"Ok, why are we here again?" The five guys stared at each other waiting for an answer. It was storming out and they were stuck at Lance's.

"We were supposed to be going to the Magic game tonight, Chris." JC finally answered.

"So why didn’t we?”

"Because Lance is grumpy," Lance piped in "Am not.", "and they canceled the game." Chris got up and opened the cabinet next to the TV.

"Anybody want to play?"

"Yeah, guys, go ahead. Play the game. I don't mind." Lance commented sarcastically as he got up to go to the kitchen. The others looked at each other. Joey held up his hand and counted down from five. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

"Can we play your game, Lance?" They asked sweetly in unison.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah but…" Lance winced, it was too late. "Dance, Dance Revolution" came belting out of the living room... along with a thud. Lance came out of the kitchen to find Chris flopping on the floor. "Chris, get up. It's not that loud."

"What the hell is it?" Chris yelled back while getting up off the floor.

"It's a video game."

"I have every video game known to man, I don't have this, so therefore it is not a video game." Justin spoke up, a grin plastered on his face.

"Shut up, Justin"

"Lance has got a girly game!!!!"

"You think it's a girly game huh, Justin? Move, Chris." Lance pushed Chris out of the way and opened the cabinet and pulled out a dance pad.

"What the hell is that?" Justin stood up, trying to get a better view.

"You use it to play the game; I've seen it in the arcade." JC answered Justin before Lance could get a word out.

"Of course you would have."

"What's wrong with the arcade??"

"Nothing...nothing at all."

"JC, Justin. Knock it off." Lance was regaining control, it was HIS house after all. "Justin. Justin? Timberfreak!!! You think this is a girly game so now you are going to play."

"No I'm not. Besides....I'd kick your ass anyway."

"Oh really? Let me see."

"Whatever. Do you have anything to drink since I'm being forced into this?" Lance went out to the kitchen to get something to drink. Just thought of the other guys ragging on Justin the moment he missed a step was worth the argument. CRACK!!! The lights went out. CRA-CRACK!!!! Lance heard the guys scream as the lights came back on and rushed out to the living room. "Guys, you ok?" The living room was empty. 'Oh no, not again.' Lance thought as he looked at the TV. "Ok guys, uh, don't panic. I know how to get you out of there."

Slightly panicked, Joey asked, "What do you mean "get us out of here"? This has happened before?!?"

"Yeah. Well, once. About three months ago. Anyway, you have to play."

"Play what?"

"Tiddlywinks, Chris. What the hell do you think you have to play?"

"Ok, ok. So how do we play?" Joey was just focused on getting out of the TV. Sure he liked watching it but this was a little ridiculous. With the question the tutorial popped up along with four dance pads. "Just follow the tutorial and you'll be fine." The guys turned around and watched the tutorial run.

"Oh great, jumps."

"Will you quit complaining, Old Bones?" Lance sat back on the couch laughing while watching his friends do the tutorial. 'They thought I had problems dancing, wait until they get going.' He was laughing as the tutorial finished.

"Ok, now what? Lance? LANCE!!!!" Justin had already had enough of this thing.

"Ye-yeah?"

"What...do...we...do...now?"

"Ok, the time I was stuck I had to complete four songs and then it just spit me back out. So I guess you will have to do the same. Seeing as this is the first time you have ever played maybe it will go easy on you guys."

"I hope it does. I don't have a month to learn a routine." JC had seen the game before but had never attempted it. He was wishing he did now though.

"Ok, before we get going, may I ask you what in the world you have this game for?" Chris was more than just curious, he wanted to stall in hopes of another lightning bolt.

"Well, it's funny really. Remember when you all would rag on me about my dancing and everything?" The four of them nodded. "And then remember how I started to improve and nobody knew why?" They nodded again. "Well, I was playing this. Of course not this version. I stopped when we went on break but I picked it back up again. I've gotten pretty good at it. Hopefully this foolish thing will keep you on beginner and maybe a basic. If you get a difficult, well let's just say I hope you didn't have any plans...."

JC, Joey, Chris and Justin turned around when music began to play. Four songs had popped up on the screen in three different colors. Justin turned around to Lance.

"Ok, so what do the colors mean, Einstein?"

