Date: Tue, 06 Aug 2002 16:40:17 -0400
From: Writer Boy <writerboy69@hotmail.com>
Subject: jc's hitchhiker - part 113

Obligatory warnings and disclaimers:

1) If reading this is in any way illegal where you are or at your age, or
you don't want to read about male/male relationships, go away. You
shouldn't be here.

2) I don't know any of the celebrities in this story, and this story in no
way is meant to imply anything about their sexualities, personalities, or
anything else.  This is a work of pure fiction.

Questions and commentary can be sent to "writerboy69@hotmail.com". I enjoy
constructive criticism, praise, and rational discussion. I do not enjoy
flames, and will not tolerate them.

That said, on with Season 7.

***Jack***

Josh was flipping through his mail, reading fan letters, and I was leaning
back against him on the same couch, doing the same thing. He was sitting up
straight, and I was kind of laying down, my feet up on the couch arm and my
head in Josh's lap. Every once in a while one of us would read something
cute to the other, or his hand would drift into my hair while he was
reading, running over the top of my head, idly caressing.  I would reach up
and grab it, holding it to my chest for a few seconds and squeezing it,
just to let him know I was there and that I loved him, and then we'd both
drift back into the letters again.

"This is why I miss you," he sighed, stuffing the letter he was reading
back into the envelope and reaching for another one. There were letters
just for him, which he read, a much smaller pile that was just for me and
which only I read, and a pile for both of us, which we both read. "Just
being close to you like this, that's what I miss when you're gone."

"I thought what we did in bed earlier was why you missed me," I said,
smiling up at him.  "You know, my hot mouth and my tight ass."

"Jerkoff," Josh said, grinning down at me. He ruffled my hair again, and I
nuzzled my head against his palm. "You're more than just my favorite piece
of ass."

"I know," I said, giggling. I sighed. "This is what I miss, too. Just being
close to you."

We both sighed, staring into each other's eyes.

"Josh, do you think we're mushy and pathetic?" I asked. One of his eyebrows
cocked inquisitively, and I wanted to lean up and kiss it. "I mean, all the
time one of us is always telling the other that we love him. Do you think
we're turning sappy?"

"I don't know if it's sappy, or what, but I do love you," he said, still
stroking my head.  "Sometimes it just feels like I love you so much that
it's building up inside me, and I have to tell you, or I might
explode. Besides, it just feels natural to me.  If you love someone, you
make sure they know."

"I do know, Josh," I said. "Even when you don't say it."

"I know," he said, smiling at me. Unable to reach his face I turned my head
and kissed his hand, my mouth brushing against his soft palm. He ran his
fingers over my lips, lightly, and I kissed them, too, before sucking his
index finger into my mouth for a second. He grinned, pulling his hand away,
and brought it to his own mouth, kissing his fingers. "Mmmmm. Your mouth is
fingerlicking good."

I groaned at the bad joke, smiling, and sat up, remembering that I had a
present for him. It wasn't anything big, but I always wanted him to know I
was thinking about him. I walked into the bedroom, going back into my
suitcase for it, and brought back a small, wrapped package for him.

"Jack," he began. I kissed him, pressing the box into his hand.

"Thanks for the flowers, and the candy," I said, grinning. "And for the
wedding, and the honeymoon, and that t-shirt you wear during 'Gone', and
for coming back to me every single time I run away from you. I love you."

"I love you, too," he said, hugging me against him.

As we settled back into the couch, Josh began to carefully undo the tape,
and I rolled my eyes. He never just tore the paper off of anything, because
it just wasn't his nature.  Instead he carefully undid the ribbon, and
tape, and whatever else was holding it together, and set the paper aside,
neatly folded, as if we might use it again. When he wasn't looking I
usually picked up the paper, crumpled it into a little ball, and threw it
away.  When he got down to the little ring box he opened it, and sucked in
an appreciative breath.

