Twin Hearts

Paul glanced at his watch again. One thirty. They had already overrun their schedule by thirty minutes, and the crowd had, if anything, gotten even bigger. Thankfully the store owner was only too happy to things to drag on; the old goat probably wouldn't see this kind of footfall for the rest of the month combined.

Ten more minutes, maybe. Things were going well, the fans were enjoying themselves and the girls were on good form. They weren't due to film for the Kavatz show until seven, so it wasn't the tightest of schedules today, but there was still a lot to organise.

"Ashley!" A pretty young woman at the front of the crowd called out enthusiastically, "Please go out with me!"

Ashley turned her attention to the young woman, unleashing her dazzling smile.

"Thank you for supporting me!" She said brightly, "I love all our fans, and it's super exciting to meet you!"

The girl almost swooned at the attention, and those around her, male and female, started jealously clamouring for a moment of Ashley's regard. For a few seconds she sat, grinning, smiling and waving to that section while Sam answered another question that had come in via the MC.

Catching the eye of the store owner, Paul held up is hands to indicate ten more minutes then, after some thought, added another five. They could afford it today, although he knew wrapping up would overrun yet further. The exposure was worth it; word of mouth played a big part in things these days.

Sitting back in his chair, he allowed himself to zone out a little, eyes following the activity without really listening to what was being said. Most questions had been answered a hundred times before, and the girls were skilled in handling the inevitable awkward questions a group like theirs attracted.

It was a strange thing, really. If someone had told him a year ago that he would be managing a pop-group of crossdressing boys, he would have thought it ridiculous. If they'd added that it would be wildly successful, we would have thought them soft in the head. And yet here they were, at a major department store signing records and answering questions from a crowd as big as could fit into the place. And later, another appearance on one of the top chat shows in the country, albeit just to perform their new single rather than be interviewed themselves.

He'd thought his director had been mad when she'd first pitched the idea, but Jasmin hadn't got to where she was in the industry by being a fool. And, as ever with Jasmin, the fact that she was even bringing it up with him meant that he was nailed on for the job of management.

He later learned that she'd already had two members lined up when she first came to him, and the idea made a lot more sense with that in mind. Ashley and Sam were naturals.

Ashley was the defacto leader of the group. Small, slim, with long blonde hair and an impeccable sense for women's fashion even before the label's legions of assistants got their hands on her, she absolutely looked the part. Add to that her bright, lively personality, undeniable charisma and truly excellent singing voice, it had been no surprise when Jasmin had positioned her as the lead.

Sam was a more down to earth character, with sharp, dry wit that played off well against Ashley exuberance. It was a double act the two had worked on quite a bit, and their chemistry paid off in those early days when they had first been struggling to get noticed. A few times Paul had been taken by surprise at how cutting Sam could be, but the two had always agreed beforehand on where their little act would go during an interview.

Appearance wise, Sam was the cool, aloof beauty type. Somewhat taller than the other two, although short of average for a guy, she had long, straight black hair and arrestingly deep blue eyes. Her clothing tended towards the more elegant, to contrast with the modern, flashy and revealing Ashley. Of the three, Sam was the only one with a long term girlfriend, although that was naturally played down by the label.

The final member of the group, added through the excellent work of the label's talent scouts, was Michelle, or Mikki (or Michael, if you wanted to quibble). A small, demure redhead, Mikki played the role of the cute, shy innocent of the group. From Paul's experience, it wasn't an act - Mikki really was a sweet, kind and incredibly cute person, with a real passion for singing and making their fans happy.

Each of the three girls hit very different buttons with the audience, and all had big fan followings of their own. Not only that, they worked well as a group, and genuinely had fun together, which really showed through in their meetings with the public. They gave off a sense of authenticity, which was amusing given their nature.

The subject of their crossdressing had been an open part of their marketing strategy from the very start, although Jasmin had been keen to stoke the rumour that they were genuinely girls to whip up some additional buzz. Their public personas were that of girls, and although the songwriters would drop the occasional allusion into their lyrics, the music mostly played it straight as a girl band. Jasmin had even been the one to pick their name - Twin Hearts, apparently a reference to both romantic love and the duality of the girls themselves.

