Date: Thu, 14 Mar 2002 19:00:36 +0000
From: Kevin K <kdawg96@hotmail.com>
Subject: Encountering Nick - Kevin Sideline

Obligatory warnings and disclaimers:

1) If reading this is in any way illegal where you are or at your age, or
you don't want to read about male/male relationships, go away. You
shouldn't be here.

2) I don't know any of the celebrities in this story, and this story in no
way is meant to imply anything about their sexualities, personalities, or
anything else.  This is a work of pure fiction.

Questions and commentary can be sent to "kdawg96@hotmail.com" and/or
"writerboy69@hotmail.com".

Hi everyone! Kevin asked if I would also be willing to write a sideline
chapter for his story, and I was flattered by the invite, so here I
am. Working with him, we've come up with a story for this chapter that
builds off of the current story, much like the Brian sideline that ND,
another fabulous author, wrote previously. Before I go, I want to thank
Kevin for asking me, for continuously supporting me with both of my
stories, and for giving me the chance to play with his characters for a
while.

That said, on with the show, and with this sideline chapter.

***

Kevin walked sleepily down the hall toward his suite, not wanting to do
anything else today except take a shower, call his wife, who had flown out
with Brian's wife Leighann this morning, and then fall into bed and get
some rest. A lot of people thought that being in a band, and performing
onstage, was just a lot of fun and games, just a lot of dancing around with
your friends, but it was a lot of work. They left every show kind of tired,
usually too exhausted to do anything else, and it was a good thing they
were friends with each other, because they hardly ever had time to meet
anyone outside their circle. That's why it was always kind of surprising to
find out that there were things about the others that you didn't know.

No one had been more surprised than Kevin when Nick had announced to the
entire tour and their friends, basically the entire Backstreet family, that
he was in love with Geoff, this backup dancer. Like the rest of the guys,
Kevin appreciated the dancers, and enjoyed working with them, but they were
more or less like pieces of the machine, replaceable.  He had heard some
rumors that Nick had fooled around with one of the dancers before, that guy
Trevor, but no one seemed to know anything, so Kevin had let it go.  After
all, Kevin himself had fooled around with a few of the female dancers
before he got married, and he was sure some of the other guys had,
too. Being on tour was stressful, and sometimes people under stress just
reached out to each other. Still, there was always a danger there, too.

There was always the idea that the backup dancers could be interested just
to further their own careers in some way, and it seemed odd to Kevin that
Nick was suddenly deeply in love with this guy that he'd know for what? A
week or two? Kevin believed in love at first sight, but what if this guy
was just some kind of opportunist? Nick was young, and thought he was in
love. He wouldn't be the best judge of character right now. Kevin didn't
know this Geoff guy personally, not really, but he didn't want to cause
problems for Nick if this really was something special. He couldn't help
but feel, though, that Nick would be happier with someone closer to him,
someone he knew a little better, but who?

Just as he was musing that question Brian's door opened. Kevin looked up,
but was surprised to see that it wasn't Brian leaving. It was that backup
dancer, Trevor.

"Kevin!" Trevor blurted in surprise. Kevin noticed that he looked a little
disheveled, and wondered what he'd been doing in Brian's room.

"Trevor," Kevin said carefully, wondering if he might be stealing
something.  "Is Brian home?"

"Yeah, he's in there," Trevor said. "We were just, um, talking, you know.
I'm going to go now, ok? I'll see you tomorrow."

"OK," Kevin said, shaking his hand. "Goodnight."

"Night," Trevor said, hurrying down the hall.

Kevin watched him leave, and wondered why he seemed so nervous. And what
would Brian be talking to him about? Brian usually kept to himself, except
for hanging out with the rest of the guys, but he hadn't really been doing
a lot of that since the current tour started, either. Curious, Kevin
knocked on the door of Brian's suite, and heard Brian called for him to
come in. Stepping inside, he saw that the main room was dark, and guessed
that Brian was in the bedroom. He'd apparently gotten undressed on his way
in there, as there was a trail of clothing leading toward the open doorway.

