Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2000 18:43:35 EST
From: Aran <ARTNYC4@aol.com>
Subject: Joey and Lucas

Warning: This story contains homosexual themes, and will in the future
contain scenes of homosexual sex.  If this bothers you then don't read
this.  If you are not old enough in the community that you live in to read
erotic material, than go away, and shame on you for being here.

Disclaimer: I have no associations with either the Backstreet Boys or
NSYNC.  I do not know the sexual orientations of any of the band
members. This is FICTION, meaning that it is not real and should not be
considered real.

Personal Statement: This is my first time writing anything like this.  You
can e-mail me with your comments at ARTNYC4@aol.com.  Just be gentle, I'm a
virgin, at writing anyway.


Joey and Lucas by Aran


"OH MY GOD!"

"Look, I told you this would happen, but did you listen to me?"

"You know I had no choice, I wanted to come out on my own terms, not by
having it splashed all over the tabloids"

"Well.... You definitely have guts, but I don't know what to tell you, I'll
try to book you somewhere, but they way things look, I can't guarantee
anything."

"I thought that once I signed the contract that I was definitely on the
tour?"

"There was a clause in the contract that said that if you and the boys
didn't get along they could take you off the tour before it starts.  That's
why you were supposed to meet with them next week."

"Yeah, but they didn't even give me a chance.  Do you know which one of
them had me pulled?"

"No, but I'm would bet money that it was Brian.  I met him at a Grammy
party last year and everything he said was fag this and queer that."

"Well..."

"Listen Lucas, I'm sorry that this turned out this way.  We'll see how your
single does next week, if it does well we might be able to get you on
another tour, or maybe your own."

"Yeah, if.  How is my schedule for tomorrow?"

"I cleared everything for you, I didn't think that you'd be up for working.
But your still booked to be on The Rosie O'Donnell Show on Friday.  I'll
call you with any changes."

"Ok, thanks"

FLASHBACK TO TUESDAY: "This is Elvis Duran and the Z Morning Zoo and
joining us here in the studio is Lucas Raymond who's single Forever For You
debut at number three last week.  Welcome to the show Lucas."

"Thanks Elvis"

"Let's listen to Lucas's song, then we'll chat, sound good?"

"Sounds great!"

	As my song played it seemed like I could hear my heart beating.  I
could feel the sweat forming on my brow and my hands were shaking.

"Dude, there's no reason to be nervous, we won't bite, much"

"Thanks"

	I wasn't nervous about the interview.  Well I was, but not about
anything Elvis or the Z morning zoo was going to do.  I was there for a
purpose.  Yesterday I had an encounter with my ex-boyfriend William.  He
showed up at my apartment with a manila envelope and an evil grin.  What he
said in a nutshell was that if I didn't get back together with him he'd
send copies of what was in the envelope to every publication he could think
of.  I was going to ask what was in the envelope when he dumped its
contents onto my floor.  When I looked down I couldn't believe my eyes.  I
picked up one of the pictures and ended up looking at myself at the height
of ecstasy, all of the pictures were of different times we had sex during
our relationship.  I tore my eyes from the picture and looked him straight
in the eyes, and at that moment I knew that he would do exactly what he
said he would do.  I also knew that I would rather kill myself then get
back together with William.  I could hear that my song was ending and
started to mentally prepare myself for what I had to do.

"Well Lucas, how's it going?"

"Great"

"Well, I've been asking around the office her at Z100, and the most popular
question for me to ask you is, drum role please... Do you currently have a
girlfriend?

	Now isn't that convenient?

"Um... Can I use a lifeline?  (lol) Seriously though, that's an easy one,
because it's nearly impossible for me to have a girlfriend because I'm
gay."

"I guess I should change the question then.  Do you have a boyfriend?"

"Nope, I'm currently single"

	The rest of the interview went pretty well, almost too well.  Even
the calls that the station got were mostly positive.  But I guess that's
one of the benefits of being in New York.  But somewhere in the back of my
mind I knew that things were going to take a turn for the worse.

PRESENT:

	Well what am I going to do now?  I decided to head home and take a
nap, things might be clearer after I get some sleep, and then I'd call Ben
cause he usually had a solution if I had a problem.

	I awoke to the shrill buzzing of my downstairs doorbell.  I dragged
myself out of bed and pressed the talk button.

"Who is it?"

"It's Ben, let me up"

	I buzzed him and unlocked my door, and then I ran into my bedroom
to make sure I was presentable.  It didn't matter that we had been nest
friends since kindergarten; I had to look presentable.  I walked into my
living room and saw him taking cartons of Chinese food out of a paper bag.

