Written in the Stars

20: Babysitters' Club

Kendall could hardly contain his excitement. "We get to sing with Babylace?"

Carlos whooped as he and Kendall broke out into excited fist bumps.

"Close," said Kelly. She bore that telltale smile that said she was about to give them bad news. "You're babysitting him."

"Babysitting," Kit echoed. "You want them to babysit?"

Although they glared at the girl, slightly offended, none of the boys denied that they may not be the best first choice. James, instead, offered another valid critique to the idea: "Why would a 50-year-old man need a babysitter?"

Gustavo grimaced, turning to look over his shoulder. Kelly parted her lips, not quite sure what the polite way to put this was. They were saved from that explanation by the sound of a British man's voice. As he stepped out into the hallway, it was revealed to be Babylace himself. "Guess who found the time machine?" The man shoved an open microwave over his head, grinning wildly. "Now, how do I get back to 1984?"

Big Time Rush gaped at him. Kendall put a hand to his chest, remembering now why they said never to meet your heroes. Kit winced. She could see why they needed her help today, too.

It took both Kelly and Gustavo to pry the machine off of Babylace without hurting him or his hair. They each grabbed him by an arm as they directed his attention to his babysitters for the day.

"Okay, Babylace," said Gustavo, gesturing towards the teens in question. "Meet Kit Knight and Big Time Rush, who you'll be spending the day with."

Carlos offered him a wave. The twins could only stare, stuck between feeling starstruck and disappointed. "Oh, splendid." Babylace grinned, not at all upset or deterred by the idea of spending his day with five teenaged strangers. "Let's begin our day with me going to the bathroom."

Babylace made no moves to find the restroom. Instead, he lifted his hands and contorted his face. As confusion melted into disturbed realization, Kelly rushed to stop him. "Oh, uh, no. The bathroom is this way." She led him directly to the door of the men's restrooms which were only a few feet behind him.

Gustavo watched, one hand up to rub at his forehead and ward off the oncoming headache. James's eyes widened as he stared at the man in horror. He hadn't signed up for diaper duty.

"Gustavo," Carlos spoke up. "We can't babysit Babylace. He's famous for trashing hotels."

"Yeah," James agreed. "Not just hotel rooms. Entire hotels!"

Logan pointed a finger at James, agreeing with his displeasure. Kit frowned, "Yeah and I can barely handle them, some days."

Gustavo nodded. Regardless of how valid their points were, he had no choice. So, he simply ignored them.

"Yeah, he's also being inducted at the Hall of Rock Awards tonight, which means that Kelly and I have to go down to the theater and make sure that his dressing room is perfect, or I'm gonna end up like his last three producers."

The boys leaned in close, confused and slightly concerned, until Gustavo yelled: "Fired!"

This scared them back into their previous positions. Kendall stepped in, trying to explain his way out of this:

"Okay," he said. "But I need to spend the day with Jo, 'cause things are kind of awkward. We're back together, but she was gone for so long, and I'm sensing..."

Gustavo stared at Kendall, eyebrows knit. He cut off the ramble with a yell, his hands out to call for quiet.

"Stop your boy talk! It's gonna take all of you to keep him alive and get him to the theater by 5:00." As he explained, Gustavo waved around VIP passes to the Awards. He thrusted them into Carlos's hand.