As if the chewing out in the hotel lobby by Johnny wasn’t enough for Nick’s humiliation, the chaos that went on during the other night’s concert fueled more fire to the ’Let’s-tease-Nick-until-he-cries’ fest. The bus trip was bad enough, but now Nick had to spend the entire trip filled with endless comments and angrily glares directed his way.

“Unfucking believeable,” Johnny spat as he folded the newspaper. He lifted his eyes and stared at the young blonde.

Nick averted his eyes from the manager’s, suddenly becoming interested in the zipper on his backpack. With nervous fingers, he played with the steel tag.

“Lousy reviews from this and it’s your fault again, Carter!”

Breathing quietly, Nick hoped that one of his brothers would step up and tell Johnny to leave him alone.

No one helped and the overbearing manager continued his verbal assualt.

“I think you need to concentrait more on what you’re doing onstage instead of screwing around Carter. You proved that you’re a slob last night.”

Finally, someone else started speaking.

“Yeah, it was funny when his pants fell down to the floor,” AJ snorted.

“I had trouble with the zipper, it wouldn’t work,” Nick defended, his eyes watering.

“Trouble my ass,” Johnny breathed. “You see Nick, zippers are designed to work on the clothes where the person is actually perportioned to the size of the item. In other words, that zipper couldn’t take the stress of the added fat of you trying to squeeze into the pants.”

There was no way Nick was going to admit that he was a little bloated the other night and was having troubles with his costumes. He struggled with every costume change and one outfit would only zip up half way. That was the pants that slipped off him during a mid-spin in a choreographed dance number.

“I’m going to have the tailor see to having your stuff altered, but by no means does that mean you can continue your bad eating habits. We have more time on this tour and at the rate you’ve been going you’ll be weighing 300 pounds by the time we’re done.”

Heat was rising in his cheeks and Nick wanted to die from embarassment. AJ was of no help to the situation when he kept snickering from two seats behind where Nick was sitting.

“Hey fatass how much do you weigh now?” AJ cackled.

Nick only offered silence as his reply. The silence was only interrupted with Brian blowing his nose so hard it honked.

”Well? Don’t you know?” AJ pressed.

“Carter hates to admit that he weighed 200 when the tour started and I bet now he’s probably pushing 220,” Johnny offered.

Nick hung his head, staring at his backpack. This was grade school all over for him. The constant teasing and people picking on him. Backstreet was supposed to be different, he thought. It was gradually becoming everything but.

He cast a wayward glance over towards Kevin, wondering why he didn’t speak up and bail him out. He found Kevin asleep, his head resting against the window, an open book in his lap. Feeling the unshed tears burn in his eyes, Nick suddenly jumped up and walked with his head down towards the rear of the bus towards the bathroom.

“God, he’s a little sensitive this morning,” AJ mused. “Mister moody can’t take jokes.” Glancing over at the space Nick vacated, AJ’s eyes caught a slip of pink flowered paper, neatly folded. A smile played on his lips as he reached over, plucking the paper off the seat.

Opening the paper, AJ discovered feminine handwriting, with all the I’s topped with tiny hearts. He laughed outloud.

“Whad’s so fuddy?” Brian questioned as he wiped his reddened nose.

“It’s a love letter to fatass, from Manda,” AJ sing-songed.

“You shouldn’t be reading other people’s mail AJ, put it back where you found it!” Howie scolded.

“No way,” AJ chuckled as he read the letter. “This is too good to pass up.”

“Seriously J!” Howie continued as he cast a dark look at his best friend.

Clearing his throat, AJ read the letter outloud in a mock feminine voice:

“Buttermuffin, oh gawd!” AJ snorted, shaking his head. Although Howie was mad at AJ reading Nick’s private mail, he couldn’t help but snicker at the name. Composing himself once again, AJ continued:

“Oh my gawd, can this get any worse?” AJ laughed, shaking his head. Scanning the letter, he nodded. “Yes it does, listen to this!”

