Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2001 13:57:15 -0800 (PST)
From: ajsaysyourefired <ajsaysyourefired@yahoo.com>
Subject: The Sixth Backstreet Boy 17

Disclaimer: this story was made up in it's entirety by
me, AJ. I'm not saying it happened, and I hope it
doesn't.

This is the chapter you've all been waiting for! The
end! How do you like that? (Well after the epilogue of
course.)

Email me and tell me what you think!
ajsaysyourefired@yahoo.com put 6bsb in the subject line.

				    ~*~

"I still can't believe you did that." A voice from behind us said. It was
Chris.

"Yeah, well, what are you gonna do, cry about it?" I said, shrugging.

"You are such a gay faggot!" Lance yelled.

<You are so redundant!> I thought, but found it best to just ignore.

"Hey Lance," Nick said, getting fed up. "Want to play a game?"

"What game?" He said, immediately suspicious.

"It doesn't have a name." Nick said. "I say something, and you say whatever
comes to your mindfirst. Word association, if you will.  Whatever thefirst
thing that comes to your mind is, is thetruth. The questions will have to
do with yourpersonality, decisions you would make, choices.Okay?"

"Okay..." he said, still wary.

"Okay. Blue or red?"

"Blue."

"Pink or purple?"

"Purple."

"North or South?"

"South."

"Rock or pop?"

"Pop."

"Metal or rap?"

"Rap."

"Christina Aguliera or Britney Spears?"

"Christina."

"Friends or Will & Grace?"

"Will & Grace."

"Scream or Scary Movie?"

"Scary Movie."

"CDs or tapes."

"Cds."

"Video cassette or DVD."

"DVD."

"Republican or Democrat?"

"Democrat."

"Blonde or brunette?"

"Blonde."

"Do you feel all your answers are 100% correct?"

"Yes."

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-two."

"When's your birthday?"

"May 4th, 1979."

"You *know* all your answers are 100% correct?"

"Yes."

"Dance or watch?"

"Watch."

"Sunrise or sunset?"

"Sunset."

"Roller blades or roller-skate?"

"Roller skate."

"Looney Tunes."

"Bugs Bunny."

"Pokemon."

"Pikachu."

"McDonalds."

"French Fries."

"Take out."

"Chinese."

"Pizza."

"Tip."

"Motel."

"Riot."

"Whore."

"Madonna."

"Are you homosexual?"

"Yes."

Silence. Nick just looked at Lance. We all stared athim.

"*You're* gay?" I squeaked.

He looked at me blankly. Then realized what he said.

"You tricked me!" he yelled at Nick, furious.Luckily, the building was
deserted except for ourrecord reps and managers who were on the other side.

Nick looked smug. "No, I didn't. That game *always*works. You said twice
your answers were 100%correct. And Brian and I can tell when another manis
homosexual. It was your vibes, not your actions.I could tell the first time
I saw you, at yourconcert." Nick suddenly grinned. "Gaydar is awonderful
thing, man."

Lance just stared at Nick. His face was *very* red.His mouth opened and
closed several times as if hewanted to say something, but couldn't.

"Lance?" I said. Slowly, he turned to face me."Why?" I said, VERY hurt.
"Why did you do that to mejust because I'm gay, when *you* are?"

"I...I..."

"Yeah, I-stutter all you want, it can't help younow." Brian said, incensed,
angry beyond words. Heseriously looked like he wanted to kill him.

"I...I'm sorry." He said. All the anger had deflatedout of him and he
looked confused, lost and sad."I'm...I'm so sorry..." He said.

"Why?" I whispered again. I felt like I would crysoon. Why had he done this
to me? Why?

He looked at me like a rabbit who's been dropped in a snake pit and has
just spotted the snake, helpless.

"Oh Justin." He pleaded. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Idon't know why I did
that to you..."

"Yeah, why did you?" Chris demanded. "Why'd you dothat to him when he did
nothing wrong, especially when *you're* gay too!"

"I...just...let me explain." He begged. He looked atme. I nodded. He
swallowed, and looked at his shoes. Maybe he was realizing how interesting
his shoes were. I usually found a zillion new things about my shoes every
time I had to talk to them.

"It's okay." I said gently. "I'm sure it will be okay,just explain."

Lance glanced at me, and his eyes wondered how I couldbe so forgiving, they
said that plain as day. He swallowed again.

"I've been gay my whole life." He started, in a verysmall voice. "A year
and a half ago Brian and Nick came out to theworld. I was considering it,
but then Justin told us he was. JClooked shocked, Joey and Chris looked
shocked and a little bit angry. I didn'twant you guys to hate me like I
thought you were going to hate him.

