The Two of Us: The Game Is Over

by Karen and LB
© 2002

They had a close call on Tuesday, another one Wednesday, and Lance is beginning to suspect that Chris already knows somehow, because he keeps looking at him funny. He and JC have been sneaking around all week, and it's beginning to take its toll. For a week now, Lance has had trouble getting to sleep at night; as it is, he has to wake up before the rest of the guys to sneak back to his room every morning. With the tour in full swing and the stress of this big secret, it's all he can do to make sure it doesn't affect his job or his health. And it's only a matter of time before the guys DO find out. Now, as he stares at the ceiling, waiting for the time when he'll have to leave the warmth of JC's bed, he plans what he'll say when the time comes. Restless, he plays with JC's hair and wonders what secret JC conceals that allows him to sleep through just about anything.

JC's eyelids flutter and he senses Lance is awake before he opens them. "Hey," he says softly. "Why are you up? We have a little more time."

"Can't sleep. I'll have to leave soon."

JC closes his eyes and curls into Lance's body, laying his head on Lance's chest. "Not yet. Not quite."

"Okay. Not yet." Lance strokes JC's soft hair, watching the sleepy head rise and fall with each breath he takes.

"Maybe you should just stay. Maybe we should just tell them."

"There's got to be a better way to tell them than to have them find us in bed together."

"So let's figure out what that better way is and do it so you can sleep better."

Lance didn't think JC was aware of his insomnia. "I'm sleeping okay."

"This is me you're talking to, babe."

"Yeah? How do you know I'm not sleeping if you're always asleep."

"I see that you don't look rested. I see that you're exhausted."

"You sound like my mom. Don't worry, I'm not gonna end up in the hospital again."

JC kisses Lance's chest directly over his heart. "I know. It's just-- being in love should be a good thing, you know? Not something that just makes your life more complicated."

"It's not. There's just a lot going on. We knew this wasn't going to be easy."

"So, will you think about it? Telling the guys? It would be one less thing to stress about."

"I'll think about it," Lance relents, rubbing JC's back.

"Good. I'm not gonna, like, bug you about it, but I think it would be good for us."

Lance glances at the clock. "I've gotta go."

JC gives Lance one more tight squeeze and releases him. "Okay. I'll see you at breakfast."

With a quick kiss to the top of JC's head, Lance slips out from under JC, dressing quickly and reaching his room before the wake-up call. It's not long after that Joey bangs on his door for breakfast. While they're eating, Wade stops by to tell them he wants to run through a few snags he's noticed in The Game Is Over. With Joey's leg almost fully recovered he wants to rework a little choreography but wants to do it in full costume. So after a few publicity photo shoots and interviews with the local paper, the boys congregate at the stadium.

They do the song twice, and then Wade decides he wants to work with just Joey and JC, who start the number, giving Lance, Chris, and Justin a break. Chris and Justin run off to play video games, and Lance uses the opportunity to slip into the Quiet Room for a quick nap. He didn't realize how tired he was until he laid down on the couch. He only intends to shut his eyes for a few minutes, but before long, he's fast asleep, legs curled up, still in his costume.

When Wade is satisfied with Joey and JC's performance, he calls for the others, fuming when Lance doesn't appear instantly.

"I'll find him," JC offers, guessing where Lance might be. He lets himself into the Quiet Room, closing the door softly, and walks over to the couch. He stops when he catches sight of Lance. He looks like a little boy, curled up in his jammies. All he needs is a teddy bear to complete the illusion. As JC gets closer, he can see that Lance's lips are slightly parted and his cheeks lightly flushed in sleep. All the pressures of their busy lives are off and Lance finally looks relaxed and peaceful. And beautiful. JC kneels next to the couch, and with a feather-light hand, brushes Lance's hair back from his forehead. The last thing JC wants to do right now is wake Lance, but he knows he has to. "Baby?" he says, quietly, his lips almost against Lance's ear.

"Mmmmmf," Lance moans quietly, caught in that timeless space between sleep and awake. When he's finally aware of the voice calling his name, he yawns and buries his face in the pillow. "Five more minutes."

"Wade's yelling for you," JC whispers, not trying very hard to awaken the drowsy boy.

"Yeah, okay. I'm coming." But he makes no move to get up.

JC leans in again, blowing in Lance's ear playfully and following that up with a few well-placed kisses.

"Go away!" Lance yells, but he's laughing, groping for JC's face.

"You want me to go away?" JC pouts.

"I want Wade to go away so I can sleep."

"Don't we all," JC teases. "Well, I'm just going to have to kiss you until you wake up."

"I'm REALLY tired."

