“Yea, okay… I’ll talk to you later then.”

“Okay. Take care, man.”

“You too.” Justin listened to JC hang up before turning off his own cell phone.

What a strange phone call. JC had sounded so… out of it. Normally, JC was pretty chipper and happy and good-natured, especially during the band’s break time. Justin thought it was because on break, JC actually got some real sleep. But on the phone, JC sounded like on-tour-JC: sleepy, tired, nervous, moody… What was up?

Justin lay back on his couch and stared at the ceiling.

Already the afternoon sun was turning the sky into bloody reds and deep oranges. Justin always got sleepy at this time. It was out of habit, from tour life. Most of the time, they grabbed catnaps in between sound checks and before the show started. Those catnaps got programmed into Justin’s system so that even off-tour he got sleepy in late afternoon.

Footsteps. Soft, faint footsteps shuffled on the living room carpet.

Lifting his head a little, Justin asked, “Who’s there?” He looked over the back of the sofa, wondering if he was imagining things.

No one was there.

Shrugging, Justin lay back down. His eyelids closed on their own accord.

* * *

When Justin woke up again, the sun had set and the night was already dark – the world outside his window was inky black. Justin got up off the couch and grimaced at the stale taste in his mouth. Rubbing at his eyes, Justin made his way upstairs and into the bathroom.

Tossing his head back, Justin gargled away the sleep in his mouth and spat the mouthwash into the sink. Cupping his hands, he splashed water on his face. When he looked up into the mirror, he saw his reflection staring back at him. With those dark eyes and that dull look, Justin’s reflection looked about as tired as he felt.

In the mirror, his reflection smiled at him.

The thing was… Justin hadn’t smiled.

Only his reflection had.

Justin blinked and backed up frantically, until his back hit the opposite wall. He rubbed his eyes, staring into the mirror. His reflection did the same, staring back at him. Now the mirror was just acting like a normal mirror. What the hell…?

It had to have been a dream, a temporary hallucination. He had probably just fallen asleep standing up for a moment, right? The bathroom was pretty dark – Justin hadn’t bothered to turn the light on when he went in. The only illumination came from the hallway. In this darkness, the shadows could play tricks on your eyes. That had to be it.

Nevertheless, Justin got out of that bathroom and away from that mirror as fast as he could, without looking like he was running.

Making his way to his bedroom, Justin suddenly became uncomfortably aware of how many damned mirrors he had in his house. They were everywhere – in the hallways, over the fireplaces, in the bathrooms, in the bedrooms… Did he really put all those mirrors up when he moved in? He must have. Now it seemed like his reflection was following him everywhere. Which freaked him out. Just a little bit.

Justin leaped into bed, lay down, and pulled the blankets to his chest. Here, away from the sight of any mirrors, Justin felt a little stupid. He was acting like a kid. He was just tired. Things would look less creepy in the morning.

As soon as Justin settled down to sleep, he sat up again. His heart hammered frantically.

Those soft footsteps were resounding again. They were coming closer.

“Who’s there?”

Justin looked through his bedroom door, which was still open. It revealed nothing in the hallway though. Justin sighed, and turned over to go back to sleep. He closed his eyes. He opened them again, just for a moment. Then, Justin realized something.

Someone was standing beside his bed.

Someone was standing beside his bed, but no one had been there a second ago.

How had they…?

Justin looked up, at the person’s face.

For the first time in his life, Justin screamed bloody murder.

Because he was staring at himself.

* * *

“Who… who are you?!”

That was probably the dumbest question in Justin’s entire life, because it was quite obvious who this person was. That same short curly hair, those same dark eyes, that same grin… Justin was looking at an exact copy of himself.

Justin’s double merely looked at him with an intense expression. The only indication that the double heard Justin’s question at all was that it smiled, just a little.

“Answer me!” Justin tried to keep his voice from going shrill, but it didn’t work. How else was he supposed to act, when confronted with a clone of himself?

“Me.” The double spoke slowly, as if testing out the word. It reached forward, one hand outstretched, as if to touch Justin.

Frantically, Justin backed up, but there was nowhere to go, unless he wanted to fall off of his bed. When the double’s hand touched his cheek, Justin felt an electric tingle shoot down his spine. The hand was cold, but there was more to it than that – it was like being shocked with static, except even more intense.

“Me,” repeated Justin’s double. He touched Justin again. The electric shock came again. “Me.” Shock.

Justin squirmed away from his double’s hand. He could smell the sharp tang of electricity in the air. “Stop that!”

“Stop,” whispered the double. That was Justin’s voice, Justin’s eyes, filled with deep sorrow. “Stop.”

For some reason, Justin realized the double was doing more than echoing him. It was trying to tell him something. In a gentler voice, Justin asked, “Stop what?”

“Stop.”

“What?! What are you trying to tell me?”

The double climbed onto his bed, on his hands and knees, until their identical noses touched. Justin couldn’t take his eyes off of the double’s intense stare. The deep dark blues filled his vision. The next word double spoke was slow and deliberate. “JC.”

“JC?” Justin repeated. He and the double stared at each other in silence for a few moments. Suddenly, Justin understood. In a whisper, Justin said, “You’re me.”

With a small nod, the double said, “You’re me.”

“You’re…”

The next words were spoken carefully, tenderly. “I love you.”

Justin felt cold lips kiss his own. This time, the electric shock went straight from his mouth to his groin. Justin’s breath caught.

Strong, familiar hands – Justin’s own hands – stroked up his body with a chilling, electrifying touch. It left a trail of sparking fire in its wake. Justin shuddered, feeling every single shock echo in his bones, in his blood. It made him ache in places he didn’t want to think about.

When the double kissed him again, Justin moaned and gave in to the flood of emotions that threatened to drown him. He… gave in. He understood now.

I love you…

* * *

Justin opened JC’s bedroom door cautiously. He had no clear idea of what he was doing… but…

In the tangled blankets, Justin could make out JC’s slender figure, sleeping peacefully. Justin moved closer, took a better look at JC, and his heart stopped.

JC… sleeping like that… eyelashes fluttering and expression peaceful… JC looked so unbelievably gorgeous it was like... Justin must have been breathing a bit harder than he thought. He was really trying not to hyperventilate… JC’s eyes fluttered open.

“Justin…?” JC’s voice was groggy from sleep. He blinked and peered up at Justin.

Swallowing hard, Justin couldn’t find anything to say except, “That’s me.”

“But… I…” JC blinked again. “How’d you get here? I’m dreaming, right?”

Smiling, Justin shook his head. He sat on the edge of the bed. The mattress shifted a little under his weight. “No.”

“That’s just what you would say if I were dreaming,” said JC, with a soft smile. He seemed more awake now. God, what a pretty smile JC had. How come Justin had never noticed it before? Justin wanted to kiss JC, desperately. He wondered if his harsh breathing was a giveaway.

“Then how… how do I know if I’m dreaming or not?” JC asked softly.

“You just have to believe.” Justin smiled and leaned forward. When their lips met, it was everything that Justin had hoped it to be, in the most secret part of his heart. It was everything and more.

JC whispered against Justin’s mouth, almost in awe. “Your lips are warm.”

“Yeah.” Justin smiled.

“You know you sounded like Tinkerbell right then, don’t you?” JC was holding back a laugh. “‘Clap your hands if you believe.’”

Justin laughed too. “Shut up,” he said, silencing JC with another kiss. “You’re ruining a perfectly good moment here.”

“I love you.” JC’s voice was suddenly desperate.

“I know.” Justin nodded. He understood. “I love you too.”