"Restless Wings" Short BSB-N/K Ficlet

Title: Restless Wings
Fandom: Popslash/BSB-RPS
Pairing: Sort of Carter/Richardson, but not much.
Rating: Teen to Adult. Very Mild
Disclaimer: Nonsense
Warnings: The BSB are the BSB in this, however one is a wee bit more. *snerks*
Very fluffable, snickorice stuff. Minor profanity.

Summary: Nick gets bored and restless. Kevin doesn't sleep well.




Restless Wings


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In his sleep, Kevin wondered how he could possibly be hearing music. Or was it bells that he was hearing? Or perhaps--wind chimes? Then he heard another noise, something that sounded much more like scratching, or some kind of tapping noise maybe. It some ways it almost sounded like a cat, one who had accidentally gotten itself locked out of the house and was trying desperately hard to get back in again.

Kevin frowned, confusion and partial sleep clouding his mind. But deny it as much as he wanted, he was slowly - reluctantly - being pulled closer to the surface of consciousness. He wasn't a bit thrilled about it either, considering how hard it was for him to get to sleep to begin with. So in the limbo-land-like state that he was in, a thought finally pierced his sleep-drenched brain. He had no cat. Nor was he at home. A hotel. On tour. Oh yes, now he was remembering. And something else was bugging him as well. Something that nudged and niggled at the back of his mind. The feeling that he might just know what that sound really might be.

So with his head still buried deep into the downy white pillow, he forced himself to crack open one eye. Though that act alone was closer to trying to pry the front teeth out of a tiger's jaw while it was still awake. Everything in him wanted to fight it, his sleep was too precious to him. Yet even so, Kevin forced himself to focus and listen intently for the sound once again. After all, maybe it had been nothing more than a fuzzy little annoying dream. Like some fly buzzing around in his room, only this one might be buzzing around in his head instead.

'Scritch-scratch, scritch-scratch, tinkle-tinkle-tinkle'.

So much for dreaming.

"Wind chimes my ass," he mumbled into his pillow, then huffed. Moaning, he rolled himself over in the bed. Then he stretched out his long and lean muscular frame and flung the covers off with one brisk toss. His toes immediately begged for warmth once more, but instead curled under as the cool air in the room brushed over them. Even the hair on his arms prickled, causing goosebumps to dot his skin.

"Brrr!"

Kevin shivered as he sat up, swinging his legs over the side then vigorously rubbing his arms to warm himself. He sat there for a minute and wiped at his eyes, blinking repeatedly as he tried to bring everything around him in to some kind of focus. Glancing towards the window, he frowned, as he saw the faintest glimmer of light coming through. Part of it was from the moon, he knew. With it's long tentacles of light, it basked his room in pale muted splotches as it chased the shadows off into the corners. But there was another light as well, he noticed. That one had a slight different kind of a glow to it, but one he was well acquainted with.

His mouth twitched at the corner as he heard the noise again. 'Scritch-scratch, scritch-scratch, tinkle-tinkle-tinkle'. The sound went right through him, making his entire body hum. The effect of it on him was one Kevin never really could define. Like some kind of strange tingling sensation, a feeling lighter than air itself. Like tiny little effervescent bubbles speeding their way through him.

But it wasn't strictly just a sensation or a feeling either. It was music after all, but like no music he had ever heard before. Like some ethereal choir harmonizing in musical notes only they could voice and no one else. Or maybe it really was like wind chimes, he mused, or like the softest patter of rain coming down. Or better yet, just the mist alone. If one could actually hear mist that is. Or maybe it was nature herself, singing some glorious melody, but the lyrics came out as a beautiful tinkling sound instead. But either way, it was a sound like no other. That is why Kevin loved it, even if it did come on the very wings of mischief and mayhem themselves.

"All right, all right. I'm coming!" he called out quietly, but knowing that his voice was easily heard.

He hobbled stiff-legged over to the window, and while he yanked up the back of his sweatpants with one hand, he slid the window open with the other. All of a sudden, the once small glimmer of light - which he had seen only a moment before - became so much brighter. Golden-green luminescence filled the small area around him. Small rays of twinkling light flickered wildly, dancing and sparking as Kevin stepped out of its way. Then the tiny bundle of light and energy burst into the room cannonball-like, whizzing past him in a dazzling flurry of magic. Kevin just barely dodged the glittering whirlwind as it sped by him, then he grimaced, inwardly sighing as he reached out to close the window.

Kevin turned back around and crossed his arms over his chest as he watched the tiny figure flitter into the room. It bounded up and down, weaving back and forth as it made its way over to the bed, scattering sparkling gold dust over everything in its wake.

"You're drunk," Kevin accused, and from the other side of the room Kevin could have sworn that he heard the faintest of hiccups.

The corner of his mouth quirked as he hobbled quickly back over to the bed, and carefully skirting the little glowing ball, he crawled back into it and pulled the covers up around himself.

Then he stared at the small figure in irritation.

"Nick--I know you get bored at night, especially after a concert. All of us are keyed up after one. But still--I'm worried you're gonna get caught or hurt. And, you've been drinking again. I know you're old enough, but you could hit a tree or a car, dammit!" Kevin couldn't keep the worried tone out of his voice. If anything ever happened to Nick, he'd... Well, he didn't even want to think about that.

