Date: Fri, 08 Dec 2000 16:55:48 -0500
From: Lulupower <lulupower@hotmail.com>
Subject: No Strings Attached 20

No strings attached, written by Lulupower

Legal disclaimer: This story is purely fictionnal and it doesn't mean to 
imply anything about the sexuality of any of the celebrities mentionned 
below. Also, if you're not 18 or if you're offended by homosexual topics, 
please leave now.

Author's note: Hey y'all! *CHAPTER*TWENTY*HERE*!!! Already!!!
Take a little time to go read 'My surprise Romance' by Gabriella Morrisson, 
it's *GREAT*, as well as 'In Synchronicity', 'Brian and Justin', 'Brian and 
me', 'Hole the pickle' and many others here in the Nifty Archive.
A special thanks to Sarah cause she helped me *A LOT* with this chapter, and 
to Neal, as always, cause he's been a great friend since this all started.
Don't forget to e-mail me as soon as you're done reading this chapter, 
because I didn't get much e-mails for the last two chapters...You should be 
happy, I mean, I *AM* posting chapters fast...Anyways, on with the show now!


               **********CHAPTER TWENTY**********

"Tell me what? What step? What's up Just?" Lance asked, standing in the 
doorway of Justin's room. "Uh, nothing. Nothing at all." Justin muttered, 
his face beet red. "Oh, umm...Okay. JC, can I talk to you?" Lance asked, 
puzzled. "Yeah, sure. Looks like I'm turning into psychologist JC today." JC 
said, following Lance into their bedroom. "Okay, what's up James?" JC asked 
as soon as the door was closed behind him. "Well first I want to know what's 
up with Just, then I'll tell ya what happened with my dad, deal?" Lance 
asked. "No way, I can't tell you. I promised Justin. It's ummm, really 
personnal." JC said. He hated to keep things from Lance, but he had to, for 
Justin's sake. "Jayce, you promised Justin not to tell me, but you promised 
*me* to tell me everything. So who are you gonna betray now, your best 
friend or your boyfriend?" Lance asked. JC sighed. "I can't tell you Lance. 
I can't. I promised." JC said softly. "Fine. Just fine. Keep it to yourself, 
I don't even care." Lance said as he stormed out of the room. JC sighed 
again and plopped down on the bed. "Dammit!" he cursed under his breath, 
then he got up and went to the living room, only to find nothing, nobody. 
Everyone was already gone. "Shit! Now Lance's gonna be mad all day and I 
won't get to see him until after the show. SHIT!" JC said loudly.
Lance sat silently in the car, staring outside the window. He and the guys 
were going to a photo shoot, then they had an interview with Teen Magazine, 
then it was lunchtime, a quick 15 minutes rest, rehearsals with the new 
choreographer, Darryl, all afternoon long, diner with the tour crew, warm 
ups, the show, and then back to the hotel. He sighed. He wouldn't be able to 
apologize to JC until after the show. He closed his eyes and tried to 
imagine what it was that Justin had to hide. Then his thoughts drifted off 
to his dad. He had actually called! He wanted to know how he was doing! He 
cared enough to ask if everything was alright. He wanted to tell him that he 
was sorry for everything his mom had put him through. That he was still on 
his side. That he was still his son. Lance smiled a little at these 
thoughts. Lance had yet to tell his dad about his engagement to JC. 'If it's 
still on...' Lance thought. Just then, the car stopped and the guys were 
hushered inside a big building. There was this dead boring photo shoot, 
where the photographer kept asking why JC wasn't there, then the interview 
with Teen Magazine, where the interviewer kept asking about the damn rumor 
about JC and Lance being together, why was Lance living with JC, why did 
Lance have some 'issues' with his family, why did he take comfort in JC and 
thousand of other questions to which Lance didn't want to answer. Then they 
ate. It was the same boring McDonald's food as everyday - same old 
cheeseburgers and fries and Dr.Pepper. And Justin was always throwing 
glances at him, like he had potatoes hanging from his nose or something.
The afternoon went by pretty fast, as did dinner and the show. The guys came 
back from the arena at 10:45, exhausted. Lance hurried into his room, 
finding JC asleep on the bed, clothes on and a book beside him. Lance sat on 
the bed and gently shook JC. "Jayce? Jayce...Wake up baby." Lance whispered. 
JC stirred and slowly opened his eyes. His first idea, seeing Lance, was to 
smile, but he quickly broke it. "Hey. How was your day?" JC asked with an 
annoyed tone. "Josh, I'm sorry. I really am. I shouldn't ask you to choose 
between me and Just. He's your best friend, that doesn't automatically 
include me in your relationship, it's your private life and all..." Lance 
said. "He's in love with you." JC announced. "What?" Lance asked, stunned. 
"Justin. He's in love with you." JC repeated. Lance sat back on the bed and 
stared at the wall in front of him. "You must be kidding me." Lance said. 
