Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 21:23:44 -0000
From: Tris <mystories@btinternet.com>
Subject: Under Management Chapter 1

Author's Note:

Hey everyone, this is my first submission to the Nifty Archive. I hope you
enjoy reading it as much as I am enjoying writing it. I'm trying to get as
much realism as is possible in a story of this type, so the characters will
need to get to know each other before there is any sex. It's also not
exactly a 'two guys fall in love, and live happily ever after' story, there
are going to be a few bumps in the road.

If you have any comments or criticisms or whatever then e-mail me:
mystories@btinternet.com

Disclaimer:

This story is a work of fiction. I don't know or own any of the celebrities
mentioned in it. I also don't know anything about the personalities or
sexual orientations of any of the members of *NSYNC, and the purpose of
this story is not to imply anything about them.  Secondly, this story
contains adult themes and content as well as gay relationships. If you're
too young to, or don't want to, read what's contained within, then leave
now. Everyone else, enjoy...

Under Management by Tris


Chapter 1

"So, what do you say?"

"I don't think so Johnny. I don't know anything about them, they won't like
my age, and hell, I don't even like their music!" I wasn't going to give in
this time.

"You're one of the few people I trust to do this Alex. It could be your big
break.  They're huge; they're known worldwide..."

"That's the problem. Its extra stress, I'll have to travel and be away from
my family, I'll be up until all hours keeping up to date with the paperwork
and organising appearances... and what do I get out of it?"

"Well, we could negotiate a pretty nice pay rise..."

"No! That's my final answer. I won't work with some stupid teenybopper
band; they don't even play instruments! I'm happy right now... I really
think 'Tiger Eyes' are going to make it big, and I want to be there when
they do it!"

"You're pushing it Alex. I'm your boss... I think I've been more than fair
up 'till now and I won't force you into this, but I think it would be
beneficial to all parties.  I strongly suggest you go with this." There it
was. The 'boss card'; from that point on I knew I had to do it. So, I
decided to play along.

"How much of a pay rise?" I asked. Johnny leaned forward in his chair and
wrote something on his notepad, he then slid it across his desk for me to
read...  $120,000.

"Wow!" I was stunned. That was a lot of money for a 23 year old. I don't
know why, but I was feeling lucky, or simply being stupid, and I pushed for
more. "Plus any travel expenses, and I can fly back to see my family
whenever, schedule permitting of course." I smiled sweetly, certain he
would turn me down.

"Done. You start now; I'll assign someone else to 'Tiger Eyes'. I'll
introduce you tomorrow morning. All of the files will be on your desk by
then. I advise you to go home and get some rest, you're going to need it."

"Thanks Johnny, I'll do that" I stood and walked towards the door, "See you
then." He nodded, and I left.

After leaving the compound, I drove around in a daze for a while thinking
about how easily I had given into Johnny, and how much more money I would
have.  Eventually I made it to my apartment and after eating some leftover
lasagne I took Johnny's advice and crashed.

***

I was late. Only by five minutes or so, I had overslept, not a good thing
to do on the first day of a new job. So, as I hurried towards conference
room 3, where I was to meet the group, and shuffled through some of the
files trying desperately to remember their names, I silently cursed my cell
phone when it rang.

"Hello. Alex Michaels."

"Alex, its Johnny. I'm running a bit late." I made sure not to say 'So, am
I', he is my superior after all.

"How late, is late?"

"Um... I've had an urgent call to a photo shoot. I might be 20 minutes or 2
hours, I really don't know."

"Do you want me to wait?"

"I'd prefer you not to. The faster you get to know them, the faster the
album will be finished."

"I really don't think two hours, will make that much difference."

"Sorry Alex, time is money... I've got to go. Good luck."

I closed my cell and was about to open the door to the conference room when
I heard someone laughing hysterically on the other side. I tried to fight
the urge to listen to their conversation, but I lost, and leaned against
the door.

"I say he's a 60 year old suit, with a shiny bald head." One voice said.

"And he weighs 300 pounds..." A different voice.

"And he's 5 foot 2." Another new voice added. There was lots of laughing.

