"Hey, C! How was your flight?" Justin asked as JC opened the door to his hotel room, letting Justin and Chris in. Joey hadn't met up with them yet because he had some family stuff to take care of, but he'd be there in a few hours.
"I've had better ones," JC replied as he closed the door and walked to the couch, trying to work a kink on the back of his neck, Justin and Chris following him. Truth was, he hadn't been able to sleep at all the night before and then the person beside him on the plane kept talking and talking and he couldn't even take a nap on the flight. His back was killing him, his head was killing him, he was sleepy and he had to look cheery and happy for an awards show at night while he was deprived of sleep for nearly 48 hours. Not his favorite day AT ALL.
"What happened?" Chris asked concerned. JC looked like very gorgeous crap and like he was about to collapse. No bad flight was able to do *that* to someone.
"Bad flight company. I'm going to start requesting for mute people to sit beside me from now on," JC muttered as he rested his head back on the couch, closing his eyes for a second.
"That was mean," Justin said and JC could picture the pout on his pretty face which made him smile a little.
"Sorry, I'm just bitchy 'cause I didn't sleep last night."
"Partying much? How's Lance?" Chris smiled, even if a little subdued. He still wasn't convinced about JC's story but he decided to approach it on a different angle.
"Lance's great. He's having so much fun over there, it's like he's 12 years old again," JC chuckled with a dreamy look in his eyes as he gazed up at the ceiling, "We had a lot of fun." He stopped for a moment before asking, "How was your trip to wherever the hell you went to?"
"Oh! Man! We went to this small beach city in Mexico and it was so cool! No one knew us there, we were able to even walk around hand-in-hand!" Justin's enthusiasm was contagious and JC found himself mirroring Justin's grin.
"Baby, why don't you go get the gift we got for JC?" Chris asked, running his fingers through Justin's curls.
"OK! Be right back!" Justin exclaimed and nearly ran for the door.
"You guys look good. Been tanning much, huh?" JC smirked as he looked at Chris and Chris smiled.
"You know how he is. If it depended on him we'd have toasted under the sun." Chris smiled before turning serious, "You on the other hand don't look good at all, C. What's wrong?"
"What makes you think something's wrong?" JC asked defensively, trying to hide behind a forced smile, but Chris noticed he tensed up and wouldn't keep eye-contact.
"You look like your puppy was ran over repeatedly for once and you're a very, very, very shitty liar," Chris smiled gently, "Did something happen in Texas?" Chris asked and JC sighed. There was no point in trying to lie to Chris.
"Yeah, guess you could say so." JC closed his eyes for a bit before facing Chris again, "I... I found out... I... Lance's in love with me."
"And that's bad because?"
"It's not necessarily bad. It's just... we were hanging out last night, I was depressed and started crying, something led to another and I kissed him. And then... the way he was clinging to me, Chris. It... I swear I didn't know. It... When I did realize it, it felt like I was using him. I'm sure he noticed that. I feel like shit but I didn't know."
"C, sorry to put it this way, but DUH!" Chris replied with a gentle smile on his face and then continued when JC looked at him confused, "It's always been obvious that Lance was in love with you as much as you were in love with Justin." Chris said and JC gasped, staring wide-eyed at Chris.
"You... you knew?"
"It was pretty easy to see I wasn't the only one looking at Justin with more than brotherly love, C."
"Does... does he know?" Oh, God, Justin couldn't know... He wouldn't be able to handle it if Justin had used his love to get in his bed.
"I don't think so. He's pretty clueless when it comes to this stuff." Chris grinned and JC let out a sigh of relief.
"I don't know what to do, Chris. Why aren't you mad at me?"
"I know how easy it is to love Justin. I can't blame you for that because you don't really choose who you fall in love with. And I know you'd never really do anything to hurt our relationship."
"And Lance. God, he has to hate me." JC squeezed his eyes shut.
"Something tells me he doesn't."
"He should."
"No, he shouldn't. And he doesn't. How do you feel about him?" Chris asked gently but, before JC could reply, Justin came back grinning and handed JC a large package.
"We thought of you when we saw it." Justin smiled and JC smiled back before opening the package. Inside there was a painting of a beach at night. There was one person, who you couldn't really tell if they were a man or a woman, standing in the middle, their feet right where the waves were crashing, "It looked like the way you'd picture the place if you had been there." Justin said and for some reason it hit him harder than it should. He took a shaky breath, exhaling slowly, trying to blink back tears.
"Thanks," he whispered, running his fingers over the figure on the painting, trying to imagine what they were feeling. If they were as lonely as he felt or maybe they were just waiting for someone that would arrive soon. Maybe they had fucked up a friendship like he had and were trying to escape or they could be only enjoying the beauty of the place.
"I think you should take a nap, C. We don't have to start getting ready for a few hours and you look exhausted." Chris said as he rubbed the top of JC's head.
"I guess you're right," JC whispered, not having any strength left to fight.
"Go ahead, we'll wake you when it's time," Chris said as he put his arm around JC's shoulder and they stood up, Chris guiding JC to the bedroom and helping him to bed. He took the painting from JC's hand and placed it on a chair that was near the bed, going back to the bed once JC was settled in under the covers, "You don't have to be the person in the painting, C," Chris whispered as he rubbed JC's back, "But think about it later. Now just rest." He kissed the top of JC's head before standing up and leaving.
JC didn't reply. He just let sleep overtake him.
TBC...
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