Author: Angel

Email: NikkaWhat@Hotmail.com

Pairing: Lance & JC (it happened, finally!)

Disclaimer: Yes, absolutely, it's all true. The five of them, Britney too, are all sitting here on the bed in my room (there's nowhere else to sit) watching a re-run of the VMA's (Video Music Awards). Lance, Joey, and Chris are laughing at each other about the outfits they wore while JC stays out of it and I try to defend Chris's choice of half-denim half-suede jeans. Oh, and Britney and Justin are arguing about why she turned away when he tried to kiss her after they won, but they are keeping it quiet, making sure not to let Joey hear, he might get riled up. Finally, just to make him shut up, Britney reveals her main reason to Justin. In her own words: "Who knows where that mouth has been?!" And she casts a meaningful glance around the circle. :)

Message from the Author: Alright, this one took me a long time too but I'm proud of it, even though only one person emailed me about the last chapter! Well, actually two, but the second one just wanted to bitch at me. I thought I'd just let you all know what she/he (no names) had to say about my question of what I should do with Chris:

"Hello! You can't have too many of them being either gay or bi, that's not real!"

All I have to say to that is: AND YOU THINK THE REST OF THIS IS!?!?!?!

The person also told me to get an editor, I had thought I was doing pretty well but guess not! It's actually not that bad of an idea. And so this time you all better email me about the chapter, even if it is bad! So anyway, this one goes out to Dale, thanks for the encouragement! And once again to Laurence, love you! Hope you all enjoy the story!

Chapter 8

Mistaken Dreams: Lance n' JC..... 

When Lance woke up it was still dark outside and he felt a slight breeze fluttering in towards him through the cracked open door of the balcony. But for some reason he wasn't cold, and he didn't know why. Arms, around him, surrounding him, that must be it, he decided. They felt so good around his waist, holding him close. As he fell back to sleep he vaguely wondered whose arms they could be. Not Brian, certainly, he never stayed after he got what he came for, let alone snuggle up to Lance. Joey, perhaps, but it felt too tight to be Joey's relaxed arms surrounding him, and then he remembered: JC. As if sensing that he was in Lance's thoughts JC sighed and pulled Lance back closer to him, nuzzling his nose down into the younger man's neck, twining his hands in with Lance's own, and murmuring sweet little nothings in his sleep. Lance smiled, thinking about just how lucky he really was to have someone like JC love him so much. This was the one, he was sure; this was it, for the rest of his life. He just hoped he was the one for the rest of JC's life as well.

He laid there for a moment, basking in his happiness. But that was all his mind would allow him before giving in to worries of the problem he would have to face in the morning: Joey. Joey would never do anything to hurt him, and would stand by him through everything, no matter what. As long it made Lance happy he would never once utter a complaint or voice a thought for himself, Lance knew that now. He'd known it was something like that before but hadn't realized the extent to which Joey would go to make things perfect for him until last night, when Joey had let Lance go because he knew he couldn't make Lance as happy as another could. And Lance knew that he could always turn to Joey if anything ever happened. But he didn't want Joey to wait around for him, to limit himself so that there might always be that chance that what they had could happen again. So Lance knew he had to have a talk with Joey, and soon. But that could wait, and for now, all he wanted to do was drop back into sleep in JC's arms, and dream until the real morning came.

************

Hours later, Joey awoke to see deep blue eyes staring into his own.

"Hey," Justin greeted him in a low, throaty voice that he only used in the morning.

"Hi," Joey replied, propping himself up on his elbows so that he could be on a level with Justin, who was laying on his stomach with his chin resting in his hands.

"So, you been up long?" Joey asked after Justin didn't say anything for a moment.

"Mmm, an hour or so maybe, just couldn't sleep anymore for some reason,"

"You? Not able to sleep anymore? I think the world must have come to an end." Joey teased, a smile playing across his full lips.

"Shush up," Justin said, sticking out his lower lip in a very large pout.

"So, have you just been laying here watching me for the whole hour since you somehow managed to gain consciousness?"

"NO, of course not." Justin replied, beginning to pout once again. He paused for a moment to think and then continued: "I went to the bathroom first!"

