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Where He Belongs
[N'sync] [Lambs, Basez] [PG-13 because of slight violence]
Where He Belongs
Author’s Note: *sigh* Basez rules over Jola! Basez RULES! YES! *cough cough* I had a bit of sugar, ignore me. Ahem. Anyway, hope y’all enjoy this piece of slash. Hmm… seems I like making Justin the baddy, eh? It’s always nice to have a streak of evil in the person you can’t stand, isn’t it, Justin? *Sigh* What people see in you I really don’t understand. What? Your thrust? God, Justin, get a life!
I really think I’d better stop talking to pictures.
“Justin, I told you, I had a meeting to go to. Something cropped up at FreeLance and Meredith--”
“You keep saying the same thing, Lance! Dammit! How many times are you going to put this off? I ask you for ONE night out, Lance! ONE. Friggin. Night. Would that KILL you, Mr. Work? I know your business is important but this is ridiculous! God, Lance, you never go out with me anymore. Every night it’s FreeLance this, and Meredith that… I’m so sick of that! Are you going to keep yourself cooped up in this goddamned room for the rest of your LIFE?” Justin fumed.
Lance sighed and scrubbed his hand over his face tiredly, “J, I don’t want to get in an argument, all right? I’m tired. Can we just-”
“NO, we CAN’T leave this for tomorrow!” Justin yelled, frustrated. “That’s what you’ve said EVERY night for the past few weeks! Well, I think we need to get this straightened out!”
Lance closed his eyes for a long blink, a pained expression on his face. Justin didn’t even flinch. “We’ve argued about this every night of the past few weeks as well, Justin.”
Justin glared defiantly at Lance. “So? You didn’t stop. I’m not gonna let up this time either. It’s not fair to me, Lance! Dammit, would you just STOP doing your work for an HOUR? Just an HOUR of your bloody precious time, Lance! Is that too much to friggin ask?”
“Justin-” Lance tried again.
“I mean, it just feels like you don’t love me anymore! You don’t go out with me, don’t talk to me, don’t do ANYTHING with me anymore! This is crap.” Justin’s eyes suddenly widened in understanding. “You’re seeing someone else, aren’t you? AREN’T YOU?”
Lance winced when Justin grabbed his wrist, his fingers gripping painfully onto Lance’s pale skin. “Justin, let go!” Lance tried to force his wrist out of Justin’s grip but Justin just held on all the more tighter and Lance had to bite his lip in order not to scream out. The curly haired blond was not as defenseless as he made himself out to be.
Justin pulled Lance closer to himself, causing Lance to stumble. Their noses were touching when Justin whispered menacingly, “Who’s the bastard?” Lance shook his head and Justin bit his lip, his eyes narrowed, “WHO IS IT, LANCE? TELL ME, DAMMIT!”
Lance managed to wrench his hand from Justin’s grasp and he took a few steps back to distance himself from Justin’s anger. “I’m not seeing anyone else, Justin. I’m not cheating on you.”
“Like hell you’re not!” Justin growled, pouncing on Lance and slamming the frightened blond against the cupboard. Justin swam in and out of Lance’s vision for a second as his head met the cupboard. The impact caused Lance to groan but Justin just continued glaring at him, oblivious to his pain.
“I’m not,” Lance insisted, his head throbbing. He tried to reason with his over possessive boyfriend, but nothing he said seemed to be registering in Justin’s brain. “I’m not, Justin.”
Justin grabbed onto Lance’s upper arms and shook the blond wildly. “Who’s the guy, huh? Some prostitute you picked up from the street?”
Lance gave up trying to rationale with Justin and instead, focused his energy on getting away from the crazed man. “Justin, let me go.” Lance squirmed, trying to ignore the pain his boyfriend was inflicting on him. “Let. Me. GO.” Lance pushed against Justin a little harder, but Justin was oblivious to anything besides his own rage.
