Hey all! Yup, another "Interlude". Can you believe this is number eight? I can't. A lot of people have been asking me if the "Interludes" are going to end soon, since the "Any Path" trilogy is coming to a close. The answer is - long as I keep getting ideas, I'll keep writing these things. I think there will be at least five more, not counting this one. Letting go of the "AP" universe is going to be very hard for me. :) I want to say a big thank you to everyone who has given me feedback for the "Interludes" - the trilogy is my baby, but these too have a special place in my heart, and so do all of you. Okay, I'm done boring the crap out of you. Now, the usual...
The "Interludes" are short stories that take place between the first two stories of my "Any Path" trilogy, "Any Path" and "No Painless Way". If you want to read them, go here: /nifty/gay/celebrity/boy-bands/any-path And the "Interludes" get archived here: /nifty/gay/celebrity/boy-bands/interludes
The "Interludes" are all J.C./Justin-ish, though some, like "Waiting" and this one, don't really have them doing anything. You'll see what I mean. And BTW, this story takes place immediately following "Happiness". It's MMC-ish, but don't panic. If you've read the other "Interludes" I don't think you'll have any trouble understanding.
Ooh, one more thing. This "Interlude" is mostly flashback. Anyone curious about how it all began? :) Look no further. Oh, and all thoughts in this one (// ---- //) are Tony's.
DISCLAIMER: I'm eating my own head. Doing so would be more likely than me actually owning, knowing or getting to breathe on any of 'Nsync. Likewise for Tony Lucca, Dale Godboldo, Lindsey Alley, Jennifer McGill or any other Mouseketeer. This is fiction. So...yeah. Okay. :)
DEDICATION: For Rick, who's much better at this than he seems to think. You're good, hon, honest. :) You're also a great friend.
~INTERLUDE : FATE~
"Maybe it's intuition Some things you just don't question Like in your eyes, I see my future in an instant And there it goes, I think I've found my best friend..."
- "I Knew I Loved You", Savage Garden
"Justin's damn lucky too. I hope he knows it." Tony turned off his cell phone and shook his head with wonder.
Marc plopped down next to him, resting a hand on his boyfriend's knee. "How's J.C.?"
"Still pining after Justin. He says he's happy. How can he be happy?"
Marc laughed. He yanked a copy of 'Teen Beat' off the table and waved the cover, a picture of the youngest 'Nsyncer, in Tony's face.
"You're telling me you wouldn't be happy spending all your time with that?"
"Oh, please. He's a baby. I knew him when he was barely outta diapers."
"You still dislike him, after all this time?"
Tony looked surprised. "No, I don't. I never had a problem with Justin."
The sandy-blond man smiled at him knowingly. "C'mon, hon. You know that's not true. I know there's nothing between you and J.C. anymore. You can admit you were jealous of Justin."
The former Mouseketeer looked insulted, as though he were about to protest, then a look of resignation crossed his face. "Well, maybe a little bit. C was always ditching me and Dale to hang with the runt. And if he did do something with us, he brought Justin along. I swear, when those two are together no one else exists. It's always been like that."
"Well, did you ever talk to J.C. about how you felt?"
"I wasn't mature enough to do that, I guess. And I was angry. Sometimes I ended up taking it out on both of them. If I snapped at J.C. he'd ask what was wrong, and even seemed genuinely sorry if he thought it was his fault. But the times I said something mean to or about Justin...those were the worst fights Spaz and I ever had. Once or twice we actually got physical. I'd feel like such a moron, apologizing to a twelve-year-old so my friend would talk to me again."
Marc nodded thoughtfully. "So it wasn't Justin personally?"
"No, he wasn't so bad. We all called him 'Brat', but that was mostly 'cause he always got his way. He wasn't any more mischievous than any kid that age...actually Justin was real friendly, very polite. His pranks were never mean, and I never heard him say anything insulting to anyone that wasn't a joke. Pretty mature, too. Always on the set on time, always knew his lines, rarely messed up."
"Sounds pretty likeable."
"Yeah, but I wanted to hate him. I had such a crush on J.C. Off and on we messed around, but he never saw me as more than a buddy. When he realized how I felt he apologized, and meant it, but at the time I'd take anything I could get from him."
Marc looked at his boyfriend sympathetically, and took Tony's hand. "He was in love with Justin even then?"
"I think for a while he was able to convince himself he wasn't. But...God, you should have seen those two together. J.C. could be depressed as hell, and one look at that kid and he'd be all smiles. Off-camera they were never apart - Spaz even used to sneak him onto the 'Emerald Cove' set. It was like a running joke. You'd ask a Mouseketeer, 'Hey, where's J.C.?', and he or she would turn to another and say, 'Where's Justin?' And there would be your answer. If it had been any other seventeen-year-old and twelve-year-old we would have been concerned that maybe something...more was going on. But not J.C. and Justin. No one close to them could've thought that. It's hard to explain."
Marc smiled. "Love usually is."
