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*BZZZZ…. BZZZZ….. BZZZZ*

AJ cracked one eye open, the sound of his cell phone vibrating across the bedside table rousing him from his sleep. Sighing heavily, he reached out and grabbed his phone, looking down to see that it was an email text alert. Disregarding the email sent directly to his phone, he took notice to the time. 4:14 am. Letting his head fall back onto the pillow, he placed his phone back on the table, closed his eyes and awaited for sleep to come back to him, which came sooner than he thought.

But just as he started drifting back to sleep, another sound caused his eyes to snap open once again. This time, it was the sound of footsteps. What the fuck, he thought to himself, glad that he was laying with his back facing the door. But, as the footsteps drew closer and grew louder, he realized that it was headed in his direction and came right to a stop outside his door.

His breathing hitched when he heard the doorknob twist, and the door was slowly pushed open. He squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to turn around and face whatever was standing at his door. But he wouldn’t have to wait to see what or whom it was, because the sound of footsteps resumed and it was making it’s way towards his bed.

He remained laying perfectly still in his bed, as if anticipating for whatever was to come next. A blow to the head? A knife to the back? A gunshot to the back of his neck? But instead, he felt something touching and began to pull at his toes. Immediately, he shot his leg out, in a kicking motion, and turned around to see who was in his room.

“Fucking asshole.” AJ sighed with relief. The pale moonlight that poured in through his window revealed to him Kevin. “You know I fucking hate it when you do that shit.”

“Man, I ain’t done it in so long. And would you rather have had me do what Nick hoped and flipped the mattress over with you on it?”

“No.” AJ grumbled out as he pushed himself up from his bed and propped himself up on his elbows. “But that’s besides the point, what the fuck are you doing in my room at fucking four in the morning?”

“Why are you saying such vulgar words so early in the morning.”

“Because it’s four in the fucking morning Kev, in case you missed it when I said that.”

“Well, I said I was gonna be yours and Nick’s morning call, in case you missed it when I said that.”

“Why in the world do you wanna wake us up this early Kev?” AJ whined as he allowed himself to fall back down on his bed, grabbing his pillow from beneath his head and placing it over his face.

Kevin sat down on the edge of the bed, “Because you, me and Nickolas are gonna go out and get a few things, then come back and do a few things before Brian and Howie wake up.”

“Well, what if I said no?” AJ muffled out from beneath the pillow.

“Then I’d tell you that you have no choice.” Kevin replied as he grabbed the pillow and lifted it off AJ’s face. “I’m giving you ten minutes to get ready. In the meantime, I’m gonna go wake Nick up and then I’ll be waiting for you guys downstairs. Lets try to do this as quickly and quietly as possible.” he instructed as he dropped the pillow back down on AJ’s face.

He removed the pillow from his face, and after staring at Kevin for a while, AJ finally busted out in a small chuckle. “And you’re laughing because…” Kevin asked, puzzled by the sudden chuckle that arose from the younger man.

AJ sat up in his bed, smiled and shook his head, “Nothing, it’s just… you know I’ve really missed you. I missed having your daddy, dick-headed self around, and it just made me realize that Nick and I love giving you a hard time because we love how you put up with our shit and the way you do it. There’s no one in the world that can put up with our shit and put us line like you can Kev… and although you’re being an absolute dick right now…” Kevin gave him ‘look’ when he heard him emphasize the word ‘dick’, “I wouldn’t trade it for the world because I’ve missed it and I’m just glad to have it back… have you back.”

Kevin gave a genuine smile in return, “Thank you Alex. And you know I’ve missed you guys as well, missed all this, having my two younger brothers rag and nag and bother the shit outta me and drive me up the wall. But like you said, it’s good to be back and… have it all back again.” he grabbed the pillow once again, “Now, enough of this mushy stuff and hurry up and get ready.” he said as he lightly whacked AJ in the head with the pillow. “I still have to go wake Nick up, and you’re down to eight minutes.”

