I don't know the Backstreet Boys, or N'Sync, nor is this story meant to imply anything about their sexuality, their private lives or their life choices. Please don't take any of this seriously, it is just a story, nothing more. Nothing in this story is real, it is the product of the author's imagination. That's enough disclaimers I think...
Now some suggestions, seeing as everyone else seems to be doing it. My favourite stories are: Forever (Kevin) My New Life (Lance) JC's Hitchhiker (JC) Get Another Boyfriend (Kevin) Whiplash (Kevin) Blind Date (Lance) My Surprise Romance (Lance) Josh and Just (Duh!) Lottery Winner (Joey) Jamie's Romance (Justin) Brian and Me (Brian) Kevin and Dustin (Kevin) <- I just read this one, and I can't wait till the next instalment, I can't wait to see what happens! Justin's Dancer (Justin, sort of!) Tales of a Real Dark Knight (Lance) Good Life (Justin) Under Management (Lance) Brian and Chance (Brian) That's it, I know there are more I read that I haven't mentioned, but I can't remember them right now, sorry! Oh - quick note: I was supporting the US in the US v Germany match, and I can't believe the Germans won! (No offence meant to my German readers!) I think the referees and linesmen have been really harsh in this tournament, and often they need their eyes checked. Anyway, the US made it further than anyone expected, so well done on that! Now, here's chapter 47...
On The Streets - Part 47
Last Time:
"We're not trying to get you to join us or anything Jared, or trying to force you. We're just saying the positions open." Seth added. I looked around again, and realised that I didn't want to leave this place. My brothers would still be there, whether I joined them or not, and I'd rather not.
"I'm sorry guys, but these are my friends, and I don't want to leave them. I like working down here, and I enjoy my job." I looked back at them, and they were both nodding. "And besides, I've heard the weather gets pretty hot down here in the summer." I smiled at them, and everyone else around the table sort of sat back, relaxed. I was glad so many people were counting on me to stay, especially Kevin, not that I would've given him up for any job. He placed his hand on my knee, and rested it there. I leant over and kissed him, and he beamed with pride, and I took his hand and linked it with mine, and we sat back and listened to our group of friends and family talking about this and that, and we were happy.
Now on with the story:
Nick's Point of View<<<
Leo and I had an argument that went on and on from Sunday morning until we eventually decided we'd head back early on Sunday, rather than getting a late flight. We were sitting in the airport waiting for our flight to leave. We were in a VIP lounge, and there were thankfully very few people around us. "Leo?"
"I don't want to talk about it Nick." It? I couldn't even remember what it was we were arguing about in the first place.
"Sorry." I said to him, I figured apologising for whatever it was couldn't hurt. Leo turned to look at me and looked downtrodden.
"Nick you shouldn't be saying sorry to me. You do too much for me for you to say sorry to me, it should be me saying sorry to you. I am sorry, for ruining our holiday, I'm sorry for being such a jerk, and I'm just sorry for being alive." Leo looked down at the space between his legs where he had the baby carrier with Laura in. I moved over and sat next to Leo, and put my arm around him.
"Please don't say that, it really hurts Leo. I love you, ok? And you have every right to complain about anything, and expect me to say sorry. I don't bring any more to this relationship than you do. I just bring it in a different way, and you bring it in a way I don't think I ever could, I think you're incredible Leo." Leo just sighed and rested his head on my chest. A few moments later, Laura started whimpering, and he leant down to pick her up. "Do you mind?" I asked, wanting to hold Laura for a bit. He handed her to me, and I held Laura in my arms and stood and walked for a bit swaying slightly from side to side.
"Now boarding...First Class to Orlando." There was only one gate at this small airport, and they only flew to a few destinations in Florida and on the Eastern seaboard. I headed back to Leo, but kept Laura in one arm while we picked up our carry-ons and Leo also picked up the baby carrier. We got on the plane, we were two of the only passengers in first class. It was a small plane, but there were enough seats up here for about thirty people, and there were only about 8, including us. It was mid-afternoon when we took off, and it was a couple of hours long flight. We were due to arrive in Orlando about 5 o'clock their time.