"Jack, this is nice," he said, marveling at the ring I'd bought him. It was
a silver sculpted lion's head, mouth open in a roar, tiny chips glittering
in the eyes. It was a little over the top, but that meant it was perfect
for Josh.

"I was in this little antique store, and saw it in the case and thought of
you," I said. "You know, because of the lion and all. I know it's kind of
odd, but I figured if you wanted to go bling-blinging somewhere you could
throw it on."

"Bling-blinging?" Josh asked, eyebrows raised as his lips curled into a
grin. "I see you've been talking to Justin again."

"Mad props and a shout out to my peep, Timberlake," I said, well aware of
how absurd it sounded coming from my mouth. Josh leaned over and kissed
me. "Try it on. I think it'll fit your middle finger."

"You know how big my middle finger is?" he asked, taking the ring out of
the box and sliding it onto his right hand. Sure enough, it fit.

"I'm intimately familiar with every inch of your anatomy," I said,
grinning, as he leaned over to kiss me again. He pressed me back into the
couch with his lips and body, and we began to slide down into the cushions,
the box tumbling to the floor.

"Are you really?" he purred, burying his mouth under my chin. His mouth
crawled up and down the side, sucking at the cords.

"I've had lots of time to get to know it," I said, running my hands down
his back. I slid them under his shirt, feeling the warm, silky skin of his
back as I relaxed under the firm weight of his body.

Someone knocked at the door.

"Let's not answer that," Josh whispered, tugging the neck of my shirt down
so that he could worry over my collarbone with his mouth.

"It's Chad," I sighed. "Or Lance with Junior. Either way, we have to get
the door."

"You're right," he sighed, leaning up above me, holding himself up on his
strong arms.  His hair was a little tousled, hanging down over his
forehead, and his sparkling blue eyes crackled with warmth. His face was a
little flushed, and his bottom lip glistened with spit.  "I love you."

"Whichever one of them it is," I began, grinning beneath him as I rotated
my pelvis up toward his, grinding my crotch against him, "let's get rid of
them quick."

"Sounds like a plan," he said, climbing off of the couch. He took my hands,
pulling me to my feet, and I kissed him again as we stood face to face,
pecking him quickly on the lips.  I started to pull away, but he slid his
hands around to my back, pressing me against him again, and smashed his
mouth down onto mine, attacking me with such passionate fervor that I
worried for a second he'd start biting pieces off. It would be a great way
to die.  There was knocking at the door again, and Josh pulled away,
sighing. "Shit."

"Let's keep this short," I said, sliding out of his arms. As I walked to
the door I saw Josh bending over to pick up the ring box, and smiled. As he
set it neatly on the coffeetable I pulled the door open, and found Chad,
looking a little tentative in his tight jeans and even tighter top,
carefully gelled spikes and gold hoops glistening under the lights in the
hallway. I smothered my growl, wondering why he always had to look like he
was about to go on a photoshoot for Twink magazine, and held the door open
for him.  "Good morning, Chad."

"Hi," he said quietly, looking past me. He saw Josh, standing behind the
couch, and smiled. "Good morning, JC."

I wanted to kick him.

"Good morning," Josh said, putting his hand on my shoulder as I walked
past.  I kept going, looking for my bag, and he ran his hand down my arm to
my hand, squeezing it tightly as my fingers slid out of his. I hoped Chad
was watching, even if it was really immature of both of us.

"I have some stuff here that I wanted you to look up for me," I said,
carrying one of my folders over to Chad. "I'm supposed to be in Atlanta
next week, and I wanted you to look up current challenges to Georgia's
sodomy laws, in case there are any questions on them."

"OK," Chad said, nodding, apparently glad not to be fired. He held out a
bag. "I have fan mail for you guys, too, and there's a magazine that wants
to do a profile piece on you, Jack. I wrote it all down and went and
grabbed a couple issues, so you could see what kind of stuff they do."