"After he left right after he told us, I realized youguys didn't hate
him-he was our friend and his sexuality doesn'tmatter. But what if y'all
met someone who told you all gay people were fags sex-freaks? You'd hate
Justin-and if I told, me too. I decided to see how easily your minds could
be changed, and it turned out very quickly. Joey and Chris's minds were
changed *very* quickly, but JC was harder.I never did feel like I got to
him. Even Joey and Chris would show abit of remorse every now and then for
what we did to Justin.

"That's why I was such a...cheesedick, or a bitch toyou, Justin. I really
didn't like it, and I honestly didn't or don'thate you, but I didn't want
to tell and get hurt if someone elsepersuadedthe others. As you can see, it
was easily done." He finished. He looked up at me. "I know how truly wrong
it was to deliberately hurt youbecause I didn't want to chance getting
hurt, but very very soon it was too late. I couldn't chance stopping it, or
like I said to JC when he tried, I could be labeled a sissy or a fag,
wanting to stop hurting you.  And I did want to stop, since the very
beginning, but you see, I couldn't."

I was quiet a minute. "I see." I said finally.

"So you manipulated us to hate him because you didn't want someone else to
manipulate us to hate you." Chris said, folding his arms.

Lance was quiet a minute. "If you want to say it like that-"

"I want to say it like that." Chris narrowed his eyes.

Lance sighed. "Yes then."

Silence. "Brian?" JC ventured.

"Yeah?"

"Could...do you think I could talk to you? Privately?"  he asked, looking
troubled.

"Sure. We can go into this empty office here." He motioned. JC nodded and
followed him in. "You just wait till I deal with you." Brian threatened
Lance.

"I think I'm going to take care of it." I told Brian gently. He shrugged
and went in.

I looked at Lance. I sighed, and he looked at me anxiously. "You hate me
don't you." He said sadly. "I totally and completely understand. You have
every right to hate me."

I shook my head slowly. "No Lance, I don't hate you.  And I understand (but
don't approve of) your actions."

"Really?" He whispered. "You don't hate me?"

"No, I never did. Are you sorry for hurting me and hating me?"

"Yes, yes!" he said.

"I forgive you." I said.

Silence for a full minute while *everyone* (excluding JC and Brian cause
they were off talking) stared at me, not believing I said that.

"What?" Lance said.

I looked at his green eyes. "I forgive you, it's okay.  I don't hate
you. And I'd like to be your friend again."

He just looked at me, then started to cry silently, tears falling from his
eyes. "No Justin." He said. "You can't forgive me, I did something too
terrible to you."

I came over to him and hugged him. He threw his arms around me, crying.
"I'm so sorry Justin." He said.

I held him for about five minutes while he cried.  "It's okay, don't cry."
I kept saying. "It's alright, we should let it go. Can we be friends
again?"

"I hope so." He stepped back finally, wiping his eyes.  I handed him a
tissue box, and he blew his nose. "It's all up to you." He said. "I did
something cruel beyond words to you. I not only physically tortured you, I
got these guys to do it to. And we-I-broke your heart. I'm so truly sorry,
and I hope so much we can put it behind us and be friends again."

I took his hands in mine, and rubbed them, looking in his eyes with a faint
smile on my face. "I hope so too." I said.

He sighed, eyes down. "Thank you so, so much."

"Justin?"

I let go of Lance's hands and turned around. Chris and Joey were standing
there.

"I'm sorry Justin." Chris said. "I'm so sorry I hit you and hurt you.  It
doesn't bother me if you're gay."

I smiled. "Thanks."

"I'm very very sorry to. And it doesn't bother me either." Joey said.

"Okay." I said, smiling.

"Do you forgive us?" Chris asked.

I smiled again and hugged both him and Joey. Then I reached an arm out and
pulled Lance to me too.

"Big group hug!" Nick said, and joined it.

Howie and Kevin rolled their eyes and shook their heads while AJ rolled his
eyes and smirked.

"Nick you are so gay." He said.

"Duh." Nick said, without batting an eye.

I let go of my friends and the eight of us sat down to wait for the final
members of our bands.

"Do you think you'll come back to *NSYNC?" Lance asked timidly.

I thought a minute, then shook my head. "No, I think I'm going to like
being a Backstreet Boy. I need a change, a dramatic change anyway. I think
I'll stick with the BSB."I said, and Lance nodded. "But we can still be
best friends again. All of us." I offered.

Lance finally smiled. "Thanks." He said. Joey and Chris nodded.

The door opened, and JC came out, followed by Brian.

"Justin?" JC said, looking terrified.

"Yeah?" I stood up. "Something wrong Josh?"

"I...I...have something to tell you." He said, swallowing thickly.

"Yeah?" I took a few steps forward. "What is it?"

JC looked frantically over to Brian, who gestured to me. "Tell him."  Brian
said. "He won't hate you. I know Justin, he won't. You should know he
won't. I'm telling you, he'd be happy."

"But what if he *does* hates me?" JC whimpered.

