Disclaimer: I don't know Nsync, the Backstreet Boys, 98 Degrees, or any of the other people and celebrities mention in this story. Its just fiction so chill will ya if it offends you. The story tackles subjects like homosexuality, a bit of suicide, depression, and running away. If you don't like these topics then turn a blind eye.
Author's Notes: Hi! I'm Dane and this is the first time of slash fiction. I started this one after reading one of the works of one of my favorite slash authors, Ashley W who wrote "November Guest". Read it on nifty, one of the best examples of LambLove that I've ever read. She read it and loved it, since then I've been wanting to post this story on the net. Hope you people out there love this. Please write back. God Bless and Godspeed.
Dane
P.S. Congratulations to Gabriella for Graduating! You go Girl!
Mad Season by Dane Prologue: A Few Small Repairs
"Yes, I'll take it", said the young man that stood in front of Mrs. Perez, the landlady of the apartment building. She studied him for a second and became puzzled by what she saw. Why would a young man, a very rich one judging by the amount of money he gave her as a deposit, want to live in a rundown apartment like this?
The place he got was a two-room apartment with some furniture that the last tenant left when he committed suicide over his wife's leaving him. The place was as immaculate as possible, with a few bloodstains here and there. It had and ugly brownish-red walls and a broken radiator. A few small repairs were needed, much like his life.
He sort of looks familiar, thought Mrs. Perez, but the picture was wrong. He had dark brown hair that was short but in wild disarray. He wore glasses that hid his beautiful green eyes; she guessed that it was once bright and sparkling. His appearance, it looked normal but she come imagine more fashionable clothes on him.
"Alright, let's go to my place across the hall and settle the paperwork", the landlady led him out of the fourth floor apartment and turned off the lights.
They both entered the apartment across the hall and then sat down on Mrs. Perez' kitchen table. After talking over minor details for about 15 minutes, a little girl about 7 years old came out of one door and approached them.
"Mama, I can't sleep", said the little girl who was rubbing her eyes.
"Sheila, it's almost 10PM. Now why aren't you in bed?", Mrs. Perez looked at the girl sadly. Sheila pulled herself up to her mother's lap and hugged her.
"I fell asleep when you put me to bed but a monster tried to chase me in my dream. I woke up looking for you. I tried to go back to sleep but I just couldn't", Sheila explained as she babbled with her tiny voice.
The young man stood up then knelt in front of Sheila. The girl faced him with much curiosity while hugging her mother. "Would you like me to sing to you so you can go to sleep?" His deep voice somehow calmed her and she nodded her head. Mrs. Perez smiled and carried Sheila back to her room with him following behind.
The room made him wince. It was full of posters of boybands and of other icons of current pop culture. NSYNC, Britney, Christina, The Backstreet Boys, 98 Degrees, and many more of them. To him, they were memories of a former life. Turning away from the walls, he sat down beside the now tucked in Sheila and flashed her a big smile before singing. He hummed a tune that the mother recognized as Don McLean's "Vincent".
Starry, starry night Paint your palette blue and gray Look out on a summer's day With eyes that know the darkness in my soul Shadows on the hills Sketch the trees and daffodils Catch the breeze and winter chills In colors on the snowy linen land
Now I understand What you tried to say to me And how you suffered for your sanity And how you tried to set them free They did not listen; they did not know how Perhaps they'll listen now
Starry, starry night Flaming flowers that brightly blaze Swirling clouds in violet haze Reflect in Vincent's eyes on china blue Colors changing hue Morning fields of amber grain Weathered faces lined in pain Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand
Now I understand What you tried to say to me And how you suffered for your sanity And how you tried to set them free They would not listen; they did not know how Perhaps they'll listen now
For they could not love you But still, your love was true And when no hope was left inside On that starry, starry night You took your life as lovers often do But I could've told you, Vincent The world was never meant For one as beautiful as you.
Mrs. Perez felt the young man's emotion in song and it made her well up in tears. Sheila fell asleep pretty much as soon as he finished his song. James bent down to kiss Sheila on the forehead and stood up to join her mother at the doorway. Both of them walked back to the kitchen
"Thank you very much for getting Sheila to sleep." The man just smiled and blushed slightly. "By the way, I didn't exactly get your name. If we are going to be neighbors we have to introduce each other. I'm Miranda." She extended her hand to shake.
He held out a firm grip and shook. "I'm James."
Chapter 1: A Change would do you good
James sat quietly on a bench in Central Park, watching the people of New York City walking through and minding their own business, families and groups of friends do their picnics or play their team sports. Children run about while their older siblings sit down and talked about life in general. He missed doing these things but he doesn't think he will be able to do that again.
