If you’d like to read this in an easier colorized version, it’s up on my webpage.

Title: Unknowingly Chapter Nine
Author: Granitite Stone < granitite@yahoo.com >and CandyGurl
Summary: They were just looking for someone to write with. They never thought it would be each other.
Web Address: www.angelfire.com/weird/cobalite/index3.html
Pairing: Nick/AJ
Rating: NC-17

BSBFreak: Thank god.
KaosShark: Don’t get your hopes up. I hate your fucking guts right now.
BSBFreak: But you answered me.
KaosShark: I answered you because Candy is going to be at tomorrow’s concert. I want us to finish this story, so we can give it to her.
BSBFreak: We’re going to give it to her… personally?
KaosShark: She convinced me to talk to your sorry ass, so be grateful. I let you fuck me, I get my unhappy ending.
BSBFreak: You can do anything you want to the story.
KaosShark: As long as I forgive you?
BSBFreak: I didn’t say that.
KaosShark: Well, you’re not yet, so don’t get any ideas. Start.
BSBFreak: I don’t know where to.
KaosShark: Just start.
BSBFreak: AJ placed the half dissolved pill on the dean’s desk. "I fished it out of my drink last night."
KaosShark: The woman stared at it for a moment. "Damn it. Not another one. Some girl tried to drug you?"

BSBFreak: "You’re new, aren’t you?" AJ leaned back in his chair.

"I don’t see how that’s relevant."
KaosShark: "I’m bisexual, Madame Dean. A guy did this."

"You’re…" She got a funny look on her face. "Did my predecessor know about this?"

"Throw me out, and I’ll sue the school. His name is Daniel. He lives in Kervin Hall."

"Mr. Roche." She rested her face in her hands. "Can anyone confirm this?"

BSBFreak: "Half the people at the club we were at last night. I started yelling, dumped the drink in my lap. I told my roommate about it afterwards."

"Mr. McLean, if this is the revenge of a slighted lover-"
KaosShark: "I never slept with Danny. He tried to drug me last night. This school told me it would protect me."

"Protect you?"

"Read my records." AJ stood up. "I like it here. I’ve been good. I don’t want to have to deal with someone like Danny. Weird creep like my last boyfriend."
BSBFreak: Are you going to kill me?
KaosShark: What do you think?
BSBFreak: I’m not sure.
KaosShark: I haven’t decided yet. One of us has to go though. It might as well be you.
BSBFreak: Fine.
BSBFreak: AJ wandered campus for about an hour before he came back to the dorm. There, he found Nick staring at the answering machine. "Someone call?"
KaosShark: "Do you know someone named Danny?"

"Don’t tell me he called here." AJ pushed play.

A voice filled the room. "Hey baby, it’s Danny. That wasn’t nice, going to the Dean. You go forward with this, and you’ll regret it. Should have just had the drink and gone home with me. Now, you’re gonna pay."
BSBFreak: "Well, isn’t that ominous." AJ flopped down next to Nick and ran a finger down his spine. "Don’t worry. I kept the roofie he tried to slip me. Gave it to the Dean."

"It’s not the call that worries me. It’s the dead fish he left for us at the desk." Nick jerked a finger to a piece of paper on the desk. "You don’t think he was…watching us last night, do you? I mean, we are on the ground floor."
KaosShark: "I didn’t close the curtains. Who would have been peeping at three in the morning?"

"Some crazy guy who wanted to date rape you?"

"Damn. Save the tape. We’ll turn it over tomorrow."
BSBFreak: Nick pulled the tape out of the machine, and lay back down. "We attract the weirdest men. Psychos, drugies, a combination of both."

"Then I guess we’ll just have to keep each other safe." AJ’s hand traveled up the back of Nick’s shirt, and snaked around front. He thumbed a flat nipple. "Have plans for tonight?"
KaosShark: "What did you have in mind?" Nick leaned back, resting against AJ.
BSBFreak: "I figure I owe you a date before we have sex again." He kissed Nick’s neck. "Bowling?"
KaosShark: "I’ve had worse offers."

They were out until two in the morning. Neither of them remembered to lock the door.
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"What the hell is your problem? In case you’ve forgotten, you’re not really our father." Brian had Kevin trapped. On the bus, there was no where to run. "You want them to be miserable?"

"No." Kevin wasn’t used to be on the other end of him family’s famous temper. "You don’t understand."

"Oh, I understand. You don’t want them together for the good of the band." Brian said the last line with biting sarcasm. "Nick is one of the oldest men in his twenty I have ever met. Another one is Timberlake. And the other is AJ. The Industry did this to them. Don’t you want them to be happy?"

"Of course I want them to be happy! Brian… she told me she’d have me arrested."

"What?"

"Jane." Kevin buried his face in a couch cushion. "When AJ was seventeen, and came out to us all. She pulled me aside, said if she ever heard anything about AJ going near her little boy, she’d have me arrested for corruption of a minor."

"Kevin… there’s no way she could have done that unless you were the one involved with Nick." Brian crouched down next to him. "And I know you. You’re so straight-"

"Not that. She knew what we were doing in Europe. She knew that I was letting you all drink, and smoke pot, do whatever you want." Kevin looked up. "Lou would have thrown us out on the street if we’d presented anything but a clean image. She told him. He made me personally responsible for keeping them apart. Didn’t you ever wonder why I kept throwing you and him together, when AJ was closer to his age?"

"I never knew. But… Nick’s all grown up now. What does it matter?"

"I knew they’d destroy each other. And I was right." Kevin sat up. "Now, what the hell did I say to set Nick off?"

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BSBFreak: Nick was bellowing ‘Is This All?’ at the top of his lungs as he swung open the door. "So, I won. What’s that get me?"
KaosShark: "Whatever you want, I guess." AJ affectionately pushed him over the threshold.

They both heard the click of a gun. "Wouldn’t sleep with me, but you’ll jump in the sack with this pretty boy."

AJ stepped in front of Nick. "Put the gun down, Dan. This is crazy. This is a dorm, the walls are like paper.
BSBFreak: "Why do I care? You’ve ruined me here. The Dean’s kicking me out. You’re the only one to ever come forward, and have proof to back it up." Dan’s hands held the gun steady, pointed at AJ. "I’m taking you down with me."

"You nutcase! You want jail time instead of expulsion?" AJ had been right. They did attract all the crazies.

"Shut up you little bitch." The gun was shaking now. "Step away from your girlfriend there, AJ. Wouldn’t want to hurt that pretty face of his."

AJ squeezed Nick’s shoulder, and stepped away. "I should have known you were a head case. When we met, you were singing Eminem."

"Yeah yeah." Dan cocked the gun. "Might wanna look away, Nick. I hear seeing a loved one shot can be very traumatic."
KaosShark: "All this because I turned you down." AJ shook his head in disgust. "I hope you get a nice seat in hell."

"I’ll see you there, you worthless drunk."

The words stung so mush he didn’t fell the bullet. Wait a second. He opened his eyes. "Nick." He’d tackled Dan, their assailant’s head cracking against the floor. But… if he hadn’t been shot, where was all the blood. "Nick?" There was a neat whole in the back of Nick’s t-shirt. "Nick!"

His hand moved weakly. "AJ." He took Nick’s bloody hand. "Aren’t you glad… you took me up on my offer?"

BSBFreak: "Yeah." AJ held on until Nick’s the grip relaxed. "I’m just sorry I didn’t do it sooner."

End of Chapter Nine

~ When I look into the mirror and see a face I don’t recognize, I am no longer surprised.