"Thank you." Leo said, taking Laura from me, and as he took her, he brushed his hand along the underside of mine. I got the impression that the 'thank you' was for more than just taking her.
We touched down just after I woke up, Laura was sleeping peacefully through the whole thing. I was glad about that, didn't want her being scared like Jared, now did we? Leo had been awake more than me I think, and his eyes looked a little tired. I wanted to swing by Kevin's to check on the schedule for next week. I did tell Leo it would only be for like five minutes as I wanted to get home as much as he did.
Pulling into Kevin's driveway, I noticed Howie's big people carrier was parked in the driveway, and I wondered why, but just shrugged, and headed up to the door. Leo came in with Laura, to be polite. A few moments later, Jared answered.
"Hey Jared." I said as I walked in. "Is Kevin here? I need to talk to him." He looked at me funny for a second, then it was like a light switched on.
"Jar'! Nick's here." What? He's having fun or something.
"Jared, stop kidding around, is Kevin here?" I said to him.
"Hey Nick." I looked at the door to the kitchen, and there was another Jared. Another Jared? He had a smirk on his face. I looked at Jared who had let me in, and he had a smirk too.
"Whoa! What gives! Who the hell, what? How?"
"Hey Nick." I turned to the right, the dining room, and Jared was leaning against the doorpost. Three of them? What was going on?
"Jared? Jared? What? What's going on?" I put my hand to my head, it was getting a headache.
"Nick, can I introduce my brothers, Adam and Seth." The one who had come from the kitchen said.
"Triplets!" Leo said. "Wow!" He had a smile on his face, and was saying hello and shaking the hand of the one who was standing in the dining room entrance.
"So these are the brothers you told us about. You never told us they were triplets." I was still staring, I've never seen triplets, at least not identical ones, and these guys were really identical, like freakishly. Weird.
"They're not triplets, Nick. We are triplets." Jared laughed at me, still staring at the three of them.
Jared's Point of View<<<
Oh, this was too good to miss. I beckoned Kevin over, he could see me through the kitchen windows into the conservatory, and he came through. I motioned him over, and he looked over my shoulder. Nick was doing weird double takes, trying to focus on all of us at once. I heard Kevin chuckle behind me. I turned to look at him with a smile on my face.
"He's got Greek god syndrome." He said with a chuckle.
"Huh?" I said to him.
"It's what I got this morning, when I saw the three of you out by the pool, all with your tops off. Ouch!" He said with a chuckle and a grab of his crotch.
"You're kidding?"
"Nope." He said with a smile. I laughed, I couldn't believe Kevin was eyeing up my brothers, that's just gross! I looked back to Nick, who had snapped out of it now, and was saying hello to Adam. I wondered whether we could confuse him straight away.
"Hey Seth." I said to Adam.
"I thought you were Adam?" Nick said.
"No, I'm Seth." Adam answered.
"Seth, stop fooling around with Adam, you're gonna get him confused." Seth said to Adam, making Nick think that I was Adam, Adam was Seth, and he was Jared.
"Now, I know you're lying. This guy is definitely Jared." Nick put his hand on my chest.
"Oh really? And how do you know that?" Kevin asked as he came up behind me.
"Cos he's still got some blond roots." Nick said pointing at my hair. "Whoever dyed his hair back did a really duff job." I just looked at Kevin and couldn't help smirking.
"I did not do a duff job!"
"Ha! I knew it, no I know you actually did a good job, I was pretty sure that was Jared, but I was just checking." Nick said with a chuckle. Kevin shook his head, he'd been caught out.
"Come on, everyone's back in the conservatory, do you want to come through?" I said. Nick turned around at looked at Leo. They both looked pretty tired, but Leo shrugged his shoulders and nodded. When they got through to the conservatory though, I think they were surprised by how many people there were here. I don't think I'd noticed really until I saw Nick's expression.
