Wow, I made it so far so fast! Phew... okay, special thanks to James, Jeremi and AJ, my fellow writers of this particularly unique series. And a huge thank you to Rune, Aeoros, Mawsy and Chuck, my four great friends. Hi to Susz and Mags (what happened to you people? You've gone silent...). Anything else I forgot? Hmm... nope, I think that's it. Comments and suggestions to dylan@celticwarrior.com.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Okay, stories for great reading. All stories are from boybands unless otherwise noted:
Mutant High (Celebrities) The Love We Have Shadows of the Past Lance's Search The One Brian and Justin My New Life My JC Powers That Be Nsync and the Vamps Life with Justin Loving Nick Lachey Josh and Just Curly and Josh BSB Nsync Chronicles (Shameless advertising) Nsync Saga
And there are so much more I can't list them, otherwise there'd be more list than actual story. Just keep searching around and you'll find something. There's something for everyone here on Nifty! :)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Disclaimer: This story is fictional, and says nothing about the orientations of any member of the boyband N Sync, or any other character, celebrity or otherwise. If you are under 18 or 21, or live in a country where it's illegal to read something like this, leave, though I seriously doubt you will. If you don't like the idea of two guys in a relationship with each other, or having sex with each other, what are you doing here in the first place?
Though maybe none of the characters will be appearing, ideas taken from these places will show up:
Buffy, Copyright 20th Century Fox, Created by Joss Whedon X-Men, Copyright Marvel Comics, Created by Stan Lee Charmed, Copyright WB, Created by Aaron Spelling
------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Chapter 7 - Secrets and Stuffy Kitchens
Another tiring day of practicing and rehearsing. I was beat, exhausted and downright pooped. As well as completely grateful that we would not be dancing. I watched as the Nsync guys practiced their dancing and singing on stage, learning new choreography, and basically having major workouts. I tried to be envious of their coordination and skill, but I found that I preferred just singing without all those strenous workouts.
"YES!" Joey shouted when one of the five choreographers announced that they were done for the day. JC laughed and fell flat on his back. Lance was wiping his sweat with a towel and taking a drink of water. Chris, who had been complaining about how tired he was the whole day, was running around like a hyperactive five year old in a toy store, much to everyone's amusement. Justin smiled and made his way towards me.
"Ooh, hypercute guy heading your direction," Joy whispered to me. I rolled my eyes at her. She grinned, then got up and walked away to talk to Diane.
"So how was everything?" Justin asked, sitting next to me.
"A walk in the park, compared to your rehearsals," I laughed.
"Jurassic Park?" Justin grinned. I punched his arm. "That was really lame."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Justin shrugged. "So what's our dinner plan?"
"Something cheap, great tasting, and very filling," I said, my stomach rumbling. "Didn't get to eat much for lunch."
"Uh-oh," Justin laughed. "We need to look for another buffet. I doubt the one we ate at last will let you in anytime soon."
I grinned. "Joey ate too much again?"
Justin rolled his eyes. "So what about dinner?"
"What about dinner?" I heard Joey ask as he came walking towards us. He was wiping his sweat off with a towel, and carrying an extra one for Justin. He handed it over to Justin, who smiled and took it.
"We're trying to find a place that isn't too expensive that I can eat a lot at," I explained. Joey winked.
"Is that all? Phooey. I know a place that has all that, and the food's great too!"
"Where?" Justin and I asked at the same time.
"Leave that to me," Joey laughed. "I'll go tell the guys that I'm bringing us for dinner."
"And you're not telling us where you're taking us?" I asked, narrowing my eyes suspiciously.
"I will as soon as we reach there," Joey said mysteriously.
"Here we are," Joey said with a slight bow. I looked at the restaurant sign and sighed, then turned to look at Melvin. He caught my eye and shrugged, then rolled his eyes.
"This looks interesting," Lance smiled sincerely. He read the sign. "Filan and McGowen Restaurant.
"The food here is absolutely great," Joey smiled, and I could almost imagine his mouth watering. "They're a little on the slow side, but the food is really great. And it's one of the few places where I'm really full after the meal."
