“I’m not moping,” growled Lance as he violently slammed the door to his filing cabinet.
“Why don’t you come out with me tonight?”
“And listen to Justin’s whinny voice?!” smirked Lance. “I don’t think so!”
“We don’t have to go to Fat-One,” pointed out Joey. “Pick a place, any place and that is where we’ll go.”
“Kirkpatrick’s,” replied Lance without a thought. He had wanted to go back there sooner but Joey had kept on stopping him.
“Wouldn’t you rather go to a gay bar?” sighed Joey, he was really starting to worry about his friend’s obsession with the place.
Lance however wasn’t bugging on the issue tonight and Joey eventually agreed to go along, as he liked Chris. Therefore he soon found himself riding next to Lance in Lance’s car as they quickly drove towards the bar.
When they got there however they got the shock of a lifetime. Kirkpatrick’s had been reduced to burning ruins, a fire truck still sitting out front as the last of the flames were put out.
“Chris!” cried Joey, seeing the short man and he rushed over to him. “What happened?”
“Some sort of electrical fire,” sighed Chris grimly. “It started shortly before I arrived here to open up the bar for the night. Fortunately no one was here at the time and the insurance will replace everything.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?” asked Joey.
“Can I have a job?” asked Chris. “I don’t know when this place will be rebuilt and I need something to live off until then.”
“Sure thing,” Joey nodded. “You can start in a few days.”
“Cool,” smiled Chris before frowning again. “I feel really bad for JC right now.”
“JC?” asked Lance, speaking up for the first time since they got there.
“He lived in the apartment above the bar,” sighed Chris. “He lost everything in the fire.”
“Where is he?!?!” cried Lance, desperately, not remembering that Chris had said no one was there at the time of the fire.
“I don’t know,” informed Chris sadly. “He stopped by as they were putting out the fire and then took off again in his car. I offered to let him stay with me but he refused saying he already found a new place. I don’t really believe him but he sped off before I could call him on it.”
“Maybe he went to stay with a boyfriend,” suggested Joey, hoping he was right so that Lance would snap out of his love craze attitude and return to normal.
“I don’t think that’s it,” sighed Chris. “He’s hopelessly in love with that Bass guy but he’s too chicken to call him.”
“Josh loves me?!?!” asked Lance happily, his face breaking out into a huge grin.
“You’re Lance Bass?” asked Chris in surprise and Lance nodded his head. “Jus forget what I told you then, because C will kill me that I told you!”
“I need to find him!” cried Lance as he raced back to his care and quickly drove off.
“Hey! He was my ride!” protested Joey as the stared after Lance’s car as it sped off into the distance.
“I’ll give you a ride home Joey,” offered Chris. “But first, lets go to your bar ‘cause I need a drink right now.”
*~*~*
For two hours Lance drove around the city before he seceded it was useless and he had no clue where to look for JC, so he started to his back home.
Lance sighed as the raindrops hit the windshield. It had started pouring a little over an hour and a half ago which made Lance want to find him even more as he didn’t want him to get stuck anywhere in his car with no place to go.
As he drove along the empty street, Lance saw a man almost be run down by another driver he tried to cross the street. The man, having to quickly dodge the car ended up stumbling backwards and ended up falling hard into a puddle of water.
Normally Lance would of kept driving, but there was something that made him pull over to the side of the road, get out of his nice warm car and into the cold, damp ran and run across the street to help the man, who was still down on the ground.
Upon reaching the man, Lance could tell that there was something about him that Lance recognized. However it wasn’t until Lance was helping the man to his feet that Lance was able to clearly get a good look at the man’s face in the streetlight.
“Josh!” cried Lance as his friend fell/collapsed into his arms and Lance could tell that JC was clearly out of it.
Gathering JC in his arms, Lance was surprised at how light JC was as he carried him over to his car. After settling JC into the passenger seat, Lance was soon on his way again and fifteen minutes later Lance was carrying JC once again, this time upstairs to his bedroom.
Peeling JC’s soaking wet clothes off of him, Lance quickly got JC’s freezing body under the warm covers before lighting a fire in the fireplace, giving Lance a reason for being glad he installed one in his bedroom in the first place.
Once JC was settled, Lance took a quick shower before returning to the bedroom, wearing clean, dry pajama bottoms and a wife beater, where JC appeared to be in the middle of a nightmare.
“Shh. . .” whispered Lance laying down on the bed next to JC. As Lance petted JC’s hair, JC somehow managed to snake his arms around Lance’ body, hugging him tightly. It was only then that JC fell back into a peaceful sleep.
Sighing, Lance wrapped his arms around JC and snuggled close to him, like he always did when they were back at the beach house which seemed lifetimes ago now. Soon, Lance was fast asleep next to his love.
*~*~*
When JC woke the next morning, he felt the warmth lying next to him as last night’s events came crashing back to him.
After seeing what had happened to the bar, JC had driven around until he had found a place that was willing to buy his car. His plan had been to find a homeless shelter to stay in for the night so he could send the car money to Heather in the morning, before going out and finding a new job.
Then it had started pouring and JC couldn’t find a shelter. He had almost given in and called Chris, but he didn’t as Chris had already done so much for him and he couldn’t ask for more. JC remembered wandering the streets being extremely cold, but nothing much after that, except he remembered seeing an angel right before he passed out. An angel that looked just like Lance.
“You’re awake,” commented a voice. A voice that JC knew could be no one else’s except for Lance’s. Opening his eyes JC found himself, wrapped in Lance’s arms.
“Hey,” he whispered, looking up at Lance. “What happened? Where are we?”
“My place,” informed Lance softly, while giving JC a gentle smile. “I found you passed out last night in the rain and brought you back here.”
“Why?” asked JC, tears in his eyes. “You left me at the police station! Why are you back!?”
“I didn’t leave you Josh,” whispered Lance hugging the older man tighter while wiping at the tears with his fingers. “My idiot friends dragged me out of there. Please believe me! I wanted to wait! I’ve been trying to find you for the past three days!”
“Why?” sobbed JC. “You could have any guy you want!”
“I want you!” replied Lance as his own tears began to fall. Very timidly Lance placed a finger under JC’s chin to lift it slightly. Then he bent his head forward to capture JC’s lips with his own in a sweet kiss.
In shock for a few minutes, JC soon began kissing back before they had to both break apart for some air.
“I love you,” whispered Lance as he stroked JC’s check.
“I love you too.”