Obligatory warnings and disclaimers:
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If reading this is in any way illegal where you are or at your age, or you don't want to read about male/male relationships, go away. You shouldn't be here.
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I don't know any of the celebrities in this story, and this story in no way is meant to imply anything about their sexualities, personalities, or anything else. This is a work of pure fiction.
Questions and commentary can be sent to "writerboy69@hotmail.com". I enjoy constructive criticism, praise, and rational discussion. I do not enjoy flames, and will not tolerate them.
That said, on with Season 7.
Jack
"Josh, this is really nice," I said, looking around again. I'd read about this restaurant in magazines, had seen people going into it on Entertainment Tonight, and now I was sitting in it, and people were looking at me. I wouldn't call it a dream come true, since this wasn't ever the kind of life I'd looked for, but it was still a nice place, and anyplace that I shared with Josh was perfect by default. I looked down at my food, unsure of what was garnish and what was food, since everything was the same size. This always happened to me when Josh took me somewhere expensive, and never happened when we hit a Hard Rock or even, God forbid, a McDonalds.
"It's not too public for you, is it?" he asked, looking around. I shook my head, smiling. I'd gotten a lot better about being out and about at celebrity hangouts with him, and smiled, thinking of how nervous I'd been that night he took me down the red carpet. Granted, I was nervous for a bunch of other reasons, too, but I knew Josh would take care of me. "I just thought with the thing tonight, we'd probably see some other people, and sometimes it's nice to see them outside of stuff like that. Oh, hey, Mary J!"
Josh waved across the room, and Mary J. Blige waved back, surprising me. Josh knew so many people I didn't know he'd met or worked with, but I realized that they all got to know each other at things like the party tonight. Even if they hadn't worked together, there was still a definite famous people club, and they all seemed on a nodding acquaintance with each other, especially in the recording industry. If it was a club, though, I was starting to squeak inside, even if it only was by association. I was one step above a hanger-on, in most people's eyes, although that was mostly the people who didn't know me and Josh, and couldn't tell that what we had was real. Mary grinned widely, waving at both of us again, even though I wasn't sure how she could see us through her sunglasses, and followed the maitre de to her table.
"I want to work with her on something," Josh said, smiling at me and at his plate. "Maybe for the next album, or for hers. Have you heard her stuff lately?"
"No, not really," I said, shrugging. "I don't really listen to that kind of music, although Justin keeps trying to foist it on me, too. Actually, I think the only time I've heard it is when you play it."
Josh blushed. The last time he had played Mary J. in the house I had ended up riding him on the couch in the living room.
"I think I'll have someone call her people, and see if we can set something up," Josh said, and I snickered. He looked up, half amused and half curious, and his blue eyes sparkled with good humor. If we were in private, I would have pushed the plates aside a while ago and just jumped on him. "What?"
"Well, Josh, do you know how you sound?" I asked, shaking my head. I was smiling, too. Sometimes his world was just baffling to me, and so far removed from normal life. "You're sitting in the same room as her, right now, but instead of talking to her, you're going to have your people call her people, and then maybe the two of you will call each other."
Josh laughed along with me, reaching out to rest his hand over mine. I caught people looking, but didn't care.
"I love you, Jack," he said, staring into my eyes, his blue ones locked on mine. "There's just a way we do things, kind of a recognized social order. I'm sure you can understand that."
"Yeah, I get it," I said, thinking of my own background of debutante balls and holiday parties at the club. There might be different rules here, but it was the same idea. I giggled again, and Josh squeezed my hand, asking the question with his face, eyebrows arched gracefully over those cheekbones, lips stretched in a grin, that adorable little line in the center of his forehead that I wanted to kiss. "I was just thinking about, you know, you having your people call Mary's people, and I realized that we have Chad, which means, more or less, that I have 'people', too. My high school reunion is going to be such an adventure, what with you, and Andrew, and maybe Junior, too."
