Intimate Stranger 2
By Diana
Same as before, really. Moving on with the story... I'm no N'Sync Queen or super-writer, but I hope you guys are liking my work. grin The plot's really going to thicken soon, and I'm taking a few unexpected twists and turns here and there.
Justin steeled himself as he knocked on JC's door. Outside, the sun was rising. A symbolic gesture: today was a new day, the first day of the rest of his life.
And he was going to live it without N'Sync.
Jack had been totally, completely right. He'd let his fear control him for way too long. If it hadn't been for Jack, Justin would have been destroyed.
The others would have destroyed him.
No more.
The door opened, and JC stood there, completely dressed at six in the morning. Justin had called the hotel twenty minutes ago and told the members of N'Sync to get together in JC's room. Lance was standing by the window, and Joey and Chris were sitting on JC's bed.
"This better be good." Joey yawned. "I was in the middle of a really good dream."
"It depends on your definition of good." Justin replied, completely deadpan. He took a deep breath, just like Jack told him.
"There's something you guys have to know. While we were here in Orlando, I fell in love."
A resounding wave of groans greeted this announcement.
"You dragged us out of bed to tell us that?" Chris flopped backwards onto the bed.
"What's her name?" Lance asked, a good-natured smile on his face despite the early hour.
Justin swallowed. This was it. The moment of truth.
"His name is Jack Matthews."
It was like the air itself froze. If any of them hadn't been paying attention, that last sentence drew every eye in the room onto the young singer.
JC had gone dead-white, like he'd seen a ghost. Justin stood resilient, though. Jack's words kept ringing in his head: They've already done all the damage they can. They've already done all the damage they can.
"You're... you're gay?" Lance stammered, completely shellshocked.
Justin tried to keep the venom out of his voice, but failed. "Yeah, Lance. I'm gay. A fag. A butt-fucking pussy-boy. Any other cute names you want to bring up?"
Lance's eyes widened. "I... I didn't... Justin..."
"Well, it doesn't matter." Justin raised his chin defiantly. "I don't care what you think, because I'm quitting the band."
"WHAT?!" a collective roar shot through the room, no doubt waking everyone else on the floor.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on a minute!" JC shook his head, unable to process what was happening. "What's going on here, Justin?"
"I'm sick and tired of being afraid of you guys, JC. I'm gay, and I'm not keeping it a secret anymore. I'm out of the band."
"You... you can't just..." Like the rest of them, Chris was caught totally off-guard. He couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't sound stupid.
"It's MY life, Chris." Justin retorted. "I'm going to start calling the shots. I'm going to make the right choices for once."
"No!" JC grabbed Justin's forearm and pulled him so that their faces were inches apart. "You can't just drop this on us and walk away!"
Justin's reaction was immediate and unpredictable. The front of strength and bravery fell away, and for one moment JC saw a deep well of fear in those crystal-blue eyes.
Justin was terrified. Of him. JC. His best friend.
JC's arm went numb, dropping away from Justin as he staggered away towards the bed.
"It's over." Justin announced. "I'm happy, for the first time in years. I'm not going to feel bad about myself anymore, and I'm not going to hide who I am just so you guys can sleep at night."
"This isn't right, Curly." JC whispered to his friend, eyes pleading. "You can't leave, not after everything we've been through."
JC's words echoed in Justin's soul, bringing back all those old doubts. He'd been so sure this was the right thing to do... but now he was starting to wonder. The determination Jack had filled him with was fading away, and with it the reason for him leaving. He looked from one band member to another. They were shocked, certainly, but not angry. Not hateful. They didn't want him to go.
Nothing had changed. Jack had been wrong.
"Your stuff's in the car, Just. Ready to go?"
Just as Justin's thoughts had returned to Jack, the man himself appeared in the doorway, stepping close to Justin and wrapping an arm around his waist.
