"You got any surgical spirit or somethin' back at your trailer?" I asked.

"Should have - my mom insists we carry the essentials..."

Back at the trailer, I bent Zac over the sink and poured cold water over his head
to remove the stain from his hair and to soothe the cut slightly. Hell, it always
worked when I ripped up my knees on the pavement... He winced slightly as the
stream of water hit the cut. "OK Zac, brace yourself..."

"Why... YARRRGH!" he yelled as I dabbed a tuft of cotton wool soaked with
surgical spirit onto his wound. "Shit that hurts..."

"It's obviously doin' some good, then," said Tay...

After we'd patched Zac up and he was back to his usual hyperactive self, Tay
called one of the take-away restaurants on the site and had a couple of Pizzas
delivered. I was absolutely ravenous and dived into the first box as soon as it
arrived, as did Zac, proving he was fit and well.

As the number of slices deminished, we laughed and joked about anything and
everything, each of us full of anecdotes and amusing stories of times past. Then
Zac came out with a conversation-stopper.

"So, what did you two guys get up to at that Alton Towers place, then?" I think
he sincerely meant the park itself, but none-the-less, Tay and I stopped and
looked at each other, then at Zac.

The look of genuine curiosity slowly changed to sly understanding without a word
passing. "Should we tell him?" asked Tay.

"Don't see why not..." I replied.

"Did you, you know, 'do' each other?" Zac asked, fidgeting in his chair and
leaning forward with anticipation. Just as I was about to answer, there was a
knock at the door.

"I'll get it..." said Tay, leaping out of his seat like a gazelle on steroids, a
relieved look on his face. "Oh, it's you..."

"Can I come in?" asked Ike, looking rather sheepish. Tay looked at me. I just
shrugged.

"I suppose..."

Ike sat down at the table and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry," he said. Tay
actually looked shocked - it was the last thing he was expecting his brother to
come out with. "I've been acting like an asshole recently,"

"You damn got that right!" yelled Zac.

"Hey, let him finish," I said, holding Zac's arm.

"I've been acting like an asshole and I want to say I'm sorry. For everything.
You all right, Zac?"

"Yeah, no thanks to you..."

Ike nodded his head slowly. "Dean, can I have a word with you? In private?"

I looked over Ike's shoulder at Tay - now it was his turn to shrug.

"Sure. You wanna go for a walk?"

Ike and I sauntered round to the pond that I'd gone swimming in earlier that day
and sat on one of the benches.

"Dean, you're gay, right?"

"Last time I checked..." I grinned back at him

"Can you be serious for a moment... Thing is, I think I may be as well. I don't
know who else to talk to..." I was shocked! All three? Surely not... "Thing is,
ever since I've been on this tour, I've been thinking about this guy all the
time. His name's Andy - he's one of the lighting fitters. I think he's 17..."

He was really chewed up inside, I could tell.

"Thing is, ever since Tay told us he thought he was gay, I've been thinking about
it myself. Ever since I was twelve or so I've always liked looking at guys, but
kept telling myself it was wrong and I shouldn't be doin' it..." Uh oh, mistake
#1... "Thing is, I like girls as well - hell, I've dated enough of 'em..."

"Have you ever had sex with a girl?"

"Yeah..."

"Did you enjoy it? I mean emotionally as well as the sex?"

"I guess... I loved her, I think..."

"Don't think I'm being rude here, but did you ever think about another lad while
you were doin' a girl?"

"No! No....."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I think..."

I felt like one of those shitty "Find your sexuality" questionnaires you get in
trashy teen magazines. Less than 20 points - Heterosexual. 20-60 points -
bisexual, 60-100 points - gay...

"Well, you might be bi..."

"You... You mean I'm not gay?"

"I didn't say that. Try not to put yourself in a category, or at least not yet.
Do you get on well with Andy?"

"I... I don't really know him. I've seen him looking at me a couple of times..."

"Then get to know him! When's he next due to be around?"

"Tomorrow morning, for the sound test..."

"Then may I suggest you 'accidentally' bump into him? And remember - be yourself,
not who you think he wants you to be. If he doesn't want to get to know you,
he'll tell you..."

Ike looked at me in a way I'd never seen before. Suddenly a whole different
aspect of his character had been opened up to me.

"Sorry I was such an asshole," he said again. "These feelings have got me real
beat up inside. I just had to take it out on someone. I guess I was jealous of
Tay - he'd found his love and declared it. I wanted it to be as simple as he made
it look..."

"It wasn't simple," I said, squeezing his hand. "It'll work for you. Just wait
and see..."

"Would you tell Tay and Zac for me? I don't think I could do it..."

"Sure. They'll be pleased for you..." I patted his hand and stood up. I could
tell he wanted to be on his own for a while.

"Dean?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks, man..."

I just smiled and walked back to Tay's trailer.

CHAPTER NINE

"No shit?" asked Tay, still shaking his head.

"One of us gets a good idea..." grinned Zac.

"Hey, go easy on him, will ya? He's a bit shaken up at the moment." Tay nodded
his approval. Zac just got that shit-eating grin on his face.

"Come on, Zac..." coaxed Tay. No change. "Right - GET HIM!"

After Zac had submitted and promised not to tease Ike under pain of tickling to
suffocation, we had to decide what to do with the rest of our afternoon. I
suggested we drag Kevin out of his perpetual slumber and get him to take us to
the Bull Ring - the large shopping centre in the middle of Birmingham.

