“The name of the game is Crazy Eights with eights being wild and—”

“Chris, we all know how to play. Just deal the cards,” Joey interrupted, impatient.

“I’m trying to make it more exciting since someone,” Chris glanced at JC, “won’t let me play poker.”

JC sighed. “Because Justin and Lance don’t know how to play.”

“I told you I’d teach them,” Chris said.

“And I told you no, so just deal already,” JC replied.

“But I wanna learn!” Justin whined.

“Justin…” JC started, but Chris cut him off.

“Don’t worry, kid. I’ll teach you later.”

JC rolled his eyes and muttered, “And face the wrath of Lynn.”

Chris finally started dealing each of them the number of cards they’d need to start off with, and JC stifled a yawn as he collected them. It’d taken him a while to fall asleep last night because he couldn’t stop thinking about everything Chris had said to him. He didn’t want to come off as weak and submissive, but he didn’t exactly want to argue with Lou either. JC was afraid it would draw even more attention to himself, and that if he kind of stayed in the background then maybe Lou would just forget about him. It’d seemed like it was working too. At least until yesterday in the studio.

“JC, it’s your turn,” Lance said, snapping JC out of his thoughts.

“See, this is why I wanted to play poker. You can’t space as much,” Chris said.

“I wasn’t spacing,” JC denied, throwing a six of spades on top of the pile.

“Are your cards in Hebrew or something then? ‘Cause you were staring at them for like five minutes,” Chris said.

JC rolled his eyes. “I believe it’s your turn. Unless you want to try to talk your way out of this game too.”

“You’ll be changing your tune when I win.” Chris laid down an eight of clubs. “Hearts.”

It was Joey’s turn and he was starting to pull a card out to put on the pile when Justin said, “No, not that card. Put down the seven so I can change the suit.”

“You little cheater! Stop looking at my cards,” Joey complained, immediately sitting back and pulling his right hand closer to his chest, so Justin couldn’t lean in and see.

“That was the first time,” Justin protested.

“My ass,” Joey mumbled, putting down a five of hearts, much to Justin’s chagrin.

Justin picked up a card from the draw pile and grinned when he laid down a two of hearts. Play continued after that with both Lance and JC placing a card from the suit of hearts on the pile. It reached Chris and he grumbled under his breath as he reached for the draw pile.

“Why did you say hearts if you didn’t have any?” Lance asked.

“I was trying to throw you off,” Chris said, still picking up cards. They played that you had to pick up cards until you got something that you could play.

Joey smirked. “Good thing we use two decks. You must have like twenty cards in your hand already.”

JC laughed slightly before it was interrupted with a long yawn. Chris noticed and glared at him. “I’m sorry. Are you not entertained by watching me pick up an endless amount of cards?”

“Not really,” Justin said before JC could and grinning when Chris turned his glare on him.

Chris resumed drawing cards before he sighed in relief and placed a king of diamonds on top of JC’s king of hearts. The next few rounds went smoothly with the guys laughing when Chris dumped all the cards in his lap from trying to whip one out of his hand. They were still laughing about it, especially when they glanced at Chris, who was struggling with the large amount of cards he held.

“Cheater!” Chris yelled, pointing an accusing finger at JC once he placed his last card on the pile.

Joey frowned. “When did you get down to one card?”

“After Chris nearly dropped his cards,” Lance said.

“Why didn’t you stop him?” Chris asked.

“I didn’t know if ya’ll played where you called the person out and penalized them or not,” Lance tried to defend.

“Of course we do! We’re all about the punishment.” Chris shook his head, looking at JC. “I should’ve known you and Lance were in cahoots.”

“We’re unstoppable,” JC said, winking at Lance, who laughed.

Chris sighed and turned to Justin and Joey. “And you two! What were you doing?”

“I was trying to get Justin to stop cheating,” Joey said, glaring slightly at Justin.

Justin just grinned and threw his cards in the middle of the table. “Let’s play basketball!”

No one argued as they tossed their cards onto the others. JC rolled his eyes, knowing Lynn wouldn’t be happy if she returned from the grocery store and they’d left the table a mess, but he couldn’t bring himself to put them away. Instead, he rose from his chair like the rest of them and headed for the hallway, intending to take a nap.

