That's the City for You

Mark sighed as the late-afternoon sun beat down, making the asphalt sizzle and pop beneath his feet. His younger sister danced ahead of him, blissfully unaware of the heat. He thought it had been a good idea to volunteer to take her to see The Academy Is.... It would earn him brownie points with his parents and it wasn’t like he had anything better to do with his summer. Besides, since they had paid extra they were allowed to show up early and meet the band.
Oh, yes. It had been a wonderful idea, until Mark had read the fine print on the back of the ticket- “Due to another engagement, William Beckett will not be appearing at the Meet & Greet.”
Those words had ruined his fantasies of all the ways the night could go right. Now he realized he would spend the night surrounded by screaming little girls and bored looking scene kids, rather than making wild passionate love with Will in a dressing room.
Mark sighed again and began to scuff his feet on the pavement. The distance across the parking lot seemed like a million miles, but all too soon, he was standing on the sidewalk at the end of a small line of people. The majority of them seemed to middle-aged moms chaperoning groups of terrified but elated girls. The only ones who seemed to be anywhere near his age were a girl with long hair and a short skirt and a boy with snake bites and hair covering his left eye, who hade just gotten into line behind them.
Casting sidelong glances at the boy, Mark could see his bright hazel eyes roaming lustfully up and down his body. Blushing, Mark turned quickly and decided to satisfy himself by staring the boy’s reflection in the windows behind them. Angelica, however, wasn’t as discreet in her adoration.
“Did those piercings hurt?” she blurted out, causing both Mark and the boy to turn towards her.
“Angelica! That’s not nice. Don’t bother the poor boy.” Mark scolded his sister, crossing his arms. He was glad to have an excuse to look at the boy, even if it was only for a minute. And he was going to make good use of that minute. The boy’s blue plaid shirt was deliciously taught against his stomach. Even though he was clearly a scene kid, he wasn’t scrawny and weak like most others. Beneath his tight shirt and equally tight jeans, Mark could see beautifully formed and sculpted muscles.
“No, it’s alright.” The boy’s voice brought Mark back to Earth as their eyes met for a fraction of a second. Then he spoke to the girl standing between them. “They didn’t hurt as much as you would think.” He gave her a smile, which she shyly returned.
Mark stared pointedly at his face. There was something about that smile that seemed familiar, but he couldn’t place it. He was almost positive that he knew the boy from somewhere, but….
“Do you like The Academy Is…?”
Angelica nodded. “Do you?” she asked back.
The boy gave a half smile then replied, “Yeah, they’re my favorite band. I try to go to all of their shows. And I can see you’re here because you love them too, but how did you drag your brother into this?”
Once again he turned his eyes towards Mark; this time making no effort to conceal the fact the he was mental undressing him. Despite his burning cheeks, Mark returned the assault, making the boy smile. Damn him and his mysterious sexiness!
“I came to see William Beckett.” he mumbled at the ground. The boy gave the familiar half smile and was about to reply when a girl with peroxide blonde hair stepped up to them.
“Do any of you guys have….” she stopped when she saw the boy. “There you are! They need you inside, like, right now.” Hiding her astonished look with the clipboard in her hands, she turned back to Mark and Angelica.
“Do you guys have meet and greet tickets?”
Angelica eagerly jumped up and down, nodding, but Mark was distracted once again by the boy, who had just tapped him on the shoulder. Leaning close to Mark’s ear, he whispered, “I’ll try to find you inside. We should…talk more.” With that, he raised his eyebrows and disappeared inside.
The girl with the clipboard directed them to a much shorter line, which was also made up of moms and little girls. Mark racked his brain trying to figure out where he knew the mystery boy from. He obviously wasn’t recognized, but the face and smile seemed so familiar.
Only a minute or two later, the line began inching forward and through the doors into the building.
The first thing that met Mark’s eyes when he stepped into the dim building was a light glowing above a counter. Beneath the light stood a cluster of people signing autographs and trying to be nice to the little girls that were crowed around them.
While Angelica ran to join the group of screaming fans, he scanned the tall figures silhouetted against the counter, trying to keep his stomach from rebelling against him. Why, even when he knew Will wasn’t going to be there, was he getting butterflies?
Then Mark’s eyes collided with the gaze of the boy at the end of the line of band members. It was, who else? The boy from outside. Except now the snakebites were gone and his hair was tucked behind his ear, making him look strangely like…. William Beckett. Could this day get any weirder? he wondered. But his question was answered almost instantly when Will beckoned him over with a crook of his finger and a smile.
