That was almost an hour ago, and Lance couldn't get himself to focus on anything but the door and the advancing hands of his watch. He really shouldn't have been too concerned, because he knew Joey was prone to wander or to become absorbed in some activity and lose track of time. Most likely though, he had been stopped by fans, or maybe the shop downstairs didn't have cough drops, and he had to go seeking for them outside the hotel.

It didn't help that he had planned to fool around in bed all night with Joey either. He had had an almost constant hard-on from the moment he woke up this morning, in anticipation of what Joey had called "the night they would consummate their relationship." Consummate had come lewdly Joey's lips the night before, as they dropped their bags on the floor of the hotel room, then crashed, too tired to even kiss goodnight.

Finally Lance flopped down stomach first on the bed and buried his head in one of the pillows. His penis ached beneath him, and he shifted his hips to a more comfortable position. He sighed and thought about trying to sleep.

He must have drifted into semi-consciousness, because the next thing he remembered was being kissed on the back of the neck and a warm hand exploring around under his shirt.

He turned around and was greeted by a wide, dopey grin. "Where the hell have you been?" he asked and looked at his watch.

"It's been almost two hours, did you have to fly to Vietnam to find cough drops?"

"Mmm. No. Although Ho Chi Minh sounds like a pleasant place right now. It's snot-freezing cold outside."

"Where did you go?" Lance said, and wrapped his arms around Joey's waist.

"Um, I had to go get some... stuff?" Joey pecked Lance on the cheek and then stood up to take off his coat.

"Stuff huh... sounds a bit fishy to me." He threw Joey's coat aside and helped him pull off his grey sweatshirt and threadbare "Boybands suck" t-shirt.

"Yeah, well, you'll thank me for it later." He smirked. He slipped off his shoes and laid back on the bed, pulling Lance on top of him.

Despite now having Joey all to himself and willing to do whatever Lance wanted, he couldn't keep Joey's still unaccounted for lateness out of his mind. Even as Joey's warm, prehensile mouth surrounded his penis, he mind lurched trying to figure out what Joey had been out doing.

He put his hands on Joey's shoulders, scrunched his eyes closed, and concentrated on the sucking sound Joey was making.

The noise stopped and Lance looked down at Joey staring at him. "You know, I may not be a pro at this, but I know I'm not that bad," Joey said and licked the slit of Lance's penis to check for a reaction.

"I missed you -- I was worried, that's all," Lance said.

"Well I'm here now." He rubbed Lance's thighs. "So what's the problem?"

Lance bit his lip. "You still haven't told me where you went..."

Joey exhaled loudly and rolled off the bed. He rolled his eyes as he walked over to his coat and pulled out a small paper bag. "Here," he said and threw it at Lance.

Lance opened the bag. Inside was a bottle of lube, which he pulled out at tossed to Joey as he jumped back on the bed. "Pervert," he muttered. Also inside, was a small blue box with silver ribbon on it.

"I figured since we were going to, you know, we needed to be prepared. It took me forever to find a store that sold any lube, and by then it was getting late, and I was feeling guilty about being gone so long..."

Lance opened the box and pulled out a miniature marionette figure. It was a little blonde boy dressed in blue with a red heart painted on his chest. It was small enough to fit in the palm of Lance's hand.

"The store next to the sex shop had some of this little figures. Apparently some lady in town makes them. I saw that one and knew you should have it."

"Joey, it's..."

"It's you!" Joey smiled wide. "I had to sit through these girls behind me singing "No Strings Attached" as I paid for it, but I'd say it was worth it."

Lance placed the tiny marionette back in the box carefully and set it on the side table. He pushed Joey back on the bed and smothered him with kisses.

"So I take it we can use the lube now?" Joey said. Lance pulled the pillow out from under his head and whapped him with it. Joey held his arms up in defense, but bucked his hips up, causing Lance to moan. "Lansten likes it rough, does he?"

Joey flipped Lance onto his back and watched the wall briefly, his shadow dancing above Lance's, they way it would for the rest of the night.

End.

Originally written as an *Mprov on 12/30/00 with the words shadow dancing, Ho Chi Minh, cough, prehensile, no strings attached.