Date: Mon, 06 Dec 1999 02:30:15 CST From: Jason Randall Subject: JC & Jas Part 19 Disclaimer: I am not assuming anything about the lives of anyone in this story. Many may wish things to be true, but who knows so don't be offended, just enjoy. If you're UNDER 18, stop reading this, and all that other legal stuff. This is my first attempt, and I know this story lacks sexual adventures, give it time, I want them to get to know each other first, okay? Lance walked inside the hotel and waved to the guys. They'd decided to go get dinner somewhere fancy but Lance wasn't up for it. As he walked to the elevator he thought about Justin. `Maybe J will want to go catch a pizza?' Lance got upstairs and went to Justin's room first. After knocking three times Justin still didn't answer. "Say J? Justin? C'mon, it's Lance. Are you in there?" Lance knocked on the door twice more and harder this time. Waking up to a weird noise, Justin couldn't figure out what it was. As he shook his head it dawned on him that it'd been the door. Getting up slowly he stumbled to the door, ran his fingers through his hair and opened it. "Oh gee, sorry J, didn't mean to wake you!" Lance was stuttering an apology as Justin's face lit up. "Oh hey, it's no big deal! Was just catching a short nap, needed to get up anyways! What's going on?" "Oh, well, I feel stupid now. I just wanted to know if you wanted to catch a pizza or something, but it's alright, I'll just get room service. . ." Lance started to turn around as Justin grabbed his arm. "No!" Lance turned around, shocked. "I mean I'd love some pizza, I'm starving. Give me a second to look presentable and we can go." "Oh, cool. I need to run into my room quick to change, too. Meet you at the elevator in 15?" "Sounds good. Can I drive?" "You even bother to ask this time?" Lance joked, laughing as he nodded. "Cool!" Justin turned around and shut the door as Lance headed to his own room. Inside Justin's room Justin started humming. `God I've been humming a lot lately!' He smiled and practically ran to his suitcase. After getting dressed in five minutes, he ran out into the hallway to wait for Lance, only to find out he'd gotten ready even faster. "Alright, where to?" "It's up to you man, you're driving." Lance said, tossing him the keys. "Crunk, let's roll." "Hmm, that's what I'm afraid of. But isn't it more of a `crash' then a `crunk' when you run into a tree?" "Shut up!" Justin said, laughing as he punched Lance on the arm. The two of them were just leaving the parking lot as Jason pulled in. "Hmm, wonder where Justin is?" JC said as he knocked on Justin's door for the eighth time. "Probably ran out with the guys. Sorry hun, you can talk later." "Yeah, I guess, let's grab some clothes." Heading over to his hotel room Jason followed shortly behind. Before they got there however, the elevator doors opened and Chris and Joey appeared. "Look Chris! It's alive!" Joey said, jumping up and down and pointing at JC while he tugged on Chris' shirt with the other arm. "Oh my God! You're right!" Laughing Jason and JC approached the two of them. "Alright, enough." JC said, laughing harder. "Hey guys, now that we finally found you, wanna catch some food with us? We had to come back to grab our wallets?" Chris asked, walking towards his door across the hall. "Um," JC started, looking at Jason curiously. "Of course we would, where we going?" Jason chimed in, smiling at JC as he smiled back. At the pizza parlor: "Anyways, I'm sorry I woke you up, J, but thanks for coming with." "Hey, like I said, I wanted to get out. I didn't even mean to fall asleep, actually. I'd called you, but you weren't in your room or answering your cell, thought we could've done something. Anyway, when I couldn't reach you I laid down and I must've just crashed." "Yeah, I was out playing football with Chris and Joey. They went out to someplace fancy, but I thought I'd see if you'd rather hit up casual food." Lance looked up from his pizza to watch Justin eating. `I'm so lucky to have Justin, what'd I ever do before now?. . .you laid around alone and miserable is what you did, waiting for JC to realize your undying love for him only to find out if you'd made a move you might've been somewhere. . .' Frowning, Lance took a drink of his soda, staring at Justin as he told a joke, but not realizing it. `But now you have Justin. . .and he knows you're gay but doesn't care. . .and he keeps coming to you to hang out, so that must mean he's not just being nice about it. . .but how could you ever think Justin would care? He's so kind, and innocent, with those big sad eyes, and wonderful smile. . .whoa, Lance, what's this?' "So I was like, `What's this for?' and then they said it and I laughed so hard!" Justin said, finishing his story and laughing. Looking