Lance finally shoved Justin but Justin didn’t budge. Instead he forced Lance onto the bed and Lance almost yelled when Justin’s palm connected with the tender flesh on his cheek.
Instinctively, Lance’s hand went up to his cheek, shielding it. His eyes were wide and Justin smirked at the shock on Lance’s face. “Do you know how it feels to be cheated on now? I’ve abused your trust, just like you did mine. Except yours hurts hundreds of times more than this.”
Lance struggled harder when Justin wouldn’t release his arm. Finally, Justin growled angrily and threw Lance onto the floor. Lance bit his lip to stop himself from whimpering as he picked himself painfully up off of the floor. He stood up shakily, ignoring the tears that were clouding his vision, and marched out the hotel room.
Justin didn’t even flinch. Instead, he flopped onto the bed and reached for his cell phone, dialing Britney’s cell phone number.
“Josh?”
JC opened his hotel room door slowly, allowing a small smile when he saw it was Lance. It's not like I didn’t know he would be coming, JC thought ruefully as he stepped aside, letting Lance enter his room.
It had been going on for weeks now. Justin and Lance would have a quarrel every night. And it was always about the same thing. Lance would say he had business to do and Justin would claim that Lance didn’t love him anymore, and he would accuse Lance of having a lover. Except Lance didn’t have a lover. JC knew he didn’t.
But what was the use? Nothing Lance said ever entered Justin’s thick skull. And he’d end up running to JC’s room, unable to take the beating or the screaming any longer. JC would smile and pretend to understand, when inside he didn’t understand at all.
Why won’t Lance leave that bastard? He could do so much better. Even if it wasn’t with me… I just want to see him happy, is that too much to ask? I could make him happy. I know I could. It’s just… why is he taking all this crap from Justin? JC questioned himself every night, just where he had gone wrong. He couldn’t quite grasp why Lance wouldn’t leave Justin, even after everything Justin had done to him.
In the morning, everything would be back to normal and Justin and Lance would be the ‘perfect couple’ that everyone could see through. Lance was miserable, even a blind fool would see that, but he was ignoring his own happiness. And JC was determined to dig deeper into the mystery.
Still, it shocked JC to see the red handprint imprinted on Lance’s right cheek. He gasped when Lance removed his hand from his cheek and hugged the blond tightly as Lance wept. JC slid to the floor under Lance’s weight and the two held on to each other as if their lives depended on it.
JC reached over to brush the tears gently away from Lance’s face with his thumbs. Lance looked up, shocked at the intimate gesture. JC shook his head, “Don’t cry Lance. He’s not worth it.”
Lance shook his head, “You don’t understand.”
JC sat quietly till Lance’s wracking sobs quieted down a little before pressing gently, “Then MAKE me understand.”
“I… I can’t,” Lance choked out, burying his face in JC’s shirt before pulling away quickly.
“Why, Lance? Tell me! I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s wrong.” JC cupped Lance’s face with his two hands, stroking Lance’s cheek with his thumbs. “Please, Lance. Don’t shut me out like this. I just want to help you. Please… tell me.”
Lance shook his head, unshed tears still hanging off of the eyelashes hiding his beautiful emerald eyes. “You won’t understand.” Lance suddenly realized it was a mistake coming to JC, so he stood up to leave.
JC grabbed onto Lance’s fist, but his grip was not hard and painful, simply questioning and concerned. But Lance flinched at their contact and pulled his bruised wrists out of JC’s grasp.
JC looked incredulously at Lance. “What’s wrong?” JC asked before he caught sight of the bruised finger marks marring Lance’s pale white wrist. His eyes widened in disbelief and he jumped to his feet, grabbing onto Lance’s upper arms in a bid to stop the young man from leaving his room.
What JC didn’t expect was for Lance to recoil from his touch again. JC released Lance immediately and practically forced the blond to roll up the sleeves of his shirt, since Lance didn’t dare to change into a wife beater for fear of showing his bruises.
