It was just a joke that turned into something way bigger than he thought it would.
The day after Britney left he found some of her things mixed in with his. Among them were lipstick, a half empty bottle of perfume, and some racy underwear. The night before Chris went out with Joey and got piss drunk. They'd come home loud and raunchy, chaperoned by Lonnie and Mike. The two big, black men pretty much threw them into their respective rooms and left them to take it from there.
Justin had opened his door as quietly as he could and crept down the hall to Chris' room. He used the key card to get in and was careful not to stumble in the dark. He had to be quick since they were supposed to be up in about another hour. He'd put on the lipstick unabashedly, all in the name of a good joke Chris' had taught him early on, and kissed Chris on various parts of his body. Lucky for him Chris slept naked whenever he could. He'd though for a moment if he were brave enough, but decided against kissing Down There. He sprayed light mists of the perfume as he exited the room and hoped the smell wouldn't follow him too badly. Before he left, he'd tossed the underwear inside.
It seemed like no time had passed before he awoke once again. It was loud and didn't take him long to register the noise as yelling. It sounded angry. Justin, still half sleep and nosy, pushed the tangled sheets from his body and made his way to the door.
He opened it just in time to see Dani slap--no, punch Chris in the jaw and yell that things were over between them. Chris was dressed sloppily in the shirt he wore the night before and his pants were on backwards. He followed her, as best he could through a hangover and just being punched, all the way to the elevator. When he passed Justin he noticed the smell of Britney's perfume wafting in the air and could see the faint red marks his lips made earlier with the lipstick. He guiltily wiped his mouth with his arm and checked for any red. There wasn't any. He'd made sure last night to wipe it all away so that there was no evidence in the morning.
Chris turned away from the elevator, dejected, and made his slow trek back to his room. By then JC, Joey, and Lance were all awake and watching, too. Justin couldn't meet any of there eyes as they looked to him for answers since he was out there first.
The perfume was strong again when Chris went by and Justin wanted to reach out and touch him. The door closed quietly behind him.
~*~
Justin didn't see any of them again until they were on their way towards the bus getting ready for the hours drive to the next venue.
Just his luck, Justin shared the two-man bus with Chris. He tried to smile when Chris went by, but he didn't look up and went straight for the bunks. Justin didn't try to follow, knowing Chris would rather be alone.
Sitting by the window looking at the cars pass by Justin thought about it. Even if the joke had went the way he'd planned--he didn't know what the hell Dani was doing there, they left her at the last venue doing FuMan things--Chris probably would have been devastated at the prospect of cheating on the love of his life. Justin thought maybe the amusement would come from whether or not Chris decided to mention to anybody what he'd supposed had happened.
~*~
As far as the public was concerned nothing had changed. They did shows and interviews. Meet and greets and photo shoots. Behind the scenes, however, things were completely different. Chris didn't smile unless it was absolutely necessary. Didn't make any jokes unless he was talking to someone on the outside. Nobody bothered him for the first few days, allowing him that absolute time to keep to himself. After that Justin watched the rest of the guys try and get Chris out of his funk. At the least try and figure out what happened. JC tried getting him to write songs and vent through that. Justin didn't see anything Chris ever wrote, but if he was around when the two were at it JC always winced when he read over it. Lance tried talking to him, always the practical one. Lance did most of the talking, though, Chris just nodding as he spoke. Joey's first instinct was to take him out and get him drunk, but being that, that was what caused the problem in the first place he had to settle for affectionate touches. Touches Chris usually shrugged away from.
Justin. He didn't do anything. He didn't hear the argument, but he knew what happened only because he was the cause of it. He'd thought on numerous occasions to tell Chris what he did so that he could tell Dani and hopefully they'd get back together. Or at least start speaking again. His fear of what Chris would do, of having his anger aimed at him, kept him from ever saying anything.
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