DISCLAIMER: Hello everybody, first off, this story is going to be about establishing relationships, not purely about sex, but there will still be encounters. I must however state that I do not know anybody's sexual preferences in REALITY, however, in this little fiction world of mine, they are what I choose them to be. Once again, the "Duh Factor": if you are not old enough to view this material, go away. If homosexual material offends you, why are you here?
Special Thanx: Jessie! You are my main inspiration! Also, a special thanx to Alex, James, Jimmy, and Chris. Thanks for the motivation!
Reminder: Lance's thoughts are in greater than, less than arrows <> and Joey's are in regular brackets []. Thanx and enjoy!
In the previous chapter:
The guys of N'Sync fly down to Mobile, Alabama. Lance is still in shock and so are the other guys. Lance stays at the hospital that night with his sister while the other guys and Britney go to the hotel. JC convinces management to try to get a hold of BSB's management and ask Kevin to talk to Lance, considering he lost his father. Stacy wakes up in the middle of the night and Lance has to tell her the news, and now I'm going to zoom ahead a week or so after his parents' funeral.
Chapter Four
Management had deemed it necessary to cancel everything for at least three months. Considering all they had was some promotional appearances, it wasn't that hard to manage. They wanted to give Lance and the rest of the gang time to recover from their loss. After all, they were like parents to them too. The guys have returned to Orlando, and Stacy with Lance. Lance insisted that she come stay with him until she gets better and can do stuff on her own. Lance was in the process of waking up this one Saturday morning when he heard the doorbell ring.
<What the hell? Its 9 o'clock on a Saturday morning, I know none of the guys would be up this early. Ugh...I don't want to get out of bed.>
Of course, the doorbell rang a second time and Lance started to get out of bed. He put on his green robe and started toward the front door. He opened the door and was shocked to see Kevin Richardson of the Backstreet Boys standing there.
"I didn't wake you, did I?" Kevin asked, looking at Lance who was still groggy.
"What? Oh, well, yeah you kind of did, but I needed to get up anyways. Come on in."
"Thanks, you have no idea how hard it was for me to get up this morning, but since it was a personal favor to somebody, I felt like I needed to get here on time."
"Personal favor?" Lance asked, motioning for Kevin to have a seat in the living room.
"He didn't tell you? That's just like him, JC asked me to come have a chat with you."
"Oh, he did? What about?" Lance asked, playing dumb and taking a seat opposite Kevin. "Don't play dumb, you know that he is worried about you, they all are."
"I'm fine, I've told them that a million times since it happened."
"Are you?" Kevin asked, looking directly at Lance.
Lance looked right back at Kevin and saw that he was being serious, Lance could tell that Kevin wanted to help. Lance thought about it a second, then continued.
"I...I honestly don't know anymore..."
"Exactly what I said when I was asked that question."
"Huh?"
"My dad passed away from cancer and I was depressed for a while, until B-rok started asking questions and I finally realized that I didn't need to play Mr. Tough guy anymore and that my friends were there to comfort me and be there for me."
"I'm sorry that you lost your dad like that, but...my situation is completely different."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm not trying to play Mr. Tough Guy, it doesn't take much for me to break down, and I'm getting over the fact of living without my parents, its not the fact that they're...they're dead, its just..." Lance let the sentence come to an end.
"Just what?"
"Its personal."
"You won't feel better until you talk about it, I know that for sure."
"I know, but I can't just blurt it out like that, I mean, I don't want to ruin the guys."
"Ruin the guys?" Kevin gave it some thought for a few moments and then started again, "I think I know where this is headed."
"How could you?"
"We had the same situation in our group. It took AJ a while to admit it, but I was finally able to get him to confess and it made him feel so much better afterwards."
"Confess?" Lance asked, he knew what was coming next.
"Lance, are you bi?"
Lance, a little startled by the question took a few minutes to respond.
"Not exactly, this is a one way street and it goes the opposite way." Lance immediately regretted using that analogy because he felt like an idiot afterwards.
"You're gay?"
"Yeah..." Lance replied and then he decided it was time for a little rant and rave. "I don't know how to break it to the guys, I've only told Joey and I know that if it was to get out, it would ruin N Sync and all of them have worked too hard for me to screw it up for them."
Kevin, feeling that that wasn't the real reason for Lance's behavior, "There's something more though, you know that the guys would accept you for who you are and it isn't too hard to keep certain things from the press, what is it?"
"They died...and I couldn't tell them. I didn't tell them, I was afraid that they would shun me and...deep down I knew they wouldn't, but it was the fear of it all and then they go and get in this horrible accident..."
Kevin got up immediately and crossed to where Lance was and sat down next to him, pulling him into a hug. Lance returned the hug and dried out what was the beginning of tears.
"It'll be alright Lance, you really should talk to the rest of the guys and let them know how you feel, right now, they are your family and you need to tell them so they can help you."
"Thanks Kevin...I...I really appreciate this "little chat" we had."
Kevin laughed, "No problem."
Lance, feeling a little bit childish after his outburst, thanked Kevin again, gave him a hug and told him he'd call the guys right away. After showing Kevin out, he called Joey.
"Ugh...hello?"
