Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 17:11:56 EST
From: AK W <curly_and_josh@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: curly-and-josh part 2

Disclaimer: OK here it goes kids, this story contains themes of a sexual
nature between men (well it doesn't yet, but that is the whole point!) if
this sort of story is illegal where you live, move somewhere else, or don't
read it!  If you are under 18 you can't be here so go away! (Get someone
older to print it out and give it to you, can I encourage this? Probably
not!) This story is (quite obviously) about the guys from N*SYNC, but it is
just a story and implies nothing about the actual sexuality of any of the
members, no matter how much you hope. I am not a member of NSYNC, nor do I
know any of them, so I don't pretend to know their sexual orientation.

Hey kids, Here it is, another issue of Curly and Josh, I need to thank
about 1000 people, everyone that sent me mail was fantastic and I really
appreciate it, I have hopefully returned all of your letters, and to those
I have promised this to, I will deliver eventually, I promise!!!!! I would
like to especially thank the wonderful Sarah who is truly excellent, The
wonderful Erin, who really should submit her story no matter what she
thinks and the spectacular Red who I will get around to introducing very
soon. Keep the email coming, let me know if you like the more serious turn
this issue has taken, let me know what could be better and let me know what
you like. Love and stuff AKW.  Now on with the story...

When the 3 of them arrived back at Justin's place, they had barely stepped
out of the car when Erin, Justin's cousin, ran toward them smiling broadly.
Erin had been living with Justin and his family for the past 2 years
because her fathers job moved them around a lot and her parents had felt it
best that she finish her last year at senior high before moving again, Erin
had subsequently graduated and began a course in Journalism, causing her to
remain with them. Erin and Justin were as close as brother and sister, this
was mostly due to the fact that they were the same age and had similarly
easy-going attitudes.

"Hey Just!" Erin squealed, she was so happy to see them that she was close
to tears.

"Hey Erin, I missed you." Justin said, throwing his arms around his cousin.

"I missed you too." Erin said, breaking their embrace to hug JC.

Erin was followed down the walk by Paul, who was smiling happily.  "Welcome
home guys." He called cheerfully "Go on inside and I'll grab your stuff."

JC helped Justin unpack his stuff, and then they decided that they needed
some sleep after being on the plane for so long. They apoligised to
everyone, then headed off to Justin's room for a nap.

They lay down together on Justin's bed and fell asleep almost instantly,
when Justin awoke it was late in the evening and he was alone. He got up
and went down stairs and found Lynn, Paul and JC sitting in the living
room, talking to Joey, Chris and Sarah. Justin stood in the doorway,
stretched and yawned, signaling his presence to the others.

"About time, sleepy." JC stated playfully

"Yeah, we nearly starved to death waiting on you." Joey replied with a
smile.

"OK well I'm here now." Justin said irritably "Anyway, why didn't somebody
wake me, now Josh has missed his plane."

"No I haven't Curly, I'm gonna stay here tonight and catch a flight
tomorrow, it's easier." JC responded, "Now you go and wash up and the guys
and I will go and get something to eat."

"Kay." Justin mumbled shortly, heading up the stairs.

"Oh, and Jus', how about a smile when we get back, huh?" Chris remarked
deviously.

Justin said nothing, he only turned on the stairs, flipped Chris the finger
and continued to the bathroom. He didn't like being nasty to Chris, but he
also didn't like being called Jus'. There were only 3 people who could get
away with that, his Mum, Erin and JC. When he had showered and returned to
the living room he felt much happier. He found that Sarah was the only one
still in the room. "Where is everyone?" He asked

"Well the guys went to get food and Lynn and Paul went to pick-up Erin from
a party, it's just you and me I'm afraid."

"Oh, well what can you do?" Justin replied in mock disappointment.

"Bastard!" Sarah joked, hurling a cushion at him.

Justin caught the cushion and sat down, smiling to himself. He had only
known Sarah since she had started dating Chris 10 months previously, but he
had already formed a strong friendship with her. Making friends with girls
was always easy for Justin, and Sarah has been no exception. She was good-
looking, 5'6" with long red hair and green eyes, she was constantly tanned
and had a body which put most women to shame. But this was not the reason
Justin liked her, she had the most captivating personality, her voice
captivated him, every word she said sounded important even if it was only
small talk, she had the ability to hold Justin's interest for hours. Sarah
was also one of the only adults he knew who treated him as an equal, not as
though he was a child in need of constant care.

