“Alright. You’re done. Send Joey in.”

JC nodded before stepping out into the small hallway, directly across from a small powder room. He sighed softly as he walked the short distance towards the living room where the other four members of NSYNC were hanging out. Probably continuing the video game battle that’d been going on for the last couple days. It was how four of them would spend their time while waiting for the remaining member to finish going over his vocal part with Robin Wiley.

Robin was a vocal coach that’d been brought in to help them prepare for the upcoming demo they were going to record. There wasn’t a lot of time and they had to try to fit in as much as they possibly could to make sure they were ready for it. So they met with Robin every morning in the front room of the house to learn the songs they’d be performing for the demo.

JC entered the living room to find that his earlier assumption was correct. Joey and Justin’s fingers were moving swiftly over the buttons, causing the heavyweight boxers on the screen to go through an intricate combination of moves. Lance was watching them from the chair he was sitting in, while Chris sat behind them on the couch complaining about Joey’s strategy.

“Aw, c’mon! You should’ve seen that coming!” Chris moaned, leaning forward so his voice carried directly into Joey’s ear.

“Shut up,” Joey grunted as his face scrunched up in concentration while his fingers moved faster. If that was even possible.

But it proved to be futile because his character was knocked out, signaling that the fight was over. Justin dropped the controller to pump a fist in victory.

“Yes!” Justin glanced at Joey. “That makes it…what? Three times you’ve lost to me?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Joey grumbled, good-naturedly. “You’ll get yours.”

“Good timing anyway. You’re next,” JC told Joey as he pointed over his shoulder towards the front of the house.

Joey just nodded and rose from where he’d been sitting Indian style on the floor. He glanced down at Justin and said, “One of these days I’m going to whoop your ass.”

“Bring it on,” Justin replied, grinning broadly. He looked over at Lance as Joey left the room. “You wanna play, Lance?”

Lance hesitated before he said, “I don’t know. Why don’t you ask Chris or JC?”

“Because Chris is complaining about a cramped hand and—”

“I’ve played with you for like two days straight!” Chris defended. There was a slight pause before he crossed his arms over his chest and muttered, “Ungrateful brat.”

But Justin continued as if he hadn’t heard him. “And JC’s gonna say no anyway.”

“How do you know? You didn’t even ask me,” JC said from the seat that he’d taken next to Chris on the couch.

“I don’t have to,” Justin replied. “You have that deep in thought look going on, and you never do anything fun when you’re like that.”

JC couldn’t argue with that because it was true. It was never something he did on purpose, but on occasion he’d get carried away with whatever was on his mind. His introspectiveness had garnered teasing from Justin on numerous occasions, and this was certainly one of them.

Justin turned his attention back to Lance. “See? You’re my only hope to save me from boredom like Mr. Serious over there.”

“Not to mention there’s probably a decent gamer underneath that geeky exterior,” Chris teased.

JC glared at him. “Chris.”

“C’mon, Lance,” Justin pleaded. “You can even have the cool character.”

“Alright,” Lance agreed reluctantly as he slid from the chair to the floor and picked up the controller that Joey’d held earlier.

JC watched the two teenagers create new characters and set up for the next boxing match. He was glad that Lance had decided to play because things had been kind of awkward ever since he’d arrived nearly three days ago. They all tried to make Lance feel at home and part of the group, but there wasn’t much else they could do. The awkwardness would pass with time as Lance grew more comfortable around them.

Not that JC blamed him for feeling uneasy. He was the last one to join the group, and it had to be tough being the only one without a connection to someone else in the group like the rest of them. But as far as JC was concerned none of that mattered because there was no doubt that they’d all become good friends.

How could they not? Especially considering that they had a lot of work to do from now until the demo and then even more if they got signed with a record label. Regardless of what happened after the demo, this whole experience was going to bring them closer. And it didn’t hurt that they were all living in the same house together.

That’d been Lou Pearlman’s idea. He handled all of their finances, but he seemed really invested in making sure that they got along and things went smoothly. So Lou had set them up with this house so they could get used to being around each other all the time. Occasionally he would stop by to see how everything was going.

