Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 07:43:37 +0100 (GMT Daylight Time)
From: David Grimstone <grimstone@btinternet.com>
Subject: Two Way Conversation Part 2

Two Way Conversation by DCG

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DISCLAIMER
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Here we go again...This in no way insinuates anything about anyone in any
circumstance and should not be read by those banned by law and those who
don't for one reason or another like this stuff...(By the way...this is an
NSync story...how could it be anything else...)

Author's Notes: Hey there, this is gonna be the shortest intro ever by me
just hoping that you all enjoy it and get back to me and let me know what
you think...
			( grimstone@btinternet.com or ujemeflip@hotmail.com )

And it continues...

****************************************************************************
Last Time in 'Two Way Conversation'

JC shoulders visibly lightened. He didn't know how Joey and Chris had found
out, but right now he didn't care. All he cared about was that he was ok,
and accepted. Joey was still stood in-front of JC with his hand still
perched comforting on JC's shoulder...and JC took this as his opportunity
and grabbed hold of Joey and hugged him tightly... "Thank-you Joe...thanks"
whispered JC into Joeys receptive ear

Joey pulled back after a few minutes to see JC wipe his eyes dry of the
small trickle of happy tears that had graced his cheeks...

"Now we just have to figure out how to get you and Justin together!"...

And now the continuation...

****************************************************************************

Chapter 2 - `Day of Reflection'

The time had passed quickly from their arrival. In between numerous drinks
and bouts of frantic dancing with complete strangers, the time had passed
to 3am. The crowds were beginning to dissipate to their respective homes to
reflect on the evenings events and the lights were turning low. Justin was
leant against the bar, for added support more than anything. He had
consumed more than enough alcohol that evening and his faculties were
definitely not under his control. His eyes were jaded and dreamy, his legs
were one stage away from jelly, and his thoughts and emotions were as
rampant as they had ever been... As with most people, Justin had assumed
that a few drinks would numb or take away the pain for a while. But every
time he downed his drink he saw his face, or every time he danced with
someone he felt his breath. He spent the night finding the nearest
available body and dancing with it. He didn't care what they looked like
and he danced with women mostly to keep up appearances. But his mind
wandered... `She's a good dancer, but she's not Josh...' `He's cute, but
he's not Josh...' `They have style, but they are not my Josh!...'

Moments later Lance arrived, stone sober. As with most occasions out
clubbing, he enjoyed the night by consuming insurmountable volumes of coke
with ice and lemon and watching everybody else enjoy themselves. Not being,
what he considered, a good dancer, made him sway away from following
everyone else to the dance floor. He caught sight of Justin and walked to
his side...he could see the drunken nature of his best friend from across
the stage...Justin slurred his speech and snapped occasionally at random
people because they wouldn't give him another drink...

After a bit of persuasion and the trick of another drink outside, Lance
managed to get Justin to leave the confines of this, now empty club...

The fresh air hit Justin like an overwhelming wave...His drunken state
increased and Lance had to dive to recover his stumbling body...

"You sure had too much Justin..." said Lance, almost prepared to say
something else, but Justin interrupted by vomiting into the wall
alongside...

Several minutes later, Justin had finished his verbal diarrhoea and slumped
to the ground, scraping his back against the rough brick wall as he
did. Lance took this as a hint and did the same... Justin was officially
exhausted, mentally and physically. The realisation that tomorrow would be
a day to forget hit him as he hung his head into his hands...

"What have I done?" said Justin, in a more sobering voice...

"You tell me Justin... I would have never brought you here if I knew what
you were going to do..." reassured Lance as he looked down at his pale
looking companion for the night.

That was the cue...the drunken state and the heated emotions had pushed
Justin to the limit...He wasn't bothered about the impending hangover from
his overindulgence...he was worried about his emotions... Emotions were
beginning to take over Justin as he giggled to himself, whilst starting to
cry... He was usually quite strong with most people...apart JC that is! but
now he didn't care as the rafts of tears came. He continued to look to the
pavement as his shoulders bucked under his painful sobs... This shocked
Lance, who knew nothing and assumed everything, but never assumed it was
this bad. He took Justin to his shoulder and placed his hand on his head.