at him once more, Lance broke out of his trance and started laughing, too, having no clue what the joke was about. `Why was Lance just staring at me?. . .Not that I mind it at all. . .ugh, this is driving me insane, can't he just see that we should be together?. . .maybe he's just nervous, and besides, he doesn't know I'm gay. . .but how can I tell him that?' "Well, what do you want to do?" "Um, I'm not sure," Justin mumbled, still thinking to himself. "Well, why don't we just go hang out at the hotel or something, I'm not really up for going out?" "Sounds good to me." Justin said, getting up to pay the check. As they sat down in Lance's room, Justin flipped on the television, trying to give himself time to think of how to start the subject. Lance was pretending to be interested in the TV, but really he kept throwing glances at Justin, all of which Justin saw. `God, why does he keep doing that, he's driving me insane?' `Ok, this idea of Mel's must really be racking on my brain. . .why do I keep thinking of Justin??. . .maybe because you're lonely, and he's such a great friend, and he's the only person that cares about you at all right now. . .no, I'm just glad to have a friend, I've never really been close to anyone before, I'm not going to jeopardize that, no matter what Melanie thinks. . .' Lance looked up to see Justin laughing at something, his eyes crinkling up in the corners and the hint of a dimple in his cheek. Lance felt a twitch in his pants. `Oh god. . .what's wrong with me? This is Justin, my friend, my ONLY good friend. . .' Glancing over at the look on Lance's face, Justin frowned. `Well, he doesn't want to watch this, may as well have a talk with him. . .' Justin shut the TV off, catching Lance's attention. "There's nothing really good on. . ." Justin said, unable to look at Lance. "Yeah, well there never really is on Saturdays." "Say, Scoop?" "Yeah?" "Can I ask you a question?" "Um, sure." `God, he saw you staring at him, you're so damn stupid Lance! You just made him nervous, and now you're going to lose the only friend you had!. . .' Looking at Justin's eyes, Lance put his head down, waiting to hear the bad news. "Um, well, you know, I was just wondering. . .what's it, um, well what's it like to be, um, gay?" `Gee, that wasn't completely incoherent. . .' Lance looked up in shock. "Um, well, what do you mean?" "Well, um, just like do you, like, um, well I don't know. Are you happy?" `What the hell kind of question is that? God, I need to think this through a bit more before I ask him anything else. . .' "Uh, well yeah, sure. Why do you ask?" "Oh, I was just wondering. I mean, do you have a boyfriend that no one knows about?" "No." Lance said, lowering his head and thinking of JC and Jason. "Oh, well, I'm sorry for asking, I don't mean to make you uncomfortable, I was just kind of curious is all." "No, it's alright Justin." "Oh, ok, well, don't you ever get lonely then? If you don't have a boyfriend that is?" `Could you be any more obvious?' "Well, sure, I mean, don't you get lonely when you don't have a girlfriend? But I have my friends, I have you guys, and I'm ok." `That's the biggest lie ever. . .or at least it was until Justin. . .' "Well, I've never really had a girlfriend." Justin mumbled to himself. "You haven't?" Lance asked, incredulous. "No, not really. I mean, I've gone out with a few girls, but there was never anything there, I mean, I just wasn't interested in them for anything more than friendship." Lance and Justin spent the rest of the night talking about things that neither of them had shared with anyone before. Justin found himself sharing things he'd never told JC about before, and each time he did, Lance supported him and was completely interested in the story, making Justin feel incredible. `I know we're supposed to be together now. . .we have to.' "Well Curly, I'm getting a bit sleepy. . ." "Yeah, I've been yawning for half an hour, better get to bed and get some sleep." Justin glanced at his watch, incredulous when he saw it was after 4:30am. "Alright, I'll see you tomorrow then, we should go play some more basketball or something?" Lance suggested, getting up and opening the door. "Yeah, that sounds great, call when you wake up!" Justin smiled and walked out the door. As soon as Lance shut the door he picked up his cell phone off the table. "Ok, I'm seriously going to hurt you on Tuesday." "Geez, good morning to you, too, sweetie." Melanie said, groaning when she looked at her clock. "What's wrong now?" "You! You and your stupid ideas with Justin! That's what's wrong!" "Oh no, did he reject you?" Melanie sat up, shocked that she'd read her impressions wrong. "No. No. But he doesn't like me." "How do you know that?" "Well, I don't KNOW it, but I do know it. All I