"How'd you know?"

"Larry called me after your meeting with him, he told me what happened."

	I sat down on the couch and started to cry.  Everything started
overwhelming me: William's betrayal, being dropped from the tour, and the
potential end of my career before it really started.

FLASHBACK (From Ben's Point of View):
	I'm staring down at my best friends father.  The only sound in the
room is the beeping of the heart monitor and his labored breathing.  I
looked into his eyes and I knew that he was going to die soon, and he knew
it too.  He had me to come here; he said that he needed to talk to me
alone.

"Why did you ask to see me?"

"I need you to take care of my boy."

"Me take care of him?  He's two months older than me"

"I didn't mean that you should be his father.  Lucas is a great boy, but
he's not that strong, emotionally.  I need you to be there for him when he
needs somebody.  Promise me that you'll do that for me"

"Of course, I'd do that anyway, we've been friends forever."

	That promise was harder to keep than I thought.  That happened when
we were both 14.  Two years later he came out to me and I nearly broke the
promise.  Not that Lucas knew about the promise, but I nearly ended our
eleven-year friendship when I found out.  It took me a few days to get over
myself, but I did and we've been closer ever since.

	But during the week that I was being an idiot Lucas fell into the
arms of William.  I could tell right away that he was an asshole, and he
started manipulating Lucas right away.  He started monitoring everything
Lucas did, from who he hung out with to what he ate.  He was giving Lucas
an inferiority complex, but I couldn't do anything.  I tried talking to
Lucas, but he was blinded by his feelings for William and wouldn't listen
to reason.  There relationship ended after two years when Lucas caught
William cheating on him.  Lucas was devastated, and almost took him back,
but luckily in the time he was away from him he figured out what a prick
William really was.  William has been trying for a year to get back
together with Lucas, but Lucas wouldn't hear of it.  Now that Lucas was
close to having his dreams of being a musician realized William came into
the picture to screw it up.

PRESENT (Lucas' Point of View) "Come on and have one of these, life always
seems better after an egg roll"

	I looked up at Ben.  He had the cheesiest grin on his face that I'd
ever seen.  I tried to keep my composure for as long as I could, then I
started laughing.  I took the egg roll.

"Thanks"

"For what?"

"Just for being there, again"

"What are friends for?"

	He grabbed the TV Guide from the coffee table and started flipping
threw it.

"Hey, South Park is on Pay-Per-View, and then we can watch a regular
episode when that's over."

"Sounds good to me"

	I called the number for the movie and then we both settled into the
couch to watch the movie.  We watched the movie, and then the episode on
Comedy Central.  Unfortunately when that was over The Man Show came on.  I
looked at Ben and was about to plead with him to change the channel (how'd
he get the remote?) but could tell from the look on his face that my pleas
would fall on deaf ears.  Ugh!  I guess that's what I get for having a
straight best friend.  It's worth it.

"I'm going to bed"

"Uh huh"

"You can crash here tonight or you can take the spare set of keys and lock
the door when you leave"

"Ok"

	I could have just pledged my undying love to him and I would have
gotten the same response.  Whatever.  I went into my room and got ready for
bed; I fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.

	I woke up while it was still dark.  I looked over at the bedside
clock and saw that it was only 3am.  I headed into the living room and saw
that Ben had decided to leave.  I sat down and turned on MTV.  Limp
Bizkit's video was just ending, and it went straight into another video.  I
tensed as soon as I heard the first line of the song.

"Show me the meaning of being lonely..."

	The song started to pour out of the speakers of my television.  I
started to get angry.  The only thing in my mind was that these were the
guys that had derailed my career as soon as it started. I had to take a
walk.  I turned of my TV, threw on a coat and left.  I left my apartment on
the Manhattan's Upper West Side and just started walking.  I wasn't paying
any attention to where I was going.  When I finally looked up I saw that I
was by the Plaza hotel.  I just sat down and sighed.  I started thinking
about everything that had happen.  I was struggling to hold back the tears.
I had always been a bit of a crybaby, but I knew that crying in the middle
of Central Park in the middle of the night wasn't going to help anything.
I ended up loosing the battle, but to my credit I was only crying softly.

	Then I heard a noise to my left.  It sounded like someone was
approaching.  I hoped that I wasn't going to end this day by being mugged.
I kept my eyes on the ground by my feet hoping that whoever it was would
just keep walking.  The person stopped about a foot away from me.

"Do you need any help?"

	I knew I had heard that voice before; I just couldn't place it.  I
looked up, and the first thing that caught my attention was the guy's hair.
It was bright red.



To be continued