Thieves

Obligatory warnings and disclaimers:

1. If reading this is in any way illegal where you are or at your age, or you don't want to read about male/male relationships, go away. You shouldn't be here.

2. I don't know any of the celebrities in this story, and this story in no way is meant to imply anything about their sexualities, personalities, or anything else. This is a work of pure fiction.

Questions and commentary can be sent to "writerboy69@hotmail.com". I enjoy constructive criticism, praise, and rational discussion. I do not enjoy flames, and will not tolerate them.

"Explain this to me again, just one more time," JC said carefully, his voice firm but not angry, staring at Justin. Next to him, Joey was staring, too, with the same look of open mouthed surprise. The whole story was just so unbelievable that the two of them were having a little trouble putting it all together. "Lance ran someone over, and you didn't call an ambulance?"

"No," Justin answered, taking another bite of his banana. The three of them were in Joey's suite having breakfast. They were all supposed to be there, and Justin was trying, in his good natured, slightly dimwitted way, to explain what had happened last night. They loved him and all, like the baby brother that he was, but he just really was a natural blond. "I mean yes, that's right. No, we didn't call anyone."

Joey and JC looked at each other again.

"Why not?" JC asked. "Why didn't you call an ambulance?"

"And what happened to the guy?" Joey asked. "Is he dead? Did you guys leave him somewhere?"

"Wait," Justin said, blinking. "Wait, I."

"And why was Lance driving to begin with?" JC continued.

"And where was Chris? You said something happened to Chris," Joey said. "Where's he?"

"Too many questions," Justin said, blinking in confusion, the words distorted around his mouthful of banana. "Gimme a second, ok?"

JC shook his head, smiling a little. It was frustrating trying to get anything out of Justin, but also kind of funny. He meant well, he really did, but he was like a giant child sometimes. It boggled JC's mind that Justin, Wade, and Britney had managed to pull off the scam relationship between Justin and Britney for so long, especially since she was about a smart as he was. The two of them together added up to a brunette. JC took a deep breath, making sure he didn't sound mad, because that would just make Justin flustered, and they wouldn't get anything out of him.

"OK, Justin, why didn't you guys call an ambulance?" JC asked, putting a hand on Joey's knee to silence him.

"I was going to," Justin said, taking another bite of banana. Watching it roll around in his mouth as he talked wasn't quite the morning breakfast JC dreamed of, and he almost wanted to tell him to just finish it before he said anything else, but he really needed the rest of the story. Joey just thought it was funny, and was waiting to see the look of shocked disapproval that JC would make, almost involuntarily, when something inevitably fell out of Justin's mouth. "I had my phone out and everything, but Wade said we shouldn't call anyone."

"Wade said," JC repeated, his eyes narrowing a little. Justin didn't catch it.

"Yeah, Wade said not to," Justin repeated, smiling and taking yet another bite of his banana. Luckily for JC, it was almost gone, but he'd be reaching for something else any second now.

"Wade," JC repeated, his mouth pressing into a firm line as he glanced at Joey.

"Wade," Joey repeated, nodding.

While they were both very happy that Justin was happy, both of them would have Wade out the door in a heartbeat if that ever changed. From the minute they'd met him, Wade had started weaseling his way in, hanging out with Justin, asking him to do stuff. First it was just showing him a couple dance moves, then the two of them were sleeping together, and then Wade was there, all the time, writing songs, giving Justin advice, and Justin just followed along, because he trusted everyone, especially people who were nice to him, and most especially people who said they loved him. As long as Wade kept Justin happy, they didn't say anything, but if you didn't know any better, you might even think Nsync had six members, rather than five.

"Yeah, Wade," Justin said, nodding. "He said that if an ambulance came, the police might come, and it would look really bad for all of us."

"And what did you guys say?" Joey asked as JC shook his head, sighing.

"Well, Lance still wanted to take the guy to the hospital," Justin said. "We figured we should get some kind of help for him, you know, since he got hit by a car, but Wade said it would look really bad if I was there, and Chris, too, since it was so late and Chris was drunk."

"So Wade thought you should go home and just leave Lance and this guy alone at the hospital," Joey said, and Justin nodded.

"Of course he did," JC said, shaking his head in disgust.

"Did I hear my name?" Wade asked, opening the door to the suite. His hair was still wet from the shower, and he was dressed, like Justin, in a sleeveless t-shirt and pants. Wade crossed over to Justin and leaned down, kissing him loudly, their tongues sliding into each other's mouths as JC looked away and Joey rolled his eyes at the ceiling. "You taste like bananas. Did you eat without me?"

