Lance and Martin 4

by Kenitra

Other Stories by Me!


(under boy-bands)

NEW Millennium Love
Ended Apr 4/02


Love and Pleasure
Posted Feb 27/02

Remember When
Posted Feb 27/02

Runaway
(Ended Oct 17/01)

Admitting the Truth
(Posted July 12/01)

What If
(Posted May 29/01)

Blissful Tears
(Ended Jan 28/01)
Can you believe it? Another new chapter so soon?

Well, it came down to either pulling my hair out in frustration about my summer students, or distracting myself with writing. Guess which won!

Thanks as always to Neo (miss you!) and Rune. You guys are great.

Thanks to everyone who has written. Been getting mail from a number of new people which is wonderful! Keep it up.


Disclaimer:
A  Don't know them, never met them, never will!
B  Under age...don't tell me. I don't want either of us to get in trouble!

Comments about this story or any of my stories can be sent to: kenitra_canada@hotmail.com

As always, thank you for reading!
Kenitra:-)

Older Stories by Me!


(under boy-bands)

First Anniversary
(Posted Oct 31/00)


Fates Reason
(Ended Feb 6/00)

Ice Storm
(Posted May 8/00)

Set You Free
(Ended Apr 11/00)

Ten Guys, One Night
(Posted Apr 7/00)

(under College section)
Fated
(Posted Dec 16/00)

Previously

He could hear a murmur running through the store. It was like a domino effect as the murmur ran down one aisle then up the next. As soon as Lance started hearing whispers of 'that's Lance' or 'he's from *Nsync', he knew there was going to be a hassle.

"Martin," Lance said quietly, trying not to attract too much more attention. "I think I better go back to the car."

Martin looked at Lance in confusion. "Why?" He hadn't experienced a fan mob scene before but was about to get his first taste. Before Lance could answer, they both heard a number of teenage girls scream. Word had spread out into the mall that Lance was there and a stream of girls began running into the store. Lance looked quickly around for a way out. Martin simply stood there, stunned. The girls began running down the aisle towards the two men.



Chapter 4

Lance grabbed Martin's arm. "Martin, come on!" Lance urged desperately. He turned and began running away from the oncoming fans. Martin finally began to move realizing that this was a serious situation. He followed Lance down the aisle and along the back of the store, noticing Lance run into a back room marked 'Employees only'. He only debated whether to follow for a moment. When he glanced back and saw the first of about thirty girls rounding the corner, he quickly darted through the swinging door.

He found Lance talking quickly to a man in the room. The man led them through the stacked shelves to a delivery door. They slipped out, into the parking lot. Both men ran through the parking lot, towards Lance's car. Once inside, they locked the doors and sat back, trying to catch their breath.

Martin looked over at Lance. "Is that normal?" he asked in disbelief.

Lance grimaced and nodded. "I'm sorry Martin," Lance apologized. "I was so stupid to go in there without a disguise. God, what was I thinking," he sighed and leaned back against the car seat.

Martin touched Lance's arm. "James, don't apologize. You have every right to walk into a store and shop. It's too bad the fans get so crazy. It must be hard."

Lance met Martin's gaze. "You know, not many people would look at it that way. They see us as celebrities, and think we are fair game, any time we go out in public. It's been so long since I've just walked through a store or a mall, without changing my appearance or wearing a disguise."

Lance started up the car and drove out of the parking lot. Both men were quiet for a few minutes. "Do you have any plans for tonight Martin?" Lance asked, breaking the silence.

"Not really. I was just going to grab some dinner and probably watch TV. I'm forcing myself to take a complete day off, away from the restaurant, every week. If I don't, I'd be there all the time."

Lance laughed. "I know that feeling. It's like that with the group. Especially when we go on tour. I have to make the time to just get away from everything having to do with singing and *Nsync," he paused. "So would you be interested in renting some movies and ordering pizza. It sounds boring, but if we go out, I have to be Lance Bass. Staying in I can just be James."

Martin nodded. "Pizza and movies sound good. It's been a while since I've kicked back and just hung out."

Lance stopped at a video store and Martin volunteered to get the movies. They made their way back to Lance's apartment. While Lance was changing, the phone rang.

"Martin, could you get that?" Lance yelled from the bedroom.

"Uh, sure," Martin replied and picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Lance?"

"No. Lance can't come to the phone right now, can I take a message?"

"This is Chris. Who are you?" Chris asked bluntly, not used to hearing strange men answer Lance's phone.

"I'm Martin," he replied as Lance walked out of the bedroom.

"Oh!" Chris responded as Lance accepted the phone from Martin.

"It's someone named Chris," Martin said as he sat down on the couch.

