*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"I don't get it," Justin said.  "Are you two just fucking with my head, or are you together?"

"You have nothing to worry about," Lance assured him.

"But--"

"Don't worry about it," Lance said.  But he smirked when he said it, and JC's brow furrowed.

Chris broke into his thoughts with a loud "I HAVE MADE IT TO THE BUS!  No worries, no worries, I wasn't mauled."

Lance managed to raise his voice a good octave and a half above his normal tone to yell out an obnoxious "oh, sweetie! I'm so glad you're okay! Gimme some sugah!"

Justin just sighed.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"I don't know," Joey said.  "I think it's cool."

"What," Justin said, "that they're pretending to be together just for some kind of strange joke?"

"Yeah," Joey shrugged.  "Gotta get your kicks somewhere."

"I don't get it either," JC said, "but, you know, whatever works for them.  It's kind of amusing, anyway."

"Whatever, man," Justin said.  "It's weird."

"Nah," JC said, smiling.  "It's cool."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Chris cornered Lance on the bus, having switched with Joey until the hotel with the excuse of "not having gotten any lovin' for three days, fucker, so let me see my man"

"Think we threw 'em off?" Chris asked. 

Lance shrugged.  "I dunno.  Seems to be working.  I mean, you know, Joey and JC wouldn't care if they found out it was true, which is cool.  But, uh,"

"Justin," Chris finished wryly.

"See," Lance said.  "Our little experiment is working.  We know how they'd all feel.  JC wouldn't care, the sap, and Joey, of course, just goes with the flow.  Justin would just need to get used to it."

"He doesn't seem too happy about it," Chris muttered.

"Cause this is a joke," Lance said gently.  "To them.  Maybe he'd feel differently, if--"

Chris sighed, then jumped on Lance's lap.  "You know, I don't wanna talk about them anymore."

"No?" Lance asked, a smile playing across his face.

"No," Chris said.

"Oh," Lance said, "because, really, the other guys--"

"Lance?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up and kiss me."

Lance smiled.  "Okay."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"What do you think they're doing over there?" Joey asked.

"Plotting the next way to confuse the hell out of me," Justin said.  He folded his arms against his chest.

"What do you have against it, J?" JC asked, frowning.  "The gay thing?"

"No," Justin said, but he didn't sound too convincing.  "It's, you know.  Weird, what they're doing, the whole...fake relationship thing."

"It's funny," Joey said.

"Yeah," Justin said as they pulled up to their hotel.  "I guess."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Three weeks went by without any new incidents, until they were stuck at a meeting about the tour in The Compound.

Lance and Chris sat across from each other, as they usually did, with JC opposite Johnny and Justin next to Chris, across from Joey. 

JC was trying to keep eyes on Chris, Lance, and Johnny, as he was used to doing in meetings like these, ready to shoot glares at anyone who dared disrupt it, when he noticed Chris grinning mischievously, and a slight shift in his weight.  JC turned his head, watching, knowing that Johnny probably thought he was spacing again and wouldn't call any attention to it unless he was talking about something he couldn't hear from Lance later.

When Lance all of a sudden jolted in his seat, a knee banging the table, JC had a pretty good idea of what was going on.  "Sorry," Lance said, when eyes turned to him.  As soon as they looked away, he sent Chris a glare, but Chris only grinned.

Chris was still grinning when his weight shifted again.  This time, JC noticed, Lance didn't jump, he only steeled his jaw and ignored it.  It happened again, and Lance glared once more before looking away, the muscles in his jaw twitching.

Finally, it happened again, and this time, Lance hissed, "not now, Chris, later, you can do that all you want."

"You promise?" Chris asked, eyes glinting.

"Of course," Lance said, overexaggerating the motion of licking his lips.  He glanced at JC and winked when he saw him watching.

JC rolled his eyes and turned back to Johnny.  "If Lance and Chris are ready to listen, I'll continue," he was saying, and they quieted down demurely.

