What Happened To Your Band?
By: Riley
Summary- Sequel to Down Goes Another One. McFly's skeletons continue to haunt the boys as they move off on their new venture; McBusted. But that doesn't mean that things are easier for them. From song writing to touring there's always something going on and this time their situations are dire and threatened the future of their band.
"Okay, if we're going to have three bands living in a house together then we need to go over some ground rules," Jake Hardin said, flipping open to the front page of a packet of papers stapled together. He cleared his throat. "First and foremost; everyone picks up after themselves so excess money isn't spent on a maid!"
All eyes turned to McFly, who looked at each other with surprised glances. So what if they got a maid the first time they were living on their own? They were teens at the time with little to no supervision. And as teens the only things they wanted to do was party and have a good time and make music so their band could be successful. How much time did they have to clean up after themselves? But if they had to admit it, the house did get pretty bad. The walls that were pristine white when they moved in were a solid gray when they moved out. It was a wonder their maid decided to stay with them for so long.
"That's fair," Tom Fletcher said diplomatically. Then he reached out his hand and drummed it on the table top. "But considering how busy all of us are at a given time it might not be possible to always clean up after ourselves. I reckon we should just have a big cleaning day on the weekend."
Jake looked at everyone around the large conference table to be sure everything was agreed upon before continuing. "Number two; cooking and dishes are done in threes; one member from each band."
At that James Bourne immediately flung his hand into the air then motioned back and forth between himself and Matt. "What happens if your band has less people than everyone else? 'Cause, it's not really fair if we're the ones who are cooking or doing the dishes every day."
"Especially if we're the ones who have to eat it," Noah Jackson-McGuire murmured, causing everyone else around the table to burst out laughing.
True to James's form, he smiled and shrugged, not offended by the dig. His cooking skills were something he was learning to become better at; especially having gotten his own place in London where he had to fend for himself after having lived on his own in New York for a while where he survived on take out and processed foods. (While his schedule permitted him to be there, anyway). Matt, on the other hand, was a little bit better in terms of his own skills but disliked having to clean up afterwards.
Tom, Danny, Harry, and Dougie were healthier than Busted in terms of their cooking skills but typically didn't have the time to do it. Not only did Harry make sure they were as healthy as possible, but as they were so much in demand, they consistently went out to nice restaurants once shows were over.
Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney could all cook and while they preferred to do it to stay healthy, there were times where the food allergies, likes, and dislikes between the five got to be so tiring that they splurged—to Patrick's initial chagrin before realizing they could get some of the favorite food they gave up to be healthy.
"We'll work out a schedule to make sure everyone has a equal chance of being in charge and having time off," Jake said. He cleared his throat and kept going, "Everyone who doesn't have cooking duty is in charge of the groceries for the house; you're able to get whatever you want, but you have to get what is on the list for the house."
McFly, Busted, and the DarkElements nodded.
"Everyone is responsible for following their own schedule and, finally, no smoking in the house. The designated areas are the front porch, the pool deck, and the balcony of the room off the laundry room." Jake shuffled his papers around. "I believe that's everything. If there's anything else you want to add we can add it later. Do you all agree to uphold to the rules?"
The bands nodded again.
"Good, so the contract is done and all we need is for you to sign!" Jake picked up a pen and made a show of clicking the top so the point clicked out. He passed it to Danny, who was sitting directly to his left, then waited and watched as it was passed around and each of the eleven band members signed in the blank spaces provided below. Once he got it back, Jake looked over it carefully before nodding.
"So, Jake, when do we move in?" Danny asked.
Jake sighed as he rested his hands on his hips. That had been about two weeks ago and it seemed like it had been no time since then. Not just because of the constant meetings with realtors he and the other managers had been fielding to find the perfect place but also because of the general interested meetings for their bands that had been scheduled around it as well. If he knew there was going to be a rush made on the order he wouldn't have brought it up so quickly.
But Fletch had insisted if they were going to make the move to the US, it was the only thing that would work. As it was, Fletch was currently standing by his side, shaking his head as he looked around the foyer. That was a good sign and proved Jake's streak of bad luck had held off a little bit; if you could impress Fletch, you could impress anyone.
"I can't believe you found a house big enough for all three bands to live in." Fletch dropped a box to the ground with a low thud. He gently pushed it aside with his foot and took a few steps into the foyer, glancing over the extravagance of it. "Mate, even I don't have a place this nice."
"Oh, you mean the one that you and your supposed wife live in?" Ronan McGuire commented, following behind him, a box under his arm. He thumped it with his fingertips, laughing along with Jake as Fletch rolled his eyes.
"I am married," Fletch insisted.
