It was just a little after seven in the morning when Nick woke up. Yawning, he climbed out of bed thinking he could go into the other room and watch some TV without having to wake anybody else up. He headed into the main room and was surprised to see Justin sitting at the table. "Hewwo," he said as he scratched himself.

Justin had gotten up a few hours earlier, sweating from the nightmare he had about AJ dumping him for Brian, as well as from his stomach grumbling for food. So, he'd woken up and went in search for some food to pacify his aching stomach. He was too lazy to make a decent breakfast so he settled for a few bowls of Capn' Crunch. He ended eating the whole box of cereal by the time Nick woke up. "Hey buddy," Justin greeted as he smiled up at Nick. "Good morning and what you doing up this early?"

"Me no know," Nick said, not realizing it was the fact that he had soaked himself in the middle of the night because of all the orange juice he had drank right before bed. He sat down across from Justin and took the box of cereal to realize it was empty and then pouted putting it back down and not saying anything else. He was still not happy with Justin and thought Justin wasn't happy with him.

Justin giggled at Nick. "You want some cereal?" He questioned as he got up to get a bowl of milk and cereal for Nick.

"All gone," Nick said in that smartalic tone from the day before. He kind of said it like 'Uhh, Justin are you dumb... it's gone'.

Justin raised his eye brow as he opened the cupboard and pulled out a similar looking box of cereal and waved it for Nick to see. "There's more," Justin said with a smug look to his face. He then grabbed the bowl, a spoon, and a milk carton and walked back over to the table.

Nick didn't say anything else, just started eating his cereal once Justin had it poured for him.

Justin sat across from Nick and watched him eat for a few seconds before speaking up. "What did I do to make you so angry with me?" He questioned, getting sick of getting the cold treatment from Nick.

"No talk to me," Nick said with a pout before shoving another sloppy spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

"I am talking to you," Justin pointed out and waved his hand between him and Nick, indicating to what they were doing at the moment, they were talking.

"No talk last night. You talk to Scott...not talk to me...unless yell at me," Nick said, thinking about the time that Justin had gotten mad at him for almost falling into the curtain.

Justin sighed as he rubbed his head. "I'm sorry," he said. "You should have said something last night. And I didn't yell at you. When did I yell at you?" Justin questioned.

"You say me break stuff," Nick said with a pout, he hated it when people said he would break everything. "Me big boy...no break stuff." He then said something else with a very sad tone to his voice. "Me did tell you... but you still no talk to me."

"Big boy, huh?" Justin said. "Need I remind you of the vase you broke?" Justin shook his head to clear his mind. This wasn't going to go anywhere if he kept pointing things out to Nick. "Look, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't talk to you last night but you gotta understand that I didn't mean to do it intentionally. I just thought you were having a good time watching the concert..."

"Me am a big boy!" Nick exclaimed a very hurt look on his face that Justin brought up the vase thing. "Me say sowwy about dat!" He then got up from the table and walked over to the couch and just flopped down onto it, facing the back of it. "Me say me sad... you ask me forgive you... me say yes... den you still no talk," Nick called over to Justin before going silent.

Justin scratched his head and got the urge to pull at his hair till he went bald but realized he didn't have any hair to pull out. Sighing, he got up and walked in to the bunk area and looked through his suitcase for the stuffed bear he'd bought back in Portland.

Nick rubbed at his eyes as tears came to them. He missed his best friend... and wanted to not be mad anymore but he was still hurt by what happened that he couldn't stop being mad.

When Justin found the bear he hid it behind his back as he walked out into the seating area and flopped down in front of Nick. "I'm not going to be able to see Scott till we get to Chicago. I just... I made a few friend... and I wanted to hang out with him but I never meant to ignore you. You got my full attention now," he said.

Nick rolled over so he could look at Justin and sniffled. He then thought he would admit something himself. "Me sowwy about potty ting," he said softly.

"It's okay," Justin said remembering what Scott said about his nephew doing the same thing. He figured maybe all two year olds kind of did that thing too. "I'm not mad about that, not anymore." He stayed silent for a few seconds. "I got something for you..."

Nick's eyes lit up when he heard that. "For me?"

"No, for the pillow that your sitting on," Justin snorted out before rolling his eyes and chuckling. "That's what 'for you' means. Close your eyes."

"Otay," Nick said as he closed his eyes tightly, really excited now to see what Justin got him.

Justin brought the bear in front of him and hid his face. He then grabbed one of the hands and tapped Nick's arm. "Excuse me?" Justin said, hitching his voice, pretending as though the bear was the one talking to Nick. "Hi, could you do me a favor and not be mad at Justin anymore? He's really sorry and he missed his Nick."

Nick's eyes went wide when he opened them and saw Winky there in front of him. "Ohhh, WINKY!" he said excitedly but tears coming to his eyes again. He didn't even answer Winky's question because he had pulled the bear out of Justin's arms and was hugging him to his chest so tightly it's head could have popped off. This bear was the one good thing about his first two years of life with his parents. Winky had been his friend, a friend he could talk to at night when he was scared to death of what his daddy would do to him the next day.

Justin smiled as he saw how happy Nick had gotten. He reached his hand out and wiped Nick's tears away. He remained silent, not wanting to break the moment or Nick's happiness. He almost got the urge to leave the two of them alone to catch up on what they'd missed. Then he shook his head and chuckled at his thoughts.

After a minute Nick was done whispering things to the bear and was now in Justin's lap hugging him just as tightly as he had the bear. "Me wuv you!"

