Woohoo! Fourth chapter already! Phew... okay, special thanks to James, Jeremi and AJ, my fellow writers of this particularly unique series (Tales of a Real Dark Knight, Tales of a Young Mutant, and Tales of the Protectors). And a huge thank you to Rune, Aeoros, Mawsy and Chuck, my four great friends. Hi to Susz and Mags (what happened to you people? You've gone silent...). Anything else I forgot? Hmm... nope, I think that's it. Comments and suggestions to dylan@celticwarrior.com.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Okay, stories for great reading. All stories are from boybands unless otherwise noted:
Tales of a Young Mutant (Celebrities) Mutant High (Celebrities) The Love We Have (Justin/JC) Tales of a Real Dark Knight (Eric/Lance) Shadows of the Past (Chris/Cody, hopefully JC/Jason hint hint, Rune) Lance's Search (Lance/Justin/JC... read it and you'll understand) My JC (JC/Mike) Powers That Be (Justin/Tom) Nsync and the Vamps (JC/Lance) Life with Justin (Justin/Nick [not Carter]) Loving Nick Lachey (Josh/Nick) Josh and Just (Duh, as if you can't tell) Curly and Josh (Another 'duh') BSB Nsync Chronicles (My first story. Complicated...) Nsync Saga (Lance/Selvar. The series is over, but it's still great reading! Once again, one of Rune's work)
Disclaimer: This story is fictional, and says nothing about the orientations of any member of the boyband N Sync, or any other character, celebrity or otherwise. If you are under 18 or 21, or live in a country where it's illegal to read something like this, leave, though I seriously doubt you will. If you don't like the idea of two guys in a relationship with each other, or having sex with each other, what are you doing here in the first place?
Though maybe none of the characters will be appearing, ideas taken from these places will show up:
Buffy, Copyright 20th Century Fox, Created by Joss Whedon X-Men, Copyright Marvel Comics, Created by Stan Lee Charmed, Copyright WB, Created by Aaron Spelling
Chapter 3
He stood at the doorway looking at me. "May I come in?"
"You haven't gone all vamp on me, have you?" I joked. Justin grinned.
"No," he admitted. He stepped into the house. "So what games do you have on your playstation?"
"Not a lot," I said. "Basic stuff like Puzzle Fighter 2, Rival Schools 2, Crash Team Racing, and Chocobo Racing. I'm not sure what else we've got, since Reuben is the one who plays the most."
"Cool," Justin said. "So which one is your favourite game?"
"I like Rival Schools, Crash and Chocobo," I said. "They're the only games I can win Reuben at. Forget Mutant Academy, he rules there, as well as the other fighting games."
"So what do you want to play?" he asked. I shrugged. "We don't have to play anything."
Justin faked a groan. "So you brought me all the way here using the Playstation as bait, and we're not going to play anything? I've been tricked! Now what do I do with the extra adrenaline that I've got stored up?"
I laughed. "Maybe we could spar or something in the basement. But I have to tell my friends about the vampires first."
"Sparring sounds good," Justin said. "Though I hoped I'd get to see your room or something."
I grinned. "Is little Justy trying to get something he shouldn't be asking for on a first date?"
Justin blushed, then laughed. "Sorry, it's just that... I thought..."
"It's okay," I smiled, patting his shoulder. "Maybe another time when I'm ready. I'm sure I'm worth the wait."
Justin blushed even more. I laughed to help relieve some of the tension in the air. I grabbed his hand and dragged him to the stairs.
"Come on, you can go see my room," I said. "And meet my friends too."
"I already met them, remember?" Justin said as we walked up the stairs. We reached the lounge on the second floor.
"Woah, that looks great," Justin said. I smiled.
"Yeah, Faith and Jimmy went through a lot of trouble to design the house like this," I said. "It was made for our group of friends to meet here often, as well as for the rest of us to rent if we couldn't find an apartment."
"So how much is it?" Justin asked, looking around.
"About three hundred dollars a month," I said. "That pays for everything. We have to wash our own clothes at the laundromat about two blocks down, though. Faith prepares most of our meals. I help to pay for the groceries every week since I consume the most."
"Yeah, I kinda guessed that at dinner," Justin joked. One of the doors to our left opened, and Melvin stepped out wearing only a towel, obviously going to bathe.
"Hi Melvin," I said. He smiled at me, then noticed Justin.
"Oh gosh," Melvin said. He crossed his arms over his well-defined and lean, musuclar chest, and blushed fiercely. He quickly made his way to the bathroom, and shut the door.
"What's with him?" Justin asked.
