Title: Special
Fandom: Popslash/BSB-RPS
Pairing: None
Rating: Mild
Disclaimer: Nonsense
Warnings: None really. Gen fic. Just a shorty.
Summary: Jane is already making plans.
Special
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Jane Carter watches her eldest son from her seat at Trans-Con. She watches as Nick chews his lip in consternation, his eyes filling with more and more doubt as the hours slowly tick by. They've been sitting here since dawn, waiting, watching, and the wait is interminable.
Boy after boy, mother after mother, and father after father passes by them. An assembly line of rejection, she thinks idly. But she also knows that as long as the wait is, it will be worth it. How can it not be? She knows as sure as she is sitting here that Nick has something most of the others have not. He's special, talented and unique. And along with all of that, he's also beautiful, with almost girl-like pretty features. His only main failing that she can see, is his innate shyness. Well that, and his inability to sit still for longer than three seconds at a shot. But with time, she thinks, he will overcome the shyness and learn how better to channel all that energy. He has to, to get where she knows he needs to be. Where he will be.
She crosses her legs and straightens her skirt once more, sliding her fingers over the cheap material, knowing that someday soon things will be much different than they are right now. She vaguely glances at the other boys as they parade past her. Most are gangly, skinny things. Most, unattractive in her mind. She smiles as her eyes slide back over to Nick. He's hunched over, his elbows on his knees, his chin cupped in his hands, as his worried blue eyes flicker back and forth over each boy as they walk by him, as if each one were legitimate competition. But Jane is completely confidant that the majority of them - are not.
Jane catches Nick get up out of the corner of her eye, and watches him as he starts to nervously pace from one end of the room to the other, sliding behind everyone against a long wall. His eyes glance up every now and then to size up what he sees before him. But Jane knows he has nothing to worry about. Besides his natural talent, his own looks are fairly stunning for someone who is just a mere twelve years old.
His long platinum blond hair shimmers even under the dull lighting of the room they are in, and a high blush dusts the top of each softly tanned cheek. His bright blue eyes are filled with innocent curiosity, as they seek out everything and everyone around him, and his bee-stung cherry mouth is something to be envied. He looks every bit the part of a small coquettish blond angel. Of course Jane knows better.
He's a typical boy, with all the typical boy things that go along with that. Rowdy, noisy, hyper, as well as quick to laugh and quick to anger. That is her Nick. Still, she has worked too hard to get him to this point, to this level, and now she will make damn sure that all those attributes and talent are not wasted for one moment.
Jane smiles softly, amused as each of the other boys look Nick over, each of them keeping their eyes out for who might have what it really takes to win Mr. Pearlman and his team over. The boys look a little like wild hungry young animals to her, lions perhaps, as they circle each other in some bizarre dance of sniffing out their rivals and marking their territory.
She crooks her finger at Nick and he slowly moves back into the seat next to hers. It's been a long wait, but she reminds herself again that it will all be worth it in the end.
Nick had another offer, before this one. But one Jane feels sure will not be in her son's best interest, or her own. The New Mickey Mouse Club. Nick had tried out for it and they had offered him one of the lead parts on the show. He'd be good at it of course, Jane knows this. But still, there would be way too many other kids for Nick to have to share the audience's attention with. That is not what she has busted her ass over the years for. Her family deserves better. 'She' deserves better.
Besides, something in her gut tells her that this singing group Mr. Pearlman is forming might just be the smarter way to go. She will talk it over with Nick, of course, but in the end, if he gets this, and he is sure to, she's positive she can talk him into taking this over the MMC gig.
After all, what is a mother for, if not to help mold and guide her young sons and daughters to a much better life that they all will be able to enjoy?
Right then a man walks into the room and calls out, "Nick Carter?"
Nick's eyes fly up to his mother, his back straightens like an iron rod. She can see a tiny sheen of sweat dot his forehead. Jane reaches over and takes his smaller hand in hers and squeezes gently. Then offers up her best supportive smile, before she nudges him off his seat.
"Go get 'em, Nickolas."
His smile is a bit shaky, but he gets up and slowly moves across the floor, walking nervously over towards the man. And as he does, Jane can see the tension in the way in which he moves, his body strung tight as a bow. Once Nick and the older man reach the door, Nick turns back quickly and looks over his shoulder for a brief moment at his mother.
She nods and gives him a wink, then he shyly smiles back before disappearing behind the closed office door of one, Louis J. Pearlman.
As the door closes, Jane mumbles quietly to herself, "Don't worry Nickolas, I'll do whatever I have to, to make sure that everyone knows just how special you are. You're going to be a big star someday...
...I'm going to make damn sure of it."
~la fin~
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'Touched By A Boy' Stories