Midnight Dancers

"So, do you ladies work in the morning or what?" John asked as he slipped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him.

I nuzzled against him and rested my head on the side of his chest. I inhaled deeply, trying to determine what cologne he was wearing. Didn't smell like Darin's Obsession, but I was pretty sure it was him anyway. I looked up and tried to see under the rim of his baseball hat. He had it pulled down really far, and I couldn't tell if there was an eyebrow piercing - which Darin had.

"Well, some of us do... but not me!" I laughed.

"Yeah, some of us aren't living off their parents' money. Some of us make our own." Carol growled and we all started laughing.

I listened intently to John's laughter and noticed Carol was doing the same with Jeff. His laughter was definitely Darin-sounding. While John's sounded more like Danny's laugh. Well, they were twins, but Darin was definitely cuter in my opinion.

"You live off your parents'? Do you still live with them?" John asked me curiously.

"No, the bunch of us rent a place together. It's an awesome five bedroom house." I glanced at Carol who was checking out the studs in Jeff's ears, and trying to see under his hat too.

"Yeah, we rent it off her parents, and I'm sure there's only three of us paying the rent." Amanda teased.

"Hey, we only pay rent, all the utilities are covered, and I buy the groceries, what more do you want?" I asked exasperatedly.

"Ladies, ladies. Calm down, we don't need any catfights now." Peter announced.

"MEOW!" I hissed at the girls and swiped my hand out at Carol like a claw.

We all burst into laughter again and Carol reached over and gave a tug on my short hair.

"Hey woman! Watch the blonde streaks, don't pull them out!" I cried and rubbed my head.

"Yeah, wouldn't want anyone to know you were naturally dumb." Carol giggled.

"Look who's talking blondie!" I smirked.

"Hey I've got an idea!" Tanya piped up.

We all looked over at her expectantly.

"And it would be?" I urged.

"Let's get the hell off Yonge St. before we all get killed." She suggested.

"Yeah, let's flag a cab." I agreed.

"Why? Is it that far to your place?" John asked.

"Yeah, we kinda took you on a bit of a detour." Carol admitted.

The guys all looked at each other and smiled.

"You usually entertain strangers by taking them on detours around the city at midnight?" Jeff teased and Carol laughed.

"Oh not all the time, just when the strangers are so up to date on the Group's business and stuff, you know, we just figured we'd get some dirt out of ya, so we brought you along. We'd have been home, oh I don't know, at least an hour ago if you guys hadn't shown up." Carol replied.

"Yeah, we only let our heroes escort us." I nodded and reached out to get a taxi's attention.

It pulled up beside us and John grabbed the front door open. Jeff reached for the back door handle, but Carol's hand got in the way and she grabbed it first.

"What? Is chivalry dead with you already?" He teased her as she opened the door.

"Nah, I just wanted you to get in first so I could check your ass out." She laughed and he happily complied, climbing in first. Carol followed him and then I jumped into the front seat beside the driver. John joined me and the other four piled into the backseat of the car. All the girls had to sit carefully perched upon their respective escorts' laps.

I gave the driver the address and he pulled into the light traffic.

I snuggled close against John's side, again, breathing in his aroma. I could barely smell the lingerings of the dry ice from the show effects, but it was still there. I tried to look up into his face but he kept his head turned to watch out the window.

I imagined Darin's body, all tattooed, from his back, down his arms, across his chest and some down his legs too. I tried to imagine how his body would look, all colourful, next to my pale untouched skin, laying on my bed. I could feel his hands on my calves, his fingers walking up to my thighs and even higher. A shiver ran up my spine as I relived one of my only fantasies, to be with Darin.

"You cold?" John asked caringly and wrapped his arm around me tighter.

"Um, yeah, thanks." I could feel the colour flooding my cheeks. Good idea, fantasize about him when he's right beside you, in a taxi of all places.

"So, how much farther?" He asked me as he planted his chin on the top of my head and tried to help warm me up more.