really know is because of you I keep having these thoughts about Justin now!" "Ha! I told you, you like him!" "I do NOT like him. God Mel, it's all the power of suggestion, and you've got these thoughts completely stacked in my brain." "Geez, Lance, get over it! Can't you see for a change that I'm right!?" "Mel, I am not in love with Justin. I love JC, you know that!" "But you can't have him, and Justin likes you, and you know you like him, whether I told you to or not." Melanie said, yawning. "Ugh, look I'm sorry I woke you up, I'm just confused right now." "It's alright, hun, but I am going back to sleep now, and let it go, okay? If you do like him, it'll all happen in time, and if you don't, then you obviously have nothing to worry about." Lance sighed. "Ok, hun, look I'm sorry. Good night!" "Back at ya!" Melanie said, hanging up the phone. Lance crawled into bed, pulling the covers up over him. `I couldn't like Justin, I'm in love with JC. . .it is just Mel's words, but that's not her fault, she's just trying to help. . .' Lance started to close his eyes and drift to sleep. Just before he slipped into sleep, an image of Justin flashed in his mind, but before he could worry about it, he fell asleep. In Justin's room: "Ugh, who could be calling at this hour?" Justin mumbled to himself as he squinted at the clock. It was 1:30pm and the sun was shining bright in his eyes. "Ghh-ello?" "Justin?" "Yeah, what's up JC?" "Nothing, I just called to see if you wanted to talk now. Were you still sleeping?" "Yeah. . .can we talk later?" "Um, sure. . .J? Are you feeling alright? It's almost 2pm?" "Yeah, I'm fine." Justin closed his eyes and held his blanket up to block the sun. "Lance and I didn't go to bed last night til after 4:30am. Kind of sleepy. Talk to you later man." And with that Justin hung up on him, rolled over and went back to sleep. "Geez." JC said to Jason who was watching him. "Huh?" "He was still sleeping. Guess whatever it was wasn't that bad, he and Lance were out til almost 5am last night. Justin must've just been exaggerating his emotions yesterday, he really did sound like it was important." "Apparently it wasn't." In Lance's room: Lance awoke to a bright light shining in his eyes. Groaning, he rolled over and saw that it was after 3pm. `God, JC would be so proud, I've never slept in this late. . .' Rolling out of bed, he went to the bathroom, then sat on his couch and grabbed the phone. "Hello?" "Hi, sorry about last night. . ." "It's ok sweetie, I told you, go ahead and call anytime. So how's Justin this afternoon?" "Enough. Besides, I wouldn't know, I just woke up." "Well, after being with him until almost five this morning, that doesn't shock me." "How'd you know he was with me until five?" "I didn't, I just assumed." Melanie said, smiling. "Alright, quit grinning." Lance said, starting to smile himself. "Look hun, I'm not trying to rub something in just because I'm right here. I'm trying to let you realize that a pretty great guy just so happens to like you." "But Mel-" "Don't `But Mel' me. . .Look, Justin's best friend, before you that is, was JC, right?" "Yeah, so?" "Well, JC turns out to be gay. Big surprise, but you didn't realize it because you wanted it too bad to think it could be true." "Ok, so I still don't get your point?" "Well, do you seriously think Justin didn't know about JC's being gay?" "Well he's never said anything. . ." Lance immediately knew how lame that sounded. "Because it was a secret," both of them said at the same time. "Exactly," Melanie continued. "So Justin probably did know, considering they were so damn close and inseparable, right? And if Justin knew he was gay at a younger age, then he probably questioned his own sexuality at a time. Has Justin had many girlfriends?" Lance thought of their conversation from the previous night. "Justin's never had a serious relationship with a girl." He said, starting to think about the past two weeks. "Ok, so now we've established with all that that it really is quite possible for Justin to be gay, wouldn't you agree?" "Yeah, but it's quite possible for him to still be straight, too, you know?" "Hun, stay with me here. So now he may be gay, and you tell him that you are. All of a sudden he's by your side every waking minute of the day, right?" "Well, part of that's on me, I mean, I've been tagging onto him a lot." "But he's agreed to it all, with much enthusiasm." "Yeah, I suppose. But that's just because he hates to be bored, and JC's been busy with Jason for the last two weeks." Lance was amazed at how he could say that whole sentence without even choking up. Melanie caught this, too, and smiled. `You're falling for him whether you want to admit it to yourself or not!' "Only a side note, he could've been hanging around with