Date: Sun, 10 Oct 1999 16:59:14 PDT
From: Jeff Kaiser <kaiser_goof@hotmail.com>
Subject: twist of fate chapter 6

***Props go to all my readers (all 5 of you), to David at Nifty, to the
Energizer bunny, and to milk... because it does a body good.  To my great
friend, Ad. ... You're awesome!  If you haven't read his story "Tests of
Friendship", I recommend it.

Wow... this whole school thing is really kicking my butt.  I really hope I
can keep the chapters up with my school load.  If you'd still like to see
regular chapters of Twist of Fate, please drop me a quick line letting me
know you're reading.  I love chatting and making new friends, too.

Well, instead of you reading all this whoop-la, I'll just get to the good
stuff.  Check ch 1 for the warning about the homosexual and FICTIONAL
content of this story.  If it's legal for you to read, enjoy!  If not,
enjoy anyway!

*Communication is my fuel!  Thanks to you all.
~Jeff


Previously on Twist of Fate...

As soon as I hung up the phone, something hit me hard in my mind.  For
someone I had just met, I had gotten very close to, and dare I say, a bit
careless around Lance.  I could remember at least half a dozen questionable
comments (like the one above) that had slipped out of my mouth to Lance
that would have caused most guys to lift an eyebrow at me.  Lance would
smile and nearly blush at some of my slips, when the correct, 'hetero'
response would have been to back off and question the person's intentions.
It seemed like he was enjoying the attention, but I started getting scared
that I was being a bit too, well, friendly.  Holding his hand last night.
Patting and rubbing his back.  These were not necessarily things that a
'straight' friend would initiate.  Why did Lance have to be so confusing?

I decided that I needed to watch what I said and did around him, though my
feelings wanted to betray me.  I reminded myself that Lance was my good
friend first and foremost, and I would never do anything that could
remotely damage the bond we had.  He was too precious for that!

I was excited about seeing Lance tonight, but dreading the restraint I'm
sure I would have to exercise.  Give me strength!

*   *   *   *   *   *
Chapter 6

I snapped back to reality, putting this whole thought process on the back
burner.  Although I had spent all day in an air conditioned office, I
decided to freshen up.  I hadn't had a shower this morning, and I felt
quite ripe.  I grabbed a pair of jeans and a blue/tan Hawaiian shirt out of
my closet and laid them out on the bed.  As usual, I shucked my clothes
into the hamper and wandered down to the bathroom in the buff.  I hopped
into the shower, cranking the water on as hot as I could stand it.
'Ahhhh...'  It felt good.  I began to lather up my body in the usual,
methodical system one tends to form after showering for 20 years.  I
started with my chest, up to my right arm pit and arm, then the left pit
and arm.  Shoulders were next.  I was getting a nice lather going, so I
soaped up the rest of my torso.

I glanced down at my nipples, noticing they had gotten a bit hard, despite
the hot water.  With the soap in one hand, I reached up and played with my
nipple for a second.  Wow, that felt good.  I tried to remember the last
time I had taken the opportunity to explore myself, and my memory
registered a blank.  The nipple stimulation was enough to get a bit more
going down stairs.  I glanced down and noticed that my dick was starting to
rise to the occasion.  Putting my shower on hold for a while, I lathered up
my palm.  I reached down, gently grabbing and squeezing the girth of my
member.  A jolt of energy surged through me simply from a lack of
stimulation lately in that region.  I began stroking up and down my
circumcised penis, reveling in the sensations being created by the friction
on my love skin.  I closed my eyes and thought of an image that could
accompany my masturbation.  However, no matter how hard I tried, the only
image that popped into my hormone-crazed mind was Lance.  I debated this
for a moment, and finally decided that my friendship with Lance would be
compromised if I used him in such a way.  Being a virgin, all my
masturbation fantasies were just that-fantasies.  It's a whole new element
when that fantasy is a real, viable part of your life.  To me, using Lance
like that would have been like, turning him into my little mental slut.
While I might joke about how that's exactly what I'd want, the REAL me just
wasn't okay with it.  With feelings of both frustration and satisfaction, I
opened my eyes, looked down, and released my grip.  My libido would have to
take a bit longer vacation.  Thankfully for 'the plumbing', I had only just
started!  I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing once again I had made the
best decision for myself.

I had just put the shampoo in my hair when there was a knock at the
bathroom door.  I nearly messed myself right there in the shower.  Who
could be here?!?

"Billy?  It's Lance."  Okay, question answered.  My heart calmed, but
fluttered just a moment later as I realized I was showering while Lance
stuck his head in the bathroom.

"Oh hey!!  You're here early!"  I stuck my head out the curtain, being sure
the rest of me was covered.

