It's four days until their first performance with the new band and choreography and all the Boys are going nuts trying to unwind enough to sleep after rehearsals. So Nick's pretty sure that if he offers a couple of his tracks as a distraction, Brian's not going to be the only one to take him up on the offer.

It doesn't make him any less shy about it, though. He waits until dinner time, when it's AJ's turn to cook and they're all hanging out in the kitchen just in case. Not that AJ's bad in the kitchen, but after years of bus cooking, they've started to expect freak kitchen accidents. It's hard to remember that in a real house the kitchen won't abruptly lurch to the left or something.

"Wanna do something after dinner?" Nick asks Brian, leaning against the island.

"Something that don't involve a lot of movement?" Brian shoots back.

"I hear that," AJ seconds from the stove. He's doing something involving pasta, is all Nick knows. Howie's handling chopping duties.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to sleep after dinner." Howie declares.

"Is that what they're calling it?" AJ says. "I didn't know you could ring up long-distance bills in your sleep, dude." They all snicker. Howie rolls his eyes and tosses some diced onion in AJ's direction.

"So, movies?" Brian suggests, nudging Nick. "Something from the Jim Carrey oeuvre?"

"I was thinking maybe," Nick ducks his head and mumbles to the counter "I could play you some of the new stuff."

"What was that, Nicky?" It's hard to tell sometimes if Howie's being obnoxious on purpose or not. Nick suspects this is payback for snickering.

"Songs with Patrick." He says more clearly, not looking up. "Wanna hear?"

"You kidding?" Brian pats his shoulder. "I'm dyin' of curiosity over here."

"Music that's not off Unbreakable?" AJ asks. "Count me in, dude."

"I..." Howie's phone rings.

"...have to talk to your fiancee." Brian finishes. Howie flips him off and walks out, phone to his ear.

"Y'think he'll remember to eat?" Brian asks no one in particular.

Let me know when Nick plays you his stuff

Patrick feels a little bad about having sort-of-lied to Nick. It's possible he wasn't quite as tired as he'd pretended to be during their last conversation. It's possible that mentioning Brian wasn't entirely off-hand. In fact, given that Patrick calculated about when the Boys would be on their dinner break today and made sure to have time to send Brian a text message at that point, it's likely that he might have something of a plan.

When he comes offstage and checks his messages, he finds out that his plan is working so far. Brian has answered.

Whatever you're plotting, Stump, I'm in. I'll be up all night.

Patrick feels weird retiring to his room and dialing the number of a Backstreet Boy who isn't Nick, but sacrifices must be made. Even if Brian is a little scary. Actually, in this case, because Brian is pretty scary.

"Talk to me." Brian says, his southern drawl making what should be a snappy statement sound kind of funny.

"What did he play for you?" Patrick asks, settling himself on the edge of his bed. He flips open his laptop one-handed.

"I expected he'd sing his big ol' heart out on the song that will set his mother on the warpath again." Is the response. "I knew that one would be good. Then he played me the one about the water." Brian goes silent for a moment before admitting, "That was the one that broke my heart. It's gorgeous."

Patrick takes a second to remember the piano that weaves through the track, and how hard Brendon had to work to get it right. "Yeah." Then he shakes it off and gets down to business. "So you're in?"

"If you're looking for someone to help you get those songs heard, you've got the right guy. Heck, I get the feeling it's the only way I'm going to hear the rest."

"Nick won't be completely pissed at me?"

"Mmmm," Brian considers. "Depends what you're going to do."

"Not sure yet," Patrick admits. "I'm missing information. But I think you can get it for me."

"I am an expert in Nickolas Gene Carter."

Patrick laughs. "I'm sure you are, dude. I need you for something else."

"I'm all ears."

"I need a copy of Nick's contract."

Brian whistles. "You're not asking for much, are you son?"

"I need to know what my options are. I can't risk Jive being petty and shutting us down on a technicality."

"No, you can't." Brian says slowly. "They are small-minded, petty excuses for human beings and they will not let you get away with anything."

The frost in Brian's voice makes Patrick nervous and it's not even directed at him. "Can you help me out?"

"I can call in a favour or two."

"Cool."

Scans of Nick's contract are in Patrick's inbox by lunchtime the next day.

Deciphering the contract takes some help from Pete, but eventually Patrick's suspicions are confirmed. Jive made a mistake of massive proportions when they cut Nick off. Since they didn't pay for any of the songs, or the recording time, or Patrick's time, or one dime at all for anything related to this version of the album, they don't own it. According to Nick's contract they have right of first refusal on anything Nick puts out, but that's it.

After a spontaneous burst of enthusiasm that involves more kissing of Pete than Nick would probably want to know aobut, Patrick makes a private vow that that one refusal is going to be, at the very least, a source of much embarrassment over at Jive. He has idle fantasies of whole departments being fired.

He indulges these fantasies while playing around at Purevolume.com.