Lance, remembering that it was still before noon on a Saturday, cursed himself silently, and then he started talking.
"Joey, its me, Lance."
Joey immediately showed signs of wakefulness. "Lance? Oh, what's up?" "I was wondering if you could get a hold of the guys and ask them to come over around noon, I'm going to tell them."
"Sure man, no prob, I'll get a hold of everybody and see you around noon, alright?"
"Thanks Joey, see ya then."
Lance then remembered his sister and immediately ran up to her room. She was just waking up when Lance walked in.
"Good morning sleepy head."
"Good Morning Lance, ugh, what time is it?"
"It's about ten thirty. You hungry?"
"Not really, is there anything you wanted to pamper me about today?" A hint of sarcasm underlining her voice.
"Haha, very funny Stacy. Not really actually...but there's something I needed to tell you."
"Okay, I'm all ears, what is it?"
Lance crossed over to Stacy's bed and sat down next to her. She sat up and was looking at him when he took a deep breath.
"It's taken me a while to realize the way I feel about...relationships and I wanted to tell you before I tell the guys."
"You're a little late on that flight Bro, I already know that you're gay."
"What?! How'd you know?" Lance almost jumped off the bed in shock.
"I am your sister after all, not to mention there were little signs that I picked up on here and there." She smiled at him. "I'm okay with it Lance, whatever makes you happy makes me happy."
Lance, unsure of what to do, hugged his sister and thanked her a million times for taking it so well. Then a question popped into his head. "Did...did mom and dad know?"
"They suspected as much, they loved you Lance. They were happy as long as you were happy."
A huge wait was lifted off Lance's shoulders at that moment. Stacy feeling rather curious, "So the guys don't know?"
"Joey does, I'm going to tell the others today."
"So...what kind of guys do you like?" A devious grin came across her face.
Feeling really awkward at that moment, "As if that's any of your business" His face turning beet red.
"Haha, you're turning crimson little brother."
Lance and Stacy laughed it off for a little while and then he remembered the guys were coming over. So he headed downstairs to put a pizza in the oven for lunch. Stacy, feeling tired from her meds went back to sleep.
It only took him a few minutes to get the pizza in the oven and was contemplating taking a shower; however, the doorbell rang at that exact moment. Lance looked up at the clock and realized it was noon already. He jogged over to the front door and sure enough, the rest of the guys were there. All of them looking still a tad bit groggy, but concerned none the less.
"Hey guys come on in and get comfortable."
The all sat down and JC was the first to speak up. "So...what was it that you wanted to tell us on this Saturday morning?"
"Afternoon," Joey corrected, giggling a little bit.
"Either way, you're right, there's something I need to tell you guys, but first I wanted to thank you JC."
"For what?"
"For getting Kevin from BSB to come speak to me, it really helped, and it shows how worried you are about me, thanks."
"No problem, you know you're like a brother to all of us."
"That's the reason I decided to talk to all of you guys now. I want you guys to promise to listen to what I have to say and wait until I'm done, then...we can talk if you want to."
All the guys nodded in agreement, and all getting looks of concern on their faces.
"Okay. Gosh, where to begin?" Lance tried to lighten the mood. The guys smiled accordingly. "Well, you guys all know that I was really depressed whenever I found out about my parents and all of you were there for me. I'm getting over that now, slowly but surely I'm learning how to deal with not having my parents anymore. The reason I'm kind of 'out of it' so to speak has to do with my parents and you guys. I never got to tell them something really important. I was afraid to, although now I know it was a childish fear. I'm worried about telling ya'll because I don't want to do anything that could endanger 'N Sync. We've all worked so hard to get this far in life, but I have to tell you." Lance took a really deep breath and continued. "I've had to come to terms with something extremely personal, having to do with the types of relationships I want to get involved with...I'm gay."
Lance was staring off at the floor, unable to bring himself to look at anybody for fear of the looks. Chris, being serious for once, "So this is what you were going to tell us before all this stuff happened, back at the hotel in Atlanta?"
"Yeah, it is."
"Whatever makes you happy hombre," Justin replied.
Lance looked up at this point in time and stared at Justin. <Did he just say he is okay with this?>
"Same goes here Scoop," Chris replies. <Oh man, they are taking this really well so far.>
"Yeah, this is what had you weirded out for the past couple of weeks? You should've told us sooner Scoop," JC said. At this point in time, Lance started crying, and for the first time in a long time, this was for pure happiness. "Thank you guys, you have no idea how long I've wanted to tell you."
"Group Hug!" Joey yelled at the top of his lungs. All the guys got up and went over to Lance, all grappling and giving a humongous hug to him. Lance was extremely happy.
[I'm glad everyone took it so well. I'm really glad to see Lance so happy. What is this weird feeling I've been having lately? I've been worried about Lance, but it just seems like something else is there...]
Uh oh! What's going on in Joey's head? Hmmmm...=0) Let me know what you thought about this chapter. I LOVE EMAIL!!! If I can, I will respond to everyone's that I get. I love helpful criticisms. Whether they are constructive or not. If you have any suggestions, let me know. Later, Charlie. grandbaykracker@hotmail.com