"This is not good. Ok, the two blue ones are beginner. I would recommend the second one first. The yellow one is basic. That one isn't TOO bad, you should get it ok. The bad part is the last one. The reddish one is difficult." "Of course!!!!" Joey interjected. "That one is the lightest difficult I've hit but there are some fun moves in there."

"Now by fun do you mean "hahahehe" fun or the "I want to kill myself now" fun?"

"A little bit of both, Chris. The eighth notes are the "hehe" fun and the streams with the eighth notes are, unfortunately, the second one."

"Ok, ok, ok. Enough of the "prepping". It's making me nervous, how about we just start it and see what happens." They all concurred with JC, they weren't getting any younger.

"Ok. Do "Hit n' Slap" first. It's set for beginner and has a slow steady beat. It will get you use to the steps."

"I'm telling you Lance, when I get out of here, you are not going to like me."

"Whatever, Justin. That's if you get out of there."

"Oh, IF I get out of here, huh?" Justin quickly turned around to the sound of music just as the announcer called "Ready?". "What did you do that for, Joey?"

"To get you to shut up. Now pay attention, the steps are coming up."

Lance watched as the guys played the game. They looked like robots. Funny how a group of people can all do the same dance on stage and it looks cool, but they all try to play a game and all of a sudden they become stiff and jerky. Like robots. It was actually amusing to watch his friends try something that he could do with his eyes closed. They weren't doing too badly. Aside from the continuous "damnit"s and stomping on the dance pads from missing a step they were doing just fine.

"Piece of cake. What's next?"

"Hold on Justin, you've been dancing recently, JC is just caffeine neatly packaged in a human wrapper, and we, as in me and Joey, haven't done this stuff in awhile."

"Speak for yourself man, I have a kid. Matter of fact maybe I should get this for her, I would finally get a break from tea-parties."

"Tea-parties huh, Joe?"

"Uh, What I meant to say was...uh...playing catch? Yeah, playing catch."

"And your point is?"

"His point, Justin, is that he is going to collapse after the next song." JC pretended to faint, getting a laugh out of everyone.....but Chris. Chris was ready to get out of there and go home and back to ignoring these guys. "Graduation" was the next beginner song. Not bad, faster than the last one, but still not bad. Lance continued to watch as the other four stepped to the beat. They didn't miss as many this time, though Justin was the first one to miss a jump, causing fits a laughter in the guys as they finished the song.

"Now who would kick whose ass?"

"I didn't see the left arrow, alright. It's not like I fell down or something."

"Cry me a river, Timberlake." This caused everyone to have one of those short snort laughs, the kind that you always seem to get as soon as you begin to drink something, even Justin.

"Touché, Bass."

"Now if everyone is ready to continue..." they looked at each and agreed to continue. “Good. This next one, "Turn On The Music" by Roger Sanchez, has the same kind of steps as before so you won't have anything fancy, just a little more of it. Enjoy."

"Yeah, enjoy." Chris huffed. "While you sit on the couch and laugh. We can see you, Lance. We are dancing, not hitting piñatas. And it's not very encouraging."

"Welcome to my world." Lance wasn't expecting the comment and it pissed him off. All the times of teasing were coming back to haunt them. He stood up and hit the X on his dance pad, causing the music to start.

"Now who started it?" Joey was sure he didn't do it. Hell, he wasn't even on his pad yet.

"I did. Let's see if this thing will let me play, too. Alright Mister "Life is so unfair to me"?"

The song started up and they begin to dance. A fifth row of arrows came up in the middle to track Lance's score. He and, amazingly, Chris were the only two to pass it.

"How the hell did he pass it and not us?"

"Because, Justin, he doesn't have someone mumbling next to him while their dancing." JC found it unfair that his concentration was blown thanks to Justin.

"Ok guys. Guys? GUYS!!!" Now Justin and JC were going at it. "Stop it you two. Everybody sit down, the game will wait, trust me. Just breathe. Tensions are high but you will get through this, ok? Just calm down. You can fight all you want once you're out here. I'll even join in, just get your asses out here." Lance had had enough. They were in his TV and the last thing he needed was them around the house. "Chris, you can sit out this time since you have already passed the song. Joey, Justin, and JC, you three need to calm down and realize that this is just game and like every game you've done before, you can beat this." Lance restarted the song. This time he didn't dance but watched the other three. They did better this time, a lot better. All three of them passed.

"Now let's bring on the super-duper hard one, Lance." Of course, Chris was just joking, but it was worth it to see the look on the other three's faces as they said something about him sitting out that round and that the game would probably let him pass by default for being so old.

