Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2002 22:54:38 -0000
From: Tris <mystories@btinternet.com>
Subject: Under Managment Chapter 7

Author's Note:

Hey everyone, this is my first submission to the Nifty Archive. I hope you
enjoy reading it as much as I am writing it. I'm trying to get as much
realism as is possible in a story of this type, so the characters will need
to get to know each other before there is any sex. It's also not exactly a
'two guys fall in love, and live happily ever after' story, there are going
to be a few bumps in the road.

If you have any comments or constructive criticism or whatever then e-mail
me: mystories@btinternet.com

Disclaimer:

This story is a work of fiction. I don't know or own any of the celebrities
mentioned in it. I also don't know anything about the personalities or
sexual orientations of any of the members of *NSYNC, and the purpose of
this story is not to imply anything about them.  Secondly, this story
contains adult themes and content as well as gay relationships. If you're
too young to, or don't want to, read what's contained within, then leave
now. Everyone else, enjoy...

Under Management by Tris


Chapter 7

After nearly an hour of searching the neighborhood I began to lose
hope. Lance had lived in Orlando for years, and surely knew his way around
the city well enough to hide when he wanted to. I pulled my old Ford back
into the parking lot in front of my apartment and walked. I walked for a
long time, not bothered with where I was going, I thought about why Lance
had rejected me in the way that he had, a reaction which I had never
expected.

I snapped out of my trance when I turned a corner and saw the breathtaking
scene of the white moonlight sparkling off the calm ocean. I was drawn,
inexplicably, towards the seafront. When I came to the beach I kicked off
my shoes and walked along the sand. I found my thoughts returning to Lance,
I couldn't fathom what had made him explode. The first time that I had come
across another person who was gay, I was overjoyed to find that that there
were indeed others like me out there. However, Lance had resorted to the
bigotry that I would have normally associated with the classic homophobe.

I stared out across the water and watched as a yacht sailed along the
silvery path that the moonlight was creating. My attention returned to my
surroundings when I heard a splash to my right. This was followed by
another and then in rapid succession three more, I smiled as I recognized
the sound of stones skipping across the water. I looked around with
reawakened awareness in an effort to locate the thrower of the pebbles. I
let out an audible gasp when I glanced towards an old wooden pier, jutting
out over the ocean. Sitting on the end of the structure was a lone figure
shrouded in shadow, barely discernable against the night sky. Yet, I knew
that I had found him.

***

I approached him cautiously from behind, my bare feet hardly making a noise
on the old wood. He was still sitting on the edge of the pier, his feet
dangling off just inches from the water. He continued to throw stones out
over the water. When I was just a few steps away from him I decided to
break my silence. "It normally doesn't work very well on the sea, but
tonight the water is calm enough to get a few hops in." I said gently.

"It's a beautiful night." He agreed, with his back to me. I took the very
fact that he was talking to me as a good sign, and sat down next to
him. "I'm sorry I lost it Alex. You shocked me, and all of a sudden
thousands of different thoughts came rushing to my head, thoughts that I've
never had before and I didn't know how to handle them."

"Maybe if you explain them to me I can help you deal with them." I
suggested.

"I don't know Alex... they were kind of private thoughts." He said, still
not looking at me. He was concentrating on the waves that were lapping
around the support poles beneath us.

"Lance I won't be offended, I'm sure I've heard far worse things in my
time." I attempted to suppress his apprehension.

"Well... Ok. The first thing I thought was 'Wow! I found somebody like me'
but then I thought 'If he's like me, why isn't he as depressed and as hated
as me?'"  He confessed.

"Lance, you're not hated. They guys still like you, I like you..."

"But JC..." He blurted.

"JC will come 'round." I said, not voicing my silent fear that perhaps he
would not.  Lance simply bowed his head and allowed the tears that he had
been holding back to drip down his face. I wrapped my arm around his
shoulders and pulled him close to me. Lance sniffed back the tears and
stared out to sea.