It was only a few minutes later when JC heard the rustling of paper.  He looked up in time to see Chris slide a folded piece of paper across the table to Lance, who opened it curiously.  Then he grinned, picked up his pencil, and made a mark before sliding it back to Chris.

Chris smiled brightly before scratching the pencil on the paper again.

Then Johnny turned around just as he was sliding it over to Lance.  "Is there something you two would like to share with the rest of the class?"

JC had to giggle, because Chris looked like the kid with his hands in the cookie jar.  Lance was smirking.  "Nope," Chris said, "nothin' at all."

Johnny walked over.  "Passing notes, are we?"  Chris started to take the note off the table when Johnny snatched it out of his hands.  "I've told you about this before, Christopher," Johnny said, and Chris sighed.  Johnny opened up the piece of paper and read it.  "I like you. Do you like me? check yes or no..." Johnny hesitated, and turned to the other three.  "He checked 'yes,'" he said, mock whisper.  He stopped before reading what Chris had written next.  "Okay, that's enough.  No more passing notes, and congratulations, you two."

"Why thank you, Johnny," Lance said, "but do you think we could get our note back? I'd love to see what my boy wrote next.  Unless you'd like to read it?"

"I think he should read it," Chris said.  "What do you think, Justin?"

"I think you should both shut up so we can finish the meeting," Justin said.  "I'd like to go home sometime this week."

Chris flinched.  "Hm, wrong person to ask, I suppose.  Joey?"

"Let 'em have it back," Joey said. "I have no interest in hearing any more."

"Read it," JC said, before he could be asked, and Lance glanced at him with a smirk.

Johnny sighed, but read in a monotone, "would you like to have hot monkey sex later. Check yes or no."

Lance full-out grinned, snatched the paper away, and made a big production out of checking the box next to 'yes.'

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"That's not fair," Chris complained, a week later, at yet another meeting about the tour.  "JC and Joey get paper.  Even Justin gets paper.  How come me and Lance don't?"

"Because I don't trust you," Johnny said.

Chris huffed.  "That's not fair."

"I think it's perfectly fair."

"Tyrant."  Chris folded his arms across his chest.  "Lance needs to take notes so he can translate for the rest of us."

"Fair enough," Johnny said, sliding a piece of paper to Lance's seat.  "But if there are any notes written..." he warned.

"Fine, fine," Lance said.  "That's not my thing anyway.  And besides, Johnny, no one said you had to read it."

"I do," Johnny said.  "I have to--"

"Remain a ruthless dictator?" Chris offered.

"Well," Johnny said, "I was gonna say that I have to keep tabs on you two.  But, yes, that works just as well."  Chris was about to respond but Lance interrupted him first.

"Chris," Lance said. 

"What?" Chris pouted.

Lance winked at him.  "We'll think of something."

A slow grin spread across Chris' face.

"Oh, God," Johnny sighed.  "What the hell is up with you two, anyway?"

"Nothin', Johnny," Lance said.  "We're just kidding around."  He grinned.

"Yeah," Chris said, "just kidding."

JC watched Chris and Lance closely that meeting.  Nothing happened during the first forty-five minutes, and he found himself almost absurdly disappointed.  Lance, he realized, was paying attention to the meeting, but whenever JC glanced at Chris, he was looking at Lance and tracing patterns on the table with his finger.  Chris usually did that on paper, and he usually drew pictures of Johnny or whoever happened to be speaking at the moment, JC reflected, but he supposed that with the absence of paper this was the next best thing.

Lance seemed to be refusing to look at Chris.  JC glanced back and forth at them for a minute before looking back up at Johnny and trying to understand what he was saying.

"So, I figure, what we're looking at is about 75 trucks, give or take a few, putting costs at about..."

JC shook his head and gave up.  No use trying to understand something from the middle of it.  And 75 trucks?  For a tour?  He shook his head again, but snapped it to the side when Chris sighed loudly.

