Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1999 12:21:39 -0800
From: K_Magic@Prodigy.Net
Subject: Fate Stepped In - Chapters Eight and Nine

Well, we almost made to the next millennium.  Had to hurry
and get these chapters out and posted just in case the
"Y2K" thing comes true.

Thanks to all of you who have sent feedback.  It's greatly
appreciated. (Sorry Tonny, just a little more violence in
this chapter then that's it)  ;)

Anyways, have a safe and happy New Year everyone!

And as always:


This is my first attempt at writing, so be kind.
Please over look any grammer or punctuation errs.

Remember...This is FICTION.  (You all know the standard
disclaimer, insert it here.)

E-Mail any comment or suggestions to K_Magic@Prodigy.Net



----------------
Chapter Eight
----------------


In Nick's Room

"Hey J, what's up?"

Jeff could not look up at Nick.  His mind was full of confusion and
he couldn't think straight.

"Earth to Jeff...Come on what's up, Drew said you wanted to talk
about something.  I'm starving, so spit it out," Nick said sitting
down on his bed.

Jeff walked over to the couch and sat down, his back towards Nick.

After a minute of silence, Jeff cleared his throat and swallowed hard.

"I don't know how to start...but here it goes...about last night, it
can't happen again."

"Aw come on, it was just for fun, you know to get our rocks off.  No
one will ever know.  JC has his career to think about, he won't say
anything.  Hell he doesn't even know it was us, no one will ever know."

"Drew knows."

"What, how does he know...Never mind, he won't say anything, he's my
brother.  We're safe."

"He says that if we ever pull this stunt again, he will quit the
group and go public about what we did to him after the record deal
party.  He's serious about it, Nick.  We can't afford it, so no more."

"No way would he do some thing like that...No way...He wouldn't
slit his own throat like that, he has too much to lose.  Plus he has
nothing on us.  It is not like we are roaming faggots doing every
guy in every town.  Hell, sticking your dick into some thing warm
when your horny doesn't make you a faggot."

"I promised him it would never happen again."

"What the fuck did you do something like that for?"

Nick had rose from the bed and was standing right behind Jeff now.

"Come on Jeff, he has nothing on us...He can't do anything, plus we
won't let him do anything.  We can force him.  It's us against him,
he will see it is a no win situation."

"No Nick, it's over." Jeff said turning around to face Nick for the
first time.  "I will not do anything to Drew, and I won't let you
do any thing to him either.  He is your brother and we'll do as he
says.  We were so stupid, how could we do something like that to another
person let alone your own brother."

"Fuck this, where is the little shit.  No way is he going to tell us
what to do."  Nick started for the door.

Jeff jumped up and grabbed Nick by the arm and pulled him back to
face him.

"Let go of me Jeff.  Why are you letting him control us like this.
We don't need him, let him quit, we will survive what ever he has to
say to the media.  The group will be fine without him."

"The group may be fine without him, but I won't.  I won't let him go
now that I have him."

"What did you just say?" Nick stared straight into Jeff's eyes with
a confused look on his face.

"I love him Nick, I'm in love with Drew."

"Wha..are you....are you telling me that your a faggot...Are you
and Drew fucking each other is that it...Fuck, I can't believe this,
my best friend and my brother are fucking homos...Fuck."

With the last comment, Nick shoved Jeff in the chest knocking him
backwards onto the floor.

"Stay the fuck away from me.  I'm going to find Drew and beat the
faggot out of him."

Jeff jumped up and tackled Nick from behind, knocking him to the
floor.  Before Nick could right himself, Jeff had his right arm
twisted behind his back.  Face down on the floor, Nick now felt
Jeff's other hand on top of his head forcing it down against the
carpet and his knee was in the small of Nick's back.  The pain in
his right arm and back had Nick grunting in pain, but try as he
might he could not move Jeff off of him.

"Now that I have your attention...Here is the situation.  You know
damn well that I can kick your ass any time-any where.  You should
have learned to fight instead of boxing for that video.  As I said
earlier, there will be no more of our after drinking fun.  I promised
Drew that and you will promise me that. Right..."

"Right."

"Right what?" Jeff said as he ground his knee into Nick's back.

"Right, I promise it won't happen again."

"Good, now from this point on, you will be respectful to both me
and Drew and of our relationship.  That's if Drew has it in his heart
to forgive me for being such an ass.  But you will be respectful whether
Drew and I are together or not.  It will be as if we are one big
happy family. Right?"

"Right, one big happy family."

"And remember this, if you break any of the promises you made here,
you, your face and your ass will never be the same.  If you are
horny when we are on the road, come on over...I'm sure that between
the two of us we could find some butch guy on the street that could
take care of your needs."

"Fuck you Jeff."

"Now is that respectful," Jeff said as he pushed up on Nick's arm.

"Fuck, Fuck....I'm sorry..Fuck...Stop, come on Jeff."

"Say please."

"Fuck...Ok...Please stop."

"Now, do you promise to be a good little boy and play nicely?"

"Yeah...yeah, I promise."

"Good" Jeff said removing his knee from Nick's back and releasing
his arm as he got up.

Nick laid there for a few seconds and turned over.