"I can't believe you're back already," Brian called from the bedroom, and
Kevin could hear the smile in his voice. "Haven't you had enough yet?"

"Had enough what?" Kevin asked, stepping into the doorway. Brian's mouth
dropped open, and Kevin took in the whole scene at once. Brian was sitting
in bed, his hair messed, the sheet pulled up to his waist as his bare chest
glistened with sweat in the light filtering in from outside. It was pretty
obvious why Trevor was leaving, but Brian? What, was the whole band turning
gay or something? "Brian?"

"Kevin?" Brian asked. His face looked panicked suddenly. "Kevin, I, it's
not, I mean."

"Brian, it's ok," Kevin said, sitting on the end of the bed. "I'm your
cousin, Brian, your family. I love you, and it's ok with me. How long has
this been going on with you and Trevor?"

"TJ," Brian corrected, pulling his knees up. Kevin wasn't disappointed in
him, wasn't going to lecture him. Kevin thought it was completely ok, and
Brian felt a huge weight drop off of him. All his life he'd looked up to
Kevin, and he was terrified of disappointing him, but Kevin had accepted
him without a second thought. "He goes by TJ. It's, um, it hasn't been very
long, actually."

"What about Leighann?" Kevin asked, not really wanting to get into a
discussion about adultery, but not really comfortable with the idea,
either.

"We're having a lot of trouble, actually," Brian explained quickly. "I
haven't really told you guys yet, but we're probably getting a divorce."

"Because of TJ?" Kevin asked, surprised.

"No, no, not because of him," Brian said. "Kevin, please don't be mad at
me, but, um, my marriage was a cover. I've known for a long time that I was
gay, but I needed a cover, and Leighann needed a way to get famous, to help
her career. It hasn't been working out, though, and now, well, TJ and I
have been, um, spending some time together."

"Oh, is that what you're calling it?" Kevin asked, grinning. "Brian, does
this have something to do with Nick?"

Brian paled, sitting up, and Kevin realized that his idle thought had just
struck a bullseye.

"What do you mean?" Brian asked, blinking quickly, trying to cover his
surprise. "What would Nick have to do with this?"

"Well, I mean, it's just kind of a surprise," Kevin said carefully,
watching Brian's face.  "First Nick makes this big announcement that he's
gay, and that Geoff is his boyfriend, and now all of a sudden you tell me
that you're gay, too, and I catch you with a backup dancer of your own. I
don't mean to pry, but Brian, did you and Nick ever, you know?"

"No," Brian answered quickly, looking down. Kevin thought he looked kind of
sad. "No, we never did anything."

"Oh," Kevin said, the wheels in his head already starting to turn. "I just
thought with you guys being, you know, so close and all, you might have
thought about it or something."

"We're not close anymore, though," Brian said, wiping at his eyes quickly.
"Since he got Geoff, Nick doesn't seem to need me anymore. We don't really
do anything anymore, because he has someone else. Kevin, can I tell you
something? Just between us?"

"Sure," Kevin answered, swallowing. He put a hand on Brian's shoulder,
comforting him. He hated to see Brian like this, so upset, and he couldn't
help but think suddenly that none of this would have happened if Geoff
hadn't weaseled his way into Nick's life. If Geoff hadn't come along, Brian
and Nick would have found each other, he was sure of it.  "Brian, you can
tell me anything. You know that."

Brian smiled at him gratefully, his blue eyes sparkling through their wet
mist of tears.

"Kevin, I felt that way about Nick," Brian said, smiling ironically. "I
always kind of had this crush on him, and kind of loved him, but I never
knew that he was that way, so I never did anything, or even said
anything. The sad part is that now that I know he's like this, too, he's
with someone else. It's too late for us."

Kevin's lips pressed into a thin line.