"Hey Chris, what's up?" Lance asked as he sat down in the chair across from Martin.

"Is that who I think it is?" Chris asked Lance. Lance glanced at Martin who was looking at a magazine from the coffee table.

"Yep! So what's going on?"

"Well, I was calling to see if you wanted to go out tonight, but I can see you're otherwise occupied," Chris said slyly.

"Martin and I were just going to watch some movies and order pizza. You're welcome to join us," Lance invited, ignoring Chris' comments.

"Um, I don't know," Chris said.

"Oh come on Chris," Lance urged. "Who were ya going out with? Curly? Bring him too. Y'all can just kick back and relax."

Chris thought about it for a minute. "Are you sure James?" Chris asked. Lance knew he was serious when Chris called him James.

"Positive!"

"Okay, I'll talk to Just, but we'll probably be over in about an hour."

"See ya then," Lance said as he hung up the phone. He looked over at Martin. "Hope you don't mind that I invited a couple of friends to join us?" he said hesitantly.

Martin looked up and smiled. "Course not. I like to meet new people and I really haven't made any friends since I moved here, with the exception of you, of course," he added.

Lance blushed and grinned. "You consider me a friend?" he asked, secretly pleased.

Martin nodded and actually felt himself blush. "Um…yeah. Is that okay?"

"Yeah! It's been a while since I've made any new friends. I've gotten so used to it just being the guys and me, that sometimes I think I've forgotten how to meet new people." Lance got up and grabbed a list of numbers out of a drawer. "I think I'll order the pizza now. If they don't show up, I'll be eating leftovers for the next week," he added with a grin. Both men laughed.

Lance ordered the food and got some drinks for himself and Martin. They sat back and relaxed, talking about general things, the news, Lance's management company, and Martin's restaurant. Lance found himself very much at ease with Martin and talking about things in his life he rarely discussed. It was a strange feeling for Lance, but he liked it.

Before he knew it, the door buzzer went. He glanced at the video screen to find Chris and Justin standing at the door with three large pizzas. Lance buzzed them up. Before they could knock, Lance opened the door.

"Hey guys!" he greeted them, standing back to allow them in. Justin carried the pizzas directly to the kitchen table.

"Hi Lance," he said as he walked past. Chris followed him, but detoured to the living room. Lance quickly followed Chris.

Chris walked directly to Martin. "Hi, I'm Chris. You must be Martin," he said as an introduction. Martin stood up and shook the offered hand.

"Nice to meet you Chris. Sorry I didn't get a chance to meet you when you two stopped by the restaurant a few days ago," Martin said with a smile.

Chris wondered if Lance had told Martin about their visit or if the waitress had. Before he could ask, Justin popped his head out of the kitchen. "So are you guys eating or what?" he asked, holding a large slice of pizza in his hand. It was only then that he realized Lance had company.

Justin ducked back into the kitchen to put his pizza down and wipe his hands before walking out to join the others. "Sorry, no one told me Lance was going to have company," he said as he gave Chris a dirty look. "I'm Justin."

"Hi Justin, I'm Martin," Martin said as he shook hands. "Don't let me stop you from eating, by the way," he added with a grin. Justin blushed.

"Martin owns that restaurant that JC and I went to last week," Lance explained.

"Cool!"

"Just, why don't you come help me get some plates and serviettes for the pizza and we can just eat out here in front of the TV," Lance suggested. Justin followed him back to the kitchen.

Chris sat down in one of the chairs and looked at Martin. He could see why Lance would be interested. Martin was about six feet tall, lean, but not skinny, with sandy brown hair and gray eyes. Chris realized he was staring when those gray eyes suddenly turned to look at him.

"Uh, so Martin, what did you and Lance do today?" Chris asked casually, trying to figure the man out.

Martin leaned back against the couch. "James showed me around the city actually. Since I moved down here about a month ago, I haven't really had time to look around, see the sights." Chris was a little surprised to hear Martin call Lance 'James', but he hid it.

"And what did you think?" Chris asked as he moved his feet to let Justin walk past with the pizza boxes.

"Well," Martin began, "the entire city is one giant tourist trap. But, that's what brings in the money," he said with a shrug.

The others all grinned. "He catches on pretty quick," Lance commented.

The four men began passing around the boxes as each took slices of the pizza they wanted. They talked about nothing in particular, until Justin made a comment.

"So you have a ten year old daughter, huh?" he asked Martin.

Martin froze and he lost his smile. Chris elbowed Justin, but the mood had been ruined. Lance tried to fix things. "Um guys, Martin has some things he'd rather not talk about, and his family is one." Lance stood up and walked over to the TV. "Why don't we put on a movie?" he asked rhetorically, sliding one of the disks into the machine.

