Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 20:30:29 -0000
From: Brown Eyes <calm_lost@hotmail.com>
Subject: A Little Bit of Both -  Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Nothing interesting in this chapter, besides the fact that one of the
guys finds out about JC's secret. Who could it be though, and how
did they find out? I don't know, maybe if you read you'll
find out. Oh plus, thanks to anyone who sent me feedback on the first
chapter, it was appreciated, and yes, even the hate mail was responded
to.

Oh yeah, I'm glad that the friends I added in this chapter liked
it, they have been with me through all my stories, so I had to give them
props some how, and just saying thanks wasn't enough.

Last time in Chapter 1...

If he couldn't have love, he had this. He had a peaceful
friendship, one that was something he would never trade in for anything
else. And if it meant that he couldn't pursue any love interests,
he wouldn't. The more and more he thought about it, the more he
knew that he didn't need to. Lying in his bed, held by his arms was
the one he really wanted to be with, the only one he could imagine
himself with. And he liked it, he liked that feeling of warmth that
coursed through his veins just with the touch. It was enough.

"Love ya Just." JC whispered, leaning down and placing a kiss on the
young blond's head. Softly he picked up the remote and clicked off
the tv, careful as could be he adjusted the blond, so that he too could
sleep but made sure that he never lost his hold of protection over him.
"Good night."

____________________________________________________________________________

Knock!Knock!Knock!

"shhh" JC answered the door to his hotel room, a bathrobe covering his
body and a cup of coffee in his hand. Motioning he made it clear to Joey
to keep it down, as Joey cast his gaze on a still sleeping Justin.

"We have to talk to Lou in a little, he's coming by, meeting in
Lance's room in twenty." Joey replied softly.

"Okay, I'll wake Justin up soon."

"He's cute when he sleeps, if you don't wanna wake him up,
will just let him sleep. Lou can deal." Joey smiled, and patted JC on the
shoulder, JC smiled back in appreciation. He always hated waking Justin.

"What time is it?" JC turned sharply, surprised to hear Justin's
voice.

"10:30 honey." JC responded like he usually did in the morning, like a
mother, like a father, like a best friend, like everything he could be in
one.

"When do I have to get up?" Justin asked in a sleep filled tone.

"Lou's coming at 11, but if you wanna sleep go ahead. I'll
fill you in afterwards." JC replied, slipping on some clothes and setting
down his coffee cup.

"I'll get up." Justin responded, rolling over and looking up at the
ceiling. "Or maybe, I'll stay in bed." He laughed to himself,
rolling back onto his stomach again. JC went about cleaning up the room,
tossing things where they belonged, but it wasn't long before he
heard Justin's voice again. "I really liked using you as a pillow
last night. I'm sorry for acting like such a baby yesterday and
taking you so seriously when you flipped on me."

"It's okay." JC replied. "You've got nothing to apologize
for, it was all my fault."

"I'm not saying it wasn't your fault, I'm still sorry
for crying over it." Justin replied.

"You don't have to apologize for crying."

"My dad always said that only girls cry." Justin replied

"Well I say it takes a real man to show his feelings enough to cry." JC
returned comment, sitting on the bed next to Justin. "I know you had it
rough with your dad, and he tried to teach you things like that, but
everything he said isn't true. Guys can cry too, we can hurt, we
can ache, we can long, we can need. And some times shedding some tears is
healthy."

"I know, but, it's so hard not to believe him, he's my dad."
Justin replied.

"And you love him for that, but you don't have to believe
everything he says. And you always have us, think of Joe as your dad, and
Chris as your mom." JC teased.

"I'd like you as both." Justin replied, and pulled himself close to
JC. JC knew he shouldn't get back in bed again, but here was this
kid, hopeful, needing, and he couldn't turn away, so he let himself
slide down enough for Justin to rest on, and watched as his breathing
became steady and rhythmic evident of sleep.

And at that point, JC thought he heard a slight whisper, vague,
uncertain, and barely audible, but he thought he heard it loud and clear.
But the idea slipped out of his mind as an illusion when he replayed the
words through his head. "and more" He knew that Justin would never say
that, so he smiled, and slowly and quietly picked up the phone by the
bed. He was going to have a hard time explaining their absence from the
meeting, but he couldn't help it.

