Present. Right now. Here.

That’s it. He wanted to give up. Screw this. Screw Nick.

 

“Come on, come on, come on, come-”

 

“You’re worse than Baylee.”

 

Nick had the audacity to gasp. He really wished the kid would go to sleep already. “You refer to Baylee, your only ever loving son, as ‘worse’? I’m so telling.”

 

“You know what I mean.”

 

“Yeah, I know what you mean old man, but come on, you can do better than this!”

 

“I can’t. I give up.”

 

“But…you can’t give up. You’re such a spoilsport! Come on, it’s not that difficult!”

 

“I’m out of ‘s’ words, man.”

 

And really, he did. There were Stewardess, Stewards, Spoon, Sound System (double S, that has got to be a record or something), Sexy (he caught Nick looking at the secretary-like sexy woman down their isle, and really, it’d be awesome if she were a Secretary cause yeah, that’s ‘S’ for you), Soup, Salt, Sade (she was on their tiny tv screen earlier on), Sunflower seeds (another double S, thank you very much) and Sunglasses, but Nick’s answer was still a firmed ‘no’.

 

“Come o-”

 

“I’m going to strangle you if you- hey, that’s another ‘s’ for ya, ‘strangle’-”

 

“Nope, not it.”

 

“I give u-”

 

“You can’t give up.”

 

“Why not?”

 

“Because you can’t. Now come on already!”

 

“I really-” and then something clicked and the grin was back on his face. Sometimes, you just have to see what’s in front of you. Oh this is awesome! “Sweater! I’m wearing one and it starts with an ‘s’!”

 

“Yeah…no.”

 

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me!”

 

Nick sighed and shook his head, like as if he was disappointed in him and that’s just…

 

“Dude, come on!”

 

“Nick I swear, if the word you’re thinking about is nowhere to be found here, I’m so going to throw you out of this plane! See if-” Wait a minute…

 

“Damn, you should really look at yourself right now,” Nick smirked. “You’re having a light bulb moment, just like with the sweater, and I really hope you nailed it this time.”

 

“Dude, I’m like, so smart.”

 

“Yeah, yeah, just tell me already.”

 

“It’s sky! It’s S-K-Y, SKY! Tell me it’s the sky.”

 

“Oh Gawd…” Nick exclaimed, slapping his palms on his jeans.

 

“Come on,” Brian exclaimed, and then had to pause because now, he was sounding like Nick. “That has got to be it!” This ‘I Spy A…’ game needed to be put to rest some donkey years ago.

 

“No, it’s not.”

 

“I’m out of words man.”

 

“You can’t be that blonde.”

 

“I am blonde.” Brian pouted. “And so are you, Pot.”

 

“’m not a drug.”

 

“What?”

 

“You called me Pot.”

 

“Not that pot.” Brian sighed. “Kettle, pot, black?”

 

“You want coffee?”

 

Yeah. This was totally a scene out of a ‘two blondes ride on a plane…’ jokes.

 

“No, I don’t want coffee,” Brian smirked, because really, it was actually funny. “Just, can I give up already? Can you just tell me what the answer is?”

 

Nick’s grin was wide. His eyes lit up like a kid who’s about to tell you the biggest, damnest secret ever.

 

“Spain.”

 

“As in the country?”

 

“Is there anything else called Spain?”

 

“There could be…” Brian said, distracted. “Anyway, Spain? How can you spy Spain? We’re not even there yet.”

 

“That’s why it’s called spying, duh.”

 

Brian figured that was Nick Logic, because yeah, he was still clueless on that one.

 

“Fine, genius.” Brian played along. It was easier than having a little back and forth ‘argument’ over nick’s logic because they knew it’d never end anywhere until someone just shut up. “What do you spy in Spain?”

 

“A mob of really crazy fans.”

 

“Nice. You know they’d be all over you if they hear that.”

 

“What? It’s a compliment.”

 

“Nick, you just call them crazy fans.”

 

“Yeah…as in, they’re crazy for me.” Nick grinned. “Also, a mob is a good thing. We want a mob. A mob means we’re still relevant, or something.”

 

“Or something.” Brian smiled. He could already tell Nick was on his high. When he was in such a mood, nothing could stop him, not even a mob ready for a piece of him. It’d normally ended up pretty tame; the worst they’d woke up to was a little headache and some minor bruising from all the shoving, nothing that couldn’t be taken care of with some Tylenol. But you just never know…then again, Nick could afford a bust up lip all on his own without any mobs. Sometimes, he thought Nick never really got the hang of his long limbs.

 

“Should we get you some knee pads?” Nick’s giggle was his only answer.