“God Lance.” JC breathed, exhaling noisily when he saw the bruises marked on Lance’s arm. “What… what did he DO to you?”
Lance shook his head violently, wrenching his arm painfully out of JC’s hold regardless of the pain shooting through his arm. “Don’t tell them, Josh.” Lance begged, “Please don’t tell anyone else about this. They don’t know. They don’t know about Justin.”
“Why the hell not Lance?” JC fought not to yell. He knew Lance had already been physically abused, needless to say the mental abuse all Justin’s screaming had brought him.
“I… I don’t want to get Justin into trouble.” Lance whispered quietly, so softly that JC almost didn’t hear him.
“WHAT?!” Of all the reasons Lance could have given him, this was the last reason JC had expected.
“He… I… you don’t know, Josh,” Lance said quietly, almost inaudibly. “You don’t know anything about it.”
“Tell me then!” JC demanded, holding Lance’s face in both his hands for the second or third time that night.
“I…” Lance shook his head and crawled into JC’s bed, knowing that JC wouldn’t press him further.
JC sighed, watching the young blond fall into an exhausted sleep as soon as his head touched the pillow. “Okay Lance, I’m dropping it for now. But I’m going to kill Justin tomorrow. Mark my words, I WILL get back at him for doing this to you. For doing ALL of this to you.”
JC snuggled into the covers next to Lance, opening his eyelids sleepily and gazing at Lance for a little while, reaching out tentatively to stroke the young blonde’s cheek, his touch feather light.
“Josh…?” Lance mumbled sleepily into his pillow, smiling when JC’s fingers lingered on his cheek a little longer in affirmation. “Love you.”
JC smiled at Lance’ words, feeling a bittersweet feeling take over his senses. He’s not going to remember any of this tomorrow, JC thought ruefully to himself. Not a word.
Still, he couldn’t resist replying to Lance’s simple sentence. “Love you too.”
Lance nuzzled closer to JC’s warm lanky body, and they both fell asleep with contented smiles on their faces.
“Justin Randall Timberlake!” JC marched toward Justin’s table and slammed his fists angrily on the table, the fury he had felt from the night before at seeing Lance’s contusions taking over his thoughts.
Justin shot JC a curious, astonished look. And JC could practically see the wheels in his mind turning furiously, going what the…?
“Don’t you act like there’s nothing wrong Justin! I would have left it alone, but Jesus! This is too much! You bastard! Leave Lance alone! If I see ONE more damned mark on him, I will KILL you.”
Realization dawned on Justin’s face when he finally realized what JC was talking about. Chris and Joey’s faces were identical faces of horror when they too grasped the meaning behind JC’s words. The brunette couldn’t believe his eyes when his blond counterpart let a lazy grin appear on his lips. “Stay out of this Jace. You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Lance appeared suddenly in the doorway, his pale green eyes wide with fear. He moaned when he saw JC talking, no, YELLING, at Justin. This was like a replay of his worst nightmare. “Josh!” Lance called, not making any move towards Justin’s table. “Please. You said-“
“I never promised anything. I want you to lay everything out on the table, get it? No more hiding, Lance! Stop all this crap! Just end it, NOW!” JC was frustrated at the way things were turning out. Lance, innocent, badly beaten up and scared; Justin, calm, confident and smooth… JC couldn’t take it anymore. “What is this thing you’re all hiding?”
Lance licked his lips nervously, “Don’t tell him, Justin…” he chanted softly, over and over.
“Lance is in love with you.”
The simple sentence sent JC’s senses reeling. Lance let out a soft groan and sank to his knees. JC collected himself and went straight to Lance, putting his fingers under Lance’s chin and lifting Lance’s face up, forcing Lance’s sea-green eyes to meet his own steel-blue ones. “Did you stay with Justin just because of this? Was he using your love for me as a hold over you?” JC barely saw Lance nod slowly before he rushed at Justin.
“Son. Of. A. Bitch. Damn. Bastard!” JC yelled, kicking furiously, demanding Joey to let him go. “Shit Joey, stop holding me back! Justin!”