JC’s stomach churned at that thought. It unnerved him to have Lou watch them rehearse the choreography or their vocals. He knew it was ridiculous to feel that way because Lou was just making sure that his investment in them was paying off. But JC still couldn’t help the uneasiness that he felt whenever Lou was nearby.

It didn’t make any sense though. There had been people on the set of the Mickey Mouse Club that would watch him rehearse, and JC had never once felt as unsettled as he did when Lou watched them. So what made now different from then?

JC wasn’t sure, and he always tried to push those feelings as far down as he could. But he never felt better until Lou was gone. So far he hadn’t shown up, but JC was sure he’d come later. Lou had stopped by two days ago and mentioned that he’d be dropping by in a couple of days, so it seemed likely that he’d show up sometime today.

A sudden cry of indignation escaped Justin’s lips, drawing JC’s attention to him. He was scooting away from Chris’s outstretched hand and complaining about him trying to cheat by covering his eyes. Once Justin was sure that Chris wasn’t going to sabotage him anymore, he returned his attention to the screen. As JC watched Justin and Lance start the first round of the match, he let his thoughts drift to the upcoming demo.

Everything had been going fine so far. They all sounded great with their harmonies, and the dancing was slowly coming together. JC was just worried that they weren’t doing enough.

It was a ludicrous thought because they often didn’t finish rehearsals until eight or nine o’clock at night. Not to mention they usually started going over their vocals early in morning, meaning that they worked at least twelve hours a day. But at times like this where they were just sitting around, JC felt the constant need to be doing something to help them towards their goal. Anything.

“Hey, man.” A gentle elbow in his side forced JC to snap out of his thoughts and look over at Chris. “What’re you thinking about?”

JC stared at him for a second before he asked, “Shouldn’t we be doing something?”

“Uh…we are,” Chris said, looking at him as if he’d grown a second head before he shook his head slightly. “And I thought I was the old one. Alzheimer’s kicking in already?”

“Something besides video games. Something useful,” JC said, ignoring Chris’s jab at him.

“Hey!” Justin protested, glancing back at them. “I’m improving my hand eye coordination. That’s useful.”

“I just feel like we’re not doing enough. That we should be doing something instead of just sitting here,” JC insisted.

“Like what?” Chris asked.

JC shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“We could practice our signatures. You know, for when we’re famous and have to sign autographs,” Justin said.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, J. We don’t even have a demo yet,” JC replied.

Chris nodded at him. “Exactly. We can only do so much before we record the demo. I know you’re worried, but we’ve been working our asses off. We can have some down time too.”

Justin looked back at them and his fingers slackened slightly on the controller’s buttons. “JC doesn’t know how to relax.” His gaze met JC’s. “You need to be more like me.”

“A loser?” Chris asked, his lips curled in smirk.

“I’m not a loser!” Justin objected. Chris’s smirk just grew further and he gestured at the TV screen. Justin refocused his attention on the game and he saw that his character was currently being pinned by Lance’s. “Shit!”

“Justin Randall!” Lynn scolded from the hallway as she was passing the doorway. “What have I told you about watching your language?”

“Sorry, Mom,” Justin mumbled. Lynn just nodded and continued down the hall. She was staying with them so she could keep an eye on Justin.

Chris leaned forward to ruffle Justin’s curly hair. “Aw, isn’t that cute? Justin’s a lil momma’s boy.”

“I am not! If anyone’s a momma’s boy, it’s JC,” Justin said.

“I’m not the one who was just scolded for swearing,” JC replied.

“No,” Justin agreed. “But you’re the one who still lets his mom buy his clothes.”

Chris laughed and slung an arm over JC’s shoulders. “Tell me. Did mommy ever dress you like a girl?”

“No.” JC shrugged Chris’s arm off before looking at Justin. “And she hasn’t done that in years.”

“Try the Mickey Mouse Club,” Justin corrected.

“You’re just bringing this up because you’re sore that you finally lost,” JC said. He glanced over at Lance and smiled. “Good going, Lance. You knocked him down a peg.”

