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"Hey," Joey smiled. "Hi," Chris said. He added a forced smile. That would throw Joey off. Joey sighed. "Chris, please talk to me, I just want to know what is happening." Damn, it didn't work. Chris rolled his eyes. "I can't tell you Joey. If I could, I would. But I can't." "Why not?" Joey pushed his way in the room. "I'm your best friend. You have to tell me." "That didn't work last time." Chris said it before he realized he'd said it. Now he wanted to take it back. "So it WAS Lance!" Joey smiled. "Chris, look, I'm not Lance. Whatever happened won't happen with us. There isn't anything you could say that would change our friendship. I thought you knew that." These were the words he needed to hear. Words of pure kindness and loyalty. A true friendship. Chris felt his eyes water and his nose begin to sting. "Joey, please, I can't tell you yet. I don't want to ruin it again. Trust me, you'll find out." Frustrated, Joey threw his hands up in the air. "Fine Chris. You're acting like a girl about this. You know where to find me." Chris watched Joey leave and almost called him back. 'Don't go off mad,' Chris pleaded. 'That's all I need is another friend mad at me.' Thoughts of Lance and his few but harsh words came floating back. Suddenly he needed to write. He needed a pen. Chris searched the room until he found the familiar black ball-point pen, then he picked up his notebook and began pouring out his soul, letting the pain bleed out. 'Journal, I think I've just made things worse. Now Joey hates me too. I guess no one has any room in their hearts for fags like me. Nobody wants a gay piece of shit as their friend. So that leaves you, my paper as the only person I can talk to and look, I can’t even talk to you. I know I have to tell the others but after what I did to Lance I'm not sure if I want to. They'll probably kick me out of the group. I don't blame them. Chris closed the notebook and set it down like it was a fragile piece of glass. In a way, it was. It was the only thing keeping his thoughts from the outside world. The only barrier. Just a few sheets of paper. Chris looked at the time. "Shit!" he yelled, jumping up. He had five minutes to meet the others out back in the bus or they WOULD leave with out him. That had been made clear in their first month of fame. The late one had to ride with the band, which was only fun a couple of times. Chris gathered everything and ran around, throwing it all in his duffel bag as quickly as possible. Once he had everything he could think of, Chris zipped the bag shut, threw it over his shoulder and was out the door. He landed on the first floor and ran out into the lobby. As he ran past the strategically placed bodyguards, they checked their watches and shook their heads at him. Chris didn't even notice though, as he ran straight for the revolving doors. Joey had turned and saw Chris barreling towards them, but Lance roughly shoved Joey to the bus. Chris's heart sank slightly when he saw this, put at least he wasn't late. He'd rather be uncomfortable with Lance then be stuck with Ruben, who didn't understand any of his off the wall jokes. "Wait!" he yelled, getting the other's attention. Justin turned and stopped, ignoring Lance's insistent tugs in the opposite direction. "Hurry up!" he yelled. Chris dove for the doors, pulling his bags through with him. Once he fell out on the street, the few girls that were waiting screamed. Lance had already pushed the others on the bus, but then he stopped and waited for Chris. "Thanks," Chris panted with a smile as he started up the stairs in front of Lance. Lance followed Chris so closely they were almost touching. "No problem, queer," he whispered on the back of Chris's neck. Then he backed off as they walked back the hallway. When they got to where the others were sitting, Lance pushed his way around Chris and took the seat by Joey. After the bodyguards had all gotten on the bus, it pulled out onto the road with a lurch. Bags were thrown on piles in corners and electronics were fought over. The ride to their next destination would be four hours long with out stopping. Chris was sitting by himself, watching how Lance was ignoring him. Lance was still the only one who knew, and he supposed it was the biggest thing to be happy for. "Hey Joey, do you wanna play-" "Joey is playing with me Chris," Lance interrupted. The cold smirk on his face