One hot, sunny day Lance came home to find his mother waiting for him in the living room. "James," she started hesitant "Justin Timberlake's mom called. She wants you to join her son's band." Lance could not believe what his mom was saying. Justin Timberlake looking for him? This moment felt surreal. And just as Lance was about to say that he totally wanted to do it his mother interrupted him saying, "I really don't think it's a good idea James." "But mom, I'm sure it will be a great opportunity for me and-" his mom interrupted him again "No, you have to finish high school and get into a good college. My final answer is no."

Somehow Lance managed to convince her to just go and see what it was about after a while of bugging her about it. "Fine, we will go. But just to see what it is about. Do you hear me James? Just to see what it is about. Do not get you hopes up." "Yes mom."

When they got to Orlando, Lou Pearlman waited for them in his Rolls Royce. They met him and he drove them to where they'd all be meeting. Lance was pretty nervous about meeting them. What if they didn't like him? Lance just hoped that if he made the band, they would get along good.

They pulled up at a big house where he could see two boys playing basketball, he recognized one of them, it was Justin Timberlake, he didn't know who the other boy was, though. They got out of the car and the boys went over to meet them. "Hi," said Justin as he approached Lance and his mom "I'm Justin." "Hey, I'm Lance." he said with a thick southern accent. "Chris." the oldest said as he shook Lance's hand. "Let's go inside." they heard Lou say. They all headed inside.

The first thing that Lance saw when they got to the living room were two guys playing video games. "Guys, he's here." Chris said and the two guys turned around. "Oh, hi. I'm Joey." a boy taller than him said as he stood up to greet him. The other boy stood up and turned around, when Lance saw his eyes it felt as if everything stopped around him. He was the most beautiful human being he had ever seen.

Lance had known that he was gay since he was five years old, he never told anyone, not even his family. When he saw this boy, he knew in an instant that he liked him, a lot.

The boy walked towards him. "Hey, I'm JC." he said with a small smile. "Lance." the younger boy said as he shook his hand.

After the moment they all sang together, the boys didn't let Lance go home. A few days later Lou Pearlman told them that they’d be staying in a house together, he thought that way the boys would get along better and be able to rehearse more. They all agreed with the idea, Joey would be staying with his parents since the house where they’d live was nearby. As soon as the boys knew they would be staying together they chose their roommates, Chris and Justin would be sharing a room and JC and Lance would share another. 

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The boys had been practicing their dance moves and singing in a warehouse, they needed to learn how to sing and dance without being out of breath. It was really hot where they would practice, especially since they were in Orlando. They would practice from the early morning until late at night. It seemed as though they never got time to rest, they didn’t get days off, if they weren’t practicing at the warehouse they’d be practicing their singing back at the house. 

One Saturday morning the guys woke up and went to the kitchen to get some breakfast, all of them but Lance. Justin was sitting at the table eating some cereal, JC next to him eating some toast, Chris was watching T.V. on the couch. 

“Hey guys, where’s Lance?” Chris asked as he flipped through the channels. Justin shrugged his shoulders and continued to eat his cereal. “I don’t know… he should already be up. Let me go check on him.” JC said as he got up and went towards their room. He knocked on the door before he came in. 

“Lance?” He called as he looked for him. He found Lance snuggled up in his bed. He walked over and kneeled next to Lance’s bed. “Lance, it’s time to get up.” Lance just groaned in response. JC noticed he was shivering, “Hey are you okay?”  “Hurts.” was all Lance said. JC put his hand up to Lance’s forehead. He had a fever. “You have a fever. I’m gonna go get some more blankets.” JC said as he got up and left the room for some blankets. 

The guys saw JC walk by, not saying anything. They looked at each other and shrugged. “Hey C, what’s up with Lance?” Justin asked as he approached JC. “He’s sick, he has a fever.” He replied as he got some blankets from the closet and started walking back to the room. Justin went back to eating his cereal. “What did he tell you?” Chris asked him, still flipping through the channels. “He said that Lance has a fever.” “We should go by his room later and see how he is.” “Yeah, we should.” Justin replied. 

JC got back to his room and found Lance snuggled up to his blanket, still shivering. “Here, I got some more blankets.” JC said as he approached him pulling some blankets over Lance. Lance looked up at him and said “Thank you JC.” The truth was that Lance was really thankful for JC being there, especially since he had a crush on him since the first day they met. Lance thought that JC was the kindest person he ever met. “No problem, I’ll always be here for you.” JC replied as he watched Lance slowly fall asleep. JC reached down and brushed his hair off of his forehead. Once he was sure that Lance was sleeping he stood up to leave the room to let Lance rest. When he got to the door he saw Justin and Chris peeking into the room and giggling once they saw JC. “So, how is he, mother goose?” Chris poked at JC’s side. “Knock it off Chris,” he laughed “and he’s not really great, we should let him rest.” 

They all sat down on the couch and started watching a random movie. “I think I’ll call Joey and see if he wants to come over to play basketball or something.” “Sounds like a good idea.” JC said. 

Joey arrived a few minutes later. “Hey guys, what’s up?” “Nothing much.” Chris replied casually. They continued watching the movie for a bit until Joey asked “Where’s Lance?” “He’s sick, he’s got a fever.” JC answered. “Oh yeah, that’s right. I forgot.” Chris said. They all glared at him. “What?” he shrugged, looking back at them. “Nothing, forget it.” Justin said. “That must suck, I hope he gets better soon.” Joey said. They nodded and went back to watch the movie.

“You guys wanna go play basketball?” Justin asked. “Sure” Joey replied. “I think I should stay in case Lance wakes up and needs something.” JC said. “No, go with them, I’ll stay.” Chris offered. “You sure?” “Yeah, go.”

They all went outside and Chris went to check on Lance. He knocked and entered the room. He found Lance wrapped in a bunch of blankets, laying down, looking at the ceiling. “Hey Lansten” Chris said softly, not wanting to disturb him. “Hi.” Lance said looking over at him. “How are you feeling?” Chris said as he approached him, sitting down on JC’s bed. “Sick, still, but better I think.” “That’s good.” Chris smiled, “Do you need anything?” “Not really.” Lance replied. They stayed quiet for a few moments before Lance spoke. “Hey Chris, can I tell you something?” “Sure.” “What would you do if you had a crush on someone who you have absolutely no chance with?” “Well, I’d probably just try to tell them how I feel even if I had no chance with them.” “Okay.” “Would you mind telling me who it is?” Chris asked curiously. “Maybe I’ll tell you who it is later. I’m getting kind of sleepy.” Lance replied shifting into a more comfortable position. “Alright, rest some more.” Chris said as he walked over to Lance and tucked him in, “Just call me, or any of the guys if you need anything, okay?” Lance nodded. Chris then left the room quietly.

The boys went back inside and found Chris eating some ice cream while reading a book. “I didn’t know we had ice cream?” Justin said while running to the freezer to get some. Chris just looked up from his book and shrugged. “How’s Lance doing?” JC asked. “A bit better, well, that’s what he told me. He wasn’t shivering anymore so he should be doing good.” Chris replied. “I think I’ll go check on him and then we can have dinner.” Joey said as he started towards Lance’s room. 

Joey knocked on the door and then opened it slowly. Lance was sitting on his bed reading a book. “Hey.” Joey said. Lance looked up at him and smiled, “Hi Joey.” he said. “How are you?” Joey asked as he approached Lance. “Much better, though I’m starving.” “I’ll bring you something to eat. How does spaghetti sound?” Joey suggested. “Sounds great.” Lance smiled. “Alright, I’ll be right back.” Joey said as he left the room.

“Okay, for dinner we are having spaghetti.” Joey announced. They all nodded and proceeded what they were doing. When Joey was done cooking he took a plate up to Lance’s room. “Here you go.” He said as he handed the plate to Lance. “Thanks Joey.” Then, Joey had an idea. “I’ll be right back.” He said as he left the room. He went to find the guys, who were playing video games. “Guys let’s go have dinner in Lance’s room so he doesn’t have to be alone.” “Okay.” Justin shrugged. They all nodded in agreement and stood up to go get their plates, after they did that, they went to Lance’s room. “Hi Lance.” Chris said, everyone following behind. JC, Chris, and Joey sat down in JC’s bed while Justin sat next to Lance. They ate their dinner while talking about basically anything, just trying to cheer Lance up. “Can we have ice cream for dessert?” Justin asked “And you can have some too, right?” he added referring to Lance.  “Please?” Said Lance. “I guess, but not too much, I don’t want you to get worse.” JC said. “Okay, I’ll go get it.” Justin said as he went out of the room. “I’ll take the plates over to the kitchen.” Joey said, taking the plates. “I’ll help you clean up.” Chris offered as he followed Joey out of the room. “C?” Lance looked at JC. “Yeah?” “Thanks.” JC smiled in response. Justin came back with the ice cream. “Here you go.” He said as he handed a bowl to Lance. “Thank you.” They all ate their ice cream quietly. When they were all done, JC took the bowls to the kitchen. “Good night Lance.” Justin said as he gave Lance a small hug. “G’night Justin.” “I hope you feel better soon.” Justin said as he walked towards the door. “Thanks.” 