“I knew I recognized that smile.” Mark mumbled to himself as he began wading through the sea of little girls who should have been at home, playing with their Barbies, not swooning over the model-beautiful boy who graced his walls and dreams.
“Hey, handsome. Recognize me now?” Will asked as Mark sidled up to him, thumbs hooked in his pockets. He answered with a smile. The younger boy felt Will’s arm snake around his waist, pulling him close. Somehow, the singer managed to sign autographs while Mark’s body was pressed against his thigh. Before he realized what was happening, he discovered that Will was also capable of planting butterfly kisses on his neck while signing his name. Only when he heard a 40-something chaperone clear her throat loudly did it occur to him to pull away. The mom shot the pair of them death glares as Will signed her daughter’s ticket. Once the girl had thanked him, she went off.
“I hope you realize what you are doing when you partake in and promote that sort of homosexual behavior, young man.” she snapped, her arm wrapped protectively around the little girl, as if she were afraid the “gayness” might contaminate her.
“uhh…Hell yes, I realize what I was doing. But I wasn’t promoting shit.” Will spat at the mom. “Sorry, honey.” he apologized to the little girl, who was staring at up at him with wide eyes.
“Is he your…boyfriend?” she asked in a hushed voice. but before Mark could laugh at the very idea, the mother had pulled the girl away and they were replaced by the girl from outside. Only this time she was carrying a different clipboard.
“Starting another press war, are we Will?” she sighed, rolling her eyes. “Who pissed you off this time?”
Will pouted. “Ryan Ross was being a whore. He called me a cunt then made out with Brendon in front of me, after he promised I could spend the night.” Mark and the girl burst out laughing, but stopped when they saw the look Will was giving them. But turning to the smaller boy, his face softened. “Do you wanna start a press war?”
“What’s that?” Mark gazed up at Will with eyes full of lust and confusion.
“It’s when you’re having a fight with someone, but you fight by getting pictures published of you hooking up with someone who’s hotter than whoever you’re fighting. Last time, that guy from The Bravery beat me by hooking up with Brandon Flowers. But I’m gonna try and get back at Ryan by hooking up with Pete Wentz.”
“Umm…don’t The Killers and The Bravery hate each other? And isn’t Ryan dating Pete and Brendon?” Mark’s face showed his growing confusion.
“Yeah,” Will replied. “That’s what makes press wars so ironic.”
“Do you guys want a picture published, or what?” the girl with the clipboard asked. “I won’t use a last name.”
Mark sighed. Why not? I might help convince me that this isn’t a dream. “Okay.”
“Great! I’ll send it to The Smoking Section as soon as I take it. What’s your name?” She held up her clipboard, ready to write it down.
“Mark.”
“Mark.” Both boys looked at each other in surprise. Then Will shrugged. “The little one told me.
“Oh-kay. Now that’s settled,” the girl whipped a camera out of her pocket. “Gentlemen, it’s time to start a war. Let’s make it a good one.”
Will turned to face Mark and leaned closer, snaking his arm around the dark haired boy’s waist, forcing their hips together. Mark draped one arm around Will’s neck while the other came up to cup his face.
“Thanks very much,” he whispered in Mark’s ear. “Few people would be kind enough to help me get back at Ryan like this.” Then he smashed his lips against the smaller boy’s mouth and forced his tongue down his throat. Once they heard the click of the camera, Will withdrew his tongue and slowly licked Mark’s bottom lip, making him shiver. “Not all’s fair in love and press wars.” he whispered.
Almost as soon as Will arms had dropped from Mark’s waist, Angelica came running up to them.
“Ma-ark!” she sing-songed. “Oh. Hi, Will.” she blushed and mumbled at the sight of the singer. “Amy’s mom is taking her and Kirsten to Target right now and they want me to go. She says she can also take me home so you don’t have to worry about finding me after. Can I? Can I? Can I, can I, please?” Mark looked at Angelica, who made a puppy dog face at him, then at Will who raised his eyebrows and moved his hand slowly toward the waistband of his jeans. The boy was torn- on one hand, having his sister out of the way would leave him alone with Will. On the other hand…Angelica was his responsibly. What they do to him if something happened to her? But on the other hand, she would be with Amy’s mom. And she was a mom. Angelica would probably be better off with her than with him.
Mark looked back his little sister and nodded his head slowly.
“Yay!” Angelica shouted and jumped up and down. She tried to hug Mark, but found her way blocked by Will’s arm, which had already repositioned itself around his waist. This sight was enough to cause the little girl to ask questions, but the boys shooed her away before things got awkward.