Joey glanced at JC and grinned at him before nudging at Lance, who studiously ignored him.  He elbowed him again.  "Hey, Lance," he whispered.  "Laaaance," he whispered again, louder this time.  "Laaaance, your boyfriend wants you."

"Now, 75 trucks means 75 drivers, maybe more, which means at least 75 more paychecks, so -- Joey, if you don't shut up I'm going to stick my foot up your ass -- that means the cost is going to be upped to..."

Joey winked at Johnny before hitting Lance again.  Lance flipped him off.  "Lance, come on, he looks so sad!"

Lance sighed and glanced at Chris.  JC grinned at the way his entire face lit up when he was finally acknowledged.  JC watched him carefully.  Chris gave Lance a little finger wave, and Lance rolled his eyes but did the same.  Chris grinned brightly.  "I love you," he mouthed towards Lance, doing the finger wave again.

JC watched Lance.  Lance rolled his eyes again, but he smiled and his eyes softened, just a little bit, before he mouthed "you too" back at Chris.  He caught JC's eye, and winked.

Those were the only theatrics of the meeting, but when JC glanced at the two again, he felt like much more had been said.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"They're the most unlikely couple ever," Justin complained at his house later that week.

"That's what makes it so funny," Joey said.  "They still fight all the time, it's not like anything's changed."

As if on cue, Lance came walking into the room, Chris complaining loudly behind him.  "You're full of shit, Lance, you know that?  The camera angle is going to have no bearing on whether or not you can--" he stopped abruptly when he saw the others.  "Hey, you guys," he said.  "What's up?"

"Nothing interesting," Justin said.  "What are you yapping about?"

"Lance is being an idiot about--"

"I am not."

"Yes you are," Chris said.  "About cameras and how--"

"Shut up, Chris, you're a pain in the ass, you know that?"

"You're a pain in the ass," Chris retorted.

Lance sighed and sat down.  "Whatever, Chris.  Hey, did Johnny tell you guys?  Turns out we need 88 trucks for the tour.  At least."

"What the hell are we putting in them?" Justin wondered out loud.

"Mechanical bulls," Lance shrugged.  "Of course, you gotta keep in mind that we're going to have about 27 stages so that we can have a crew go ahead and set up--"

"Mild exaggeration," Chris muttered.

"Shut up, Chris -- set up the stage ahead of time so it'll be mostly ready when we get there."

"It was Lance's idea to spend more money."

"It was not--"

"He wants us all to go broke."

"Shut up, Chris." Lance stood up and walked out of the room, brushing past a startled JC.  "Sometimes I just get so sick of your bullshit..." he stopped himself and shook his head.  "I'll see you guys later."  Justin's front door slammed shut.

JC felt like he'd gone to the bathroom and missed a war.  "What happened?"

"Lover's quarrel," Justin told him.

"Ah," JC said with a nod.

Chris dropped his head on the table with a thump.  "I'll be right back," he muttered, standing up and following Lance out the door.

"Hey, JC," Justin said.

"What?"

"You're standing," Justin told him.

"So?"

"So that means you get to go find out what the hell is going on."

JC sighed and went outside to Justin's porch.  He glanced around for Lance and Chris, and found them in front of Lance's car.  Lance was facing the car, and his back was turned to Chris.  JC strained his ears to make out what they were saying, hoping they wouldn't turn around and see him.

"...not my fault," Lance was muttering.  "Johnny wanted to have more..."

"I know," Chris said.  "I was just being annoying."

Lance still didn't face him.  "You were," he said, his arms crossed over his chest. 

Chris walked closer to the car and spread his hand out over the side of it.  He looked at Lance again.  "Look, Lance--"

"Just because we joke around with the guys doesn't mean this entire thing is a joke," Lance said softly, turning around to face him.

"I know..."

"You always make it a joke, Chris," Lance said, his head turned down.  "Sometimes I'm afraid you're just kidding around with me too."

