"Ohmygod! Like... ohmygod! Thankyousosomuch! I never thought I'd actually get hair from your very own brush." Howie opened the door for Shayna and she walked out into his living room.
"This..." He pointed at a brown leather recliner. "This is my favorite armchair. And..and.. here, I know!" He rooted through a pile of BSB merchandise that was for some reason lying conveniently on a couch. "Here's an official Backstreet Boys shopping bag, to put your stuff in!" Shayna squeaked and accepted it happily. "This is the TV, and this is the remote control. And this is one of my favorite ways to spend time.." He sat in the armchair and turned on the TV with the remote control then clicked through a few channels. He suddenly remembered his treasured bedroom slippers. "Oh! I have to show you something! Follow me." He ran eagerly to his bedroom and took a pair of purple terrycloth platform slippers off the floor. They had curly script letters spelling out 'Princess' above the toes and there was a pink embroidered crown on them. Shayna screamed when she saw them.
"What is it?" Howie hoped she didn't think the slippers were ugly. That would have hurt his feelings.
"I have those slippers!!!" Shayna jumped up and down. "Ohmygod! I have the same slippers, the exact same ones! AAAA!"
"Wow!" Howie laughed. What a coincidence! "I have a matching bathrobe too," he said confidentially.
"Me too!!!!!" Shayna gasped, jumping up and down. Howie heard a door open. 'Oh no! They'll take her away. They'll take my fan! No! They can't take my fan! I'll never let them!' he thought.
"Welcome to the batcaves!" Brian gestured dramatically at a row of buses.
"Shut up!" Nick said in a deep imitation of Kevin's voice.
"I said shut the hell up!" Brian retorted. They both laughed insanely. Rose and Tara shrugged at each other.
"Why are we here, again?" Tara wondered.
"Where's Egg?" Rose asked.
"We're here to find Howie," AJ explained. "And your sister." Tara nodded.
"Egg'll be fine. Don't worry.." She wondered if Erin would go home and lock them out again.
"Nick! Hey, Nick! Wait for me!" Aaron piped, running after them in the parking lot. Brian and Nick exchanged glances.
"Oh, no!" Brian whispered. "The Little Prince of Pop encroaches! FLEE!!!" He scampered into the shadow of one of the busses.
"Hey! We can hide in Howie's bus! No one ever goes in Howie's bus," Nick said wisely.
"Good idea!" Brian ran onto Howie's bus, assuming it was empty, and Nick followed him.
"They are so, so cute together.." Tara shook her head.
"I swear, they're not gay. They really aren't," AJ assured her.
"I dunno." Rose shook her head.
"Hey! Where'd Nick go? I want an ice pack. My head hurts!" Aaron bounced up to them.
"You again." Rose looked at him distastefully. Aaron grinned.
"Don't you love me? Hehe. Where'd Nick go? Where's Nick? Where is he?"
"He'll be back," AJ assured him.
"Helloooo!! Howard, dearie, are you in here?" someone called in a British accent. Howie frowned.
"No, he's never here!" Nick voice replied.
"Howard, oh, Howard? ..." someone sang. Howie recognized Brian's voice.
"Ssh!" He grinned at Shayna. "Let's hide from them! They'll never find us!" He let Shayna hide in his closet and then crawled under the bed, giggling immaturely. He loved having a fan! This was so much fun.
"He's not here, stupid!" Nick repeated.
"He is TOO! I heard him, I'm telling ya..." Brian paced into Howie's bedroom. Howie caught his breath. They couldn't take his fan! "Ginger Spice, where are you???"
"Not now, guys," Howie said in a sad voice.
"Hey D!" Nick threw himself on the floor beside Howie's bed and stared at him. "What's up?"
"Yeah, what's up? Where's your fan?" Brian asked.
"She ..." Howie sighed, desperate for something to say. Finally, inspiration came to him. "She had to go home. She found her parents. And I'm tired. It was nice having a fan for a while."
"Hey, it's okay man! You have tons of fans." Brian said in his most sincere voice.
"Yeah, Howie. Tons," Nick added. "Why are you under the bed?"
"Thanks, guys. I'm just under my bed because... I dunno man. No reason." Brian and Nick left his bus.
"That was really nice of you, Howie! Wow!" Shayna exclaimed.
"Hehe, thanks." Howie knew he was going to get in trouble for this. It was worth it!
"Nick! Nick! Get me an ice pack!" Aaron squealed.
"What?"
"For my head!" Aaron pointed at his red and swollen forehead.
"Jeez Aaron! Okay, c'mon." Aaron followed him onto Nick's bus.
"I want an ice pack too!" Brian declared.
"You retard! You don't need an ice pack!" Nick scolded.
"I do too!!" he protested, following them. Everyone (everyone being Tara, Rose, and AJ) stood around idly for a few minutes. There was silence until it started raining lightly.
"SHIT!" Rose held her hands over her eyes.
"Haha." Tara smirked. "This is gonna be great." She grabbed Rose's wrists and held her hands away from her eyes.