"What's that for Justin...Come on...crying isn't going to put everything
right!" attempted Lance to reassure...and it was working, in a
fashion. Justin stopped crying tears and started sniffling as he looked up
to Lances watching face...

"You know don't you?" asked Justin, one half of him hoping the answer would
be yes, to take a weight off his shoulders, the other half hoping it was
no, so that he wouldn't be rejected...the wait was almost unbearable, even
for a man half drunk. And Lance finally knew...he had pushed the notion to
the back of his mind and concentrated on other things but the notion was
still there...'Justin is gay!', a simple phrase with innumerable
consequences for them all, not just Justin.

"Yes, I think I do..." reassured Lance. And he knew what Justin needed. He
needed approval, from one of his best friends.

"And I'm ok with it, so don't go worrying yourself there Justin...Your gay,
so what! I love you anyway!" and with that they hugged tighter and Justin
sobbed more. This was the first candle on the cake for him...It wasn't JC's
approval but this was the start. He would need them all eventually.

They were in the house and tucked up in their respective beds just a few
minutes later. Lance's quick thinking had hailed them a taxi and driven
home. He had taken the time and tucked Justin in, brushing errant tears
from his cheeks as he finished. He made his way back to his room and closed
the door, he had a shower and got into bed.

It was 4am but everyone was awake. JC had never slept from the moment his
head hit the pillow. Thoughts of Justin ran through his mind as they always
did, but now that Joey and Chris knew, he felt liberated and free to a
certain degree...He could actually contemplate being with Justin, instead
of eternally thinking about it. A smile graced his face as eventually the
time and tiredness of his body overtook his eyes and brought him to sleep,
a peaceful one.

It got to 5am and the only one awake now was Justin. The alcohol in his
system hadn't waited for the sun to peak through the horizon before
grabbing his attention, it had done it during his sleep, and he was
glad. He had been awoken from a dream that had turned into a nightmare, but
in Justin's eyes that nightmare was the truth. It culminated in the moment
JC's lips touched Bobbie's...and with that his head had jerked up from his
pillow as his stomach wrenched inside. He spent half an hour or so in the
bathroom clearing his insides of the substance he had abused a few hours
earlier. As with everyone who experiences it, they vow never to touch the
offending substance again, but Justin knew he would, if only to have one
beer on a social occasion. He laughed to himself slightly as he raised his
head to the mirror. He knew he probably looked like a fool, a lovesick
fool, but the recognition of that had nothing on the reality. As he looked
into the mirror, he didn't, at first, realise it was a vision of
himself. Gone was the perfect picture of the boy band member everyone
swooned after, and here in it's place were baggy eyes, still filled with
un-spilt tears. His hair was dishevelled and erratic, and something he
would usually tend to straight away. But right now it didn't bother him one
bit. He looked straight into the mirror and came to one conclusion. he was
going to tell JC to his face in the morning, that he was happy, happy for
JC and Bobbie. It would be something that would almost destroy Justin, but
it was something that would make JC happy, and that was all he wanted.

And with that Justin went back to bed. He washed his face and tried in vain
to push his matted hair back into place before doing so, but it wasn't long
before sleep overcame him and everyone in the house was asleep, all
wondering what the next day would bring...

The minutes ticked by to ten am and the birds had stopped their morning
call, but the sun was out and it was officially, in the eyes of the awake,
Tuesday 29th of January 2002.

Chris and Joey were downstairs in the kitchen each with a cup of coffee in
their hands, but saying nothing to break the silence.

"It's his birthday on Thursday."

"Justin's?"

"Yeah..." responded Chris...

"And?"

"We have to do something then!"

"But what if he isn't gay?"

"That's the risk were gonna have to take"

"But I don't think JC would want to go through with it if he wasn't!"
reasoned Joey

"JC wants to be with Justin...We have to give him that opportunity...that's
all we can do."