 

The plane took a short dip and the vice grip was back on his wrist. This sure was a long flight.

 

Time for another distraction.

 

“So,” he started, tapping the hand assuredly. “You think the fans are already up on our asses for not coming to Howard’s bachelor’s party?”

 

 

Past. A half hour ago. Earlier.

 

When it happened, it felt normal, like, it was the logical thing to do, so Brian didn’t think any of it, just placed his right hand on top of Nick’s, which was clutching his left hand like his life depended on it.

 

He gave it a couple of assuring taps as he felt the pull at gravity when the plane took off.

 

Then it hit him, like a ton of bricks, minus the pain. He turned to look at Nick, who had his headphone on, some loud music blaring until all he could make out were static noises. His eyes were closed but he was far from sleep; that frown etched on his face like permanent glue.

 

Amused, he gave his sleeve a light tug, which was enough to draw attention to the young man. He pulled the headphone down almost immediately, let it hang around his neck like some feathered boa. Heh, that’d be a nice accessory on Nicky, a pink feathered boa to top that plain, straight out of the washing machine white t-shirt.

 

“Wha’? Something wrong?”

 

Brian couldn’t help the wide grin he was aware plastered on his face. He couldn’t let such an opportunity slipped by now, could he?

 

“You tell me.” Brian said, eyebrows raised.

 

“Uh…” Nick started. “You woke me up, so shouldn’t I be asking you?”

 

“You have a vice grip on my arm there, buddy.”

 

Brian watched as Nick’s eyes grew wide when it finally dawned on him and he let go, pulling his hand back to himself.

 

“Oh! Sorry about that.”

 

“Don’t tell me you’re still…” Brian grinned. Seeing as Nick chose not to say anything other than squirmed in his seat some more, Brian added, “After all these years?”

 

“It’s called phobia. You don’t just not have it anymore or something.”

 

Brian actually gave it a thought for a while, because he knew he hated flying, but was it a phobia for him? Did this mean, on a fear for flying scale, Nick’s was higher than his and if it was, did it even make a difference at all?

 

A swift of something nice took him away from his thoughts and he looked up only to find a flight attendant had just walked by and her perfume was exactly what Leighanne had worn earlier that day, when she had waved him goodbye from the front porch of their house, Baylee held firmly on her hip as if he’d always belonged there…

 

Nick still looked like he was sucking on a basket full of lemons.

 

“Wanna play a game?”

 

It was something that they do way back then. Nick was still so young, the words ‘am I sexual?’ would make him blush, let alone sing and Brian was still fresh out of Kentucky, his southern accent still a little too thick for his young friend to sometime understand. But they were close, practically inseparable, to a point where his cousin once claimed that they were joint at the hips.

 

We’re like that blue monster twins muppet on Sasame Street, Brian! Remember them? They’re joined at the hips too!

“Can I pick?”

 

Brian couldn’t help it. Nick looked like a five year old waiting anxiously for the nod of ‘okay’ from his parent. Or, Nick was turning into Baylee. Sometimes, the lines could be blurry.

 

“Go for it.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Oh my God it's TEN THIRTY!”

It worked better than an alarm clock, but his eyes were too heavy to do anything more than taking a peek.

He was lying on the carpeted floor, somewhere near the bed, and decided that was fairly normal, considering.

There were rushed movements on the bed, a panicked voice going ‘get up, get up, we've half an hour to get ready!’ and then something dropped on him, stole his breath away, pain erupted somewhere in his body, he couldn’t really tell where exactly, it’s just pain, and then someone else going ‘ow, fuck!’.

This, Brian decided, was fairly normal too, all things considered.

 

= = =

If he recalled correctly, there’d be five, in total. He had managed to escape two, which was okay because he didn’t quite like the sponsored ones, the ones where you’re required to strike a pose for publicity and show the entire world just how close they really were with each other. He didn’t need the entire world to know, it was none of their business, anyway.

But this one was private, and he was actually looking forward to it.

He gave it a quick blow, didn’t really know why he felt the need to, and then threw it in the middle of the circle. The dice stopped spinning almost abruptly and it showed a ‘six’.

“Okay,” he rubbed his palms together, completely aware that he was turning into a five year old. “Mine first, then.”

He whipped out the package he had hidden and gave it to Howie.

“Nice wrapping, Bri.” Nick smirked. AJ completely lost it.

“What? It’s nice.” He replied, indignant.

“For Barney, sure.” Howie laughed. “It’s so…purple…and shiny.”

“But you like Purple.”

Nick wiped at his tears. Yeah, it was that amusing, apparently. “Oh man, you’re too damn easy sometimes.”

