Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 16:52:35 EDT
From: Chris13731@aol.com
Subject: I Need Love, Chapter 3     (celebrity, boy bands)

Here's the latest chapter. I hope you guys like. If you're not 18 or you
live somewhere where it's illegal for you to read this, why are you here in
the first place? Leave. Also, this isn't meant to imply anything about the
sexualities of any member of *NSYNC, just a little fantasy of mine. Thanks
for reading!!! Enjoy!!

I Need Love: Chapter III

JC and Lance headed downstairs the cafe off of the lobby of the hotel. They
hadn't had dinner since they had spent so much time in the hospital room
waiting for Chris to come to. They grabbed a table in the back where the
light was lower so no one would be able to tell who they were. They sat
down and started talking as they looked over the menus.

"Man, you look awful," Lance said to his companion, and it was true. JC's
hair was a mess. He hadn't had a shower in about 2 days. His eyes were
bloodshot from lack of sleep. The guy just had an overall look of weariness
about him.

"Oh, thanks a lot!" JC said sarcastically, throwing a sugar packet from the
table at Lance's face. He brought the menu up further in an attempt to try
to hide his face. Lance didn't know his eyes were red from crying, did he?
JC hoped not.

"Man, this whole situation really got to you, didn't it? I mean, it's a
horrible thing to happen to anyone, but you seriously didn't know him that
well. You know this wasn't your fault, right? There wasn't anything you
could've done differently that would have changed things," Lance said,
pushing the menu down that JC was holding in front of his face.

JC just lowered his eyes and said softly, "I know, it's just........I feel
like.....I don't know. I'm so confused, Lance."

"Is there something you're not telling me, Josh?" the younger boy asked
with his green eyes full of concern. He could always tell when something
was really bothering one of the other guys, but he'd never seen JC this
bad.

"I'm sorry, Lance, I think it's just something I need to work out on my
own." But he wanted to tell him. He longed to tell somebody, just to get
everything out, but he was so afraid of how they'd react. He didn't want
any of the guys to hate him, especially one he trusted as much as
Lance. He'd just have to wait and try to work up the courage later. He
couldn't handle another emotional crisis so soon.

"I understand," was Lance's only response. It was killing him to see JC
like this. Something wasn't right and he looked like he needed help with
it. Better just to let him come to you, he thought, if you pressure him to
talk he'll just pull away more.

The next thirty minutes were spent in silence after they ordered. JC stared
down at the table and appeared to be in deep thought. Lance just studied
the other man, trying to figure out the problem. As the meal was drawing to
a close, JC finally broke the silence with a question.

"Lance, do you believe in love at first sight?"

'What did that have to do with anything,' Lance thought, but he considered
the question. He didn't think that it was really appearances that make
love, but sometimes, people who meet are just instantly connected
spiritually. It wasn't exactly sight, but it was pretty much the same.

After some deliberation, he said, "Yeah, yeah I do." He didn't ask why JC
he had asked, if he wanted to tell him he would.

"Yeah. I do, too," was the reply from across the table, and the silence was
back.

A few minutes later they finished their food and left some money on the
table. There had still been no conversation as they exited the elevator on
their floor. Right outside their door, Lance turned to JC.

"Josh, if you ever want to talk, just tell me. You can trust me, I
promise."

JC stepped forward and embraced the younger man. "Thanks, man, that means a
lot," he said. He stepped back and Lance started opening the door. 'Lance
is such a great friend,' he thought. 'Surely he'd never hate me for
anything like that. Maybe I will tell him soon. It would be nice to have
someone to talk to.'

They entered the room quietly and undressed in the dark. Lance got into bed
and was soon fast asleep, completely exhausted after the stay at the
hospital. JC looked at his bed and considered lying down next to the
sleeping body in it. He decided it wouldn't be a good idea. He didn't want
to freak Chris out in the morning when he woke up next to another guy. He
settled into the chair and leaned his head back.

'Chris looks so peaceful when he's asleep, it's hard to tell there's so
much hurting inside,' was his last thought as he drifted off into a slumber
that wouldn't last very long.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I didn't sleep well at all that night. I woke up three times before the
other guys came back to the room. I just couldn't stay asleep. The fourth
time I woke up I realized I wasn't alone. I looked over at the other bed
and so blond hair coming up from under the covers. I scanned the room to
find JC and found him slouched over in a chair near the table.

'Oh man, he didn't have to do that' I thought. I slowly slipped out of the
bed with a little effort. I still felt a little bad from the hospital. I
tiptoed over and slightly shook his shoulder.