"It's not too late for you to still be friends, though," Kevin said, a plan
starting to form in his mind. "I mean, just because he found someone else
doesn't mean he doesn't still want to be friends with you, Brian. I think
you should try to reach out to him a little. Remind him that you're his
best friend, and that he still needs you."

"You think I should?" Brian asked sincerely. "I mean, I haven't wanted to
get in the way of this thing he's got with Geoff, so I've been trying to
give him a lot of space."

"I definitely think you should," Kevin said. "He misses you, Brian. He just
doesn't realize it. Now, come here and let me give my favorite cousin a
hug, and then go to sleep, ok?"

"OK," Brian said, feeling Kevin's arms wrap around him. "Kevin, thank you.
Thanks for talking to me, and for being here, and for being ok with this."

"I'll always be ok with it, Brian," Kevin said. "You're my family, and I
love you. That's all that's important. Good night."

"Good night, Kevin," Brian called, rolling over and pulling the sheet over
himself. Kevin didn't hate him.

In the hallway, Kevin considered his next move. He wanted Brian to be
happy, more than anything, and if Brian would be happy with Nick, then
Kevin would move heaven and earth to get the two of them together. It
shouldn't be that hard, really.  Brian admitted that this thing with TJ
wasn't too serious. He hadn't even called him his boyfriend. And as for
Nick, well, it was just a matter of getting him away from this Geoff for a
while. Once Nick wasn't blinded by this flashy billionaire backup dancer
who threw his money around like candy at Halloween, he'd see the great man
who'd been right there for him all along, and everyone would be
happy. Well, the dancers wouldn't be happy, but they were always
replaceable. Brian and Nick were what was important, and Brian and Nick
would be happier with each other, Kevin was certain. They just needed a
little pushing, and Kevin decided he'd start first thing in the morning.

Kevin had already been on the phone with management for an hour before the
morning planning breakfast. They'd been having these breakfasts on the
tours almost since the beginning, because it was a good way to spend time
together while still getting work done, and there was a lot more work to do
on a tour than people might think.  Not only did they have sound checks and
rehearsals, but they also had meet and greets with the fans, and usually
did appearances and interviews with the local media wherever they happened
to be. From the early days of the band Kevin, as the oldest and the most
mature, responsible one had been management's touchstone within the band,
so he was always looked to by the other guys as the organizer. It made what
he was about to do so much easier, because everyone just automatically took
in what he said without doubting it.

"Guys, we have a tiny problem for the day," Kevin began, and the other four
immediately stopped their playful teasing of each other and glanced up at
him from over their plates.  Kevin reflected that even the way people ate
betrayed so much about their character. AJ was more or less just cramming
food in, licking his fingers and holding the plate with his other hand,
while Howie had pulled the coffee table over to set his plate on, and
wasn't eating anything he couldn't use a knife and fork on. Nick had his
plate casually balanced on his knee, while Brian had primly spread his
napkin carefully across his lap before setting his plate in the middle of
it. "Other than being in the nation's capital, but having zero time for
sightseeing, that is."

"What's wrong?" Nick asked.

"We're double booked for radio interviews before lunch," Kevin said,
shrugging. "I don't think we should cancel one, because, you know, that
might give some bad press, so does anyone have an objection to us splitting
up?"

Everyone shook their heads, agreeing by habit to whatever Kevin suggested.
He smiled, realizing this might be easier than he thought, despite the
headache he had from juggling the interviews on the phone all morning.

"Nick, why don't you and Brian take one, and the three of us will take the
other," Kevin suggested. "Then we can meet up for lunch, and we have that
little thing at that record store before tonight's sound checks."

"Sure," Nick answered, shrugging, glad that they had Kevin to help work
stuff like this out. Management could be so stupid sometimes.

"Sounds good," Brian agreed, smiling. He was going to get to spend the
whole morning with just Nick. They could talk and hang out, and it would be
just like the old days.

After breakfast everyone went back to their rooms to finish getting ready,
and Kevin picked up the phone again.