"I can't believe your a fa....gay."

"Come on Nick, you must have some tendencies...With Drew and JC,
it was your idea to make the visits.  You led and I followed."

"I am not gay."

"Ok Latch, I won't argue this point with you here. Come on let's go
find Drew and Justin and go get something to eat."

"I'm not hungry anymore, you go."

"Nick, remember...One big happy family."  Jeff said as he threw
Nick's coat at him hitting him in the face.  "Now get your sorry
ass up and lets go."

Nick rose and started to walk out the door.

"See nothings changed," Jeff said as he threw his arm around Nick's
shoulder.  I'm the same...your the same, nothings changed.

Nick just curled his upper lip at Jeff as they walked out the door.



------------
Chapter Nine
------------

Rehearsals had gone off without any problems.  After a few jokes
from the guys about Lance's smiley face reception for the fans, it
was dropped and everything was back to normal.  The limo had dropped
Justin, Joey and Chris off at the closest mall and Lance was now
back at the hotel.

After knocking lightly on JC's door and getting no answer, Lance
let himself in with his spare key and was sitting next to the
bed in a chair just watching JC sleep.

Lance's mind started to wonder.  "God Lance, what now?  You have
loved JC for so long...Now he says he loves you.  You really never
thought that you would find a man, let alone Josh, that loved you.
You've never really been in a relationship, let alone one with
a man, not any man...Josh...I can't beleive it....Josh...JOSH...
What do you do now.  You came to grips with the fact that you're
gay, but no one else knows.  This has been eating away at you for
over a year now, your heart feels like it is going to explode.
Why does it have to be this way.  Why can't people accept me for
who I am, not who I love.  How can I expect Josh to love me when I
can not be open about who I am, who we are.  He deserves better...
I need to get out of here and think this over."

After about a hour and a half, Lance got up and looked one more
time at JC. "Damn, this boy can sleep." he thought to himself as
he left.

Just as he closed the door, he was tackled by someone.

"What the fuck," Lance said as he fell to the ground.

"Hey Scoop, what's up."

"Justin, what are you trying to do, give me a heart attack and get
the hell off me, you weigh a ton."

"Na, the fans would kill me if you ended up in a hospital on life
support, they would never be able to see your boxers smiling back
at them."

Justin got off of Lance and Lance sat up.

"Hey how's JC?"

"He's still asleep.  I'll wake him up in about an hour to get ready."

"Cool, I think I'll head to my room and catch some Z's myself."
Justin said as he turn around and started heading to his room.

"Hey Just, can we talk for a while." Lance asked looking down at
the ground.

"Sure Scoop, come on down and we'll shoot the breeze, I don't need
any beauty sleep anyways I have natural beauty."

Lance rose off the ground and started to walk behind his friend.

"What, no comment, no smart ass remark about the beauty reference. No,
never mind I'll let you sleep, you need all the beauty rest you can
get.  Come on Scoop what's on your mind, you never let a opportunity
to add your two cents into anything go by." Justin said as he opened
his door.

Lance quietly entered the room and sat down on Justin's bed.  Justin
went to the other end and laid down.

"Spill it Scoop."

Lance paused, looking back down at the ground and spoke.

"Justin, we're friend right?"

"Come on Lance, you know we are."

"Well, I'm going to tell you something that is going to test our
friendship...But it needs to be said."

"Ok I'm listening, but whatever you say will never change our
friendship."

Lance put his hands together like he was praying and rested his
chin on his thumbs and closed his eyes.

"Justin, I'm....gay."

There was silence as Lance counted in his head "1...2...3..."  He
did not know why he was counting but before he got to five, he felt
a movement on the bed and then two arms wrapping around his neck.
He opened his eyes as Justin hugged him harder than anyone has ever
hugged him.

Justin spoke still hugging him.  "It's about time."

"What?"

"It's about time you finally trusted me as a friend to admit what
I've known for a while now.  I am truly honored, thank you."

"What?" Lance said, breaking the hug and turning to stare at Justin.

"Oh, come off it Lance.  How stupid do you think I am.  We been
hanging with each other for a few years now.  I'm not blind.  I see
what and who your eyes focus on and it's never been any of the female
I'm checking out.  And plus, I've seen how you are always watching
Josh.  I know you have the hots for him....And I'm pretty sure he
has the hots for you."

"What....I can't beleive this...You knew, all this time and you knew
about me and you knew about Josh.  Why didn't you ever say anything."

"Lance, I was waiting for you or Josh to come to me.  It had to be
your decision, not mine.  You had to trust in your heart and trust
in me.  I knew you would come around sooner or later...I just wish
Josh would do the same.  I'm worried about him.  He has been a little
distant lately.  Kinda like the funk you were in last year.  I am
just hoping he can come out of it like you did."

"Shit, I can't believe you knew all this time about me...Are you Ok
with it?"

"Scoop, I've known for a while now, have I drop you as a friend yet?
Come on, you know me better than that.  You're my friend, my brother,
I love you and nothing will ever change that...Umm...Have you told
your parents yet."

"No."

"So when are you planning to tell them, and how about Joey, Chris
and Josh."