“Just open it already, would you?”

They were still laughing while Howie tore at the wrapper and it quickly turned into groans.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Nick exclaimed, head already in his hands. “This is going to take forever, dawg.”

“Dude, I’m designated Banker, so I won’t be playing.” AJ quickly offered.

“Brian, we said fun games.” Nick pointed out. “Not games that last till you’re eighty.”

“But Howie loves properties, I figured it’d be, well, perfect.” It also didn’t escape Brian that the game was suitable for kids aged 8 and above and that, if he felt five, did it mean he wasn’t allowed to play this game?

Howie was already placing the board game in the centre of the circle. “I’ll have the shoe.”

“I want the car.” AJ said.

“The Banker doesn’t need one of those, idiot.” Nick said. “Gimme that, I’ll have the car.”

“But this is a vintage car, you’re crappy with vintage cars.” AJ objected, holding the tiny object near his chest, away from Nick’s prying hands.

“Brian, tell AJ he should really give me the car.”

Great, get him to play strict parent. “Uh…how about we let Howie decide? It’s his party anyway.”

Hee.

“Thanks Brian,” Howie scowled. Brian just grinned and placed his silver airplane at ‘GO’. “AJ, you’re not getting the car because you’re the Banker, and also a wuss who is afraid of losing some fake money. Nick, you’re not getting the car, you’re getting this.”

It was a thimble.

“What the heck is this?” Nick asked as he placed the thimble on his finger and wiggled it.

“A thimble.” Howie replied. “I can’t believe you’ve to ask me that.”

“Whassit for?” Nick asked.

“Dude,” AJ said. “You’re so blond.”

“At least I have hair.” Nick rolled his eyes. And yeah, ouch.

“Usually people use it on their finger when they’re stitching something, this thing helps to prevent the person from getting the needle poked in their fingers instead.” Howie explained.

“And why do you think this suits me best?” Nick asked, now busily prying the thing off his finger. It was kind of stuck.

“Because you’re clumsy.”

“M’ not.” Nick protested, finally the thing came off him and he quickly, albeit dejected, placed it next to the shoe and the plane, later belonging to Brian, because he used to have a toy plane when he was little.

“And besides, I think it’s disturbing that you guys know what this thing is for. If you’ve ever sit on a rocking chair and sew something, I do not want to know.”

“So which card would you like?” Howie asked, totally ignoring Nick’s last comment.

Brian quickly asked for the sky blue colored one.

“What card? What’s that Bri?”

“Your credit card,” Brian said, showing off his. “For you know, for you to buy your properties and stuff.”

“We get credit cards?” Nick’s eyes widened.

“Dude, look, I get to hold the card swipe machine thingy!” AJ exclaimed.

“You weren’t really expecting paper money did you?” Brian asked. “Monopoly has gone electronic on our butts, catch up with the rest of the class!”

“Yeah, yeah,” AJ waved his hands distracted. “Roll the damn dice, someone buy something already, I want to swipe cards!”

“How much do we get in this plastic?” Nick asked, still in awe. He went for a pink card, which has a lady’s name on it. Brian didn’t really want to ask why.

“We start off with five million each and-”

“FIVE MILLION!” Nick cried. “Oh my god, I love this game! Lets buy some hotels for the mamas.”

Brian was pretty sure that Nick had his eyes on the entire of Las Vegas. Lord help us all.

 

= = =

AJ sucked at Mathematics and apparently, simple gadgets like a fake ATM swipe machine. Howie had the last straw when he accidentally transferred twenty million to Nick’s account when it was supposed to be the other way around.

AJ drew four dots on the dice, he was next.

 

= = =

Aged 4 and above.

They were suspiciously regressing.

It took them fifteen long minutes to set up the entire set. Another ten to realised that they had misplaced a ladder, at which, they had to retrace their steps and start over.

“Dude, what are you doing?” AJ frowned, slapping his hand away.

“What? I got the stairs, I’m going up.”

“Brian, that’s not the friggin stairs. That’s for number forty-five.”

“That’s forty-four, what the hell is wrong with you people? We’re not even drinking.” Nick pointed out.

“Could we just move on? It’s my turn and I’m totally winning and you guys are cramping my style.”

The game ended after eighteen minutes, because Nick got eaten by the longest snake ever, and everyone decided to have a minute of silence in his honor.

Of which, Brian made full use of by going for a pee break and returned with the board game nowhere in sight. Thankfully. He also decided he was never going to buy that 3D version of Snake & Ladder for Baylee. Too damn confusing.

 

= = =

This one was odd, but given that it came from Nick, no one was really bothered.