"No! No no no! I need to get out of the rain!" Rose was wearing lots and lots of dark eye makeup.
"You vampire!" Tara laughed. AJ watched interestedly. It started raining harder.
"Come on! Can't you do something about her!!" Rose pleaded. She blinked as rainwater dropped on her face and dripped down her cheeks. "Hippyyy! I don't wanna be a panda!"
"Then you shouldn't put gunpowder on your eyelids, dumbass!" Tara held onto Rose's wrists as she twisted around.
"What the hell are you talking about?" AJ wondered.
"Haha, lookit, she's a panda!" Tara let go of Rose. "It's too late now, Luna... You're a panda, know that?" Rose instinctively wiped at her eyes. AJ chuckled.
"Oh, I get it. Panda, panda."
"Shut up!" Rose smacked Tara, leaving a palm-sized grey spot on her cheek.
"Right, Kevin, shut up!" Tara replied, laughing hysterically. "You look like you have black eyes."
"You do!" AJ realized.
"I'll show you black eyes!" Rose lunged at Tara and Tara ran off into the dark parking lot, Rose close behind her. AJ watched their antics interestedly. ..
.
"Tara!!! Where'd you GO?!" Rose stood still, looking around. She could see where she was... yes, there was the row of busses, but Tara had been right here just a second ago!
"PANDA!" Tara waved at Rose from behind a bus. Rose ran after her, promising for the third time that Tara was going to die. <
"Brian, you're messed up!" Nick declared. Brian looked up at him from the kitchen floor. He was holding an ice pack in his mouth. "You were mad earlier tonight, remember? Then after the concert you stopped being mad. ... Brian! Have you been drinking?!"
"NO" Brian said around the ice pack.
"He's messed up!" Aaron declared, trying to act like Nick. "Nick, let's go. He's scary." Aaron, holding an ice pack to his forehead, bounced into the parking lot, Nick following them. Brian didn't want to be left behind. He marched off the bus, noting briefly that it was raining, then something ran into him. He stumbled backwards, almost spitting the ice pack on the ground.
"Oops! Sorry Sporty!" Rose grinned at him. "What the... You're drunk, aren't you!" Brian shook his head, looking closely at Rose. She had some funny shadows around her eyes that looked kind of like bruises. He took his ice pack out of his mouth then reconsidered and snatched Aaron's, offering it to Rose.
"You look like.."
"Panda! Luna's a panda!" Tara ran around the side of the bus. "Hahaha!" Brian looked from Tara to Rose, very confused.
"Damn!" Rose whispered, glaring at Tara. She wiped her eyes again, looking at the grey stuff smeared all over the backs of her hands. She ran off after Tara.
"Heyyy!!" Aaron whined. "Briiiaaan! Gimme my ice pack!" Brian took his ice pack out of his mouth.
"Here ya go, little buddy." Brian obeyed. "Nick, it's time he went to bed."
"Yeah, Aaron. It's time you went to bed, ya know that?" Nick looked seriously at Aaron, who sighed then scuttled out of sight.
"Did you see... um..umm.." Brian pointed after Rose, or Luna, or Morticia.
"Morticia? It looks like Kevin had the good old hockey stick out again!" Nick laughed. "I think it might have been her makeup. And the rain." AJ found Nick and Brian and walked up to them.
"Yo, is D on his bus?"
"Yeah. He's sad because his fan went home," Nick explained carefully.
"Where's Kevin?" Brian wondered. "Is he still inside?"
"Yeah, I guess. And where's that girl Egg?" AJ asked.
"Maybe with Kevin," Nick decided.
"Shut up!" Brian said automatically at the mention of Kevin.
"We should go find them," AJ decided, feeling heroic.
"Hey, there you are!" Ken yelled. "We've been looking everywhere for you guys. Where are Kevin and Howie?"
"Howie's in his batcave!" Brian yelled loudly. "We don't know where Kevin is."
"Shut up!" Nick declared.
"Okay, well I don't know when either of you started socializing with fans, but those girls have to leave, too."
"They do?" Nick and Brian echoed forlornly.
"Yes, they do!" Ken said with authority. "I'll go find Kevin. You guys have ten minutes to get on your busses, understood?"
"Sir, yes sir!" Brian saluted Ken and marched in the direction of his bus.
"Got it, Nick?" Ken said suspiciously.
"Yeah, yeah. I get it!" Nick waited until Ken was out of hearing range then ran after Brian.
"Hey, why are you in my batcave? You have your own batcave." Brian stood in Nick's way so he couldn't come in his bus.
"Brian, I have an idea! I have an idea!"
"NICHOLAS! Have you been thinking again?!" Brian crossed his arms. "Don't think, never think! That's when we have problems!"
"But... but.. I have an idea!" Nick repeated. Brian sighed.
"What is it?"
"NO! Don't kill me!" someone screamed. "Panda panda panda!"
"You're DEAD, Hippo! Dead!" Rose and Tara ran into sight.
