This story is a work of fiction and is not intended to imply anything about the sexuality of any actual person or persons.
This story should only be read by those of legal age who do not have an objection to homosexual relations between consenting adults.
Once again, I am grateful to those of you who have expressed your encouragement to me in this effort. It is my hope to create a story which is enjoyable and on a par with some of the fine work I have myself enjoyed here on the Archive.
Please direct any commentary to coryj51@mindspring.com
Writers Correction: I miscalculated the chronology of Alex's past a bit. Alex's parents were killed in 1995, he swept the Summer Olympics at Atlanta in 1996. The story is set in 1999, Alex is 20 years old. My apologies for the oversight.
Bring Your Own BSB
by Cory J
Part 7
Alex was in a good mood, even whistling a little as he carried his friends' laundry down to the hotel's laundry room. He paused at the attendant's counter just inside the door, showing his key to the young man seated there. He spent a few minutes getting the wash going and then sat down on a nearby bench to reflect for a moment. Looking around the large room, he watched hotel employees and guests alike as they milled around inside or simply walked past the door.
He took particular notice of the men. Some were attractive to him, others less so. It was so invigorating to finally feel ok about that. Alex found that his heart was beating rather faster than normal - it was exciting to believe that there was someone for him. That any moment someone could walk in and turn out to be that person. He felt a little silly - the possibility had always been there, he knew now. Still, he had lived without this hope for so long, it was like emerging from a desert into an oasis. He couldn't seem to stop smiling - no doubt he looking like an idiot but it didn't matter. He felt like his life was beginning. As the washers began to rinse, Alex was taking a good look at the attendant seated across the room. The young man was interesting to look at, a short mop of bright red hair and bright green eyes. He was fit and looked sharp in his hotel shirt and khaki shorts. Feeling eyes on him, the young man looked up, noticing Alex looking at him. He smile was nice if a bit confused, and Alex smiled broadly in return. Yes, it could be anyone.
Back in the suite, Brian and Nick relaxed on the couch for several minutes. They were both drained from the intensity of their reactions to Alex's song, not to mention the notion of being engaged to one another. Nick smiled as he noticed Brian looking at his own finger.
"So," Nick asked with a smile, "What kind of ring do you want? Are you going to set me back a bundle?"
Brian looked slightly shocked, then smiled in return. "Diamonds, baby, show me the diamonds." They both laughed briefly.
"Seriously, though," Brian said. "How are we going to go about this? Things are so hectic, and it's going to get worse in June."
"I know, I know," Nick agreed. "Once we are on tour, there isn't going to be much time for anything. Don't worry, though, we'll work it out. Do you mind an extended engagement?"
Brian smiled. "I'll wait as long as it takes. In the meantime, we have our lives together, and that's all I could ask for." His face became more serious. "No rings, Nick, no tokens of any kind. Not until we are ready to go public with the truth. It would only make things harder."
Nick looked away for a few seconds, biting his lip slightly. "You are right," he said, finally. "It would be something else to explain, and it is so hard already not to touch you and." he trailed off - how he dreaded the months ahead.
Brian took Nick's hand lightly. "I know, I know," he whispered. "It's always so hard to do. But, we've done it before. During the day, we'll be so busy, but at night, we can be together for a while. We'll make it, I promise - we just need to be careful."
Despite his worries, Nick began to feel better about things. Brian had always been able to soothe his doubts and fears. It was a special gift that he had. Nick smiled, kissed Brian briefly, and then stood over and walked back toward the stereo.
"Should we listen to the rest of the CD?" He asked.
"Sure," Brian said. "I just hope all the tracks aren't so depressing."
"Amen to that," Nick responded, starting the CD playing once again. He then rejoined Brian on the couch. The songs that followed ranged from uplifting to bittersweet, though none approached the intensity of the previous song. Most of the songs were duets with Alex and presumably his mother, though there were a few that were solos on both their parts. The boys leaned back together on the couch, and enjoyed them quietly.
Down in the laundry room, Alex removed the boys' laundry from the washers and put them into the nearby dryers. He could still feel a bit of soreness in his limbs. He would definitely need to focus on some relaxation and meditation for the next couple of days - it wasn't good to push himself so hard. Still, he couldn't help but be somewhat pleased at the feeling of being pumped up. Every serious athlete got hooked on that rush to some degree - you couldn't work that hard and not feel it. The need to push themselves and be the best had led more than one athlete down some bad paths - overexertion, injury, and other mistakes such as steroids. Alex had always been proud that he had avoided those things, and had still managed to come out on top. Alex smiled, flushing slightly at the memory of standing on the highest platform, a forest of medals hanging from around his neck and from each of his upraised hands. In that moment, he had felt like he could do anything, anything at all. Since then, the feeling had eluded him. Standing there, though, Alex believed that he might have that feeling again one day.
