Chapter Text
“You want me to what?!”
“Hey! Keep it down this is supposed to be on the down low you know,” the old man said.
You glanced around and pinched your nose, a few eyes in the mostly empty coffee shop were now directing their attention to your table. In the industry it’s best not to draw people’s attention to oneself, that’s the first lesson this old geezer taught you.
“Sorry, just repeat to me what you said,” you duck your head back down and lower your voice after the prying eyes look away.
The old man sighed and began telling you again, “I’m going to be retiring soon and I want you to take my place. I don’t trust any of those grubby sharks to do it well or keep the boys wellbeing in mind.”
“And you think I can? You know having a female manager won’t go over well with the fans,” you take a long sip of coffee while waiting for his response.
The old man didn’t speak for a while, he fiddled with his fingers and stared at you for a while.
Eventually he sighed, “Having someone who works them to an early contract termination or uses their name to get others to do things also won’t go over well with the fans. If I’m going to take my chances I’d rather it be you.”
You wince a little at how tired and stressed your mentor’s voice sounded. He certainly wasn’t in his prime anymore, his wrinkles were more pronounced, his skin sagged at the edges, hair whiter than it was years ago, and his hands were bonier. The nickname “old man” used to be something to poke fun at him and show how close you two are, now it was just calling him what he was.
“Look,” he started softly, “They’re good kids. They can be brats like someone I’m looking at, but they’re all good guys and that’s something rare with their kind nowadays. I can honestly say that I don’t want anything bad to happen to them, that’s why I’m asking this of you. You’re the best protégée I’ve had, I want you to help them.”
You flip through the small file the old man brought again. It had contained a picture of each member in the LADS group along with a page of notes to accompany the photos. You knew of them, hell, you were best friends two of them all the way back when you were kids but was it really for the best?
Through your peripheral vision you see your mentor fiddling with his fingers.
There’s only one thing you can say.
“If you’re so sure, I’ll do it,” you whisper and put your coffee down.
…
That’s what you said but…
“MANAGER HELP ME”
Something, goodness knows what, shattered somewhere off in the dorm. Right now two of the boys were having a fight, that was rather one sided, with the dorm’s couch cushions. It was hard to pay attention to the purple and silver haired men when Zayne and Caleb’s arguing could be heard from just around the corner.
Initially, you thought being childhood friends with two of the members would help.
Spoiler alert.
It didn’t.
“MANAGERRRRRR HE’S MESSING UP MY HAIR”
“Sylus could you stop hitting him with that,” you sighed.
The silver haired man just smiled slightly and said, “Wow, getting me in trouble with the new manager, how bold.”
Sylus dropped the cushion back onto the couch and sat down. You sighed as Rafayel grumbled and tried to fix his hair for the shoot they’ll be going to in less than thirty minutes.
You had to leave that fight and immediately go see what was making your two childhood friends argue this time. Of course, it was always something small.
“I swear if you sneak a carrot in my belt one more time,” Zayne poked an accusing finger at Caleb.
The man merely smiled and said in a sing-song voice, “What are you talking about~ I didn’t do anything.”
That just made Zayne’s frown deepen and pull out his phone. A fancam of Caleb very obviously sneaking a carrot under Zayne’s belt mid performance played on the device. Caleb just smiled at laughed at the whole thing while Zayne visibly shook.
Before you could even step in to defuse the situation, a loud crash and breaking sound erupted from the room you just left.
“MANAGER! XAVIER KNOCKED OVER THE TABLE!”
Yeah, this job was going to be a lot of paperwork.