"Justin?"

With a bump of his hips, JC let the door close behind him. The noise of the club gone, he found himself in the perfect silence of a city at night, only disturbed by the sound of the rain dropping on the pavement of the street.

"Justin!"

There was no answer. Although he hadn't expected one, he couldn't help feeling a little disappointment. Straining his ears, he listened intently, but the sound he had been searching for, the one of running feet, didn't reach him. It was only the rain which had already soaked him to the skin and made it impossible to see further than to where the light of the next street lamp caused it to build a glistening cone.

Despite himself, JC smiled a little at the irony of the situation. In romances, the two lovers usually united with a kiss in the rain. Well, it sure looked romantic in the movies, but he seriously doubted that there was anything romantic about his soaked clothes which clung to his increasingly cold skin. And the fact that the rain made it impossible to see if Justin was still near him, hiding somewhere, was everything but romantic. He could put up with wet clothes - even more so if he imagined Justin wearing similar, now skin-tight ones - but he couldn't put up with not finding Justin.

Which direction? He eyed the street, trying to decide which way would have looked more appealing to Justin, only to find that he didn't have a clue. He took a few tentative steps to the left, wondering if this just brought him closer to his love or if it had taken him even further away. On a sudden impulse, he turned and hurried to the right.

***

"We're dead." Joey stated.

"We're so totally, absolutely and definitely dead." Chris agreed.

Lance just nodded.

***

Justin held his face up, letting the rain fall on his burning skin in an attempt to not only lower his feverish temperature, but also in hopes of straightening out his racing thoughts.

***

Suddenly hit by the hopelessness of the situation, feeling like the one searching for the famous needle in the pile of hay, but not able to remember if it had been found, JC stopped, standing in complete silence for a few minutes, letting the water cascade down his body.

He wouldn't find Justin. Not here, not in this rain (which oddly reminded him of the Flood), not in the darkness of an unfamiliar city to which he had forgotten the name. He might as well go back to the hotel.

But not before telling Justin that he loved him. He had never intended to confess his feelings by phone, but he knew that at the moment, that was all he could do to make Justin feel better. And if it helped Justin, then it would have been selfish to wait with his confession until they were face to face so that he could see the look in those beautiful blue eyes.

He took out his cell phone, vaguely wondering if it was waterproof. He didn't have to look to dial the number.

Fifty feet away, in the backyard to his left, a cell phone started ringing.

***

"And what are we going to do now?"

"I don't have the faintest idea."

"Come on! We have to find a way to save our lives."

"We could buy guns to defend ourselves."

"We are against private possession of arms, remember?"

"We tell the tabloids a lot of bullshit if the interviews are long."

"I still won't buy a gun."

"Poo-fuuuu!"

"What did you drink, Chris?"

"Considering that it's the last time I get to drink anything: not enough."

"I'd say it was more than enough, Chris."

"Did I ask you, Joe?"

"Chris, I didn't think that the day I tell you this would ever arrive, but please: Stick to your sugar."

***

"Justin."

The boy whirled around, wearing the typical deer-caught-in-headlights look. "Josh?" he managed to croak out.

The brunette approached slowly. "Hey." He didn't know why his voice sounded so unsteady all of a sudden. Maybe it had to do with the image of Justin, who was just as soaked as he was, the wet material of his clothes hugging each part of his body, leaving almost nothing to the imagination.

Justin's eyes swept over the body of his best friend, admiring it, longing to touch and kiss. When his eyes met the blue orbs which had been observing him, he lowered his head guiltily, studying his feet and hoping that the blush covering his face was hidden in the semi-darkness. "I'm sorry, Josh." He apologized, voice so small and quiet that JC had to approach him to understand the words. Not that he minded.

The older man used his hands to tilt up Justin's chin, but the curly-haired blonde still refused to look at him. "Justin, look at me. Please?"

Justin shook his head, sniffling quietly. There were tears running down his face, but they mixed with the rain, hiding the fact that he was crying.

"Please?"

"I... can't."

"Are you crying? Justin, baby, are you crying?"

He shook his head furiously, completely missing that JC had called him baby.

"You are." the brunette stated quietly, gently wiping Justin's wet cheeks, a completely useless gesture at it was wet again only a second later.

The younger man closed his eyes, leaning into the touch, suppressing the sobs threatening to escape him.

"Justin?" JC's voice, once again, quiet and gentle, but urgent.

"Hmm."

"Can you open your eyes and look at me? Please?"

The brunette was met with two deep-blue, incredibly sad orbs.

"Thank you." He had given up on wiping Justin's cheeks dry, but let his hands linger there, cupping the younger one's hot face. "Justin, I'm sorry."