I suddenly became very self-conscious. I looked down at myself, I probably
should have worn a suit, but I was in such a rush to get ready I wasn't
really thinking. Still, I looked pretty good - black jeans, a white t-shirt
and a black shirt hanging open over the top. I decided that I was just
worrying over nothing, and before I could think about anything else I had
knocked the door, and entered the room.

The laughing immediately stopped. Five pairs of eyes were fixed upon me. I
didn't feel intimidated; I was just worried that I might mess this up,

"Johnny Wright can't make it today... he's been called to a photo shoot." I
began.

"Oh great, how come we are always the last to know about these things? Do
you know if we are supposed to wait here for... uh... Alex Michaels, or can
we go?"  The guy, who I thought was named Chris, asked me. He grinned,
obviously proud at remembering my name.

"Well, I was hoping you would stay. I'm Alex Michaels by the way." I
introduced myself. They seemed surprised and said nothing as I took a seat
at the conference table.

"I don't think this is such a good idea" Chris stated.

"What's the problem?" the skinny one, uh JC I think, asked him.

"I'm not having someone 10 years younger than me telling me what to do. I
mean look at him. He's younger than Justin!" At this point I stepped in.

"Actually, I'm 23, and I can assure you, I'm very good at what I do."

"I'm with you Chris" Justin gave his support,

"Me too", along with Joey. "He didn't even wear a suit. And he wants to
manage us? I say no deal." I cringed.

"This isn't a deal Joe. He's already managing us. Johnny said to work with
him, so that's what we gotta do." At least JC was sticking up for me. The
remaining one, Lance, had said nothing. He sat back in his chair and
watched the ensuing shouting match.

"Why should we listen to a fucking a kid? He obviously doesn't have a
clue. We can't just let anyone who wants a shot manage us. We have to be
slightly selective!" Chris really didn't like me, and I couldn't just sit
back and take this,

"Huh..." I snorted "I didn't even want to manage this farce of a group you
call a band. You play a CD, prance around on stage, and mime to something
you recorded in studio, where it was mixed to perfection. I'm doing this
because I've been told to, and I get fat pay check at the end of the
month. Unless, I'm mistaken so do you, so sit, and listen to what I have to
say."

Chris stormed out of the room, followed closely by Joey and Justin. JC
stood and walked over to me. "I understand you felt you had to defend
yourself, but that didn't really help matters."

"I know. Uh... JC, I really need to talk to the group about your schedule
for the next few weeks. You may not like it but I have to do my job, or
this group will fall apart. So, can I see you all in here tomorrow?"

"I'll see what I can do. C'mon Lance." JC left. Lance followed and said
nothing.

***

Later that night, *NSYNC met at JC's apartment, Chris was still
annoyed. "No.  No. No. Like Joe said, he didn't wear a suit. He's like 12
years old."

"He's 23" Lance corrected.

"That's not much older than me, would you even consider allowing me to
manage us? No... obviously not." Justin offered.

"That's because you have a concrete block for a head Just." JC cracked,
"He's Johnny Wright's first choice. He must be good. If we don't go along
with this, we have to settle for second best. Backstreet might get him; we
would be kicking ourselves if they sold more records than us."

"Yeah right, I could find a better manager than him." Chris disagreed. Joey
giggled.

"How long would that take?" Lance asked him.

"What?"

"He's right Chris. We've been without a manager for a week and we're
already forgetting appointments, remember the mad dash for the conference
room this morning? Lance and I can do the basics, but this group will fall
apart if we don't get a manager soon." JC clarified.

"We have a manager Jayce", Justin reminded him.

"And he's the best Johnny Wright could get", Lance added.

"I say we go tomorrow, and see how good he is at what he does" Joey saw
their argument.

"Agreed" stated Justin.

Chris wasn't convinced, but JC could tell Justin was now on his side, and
Joey was coming around. He knew the next few days would be difficult, but
was confident that everything would work out.