"I won't hate you." I said. "I don't hate Lance or Chris or Joey. I totally
forgive them, and if you're sorry, I would you too. I want to be friends
with you guys again. I'm staying Backstreet, but I want to put all this
mess behind us. So I won't hate you, okay? I want to be your best friend
again."

JC looked down at his shoes. "I'm gay." He mumbled.

I just stood there, stunned, sure I'd heard him incorrectly. "You're a what
now?"

"I'm gay. I'm gay, and I have a massive crush on you."  He looked up, his
sad eyes into mine. "I'm in love with you, Justin.  And it hurt me so much
to see you hurting, and to hurt you. It just broke my heart into a million
pieces to see you cry because of how much we hurt you. And once, when we
hit you and you cried and then were unconscious, it was the first time
*I'd* hit you, I sat beside you and told you I was sorry."

I sighed, dumbfounded. "I thought I'd imagined that."

He shook his head. "No, I actually said it. And sometimes-did you know you
cry in your sleep?"

"No."

He nodded. "You do. Usually after you were beaten.  You'd cry out and
literally cry while you were asleep. I usually would cover you up and wipe
away your tears and kind of hold your hand until you calmed down.
Sometimes I would even kiss your forehead." He continued sadly. "*I* would
cry when I saw *you* cry. In private or when you were sleeping, so no one
would see. I would hear you crying at night, and I would get up, sit beside
you, cover you up and hold you hand and wipe away your tears, crying myself
as I kissed you, telling you I loved you and not to cry, it would all be
okay someday. I love you Justin, and I'm so so sorry. I would give my life
to take back those times when I hit you.  And...well...I know you probably
don't return the feelings, and probably hate me for never telling you or
for hitting you, and I...I completely understand."  He looked down at the
ground.

I looked around quickly to see that no one besides us was in eyesight or
earshot. I then reached out, tipped his chin up, and kissed him warmly on
the lips. I slid my tongue into his mouth.  He flinched a little, then
gladly accepted the kiss. He opened up his mouth for me and got into it. I
kissed him for a long time, and even got a little hard. His hands gently
went to my face, and stroked my face and hair, and I got harder. Let's face
it, I was horny for him.

I gently broke it away, and held him at arm's length, smiling like there's
no tomorrow.

"Does that answer your questions about returning feelings?" I said.

"You...You Like me too?" He said, baffled.

"Sure." I shrugged. "You were the nicest to me. You never hit me, up until
these last two weeks. You treated me like a person when we were alone. I
used to have a crush on you. Hell, that's how I realized I was gay. When I
was 16, I realized I liked you on a much more intimate level than friends
should. I wanted to hug you and get hugs from you constantly. I wondered
how good it would feel to kiss you, like on a dare or something so you
wouldn't get suspicious or nothin'. I realized I had a major crush on you,
I even loved you. It's kind of faded away to just a friend love since then,
but now it's back, I love you, I want to hug and kiss you-my mouth wants
you Josh."

"That's not all that does." Nick said, pointing to my stiffy.

JC and I looked down, and this time it was I who turned the shade of red
you can never get from crayons. JC made an appreciative face, then looked
up at me. "Are you horny for me?" He asked curiously.

I nodded, embarrassed.

He smiled sweetly, and draped his arms around my shoulders. "That is so
sweet." He said. He let me go, then stepped back. "Do you really mean it?
You want to be with me?"

I nodded. "Hell yeah."

He looked shocked. "Even after how terribly cruel I was to you?"

I took his hand. "Josh, I don't care. I forgive you. I want to put it all
behind us. Like it never happened. Do you think you can do that?  Cause if
you're going to be apologizing about that every five minutes, you're going
to annoy me more than usual." I said with a straight face.

He looked at me a sec, then smiled. "Okay." He said.  "Only if you really
really think it's okay we can be together."

"I do, I really do." I said, rubbing his hands. "Do you really really want
to be with me?"

"I do, I do so badly." He said.

"Then we can be together."

He started to cry, much in the same fashion Lance had a few minutes
earlier. "How can you be so good to me?" he said.  "You're so loving and
forgiving when you've been beaten and tortured and heartbroken."

"He is." Brian agreed. "That kid is one in a million."  I glanced over and
smiled at him a little.

"Oh, I know it." JC said. "And I love you so so much."

"Shh don't cry, it's all okay now." I said.

"I'm just so...happy." he said.

"You know what I wonder?" Nick said all the sudden.  "Bri, if we could tell
Justin and Lance were gay, how come we couldn't tell JC was? I was shocked
by his confession!"

"Yeah, me too, when he told me." Brian shrugged.  "Maybe our gaydar is
malfunctioning. We'd better take it to get tuned...Actually, I think it was
his love for Justin that threw it off. And he just doesn't give off any
signs. With Justin it was his eyes, his goofy childish nature. And the way
he looked at his bandmates told me they hit him. Then I looked into his
eyes and saw he was gay. And plus, we haven't spent that much time with
JC. I just think it was cause he didn't show it. You're very good at
hiding, JC."

