I will deliver
You know I'm a forgiver
Reach out and touch faith
(Personal Jesus)
Knocking on the door and waiting for an answer, Lance hummed a song which didn�t seem to want to leave him alone. A quick glance at his watch showed it was just past six in the evening, the perfect time to catch the man who lived here at home or so said Lance�s source. He straightened up as he heard footsteps approaching the door. He didn�t have the chance to lift his eyes from his perusal of his watch before the door opened and the confused occupant was standing before him.
Slowly raising his eyes, Lance grinned. �Hey, uh . . .Nick Carter.� The slight stutter hadn�t been in the plans. Nick leaning against the door frame with his cute smile should�ve been included though.
�Hey Lance Bass.� Nick said slowly, a touch of confusion coming through his voice.
Lance grinned a little wider, so far, so good. �So you remember me? It�s been awhile huh? Uh, can I come in?� Really, the stuttering needed to go away, it was totally messing with Lance�s carefully thought out plan.
Nick raised an eyebrow as he pushed off of the doorframe and gestured for Lance to come inside. �Was I supposed to forget you? Oh yeah, it�s not like your picture is everywhere. The news shows don�t cover your every move or anything.�
It was Lance�s turn to raise the eyebrow now. �Perhaps you�ve mistaken me. I�m Lance, the shy one. Not Justin, the media whore one.�
Nick�s grin was incredibly wide. �Snark, I like that. I�m pretty sure you weren�t shy when you were posing on the beach shirtless and looking sexy. Although, if it�d been Timberlake doing it the whole world would�ve seen the pictures on the cover of every magazine by now.�
�Being the shy, ugly one has its moments.� Lance smirked. �Those weren�t supposed to get out. I�m glad they only got play on the net. I�m still not all that comfortable without my shirt on in public. Something about the old days and Lou.� Lance didn�t even have to fake the shudder. �It makes me feel dirty, but I�m slowly getting over it. . . .with therapy.� His grin made it unclear if the last was said in jest or not.
�Shy and ugly?� Nick asked. �Two words I wouldn�t use to describe you, but if you want to delude yourself feel free. Though I do understand what you mean about the no shirt thing, it still freaks me out.� Nick motioned to the couch. �Forgive me, would you like to sit down? Need a drink or something?�
�Hey, a drink sounds good. Whatever you�re having.� Lance wandered over to the couch to sit down, looking over all the knick knacks in the room. He had to smile at all the pictures and assorted awards on the mantel, Nick�s life depicted before him. �Your house looks a lot like mine. I think I have that award and the same picture. Different guys, but yours are cute too.�
Nick rewarded Lance�s wit with a grin and a bottle of water as he walked back into the room. �If you look close enough, I think there might be a couple with you in them too. I�m pretty sure you were in the picture of the charity basketball game back in Europe at least.� He said as if he didn�t know exactly what each picture on his mantel and the wall next to it contained.