"Actually, no.  Right on time.  You in the shower again?  What's up with
you and long showers?  Haha."

"Well you know, gotta smell good for my guests!"

"Aw, you always smell good," Lance answered.  Why did Lance tease me so?
If only he knew he was tearing me up inside.  "Anyway... I'm here.  I just
came through the front door.  I'll get set up in the kitchen."

"Alright.  I'll hurry."

"No need.  Take your time!"  With that, he smiled and closed the door.
'Take your time?'  What did he think I was doing in there?  Well, he was
almost right.  'OHMYGOSH!  Imagine if I had kept going and he had caught
me!'  I ignored that horror and flushed all such thought processes out,
finishing my shower in record time.  I stepped out, realizing my clothes
were in my room and all I had was a towel.  Neeeeat.  I dried off, wrapped
the towel, and proceeded out the bathroom to my room.  However, Lance
caught me.

"Dude, why is it you're always half naked when ever I come over here?"  Not
knowing how to answer, I blushed and shrugged.  Even though he was a good
ten feet away, he saw my cheeks go red, and said, "Oh, there he goes again,
Mr. Blush.  You better get some clothes on, boy!"

"Shut up.  I'm going to get dressed now."  I walked quickly into my bedroom
and pulled on my outfit, then proceeded back to the bathroom to quickly do
my hair and brush my teeth.  I then walked out of the bathroom and into the
kitchen, feeling the eeriest form of deja vous as I saw the refrigerator
door open and Lance's head hidden within.

"Whoa," I said, "I feel like I've been here before."  Lance glanced up,
looking at me strangely, until he realized what I was talking about.  He
smiled and nodded.  "So Mr. Chef, I guess I'm not allowed to ask what's for
dinner, but can I poke around your stuff?"  I asked as I noticed a few
paper bags on the counter.

"Be my guest.  It won't be a secret for long... you're going to help me
with it, anyway."  I walked over to the two bags and started pulling things
out.  Lettuce.  Onion.  Tomatoes.  Boneless chicken filets.  Corn.  Another
type of lettuce.  A lemon.  Root beer-AH!  I love root beer.

"How'd you know I love root beer?"

"I didn't... Root beer is MY favorite drink!"  I raised an eyebrow and
started humming the theme to Twilight Zone.  We both smiled, and Lance
continued, "Okay, you can help make the salad.  We need to tear the lettuce
up, and chop these veggies..."  I started doing as I was told while Lance
went outside and started the grill.  He then made a marinade for the
chicken, and wrapped the corn in foil.  My mouth was watering just THINKING
about how good this was going to be.

It was a nice summer evening, so I cleaned off the patio table and set two
place settings.  Our house being close to a small stream and prone to
insect visits, I set out two of the small bug-deterring candles and a box
of matches.  I lit the two tiki torches that were permanently stuck in the
ground around the patio area.  In the meantime, Lance was grilling up both
the chicken and the corn on the grill.  I don't know how he did it.
Everything on the grill looked like it was cooking up perfectly, yet Lance
and I were talking, and he was in and out of the house, sipping on a root
beer, not seeming to concentrate on the grill at all.

"Almost ready!"  Lance yelled inside.  I grabbed a big serving plate and
brought it to him at the grill, on which he proceeded to place the most
delicious chicken filets and corn cobs I had ever seen.  I put the plate on
the table, and started to sit when Lance said, "WAIT.  I'll be RIGHT back."
I went ahead and sat down, lighting the bug candles.  He returned with two
new bottles of root beer, which he proceeded to decap and hand one to me.
He said, "Awwww... A candle-lit dinner just for ME!"

"Yeah, but the candles are to deter pests.  So... shoo.  Shoo!"  I said,
waving my hands at him.  He laughed and sat down, looking at me, saying,

"Here you go, my friend, Chicken a la Lance."

"Is everything you make 'a la Lance'?"

"Hey... I have to maintain credit, eh?"  We both dug in.  The chicken was
fantastic!  I don't know what the marinade was, but it made the chicken so
tender and juicy that it melted in my mouth.  I complimented Lance after
every bite.  He just smiled and nodded.  The meal was too perfect.  Chicken
a la Lance, corn on the cob, freshly tossed salad, and ROOT BEER.  What
could make it better?  Lance answered THAT question.

"You better save room for desert!"

"Oh, THANKS.  Now you tell me!  I think I can manage.  What are we having?"
I knew immediately I wasn't going to get an answer.  "Oh, stupid question
#4.  I know.  Nevermind."  We started talking about our day since I had
left that morning.  I shared the whole fiasco about being late, getting
yelled at, finishing early, my lunch break, blah blah blah.  He apologized
again for making me late, and I wouldn't hear of accepting his words.  It
was, in fact, my fault for not setting an alarm clock or something.  In all
honesty, I'd do it again if it meant spending another evening like that
with Lance.  I, of course, didn't share that with HIM!

