Stargame

AHOY PEEPS!

It's your boy Ryan with another story that you will hopefully LOVE just as much as the others.

To my readers of the "HOLY SHIT" saga, I haven't forgotten about you!

I had deportation issues...I was born in America and I'm currently living in South Africa, so I haven't had much time to construct anything on paper.

This afternoon I was listening to One Direction on the radio, and I thought...hmm...what would happen if members of a boyband were to fell in love?

Would they ever DARE come out? Or keep it a secret?

I started typing...and I hope you love what I came up with!

Love always, Ryan

STARGAME CHAPTER ONE

Okay Tyler...

Breathe in...

...breathe out.

I looked over towards my fellow band mates, all in their various ways and manners of getting ready for yet another earth-shattering showpiece of music and dance. Of singing and crowd-surfing. Of getting the audience riled up until they screamed for more and more and MORE.

Until the name STARGAME was on everyone's lips and chants.

I smiled as I could already hear the chants from the massive crowd that turned up to see in the middle of Times Square...and a massive thrill of BLOOD and energy seemed to STREAM through my veins.

"Okay guys, have a great show!" our band manager Aaron shouted from wherever he was situated, and make no mistake, he would be watching us with bated breath and his own manners of tension all fucking performance.

I turned to Darren "Dax" Rockman next to me, as we heard the crowd started to chant our band name...the one that we ourselves chose when we entered America's Got Talent only a mere three years ago, back then with nothing more than a dream hoping for it desperately to become a reality.

Little did we know that Americans nationwide would fall completely and utterly in love with four pre-teen boys on the cusp of puberty...little did we know that from the first moment that we had set foot on that stage in front of Simon Cowell no fucking less, that we would become what we have.

That the name STARGAME would be trending worldwide at number one across all social media platforms every single time that we performed for our adoring fans.

Next to Dax was Kris Tanner, the boy who could rock the crowd with his dance moves alone, not even to mention his killer ass voice, as he would STUN fans in their tracks every time, he started one of his solo's. I swallowed slowly as I saw his face...the edges across his youthful face.

And then I remembered that Kris had been away from us for a little while, managing totally to escape the guards that were paid to keep us four sixteen-year-old boys in line.

No...not again. Not fucking tonight!

The incessant trembling of his hands as well as the wild pandering look in his eyes told me that once again, he had taken SOMETHING to help him get through another one of our shows. I just closed my eyes and begged for mercy...because like so many boy band stars out there, and along with the instant fame, had come copious bouts of teenaged anxiety...seemingly totally gone through the roof with Kris.

My best friend for a massive total of fourteen of my entire sixteen years of age, Shawn Olson or as we and the rest of the world like to call him by his stage name, Sticky, winked at me as he saw how nervous I was, as I always tended to be before a show.

I gave Sticky a nervous smile, and tried not to think how many people, young kids in particular, was out there, all waiting to see us.

And then where was me...I suppose.

The so-called heart and soul of the band, if you could believe social media. The handsome one...the sexy stud...the one that all teenage girls and perhaps a gay boy or two lost their hearts over as they stared at my pictures in magazines and on various billboards...

Tyler Branning was ready to LOSE himself right here, and right now.

"Remember boys...for some of these teenagers, this is a once in a lifetime experience...you think about that every time you fucking perform out there!" came the notion from Aaron once more, doing his job as a manager to get us fired the hell up for the next three and a half hours of performance.

Dax snickered as the chants of "STARGAME...STARGAME" came blissfully through from the audience, and finally Aaron gave the green light, and had us all pose on our various stances, as we always did when we opened a show.

Lights flashing all over the place, as far as the eye can see, as our background music suddenly intensifies...telling the hundreds of thousands of people that something was finally about to happen.

The crowd went crazy as we were finally airlifted down to the stage from the podium, we were on from high above, the ultimate fucking entrance to the show, and the screaming and shouting was way more than enough to drown out any nerves we had.

We had fucking done this since were age thirteen.

We GOT this.

"Let's DO this, boys!" I whispered over to the rest of my bandmates.

"THIS...IS...STAAAAAAAR...GAAAAAAME!" came the announcement over the tons and tons of speakers, before music from our hit single GOOD TO GO started to thunder over the entirety of Times Square.

I smiled wickedly to the crowd. Several posters, decorated in various ways to catch our eyes, were lifted upwards as we started to dance and gyrate to the music of our number one hit song, released on iTunes and Spotify only last month. It streamed to new records in the country, finally overtaking history previously made by huge names such as One Direction, Backstreet Boys and Westlife.

Stargame, had well and truly arrived.

Daz signaled at me with his eyes as he tried his best to show me a life-size cutout of me floating in the air made by our adoring fans, proudly saying MARRY ME TYLER for all the world to see. The audience went crazy for Kris who started the song with his crazy ass vocal talent, not even to mention the way that he twisted and turned his lanky body to get the maximum reaction from the crowd.

With his microphone firmly held in the palm of his hand, he managed to get several teenage girls wet with glee as he smirked his way over to the edge of the stage.

"GATHER ROUND, NOW LOOK AT ME...RESPECT ME BABE, MAKE LOVE TO ME..." he chanted, the crowd hyped up something fierce.

If something bothered me about the wild look in his eyes, there was no way that I could actually show it...this show as being lived streamed as we speak, so I knew we had to wait...and just hope and pray that Kris didn't do anything that he wasn't supposed to do.

Daz started with his part of the song, as Sticky shook his head, turning to me, as the lights were now firmly on Daz.

He rolled his eyes as unsuspecting as possible, before he glanced at me, and then over at Kris.

"Is he high?" he managed to mouth over to me, before I just managed to get a nod quickly, as the lights streamed only across Sticky at that moment, allowing the crowd to double in their efforts to get to see him sing.

Sticky flashed his adoring, innocent smile to the girls in the first few rows, before he started singing his own verses, bellowing out the words and the lyrics as only he could, before it was finally my turn.

"TYLER...TYLER...TYLER..." thundered across Times Square as I shook a deep breath, and completed my solo, before all four of us came into focus, doing our full song, as well as the full choreography that we had done so many times in the past, it was nearly drilled into our teenaged skulls by now.