The men’s laughter quickly died down when Nick walked back up the aisle to his seat. He glanced warily before sitting down.

“Hey Buttermuffin,” AJ catcalled and the laughter started up once again.

A look of confusion washed over Nick’s face when he wondered how AJ knew about Manda’s nickname but quickly decided he must have heard her on the phone. He ignored AJ, as he picked the backpack up off the floor.

“Buttermuffin is sooooo wrong,” AJ continued. “She should be calling you Butterbutt or better yet, Beerbelly.”

Nick felt that a reply to AJ’s teasing wasn’t necessary and he continued his preoccupation with the backpack, intent on finding his Gameboy.

“How’s the little solider doin’? What kind of things does Manda have planned for Little Nick when we get back home?”

Nick stopped his search, feeling the humiliation rise to his cheeks. There were too many coincidences that were being brought up that would mean something other than a phone call. The last words that AJ sang were too close for comfort:

“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine--”

Nick jumped up from his seat and narrowed his eyes at his older Backstreet brother.

“GIVE IT BACK!”

AJ tossed Nick an innocent, confused look. “Give what back?”

Trying to ignore the laughter, Nick continued. “You know exactly what I’m talking about! Give it back!”

AJ held the pink flowered note above his head. “You talking about this?”

Nick reached out to grab the note from AJ’s thin grasp only to have him pull it out of reach.

“Ah, so you want this back?”

“Give it back now,” Nick demanded.

AJ jumped ontop of a seat, making himself taller than the blonde and held the note up over his head, making Nick jump as he tried to reach the letter.

“Please! Give it back!”

As Nick jumped and reached out for the letter, AJ teased him by holding it within arm’s reach, only to draw it back. He laughed and the others joined in on the laughing. Tears started to slip down Nick’s cheeks.

“Crybaby?”

“AJ! THAT’S ENOUGH!”

The letter floated to the floor after Clark’s voice boomed over the laughter. Nick bent over and snatched the wrinkled note from the carpeted floor.

“We were just playing,” AJ defended as he hopped down from his perch.

“Yeah really looks like it too,” Clark challenged. “I could hear it from the front of the bus.”

Grabbing his gear, Nick rushed off towards the safety of the bunks in the back of the bus.

“I think you’ve carried this joke too far and frankly, I’m disappointed in all of you. How would you feel if Nick was doing this to you?” Clark asked as he looked at each of the men in the eye.

“I’d beat his ass,” AJ quipped with a smirk on his face.

“That’s not funny. I’m being serious. What you did to that poor kid will probably betray his trust in all of you. I think you need to be quiet the rest of the ride and think about what just happened here.” Turning towards Johnny, he cast an angry glare at the manager. “The same goes for you too. You’re suppose to stop these situations, not support them.”

Breaking the trance from the perfect dream where he was loved and not teased, Nick kept feeling someone poking on his shoulder.

“Nick, wade up! We’re here.”

Rolling over towards the voice, Nick came face to face with a watery eyed Brian Littrell. Cupping his hand over his mouth and nose, Brian quickly turned away from Nick to sneeze.

“Sorry,” he apologized. “We’re here. Da bus stobbed.”

Groaning, Nick grabbed his backpack and left the safety and security of the warm bunk and followed Brian towards the main area. Johnny was standing towards the front; the ever familiar blue acrylic clipboard in his hands.

“Room assignments have been changed for this stop,” he stated, eyes never leaving the paper attached to the clipboard. “Due to the fact that Howie is now under the grip of what I’d like to call, The Backstreet Flu Bug,” Johnny paused, snickering at his own joke, “Howie, Kevin and Brian will be bunking in a room together. “AJ and Nick will be sharing a room.”

Nick glanced at AJ, wondering what his feelings would be about the room assignment. The grin that was on the man’s face explained it without words.

He would be in for hell.