JC walked to the end of the hallway and turned into the bedroom, throwing himself onto his unmade bed. There were footsteps coming into the room, and he turned his head to see Chris and Justin. Chris grabbed his shoes that’d been thrown carelessly at the foot of his bed, while Justin dug around in his closet.

“Aren’t you going to play?” Justin asked, glancing up at JC as he smiled victoriously at finding one shoe under his dirty clothes.

“No,” JC said, closing his eyes.

“But JC…” Justin whined.

“I’m tired, Justin,” JC said, not opening his eyes.

“C’mon, JC.” Justin jumped on JC’s bed, landing on top of his legs. “It’ll be fun.”

“So will sleeping,” JC muttered and buried his head deeper into his pillow. “Go away, Justin.”

“C’mon, let’s leave Sleeping Beauty alone,” Chris said.

Justin huffed, but got up. JC heard him and Chris leave the room and sighed as he sank further into his bed. He felt kind of bad for telling Justin to leave, but he was tired. Besides, Justin would forget all about it later, and JC would feel more rested to do something with him.

Above him, the ceiling fan whirled quietly, trying to cool the room from the heat and humidity that hung heavily in the air. The hum was soothing, and JC’s breathing started to even out as he was pulled closer to sleep. He was nearly there when a weight was pressed on his back.

JC figured it was Justin again, so he turned his head to tell him to go away. But his heart leaped into his throat when he saw that it wasn’t Justin. It was Lou.

Immediately, JC rolled over and started to push himself out of bed. But Lou brought his left arm down onto his upper chest and across his shoulders, effectively pinning him to the bed. JC tried to swing at Lou with his right arm only to yelp when Lou dug his elbow into his shoulder. Since he couldn’t move his upper body, he was going to take advantage of his legs being free to kick Lou in the groin so he could escape.

He hadn’t brought his right leg up more than a couple inches when Lou straddled him, his calves pressing JC’s legs into the bed. Nearly his entire body was pinned now, rendering him practically immobile. Something that Lou was using to slowly unzip his jeans.

JC’s eyes grew wide and his heat beat so hard and fast against his ribcage that it was almost painful. He moved as much as he could underneath Lou’s weight, trying desperately to break free. To stop what he knew was coming from happening.

He struggled as he hard as he could, twisting and turning as much as Lou’s crushing weight would let him. JC even tried to dislodge Lou from him by bucking his hips, hoping to at least get his legs free. But the only thing he succeeded in was arousing Lou even more.

“We’ll get to that soon enough,” Lou said, eyeing him lustfully.

JC couldn’t help the shudder that wracked his body. He continued to thrash about underneath Lou, hoping he’d be able to get away. Lou had just gotten his jeans down below his knees. There was still time.

“Get the hell off me!” JC growled as Lou reached for the waistband of his boxers.

Lou wasn’t deterred though as he slowly pulled JC’s boxers to where his jeans were pooled around his knees. He stared at JC appreciatively before he reached for his own jeans. JC swallowed roughly and turned his head away, not wanting to see Lou undress.

He heard jeans being unzipped and rustling as they were probably pushed down. JC’s body tensed and he held his breath, knowing what was coming. And there was nothing he could do to stop it.

A few seconds later, JC gasped and scrunched his eyes in pain as Lou penetrated him. That was bad enough, but then Lou started to thrust forcefully. The pain was unlike anything JC had ever experienced before.

“Stop!” JC yelled. “Stop it!”

“Shh. It’s alright,” Lou told him breathily.

JC grimaced and tossed his head to the other side. His fingers clutched his sheets as his body moved in time with Lou’s thrusts. Each one painfully jolting him. All he could think about was the blinding pain and wish for it to stop.

“Leave me alone! Please!” JC shouted, tears starting to fall from his eyes.

“You know you want this. Stop fighting it,” Lou whispered.

JC’s breathing sped up as his tears started falling more frequently. He cried out in a strangled voice as Lou slammed harder into him before picking up speed. It had to be over soon. It just had to be.

“Stop. Please, stop,” JC pleaded just below a whisper, salty tears running down his cheeks and onto his pillow.

Lou either didn’t hear him or ignored him as he continued to pound into JC. Another couple minutes passed, but it felt like so much longer. When Lou finally came, JC’s body shuddered painfully.