Josh threw back his head, leaning back in his chair laughing, and I laughed along with him, picturing me sweeping back into the hallowed halls of my private school with a full celebrity entourage in tow, sunglasses on, flashbulbs going off, Josh and I with gelled hair in something flashy and mostly leather. A couple of people looked up at us, maybe wondering what the joke was, but I didn't really care what they thought. Josh and I were comfortable, we were happy, and today, all was right with the world.
"I talked to my mom yesterday," Josh said over dessert. "Her and Dad want us to come out for a couple weeks after the tour. They're going to do a family vacation thing, rent a cabin and all that, and they want to know if we can make it."
"Of course we can," I said. "I love your family. You know they both came out to see me when I was in Chicago?"
I meant it when I said I loved them. Karen and Roy had swept me up and into the family within about five minutes of us meeting each other. I'd been afraid to meet them, and they had been a little awkward meeting me, too, but they'd reached out and embraced me in the kind of way I'd never really know a family to be. Since then, they'd been nothing but supportive of Josh and I, even at times when my own family couldn't be bothered to care. Even now, Josh had still never met my brother, and our parents had never met each other, either.
"Yeah," Josh said, nodding. "She said you took them both out to dinner, and her and my dad were both really proud of your speech. They said you were witty, intelligent, and really brave, and that I did a damn good job picking them a son in law."
"Oh," I said, blushing a little. "They told me that, too, actually, but it's always nice to hear it again. Are Heather and Tyler coming, too?"
"Yeah," Josh answered. "It'll just be the family, for two weeks."
"Sounds wonderful," I said, grinning. I looked back down at my dessert. Like lunch, I wasn't sure of what to eat and what not to, and figured that they wouldn't put anything poisonous on the plate. Josh had ordered the same thing, and when I glanced up, I saw that he was watching me carefully. "What?"
"I was waiting to see what you would eat," he answered, giggling again. I snickered, too. "What the hell are we eating, Jack?"
"I have no idea," I answered. We sat in our chairs, shoulders shaking, and laughed again.
Later, when lunch was over, we took a car to the airport to pick up Vlada, one of the other generic bodyguards accompanying us and serving as the driver. We liked to give Andrew a day off whenever possible, since he didn't keep hours that were exactly normal traveling with me, and management provided a horde of bodyguards for the guys to lug around. This one, who I thought was named Steve, had waited outside the restaurant in the car while we ate. There was never any mistaking when Vlada got off the plane. She was always in first class, and the other passengers always seemed to give her space to walk in. It might have had something to do with the fact that, no matter where she was, Vlada always walked like she was coming down a runway, and expected, at any moment, cameras to go off and flashbulbs to strobe.
"Jacque! Jayzee!" she said brightly, leaning in to kiss us both on the cheeks as she hugged us. She was wearing some sort of flowing one shouldered dress that managed to cling to all the right places in spite of the folds, and her dark red hair, as always, looked immaculate, falling down around her shoulders. You'd never guess she'd just flown in from Paris and had been on planes for hours. "Vere is Kreestopher?"
"Golf," Josh answered, smiling. "Justin."
"Ahh," Vlada said, nodding. No one stood between Chris and his golf game. I felt very short standing between the two of them, Vlada towering over us both in giant heels that would have crippled a normal person and Josh naturally a shade taller than I was. "Zo, Jacque, vat's new wiz you?"
As we collected her bags and headed out to the car I told Vlada about where I'd been traveling and what I'd been doing, and then she started telling us about her show, and her last couple of shoots. Vlada wasn't a supermodel, but she was known within her field, and her face was recognized by the public even if they couldn't always come up with the name that went with it. She was the kind of person you saw on a magazine cover, or a runway clip, or in an ad, and you thought, "Oh yeah, it's that girl." Maybe she wasn't Kate Moss or Cindy Crawford, but she was successful, and basked in a certain fame of her own. It was all the more baffling why she was with Chris, since she was like this big, gorgeous amazon and he, while cute enough, was kind of average, and pretty short, but they cared about each other very much. It was more a match of personalities, than physical characteristics, and besides, what went better with rock stars than models? It was so logical it was almost a cliche.
