Betty
Copyright November 3, 2001 by Matthew Haldeman-Time
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: AJ McLean/Kevin Richardson
Disclaimer: The young men who comprise the Backstreet Boys are their own people. The author has not met anyone here described, nor does the author mean to suggest that these people act this way in real life. This writing is a work of fiction. I make no money from this venture.
Dedication: This slashfic is for Ewan McGregor and the Savage Garden slashwriters.
Wherein you'll find a slice of a slice, of a story, of a series.
Notice: First, read "Cobwebs." I mean it.
So AJ went shopping. He really should have had Kevin with him, for fitting, but AJ wasn't going to risk being mobbed. One Backstreet Boy sighting was bad enough; twice the Boys, twice the frenzy.
AJ was, in essence, shopping for himself, only in different sizes. After he'd bought too much, he checked the time and went to pick up Kevin. He'd already told Gerry exactly what he wanted for Kevin's ink, and since AJ was footing the bill, Gerry knew to ignore Kevin's protestations.
Reaching the tattoo parlor, AJ found Kevin waiting for him. "Let's see," AJ said.
"He didn't want any of them permanent," Gerry said.
AJ paid, giving Kevin time to show off the ink, but Kevin wasn't moving. AJ decided to humor Kevin for the moment; he'd paid for this venture, and he was going to see Gerry's work whether Kevin liked it or not.
They went back to Kevin's. AJ had to get Kevin McLeanified from head to toe before putting on his own costume, so AJ dropped his shopping bags in Kevin's bedroom and told Kevin to strip. He busied himself dumping his afternoon's haul over Kevin's bed.
Kevin stepped out of his shoes and shrugged out of his shirt, standing there in his sleeveless T. He looked at his bed. "No wonder you were late."
AJ ignored that remark, turning his attention to the artwork over Kevin's arms. He let out a low, appreciative whistle. Damn, that was looking good. A series of arm bands, a lethal spider on a web, Kevin's name, "Happy Halloween," a BSB logo AJ had designed, and, up the inside of Kevin's left arm, AJ's name. Gerry had tossed in a few of AJ's own tattoos, and the result was an impressive but not overcrowded display of ink.
"I have to do your hair first," AJ said. He unearthed his own bag, which held what he'd need for his costume, and took Kevin to the bathroom.
Kevin was being very quiet. Withdrawn. Something was up. AJ decided not to worry about it. He draped Kevin's shoulders with towels, to keep from hurting the ink, and went to work.
Kevin had been okay on the way to the tattoo parlor. Something must've happened there. Maybe Kevin didn't like being inked over that much. Maybe Gerry had said something Kevin hadn't liked. Maybe Kevin was starting to rethink this transformation. Maybe Kevin was pissed that AJ hadn't so much as shared a liplock with him for about a week.
Hell, if Kevin wanted some, he could make a move. It wasn't AJ's job to initiate everything. AJ wasn't sure whether he'd let Kevin get some, or not. Probably not.
Oh, who the hell was he kidding? If Kevin started something, AJ would be all over the guy. Right now, one part of AJ's brain was already long gone, fantasizing about Kevin trying to take him on the bathroom floor.
Kevin was sitting on said floor, back to the tub, head tipped back over the edge. AJ was kneeling right over him, hands in his hair, practically chest-to-chest. If Kevin grabbed AJ's ass, AJ was going to be the last person to object. But Kevin just sat there, eyes closed, thinking about whatever it was Kevin thought about.
Women, probably.
AJ pulled Kevin's hair and didn't apologize for it. Kevin winced, but didn't say anything or even open his eyes.
After dyeing Kevin's hair, but before styling it, AJ wanted Kevin to get dressed. They had to get moving, too, if AJ was going to have time to dress as well. AJ sorted through the clothes strewn across Kevin's bed. Kevin had screwed him in that bed. All over that bed.
Since AJ was fairly confident that Kevin would be clothed all night, AJ hadn't asked Gerry to ink anywhere besides Kevin's arms. It was a shame, too, because AJ would have loved to leave his mark all over Kevin's body.
AJ counted to five, counted to ten, and mentally bitchslapped himself.
Much better. On to business.
He looked over Kevin with a critical eye. Pants first. Better see what fit.
Kevin was patient enough to dress under AJ's direction, trying on several pairs of pants before AJ was satisfied.
AJ tried not to leer at Kevin's legs. They were so fucking long, and strong, and pale, with that dark hair... And the lump in Kevin's shorts, AJ knew exactly what that was, what it would feel like in his hand, what-
Shirts. Right. Tight, flexible, shiny dark blue pants. What went with... AJ flipped through the shirts on the bed. He tossed a few at Kevin. What they needed was a dress form.
Kevin skinned out of his T-shirt and tried on what AJ had thrown at him. AJ had been seeing Kevin's body for years, so Kevin had no need to be shy, and AJ was busy trying to decide what Kevin needed to wear that night. At first, AJ didn't notice a thing. Then he noticed that Kevin was halfway across the room, and edging away from the mirror. What?
AJ watched Kevin change into two more shirts, before figuring out what was happening. There was something on Kevin's back. There had to be. What? A zit? A sudden burst of back hair? He'd been at the tattoo parlor, so maybe...no...
When Kevin was in the last shirt, AJ made him come closer, tugging at the shoulders, plucking at the sleeves. He turned Kevin around and straightened the shirt. Then he turned Kevin around again, placing Kevin's squarely in the mirror's reflection. "Sleeves are too short. Take it off."
