“Ahh!” They both screamed in shock.
“It’s ok, it’s just me!”
“What the fuck! What the hell are you doing sneaking up on us like that!” Vanessa yelled.
“Yeah!” Sonia seconded.
“What’s going on?” Dominic said coming out in the hall.
“Fucking asshole scared the shit out of us!” Vanessa yelled turning to Dominic and pointing to Josh.
“What happened?!” Buffy said running out in the hall, “I heard a scream!”
“He scared us!” Sonia said.
“Hey, hey, hey!!!” Josh said trying to get everybody’s attention. By this time, the rest of them came out into the hallway. “I didn’t mean to scare you! I just came to get you cause I wanted to introduce you to the rest of the guys!”
“OK, ok! Everybody just calm down!” Dominic said.
“Ok, if all of you are ready, I’ll bring you downstairs now.”
“Are all of you ready?”
“Yeah.” They said collectively.
He brought them downstairs and into the living room. There was still some tension there, but it calmed down once everybody was in the same room together. As they entered the room, everybody was there except for Justin.
“Where’s Jus?” Josh asked.
“He had a phone call.” Joey said.
“Oh… Oh well. Anyways, I’ll just introduce them to you now and when he gets back finish off. Ok, children of the Dream, meet Joey, my boyfriend Lance, and Beryl. You already know Chris, and Justin is on the phone somewhere. Guys, this is Dominic, Vanessa, Leo, Sean, Sonia and Buffy. Dream Masters, meet the Vampire Slayers.”
Joey started to laugh a little after Josh said Buffy’s name.
“What’s so funny?” She asked.
“Nothing….” Joey said laughing harder this time.
“What the hell you laughin at?” Leo said.
“Nah, it’s just that…. Well, her name’s Buffy and we’re Vampire Slayers.”
“So?” Sonia said.
The rest of the guys started to laugh, along with Dominic and Vanessa.
“What?” Buffy said, “I don’t get it!”
“Me either!” Sean said.
“There used to be this show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” Dominic said.
“Ok, whatever.” Buffy said as everybody regained composure.
Just as they all stopped laughing, Justin walked in.
“What’s up?” Joey asked.
“Nothin, just somethin I didn’t take care of before I left.” Justin said going towards the couch.
“Hey Jus, this is…” Josh began.
“Oh my god!” Buffy said.
“Huh?” Josh said.
“Oh my god! You look just like…” She said walking towards Justin.
“Um… who is this?” Justin asked as he stood up.
“You’re him!”
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re Jonathan’s brother aren’t you?!”
“What?!”
“You are aren’t you?!”
Justin froze her and the rest of the Dream Masters, then said,
“Who the hell is this chick?!”
“That’s Buffy, she’s one of the Dream Masters.” Lance said.
“What the hell’s she talkin about?!”
“I dunno!” the guys said simultaneously.
“Unfreeze them.” Josh said.
He unfroze them and she continued,
“But you’re… you’re dead! He… he told me!”
“Um… ok, hi! What are you talking about?” Justin asked.
“Y… you’re Jonny’s brother!”
“Um…. no, you’ve got me mistaken for someone else!”
“No, you’re him! I’ve seen pictures! I’ve seen pictures of all of you!”
“Buff, what are you talking about?” Vanessa said walking over to her.
“Who are these people?” Justin asked.
“Justin, meet Buffy, Vanessa, Leo, Dominic, Sean and Sonia, the Dream Masters.” Josh said. “Everybody, this is Justin.”
“Justin Timberlake?” Buffy asked.
“Yeah…”
“And your brother is Jonathan Timberlake!”
“Um….. yeah, but you have to listen to me…. Whoever you are, however you know him, he CAN’T know that I’m alive!”
“But…”
“NO BUTS! He CAN’T know!”
“Why?”
“HE CAN’T KNOW!”
“O… ok.. fine.”
“Whatever, I’m gonna go get some air.” Justin said walking towards the atrium.
“Justin, wait up!” Josh said running after him. “I’m sorry, about that, I’ll go talk to him!”
He ran after Justin and found him sitting on a spiral metal staircase that led to a balcony that had beds of flowers planted in pots.
“Justin, what’s going on?” Josh asked kneeling in front of Justin.
“Nothin, I’m fine!”
“Come on Jus.”
“I’m fine! Just leave me alone! I need to think!”
“Come on, you know you could never lie to me. You couldn’t when we were kids, and you still can’t now.”
“Damn it Josh! Why can’t you just listen to me?!”
“Cause I know you. I know when something’s bothering you.”
“OH really? You know me so well? Then why did I run away? Why did I become an assassin? Why was I depressed for such a long time, even when we WERE together? Why did I come back?”
“Love.”
“What?!”
“You needed love. You haven’t had it since Sammy. You miss it, and if you would only stop running, you would realize that it will come to you if you let it.”
“And what makes you so sure?”
“I was the same way before Lance, and when we had our memories erased after Lael. You need love, and you’ll find it once you stop running.”
“You have no right…”
“To what? Tell you the truth?”
“Josh…”
“I’m right, you know I am!”
“Josh…”
“Go ahead, try and tell me that I’m wrong!”
“You’re….”
“You can’t can you? You have to accept it.”
“I… I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Cause everyone I love will just wind up getting hurt!”
“How do you know? You’ve pushed away everybody you’ve ever loved! That’s why it didn’t work out with Britney, that’s why you ran away from your friends and family and took a job killing people.”
“They’re coming after me.”
“Who?”
