need. sleep.
but can't. Dear self: You have to work midnight shift all weekend. No more passing out cold at 3am. You need to get into midnight-shift mode! Stop wussing out!
Oh, well. I have half of "OTL" downloaded (what? It isn't like I'm not going to buy the dvd, too!), and I have about eighty-five million things I need to do today, so I've got to get off my ass and go do them!
Story. BSB. Kevin/AJ, glitter. Yes.
Glitter
AJ waited for the stagehands to disconnect his microphone pack and then hobbled off-stage. He was pretty sure that he'd pulled the muscle in his hamstring, again - not as bad as the last time, but that didn't make it hurt any less. The fact that he'd been singing _flat_ on top of that didn't help matters much, either, and now, if he was going to be laid up yet _again_ because his body chose to betray him, then that was just about the last straw to make this a truly crappy day.
He tried to walk as normally as possible, but of course Kevin noticed the stiffness in his step, and frowned over at him, but AJ just shrugged it off and made a superhuman effort to move normally. None of the other guys seemed to notice at all - Nick was running around like a wild man, his energy at its peak for the day, like it usually was, post-rehearsal. Nick woke up very slowly, slouched and slumped through the first hour or two of work, then gradually roused himself and by the time they'd been going for six or seven or ten hours straight, he was energized enough to lift a car up with his bare hands. Brian and Howie usually indulged the heck out of him when he was like this, and Kevin did, too, sometimes, although less so than the others. If he was in peak form, AJ might have joined in on Nick's highjinks, but he was tired and hurt and he just wanted to get in the car and go back to the hotel and put some ice on his leg and go to bed.
Somewhere, somehow, Nick found a jar of sparkle-glitter, gold-coloured, and AJ just _knew_ that no good could come of that combination. Nick threw a little bit on Brian, experimentally, but Brian just laughed and threw it back at him, so Nick shifted focus and chased Howie around, but Howie was too nimble for him to catch. Disappointed, Nick crept up behind AJ, but AJ just turned, slid his sunglasses down on his nose as far as they'd go and caught Nick in a 'don't-fuck-with-me' glare that stopped him short. AJ almost felt bad for doing it - for about a second - but he was in way too pissy a mood to play nicely with the baby.
So, Nick capped the little jar and pouted, prepared to hand it back to the wardrobe lady who he'd stolen it from in the first place. At the last possible moment, though, he faked a sudden left and ran over to Kevin, throwing the entire contents of the bottle of glitter up in the air above him.
It was really beautiful, sparkling and shimmering in the air as it came down, like a summer shower emerging from Kevin's own personal golden raincloud. They all froze, and AJ thought he heard Howie gasp. Brian was rocking back and forth, his hand over his mouth, trying really hard not to laugh out loud, and Kevin didn't move a muscle. He had taken his shirt off, skin damp with sweat from a hard dance rehearsal, and he was literally _covered_ in the gold glitter. He turned around slowly, and Nick bounced on the balls of his feet, warring between horror and delight, and fully prepared to cut and run at a second's notice if it seemed that his life was in imminent danger.
Kevin just leaned over, shook his head at Nick so that a spray of glitter flew out of the long, dark strands, and started to laugh.
Then they all cracked up - stage hands, bodyguards, musicians, and Boys. Nick laughed harder than almost anyone, except maybe for Kevin himself, and even AJ managed to force a smile through his pain. The laughter only increased when Kevin slowly stalked Nick around the room, finally caught him and hugged him tight, shaking over him like a wet dog until Nick was at least as gold-tinted and sparkling as Kevin.
After that, they got the word that the cars were here, ready to take them back to the hotel, and things calmed down. Nick pouted and complained about the glitter that was stuck all over him, since it was practically impossible to get rid of, and no matter how hard he rubbed and shook and brushed it off, there was always more. Everyone had a good time refusing to cut him any slack at all, since it was totally his fault that he was covered in the stuff, and probably would be trying to get rid of it for the next week, at the least. Kevin, especially, smiled evilly and shook himself over Nick whenever he could get close enough, sprinkling him with yet more of the gold 'fairy-dust.'
It sparkled all through Kevin's eyebrows, on his face, and neck, and in his hair, and AJ was surprised that he didn't seem to mind it more. He had just a little bit of the stuff on himself, from his proximity to Nick and Kevin, and found even _that_ much itchy and irritating. Then again, at the moment he found just about _everything_ irritating, especially the increasingly-frequent sharp cramps in his hamstring, which he was serruptitiously trying to rub with the tips of his fingers.