"Andrew, hi, it's Kevin. I didn't wake you, did I? Oh, good. Listen, I
wanted to talk to you about tonight. Last night it seemed like a few of the
dancers were a little unsure of the new choreography, and I don't want the
fans to not get the whole experience. I know you're giving them all a
little break today, but maybe tonight during the sound checks could you
take them aside to work on it? You're doing a great job, you know, but I
just want to make sure everything's perfect. Yes, that would be
excellent. Yes, thanks Andrew!"

Kevin hung up the phone, smiling. He'd now made sure that Nick and Geoff,
as well as Brian and TJ, would be separated for the entire day, until well
after the concert tonight.  One day probably wouldn't be enough, but, then
again, it might be. He'd just have to do a little more pushing. He plotted
his next move after they dropped Nick and Brian off at the first station,
promising to send a car to pick them up for lunch. When Brian and Nick
finished the interview, though, the car was empty.

"Where are the guys?" Brian asked, following Nick inside.

"I dunno," Nick answered. "Sir?"

"They just told me to come get you," the driver answered, shrugging. "And
then I'm to take you to the restaurant."

Just then Brian's phone rang, and he pulled it out to answer it.

"Brian! It's Kevin. We're running a little late here, so you guys go ahead
without us to lunch, and we'll meet you there, ok?" Kevin asked, not
mentioning that they were running behind because their interview was
actually just starting. Howie and AJ easily believed his story that it was
some kind of additional scheduling mix up.

"OK," Brian answered, shrugging. "I'll tell Nick. Bye."

"What's up?" Nick asked, glancing out the window as they sped through the
city.

"Kevin says they're running late, but they'll meet us at the restaurant,"
Brian said, smiling. "That interview was kind of fun."

"Yeah," Nick agreed. "It's been a really long time since only a few of us
went on one."

"I know!" Brian agreed. "It was kind of weird, like when we were first
starting out. I liked it, though. You and I haven't done anything together
in a while."

"I know," Nick agreed, shaking his head, but still smiling. "We've just all
been so busy and stuff, it seems like you and I never get time to do
anything anymore."

"Yeah," Brian agreed. "I was just thinking that yesterday, actually. We
hardly see each other at all anymore, and I kind of miss hanging out, you
know, like we used to."

"But look, here we are having lunch," Nick said brightly, trying to lift
Brian's suddenly serious mood. He realized that Brian was right,
actually. He had been spending all his free time with Geoff, and maybe his
friends missed him. They were seated quickly, and Nick leaned over toward
Brian. "So, um, what's new with you? How's Leighann?"

"Um, actually, we're getting a divorce," Brian said quietly, looking down.
Once there would have been a time when Nick would have known exactly what
was going on with him, and the fact that he had to ask just emphasized the
gulf between them.  Nick put his hand over Brian's.

"Brian? Are you ok?" Nick asked, concerned. "I thought you guys were so
happy."

"Well, you know, we've been having some problems," Brian said, looking
down.  Should he tell Nick about himself, or would it just complicate
things? "It's mostly me, you know.  We'll still be friends, but we just
can't stay together."

"I'm sorry," Nick said, wondering what he could do. "I didn't realize."

Brian smiled, a small, tight smile, and Nick could see that he was trying
to play it off.

"Well, it's like we said," Brian began, shrugging. "Our lives are all a lot
more complicated now."

"Yeah," Nick said, thinking back to the early days again, when he and Brian
had hung out so much together. Nick had never told Brian, but he'd kind of
had a little crush on him. He knew it couldn't go anywhere, since Brian
wasn't gay, but he'd been pretty infatuated with Brian for a while. "Hey,
Brian, do you remember that time when we were in Germany, and I wanted to
go to a biergarten, and we snuck out without telling Kevin?"

"Yeah!" Brian answered, grinning. "He was so pissed, and the lady at the
door didn't speak English, so she didn't know why he was so upset! I
thought he was going to kill us."