"Oh, Tomato-head is pretty shy," I said loudly enough for Melvin to hear. The bathroom door opened, and Melvin stuck his hand out, middle finger showing, then he pulled it back in and shut the door.
"Tomato-head?" Justin asked, giggling.
"Yeah, Melvin blushes way too much," I said. I walked towards my room, which was in front of us to the right. I opened the door and stepped into my room, Justin close behind.
"Woah," was all he said.
"Is that a bad or good 'Woah'?" I asked. Justin shook his head.
"More of an amazed sorta 'woah'," he said. "I like your room."
"Cool, thanks," I said.
"Those glow in the dark stars and planets must be really cool when you turn out the lights," Justin said, looking everywhere.
"Yeah, they add to the atmosphere," I said.
"I love your room," Justin breathed. "The stars are cool, and you've got all these funny symbols around too. Looks real mystical."
"Yeah, it is," I said. "That's the way I like it."
"Nice," Justin said, nodding appreciatively. I laughed.
"I think we should go to the lounge," I said. "You're getting hypnotised by my room."
"How does it look like with the lights off?" Justin asked, reaching for the light switch. He flipped it off and my room was bathed in a pale green-yellow light. There were stars everywhere on the walls and ceiling, as well as a large crescent moon and several planets and comets, all glowing brightly.
"Now this is beautiful," Justin said, walking over to my bed and plopping down next to me. "Beautiful, just like you."
"You're too sweet," I said, as he put his arm behind my neck.
"Hey, I had to repay your 'Prince Charming' remark back at the restaurant," Justin said. He leaned over and kissed my cheek, and I smiled.
"I really like you," Justin said.
"I like you too," I replied. I leaned over to kiss him when my room door opened suddenly.
"Hey Dylan, guess what?" Melvin said. He switched on the lights, spoiling the mood. He noticed Justin and me lying side by side on the bed, with me leaning slightly towards him.
"Did I interrupt something?" Melvin asked, grinning. He knew he had, but he wanted to rub it in.
"Ass," I said, sitting up, slightly disappointed and slightly relieved. "What happened?"
He gave a strange smile, exaggerated and forced. My face fell, and I asked. "Rachel's here?"
"Yups," Melvin said, letting the smile drop. "She's with Diane right now."
"Who's Rachel?" Justin asked, sitting up quickly.
"No one important," I groaned, standing. "Just my irritating younger sister."
"She not irritating," Melvin said. "She worse. I don't call her the Evil Bitch Queen for nothing."
"When and why did she come?" I asked.
"She's sleeping over at Diane's room," Melvin said. "Sleepover party."
"Great, just great," I groaned. "Where are Reuben and Joy? And Edwin, Brian and Leon?"
"Well, Leon's with Diane and Rachel in Diane's room. Edwin and Brian wisely and promptly left for bowling within five minutes of her arrival. I doubt they'll be back until tomorrow night. And Reuben and Joy are in Reuben's room. They were playing the piano when she came, and when they heard her voice coming from downstairs, they ran into his room and aren't coming out until tomorrow."
"Is she that bad?" Justin asked. Melvin and I looked at him with exasperated looks on our faces. He sighed and shrugged.
"Shall we go to Reuben's room?" Melvin asked. "At least we'll have company there. Unless you two want to stay here alone."
"No thank you," I said. "The moment was lost when you opened the door, and I can hardly think of being romantic with my sister four doors down. What if she decides to come over?"
"Okay, then I'll meet you guys at Reuben's room," Melvin said, closing the door.
"Why the fuck do you people need to keep slamming doors?" a female voice shrieked throughout the house. Justin looked at me questioningly.
"Yep, that's my sister," I said glumly.
"I wasn't slamming the door," I heard Melvin say in a subdued tone, with traces of irritation. "I was just closing it."
"Don't you dare raise your voice at me!" Rachel shouted. "I can take you on anytime, you stupid fag."
Justin glanced at me, a worried look on his face. I gave a big sigh. There was a pause for a moment.
"Where do you think you're going?" Rachel shrieked again. "Don't you dare walk away while I'm talking to you."
I heard Reuben's door slam defiantly. Rachel gave another shriek, then slammed Diane's door.
"I told you so," I said. Justin rolled his eyes.
"She's not coming with you on the tour, I hope," Justin asked. I shook my head.
"So how are we getting to Reuben's room, then?" Justin asked. "I'm scared to even open the door."
"Reuben's room is right next to mine," I said. I grabbed his hand and pulled him through the wall with me. Melvin was sitting on his usual spot on Reuben's carpet, Jelly and Muffin both licking him while he steamed. He petted Muffin's head, and Muffin barked with excitement.