JC helped Joey and Chris clean up the kitchen, after they’d washed all the dishes and put them away Joey went home. They then went to bed since they were going to have a long day ahead of them. When JC got to his room he checked on Lance, he found him lying down yet not sleeping. “Are you okay?” JC asked. “I can’t sleep.” Lance replied. JC walked towards Lance “Okay, try to relax, close your eyes.” Lance did what JC told him to. JC started singing for Lance to fall asleep, and subconsciously he started stroking Lance’s hair. JC didn’t know this, but Lance was kind of freaking out, his heart was going at 150 beats per minute. After a while, JC noticed that Lance’s breathing had evened out and he realized that he was sleeping. He stood up and walked towards his bed, falling fast asleep.

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The next morning Lance awoke to the smell of bacon and pancakes. He noticed that JC wasn’t there. ‘He must already be up’ Lance thought. “Good morning sunshine. How are you this fine morning?” Justin said as he brought Lance a tray with some pancakes and bacon. “Good morning. I’m much better, thank you.” Lance said as he took the tray from Justin. “So, later we are going to hang out at the pool, if you’re feeling okay you should come.” “That sounds great.” Lance smiled. “Alright, I hope you enjoy your breakfast.” Justin said as he exited the room. 

Once Lance was done eating he got up and changed, he headed into the kitchen where he saw Chris and Justin washing the dishes. “Hi.” “Hey Lansten. How are you doing?” Chris asked.

“I’m doing alright.” He replied. “So, are you feeling like hanging out with us later?” “Sure thing.”

Lance walked to his room, he got a book and read for a while, he stopped reading when he heard voices outside. He went to check what was going on and saw the guys by the pool. He went outside to join them. They were throwing each other in the pool, Lance just sat on the edge, he was still a bit sick after all. “Don’t you dare push me in the pool Chris.” Lance chuckled  as Chris pretended he was gonna push him. “I would never.” Chris said in a fake offended voice. “But I would.” Justin said as he pushed Chris in the pool. “Hey! That’s rude, you know. I’ll get revenge.” Before Justin could say anything he was pulled in the pool. “Karma” Chris said in a sing-song. “I’m gonna get you Kirkpatrick!” “Ditto!” Chris yelled as Justin started chasing him.

“They are insane.” JC said as he took a seat next to Lance. “That they are.” Lance nodded in agreement. Suddenly they heard a voice “What do you think you’re doing.” They turned around to find an angry looking Lou Pearlman. “You should have been practicing today and also yesterday. Why weren’t you guys there?” “Ummm” was all Lance could say. Honestly, Lance was not very fond of Lou, he was kind of scared of him, he didn’t think Lou liked him very much. Lou Just glared at him. “I don’t care about your lame excuses. You are going to go practice now. And tomorrow you will have extra hours.” The guys agreed, seeing they had no other choice and went inside to change.

“I cannot believe him. Why would he do that? It's Sunday and we never get days off.”  Lance said as he put his shoes on. “I guess he just wants us to be better, Lance. But I hope he at least gives us some days off once in a while.” JC replied, “By the way, do you think you will be able to practice? You were pretty sick yesterday.” “I really don’t know, I guess I could try.” Lance shrugged as they walked out.

The boys went off to practice, they got absolutely no breaks. The guys noticed that Lance was not looking too good, he looked exhausted, he was still a little bit sick anyways. After practicing for hours, they finally got a break… a five minute break, but at least it was something. They went to sit down on the floor, by a wall, and drink some water. “Are you alright, Lance?” Joey asked, a concerned look on his face. Lance shook his head no “I’m not alright but I guess there’s nothing I can do about it.” He shrugged. “Here, have some water.” Chris told him as he handed Lance a cup of water. “Thank you.” 

The boys were talking about random things when suddenly JC felt a weight on his shoulder. Lance had fallen asleep and used JC’s shoulder as his pillow. Surprisingly they found it kind of cute, they were chatting about it when suddenly they heard a scream from the choreographer that meant they had to come back to practicing. The scream, though, was not enough to wake up Lance, he seemed to be a heavy sleeper. Joey, Chris, and Justin stood up and walked towards where they were rehearsing, JC stayed sitting down while he woke Lance up. “Lance, wake up, we need to go and practice again.” JC said as he shook Lance gently. Lance stirred awake and noticed he was sleeping on JC’s shoulder, he blushed a bit as he got off of him as quickly as he could, that wasn’t very fast actually since he was sick and felt exhausted. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you.” He said sheepishly. “It’s okay, don’t worry about it.” he made a small pause, ”Anyways, do you think you can keep going? You look pretty tired.” “Yeah, I’m exhausted but I can just put in my best effort.” Lance said as he stood up. JC followed after him. 

After they started rehearsing, after about thirty minutes Lance could barely stand up. Then, he passed out and fell to the floor. They were all shocked, this had never happened to them before. Chris was the first to react “Justin, go get some water and a cloth. Joey, JC, help me set him over there.” They did just what he said. The choreographer was suddenly nowhere to be seen… how convenient. Justin came back with the water and the cloth. Chris got some water on the cloth and started dabbing Lance’s pale face with it. “Is he going to be okay?” JC asked. “Yes, he was just exhausted but if we let him rest he should be fine I think.” “I feel like we should go home. It’s better than having him rest on the floor of a warehouse.” Joey suggested. “Yeah, I think we should go.” Justin seconded what Joey said. The rest nodded in agreement and they left. 

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Lance woke up tucked in his bed. He moved his head to the side to see if there was someone in the room with him, as he did that he felt the pain course through his head. He closed his eyes and brought his hand to his head, trying to make the pain go away, though it wasn’t working all that much. Someone came in the room as he was doing this. “Hey Lansten.” JC said softly. He put the glass of water he was holding down on the bedside table. He helped Lance sit up “Have some water.” He said as he handed Lance the glass. “What happened? How did I get here?” He asked as he took the water. 

“We were at practice and they wouldn’t give us any breaks. You fainted, I guess from exhaustion but it could’ve been overheating.” JC explained. “You should rest.”  He said as he took the glass from Lance and set it down on the bedside table. Lance nodded as he laid back down. JC grabbed the book he was reading and went to sit down on his bed. He would stay there in case Lance needed anything. He waited until Lance was asleep before starting to read.

Meanwhile, Justin, Joey, and Chris thought of ways to confront Lou Pearlman about what had happened. “What if we just tell him that he shouldn’t make us practice like that?” Justin suggested. “That is totally gonna work.” Joey said sarcastically. Justin just shrugged. “I don’t know what we should do about Lou, but the one thing I know we have to do now, is not let Lance go practice until he is healthy.” Chris said. Joey and Justin nodded in agreement. “We” Chris said pointing at them, and himself, “can focus on what to do with Pearlman, seeing that JC is taking care of Lance, besides, it’s simpler that way because they’re roommates.” “Yeah. Anyways I had this idea...” Justin started, “I don’t know if it’s a stupid idea but I think that the next time he tells us to do something, for example if he tells us that we have to practice tomorrow, we should just refuse to do it and just walk away to do whatever we want to do.”

“That idea isn’t half bad, actually.” Joey said, nodding. “I agree, we should do that. Oh, and we can’t forget to tell JC about it.” Chris said as he stood up, “I’m really tired, I’m going to bed.” “Okay old man, good night.” Justin laughed. Chris slapped him in the back of the head. “Stupid.” he said as he walked away to his room. “I should head home.” Joey said, “Goodnight Justin.” Joey walked towards the door. “Bye Joey. Goodnight.” Justin said as he locked the door when Joey got out. He, then, went to bed. The next day would probably be a busy one, again.