"Lance," Chris said, "I'd never kid about something like this.  I swear.  I'm sorry if it seems like that, but it's just--"

"It's just you," Lance sighed.

Chris stepped forward and ran a hand down Lance's cheek.  "I'm shit at showing it, but you know I love you, right?"

"Yeah," Lance sighed.

"So does this mean I can still come home with you?" Even at a distance, JC could hear the mischevious tone in Chris' voice. "Since you're afraid of my dog and all and refuse to come to mine."

"I'm not afraid of your dog," Lance muttered. "I'm afraid of the fact that he always steals my underwear. That's not normal."

"Sure it is. He does it because he likes you as much as I do," Chris grinned. "So can I? Come on..."

"I guess," Lance sighed. "But you have to make it up to me."

"I plan on it," Chris said, grinning.  He pulled Lance's head down into a kiss, and JC let out a little gasp.  Sure, he'd believed it, but confirmation...he grinned. The underwear thing was more than he needed to know, but everyone had to make small sacrifices to hear what they wanted sometimes.

"Let's go home," Lance said, when they finally broke apart, and JC shut the door quietly behind him on the way in before they said anything else.

"So what's going on?" Justin asked, when JC came back inside.

"Nothing," JC said, unable to wipe the grin off his face.  "Just one of their idiotic arguments."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"I think JC figured us out," Chris said when they were back at Lance's the next day.  The guys had ditched security and gone to a mall incognito.

"What makes you think that?"

"I dunno," Chris said.  "Just the way he's been looking at us all day.  It looks like he's writing a song in his head."

"About us," Lance said skeptically, opening a cabinet and pulling out Dirk's food. 

"Sure," Chris said, watching Lance move around the kitchen.  "Well, he was looking at the Merry-Go-Round the same way, so it could be about that too.  Or the french fries at the place we ate lunch.  But I'm pretty sure it was us.  He had that giddy look on his face."

"Hm," Lance said, filling Dirk's waterbottle.  "I guess you never know with him.  Odd, though, I kind of had Joey pegged."

"Yeah, me too.  I thought JC would be the last to know, what with his warped sense of reality and all," Chris said.

"JC notices a lot more than he lets on," Lance said.  "He's not as weird as everyone thinks."

"He likes the confusion he causes," Chris agreed.  "Are you done with your ferret yet?  I want some food too."

"I'm not your bitch," Lance said.

"I never said you were," Chris winked.  "I just want you to feed me."

Lance sighed and threw a pot at Chris, who caught it out of reflex.  "Cook your own damn dinner."

"Lance, come on," Chris whined.

Lance just grinned.  "Don't burn the water."

"Shut up."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"So yeah," Chris said.  "Lance and I had our little tiff, but don't worry, Justin," he jumped into Justin's lap, "we're all well and good and still grossing you out."

"You don't gross me out," Justin said.  "You're just annoying."

"Mmhmm," Chris said.

"No, seriously.  You guys are weird.  Who the hell gets it in their head to pretend to have a relationship?"

"Me and Lance, of course," Chris said.

Lance poked his head into the room.  "I heard my name..." he trailed off and raised an eyebrow.  "Anything I should worry about?"

Justin dumped Chris onto the floor.  "No," he said.  "Chris is just being a leech."

"Hey!"

Lance regarded Chris carefully.  "He does resemble one sometimes, doesn't he?"

"Hey!"

"Oh, bug off, dearest, you know it's true. I only say it because I love you so. Honesty is important in a relationship, and all that other shit."

"You're supposed to defend me in my time of need, Lancelot," Chris sniffed.

Lance grinned.  "No I'm not.  That's not in the rules."

"You two aren't gonna fight again, are you?" Justin interrupted.  "Because that was weird, man.  Lance getting all huffy was pretty funny, though, dude."

Lance flipped him off and Chris resettled in his lap.  "Nah," Chris said, "we're just kidding."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Chris and Lance confirmed their belief that JC had them figured out when he walked in on them kissing in the rehearsal room during a break.