"Shit," Reuben said. I quickly clamped my hand over Muffin's snout while Joy closed her eyes and crossed her fingers, whispering, "Please don't hear that, please don't hear that."
"AND SHUT THAT DAMN DOG UP!!!" Rachel screamed. Melvin growled, and Reuben put his hand on Melvin's shoulder to calm him down.
"Now that is definately one irritating bitch," Justin said. He looked at me. "Sorry."
"It's okay," I said. "She is."
"Uh-oh," Reuben said. "Monster approaching."
The floor vibrated a little as Rachel stormed from Diane's room over to Reuben's room. Joy pointed at the door, and we heard a clicking noise as the door locked. Then we heard someone trying to turn the knob. When that failed, Rachel began banging on the door, as if to break it down.
"Open the door you bunch of fuckers!" she shrieked. "Or I'll break it in."
"Leave them alone," I heard Diane's sweet voice from outside. "Forget about it, let's just go back."
"Are you siding with them?" Rachel screamed. The five of us winced at the sound, and I pitied Diane. Muffin was growling, trying to bark, but I refused to let go of her. Better to get bitten by Muffin than by Rachel. Jelly was hissing at the door, and Melvin was trying his best to hold her away from the door.
"I'm not siding with them," I heard Diane say as calmly as possible. "They're not worth the time, okay?"
The floor vibrated again as Rachel stormed away back to Diane's room. The door opened softly and slowly, and Diane poked her head in. She had black hair and dark brown eyes, and a round face that reminded me of a peach. Her cheeks were also a little pinkish.
"Sorry about that, guys," Diane said sadly. "It was her idea for the sleepover or I'd have warned you days in advance. It was very last minute."
"No problem," Reuben said. Diane gave a slight smile, then winced as Rachel shouted "Diane! Are you coming?!"
"Yeah," Diane shouted back, then slowly closed Reuben's door as softly as she could.
"Good thing we didn't use the Playstation," I smiled weakly at Justin.
"What do you think I was doing when she came?" Melvin said sourly.
"Is she always like that?" Justin asked.
"This is mild, actually," I said. "You should see when she's PMS-ing."
"You mean she wasn't?" Justin asked, genuinely shocked. Melvin rolled his eyes.
"You don't want to see her when she's PMS-ing," Joy said, shuddering. Justin looked at his watch.
"I think I should go now," he said. "It's almost midnight."
"You could stay the night in my room," I offered. "You can't really go out anywhere when Rachel's around. Brian and Edwin won't be coming home tonight. The house is practically empty whenever Rachel comes. We try to crash at someone else's house for the night."
"Okay, I'll call the guys and my mom and tell them I won't be back until tomorrow, then," Justin said, taking a mobile phone from his pocket. "They might get the wrong idea, though."
"So?" Reuben said. "You want to tell them you're under house arrest by the Evil Bitch Queen?"
Justin snicked softly, and dialed a number.
"So how are you going to sleep tonight, Joy?" I asked, turning my attention away from Justin.
"Are you kidding?" Joy asked. "My room is next to Diane's. I'm not going to take the chance of sleeping too loudly for Rachel's liking. I'm sleeping on Reuben's bed. He and Melvin are sharing the floor."
"Okay then," I said. Justin finished his call and hung up.
"Let's play cards or something," Melvin suggested. "How about Hearts?"
"Sure," I said. Reuben shook his head. "I'll work on Evil Ken. I don't really like Hearts. Unless we play Bridge."
"Nah, that wouldn't be fair," I said. "Melvin and Joy don't know how to play. Maybe another time when we can actually laugh at them. Heck, another time when we can laugh, period."
"Okay, Hearts it is," Joy said, getting off Reuben's bed. We played cards until Justin shot the moon, winning the game by causing Melvin to get a hundred and twenty five points. Then Justin and I walked through the wall back to my room, and talked until we fell asleep at around three or so in the morning.
I opened my eyes and yawned. I remembered sleeping late last night, or rather early this morning. I stretched, and my arm knocked something.
"Five more minutes," a muffled voice mumbled. There was movement beside me as Justin snuggled under the blankets and covered his head with a pillow. I checked my watch, and discovered that we had been asleep for about nine hours and it was nearly noon. My stomach grumbled at the thought of having missed breakfast. I told myself that I would make up for the lost meal by having an extra large lunch. I felt like going back to sleep like Justin, who was completely covered by the pillow and blankets. I slowly sat up so that I would not disturb Justin.
"Hey wake up sleepyhead!" my room door flung open with a bang, and Rachel shouted at the top of her voice. I winced, and Justin stirred under the covers. I bolted awake. Justin must not be discovered, he had a career and identity to protect. And my sister was one of the biggest homophobes I have ever known. She was the only one in my family to not know I was gay. Heck, even my two step-sisters knew, but my own sister did not.