Joey chuckled low in his throat.

"Yeah, and that must have taken like at least a good 45 minutes or so, huh? I mean, after all, it's you we're talkin' 'bout here." He was bad, and he knew it, but he really did enjoy teasing Justin, it was just so easy!

"Hey!" Justin objected, sticking his bottom lip out as far as it would go.

"Y'know, that's really a very unattractive look for you," Joey laughed, grabbing Justin's bottom lip in between his fingers and rubbing it gently.

Justin was shocked into silence and could only look into Joey's eyes. Joey moved his head up, bringing his mouth close to Justin's ear.

"And, of course, it leaves you open for attack." He whispered it softly, in a sweet, tender voice, as if murmuring a lover's promise into Justin's ear.

Justin pulled back only slightly, just to look at him.

"Huh?" He asked, too lost in what he was feeling to try and make sense of Joey's words.

And then suddenly it didn't matter anymore because Joey had jumped him and begun tickling his sides unmercifully, knowing exactly where to start to make Justin scream and giggle uncontrollably.

"J-oooeeee!!!!!!!! St- St-Stoooooooppppppppppp!" He yelled as loud as he could. It was as loud as the ragged bursts of air he managed to suck in could force out of his throat. But Joey paid him no attention, only kept on tickling him until the younger boy managed to grab hold of his hands and force him to stop. A brief tussle ensued, as Joey tried to get out of Justin's tight grasp. They rolled off the bed, managing to just barely miss injuring themselves on its sharp metal frame. Over and over on the floor they rolled, both laughing or giggling the entire time, with intermittent screams of playful rage involved as well, until they smacked hard into the backside of the couch that they hadn't seen coming.

"Oh, Ow." Joey, who had ended up on his back with Justin straddled across him, said, reaching back with his suddenly freed hand to feel the bump that was already forming on the back of his head.

"Woops, sorry," Justin consoled his friend, but couldn't help the smirk he could feel forming on his lips.

"Oh, you think that's funny do you!" Joey asked in mock outrage.

"Well, after all, it is your fault for tickling me in the first place." Justin explained.

"Oh, really?" Joey asked, an evil smirk beginning on his lips.

"Yes." Justin tried to say it calmly, but when Joey got that look in his eye it never failed to make Justin very nervous, it meant that Joey was up to something, and the last time Justin had seen that look he had ended up getting so drunk that he had had a hangover for the entire rest of week. Although the after affects of the alcohol itself hadn't been too bad, the hour long lecture he had gotten from Lance on the dangers of underage drinking had more than made up for it. Lance had made sure not to let him and Joey room together ever again after that.

"And so I suppose you wouldn't want me to start tickling you again, now would you?" Joey asked, with a full, heavy-on evil smirk playing around his lips now.

"Umm, No," Justin was really getting worried now. It was then that he realized that he had let go of one of Joey's hands when they had smacked so abruptly into the couch.

"OH, Joey-" but that was all he managed to get out of his mouth before Joey had rolled them back over and started again with the tickling. "-NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!"

They rolled over again and again, not seeming to be able to stay in one spot for very long. Finally they stopped long enough to hear the pounding on the wall, which they were currently laying up against.

"SHUT UP, YOU IDIOT GIGGLY TWINS!" The screaming was delivered in Chris's high pitched falsetto voice and both the boys laughed at the picture of him they had in their minds: standing at the wall in Justin's room (where he was staying because Joey had had the foresight to tell him to get the hell out of Lance's room before JC came back) red faced, in only his boxer shorts, with his hair all askew (having just now gotten up out of bed) screaming at the top of his lungs.

"SORRY!" Joey yelled, before both boys collapsed into fits of screaming laughter that were even louder than their choked giggles had been before.

"Uhg, I'm surrounded by idiots." They heard Chris mutter before his pounding steps retreated back into the other part of the bedroom.

"Think he's gonna come over here?" Justin asked, looking up at Joey, who was lying on top of him, clutching at his sides, but not tickling him. For the moment at least.

"Maybe, probably wants to try and bitch slap some sense into out sorry asses." Joey said humorously, smiling down at Justin, who began to laugh again.

