as justin hung up the phone, his heart skipped a beat.  jc was coming with him to his aunt's place in wisconsin.  for a whole weekend.  just the two of them.  he grinned as he thought about could happen over the weekend.  he knew what he wanted, he just wasn't sure about his friend... but out in the woods away from the studio and the other guys and all the pressures of being *nsync, justin was pretty sure he could convince jc that he was right.

he was pretty sure he could say what he wanted to say to his friend.

justin wanted to tell jc he was in love.

with him.

jc was dozing again when the phone rang the next night, and he answered it through a yawn.  "hello?"

"is that all you ever do, jayce?  sleep?"

"thanks for waking me up, justin.  what's up?"

"my aunt just called to say she won't be there this weekend, but that you and i are still free to use her place."

"your aunt?" jc asked, still groggy from his nap.

"yeah, remember, jc?  we're going up north tomorrow?  to her cabin?  in wisconsin?"  justin paused and waited for some sign of recognition from his friend.

jc blinked, then it all came flooding back.  "oh yeah, the cabin tomorrow.  so your aunt won't be there?  she must be disappointed to be missing you."

"yeah, she is, but we talked awhile on the phone today so that was nice.  she said the key's under the porch stairs and that we should make ourselves at home.  help me remember that, k?"

"make... ourselves... at home....  ok, got it," jc said, and justin laughed.

"no, the part about the key," justin said through his giggles.

jc laughed too, "i know, j. i'll help you remember."

"you'd better or we'll be sleeping in the woods for two nights."

"i will," jc said, then he turned serious.  "what the hell should i pack?  is it snowing up there this time of year?"

justin laughed out loud again.  "no, c, it's not snowing.  just pack summer stuff, and jeans and a sweatshirt for the nights.  might be kinda chilly.  we can build a fire or something, but you'll probably want long sleeves."

"long sleeves...  got it. thanks, j."

"no problem," justin said, ready to hang up.

then jc added, "hey j, thanks for inviting me to come along.  you could've asked anyone, so i'm honored."

justin wanted to answer, "you're the only one i want to be there with," but he decided against that and said instead, "you're welcome, c, just promise me you'll have fun."

"oh i always have fun."

"that's what i'm counting on."

"wake up, josh, we're almost there."  holding the steering wheel of the rental car with one hand, justin reached with the other to shake jc awake.  he was missing some spectacular scenery.

jc blinked his eyes open, then he rolled down his window.  the soft spicy scent of pine woods flooded the car.  jc rubbed his eyes.  jc had slept for much of the three hour flight from orlando to green bay, wisconsin, and then jc and justin had convinced the guy at the airport to let them rent a car.  for some insurance reason the guy didn't want to let them rent one, since neither was over 25 years old, but they worked a little charm on the guy and he let them go.  once that had been accomplished, they had driven the last two hours to justin's aunt's cabin.  well, justin had driven and jc had slept.  now awake again, jc looked out the window, breathing in the scents of the woods.  there were trees as far as the eye could see, but not much else.  in fact, there were only trees.  they really were in the middle of nowhere.

"where are we?" he asked justin, covering another yawn.

"well you appear to be a permanent resident of dreamland."

"sorry about that, j, but you know what long trips do to me."

"yup, they knock you out cold.  i forgot what a lousy traveling partner you are."

jc looked hurt, and justin caught it.  to repair the damage, justin softened his voice and said, "none of that matters, now, c, we're in the nicollet national forest.  my aunt's place is on archibald lake.  it's about 22 more turns down this road."

jc's stomach lurched as justin took a turn too quickly.  "22 more?" he asked softly, turning a pale shade of green.

"yeah, but i'll slow down."

"wake me up when we get there," jc whispered, eyes already closed.

"goodnight, c."

jc felt as if he'd only closed his eyes for a moment when he felt the car roll to a stop.  justin's breath on his neck was the next thing he felt, as his friend leaned in close and whispered, "we're here."

jc's eyes opened and met justin's right above him.  they smiled at each other and then climbed out of the car.  "hard to believe we were in florida this morning," jc said, stretching and taking a deep breath of the fresh, piney air.

"the escape is always worth it," justin said, stretching his own long arms toward the sky.  "sometimes i wish i could stay here forever."

"i hope this is one of those times," jc whispered, suddenly at justin's side.  justin felt a rush go through him and wondered if jc was thinking what he was thinking.  probably not, he sighed, but a boy could dream.  no reason not to.

