Erica
Copyright September 10, 2001 by Matthew Haldeman-Time
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Lance Bass/Chris Kirkpatrick, JC Chasez/Justin Timberlake
Disclaimer: The young men who comprise *NSYNC are their own people. The author has not met anyone here described, nor does the author mean to suggest that these people act this way in real life. This writing is a work of fiction. I make no money from this venture.
Dedication: This slashfic is for Ewan McGregor and the Savage Garden slashwriters.
Wherein Lance fidgets, Justin doodles, and we find out how lyrical inspiration strikes.
Notice: Thank you, Kyla, for noticing the connection that led to this story.
"Why?" Justin looked at Lance. "Looks okay to me." Not that he'd seen Lance for a few weeks. When the tour ended, everybody had to split for a while. Only Lance and Chris had stayed in Orlando. And Justin wasn't betting that Lance and Chris had spent too much time together, either; there'd been tension between the two of them during the last leg.
Chris liked to play. Lance liked business. The more playful Chris got, lately, the more uptight Lance got. It even came out onstage, which was way not at all cool, in Justin's eyes. Personally, Justin thought that Lance could stand to loosen up a little. But he figured it wasn't a permanent problem. Maybe Lance was under more stress right now, and would ease up soon.
Justin had wanted to ask Chris to tone it down a little around Lance. He didn't want it turning into some antagonism. But he'd always put it off, because who was he to tell Chris how to be? Then the tour ended, and he figured they'd all get some space and chill for a while, and everything would be okay.
He'd just gotten back into town yesterday, and he hadn't seen Chris. Joey was supposed to stop by later. Justin couldn't wait to see them.
Maybe he'd test the waters. Justin hesitated, then tried to sound natural. Of course, as a result of trying to sound natural, his voice came out extra-bright, then cracked. "Lance, how's Chris?"
Lance looked at them and said, all calm and deep, "He's fine."
"You seen him?" JC asked, managing to sound casual and normal. Jerk.
"He's been around," Lance said.
"I called him to tell him to come over, but I got his machine," Justin said. "He didn't call back."
The conversation seemed to have ended. Justin doodled in JC's lyric book. Drew his little JRT symbol. Tried making something out of JSC. He could sort of do it, if he set them up vertically. No, that sucked. He drew a fat *NSYNC, shaded it in. Drew JC onstage. Added way too much hair. Signed his name to it like he was giving his autograph. Slowed down, made it legible. Glanced up. Nobody was looking. Wrote a little "Justin Chasez" in the corner. Scribbled it out and doodled over it so nobody would see it.
JC nudged him and he jumped, startled, feeling caught and mortified.
Then he realized that JC was trying to get him to look at Lance.
He looked at Lance.
Lance was fidgeting. Justin almost didn't realize what he was seeing. Lance did not fidget. Lance was not a fidgeter. He looked at JC, wondering, and JC shrugged at him, not getting it either.
Justin cleared his throat.
Lance turned red, then propped his chin in his hand, trying to cover the cheek facing them so they wouldn't notice.
"Is it me, or is it hot in here?" Justin asked.
"My fault," JC said.
Justin laughed and hit him. "Yeah, your sexy self burns up the place. Lance looks kind of red. Want me to crank up the AC?"
"I don't think he's hot, I think he's embarrassed," JC said.
"Lance is hot," Justin said. "Don't be rude. Lance. Lance. Lancifer. Lancelot. Lancesten."
"What?" Lance asked, trying to feign irritation, not looking over. All busy working. Sure. Justin bought that one.
"You okay over there?" Justin asked.
"Chris knows you're home. I told him," Lance said.
Okay. That wasn't worth getting embarrassed over, in Justin's opinion, but...
"He wasn't home to check his messages because he was at my place. He might be home by now, but he was still there when I left."
Hey, great. They couldn't be fighting if they were hanging out together. "Is he coming over later?"
"Wait," JC said. "He spent the night? And he was there when you came over? Is he okay?"
"He's fine," Lance said.
"What's the deal?" Justin asked JC. "You hang out here when I'm not home all of the time."
"That's a little different," JC said.
"What, just because, we're all friends," Justin said. "I don't know, though, I can see hanging at Joey's, but Lance's?" Justin looked at Lance. Joey would share underwear if you needed some. Lance wasn't the kind of guy who let people in his place when he wasn't there.
"You guys are cool, then?" JC asked Lance.
"Yes," Lance said.
They waited.
"I think so," Lance said.
They waited.
"I hope so."
"You aren't fighting, or anything," Justin said.
"No," Lance said. "We aren't fighting."
"Talk to us, man," JC said. "Good, bad, you got my ear."
"We know things were starting to get tense," Justin said, "but it wasn't serious, was it?"
"No," Lance said. "He was always in my face, and he was so irritating, I could've... When we got back here, I had a ton of stuff to do, people to see, work, and I didn't even talk to Chris. I didn't even know if he was still around."