made Chris turn his gaze to the floor. Joey saw the hurt expression to mean he was upset at not getting to play with Joey. "Chris, I'll play you when we're done," he offered. Chris glanced up at Joey. "No, it's okay," he sighed. "I'll do something else." With a grin, Lance picked up a controller and handed it to Joey. "Come on Joey, leave him alone." Joey nodded and began playing Nintendo with Lance. What had happened to turn Lance against Chris? Lance was never angry with anybody. Chris was never ignored by anybody. It hurt to see his two best friends acting like this, but now was not the time to confront them. Justin was flipping through the TV channels and landed on Home and Garden Television. Some older guy was on, showing a women how to make picture frames. The man spoke exuberantly and with a lisp. Justin began laughing. "Look at this fag," he laughed. "Tell me he's not gay." J.C. looked up from his notebook and smiled. "What a fairy," he mumbled, then began writing again. Chris took in a shuddering breath. Had they always made fun of gay people? It didn't matter. Their words went straight to his soul and burned. This had to be his secret. If it got out that he was gay, he would quit Nsync. If they didn't kill him first. Lance was now valuable to him. Deciding the pressure on his chest might ease if he was alone, Chris got up and went to his bunk with out a word to the others. He had to be alone right now, or at least away from the others. He really wanted to write, but it was too risky writing with the others so close. Justin looked at Joey. "What's his problem?" he asked. Joey shrugged and went back to his game. "Are you sure nothing was wrong when you talked to him?" he asked, then looked at Lance. "Yeah," Lance replied. "He's fine. Just ignore him." "I think I should go talk to him," Joey started. "No! No. Fine, I'll talk to him again," Lance said, getting up. "Just stay here." With an irritated sigh, Lance walked back the dark walkway that Chris had disappeared in. He couldn't afford to have Joey find out about Chris yet. He wasn't done getting them all on his side yet. Once he was sure of how the others would react, he would out Chris himself. They didn't need him in the group anymore. They never did. There was no room for a fag like Chris in Nsync. Lance was going to do everything in his power to make life hell for the other man. Lance went straight to Chris's bunk and yanked the curtain back. He stood with his arms on his hips as Chris squinted up at him. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing?" Lance demanded, but low enough so the others couldn't hear. "Don't play this little fag game with me. You leave us alone and don't even talk to me." Chris stared up at Lance. "I didn't do anything," he said softly. "You're making them feel sorry for your gay ass," Lance snapped. "So just knock it off. Act like a man." Chris nodded his throat too tight to reply. He watched as Lance turned and left, then shut the curtain with a shaky hand. He couldn't leave them alone. He was looking for acceptance. He needed someone to be his friend. Surely they could understand. Couldn't they? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chris woke up when something slapped him. He shrank back and looked up, into the angry green eyes that had already caused so much pain. "Come out here and eat," Lance snapped, then left. Chris pulled himself up and rubbed his head. He must have fallen asleep in his misery. He looked at his watch as saw they still had an hour and a half to go. Another hour and a half of hell. He wasn’t hungry, but he pulled himself out of his bunk and softly walked to the table. Joey and J.C. looked up at him with smiles while Justin was busy stuffing his face and Lance just refused to look at him. "Hey," Joey smiled, moving over closer to Lance so Chris could sit by him. "Don't touch me," Lance grumbled, pushing Joey. "I'm not gay."' Joey gave Lance a strange look. "I never said you were. What is your problem?" Lance looked back up at Joey and plastered on a smile. "Nothing, I'm sorry I snapped at you. I'M fine." He emphasized his last words and glanced menacingly at Chris. Chris went to the other side of the table and sat by J.C., forcing him to slide over a little. Lance bristled but didn't say anything. J.C. looked up and smiled at Chris then went back to scribbling. Chris smiled back at J.C. briefly and looked down. His eyes