For Lack of a Paperclip
by Karen and LB
© 2002
[This was written in response to a challenge. Well, a dare. A double dog dare to come up with a story about a paperclip. Who could say no to that?]
Three pages of agreement--check. Copy of birth certificate--check. Publicity photo--check. Lance assembles the papers and clips them together, flipping through them one more time. He walks to the window, still holding the packet, and stares out at his backyard. Won't be long before he says goodbye to this for a while. Just then the phone rings. Lance grabs it, tossing the papers on the desk and moving to the couch. Unbeknownst to him, the clip comes loose and the birth certificate falls under the desk. "Hey, Joey. Yeah, I'll pick you up in 15 minutes. Let me just leave a note for Beth." And he does, in the kitchen, where they always leave each other messages. "Beth--Papers on desk. Need a copy of everything. Thanks, Lance."
Beth arrives home and finds Lance's note. She makes herself lunch, and, after eating, heads into Lance's office. She's surprised at the tumble of loose papers on the desk--it's not like Lance to leave things in disorder like this. At least important things. She gathers the papers and makes the required copies, putting each set in a manila envelope when she's done.
The guys come back to the house with Lance after the meeting, JC still toting the mismatched pile of envelopes, napkins and credit card receipts that comprises his works-in-progress lyrics file. After Chris steals a trailing scrap of paper for the sixth time, JC calls to Lance, who's in the kitchen getting drinks for everyone, "Hey, you got a paperclip or a folder or something I could borrow?"
"In the office," replies Lance.
JC wanders into the office, then hesitates. He doesn't quite feel right about going into Lance's drawers, but that's where such stuff is usually kept. With relief, he spots a paperclip lying on the edge of the blotter. He secures his precious scraps and rejoins the others. "Got one, thanks," he says to Lance, beaming.
Lance smiles back. He's glad JC feels comfortable in his house, glad all the guys do. He wants JC to feel at home here. After all, they've been dating for a few weeks now and they've started to break through those initial first-stage-of-relationship tensions.
Later, they head over to a recording studio on the Disney lot to work on a song for a new soundtrack. After a few hours, they take a break. "Hey, JC, you want to grab a bite somewhere?" Lance asks.
"Yeah, all this recording made me hungry."
They decide on one of the restaurants at Disney World. Chris pops over to Nickelodeon to talk about some more voiceover work, Justin heads off to make some calls, and Joey and Steve order in heros. When Joey takes a big bite, some of the mayo and oil drips off and right onto JC's songs. "Dude, you're making a mess," comments Steve.
"Shit, hand me a napkin, will you? JC's gonna kill me." He begins to wipe his mess, smearing some of the lyrics and sending the paperclip flying across the room.
Later, JC and Lance come back, and JC's laughing. That's the thing about being with Lance, the thing most people don't realize. Lance makes him laugh. People think Lance is the quiet one and JC doesn't get jokes, but that doesn't matter. Lance is funny in a quiet way, in a way that JC doesn't have to "get." It's part of what they have that's separate from the whole group dynamic.
"We better get back to work," Lance says. "Justin and Chris should be back soon." They leave the room, and a short while later, Justin returns, phone in hand.
"I know, baby, but I'll see you later. I promise. And we'll go out somewhere. I don't know. Somewhere." He flops in a chair, checking out his nails as he listens to Britney yammer through the headset. Spotting some dirt, he looks for something to clean his nails with. When something shiny catches his eye, he leans over and picks it up, muttering the occasional "Uh huh, yeah, uh huh." A paperclip-- perfect. He rises and starts walking toward the recording booth, then puts the paperclip in his pocket.
By the time the session ends, it's early in the morning. Chris is just coming out of the booth, after recording a harmony vocal, Justin is sprawled in a chair, cleaning his nails with the partially unbent paperclip and JC is practically asleep on his feet. Joey is asleep, snoring on the couch. Justin pockets the paperclip. "What time tomorrow?" he asks Lance.
"10. And we have a photo shoot at 6."
The boys troop out, JC stumbling over his own feet. "Good night, guys," he mumbles.
Lance throws an arm over JC's shoulder. "It's morning, dude."
"It's dark. Feels like night to me."