It was a unanimous "yes" to this idea, so Kevin was dragged, blurry eyed, from
his caravan and propped into the driving seat of the Range Rover.

"Is he safe to drive like that?" I asked.

"Well, we do have seatbelts..." said Tay.

An hour later, we were stood in the middle of the Bull Ring in suitably
ridiculous camouflage gear, each of us dressed very out-of-character. Zac was
wearing a pair of Realtree paintball trousers and a fleece, the hood of which he
had pulled up tight round his face, and a pair of Cat boots. Tay was wearing a
baggy black Lee top, loose fitting black jeans, Raybans and my Prodigy woolly hat
I'd lent him. The black CrossTrainers he had on finished it off quite nicely. I
was wearing Tay's AirWalks, my favourite pair of jeans that were threadbare at
the knees, and a red 'Lumberjack' shirt. Kevin just looked a mess, but a bloody
mean one none-the-less. I had to get a photo of this - we looked absolutely
priceless!

Looking around, though, I soon realised that what we were wearing was about right
- everyone else around our age seemed to be wearing that baggy Gangsta shit (you
know, crotch at your knees, trainers with tongues big enough to be shin pads...).
We looked normal for god's sake...

Our excursion started in an HMV MegaStore. As Tay leafed through the "Best of..."
style compilation albums with Zac, I headed to the MiniDisc section. I'd had an
MD deck for a while, and I'd recently bought an MD walkman to match. But could I
find any pre-recorded software for it where I lived? Like hell I could... H...
Ha... Han... Shit! No Hanson... Oh well. Prodigy - Music for the Jilted
Generation. I didn't have a real copy of that...

Half an hour and fourteen quid later we all emerged with our respective
purchases. The rest of the afternoon was fairly uneventful - the only remarkable
incident being Zac loosing his balance on an escalator, the result being him,
myself, Tay and Kevin all stumbling back down, taking a few innocent bystanders
with us.

Only once did we get a "Are you Taylor Hanson?", although that was swiftly dealt
with by Kevin. "No. He definitely is not..." They didn't argue...

The traffic was bad in Birmingham's city centre as we tried to fight our way back
to the NEC. By the time we arrived, it was nigh on half six. As we turned into
the Arena car park, Kevin yelled "Heads!". Tay and Zac immediately got into an
aircraft crash-landing position. Not quite knowing what was going on I just
stayed how I was, looking around. Then I saw them, a sea (albeit a small one) of
people in front of us in the middle of the road, waving Hanson banners. Oh,
shit...

Kevin slowed down dumped his elbow on his door lock, the central locking
isolating us from the undulating masses outside. He literally had to push his way
through them with the car, hands bashing the windows and trying the doors. Now I
realised why they were crouched down. Accompanying the screams were a multitude
of camera flashes - now I too was curled up! Once we'd pushed through, the NEC
security team did an admirable job of keeping them back.

"They're here already?" I asked.

"That's about right," said Tay. "We've known people arriving at venues even
before we have!"

"Look, lads," interrupted Kevin, "I don't wantcha out 'ere this evenin' wi' them
around, OK?"

"Looks like solitary confinement again," sighed Zac. That suited me just fine...

Back in the trailer, Zac flicked on the TV and started channel-hopping. "Is that
all?" asked Zac, having reached channel 44 on the satellite receiver. "That's
crap..."

Zac's flicking eventually settled on MTV. That dodgy girl from Byker Grove was
hosting MTV Dial. Zac picked up the cell phone from the counter and dialled.

"Zac - you're not..." I couldn't finish my sentence: Zac brought his finger to
his lips to shush me.

"Yeah, Zac from Birmingham...." He said after a short pause. "Er, number 64, I
Will Come To You..."

Dario G's Sunchyme finished and the next caller was announced. "I love the
costume's they wear in that video... Anyway, we've got Zac from Birmingham on
line 4 - Hi Zac!"

"Er, Hi!"

"So, what video have you chosen for us, then?"

"I'd like Hanson's I Will Come To You..."

"And who would you like to dedicate it to?"

"Um, my brother Tay and my friend Dean, please..."

"Sure - you just did! OK, Here's the Huggable Hanson brothers with their latest
European Number One, I Will Come To You... Hey, are yo..." she was cut off as the
opening black and white scenes of what I thought was the best of their videos
started, Zac quickly pressing the 'end' button.

"It really cracks me up when he does that..." grinned Tay. "Half the time they
never realise it's actually one of us and the other half they don't believe it!"

The conversation sort of fell dead for a while then, all of us just quietly
watching the video. Then I remembered the pack of cards I'd brought with me.
"Anyone for strip poker?"

CHAPTER TEN

I lost the first two hands (beginner's luck, I guess) but Zac soon caught me up,
his smooth chest soon bared to my eyes and complaining that he was "crap at poker
- It's not fair!". To my utter disgust, Tay hadn't even lost the band holding
back his hair. This had to change.

Lady Luck must've been listening in on my thoughts: Tay embarked on the most
dramatic loosing streak I'd ever seen in my entire life. You had to try to do
that badly. Then I cottoned on, and strangely enough, Zac was suddenly sat at a
table with to very-nearly-naked lads. The cool air in the trailer very quickly
got to Tay and myself - our respective boxer shorts tented quite impressively at
the front, although Zac couldn't see either of us from the position he was sat at
the table. I, however, was within grasping range of Tay's love tackle, and grasp
I did, gently manoeuvring his hard but velvety-soft erection through the fly and
starting to beat him off slowly. Tay simply re-adjusted himself in his chair,
spreading his legs to give me better access. We then continued to give Zac the
pasting he needed to get the rest of his kit off - all the time not noticing that
I was beating his brother off good under the table.