He eyed Nick, as the younger man, tiny as he was, crossed his little arms over his chest and harrumphed! Turning his small head away, he began to sulk. As tiny as it was, Kevin could still see Nick's bottom lip thrust out in a definite pout. Kevin bit the inside of his lip to keep from laughing.

"All right, fine. We'll talk about this again in the morning. It's late and we both need to get some sleep," he said, giving in and patting the bed. "C'mon, lay down now."

Nick completely ignored him - as usual - and flapping his tiny iridescent gold-green faerie wings, he fluttered up to Kevin's pillow and haphazardly flopped down on the edge of it, then wobbled there for a moment. Crossing his arms over his chest again, he made a face at the other man.

He was going to be stubborn. Nothing new there either.

Kevin took one look at him and arched a heavy brow. "Nickolas..." The authoritative tone of Kevin's voice, left no doubt at all as to what he thought about Nick staking a claim to his pillow for the night.

Nick stuck his tongue out and then laughed hysterically when Kevin's thick brows gathered together. To Kevin the sound of Nick's laughter, while in his diminutive state, reminded him somewhat of Alvin and The Chipmunks, only on speed, and with the volume turned down. Kevin couldn't help himself. He shook his head and smirked at the Nick, biting back a snort of laughter.

That's when Nick sneezed - sending the little pint-sized pixie toppling ass over tea kettle - right off the edge of Kevin's pillow and down onto the bed with a faint 'plop'! Nick quickly sat up, hair sticking up all over the place, and shivered. And as he did so his little wings vibrated softly, releasing their faint melodious tinkling sound - that Kevin loved so - back into the air again. Nick rubbed at his nose briskly with the back of his hand, his blond hair flopping into his eyes until he gave it a shove back. Then he stared up into Kevin's critical gaze with wide blue eyes, twitching his nose slightly in the air, before hiccuping once again.

Kevin had to laugh at the little sprite then. "Serves you right, you drunken lil' Tink." He laughed even more when Nick's face reddened deeply as he glared up at him, then shook a tiny little balled up fist in his direction.

Kevin pinched his lips together to keep from laughing further, but patted at the air with his hand instead. "Okay, okay--enough fooling around. We're going to bed, and no, you cannot sleep on my pillow. So don't even try it again. I don't want to wake up in the morning with a full grown young man wrapped around the top of my head like some massive turban - when you finally do change back. If-you-don't-mind!" he added.

This time it was Nick who laughed, snickering more like, as he covered his small face with his even tinier hands. His little shoulders shaking up and down as he giggled.

Kevin laid back, placing one arm behind his head, his eyes never leaving the small blond figure. "Lay down, Nicky," he insisted, reaching over to part the covers just a smidgen so that Nick could crawl underneath them. Which, he finally did, much to Kevin's relief.

"Good night, fly-boy," he murmured softly, not being able to stop his mouth from curling just a little bit into a half smile. He inhaled deeply - relief washing over him now that Nick was back home and safe - as he watched the tiny boy lay back and get settled. Kevin carefully pulled the edge of the sheet up and covered Nick with it then, tucking the very end under the boy's small bit of chin.

Kevin knew Nick was all grown up and had been for a while now. Still, when he was in his tiny faerie form, it was hard for Kevin not to think of him as a small boy once more. Just like he was when they first met in early 1993. All of barely thirteen and just brushing the edge of Kevin's shoulders with the top of his platinum blond head. When he was like this though, Kevin found it equally as difficult not to feel overprotective again as well. After being around each other for so many years, it just came too naturally to him. Much to the ire of one young Backstreet Boy, Kevin mused.

He heard the tiniest of sighs then and finally let himself relax as well. He never slept real good on the nights he knew that Nick was restless. Nights when nothing in this world - or in any other - would keep the boy inside. It was as if something was calling to him and he just had no choice but to answer it. It was on those nights in particular, that Kevin prayed just a little bit extra and just a little bit harder. For Nick. For the safety of one little magical blond boy who refused to let a - sometimes scary - world, hold him back from enjoying life to the very fullest.

Kevin watched Nick as he fell asleep, then he tugged the covers under his own chin and closed his eyes. He smiled as he thought about the free-spirited boy he couldn't help but love so much.

"M'yeah--where angels fear to tread, Nick doesn't hesitate," he mumbled, shaking his head as he grinned. After a few more minutes, Kevin was finally able to fall into a peaceful sleep.

It was only then, that the tiniest faerie boy opened one eye to peek up at Kevin through his long disheveled bangs, his smile slightly hidden beneath the sheet. Then pushing the covers off of him, he fluttered up. With his wings flapping and gold dust scattering, he circled around--once, twice, three times, before softly, gently landing on Kevin's chest, like any good faerie worth his salt would do of course.

Then tugging hard on the covers, he peeled them back and crawled inside. He curled up right in the crook of Kevin's neck and got himself comfortable. He snickered quietly to himself, because in the morning Kevin was going to have that full grown young man laying right on top of him anyway.

The little faerie smiled once more, giggling softly before settling down and promptly falling asleep.

Because after all, morning couldn't come soon enough now.



-La Fin-

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