Justin sighed softly as the water from the showerhead gently pelted his tired body. He let the water massage his muscles for another minute before he shut it off. He wrapped a towel around his waist and stepped out of the shower. He paused in front of the sink to grab some aspirin out of the medicine cabinet. His head was pounding.

He walked into his bedroom and began to search through his drawers for something to wear. After a minute or two of looking he found a pair of jeans and a blue t-shirt. He quickly changed in the bathroom. As Justin reentered his bedroom for the second time he noticed that JC was still sleeping in a chair next to his bed with his head resting on the mattress.

Justin thought back to when he woke up and first saw JC sleeping next to his bed. He had been surprised, but he vaguely remembered JC coming in last night and pulling him out of his nightmare. This nightmare had been the worst one yet. He thought they would’ve gotten less extreme since he told JC about them, but they seemed to grow in intensity. He didn’t usually wake up crying hysterically like he did last night.

He knew that JC probably recognized that and spent most of the night watching over him, so he didn’t get much sleep. However, Justin was surprised that JC hadn’t woken up while he had been taking a shower. That just proved that JC was really tired.

He sighed as he covered the short distance between himself and JC. He gently picked him up and placed him in his bed. Justin knew that if he left JC sleeping like he was, he would have a neck ache later. He watched JC shift in his sleep and sighed in relief when he didn’t wake up. He pulled the covers up over JC’s legs before he turned to go downstairs.

Justin walked into the kitchen expecting to find Lance and Chris in there, but it was empty. Justin made his way to the living room, but the living room was empty as well. They had to be somewhere. He had passed both of their rooms and Lance’s bed had been neatly made while Chris’ had his blankets askew and a pillow on the floor. He decided to look around the house and started by looking out the window to see if they were in the backyard. They weren’t, so Justin walked down the hall towards Lance’s study thinking that maybe he was feeling better and decided to get some work done. He found that the door was closed and was about to knock when he heard voices.

“You can really find out what JC was doing last night?” Chris asked from inside the room.

“Yeah,” Lance said. The clicking of keys could be heard. “Just give me a few minutes and I should be able to pull it up.”

The voices stopped for a minute and Justin was about to leave when he heard Chris mention him. “He said some things about Justin too.”

“What?” The clicking stopped for a second before it continued. Justin leaned closer to the door. He normally didn’t eavesdrop, but he wanted to hear what JC had said about him.

“That Justin’s not fine and that we’ve been ignoring him,” Chris said.

“What makes him say that?” Lance asked.

“I don’t know. He changed the subject right after that,” Chris said.

“Why would he think that though?” Lance’s voice asked.

Chris sighed. “I don’t know.”

Justin didn’t stick around to hear what else they were going to say. He turned around and hurried back upstairs. While Justin clenched his fists in anger, he couldn’t help but feel hurt and betrayed. He had told JC things in confidence before and JC hadn’t said a word, but for some reason JC had a problem keeping Justin’s nightmares secret and now Lance and Chris would be worried about him when it wasn’t necessary. Justin walked into his bedroom and roughly shook JC.

“Get up!” he barked as he shook JC harder.

“What?” JC mumbled as he wearily opened his eyes to find Justin standing over him.

“You promised!” Justin yelled. “You promised not to tell and you did it anyway.”

“What? What are you talking about?” JC slowly sat up and rubbed tiredly at his eyes. “No I didn’t.”

“Yes you did! You told Chris!” Justin couldn’t believe that JC was trying to deny it. It was one thing for him to say something to Chris, but the least JC could do was be honest with him.

“I didn’t tell him everything,” JC objected.

“No,” Justin agreed. “But you told him enough to make him and Lance think that there’s something going on when there isn’t. Now they’re going to be watching me to make sure that I’m all right.”

“You’ll know how it feels then. To have them hovering over you when there’s no reason to,” JC replied.

