Part 2

"So, are you gay?" Nick asked as soon as they sat down on at an outdoor table, sandwiches in hand. Justin almost spit out his iced tea.

"Nick!" admonished Lance. He looked at Justin apologetically. "Sorry. Nick sometimes has no tact at all."

"I have tact. I just choose not to use it." Nick explained, grinning wolfishly. He looked at Justin. "If you are, it's cool. I mean, when you go to a boy's school, you tend to be very open sexually."

Justin nodded. "I understand. And in answer to your question, I'm bi."

"I knew it!" Nick said, grinning. "Pay up Kirkpatrick!" Chris grumbled and handed Nick a twenty.

"Don't be offended, Timberlake. Nick and I have been betting on the sexual preference of the newbies since we got here in sixth grade. Damn Nick and his gaydar. Bitch ass is never wrong." Chris grumbled.

"You're gay?" Justin asked. Nick nodded. "Yep, and so is Lance here. Chris is terminally straight. Ty likes to describe himself as open. Meaning, he prefers women, but since there are none around for about 30 miles, he takes what's offered." Everyone at the table groaned.

"Carter, you're incorrigible, you know that?" mumbled Tyler. He looked at Justin. "Like Lance said before, Nick has no tact."

Justin looked up and saw the blue-eyed stranger from the hallway walking in with three other guys. "Who are they?' he asked. Obviously, that was the wrong question to ask. Lance's eyes narrowed, Tyler flushed red, and Nick and Chris suddenly became interested in their feet. "Okayyy…forget I asked" Justin mumbled.

Nick looked up from his feet. "Nah, man, it's ok. Those four are like our school's in crowd or something. The dark haired Italian dude is Joey Fatone. He's real cool. So's the short guy next to him, Brian Littrell. I don't know why he hangs with them. But the other two…. well, they're trouble."

"Trouble?" Justin croaked. Nick nodded his head. Justin looked over at Lance, who was gripping the tabletop with so much force that his knuckles were turning white.

"Yeah, they…."Nick trailed off, as if unsure what to say. "The tall dark haired one with the green eyes is Kevin Richardson. And the one next to him…" Nick stopped as Lance made a low sound in his throat, like he was in pain.

"The other one is my older brother, Josh." Tyler announced suddenly. Justin's mouth dropped open. His brother?

Lance looked up suddenly and growled at Justin, "Stay away from him, if you know what's good for you." Justin almost reeled at the potency of Lance's gaze.

"So, are we heading up to Boston this weekend? Cause you know that all those colleges are going to having a shit-load of keg parties." Chris broke in, and suddenly the atmosphere changed and it was if the other conversation was forgotten. But Justin still remembered.

Later that afternoon, Nick decided to show Justin around campus so he could find the quickest way to his classes. Justin decided that it was the best time to ask about Lance.

"So, what happened? Why was Lance acting all weird?" he asked. Nick looked around, as if checking for eavesdroppers, and then sat on a nearby bench.

"I'll tell you, but it's not something that we talk about." Nick took a deep breath. "Josh Chasez is like, our big man on campus here. I mean, he's smart as hell, and really talented, just wait until convocation. He plays the organ during then. All the teachers love him, and so do most of the students. And I'm sure that you've noticed that he's really fucking fine. But, well, he's kind of a sexual deviant."

"A what?" Justin asked in disbelief.

"Sexual deviant. I mean, he's got this thing for boys, especially those younger than him. Not that he's preying on the sixth graders or anything, but he likes them about two, three years younger. And he likes to tie them up and gag them and things like that. And sometimes, he and Kevin share them." Nick stopped and Justin prodded him to continue.

"Well, last year, Josh set his sights on Lance. It didn't last long or anything, only about three or four months, but it really fucked Lance up. I mean, he did all these things to him, and…"

"Did he rape him?!" shouted Justin.

"No!" Nick said, startled. Then he got thoughtful. "I think that it might have been easier for Lance if he had. Then at least he would've had the comfort of the fact that he said no. The thing was, Lance liked it. I mean, he would tell him to do all these degrading things, and Lance did it. He completely lost all pride for himself. At one time, I think that he even thought that he was in love with Josh. So imagine his surprise when Josh gets bored with him and tosses him to Kevin to use. Like Lance was a toy or something. So Kevin did his thing with him, and then tossed him, too. Lance wouldn't talk to us for almost two months he was so ashamed."

Justin couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe that the beautiful young man he ran into in the hallway was some kind of deviant seducer.

Justin didn't have time to think about Josh during the next week, however. Between classes and his new friends and basketball practice, Justin barely had enough time to sleep, let alone think about some guy that he had only met once and that most of his friends had a healthy fear of. So, Justin was completely unprepared on Thursday, when he walked into the chapel and spotted him at the organ, playing Mozart's Fantasy in F minor. Looking at that beautiful face screwed up in concentration made Justin's groin tighten.

"I used to be so jealous of him when I was younger." Tyler said, his voice breaking Justin out of his thoughts. "He's like some fucking prodigy or something. Always been a straight-A student. And I felt so inadequate."

"So, is that why you don't like him?" Justin asked, and then cursed himself for asking such a personal question.

Tyler blinked, puzzled. "Don't like him?" Then his eyes cleared in understanding. "Well, I understand how you can see that. I love my brother. And despite his…activities, I still look up to him in so many ways. He'd do anything for me. I don't like what he did to Lance, but hey, that's between him and Lance. He's still my brother. We don't talk much because, well, he understands me so well."

Justin frowned in confusion. "You two don't talk because you're so close?"

Tyler laughed. "It doesn't make sense, I know. It's just that…well, like I said before; Josh has always made me feel inadequate. And he understands that. He leaves me alone here because he knows that I need to have my own separate identity, not Josh Chasez's brother. And to tell you the truth, knowing about the bad things he does only makes me like him more. It reminds me that he's not perfect." Tyler looked at Justin. "A word of advice, though. I'd stop looking at him so hard if I were you. I mean, the last thing you want to do is attract his attention. And with your looks, it may have happened already." Justin nodded, blushing, as he ran his hand through his curly hair. Though it was hard, he spent the rest of convocation trying very hard not to glance at Josh.

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