When they got to the hotel, AJ took a deep breath and grit his teeth before he got out of the car, and tried to walk without putting much weight on the bad leg, which only hurt more from having sat in the car for so long without moving. He went straight through the doors and over to the elevators without pausing to say anything to the fans out front or sign any autographs, knowing that if he stopped in his forward momentum at all, he'd probably never be able to start moving again. Howie called out for him to wait and hold the elevator, but AJ pretended not to hear and punched the button, closing the doors.
He'd apologize to Howie tomorrow, _if_ he could get out of bed.
***
Half an hour later AJ had managed to shower by holding on to the curtain rod, consumed two ibuprophen with a large glass of water, and was sitting on the bed in his robe, carefully icing his thigh. The ice burned like a son of a bitch, but it would only be worse if he gave in to the exhaustion and went to straight to bed without treating it. Then there would be no way in hell he'd be able to so much as move in the morning, and they still had three days of rehearsals for the next round of upcoming performances. God knows he didn't want to be responsible for any more postponements, not unless he was dead with his back broken.
A sharp rap sounded at the door, and AJ hobbled over to it. He peeked through the peephole and sighed, resting his head on the door for just a moment, then turned the locks without opening it up, hopping back over to the bed.
Kevin walked in just as he settled down. There was no preamble, no pretense, no "you feeling okay, AJ?"; Kevin had a bucket of ice in one hand, and an ace bandage in the other. He nodded at the open bottle of painkillers on the nightstand as he sat down. "You eat?" he asked.
AJ shook his head, teeth grit to keep from crying out as Kevin gingerly manipulated his thigh. "Uh-unh."
Kevin handed over the phone. "Order something. You've got to take that stuff with food, or you'll be puking your guts out."
AJ dutifully called room service and ordered a burger and fries, hanging up before it even occurred to him to ask if Kevin wanted anything.
Kevin was still rubbing at the knot in his thigh. "This doesn't feel too bad," he said. "Does it hurt much?"
"Like a son of a bitch," AJ said, wishing Kevin would leave him alone, and knowing that he wouldn't. "Not as bad as the last time, though," he admitted. It was probably something less than a pulled muscle, more like a strain or a really stubborn knot.
"Come on, then." Kevin plumped up two of the pillows at the head of the bed and pushed AJ down onto them. He took the other two pillows and put them underneath AJ's thigh, raising the leg up before replacing the ice pack. Then he went into the bathroom and came back with a stack of clean handtowels to use with the rest of the ice.
AJ was naked underneath his robe, still slightly damp from the shower, but that didn't even register until Kevin sat down and undid the belt of the robe, baring his leg to the hipbone. Still, it was nothing new; it wasn't as though Kevin hadn't seen him naked a thousand times over the last eight years. Kevin was sitting with his back to AJ, moving the ice pack back and forth over the strained muscle.
AJ picked up the tv remote and clicked the set on, flipping through channels and finally settling on the all-news station. He didn't really pay much attention to it, though; it was mindless background noise that just gave both of them more of an excuse not to talk.
The food arrived fifteen minutes later, and Kevin got up to answer the knock. AJ covered himself up with his robe even though he couldn't be seen from the door, because you just never knew when a fan might get ingenious and decide to hide herself away in a room-service cart. That had happened to Nick _twice_ in the last year, much to AJ's amusement. Still, it wouldn't be nearly as funny if naked pictures of _him_ got in the tabloids, or on the Internet. The fake nudes in circulation were more than enough embarrassment, thanks.
Kevin ate roughly half of his french fries and a couple of bites of the burger when AJ offered it to him. When they were finished with the food, he wrapped up another ice pack and started icing AJ's thigh again, keeping it on for twenty minutes and then off for twenty minutes. It wasn't exactly a comfortable feeling, having a freezing, dripping wet pack of ice on his skin, but the way Kevin kept it moving around and mopped up the melted water with one of the dry towels, plus the elevation provided by the pillows, made it feel a lot better than it had in full cramp, and AJ soon found himself yawning broadly. It wasn't all that late, only eight o'clock or so, but rehearsals usually kicked his ass and today was no different, so it wasn't a big surprise to AJ that he fell asleep.
When he woke up, Kevin was gone - or, at least, he thought Kevin was gone. AJ fumbled around on the nightstand for his watch to see what time it was.
"You going to stay awake for a while, or are you going back to sleep?" Kevin asked from the bathroom doorway.
"I'm awake," AJ said, surprised to see by his watch that he'd been asleep for over an hour. The ice-bucket was empty, and the pile of towels were gone.
"I'll wrap it for you, then. You can't sleep with it wrapped," Kevin said.
"Yeah, I remember." AJ shifted his robe so that the injured thigh was bared, while his groin was still covered. He flexed, experimentally, pleased that the hard knot of pain had lessened, somewhat, probably due to the painkiller and Kevin's ministrations.
