Master Plan part 1
So here is my story for Awesome August at popsoundboard. I hope you´ll like it.
Title: Master Plan
Paring: AJ/Nick
Rating: Mostly fluff, some language
Disclaimer: I don´t know, don´t own and made everything up.
Thanks: A BIG thank you to citruslover that did and amazing job with the beta. The story is so much better thanks to her. Any remaining mistakes are mine and mine alone.
Master Plan
AJ turned over in bed and looked at the alarm clock on the bedside table. It was way too early to be up. He tried to get comfy again so he could get back to sleep, but laying down nothing happened. He tossed and turned for a while but still nothing. Sitting up he stroked a hand over his face, trying to figure out why he had woken up. He didn´t need to pee, he wasn´t hungry and the phone hadn´t rung. He could smoke but it was no hurry. There really was no reason he should be awake.
“Oh well,” he said as he rolled out of bed. He was awake and it didn´t feel like he was going to be able to go back to sleep anytime soon. He didn´t have anything special to do today so he could take a nap later during the day if he felt like it.
He walked over to the chair in the corner of the room where he left his sweats last night. Pulling the pants on he had to stop for a second when a huge yawn shook his body. Leaving the bedroom, he made his way to the kitchen where he flipped the switch on the coffee-maker.
While he waited for the coffee to drip he went out onto the balcony overlooking the ocean. Sometimes he felt like pinching himself. To think that he, Alexander McLean, was living in one of the posh neighborhoods in LA with a condo directly overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
It was mostly dark outside, but the light was starting to creep up over the city behind him so he could make out the waves crashing over the beach. An early morning jogger was running in the hard packed sand just out of reach from the waves. Pretty much directly below him on the beach he could see the faint form of a man sitting and staring at the water.
Walking back inside he detoured through his little Zen garden. He was so happy with the decor in this house. It really did reflect who he was. Sure some of it was a bit flashy, like the dining room table, but that was ok, because he really was a flashy kind of guy. After all, how many people could say that they had an actual movie prop in their dining room? He could. It wasn´t any old movie prop either it was the actually from one of AJ´s favorite movies, Eddie Murphy´s The Haunted Mansion.
In the kitchen he took his favorite mug out of the cabinet over the coffee-maker and filled it almost to the rim before he added some sugar and just a little bit of milk.
Taking the mug with him he walked back out onto the balcony, lighting a cigarette and settling down in the big comfy chair he had out there just for mornings like this. It was big enough for him to actually curl up in it and be totally surrounded by the thick cushion.
More and more light was starting to appear, and it looked like it was going to be an absolutely wonderful day. He didn´t really know what he was going to do with the day; maybe he could get some writing done out here today. Having finished the cigarette and the coffee, he stood up and stretched before he picked the mug up, intending to go back inside for a refill. When he stood up the lone figure down on the beach that he´d only seen faintly before was now more recognizable, and the shape looked familiar.
“What the hell,” he mumbled to himself. Walking back inside he put a t-shirt on before he went down to the beach. Walking across the sand he could now clearly see that the person sitting there was in fact exactly who he thought it was. Walking over AJ ran a hand through Nick´s blond hair before he placed himself between Nick and the ocean.
“Hey man, what are you doing out here at this time of the morning?”
Nick showed no reaction to AJ´s question, not even a twitch. AJ sat down on his heals trying to catch Nick´s eyes. Eyes that were rimmed in red and completely empty of all emotions.
Reaching over, AJ captured one of Nick´s hands in his own much smaller one. The bigger hand was ice cold. AJ was starting to get really worried. Shifting he sat down on his knees instead, so close to Nick that he brushed the side of Nick´s right thigh with his knees. AJ carefully put his arms around Nick´s shoulders, trying to get any type of response. He could feel the slight tremble in Nick´s body and not only the hand he was still holding, but also the cheek that he carefully pressed to his own was absolutely freezing.
AJ released the limp hand he was holding and stroked his warm ones over Nick´s arms and down his back trying to get some warmth and circulation back into the limbs. “Man you are freezing, how long have you been out here?”
Nick could feel some warmth seep into him from the warm hands rubbing over him. He tilted his head a bit so that it rested against AJ´s. He tried to think about AJ´s question, but he didn´t have a good answer. “I don´t know, what time is it?”
“I´m not sure, a bit after seven I think. When did you get out here?”
Nick shrugged his shoulders, “Maybe around midnight.”
AJ straightened up so he could see Nick´s face. “You mean you have been out here all night? Why in the world didn´t you come in?”