JC, in turn, confirmed what he already knew.  He walked in and immediately grinned, as he'd been wondering when he'd get to witness them kissing again.  The fingers of one of Lance's hands were pressed against the small of Chris' back, and the other hand was cupping his face.  When they broke apart, their foreheads touched, and Chris lifted his hands to rest them in Lance's hair.  He mumbled something and they both smiled.  It was so sweet, JC was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet.

One of Lance's eyes shifted and he murmured in Chris' ear. The only word JC could make out was "audience."

When Chris pulled away and looked, JC blushed.  "Don't stop on account of me," he said.

Chris perked an eyebrow.  Lance just smirked.

"I mean, uh," JC said.  "It's, you know.  I've known for a few weeks, and."  He stopped. "Um. You know, yes."  He could feel his hands flutter and he finally just broke out into a grin.  "You two.  You, yes.  I won't tell the other guys, because.  Joke, and yes. And you're so.  Just.  Adorable.  I think I'm..." he grinned wider and left the room.

Chris turned his head back to Lance.  "See, told you," he said.  "Song."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Joey was the next to figure it out.

Chris took a flying leap after a break in rehearsal one day about a week later, throwing himself on Lance's back.  Lance staggered under the weight.  "Fuck, Chris," he said, hooking his arms under Chris' knees to hold him in a reflex they all had from dealing with Chris.  "Don't do that."

Chris looped his arms around Lance's neck and stuck his tongue in his ear.  Lance jerked away.  "You like it," Chris said.  He stuck his tongue in Lance's ear again and giggled when Lance's head snapped away again.

Lance dumped him on his ass.  "You're annoying," he said.

Joey watched the interaction carefully, watched the different ways Lance's face changed when Chris spoke.  It was when Lance picked Chris up, spun him around, and dumped him on the floor that Joey realized it.  Chris busted up laughing from the ground, something Joey hadn't heard in a while.  Chris didn't really laugh a lot, he just kind of smiled real big when he thought something was funny or good.

Lance kicked at him.  "Dude, are you like, wheezing? I didn't think you were that old."

Chris held up a hand.  "Shut up," he said.

"You guys aren't joking, are you?" Joey asked.

Lance jumped like he'd forgotten Joey was in the room.  "Huh?"

"I mean, you guys aren't just shitting us with this together thing.  You guys are really together."

Chris grinned.  "Number two."

Joey looked at him oddly.  "What?"

"You're the second one to figure it out."

"Who was first?"

"JC," Lance said, grinning.  "Surprised us both. We both thought it'd be you.  But I suppose the kissing thing--"

"The kissing thing definitely helped," Chris said.  "He saw us making out in the rehearsal room," he told Joey.

Joey wrinkled his nose.  "Poor guy."

"Nah, man, he thought it was cool.  He waxed poetic about it, or tried to, for a coupla minutes and then just wandered away.  Probably to write a song or something."

"So why'd you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Pretend you were just kidding."

"Story for a rainy day," Lance said, winking as Chris climbed on his back again.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"They're adorable," Joey said to JC.  "They're sleeping in there, and, like holding each other's hands.  They're sleeping, dude, and."

"I know," JC beamed, "isn't it great?" He poked his head in and smiled wider. It was rare to see intimate moments between Chris and Lance; when they were around the other guys their "relationship" was loud and raucous, almost obnoxious, to carry out the joke. He had only seen three, when they were outside fighting, and later when he'd seen them kissing. And now, he thought, smiling wider, they'd thought they were alone and had fallen asleep on a couch made for one person, curled up into each other and holding hands.

"Yeah," Joey said.  "Just. Wow."

"They nap," JC said happily, pulling out his cellphone.

"Dude, you're not singing a song to yourself about napping, are you?  JC, come on, man--"

JC just giggled and ran away.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Britney figured it out before Justin did.

In fact, she figured it out the minute she saw them.

