DISCLAIMER: O-town, Backstreet Boys and N'Sync are all bands that I don't know. I am not implying anything here. This is strictly created in my fantasies. I wish it was actually happening but I highly doubt it. I am in no way affiliated with any of their records companies and anything to do with these bands. If homosexual content is illegal for you to read or you don't like it then please leave.
The only thing I have remotely in common with these guys is that Ashley Parker Angel and I were born on the same exact day-August 1, 1981.
FIRST THINGS FIRST: Well hey everyone, I'm back. The last update to this story was over a year ago. I thought about trying to bring it back a thousand times but a lot has changed in my life since then. I finished college, got a real business job, moved into my own apartment, took a 6 month hiatus from the internet, and then did a lot of soul searching. The boy band craze has died down and I will address that in the story but I think I have created another little world for these characters so I'm going to keep running with it and see where it takes me.
Special thanks to Joel for always keeping in touch. He truly remained a friend in weird times for me. Someone who I used to think of as competition has turned into a great support and I appreciate it. He encouraged me to start this story back up and I appreciate it. This is dedicated to him.
Pytn18@hotmail.com for comments and suggestions or just to talk.
The Next Step - Chapter 1
Jacob shut the car off and stared straight ahead. A thousand things ran through his head and he just couldn't seem to sort them all out. Just when he was pulling his life back together, just when he thought he had all the support in the world the one structure of help he has always had since this crazy adventure started was now gone.
He was trying so hard to be strong but he just couldn't. He broke down and lost it. He began to cry uncontrollably, tears soaking his black suit he was wearing. He tried to pull himself together and get out of the car but he felt like he was glued to the seat. His legs were heavy and his hands were gripped to the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles began to turn white.
A knock came from the window which startled Jacob so much that he jumped. He quickly composed himself as best he could and looked up. He saw Ashley, his tear-stained face looking as if it had just gone through the same emotions. Ashley pulled the latch and opened the door. He extended a hand to his friend. Jacob clasped onto it and pulled himself out of the car. It was as if he was taking a new step in his life as he stepped out of the car.
"Come on bud let's do this. It's our time to support him." Ashley said.
This had been a crazy year for Ashley as well, losing his brother yet gaining a son. Watching his best friend get married only to end the night in tragedy. He walked with Jacob side by side to the gate which marked the entrance of a place of remembrance for lost loved ones.
They both walked up to a tombstone, the two of them being the first ones there as the rest of the cars piled into the parking lot. Ashley stopped and made the sign of the cross and began to pray. Jacob took one step further and dropped to his knees and put his head down.
The tombstone read "Clive Davis, Born April 4, 1934, Died May 4, 2004". Underneath that it read "A mentor, a friend, a father to many"
Jacob began to cry again. He couldn't keep it in. He used to never cry, try and show that he's too tough. The last time he cried was when AJ confronted him about his drug use and now he was crying again. It felt soothing and cleansing to just let it out. Speaking of AJ he slowly walked in behind his boyfriend and put his arm around him and pulled him up and into a hug and let him cry against his shoulder. After a few minutes he pulled him away off to the side so he can try and comfort and console him.
"He's taking this really hard huh?" Nick said as he walked up next to his husband and took his hand to hold.
"Jake was always really close with Clive. They had a good relationship." Ashley said. Ashley just stared ahead at the endless amounts of tombstones.
Nick could tell Ashley was trying to hold it in. He admired how strong he was. He admired how strong his husband has always been. He attempted to save Nick's life twice, once pushing him out of the way of a falling stage light eventually sending himself to the hospital and then again as he jumped in front of what he thought was a bullet from Lou Pearlman. It eventually turned out to be taken care of by a nearby policeman but just the thought of him giving his own life up to save Nick just on instinct was heroic.
Nick pulled Ashley into a hug and felt him clutch against his body just for being there. Ashley had tears in his eyes.
The service went on as everyone else filed in for the ceremony. The normal words were said by the pastor and it was as if no one was even listening. They all just seemed to stare ahead and wonder what the future held. No one knew just as no one expected this turn of events to take place. Everyone knew however that things would be different.
Josh Turner, choreographer for the J Records label and most notably O-town unlocked the door and threw his keys down on the table.
`What a crazy week' Josh thought to himself.
He had caused a lot of trouble this week. Usually mild- mannered, he had gone out of his way to break up one of the most successful pop acts of all time. He also may have just jump started the solo career of the man who took his boyfriend away from him. Sounds crazy right? It definitely was and Josh knew it. It was a spiteful act to get back at JC and it hadn't exactly felt as good as he thought it would.