Intrigued at the possibility, Lance stood up to look. Twisting the cap off the bottle of water, he used the cap to point. �Man, look how young I am. I don�t think I�ve been that young in like fifty years. You know, celebrity years.�
�What�s that? About two years in the real world?� Nick asked with a smile, pointing at another picture. �Here�s another one where we�re actually talking in a club. I think that one was a year or two ago, in real years I mean. Kirkpatrick is glaring at me in the background so I had to put it up on the wall for amusement purposes at least.�
Lance took a moment to look at Chris� expression in the picture and laughed. �What�s his problem with you? And where were we? Was that . . .after the New York thing? Yeah, I respected you guys for getting out there and performing.�
�I have no idea what his problem with me is, don�t really care either.� Nick said tonelessly, keeping his gaze on the picture and not the man beside him. �It was nice talking to you that night though. It was nice performing and trying to give something back.�
�Yeah, it sucked we had to be there in the first place though.� Lance nodded, turning his attention to another picture. �Dude, I�m in quite a few of these.� He pointed at a picture just below eye level. �I remember this one, some award thing. You were talking about Aaron�s new CD. I remember because you were pretty much glowing. It�s a great picture of you.�
Nick smiled, still not allowing his gaze to move to Lance. �Strange how many pictures you ended up in here. I never noticed before.�
Lance looked seriously at Nick and then at the pictures before looking back at Nick again. �I get it. You�re secretly a crazy stalker fan. To hide it, you went out and got your own career in the industry. To be clever, you did it before me so as not to look suspicious.� Lance grinned. �You smart bastard you and it would have worked too.�
With a shocked look, Nick glanced at Lance. �What gave me away? It was all the platinum albums wasn�t it? I thought I was going a little too far with them. I should�ve only let Backstreet be a mediocre group.�
Almost choking on his water, Lance laughed. After wiping his chin with the back of his hand, he grinned at Nick. �Nope, it was your drag wall here.� He pointed at the pictures. �Really though, I�m in quite a few of these.�
Nick blushed, still not looking at Lance for more then a second. �Not that many. Besides, why wouldn�t I want a sexy pop star�s picture all over my walls?�
Lance pointed at a picture low on the wall. �I only see one of Justin and it�s a great shot of Aaron between the two of you.�
�Yeah, Aaron�s a big fan of Justin and was so excited that night.� Nick agreed with a brother�s pride. �Me, I�ve never been Justin�s greatest fan. I�ll leave it to all the teenage girls out there. I prefer my pop stars a little less showy and a lot more sexy.�
One of Lance�s eyebrows rose up a fraction of an inch. �Howie huh? Yeah, I can see it, less show, more sex . . .� Lance coughed. �Sexy, I mean.�
Nick forced a grin he hoped wasn�t too fake. �You�ve got a crush on Howie? I can probably get the two of you together if you want. Though I wasn�t talking about Howie or any of the other members of Backstreet.�
Lance looked like he was thinking about it for a moment. �Howie is beautiful, stunning sometimes, but no. I�m not really crushing on him and thanks for the offer, but how do you know Howie swings that way? Or me for that matter?� He took a long sip or water and watched Nick, making sure to keep anything from showing on his face or in his eyes.
�I, of course don�t know if either of you swing that way. I was just offering to be a go between.� Nick said, biting his lip and blushing a little.
Lance continued to watch Nick. �You know, you�re pretty fucking adorable when you bite your lip like that.� He smiled when his comment caused Nick to look at him, nodding when he knew Nick would see him. �Uh, yeah. . . . Howie? You?� He asked, looking sideways at the pictures.
�Howie and me what?� Nick asked, grinning a bit at making Lance ask outright if he really wanted to know.
This time it was Lance who blushed as he took another sip of water. �Uh, never mind.� He smiled and pointed to another picture. �Janet Jackson huh?�
�Yeah, Janet�s cool. Which I�m sure you know.� Nick took a drink of water, turning his glance towards Lance. �So do you, swing that way?� He asked, wanted to be positive of the answer before he started hoping.
Lance started to say something before swearing softly, his fingers going up to his mouth where he�d bitten his tongue. Grinning, he responded.� Damn, don�t pull any punches there Carter.�
�You�re the one who brought it up in the first place.� Nick defended himself. �You don�t have to answer if you don�t want to though.� Pausing to look Lance up and down slowly before smiling. �If you don�t answer I can keep imagining you do.�
Smiling back, Lance nodded slowly. His fingers were still touching his lips although Nick couldn�t tell if it was because his tongue hurt or he knew it accentuated his mouth. �I�ve been known to swing any which way.�
�Well that makes my night a little brighter.� Nick said, his glance still on Lance�s fingers and mouth. �Which in no way means I�m presuming you�re interested in me that way. Although I wouldn�t complain at all if you were.� He felt the need to qualify.
Touching his tongue one more time before pulling his fingers back and licking his lips, Lance smiled. �Yeah, because I drop by all the Backstreet Boy�s houses all the time to confess my sexuality and maul my own tongue.�
�Damn, I can�t believe the others didn�t tell me to expect you.� Nick grinned.