"Are ve going zoots or casual zis evening?" Vlada asked as we pulled up at the hotel. I figured she was trying to decide between totally glam and shabby chic, or something I'd read in Cosmo on the plane.
"Celebrity casual," Josh answered, grinning at me.
"Why can't celebrity casual ever include khakis and a plain old button down?" I groaned, leaning against him.
"I already picked something out for you," Josh said, squeezing me against him. I groaned again, and he laughed. "No rags, no sparkles, and no feathers, Jack. I promise."
"Whatever," I laughed, kissing him.
Lance
"Does this look ok?" Justin asked, walking into the bedroom from the bathroom. He was wearing white leather pants, white shoes, and a white shirt half unbuttoned to show a baby blue tank underneath. Long sleeves and lots of layers made Justin feel safe, less exposed. He hadn't picked out any jewelry yet, but Lance was sure he'd throw some kind of giant, but tight, necklace on. He saw Lance sitting on the bed, tying his shoes, and jerked to a stop. "Wow."
"What?" Lance asked, glancing up. "Is something wrong with it?"
"No," Justin answered, shaking his head. He swallowed thickly, visibly. "It's just, you know, not something you usually wear."
Lance looked down at himself, and realized that Justin was right. He'd thought the same thing at the store, too, when Chad helped him pick it out, but Chad raved and raved over how perfect it looked, and the salespeople had all agreed, so he'd bought it. It wasn't really the pants, tight, patterned jeans, that made the outfit so surprising. It was the shirt, clinging to him like a second skin. Lance wasn't chiseled and cut like JC and Justin, but he was definitely muscled, and now, being on tour and working so hard, sweating off the extra layer that softened his curves a little, he was defined, and the shirt highlighted it. It wasn't quite sheer, but was thin enough that you could see the suggestion of his nipples through it, dark spots capping his chest. The v-neck dipped down to his breastbone, showing off his neck, and Lance's hand rose to fidget with the neckline as Justin stared at him.
"Don't," Justin said quietly. "You look good. I was just, you know, I was surprised."
"That I look good?" Lance asked, smiling. Justin didn't smile back, and Lance wondered what was wrong.
"No, I'm sorry," Justin said, shaking his head. His throat felt very tight, suddenly, and he felt a little dizzy. "No. Yes. I, it's just so, different."
What Justin thought, fleetingly, was that Lance looked hot. It wasn't his kind of thought. He didn't feel that way about Lance. He didn't feel that way about anyone, and he didn't want to, but he especially didn't feel that way about Lance. Lance was safe. Lance was soft, and kind, and caring. Lance wasn't hot. Lance couldn't be hot, not to Justin, because it might change the way they felt about each other. Justin blinked, shaking his head a little, feeling unsteady inside. He'd seen Lance in less, slept next to him every night with Lance just in boxers, but this was different somehow, and he didn't like that. It felt unsafe, and the room felt very small suddenly. Justin shook his head again, feeling his eyes drop down almost involuntarily to stare at Lance's chest as his brain screamed at him not to, not to look, not to look at Lance that way, not Lance.
"Justin?" Lance asked, seeing his face change, watching the color drain out of it.
Justin looked as if he wanted to say something, but instead he turned and ran for the bathroom, arms flailing. Lance jumped up to follow, and heard Justin vomiting noisily into the toilet, holding the sides, shaking as he brought up his lunch, and the small dinner he'd shared with Lance here in the room. Lance dropped down next to him, rubbing his back, holding his shoulders, reaching for the flusher as Justin's body lurched beneath him.
"Justin?" Lance asked. Had something been wrong with his dinner? "Justin, are you ok?"
"I'm sorry," Justin choked, reddening, looking away. Lance grabbed some tissues off the roll and blotted around Justin's mouth, flushing them down the toilet as well. Water streamed from Justin's eyes, not tears of sadness, just an involuntary rush of stinging moisture. "I, I, can't, I don't."
"No, Justin, it's ok," Lance said, pulling him carefully to his feet. "Come on, let's get you a drink. Let's rinse your mouth out, and get you a drink, ok?"