"What up?" JC laughed, one of these days some one would get pissed at
Chris for answering the hotel room phones like that, but he just found it
amusing.

"Hey Chris, it's Jace."

"What's up JC?" Chris asked again, unsatisfied with JC's
original answer of just his name. He was too impatient just to let that
as an answer.

"Um, well, see..." JC started but was quickly cut off.

"You aren't coming to the meeting." Chris said with an obvious
smirk laying behind it.

"How'd you know?" JC asked again, confusion laying behind his
words.

"Joey told me that the kid was still asleep when he came to wake you up.
And I know you and I know Justin. And I know that when Justin sleeps
he's out like a light. And I know that you never have the heart to
wake him up, so you just let him sleep. I'll think of something to
tell Lou, he'll understand." Chris laughed.

"Thanks Chris, talk to you later."

"See ya." Chris and JC both hung up, and Chris turned around to his
roommates laughing.

"What will I understand?" Lou Pearlman asked with a smile.

"That JC and Justin are still sleeping. Justin doesn't feel good,
and JC's staying to take care of the kid." Chris answered without
hesitation, he was use to the excuse.

"Alright, lets start the meeting then." Lou replied easily, sometimes he
knew they were lying, but he just let it pass this time.

"We have some complaints Big Poppa, like the outfits they ask us to wear.
They constantly make us match, like if I wear a pair of jeans, then
everyone else has got to wear a pair of jeans, and all the pairs are just
a little lighter. Couldn't some of us wear khakis? Or Cargo pants?"
Joey began the meeting like usual with a complaint.

"That's minor Joe, if you talk to wardrobe and they disagree, tell
them to talk to me and I'll work something out with them. Settled?"

"Yep." Joey smiled triumphantly.

"Now, what about the schedule?" Lance asked, always the one focused on
timing and management issues.

"You have a week off, except for later today. I'll be back around 3
to pick you guys up, Teen Beat is doing an interview with you guys, the
regular stuff, color, food, interests in girls." Lou explained. "But like
I said after that, you have some time off. I want you to stay at the
house together though, but you can do whatever you want other then that.
And Lance, some girl called me, complaining that she doesn't get to
see you enough. I thought I specifically said no one gets my number? And
besides that, especially not a girlfriend."

"Sorry Lou, that's Summer. She just hates to be away from me. I
think I'll give her and Mary a call and see if they can't get
a flight down here to stay for a while." Lance spoke more to himself then
to Lou.

"Just as long as they behave and don't injure you I could care
less. In fact, I'll book the tickets, a little reward for being
such a good band. I'll give you more details that you can tell them
later when I come back." Lou replied. "Any other complaints, suggestions,
warnings?"

"Yeah, you need to find a babysitter for Justin. The kid can't get
into clubs without using his name, and even then he just sits there to
himself, and usually that means that JC sits with him after a while. And
then that means that Lance feels bad, and then Joey feels bad and then I
get stuck acting like I feel bad and we all come back to the hotel and
watch a movie. So find him a babysitter." Chris said, teasing anger, but
really only pouring sarcasm.

"Okay, Chris you are Justin's babysitter from now on every night
you have off. There, now everything is settled. I'll talk to you
guys in..." Looking down at his watch, Lou looked back towards the
guys. "6 hours."

Joey, Chris and Lance said goodbye, and walked Lou down the hallway to
the elevator, smiling and almost laughing as they passed Justin and
JC's shared hotel room. They all knew that JC was awake, they all
knew that Justin was probably asleep cuddled close to him too.

And they were right. JC was still watching Justin sleep, admiring the way
he looked perfect and so cute while he slept, even with his hair messed
up and his nose scrunched up heavy in dream. But the one that thing that
kept him beautiful, the one thing that seemed to brighten every part of
JC's life. His smile, Justin smiled like no other, he smiled with
wisdom that only old people had. And when he wasn't smiling, that
seemed to bring JC's whole world down. Now that Justin was smiling,
JC could smile back, even if Justin couldn't see him doing it.

"Josh, Josh." Justin started to wake up, rolling slightly, and opening
his eyes just barely enough for JC to tell that he was actually waking
and not just dreaming.