"What? No! I am sorry, Josh, I'm so sorry, I didn't..." A hand gently covered his mouth, and he shut up.

"Yes, Justin, I am sorry for the way I reacted. But believe me, you tend to be a little surprised when your only dream, the one you thought would never come true, suddenly is reality."

The angelic face in front of JC showed nothing but confusion.

"You don't understand, do you?"

Once again, Justin shook his head as his mouth was still covered by the brunette's slender hand.

JC removed it, cupping the younger one's face, staring him straight in the eyes. "I'm in love with you, Justin. I've been for about three years, and when you told me that you loved me, I couldn't believe it wasn't a dream."

Justin's eyes opened wide. "You... Huh? You're... Love me?"

"Yes."

There were a few minutes when neither of them said anything else, both just gazing intently in each others eyes, searching, questioning, then Justin covered the brunette's hands with his own, caressing them. "You're cold." he whispered.

"You can warm me up."

Justin nodded, a bright smile spreading over his face, arms sneaking around the older man's waist to draw him as close as possible, their bodies melting into each other. "I can do that."

Eyes never breaking their gaze, their faces slowly inched closer.

"Are you nervous?" JC whispered, his breath tingling Justin's lips.

"Yeah. What if you decide that I don't kiss good enough for you? What if..."

The rest of his response was swallowed by JC's mouth. Instinctively, their eyes closed, mouths opening to admit tongues. Later on, Justin would swear that there had been fireworks going off in his head, but each time he did, JC would just laugh and give him a R-rated kiss. Which, as Joey, Lance and Chris thought, was why Justin said it in the first place.

Reluctantly, the two man separated, but kept their bodies pressed impossibly close together, both smiling broadly.

"And you honestly think that I could decide you don't kiss good enough?" JC shook his head in disbelief. "You, my love, have serious issues."

"Am I?"

"My love? Yes, you are."

"Then it's good that you're mine, too. Only problem is that I'm short of a boyfriend. You applying for the spot?"

"You bet."

Justin grinned, a broad, dazzling grin that made his eyes gleam. "Can I be yours, too?"

"If I can call you baby."

"Of course you can."

They exchanged a smile. Still holding Justin close, the brunette looked up in the sky, a quiet laugh escaping his lips.

"Whatcha laughing at?" the curly-haired blonde asked, the thumbs of his right hand caressing the brunette's neck, his other hand stroking up and down the older man's back.

"I just decided that rain is the most romantic thing I know."

"You're weird, Babe."

"Yeah, but I'm yours."

Instead of answering, Justin leaned forward for another kiss which left both of them moaning and breathless.

"You want to take this somewhere else?"

JC glanced up at the illuminated windows above them and nodded. "We'd better. Let's call a cab. What's this street called?"

"Dunno. Let's look."

"Wait." JC grabbed the younger man's wrist. "Let me kiss you once again before we go out where everyone can see us."

"Sounds like a plan."

***

"Where's the cab?" JC asked, pacing impatiently.

"Josh, come here. You're cold."

"What if anyone sees us?"

"They won't recognize us. Not in this rain."

JC nodded and stepped closer to the younger man, enjoying the feeling of Justin's arms around him.

"Baby?"

"Hmm?"

"When I told you I'm in love with you, your reaction could be described as freaking out, right?"

JC opened his eyes a little, but felt much too comfortable to look apologetic. "Yeah, I guess so. Sorry."

"It's okay, Josh. As long as I have you now."

"Why'd you ask?"

"Oh, just because... Would you rather see Lance kissing Joe or Chris?"

"Huh?"

"He promised me to kiss one of the two if you freaked out when I told you that I love you. With tongue."

JC smiled. "Give him a break, Just. He brought us together, after all."

"And I'll love him forever for doing that. But a deal is a deal. So who's it gonna be?"

"You'll let me decide although I acted like a total idiot?"

"Since I can officially call you my boyfriend now: Yes."

"Then it's gonna be... Joe!"

Making sure that no one was around to see them, Justin gave JC a quick peck on the lips. "That's who I'd have chosen, too."

"I love you."

"I know, Josh. I love you, too. I just hope that cab will be here soon. The sooner we're at the hotel, the sooner we're alone and won't have to worry about anyone seeing us."

"It only takes about ten minutes."

"That's ten minutes in which I can't touch you openly."

JC sighed. "Good point."

"That's how it's going to be, isn't it? The moment we're in public, I'll have to keep my hands to myself and pretend that I don't love you."

Instead of answering, JC just continued stroking the younger one's damp curls.

***The End. Or not. It's up to you.***