The next morning Justin woke up to the sound of banging on the front door. The previous night he had gone to watch TV for a little while before going to bed but he had accidentally fallen asleep on the couch and stayed there all night. “Ugh, who could be banging on our door this early in the morning?” he said as he stood up and started walking towards the door. He opened it and found an angry looking Lou Pearlman. “Why are you not in rehearsals?!” He said in an angry tone. Justin looked at his watch “It’s seven a.m.” he said. “That is correct. You should have been at practice an hour ago.” Pearlman spat. All the commotion woke Chris up. “What’s going on here?” he said, confused. “He just came banging at the door saying we should’ve been at practice an hour ago.” Justin said with annoyance in his voice. “Because you should have been there and now we’re losing precious time. You have to go practice now.” Lou said with a scoff. “Hold on. We never agreed on this.” Chris said. “I don’t care. You do what I say. Where’s the rest of the group?” He replied as he pushed past them and headed towards Lance and JC’s room. “Where do you think you’re going?” Justin tried to stop him. Lou didn’t reply, he just kept going. He didn’t even knock before he slammed the door open, startling both JC and Lance “I have a bad feeling about this.” JC muttered under his breath.  “Don’t you know that you should be practicing right now? You’re all useless. Especially you!” Lou pointed towards Lance “You useless piece of trash. It’s all your fault. If you hadn’t faked being sick and fainting, you wouldn’t have left practice early, all of you would be practicing now and my time would not have been wasted!” Lou said in an accusing tone. They were all shocked, they had never seen such a heartless person. Lance didn’t know what to say for himself, all he could manage to say was: “What?” before he was interrupted by another voice. “How dare you speak to him like that!” JC’s voice said in an angry tone. They were a little surprised since they had never seen him get that mad before. “Excuse me? Do not use that tone with me, young man.” Lou looked at him and pretended to feel offended. “Just leave!” Chris said as he and Justin pulled him out of the house and locked the door. “Don’t think about coming back!” Justin shouted at him.

During all the commotion, they hadn’t noticed that Joey had come in through the back door. “What the hell just happened here?” He asked, really confused. “Lou came by to tell us that we were ‘late’ for rehearsals.” Chris answered. “Plus scream at us.” Justin added. Chris nodded and continued, “He shouted about how we were not there an hour ago and how we wasted his time when we didn’t even know we had to rehearse at six in the morning. Then, he went and screamed at Lance for ‘pretending to be sick and fainting’ and he basically called all of us ‘useless pieces of trash’. Then we kicked him out of the house.” “What a jerk. We need to get away from him as soon as possible.” Joey said, the truth is that he was already feeling annoyed with Pearlman even before this incident happened. "You're right. He is the literal death on two legs." Chris said.

******** [^v^]/ ********

The guys had started thinking of companies they could sign with so that they could get away from Lou. Meanwhile, other things started happening. On Tuesday night, it seemed like any other day, except that the guys didn’t go practice, seeing that they were still in a ‘fight’ with Lou Pearlman and they didn’t care about going to practice. After dinner JC, Lance, and Justin went to bed, Chris staying to watch TV for a while. It just seemed to be like any other night, until it happened…

Lance woke up, he looked out the window and noticed the sun shining through, he then proceeded to get up and walk around the house. As he was heading for the kitchen to get some food, he looked out the window and saw the guys playing basketball outside. He went outside rather than the kitchen, he wasn’t feeling too hungry anymore, he felt like being with his friends. After he saw them play for a bit, since he didn’t really like to play basketball, the guys sat down on the floor to rest a little bit. They were talking about nothing in particular, just random things, when suddenly Lance had the biggest urge to tell them a secret… something he had never told anyone before. “Guys...” he started as they all looked over at him, “I have to tell you something. I hope it doesn’t change the way you guys see me. I- I uhhhh...” Lance trailed off as he looked to the ground, “I’m gay.” he said, he didn’t dare look up, he was thinking they’d reject him right away. His heart shattered as he heard a voice saying “Eww, why do we even hang out with you.”   He looked up, tears falling down his face, all he saw was his friends walking away, they didn’t even look back at him. All he could do was look down, tears flowing freely, it seemed as though he could drown in his own tears. To make everything worse, he heard a voice he didn’t want to hear now, especially, or ever. “All your friends left you because you’re just a useless piece of trash. No one, and I mean, no one will ever love someone like you.” Lou Pearlman said, emphasizing the ‘no one’.

With that last sentence Lance woke up, tears streaming down his face, he felt a hand on his shoulder, he flinched at the touch. “Hey, it's okay, it’s just me.” JC whispered sweetly as he rubbed Lance’s shoulder. “It was just a dream. You’re awake now, you’re safe.” He continued as he sat next to Lance in his bed. He gave Lance a hug to reassure that he was safe. “Did you have a nightmare?” he asked softly. Lance nodded in response. “Do you want to talk about it?” JC asked as he pulled away just enough to see Lance’s face but also still be holding him. “No.” Lance said as he shook his head. “That’s okay.” He said as he pulled back into the hug, hoping it would help Lance and bring some comfort. “Everything is going to be alright.” he said as he stroked his hair. He hummed a calm song while he continued to stroke his hair softly. He felt how Lance gradually became heavier and heard how his breathing evened out. ‘He must be asleep already’ he thought. JC put Lance down slowly and tucked him in. “Goodnight Lance.” JC said as he brushed Lance’s hair off of his forehead and went to sleep.

The next morning was very calm, the guys had nothing to do that day since they were still on their ‘strike’ if you could call it like that. They were all sitting at the table having breakfast, Joey was there too, he had come over to stay for a while since they didn’t have any work to do. “So, we’ve been thinking about finding someone else to manage us.” Chris started a conversation. “Really?” Lance started. “Thank god. I thought I was the only one who didn’t like Lou.” Just then the phone rang. Joey went to pick it up. “Speak of the devil.” he said as he covered the part of the phone where you talk into so that the person on the other end couldn’t hear what he said. They rolled their eyes “What does he want now?” Justin asked, feeling annoyed. Joey didn’t answer Justin’s question, he paid attention to the phone call. “What do you want Lou?” he asked in an annoyed tone. “Uh huh….. Okay…. So we’ll meet you there?.... Okay, see you then.” Joey said as he hung up the phone. “What did he say, Joe?” JC asked. The other guys nodded and looked at Joey, making Joey know that they were curious too. “Well, he said that he wants us to meet him at this restaurant for lunch.” “And, do you care to explain why we apparently agreed to go...?” Chris asked. “He said he had something important to tell us. So I agreed that we would go. I was just curious to what he would say, okay?” “Fine, I guess we can just go and see what it’s about. Right guys?” Lance said, trying to convince them to go so that they could find out what Lou wanted. “Yeah, I guess.” Chris said as he got up to go and change. Justin and JC nodded to let them know they were in agreement to going. After a while, when they were finished with their breakfast, they all went to change. When it was time to go, they all got in the car and JC drove them to the restaurant.

When they arrived they could tell something felt fishy. And, no, they weren’t at a seafood restaurant. It was a really fancy place. They knew instantly that something was up. As soon as they got in, they were taken to a table that had a reserved sign. Lou hadn’t arrived yet. “Guys what do you think he’s gonna tell us?” Joey asked the rest of the guys. “I hope nothing bad, because I’m already mad at him.” Justin said. “I hope so too, J.” Chris muttered. Lance and JC just looked at each other and shrugged, hoping for the best. After about five minutes, Lou Pearlman walked through the doors of the restaurant and sat down at the table where the guys were waiting. “Hello boys. Sorry for being late. I had business to do.” Lou apologized fakely. The guys just muttered “yeahs”  and “whatevers” as they opened the menus to look at what they would be having to eat. When Lance looked at the prices of everything he said, “Woah.” “What?” Lou asked, looking away from his menu to look at Lance. “Oh, nothing really, it’s just that everything is so expensive… are you sure we can afford this?” Lance looked back at Lou with a concerned look on his face. “Oh, that’s nonsense boy. Of course we can afford this. I’m paying, don’t worry.” Lou replied as he looked back at his menu. “In fact, you can order anything you’d like, and as much food as you want.” After this comment they all looked at each other. They were really confused. Why did Lou act so kind towards them all of the sudden? The waitress came and they ordered their drinks. They tried to shrug it off but something didn’t feel right. Finally after what seemed as an eternal silence from all of them Chris asked, “So, Lou. What did you want to tell us?” he put his menu down to look at Lou. “Well boys,” Lou started as he looked at all of them, “I wanted to apologize for what I said.” No one really believed him because the tone he used didn’t make what he said sound like he really meant it. “Okay…?” Was Joey’s reaction. “So, now what?” JC said, unamused. “I just apologized.” Lou said in a flat tone. “Alright.” JC replied. Chris looked at him with a look that said ‘What are you doing?’. JC just shrugged him off. He knew that arguing with Lou wouldn’t take them anywhere, he also knew that it wasn’t worth it since they were going to find someone else to manage them anyways. They didn’t need to be on good terms with Lou. Basically they just accepted his fake apology so that he would shut up, they never really believed him at all though. 

