Chapter 9

Inner Reflection | home

Hearing the hotel room open and close, Joey stirred but didn't wake.

When Lance returned to the room, the collar caught his eye. By now, he was too excited about the thought of him being in control, until he gave it up. Forming a plan in his mind, he snickered quietly before walking over to the bag of items that they had bought the day before. Pulling out a small water bowl, he filled it with water and a can of cat food before placing it in front of Joey. Then next came the collar which was returned to where it had been around his neck. Realizing something was missing, a little louder smirk escaped as he dug through his overnight bag. Finally pulling out a small canister of black shoe polish, Lance went and knelt in front of his love. When he was done with what he was doing, Joey had a black nose, much like a puppys' except his wasn't wet. Laughing quietly, Lance quietly kissed his forehead and returned to bed, finally letting sleep overtake him.

"Joey...Joey..." a voice whispered lightly in his ear. "Joey sweetheart...wake up..."

Rolling over and stretching out, he mumbled, "Yeah yeah, I'm up..."

"Breakfast is ready," Lance pointed out, sitting on the bed, a single plate of french toast in his hand. "Eat up..."

Standing to move next to Lance, he got pulled backwards by the leash, holding him back. Falling back onto his butt, "What the?"

"I told you last night," Lance said, taking a bite of french toast. "Doggies aren't allowed on the bed." Pointing to the dish with water and the brown cat food in it, he again added, "Eat up..."

Joey turned around to look at the food. "You expect me to eat that shit?"

"It's the best pet food out there. Of course I expect you to eat it. I love my pet..."

Getting a smirk on his face, he asked, "Well, if I'm a puppy, that's kitten food. What about table scraps?"

"Table scraps are bad for puppies. One day of eating cat food won't hurt you. You'd better hurry and eat soon too, that's all you're getting today, and we're going on a road trip too...so you'd better hurry and eat," replied the blond, taking another bite of toast, trying not to laugh.

Picking up the bowl and throwing it across the room, he hissed, "Well then I'll just eat on the bus."

"But there's only people food on the bus. Unless Chris is nice enough to let you have some of Busta and Koreas' dog food..."

"It wasn't meant to be." Popping the last of the french toast in his mouth, Lance overacted the savoring bit. "Too bad you can't have human food, that was good..." Getting up and walking towards the door, he added, "I'll be right back puppy..."

"And what am I suppose to do? Sit here and wait?"

"No...you can go around eating the food you spilt on the floor."

"Well, we both know that puppy won't do that, so I think puppy's going to run away now."

"Then Jez goes bye bye bye too..."

"No she doesn't. Where is she?"

"She's safe...for now. Do I have to call the pet store or will you listen?"

Backing into a corner, he mumbled, "I'll...I'll listen."

"Good boy," Lance praised, walking out of the room. "I have to go check on a few things, then I'll be back. I expect that mess you made to be cleaned up. And...don't forget to fold the blankets and towels, putting the towels back in the bathroom by the mirror when you're done puppy." His voice almost cracked when he pictured Joeys' reaction at seeing his 'doggie nose'.

"Well then," he started, a hint of anger behind his voice. "Can I get off this stupid leash to do that?"

Sighing over dramatically, Lance called back, "Sure just make sure the room is spotless when I get back, or it's the paper for you mister."

Reaching up and unfastening the leash from his collar, he went about picking up the cat food, returning it back to the dish. When that was done, he went on to folding the blankets and towels, putting them away.

From where he was just down the hall, Lance leaned against the wall and counted to himself down to when he figured Joey would be screaming. "3...2...1..."

Having put the blankets away, Joey walked into the bathroom to put the towels away. Catching a glimpse of him in the mirror, he shouted, "JAMES LANCE BASS! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU DID!?"

From where he was outside in the hall, Lance doubled over in laughter. Falling to the floor, his knees having given out on him, he wrapped his arms around himself, rolling and laughing like it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen.

Scrubbing furiously, he tried to get the substance to begin to come off, but wasn't succeeding.

Lance continued to laugh as he walked back into the room and over to the bathroom door. "Having problems?" he asked between fits of laughter.

Wanting to lash out and grab Lance by the collar, and attack him, he knew with his current situation he couldn't. With his anger raising, he hissed, "Just you wait."

