I want it that Way

1.- What's that on your head?

AJ passed a hand over his hair, disgusted. They had just took the pictures for the Millenium cover, and he felt like a figurine in a cake. It was bad enough that, no matter what, they always looked uniformed, but to top his bad day, his hair looked almost like Kevin's, only a little bit longer.

               Because that was all what he had managed to do to show his independence. Let his hair grow.

               Great.

               The hats seemed to be working fine, but sometimes, he simply grew tired of having things covering his all too plain head. He needed something different.

               And he was late for another session of the hell that was Justin's attitude.

               Even better.

"Justin, that looks horrible. Who talked you into that?!" JC's voice came out of the rehearsal room, accompanied by what sounded like Nick's nervous giggling. Intrigued, AJ's increased his steps, only to be greeted by the most incredible sight he had ever seen.

               When they had meet him, the young choreographer had wavy curls that looked as if he had dunk them in bleach. Nothing out of ordinary, since choreographers tended to like
bleached hair a little too much. But now… Now the curls were gone. Instead, there were a set of brown cornrows, all held in place by a bandana with sparkly things on it. They became a ponitail on the back.

               Even when Justin was a white nice boy, he seemed to have come straight out of the gettho.

               And all of a sudden, and even when AJ was straight, Justin was hot.

"That looks good." He said, pointing to the hair, and getting rewarded by a full bright smile. And Justin stopped being hot and was again the 18 year old annoying choreographer who
wanted to kill them all of tiredness. But the hair was still great. "Where did you got them?"

"At the hairdresser next to Freelance." Justin grinned. It wasn't as bad as the full bright smile. At least, it was less blinding. "Anthony's? I went there after getting my check last week."

"I still don't like them." JC stated, clearly unhappy. "I miss the curls, baby."

               Nick's eyebrows shoot up, and he looked at AJ, with a confused look in his eyes. But AJ wasn't watching him. He was still mesmerized by the corn rows.

               Then Kevin, Brian and Howie arrived, and Howie was wearing a…

"What's that?" Nick asked, before AJ could question the other man.

"This?" Howie answered, pointing to the white T-shirt with black sleeves that had a sign that read 'Elvis' crossed out by red Chinese-like lettering that read something like… Fu-something-something. "My new shirt."

"And those are your new pants?" AJ asked, pointing to the black slacks with the white zipper that seemed at least two sizes bigger than Howie. "Are we re-doing 'As long as you love me'? Because I don't remember seeing you this… geeky before."

"Oh, shut up, Bone!" And the reharsal had started. And everyone had not said anything when JC kept frowning, or when AJ kept watching at Justin's head instead of his feet.

               But three days later, AJ was standing in front of Anthony's, thinking about going in.

"Are you going to stare at it all day or are you going in?" An amused baritone voice said at his side. He turned around to meet the even more amused brown eyes of a young man
with a big nose and his hair a curious shade of… blue? Red? something in between?

"I… I was just…" AJ stammered, which was weird, because he never stammered. But the red hair looked even better than the cornrows and now he couldn't decide. "I was just browsing?"

"Sure. You're one of Lance's new group, right?" The man chuckled. "I've seen you a couple of times. If you don't mind me saying, you guys have boring hair."

"We do?" AJ didn't complained about it. He knew his group had really boring hair.

"Yeah. I see you guys every day and it's like 'brown, blonde, brown, blonde, brown'. Nothing to work there. And you always dress the same. A barbershop quartet has more individuality than you guys."

               AJ frowned at that, and then looked at his sleeve covered arms. Sure, he had the tattoos. He had fought tooth and nail to get them… but he had only been allowed to show them in one picture. All the others had him wearing long sleeves.

"What would you recommend me do to with my hair?" He finally asked, smiling.

               The other man smiled, showing white perfect teeth. It wasn't a blinding smile like Justin's, but it was warmer. "I would go with red. But not all of it, or you would look like a stop sign. Been there, done that, got scars to prove it. Only the tips. And mess it. To make it stand out." There was a big pause, and for a second, AJ could see it on his reflection. Big, red
streaks, making him stand out from the rest, making him impossible to miss even from the farthest seats. And he smiled. "C'mon. You do it now, and since you're one of Lance's friends, I'll give you a discount."

"Wha-?"

"Oh, sorry." The man said, holding out his hand. "I'm Anthony Fatone, the owner."

* * *

2.- You're not wearing that on stage.

               AJ was the first to arrive to the next rehearsal, and only got a lifted eyebrow from Justin. JC was nowhere to be seen, which was of the bad. JC never missed a rehearsal, because he liked to see Justin dance. And Justin was wearing a bandana, covering his cornrows completely.

               Trouble in Paradise, if AJ was right.

               Nick arrived 10 minutes later, followed by Kevin, who raised both eyebrows upon seeing AJ. Then, almost right after Kevin, Brian got in, and he did gasped when he saw AJ's
newly dyed hair. AJ smiled. Blond, Brown, Blond. Tony was right when he had made his evaluation of the guys. Which meant that Brown was next. Namely, Howie should be coming in right…

               AJ forgot all about his hair when he saw Howie enter.

               Because it couldn't be Howie.