After they were done eating, the guys said goodbye and went back home. Lou had told them that they had practice the next day, and honestly the guys were not looking forward to that. The guys still were angry at Lou and were going to leave him even after he ‘apologized’. When they got back home, they played basketball for a bit. Lance went to take a nap, when he woke up he went to the kitchen for a glass of water and heard that the guys were still outside playing basketball. After he drank the water he walked outside and played basketball with the guys. As he played, he started realizing that this was really similar to his nightmare. He started panicking a bit, he had heard from some of his friends back at Mississippi that sometimes you dreamt what was gonna happen in the future. This really scared Lance, he didn’t want to get rejected, especially by his new friends. “I think I’m gonna sit down.” He said as he walked towards a bench swing that they had in the backyard. He took deep breaths to calm down as he swinged, he didn’t want his nightmares to come true. 

Chris noticed that Lance was looking distracted while they played basketball but decided not to think too much of it. After a while, Lance went to sit down on the bench swing that they had in the backyard. “I think I’m gonna sit down.” He said as he walked towards the bench swing. The guys just kept on playing basketball without really noticing that Lance was gone. After about 5 minutes Chris thought he should go and check on Lance. He walked up to the bench swing. “Hey,” he started, Lance looked up at him. “Can I sit here?” He motioned for the empty space next to Lance. The younger one nodded. After a minute of not saying anything and just swinging there, Chris decided to break the silence, “What are you thinking about?” Chris looked at the blonde. “Oh, nothing really.” He replied as he was snapped out of his thoughts, he looked at the older member. “Are you sure? Because you know you can tell-” “It’s nothing.” Lance cut him off. “Okay. Whatever you say.” Chris said as he looked over to where the guys were and saw that they were going inside. He turned to Lance and nudged his arm, “Hey, what do you say we go get some ice cream before Justin and Joey eat all of it?” Lance turned to Chris and smiled, “Sure.” They stood up and went inside. 

“Woah, what do you think you guys are doing?” JC asked as Chris and Lance were getting ice cream. “Uhhhh getting some ice cream? Duh.” Chris answered matter-of-factly. “You can’t eat dessert before dinner.” JC warned. “Fine.” Chris said as he put it away. When JC turned around, Chris looked at Lance and mouthed the words ‘wait’. Then, JC walked to his room to get something. “Now!” Chris whisper-shouted. Lance giggled at the childishness of his older bandmate. They didn’t listen to JC and ate some ice cream before dinner. “Good job blondie.” Chris high-fived Lance as JC came back to the kitchen to make dinner. “What are you guys up to now?” JC looked at them suspiciously. “Oh, nothing.” Chris said as he walked out of the kitchen to watch some TV. JC and Lance stayed in the kitchen. “Seriously, what did you two do?” JC looked at Lance. He tried not to tell JC but he couldn’t lie to him. Lance sighed in defeat, “We ate ice cream.” “Don’t follow Chris’s examples, he acts like a child.” JC whispered the last part. “I do not!” Chris screamed from the couch. JC rolled his eyes and whispered, “He does.” Lance chuckled. “What are you making for dinner?” “Some mac and cheese. Though I don't know if you will eat any since you already had dessert…” “I’ll have some, I’m still hungry.” 

Lance was about to head out of the kitchen when he turned around. “Hey JC, do you need any help with dinner?” JC turned around and smiled, which made Lance’s heart flutter. “Yes, please.” He said, still smiling. Lance and JC made dinner for the boys. They all ate their dinner happily. When they were done, they left the dishes in the sink to do later and went to bed. 

Lance was already in his bed trying to fall asleep when he heard the door open. He looked towards it and saw that it was JC. The brunette walked towards his bed but before he could lie down he heard Lance say, “Was it just me, or did Lou seem like he wasn't really sorry. I think he was lying. ” JC looked down at Lance and thought about what he should say. “He didn’t seem very honest with me either. But, don’t worry about it okay? Try to get some sleep, I feel like tomorrow is gonna be a busy day.” JC said as he got in his bed and turned off the lamp they had on the bedside table. “Goodnight JC.” “Goodnight Lance.” JC smiled as he quickly fell asleep. Though for Lance getting sleep was a different story.

He couldn’t bring himself to sleep, he was afraid that he would encounter more nightmares. After a few hours of lying awake, he finally closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Lance sat in the living room playing video games with JC. “Hey JC?” Lance asked as he put the controller down. “Yes?” JC looked at Lance and put his controller down as well. “Well… I uh, I wanted to tell you this for a long time.” Lance looked down, “I like you.” After those words left his mouth he heard a gasp. He looked up only to see JC standing up, a look of shock and disgust on his face. He started walking away when Lance stood up and tried to stop him by grabbing his arm. “JC wait. Don’t go.” “Leave me alone, you freak!” JC said as he turned around and shoved Lance. He walked away as Lance fell to the floor, his heart shattering into a million pieces. He never thought that JC would be so mean towards him. “Please don’t go.” 

Lance shot up from his bed, tears running down his face. The last part of his dream replaying in his mind. It was a horrible dream that he never wanted to face in real life. Then he felt a pair of arms wrap around him, at first he flinched but when he realized that it was JC, he hugged him back. “Please don’t go.” JC’s heart broke when Lance said this, he sounded so heartbroken and sad. “I won’t go. I will always be here for you. I promise.” JC whispered as he started running his hand through his blonde hair in an attempt to calm him down. “Shhh, it’s okay. I’m here, the nightmare is over.” After these words, Lance started breathing normally. “Are you okay now?” JC asked, pulling away from the hug. Lance nodded as he wiped a tear from his eye. “Lie back down.” As Lance did so JC started singing a soft lullaby to him. JC held Lance’s hand to bring some comfort. Lance held his hand back and closed his eyes, trying to relax while hearing JC’s angelical voice. Soon, he fell asleep. “Goodnight Lance.” JC said as he let go of his hand and went over to his own bed to sleep.

******** [^v^]/ ********

“Good morning.” Lance greeted the guys as he sat on the table and started eating his waffles. They all greeted him back and continued eating their breakfast. They got up and changed to get ready for rehearsals, they weren’t looking forward to it but they did want to improve. Lance was about to leave his room to go outside when he heard a voice call for him. “Hey, Lance?” JC looked at him. “Yeah?” Lance turned around to look at him. “Take it easy on rehearsals today. I don’t want something bad happening again.” Lance nodded at what JC said as he walked out of the room.

Rehearsals went as usual. They were practicing some new choreography and it included a back handspring. They had a small break where the guys sat on their usual spot and played cards, this time JC didn’t join them since he wanted to practice his back handspring a bit more. As JC was practicing it, his hand slipped and he fell down. He sat up and grasped his arm. He groaned in pain. “What’s wrong, C?” Justin asked as he ran towards him. “I think I heard a crack when I fell on my arm.” “Maybe we should get your arm checked out.” Joey suggested. “Okay.” JC said as he got up from the floor. “Well then, rehearsal is over,” The choreographer announced as he left. “And, I hope your arm gets better.” He added as he walked out the doors. “Come on, let’s go. I’ll drive.” Chris said as they got out of the building. They all piled into the car and drove to the hospital.

They arrived at the hospital a few minutes later since there wasn’t much traffic. They took JC to the ER to get checked up. The doctor came out after a while and told the guys that JC had broken his arm and it had been put in a cast. He also told them that JC had gotten a small fever which was nothing to worry about but they would keep him in the hospital for the night, just to check on him and make sure his fever didn’t rise. The guys thanked the doctor and asked if they could visit JC for a few minutes, the doctor agreed and they walked towards his room. They entered and found him watching TV. “Hey,” Lance waved. “How’s your arm?” “It’s fine. Doesn’t hurt too much.” JC shrugged. The guys talked for a while until the doctor told them that it was time for JC to get some rest. “We’ll see you tomorrow, C.” Lance smiled at JC as he left the room. “Bye bye.”

When the guys arrived at the house they were really tired. They had a quick dinner and went to bed. Lance was the last one to go to sleep, he didn’t know what he would do if he got the nightmares again and JC wasn’t there for him. When he finally went to bed, he stared at the ceiling for what seemed hours, he couldn’t bring himself to sleep. Finally, a wave of tiredness washed over him and he finally closed his eyes and dozed off. Though it wasn’t for long.