When we were done with "GOOD TO GO", the sweat was already dripping from my forehead, and I was quite sure it was the exact same result for the rest of the boyband. Sticky grabbed his mic and threw his head backwards as he belted out the final part of the song, before the crowd once more chanted mercilessly for more.

"What's up, Times Square?" Sticky blasted over his microphone, and the roar from the attending faithful was way more than enough to warm the heart of a God-fearing nun.

"Perhaps on the off chance that you guys have forgotten who the hell we are...I'm STICKY!" he shouted, cheers and various wolf noises could be heard for miles on end.

"My name is KRIS!" Kris tuned out, his eyes now more wild than I had seen them in a long time, and I nervously looked over to Aaron...he must be realizing by now that Kris was in way over his head, but there wasn't much he could do about it really...not until the intermission and even then...those thirty minutes was not going to be enough to rid Kris's system of whatever had he taken.

Jesus.

"Some of you might have seen me coming out of your mama's room...she'll be crying out for DAZ!" Darren next to me stated as he received the loudest cheer of the night so far.

It was common knowledge that Aaron wanted each of us four to represent something within the current teenage society that all of them would see in US...

Those who were naturally shy...they bonded way more with Sticky, because that was how Aaron wanted him to be portrayed.

For those who were already sexually active, there was Daz, of course, as both sets of girls and boys who supported Stargame wanted to BE him if they could. Girls wanted him inside of them so to speak, whilst the teenage boys saw him as their hero.

Then...for those who liked the musicality instead of our cunningly good looks and charming wit, there was Kris himself. Kris Tanner had the voice of an angel when he placed his mind to it, easily the most musically gifted one of the four of us.

Make no mistake, all of us could fucking SING...we wouldn't be in one of the most popular boybands across the entirety of the world if we couldn't, but Kris was just on a while other fucking level.

And then...I was not even ashamed to admit it...Aaron wanted to keep me, for what I represented in the band...which was my boyishly good looks. I loved my boys...I cared deeply for every single fucking one of them, but I dwarfed them when it came to masculinity and facial features.

I literally had no problems getting any girl I wanted out there...as Aaron had made sure right from the get-go, that I would always...ALWAYS be shirtless when we had a performance.

I took my mic and smiled at the crowd...cries and jeers raised just a tad as I did so.

"And I am TYLER!" I thundered out, the shouts and shrieks now generally cancelling out any other noises on the planet it seemed.

Together we came joined at the middle of the stage, with our arms linked in the pose that defied who we were...the pose that shot us into stardom...the pose and the faces that got us to where we were today.

"WE...ARE...STARGAME!" we cried out as one, before another one of our hit singles started to pander across the square.

**

Needless to say, Aaron was tight lipped and fucking furious the moment that we came off the stage for the much-needed intermission.

He grabbed Kris by his arm and shoved the boy into the nearby wall, and hard at that.

"Jesus..." came the whisper from Daz, and I too had huge eyes as I stared at our band manager. I had literally NEVER seen Aaron this angry before.

"What have you taken? How many pills was it this time? And where the FUCK did you get them?" Aaron demanded as bits and pieces of his saliva smashed into the lower part of Kris's face before he sighed and tried his best to get his temper under control.

Kris smirked at Aaron before he winked at the rest of us, as if to say...don't worry boys...I fucking got this.

"You know how nervous I get before we have to perform!" he shrieked, his voice raised just a tad, his eyes bloodshot red and white all at the same time, and you would have to be blind as a bat not to realize that he was as high as a kite.

Aaron turned to us, miserable as sin.

"And you three just fucking ALLOWED this to happen?" he continued to steamroller his tantrum, before Sticky held up his hand in near God protest.

"Fucking hell, Aaron, we can't be with him twenty-four hours a day! What about those fucking useless security guards you hired months ago! Ever since they got onto the payroll, Kris has been out of control! So, what exactly does THAT say about them?"

"You know, I wouldn't put it past Michael or Ria to have given him something themselves..." Daz wondered out loud, but I shook my head, and frantically so.

"Maybe Ria...definitely not Michael. He's so not the type, okay?" I managed to utter my opinion, before Daz smirked right back at me, his eyes at full glow.

"Defending Michael now, are we? Don't think we don't all know what's happening between you two..."

"STOP THIS! JESUS! We have a show in literally fifteen minutes to complete!" Aaron shouted at the top of his voice, and I rolled my eyes when I saw the various stagehands and staff looking over at us, before carrying on with their work.

Thank God Aaron was a total genius when it came to having people signing NDA's, otherwise all four of us would have been crucified on social media by now.

"Look...Aaron, there isn't much we can do at this point...we can't finish the show without him?" Sticky feebly offered, and Kris flashed him a menacing look. It looks alone could kill; my best friend would have been six feet under by now.

"Will everyone just CHILL out? I'm fucking FINE! See?" Kris exclaimed, a little too loudly for someone who claimed to be solidly in control, before he quickly performed a couple of his signature moves, as if it was a way to make all of this go away.

His eyes didn't lie though...he was as high, as high could fucking get.

Aaron closed his eyes, as if he was praying for patience.

"Okay...okay...but you better get your ass into that fucking make up chair before you go out there. At least they can hopefully do something with those messed up bags underneath your eyes. And as for YOU..." Aaron said as he whisked past me, taking out his iPad as he did so.

"What is this I hear about you and the fucking security guard? You better have answers for me after the show, and I'm better going to be liking what I fucking hear!" he hissed at me, before Daz gave me an apologetic smile and placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Jesus Tyler...I didn't mean for it to come out like that...we're all just a little worried about Kris being high in the middle of a performance...I really didn't wanna hurt you..." he said, looking very much like a lost puppy dog in a rain puddle at that moment and time.

Sticky threw his arms around both of his, as he gave us a group hug.

"Get in here, crazy!" he motioned over to Kris, who slumped forward as he did so.

"Kris, what the fuck did you take? This is us...Aaron is way over there...come on, you can tell us," I begged my friend, as I once more winced when I saw the tepid look in his eyes.