"Thanks," I said, taking it from him. Behind me, Josh was fiddling with
some flowers on a side table, waiting. "Chad, I, um, I'm sorry I snapped at
you last night.  I shouldn't have talked to you when I was pissed, and I
shouldn't have done it in front of Andrew."

"It's ok," Chad said quickly. "I know you were mad, and I screwed up. It
won't happen again."

"No, I mean it, Chad," I said, wanting to bite my own tongue off and
swallow it. Josh came up behind me, resting his hands on my
shoulders. "There's a right way to handle that, and a wrong way, and I'm
sorry I picked the wrong one and made you feel bad."

"It's ok, really, but, um, thanks for the apology," Chad said, fidgeting
uncomfortably. "I mean, I did screw up your flight stuff, again, but it
won't happen anymore, I swear. You won't be sorry you gave me another
chance, I promise."

"Chad, it's ok," Josh said. "It's just, you know, we've talked about how
stressful this all is, and when you make a mistake like that, it makes it
harder for all of us.  That's why Jack got so upset, and really, it upsets
me, too. We just want you to be a little more careful, and a little more on
top of that stuff, ok?"

I felt my hackles rising. The two of them had talked about how stressful
the tour was?  When? What else did they talk about? Josh could talk to me,
or Chris, or Joey, or Justin, or Lance, or his mom if he needed someone to
talk to. He didn't need to spend any more time taking Chad out to lunch and
talking to him. Josh, as if sensing what I was thinking, leaned in and
kissed me on the cheek before taking the mailbag from my hands and walking
over to the couch.

"I will, JC," Chad called, not realizing he'd just been dismissed. "I'll
stay on top of that, I promise."

"OK then," I said quickly. "I guess I'll touch base with you tomorrow,
then, on that stuff, and I'll let you know about the profile interview
thing."

"Sure," he said, nodding.

"Bye, Chad," I said, looking from him to the door. I kept my voice
pleasant, but wondered again how he could be so dense. Maybe it was because
he was staring at my husband, and it fried his brain.

"Oh, right," he said, blinking, as he smiled. "Bye Jack. Bye JC!"

"Bye, Chad," Josh said, still flipping through the pile.

I closed the door behind him and leaned against it, counting to ten.

"Was that so bad?" Josh asked, smiling at me.

"No," I lied. I ran a hand lazily up and down my chest. "You know, maybe
you should put the mail down, and we could get back to, you know, what we
were doing before Chad stopped by."

"That sounds like a really good idea," Josh said, walking toward me. "What
was it we were doing, again?"

"Here, let me show you," I said, bringing a hand up to his neck. I pulled
him close to me, bringing his head down to mine, and pressed my lips to his
soft, silky ones.  He ran his hands up and down my sides, sighing, as I
pressed my tongue into his mouth.  There was another knock at the door, and
I broke the kiss as Josh laughed against my neck.  "Aaaaargh!"

***Lance***

Lance walked around the corner, carrying Junior, nodding at the security
guard sitting by the elevators. Keeping a guard on their floor was
something new for this tour, but it made Justin feel better, and it kept JC
from worrying that Jack was going to get kidnapped again. Lance figured the
odds on that were rather slim, but he was willing to go along with it on
general purposes. The last thing he wanted was Justin walking around the
hall and running into someone who wasn't supposed to be there. Even if it
was someone harmless, Justin would still be shaky. Chad was walking out of
Jack and JC's suite, carrying a packet of papers.

"Hey, Lance," Chad said, grinning at him.

"Hi," Lance said, noticing, not for the first time, that Chad was kind of
cute, even if he did always dress like he was about to drop everything and
head for a club.  "Are they up?"

"Yeah," Chad answered, reaching out to pet Junior. Junior pulled back in
Lance's arms, squirming a little, and curled his lip at Chad, who stepped
away.

"Wow, he never does that," Lance said, surprised. "He must just be moody."