Tay's breathing started to become irregular and laboured and Zac, looking
genuinely concerned, asked "Are you alright, Tay? You look a bit weird..."

Tay answered Zac's question simply by holding tight to the edge of the table and
groaning loudly, his body shaking as four or five strong spurts of his cum
rocketed out of the end of his dick in an arc, splattering down on his Royal
Flush. I'd completely forgotten how much Tay could pump out, shocking me almost
as much as Zac who was just sat, motionless and wide-eyed.

I picked up the King of Hearts from the table and licked it clean and turning to
Tay (who still looked a little dazed from the post-orgasmic bliss he was
experiencing) kissed him, running his sweet cum into his mouth. He sucked on my
tongue hard and swallowed, moaning slightly.

He ran his hand down over my chest, rubbing my nipples and feeling the ripples of
my developing abs before wrapping his hand around my throbbing dick that'd found
it's own way out of my boxers, jacking me slowly.

He pulled out from the kiss and began necking me, gently biting, nibbling and
sucking me all over my neck, ear and cheek, depositing a thin film of his
spit-diluted cum as he went. He withdrew his tongue from my ear for the fifth
time and whispered "I want to do what we did at Alton Towers..."

I nearly came I was so excited! Tay stood up and walked over to his bed and,
reaching underneath, pulled out a shoe-box very reminiscent of the one I kept
under my bed at home.

While he was retrieving his goodies, I looked over at Zac. He'd pulled his chair
way back from the table and his tight white briefs were around his ankles. His
right hand was working his beautiful little dick as if it were the last orgasm
he'd ever be allowed to have, bouncing his ample balls up and down in their tight
sac.

"Ease off a bit, Zac: You might need it later..." I grinned. He smiled nervously
back and slowed his strokes.

"Can you do me a favour, Zac?" asked Tay, settling down on all fours between my
legs, armed with a tube of KY.

"Uh, sure, I think..."

"I want you to rim my ass while I get Dean slick. That OK with you?"

Zac looked a little embarrassed and didn't move. "Ermm, what d'ya mean?"

"He wants you to lick his arse with your tongue so I can get into him more
easily," I explained. Zac's dick jerked in his hand.

"You mean you're gonna fuck him?!" he asked, eyes lighting up.

"He sure is," said Tay. "Long and hard..."

"Coooool..." said Zac as if he were thinking out loud, and without hesitation,
knelt down behind Tay, pulling his arse cheeks apart. "You're not gonna fart in
my face, are ya?" he asked, looking slightly concerned.

"Only if you hurt me real bad..." reasoned Tay. That was enough for the
twelve-year-old - promptly plunging his face against his brother's firm buttocks.
Tay's eyes closed with sheer ecstasy and moaned as he felt the squirming tongue
lick over his rosebud. "Push, Zac - I want all of your tongue in me..." Zac
grabbed his hips, pulling Tay back against his face. He obviously succeeded,
Tay's quick intake of breath signalling their joining.

After a few moments, Tay remembered my dick in front of him and in one quick
move, took my whole length into his mouth, his nose buried in my pubic hair. He
inhaled deeply, dragging my scent into his nostrils as he started to suck, the
back of his throat and tongue cradling my sensitive head. He then pulled back and
ran his tongue between my foreskin and dick head, leaving me thrashing around in
the chair, eventually having to hold on to the arms for support.

He let my cock slip from his lips and buried his head between my legs, slowly
looking up so that his nose lifted my balls. He stuck out his tongue and licked
from the bottom of my crack to the slight valley between each testicle and then
round the base of my cock before opening his mouth wide and sucking both of my
bollocks into his warm heaven. I groaned louder, my fingertips going white with
the pressure I was putting onto the arms of the chair. Gently, Tay nibbled them
whilst running his tongue all over their hairless surface inducing a sensation
that sort of hurt, but felt so good I never wanted him to stop.

"Tay - I, I'm gonna cum..."

He immediately pulled off me, obviously wanting me to put my load in the
"correct" place before I gave him something he could style his hair with...

Meanwhile, Zac was still busy at Tay's arse-end. I could see the top of his head
bobbing gently as he tongue-fucked his older brother, and every now'n again, drop
from sight completely as he gave Tay's bollocks a tongue bath.

"Woah, Zac, that's great, man. You sure you've never done that before?"

Zac just shrugged and sat back on his heels, his little hard-on pressed tight
against his stomach. Tay squeezed some KY onto his hand and greased my shaft and
balls, and then gave the tube to me. I got a good dollop on my fingers and told
Tay to stand up and rest against the counter as if he were being searched. I then
pressed my forefinger into his backside with next to no pressure at all. That was
soon joined by my index and third fingers, and I gently twisted them round. This
all seemed a little too much for Zac - he just stood there transfixed, not even
playing with his dick. I lined myself up behind Tay and pushed forward, his
flower opening up to envelop my swollen cockhead. I held onto his hips and pushed
slowly and steadily forward, sinking my entire length into Tay. Zac moved round
to the side of us to watch the entry and summed up all our feelings: "Woah......"