"I love you, too," Justin said as he hugged Nick back just as tight. He didn't care that he felt like his bones were being crushed, he'll live. He then ran his hand through Nick's hair and watched him with a smile on his face. "We okay now?"

"Yeah, we otay," Nick said as he pulled back with a smile. He then remembered why he had woken up and made a face. "Change me pweeze?" he asked politely, as he reached down to scratch himself, accidentally touching Justin's crotch in the process since he was sitting in his lap.

Justin bit his lower lip and nodded his head slowly. "Um, okay," he said and then waited for Nick to get up off of him so he could get the bag that had Nick's things in it.

Nick climbed off of Justin's lap and reached down to scratch himself again. He knew if he was THIS itchy then he really did need to be changed. Brian had told him many times if he was itchy that was what needed to be done. "Itchy, Itchy," he said as he practically scratched his crotch to death.

Justin laughed as he quickly got out the wipes and diaper and powder. "Um, lay down?" He said and grabbed Nick's hand, taking it away from his crotch so he could stop scratching himself. Once Nick was settled down in front of him he quickly pulled down the PJ bottoms and removed the diaper. He quickly went about wiping Nick's bottom and crotch with the wipes and powdered his bottom with the rash powder. When that was done he put a new diaper on Nick and pulled his pants back up. He finally let himself breathe. "All done."

"Tank you," Nick said already feeling a lot better then he had a few minutes ago. He then started looking around as he sat up. "Where everybody else?"

"Uhh," Justin said still trying to get over the fact that this was the very first time he'd actually changed Nick. "I think they're still sleeping."

Nick nodded his head as if agreeing with Justin. "What we do?" he asked, wondering what they should do while the other guys sleep.

Justin scratched his head. He was going to say 'color' but knew how much Nick was getting sick of it. "How about we play with the train? Or we can watch some TV?"

Nick thought about that for a second and smiled big. "Pay wit train?" he asked with hopeful eyes. He hadn't been able to play with his train set since the tour started. They hadn't really had the time.

Justin nodded his head as he got up. "I'll go bring it out," he said. "You stay right here." Justin walked through the bunk area and into the back room. He found the train set box and grabbed it before quietly making his way past the sleeping men and into the seating room Nick was in. "Here ya go."

Nick was sitting on the floor now waiting for Justin and smiled when Justin brought the train set in. "You pay with me?" he asked, not sure if Justin had to run off and do something else or not.

"Of course," Justin said as he sat down in front of Nick and started to empty the box. He looked at the time and noticed he still had an hour before the bus would stop at a breakfast joint and his tutor would come on or something like that. He then began to set up the tracks while Nick grabbed the trains and linked them together.

By the time Kevin walked out from the bunk area, rubbing his eyes Justin and Nick had a very elaborate train track set up. "Whoa, you two have been busy," he said with a yawn.

"We pay trains," Nick said, pointing down at the train track.

Justin looked up at Kevin and smiled. "Good morning," he said. "Wanna play?"

Kevin almost shook his head no until he saw Nick looking up at him with puppy dog eyes. "Okay," he said as he got down on the floor and picked up one of the trains and started to move it around on the track. He hadn't really gotten a chance to play with Nick before so this still seemed a little weird to him.

Nick smiled big and then went back to moving his own train around and when it got over to Justin's train he made a big loud crashing sound and made them run into each other.

"Well, that went well," Justin said chuckling as he looked at his rolled over train. "I think he might be the next Steven Spielberg!”

Just then Howie walked out rubbing his eyes. "There's a party and no one invited me?" He sleepily questioned and yawned. He scratched his stomach and flopped down on the couch right in front of Kevin, Justin, and Nick.

"You can pay too, Owie." Nick said as he handed Howie a train.

Kevin laughed as he leaned up and gave Howie a soft good morning kiss. "Yeah, come play, you might get the passengers on your train killed but it's fun anyway," he teased.

"Oh goody," Howie said as he slid down and took the train Nick gave him.

They continued to play for a few more minutes till they felt the bus slowing down. Justin craned his head up and noticed that they were pulling up to an IHOP and smiled. Sure he had a whole box of cereal but that was just to perk him up a little. He needed real food 'cause he was a growing boy. "Good we're here. I'm starved."

"I take it you're feeling better then you were last night?" Kevin asked, looking at Justin with sympathetic eyes. He knew Justin hadn't been physically sick but something had been bothering him.

Howie wrinkled his forehead as he looked at Justin. "I bet," he said and then smiled at him. "When was the last time you ate?" He questioned not knowing that Justin ate the whole box of cereal that morning.

Justin blushed as he looked at Kevin and Howie. "Yah, I'm feeling better and I just had like a whole box of cereal this morning," he pointed at the two boxes on the table. "One of them is empty..."

"Yeah he ate it all... me no get none," Nick said with a pout. Sure he had some cereal but Justin had eaten all the peanut butter kind and he was left with only the original.

"Thats it you're gone... eating the kids cereal... how dare you!" Kevin said laughing to show he was totally joking. Plus, wasn't the cereal Justin's anyway?

Justin chuckled. "Sorry," he looked over at Nick and leaned over and kissed his cheek. "I'll get you more cereal when we come to a grocery store or something." The bus stopped. "Do we wake up the rest or do we just order for them?"

Nick jumped up and ran to the back of the bus and practically jumped on Brian. "Ake up... ake up!" He said straddling Brian's waist.