"Then when I was standing and backing away from you but you kept coming at
me... I... I thought that maybe all this time when you were being nice to
me, you were just trying to get me into bed." He shook his head as he said
it, and then shivered as the wind picked up. I pulled him closer to me.

"But... they weren't the only reasons why I was so pissed at you. I ran out
and slammed the door behind me and just kept running and..." He paused "Why
didn't tell me sooner?" He wriggled out of my hold and slid away from
me. For the first time since I had sat down, he looked at me. I noticed his
eyes were shining with unshed tears; he had lost the smile that I had
worked so hard on earlier in the evening. "Why didn't you tell me earlier
Alex? It would've made things so much easier for me."

"Lance..." I paused, trying to think of the words to explain this to him
"...sometimes you really want to tell someone something, but you know that
it's better for them if you don't. I wanted you to think 'I'm gay and what
am I going to do about it?', you needed to be comfortable with yourself
first. Tonight, when I saw you smiling and laughing I knew that you were;
for the first time in probably years Lance you were able to be yourself."

"So you thought you were doing a favor?" He asked, confused.

"If I'd have told you about me, I thought that it might distract you from
what you should really have been thinking about." I explained.

"Oh... Alex, I'm not going to pretend that I understand... but I guess
whatever you did worked, because, you're right, at dinner this evening I
felt alive for the first time in ages." He admitted, sliding back towards
me. I repositioned my arm around him.

"Lance... are you over it now... I mean can we go back to the way we were?"
I wondered. He turned towards me, shrugging my arm off him once more, and
looked me in the eyes.

"No. We can't go back Alex."

My breath caught in my throat, "Why?" I managed to squeak out.

"Because..." He paused, and then whispered "...of this." He brought both of
his hands to my face and leaned in towards me. I was too stunned to say or
do anything but allow him to continue. His lips met mine in a passionate
kiss. His tongue probed into my mouth and he let out a groan of pleasure;
then I realized what was happening.

I broke our kiss and pushed Lance back slightly, but my face was still
inches from his. I could feel his warm breath against my lips and smell the
faint scent of his cologne but I looked away and found comfort in the
moonlight shimmering off the water, as Lance had earlier.

"Why are you doing this Lance?" I asked quietly, trying desperately to keep
my emotions in check.

"Because I like you Alex, I really like you." He breathed heavily, lust in
his eyes. I sighed and turned back towards him, making sure that I was
further away.

"Have you ever heard of transference?" I asked, to which he shook his head,
no.  "It's something that happens quite often Lance; it's when a patient
starts to think that they are falling in love with someone who is helping
them."

"What are you trying to say? Do think I'm some sort of nutcase?"

"No, No." I chuckled, "It's just... Why do you like me? Is it because I've
been nice to you and you feel you can talk to me?"

"Yes, it's that, but its also far more. Alex, you're intelligent and
friendly, you're kind, caring and above all..." he paused, leaning in
towards me, his voice reducing to nothing more than a whisper, "...you're
kinda cute." Before I could react, his lips pressed against mine for a
second time. I found myself responding to him and all logical thought went
out of the window as our kiss increased in intensity.

His hands came up to my face and ran through my hair. I pressed my tongue
into his mouth and allowed my instincts to over take me. I ran my hands up
and down his back wildly; they eventually came to rest on the firm globes
of his ass. Then he pushed me down, flat onto my back and laid on top of
me; our legs dangling over the water. He continued to smother me, his index
finger tracing erratic patterns across my chest.

"Hey! You there!" A deep voice shouted. Lance broke the kiss and looked in
the direction of the sound. Suddenly, a bright light shone upon us.

"Shit" Lance said quietly and scrambled to get off me. I looked towards the
source of the spotlight and saw what had caused his reaction. There were
two men, whom I presumed to be security guards standing on the beach with
their flashlights pointed at us. Luckily they were still too far away to
make out our faces.