He then told me about his day.  He and the rest of the guys had a quick
morning meeting with Roger and Peter about the 'chameleon' procedure, then
he, JC, and Justin went to the hotel gym for a long work out.  He spent the
rest of the day in JC's room with Chris hanging out until it was time to
leave and come over here.

"What's the chameleon procedure?"  He realized he had been talking another
language, so he clarified.

"Sorry.  It's N'Sync code.  Have you noticed that there weren't many fans
at the hotel yesterday when you drove up?"

"Yeah, I did notice that.  I thought it was kinda weird."

"We don't actually stay at hotels that often.  We're usually on the bus
after each concert, heading to the next venue.  It can get kinda rough, but
we do get to chill at hotels on long stays or vacation time, like now.
Well, 'chameleon' is a sneaky little tactic that management does when we
are staying at hotels.  We might be staying at the Marriott, but management
leaks that we'd be at the Hilton, or Embassy, or Motel 6, or something.
There's usually four or five different stories circulating about our
arrangements.  So all the fans camp out for a night at those hotels, not
ours.  They all go home when they realize we're not there.  It's a little
mean for the other hotels, but it's for our safety."

"That's sneaky!  BUT a good idea.  I never thought about that before."

"Yeah, management has a few tricks up their sleeves when it comes to
diverting attention away from us so we can travel safely.  They like our
exposure to be in safe, controlled settings, like press conferences,
autograph signings, stuff like that.  They'd probably frown a bit at us
going to the ballgame last night, but we took all the precautions."

We chatted a bit more until I reminded him that we still had Austin Powers
to watch.

"Yeah, Baby!"  was his only response as he leapt from the table and started
clearing the dishes from the meal.  I helped him, blowing out the candles
and torches as he proceeded to the kitchen.  I rewound the movie, turned on
the TV and turned on the lamp in the living room, ensuring a comfortable
setting.

"The secret is revealed!"  Lance said as he walked in to the living room
with two bowls and two spoons in hand.  I cocked an eyebrow, curious about
what the desert could be.  Lance handed me a bowl and a spoon, and I smiled
when I saw the bowl's contents.

"Oh, it's my favorite!"  Lance had gotten the same peanut butter cup yummy
ice cream I had last night.

"And it's not a little bowl like last time, I got two half-gallons of the
stuff.  You know, I think they should make ice cream one of the major food
groups.  Let's see... ice cream..."

"Chocolate..."

"Chocolate is good.  Ketchup..."

"Hehehe... and pizza."

"Okay, the four major food groups.  Ice cream, chocolate, ketchup, and
pizza.  Think they'll go for it?"  I shook my head, laughing, with a
spoonful of ice cream in my mouth.  Lance just shrugged.  I pressed play on
the remote, and settled back to enjoy the movie with my friend.  This time,
we were able to get through the whole thing without distractions
like... oh, falling asleep.  Once, however, I got up to refill our ice
cream, but I hit pause.  When I returned, I hopped back on the couch and
laid down.  However, Lance had hopped off the love seat and moved over to
my couch, sitting on the floor and leaning his back on the middle cushion
by my mid-section.  Hmmm... I shrugged, but didn't mentally dismiss it.  I
smiled, glad that Lance was comfortable.  The rest of the movie progressed
without incident.

As the closing credits started to roll, I spoke up, saying, "Well, I don't
know about you, but I'm in the mood for some more root beer!"  I started
getting up to retrieve the beverages, but Lance had different plans.

"No don't worry about it.  I'll ge... OUCH!"  His exclamation of pain
caused me to snap my eyes to him.  He had reached back to help himself up
by pushing up on the cushions of the couch.  However, his arms or back or
something must have given out, because he was now on his side, laying on
the floor, holding his lower back.

"Are you okay?  What happened?"  As I spoke, I swung my body into a sitting
position and leaned over his body, subconsciously retracting my hand after
reaching to him.

"I'm *OUCH* alright.  I guess I pushed myself a bit too hard with the guys
today at the gym.  I hadn't worked out for weeks, and I always get sore and
rubbery the first time back."

"Where does it hurt?" I asked.  Although I was trying to be macho to cover
my exuberant concern for Lance, he still picked it up from my voice.

"I'll be fine.  It doesn't hurt anywhere, specifically.  I worked
everything today-legs, chest, arms, back.  I knew I shouldn't have pushed
myself so hard."

"Okay, how's this.  I'LL get the root beer, you stay here.  Deal?"  Lance
nodded.