The house was completely quiet except for the sound of light snoring. Lance woke up from his nightmares again. He looked to his right and found JC’s bed empty. He sighed as he sat up on his bed. The nightmares had been worse this time and JC wasn’t there to comfort him. He glanced at his bedside table to look at the time, 3:40 a.m. He didn’t want to go back to sleep, afraid of encountering those terrible dreams again. He sighed and looked down at his hands. “Why do I have to be like this?” He said to himself. “Why can’t I be normal, like everyone else.” He felt a tear escape his eye as he said this. “He was right, no one will ever love me.” Then he heard a voice at his door. “Lance? What’s wrong?” Chris asked softly as he stood in the doorway. Lance wiped at his eyes quickly, not wanting his older friend to see him crying. 

Chris was a light sleeper and a noise had woken him up, he decided to check where the noise was coming from and found that it was coming from Lance’s room. Chris walked over to him and sat next to him on his bed. “If you need to talk, I’m right here.” He said encouragingly. “I can’t tell you.” Lance said sadly. “Why is that?” Chris asked, curious. “Because you would make fun of me.” Lance shrugged. “I promise I won’t. I would never make fun of you when something is bothering you.” Chris looked at Lance, “You can tell me anything, I will support you no matter what. You are my friend after all.” Lance nodded at the last comment. He took a deep breath to calm down and looked down at his hands. “Well, I have been having these nightmares.” “Do you want to talk about them? It might help.” “I don’t really want to but I guess it would be better if I told you.” he made a pause, “Okay, so in the nightmares I dream that I tell you guys a secret and you leave me, every time. No matter what happens in the dream, whenever I tell you the secret, you leave me alone. It just makes me feel so unwanted.” Remembering his dreams made him feel sad and tear up. “Lance, you know we would never leave you. No matter what, we will always stick by your side. We’re best friends, we’re brothers.” Chris smiled at him, “Do you want to tell me what you said in the dreams?” Chris didn’t want to push Lance into telling him something he didn’t want to say. Lance nodded, he tried to pull all his thoughts together before he said anything. Finally he said, “Well… in the nightmares, the secret I tell you is… I-” he made a pause and took a deep breath, “I’m gay.” He heard nothing, he took a quick glance at Chris and saw that he was looking at him. “That was it?” he said, finally. Lance nodded. “Man, I thought you were gonna tell us that you did drugs or something.” He laughed, trying to lighten the mood. Lance smiled at his friend. “Okay, but in all honesty, I’m glad you told me. See? It wasn’t that bad. And I didn’t leave.” Chris smiled. 

They stayed in a comfortable silence for a little while before Chris asked, “Who do you have a crush on?” Lance tensed up at the question. “It’s one of us, isn't it?” “Uhhhh.” was all he could manage. “You know what? I think it’s JC.” Chris said in a casual tone. “What?” Lance said, trying to seem clueless. Clearly it wasn’t working on Chris. “Am I wrong?” he asked. “No.” Lance sighed in defeat. “I knew it!” Chris said with a smile on his face. “You can’t tell him, Chris! Promise me that you won’t tell anyone.” Lance pleaded, he would be devastated if anyone found out, especially JC, “But seriously, don’t tell JC.” “I won’t tell. I promise.” Chris said, placing his hand over his heart. Silence fell over them again. “Chris?” Lance asked, looking up to meet his gaze. “Huh?” He replied looking at Lance. “Thank you.” “For what?” “For listening and being a good friend.” Lance said as he hugged him. “Anytime Lance, anytime.” Chris said as he hugged him back, “Do you feel better now?” He felt Lance nod. “I don’t think I can go to sleep though.” Lance admitted. “I could stay here with you if you want.” Chris said. “Please do.” “Alright, I will go sleep in JC’s bed, but I’m gonna wait for you to fall asleep.” “Okay.” Lance agreed as he placed his head in Chris’s chest to use as a pillow. “Goodnight, Chris.” Lance said as he closed his eyes. “Night, Lance.”

******** [^v^]/ ********

The next morning Chris woke up and couldn’t place where he was,  he looked to his left and saw Lance sleeping soundly. He remembered last night. He got up from JC’s bed and walked over to Lance’s bed. He gently shook his shoulder, when that didn’t seem to work he started shaking him until he woke up. “Lance, come on. Wake up! We have to go get JC.” This seemed to work in waking him because as soon as those words left his mouth Lance opened his eyes and sat up. “JC.” he said as he stood up. He grabbed some clothes and ran to the bathroom to change. Chris just shook his head as he walked to his room as quietly as possible, trying not to wake the others as he got some clothes and went to change. 

When they were both changed, Chris walked by the kitchen to get some poptarts. “Come on, we don’t want to make JC wait. You know how much he dislikes hospitals.” Chris said as he grabbed the keys to the van. Lance nodded as he followed Chris out of the house quietly. They got in the car, Chris turned the keys in an attempt to start the van, it wasn’t working though. “Come on Lucille, don’t fail me now.” He muttered as he tried again. “You named our van?” Lance asked, holding in his laughter. “Yes, I did, so what? It’s not like you don’t do weird things.” He said as he tried turning the keys again. It still didn’t work. “I think Lucille broke.” Lance said. Chris sighed as he let his head fall forward and hit the steering wheel. Somehow that action seemed to start the van. Chris lifted his head up slowly, a smile forming on his face. “You’re in luck, Lance. Now let’s go get your man.” “Oh, shut up Chris.” Lance said as he took a bite out of his poptart. They drove off to the hospital, arriving a few minutes later. 

They walked in and asked for JC at the front desk. They were told that they could go up to his room and then they could leave. They thanked the nurse at the front desk and started towards the room. When they reached the room, Lance knocked on the door, he then proceeded to open it. “JC?” He asked quietly, not wanting to disturb him in case he was resting. He found him sleeping. Chris nudged Lance’s side as he said, “Looks like you’ll have to wake up sleeping beauty.” They both looked over at JC. Lance sighed. “I guess, I mean we can’t just stand here and wait for him to wake up.” Lance said as he walked over to JC. “JC, it’s time to wake up. We need to go home now.” He said as he shook JC gently. “Five more minutes.” JC muttered in his sleep. Lance looked at Chris for help on what to do. “Hey, I’m not the one crushing over sleepy head over here.” Chris lifted his hands in the air to show his innocence in the matter. “Fine.” Lance replied as he sat down on JC’s bed next to him. “JC, it’s time to go home. Come on.” Lance brushed JC’s brunette hair out of his face. As he did that, he saw how JC’s blue/green eyes fluttered open and stared up into his own green ones. This action only was enough to take his breath away. “Good morning.” JC said, his voice still groggy. “Hey, how are you feeling?” Lance asked. “Better.” JC replied. Chris cleared his throat. JC looked over to him, “Hi, Chris.” “Hey, C. Ready to go home?” Chris said as he approached him. “Yeah.” JC smiled as he got up. 

When the guys left the hospital, they drove by the supermarket to get some food. “Wait, why are we here again?” JC asked Chris as he pulled up in the supermarket parking lot. “We’re getting snacks and junk food so that you feel better.” Chris replied as he got out of the van and started walking inside the supermarket. Lance got out and opened JC’s door for him. “Thanks.” JC smiled. Lance smiled back and they walked to the supermarket, following Chris.

When they got home they put all the snacks in the front of the house. Chris unlocked the door and Lance helped carry the bags inside. They saw Justin and Joey sitting on the couch. “Where did you guys go?” Joey asked as he turned around to face the guys who had just come in. “We went to pick up JC.” Chris said casually. “JC! You’re back!” Justin ran to hug him. “How are you feeling?” Joey asked as he stood up from the couch. “I’m feeling better, thanks.” JC replied. “So, you guys wanna watch a movie?” Chris asked. They all nodded in agreement as they settled down on the couch and got out their snacks. Things were looking all better now. Well, anything will seem better when you are with friends.

Two weeks later, they still hadn’t found anyone new to manage them. On Friday morning, they were all getting ready for the day. Lance walked up to Chris to ask him something, “Hey Chris, do you think you can drive me to the store later? Before rehearsals of course.”  Chris looked up from the book he was reading while laying on the couch, “Why do you need to go to the store?”

Lance looked around to check that no one was listening to their conversation. JC and Justin were eating breakfast while talking. “I want to get JC something.” He said quietly. “Oh, okay then.” Chris said as he went back to his book.