"Hey Nick!" Justin stood up, and put his arms around Nick. "Leo! Hey." Justin held out his hand and shook Leo's spare hand. He was still holding the baby carrier, and Laura was tightly wrapped up in her blankets.
"Can we see the baby?" Adam asked. Suddenly Michelle and Lara groaned. "What?" Seth and Adam both asked at the same time with their hands raised up defensively.
"Don't you two go getting broody ok?" Michelle said in a stern tone.
"Oh, as if we would!"
"These two get broody?" Kevin asked Michelle.
"Yes!" She answered. "Every time they see a baby, they want to hold it, and say hello, or feed it, or even change its nappy! They love babies, and little children." Adam had Laura by now, and Seth was stroking her cheek with his finger.
"Awww." They both went when she gurgled slightly.
"Oh for God's sake!" Lara said. She turned to Kevin. "Doesn't Jared get broody?"
"Hey! I am here you know!"
"Yes, we know." Lara said with a straight face, then turned back to Kevin with a grin.
"Does he?"
"I don't think so, I've never seen him, but then I can only think of one baby we've ever really been around for very long - Laura." He pointed to Laura, then looked back at me. "Do you get broody?"
"Of course he does!" Seth said, a little too loudly. "Well, he always used to when we were younger."
"Yeah, Jared used to love kids more than any of us, probably cos he's the baby and all." Adam said with a smirk.
"I stopped getting broody I guess when I started actually getting into gay relationships."
"But why'd you stop wanting children? You can adopt you know." Britney added in.
"I don't believe in gay adoption." The table sort of fell silent, I looked up and realised that not only were there three other gay people around the table, there was among them a gay father, and he was with his lover. Great, let's just insult a few more people. "I don't mean that a gay person can't raise children, I mean there's lots of evidence that suggests otherwise, but I just feel that if possible, a mother and a father is a better environment for a child than with two fathers, or two mothers. I think it helps them to grow up more balanced. Obviously if there is a gay couple who are naturally differing in their points of view, their upbringing, their general outlook, then a similar situation is possible, but it's rare, and I'm just thinking about the child's well-being, both physically and psychologically...and emotionally." There were a couple of nods, and a couple of scowls. I think I upset a few people then, but I didn't mean to. I looked over at Kevin, and he was looking down at his lap, now here was the one who I was most worried about upsetting, and it was obvious I had. I would love to have children with Kevin, I think what I meant was in the general case, I wouldn't want children raised by two men or two women, I never considered it applying to us. Kevin stood up and walked inside. I caught the eyes of a few people around the table, including my brothers who instantly looked down.
I stood up and followed Kevin in. Kevin had run straight upstairs, and was sitting on his bed. "Kevin?" I said as I walked in the room.
"You're right you know." Kevin said quietly. "What right do we have to bring a child into an abnormal family, every child has the right to a mother and a father. We have no right to take that away from him." I didn't know what to say, Kevin sounded defeated, almost hopeless.
"You're wrong, I was wrong. I should never have even suggested that gay couples can't adopt. All I meant was that gay people can't always offer everything to a child that a straight couple could, but Kevin you've got more love to give, and more strength than I could ever imagine. I don't want you to think you could never have children. I could think of nothing nicer than to have children with you, to adopt, but I just want to make sure that before we do anything like that, we're ready, we understand one another. I don't want to end up...like my own parents." Ouch, that really hurt. I can't believe I ever thought I could end up like my own parents. And I suggested Kevin could too. Shit.
"Jared, you're not like your parents."
"Yeah, I know, I don't know why I even suggested that. Kevin you'd make a wonderful father, and I'm sorry I upset you. I wasn't laying our case though, I was just saying in general, like you know, couples who adopt just for the sake of adopting."
