Chris plopped onto the leather couch, contemplating what he should do on the lazy, monotonous day. Finally he sat up and grabbed the tan cordless phone, punched in the familiar numbers, and waited.

RIING!

And waited.

RING!

Waited. And…got the answering machine.

“Hey this is Nick. Leave a message and I’ll get back to ya. BEEP!”

“Hey Nick, it’s Chris. Where are you? We’ve got a basketball game to play!”

He hung up the phone and stared at the ceiling. What was there to do?

Chris sat up.

“Time for some practice.”

+ + +

“So how do you figure we find the others?” JC asked, sipping a cup of coffee the next morning.

Joey shrugged. I’ve been hearing things. Stuff about the Princess…”

“Princess?” Justin asked, rubbing his sore arm. “What’s this about a Princess?”

JC smirked at the younger man’s active hormone activity.

“She’s around your age, I’ve heard,” Joey said, biting into a red apple. “She’s got blue hair.”

“BLUE?”

“Very, very light though,” he added.

“Oh.”

“But blue?” JC asked.

Joey grinned. “Weird I know. But it’s Crystalon- Techtron people have electric green hair.”

“But then-”

“Hair dye.”

“Oh.”

“Joey can I use the phone?” Justin asked.

“I have no phone.”

“Oh.” Justin thought for a moment. “Do you have a quarter?”

“Yeah,” he handed him the silver coin. “Why?”

“I gotta call my mom.”

+ + +

“That was completely unnecessary,” Lance said, unlocking his door.

“He was dissin me, I had a right to,” AJ defended.

Lance turned around. “Well burning their hair off is NOT an option.”

AJ gave him a sheepish grin. “Too tempting.”

Lance sighed. “I’ve heard of a great producer- maybe he can take your place.”

“No one can take my place,” he said smugly, walking into the kitchen.

“JC Chasez can.”

AJ stopped. “You mean that pretty boy who does all that producing, writing, singing, and playing?”

“That’s the one.” Lance sat down on the couch.

“No!” AJ hurried over. “You can’t do that!”

“You know I can.”

AJ’s eyes widened. “NO! But…but…I’M your writer!”

“You DO know that I’m joking right?” Lance smiled.

AJ stopped and backed up. “Oh OF COURSE Boss. Of course you wouldn’t fire me…not for JC anyways…”

“I wasn’t kidding about getting him to write for us…I mean, he’s like the King of Producing.” Lance went into one of his “business trances”. “We need someone like that…”

Rolling his brown eyes, the older man left the room.

And Lance continued to talk to himself.

+ + +

The radio blared, waking the groaning man.

“Shut the fuck up,” he moaned, covering his head with a fluffy pillow. But it still persisted.

Then, with a bang!, it existed no longer.

“AJ…” Lance growled, hearing the loud crash. “I’m so gonna kick him out…”

The blonde dragged himself off the messy queen sized bed and, with barely open eyes, trudged into the adjoining bathroom.

He splashed the cold water on his exhausted face, waking him up only somewhat. He made a mental note to punish AJ about his clock.

“Dammit,” he mumbled, knowing it cost money to pay for clocks.

He trudged on to pick out his day’s clothes. Finally settling on a pair of jeans and a green Nike t-shirt, he went down to the awaiting kitchen where AJ was already cooking.

“Since when do I have Pop Tarts?” Lance asked, opening the refrigerator.

“Since last night.”

“Oh brother. Oh by the way, you owe me about 30 bucks for that clock you busted this morning,” Lance said casually, flipping through the morning newspaper.

“WHAT?” AJ gaped, looking away from the toaster- which started to smoke. “Are you kidding me?”

“I heard that smash.”

“I was half asleep!”

“So?”

“I didn’t know what I was doing!” AJ yelped when he noticed the smoke and started to fan the appliance.

“Same thing goes for when you’re awake,” Lance said dryly.

“Well hardy har har,” AJ said sardonically. “I’m sooory.”

“Don’t sound like it!”

“Argh!” AJ threw his hands up. “Forget you!”

He continued making his fudge Pop Tarts.

“Jeez AJ,” Lance laughed. “Learn to take a joke.”

He just rolled his eyes.

Shaking his head, the 21 year-old grabbed the phone and dialed.

“Hello Jean? Yes it’s me. Make a call to JC Chasez or whoever can contact him, tell them I want to meet with him. Anytime this week or next week…mm hmm…ok mmbye.”

“What’s with all you business people and ‘mmbye’?” AJ asked. “It’s like an epidemic.”