“What is this game?” Howie asked. He sounded cautious, if Brian could say so, which was totally understandable seeing how it was Nick’s choice, and a play at caution is always advisable.

“It’s Twister Dodgeball.”

“What?” AJ asked. Brian was right along with him.

There were 5 different colored wristbands and everyone was trying really hard to ignore the fact that there were only four of them in the suite right now.

Oh also, a really huge foam dice with circles of different colors.

“We take a wristband each,” Nick explained and then grabbed the green for himself. “Drop the dice, if it’s your color, you get the ball and the rest of us dodge. Last man standing, wins.”

Brian didn’t see any man in this suite right now.

“Guys, you do realised we’re in an enclosed environment here, right?” Howie reminded them.

“When has that ever stop us?” Nick grinned, and the game was on.

 

= = =

“I totally hit you!” Howie claimed. Brian didn’t think so.

“No, you didn’t.”

“I totally did.”

“Didn’t.”

And that’s how the game ended.

 

= = =

There were four glass shots, an endless supply of chilled Coke and bags of chips and four Backstreet Boys.

“Twenty-seven multiplied by twelve.”

He decided Howie was a strange, strange man.

“What kind of a quiz is this?” AJ asked as he popped more chips in his mouth.

That's fourteen, four plus one, five, fifty-four...two hundred and seventy plus fifty-four...

“Three hundred and twenty-four!”

Nick gave him a disgusted look and downed four shots of chilled coke without even trying. AJ refused and claimed the quiz a buzz kill.

There was a burping contest mixed somewhere in there but Brian knew he'd never admit to that if it were ever brought up in the future.

 

= = =

There was one huge ass king sized bed and four of them. Nick crawled up and plopped himself right in the middle and then looked back at the three of them who were still staring at the bed.

“Look Howie, strippers are overrated, you get me instead. And if Brian and AJ are feeling as kinky, I'm up for a foursome.”

“You're disgusting, that's what you are.” Howie smirked.

“But you still love me,” Nick grinned lazily. “I'm so irresistible.”

“Yeah sure Nick.” AJ rolled his eyes and joined him in bed. “Hands to yourself dawg.”

“Awww what? No cuddling?”

He laughed at this, and climbed on the bed next, careful to chose the one right at the end. “Coming, D?”

Howie was shaking his head and for a second, Brian really thought the man was going to take his pillow and go for the couch.

“Okay look, here's the rules. Hands to yourselves, no farting, burping, snoring and especially no cuddling can take place, at least when I'm still in bed.”

“Oh my God Howie is so boring I'm already asleep.” Nick murmured. He then proceeded to snore really loudly.

He had his eyes closed but he could feel the bed dipping again and Howie warning AJ if any of his skull rings hit him on the face there'll be hell to pay and then, silence.

He barely missed Howie thanking them for the great Bachelor party, was quite certain he muttered a 'goodnight guys' and then he was out like the lights.

 

= = =

“Nick, you okay?”

The pain woke Brian up and AJ was up right on the bed and looking down at him and Nick, the thing that had fallen on him like a sack of potato.

“Dude, why are you on the floor?” This, was directed at him. Nick had always been a kicker in bed, he should have known this since he room with the guy way back then.

“Fell, I guess,” he croaked. “Nick, I can't breathe.”

“Dude your elbow is lethal!” Nick groaned as he pushed himself up with just one hand, while the other was covering his left eye.

“Did anyone hear what I said?” Howie exclaimed, already out of bed. “Thirty minutes you guys, get – what the hell happened to you?”

“D, next time, try not yelling and scaring a guy first thing in the morning kay?” Nick mumbled and then groaned.

“Here, let me take a look at that.” Brian was reaching to pull Nick's hand away but the hiss made him pulled back.

“This friggin hurts.”

AJ scratched at his head and said, “Dude, sober guys don't wake up tripping over stuff and getting hurt or waking up on the friggin floor. This is a new low for us.”

“Here, this should help.” Howie handed a pack of frozen peas to Nick, who took it gladly.

“Why is there a pack of peas in the freezer?” Brian asked as he got up and rubbed at his tummy. Something was going to bruise, he could already tell.

“No idea,” Howie shrugged. “Look, I'll just call Rene and tell her we'll be late. No biggie, right?”

They had some press interviews with various Spanish reporters to go to and their PA did ask if they wanted a wake up call but they had been adamant with the 'do not disturb' rule they put up for their party. A lot of people would be pissed at them today but Brian figured it was all worth it.

“Oh my God, Nick, that's going to bruise real bad, bro.”

Well, maybe not all.