Ignoring his threat, the blond asked, "Um...the guys are almost packed. How about you?"

"Well, if I can get this shit off my nose, then maybe I could."

"Sorry buddy, but shoe polish doesn't come off for a while..."

"Then what the hell am I suppose to do? Stick a red clown nose over it?"

Lance tossed him a red ball and laughed. "Here ya go..."

"Ha ha very funny," Joey replied, throwing the ball across the room, then walking past Lance to get his clothes packed.

"Come here you big baby..." Lance teased, pulling a bottle of cover up from his pocket. "Sit down..."

"No...I'm fine thank you..." he huffed, starting to shove his belongs in his bag.

"I said come here puppy. Unless you want to go out in public like that?"

Continuing to ignore him, Joey packed the rest of his belongs. Turning to Lance, he asked through gritten teeth, "Ready to go?"

"Yes, but I said come here..." Lance replied, pointing to the bed he stood by.

Doing a quick double check of the room, Joey checked the bathroom, grabbing his toothbrush, toothpaste, deoderant, after shave, and cologne too, placing them in his overnight bag.

"Okay, fine, you won't listen..." Lance shrugged, picking up the hotel phone and dialing a number.

Stopping in his tracks, Joey asked, "Who...who...who are you calling?"

With his back turned to him, Lance replied, "The pet store so they can come pick up Jez. You're not listening, so you loose Jez..."

"Put the phone down...I'll listen..."

Turning around to look at Joey, Lance hung the phone up and pointed to the bed. "Sit..." Walking over to the bed, Joey sat down gently. Smiling, Lance walked over and sat on his lap, uncapping the make up and dabbing a little onto his hand. "Hold still..." he instructed, using his other hand to apply the make up.

Flinching his eyes shut, Joey asked, "What are you doing?"

"Making it so you can go out into public...and trying to decide on something..." Lance answered, a smile on his lips.

"Yeah, yeah fine, whatever. Let me know when you're done."

A few more moments went by before Lance got up and walked into the bathroom to wash his hands. When he came out, he looked up at Joey and his handy work. "Not bad if I do say so myself," he teased.

Opening his eyes, Joey asked, "Am I done?"

"Yes..." Lance answered, "You're done...and...that was a mean thing I did so...how can I make it up to you...anything you want that I can give you and it's yours..."

Crossing his arms in front of his chest, he huffed, "I want Jez..."

"She's in Justins' room. I brought here the last night. She's totally safe with him. Honest." Crossing his heart with his index finger, he asked, "Anything else?"

"Can I take this stinking collar off?"

Fumbling with the latch, he couldn't quiet get it. "Uh...I...help?"

Laughing and climbing onto the bed behind him, Lance undid the collar, kissing the back of Joeys' neck as he did so. "Anything else?"

"Can we go now so I can get my cat?"

"Of course. They're waiting for us on the bus already. I told them we'd be a little late..."

Grabbing his duffle, slinging it over his arm, he replied, "Great, I'm ready."

"Hold on," Lance called back before Joey reached the door. Walking up to him, he turned him around, and kissed him sweetly. "I know it will be a while before we can do that again...just one for the road..."

"But I thought you said Justin knew?"

"He does, but JC and Chris don't..."

"So then, why dont' we just do the obvious and tell JC and Chris?"

"If you want, but, like I said last night, the more people who know the more likely it will slip out to the public."

"So we can't trust our own bandmates not to tell?"

"We can trust them now, but what about when Chris gets drunk? You know how he blabs things and with the way rumors start to fly? And JC, when he gets on a role, especially during interviews..." Lance replied, shaking his head. "I only told Justin because he sensed something was up. The other two don't suspect a thing..."

"Point taken I guess. But can't we always snatch a kiss when they're not around?"

"We can...and we will..." replied Lance, a sparkle in his eye as the engagment ring caught his attention. "I can't belive you said yes..." he whispered mostly to himself.

Barely catching it, Joey asked, "What...what...how are we going to hide that?"

Pulling the ring off from his left hand, Lance slipped it onto his right. "There, a friendship ring..."

"But I don't want it to be a friendship ring."

