Act I , Scene I

It was a party just like any other, and Joey had no wish to be there.

        He didn't remember why he was there. It was a party before an award ceremony. The AMA, or the VMA, or the MMA, or FucksomethingMA, and after the last ten, he had gotten bored. Plus, for the first time in years, he was dateless.

        For months, he had been in love with a girl named Meredith, who had left him for an actor, two years younger than him. Joey only wanted to crawl under his bunk bed and die.

        But his bandmates hadn't let him do that, and thus, he had been dragged, dressed and prepared to the show, to performance, to give a speech and not end drunk.

"You'll find someone new, Joe!" Justin had told him, hand in hand with his girlfriend, Britney.

"Yeah, there are a lot of stars in heaven." JC had added, Bobbie in his arms.

        Lance had just nodded, and, when they were alone, added. "Maybe she'll be there."

        Joey really didn't want to think of what his best friend had said about it. His rant against Joey's costume was more than enough.

        Because, for some reason no one fully understood, the party was a costume party. And the theme was "Rock stars in Movies".

        And yes, Meredith had been there, hand in hand with her date, the insipid little actor, both of them dressed like Madonna and Antonio Balderas in "Evita". Joey only wanted to die.

"OH! Jack! I'll never let you go!" A high falsetto voice interrupted his thoughts, especially since the voice made the young actor with Meredith frown. Joey looked around, trying to find the owner of the melodic voice that had made his rival unease. It was then when he saw the backs of the Backstreet Boys surrounding someone who was doing a very good spoof of the Titanic speech.

"Backass." He growled. It had been a while since *N Sync and the Backstreet Boys had been invited to the same party. Everyone in the industry knew that the two Boybands' feud was very real, and had long ago stopped to make them act civilized to each other.

        No one even remembered how it REALLY started, but it had been somewhere between the Backstreet Boys putting Lou Pearlman on the stand, and Pearlman doing likewise to *N Sync, between Richardson calling Justin a "talentless baby" and JC calling Carter a "Pretty Boy Clone".

        It really didn't matter how it had started.

        What mattered to Joey was that the girl with the alto voice was surrounded by the asses of his rivals.

        Dressed as he was, he thought he could sneak in casually. He was 'Sir Dydimus', the dog knight from the Labyrinth movie, because Meredith loved that movie. Joey had even bought a Sarah dress for her. To make it work, Joey had dyed his red tips blonde, getting an orange flashy look, and his face was covered with an old fashioned dog mask, with hair and glitter. His body was covered in a tin armor, and there was no way that the Backass boys would recognize him.

        As long as he kept his mouth shut. And Joey knew he wasn't going to be able to do that with AJ Mclean dressed as Mick Jagger in FreeJack, or Brian Littrell doing a very bad Jhon Denver impersonation.

        The group finally started to disperse, and he could hear his mysterious girl laughing, a sweet giggle that was a bit too low for the falsetto Joey had first heard, but even then, higher than Britney or Christina's laughter.

        Finally, only Kevin Richardson and the owner of the voice remained, and Joey felt his stomach lurch. He still couldn't see the girl, as the big lug that was Kevin Richardson dressed as Travolta in Saturday Night Fever was keeping her hidden, but Joey didn't want to believe that the owner of the heavenly laugh was Richardson's wife.

        Then Richardson moved and Joey caught a glimpse of retreating blond hair and a big purple cape. His heart started beating again because the blonde was at least three heads shorter than Richardson, and Joey knew the Backass Boys leader's wife was as tall as her husband.

        Trying not to be obvious, he followed the shorter figure around, trying to get a glimpse of her costume or her face. But he didn't manage to catch her until both were next to a fishtank. Gathering courage, Joey moved close to his mysterious blonde.

'Don't sound like JC, don't sound like JC', he chastised himself. "Cool party, huh?" He finally said. 'Rats! That was worse than JC'

"Yeah." The blonde turned around, and Joey was shocked upon seeing the most expressive pair of brown eyes he had ever seen. They were the color of wood, of forests, of almonds. And big, round like those of a curious squirrel. The fact that they were framed with gold eyeliner and glittery blue and purple eyeshadow only made them look even bigger.