either of the other two guys, you said yourself that they've been dying to hang out with the three of you, but you're all too busy. So, aside from this, in the last two weeks, has he become a bit more touchy-feely?" "Excuse me?" "Has he been more hands-on? Pushing you when you say something funny, bumping into you, typical flirting type things?" "Yeah, but I've done it, too." Lance caught himself. "Not trying to flirt with him, just joking around, is all." "Ok, well you're going to continue to deny all of these things I'm telling you, so I'm just not going to bother anymore." "Good, it's about time!" Lance said, smiling. "Seriously though. Lance, I know this kid, excuse me, Justin, I know he likes you. Whether or not he's gay, whether or not he's madly in love, he's got feelings for you. If he is gay, he may not know it, so be careful, but if he didn't know it, or was straight, these feelings would be confusing the hell out of him, and he wouldn't go near you, you know that as well as I do." Lance thought about it for a minute. "You're right. Before I knew I was gay, I thought it was wrong, and I did everything in my power to get ideas about other guys out of my head." Lance shook his head. "Lance, I-" "Look Mel, I know you're only trying to be a friend. I need to let you go right now though. I need to, well think about some stuff, ok?" Melanie smiled. "Of course, call me later?" "Definitely." "Alright bye!" "Bye!" Lance hung up the phone and laid his head on the back of the sofa, remembering back to when he'd almost kissed Justin a few nights before. As he thought about it, his mind shifted to when he told Justin about him being gay the first time, and to Justin's soft kiss. Again his thoughts shifted, remembering all of the times in the two weeks Justin had stayed and held him through the night while he cried in his sleep. Before his thoughts could drift farther, he was disturbed by knocking at his door. Shaking his head, he got up and opened the door, running a hand through his messy hair. Justin stood on the other side, smiling as he saw Lance in only his flannel pants and messy hair. "Morning sleepy-head." Justin said, grinning. Lance blushed when he saw Justin, feeling the kiss on his lips. `Whoa, think about this, this is Justin. . .' "It's afternoon," Lance said, grinning back and opening the door further to let Justin in. "And I've been up for about 20 minutes, thank you very much." "Oh? I've only been up about five minutes, I just wanted to give you a hard time." Justin laughed. "I guess some of us just naturally look better when we crawl out of bed." Justin laughed harder, nodding at Lance's messy hair. `Damn he looks sexy. . .' Lance blushed again and went into the bathroom to find a comb. Walking back out while styling his hair, he stuck his tongue out at Justin. "Ha! It takes you longer than a woman to get ready on tour! You must've been up for at least an hour to look that good!" Lance stopped, realizing what he just said. Trying not to blush he stumbled over his words, "I mean, you look as though you're ready to go out somewhere. Got a hot date tonight?" Justin was excited by Lance's remark. `Well, the first step is making him think I look good. . .' "Nope, we're supposed to go do something, remember?" "Yeah, I just woke up though, so you're going to have to give me some time." Lance said, smiling. "Like you said, some of us just aren't naturally ready to go." "Oh, I understand, by all means then, get ready." Justin smiled. "Well, what are we doing?" "Um, I dunno?" "Well, you look like you're ready to go out," Lance said, looking at Justin in his khakis and a long sleeved baby blue shirt. "So why don't we go dancing again?" "Whoa Lance. Twice in less than a week you WANT to dance? Where's the calendar? Mark this week down!" Justin was laughing. "Oh enough, don't you want to dance?" Justin thought about the last time they'd gone out, and how they'd spent the entire night dancing together. `Well, kind of together. . .' "Of course I do, I just want to give you a hard time. . .GO get ready!" "Ok, ok, geez!" Lance laughed, heading into the bathroom with some clothes. *** In Jason's apartment: "So what do you want to do today? It IS our last full day together?" Jason said, frowning as he looked at the calendar next to his bed. `Why do all of these things have to keep reminding me it's Monday?' "Could we go back to our zoo?" JC said, rubbing Jason's back lightly with his hand as Jason laid on his stomach with his head resting on JC's chest. "I'd love to," Jason said, looking into JC's eyes. "Great!" JC gave him a kiss on the nose. "Let's pack a picnic!" "Sounds perfect." Jason leaned up and gave him a kiss. In Justin's room: `Geez, if this is JC I'm going to kill him!' Justin rolled over face down into