by Kenovay
"'S the middle of the night. Go back to bed, Ju."
"Joey snores."
"You think Lance is any better? Wait a second, you'll see." Justin winced as the promised snore came.
"Oh." Justin was impressed.
"Joey � Joey's a hundred-metre runner. Impressive, but over very quickly. Lance? Now Lance stays the distance."
"Why did JC get a room to himself?"
"Because he's a sensitive artist. Just you wait, Ju. When you grow up, you can be a sensitive artist, too." Justin's forehead wrinkled with annoyance. Chris groaned. "Go and sleep in JC's room, Ju. He's got a twin."
Justin sighed. "You don't want to go to the games room and play Nintendo?"
"Ju."
"Fine. Reject me. See if I care." With an overly melodramatic sniff, Justin let the door swing shut behind him.
There was no answer when he knocked. Justin waited a few minutes, then pushed the door open. And blinked.
The light in the room was dim, but clear enough to see� well. He'd seen JC naked before, but not this kind of naked. On top of the bed, back slightly arched, head thrown back. His eyes were shut, and his hands� oh! His hands were not where they should be. Justin pulled his gaze away and felt his cheeks flame. "Uh, C?" JC jerked his hands away, gave Justin one startled blue glance, then whipped under the covers and buried his head under the pillow.
"You heard of knocking, J?" It was the sharpest Justin had ever heard his voice.
"I did." Justin was still staring straight ahead. "You were� you didn't answer."
"Oh."
"I'll just go� away, shall I?" He couldn't stay with this suddenly-sexual JC. No.
"No!" JC brought his head out from under the pillow and sat up straight. Justin was horrified to find that his eyes had developed an unhealthy fascination with one bead of sweat that trickled down from JC's collarbone. "I mean, what did you want?"
"I was� Chris sent me. To sleep. Joey snores."
"Okay. Well, you can do that, can't you?" Please? his eyes said.
"Um. I mean� yeah. Of course." Justin climbed carefully under the covers of the other bed, not glancing at JC. They lay in uncomfortable silence for a while. Justin felt like he was about to burst.
"JC?" Turning the tap on slightly, just a trickle, not letting the water escape out yet.
"Yeah?"
"You've� done it, right?"
Silence. Then a wary, defensive "Yeah�"
"I mean, of course you have, it'd be a pretty weird twenty-year-old who hadn't, wouldn't it?" The trickle a little stronger.
"What are you asking, Justin?" JC's voice was taut.
"What's it like?" The water exploding out, spraying into people's faces. The release.
"I'm� not sure you want to be asking that." JC sounded uncomfortable. "Not of me. Try Joey. Or Chris."
"Why not you?"
"I'm� I've not had the� experience."
"You just said you had!" Justin sat up, indignant at being lied to.
"I've� I'm gay, Ju."
"Oh." Justin looked over at the dim form in the other bed, strung tight. "Are you� JC, were you afraid of telling me?" The indignance surges into actual anger. "JC!"
"No!" JC sits up too. "I was� I wanted to wait until you were sixteen. Or eighteen. So I could�"
"What? Spit it out, C." And then Justin thought over JC's words and realised. "Oh."
"Yeah." JC's voice was miserable. "I'm a pervert."
"I'm fifteen, not nine!" Justin paused. "Were you� just then� thinking about me?" His face flamed, and he made a crude gesture with his hands. It was easier to show JC than to tell him.
"No. 'Bout Johnny Depp."
"Oh."
"I have, though."
"Oh." The bottom falls out of Justin's stomach. "Oh."
"J?"
"Give me a minute." Silence falls.
"J?"
"Yeah?"
"Has this completely ruined the whole� has this ruined� it?"
"No. Yes. I don't know. Would you� remind me when I'm eighteen?"
"Yeah." JC's voice sounds vaguely hopeful.
"C, so you know, I think I'm straight, but if anyone could convert me, it'd probably be you." Justin thinks. "Or Chris, but he's not so pretty, so you." Justin hides behind the babble, until JC puts a hand across between the beds and touches Justin's arm.
"Ju?" Justin falls silent. "No pressure. Just� forget about it. Until you're eighteen. Then we'll see."
"Yeah." Justin feels the warm, slightly damp fingers on his arm and smiles. They're� nice. "When I'm eighteen."