Josh looked around his house that was bought for him by the label management. It was everything any 23 year kid could want. Josh still considered himself a kid. He had no idea how he had done all this at such a young age. O-town saw something in him and he responded ten-fold. He had everything going for him yet felt like he had nothing inside. He had all these amazing things in his life and no one to share it with. There was still a gigantic hole inside of him that all the success and material things in the world couldn't fill.
He walked around aimlessly and threw himself down on his bed. He stared over at his dresser which still had a picture of him and his ex boyfriend, right after JC's haircut as a sign of him pulling his life back together. A sense of anger came over him and he grabbed the picture frame and was about to throw it across the room but something stopped him. He looked at it again sighed and put it back on his dresser. He had gone through this routine just about every day.
He just wanted to sleep the rest of his life away. He put his head down but couldn't close his eyes. He had way too much going through his head. Sleep was out of the question. He got up and headed towards the kitchen and opened up the fridge. Not much food at all, but something else was there. He picked up a beer that was leftover from a previous party and took a look at it.
Josh liked to party but never liked to drink too much, always trying to watch the figure. He had six pack abs from being a dancer his whole life and didn't want to lose it. He was sick of following the mold however. It was all just too much for him and he opened up the beer and began to drink it.
Nick and Ashley walked back into their Tampa, Florida house and sat down on the couch. Everything was silent. You could hear the clock ticking on the wall. Ashley just sort of stared through the wall. Nick reached out and grabbed his hand and held it. He looked over at his husband and felt comfortable. They were just looking at each other when the door opened again and Donna walked in with Johnny and Randy.
Johnny, now about 3 years old, had finally mastered the art of walking which eventually turned into running as he scampered over to the couch, excited to see his fathers.
"Daddy! Daddy!" Johnny yelled out as he jumped on the couch and hugged Ashley.
The young boy grabbed onto his adopted father and Ashley put his arms around him. The first smile in days came to his face. He wrapped his arms around his son and felt good. He looked at his son and knew that it would be alright. He remembered Randy's funeral as he looked at his long lost twin brother in the casket. He had support and he could lean on his family for help. It was the only thing he knew to do, it was all anyone could ask of him.
He pulled out of the hug with his son.
"Hey Johnny, who loves you more than your daddies?" Ashley asked
Johnny thought about it for a second and then smiled.
"Nobody!" he said with a giggle as he played with his blond hair.
"Let's go get ice cream baby boy." Ashley said as he picked him up and walked to the kitchen.
Nick watched all of this with love and pride in his heart and a smile on his face.
All three bands had a meeting today. They were in no how related and all just happened to fall on the same day. Each band had the future to address and a few things to take care of.
The Backstreet Boys walked in and all sat down at a large board room style table. They all looked around at each other. It had been 10 long years of touring, performing, singing, dancing and promoting. They all seemed to just know what this meeting was going to be about.
John Kieran, their manager for the past few tours looked at all of them and knew where this was headed.
"Ok guys I'd like to get a gauge from you guys on how much longer you guys think we can do this. Let's be honest.it's getting harder and harder to keep this going and the way things look from my end I'm not sure that all of you want to continue. The "Passing the Torch" tour was great. Why not go out on a great note?"
Each of them just looked at each other, none wanting to speak up, each knowing it was the truth and afraid that if they spoke it may truly start the beginning of the end.
For a local band down the street in a not too far away meeting room, it was only the end of the beginning however. Mike and Mike, two guys that have brought this band through everything all the way from Making The Band, presented some changes that needed to be made.
"Ok everyone, here's the breakdown of it. Now that Clive is gone a few things need to change that he actually proposed to us right before his death." Mike began.
All the guys took a deep breath.
"Clive's one wish was always that if you guys were couples then it helped us not hurt us. We are going to honor that wish in his memory. We didn't agree with it at first but until it hurts us then we won't address it."
A sigh of relief went over the band.
"One thing that does have to change however is the type of songs we put out there. The boy band thing is going downhill so what we're gonna do is get a little more rock based, which seems to be coming back a bit. Ashley's new song "From the Damage" is a perfect example because it features instruments and guitar riffs, along with a bit of an edge to it but still appeals to our target crowd. It will be the first single off of the new album."
The entire room cheered with "Nick work Ash" being the main expression said.
As that meeting continued looking much towards the future another band a few hours away was having the complete opposite meeting.
N'Sync or the band formerly known as N'Sync sat around a few couches in a studio. Johnny Wright spoke to them.
"Well guys after this long ride, I'm going to be honest with all of you. I'm not sure how this got out into the open but it's time to bring it up. Record sales have died down for us, morale has been low throughout the group and I am managing Justin to a solo act and have a few songs recorded already. This is the end boys. I'm sorry" Johnny said.
