Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2000 15:03:26 EST
From: FishofHappiness@aol.com
Subject: The Magnificent Journey, Part 6

Disclaimer: I know no one mentioned in this story. None of this is true.
Don't read if you're too young or too immature to handle it.

Feedback, as always, is appreciated and can be received at
FishofHappiness@aol.com.

The title for this chapter comes from the Bush's  "The Chemicals Between Us".


The Magnificent Journey
Chapter 6: "The chemicals between us..."

Chris's hand lingered on Lance's neck, and was toying with the hairs there,
stroking absently, caressing him. It was almost scary that such a small
touch could absolutely light Lance on fire... "Yes, you are, Lance. You're
fucking beautiful. The fact that you aren't the heartthrob of the group
only goes to show how fucking stupid the rest of the world is.  In fact, I
want to apologize to you."

"Apologize? What for?"

"How I've treated you, James. I have been absolutely horrible to you the
past few days.  God, if I were you, I never would have come pick me up. But
you did, and you always do stuff like that."

"Stuff like what?" Said so innocently, but Lance knew exactly what Chris
meant.

"You let us walk all over you, James. You always have, and it's all my
fault."

The hand on his neck was soothing him, now, and pulling him closer. Soon he
found himself almost leaning on Chris, as the older man's hands lightly
stroked and massaged his neck and shoulders. "How is it your fault?" Lance
came off as woozy sounding, and he knew it. It was okay, though, it felt
good, and it made Chris chuckle just lightly.

"Don't fall asleep, man; this is an important confession here. I treated
you like shit when the band first started, and you have always treated me
with the utmost respect. I apologize for the time I conveniently 'forgot'
to order room service for you, I apologize for the time I 'lost' all of
your fan mail, and I apologize for the time I pulled you aside at dance
practice and told you that you were expendable to the group, and I was
rooting for a replacement. You are irreplaceable, Lance. I know that that
stuff hurt you, I know that to a certain extent, I am the reason you take
all this shit from us. I'm so incredibly sorry for treating you like I did,
Lance, and if I could take it all back, I would. In fact... let's start it
all over." Chris lightly shoved Lance back into his seat, and grinned when
Lance gave him a startled look.

"What?"

"Start over. You know, first day in the band, etc. Introduce yourself."
Chris was completely insane. Lance was sure of that now, only, the way he
was looking at him, all eager and apologetic, the way his eyes were
sparkling, and his words... it all made Lance smile back. Maybe insane
could be more romantic than sane in cases like this. Lance decided to play
the role. He reached out his hand to Chris, and in his best 'polite' voice,
spoke. "Hi, I'm James Lance Bass, I'm here to sing bass."

Chris's hand met his, and held his hand just a little more intimately than
a normal handshake. "Hi, My name is Christopher Kirkpatrick, and my voice
is higher than any man with any amount of testosterone's should be. I just
wanted to tell you how very honored I am to have you in this group. Why,
just from looking at you, I can already tell that you're going to be the
most dedicated, hard-working member we have. I can sense that you are going
to be responsible and honest... In fact, I think I would be honored to
spend the rest of my life with you." The last words were purred out,
sensually, promising more then a band mate-- promising partnership. They
made Lance shiver. Chris let go of his hand to cup Lance's face, and pulled
him forward. "Welcome to NSync, Lansten."  Then Chris caught Lance's mouth
in an intimate, passionate kiss. It was their first, and it was incredible.
The whole world seemed to disappear around them. Chris had parked well away
from anyone else in the parking lot, but even the soft noise that had been
present dissipated until nothing else existed but the two of them. Finally,
like all good things, the kiss had to end, but it left both of them
breathless.

Lance moved forward to just rest his forehead against Chris's, one arm
having gone around Chris's waist in the midst of passion, pulling them
close together. "That was so much better then the other first time we met."