"let's go explore the place," jc said before adding with a smile, "i remember where the key is."

justin grinned back.  "ok, you go open up.  i'll start unloading the car."

"deal," jc said as he disappeared around the cabin.

it wasn't long before jc had the cabin unlocked and justin had dragged in most of their belongings.  "help me with these groceries, will ya, c?" justin called from outside.

jc appeared at the door.  "when did we buy groceries?"

"while you were passed out in the front seat, sleeping beauty," justin snickered.  "i stopped at the market in lakewood right before i woke you to see the woods."

"wow, i must've really been out cold."  jc rubbed his fingers over the skidmark of hair which grew on his chin and passed for a goatee.  "why didn't you wake me?"

"i tried, but then i figured i knew what you'd eat so i did the shopping myself.  it wasn't hard."

"well, thanks, j.  i appreciate it."

"you're welcome, now come out here and help me carry all of this stuff."

jc came out to help and the two of them lugged in the grocery bags.  then justin made one more trip from the cabin out to the car and came back with a case of beer.  "how'd ya manage that, justin?  i'd card you for sure, you don't look at day over 18."

"hey, i think i look at least 20, considering that's how old i am, thank you very much."

"maybe, if you're lucky, but that still won't get you beer."

"it was nothing a little timberlake charm couldn't handle.  want one?"  justin opened the pre-chilled case and twisted the top off a bottle.  then he handed one to jc, who shook his head at the irony but accepted.

justin drank half his beer down in one pull.  jc followed his lead.  after swallowing, he asked justin, "what now?"

"now we explore.  wanna go down by the lake?"

"yeah, show me around."

"no prob, follow me."  justin lead jc out the porch door and down the steps to the beach.  it was early afternoon and the sun was hot upon the sand, but a cool breeze blew in from the lake.

"wow," jc whispered, looking around.  the lake stretched out in front of him, sparkling in the sun, and the woods surrounded him from behind, peaceful and cool.  it was breathtaking.  another "wow" escaped jc's lips.

"isn't it gorgeous?" justin echoed softly, standing right behind his friend.  jc felt justin's breath on his neck and a shiver went through his body.  jc blinked.  "let's get our feet wet," justin said.  he drank down the rest of his beer, kicked off his shoes and tugged off his socks, then wandered out into the shallow part of the lake.  when jc hesitated, justin turned and called, "c'mon, c!  the water's like a bathtub."

jc watched justin splash around the shallows, getting his shorts damp but not too wet.  the sunlight caught in justin's curls, causing a halo effect around his head.  "come on, josh!" justin called again, not irritated, just excited.  jc smiled in response to justin's urging, and justin's eyes lit up when they caught sight of that smile.  the sparkling blue of justin's eyes matched the sparkling blue of the lake, and both seemed incredibly deep to jc, standing on shore.  he was almost afraid he would drown.  lost in his thoughts, jc forgot that he intended to join justin in the water.

"josh?" justin called, looking back over his shoulder.  "you asleep again?"

jc smiled.  "naw, sorry.  i'm coming."  justin watched as he drank the remainder of his beer and then peeled off his shoes and socks and waded into the water.  jc's hair was disheveled from his various and sundry naps that day, but that hair, with its messy half-curls and windblown, flyaway strands, caught the sunlight and made justin smile.  jc was gorgeous.  if justin would have known jc would look half that good with this new hairstyle, he would have insisted that jc do it years ago.  justin imagined for the millionth time burying his fingers in his friend's hair and let the heat from the sun assist in warming him and making him tingle all over, though he was pretty sure jc could make him tingle on a freezing tundra in siberia.  justin slid his hands into the pockets of his cargo shorts to ease the pressure building in his crotch.

as jc wandered into the lake, he realized justin was right, it was warm like a bathtub.  the rocks and sand on the bottom of the lake massaged his feet as a few little fish came over to him to investigate his toes.  one took a nip, curious.

"hey!" jc yelled, breaking the quiet, "that fish bit me!"

justin waded over.  "you mean like this?"  he nipped at jc's earlobe.

when justin's mouth closed over the lower part of his ear, jc stopped breathing.  it was an epiphany.  all at once, the fact that he was alone for the weekend in a cabin on this lake with justin timberlake was the only thing he cared about.  all of a sudden, it was all he'd ever wanted.  and he was hard just from having justin's teeth nip at his ear.  his friend's breath on his neck was another matter entirely.

justin heard the catch in jc's breathing.  he waited there, hovering, just over jc's shoulder, to see what the older boy would say.  what jc did next surprised and delighted justin.

he bit him back.

after jc sank his teeth gently into justin's shoulder, he looked up and into justin's sparkling blue eyes -- pools reflecting the lake, jc thought -- and whispered, "no, it was really more like that."

