NSYNC Heartache
by Matt Morris
This story involves homosexuality and as such may be illegal in some areas or for certain age groups. Nothing that follows is supposed to make any suggestions about the sexuality of any of those involved.
I would like to wish NSYNC the very best with their legal problems. We don't really hear very much about it over here because they haven't really made it very big here yet but I hope they win and quickly.
I would like to thank Taylor Dareh for his information. While it may not have been of great quantity, it was of great help to an Englishman with little knowledge of the USA.
I apologise for taking so long with this, I've had a lot of work to do for my course and I've also had loads on my plate recently (once again thanks for your help Pete). I have decided that while I will be continuing this story, I will not be giving any times for completion of the next sections as I never seem to meet them anyway.
Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all my readers.
love and kisses Matt
As usual, any comments to matt_morris_uk@hotmail.com.
part 4
They were woken early the next morning by a choir of alarms ringing all round the first floor. In an attempt to ensure that they didn't oversleep Lance had rounded up every alarm clock that he could beg steal or borrow and spread them around all the bedrooms so that they would have to get up to turn them all off. Jumping out of bed, they ran from room to room. Heading to the bathroom from different directions they collided, Lance ended up on his backside and Mark stood there laughing. Lance looked up sheepishly.
'If you're just going to stand there you can turn that alarm off, otherwise help me up.'
Mark took his hand and pulled while walking into the bathroom, causing Lance to stand and stumble forward. As Mark reached over to stop the ringing Lance grabbed the door frame to stop himself ending up on his face.
'I am so going to get you.'
"Promises promises, anytime you want to come after me I'll whip your butt."
'Now there's a promise to look forward to.'
Looking at Lance, Mark could see that while there was a smile on his mouth there was still pain in his eyes. Reaching over he clasped his shoulder and they stood there for a few moments before Lance reached up and lifted the hand off. Giving it a squeeze and its owner a smile he headed back to his room to pick up the bag he had packed a couple of days earlier. Mark meanwhile was downstairs. Having stolen a march on Lance by putting his bag next to the door the night before he was enjoying a cup of tea when Lance made it downstairs. Seeing Lance heading towards the pot he laughed.
'No such luck. If you wanted to sit around drinking you should have spent less time on your hair.'
"Hey, you get a cup but I can't, I though you Brits were supposed to be into fair play."
'And I thought you were supposed to be the punctual one.'
Grabbing Lance's hand he dragged him out of the door. Pushing him into the car he returned to the hall to get their bags. Putting them in the boot he went back one last time and switched all the lights off and locked the door. Hopping into the passenger side he handed over the key. Lance grinned and backed out of the driveway. Given the early hour they made it to Justin's house fairly quickly, but they still arrived nearly last. Chris arrived about five minutes later, pulling into the driveway just as the tour bus pulled up. Joey made a comment, but nobody really said that much as they were all too tired. Everyone laughed though when they saw JC stagger onto the bus carrying enough bags and suitcases for a lifetime of travel. Their laughter turned into a long collective awwww however when they saw him rush back in and return gently carrying a sleeping Maisie.
JC put Maisie down on one of the bunks and covered her before joining the rest in the lounge area at the back of the bus. They drew lots to allocate the bunks and Mark ended up between Lance and Justin.
'Hey you guys tying to tell me something?'
Lance and Justin pulled sad faces and went to their bunks to get some sleep and Joey and Chris followed right behind them. Mark and JC decided to stay in the back and chat for a bit as they didn't feel like sleeping.
'You've fallen for her pretty heavily haven't you?'
"Maisie, She's wonderful, kind funny caring gentle, she seems to know exactly what to say or do to make me feel happy and she gets on really well with the rest of the guys. I hope that you get to like her as well."
'I already do, apart from the fact that she obviously makes you happy, she's good fun to talk to and she's a lot prettier than Chris.'
"I would have thought Chris was more your type."
'Nah, dreadlocks don't really do it for me.'
