Work Text:
December 7, 1996
AJ had just started his solo when he sensed that he was being watched. This shouldn't have been surprising — he was used to people staring at him — but something seemed different. Casually, he let his gaze travel over the audience until he located the source of the disturbance. It wasn't a screaming girl, which might explain why his attention had been caught. Not that they didn't have male fans, but they tended to get lost in the crowd of prepubescent girls, their screams not being nearly so loud. Or so piercing.
He recognized the face, if not the expression. It was one of those new N-stinky guys. He wasn't screaming, but he was definitely staring. If AJ hadn't known better he'd have thought the expression on his face was adoration. It was probably envy. After all, the Boys had made it and 'N Sync was just getting started. That was all. Nothing to worry about. Certainly nothing that could get in the way of his goals.
AJ studied the kid surreptitiously before deciding that those freaky pale green eyes could easily get on his nerves. He deliberately pushed the kid out of his mind and went back to concentrating on the song. He had better things to worry about than weird looking kids.
Chris stared at the Christmas tree in horror. The tin monstrosity twinkled back at him. "Do you feel like you're stuck in a Charlie Brown Christmas?"
JC gazed thoughtfully at the tree. "Well, at least it's sparkly."
Chris poked at the tree and grinned at the jangly noise it made. "They must have brought it in special for you."
When he got no reply, Chris looked over at JC and found him staring at Lance. "What's so fascinating with the Bass, man?"
JC answered without looking back. "I think he's crushing on AJ."
Chris looked horrified and shook his head rapidly. "No, no. You have to be wrong."
JC looked back at Chris and frowned. "You have something against Lance having a crush on a guy?"
"If he's a Backstreet Boy, I do!" Chris replied, with deep reproach in his voice. "What terrible taste he must have."
JC grinned, relieved. "I dunno. Short and dark with attitude and individuality to spare." He ran his eyes over Chris from the crazy hair held back with a colorful bandanna past the loud shirt and down to the gaudy shoes. He nodded to himself. "Sounds like pretty good taste to me."
Chris's eyebrows went flying. "Something you want to tell me?"
JC turned his eyes back to Lance. "Nope. Although…"
Chris found himself holding his breath.
"You need a haircut."
Chris let his breath out in a rush and frowned. He didn't need a haircut. Yeah, his hair was hanging in his eyes, but he liked it like that. Although. Maybe he could braid it or something. Not that JC had any cause to complain about Chris's hair. At least he hadn't chopped it all off in a dreadful Caesar cut. Not that JC could ever look bad…
Chris watched JC watch Lance watch AJ until he decided that was closer than he wanted to be to watching a Backstreet boy and went back to staring at the Christmas tree. It was easier to figure out than JC would ever be. Although, not nearly as pretty.
After their set, and before the other band went on, AJ cornered the kid who'd been watching him. It wasn't because he was interested in Lance personally, of course, it was just he felt he should keep himself aware of their competition, such as it was. "Hey kid, I saw you watching us perform." AJ watched with interest as a blush suffused the kid's face. His eyebrow quirked and he continued with a smirk, "See something interesting?"
Lance opened and closed his mouth twice before deciding it would be best to change the subject. "You were in Copenhagen yesterday, right? We're going there later. I'm hoping we can make a stop in Billund, there's this really cool LegoLand there." Lance realized he was babbling but didn't seem to be able to stop. "It was the first one… It's really cool." He flushed under the derisive look in the dark eyes watching him and mumbled, "Or at least that's what I've heard. I've never been there." He stumbled to a stop, watching AJ nervously.
AJ wanted nothing more than to sneer at the youthful ebullience, but it was surprisingly difficult to bring himself to puncture the kid's enthusiasm. He finally bit out, "Sounds like you know all about it. It's not really my scene."
Lance flushed darker. He smiled tightly and said, "I guess not. Well, I guess we'll be seeing you around. I gotta go get ready to go on."
AJ was surprised to find that it bothered him when the kid turned and walked away. After all, he wasn't there to make friends with rival singers. He had places to go and things to do. He didn't have time to play nice with the competition while he babbled about some Lego place that no one cared about.
Later, watching the other band perform, he convinced himself that they would be no threat to the Boys' popularity, but he thought he'd better keep his eye on the bass. Just to be sure.
December 7, 2001
"I hear you're filming another of Justin's songs," AJ sneered. "How do you like being one of the Pips?"
Lance stared back coldly. "At least we haven't stooped to releasing a Greatest Hits album."
AJ glared at him. "You will. When the label tells you to, you won't have a choice any more than we did. And it's not like you guys haven't made some pretty lame marketing decisions." AJ grimaced. "What in the world possessed you to agree to Bobbleheads?" he asked.
Lance started to reply and then took an obvious breath. "Look, let's not fight. Every time we talk we end up fighting, and I'm tired of it. Why can't we have a conversation without trying to tear each other apart?"
"What else do we have to talk about?" AJ asked with a shrug. "It's not like we have anything in common."
"Not have anything in common?" Lance asked with amazement. "You can honestly say that?"
"Well, besides the boyband thing," AJ replied, "No, I don't think we have anything in common."
"'The boyband thing', as you put it, isn't exactly minor," Lance insisted. "And I'm sure we could find one or two other things if we put our minds to it," he added with a smirk.
Chris sidled up next to JC at the catered lunch. "What is this slop that they're feeding us?"
"You'd think you'd never seen a mushroom cap before."
"Is that what they are? They look like little miniature UFOs." Chris poked at one before picking it up and looking at it distrustfully. Cautiously, he took a bite. "Taste like them too," he said thoughtfully. "What say we blow this joint and get some real food?"
