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Chapter 94


AN: Thanks to everyone who submitted ideas for this chapter!


Nick awoke with a start, along with the sinking feeling that he was late. Instantly flustered, he boosted himself up onto one elbow to check the clock on the table next to his bed. It was flashing 12:00. “Damn it,” he grumbled; the power in Howie’s house must have gone off in the night. No wonder his alarm hadn’t gone off. Wondering if Howie had overslept too, Nick grabbed his cell phone instead to check the time. Sure enough, the little window in the silver outer casing read 9:46. Shit. They’d been meeting at the studio at eight every morning that week.

Every morning… wait a minute, Nick thought all of a sudden, frowning suspiciously. What day is it? Disoriented, he flipped the phone open, this time to check the date. Saturday, April 1, 2006, read the display in the corner.

“God damn it,” Nick groaned out loud, flopping dramatically back against the pillows. What a moron. He wasn’t sure what had woken him up, but he must have been sleeping deeply before that to be so out of it. It was Saturday, for crying out loud. No studio today. Instead, Brian and Leighanne were having a cookout at their place, assuming the weather held out.

And it was April Fool’s Day.

This year, he was not surprised by the “holiday,” as he had been last year. He’d seen it coming and had been plotting for it all week. April Fool’s Day was like Christmas for pranksters, and in the Backstreet camp, Nick was king. Or at least he had been once. The last few years had been weird. On April Fool’s Day 2003 (unbeknownst to him), he’d been in the hospital, undergoing tests to stage his newly-diagnosed cancer. Exactly one year later, he’d lost his leg to the very same. But it had been two years since that misery, and he was determined not to let the memory of it haunt him today.

Last year, he’d managed to prank Claire. This year, he was gonna get the guys.

Now that he was fully awake, his evil genius plans returned to him in full form, and he hastily climbed out of bed, eager to start carrying them out. After a quick shower, he pulled on a clean pair of boxers and his artificial leg, then finished dressing as fast as he could. He dragged a comb through his wet hair and brushed his teeth before descending the stairs.

Howie was sitting in the kitchen when Nick walked in, sipping a mug of coffee. “Morning, Nicky,” he said, smiling up at Nick. “Sleep okay?”

“Yeah… slept really good, actually,” replied Nick. “I dunno what woke me up, but I was out of it, man. Thought we were late for the studio.”

“Nope. Saturday,” Howie grinned. “You still on for Bri and Leigh’s later though?”

“You bet,” said Nick, walking over to the fridge. He opened it and pulled out the container of orange juice. He shook it up a little before twisting the top off and taking a sip, straight from the carton.

“Ni-ick!” Howie scolded as soon as he caught him. “That’s so sick; I don’t want your germs! Jeez, when are you moving into your own house?” He winked to let Nick know he was kidding – well, about that last part anyway; he still looked disgusted about the orange juice.

Nick just grinned, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “Two weeks – the week after Easter. Then I’ll be out of your hair.”

Howie nodded. “Good. Then I’ll be able to drink my own orange juice again without swallowing Nick spit.” Nick snickered as he recapped the juice container and stuck it back in the fridge. “There’s still plenty of coffee in the pot if you want any,” Howie added, but Nick shook his head.

“No thanks, I’ma run to the store and get some of those little chocolate donuts. Got a craving.” He shot Howie a wide smirk, which Howie returned with a look of total exasperation. Howie was a health nut; the mere thought of those waxy little Hostess donut gems made him cringe. Which was exactly why Nick liked to eat them in front of him. “Be back in a few,” said Nick as he walked out.

He drove to the nearest Walgreen’s and parked. Inside, he spotted his beloved little chocolate donuts in the large Hostess display at the end of one of the aisles. He grabbed a box so that he would not forget later, then hurried to the other end of the store, scouring the aisles for what he needed.

A few minutes later, the girl at the counter rang up his purchases: Hostess chocolate donut gems, a bag of the biggest size of Tootsie Rolls he’d been able to find, a tube of mascara that promised ultra-thick lashes, and a cheap pair of sunglasses with a band of plastic connecting the frames above the nose bridge. The checkout girl gave him a strange look when she dragged the mascara across the scanner, but he just offered her an innocent smile and batted his eyelashes a little.

He hid his purchases under the seat of his car when he got back to Howie’s house and brought in only the donuts, which he promptly opened, offering one to Howie, who was still sitting in the kitchen, reading the Saturday morning paper.

Howie wrinkled his nose. “No way,” he refused. “Even if those things were edible, you’ve probably done something to them.”

“Done something to them?” Nick repeated in mock innocence. “What are you talking about, Howie?”

