Disclaimer: I am not dysfunctional enough to claim that I know *NSYNC. I think they're great and all, but if I knew them I wouldn't spend my time writing slash fiction about them. I would probably be hanging out with them flirting my brains out. So, obviously, I don't know them. They aren't gay and even if they were, I wouldn't know it. This story is fiction. That means that it came out of my sick, deranged little mind. Please enjoy it. :o)
OH YEAH!!! I meant to say this. The lyrics in part one were from "I Wish That I Was There" by Hanson. The first set of lyrics in this part are from "Put Your Hands On Me" by Christina Aguilera (despite the fact that I totally and completely hate her, the song seems to fit). The last set of lyrics are from the song "What's Simple Is True" by Jewel.
It was pouring outside. The sky was a threatening color of black and rain streamed steadily downwards as if trying to drown the world. Thunder rumbled in the distance giving a hint of what might come there way, but no lightening was seen.
The guys were gathered in Joey's room, scattered around the living room area watching pay-per-view. American Beauty was on, and since no one but Lance had seen it, they had decided to order it. The guys sat silently watching the movie. Actually, everyone but Justin was watching. Justin sat scribbling furiously into his notebook, the words on the page known only to him and his pencil. After a few minutes he glanced up, scanning the room quickly before looking back down at his notebook. He flipped to a new page and scribbled a few more words, before smiling to himself. He tore the page out as quietly as possible. Wadding it up into a tight ball, he chucked it across the room at Lance.
The paper wad hit an unsuspecting Lance directly in the forehead, bouncing off his face and landing in his lap. Justin could barely contain his laughter. Lance looked down at the paper and over at Justin, a curious look on his face.
"Read it," Justin mouthed. Lance nodded and carefully uncrumpled the crinkled note.
Hi Scoopy,
I'm soo bored. This movie is weird. Let's go do something else.
Come on, I know you want to! Just follow me.
~your Justin
Lance looked up at his friend wondering how they were going to get out of the room without causing suspicion. Justin shot him a wicked grin, which he immediately wiped off his face, replacing it with a look of pure fatigue.
"I think I'm gonna head off to bed, guys," Justin said sounding tired and faking a yawn.
"Are you sure, Justin?" JC asked without looking away from the television.
"Yeah, this movie's a little weird for me, and we had to get up way too early this morning," Justin replied.
"You always think we have to get up too early," Joey laughed. Justin grinned lightly, standing up and stretching his arms above his head. He picked up his precious notebook, tucking it under his arm in a protective fashion.
"I think I'm going to head out too," Lance spoke up, throwing a conspiratory glance at Justin.
"You too? Are you sure?" Joey inquired looking over at his friend for a moment.
"Yeah. I've already seen this," Lance told his friend with a careless wave of his hand. He stood up and followed Justin towards the door. "G'night, guys."
"Night," came the general reply. He stepped into the hallway, closing the door quietly behind him. He turned to find Justin and ran straight into him. Justin giggled. He took Lance's hand and started running down the hallway, dragging Lance along with him.
"Where are we going?" Lance laughed as he continued to follow Justin.
"It's a surprise," Justin said.
"I'm good at keeping secrets," Lance teased. They had reached the end of the hallway and Justin turned to face Lance grinning widely.
"Are you mocking me?" Justin asked trying to hold back his smile.
"ME!? Never!" Lance laughed. Justin broke down and laughed too. He opened the door to the stairs, standing back and letting Lance walk through. He let the door close before taking Lance's hand in his once more and starting up the stairs.
Justin's skin was soft and warm against Lance's own. Lance was barely paying attention to where they were going. He finally came back to his senses when he once again ran into Justin, who had stopped in front of another door. Justin laughed and looked at Lance over his shoulder, smiling widely.
"You okay, Lansten?" he giggled. Lance nodded lightly, blushing a little.
Justin dropped his notebook by the top of the stairs before leading the way out onto the roof and into the pouring rain. Lance tried to pull back, but Justin had a firm grip on his hand.
"Justin, it's freezing out here!" Lance cried his voice sounding amused.
"I know! And it's raining! Isn't it great!?" Justin replied happily. He released Lance's hand and ran out a few paces, jumping into a large puddle. He kicked his feet around a bit, soaking his expensive sneakers all the way through. The water splashed up around him as he continued horsing around. Jokingly, he kicked up a wave of water, splashing it at Lance. Not that it mattered, Lance was fully drenched already. Justin spun around a few times, flinging his arms out to the sides. Finally, he stopped. He turned to face Lance. They were both completely drenched from the downpour after a very few minutes. Justin's cheeks were flushed red, from both the cold and the playful exertion. He was grinning widely.
Lance laughed, walking out towards his friend.