JC shakily drew a breath as he opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. Lou pulled out of him, but didn’t leave like JC expected. Instead, Lou reached out his right hand and stroked JC’s cheek, causing him to flinch.

“You’re so beautiful,” Lou whispered in JC’s ear, his hand caressing his face before cupping his chin. He forced JC to meet his eyes. “Yes, so beautiful.”

A shiver ran down JC’s spine, and he turned his head away from Lou. He didn’t want to hear this. Nothing could justify what Lou had just done to him.

“I just want you to be perfect. And you’re so close,” Lou said, running a hand through JC’s long hair and JC cringed.

Lou finally sat up and pulled up his pants. Once he was finished, he got off the bed without another word. JC watched him open the door and walk out into the hallway. And all he could do was lie there in disbelief.

JC took a deep breath as his stomach started to churn. It didn’t settle though. Bile started to rise in his throat, forcing him to move his tired and sore body. He yanked his boxers and pants up to his hips before bolting out the door and down the hall.

JC slammed the bathroom door shut, ignoring the stabbing pain in his shoulder before dropping to his knees in front of the toilet where he threw up everything he’d eaten just an hour earlier. And his sobs didn’t help at all. If anything, it got him even more worked up. As JC puked violently, agitating his aching body even more, he wished that he could just curl up and die.

Lance sighed as he missed another step. He ran a hand through his hair before he reset himself, ready to start the choreography for Tell Me That I’m Dreaming again. Things had gotten more comfortable with the guys, but dancing still left him feeling out of place.

It still took him longer than the others to pick up the steps and get through the routine without any mistakes. Lance wasn’t worried about not getting it though because Joey was right. The steps would click eventually like they had when they’d learned the choreography for We Can Work It Out earlier that week.

But that didn’t make Lance feel any less awkward during rehearsal. He didn’t think he was doing too badly. His dancing had certainly gotten better since he’d first started, but he was still nowhere near the level of the other guys.

Joey and Chris were closer to him, but still didn’t miss nearly as many steps as he did. And JC and Justin still made the whole thing seem effortless. Though, JC didn’t seem to be throwing as much energy into the routine today as he normally did. But Lance just figured he was still tired, despite that nap that he’d taken earlier.

Not that tiredness wasn’t justified. Their days were full of rehearsals that were draining physically and mentally. It would all be worth it though when they made it through the demo, and Lance was sure that he’d be comfortable with the choreography by then. At least that was what he was banking on now that he knew the guys wouldn’t replace him just because it was taking him a little longer to pick up the routines.

Dave, the choreographer, counted them off before cuing the music, and the five of them launched into the routine again. Lance counted in his head as he watched himself in the large mirror, trying to make sure he hit all of the steps correctly. Everything was going well until he reached a turn they did.

Lance’s feet had gotten crossed the wrong way, causing him to turn the opposite direction. After a couple seconds, the music stopped, and Lance withheld the sigh he wanted to release. That’d been the closest he’d been to getting the routine down and he messed up on a stupid little turn.

“Alright, that was good, guys. Lance, you nearly had it. You just need to make sure you turn the other way next time,” Dave said, smiling.

Lance blushed slightly, not believing he’d made such a silly mistake. But then Joey reached over and nudged him gently, offering an encouraging smile. That made Lance smile a little, knowing that he was getting better and they were bound to have easy screw ups occasionally.

“OK. Let’s take it once more from the top. Then we’ll move on to the second half of it,” Dave instructed.

“Make sure you turn the right way this time,” Chris told Lance, a smile taking out the sting of his words.

“You’re one to talk, old man,” Justin retorted. “Wasn’t it just like twenty minutes ago you got busted for doing a hop step instead of a jump?”

Chris glared playfully at him. “Don’t be surprised if my foot accidentally comes out and trips you.”

“Alright, let’s focus guys,” Dave called, trying to reign in their attention. He walked over to the stereo. “Get into position, and we’ll go through it again.”

Without another word, the five of them all reset themselves in the starting position for the song. Dave turned on the music, signaling the start of the routine. This time it was nearly flawless, and Lance felt more comfortable with the steps.

“Good job, guys. We’re going to move on now and pick it up with Lance’s solo around the bridge,” Dave said.

“You mean Lance’s sexy talk,” Chris corrected, laughing. Joey and Justin joined him and JC smiled slightly, but Lance didn’t mind. It was all in good fun.

