Kevin bit his lower lip as he looked at Howie laughing and talking with Brian. "Okay...I guess now is a good time as any." At least now he knew nobody would bother them if they went inside since they knew they needed to talk. He walked over to where Howie was and tapped him on the shoulder. "Do you have a minute?" he asked giving his cousin apologetic eyes since he was interrupting their conversation.

Brian smiled as he went back to putting his plate of food together.

Howie nodded his head as he felt butterflies being let lose in his stomach. He put his plate down and followed Kevin into the house and into their room.

Kevin looked down at his feet once they were in the room they always stayed in at Brian's house. Now that they were there he didn't even know what to say.

"Baby," Howie started. "What's wrong?" He questioned as he saw the sad look on his face. He then sighed. "Listen if its about that Justin thing, it's nothing. I don't like that kid like THAT. I'm with you and you're the one that I love. I'm sorry." He ran a hand through his hair.

Kevin looked up and shook his head. "It has to do with that...but not really." He sighed. "I don't care that you got turned on by him...cuz it's all just kinda funny really the way the smell of his cologne makes you go crazy...but anyways...it was what happened...after..." he looked back down again. He hated that when they hadn't had sex in almost a week's time Howie would go inside and take care of things himself.

"After?" Howie questioned looking up at Kevin, confused. "What happened after?"

Kevin took a deep breath before looking up at Howie. "I wanted to...be with you...but you brushed me off and went inside alone."

Howie sighed as he looked up at Kevin. "I didn't jerk off or anything like that, just went inside to calm myself down enough to look decent," he said. "I would have rather gotten off with you than by myself especially since you were looking so goddamn hot out there with the sun glistening over your wet body..." He then added with narrowed eyes. "I even got a glimpse of Justin staring at you..."

"Let's not worry about Justin right now...what I don't understand is...you haven't been in the mood for anything like at all lately," Kevin said looking at Howie with worried eyes. "Are you okay...is something wrong with me? What is wrong baby?" he asked now all of a sudden wondering if it wasn't him at all but something was actually wrong with Howie and that scared him even more than the other.

Howie shook his head. "Whoa, whoa, slow down," he said bringing his hand up to stop any more speech to come forth from Kevin's mouth. "There's nothing wrong with you and everything's fine with me and us. I don't know why I haven't been in the mood, I don't think I even noticed that I wasn't in the mood... Can't I be in a mood now and then?"

Kevin nodded his head, still not feeling very comforted by this. "We used to fuck like bunnies baby...why can't we be like that again?" he asked with a slight pout.

Howie couldn't help but laugh at that. "You want us to fuck like bunnies again?" He questioned. "We could do that..." He nodded his head.

Kevin laughed a little too as he shrugged his shoulders. "I just meant that only having sex five times in a month isn't our norm...and I was just worried something was wrong."

Howie shrugged as he took a seat on the edge of the bed. "I didn't know we kept track of how often we fuck like rabbits in a month. I love you Kevin," he said. Sometimes Kevin could be the most adorable thing he'd ever seen, even beating out Nick.

"I didn't until I realized something seemed a little off." Kevin said as he went to sit next to Howie. "I just realized you were turning me down a lot more then saying yes."

"I'm sorry baby," Howie said as he leaned into Kevin. He didn't know what else he had to say to make Kevin feel better. He honestly had no clue at all that them not having sex so many times per month would get Kevin worried about him and their relationship.

Kevin rested his head on Howie's shoulder and sighed. "I know I'm being stupid...but I'm glad to know we're okay. It isn't that I wana have sex 24/7 or something, it's just it was something I noticed didn't seem right and it scared me a little thinking something was off in our relationship, ya know? It wasn't really the lack of sex per say." Yes, Kevin was trying to make himself not look like such a horny idiot but he wasn't sure if it was working or not. Okay, what he said was true...it did just scare him but yeah he was missing the sex too.

Howie kissed Kevin's forehead and then lifted his face so that he could kiss him. "You, Mr. Richardson, have nothing to worry or scared about when it concerns my love for you or for the lack of sex."