Kevin unrolled the bandage and wrapped AJ's leg with it efficiently, from knee to hip, and tucked it in place. He bent his head over while he worked, and some of his hair fell free of the leather tie he'd used to hold it in a ponytail.
AJ snorted, flicking some glitter off Kevin's shoulder. "You're all sparkly, man," he said.
"I'm probably going to be sneezing up little bits of golden glitter for months," Kevin said. "But," he added, with a wicked grin, "so will Nick."
"You're really a sadist at heart, aren't you, Kevin?" AJ laughed. "If the public only knew that your dark streak is at least as wide as mine."
"I wouldn't want to take over your title as the bad boy of the group," Kevin said, shaking his head.
"And I don't want to be the group hard-ass, that's for sure," AJ agreed, wincing even as the words came out of his mouth. "Fuck, sorry, man. I didn't mean that."
"Sure you did," Kevin said, shrugging. "It's my function. We've all got our places."
"Yeah, and mine must be to bitch all the time, even when you're being nice to me."
"Exactly," Kevin chuckled. "We must all keep to our appointed roles, now."
"One of these days I'm gonna out you," AJ threatened, "as a big soft marshmallow with a wicked sense of humour, and your reputation will never be the same."
"I'll just deny it," Kevin said.
"And more people will believe you than me," AJ said, "because everyone knows you'd never lie."
Kevin grinned, again, waggling his eyebrows, and AJ had to laugh.
"As long as _we_ know the truth," Kevin said, "nothing else matters, right?"
"Right," AJ agreed. "Fuck 'em."
Kevin just shook his head, and smoothed his hand over the bandage. "Is this too tight?"
"No, it feels great, thanks for doing it."
"Okay," Kevin said, but he didn't take his hand away. There was another gleam in his eyes that AJ didn't notice until it was too late - and then Kevin had leaned over him and shook all of his hair free, sprinkling a shower of golden glitter over AJ's torso and stomach.
"Fuck, Kevin!" AJ yelped, unable to scramble away. "Jesus! You want to go have a shower, or something?"
Kevin was laughing. "I already did," he said. "Washed my hair twice. This stuff is like superglue."
AJ tried to brush the glitter off his skin, but Kevin was right - it stuck to everything. What he managed to get off his chest just ended up stuck to his hands. "Great," he grumbled. "Now I'm going to be sore _and_ itchy all night."
"Sorry," Kevin said, but he was still grinning and didn't look at _all_ sorry. "Okay, I'll help," he added, and shook out the edges of AJ's robe, then tried to wipe the glitter off of his skin above the bandage. To AJ's surprise, Kevin didn't stop there, but continued to slide his hand up just a little further, long fingers teasing underneath the edge of the robe, pushing it back until it fell completely open. The glitter had gotten underneath the plush terrycloth and seemed like it was all over. When Kevin traced the edges of the '69' tattoo that ringed AJ's navel, AJ couldn't swallow his startled, highly aroused gasp.
He dug his fingers into Kevin's hair, pulling him close, and they kissed, soft and then fierce, suddenly hungry, with AJ licking and biting at Kevin's lips. Kevin pulled away even though AJ hadn't let him go, both of them panting for breath.
"This isn't good for your leg," Kevin said, aware of the tension in AJ's body.
"Fuck my leg," AJ growled, and then laughed when Kevin chuckled, saying, "Never tried that one before, AJ."
"You want to?" AJ asked, a little hoarse and very, very aware that except for the robe on his shoulders and arms and the bandage around his thigh that he was completely naked, and there was no denying his growing arousal, even if he wanted to. Kevin leaving right now would be damned frustrating. "It's been a long time since you took care of me like this."
"It's been a long time since you've let anyone who loves you take care of you at all, AJ," Kevin said, softly, frowning at his position on the bed, trying to figure out if this was even possible.
AJ held his breath, hoping, as he watched Kevin make the decision in his mind.
He didn't leave. He carefully straddled AJ's good leg, and when AJ felt the brush of Kevin's denim-clad groin against his hip, he knew that Kevin wouldn't be leaving any time soon, unless he had a masochistic streak to match the sadistic one.
AJ wasn't entirely sure that wasn't true when Kevin carefully palmed his dick with the flat of his broad hand, rubbing it gently. AJ growled in his throat, not wanting anything gentle or soft; he was over-stimulated already and wanted Kevin to jerk him or suck him, not tease. He also knew if he asked for that, Kevin would probably end up going even more slowly, so as not to over-tax his injured thigh, so AJ bit his lip and thrust his hips up as much as he could without causing his leg to spasm in pain.
