Four 

“I have an idea,” Justin whispered in Lance's ear. He pulled Lance aside as the others hurried out to the car.

“Justin, Lou'll be mad if we're late,” Lance said.

“Screw Lou,” Justin said bravely, then looked around quickly to see if their manager was within earshot. Satisfied that he wasn't, Justin continued. “Why don't we get drunk tonight?”

“We can't do that!” Lance said, horrified. “Even though this is Europe, we can't buy it!”

“I know, stupid,” Justin said, poking Lance in the arm. “I'll get Joey to buy it.”

“Joey?”

“Yeah. He's old enough, and he'll do it. He knows we go crazy sitting around while they're out having fun. Chris would make fun of us if I asked him, and JC would outright refuse.”

“You really think he would?” Lance asked excitedly.

“Sure,” Justin said, shrugging casually, but Lance knew he was excited about it, too. Finally, something to alleviate the boredom of being the babies. 

“So…” Justin propped himself up on his elbows and smiled at Lance. “Did you leave a girlfriend back home?”

“No,” Lance said, spinning the empty beer bottle on the floor. Joey had gotten them twelve bottles of beer, and the dark brew was stronger than anything Lance had ever tasted at home. Justin had gotten silly after two, and downright loopy after four. Lance was on his sixth, and everything was starting to get a bit fuzzy around the edges.

“You broke up?” Justin asked sympathetically. Lance didn't answer. “I had a few girls who liked me, ya know, because I was on the TV show and all…but they weren't serious.”

Lance grinned at Justin's mature tone. “You mean, they let you Mice date? I thought that was forbidden.”

“Ha ha,” Justin said, giving him the finger. “I bet you never even kissed a girl.”

“I did…once…” Lance said. He didn't say how much it had turned him off. Girls weren't what he was interested in. “I didn't like it.”

“You didn't like it,” Justin repeated. He rolled his eyes, then sat up straight. “Guess what! I forgot to tell you!”

“Hmm?” Lance picked up the beer bottle and tried to balance it on one finger.

“JC likes Joey.”

“Of course he does. Joey's the nicest person I know,” Lance murmured. “He has such a great smile…and nice hands.”

“He does?” Justin scratched his head. “Yeah, I guess so. Anyway, JC LIKES him. Like boyfriend likes him. Like wants to have sex likes him.”

“Really?” Lance almost dropped the bottle. “So, JC's…gay?”

“Yeah.” Justin's eyes were wide. “I thought so, maybe, when we were on the show, but I didn't really KNOW.” Justin was still young enough to be shocked by this.

“Does Lou know?”

“Are you crazy? Lou would have a cow if he knew.”

“Of course he would,” Lance said sadly. “So, how'd you find out?”

“I saw them. Joey and JC. They were in the hall one night after they went out. I heard them and peeked out. JC had Joey pressed against the wall, and he kissed him! Joey actually let him for a second, then he pushed back a bit and looked really sorry, you know? He said that he wasn't gonna fool around with JC, because JC was too special, or something. And JC was drunk, I think, because he began to cry and told Joey he loved him.”

“Poor JC!” Lance said, sighing. He really liked JC, and JC got hurt so easily.

“I know. I wanted to go beat Joey up or something. Then Joey said that he knew JC loved him, but that he could never love him in that way…and he didn't want to use JC or hurt him.”

“Good for Joey,” Lance said, relieved. He couldn't believe this little soap opera had happened right under his nose, and he had been sleeping.

“Yeah. Then Joey hugged him, and JC sniffled on him a bit, then Joey helped him to the room. I think Joey was sharing with Chris that night,” Justin said, trying to remember.

“Wow.” Lance digested this information.

“Did you ever kiss a guy?” Justin asked. Lance turned red and Justin laughed. “You DID! When?”

“When you were sleeping,” Lance said, keeping a straight face.

“Huh? You kissed me? Dammit, Lance, I'm gonna kick your ass,” Justin said, standing up and swaying.

“No, I'm kidding, you jerk. Sit down.” Lance yanked on Justin's shirt and he fell back onto the bed next to Lance. “It was back home.” He didn't mention that all total, he had kissed three guys…but nothing exciting had come of it.

“Did you like it?” Justin asked in awe.

Lance gave his best impression of one of Justin's shrugs. “Yeah, I guess. I mean…they weren't very good, I don't think. I always thought good kisses were supposed to just shock your whole body, ya know? But they didn't.”

“Oh.”

“Have you?” Lance studied Justin carefully. The younger boy suddenly looked so appetizing…shocked, big blue eyes, cherry red lips that Justin constantly licked at…

“Nope.” Justin tilted his head. “But I wanna try. Can I kiss you?”

Lance felt every nerve ending jump to attention, but he tried to remain calm. “Sure. If you really want to. I bet you're not that good, though. You're just a kid.”

“Ha. I know more than YOU do,” Justin retorted. He scooted closer to Lance on the bed, then giggled. “This is crazy.”

“If you're gonna be a dork about it…” Lance moved away.

“No.” Justin grabbed Lance and pulled him close. Their lips met clumsily at first, and they both pulled back. Then Justin looked into Lance's calm green eyes and settled down a bit. He nervously leaned back in and gave Lance a shy kiss. Lance smiled at him sweetly and returned the kiss with one a bit more passionate.

Lance felt Justin sigh against him, and he allowed his hand to reach up to the back of Justin's neck. They kissed again and again, and Lance felt the tentative lick of Justin's tongue. Lance parted his lips, and Justin's tongue snaked in. Lance couldn't keep the moan from escaping, and in reward, he felt Justin's hand on the back of his own head.

Lance was the first one to finally pull back. “Well?” He whispered.

“That was, uh…not too bad.” Justin's face was red, and he kept his back to Lance as he got up and quickly fell onto his own bed. Lance smiled and laid his head on his hands, trying to ignore the fact that he had felt that kiss throughout his entire body.

Five