Once I was "fully seated" so to speak, Tay stood up straight, his two globes of
firm muscle closing tightly round either side of my dick, pulling me further in.
I wrapped my hands around his chest and gently played with his nipples as I
kissed him on the neck and shoulders. I gently started humping my hips into him
and within moments we'd both established a common rhythm. Tay wrapped his hands
behind me and pulled on my arse trying to get as much of me into himself as he
could. As our pace increased, Zac stood in front of us, jacking his four inches
at top speed again.

The sight of his little brother getting off watching us fuck was obviously too
much for Tay: without anything touching his dick at all, he shot his wad,
splattering Zac's crotch with his essence. The feeling of his brother's warm cum
landing on him, making his dick and balls so deliciously slippy set Zac off,
returning a smaller, but still impressive, volley of cum right back at Tay. This
combined with the continued spasming of Tay's insides sent me over the edge. I
pulled Tay's hips as hard as I could against me, my cock depositing its creamy
load deep within him. Even after my balls'd been emptied, I continued to convulse
in a seemingly never-ending orgasm, some of my cum seeping around my dick and
running down my balls to drop to the floor.

Zac took a step forward and hugged us, pushing his cum-covered crotch into Tay's.
I released my grip on Tay's hips, sliding one hand to fondle Zac's arse, the
other scooping up some of their combined loads from between them. I brought my
HansonCum covered hand to my mouth and licked it clean, savouring the taste
before repeating my actions.

In the back of my mind, I still couldn't believe this was happening to me - it
had to be a dream. I dismissed this thought though as Tay's sphincter squeezed
down on my slowly softening cock. A dream could never be this good...

CHAPTER ELEVEN

My attention then turned back to Zac. "Wow! I didn't think it could possibly feel
that good," he sighed as he pulled away from Tay, strings of cum stretching
between us like some bizarre scene from "Alien".

The sweet smell of cum was strong in the room and acted like an aphrodisiac to me
- I still hadn't gone soft yet, although that was probably due in no small part
to the fact that Tay continued to squeeze down on my dick with his arse. I felt
so good, so safe inside him. I simply never wanted to be away from him again, and
kissed him on the neck.

It wasn't particularly comfortable standing as we were even though it did feel so
damn good. I gently pulled back out of Tay, my dick making a slurping noise as I
left him. Turning him round so that he was facing me, I looked deeply into his
eyes and once again felt as if I was drowning in a sea of passion.

Inevitably, our lips drew closer and we kissed again. Every time we kissed was
special to me, but for some unknown and inexplicable reason it just kept getting
better and better: I simply couldn't get enough of him! I'd never grow tired of
the feelings he gave to my cock as he squeezed on it with his arse, or to me in
general when we kissed and touched each other as we did now, Tay's cum-covered
dick and balls slipping over my own.

We cleaned ourselves up and, for "safety's" sake, got dressed again. Zac, Tay and
myself then settled down for the evening with a few cokes and True Lies, me sat
between Tay's legs on a bean bag, my head resting against his chest. Zac, sat on
a bean bag all by himself soon got lonely and scooted over next to us, Tay
pulling him in close.

The last thing I remembered was seeing Arnie and that fat bloke walking into
"Omega Sector - The Last Line of Defence". I'd slipped into a deep, deep sleep...

= = = = =

I was woken up by the sound of a siren. As my eyes opened, I saw the trace of a
blue flashing light flicking through the curtains. Tay stirred a moment after I
did. "What the..."

He got up and pulled open a curtain just enough to peep through. "Hey, Dean -
there's an Ambulance here! C'mon!" he said, pulling on his AirWalks and leaping
out the door. Zac just stayed curled up, fast asleep on the beanbag. The
evening's excitement must've been a little too much for him...

Sure enough, just outside was an ambulance, two paramedics legging it towards the
stage entrance, Taylor and myself racing after them in hot pursuit. Once inside,
it wasn't immediately apparent as to what'd happened. Ike was on stage, looking
up into the gantries in the roof. "What's happened?" I asked.

"One of the lighting guys has fallen off of the catwalk and hit his head on a
lighting bar - he's out cold..."

I leapt off the stage and ran to the cluster of people (including the paramedics)
standing in the middle of the floor, looking up into the ceiling, trying to
shield their eyes from the harsh fluorescent lights.

"...and he's the only one who can climb..." one of the riggers was saying.

"So how in God's name do we get 'im down, then?" asked one of the paramedics.

As my eyes became more accustomed to the lights, I could see a guy hung slumped
in his harness. From what I could tell, he'd been working too far from where his
rope was attached, slipped and swung pendulum-fashioned into one of the uprights,
his head taking rather too closer a look...

"Well I'm sure as hell not goin' up there! Gotta be at least forty foot..." the
other paramedic said.

"You got a spare harness?" I asked.

"Huh?"

"I said, 'Have you got a spare climbing harness?'" I was met with nothing but
silence and a couple of rather strange looks. "Well, do you have a harness or
not?"

"Uh, yeah - over there by the side of the stage..."

I ran over to the bundle of climbing gear he was on about and pulled out a bright
pink harness. MM., tasteful... Pulling it on, it soon occurred to me it was way
too big for me to use safely. "Tay! Camera a sec..."

As Taylor approached, the look on his face turned from concern to disbelief.
"You're not even considering goin' up there..."

"Shush for a moment and give me your belt."

"Huh?"

"Your belt! C'mon - if that guy manages to tip at all he could fall out of his
harness! I need your belt!"

"OK..." said Tay, undoing the buckle and pulling it through the loops on his
jeans.