“Mm hmm.” Lance suddenly had a thought. “AJ?”

“What?”

“If a kid saw you, wouldn’t it be on TV or something by now?”

The older man paused to think. “Maybe…”

“AJ!” Lance cried. “Are you saying that for 2 days I put up with your hell raising shit and you could have been at home this whole time?!”

AJ rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “Er…”

“Dammit AJ!” Lance groaned. “Ok, ok. Let’s just go back to your house shall we?”

“Fine, fine, fine,” the rebel growled.

+ + +

“Ut!”

“AI!”

“Alright move our back leg, turning into a back stance- ahp-chahki, dwi tora yup-chahki- front kick, spin side kick. Ut!”

The yellow, orange, and green belts executed the commands with a few mess-ups scattered among them.

“Ut!”

“Ai!” the students called back.

“UT!”

“AI!”

“Bah-ro,” the instructor said, getting back to ready position.

The students followed suit.

“Shi-ut.”

They bowed to the instructor- sab bum nim- and turned around, tidying their slightly messed white uniforms- or, dobak.

“We’ll fall out for short break. When you return, yellow belts will come with me to practice form, orange belts will be with Mr. Fatone- who will be arriving shortly- for sparring, and green belts will have free time for drills or contact sparring.” The brunette nodded at the green belt with seven dark green stripes- the senior student.

He clapped twice, “Chidyit, kyung nae.”

The class bowed to the instructor.

The neighboring green belt turned to face the first. “Face the senior student. Kyung nae.”

They bowed again.

“Class fall out for short break,” the green belt, John said.

The class bowed again, muttering, “Thank you sir.”

In less than 30 seconds every one of them had bowed and left the dojang.

Joey opened the door and bowed. “Hey.”

The brunette’s brown eyes twinkled in merriment. “It’s ‘hey sir’ to you.”

Joey put his strong hand on Chris’ shoulder. “Chris, buddy, I respect you and all, but you’re still another guy to me.”

“Hasn’t Tae Kwan Do taught you ANYTHING?” Chris asked, taking a sip from his clear water bottle.

“Yes.”

The elder man waited.

“I learned how to kick a-” Joey glanced at the younger kids, “butt.”

Chris shook his head and laughed, “Whatever J.”

+ + +

“You do it.”

“No you.”

“Nuh-uh- you wanted it, you do it,” he hissed.

They looked over at the TV big screen TV with Dolby surround sound and full cable/satellite channels.

“Hey why don’t you use your powers and press the button?” the brunette suggested eagerly.

The blonde rolled his baby blue eyes. “Fine. Next time, you do your own dirty work.”

“Deal.”

Justin focused on the button and it was pressed, turning on the television. “Where did Joey say he was going?” JC asked, sitting back and scanning the many channels.

“Somethin bout a dangjo,” Justin replied, using his powers to turn up the volume.

“How long ya think he’ll be gone?”

“Let’s hope long enough.”

+ + +

“Shut up.” Lance dusted himself off.

AJ looked up from where he was curled up on the ground laughing and gasping for breath. “Oh…my…god…”

“Shut. Up.”

AJ and Lance had arrived at the house not too long ago. Lance suggested that he go in first to ensure the safety of the area. So he did. But what ended up happening was that his foot tripped into one of those cartoon-ish rope and tree traps that a little kid was capable of setting up, pulling Lance upside down, cursing like Hades. AJ had to come and “rescue” him.

So someone had seen him.

“Whew. Smart kid,” AJ snickered, dusting himself off.

“This time, I’ll REALLY fire you,” Lance threatened.

AJ rolled his eyes. “Learn to take a joke,” he mocked.

RIIING!

“Great timing,” the blonde muttered. He whipped out his cell phone and answered it with an impatient, “What?”

“Is this a Lance Bass?” a smooth voice asked from the other end.

“Yes, who is this?”

“This is JC Chasez, at your service.”

+ + +

“Ut!”

“AI!”

“UT!”

Punch.

“AI!”

“UT!”

Block.

“UT!”

Down block, reverse punch.

“Bah-ro.” Ready position.

“Shi-ut.” At ease.

“Alright next time we’ll be working on more form, and we’ll have stations. Any questions?” Chris asked.

“No sir.”

“Alright, let’s fall out.”

They went through their routine, and soon all of the students were outside the dojang putting their shoes on.

Chris and Joey headed to the bench where their duffels were. It was the end of the busy day.