"I have an idea, how about I play this round alone so you guys can see what's in the song?"

"And why didn't you think of this before?" Joey was rather peaked at this question.

"I didn't think of it before because one, I didn't realize the game would let me dance and two, because I didn't think you guys would have that much trouble with basic. So, do you agree or do you want the bullets now?"

"Whatever, just go." Lance started up the last song, "Peace(^ ^)v" by BeForU. There weren't any difficult jumps or combos to it, just a lot of eighth notes in stream. But he did the song with confidence. The other four just sat there, mouths positioned to catch flies in astonishment that Lance could not only hold a beat, but also that he could keep track of the arrows on the screen.

"And how long did it take you to learn this?" JC was preparing for a month, or maybe even a week but

"I did for the first and only time two days ago." Lance was still catching his breath. He was glad he didn't fail in front of these guys.

"Only two days?"

"Yep, now you guys should be able to do this the third time around, if not the second." With a collective sigh the guys turned around and started the song. JC started to stomp on the pad like a little kid after screwing up on the first set of eighth notes, Joey just flat out stopped in the middle of the song, Chris was flailing his arms around so wildly that he hit Justin upside his head causing him to miss the next stream and curse wildly. The song came to a stop as they all collapsed to the floor.

"You only...did this...once?" Chris wasn't going to die but he sure wasn't ready to do it again.

"Yeah."

"Two days ago? You have to have done it more since then." JC knew he had to be right; Lance just had to be lying

"Nope, just once. I am use to the game a lot more though." Justin was rubbing his head where Chris' hand had connected.

"I was doing good until I was rudely interrupted."

"Well soooooooorry. I'll just move my pad" He got up and moved his pad about a foot further from Justin. "Over here."

"Ok, everybody set and ready to try again?" Lance was going to dance this time. The guys looked at him and, guessing by the way they did, would have attacked Lance if they got the chance.

"Might as well, it ain't going to get any easier." Justin hit the X on his pad and the music started again and it pretty much went the same as the first time. The only thing that was different was Justin didn't get hit in the head again. They all failed, again. Lance passed again, to no surprise of the other four.

"Do we really have to do this thing again? I tired of this already. Come on please, you have to know another way to get us out."

"I'm sorry, but no, Joey. Do you think I am doing this just to torture you guys? I really wish I knew how to get you out of there. It was funny at first but now it's just pathetic."

"Whatever, one more time guys?" They all nodded. The song started up and they began to dance, getting more steps than before. CRA-CRACK!!! Justin, Joey, JC, and Chris landed about the living room in contorted positions.

"Ow..." Chris was upside down on the couch. "I will definitely feel that in the morning."

"Same here." Joey was on the recliner with one leg tucked up underneath of him.

"I'm ok." Justin was flat on his back on the floor.

"Mphfmh." JC's head was buried in the other end of the couch. "Did you know you have a nickel in your couch?"

"How in the world did that happened?" Lance was looking around at the guys strewn about the living room.

"Well I guess it fell out of someone's pocket when they sat down."

"NOT the nickel, JC!!!

"I guess the lightning strike got us back out of the game, thank goodness. We finally don't have to do that stupid song anymore. Now if you'll excuse me, I really have to go to the bathroom."

"Too much information, Joey." Chris was happy to be out but didn't need that from the guy running down the hall to the bathroom.

"Where's Justin?" Lance was looking around and finally found him, playing the game.

"What are you doing?"

"Lance, buddy, old pal. How in the world can you beat that?"

"I just do the steps." Justin started the song up again. "I thought that was a girly game, Justin?"

"It is, but I have to beat it. DAMNIT!!!!!" While trying to speak he missed a step and it completely threw him off causing him to fail, yet again.

"So you guys ready to go out?" Joey came back from the bathroom, wiping his hands on his jeans.

"No, I'm going home." Chris shook his head in agreement to JC's statement.

"That sounds like a plan. What about him?" Joey was pointing to Justin, who was still dancing.

"Justin!!! JUSTIN!!!"

"WHAT?!?!?"

"Get out of my house!!!!!" Justin stepped off the pad and watched as the steps flew by.

"Whatever, stupid girly game. I WILL BEAT IT!!! I WILL!!!!!"

Yeah, yeah, yeah....."