"I love the rain," Justin sighed looking up at the sky. He opened his mouth wide, attempting to catch the fat raindrops. He felt Lance's hands slide around his waist, coming to rest on his lower back. He continued to stare at the sky, waiting to see if anything more would come. He felt Lance's body move closer, pressing tighter against his. Justin couldn't supress a gasp as he felt Lance's warm lips against the cool flesh of his neck.
The kiss lasted less than a few seconds, but left Justin feeling breathless. He looked down from the sky, to find himself looking directly into Lance's playful green eyes. He was breathing heavily as he stared at his friend.
Lance smiled widely.
"I couldn't resist," Lance whispered his smile fading to a sexy, playful grin. Justin could feel Lance's breath against his face. It was hot compared to the cold wind blowing through the night. Justin leaned down suddenly, pressing his lips tightly to Lance's.
A deep moan escaped Lance's throat at the feeling. He was on fire. His hands gripped Justin tightly, his cold fingers tangling themselves in the sopping material of Justin's teeshirt. Justin wrapped his arms around Lance's neck, giving himself to the older boy. He sighed delightedly.
The kiss never went any deeper, but it didn't need to. You know the feeling you have when you first make contact with someone you like. No matter if the contact is a hug or a kiss or less, it's satisfying and it's perfect and it's exactly everything that you wanted or wished for. It's that tingly feeling you get. You know the one.
The two parted a moment later, both flushed from the embrace. Justin shivered slightly.
"Are you cold?" Lance asked concern lacing his deep voice. Justin grinned widely.
"Well, yeah, a little, but that's not why I was shivering," he laughed causing Lance to laugh as well. Justin couldn't resist, he leaned down pressing his lips to Lance's once more. He ran his tongue along Lance's chilled lips, before pulling back and smiling brightly. Out of nowhere, a flash lit up the night sky above the two friends. They looked up just in time to catch the last of the fading tines. The thunder rolled loudly around them. Justin's hands gripped Lance tightly.
"Let's go inside," Justin said looking back to Lance, fear barely contained in his bright blue eyes. "I am getting cold."
Lance nodded. He pulled his hands from around Justin's waist, pausing to intertwine their fingers before leading Justin back towards the stairwell. They hurried inside, heading back towards their floor. Justin grabbed his notebook as they passed and continued down the stairs with his friend. Once they reached their floor, they walked the semi-short distance to Justin's room, since it was the closest. They had almost made it there, when JC and Chris came walking out of Joey's room on their way to bed. Justin and Lance dropped hands before their friends noticed them and threw a conspiratory smile at one another. JC was the first to notice them.
"You guys are soaked!" he declared staring at his dripping friends. Justin and Lance looked at each other and grinned, nodding their heads. Chris gave them an amused look.
"I thought you guys were going to bed," he said smiling wryly.
"Uh, we just wanted to watch the rain," Justin replied. Chris shook his head, turning towards his room across the hall. JC stared at them a moment longer before shrugging.
"Whatever. I'm going to bed," JC said with a wave. He turn the opposite direction and continued on to his room.
"Night, Josh," Justin called after him. He turned to Lance grinning. "Are you gonna stay for awhile?"
Lance shook his head.
"I want to take a shower and get changed into some dry clothes," Lance told his friend. Justin stuck his bottom lip out in a pout, trying to convince Lance to stay. Lance laughed.
"That's cute," he said softly. He ran his thumb along Justin's lower lip, his fingers brushing lightly against Justin's cheek. "Maybe I'll come back later."
Justin grinned widely. He wrapped his arms around Lance's neck, letting his fingers run through Lance's short hair. Lance's hands rested lightly on his hips, twirling the fabric of Justin's teeshirt around his fingers.
"My fingers are cold," Justin pouted sticking his fingers down the back of Lance's shirt as proof. He giggled as Lance squirmed under his cold touch. Lance reached back and pulled Justin's hands out of his shirt. He brought the numb fingers to his lips, holding them between his own two hands, he blew on them gently trying to warm them up. He sucked one of the frozen digits into his mouth, running his tongue around it lazily, before letting it slip between his lips once more.
"Any better?" he asked softly. Justin nodded a dazed, lusty look in his eyes.
"My nose is cold too though," he replied quietly. Lance smiled and placed a short kiss on the tip of Justin's nose. He stepped back and pushed Justin in the direction of his hotel room.
"Go take a shower. Get warm. I'll see you in the morning," Lance said smiling. Justin nodded and turned to his room. He walked in, quietly closing the door behind him. Lance stood there for a few seconds, simply staring at the door contentedly. Finally, the chill got the better of him and he dragged himself away from his thoughts, walking slowly down to his room.
