Five 

“Do we have time for me to go to the bathroom?” Justin begged. The assistant looked at her watch.

“You have about three minutes,” she told him, frowning.

“Thank God.” Justin bounded up from his chair and hurried through the tiny studio. Girls giggled as he passed, and he put on his best smile for them. He ran into a brick wall as he hurried down the hall. “I'm sorry,” he said automatically. He steadied himself by putting his hands on the person's broad shoulders.

“Watch where you're going, Curly,” the person said with a lazy grin.

Justin gasped, all thoughts of going to the bathroom long forgotten. “Nick?”

“Hey, there, superstar.” Nick gave Justin a brief hug. “Where are you off to? Don't you have to perform for all your worshippers?”

“I, uh, have to go to the bathroom,” Justin said, still in shock.

“I'll come with you…you might need help,” Nick teased. Justin turned and headed for the bathroom.

Nick leaned against the sinks as Justin went to the urinal. “Uh, what are you doing here?”

“I just happened to be in the city…heard about your big shindig and decided to drop by,” Nick said. “Is that a problem?”

Justin shook, zipped and flushed. “No,” he said, turning around. “It's been ages since I saw you.” Justin went to wash his hands.

“How are you?” Nick asked gently.

“Scared to death,” Justin told him. “This album will make or break us.” Justin sighed. “I never expected all those people to show up, though.”

“They pretty much had to shut the town down for you,” Nick said. “You totally shut down New York, dude!”

“I know.” Justin nervously dried his hands on his jeans. Someone knocked at the door and they both jumped.

“Mr. Timberlake…we need you out here.”

“Okay,” Justin called. He looked at Nick. “It's so nice to see you…we never get to really spend time together, and it sucks.”

“What are you doing for dinner?” Nick asked. “I'm staying at the Trump…we could eat in my room.”

“That would be great,” Justin said happily. “We need to catch up. Emails don't do it right.”

“No, they don't.” Nick gave Justin another hug. “I'm proud of you, man.”

“Thanks,” Justin said shyly, then he hurried back to where the rest of the world was waiting for him. 

“Come on, Justin! Let's go celebrate!” Joey threw an arm around Justin's shoulders. “We'll get dinner, then go to a club.”

“That's such a bad idea,” Lance moaned. “We'll get mobbed anywhere we go.”

“Especially if we're together,” Justin said quickly. “We'll celebrate once the CD comes out. For all we know, it'll bomb.”

“That's positive thinking,” JC said, giving Justin a worried look. Of all of them, Justin had been the most confident about the new CD.

“Sorry,” Justin said. “I just don't wanna count my CDs before they're bought.”

“Well, we know we'll sell at least five,” Chris said thoughtfully. “Because we'll each buy one. And then Joey's mom and dad, JC's mom and dad, Lance's mom and dad…Justin's mom and stepdad, and dad and stepmom, and my mom…and my grandma…that's how many?”

“We are NOT making our families buy the CD, Chris,” Lance said sternly.

“Look…I'm meeting a friend for dinner, so I'll catch y'all tomorrow, okay?” Justin said finally.

“A friend?” Chris asked. Joey laughed.

“You don't think we know about the two of you?” Joey asked.

“It's not her,” Justin muttered, grabbing his jacket.

“Oh! A new 'friend,' huh?” JC teased gently.

“Goodbye, guys,” Justin said, shaking his head. 

Nick paced nervously in his hotel room. It felt weird, spending a whole evening with Justin. They had become good friends, emailing and calling whenever they could, but it was so hard to keep it a secret. Nick was used to keeping secrets, though; it seemed that his whole life was one big secret anymore.

NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys kept taking turns at Number One, it seemed. And now NSYNC was ready to release a brand new album…one they had created virtually on their own. Nick really admired them for that, and he knew the others in his group felt the same way. In all honesty, Nick wished that he himself had the courage to speak up for himself the way the members of NSYNC did. It felt like all he did was follow orders lately.

A knock at the door made him jump. He smoothed down his hair and made himself relax. It was only Justin. It wasn't like a date or anything, because he was straight and didn't feel that way about Justin.

“Hi,” Justin said, smiling when Nick opened the door. “Sorry I'm late.”

“You're barely late.” Nick stepped aside and Justin came in, tossing his jacket onto a chair.

“The guys wanted to go out and do some sort of big thing…but I got out of it.”

“I'm sorry if I kept you from doing something fun,” Nick said. Justin rolled his eyes.

“It's NOT my idea of fun. Don't get me wrong, fancy dinners and clubbing are just as fun to me as they are to the next person, but not now and not in this city. We woulda been mobbed in an instant.”

“Isn't it amazing how quick these girls learn where we are?” Nick shook his head in amazement.

“The internet is a wonderful thing,” Justin said, shaking his head as well.

Nick slapped the room service menu against Justin's chest. “Order. I'm starving.”

Justin kept one eye on the menu and one eye on Nick. Nick flopped onto the sofa and stared at the ceiling, red lips puckered as he whistled cheerfully. “Just get me a cheeseburger and fries. And some nachos. Yeah.”

“Mmm…nachos sound GREAT,” Nick agreed. He called in the order, getting himself a bacon cheeseburger.

Justin sat down on a chair near the sofa. “Nick, I need to be honest with you about something.” Justin's blue eyes were serious as he looked at Nick. Nick sat up slowly, butterflies twirling about in his stomach. In the years that they'd been friends, he and Justin had done their best to always be honest with each other. The serious look on Justin's face worried him.

“Lemme guess,” Nick said, trying to grin. “You and Lance are secretly an item, and have been since Europe.”

Justin actually paled, and Nick swallowed deeply. “Uh, no! What made you say that?” Justin laughed weakly.

“Is there something you're trying to tell me?” Nick whispered.

“Yeah, but not about Lance. Damn, Nick,” Justin said, giving another lame ha-ha. “It's about me and Britney Spears. She's, well, she's my girlfriend now.”

“Oh,” Nick said. “Uh, well, that's great.”

“We're keeping it on the lowdown for now.” Justin ran a hand through his curls. “God, it seems that every relationship in my life is a secret.”

“And you're not even getting sex from me,” Nick tried to joke. Justin blushed slightly.

“Well, I'm not getting it from her, either. Not yet.” Nick raised an eyebrows. “God, Nick, that's what groupies are for. You know that. She knows I get some now and then, and that I'm careful…but she's not ready for all that.”

“Okay, whatever. And like I said, it's great for you, man. I know you can get lonely.”

“How about you?”

Nick looked at his shoes. “Dates here and there, but no one steady.”

“Sorry,” Justin said sympathetically. He reached for the remote.

“Justin,” Nick said, and Justin stopped in mid-lean. “Why did you get so freaked out about what I said? About you and Lance?” Justin paled again. “I kissed AJ once,” Nick said quickly, and Justin's mouth fell open. “He's, well, bisexual, you know, and I wanted to see. So I kissed him. Once.”

“And you're just telling me this now?”

“It's not exactly something you tell someone through an email,” Nick pointed out. “I thought maybe you were homophobic or something, so I just wanted to tell you.”

“I'm NOT homophobic,” Justin promised. “Jeez, Nick. I'm cool with everyone.”

“Good,” Nick said. “Not that I'm gay or anything,” he added.

“Right.” Justin shook his head, confused at the turn the conversation had taken. The room was filled with an uneasy silence.

“I brought my Playstation,” Nick said, and Justin's face lit up.

“Excellent! I was looking for someone's ass to kick.”

“Hardly, Curly. C'mon. It's set up in the bedroom.” Nick threw an arm around Justin's shoulder as they left the living room, all confusion and awkwardness forgotten.

Six