"It'll be light soon."
JC lets his head fall against Lance. "No. Don't let it."
"If I could stop the sun from rising, I would. But I can't, so how about I drive you home instead?"
JC nods. "Yeah, take me home, please."
Lance throws his arm around JC and does as promised. Only problem is, he doesn't want to leave. Yawning, he asks innocently, "Um, mind if I crash here?"
The walk into the house revives JC a little. "No, you should," he says. "It's late."
"Early."
JC pulls Lance closer and rests his head on Lance's shoulder. "Whatever. Come sleep with me."
"I thought you'd never ask."
JC turns his head so his mouth is against Lance's neck. "I'm asking."
"I'm staying."
"Good." Keeping one arm around Lance, JC leads the way to his bedroom.
It's almost as though they've been together longer than they have. They undress quietly, brush their teeth, and climb into the large, comfortable bed. Lance curls up behind JC and wraps his arms around him. "I like your bed."
"I like you in it."
Lance brushes the hair from JC's neck and places a wet kiss there. "Good morning, JC," he says sleepily.
"Good night, Lance."
The next day, Lance wakes in JC's arms, not surprised, not nervous. Just very comfortable. While JC is in the shower, he decides to call David to see if he got the papers Beth was supposed to Fed Ex to him.
"Yes, I have everything except the birth certificate."
"What do you mean--everything was there."
"No, I just have the agreement and the picture. No birth certificate."
*****
"Hey, Justin, can I borrow your laptop?" asks Chris over the phone. "I loaned mine to my sister."
"Sure, come on over."
A short while later, Justin is sorting his laundry when Chris arrives. "There's a new page for the FuMan Skeeto website that I have to look over." Justin sets him up with the laptop, but not long after Chris calls out, "Hey, Justin, your CD drive is stuck."
"What do you mean?"
"I can't get the disk out."
"Man, if you broke it . . . "
"It's not broken, it's just stuck. Give me something to stick in here. Something small."
"Like what?" He's holding his jeans from the day before, ready to throw them in the wash. Feeling in the pockets, his fingers close on the paperclip. "Here, try this."
"Perfect." Chris untwists the paperclip a little more and sticks the end in the little hole at the side of the eject button. The disk pops out and all is right in Chris's world.
*****
"What do you mean it wasn't there? It was right on top with the rest of the papers." Lance is talking to Beth when JC emerges from the shower.
JC looks curiously at Lance--his tone seems very tense. He sits on the bed, toweling his hair, watching Lance.
Lance hangs up the phone and shakes his head.
"What's wrong, Lance?"
"I was supposed to send David some forms and stuff with my birth certificate--I asked Beth to make copies and send it out to him, but he never got the birth certificate. I had everything on my desk ready to go. I don't know what happened. Weird. I guess I'll just have to look for it later."
"I'll help you look."
"It's okay. I'll deal with it later. We have to get to the studio soon."
"Then I'll help you look later. Let me get you some clean clothes."
"Thanks, JC." As JC starts to get up, Lance kisses him, then heads for the shower.
JC watches Lance walk into the bathroom, only moving when he realizes he's smiling at the closed door. He gets up and dresses, then sets out clean clothing for Lance.
Lance loves the feeling of having JC's clothes on him. The way his jeans are a little tight in his hips. The way the shirt is a little snug in the shoulders. The way it smells.
JC comes up behind Lance as he's fixing his hair in the mirror and rests his chin on Lance's shoulder. "I'm really glad you stayed."
"I am too. Thanks for letting me." He turns his head slightly, so he can see JC better.
"It was nice, falling asleep with you. And waking up with you."
"I never slept better."
"We'll have to, um, do this more often."
Lance turns in JC's arms. "We can do it as often as you want."
JC kisses Lance, a long, slow, toothpaste-flavored kiss. "We should, um, go."
"Yeah, we should." Lance gives JC a minty-fresh kiss back. After one more kiss, JC leads Lance out to the car and they head to the studio.
Later, the session over, Lance and JC are walking out to their cars. "I'll meet you at the shoot. I want to go home and see if I can find that birth certificate. I don't know what happened to it. It was in my office and usually Beth keeps it all so organized."
