In amongst his heartache there was also a feeling of terror! If this wasn't love, he dreaded to think of how he'd feel when he came up against the real thing!

Justin had only just started to become lost in Kevin's eyes, when Kevin looked away. As with Kevin, he felt a pain grip his heart that startled him with its intensity.

This was quickly pushed aside as he became aware of the distraught look on Kevin's face, and the glimmer of moisture in his eyes.

He got off the bike once more and grabbed a hold of Kevin in his arms. "I'm so sorry Kevin! I shouldn't have called you Boo."

"No Justin, please don't ever think that!" Kevin said anxiously. "I'm not upset that you called me Boo, it was just the way you said it. I could feel your... friendship and warmth... in that word, and it took me by surprise, that's all."

Kevin mentally cursed himself for his 'near-slip'. He had almost said: I could feel your love and friendship...

Justin hugged him tighter, feeling both happy and sad at the same time. This marvellous man was so genuine and good! And hidden deep inside him was a lot of hurt. He could sense it! He knew that it was eating away at Kevin's self-confidence and courage, but Kevin would be hard pressed to let anyone past the barriers to help him.

The ache in Justin's heart came back doubled and he couldn't control his tears anymore.

"Justin," Kevin whispered, "thank you so much for caring about me." He gently rocked the sobbing man, all the time whispering, "Let it all go, Just. Let all your negative emotions wash away with your tears." He ignored his own coursing tears as he tried to comfort the angel in his arms.

A while later Justin had calmed down enough to talk.

"Kev, I'm so sorry about that. I don't know what came over me," he said, as he pulled out of the hug.

"Don't apologise Justin - you needed that. I guess I did as well... I cried almost as much as you!"

Justin grinned weakly.

"Now, we were discussing nicknames if I recall correctly, and you were about to tell me yours," Kevin said, hoping to lighten the mood.

"Oh shoot, I hoped you had forgotten," Justin said petulantly, still drying his eyes.

"Not on your life buddy! So spill them," Kevin said, laughing, and hoping that he could get Justin to brighten up. He hated to see him looking so upset!

"Well, you already know two of them," Justin said. He noted Kevin's surprise. "Remember? 'Just' is one of them, and the other is 'Blondie', same as Nick."

"Oh okay. Well 'Blondie', any others?"

"Yeah a few more. 'Shot' is another one, and the guys sometimes call me... 'The Baby'"

"Awww, that's so cute!" Kevin teased.

"Hmmmm, I guess I deserved that for laughing at your nickname before."

"Yes, you could say that," Kevin said, grinning broadly. "Is that all? You don't have any other nicknames that I can make fun of?"

"Ha ha Kevy... not so very funny!" Justin grinned along with Kevin, feeling happy that they were able to joke around with such ease. "As a matter of fact, I do have another nickname. It's related to my hair. Can you guess what it is?"

"Your hair? Let me see... Curly? Shor-," at Justin's nod, Kevin backtracked, "Curly?"

"Yeah, the guys often call me Curly."

"In an affectionate way? It doesn't really sound too affectionate..." Kevin's eyebrows rose in surprise and confusion.

"Yeah, it seems like a name which can't be used in an affectionate manner, but you'd be surprised! I'm used to it, so I don't hear it any other way. Even then, when you said it a second ago, it sounded kinda nice."

"Hmm, so Curly it is," said Kevin, smiling broadly.

Justin grinned back at him.

He felt so exhilarated being with Kevin. He also felt a bit tired! He looked down at his watch and was surprised to see it was almost midnight.

"Ah Kev, I don't mean to be a spoilsport, but it's getting kinda late. Were you thinking of working out for much longer?"

"No Just, I think I'm done. And you're right, it is getting fairly late. We should get back to our room."

Justin nodded in agreement and helped Kevin get up from his bike.

--*

JC heard a sound coming from the end of the corridor and recognised it as laughter, just as the elevator doors opened.

He saw Kevin and Justin spill out, still smiling at whatever they had been laughing about. He got to his feet and felt life slowly returning to his tired legs.

Justin caught the movement out of the corner of his eyes and he turned to see what had caused it. "Josh?"

Kevin's attention was immediately redirected to JC as well.