Grabbing it from him, I looped it under one of the leg straps, round the waste
band and round the other leg strap.

"OK - now pull it as tight as it'll go. I can't reach back there..."

As Tay pulled on the buckle, I felt the waste band and leg straps tighten to
something that was near enough correct. For those of you who don't know, the best
way to check if a harness is correctly fitted is to look at the size of the bulge
in your trousers - honest! The leg straps tend to push your dick and balls
forward if they're tight enough. Tay noticed this and just smiled...

I grabbed a couple of ropes, a climbing tail and two carabinas and legged it up
the stairs at the back of the stage. Once up there, the only way I could tell
where he was was by the group of people on the floor. I found a suitably secure
mounting on the walkway and tied one end of a rope to it, chucking the rest over
the side. My heart stopped for a moment as I thought the rope might hit the guy
dangling like a worm on a hook - thankfully it missed, but only by a foot or so.

I wrapped the climbing tail round another support point and clipped one of the
carabinas onto it, threading the other rope through it as I did so. With any
luck, the guys on the ground could belay for me if the abseil rope decided to go
for a holiday under the extra weight. Now I now these ropes can take the weight
of a Volvo (don't ask how I know - I just do, OK?!) but the ones I was using
looked decidedly worn. I wasn't going to put my faith in just one of them...

I hooked the abseil rope through the pan-handle on the front of my harness and
tied the belay rope directly into the harness itself. I yelled over to the guys
on the ground to grab the belay rope and hold on tight and be ready to grab it if
I started to go too fast. Taking a deep breath, I climbed backwards over the
gantry into nothingness, the nearest foothold now being forty feet or so below
me... I moved my right hand away from my body, so allowing the rope to slide
through the pan-handle and I started my descent.

The guy I was aiming for was now about five feet directly below me. I slowly
approached him and with my free left hand, grabbed his supporting rope. As I got
level with him, I suddenly realised that this guy was not much older than myself,
I'd have said seventeen-ish. He wasn't half bad looking either - ear-length dyed
blonde hair (the roots were starting to show) in a centre-parting and a couple of
earrings were the first things I noticed, shortly followed by the square jaw
line. There was quite a gash on his forehead where he'd decided to argue with the
support strut, and a couple of bruises on his arms. Apart from that, he looked
OK, but I couldn't tell if he'd broken anything. I pushed my two forefingers on
to the artery in his neck and felt a good, strong pulse. His breathing was slow,
but regular. At least he was alive...

I clipped the second carabina onto his belt, and then clipped his existing one
onto mine. We were now literally joined at the hips. Gently, I undid the
precarious knot that was holding his entire weight. He suddenly dropped by about
8 inches as the slack was taken up by our respective harnesses: I was ready for
this but the blokes on the ground were not - a sudden gasp going up.

I checked the ropes one final time and released the rest of the knot that was
supporting him - he was now resting completely on my rope. I gently moved my
right hand away from my body again and began the agonisingly slow descent to the
floor. Under normal circumstances this would've taken about ten or fifteen
seconds if I were by myself, but with an extra passenger (possibly a badly hurt
one) a much leisurely descent was called for.

A couple of minutes later as my feet were approaching head height I heard Ike's
voice.

"Oh my God.... ANDY!!!"

"OK, guys, get ready to take his weight - he can't stand up by himself at the
moment..." It needed saying as everyone was still slightly shocked. The
paramedics soon came round and supported his body as my feet touched good ol'
Terra Firma. As soon as I could, I wrenched the harness off my hips - the
combination of it being the wrong size and Andy's weight on the front had cut off
the blood supply to my legs...

I handed the belt back to Tay. "You'll have to teach me to do that some time,"

"Abseiling's easy..."

"No, I meant show me how to put a harness on," he said, discreetly cupping my
crotch. It was all I could do not to moan out loud...

My mind was brought back to reality by the sound of Ike's obviously concerned
voice.

"He'll be OK, won't he? Jesus, Andy..."

Just as he said that, Andy moaned and twitched a bit. "He's coming round," yelled
the rigger, the paramedics giving him a real good no shit, Sherlock sort of look.
"What's his name?"

"Uh, Andrew. Andrew Birkett..."

"Andrew? Andrew, can you hear me?"

"Mmmmmph..."

"Andrew, I want you to open your eyes for me..."

"Nnngh, just another five minutes, dad? Pleeeese...."

The paramedic gently opened each of his eyes, shining his pen torch into each of
them to check for a pupil reflex.

"They're slightly dilated, but responding normally enough. Nothing's broken.
We'll take him in just in case he starts to show signs of concussion."

"Can I stay with him?" asked Ike. He really had gone pale as if all the life'd
been drained from his very soul. He knelt down and took Andy's hand, squeezing it
and talking to him to let him know he was there.

I suddenly realised the mental torment Ike was going through: Secretly, he'd
loved Andy and he'd never told him so. He could have lost him. Forever. I looked
over at Tayles and I could see from the expression on his face that he'd realised
exactly the same thing. Yet another bond was formed silently between us. Neither
of us had realised true love until we'd lost it (albeit only temporarily as Tay
went back to the states) but now, each of us witnessing a potentially more tragic
situation as third parties, we realised it must never, ever be allowed to happen
to us...

The paramedics carefully loaded Andy on to a stretcher and wheeled him out to the
ambulance, Ike in tow.

