By heidi

It all happened so quickly that four of the Backstreet Boys were still a little stunned.  The fifth member, Kevin Richardson, sat on a hospital bed with a goofy grin on his face. 

"Hey Bri, you see my cast?"  Kevin swung his arm up to proudly display his black and blue cast to his cousin, almost knocking Nick in the face.  "Oops."  Much to the startled amusement of the others, he started to giggle.

"Man, that shot must have had some good stuff in it."  AJ stood in front of Kevin, wiggling his fingers at the older man's face, watching as Kevin tried to follow the motion.  "You're feeling no pain, are you?"

Kevin shook his head.  "Nooooooooo pain."  Then he broke down in another round of giggles.

The doctor strolled into the room, looking at the paperwork on his clipboard.  "Alright, Kevin.  You can get dressed and head home."  Turning to the other boys, he handed Howie a small bottle.  "His shot will wear off in about four hours.  When it does, give him one of these pills.  I've given you a weeks worth.  They aren't as strong as the shot, and he won't be quite as..."  Another burst of giggles broke out behind him.

"Loony?"  AJ interjected.

"Ah, yes.  Loony seems to fit the description."  The doctor smiled at the young men before him.  "I've written the instructions out here, and if you have any problems, feel free to call me.  My number is at the top of the page."

Brian held out his hand to shake the doctor's.  "Thank you for everything.  We really appreciate it."

"It's what I'm here for."

***

Brian turned around and had to laugh.  Kevin was busy dressing himself, and currently had his head poking out of a sleeve, looking totally confused. 

"Why are my two arms on one side?"  The older man looked up at Brian, then started giggling again.  "I like it."

"Yo, Kevin.  You got yourself a new fashion there.  Maybe you can use the other holes as a sling."  Brian scowled at AJ's suggestion, but didn't bother to help Kevin as he tried to utilize the younger man's idea.

"Nope, won't work." 

Howie sighed and proceeded to work Kevin's shirt back off before helping his friend dress properly.

***

The nurse walked in with the wheelchair and instructed Kevin that if he wanted to leave the hospital, he needed to ride.

"But I can walk." 

Nick was practically in tears trying to contain his laughter.  Leaning down to Brian, he stage whispered, "I didn't know he knew how to pout."

"I think he's had plenty of time to learn from a pro."  Brian laughed when Nick demonstrated just who Kevin got it from.

The nurse was unaffected by oldest member's lethal pout.  "Young man.  I don't care if you think you can walk or not.  It's the rules.  Now get into the chair."

AJ placed a hand on the older man's shoulder.  "She's got you there, Kev.  You know you aren't capable of breaking rules."

Kevin turned to look at his friend, then smiled.  "You think we could go down the hallway fast?"

Laughing, AJ helped him stand.  "I'll see what I can do."

***

Much to Kevin's disappointment, Howie took over the chair and pushed him down the hallway at a strolling space.  "I want to go fast, D."

"Sorry man.  I'm not covered by your insurance."

"Ooooooooooh, pretty."

The other four guys turned to look at the startled woman Kevin was pointing too.  She was an older and very tired-looking nurse who was wearing Bugs Bunny scrubs.  What Kevin saw was anyone's guess.

***

Kevin sat mesmerized by the scenes unfolding before him.  The Boys had returned to their hotel, and placed Kevin in front of the TV watching MTV.  The first thing to be shown was Eminem's "Without Me", which had sent Kevin into a gale of laughter.  The program director must have had a sense of humor, because the video was followed up by Nsync's "Bye, Bye, Bye."  The giggling stopped, and Kevin just watched.

"Oh man, they're putting him into a coma.  Anyone remember where I put my video camera?"

Brian poked him in the side.  "Did you look in your room?"

Slapping a hand to his head, AJ ran to his own room only to return a few moments later.

"Isn't he beautiful?"  Kevin cuddle deeper into his chair, contentedly holding his casted arm to his chest.

AJ's eyes swung over to the TV to see JC and Lance land in the car.  Controlling his emotions, he chanted to himself, "He's on drugs, he doesn't know what he's saying."

A happy sigh came from Kevin to match the silly grin.  "He's all sparkly and glowing."

"Yeah, he is, Kev.  But, um," Nick looked nervously to AJ, "He's with Aje, you know that."

Kevin's bottom lip started to quiver.  "I thought he was dating JC.  I didn't know he had Lance too.  Isn't there a rule where a Boy can only date one Syncer at a time?"

Brian howled at this.  "You think Bass is beautiful?"

Kevin turned back to the TV, and smiled wistfully.  "Yeah."

Brian, Nick and AJ tried to control their amusement, as Howie slipped out of the room to make a call.  A few moments later, they began laughing in earnest when they heard Kevin singing to himself, "Lancey in the sky with diamonds."

***

Howie watched through the connecting door as Nick and Brian egged Kevin on in his disoriented opinions on many things.  AJ was recording it all for future blackmail material, Howie assumed.  He himself waited patiently for the other end of the line to be answered.  Eventually he was rewarded.