"Justin thinks they're faking that?" she asked Joey quietly, watching Chris and Lance wrestle on the floor.

"Yeah," Joey said.  "I mean, we all did at first, but they're being less careful about what they let us see."

Britney scrunched her nose.  "You know, I never thought I'd say this, but they're actually kind of cute."

Joey grinned.  "I know, right?  There's a pool going between me and Jace on how long it'll take Justin to clue in.  You want in?"

"Yeah, sure," she said.  "I say...a week."

"JC's got that one."

Britney sighed.  "Come on, I know J, that's not fair.  He's relationship stupid.  It's gonna be a week."  She thought for a second, and sighed again.  "Fine.  Eight days from now."

"Got it down," Joey grinned, tapping his head.

Chris' voice broke through their conversation. "Say uncle!  Say it!"

"No!"

"Say it!"  Chris' fingers dug into Lance's sides.

"Okay, okay, I give!  Uncle!" Lance squirmed away from Chris, giggling.

Britney looked at Joey, eyes wide.  "That was an honest to God giggle.  I don't believe it."

"I know," Joey said, grinning.  "They are the strangest couple ever."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

JC looked around.  He loved times like this, when they were all sitting around in one room, just lounging.  He was laying on Joey's shoulder, and they were both watching television.  Chris was sprawled out in a chair, and Lance was on his stomach on front of him, typing away on his laptop.  Justin was in another chair, talking quietly to Britney on the phone.  Glancing at Chris again, JC noticed him getting fidgety.  His feet kicked out absently, and once in a while a wayward heel would hit Lance.

"Quit it, Chris," Lance finally said. 

"Sorry," Chris grinned.  But now that his attention was called to it, he figured...

"Chris, seriously."

Chris let a few minutes pass by before he did it again, glancing around the room to make sure someone was watching.

"Chris, quit it."

Chris toed him.  "Wanna go make out?"

Lance sighed.  "I'm working."

"That doesn't answer my question.  You wanna make out?"

Lance glanced up at him.  "Maybe later."

Chris sighed, but let him work for a few more minutes.  He glanced around the room, seeing that Justin had hung up with Britney, and grinned evilly.  "Hey, Lance." He toed at him again.

"What, Chris?" Lance asked patiently.

"Wanna have sex?"

JC giggled, Joey grinned, and Justin just looked scandalized.  Lance sighed.  "Later, Chris."

"No, now."

"In front of all these people?"

"In front of HBO," Chris nodded, winking at Justin.

"Shut up, man," Justin said.  "That's so old it's not even funny."

"That line is so old it's not even funny," Chris shot back.

"You're so old it's not even funny," Justin muttered.

"Hey, fuck you," Chris said. He turned to Lance again. "There are only three other people," Chris amended, snickering.  "And we're beth friendth.  They don't mind."

"Um, hi," Justin said, raising a hand.  "Minding, over here."

"Okay," Chris said, "two don't mind."

"Chris," Joey said, "I support your relationship and all, but..."

"That doesn't mean we want to watch you guys have sex on the floor," JC added helpfully.

"Fine," Chris said, "we'll just go upstairs."  He stood up, not caring that he was half on top of Lance, and kicked at his side.  "Come on, man.  I'm bored.  Let's go make out."

"I'm workin', Chris," Lance said.

Chris shut the laptop on his fingers.  "Not anymore."

"Chris!" Lance yelped.

Chris winced and hid behind the couch.  "I love you?"

"That ain't gonna save you," Lance said.  "You little shit..." he dove onto Chris, tackling him to the ground.  "Say you're sorry."

"Never!"

"Say it!"

"No!" Chris said.  "I'll never--" Lance murmured something to him and he paused.  "On second thought, I'm very, very sorry, Lance."

Lance grinned.  "That's what I thought."

"Hey, we're behind the couch," Chris said, "no one can see us.  Wanna make out?"

"No," Lance said crossly.  "You have one fuckin' one-track-mind, don't you?"

"Yep," Chris beamed proudly.