A while later, Chris and Lance left the house to go to the store. When they arrived, Lance went into the miscellaneous aisle of the store. “What are you looking for, again?” Chris asked Lance as he followed him. “I’m not sure, just something nice.” He replied as he looked through the shelves. After a while of looking Lance finally said, “This is it.” They walked over to the cashier to pay and went back home, in time for rehearsals.  

The nightmares kept happening every night at around 3:30 a.m. Now, JC woke up around that time every night to comfort Lance from his nightmares. He didn’t mind though, he just wanted to be there for his friend. That night after rehearsals, they all went home to sleep early, they were all so tired. Joey had already gone back to his parent’s house. Again, at 3 a.m. Lance woke up from a nightmare. JC had been up for 5 minutes before he heard Lance start to stir and wake up. He got up from his bed and walked over to Lance’s side. He kneeled down next to him and ran a hand through his blond hair. Lance’s eyes fluttered open as he sighed. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. “Hey.” JC said softly with a small, comforting smile. Lance turned to face him, “Hi.” Then JC’s smile turned into a frown, “You were having the nightmares again, right?” Lance nodded. “I’m sorry for waking you up every night. You should be sleeping. I feel so selfish.” Lance looked down. “Don’t worry about it, Lance.” JC started, “Look at me,” he put his hand on Lance’s cheek and moved his face so that he was facing him, “it’s not your fault that this is happening. Don’t blame it on yourself.” A tear escaped Lance’s eye, he did think it was his fault, for being this way, he didn’t want to, but he couldn’t change. It was his fear of being discovered what brought these nightmares, so he did blame himself. He nodded as he wiped the tears forming in his eyes. “Come on, scoot over.” JC said as he stood up and sat next to Lance on his bed. “You know I will always be here for you. Right until the end.” JC looked at Lance as he put his arm around his shoulders. After a minute of silence JC asked, “Are you better?” Lance nodded. “Okay, that’s good.” JC smiled as he removed his arm from Lance’s shoulders and stood up. “We should get to sleep.” He said as Lance laid back down. JC pulled the covers over him and ruffled his hair. “Goodnight.” He said as he got in his own bed. “Night.” Lance replied as he closed his eyes. JC waited until Lance was sleeping until he dozed off.

Two hours later Lance woke up from another nightmare. He sat up, breathing heavily. He had never had two nightmares in a row. This one had been worse than the others he normally had. He saw JC shift in his sleep out of the corner of his eye, he then saw him sit up slowly. “Lance? What happened?” He asked as he looked his way. “Another nightmare?” JC asked, a concerned look on his face. Lance nodded, “It was worse than the other ones.” JC stood up from his bed and walked over to give him a hug. “I’m sorry to hear that. It’s gonna be okay.” He said as he rubbed his shoulder. JC pulled away a little bit as he said, “I take it that you’re not gonna sleep after this.” Lance looked down and nodded, “Yeah.” “I’ll stay with you this time, try to sleep. I’ll be right here until you do.” He said as he moved towards the headboard of the bed, moving Lance next to him, never letting go of his hold on him. Lance started getting sleepy, he laid his head down on JC. JC watched as Lance’s green eyes closed slowly. He ran his hands through Lance’s blond hair as he watched his younger friend fall asleep peacefully. He hummed a lullaby for Lance to fall asleep. He didn’t notice that this was making him sleepy too though, and soon, he too, fell asleep, never returning to his own bed. 

******** [^v^]/ ********

They guys didn’t rehearse on Saturdays now, so they could wake up as late as they wanted. What they didn’t know is that they would have an unexpected visit early that morning…

The clock marked 8:00 a.m. sharp. The house was completely quiet, everyone was sleeping. Suddenly there was banging on the front door. After a while, it stopped. Then, a louder bang. “I have news!” The voice of the literal death on two legs, Lou Pearlman, was heard throughout the house. The door to Lance and JC’s room was slammed open. They both woke up from the loud sound. At that moment a lot of questions ran through Lance’s mind. Why is Lou Pearlman here? It’s Saturday, he has nothing to shout at us for, so why is he here? And, more importantly, why is JC in my bed? What happened yesterday? Wow  he looks so pretty and-   Lance was interrupted from his thoughts when he heard JC mutter, “Ah shit, here we go again.” He looked at Lou Pearlman who just looked at them with a disgusted and confused look on his face. “What the hell is happening here?!” He asked loudly. At this point, Chris and Justin were already at the door, also confused at what was happening, and questioning both why Lou was here and why JC and Lance were sitting next to each other in one bed. Chris looked at Lance with a smirk and raised his eyebrows. Lance gave him a look that told Chris to shut up. “Well, will anyone explain what the hell is going on here?” Lou was losing his patience. “Will you explain why you’re suddenly here, and how you even got in?” Chris countered. “Well, to answer your first question, I am here to tell you that I got you a gig. To answer the second question, I got in because the door was unlocked.” Lou said with an eye roll. “We got a gig?” Justin said, excitement in his voice. “Yes, and you boys need to practice a lot for it, you can’t make me look bad.” Lou said sternly. “I’ll leave you now, I have a business to run.” He said as he left the house. Chris and Justin followed him to the door. When he got out, Chris locked the door. He looked at Justin with a questioning look on his face as he asked, “Wait, he said that the door was unlocked when he got in. Do you know why that happened, Justin?” “Uhhhhh.” Justin looked away. “You didn’t lock the door last night when I asked you to!” Chris accused him. “Oh my god Justin, we could have gotten robbed!” Chris was being over dramatic over the situation. “I’m sorry, Chris. It will never happen again.” “Yeah, it won’t happen again because I’m not gonna leave you with the task of  locking the house ever again.” Chris scoffed playfully. 

Meanwhile, JC and Lance were still in their room. “Lance, I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I didn’t mean to fall asleep on your bed, I swear. I was going to go back to my bed but then I started feeling sleepy and-” “JC, stop.” Lance cut him off, “It’s okay, I know it was an accident, don’t worry about it. You were probably as tired as I felt. You don’t have to apologize.” Lance stood up slowly and walked to his dresser, he got a small stuffed animal out. He walked back to JC. “I got this for you.” he said as he gave his present to him. JC smiled. “Thank you, Lance. I love it.” JC looked up at him. “I didn’t get you anything though.” “You already did.” Lance smiled. “I did?” JC asked, surprised. “You were there for me when I needed it the most, that is very meaningful to me.” Lance said, a small blush creeping up on his cheeks. JC stood up and hugged him. “I’m glad that you’re my friend.” He said, and he really meant it.  

The rest of the day passed by quickly, the guys joking around and having fun. As it was a Saturday, they invited Joey over for dinner. They were all outside playing basketball while the sun started setting, slowly. Lance wasn’t really a fan of playing basketball, he wasn’t really that good at it. After a while of playing, he got tired and went to sit in the bench swing that they had by a tree in the backyard. He sat down and watched the sun set slowly. He was lost in thought when suddenly he felt a weight next to him. He looked to his left and saw Chris sitting next to him, breathing heavily. “Maybe Justin is right, I am turning into an old man.” Chris chuckled. “Of course you are, Chris. Soon you’re gonna get your senior discounts at the store.” Lance joked. Chris smiled at him and punched his arm lightly. “I’m not that old yet, country boy.” Chris countered. They joked around for a while before Chris asked, “Lance, this morning… why were you and JC…?” he trailed off as he saw Lance’s face turn red. “I-... well-... we-” Lance started, he didn’t know what to say, “Last night, I got more nightmares than normally and then JC accidentally fell asleep on my bed.” “Wait, what do the nightmares have to do with JC falling asleep on your bed?” Chris asked skeptically. “Oh, well… whenever I have these nightmares, JC is there for me. And, honestly, I’m glad he’s there because I don’t know what I’d do without him.” Lance answered truthfully. “You really like him, don’t you?” Chris turned to face Lance. “I do.” Lance nodded. They continued talking for a while before Lance said, “Can I tell you something? Promise you won’t laugh.” “Go ahead. But I make no promises.” “Sometimes, when JC is singing on stage, I feel like he is singing to me.” “Awww, Lancey is in love.” Chris teased as he nudged his younger friend in the arm. “Leave me alone, Chris.” Lance laughed. 

“We should go back inside. They’re gonna start making dinner and I want to watch JC and Joey fight over who is gonna be in charge.” Chris said as he stood up, Lance followed him and they went inside. When they sat on the couch to watch some TV they could hear JC and Joey arguing about who would be in charge. “They’re stupid.” Chris laughed. “Hey, they’re not stupid, well, Joey might be a little stupid, but not JC.” Lance said as he slapped Chris in the arm. They had their dinner and then they went to bed. Lance, as per usual, just stared at the ceiling, unable to sleep. The nightmares haunted his dreams every night, he could no longer sleep peacefully. He lied awake for hours until sleep seemed to carry him away.