They sat chewing the cud for a few hours when Joey came in and joined them, followed one by one by the others until finally just before noon Justin came in, his usual sunny disposition masked by a mood of sullen quiet
Soon afterwards the bus pulled into a service area so they could have some lunch and stretch their legs. After eating the usual overpriced substandard food they split up for the half hour they had before the bus left. Mark wandered off on his own and he was deep in though when he heard a cough. looking around he saw Lance keeping pace about a foot behind him. He stopped and turned so that he was looking at Lance who was at this point studiously examining the path.
'It's quite an impressive path isn't it.'
"Mark, I'm not sure how to say this. When I was alone in Britain you were there for me, when Justin and I were in trouble you helped us and when Jim hurt me, you were there. It seems that whenever I really need a friend you're there for me and I want to tell you how much that means to me."
'You daft sod. You saved me from Jim remember, and what kind of friend would I be if I didn't do what I could to help you out.'
"Still, I appreciate it."
They sat there for a while, arms about each others shoulders until it was time to leave. Rejoining the others on the bus they all sat around joking and it was not long before they arrived in Miami where the first concert was to take place. They unloaded all their bags at the hotel they would be staying in and Maisie and Mark decided to go shopping while the others attended a meeting. They walked around until the shops shut and then headed back to the hotel. They others hadn't returned so they sat and watched tv for a bit. Suddenly the door burst open and in rushed Justin, with JC's arm around his neck and JC trailing along behind him.
Mark laughed, happy to see his friends enjoying themselves, and Maisie looked up with a smile on her face.
'Oh no, if JC's joining Lance and Justin on the other side I'm going to have to start dating Joey to get free tickets for your concerts.'
Justin laughed, but JC looked hurt before realising that Maisie had been less than serious. Walking up behind her he wrapped his arms around her and pulling her backwards he leaned over to kiss her. Justin rolled his eyes and stifling a laugh Mark said,
'I may be many things but a gooseberry I ain't.'
Jumping up he walked towards the door motioning Justin to follow him. Justin quietly followed him and they went to their respective rooms. Mark was really quite tired and he decided to go straight to sleep. Shedding his jumper and trousers he jumped into bed and within minutes he was dosing. His descent into sleep was interrupted by an insistent knocking on his door. Mark was tempted to leave it and hope that whoever it was would go away assuming him to be asleep but he decided that this would be rude. Opening the door he saw Joey turning to walk back down the corridor. Tapping him on the shoulder he grinned when Joey jumped.
'Oh Mark, I thought you were asleep, I'll come back tomorrow.'
"It's ok, come in. You should know that if you ever have anything you want to talk about, I'm always available."
'It's not really me I wanted to talk about, it's Lance. Since he broke up with Jim he seems to be so quiet. I mean he was never the most outgoing person to begin with, but after he came out to us he really seemed to start opening up but then Jim upset him and he's started to retreat into himself again.'
"Joey, Lance was really hurt badly by what Jim did, and it's only natural for him to start wondering who he can still trust. All we can do for him is be there when he needs us and not judge him."
'Don't you think we can do something more though, if he doesn't trust us how can we make him realise that we still love him.'
"We can't, all we can do is support him and wait for him to realise that we aren't going to hurt him. When he's ready to he'll open up again."
Thanking Mark Joey left the room and Mark was just settling down again when there was another knock on the door. Wondering if Joey had thought of something else, Mark headed over and opened the door. He was somewhat surprised to see that it was Justin, but he motioned him in and took seat to listen.
'Mark, may I ask you a question?'
Mark just nodded.
'Do you find me attractive?'
Mark looked shocked before trying to answer.
"Justin, I don't know what to say. I mean your a very handsome man but I think of you as a friend, not..."
'I'm sorry Mark, I didn't mean it like that. It's just that I can't seem to find anybody. I think I must be ugly or something, JCs found someone special, Joey and Chris have girls throwing themselves at them, and even Lance found someone, a complete bastard admittedly, but he found someone. I'm all alone, I don't think I'll ever find someone to love or to love me.'