You could see the disgust on some of the guys' faces. Chris put his head down on the table. It was an ugly end for a group that had it all. Greed got in the way however and now it was over.
Three bands meeting the future. One ending on a bad note, one ending on a good note and the other one just beginning. This was how it was going to be.
Dan and Devon got back into the car after looking at about the third house that day. They wanted a nice one in Florida somewhere that they could call their own but it was getting frustrating. Every house they looked at was nice and with the money between the two of them that just wasn't a concern but it had to feel right. They didn't want to just take some big house just because they could. They wanted somewhere that they could build more memories and share with possibly someday a child.
Dan sighed and Devon knew it was starting to get to him.
"What's the matter Danny?" He asked
"That one didn't seem right either." Dan said
"I agree with you." Devon replied
"I just don't know Dev, we've been doing this all week. Maybe we won't be able to find a house that suits us perfectly and we won't like where we live." Danny said with a frown on his face as he began to drive back towards Devon's apartment.
"I'm sure we'll find a place that suits us fine baby. I wouldn't worry too much about it." Devon said trying to comfort him.
"But what if we don't? What if we end up living in some slum because it's the only place that feels right?" Dan said
Devon just laughed at his new husband. He reached out his arm and rested it on the back of Dan's neck.
"Baby, I promise you we'll find something nice for us and somewhere that we can raise our future son or daughter" Devon said.
Dan looked over and smiled. Devon always knew how to make him feel better.
"Thanks Dev, I needed that." Dan said with a sigh of relief.
"We'll go back out tomorrow and look again but for now let's have a little fun." Devon said.
He leaned over while Dan was still driving and began to kiss the side of Dan's neck. It sent shivers down his husband's back just being touched by his husband. He was so caring of him and he was still hot as hell for him.
Devon kissed his neck and then lifted up Dan's shirt a bit and began to kiss his dark nipples. Dan was getting so hard just from the excitement of him doing this while he was driving. While doing this Devon unzipped Dan's pants and pulled out what he was looking for.
Dan's cock was now at full attention with the head becoming even a bit purple due to how long it had been for him. He wanted Devon to go down on him so bad knowing his husband was extremely good at it. He didn't have to wait long however as Devon started jerking him off while kissing those nipples.
He moved his hand at a rapid pace just teasing him until eventually finally replacing it with his mouth. He didn't waste any time at all, no foreplay because he knew Dan needed this. At the same time Dan was trying to watch the road as best he could but not doing a very good job as he wanted to close his eyes so bad but he couldn't.
Devon's head moved up and down at an incredible pace with Dan trying his hardest to watch where he was going. Just when Dan thought Devon was going as fast as he could he kicked it into high gear. It was all just too much and he knew it wasn't long before he was going to shoot. He flew right past the exit for Devon's apartment but he didn't care.
By now Dan was swerving all over the road and with one last thrust Dan shot everything he had into his husband's waiting mouth. Devon swallowed it all like a pro and then slowly brought his rhythm down to ease his partner. Just as Dan was coming down off Cloud 9 he heard sirens behind him. He quickly glanced into the rearview mirror and saw blue and red lights and high beams.
"Fuck!" Dan said as he quickly put his junk back in his pants and pulled over to the side of the road. After running his plates the cop slowly made his way towards the car.
"License and registration please." The cop said.
"Sure here ya go." Dan said as he handed it to him. "What seems to be the problem today sir?" Dan asked acting dumb.
The cop looked over the paperwork and looked back at him.
"You seemed to be swerving a bit." The cop said as he looked in the car to make sure there was no alcohol.
"Oh, I'm sorry about that sir. I dropped my water bottle and went to go pick it up and must have swerved. I apologize for that." Dan said with an angelic smile.
The cop kept looking at him with a funny stare.
"I'll be right back." He said.
"Damnit the last thing I need right now is a ticket" Dan said.
The cop strolled back after grabbing something out of his car and went up to the open window.
"Can you make it out to Kelly?" The cop said.
Dan looked confused and then realized the cop recognized who they were. Dan just laughed to himself.
"Yeah no problem" He said as he signed it and then passed it on to Devon who in turn signed it as well.
"Thanks, have a nice day gentleman" The cop said as he handed Dan back his license and got back in his car and drove away.
"Wow that was a close one." Dan said.
"You're telling me. He didn't even notice there's no water bottle in here." Devon said.
Both men laughed and drove home.
TO BE CONTINUED.
<<< Pytn18@hotmail.com for comments and suggestions. Well that felt good. I hope I can get my writing legs back underneath me. Let me know what you think about getting this story back up and running. It's been a while. >>>
---ND---