They both just looked at each other and agreed silently...Joey only
disagreed slightly because he had some sort of anxiety inside. He didn't
want to see JC crumble in-front of his best friend when he uttered the
words `I'm not interested' or `I'm straight' or even worse... `You disgust
me', because Joey knew that JC would live forever with the `possibility',
over losing his best friend over the `reality'. But he also knew that at
the same time that the `reality' in JC's eyes, if Justin was interested,
would be the greatest time of his life. It was just a chance they were
going to have to take, and the consequences they would have to deal with.

The rest of the morning passed uneventfully. Lance came down from his room
not much after Joey's and Chris' conversation and left shortly
afterwards. JC arrived on the scene, with a wide smile on his face, still
happy and content from his talk with Joey the night before...and perched
himself on the sofa and flicked on the television to MTV to watch a few
videos...Justin however was still cooped up in his duvet in his darkened
room, asleep...

The time flew by to mid afternoon and Chris had left to do some work on his
clothes label, and Lance had still not returned. Joey had just been out to
the pool and sat in the kitchen preparing himself something to eat. JC
hadn't budged from his spot on the sofa all day, and still Justin hadn't
appeared. Up in his room he had finally opened his eyes and fled the
confines of his bed. He had a shower and got dressed and opened the blinds
to his room, glancing down to the pool once to see Joey wave back. After
exchanging silent pleasantries with Joey, Justin turned back around and
exited the room. He was in autopilot. His stomach lurched with his every
move, but he had something he needed to do before he let it take over his
mind. He had the resolution to tell JC that it was ok that he was with
Bobbie, he thought that JC needed that support from his best friend, and he
needed to do it before he lost the proverbial `bottle'.

He stood at the top of the stairs and looked down upon his angel. Justin
stood and watched JC for what to Justin seemed like seconds, but were
in-fact passing minutes. He loved to watch his every move, the grace of his
smile, the depth of his pure eyes, the definition of his toned and smooth,
and to Justin, perfect, body. He could only imagine what it would be like
to be able to experience it all as he wanted to. But the image of Bobbie
flashed across his mind and he turned away...and after a brief moment for
composure made his way down into the lounge and went straight to JC. He
needed to say it straight away, he needed to blurt it out and get it out of
his system, because it wouldn't make it any better, nor would it make him
feel any better, but it would, to Justin, make JC feel better...

"Your stood in-front of the TV Just..." echoed JC as he watched the latest
videos on the TV...

"I'm ok..."stuttered out Justin as he tried to form the sentence...

"That's nice to hear....but your still blocking the TV..." misunderstood
JC, a grin appearing on his face, as if Justin was playing with him, and
provoking him...

"I'm...I'm ok with Bobbie..." finished Justin, he could say no more, and JC
didn't need to hear any more...Just the word `Bobbie' had brought JC to
Justin's eyes.

There was a moment of complete silence as JC looked into Justin, and visa
versa, and Joey perched himself in the doorway, oblivious to both of
them...

"Your what?" asked JC...hearing words he didn't want to hear. But they
registered in his mind immediately. `Justin is ok with it' echoed through
his mind...but it was too late and Justin was gone, out of the front door
and away... He had just had the resolve to tell JC he was ok with it and
give his support, but that was it. The barrier he had kept up for so long
had disintegrated and fell apart and he couldn't stand there in-front of JC
and do that, it wouldn't be fair to either of them, so he left. He ran out
of the front door and straight into Lance, whom he knocked to the floor...

"Sorry Lance..."uttered Justin as he looked down to him with red eyes and
an upturned smile, before he stepped over him and made his way to his
car. Lance hadn't moved an inch from his position on the floor as he looked
on at Justin's fast disappearing car... `What has JC done?' feared Lance as
a certain amount of anger built up inside him, so he pulled himself from
the floor and made his way inside...

Meanwhile inside the house, JC hadn't moved either. His face looked
straight ahead as he contemplated the words Justin had said... "I don't
want him to be ok with it...I want him to hate it." whispered JC as he
eventually looked towards the approaching Joey. "He didn't look too
bothered about it Joe...It didn't look as though it meant anything to
him..." was all he could say before he evaded Joey's advancing embrace and
went out into the back garden to think...