“Since I didn’t wipe out my target, I became the target. That’s why that chick was here to kill me. She was hired to kill me by the people who hired me to kill the Prime Minister.”
“That’s what that phone call was about?”
“Yup, I’m a targeted man.”
“Well, we won’t let that happen.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“I am, now let’s go, I’m sure you totally freaked those people out.”
“Yeah…. I wanna know how she knows my brother.”
“Ask her.”
“No, cause then she’s just gonna tell me stuff that I don’t wanna hear and it’s just gonna make me feel worse for leaving.”
“You’re gonna have to face it sooner or later.”
“I know, I know..”
“Well, let’s go then!”
“What… now?!”
“Yeah, why not?”
“Cause… we just met and I… NO!”
“Yes.”
“NO!”
“YES!”
“Josh!”
“Jus!”
“I’m not gonna!”
“Yes you are.”
“You can’t make me!”
“Wanna bet?”
“What?”
Josh picked Justin up and threw him over his shoulder.
“Josh stop playin, put me down!”
“Nope.”
“Come on! Don’t make me have to use my magic!”
“Try it and I’ll throw you into a wall.”
“Why are you doing this to me?!”
“Cause, you need to face it!”
“I hate you, you know that right?!”
“No yah don’t.”
He walked into the living room with Justin still over his shoulder and got a weird look from everybody.
“Um…. Josh?” Lance asked, “What are you doing?”
“Justin has somethin to say!” He said putting Justin on the floor, “Don’tcha?”
“I’m gonna kick your ass later!” Justin said.
“DON’T YOU JUSTIN!”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah…..” He said walking over to Buffy. “Yes, I’m Jonathan’s brother, and maybe later, you can tell me how it is you know this, and how you know him.”
“I’d love to.” She said, her smile returning to her face.
“Ok, I have a question.” Sean said.
“Yeah?” the guys said.
“Why exactly are we here?”
Josh took a long pause and thought for a moment. There was an eerie silence that fell on the room. He didn’t know why they were there, but he knew he had to protect them.
“Honestly I don’t know. But I know you are safer here than anywhere at the moment.”
“This is bullshit!” Leo commented. “I don’t like this! We are brought out to some huge ass castle just so we can stay safe.”
“I’m forced to agree with Leo. This is a little weird. Not to sound rude or anything.” Dominic said as a true leader would.
“It’s okay. It’s going to take some getting used to, on both our parts.” Lance said calmly. “But, we are here to protect you. So please, try to work with us.”
All the guys of NSYNC looked at each other. They knew the weird feeling that was there, and the uncertainty about everything.
“Well, I will…. we will let you walk around. You have the run of the house. Are you all hungry?” Josh asked kindly.
“Yeah!” Buffy and Sonia said at the same time.
“Anyone else?” Josh asked looking at the dream masters.
“ME ME ME!” Joey’s voice rang out in the room.
“That was a no brainer!” Chris said as he stood up and walked out of the room followed by the other guys, leaving the Dream Masters standing in the room feeling awkward.
They all looked at each other and then looked back at the door. Chris scared them and put his head in the door really quick.
“Okay, you guys have got to learn that when we leave you follow when talk about food. It has been that way since I can remember.”
Sean smiled and marched his way out like he was the greatest thing since sliced bread, and soon after, the rest followed. Chris showed them to the kitchen where they could smell bacon and eggs cooking.
“Make yourselves at home.” Lance said as he stood next to the fridge.
They all huddled together like a heard of lost sheep, Josh who was fixing the stuff laughed lightly.
“Okay, who is going to be the taste tester?” Josh asked as he held up the fork with eggs on it.
All the guys looked at each other and then Chris stood up and said.
“Oh what the hell, I have led a good life.”
He walked over and Josh placed the food in his mouth. He began to chew it, his face then contorted into something that showed his disapproval. Josh frowned a bit, then took some for himself and started chewing it. He slowly stopped and looked at Chris who hadn’t swallowed it and with his mouth still slightly filled he said,
“Did somebody say McDonalds?”
Chris nodded quickly and they ran over and spit the eggs into the sink. Lance, Justin, and Joey were laughing their asses off, and the Dream Masters had smirks on their faces as well.
“JC don’t you ever, EVER…. Cook again!” Chris said.
“Hey you don’t hear me complaining!”
Lance had a huge smile on his face as he started popping grapes into his mouth.
Buffy stood there with an almost insulted look on her face.
“Men! I swear, alright, everyone out, let the master work her magic!” She said as she walked past all the slayers and into the fridge.
“Oh god, here she goes again!” Sean said snobbishly.
“Dear, what are you doing?” Joey asked as he looked at her butt sticking out of the fridge.
“I’m making breakfast suga, so just go do whatever it is you do, and I will have that computer thingy of yours ring a bell or something when it’s all done.”
All of them started to walk out except for Sonia, and Justin.
“Never in my life did I think a woman would throw me out of my own kitchen.” Josh said as he looked at Lance.
“Oh god! You are such a baby sometimes!” Lance laughed.
“Now come on, I’m sure Lance has done it a bunch of times!” Chris said laughing then quickly teleporting out of the kitchen.
Vanessa came running up next to Josh and asked,
“So you said we have run of the house?”
“Yeah, just think of this as your home. But, you know, don’t like, break stuff or anything.” Josh said with a smile.
“Oh please!” She said as she ran up the stairs and all the others went there own separate ways.
Josh walked along
with Lance into the living room and sat down on the couch next to each
other. JC grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. They sat and cuddled
close to each other, watching Saturday morning cartoons.