the pillow, reaching blindly for the ringing phone. "What?!" He yelled into it, hoping to give JC the hint. "Um, it's me Justin. Lance." "Oh god, sorry Lance." Justin mumbled, sitting up quickly onto his knees. "You told me to call when I woke up, is all-" Lance was saying as he tried to apologize for waking him. "No, no it's ok. I didn't know it was you. Thought it was JC. I mean, he called yesterday and woke me up, that's why I was up before you yesterday, remember? Well, I just assumed it was him again. . .what time is it?" "It's 12:30pm. I figured since we got in around 2 last night it wasn't too early to call, I'm sorry." "No, it's cool Scoop, I'm awake now." "Oh, well, what do you want to do today?" Justin looked around the room, then noticed it was darker than usual. "Well, it's kind of icky out again today, huh?" "Yeah, it's been raining off and on since I woke up." "Hmm. We could go to the pool again? And maybe check out that weight room they have? I feel so out of shape, we haven't had to go to rehearsals in so long!" "Yeah, I know exactly what you mean! Let me change into my suit and grab my work out clothes, I'll be over to your room in like 15 minutes?" "Sounds good, that gives me time to find my work out clothes!" Justin said, laughing as he looked around at the shambles his room was in. Lance laughed as well. "Well, when we're done we can pack together, then maybe just rent some movies? We have to get up early tomorrow, don't really feel like going out?" "Sounds great Scoop, see ya in fifteen." Justin hung up the phone, getting ready. `Well, another little step, he just assumed the two of us would hang out together all day and all night. . .soon enough he'll have to realize he should be with me. . .' In Joey's room: "Hey Joe, what was up with that crack about JC to Justin the other day? The kid probably doesn't realize what's going on?" "Well, it's not like it's not obvious. You mean to tell me you don't think Justin knows JC is gay? He's his best friend?" "Well, I don't think JC's the type to say anything. If he was he would've told us all." "I dunno about that man. But speaking of, have you noticed Lance and Justin lately? I mean, I know we've always had our suspicions of Lance-" Joey cut him off, "but it looks like Justin has a little crush on him or something lately. Yeah I noticed that. Especially the way he attacked us the other day for mentioning that chick. She was the only reason I thought Lance might still be straight, but like Lance said `they're not sleeping together' so I gave that up a while ago." "Yeah, me too. It's still fun to make Lance turn eight shades of red by calling her his girlfriend, though!" "Oh yeah, I don't plan on giving that one up for quite some time. And have you heard the latest?" "What's that?" "They're sharing a room. . ." "Oh how sweet!" Chris said with an evil laugh. "This is going to be too much fun!" *** Tuesday morning bright and early all six guys were at the airport. JC and Jason had said their goodbyes, tears and all, back at Jason's apartment, but both were still upset to be leaving the other. As they waited for their plane to board, they stood side by side, almost touching, at the window. Lance and Justin were leaning against each other, half asleep, as they sat in the uncomfortable chairs. It was strange to see Lance so tired, even when it was that early, but he and Justin had been watching movies late into the night before, after packing, so both were exhausted. When the plane finally came, though, they were both the first ones to board, wanting to get into the more comfortable seats. "Bye Jason, great meeting you! Keep in touch, alright?" Justin yelled before he got on. "J, I'm coming down to Missouri tomorrow, remember?" "Oh yeah, sorry, I'm sleepy." And with that Justin boarded. "Yeah man, was great meeting you, and I know we'll see ya in Missouri, but bye for now!" Lance said, following close behind Justin. They both sat side by side, and within seconds were leaning on each other once more, fast asleep. Chris and Joey boarded and looked at each other. Chris winked and whispered to Joey, "Well, I'm not one to brag." "Yeah, we definitely called this one, if they're not together yet, they will be." Joey whispered back, leaning across both of them to buckle them in. Neither one had had the strength to do even that much. Back in the terminal: JC looked at Jason. "I'll miss you. It's only going to be 24 hours but they'll be the longest in my life." "Oh, you're sweet. I love you hun, I'll miss you, too! Just keep thinking that in less than 24 hours I'll be on my own plane heading down to be with you again!" "But only for 2 days." JC whined. "Maybe. But still, we'll make the most of it. Don't worry, I love you." "I love you, too." Glancing around, JC