"Then I'll have to kiss you a lot," JC says, and proceeds to make good on his word. Until they both hear a throat being cleared in the doorway.

"What the hell?" Joey asks, incredulous.

"I knew it," says Chris.

Lance struggles to sit up. "Um, what did you see?"

"Enough."

"I, um. We, um. Wow. Okay." JC mutters incoherently. He turns to Lance. "Sorry."

"It's not your fault. They were gonna find out eventually."

"I guess we don't have to figure out how we're going to tell them." JC turns to the figures hovering in the doorway. "Guys? Me and Lance, we're together."

"We can see that," sneers Justin. "What the fuck is going on?"

"What's with you, J? I mean, I know it's a surprise and all . . . "

"You could have told us. We've been together, what, six years and we find out THIS way that you're gay?"

"We were going to tell you. We were just talking about it this morning."

"Six years, man. How long you been hooked up?"

"A few months." JC looks at Lance for confirmation.

"Give or take. But I could check my palm pilot if you really want to know the exact date."

JC giggles, apparently the only one amused by Lance's sweet snarkiness. "Um, isn't Wade waiting for us?" he asks innocently.

"Wade can wait. This is important."

"Justin, c'mon, cut them some slack," Chris intones.

"Did you know about this, dude?"

"No. Not really. I mean, I kind of suspected something was up when we went camping."

Justin enters the room, the other guys falling in behind him as he closes the door.

"Look man," Justin directs at JC. "I love you guys like you're my brothers, and you know I could care less if someone's gay, but you should have told us. What if the press found out?"

"They didn't," Lance states. "We were always careful."

"And this way, you didn't have to lie for us," JC adds.

Chris rolls his eyes. "Yeah, right. Like we would have cared. Don't we always watch each other's backs?"

Joey exchanges a look with Chris. "Okay, it's NOT going to be like that now. Obviously, it didn't make a difference before they came out, so why should it matter now?"

"But they didn't TELL us," Justin insists.

"Sorry, J," JC says. "But it was, you know, private. New. How long was it before you admitted you were really seeing Britney?"

"You ALL knew about that."

"But not right away. Remember what you told us? That you wanted to see if it was gonna last before you told us? Same for us."

"That was different. Britney's not part of 'N Sync. This could affect the group."

"So, what, we were supposed to ask your permission?"

"When it's something as big as this, we should have been told. What's gonna happen now? You guys are, like, going out? And that's not supposed to affect us or what we do? What happens if you guys break up? You ever thought about that?"

"It didn't affect the group before you knew about it, Justin. And maybe this is why we didn't tell you. You're being a jerk."

"I'm thinking about US, JC. The whole group. I'm not saying you shouldn't . . . date . . . or whatever. But c'mon, you KNOW this is big."

"Yeah, it is. But it's also ours," JC looks up at Lance. "We had every intention of telling you. Like I said, we talked about it this morning, like, how we should tell you."

"I don't know, man. This whole thing is too weird."

"You're making me think we were right not to tell you."

"You think I can just pretend this doesn't matter?"

"I think . . . you're making it about you. And it's not"

"It's about everyone, JC. ALL of us. Not just you and Lance."

"He's right," Lance finally says.

"I'm not saying it doesn't affect us all. I'm just saying Justin's taking it a little personally."

"It is personal. What we do affects us all. We're brothers. I'm not saying it's going to be easy, Justin, but give it time. If it still bothers you after a few weeks, we'll try to figure something out."

JC looks up at Lance sharply. "Like what?"

"Like how to keep our personal life separate from the group." He puts a hand on JC's shoulder. "I'm not going to stop seeing you," Lance continues, then looks at Justin with determination. "But the group comes first. We're going to make every effort to make sure it doesn't interfere. Look, JC and I have stayed on separate buses. We still keep separate hotel rooms. No one's suspected a thing outside the group."

"I'm the only one who suspected at ALL, with my brilliant powers of deduction," Chris adds proudly.

"Yeah, Chris, you're a frigging genius," Joey says.

Justin doesn't join in the banter. "Guys, it could ruin everything if you're gay."

"Um, Justin. It's not an 'if'," JC explains. "It's not like we can shut it off. But it's not like we're out there picking up boy groupies."

"I know that. And you know I could care less if anyone's gay."

"I think it's kinda cool," Joey chimes in.

Justin rolls his eyes. "I--" but before he can finish, there's a knock on the door.

"Guys can we get moving, here? We don't have much time." Wade.

"We're coming," Chris answers. "Hey, C, Lance--it's cool with me."

"Me too," Joey says with a shrug. "And I share the bus with him."