Brian 'oofed' when Nick jumped on him in the tiny little space of his bunk. He was wide awake now. "What? What? I'm awake. Goodness, I'm awake!" He exclaimed taking in a deep breath.

Kevin watched Nick run out of the room and laughed. "Well that at least woke up Brian...we can let AJ sleep I don't think he slept well last night." He had heard AJ sniffling most of the night and had known the man had been crying. Whatever it was that was going on between Justin and AJ was really bothering the other man.

Justin chuckled as he watched Nick run over into Brian's bunk and then laughed when he heard Brian's response. Then something Kevin said got his attention. "AJ didn't sleep well last night?" Justin frowned.

"It didn't seem like it," Kevin said with a shrug. "I don't really know."

Nick giggled as he looked down at Brian. "Hewwo."

"Hello, to you too," Brian said. He brought his hand up and rubbed at his eyes. "What time is it?" He questioned out of habit before remembering Nick wouldn't know. "Never mind. Um, let me up so I can go to the bathroom."

Justin looked over to the bunk area and wondered why AJ hadn't slept well last night. Last night, he tried to remember what went down. He remembered being moody and losing his appetite but he distinctly remembered telling AJ that he was fine before he'd got into bed and fell asleep.

Nick giggled as he climbed off of Brian so he could get up. "No potty in your pants," he said in his best little parental voice.

"Yah, that would be bad," Brian said as he got up and went into the bathroom. A few minutes later he emerged only to stop as four pairs of eyes were focused on him. He looked behind him and then back over at the guys. "What?"

Justin looked up at Brian with raised eye brows. "Looking good," he said chuckling.

Howie couldn't contain his laughter anymore as he took in Brian's appearance. "I didn't know you liked Barney?" He questioned as he nodded at the boxers Brian was wearing.

Brian scrunched up his face in confusion before looking down at himself and blushed. He was only wearing a wife beater and his boxers. He had gotten too hot last night and ended up removing his PJ's. "Nick picked the boxers for me when we went shopping," he said shrugging.

"Me ike dem," Nick said smiling big. He really had wanted to buy the boxers for himself but Brian told him he wasn't ready for that yet.

Just then a very tired, out of it AJ came walking into the room. He walked right to the fridge and started looking through it, finding what he wanted he came back out and opened the bottle of water and started drinking it. The whole time not say anything to anybody else.

Kevin just laughed at the boxers and turned his head to the melancholy AJ.

Brian looked around at everyone who all suddenly fell silent. "Okay, well," he said feeling a bit out of place. "I'm gonna go put my sweats back on." He walked back to his bunk and found the sweats and put them on before walking back out only to see they were all still quiet. "Alrighty then."

Howie cleared his throat. "Well, since we're all awake and there's an IHOP right outside, what do you say we go and get our food?" He stood up and waited for everyone to do the same.

"Yeah let's give everybody a show and have Baskstreet in their pajamas," Kevin laughed but made no move to go change out of his plaid PJ pants and t-shirt.

Nick looked down at his spider man jammies. "Me ike my spiderman jammies."

"I'm gunna stay in here," AJ replied before he headed back to the bunk area with his water bottle.

"Okay...." Brian said as he and Nick got off the bus first.

"You want us to get you something?" Howie called out to AJ.

Justin bit his bottom lip as he watched AJ walk back to his bunk without saying anything or even looking at him. Good lord, he was losing his appetite again.

Kevin stayed back and walked out with Justin. "Hey Justin...can we talk for a second?" he asked, not sounding like he was going to lecture him or anything, but just sounding friendly and worried.

"Um, okay," Justin said as he stepped off the bus and stopped as he turned his attention to Kevin. "What's up?"

"What's going on with you and AJ?" Kevin asked as he led Justin to sit on the curb, really wanting to talk to him and knew they would still have time to get their food. "You guys seem so happy one second and the next you're both miserable. I know how hard relationships are in this business and that's why I wanted to talk to you. I hate to see either of you hurting."

Justin sighed. He didn't really want to tell Kevin anything but at the same time he knew the older man could help him deal with his issues. After all he and Howie had been together for three years. "At first AJ was jealous 'cause of Scott. Then I cleared everything up and told him I wasn't into Scott like that... just it was nice to meet someone and make a friend." He paused. "Well, before the concert AJ and Brian... well, they were laughing and joking around with each other and that kinda got me jealous." He didn't know that Kevin didn't know about AJ's feelings for Brian. "Well, I let it go that first time but then they were doing it again after the concert. I wasn't hungry anymore after that. I just wanted to sleep..."

Kevin was quiet for a second as if taking all that Justin said in so he would know what to do. "AJ's fears were bogus right...I mean he had no reason to be jealous." Kevin knew the answer to that, he knew Justin really liked AJ. When Justin nodded his head Kevin continued. "Have you given AJ a chance to explain what was going on with Brian? I mean it sounds to me that you might have jumped to the same bogus conclusions that he did."

Justin bit his lower lip as he looked out at the trees across from them. "I kinda know I'm probably jumping to conclusions but AJ really does have feelings for Brian. I'm not making that up," he said. "That's why I started to get jealous. People keep leaving me for Brian."

Kevin gave Justin a sympathetic smile. "Just look at it this way Justin...the only time AJ ever gets this depressed and hides out on his own is if something is really bothering him. He was really worried about you last night and when you wouldn't even talk to him it was like he got kicked in the nuts. If he was cheating on you do you think he would be that upset and worried about you?"