               Because Howie wouldn't wear leather pants that looked like if they were painted on his legs, nor a sleeveless black shirt with the word FUCK painted on white, surrounded by glittery beads. Because Howie wouldn't be wearing a short black denim vest with fire painted on it over the FUCK shirt, and he wouldn't be wearing boots.

               At least not to rehearsals.

               At least not to where he could be seen. He looked…

"Wow." Justin was the one who broke the silence. "I mean… wow! I will have to change some steps if you're planning on looking like that more often."

               Somehow, that broke Kevin paralysis and soon the oldest member of the Backstreet Boys was out of the door, fuming.

"Well, we'll just have to start without him." Justin shrugged, turning to see the mirror. It was only then when AJ noticed the big bags under the young man' eyes. "I'm not in the mood today, so you better not fuck up the steps, Carter."

               They were only halfway around 'Larger than Life' –because Nick, no matter how much he tried, kept messing some steps - when a still irate Kevin entered the room again,
followed by the always calm Lance.

"See?!" Kevin yelled, pointing at Howie and AJ. "They… They can't go on looking like that!"

               Lance spared a sideways glance to Kevin, before staring at AJ's head. Finally, when AJ thought he couldn't take the silence anymore, the southerner spoke.

"Let me guess… You've meet Tony." He said, chuckling, before passing a hand through his blonde, dark rooted hair. "Been that route myself. Once he talked me into going metallic blue."

"Tony?" Brian asked, curiously. After he had gone over the shock of the red tips, he had been passing his hands through his hair more and more. "Who's Tony?"

"The Hairdresser who works next to us." Lance, AJ and Justin answered, at the same time. The two blondes looked at each other and laughed.

"Lance. He cannot go like…" Kevin tried again, but Lance shook his head.

"Look at him, Kevin. He looks fine." The manager said. "Sure, he doesn't look like a New Kid on the Block, but that's the idea. You have to prove to the world that you aren't a boyband, and that's a good way to start." He paused, looking at the other four members of the group and smiled. "Maybe you all should get appointments with Tony."

"What about Howie?" Kevin insisted, crossing his arms. He was looking as if he was not particularly happy about Lance's decision.

"Is that an statement, D?" Lance asked, seriously. The tanned man smiled and shook his head.

"Nah. It's just something Chris and I thought would look good." He answered, trustfully.

"And who's Chris?" Kevin interrupted, before Lance could say anything.

"He's an old friend form college, Kevin." Howie explained, patiently. "He has this store, designs clothes and everything. I found the place the other day while cruising at the mall, and we started talking about old times. I liked the pants, asked him if he had something to go with it, and he suggested the shirt. I think it looks good on me too…"

* * *

3.- They want us this way.

               When the concert ended, even Kevin had to admit he had been wrong.

               They had all caved to pressure and went to Anthony's to get a makeover. And while Anthony Fatone wasn't at all like what he had imagined, the tall Italian man was indeed a little
crazy when it came to hair.

               AJ hadn't had anything done, although he and the stylist had talked about blue streaks matching the red ones. Howie's hair had been mostly left alone, but now his ponytail looked full of life. Nick had gotten his hair cut, up the ears, making him look even more innocent, if that was possible. Brian's curls had been flattened and moisturized and now his cousin permanently looked as if he had just come out of the shower.

               Still, Kevin had only accepted that his short hair was spiked. No dyes, no streaks no anything. Just some spikes.

               After that, they all had gone to the store that Howie's friend ran. Fumanskeeto. Where a short, brown haired man who bounced when he walked and who Howie called Chris, but everyone else in the store called Crazy, had showed them every single article of clothing he found, commenting on how would they look with it.

               The end result was that they looked like a mismatched group hanging after high school, more than like a singing quintet.

               No one was wearing the same as the other. Not even close to each other.

               With Chris's helpful advices, Brian had choose white as his color. Everything he had bought was white, with some very discreet spots of colors in the shirts. Right now, his cousin
was wearing a pair of white denim baggy pants with his name written on beads on the right leg, and a white short sleeved T-shirt with the words 'Boytoy' written on both sleeves in baby blue. Howie had gone with Red, and looked as if he had just put on his pajamas for the last number. Still, the silk open shirt had made many fans whistle and cat call him during Backstreet Back's new steps. AJ had chosen Yellow and Orange, which, when combined with his hair, made him stand out completely. And the sleeveless tanks he was wearing made his Tattoos fully visible, giving him a more 'bad boy' image. Nick, even when he had complained at first, looked perfect in baby blue. Baggy pants and a baggy shirt –to help hide the fact that yes, he was gaining
some pounds – made him look as young as he had looked when their first record was out. Almost as young as his brother Aaron. And the glittery designs on the long sleeves and the bottom of the shirt made him glow when the light reflected on them.

               Kevin was the black one. All his clothes were black. He had tried to choose something that at least went with what the others were wearing, the same color or the same cut, but Chris and Lance had forestalled him. So now he was wearing leather pants that felt even tighter than they looked, a leather jacket… and nothing more.

               And he couldn't complain.

               The fans had gone crazy.

               He had to talk to Lance, to see if he could make Chris their wardrobe director, and Tony their official hairdresser…

               Because the fans liked them more now than before. And for Kevin, nothing was more important than his fans.