"Right, we believe you," Jake said with a failed straight face. He turned his blue eyes to take in the rest of the house as he ventured further inside. It already looked different from the pictures he had seen of the listing. Now that it was all furnished it felt more like a home than a place to just dump everyone os they could get to work. The extravagance was much more than he intended but it was something that'd certainly make their bands feel at home. "It's not a house, it's a freaking mansion. This is even better than the penthouse I got for signing McFly up with Masquerade Records."
"Better than the place I've got," Ronan agreed. He rested the box he was holding on the banister of the stairs and rested his chin on it. "In LA and back in Australia. Honestly, I'm wondering how any of our companies can afford the rent. But you know these guys, they prefer to live together when they're working."
"Are Jacqui and Gen moving in, too?"
"They're not that stupid."
Ronan's statement caused the three men to laugh. "But Riley and Rhuben did tell me that they plan on staying with them on the weekends to get some time away." Then Ronan shook his head. "Honestly, I think this will really work out. Being in New York rather than London will probably make things easier on them. Especially after what happened with Harry…"
Fletch and Jake nodded in agreement. It hadn't been that long since it had happened; when Harry fell into a coma from alcohol poisoning. He had recovered very well and the bands had just recently finished the makeup dates for the tour that ended abruptly. They had been great shows as well. Not only did Busted surprised McFly by performing some of McFly's first songs as a way to show their friendship—which was famously contested once Tom was originally kicked out of Busted and McFly came on the scene, but also was a crowning moment for James who had co-written most of McFly's songs. But also because the DarkElements had recorded McFly's semi-released song Love is Easy and made a music video out of it to show their friendship with the band.
It had been a good distraction at the time. Still, the tabloids and other pieces of media fodder didn't let up on the constant questions for the band and all three managers knew it was starting to get to them. So when they mentioned wanting to get started on a new album Fletch and Jake had gotten to talking.
They had seen how the audience reacted to Busted being back to play some of their shows and knew there was something that could be tapped there. It hadn't taken much to convince Busted to try and work through that, everyone that worked in the music industry knew that you had to strike when the iron hot and when the timing and parameters were perfect. It took Charlie a little bit more convincing but eventually he was on bored with it and maybe, just maybe they could even take things one step further…that was a part Fletch hadn't exactly figured out at the moment but it was at least something that would get the conversation started.
McFly, on the other hand, didn't seem to want to stop. For the duration of the tour they saw the fans that had been there when they started, continue to enjoy their music .Their last tour was a good way to give back but there needed to be more. It had been long enough since Above the Noise had been released that they needed to start working on the next one. Their sound had changed since the experimental album and they wanted to show everyone that they could get back up after being knocked down. Despite the few songs that managed to strike a chord with their fans, they knew it was time to start over from the beginning and that's what drove them to move in. As they said Only the Strong Survived.
The DarkElements were even easier to convince; while enjoying travel there were times where they felt a change of scenery was a good way to bring up a burst of inspiration. Writing trips was always some of their favorite times and being able to go back to where their journey with their friends first started was the burst of inspiration they needed. They were the first ones to agree to go to New York—though Ronan was sure it was so that they could get away from living in London where it was so cold all the time. ("Not that it matters, New York can get cold, too," Jake had pointed out to them, having lived there for most of his life. "Yeah, but at least in New York you can actually see the sun, mate," Sydney cheekily said in response).
Finding the house wasn't hard, getting the money to pay the rent wasn't hard, knowing there as a chance it could be trashed by the time the bands moved out was horrifying. As it was, the Jacksons raced back and forth from the moving truck with their boxes of clothes and possessions. Moving fast enough so they could finally get everything inside then check out the rooms.
"I think that's the last one," Patrick said as he speed-walked through the door, arms filled with boxes. "And don't worry; I have my wallet this time."
"Good, because I'm not going back into that moving truck to look for it," Ronan stated. He tilted his head towards the stairs as the rest of his kids all sauntered in with their own boxes. "Go ahead and find whatever rooms you want. Each band gets their own floor."
"First one to the biggest room gets it!" Sydney declared, taking the stairs three at a time as he raced up. Patrick and Noah shoved by Ronan to check out the rooms on the main floor and Riley and Rhuben ran to the basement to check out the rooms down there.
Fletch's eyebrows rose as he turned to Ronan, who chuckled and lowered himself down onto the steps. He moved slowly, almost as if afraid to bend his knees. With the slight wince that shot over his friend's face he immediately knew why. One glance at Jake proved he knew why as well.
"You haven't told them yet, have you?" Jake asked, crossing his arms.
Ronan looked up at him and Fletch for a moment before shaking his head. "No. And I don't need to." He held up his hands when Jake's eye widened. "I'm doing Intramuscular Chemotherapy shots. Just not the full-blown, need to stay in the hospital for hours chemotherapy."