Justin looked down at his hands. "Yah, you're right but still. I know he's not cheating on me. I never said he was. I just," he ran his rubbed his hand on his head a few times. "I don't know."

"I know he has a shady past, but I honestly don't see him screwing this one up like that," Kevin said as he patted Justin's knee. "You guys are just having a rough start...but so did Howie and I...and well look at us now," he said laughing a little.

"Hmm," Justin said. He had a feeling he and AJ weren't as fortunate as Kevin and Howie. Kevin wasn't making him feel any better but whatever. He was just going to have to take the necessities to protect his own heart. He just didn't know how he was going to do that but figured he will soon enough. "We should get something to eat." He stood up and waited for Kevin.

Kevin sighed and stood up. "Yeah, we should." He felt bad because he knew he hadn't helped the teen, but then again he knew that normally relationships that start when your seventeen don't last. He just hoped that when it did end neither of them got really hurt.

Justin and Kevin walked into the restaurant and immediately spotted Brian, Nick, and Howie at the counter... already getting their food. Justin sighed as he walked over to the cashier and made his order and then made it a two thinking maybe AJ would get hungry later or something. If not he'd just eat it. He took his wallet out to pay for the meal only to stop when Brian put his hand on his shoulder shaking his head.

Brian smiled up at Justin. "We're taking care of it," he said. "Don't worry about paying for the food and things like that, okay?"

Justin nodded his head and waited for his order as well as for Kevin to place his own.

Kevin placed his order and then walked to stand next to Howie. For some reason all the problems going on with AJ and Justin was making him want to be closer with his boyfriend.

As the adults waited for their food, Nick took it upon himself to walk away and around a wall to where he saw one of those animal grab-it machines. He totally forgot about what he had been told the day before about leaving by himself.

Howie looked up at Kevin and then looked over to Justin before looking back over to Kevin. Silently asking him if everything was alright.

Brian turned his attention from Justin's frowning face over to his side to look at Nick except Nick wasn't there anymore. He quickly turned around in a circle and then a counter circle before stopping. With wide eyes he started looking around the inside of the restaurant. He finally spotted Nick all the way back in the corner by the restrooms, staring at the machine. He sighed with relief as he quickly made his way over and held onto Nick's hand. "That's it," he said in a quiet voice. "I'm gonna have to tie to string around you and hold you at all times."

"Me want dat," Nick said pointing at the stuffed cat in the machine. He didn't realize that little boys who walk off without telling them where they are going don't usually get treats.

Kevin sighed and shook his head. "I don't think they are going to last," he whispered, feeling awful saying that but he just had this weird gut feeling.

Howie frowned at that. He then looked over at Justin and sighed. He really liked Justin, as a person, and he loved AJ, as a brother. He really liked them two together, they complimented each other pretty well, at least he thought so. It would be sad to see that they wouldn't work out and hoped that if and when they do break up it wouldn't be painful or it wouldn't affect any of their relationships with Justin and AJ.

Brian shook his head as he looked over his shoulder to see that Justin and Kevin had gotten their orders and Kevin paying for their meals. "You walked off when I told you to never do that. You're not getting any stuffed animals. Besides, we gotta get going and we don't have time." Brian started to drag Nick away and over to the exit.

Nick's feet were dragging so it probably took most of Brian's energy to pull him out of the restaurant. "Me want kitty!" he exclaimed getting into a full blown temper tantrum.

"Nope," Brian said as he opened the doors and headed out over to the bus. The rest of the guys following suit, quietly.

"Kitty...kitty...KITTY!" Nick screamed as he got his hand away from Brian and rushed across the parking lot, totally forgetting to look for cars. A loud screeching sound could be heard as somebody put their breaks on hard. Of course they weren't driving too fast but it sounded worse then it was.

"NICK!" Kevin screamed when he saw the car coming straight for Nick but thankfully stopping before it hit him...but not before everybody was totally frazzled.

Justin had screamed 'watch out' when he saw Nick running and the car coming. He ran over to where the car was and smiled apologetically at the driver who looked displeased but backed away and drove around them. "Nick, are you okay?" He questioned walking over to Nick and placing a hand on his head.

Brian ran across to where Nick was and grabbed him. "Don't EVER DO THAT," he said and then pulled Nick close to him. "You could've gotten yourself KILLED."

Howie just froze as his hand had latched onto Kevin's arm. He felt like passing out.

Nick was sobbing by this point as he clung to Brian like a life line.

AJ had heard the screaming and was out of the bus in a flash. "What happened...is everybody okay?" he asked noticing Nick was crying like crazy in Brian's arms.

Kevin wrapped his arms around Howie practically holding him up since he could feel the other man almost going slack in his arms.

Brian was doing his best to comfort Nick. "Come on, let's get back in the bus." He began to escort them onto the bus not caring that he had dropped his and Nick's bags on the floor when he had ran over when he heard the tires screeched.

Justin took in a deep breath as he walked over and picked up the bags he dropped and then the bags Brian dropped. His heart was pounding in his head, he couldn't hear anything else. He was feeling dizzy. He slowly swayed his way to the bus and blindly grabbed at the railing as he climbed on.

Howie and Kevin were slowly making their way to the bus. "Yah, everything's fine," Howie said to AJ in a quiet voice as they all got on the bus. "Just a little scare."

Once everybody was secure on the bus it started going again but Nick was still sobbing into Brian's arms. He felt guilty on top of being scared to death.