Kevin laughed and rolled his eyes at how dumb the last part sounded. "Okay now I feel kinda stupid," he giggled.

Howie chuckled. "Nah... not stupid... just cute, it's a nice change for you."

Kevin raised his eyebrows at that. "What is THAT supposed to mean?"

Howie wrinkled his forehead in thought. "Well, you're always worried about everyone... you're always... you know the 'older' more 'responsible' and 'serious' one..." He said air quoting the words older, responsible, and serious with his fingers. "It's just a nice change to see you not be like that... just letting yourself go."

"Yeah well all those things take too much energy sometimes," Kevin said with a smile as he snuggled up to Howie a little more as they sat on the bed. What Jackie had been talking about kept playing in his head...'Would Howie really want to marry me?' he thought to himself.

"I'm sure it does," Howie said as he held Kevin in his arms and kissed the top of his head. He then started thinking about everything that happened in the last few minutes and couldn't help but start laughing at it all.

Kevin's eyes looked up at Howie, "What's got you all giggly?" he asked with a smile.

Howie shook his head as he looked down at Kevin. "I was just thinking about what all happened in the last few minutes, don't you think it's funny?" He questioned, chuckling. "I think it's funny."

"I suppose...I just wanted to make sure everything was okay..." Kevin said, not sure if he found it as funny as Howie did. Sure, it did seem rather out of character for him to be asking about their sex life...but when something was off in their relationship...whatever it may be...he got a little worried.

"Estoy apesadumbrado, mi amor," Howie said as he calmed down. ‘I am sorry, love.’

"Not your fault...It's not anybodies fault." Kevin reassured Howie. He wasn't mad at Howie in the least. He knew they should get back to the party but he was having fun snuggling with Howie.

Howie nodded his head and then rested it on top of Kevin's. "This is relaxing," he said after a few minutes of silence.

Kevin smiled as one of his hands gently started to rub Howie's thigh. It wasn't meant to be sexual just loving. "It is very relaxing."

Howie smiled as he took a hold of Kevin's hand that was on his thigh and threaded their fingers together. "You know we should go out back outside and eat our lunch..."

"What if I said I didn't want to go?" Kevin asked looking into Howie's eyes. "I mean Nicky's just going to want to swim more once he's done eating and the adults are just talking."

"Um," Howie said as he thought about how to answer that question. "Cake and ice cream... and besides at least you got to eat something... I didn't." He pouted.

Kevin smiled and nodded his head as he stood up. "Well if you would have stopped gabbing with Brian you might have," he teased.

"Yeah, yeah," Howie said as he too got up and walked out the door with Kevin.

At this point Brian had pulled up a chair and was seated between Nick and his mother and was almost done with his lunch, the others long since full. He smiled as he took another bite our of his grilled chicken sandwich as he saw Howie and Kevin walk out of the house towards them.

Justin too noticed this and smiled at them. "Ya'll laughed and made up?"

"We were never fighting," Kevin pointed out as he sat down where he had been before, scooting over enough so Howie would have a seat.

Nick was once again pouting a little because Brian had just told him he couldn't go swimming just yet because he had just eaten.

AJ didn't know what in the world he was doing, but right now he had his hand on Justin's upper thigh and was gently massaging it under the table. He knew they weren't together anymore, but his hands didn't seem to understand that.

Justin waved his hand around in a circular motion as he watched Kevin and Howie sit down. "You know what I meant..." He then cleared his throat and took a quick glance down and then another glance at AJ and then looked up and tried to stay calm. 'Something ugly... something nasty... think of something disgusting...' He then diverted his gaze over to Nick and saw him pouting. He knew Nick was pouting because he couldn't get to swim but what Nick told him earlier about his father's bad present made Justin's blood boil with fury... it seemed to do the trick with the problem in his pants. He brought his hand down and threaded his fingers with AJ's before giving his hand a squeeze.