They scrounged around their bags, searching for whatever they needed.

A tiny clang was heard on the wooden table, and both men looked down, noticing the small crystal ring.

+ + +

Nick rubbed his eyes and looked around this “living quarters”. To his request, the walls looked like the sea- a hologram, of course. The room was a rough 20 by 20 feet. He had a comfortable bed, mysterious silver nightstand, high tech dresser, and fully equipped CD player that played songs by thinking of it. Nick had a special privacy code for the heavy sliding door, also.

The sounds of Journey sifted through the speakers of the music player as Nick stared out the window of the spaceship.

‘This is craziness’ he thought. But every time his conscience retaliated, ‘they need you.’

So they did.

When their rings glowed, and Nebula hypothesized that the glowing was energy. She was hoping to use it to track down the others. Nick on the other hand, didn’t believe it would work. He always prepared himself for the worst- plus, it would be a bigger celebration to him, considering it would be a good thing. The foreign tune played when a knock was heard.

“Nick? Nick are you there?” a female voice sounded over the speaker.

The blonde pressed the blue button on his nightstand and replied, “Yeah it’s me.”

There was a silence.

“Nick let me in.”

“Oh whoops.”

With a click, Nebula was inside his room, changing the song on his music player. “Hey! I was listening to that!”

“Whatever. Anyways, Brian tells me you have a job?”

“Yes…”

“You’re going to have to work, plus do the work around here.”

“What? Are you kidding me?”

“Nope,” Nebula shook her head. “Well, come on. People wouldn’t exactly find it usual for you to be gone for so long, would they?”

“I’ll say I’m sick,” Nick offered, leaning back on his headboard, arms crossed.

“Well someone is bound to come to your house.” Nebula paused. “Chris, perhaps?”

Nick’s eyes popped open. “Oh yeah! He was supposed to play me one on one today! Shit!”

Nebula rolled her eyes. “Anyways, just go work- we’ll take care of the rest.”

“Why am I worried?”

“Shut it or shove it Carter.”

“Ooh you’ve learned Earth sarcasm.”

He was met with a light blow in his stomach. “Hey!”

“Don’t mess with me.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t.”

As she sashayed out of the room, Nick muttered, “Well, not MUCH.”

+ + +

“Can I meet him?”

“No,” Lance said quickly. “God only knows WHAT you will do in there.”

“No.”

Lance glanced at him.

“Not even God knows what I can do,” AJ smirked.

With a roll of his eyes, Lance walked up to the secretary.

“Good morning Mr. B,” she smiled.

“Good morning Jean. Is he here?”

“Yup. In your office.”

“Thanks.”

Lance started off towards the office and stopped. “AJ, don’t you have something else better to do?”

“Rather than follow you? Hell no.”

“I pay you WAAY too much.”

“Nah. Think of it as lyrics with sarcasm on the side.”

Lance stepped into the homey room and saw a young looking brunette sitting- lounging- on a black office chair, waiting while humming softly.

“Good morning, Mr. Chasez,” Lance said politely.

“Call me JC- all my friends do,” he said, smiling brightly.

“Alright then, JC.” Lance caught AJ’s eye and started again, “This is AJ, my other lyricist.”

“Nice to meet you,” JC said, shaking the younger man’s hand.

AJ merely nodded.

JC looked AJ up and down through the corner of his eye. His appearance was quite… unnerving. His tattoos, his goatee, pierced chin, sunglasses…there was something about that choice of attire that didn’t quite suit the contrast of the business manager beside him.

“Now we’re here to do business,” Lance said, sitting down quickly. “JC, I’ve heard wonderful comments about your work, and I propose that we work together.” They both ignored AJ’s snort from the back of the room.

“Ignore him,” Lance said quietly. “He’s trying to make you feel bad.”

“Well you can tell him he succeeded.” JC smiled and waved a hand, signaling that he was only joking. “Go on.”

+ + +

“I hope to be working with you soon,” Lance smiled, shaking JC’s hand.

“Cool. I’ve got some songs I’m working on- I’ll let you know,” he replied, nodding his head.

AJ just watched the older man go.

“I’ve got this feeling about that kid,” he shook his head.

“What are you talking about? He’s older than you!” Lance laughed, walking down the corridor.

“Whatever.”

“Sometimes I swear that you had switched places with a 13 year-old.”

“Who knows? Maybe I did. And you, my friend, probably switched places with a 50 year-old geezer who needed a life.”

“One more sarcastic remark outta you and your paycheck is down by 10 bucks.”