'Meredith, who?' Lost in thoughts, Joey didn't hear the next words the mesmerizing voice said.

"Sorry?" He asked, blinking behind his dog mask.

"I said it was good to find another David Bowie freak. I was starting to feel silly." The voice repeated, making Joey took on the whole outfit in front of him. Long purple cape. Black booths, thigh black pants, a white blouse with laces and long sleeves, that let out a glimpse of a flat chest. A necklace with a silver moon holding a crystal ball. Long blonde hair, topped by darker spikes…

"The Goblin King" Joey whispered, forcing himself to smile through the shock.

"The one and only." The 'king' laughed. "Unfortunately, I don't have the voice to go with the part." And to show his point, the king sang a few chords of Jareth's last song, a few tones too high to make a passable impersonation of Bowie.

"You're good, man." Joey admitted, trying to remain calm. "You in a group?"

        The Goblin King laughed, the falsetto laugh that made Joey's insides burn. Only that this time, it was a different type of burning. A bad type. "You could say that."

"Which one?" Joey asked, curious. He didn't recognize the voice, and he was sure that If he had heard it before, he wouldn't have forgotten it.

"I can't tell you." The king laughed. "It would ruin the show."

"You actually enjoy this?" Joey asked, amused and surprised by the roll of eyes that followed his statement.

"Yeah. I want to see Gwen Steffani sing dressed as Madonna in A team of Their own."

"That's not Gwen Steffani." Joey said, watching the black haired woman in the pink baseball uniform. "No way."

"Wanna bet?"

        And suddenly, Joey didn't feel so akward and they talked about music, mutual friends in the business, similar tastes, and the absurdity of the whole theme. He almost managed to forget his original intention when hearing the voice of his new friend, and forget that, even if it had only been for a moment, the stranger had been more fascinating than Meredith.

        And he was about to ask his friend if he and his band were going to a club after the show when he saw his friends waving at him.

        Puzzled, he watched his watch and realized that the ceremony was about to start.

"Show time, your majesty." He joked, and his friend smiled, showing his white pearl teeth.

"Break a leg, Sir Dydimus." The king said and disappeared into the crowd.

        The opening act was No Doubt. And, just like the King had said, Gwen Steffani had been the one wearing the Madonna outfit. Then some awards were given, but Joey hadn't really paid any attention to it. He was busy trying to spot the goblin King, to see who his friend was.

"The Backasses are on the stage now." His best friend said to him, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"Yeah." Joey agreed, watching the rival band hop up the steps. Brian and his flannel shirt and round glasses, AJ and his bad Rolling Stone's imitation, Kevin like a deranged Travolta, and Nick imitating him, dressed like Danny Suko on Grease…

        The Goblin King.

        Joey gasped. He couldn't believe his eyes, as his stomach lurched one more time and he saw their hated rivals sing.

        He had felt attracted to the voice of a guy. He had been mesmerized by the eyes of a man. Which was wrong, and he was never going to accept it had happened. But the guy had been funny, and a good friend, and knew about music…

        And was a Backstreet Boy.

        It was Chris K. from the Backstreet Boys.

        No.

        No.

        It had to be a mistake. A joke.

"Kirkpatrick has always been a weird one."

"What?" Joey turned to see his best friend. "What are you talking about Howie?"

"We were at the same college for a while. He was always doing crazy stuff. Now look at him. He's clashing with the rest of the bastards. He looks ridiculous."

        But Joey didn't want to see.

* * *

        Chris didn't want to see.

        After their number, a new up beat version of Backstreet Back, they had given an award. And *N Sux had got the stage.

        He really didn't care about his rival band. He wasn't even involved in the hatred because Howie Dorough had been his schoolmate for a year, and even when Howie was the most visious insulting the Backstreet Boys, Chris didn't want to play the hate game.

        But he knew that *N Sync hated them.

        And thus, he didn't want to see that the first guy who had talked to him without chiding him from being short, crazy, hyperactive, and childish, was Joey Fatone, from *N Sync.

        He didn't want to know.

        So he closed his eyes and tried to forget that the easy going, friendly Sir Dydimus would never be his friend.