***

I awoke the following day to the ringing of my alarm clock, I slapped at it
with my hand and it stopped. I turned over and pulled the covers over my
head. I have never been very good at getting up in the mornings, I'm not
grouchy or anything, it's just that I only regain the ability to move my
limbs after 10 minutes or so of being awake. After that 10 minutes, I
managed to drag myself to the bathroom, where I turned on the shower and
waited for it to warm up. I ran through my usual bathroom routine, emerging
from the steam filled room with just a towel wrapped around my waist. I
opened the wardrobe and realised I had to make a decision. Should I wear a
suit or not? Should I be smart and professional or should I try to be one
of the guys? It was probably not the best way to choose, but I closed my
eyes and grabbed - an orange Hawaiian shirt - maybe not, but casual it
was. I dressed in navy slacks and baby blue sweater, grabbed my briefcase
and a breakfast bar from the kitchen and made my way to the Jive compound.

We met in conference room 3 again, *NSYNC arrived together about 10 minutes
after I did, giving me enough time to organise my files. Justin and JC were
first to come through the door, they both greeted me warmly and quickly
took seats next to each other. Lance followed shortly; he smiled brightly
and said "Hi Alex!" which were the first words he had ever said to me. Joey
and Chris then walked in together.

Joey said "Hey!", but Chris avoided eye contact, they took their seats
around the conference table and I started with an apology.

"Thanks for coming today guys, uh... Things didn't go too well yesterday,
and for that I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped like that." I saw nodding
and smiles from 80% of the group, Chris really wasn't making this easy for
me.

"Look, I'm going to be honest with you guys. I don't particularly care for
your music; it's just not my thing, but I can appreciate how massive you
guys are, so you must be doing something right. Also, whatever I said
yesterday, I really am happy to be working with you."

"Apology accepted" JC spoke for the five of them, followed by Justin.

"And we're sorry for being... well... the way we were. We were out of
line."

"You just, sort of, caught us by surprise. We were expecting some fat,
balding, fifty year old." Joey explained.

"In a suit?" I chuckled.

"Yeah in a suit." Lance giggled, "Nice slacks by the way" and then he
blushed and looked down at his hands.

I smiled, choosing to change the subject rather than continue down that
road and started to do what I do best. "Now that that's sorted, on to the
real reason I wanted you here. I want you to continue with your studio work
for the time being.  I have several appearances in the books; we'll slot
them in as necessary. Unless anyone has a problem with it, MTV want you a
week Friday. People Magazine wants to do an article on one of you. They'll
be spending a day with that lucky person on Thursday." I paused.

"Any takers?" They all looked at me, then at each other, and finally four
pairs of eyes rested on Justin, who shrugged.

 "Ok, any takers except for Justin or JC." I glanced at them both "I'm sure
you'd both be great, but what little I've seen of *NSYNC on TV has been
mostly Justin lovin' with a dash of JC mixed in for good measure." They
laughed, even Chris.

"Yeah! You should see them with the fans, we never get a look in." He
pretended to pout.

"Joey it is then." I smiled sweetly, while Justin poked his tongue at him.

"Hey! No fair!" Nothing was said for several seconds. "Oh alright, I'll do
it"

"Good, and lastly you've got an interview with the UK magazine 'Smash
Hits'.  That'll be sometime next week."

"Ooo good 'un gov'ner, a nice London lass to get me teeth into!" I cringed
as Joey attempted a cockney accent.

"Actually Joey, the last time I spoke to her, she sounded fairly well
spoken." The guys laughed once more as I allowed my natural English accent
to come flooding back.

"Hey! That wasn't bad!" Justin observed.

"I should hope not." I snorted, returning to my generic American accent. "I
lived there for 13 years."

"In the UK?" JC crinkled his nose.

"Yep. I was born there." I nodded "I moved over here with my mom and
brother, when my grandmother got sick. My dad stayed over there - his job
paid too well to leave."

"Ok" He seemed happy with my answer, and I offered nothing more. "So what
will this article involve?" He returned to business.

"I don't have that many details yet. They're sending a reporter and
photographer over, they want it pretty natural. I spoke to her last week;
she suggested lunch, some sport and then going back to someone's place for
a chat." I informed them.