AJ was starting to get scared. It didn´t take a genius to figure out that something had happened. The tricky thing was getting Nick to tell him what it was. AJ had only really seen him like this one time before and that was during the weeks leading up the big fight in Boston before he himself checked in to rehab. During that time just before everything happened, Nick had more or less stopped talking and if anyone tried to get him to tell them what was wrong he would look at them with eyes so dark and a face totally lacking any emotions.
“I didn´t want to disturb you,“ Nick whispered.
“My God, since when could you ever disturb me?” AJ asked, his eyes wide as saucers. “Even if I wasn´t totally in love with you, you would always be welcome. And now with how things are between us, really Nick, what were you thinking?”
Nick´s only answer was another shrug.
“Well let´s not sit out here anymore. We need to get you inside so you can warm up a bit.” AJ stood up and took hold of Nick´s arm, giving him no choice but to rise. Then AJ led him over the sand and back up to his house.
Once inside AJ busied himself with practical things first. He put some water to boil before taking Nick with him to his bathroom and starting the shower.
“Babe, you need to heat up some so you don´t catch a cold. Get in the shower and I will go find you something to wear. OK?”
Nick nodded and started to remove the hoodie he had on. AJ walked back into his bedroom. He dug through his dresser and found the biggest pair of sweats he owned and a long-sleeved t-shirt that Kevin had forgotten some time ago. Both should fit Nick. He looked at the bed and contemplated if he should change the sheets but figured that it didn´t matter, and he just straightened them out some before he took the cloths with him into the bathroom. The room was filled with steam which was good, that meant Nick might have started to heat up some. Taking a big plush towel he knocked on the shower door.
“OK, I think that is enough, let´s get you in to some cloths.”
Nick turned the shower off and opened the door. AJ carefully enfolded him in the towel and started to rub him dry.
“Are you ok to get dressed on your own?”
Nick looked up into AJ´s eyes for the first time since they got inside and nodded.
“OK then, I´m going to go fix you something to eat and some tea. You just make yourself comfy and I will be right back.” With a kiss to Nick´s nose AJ left the room.
Nick took a second to look at himself in the mirror. It was still foggy so he swiped at it with his hand. He looked like shit. Taking the clothes AJ had laid out on the counter he got dressed. The t-shirt was a bit tight but ok. He took an extra minute to dry his hair as well as he could with the damp towel. Creeping back into the bedroom he could see that AJ still wasn´t back so he carefully slid into the bed. The pillow smelled like AJ so he buried his nose in it.
----
When AJ came back a moment later with a tray loaded with tea, toast and some fruit slices Nick still hadn´t moved. AJ put the tray on the bedside table and then carefully crawled into bed next to Nick and enfolded him in his arms.
“Nick, you are scaring me, you have to tell me what is going on. I can´t help if I don´t know what´s wrong.”
Nick´s only response was to tense up and AJ started to stroke his head, his shoulders, and one arm. Basically every bit of Nick he could reach without letting go of the position they were in. After a while Nick relaxed again and mumbled into AJ´s pillow, “She´s doing it again.”
AJ´s only response was an, “Oh,” but Nick could feel him tensing, so it was not hard to guess that he was probably freaking out, at least a bit, on the inside.
AJ carefully took hold of Nick´s shoulder and tugged until he turned over onto his back.
Nick didn´t really know where to look. Some part of him didn´t want to know what AJ had to say about it, but other parts of him wanted AJ to know everything so he could make it go away.
AJ waited for Nick to say anything else, but he kept staring at the ceiling, lips pressed together in a thin line.
“Nick talk to me. What happened this time? You need to tell me, I can´t help if I don´t know.”
Nick stayed quiet for so long AJ didn´t think he was going to answer. He had almost given up and started to plot new ways to get Nick to open up when there was a huge sigh from Nick. Then he started to talk.
“I was out with Chris last night. When I came home there were some papers in the mail. I didn´t really read them; the message was loud and clear with the first sentences. She is suing both me and Aaron for breach of contract, right to monetary compensation, bla bla bla. I can´t fucking believe this is happening again. She is my mother, she is not supposed to keep doing this.” Nick paused, clearly searching for words. “I didn´t know what to do so I drove down to the beach. I started to walk and then I saw your house, but I couldn´t make myself walk up and see if you were home. So I just sat down and hoped someone would find me. ” With that he turned back onto his stomach and buried his face in the pillow.
AJ was a bit conflicted over what to do but eventually he hugged Nick tightly and mumbled some encouragement to him. There would be time later to swear at Nick´s bitch of a mother. After awhile he could hear Nick´s breathing even out and he was asleep.