“ ‘April Fool!’ ” Howie mocked him return, cocking an eyebrow skeptically. “Don’t think I haven’t realized what day it is.” He jabbed his finger into his newspaper, pointing to the date in the corner. “It’s April first. April Fool’s Day. Nick Carter’s favorite holiday. I’m gonna be on the lookout all day, buddy, so don’t try me,” warned Howie, shaking his finger at Nick.

Nick shook his head, conjuring up the most wounded expression he could. “God, Howie,” he said, letting a whine slip into his voice. “April Fool’s Day? You think that’s all I’ve got to think about today? Who gives a shit about April Fool’s anymore? Not me… not since they cut my fucking leg off… two years ago today, in case you forgot.” He swallowed hard before adding coldly, “You could show some sensitivity, you know.”

Nick knew that AJ, possibly Brian, and maybe even Kevin would have seen through his bluff instantly and called him on it. But Howie “Sweet D” Dorough was gullible, and he fell right for it, his face crumpling. “Oh Nicky,” he murmured, looking stricken, his kind brown eyes wide with worry and shame. “I’m sorry. I-I didn’t know you… Well, I guess it’s still a sensitive subject, huh? Of course it is. Sorry, bud. You alright?”

Nick had to fight hard to hold back the smile that was tugging at the corners of his mouth. Inside, he was cracking up, but trying to keep his outside a mask of self-pity, he sighed and replied, “Yeah, I’ll be okay. It’s just hard, you know? I… I miss the old me.”

Howie grabbed his hand and squeezed it fiercely. “You’re still the same you, Nick; you know that!”

Nick pursed his lips, hard, to keep from smiling, and shook his head again, slowly. “Sometimes I don’t think so. I’ve changed, in more ways than one. You’re right; the old Nick totally would have pranked you today. But look at me… I just don’t care anymore. It’s not important. It’s just… dumb.”

A smile snuck across Howie’s face, and he patted Nick’s hand like a father would to his son. “That’s just because you’re more mature now, Nick. At some point, everyone has to grow up and change.”

Nick nodded. “I guess you’re right,” he sighed and set his donuts down on the table. “I’ll be right back,” he said, desperate to get out of the room; he couldn’t keep a straight face forever. He started to leave the kitchen, then paused on his way out. “And for the record,” he added, “Nick Carter’s favorite holiday is – and always has been – Halloween.”

Then he hurried clear to the other end of the house and promptly busted out laughing.

***

A few hours later, Nick sat beneath the umbrella of a large, round patio table in Brian and Leighanne’s sunny backyard. A few yards away, the pool shimmed invitingly, and Nick couldn’t wait to jump in. But first, he had some business to attend to.

Nick waited until the guys all started to stretch and stand, then make their way inside, carrying their emptied plates from lunch into the kitchen. He took his time gathering his dishware together and rose slowly, hanging back on the patio until they had all gone inside. Then he stealthily snatched a pair of sunglasses that were sitting on one of the side tables positioned between a pair of deck chairs and grabbed a cell phone that had been left on another. Depositing both into the depths of his jeans pockets, he whistled innocently as he walked inside.

“Hey, you wanna get in the pool next?” he asked the guys, who were milling around the kitchen as Brian helped Leighanne put away dishes of food.

Kevin glanced at the clock on the microwave. “We should probably wait awhile,” he said. “You don’t want to get a cramp.”

Nick rolled his eyes. “Kevin, I’ve swum after eating for the past twenty-some years, and I’ve never gotten a cramp. Chill out.”

“Yeah, Kev,” Brian chimed in an obnoxious voice, turning to flash his cousin a cheeky grin.

Kevin rolled his eyes and waved them off. “Fine. Go swim.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Nick replied brightly. “I’m gonna go change.”

He left the kitchen to track down the duffel bag he’d brought, which held his special water prosthesis, along with his swim trunks. As he carried the bulky bag past the kitchen to head upstairs, he heard Howie saying in a low voice, “Hey, guys, go easy on Nick today, okay? He was a little sensitive this morning.” Cracking a grin, Nick paused to listen. “You know what it’s the two-year anniversary of, right?” There was no reply, but Nick pictured the guys nodding in reply. Howie went on, “I think it still bothers him more than he lets on. Just… don’t pick on him too much, okay? Let’s just have a good time and try to make him forget.”

Shaking his head in amusement, Nick continued on, taking his stuff upstairs to change in one of the guestrooms. He got out of his clothes and into his trunks as fast as he could, swapping legs in the process. Then he sat down on the bed and picked up the cell phone. He punched a couple of buttons and expertly scrolled through a list, a wicked grin spreading across his face when he found the item he’d been looking for.