"Well, I think he's actually probably more interested in shutting us up but whatever you say! Besides, I think between the two of us we could probably take him," Justin replied, smiling, which Joey thought was cute. "I was actually more worried about him going and complaining to JC or Lance." His smile turned into a little frown that Joey thought looked even more adorable.

"God, that's all we need, to bring down Scoop and Big Daddy's wrath on us, 'specially after the whole hangover incident."

"Incident!?!? That was not an incident! That was you tricking me into coming to the bar with you and you letting me get drunk off my ass!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know." At first it sounded like it might become an apology but much to Justin's disappointment it didn't.

However, Justin barely had time to register the words in his mind let alone think of an appropriate response before Joey had flipped him over again and started in on him.

Ten minutes later neither boy had the energy to do anything but lay on the floor, (or in Joey's case on top of Justin) trying to take in any air that they could get.

"That,-" Justin panted. "was very, VERY evil of you."

"I know." Joey answered with equally labored breathing.

After they had lain there for a while and managed to catch their breath they both realized how very suggestive the position they were in really was. There they were, laying on the plush shag carpet, with Justin on bottom, is only his boxer briefs, his shirt having been torn off by Joey in the opening moments of the tickling session, his long arms and legs splayed out about him while Joey rested his head on Justin's bare chest, he himself in only boxers and an under shirt.

Suddenly Joey felt the need to break the silence that had enveloped them. He looked up at Justin to get his attention before realizing that he already had it. Justin was looking down at him with those blue eyes that seemed to go down and down and down until.... Forever.

`Jesus, did you really just think that? Get a grip Fatone.' Joey thought to himself

"So..." He began, but then couldn't think of anything else to follow it up with.

"Yeah?" Justin asked, looking down at him and placing his hand on Joey's shoulder. "What is it?"

"I was just wondering, when you were watching me sleep was there anything in particular you were thinking of?" Joey didn't know why he asked; it just suddenly popped out.

"Mmm, what do you mean exactly?"

"Oh, nothin' really, just if there was something in particular that you were thinking about, just like what you wanted to do today or whatever,"

"Oh, no, I don't really know, I wasn't really thinking of anything I guess, why do you ask?"

"No reason, just kinda curious,"

There was silence for a few seconds before Justin started to talk again.

"Ok, well no, I wasn't thinking of anything, just kinda sitting there spacing,"

"Oh, so just like usual?" Joey couldn't resist the jibe, it was just too much fun.

"Hey!" But Justin didn't dare do anything other than pout for he knew Joey could start tickling him again at any second.

"Didn't I already tell you that that isn't a good look for you?" Joey asked, as once again he playfully grabbed Justin's bottom lip before the young blonde could suck it back in. Joey slowly wriggled his way up until he was only inches away from Justin's face, his ear right next to Justin's lips.

"Everything's a good look for me," Justin whispered, at first going for cocky, but somehow managing to accidentally turn sultry half way through.

"I know." Joey whispered back, turning his head so that his lips hovered directly above Justin's own.

Justin looked up at him, staring into Joey's deep brown eyes. He slowly arched himself up from the carpet as Joey leaned down, their lips coming closer and closer together. When they were only millimeters apart Justin stopped moving upwards and closed his eyes, licking his lips, waiting to feel the tender flesh of Joey's mouth on his own. But before either could move any farther there was a knock on the door and a voice coming through the solid pane of wood.

"Guys? Breakfast is in like 10 minutes in my room, so hurry it up." Chris said from outside the doorway, listening to the unnatural silence coming from within and then walking away, knowing that both the guys had heard him.

Joey and Justin jerked apart from each other. The moment was gone, and they both knew it.

"Joey, I-, I mean, I don't-I'm not-" Justin began.

"Yeah, I know, me too, I mean me neither, I guess..." Joey replied.

Then he stood, pulling Justin up with him.

"I should probably go back to my room and get ready if we're all meeting there in ten minutes for breakfast." Justin said, hanging his head and beginning to walk towards the door of the room.