Brian just held Nick in his arms and let the boy cry but he continued to whisper comforting words in his ear, telling him everything was alright.

Justin sat down on the floor in front of Brian and Nick, the bags of food in front of him, and watched everything through sad eyes.

Howie and Kevin were seated at the table, watching everyone.

AJ sat there still not totally understanding what was going on. All he knew was that Nick was a mess and everybody else was almost one too.

It took close to half an hour for Nick to calm down to the point that he was just breathing weird not able to catch his breath.

"Goodness buddy...it's gunna be okay," Kevin said as he ran a hand through Nick's hair. They had all gathered around Nick by this point and were all trying their best to calm him down.

Justin remained silent as he watched everyone comfort Nick. He then got up and decided to put the bags on the table and nearly screamed when he saw Mrs. Thompson sitting at the table. He didn't notice her come on the bus much less noticed her sitting there. "Oh god," he said placing his hand over his heart while the other hand dropped the bags on the table. "I think I've had about enough surprises and heart attacks for one day."

Howie whipped his head around when he heard Justin shriek and he too looked surprised to see Mrs. Thompson sitting there. He blushed at the fact that neither he nor Kevin had paid much attention when they sat down.

Mrs. Thompson giggled a little. "I'm not here...ignore me and worry about him," she said softly.

Nick finally got himself all the way calmed down and looked at Brian with big sad blue eyes.

"You okay, now?" Brian questioned looking at Nick as he petted his hair.

Justin nodded his head but sat down at the table, across from her, and watched the guys.

"Scary car," Nick whispered. He wanted to go hide in a hole right now. So many bad things had happened to him in the last few days that his little body was ready to totally lose it. Yes, he had put up with a lot of traumatic things over the last two years but this was different.

Mrs. Thompson noticed the look on Nick's face and got worried. "Brian can I talk to you for a second?" she asked, hoping the boy would cling to somebody else for a second while she talked to Brian.

Brian frowned as he looked over at Mrs. Thompson. "Um, sure," he said as he looked down at Nick and realized Nick wasn't going to let him go. "Hey Justin, come over here..."

Justin looked over at Brian and got up. He then sat down beside Nick who clung on to him while Brian got up and went to talk to his tutor. Justin kissed Nick's forehead and started to wipe the tears. "You shouldn't have ran away from Brian like that," he said in a quiet voice, not yelling, not scolding. Just saying.

"Yea?" Brian questioned once he and Mrs. Thompson were seated at the table.

"I really don't like the look in his eyes Brian," Mrs. Thompson whispered. She didn't know Nick's past at all, or anything that had happened but she knew something wasn't right and she didn't like it. Yes, she was a tutor now but she did have her masters in psychology and knew the signs of major problems and she could see them in Nick. She had seen them in adult Nick too but they were so much easier to see now because the boy hadn't learned how to put walls up around him like adult Nick had.

Brian looked over at Nick and bit his lip. He didn't like the look either but he wanted to know why SHE didn't. "Why? What do you see?"

"He looks so scared...I'm afraid he's going to get into a deep depression because he's scared to do anything else." Mrs. Thompson whispered still looking over at Nick. "Something else has happened to him besides what happened today hasn't it?"

Brian looked down at his hands and then looked up, right into her eyes. "A lot more has happened," he said, sadness in his voice and eyes. "I don't even know all the things that's happened but from what I found out since I brought him home from the hospital is enough to make me have nightmares and want to kill his parents."

Mrs. Thompson sighed, "We just need to keep a close watch on him because all this is too much for an adult to handle let alone somebody who isn't even three yet."

"I know," Brian said. "That's what we've been doing but it's getting really hard because we don't wanna put too much restrictions on him in fear that he might thing we're like his parents..." Brian ran a hand through his hair. "We're always watching the way we speak to him but yah, it gets hard now and then."

"You guys are doing great with him...I'm sure you're more then a hundred percent better then his parents." Mrs. Thompson assured him and then smiled a little when she saw Nick getting down on the floor to play with his train set again. "Just watch him...if he gets into a depressed mood for more than half an hour or wants to sleep all the time...then I would suggest getting him to a doctor."

Brian nodded his head. "Um, thanks," he said smiling at her. "I'm sorry for this but do you think you could maybe cancel Justin's tutoring thing today, too. Nick needs him around."

"I was actually thinking about talking to him about doing his classes online," Mrs. Thompson said. "I know how much he has to do here with you guys that it might just be easier on him then having me coming every day."

Brian nodded his head. "That's a great idea. You'll be tutoring him online, then?"

Mrs. Thompson nodded her head. "Yeah, I've already spoken to management and they've agreed that it would be okay. I'll still be said to be his tutor even though I won't really be here to do it. I just have to send him his work online. Give him all the books he'll need and all that stuff."

Just then Nick had gotten up and was walking over to Brian holding Winky in his hands. "Daddy...lookie," he said and then backed up with an apologetic look on his face. "Sowwy," he whispered walking away because he knew he wasn't supposed interrupt adults when they were talking.

Brian chuckled and reached out for Nick's arm. "No, come back here," he said as Nick turned around and then sat on his lap. "Lookie... what?"

Nick lifted up his new Winky. "Justin got Winky back," he said not really knowing it wasn't the original bear....he just thought Justin had some how gotten it back for him.

Mrs. Thompson got up and walked over to explain to Justin what she was thinking about doing with his schooling while Brian had Nick occupied.