When the other guys arrived, finally, Brian and Nick were deep in their
recollections, sitting close together and laughing as they traded
stories. Kevin saw them, noticing how widely they were smiling, and how
they kept touching each other's arms and shoulders as they talked. They
barely seemed to notice as the rest of the guys sat down, and Kevin
wondered if things could be working out already. Brian looked so happy, and
Nick seemed to be enjoying himself, too. After lunch they went to the
record store for the signing, and Kevin noticed again that Nick and Brian
sat next to each other, whispering and giggling between fans, keeping up a
steady conversation of their own.  When the record store had finally closed
their doors, blocking the stream of fans so that the guys could get out and
go get some dinner, Kevin pulled Nick aside, and Brian hung back, too,
waiting for both of them.

"Nick, can I ask you a favor?" Kevin began. "I know it's not on the
schedule, and you're supposed to be going for dinner now with the rest of
us, but something else came up."

"Is it important?" Nick asked, a little annoyed. "Because I was supposed to
have dinner with Geoff, and I haven't seen him all day, you know?"

Kevin looked at Nick thoughtfully, making sure his expression was
appropriately serious.

"Nick, I know, and normally I wouldn't cut into your personal time,
especially when you've been working all day," he began, nodding. "But, see,
there's a little girl in the hospital, and she's really sick. They told us
about her at our interview, and I guess she's like, your biggest fan. I
know that you wanted to see Geoff, but I'm sure he'd understand if you
could just, you know, stop and see her. We were going to give her tickets,
but she's too sick to come to the show."

Nick swallowed. He wanted to see Geoff, but he also didn't want to
disappoint this poor little girl in the hospital, especially not if she was
really sick. Kevin watched, seeing that it was working again. He almost
felt bad for using this poor girl, but really he was helping her by having
Nick come see her. It just happened that it was also helping him, and
Brian, by keeping Nick and Geoff separated. He saw Brian stepping toward
them, and had to smother a grin. This was just getting better and better.

"Hey, Nick, I'll go with you," Brian said, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Then you won't be by yourself, and we can grab some dinner on the way to
the show.  Kevin's right. Geoff won't mind once he knows where you were."

"OK," Nick said, nodding. "Where are we going, Kevin?"

Kevin put them in a cab and sent them on their way. He was still smiling
when Howie came looking for him.

"Kevin, the car is here," Howie said, tapping him on the shoulder. "Where
did Brian and Nick go?"

"Oh, they went to go get some dinner," Kevin answered, smiling. He and
Howie walked back toward the car.

At the hospital, Nick and Brian were taken upstairs to the room, where the
girl's parents were waiting. The mother took Brian's arm.

"Thank you so much for coming," she said. "I'm Elayne Wilson, and this is
my husband, Tom. Our daughter, Cindy, she's just your biggest fan. It'll
mean so much to her that you're here."

Tears were standing in her eyes as she led Brian and Nick over to the door.
Tom pushed it open and walked over to the bed, where a very thin, weak
looking little girl was waiting. She blinked sleepily as Tom gently shook
her awake.

"Cindy, some special people came to see you," Tom whispered, waving them
closer.

As sick as she was, her eyes lit up when Nick and Brian stepped up by the
bed. Brian smiled, seeing how happy she was, although she barely noticed
him once Nick started talking to her, asking about how she felt and what
grade she was in and everything else.  She chattered away, telling him
about how she read every article about him, and how no one she knew would
ever believe that she was here, and Nick silently agreed that Kevin had
been right. Geoff would understand. Some things were more important. He
didn't know how long Cindy would be awake for, and he didn't want to do
anything that might ruin the visit for her, so he reached into his pocket
while he was talking to her and switched his phone off.

Back at the hotel, Howie saw Geoff waiting in the lobby, watching the doors
every time someone walked in.

"Hey, Geoff," Howie said, walking over.

"Hey Howie," Geoff answered. "Have you seen Nick? I thought he'd come back
with you guys."