"It will only be a friendship ring to everyone else sweetheart," he replied lovingly. "But to us, it'll be more...much more..."

"Can I ask one more question before we go?" Joey asked, his hand still in Lances'.

"You can ask as many as you want..." he replied, stroking Joeys' hand with his thumb, looking up into his eyes.

His eyes revieling true excitment behind them. "When we do tie the knot, how are we going to keep that a secret?"

"I guess...we'll have to come out and say it...straight, no pun intended, out..." Lance replied, hoping that once they did reviel thier little secret, that the fans wouldn't care. They would still be the same Joey Fatone and Lance Bass, members of Nsync, heart-throbs to thousands of girls (and guys) around the world. Nothing about them would change, not their music, not their voices, and certainly not who they were inside.

Joey snuck one last kiss from Lance, before he and his fiancee walked out into the public.

Traveling down a busy freeway towards the next city on the tour, Lance and Chris were lounging in the back area, watching TV and talking. "Chris?" Lance asked quietly.

"Yeah? What?" he asked, looking up from the TV.

"What do you think about...um...non-straight relationships?" His voice was semi-shakey, and he wasn't sure how Chris would take the choice of topics used to strike up a conversation. But it had been bugging him all morning long.

"What exactly do you mean by that?"

"You know...um...a guy having a boyfriend, or a girl having a girlfriend. Do you think it's like...totally disgusting or...or what?"

Saying the only thing that came to mind, "If you got somebody, you got somebody."

"So...what if you, you know, later on in life, realized you were gay...and having been a member of Nsync, would you go with your heart and go with the guy, or think of your rep and not?"

"Well, the way I look at it, if you're getting some,you're getting some. But I personaly would rather have the milk if you know what I mean." Punching Lance gently in the shoulder, he added, "Right?"

Smiling though he felt totally uncomforatble, Lance clarified, "So you wouldn't think about what the public or friends say? As long as you're happy with whoever you're with, girl or guy?"

"Is that what I said? Wow, I'm smart."

Laughing quietly and standing to go find someone, Lance replied, "Yeah, well after all you are the only one of us that has a degree...even though I think it's an oxymoron, you're having an AA in Psychology yet your nickname is Psycho."

"They call me 'Psycho' cause I was in Psychology." Getting a smile on his face, he asked, "Why? What do you think it meant?"

"I don't know...that you were a psycho ax murder or something?" he teased. "Or just plain nutzoid in the brain? Loco in the cabesa? Not all the lights on in the attic? Missing a few marbles. You know...crazy..."

Putting his finger to his temple, in the thinking position. "No...I don't think so." All the while keeping a straight face.

"Smart ass..." Lance replied, walking out of the lounge and searching the bunks for Joey.

Yelling back towards Lance, Chris shouted, "You know I got it!"

"You may have it, but do I want it?" Lance shouted back. Finding Joey in his bunk, Lance looked up quickly to make sure the coast was clear. JC and Justin had their backs to him at the front lounge; the door to the back lounge swung almost closed, blocking the bunk area from Chris' view. Quickly climbing into the bunk, Lance knew he was taking a great risk, but he didn't care. "I found what I wanted," he whispered, surpriseing Joey. "Miss me baby?"

"I missed you a lot, but where did you come from?"

"Well, originally, I came from Mississippi, but then I moved to Florida to try out for this music group. Well, I made it in and there I found this amazing boyfriend within the group," he answered, his voice low, just about a dull whisper.

Chuckling lightly, Joey replied, "Cute one. Nice try. I meant where did you come from on the bus?"

"Oh you mean that? I came from the back lounge...talking with the psycho ax murderer..." A hint of teasingness laced his voice as he rubbed Joeys' nose lightly, making sure that the cover up was still holding up.

Showing Lance his hands, Joey showed that he had moved the ring back from his right hand to his left. "I mioved it when no one was looking."

Taking hold of his left hand, Lance brought it up to his lips and kissed the ring gently. "I don't care who knows now. Chris said that as long as you're happy with who you're with, the type fo relationship doesn't matter. You can tell the Backstreet Boys about us and I woudln't give a rats ass about them. I only give a rats behind about you..."

Joeys' eyes misted over again. "Really? You mean we can tell?"