realized no one was in that part of the airport that early, so he leaned in and gave Jason a quick kiss. "See you tomorrow." "Yep, bye my love." JC got on the plane, waving before he was out of sight. Taking a seat on Justin's other side, he got comfortable and leaned his head against the cool window. `God I miss him already. . .' *** Lance opened the door to his room and Melanie was immediately on him, giving him a big hug. "Hi Hun!" Laughing Lance dropped his bags where he stood to return the hug. "Hey sweetie, I've missed ya tons!" "I just talked to you last night silly!" "Oh you know what I meant!" "I know, I just love to make you upset." Laughing Lance swung her around. "You look great sweetie, absolutely beautiful." "Thanks hun, you're looking sexy yourself. If you weren't gay I'd ravage you right here." Lance laughed and walked toward the bed, sitting down on it. "Jet lag?" "That and the fact that Justin and I only got like 2 hours of sleep this morning." "Oh, Justin and you?" "Don't even start with that Mel!" Lance said, smiling, but also blushing slightly. "You and your goofy ideas." "Well, here's another goofy plan, I'm going to go say hi to the other guys, if they remember me, and you're going to sleep." Before Lance could reply Melanie laid him down and within seconds he was asleep. `You'll be with Justin soon, I know you will.' Melanie spent the afternoon hanging out with Chris, Joey and JC who'd been nice enough to invite her along with them. Justin was sleeping back at the hotel, too. The whole trip JC seemed kind of out of it, but Melanie just assumed it was to do with the guy he'd hooked up with in Minnesota. After they'd hung out, they went back to the hotel to get the two sleeping boys, and headed to the arena. Melanie was the envy of every girl in the place, being able to walk in from the limo with the guys, then head backstage with them. During the concert she sat on the side of the stage in a chair, and during the show the guys kept coming over to her to say hi, or would wave from the stage during a song, especially Lance. Justin saw him waving once, and looked closely at the smile on Lance's face. `God, maybe he is dating her? He can't be though. . .he just can't be. . .wouldn't he have said he was bi?' Justin almost missed his intro, he was so caught up in his own thoughts. Luckily JC had ran past him and the movement has caught his attention. Justin watched as JC ran around doing flips and seeming overly hyper than usual. `Well, you would be too, if you knew you only had a few more hours to wait til you could be with your boyfriend again. You don't have one, so you can't feel that happy.' Justin sighed and finished the rest of the concert in a daze. As the guys ran off the stage, Lance was ecstatic. Melanie was waiting in the dressing room for them, and as he came in she gave Lance a big hug. "Great show guys! Lance you were perfect, hun!" Chris winked at Joey. "Yeah Lance, sweetie, you were the best!" He yelled in a high pitch voice, smiling at Melanie. "Oh shut up!" Lance and Melanie yelled at the same time, still hugging. After they'd all showered and changed, they piled into the limo to head back to the hotel. JC looked exhausted, and on the way back he fell asleep on the seat. Laughing, Joey and Chris started to put peanuts in his hair, and had just found a can of whipped cream in the mini fridge when they hit a bump and JC woke up. Seeing Chris aiming whipped cream at him, he immediately knew he'd already been hit. Laughing, he started pulling the peanuts from his hair, and Justin, Joey and Chris burst out laughing. Completely oblivious to the whole scene, Melanie and Lance were talking away in the corner of the limo, until Chris shouted at them. "Hey lovebirds, I know you've missed each other but wait til you get to your room, will ya?" They had just pulled up to the hotel. "Oh shut up, Chris." Lance said, laughing. "Oh you think you can all try and fool us, but we know you two are SHARING a room!" Chris threw out, making Joey laugh harder and join in. Nobody noticed the look of pain that had just crossed Justin's face. "Geez, man, that's cuz there's no room. We are not dating!" Melanie was laughing now, too. "Yeah, how could you ever put me with this loser Chris?" "Sure thing Mel, I know you're feeding me a line. Just try and keep it down, my room's right across the hall from yours, I don't want to hear the two of you tonight!" He said as they got out and walked into the elevator. "For the last time man, we're-" "Not dating!" Joey finished for Lance, laughing. "Sure thing man, I know a couple when I see one, and you two are definitely a couple." Lance was blushing slightly now, from complete embarrassment, but Justin took it as a sign that he was getting angry about being asked