When he was finished changing the settings on the phone, he rolled it up in his t-shirt and tucked the bundle under his arm as he made his way back downstairs and outside. The patio was deserted when he got there; everyone must have still been inside changing. Nick put the cell phone back where he’d found it, draped his t-shirt over a chair, and walked over to the pool, jumping in instantly. Shivers shot through his body as his skin encountered the cool water, but it felt great. He swam a couple laps as he waited for the others.

After a few minutes, the guys began to trickle back out, along with Leighanne and Baylee, in his little swim trunks and water wings. “Yo, Baylee!” called Nick, waving exaggeratedly to his godson from the pool. “Jump in, squirt!”

“Nick!” screamed Baylee and started to run towards him, but Leighanne grabbed him by the arm.

“Baylee! What have we told you about running by the pool?” she scolded him.

“Whoops. Sorry!” Nick shouted, as Leighanne walked Baylee over.

“That’s alright. Come over here, Nick. Baylee, you ready to jump to Nick?”

“Yeah!” Baylee cried, bouncing up and down.

Grinning, Nick swam over and stopped a few feet away from the edge, where Baylee was standing. He rose out of the water as his foot found the bottom of the pool and stood, extending his arms. “Jump, buddy,” he encouraged Brian’s son, and Baylee did not hesitate. Letting out a shriek of glee, he jumped right in, splashing Nick directly in the face. Sputtering, Nick reached blindly for Baylee, trying to grab him before his head went under the water. He wasn’t sure if he succeeded, but when he had blinked the water out of his eyes, Baylee was bobbing in front of him, looking drenched but perfectly happy.

“You’re a little fish, aren’t ya?” Nick asked him with a smile, remembering how his dad had always told him the same thing when he was little. He’d always been a water-baby.

“My name’s Nemo!” Baylee announced, splashing.

“Whoooaaa, Nemo, huh? You got serious thrill issues, mini-man,” replied Nick in his best Crush the sea turtle impression. Baylee giggled delightedly.

They all swam for awhile, then decided it was time for a break. “Hey… anyone seen my sunglasses?” Kevin asked after he’d toweled himself off, looking all around the patio. Nick suppressed a smirk behind his hand, while everyone else just shrugged, oblivious.

“I got an extra pair in my car, Kev. Want me to go get ‘em?” Nick offered innocently.

Kevin considered this for a few seconds before shrugging. “Sure, that’d be great,” he said, “if you don’t mind.”

“Nah, no prob.” Nick went back through the house and out to the driveway, where his car was parked. He reached under the seat to retrieve his Walgreen’s bag from that morning and pulled out the sunglasses he’d bought, along with the tube of black mascara. He pulled the tags off the sunglasses and then twisted open the mascara. Cackling to himself, he quickly swabbed the thick mascara all over the inside of the band at the top of the glasses, which was conveniently also black. The mascara was hardly visible on it. “Perfect,” he muttered, quickly recapping the mascara and tossing it back under the seat. Locking his car again, he hurried back to the patio.

“Here ya go, Kev,” he said casually, handing the sunglasses to Kevin.

Kevin looked at the glasses briefly before smiling. “Thanks, Nick,” he replied and immediately put them on. Nick turned his face so that Kevin would not see his smile and resisted the urge to say something to get Kevin to take the glasses off again.

Just wait for it, he coached himself.

The patio door opened, and Leighanne came out. “Anyone want anything to drink?” she asked. “There’s cold beer, soda, lemonade… Kool-Aid.”

“Nicky’ll have some Kool-Aid, Leigh,” AJ spoke up, grinning over at Nick.

Nick flipped his middle finger up at him in return and said, “Actually, Leigh, I think I’ll have a beer.”

“Same here,” chimed in Howie and Kevin, while AJ and Brian opted for Coke.

Nick followed Leighanne back into the kitchen, saying, “I’ll help you carry all those out.” As soon as they were inside, he hissed, “Now where’s that Kool-Aid?”

Leighanne looked alarmed at first, then laughed uncertainly. “It’s in the fridge,” she replied.

Nick opened the refrigerator and found a plastic pitcher half filled with orange Kool-Aid, for Baylee, no doubt. It was sitting right next to a two-liter of Coke. Perfect, he thought, pulling both out. He opened the Coke and poured it into two bright-colored glasses, filling one only half-full. To that one, he added Kool-Aid, which blended into the dark brown liquid perfectly. He snickered, and Leighanne, watching him, began to giggle. “What else you got?” asked Nick, striding back to the refrigerator. He put the Coke back and pulled out a few other things – a container of white grape juice, a bottle of ketchup, a jar of pickles, a Tupperware of leftover chicken noodle soup...

