"Hey, look at this," Chris said, as he and Joey walked into the studio, giggling and holding a newspaper.
"What?" Lance asked. JC, behind the glass, rolled his eyes at the interruption. He tapped his wrist and Lance held up a finger.
"Ooh, maybe we should wait," Joey said. "Don't want to interrupt StudioJC."
JC flipped him off and turned some dials.
Lance laughed. "Ignore him."
"Hey, he can hear us?" Joey said, puzzled.
"Microphones, idiot," JC's voice surrounded them.
"Really? Where?" Joey said, looking around comically.
Chris was busy whipping his head around so fast Lance thought he might get whiplash or something. "What?! Where did that come from?" he asked. "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore!" he said loudly to Justin, who had just walked in.
Justin glanced at Chris, confused, then JC, who had his arms crossed with a frown on his face. "Chris, did you guys disrupt StudioJC again?" Justin asked, clicking his tongue. "Tsk tsk. You should know better. Well, if I'm Toto...We're definitely not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy! We're in--"
"Dorothy?" Chris sputtered. "And dogs don't--"
"The Emerald City," JC's voice cut in loudly. It surrounded them from all sides. "And I am the Great and Powerful Oz. And I say for someone get their ass moving!"
"Hey, Lance, I think he's talking to you," Joey quipped, snickering. Lance rolled his eyes with a faint blush.
"You know what I meant," JC's exasperated voice said.
"You know," Chris said, "wasn't the -ahem- Great and Powerful Oz just a farce? I mean wasn't it just a little green man with a lot of smoke behind a curtain in the end?"
"The Wizard of Oz wasn't green!" Justin exclaimed.
"Are you sure he isn't?" Chris asked.
"Are you sure he is?" Justin countered. "I don't remember him being green."
"Well I do."
"The city was green," Justin said. "Not the wizard. And can you really see Lance going for a little green man?"
"Good point, but...but he wasn't a wizard," Chris said.
"He was lost from like, Nebraska or something."
"Montana," Joey said.
"North Dakota," Justin put in.
"Minnesota," Chris said matter-of-factly.
"I thought you said Nebraska!" Justin complained.
"I did. I said Vermont."
"No, you said Nebraska."
"I KNOW! Michigan! Just like I said!"
"NO! It was NEBRASKA!"
"Justin, I said that already, don't cheat, pick your own states," Chris said loudly.
Justin threw his hands in the air. "I give up," he said. "You freak."
JC's annoyed voice filtered through. "I am not a little green man. I don't live in a green city. I didn't come from Nebraska or Vermont or Montana or whatever the hell you dorks said. He was from Kansas. I'm from Maryland. And right now, I'm trying to make a record. But none of you are helping very much!"
"Oops," Chris said quietly, but smirking. "
Sorry, Jace," Joey said, still grinning over Chris and Justin's conversation.
"Me too," Chris said. "But give StudioJC a break for a second and come here and see this."
"See what?" JC asked, still annoyed.
"Trust me," Chris said. Joey laughed again. "You want to see this."
Lance grabbed the newspaper and walked out to the lounge and sat down on a couch. JC sighed, and after turning off the microphone, followed him. Lance read it and started laughing, and JC couldn't figure out if the sound was Lance thinking it was funny, or Lance feeling relieved. Puzzled, he sat down next to him and read the headline.
"*NSYNC STALKER INSTITUTIONALIZED!"
"Are you serious?" JC asked.
"Totally," Chris grinned. "Isn't it great?"
JC skimmed the article. "Says he claimed he was in the group before Lance...accused him of stealing his fame...wanted him to step down..."
"My God," Justin said. "He really went insane, didn't he?"
Lance got up off the couch and nodded. "Yeah," he said, eyes flashing and darkening, "He's the only one in the world besides us five that knows he was a part of the group for a little while." He walked into the booth. "We gonna make this album now, or what?"
*****
"It was on the news, you know," Joey commented.
"What was?" JC asked.
Joey cleared his throat and deepened his voice. "While in his hotel room for a photo shoot, *NSYNC member Lance Bass was approached--"
"Approached?" JC said. "More like--"
"How's he doing?" Joey interrupted quietly.
JC shrugged. "Okay, I guess. He's not really talking about it."
"How are you doing?"
JC shrugged. "I'm not the one that was held at gunpoint, Joe. And besides," he said, laughing shortly, "It's not like that hasn't happened before or anything."
"I know," Joey said. "But you were, kind of. And I don't know how I'd deal if I saw what you did that night."
"I'm fine," JC said quietly. "I'm more worried about Lance. I mean...he--"
"Yeah, I know," Joey said. "But Jace?"
"Hmm?"
"Next time, try not to jump in front of the guy with a gun, all right? Cause it would really mess up album production if you got shot or something."
"Glad you care, Joey," JC said, shaking his head.
"You know it."
*****
JC walked in the room to find Lance haphazardly throwing things into a suitcase. "Lance? What are you doing?" he asked, his heart sinking.
Lance muttered something under his breath that came out like "Imgtmspi."
"Um, Lance? English, please?" JC said, frowning.
"I'm goin' to..." Lance trailed off as he forgot what he was talking about. He shut a drawer.
"Lance?" JC prompted.
"What? Oh. Mississippi," he said. "I'm going to Mississippi."
JC blinked in shock. "Wait, wait, what?"
"I'm--"
"No, I heard you," JC said. "But...wait...why?"
Lance shook his head. "I have to. I need...I need to."
"But why? Is this about the Ken thing? Cause...Lance...he's...he's not gonna come after us again...not gonna come after you again...he's..."
"I know," Lance said.
"Do you? You never talked to me about it," JC said with a frown.
"Josh, it's not exactly something I want to think about," Lance said.
JC sighed. "Why are you going?"
Lance stopped for a moment. "Closure," he said with a shrug. "You...If you. You can come too, if you want."
JC's brow furrowed. "You sure?"
Lance nodded. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, I'd...I'd like it if you came."
*****
"You're going where?!" Justin asked incredulously.
"Mississippi," JC sighed. "Lance is going and there's no convincing him not to. So I'm gonna...I'm goin with him."
Justin shook his head. "Whipped," he said.
"Go on back to Dorothy, Toto," JC shot back.
Justin grinned at him. "Take care of him, all right? We'll cover for you."
"I will...and...Thanks."