"J?" JC asks simply, looking at his old friend a little wistfully.

"I still love you, man." He opens the door and slips through.

"Give him time," whispers Lance.

"I know. I just didn't expect . . . ," JC says sadly.

"It's not that we're gay--it's that he didn't know. We've never kept secrets from each other."

"That only plays up to a point. Like I said before, Justin didn't tell us right away when him and Britney hooked up for real. That should apply to us, too. Even within the group, we need to be allowed to have SOME kind of private life."

As they head out the door, Lance puts his head on JC's shoulder. "We will."

*****

Later that night, after the show, Justin slips to the back of the bus. He pops in tape after tape--concert footage, some of Steve's home movies. Chris wanders back to play some video games and sees Justin staring at the screen. "What are you watching?"

"You can't tell."

"Can't tell what?"

"Them. You can't tell."

Chris falls back on the couch. "I know. What, you thought you'd see them making out on stage?"

Justin shoots Chris a look of pure disgust. "No. That's gross. I just thought there'd be these looks."

Covering his face with his hands, Chris groans. "Why can't you just accept it?"

"I'm trying. It's just so weird. Lance and JC?"

"Yeah, it's weird, but what isn't these days?"

"Why's it so weird?" JC, uncharacteristically sleepless, stands in the doorway. "Love happens. And when it does, you don't question the package it comes in."

Chris and Justin exchange a look and Chris snickers. "Sorry, dude. I don't usually think about THAT kind of package."

JC picks up a stuffed animal that had been thrown on the stage tonight and lobs it at Chris. "Pervert."

Chris easily swats it aside. "I'M the pervert? I wasn't the one getting a little tent action in Colorado."

"CHRIS!" JC and Justin say in perfect unison.

*****

Lance rubs his shoulders as he exits the bus, a small crowd surrounding them before they even reach the doors to the hotel lobby. He wonders how things went on JC's bus. Still rubbing his shoulders after signing the last picture, he sees the bus in question pull up as he's ushered inside.

JC stumbles off, not having gotten a lot of sleep. He also signs a couple of autographs as he's moved quickly through the crowd. As soon as he reaches the lobby, he finds Lance, and he feels a bit of the fatigue fade. "Hey, you," he says quietly, rubbing at his burning eyes.

"You wanna hit the hottub?"

"Will you rescue me if I slide under the water and drown?"

"I'll give you mouth to mouth."

"I'll hold you to that."

"I'd rather you hold something else."

"Your hand?" JC asks innocently.

Lance shakes his head. "C'mon, let's get changed."

At this time of night, most of the guests are either out at the clubs or asleep; the pool area is deserted as they approach the soft glow of the hottub at the far end of the pool deck. "My shoulder is so sore," groans Lance, as he disrobes and slips into the warm, bubbling water.

"What happened?"

"Nothing. It's just sore. Maybe from the flying rig."

"Here. Sit in front of a jet. If that doesn't help, I'll give you a backrub after."

Lance slides over so the spray gently pounds his muscle. He sinks lower, resting his head against the ledge. "Mmmm, much better."

"Good." JC lies back himself, closing his tired eyes. "Long day. But Justin seems to be coming around."

"You still worried about that?"

"Not so much. We talked on the bus. Well, we played video games, which is pretty much the same thing to Justin."

"He'll come around. You'll see."

"Yeah." JC puts his head on Lance's shoulder. "I'm glad they know."

Lance winces. "Come here."

JC curves himself into Lance's side. "Can't get much closer."

"Here, silly." Lance points to his lips.

"Ah," JC kisses the corner of Lance's mouth. "There?"

Lance shakes his head. "Close, but not close enough."

JC kisses Lance's full bottom lip, lingeringly. "Here?"

"Mmm, here." Lance closes his mouth over JC's, pulling him into a long, deep kiss.

Exhausted, surrounded by the warm, churning water, JC leans into the kiss, feeling almost as if he's in a dream. His hands start to settle on Lance's shoulders, but remembering that one is stiff and sore, he lifts one hand to cradle Lance's face instead.

Lance turns so that he's facing JC, the water streaming between them. His arousal is evident, even in the mask of the churning water.

JC pulls Lance closer, kissing him harder, more intensely. His hands move lightly, easily over wet skin, finding the most sensitive spots to touch.

Lance's lips travel JC's face, his tongue leaving a wet trail to his ear, which he nibbles and caresses with his hot breath.

JC's own breathing quickens and the erection that wasn't there moments ago begins to throb.

One hand steadies JC while the other slides down JC's chest to his tight, hard nipples. Lance teases them and rolls each one in between his fingers as though they were toys, while he nibbles JC's large, fleshy earlobe.