Chris surprised them all by walking calmly over to Justin and punching him good and hard, giving him a black eye. “Get out Justin. I swear to God, if Lynn didn’t love you as much as she did now, I would send you to your grave.”
Justin, cradling his eye, swept out of the room without another word, sure that Chris would do as he threatened.
Joey sat JC down on a chair, letting the brunette cry. Tears fell from JC’s eyes as though they would never stop and he hardly noticed when his item of affection joined him. “I’m sorry, Josh.”
“Lance... why didn’t you tell me? God, I’m such an asshole. I should have seen it. I SHOULD have known. All the time I thought you were happy with Justin, that you were with him because you loved him. Shit, Lance, I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Lance said sincerely. “I should be the one apologizing.”
JC shook his head, “I should have seen it. I’m sorry. God, you went through so much just to hide it. Why didn’t you just tell me?”
“I couldn’t. I didn’t know… how you’d react. I thought you’d hate me, or turn me away. I couldn’t stand the thought of that. I don’t know why I went to Justin with this… I just did. And he used it against me.”
Chris and Joey had left the room, leaving JC and Lance to talk it out, “I love you, James Lance Bass,” JC said sincerely, as he hugged Lance. “I would never turn you away. I’m just sorry I made you go through so much.”
“I love you, Joshua Scott Chasez,” Lance whispered, just before their lips met. And he knew, with that simple kiss, that all the pain he had endured was worth it. That Justin had helped him in a sick, twisted way. Because without Justin Timberlake, Lance was sure he would never have gotten the courage to tell JC just how he felt.
So this is what they mean by the sunshine after the rain, JC thought, savoring the kiss. All those talking sessions and fear and pain was worth it. I’d go through it all over again… as long as Lance ends up with me. Right where he belongs.
“I love you,” Lance repeated, as their lips met again, the kiss full of promises and trust and love. And his hands stayed in JC hair, as his heart stayed in JC’s hands. Right where he belonged.
-fin-
Where He Belongs
Author’s Note: *sigh* Basez rules over Jola! Basez RULES! YES! *cough cough* I had a bit of sugar, ignore me. Ahem. Anyway, hope y’all enjoy this piece of slash. Hmm… seems I like making Justin the baddy, eh? It’s always nice to have a streak of evil in the person you can’t stand, isn’t it, Justin? *Sigh* What people see in you I really don’t understand. What? Your thrust? God, Justin, get a life!
I really think I’d better stop talking to pictures.
“Justin, I told you, I had a meeting to go to. Something cropped up at FreeLance and Meredith--”
“You keep saying the same thing, Lance! Dammit! How many times are you going to put this off? I ask you for ONE night out, Lance! ONE. Friggin. Night. Would that KILL you, Mr. Work? I know your business is important but this is ridiculous! God, Lance, you never go out with me anymore. Every night it’s FreeLance this, and Meredith that… I’m so sick of that! Are you going to keep yourself cooped up in this goddamned room for the rest of your LIFE?” Justin fumed.
Lance sighed and scrubbed his hand over his face tiredly, “J, I don’t want to get in an argument, all right? I’m tired. Can we just-”
“NO, we CAN’T leave this for tomorrow!” Justin yelled, frustrated. “That’s what you’ve said EVERY night for the past few weeks! Well, I think we need to get this straightened out!”
Lance closed his eyes for a long blink, a pained expression on his face. Justin didn’t even flinch. “We’ve argued about this every night of the past few weeks as well, Justin.”
Justin glared defiantly at Lance. “So? You didn’t stop. I’m not gonna let up this time either. It’s not fair to me, Lance! Dammit, would you just STOP doing your work for an HOUR? Just an HOUR of your bloody precious time, Lance! Is that too much to friggin ask?”
“Justin-” Lance tried again.
