“He’s been excited all day since I told him that he was coming with us tonight,” informed Josh as he grinned down at Justin who had dropped down to his knees so he was at Geek’s level.
“I think he’s missed you,” smiled Lance as he wrapped and arm around Josh’s waist.
“Do you think so?” asked Justin with curiously looking up at Lance which made Josh smile since that was the first time that Justin was treating both of them normal-like instead of like Shepherds.
“Yep,” smiled Lance. “I’ve owned Geek for a long time and I know him very well.”
“Cool,” beamed Justin.
“Shut up and get in here!” called Chris from the living room. Before Lance and Josh had arrived Justin and Chris had been playing games in there but Justin had bolted from the room when he realized that they were there.
“Why don’t you just come here?” called back Josh with a grin on his face, knowing very well that Chris was in the middle of a game.
“Bite me Chasez!”
“That’s Chasez-Bass!” called Lance.
“Whatever! Just get your ass in here!”
“Maybe we should do what he says,” suggested Justin, while standing up but he still stayed closet to Geek.
“Don’t worry Justin,” replied Lance with a smile. “Sometimes it’s fun to annoy Chris since he so rarely can be annoyed.”
“Yeah but if I don’t do what I’m told, I’ll be punished,” reminded Justin with a shudder. He had been so happy these past few days and the last thing that he wanted was to go back to just being another Lamb under Chris’ roof.
“Don’t worry Justin,” replied Josh gently. “Chris isn’t like that, plus he would never do that to one of my friends anyways.”
“Are we still friends?” asked Justin looking at Josh.
“Of course we are!” exclaimed Josh before turning his attention to Lance. “Babe, do you think you could take Geek into the other room where Chris is?”
“Of course sweetie,” Lance gently replied as he placed a quick kiss on Josh’s lips before directing Geek down the hall towards the living room.
“Look Justin,” began Josh with a sigh. “We were both acting like jerks the other day and I’m sorry. I know it must have been quite a shock to see me again let alone see me again being married to Lance.”
“I’m sorry too,” admitted Justin. “All I could think about was how much you changed and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out how you went from marrying Bobbie to marrying another guy.”
“Marrying another guy is no big deal here,” informed Josh. “I fell in love. Which is the last thing I expected to happen when I was brought here.”
“I just want us to be friends again JC,” sighed Justin, struggling back his tears. “I hate fighting with you. You’re the only friend I have anymore.”
“Justin you know that’s not true,” Josh gently replied as he wrapped Justin in a tight hug. “You’re loved very much.”
“Yeah by everyone down on Terra, which I can never go back too!”
“That not true Justin!” protested Josh as he tightened the hug. “What about Kate and Wendy?”
“They’re more like mothers to me than friends,” sniffed Justin as he cried onto Josh’s shoulder.
“What about Chris?”
“He’s my owner!” protested Justin. “He can’t be my friend!”
“Lance was my owner and we began both friends and lovers,” reminded Josh as he pulled away so that he could look at Justin. He however also kept the younger man at arms length. “Do you really think that Chris would want to spend all his free time with you playing video games if you weren’t his friend?”
“I don’t know,” sniffed Justin. “He probably just has no one else to play with.”
“Justin,” sighed Josh. “I know Joey, Lance and I haven’t been around these past few weeks a lot since we’ve all been busy but trust me we see each other every day at lunch and spend most night together as well. But so much has been happening this past month. Joey’s daughter has been sick recently. It’s nothing serious enough to worry but Joey has been spending a lot of his time with her. Plus Lance and I had been on vacation and since we’ve been back, we’ve started the process to have our own baby.”
“But why would he want to be friends with me?” whimpered Justin as he wiped his arm across his eyes to dry his tears.
“Have you lost your ego?” chuckled Josh. “I never would of thought that would happen!”
“Nice to know I can still make you laugh,” replied Justin as he managed a small smile.
“Always Justin,” smiled Josh as he flung an arm around Justin’s shoulders. “Now come on and lets find the others. I’m sure they’re wondering if we killed each other yet.”