"josh, my god, what..."

"shhh," jc said.  the two men stood there in the shallow water, facing each other, hearts racing.  neither moved.

"josh," justin tried again, but jc put his finger to justin's lips.  justin kissed jc's fingertip, and a slow smile spread across jc's face.  justin's eyes and mouth echoed that grin.

they stood there, grinning like idiots at each other as the fish swam around their ankles.

"josh, there's something i need to tell you."

"i think your eyes have already said it all, j," jc whispered, his eyes never leaving justin's.

"no, josh, i want you to hear it out loud."

"does it sound like this?" jc asked.  he paused to lean in close to justin and put his lips to the boy's ear, just in front of one of his deliciously golden curls.  jc licked his lips and then whispered, "i love you."

jc pulled back and studied justin's gleaming eyes again.  this time they were swirling with a mixture of delight and lust.  jc knew that look on justin's face, he had just never realized before that justin was shooting that look at him.

justin spoke up.  "it sounds a lot like that, except i say it and not you."

"oh, so i was confused?" jc smiled softly and looked down at the water.  he ignored the little fish and concentrated on how close justin was.  he could smell him.  he smelled fantastic -- the woods and the water and warmth all combined.

"it sounds like this, jc."  justin put his lips to jc's ear.  he pulled jc's earlobe between his lips again for a brief moment before breathing the words.  "i love you.  i always have."

an incredible shiver went through jc and his groin stirred further to life.  "yeah, i guess that's a little different," jc said softly, "but not all that much."

"it was different enough that i wanted you to hear it."

"i wanted to hear it, too."  jc finished the line of thought and reached up to touch justin's face.  electricity spread through justin in an instant at his friend's gentle caress and though he had been hot before, justin was now certain that he was on fire, even though he was standing ankle-deep in archibald lake.  jc saw that fire reflected in justin's eyes.  those eyes held both the white-hot fires of passion and the deep-blue serenity of the lake at the same time.  jc wanted to drown in justin's eyes.  instead he slid his hand into the curls at the back of justin's neck and drew his friend close for the kiss they'd both been anticipating.  jc wasn't one to wait, he went for what he wanted, and what he wanted right then were justin's lips on his own.

as their lips met, fireworks went off in justin's head.  jc's kiss was sweeter than sugar and softer than the summer breeze which whirled around them as they stood in the lake.  this was far better than he'd ever imagined it could be.  just the two of us, justin thought, all weekend.

jc's mind was doing similar backflips.  justin tasted like summertime, and he smelled like the woods.  if this was a vacation, jc noted that he should've taken one long ago.  especially one with justin.  as justin's tongue gently prodded its way into jc's awaiting mouth, the older boy returned the favor with abandon.  as they shared their souls through their kiss, jc got a wonderful, wicked idea.

before justin realized what had happened, he was sitting on his ass in the lake, completely soaked from the waist down, and jc was laughing and splashing away.  justin took a minute to recover from the shock of jc's kiss turning into a wet pair of shorts, but then he got up and took off after jc.  it didn't take him long to catch the older boy and throw him into the deeper part of the lake.  jc came up sputtering and soaked, but absolutely adorable, and as he looked at justin, his eyes were dancing.  justin grinned as jc tried to brush back the long hair plastered to his face.

"monkey see, monkey do," justin said with a laugh before jc grabbed him around the waist and threw him into the lake thus soaking the rest of justin, too.  when justin came up for air, jc was standing above him, dripping wet.  jc's blue and green pullover stuck to him in all the right places, reminding justin that jc had been working out a lot lately.  he longed to get his tongue on those new muscles.

jc was thinking similar things about justin, whose white shirt was now completely see-through.  justin's wet shorts also stuck to him just enough to let jc know he wasn't the only one who was hard.  jc offered justin his hand who took it, and jc pulled justin up to a standing position.  but then he didn't let go of justin's hand.  he pulled him close and, after dropping justin's hand to get his arms around justin's waist, jc licked a droplet of water off of justin's chin and asked, "now where were we before we were so rudely interrupted?"

justin kissed the water off of jc's neck, causing all sorts of reactions in jc which justin ignored, and said, between kisses, "i don't talk to people who dump me in the lake without asking."

"if i had asked would you have let me?" jc countered, eyes closed against the incredible things justin was doing with his tongue.