"You sure you don't want me to help?"
"No, you go rest up. How about after the shoot we go out to dinner and see a movie or something."
"That sounds good. I hope you can find what you need and get everything straightened out."
"Me too. It's crucial that I keep track of everything right now."
"I know. And you're usually so good at that. And Beth, too. How could it have gotten separated?"
"I don't know. I guess I need to focus more." He glances around and seeing that they're alone in this part of the hall, sneaks a quick kiss. "I'll see YOU later."
JC is grinning as he walks back to his car, so oblivious that he almost runs into Justin.
"C, dude, what's up?"
"Nothin'." JC purrs. "What's up with you?"
"You should come over. Me and Chris downloaded this cool game yesterday. You should see it."
"Yeah, okay."
Twenty minutes later JC is sitting in front of Justin's laptop, trying to follow Justin's unintelligible instructions. The game is noisy and busy with lots of seemingly meaningless rules--just the kind of thing Justin and Chris would go for. He finally drops his hands to the desk in defeat, and something pokes his finger. He scrabbles around and comes up with a partially untwisted paperclip.
Paperclip.
If Lance had had this, maybe he wouldn't have lost his paper.
"I gotta go, Justin. See you at the photo shoot."
At home, Lance goes over his paperwork one more time. He'd pulled the file of applications and forms he'd been saving since this space project started. And he still couldn't figure out what happened to the birth certificate. It was right there, on top.
JC strolls through the aisles of Staples, amazed at the sheer number of products. He finally finds the section he needs and reaches for a box of paperclips. His eye falls on a box of brightly colored clips, and he picks that up instead.
Lance is still going through his paperwork when he hears a car pull up. Not expecting anyone, he wanders to the door and sees JC approaching, a plastic bag in hand. "What are you doing here? Not that I'm not happy to see you."
"I wanted to see how things were going. And I brought you something to help."
"Yeah? Come on in. I was just going through my paperwork and guess what I found under my desk?"
"Oh, that's great!" JC impulsively hugs Lance.
"Yeah," Lance says in the embrace. "I don't know how it came loose, but there it was, so all I have to do is Fed Ex it to David." He releases JC, leading him inside to the sunroom. "Hey, you want a sandwich or something?"
"Yeah, sure." JC offers the bag. "I got these for you."
"For me? Aw, you shouldn't have. What is it?" Lance takes the bag over to the couch and laughs when he opens it and pulls out the box of colored paperclips. "These are great! See, if I'd had these yesterday I never would have lost my birth certificate." He pulls JC into a kiss. "Thanks for thinking of it."
"See, I think I kind of like you, and I hate seeing you all stressed out."
"Kind of like me?"
"Like you a lot."
"I like you a lot, too. I like that you went to Staples and bought me these paperclips knowing how much I could use them. I like that you drove all the way over here to give them to me instead of waiting till the photo shoot. I like that you let me sleep over last night. I like waking up with you."
"I like falling in love with you."
"It's love now, is it?"
JC smiles almost shyly. "Would it freak you if I said I think so?"
"No. Would it freak you if I, you know, said I do too?"
JC's smile turns into a grin, crinkling his eyes. "Nope."
Lance takes JC's hand and pulls him to his feet. "Why don't we take these outside to the pool," he says, holding up the paperclips, "and my stuff and I'll make us a snack and you can help me clip my forms together so they don't get lost this time."
"Yeah. And we have to go to Staples together some time. Do you know how much cool stuff they have?"
Lance throws his head back and laughs. "I never knew you were into office supplies, JC."
"I wasn't. Must be your influence."
"Really? I guess I should take that as a compliment. I mean, we're talking office supplies, not drugs."
"I can stop anytime I want."
"Am I going to have to hold an intervention? You know, it starts with paperclips, and before you know it you'll be buying folders and stuff, and PENS! Colored pens!"
JC's eyes go dreamy. "And all my lyrics would be organized."
"Well, if it will make you happy, we'll go to Staples tomorrow."
"You're on." They go back to the office to gather Lance's papers, and when JC pulls his hand from his pocket, the paperclip, long forgotten, slips out of his pocket and falls onto the carpet under the desk.