The plan is very simple. Patrick knows the value of a grassroots, fan-based movement. Purevolume has played a part in the history of almost every band he knows. He has also learned that things fans talk about eventually get the attention of bloggers, who get the attention of the mainstream press. (He tries not to think about a particular set of pictures that demonstrated that process so very well.) Nick Carter already has several million fans. If an anonymous source or two (this is Pete's favourite part of the plan) were to mention new Nick Carter tracks on the right websites, Patrick is pretty certain things would start to happen.

Originally Patrick was just going put them up there on a free account. After all, he doesn't really want the account noticed until he can talk to Nick, and this is a talk they need to have in person. But he's not going to be seeing Nick for a couple of weeks, and Patrick won't be able to track any random downloads that might happen in the meantime unless it's a paid account. So, with a couple of studio pictures off of Pete's iPhone, there is suddenly a full-fledged Nick Carter site on Purevolume, featuring Safe Haven and two other new songs. He leaves out Brendon's song. The story about the label will be juicy enough - Nick doesn't need more controversy before things really get going.

He swears Pete to secrecy, vetoing even the most cryptic of blog posts. Pete pouts and looks ready to do something sneaky. Rather than resort to finding and reading all of Pete's blogs for the next few weeks (which really, Pete probably doesn't want any more than Patrick wants to do it), Patrick adds "produced by Patrick Stump" to each song title. The weirdest things make Pete happy.

From all reports, Patrick has been having a really crappy day. Nick comes offstage to a long and grumpy voicemail about traffic and idiotic deejays and how even five songs ought to be soundchecked. He has to take a minute to fight down the laughter before hiding himself away to send a few text messages of commiseration.

It isn't that the Jingle Ball shows are technically a tour, but there are so many big radio stations who do holiday shows with that or similar names in December, that they might as well be. New York, Boston, Chicago, LA... As well as some of the smaller-market shows, the Boys have been invited to the New York and LA ones this year, a sign that no matter what they're selling at, all that work dropping into radio stations had paid off in terms of requests.

It's New York tonight. They're not the headliners, they're the middle of the pack, just three songs, but they rate enough to bring the full band and it makes for a good rehearsal. Fall Out Boy aren't the headliners either, but they're in the top three, which means five songs. Due to some convenient timing issues that involved Fall Out Boy's tour ending last night on the other side of the country, Patrick isn't aware that Nick's at the show. Pete, however, is.

Nick's not sure how Pete plans to guarantee that noone mentions to Patrick who else is on tonight's bill, but for him the hardest part is not making a beeline for places Patrick is likely to be beforehand. From the voicemail he knows Patrick is backstage somewhere but luckily Madison Square Gardens was not designed to house so many performers and it's a total labyrinth. In fact, Nick got so busy trying to avoid the main crowd that he might be a little lost. Hopefully he can find his way back in time.

His cellphone vibrates with a message from Pete. "on in 5 asshole". Nick grabs a passing someone-with-a-laminate and gets pointed towards the stage.

He finds his way just offstage by the first chorus of Thriller. He's more nervous about this than he was about his own set. Of course that was something he'd rehearsed a zillion times in the past month. This, he's sung along with his iPod a few times. And there's that cover version he and Patrick are never telling Pete about. Plus there's the added anxiety of whether Patrick will attempt to kill him right onstage. Patrick's not that great with surprises.

By the time they're into the third song, Thnks fr th Mmrs, the high-energy set and Patrick's voice have combined to channel Nick's adrenaline away from nervousness and into something else entirely. He's not the only artist watching Fall Out Boy from the wings, so he wipes his sweaty palms against his jeans and tries his best to keep to the shadows. Performance hard-ons can be explained away. Getting a boner while watching someone else perform is another category all together. He's not sure he can wait an entire song and a half for this.

Finally, Pete intros Sophomore Slump, which must have come as a surprise to Patrick when Pete suggested it for the set. Nick taps one of the techs and motions towards the mic conspicuously labeled "surprise guest" in Pete's spiky hand. Now he's vibrating, but with a mic in his hand he can be professional. He slips in some harmony on the second chorus and watches Patrick blink in confusion, but doesn't come out until his cue.

"...gotta sunset in my veins, and I need to take a pill to make this town feel okay."

The crowd notices he's onstage before Patrick does, which is sort of gratifying, but then Nick launches into the William Beckett part and Patrick whirls around like he's Joe or something. Nick can see that Patrick's brain isn't talking to his hands anymore, he's just playing on automatic as Nick advances on him, still singing, and probably grinning like an idiot. He manages to get Patrick pointed towards his mic again in time for his next lyric.

They sing back and forth at each other, practically touching for the next couple of lines until the pause.

"Are we growing up... or just going dowwwwwwwwwwwn," Nick hits his knees as Pete joins in with his screaming thing (Nick will never understand that part, and it's even weirder-sounding onstage). It's typical Nick Carter stage antics, but seriously, Nick's not sure his knees would have lasted much longer anyway, the way Patrick is belting his part out close enough to touch. Nick finishes the song on his knees and there's a roar when Patrick finally lends him a hand up for his bow.

And what the hell it's a Fall Out Boy show. Nick steals a quick kiss on Patrick's cheek before darting back offstage to rock out to Sugar.