Anyone who knew him would hardly recognize the 22 year old now. His short blond hair that used to be spiked was now hanging long and dyed dark brown. His bright green eyes were now hidden behind glasses. The clothes he wear now are average and mundane, hardly any color in them. But the thing that makes his appearance a big paradox was his genuine smile that almost never faded. It was as if he knew a big secret from the world.
Almost 5 months earlier..
Lance came out of the closet to his band mates of NSYNC, the result of which could have been better. Chris and Justin basically were disgusted with Lance and took every opportunity since that night to be snide and insult him to his face. JC took it in stride and accepted him, but stood back when any of the conflicts would happen. But it was Joey's reaction that hurt him the most, he stayed silent through Lance's whole ordeal and walked out of the room with not one nay say.
His life took a turn for the worse after that night. His company, Freelance Entertainment suddenly was in a struggle to survive. All the rumors from the public, the comments from the tabloids, and the put-downs of Chris and Justin finally got to Lance and made his self-esteem sink faster than a submarine. All the insecurities that accumulated over the years of being in NSYNC have reared its ugly head. The stress of the tour made him feel tired all the time. And he felt like he was the loneliest person on the planet. At least JC was being cordial to him, somewhat.
The tour eventually ended and Lance went home to Mississippi before going back to finishing the next NSYNC album. He broke down and told everything to his sister Stacey, being sibling and all they don't keep secrets from each other. He told Stacey all of the problems that he has been going through the past 2 weeks and cried half the time, not knowing that his mother, Diane, was eavesdropping on their conversation. She burst into the room, shouting that she is not the mother of a gay son, ordered Lance to leave this house and never come back. After a long and tiresome argument, Lance admitted defeat and started to pack all of his things. "Oh God, why the hell me", he thought as Stacey yelled back and forth with Diane while he hurriedly put everything he can into his SUV. "Being a Southern Baptist suck! I wish I was a fucking Atheist", he told himself as he drove away in tears.
Now he thought over what was going on with his life as he drove into a motel for the night. Most of NSYNC don't want him around, his mother just disowned him, his company Freelance was not doing well, and he felt like the world was against him. It wasn't like before when the world was bright and full of possibility. His life wasn't what he pictured it to be or hoped it would be. He wished that he had a different life, one without ties and disappointments.
He got a room, shed his clothes, and took a shower while wanting his thoughts to sluice out of head and go down the drain. He then went to sleep but was soon plagued with nightmares of the events that just happened. He woke up drenched in sweat and his head suffered from a massive headache, the tears and sobbing soon followed suit. Then came the familiar misery and, slowly but surely, after being in the same fetal position for hours, a plan came to his weary being.
His plan of escape made him almost fanatically as he drove back to Orlando the next day. He would tell no one of what was going to happen. He was sorry of one thing though, that everyone would be sorry for that this has happened.
After first settling back into his apartment in Orlando, he set his plan to motion. Lance first went to the bank and removed all of his money from his personal and savings accounts, then went to the mall to buy some necessary items. When he got home he started to dye his hair and he threw away his contact lenses. He packed all the things he needed into one bag and locked down everything in the apartment. He then went to his lawyers to settle some business and gave them letters that were to be given to the recipients when 3 days past. After all this have been said and done, he left all his identification on his bed for anyone of the guys to find and then left for the nearest bus station. He then bought a ticket for the next bus leaving Orlando. When he got on that bus, he told himself that this is the start of a new life. He wasn't Lance Bass of Nsync anymore.
Within the first month of his disappearance, he traveled cross-country to try and forget everything. The first immediate change was the lack of restriction, no crappy tour bus nor tight schedules. It was scary at first but it was so intoxicating. James found his odyssey quite relieving and cleansing, as scared as he was. Moving from city to city like a gypsy made him more humble and less worldly. He saw each place he visited as a destination with a name and story, not a nameless place to do a concert in as to move to another.
Every once in a while something would happen that would inexplicably change his view on life. In Chicago, he saved a music storeowner, who gave him a guitar as a reward, from being run over by a truck. In San Francisco, he smoked out for the first time with a bunch of former hippies in the Haight-Ashbury. He got from them a good 2 months supply of pot which he smoked out every so often from them. In New Orleans during a very low point of depression, he met a Haitian Witch Doctor who dissuaded him from committing suicide during one night of bad depression. In Seattle, by some weird twisted fate, James persuaded Nick Lachey of 98 Degrees to go to rehab for his Alcohol addiction. (He didn't know it was Lance.) Houston, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Baltimore, Minneapolis, Washington D.C., and finally New York City where James has been living in for the past 4 months.
