Story Notes:
Don't know them or own them. Purely my imagination.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks to my wonderful friend for giving me the idea in the first place!

As soon as JC opened his eyes, he knew it wasn’t going to be a good day. He kicked off his covers and turned over his pillow, so his head was lying against the cool side. His head was pounding from all the pressure built up from his sinuses being congested, and he was so hot, despite the goose bumps on his arms. JC hated being sick.

It’d escalated a lot in a day. Yesterday, his throat had felt kind of scratchy, but JC hadn’t thought much of it. It could’ve been from being dehydrated or from the air ventilated through the heating unit. But it definitely wasn’t because he was getting sick. Or at least, that was what JC had been telling himself all day yesterday.

Chris had even noticed during one of the rare moments when they didn’t have to be in the studio right away. They’d been talking about a club Chris had found just up from their hotel when he’d made a comment about JC’s voice.

“You sound like shit, dude,” he’d said.

“I’m just thirsty.”

Next thing JC knew a snowball hit him square in the face and fell into his mouth, which had been open from surprise. JC had wiped the cold snow from his face and had demanded, “What the hell was that for?”

Chris had just grinned. “You said you were thirsty, so I thought you’d like some water.”

That had started an all out war with the others quickly getting roped into it. They’d all run around the town square playing in the snow and getting soaked in the process, which wasn’t a good idea in the middle of March. It was still freaking cold in Germany, despite the fact that spring was rapidly approaching and it should be getting warmer.

It’d gotten his mind off his scratchy throat, but there was no denying it now. JC was sick. And on their last day of recording.

Just then, the door opened and footsteps came bounding into the room. There was a pause as they stopped before JC’s world began to bounce. He moaned and buried his head further into the pillow.

“C’mon, Jace,” Justin said, bouncing the bed. “Breakfast in my room.”

JC moaned again and blindly swatted at his friend, but Justin just merely laughed at his attempts. So JC rasped, “Go ‘way.”

Justin stopped bouncing. “Whoa, you sound like crap. You sick or something?”

JC just grunted, hoping if he didn’t say much that Justin would take the hint and leave him alone. He wanted to try to get another hour of sleep before they had to be at the studio.

“You want me to bring you some juice or tea or something?” Justin asked.

“Tea,” JC said, his voice nearly a whisper. As much as he wanted to sleep, tea sounded heavenly, and hopefully it would help with his voice.

“Okay. One tea with honey coming up.”

Once Justin left, JC closed his eyes. A sudden chill wracked his body, and JC groped for the sheets, yanking them back up. He probably had a fever, which was just great. JC really hated being sick.

A couple minutes later, the door opened again. JC reluctantly opened his eyes and pushed himself to a sitting position to accept the cup of tea from Justin. But he wasn’t alone; the other guys had followed him in.

“Dude, you look like hell,” Joey said in way of greeting.

JC rolled his eyes. Glad to know I look as shitty as I feel, he thought. Justin walked over to him and handed him the tea, JC nodded at him in thanks.

“See, you should’ve listened to me,” Chris said. “I knew you were getting sick.”

JC glanced up from his tea, annoyed.

“Oh whatever, you did not. And even if you did, you probably made him sicker by starting that massive snowball fight and dumping snow down his back,” Justin said, leaning against the nightstand.

JC smiled slightly. That was exactly what he’d been thinking. Sometimes he forgot how in tuned they were with each other. At times it seemed like they could read each other’s minds.

“JC can speak for himself.” Chris looked at JC. “You don’t blame me for you getting sick, right Jace?”

JC jerked his thumb in Justin’s direction, and Justin smiled smugly at Chris. “He says I said it all.”

“What are you, his lawyer?” Joey asked in amusement.

“I’d make a good lawyer, wouldn’t I, C?”

JC made a so-so motion with his hand as he drank some of the tea. Justin reached out and gently slapped his shoulder. “Thanks a lot.”

Joey chuckled. “Looks like your client isn’t convinced of your qualifications.”

“So you’re mute now, or what?” Chris asked JC.

“Maybe he’s not talking to avoid your teasing,” Lance suggested. “If he sounds as bad as Justin made it sound, I wouldn’t blame him. You’re pretty ruthless.”

Chris playfully shoved Lance. “I am not.”

