Kevin chuckled as he heard Alex munch -- and talk -- on the Lasagna. Howie only shook his head, taking a bite of his own Fettucini.

For lunch, they had decided to go somewhere nice, not their usual fried chicken in their rooms. So, Howie had suggested pasta. It was decided with unison Yey.

Pasta was always good to calm the nerves, or at least for Kevin it was. Of course that there was nothing compare to his mother's lasagna and Fettucini a lo Alfredo, but this restaurant was close second. Very closed.

Kevin sighed in contempt, tilting his head back, looking at the ceiling. He was full. "If I take another bite, just one more, I swear to god I'll explode."

A wide grin made its way to Alex's lips. "That's good," he said slowly, his eyes traveling over to the remnants of unfinished pasta on Kevin's plate. "That's great. More for me." He leaned over and slid the plate over to his seat.

Kevin frowned. "How can you eat so much and stay that skinny?"

"Don't fret about it," Howie said with a grimace on his face. "I've been asking myself that very same question for the past three years. Haven't gotten an answer so far."

Alex just grinned as he ate another bite.

Still frowning, Kevin tried to remember everything Alex had ate in the last hour. His plate of lasagna -- which was nowhere small but actually on the other side of the scale --, Nick's half forgotten plate of Fettunni. Kevin smiled softly. He had known Nicky wouldn't finish. Just like Brian never finished half the things he had picked up that time they went to Nick's birthday party. Brian, to his own surprise, did finish his plate. And now Kevin's lasagna. That was a lot.

Shaking his head, Kevin lowered his eyes as they landed on his wrist, realizing it was already three pm. He tried to recall how long had the kids been away. Brian and Nick had barely finished their lunches when they had requested to be let leave the table so they could explore the place. Kevin had considered it for a couple of minutes before letting the boys leave while they promised to behave.

Almost an hour now. Kevin smiled softly. It was all right. He knew how it was when you were having far too much fun to recall the time. After all, the guys and him were still sitting on the table after having a couple of drinks.

He was brought back from his musings by Howie's laughter. Apparently, Alex had said something particularly funny. Kevin only half smiled, shaking his head slightly. Howie added his two cents, and this time Kevin did hear.

*****

"You have got to be kidding!"

Brian smiled smugly, shaking his head. "I'm not joking."

"Your aunt Ann did that?" Nick said, his blue eyes wide and his mouth hanging open.

Brian only nodded once again, proud of the tale. He has happy to be able to let his younger friend know of the couple of tricks Kevin had pulled when he was younger. He didn't know most of the stories, but was very well aware of some.

"And what was the whole point in doing that?"

Brian thought for a moment, trying to remember what his older brother, Harold, had told him back then.

"Well, as far as I know, and it's not really that much, the teacher really had it in for Kevin, so he was really angry with that. Jerald, that's Kevin's older brother, told me that there was this one time when Kevin had to give the history midterm and, since he knew he was really bad in the subject, he studied the whole weekend. They were all sure he was going to pass it, so when he flunked it, everyone was stunned."

Nick frowned. "If Kevin studied that much, when why did he flunk it?"

"I don't know. Kevin says the teacher gave him a bad grade on purpose, but since his average when it came down to history was really bad, no one in school would believe him."

Nick grinned. "So he took revenge on his own."

Brian nodded. "He was angry. And as far as I know, he had every right to be. He had studied for the exam and still, he had flunked it."

"And being as angry as he was, painting the teacher's car was really the only way to go."

Brian nodded once again, agreeing with Nick like the blond was taking about having ice cream for dinner, not down right assault.

Nick shook his head, chuckling as he did so, putting force on his steps as he pushed his way up on the rather high hill. They really weren't that far from the restaurant they had just had lunch in, but it was a little further than Kevin would have wanted.

Standing by Nick's side, Brian lifted his arms towards the sky, taking in a deep breath. He wasn't that sure where exactly they were. They had been on the small tour for almost two months now and the cities were starting to blend together, one looking very much like the last one, so he had lost track of their locating a couple of weeks back.

Still, the field, as Brian was sure they were on the south, was looking better each time he opened his eyes. It was lovely.

Nick looked up, closing his eyes as the sun hit his face full force. He sighed softly, enjoying the feeling. He opened the slowly, early afternoon rays shinning brightly as they reflected on his silver necklace. His fingers brushed pass it, barely touching it, the movement enough for the blond to know the small piece of jewelry was held in place.

"Where do you think that leads?"

Brian looked towards Nick was pointing, seeing an dirt road leading through the field to somewhere unknown. Brian shook his head. "Couldn't really know?"

"Do you think Kevin knows?" Nick asked with a puzzled face.

Brian tilted his head to the side, wondering about the blonde's question for a moment. He had to accept that Kevin, even though he was only twenty-one at the time, did know a whole lot bunch of things for his age. He shrugged. "I'm not sure. Maybe. He likes reading, so..."