“Good idea,” laughed Justin as they walked towards the living room where they could hear the sounds of video games and laughter.
“You suck Lance!” they heard Chris cry. “You’re getting to be just as bad as C!”
“Don’t be making fun of my husband,” warned Josh with a smile on his face as he entered the room with Justin where they found Lance and Chris on the couch, both with controllers in their hands as their attention was drawn to the TV screen. “Nobody sucks as much as me.”
“True enough,” agreed Chris as Josh sat down next to Lance on the couch and Justin flopped down in a nearby chair.
“Why don’t we see how well Justin does against you?” challenged Josh as he took the controller from Lance’s hands and tossed it to Justin before wrapping an arm around Lance’s shoulders and pulling his husband closer to his chest.
“Yes, let’s see how well you do,” added Lance as he snuggled against Josh.
“Umm . . .” stammered Chris trying to think of an excuse not to play against Justin since he knew he couldn’t beat the young Lamb anymore.
“Come on Chris!” begged Justin, giving Chris his infamous pout that he widely known for back on Terra.
“Look at that face,” teased Josh. “You’re breaking his heart Chris!”
“Wendy?” asked Chris pressing the intercom button for the kitchen. “Will dinner be ready any time soon?”
“No sir,” came the reply. “You have plenty of time to play more video games before the food will be ready.”
“Shit,” grumbled Chris.
“Come on Chris,” laughed Josh. “You heard Wendy, you have plenty of time.”
“Aren’t you two suppose to be nice to me?” asked Chris, stalling. “Don’t you remember that it was me who got you two together in the first place? Cause I seem to remember a time when Lance was being an idiot and C was on his way back to the surface.”
“That was five years ago!” protested Lance.
“What?” asked Justin. “What happened five years ago?”
“I didn’t tell you?” asked Chris excitedly glad he had a distraction so he no longer had to play Justin in front of his friends.
“Chris,” warned Josh but he knew it was useless. He knew that Chris was determined to tell Justin the story of him and Lance.
“Long story short,” began Chris. “Joey and I decided to buy a Lamb for Lance’s eighteenth birthday which turned out to be C. Anyways C and Lance fell in love but Lance was stupid and decided to pay off the guards at the docks who handles the shipments of Lambs to take JC back down to Terra the next time they were going down. I found out what happened and raced to the docks as the shuttle was leaving, thinking I was too late but it turns out that C had already had gotten off the shuttle not wanting to leave so I took him back to Lance where they declared their love for each other and have been together ever since.”
“Wow,” breathed Justin when Chris was finished. “But if paying off the guards at the docks is all that it takes to go back to Terra then why don’t more Shepherds do that if they really cared about their Lambs?”
“I only got away with it because I’m a Bass,” explained Lance. “My family is probably the most powerful family on Cielville. I couldn’t be able to do that now though. My father disowned me when he discovered I married a Lamb and they made that fact well known to all the other power families here. I was just fortunate to of had already built up some of my own businesses by that point.”
“But why were they so against you marrying a Lamb if you were in love?” asked Justin confused.
“They didn’t care,” shrugged Lance. “All they cared about was me marrying a man or a woman from an equally powerful family. It didn’t matter if I loved that person or not.”
“But that’s not right!” protested Justin. “Love should be the only reason to marry!”
“The same thing happens on Terra, Justin,” sighed Josh. “I never loved Bobbie yet I was suppose to marry her. Business marriages happen all the time and if the two people involved are okay with that then there’s nothing wrong with it. But that’s not what both Lance and I wanted.”
“I still don’t understand why people would marry if they’re not in love.”
“You’ll understand if you’re ever in that position,” sighed JC, just as word came from the kitchen that their dinner was ready. As the three Shepherds began walking towards the dinning room, Justin hung back in the living room not knowing if he was allowed to follow or not.
“Hurry up Justin!” called back Chris as he slowed down and turned back towards the other room when he realized that Justin wasn’t with them. “Aren’t you hungry?”
“I’m coming!” called Justin with a large grin as he raced after them.