"You two don't actually kiss, do you?" Justin asked.

"Sure we do," Chris said, flipping Lance over so he was on top of him.  He bent down and pressed his lips to Lance before Lance shoved him off.

"That wasn't very fair," Lance said.

"We do more than kiss, too," Chris informed Justin, ignoring Lance.

Justin wrinkled his nose.  Lance and Chris stood up, and Chris dragged Lance up the stairs.  "Let go of me, man," Lance said.  "I can walk by myself."

"But you won't," Chris told him.

"Wait, wait," Justin said.  "You guys are serious?"

"Yeah, man," Chris said from the middle of the stairs.  " And, by the way, we have been since the month after Dani and I broke up, thank you bastards very much for noticing."

"That's kind of soon, isn't it?" Justin asked.

"Yeah," Chris beamed.  "He's my rebound.  And he loves every minute of it."

Lance rolled his eyes.  "And he's full of shit."

"So, what, then, you guys are fucking?" Justin asked.

Lance practically bristled. "Dating," he said. "Not fucking. Dating."
Justin held up his hands. "Sorry, sorry. Sensitive much?" Chris glared at him. "All right!" Justin said. "I was just kidding! You know, the way you have been since freakin' January?"

Lance glanced at Chris. "He has a point," he said, and Chris shrugged in agreement.

"So why were you guys messing with our heads, anyway?" Joey asked.

Lance grinned. "To keep you guys from figuring it out." Chris snickered. "After Chris was an idiot on Larry King, we figured, if we pretended to have a relationship you guys wouldn't look for a real one. And we could figure out how you guys might react."

"You guys are so strange," Justin said.

"It worked, didn't it?" Chris asked.  "By the way, who won the pool?"

"I did!" JC crowed happily.  "J, call Britney.  I kicked her ass," he said gleefully.  "She owes me twenty bucks.  And so do you, Joey." He got up and grabbed Justin's phone off the floor.

"What was the pool on?" Justin asked, confused.

"How long it would take for you to notice the whole thing, Curly," Joey said.  "JC won.  Britney wanted this day, but JC picked it first."

"You lost, B!" JC said into the phone, beaming.

"Awww, man!" they all heard her say. "I wanted this day, too."

"JC!" Justin yelped. "Why did you call her? She was sleeping!"

JC ignored him. "But you were too late!" he said to Britney. "Twenty bucks!"

"Geez, dude," she said, "you'll get your money next time I see you. Can you let me go back to sleep?"

"Oh, sure," JC said. "Sorry for waking you up." He turned off the phone, still beaming.

"He gets forty bucks and he's all euphoric," Lance said to Chris. "And they think we're weird?"

"How come I'm the last to know everything?" Justin whined.

"Because you're a bumbling idiot, that's why," Chris said.  "Come on, Lance, drama's over." He tugged at his hand.

"You guys aren't going to go have sex, are you?" Justin asked, wrinkling his nose. "Because that'd just be nasty."

"What, J, gay sex squick you?" Chris asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No," Justin said. "It's the fact that you'd be having sex a floor above us. That'd be a bit much right now."

"Don't worry," Lance said, assuaging his fears. "We're just gonna sleep. He's tired but he can't fall asleep when he's by himself. That's why he acts like this." He grinned when Chris slapped his arm. "What? It's true!"

Chris hit him again. "I told you not to tell them that," he muttered.

"Don't worry, Chris," JC said, beaming. "I think that's adorable."

Chris rolled his eyes at Lance. "Look what you did."

Lance just grinned again and pulled him up the stairs. "Come on, baby, I'm tired too."

"I told you not to call me--"

"Hey, there aren't any more surprises, are there?" Joey called up the stairs.

"We have two adopted children that live at Lance's mom's place," Chris said.

"Dude, that's not funny," Justin said.

There was a pause, before two voices, one high, one low, giggled, something neither voice did unless it was accompanied by the other. "Just kidding!"