"You..." JC growled. He leapt forward, but Chris and Joey were faster, jumping off the bed and grabbing their friend's arms, pulling him back.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" JC bellowed, struggling to punch in Jack's smug face.
A smug smirk. "See, Justin? Just like I told you."
Justin nodded, his cheeks flushed with deep shame. "I think we should go. Now."
"No, Justin! Wait! Justin, don't go!" JC screamed.
With his arm still around Justin's waist, Jack led the younger teen out the door, pausing to look back at the members of N'Sync with an evil glare.
Then they were gone.
The road sped by, a blur of movement. Or were they really moving? Justin couldn't tell. He didn't really care either. What difference did it make?
The tears he'd held back were spilling forth now, wet and hot with his frustrated confusion. Had he made the right choice? He wasn't sure. Maybe he'd never been sure to begin with.
As they drove on, Justin did his best to keep the sobs from escaping. Jack would get angry that Justin was being such a baby, and then...
And what would happen then? What would Jack do to him?
The car abruptly pulled over and came to a stop. Jack turned to Justin, saw his lover shaking with silent tears.
Opening his arms, Jack reached across the space between them and pulled Justin into his arms. "It's okay, Justin. Let it out."
The maelstrom of emotion spilled forward before Justin could hold it back, and he came apart, his whole body convulsing with his pained cries. Cries of betrayal, as his mind constantly replayed the memory of JC lashing out at them, his beautiful eyes alight with murderous fire.
Finally, he calmed down, giving himself to the security Jack offered. Justin knew that as long as he remained in those arms, he'd always be safe, protected. In Jack's embrace, it would never matter that his best friend hated him. It would never matter that his career was over, for the time being at least. It would never matter that he'd probably just destroyed the band he'd lived and breathed for, for so long.
"It's for the best, lover. Now we'll be together forever. Just the two of us." Jack murmured, as though he could read Justin's mind. Maybe he could. After all, he knew Justin in ways no one else could.
"Where am I gonna go?" Justin whispered, a pang of terror striking his heart. "I can't go home like this, I'm not ready to deal with everything..."
"Don't worry about it, Just." Jack stroked Justin's blond curls. "As long as I'm around, you'll always have a home. With me."
Justin raised his head from the steel softness of Jack's chest, looking up into that intense black gaze. Craning his head forward, Justin kissed Jack once, then nodded.
"Thank you." he whispered.
"Anything for you, Justin." Jack smiled. "Anything."
"Son of a BITCH!" Joshua Chasez roared, scooping up the lamp by the bed and hurling it across the room. Lance flinched as it impacted against the opposite wall, exploding into glass shards.
"Get ahold of yourself, man!" Joey shouted, getting up and standing in front of JC.
JC seemed not to see him, eyes wide and staring at nothing in particular. "This can't... this isn't happening. It's not happening. It can't..."
"All this time... I don't believe it." Lance muttered. "He never told us. We were his best friends, and he didn't trust us."
"HEY!" Chris yelled, leaping to his feet and catching everyone's attention. "What the hell is WRONG with you guys!" The oldest member of N'Sync stomped on the floor with one foot. "You guys are more fucked-up about Justin being gay than the fact that he just walked out on us!"
"I've got to... I need..." JC stammered, unable to cope with all that had just been dumped on his lap.
"What you NEED..." Chris said sternly. "Is to get your head straight. All of you." Lance lowered his eyes, and Joey nodded.
"Now, let's all take a deep breath and recap." Chris suggested. "Justin's gay. Here's my question: SO WHAT?!"
"What do you mean, `So what'?" Lance protested. "He lied to us!"
"How could he lie to us if we never asked?" Chris retorted. "None of us EVER questioned Justin's sexuality. And why would we? It doesn't make any difference! It doesn't change him!"
"That Jack guy... it's him, this is his fault..." JC muttered quietly. But Joey and Lance were too absorbed by Chris' speech to hear.