“You’re just jealous,” Lance replied.

“Of that corny cheese you have to say?” Chris shot back playfully. “You wish.”

“Leave him alone, Chris. It’s not like he wrote it,” Joey said, smiling at Lance.

“No. It’d probably be worse,” Chris replied.

“Oh!” the others chorused while Lance laughed. Earlier that week he probably would’ve taken offence to that. But now that he’d gotten to know them, it was easy to see that they didn’t mean anything by it.

“OK, that’s enough. Lance,” Dave looked over at him, “I’m going to do something a little different with you today. I want you to come to the front and work the crowd for a few seconds during your solo.”

Lance frowned. “Work the crowd?”

“It doesn’t have to be a lot. You can just reach out and grab their hands or something. Then you’ll do the moves that we’d practiced earlier this week while the others are doing their flips,” Dave instructed.

“So am I going to the left or the right?” Lance asked.

Dave thought for a second before he said, “To the left. You can back up a bit when you go to do your steps as the others are flipping, but I don’t want you to go too far. OK?”

Lance nodded, and Dave walked back over to the stereo. Dave gave his own nod to Lance before he hit play. Feeling self-conscious with the guys watching him, Lance moved forward to the left and knelt down as if the crowd was really there.

He felt ridiculous pretending that a crowd of people were there when really he was just looking at himself in the mirror. Behind him, the guys snickered quietly to themselves. But Lance tried to focus on picturing what it would be like to have an audience in front of him, which made it seem a little less awkward.

“C’mon, Lance,” Justin called. “Work it. Give the ladies what they want.”

Lance rolled his eyes and shook his head as he rose to his feet. He started to move his hips and swing his right arm like he’d been taught earlier that week. The other four moved behind him and set themselves up for their flips.

They were all supposed to flip at the same time, and Lance watched in the mirror as Justin and Joey did a back flip to the right, while Chris and JC moved to the left. Normally it went smoothly, but not this time. JC was doing a one-handed backhand spring and pushed his body into the air only to fall hard as his shoulder folded beneath him.

Dave stopped the music as Joey laughed slightly, asking, “Man, are you OK?”

They all expected JC to jump up right away because the fall hadn’t looked too bad. Not to mention, when he did mess up, he was usually quick about getting right back into it. So it was concerning that he was still lying there and clutching his shoulder.

Before any of them could try to help JC up, Dave came over and knelt down next to him. Lance stepped closer, wanting to know exactly what was wrong, but far enough that he wouldn’t interfere. He hoped that JC had just gotten the wind knocked out of him, but his face pinched in pain made that seem unlikely.

Dave gently pried JC’s left hand away from his shoulder and touched it, causing JC to hiss in pain. “I’m going to help you sit up, so we can take a look at that shoulder, alright?”

JC nodded and Dave pushed him to a slumped sitting position. When Dave crouched in front of JC, he asked, “Can you move your arm out to the side?”

“I don’t think so,” JC said even as he moved his right arm slightly, causing him to grimace.

“You should probably get checked out,” Dave replied.

Chris frowned from above them. “Is it that serious?”

“I don’t know. It could just be that he did something to one of the muscles, but it’s a good idea to get it looked at. Just in case it’s something more serious, so it can heal properly,” Dave explained.

“What about rehearsal?” Lance asked, staring at JC worriedly. It definitely didn’t sound good.

“We can’t do anything more today, so we’ll catch up whatever we need to tomorrow,” Dave said. “You guys got a doctor you can take him to?”

“Yeah, there’s a clinic my mom found back when we were on MMC,” Justin said.

Dave nodded and dismissed them, wishing JC luck at the doctor. Joey grabbed JC’s left hand and pulled him to his feet quickly. Together the five of them headed for the van, worry radiating off of all of them. This was the first time they’d had to deal with an injury that was serious enough to warrant being looked at by a doctor, and it was unnerving. So Lance hoped, for JC’s sake, that nothing was seriously wrong.

Chris leaned his head back against the wall his bed was pressed up against and flipped the page of the latest issue of Sports Illustrated that he’d picked up earlier that week. It was a nice way for him to unwind before bed, especially after how eventful the day had been. More specifically, the visit to the doctor’s office.