"JC, wake up." His eyes slowly opened and he looked up at me. "Go sleep on
the bed. I'll sleep on the floor. It's all right."

He shook his head to try to wake up a little. "No, no, I'm fine, really,
you need to rest."

"Get up. I'm not letting you sleep in this chair." I ordered and pulled him
up, using the table to hold on to for leverage. I kind of directed him as
he fell back onto the bed. Walking around to the other side, I grabbed a
pillow and got ready to lay down on the ground. JC rolled over and grabbed
my arm as a started sinking.

"You don't have to. Just get in the bed," he said with his eyes
half-closed.

He didn't have to tell me. I was not looking forward to sleeping on the
floor at all. I set the pillow down and slid under the covers next to
him. JC reached over and clasped my hand, saying, "I'm glad you're coming
with us, Chris."

"Thanks, me, too," I said, feeling a fuzzy feeling all over me. JC was
always so nice to me, it was nice to have attention.

I fell asleep holding JC's hand, pulling it close to me and curling up in
ball.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Chris, there's something I need to tell you," JC said, walking over to
me. "I love you more than anything else in the world. I don't want to ever
be without you."

I reached up and caressed his cheek, whispering, " I love you, too."

I slid my other arm behind his back and pulled him close to me. He laid me
back on the bed and slowly lowered himself closer and closer to my face. I
closed my eyes, preparing for a passionate kiss, and I was shocked as I
felt the sting of a slap on my cheek. Opening my eyes, I looked at the face
of Bryan.

"You're pathetic. You think anyone will ever love you?" He taunted,
hovering over me.

I just pushed him away and started sobbing. He was right. No one will ever
love me. I kept crying and crying as he sneered at me.

Suddenly a warmth enveloped me and seemed to pull me away from all the
hurting. It felt so much better, like someone was embracing his soul as
opposed to feeling like someone was tearing it apart like earlier. The
images of Bryan's hate-filled face didn't return for the rest of the night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

JC didn't know exactly why he woke up. He just felt like something was
wrong. He looked over and saw Chris with a single tear running down his
sleeping face. JC reached over and wiped it off. As he did so, Chris began
to whimper a little. The kind of soft little moans you make when you're
crying and can't breathe right. He reached over and rubbed Chris's back,
hoping that that would comfort him in his dreams. More and more tears came
and Chris's breathing started getting more ragged. 'I've got to do
something,' JC thought to himself. 'I can't bear to see him like this.' He
moved closer to the near-moaning body that had begun to tremble. Weaving
his arm around Chris's neck and behind his back, JC pulled him into a tight
embrace. Still rubbing his back, JC also began to stroke Chris's
hair. Finally the shaking and whimpering began to subside. 'This feels so
right,' he thought. 'I could stay like this for a million years.' Chris
seemed to pull closer to him, but it could have been JC's
imagination. Feeling sure that Chris was better, the other boy relaxed his
muscles and thoughts once more for the night.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I woke up much more relaxed and feeling tons better, but I wasn't ready to
get out of bed. It was so warm and soft that I just lay there breathing
slowly with my eyes closed and savoring the rest. I inhaled deeply and
smelled something. 'What is that?' I thought. 'It smells so familiar. Wait
a minute, that's cologne!!'

My eyes snapped open quickly and I was staring at JC's T-shirt covered
chest rising and falling in his sleep. His arms were holding me tight up
against his body and he had the goofiest smile on his face. I felt so safe
and it made me want to stay even more. I lay there, just watching his
beautiful face when suddenly I was snapped out of it by the phone
ringing. I didn't know what to do, this wasn't my room!! JC and Lance made
no sign of waking up after the fourth ring, so I decided to answer it.

"Uh, hello?"

"What? Who is this?" said a young, male voice on the other end.

"My name is Chris, who are you?"

"Hey, I'll ask the questions around here. What are you doing in JC and
Lance's room?" the unknown caller demanded.

"I'm, uhm, a friend of theirs. I think," I said, not exactly sure what to
say.

"You think? Are they there? Can I talk to one of them?"

"Yeah, just a second, I'll wake JC up," I said, reaching over to JC. Gently
shaking his shoulder, I whispered, "JC, you've gotta get up. Come on, the
phone's for you. JC, GET UP!!" I gave up the gentle effort and pulled the
covers off his body. He lay there just in his black boxerbriefs, but all he
did was grunt and curl up in a ball. I moved over a little from him and
pushed hard. He fell off the side of the bed and his head shot back up fast
with a confused look on his face. I gave him an angelic smile and said,
"The phone's for you."