"So, when does Nick get to blow out his candles?" Jackie questioned, her heart melting at the pout on Nick's face. He seems so sad and... nothing was going his way... on his birthday. She wanted to see him smile.

"And open his presents?" Harold added in.

Brian took in a deep breath. "Now, if Nick would like to," he said looking over at Nick.

Nick put on a pretty good smile and nodded his head. "Okay...we can do that,” he said thinking cake and presents didn't sound too bad right now.

Brian laughed. "Somehow I knew that would perk him up," he said as he pushed his chair back and stood up. "You guys can bring your food in with you," he said nodding at Kevin and Howie.

Jackie and Harold were already up and throwing their garbage in the big garbage can while Justin and AJ were helping to clean up the table. The party was now moving inside.

Nick jumped up and ran into the house, now getting excited again about getting to open his presents and eat cake.

"Can we eat cake after the presents I don't think I can fit anything else in my stomach." AJ laughed as he stood up and stretched then patted his full stomach.

Brian nodded his head. "Yah, I suppose," he said calling out over his shoulder. "Nick wouldn't mind that one bit." He walked into the kitchen and grabbed all the presents that he stashed there before bringing them all into the living room to where the rest of the presents were.

Justin threw his arm over AJ's shoulder as they walked in after Kevin and Howie, and Harold and Jackie. "Is everything alright?" He whispered in AJ's ear.

AJ nodded his head, "Sure, why wouldn't it be?" he asked, not sure why Justin was asking if he was okay or not.

Nick sat down in one of the big chairs in the living room eyeing each of the presents that Brian was bringing in. "Ohh I wana open that one first!" He said pointing to the biggest box.

"In a minute buddy," Brian said as he started to carefully place the boxes on the coffee table before going over and getting his camera. "Hey Justin," he called out looking over at the younger man. "Could you do the video camera?" Justin was the only one of them that seemed to have a steady enough hand to hold the camera still.

Justin shrugged his shoulders to AJ's question. He didn't know if they were going to tell that guys that they broke up or not... not that he minded either way. He was just curious, that's all. "Yup, I will," he said as he let go of AJ and went over to Brian and picked up the camera, adjusting little things here and there and getting the focus on Nick just right.

Harold and Jackie had taken a seat on the opposite couch beside Howie and Kevin, who was seated on the arm of the chair.

It took just a little over a half an hour for Nick to get all his presents unwrapped. By the time he was done he was sitting on the floor in a pile of toys, clothes and wrapping paper. "Thanks everybody," He said when Brian gave him that 'make sure you say thank you' look.

"You're welcome buddy," Kevin said with a smile, happy to see that Nick seemed really happy.

Justin smiled as he waved at Nick but his eyes were on the monitor of the camera, watching Nick from there. "It was our pleasure," he said.

Howie was seated on the back on the couch behind Nick and reached his hand out and ruffled his hair. "Cake?" He questioned.

Harold and Jackie both started laughing and Justin and Brian quickly joined in. "You seem more eager to have the cake than Nicky here," Jackie said, smiling warmly at Howie so that he would know she was just teasing him.

Howie shrugged. "I've got a craving for something sweet..." He trailed off.

AJ's eyes went wide as he looked at Kevin. "Kevin...how dare you go off and get him pregnant." He teased with a smirk on his face.

Kevin rolled his eyes as he smacked AJ upside the head. "I think you need to go back to grade school and health class Aje."

Nick got a funny look on his face as he got up and left the room while the adults were busy laughing at the lame joke AJ had said.

Since Justin had been filming Nick he noticed Nick get up and walk away. He raised his eye brow as he stopped recording and followed Nick.

Brian made a face at AJ's comment. "That's just wrong... and even if it were possible I don't even wanna know just from where the baby is gonna come out from," he said shaking head and then shuddering.

Howie chuckled. "Oh boy..." He said. "I'd have a massive heart attack if that were to happen, just from the pure shock of it all."