"If you think it's a good idea baby..."

"I don't know if I want to tell them. I don't want them making a big deal of out it. Maybe...we shouldn't tell them, not just yet at least..." Lance said, laying down, using Joeys' left arm as a pillow, drapping his hand over the older mans' chest.

"Well, whenever you think we're ready, we can tell. But...until then, am I restricted to just cat food all day?"

Laughing quietly, Lance shook his head. "No, you can have human food...I'll even feed it to you..."

"I can actually have regualar food?" Joey asked, praying he heard that right.

"Yes...whatever is on the bus, you can have. We'll switch roles if you want, so you can get me back for what I made you do this morning...both times..."

"Can we take care of one thing at a time? I'm hungry?"

Laughing again, Lance kissed his cheek and whispered, "I can take care of that..." Slipping out of the bunk, again unnoticed, he went over to the fridge and retrieved some grapes, then returned to the bunk. Resting the cold bowl on Joeys' chest, Lance laid his head on Joeys' arm again, reaching up and plucking a grape from within the bowl and holding it up to Joeys' lips.

Greedily, Joey took the grape from Lances' fingers, catching his fingers in the process.

"Hungry?" Lance teased, repeating the action with the grapes. Bitting a grape in half, he licked one half of the grape, his eyes locking onto Joeys as he ran the other half of the grape over his lovers lips.

"When am I not?" Joey asked, again greedily reaching for the grape.

Smiling, Lance pulled his hand away just before Joey could get to the grape. "Uh uh..." he whispered.

"Why not?" he asked, a fake pout on his lips.

"Because," he whispered, dropping the half of the grape back in with the rest. "I want to be the one to wet your lips...not some grape..." Leaning forward, he dragged his tongue lightly over Joeys' jawline, and slowly up to his lips. Joey eagerly tried to take control of the situation, forgetting that he was Lances' for the day. Pulling away far enough to whisper in his ear, Lance said, "Since you've been so good to me...what do you want to do?"

"I want to kiss you and eat you all up cause you're so sweet..."

Smiling at the reply, Lance, still by Joeys' ear, whispered, "Then I won't stop you..." Joey only began to kiss Lance wherever the bunk allowed him to move.

"How about we try this..." Lance said, wrapping his arms around Joey and flipping them over, being careful to not fall out of the bunk. When he was on the bottom, he kept his hands on his loves' lower back. "Better?"

"Much..." Joey replied, his voice husky. Rewarding Lance with an extremly moist kiss, he let his tongue roam all about within the confines of his lovers mouth.

Bending a knee so that it rested against Joeys' leg, Lance brought his hands up to Joey's back and neck, lightly massaging his shoulder blades and the back of his neck. Joeys' reaction was to deep the kiss even more, letting his hands rub Lances' upper arms lightly. Bending his other leg, so that Joey fell between them, they both hungrily kissed the other, as if they couldn't get enough of each other.