"I'm pretty sure Josh knows everything already, I will probably call
my mom after the show tonight and maybe I'll tell Chris and
Joey then too.  I don't know.  But soon, I can't take this secrecy
anymore.  How do you think they will take it."

"Lance, I'm not going to lie to you, I don't know how they will
react.  They might suspect it already.  Like I said, you didn't
do a very good job at hidding your secret.  But we won't know until
you tell them.  What did you mean about Josh knowing?"

"Not now Justin, I promise to tell you later on.  But just not now,
Ok."

"Ok, when ever your ready, I'll be here."

Hey Justin, I just wanted to say thank you for this, I don't know
what I would have done if this conversation didn't go the way it
did."

"No problem, Scoop.  Do you want me to be there when you tell Joey
and Chris."

"I don't know if I could if you weren't there."

"Ok, just tell me when."

"Thanks....Hey Just, can I ask you something."

"Sure."

"How did you find out about Josh?"

"Oh, I kinda saw something I wasn't suppose to see.  Josh doesn't
know I saw what I saw."

"What did you see?"

"You've got to promise you will never repeat what I'm going to
tell you.  I think it would be to embarrassing for Josh if he
knew what I saw...Promise."

"I promise..."

"So this is what it feels like to be a gossip freak...Oh well...
One rehearsal, I don't remember where it was, but Josh
had disappeared and I went looking for him.  You know how he goes
exploring all over.  I was checking down this downstairs corridor
in the older section of this arena and I heard some noise coming
from behind this door.  The door was ajar so I looked in.  It was
a storage room that had all these mats, kind of like wrestling mats.
Leaning against one of the pile was a nude man being sucked off by
another nude man.  When I came out of shock and focussed on the guys,
I saw that the one on his knees was Josh.  Before I could figure out
who the other one was, Josh stood up and pulled the other guy behind
this tall stack that blocked my view, but I heard Josh say...Come on
Fuck me, I don't have much time.  I was in total shock.  I ran as
fast as I could back to the dressing room.  I was in a total daze
when Josh walked in.  I couldn't look him in the eye.  He was
smiling and told me to get my ass going we were needed on stage.
He messed up my hair and smiled at me again and left.  I sat there
confused.  But then I realized that he was happy and who was I to
question what makes him tick.  So I put aside my feelings and got
on with my life and was just happy because he was happy."

"Justin...you are so amazing.  You have got to be the most level
headed guy I know...So you never found out who the other guy was?"
Lance said with a hint of jealousy in his voice.

"Yeah, I figured it out.  After that, I just watched Josh.  Just to
see if he would give anything away.  It only took a few minutes.  He
was pretty obvious about it.  I guess if you watch close enough and
you have an idea of what you are looking for, you can spot things
that get by most people."

"So who was it?"

"Getting a little jealous are we."

"Yeah..I mean no...Oh fuck you...Tell me...Who was it Justin."

"Let's just say this, it was someone we saw almost everyday but we
don't anymore..."

"WHO WAS IT?"

"He was in the band..."

"JUSTIN"

"He played keyboards..."

"Oh shit...Dax?...It was Dax..."

"Bingo, Ok Vanna tell the man what he won."

"Dax...Dax isn't gay, he has a girlfriend...How do you know it was
Dax."

"I saw the looks being passed between the two, the way the interacted
with each other and the smiles on both their faces the rest of that
day.  Plus I caught him leaving Josh's hotel room a few nights after the
scene I told you about.  It was about four in the morning.  I was up
late watching a movie and I heard a door open.  I ran to the door and
opened it.  It was Dax leaving Josh's room with just a pair of pants
on carring his shirt, shoes and socks.  His hair was all messed up.
He saw me, smiled and winked and left.  The next show was the Disney
special and Dax's last performance with us.  I don't think he ever
told Josh that I saw him."

"Josh and Dax...I can't believe it...I would have never imagined it...
Of course I never knew about Josh until this morning."

"Wait...Josh told you this morning that he was gay..."

"Um..."

"Spill it Scoop"

"Justin, I can't talk about it...I promised him I wouldn't say a
word."

"Lance...come on...talk to me...Lance...LANCE"

"Sorry, you'll just have to wait until he comes and tells you."
Lance said rising off the bed heading for the door.

"James Lance Bass...you get your ass over here and tell me, NOW."

"Wish I could, wow look at the time, got to go and wake Josh or
were going to be late.  You better grab a shower...Oh and Justin..."

"Yeah Lance"

"Thanks again, you'll never know what it means to me to have a friend
like you...a brother like you.  I love you." Lance said running back to
Justin, pulling him into a hug.

"Love you too bud, but I think you love someone else more than you could
ever love me."

Lance broke the hug and looked Justin in the eyes and a smile formed
on his lips as he turns to leave.

"Yeah you're right, I could never love someone with hair like yours, it's
like running your hands through pubs."  Lance said as he ducked out the door.

"Fuck you, you albino freak." Justin yells back at the door.

"Damn, he told Lance before he told me.  I'm going to have to have a little
talk with Josh about friendship and trust." Justin says to himself as he
walks towards the bathroom to take a shower.