“Or maybe,” Justin said, interrupting them before a shoving match could break out, “he’s saving his voice for the studio.” He looked over at JC. “Which is crazy. We’ll reschedule.”

JC swallowed another mouthful of tea and shook his head, a firm expression on his face.

“Justin’s right, JC. You can’t record when you’re this sick,” Joey said.

JC narrowed his eyes. Rescheduling wasn’t an option, and they all knew it. They’d only been given a couple days to lay down the rest of the tracks for the album before they started touring around Germany. Besides, they basically only had one song to record today.

“I don’t care if it’s the last day of recording,” Justin said, once again reading JC’s thoughts. “If you sing today, you’re going to kill your voice. Is that what you want?”

JC frowned. What he wanted was to finish the album on time. It would be stupid to cancel their last recording session because of a cold. Lou would never agree to it either, and JC didn’t blame him. As performers, occasionally they would have to perform when they weren’t feeling their best because disappointing fans over something as trivial as a cold wouldn’t be right.

Finally, JC met Justin’s gaze firmly and nodded. If his voice was shot once it was over, then so be it. He’d have a couple days to rest it before he’d have to sing again. But there was no doubt in his mind he was doing it.

Justin growled in frustration, kicking the bed frame and making it shake. “Stop being so stubborn. You know if it was the other way around, you’d be the one forcing me to stay in bed.”

“We don’t even have to cancel today,” Chris said. “We’ll go and record our parts, and you can do yours tomorrow.”

JC raised an eyebrow and gestured to himself. They weren’t getting it, so he mimed coughing into his hand. It quickly turned into a real cough though, and once it had subsided, JC rubbed at his ribs.

But Lance had finally gotten what JC had been trying to say. “How do we know you won’t be sick tomorrow?” JC nodded, and Lance said, “Well, the first day’s always the worst. Your throat probably won’t hurt as bad, which will make it easier to sing.”

“Lou,” JC croaked, growing frustrated. He swallowed a large mouthful of tea. It was hot and felt like it burned his throat, but he took it as a sign that it was helping.

“Don’t worry about, Lou,” Joey said. “We’ll work it out with him.”

Justin nodded. “Yeah, he’ll understand.”

JC shook his head, but Chris spoke up before he could say anything.

“I know you think he’ll say no, but what does he gain by saying yes? He wants us to sound our best, and you can’t finish recording when you sound like a frog.”

JC glared at him. He understood they were concerned and wanted him to get some rest, but he knew he was right. Lou would never go for it.

“You want to prove me wrong? Go right ahead. Sing something,” Chris said.

JC locked eyes with Chris and cleared his throat. Even that small action had JC grimacing, both in pain and at the thick sound of phlegm that had built up. Finally, he averted his eyes. He couldn’t sing...at least not yet. Not without some help.

“Medicine.”

Joey frowned doubtfully. “I don’t think all the medicine in the world will get you sounding normal in an hour.”

“But it’ll help,” Justin said, watching JC. “He doesn’t care if he doesn’t sound completely normal. He just needs to cover the symptoms for a few hours so he can finish up recording. Nevermind what he’ll sound like after.”

JC angrily beat his hand against the bed. “I’m doing this. End of discussion,” he said firmly, trying to keep his voice from betraying him by cracking, albeit unsuccessfully.

Chris sighed. “All right. Get a shower, take some medicine, and drink some tea. But we’re still going to talk to Lou, and if he gives the okay, you’re out. Okay?”

JC nodded, not having a problem agreeing to that. He would probably feel better after the steam from the shower broke up the mucus in his chest and took some medicine. Hopefully he wouldn’t sound too bad by the time they got to the studio because Lou wasn’t going to agree to postpone their last session.

**********

“Lou, can we talk to you for a sec?”

JC rolled his eyes from where he was sitting on the couch behind the mixing board. They’d arrived a couple minutes ago, and the guys had practically pounced on Lou as he walked in the door. In their eyes, the only reason JC was here was because they hadn’t been able to reach Lou sooner.

“Is there a problem, boys?” Lou asked, noticing their serious expressions.

“Sort of...” Chris began, but Justin quickly cut him off.

“Yes. JC’s sick.”