He got up and sat on the side of the bed as I handed him the receiver.

"Hello? Oh, hey Justin. Yeah, that was who we were at the hospital
for. He's gonna be going with us. Lance hired him for his production
company. Yes, he CAN do that. What do you mean what is he doing in our
room? Would you rather we have stayed at HIS house? All right,
whatever. We've got to go get Chris's stuff from his apartment, but then
we'll meet you in your room, all right? See ya."

"So that was Justin Timberlake?" I asked, lying back down on the bed. "He
didn't seem very nice."

"Yeah, he was just a little confused. He didn't know why someone else would
be in our room. But it's all good now. He wanted to know if we wanted to go
get some food later before the rehearsal."

"Rehearsal? Rehearsal for what?"

"For the concert tonight. Did I forget to tell you we had a concert
tonight?" he said, reaching over and giving Lance's unconscious body a
light push. "Hey Scoop, it's time to get up."

Lance's head appeared from underneath the covers squinting. "What time is
it?" he asked, rubbing his face. It was so comical I couldn't help but
laugh. This caused JC to start snickering, too. "What's so funny? Leave me
alone, I'm not a morning person." Lance said. He threw a pillow at JC's
face. The older boy dodged it, but it came sailing straight at my head,
causing an uproar of laughter from the other two.

I growled at them, then asked, "So what am I supposed to do while you guys
are doing your show?"

"Wait backstage and see if I need any help with anything. You ARE my
personal assistant, after all," Lance said in his deep voice.

"Ew, I'm not gonna have to help with costume changes, am I?" I said, making
a face.

"You never no what I might need help with!!" Lance said with a devilish
grin.

"Yeah, Lance's never been that good at dressing himself," JC smirked.

This time Lance didn't miss as he swung the pillow and doubled JC over with
a pillow strike to the back of the head. This prompted an all-out war as JC
grabbed his own pillow and charged. At some point Lance was knocked out of
bed and it was both guys having a pillow fight in their underwear, JC in
his boxerbriefs and Lance in his plain white briefs. It would have been an
extremely arousing sight if I wasn't laughing so hard tears were rolling
down my face.

Lance saw this and said, "Hey, JC, we're upsetting the children. We better
stop."

JC hit Lance hard in the side once and replied, "All right, truce. Ready to
go pack, Chris?"

"Uhm, aren't you a little underdressed to be going outside?" I snickered.

They both realized they weren't wearing much and blushed a little. Lance
headed to the bathroom saying he was gonna take a shower then fill in the
other guys about me, so he'd just meet us there later. JC scrambled to get
dressed and ended up with black pants and a matching shirt. After a quick
hair check in the mirror, we were on our way out the door and to my place.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

As I picked and chose my wardrobe for the next God knows how many weeks, JC
stayed in the kitchen/living room area. Haphazardly folding shirts and
pants, I quickly chose my best-looking clothes for the trip. Wouldn't you
want to look good for some of the hottest guys on the planet? I headed to
my bathroom and grabbed the necessities and threw those in a side pocket of
my bag. I zipped everything up and headed to the living room to pack up my
laptop and cell phone. I passed the couch and found JC lying there snoring
with the TV on. 'He's so cute when he's asleep. What am I talking about?
He's cute ALL the time!!! What's he watching? Aw man, Notting Hill. I LOVE
that movie. Mmmmm.......someone who loves one of my favorite movies AND a
romantic. How sweet. He's so perfect. To bad nothing between us could ever
happen.'

While I was thinking these things, a tear had rolled down my face that I
hadn't even realized was there. JC opened his eyes lazily and looked up at
me. "Hey you. Something wrong? You OK?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I think." I said, wiping my face.

"Hey, Chris, I've been meaning to ask you something," JC said as he sat up
on the couch. "How come you've never gotten any help for your depression?"

"Because........." I started. 'Oh what the hell, I might as well tell
him. It really won't make that much of a difference.'  "Because I know
exactly what I need to fix all my problems."

"What's that?"

"I need love."

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Well? You like how I incorporated the title into the story? Very creative,
huh? Well, I wanted to get this out, it's not really that long, but I need
to keep it coming out so I can get on to the good stuff that y'all are
waiting for :) Anyway, again, send all questions or comments to
Chris13731@aol.com.  Thanks!!!