"Oh, he went to get some dinner with Brian," Howie said, shrugging. "I
don't know when they'll be back."

"Oh, ok. Thanks," Geoff said, watching as Howie walked away. He'd been sure
that Nick had said they'd eat together tonight, just the two of them. Why
had he suddenly gone with Brian, without even calling? He pulled out his
phone and dialed Nick, but it went straight to the voice mail. Geoff didn't
leave a message.

Nick and Brian left the hospital when Cindy began to get tired. Her parents
explained that the medication was very draining for her, but they thanked
both of them repeatedly for coming. Nick gave Cindy a quick kiss on the
cheek goodbye, and then she drifted off to sleep. They grabbed a quick
dinner to go from the first restaurant they saw, and ate it quietly in the
car on their way to the arena. The visit to the hospital had dampened their
mood a little, but they were still both enjoying being around each other.
Nick realized that he really had missed being around Brian, and decided
that maybe he should try harder to make sure that Brian didn't feel
neglected. After all, he had smiled more today than he had in the past
couple of weeks. As they got out at the arena, walking toward the backstage
entrance, he took Brian's arm.

"Brian, I just wanted to say that, um, it's been a lot of fun hanging out
with you so much today," he began. Brian smiled at him. "I mean, I guess I
haven't been trying as hard to be your friend as I should have, and I
really want to work on that, ok?"

"I was gonna say the same thing," Brian said, grinning widely. "I've really
missed us hanging out, and today kind of reminded me of that. And I wanted
to say that I'm really proud of the way you talked to Cindy, too. I could
tell you were upset, but you covered it really well, and her mom said it
really meant a lot to her that we came."

"Thanks, Brian," Nick said, blushing. He held out his arms, and Brian
hugged him.

"There you guys are," Kevin said from behind them. He was smiling, although
neither of them knew why. "It's time for soundchecks."

They followed Kevin inside and to the stage. Howie was up onstage by
himself, hitting notes as the technicians gave him directions, and Kevin
walked Nick and Brian over to get them fitted with their microphones. As
soon as Brian had his on, he was called to the stage as well, leaving Kevin
and Nick standing off to the side. Looking around, Nick saw Geoff way over
on the other side of the arena, and he waved, catching Geoff's eye. Geoff
waved back, and Kevin, watching carefully, decided he needed to do a little
more. Brian looked so happy when the two of them had gotten back, and that
was more important to Kevin than Nick's little fling with some dancer. Nick
belonged with Brian, damn it, even if he didn't realize it.

"You really care about Geoff, don't you?" Kevin said carefully.

"Yeah," Nick answered, grinning. "Thanks for welcoming him into the
family."

"No problem," Kevin said, shrugging. "I just hope we mean more to him than
his real family did."

"What?" Nick snapped, his head whipping around. Geoff's family was
important to him.  "What did you just say?"

"Well, you know," Kevin said, shrugging, aware that he was walking an
extremely dangerous tightrope. "It just doesn't seem like he really
respects his parents' memory. I mean, they died and what did he do? Just
handed everything they worked for over to total strangers, like he didn't
care at all about their lives or what was important to them. He sure seems
to care about their money, what with the way he whips out that checkbook
and all, but it just seems kind of like he didn't really care about them
the way he totally threw the business away."

Kevin saw Nick turning red, and realized that he had to stop, right then,
before he made him too angry. If he pushed too hard, Nick would just cling
to Geoff, but as it was now, maybe he had planted a seed, a little
distrust. Maybe he had managed to put a little tarnish on Geoff's shine.

"Kevin, I can't believe you could even think that!" Nick said. "Geoff loved
his family!"

"I'm sorry, Nick," Kevin said quickly, putting a hand on Nick's shoulders.
"Maybe it's because I don't know him as well as you, but that's just the
way it looks.  I'm sorry if it upset you, Nick, but, you know, I've always
kind of looked at you like a younger brother.  I've always thought of you
as family, because family is important to me, and I don't want to see you
end up with someone who, I don't know, maybe doesn't think family's that
important. I'm just trying to watch out for you, that's all. You're not
mad, are you?"