"Yeah. You know, sometimes it makes no sense to me that those two aren't together. From the day they met there was...something between them. Even I could see it, though I couldn't give it a name."
Tony's eyes shifted focus as he thought back to that day five years earlier. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I don't get this. Rehearsals don't even start for a few days, and yet here we are filming," Tony complained.
Dale adjusted his Mouseketeer jacket and shrugged. "Important day. New Mouseketeers meet old Mouseketeers."
"Yeah, woo hoo. Now we're glorified baby-sitters."
The African-American boy smiled wryly at his friend. "Why, Mr. Lucca. You've become quite a snob."
Tony laughed. "Kidding. I just wish everyone would meet everyone already so we can actually do some taping. You get introduced to all the newbies yet?"
"Think so. You?"
"Most. Maybe we should go check on Spaz."
Dale grinned. "No need. Here comes Wipeout now. Hey C, how's your foot?"
Sixteen-year-old J.C. Chasez walked over to his friends, limping just slightly.
"Hey, Chip." He addressed Dale using the young man's hated nickname. "I'm okay. These sneakers must be stronger than we suspect. It's just a little bruised."
Tony patted his shoulder. "Or maybe they just don't make bricks like they used to. Even so, don't go dropping any more on yourself, 'kay? We'll need you to help us keep all these runts in line. Met 'em all yet?"
"Only a few." J.C. frowned, resting his head against the wall. "If they're all terrors that would really complete my day. I demonstrated to an entire studio audience that I can't even carry a brick, Mom and Dad are gonna ground me 'cause I failed that exam, and Alyssa dumped me this morning."
Tony smiled symapthetically. //Poor guy. Not about that last thing, though. I don't think he cared near as much about Alyssa as he did about not being alone. If only I could remedy that. If only he'd let me.//
J.C. continued. "I woke up today with such a good feeling. So far it's just been one disappointment after another."
Dale shook his head. "Cheer up, Spaz. We're about to start a whole new season of being goofy and cheesy - ya know, fun. You won't be the anti-Prozac for long."
Tony left his reverie to agree. "Yeah, C. And you got us to keep ya happy. So c'mon, give us that doofy grin."
J.C. smiled weakly. He loved his two best friends, but even with them he couldn't forget the empty feeling that constantly gnawed at him. It never made sense to him...how could he always feel so alone, even when surrounded by people?
"What do you think, Dale?"
"I think that smile ain't doofy enough or big enough. You can do better than that, Josh. Let Disney magic turn that frown upside-down."
J.C. simply sighed and looked away, letting his eyes wander aimlessly over the sea of people crowding the backstage area.
Tony fought the urge to hug his morose friend, knowing that it wouldn't help. In stead he searched his mind for words that might lift J.C.'s mood. "Hey C, did we ever tell you about that time we were doing this 'Dunk Dale' skit, where when the ball hit the target a bucket of water would fall on Chip here? And -"
"And one time the throw was totally off and he almost got hit in the face." Dale rolled his eyes and smiled, but J.C.'s expression didn't change as he spoke. "And he nearly started laughing about it right on camera. Yeah."
"Okay, how 'bout the time Jennifer came outta nowhere and hit -" Tony stopped speaking as he realized his crush was no longer listening. J.C.'s drifting eyes had suddenly come back into focus, and he was staring intently at...something.
Tony followed the younger boy's gaze, but couldn't pinpoint its exact destination. "C, what's up? Is something -"
Abruptly J.C. walked away, without an explanatory word or gesture for either of his closest friends. The two looked at eachother in confusion.
"What's with him?" Dale wondered aloud. "You think the break-up with Alyssa hit him harder than we thought?"
Tony sighed with exasperation. "Don't be an idiot. C is gay. He liked Lyssa as a friend, that's all. He didn't love her." The slightly-annoyed voice held a twinge of regret. "Sometimes I wonder if he's ever gonna really love anyone."
Dale squinted. "Looks like he's heading towards Lindsey."
"No," Tony murmured. "The kid she's talking to." He began to move closer, pulling Dale with him.
Meanwhile, as J.C. crossed the room Lindsey looked up and waved him over. Probably, Tony supposed, because she wants to introduce him to the kid.
Tony studied the boy. Short, fairly scrawny, but not more so than any other twelve-year-old. Blond hair that looked to be naturally curly, and intelligent, deep blue eyes that were somehow noticeable even from the distance the observer and observed stood apart.
Tony and Dale watched in silence, close enough now to see and hear what was going on. Neither knew why they said nothing, but both were sure the other would hush him if he tried. They stared at the meeting about to occur with expectation, as if some inner voice were whispering to them that something very special was happening.
As J.C. reached the child, Tony frowned, vaguely puzzled. //Did it just get warmer in here?//
Lindsey grinned cheerfully, but before she could speak her name was called from several feet away. "Oh, excuse me, I'll be right back..."