"You'd better get down from there..." The first guy warned.

"This place is off limits at this time of night!" The other hollered.

Lance, who was now standing, grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet as
well. He looked me in eyes, I could see that he was terrified. "Run!" I
stated. He did as he was told and began to sprint along the pier. I
followed as fast as I could.

***

We arrived at my apartment, out of breath, a quarter of an hour later, we
were laughing and giggling like a pair a of school children. "Why did
we..." he paused to take a mouthful of air "...carry on running after we
lost them?" he asked and then returned to his panting.

"I don't know." I laughed "They had radios; I thought they might've called
for backup."

"Oh yeah!" He said sarcastically, "Like we were going to have an entire
platoon of security guards chasing us!"

"Better to be on the safe side." I checked my watch. "Awww, man, it's
nearly four in the morning!" I exclaimed. "We should get to bed."

All of sudden Lance became serious, "Don't you think we should talk first?
I mean, about us?"

"It's late Lance. Let's sleep first we can talk all you want in the
morning." I answered.

"Yeah, I am kinda tired." He took my hand and refused to let go as I walked
towards my bedroom. We entered together, causing me to look at him in
surprise.

He must have picked up on it, as he said, "No funny business" holding up
his hands in his defense, "Just to sleep; promise."

I nodded my approval, and turned away from him. I began to remove my
clothes.  I took off my gray sweatshirt and white undershirt, exposing my
upper body.  Then I kicked off my shoes and crouched to eliminate my
socks. I avoided looking back at Lance for I knew I would feel guilty -
although I'm not sure exactly why. I quickly pulled down my pants and
stepped out of them.

I glanced down at my body; all I was now wearing was my silver chain, which
was glinting in the dim light of the bedside lamp, as well as my black
boxers. I slowly turned around and had to press my hand to my mouth to stop
from laughing at what I saw.

Lance had not moved since I had last seen him, he was still fully
clothed. The only noticeable change in his appearance was his crotch, where
there was now an obvious bulge.

"Lance!" I snapped my fingers.

"Wha'..." He looked up, shaking his head as if to rid himself of unwanted
thoughts. When his eyes met mine he instantly began to blush, a deep red
color rose up his neck. His face became flushed, in fact, every visible
inch of his skin turned crimson, from the ends of his fingers to the tips
of his ears. I chuckled, finding it deeply funny that I had caught him
doing the exact thing that I was trying to avoid.

Not wishing to cause any further embarrassment, I waved it off, choosing to
say nothing. I laid down on the bed and got under the sheets. It took Lance
a few minutes to recover and then he turned and followed my earlier
actions.

He pulled his sweater over his head, messing up the spikes. Beneath he was
wearing a tight white wife-beater, and for the first time I could make out
his well developed shoulder and back muscles, which rippled as he removed
the revealing item of clothing. He crouched to pull off his shoes and
socks, unwittingly giving me a great view of his ass. He rapidly finished
his undressing, my gaze never shifted from his two rounded globes. He was
wearing white boxer-briefs, they hugged his contours perfectly. I realized
that he would be joining me in the bed soon and so I shifted so that he
would not catch me in the fashion that I had him.

He slid into bed next to me, "Good night Alex" he whispered into my neck,
kissing my shoulder as he laid his head down on the pillow behind me. I
switched off the lamp beside the bed.

"Good night Lance." I responded.

***

"I don't believe this!" JC shouted. He stomped over to me, "This is all
your fault!"  He turned away, taking a breath. "It's your fault." He
repeated. "Can't you see what you've done?" he asked quietly. He brought
his hands to his head and massaged his temples. "You've ruined it
all. You've ruined it all!" His voice raising. "Didn't you consider your
actions?" He asked, looking back in my direction. He glided up to me, fists
clenched. "We had everything, but now we've got nothing, because of you!"
He swung his fist at me, connecting with my cheek.