"Rise and shine!" She shouted, jumping onto the bed and landing on Justin's legs thinking they were mine. She used to wake me up that way all the time, by jumping on my legs.
"Oof," Justin said. I put on my best 'painful' face, glad that Rachel was not looking at me at that moment. She was rarely cheerful, but luckily today her mood was not as black as last night. She grabbed my arm and shook it.
"Come on," she yelled. "Faith made lunch already."
"Ugh, it's too early," I said. "Who else is awake?"
"Everyone's awake except you," she shouted, pulling my arm again. She may be sixteen, but she acts more like six. I felt Justin shift a bit. I nudged him slightly with my foot and he stopped.
"Okay, just give me a while to get ready," I groaned, trying to get her to leave the room.
"Hurry up, then," she said, still not leaving. She bounced up and down on Justin's legs, and I could feel him shifting slowly. I quickly winced again, hoping it looked realistic enough so she would not suspect anything.
"I can't go anywhere or do anything if you don't get off my legs," I said. She stopped bouncing, but the movement of the cloth must have irritated Justin's nose. I felt his hand brush past my waist as he gave a small sneeze.
"What was that?" Rachel turned suddenly. I felt my pulse increase, and my back started sweating a little.
"Oh that was just Jelly," I said glibly. "I brought her to the vet because she sneezes, so he gave me some medicine for her. I have to give it to her later in the afternoon."
"But it sounded like it was coming from your bed," Rachel said, patting the lump next to her, thinking it was my legs. "You have Jelly in your bed with you?"
"Oh no, she sleeps under the bed," I said quickly, hoping that the tabby kitten would be under the bed. Rachel bent over and glanced under the bed.
"Hey Jelly," she said. I breathed a sigh of relief. Jelly walked slowly out from under the bed and mewed.
"Okay, can you leave so I can get ready?" I asked. Rachel pouted and stormed off, slamming my door. Justin groaned and came out from under the covers.
"Does she always have to shout?" he groaned, then rubbed his legs. "Her butt is so boney it hurts."
I held back a giggle. Justin groaned again. "And why did she have to go pat my butt?"
"I think she thought it was my leg or something," I said. "The thought of you lying curled up under my blankets would never have crossed her mind."
"Okay," Justin said. Then yawned again. "Can I sleep a while longer?"
"Sure," I said. "I'll go and get ready and eat lunch, and I'll bring some of it back for you. You can sleep until I come back, but if you wake up, you can always check out my room or my computer or something. Then you won't be bored to tears."
"Okay," Justin said, curling up under the covers again. "But won't they think it suspicious if you take some of the food?"
"Reuben, Joy and Melvin will know why I'm taking food," I said, getting off the bed and grabbing some clothes and a towel. "And I can always say that I might get hungry later. It won't be the first time I've taken food away from the table for later consumption."
"Can you stick with words with less than three syllables?" Justin groaned. "My mind's not working right now."
I laughed as I left my room and went to the bathroom. I showered and changed and rushed downstairs in less than ten minutes so I would not keep the others waiting. I got to the dining room next to the kitchen and saw everyone already eating, though they looked like they just started.
"Good afternoon Dylan," Faith said cheerily. "Take a seat and help yourself."
"Thanks," I said as I sat next to Melvin. Since Brian and Edwin were not around, I did not have to fight for arm space at the table as their usual seats were empty. We had a great meal of roasted chicken, Thai fragant rice, fish curry (Faith's specialty) and a large batch of mashed potatoes. There was a lot of food as Faith commented that she made extra knowing I had slept past breakfast. Everyone laughed at that, and I was glad because I was able to keep some food for Justin without feeling guilty of depriving others of their food.
"May I keep some of this food in a container for later?" I asked Faith.
"Sure," Faith said. "I made a lot extra for that reason."
"Thanks," I said. I got up and grabbed a large Tupperware container and stuffed as much of the food inside as I could, then closed it. Melvin caught my eye and grinned, guessing who the food was really for.
"Dylan eats a lot," Melvin said. "Enough for TWO people."
I shot him a dirty look. Unfortunately Joy caught on to the insinuation. "Yeah, it's like he has TWO stomachs."
"It's not for me," I said, looking as innocently as possible. "It's for Justin Timberlake, who's upstairs in my room, sleeping under the covers in my bed and waiting for me to bring him back some of Faith's delicious lunch."
Everyone stared at me for a moment, then burst out laughing.
"Oh please, that's so unreal," Diane said. "If you want to make up a story like that, at least make it more believable."
