| Chapter 3 |
| "Lance," Justin called as he walked into the living room a few days later. Lance sat bent over his laptop trying to concentrate what was on the screen. It was early that morning but Lance had to get up. He couldn't take lying in bed after he woke up with JC sleeping soundly away next to him. "Yeah," he mumbled not bothering to look up. Justin sighed as he plopped down on the couch next to him. "Let's get out of this place, I need to go shopping and I need your help," Justin explained as he went to push the cover of the laptop down but Lance's hand moved quickly to stop him. "Take Joey," Lance said as he went back to typing. "Lance, don't be stubborn," Justin whined as he leaned back trying to see what Lance was typing. "I can't take Joey anyway." "Why not?" Lance asked as he sipped something from a mug on the table next to him. "Cuz the gifts for him, come on don't be so dense," he said knocking his shoulder against Lance's. "Is JC starting to get to you?" He knew that got Lance's attention because he stiffened almost immediately and snapped the computer shut loudly. "Let's go," Lance said getting up quickly. Justin grabbed his arm and made him look down. "Justin…" he groaned wanting to avoid this conversation. "I've known JC forever, I just wanted to let you know that he doesn't look at everyone the way he looks at you. He's never looked at anyone the way he's been looking at you." "Justin, come on, can we just please drop this," Lance begged snatching his hand away. He walked to the closet and grabbed his coat. "Come on, let's go, I'm driving," he added. Justin laughed to himself as he grabbed his jacket and followed him out the door. <><><><><><><><><><><> JC woke up slowly as he stretched across the bed. "Lance?" he mumbled looking around the room. When he realized he was alone he buried his head into the pillow. "Hmm," he murmured contently as he realized it wasn't his pillow he was laying on but Lance's. It smelled sweet, like an island or something. "An island?" he laughed out loud burying his face deeper into the scent. Coconut, pineapple: tropical. JC finally drug himself out of bed and slipped on his leopard print slippers. He ruffled through his bag and grabbed two things: his writing notebook and a small package. He ran downstairs and grabbed a spot in the living room. He sat the package down on the table a little ways from where he set his notebook. He ran his fingers over the rough cover. The edges were tattered and the cover had been doodled on beyond recognition. He flipped it open and past all his other works in process to a blank page. "Look what I got!!!" Chris screamed as he bounded into the room. He held a large package of something under his arm and JC couldn't tell what it was until it was being thrown onto the table. It was a bag, a very large bag, of sugar. "Sugar?" JC questioned. "Yeah, is this your way of telling me you think I'm sweet?" Chris smiled with a cheesy grin on his face as he leaned against the table. "Oh as much as I think you need more sugar, I can't take the credit for that one," JC shook his head as he looked back down to his paper. Chris left the room and JC was left with the silence of his own thoughts, of Lance. <><><><><><><><><><><> "A jewelry store?" Lance asked as Justin pulled him inside. "Yes, a jewelry store, you have a problem with that?" he asked as he walked to the long case and gazed down at the merchandise. "Gonna buy a new block of diamonds for your neck this Christmas or something?" Lance said as he followed along not wanting to draw too much attention to them, "I know what you can spell out: JB, Joey's Bitch." "Haha, very funny, Lance, you crack me up," Justin deadpanned rolling his eyes, "I'm looking for Joey." "What for?" Lance asked looking down into the case. It was full of men's rings. "Hi, can I help you boys today?" a woman asked as she appeared on the other side of the counter. "Yes, I'm looking for an engagement ring," Justin stated as Lance's jaw dropped behind him. "Ohmygod, ohmygod," he muttered under his breath as he turned around and walked to the other side of the store. "Oh ok, our women's rings are right over here," the woman started. "No, I'm looking for a male engagement ring," Justin started before recovering, "It's for my dad, you know, he's kind of different." Lance overheard the conversation and couldn't help but laugh. He walked back over by Justin. "Yeah, they're an unique family," Lance drawled leaning down on the counter. "Well, okay," the woman replied. Justin took forever and a day to decide but later the two left the store with a very small package in a small bag. <><><><><><><><><><><> "Lance, shut up. What was I supposed to say?" Justin called out behind him as they entered the house. JC heard the voices and ran from the living room before the two could spot him. He hid around the corner in the dining room waiting to see what happened. "Oo, someone's got a present." "Yeah, my secret santa finally came through," Lance said and JC could practically hear the grin on his face. He heard Justin leave the room and he knew that Lance was reading the card: Lance- I love watching you from afar. I hope to someday possibly give you this gift only with slightly more meaning behind it. Don't ask questions. Just know that I love you. -Your Secret Santa He heard Lance open the package up and laugh out loud as he sat down on the couch. JC dug into his pocket pulling out his own identical package: a ring pop. He popped it in his mouth and entered the room. He sat back down at the table where he had left his notebook. JC could feel Lance's eyes watch his mouth as he tried to put the note, the gift and JC's actions together. "C, where'd ya get the ring pop?" he asked, his curiosity killing him. JC pulled the ring pop from his mouth and smiled as he heard the slight *pop* as it did so. "Joey, why?" he asked trying to hide his happiness for just one minute. "Oh, just wondering," Lance said as he gathered the note and the sucker and went upstairs. He entered the room and lay out on the bed. He reached into one of his shopping bags from that day and found the notebook. It was a leather bound spiral notebook filled with line-less blank pages. JC couldn't write on anything else. He lay it on JC's pillow and rested down on his own letting his tiredness take him away. <><><><><><><><><><><> "Look at me, I am HOT!" Justin exclaimed as he came bounding down the stairs later that night. Adorned on the top of his head was a large and very curly black afro wig. "Oh, good lord, as if you needed any more ego boosters," JC laughed as the man came into the room and sat down. Before he could recover Joey came sliding in from the hall, courtesy of the wood floors, with a large read cape flying from his back. "Superman to save the day!" he howled as he slid onto the couch next to Justin. "Is someone hurting my poor little Afro Boy?" he said keeping up the act as he pulled Justin into his lap. "Yes, mean Songwriting Serious Man was laughing again," Justin squealed in his high pitch falsetto. "Then I must whisk you away and make slow passionate love to you all night long," Joey said burying his head into Justin's neck. "Ew, too many details," JC laughed as he moved down the couch from the two who were all but doing it right there in front of him. "To bed we go," Joey said grabbing Justin's hand, dragging him off the couch and they were gone. "Oh lordie," JC muttered as he made his way upstairs to his own room, to his bed. With Lance. "Shit, this is getting harder and harder," he mumbled as he entered the room and saw Lance curled up in the middle of the bed sound asleep. "Beautiful." JC sat down lightly on the edge of the bed and pulled the blanket from under Lance and lay it lightly over him. As he did so his eyes caught glance of his own gift sitting on his pillow. He reached for it and picked it up: a brand new notebook. The pages were all blank and a note fell out as he flipped through it. -I know this isn't your notebook but the other is getting so old and well ratty, I thought it was time for a new one. Sometimes a change is good.- "Sometimes a change is good, my Lance," JC sighed as he laid down next to the sleeping figure and let his arm lightly drape itself over Lance's waist. |