My eyes snapped open; I found that I was back in my bedroom. I was drenched
with sweat and panting hard. I calmed myself down and thought back upon my
dream. Somewhere in my subconscious I believed that I might break the group
apart by being with Lance. My conscious thoughts told me otherwise, but I
still wondered how I got myself into this situation. Office relationships
never worked, and although there were no offices involved, the same
principles applied.

In order to avoid the awkward situation of us waking up together, I tried
to get out of bed without making too much noise. I found that I couldn't;
as soon as I moved Lance shifted in his sleep, he moved closer to me and
spooned me from behind.  His arm fell across me, and he hugged me
tightly. At first I thought that he was awake, but after a few minutes of
him not moving nor saying anything, I decided that he was still asleep. It
was then that I noticed the growing erection which was prodding me in the
thigh. I smiled to myself and gently eased my way out of bed.  Lance
squirmed slightly and then settled; returning to a peaceful sleep.

***

I was munching on a bowl of cereal and slowly reading over some papers when
I finally heard noises from the bedroom. I had not wanted to get showered
and dressed as it would have woken Lance up, so I had settled for grabbing
a t-shirt and leaving my boxers on. I heard his footsteps behind me.

"Morning Lance." I said cheerfully.

"Uh... morning." He replied shyly, glancing down at his feet.

"Why don't you get some breakfast from the cupboard over there and then sit
down?" I asked with a warm smile.

"Listen, Alex..." He started, pulling up a chair opposite me.

"Breakfast first." I mumbled with a mouth full of muesli. He went to the
cupboard that I had pointed at and pulled out the box of Captain Crunch,
and then he took out a bowl from another cupboard. I guess he had been
staying with me long enough to know where most things were found. He sat
back in his chair and poured some milk, which was already on the table,
onto his bowl of cereal.

He made eye contact with me for the first time that morning, and refused to
break it even as he shoveled his breakfast into his mouth. "Alex we need to
talk." He stated.

"I know" was my reply.

"I like you Alex, I really do, otherwise last night wouldn't have
happened. I just, don't know if this is such a good idea." He explained.

"I was thinking the same thing." I admitted.

"You were? Oh thank God!" He exclaimed. "Everything got so mixed up, we had
quite a lot to drink and we were getting along really well, then we had
kind of a weird moment..."

"When I came out." I interrupted.

"Yeah." he continued "Then things went crazy, and... and..."

"It's Ok Lance." I put my hand on his. "It wouldn't work anyway, you know,
work and play and all that."

"My thoughts exactly." He said as we both returned to our
breakfast. "Friends?"  He asked, as he crunched his food, milk dribbling
from the corner of his mouth.

"Of course!" I grinned.

I heard the sound of a key turning in the front door and got up to
investigate, "Looks like we've got visitors." I said. When I reached the
lounge I saw my friend Susie shrugging off her coat.

"Didn't anyone ever teach you to knock?" I asked incredulously.

"Why would I want to knock? I've got a key!" She held it up in front of my
face and then handed me her coat. I simply shock my head in disgust and
hung the thin jacket in the cloaks' cupboard.

"So what brings you here, at this time in the morning?" I asked brightly.

"I thought I'd see you before work, since I won't get a chance to this
weekend."  She answered.

"Oh yeah, you're driving up to Chicago this evening right?" I remembered.

"Uh huh. Gonna go see my new baby cousin." She smiled happily. "Say, what's
a girl gotta do to get a coffee in this place?" She asked, wondering into
the kitchen.

"Oh shit! Fuck! I... uh... you... I... Oh my God!" she screamed.

"So you met Lance then? Great!" I said, standing behind her. "Lance this is
Susie." I introduced her. He stood and shook her hand.

"Hi. Nice to meet you." He said. She did not respond verbally, she only
stared down at their connected hands.

"She's a fan." I explained.

"Yeah, I kinda guessed that much." He said sarcastically. I snapped my
fingers in front of Susie's face.