"If it's great, it takes time to prepare," Melvin winked at me. The group of us made our way to the front counter. A reddish-brown haired waitress at the counter glanced up at us with her hazel eyes twinkling cheerfully.
"Table for how many?" she asked.
"Twelve," I said. She glanced up at me and smiled.
"Big group today, Dylan," she said. "And both the cooks normally at this shift are on leave."
"How's business?" I asked. She shook her head. "Very busy. Desmond, Ryan and Aingeal have been in the kitchen all day."
"Hey, at least there's money coming in," I laughed. Sylvia grabbed a stack of menus and led us to a table near the back of the restaurant at my request. She said she'd take our orders later, and then left.
"You seem to know the people here pretty well," Justin said. He seemed slightly upset. "Who's that Sylvia girl?"
"Ooh, Justin's jealous," Chris teased. Justin flipped him off.
I smiled. "That would be my sister."
"But I already met your sister," Justin frowned. "In a manner of speaking."
"You met Rachel," I said. "That qualifies for one sister. Now Sylvia, so you've met two. You've got three more to go, and two brothers."
"Big family," JC commented.
"Not as big as Melvin's," I said. "He has six sisters and two brothers."
"No," JC said, eyes wide. "Seriously?"
"Yup," I said. "Now you'd better pick what you want to eat before Sylvia gets back."
Everyone scanned the menus for what they wanted to eat, asking Joey and I for recommendations and so on. After fifteen minutes of wait, still no sign of Sylvia.
"What's taking her so long?" Justin asked, just as his stomach grumbled. I shrugged.
"She's probably very busy," I said. "Pass me your orders and I'll take them directly to the chefs."
"Are you sure?" Joey frowned.
"Sure, no problem," I said. "I know these people, remember? I could just tell them what happened and hopefully not get into too much trouble."
"I've got some paper," Brian offered. "And a pen, too."
"Thanks," I said. I took everyone's orders down and made my way to the kitchen. I pushed the doors open and glanced around. A dark-haired guy bumped into me.
"Oof, sorry," he said, his deep brown eyes staring at me. "You're not supposed to be here."
"Change of plan, Ryan," I smiled, showing him the order list.
"How many people?" he asked.
"Twelve including me," I said. "I can help out if you want."
"Sure," Ryan said. "What do we need?"
He took a glance at the list and began to grab stuff off the shelves and out of the fridge. I helped him gather most of the items and started to help with peeling onions and chopping cabbage and so on. A few minutes later, Melvin came into the kitchen.
"The others are starting to wonder what happened to you," he said. "I said I'd come and look for you. Need any help?"
"Yeah," Ryan shouted. "Could you get me another four eggs?"
"Right away," Melvin shouted back. He passed the eggs to Ryan, and I handed him some meat to cut.
"Hurry up before they send someone else," I said.
"Everything all right in there?" I heard Sylvia shout into the kitchen.
"Fine," I said.
"Well, you'd better hurry," she said. "Your friends are getting a little worried about you."
"Try and stall them or something," I said, mashing some potatoes.
"Will do," my sister said, before disappearing.
"I thought Aingeal and Desmond were supposed to be here too?" Melvin said, stirring some soup.
"Desmond is driving Aingeal home," Ryan replied. "She's not feeling too well."
"That's why you accepted my offer to help?" I asked.
"Yeah. Mrs McGowen helped me out just now when Aingeal first called. She left not too long ago since most of the customers have already ordered, so I had a bit of a break," Ryan said. "Okay, I've finished the sowans and the four dishes of baked trout."
"I'm pretty much done here too," Melvin said.
"I'm done," I said. "All done."
I wiped the sweat off my forehead and Melvin and I made our way to the toilet to freshen up a little. Then we made our way back to the table.
"What took you so long?" Justin asked when I sat next to him.
"A little trouble in the kitchen, so I helped out," I smiled. Melvin rolled his eyes. Sylvia came around with our food and served it. Everyone started eating, and I was pleased to hear the compliments towards the food. Melvin winked and gave me a thumbs up sign. When everyone was done eating, Joey leaned back with a contented burp.