all of these questions. "Hey guys, leave Lance alone!" Justin said, speaking up for the first time since they'd left the arena. Melanie looked over at Justin, smiling to herself. `God, the poor kid.' She glanced at Lance, who was watching Justin with a strange look on his face. "Not a chance Curly, these two lovebirds aren't gonna be left alone til they admit they're doing the nasty!" It was Joey this time, and Chris laughed harder than before at his comment. `One more comment and I'm going to flip out.' Justin couldn't stand to hear anything else about this, so he started walking to his room which was right in front of where they were standing. "Alright now, admit it and we'll let you go!" Chris laughed, and JC was starting to find humor in the situation, but was only slightly smiling. Laughing, Lance started in again. "We are NOT dating. Geez, guys, get a life so you have something to talk about besides other people!" "Ah ha, so you admit you and Melanie have something for us to be talking about!" Joey chimed in. Completely annoyed, Justin turned around. "Geez Joey, they're NOT dating, can't you just give it up!!!" "Whoa settle down man. Just having a little fun. Besides, how would you know?" Chris said, starting in again, not realizing how serious Justin was. "I think they're just a little shy. . .it's ok guys, you can tell us, we're family. . ." Lance and Melanie started laughing and walking away, and as Lance was about to yell over his shoulder one last thing, he heard the words coming out of Justin's mouth and froze. "God Chris, Lance and Melanie aren't together because Lance is gay! Now just drop it!" To Be Continued. Send all comments to---nah, I couldn't do this to you guys, I have to write more: Chris had been about to say something, but now his mouth was frozen open. As Justin realized what he'd just said he turned around to face Lance, and reached out his arm. "Lance, oh Lance, oh my god, I didn't mean-" before he could say another word Lance had run down the hall to his room and had gone in. JC stood completely still with a stricken look on his face. `God, Lance's gay!? What if Justin tells them I'm gay, too?' Shooting Justin a look of death, he walked quickly to his own room and shut the door. Chris and Joey were still in shock, but Melanie had already run after Lance, and Justin, tears streaming down his face, was in close pursuit. As Chris and Joey looked at each other, both just shook their heads. "Lance? Lance? God Lance, I didn't mean to? I'm so sorry. SO damn sorry? Lance, please? Talk to me?" Justin could hear Lance's sobs from the other side of the door and tears poured down Justin's face even harder. Letting out a small noise, he turned and fled down the hall, past Joey and Chris and into his own room, as Melanie quietly let herself into hers and Lance's room. Lance was face down on the bed, crying. "Lance? Lance? It's me, c'mon sweetie, sit up for a second." She was rubbing his back and Lance just lay there, shaking. "Lance, Justin didn't mean it. . ." Lance sat straight up. "How could he do this to me Mel? I TRUSTED him, I told him my secret, and then he goes and fucks it up and tells everyone! They're all going to hate me now, and kick me out. I can't believe he did this to me!" Lance said with a sob. In the hallway: "Well," Chris said casually, "apparently they haven't hooked up yet. But at least we were right, they're definitely in love. Wonder what JC's problem is? You'd think considering this situation sort of revolves around Justin and Lance he wouldn't have left in such a huff?" Joey just looked at Chris incredulously. Shaking his head, he turned down the hall. "Well, Mel's got Lance, I'll take JC, you take Justin. Can't have them all think we hate them because of this." Chris nodded and knocked on Justin's door. "J? It's Chris. C'mon, open up, let me in." Chris could hear Justin crying loudly just on the other side of the door and decided to take a chance. "Justin? C'mon, I'm not mad. I know you're gay, I still love you. So does Joey. Now open up, please?" Chris heard Justin stop sobbing for a moment, and after a second, a tentative voice called from the other side of the door. "You don't hate me?" "No J, I could never hate you, none of us could. Now please open up? Let me in. . ." The door slowly opened and Chris walked in. "Alright J," Chris said, grabbing Justin around the waist and guiding him to the bed, "now settle down. No one hates you." "Lance does, God, Lance is never going to want to speak to me again!" The thought of that made Justin start shaking, and he leaned against Chris, holding onto him tight. "Shh. Lance will speak to you again, you just need to tell him the truth." "Huh?" Justin asked, confused. "Tell him you love him J, it's the only way. Tell him your