"Oh," Brian said and then got a confused look on his face. How did Justin get Mr. Winky and when? "When did Justin give him to you?" He questioned.

Justin listened to Mrs. Thompson explain to him about the changes that were going to be taking place and was happy about the new arrangements. "I did my homework you asked me to..." He laughed. "Do you want to see that now or do you want me to type it up and e-mail it to you?"

"I can take it now...you don't need to do the extra work of typing it up." Mrs. Thompson smiled.

AJ sat on the couch behind Justin and Mrs. Thompson just listening to what they were saying. He still didn't know what was going on with his boyfriend but didn't know how to go about asking...or even talking to him.

Nick nodded his head still smiling big. "He did... cuz he sowwy made me sad."

"Okay," Justin said as he got up and walked over to his bags and looked through it for his folder. Once when he found the papers he walked back out and handed them to her before sitting down on the couch. "I kinda have sloppy handwriting so sorry about that."

Brian smiled at Nick and looked at the bear in his arms. "So, you are the famous Mr. Winky I've been hearing about all this time," he said taking his paw and shaking it in a greeting. "It's finally nice to meet you."

Nick giggled, thinking it was too funny that two times that day people were making the bear talk. His parents had never done that and he thought it was the coolest thing in the world. "He say nice meet you too."

Mrs. Thompson laughed, "I've worked with Nick for years...need I say more?" she said as she took the paper from him and put it in her folder. "I'm going to give you all the books I'm going to have you reading in the next few months just in case we don't meet up before then.

Brian smiled as he looked up at Nick. "Awesome," he said and then rested his head on Nick's shoulder.

Justin laughed as he watched Mrs. Thompson put his papers in her bag. "Okay," he said and then sighed. "Now what?"

"Now you go play with that cute little boy over there and make sure he stays happy." Mrs. Thompson said with a smile as she looked over at Nick. “Ohh and I would talk to that big guy over there too," she said with a wink, glancing at AJ.

Justin looked over at Nick who was seated on Brian's lap and looked behind him at AJ who was watching him with a pout on his face. He chuckled and looked directly into AJ's eyes. He knew they had to talk and knew that right there wasn't such a good place to do it. Silently he got up and walked through the bunk area and to the studio room that was in the back of the bus knowing everything in there was sound proof and they would have some privacy. He just prayed that AJ would follow him.

AJ got the hint and followed Justin to the back of the bus and into the studio. As he closed the door behind him he didn't say anything since he felt Justin should say something first. He had tried numerous times to talk the night before but he felt Justin should start.

Justin bit his lower lip as he thought about what he wanted to say to explain his behavior but only one thing came out of his mouth. "You like Brian," he said point blank.

That totally caught AJ off guard. "Excuse me?" he asked, looking at Justin totally confused.

"You like Brian," Justin said again. "I know you do because you told me that you did that night when I was over at your place but it didn't really hit me till last night."

"And you like Nick," AJ pointed out, remembering what they had been talking about in the car that night when he had admitted he liked Brian. He didn't see why Justin was bringing this up and what had happened last night that would make him think of it?

Justin sighed. "Yah, I like Nick but nothing will ever happen between him and I but there's the possibility of you and Brian hooking up... that's what I saw last night. You and Brian laughing and joking around together. It hurt... that I'm going to lose another guy I really like to Brian." Justin swallowed the lump that formed in his throat and forced himself not to cry.

"You're what...wait..." AJ laughed a little shaking his head. "Okay you're jealous of Brian and I laughing with each other?" he laughed some more. "Wasn't it just yesterday that you were thinking I was totally insane for being jealous about somebody?"

"But I DIDN'T like Scott," Justin said. "And as soon as Scott found out about you and I he like totally wanted to be just friends. You and Brian... it's different." Justin paused. "I'm not necessarily jealous of you and Brian laughing..." Justin trailed off. He didn't know just how to explain what he was feeling inside.

"You don't trust me," AJ said point blank. Sure, he told Justin he didn't have the best track record in the past but this was totally different. "I'm with YOU Justin...I'm not with Brian and hell I haven't even thought about my crush on Brian at all in the last few days. I know he's not ready for a relationship right now and that's fine with me because I'm not ready for one with him because I'm in one with YOU."

Justin shook his head to clear his mind. This wasn't going well. "It's not that I don't trust you. It's not that, at least I don't think it is," he said, confused. He didn't know what to think anymore. His mind was just on the picture of Brian and AJ laughing and the jealousy he felt that he hadn't really thought everything through. He sighed and sat down on one of the chairs that was behind him. He brought his head down and rested it on his hands as he rubbed his face. As impossible as it may seem Justin wished he could turn back time and prevent all this from happening.

AJ ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "I don't know what to say to make you feel better because I wasn't even doing anything. I work with the guy...Brian is my friend I can't just not see him."

"I know," Justin mumbled from under his hands. "You can just ignore me and my stupid feelings... sorry for causing all the drama." His face was still in his hands, embarrassed.

"Your feelings aren't stupid," AJ said as he sat down in a chair next to Justin's and put a hand on his thigh. "I can understand why you would feel jealous...but like you told me yesterday morning there is no reason to be jealous. Quiet frankly even if I wasn't with you and Brian came up to me and asked me out I would still say no."

Justin snorted but still didn't look up at AJ. He didn't believe the last bit about AJ saying no to Brian if he asked him out.