JC swings himself over, straddling Lance, letting his body move with the motion of the water, making their erections brush against each other teasingly.

Lance supports JC by the waist, letting the friction of the water and the movement of their bodies heighten their dual arousal. He kisses JC again, letting their wet tongues tangle as the water churns around them.

The jets switch off, startling them both, and JC reaches to hit the switch again without moving off Lance. Their eyes meet and they both crack up.

"Good thing the button's on THIS side of the tub."

"What, you don't want to swim?"

"Not here. Not now. I'd rather do this." Lance captures JC's mouth, temporarily silencing him.

JC makes no objection, sliding his body against Lance's again. Feeling the jolt of electricity when their erections meet. Lance moans into JC's mouth, then pulls back and whispers, "Hey, JC?"

"Mmmm. Yeah?"

"I love you."

JC cradles Lance's face in both hands. "I love you, too."

Still moving JC against him, Lance continues, "I really love you, and not just because we have great sex. I just wanted you to know that."

"I know. It's everything about how we are together."

"I just never thought I'd fall in love so soon."

"It's the one thing you can't plan for," JC murmurs, planting tiny kisses over Lance's face.

"That's what makes it so good." Lance's heart races as JC's soft lips tickle his face and the grinding of their twin erections brings him close to release.

"So exciting," JC says, increasing the urgency with which he presses against Lance's wet, throbbing body. "So surprising."

"You like surprises?"

"Happy ones. Like you."

"How about . . . this?" Lance asks mischievously, swinging them around so JC is now resting on the bench. Lance kisses him passionately, sliding down JC's swim trunks and discarding them on the edge of the tub.

JC likes this surprise very much and communicates his pleasure by putting all that he feels into their kiss.

Lance removes his own shorts and hooks his arms under JC's legs, and kisses his face and neck before plunging inside. JC's exultant cry is muffled against Lance's shoulder as he bucks against Lance. He grabs at the side of the hottub to hold them both up.

Water sloshes around them as Lance moves inside JC, the water preventing him from moving too fast, thus prolonging the pleasure.

Tendons stand out on JC's arms as he tightens his grip against Lance's thrusts, and he seeks blindly with his mouth for Lance's.

Lance doesn't make him wait. He takes those full, heat-swollen lips and nibbles each one, then covers them with his mouth, thrusting his tongue inside the warm enclave as he moves faster inside his lover.

The warm, churning water, the cooler breeze blowing over them, even the sharp scent of chlorine in the water all seem to add to JC's excitement. As he kisses Lance, as their tongues meet and parry, he feels his orgasm build and finally spill over, flowing, jetting, like the water surrounding them.

Lance touches his forehead to JC's, his hot breath fanning JC's sweat- soaked face as he pants hungrily, striving for release until at last in one fiery thrust he comes, causing more water to slosh over the side in a loud spray. JC releases the edge of the tub to wrap his arms around Lance, holding him close as they both tremble and gasp.

"Anyone ever drown in a hottub?"

"Probably. But not tonight. With all the mouth to mouth."

"I think I could use a little more of that," Lance says with a leer, moving in for another kiss until familiar voices close by stop him.

"I'm telling you, leave them alone for now," warns Chris.

"So I was thinking," calls out Justin, ignoring his friend.

Lance's head whips around. He sees the two figures approaching in the darkness but they're far enough away that he's sure they haven't seen much. "Shit," he mutters, groping for their swim trunks and putting on the first pair that his hand encounters and handing JC the other pair.

By the time Justin reaches the edge of the tub, JC and Lance are clothed and reclining on the ledge. Justin sits on the edge of the pool and dangles his feet in the water. Lance gives JC a knowing look and then turns to Justin. "About what?"

"You. I mean, you two. It's cool with me. I mean, the way I see it, I didn't know before today. So if I didn't know, and I spend like most of my time with you guys, then how are the fans gonna know? Or the press?"

"I've been trying to tell him that all night," Chris exclaims, the exasperation evident in his tone. He, too, sits with his feet in the water.

Lance smirks and tries to hide his grin, but Chris catches it. "Oh wait, you two didn't just . . . aw, man, that's disgusting." He retracts his feet quickly and stands.

Justin looks up at him, then at Lance, who just shrugs. Justin quickly pulls his long legs out of the water. "Aw, see this is what I'm talkin' about. That's really gross. Now I'm gonna have to shower all over again." He stalks away, Chris in tow, muttering all the while.

Lance just smiles at JC. "Well, it got rid of them."

"I guess we won this round."

Lance looks off in the direction of his bandmates. "Darlin', the game ain't over yet."

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