And as if by a freak of timing Lance entered the house moments later to
find a rather subdued Joey leant against the entrance to the kitchen
looking out into the back garden. Lance was still fuming and irate. As with
most people who don't have the full picture, he had misunderstood. He
thought Justin had done the one thing he thought he wouldn't, and that was
to tell JC his feelings. `Only something that big would make him react like
that' was Lances' only reasoning. He was fuming with rage as he walked up
to Joey and grabbed his attention by snatching at his arm, painfully.

"What the hell did you do that for?" asked Joey as he surveyed his
arm. Lance just looked past Joey as he saw the object of his rage, JC. JC
had perched himself on the edge of the pool, with his head drooping low and
staring into the shimmering abyss. Lance snapped...Joey's question, or the
momentary pain he caused to him were history. The pain he saw on Justin's
face was enough to convince him that his best friend had been destroyed. He
had only known about Justin's sexuality for a few brief hours, but he had
already formed a protective bond over him. Lance was like that. And in his
view was the person who had caused it...

Lance suddenly made a beeline for the door and his objective but Joey
grabbed his arm, stopping him in his tracks...

"No...I wouldn't go out there Lance...Not right now." assured Joey as he
maintained his grip on Lance, not flinching for a second. Joey had seen JC,
and the way his shoulders slumped, and his face faded and became white and
lifeless. He wanted to do something, anything to help, but knew where to
keep his distance. This was JC's `alone' time. Lance just looked down at
the hand that gripped his arm and then into Joey's eyes...As soon as he saw
the look of sincerity in those orbs he faded in his resilience. That was
also a trait of Lances', he was very easily persuaded by one of the
guys...especially Joey.

"Have you seen what he's done to Justin...Have you?" questioned Lance
knowing only him had seen the look of horror and betrayal, and of utter
defeat on Justin's face. He wanted to shout it out as an accusation but it
slipped out from between his lips as a whisper...a plea...

Joey was dumbfounded. His concern was JC, and at this time, only JC. What
Justin had just done has shattered what little hope JC held for them. This
morning he was the happiest he had been for an age, and yet moments later
he was as far away from that truth as he could ever be. The only thing that
could soothe or at least numb the feelings inside were the ripples of the
pool water and time alone. From this, he hadn't thought of Justin,
much. `He's fucked up JC, that's what he's done!' raged Joey inside as he
fought himself not to blurt it to the world. But then he looked deep into
Lance and saw something. he saw sincerity, sincerity about everything he
asked. `Something's wrong with Justin?' thought Joey...

"What's wrong with Justin?" he asked.

"N...No...Nothings wrong with Justin..." Stuttered Lance as he tried to
cover up his slip. He knew Justin had told him under duress and would never
had uttered those words otherwise, so he needed to keep his
secret. Blurting out questions about JC and Justin wouldn't help. But it
was too late...The sight of Lance dipping his head to avoid eye contact and
his cheeks blushing a shallow shade of red had confirmed it. `Lance is
hiding something' reasoned Joey.

The next few hours passed slowly and gracefully. JC sat, alone at the
poolside and eventually pulled himself up from the edge and came
inside. But he didn't want conversation. He didn't want companionship and a
shoulder to cry on right now, so he want upstairs to his equally dark
room. Joey had monitored JC the entire time, like a hawk watching it's
prey, but in this case, a friend keeping an eye on his concern. He saw how
JC's demeanour hadn't faltered an inch. His head remained low and he could
see it being like that for a long long time. Only now did he truly realise
how strong and binding JC's feelings for Justin were. They were lifelong in
their commitment. When JC had retired to his room, Joey didn't move, he
didn't think to do his own thing, or to amuse himself with TV or work...he
just sat there...  Lance did the opposite. He knew Joey had assumed
something about his reaction to Joey's question... "What's wrong with
Justin?" was the question as Lance recited it to himself... `And I had to
go and blush, and look away...how more obvious can I get!' screamed Lance
as he drove along another undistinguished Los Angeles avenue. He had been
looking for Justin for close to three hours now and he looked at his watch
to see the seconds tick down to 4pm...The day was closing and he knew
Justin couldn't be left alone, and free of emotional support. He ran
possibilities over and over in his mind as he turned yet another corner in
his continuing search... `Work, no chance...' and then, just as he thought
of other alternatives, a figure in the corner of his eye, in a nearby
Basketball court caught his attention. He looked towards and realised
instantly that it was Justin. A flow of relief engulfed him as he pulled up
and parked the car, and then made his way over. He looked Justin up and
down. `He Looks like he had one hell of a workout' thought Lance as he saw
the apparent fatigue in Justin's movements as he pulled off another
successful shot.