"I think I understand Jared, but I love you, and anything we shared, I would love as well. One day I would like to have children, please just think about it." Kevin said as he stood up.
"I already have." I spurted out. "Kevin, I've already told you, as soon as we understand one another, I would love to have children with you, or adopt rather, so don't worry, once we're ready, we'll know." Kevin breathed a sigh of relief, then smiled.
"Come on, we've got lots of guests downstairs." Kevin held out his hand, and I took it, and we walked downstairs. Nick was pulling on a coat while Leo stood by the front door with Laura.
"Leaving already?" Kevin asked. Nick scowled at me.
"Yes." He said in a flat tone. "We have a meeting tomorrow at 10 right Kev?"
"Yeah, we do. Is something wrong?" Kevin asked him. I could guess.
"Yeah actually."
"Nick." Leo said quietly.
"No! I'm gonna say this. Jared, you need to get your head out of your ass once in a while."
"Nick!" Kevin shouted.
"Leo asked me if I'd become a second legal guardian to Laura. Adopt her in a sense. And I said yes. How's that make you feel, huh?" Nick was right up in my face, practically shouting at me. "And we're gonna be great parents. I don't care what you say, you stuck up piece of shit! How dare you even suggest something like that, like we can't raise a child. You just don't get it, and you're not going to either." Nick practically spat in my face, then spun around and walked out with Leo and slammed the door. I fell back onto the stairs, and just stared at the door.
"Nick didn't understand what you said Jared, I'll explain it to him." Kevin said to me.
"I should do that. But I don't get it, what did he mean 'I just don't get it'?" I asked Kevin.
"I think he was talking about how much people fight for gay adoption rights, and you just stamped the whole thing down when we were out there with them."
"Fight? For adoption rights? Why would you need to do that?" I asked him.
"You know, so that gay people are allowed to adopt." Kevin said very slowly, as if I was a child. I still didn't understand. Fight? "You know all those Supreme Court cases, and fighting against the government to...get..." He paused. "Wait a minute. In England, are gay couples just allowed to adopt?"
"Well, when they first started like 10 years ago, adoption services were careful - they didn't like adopting out boys to gay couples in case of paedophiles, and they had social services regularly visit. But recently, they just check them a bit more, do background checks, that sort of thing." Kevin sat there with his mouth open, just looking at me. "What?"
"Jared, what about gay rights? Do they have like anti-discrimination laws in England, to protect gays?" Kevin asked.
"Yes of course! You can't be dismissed from your job for being gay, and if you are being harassed because you're gay, the police must intervene on your behalf, employers can be fined. Why?" I was getting curious now.
"They don't have that over here." Kevin answered. "Gays don't have much protection like that. People can be dismissed for it, and it's much more difficult for gay people to adopt, especially in some of the Southern states. In fact I think there are a lot of states where gays can't. Gay people have been fighting for their rights for years over here Jared, and they still are." Oh. Shit.
"So you're saying I just passed judgement on an entire gay rights movement?" He looked down at his hands, and then nodded his head slightly. "Oh shit."
"Yeah. I think that's what Nick was so upset about. I can't believe you didn't know about all this."
"Well, how was I supposed to know? I mean it's not like I'm some gay rights historian or something, and I don't come from here, in England we already have those rights!" I said, standing up.
"Jared, Jared, calm down. Just relax, I know that, I'm sorry I didn't mean to say that you should know this stuff, I'm just saying it's not very good that you didn't know it, cos now you've upset Nick." I nodded slightly, and lowered my arms.
"I didn't mean to Kevin."
"I know you didn't, but at some point we're going to have to talk to Nick." I nodded, and he put his arm around me and guided me back out to the conservatory. When I walked back out, everyone went silent. Kevin walked out right behind me, and everyone got more animated again.
"Are you guys ok?" Britney asked.