"Yeah, but, umm, Just?" Joey said, when he noticed that Justin wasn't moving towards the pile of clothes that he had left on the floor the night before.

"Yeah?" He asked, turning back around with his hand already on the doorknob.

"You do realize the Chris is probably still out there in the hall trying to get Lance and JC up, right?"

"Umm, yeah, so?" Justin asked, not seeing the connection at all.

"Well, I'm just sayin', if you come out of my room in only your boxer-briefs and Chris sees you he is probably gonna be thinking some things that I'm not really sure you want him to be thinking, if you know what I mean." Joey smiled at the last of his words.

"Oh...OH!" Justin exclaimed, realizing what Joey was getting at, and then starting to blush. And finally laughing. Once that happened the uncomfortable feeling dissolved, draining away, and things went back to being just the two of them again.

"Do you just want to stay here 'till breakfast?" Joey asked, still smiling.

"Sure Joe, sounds good," Justin laughed, settling down on the couch, patting the cushion beside him for Joey to come sit on.

************

When JC woke up the first lights of the false dawn were starting to creep in through the slits in the blinds. It was far too early to be awake, he decided, but knew that if he didn't go use the bathroom he would never be able to get back to sleep. But he didn't want to wake Lance up by moving all around. So he decided to just try and go back to sleep. But it didn't work of course, the more he tried to think about other things the faster his thoughts circled back around to really needing to use the bathroom!

`Ok, well if I don't get up now I'm either gonna explode or fidget so much that I'll just wake him up anyway.' He reasoned to himself. So he slowly extracted his arm from under Lance, and cautiously began to move away from him. When he was almost to the edge of the bed Lance rolled over and flung out his arm, calling JC's name.

"Lance, I'm here." He said aloud, before realizing that Lance was still asleep and was calling out to him in his dreams. So he quickly banked up the covers beside Lance and pushed a pillow into his arms, which Lance quickly attached onto and sighed, snuggling deeper down on the bed. JC sat on the edge of the mattress until he heard Lance's breathing settle back down into a steadier rhythm before quickly hopping up and then cursing himself for moving the mattress, but Lance didn't seem to notice. So JC quickly walked across the room, towards the bathroom, making sure to close the door completely behind him before he turned on the light so as not to disturb the angel sleeping only a few feet away. After he had taken care of his problem he slowly walked back towards the bed, realizing how good the plush carpet felt against his feet after the frozen tile of the bathroom. When he came to the edge of the bed he stopped, admiring the figure that lay atop the now kicked-off down-comforter. A shaft of dim morning light fell across Lance's face, highlighting his messy, golden tinged hair with the sexy brown roots, and showing off his smooth, alabaster skin. His pink angel bow lips were parted slightly and he was gently chewing on the lower one in his dreams, leaving little indentations from where his perfect teeth bit down. He turned over slightly in his sleep, throwing out his right arm, searching for the other body in the bed. When he didn't find it he bit down harder on his lower lip and began mumbling frantically, even in his sleep afraid that he had been suddenly deserted. JC quickly slipped into the bed, facing Lance, and pulled the younger boy into his arms, kissing the top of his head and clasping his hands behind Lance's back, whispering soft words he knew Lance couldn't understand. Once the other boy felt arms surround him and a body lie next to his he relaxed. He even eased up on is poor lower lip, and sighed, snuggling up closer to the body beside his and letting his head rest on JC's chest. JC let his breath out in contentment, and pulled the covers up over both their shivering bodies, making sure not to pull them over Lance's head. JC slid down in the covers, taking Lance with him as he went, and soon fell asleep, unable to resist the tempting lure of his dreams.

**********

Chris woke up to the sound of screaming coming from the next room.

`Oh God,' He thought, about to jump out of bed, immediately assuming someone had been hurt. But then another scream echoed through the walls and he realized that it didn't exactly sound as if the person was in pain or anything. And then he saw the clock: 7:00A.M. Fuck! He hadn't planned on being up for another 4 hours yet! After the emotionally trying events of the day before he was freakin' exhausted!