"I'm serious because I know he couldn't handle it," AJ said a hurt look on his face that Justin snorted at him.

Justin sighed as he removed his hands but brought them to the back of his head... his head still bent down. "For some reason I feel like he COULD handle it. He needs someone right now to help with Nick. To support him. To hold him and tell him everything would be alright and that he CAN take care of Nick. I know he just lost Nick his lover but at the same time he still needs some kind of love," he said.

"Well he'll have to find somebody else cuz he's not getting that kind of love from me. I mean I'll give him all the love a best friend can give but anything beyond that he'll have to find elsewhere." He was totally serious, he didn't want Brian like that right now, what he wanted was the man right next to him. He then thought of something. "Are you trying to get rid of me?" AJ asked softly.

Justin immediately snapped his head up and stared into AJ's eyes, shocked that he would think that but he wasn't all that shocked. Maybe his subconscious was trying to do that for him in hopes to protect his heart but the real question was if AJ would let Justin push him away. Justin shook his head in the negative, he couldn't form the right words even if his life depended on it.

"Well even if you were I wouldn't give up without a fight," AJ said, now looking into Justin's eyes. "I want to be with you Justin Timberlake...not Brian."

Justin slowly nodded his head, still not being able to form words. He took in a deep breath and licked his dry lips before diverting his gaze to the window on the other side of the bus, right behind AJ's head. He didn't know what was going to happen next and he started to get this really awkward feeling between them.

"Do you still want to be with me?" AJ asked, sounding like a little boy. He was beginning to get the feeling that Justin wanted to break up.

Justin looked back at AJ. "I still want to be with you," he whispered. But then thought, 'Even though my heart will always belong to Nick... I think I'm falling in love with you and that scares me because I don't want to get hurt.'

AJ smiled a little as he got off his chair and moved so he was kneeling in front of Justin. "I'm sorry I made you feel like I didn't want to be with you baby," he said as he soothingly ran his fingers over Justin's knees.

Justin smiled, too, as he leaned down and kissed AJ. It was a really soft, tender, kiss. Something to show other man just how he felt about him, about them. A few seconds later he pulled back, watching as AJ's eyes fluttered open. "I'm sorry," he said. "For acting like a jealous prepubescent school girl."

"You're allowed to act like that since I kinda did yesterday too," AJ said with a smile as he looked up at Justin. "I'm sorry for that too." He then got up and sat in the chair next to Justin again, still just looking into his eyes not sure what to do next. He really wanted to actually kiss Justin...but he wasn't sure if Justin would want that.

"Yah, well," Justin chuckled as he rubbed his hand over his head. This no hair thing wasn't so bad, no more fingers getting stuck in the curls. "Can I get my good night kiss, and my good morning kiss, and my other inbetween kisses now?" He questioned looking deep into AJ's eyes.

"Come here," AJ said as he stood up and walked over to the couch and sat down, wiggling his eyebrows. "Kissing is MUCH better on couches...I've done a survey on it," he said just being a goof.

Justin chuckled as he followed AJ over to the couch. "Can't argue with that," he said as he sat down next to AJ but instead of leaning forward and kissing him he immediately grabbed his shirt and pulled him close over to him. He let their lips met in a bruising kiss as he continued to pull on AJ as he leaned back. He ended up lying on his back on the couch with AJ on top of him.

AJ laid on top of Justin with one leg off the side of the couch, the other trapped between Justin's body and the back of the couch. He moaned loudly into the kiss as he quickly accepted and fell into the heated kiss. One hand found it's way to Justin's head where it rubbed over his newly buzzed hair. The other slipped under his t-shirt and was caressing his sides.

Justin's stomach muscles clenched and unclenched at the feel of AJ's warm hands caressing the skin on his sides. He missed kissing AJ. He was a really good kisser. He let his tongue roam around in AJ's mouth, their tongues dancing in unison, and he moaned into the kiss. He could feel himself reacting to the kiss.

AJ groaned loudly into the kiss when he could feel against his thigh just how much the kiss was effecting his boyfriend. He felt himself beginning to get hard too as he had to break away from the kiss when breathing became necessary. Instead of totally pulling away though he started to place kisses down Justin's neck and stopping to suck on a few spots.

Justin un-fisted his fists from AJ's shirt as he brought one of his hands down to AJ's waist while the other went to the back on his head, running his hand through the hair. He tilted his head to the side enjoying to feel of AJ sucking on his neck. He ended up wrapping one of his legs around AJ. "Damn..." he breathed out as he tried to catch his breath.

"God you taste... good," AJ mumbled against Justin's neck where he was nibbling at a spot right under his ear. All the while the room was beginning to grow hotter and hotter as the moment got more intense.

Justin bit his lip as his hips unconsciously started to grind slowly against AJ, his aching dick needing some sort of relief, and the friction of the cloth rubbing against his dick was somewhat doing the trick. "Hmmm," he said, his voice dropping down low, really low even he couldn't believe it was his voice. "This feels so good."

Just then a blonde lightening came bounding into the room...totally ignoring the fact that Brian had told him to knock first. "We here!" Nick said as he looked at Justin and AJ who had jumped apart just in time to make it so Nick wouldn't freak out at what they were doing.

AJ ran both his hands over his face trying SO hard to not get up and strangle the kid. "Thanks buddy..."

"We're where?" Justin questioned and then cleared his throat because his voice sounded just a little too low. He'd completely forgotten that they would be arriving in Boise, Idaho that day. He then took in a deep breath to calm his nerves down as well as the aching hard-on between his legs.

