It's annoying when you got more ideas than you have time. But I couldn't help but write this one. Warning: smoking, drug-using, slight mention of rape and maybe smut.
"Whoo! Fuck yeah! I love you! Yeah! Let's partay! Whoo!"
It was late. Like twelve pm.
But it was early for them. Madison Square Garden was filled to the lasts seats and they got a few songs to play still. The most famous and loved one saved to the end.
Daniel Howell. The twenty-four-year-old boy with the dark brown fringe hair who could sing himself into people's hearts at any time and place. He was singing his last breaths from his lungs and playing that electric guitar until the strings would break.
PJ Liguori, the twenty-five-year-old guitarist with the brunette curly mob of hair was next to the lead singer and playing the soft tunes on his much loved acoustic guitar, throwing his head back and forward with the music.
Philip Lester, the twenty-eight-year-old bassist. His ink black fringe ended just before his eyes, but now was a real mess with all the jumping he was doing. His deep red bass made people's heart thump in tune with the sounds it made by his talented playing.
Chris Kendall, also twenty-eight, was the glue that made everything work with his amazing drumming skills. The beat pulled it all together.
The thousands of fans and just people sang and danced and did whatever made them happy as they listened to the number one charted band of the year.
The Fantastic Foresome.
That wasn't their band's actual name, but for some reason people had started to call them that after they got popular. They were really named the Poison & Antidote, but I guess it was more lame than "The Fantastic Foursome".
Dan let out his deep moaning sound as the final note in the last song and people went crazy. Dan broke into a wide, cheeky smirk and gave a two fingered salute as they humbly walked off the stage with a lazy bow.
They went backstage to greet everyone back there, but quickly went to their private lounge to cool off as all of them were wearing black skinny jeans which were hot as hell, by both meanings. Dan's were ripped from the knees, not because of fashion though, but by accident. Everyone knew as sexy as he was, he was an adorable, stumbling dork in and out. He got a tank top that had "Howl" written on it and it was wet with sweat so he went to the bathroom to get change and maybe get a frisk shower.
As much as he was famous, loved and commented of being hot these days, he was a shy, self-conscious and -conflicted human being still.
PJ, Phil and Chris were getting their beers finally. They never drank before a show not to make any mistakes. Now the cool beer was the most welcome drink for the British lads.
"Rock ain't dead definitely with you around", said a blond girl that came up to them. They guessed she was wishing to be some kind of groupy, but they didn't have or want those with them. "Thanks", PJ still said with a small smile and went to sit on the couch where Phil had already seated himself in a very space-owning way.
Chris started talking with the girl and offered her a beer too witch she took.
"Where's Dan by the way? Or Bear as you call him?" she asked eventually. "Bear" was a pretty ridiculous nickname they had for Dan as he didn't fill any of the characteristics of the term, but they gave it to him, because he had watched Winnie the Pooh too much as a child and got a very posh, no, articulate dictionary and a way of speaking because of it. He owned it's books and the teddy bear too.
"I don't know. Probably just freshening up, I guess. We're going back to our hotel in half an hour, but you'll get to meet him, I'm sure", Phil answered when Chris just shrugged.
"Okay, good", the girl said and looked much relieved after.
Everyone always wanted see the singer... Chris thought as he walked off to see his other mates. Though who could blame them, Dan was a pretty boy.
Dan just got out of the bathroom with his hair wet and beginning to curl when Chris walked past him with a bitter expression. He was about to ask what was wrong, but the girl turned around and screamed, full on screamed in excitement. She ran towards him and nearly rugby tackled him to the ground as Dan was more of the skinny kind than the buff kind.
"Woah, hey there", Dan said with bewildered chocolate eyes. "Oh hi, Bear."
She snaked her arms around his waist and looked up to his lips. Her hands explored too freely and under the clean black shirt, so Dan pulled away swiftly with a gaps. "Um, sorry, but I got to go. It was nice meeting you though. Hope you liked our show", he said with an apologizing smile and escaped to their manager's room.
The girl looked like she was dreaming and just stood there with her mouth open. She finally left the lounge after waiting for Dan to come back out twenty minutes and a security guard telling her it was time to go. That her backstage pass run out.
Phil looked at it with slight sadness in his eyes and sympathy for Dan. He decided to go over and tell Dan that the way was clear. He slugged over to the manager's room and didn't bother knocking because usually no one was up to anything private other than sleeping at this hour, even though they were an R&B band and all.
"Hey, Dan..." Phil stopped to his tracks when he opened the door and raised his gaze to the back of the room where the sofa was.
Dan was lying on his back on the sofa and their manager, Keith Robson was pinning him down from the waste down and feeling Dan up. His hands were at his hips, fingers already tugging at the waistband of his underwear.
Dan didn't look like he was very into it.
Keith turned around in half a second when he heard Phil's voice. He didn't move other than his hands to the sofa to keep himself up somewhat.
"What's happening in here?" Phil asked with a worry and confusion lacing his voice. Dan looked into his blue eyes desperately.
"We were talking... uh, about what seats you will take, um, on the airplane. 'Cause it's full from the business class, but..." Keith stammered and was beginning to get up from pinning Dan down.
"No! What are you doing to Dan?" Phil demanded.
"We're just having a bit of fun", Keith said. "That's all."
Dan swung his legs from the sofa and stumbled towards the door where Phil was still standing. "Are you okay?" Phil asked Dan as he got to him.