Paul still didn't quite understand it himself, truth be told. The three were completely convincing as girls, so much so that it barely made any difference at all day to day. He had worked with girl bands before who had similar fans - although none so popular - and the main draw in his mind is that they were genuinely talented singers, with catchy songs and engaging personalities. The fact that they were all boys just seemed to draw in a weird subset of creepy perverts, and make some of their female fans go inexplicably wild too.

Paul was glad he wasn't paid to come up with these kinds of ideas. The nitty gritty of organising a tour, hiring staff and venues, working media contacts for exposure he was comfortable with. Understanding that what the world needed was a group with three ridiculously pretty boys dressed up as girls was beyond his pay grade.

On the stage the girls were still doing what they did, Ashley on her feet once again talking passionately about something or other. Singing, clothes, favourite food, cats; Ashley had a knack for making anything seem important in the moment. The crowd ate it up as ever.

Checking his watch again, Paul caught the MCs attention and sent him the signal to start wrapping up. He gave a nod of acknowledgement and waited for Ashley to finish before stepping in.

In the end, it took another twenty minutes to properly wrap up the session, but that was expected. The crowd were disappointed, but the session schedule had been advertised so everyone knew the girls had been there longer than planned. The three took their time with farewells, taking one last opportunity to charm everyone in the building. As usual, Ashley had the last word.

"We'll be performing live on the Kavatz Show tonight! I'd really love it if you could all tune in, and share with your friends so everyone can enjoy!" Clutching her hands before her in an earnest plead, Ashley gave another of her dazzling smiles, "It's you guys who make this so much fun - you're the best!"

The usual cries of affirmation - and declarations of love and devotion - rang out as the three left the stage, waving and smiling as they went. Paul stood to greet them, swiping a six pack of water and offering them out.

"Thanks Paul." Mikki said, briefly hugging his arm.

"Good work out there girls, it looks like everyone had a great time." Paul said, tossing a bottle to Sam, "Hopefully mentioning Kavatz at the end should get some online buzz going too."

Ashley gave a mock salute, taking her water.

"The Ashley fans were out in force today." Sam said with a grin, "There was a middle aged guy near the front try to take crotch shots."

"Jeez." Ashley said with a pout, "My fans aren't creeps."

"He might have been a paparazzo." Paul frowned, "A...er..."

"Cock shot." Ashley provided.

"No, not a...damn it, Ashley." He passed a hand in front of his eyes, feeling his cheeks heat up. She was often the one to take a direct route. "This is the press, they don't need much to blow it up. Just a stray fold of a skirt or something."

"Or something." Sam deadpanned.

Ashley giggled and pretended to look abashed.

They had all heard the story of her appearance on a panel show a few weeks prior. One of the other guests had been an up and coming solo artist - the dashingly handsome young man that was really taking off in the teen market - and in Ashley's own words I'm glad I was sat behind a desk!

"Anyway, if you spot something like that in the future let me know. The venue should be able to remove them."

"Yeah, yeah." Ashley said with a wave of a hand, while Mikki nodded earnestly.

"Sure, but don't scare off all our creeps." Sam said, "Those pervs can get some real buzz going."

"I don't think we need to worry about that."

Paul had spent some time with their social media team before when they were working on strategy. He had never realised how much time was spent moderating pictures of guy's dicks. Apparently Twin Hearts got it worse than most other acts with the label, and he doubted chucking a few perverts out would stem the tide.

After leaving the department store via the back entrance to a waiting car, Paul took the girls back to the head office. They still had some time to kill before the evening, but not so much that he wanted anyone getting split up.

The girls around the office, and even some of the other artists, doted on them like they were their collective little sisters. Paul had little to offer once the swarm descended, completely out of his element with all the girl-talk, but it also meant he got some time to sort out last minute preparations in peace. While they let off some steam he caught up with Iva, who had been busy finalising logistics for the evening while they were out.

