JUST THE FACTS, MA'AM: This is a work of fiction. That means, I don't know Lance Bass or anyone else in N'Sync, so don't read any more into this than you have to, or something to that affect. Or is that effect? Never could remember. Anyway, all other characters in this story are also fictional, and any coincidence is just that.
Many special thanks to everyone who has written me with comments on this story. I appreciate it very much.
This, of course, would not be possible without the help of the Friday Night Club, so a special thank you to them. I ::heart:: you guys.
Hey, I'd love to hear what you have to say! Drop me a line at KandLStories@aol.com and let me know that all of this madness is worth the effort! Okay? Please? Pretty please?
Kevin and Lance Stories and The Maze of Moments copyright 2001.
Thanks for waiting, and now on with the show!
--Tony
The Maze of Moments - A Kevin and Lance Story
Chapter 11- Hoops!
"It doesn't matter if you win or lose - it's did you score."
--Hugh Hefner (supposedly!)
The door to Kevin's bedroom opened, and Eric Hagen poked his head through.
"Hey, guys...it's almost ten. You wanna get up?"
In the bed before him were Kevin Douglas and Lance Bass, the sheet bunched up at their feet. In his heart, Eric knew this was going to be a losing effort, but still, he had to try. After all, there was much to be done today, and it was only fair...he and Justin had been awake for some time now. The only response he got from them was a couple of grunts, proving right that this was an exercise in futility.
"Nope, guess not," he sighed, as he closed the door.
About ten minutes later, Justin Timberlake gave it a try.
"Yo, guys...it's a little after ten. How about getting up?"
The reaction to Justin was similar to Eric, with two exceptions. First, Lance mumbled something which sounded like giving them five more minutes. Second, Kevin was muttering a few four lettered words towards the door.
Laughing, Justin backed out and closed the door.
Another ten minutes went by, and this time both Eric and Justin were present. Only this time, they brought reinforcements with them. It had taken a little effort to drag the speakers out of Eric's room and set them up in the doorway, but desperate times did call for desperate measures. Grinning, Eric aimed a remote control over his shoulder back at his room, and the sound of AC/DC singing "Back In Black" was pumped towards Kevin and Lance. Loudly.
On hearing the music blast in, Lance sat straight up in bed, eyes open wide. Kevin, who startled easily to begin with, yelped a little and promptly rolled over and onto the floor.
"Now then gentlemen," Eric said loudly, so as to be heard over the music, "it is past ten o'clock and we have a lot of shit to do today....breakfast is still being served downstairs....I suggest we get our rear ends moving and get started on this bright, sunny day!" Then, he turned down the music to a more acceptable level, and went back down the stairs with Justin, who was laughing.
"I said it before I'll say it again..you guys are cruel. You think they'll get up this time?"
"They better," Eric replied. "If not, we go to KISS next."
Lance held his head in his hands, as he realized that he was in the grips of a wicked hangover. Groaning, he turned and saw Kevin pulling himself up and off the floor, back onto the bed.
"I'm not too fond of your wake up service, sir. I shall complain to the front desk when I check out," Lance said.
"Yeah, that was pleasant, wasn't it?"
"Uh-huh. By the way, that was a nice girly scream you gave there right before you fell."
"Hey! Was not!"
"Whatever. Please tell me you guys have some Advil in this place. And for the love of God, turn off that damn music, huh?"
Getting up, Kevin crossed over to Eric's room and turned off the stereo. "Thanks a lot you two!" he shouted down the stairs. Then, going back into his own room, he saw that Lance was now out of bed, and putting on a shirt.
"How do you feel?"
"Ugh. My head hurts, I'm all woozy still, and there's a really nasty taste in my mouth. Other than that, I'm great."
"Well, come on, let's get you downstairs and get you some pills. You'll feel better if you eat something, too."
"Oh, man. Food. Do I have to?" There was a pained expression on Lance's face.