The younger boy stopped beside him for a second teary eyed. His lips were quivering slightly and Phil was afraid that he had been too late. Then Dan shook his head and cast his eyes down as if to gather himself up.
"Yeah, I'm fine", he said automatically, but a bit quietly and looked up at Phil, all the fear and vulnerability gone from his eyes. Even the tears. He had gone full blank from emotional in matter of seconds. Then he dived past him through the doorway and walked off.
Phil watched it in wonderment, but then turned his head to look at Keith who had got up and was standing by the mirror.
"What were you doing to him?" Phil asked again with a deep frown on his face.
"It's none of your business, Philip! Go tell the others that were leaving in five. I'll pack from here", Keith said sternly and frowned back at him and began sorting things out in his bag.
Phil felt a bit hopeless. He wasn't going the get the answers from Keith. He made himself clear that he was unhappy about anyway and turned around, taking the cigarette pack from Keith's room and slam the door behind him.
He walked heavily in to the lounge where everyone else was and popped a cigarette between his lips and lit it up, taking a good cancer-giving inhale of it. Phil saw his mates sitting on the long couches, looking very relaxed and lazy. Dan however was sitting in an armchair, curled up in a little ball, his head resting on his knees, biting his thumb's nail weirdly.
"Hey, pack your things. We're leaving in five minutes. The cars are going be here in a few", Phil said and started putting his things into a leather bag he had. It was an old black bag he had gotten from Dan as his twenty-second birthday. It had studs on the shoulder straps. It was very cool and edgy. Maybe a bit nerdy too with the Tamagotchi that hang out of it. Yes, Phil still got a Tamagotchi and it was level nine.
"Yeah, yeah", Chris muttered under his breath as he too began packing the few items they had laid out around the lounge. PJ was already ready so he helped Dan out as he seemed a bit zoned out of it all.
"Is everything alright, Bear?" the green eyed boy asked him as he put the shirt Dan had worn on stage in his black backpack.
"Wonderful", Dan replied bitterly. He focused on the packing now, not wanting to talk about anything right now. Definitely not about how he was feeling.
"Hey... You can talk to me if you need to. But if you don't want to right now, it's okay. Let's just go back to the hotel and relax properly", PJ said softly and pat Dan's back affectionately. Dan turned his head around to look at his friends face and the honesty playing on it. He smiled sadly and nodded his head. "Thanks."
"Alright, alright! Is everything done in here? Can we get on fucking moving now?" Keith's voice boomed in the room and he ran a hand over his dirty blond hair.
"Yeah, we can. You don't have to yell", Dan said, sounding like he was almost pleading. A slight shakiness was added to his tone.
"Well sometimes it seems you have to be a bit rough to get people moving, you see Bear. I decide what happens here and we're going now. The cars are waiting for us", Keith basically sneered. He never called Dan 'Bear' and he loathed people calling him that. It didn't fit him at all, in his mind. It was too innocent and sweet for him.
Dan shivered, repulsed by Keith's words. Phil saw this with a worry in his mind. He glared at Keith's direction even though he refused to look at him.
"Let's just go now", Phil said and went to help his band out with the baggage. A few of the assistants came and helped them too and soon they could hop in to their cars, after diving through a sea of fans and paparazzi.
Phil sat in the backseat with PJ, Dan and Chris were in the other car behind them. It was a slow start, because the people wouldn't budge that easily from their way, but the security guards did their job fairly fast.
The screaming was so loud it was heard even in the cars as good as the soundproof was in them.
After they got past the screaming mess of people and on the road, Phil and PJ began talking.
"Did you see Dan? He looked really upset", PJ said and rummaged through his bag to look for his phone.
"Yeah, I did. I went to look for him from Keith's room and I found them, uh, in a pretty intimate position", Phil mumbled awkwardly, fiddling with his hands on his lap.
"What? Were they having sex or something?" PJ shouted. The driver looked from the review mirror at them for a second before looking away as Phil gave him a scold.
"No, no. But it looked like it was about to happen. But Dan didn't look very into the whole thing. I fear that Keith was going to stop though even if he didn't want it. When I asked Dan if he was okay, he said he was fine, but he didn't look like it", Phil said quietly. PJ looked at him in horror.
"No... Keith wouldn't do that. He's our manager."
"I now realized that this probably wasn't the first time I've seen him watching Dan like he did in that room. Have you noticed they way he looks at him? Like he's a piece of meat or something. Like he's ready to eat him." Phil's face was a face of disgust and he shook his head to clear it from the thoughts that started flowing in from his own words.
"Oh God... Why hasn't Dan said anything? This isn't right. Why would Keith start doing these things now? I don't understand it."
"Hmm. Maybe it's because Dan has gotten so famous and popular. Maybe he felt like he had to quicken his mission now, when people are basically throwing themselves on Dan. I don't know. But I don't like it. We need to talk about this. And ask what Keith said to him. We'll find a new manager if we need to. You can find those from anywhere. Even if Keith was with us from the start, this is far more important and crucial than that."
"Hm", PJ made an agreeing sound with a nod of his head. "But first, sleep."
"You can go to sleep, I'll check on Dan to make sure he's alright. I worry about him a lot. He looks pretty sad almost all the time. The fame isn't doing him good. He isn't that kind of a person", Phil said and pushed his fringe back from his blue eyes.
"You're very good to him, Phil. Stay like that too", PJ said and then rested his head against his seat. "I will", Phil stated as he did the same. It was going to be a long night.