Nick thought about it for a minute. He could see how Kevin, who really
hadn't spent more than an afternoon or two with Geoff, might see things
that way, but Geoff wasn't really like that, was he? Nick hadn't thought of
it that way before, but was Geoff being disrespectful by just following his
urge to dance, rather than looking after the businesses and
responsibilities his family had left him? Suddenly he felt confused, like
there were things about Geoff he hadn't known, or thought of. Then, just as
quickly, he felt like he was being stupid, and worrying about nothing. He
loved Geoff, and they were honest with each other. These were just stupid
little doubts.

"No, I'm not mad," Nick said, shaking his head. "I just think that maybe
you don't know Geoff well enough, that's all."

Before Kevin could say anything else, Nick was called to the stage. Kevin
smothered a grin as he thought of the look of confusion that had crossed
Nick's face. He could only hope that Nick would turn to Brian to discuss
his problems. Kevin began to casually walk the arena, as if he were
strolling along aimlessly, chatting on his cell phone as he rearranged some
things for tomorrow, to again throw Nick and Brian together.  He wouldn't
be able to keep this up for long without raising some questions from
management, but maybe he wouldn't have to. Eventually he was near the area
where the backup dancers were going through their practice, and as he got
closer he heard Andrew tell them to take five. Geoff walked over to grab
his towel from a bench near Kevin.

"Hey," he said, nodding at Kevin.

"Oh, hey Geoff," Kevin said, as if he'd just noticed him. "How's it going?
Are you still enjoying it here?"

"Yeah," Geoff answered, smiling. Kevin noticed TJ looking at them, so he
casually stepped away a little, and Geoff followed. "Everyone's been really
great, and, you know, there's Nick."

When Geoff mentioned Nick, both of them glanced toward the stage. Nick was
sitting on the edge, deep in conversation with Brian. From where they were
standing Kevin could see that both were smiling, and they were sitting
pretty close together.

"You really care about Nick, don't you?" Kevin asked.

"Yeah," Geoff answered, watching Nick and Brian, thinking about the dinner
Nick had skipped to, according to Howie, go with Brian. "He's really close
to Brian, isn't he?"

He asked the question in a flip, offhand manner, as if just wondering, but
Kevin thought there might be more. It was time to plant another seed.

"Yeah," Kevin said. "And I think it's really great that you're not
threatened by Brian.  You must really trust Nick."

"Why would I be threatened by Brian?" Geoff asked, cocking his head to the
side. "I mean, I know that he's Nick's best friend, but he's married."

"Oh," Kevin said, blinking, feigning surprise. "I thought Nick told
you. I'm sorry."

"Told me what?" Geoff asked. Was Nick keeping things from him?

"About Brian's divorce," Kevin answered. "I mean, he hasn't really made an
official announcement, but I figured you and Nick told each other
everything. I was sure he would have told you that Brian was getting
divorced because, you know, he's gay."

Geoff tried to play it off.

"Well, you know, we haven't really seen each other today," Geoff said,
shrugging. "I'm sure he was going to tell me. Maybe he just thought it
wasn't really important. I mean, why should it matter if Brian's gay?"

"Exactly," Kevin said, nodding. "I always kind of thought with the two of
them so close, that, you know, there might be something there, but Nick
loves you. I'm sure there isn't anything for you to worry about."

"Geoff, break's over!" Andrew called. "You guys need to go get into your
costumes."

"That's my cue as well," Kevin said. "Bye, Geoff."

"Oh, bye Kevin," Geoff said, still watching the stage.

Nick and Brian shared another quick hug before walking away together toward
the back of the stage. Kevin watched them, and glanced at Geoff's face. He
felt a little bad for hurting Geoff, but he'd get over it. Brian's
happiness was more important, and Brian would be happy with Nick.

***

To be continued, but not by me.