Shit...what ever he had taken was obviously wearing off...and it would fucking MORE than show and be evident on that stage in just a few minutes. For God sake, we had a whole SET to get through! Most of those songs he had SOLO's in! Dude, what the fuck?

Kris sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, as he always did whenever he was nervous as hell.

"I'm sorry guys...it was just a couple of pills..."

"Pills? What pills?" Daz demanded.

"Jesus Christ, not fucking ecstasy?" I asked in disbelief.

When Kris didn't answer, Sticky groaned out loud.

"FUCKING HELL, KRIS! Are you even going to be able to perform out there? The WORLD is fucking watching, we are STARGAME for fuck sake!" he hissed towards Kris.

Kris suddenly pushed away from us, his eyes now watery as shit, before he angrily wiped the residue liquid away with the back of his hand, before he managed to somehow pull himself together, but I could hear Sticky sigh next to me...there was no way that Kris was going to complete our set list tonight.

"Guys, get ready, you are on in five. Remember, you guys are starting with "POWER PLAY" before you shimmer into...hey, what's with the sour pusses, who the fuck died?" Aaron asked as he finally realized that everything wasn't as peachy as he thought it was.

I cleared my throat and Aaron glanced over at me.

"SPEAK TYLER!" he hissed at me, before I nervously swallowed.

"Aaron...I really think it would be the best if...if..."

Aaron's eyes narrowed...as his grip on his iPad intensified.

"...if what?" he deemed to ask.

I closed me eyes...get this over and done with.

"...if Kris didn't go out there again tonight. We can just say he has fallen ill or something..."

It looked for a few seconds like Aaron might have started to physically COMBUST before I could even finish my sentence.

"THE FUCK? There are kids out there who fucking paid good American dollars just to see YOU! All of you! I honestly don't care how you do it, but you get your asses OUT there and you fucking GIVE them what they PAID for! Or you want Kris to trend on socials all week for the WRONG reasons?" he spat at me.

I looked at my bandmates...all in rotation.

At Sticky...at Daz...and finally over at Kris.

"I guess we have no choice...do we?" I whispered, and I saw it in all of their eyes. They knew we had to finish what we started.

With Kris in tow.

Kris smirked at us.

"There you go! I'll be fine! Let's go and give them a SHOW!" he demanded, before he jogged towards the stage area as quickly as he could.

I looked a gleeful Aaron right in his eyes, before I shook my head.

"With all due respect, Aaron...if anything happens to him out there, that is totally on you!" I managed to say, before I placed my arms around both Sticky and Daz, getting ready to perform "POWER PLAY" like we had done loads of times before.

For once...the nervous energy flowing through my veins before a performance had nothing to do with the crowd...or whoever was watching.

"Okay boys...let's fucking DO this!" I shouted again, before the ROAR from across Times Square thundered across the arena once more.

**

Once more I stared at all these people who turned up just to see us.

I was already peltered with several bouts of clothing from the young girls who were in the first few rows, but I knew better than to milk it. As Aaron always said...I was portrayed as the sexy one out of the four of us. If I gave attention to one particular girl, thousands of others would be more than disappointed.

Daz jumped high as he could to belter out his part of the song, we were busy with, before the rest of us fell in at the chorus, completing the popular "MESMERIZED" to the best of our ability.

My heart was racing...even after all this time and even after EVERYTHING that had happened to us in these past three years. We went from virtual unknowns to literal superstars over night, and that was still something I had trouble in digesting.

Forget about having any privacy...that was a forgotten thing of the past. Neither the public nor Aaron for that matter, would ever allow us to do anything out of our free will. Our schedules were planned and restricted to the letter, with Aaron making sure we were never trending on socials for anything less than our stellar performances and our unique popularity.

As "MESMERIZED" finished, my eye caught Sticky's and he sighed with relief. We were nearly done...so nearly done that I could smell the late-night waffles coming from our hotel room...just one more song. Just one more.

Our latest single, that we kept for last...because Aaron knew that would give it the maximum attention and have it trending worldwide for yonks on end.

I was pretty proud of "TRAPEZE" ...because simply I helped to write the lyrics. But in this particular scenario, it was also the one song of the night that I was terrified to have us perform.

Because quite frankly...the choreography for said song included exactly what the title of the song suggested.

We had to be all high up on a podium, as we had been practising and rehearsing for weeks on end...and each of us had to do a turn on an actual trapeze whilst the remaining three belted out the lyrics.

Now normally, I don't think anyone of us would have been worried about this in the slightest...all of us were sixteen years of age, we were all drilled to be fit and slim, more muscled if you were Daz Rockman, so this was the one thing that we all were excited as fuck to actually DO right here in the heart of Times Square.

One little problem though...Kris was looking worse for weather at the moment and the fuck did I know whether he would be able to even HANG on to a trapeze, never mind complete a single fucking swing.

I looked nervously over at Daz and Sticky, and I instinctively knew they were thinking the same as I was.

The stage lights were suddenly switched off just as was planned for this sequence of events...and the crowd GASPED out loud as the sudden darkness seemed to overwhelm the roaring voices.

The four of us disappeared backstage to get onto the podium that would take us upwards to the trapeze situated above the staging area, and one look at Kris confirmed what I was thinking...his eyes were so weak and mild...his arms hanging loosely next to his sides, and his breathing was seemingly getting heavier by the passing second.

"Aaron..." Sticky started to say, but the latter immediately shook his head.

"We have to. I didn't tell him to stick whatever the fuck he used up his nose or down his throat, did I?" he nastily said, as he gave his permission for the stagehands to lift us one by one, upwards to the podium.

Sticky rolled his eyes and leaned into me as we were lifted.

"Why of all people did we have to get stuck with a fucking asshole for a manager, brother?" he whispered as I nodded, keeping my eyes firmly on Kris.

Kris tired his best to keep it together, that was clear, but he was already having a severe bout of motion sickness it seemed, as we finally stopped at our podium, before both Daz and I had to quickly reach out to stop him from falling backwards and hurting himself.