The other people in the laundry room were curious at seeing the athletic young blond standing tall suddenly with both arms raised and more than a little startled when he launched himself into a forward somersault to land neatly next to a row of dryers.
Alex smiled, that was fun. He didn't do things like that nearly enough - just for the joy of it. Maybe now things would be different. He grinned at the stares of the other people in the room, blushing slightly at the attention. He shrugged and walked out of the room, leaving the two empty laundry bags behind. How ironic he thought - there were two dryers full of BSB souvenirs there for the taking, if only their fans knew. He laughed as he headed up the stairs back towards the suite.
Alex opened the door and walked in, pausing as he recognized the song being played. It was his mother's voice, as perfectly clear as it was in his memories. He smiled at those memories. They would always warm him, even though they brought the pain of loss as well. He stepped through into the room and closed the door.
Nick and Brian were still sitting on the couch, and got up as Alex entered.
"Your clothes are in the dryers," Alex said. "They should be done in 30 minutes or so. There is an attendant in the room so I don't think there will be any problem leaving them there until they are ready."
"Thanks, man," Brian said. "You didn't need to do that yourself."
"Yeah," Nick added, "we could have done it."
"Oh, I don't mind," Alex said. "It's always been important to be to be able to take care of myself, and it's probably better not to have you two hanging around in the open too long. Speaking of which, do you guys have something you do to disguise yourselves in public?"
"Sort of," Brian said. "Nick wears a hat and we both wear sunglasses. That seems to do the trick."
"Yeah," Nick added with a laugh. "No one knows me when the hair isn't showing."
Alex went over and stopped the CD. "So, what did you think? Should I keep my day job?"
"It's really good, Alex." Nick said.
"Yeah," Brian said. "We'd like to play it for the rest of guys, if that's ok?"
Alex looked dubious for a moment, and then shrugged. "Sure, why not? You can have the CD if you want. So, any ideas for dinner?" He sat down in a nearby chair, and the boys resumed their places on the couch.
For the next several minutes, they discussed their food options, which were numerous in a city as large as Atlanta. They agreed that going formal wasn't a good idea, as it would be hard to dress up and look inconspicuous. After glancing through a handy travel guide, they settled on a nice but informal Italian restaurant. At that point, they hear a phone ringing in the master bedroom.
"That's my cell," Alex said. "Hold on a second - I should get that." He rose from his chair and headed out of the room. He returned a few minutes later. He was wearing a headset which was plugged into a cellular phone. The phone was attached to his belt.
"Hold on a minute," Alex said into the headset, and clicked a button on the phone. "Guys, why don't you go ahead and get your laundry from downstairs? There are signs to the laundry room and your clothes are in the back two machines on the right. I've got to settle some business here." He released the button on the phone and began speaking once again. After a few moments, he headed back into the bedroom and closed the door.
Nick and Brian slipped into some shorts and old T-shirts. Nick put on a baseball cap and they both put on their sunglasses. They then walked toward the door. Nick was about to open it when he realized that he and Brian were holding hands. He grinned and disengaged himself, wagging a teasing finger at Brian. "We are going to have to stay focused, you know."
Brian smiled ruefully. "I know. We can't let ourselves get out of practice. Let's go."
The boys headed out the door and down the stairs. They found the laundry room and their clothes without a problem. Nick started to stuff the clean clothes back into a bag as usual, and as usual Brian snagged his arm.
"How many times to I have to tell you?" Brian said with some exasperation "I hate it when my clothes get all wrinkled. We need to fold these things while they are still warm." He snatched a shirt back out of bag and turned to a nearby folding table.
Nick smiled broadly. He didn't really care one way or the other about the laundry, but it was great fun to watch Brian get all flustered over it. Nick's grinned grew in a way that would have pleased The Grinch as he was presented full view of Brian's shorts-encased bottom. A nearby towel called out to him - how could anyone resist? Nick took the towel, wound it up, and scored a loud crack of a hit on Brian's defenseless backside. Nick burst out laughing as Brian yelped in outrage and whirled. He snatched up another towel and closed on Nick with murder in his eyes. For several minutes after that, the room resounded with snapping towels. The laundry room attendant , trying to separate the two, received an accidental whack of his own and joined the fray. All three boys finally ended up laughing and panting for breath at the same time.
By way of apology, Nick helped Brian fold the laundry without complaint, and helped the attendant, who introduced himself as Karl, get the baskets they had overturned back in order. Then, they bundled up their clothes and headed back to the suite. When they arrived, they saw Alex seated back in his chair, the phone and headset on the small table at his side. He had a slightly exasperated look.
"Trouble at work?" Brian asked, as he and Nick put their bags on the floor.
Alex shook his head. "No, not really. Just some updates - business schedules, projects, meetings, etc. It's really funny, I am not even officially in charge yet, and they still seem to come running to me for an opinion an awful lot."
