Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with NSYNC, Dawson's Creek, or any other show or organization I might mention. This story is completely fictional, and implies nothing about the true sexuality of Lance Bass, or any other real life people in my story. This story also contains male/male relationships and graphic sexual content. If either bothers you please leave. If you're not old enough to read this, then don't.
Thanks to everyone who has supported me so far. I hope you all like chapter three as much as the first two.
Tiernan looked at each person sitting at the table in turn. Trying to judge each reaction by the facial expression of the guys sitting around him. Justin looked...amused, like he was suddenly privy to some secret inside joke. Tiernan smiled at him, praying Justin didn't know half of what he thought he did, and hoping the sudden heat in his face wasn't showing to all the guys at the table.
Chris smiled, shrugged and went back to eating, apparently unbothered by the news. Tiernan was relieved that it appeared not to bother him. Two down and neither having started freaking out, a good sign. His relief faltered a little as he continued his survey of his lunch companions.
Joey was paralyzed mid-bite, and Tiernan was starting to wonder if the boy was going to ever move again, when suddenly he finished chewing his taco and laid the rest down on the plate. Tiernan smiled at Joey, and was surprised to see his gesture returned, Joey grinned with a wholly open expression, one filled with acceptance. Tiernan breathed an audible sigh of relief.
His gaze continued, landing on Lance's beautiful face, which at this time seemed...stunned. Tiernan quirked a half smile, hoping that Lance was okay with him telling Lance's friends that he was gay. Lance's face moved from stun to something else, which Tiernan interpreted to be...admiration.
He took a deep breath, and turned his head to his right, to see what the last of the guys thought, and his hopes for total acceptance by his new friends, if they could be called that, died. JC looked...ill. Like he was about to throw up what he had just eaten.
"Are you okay?" Tiernan asked a little hesitantly.
JC stared at him for a few seconds, then looked at Tiernan like it was the first time he had ever seen him.
"Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?" JC laughed, but it sounded a little forced.
"Because you look like he just told you he liked eating live worms." Chris tossed in helpfully.
There was a moment of silence, then everyone started to laugh, JC included. Tiernan was relieved that Chris's comment had apparently broken the tension.
"Sorry about that man." JC said seriously after the laughter had died down. "I didn't mean to seem so freaked."
"Don't worry about it." Tiernan smiled, hoping that JC really meant it. He had really come to like all of the guys, even though he had only known them for about an hour.
"I hate to cut this short guys, but we have to be back at the hotel for the photo shoot in about twenty minutes." Lance said, he smiled at Tiernan looking truly sad about it.
"Damn...", that came from Joey, "I wish we had more time to get to know ya Tiernan, you seem like a really cool guy."
Justin broke in at that point, "Well maybe we can get together again, why don't you come hang with us tonight. We were going to go dancing, and need to find a good place, any ideas?"
The rest of the guys lit up at the suggestion. All of them turned to Tiernan, waiting for his reply. Lance looked hopeful, and relived that he wasn't the one to bring it up.
"Sure, I don't have any plans tonight, and would love to show you guys the town's coolest club."
Having decided on a course of action, the guys quickly finished eating and headed to the van. The ride back to the hotel was filled with companionable silence. Upon arriving, Tiernan split from the guys and told them he would meet them that night in the lobby at about 7:00pm.
When he arrived at the hotel he was staying in while filming Dawson's Creek, he tossed his extra clothes from the photo shoot on the sofa, and hit play on his answering machine.
"Hey Tiernan its Alex. Don't forget about the party tomorrow, The WB big wigs want to congratulate you on your performance in the show so far, and as your manager, I don't think I can stress enough how important a good impression is. Anyway, call me tomorrow around noon, and I will have your tuxedo delivered. Later."
Tiernan groaned as he went to his closet to pick out what he was going to wear that night. He liked parties more than most people, he just didn't want to think about it right then. He was more interested in thinking about Lance. At lunch, he seemed quiet, but that was expected when dealing with someone you might be attracted to, without letting your friends find out. He was also trying to figure out what Lance's expression had meant...admiration...for what? Telling people he was gay. He had done all that before. But maybe that was something special to Lance. They didn't know about him after all.