"Aaron, Jesus! There is no way he can even hold on to that thing! We have to cancel the song! Fucking hell, we should have cancelled the show at half time already!" Sticky blasted our disgusting manager, who simply shrugged his shoulders in reply.

"Time is money, boys. And if you don't finish this performance, who the hell is going to make excuses as to why all those screaming brats out there didn't get their monies worth? ME! I will have to go out there...because the fuck am I going to allow ANY of you to trash my good name..."

Aaron took a huge breath, and made sure no one else was around to hear him, before he continued.

"...and I suppose I'll have to tell the world that the members of STARGAME were all on drugs in tonight's performance. It's that or Kris goes on the trapeze...your choice," he threatened, his expensive Rolex watch glimmering in the moonlight, almost as a statement on unintentional intent, of how serious he really was.

I stared at Aaron in sheer morbid disbelief...I knew he was a shrewd agent...a fucking good businessman, we had all heard of his reputation in the music industry...but this was fucking next level.

Aaron sighed and placed his hand on my shoulder, as he must have realised with that level of hatred I was staring at him. At this moment and time...although someone with the ego of his size would never admit this in a million fucking years...but right now...Aaron needed Stargame more than we needed him.

There were thousands of agents out there who would KILL for the chance to represent us.

Unfortunately, we also signed an iron clad contract...so for the next two years and at least two more albums, were stuck with the bastard. There was nothing that we could do.

I nodded and motioned to the stagehand to swing the trapeze over to me.

"Daz, you have the intro, so I'll do my stunt and then I'll handle this piece of crap over to you, okay? Sticky, you follow in when Daz finishes, and you bring it back, and then Daz will go, when I have my solo, and then finally...fuck...Kris will have to do his stunt whilst also singing his bit...God knows how..." I murmured as I placed my arm protectively around Kris.

Poor dude very much resembled an overripe tomato at that point.

The music started...flaring over the roaring audience...and once more we were all DWARFED at how quickly these fans had recognised our new single.

"TRAPEZE" had been trending worldwide for ages, but this was the first concert where we were actually performing the song live. I winked at the rest of my band mates, before I grabbed the trapeze with both my hands.

"WE GOT THIS, BOYS!" I thundered over the noise, and at once, I was in the air the very moment that Daz started us off with the intro.

His voice galloped over the noise like velvet on chocolate spread, and for a second, I allowed myself to enjoy the experience of being hung over the adoring crowd as we performed.

Quickly as if passed, I returned to our base, and handed it over to Daz, before Sticky totally got his que, and started bellowing out his lines of the song, sending Daz over in the trapeze.

The crowd was crazy...this was totally next level...honest to God, neither one of us four had EVER seen anything like this ever before. The reaction to us flying over the stage, high over their heads, with a fucking trapeze no less, whilst performing the song which echoed its name, was something that I would always, always remember and treasure.

Daz was back and he wiped the sweat of his brow, before I grabbed my mic and started my section of the song, before he handed the trapeze to Sticky, who winked at me before grabbing on.

"GERONIMO!!!!" he shouted as he finally took lift off, with me totally struggling to keep my laughter in check, at the antics of my best friend.

Shouts of "STICKY...STICKY..." could be heard for miles on end, as the crowd really seemed to enjoy what we were doing.

Lights flashing upwards at us, representing the several cell phones being used to take pictures and videos...some perhaps were live streaming all of this...we would find out the reaction later, but for now, Aaron would probably be more than pleased.

Kris stood next to me, and he blinked a couple of times, before he seemed to even recognise me.

"Kris, you okay?"

Stupid fucking question. A blind man in New Jersey could see that he was scared shitless.

"Tyler...I'm sorry...I'm really sorry...I really didn't mean to hurt anyone..." he whispered to me, and I had to stretch my ears on order to hear him.

I placed my arm around his body and gave him a quick hug to my person. For God sakes were had all been friends for years...we had ALWAYS had each other's back!

How the fuck could Aaron allow this?

I leaned into Kris, as I realised that Sticky was on his way back with the trapeze...and like Aaron had demanded...it would look a whole lot more impressive if we had Kris singing his part of the song WHILST on the trapeze, unlike the rest of us.

That was the punishment I guess, for Kris having the best voice out of the four of us. Aaron knew what worked and what didn't...I had to give him that.

And if Kris wasn't totally tripping right now, from what ever he had taken earlier, I would have been ALL for it...honest to God.

"Dude...just...just keep holding on and tighten your grip on the thing, okay? You totally know the lyrics; we had rehearsed all of this a million fucking times. We have to keep Aaron happy...just try and keep up and come back to us, okay? You GOT this, Kris!" I whispered over to him, before I immediately, and suddenly saw a change in his demeanour.

Sticky was on his way back, swinging over towards us, before he landed securely at our feet.

"Jesus Tyler...I dunno if Kris should do this..." he muttered, but Aaron cleared his throat behind us.

"Kris...your turn..." he said, with a smirk.

I sighed and turned to Kris.

"Here buddy, hold on strong, yeah?" I whispered, before he determinedly grabbed onto the metal frame, and winked at me.

"I GOT THIS!" he shouted, before he lifted himself off the stage and swung his body over the crowd, his part of the song coming out thick and fast, and I sighed with much relief as I realised that Kris was singing...he was actually DOING IT!

His angelic, strong, celestial voice thundered across Times Square with so much velocity and so much volume that Sticky grabbed my arm, and Daz had his eyes wide open.

"GO ON, KRIS!" shouted Daz as he pumped his arm in the air, out of sheer relief, I guessed than anything else.

"Our boy is a fucking TROOPER!" shouted Sticky next to me, as I realised the crowd was screaming at the sight and sound of Kris doing, what he did best.

I dunno whether it was happening in slow motion or not...and years from that point, I still wouldn't have been able to tell you...

...but the next moment, all those cheers and roars...

...turned into nothing but screams and terrors.

"KRIS!" Sticky shouted next to me, as Kris's hand suddenly slipped off the metal bars, and his eyes showed how scared he was.

He tried his best to grab hold of the trapeze with his right hand, but it was like something was holding him back. As if he couldn't see what he was doing properly.