"i'm not talking to you, remember?  but if i were talking to you, the answer would be yes."

when justin licked at jc's skidmark, jc let out a low growl, and justin grinned.  jc slid his hands from justin's waist down to his ass.  "you're all wet, justin," jc purred, running his hand down the backs of justin's legs.  as he did so, he realized that he had lowered himself to about crotch level on justin.  he drew in a quick breath as he eyed his friend's obvious arousal.

justin let his hands tangle in jc's wild, wet hair.  "you're all wet, too, jayce," he said, his voice low and sultry and dripping with desire.

jc stood up and crushed justin in a kiss.  his fingers found justin's damp curls and he wound them over and over as he kissed his best friend, knowing he could never get enough of justin, not now, not ever, but it was too late to turn back.  justin was walking intoxication.  he slid his hands down justin's body, over his ass, up the insides of his thighs, to the promised land between justin's legs.  he cupped justin's hardening cock in both hands and rubbed him gently through his wet clothes while probing the younger boy's mouth with his tongue.  jc was well on his way to getting drunk on justin.  he hardly even realized what he was doing.

fireworks were going off again everywhere for justin.  in all the years he'd known jc, for all the nights he'd spent wondering what kissing jc would be like, justin had never projected a heaven like this.  jc was devouring him alive and justin couldn't believe it was real.  this was what he'd been dreaming of.  he fought the urge to pinch himself repeatedly to make sure he was truly awake.  then the breeze picked up again and sent chilly shivers through justin's body.  all of a sudden he was freezing.  jc was oblivious, so justin took charge.

"jayce," justin panted, breaking their kiss, "let's go inside."

"why, j?  why not here?"

"cause we'll drown.  and cause i'm freezing."

jc blinked.  "you're cold, justin?"  just then the wind picked up again, and jc realized that he too was shivering.  he laughed, his smile as warm and bright as the one justin met him with.  "you're right, it's cold.  i guess we should go inside."  jc slid an arm around justin's damp waist once more and looked out over the lake again.  dark clouds were gathering near the horizon, and from the direction of the wind, jc surmised that they might be in for some rough weather.  "are we safe here if it storms?" he asked justin, tightening his hold on his friend.

"should be," justin said, glancing at the clouds, "but let's hope it doesn't get too bad."

he took jc's hand in his and pulled him towards the cabin.  jc followed willingly, pausing only to grab their shoes, socks, and empty beer bottles on their way.

once safely inside the little house, jc and justin stopped to assess the damage they had done to each other.  both were soaked from head to toe, and both were shivering.

"the best place to deposit wet clothes is probably the bathroom," justin said.  "you go first, jayce, and i'll look for towels."

jc did as bidden.  he slipped out of his wet stuff and hung it to dry in the bathroom.  then, curious, he dug around a few cupboards and came up with some towels, pulled one out and dried himself off, and then wrapped it around himself, smiling because he was warm again.

justin came to the bathroom door and knocked, all set to tell jc that he couldn't find the towels, but as soon as jc said, "come in!" and opened the door for justin, justin stopped.  his best friend was standing there in nothing but a towel.

"hmmm...  guess you found them," justin said, unable to take his eyes off of jc.

jc just grinned.  "here's yours," he said handing justin one.  "i'm gonna go start a fire."  jc gave justin a wicked grin as he walked out.  justin watched him go, then entered the bathroom and shut the door behind him.

justin let out the breath he'd been holding since he saw jc standing there, almost naked.  "damn straight you're gonna start a fire," he whispered, "you already have."

jc had just gotten a nice blaze going in the fireplace when justin came out of the bathroom, all dried off, and wearing nothing but his own towel.  jc stifled the urge to whistle.  justin looked incredible, all muscle from head to toe.  he'd seen the boy before, in a swim suit or boxers or a towel in a hotel room, but he'd never looked before.  he looked this time.

"nice fire you got there, jayce," justin said, his voice once again low and sultry.  it sounded like bees buzzing on a hot july day, and jc felt his cock start to harden again.  he was sure that this time justin would taste like lemonade.

"boy scouts," jc offered as an explanation for his fire-building skills.

"i should've known," justin said, suppressing a smile.  "feeling warmer?"

"a little," jc replied, his eyes locked on justin's once more.

jc felt the room shrink in around them as justin whispered, "let me help you get warm," in a voice jc had never heard before.  it gave him shivers, but they were the hot kind, the kind that felt like fire between his legs.  he was instantly hard as a rock.  all he could do was nod.