"I'm here Curly." JC replied, rubbing his head lovingly.

"Did we miss the meeting?" Justin asked.

"Yep, probably ended no more then ten minutes ago." JC replied.

"Do you think Lou's mad?" Justin asked.

"Nope, Chris said he'd cover for us." JC explained

"Now he's gonna make us repay him or something. He'll make us
buy him dinner or something and then just buy shit that he doesn't
even like." Justin smiled, and laughed. JC laughed at him, not because
what he said was funny, but because what he said was stupid, but yet
because Justin was laughing he laughed too.

"What ever, why don't you get up? You need to brush your teeth,
shower, and have some breakfast." JC replied, easily pulling the younger
bandmate to his side at the head of the bed.

"I don't wanna get up." Justin replied in a cranky and pouty tone.

"Too bad, I'm in charge of making sure you do everything
you're suppose to do. Just shower and brush your teeth, it will
take no more then twenty minutes if you don't fool around in the
shower." JC was trying his hardest not to cave into Justin.

"Fine." Justin stood from the bed. He grabbed a pair of boxers and a
wifebeater from his suitcase on the floor and walked into the bathroom,
shutting the door and locking it behind him.

JC couldn't tell if he was upset or if he was just in a bad mood
because he was awake. He shrugged it off and figured it could wait until
he got out of the bathroom before he had to question it. And if he was,
JC would just apologize and Justin would accept it and they would go on
for the day.

"Okay, I'm glad to see that our two ill ones were able to make it
out of bed for the interview." Lou Pearlman was smiling at the boys of
the band as they pulled into the lot of the office they were interviewing
at. He had told the boys he would meet them, but instead had just sent a
van in his place, and had decided to meet them there.

"Yeah, sorry, we were just really tired." JC lied lamely, but he could
tell that Lou wasn't upset by it.

"That's fine, the interview is waiting for you on the tenth floor,
second door on your right. I'm gonna be talking to the editor
making sure that everything we talked about goes through the magazine.
I'll see you guys in about an hour or two." Lou turned and walked
back to his limo to get somethings, while the guys headed into the
building and to the second room on the tenth floor.

"Hi guys, take a seat." Chris had barely walked into the room before the
young woman had asked him to take a seat. "I'm Kathleen, I'll
be interviewing you guys."

"Cool, you probably know we are." Joey giggled at his own statement, as
the other guys just looked at him oddly.

"Yeah I do, otherwise I wouldn't be interviewing you now would I?"
Kathleen asked sarcastically. "Anyways, you guys are probably busy, so
I'll start right off the bat. First things first, I have to ask you
guys the group questions. So just go down the row and tell me your
favorite colors."

"Baby Blue." Justin responded.

"Blue" JC's answer came second, as he looked to see if Justin was
in a better mood after answering, he got his answer easily by seeing that
Justin wasn't looking down the row waiting for answers but instead
staring at the interviewer.

"Green." Joey replied.

"Orange" Lance was next and Chris finished off the row by saying red.

"Okay, now I know you guys get asked a lot of generic questions. So I
don't think I'm going to concentrate on the questions I was
told to ask, and more on some personal ones that the reader would rather
know. What do you guys do when you aren't touring? Do you hang out
together, spend time with family?" Kathleen was apparently knew at this,
because they had been asked that question about as many times as they had
been the color one, but they were use to it.

"Well, we all live together actually. We find it a lot easier that way,
since we all live in Orlando now anyways. But we do spend time with our
family. I usually go back to Pennsylvania to see my parents." Chris
answered the question first.

"I use to visit my sister and brother a lot when touring ended, but well,
I don't have to anymore. My sister is actually on tour with Britney
Spears, and my brother helps out with our management. But I do see my
parents a lot when we have off." Joey replied.

"I go back home a lot. I rarely see the guys that much after the tour.
Cuz with my family and then I have some close friends back home. So if
I'm not on tour, I'm usually back home." Lance explained.

"I stay here in Florida, I feel like my family is here. My brother and
sister come down all the time, and my parents visit about once a month
when we have free time. And living here is so nice, the weather, the
atmosphere and I like to be around the guys." JC replied.