"Deal."  I got up and retrieved two more root beers from the fridge.  How
many of these did he buy?  There were still a dozen bottles left!  I walked
back to find Lance lying on his front, trying to stretch his arms
backwards, quite unsuccessfully, from my perspective.  I set both drinks on
the end table, sat down on the couch, and watched my friend struggle.  I
was afraid to help him, now paranoid of making any kind of physical contact
with him.  Of course, as fate would have it, Lance made things worse for
me.

"Billy, can you stretch my arms back?  My chest is really tight."  Trying
not to grin at the hidden double meaning of Lance's words, I rolled my eyes
in defeat and agreed.  I knelt down next to him and pulled his arms
backwards, ever so slowly and gently.  A strained grunt came from Lance's
mouth, and I quickly released the tension.  "No no... that's a good thing.
That feels... really... good."  I continued to stretch him out, causing
Lance to grunt and moan a few more times.

"There you go, hope that feels better."  Thinking my task was over, I
lowered his hands to his sides.  Lance, however, kept me in torment.

"Hey, another favor.  Could you try to pop my back?  It's easy, just put
your hands together and press..."  I interrupted.

"Yeah, yeah.  I've done it before.  Sure."  Dang it, Lance!  Why do you
have to be like this?  I hesitated for a moment, then decided to dive right
in.  I stood over Lance's rear, leaning down and placing my palms on his
spine.  I counted out, "One, Two, Three..." as Lance exhaled and I pressed
down/forward into his body.  Lance and I were both rewarded with a handful
of pops coming from his back.

"Unhhhhhhhhhh..."  That's all Lance needed to say.  I moved up a few inches
and repeated the process, with similar results.  As I was just finishing
the last of my back treatment, Lance said the absolute worst thing he could
possibly say in my current mental dilemma.  "That was GREAT!  Thanks.  We
usually have a masseuse with us on tour.  They usually take care of us when
we're aching or tight or whatever.  I wish ours hadn't gone home after the
concert.  I could really use a back rub."

'AWWWWW HELL!' I thought.  'STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT!  You're killing me
here Lance!  I like you as more than a friend, yet showing you would kill
the special friendship we have.  But all you can do tonight is ask me to
touch you.  You're killing me here!  AHHHHHHHHHHHH!'  As these thoughts
flew through my brain, it was all I could do not to get totally pissed at
my poor, helpless sore-beyond-belief friend lying on the floor.  I sighed
and thought, 'Aw, screw it all!', as I said,

"Well, I'm not your masseuse, but I'll have to do."  I proceeded to sit on
his back and start rubbing his shoulder muscles carefully.  I slowly
kneaded his back and neck muscles, taking care not to squeeze too hard.  He
was really tense.

"Ohhh... that's good.  Yeah, that's good.  Where'd you learn that?"  I
couldn't believe I hadn't told him.

"My first semester at the junior college, I was looking into physical
therapy and sports medicine.  I took a few classes that really sucked.  But
I do remember quite a bit from this massage class I took."

"Unhhh... as far as I'm concerned, you're hired.  Kick that lady out.
She's... unhhhh... gone..."  I smiled at his comment, but still mad (not
really) that he dragged me down into this situation.  After a few minutes
of working on his arms, neck, shoulders, and upper back, I was ready to
move down.  However, I was sitting on his lower back... this made it
difficult to reach.  I rolled my eyes at myself in personal defeat and
decided to take yet another plunge... and slide back to sit on Lance's
butt.  I just hoped Lance didn't turn around and catch the 'growing
situation' I had in my pants.  I continued the massage for about 20 more
minutes.  I finally patted him three times between the shoulder blades and
stood up.  I couldn't tell if I was relieved or disappointed.  Lance looked
up at me with a pout on his face, however, and it was clear to me that HE
was disappointed.

"Ah, I see yet another satisfied customer," I said as I glanced over and
noticed the two root beer bottles sitting on the table.

"VERY satisfied.  When can I make another appointment?"  I handed him a
root beer and answered,

"Well, I'm a very busy person, being Mr. Twinkle Fingers and all.  I'm all
booked up for... another few minutes while I enjoy my drink."  Lance had
sat up and was leaning on the couch cushion, sipping from his bottle.

"Thank you again.  I owe you big-time for that one."

"Why didn't you say you were so sore?  I'd have pulled the cover off the
jacuzzi for you!"

"You have a JACUZZI?"  Oh CRAP.  WHAT HAVE I DONE?  I would LOVE to get in
a jacuzzi with Lance, but that would almost be too much for me to handle.
I hoped and prayed Lance would change his mind, decide it was too late,
decide he wanted to watch TV, restring his shoe laces, ANYTHING besides
going in the jacuzzi.  Fate was not on my side.