Although not officially his assistant, Iva had been spending much of her time working with Twin Hearts due to their burgeoning popularity. Paul was grateful for her help - they had worked together with other groups before, and he found they complimented each other well. He was more the people person, working contacts and handling the various whims of the talent, whereas Iva was happier staying in the background working on all the little things that kept the show on the road. Plus she was a whiz at getting Jasmin or one of the other senior execs to sign off some of his more outlandish spending.

Iva was a cool headed, serious young woman and it had taken him a little while to really get to know her initially. She was a natural introvert, but once she grown comfortable with him her earnest, warm side came through clearly, and he found her a pleasure to be around. Now, he counted her as one of his closest friends, and someone he could truly rely on. There had been a time when he'd considered asking her out - she was pretty enough, and looked great in her business suits - but somehow there wasn't quite the right spark. At the end of the day, they worked well as colleagues and friends. No need to fuck that up.

The show sent cars around in the early evening to take them to the studio for the Kavatz show, Paul riding with Iva while the girls followed behind. It was not a long trip and, with the day well planned, he spent it mostly idly staring out of the window, letting his mind wander.

Upon arrival the girls were whisked away by a producer, with Iva tagging along behind to check in on the stylists. Paul made his way backstage to catch up with the production team to make sure everything was still on track.

He loved being backstage on these kinds of things. Even something as seemingly straightforward as a host-and-couch chat show required a small army mobilised to keep the wheels turning. Technicians buzzed around the room, working with the lighting rigs and sounds setup, double checking wires that probably had barely been touched in the six years Kavatz had been on the air. Producers chatted in low, urgent whispers, as though anything were likely to change now, while out in the auditorium he could see the audience filtering in. It was exciting, and he felt both in the heart of it and detached all at one; he loved it.

"Ah, you're the man from Clarion Records, right?" Paul turned to see a short, bald man in his late thirties approaching.

"Yes, that's me. Paul Lancet."

"Howard Kowalski. Good to see you, Paul." the man offered his hand, "Are your...girls set for the show?"

Paul grinned at his brief stumble.

"In makeup now. Chomping at the bit to get out there."

"Great stuff." Howard said, seeming genuinely pleased, "I must say, this is a bit of a first for us. I'm keen to see how they look in person."

"Well, I'll let you be the judge of that." Paul said with a laugh, "They take their music very seriously, though."

"So I hear." The man nodded, "Well, great to have you here, Paul. Enjoy the show."

Once the show started gearing up for broadcast Paul withdrew to the green room. Iva was waiting for him with Mikki, who was staring excitedly around at the bustle. It was charming to see how keen she was; despite a growing number of television appearances the charm still hadn't faded at all. Paul could empathise with that.

"You ready to go, squirt?" He asked. Mikki turned to him and beamed.

"Yep!" She said cheerily, "My sister is in the audience too! I can't wait."

Mikki's family had always been incredibly supportive of her career, and would regularly attend shows. Paul could easily see the family resemblance - for one, they all shared Mikki's sunny disposition. Her elder sister, Phoebe, could almost have been her twin, albeit a genetically female one.

"Oh, really?" He said, "I didn't know she was coming down today."

"Iva got some tickets for her." Mikki hummed, giving a slightly surprised woman a hug.

"Ah, good stuff." Paul nodded, "Well, let's give her a good show."

"The best!" Mikki jumped up in the air in her excitement, one hand clenched over her head.

"Mikki fight-o!" Paul glanced over to see Sam entering from the direction of the dressing rooms. Like Mikki she wore a relatively reserved white dress, although that was fairly normal for Sam anyway. Her long dark hair was held back with a white hairband, with a few strands framing her pretty blue eyes. They had decided to keep things a lower key for the Kavatz show; even Ashley, who loved to show off a little more skin.

Mikki lowered her hand, blushing a little but still smiling. Sam was always much gentler with her teasing of the diminutive redhead.

"You might want to go check on Ash. She's still faffing around in her changing room."

"We've got a bit of time." Paul said, checking his watch.

"Yeah, but it's Ash." Sam rolled her eyes, "If she's got distracted again, we could be waiting for a while."

Paul sighed - it was true enough. Ashley of all the girls was most determined to make it big, but she was also the one most likely to career off towards minor catastrophe. But it was part of her charm.

"Right, right. I'll go get her. Where's her room?"

