Author: MJ
Rated: R
Feedback: maryjennifer@webtv.net
Ch. 10 ~ Pt. 1The phone woke Brian up and his arm shot over to grab it. "..lo?" He answered still rather out of it. He felt someone sit on the bed and looked over to see AJ sitting there. By the blanket's on the floor, he'd stayed all night to make sure Brian was ok.
"Bri, it's Kev. Nick's awake. I'm letting everyone know so they can come see him but he needs lots of rest so I think we ought to postpone a big get together until later and maybe just have everyone come now to talk for just a couple minutes."
"That's cool. I'd just like to see him and give him a hug."
"Cool. Come on over."
"Thanks Kev. I'm gonna go to the bathroom and I'll be there in a minute." They hung up and Brian turned to face AJ. "Nick's up. Kev says we can come in and see him for a few minutes."
"A few minutes? Kevin's being awfully overprotective of Nicky right now. What's going on?" AJ asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Alex, they are uh.....Nick's um....Nicky is gay and he's in love with Kev and I think my cousin is falling in love with him too."
"You mean they are TOGETHER?" AJ asked in shock and Brian nodded waiting for the explosion. "COOL!" The older man looked at him in shock. "What? It's cool that they are together. I always thought they'd make a nice couple, among others."
"Others?"
"You and me, baby." AJ grinned and wiggled his eyebrows. Brian laughed.
"Um, I think our being straight might be a problem there."
"Damn I guess I'll have to stick with D then." AJ said laughing then he paused and shuddered. "Eww. That's just gross. I mean D's cool and all but he's just SO straight."
Brian laughed. "So are we bone. So are we."
"Yeah but the stick isn't up our ass like it is his. You know how he is, he's afraid to even hug a guy."
"True." Brian answered as the phone rang again. "Yeah?" It was Kevin.
"I know this is a stupid question since I just woke you up but, have you seen Bone? I tried calling his room but there wasn't an answer."
"Yeah he's right here. He was worried about me last night and he stayed in here."
"Oh, ok just bring him along ok?"
"No prob, we are on our way."
The men left the room and met up with Howie in the hall. Together they headed for Nick's room. When they went in and saw Nick propped up in the bed with the sheet around his lap, each man wondered how in the hell they could have missed the weight loss. You could see Nick's bones. Especially his cheek bones. They stood out in a way none of them had ever seen.
Nick gave a tired smile. "Hey guys. I guess you are all kinda mad at me, huh?"
They all fell on him at one time trying to hug him, protesting loudly. When Kevin thought he'd been squeezed enough, he gently pushed everyone away. "You see. No one is mad at you. We are all just worried about you."
He explained to the other guys his plans for the day and everyone agreed. They would meet back at noon and have pizza and watch movies and try to re-get to know each other. For Nick to have succeeded so much at hurting himself, the group had to have grown apart. It was time to spend a lot of time together, just the five of them, and change that.