"I could REALLY use a dip in a jacuzzi.  Is it working?  Is it hot?  Do you
think we could?"

"It works fine.  I checked the chemicals the other day and it's perfect."
Kill me now!

"You want to go in?"  Smiling at the complete and utter defeat of my will
power, I nodded.

"I'm assuming you didn't bring a suit.  I'll go get one for ya."  I walked
to my room, grabbed two swimsuits, and spoke to myself in the mirror.  "Why
me?  Why me?"  LONG PAUSE.  "This is turning into quite the twist of fate,
isn't it, Billy?"  I then walked back out to the living room and handed him
the suit, directing him to change in my bathroom, and to grab two towels on
the way out.  I went back to my room, changed, and ran out to the jacuzzi,
which was around the backside of the house.  I popped the cover off,
checking the temperature.  103 degrees.  PERFECT.  Now to wait.

I ran and grabbed a nearby lawn chair, and pulled it next to the jacuzzi,
sitting down.  Lance emerged from around the corner about two minutes
later.  My first glimpse of him literally sucked the air out of lungs.  He
was wearing my green swim trunks, and his undershirt.  His legs were
lightly tanned with just a hint of hair from the knees down.  His feet
looked even cuter now than they did the other night as they dangled off the
couch.  The shorter sleeves of his undershirt showed off more of his arms
than I had ever seen, live or in pictures.  The shirt clung to his shapely
torso and abdomen.  I had to rip my eyes from that sight.  The problem was,
I knew it was going to get even worse minus his shirt and plus the water!
AHH!

"You ready?  The water's great!" I said as I grabbed the towels and draped
them over the chair in which I was sitting, trying to avoid looking at his
perfection.

"Sure!  Let's go."  I climbed up the steps and slowly lowered myself into
the above-ground jacuzzi.  I walked to the other side and sat on the edge,
my knees and lower legs submerged, facing Lance.  He paused for a second,
and climbed up the steps.  I spoke up as a friendly reminder,

"You don't want to get your shirt wet, do you?"  I watched his eyes, and
saw them wince ever so slightly.  He hesitated again, turned around, and
started tugging at the bottom of his shirt.  That's when it hit me.  I'd
never seen a picture on the Internet of Lance shirtless.  He was ALWAYS
wearing shirts!  Even in those shirtless in-the-pool shots of the group,
Lance always wound up hiding behind the rest of the group.  And now, he was
acting shy about taking off his shirt.  My eyes got big as I realized that
Lance might be insecure about this aspect of his looks!  But how?  I'm sure
he looked great!  I don't know how, but all the indications seemed to point
to it.

I saw Lance slowly turn back around, so I could only look away out of
respect for what I thought was his insecurity.  I pretended to look at the
stars as he hopped into the tub.  Sure enough, he submerged quickly until
his chest was covered.  I felt bad for my friend, and vowed I'd try to
build him up and encourage him about it before the night was through.  I
looked back at him and smiled, and he smiled back.  I slowly dipped myself
in, reaching for the buttons that controlled the lights and jets.  In
seconds, we were surrounded by a blue-lit foam of moving water.  Lance let
out a sigh, enjoying his first moment of relief since he walked out to the
jacuzzi.

We started talking about music, touring, and the rigors of traveling for a
while.  I still participated in the conversation in full, but I was
formulating an appropriate way to bring up the whole 'shirtless' thing in
the back of my head.  An idea had come to mind, but I wanted to do a quick
experiment to be absolutely sure I was grounded in my suspicions.  This is
something I wouldn't want to mess up!

"Oh man, I forgot my root beer inside!  It's still three-quarters full," I
said, watching Lance.

"Oh, me too.  It's just sitting on the coffee table."  SILENCE.  Neither of
us moved.  We stared at each other for a few seconds until I spoke up and
started to stand.

"I'll go get them.  You stay and enjoy the water."  Lance seemed to be
relieved, and he scooted to the side of the jacuzzi so I could pass.  I
went inside, retrieved the bottles, and returned, thinking the whole time
that Lance would have been up in a second to get the drinks if he DIDN'T
have some sort of insecurity.  Now it was time to practice my magic.  I
hope it doesn't backfire!  I hopped back in, finding Lance in my old spot.
I settled in his old spot and handed him his drink.  We relaxed for a few
more moments until I spoke up again.

"How often do you guys have photo shoots?"

"Oh man, it can really vary.  We could have three one week, then none for a
few weeks.  It just depends if any magazines are doing stories, or if we
have promo stuff to do for MTV or something.  In addition to group shoots,
each of us have separate shoots for the PR folks to send to all the
teeny-bopper magazines."