"What we have to do is calm down and find a way to deal with this." Chris said. "We're going to figure out EXACTLY what's going on, and once we do, we're going to talk to Justin and work things out."
JC blinked, snapping out of his semi-trance. "No." He grabbed his wallet off the nightstand and shoved it into his pocket. He then snatched his jacket from the chair and threw it on. "No waiting. I'm gonna bring him back."
"Josh, don't..." Chris began, but JC had already bolted out the door.
The taxi came to a stop in front of a building, and JC swallowed hard. He'd looked up Jack Matthew's name in the phone book, and this was the address it had yielded. Not the Hilton, but JC could easily see himself living in a place like this if he hadn't joined N'Sync.
But this place was Justin's new home.
"Over my dead body." JC growled under his breath. He couldn't understand why, but even though he didn't KNOW Jack Matthews, he hated him deeply. As though by winning Justin's love, this guy had done JC a terrible wrong.
It didn't make any sense, but JC wasn't going to figure it out now. Later, maybe, when Justin was back with them. Where he belonged.
"Wait here." JC instructed the driver. Having recieved an autograph for his daughter at his own request, the driver nodded and shut the engine off.
JC opened the door and stepped out of the vehicle. Taking a deep breath and doing his best to maintain a calm exterior, he walked up to the front door and knocked.
There was a quiet shuffling from within the apartment, and the door opened a crack.
"Hello?" Justin's timid voice came from beyond the plank of wood. His face peeked from the crack formed as the door opened, and those bright blue eyes widened in fear.
Justin tried to shut the door, but JC had stuck his foot in. After pushing for several seconds in vain, Justin gave up and opened the door just enough so he could slip through it. Without turning his back to his friend, Justin yanked the knob forward, closing the door behind him.
"What are you doing here?" Justin hissed.
"We need to talk, Curly." JC replied, keeping himself cool. If he lost it now, he might never get another chance. "Please?"
Justin's eyes seemed to soften for a moment. Then he blinked, and JC was looking into two hard ice-blue chunks of rock.
"There's nothing for us to talk about, JC. I said I quit."
JC nodded. "Okay. Okay, if that's what you want, I respect it." Slowly reaching out, JC took Justin by the wrist, holding it in a soft grip. "But why, Just? Can you at least tell me why you want out so bad?"
"I don't owe you any explanations." Justin protested weakly, but JC shook his head.
"I'm your best friend, Justin. The LEAST you can do for me is make me understand why you're kicking me out of your life."
The younger teen swallowed, and JC could see him visibly struggling with himself.
"First of all, you WERE my best friend. That part of my life is over, Josh, and no reruns."
"Dammit, Justin!" JC exploded, unable to control himself. "Why? What did I do to make you hate me so much?!"
"I don't hate you!" Justin yelled back, equally ferocious. But he composed himself quickly. "But I don't like you very much either. Not after today, not after the way you reacted when you found out I was gay."
Cold realization flooded JC's expression. "Oh no... Justin, that wasn't..."
"I don't care." Justin cut him off coldly. "You turned against me the one time I needed you the most, Josh. Do you know what that was like for me? If it wasn't for Jack, I'd be in pieces right now." Justin's hand fell to the knob, turning it and opening the door.
"Just leave me alone, Josh. It's over."
Justin slipped into the shadows, and the door slammed shut.
Tears of utter helplessness escaped JC's eyes as he turned away, his head bowed in disgrace as he returned to the taxi. He'd failed. Not only had he failed, he'd probably made the situation that much worse.
Exhausted, JC stumbled into the car and waved at the driver from the back seat, signalling him to start driving.
As Justin's new home grew smaller and smaller in the distance, JC placed his hand against the window, feeling a deep, cold void in his heart grow larger with every new inch of space between himself and his best friend.
It's not over yet, Justin. he thought. I won't let you leave me. I'm not giving up on you, no matter what.
I'll never give up.
Justin leaned against the door, bravely trying not to cry.