“I mean, it just feels like you don’t love me anymore! You don’t go out with me, don’t talk to me, don’t do ANYTHING with me anymore! This is crap.” Justin’s eyes suddenly widened in understanding. “You’re seeing someone else, aren’t you? AREN’T YOU?”
Lance winced when Justin grabbed his wrist, his fingers gripping painfully onto Lance’s pale skin. “Justin, let go!” Lance tried to force his wrist out of Justin’s grip but Justin just held on all the more tighter and Lance had to bite his lip in order not to scream out. The curly haired blond was not as defenseless as he made himself out to be.
Justin pulled Lance closer to himself, causing Lance to stumble. Their noses were touching when Justin whispered menacingly, “Who’s the bastard?” Lance shook his head and Justin bit his lip, his eyes narrowed, “WHO IS IT, LANCE? TELL ME, DAMMIT!”
Lance managed to wrench his hand from Justin’s grasp and he took a few steps back to distance himself from Justin’s anger. “I’m not seeing anyone else, Justin. I’m not cheating on you.”
“Like hell you’re not!” Justin growled, pouncing on Lance and slamming the frightened blond against the cupboard. Justin swam in and out of Lance’s vision for a second as his head met the cupboard. The impact caused Lance to groan but Justin just continued glaring at him, oblivious to his pain.
“I’m not,” Lance insisted, his head throbbing. He tried to reason with his over possessive boyfriend, but nothing he said seemed to be registering in Justin’s brain. “I’m not, Justin.”
Justin grabbed onto Lance’s upper arms and shook the blond wildly. “Who’s the guy, huh? Some prostitute you picked up from the street?”
Lance gave up trying to rationale with Justin and instead, focused his energy on getting away from the crazed man. “Justin, let me go.” Lance squirmed, trying to ignore the pain his boyfriend was inflicting on him. “Let. Me. GO.” Lance pushed against Justin a little harder, but Justin was oblivious to anything besides his own rage.
Lance finally shoved Justin but Justin didn’t budge. Instead he forced Lance onto the bed and Lance almost yelled when Justin’s palm connected with the tender flesh on his cheek.
Instinctively, Lance’s hand went up to his cheek, shielding it. His eyes were wide and Justin smirked at the shock on Lance’s face. “Do you know how it feels to be cheated on now? I’ve abused your trust, just like you did mine. Except yours hurts hundreds of times more than this.”
Lance struggled harder when Justin wouldn’t release his arm. Finally, Justin growled angrily and threw Lance onto the floor. Lance bit his lip to stop himself from whimpering as he picked himself painfully up off of the floor. He stood up shakily, ignoring the tears that were clouding his vision, and marched out the hotel room.
Justin didn’t even flinch. Instead, he flopped onto the bed and reached for his cell phone, dialing Britney’s cell phone number.
“Josh?”
JC opened his hotel room door slowly, allowing a small smile when he saw it was Lance. It's not like I didn’t know he would be coming, JC thought ruefully as he stepped aside, letting Lance enter his room.
It had been going on for weeks now. Justin and Lance would have a quarrel every night. And it was always about the same thing. Lance would say he had business to do and Justin would claim that Lance didn’t love him anymore, and he would accuse Lance of having a lover. Except Lance didn’t have a lover. JC knew he didn’t.
But what was the use? Nothing Lance said ever entered Justin’s thick skull. And he’d end up running to JC’s room, unable to take the beating or the screaming any longer. JC would smile and pretend to understand, when inside he didn’t understand at all.
Why won’t Lance leave that bastard? He could do so much better. Even if it wasn’t with me… I just want to see him happy, is that too much to ask? I could make him happy. I know I could. It’s just… why is he taking all this crap from Justin? JC questioned himself every night, just where he had gone wrong. He couldn’t quite grasp why Lance wouldn’t leave Justin, even after everything Justin had done to him.
In the morning, everything would be back to normal and Justin and Lance would be the ‘perfect couple’ that everyone could see through. Lance was miserable, even a blind fool would see that, but he was ignoring his own happiness. And JC was determined to dig deeper into the mystery.