"Huh.  I was just wondering.  I've hopped around on the Internet, and I've
seen a some pictures of the group and in each one, you all have different
outfits and hair-dos."

"Yeah, we're always getting our pictures taken.  It's flattering, but
sometimes wearing on our nerves."

"Not that I've taken specific notice or anything, but why is Justin always
shirtless?  Is he some kind of fetish guy or something?"  We both started
chuckling.

"Yeah, Justin can't seem to keep his clothes on.  Hehe.  The photographers
think more skin is better, and I guess that's what sells magazines.  They
always try to get us all shirtless, and Justin always volunteers."  Thank
you, Lance.  You're playing right into my little game.

"Do you ever go shirtless?"  The moment of truth.  Lance paused for a
moment, and answered,

"Nah, usually they're usually cool with Justin.  Nobody wants to see that
anyway!"  I got a bit more bold.

"Hmm... not that I look at a lot of group pics, mind you, but I remember a
pool shot where they got a shot of you guys in your trunks.  I think you
were hiding in the back, weren't you?"  Lance looked down at the water, as
if searching for the answer.

"Yeah, I remember that one.  Well...... that's just where the photographer
placed me.  That's all."  CRAP.  Dead end.  Okay, new approach.

"I wish I could look good in photos.  I never take my shirt off for the
camera, or I turn away if I'm in the pool or something.  I don't want to
get my scrawniness caught on camera."

"Scrawniness?  Whatever.  You don't look scrawny at all!"  Lance said.  I
continued to play.

"Yeah, whatever.  Mr. Pencil Arms, that's me.  I don't get to work out all
the time like SOMEBODY I know," I said, hinting at Lance.

"Oh please, I haven't worked out for a long time.  And when I do, I hardly
ever see any results."  Here was my chance.

"No results?  What are you talking about?  You look very healthy, and I can
tell you work out!"  Lance looked straight down into the water, and I could
tell he was smiling at the compliment.  However, he quickly wiped the smile
off his face and looked back up, determined to win this argument.

"Well, I don't think everybody else would see it like that.  It doesn't
matter what I do; I still can't make my body look like I want it."

"And how exactly DO you want it to look?"

"I don't know... I want it to look... good.  Everyone is always gaa-gaa
over Justin and JC when they take their shirts off, and I can't hold a
candle to them."  He was depressing both of us by his stubbornness.  I was
starting to get mad again at Lance, this time for being such a downer on
himself.  I took the ultimate step and said,

"Stand up!"  Lance looked shocked, and started shaking his head slowly.
"Stand up!  You've seen me shirtless, now it's my turn!"  Again, Lance
looked down in the water, trying to get away from the situation.  I knew I
was making this very difficult for him, but it would be all over once he
stood up and I could give him some affirmation.

"Billy, I... I'm uncomfortable."

"Lance, it's me... your friend.  I want you to trust me.  You don't have to
hide anything from me," I said.  I know this crossed WAY over the line I
had drawn for myself earlier, but I didn't care.  Some other force had
taken over me by this point.  I wanted to make Lance feel good about
himself once and for all.

Lance slowly looked up, sighed in defeat, and started to stand.  His
shoulders emerged first, then his upper chest, then his nipples, then his
upper torso, then his abs, then his swim suit.  There he was.  Standing in
front of me.  He was lightly tanned and his chest was perfectly smooth.
His nipples were average-sized, and a bit darker than most.  His pecs were
well shaped, yet were lacking a lot of definition, leaving him with a very
strong youthful look.  His stomach was neither fat nor flat... it was a
perfect young belly.  There was a slight emergence of muscle definition in
his abs that could be seen slightly through the skin.  The water beads
sticking to his skin only accentuated his appearance.  In my wildest
dreams, I could not have imagined Lance's body to look so good.  I stood up
to face Lance, about two feet away from him.

"Lance, I don't know what you're thinking, but you're beautiful.  You have
absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.  You're beautiful..."  I knew he could
hear me, but he couldn't see me because his head was turned to the side,
looking down into the water.  He was just shaking his head slowly.  I
reached up with my hand and gently turned his head to face mine.  Our eyes
made contact, but something jumped inside me that had never moved before
when I looked at Lance.  Something about his eyes had changed.  His look,
his stare.  I couldn't get away from it!  I didn't dare blink for fear that
he'd be gone when I opened my eyes.  My hand was still on the side of his
chin, and for some reason, I couldn't remove it. Actually, quite the
opposite.  That unknown force that was controlling me caused my hand to
move up and ever so gently grab his face around his jaw, with my thumb
lying lightly on his cheek.  A voice began to speak, and I realized it was
mine,