“That’s only because you distracted me!” Justin protested. JC’s smile grew and Lance was even smiling.

“Sure, sure. You just can’t accept the fact that there’s someone who can actually beat you,” JC said.

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Lance started to object, but Chris cut in.

“It’s not your fault that Justin got distracted, so that really does make you the better player.”

JC shared a grin with Chris and said, “You know, I think he might be losing his touch. It’ll be all downhill from here.”

“We’ll see about that.” Justin picked up the controller that Lance had set down in the midst of their bickering and offered it to JC. “C’mon. Unless you don’t think you can handle it.”

“You’re on,” JC said, rising from the couch as Lance stood. They swapped seats and began to set up for the next game. JC was finally letting himself relax and got so into the game that he barely heard the front door open. Or Lou’s voice carrying from just inside the front door and into the living room as he talked to Lynn.

Joey followed Lance into their bedroom and immediately began to sift through the clothes at the top of his dresser, looking for his swimming suit. They’d just finished practicing their vocals nearly five minutes ago. Lou had shown up just as Joey had finished and had talked to them while Justin had been learning his part with Robin.

Once they’d finished, Robin had suggested that they try the song together. She’d wanted to make sure that they all had a solid grasp on what their part was for the new song. So they’d returned to the room they’d dubbed as the music room with Lou and Robin and ran through the song.

Both of them had said that it sounded like things were really coming together, and Robin had dismissed them. That gave them an hour before they had to leave for the warehouse where they practiced their choreography. They’d been ready to separate when Justin had suggested that they go swimming.

There hadn’t been much protest because the weather for the past few days had been rainy, which hadn’t allowed for any outdoor activities. But the humidity was still as thick as ever, which made the heat from the sun nearly unbearable. So they’d all headed back to their bedrooms in search of their bathing suits to allow themselves to cool off for an hour.

Joey looked up from where he was going through a pile of clothes that’d ended up strewn across the floor next to his bed and frowned when he saw the expression on Lance’s face. It almost seemed like he was uncomfortable with the idea of swimming with them. While it was understandable, Joey had been trying to make Lance feel at home.

“You need to watch out for Chris,” Joey told him as he went back to rummaging through his clothes.

Lance had just pulled his swimming trunks out of his dresser and turned to look at him. “What? Why?”

Joey saw Lance’s worried expression and quickly explained, “He likes to sneak up behind people and push them underwater.”

“Oh,” Lance said quietly, his face relaxing slightly. “OK.”

“And if he teases you then you just do it right back.” Joey went back to his dresser and began to shift clothes around, making a mess of the semi-folded clothes. “The same goes for Justin. If he gets annoying, then just tell him to shut up. We all do it. Even JC, and Justin like worships him.”

“Why are you telling me all this?” Lance asked, his eyes looking at Joey, but not meeting his own.

Joey moved his clothes once more and grinned briefly when he found his swimming trunks balled up in the corner of the drawer. Task completed, he turned to face Lance and said, “I just want you to feel comfortable around us.”

“Well, thanks, but there’s not really much you can do,” Lance replied.

Joey frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You can’t make someone fit in when they don’t.”

“You fit in!” Joey protested, his frown growing. He knew Lance was having a hard time adjusting, but he never thought Lance felt like he was an outsider. They all got along pretty well with him and tried to include him in whatever they did. So hearing that Lance didn’t feel like he fit in was surprising.

“Maybe my voice, but that’s it. I’m only here because you guys were in a hurry and needed a bass singer that sounded decent,” Lance said, lowering himself onto his bed.

“That’s not true.” Joey sat down next to Lance, his fingers playing with the drawstring of his swimming trunks that were still in his hands. He glanced at Lance and continued, “Do you know how many people we went through before we found you?”

“No,” Lance said quietly.

“Thirty.” Lance’s head snapped up in surprise and Joey nodded. “And you know why none of them made the cut?” Lance shook his head and Joey said, “Because they wouldn’t fit in with this. They may have been a bass, but we needed someone who could sing and could get along with us. Then we found you, and it was like something just clicked, you know? There was no doubt in our minds that you were in.”