"Justin, just because you haven't found someone yet doesn't make you ugly. I mean your only eighteen years old. I haven't found anyone yet and I'm older than you. Your profession means that you have to be careful, you might not find someone for a long time, you might find someone tomorrow. All I can say is that just because you don't have a lover doesn't mean that nobody loves you. Lance, JC, Joey, Chris, Maisie and myself all love you and if we can help we will. I know it gets lonely but if you're feeling down you can always come and talk.
At this point Justin had tears slowly running down his face. Mark pulled him into a hug and wiped them away. He held Justin without saying anything until his breathing slowed and then leaned back. Justin gathered his thoughts before standing and walking towards the door. Stopping to open it he turned and said,
'What would we do without you Mark?'
"You'd manage, you're all great people, you'd find someone to talk to. Just remember that you're not alone."
Justin smiled and left. Mark contemplated going to bed but thought that as soon as he did there would be another disturbance so he might as well wait for it. Sure enough he had only been sat contemplating things for a few moments. Opening the door he beckoned his next guest in.
'So JC, what can I do for you?'
"You get on well with Maisie don't you?"
'Yeah, she's great.'
"I think she's starting to get fed up with me. I love her with all my heart but I think all my defects are starting to get on her nerves."
'You're defects?'
"Yeah, I spend too much time worrying about work and then I get stressed and take it out on everyone. I get so obsessed with details that I often let it take priority over my life. I don't want to loose her but I don't think... I can't see how she could love someone like me."
'JC, you're one of the most loveable people I know. Sure you're committed to your career, but that's not unreasonable. Maisie loves you, any fool can see that. You want to focus less on the negatives. you're a kind, caring person. It would be hard to see how anyone could not love you.'
JC looked at Mark for a moment and stood. Hugging Mark he walked to the door. Turning as if to say something he just smiled and left the room.
Almost as soon as Mark had shut the door there was another knock. Fortunately it was just Chris who had stopped by to check that he wasn't lonely. Mark assured him that he was anything but lonely and managed to get rid of him fairly quickly. While he felt slightly guilty, Mark was really starting to get tired and he didn't feel up to conversation. As he crawled into bed he heard the now anticipated sound of knocking on his door. Sitting on his bed he didn't bother to get up to open it but merely shouted,
'Come in.'
"Hi, I've not come at a bad time have I?"
'No, come on in and take a seat.'
"I'm worried about JC, he seems to be a bit distant recently. I'm fairly sure that he's got something on his mind but I don't know what."
'Maisie, JC loves you with all his heart. He's afraid that you're going to leave him. I think that the best thing you can do is let him know exactly how you feel.'
"Thanks Mark."
They sat there chatting for a while, and Maisie was in the middle of a joke when she looked over and saw that Mark was asleep. Walking over she pulled the covers over him and switching off the light she shut the door.
Walking down to JC's room she knocked and entered.
'Hi hon.'
"Hi JC, I was just talking to Mark, and he actually fell asleep. I think we need to start taking our problems to each other rather than dumping them all on Mark. I'm fairly sure that I wasn't the first to go to Mark this evening and he's absolutely exhausted."
'You're right, I went to see him earlier, and Chris was headed that way when I came out. I'll go and talk to the others about it.'
Pulling him into a deep kiss she said,
"Thank you, and lets not have any more of this leaving you rubbish. You're not getting rid of me that easily."
JC walked off to talk to each of the others with a noticeable glow.
The next morning they all met up in Lance's room for breakfast and Mark was somewhat surprised as one by one they all came over and apologised for burdening him with their problems. By the time Joey who was the last was standing in front of him apologising, Mark couldn't take it any more and he started to laugh. Joey adopted a hurt look which Mark had real difficulty in telling if it was real or not until he joined the laughter.
'I'm sorry, its just that I really don't mind helping with things, I was just really tired last night. They spent the day preparing for the concert and once again everyone was tired and went straight to sleep afterwards. The next day was spent on the bus, kicking back and relaxing. Mark and Maisie spend most of the day chatting, and JC walked up putting his arms around Maisie and saying,
'I think that you're trying to steal my girlfriend away from me.'