"No," Justin answered, meeting Wade's grin with one of his own. "I was hungry, so I had a banana, but I was waiting for you."

"I bet," Wade said, as Justin giggled. He walked over to the breakfast cart and began lifting the covers on some of the dishes. "What are we having?"

"I thought we'd start with explanations," JC said smoothly, keeping all sounds of irritation out of his voice.

"Excuse me?" Wade asked, looking up.

"Justin was just telling us how you convinced everyone that it was in their best interests to send Lance to the hospital alone with the stranger that he ran over," Joey said, smiling pleasantly. He'd been carrying a little chip of his own since Wade had subbed for him during the "Pop" video filming. It would have been a nice favor if Wade hadn't felt the need to add, "I dance better than you, anyway."

"Oh," Wade said, turning to Justin. Justin was smiling, blissfully unaware of what was going on around him.

"Yeah, I didn't get past that part, though, sweetie," Justin said, shrugging.

"Why don't you tell us the rest, and let Justin grab some breakfast?" JC suggested pleasantly.

"Well, what else is left?" Wade asked, following Justin to the breakfast cart. JC and Joey followed as well, all of them grinning companionably at each other.

"We just had a couple of questions," Joey said, nodding at JC.

"Why was Lance driving?" JC asked. "What was Keith doing?"

"He was helping Chris," Justin answered.

"Chris was really sick, and he started throwing up everywhere," Wade said. "So we took him to the bathroom and Lance went to go get the car."

"Whose idea was it to have Lance drive?" JC asked. "I mean, we pay Keith for a reason."

"He was trying to get Chris out of the club without anyone making a big deal about it," Wade said. "I'm sure you can understand the need for that. It was all happening really fast, and it just seemed easier at the time for Lance to drive."

"OK, that makes sense," Joey said, shrugging, as he handed Wade the spoon for the eggs. He wanted to accidentally drop it, but JC was still waiting for it, too. "But what is this with you guys arguing what to do?"

"I told them about the ambulance and the police," Justin said, kissing Wade on the cheek as he walked back over to the couch, balancing his overfilled plate carefully. "Bring me some juice, Wade? Please?"

"Sure, babe," Wade said absently. "Well, like Justin said, we didn't think it was a good idea for the police and an ambulance to show up."

"So you guys drove this guy to the hospital and left Lance there alone with him?" Joey asked, his voice rising a little. "You drove away and left Lance alone in the emergency room with a complete stranger?"

"Keith went back for him," Wade said defensively. "Keith didn't have a problem with it."

"I'll talk to Keith later," JC said firmly. "Keith works for us, Wade. He does what we tell him. I could care less what he was doing, since I'm a little more concerned about you. Since you were the one pushing to drive him to the hospital yourselves, what were you doing?"

"Hey, don't give me that look," Wade said, holding up his hands. "Someone needed to get Chris into bed, and I wanted to get Justin away from all that, too. You know he's not good with stuff like that."

"And of course you protected him first," Joey said, frowning now. "Did you even stop to think about Lance?"

"We told him to come back to the hotel with us," Wade said, maddeningly casual as he just shrugged. "He didn't want to."

"He said he wanted to stay with the guy and make sure he was ok," Justin added helpfully.

"And you guys didn't think to make sure Lance was ok?" JC asked, snapping before he realized it. Justin's lip trembled. "I'm sorry, Curly, I didn't mean to say it like that."

"Are you mad at me?" Justin asked, blinking quickly. "Wade said we didn't do anything wrong, and we did help him. We took him to the hospital and everything."

"It's fine, Justin," Wade said, sitting down beside him. He put a comforting hand on Justin's shoulder, and smiled possessively at the guys. "Nobody's mad at you. Right, guys?"

JC and Joey glanced at each other, both pissed, but they both knew to table it for now. There was no point in upsetting Justin, and putting a wedge between them. And really, what the others had done last night hadn't been completely horrible. It was kind of their own fault for not leaving someone responsible with them. With Joey gone, JC should have stayed, what with Justin being so naive and Lance in that funk for the past couple weeks. Usually Chris was ok to watch the other two, but neither JC nor Joey had checked on him before they left. What had happened last night was partially their fault, too, and they couldn't be mad at Justin for following along, like he always did. As for Lance, he didn't usually need watching, but lately he'd just been so down, so off, that maybe they shouldn't have left him alone.

"We're not mad at you, Justin," Joey said, sighing. It was almost pointless. All they could do this morning was damage control, and try to make sure that this didn't happen again.