feelings, and he'll understand why you did it." "How? How did you know?" "I knew. Joey and I both knew. But you guys will never be ok if you can't tell him. Now Mel's had a few minutes with him, he should be past the initial shock of it. Go apologize again, and tell him you love him." "Do you really think it will work?" "It's your best chance right now. And I know Lance, he's so kind, and I think the feelings are mutual, so just go tell him." Chris said with a bit more confidence than he felt. `God for once let my instincts be right. If Lance doesn't feel anything for Justin we're going to have a big problem on our hands.' In Lance's room: "James Lansten Bass!" Melanie shouted at him, flushed with anger. "How dare you say such a thing?" "Wha-What?" Lance said, shocked by Melanie's outburst. "What? I mean how dare you say something so stupid as what you just did? You know Justin didn't mean to let your secret out?" "Oh god, Mel, I know, but everyone's going to hate me now. Chris and Joey and-" "Lance! Justin didn't say this on purpose! You know that! And Chris and Joey don't hate you!" "They don't?" "No, they told me so themselves." `God, they better not hate him or I just screwed up big time and I'll have to kill them both. . .' Melanie sighed to herself. "But. . .oh god, I know Justin didn't mean it Mel, I mean, he was just sticking up for me, and I. . ." "Shh." Melanie said, putting her finger to Lance's lips. "I know hun, but you need to go forgive Justin, before he gets himself too depressed over this. He thinks he's lost your friendship." "God, he'd never lose my friendship! He's meant everything and more to me in the past few weeks, I mean," Lance paused and shook his head, remembering. As he closed his eyes he felt Justin's soft lips on his own and his arms around him, holding him tight while he cried. Sitting up, Lance spoke softly, "Melanie, I think I'm falling-" he was cut off by loud knocking at his door. Getting up to answer the door, he had just put his hand on the door handle when he heard Justin's voice. "Lance? Lance, I know you're in there, and I know I don't deserve you, Lance. God, I'm so sorry, so damn sorry you'll never know how sorry I feel. I should never have said such a thing! I don't know why I," he paused, then continued strongly, "NO! I do know why. Lance, I'm sorry, and it may not be much of an excuse, but Lance. . .I love you, and, I mean I think a part of me always has, but those two weeks in Minnesota, when you told me you were gay and I kissed you. It was all me trying to come to terms with it, you see Lance I'm gay, too. I didn't know it, I never realized it, but I love you, and I couldn't bare the thought of you and Melanie together. It was driving me crazy all night long, seeing the two of you together, arms around each other, and when the guys kept teasing you, I just. . .I know it's no excuse, but Lance, please forgive me for this, I need you. Even if it's just as friends. I know you don't have feelings for me, but please Lance, be my friend, forgive me?" Justin had tears streaming down his face and one hand held against the door. As Lance stood there, listening, he felt his own eyes brimming over with tears as he held onto the door handle. He stood there for a moment, sinking in all of Justin's words. As he did, he remembered what he was just about to tell Melanie and he lifted his head up. Lance threw the door open and saw Justin's back walking away from the door. Justin turned around the second he heard the door, and with tears in his eyes and streaming down his face glanced at Lance. "Lance I-" Before Justin could get his words out Lance walked up to him, threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. Wrapping his arms around Lance's back, Justin returned the kiss, tears flowing down his face faster than before, but now mixing with Lance's tears as well. Both could taste the salty drops but didn't part. They stood together for a long time, wrapped in each others arms and kissing passionately. Melanie had walked to the door when she couldn't hear anything, and when she saw them, she smiled and walked back into the room. Chris, coming to the door to see where Justin had gone, glimpsed them there and smiled, nodding his head slightly and slipping out of Justin's room. After some time, Justin finally pulled himself away from Lance's tight grip, grabbed his hand and led him towards his room. Lance followed without question and shut the door behind himself. To Be Continued. Send all comments to jas_stories@hotmail.com. Well. . .I received a lot of letters saying I shouldn't do it, but there was too much chemistry there, I had to. I hope you all enjoyed this installment, please let me know what you thought, I'll be looking forward to your opinions. Til next time. . .