“And look where it got you. You’re no closer than you were before I even came into the picture.” Lance paused. “I’m holding you back.”

“Lance…” Joey began, but Lance interrupted.

“I can’t do the choreography. You’d be so much further if I didn’t keep screwing up.”

“You’re getting it. What we’re doing’s hard,” Joey said. “Hell, I screw up all the time.”

“But you and Chris aren’t having as much trouble as I am. And Justin and JC make it look so easy,” Lance replied.

“Justin and JC are freaks of nature. Not to mention they’re used to that crap from the Mickey Mouse Club. It just takes time to get the hang of it.”

“We don’t have a lot of time,” Lance pointed out. “There’s eleven days until the demo, and I don’t know if I’ll be ready.”

“I don’t think any of us will,” Joey joked lightly.

 “I just don’t want to let you guys down,” Lance said, ignoring Joey’s small joke.

Joey threw an arm around Lance’s shoulders. “You won’t. The only way you’d let us down is if you gave up, and I get the feeling you’re not that kind of person.”

“I’m not,” Lance agreed.

“Then I have no doubt that you’ll get it. One day you’ll be doing the steps and everything will just click.” Joey’s eyes locked with Lance’s. “Trust me.”

Before Lance could say anything, a yell could be heard from in the hallway.

“Are you guys coming or what?”

A second later Justin appeared in the doorway with his swimming suit on and looking exasperated. “What are you doing? We’re leaving for rehearsal in an hour, and it takes five minutes to get there. And we’ll need ten minutes to dry off and get changed. Not to mention you guys have already wasted like ten minutes so we only have thirty-five minutes to swim.”

Joey grinned at Justin’s anxiousness. “Take a breath before you pass out.”

“So you coming or what?” Justin repeated.

“Yeah.” Joey glanced at Lance who nodded. “We’ll be out in a minute.”

Justin just nodded before turning around and racing down the hall. Joey shook his head as he left and said, “I guess we should get ready before Justin drives Chris and JC crazy.”

“Sometimes I don’t understand how he can have that much energy,” Lance said.

“You and me both,” Joey replied and smiled. Lance returned his smile, and it made Joey feel that his talk had helped. Hopefully it helped alleviate some of Lance’s insecurities and would make him feel more comfortable with them.

“I’m going to see what’s taking Joey and Lance so long,” Justin said before he climbed out of the pool and started for the side door that led into the living room.

“Dry off before you go into the house!” Lynn called.

JC turned his head to see that she was sitting at the patio table with Robin. Justin rolled his eyes at her, but grabbed his towel to dry his wet body off. Once he disappeared into the house, Lynn returned to the conversation that she’d been having with Robin.

“What do you think’s taking them so long?” Chris asked JC as he jumped out of the water slightly to shoot the small basketball into the equally small net that hung off the edge of the pool.

JC shrugged. “I don’t know.”

He honestly wasn’t sure, but he had a suspicion that Joey and Lance had ended up talking. It’d been hard not to notice Lance’s unease once they’d finished going over their vocals. JC didn’t know what the reason was, but he didn’t think it could’ve been something they’d done.

Except that Chris had thrown some jabs Lance’s way a few times that morning. Playful jabs, but Lance probably didn’t know that. Some of the things Chris said could be kind of harsh, even if he was kidding.

“Take it easy on Lance, huh?” JC requested, voicing his thoughts.

“I am,” Chris said and tossed the ball into the hoop again.

“You’re always picking on him,” JC said.

“So?” Chris jumped and caught the ball that JC had sent sailing towards the hoop. “I pick on all of you.”

JC sighed. “I don’t know if he realizes you’re kidding, and I don’t want to make him more uncomfortable than he already is.”

Chris stopped shooting baskets to look at him. “Look, I get it. You’re concerned about things being awkward, but trust me when I say that things would be a hell of a lot more awkward if I didn’t make fun of him. I’m treating him like I treat the rest of you, which is going to make it better in the long run.”