"Like Joey said, we're not mad at you, Justin," JC said, sitting down across from him. Every once in a while he felt the need to wipe the smile off Wade's face with his foot, but he thought of the ocean, the calming waves crashing on a beach somewhere, and swallowed it. "But you need to think about a few things, ok?"

"Like what?" Justin asked.

"Well, did anyone check on Chris this morning?" JC asked. Wade and Justin looked guiltily at each other, which told JC he'd hit a bullseye. "What about Lance? Did anyone talk to him last night? I mean, he ran someone over. He was probably kind of upset. Did either of you check on him and make sure he's ok?"

"Well, um," Justin began, looking almost painfully confused.

"Keith went back for him," Wade said quickly. "I'm sure if Lance wasn't ok he would have called."

"That's another thing," Joey said. "Why didn't you guys call one of us? Just to let us know what was going on?"

"Well, you went to bed early," Justin said, shrugging. "And JC had that girl. Where did she go, anyway?"

"She, uh, she went home this morning," JC said quickly, blushing. Heather hadn't landed in the "see again" pile, unfortunately. She'd been great in bed, and really good to talk to, but she used JC's toothbrush this morning without asking. He took her number, promising to call her, and tossed it in the garbage on his way to breakfast. "That's not important. You should have tried to get one of us, just so we knew what was going on."

"OK," Wade said testily, tired of this thinly veiled lecture. "If we ever run someone over again, we'll be sure to wake one of you."

"Your sarcasm isn't necessary," Joey said, pleased that they'd goaded Wade into snapping at them in front of Justin. Point for their team in the neverending grudge match.

"Don't snap at them, please," Justin said, frowning at Wade. He sounded a little sad, chastised. "JC's right. We should have called, and we should have checked on Lance."

"Well, there's no point in beating yourself up over it now," Joey said, ignoring the fact that, even though they'd both spoken, Justin always attributed everything to JC. "Why don't we just think about what we're going to do today to make sure this is ok."

"I'll talk to Keith later," JC said. "He should have switched with Lance once you were away from the club."

"Why don't you guys check on Chris?" Joey asked. "Make sure he's ok, find him some aspirin, and get some breakfast into him."

"We can do that," Justin said, smiling and nodding, happy that nobody was mad at him. Maybe they'd screwed up a little, but everything would be ok. "Right, sweetie?"

"Sure," Wade answered, squeezing Justin's leg. If Justin didn't want to argue with his friends, Wade wasn't going to pick a fight with them. Later he might talk to Justin about it, and make sure that Justin remembered that, while his friends were nice and all, Wade always knew what was best for him. A couple of kisses and a good fucking and Justin would be docile once again. "We'll check on him as soon as we finish eating."

"And Joey and I can go check on Lance," JC said, smiling. "When I talk to Keith later, we'll find out who the guy was, and check on him, too."

"Oh, I think he was a bum," Wade blurted thoughtlessly. "Nobody important."

Now all three of them were staring at him. Oooops.

"Everyone's important, Wade," Joey said icily. "No matter who they are."

"Of course," Wade said, squirming uncomfortably. "That came out all wrong."

"Sure it did," JC said, thinking about what a social climber Wade was.

"Right," Joey agreed, wondering how long it would be before Wade left Justin for Ricky Martin.

The four of them finished their breakfast quickly, two of them wanting to be away from the third, the third wanting to get the fourth somewhere quiet to work on him, and the fourth eager to go check on his friend and completely unconscious of anything going on with the other three. When they finished eating, Justin and Wade beat a hasty retreat, promising to go check on Chris and then to be in either his suite or their own for the rest of the day until they heard from the other guys. After they left, JC and Joey stared at each other, sighing, as they leaned back in their chairs.

"He seemed so nice," JC said finally, shrugging.

"Yeah," Joey said, shrugging. "You wouldn't think he'd turn out to be such a fucking putz."

"You ready to go check on Lance?" JC asked, as if running down a mental checklist in his head. Joey looked up at him, took a last sip of his coffee, and stood.

"Let's go," Joey said.

They stood in the hallway, trying to picture what Lance would be like. Neither was surprised that he had insisted on going to the emergency room with the guy, because it was just the kind of thing that Lance would do. He wouldn't do it for the reasons that Wade would, to make sure that the band was ok and that their careers were intact. Lance would do it because it was the right thing to do, because he would feel responsibility for someone that he had personally hurt, but also because he would try to help anyone if he could. Lance was always the one bringing wounded birds into his house in shoeboxes, or feeding stray dogs outside of restaurants. Mainly they were just worried that he hadn't gotten enough sleep, between being at the hospital half the night and probably staying up the rest of it blaming himself for something that, according to Justin, had happened so fast no one would have been able to avoid it.