"Yeah we're fine." Kevin answered. "Jared just had to explain what he meant a bit better, perhaps he should explain to everyone what he meant though." So Kevin motioned me forwards, now this was embarrassing, but I guess everyone else deserved an explanation. So I did, I explained what I meant by 'I don't support gay adoptions', I tried to explain how I just wanted every child to have a loving family, and if that meant a gay couple, then it was ok, though I was still in favour of straight marriages, and finally I explained that I didn't mean to sully the gay rights movement in America, I didn't realise that it was such a sensitive issue. I looked around and noticed my brothers were chuckling slightly.
"What are you two chuckling about?"
"Well, it's just we have to learn about a lot of the Supreme Court cases, including ones involving gay rights. Cases like Romer v Evans are quite important, and that was to do with gay rights. We just found it funny 'cos if you did join us, you'd have to know about these sorts of cases." I shook my head at them, and sat down next to Kevin. I took his hand, and rubbed across the back. He leant over and kissed me. I had to phone Nick, I hoped to make it better, but I was worried that I'd really fucked things up.
Kevin's Point of View<<< The Next Day
Jared's been on the phone for almost an hour now. It's only 11 o'clock, but he had to get through to Nick. His brothers had decided to stay another day, we'd told them they could stay as long as they wanted. They phoned up to New York and told their firm about what they were doing, and that they'd be back up tomorrow, and everything was fine. But Jared was still on the phone. The first time he'd rung Nick, Nick had just hung up. The second and third times, there was no answer. The fourth time, Leo had answered, and passed it to Nick who promptly hung up. By the sixth time or so, Nick and Jared got into a shouting match over something stupid, but now they were up to about the tenth call, and Jared was talking quietly to Nick. I didn't want to intrude, so I had sat in the living room with his brothers, Lara and Michelle.
"What do you guys want to do today?" I asked them.
"We really don't mind, it's been nice to just have a break from work though, and being around Jared has just been incredible. Thank you again for letting us come down here." Adam said.
"I didn't 'let' you come down here, this is Jared's home too, he invited you." I answered. "How do I get him to see that. I'm sick of him referring to it as my home, rather than our home. It always sounds like he doesn't expect to be here for long."
"Well, have you tried making some bigger commitment to him?" Seth asked.
"Seth!" Adam scolded him.
"What? Well it's true, we always felt out of place at home, we were always the ones who Mom and Dad took out their anger on, never Paul. So, we had no problem leaving home. Maybe Jared would feel more secure here if Kevin chose to commit." I noticed Michelle and Lara looking at me.
"I already tried that." I muttered.
"And what did he say?" Lara asked.
"I asked him to marry me, and he said no."
We all went out for lunch shortly after that. Jared had got off the phone to Nick, and he'd been happy enough, though I think there was still something bugging him. We went to a nice Mexican restaurant, where we sat and talked about what we were doing over the next couple of months. I was on the publicity tour for most of that time, then, after a month long break, it would be off on tour with the new album and everything. We were only planning on doing a US tour for this album, so it would last two to three months. I think Jared was only now realising just how long we'd have to be apart.
"Well, when you guys hit New York, Jared'll have to arrange for some time off, and you guys can come visit us in New York!" Seth exclaimed. He seemed really excited by the prospect.
"Yeah, sure, we'll have to see what we can do." Jared answered. We went home, and spent the rest of the afternoon out in the conservatory, or as it got slightly warmer in the evening, we moved so we were on the pool chairs. I don't mean to be rude, but I was looking forward to some alone time with Jared once his brothers were gone. Eventually night started to fall. Jared and I grilled some chicken breasts, and threw together some salad for supper.
"I'm exhausted! I really need to get some sleep - we've got to get up early for the plane tomorrow morning." Lara stated as she stood from the table. After dinner, we'd got out a game of trivial pursuit, we'd played mixed couples - so there was me and Lara, Adam and Michelle, and Seth and Jared. Jared's team had annoyingly won. Lara and I had all our wedges, and we were trying to land on the middle. Adam and Michelle had just got their sixth wedge. Jared had never seen Star Wars! I asked him the question, "Who was the chief of the Jedi council, in Star Wars Episode I", and he hadn't seen it. He had to let Seth answer, which, might I add, he hadn't done much of throughout the game, Jared liked to blurt out answers, even if he wasn't sure. But when Seth got the chance, he blurted them out too. They were both a little compulsive. But then so was Michelle, which caused Adam a great deal of exasperation. Lara and I were the most restrained team.