= = = = =

Back in the trailer, we found Zac still fast asleep on his beanbag, looking as
cute as ever. "Look's like Psycho Boy's had a bit too much fun for one day..."

"Does he try to be cute, or can't he help it,"

"He hates being called cute," smiled Tay.

"Yeah, but how can he deny it?" I said, looking his face all over. I noticed that
his nose was ever so slightly crooked - hardly enough to notice, but he was under
my microscope at the moment... "Did he break his nose or something?

"Uh, sort of..."

"How d'you mean?"

"It was my fault - I'd been watching the Animaniacs and decided to try their
'rock on the end of a see-saw and jump on the other end' thing. Works quite well.
The only problem was that Zac caught the stone with his face..."

It seems strange, but it never even occurred to me that Hanson was, in reality,
just a bunch of kids like me. They fooled around, played games, impersonated
their favourite cartoon characters... I was surprised, but pleasantly so. An
anecdote as simple as that put a whole new perspective on them: they played music
- it's what they were good at and loved to do - but they just happened to be
famous at the same time!

I picked Zac up and laid him on Tay's bed (I reasoned that as it was a cold night
he'd probably get cold and join us at some point anyway) and pulled off his
shoes, socks and jeans and then puled the duvet up around him. Tay and myself
then undressed and got into his bed, Zac to my right, Tay on my left. Tay wrapped
his arms around me and we kissed lightly, safe in the feeling of our
togetherness.

The aftershocks of my abseil, the shopping trip and "everything else" had left me
very tired, and I slowly slipped into a deep, contented sleep, an equally tired
Hanson on either side of me. I'll be with you in your dreams...

CHAPTER TWELVE

Zac was not subtle. Not in any way, shape or form even if he tried really hard.

I was just reliving the moment we first met on the EuroStar those few months ago
- Tay sat listening to a walkman and me acting the stereotypical, awe-struck fan,
struggling for words and trying to get him to sign a napkin. I was just getting
to the bit where I'd chucked my dad's cup of tea in his lap and he was pulling
his jeans off when I felt a heavy weight land on my chest with extreme force.

"MOR... NIN'... DEAN..." yelled Zac as he bounced on my chest with each syllable.
I couldn't believe how heavy 96lbs of Zac could feel at half past nine in the
morning. However, I wasn't the only one to get the Zac Attack. "GET... UP...
TAY... LOR...!!"

"Mmmmmph... Piss off, Zac..." mumbled Tay, pulling his pillow over his head. Zac
was on a mission, though. Instead of sitting astride Tay, he pulled his knees
together to create more pressure.

"GET...YOUR...LAZY...ASS...OUTA...BED!!!"

Seeing he wasn't going to get any more kip this morning, Tay decided to do
something about his little brother ordering him about. In one fluid movement, Tay
grabbed the pillow that he had over his head and moved it in a powerful arc,
connecting quite successfully with the side of Zac's head.

This caught Zac so much by surprise he fell sideways on top of me and promptly
rolled of the edge of the bed with a thump. A couple of seconds later, he
reappeared brandishing the bean bag he'd been sleeping on last night and
attempted a swing at Tay. However, the bag was heavier than he thought and as he
swung, lost his balance and missed Tay completely. However he got me with 100%
accuracy.

"Woah, shit - sorry. Dean..."

I didn't even wait for the explanation as I grabbed my own pillow and whacked him
hard over the top of the head and then in his side as he crouched over. I jumped
off the bed and "fought" him all the way down to his end of the trailer,
eventually cornering him. Zac grinned and, grabbing my bollocks gently, scooted
between my legs. Now it was my turn to be surprised. Thankfully I had backup:

"Hey, Zac! Catch!" Yelled Tay as he threw a bunch of keys towards him. Reflexes
took over and Zac dropped the pillow he was holding to catch the keys. Big
mistake. Tay charged at him with the bean bag Zac'd tried to use on Tay, knocking
him backwards onto his bed. Tay immediately jumped on top of him and pinned his
arms with his knees.

"Give up?"

"NEVER!"

In another slick move, Tay flipped Zac over and pulled one of his arms up tight
against his back. "NOW d'you give up?"

"Hell no..."

Tay yanked his arm slightly higher.

"Arrgh! OK, OK I give up..."

He leapt of Zac straight away and proceeded to get dressed. I got the impression
this was a daily routing that they'd obviously got down to a tee...

"Whaddya want for breakfast?" he asked me.

"Um, dunno - Where are we eating?"

"That little cafeteria up in the Foyer - the whole team eats there in the
morning..."

We proceeded to have a shower and get dressed. Roller blades were attached to
three pairs of feet and we headed off to breakfast. It was a sharp, crisp morning
outside - a thin film of frost covered everything causing the sun to reflect off
every surface possible. All I could see of Tay and Zac infront of me were two
silhouettes, a pair of ponytails swinging from side as they skated.

We rolled into the cafe and a huge cheer went up - apparently news of my little
abseil had spread somewhat. A guy in his mid forties came over to me and hugged
me tight and then vigorously shook my hand, words of thanks flying from his
mouth. Apparently, this was Jon Birkett, Andy's dad.

"I just wanna say thankyou for saving my son's life... He's all I have left after
my wife died last year.. I... I... THANKYOU!" I didn't know what to say - I did
what I had to...

"What the hell was all that about? And where's Ikeypooh - He's usually up by
now..." asked Zac, a little confused.