"Oh, sorry." She let go of Lance's hand, "Hi" she smiled sweetly at him.

***

"So, how did you come to know Alex?" Lance asked, taking a sip of his
coffee. It was now nearly twenty since Susie had met him, and thankfully
she had calmed down considerably.

"Funny story." She grinned.

"Oh please no." I begged. She looked at me indignantly and told the story
anyway; I hung my head.

"Now where should I start?" She asked rhetorically. "Ahhh... yes... now I
remember. We were both sixteen, and in high school. Neither of us fitted in
that well - him being the weirdo, hyper intelligent, British kid and me
being the girl who just moved down from Chicago. So we sat next to each
other in science class and just kind of hit it off. After a few weeks of
sitting next to each other and just chatting in class we started to hang
around more."

"Sounds like the beginnings of pretty normal friendship." Lance
interjected.

"But wait, there's more! So we were invited to this party during the summer
vacation. He asked me as his date." She pointed at me. "So we got a bit
drunk and he kissed me - as it happened my parents were out of town and,
well... we did the dirty." She giggled. Lance's eyebrows shot up in
shock. It was a good job he didn't have a mouthful of coffee as it would've
been sprayed halfway across my kitchen.

"You" he looked at me, "and her" he glanced towards Susie, "together?"

"Hey! What's so unbelievable about that?" she asked. Then the realization
struck her, "Oh! You know don't you?"

"Yeah, I know about Alex..." Lance grinned at me.

"Good, so I can tell you the rest of the story. Basically, we went out for
a few weeks, and then we broke up. Then we got together again, and
separated again.  We kept trying it, but it just wouldn't work." She
explained, and then laughed at her double entendre.

"Now come on! That's not fair. IT worked fine, WE didn't." I emphasized the
pronouns. "Eventually we decided it was better to remain as friends." Lance
was finding the story quite funny.

"Did you know about him?" Lance asked.

"That's a story for another time." I quickly put an end to his
questions. "Now, I need to take a shower. You two carry on talking, but no
more stories about me." I pointed threateningly at Susie. "There's more
coffee in the pot." I said on the way out.

***

"Oh!" I heard Lance groan as I walked back towards the kitchen. I was now
showered and dressed and planning on getting rid of Susie so that I could
get some work done. "Oh!" he repeated. "Look, it's right on my white
t-shirt... that's never gonna come out!" He cried effeminately.

This caused Susie to giggle hysterically, "You're so gay!" she exclaimed
jokingly.  I resisted the urge go in there and slap her. I cringed when
Lance gave no response and knew what was coming.

"Oh wow! You are gay!" She cried happily. There was another few seconds of
silence before she put two and two together. I ran into the kitchen to
attempt to stop the accusations, but it was too late.

"You and..." she turned to see me dashing into the room "...you! You slept
with each other. I came in and you were both all messed up; in your sexy
t-shirts and boxers, and now you're both gay, you did! You fucked Lance
Bass!" She stood and hugged me. "I'm so happy for you!"

"No. Wait!" Lance jumped in. "We did sleep together, but..."

"I knew it!" She interjected.

"But we didn't do anything." He persisted.

"We talked this morning, we're just going to be friends Susie." I stated

"Oh." She flushed bright red. "Ooops, I didn't mean to accuse... but you
are gay, right?" She asked him. Who looked at me, uncertain of what to do.

"She's my closest friend Lance, you can trust her." I reassured him.

"I'm gay." He told her.

"Good, now that that's sorted, I've got some work to do. The MTV interview
is this afternoon; I have to finish up the contracts and call the guys to
make sure they get to the compound on time." I explained to Lance.

"Oooo! Can I come?" Susie jumped up.

"Don't you have to be somewhere?" I asked her.

"Oh sure, a girl can take a hint!" She kissed me on the cheek and shook
Lance's hand. "I'll leave you two lovebirds to yourselves." She grinned and
let herself out.

***

End of Chapter 7