Still, it shocked JC to see the red handprint imprinted on Lance’s right cheek. He gasped when Lance removed his hand from his cheek and hugged the blond tightly as Lance wept. JC slid to the floor under Lance’s weight and the two held on to each other as if their lives depended on it.
JC reached over to brush the tears gently away from Lance’s face with his thumbs. Lance looked up, shocked at the intimate gesture. JC shook his head, “Don’t cry Lance. He’s not worth it.”
Lance shook his head, “You don’t understand.”
JC sat quietly till Lance’s wracking sobs quieted down a little before pressing gently, “Then MAKE me understand.”
“I… I can’t,” Lance choked out, burying his face in JC’s shirt before pulling away quickly.
“Why, Lance? Tell me! I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s wrong.” JC cupped Lance’s face with his two hands, stroking Lance’s cheek with his thumbs. “Please, Lance. Don’t shut me out like this. I just want to help you. Please… tell me.”
Lance shook his head, unshed tears still hanging off of the eyelashes hiding his beautiful emerald eyes. “You won’t understand.” Lance suddenly realized it was a mistake coming to JC, so he stood up to leave.
JC grabbed onto Lance’s fist, but his grip was not hard and painful, simply questioning and concerned. But Lance flinched at their contact and pulled his bruised wrists out of JC’s grasp.
JC looked incredulously at Lance. “What’s wrong?” JC asked before he caught sight of the bruised finger marks marring Lance’s pale white wrist. His eyes widened in disbelief and he jumped to his feet, grabbing onto Lance’s upper arms in a bid to stop the young man from leaving his room.
What JC didn’t expect was for Lance to recoil from his touch again. JC released Lance immediately and practically forced the blond to roll up the sleeves of his shirt, since Lance didn’t dare to change into a wife beater for fear of showing his bruises.
“God Lance.” JC breathed, exhaling noisily when he saw the bruises marked on Lance’s arm. “What… what did he DO to you?”
Lance shook his head violently, wrenching his arm painfully out of JC’s hold regardless of the pain shooting through his arm. “Don’t tell them, Josh.” Lance begged, “Please don’t tell anyone else about this. They don’t know. They don’t know about Justin.”
“Why the hell not Lance?” JC fought not to yell. He knew Lance had already been physically abused, needless to say the mental abuse all Justin’s screaming had brought him.
“I… I don’t want to get Justin into trouble.” Lance whispered quietly, so softly that JC almost didn’t hear him.
“WHAT?!” Of all the reasons Lance could have given him, this was the last reason JC had expected.
“He… I… you don’t know, Josh,” Lance said quietly, almost inaudibly. “You don’t know anything about it.”
“Tell me then!” JC demanded, holding Lance’s face in both his hands for the second or third time that night.
“I…” Lance shook his head and crawled into JC’s bed, knowing that JC wouldn’t press him further.
JC sighed, watching the young blond fall into an exhausted sleep as soon as his head touched the pillow. “Okay Lance, I’m dropping it for now. But I’m going to kill Justin tomorrow. Mark my words, I WILL get back at him for doing this to you. For doing ALL of this to you.”
JC snuggled into the covers next to Lance, opening his eyelids sleepily and gazing at Lance for a little while, reaching out tentatively to stroke the young blonde’s cheek, his touch feather light.
“Josh…?” Lance mumbled sleepily into his pillow, smiling when JC’s fingers lingered on his cheek a little longer in affirmation. “Love you.”
JC smiled at Lance’ words, feeling a bittersweet feeling take over his senses. He’s not going to remember any of this tomorrow, JC thought ruefully to himself. Not a word.
Still, he couldn’t resist replying to Lance’s simple sentence. “Love you too.”
Lance nuzzled closer to JC’s warm lanky body, and they both fell asleep with contented smiles on their faces.