He added a little of each to the Coke/Kool-Aid concoction… a few splashes of grape juice, the runny part of the ketchup that comes out when you forget to shake the bottle, a little pickle juice, and a couple spoonfuls of chicken broth. He stirred the mixture around and added a few ice cubes, then picked it up, along with a couple of unopened bottles of beer. “Take the other glass out to Brian, so I don’t get ‘em confused,” he told Leighanne. Grinning evilly, he added, “This one’s for AJ.”

She laughed and followed him out with Brian’s drink and the last beer. Nick set AJ’s “Coke” down in front of him, then handed one of his beers to Howie, keeping the other for himself. He sat down to open it, keeping an eye fixed on AJ the whole time. Take a drink… c’mon, take a drink, he urged silently, waiting in anticipation.

But before AJ could raise the glass to his lips, Kevin said, “How about a quick toast, guys?” He held up his beer, and the others followed suit with their drinks.

Here we go, thought Nick excitedly. Just don’t draw this out, Train.

“To our little brother, Nick,” Kevin began, tipping his drink in Nick’s direction, “whose strength and will is an inspiration to us all.”

Oh dear God, Kevin, thought Nick, feeling his cheeks redden. Inwardly, he was sort of touched by the simple toast, but… jeez, why did Kevin have to be so cheesy?

He expected Brian or AJ to jump in with an exaggerated “Awwwwww!!” but neither of them did. In fact, all four of them – Brian, AJ, Howie, and Leighanne – nodded in agreement with Kevin’s words and smiled at Nick, who blushed even harder.

“Thanks, guys,” he said quickly, squirming a little in his seat. He had not expected this. But at least the toast had been short and sweet; Kevin was starting to tip his beer back towards his mouth, and the others were doing the same.

Nick pressed the rim of his bottle to his lips, but did not drink. Instead, he watched AJ, who tipped his glass back and took a big swallow. Almost immediately, he spit it right back out again, across the patio, staining the cement. The guys all jumped back out of the way, and Nick burst out laughing, as AJ coughed and gagged. “I’m gonna kick your ass, Carter!” he growled, his eyes flashing behind his tinted sunglasses. “What the fuck is in this?!”

In between laughing, Nick managed to list his “ingredients,” much to AJ’s disgust.

“Ugh! Sick! Ugh!” he kept gasping, then raced inside to rinse his mouth.

The others were all still cracking up. Nick smiled sweetly and shrugged. “April Fool!”

“You little shit!” exclaimed Howie. “You made me feel bad this morning! But it was all just an act, wasn’t it? What else do you have up your sleeve?”

“Nothing, I swear!” Nick replied. “I didn’t plan anything; I just thought of the Kool-Aid thing when AJ said it. Serves him right.” He shrugged, trying to look innocent, not sure they were buying it. Oh well. He’d have to wait awhile for his next act anyway.

When the guys all decided to get back into the pool later that afternoon, Nick said, “I’ll be back out in a sec; I just need to use the bathroom.” He went inside, but bypassed the bathroom and went back out to his car instead. Rummaging beneath the front seat again, he pulled out the bag of Tootsie Rolls. Shoving them beneath the t-shirt he’d pulled on earlier, he snuck them into the house and ducked into the bathroom. Sitting down on the closed toilet lid, he set the bag down on the counter next to him and pulled out a few Tootsie Rolls. They were already soft from sitting in the hot car all day, so it was very easy to quickly mold them into what he needed them to look like.

Thankful that his swim trunks had pockets, he slipped the molded Tootsie Rolls inside one of them to smuggle outside. Back on the patio, he pulled off his shirt and slid into the pool, careful to keep his creation secured in the depths of his pocket. He swam around leisurely for awhile, until Leighanne came out to bring Baylee in for his nap. Like any three-year-old, the little boy screamed and protested. Grateful for the distraction, Nick inconspicuously released the Tootsie Roll blob into the water and gave it a nudge so that it started to float away from him.

After Leighanne had led a sniffling Baylee inside, Nick waited a few minutes, then let out a loud gasp of mock horror. “Uh… Brian??” he called loudly, his voice filled with a tone of disgust. “I think your son left a little something behind in the pool.” He pointed to the clump of Tootsie Rolls bobbing in the water a few feet away from him.