"He's not the only one," Chad said, shaking his head. He walked away toward
the elevators as Lance knocked on the door, stepping back when he heard
Jack making some sort of frustrated noise.

"What?" Jack hissed, jerking the door open. His face changed when he saw it
was Lance, but he still looked a little annoyed, and Lance wondered if he
was interrupting something.  How much welcome back sex could the two of
them have? "Oh, Lance, I'm sorry.  Josh and I were just, um, in the middle
of something."

As if to underscore this, JC's hands slid up Jack's chest from behind, and
his head appeared over Jack's shoulder, smiling at Lance.

"Baby!" Josh said, stepping around Jack to pull Junior out of Lance's
hands.  "Oh, thanks, Lance! He wasn't any trouble, was he?"

"No, of course not," Lance said, smiling. "You know we're always glad to
have him over."

"We're always glad when you have him over," Jack said, smirking, and JC
smacked him on the arm. "Seriously, Lance, if there's ever a night when you
guys don't want him, you can say so."

"No, no," Lance said, shaking his head as JC walked away with Junior. "It's
good for Justin to have him around."

"Where is Justin?" Jack asked, looking around. It was odd to see Lance
without Justin in tow.

"Chris took him golfing," Lance answered, shrugging.

"Oh yeah," Jack said, nodding. "I figured you'd go, too. What are you gonna
do all by yourself today?"

"I don't know," Lance answered, smiling. "But I'm sure I'll think of
something. I'm gonna, um, let you two get back to whatever you guys were
doing, ok? I'll see you tonight."

"OK," Jack said, his brow a little furrowed. He looked like he wanted to
say something else, but JC interrupted him from the couch.

"Bye Lance!" JC called. "See you tonight!"

"Bye JC," Lance said, turning away as Jack shut the door.

He knew, kind of, what Jack was going to ask. It would have been one of the
many variations on "Are you ok?", and, while Lance appreciated the
interest, it was also nice once in a while to get through a day without
someone asking. He'd gone through the same thing after he'd spent those
couple weeks in the hospital, after what Justin had done. When he came
back, everyone was always asking if he was ok, or if they could do
anything, and he wanted them to know that, honestly, he was more or less
fine. There wasn't a way for him to say that, though, without sounding
ungrateful, and he didn't want to do that, either. Even though he was ok,
though, he found himself wondering what to do with himself. Chris had
insisted that he take today for himself, and he knew why and even
understood the need for it, but he wasn't quite sure of how to fill the
time.

Even when Justin was out at an appointment, Lance was still thinking about
him, wondering if he was ok, and what they were going to do when he came
back. He hadn't had time to himself, just for him, in so many weeks that he
had kind of forgotten what it was like, and he wondered if Justin was ok
with Chris as he rounded the corner and found Chad still standing by the
elevators.

"I thought you were going to work on that," Lance said, looking at the
folder in Chad's hands.

"I can do it later," Chad said, shrugging. "I, um, I wanted to talk to you,
for a second. If you're not busy."

"No, no, what's going on?" Lance asked, wondering if he could help Chad
with something.

"I just wanted to say thank you for last night," Chad said. "You know, for
checking on me in the bathroom, even if I did kind of put you off."

"Don't worry about it," Lance said. "You looked upset, and, you know, I
couldn't just leave you alone in the bathroom. Are you ok now?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Chad said, shrugging. "Jack was a little upset, but we
talked about it, and everything's ok now."

"Oh, good," Lance said, hitting the elevator button. He waited for a second
as Chad stood next to him, both watching the display telling them where the
elevator was.  "You know, Chad, I was going to go downstairs and get
something to eat. Are you hungry?"

Chad's face lit up. Eating with Lance would be a lot more exciting than
eating alone in his room, from the room service menu.