Lou raised an eyebrow and glanced at JC. JC didn’t say anything, but continued to suck on a throat lozenge. He wasn’t going to help persuade Lou into something he didn’t agree with. They were on their own.

“How sick?” Lou asked, turning back to the others.

“It’s just a cold, but-“

Lou interrupted Justin. “That doesn’t sound too bad. He should be able to sing with a little cold.”

“It’s affecting his voice,” Chris said, stepping in. He took a deep breath. “We all think he should sit this out and do his parts when he feels better.”

“Is that what you want, JC?” Lou asked, looking down at him.

JC shook his head and said quietly but firmly, “No, sir.”

Lou clapped him on the shoulder, and he looked at the other four. “Well, there you go. He wants to press on.”

“But, Lou,” Joey protested. “You didn’t hear him earlier. He was all raspy and gritty sounding.”

“Can you sing, JC?” Lou asked, bending slightly to look JC in the eye. JC nodded, and Lou squeezed his shoulder, offering him a smile.

“Lou, you can’t let him. He shouldn’t be singing when he’s this sick,” Justin said.

“He seems all right to me. And if he wants to try to sing, I’m not going to stop him.” Justin opened his mouth to protest, and Lou held up a hand. “I understand where you’re coming from, but we’re on a schedule. You’ll be leaving for Hamburg tomorrow. We can’t afford to get behind.”

But Justin was insistent. “But what about-“

“How about we try it and go from there, all right?” Lou suggested, though the look he gave them clearly said that it wasn’t a suggestion...it was what they were doing. “Now go ahead and get started. I need to make a few calls, but I’ll be back to check in later.”

Lou left, and the producer told them that they would begin by finishing up Best of My Life. JC had already recorded his parts the day before, so he would have some more time to rest up his voice before they started on Forever Young.

Justin was called into the booth, and he shot a glare at JC, clearly upset that JC was there despite their better judgment. JC just shrugged helplessly. It was a rough break, but unavoidable and Justin knew that.

A sudden shiver ran down JC’s spine and he pulled his legs up onto the couch, tucking them under himself. He crossed his arms over his chest, trying to keep the warmth contained in his hoodie and cursing, not the first time, how freaking cold Germany was.

Yawning, JC tiredly laid his head against the arm of the couch. The cold had already practically wiped him out, leaving him more exhausted than he normally was at noon as of late. Plus, he’d had to put up with Lynn hovering, despite his numerous attempts at reassuring her that he was fine. Eventually, he’d lost the energy to fight Lynn and just let her mother him.

“Why don’t you stretch out and take a nap?” Joey suggested, patting the empty cushion between them.

JC glanced around the room. Chris was leaning against the wall, and Lance was sitting on the floor in front of the couch. There wasn’t much they could do while Justin was in there, so maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to take a short nap.

JC gave Joey a meaningful look as he stretched his legs out, taking up the empty space. Joey nodded and said, “I’ll wake you when we’re ready for you.”

A little while later, a hand shook JC awake. He peeled his eyes open and glanced to his right, seeing Joey withdraw his arm and offer him a smile. “How you feeling?”

JC blinked and rubbed at his eyes. He looked up and saw that Justin was still in the booth. For a moment, he wondered if only five minutes had passed since he closed his eyes...it certainly felt like it. But no, he recognized that Justin was singing the first verse of Forever Young.

JC stretched and yawned loudly, causing Lance and Chris to turn around from where they were sitting on the floor hovered over a newspaper.

“Morning, sleeping beauty,” Chris teased.

Lance smirked and looked up from the paper briefly as he jotted something down. It looked like he was doing the crossword. “You snore, by the way.”

JC was affronted. “’m sick,” he mumbled, or at least tried to. It came out more of a croak than a mumble. He pulled a tissue out of his pocket and blew his nose. “Ugh.”

“I agree,” Chris said. “And please keep your disgusting germs to yourself.”

JC ignored Chris as he weakly let his head drop back against the couch. As great as that nap had sounded, he was beginning to think it’d been a bad idea. During the short amount of time he was asleep, the sinus pressure and the congestion had reinforced themselves.

Leaning over, JC reached into the small backpack he’d brought with him. He grabbed a bottle of nasal spray and shot a squirt of it in each nostril, trying to help clear his airway before he sang so he wouldn’t sound so nasally. He also popped another lozenge in his mouth to suck on.