"Yes. That was a good game, but I think I need to be heading up to bed too." Michelle said. They both stood, and after kissing their respective fiancées goodnight, they headed upstairs, and we listened to the symphony of toilets flushing, doors shutting, and beds squeaking.
"Would any of you like a drink?" I asked the table.
"Another one of those weak American beers would be nice Kev." Seth said with a smile.
"I'll have one too." Adam butted in.
"Sure you guys don't want something a little stronger." Jared said with a grin. The other two looked at him, and seemed to be reading him.
"You have whiskey?" Adam asked, looking up at me. I looked down at Jared who had an innocent grin on his face. He had this funny taste for whiskey, and I just happened to have a bottle in the house. I nodded.
"Do you guys want to move through to the living room, I'll bring it in there." I went into the kitchen. There was a bottle rack in there, and I pulled it off. I got some glasses, and carried them in with me. Everyone was sitting around, and I noticed a place next to Jared. I sat down and we started drinking.
"13 crates of beer, a roll of barbed wire, and a nun!" Seth practically shouted. The rest of us were in hysterics. Seth had the most convoluted, longest jokes you can possibly imagine! I mean how many jokes do you know that have a punch line like that? We sat in silence for a minute, you know that moment just after someone's told a really good joke, and you just want to sit and enjoy the afterglow? "Yo Kev man, we need some more liquor." Seth said. He'd regressed into a NY accent somehow, I guessed from living there for two years. He like Jared, had picked up the accent very quickly, but they had all 'turned them off', when they were around each other.
"What? That was a full bottle!" I said grabbing the whiskey bottle, and looking at, checking there wasn't any more. The three of them started snorting, then chuckling, and then laughing. "Fine! I'll get some more, but there's no more whiskey!" I pointed a finger at them. They all pouted, just like Jared.
"Make mine a brewski!" Adam said.
"Mine too!" Seth said.
"Mine three!" Jared finished. Drunk talk, isn't it just adorable? I bought out four beers, and we were still drinking. It was past two thirty now, but we were still chatting about this and that.
"So, Jar', why'd you say no when Kevin asked you to marry him?" Adam asked. I froze, this was a sensitive subject for Jared. One of the reasons was that he hadn't told me about the rape yet, and I didn't want any more painful memories coming up.
"Yeah, why Jared?" Seth added.
"'Cos I had some things still to tell him about myself."
"Like what?" Seth asked. Jared turned to me and looked straight into my eyes, then he looked over at his brothers, then back to me, then he motioned with his head towards his brothers.
"What?" I asked Jared, not understanding his signals.
"Those things I had to tell you about myself?" Jared asked.
"Yeah? What about them?" He motioned again with his head towards his brothers. "You mean, you just wanted to tell me about your brothers? And then we'd be ok to get married?"
"Yep, you know my secrets Kevin, at least the important ones."
"Woohoo! So now you guys can get hitched!" Seth said.
"Shut up doofus!" Adam slapped Seth on the back of the head.
"I don't know Seth, Kevin would have to ask me again." Jared said. This conversation was moving way too fast, at least for my intoxicated mind.
"Well Jared, will you marry me?" I asked, turning towards him. He looked back.
"Yes."
TBC... End of Chapter 47
Well, I hope everyone liked another soppy chapter - but it's not all going to be like that - trust me!!! And I know, before anyone says anything that there is a timeline problem occurring in the story right now, but I don't care! Just presume that someone made a phone call and rescheduled a few things, ok?
Kevin proposes to Jared: 2/24/03