Nick nodded. "I'm sure he knows where that leads."

Brian didn't add anything to that, not being sure himself. He turned slightly to his left leaving the sight of their restaurant way to his right, and looked at a bunch of kids playing basket. He smiled. "Hey, do you think they'd let us play?"

Nick, doing very much like Brian had not so long ago, followed where Brian was looking at. "We could always ask."

The older of the two, running downhill as fast as he could. Nick followed him, running just as fast, but not as good. He wasn't sure what, but something seemed to tangled in his feet, loosing balance. And in a pendant hill, that was only calling for trouble.

Brian, who had been a couple of passes ahead, reached the bottom with no problem whatsoever, but when he turned around to look at his friend, he could only see a tangled mess of arms and legs rolling down the hill. He gasped, and could only stared at Nick finally landed, rather unceremoniously, on the floor just two feet from where he was standing. He would have screamed if he had voice left, he would gasped if he had breath left.

He just stared. It wasn't until Nick rolled into a more comfortable position -- as comfortable as someone who had juust rolled down a hill could be -- that Brian came back to his senses and kneeled by his friend's side. "Nick? Oh, god, Nick? Are you alright?"

The blond shot daggers at his older friend. "What ya think?"

Brian grimaced, helping Nick sit down, and the moment he touched the blonde's left wrist, he yelled in pain. "What?"

"It hurts, you dork."

"Oh."

Nick barely moved, and it shot another light of hurt right through his chest over to his brain, and he screamed again. "Where's Kevin?"

That gave Brian an idea of what he should be doing. "I'm gonna go get him."

In pain, grimacing as he did so, he nodded, but Brian didn't see, he was too busy running as fast as he could. "Kevin," the blond mumbled as he saw, from the corner of his eyes, Brian heading in the direction of the restaurant.

Not really caring about breathing, or the fact that he had just eaten a big lunch, for which his left side was starting to hurt, Brian's only thought at the moment was to reach the restaurant and get Kevin.

He pushed past a lady and almost crashed against a guy who called him very nasty names, but he didn't care. He turned around in the corner, already tired, seeing the name Pop's pasta just by the end of the street. He would have yelled at this point, if he had any air left, but decided that reaching the place first was the best decision. And he did just that, almost colliding with one of the pasta's delivery boys, who yelled as well, then turned around in the foyer and saw Kevin, Alex and Howie chuckling in the corner of the place.

"Kevin!" He yelled with as much strength as he had at the moment, which was very little.

The oldest man turned around, a worried semblance in his face, as he recognized the tone used by his younger cousin. "Brian?" He asked, standing up as he did so, forgetting everything Alex had been saying. It only took him a second to realize that Brian was alone. "Where's Nick?"

Brian reached the table, big emerald eyes staring at him with concern, but couldn't answer. He leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. "He's... he... tumbled... something... broke."

"Shit," Kevin mumbled, leaning over as he tried to catch Brian's eye. "Bri?"

Brian nodded, standing up and sighing slowly. "Something broke Kevin. I think it's his hand."

Kevin could only bit his lower lip, taking a couple of bills out of his pocket and throwing them on the table. He didn't bothered to count; at the moment his only thought was to reach Nick.

He turned around in one quick movement, running out of the place and over the street. Brian reached him there, pointing towards where he had come from, Kevin running after him.

It only took them half the time Brian and Nick had made over there the first time, and Brian believed it had something to do with the fact that Kevin was as close to frantic as Brian had ever seen him.

Kevin could see Nick sitting on the ground, his hand against his chest, and his own chest constricted at the sight. He could see the kid was in pain, that much was obvious from his face, but his heart could also tell him that.

"Nick!"

The blond lifted his teary blue eyes, searching for Kevin's green ones and it only took a second for them the find them. "Kevin!" Nick cried in agony, the pain really being too much for him. "Kevin, Kevin!"

The older man didn't take a second more than necessary to reach the blonde's side, kneeling by his side and taking the injured hand in his own. Kevin barely touched it when Nick cried in pain once again. "It's broken," Kevin said, even though he believed Nick already knew this. It didn't take much to realize this, as the blond was as close to tears.

"It hurts," Nick whimpered, tearful eyes looking up at Kevin.

Kevin nodded, reaching a hand to push back a lock of fallen hair, sweat plastering against his forehead. "Nicky, let me help you up."

The blond nodded, Kevin's hand moving over to Nick's side as he helped the younger kid up. Nick bit back his lower lip to keep himself from crying loudly. Kevin winced at the whimpering sound. He knew Nick was in pain, and it hurt him deeply to hear so. He could have picked Nick up and carried him all the way to the hospital if that would have helped to change anything. But all he could do was hold Nick close to his chest as the younger boy whimpered in pain.