Lance kicked of his tennis shoes, tossing them in the direction of his luggage. He quickly stripped the rest of his clothes dropping them to the ground as well. He walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower as hot as he could stand it. He normally liked hot showers, but tonight he was especially happy that they weren't on the bus. He was still freezing as he climbed under the scalding water. He stood there letting the water pour down his neck and over his shoulders, the warmth dancing through his body, bringing the feeling back to his fingers and toes. He grabbed the small bar of hotel soap and ran it across his body, soaping himself up lightly. As he ran the bar down his strong arms he could have sworn he heard a sound. He stopped to listen, but didn't hear it again. He shrugged and rinsed his body of the white lather.
Lance finished up his shower a short time later, grabbing a towel off the rack above the toilet. He wrapped it around his thin waist and walked out to the main room. He noticed that the clothes which he had earlier discarded were now folded and set on top of the dresser. He walked over to his suitcase to pick out some clothes and found a small, square, green envelope resting on top of his luggage. He sat down on his bed looking at the envelope. There were no markings on it other than his name written in a familiar script. He opened the envelope, carefully pulling out a piece of folded white paper. He smiled to himself as he read it over.
My Lansten ...
I don't know about the travel of time
And I've never seen most of the world
See, I haven't noticed the flowers in bloom
I haven't smiled
When alone in my room very much
And then we touched
I just know
When you put your hands on me
I feel sexy
And my body turns to gold
I just know
When you put your hands on me
I feel ready
And I lose my self control
Always yours,
Justin Randall
Lance read the note once more before folding it back up and replacing it in the envelope. He walked over to his suitcase and pulled out a small sized red box. Pulling off the lid, it revealed cards and letters and envelopes in various colors, shapes, and sizes. Lance placed the new letter in with the others, replacing the lid carefully. He set the box back into his suitcase.
Lance grabbed a change of clothes, slipping quickly into them before grabbing his notebook and a pen and settling into the somewhat comfortable hotel bed.
Justin awoke the next morning to the incessant ringing of his cell phone sitting on the table next to his bed. It took a few minutes for the sound to actually register in his tired mind. His hand reached out, missing his phone completely the first time. Trying again, he got a hold on it. He picked it up and brought it close to his face, trying to see the buttons clearly through his sleep filled eyes. Finally, he found the button, pressing it, he brought the phone up to his ear.
"Hullo?" he mumbled sleepily.
"Hi, doll. I didn't mean to wake you up," Lance drawled. He always did that in the morning, as if during his sleep, he forgot that he was no longer in Mississippi.
"Hi, Lance," Justin sighed happily. "You didn't wake me up."
Lance laughed deeply.
"Don't lie. I know I did, but you'll be happy to know that I have a good reason," Lance's voice was playful.
"Okay, waiting to hear a reason then," Justin laughed tiredly.
"Well, I thought you might want to know that there is something waiting for you outside your door," Lance told his friend. Justin immediately jumped out of bed, tripping over his still-soaked tennis shoes on the way to the door. He heard Lance laugh through the phone.
"You okay, doll?" Lance asked still chuckling lightly.
"Fine," Justin grumbled. He reached the door and threw it open. There stood Lance, holding his cell phone to his ear. Justin smiled widely. "You woke me up for this?" he said into his phone trying to sound disappointed.
"No," Lance smiled, shaking his head. "I woke you up for this." Lance pulled a red envelope from behind his back, handing it to Justin. Justin giggled excitedly, snatching the letter out of Lance's hand. He clutched it to his chest, bouncing up and down on his toes happily.
"Can I read it now?" he asked. Lance nodded.
"I'm going to head back to my room, but you can give me a call when you're finished. Okay?" Lance replied. Justin nodded. Reaching out, he threw his arms around Lance's neck, giving him a quick hug before ducking back into his room. Lance laughed and headed down the hall back to his own suite.
Justin slid down the hotel door, sitting on the floor in front of it. He tore the envelope open, pulling out the carefully folded letter.
My sweet Justin Randall,
Turn to me with frozen lips
Your hands are icy cold
Your eyes burn bright
Against the frost-bit sky
You never seemed more lovely
Than you do tonight
Pale on the horizon
Like leaves frozen in the snow
Our two shadows merge inseperably
Well time stands still
If it's pierced with cold
The more I live
The more I know
What's simple is true
I love you
There's a warmth in my heart
It haunts me when you're gone
Mend me to your side
And never let go
So time knows nothing
We'll never grow cold
The more I live
The more I know
What's simple is true
I love you
And twilight descends
On our silhouette
How soon spring comes
How soon spring forgets
I want to hold time
Say it'll never begin
Old man winter be our friend
Old man winter be our friend
The more I live
The more I know
What's simple is true
I love you
Always and Forever yours,
James Lansten Bass