Fortunately, Kevin took the hint and bent his head, sucking in AJ's dick and making AJ gasp sharply in his throat. It _had_ been a long time since he'd felt this, the warmth of Kevin's mouth, the fingers that dug gently into his bare hip, holding him down to the bed so he wouldn't jerk and shudder away.
AJ closed his eyes and just felt the gentle sucking, the clench of Kevin's throat around the head of his dick, the long fingers that wrapped around the base and jerked him while Kevin lapped at the head with his tongue. It was good, very good, and it made AJ come so quickly it was almost embarrassing, except for the fact that he was shouting and jerking in waves of pleasure.
Rather than being painful as he came down, AJ's entire body seemed to go limp as Kevin licked him clean, long hair tickling AJ's stomach softly. When he lifted his head, Kevin's lips were bruised dark red and shiny with come and saliva and just a little bit of glitter that still clung to them. He looked like the poster boy for great sex.
"Fuck me," AJ demanded, sucking Kevin's tongue into his mouth. He reached down and popped open the buttons on Kevin's jeans, tugging them down.
"No," Kevin said, pulling away and shaking his head. "We can't do it with your leg like this," he added, to soothe AJ's sudden look of hurt.
"Then fuck my mouth," AJ said, wetting his lips provocatively.
Kevin hesitated, but AJ plumped the pillows behind his head so they raised him up a little higher, and Kevin finally kicked out of his jeans and straddled AJ's chest. Greedy, AJ sucked his cock in all the way down his throat, then pushed him back, trying not to gag. It had been a long time.
"Easy," Kevin warned, fully prepared to get off of him.
AJ wouldn't let him go, though, and took him in again, this time just the head of his cock, sucking and licking and nibbling at it. He heard Kevin moan and took a little more, easing it into his mouth until it was in all the way, concentrating on breathing through his nose and relaxing his throat. When he tongued the underside of Kevin's cock, AJ realized from his full-body shiver just how close Kevin was to coming. He wanted to ease up and make it last longer, but this wasn't exactly the most comfortable position for either one of them, so he took pity on Kevin and sucked him, hard, using one hand to tug on his balls and just tease around the opening of his ass. It didn't take much of that manipulation before Kevin came in his mouth, and AJ swallowed several mouthfuls of come.
They kissed again, lazily, sharing the taste of each other, and then AJ started to yawn. "Fuck," he swore, fighting waves of exhaustion.
"Go to sleep," Kevin smiled at him. "I'll unwrap your leg and ice it again."
"You need to get some rest, too, Kevin," AJ argued.
"I will, as soon as I ice your leg." AJ made a face and Kevin added, "Look, I need to know if you're going to be able to move this week, or if we need to re-do all our routines." He took off the bandage and touched AJ's thigh. "How does it feel?"
"Better," AJ said, honestly. It wasn't in spasm, any longer, between the ice therapy, the wrap, and the sex.
"Good." Kevin kissed him on the mouth and slid into his jeans, pocketing AJ's key-card. "I'll go get some more ice, you go back to sleep."
"Okay," AJ agreed, knowing that Kevin was right, and it wouldn't do any good to argue, anyway. Kevin could out-stubborn the best of them, AJ included.
He didn't even wake up when the first ice pack touched his thigh.
***
AJ leaned on Kevin's arm the next morning as they made their way slowly down the hallway to the elevators.
"Are you okay?" Howie asked him, frowning.
"Fine," AJ said. "I got a knot in my thigh last night, but Kevin took care of it. It's just a little stiff, now."
Kevin ducked his head and grinned wickedly, and AJ had to bite his lip and look away to keep from laughing out loud.
"I've got this stuff all _over_," Nick was still complaining, fingers running through his hair. "I had _three_ showers!"
"That'll teach you not to play with the glitter," Brian scolded him, laughing. "You don't hear Kevin complaining, and he got more of it than you did."
"AJ, you've got it all over, too," Howie said, brushing at his shoulder.
"I think everyone probably does," Kevin said. "It's contagious."
"I can feel it in my _underwear_," Nick said, jumping around and shaking himself.
"Face facts, Nicky," Brian said, patting him on the shoulder. "You're the group's golden boy."
"Ha ha," Nick pouted, and raised an eyebrow. "You know, you're pretty 'golden' yourself, Bri."
Fortunately, Brian read the look of danger in his eyes a second before Nick pounced, and raced down the hallway, laughing. "Stay away from me, Carter!"
Howie shook his head, chuckling. "They're five years old."
"Put together," AJ snorted.
"I think that's over-estimating things a little," Kevin added, dryly, but he didn't make a move to calm them down - after all, this was what Nick and Brian did, in the group. AJ was still leaning against him for support, so Kevin just pushed the down button and they all waited for Brian and Nick to come back to the elevator.