JC couldn’t really argue with that. It wasn’t something he’d thought about before, but it made sense. Treating Lance different would make him think that he didn’t fit in because they weren’t comfortable enough with him to treat him like they would each other.

“You’re right,” JC said.

Chris looked smug, but that was quickly erased by the wave of water that washed over them from Justin jumping back into the pool. He coughed and glared at Justin. “You’ll pay for that.”

Justin just shrugged and turned to JC. “They’ll be out in a minute,” he said before JC could ask.

JC sat back as he watched Justin steal the ball off of Chris and slam dunk it. He smiled as they fooled around, jumping on top of each other to get the ball. But then his attention was drawn by the sound of the patio door sliding open.

Joey and Lance walked out into the sunny yard. They dropped their towels on a pair of lawn chairs before they headed for the shallow end. JC swam over to meet them.

“Hey,” he greeted.

“Justin driving you crazy yet?” Joey asked.

“No, but there’s still time,” JC said, laughing as he heard Justin’s indignant protest. He barely heard the patio door open again and Lou’s voice as he joined Lynn and Robin. “So what do you guys want to do?”

“I thought we were swimming,” Lance replied.

“We usually do pool games.” Joey looked at JC. “Hey, we should see if Lance can beat you.”

JC shook his head. “I’m sure he doesn’t want to do that.”

“Or maybe you’re afraid that he’ll actually beat you,” Joey said.

“No. I just don’t want to make Lance do something that he doesn’t want to do,” JC replied.

“Well, maybe if he knew what it was then he could decide for himself,” Lance spoke up then.

“JC’s known for holding his breath underwater the longest. None of us have been able to beat him,” Joey explained.

“Maybe I can,” Lance offered.

“Don’t let Joey influence you, Lance. You don’t have to,” JC said.

Lance shook his head. “I want to.”

“Alright!” Joey grinned and slapped Lance on the back. He glanced at both of them. “You guys ready?”

JC and Lance took a few deep breaths and let them out. They nodded at Joey, and when he gave them the go ahead, they both took a deep breath before they lowered their faces into the water. Nearly twenty-five seconds had passed before JC could hear Lance come up, so he followed.

“You don’t even look out of breath,” Lance said, panting slightly.

“JC’s a freak,” Joey said and laughed. “It’s the only the pool game he’s good at.”

“That’s not true,” JC protested.

Joey ignored him and looked at Lance. “One time we were playing keep away and Chris went to throw it at him and it whacked JC in the head.”

“Only because he whipped it at me!” JC defended.

“You were supposed to catch it,” Joey said.

JC huffed and crossed his arms only to frown a second later as Joey and Lance started chuckling. “What’s so funny?” he asked, starting to turn his head to find the source of their amusement.

But before JC could turn around, he was roughly shoved underwater. He struggled against the hand that held him there and felt the grip loosen, allowing him to surface. As he did so, he was coughing from the water he’d unintentionally swallowed. There was only one person who would’ve done that, and sure enough, he could hear Chris laughing behind him.

“You’re a freakin’ jerk,” JC muttered, his eyes blinking rapidly as they tried to find relief from the burning chlorine. Not being able to take it anymore, JC blindly found the rough concrete and pulled himself out of the pool.

“What’s the matter?” Chris taunted. “Can’t handle a little water?”

“You got chlorine in my eyes,” JC said, picking up his towel and dabbing at his eyes.

“You should’ve closed your eyes then,” Chris replied.

JC didn’t bother to respond to that as he tried to get his eyes to stop burning. After fifteen seconds of rubbing with the towel, he realized he’d gotten most of it. He lowered the towel from his face and looked up, his eyes landing on Lou who was standing in front of the patio table watching him.

There was something different in Lou’s expression that he’d never seen on his face before. His lips were upturned in a small smile and his eyes were half open in a peering gaze that was dark and unsettling. It reminded JC of the lustful way guys would look at girls. JC shifted his weight as his stomach churned anxiously.

“Yo, JC! Finish wiping your girly eyes and get over here!” Chris yelled, snapping JC’s attention away from Lou. “We’re gonna play Marco Polo.”