Harold piped, "Just leave it to the women... they are much more stronger than us men, we're too chicken poop to do anything that painful," he said and then smiled when Jackie looked up at him with 'awe' etched on her face before she leaned up and kissed his cheek.

AJ laughed at what Harold said, "You've so got a point there. Plus, its a good thing because I don't think I could ever handle having kids in general...probably why I'm gay. God knew I couldn't handle reproducing."

"I wouldn't mind having kids." Kevin said with a shrug. "Just not physically HAVING them."

Nick had made his way into the family room off of the kitchen and was now crouched in the corner behind one of the Lazy Boy recliners. This was his 'spot' as they had started calling it. It was the place that Nick went when he was having an accident. He had been doing really good with it lately but when he was really excited and busy, or at night he sometimes didn't make it...and often it was number two rather then number one...which doctors said was normal for boys when Brian had called worried. Plus for somebody with Nick's past it was even more normal.

Justin stood in the door way frowning and confused when Nick went behind the lazy boy. He then remembered what Brian had told him a few months ago on the phone when he'd called for the usual updates and what have you. He felt something tug at his heart as sympathy and something else he couldn't quite decipher creep into his body. He then turned around and leaned against the wall, waiting for Nick to come back out.

"So, I take it you don't want any mini-you's running around the place," Howie said. "Thank god!"

Brian couldn't help but laugh at that as he started to pick up all the wrappers so that he could get the place ready for when he brought the cake out.

"Where did Nick go?" Kevin asked looking around. "And Justin." he added.

AJ looked around too and shrugged. "I don't know...I thought Nick was still on the floor playing and Justin was still video taping it," he laughed realizing he didn’t' have the slightest idea when the other guys left the room.

Nick didn't know that Justin had followed him so he just moved from a crouched position to his knees as he went about his business. He would have gone to the bathroom, but he had already began to go while he was in the room with everybody else so he knew this was the place to go. He was a little scared though, this was the third accident he had in the last few days and he knew that his cool boxers would be taken away if he kept doing it.

Howie sighed as he too looked around and not seeing the younger ones anywhere. "This is bad," he said. "I mean, we need to be more focused on what the kids are doing... and if we don't even know just when and where Nick went off too..." he trailed off.

Brian sighed. "Nick knows the rules and he knows very well not to leave the house without permission or without one of us, and if Justin's with him then I don't think we have anything to worry about," he said as he crumbled the wrapping paper and placed it in a big hefty bag.

Once he was done, Nick got up and walked awkwardly out from behind the chair. It was hard to move around with soiled boxers because they didn't hold things very good. He still didn't notice Justin was standing right there.

"I'm sure they are together...maybe seeing where to put all his toys." AJ suggested with a shrug.

"Yah, okay," Howie said as he watched Brian stuff the wrapping paper in the bag.

"Should I go get the cake?" Harold asked getting up.

"Nah, it's okay Dad," Brian said. "I'll get it just as soon as this place is cleaned up."

Kevin leaned over and gave Howie a soft kiss on the cheek before standing up and going to help Brian by stacking the boxes of toys off to the side of the room.

AJ lounged back on the couch, just taking a second to think about what Justin and he should do about telling the guys that their relationship is no more.

Justin turned his head to the side just in time to see Nick walk out of the room with a very prominent wet spot around his crotch and bottom area. "Need to change?" He questioned quietly.

Nick bit his lower lip before nodding his head. He knew he couldn't lie about it since it was very obvious that he had an accident.

"Can I ask you something?" Justin questioned walking with Nick towards the stairs.

"Yeah," Nick said softly as they walked up the backstairs.

"Why didn't you tell one of us that you had to go?" Justin questioned. "And why do you do back there to do it?"

Nick shrugged his shoulders, he really didn't know why he did it. He was just having too much fun opening his presents and looking at all the cool new toys that going potty was the last thing on his mind. So, it kinda snuck up on him and before he knew it he was already going while sitting there with everybody...so he just moved to his 'spot' from there.