"You nearly lost me there..." joked Lance as he got to the court edge

Justin shot around in surprise as he fished the ball from the cold court
surface...As his head turned, Lance saw more evidence than he
needed. Justin was still crying...and it looked like he had been for some
time, but Justin quickly wiped the remnants away as his shoulders slumped
back to normality upon seeing Lance. But Lance didn't buy any of his
attempt to cover the truth. he had seen enough of it in Justin's eyes when
he left the house. Lance just walked over, open armed and hugged
Justin. That's all he could think to do, as his show of complete
support. As soon as his chin connected with Lances shoulder Justin let out
an audible sigh of contentment. It was obvious that he needed this support,
but just wasn't in the state of mind to request it.

The moments passed slowly, but eventually several minutes of silence
prevailed, and Lance thought it time to speak... `I've got to know what
happened...' thought Lance as he formed the words in his mind. `I need him'
was all that Justin could repeat to himself as he clung on...

"What happened?" whispered Lance as he tried to coax the truth from within
the shell...

Justin visibly flinched at the question. `Not a good start!' exclaimed
Lance... `Let's try another approach'

"Whatever it was you got me worried, you and JC both...!" finished Lance,
hoping that he would latch onto those two letters, JC, and respond...

"What did JC do?" Justin asked, worriedly... Justin was suddenly
confused. He had told JC the one thing that could, and did, rip out his
heart and obliterate it. JC did nothing but, what Justin assumed, loved
Bobbie. It wasn't a crime. `And what has got Lance worried about JC?'

"I was going to ask you the same question?" responded Lance, and then
Justin's shoulders sunk again...

"I...I...told him that...that I was ok with him and...him and Bobbie!"
finished Justin as he removed himself from Lance and looked into his
eyes...

Clarity reached Lance quicker than a speeding bullet out of a smoking
gun. It was so easy...so simple, and yet no-one could see it... `How could
I have missed it?' questioned Lance as he looked back and smiled...

"What are you smiling for?" asked Justin as he looked back bemused...but
Lance removed the smile as quickly as he revealed it...

"Nothing...I just know that if we don't get back soon, they're gonna send
out a search party, and we don't want that...!" laughed Lance as he turned
himself and Justin towards his parked car and they walked silently
off... Lance could have told Justin there and then what he thought, but it
wouldn't be right. `If JC isn't gay then it would devastate Justin,
again...' `I have to find out first...' Then another clarity hit
Lance... `Joey seemed to know more than he was letting on...he must
know...' mused Lance as he engaged the engine and pulled out from the
court. The drive home existed in perpetual silence as both continued to
think to themselves...about completely contrasting situations... Lance,
about the possibility of JC and Justin realising their feelings...and
Justin about whether he could exist in a bubble that contained JC and
Bobbie, together...

****************************************************************************
There we go again folks...Chapter 2 is done and dusted and Chapter 3 is
well on it's way...

Again I have left you all with innumerable questions to answer, but as this
is only a 5 chapter story I doubt it will take long for it to all pan out
into the 'happy' ending (I haven't decided that part yet!)

Please feel free to get back to me to remind me that JC and Justin are in
no way this mushy or that Chris and Joey haven't got drunk and pulled a
prank yet...or that Lance is just too luvvy duvvy for your taste... I know
all these things, but ha ho, this is fiction baby!!

Please feel free to get back to me while I wait for Christopher to write
another chapter to 'Something Like Justin' and 'Building
Dreams'... (grimstone@btinternet.com or ujemeflip@hotmail.com)

See yaz all laterz

DCG