Three

 

“Yeah, me, too.”  Justin waved Chris and JC in as he cradled the phone between his neck and his shoulder.  “I wish you could, too.  They get MTV over there, right?”

“Lance,” Chris said, and JC made a face.  Like he couldn’t have figured it out by himself.  Justin talked to Lance almost every freaking day.  JC preferred to leave him alone.  Let Justin look like an annoying brat…not him.

“I’ll tip my hat to you or something.  Miss you a lot, bro.  Bring your sexy self home soon, okay?”

It was four weeks before Justin’s performance on the MTV Video Music Awards, and he was already nervous. It showed in the way he walked, the tone of his voice, and the way he constantly asked for reassurance that he really was good enough to do this alone.  He hung up the phone and smiled at JC and Chris.

“What?” Chris asked. It was a cat-ate-the-canary, I-know-something-you-don’t kind of smile.

“Guess what?”

“What?” JC said with no patience whatsoever.  He didn’t have time for sexy Justin and his cute little games.

“Well, Lance told me something.”  Justin glared at JC for a moment, then smiled broadly.  “He’ll be back in the States in a few weeks.”

“He will?” JC couldn’t help gasping.  “Why?”

“NASA is actually allowing three of them to do some training down in Houston.  He’ll be there during the VMAs!”

“Justin, you realize he won’t be able to come up for that, right?” Chris said slowly.

“Yeah, I know that,” Justin scowled. “But maybe I could shoot down there to visit him.”

“There’s no way you’ll be able to do that,” JC said quickly.

“Why not?” Justin shot back.

“Because he won’t be able to rearrange his schedule to fit in time for you, and you’ll be up in New York doing press and rehearsal stuff,” JC said, trying not to sound too ecstatic.

“He’ll be there on the first,” Justin said.  “I could swing down and…”

“JC’s right, Justin,” Chris said, sighing.  “Besides…remember how you skipped his movie premiere because you didn’t want to draw attention away from Joey and Lance?  If you went down there, it would just cause a scene.”

“Right,” Justin said sadly.  “Oh, well. I can send him a fruit basket or something.”

“From one fruit to another,” Chris teased, and Justin frowned.

“I am NOT gay.”

“Not completely…but I bet there’s somebody out there who could turn you to the Dark Side,” Chris said, laughing.

“Maybe,” Justin mumbled, going to the kitchen.  Chris followed.  JC stayed in the foyer, a goofy smile on his face.  Maybe Justin couldn’t make it down to Texas…but HE could.

 

“Yeah…I’ll be thinking of you.  You’ll be on late, huh?  Damn. I’m usually fast asleep by nine, but I’ll try to stay up late,” Lance promised as he headed down the hall to his hotel room.  “Good luck, Justin. I’ll talk to you before then,” Lance said, hanging up. He swiped his keycard and opened the door, tossing his duffel bag onto the floor. He was exhausted.

“Well, look who’s all buff and strong,” a voice said from a corner of the room.  Lance let out a shriek and turned the light on.

“JC?”  Lance gasped.

“In the flesh,” JC said with a shy grin, getting off of the chair.  He came over and hugged Lance.  “Hope you don’t mind.”

“Hell, no!” Lance exclaimed. “Damn, it’s great to see you.  They said I had to kiss up to some special guest tonight…I sure hope that’s you.”

“I hope so,” JC said.  “If I’m not too bad to kiss up to.”

“Of course not,” Lance whispered, and JC blushed. “Let me shower, okay, and then we’ll go out for dinner.  How long can you stay?”

“Just a few days…gotta go back to New York for Wonder Boy’s appearance,” JC said wryly.  “I’ll go down and get a room while you’re in the shower.”

“You don’t have a room?” Lance asked.  JC shook his head.  “Well, hell, that bed is huge. Stay here. It’s not like we haven’t shared a bed before.”  Lance smiled so happily that JC could only agree, ignoring the excited shiver that raced down his spine.  “Dammit, JC, this is like the best thing that’s happened to me in weeks.  I hadn’t heard from you much…didn’t think you cared.”

“I care,” JC said before he thought.  “I mean, I just thought I’d leave you alone, you know, let you concentrate.”

“Thank you for that,” Lance said. He laughed. “Justin’s sweet and all, but damn, he was calling ALL the time.”

JC couldn’t keep the smile from his face.  Score one for Chasez.  “So, go get yourself sexified.  I’m hungry.”

“Okay.”  Lance smiled again and hugged JC once more. “I’m so glad you’re here.” He surprised JC by giving him a shy kiss on the cheek before going into the bathroom.

Four