wandered over to what J.C. was writing, then slowly up J.C.'s long, muscular arm. Chris tensed subconsciously, and found his head turning slightly to study J.C. the broad shoulder, soft neck, perfect, full lips… "Look at that homo," Lance said loudly, making Chris jump and blush. Chris slumped and glanced up at Lance, who was holding open a magazine, though his eyes were fixed on Chris. Lance shoved the magazine in Joey's face to make his point, but the whole time his eyes never left Chris. He'd been caught. Lance had caught him checking out J.C. And now that he knew who Chris liked, Chris expected things to get worse. Justin looked up and watched Lance for a few seconds, just enough to realize Lance was pissed at Chris. But he had better things to do. Like eat. Chris wanted to leave, but he knew he had to eat or the others would definitely know something was up and Lance would be on his case. Again. Instead, he began picking at the bowl of chips that was on the table. Lance gave him an evil look and reached for the bag of chips, then began to eat out of that instead. He jumped when he felt J.C.'s hand on his shoulder. J.C. pushed him gently and smiled, "I gotta take a piss." Chris got up and let J.C. out, smiling back. When he sat down again, he refused to look at Lance. He loved the feeling of J.C.'s warm hand on his shoulder. Just that little touch seemed to relax him, knowing that someone wasn't afraid of him. A small fire began inside of him again. Joey was lost. Completely lost. What was going on? If looks could kill, Chris would be rotting by now and Lance was the murderer. He had to do something soon. Tonight. In the hotel. 'Hold on Chris,' he wished. 'I'll help ya.' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The tour manager walked on the bus, shivering slightly. "Okay guys, who's going to be sharing a room?" "Why are we always one short?" Justin whined. "Me and Chris will share," Joey said, jumping up. Lance looked at them. "No, I'll share with you Joey, its okay." Joey turned to Lance with a cut-the-crap stance. "No, I will share with Chris." "Whatever," J.C. mumbled as he passed them. "Just get me to my room so I can sleep." Justin grabbed his and J.C.'s bags and followed the older man. "Wait for me!" he yelled. "You still have my razor." Lance watched them go with a fake smile. Then he turned to Joey. "After you," he grinned. Joey picked up his bags and headed after Justin. "Come on Chris," he smiled, patting the brunette on the back as he passed. Chris moved to pick up his bags at the same time Lance did. "Get out of my way fag," Lance muttered as he grabbed his bag. Chris wordlessly let Lance gather his things before getting his own bags. Lance then stood and waited for Chris to head out first. "I don't know why in the hell anyone would want to share a room with you, but you better not touch Joey or do any of your perverted things to him," Lance warned as Chris led the way. "Okay," Chris whispered before he stepped off the bus. Lance was always behind him, nagging and tormenting. Chris wished to God that he'd never told him. Now he had both internal and external punishment. Joey was waiting for Chris outside the bus. When Chris stepped onto the street, the cool night air hit him and sent chills through his body. "It's cold," he muttered to Joey without looking. "Yeah," Joey smiled, but it went unnoticed. "You don't mind me bunking with you tonight, do you?" he asked. "No, it's okay," Chris replied softly. He heard Lance hit the pavement behind them and started for the doors. They had arrived at the hotel a little early and therefore missed having to deal with waiting girls. A few cars that went by began honking, and the bodyguards rushed the guys inside before there were any collisions. "Did you guys wanna do anything tonight?" Justin asked as he headed for the elevator. "I wanna sleep," J.C. replied. Chris began a silent monologue within himself. All he wanted to do was take care of J.C. He would put him to bed, tuck the covers around him, and talk softly with him until the younger man drifted to sleep. Then he would sit up all night and watch the way J.C. slept, making faces in his sleep and talking softly in sleep-induced nonsense. He would- "Chris, you want to do anything?" Joey asked. "No, staying in sounds good." "Okay man. We could watch a movie or something." Justin laughed. "Yeah, the kind that's blocked unless you pay by credit card?" Joey