Flashes from cell phones were going ballistic right now as people were taking incessant videos to add to their live streaming from their TikTok accounts, as Kris managed to use the velocity and force from the swing to get back over to us.

Myself, Sticky and Daz all tried and fucking FAILED to grab hold of the metal bars, and with one swift movement...

...it all seemed to go belly up.

It was like Kris had lost the will to fight back...to hold on to his grip.

The cry from his throat when his grip finally slipped from the bars was something that I personally will never forget...I don't think any of us ever will.

Kris fell straight down onto the crowd of people...and I was hoping against hope that all those teenagers would just...I dunno...help him soften his fall, but like the true kids they really were, all those underneath Kris got out of the way as fast as they could.

A loud CRACKING noise was all that remained as our band member...our friend, our buddy and our confidant, laid seemingly already lifeless onto the floor, right in the middle of Times Square.

**

#Stargame was trending worldwide.

As was #KrisTannerIsDead.

Or perhaps my personal fucking favourite...

#KrisTannerHasFallen.

I looked up at Aaron, who was biting his nails as we waited for any sort of news from the doctors here at the local hospital.

Both Ria and Michael did their best to make sure that the paparazzi didn't interfere with us and our need for privacy, but to no avail. Aaron had to make several phone calls in order for us to get more security guard members from the agency together to protect us, because the media was fucking out for blood.

"NO COMMENT! What the hell? Leave us alone!" Sticky thundered over to the members of the press, who had somehow found their way into the hospital and to the room where Kris was being treated before he turned around and slammed his head onto the concrete wall as hard as he could.

"Dude! They're gonna totally write that you're fucking mentally unstable or some shit!" I hissed at him, and I could already see the various members of the press type information and tweets on their phone faster than you could even TRY and say BUSTED.

Sticky sat next to me, shooting daggers at Aaron who was still talking to the various nurses on the floor, many of them Stargame fans themselves, if you looked at the severity of the worry on their young faces.

"He knew this would happen...he knew Kris wasn't in the right mind to do that trapeze shit and he STILL allowed it!" he whispered at me, covering his mouth with his hands, just in case there was some or other media mogul watching us who could decipher what he was saying.

I sighed and ran my fingers through my still sweaty performance hair.

"We gotta talk, when this is over, dude. When Kris is alright again..."

Sticky scoffed.

"If? Did you not see how far he fucking fell?" he angrily interrupted.

I shot him a deadly look. Being his best friend, Sticky knew me like the back of his hand...and he knew that doing so, was SO not like me. His eyes widened as he saw how raw my anger really was.

"WHEN...Kris wakes up and when we perform again, we WILL have a fucking new manager. One that actually CARES about us! You can fucking tell Aaron that!" I hissed to him as we stood up when both Aaron and Daz arrived at our side.

"Any news?" Sticky immediately demanded.

Aaron shook his head, and Daz rolled his eyes.

"Do you know ANYTHING? Really?" he asked our manager, who smirked slightly before he turned his attention to all four of us.

"I honestly hope that neither of you three blame ME for what happened tonight, because you'll be as stupid as you look, if you do. If Kris didn't take whatever he did, NONE of this would have happened!" he defended himself and I had to stop myself from not grabbing his fucking tie and choking him with the damn thing.

"Aaron, I told you! I TOLD YOU that he wasn't ready to perform! And you just insisted that he goes on that fucking trapeze..."

"Tyler...you guys all signed contracts...I'm entitled to ask what I need from my clients. And until tonight, Kris never had a problem getting on that trapeze and doing his job. Or do you WANT me to talk to those media guys back there and TELL them your boy has a drug problem? If I do that, we are ALL finished, is THAT what you want?" he threatened yet again.

I looked at Sticky and at Daz, and they knew as well as I did, that Aaron had the upper hand here. For the moment, he did. If he wanted to, he could force the hospital staff to sign NDA's to not disclose the drugs they HAD to have found in Kris's system.

Either way, he could also use this to his advantage and distance himself from Kris's accident, claiming that he didn't know what was going on. It was our word, against his own. And he fucking KNEW it.

Aaron looked at his watch before he grabbed his book bag and swung it over his shoulder.

"Wait...you're not fucking leaving!?" Sticky cried out softly as I signalled to him that the media was already pointing their phones at us, ready to snap photos and record any sign of disdain they could see between the four of us.

Aaron sighed and looked at us with tired eyes.

"There is literally nothing that I can do to help Kris right now. No one will so much as breathe a word if I'm not here, but if one of you go back to the hotel, it would be carnage. Stay here and let me know the moment that you hear ANYTHING concerning Kris, okay?" he replied, before he waved to the media to follow him, where he stood aside and prepared a statement.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the press...a minute of your time, please. As you probably know, one of our stunts that we were doing tonight at the Stargame concert unfortunately ended in a horrible disaster. Our bandmember, the well-known Kris Tanner injured himself when he lost his grip on the trapeze that we had been using to enhance our performance, which led to the aforementioned accident. I trust you will give myself, as well as the remaining Stargame members, Tyler Branning, Sticky Olson, as well as Daz Rockman the space and the privacy we need. I will personally arrange a press conference if we have any more news," he solemnly said, and then had the ACTUAL nerve to turn around at us, and wink.

"Easy Daz..." I whispered as I realised, he was on the verge of running towards Aaron and fucking killing him.

**

In the hours that followed, the media managed to somehow, respectfully leave us alone, and instead proceeded to literally camp out on the outside of the building, as well as being joined by several fans that followed us from Times Square, were literally outside in the freezing cold all night, singing our songs, waving placards of Stargame around, posting videos on their socials about what was going on...more than likely all fake news...but what actually warmed my heart was the several posters flying out there, which had Kris's face plastered all over it in a full showing of support.

I showed it to Sticky, and he fist bumped my shoulder in reply, before rolling his eyes at Daz, who was snoring in his chair, totally exhausted.

"I can fucking never sleep in a public place, my dude...God knows how he can..." he whispered, before getting up to stretch his legs.