Oh, well. I have half of "OTL" downloaded (what? It isn't like I'm not going to buy the dvd, too!), and I have about eighty-five million things I need to do today, so I've got to get off my ass and go do them!
Story. BSB. Kevin/AJ, glitter. Yes.
Glitter
AJ waited for the stagehands to disconnect his microphone pack and then hobbled off-stage. He was pretty sure that he'd pulled the muscle in his hamstring, again - not as bad as the last time, but that didn't make it hurt any less. The fact that he'd been singing _flat_ on top of that didn't help matters much, either, and now, if he was going to be laid up yet _again_ because his body chose to betray him, then that was just about the last straw to make this a truly crappy day.
He tried to walk as normally as possible, but of course Kevin noticed the stiffness in his step, and frowned over at him, but AJ just shrugged it off and made a superhuman effort to move normally. None of the other guys seemed to notice at all - Nick was running around like a wild man, his energy at its peak for the day, like it usually was, post-rehearsal. Nick woke up very slowly, slouched and slumped through the first hour or two of work, then gradually roused himself and by the time they'd been going for six or seven or ten hours straight, he was energized enough to lift a car up with his bare hands. Brian and Howie usually indulged the heck out of him when he was like this, and Kevin did, too, sometimes, although less so than the others. If he was in peak form, AJ might have joined in on Nick's highjinks, but he was tired and hurt and he just wanted to get in the car and go back to the hotel and put some ice on his leg and go to bed.
Somewhere, somehow, Nick found a jar of sparkle-glitter, gold-coloured, and AJ just _knew_ that no good could come of that combination. Nick threw a little bit on Brian, experimentally, but Brian just laughed and threw it back at him, so Nick shifted focus and chased Howie around, but Howie was too nimble for him to catch. Disappointed, Nick crept up behind AJ, but AJ just turned, slid his sunglasses down on his nose as far as they'd go and caught Nick in a 'don't-fuck-with-me' glare that stopped him short. AJ almost felt bad for doing it - for about a second - but he was in way too pissy a mood to play nicely with the baby.
So, Nick capped the little jar and pouted, prepared to hand it back to the wardrobe lady who he'd stolen it from in the first place. At the last possible moment, though, he faked a sudden left and ran over to Kevin, throwing the entire contents of the bottle of glitter up in the air above him.
It was really beautiful, sparkling and shimmering in the air as it came down, like a summer shower emerging from Kevin's own personal golden raincloud. They all froze, and AJ thought he heard Howie gasp. Brian was rocking back and forth, his hand over his mouth, trying really hard not to laugh out loud, and Kevin didn't move a muscle. He had taken his shirt off, skin damp with sweat from a hard dance rehearsal, and he was literally _covered_ in the gold glitter. He turned around slowly, and Nick bounced on the balls of his feet, warring between horror and delight, and fully prepared to cut and run at a second's notice if it seemed that his life was in imminent danger.
Kevin just leaned over, shook his head at Nick so that a spray of glitter flew out of the long, dark strands, and started to laugh.
Then they all cracked up - stage hands, bodyguards, musicians, and Boys. Nick laughed harder than almost anyone, except maybe for Kevin himself, and even AJ managed to force a smile through his pain. The laughter only increased when Kevin slowly stalked Nick around the room, finally caught him and hugged him tight, shaking over him like a wet dog until Nick was at least as gold-tinted and sparkling as Kevin.
After that, they got the word that the cars were here, ready to take them back to the hotel, and things calmed down. Nick pouted and complained about the glitter that was stuck all over him, since it was practically impossible to get rid of, and no matter how hard he rubbed and shook and brushed it off, there was always more. Everyone had a good time refusing to cut him any slack at all, since it was totally his fault that he was covered in the stuff, and probably would be trying to get rid of it for the next week, at the least. Kevin, especially, smiled evilly and shook himself over Nick whenever he could get close enough, sprinkling him with yet more of the gold 'fairy-dust.'
It sparkled all through Kevin's eyebrows, on his face, and neck, and in his hair, and AJ was surprised that he didn't seem to mind it more. He had just a little bit of the stuff on himself, from his proximity to Nick and Kevin, and found even _that_ much itchy and irritating. Then again, at the moment he found just about _everything_ irritating, especially the increasingly-frequent sharp cramps in his hamstring, which he was serruptitiously trying to rub with the tips of his fingers.
