He heard their voices first before he saw them. It was a little muffled at first, Howie couldn’t make out what was being said, but as their footfalls neared the room, the voices became clearer even though it was still soft and hushed, as if the conversation was never meant for anyone else but them. That didn’t stop Howie from listening though, all he had to do was be stealth about it.

“It’s not that I hate it Nick…”

“Then what?”

“It’s just…”

The doorknob twisted and in came Kevin, with Nick following closely at his heels. Their voices were strained, as if both were nearing the end of their patience with each other, but their body language told a different story. Nick, who had gained all two inches extra and ultimately outgrew all his Backstreet brothers, was holding the door open as Kevin made his way through and headed straight to the catering table.

It didn’t surprise Howie that Nick followed right behind and went straight for the coffee maker.

“I don’t think it’s safe for you.”

Howie couldn’t help looking over his shoulder. Kevin had piled a paper plate with bite sized chicken mayo sandwich and then grabbed a handful of nachos and crunching them in his fist, set them aside at a corner of the plate before dumping a generous amount of salsa sauce on it.

“It’s not like I’m jumping off a building here man.”

Kevin then proceeded to pass the plate of food over to Nick, who took it without question and then as if in return, passed a cup of black coffee to the older man. Nick muttered his thanks, Kevin nodded his head and they both turned at the same time and met Howie’s gaze.

“Hey D!” Nick grinned.

“Hey.”

It always amused Howie how well Nick and Kevin move around each other without really having to say anything at all. Like now for instance, Nick didn’t have to ask Kevin to move, Kevin just knew, and made way for Nick to walk pass him and straight to where Howie was sitting, and then Kevin would follow behind, like a constant shadow.

They sat on the sofa facing him and Nick placed the plate on the coffee table in front of them and grabbed a sandwich and passed it to Kevin, who took it without question and took his first bite.

“Seen the other two kids D?” Kevin asked.

“Nope, just you guys.” 

Nick tore two packets of sugar and passed it to Kevin and then tore three packets of sugar before dumping it into his own cup of coffee.

“Guess we’re early then,” Kevin said and they fell into a long silence where Howie pretended he was still reading the papers while Kevin and Nick silently finish off their snack. People always assume chaos and noise follow wherever Nick goes, but the truth is, Nick adapts to the company that he keeps. If Brian or AJ were here instead of Kevin, Howie had expected a little bit of noise and a lot of banters and moving around, but with Kevin, Howie knew to expect a very laidback Nick.

It wasn’t because Nick was afraid of the man, in fact, Howie believed Nick was the bravest among them when it came to dealing with Kevin. Perhaps years of being the subject of Kevin’s wrath had finally made Nick immune to it. Kevin could be on one of his worst days and Nick would barge right in the middle of it and simply said, ‘you need to cool the fuck down Kev’ and that would be the end of it. It worked both ways too. When Nick was being an asshole, it’d be Kevin’s words that would slap him back to reality.

Once the snacks were done, Kevin started rummaging through the small heap of magazines on the table before finally settling on TIMES and passing over the National Geographic to Nick. It didn’t take long before the two of them settled back in their seats and were lost in the pages of the magazines in front of them.

It was a dance Howie was familiar with. His sister used to tell him that all five of them have it in them; that it was something only shared by them and would go unnoticed if they didn’t take the time to sit back and look. He used to think Pollyanna was just being a girl, always looking too hard and interpreting things that didn’t need too much to understand.

But Howie was sitting back, he wasn’t thinking too hard, he wasn’t even trying to interpret anything, but he saw it all the same. It made him want to stand up and give a great big hug to the two men sitting in front of him right then, and would give the same to the other two when they arrived later, but he didn’t, because Howie may not be a lot of things (yes, he is that humble) but smart, he definitely was, and he wasn’t going to be the brunt of Nick’s teasing all day because he decided a group hug was in order.

So he said this instead: “So, which one is the better detective? Sherlock Holmes or Nick Carter?”

Kevin turned another page of the magazine and said without a hitch, “Sherlock Holmes of course, everyone knows him.”

Nick looked up from under his magazine and rolled his eyes. “But Nick Carter is the longest running Detective character in American history and besides, just because everyone knows who Sherlock Holmes is doesn’t mean he’s the best detective…”

Howie sensed another dance coming up, so he sat back, relaxed, and watched.