"I told you, never call me hippo! Never!"
"Ow! Stop iiiiit!"
"Haha, you're a DEAD panda now!" Tara had a firm grip on a lock of Rose's hair.
"Help meeeee!!!" Rose wrenched her hair away from Tara and ran onto Brian's bus, shoving him out of the way and muttering 'sorry Sporty.'
"She is such a wimp!" Tara stood in the rain laughing. Nick and Brian were looking at her strangely. "What is it?"
"There's a handprint on your forehead..." Nick observed. "And on your cheek."
"Oh, how nice. Rose was trying to kill me and she had makeup all over her hands from touching her eyes," Tara explained.
"There you are!" AJ silently congratulated himself on finding the other people after standing around stupidly in the rain for a while.
"Yeah. Um, Morticia and Hippo..." Nick dodged as Tara slapped at him. "You're supposed to leave. Ken says so. And that girl Easter."
"Aww." Tara looked mildly disappointed and tried to think of an excuse. "Well, I'm hungry. Can I have some food?"
"AJ's batcave has the most food on it," Brian informed them, then ran into his bus to find Rose.
"Yeah, AJ has the most food. He has, like, four refrigerators," Nick said resourcefully.
"I do not! I have TWO refrigerators!" AJ protested. "You idiot!"
"Shut up!" Nick laughed. "Or I'll get the hockey stick! Hahaha!"
"The hockey stick?" Tara, for once, looked confused.
"Kevin likes to beat people with the hockey stick." Nick explained.
"Umm.." Tara was sorry she had asked.
"I TOLD you guys to get on your busses! So what the hell are you doing, Nick? AJ?" Ken glared at them menacingly.
"I'm going on my bus! Yeah." Nick scurried over to his bus.
"Yeah, I am too. C'mon Tara." AJ grabbed her wrist and pulled her over to his bus.
"But.." Tara wasn't sure she wanted to be in an enclosed space with this.. person.. for any length of time.
"No! You can't bring those girls!" Ken crossed his arms over his chest authoritatively. "I'm sure you remember what happened LAST time."
"Don't be stupid." AJ rolled his eyes and decided that riding on Brian's bus would be a better idea. "Briiiiiiiaaann I'm taking over your bus!!"
"It's not a bus, it's a BATCAVE." Brian was sitting on a couch in his lair.
"Where's Rosie?" Tara asked.
"Um.. I dunno. I can't find her." Brian had looked all over his bus for her.
"I'm right here and I'm not a damn panda anymore!" Rose came out of the tiny bathroom looking proud.
"You'll ALWAYS be a panda, Rosie!" Tara grinned.
"And YOU will always be a hippo, Hippo." Rose smirked.
"Noo!!! DON'T call me that!" Tara looked for something to throw at her, but couldn't find anything.
"Why do you call her hippo anyway?" AJ wondered. Tara was rather thin.
"Hip hip" Rose sang. "It's that SHIRT. Someone's a wee bit obsessed."
"Panda!" Tara spat. "I'm hungry. And where's my sister, anyway? My parents are going to kill me if I lose her. Really they will. I'm dead if I lose her- dead. DEAD! Howie took her. He just took her! I'm sure she didn't mind, if she's even conscious right now... Agh, who cares?! She's probably fine. Probably..."
"Will she really eat anything?" Brian asked Rose quietly.
"Yeah," Rose confirmed. "Look out or she'll shove a whole kitchen down her throat. Seriously..." She had encountered many people who thought Tara was a self-starving cheerleader type, but she was quite the opposite.
"Seriously?" AJ repeated. Tara was still rambling.
"You're talking about me!" Tara exclaimed furiously. "You think I don't eat! Is that it? Well I'll show you people... someone just give me some damn food before I die.... But wait. Rose, we need to round up Easter and get out of here before that guy comes back. He'll kill us."
"Yes, yes... That he will," Rose said decisively, standing up. "C'mon Hippy, let's go find Erin."
"Yeah, Erin... But wait! Rose!" Tara whined as Rose moved towards the door. "Erin probably went home and locked us out! Ya know?"
"Hey ... You're right!" Rose beamed. "She does that all the time. In that case ..." She looked again at the door and grimaced as Ken appeared in it. "In that case, it's time to get out of here because that guy scares me."
"Aww, don't let Ken scare ya." AJ wished they didn't have to leave.
"Are you kidding?!" Tara muttered as Ken loomed over them.
"Both of you," he said slowly. "Off the bus, out of the parking lot. Get it? Good. Now go."
"Um, um..." Rose was disappointed. "Right away sir, whatever you want. Bye Scary, bye Sporty! Had fun. Tell the other guys for me if you would be so kind." Terrified of the thing named Ken, she started retreating.
"Aww, but Ken!" Brian whined. "Bye, guys. Tell Erin bye for me, would ya?"
"Sure thing. Uh, nice seeing you..." Tara quavered.
"Hurry up!" Ken demanded.
"Bye!" the girls cried in unison and ran off the bus.