When Brian swam over to investigate, AJ, Howie, and Kevin followed. “Holy shit!” AJ exclaimed first. “Rok, there’s… there’s shit in here!” Looking nauseated, he quickly backstroked away from the floating log of Tootsie Rolls, which Nick had masterfully sculpted into a perfect replica of a nice solid turd.

Nick saw Kevin glance over at him with suspicion in his eyes, but Brian groaned and said, “Oh man… he’s been potty-trained for a year, but sometimes he gets distracted when he’s having too much fun and forgets… you know. Sorry, guys.” He offered a sheepish grin and added, with the calmness of a dad who had gotten used to dealing with his kid’s poop, “Hang on, I’ll take care of it.”

He started to swim to the far side of the pool to get the long-handled net they used for cleaning it, but Nick interjected, “Don’t worry, bud, I got this.” Nick waited until Brian had turned around and was watching him to reach out and pick up the “turd” with his bare hands. Then, before Brian had time to realize that this just might be another April Fool, Nick raised the chocolaty piece of poo to his mouth and took a healthy bite. He was rewarded with a loud cry of revulsion from AJ and a look of pure shock on Brian’s face. A second later, the accusations started flying.

“Ni-ick! What is that??”

“Nick, that’s sick!”

“Hahaha, nice one, Kaos!”

With a shit-eating grin – literally (well, sort of) – Nick held up his half-eaten creation and proclaimed, “April Fool – again!”

Kevin, in between laughing, shook his head and said, “You shouldn’t have eaten that, Nick; do you know how many chemicals are in this water?”

“Not to mention my son probably does pee in here,” added Brian with a shrug.

“Eww,” AJ and Howie both moaned and promptly swam to the side of the pool, where they climbed out. There was not much swimming after that.

Once they had all settled back under the shade of the patio furniture, Kevin finally took off his borrowed sunglasses, which he’d been sporting all afternoon. “Do I have a tan line from these ugly things?” he asked the guys, frowning at the cheap sunglasses. “No offense, Nick.”

“None taken,” Nick grinned, proudly admiring his handiwork. Right across Kevin’s forehead, almost perfectly aligned with his eyebrows, was a thick streak of black mascara. From a distance, it seemed to join his brows, creating a monstrosity of a unibrow.

As soon as the other guys looked over and noticed, they all burst out laughing. “What? What?!” Kevin kept asking, bewildered. Finally, he ran inside to look in a mirror. He returned with the unibrow slightly smudged, but still there, and a look of half-amusement, half-exasperation on his face. “Nice, Nick,” he admitted dryly, handing the sunglasses back to him.

“April Fool, Kev!” Nick replied for the third time that day.

As if on cue, he got to say it again a few minutes later, when Howie’s cell phone, which had been sitting on the table Nick had left it on earlier the whole time, started to ring. The strains of ‘NSync’s “Bye, Bye, Bye” blared across the patio.

“What is that?! Whose phone is that?!” Howie demanded, looking around wildly until he realized it was his own. Eyes widening, he snatched the phone up and looked at it for a second, then raised his eyes to meet Nick’s. “You! You did this!” he accused, waving the phone around.

Nick threw up his hands in defense, trying to look innocent. “Me? Whatchu talkin’ about, D? I didn’t do nothin’. You just don’t want us knowing you’re a closet ‘NSync fan – am I right?”

The other guys were all laughing, and Brian even jumped up to perform a bit of the gay cowboy choreography from ‘NSync’s video before the ringtone cut off as Howie’s phone went to voicemail. Rolling his eyes, Howie said, “Yeah, yeah, whatever. You got me, Nicky.”

Nick grinned and triumphantly said again, “I sure did! April Fool!”

***

Later that night, Nick puttered around his guest room at Howie’s house, undressing and getting ready for bed. Though he was tired, he was in a good mood – it had been a fun day.

He pulled down his pants and stepped out of them carefully, resting his hand against the foot of the bed for support. Tossing the jeans aside, he sat down on the edge of the mattress and crossed his right leg over the thigh of his left to pull off his sock. Then, uncrossing his legs, he reached down to pull its matching sock off the foot of his prosthesis. When he did so, he let out a gasp of surprise. A split second later, he started to laugh.

The “toenails” of the hard plastic foot had been painted a bright, vivid shade of Barbie hot pink.

“Oh man… they got me,” he muttered to himself, chuckling appreciatively. He ran his fingertips over the smooth nail polish, wondering which one of them had snuck upstairs to tamper with his leg while he was swimming. I may be the master, but they’re good, he thought, shaking his head.

When he straightened up, he looked down at his fresh “pedicure” again and smirked. “April Fool.”

***


AN: Special thanks to Shauna for the ‘NSync ringtone idea! =D