Tiernan decided to put it all behind him for now. He was worried that he had come on so forward to Lance, but the boy had that effect on him. He looked over at the clock, which read 2:00pm.
"What the hell am I going to do for five hours?"
He decided to take a nap, and set his alarm for 5:30pm. He stripped off his clothes and laid down in bed, happy to be home and happy for the time to rest, since he had been filming for the show, he hadn't gotten much sleep. He laid down contentedly, and let thoughts of Lance fill his head, and his dreams.
Lance's mind was not at all on the photo shoot, but he made it through alright. He was glad that all of the guys had taken a liking to Tiernan, and was pleased that they were all going out tonight. His thoughts were all jumbled together though. He was a little worried about the events that had happened earlier that day. He wondered what would have happened had Justin not come in. He had never acted that way before, but there was something about Tiernan, the way he looked, the way he moved that set Lance's body on fire. He shook the thought from his head, and glanced at the clock...6:00pm, he had an hour to get ready before he was supposed to meet Tiernan and the other guys in the lobby.
He took a quick shower, and tried to decide what to wear. He settled on black carpenter pants, and a dark blue half zip pull-over with a black undershirt, a pair of Sketchers street shoes, and his golden necklace with the cross on it. He quickly fixed his hair and headed down to meet everyone, trying to hide the intense nervousness he was feeling.
Tiernan awoke to the sound of his alarm, and at first he almost turned it off and went back to sleep. Something pulled at him though, what was he supposed to be doing. Suddenly realizing that he was supposed to go out with the guys from NSYNC, he jumped out of bed and took a quick shower to help him wake up. After getting out he walked into his bedroom, to find something to wear.
He decided on black cargos, and a black fishnet shirt. He tried them on and smiled. He knew he picked that shirt cause anyone could see his torso through it. He smiled at his own reflection. Hoping Lance would like it. He looked back at his reflection as he put on a silver necklace, bearing a dragon coiling around a sword, surrounded by a circle with red stones set in amongst the tiny symbols. He also put one silver ring on each hand's ring finger, both with celtic knot works engraved on them. He finished the outfit with a pair of black Doc Martins, and a small silver loop earring in his left ear. He smiled, satisfied at his appearance.
He grabbed his wallet and keys and headed out, trying to quell the butterflies rising in his stomach at the thought of seeing Lance again. It was madness, he had known the guy for all of seven hours, and only been with him for two, yet he couldn't help but feel that way. He took hold of himself, hoping that Lance felt even slightly as attracted to him as he did to Lance. He arrived at Lance's hotel in short order, and with one last look in the rear view mirror, got out and headed inside.
The guys were sitting around, waiting and talking amiably, when Lance saw Tiernan enter the lobby. He tried not to stare as the angelic boy entered, he admired Tiernan's grace, the way he seemed to be dancing just by moving. Of course it didn't help what Tiernan was wearing. Lance hoped he wasn't openly drooling.
Justin stood up to greet Tiernan, shaking hands. "What's up man?....Nice shirt, I going to have to buy myself one like that."
"You don't have the body for it." Chris teased playfully.
Tiernan flashed everyone his great smile, and Lance hoped he wasn't just imagining that Tiernan's eyes lingered on him a bit longer than anyone else. Lance studied Tiernan as Joey and the other guys joked around and greeted him. His eyes following the muscles in Tiernan's chest and stomach, watching them flex as Joey started to wrestle with him a little. Lance admired his biceps as they strained to keep Joey at bay, and the way his black cargos hugged his taut legs. His eyes followed the path up Tiernan's chest again and wandered to his face, his luscious blue eyes, eyes that looked at him waiting...waiting for an answer to something he had just asked him...
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Lance could hear the slight huskiness in his voice, and hoped that it didn't betray his thoughts. He could feel heat rising in his cheeks, and tried desperately to fight it down.
"I said "are you ready handsome?"" Tiernan laughed a little as everyone stared at him.