Joey tapped on the door softly, not wanting to wake Lance if he wasn't up yet, and he and JC glanced at each other, waiting. JC started to lean toward the door, listening for a television or even just for the sounds of someone moving around, but he stepped back as it opened from the inside. As surprised as he and Joey were to see someone other than Lance open the door, the guy who opened it seemed equally surprised to see them.

"Uh, hi," JC sputtered, unsure of what to say. Lance hadn't had a hookup sleep over in, well, ever, actually. When he'd been with Mike they'd been dating for weeks before Lance had shared a hotel room with him.

"Um, good morning," Joey said, equally surprised. Where did Lance meet this guy? The club? The hospital? When did Lance start bringing guys home, anyway? He'd always been the take it slow, get to know you type.

The guy was cute, they had to give Lance that. Actually, he was almost more than cute, with long blond hair pushed back from his head, falling like a mane around his shoulders, straight and gleaming. His eyes were bright blue, and his lean face was built on classic lines, with a good nose and a high forehead. The only thing that might be called a flaw was the thinness of his mouth, but the clean line of his jaw set it off well. They noticed his wide shoulders, and the tracery of veins in his golden haired forearm as he held the door open, but neither of them looked lower, to see the cast on his leg, visible in the space where the buttons running up his pantleg were undone.

"Lance?" Mitch called, noting the way that their eyes widened when they saw him. As planned, Keith hadn't told anyone that he had brought Mitch back with Lance, because they might have objected if they'd known last night. Now that Lance had invited him, though, and spent so long talking to him, he'd be a lot less likely to move Mitch to a room of his own. "Lance, you have some guests."

"It's not breakfast?" Lance asked, walking out of the bedroom. He was dressed, but still blotting at his hair with a towel, and he froze in the bedroom doorway when he saw Joey and JC in the hall. Mitch stood by the door, looking uncertain. "Oh, uh, hi guys. Come on in."

"If this is a bad time," JC began, glancing at Joey. Clearly Lance didn't really need checking on.

"We didn't know you had, um, company," Joey said, catching JC's thought. "We're going to um, to go, ok? I'll talk to you later."

"No, wait," Lance said. They thought he had hooked up with Mitch. He couldn't believe it. They actually thought that he had just brought a random guy home with him and had sex with him. "Are you here about last night?"

"Yeah," JC answered, both of them looking at Mitch, trying to figure out how much he knew about last night and what it might be safe to say in front of him.

"Please come in," Lance said, stepping up next to Mitch. "Mitch, this is JC, and Joey."

"Hi," Mitch said quietly, shaking both of their hands as he pretended not to recognize them.

"Guys, this is Mitch," Lance said, watching them. They still hadn't put it together.

"Lance took me to the hospital last night," Mitch supplied. They both looked at him again, and then JC's eyes widened as he saw the cast on Mitch's leg. Lance put a hand on Mitch's shoulder.

"Mitch, it's ok," he said, as the other two finally stepped into the room, walking over toward the couch. Lance looked at them carefully. "I hit Mitch with the van last night."

Joey and JC glanced at each other again, not sure if they should sit or what. Both of them had been raised with good manners, but really, what did you say to someone your friend ran over?

"Are you ok?" JC asked, looking back and forth between the two of them. He wasn't completely sure which of them he was even asking.

"Well, um, I think so, mostly," Mitch answered. Like Lance, JC caught a hint of southern in Mitch's voice, and wondered where he was from.

"Other than that leg, huh?" Joey asked, grinning, slapping Mitch companionably on the back. He was pretty sure that the alleged homeless "bum" was in fact wearing Lance's clothes, unless the street people were cruising the sidewalks in Fila windpants and Calvin Klein t-shirts.

"Yeah, I guess," Mitch said, smiling uncertainly. He felt very crowded, suddenly. He knew that he wasn't in any danger, not real, physical danger, but he also knew that these two were the main obstacles to the plan. Joey had Lance's ear, and JC was recognized by the others to be the smartest of the group. He had to play these two carefully, and he fluttered his eyes uncertainly at Lance.

"Guys," Lance said quickly, seeing that Mitch felt unsettled. He had a hand on each of their arms, and gently pushed the two of them toward the couch. "Please, don't crowd him. We had kind of a rough night, and we'll tell you all about it if you want to stay for breakfast."