`Somebody better be bleeding already cus if not they are gonna be shortly for waking me up this early in the freakin' morning! Jesus you'd think they'd all still be sleeping after what happened yesterday!' But at that moment Chris looked over and saw Justin's empty bed and heard the sharp giggles begin to mix with the yelling and suddenly knew exactly what was going on.

"ASSHOLES!" He yelled aloud. But apparently it wasn't loud enough for the laughter didn't even pause, only kept on going with increased intensity. Chris groaned and pulled the thick down comforter up over his head, trying unsuccessfully to drown out the noise.

He threw the cover back and sat up, determined to either stop the noise or kill its source. He got up out of bed, heading first to the bathroom and then after he had taken care of business, to the wall, where he started pounding. It took a few minutes and by the time he finally heard a thump up against the other side of the wall he was even more irritated. And so it turned out that Justin and Joey's image of Chris was exactly correct. There he stood, red faced, in only his boxer shorts, shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Shut up, you idiot giggly twins!" His lips had parted when he heard the rare moment of silence and the words came flying out of his mouth before he even had time to think about what they might be.

Silence. Then a huge burst of raw laughter that was even louder.

`Aww Jesus, Idiots,' he thought, and said something to the same effect out loud. But he wasn't really all that angry anymore, Justin's giggling was actually kind of cute.

`He sounds like a little girl,' Chris thought, beginning to laugh himself. He thought about yelling THAT particular comment through the wall but decided against it when he realized that Justin would probably head over here and try to kick his ass, which wouldn't really work, but since he would probably have Joey with him it wasn't really the best idea to try out.

`Well, I'm obviously not gonna get anymore sleep.' Chris realized, sighing to himself, thinking about the wonderful dreams he could be having at this very moment.

`Oh well, it's probably best that I'm up anyway.' He didn't know why it was best, of course, but he had to have something to rationalize being up this many hours earlier than he had planned.

He settled himself on couch, slouching down into the cushions, trying to decide what to do now. He considered just watching TV but the remote was still on the bed and he really didn't feel like getting up. His phone was sitting there on the table, easily within stretching reach, but he couldn't think of anyone he particularly wanted to call. He knew he should probably call his girlfriend since they hadn't talked yet today, but he didn't really feel like talking to her right now, she'd been kind of bitchy lately. Finally, after much deliberation, he noticed the room service menu sitting on the floor from where he had dropped it the night before.

`Excellent,' He thought, because his stomach was beginning to rumble. Besides, they all had to get together and talk about the shit that had gone down last night sometime, and if there was food involved it would probably be easier. Chris and Joey were almost always the ones to take care of these things now, Lance just hadn't been on top of things lately. Because of all the emotional crap Brian had been putting him through, Chris suspected.

`Well that's probably gonna change now,' Chris thought, smiling to himself. He didn't really mind being in charge and having to take care of things, of course, but he didn't particularly enjoy it either and would happily relinquish the responsibility back to Lance when the time came. Joey might try to hang on a little harder though, but Chris didn't really think it was going to be a major problem so he wouldn't worry himself over it to any great extent.

Contrary to popular belief, Chris isn't stupid, he just doesn't really feel the need to correct anybody's pre-conceived notions about him, because, in his view of things: Who the hell really cares what they think anyway? And Chris isn't oblivious either, he might not care what time this or that photo shoot or interview is, but he always makes it his business to know what's going on in general with all the guys in the group. That's why he didn't feel too bad about kind of spying on Lance and JC last night. Honestly he hadn't meant to, although he didn't exactly shirk away when the opportunity presented itself.

