Athena Tyler and Michael Jackson are married to people they don't belong with. The history between Michael and Athena isn't complicated; they met on We Are The World, sparks flew, but they never stayed in contact.
When their respective spouses sugg...
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After a while, as her trembling subsided, Athena looked up at Michael, "I assume you have more questions," she whispered, keeping her head resting on his chest, feeling the steady rhythm of his heartbeat beneath her ear.
"Adam Netty and Marty Hom," Michael murmured, still holding her close to him, stroking her hair, "What's the deal with them? I saw the pictures—they just seemed too close to you for comfort."
"Um, well, Adam is my choreographer—he's openly gay," Athena quietly explained, "And Marty is just my tour manager," she added, "Adam has been with me for a year and a half, and Marty came on when the Oral Fixation Tour started, but he'll be joining me again when I go on tour with you for our combined tour dates."
Michael nodded, taking in the information about Adam and Marty. He couldn't shake off the protective instinct that surged within him, but he knew that Athena was a strong, independent woman who could handle herself. Nevertheless, he made a mental note to keep an eye on Marty.
In his mind he gave Adam a pass because Adam was gay, there was no room for jealousy on that front. So the choreographer got a clean slate.
However, Marty Hom was a different story. Michael couldn't ignore the nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach every time he thought of Marty's proximity to Athena. Even though he had just met Marty briefly—quite literally a ten second greeting before Athena had left for tour the first time—and he didn't know the full context of the photos he had seen, there was something about him that set off alarms in Michael's mind.
Which only meant that when Michael and Athena went on tour together from September 1996 to October 1997, he would just have to keep Athena in his line of sight at all possible times—he trusted Athena, but he didn't trust that tour manager. And it should be relatively easy to keep his eyes on his wife since they had managed to combine everything—production crews, stage setups, security teams, and more—to have a unified show.
"Speaking of our shared tour," Michael paused, "Is there any specific conditions you have?"
"My only thing is that I get to keep Adam Netty as my Choreographer, I'm keeping Robbie Reynolds and Ethan Graham on my Glam Team," Athena said as she sat up, "And Jayla Sullivan stays on my dance crew!"
"Oh, they stay, huh?" Michael raised an eyebrow, a playful grin tugging at the corners of his lips as he teased, "There's no debate here, baby? No chance for your husband to question why you want all men on your Glam Team?"
"Hey!" Athena squinted her eyes at him, "You get Karen Faye, I get two wonderful men who know what they're doing!"
"But Ethan, Adam, and Robbie are black!" Michael laughed, "W—"
"So are you," Athena said, giving him a pointed look with some attitude, "Besides, you can't break up the dream team!"
"But baby, your hair is different than ours," Michael said in amusement.