"Which one do you want me to wear? You've eliminated everything."
"Take that one off and let me think about it." AJ pretended to be looking at Kevin's chest, picturing shirts there.
Kevin sighed and pulled the shirt off over his head.
Ink! There, on Kevin's back - - he could see it in the mirror. AJ stepped forward, to walk around Kevin; Kevin stepped back, almost naturally.
"What's on your back?" AJ asked, tired of playing.
"Nothing."
"The mirror's right behind you, Kevin. There's something there."
"You're seeing things."
"You're going to be seeing double if you don't let me look. Turn your ass around."
"Turn my what around?"
AJ wasn't falling for that routine. Kevin could play Daddy later. He grabbed at Kevin, finally getting Kevin to turn so that he could look.
Kevin had broad shoulders and a long torso, which gave an expanse of flawless, pale skin. He had a slender build, but plenty of muscle.
There, right across his back, below his shoulder blades, was written, in masculine script, "All I ask is for a chance to prove that I love you."
AJ looked at it. Touched it lightly, not wanting to smear it. He knew those words too well. How many times had he asked Kevin to whisper them to him, in the dark, when he could close his eyes and let Kevin hold him and pretend...pretend...
Pretend that the love Kevin gave him was love from someone else. Pretend that the one whispering to him, holding him, loving him, the one who had sent his body spinning with ecstasy, the one whose green eyes shone with desire for him, was Lance.
He didn't want to give Kevin a chance to love him. He wanted Lance to love him. He was not going to accept that love from anyone else.
Sex, yes. Comfort, yes. Friendship, yes. Love? Lance loved him. He loved Lance.
AJ threw a shirt at Kevin. "Get dressed so I can do your hair."
Once dressed, Kevin sat with towels around his shoulders while AJ styled his hair. Then Kevin pulled on boots and jewelry before sitting down to paint his nails. They'd better dry before it was time to go.
AJ disappeared into Kevin's bathroom with his bag. He was in there for over an hour.
Kevin cleaned off his bed, being careful not to ruin his nail polish.
The bathroom door opened.
Kevin froze in the position of reaching for a shirt on the bed. He straightened, unable to remove his gaze from AJ. Sleek, proud, self-possessed, haughty, AJ came forward with a dignified, graceful stride.
Kevin stroked down AJ's thigh. Only the slender barrier of soft, sheer black kept Kevin from caressing AJ's skin. The costume's neck was high, coming directly to AJ's chin. Kevin kissed AJ's neck through the soft fabric, eyes closing, hand sliding up over AJ's ass. Oh, god, AJ was naked under there.
AJ's fingernails dug into Kevin's shoulders; AJ could feel Kevin's heat, Kevin's touch, Kevin's kiss, in the perfect frustration of thwarted skin-against-skin.
"What are you supposed to be?" Kevin asked, kissing up to his chin. Kevin's lips brushed AJ's cheek; the intimate contact made AJ shiver.
"What do you want me to be?" AJ asked, running a hand down over the front of Kevin's pants.
Their eyes met. "Mine," Kevin said. It hurt him to admit it.
"Help me finish dressing," AJ said. "You need to attach the tail. You end up stabbing me in the ass, you'll regret it."
AJ couldn't see Kevin's face, but he was damned sure that Kevin didn't mind kneeling behind him and getting a nice eyeful of his ass while affixing the cat's tail. AJ put on the ears and gloves.
Then AJ handed Kevin the collar. "Buckles in the back."
Kevin stepped behind him, slipped the collar around his neck, asked if it was too tight, and buckled it. Then he turned AJ around, to see how it looked.
That was when Kevin noticed what the collar's tag said. He caught the "Alexander James" on the front, and touched it with a smile. As it dangled there, his touch moved it, and he saw that there was something more on the back. He turned it and looked. He read his own name and address.
He was down as AJ's owner.
"You can't go out like this."
"Why not?" AJ asked.
"AJ, look at yourself. You might as well be naked, for all you're showing."
"Nothing you've never seen. Howie, Brian, Nick, Lance, they've seen it. Justin Jeffre and Joey, they aren't going to look. JC and his wife, they don't care. Drew, Jeff, Nick, they wouldn't dare be caught looking. Chris, he hates me. The only one who cares what he's looking at is you, Kevin, and you've seen it all already."
"Lance."
"Let him look."
"You want him to look."
"I want him to want me."
"He does. He will."
"Good."
"If he wanted you back, would you go to him?"
"I'm not a stray, Kevin, and I'm not wild. I'm tame." His gloved fingers stroked Kevin's jaw. "I'm yours."
"Tonight."
"Tonight."
"Tomorrow?"
AJ shrugged and ran a thumb over Kevin's mouth. "Tomorrow's tomorrow."
"I don't want you to be tame-"
"But you want me to be yours."
"I know I can't have you-"
"But you want me to be yours," AJ repeated.
"I want you to be free."
"You want me to be free. Free to choose. Free to choose to be with you. If I choose to be with you, then it's my choice, and you're not keeping me. But if I choose to be with Lance, he's trapping me and taming me."
"I didn't say that."
"It's all you've been thinking. You want me to be yours? Tonight, that's all I am."
"Tomorrow?" Kevin asked again, softly.
"Black cats belong to Halloween,"
AJ said. "You don't get to keep them all year long."