When they got to the hotel, AJ took a deep breath and grit his teeth before he got out of the car, and tried to walk without putting much weight on the bad leg, which only hurt more from having sat in the car for so long without moving. He went straight through the doors and over to the elevators without pausing to say anything to the fans out front or sign any autographs, knowing that if he stopped in his forward momentum at all, he'd probably never be able to start moving again. Howie called out for him to wait and hold the elevator, but AJ pretended not to hear and punched the button, closing the doors.
He'd apologize to Howie tomorrow, _if_ he could get out of bed.
***
Half an hour later AJ had managed to shower by holding on to the curtain rod, consumed two ibuprophen with a large glass of water, and was sitting on the bed in his robe, carefully icing his thigh. The ice burned like a son of a bitch, but it would only be worse if he gave in to the exhaustion and went to straight to bed without treating it. Then there would be no way in hell he'd be able to so much as move in the morning, and they still had three days of rehearsals for the next round of upcoming performances. God knows he didn't want to be responsible for any more postponements, not unless he was dead with his back broken.
A sharp rap sounded at the door, and AJ hobbled over to it. He peeked through the peephole and sighed, resting his head on the door for just a moment, then turned the locks without opening it up, hopping back over to the bed.
Kevin walked in just as he settled down. There was no preamble, no pretense, no "you feeling okay, AJ?"; Kevin had a bucket of ice in one hand, and an ace bandage in the other. He nodded at the open bottle of painkillers on the nightstand as he sat down. "You eat?" he asked.
AJ shook his head, teeth grit to keep from crying out as Kevin gingerly manipulated his thigh. "Uh-unh."
Kevin handed over the phone. "Order something. You've got to take that stuff with food, or you'll be puking your guts out."
AJ dutifully called room service and ordered a burger and fries, hanging up before it even occurred to him to ask if Kevin wanted anything.
Kevin was still rubbing at the knot in his thigh. "This doesn't feel too bad," he said. "Does it hurt much?"
"Like a son of a bitch," AJ said, wishing Kevin would leave him alone, and knowing that he wouldn't. "Not as bad as the last time, though," he admitted. It was probably something less than a pulled muscle, more like a strain or a really stubborn knot.
"Come on, then." Kevin plumped up two of the pillows at the head of the bed and pushed AJ down onto them. He took the other two pillows and put them underneath AJ's thigh, raising the leg up before replacing the ice pack. Then he went into the bathroom and came back with a stack of clean handtowels to use with the rest of the ice.
AJ was naked underneath his robe, still slightly damp from the shower, but that didn't even register until Kevin sat down and undid the belt of the robe, baring his leg to the hipbone. Still, it was nothing new; it wasn't as though Kevin hadn't seen him naked a thousand times over the last eight years. Kevin was sitting with his back to AJ, moving the ice pack back and forth over the strained muscle.
AJ picked up the tv remote and clicked the set on, flipping through channels and finally settling on the all-news station. He didn't really pay much attention to it, though; it was mindless background noise that just gave both of them more of an excuse not to talk.
The food arrived fifteen minutes later, and Kevin got up to answer the knock. AJ covered himself up with his robe even though he couldn't be seen from the door, because you just never knew when a fan might get ingenious and decide to hide herself away in a room-service cart. That had happened to Nick _twice_ in the last year, much to AJ's amusement. Still, it wouldn't be nearly as funny if naked pictures of _him_ got in the tabloids, or on the Internet. The fake nudes in circulation were more than enough embarrassment, thanks.
Kevin ate roughly half of his french fries and a couple of bites of the burger when AJ offered it to him. When they were finished with the food, he wrapped up another ice pack and started icing AJ's thigh again, keeping it on for twenty minutes and then off for twenty minutes. It wasn't exactly a comfortable feeling, having a freezing, dripping wet pack of ice on his skin, but the way Kevin kept it moving around and mopped up the melted water with one of the dry towels, plus the elevation provided by the pillows, made it feel a lot better than it had in full cramp, and AJ soon found himself yawning broadly. It wasn't all that late, only eight o'clock or so, but rehearsals usually kicked his ass and today was no different, so it wasn't a big surprise to AJ that he fell asleep.
When he woke up, Kevin was gone - or, at least, he thought Kevin was gone. AJ fumbled around on the nightstand for his watch to see what time it was.
"You going to stay awake for a while, or are you going back to sleep?" Kevin asked from the bathroom doorway.
"I'm awake," AJ said, surprised to see by his watch that he'd been asleep for over an hour. The ice-bucket was empty, and the pile of towels were gone.
"I'll wrap it for you, then. You can't sleep with it wrapped," Kevin said.
"Yeah, I remember." AJ shifted his robe so that the injured thigh was bared, while his groin was still covered. He flexed, experimentally, pleased that the hard knot of pain had lessened, somewhat, probably due to the painkiller and Kevin's ministrations.