"Yeah, yeah, I'd like that a lot!" Chad said, beaming. "You really, you
want to eat with me?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Lance asked, confused. They'd all gotten so used to Chad
drifting around in the background that they kind of forgot the way he
was. When Chad first met them all, he was almost afraid to talk to them,
turning into this huge, gushing fan, and Lance had thought he'd gotten over
it, but apparently that wasn't quite the case. "Why don't you put those
down in your room, and meet me in the restaurant down on the first floor?"

"Yeah, ok," Chad said, nodding, blinking as if he wanted someone to pinch
him. He burst from the elevator when it stopped on his floor. "I'll be
right down!"

Lance smiled and shook his head as the doors closed. Lunch with Chad would
be a lot more fun than eating in the restaurant alone. In his room, Chad
ran into the bathroom, checking himself in the mirror. His outfit was cute,
his hair looked ok, and he didn't have anything stuck in his teeth. He
sprayed on a little aftershave, not too much, and glanced in the mirror
again. Taking a deep breath, he decided he was ready to go to lunch, and
when he took the elevator back to the lobby he saw Lance waiting for him
over by the restaurant entrance.

"Hi!" Chad said, rushing over to him.

"Slow down," Lance said, smiling. "There's nothing to be so excited about."

"I'm sorry," Chad said quickly. "I mean, I know I see you all the time, and
stuff, and we're just going to lunch, but I'm going to lunch with Lance
Bass! My job is so cool sometimes!"

"Chad, do you think maybe, just for lunch, you could just call me Lance?"
Lance asked, smiling. "And leave out the Bass? I mean, you do it all the
time anyway."

"Yeah, ok, Lance," Chad said, nodding. He repeated it softly to himself as
Lance asked for a table for two, preferably away from the other
diners. "Lance, just Lance, not Lance Bass."

Lance shook his head, chuckling softly to himself. He could see how Chad's
behavior might be a little grating to Jack, especially since Chad didn't
treat Jack the same way he treated JC and the others, but Lance found it
kind of amusing, and refreshing. It was nice to have someone around who was
just genuinely happy to see them without all the baggage attached. Besides,
no matter what he said, Jack had a jealous streak a mile wide, and Chad,
unfortunately, just kept wandering into it. The hostess showed them to a
back booth, even though the restaurant was mostly empty, and Lance slipped
her a nice tip as she handed them their menus.

"So," Chad began after they ordered, "What's it like to be you? Do you like
it? Do you meet a lot of people on tour? What are the fans like? I remember
that time we talked at JC's house, you said you watched 'Buffy'. Do you
still watch it? Because I still do, and I can tell you what's going on if
you missed a show."

"OK, slow it down," Lance said again, holding up his hands. "Do you even
breathe?  Ever?"

"Yeah, sorry," Chad said, reaching for his water. He sipped slowly. "Is it
too many questions?"

"No, it's ok," Lance said, shaking his head. "I just kind of wanted, you
know, to think about my answers. Let's see. What's it like to be me, and do
I like it? Yes, I do."

For the rest of the meal they talked about how Lance had joined the band,
and what it was like in the early days, hustling to learn everything and
get themselves off the ground.  Lance talked a little bit about the
lawsuit, when they got out from under Lou, and what it had been like for
them to really blow up like they had. It had been kind of difficult for all
of them to deal with, but he swept the bad parts under the rug, more or
less, especially the more recent rough spots. Chad had signed a
confidentiality agreement, like all the other staff, but that didn't mean
he needed to hear everything. He asked a lot of questions, but Lance
noticed as they went on that Chad also seemed to know a lot about all of
them, and remembered that Chad was a big fan of the group before he started
working for them.

"You haven't talked about yourself much," Lance said finally. "How do you
like working with us?"

"It's good, I guess," Chad said. "I mean, I get to work with all of you,
and that's like my dream come true. It's hard sometimes, though, because
I've never done anything like this, and Jack is, well. Never mind. He's
your friend, and my boss, and I shouldn't talk about him. I'm sorry."