"I'm sorry," Justin said again, his voice low and twisted. He was so embarrassed, but also afraid. He couldn't look at Lance, not after what he'd just seen, what he'd just thought, even if it was for just a second. What if he opened his eyes, and Lance still looked so, so unsafe?
"It's ok," Lance said soothingly, walking him over to the sink. "It's ok Justin. Nothing to be sorry about. Do you feel like you have to do it again?"
Justin shook his head, eyes tightly closed.
"OK," Lance said, handing him a cup. Justin rinsed out his mouth, spit, and did it again. His legs were shaking a little, but Lance's hands on his shoulders felt gentle, and Lance guided him into the bedroom, stretching him out on the bed. Lance walked away for a second, and when he came back he had a cool, damp washcloth, and pressed it carefully to Justin's forehead. "Is that ok?"
Justin blinked his eyes open finally, and saw Lance's green ones, concerned, above him. Justin breathed a sigh of relief. Lance looked like Lance again, caring, kind, and safe. This was his Lance, the Lance who protected him. That other Lance who had been here a second ago was gone, and Justin felt better already. He couldn't think about Lance that way, couldn't let himself, because then there wouldn't be anywhere he could go, anywhere he could run to, that was safe. He closed his eyes, trying to catch his breath, and Lance folded up the washcloth and laid it over them.
"You just lay there until you feel better, ok?" Lance said quietly, whispering. He'd eaten the same dinner as Justin, but he felt fine. Then he realized that it was probably nerves. Justin was probably afraid to go out, and holding it inside instead of telling Lance about it. "I'm going to finish getting ready, unless you don't want to go."
"No, I still want to go," Justin whispered. The washcloth felt cool against his eyes, and the bed was soft. He concentrated on just breathing in and out, willing his heart to slow down and stop pounding in his chest.
"Are you sure?" Lance asked, not wanting to push him, or make him feel like he had to go out. They could stay in, and just send some of the guys. It would be ok, and the other guys would understand. "We don't have to if you're nervous, Justin."
"No, I'll be ok," Justin said. "Just finish getting ready, ok? I can do this, Lance, and I want to. I want to go out again, and see people. I can do this Lance, ok? I can."
"OK," Lance said, nodding. He turned away, even though Justin couldn't see him, thinking about how brave Justin was. As he was in the bathroom finishing his hair he heard a knock at the door. "Justin? It's probably one of the guys. Do you want me to get it?"
"Please," Justin said softly. "I don't want to get up yet."
"OK," Lance said, casting Justin a worried glance as he crossed through the suite room to the door. Justin had gotten sick so suddenly, and it bothered Lance. What if Justin had been worried and anxious all day? He never should have let him go by himself with Chris for the whole day, and he'd have to ask Chris later if anything had happened. Justin had said he was fine, and that he'd had a lot of fun, but what if he'd just been covering, to make Lance feel better? He opened the door, expecting Chris or JC, and was surprised to see Chad. "Hey."
"Hey," Chad said, his eyes raking up and down Lance. "Told you that would look fabulous!"
"Thanks," Lance said, blushing a little. "It's not really me, but hey, we tried."
"I think it's definitely you," Chad said, waiting expectantly at the door.
"Did you need something?" Lance asked. "Justin isn't feeling well, and we have to go meet the others in the lobby in a couple minutes."
"Is Justin ok?" Chad asked anxiously, his eyes huge. "He's not sick, is he? What about the tour? Will you still do the show tomorrow?"
"Oh, yeah, he'll be fine," Lance said quickly. "We'll still be on tomorrow. He just needs a little rest."
"Oh, ok," Chad said, nodding. He fidgeted nervously, twisting his hands. "I had, um, a question for you."
"OK," Lance said, waiting.
"I, um, I had a lot of fun, today, with you," Chad stammered, sweat breaking out on his forehead. "I know you have the show tomorrow, but I was wondering if, um, if you wanted to, maybe, did you want to grab some lunch tomorrow? With me?"
Lance blinked in surprise, pausing for a second.
"Sure," he answered finally. "I'm free at noon. Do you want to come here?"