blushed slightly. "Well if you insist." "Maybe Chris doesn't want to watch that kind of movie," Lance sneered. "Lance, no one was really asking you, now were they?" Joey shot back. Lance fell silent as J.C. shot Joey a questioning look. "Let's all get a good night's rest, okay? Sounds like we need it." "Yeah," Lance sighed, heading down the hall to his room. Joey glared at Lance as he went in his room and shut the door forcefully. It wasn't a slam, but enough to let the others know he was pissed. Then Joey turned to Chris. "Well come on. Let's pick a movie." Justin and J.C.'s room was across the hall from the one that Joey and Chris were sharing. Justin was obviously following J.C., but J.C. hadn't registered it yet. He turned to face Chris and Joey. "Goodnight," he smiled, waiting for a response before he opened his door. "Night," Joey replied, flashing a smile. Chris looked up hopefully and caught J.C.'s warm smile. Chris couldn't help himself from smiling back as he replied, "Goodnight J.C. And Justin." J.C. smiled at him a moment longer, then went in his room. Justin followed, walking into a closed door. The blonde beat on it and yelled, "Hey! Remember me?" The door opened again and J.C. reappeared. "Oh yeah. Come on." Justin walked in and shut the door after him, leaving Chris and Joey in the hall alone. Joey waved a hand in front of Chris's face, waking the oldest member from his idiotic trance. "You alive?" he joked. Chris looked at him with lustful eyes. "I'm fine," he smiled. "Let's go." "Okay, whatever," Joey said, rolling his eyes and rubbing a hand in Chris's hair. The two entered the room and Chris headed straight for the bed by the door. Joey shut the door and smiled at him. "You will never get over that will you?" he asked, setting his bags down in front of the dresser. "What?" "You and your 'the bed closest to the door is mine' thing," Joey replied. He grabbed the remote and lay down on his back on the other bed. "I told you I don't know why I do it," Chris replied. "It's just a safety thing. If something happens, I have to be able to get away. It's always been like that." "Sounds psychological to me," Joey teased. He began flipping channels. So what do you want to watch?" He wasn't ready to confront the underlying issue yet. Not when Chris was acting somewhat happy and relaxed. "I don't care. We can watch your porno if you want." Take that Lance. He still could be a man. "Well we don't have to if you don't want to," Joey replied. "I don't care." Chris rolled on his side away from Joey and opened his duffel bag. "I don't care either." "Well make up your mind." "Um…" "It hasn't been this hard before. If you want to watch a porno, then do it. I don't care." Chris pulled out his notebook and lay on his back again. "Fine then." "Fine." Chris took the cap off his pen and began writing. 'Journal, Joey watched Chris scribble words down and wondered what he was thinking that was so important he had to write them as they came. But it wasn't Joey's business, so Joey didn't ask. Joey's eyes drifted back to the NC-17 movie playing on the screen. He didn't see the point in paying for a porno if he couldn't get into the mood anyway. The next best thing was free. Joey could live with that. After they had sat in silence for half an hour, Chris rolled over and set his notebook down in his duffel bag. Joey couldn't see his face, but it looked like Chris was wiping tears. 'Okay,' Joey thought, 'Time for our talk.' As Chris got up and started striping for bed, Joey turned the sound down on the TV. He left it on to give either of them something to look at when they couldn't look at each other. He cleared his throat but remain lying down. 'Don't want to give him the wrong impression, just keep it a nice, brotherly talk,' Joy told himself. He waited till Chris lay down on top of the covers, dressed in his boxers and a wife beater. Chris may be short, but he wasn't lanky like J.C. and Justin. The guy had some meat on him, and knowing that always made Joey feel better about himself. "So, Chris," he began. "You wanna tell me what's been bothering you lately?" Chris looked at him. "Nothing's wrong," he replied. Joey sighed. He should have known this would take all night. "Chris, come on man. I'm here for ya. Tell me what's up." Chris bit his lip and remained silent. He would not let this happen again. He learned his lesson. "Chris, whatever you say stays between us. You've