	Inner Reflection \| home back to When Love Hurts Chapter 9 Hearing the hotel room open and close, Joey stirred but didn't wake. When Lance returned to the room, the collar caught his eye. By now, he was too excited about the thought of him being in control, until he gave it up. Forming a plan in his mind, he snickered quietly before walking over to the bag of items that they had bought the day before. Pulling out a small water bowl, he filled it with water and a can of cat food before placing it in front of Joey. Then next came the collar which was returned to where it had been around his neck. Realizing something was missing, a little louder smirk escaped as he dug through his overnight bag. Finally pulling out a small canister of black shoe polish, Lance went and knelt in front of his love. When he was done with what he was doing, Joey had a black nose, much like a puppys' except his wasn't wet. Laughing quietly, Lance quietly kissed his forehead and returned to bed, finally letting sleep overtake him. ----- "Joey...Joey..." a voice whispered lightly in his ear. "Joey sweetheart...wake up..." Rolling over and stretching out, he mumbled, "Yeah yeah, I'm up..." "Breakfast is ready," Lance pointed out, sitting on the bed, a single plate of french toast in his hand. "Eat up..." Standing to move next to Lance, he got pulled backwards by the leash, holding him back. Falling back onto his butt, "What the?" "I told you last night," Lance said, taking a bite of french toast. "Doggies aren't allowed on the bed." Pointing to the dish with water and the brown cat food in it, he again added, "Eat up..." Joey turned around to look at the food. "You expect me to eat that shit?" "It's the best pet food out there. Of course I expect you to eat it. I love my pet..." Getting a smirk on his face, he asked, "Well, if I'm a puppy, that's kitten food. What about table scraps?" "Table scraps are bad for puppies. One day of eating cat food won't hurt you. You'd better hurry and eat soon too, that's all you're getting today, and we're going on a road trip too...so you'd better hurry and eat," replied the blond, taking another bite of toast, trying not to laugh. Picking up the bowl and throwing it across the room, he hissed, "Well then I'll just eat on the bus." "But there's only people food on the bus. Unless Chris is nice enough to let you have some of Busta and Koreas' dog food..." "Ha ha, not funny." "It wasn't meant to be." Popping the last of the french toast in his mouth, Lance overacted the savoring bit. "Too bad you can't have human food, that was good..." Getting up and walking towards the door, he added, "I'll be right back puppy..." "And what am I suppose to do? Sit here and wait?" "No...you can go around eating the food you spilt on the floor." "Well, we both know that puppy won't do that, so I think puppy's going to run away now." "Then Jez goes bye bye bye too..." "No she doesn't. Where is she?" "She's safe...for now. Do I have to call the pet store or will you listen?" Backing into a corner, he mumbled, "I'll...I'll listen." "Good boy," Lance praised, walking out of the room. "I have to go check on a few things, then I'll be back. I expect that mess you made to be cleaned up. And...don't forget to fold the blankets and towels, putting the towels back in the bathroom by the mirror when you're done puppy." His voice almost cracked when he pictured Joeys' reaction at seeing his 'doggie nose'. "Well then," he started, a hint of anger behind his voice. "Can I get off this stupid leash to do that?" Sighing over dramatically, Lance called back, "Sure just make sure the room is spotless when I get back, or it's the paper for you mister." Reaching up and unfastening the leash from his collar, he went about picking up the cat food, returning it back to the dish. When that was done, he went on to folding the blankets and towels, putting them away. From where he was just down the hall, Lance leaned against the wall and counted to himself down to when he figured Joey would be screaming. "3...2...1..." Having put the blankets away, Joey walked into the bathroom to put the towels away. Catching a glimpse of him in the mirror, he shouted, "JAMES LANCE BASS! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU DID!?" From where he was outside in the hall, Lance doubled over in laughter. Falling to the floor, his knees having given out on him, he wrapped his arms around himself, rolling and laughing like it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen. Scrubbing furiously, he tried to get the substance to begin to come off, but wasn't succeeding. Lance continued to laugh as he walked back into the room and over to the bathroom door. "Having problems?" he asked between fits of laughter. Wanting to lash out and grab Lance by the collar, and attack him, he knew with his current situation he couldn't. With his anger raising, he hissed, "Just you wait." Ignoring his threat, the blond asked, "Um...the guys are almost packed. How about you?" "Well, if I can get this shit off my nose, then maybe I could." "Sorry buddy, but shoe polish doesn't come off for a while..." "Then what the hell am I suppose to do? Stick a red clown nose over it?" Lance tossed him a red ball