As he waited for the medicine to take effect, his eyes lazily wandered the room. Chris and Lance had returned to the crossword, and JC just realized that it was in German. He frowned, glancing at Joey for an explanation.

“How...”

“How are they doing a crossword in German?” Joey finished for him. JC nodded. “They’re not. They’re writing words in the spaces and trying to make them go with each other.”

“Like Scrabble,” Lance said, from the floor. He narrowed his eyes and jabbed a finger at something Chris had just wrote. “That’s not a word.”

“Sure it is. Haven’t you heard of it?”

“No because it’s not a word.”

Chris just shrugged. “Well, it is now.”

Joey patted JC’s leg, getting his attention. He pointed to the now empty booth. “You’re up.”

JC stood up, grabbing a couple water bottles out of his backpack. He went into the booth, the door closing behind him and set the water on the stool. After putting the headphones over his ears and clearing his throat, he quickly ran through a warm-up exercise.

“You ready, JC?” the producer, Frank, asked once he’d finished.

JC nodded. He didn’t sound as bad as he thought he might, but he didn’t sound exactly normal either. His voice definitely had a huskier quality to it, and JC briefly wondered how that would affect him hitting his high notes. He didn’t have to wait long to find out.

The music was cued, and JC sang the opening line. He repeated the words “forever young” a few more times, and it was on the last time that it happened. His voice cracked. JC winced, the music stopping.

“Let’s try that again, okay?”

JC opened one of the bottles of water and took a long drink from it. Once again the music filled his ears, and he sang the beginning. This time he forced his voice to remain steady as he hit the higher note, and thankfully, it didn’t crack.

The producer nodded from behind the glass. “Okay, great. Moving onto the chorus...”

The chorus turned out to be one of the easier parts of the song. He didn’t have to get too high into his higher register, which helped to keep his voice from cracking. But even singing that little bit still took a toll on his voice. He had to stop and take another long swallow of water, practically draining the rest of the bottle.

Once he gave the producer the okay, the music started up again, picking up where it’d left off leading into the second verse. He didn’t have too much trouble with it since, like the chorus, it was more into his lower register. At least until he had to hit a high note on the word “sun.”

His voice cracked horribly for the second time. They restarted and tried again. After the third time, JC sighed heavily and rubbed his forehead in frustration.

“All right, JC. Why don’t you take it a notch lower?” Frank suggested.

JC shook his head, putting the second bottle of water that was already half empty back on the stool. He didn’t want to be the reason they had to change parts of the song. He wanted to do it the way it was supposed to be done. He was a professional, damn it.

“Just let me try one more time. I can do this.”

Justin came forward and leaned over Frank, speaking into the microphone. “Don’t be stupid, JC. Just sing it lower.”

JC glared at him, but Justin just crossed his arms and glared back. And JC wasn’t getting any support from the others; they all had a serious expression on their face. Sighing again, this time in defeat, JC gave in and relented, nodding his head.

“I’m going to start the second verse again,” Frank began. “And when it gets to that part, you take it a smidge lower. Don’t try to kill yourself hitting it. Just do what’s comfortable, okay?”

“Okay.”

JC sang through most of the second verse again, and when it came to his last line before the song broke off into the chorus again, he forced himself to hold back. He didn’t hold back that much, which elicited an eye roll from Chris. But JC didn’t care. He was doing as close to what was expected as he could.

“Good. I think we can work with that.”

Frank offered JC a smile, one that wasn’t returned. He hated that he wasn’t able to nail anything. They always gave the producers a few takes to work with for mixing the songs, but usually they all could get it on the first or second take. Now it was taking him four or five tries before he got something they could “work with.”

JC drained the rest of the other water bottled and adjusted the headphones, preparing himself for the repeat of the chorus and the bridge.

On the other side of the glass, the guys were watching JC with a mix of concern and frustration. The latter was especially evident in Justin, who’d moved back to the couch but was continuing to watch JC with hard eyes.

“Stupid moron,” Justin muttered.

Chris couldn’t help but agree with him. All it took was one look at JC to see how exhausted he was. His eyes were glassy and a sheen of sweat was clearly visible on his face, the bright studio lights not helping his fever. It looked like he was ready to just keel over, and Chris wished he would actually sit on the stool instead of standing next to it.