always been able to talk to me. You've been there for me, now let me help you." Could he trust Joey? Would Joey understand? Joey had warded off Lance earlier. Maybe… "Chris please. I hate to see you like this man. I hate knowing there's something wrong and not being able to help you. Just let me try." He was making it hard to resist. Joey had always been there for him before. Longer than anyone else in the group. Joey wasn't that heavy into his religion. He'd never heard Joey make fun of gays before. "Come on," Joey pleaded, sitting up. "I can see you need someone to talk to. Just let me try to help you." And the walls fell. Tears began slipping from Chris's eyes as he sat on his bed. It hurt so bad, and he knew Joey would also hate him, but he needed to tell someone. Things couldn't be much worse then they were now. "Joey," his voice cracked. He could see Joey through his tears and he knew Joey wanted to get closer but was afraid. Afraid of what? There was only one way to find out. "Joey, I'm…" He literally had to push the words out. "I'm gay." There. He said it. He ducked his head, giving the tears a shorter distance to fall before they hit the bed. He couldn't bear to see the hurt and anger and coldness that he knew would be in Joey's eyes. Joey was shocked by this. His mind reeled. It wasn't what he'd expected. After watching Chris breakdown, Joey had been waiting for the words 'cancer', or 'tumor' or 'AIDS' or something. But not something as harmless as 'gay'. He smiled. He almost laughed. Joey did take in a deep breath. "You're gay?" he asked, for lack of better words. Chris just nodded. He looked so vulnerable, sitting there silently sobbing and wiping at his eyes. He kept his head down and his knuckles were white from grabbing the fabric of his boxers. "I'll sleep on the bus," he mumbled, getting up but avoiding looking at Joey. "Chris, wait," Joey said. Chris stopped and stood still, studying his socks. "Chris, I-" Joey didn't know what to say. Where did he start? He got up and went to Chris, who looked like he was expecting to be ripped apart. Joey grabbed his chin gently and lifted it so he could look in the eyes of this strong man. Dark, red brown eyes looked up at him with fear and a sadness so intense, Joey forgot all the comforting words he was going to say and pulled Chris into a hug. "It's okay," he said, holding Chris tight against him. He could feel Chris's heart racing and his chest heave from sobs. Sobs of relief, sobs which Joey was proud to be responsible for. "I don't hate you," Joey said. "It doesn't change my friendship with you in the least. Understand?" Chris took a breath to reply when the door opened suddenly and Lance walked in. "Hey Joey, I need to ask you- what the hell are you doing?" Chris pulled away from Joey and took a step back; his eyes locked onto Lance's flashing green ones. He furiously wiped at his eyes and nose, trying to erase the evidence. "Oh, hey Lance," Joey said, turning to face Lance and simultaneously stepping on front of Chris. "What do you need?" Lance's face remained non-expressive as he looked at Joey. "I was just going to ask you if you knew what time to be up tomorrow." "Actually, I do," Joey replied. "Nine." "Well okay then, I'll leave you two alone," Lance said, backing out. He looked over Joey's shoulder and gave Chris one more threatening glare before leaving, shutting the door after him. Chris knew he was in deep shit now. Lance was going to kill him. He was going to die as soon as he and Lance were alone again. He could expect Lance to be twice as cruel now. Chris suddenly grew weak in the knees and sat on the edge of the bed. "Sorry about that," Joey said, turning around to face Chris. When he saw the terrified, deer-in-the-headlights look that Chris wore, he sat beside him. "What's wrong?" he asked. "Nothing." "It's Lance, I know that much. What happened between you Chris?" "Nothing." "He knows, doesn't he?" Chris nodded. "And he's not happy about it?" "If you're being broad, yeah," Chris replied. Joey might be Chris's friend when they were alone, but he wouldn't still support him when they were with the other guys. Joey thought back to all the homosexual slams that Lance had made that day. Realizing they were made with the intent to hurt made Joey's blood boil. Lance was suppose to be the one they could always go to. They never should have made him talk to Chris. But then again, they didn't know