"That's not what you said..." Justin admonished, trying to keep from laughing.
The rest of the group was rocked by fits of laughter, amused at the fact that Lance was blushing so heavily. Lance was mortified, staring back at all the guys. He looked at Tiernan, and when cobalt blue met emerald green, all of Lance's uneasiness was drowned in the deluge of emotions that slammed into him. He felt safe under that gaze, at peace, and content.
"Hehe, I know, I actually said "are you going to just sit there all night or are we all going dancing?"
It took a few moments for everyone to gather themselves, but they were all back in JC's van and heading to the hottest club in town.
After they all got in, it was hard to hear each other over the pounding of the techno music rocking the club, but they managed to get drinks and a table.
"Hey, who wants to come dance with me?" Tiernan asked, a hopeful look in his eyes.
Lance started to answer, but was interrupted by an enthusiastic "I will" from Justin. He felt a sharp stab of jealousy pierce him as he watched Tiernan smiled at Justin, and lead him out onto the dance floor. Was it his imagination, or did Tiernan give him an apologetic smile before disappearing into the writhing mass of people on the floor? Surely Tiernan didn't just expect him to follow. He didn't want Lance to tag along.
'Its not as though I can just up and ask him to dance with me' the thought tore at Lance's insides, he wanted to get away from it...
He wasn't sure how much time had passed, he had been sitting at the table drinking a lot. He had seen Tiernan come and go, each time with a pleading look. What did he want?...Lance couldn't think clearly, did he want him to ask him to dance? Each time Tiernan would sit at the table, joking with any of the guys who were there, or just sit and smile at him. It hurt Lance to see Tiernan dancing with everyone else. It mesmerized him to watch him move to the rhythm of the song, moving with that sinuous grace, writhing up against both guys and girls, willing to dance with anyone, but he wished he was the one with him. He smiled, hoping it wasn't bitter looking when all the guys approached him.
"Hey Lance, we are all ready to head out, how about you?" JC emphasized his point with a loud yawn.
"I think I will stay and catch a cab..." was that his voice? Lance wondered, it sounded a little mumbled...surely not. He was just imagining things.
"Are you sure?" Justin looked at him with concern in his eyes.
Lance was content to just go back to drinking, relishing the idea of being alone in the club, able to lament his feelings in anonymity. But something tugged at him, someone else was saying something...it wasn't Justin, no it held a lovely ring to it though...
"Why don't you guys go on, I'll stay here with him and we can take a cab home."
Lance thought it was Tiernan who spoke, but he couldn't be sure. He watched as the other four guys started to depart, all casting concerned looks his way. Then he turned his head toward the only one left. He saw large innocent eyes looking at him, sadness pulling at his lips in an incredibly sexy way.
"So...were you ever going to ask me to dance?..."
The words were spoken with...hurt. Lance felt tears forming in his eyes. He brushed at them, hoping it wasn't obvious. Lance ached inside, he wanted to ask...but with all of his friends there...
"I..err..you seemed busy..."
"I would have made time for you."
Lance looked up into Tiernan's eyes...how did he get all the way across the table and standing without him realizing it? Lance stood, a little shakily, and flashed Tiernan what he thought was his most seductive smile, the one the girls all begged for, and promptly lost his balance...or rather, he felt the whole club rock. Surely it was the club rocking, and not his head spinning.
Luckily, Tiernan caught him, and laughed, a bit...that sound was heaven to Lance. It sliced away the pain in his head...when had that started...
"I think I better get you back to the hotel..."
What was it that Lance had heard in Tiernan's voice...fear, sadness? He tried to right himself, which amounted to him slumping toward the floor. Tiernan caught him before he hit the floor, and pulled his arm around his shoulder.
"Thank you..." Lance whispered...hoping that was enough for now. From the smile he received he thought that it was...The last thing Lance remembered was Tiernan's strong arms around him, supporting him and making him safe.
------------------------------------------------------------------------- That's it for chapter three, I will try to get to four as soon as possible. Thxs again for everyone who wrote, and anyone else who reads please let me know what you think. uninspired_teen@hotmail.com