Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2001 19:58:45 -0500
From: BJ Gay.com_Member <bjluver@gay.com>
Subject: Lance's_search_1

Welcome to "Lance's Search," a multi-chapter exploration of a young man
discovering himself. As much as I would suspect otherwise, I have no actual
proof of the sexual orientations of Lance Bass, Justin Timberlake or JC
Chasez. Consequently anything you read in this story is the product of the
mind of its author. That said, this story attempts to take a realistic look
into the thoughts and feelings of a guy as he discovers the pains and the
joys associated with loving his fellow man... or his fellow band mate as
the case may be. And yes, that means it will take a few chapters before we
get to any sex (don't worry it will be worth it). And it will take more
chapters before Lance actually achieves the goal of his search. My plan is
to post a chapter a week and I've already finished 14, so there's lots of
fun and excitement in store for everyone.

If you have any comments, please e-mail them to bjluver@gay.com. Otherwise,
enjoy the story.

BJ


Chapter 1

Lance hated to admit it, even to himself. He was kind of embarrassed about
it and knew for certain that the other guys would make fun of him -
again. So he tried to hide it from them. Didn't want to hear the taunts
about him being from Mississippi and kind of backward.

He knew the taunts weren't meant to be serious. The guys all made fun of
each other for one reason or another. It was just a guy thing and Lance
knew it. Being from Tennessee, Justin at times became a similar
target. Those southern states, you know. The others knew neither Justin nor
Lance was a dummy by any stretch of the imagination, but making fun of
their home states and the educational systems there became great sport for
the others.

And besides, Lance couldn't help it. He left his regular high school early
to be a part of this group. Even if he had stayed to graduate there,
computers were a rare and priceless commodity at his school. The techie
geeks seemed to get the most time on the equipment anyhow. So why should
Lance feel so strange now?

Music and show business was what Lance was interested in, not computers. So
if he was a little shy around computers now that they were on the road so
much, it's perfectly understandable. Right?  But despite his attempts at
trying to convince himself, he still didn't want the others to think he was
a total idiot when it came to computers and that whole Internet thing all
the guys seemed so hyped about.

Especially JC. If he didn't know better, Lance would have sworn that JC was
born with a laptop attached to his fingers. Anytime the guys had downtime
JC was either working on some music or working on that laptop - sometimes
both at the same time.

The others seemed to use laptops a lot too. "Let's go do some surfin'!"
Chris would often yell out before hitting the computer. They all liked
using the Internet.

Fortunately, the others didn't really seem to notice that Lance wasn't on
the computer as much as them. Every once in a while someone would tell him
he really needed to look at some page, so he'd go over to the computer one
of his bandmates was using and look over his shoulder.

Lance would have liked to known more about using the computer and
surfing. There were things he thought he could find out that he just simply
couldn't elsewhere - or at least he'd feel too overwhelmed to find out
elsewhere. Lance had certain feelings. Feelings that were exacerbated by
being on a bus so much with his friends.

Just thinking about it now gave Lance that uncomfortable feeling in his
pants. Uncomfortable because he couldn't do anything to relieve it here on
the bus. Instead he shut his eyes tight and tried to think of other
things. He thought of that girl in his old high school. Man she was a pest
to Lance before he even became famous. She loved to call him "Jimmy." It
was like the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard.

"Hey, man, you OK?"

Lance's eyes popped open. "Oh, hey Justin. Yeah, I'm fine."

"Ya ought to have seen yourself. You looked just like someone was pulling
out a tooth without any laughing gas around."

Lance chuckled at the thought. "No just trying to clear something from my
mind. But the thoughts I had probably were about the same as getting a
tooth pulled."

"Whatever. Hey, you really should check out this new website I found
today. It really rocks! And it's not even about us," Justin said with one
of his trademark grins. "You want the addy?"

"The what?" Lance let escape from his lips before he thought.

"The addy. You know, the URL."

"Oh, ahh sure." Lance thought maybe his mental slip slipped on past
Justin. He was afraid his lack of knowledge about the Internet might show
up. "I need to get a pen to write."

"Here's one for ya. Ready? OK. It's httq:/wbw.greattunz.con."

"OK, got it. I'll check it out real soon."

Justin just stood in front of his friend with a knowing smirk on his face.

"What? I'll check it out later," Lance said a bit defensively.

"You sure you got that address right?"

"Yeah, see." Lance turned around the piece of paper. Sure enough, it had
the address just like Justin had given him.

Justin's smirk was intensified know with a slow shaking of the
head. "Lance, my man, how come you can't just admit it?"

Admit it? What did Justin mean? Is he talking about this computer junk or
was there some other deep secret that Justin could see buried in Lance?

"Ya know, we all knew you really sucked big time..."

Why did he say "sucked" just now? What is that supposed to mean? Lance
thought to himself in a split second.

"...dancing when you first joined the group. Nobody thought any less of
you..."

Oh, that's what he meant? What was I thinking? God, I can't even figure
myself out at times.

"So why don't you just admit it, Lance?"

Oh my God, what is it he wants me to admit? "Whadda mean, Curly?" Lance
said with a touch of panic in his throat.

"Hey, it ain't no thing if you don't know anything about surfin' the net,
really. It's cool. But you don't need to hide it from us."

"Why do you think I don't know anything about the Internet?"

"Well, for one thing," Justin began with a chuckle and pointed to the
address Lance had transcribed, "You'da known that addy wouldn't have gotten
you anywhere. Ain't no such address."

Lance just sat there for a moment staring at his younger bandmate. Words
failed him. Finally, his hands went up, he shrugged his shoulders and with
raised eyebrows said, "You're right. You got me. I don't really know what
to say."

"Well, you could say something like, 'Oh wise and all-knowing Justin, could
you make me your humble pupil and teach me your mysterious ways,' or
somethin' like that."

Lance laughed, felt at ease. Then quickly reached for the pillow behind his
back and threw it toward Justin.

The curly haired blond ducked in time and the pillow sailed harmlessly by
him. "Mmmm, grasshopper first needs lessons on being respectful," Justin
said, imitating that guy from the Kung Fu reruns.

"Aghh! I surrender."

"So, you want me to teach you all about that wonderful world wide web out
there, Scoop?"

"Yes!"

"Yes, what?"

"What? I ain't going to call you sir, if that's what you mean," Lance said
through his laughs.

"Well, then just address me as 'Oh Wise One'," Justin said while moving his
head and upper body around like a proud rooster.

"OK, wise guy."

"Not what I said, but close enough."

"Justin, I really do appreciate your offer. I haven't wanted people to know
about my "illiteracy" problem, but I'm glad you figured it out."

"No problem, buddy. How about we start in the morning with Justin's
patented everything you need to know about the Internet class?"

"Thanks, Justin. I'll try to be a good student."

"Ya better be or I'll have to get out my paddle," Justin said as he moved
to another part of the bus.

Wonder if he was serious about that paddle thing, Lance thought.

To be continued...