"Yeah," Kevin said, walking over. "By the way, good morning." He held Lance gently, and his boyfriend rested his head on the strong chest and sighed.
"Good morning to you too, sexy. Do I really have to eat?"
"Come on, we'll find something light," Kevin laughed as they walked downstairs.
They sat on the couch, Lance munching on a piece of toast and Kevin eating cereal from a bowl. Justin had run out to the 4 Runner to get his overnight bag, and was now upstairs taking a shower.
"You sure that's all you want to eat Lancelot?" Eric asked with a grin.
Lance squinted his eyes and shot a particularly nasty look at his friend.
"Whoa! My, someone is cranky when they're hung over, aren't they?" Eric laughed.
"Yeah, you noticed that too, huh?" Kevin said through a mouthful of food.
"Well, gee guys....if SOMEONE didn't make me drink one hundred shots of beer, maybe I'd be all chipper and happy this morning instead," Lance said, turning his attention over to Kevin.
"Hey, now...if I recall correctly, someone here kept saying 'bring it on' whenever we asked if he wanted to stop or not. So there. Nyah." Kevin punctuated his statement by sticking out his tongue playfully.
"Don't stick it out unless you intend to use it," Lance muttered, causing Kevin and Eric to laugh.
Lance probably would have come back with another retort, and perhaps some of those appropriate four letter words that Kevin used earlier, but was interrupted by the sound of his cell phone ringing. Sighing, he reached over to the table to answer.
"Yeah?" he said, rubbing his temples with his free hand.
"Mr. Bass? Is that you?"
If there was one thing you could say about Lance Bass, it was that he was a busy person. Besides being a part of N'Sync and everything that went along with it, there was also FreeLance, his new management company, and both of these put together meant that there were several irons in the fire at once, and often not enough hours in the day. Therefore, it became necessary for Lance to hire an assistant, someone who could handle things on the homefront while he was on the road, and take care of certain things that FreeLance was involved with. This was the role Terry Reid fulfilled. He was a college freshman from Jackson, and was hired last fall. Lance found him to be efficient, friendly, task-oriented...everything he needed while he was on the road. However, there was one thing he could not get Terry to do it seemed....
"Terry, if I've asked you once, I've asked you a thousand times...Mr. Bass is my dad, okay? You can call me Lance, James, hell you can even call me Scoop if you want, just......anyway, what's up?"
"Oh. Well, I just wanted to let you know that the press kits are all out, and that the equipment manifest is here. It looks like we'll have everything we need," Terry said.
"Who's Terry?" Kevin whispered.
Waving him off, Lance continued. "Good. Now, I'd imagine that we're going to start getting calls for interviews here before too long. Just set something up for Monday morning, okay? We'll hold a press conference then."
"Alright...but, what do I do if they want to talk to you earlier?"
"Terry, I don't plan on leaving Oxford until later, and I'd rather not spend my weekend dealing with reporters, okay? Just...wing it. I'll talk to you when I get back."
"Oh, alright then Mr. Ba...uh, Lance. By the way, did you have a good birthday?"
"Yeah, great. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Don't forget to lock up, huh? Bye now."
After Lance hung up the phone, Kevin tried again. "Who's Terry?"
"Why, jealous?"
"Do I need to be?"
"Well, let's see. Would you be jealous of an eighteen year old guy who does whatever I tell him to and has a key to my house?" Lance asked with a grin.
Kevin's mouth opened and his face went blank, causing Lance to laugh.
"Oww...that still hurts! Don't make me laugh," he said, pressing a hand to his forehead.
"Kev, you never said if you'd be jealous of that or not," Eric said, looking up from the newspaper he was reading.
"Oh, shut up E!"
After everyone had showered, and Lance's headache finally began to go away, the kitchen of the apartment became the "war room" for the effort ahead. Lance still had a few calls to make in regards to the upcoming concert with Eric, while Kevin went over a list of songs, Justin giving his input every so often.