I nodded and proceeded to take a Stargame leaflet lying around, folding it into the shape of a swan, before lovingly sticking it into Daz's hair. I smiled...for the first time in literal hours, before Daz signalled at me, that Michael was wanting my attention.

"Tyler listen...how true is the stories going around? Because clearly Aaron knows something that you didn't even bother to tell me...your fucking best friend, if it is true..." he hissed at me, whilst looking over at Michael, before I took a huge breath and placed my hand on his chest.

"Not now, brother...just...not now, okay?" I breathed, looking at Michael as I did so.

Sticky's eyes narrowed.

"So...its true. You...you and Michael?" he whispered, but I shook my head.

"Not now!" I repeated, before I slowly walked over towards Michael, and signalled at him to walk out in front of me, as to not catch the eyes of any of the media bastards, and have them wondering...or even worse, POSTING what the hell Tyler Branning of Stargame, was doing all alone with a young security guard.

I was trembling as I followed Michael into one of the free hospital rooms and closed the door behind me. Once more I felt guilty as sin, keeping who I truly was from even my best friends in the whole world.

I knew...for example, that Daz was the father of an adorable two-year-old little girl called Melanie. And that he never got to see her, because Aaron didn't think it would fit in with the image of a popular member of a well-known boyband. Only the four of us knew of Melanie's existence...none of our fans did.

I knew...that Sticky grew up homeless until he was adopted when he was two...when he had met me and my mother playing in the park. No one else knew what he had to go through as a baby...when he was shunned from one failing foster home to the other. No one knew, except the four of us.

I also knew that Kris suffered from extreme anxiety, brought on by the sudden fame that was created on top of all of us, the intensity of our schedules, the might and stresses of public appearances...the fact that our time wasn't our own anymore...that the lives we had known and lived pre-Stargame was gone forever.

No one else knew...just the four of us.

But the one thing...that not even Sticky, or Daz or Kris even knew, was that Tyler Branning...was secretly gay.

It was one thing not to be able to live your full lives because you would literally get recognised in an instant...try coupling that with being in a boyband and being GAY on top of it all.

In what universe could I...Tyler Branning...turn to a handsome boy that I would meet and tell him...your place or mine?

It would be worldwide news on every God damn social app in just a few horrible seconds.

There were times where I honestly thought I could get away with it.

Last year, I vividly remember how after one of our shows in Nashville, I was approached by a stunningly beautiful teenage boy, who along with several other lucky kids, had won a contest on some random radio station, and was handpicked to spend some time with us backstage.

I really, truly felt as if this dude and I had a connection...because he didn't FAN BOY over me like everyone else did. He wanted to know about ME...about Tyler...more than he wanted to about Stargame in general.

And just as the night was closing...and I was just about to bite my teeth and DARE to ask him for his phone number...

...he gave me a demo of his own to listen to.

That was it...that was all he wanted all this time.

He played me and played me good.

Luckily, I immediately told Aaron about what happened, and he had the poor dude frightened out of his mind in mere seconds, threatening him with all sorts if he ever told a living soul that he even THOUGHT that Tyler Branning from Stargame was into guys.

Since then, Aaron had fed numerous false stories to the newspapers, saying that I was apparently in between several girls out there...he had even PAID some of them to be photographed next to me, in order for it to look REAL on socials.

I had a feeling there was nothing that Aaron would NOT do to protect what he had in Stargame, and tonight once more just proved my case.

I stared at Michael, and he came closer...his powerful, lanky frame, so tall for a nineteen-year-old, nearly dwarfing my own stature, and believe you me, I wasn't short to begin with. He cupped my face in the palm of his hands and sighed as he stared at me.

"Do you even know...even after everything that happened, how fucking beautiful you are?" he whispered, and leaned down to kiss me, but I turned my cheek and stepped away from him.

Aaron had warned me before...earlier, when I wanted to choke the life out of him when he forced in intoxicated Chris to perform...he implied that he knew about me and Michael. And I wouldn't put it past Aaron either to use this information to get what he wanted out of me, and the rest of the band.

Michael frowned, his handsome facial features etched in sudden confusion, before he placed his hands on his hips.

"Okay, did something happen? Apart from Kris? You don't seem yourself...at fucking all?"

I sighed and scratched the back of my neck, before looked up at him...and MY GOD, he was so fucking sexy and I hated what I was about to do...

...but if there was even a CHANCE of Aaron knowing...this had to be done.

It can't carry on like this.

I looked at Michael...he was literally EVERYTHING that you could want in another boy...even though he was three years older than me. I hardened my eyes and my resolve and looked him directly in his peepers.

"Yeah...there is. This...me and you...all of this...it has to stop. You knew it had to sometime. Quite frankly I'm shocked that no one has figured it out yet, but now that Aaron knows...God knows how...and he has actually threatened me with it. Get this...I didn't even WANT Kris to go on that damn trapeze and he just insisted...saying that secrets have a way of coming out."

I had to take a breath...because the look on Michael's face was actually killing me.

"Dude...I'm really sorry...but there are LOADS of boys out there who would be happy as shit being with a guy like you. But I guess we both knew that this...whatever we had...it couldn't fucking last. Not with literally whole world knowing who am."

The pleading in my voice was more than evident...I really started to care about Michael in the time that we were together, but as hard as it was, it had to be done. I didn't want Aaron Fuckface to have remotely ANYTHING over me even again, and if me and Michael weren't actually together and doing shit, there would be no evidence.

Michael sighed and looked at me with his tired eyes, before he slowly nodded, as if coming to some sort of reluctant acceptance, glimmering at me with those cute dimples which turned my dick as hard as it even been, whenever we had been in bed together.

"I knew you would do this...I fucking KNEW it was coming one day, but still...I hoped..." he started to say, but scared shitless that my resolve would crumble the fuck out, I lifted up my hand to immediately, effectively stop him right in his tracks.

"I'm sorry. Maybe if things were different...but for now...it's just not going to work. Michael...listen to me..." I said as I stepped closer to him and taking his right hand inside my own, before squeezing it softly.