“That’s different, JC!” He and the guys had been watchful over JC for his own safety. It was unfair of JC to compare Justin with himself because Justin’s situation wasn’t nearly as serious.

“How?” JC asked.

“We had a reason to watch you. You put yourself in a damn hospital. I’m not stupid enough to do that,” Justin said.

“It’s different when you’re actually going through it yourself, isn’t it?” JC asked. Justin didn’t see how this was relevant and shook his head in confusion.

“I didn’t make the same mistake you did. I talked to you. Told you about my nightmares right away. It took you a month to tell me about them.”

“And did it help? Maybe I’m mistaken, but I think you’re still having trouble sleeping, aren’t you? Who’s to say that talking about them really helped me? Maybe they just went away on their own,” JC said.

Justin frowned as he thought about what JC said. He realized JC was right. Talking about his nightmares had worked for JC. Why wasn’t it working for him? He couldn’t think of a reason so he pushed it to the back of his mind. He crossed his arms as he brought his attention back to argument with JC.

“That doesn’t matter. What matters is that you told me about those dreams in confidence and I kept it to myself. Why couldn’t you do the same?”

JC sighed. “I never said anything about you having nightmares. All I said was that they needed to stop worrying about me because I’m fine. You’re not!”

“And that’s much better? Telling them to worry about me? And what makes you think you’re so fine, huh JC? When was the last time you got a full night’s sleep?” Justin asked, giving JC a knowing look.

“This isn’t about me,” JC replied.

“Well, maybe it should be. These are your nightmares. You said you’d fix this, JC. I don’t want to deal with this crap!” Justin yelled.

“I never wanted you to,” JC said.

“Well, now I have to because Chris knows and he’s telling Lance right now.” Justin glared at JC.

“I’m sorry, J. I know I had no right to say anything. It just slipped out,” JC said. “But I am working on it. I’m doing my best to fix this. I promise.”

“I don’t want you to make a promise that you don’t intend to keep.” Justin turned to walk out of his bedroom. He didn’t want to talk to JC anymore.

“Justin! Wait!” JC grabbed onto Justin’s shoulder to stop him from leaving.

Justin yanked his arm out of JC’s grasp. “Why don’t you go call Joey? I’m sure he’d like to know too.”

Justin stormed out of his bedroom leaving a hurt JC standing next to his bed.

Lance sighed as he sat down at his computer. He wanted to see what JC had been reading last night now that he was alone. When he’d been with Chris a couple of hours ago he had found the list of websites that JC had visited and noticed that they had to do with interpreting dreams. He hadn’t clicked on any of the links though because Chris was in the room with him and he still didn’t know what JC’s nightmares were about. Lance had to tell Chris something though, so he had lied and said that JC hadn’t been looking at anything weird.

JC was really starting to worry Lance. First he found out from Justin that JC had been up at four in the morning a couple days ago and now JC was having nightmares again. At least that was the only explanation that Lance would come up with. He was concerned that JC had just told Chris there was something wrong with Justin to get them off of his back. Lance knew the frustration JC felt when one of them would ask him why he didn’t eat breakfast or if he had slept well.

Currently Lance had the page opened where JC had looked up the meaning of friends dying in his dream. He read the paragraph that JC had earlier and shook his head. He knew that JC probably hadn’t been satisfied with the analysis that was given. It made it sound like his nightmares weren’t a big deal, but Lance knew they were to JC. He was about to open another webpage to look at when a loud voice came from the living room followed by a yelp of surprise.

He immediately closed the website and walked out into the living room to investigate. He found Justin standing in front of the TV with the remote in hand. “What’s up?”

Justin turned to look at Lance. “Chris turned up the TV really loud. It about gave me a heart attack. Damn you, Chris!”

The only response that could be heard was the distant laughter coming from Chris who was in the kitchen. Justin sighed as he sat down the on the couch in his usual spot before he began to channel surf. Lance sat down in the recliner chair next to the couch.

“You’re going to hang out in here?” Justin asked.