"Just a few more intersections. Shouldn't be more than fifteen minutes."

"I have to sit here that long beside you and not be able to touch you? Are you trying to break me?" He whispered above my ear.

"Yeah, that anticipation's a killer, huh?" I teased back as tingles shot downwards from my belly.

He chuckled, and again, I could've sworn it sounded like Danny.

We drove for about ten minutes before we stopped in front of our large old house. I reached into my purse to pay the cabbie, but a hand shot out from the backseat and handed him a fifty dollar bill.

"Keep the change. Thanks for the ride." Peter said happily.

We all climbed out and the guys took a minute to check out the house as the girls and I headed up the steps to the front porch.

I turned and noticed the guys standing at the bottom of the stairs looking hesitantly towards us.

"Hey, you coming? We don't bite you know." I teased.

"Well not hard, unless you really enjoy it that way." Carol added.

John and Jeff were standing side by side, facing Robert and Peter. They all looked up at us and then glanced back at each other.

Robert and Peter nodded and then the four of them followed us up the stairs and into the front hall.

I took off my coat and hung it on a hanger in the closet and took Carol's from her.

"We have a couple house rules, you don't mind abiding do ya?" Carol looked at the four men in front of us and took a deep breath.

"Well that all depends on how strange they are." Robert's voice was suddenly gruff.

"Oh they're not strange, just etiquette, that's all." Carol replied.

"Okay, shoot, let's hear 'em." Peter agreed.

"First of all, shoes off." Carol directed and all eight of us took our shoes off simultaneously. "Second, no hats." She waited patiently as the guys looked back and forth between themselves. Finally after a moment, Robert shrugged and pulled his baseball cap off.

The girls and I looked at each other quizzically. Well, it wasn't a member of the Banger Boyz.

I turned to John and raised my eyebrow.

"Your turn." I smiled. He smiled back, a huge dazzling grin and removed his hat. Black hair. There was a tattoo on his right ear. It was not Darin Markham of the Banger Boyz either. But instead, it was Danny, his twin brother.

Carol turned to Jeff. "Okay, let's see your face." She reached up and pulled his hood down. He smiled and lifted his hat off his head. There was the sandy brown hair, the eyebrow piercing, the tattoo on his left ear, the twinkling hazel eyes and that smirk that had been in my dreams for over a year now.

"Darin." The name slipped out of my lips before I could stop it.

He smiled sheepishly at me.

"So I hear you're looking to father my children, huh?" He flashed me his killer smile and gave me a wink.

A huge lump formed in my throat. I had been having such a good time with John, aka Danny, and the flirting had been so awesome. The chemistry was so right, and yet, here I was, facing the man of my dreams and suddenly I didn't want him. I wanted his brother. I wanted Danny Markham.

"Well, it was information obtained from an unreliable source, we haven't been able to prove anything yet." Carol stepped in, seeing the look of pure horror in my eyes.

"Aah, I see." Darin turned to Peter and motioned for him to remove his hat too. Again, not who we were expecting. Not a Banger Boyz member at all.

"Okay, well, I don't believe we've met." I regained my composure and reached my hand out to this last stranger.

"Hi, I'm Tristan Rhodes. I'm security for the guys." He shook my hand and then reached for Amanda's next. He shook with Carol and Tanya too. And then he looked back at the crestfallen face of Amanda's. "I'm sorry, guess I wasn't who you were expecting?" He felt bad for her, you could tell from the softness of his voice.

"No, no, you're not even close." Amanda couldn't contain it any longer and excused herself as tears started to slip from her eyes.

Robert cleared his throat and introduced himself to break the uncomfortable silence that followed Amanda's exit.

"I'm James O'Connell, head of security for these two numbnuts." He also reached his hand out to shake ours. We accepted and shook it back.

Tanya's fingers lingered a moment on his before she let go. He gave her a little wink and she blushed.

"Well, um, yeah, those are the only two rules we have. The third one is only for overnight visitors." Carol tried to crack a joke, to lighten the mood, but the guys could tell that they'd paired up with the wrong girls. And we just couldn't hide our disappointment as well as we were trying.