"You know, I don't think I've heard of a lot of these," he said. "These oldies or something?"
"No, they're not oldies," Kevin said. "Well, okay, some of them are. But still...I guess my taste in music is a little different from you guys."
"Looks that way, yeah."
Noticing that his roommate and boyfriend were still on separate phones, Kevin nodded for Justin to lean over somewhat, so that he could whisper in his ear.
"You bored?" he asked.
"Oh, God...out of my mind," Justin replied.
"Okay, follow my lead..." Kevin then looked back up. "Hey guys? Um. Break time? Please?"
Lance looked up and nodded at his boyfriend, never breaking his concentration getting the ball. Dribbling back, he broke out into a run, went up, and slam dunked the ball, holding onto the rim and swinging back and forth for a moment or two before jumping back down.
"I hope you're not pissed at Eric or anything." Justin was now holding the ball. "Nice jam, by the way."
"Thanks, and no, I'm not pissed. It's cool if you know. I mean, not like you're gonna tell everyone I know, right?" Kevin said while walking back over.
"True. But..well, there's something I want to ask, if that's okay."
"Sure, what?"
"Well...like....why are you bi?"
Kevin chuckled. "Why are you straight?"
"Well, because I am."
"Right, because you're attracted to women. Well, that's kind of the same thing with me, just...different. I'm attracted to both men and women."
"Doesn't that complicate things?" Justin dribbled twice, then took a shot and missed.
"Hmm. Sometimes, yeah." Kevin got the ball back. "But, you know, it doesn't matter. When I'm seeing someone, that's it for me. I can shut everyone else out, you know? I mean, sure I'll scope out other guys or women, whatever...but it's not like I can't make up my mind. You check out other girls, right?"
"Yeah, of course."
"And you're going out with Britney, right?"
"Yeah."
Kevin took a step back and made a three point shot. "Well, there you go. You look, but don't touch. Same thing with me. Look, Justin, like I said yesterday...don't worry about James, okay? I love him, and I'm not about to screw that up."
"Nice shot. And nice job watching yourself, but no one else is out here, we can't be heard. I guess I kind of understand, but not really." Justin spun the ball on his finger.
"If it makes it any easier, I prefer to think of myself as just....sexual, I guess. Think of it like this. If you take away all the labels, we're just people. And I happen to be a person who sometimes likes a relationship with a man, and sometimes with a woman, and it includes all of the things that go along with it. Emotion, sex, trust...all of that. That help?"
"Yeah, kinda." Justin stopped spinning the ball. "Um..there's something else I found out, too."
"What's that?"
"Well...how, comfortable, I guess, are you with Lance?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well...Eric kind of told me about this Kris guy...."
Kevin sighed, and put his hands on his hips. "I don't know who you're more worried about, me or Lance."
"Well, both of you, when it comes right down to it."
"Justin, look. Kris hurt me, and he hurt me pretty bad. Part of me will never be able to get over that, you know? And I don't know if this is going to cause problems with me and Lance, but let's just hope it doesn't, okay? Now, you ready to run some hoops or what?"
"Yeah." Justin bounce passed the ball over to Kevin. "But, hey...you ever wanna talk..you come find me, okay?"
"Will do. And thanks."
With that, Kevin dribbled three times, made a move to Justin's right, when he suddenly switched to the left, ran up and made a basket. "And now I'm up by one Timberlake!"
Now, what Kevin and Justin didn't realize was that Lance was not exactly paying attention when Kevin asked if they could take a break. He had nodded in their direction, but was more engrossed with the conversation he was having, as was Eric. So, when he hung up the phone, a confused look came over his face.
"Hey, where are the guys?" he asked.
"They went outside, remember?" Eric answered, looking up from his work.
"They did?"
"Yeah."
Lance thought for a moment. "And, like, I was here when this happened?"
"Yeah, you were," Eric laughed. "Man, you really get into your work, don't you?"