Tay explained to him about my leaping off a gantry with nothing but a piece of
string to support me, and how I managed to catch Andy just as the buckle on his
harness broke...

"Wow, really?" asked Zac, wide eyed.

"'Course not really," grinned Tay. "But he did abseil down and bring Andy back to
safety..."

"Why didn't you wake me up?!" asked Zac, disappointed to have missed all the
action.

"We didn't want to disturb your beauty sleep," I replied. "You need it..."

Zac tried to kick my shin under the table, but instead hit his leg on the
crossbar of the table, much to our amusement. Just then, the Range Rover puled up
outside the caf’ and Ike got out the back. He then ran round to the opposite
side, and helped Andy out. He still looked a little shaky on his feet and had a
large bandage wrapped like a bandanna round his head, but otherwise seemed OK. As
they walked in, Andy's dad hugged him and showered him with kisses, telling him
how much he loved him. Wow - I'd never seen such a display of genuine father-son
concern before...

Ike and Andy walked over to our table and sat down. He held out his hand and I
shook it. "I take it you're Dean - thanks, man... I can't remember exactly what
happened, but thanks..."

"Hey, no problem," I said, visibly blushing: I hated all this attention, it just
wasn't me.

As a conversation got going, I began to notice Ike and Andy's body language: they
were sitting a lot closer together than would normally be deemed "acceptable" for
two teens (then again, so were Tay and myself) and they had no problems about
casually touching each other, again a lot more that 'normal'. When Andy looked
away for a moment, I raised an eyebrow at Ike. He smiled widely back and nodded
his head. He was a completely different person to the guy I'd nearly castrated
the day before; happy and glowing and enthusiastic again. Not at all the moody,
depressed teenager with long greasy hair that had been the bane of Zac's and
Tay's lives for the last few months.

They were noticing it also and seemed a lot more happier around him than they had
previously, now laughing and joking, and not having to keep their guard up all
the time. I felt slightly sorry for Zac, though. He didn't have a partner and
seemed a little saddened by the fact that both of his older brothers had pulled
and all he had was his left hand...

As the conversation continued, it turned out that Andy, as well as being one of
the lighting riggers, was also a camera operator for the performance. Because the
Arena was so large, video screens were required to allow people in the tiered
seats around the edge and those on the floor at the back to get any sort of a
decent view of their favourite group.

Also, as you probably already know, the Hanson brothers are video freaks -
filming almost anything and everything they do. Well, the concerts over the next
few days were going to be recorded for "library footage", and also for possible
use in their next video. However, Andy didn't feel well enough to do his job
properly and a replacement would need to be found.

"Dean's a bit handy with a camera, aren't you..." volunteered Tay. I was forced
to admit that a film myself and a couple of friends made a few months back
entitled "The Secret Life of the Badger" won an award from the BBC's Country File
programme.

As it turned out, one evening when we were filming, a pair of badger baiters
turned up and decided to have a go at our badgers. We were scared shitless in
case they saw us, but carried on filming none the less and later submitted the
film to the police as evidence. We were informed a few weeks later that our tape
had helped convict the two men, and had been sentenced to a short time in
prison...

"Well," said Andy, "looks as if I've found my replacement cameraman..."

"What do I have to do?" I asked, never actually having filmed a 'live'
performance before.

"It's easy - just come to this morning's rehearsal and do whatever the director
tells you to do through your headset. Just stay in focus, on time and out of the
way and you'll be fine..."

Well, it sounded easy enough...

An hour or so later, everyone was in the Arena getting ready for this evening's
performance. Since last night, two of those aerial cameras (you know, the ones on
huge hydraulic lifts) had been set up along with four "microcams" - two on Zac's
drums, one on Tay's keyboards and one clamped to the side of Ike's microphone
stand.

I met the director with Andy as he explained what had happened. He seemed a
fairly reasonable sort of bloke and after realising that there was no way he'd be
able to get another cameraman in time, willingly agreed to let me do Andy's job.

I was given a medium-sized Sony DV camera with a cunning box of tricks on the
back - as well as recording to its own tape, it used a tiny radio transmitter to
send the pictures back to the vision mixer, as well as keeping me in contact with
the director. As a consequence, my brief was to get where the other cameras
couldn't go - the middle of the stage, behind the stage (to follow them as they
walked on) in the roof and even out in the audience if one of the brothers
decided to pick someone to come up on stage with them.

Things went well - the entire show was scripted, but in a way to allow Ike, Tay
or Zac to modify it if they wanted during the evening. It was also a first in the
sense that they had never performed "At Christmas" live before...

"OK - you ready, Zac?"

"Yeah - just get on with it!"

I couldn't believe how good Tay's opening piano piece sounded, so full and rich -
the emotion simply oozed out of the speakers... The first verse went fine, but
the chorus came tumbling down with their harmony bit

"ZAC! You're late again!"

"I'm not late! You were later than me..."

"Would you two quit arguing?" interrupted Tay. "Let's just play it through first,
OK? We can nit pick later..."

Once they'd got going, I was very impressed by how good it sounded considering
they were performing live.

Can't you feel it changin' Sense the anticipation You can tell we're almost there
Precious time we're takin' Memories we're makin' There's Christmas in the air...

Apparently, the computers'd been turned off as one of them had crashed, rendering
itself unusable. This didn't seem to phase them at all and as far as my untrained
ear could tell, they were doing damn well!

At Christmas, Christmas No matter who you are or how far you've come This is
where you belong At Christmas, Christmas...