But they couldn’t say any of that to JC...not that he would listen even if they did. JC was determined to get this done, and nothing they said would change that. Chris watched JC as he gave Frank another take of the chorus and thought, “Stubborn bastard.”

Glancing down at Justin, Chris noticed how tense he was. So he reached out with his right hand and kneaded his neck, feeling how tight the muscles were. Justin flinched as Chris hit a particularly big knot at the base of his neck.

“Relax, J,” Chris said.

Justin chewed on a nail, his eyes never straying from JC, who was doing one final take for the chorus. “I can’t.”

“He looks like he has to pee,” Chris said after a moment.

The others looked at him with weird expressions, but it was Joey who said something. “Dude, what the hell?”

Chris just shrugged. “What? He does.” He gestured back at JC. “Look at his leg. It’s bouncing a mile a minute, which either means he’s hopped up on Speed or he has to pee. Personally, I’m going with the latter.”

“Well, he has drunk a liter of water in the past half hour,” Lance said.

“Exactly.” Chris paused. “I kinda feel for him. It can be hell when you really have to pee and can’t.”

“He could take a break,” Joey pointed out.

“He won’t,” Justin said bitterly. “He’ll be in there ‘til he’s done. Even though he should’ve stopped at least ten minutes ago.”

A puff of air escaped the corner of Chris’s mouth. He should’ve seen that coming. Oh well. He was just going to have to work harder to get Justin to lighten up because God knows he’d jump on JC and start bitching at him as soon as he stepped out of the booth. And the last thing they needed was a bitchy Justin and a sick JC going at it.

As Frank leaned forward and turned the microphone on to talk to JC, Chris grinned and began to sing TLC’s “Waterfalls” very loudly.

“Don’t go chasing waterfalls.”

“What are you doing?” Lance asked.

Chris ignored him, using the hand that had been massaging Justin’s neck to force him to sway back and forth. He continued to sing loudly, emphasizing the sources of water. “Please stick to the rivers and the lakes you’re used to.”

“Get off me,” Justin said, pulling out of Chris’s grip. But Chris was happy to see that he was smiling. He’d caught on to what Chris was doing. “He’s going to kill you.”

Chris held up his hands. “Hey, I wasn’t the one who drank a ton of water.”

“But you shouldn’t be messing with him,” Lance said as Frank continued with what he’d been telling JC before he’d been interrupted. “And when he’s sick...”

“Maybe he thought it was funny,” Chris defended.

“Somehow I don’t think so.” Joey gestured to JC.

As one, they looked over at JC who was glaring at them so intensely that Chris briefly wondered if the glass was going to melt. But then, he just grinned and waved.

Back inside the booth, JC cursed Chris. Stupid, annoying Chris. JC’s leg was bouncing faster, if that was even possible. He knew he could take a break and go, and God, did he want a break. But he also knew that once he left the booth, there would be no way the guys would let him back in. They probably already thought he’d pushed himself too far.

JC cleared his throat, wishing he’d brought another bottle of water. His voice was starting to get scratchy and rough sounding again, and he was sure it wouldn’t be long before it was as bad as it’d been when he first woke up that morning. He just needed to hang on for a little bit longer and then he could take care of some stuff. He wanted to pee, drink some tea, take a shower, and sleep. In that order.

Frank’s voice filled his headphones again. “You sure you don’t want to take a break?”

“I’m sure,” JC said. They were finally reaching the end of the song. All that was left was the bridge and to repeat “forever young” a few more times that would lead into the fade out.

The music was cued, and JC picked up at the start of the bridge. He made it through most of it and even managed to hit some of the slightly higher notes without his voice cracking. But again, the last word tripped him up.

He was supposed to take it higher and hold the note for a few counts, which was normally no problem for him. That wasn’t the case this time. His voice cracked before disappearing, sparking a coughing fit.

The coughing left JC breathless and he inhaled deeply, trying to get air to his oxygen starved lungs. That turned out to be a mistake. Everything blurred in front of his eyes and spun, causing him to sway on his feet. He fell forward, cracking his head off the edge of the microphone hanging from the ceiling.