it was going to be this serious. Now Joey was left to pick up the pieces of this broken shell that was his best friend. Joey pulled Chris into another hug and was surprised when Chris practically fell into him. It was obvious Chris had needed someone to talk to, and Joey was sorry he hadn't done it sooner. "Chris, man, I love you. You're my brother and I swear I'll do all I can to get you through this. I'm just sorry you had to come this far by yourself. What Lance did was wrong. He is so wrong Chris, don't listen to him. You don't deserve to treated like that. There is nothing wrong with being gay. You are still the same Chris in my eyes. You couldn't say anything to make me angry or ashamed of you. You can talk to me anytime, okay?" Chris nodded. He never wanted this to end. He felt warm and safe with Joey. He now had a savior. A protector. A friend. Joey slowly pulled away and gently pushed Chris down on the bed. "You go to sleep. It'll be better in the morning. I promise." Joey walked to his own bed and lay down, then reached over and turned the lights off. He could see Chris's eyes twinkling with the reflections of the TV bouncing off his wet eyes. "Joey?" he asked softly. "Yeah," Joey said, looking at his friend. "Thank you for loving me." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chris slowly opened his eyes. He was so warm and comfortable. It was unusual to wake up feeling god like this. He scanned the room for Joey and found the younger man asleep in the bed next to his. Chris smiled to himself. He reached down and pulled out his notebook, intent on writing about his newfound happiness. After rolling on his stomach, he placed the notebook on his pillow and grabbed the pen from the nightstand. 'Journal, "Is that a diary?" Chris slammed the notebook shut and threw it in his suitcase. "What?" Joey smiled. "What ya writing?" "Nothing," Chris replied, sitting up. "Designs for clothes." Joey yawned and rolled on his back. "What time is it?" Chris studied the alarm clock. "Ten. Why? What time do we have to be out of here?" "Breakfast is in half an hour. Justin's room." "Why his room?" "He likes attention." "Oh yeah." Joey sat up and sat Indian style, facing Chris. "Is there anything you want to talk about? I know we were kinda cut short last night." Chris shrugged. "No." Joey eyed him. "Yeah, sure." "I don't want to talk about it." "So there is something then," Joey said. Chris knew that telling Joey about Lance would mean even more shit from the Mississippian, so Chris refused. "No, there's not." "You will tell me later, you know that right?" Joey asked, getting up. Chris sighed. "Unfortunately, yes." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chris stepped out of the shower and grabbed the towel that hung on the outside of the door. He bent over and gently rubbed his head, trying not to mess up the miniature dreads that he had started growing again. Chris then stood up and wrapped the towel around his waist and went to the mirror. He wiped the steam off the glass and looked at himself. He looked a lot better than he had in days. His eyes opened a little wider than they had, and they were brighter. Chris smiled at himself and was proud that he had taken a chance and told Joey. He only wished he had trusted Joey sooner. Maybe things between him and Lance wouldn't be so bad now. There was no way to tell though, and no way to fix things. Chris sighed and realized he was just going to have to accept Lance and respect his beliefs, no matter how bad they hurt. Chris searched the sink for his glasses. He could have sworn he laid them there before he stepped into the shower. Due to his farsightedness, he usually wore them when reading, writing or shaving. Chris knew he could manage a shave without them, but now it was just the principle of the thing. They had to be here somewhere. "Joey? Did you take my glasses? This isn't funny!" The door opened and Chris jumped. "Joey's gone." Chris turned, but knew who it was by the deep voice. "Lance? Hi, um, what do you want?" God, Chris hoped Lance didn't see him shaking. Lance stepped inside the bathroom and leaned against the closed door with a smirk. "I just want to help Chris." 