Carefully AJ eased away from Nick and then the bed. Walking into the bathroom he started to tidy up, picking up Nick´s pants and sweater from the floor. When he picked the hoodie up some crumbled papers fell out of the pocket. The papers thankfully missed the big puddle of water so AJ bent down and picked them up.
He only needed to scan the top to see what it was. He had been involved in enough lawsuits to know what the paperwork looked like. For a second he debated with himself if he should read them or not. On the one hand he would get to read them sometime during the day, because Nick was here now so it wasn´t like AJ was going to drop this whole thing before Nick told him everything. On the other hand Nick was kind of sensitive when it came to decisions being made above his head. But Nick really hadn´t said that much, and AJ needed to know what was going on.
“Ah, fuck it,” he huffed. It didn´t matter what he did, it would somehow be wrong, and it would at the same time be right, so he might as well get on with it. As he read he could feel his anger rising. It really was the same old as every other time they had gone through this.
Putting the papers safely under one arm he finished straightening the bathroom, took Nick´s clothes and walked back into the bedroom. Nick was still sleeping with his head buried in the pillow, and his breathing was even and quiet. Placing Nick´s clothes in a nice pile on the chair, AJ turned back and picked up the forgotten tray of food from the bedside table. He would make sure Nick ate something later. Loaded down with things AJ left the bedroom, softly closing the door behind him.
Walking in to the kitchen he carefully placed the tray on the counter, holding back on the urge to throw it against the wall.
“That fucking BITCH!” He hissed between clenched teeth, before he took a deep breath. He was proud of the fact that he managed to keep it in for as long as he had, but there was no use getting angry, now was the time for some action.
Walking over to the phone he pressed memory 3 and waited. Kevin might not be in the group anymore, but he was the one person they would all turn to in need of comfort, group or no group. When after six or seven rings the dark southern voice growled “Somebody better be dead,” in his ear AJ felt a little of the tension leave his shoulders.
“Yeah, almost. The bitch has done it again.” AJ knew that no more explanation was needed. The four of them had talked about this so many times when Nick wasn´t there that there was no room for misinterpretation.
“FUCKING HELL!” Kevin´s voice was so loud that AJ had to hold the phone away from his ear. In the background he could hear Kristin´s “Hey, small children in the house.” If Kevin reacted to that in any way it wasn´t vocal because he quickly continued, “How did you find out? What happened? No, no more important where is Nick?”
AJ knew that the last question was the one Kevin really wanted to know. None of them would ever forget the last time Nick´s mother pulled one of her stunts. They had been in New York and Nick disappeared without a bodyguard. In a state of panic they had searched all over the city, and really how did you search a city like New York?
It had probably been the worst day of AJ´s life, and to be honest there were some bad ones to compete with. Finally, after more than six hours, AJ and one of the bodyguards had found him, down by the water under the Brooklyn Bridge. That time, just like this one, he had been eerily quiet just, throwing pebbles into the water. AJ had started to yell at Nick as soon as he was out of the car but Nick´s only response had been, “What different does it make if I get trampled by a horde of teenage girls, it´s not like they can do any more damage than my own family.” This quiet hopelessness was what got to AJ the most, because it was so far from Nick´s usual bubbly personality.
Focusing back on the present, AJ reassured Kevin that another search like that would not be necessary.
“Right now he´s sleeping in my bed, apparently he has been out wandering the beach all night.”
Kevin released a quiet “Thank God,” with the breath he had apparently been holding. Then he said, “Ok I´ll get dressed and come over and we can talk about what we are going to do. Do you want me to pick up some breakfast on the way?”
AJ thought about it for a second. “No breakfast needed, I´m pretty stocked. But come over, I found the paperwork in his sweater so we can start picking it apart before we get the lawyers involved. “
“OK see you in a bit.” With that Kevin hung up the phone.
AJ stared at it for a second. He tried to remember Howie´s cell number, but it was a new one, so instead he went in search of his own cell phone. He knew Howie wouldn’t answer because he was currently on a plane, but he would be landing in the next half hour so AJ left a message.
“Hey man, I hope you are ok. I know you have meetings here in LA all day, but I need you to either call me or come by. Nick´s mom is on the warpath again. Nick is ok and currently sleeping in my bed, so no worries there. Well let me know.“ AJ hung up and put the phone on the kitchen counter. It would take Kevin at least 45 minutes to get to AJ´s so he got to work making breakfast.
On to part 2