"I guess I do, yeah." Sighing, he leaned back in his chair and stretched. "Oh, by the way, thanks for the gift certificate. I love Dillard's."
"You're welcome. I had no clue what to get, so I figured that would cover just about all the bases." Pushing back his own chair, Eric got up and took a soda from the fridge. "We just about done here?"
"Yeah, I think so. All that's left, really, is for you guys to practice next week, but there's plenty of time for that. Oh, wait, there is one other thing. What are you going to call yourselves?"
"Call ourselves?"
"Yeah, you know...what's the name of your band?"
"Good question. I have no idea."
"Well, why don't we go find the boys and ask Kev."
Stepping outside, Lance put on his sunglasses and looked over at the site of two sweaty young men, stripped to the waist, engaged in a heated game of one on one. He watched every muscle on Kevin's body ripple as he moved, which was a heart quickening sight, and heard the light hearted trash talk that went back and forth between the two.
"Who do you think is winning?" he asked Eric.
"No clue." As they came closer, Eric put a finger up to his lips to make sure Justin was quiet. Kevin had his back turned and was dribbling the ball. Suddenly, Eric sprinted forward, stole the ball, and ran up to the basket, laying it in. "Oh, and score won for Hagen! The crowd goes wild! Women swoon, money is thrown, beer is broken out!" he said with a grin as he jogged back over with the ball.
"Man, why'd you have to bring up beer?" Lance groaned as he caught Eric's pass. Taking two dribbles, he lined up and took a shot, which banged off the backboard with a loud 'THUD.' Kevin, with a laugh, tracked it down and dribbled back over.
"What a brick! Don't play much, huh?" he asked his boyfriend.
"That obvious, huh? No, I kinda suck at this," was Lance's reply as he grinned sheepishly.
"Hey, I know...how about the roommates take on N'Sync?" Justin asked.
"Uh, Just..we'd be playing with a handicap...me," Lance said.
"Nah, come on, it'll be okay. You just pass to me, I'll do all the hard stuff."
Kevin turned to Eric, who was now taking off his own shirt. "What do you say man? Think we can take them?"
"I dunno. Think you can keep your eyes and hands off of one of the opponents long enough for us to win?"
"Yeah, I think so. Besides, Justin's cute and all, but not when he's all sweaty."
"Hey!" Lance and Justin said in unison, causing the roommates to laugh.
"First of all, I'm cute whether I'm sweaty or not," Justin explained.
"And if your eyes are gonna be on anyone, it better be me mister! You're on!" Lance added.
Thirty minutes later, roughly.
"Okay, that's it! Justin, let's give up, huh?"
"Aw, c'mon Scoop...we can come back!"
"Just, we're down by, like, twenty-five, or something like that. I'm officially throwing in the towel." Lance put his hands on his knees and tried to catch his breath.
Kevin high fived Eric in triumph. "And the Risky Business Boys do it again!" he exclaimed.
"The what?" Justin asked with a laugh, wiping sweat off his forehead with his shirt.
"That's what we were called in high school. Long story." Eric came over and patted Lance on the back. "Nice effort there, Lancelot."
"Uh-huh. Yeah, whatever. Can we go in now?"
The four walked back to the apartment when Lance remembered why he and Eric had come outside in the first place. He turned to Kevin and said, "You guys need a name for your band, you know. I'll have to have something to mention to the press on Monday."
"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot about that. It's Dubious Distinction."
The other three stopped as Kevin walked on ahead a step or two. Realizing he was now alone, he turned to see three confused faces looking at him.
"Dubious what?" Eric asked.
"Dubious Distinction. Has a neat ring to it, huh?"
"I don't know if I even wanna ask," Justin said.
"When did you come up with this?" Lance asked.
"Nick and I did. You know, one of the guys I found. Kinda cool, isn't it?"
"I guess I've heard worse," Lance stated as they started to walk again.