"No. I'm not." JC said seriously. "Oh my God. I can't believe it." Lance 
said in disbelief. "Justin can't be in love with me. He's not even gay." he 
added. "He's coming to terms with it James. He's gay. He hid it pretty well 
didn't he?" JC said softly. "And what did you say about that?" Lance asked. 
"Well...I was really taken aback but...What can I do? The guy has fallen in 
love with you. Big deal. I did the same a few months ago. I can't blame 
him." JC said. "I know but...what are we gonna do?" Lance asked. "Nothing. 
At all. I love you, you love me, end of the story. Justin has to get over 
you." JC said. "It's not that simple Jayce." Lance disagreed. "It is. Trust 
me. You're mine James, I'm not letting you go." JC said. "Oh really? And 
what if I told you that it was him all along that I wanted? What if I told 
you that you were just sex for me because I thought Justin was straight? 
What if I told you that I've never loved you?" Lance asked. JC stared at him 
with confusion and pain in his eyes. "Is this really what you want? Cause he 
loves you. So if you want him and he wants you, just get together with him. 
But it's not fair cause I had you first" JC said with anger. "You wanna play 
all possessive with me? Fine. I'm leaving." Lance said, walking out of the 
room. "Lance wait!" JC called. Lance came back and poked his head inside. 
"I'm not some kind of object you can call yours JC. I'm your goddamned 
boyfriend. Well, was. I don't know anymore." Lance said, then slammed the 
door shut. He ran to Justin's room and knocked. "Just, it's Lance. Can I 
come in?" he called. "Yeah, sure." Justin said from inside. Lance opened the 
door and got inside. "Hey." Lance said. "Hey. I heard you and JC arguing. 
Are you okay?" Justin asked. "I don't know. He um..." "Told you about me?" 
Justin cut. "Yeah...Well I kinda forced him to tell me but...I'm sorry." 
Lance said softly. "Oh my God. Now I feel really weird." Justin said, 
looking at the floor. "Don't." Lance said, moving closer to Justin. He 
lifted Justin's chin with his finger and placed his lips on Justin's. Justin 
resisted a little at first, then he started to move his lips with Lance's. 
They were both so caught up in the kiss that they didn't hear the door 
opening, and they didn't notice JC watching them with tears in his eyes and 
leaving, closing the door quietly behind him. As JC closed the door, Justin 
broke the kiss. "I think this should end here." Justin said. "What? Why?" 
Lance asked, puzzled. "You're my best friend's boyfriend. I can't do this to 
him. Even if I love you, JC's and your friendship are way too important to 
me. Besides, tomorrow you're gonna regret that you kissed me and you'll wish 
it never happened." Justin said, sighing. Lance looked at the floor and 
sighed too. "I'm so sorry Just...I don't know why I did that. He just pissed 
me off but telling me I was HIS and speaking of me like I was an object or 
something...But I know that's not what he meant. God, what have I done..." 
Lance said, letting a tear slip on his cheek. "It's okay. I understand. But 
you'd better go and talk to JC before he freaks out." Justin said, getting 
up and leading Lance to the door. "I'll do that. Thanks Just." Lance said, 
placing a soft kiss on Justin's cheek. Justin closed his eyes at Lance's 
contact and he closed the door as soon as Lance was out of sight. Then he 
collapsed on the bed and bursted out in tears. "Damn you JC for stealing his 
heart..." Justin whispered.
Lance opened the door of his room and found JC curled up in a ball on the 
bed, crying. "I'm sorry Jayce." Lance stated simply. "Yeah, I bet you're 
sorry you ever met me..." JC said, sitting. "You know that's not true." 
Lance said. JC remained silent. "Listen Josh, I really am sorry. I know you 
didn't mean it to sound like I was an object or something. I just 
overreacted." Lance said. "And that's why you ran into Justin's arms and 
kissed him?" JC asked spitefully. "Yes. What else can I say? I'm sorry. I 
shouldn't have gone to Justin, cause I ended up hurting both of you." Lance 
said, sitting on the bed. "Dammit James, I just proposed to you and not even 
24 hours later you go and tell me you're not my boyfriend anymore, that you 
never loved me and that you've wanted Justin all along? That was pretty 
low." JC said. "And you know that I hate keeping secrets from you, but 
sometimes I have to be 'Best friend JC', not only 'Boyfriend JC'. You know?" 
JC added. Lance nodded and sighed. "I'm sorry. Trust me Josh, I am." Lance 
said. JC looked at him in his beautiful eyes and tried to find  traces of 
lies or hypocrisy, but didn't see any. All he saw was love and sadness. 
"Fine. Apologies accepted." JC gave in. "Oh God thank you!" Lance said with 
relief, wrapping his arms around JC. "Don't ever do that again, you hear me? 
*NEVER*." JC said, letting tears of fear fall on Lance's shoulder. "I won't. 
I promise."


                   **********TO BE CONTINUED**********

That's all for today folks. Don't forget to e-mail me!
Bye bye bye!