Lynn, Paul and Erin arrived home about an hour later, followed soon after
by JC, Chris and Joey with enough Chinese take-away to feed them for a
week. They all sat and ate Chinese and drank wine well into early morning,
talking and catching up with everything. At about 3am Chris, Joey and Sarah
left, Paul and Lynn went to bed and Justin, JC and Erin cleared away the
mess and then sat down to watch some TV.  Justin lasted about 20 minutes
before he excused himself and went to bed. JC and Erin talked for another
hour, the JC went to shower and Erin also went to bed. When JC got back to
Justin's room he found him curled up in the fetal position in the middle of
the bed, with the lights on. JC chuckled at the way Justin was sleeping,
and at his inability to sleep alone without a light on, then he climbed
under the covers of the king sized bed.  Justin stirred, rolled over face
down, with his arm across JC's chest. JC envied his friends ability to
sleep at any time, he could fall asleep anywhere, nothing seemed to bother
him. JC, however, couldn't sleep. He had come to a realization whilst
talking to Erin, and it has scared and depressed him. Chris had asked him
at the start of the last tour whether something was going on with him and
Justin, they always slept in the same bed, were never apart, and the rest
of the group were worried that the two guys were having a relationship
which may have ultimately affected the group. JC had assured Chris that
this was not the case, but thinking seriously about it for the first time
that evening he had wished that there was.

Just hearing Erin talk about love and her definition of it, and seeing the
way Chris and Sarah were with each other, willing to sacrifice everything
to be together, he knew that this is how he felt about Justin. JC had never
really been in love, and he didn't know how it should feel, but he knew how
he felt and he couldn't tell Justin for fear of rejection, this made him
want to cry.  He had never felt any attraction to a guy before, but he was
attracted to Justin now with a force that felt as though it could last
forever, but what if he was wrong and told Justin, ruined their friendship
and then it turned out not to be love. He just wished he knew what to feel,
but his only romantic experiences had been with girls in high-school and
they were lust not love.

Josh had always felt a bond with Justin, as if they were who they were
because of each other, he could always be himself with Justin and not be
judged and he treated Justin the same way. He had not known what this had
meant previously, but now the pieces of the puzzle were beginning to fit,
and JC did not like it, he was scared. How could he feel this way about his
best friend? What would people, most of all Justin, think when they found
out??  JC finally exhausted himself with questions and found sleep with
tears pouring down his cheeks.

"Wake up Mr. sleepy" Justin called from the hall "Your flight leaves in 2
hours, get up."

Judging by Justin's happy disposition he had been awake quite some time, JC
woke up and called back "I'm up, I'm up, I'm up ages." In an appalling
Irish accent, reenacting a line from a movie the two of them had seen while
on tour in Europe.

This elicited a laugh from Justin, which brought back for JC all of the
feelings of confusion he had last night. He tried his best to disguise his
growing depression and headed off to shower. After his shower he joined
Justin and Erin in the kitchen for breakfast. "Morning Erin." JC said

"Morning Josh, sleep well?"

"Yeah, all that wine certainly helped" he lied

"I know what you mean, the aspirin's on the counter if you want it, I'd
better get going" she replied, pushing her chair back and placing her bowl
in the sink. "Bye guys." She said kissing them both.

"Bye" the guys replied.

After she had left silence filled the room, Justin began to feel
uncomfortable and could tell that something wasn't right. "What's up Josh?"
he asked worriedly.

"Nothing." JC lied again

"Yeah, Ok then, I could just pretend I believe you but I've known you long
enough to know that something is bugging you." He stated, hurt that JC
wouldn't talk to him

"No, really Curly I'm fine. I just need more sleep honestly" JC knew that
Justin didn't believe him and he hated to lie, but he couldn't tell him the
truth without ruining their friendship so he just let the boy walk out of
the kitchen in a bad mood.

Soon after breakfast the two guys climbed into Justin's red Mercedes and
headed off to the airport. Justin deliberately turned the radio up loud to
avoid small talk with JC, he was so pissed off that his supposed friend
wouldn't talk to him that he drove recklessly all the way, almost daring JC
to comment, that would give him a reason to start an argument and sort
everything out, but JC remained quiet and they arrived at the airport
without incident.

After checking in JC headed toward the departure lounge and began to
board. The guys said restrained good-byes and as JC handed his ticket to
the waiting stewardess Justin called out "Real friends can talk about
anything, maybe you should consider that before you come back next week!"
he turned his back and walked away. Tears welled up in JC's eyes as he
snatched back his ticket and boarded the plane.

So, did you like it?? If not why not? If so let me know why! I know its
probably slower than you thought it would be but I did say I was gonna go
slow. Give me some more hints guys, I love your emails telling me how much
you love the story, my head is just getting bigger and bigger, but let me
know what direction I should be taking. I love you all, yes every one of
you. Curly_and_Josh@hotmail.com