Martin hadn't moved, his mind going over the events of the past year. He needed to regroup after the unexpected question. "Excuse me for a minute, guys," he said quietly as he walked down to the bathroom.

As soon as they heard the door close, Lance slapped Justin in the head. "How could you be so tactless?" he asked angrily. "Way to ruin a nice evening."

Chris could see how upset Justin was and looked over at Lance. "Lansten," he said quietly, "How was Justin to know that family was an off limits topic? I'm sure he didn't intend to upset Martin."

**************
In the bathroom, Martin put his hands under some cold water and splashed it on his face. He looked at his image in the mirror. God, why did he react so badly? They don't know the crap he's gone through and they certainly weren't to blame. He thought he'd be dealing better with this by now, but obviously he was still upset. He pictured Kaylie in his mind and began to smile. She was the only thing that made all the other crap bearable. He splashed some more water on his face, then walked back out to the living room.

He found the three singers sitting quietly; no one was looking at the others or speaking. Martin sighed; this was his fault.

"Guys," he said quietly, making them all turn to look. He smiled slightly. "Sorry about that. Didn't mean to freak out on you Justin," he apologized as he sat down. "I've just been dealing with a lot of family problems lately and until today, there's been no one around to ask about it, so I haven't had to talk about it." He hoped they understood his explanation.

Justin smiled. "Don't worry about it…this time," Justin said. "But just for future reference, if you're gonna be friends with Scoop here, you'll have to get use to us. We usually say what's on our minds, but if you don't want to talk about it, just tell us to screw off."

Martin laughed and Chris saw Lance visibly relax. "Alright, Justin. I'll keep that in mind. So are we gonna watch a movie?" he asked as he grabbed his drink and took a swallow. The others nodded and Lance started up the movie. They all sat back and enjoyed the movie and the company.

It was a long action/comedy movie and by the time it was over Justin was curled up on the floor asleep. Chris was slouched down in the chair while Lance and Martin were both fighting sleep.

Martin forced himself to his feet. He looked over at Lance. "I think I better go," he whispered, not wanting to wake Justin. Lance moved to his feet and walked with Martin to the door and out into the hall.

"I hope you weren't too bored, Martin," Lance said shyly. "For me and often the other guys, just sitting at home slumming is the best thing. When we tour we're locked in a hotel room so often…I just …given the choice I'd rather just be James, than Lance …does that make sense?" Lance knew he was babbling. He was afraid Martin would find his life too crazy or strange and decide he didn't want to be friends.

Martin smiled and Lance was relieved. "James, I had fun today, and tonight. I pick people to be my friends for who they are inside, not what they do. After this afternoon, I'd rather just sit and watch movies with you than make you go out and be mobbed and ogled by fans."

"Thanks Martin, for understanding. I guess you're back to work tomorrow?"

"Yeah. I'll be there until about four or five. The advantages of being the boss, I don't have to work the evening shift," Martin said with a grin.

Lance nodded. He wanted to spend more time with Martin, but he didn't want to push. "Well, maybe I'll give you a call in a day or so. We could do something this weekend if you're free," he suggested hopefully.

Martin smiled. "Okay. Call me and I'll see what my schedule is like. I'm gonna go now before I fall asleep. Talk to ya later James." Martin turned and walked to the elevator. Lance waited until Martin stepped on and the doors closed before walking back into the apartment.

Chris was flipping through the channels on the TV and Justin was still sleeping. Chris had covered him with a blanket. Chris looked up as Lance walked back in. Lance cocked his head, indicating the kitchen. Chris got up and followed. They sat down at the kitchen table.

"So?" Lance asked, wanting Chris' opinion about Martin.

Chris didn't say anything. He looked at Lance, taking in the brightness in his eyes and the glow on his face. 'Wow, Lance has it bad,' he thought.

Chris sighed knowing he didn't have the answer Lance wanted. "Honestly Lance, I don't know," Chris said and Lance's smile faded. "I mean sometimes I thought I was picking up something, but then it would just…fizzle. Maybe it was because we weren't doing anything, just sitting around. He's hard to read, Lance, sorry."

It was Lance's turn to sigh. "That's okay Chris. Whether he's gay or not, I still want him as a friend, so I'll just let things happen as they're meant to." What choice did he have? Martin didn't have a problem with Lance being gay, but that might change if he knew Lance had a crush on him. Lance looked back at Chris. "You wanna crash here? Curly is already asleep, so you can have the couch."

Chris shrugged. "Guess so."

Lance got some blankets for Chris and said goodnight before walking back to his bedroom.


TBC...

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