Tanya didn't have a huge crush on any of them like the rest of us did. You could tell she was happy to be with James and he seemed to be just as happy with her.

Darin reached out for my hand and pulled me into the living room. Carol invited the others into the basement where they could all hang out and listen to their new CDs.

I let Darin push me down onto the couch and he sat beside me, knowing full well the crush I had on him, and the obvious chemistry I had with his brother.

"You okay?" He asked quietly, and pulled my hands into his.

"Well, you know what? I totally have no idea what I am right now. Shocked, yeah, confused, yeah, trying to sort out my lustful feelings, yeah." I managed a weak smile. The lump that had formed in my throat was now in my stomach, and it was stirring things up down there pretty bad.

"Okay, well, here, let me help you sort yourself out." Darin leaned over and touched his lips to mine gently. My hands instinctively went up to his hair and ran my fingers through it as he leaned into the kiss, pushing me down onto my back.

One of his hands found my waist and he squeezed me gently while his other hand came up and caressed my throat softly. I pulled his face closer to mine and kissed him back harder opening my mouth to allow his tongue access.

Shivers of excitement forced the lump in my stomach to retreat, and it was replaced with teasing butterflies. I could feel the hand on my waist moving upwards towards my breasts. I tried to sink lower into the couch to make sure there was enough room between us so that he could put his hand where it wanted to go.

"Oh god." I breathed into his mouth and I could feel the corners of his mouth turn upwards as he smiled.

He pulled away from the kiss and looked into my deep brown eyes.

"You get yourself sorted out yet?" He asked breathlessly.

The butterflies died right there. And their bodies stuck together to form yet another evil lump.

"Okay, off me." I tried to wiggle out from under him and he sat up quickly.

"What's wrong? Don't you want me?" He pouted, teasing, but it just made me feel weird.

I wasn't quite sure what to say. I'd only lusted after him for over a year, sent him fan mail with nude pictures of myself doing things on posters of him. I'd only called his house a few times, leaving my name and number and a message that he should call to confirm pick up of the rest of the photos he'd ordered. I'd only fantasized about his rock hard, tattooed body up against, and inside mine, a million times. I'd just been kissed by the man of my dreams, and the only one I could think about was his brother.

"Darin, I have some issues." I stated plainly. My voice sounded weak and quivering to me.

"Okay, we can work around issues." He gave me that electric smile of his again and my heart just melted. I did want him, didn't I? I could just let him have me and my fantasies would be fulfilled. I could let him have me right here, and then when he was done, I could go downstairs and invite Danny up to my room. Yeah, that would go over really well with Carol. Then I wondered what her take was in all of this. Had she fallen for Darin or was she still happily in lust with Danny?

"Really? Cuz mine are big."

"Well, can I tell you about some of my issues and then you can tell me about yours? Then maybe it won't be so hard for you?" He offered.

I nodded. What kind of issues could he have? Too much money? Too many girls lusting after him?

"My first issue is that there is this wild girl who sends me these amazing photos of herself, and these agonizingly sexy love letters. I know I went to school with her way back. I remember she was a freshman the year I transferred schools."

He remembered that? Oh my god!

"And the biggest problem with it, is that I've been dreaming about meeting her for at least three months now since that's when the pictures and letters stopped."

Wow. Yes, that's when I tried to grow up and stop with the fantasy life of being his lover.

"So my mind has been going crazy trying to figure out what happened to her. Why she'd stop writing, when before it was a weekly thing. A weekly thing for what? Almost eight months. And then nothing. My first thought was that she'd gotten a boyfriend. And I wanted to know how he was possibly better for her than me. And then I had to know what she was doing with her boyfriend, if she'd done any of the things she'd written about in her letters to me. If she'd done our things with him. Then I worried that she'd moved. That she didn't live near me anymore. I didn't know where she was and it really worried me."