"Dubious what?" Eric asked again.
"I can't wait to see the water bill this month."
Justin was once again upstairs in the shower, while the others waited their turn. Eric was on the phone, ordering pizza for a late lunch, and Kevin and Lance were seated in the living room. Lance watched as Kevin took out a small device and what appeared to be a box of needles.
"What're you doing?" he asked.
"This is how I check my blood sugar. Wanna watch?"
"You feel okay?"
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I just need to do this, like, every other day or so. See, watch. First, the little needle goes in this thing here....then I swab my fingertip with alcohol...."
Lance flinched as Kevin injected the needle.
"Then squeeze out a drop of blood here...and let the machine read it. There, all done. And, I'm alive and well." Kevin shook his hand, and stuck his finger in his mouth, sucking on it a little like most people do when they get a paper cut.
"Doesn't that hurt?" Lance asked.
"A little. You get used to it though. So, what did you want to talk about?"
"Well, I was thinking. How would you like to come home with me tonight? I mean, you're gonna have to be in Jackson next week anyway, and Justin wants to go back to Memphis for the rest of the weekend. Eric can come up Monday or something, so I kinda thought we could have the rest of the weekend together."
"That, Mr. Bass, is the best idea I've heard in a long time." Kevin leaned over and planted a quick kiss on his boyfriend's lips.
"Great! I can't wait to show you my house! And I already have an idea for what we can do tomorrow afternoon!" Lance's excitement was obvious.
"Oh, really now? What would that be?" Kevin wagged his eyebrows and winked.
"Not that!" Lance laughed. "Well...uh...yeah, that too I guess. But no, it'll be a surprise. You'll like it."
Justin having washed up and pizza having arrived (which Lance insisted on paying for), the four sat and ate in the living room around the oak table. Lance politely but firmly declined beer to wash down his lunch, sticking with soda, while the others sipped from bottles Kevin had brought from the kitchen.
After they ate, Kevin packed clothes into a travel bag as Lance took a shower, then went in to take one of his own while Justin helped pack up the truck. With Eric's assistance, they carefully put the telescope into the carrying case that came with it, and set it alongside the overnight bags and the other assorted things in the back.
Kevin came outside and tossed his bag into the back of the jeep.
"You gonna be okay while I'm gone?" he asked Eric.
"Yes, dad. I'll make sure to be in bed by ten every night and eat all my vegetables."
"Smart ass," he laughed. "Listen, Lance wrote out directions on how to get to his place. I left them on the kitchen table. When are you coming up?"
"I figure sometime Monday morning. I'm going to have all of next week off, cash in on some of that vacation time I've been saving up."
"Good for you bro, you deserve it. Well...see you Monday then, huh?" He gave his friend a quick hug.
"Thanks for everything Eric," Justin said, shaking his new friend's hand and giving him a quick one armed hug. "And thanks for this morning. That was cool."
"Anytime, Just."
"Bye, Eric. See you on Monday...if you get lost or something, I left my numbers, too." Lance also gave Eric a friendly hug.
"Cool. You guys be careful, okay? See you up there."
Kevin put on his sunglasses and his seat belt. Looking over at Lance, he grinned. "Hey, try not to get me lost, okay? And let's go, we're wasting daylight here!"
"I'll try not to," Lance laughed.
They pulled out, waving to Eric as they drove out of the parking lot. As they made their way down State Road Six towards the interstate, Kevin put on a baseball cap backwards, and leaned back a little, driving with his left hand. He remembered while Lance was in the shower that he had yet to tell him of his decision - to go on tour with N'Sync this summer, so they could be together. It was the perfect solution, he figured, and he knew Lance would love it. Things were really starting to go well, for the first time in a long time.
So why was it that he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Or was going to be wrong. And why couldn't he put his finger on what it was?
End of Chapter 11 But Kevin and Lance will return in Chapter 12, "Homeward Bound," so stay tuned!