"Uh, hi guys," JC said, smiling at them, as they walked to stand opposite him.

"JC," acknowledged Kevin carefully.

He realised that JC probably wanted to talk to Justin. "Well it's fairly late and I've got to get up early, so I'll head off to bed... Good night JC."

"Umm, wait a second Kevin, there's something I need to say to you," JC said.

"I'm listening Josh," Kevin replied, turning to face JC from the partly open doorway to his suite.

"I just wanted to apologise to you. We were severely out of line tonight. And even earlier in the limo and at the airport. I hope you can forgive us? We'd really like to get to know you better. I would really like to get to know you better," JC said.

Kevin blinked in surprise. What had changed? When he had last seen the guys they had almost ignored him, and now, all of a sudden, they wanted to apologise to him and get to know him better? He looked into JC's eyes and saw the sincerity there. Regardless of what had happened, JC was being honest. He seemed to be genuinely sorry and wanted to get to know Kevin better.

Kevin's expression mellowed. "Thanks JC. Apology accepted and I'm glad that you guys want to make the effort. I'll also make more of an effort to get to know you guys better. Well, I'd better get going. Good night JC."

"'Night Kev."

Kevin briefly glanced at Justin before he entered the suite and closed the door behind him. He suddenly felt happy! Things were finally looking up.

--*

Justin's expression cleared at the acknowledgment that Josh and the others were willing to get to know Kevin better. He felt a smile touch his lips as Josh turned to look at him.

"I've got to apologise to you too Curly. None of us knew how personally you felt for Kevin, even though that's no excuse. We'll do everything we can to make sure we don't hurt either of you again."

"Oh Josh, thank you," Justin replied, beaming at him. "Come here you big lug and give me a hug."

JC stepped into the hug and felt tremendously happy. Justin seemed to be back to normal, or maybe even happier than he had seen him in a long while. It looked like his suspicions were confirmed...

"Well, I'd like to continue this all night... not!" JC said, smiling wearily. "Seriously, I'm dead on my feet, but I wanted to see you guys and clear the air."

"Thanks Josh. Thanks for understanding. Now go! Get your beauty sleep," Justin replied with a chuckle.

"Okay, good night Justin."

"Good night Josh."

They parted and entered their rooms, each happy that the other one was feeling happy.

--*

Josh leaned against his door and paused to think about the change in his best friend. It was so wonderful to see Justin so happy.

And though Justin would deny it, JC knew the reason why.

He was glad that his buddy had finally found someone to love. And he had no doubt in his mind that Justin loved Kevin with all his heart, even though Justin would deny it, even to himself, for some time to come.

Grinning at the thought, he walked to his bedroom, stripping to his boxers with a minimum of movements, and collapsed onto his bed, foregoing the chore of brushing his teeth just this once.

Just as he dropped off, he wondered whether Kevin was gay?

--*

Justin felt like he was walking on air! His friends had come around, and his friendship with Kevin was becoming as deep as the one he shared with JC. The only thing that would make his life perfect would be for Kevin to fall in love with him!

But he didn't hold out much hope of that happening. Nothing he had seen about Kevin tonight indicated that Kevin was gay. Or even that Kevin was interested in him beyond friendship.

Sighing, he turned off the lights in the lounge room and walked to the bedroom. When he reached the doorway, he froze. Kevin was in the process of pulling down his boxers!

Kevin sensed his presence and stopped before he had revealed anything.

'Oh damn,' he thought in panic. 'I shouldn't have taken so long getting ready!'

Justin stared at Kevin and Kevin stared back at Justin in fear. Almost as if by a silent signal, they both blushed and looked away from each other at the same time.

"Umm, Kevin?" Justin said hoarsely, "I'll just be in the bathroom. You go ahead and get into bed."

He rushed past Kevin and closed the bathroom door behind him.

Kevin lost the willpower to continue undressing and sagged down onto his bed. 'Shit,' he thought, 'I knew that I should've told him! He shouldn't have found out this way. The last thing I wanted to do was to shock or hurt him.'

"Damn," he cursed out loud. "What have I done? I've upset him and probably ruined our friendship!"

He could feel himself getting angrier and more upset with each passing second. 'You stupid fool!' he chided himself. 'Why didn't you just get into bed with your boxers on? Why couldn't you have just slept in the damn things? Would it have killed you? Now you've ruined everything!'