Lance sat by the edge of the pool, his legs hanging in the water. He seemed to be lost in thought when suddenly he fell in the pool and was snapped out of his thoughts when he hit the water. As much as he struggled, he couldn’t get up for air. He was drowning. From under the water he could see JC standing by the edge. Lance started going upwards and was able to breathe, before he could do anything, he started getting pulled back down. “JC save me! Help m- ” Lance was cut off, he went further down, he started losing oxygen. “I’m right here, it’s okay. Lance. Lance!” JC’s screams started sounding muffled, until he couldn’t hear them anymore.

JC woke up as he heard someone call for him. He looked over and saw Lance tossing and turning on his bed. ‘Another nightmare’ He thought. He stood up and walked towards Lance’s bed when Lance started talking in his sleep. “JC save me! Help m-” He said, but cut himself off. He sounded distressed. JC frowned, “I’m right here, it’s okay.” he said as he shook Lance gently to wake him up, “Lance. Lance, wake up.” Lance opened his eyes and took a deep breath as if he had been holding his breath for a long time. “Save me.” he said, still waking up. “Shhh. It’s okay now. I’m here.” JC whispered as he held him and pressed a kiss to his forehead. Lance’s breathing came back to normal as he snuggled into JC. A moment passed when they were in silence. “How can I help you stop having these dreams? I hate to see you like this. Maybe if you tell me about them, I can help you.” JC said softly, his voice above a whisper. Lance thought about it for a second, gathering his thoughts. “If I told you, maybe you would never think of me the same.” Lance confessed sadly. “I would never think any different of you, you’re my best friend. You know you can always count on me, that's what friends are for.” JC said encouragingly. ‘Well, I guess there is no turning back now. Here I go.’ Lance thought. He took a deep breath and looked at him. “The reason I have these dreams is because I can’t tell anyone my secret.” Lance pursed his lips and then continued, “The secret is that… I’m gay.” He looked up to see JC open his mouth to say something and then close it. Lance interrupted him and said, “There’s more,” he took a deep breath and looked JC straight in the eye, “I like you.”

………………

JC looked up from the screen where he and Joey were playing video games. He stood up and shook a shorter, blonde boy’s hand. “Hey, I’m JC.” he said as he introduced himself. “Lance.” The younger boy introduced himself. From that moment on, JC knew that their friendship was gonna last. Whenever they did their first performance, JC always sang the songs to Lance in his mind. He would always look out for him, he would be there for him. Their friendship turned into much more than that, more than a brotherhood, it turned into love. When Lance got sick, JC was there to care for him, because he loved him. When Lance fainted at rehearsals, JC got worried for him and would check up on him every once in a while to see that he was okay. When Lou screamed at Lance, JC defended him because he couldn’t allow someone to speak to his best friend like that. When Lance got the nightmares, JC felt his heart shatter at the sight of the boy he loved being torn apart by his own dreams, he felt the need to be there for him and comfort him, whatever the price was. He didn’t care about losing his sleep, or being tired during the day, all he cared about was being there for Lance, not giving up on him, and always loving him. The day he broke his arm, he felt bad for not being able to be there for Lance. Every time he held him in his arms, comforting him, every time he ran his hand through his hair, every time he sang him a song. Every time, he fell more in love. He felt that it was more than words what he did, to tell Lance that he loved him.

……………

Lance looked up to see JC’s face, expecting to be rejected and pushed aside. Instead, JC smiled and said, “I don’t like you.” At this comment, Lance looked down, tears forming in his eyes. JC reached his hand out and placed it on Lance’s cheek, turning his head to face him. “I love you, Lance.” He said as he removed his hand from Lance’s face and moved it to hold his hand. He could see tears start to form in Lance’s eyes, but this time those tears weren’t of sadness. They were tears of happiness. JC hugged Lance tight as he heard him say, “I love you too, Josh.” They stayed like that for a while until JC asked, “So, is that the reason you were having those nightmares?” “Yeah, and now that I told you, I hope I won’t be having them anymore.” Lance said with a yawn. “Are you tired?” JC asked with a smile. Lance nodded. “I’ll let you sleep then.” JC said as he got up from Lance’s bed and started tucking him in. When JC was about to head for his own bed, he felt a hand grasp his wrist, stopping him. “Stay.” Lance said as he moved to the side to make more space. JC nodded and laid down next to him. He held Lance until they both fell asleep, no more nightmares haunting their dreams.

Rain pattered on the windows of the house. Lance found himself lying awake once more. He had woken up by the thunder roaring in the distance, he felt scared. He never wanted to admit it but he was afraid of thunderstorms. He shivered as a cold breeze came in through the open window. He felt JC’s hold on him tightened as he shivered. The booming sound of thunder made him jump a bit. He looked at JC’s face and saw how his eyes fluttered open. “Lance, what’s wrong?” He frowned, seeing him shivering with both cold and a little bit of fear. A gust of wind came through the window and they heard a booming sound, which made them jump, followed by the only light source in the room, which happened to be Lance’s nightlight, to turn off. 

Lance had to admit that he didn’t like the dark, in fact, he could say that he is afraid of it. When the lights went out he shut his eyes and held tightly onto JC. “Shhh, it’s just a storm.” he soothed. JC looked down at Lance’s face and saw that Lance had his eyes shut tightly. “What’s wrong?” JC asked. “The light.” Lance said quietly, his eyes never opening. “Ohhh,” JC said in realization, he had forgotten about Lance’s fear of the dark, “Don’t worry, we can find some candles to light up. You have nothing to fear, I’m here with you.” JC looked down at Lance and saw how he opened his eyes slowly, adjusting to the darkness. “Do you want to go find some candles with me?” JC asked. Lance nodded softly. They got up, the thunder could still be heard, it kept getting louder and louder. JC and Lance stepped out into the hall, it was pitch black. JC felt around for the walls to be able to guide himself to the kitchen where they had the candles in a drawer. He stopped and turned around, he grabbed Lance’s hand with his casted arm to guide him with him, and also to make sure they stayed together. He kept walking slowly until he bumped into something, or more likely, someone. The other person screamed, which made JC and Lance scream too. “JC? You scared the crap out of me.” the person asked, obviously startled. “Chris?” JC asked when he recognized the voice. “What are you doing here, man?” Chris asked. “May I ask the same?” JC returned the question. “I woke up because of the storm and noticed that the lights went out, you know I’m a light sleeper. Justin on the other hand, he wouldn’t wake up if the house was falling down.” Chris replied, “So, what about you?” “Lance and I woke up and came over here looking for candles to light up the room.” JC said in an obvious tone. “I think we will go do that now.” He said, noticing Lance’s hand tighten his grip around him, obviously because it was dark and he didn’t want to be there too long. “Yeah, you guys do that. By the way, hi Lance.” Chris said as he started making his way back to his room. “Hi, Chris.” Lance said quietly. “Oh and could you guys bring me a candle? I mean, you’re going to get them anyways.” Chris asked, turning around. “Sure.” JC said as he and Lance kept walking slowly to the kitchen. When they arrived at the kitchen JC turned around to face Lance, “I’m gonna go get the candles, I’ll be gone for just a moment, okay? Don’t move.” “Okay.” Lance said quietly, he trusted him. JC walked over to the drawer where they had the candles, he got three out and got the lighter. The wind howled as it came through the window, Lance jumped a bit at this. “JC?” he asked. He then felt a hand on his shoulder which made him jump. “Lance, it’s just me.” JC said as he hugged him. “Come on, let’s go back.” JC took Lance’s hand in his and led him back towards their room. They gave Chris the candle and then went into their room. JC lit up the two candles they had and set them up on the nightstand. He looked at his watch, it was 3:45 a.m. “I think we should sleep, it’s still 3 a.m. and we have that gig that Lou got for us, tomorrow afternoon.” JC said as he sat down next to Lance on his bed. “Thank you for getting candles for me.” Lance hugged JC. He hugged back, he felt Lance’s warmth compared to the coldness of the wind. “Sing to me once more, Josh. Please.” Lance looked up at him with puppy dog eyes. JC nodded, he cleared his throat and started singing softly. He ran his hands through Lance’s blond hair as he did this, seeing how his green eyes started closing...