JC stumbled as the coughing returned and tried to blink away the dizziness, barely registering the headphones sliding off his head. He felt the stool slide across the floor behind him as he ran into it, tripping him up even more. Before he could fall, strong arms wrapped around his chest and steadied him.

“Whoa, Jace,” Joey said, holding him still as JC continued to cough fiercely into his hand. “Take it easy.”

Finally, the coughing subsided and his vision cleared. He saw three worried faces looking at him; he was still leaning against Joey.

“Are you okay?” Lance asked.

“Yeah,” JC said, his voice having a definite raspy quality to it after all the coughing. He gently pushed away from Joey as proof that he was all right. “I just got a little dizzy.”

Chris frowned. “I think it’s time to call it quits.”

“No.” JC started to shake his head but stopped, afraid of sending the world spinning on its axis again. “I’m close. Just let me finish.”

“You’ve done enough,” Justin said. “You sound like complete crap. Any more and your voice will be gone.”

“Not finishing isn’t an option,” JC replied firmly. “You heard Lou.”

Justin threw up his hands in exasperation. “I don’t give a shit about Lou! You just practically passed out and split your head open.”

JC frowned in confusion. He reached up to his throbbing forehead and pressed his fingers to the sore spot. When he pulled his hand away, his fingers were stained with red. He sighed.

“Justin...”

“I’ll go get a towel,” Lance volunteered.

“Get me some water too please,” JC said, grimacing at the rawness of his throat.

The air was thick with tension, and Joey sighed, putting a hand on JC’s shoulder. “Jace, c’mon. Chris and Justin are right. It’s time to call it quits for today. You look completely exhausted.”

“I’m not leaving until I’m done.” JC was still met with unwavering glares, from Justin especially. He rolled his eyes. “It’ll take like five minutes, all right? And the sooner I get some water, the sooner I can finish.”

Justin and JC stared each other down, unblinking for a long moment. Finally, Justin sighed and backed down. “Fine. C’mon, Lance.”

Justin and Lance disappeared, and Joey picked up the empty water bottles from the floor, throwing them in the trashcan. Chris moved the stool back in front of the microphone and gently pushed JC to sit on it.

“You’re too stubborn for your own good,” Chris said.

“Like you guys wouldn’t do the same thing if you were in my position,” JC replied, giving him a knowing look. It quickly disappeared as another coughing fit from his now extremely dry throat took hold.

When JC recovered, he saw that Justin and Lance had returned. Justin looked like he wanted to chuck the water bottle at him, but instead he stiffly extended his arm, offering the cold beverage to him. JC accepted it and twisted the cap off, immediately starting to chug the water.

“Jesus, JC,” Chris muttered. “At least try to stop the bleeding first. Blood’s going to drip in your eye.”

Chris took the paper towel from Lance and firmly pressed it against the cut, causing JC to flinch at the pain. By the time he’d drained half the bottle, Chris had managed to stop the bleeding.

“I think you’ll be all right. For now anyway,” Chris said, muttering the last part. JC recognized they were pissed, but he was nearly done and he wouldn’t fight them about forcing him to rest afterwards. In fact, he looked forward to it.

JC put the headphones back over his ears, adjusting them since the size had gotten screwed up when they’d slid off his head. He looked at the guys and they took the hint, walking out of the booth.

“You sure you want to do this, JC? I probably have enough to work with,” Frank said.

JC forced a smile. “You don’t, but thanks. I’ll be fine.”

Frank looked hesitant, but he didn’t object. He started up the music for what JC hoped would be the final time. They started at the beginning of the bridge, and JC gave the stretched out “forever” his all. This time it was pretty good, despite the fact that JC’s voice was practically shot.

But JC managed to continue without stopping, wanting to just be done at this point. He pushed himself to hit all of his notes as best he could, and when the notes faded, JC knew that his voice was practically gone. Just as Justin had predicted.

JC smiled tiredly at Frank when he said that he definitely had everything he needed now and that they were done. He pulled the headphones off his head, placing them on the stool and picking up the water bottle. After quickly drinking the rest of it, JC tossed it into the metal trashcan and walked out.

Joey and Lance got up from the couch, leaving most of it unoccupied. JC shot them a grateful look as he tiredly threw himself onto it and let his weary body sink into the worn in cushions as Frank called lunch.