"What do you mean?" Nick asked.
"Yeah, I thought you would be running the company, didn't you inherit it?" Brian asked.
"In a manner of speaking," Alex said. "My folks made a point of buying up outstanding shares of their own companies whenever they could, so they had clear majorities in nearly all their large holdings. They left everything to me, but in trust until my 21st birthday. Until then, there is a Board of Trustees who oversees the operations of the estate. It's not a problem. I have plenty of money in my own right which I can get to if I need it. Plus I get a lot of regular support from the trust itself."
He got up and walked over to the garment bags, which had been delivered earlier. Rummaging briefly though the `normal' bag, he produced a small bundle that he tossed toward Nick, who caught it. "There, check that out."
Nick examined the small bundle curiously. Peeling back the cellophane wrapping, his eyes widened as he realized that it was a tightly wrapped stack of cash.
"Geez," Brian said, also looking. "Those are 100s - there must be a couple grand here."
Nick grinned at Alex. "You really are filthy rich, aren't you?"
Alex looked slightly sheepish, nodding. "Yes, I've got more money than I'll ever need." He caught the cash bundle as Nick tossed it back. Turning it over in his hands for a moment, he then turned and dropped it back into the bag. "This is emergency money, in case I lose my plastic and such. I have a money clip that I am supposed to carry this thing in - it's in my suitcase. Big, tacky thing, so I don't carry it much." He paused for a moment. "If I were overseas, there would have been a bundle of the local currency as well. I used to joke that someone would think I'm a drug buyer or something, with that much cash stowed away like this - I've never had any problems though. There is a small corporation that my mother started that did nothing but coordinate all these things to make traveling easier for us. Now of course, there is just me. Sometimes I think they go the extra mile just to keep me from thinking of shutting down the service."
He looked up and smiled. "Not that I ever would - it's kind of fun and it reminds me of the good times when my folks were still around. You should have seen the kinds of stuff we got when we traveled together. It didn't happen often, but when it did - look out."
"Isn't there any problem with the international stuff?" Brian asked.
"Not really," Alex said. "The carriers are pretty good, especially these days. They had researched most of the major destinations in the world ahead of time. If there were some question of getting things to us, they would use corporate transports. Mom used to joke that Dad spent more money on planes, helicopters, cars and boats than he did on her."
"Did he?" Nick asked.
"Well, he did really like traveling," Alex said. "Of course he got around that by `giving' them to her as presents when he bought them."
They all had a laugh at that.
"Anyway," Alex said, "The Board of Trustees has some overlap in membership with the Board of Directors of the main corporation. So I get a lot of mixed family and business stuff from the same people."
"What's the name of the company?" Nick asked.
"The Imperial Corporation," Alex said, "Or `TIC' as we call it. Mom used to joke that they had created the world's biggest bloodsucker." He grinned slightly.
"Wow," Brian said. "That's a pretty big company."
"Is it?" Nick asked. "I've never heard of it before - of course I don't read Wall Street or anything. It isn't like it's Microsoft or IBM, though, right?"
"It doesn't have much of an image publicly, that's true." Alex said. "Like I said, Dad didn't trust the media that much, so he kept as low a profile as he could. The corporation is larger than most anyone suspects, though. Even I don't really know how extensive it or the family estate is - there are a huge number of people working just to keep track of it all." He shook his head slowly. "The pressure is really been on since my 20th birthday, it's like all these people think that I have to be taught how to do everything that my parents did in a single year."
"I bet there's a lot of kissing up to you, too." Nick said.
"Yeah," Brian said. "I bet some of them are afraid you'll fire them if they piss you off."
Alex laughed and shrugged. "Maybe, though I don't think anyone who knows me at all thinks that. I'm not out to tell anyone how to do their jobs - not when they've been doing them for years and I've been an overachieving jock running around the world most of my life. I have faith in the people that my parents chose to run things. I do keep tabs on stuff and try to stay in the loop, but that's all."
"It's important to me that all those things that my parents worked so hard to build are taken care of - if that means taking control of things personally, then I will. Until then, though, I'll leave things as they are. I don't really have that much interest in business. I'm more likely to take an active role in Mom's work - charities, public relations, and stuff like that. I do plan on getting the organization more into the media, though, I think it's too valuable a resource to ignore any longer."
"You don't feel like your father did?" Brian asked.
"Not exactly," Alex said. "The press can be a nightmare, but it can also be a great tool for bringing about positive change. I think if I am going to go forward with all the good ideas that my folks started, I am going to need to get those ideas more into the spotlight."
"They can make or break you, it's true." Nick agreed.
Brian nodded also. "Yeah, we put a lot of effort into good PR, both with the press itself and with the fans."
"I bet you do," Alex said. "I may have to get some pointers from you guys. I am trying to put together a plan for a new public relations strategy for TIC. Though I haven't claimed the throne yet, so to speak, I'm trying to get things ready to move."