"Yeah! OK!" Chad gushed, letting out a huge breath of relief. "Yeah. Noon. Tomorrow. I'll see you right here, tomorrow. At noon."
"OK," Lance said, smiling. He still couldn't believe Chad was so excited just to hang out with him, but maybe lunch would be fun again. He might even bring Justin, to cheer him up. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah," Chad said, nodding. "Have fun tonight."
"We will," Lance said, smiling. "Bye, Chad."
In the bedroom, Justin heard the door close and pressed the washcloth back to his eyes, pretending he hadn't been listening.
Jack
"Oh my God," I gushed, unable to stop myself. "I watch your show every week! It's like the best hour on television! It's so nice to meet you!"
"Thanks," Jennifer Garner answered, smiling graciously. She was pretty enthused to meet Josh, so we were having a little mutual admiration cluster over there by the buffet tables. "I see you guys on TV a lot, too. I thought your wedding looked really nice."
"Thanks," I said, nibbling at one of the appetizers on my plate. Usher went by, smiling and nodding at us both, and we both nodded back, even though I don't think either of us knew him. "So what's it like doing that much stunt work? Is it hard?"
"You get used to it," she answered, sampling something from her plate as well. "I mean, I work with a trainer all the time, and I always come home with these huge bruises."
"There you are!" Josh said from behind me, sliding an arm around my waist. "Hi again, Jennifer."
"Hi," she giggled, covering her mouth with her hand. I wondered where her husband, that guy from "Felicity", was, and if he knew she was shooting eyes at Josh like that. Then again, everyone shot eyes at him. It was hard not to. "Jack says he watches my show. Do you watch it with him?"
"Yeah, but I can never follow what's going on," Josh confessed. "I miss an episode, and I'm lost, and I have to save my questions because Jack only lets me talk during the commercials."
"Jack!" Jennifer said, laughing.
"Josh, don't tell people that," I said, laughing as well. "They'll think our marriage is in shambles."
"Not if they see us," he said, kissing me on the cheek. I blushed, and Jennifer giggled again.
Josh and I were both having a good time, relaxing and being social, and I decided it had been a good idea to come after all. I had to fly out early in the morning the day after tomorrow, so I kind of wanted to stay home, but I also didn't want Josh turning into a big hermit, and he really did love seeing and talking to people at these things. I drifted around the party on his arm in my suede blazer, very comfortable in the classy, low key outfit Josh had picked out for me, and I stood by his side and watched as he greeted old friends that he hadn't seen since the wedding. He was always quick to introduce me to anyone I didn't know, and we hadn't really been separated for most of the night. None of the people we had talked to seemed to know exactly what the party was for, either, but they all knew that MTV was throwing it.
The rest of the guys seemed to be having just as much fun as we were. I saw Chris and Vlada dancing for a while, and then lost track of them, but someone said they were over talking to some other models on the far side of the ballroom. Joey hadn't danced at all, which was fairly typical, but he was sitting in a booth on the side talking to P Diddy, and some girl was dancing against his leg, which was odd but kind of cute. Lance and Justin had been hanging out by the food for a while, and then I saw them talking to a couple of the guys from O-Town, whose names I could never remember. Josh was looking pretty hot in a leather jacket that matched my blazer, with a similar pants and shirt combination underneath, and I wondered if the two of us were always going to appear together in matching outfits. It was cute, and it looked good in pictures, but when you actually thought about it, it was kind of odd. The real surprise for the night, though, had been Lance showing up to get in the limo in a shirt that left nothing to the imagination, and which he almost looked embarrassed to wear. He blushed when we mentioned it, even though he looked damn good in it, but who was he looking good for?
"Do you mind if I borrow my husband" Josh asked, grinning at Jennifer as he rested his head on my shoulder. "I feel like dancing, baby."
"No problem," Jennifer said with a little wave of her hand. "I should go find mine, too. It was nice to meet you guys, and I'm sure I'll see you around at one of these things again."
"Definitely," Josh said, nodding.