Soon after arriving in the Big Apple, he found a good apartment in Soho, which was near the bar in which he worked in, The Speakeasy. There he found a job as a bartender and on some nights as a singer on its stage. All those nights of practicing with his new guitar made him really sound good.
With the arrival of the new school term, he enrolled himself in a few business correspondence courses in the local college. He found himself with a lot of time that needed to be used with things to learn. He could not quite get out the businessman out of himself.
When he found out that the gym nearby was offering Tai Chi classes, he jumped at the chance. He figured this would be the closest he would get to be able to learn Kung Fu. For now life was stable, without any obstacle.
Present Day.....
Today on this brisk autumn afternoon, he sits idly by on a bench on Central Park sipping his take-out coffee and trying to decide what to sing on stage later at the Speakeasy. Drawing blank on what to play, he decided to bring out his guitar and let it go from there. At first he hadn't the foggiest idea of what to play until he saw he saw a couple that were consoling one another, then it hit him of what song he was going play. He started to strum the first few chords of the song then let his deep, soothing voice go with the slow tempo of his rendition of Daydream Believer
Oh, I could hide 'neath the wings Of the bluebird as she sings. The six o'clock alarm would never ring. But it rings and I rise, Wipe the sleep out of my eyes. My shaving razor's cold and it stings.
Cheer up, Sleepy Jean. Oh, what can it mean? To a daydream believer And a homecoming queen.
You once thought of me As a white knight on a steed. Now you know how happy I can be. Oh, and our good times start and end Without dollar one to spend, But how much, baby, do we really need?
Cheer up, Sleepy Jean. Oh, what can it mean? To a daydream believer And a homecoming queen. Cheer up, Sleepy Jean. Oh, what can it mean? To a daydream believer And a homecoming queen.
He soon found gathered around him was a small crowd of people. He bowed at their appreciation and thanked them for the money that some of them tossed into his guitar case. It was getting late when he found himself with 3 good set lists, some phone numbers from faces he doubt he would remember, a bouquet of flowers from one guy, a box of chocolates from a girl and pressing time to get to work.
He gathered up his money, threw his half-empty cup, replaced his guitar in its case, swung his backpack over his shoulder, ran towards a nearby street to hail a cab, and bumped into a brick wall. Or at least it felt like it. When he opened his eyes he saw two women towering over him with concern.
The one on his left had dark eyes and brown wavy hair; she looked somewhat familiar. The one on the right however he recognized immediately. It was Kelly, the owner of The Speakeasy who, by some weird and freaky cosmic alignment, looked like Angelina Jolie only with red hair. Kelly extended her hand downwards to lift a very red-faced James off the pavement and offered a smile. Out of the blue, she suddenly was laughing her ass off.
James pretended not to know her until she calmed down and introduced himself to the other girl in this triad. "Hi, I'm James."
"Janine", the girl introduced herself then gave a strange look at Kelly who was by now controlling herself. "Me and that crazy bitch go way back."
"Hey, just because you return after God knows how long doesn't give you have the right to stereotype me? I'm a sexy bitch, not a crazy one," Kelly remarked and the three of them laughed.
"I don't know about you, Kell, but I got to meet up with my brother in the Ritz-Carlton in an hour. James, it was nice to meet you", Janine said then pulled Kelly aside with a wide grin. "Is that the James that you were planning to set up with my brother tonight right?" Kelly nodded. "He's cute, in a very scruffy kind of way. Don't worry. I'll drag him to Speakeasy later with his friends." Both did a Wilma and Betty sort of laugh before hugging and parting ways while James did his best to look like he didn't know them. "Bye you two. See you later", Janine said as she walked in a different direction leaving Kelly and James.
"Share a cab", they both said at the same time, grinned, then waited for a good 15 minutes of one cab to stop.
"Enough of this shit!" Kelly just went in front of one approaching yellow taxi and flashed him a good second of her boobs. It halted about 10 cabs and a few miscellaneous vehicles. "Here, get in or our early regulars will be deprived of his daily allowance of alcohol poisoning if I don't open up the place."
James shrugged and followed her in the car. The other cars just honked in their disappointments. Kelly gave the driver directions for Soho then looked at James who had a wistful expression on his face as the car drove onwards. "Hey, cheer up Bucky! I have some grand scheme up for tonight my little wage boy and you are going to be part of it", Kelly gave him the knowing smile that usually made James shudder.
He just smiled back, knowing that whatever Kelly had in mind had something to do with Janine. Decidedly wanting not to know what it was, James stayed quiet for the rest of the cab ride. For all he knew, this was just part of the new life of James Bass.