"Kevin handles that kind of stuff, he's the planner." Brian said.
"Yeah," Nick agreed. "Kevin is the grownup of the group."
They all laughed.
"I am looking forward to meeting them all at some point. " Alex said. "I would like to ask ." At that point, he was interrupted by the ringing of his phone once again. He answered with a look of exasperation, spoke for a few minutes, and then put the call on hold.
"Guys," He said. "I have to go take this and I may be a while." He looked over at the clock, which showed that it was about 5:30. "Why do you guys go out for a while and have a look around - the city is pretty cool. We can meet at the restaurant around 8, ok?" He looked a bit anxious. "I'm sorry, but I have to take this call - let me give you my cell and pager numbers in case you need them." He scribbled down the numbers on a piece of paper and handed it to Brian.
Brian and Nicked looked at each other and shrugged.
"Sure, Alex, that's ok." Brian said.
"We can find an arcade around here somewhere I bet." Nick said with a grin. Brian rolled his eyes.
Alex gave a thumb's-up and smile, turning back to his phone call. Nick and Brian got up and filed out of the room, Brian checking his cell phone on the way out.
Nick and Brian walked around the hotel for a while, then grabbed some tourist info on the city and got a cab and headed out.
Atlanta was a city of many sites, some few of which Brian was able to see before Nick insisted on dragging him to a mall and the large arcade within. There, Brian was repeatedly beaten cruelly by Nick in various video games until he saw the basketball free throw game in the back. Nick was crushed five games in a row. During the sixth, he rescued himself by noting that it was nearly 8 and they needed to get going to meet Alex. During this time, the sunglasses and hat seemed to do their jobs well. No one seemed to give them a second glance. They hailed a cab and headed out towards the restaurant.
Alex spent nearly an hour on the phone, dealing with the seemingly endless stream of decisions, plans, schedules and other details of the corporation and family estate. When he finally was able to put down the phone, he felt drained. If it was like this now, he wondered, how bad would it get once his birthday came and he received his full inheritance?
"Well," he said, "no sense in dwelling on this now - I'd better get dressed and head out."
He went over to the `normal' garment bag, and pulled some clean jeans and a shirt out. Holding the shirt up to his torso, he went over to a large wall mirror and looked at his reflection. Shaking his head, he dropped the shirt and ran his hands futilely through his hair. "That is it - this mess is getting cut," he said firmly.
Alex picked up the shirt once again and began to change clothes. Midway through the process, he stopped and looked across the room with a grin. Heading back across the room, he closed the `normal' bag and opened one of the others. Still grinning, he walked over to a small table and picked up the suite's phone. "Front desk? This is Alexander - I need to get my hair cut in the next 45 minutes - do you know of anyone local who can take care of me on such short notice?" There was a minute or two of silence on the other end, then Alex smiled and began writing on a notepad which was beside the phone. "Oh good, tell him I'm on my way and call me a cab please. Five minutes? Thank you very much - and your name is?" Alex scribbled down the clerk's name and put down the phone and quickly finished putting on the shirt and jeans. Then he grabbed one of the garment bags, slipped the cell phone into it, and headed out the door in a hurry.
Nick and Brian made their way to the restaurant without a problem, and were waiting in the front for a table.
"I wonder if Alex is here already?" Brian asked. Both boys craned their necks around, trying to look at all the tables.
"I don't see him," Nick said "why don't you give him a ring on his cell phone?"
"Good idea," Brian agreed. "If we hear it ringing we'll know that he is here at least." Brian got out his cell and dialed the number Alex gave them earlier. The phone rang a couple of times and then was picked up.
"Alexander, here." Alex's familiar voice said.
"Hey, Alex," Brian said. "It's Brian."
"Oh, hi Brian," Alex said. "How's it going? Are you at the restaurant yet?"
"Yeah," Brian said. "We are waiting to get a table - I just wanted to make sure that you weren't already here in the back or something."
"No, I'm in a cab on my way. I'll be there in about 10 minutes."
"Cool," Brian said. "We'll get a table for three and wave if we see you."
"Oh, don't worry about that," Alex said "I think I will stand out a bit."
They said good-bye and Brian closed his phone. After relaying what had been said, Brian shook his head. "I wonder what he meant by that?"
"I have no idea," Nick said. "But I bet it will be fun to find out."
A moment after that, a server came and led them to a table.
They talked quietly for the next few minutes, mostly about the upcoming tour and what a mixture of excitement and dread they both felt. Nick nibbled on a breadstick and was considering playing a bit of footsie under the table when a figure entering the restaurant caught his eye. He grinned and shook his head.
"Brian," he said. "I think Alex is here."
Brian turned to look in the same direction, his eyes widening at what he saw. "Oh, boy" he said.