He Has Me

JC and Justin, the two ‘front’ men of *NSYNC had been asked by Calvin Klein to pose for an ad. An underwear ad, no less. Lance had had so many misgivings about this newest publicity stunt that he didn’t even know where to begin listing them.

“Relax,” JC had laughed when Lance finally voiced his feelings. “You’re worried about nothing.”

But Lance wasn’t so sure about that. It was a few nights after JC made the announcement that Justin cornered him in a room of the compound.

“It’s over Lance,” Justin snarled. “After this little photo shoot for CK, JC will no longer have any interest in you. Because I have every intention of making him mine. I’ve wanted him since we were mice and I’m not going to let some albino from the hick state of Mississippi stop me from getting what I want.”

Lance watched as Justin left the room, slamming the door behind him. He closed his eyes and took a few deep, calming breaths before even attempting to find JC.

This wasn’t going to work. Lance knew that JC loved him… not Justin. At least, he thought he knew. He had to talk to someone about this. He needed reassurance.

He took a step toward the door of the room and shook his head. He was twenty-two years old. He shouldn’t need anyone’s reassurance. And he should have more faith in his boyfriend. He would wait until the photo shoot was over. He would wait to see if Justin followed through with his threats.

He took a deep breath.

He would wait to see if JC would actually leave him for Justin.

**********

(Two weeks later)

“Whoa,” Joey exclaimed as he looked at the Calvin Klein ad for the first time. “Umm...Jace? I thought you were with Lance.”

Justin shot a nasty glare in Lance’s direction and mouthed the word, “Mine.”

“I am,” JC shrugged. “Why?”

“Because J is like...hanging all over you in this picture...and you’re both topless!”

JC rolled his eyes. “Joe...advertising is just another art form. If we wore shirts, then you wouldn’t be able to see the brand name of the underwear because the shirts would cover it.”

“But dude...Justin has his thumbs hooked into the waistband of your shorts!”

Lance cringed when he heard that. He had yet to see the picture.

Chris looked over Joey’s shoulder to see what he was fussing about. Then he looked up at JC and Justin. “They couldn’t have taken separate shots of you?”

“They did,” Justin smiled and looked directly and Lance. “But I guess the photographer just thought that we looked great together.”

“Well,” Chris hesitated. “You do...but do you realize how slashy this looks? I mean, if this was JC and Lance...”

Justin glared darkly at Chris. The older man didn’t notice.

“Chris, you’ve been reading too much fan fiction.” Joey laughed. “Besides, if it was JC and Lance, the photo shoot would have been canceled because those two would have never left the dressing room.”

Chris looked at the ad and then again at JC. “Is there any particular reason why your finger is in your mouth?”

Lance couldn’t take anymore. He stormed out of the room and found the stairwell that led outside. He needed some fresh air.

“The photographer wanted it that way.” JC snapped. “You guys should know by now that we don’t have any control over the positioning of our bodies in photo shoots. Now I need to find Lance and find out what crawled up his ass.”

Both Chris and Joey opened their mouth to comment, but an evil glare from JC made them change their minds.

**********

It took JC almost fifteen minutes to find his boyfriend and when he did, he was laying down on the grass behind the building with his eyes closed. JC lay down on his side and ran his hand softly up and down Lance’s arm.

“Baby,” he said quietly. “Why did you just leave like that?”

Lance didn’t respond right away. JC waited patiently for an answer. After several minutes, Lance finally turned his body so that he was facing JC. “Huh? He’s one of my best friends. What...”

“Have you ever thought of being with him the way you’re with me?” Lance closed his eyes. He really didn’t want to hear the answer.

“Nope.” JC said simply. “Why?”

Lance decided to come clean.

“A few nights after you told me that you were going to be doing the ad with him… he cornered me in one of the rooms in the compound. And he said...that he had every intention of making you his...that an albino hick from Mississippi would have no chance with you...if you knew that Justin wanted you.”

“I’m going to kill him.” JC growled and jumped up. He held out his hand to help Lance to his feet and immediately pulled him into his arms. “It’s you I love...not Justin. I will never feel the way about Justin that I do about you. Now come on, I need to go kick some Timberlake ass.”

“Josh,” Lance hesitated. “Don’t say anything to him please. It will only make things worse.”

“For you?” JC questioned. “Lance...honey...what else has he said to you?”

“Not really a whole lot.” He replied honestly. “And maybe he does love you in some kind of twisted way.”

“He just wants what he can’t have. He’s always been like that; he has no interest in being with me whatsoever. I’ll just have to show him how much I love you.”

**********

It took a few days for JC to formulate a plan that he knew would infuriate Justin – but he also knew that Justin was still harassing Lance in the subtlest of ways.

Lance had a meeting that evening, so JC explained his idea to Chris and Joey – they were more than happy to help.

Joey and JC went out for dinner that night. They were sitting in a booth at the back of Coco’s and JC was telling Joey what he had planned for his two-year anniversary with Lance.

“I bought this for Lance a few weeks ago.” JC told Joey and showed him a simple platinum band with a few small diamonds in it. “I’m going to give it to him on Saturday as an anniversary present. I want to show him just how much he means to me...that I want to make a commitment to him.”

Joey was shocked. This wasn’t part of the plan. “C, that’s...that looks like a wedding band.”

“It is a wedding band of sorts. As much as I would love to marry Lance in a legal ceremony, that’s just not possible. Maybe in a few years someone will be open-minded enough to want to change the law...but I want Lance to know that I love him with all my heart and that there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him.”

“He’s gonna love it, C.” Joey said quietly.

There was a sudden yelp and Justin appeared at the end of JC and Joey’s booth. Chris appeared very shortly after with an apologetic look on his face. Justin looked furious.

“I don’t get it C...what does Lance have that I don’t?” He demanded.

JC looked at him coolly. “You’re so self absorbed that you wouldn’t understand Justin...but here’s one thing you will – he has me.”

Shades of Grey
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