A minute later, Justin opened the door to the ensuite and stepped out. He was surprised to see that Kevin was still in his boxers, and sitting on his bed, rather than lying in it. He was also surprised to see the look of anger on Kevin's face. Not sure of what to do, he sat down next to Kevin and tried to comfort him.

Kevin failed to even notice him sitting there. Justin thought it very likely that Kevin was too lost in his own thoughts to take note of his presence.

"Kev?" he said gently, placing his hand on Kevin's shoulder and softly shaking it. He marvelled at the felling of touching Kevin's skin, even so briefly.

Kevin's head immediately snapped up, and his eyes focussed on Justin's.

"Oh Justin, I'm so sorry! I wanted to tell you, but I didn't know how to," he started to explain, feeling his eyes mist over.

"Oh Boo," sighed Justin as he reached over and hugged Kevin. "You caught me by surprise, that's all. I don't care if you sleep in the nude. It doesn't bother me in the least."

Justin was relieved that Kevin was unable to see his face. His face told another story entirely! In fact, deep down, he was feeling guilty at the thought of what might have happened if he had sprung Kevin several moments later. But it couldn't be; the cost of losing Kevin's friendship was just too great to pay.

"Boo, please don't be upset. I can't stand the thought of you crying."

Kevin heard the warmth in Justin's voice and instantly felt more secure and equable. He disengaged from the hug and smiled weakly at Justin.

"Just, I know that you feel embarrassed, regardless of what you say, so I'll just sleep in my boxers for the next two nights, okay?"

"I don't want to put you out Kevin. Are you sure you can sleep comfortably in your boxers?"

"I can try," replied Kevin, immediately regretting it. He should have emphatically said 'Yes'!

"No, it would just make you feel uncomfortable," Justin said, appreciating Kevin's honest answer and sensing the mental slap that Kevin gave himself. "Besides, from what Lance has told me, you're usually up later than I am, and also wake much earlier than I do. So, provided you undress in the dark, it won't bother me and we're unlikely to embarrass each other."

"Just, I don't know... What if you get up sometime during the night or wake up before me tomorrow? Or maybe the next day? You might get a surprise that you'd rather not get."

Justin just laughed. "You're worrying too much Boo! I never get up during the night. I sleep the night through! And do you remember what the guys said in the elevator? They weren't lying. It takes a lot to get me out of bed in the morning. You could sleep in until midday and I'd guarantee you that you'd still be up before me."

"If you're sure?" Kevin replied uncertainly.

"Yes, I'm sure. Believe me Kev, a marching band could be parading around the room and I still wouldn't wake up."

Kevin just laughed at the image, and acquiesced. He smiled his 'special' smile at Justin, and nodded. Justin, in turn, suddenly felt warm all over and tried to ignore the ache that briefly clenched his heart.

"Okay, if you're sure," Kevin said, "then get settled. I'll wait till you're in bed before getting the lights."

Justin quickly complied, walking over to his bed and stripping down to his boxer-briefs. He tossed his gym clothes into a pile near his suitcase. He was unaware - thankfully for Kevin - of the effect his unintentional strip tease had had on Kevin. Kevin composed himself after Justin had got into bed, then walked over to the light switch near the door, and flicked it off.

He carefully made his way back to his bed and quickly removed his boxers. He slid under the covers and settled down, turning to face in the direction of Justin's bed. He briefly heard a rustling movement coming from Justin's bed... He couldn't see anything clearly in the darkness of the room, but he suspected that Justin was now lying on his side, facing towards him.

"Good night Curly."

"Good night Boo."

Silence enveloped the room. Soon after, a very soft snoring noise emerged from Kevin's bed.

Justin lifted his head from his pillow and propped it up on his hand, never taking his eyes off the extremely dim outline of his friend. "You're a very special man, Kevin Scott Richardson," he whispered lovingly.

Feeling a deep sense of rightness settle into his body, he burrowed back into his bed and drifted to sleep, with a final whispered, "'Night, Boo."

End - Chapter 4

Hope you liked this part!

Does anyone know what Kevin's nickname (Mr. Body Beautiful) means? I couldn't find anything about it on the 'net...