�I told them to keep their mouths shut.� Lance quipped. �Can�t believe Richardson actually did though. He strikes me as a gossip.�
Nick laughed. �Yeah, can�t trust Kevin. So did you go in order of age or sexiness? Or did you just save the best for last?�
Leaning slightly against the mantle, Lance grinned. �Well, if I�d done that, which I�m not going to admit to in case you�re wearing a wire,� he leaned close and spoke clearly into the top button of Nick�s shirt, �I, Lance Bass would�ve gone by age which would lead me to you, Nick Carter, last.�
�Lucky me.� Nick grinned and took one step closer to Lance.
Watching Nick, Lance drained the rest of his bottle of water. �Lucky me, you mean.� He looked down with a smile. �I�m all out of water.�
�Would you like more?� Nick asked, slowly licking his lips. �Water, I mean.�
With a nod Lance offered his bottle to Nick, the cap pointed towards the larger man. �More . . .yeah.� When Nick�s hand circled the bottle, Lance pulled it back with a grin.
Nick grinned back, tightening his hold on the bottle. With another step closer, he pulled back on the bottle. Lance looked down at the hand holding the bottle and then back up into Nick�s eyes. Nick could�ve swore there was an invitation plain in the bright green eyes. Licking his lips, Nick slid his hand from the bottle to Lance�s hand and slowly up his arm.
Lance watched Nick�s hand slide up his arm for a minute before raising his eyes back up and lick his lips nervously. He pressed the bottle just a little bit forward until it pressed against Nick�s chest then slowly dragged it down over his ribs to his stomach.
Nick shivered a little, still watching Lance intently. With his main focus on Lance�s lips, Nick leaned forward and whispered softly. �May I kiss you?�
The corner of his mouth twitched as Lance fought briefly not to smile. His porn voice in full use as he answered. �I didn�t expect you to be polite.� He pressed the bottle down further, his fingers sliding on the bottle until he was touching Nick�s stomach with his fingertips. Only then did he let the bottle fall to the floor and answered Nick�s question. �Yes, please.�
To encourage the kiss, Lance tilted his head up a little bit more. Nick leaned forward and their lips barely brushed together once and then twice. More kisses followed, each just as soft, but consecutively longer so they could learn how each other�s lips felt.
Flattening his hand on Nick�s stomach, Lance curled his fingers into Nick�s shirt and pulling him even closer. Taking Lance�s actions as a further invitation, Nick pressed a little harder against the lips fused to his. His arms loosely wrapped around Lance for the addition contact. Nick silently cheered as Lance closed the remaining inches between their bodies and lifted his other hand to Nick�s hip. The soft massage of Lance�s fingertips and the tip of his tongue sweeping across the seam of Nick�s lips was enough to cause a small moan to escape.
Nick opened his lips just enough for the tip of his tongue to meet Lance�s before sucking the other man�s tongue gently into his own mouth. Nick�s arms tightened around Lance as the realization this was really happening occurred to him. Lance�s soft groan was music to Nick and he gladly chased Lance�s tongue as it retreated to Lance�s mouth.
Their bodies were plastered together with Lance�s back against the wall right next to the photos which started it all. Nick pushed just a fraction of an inch closer into the v of Lance�s legs so he could deepen the kiss even more. They stayed like this for several minutes, enjoying the process of getting to know each other in this new way.
Soon it was too much though and Nick slowly pulled his lips away and took a step back. His arms were still wrapped around Lance as he stared at the man before him and fought to believe this was real.
Licking his lips slowly to experience Lance�s taste again, Nick asked the question uppermost in his mind. �Why me? Why now?�
Taking a deep breath to center himself, Lance fought for the right words. �You, because I wanted something more with someone I could trust. Now, because I knew it was time.�
�Time?� Nick asked quietly.
�Time I had faith in something more.� Lance answered with a smile.
�So this is going to be a long-term thing?� Nick asked, still unsure.
�This is going to be as long as you�ll have me.� Lance reassured him.
�How do you feel about a fifty year contract?� Nick asked with a grin.
�I think we�ll need to renegotiate for more time when it�s done.� Lance answered and then sealed the deal with a kiss.