“Yeah, I need a break from working,” Lance said knowing that Justin thought it was weird for him to sit and watch TV in the middle of the day. He knew that he would get to the other websites that JC visited later when there weren’t so many interruptions.

Lance reached for a tissue from the box that was sitting on the end table and blew his nose. He still wasn’t feeling better. Even the cloudiness in his mind hadn’t gone away. If it had, he probably would be working. Just then JC walked into the living room and over to where Justin was sitting. Justin didn’t even look up as JC approached him.

“Take this,” JC said to Justin as he extended his hand. There was a pill sitting in the center of his palm.

Justin eyed the pill and gave JC a defiant look. “Why?”

JC sighed. He turned to glance at Lance and Justin followed his gaze. JC gave Justin a knowing look. “Just take the damn pill.”

Justin grumbled to himself, but accepted the pill. He swallowed it dry before he lied down. He continued to watch TV as he waited for it to kick in. JC walked over to the loveseat where he heavily sat down.

Lance watched JC rub at his eyes. He noticed that JC looked kind of upset like something was bothering him. He figured that he should try to find out what. However, since Justin was in the room, he decided to talk to JC telepathically to keep it between the two of them.

 “Are you OK?” Lance asked. 

JC looked at Lance in surprise. “Yeah, I’m fine.” 

“OK.” Lance knew that JC wasn’t going to be very forthcoming if something was bothering him. Lance figured that since they were already communicating this way that it would be a good time for him to bring up the things that were on his mind. “How are you sleeping?” 

“What do you want to say, Lance?” JC asked. 

Lance was surprised at JC’s attitude. JC was never usually that short, which only increased Lance’s suspicions that something was bothering his friend. He answered, “I know that you’re having your nightmares again.” 

“How would you know that?” JC raised an eyebrow. 

“I looked up the sites that you were on last night,” Lance said simply. 

“You’re spying on me?!” JC yelled. 

“Chris told me you were up late last night looking up something. We wanted to know what. So what did you find?” Lance figured that if JC shared any insight that he got from those websites that he wouldn’t have to look at the other websites later. 

JC shook his head. “Nothing and I’m not having nightmares again. I just wanted to see what it meant.” 

“Why didn’t you do that sooner?” Lance asked. He wasn’t sure if he should believe that JC wasn’t having nightmares anymore. Why else would he wake up in the middle of the night? 

“There was no time,” JC said. He paused for a minute. “What else did Chris tell you?” 

“That you think that Justin isn’t fine and that we haven’t been keeping an eye on him like we should have,” Lance said. 

“Chris should’ve kept his mouth shut,” JC muttered. 

“Why? If there’s something wrong with Justin, we should know about it,” Lance replied. 

“Not if he doesn’t want you to,” JC said. 

“Is that what he told you?” Lance asked. 

JC shrugged. “Basically.” 

“So there is something wrong with him?” 

JC glanced over at Justin who was now asleep on the couch. “I’m handling it.” 

“But what’s wrong?” Lance repeated. 

“I can handle it,” JC insisted. 

Lance hesitated before he gave in. He was going to let JC handle it for now, but he was going to keep an eye on both him and Justin. If anything happened to either of them, he would demand an explanation. “Fine.” 

“I’m going to get something to eat. You want anything?” Lance asked as he rose from the chair he had been sitting in. JC shook his head and Lance was about to leave when JC’s voice stopped him.

“Are you OK?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Why?” Lance looked curiously at JC.

“Just a feeling,” JC said. “It’s probably nothing.”

Lance nodded and left to get something to eat. As JC watched him leave he thought back to their conversation and the feeling that he had. While they were communicating telepathically, he had felt cold and that had never happened before. He wondered what it could be, but no explanation was coming to him so he decided to forget about it for now.

