Welcome to "Lance's Search," a multi-chapter exploration of a young man discovering himself. As much as I would suspect otherwise, I have no actual proof of the sexual orientations of Lance Bass, Justin Timberlake or JC Chasez. Consequently anything you read in this story is the product of the mind of its author. That said, this story attempts to take a realistic look into the thoughts and feelings of a guy as he discovers the pains and the joys associated with loving his fellow man... or his fellow band mate as the case may be. And yes, that means it will take a few chapters before we get to any sex (don't worry it will be worth it). And it will take more chapters before Lance actually achieves the goal of his search. My plan is to post a chapter a week and I've already finished 14, so there's lots of fun and excitement in store for everyone.
If you have any comments, please e-mail them to bjluver@gay.com. Otherwise, enjoy the story.
BJ
Chapter 1
Lance hated to admit it, even to himself. He was kind of embarrassed about it and knew for certain that the other guys would make fun of him - again. So he tried to hide it from them. Didn't want to hear the taunts about him being from Mississippi and kind of backward.
He knew the taunts weren't meant to be serious. The guys all made fun of each other for one reason or another. It was just a guy thing and Lance knew it. Being from Tennessee, Justin at times became a similar target. Those southern states, you know. The others knew neither Justin nor Lance was a dummy by any stretch of the imagination, but making fun of their home states and the educational systems there became great sport for the others.
And besides, Lance couldn't help it. He left his regular high school early to be a part of this group. Even if he had stayed to graduate there, computers were a rare and priceless commodity at his school. The techie geeks seemed to get the most time on the equipment anyhow. So why should Lance feel so strange now?
Music and show business was what Lance was interested in, not computers. So if he was a little shy around computers now that they were on the road so much, it's perfectly understandable. Right? But despite his attempts at trying to convince himself, he still didn't want the others to think he was a total idiot when it came to computers and that whole Internet thing all the guys seemed so hyped about.
Especially JC. If he didn't know better, Lance would have sworn that JC was born with a laptop attached to his fingers. Anytime the guys had downtime JC was either working on some music or working on that laptop - sometimes both at the same time.
The others seemed to use laptops a lot too. "Let's go do some surfin'!" Chris would often yell out before hitting the computer. They all liked using the Internet.
Fortunately, the others didn't really seem to notice that Lance wasn't on the computer as much as them. Every once in a while someone would tell him he really needed to look at some page, so he'd go over to the computer one of his bandmates was using and look over his shoulder.
Lance would have liked to known more about using the computer and surfing. There were things he thought he could find out that he just simply couldn't elsewhere - or at least he'd feel too overwhelmed to find out elsewhere. Lance had certain feelings. Feelings that were exacerbated by being on a bus so much with his friends.
Just thinking about it now gave Lance that uncomfortable feeling in his pants. Uncomfortable because he couldn't do anything to relieve it here on the bus. Instead he shut his eyes tight and tried to think of other things. He thought of that girl in his old high school. Man she was a pest to Lance before he even became famous. She loved to call him "Jimmy." It was like the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard.
"Hey, man, you OK?"
Lance's eyes popped open. "Oh, hey Justin. Yeah, I'm fine."
"Ya ought to have seen yourself. You looked just like someone was pulling out a tooth without any laughing gas around."
Lance chuckled at the thought. "No just trying to clear something from my mind. But the thoughts I had probably were about the same as getting a tooth pulled."
"Whatever. Hey, you really should check out this new website I found today. It really rocks! And it's not even about us," Justin said with one of his trademark grins. "You want the addy?"
"The what?" Lance let escape from his lips before he thought.
"The addy. You know, the URL."
"Oh, ahh sure." Lance thought maybe his mental slip slipped on past Justin. He was afraid his lack of knowledge about the Internet might show up. "I need to get a pen to write."
"Here's one for ya. Ready? OK. It's httq:/wbw.greattunz.con."
"OK, got it. I'll check it out real soon."
Justin just stood in front of his friend with a knowing smirk on his face.
"What? I'll check it out later," Lance said a bit defensively.
"You sure you got that address right?"
"Yeah, see." Lance turned around the piece of paper. Sure enough, it had the address just like Justin had given him.
Justin's smirk was intensified know with a slow shaking of the head. "Lance, my man, how come you can't just admit it?"
Admit it? What did Justin mean? Is he talking about this computer junk or was there some other deep secret that Justin could see buried in Lance?
"Ya know, we all knew you really sucked big time..."
Why did he say "sucked" just now? What is that supposed to mean? Lance thought to himself in a split second.
"...dancing when you first joined the group. Nobody thought any less of you..."
Oh, that's what he meant? What was I thinking? God, I can't even figure myself out at times.
"So why don't you just admit it, Lance?"
Oh my God, what is it he wants me to admit? "Whadda mean, Curly?" Lance said with a touch of panic in his throat.
"Hey, it ain't no thing if you don't know anything about surfin' the net, really. It's cool. But you don't need to hide it from us."
"Why do you think I don't know anything about the Internet?"
"Well, for one thing," Justin began with a chuckle and pointed to the address Lance had transcribed, "You'da known that addy wouldn't have gotten you anywhere. Ain't no such address."
Lance just sat there for a moment staring at his younger bandmate. Words failed him. Finally, his hands went up, he shrugged his shoulders and with raised eyebrows said, "You're right. You got me. I don't really know what to say."
"Well, you could say something like, 'Oh wise and all-knowing Justin, could you make me your humble pupil and teach me your mysterious ways,' or somethin' like that."
Lance laughed, felt at ease. Then quickly reached for the pillow behind his back and threw it toward Justin.
The curly haired blond ducked in time and the pillow sailed harmlessly by him. "Mmmm, grasshopper first needs lessons on being respectful," Justin said, imitating that guy from the Kung Fu reruns.
"Aghh! I surrender."
"So, you want me to teach you all about that wonderful world wide web out there, Scoop?"
"Yes!"
"Yes, what?"
"What? I ain't going to call you sir, if that's what you mean," Lance said through his laughs.
"Well, then just address me as 'Oh Wise One'," Justin said while moving his head and upper body around like a proud rooster.
"OK, wise guy."
"Not what I said, but close enough."
"Justin, I really do appreciate your offer. I haven't wanted people to know about my "illiteracy" problem, but I'm glad you figured it out."
"No problem, buddy. How about we start in the morning with Justin's patented everything you need to know about the Internet class?"
"Thanks, Justin. I'll try to be a good student."
"Ya better be or I'll have to get out my paddle," Justin said as he moved to another part of the bus.
Wonder if he was serious about that paddle thing, Lance thought.
To be continued...