The One

1.- Misery loves company.

When Lance offered Chris the chance to accompany the Backstreet Boys in their tour, Chris jumped to the chance.

               He really needed the time off, the time away form Orlando and from the memories.

               What he didn't took on consideration was that going on tour with a boyband would entail not only the company of the five members of said boyband, but also their choreographer, their manager, their hairdresser, their band, their security and the whole staff. Too many people for Chris's taste.

               He rarely had time to talk to Howie, and when he did, it was only to discuss things related to wardrobe. Wear this, don't wear that. That shirt is a flaming neon sign that says "I'm a virgin, fuck me". And if you wear those pants, Kevin will have a heart attack.

               Never something more important, because Howie had too many things to worry about.

               Chris also didn't talked that much with the staff members.

               That wasn't completely true.

               The make up girls loved Chris. Apparently, the fact that he was always giving them advice on how to keep their wardrobe fresh was a big hit among them. The sound engineers liked him to be around because he knew about music from the 70's and 80's. The band had adopted him upon finding that he could play the keyboards and the drums. The electrician was a bit afraid of him and his crazy ideas, but in general, everyone liked Chris K.

               Only that they didn't know him very well.

               They didn't know, for instance, that Chris could sing but that he never sang. They didn't know that Chris cried himself to sleep. They simply didn't know.

               And Chris himself didn't know a lot about the other people. He only knew a few things that might or might not have been important.

               For instance, he knew that Justin Timberlake, choreographer, and JC Chasez, song writer, were a couple. He knew that without talking to either because it was the gossip nugget of the week. He had talked to Justin a couple of times because they had to coordinate the clothes with the dance steps, and had found the kid likeable. With a really big ego, but nice nonetheless. Cute, even. Still, he had talked a lot more to JC Chasez, who had the strange habit of walking up to someone and start talking about stuff like love, space and the possibility of really knowing someone through internet. It was weird since JC choose the most unusual moments to approach Chris, and he seemed to change subjects even faster than Chris himself. More so, his taste on clothes ranged from the totally dull to the totally disastrous, so Chris spend a lot of time with the colorblind songwriter.

               And couldn't find a single reason why he and Justin were a couple. Justin was loud in his personality, but sober with his clothes (Something very, very rare in a choreographer, Chris thought). JC was… well, his persona wasn't exactly loud. His clothes were. And nothing could convince Chris that they weren't the most mismatched couple in the world.

               Nothing except perhaps Anthony Fatone Jr. and Lance Bass.

               As far as everyone knew, those two weren't a couple. As far as Howie had told Chris, Lance was straight as an arrow, and Anthony was…

               How had Howie put it?

"If it wears a skirt, if it ever wore a skirt, if it looks like trying to wear a skirt, if it might use a skirt, then it's shaggable for Anthony Fatone."

               And Lance Bass wasn't the type for being a closeted drag queen.

               But even so, Chris had his doubts.

               Mostly, because he had recognized the looks Anthony sent in Lance's way. It was the same way he used to see Asher. The same love filled stare.

               And if Anthony Fatone was staring at his boss like that, it sure as hell wasn't because of a big paycheck.

               More so, Lance sometimes looked at Anthony like that, mostly when they thought no one could see them. Chris knew, because Chris had this way of being everywhere, trying to run away from silence and his memories.

               Not that he ever discussed this with either man. Lance was his boss, and as such, Chris respected his privacy. And for some weird reason, he had never exchanged more than three or four words with Anthony Fatone. So he really couldn't know.

               Even so, just watching the soap opera unfold before his eyes was more than a welcome distraction for his troubled mind.

* * *

2.- Three is a crowd

"They're having problems." Brian stated, looking to where JC and Justin were eating, and not talking to each other.

"No. They… they're just so comfortable with each other that they can eat in silence." Kevin answered, calmly sipping his coke.

"Sure. You know as well as everyone in this tour that JC can't spend three minutes without spouting something about love." Brian shook his head. "They're fighting."

"Got to agree with Brian on this one." Nick nodded, eating his fries. "They don't look happy. Not since J. got the cornrows."

"J?" Howie lifted an eyebrow, surprised.

"Thing is, neither of them are happy with each other." AJ pointed, not wanting Howie to know he had been the one who gave Justin his nickname. "Maybe they should break up."

"That would be... meddling." Kevin said, shaking his head. "We..."

"Big word, cousin." Brian smiled. "They're our friends. I don't like to see them miserable. So, who's with me?"

"Even if they break up, with whom they should hook up? It isn't as we know many gay guys in the tour." Kevin insisted, making everyone look at him. "What? I can speak fast!"

               The five Backstreet Boys continued their breakfast in silence. It wasn't the first time they had had that discussion, and it always ended like that. They simply couldn't find someone to pair Justin or JC with that wasn't each other.

"There's Chris." Suddenly Nick said, breaking the routine.

"What?!" Howie looked at his younger friend as if he had gone insane. "Chris isn't..."

"Sure he is." Brian patted Howie's back. "C'mon! He designs clothes! Of course your best buddy is gay!"

"But... he doesn't seems the type for either JC or Justin." AJ added, shaking his head. "So we're back at square one."

"Pity Lance isn't gay." Kevin mused out loud. "He would be perfect for..."

"Justin!" Nick interrupted. "Sure! If Lance was gay, he and Justin would hook up in a second!"

"But Lance isn't gay." Howie scolded, trying to rescue his fries out of Nick's hands.

"How do we know?" AJ asked, drinking his coke. "I mean... Have any of us seen him with a girl?"

               And that question was worth pondering upon.

* * *

3.- The one.

               Chris looked with some amusement at how Nick and AJ tried to spend all the time next to Lance, almost forcing the poor producer to attend every single rehearsal.

"That isn't going to work, you know?" He asked Howie, when his friend took a small rest between Larger than Life and Get Down.

"What?" Howie asked, trying to look innocent.

"You won't figure out if Lance is gay or not if you hound him." Chris answered, and smiled at the puzzled look on Howie's face. "You guys are too obvious. I overheard when Nick asked Lance if
he thought he would look too sexy on the leather pants I choose for him... That was not exactly subtle."

"You should know." Howie laughed, as he remembered the time when Chris found out that Howie was straight.

               They had been roommates for a week, when Chris had tired of wondering if Howie was on his own team. So one day Howie had returned from his parents' house to see his room turned into the gay man's paradise… or the straight man's hell for that matter. And had told Chris so in not such a subtle way, as he threw out of the window a statue of a naked guy.

"It was an honest mistake." Chris defended himself, also lost in memory lane. "I mean… You're in a boy band!"

"Sure. And all boyband members are fags." Howie snorted. "Got them all wrong with us then."

"I wouldn't be so sure." Upon hearing his old friend's words, Howie frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean… maybe there's one gay member and you don't know it." Chris explained, shrugging.

"Keep your fantasies to yourself, man." The younger man shook his head. "We're the straightest arrows in the block. But… why the interest? Are you cruising for a man?"

               As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Howie knew he had made a mistake. Because Chris' open eyes went dark, stormy, and his face became a closed frown.

"No." Chris said, as he got to his feet and started to leave. "I don't need anyone."

               On the other side of the room, Howie saw how Anthony and JC came into the room. JC was, obviously, looking for Justin, but Howie couldn't think of a reason why the hairdresser was there. Unless somehow the choreographies were messing with their heads. Which was probable, seeing the new steps that Justin had added.

               Then he noted something.

               Anthony's frown as he watched Lance talking to Justin, matched exactly Chris's frown when he had left.