Needless to say, he shut up.

+ + +

“Honey I’m home!”

“You’ve really gotta stop that.”

“What if I don’t want to?” JC asked, giving Vanessa a quick kiss on her mouth.

She rolled her green eyes. “Then don’t.”

“Glad you see things my way V.”

“You know if I didn’t love you so much I’d beat your ass down for that?” she asked from the kitchen.

“You’ll never guess-”

“What happened today,” she finished with him. “You got another deal.”

“How’d you-”

“How’d I know? I am Vanessa Tait. I know all, I see all,” she said, mocking the hand movements of a fortuneteller.

It was JC’s turn to roll his eyes. “Whatever.”

She smiled. “See? I’m just as weird as you.”

“If not more.”

“Again, I’d beat your skinny white ass down for that.”

“Skinny white ass?”

“Yup.”

“Skinny white ass?” JC repeated, walking closer.

“What you need a hearing aid?”

“SKINNY WHITE ASS?”

“Sorry Jace- you can’t be completely perfect,” she smiled, patting his lean cheek. Throwing her thick black hair over her shoulder, she walked out into the living room where she was watching TV.

JC stared after her.

He spluttered, “SKINNY WHITE ASS?”

+ + +

Both hands grabbed at the tiny object, neither succeeding.

“Sorry,” they both muttered, trying desperately to grab the ring.

“That’s mine!”

“What are you talking about?” Joey asked, snatching it up.

“It’s mine,” Chris enunciated.

“No it’s not- it’s mine,” Joey held it out.

Chris looked it over. His brown eyes widened. “That’s YOURS?”

“What?”

The older man hesitated before saying, “I have one.”

Joey’s eyes snapped up. “You what?”

“I. Have. One. Just like that…except yellow.” Chris stared in awe at the purple stone.

“Where?” Joey asked immediately.

Chris scrambled through his bags and located his crystal band. “Here.”

Sure enough, the two rings were nearly identical- except for the stones at the top.

Their eyes met.

“Come. We have things to discuss,” Joey said, gathering his things as fast as humanly possible. “There are more of us- they’re at my place.”

“How many?” Chris asked, mimicking the younger man’s actions.

“Two. A teen and some guy older than me.”

“Older than-”

“But younger than you,” Joey added, smiling when Chris rolled his eyes.

They jumped into their respective cars- Joey into his Acura, and Chris into his Mazda. They raced towards Joey’s house.

+ + +

Justin glanced outside the kitchen window and saw the familiar red Acura pull up.

The blonde went to the door and opened it as he saw the older man walk- er, run- up.

“Hey J do ya got any more-”

“Justin! Right on time! Sit!” Joey said hurriedly, pushing him towards the living room couch.

“But-”

“Just do it!”

“Joey-”

“Is that him?”

Justin halted his question attack and turned his head towards the newcomer. “Who’re you? And what are you talkin about ‘is that him’?”

“J, sit,” Joey commanded, pushing his younger friend down.

“What’s he talkin about Joe? Is that him…” Justin muttered, propping up his rather large feet and munching on a red apple.

“This better be the younger one,” Chris said, walking sideways towards Joey. “Yeeah. I’d be worried if he wasn’t.” The brunette scratched his head. “Where’s JC?”

“Huh? Oh he went to visit V.”

“V?” both men asked.

“His girlfriend,” Justin clarified.

“Damn NOW you tell me he’s tied?!” Joey cried, running his fingers through his messy hair. “What’s her number?”

Justin shrugged. “I don’ keep track ‘o his girls.”

Joey rolled his eyes. “What’s HIS phone number?”

Like a rehearsed machine Justin relayed JC’s number.

“Chris! Gimme your cell!”

After a quick second of cell phone wrestling, Joey dialed quickly.

“Yes is this someone who is related to JC Chasez?”

After a brief pause Joey continued, “No, no ma’am, I’m not holding ANYONE for ransom, this is a friend of his…yeah a friend…well simply cuz I’ve never called…can you tell me what Vanessa’s phone number is? It’s urgent…no, no one’s hurt…yes please…just lemme get a pen and paper,” Joey scrambled around to get a piece of paper and a pen. “Ok shoot…uh huh…uh huh…got it…got it. Thanks soo much! I owe ya one Heather. Yeah. Mm hmm, buh bye.”

Justin stared at Joey. And laughed. “Ransom?!”

“Well don’t look at me!” Joey stepped back.

“Call already!” Chris urged.

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