During this performance, the aerial cameras were floating around and I was
getting assorted shots of both Tay and Ike, Zac being covered by one of the other
guys. Whenever I glanced away from my viewfinder, Zac was permanently singing,
mugging and generally performing to his camera, and not to where the audience
would be, but I guess it was just his style.

I was then asked to get a head-on shot of Tay by the director, so I moved round
and stood in front of him. Tay was too preoccupied playing his keyboard to notice
I'd turned up, but when he did look up, he gave me a flash of his killer smile
that I knew would've provoked a huge scream from the floor of lust-filled girls,
had they been here. Thankfully they weren't and I got to enjoy it all by
myself...

The rehearsal broke for lunch at about a quarter to three in the afternoon. I
didn't realise how quickly the time'd gone I'd been so busy - I then realised how
bloody hungry I was! A fried breakfast and a couple of rounds of toast can only
last so long...

As we walked over to the stage door, Ike was conspicuous by his absence, and
mentioned this to Tay. Looking around, we eventually spotted him: He was sat on
the bottom step of the flight of stairs that ran up to the roof, Andy sat next to
him. As my eyes got used to the darker back stage area, I could see they were
holding hands. Suddenly, Ike leaned over and kissed Andy full on the lips. Andy
was obviously not expecting this and it took him off guard slightly. Ike
immediately looked worried, thinking he'd gone a bit too far, too fast. He
needn't have worried, though - Andy just pulled him closer and they began
snogging good and proper...

My heart froze as I looked at Zac. Leaping over to him, I clamped the palm of my
hand down hard over his mouth, just managing to prevent whatever he was about to
yell at the two lovebirds in. Keeping my hand over his mouth so I had him in a
sort of head lock, I began walking towards the door. Tay grabbed my free hand and
squeezed it, I just smiled back. I wasn't sure, but I think it was a 'than you'
for sorting his brother out...

As we walked out into the cold December air, my mind wandered back to what I'd
said to Ike earlier. I was pleased he'd 'bitten the bullet' so to speak and,
thankfully, it'd worked. I couldn't have imagined what he'd be like now if Andy
had refused him. But he hadn't, and Ike now had a very special friend he could
talk to about anything and everything; and I'd guess the same would be true for
Andy as well...

I released Zac from my headlock and mussed his hair a bit to show there was no
hard feelings. He grinned back at me, but he seemed a bit subdued when compared
to his 'normal' Psycho Boy state. I couldn't be sure, but he seemed a bit upset
he hadn't had the chance to meet someone his own age yet. Little did he know that
that would all change that very evening...

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

For the rest of the afternoon, Tay, Ike, Zac, Andy and myself just hung around,
not doing a whole lot. We hit upon the idea of teaching Andy to rollerblade, so
we strapped a pair on his feet and a crash helmet to his head and guided him out
to the car park. Considering that this was his first attempt, he did surprisingly
well, managing to skate practically un-aided after the first five minutes or so.

All too soon, the stage manager came out and gave us a bollocking, saying we
should be getting ready for the performance. Looking at my watch, I saw it was
five minutes to six - only about an hour to go!

We all headed off towards the dressing rooms (another trailer) and watched as
Ike, Tay and Zac got ready. I wish I had the resources to get a wardrobe like
they had together - Zac ended up in a pair of tight white jeans and a
near-fluroescent yellow tank top. Tay wore a white Adidas T-shirt with twin black
stripes down the arms alog with a pair of very baggy maroon trousers and his
favourite CATs. Ike wentt for the biker look: Black jeans, plain white T-shirt
and a black leather jacket.

By this time it was T minus thirty minutes and counting, and everyone was nervous
- even Andy who wasn't actually doing anything! (Infact this probably compounded
the problem - If you don't have anything to do, then you have more time to
worry...)

I decided I'd better go and get my camera ready. I too'd changed my clothes but
into something a little less conspicuous: Black jeans and a long sleeved black
shirt. For the first time since I'd been with Tay, I actually tied my hair back,
revealing the undercut I'd got. I'd done this as it allowed me to be casual when
I wanted, and relatively smart looking when required. Although not required to
look smart this evening, it kept my hair out of the viewfinder!

I told everyone to "Break a leg" and kissed Tay good luck. I headed to the vision
mixing room and picked up my camera and a couple of spare batteries, the director
giving me a few extra ideas about the sorts of shots he wanted. To my horror, the
first thing he wanted me to do was walk into the middle of the stage and wave at
the crowd. With any lick, they'd see themslves on the huge screens either side of
the stage and wave back. I took a deep breath and headed towards the stage door.

Before I even got close, the thing that impressed me was the sheer volume of the
crowd - and Hanson wasn't even on stage yet! When I opened the stage door, the
sound waves hit me like I'd run into a brick wall. You didn't just hear the
sound, you experienced it with every sense your body posessed, and then some!
Words simply fail to express the shere enormity of the situation. To give you
some idea, my camera's VU meters had already dropped off the far end of the scale
and, if they'd had their way, would've punched a hole in the side of the
viewfinder!

I braced myself and walked up the short flight of steps to the stage. Peering
round the wings, I could see nothing but an ungulating, swirling, flowing mass of
people, all of them without exception here for one purpose and one purpose only:
to experience the child prodigies known as Hanson...

Pulling myself together, I decided to "jump" and stepped out onto the stage. As
soon as I became visible, the volume level doubled, that in itself was something
to be experienced. Here was I, an unknown, standing