"You deserve a boy who can give you all you deserve...who can give you ALL of themselves, and not just a fucking quarter of who they really are. You don't fucking deserve that! At least we will still SEE each other, when you and Ria escort us to where we need to be, right?"

Michael smiled softly and squeezed my hand back. His eyes shone with the moonlight streaming in through the windows.

"At least I can say that I had the best sex with my life with Tyler Fucking Branning, right?" he giggled.

"Just don't say that out too loud, right?" I joked back, before hugging him to my person.

I hated Aaron right then...I honestly didn't think that the idiot could do or say anything that would EVER make me HATE him more than I already did, but having to tell Michael that this was over...that fucking BROKE me.

Stargame needed to get rid of Aaron.

Like yesterday.

There was SO many good and honest agents...managers...whatever out there.

It was just a matter of finding them.

**

The doctor finished his sentence...and neither one of us three could even LOOK at the other.

Sticky frowned, before he swallowed audibly, and looked at the doctor in total confusion.

"He's...he's in a coma? For how long for?" he dared to ask.

The doctor must have had the sympathy as well as the patience of the decade, because he answered each of us with the utmost abouts of respect, even though if you considered he was talking to the one of the most popular boybands on this planet.

"Like I said, we were unable to bring him out his coma for now. We were able to stabilise his injuries, but if you take into account that he can't, as yet, speak or tell us where he has pain, there is not much we can do before he wakes up. Also...and this might be hurtful to hear..."

I instinctively grabbed Sticky's arm...Daz was looking at the doctor with bated breath.

"...even if Kris does wake up...given the fact that he had a massive trauma to the base of his skull and to his back...and this is hard to admit, because I gotta tell you...both my daughters are huge fans of you all...but I wanna prepare you...that Kris Tanner might not...he might not BE who he was before the accident."

Daz shot me a look, as did Sticky, before I turned back to the doctor.

"Meaning...he has brain injuries? He might not remember who he is, or even who we are? Who HE is? I mean...everything that he has achieved with Stargame? He's not gonna know he is Kris Fucking Tanner?" I frantically asked, already more than dreading the eventual answer.

The doctor nodded slowly, before he looked at his papers again.

It seemed for a while like Aaron might spontaneously combust, he has been quiet as a mouse since the Doctor finally told us which way was up, before he cleared his throat and addressed the elephant in the room.

"With respect, Doctor...I understand your line of work is important...saving lives. But you gotta understand that I have a press conference to handle in a few minutes...and people all over the WORLD wants to know when they will see Kris Tanner live and performing again. What is it that you're really saying here?" he demanded.

Daz pretended to get sick behind Aaron's back, whilst Sticky simply stared at our agent like he had just arrived along with ET from a distant planet.

Even I could see that the doctor was trying SO, SO hard not to fucking lose his patience with Aaron, but he simply folded his arms and answered the question.

"Mr Lovitt...there is no way that myself, or anyone out there would be able to say when Kris will wake up from his coma. Like I said, he suffered massive brain trauma, and who knows what we will encounter when he eventually DOES wake up."

Aaron smirked and held both of his hands on his hips, very much like a naughty preteen child who was refused to get his own way.

"Are you telling me...you're honestly telling me that Stargame...STARGAME...should cease all performances until Kris decides to one day to open his GOD DAMN EYES?" he thundered across the corridor, and that was when all three of us stood up and united as ONE, pulling Aaron away from the doctor.

"Doc...thanks. Please keep us informed...if anything...like ANYTHING that changes with Kris...you call us, okay? We'll be right here," I made sure the doctor nodded before I turned towards Aaron.

"Are you insane? It's YOUR fault that he's THERE to begin with!" I hissed at Aaron.

"Where the hell do you get off making out as if HE is the guilty one here?" Sticky added.

Aaron straightened out his tie and took out his phone from his jacket pocket, ready to make a call.

"If you...anyone of you...DARE to embarrass me like that ever again, I'm calling the media right now...and I'm taking the story of the decade with me. You got that?" he hissed, and Daz balled his fists at the unfairness of it all.

"Dude, Stargame is fucked without Kris! There is no way we can perform without him!" I tried to say, but Aaron shook his head.

"No...No...see that is where you are wrong. I went through the contracts last night, even phoned up one of the lawyers that I have on speed dial to make sure. Stargame is not dead. Not by a fucking long shot!" he grimaced as he finished his sentence.

Sticky, Daz and myself didn't like what we were hearing right then at all...to put it mildly.

"What do you mean? We aren't going to be a much of a BOY BAND without ALL of its members, are we?" Sticky demanded.

Aaron smirked...and he grabbed his book bag.

"We'll see..." he muttered, before he made a call and walked away from us.

"The fuck is he planning?" Daz asked, fire burning brightly in his eyes.

"I have an idea...and I don't think either one of you is going to fucking like it..." I whispered.

Both Sticky and Daz turned to me so fast I was genuinely surprised they didn't end up with severe bouts of whiplash.

"Tyler?" Sticky asked.

I swallowed and I stared at Aaron's back from where he was standing.

"I think...I think he's going to replace Kris with someone else..." I completed my train of thought.

**

"#StargameIsDead is still trending...fucking idiots..." I said as I threw myself in beside Sticky as I did so.

We were getting ready for a press conference that Aaron somehow managed to arrange at the last moment, to finally give the media and the worldwide press some much-needed clarity over what is going to happen to the band from this point on.

Sticky yawned and grabbed my phone from me and refused to give it back.

"It's because your nose is always fucking buried deep inside this rubbish, that's why you believe everything that they say! Look at Aaron! Does it seem like he's even worried? Playing up to the reporters like he is the fucking STAR around here, and not us!" he said with a hatred in his voice that surprised and scared even myself.

I gave up in the end trying to get my phone back from my best friend's grip, before I leaned back and tried to get a five-minute power nap in before it was my turn with the make up artist.

Aaron already briefed us...People magazine wanted an exclusive interview from all of us, and we were all prepped and ready to say what Aaron had told us to. Each of us had our lines that we had to spin for the masses of reporters that was waiting outside the conference room, and we didn't DARE stray from what was written.