"How would you know what UFOs taste like?" JC asked.
"I don't, but I expect they taste just like this," Chris replied, shaking the appetizer before tossing his uneaten portion into the nearest garbage can. "Metallic and fake. Just like those Christmas trees."
"I like those trees," JC pouted.
"Are you kidding?" Chris stared at him in horror. "They smell like plastic."
"But they're pretty. And shiny."
Chris grinned. "They must have brought them in special for you." He shook his head in confusion. "That sounded familiar. Did I say that already?"
JC frowned. "I don't think so." He bit into one of the mini quiches. "These aren't too bad. You should try one."
Chris ate one of the recommended quiches and shrugged. "They're okay, I guess. But I'd rather go somewhere and get real food, not this pretentious pseudo french stuff."
"We don't have enough time to go somewhere, we've only got twenty minutes. Not even enough time to round up security and make it out the front door," JC said.
Chris sighed. "Damn." He continued to pick through the food on the table. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask you. Do you think there's something wrong with Lance? He seems kinda out of it."
"He ran into AJ earlier. I think they're getting together later." JC tried some of the tapenade. He grimaced. "You should avoid this. It's horrible."
Chris pulled back the cracker he had started to dip into the bowl, threw it in the can, and grabbed some bruschetta instead. "That's bound to be trouble. When's he going to get over wanting someone he'll never have?"
"I don't think you ever get over something like that," JC said. "At least, that's been my experience," he added under his breath.
Chris stared at him. "Something you want to tell me?"
"Nope. But…"
"What?" Chris demanded.
"Nothing," JC answered. "It's just. You gonna wear your hair like that much longer? It's kinda, I dunno. Short. And chunky."
Chris stared at JC, offended. There was nothing wrong with his hair. At least you could see it. JC's hair was totally hidden under that godawful cap. Which was a real shame, now that he came to think about it. But as they walked back he caught a glance of himself in a mirror and wondered what he'd look like in a Mohawk.
Lance grinned at AJ. "This is better than fighting, by a long shot." When AJ didn't smile back, Lance felt the first stirrings of unease. "Don't you agree?" he asked.
"Look," AJ sighed. He sat up on the edge of the bed, facing away from Lance. "I can't do this. I just can't."
Lance frowned. "Why the hell not?" he bit out.
"There are things expected of me. Family things. My Grandmother-" AJ broke off.
Lance's stomach sank. Worrying about how your family was going to react was bad enough. After all, he hadn't managed to come out to his own family yet. But AJ would never be able to come out to his grandmother now that she was gone. And if he thought she wouldn't have approved, well… There wasn't any way to disprove it. He couldn't fight against a memory.
AJ got up, dressed quickly, and left the darkened room without another word, and without a backward glance.
Lance watched him go from half-closed eyes, but didn't try to stop him. Less than two weeks later he heard that AJ was engaged to be married.
December 7, 2006
"So. You're working on your own album. I read that you said it was about things that piss you off." Lance hesitated before asking, "Am I going to be featured in any of the songs?"
"You don't piss me off," AJ replied.
Lance looked doubtful. "I don't?"
"Nah."
"Since when?"
"Since I realized that the first two parts of the Serenity prayer are worthless without the last. I've been spending too much of my time trying to change things I should have accepted. About myself, and about others."
Lance gazed at him solemnly. "Yeah? Just how accepting have you become?"
AJ grinned devilishly. "Wanna find out?"
JC beamed at Chris when he opened the door. "You made it to my party! Cool!" He grabbed Chris into a hug and dragged him into the house. "But aren't you supposed to be setting up your Man Band house thingy. I thought you'd started filming."
"They let us out for good behavior," Chris said.
JC snorted. "Good behavior? That'll be the day."
"Hey, I can be good!" Chris pouted.
JC grinned at him. "You can be, but you never are." JC pulled him into the living room and stopped in front of a shiny, sparkly, monstrosity. "Don't you just love my Christmas tree?" he said happily.
Chris looked at the tree and sighed. He poked at an ornament and listened to it tinkle, but refrained from comment. Instead he asked, "Anyone else here yet?"
"Not yet. You're the first one. By the way, Lance called. He won't be coming after all. He ran into AJ today."
Chris stared at him in horror. "Last time he went all the way to Russia to recover, where's he going to end up this time? I'm not going to chase after him if he ends up in South Africa, or, I dunno, Greenland."
JC looked interested for a moment. "I don't think we've ever been to Greenland — that's the one with lots of glaciers, right? We should go. I heard that there's a cool facial scrub made from glacier salt…"
"JC!" Chris interrupted. "Keep to the point!"
"What was the point?" JC asked in confusion.
"AJ. Lance?" Chris reminded him.
"Oh, that point. Maybe they can make it work this time." JC thought for a moment. "You know, I think AJ has finally got his act together. Lance has grown a lot, too." He nodded to himself. "I think he can handle AJ now."
Chris looked doubtful. "You think?"
"Why not? I can handle you now," JC said casually.
Chris looked at him in surprise. "Something you want to tell me?"
JC grinned back. "Yup."
Lance woke with a start. He felt his heart stop when he felt AJ get out of bed. He should have known that AJ wasn't as accepting as he'd made himself out to be. He wondered distantly what Cape Town was like this time of year. He didn't think he'd ever been there. It sounded vaguely interesting.
He didn't realize what was happening at first, when AJ returned from the bathroom and slipped back in beside him. Then he figured it out. They were both through running.