Patrick isn't entirely sure that just happened. Except Pete's grinning a little too widely and keeping away from him onstage just a little too obviously for that to not have happened. Apparently Patrick's boyfriend just came out and sang with him... and kissed him in public.

Okay so when Bill comes out to sing that part, he often molests someone before leaving, usually Pete. It's not like the fans will know this was anything different. Except, Patrick's boyfriend just kissed him in public. He's pretty sure his brain is frozen on that. Hopefully, his mouth is on automatic, and he's singing something that vaguely resembles Sugar, We're Going Down. He'd probably notice if he hit the wrong chords, but it's entirely possible he's singing gibberish and the crowd is just going along with it.

When the song comes to an end, Patrick manages to keep himself to a relaxed jog as he heads offstage. Nick is waiting for him just down the first ramp that leads to the jumble of dressing rooms and general backstage area.

"You are a complete and total moron!" He reaches up to smack Nick's head and mostly gets his shoulder as Nick twists away, giggling. "I can't believe you did that! I can't believe Pete let you talk him into that! I can't believe you didn't tell me... Wait." He steps back from Nick and attempts a very severe glare. "Were you performing tonight and didn't tell me?"

"Hey, dawg." Nick raises his hands, warding off the accusation. "You were in traffic. I knew you wouldn't make it in time to see us."

"So, what, you decided to come and show me what an awesome singer you are?"

"Oh, you loved it."

Patrick's about to say more, but Jojo, one of the deejays hosting tonight's semi-controlled chaos, is coming down the ramp towards them with a microphone.

"Nick, man!" says the deejay, mic clearly already recording. "Nick Carter with probably the most unexpected performance of the night, guesting on Sophomore Slump with Fall Out Boy. So tell me, when did you first hook up with these guys?"

Nick looks a little uneasy, but Patrick can feel him tensing up, readying himself to give some bullshit reply. No one who has spent six years on the road with Pete Wentz can fail to recognize an opportunity for a little payback when it comes their way. Patrick seizes the moment.

"Oh you know," he says, leaning closer to the mic. "I met Nick at one of his solo gigs - he's pretty impressive for somebody with his background. So I got interested, we started talking."

"Yeah," Nick sounds relieved that Patrick's half-truth is plausible. He slings an arm around Patrick's shoulders. "Patrick's a pretty neat dude. And you know I've always been the rock guy. I've liked Fall Out Boy for a while, man."

"Any possibility of hearing Nick Carter on a Fall Out Boy record?"

"I dunno," Nick demurs. "Our schedules are pretty hectic."

"But we have been working together for the past couple of months." Nick is going to kill him. Nick is going to kill him and it's totally going to be worth it. "You can actually check out a couple of tracks if you look Nick up on Purevolume.com."

"Wow! That's a scoop. You heard it here first, folks. Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy and Backstreet Boy Nick Carter have been collaborating on a new project. Check it out at Purevolume.com, I know I will!" Jojo switches off the mic and becomes a little less animated. "Thanks guys, that was awesome. Definitely make it in our highlights for tomorrow morning, and on the website, of course."

"Yeah, no problem." Nick's arm has tightened almost enough to hurt, but he's a pro and keeps going. "See you 'round, man."

When the deejay has disappeared, Nick hauls Patrick into the nearest empty corner. "What the fuck was that?"

Patrick takes a deep breath, lets it out slowly. "Okay, hear me out. If you don't want to go for it, I can kill the site as soon as I can get to a computer. Probably before that bit actually makes it to air."

That calms Nick down a little. "If we end up with ten million fan questions about songs that don't exist, I'm blaming it all on you, dawg."

"Fair enough. Look, you said you liked the songs, that you thought they were good enough to make a record. You know I think so too. So does Pete, and Brian is dying to hear more."

"You got Brian involved." Nick closes his eyes and leans back against the wall. "I'm so dead."

"Look, all I did was ask Brian to get me a copy of your contract. You were the one who played him the songs."

"Because you said... You're a sneaky bastard, Patrick." He almost sounds admiring. Patrick presses his advantage.

"I read your contract, dude. Jive can't touch our stuff - you paid for it, you own it. Jive only gets first-listen to stuff they haven't paid for. They already said no. You can do whatever you want with them."

"Yeah, except take them to another label and record a CD." Nick shakes his head. "I'm pretty sure that's a violation of the contract."

"And if the entire army of Backstreet fangirls go to Purevolume and download the three songs I put up? What's Jive going to do then?" And because modesty really won't help his case tonight, "What happens when the Fall Out Boy fans hear I've got new stuff out? You don't think they're going to want more?"

"You really think this could work, don't you?" Nick's actually listening now, and there might even be a small glimmer of enthusiasm in his eyes. "You think they're that good?"

"I'm not saying you're going to end up the most downloaded artist on Purevolume tomorrow," Patrick admits. "But I think we can work it enough to get you some leverage." He manages a weak grin. "Stick with me kid, I'll make you a star?"

"You know," Nick leans close, pausing with his lips an inch from Patrick's. "I think maybe I will."



end
table of contents
feedback