Kevin unrolled the bandage and wrapped AJ's leg with it efficiently, from knee to hip, and tucked it in place. He bent his head over while he worked, and some of his hair fell free of the leather tie he'd used to hold it in a ponytail.
AJ snorted, flicking some glitter off Kevin's shoulder. "You're all sparkly, man," he said.
"I'm probably going to be sneezing up little bits of golden glitter for months," Kevin said. "But," he added, with a wicked grin, "so will Nick."
"You're really a sadist at heart, aren't you, Kevin?" AJ laughed. "If the public only knew that your dark streak is at least as wide as mine."
"I wouldn't want to take over your title as the bad boy of the group," Kevin said, shaking his head.
"And I don't want to be the group hard-ass, that's for sure," AJ agreed, wincing even as the words came out of his mouth. "Fuck, sorry, man. I didn't mean that."
"Sure you did," Kevin said, shrugging. "It's my function. We've all got our places."
"Yeah, and mine must be to bitch all the time, even when you're being nice to me."
"Exactly," Kevin chuckled. "We must all keep to our appointed roles, now."
"One of these days I'm gonna out you," AJ threatened, "as a big soft marshmallow with a wicked sense of humour, and your reputation will never be the same."
"I'll just deny it," Kevin said.
"And more people will believe you than me," AJ said, "because everyone knows you'd never lie."
Kevin grinned, again, waggling his eyebrows, and AJ had to laugh.
"As long as _we_ know the truth," Kevin said, "nothing else matters, right?"
"Right," AJ agreed. "Fuck 'em."
Kevin just shook his head, and smoothed his hand over the bandage. "Is this too tight?"
"No, it feels great, thanks for doing it."
"Okay," Kevin said, but he didn't take his hand away. There was another gleam in his eyes that AJ didn't notice until it was too late - and then Kevin had leaned over him and shook all of his hair free, sprinkling a shower of golden glitter over AJ's torso and stomach.
"Fuck, Kevin!" AJ yelped, unable to scramble away. "Jesus! You want to go have a shower, or something?"
Kevin was laughing. "I already did," he said. "Washed my hair twice. This stuff is like superglue."
AJ tried to brush the glitter off his skin, but Kevin was right - it stuck to everything. What he managed to get off his chest just ended up stuck to his hands. "Great," he grumbled. "Now I'm going to be sore _and_ itchy all night."
"Sorry," Kevin said, but he was still grinning and didn't look at _all_ sorry. "Okay, I'll help," he added, and shook out the edges of AJ's robe, then tried to wipe the glitter off of his skin above the bandage. To AJ's surprise, Kevin didn't stop there, but continued to slide his hand up just a little further, long fingers teasing underneath the edge of the robe, pushing it back until it fell completely open. The glitter had gotten underneath the plush terrycloth and seemed like it was all over. When Kevin traced the edges of the '69' tattoo that ringed AJ's navel, AJ couldn't swallow his startled, highly aroused gasp.
He dug his fingers into Kevin's hair, pulling him close, and they kissed, soft and then fierce, suddenly hungry, with AJ licking and biting at Kevin's lips. Kevin pulled away even though AJ hadn't let him go, both of them panting for breath.
"This isn't good for your leg," Kevin said, aware of the tension in AJ's body.
"Fuck my leg," AJ growled, and then laughed when Kevin chuckled, saying, "Never tried that one before, AJ."
"You want to?" AJ asked, a little hoarse and very, very aware that except for the robe on his shoulders and arms and the bandage around his thigh that he was completely naked, and there was no denying his growing arousal, even if he wanted to. Kevin leaving right now would be damned frustrating. "It's been a long time since you took care of me like this."
"It's been a long time since you've let anyone who loves you take care of you at all, AJ," Kevin said, softly, frowning at his position on the bed, trying to figure out if this was even possible.
AJ held his breath, hoping, as he watched Kevin make the decision in his mind.
He didn't leave. He carefully straddled AJ's good leg, and when AJ felt the brush of Kevin's denim-clad groin against his hip, he knew that Kevin wouldn't be leaving any time soon, unless he had a masochistic streak to match the sadistic one.
AJ wasn't entirely sure that wasn't true when Kevin carefully palmed his dick with the flat of his broad hand, rubbing it gently. AJ growled in his throat, not wanting anything gentle or soft; he was over-stimulated already and wanted Kevin to jerk him or suck him, not tease. He also knew if he asked for that, Kevin would probably end up going even more slowly, so as not to over-tax his injured thigh, so AJ bit his lip and thrust his hips up as much as he could without causing his leg to spasm in pain.