"How'd you manage that?" Fletch looked suspicious.
"My line of work. I travel too much, have freakishly long hours, a schedule that's never constant, and lots to do where I can't be on bed-rest. And if I don't do that job, it's just going to make everything implode. I don't know if you noticed, but I'm mostly running Blazing Phoenix and all of its subsidiaries by myself."
Jake and Fletch started o say something else but Ronan held up his hand, cutting them off. "I know you want me to tell them. But I don't need to, not unless things get worse. And they won't. I caught it early. I'm getting treated. Everything's going to be fine."
"You still need to tell them," Jake insisted.
"Did you see them their first few days after their adoption went through?" Ronan asked. "They freaked out nearly every time I went out the door, even if I were just down the street, because they thought I was going to leave."
Jake nodded. He had a similar experience. Shortly after Robert had been taken away, and Jake had taken the Jacksons in as their home life was figured out, he noticed they always seemed to watch him very carefully. Almost as if daring him to do it. They eventually relaxed around him but it had become very telling, very worrying before it was all cleared up.
"You still need to tell them," Fletch insisted.
"And I will."
And Ronan left it at that, opting, instead, to gather everything that needed to be moved into the rooms once it was established who was getting what room and on what floor. As it happened, Patrick and Noah found the biggest and best room—after continuously running up and down the stairs to find it. By that point Sydney had given up looking and casually strolled around the rest of the house to see what it had for them—pleasantly surprised to find the basement was big enough for multiple game systems and TVs to bet set up—with Riley and Rhuben checking out the pool in the backyard.
By that time the managers left the spare keys for the rest of the boys the Jacksons had agreed to take on the top floor with Patrick, Noah, and Sydney sharing the largest room, Riley and Rhuben sharing the second largest, and the third being used as a music room.
Throughout that Jake, Fletch, and Ronan were having a much more serious conversation about the futures of their bands. "I don't know what's going to happen after this," Ronan said. "Syd has mentioned that he wants to leave the band but I knew if the guys wanted to do this he'd at least stick around for one more album. But after that…? I'm not sure."
"I thought bringing Anna out while on the last tour would've helped ease his homesickness," Jake said.
"So did I. But it's definitely more than that now. He wasn't lying when he said this was all he's done his whole life. But he hasn't entirely decided what he wants to do so he's probably not going to say anything until he figured it out."
"I know what you mean, mate," Fletch agreed. He cleared his throat. "They boys were hesitant with the marketing we have planned for this next venture, because they don't know how well it's going to work." He held up a hand as Ronan raised an eyebrow. "Don't get me wrong, they're excited to do it, but you have to take into consideration that as long as they've been around they haven't put out a new album in a bloody long time. If they wait any longer the momentum that's slowly been slipping away will go away completely and they'd have to—literally—start all over again."
"It's why I suggested they work out here in New York," Jake added. "Not just so that they can get connected with their fans here since the release of their album Just My Luck but so they can get some time away." Jake ran a hand through his hair. "You saw how well the mini tour around the US went once they did that massive showcase after 5 Colours got radio play."
Fletch and Ronan nodded. It had been a surprise to everyone that McFly continued to rise up and up once hat concert at the Hard Rocky Café had ended. It wasn't a surprise to Jake, though. Despite not having his luck anymore he knew there was something about them that was going to hit with the fans. So they hadn't ended up as big as they wanted; America was a big place it was going to take some time.
And if anyone could do it, it was them.
"Wow, this place is brilliant!" Danny's voice boomed as soon as he stepped through the front door. He reached out and punched Jake on the arm. "I think this is the best job you done, eh Jakey?"
"Would you stop calling me that?"
"Seriously, mate, great job. You're a real corker," Harry added.
"Blimey," Tom said.
Dougie was the last through the door, he took one dismissive look around before asking, "Do we have any food?"
Jake shook his head and motioned for Dougie to move past him. As the McFly boys ventured further into the house they were going to be living in for the next year, the three managers looked at each other.
They just had to wait for Busted so everything would fall into place.
And hopefully this time things would be better for them.
A/N: First chapter already. So you're probably wondering why I've been uploading so much lately and that's because I know at some point I won't have as much time for FFN and writing fics and I don't want it to get to a point where I have lots of ideas I don't get to rather than being able to at least start them.
Anyway, for this story it's a sequel to Down Goes Another One but in a way you can also see it as a standalone. Mostly because with DGAO I hadn't written in this fandom in a while and had a lot to do but with no concrete ideas of how to do it, so it ended up being a bit of a mess. But I have things worked out better here so I hope you still enjoy it.
~Riley