"This better be good, I was having the most exquisite sex dream where I was sandwiched between two very buxom beauties.  If this is mom, you didn't hear that."

Howie laughed.  "Sorry to wake you, Chris.  I didn't realize it was so late."

"D, is that you?  I heard you had a little excitement tonight.  Any chance I could get a tape of that?  I mean, Kevin flying from dancing onto a stuffed animal.  That's just too good." 

"You have the same contacts as me, Kirkpatrick."

"Yeah, but they like you.  They keep telling me I'm a mouthy little man.  Which, when you think about it, isn't fair because we're about the same height."

"Uh huh.  But I'm sweet."

"Riiiiiiiight.  That's why you're waking me up at the most inopportune time.  Not that I don't love talking to you, but why the call?"

Howie looked out the door again and laughed at the four men in the other room.  Listening closely, he could swear Kevin was singing a Beatles song, but it was hard to tell over the roar of laughter from the other three.

"Tell me a little about Lance."

"Lance?"  The surprise was clear in Chris' voice.  "What do you want to know?"

"Is he dating anyone right now?"

Howie could here Chris moving around, hesitating in his answer.  "What do you know about Lance?"

"Chris, you know me.  Is that really a concern?"

The other man chuckled.  "Touché.  Okay, no.  Lance is not seeing anyone right now.  He was dating this guy for a while, but the guy didn't understand our lifestyle and gave him shit about his priorities.  That was several months ago.  From what I know, he's only done a couple of one-night stands since then.  Why?"

"Any idea how he feels about Kevin?"

Chris started choking before he got himself back under control.  "Kevin?  As in Richardson?  The man who's been known to snark at us from time to time?"

Howie smiled.  "Yes, that Kevin.  And if I remember correctly, Mr. Bass is able to give as good as he gets."

"If you only knew.  Actually, I don't really know how he feels about Kevin anymore.  I can always check it out.  It'll give me a chance to practice my sneaky and irritating skills."  His voice rang with mischief.

"Thanks man."  Howie decided not to add that Chris didn't need the practice.

"Why, by the way?"

"Let's just say, Kevin's got himself a little crush."

Chris hooted a couple times before calming down.

"Talk to you later, Chris."

Shaking his head and grinning, Howie hung up the phone.

***

Kevin sat in the arena, watching the other guys practice their moves.  It had been three days since his accident, and his arm was throbbing like no one's business.  Howie had sent him from the stage to take his pain pills, and to sit 'until they take effect'.  He never understood why AJ constantly referred to Howie being such a mother until today.

"Kevin!"  The man in question looked up at AJ, who was standing at the edge of the stage.  "Your ass is ringing."  This set Nick off into a gale of laughter.

Kevin rolled his eyes, and dug his phone out of his pocket.  "Richardson."

"Kevin?  Hi.  This is Lance.  Bass, that is."

"Lance?"

"Yeah."  His voice dropping to an ungodly level and feigning a Scottish accent, "It's Bass, Lance Bass."

Kevin chuckled at the other man's humor.  "I didn't know you were funny.  But then again, with Kirkpatrick around, the rest of you look like prudes. "

"Hey, I resemble that.  Actually, I suspect there's a lot about me you don't know.  Much like I know hardly anything about you."

Grinning, Kevin glanced at the stage to see that Howie was watching him with a sweet smile on his face.  "That's not true.  I figure we know quite a bit about each other."

"Such as?"

"Such as, um..."  Unfortunately, the meds were starting to take effect and his mental capacity was not quite what it should be.

A low, amused sound rumbled through the line.  "Dare I say, 'told you so'?"

Feeling a slight pang of irritation, Kevin sighed.  "Why exactly are you ringing my ass?"

"Because, I was gonna ask your ass out, but if you're gonna be snippy about it..."

Hesitating a moment, Kevin took a deep breath.  "I'm sorry, Lance.  My arm is aching, and the meds are just starting to dim my thinking."

Lance laughed.  "So, blaming it on the meds.  What do you use as an excuse the rest of the time?"

This time Kevin laughed.  "Shut up, Bass."

"Nah, that'd be making things to easy for you.  Anyway, I was looking at your schedule, cross referenced it with my schedule, and saw that we're both going to be in Los Angeles next week.  Do you want to go out?"

Lance's tone was serious, but there was also a hint of apprehension.  Kevin glanced again to the stage where Howie was still watching him.  "You're serious?"  No, that was not excitement in his voice.  He was thirty years old, damnit.

"Yeah, I'm serious."

Kevin beamed.  "Call it a date."

"Great.  I'll call you later to make more concrete plans.  Chris is doing some weird ass dance on stage, trying to get my attention, so I better get going.  Take care, Kevin."

"Later, Lance."  After listening to the dead air of a disconnected line, Kevin finally shut the phone.

"Good call?"  Howie had jumped from the stage and now stood in front of him.

"Yeah, you could say that."

"Wouldn't have been the boy with kaleidoscope eyes by chance?"

Kevin was confused.  "What do you mean?"

Howie simply laughed and went to rejoin the others.  Kevin could have sworn he heard his friend humming 'Lucy in the Sky' as he walked away.

The End.

 

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