The dressing rooms were not far from the main set, and Paul found the one baring Ashley's name without too much trouble, at the end of a long corridor. He knocked and waited.

"Hey, Ashley, we're on in fifteen." He wrapped on the door again and waited. After a few moments without response, he knocked again, "Ashley?"

"Just a minute!" She called, her voice a little off.

"Is something wrong?"

"Ah...just give me a few minutes." Ashley replied hesitantly.

"What's wrong, Ashley? We don't have a lot of time."

"Jeez, I know. I just need a minute, okay?"

"Ashley, I'm your manager." He said, exasperated, leaning his head against the door, "This is a big show. If there's something I need to sort out, I'll sort it out."

Ashley didn't reply for a few moments, and Paul ground his teeth in frustration. This was not the time for diva games - the show was live, and there was more buzz than he expected around their appearance.

"Fine. Come in." Ashley said at last, just as he was about to knock again. She sounded irritated.

Finding the door unlocked, Paul let himself in to the small changing room. The place was comfortable decorated if a little sparse; the studio had a separate foyer where they handled makeup, so Ashley had only used to room to change.

She stood in the centre of the room, frowning at him as he entered. Her long wavy blonde hair had been arranged in a breezy, carefree style that had only been achieved through lengthy and painstaking effort from the stylist. Her white dress shimmered with the reflective sequins sewn into the fabric, leaving her slender shoulders bare and dipping down a little toward her chest. Presumably creative work with bras left her with a slight curve to the chest, which suited her small, svelte figure perfectly.

Eyes drifting lower, Paul stumbled across the elephant in the room. Or at least it's trunk.

The lower half of Ashley's dress, which was meant to hug her figure down to just above the knees, was bulging out severely, as though someone had shoved a large ball of socks up her skirt.

"It won't go down." Ashley said.

Although he didn't have much involvement with the girls' wardrobe, beyond general tonal steers, he did work closely enough with the designers and stylists to hear various things. One of those things had been the sometime difficulty in designing around what was euphemistically termed, their 'gifts'. For all the he really didn't want to know, it was clear to Paul that none of the girls were small down below, and Ashley least of all.

Now, the evidence was staring him in the face and threatening to disrupt their performance.

"Oh. Right." He stared at her dumbly for a moment, "I...I wasn't expecting that."

"I figured." Ashley said with a sigh, "Look, since you're here now, can you help? We don't have long."

"Help? How?"

Ashley gave him a funny look.

"You know." She said slowly and - to his absolute mortification - made a crude mime with her hand and mouth.

"You what?"

"Jasmin is gonna be pissed if we have to pull out of this because I popped a boner." Ashley said, "I've been looking online. There's lots of new fans really pumped to see us live."

"You want me to..."

Without warning, Ashley stepped in close, pressing her body flush against his, with her hands on his waist. He let out a small squawk of surprise as she looked up at him through long eyelashes. Not for the first time he was struck by how the boy was far prettier than any girl he had ever been with.

"You said you'd help." Ashley said softly, gently running her hands up and down his sides, "I really don't want to disappoint everyone."

"I know, but..."

"It'll be easy."

"Can't you...you know, sort it out yourself?"

"Jeez, maybe, but we don't have long, and you've just wasted five minutes if you're not going to help." She looked at him accusatorily, though her hands never stopped their tingling trails across his body.

"Ashley..." He said, "I wouldn't even know how."

"It's fine." Without him noticing, her hands had found their way to his shoulders, and now she pressed down gently. Overwhelmed, he followed her unspoken instruction and dropped to his knees. "I'm sure you've been with plenty of girls before. Just do what feels good for you."

Looking up at her now, Paul felt completely out of his depth. Ashley gave him an encouraging smile, then went to hitch up her dress.

A moment later, it emerged, almost slapping him across the face. Paul rocked back, as though it was an actual snake.

Ashley was big, he realised immediately. Really big. Her cock jutted out proudly from her panties, with a thickness and length that looked out of place on her small body. It was uncut and smooth, with no obvious veining, and a slight upward curve. It was galling to realise that a singer in a girl band he was managing had a comfortably larger dick than he did.