"I live here, so, I guess that's what I do while we have off time.
Like Chris said we live together, all of us with my mom so I get to spend
time with her all the time. And everyone once in a while I go back to
Tennessee to see my little step bro Jonathon and my dad." Justin was the
last to answer.

"I didn't know you all lived together. Does that ever cause any
problems?" Kathleen quickly asked another question.

"Sometimes. Justin is a primadonna in the bathroom. He takes at least
twenty minutes just to gel his hair, so that is a little bit of a
problem." Chris jumped in to answer first.

"Chris snores, and I can hear it through the walls." Joey threw one at
Chris.

"I think we get along great. We have a pool, and we get a lot of swimming
in. And we just recently added a weight room in the basement, and me and
Justin use that a lot, so that's really cool. And we all like to
play basketball, except for Lance, so we play games of two on two all the
time." JC cut them both off, deciding if he didn't they would make
fools out of the group rather quickly.

"Whose better at basketball out of the four of you?" Kathleen asked a
question that they truly never had been asked.

"Me." Came in four unison voices, each of the guys saying themselves.

"Lance?" Kathleen chuckled and turned to Lance for an answer.

"I'd say even though Justin's younger then them all,
he's really good." Lance replied in favor of Justin.

"Yes!" Justin smiled triumphantly.

"Do you guys have a problem going out in public?" Kathleen asked another
familiar one.

"Yes and no. Actually, mostly no. We don't have that big of a fan
base here in the states, cuz we started off over in Europe. Just
yesterday I took a walk and didn't even get noticed once, but
sometimes its completely different. We are growing a big fan base here in
Orlando and it's hard to go to the mall, or a restaurant.
That's become a big problem." JC explained.

"But it helps too. I can get into some clubs if I say my name." Justin
replied.

"So you guys go clubbing?" Kathleen asked a little more interested in the
conversation. JC gave a sharp scowl at Justin for saying that, and
cleared his throat to answer.

"Not that often. Since Lance is only 18 and can't drink, and since
Justin is only 16 and can't legally get into clubs we don't
go that often. And none of us are big on drinking anyways, we usually go
to clubs when we are in the mood to dance and just listen to the music."
JC replied, shooting her ideas of juicy information down.

JC thought he heard a mumble or complain from Justin's voice, but
he couldn't be sure, so he continued to pay attention to the
interview.

"Do any of you have any romances going on?"

"I'm dating some one right now, but I don't think she'd
like it if I said her name." Lance replied.

"I'm single." Joey replied.

"Single too." Chris agreed.

"Single"

"Single" JC and Justin finished it off.

"So what do you guys look for in a girl?" Kathleen asked.

"I like some one who's nice. They have to be funny, and young at
heart. And a surprising thing I like about people is their shyness. I
don't know, seeing someone timid about something silly just gets
me." JC started. "I guess it's because it makes them honest, and I
like that feeling that you can do anything in front of someone and
it's not going to change anything."

The guys all stared at JC after his answer, even Justin who had been
avoiding looking at the old man felt his eyes head straight for his best
friend after the words left his mouth. They had never heard him say
anything about his interests like that, usually he just said smart and
nice, and average looking, but this time he had gone into a lot of depth.
Soon the eyes left him though, all except for a familiar pair of brown
ones that belonged to a certain elder of the group, but JC didn't
even notice them.

In fact the rest of the interview went by quickly. The others answered
what they looked for in a girl, JC frowning when Justin responded with
his answer. And soon they were all out of the building, their bags were
already packed and in the van and with in half an hour they were at the
house they called home unpacking in their individual rooms.

Lance was on the phone with Summer telling her all the details about her
flight down and when he would meet her and Mary. Joey was in his room
unpacking and planning on what to do during the vacation. Chris was busy
thinking of things he could do and tricks he could play on his friends.

Justin was unpacking and talking to his mom while she folded his clothes
neatly after he threw them out of his suitcase recklessly. And JC was
unpacking slowly, setting his stuff out neatly on his own, all the while
thinking about how he was going to find out what was bothering Justin.
Which is why he was surprised when Chris stood in his doorway.

"Come in." JC motioned for Chris to step in the room, and was a little
confused by Chris's secrecy when he shut the door. "What's up
Chris?"