AJ cracked a smile, “Ass.”

Once Kevin left his room and closed the door behind him, AJ got up from his bed and sighed in relief when his feet came in contact with the warmed tiled flooring. He glanced over towards his window and noticed the glass was frosted on the outside. Thank god it’s warm in here, he thought to himself as he padded over towards his suitcase and began to rummage through it, pulling out the clothes he would wear for today.

For Howie and Brian’s sake, he opted to wear clothing with no skulls on it. He pulled out a pair of faded dark denim jeans, with long, purposed tears that ran across the knee and thigh part of the pants. He settled on a white v-neck shirt, and if it was too cold outside, he’d top off his wardrobe with his black leather jacket. Satisfied with everything, he took his clothing and made his way to the bathroom.

He opened his door and walked out into the dark hall, quietly making his way to the bathroom. Once there, he turned on the light and closed the door, looking everything over seeing how this was his first trip to the bathroom. It was huge, absolutely immaculate. Placing his clothing down on the double vanity counter, he looked over the toilet first, then the old fashioned tub that was situated not that far away. Tucked in the back corner of the bathroom was the walk-in shower stall. On the wall next to both the shower stall and tub was a towel rack that would keep your towels dry and warm.

He walked over towards the towel rack that was mounted on the wall near the shower stall and ran his hand across the fresh white towel, immediately feeling the nice warmth. “Nothing like taking a nice hot shower in a freezing cold location.” AJ said to himself as he stripped himself of his clothes and stepped into the shower stall.

He turned the water on, sighing in relief when an immediate burst of hot water jetted from the shower head, the strong streams beating down on his body, the heat immediately relaxing his taut muscles and warming his flesh. He remained standing under the hot water for a good minute or so, enjoying the shower a little too much and too long, because the next thing he knew, he heard a knock on the door, breaking him from his tranquil state.

He knew it was Nick. “I’ll be out in a bit.” he voiced out loud enough for Nick to hear him.

Sighing heavily, he began to wash his body down, quickly washed his hair, and then began to rinse himself off. When he was through, he shut the water off and opened the glass door of the shower stall, grabbed the warm towel off the rack and wrapped it around his body. He stepped out into the now steamy room, and began to pat his body dry.

Just as he was putting his clothes on, he heard yet another knock on the door. With only his jeans on, he walked over towards the door and opened it. “Just gotta finish my…” before he could get his sentence out, Nick pushed through, causing AJ to back up and open the door wider to allow Nick in. “Uh, Nick?”

“Don’t look at me.” was all Nick said in reply as he began to strip himself of clothes and immediately stepped into the shower stall.

Shrugging it off, AJ closed the door and walked over to the sink, “I taped you frolicking naked in the snow, remember? I’ve seen it all before dude.”

“But you have yet to see me naked… and wet.” Nick cracked back in a feminine tone as he started his shower.

AJ busted out laughing, “Too early for this shit man.” he said as he turned on the water from the sink and began to brush his teeth.

“According to Kevin, it’s never too early for anything. Speaking of which, you have any idea why the hell he decided to get just the two of us up at this time of the morning?”

AJ shrugged, as if Nick could see him. He spat out the foamy toothpaste that filled his mouth, “All he told me was that we’re gonna go get something and do something before Brian and Howie wake up.” he answered before he resumed brushing his teeth.

“Why are we doing anything for those two? It’s not like it’s their birthdays or whatever.”

AJ rinsed his mouth out before answering, “You’re telling me. If anything, we’re the January babies.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t give him a harder time about getting up. I mean, we already had to grab this man’s luggage and drag it upstairs to his room, and then he decides to wake us up four in the morning because he wants us to go with him to do shit?”

AJ laughed listening to his younger friend rant as he pulled out his shaver and a can of shaving cream. “Don’t you just love how he picks on us?”

Nick opened the glass door to the shower stall, peeking out a bit, only exposing the top half of his body, “Come again? Did you just ask me if I love how he picks on us?”