Neither J.C. nor the stranger - Dale was trying to remember his name - seemed to notice Lindsey's departure. The boy was gazing up at J.C. with a polite mixture of respect and interest...but there was something else in his eyes, almost like recognition for the teenager he'd never met. As for J.C., he was looking at the child curiously, as though he wanted to whisper, "Did you feel that too, what passed between us?"
After an endless moment - during which Tony realized, with surprise, that he'd been holding his breath - J.C. spoke.
"Hi, we didn't get a chance to meet yet. I'm -"
"J.C." The boy smiled shyly at his own interruption. "Hi, I'm Justin."
The sixteen-year-old blinked in shock. "How did you know my name?"
Tony shook his head. //A cosmic thing? No fuckin' way...//
'Justin' laughed, which caused J.C. to smile so widely that Dale gasped and elbowed Tony in the ribs. The now-identified Mouseketeer pointed to his new aquaintance.
"It's written on your jacket. Nice to meet you, J.C."
"You can call me Josh. That's my real name. I don't use it for the show 'cause there's already a Josh here."
//What? Only C's family and close friends call him Josh, and not even all of them all the time. I'm his best buddy and he seems to like it more when I say 'C' or 'Spaz'. He doesn't even know this kid.//
"Okay, Josh. So...the 'C' stands for your middle name?"
"Last name, actually - Joshua Chasez. My middle name is Scott, but -"
"But 'J.S.' didn't sound right to you," Justin finished. "I agree."
//Oh my God, he's laughing. Spaz the Moodiest Mouseketeer is laughing today, and I don't think he even knows why. His eyes are actually lighting up!//
Acting on a hunch, Tony 'activated' his gay-dar and looked at Justin. Indeterminate. That was strange.
//Oh well, moot point. What could come of it if he is gay? He's just a kid. But that look in C's eyes...I'd almost think the spazzy bastard was feeling content for the first time.//
"So, Josh, are you from around here?"
Tony listened as the boy talked. //Very smooth voice. Probably a decent singer.//
"Nope, Maryland. How 'bout you?"
"Tennessee. I miss it already."
J.C. smiled sympathetically. "Yeah, it's hard at first. But don't worry - pretty soon you'll be having so much fun you'll forget about being homesick. I'll make sure of that."
"What the hell?" Dale whispered. "The anti-Prozac has instantaneously morphed into a Boy Scout leader. C' s mood swings are getting worse."
Tony didn't answer. J.C. was a very friendly guy, especially with the younger Mouseketeers. But he and Justin were acting like they'd known eachother for years, even though Tony guessed - and later was told - that Justin was normally very shy with strangers. As the new friends talked, Tony gaped at them.
//So, looks like they're gonna be buddies. That's cool. So why do I feel like I'm not seeing the whole picture here? Like something's happening that I can't quite put my finger on?//
The teenager was so deep in thought that he hardly noticed Dale had left his side, and was talking to J.C. and Justin.
"Tony!" J.C. called. "Come here!"
His feet reacted instantly, almost before the request was spoken. As he approached them, Tony smiled with forced warmth down at the boy, who returned the expression with real feeling.
"Tony, this is Justin Timberlake. Justin, this is my friend Tony Lucca."
"Hi."
"Hey."
And it had been that simple. As J.C. led Justin away, the two of them chatting non-stop, Tony had no way of knowing that from that day on they would be inseparable. They were an odd pair, the sixteen-year-old and twelve-year-old, but by the next week they were obvious best friends. On the few occasions Tony got to spend time with J.C. alone, Justin was somehow brought up in every conversation. A few months later J.C. moved out of the apartment he shared with Tony and Dale to live with Justin and his family. After almost two years Justin and J.C. would return to Justin's home state together, both confident that nothing, not evne unrequited love, could shake the bond that they shared. A bond that would grow stronger all the time, holding even when the bright lights and the eyes of the world would greet the friends as two-fifths of 'Nsync. All who met them would be amazed at how much they loved eachother, even those who didn't guess how deep J.C.'s feelings ran.
Tony had no way of knowing any of this on that day, yet as he watched J.C. walk away with Justin he spoke, not to Dale but to himself, in a low whisper.
"I've lost him. I'll always be C's friend, but it'll never be more. Not now."
Dale looked at him curiously. "Something wrong?"
Tony shook his head. //Strangely, no. Don't ask me how I know, but finally, everything is as it should be.// ------------------------------------------------------------------------
The young man's eyes cleared as he smiled at his boyfriend. "And that's how it happened, and that's how it's been."
"Any regrets?"
"There were for a while. But it's worked out, and now C and I are both happy being in love."
Marc kissed him gently, and Tony felt the truth of his words resonate in his heart. "And now I know what it was I saw happening that day. Somehow, I'm sure."
"What was it, hon?"
Tony smiled with an inexplicable certainty. "Fate."
~FIN~
Questions, comments and nude pics of Justin welcome at DaraLynn_writings@hotmail.com