"Um...thanks, I guess." He said, his arms around me.

"Is that why you hated Lance so much? Cause you could tell he was?" I asked
Brian.

"Yep."

"Did you know why he did it though? His explanation?"

"Nope. Not a clue. That made me hate him more, cause to me it was like,
this gay guy is deliberately hurting this other gay guy just because the
latter is gay. Um...*DUH*, do we have confusion here? I just couldn't
figure out why someone would want to hurt you. Ever."  He shook his head.

"Well, we're okay now. Huh Josh." I said, hugging him to me closely.

"Aww." The other's chorused. I ignored them and began kissing JC
passionately. He returned it eagerly. I slowly moved against him, grinding
him (pushing my stiffy against his crotch).

"Whoa, whoa, save that for...the closet or something."  AJ said.

"We don't need to see that!" Joey seconded.

"Get a room!" Brian called, laughing.

"I have a room. It's at your house." I said, raising an eyebrow up and
down. He zipped his lips, still smiling.

"Closet! Now!" AJ said, seeing me and JC pressed together and hugging like
that.

I broke away from JC. "I'm not in a closet. I'm not coming out of the
closet. That sounds like an erection."

"Well you have one." AJ retorted.

"Indeed I do." I said sarcastically. "So...um...blow me."

"No." he said without batting an eye.

"I will." JC offered.

"Please add 'later' onto that statement." Howie pleaded.

I looked at JC. "You will?"

"Later."

I laughed. "Whatever."

"I think it' so sweet that you two love each other so much." Brian
said. "I've always thought that when two people love each other it's never
wrong, and nothing should stand in their way; age, gender, race, nothing."

"Brian," I said, "think about what you just said. And use it." I
instructed, holding my Josh to me. Brian looked at me, confused. I pointed
to Nick. "He loves you. You love him. So what is so wrong that you left
him? You don't leave someone for love. He wants nothing more than to be
with you. He won't be with anybody but you, and you won't be with anybody
but him. So you can *be* with the man you love, that loves you more than
life itself, or you can both be lonely and miserable for the rest of your
lives. If you honestly, truly love him Brian, you'd be with him right now."

Silence. Brian just looked at me with a slight hurt look on his face.

"This is the part where you protest." Nick informed Brian. Everyone one
else was silent.

Brian heaved a great sigh, then walked over to Nick, slowly. Everyone
watched him. He got down on his knees in front of Nick, and took his hands.

"Nicky..." he said, his voice very cracked and soft.  "Will you take me
back, Nicky?"

Nick just looked at him, then smiled a wonderful smile at him. I could only
imagine how happy Brian was to see it. Nick picked him up, and twirled him
around and kissed him. Brian put his hands on his face and kissed him
madly.

"Of course I will!" Nick said, still smiling that wonderful smile. "I love
you more than anything Brian. You're *my* Brian.  You'll always be my
Brian."

Brian had tears of happiness in his eyes. "I love you soooooo much!" he
said. "I'm so sorry, I'm so very sorry to put you through it all, when my
heart knew full well that we belonged together. I'm *so* sorry, and I love
you soooooo much! You'll take me back? We can be together again?"

"Yes." Nick said. He put him down and began kissing him again.

"Now *that* deserves an 'aw'!" I said.

"Aww!" everyone chorused.

"Let's all go back to my place so we can celebrate our new loves and
friendships." Brian offered.

"Let's." I said, holding JC's hand. I went with him in his car (to sit with
him and give him directions was my excuse. While I did do that, I also gave
him a rubdown in the car while he was driving. I thanked my lucky stars he
had tinted windows, hehe.) Brian and Nick went in Brian's, AJ, Howie and
Kevin in AJ's car, and everyone else in their own.

When we all got to Brian's place, he got out some drinks (wine and
champagne) so we could toast. Joey, Chris and Lance sat on the couch; AJ,
Howie and Kevin on the floor, me and JC in one armchair and Brian and Nick
in the cuddle chair.

"Here's a toast to our new friendships." Howie raised his glass. "May we be
friends and find good fortune together, forever."

We clinked our glasses and drank.

"A toast to Brian." JC said. "Who's understanding, caring, friendship and
love has helped everyone here, especially Justin, Nick and me. We all love
you Brian. Thanks for being such a good friend." He said sincerely. Brian
blushed.

"Hear hear!" I said. We all clinked and drank to B-Rok.

"To lifelong happiness." I said.

"To love." Brian said, looking Nick in the eyes.

"To our sixth Backstreet Boy." Nick said.

"Hear hear!" AJ said. We all clinked and drank.

The end! (But go to epilogue)