Chapter Text
Maya was grinning ear to ear as she brushed her teeth that morning.
She was the most hopeful she had been in a while. She had selected her boys, gotten in contact, if they were minors gotten in contact with their parents, and all of them had agreed. Now she just had to hear them sing.
If she had the option, she would have wanted all of her picks to be legal adults, but she didn’t have the option to be picky. She needed the best of the best, regardless of age.
She wasn’t too worried, though. With enough training, anyone’s voice could be good enough. Then again, she might not have the time for ‘enough training’.
She knew she would also have to fly them all out to LA, excluding Jai since he lived there. But before she did that, she’d have to hear their voices over call first. There would be no point spending money bringing them here if they ended up not being talented enough, quite bluntly. Also, it would feel bad bringing someone all the way there only to reject them and send them home.
The first boy she called was Archie. She just had him sing a piece from a former band she had. She played him how it sounded, send him the lyrics, and let him sing. Then was Yung, then Lono, then Kumi, then Gabriel, then Jai.
And yes, they could sing.
You bet your ass they could sing.
Maya was giddy once she finished calling with Jai. Now she just needed to arrange for them to fly over! She had the place for them to stay ready.
Finally, the tide was turning. She had never been so excited over a new group. She should have been more nervous about the whole ‘last chance’ thing, but the excitement had overcome any of that.
Maya tied up her brunette locks and opened up her laptop.
Soon. Soon she would be bathed in the glory and success that had been overdue for decades.
…
Maya hadn’t exactly known what to expect when she saw the boys in person. What she was expecting them to wear, how she was expecting them to act.
She stood there in the lobby of the mansion, fingers tapping on her cup of black coffee. Oh, she couldn’t wait. Anticipation gripped her like a vice.
Yung showed up first. He wore a pink hoodie and jeans, with his long hair in a ponytail. He had some pretty subtle makeup.
“Hello.” He said, bowing his head slightly. His English was amazing, even if it wasn’t his first language.
“Hi, Yung. Glad you could make it.” Maya grinned, shaking the boy’s hand.
Next was Lono. He wore a white halter wrap top and jean shorts. “Hey.”
Maya shook his hand, too. “Good to see you, Lono!”
Next was Archie, with his mother. It was probably because he was with her that he was wearing a pretty normal outfit – just a red shirt and white pants.
“Hello, Archie, and Ms Sinclair here.”
Ms Sinclair, his mother, nodded. “Well, I was just here to drop you off. Goodbye.”
Archie let out a breath as he saw her leave. “Phew. You’re not gonna tell her I’m a femboy, right?”
“No, of course not.”
The others didn’t show up for a while, so Archie, Lono and Yung were sat on the couches in the lobby on their phones, occasionally talking.
Next was Gabriel. He wore a black off – shoulder crop top and black pants.
“Hi.” And with that, he went to sit down.
Kumi was next. He wore a pink shirt with a white hoodie wrapped around his waist, and Apple bottom jeans. He was accompanied by his mother too.
“Hi, Kumi.” Maya offered a hand.
Kumi blew a gum bubble, staring at her with widened eyes, tilting his head to the side. Did he have much going on up there?
“Kumi.” His mother said, nudging him forward. “Take her hand.”
He popped the bubbled with his finger and shook Maya’s hand. He beamed at her. “Hi.”
His mother frowned. “Please keep him safe. And don’t let him do anything silly.” And with that, she left.
Kumi spaced out the second she did, just standing there, blowing another bubble.
“Um, Kumi, would you like to sit down?”
The femboy’s eyes fixed on Maya for a second, before he nodded and went to sit down. What an odd boy… and not the femboy thing.
Finally, Jai showed up. For the only one who actually lived in the city, he showed up shockingly late. For his outfit… well, Archie and Kumi were lucky that their parents were gone already. Jai wore a cropped leopard print halter wrap top, and denim shorts that bared pretty much his whole cheeks, with thong straps pulled up to rest at his sides. He had the heaviest makeup of the six, with some very distinct eyeliner.
“Hello, Jai.”
“Hi.” He drawled, before looking down at his phone.
“OK, now the six of you are here, you guys can introduce yourselves. Maybe say an interest of yours. Archie, you first.”
Maya watched the boys introduce themselves with interest. She was excited to see how they’d react to each other. After all, if they didn’t get along… she just shuddered thinking about it.
“Well, I’ll get you a tour of the group house, and you can interact later.”
The boys nodded at her words, and followed her as she showed them around. She then showed them to their dorm, and finally just left them to mingle.
Soon would be advertising, and eventually choreography for their debut song.
She could feel that it was the beginning of something amazing.
All she could do was hope.