From his position on the couch, Jack smiled in satisfaction.
"I love you so much." he murmured, getting to his feet and hugging Justin tightly. He tilted his head slightly, nibbling on Justin's ear.
Justin shuddered with glee, all thoughts of JC fleeing his mind. That was what Jack and only Jack could do for him, that was Jack's promise: an escape from all the bad things in Justin's life. Jack could make him forget about the pressure of being in a band like N'Sync, could make him forget about which parent he hadn't visited more during the holidays, and could make him forget about his mixed-up feelings for his best friend. Jack had a way of making everything else seem less important. His love for Justin was so intense, so focused, that when Justin let himself feel it he was overwhelmed, as though they were the only two people left on the planet.
But as always, the peace never lasted.
The phone rang, a shrill noise cutting through the serenity of their solitude. Jack sighed, letting Justin go with a parting kiss on the mouth. Striding over to the phone, he picked it up. "Yeah?"
The voice on the other end was young and full of insecurity. "Um... hi. Is Justin there?"
"Who is this?" Jack growled.
"Lance. Lance Bass. I'm..."
"I know who you are, Mr. Bass." Justin paled as Jack's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Goodbye."
With a powerful thrust, Jack slammed the reciever down, almost breaking it in two.
"Stupid kids..." he snarled ferally. "Won't ever leave us alone..."
Justin tentatively came up behind his boyfriend, gently placing his hands on Jack's neck and massaging it. "It'll be okay, Jack. They'll leave soon..."
The attempts to soothe the savage beast were gravely misplaced.
"DON'T TALK TO ME LIKE I'M A CHILD!" Jack bellowed, full of fury as he elbowed Justin in the face. Justin cried out and stumbled away, hands pressed against his face in an attempt to stop the burning pain.
Veins sticking out of his neck, Jack lunged forward, wrapping his hands around Justin's throat and squeezing hard. "Don't you ever, EVER talk to me like that again!" he yelled.
"I... I..." Justin tried to choke out, but that only made Jack angrier. His vision clouded by a red fog, Jack turned and shoved Justin face-first into the wall.
But he had miscalculated. Instead of striking the wall, Justin's head smashed through the window, shattering it. Chunks of glass rained onto the carpet as Justin sunk to the ground, unconscious, his golden curls stained with the blood that poured down his face.
Jack stood over his lover's body, starting to wind down at long last. He blinked once, twice, three times at the figure sprawled on the ground, as if he couldn't understand how Justin had been silly enough to put his face through a glass pane.
Jack then turned back to the phone and picked up the reciever. Calmly, coolly, he pushed three buttons.
9-1-1.
JC burst into the hospital corridor in a frenzy, followed by Lance, Chris and Joey.
"Mr. Chasez?" a dark-skinned plump nurse called. JC bolted towards her, skidding to a halt at the desk that separated them.
"Where is he?" JC asked frantically. "Justin Timberlake, where is he?!"
The nurse, whose tag read "AMANDA", raised her hands in a "calm down" gesture. "Mr. Chasez, I'll tell you everything about your friend's condition, but I'd like to speak with you alone first." She stared pointedly at the other members of N'Sync.
Lance simply nodded. "We'll head back to the hotel. I'll try to get us some extra time off."
Leaving. JC's heart stuck in his throat again. N'Sync were expected to hit the road the next day.
Fuck that, JC growled in the privacy of his own mind. I'm not leaving without Justin.
After Lance, Joey and Chris departed, Amanda led JC to a small room near the main desk. She shut the door behind her, and when she turned back to JC, it was not as a cheerful nurse, but as a harbringer of dire news.
"All right, Mr. Chasez, why don't we start from the top." she began, raising the clipboard she held in her hand and reading from it. "Justin Timberlake was brought in an hour ago by an ambulance that was called to a Mr. Jack Matthews' apartment. You're listed as Mr. Timberlake's emergency contact, and it's hospital policy to call you in such cases."