"That was great," he smiled.
"Is there a comments/suggestions sheet around?" Lance asked. "I want to compliment the chefs."
"Yeah, the food is excellent," Justin said. Chris and JC nodded their heads in agreement.
Brian smiled. "Usually I don't compliment the chefs, but they really deserve it this time. This is the most fantastic food I've tasted."
"Yeah," Edwin agreed. "Good thing Joey brought us here. The food was definately worth the wait."
"Here's the comments card," Diane said, passing the card to Lance. Melvin quickly snatched it away from her.
"I don't think you need to praise the chefs," he said, grinning.
"Well, the food is nice and it deserves it," Lance shrugged. "And I think when we pay, we should leave a big tip too."
"Food's already paid for," I said. "My treat."
"And mine," Melvin said too. He put the card back in its original place. Diane picked the card up again. "Well, I still think we should at least write something nice to the chefs."
"Don't bother," Reuben said. "They already know."
Melvin and I glared at Reuben, who shrugged. Joy shook her head and slapped his arm.
"What?" he asked. Everyone slowly turned to look at Melvin and I.
"You cooked this?" Joey asked, his eyes narrowing.
"Not everything," I said quickly. "Chef McGowan helped."
Melvin shot me a look. "Excuse me? Helped? In case you don't remember, I did exactly one third of the work, Chef Filan."
Joey's eyes widened. He pointed at me. "Your surname is Filan?"
"Yup," I smiled. Joey pointed to Melvin. "And your surname is McGowen?"
"Yeah," Melvin said.
"So that's why the two of you disappeared into the kitchen?" Joey asked.
"Yup," I smiled. "This is usually Melvin's and my shift, but we're off because of the tour. Sylvia did point that out."
"Our familes own this restaurant," Melvin said. "Started it together, so most of us kids work here."
"Except for the younger ones," I said. "The other chef is my brother Ryan. Aingeal and Desmond, Melvin's siblings, took over for Melvin and I when we told them about the tour, but Aingeal's not feeling well, so Desmond drove her home. That's how we ended up having to cook."
"Wow, I didn't know you could cook," Justin smiled. "Great cook at that."
"You wanna trade Dylan for Eric?" Lance asked Justin. Everyone laughed.
"I'll consider that," Justin said seriously. Everyone fell silent. Lance gave a nervous look to Justin.
"Oookay," he said slowly. "You do know I was kidding, right?"
Justin's eyes sparkled with mischief. He grinned, then started laughing. Everyone started laughing again as Lance blushed as he realised that Justin had been playing around with him. Somehow at that moment, I realised just how much Lance seemed to love his boyfriend, and I felt a pang of longing for that sort of love. I smiled at Lance and hoped that Eric wouldn't find someone new while he was on his business trip in England. Lance said that Eric was a psychologist and that he was in England for a special case or something, and I knew that Lance missed him a lot.
I want that sort of love too, I thought to myself. It must be hard knowing that you won't get to see the person you love for many months, and yet, for that person's sake, you keep living as though they wre right beside you. I had a newfound respect for Lance's inner strength.
"You there?" Justin asked, snapping his fingers in front of my face. I blinked and snapped out of my wandering thoughts.
"Yeah, was thinking about something," I said. Justin smiled and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek.
"What the..." Sylvia said from behind us. Justin and I spun around quickly in shock. Sylvia's eyes were widened in surprise.
"You're Justin Timberlake," Sylvia said, her eyes still wide. "Oh my. Can I get your autograph?"
A look of relief spread over Justin's face. "Sure, no problem. What would you like me to write?"
Sylvia's eyes twinkled. "How about 'to the best sister that my boyfriend ever had'?"
Justin coughed suddenly, shocked by her words. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me the first time," Sylvia said slyly. "I was just fooling with you. But I'll take all your autographs, if you don't mind."
"Oh, okay," Justin said, signing his name on the paper she passed him. He handed it to the others to sign too.
"Could everyone sign the paper?" Sylvia asked. "I want to be the first to have the autographs of the opening band too."