'It's only Lance, its only Lance,' Chris yelled at his racing heart. Involuntarily, he took a step back. "Help with what?" Wow, his voice sounded more pathetic than he anticipated. Noticing Chris's nervousness and liking it, Lance took a step forward. "I want to help your relation with God," Lance said smoothly, taking another step towards Chris. Chris was panicked. The person in front of him was not the Lance he loved as a brother. This was a bigot who hated homosexuals. "H-how are you going to do that?" Chris asked meekly, hitting the small of his back on the sink. Where was Joey? "Chris, relax," Lance chuckled, grabbing a washcloth from the towel rack on the wall. "Just sit on the toilet and I'll help you." Lance placed the washcloth over his hand before pushing Chris away from the sink, then turned on the hot water. Chris obeyed and sat on the closed toilet. The towel wrinkled in his lap and caused a slit, exposing his right thigh. "Lance, please…" he begged softly. Where was Joey? Lance continued smiling as he placed the washcloth under the steaming water. "Chris, I can help you. I'm just going to cleanse you, you know, like a Baptism or something." Lance held the steaming, dripping washcloth between his thumb and index finger, approaching Chris. Chris tried to shut his body down. He wanted to just go numb and not pay attention to what Lance was attempting to do. Instead, Chris watched each drip fall to the floor. It wasn't until he felt the scalding washcloth between his shoulder blade and spine that he looked into Lance's despising eyes. His own eyes filled with tears as Lance began scrubbing him hard, rubbing his back vigorously with the burning cloth. A few hot drops ran down his back, burning a trail along the way. After a few excruciating seconds, Lance pulled back, but only to return to the sink. Lance smiled at Chris. "That's a good little faggot," he sneered, leaving the cloth under the running water for a few more seconds. "See, we'll get you all fixed up." Lance then returned to his position beside Chris and placed the 200-degree washcloth on the older man's shoulder. Chris cringed and shrunk away from Lance. The water had gotten even hotter, and it was still running. Chris could almost feel the blisters forming. Lance began scrubbing his shoulder and base of his neck. Chris had to bite back his tears from the pain the temperature caused on his neck's delicate skin. He was left to hope that Lance would finish soon, or else lose hope in his plan. One thing was for sure; Chris did not feel any less gay. Lance smiled with pride at the small blisters that were forming on Chris's skin. He had decided to stop after 'cleansing' Chris's other shoulder, in case that queer liked it. "I'll be damned if I let you lay a hand on Joey," he threatened as he went back to the sink for the final time. The washcloth was burning his fingers as well, but it was all for the good of the cause. "Because if I see you touching him again, so help me Chris, not only will you find yourself in this same predicament, I'll also do it to Joey." Chris squirmed, wringing his hands tightly in the towel. But it was not enough to keep him from crying out this time when the scalding cloth touched his skin. The tears were falling now, and they were equally mixed between physical and emotional pain. Deep down, he knew he deserved it. He brought this upon himself and was foolish to hope that anyone could still like him. "Hold still you fucking little queer," Lance growled, grasping the soft brown hair on the back of Chris's head. "Take it like a big boy. This is for your own good. I'm not a bad person." After finishing his hard scrubbing, Lance stepped back, and Chris sagged with visible relief. "See, we're done. That wasn't so bad, was it?" Chris looked at Lance with tears in his eyes. "Will you go now?" he asked softly. Lance smiled and stepped back to the sink, dropping the washcloth in with a plop. "Sure. My job here is done." Chris watched Lance walk out and nearly cried with relief. He found himself alone in the bathroom and stood up, walking to the mirror to inspect the damage. The appearance of his stinging shoulders matched his imagination's picture. His chest and shoulders were bright red and spotted with dime-sized blisters. Chris touched his skin and found no relief, in fact, it felt like a really, really bad sunburn. He winced at the stinging sensation and the hotness that was radiating from his burnt skin. Wearing a shirt would be extremely uncomfortable, but he had to cover up what Lance had done to him. With a heavy sigh, Chris went to get dressed. |
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