"What cases?" JC felt blood draining away from his face. "He's not... he's not dead, is he?" Life without Justin... JC couldn't see it. He couldn't picture a life if Justin wasn't in it.
Amanda shook her head. "Nothing of the sort. In fact, he got off pretty lucky. Several facial lacerations, but it's only minor damage. Nothing a few stitches won't fix. He's conscious... probably signing the release papers right now. The kid wants out in a BIG way."
JC shook his head slightly, more than a little confused. "I don't get it." he said. "Then what's the problem?"
Amanda's stance became less human, more official. Like she'd been trained to deliver bad news in a very specific way.
"I'll get right to the point, Mr. Chasez. When you work in the same hospital for twenty years, you learn to identify situations without having the specifics. The guy who brought him in won't say anything except Justin's face went through a window. People will usually blab their mouths off when they see something like that, but this Matthews guy is totally closemouthed. In MY book, that means he did it."
What Amanda was implying struck JC with the force of a cannonball. "He... did it?"
The nurse nodded. "The poor kid has a black eye too. And some swelling around his neck. Not just fresh stuff, either... some of those bruises go back three, maybe four days." She looked around as if to check for eavesdroppers, then she leaned in and whispered: "I'd bet my job on it, Mr. Chasez. Matthews is beating up your friend, and I'm guessing this isn't the first time."
"Oh my God..." JC clapped a hand on his mouth, feeling like the temperature in the room had dropped fifty degrees.
Not the first time.
The fear in Justin's eyes when JC had grabbed his arm. The sudden lack of will and confidence. The mocking smirk on Jack's face.
"Now, Mr. Matthews is down the hall, outside Mr. Timberlake's room. That's Room 218. And we didn't have this conversation." Amanda opened the door and gestured for JC to leave.
His fists clenched, JC stormed out, not stopping to acknowledge Amanda's "Give him a good one for me too..."
"MATTHEWS!" JC screamed, charging like a bull at the dark-haired man standing in the hall. The man who'd hurt Justin. HIS Justin.
JC tackled Jack, throwing him to the ground and straddling his chest. "You... fucking... BASTARD!" the N'Sync member yelled, punctuating each word with a punch at Jack's face. That sneering, arrogant face. "If you ever, EVER hurt Justin again, I'll KILL you!" JC grabbed the collar of Jack's shirt and used it to lift Jack's head up before slamming it back down against the linoleum floor.
"JC! Get off him!" Justin shouted as he emerged from his room, in his blood-spattered shirt and pants. The blond teen shoved JC hard, sending him tumbling onto the floor. Justin then bent down and helped Jack to his feet.
As JC looked up at Justin, he felt his eyes grow even wider. Justin's perfect face was disfigured by two ugly scars: one across his forehead and one moving down his right cheek. The wounds were fresh, but had been stitched shut expertly.
"Oh God, Justin... what did he do to you?" JC whispered in sheer horror as he climbed to his feet.
Justin looked at Jack, then back to JC. "You know what, JC? I don't have to answer to you anymore. I thought I made it clear enough that I want you and N'Sync OUT of my life." Justin drew closer to Jack, as though the older man exuded some sort of empowering force. "I'll get a restraining order if I have to."
"Come on, Justin. Let's go home." Jack's arm snaked around Justin's shoulders, and as they walked away, Justin lay his head against Jack's chest.
JC stood in the hospital corridor in openmouthed shock. Had Justin just walked away with the man who'd cut his face up? No way!
But he had. And he made it clear enough that he wanted N'Sync gone.
JC swallowed hard, still staring at the space Jack and Justin had been occupying until a few seconds ago.
They couldn't help Justin if he didn't want their help. But if they left him there, who knew what Jack would do to him next time?
"Justin..." JC whispered. "What am I gonna do?"
The hallway offered no response. Only a damning silence.
To be continued...