That’d been something that’d really worried all of them. They’d all experienced injuries before, but they’d feared the worst with JC’s shoulder. After all, he’d landed on it pretty hard and it seemed to cause him intense pain.

Just then JC walked in dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt, his typical bed wear. He offered Chris a small smile before he lied down on his bed, shifting so that he was slightly upright. But Chris didn’t miss the wince of pain as JC tried to find a comfortable position.

It was obvious that his shoulder was still bothering him, but he was trying to downplay it. That was something that JC had done in the doctor’s office while Chris waited in the examination room with him for the x-rays.

“What exactly happened at the warehouse?” Chris asked.

JC stared at him in disbelief, and said simply, “I fell.”

“I know, but you always nail that flip,” Chris pointed out.

“I can’t be perfect,” JC said, rocking slightly on the examination table he was sitting on.

“No one’s asking you to be.”

JC turned his head towards the door for a moment before focusing his attention on his feet dangling off the table. “Then what’s the big deal?”

“You should say something if you’re not feeling a hundred percent,” Chris said, leaning against the opposite wall.

“What are you talking about?” JC asked, looking up at him.

“You were rubbing your shoulder all through rehearsal,” Chris explained.

“It was just a little stiff. It wasn’t the reason I fell,” JC said.

Chris had wanted to say more, but that’d been when the doctor had come in with the x-ray results. Nothing had been broken like they’d expected. But what they had found out was that the muscle had been overworked and putting all of his weight on it had been what caused JC to fall.

And that just confirmed the worry that Chris had expressed to JC. He didn’t want him to feel like he had to keep going no matter what the cost would be to his body. It wasn’t healthy and it was stupid to risk injuring himself seriously.

The doctor had put an icepack on JC’s shoulder and wrapped it with gauze to prevent swelling. He’d also told JC to take it easy on his shoulder and gave him a few simple exercises he should do in order to keep the muscle from stiffening up. But Chris knew JC wasn’t going to adhere to taking it easy on his shoulder since he probably felt he had to do the choreography.

“Mom,” Justin complained, walking into the room with Lynn behind him. “I don’t need you to tuck me in. I’m not a little kid anymore.”

“You know, someday you’ll miss this,” Lynn told him matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, someday. Not today,” Justin said.

“C’mon, get under,” Lynn said, holding the sheets up for Justin to slide under. Justin grumbled even as he acquiesced with her request.

Chris couldn’t hold back the smirk that he felt cross his lips. It was amusing to see Justin so agitated with Lynn because he was trying desperately to act like he didn’t need his mom anymore. But all of them got mothered by her in some way, especially JC.

Lynn had about freaked when they’d walked in the door and she saw the icepack attached to JC’s shoulder. It’d taken them up through dinner to convince her that JC was alright and given instructions on how to care for his shoulder. But that hadn’t stopped her from fussing over him.

“Good night, sweetie,” Lynn told Justin, leaning over to kiss his forehead.

Justin sighed, but said, “Good night, Mom.”

Lynn smiled at him and turned to leave when she stopped at the foot of JC’s bed. He hadn’t moved since he’d first lied down, and he didn’t really look that comfortable. And apparently, Lynn agreed.

“JC, honey, why don’t you get under the covers?” she suggested.

JC shook his head slightly. “I’m hot,” he said when Lynn opened her mouth to ask why.

Immediately, Lynn frowned and moved to the side of JC’s bed. She bent over him and placed her hand on his forehead. After a second, she pulled away slightly and said, “Well, you don’t have a fever…”

“I’m not sick,” JC confirmed. “I’m just kind of hot right now.”

“Well, do you want me to get you a blanket you can pull over you if you get cold?” Lynn asked.

“Mom,” Justin complained. “Leave him alone. If he gets cold, he can get under his covers.”

Lynn stared at JC for a moment before she nodded and sighed. “Alright. I’ll see you boys in the morning.”

Chris tossed his magazine on the dresser as she turned out the light. Once she was gone, he lied flat on his back. He glanced over at JC’s bed and hoped that JC would take care of his shoulder. Because while it hadn’t been his fault that he’d gotten hurt, it was a setback for them. The demo was only six days away, so it was approaching quickly. But, at the same time, Chris hoped that JC had learned a lesson from today and wouldn’t push himself past his limits.