*****

Kevin sighed softly, running his fingers through his hair. His mind seemed to acknowledge the fact that it was getting slightly longer than usual and he should get a haircut within the week, but Kevin pushed that thought to the back of his mind. He was preoccupied with more important matters at the moment.

He lifted his eyes, watching his three band mates all around him, filling the small waiting room. It had been almost twenty minutes since the nurse took Nick with her. Kevin had wanted to come along, but had made the big mistake to let her know that he wasn't family, for which now he was waiting for the blond to emerge from the consult.

Kevin stood up in one quick movement, drawing attention to himself, Alex's brown eyes fixing on his own. "I'm gonna go and find what's going on."

Howie shook his head. "We've already asked."

"But I'm tired of waiting. Besides, we're all he's got here." And they all knew Kevin was right.

He had barely stepped one foot in front of the other on his way to the door, when it opened loudly, an young looking lady standing under the threshold. "Is there someone here named Kevin?" She seemed to be trying to remember a last name, if she had even heard it.

Kevin took a couple of steps towards her, standing stoically. "I'm Kevin."

"The boy is asking for you."

Kevin nodded, turning around and giving Brian a meaningful glance. It meant stay. It meant I'll go find what's going on, then come back. And Brian got it.

He followed her down the corridor, waiting as she knocked on the second door on the left. A man on his fifties opened the door, giving the woman a small smile as he motioned for Kevin to enter. Nick was sitting on the stretcher, his wrist on his hand, looking rather hurt, clear blue eyes gazing into Kevin's.

"Nicky," he mumbled softly, but the blond seemed to listen, trying to give his older friend a small smile, but falling short.

"Nick is fine," the doctor said, retrieving Kevin from his mussing.

Kevin nodded. "Thanks." He walked over to the blond, sitting by his side and placing his arm along his shoulders. "You alright?"

Nick nodded. "It hurts though."

Kevin leaned over, placing a small peck on Nick's head, smiling into the blond hair. "It'll be fine."

"It should be a couple of hours before the analgesic takes effect, and about three months until he can get off the cast."

Kevin nodded once again.

Nick pulled away, blue eyes finding green ones. "I called for you. I wanted you here."

"I know Nicky. I wanted to be here."

"I'm sorry they wouldn't let you," the doctor said and Kevin barely gave him a glance. "I explained the nurse that you were his guardian."

Kevin didn't care what the doctor had to say about it for the moment. All he cared about was the young kid leaning against his side, his head placed on the crook of his neck, his breathing tickling his clavicle. Nick was fine. And that was all he cared for.

"Here's his prescription for the pain. He should take those," the doctor said, pointing to the small handwriting in the piece of paper, "twice a day. In case that's not enough, which I don't think will be the case, you can always talk with your own physician."

Kevin nodded at this, making a mental note to fill the prescription as soon as he could. He didn't allow himself to think about the cost.

"You can come back in three months so I take the cast off," the doctor suggested.

Looking down at Nick cradled comfortably in between his arms, Kevin shook his head. He run his hand up down his left arm, his fingers stilling as they reached the hem of the cast. "I don't think that will be possible. We should be leaving later this week. We're only passing by."

"Oh, you're on vacation."

Kevin only nodded, not really in the mood to explain everything regarding their actual situation job wise. It just was too long of a story.

The doctor looked at Kevin for a moment. "His parents," he started, jerking his head towards Nick's position by Kevin's side.

Kevin sighed. He had been waiting this ever since he walked into the office. "They are back home. I'm responsible for him here." As if to make his point, he tightened his hold on the blond.

Dark brown eyes staid on him a little longer, not sure what he was looking for. However, only a moment later, the doctor turned around and walked back to his desk. Kevin guessed he had, apparently, found it.

"Make sure he takes his medicine."

Kevin nodded. "You can count on it."

"He should rest for the rest of the day; take it easy for the next week. The cast should bother him the first couple of days. It should pass after a while."

"No problem."

The doctor's eyes lingered on Nick and the older man couldn't help but feel protective of him, shifting Nick until Kevin was sure the boy was relax in the embrace, breathing calmly against his neck.

The doctor recognized the action, smiling slightly. In his eyes, Kevin seemed to read I mean no harm to him, but there was no way Kevin could be sure of either of those things -- the look or the words.

"He's lucky. He's got you to watch over him."

Kevin would have blushed at the statement if he had paid attention to it, as his mind grasped the fact that Nick's breath was tickling his throat and his hand moved in its own motion as he pushed back a fallen lock of hair.

"That's all. You can leave now."

Kevin stood up in one motion, helping up a half sleep Nick over to his feet, guiding him until they reached the lounge. Brian walked over them, looking worriedly at Nick. The blond seemed further awake now, letting Brian know that nothing was hurting and it certainly wasn't his fault.

Alex, Howie and Brian made their way out of the hospital as Kevin walked by Nick's side, his hand always placed securely on the blonde's arm.