Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 23:34:28 +0000
From: N D <pytn18@hotmail.com>
Subject: nick and ashley/the next step 1

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---