Close your eyes

Have no fear

The monster's gone

He's on the run and I am here

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful

Beautiful boy

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful

Beautiful boy

Before you go to sleep

Say a little prayer

Every day in every way, it's getting better and better

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful

Beautiful boy

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful

Beautiful boy

Before you cross the street

Take my hand

Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful

Beautiful boy

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful

Beautiful boy

Before you go to sleep

Say a little prayer

Every day in every way, it's getting better and better

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful

Beautiful boy

Darling, darling, darling

Darling Lance

When he finished the song he noticed how Lance’s breathing had evened out. He laid down next to him, planted a kiss on his forehead, and fell asleep, the storm outside forgotten.

******** [^v^]/ ********

The next morning they still didn’t have electricity, though it seemed like the storm had passed. Lance opened his eyes and his heart fluttered, he saw JC sleeping soundly with his arms around him, his hair was puffy because of the humidity in the air, his lips were slightly parted. Lance had to admit that he felt truly lucky to be with him. He could just watch him sleep for hours, not in a creepy way of course. JC’s eyes opened slowly as he woke up, he looked at Lance and smiled. “Good morning.” He said. “Mornin’ .” Lance replied. After a while, they got up and got ready for their day, they had to do the final rehearsal before the show. They all had their breakfast and got ready, then they went to the venue to rehearse in that space. Before the show they were all nervous, they did their hacky sack and wished each other luck before they went on stage. “We’re gonna do great.” Joey reassured them as they all hugged. “Hey and maybe some other person will see our performance and will want to be our manager, so we can get rid of that greedy pig.” Justin said the last part quietly as he pointed towards Lou Pearlman. The rest of the guys giggled a bit, but deep down they knew that’s what they wanted. 

When they were performing on stage, Lance could see that JC was glancing at him as he sang, which made him feel butterflies in his stomach. They went through all the choreography without mistakes throughout the whole performance. They really thought that this was their shot at being noticed by someone new so that they could get rid of Lou. Once they were done, they went off stage and didn’t see Lou around to congratulate them for their great work, instead, he was on the phone, away from everyone. The guys hugged each other and congratulated themselves when a guy approached them. They conversed for a bit when finally he said, “Here’s my card, call me after you’ve thought about my offer.” The guy handed Chris his card, which contained the name of his company and a phone number, and then left. “Now all we have to do is get rid of ‘greedy pig’ and call that guy.” Joey smiled. They all smiled and congratulated each other, they knew things could only get better from now. After a while, they found Lou. They would tell him that they didn’t want to be with him anymore. Lou obviously threw a fit and said things like, “You will never make it.” and “You’ve made a mistake.” Though, the guys all knew that he was just mad because he lost the group and he wouldn’t be able to take their money anymore.  On their way back home they picked up some victory dinner, pizza. After dinner they went outside to play some basketball, this time all of them were happy. 

When the game was over, JC walked over to the bench swing to watch the sun set. Soon after, Lance walked over and sat next to him. JC looked over at him and smiled, then he turned his gaze back to the sunset. “You sounded really good today, at the performance.” Lance said, a shy smile on his face. “Thank you, you did too.” JC smiled back. “I was actually singing for you.” JC admitted, blushing a bit. Lance’s face turned a crimson color as he smiled. They turned back towards the sunset, they didn’t say a word. 

“Lance?” JC looked over at him, blue eyes locking with green ones. “Yes?” “I- uh, You- ” JC stumbled over his words, he was nervous about what he was going to say, “I was wondering if, maybe, you would like to um be my boyfriend?” He blushed as he asked the question. “Yes, yes, yes!” Lance smiled as he threw his arms around his new boyfriend. JC returned the hug. “I could kiss you right now!” Lance blurted out. The words escaped his mouth, he blushed a deep shade of red. “Will you?” JC asked with a smirk. Lance didn’t say anything, he didn’t reply, he just leaned in, closing the space between them. The kiss was short and sweet, but it was filled with love. 

******** [^v^]/ ********

Joey, Justin, and Chris sat inside waiting for Lance and JC. Chris wanted everyone to be present when they called the guy from the gig. “What’s taking them so long?” Chris asked impatiently as he paced around the room, Justin and Joey sat on the couch watching a movie that was on the TV. Chris walked over to the window and what he saw shocked him, he saw JC and Lance sitting on the bench swing… kissing? He had to blink a few times, he couldn’t believe his eyes. He wasn’t imagining things, that was really happening. “Be right back.” Chris said as he walked outside. Joey and Justin looked at each other, wondering what Chris was doing this time, they just dismissed it and shrugged. “Guys! We’re gonna call that guy without you if you don’t come inside now! If you miss it, it’s not my fault.” Chris shouted at them from far away, he didn’t want to walk all the way over there, he was old and tired. After that, he went back inside. “I’ll give them three minutes to get back in here, if they don't make it I’m calling the guy without them.” Chris muttered to himself.

“We should go inside, we don’t want to miss this.” JC said. Lance nodded. They stood up, before they could start walking away though, Lance grabbed JC’s wrist. “Wait.” He said, making him turn around and face him. “When are we gonna tell them?” Lance asked nervously. “We can tell them whenever you feel comfortable.” JC replied softly. “You’re not alone in this.” He smiled at Lance. “Thank you.” Lance hugged JC one more time before they headed back inside. 

“Ok, I hope he gives us good news. By that, I mean that I hope we can sign with him.” Justin said. “I’m sure it’s all gonna turn out fine.” Joey reassured. “Well, no better time to find out than now.” Chris said as he called the guy. They ended up signing with his company. They were all filled with joy. They all had some ice cream to celebrate, and watched a movie. After a few hours of watching movies and eating junk food, they all went to bed. 

“Today was probably the best day of my life so far.” Lance smiled as he sat down on his bed. “Me too.” JC sat down next to him. “And it’s gonna get even better.” “What do you mean?” Lance asked, looking over at his boyfriend. JC stood up and walked out of the room, Lance heard talking outside. “Why now?” Chris whined. “It’s as good a time as ever.” JC said, “Besides, you’re the one who plays guitar and my hand is still in a cast.” “Fiiiiineee” Chris sighed. Lance looked over to the door and saw JC come back in the room, Chris behind him, holding a guitar. JC sat next to Lance and Chris sat on JC’s bed. “What’s going on here?” Lance asked with a smile. “You just sit back and listen.” JC said, taking Lance’s hand in his. He nodded towards Chris and he started playing. 

Saying I love you

Is not the words I want to hear from you

It's not that I want you

Not to say, but if you only knew

How easy it would be to show me how you feel

More than words is all you have to do to make it real

Then you wouldn't have to say that you love me

'Cause I'd already know

What would you do if my heart was torn in two

More than words to show you feel

That your love for me is real

What would you say if I took those words away

Then you couldn't make things new

Just by saying I love you

Now I've tried to talk to you and make you understand

All you have to do is close your eyes

And just reach out your hands and touch me

Hold me close don't ever let me go

More than words is all I ever needed you to show

Then you wouldn't have to say that you love me

'Cause I'd already know

What would you do if my heart was torn in two

More than words to show you feel

That your love for me is real

What would you say if I took those words away

Then you couldn't make things new

Just by saying I love you

The song ended and Lance was speechless. ‘When did they even practice for this?’ Lance thought. All he could do at that moment was give Josh a hug. “What did I do to deserve you?” He said, his voice muffled against JC’s shoulder. “I ask the same.” He said as he returned the hug. They pulled apart and Lance stood up to give Chris a hug, “Thank you.” “JC I think I’m gonna steal your man.” Chris joked as he hugged Lance, back. “You better not, Tricky.” JC warned with a small laugh. “I think I’m gonna go to bed now. You know the old man needs his beauty rest.” Chris said, flipping his hair as he walked out the door. “I don't know what to say.” Lance admitted. “About Chris? Man, I don't think anyone knows.” JC giggled. “No! Not about Chris. About the song. Though I do agree, I don't think anyone knows what to say about Chris, just that he is crazy.” “You don’t need words. I thought you heard the lyrics of the song.” JC glared playfully at Lance. “C'mere, it’s late and I’m tired.” JC opened his arms, Lance walked over to him. They laid down and after a moment of silence Lance said, “Your hair is fluffy. It’s cute.” He patted his hair. “Thank you. Have I told you that your eyes are the prettiest I’ve ever seen?”  Lance blushed at JC’s comment. “Alright, I’m officially sleepy.” JC said after a while. “Goodnight Lance.” He kissed his forehead. “Goodnight Josh. I love you.” Lance said softly as he snuggled into his boyfriend's embrace. “Sweet dreams.”