Nick giggled at the way Justin sounded. "Voice funny," he said with a smile.

Kevin poked his head into the room happy to see that at least Justin and AJ were better off then they were before. "We're in Boise...we gotta get off the bus."

Justin looked over at AJ and couldn't help but laugh at the look on his face. Turning his attention back to Kevin and Nick he said, "We'll be there in a minute."

Kevin laughed as he guided Nick out of the room shutting the door behind him.

AJ groaned as he sat there literally counting to ten. He was SO horny that it wasn't even funny and he knew they didn't even have time to take matters into their own hands. "I think I'm going to die of sexual frustration," he grumbled.

Justin chuckled as he adjusted himself in his pants. "You'll live," he said as he stood up and looked down at AJ. "You look like you've just been fucked." He chuckled as he took in the messy hair and the wrinkled shirt where his hands had fisted not more than a few seconds ago.

"If I had just been fucked would THIS be there?" AJ asked, laughing as he pointed down at the very obvious boner he was sporting.

Justin smirked. "Well," he said. "You could still have that even after being fucked. Who's to say that you were allowed to cum or get off while being fucked?" He kept a straight face wondering what AJ would say to that.

AJ thought about that for a second before laughing more as he looked in a mirror to try and make himself look half way descent. "Good point." He then turned back around..."Is it obvious now?" he asked knowing messing with his hair did nothing for down below.

Justin stepped in a bit closer and placed his hands on AJ's waist before quickly leaning in and kissing AJ like there was no tomorrow and rubbed up against him. He felt like being bad. He pulled back and smirked at AJ. "Nope," he said knowing full well that it was the exact opposite because now AJ was a lot more harder than he was a few seconds ago. He walked out of the room and over to the bunk area to grab this things.

"You are an evil, evil little man!" AJ exclaimed playfully as he walked out of the room not really giving a flying fuck if the guys could tell he was turned on...because he knew they could. The part that made him feel better though was the fact that he had felt Justin harden even more too while they had been kissing so he knew Justin was just as bad off as he was.

Justin carried his bags and was thankful for the fact that he was wearing really baggy black sweat pants and a really long white t-shirt. He quickly stepped off of the bus and walked over to where the guys were all standing as he tried desperately hard to not smile… too much.

"Why don't we get to have fun like that?" Kevin whined to Howie, just messing with AJ and Justin as they headed into the new hotel with all their things.

Nick was busy trying to figure out what in the world was going on, but he didn't really care too much he was just happy that Justin and AJ seemed happy again.

Brian shook his head and laughed. "You two are something else," he said looking over at Justin and AJ. Then he looked at Kevin and Howie. "You two are just plain freaky."

Howie chuckled and attempted to squat Brian upside the head but he couldn't quite do that since Brian was all the way on the other side of the elevator.

Sort of bored, Nick stood in the back of the elevator with Brian and reached down and started to scratch himself. He had really messed himself up bad rash wise the night before and was still itchy even though he was totally dry now. Plus, he was just at that age where little boys like to do that anyway even though they didn't get pleasure from it or anything they just like to touch themselves.

AJ leaned back against the wall of the elevator and sighed. He had already tried thinking of all the nasty things he could come up with but nothing had worked he was still as hard as a rock with no way to relieve it until maybe even after the show that night since they had interviews and sound check to do right away after getting settled in.

Justin looked over at AJ and felt the urge to put his arm around him... so, he did. He transferred his bags to his left hand while he threw his other hand over AJ's shoulder and pulled him close and kissed his forehead.

Howie smiled as he watched AJ and Justin interact. He leaned back against Kevin and looked up at him and nodded over at Justin and AJ. Maybe things were salvageable after all.

Kevin smiled thinking the same thing that Howie was, maybe things really were going to work out.

As they stepped out of the elevator Nick was walking awkwardly down the hall still scratching himself. He wasn't trying to be obscene or anything he just really itched.

Brian scrunched up his nose and he looked over at Nick. "Nicky, stop scratching yourself," he said.

Nick whimpered as he tried to stop but it itched. "But me itchy!"

"Has he been changed at all today?" Kevin asked, realizing that since he had been awake he had never seen anybody go and change Nick since they were all still in their PJ's.

Justin spoke up. "I changed him this morning," he said. "He was complaining then too about being itchy but I put the rash powder so I don't know why he's still itchy."

Brian frowned. "How dirty or wet was his diaper when you changed him?" He questioned.

Justin scrunched up his face up as he thought about it. "Well, there wasn't any poop but it was really heavy with pee." They walked down the hall and stopped in front of their respective rooms. "Do you think him being in a wet diaper all night was the cause of him being itchy?"

Brian nodded his head. "Yup," he said and looked over at Nick. "I told you being in a wet diaper for long periods of time was going to irritate you."

"Me no mean to...me sweeping," Nick said with a pout on his face as he tried to not scratch himself anymore. "Me told Justin when me gets up," he said looking over at Justin as if to have him back him up on that.

"See you guys in a few minutes," Kevin said as he and Howie went into their room to unpack for the few minutes they had before they had to head out for the radio interview they had to do.

Justin nodded his head as Nick looked at him for confirmation. "He did," he said and smiled. "He's getting to be a big boy."

Brian chuckled. "Well, let me see if I have any itch-relief powder or cream or something," he said as he opened the door and escorted Nick inside. "We'll see you all in a few." The door closed.