“I hope you’re happy.”

JC looked over at Justin, who was sitting at the other end of the couch. He frowned. “It had to be done,” JC rasped, his voice barely above a whisper.

Justin’s face clouded with anger and it looked like he was going to start arguing again. But all he did was scoff and mutter, “Crazy idiot.”

“You do know we’re not gonna let you do something like this again though, right?” Chris asked.

“Don’t really plan on it,” JC said in a barely audible volume. He cleared his throat even though he knew it was useless. He wouldn’t be using his voice for the rest of the day.

Chris just nodded and turned his attention to Joey and Lance who were on the floor with the half finished German crossword in front of them. They were just killing time until Lynn brought food like she usually did when they were in the studio. She’d even promised to bring JC chicken noodle soup, which he had to admit sounded heavenly right now.

JC glanced over at Justin and saw that his youngest friend’s lips were closed tightly as he refused to even look in JC’s direction. Gently, JC kicked at Justin’s thigh. Justin finally looked over at him, annoyed.

“I’m sorry,” JC mouthed. He hadn’t meant to give them all such a hard time because he knew they were just worried, Justin especially. JC didn’t get sick very often, which tended to freak Justin out when he did.

Justin regarded him seriously for a moment before he sighed. “You can really be a stubborn asshole sometimes. But you were right...as messed up as that is.”

“You were right too,” JC said, mouthing the words. Justin had been right when he’d said that he would’ve been pushing for them to reschedule if the roles had been reversed. And JC wanted to show that he appreciated the concern even though he refused to listen to it.

There was slight pause. “And you won’t do anything like this again, right?”

JC made an “x” with his fingers and put them over his heart before making a cutting motion across his throat. Cross my heart and hope to die, he thought.

“Stick a needle in your eye?” JC shuddered at that, and Justin laughed. “All right. I believe you. Besides, if you try this again, I’ll just get Chris to tie you to the bed or something.”

“Hey, I’m not that kinky,” Chris objected.

JC rolled his eyes, but smiled. As far as he was concerned, there wouldn’t be a next time. At least he hoped there wouldn’t because he definitely pushed himself a little harder than he should’ve and would be paying the price for that for the rest of the day. Not to mention maybe a couple more days.

“Hey, Chris,” Joey said, catching Chris’s attention. He glanced up from the crossword. “Didn’t you date a girl named Jillian?”

“Yeah, back in sophomore year of high school.” Chris shook his head. “God, Jilly was one crazy chick.”

“Jilly? It’s a name?” Lance demanded, rounding on Chris. He pointed an accusing finger at him. “Cheater! I knew it wasn’t a word.”

“Technically a person’s name is a word,” Justin pointed out. He smiled innocently as Lance shot him a dirty look.

“Yes, I know,” Lance said. “But you’re not allowed to use names in Scrabble, so Chris is a dirty rotten cheater.”

“Actually, it’s still a word. It’s another name for a joint,” Chris said.

“And how would you know that?” Lance asked.

“Well, there was more than one reason why her nickname was Jilly.”

Justin’s eyes widened slightly. “You dated a pothead?” Chris rolled his eyes and Justin pressed. “How much pot did you do?”

Lynn came walking in then, carrying a bag of food. “What about pot?”

“Nothing,” Chris said quickly. “I was just saying that I wanted to buy a pot of flowers. You know, for my mom.”

JC laughed out loud at the terrible lie. Normally Chris was a better liar, but he also normally didn’t have Lynn walking in on him and getting him all flustered. Most of the time they tried to avoid talking about stuff like that in front of her because they knew how protective of Justin she could get, and Chris especially had received lectures from her before.

Unfortunately for JC, the laughter led to yet another coughing fit, making him feel like he was hacking up a lung. Immediately, Lynn went over to him and started to fuss over him. Once JC was finished coughing, he lay back against the cushions, exhausted. He let Lynn hover over him, not having the energy to fight her off.

JC looked up and caught Justin’s knowing smirk, which said that he understood how much JC hated being fussed over but that he brought it on himself. Justin wouldn’t be getting his mom off JC’s back for him this time.

JC moaned. Did he mention he really hated being sick?


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Leo is the author of 14 other stories.
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