Chris needed something to do. Or at least he needed to do something. But he didn't really feel like going out. Plus going out wasn't even very fun without the other guys. And he didn't particularly feel like seeing the other guys. He thought about just staying in, but that didn't solve his problem of needing to do something so he ditched that idea. There were clubs, but those meant going out, so he threw away that notion as well. Finally he settled on watching a movie, that would keep him occupied for a while, or at least make him tired enough that he could fall asleep. But when he looked through the paper view channels the only things he saw sounded either boring or just plain messed up. After a bit of deliberation he remembered that there was a Blockbuster just two doors down from the hotel. He was still dressed so running out real quick wasn't any huge problem, plus he could really go for some of those sour candy treats that were always for sale near the cash register. He grabbed his coat from where he had laid it on the chair, checked to make sure his wallet was still in the lined, inside pocket where he always kept it, and headed out the door. He decided to take the elevator as opposed to the stairs, reasoning that it would be faster. When the elevator doors dinged opened on his desired floor he stepped out into the lobby and caught a fleeting glimpse of someone entering the swinging door to the stairs. He thought it might be JC, but couldn't be sure. He also briefly considered following the mystery figure and trying to talk (or smack, as the case called for) some sense into him. Chris knew that Lance was hurting inside even if he wouldn't say so, and sensed that JC was part of it. But he knew this was something they had to work out on their own, or at least they better, because Joey would not wait long before he stepped in and took care of it for them. Probably by beating JC up until he came to the right realization. Or at least the one Joey thought was right. So Chris continued out the front doors of the hotel, took a right turn and walked the 25 feet to the front door of Blockbuster. He toured around for only a minute before picking up a movie and getting in line. It didn't particularly matter to him what movie it was, considering that its only value was to keep his mind off other things, and what had really convinced him to come anyway was the fact that those sour candies sounded so scrumptious. There was only one person in front of him so it didn't take long for him to be back on the street walking again towards the hotel. For a reason unclear even to him he decided the stairs would be the best course this time. He started up them , walking slower than he usually did, and quietly opened the door to their floor. What he saw made him smile. There stood Lance and JC in the doorway of Lance and Chris's room, pretty much making out! JC was tenderly holding Lance's face in his hands and leaning down the tiniest bit so he could reach Lance, who was standing up on tiptoes. Chris watched their lips meet for the first time, careful to stay silent so he didn't ruin the moment for the two. He heard Lance whisper JC's name and JC moan into Lance's lips, while their tongues played a little hockey. Slowly they made their way backwards into the bedroom until they disappeared from sight completely. A huge grin lit up Chris's face.

"Grrr...."

Chris was roused out of his memories by the growling of his stomach.

`Gee, guess I'm hungrier than I had thought,' he realized, then: 'Did I just say `Gee?' I must be really tired, as well.' He decided, picking up the room service menu and looking over the contents.

`Hmmm, The Breakfast Platter: Feeds approximately 7. Yeah, that oughta be about right.' Chris thought, seeing something that looked promising on the menu and reading the description. `Bacon, eggs, sausage, bagels, muffins, and assorted toppings.'

"Yup, that'll work!" He decided aloud, picking up his cell phone and dialing the number on the front of the room service menu. He repeated his order to the young man who answered on the other side of the line and was told the food would be delivered in 10-15 minutes. He hung up the phone and decided he better alert the other guys to the impending breakfast otherwise by the time they hauled their asses down here it would all be cold, if there was anything left at all, after all he was very hungry. He slowly rose from the couch and stretched again, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He slipped on a tee shirt and headed out the door, walking down the hall to Joey's room first.

"Guys?" He yelled out, knowing they were awake but not particularly wanting to have to wait for them to open the door. "Breakfast is in like 10 minutes in my room, so hurry it up." Chris knew they had heard him because of the shuffling that came from beyond the door.

He slowly walked across the hall to what used to be his room, knocked softly on the door and waited. After a moment JC answered, a worried look on his face and a cautious body marring his tall figure.

"Chris-" He began softly, stepping out of the room into the hall, closing the door behind him.

Chris immediately tensed, the fear beginning to creep along his spine.

**********

Yeah, I know I promised I would reveal what the note said, but it didn't seem to manage to work itself in there! I have to stop making promises that I don't keep! But I promise eventually it'll get there. Oh, and by the way, before I can start the next chapter I need a couple people to help me out: Someone who knows like a LOT about N'sync, even all the little nitty-gritty details and then someone who knows even more about Britney Spears, cus she's going to be showing up pretty soon too, did everyone like my disclaimer? :) Oh, and I really could use an editor too if someone wants to volunteer! Please! So I hope you all liked this chapter and you should all email me! Love all you guys, (and girls too) 'till next time.

-Angel