AJ rolled his eyes, spraying a pile of whipped shaving cream onto his hand. “Yes, that’s what I asked you.”

Nick remained silent for a while, as if contemplating that question over. “Actually, I do, which is why he is the only man on this planet that I’ll ever let get away with half the shit he pulls with me, notice how I say HALF though. Don’t ever go telling the man that though.” he closed the shower door and resumed bathing himself. “I love me some Kevin Scott Richardson.”

“That was so gay dude. And the fact that you said that while you’re in the shower, naked and wet, makes it all the more disturbing and… gayer, if that’s even possible.”

Nick shut off the water and opened the door again, reaching out to grab a warm towel from the rack. “Whoa, these towels are nice and warm, sweet.” He wrapped the towel around his body and stepped out from the shower stall. “Gayer than the fact that there’s two men sharing a bathroom right now, with one half naked and the other completely naked and wet under this towel?”

“Don’t take this too far Junior, or else someone will be walking out of here with a sore ass, and it’s not gonna be me.”

“Why, you have the hots for little ole me?” Nick asked in a sultry, feminine voice, placing a finger in his mouth.

“Dude, I’m ending this fucking conversation because I think I just threw up in my mouth. Imagine if Lauren and Rochelle heard us talking like this dude.”

“Don’t get that shit twisted, Lauren would be all for a foursome.”

AJ shivered and gagged at the thought of that, “Actually, I think Rochelle would be all for that shit too.”

Nick laughed, “We got ourselves a couple of freaks man!” he said as he grabbed his clothes and made his way back into the shower stall to change.

AJ slathered the whipped shaving cream all over the bottom part of his face, “Thanks to you, I actually just envisioned Lauren photographing Rochelle.” when he heard no reply, he chuckled and shook his head, “As nice of a vision that is, get that shit outta your head Nick.”

“You started it man.”

“I know, and I’m ending it.” AJ responded as he began to shave off all of his facial hair.

As soon as Nick was dressed, he stepped out of the shower stall again, his eyes widening a bit at the sight of AJ washing his face off, noticing that there was no facial hair. “Whoa dude.”

AJ turned to see Nick standing before him, dressed in jeans and a white screen t-shirt that had a picture of Mario and read “Made In The Eighties”. “Whoa dude what?” AJ questioned him.

“You look… freaking young.”

“What are you trying to say, I looked old before?”

“No, it’s just… you look like how you did when we first started.”

AJ turned to look at himself in the mirror, realizing what Nick said to be true. “I’ve shaved all my facial hair off before Nick.”

“And I’ve always told you, hell, we always tell you that you look so much younger without facial hair. But I don’t know, for some reason, at this very moment you look… seventeen again.”

“Loved that movie by the way.” AJ noted. “And I guess you look younger too with that video game shirt you’re rocking.” Nick looked down at his shirt and smiled. “Now, bring back the penis hairstyle so I can say the same for you about looking seventeen again.” Nick’s smile quickly fell.

“My hairstyle back then did not look like a penis.” Nick pouted as they both grabbed their belongings and made their way out of the bathroom.

“You’re right… your hairstyle made you look like the head of a penis.” AJ cracked as he opened the door, revealing Kevin, who stood there with his arms folded across his chest, one eyebrow cocked.

“Dare I ask why you two are walking out of this bathroom together talking about… penises?”

“Kev, did my hairstyle back in the days look like a penis?”

Kevin gave him an awkward look, “What?”

“The hairstyle I rocked back then, did it make me look like the head of a penis?”

Kevin glanced over towards AJ, who was trying to hold in his laughter. Kevin’s awkward look changed into an amused one as he looked back at Nick, “Yes.” he replied matter-of-factly.

At hearing that, AJ busted out laughing and had to shove his fist into his mouth to quiet his laughter. “Oh god Nick, don’t you know better than to ask him anything?”

Nick shook his head, laughing as well, “I really hate you guys.”