Okay, so Lance had been pissed at Chris. So far, not good.
"Things were starting to settle down, I had some free time, I went with Mark and Tim to Callum's."
"Callum's," Justin said. "Take me there," he said to JC.
"Take you there?" JC asked.
"Don't they have the hottest music?" Justin asked Lance. "That place rocks. Jumps. The music, the dancers, I dare you to go in and not leave with a major hard-on."
"You went to Callum's," JC said to Lance, trying to remind Justin of the point of this exercise.
"We were dancing, meeting girls, having fun," Lance said.
"Just spending time," JC said, encouraging.
"Right." Lance was trying to stay unruffled. Nothing going on. Telling a boring story. "You know they have that fog all over?" he asked Justin. Justin nodded. "And once in a while they turn it off-"
"The lights go down, it's all dark, and then they lower this huge disco ball and lights flash," Justin said. "It creates this great mood, all mysterious and sexy. JC, we have to go."
Lance nodded. "That's when I saw Chris. He came up, he took my hand and started dancing."
"Chris can't dance," Justin said.
"Yes, he can," JC said.
"How long have we known Chris?" Justin asked. "Dude can't dance."
"He was dancing," JC prompted Lance.
"I'd been trying to avoid this girl who wanted to hear Joey's life story, so I was off the floor, by the wall. And Chris was..." Lance looked right. "...dancing with me."
Justin frowned. "So?"
"You know how they dance at Callum's."
"Yeah, that's why I want JC to go," Justin said. "It's so hot, C, they're grinding like..." He looked at Lance. "Chris was in Callum's?"
"Grinding," Lance said.
"With you?" Justin asked, and gave a quick snort of laughter.
Lance looked embarrassed and a little pissed.
Justin got sober fast.
"Chris was dancing with you?" JC asked.
"Grinding?" Justin asked.
"He had me up against the wall," Lance said. "He was...looking at me."
Enough said. Chris looked like Joe off the street, but when he wanted to turn on the eyes, no one was immune. Dark brown turned to melting chocolate; dark lashes went lush; you were pinned.
"Up against the wall," JC repeated.
Sounded like a hell of a lot of sexy fun, to Justin. He had to get JC in Callum's.
"He knew he had me," Lance said. "He didn't even say anything. It was... I knew we were in public, I knew it was Chris, but I didn't care."
Who'd given Lance a personality transplant?
"It was dark, the strobes were flashing, the ball was turning, Chris was right there, against me."
Oh, shit. Justin was catching on now, fast. "Sounds hot," he said, trying to play it cool.
"Yeah," Lance said. He was trying to meet their eyes, but failing.
"What happened?" JC asked.
"Nothing. I didn't care, I would've... But the lights came up, and the ball rose, and he left. I mean, he left, period. Walked right out of Callum's."
"Pricktease," Justin said.
"You're telling me," Lance said.
JC laughed.
"Then what?" Justin asked.
"I... I wanted... I couldn't find anyone else who did that to me. Anybody who could have that effect on me."
"He snagged you," JC said. "Hard and fast."
This was sounding serious. Justin was loving it. What happened next?
"I told Mark and Tim I had to go, and I went to find Chris," Lance said. "I went to Renny's, and to Thatch, and then I went into Dief. He was there, with his friends, the freaky trio, those guys with the hair, I don't know who else. I went up, over to him, and he turned around, and..."
"And?" Justin demanded.
"He had me. Right back there. I didn't know how he was doing it, and I didn't care. We could've been alone, having sex - - but we were in public, and that was part of the turn-on, doing it right there, in front of anybody. We were grinding, riding, freaking-"
"Lance!"
"That's why he spent the night at my place, last night," Lance said. "And the night before that."
"I don't get it," Justin said. "I get it, I... Lance, you and Chris are friends. Opposites. He gets on your nerves."
"When we're forced to be friends, he gets on my nerves. When we chose to be lovers, it's different. It's a new dynamic. Part of being irritated was the stress of...not getting any side benefits."
Justin stared. "How long have you wanted him?"
Lance checked his watch. "Three years now, give or take."
"That is it." Justin reached over JC and grabbed the phone. He dialed. "Hello, Lance's answering machine, could you get Chris for me? Is his lazy butt still in bed? Kirkpatrick! Get up and answer the phone!"
A click as someone picked up. "I'm not here," Chris said.
"Good, you'd better be over here," Justin said. "I hear you're starring in Dirty Dancing II: Up Against the Wall."
"Is that what you heard?" Chris asked. "Do me a favor."
"I'm not doing you any favors. Sounds like Lance's doing you enough favors for all of us."
"Is he there? Give him the phone."
"No. You want to talk to him, you get your fat old butt over here." Justin hung up the phone. "JC."
"What?" JC asked.
"You and I, we are going
to Callum's."