"No, I'm lulling her into a false sense of security so that I can steal you away from her."
'Ugggh'
"'Thanks Mark, I thought you were a friend, and all you want is to get into my boyfriends pants.'"
Mark and Maisie were both laughing, and seeing how red JC was they laughed even harder.
"I'm sorry JC but its just too easy, and you really are very cute when you blush."
JC smirked, picked up Maisie and carried her down the bus doing a fairly amusing mince as he went.
"Nice butt"
Mark stayed and watched tv for a bit before going to sleep, and the next morning he slept in quite late until he was woken by a loud bang and the bus swerving. When the bus came to a halt he pulled on some clothes and head down to the front of the bus. Getting off the bus he saw the others standing near the back of the bus. The driver was rummaging around in the back and appeared carrying a jack. Looking closer Mark saw that one of the tires had gone and the driver had soon got the bus jacked off the floor. Picking up a spanner the driver tried to loosen the nut, but there was no way he could get it to move. Joey walked over to help, and between them they managed to move it. When the nut moved though it went so suddenly that Joey's arm twinged. Joey shrugged it off as temporary soreness and they soon had the tire changed and were on their way again. They arrived at their hotel late that evening, and everyone went straight to bed.
The next morning Joey complained that his shoulder hurt. They headed off to the arena to practice for the concert, and everything went fine until they had to do some back flips. Joey pushed downwards with his hand and his shoulder gave out causing him to come crashing to the earth in agony. Everyone was gathering round and it was obvious that Joey needed to go to hospital. Everyone was running for their coats and Mark had to shout at the top of his voice to get their attention. After a drawn out argument he managed to persuade them that they should carry on with the rehearsal and that he would go with Joey. They arrived at the hospital and Mark was amazed by how quickly they were seen to. He assumed that it was one of the perks of being famous. The doctor examined it and said that there was no permanent damage and he prescribed some pain killers. He said that Joey should be ok for singing, but that he shouldn't use his arm. They headed back to the arena and joined the others. When they heard about the doctor's instructions they laughed, and Lance made a joke in somewhat poor taste about Joey's sex life. Mark surprised them all however by jumping to Joey's defence with a comment about the noises he had heard coming from Lance's bunk. Lance turned a lovely shade of red somewhere between blood and beetroot.
The concert went almost perfectly. The fans didn't seem to mind that Joey spent the whole concert sat on a stool and the rest had had time to work on the dance routines to the extent that while they were not as slick as normal, they were at least presentable. After the concert they just went back to the hotel and talked until they went to bed.
The next morning Mark woke early and he sat watching tv for a bit. He got bored of it however and decided to go for a walk. While he was out he saw Lance sitting on a bench talking on his mobile phone. Walking up behind him he was amazed to hear him whimper so he walked round and sat down next to him. Lance glanced up and seeing who it was he almost smiled before the pain returned. Seeing this Mark took the phone from his hand and in a slightly louder than normal tone demanded,
'Who the fuck is this?'
"Oh it's you" he heard Jim say. "You might as well know as well. I have decided that I can't go on living a lie. I have decided to go public."
Mark hung up the phone, neither needing nor wanting to hear any more. Hugging Lance he held him until the tears stopped, When Lance had calmed down he decided that he had to tell management, but Mark persuaded him to go back to the hotel first so that he would have the others there to support him. Sure enough the management monkey they spoke to hit the roof and they were instructed not to say anything to anyone until further instructions. As they had a free day that was not too difficult, but none of them could get Lance to cheer up. All day he would just keep on apologising for ruining everything and ending their careers and so on. Eventually he went to sleep. This was not the end of the problems though. The next morning they were all sitting together eating breakfast and things seemed a little better. While Lance was no longer eating himself up as badly he had withdrawn into himself. Suddenly the door opened with a bang and in walked one of the PR people from their label. He didn't say anything but slammed down a copy of the national enquirer. The front page had a picture of Jim and one of Lance and Mark taken as they had left one of the concerts. The headline read 'Nsyncer Lance was my gay lover until he left me for his English fancy man.'
To be continued...