"Alrighty," Justin said and then walked into Nick's room and then headed on into the bathroom, turning the lights on. "Um, yah... jeans and boxers need to come off... I'll go get you new ones."

"Daddy puts them in there." Nick said pointing at a bucket that was in the bathtub with a pair of boxers from earlier already in it, today was just not a good day. It was just easier to do it like that...let them soak and then wash them later.

Justin nodded his head. "Okay, well, you take the ones you're wearing off while I get you new ones to wear..." he said before walking out to go to Nick's closet to pick out something for him to wear. After a minute or two he walked back into the bathroom and placing Nick's clothes onto the towel bar. "Do want to take a real quick shower 'cause I think that'll be a bit more easier to clean you up?"

While Justin was gone, Nick undid his jeans and pulled them down his legs making a face. He then went about taking his boxers off. "Yuck," he said softly as he took them to the toilet...shook them out and then walked to put them in the bucket which is what he was doing when Justin was coming back in. It was almost a little scary how much he had this down. "Yeah...I'll do that," he said as he took the bucket out of the tub and put it down next to the toilet.

"Cool," Justin replied as he wrinkled his nose at the mess on Nick from the waist down. "Just drop them there and let's get you cleaned up first." He turned the shower on and then switched it to the shower head waiting for Nick to get in. He grabbed the body wash before wetting Nick's body.

Nick did as he was told and got in the tub. He then let Justin clean him up without a fuss, actually thankful to get the nasty feeling of pee off of the inside of his legs. "Do we gotta tell Daddy?" he asked, knowing Brian was getting fed up with his frequent accidents as of late.

Justin looked at Nick as he started to apply the body wash. "Close your eyes," he said as he applied the wash to Nick's face. "We don't have to but he's going to know."

Nick closed his eyes tightly, not wanting to get soap in them. "Daddy says I'm too big to have accidents." He opened his eyes when Justin was done washing his face and looked at Justin. "I don't do it on purpose."

Justin pressed his lips together as he finished rinsing Nick off. "I know Nick," he said. "But you really need to start paying a bit more attention to when you feel like you need to use the bathroom... not a few seconds before but maybe a minute or so... It's not that hard, really."

Nick sighed and just nodded his head not wanting to talk about it anymore. "Are we done?" he asked, wanting to get dressed again.

"Yah," Justin said turning the water off and then grabbing the towels to wrap it around Nick. Once Nick was dried he handed over the new boxers and another pair of jeans that were the same color as the ones Nick had gotten dirty. A few minutes later Nick was dressed. "I'm gonna clean this stuff up, okay?" He said nodding to the bucket that had Nick's clothes in it.

"Daddy said he would do it tonight..." Nick started but then smiled, liking that idea. If Justin took care of it now then maybe Brian would never know and he could keep his cool boxers. "Okay...I'm gunna go see what everybody is doing now," he said as he walked out of the room smiling because he thought he was being rather tricky.

Justin shook his head, smiling as Nick left. He should start making a journal of all the things Nick would do just so when the blonde got older Justin would tell him just how he was as a kid. He then went about bringing the bucket back into the tub. He put some gloves on and started to wash Nick's clothes.

Nick walked into the living room where everybody still was thinking his plan was fool proof. But there was one thing he had forgotten. The jeans he had, had on before had a hole in the knee...and these didn't. "Hey," he said to everybody.

AJ smiled at Nick, still wondering what was going on but he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. "Where's Justin?"

"He's still upstairs..." Nick answered, that wasn't a lie.

Brian quirked an eyebrow as he kept a close eye on Nick. "Why is he upstairs?" He questioned.

Howie wrinkled his forehead as he noticed the new jeans on Nick but he kept his mouth shut already figuring out just why Nick and Justin had disappeared.

Harold and Jackie were both clueless so they didn't think anything was out of the ordinary. "Well, tell Justin to hurry up or else he's not gonna get any cake..." Harold said in a teasing tone.

"He's going potty," Nick answered Brian's question after hesitating for a few seconds. He then giggled at what his grandpa said. "He'll hurry...we wont eat without him."