"Oh like you need my signature," I laughed. Sylvia winked at me. I shrugged and signed the paper, then passed it around.
"We're not really part of Ocean Whispers," Brian said as the paper came to him.
"Just sign it," Sylvia smiled. Brian signed the paper, then passed it to Edwin.
"What are you trying to do, young lady?" I asked as Justin passed me the paper full of signatures. I felt the quality of the paper and realised that it was not paper at all. It was sheepskin parchment. Sylvia reached out to take the parchment, but I refused to let go.
"Give me that," Sylvia said, frowning. I frowned back at her. "I'm just wondering why you'd get all our signatures on a piece of parchment. What are you trying to do this time?"
"I can't tell you," Sylvia said, shaking her head. I sighed and handed her the parchment. "No funny business, sis."
Sylvia nodded once, then walked into the kitchen. Melvin leaned over and whispered, "What's she doing?"
I shrugged in reply. "Shall we go now? It's closing time and we're the only ones left."
Everyone agreed and we made our way to the entrance. As soon as we stepped out, I could sense something was wrong. I frowned. There were more people than usual on the streets, many of them finding some excuse to hang around the area.
"Who are those people trying to fool?" Reuben snorted aloud. Everyone turned to look at him.
"Oh please," he said. "I can recognise a few Friends of Humanity agents around. They're trying not to be obvious, but failing completely."
"These Friends of Humanity are more annoying than I ever thought," Lance sighed. "I'm glad my house is detection safe."
"They still think we're mutants? Even after we broke out of their collars?" Joy was amused. She winked at one of the agents looking our way, and he panicked. He began to say something into a walky-talky, and the people aroudn us began to move and face us. We were surrounded by guns of all sorts before we knew it. Melvin sighed loudly.
"If they shoot me one more time, I'm going to..." Joey trailed off.
"Do what?" I asked.
"I don't know," Joey said. "Scream?"
"Great answer, Superman," Chris said sarcastically. Then ground trembled a little. Then again. Something big was coming.
"What's that?" JC asked as the floor shivered yet again. "This is like Jurassic Park or something."
Reuben stared to his right, and squinted his eyes. "It looks like some giant robot or something."
"Giant robot?" Lance said. "Uh-oh."
"What?" I asked. "What are they?"
"If I'm not mistaken, that's a sentinel," Lance said. "I heard that they're big and powerful. It took several of the X-Men a long time just to stop one."
Then I realised what Sylvia wanted the signatures on the parchment for. She must have sensed danger of some kind. The sentinel came into view, a large human-looking robot. And it headed straight for us.
"Oh shit, that is one huge robot," Justin said. The machine glanced our way, then pointed a hand at us. A compartment at its wrist opened, and three large missiles flew out, heading straight for us. Joy flung her hand outwards and one of the missiles wavered slightly, but continued flying towards us.
"It's too big," Joy shouted. "I can't move it."
I felt a tingle of energy in the air as the missiles neared us. The missiles exploded near us, the impact knocking us to the ground, but not hurting as at all. There was a crackle of energy in the air which grew stronger and stronger. The soldiers pointed their guns at us and opened fire. The air was noisy with the sound of guns of all kinds, and all about us, people were shooting at us with...
"Feathers?" Diane asked in disbelief. "What the heck?"
Feathers were flying all around us. Any blast or bullet that came near us turned into feathers. The crackle of energy was still strong.
"Sylvia isn't doing this by herself," Melvin said, realising what was happening. "Ryan and Desmond must be helping her."
"What's going on?" Justin asked. "Is this magic?"
"At its best," I replied. "It's protecting us, but they won't be able to hold out forever. We still need to find a way to defeat the sentinel."
"It's too strong for our powers," Reuben said. Melvin spread both his hands and thrust his palms forward. All the Friends of Humanity stopped shooting, lost in their daydreams. Which left only the sentinel. It walked towards us and began pounding on the invisible barrier. The barrier faltered for a moment, then increased in intensity again. The sentinel continued to pound, weakening the barrier. Reuben jumped as high as he could, a good seven feet, and clambered onto the giant's arm. He grabbed a finger and pulled on it in an attempt to break it off. The sentinel just flicked its hand, and Reuben came crashing to the ground. He stopped a foot short of the ground as though encased in a bubble, then slowly landed on his feet.