"I guess I wanted to ask you something. And please, if I'm wrong,
just take it as a mistake and don't get pissed. You were um,
describing some one in particular today during the interview. Ya know,
when they asked what you looked for in a girl, weren't you?"

"Um, I don't know." JC hesitated, and blushed at the question. He
was so bad at lying, that he knew Chris was seeing right through him.

"Ya know JC, if you ever had something to um, tell us, I mean, the guys
and me, you know you could right?" Chris was trying to hint at something,
and JC could tell that he was hoping he would say it first. "Cuz um, ya
know, we love you."

"I know, it's rough Chris. I can't, I can't really just
say it." JC tried to explain, but he knew that Chris wouldn't
understand.

"JC, I know who you were talking about. I saw you staring, and I, you
described perfectly everything about..."

"Don't say it Chris, please, let's just let it be that you
know that I like him, but we don't have to say his name." JC
interrupted, he didn't want to know that some one knew.

"Alright, but, Josh, please, if you wanna take about it, about him, um,
find me."

"I will, but uh, I really need finish unpacking." JC decided he just
wanted to sit and think for a little bit, he couldn't believe that
Chris had discovered it.

"Okay." Chris didn't say a word other then that. JC knew he could
trust his older band mate, but it was still a shock to him that some one
else knew. That besides him and Mary, he had another person in on his
secret, and he hadn't planned it.

But he had plenty of time to think. He was just going to sit and try and
think of what to say to Chris when they did have that talk. He knew
Chris, and Chris didn't like to let things dwell, he knew that with
in the day he would be sitting with Chris some where by themselves
talking about it, and figuring out something to help him. He wanted
Chris's help, but he couldn't talk about it. It was one thing
when it was Mary, they rarely even spoke his name, but with Chris, he
knew his name would come up over and over again, and he hated that the
most.

"How are you Joshua?" Lynn Harless stood in the doorway now, startling JC
out of his thoughts.

"Fine, how have you been?" JC asked politely.


"I've been good, missing you boys." Lynn smiled and laughed.

"Yeah, we missed you too. Especially Justin, it's obvious that he
still gets home sick every once and a while." JC smiled back.

"But he's gotten better with that because of you. He looks up to
you, and I know right now he's upset about something, but
that's Justin. I could tell the moment he walked into the house
that he was mad at you for some reason. He just carries it through him
whenever he gets upset with you, like everyone else should be nice to
him. But we both know he's going to be apologizing in an hour about
how stupid it was for him to get upset." Lynn started to laugh again.

"I know, it just makes me upset to see him pissed at me." JC explained.

"Talk to him, he never shuts you out." Lynn smiled, patted JC on the back
and walked out of the room. JC smiled to blank air for a few minutes, and
then walked down the hall, not far, Justin had insisted that their rooms
be side by side and knocked on the door frame.

"Can I come in?" JC asked.

"Sure." Justin answered absent-mindedly.

"I'm sorry for whatever I did, even though I'm not exactly
sure what that is." JC apologized and added in the end for a laugh, but
he didn't receive one from Justin.

"You don't have to apologize. I'm just pissed about a lot of
shit, not at you." Justin answered.

"Oh, wanna talk about it?"

"No." That was a first. Justin never shut himself out to JC, but JC knew
when not to push situations.

"Okay, but I'll be in my room if you do."

"Okay." JC took that as a sign of being asked to leave, and he backed out
of the room and down the hall. The mood in the room made JC wonder if
Justin really wasn't made at him, but he decided to wait until
tomorrow when the girls came to figure it out. He was going to have to
see what Mary thought before anything else.

TBC...

 

Okay, this chapter didn't cover much. You got to know JC's
dream girl, even though he really wasn't describing a girl. And
Chris's age gave him the wisdom to figure that JC wasn't
talking about a girl at all. So now Chris knows, and Mary knows, and JC
knows obviously because he has the feelings. But when will the others
find out? And when will JC and Justin hook up? Will they hookup? I
don't know yet, but you'll find out in a week.

And oh yeah, did you pick up on the little insight. Read through the
beginning again if you didn't catch it. But maybe Justin wants a
little more too.

Brown Eyes