"Oh, we," Joey began, and JC elbowed him in the ribs.

"We'd love to join you," JC said smoothly. "If you're sure we're not intruding. I mean, did you order enough?"

"I think so," Lance said, nodding. "You know, as long as neither of you are starving."

"No, we'll be fine," Joey said. He sat with JC on the couch, and Lance sat on a chair across from them. The three of them watched quietly as Mitch awkwardly tottered from the door to a side chair on his crutches, making sure that he looked appropriately awkward and pitiful. JC and Joey watched carefully, but Lance had a look of pinched concern on his face.

"Do you need help, Mitch?" he asked, starting to rise.

"No, Lance, no, I'm ok," Mitch said quickly, wanting to look a little weak for Lance, but not too dependent in front of JC and Joey. So far it looked like he was hitting just the right chord. "I got it."

"Are you sure?" Lance asked again, waiting to make sure Mitch was settled in his chair.

"Yeah, thanks," Mitch said. He smiled at Lance, and was pleased to see Lance smile warmly back. He glanced at the other two, deciding to flash a little bit of an edge. No reason for them to keep the advantage. He kept his voice light. "What? Never seen a guy on crutches before?"

"Sorry," they both said together, glancing away. Neither had realized they were staring, but they'd both been caught, and they could both see how a stranger might find it a little uncomfortable.

"It's ok," Mitch said, smiling at them. "Is your friend, um?"

"Chris?" Lance asked him. Mitch nodded.

"Is your friend Chris ok?" Mitch asked. He was actually pretty worried about Chris, since he knew that Keith had slipped some sort of drug into Chris's drink. He was uncomfortable with that part of the plan, because it involved directly, physically hurting someone, and he had never done that. He wanted to find some other way to take care of Chris, but Keith had insisted that this was easier. "I mean, I was a little distracted, but I remember that he was pretty much out of it."

"He's sleeping it off," Joey said. Lance smiled at Mitch's concern, and Joey caught it. This could be an issue, these doe eyes that Lance was making. Joey hadn't seen that look in a while, but he still recognized it. What surprised him was that Lance himself seemed unaware. "Our other friends are checking on him."

"It was nice of you to ask, though," JC said, smiling. So far he seemed nice, but they'd only spoken to him for a minute or two. "I'm a little concerned about you, though. I'm guessing the cast is from last night?"

"Yeah, it is," Lance answered. He didn't want Mitch to feel like he was selling him out to his friends. "I don't know how much Justin and Wade told you, but I tapped Mitch with the front bumper of the van. His leg is cracked, but not broken."

"Nothing else, though," Mitch added quickly. "I'm just a little bruised, but nothing else is broken."

"That's good to hear," JC said quickly. This guy didn't really seem like the type to sue, but the fewer the injuries, the better, just in case. "How are you feeling? Is there a lot of pain?"

"Not really," Mitch said, as the other two just watched. Lance was watching Mitch, and Joey was watching Lance, the wheels in his head turning quickly. He wanted Lance to meet someone, but they didn't know anything about this guy, anything at all, and Lance was already making eyes at him. Fortunately the guy didn't seem to be making any eyes back. "I mean, there's a little ache, but I'm ok. The sleep helped a lot. It's been, you know, it's been a long time since I slept in a bed that big, that soft."

"It's the least I could do," Lance said, smiling at him.

Joey glanced at JC, who nodded. They needed to split these two up, and figure out what was going on. Mitch was probably completely harmless, a random hot guy that Lance happened to run over, but still, Lance was in a tremendously dangerous position. What if Mitch decided to sue? What if this whole thing came out, especially now that the guys last night had more or less orchestrated their own coverup? They needed to know more about Mitch, and Joey needed to figure out what Lance was feeling. Just as he was trying to figure out how they could separate them, there was a knock at the door.

"That must be breakfast," Lance said, smiling. "JC, could you sign for that? Now that Mitch is up, and doesn't have a concussion, I want to grab him a pain pill from the bedroom."

"Lance, I can get one myself," Mitch began, starting to rise.

"No, no, stay down," Lance said, making a sitting motion with his hand. "I'll get it."

"And I'll get breakfast," JC said, moving toward the door.

Joey followed Lance into the bedroom, and Lance spun a little as he heard the door close behind him.

"Joey?" Lance asked, holding the bottle of pills. "What are you doing?"

"Lance, bud, we need to talk."

To be continued.