"I never thought I'd say this, but thank God for magic," Reuben said.
"Gremlins," Melvin said suddenly. "Gremlins don't like machines."
I looked at him as the sentinel punched the shield again. The power dropped drastically, which meant one of those maintaining the magic had just collapsed.
"Hurry," I said. Melvin nodded.
"I call ye gremlins from far off places, hear me now through astral spaces. Help against human machinery we need, come and aid us now we plead," Melvin chanted. Then sentinel punched the shield again, and it weakened even more. The remaining energy was faltering and getting weak.
"We have no time," Reuben said while Melvin continued to chant. Melvin glanced at me once, then nodded.
"Through this portal in astral space, I bring you now to our time and place," I said, concentrating on the ground in front of me. I felt the energy tingle as I tried to bring the portal into existence. I chanted again and the portal appeared, a gaping blue hole in the ground. The sentinel bashed the shield one last time, and it completely gave way. The sentinel raised its other hand to smash down on us. I could vaguely hear people screaming, and I wasn't sure if one of the voices was me. The large fist seemed to move in slow motion down and down towards us. Suddenly, a large chunk of the arm disappeared, then another. Pieces of steel dropped near us, and sparks were seen flying from various parts of the robot. A part of the giant's chest exploded, showering us with more sparks. A loud crunching sound was heard as the sentinel's face was ripped open. The robot tottered for a while, then fell backwards. Large gashes appeared in various places of its body, and wires were ripped out from them.
"What in the world," Lance said, shaking his head.
"Quick, now we have to banish them before they start attacking us," Melvin said. "Dylan, keep the portal open."
I nodded and focused on keeping the portal open. Melvin began to speak under his breath. A large figure appeared in front of him, about six feet tall and covered with hair from head to toe. It had a fierce grin on it's face, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth. The claws on its hands were like large, curved daggers and had bits of wire stuck between the fingers. Though neither Melvin nor the gremlin spoke aloud, I knew they were negotiating telepathically. Melvin turned to Reuben and told him to get the largest bottle of milk and a large amount of butter from the kitchen. Reuben left and returned quickly with the items. Melvin offered them to the gremlin who grabbed them with a snarl. It gestured to the portal, and soon, flashes of bright light appeared around the portal, then entered it. The leader of the gremlins transformed into a small ball of light, along with the milk and butter, then disappeared down the portal. Melvin searched the area for a moment to see if any gremlins had stayed behind, then he nodded towards me. I closed the portal, then buckled to the floor in exhaustion.
"You okay?" Justin asked, kneeling beside me. I nodded, too tired to speak.
"I'll never look at gremlin movies in the same way ever again," Chris said, staring at the ground where the portal had been.
"We should check if our siblings are alright," Melvin said, heading towards the restaurant doors. I turned to follow Melvin, trailed by Joey, Joy, Reuben and Justin.
"The two of you don't have to be here," I said to Joey and Justin.
"But if you need to carry them outside or something, more hands make light work," Joey smiled kindly. I smiled back and made my way to the kitchen. Desmond, Ryan and Sylvia were sitting on the floor sipping mugs of hot chocolate. They glanced up at us, and Sylvia smiled.
"Let me guess," I said. "Aingeal was sick because she had a premonition?"
"Yup," Sylvia grinned. "She saw a huge, giant robot attacking you guys."
"Thus the signatures for a protection spell," I nodded. "Thanks, you three."
"What I don't understand is why you didn't tell us about it first," Justin said. Ryan shot Justin an annoyed look.
"The first thing you should understand is that we're faerie witches. If you know we've cast a spell on you, it won't work," Sylvia explained.
"Excuse me? Witches?" Lance asked from behind us. I turned to find him standing with his arms crossed, glaring angrily at us.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------ To be continued... comments, questions? Email dylan@celticwarrior.com