“Justin Randall Timberlake!” JC marched toward Justin’s table and slammed his fists angrily on the table, the fury he had felt from the night before at seeing Lance’s contusions taking over his thoughts.
Justin shot JC a curious, astonished look. And JC could practically see the wheels in his mind turning furiously, going what the…?
“Don’t you act like there’s nothing wrong Justin! I would have left it alone, but Jesus! This is too much! You bastard! Leave Lance alone! If I see ONE more damned mark on him, I will KILL you.”
Realization dawned on Justin’s face when he finally realized what JC was talking about. Chris and Joey’s faces were identical faces of horror when they too grasped the meaning behind JC’s words. The brunette couldn’t believe his eyes when his blond counterpart let a lazy grin appear on his lips. “Stay out of this Jace. You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Lance appeared suddenly in the doorway, his pale green eyes wide with fear. He moaned when he saw JC talking, no, YELLING, at Justin. This was like a replay of his worst nightmare. “Josh!” Lance called, not making any move towards Justin’s table. “Please. You said-“
“I never promised anything. I want you to lay everything out on the table, get it? No more hiding, Lance! Stop all this crap! Just end it, NOW!” JC was frustrated at the way things were turning out. Lance, innocent, badly beaten up and scared; Justin, calm, confident and smooth… JC couldn’t take it anymore. “What is this thing you’re all hiding?”
Lance licked his lips nervously, “Don’t tell him, Justin…” he chanted softly, over and over.
“Lance is in love with you.”
The simple sentence sent JC’s senses reeling. Lance let out a soft groan and sank to his knees. JC collected himself and went straight to Lance, putting his fingers under Lance’s chin and lifting Lance’s face up, forcing Lance’s sea-green eyes to meet his own steel-blue ones. “Did you stay with Justin just because of this? Was he using your love for me as a hold over you?” JC barely saw Lance nod slowly before he rushed at Justin.
“Son. Of. A. Bitch. Damn. Bastard!” JC yelled, kicking furiously, demanding Joey to let him go. “Shit Joey, stop holding me back! Justin!”
Chris surprised them all by walking calmly over to Justin and punching him good and hard, giving him a black eye. “Get out Justin. I swear to God, if Lynn didn’t love you as much as she did now, I would send you to your grave.”
Justin, cradling his eye, swept out of the room without another word, sure that Chris would do as he threatened.
Joey sat JC down on a chair, letting the brunette cry. Tears fell from JC’s eyes as though they would never stop and he hardly noticed when his item of affection joined him. “I’m sorry, Josh.”
“Lance... why didn’t you tell me? God, I’m such an asshole. I should have seen it. I SHOULD have known. All the time I thought you were happy with Justin, that you were with him because you loved him. Shit, Lance, I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Lance said sincerely. “I should be the one apologizing.”
JC shook his head, “I should have seen it. I’m sorry. God, you went through so much just to hide it. Why didn’t you just tell me?”
“I couldn’t. I didn’t know… how you’d react. I thought you’d hate me, or turn me away. I couldn’t stand the thought of that. I don’t know why I went to Justin with this… I just did. And he used it against me.”
Chris and Joey had left the room, leaving JC and Lance to talk it out, “I love you, James Lance Bass,” JC said sincerely, as he hugged Lance. “I would never turn you away. I’m just sorry I made you go through so much.”
“I love you, Joshua Scott Chasez,” Lance whispered, just before their lips met. And he knew, with that simple kiss, that all the pain he had endured was worth it. That Justin had helped him in a sick, twisted way. Because without Justin Timberlake, Lance was sure he would never have gotten the courage to tell JC just how he felt.
So this is what they mean by the sunshine after the rain, JC thought, savoring the kiss. All those talking sessions and fear and pain was worth it. I’d go through it all over again… as long as Lance ends up with me. Right where he belongs.
“I love you,” Lance repeated, as their lips met again, the kiss full of promises and trust and love. And his hands stayed in JC hair, as his heart stayed in JC’s hands. Right where he belonged.
-fin-