JC pulled himself off the loveseat and walked over to the couch where Justin was sleeping. He took the blanket off the back of the couch and threw it over Justin’s sleeping form. He watched him for a minute to make sure he was sleeping peacefully before he grabbed the remote that had been resting on the arm of the couch and returning back to his seat. He began to look for something on.

Every few minutes JC would look over at Justin to check on him. He hoped that giving Justin that sleeping pill was a good idea. He hadn’t tried them himself and he had been weary of giving them to Justin, but knew that Justin desperately needed the sleep. JC knew that the only reason that Justin hadn’t put up a bigger fight about taking the pill in the first place was because Lance was in the room. He was sure that if Lance hadn’t been there it would’ve taken longer for him to convince Justin to take the pill.

JC sighed as he thought back to the argument they’d had earlier. Some of the things that Justin had said were pretty hurtful. He had been so surprised to wake up to Justin angry and yelling at him. He could see where Justin had been coming from, but that didn’t make the things he said to him hurt any less.

“No!”

Screaming from the couch brought him out of his thoughts. He quickly realized that it was Justin and he jumped off the loveseat and ran over to him. He grabbed a hold of Justin’s shoulders to try to shake him awake when Lance and Chris came running into the room.

“What’s going on?” Chris asked.

“He’s having a nightmare,” JC answered distractedly. Shaking him didn’t work and Justin was still screaming.

“Leave them alone!” JC winced knowing that it was going to make his voice raw later.

“What can we do?” Lance asked.

“Get out. I can handle this,” JC said.

“It doesn’t look like it,” Chris muttered.

JC turned to face them with an angry look on his face. “Get out! I’ll explain everything once he’s calmed down.”

“You better,” Chris said as Lance pushed him into the kitchen.

JC quickly turned back to Justin who still hadn’t stopped screaming. “Stop it!”

JC slapped Justin’s cheeks enough to wake him, but not hard enough to leave a mark. Finally Justin’s eyes shot open as he woke up. He looked wildly around the room as he tried to figure out where he was before his eyes landed on JC. Justin stared at JC for a second before he burst into sobs. JC pulled him to his chest and hugged him knowing that Justin was probably still caught up in the terror of the nightmare.

JC just sat there holding Justin and whispering comforting words in his ear like he had the night before. A few minutes later Justin had stopped crying and fell into an exhausted sleep. JC gently lowered him back against the couch and covered him. He frowned as he watched Justin sleep for a minute before he sighed. He knew that Chris and Lance were sitting in the kitchen waiting for an explanation that he didn’t particularly want to give.

He walked into the kitchen. Chris and Lance’s eyes were on him immediately. He could tell they wanted to ask him a bunch of questions, but seemed to be restraining themselves, for the moment anyway. He sat down across from them.

“How is he?” Lance asked.

“He’s…asleep.” JC paused before muttering to himself, “I can’t believe he woke up. Those sleeping pills are supposed to be powerful.”

“Why do you even have sleeping pills?” Chris asked having heard him. JC should’ve known that he would. He seemed to have a talent for hearing people when they mumbled to themselves.

“I bought them,” JC said. “In case I needed them.”

Chris raised an eyebrow. “Have you?”

JC shook his head. Chris was about to fire off another question before Lance cut in, “Hey Chris, why don’t you go call Joey?”

“But he needs to explain what the hell happened in there,” Chris objected.

“And he will, but Joey needs to be here,” Lance said. Chris sighed, but left to go make the call.

JC barely heard him leave the room. He was wrapped up in his thoughts. He felt horrible that his plan to fix things hadn’t worked. If anything it made them worse. It had been so much harder to wake him this time compared to last time, and it didn’t help that Justin had been screaming in his sleep. He had never done that before.

JC couldn’t believe that the pill didn’t help at all. Those pills were supposed to have knocked him out for hours, but he was only asleep for about twenty minutes. Now he needed to give an explanation to the other guys. He knew that Justin wasn’t going to be happy when he woke up and found out what had happened. At least JC had until Joey arrived to organize his thoughts.