Okay, is he for real? Was I really and truly his biggest fan? And did he lust after me like I did for him?

"Are you teasing? Because that's not nice if you're teasing." I managed to squeak out. He had to be teasing. Or I had to be dreaming. "I'm sorry, can you pinch me please?" I asked

politely, figuring I must be sleeping. There was no way this was happening.

"What?" He crinkled his nose at me. "You serious?"

I nodded, so he pinched my arm.

"OW!" I cried out and rubbed the now reddening area on my arm. "I didn't mean hard!"

"Sorry, that's the only way I know how to do it." He teased with a sly gleam in his eye.

I rolled my eyes at him and bit my lip thoughtfully.

"Okay, so now where does this leave us?"

"Well, you need to tell me your issues. I think you've got a pretty good grasp on mine."

"Yeah, I think I do. Okay, um, my issues. Well, let's see. My freshman year of high school I fell madly in lust with this more than cute boy who was in all the school drama events, and who almost danced with me at the dances until his friends pulled him away. Then he moved and transferred schools and I didn't see him again until he was famous, years later. He was still the sweet boy I used to know, but he had grown up and was all stud-like and just amazing. He covered his body in tattoos and piercings. I listened as rumours spread about his groupies and their rape claims and the other women who claimed he fathered their children. I watched as he lit himself on fire onstage one night. I cried for days, waiting for the news that he was never going to recover. But he did, he came out unscathed amazingly and I was so relieved. I've attended every home concert and stood in the mosh pit, defending myself in hopes of him seeing me."

"Oh I saw you, I saw you every time." He whispered.

"And then I got asked out on a date. By a guy I'd met at one of the concerts. And he was great, fun to hang out with, told me I was sexy, said all the right things, but he wasn't the guy I wanted. He didn't measure up. It was then that I stopped sending the letters and photos. It was then that I decided I needed to grow up and out of my fantasy world. I needed to live a real life, where I met real people. My fantasy man could no longer be the one I would be with. He was famous now and he'd never end up with someone like me." I concluded.

"Well young lady, I beg to differ." Darin and I turned to see Danny standing in the doorway. "Sorry, didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I just came up to make sure everyone was okay."

"We're fine, Dan, thanks." Darin gave his brother a nod.

"Okay, but could I just say something real quick before I go?"

"Yeah, go ahead." I nodded this time and Danny smiled.

"Just wanted Jill to know that her fantasy man has made her his fantasy woman. He's totally been freaked out since you stopped writing him. He wanted to call but we all told him to forget it. That you had moved on in your life. We urged him to join us in our enjoyment of our groupies, but he couldn't let you go. He'd read some of your letters daily, rereading them for weeks. So if you're confused about the feelings you had with me, you should know that without saying anything, my brother and I kind of tricked you into thiinking John was Darin and we wanted to see what you'd be like. You passed with flying colours, and I really think you two need to get yourselves together to see just how crazy you really do make each other." And with that, Danny turned and headed back downstairs.

"Wow. Man, I can't seem to say that enough tonight." I blushed and Darin smiled. He took his hands in mine and brought them up to his mouth to kiss them.

"You know what?"

"Mmm?" I closed my eyes and let my fantasies flood back into my head, and my groin. The butterflies were back, and they'd made babies and they were all fluttering around inside me now.

"I want to fuck you so bad." He stated abruptly.

"Yeah? Me too." I leaned towards him, opened my eyes slightly and his mouth met mine.

He pushed me down onto the couch and his hands were under my shirt before my back even touched the cushions behind me.

***

Okay, now before you say "WHO THE F*** ARE THE BANGER BOYZ?" I'd like to explain that this was based on NKOTB back in the early 90's. I figured they were a bit outdated now, and have created a fictional hometown band.

I apologize to those who may have had other ideas of who the Group was, but since NKOTB I really haven't gone crazy for anyone else. Sorry!

Hope you enjoyed it otherwise, Ch. 3 brings on the sex!

And I promise I won't make you wait so long this time!

Myalyn