Fortunately, Kevin took the hint and bent his head, sucking in AJ's dick and making AJ gasp sharply in his throat. It _had_ been a long time since he'd felt this, the warmth of Kevin's mouth, the fingers that dug gently into his bare hip, holding him down to the bed so he wouldn't jerk and shudder away.
AJ closed his eyes and just felt the gentle sucking, the clench of Kevin's throat around the head of his dick, the long fingers that wrapped around the base and jerked him while Kevin lapped at the head with his tongue. It was good, very good, and it made AJ come so quickly it was almost embarrassing, except for the fact that he was shouting and jerking in waves of pleasure.
Rather than being painful as he came down, AJ's entire body seemed to go limp as Kevin licked him clean, long hair tickling AJ's stomach softly. When he lifted his head, Kevin's lips were bruised dark red and shiny with come and saliva and just a little bit of glitter that still clung to them. He looked like the poster boy for great sex.
"Fuck me," AJ demanded, sucking Kevin's tongue into his mouth. He reached down and popped open the buttons on Kevin's jeans, tugging them down.
"No," Kevin said, pulling away and shaking his head. "We can't do it with your leg like this," he added, to soothe AJ's sudden look of hurt.
"Then fuck my mouth," AJ said, wetting his lips provocatively.
Kevin hesitated, but AJ plumped the pillows behind his head so they raised him up a little higher, and Kevin finally kicked out of his jeans and straddled AJ's chest. Greedy, AJ sucked his cock in all the way down his throat, then pushed him back, trying not to gag. It had been a long time.
"Easy," Kevin warned, fully prepared to get off of him.
AJ wouldn't let him go, though, and took him in again, this time just the head of his cock, sucking and licking and nibbling at it. He heard Kevin moan and took a little more, easing it into his mouth until it was in all the way, concentrating on breathing through his nose and relaxing his throat. When he tongued the underside of Kevin's cock, AJ realized from his full-body shiver just how close Kevin was to coming. He wanted to ease up and make it last longer, but this wasn't exactly the most comfortable position for either one of them, so he took pity on Kevin and sucked him, hard, using one hand to tug on his balls and just tease around the opening of his ass. It didn't take much of that manipulation before Kevin came in his mouth, and AJ swallowed several mouthfuls of come.
They kissed again, lazily, sharing the taste of each other, and then AJ started to yawn. "Fuck," he swore, fighting waves of exhaustion.
"Go to sleep," Kevin smiled at him. "I'll unwrap your leg and ice it again."
"You need to get some rest, too, Kevin," AJ argued.
"I will, as soon as I ice your leg." AJ made a face and Kevin added, "Look, I need to know if you're going to be able to move this week, or if we need to re-do all our routines." He took off the bandage and touched AJ's thigh. "How does it feel?"
"Better," AJ said, honestly. It wasn't in spasm, any longer, between the ice therapy, the wrap, and the sex.
"Good." Kevin kissed him on the mouth and slid into his jeans, pocketing AJ's key-card. "I'll go get some more ice, you go back to sleep."
"Okay," AJ agreed, knowing that Kevin was right, and it wouldn't do any good to argue, anyway. Kevin could out-stubborn the best of them, AJ included.
He didn't even wake up when the first ice pack touched his thigh.
***
AJ leaned on Kevin's arm the next morning as they made their way slowly down the hallway to the elevators.
"Are you okay?" Howie asked him, frowning.
"Fine," AJ said. "I got a knot in my thigh last night, but Kevin took care of it. It's just a little stiff, now."
Kevin ducked his head and grinned wickedly, and AJ had to bite his lip and look away to keep from laughing out loud.
"I've got this stuff all _over_," Nick was still complaining, fingers running through his hair. "I had _three_ showers!"
"That'll teach you not to play with the glitter," Brian scolded him, laughing. "You don't hear Kevin complaining, and he got more of it than you did."
"AJ, you've got it all over, too," Howie said, brushing at his shoulder.
"I think everyone probably does," Kevin said. "It's contagious."
"I can feel it in my _underwear_," Nick said, jumping around and shaking himself.
"Face facts, Nicky," Brian said, patting him on the shoulder. "You're the group's golden boy."
"Ha ha," Nick pouted, and raised an eyebrow. "You know, you're pretty 'golden' yourself, Bri."
Fortunately, Brian read the look of danger in his eyes a second before Nick pounced, and raced down the hallway, laughing. "Stay away from me, Carter!"
Howie shook his head, chuckling. "They're five years old."
"Put together," AJ snorted.
"I think that's over-estimating things a little," Kevin added, dryly, but he didn't make a move to calm them down - after all, this was what Nick and Brian did, in the group. AJ was still leaning against him for support, so Kevin just pushed the down button and they all waited for Brian and Nick to come back to the elevator.