"Chad, it's ok," Lance said, patting his hand. He thought Chad was going to
drop his coffee, staring at his hand like he'd never wash it again now that
Lance had touched it.  "We all know how Jack is sometimes, especially when
he's upset."

"Is he always so mean?" Chad asked emphatically.

"No, and he doesn't ever mean it," Lance said. "He just, well, what's
between Jack and JC is kind of like a force of nature. I love them both,
but what's between them is so powerful, it's best if you stay out of its
way, because it'll roll right over you whether you want it to or not."

Lance remembered the beginning of Jack and JC's relationship, and how he
had told them it was wrong, and tried to intervene. He'd ended up getting
slugged by Justin, and then worse. Justin, too, had been in the middle of
it once, and it had left him wounded and vulnerable, easy prey for someone
like Nick. Lance didn't blame Jack and JC for that, and he thought that the
love between them was a beautiful, almost awe-inspiring thing, but it was
also like a thunderstorm, or a tornado. It was exciting to watch, but you
didn't want to get caught in it. Chad seemed like a nice guy, and Lance
didn't want him to get ground up, because even when Jack and JC didn't mean
to, anything that stood between the two of them was crushed.

"Lance?" Chad asked, concerned. Lance's face had clouded, and Chad wondered
what he was thinking about.

"Sorry," Lance said, shaking his head. "Just remembering some stuff."

"You had a fight with Jack and JC?" Chad asked. "I mean, that's so hard to
believe. You guys are all so close, I just can't believe you ever fight
about anything."

"It was just, well, it was a bad time for me," Lance said, not sure why he
was saying so much. "When JC told us he was with Jack, I thought it was
wrong, and I shot my mouth off, and we all had some rough times for a while
because of it. We're all ok now, but, like I said, you don't want to come
between them, Chad. They're both really passionate people, and when they
get together, well, it can be rough for the people around them sometimes."

"Wait, you weren't ok with it?" Chad asked, confused. "But aren't, well,
never mind. It's none of my business."

"What?" Lance asked, curious.

"Well, aren't you gay?" Chad asked bluntly. "Aren't you and Justin
together?"

"Me and Justin?" Lance asked, almost choking on his coffee. Chad nodded.
"No, no, me and Justin aren't together. We're very close, and we care a lot
about each other, but it's not like that."

"Oh," Chad said, shrugging. "Like I said, it's none of my business. I just,
you know, you and Justin are the only two who share a suite, and you're
both like joined at the hip. I just thought you two were a couple."

"No, we're not," Lance said, shaking his head. "I guess I can see why you'd
think that, but Justin and I are just really, really good friends. Neither
one of us is seeing anyone, but we're definitely not seeing each other."

"I'm not seeing anybody, either," Chad said casually, but Lance didn't seem
to catch it.

"I'm sure you'll meet someone nice soon," Lance said, going back to his
dessert.

Lance insisted on treating Chad to lunch, as a thank you for the pleasant
morning and the conversation, and they both kind of drifted out of the
restaurant, unsure of what to do next. It was fun hanging out, and now that
Chad had relaxed and started treating Lance like a human being rather than
an icon, Lance was a little reluctant to end the experience.  Chad was
bright, and perky, and Lance felt like he'd barely scratched the surface of
who Chad was. He thought about things for a second.

"Hey Chad?" he asked, wondering if this was a good idea or not.

"Yeah?" Chad answered.

"Are you doing anything this afternoon?" Lance asked.

"I was going to work on that stuff for Jack, but I can do it tonight," Chad
answered.  "Why?"

"I have to go find an outfit for tonight," Lance answered, shrugging. "Do
you want to go shopping with me?"

Chad's eyes lit up, and he jumped up and down, clapping his hands.

"Sure!" he gushed, beaming. "I'd love to!"

Lance smiled, and they headed upstairs to grab a bodyguard. Maybe Chris had
been right, and spending a little time away from Justin had been a good
idea after all.

***

To be continued.