Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2000 18:49:24 +0000 From: Angel1313 Subject: Devotion Ch. 8 Devotion Chapter Eight: The Beautiful People Disclaimer: I don't know *NSYNC. I don't know if *NSYNC is gay. If you shouldn't be reading this then don't, or at least don't tell anyone. Feedback is always appreciated, and I want to send out a special "Thank you soooo much, I love you, I love you" to all the people who have written to me in the past. You're awesome. -Angel1313 ^_^ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter Eight: The Beautiful People At ten to nine, there was a knock on the door to Lance and Joey's room. The latter opened the door and smiled as he let JC and Justin inside. "Hey guys," Joey greeted. "Hey," Justin said back. Coming into view, Lance folded his arms across his chest. "You're late," he stated flatly. "By five minutes, Scoop. Calm down," JC replied with a laugh. "Excuses, excuses," Lance clucked, but he was smiling. "C'mon in," Joey offered, opening the door wide enough for the two to enter the hotel room. As they did, Chris whistled. "Well, looks like *somebody* wants to get some lovin' tonight! Nice leather pants, Curly," he teased. Justin blushed, and JC laughed and placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I'm glad you like them, Chris, because we were late because he took like *twenty minutes* to decide whether or not they made his butt look big." "I did not!" the blonde protested, his blush deepening. "You look nice, too, Jace," Lance piped up, hoping to smooth things over between the two of them. Not that it wasn't true; JC was wearing a tight, black, v-neck tee with loose charcoal gray pants that hung around his hips. He smiled in appreciation of the compliment. "Thanks, Scoop. So do you." Lance smiled back. He was in a loose pair of khaki pants and a light cotton button up shirt in a pale green. Joey was dressed wildly in bright reds and oranges, and Chris was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved tee shirt. Justin's leather pants were topped by a clingy, baby-blue sweater. "I think we all look great," Joey commented, receiving a laugh from the rest of the group. "But seriously, Justin," he added, turning to the teen. "You're in leather pants and the tightest sweater I've seen since JC was last wearing one-" "Hey!" JC interjected, but Joey ignored him. "-Are you sure that you should've given up the single room? How are you going to bring someone home with JC in the room?" Justin rolled his eyes. "Unlike *you,* Joey, I try to look good *all* the time, not just when I'm trying to pick up people," he teased. Joey laughed. "Hey!" he defended himself. "I look good all the time, too!" Everyone laughed. "What?" he asked, smiling with the rest of them. "I do!" "You keep telling yourself that, Joe," Chris said, patting his friend on the back consolingly. "Anyway," JC cut in. "If we're done picking on Joey, do you want to get going?" He paused a moment before adding, "Where *are* we going?" "Chris and I passed a couple clubs that'll be opening up in a little bit tonight at dinner," Joey explained. "Oh, yeah," Justin replied. "How was dinner?" "Great," Chris answered. "We found this nice Italian place. The food was awesome. How was the movie?" "Okay," Justin responded easily. He had taken a cue from JC's answer when Lance had asked them earlier. "That's good. What did you see?" Joey piped up. "Um..." Justin blushed. He realized that he didn't know. Lance began to laugh, and Justin glared at him. "What's so funny?" he snarled. "You have no idea, do you?" Lance asked, trying to control his laughter. JC saved Justin from further embarrassment. "Yes, he does. It was Snow Falling on Cedars." "Boooring!" Joey exclaimed. "I know," JC continued. "Justin fell asleep pretty early on...he must have forgotten what it was we were watching." As Justin smiled appreciatively at his older bandmate, Lance rolled his eyes at the two. Why had they tried to cover-up the ice cream thing? Did theystill want to keep their relationship a secret? That was pretty sneaky, but, Lance realized, he and Joey fooled around sometimes, and they'd never mentioned it to anyone. /That's different,/ Lance tried to convince himself. /We don't have a real *relationship,* where we're dating exclusively./ Lance sighed. It's not that he didn't *want* a real relationship, he just couldn't seem to find the right person. He sighed and watched in envy as Justin made his way over to JC, who immediately placed an arm around the blonde's shoulders. Justin then snuggled up to the older man, slipping an arm around his waist, and resting his head on his shoulder. "You're so thin, Josh," the nineteen year-old spoke up. "If you weren't so muscular, I'd ask if you were healthy." "I don't look healthy?" JC asked self-consciously. He immediately went over to the mirror on the other side of the room to see for himself. "That's not what I meant," Justin explained quickly, following his friend to the mirror. Chris chuckled quietly as they went by. Joey rolled his eyes in amusement. Placing his arms around JC's waist from behind, Justin rested his chin on the older man's shoulder, as was becoming his habit. "I think you look wonderful, Josh," he whispered. JC smiled and met the younger man's eyes in the mirror. "I think you look wonderful yourself," he replied with a smile. "Okay, that's it," Chris cut in, not actuallly hearing what Justin and JC were saying. "Enough narcissism! Let's get going already." Justin and JC broke apart and followed the others to the door. Turning off the lights and making a quick visual check everything was either turned off or locked up, Lance nodded in satisfaction before heading out the door, and closing it securely behind him. He then hurried down the hall to catch the elevator with the other four guys. The guys of *NSYNC decided to split up and take cabs to get to a club that Joey and Chris had suggested. Lance proposed that they split up into a group of two and a group of three. JC turned to the other four and said, "Well, I'll ride with anyone, it doesn't really matter. We're all going to arrive at the same destination." Justin piped up immediately. "I'll go with you, Josh," he offered. JC smiled at the younger man, and Justin moved to stand next to his best friend. Grabbing his arm, Justin began to drag the brunette to the curb to a waiting taxi. Lance called out for them to stop. "Wouldn't it make more sense to send Joey or Chris with you? They know what we're looking for," he reasoned. "Yeah," Chris added with a laugh. "You'll have Joshy all to yourself for the rest of the night. Besides, I'll sit in the front." Justin's eyes suddenly turned cold. Lance noted the change and nervously wondered what Chris had said that set him off. Still holding JC's arm, Justin turned abruptly. "C'mon, Joey," he said, his voice flat and dangerous, tossing a glare over his shoulder at Chris. He then turned back around and led JC, who simply shrugged, to one of the taxis lined up in front of the hotel. Joey turned to Chris and Lance and mouthed "Whatever" before quickly following the pair. "We'll met you there in a few," he called before getting into the cab. Chris was right; Joey had to sit in the front. "What's eating him?" Chris muttered to Lance as the other three's cab pulled away. "I don't know," Lance admitted. "JC was the one who was all pissy earlier. I don't know what happened in the meantime." "Yeah, but Justin was fine until I offered to ride with them. It's not like you hadn't just suggested that," Chris argued. "Hey, I don't know what's going on either, Chris. Don't blame this on me," Lance replied, holding his hands up. "Sorry, man," Chris smiled back at his bandmate. "Just a little edgy, I guess. I just wish I knew what I did." The oldest member of *NSYNC let out a sigh. Placing a hand on his friend's shoulder as they walked to the nearest taxi, Lance smiled and said, "I guess we'll never know." Chris laughed and got into the cab. Lance quickly followed. The older man immediately told the driver the name of the club they were going to visit before sitting back and thinking about what he could have said to Justin that set the young man off. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I hope you enjoyed it, even though it is really sort of a space filler. I needed to get them to the club, what can I say? At least I'm not going to write a chapter about the cab ride, as was suggested by a certain someone (you know who you are!!). I promise they're actually *in* the club next time ^_~