| Joey stared at his reflection in the mirror and laughed. He straightened the lapel on his jacket and ran a shaky hand through his hair as he sighed jaggedly. He was nervous� extremely nervous. What the hell am I doing? He thought as he eyed the clock warily. In thirty minutes he�d be in the garden behind his mom�s house getting married. He�d be a married man. Married� A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts. �Come in,� he called gruffly, upset that someone was intruding on his quiet time. JC poked his head into the room. �Joe?� Joey rolled his eyes. �Yes,� he said impatiently. �What?� JC shifted from foot to foot, unsure of how to tell Joey what he needed to say. Finally he looked up into Joey�s irritated face. �Hey, Joe, have you seen Lance at all today?� Joey furrowed his brow. �No. I took him over to Justin�s last night to spend the night.� He smiled, his features softening as he thought about his soon to be husband. �We both agreed that even though we aren�t a traditional couple, we still shouldn�t see each other before the wedding.� JC scowled. �Hmm, okay. Yeah, that�s what I thought you had told me.� Joey frowned. �Is there something wrong or what?� JC shook his head slowly. �No, well� actually, yes.� Joey looked at JC expectantly. �Well? What?� �Well, just that I asked Justin if he had seen Lance and he said he hadn�t seen Lance since early this morning.� JC closed his eyes, expecting Joey to explode with anger. When nothing happened, he opened one eye slowly. Joey was sitting on the edge of the bed. His head hung limply. JC sat beside him and put a hand on his shoulder. Joey sniffed and looked at JC. �Cold feet?� he asked sadly. �He�ll be here,� JC said. �Where could he be? Maybe something happened to him. Maybe he decided he just didn�t want to be with me.� �He�ll be here.� JC stood up. �Maybe Chris has run into him. I asked him before I asked Justin, but who knows what�s happened since there?� He walked to the door. �You�ll be okay.� Joey wiped at his face. �Yeah, it�s just nerves and Lance�s disappearing act�� JC started to walk back towards him, but Joey lifted his hand and JC stopped. �He�ll be here.� JC left and Joey went back to the mirror to study his face. He pretended to ignore the gnawing feeling in his gut that Lance wouldn�t show by distracting himself. He was using his sister�s tweezers to pluck a stray hair out of his eyebrow when he heard a soft rap on the window. He looked around quickly, at first unsure of where it had come from. Again, there were three quick knocks at the window. Joey pulled the string and lifted the blind. It was Lance. Joey�s eyes widened. �Lance? What the�� Lance jumped inside. He was dressed up in his tux and looked like a rabbit, all scared and twitchy. He paced the room. �Lance?� Lance looked up sharply. �Joey, I can�t do this. I don�t need to be getting married.� Joey opened his mouth to protest, but Lance cut him off. �I mean, I love you, but I don�t know if I can be married, like married, and it�s weird, but I can�t explain it. Marriage is such a big thing. We�ve been together so long, but still.� He sighed. �I don�t know. You know?� He gazed at Joey beseechingly. Joey laughed. He closed the space between them, and took Lance�s face into his hands, searching in the pools of yellow green for answers. When he didn�t find any, he pressed his lips to Lance�s. Lance immediately responded, kissing Joey back with more urgency, but Joey backed away. �I love you, Lance. Let�s get married. Then we can kiss all the time.� Lance sucked in his breath, and exhaled slowly. �All the time?� he asked, his eyes twinkling wickedly. Joey grinned and winked. �All the time.� Lance pretended to think it over. �Okay, I guess. But only cause you said all the time.� He smiled at Joey, and his heart melted. �I can�t believe I was ready to run away, just because I got scared.� Joey scooped Lance up in his arms again. �You wouldn�t run.� Lance blushed. �Yeah, I know. I love you, Joey Fatone.� �I love you more, Lance Bass.� �I know.� �Then let�s go get married.� �Let�s.� Joey smiled and held Lance�s hand, caressing it lightly with his thumb, as they walked down the hall and outside into the rest of their lives. |