and laughed. "Here ya go..." "Ha ha very funny," Joey replied, throwing the ball across the room, then walking past Lance to get his clothes packed. "Come here you big baby..." Lance teased, pulling a bottle of cover up from his pocket. "Sit down..." "No...I'm fine thank you..." he huffed, starting to shove his belongs in his bag. "I said come here puppy. Unless you want to go out in public like that?" Continuing to ignore him, Joey packed the rest of his belongs. Turning to Lance, he asked through gritten teeth, "Ready to go?" "Yes, but I said come here..." Lance replied, pointing to the bed he stood by. Doing a quick double check of the room, Joey checked the bathroom, grabbing his toothbrush, toothpaste, deoderant, after shave, and cologne too, placing them in his overnight bag. "Okay, fine, you won't listen..." Lance shrugged, picking up the hotel phone and dialing a number. Stopping in his tracks, Joey asked, "Who...who...who are you calling?" With his back turned to him, Lance replied, "The pet store so they can come pick up Jez. You're not listening, so you loose Jez..." "Put the phone down...I'll listen..." Turning around to look at Joey, Lance hung the phone up and pointed to the bed. "Sit..." Walking over to the bed, Joey sat down gently. Smiling, Lance walked over and sat on his lap, uncapping the make up and dabbing a little onto his hand. "Hold still..." he instructed, using his other hand to apply the make up. Flinching his eyes shut, Joey asked, "What are you doing?" "Making it so you can go out into public...and trying to decide on something..." Lance answered, a smile on his lips. "Yeah, yeah fine, whatever. Let me know when you're done." A few more moments went by before Lance got up and walked into the bathroom to wash his hands. When he came out, he looked up at Joey and his handy work. "Not bad if I do say so myself," he teased. Opening his eyes, Joey asked, "Am I done?" "Yes..." Lance answered, "You're done...and...that was a mean thing I did so...how can I make it up to you...anything you want that I can give you and it's yours..." Crossing his arms in front of his chest, he huffed, "I want Jez..." "She's in Justins' room. I brought here the last night. She's totally safe with him. Honest." Crossing his heart with his index finger, he asked, "Anything else?" "Can I take this stinking collar off?" "Yes." Fumbling with the latch, he couldn't quiet get it. "Uh...I...help?" Laughing and climbing onto the bed behind him, Lance undid the collar, kissing the back of Joeys' neck as he did so. "Anything else?" "Can we go now so I can get my cat?" "Of course. They're waiting for us on the bus already. I told them we'd be a little late..." Grabbing his duffle, slinging it over his arm, he replied, "Great, I'm ready." "Hold on," Lance called back before Joey reached the door. Walking up to him, he turned him around, and kissed him sweetly. "I know it will be a while before we can do that again...just one for the road..." "But I thought you said Justin knew?" "He does, but JC and Chris don't..." "So then, why dont' we just do the obvious and tell JC and Chris?" "If you want, but, like I said last night, the more people who know the more likely it will slip out to the public." "So we can't trust our own bandmates not to tell?" "We can trust them now, but what about when Chris gets drunk? You know how he blabs things and with the way rumors start to fly? And JC, when he gets on a role, especially during interviews..." Lance replied, shaking his head. "I only told Justin because he sensed something was up. The other two don't suspect a thing..." "Point taken I guess. But can't we always snatch a kiss when they're not around?" "We can...and we will..." replied Lance, a sparkle in his eye as the engagment ring caught his attention. "I can't belive you said yes..." he whispered mostly to himself. Barely catching it, Joey asked, "What...what...how are we going to hide that?" Pulling the ring off from his left hand, Lance slipped it onto his right. "There, a friendship ring..." "But I don't want it to be a friendship ring." "It will only be a friendship ring to everyone else sweetheart," he replied lovingly. "But to us, it'll be more...much more..." "Can I ask one more question before we go?" Joey asked, his hand still in Lances'. "You can ask as many as you want..." he replied, stroking Joeys' hand with his thumb, looking up into his eyes. His eyes revieling true excitment behind them. "When we do tie the knot, how are we going to keep that a secret?" "I guess...we'll have to come out and say it...straight, no pun intended, out..." Lance replied, hoping that once they did reviel thier little secret, that the fans wouldn't care. They would still be the same Joey Fatone and Lance Bass, members of Nsync, heart-throbs to thousands of girls (and guys) around the world. Nothing about them would change, not their music, not their voices, and certainly not who they were inside. Joey snuck one last kiss from Lance, before he and his fiancee walked out into the public. ----- Traveling down a busy freeway towards the next city on the tour, Lance and Chris were lounging in the back area, watching TV and talking. "Chris?" Lance asked quietly. "Yeah? What?" he