In no way, did Aaron or Stargame need more bad publicity than what he had already gotten.

"Dude...can I ask you something? I wanted to back that night...but with Kris's accident I sort of forgot all about it...was there something true about what Daz and Aaron had said? About you and the security guy?" Sticky asked solemnly and I immediately groaned out loud, my eyes still closed.

"Dude...can we not?" I started to say, but I felt Sticky's hand on my arm.

"I don't care about if it's true, or not, Tyler. I honestly don't. I would have preferred if you told your best friend that you are gay but..."

I opened my eyes and looked at him with daggers straining from my irises.

"Sticky...fucking read my lips...I...AM...NOT...GAY!" I whispered, a warning in my tone of voice that I hope to God he would catch on, but he just smiled and smirked at me in return.

"Its true! OH MY GOD! Dude! I'm so fucking happy for you!" he cheered, before reached over and gave me a WAY over the top hug, before I giggled and pushed him off me.

Sticky smirked back but then he suddenly got serious.

"I mean it, Tyler. I don't care if you are...or if you're not. But I have eyes in the back of my head, and I know you. If you ever had a girlfriend or even had gotten to fucking FIRST base with a girl, I would have been the first person you told. You know...because we have literally known each other since were TWO, and I thought we had NO fucking secrets."

I sighed and looked right at Sticky...and then finally back at my hands...trembling at that point.

Sticky leaned over and took hold of both my shaking limbs, holding it in his own.

"Its okay...really, it is. You can be yourself with us...we will never judge you. Never! And as for Aaron...he's an asshole so what does he know? And you can be sure Daz will feel the same, and Kris too, if he was here. Let's just get this fucking interview over and done with, okay?" Sticky replied as he winked at me, and I finally felt a rush of relief lifted from my shoulders.

Although I hadn't actually SAID the words...with Sticky at least, I didn't need to. He knew...and he didn't judge me.

The world did not stop, nor did it end.

This could actually be okay, in the end.

Aaron had a huge smile on his face when we eventually were welcomed with a hero's reception into the conference room, where the interview would be taking place. Each of us were asked the questions that we knew were coming and we had no choice but to answer it in the manner that Aaron saw fit.

Fuck my life.

Aaron finally stood up after the allotted time and addressed the media himself. Daz rolled his eyes, and Sticky bumped his shoulder into mine, faking himself going to sleep with Aaron's voice drowning out in the background.

"There is a good reason why I called this press conference, and you all deserve to know why. Across these three weeks, the boys of Stargame and I had to endure numerous questions of the direction that the band is going. Whether there would ever be another live performance, whether we were going to carry on making music without Kris Tanner, or perhaps...crucially, if perhaps Stargame as a whole was done and in the past. Right now...ladies and gents...I can very much assure you, that it is NOT the case."

I sat up straight, as Aaron's eyes dug into my own...almost as if he, in his own way, was taunting me without anyone even realising.

"Anyone who knows the history of Stargame, knows how the boyband started. These boys were a foursome on America's Got Talent, where they, like others, simply entered the popular show and thanks to you all, America fell in love with them, they won and shot them to stardom. Now...since unfortunate events has limited us to only three members, I want to assure you, that this...wasn't an easy decision to make...but we have to think of you...our fans...your massive outpouring of support these past three weeks has NOT gone unnoticed."

"Please...since when has even cared about anyone except himself..." Daz muttered.

Aaron's smile deepened.

"Therefore...I can now exclusively reveal...that the NEWEST member of Stargame..."

I looked up...

...so did Daz...

...and so did Sticky.

"Jesus..." Daz whispered.

"Holy fucking shit..." Sticky replied at the same time.

"Bastard...I KNEW IT!" I hissed underneath my breath.

Aaron smiled and signalled to Ria and Michael to allow the person inside.

"...may I present...the NEWEST member of Stargame...none other than reigning X-Factor winner...ROCCO GIMENEZ!"

Incessant clapping, as well as cheering, people applauding the decision that Aaron had made to replace Kris Tanner on the band, was going on all around us whilst the three of us remained seated...staring at each other in sheer disbelief.

There was no way that Aaron was going to give up what he had with us...and this band.

I knew it...I fucking KNEW it.

Instead of respecting Kris and what he stood for, he went and gotten another random fucker to join us! How insulting is that to Kris's memory! The dude was still in a coma in hospital for fuck sake!

Aaron stood behind us and ushered us upwards.

"Go and fucking greet your new band mate before I say something about Kris and Tyler to the press that none of you will wanna hear..." he sneered before returning to his signature smile as if nothing had happened.

I stood up and made my way to the front of the stage, like a fucking lamb to the slaughter. To be honest, I hadn't watched much TV since we had started getting more and more popular as a boy band, and more well known, and I honestly didn't have a clue that X Factor was still a thing either.

As I saw Rocco Gimenez waiting for us at the stage, my heart lunged forward...just a tad.

I tried my best to focus on what he needed to do and to be portrayed as, for the sake of the media and all the teenagers around the world who was now live streaming all of this in their various countries...there wasn't ANY WAY that I could show my distain to what Aaron had just done.

To make matters worse...Rocco Gimenez was quite frankly...the most beautiful sixteen-year-old boy that I had ever fucking seen, and I hated to admit it.

I was determined not to like him...I mean, if I showed him any kind of curtesy or likeliness, that would be much like supporting Aaron in getting rid of Kris!

I nervously glanced over at Sticky and Daz...and for ONCE, I was unable to read what they were thinking...going through the forced motions more like.

I looked over at Rocco...and his smile said it all...he had just hit the jackpot...our fans were about to become his own...and he fucking knew it.

My stomach was boiling...my face was flushed never mind how I tried to hide it for the cameras clicking all over us.

How was I supposed to be MEAN...to the most SEXIEST boy I had ever seen?

**

THANKS FOR READING!

Like I said, if you are familiar with my stories, and way of storytelling, you know that this was just Chapter one...setting the theme and the scene.

I have LOADS of ideas for further chapters, but it's totally up to you guys. Should I write more? I'll be happy to LOL!

liciousryan@gmail.com