"You are beautiful, Lance.  You are such a beautiful person."  I couldn't
believe what was happening!  I was trying to figure out what exactly had
possessed me to say these things, when I realized that the distance between
our faces had moved from about two feet to one foot.  'OH WOW.'  My heart
nearly burst out of my chest.  Snapping out of my trance, I discovered
Lance's face slowly approaching, his eyes barely open.  My eyesight quickly
blacked out as I closed my eyes.  As if my magnetic attraction, our lips
met for the first time.  The oral contact sent shivers up and down my
spine.  I had subconsciously parted my lips slightly before contact, and I
found one of Lance's lips held firmly between mine.  I massaged his lower
lip with mine, then moved on to the top lip.  We broke for a split second,
then immediately engaged in a full lip lock, our heads turning slightly.  I
lifted my other hand to lightly hold Lance's neck, and he responded by
reaching up and resting his hands around my neck.  As if we had mutually
agreed telepathically, our tongues stayed in own mouths.  I just wanted to
savor this glittering instant.  All time stood still as Lance and I shared
our first intimate moment.  The water was swirling, our bodies were wet and
painted blue by the jacuzzi light, and we were engaged in a kiss that would
have put most movie stars to shame.

Two minutes, ten minutes, four hours, five days.  Who knows how much time
had passed during our romantic exchange.  We broke our kiss and held our
foreheads together, looking down.  I had moved my hands down to hold his
shoulders, while his hands remained lightly on my neck.  I didn't want to
speak, lest I ruin this perfect moment.  Lance thought differently.  Of
course, he could never ruin anything by speaking!

"I've wanted to do that since we met."  I moved my head back and released
his shoulders, looking deep into his eyes.

"I've wanted to do that longer!"  Reality was slowly seeping back into my
mind, and I glanced down to notice that both Lance and I were sporting some
pretty serious hard-ons through our suits.  We both quickly submerged, and
blushed at the mutually embarassing moment.  After a light laugh, Lance
spoke again.

"I can't believe that just happened.  Did we just kiss?"  I slowly nodded,
still in a haze.  Lance continued, "I'm so glad I met you, Billy.  You're
like no one I've ever known.  You make me feel so good about myself, both
inside... and out," he said, glancing down and referring to the whole
shirtless thing.  "I can't believe there's someone in the world like you."
Totally amazed that these words were being said to me, I reached through
the water to grab Lance's hand.  Making contact, I responded,

"Lance, YOU are the amazing one.  You are so caring, so compassionate; you
make me smile whenever I'm around you!"  He turned his head away again, but
this time he was smiling and blushing.

"Awww... stop it!"

"HA!  I made YOU blush!  Finally..."  This made him blush even more.  I was
enjoying every moment of torturing Lance.  This was quite the role
reversal!  We goofed around for a few more minutes before Lance said,

"I don't know about you, but I'm starting to prune up.  Wanna get out?"  I
nodded as I moved to the edge, my hard-on having subsided over the past few
minutes.  As I climbed over the edge, I glanced over to Lance and caught
him looking at me.  It startled him, and he looked away, smiling.  I just
smiled and shook my head as I climbed out and helped him out of the tub.
He reached for the towels and spread one out, reaching around my back and
wrapping it around my shoulders.  I snatched the second towel, doing the
same to him.  But this time, I pulled him into a hug.  His arms went around
my shoulders and mine around his waist.  There we hugged and swayed,
enjoying the warm summer night air and, more importantly, each other.  I
wanted to sit down with him and talk about everything- our new
relationship, his history with relationships, families, love, commitment,
EVERYTHING.  But my emotions squashed my logic and I simply allowed myself
to be consumed by my new-found friend.

Regrettably, we broke the embrace as I started to shiver.  Lance looked at
me with concern, and started dragging me inside.  We walked inside and
proceeded to my bedroom where I grabbed two pairs of shorts and two T
shirts for us to change into (I know, original).  I tossed Lance his set
and offered him my bathroom to shower and change.  Knowing that there was
no way we could shower together (not yet), he nodded and smiled,
disappearing into the bathroom.  I took my clothes into my sister's
bathroom and proceeded to shower and change.  Feeling refreshed, I walked
into the living room a new man.  I was totally energized, and I felt like I
could conquer the world.  The only problem?  Lance wasn't by my side.  I
heard the bathroom door open down the hall, and knew Lance was on his way.
I sat in my traditional spot on the couch, and Lance came in moments later
and sat in his spot.  We looked at each other and I spoke up, using his
line from a few days ago,

"Penny for your thoughts?"  He grinned and responded,

"I don't know what to say.  WOW, maybe?  It seems like this whole thing is
moving so quickly, but at the same time the last few days have moved in
slow motion whenever I'm around you.  What I do know is I've found
something amazing in you and I don't want to let that go."  He extended a
hand which I grabbed and squeezed, thanking him for his encouragement.