"Nice to meet you, too!" I called, as Josh pulled my little plate out of my hands and gave it to one of the many circulating waiters. "We should be nice to her, Josh. Maybe she can get us a walk on."
"Jack!" he said, laughing.
"What?" I asked, grinning. "My birthday's coming!"
"Come on," he said, pulling on my hands. "I want to dance with you before you go all Hollywood on me."
"OK," I said, letting him lead me onto the floor.
Dancing with Josh was almost as good as having sex with him, honestly. He was lithe and graceful, and his whole body moved with the rhythm of whatever we were listening to. When I danced with Josh, the world narrowed to just me and him, the feel of his hands on my back and my hips, and the intense, burning look in his eye. When the song switched to something slow and grinding, he pulled me against him, leaning in to kiss me as I draped my arms around his neck, over his shoulders, feeling his chest against mine and his pelvis grinding against my own. Both of us were half hard, but we knew better than to go all out in public. Both of us were a little too modest for that, anyway.
"I should have known if I wanted to find you two I just needed to look on the dancefloor," we heard from behind us, and I felt ice run down my spine. Turning, I saw that I had recognized the voice after all, and it wasn't a terrible dream.
"Kevin!" I blurted, almost gasping, as Josh ground to a halt, paling. Both of us looked past Kevin, scanning the crowd.
"Guys?" Kevin asked, his face a mixture of surprise and confusion. Normally we'd be happy to see him, since he was our friend, but normally we wouldn't be here with Justin.
"Are you by yourself?" I asked, as Josh blurted, "I thought you guys weren't coming."
"We changed our minds," Kevin said, his eyes darting back and forth between the two of us. "Guys, what's going on?"
"Who's with you?" Josh asked. "Are all of you here?"
"No, just me, AJ, and Nick," Kevin said.
"Shit!" I hissed, pushing past him. Josh gripped my hand tightly, following, both of us looking for Justin. Kevin followed.
"We have to get Justin out of here," Josh said firmly, looking around wildly. "Now."
"They don't have to talk to each other," Kevin said, shaking his head. "They can stay on opposite sides of the room, for God's sake."
"You don't understand!" I said urgently. Where was Justin? I spotted Chris and Vlada, and they glanced at us worriedly as they saw how upset Josh and I were. "Chris! Nick is here! Where's Justin?"
"Fuck!" Chris hissed, looking around as well. He took Vlada's arm as she set her drink down. "Go find Joey! He's still over that way!"
"Right!" she said, hurrying off. It was rare to see Vlada less than composed, but as I watched she actually shoved someone out of the way as she hurried across the room. We all knew how bad this could be, and we needed to get Justin out, now, as Josh had said.
"There's Lance!" Chris blurted, pointing. The three of us hurried across the room, ignoring Kevin, who followed behind us asking again what was wrong. Chris grabbed Lance's arm, jerking him out of conversation with Nick Lachey. "Lance!"
"Where's Justin?" Josh asked as Lance blinked at us.
"He went to the bathroom," Lance answered, pointing. We turned as one, almost knocking Kevin over, and hurried toward the door, Chris forgetting to let Lance's arm go and Josh still gripping my hand tightly. "What's wrong?"
"Nick is here," I said, and Lance looked for a second like he would pass out. I snapped my fingers in front of his face. "Stay with us!"
"Oh my God, oh my God," Lance said, shaking his head.
"It'll be fine," I lied as we tried to move through the crowd. A few people turned to look at us, but most of them just moved out of the way.
"Will someone please tell me what's going on?" Kevin asked as I saw Joey and Vlada heading toward us from the other side of the bathroom.
I flung the bathroom door open, the guys behind me pushing me through, and felt something snap inside my head. Everything in front of me seemed to slow down as rage clouded my vision. Nick spun to face us, his eyes wide, his expression surprised. In front of him, on the floor against the far wall of the bathroom, Justin was curled into a tiny ball, hiding his face beneath his arm and shrieking the word "No!" over and over. I didn't stop to see how he was, or say anything to either of them, as I launched myself across the room and tackled Nick, my hands closing around his neck.
To be continued.