"Yeah," Rachel said. "Besides, if he was really in your room, I'd have seen him when I woke you up."
I just shrugged and continued eating.
"You told the truth and no one believed you?" Justin laughed in between spoonfuls of rice.
"Well, Melvin, Joy and Reuben did, but they're too smart to show it," I said. "May I have some of the potatoes? I didn't eat quite near enough."
"Sure," Justin said. He took a large spoonful of the mashed potatoes and held it in front of my mouth. "Open up."
I opened my mouth and Justin fed the potatoes to me like I was a kid. He grinned and patted my head.
"Good boy," he said. "You're getting to be so big now."
I laughed, spraying little bits of potato over Justin's body.
"Eew!" he laughed. "Lucky I'm not wearing anything except my boxers, otherwise I'd kill you for spoiling my clothes."
I grabbed a tissue from the box at my desk and began to wipe the potato bits off Justin while he continued eating. He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Dylan?"
"Yeah?" I said, smiling at him. He frowned a little.
"What's wrong?" I asked, slightly worried.
"Did you cast a spell on me?" I was shocked.
"What? Where'd you get that idea from?" I asked. He looked troubled. I sat on my bed next to him and put my arm around him. I heard him sniff a bit, and I held him close to me.
"I haven't had a good experience with wizards," he said finally. "I had a vampire wizard cast a spell on me once. I think it was to make me gay, but I'm bi so maybe it's something else. But either way, under that spell, I went through two relationships, one with the vampire, and one with Eric, who is currently Lance's boyfriend."
"What happened?" I asked. "How was the spell broken?"
"Eric managed to kill Turic," Justin said. "And then I broke his heart. The spell wore off and I forgot everything that happened while I was under it, and I smashed Eric's heart into pieces."
"So why are you so upset now?" I asked gently.
"Because while I was looking around your room, I found this," Justin said, reaching under the blankets and pulling out a dark, slightly battered book.
"How'd you find that?" I asked, peering at him. "It's hidden behind my dragon statue."
"I sorta dropped it," Justin winced. "I swept it all up and put it in the waste bin. But that's not really the point."
I laughed. "I take it you haven't read the book yet."
"No, I had just taken it off the shelf and looked at the first page when you knocked, so I stuffed it under the blankets," Justin said, blushing slightly.
"Have a read through and make your own decision," I smiled. Justin nodded and opened the book to look through. He glanced at titles briefly before flipping the page until he had finished the whole book.
"It's pretty empty," he said, noticing many blank pages. I just smiled.
"So?" I asked. He grinned and flipped to a page near the end of the book. He pointed at the page and said, "Here, do this one."
I took the book and glanced at the title of the page, then looked back at Justin. "You know, it still doesn't change the fact that you broke a four hundred dollar porcelain dragon statue which I really liked."
"And I'm sorry," Justin smiled, knowing I was kidding. "Just do it."
"Okay," I said, then handed the book back to him. He looked at me questioningly. I winked. "I've done this one many times. You're not the first one to break the statue."
"So you memorised the chant?" Justin asked.
"Nope," I said. "I don't need the chant anymore. It's just there to focus the mind, but I've done this so often I don't need it anymore."
"Cool," Justin said. I walked over to my dustbin and saw the broken shards of my porcelain dragon. I fixed my eyes on the largest fragment I could find, and concentrated on it. I felt the subtle pulling of the magic as the fragments began to form together. They whirled around the bigger piece and slowly formed back into the statue like a jigsaw puzzle. I raised my hands a little to lift the still-forming statue out of the waste basket while it continued to form in mid-air. As the last piece fit into place, the cracks were sealed by a pale green light that faded quickly, completing the effect. The statue hovered for a moment, then dropped into my waiting hands.
"Woah, that was way cool," Justin said, his eyes wide in amazement. "I gotta learn to do that."
I smiled at his child-like amazement. "Well, you've got to learn to control your own natural powers first. You don't want to work on two things at once."
His face fell slightly. "Yeah, I guess so. I'm not even sure how my power works."
I shook my head and sighed, then looked down at his food. "So you going to finish the rest of it or not?"
"Yes I am," he said, his knuckles turning whiter from gripping the spoon so hard. "I'm starving, so don't even think of stealing my food."
I faked a pout while he just laughed evilly and began to eat, exaggerating how good each mouthful was.
To be continued...
How did you like it? Good, bad? Comments to be sent to dylan@celticwarrior.com or ensstyenlc@hotmail.com
Blah, tired fingers. Parent story: T.o.a.R.D.K. Other spin-offs: T.o.a.Y.M and T.o.t.P. Okay, the end.
Ciao for now! :)