"So... what now?  Where do we go from here?  I guess things have changed a
bit in the last, oh, hour, don't you think?"

"Yes, they have... for the better.  To answer your question?  I don't know
where we go from here.  What I do know is that I like you.  I like you a
lot.  I just want to get to know you more and more like we have these past
few days."

"I want the same, Lance.  I have been on cloud nine ever since you, uh, er,
JAMES called me a few nights ago.  Even before I knew you were Lance, I was
still attracted to the person on the phone.  Now that I have gotten to know
you and see you in person, I can't stop thinking about you."

"That's what drives me crazy about you, Billy!  You don't seem to care
about the fact that I'm in N'Sync.  All you see is me.  You like me for me!
I can't say I've ever had that happen before.  You make me so happy."  At
that moment, I didn't care what I had to do, I wanted to be close to Lance.
I got up quickly, sat next to him, and pulled him into an embrace.
Unfortunately, we were a bit off balance, and we fell sideways on the couch
from our sitting position.  Neither of us noticed.  We held that embrace,
rubbing each other's shoulders and backs with our hands.  I had never been
in such a peaceful state.  If this is what it felt like to find that
'special someone', then I wasn't going to leave him for anything!

We broke the embrace and Lance sat up, mischievously saying,

"I think you have something coming to you, and I'm going to give it to
you!"  Half excited and half scared about what it might be, Lance dragged
me gently to my knees helped me lay down on my front.  Seconds later I felt
a pressure on my butt as Lance sat down and started massaging my back.  My
eyes rolled back in my head as I enjoyed not only the contact with Lance
but the relaxation of the massage.  This continued for about 30 minutes.  I
was nearly asleep when I felt him climb off and lay down beside me.
Turning over on my back, I looked at him and smiled.  He smiled back and
said,

"Thank you for being you."

"Well, not a lot of options there.  It's who I am."

"You know what I mean!  I'm so glad we met.  You... complete me!"  We both
busted up at this pathetic attempt at romance.  As soon as we calmed down,
though, we began to stare at each other again.  Feeling chills over my
body, I knew it was happening again.  I closed my eyes and felt Lance's
lips make contact with mine.  I savored just the contact with his perfect
mouth.  Lance slowly rolled over into a kneeling position, never breaking
contact with my lips.  I was in heaven and didn't think anything could be
better.  I was wrong.

Lance reached up with his hands and started rubbing them lightly on my
upper chest, just below my neck.  Waves of euphoria traveled through my
body as I tightened my lip grip on his.  As the pressure subsided, I felt
Lance's tongue start to press on my lips.  My lips did not part for him
immediately, so his tongue danced around, moistening them.  He begged entry
once again, this time with success.  I was totally at this guy's mercy as
he began to lovingly and carefully probe my mouth with his oral member.  I
was in ecstasy simply being able to wrap my tongue around his and causing
them to waltz together in my mouth.  Again, the universe stood still, and I
had no concept of time when our second kiss finally ended.  Lance simply
pulled back and opened his eyes, keeping my attention with that loving,
piercing stare of his.  He leaned in once more for a quick peck on the lips
before standing up and walking out of the room.

"Wait?  Where are..."  Lance turned back and gently spoke,

"Shhhhhhh.  I'll be right back."  In half a minute, I started seeing lights
turn off in the house as Lance walked back in to the living room with the
pillows and blanket from my bed.  I smiled at his intentions and looked
forward to spending another night by his side.

"I have to work tomorrow."  I muttered as Lance threw the pillows and
blanket on the floor.

"I figured you would.  That's why we're going to get some rest."  Lance
laid down next to me and put a pillow under his head, facing up.  I pulled
my pillow just a bit lower than his and scooted up next to him, facing
down, so I could throw an arm over his chest and bury my face on his left
side.  I ran my hand over his chest a few times and said,

"Nice chest!  Do you work out?"  We both hooted for about a minute at this,
remembering the situation that had brought us together.  Lance pulled his
other hand up and locked fingers with mine, squeezing gently.

Not another word was exchanged that night.  Saying anything at all would
have spoiled it.  The day had started in utter chaos, but had ended in
perfect peace.  Talk about a twist of fate!

*    *    *    *    *

*That sure sounds like a fitting end to the story doesn't it?  NOT.  This
bad boy is far from over.  I'd love to hear any ideas, comments, or
suggestions about plot progressions you may have.  I love ya all!  Until
the next chapter...

~Jeff
kaiser_goof@hotmail.com