"Ahem." Joey feigned a cough. "And what about my expose for People
Magazine?" We laughed.

"I've put some stuff together for you but it's in my office, I'll get it to
the studio for you tomorrow." After a quick check of some paper work I
determined that I had told the group everything they needed to know. "Ok,
that's it, have you got any questions?"

There was a long silence, but just as I was about to wrap up the meeting,
Lance blurted "How come you're so young?" and for the second time, in
almost as many minutes, I noticed a deep shade of red rise up his neck and
spread to cover his face.

"Well, for starters I look younger than I am" I answered seriously.

"You're 23 though, right?" Joey checked. Chris was still not taking part in
this meeting and it was beginning to piss me off, but I continued with my
explanation.

"Yeah I'm 23. Like I said earlier, I moved here when I was 13. I was in a
swanky grammar school in the UK and found that I was quite a bit ahead of
the kids my age here. I was two years younger than most of the people
around me and didn't really make many friends so I immersed myself in
school work. I finished college earlier than I should have, and ended up
with a degree in Psychiatry." I paused for dramatic effect, and to allow
the inevitable questions.

"Psychiatry? So you're a doctor?" Justin was curious.

"Yeah, but I haven't practiced in nearly a year." I answered.

"Why aren't you sitting people down on a couch and talking to them for $200
an hour?" Chris's first question was dripping with sarcasm.

"Over a year ago, Jive were told they had to provide a shrink for their
artists.  They were looking for the cheapest around, and obviously that
meant them employing someone who was just starting out. I was that
employee. I worked in that position for three months. All of sudden
psychiatrists' prices dropped, but I was under contract. I had given a few
helpful suggestions and Johnny suggested that I start managing groups."

"So you're not even qualified for this?" Chris was asking for it.

"Let him finish!" Justin snapped at him.

"It was basically so that Johnny could employ a cheaper shrink, but
whatever the reason I transferred into management. I did an intensive six
month course in night school, so now I have two degrees - Psychiatry and
Business Management." I grinned smugly at Chris.

"I worked with a few other groups signed under Jive, and they're all doing
pretty well. The execs must have thought quite highly of me 'cos they were
more than happy when Johnny put forward his idea of me managing you." I
finished a very brief version of my life story. Everyone seemed happy, so I
stood, signalling the end of the meeting.

***

About 20 minutes later I was sitting in my office on the other side of the
compound, sorting through the mountain of papers that had accumulated in my
'in tray'. Most of them were placed there before I had started the job. I
had made three piles on my desk; urgent, keepers and trash. I took the
trash pile with me as I exited my office, dumping it down the waste chute
at the end of the corridor. I left the office block and walked in the hot
Florida sun to the front gate, where the post room was located. After
handing in my ID I was greeted with a pile of letters almost as large as
the mound of junk that I had just gotten rid of.

I took a detour on the way back to my office, stopping at my car to leave
the mail on the backseat. I worked through some of the urgent pile for the
next hour or so, but quickly realised I was not going to finish during
office hours. I chose to relocate to the comfort of my apartment.

I finished the paper work around 1.00 am, it was mostly organising the
contracts that had to be signed by the reporters for People Magazine and
Smash Hits as well as the producers of the MTV show that *NSYNC were to be
interviewed on.  They included privacy statements - so that the guys were
left alone in changing rooms or while in the bathroom, and lines of
questioning that couldn't be followed - mostly sex related stuff - they had
an image to uphold after all.

The only real problem that I had encountered was that the recording studio
had not been reserved for *NSYNC following that week.  Thanks to a few very
frantic phone calls I had discovered that there was a small studio
available in two weeks time - it would be more than adequate for laying
down the vocals. I'm sure that with a bit of pushing from Johnny I could've
kicked the minor bands out of the studio. I was very reluctant to do that
however, as I had been involved with a similar group myself less than a
week ago, and I knew how much a last minute rescheduling would've annoyed
me.

After working for so long, I was extremely happy to flop into my bed and
allow myself to drift off into a peaceful slumber.

***

End of Chapter 1