Kevin also noticed what was going on and glanced at Brian. Brian had told him Nick had been having really bad problems in that area lately and he felt for both his cousin and Nick.

Brian narrowed his eyes. He hated the fact that Nick was lying to him but more so the fact that he was lying so easily. He was going to have a talk about that to Nick, later. "Okay, then, let me just go upstairs and make sure he's really okay because he wasn't looking all that good earlier," he said.

Howie turned his confused gaze over to Brian wondering what the older man was up to.

"Okay," Harold said as he sat back down. He got the feeling he had no clue just what was going on and that he should just zip his mouth and stay that way.

Nick's eyes went wide and jumped up from where he had just sat down next to AJ. "NO...I mean...you don't gotta...he's fine. He'll be down in a second."

AJ raised an eyebrow, now Nick was acting very strange. "He's just wanting to make sure he's really okay Nicky..."

"Yeah," Brian said trying to walk past Nick over to the stairs. "If he's fine then I'm sure there won't be any problems, right?" Brian raised a questioning eyebrow.

Howie's heart went out to Nick. The look of horror on his face was really starting to tug at his heart.

Nick's lower lip started to tremble. Brian had told him earlier in the week if he continued to have more than one accident a day then they would have to go back to pull-ups until he could learn to use his boxers the right way...especially when they weren't at home. It was too hard for Brian to have to clean up these messes every day. "Okay," he said softly knowing there wasn't anything he could do about it now.

Brian nodded his head as he walked over to the stairs and then up them towards Nick's room. He walked inside and then noticed the door to the bathroom was opened. He walked over to the door and frowned when he saw Justin sitting on the edge of the tub, wringing out the water from the boxers. Looking over to the towel bar he saw the boxers and pants that he'd put in there earlier that morning already washed and hung for drying AND the pant Nick had worn for the party. "You shouldn't cover up for him like that," he said taking a seat on the closed and really clean toilet seat.

"HOLLL-Geez," Justin nearly screamed and jumped ten feet when he heard Brian's voice. "On top of everything else, I really needed a near death experience... thanks Bri," he said trying to regulate his breathing back to normal. "Who said anything about covering up for him? I'm just trying to make it easier for you so you don't have to clean this stuff up later." He then hung the boxers on the towel bar before turning the water off and then throwing the rubber gloves into the trash. "Don't get mad at him... he's trying really hard to not go in his pants..."

Brian shook his head as he stood up, turned the lights off, and walked with Justin out of the bathroom and out of Nick's room. "He's been doing this a lot as of late," he said. "He's going back to the pull-ups after everyone leaves AND to top it all off... he lied to me, easily." They walked down the stairs.

Justin sighed and said, "Okay." He watched Brian walk to the kitchen to get the cake and candles before they made their way into the living room; Justin picked up the camera again and then turned the lights down low.

"Welcome back, man," Howie said, smiling. "Feeling better?"

Justin wrinkled his forehead in confusion before slowly nodding his head. "Uh, yah, thanks?" He didn't know that Nick had lied about him while he was upstairs.

Nick knew he was in deep shit by the way Brian was looking at him but he put on his biggest smile anyway. "I want cake...is it cake time now?" he asked excitedly, thinking he will just enjoy things now since he was probably banned to his room for a life time later.

"I don't think Justin wasn't feeling well baby," Kevin whispered to Howie as the cake got set in front of Nick. "Nick is being a little fibber."

AJ smiled as everybody got geared up to sing 'Happy Birthday'. "Okay guys...one....two...three!"

"Oh, I know," Howie whispered back to Kevin. "I was just trying to make it better on Nick but whatever." He shrugged and walked over to the table where everyone was gathered in a circle getting reading to sing 'Happy Birthday.'

Brian sighed before joining in with everyone with the singing.

Justin taped everyone singing before focusing his camera on Nick's semi-happy, smiling face. He felt bad for the blonde, maybe if he spent the night Brian would go easy on Nick. Who knows.