Once Angelica’s swinging ponytail had skipped out of sight, Will turned to Mark.
“So…do you wanna go celebrate the commencement of another press war?” He leaned close and began kissing Mark’s neck with a tenderness usually reserved for licking a cone of soft serve ice-cream. (A/N: I know that sounds weird, but it was only way I could think to describe it.) All that Mark could manage by way of an answer was an unstable, stammered “Y-yes.”
Taking his hand, Will lead Mark through the crowd of people into a side hallway and through a pair of double doors. Ignoring the ominous click of the doors as they swung shut, Mark tried to focus on the back of Will’s head.
Soon, the hallway gave way to another set of doors. But instead of pushing through them, Will turned to the left and entered a dressing room filled with suitcases and extra amps. Before Mark even had a chance to glance at the graffiti covering the walls, he had been pushed down onto a very squishy, pea green sofa and straddled by the taller boy. As Will’s hands ran up and down the smaller boy’s stomach, he leaned closer to whisper into his ear:
“This is the best part about being a little bit famous.” Before Mark could reply, Will’s lips connected to his, cutting off the question that had been on the tip of his tongue.
They kissed a deep, passionate kiss; the type that the younger boy had only barley read about in steamy novels at the grocery store. It was a kiss about all the ones who frowned on them; it was a kiss about rock n’ roll and the way it used to be: fast, loud and with its middle finger stuck high in the air. It was a kiss about dreams and Hollywood, and celebrities and nobodies. It was a kiss about the thin line between making it big and fading into oblivion. It was a kiss about boys who broke your heart and got off on your pain. It encompassed everything that Mark had ever wanted and everything he ever feared. The kiss offered him a chance to escape, and he took it willingly, pitching himself off the side of a cliff, not knowing when he would ever feel solid ground again. It was a kiss of promise, overshadowed by the façade of indifference. It was the longest damn kiss of Mark’s life and he never wanted it to end.
When they finally broke apart, William stared at him for a long moment. Softly, he touched his lips and looked at Mark some more. Then he turned to stare at the door, which had just issued a hollow sounding knock.
“Will, you’re on in five.” the voice shouted. The older boy looked at his watch. It was half an hour later than it had been when they entered the dressing room. Without a sound, the two boys got off the couch and walked back down the hall. Mark, still shaking from their kiss, fought his way to the front of the crowd in front of the stage just as William walked on stage to the erupted cheers of horde below him.
“Hey,” he said, his voice listless. “The first song we’re gonna play is one of my new favorites. I’m gonna dedicate it to another one of my new favorites. His name’s Mark. And I want him to listen very carefully to the question I’m going to ask him. And I want him to think very hard bout his answer.” The crowd, too excited to give a fuck about Mark or the life changing question he was about to be asked, cheered as if it had just been announced that William was fathering their children. Who invited these drunk fucks anyway?
Without warning the band launched into a fast paced version of Sleeping with Giants. The dark haired boy jumped with abandon, into the pit that had formed. He hung onto every word the Will sung, and things began to make sense to him.

It’s been a lifetime. A lifetime we’ve waited for.
A simple question kid, are you with me or not at all?

He grew more and more euphoric with each lyric, and motioned for someone to toss him on top of the crowd. From his position held aloft, he had an unperturnbed view of the stage and of Will, singing his heart out, pouring all of his gorgeous soul into each word.

We stood there, awkward and youthful, we tangled.
But we are restless and tired of sleeping with giants.
Of modern mankind with their egos of fire
It’s seems like it’s been a lifetime.
A lifetime we’ve waited for.
A simple question, kid, are you with me or not at all?
Are we wasting time? Or is it wasting us?
It’s been a lifetime waiting I waited for now.
You’ve got to find a way.
Before you fold.

As the song ended, Mark looked up at William from the top of the crowd and shouted the five words he had been waiting to shout all his life- “FUCK YES I’M WITH YOU!”

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Later that night, in the back of a tour bus on its way to Hollywood, two boys lay in a tangle of sheets on a tiny mattress. The taller one looked down at the other boy and whispered softly into his ear “Do you think you’ll miss your life?”
The smaller, raven haired boy glanced up at him and wrapped his arms around his waist. “Nope. That life’s dead to me.”
They both began to smile as they drifted off to sleep.