asked, looking up from the TV. "What do you think about...um...non-straight relationships?" His voice was semi-shakey, and he wasn't sure how Chris would take the choice of topics used to strike up a conversation. But it had been bugging him all morning long. "What exactly do you mean by that?" "You know...um...a guy having a boyfriend, or a girl having a girlfriend. Do you think it's like...totally disgusting or...or what?" Saying the only thing that came to mind, "If you got somebody, you got somebody." "So...what if you, you know, later on in life, realized you were gay...and having been a member of Nsync, would you go with your heart and go with the guy, or think of your rep and not?" "Well, the way I look at it, if you're getting some,you're getting some. But I personaly would rather have the milk if you know what I mean." Punching Lance gently in the shoulder, he added, "Right?" Smiling though he felt totally uncomforatble, Lance clarified, "So you wouldn't think about what the public or friends say? As long as you're happy with whoever you're with, girl or guy?" "Is that what I said? Wow, I'm smart." Laughing quietly and standing to go find someone, Lance replied, "Yeah, well after all you are the only one of us that has a degree...even though I think it's an oxymoron, you're having an AA in Psychology yet your nickname is Psycho." "They call me 'Psycho' cause I was in Psychology." Getting a smile on his face, he asked, "Why? What do you think it meant?" "I don't know...that you were a psycho ax murder or something?" he teased. "Or just plain nutzoid in the brain? Loco in the cabesa? Not all the lights on in the attic? Missing a few marbles. You know...crazy..." Putting his finger to his temple, in the thinking position. "No...I don't think so." All the while keeping a straight face. "Smart ass..." Lance replied, walking out of the lounge and searching the bunks for Joey. Yelling back towards Lance, Chris shouted, "You know I got it!" "You may have it, but do I want it?" Lance shouted back. Finding Joey in his bunk, Lance looked up quickly to make sure the coast was clear. JC and Justin had their backs to him at the front lounge; the door to the back lounge swung almost closed, blocking the bunk area from Chris' view. Quickly climbing into the bunk, Lance knew he was taking a great risk, but he didn't care. "I found what I wanted," he whispered, surpriseing Joey. "Miss me baby?" "I missed you a lot, but where did you come from?" "Well, originally, I came from Mississippi, but then I moved to Florida to try out for this music group. Well, I made it in and there I found this amazing boyfriend within the group," he answered, his voice low, just about a dull whisper. Chuckling lightly, Joey replied, "Cute one. Nice try. I meant where did you come from on the bus?" "Oh you mean that? I came from the back lounge...talking with the psycho ax murderer..." A hint of teasingness laced his voice as he rubbed Joeys' nose lightly, making sure that the cover up was still holding up. Showing Lance his hands, Joey showed that he had moved the ring back from his right hand to his left. "I mioved it when no one was looking." Taking hold of his left hand, Lance brought it up to his lips and kissed the ring gently. "I don't care who knows now. Chris said that as long as you're happy with who you're with, the type fo relationship doesn't matter. You can tell the Backstreet Boys about us and I woudln't give a rats ass about them. I only give a rats behind about you..." Joeys' eyes misted over again. "Really? You mean we can tell?" "If you think it's a good idea baby..." "It's up to you..." "I don't know if I want to tell them. I don't want them making a big deal of out it. Maybe...we shouldn't tell them, not just yet at least..." Lance said, laying down, using Joeys' left arm as a pillow, drapping his hand over the older mans' chest. "Well, whenever you think we're ready, we can tell. But...until then, am I restricted to just cat food all day?" Laughing quietly, Lance shook his head. "No, you can have human food...I'll even feed it to you..." "I can actually have regualar food?" Joey asked, praying he heard that right. "Yes...whatever is on the bus, you can have. We'll switch roles if you want, so you can get me back for what I made you do this morning...both times..." "Can we take care of one thing at a time? I'm hungry?" Laughing again, Lance kissed his cheek and whispered, "I can take care of that..." Slipping out of the bunk, again unnoticed, he went over to the fridge and retrieved some grapes, then returned to the bunk. Resting the cold bowl on Joeys' chest, Lance laid his head on Joeys' arm again, reaching up and plucking a grape from within the bowl and holding it up to Joeys' lips. Greedily, Joey took the grape from Lances' fingers, catching his fingers in the process. "Hungry?" Lance teased, repeating the action with the grapes. Bitting a grape in half, he licked one half of the grape, his eyes locking onto Joeys as he ran the other half of the grape over his lovers lips. "When am I not?" Joey asked, again greedily reaching for the grape. Smiling, Lance pulled his hand away just before Joey could get to the grape. "Uh uh..." he whispered. "Why not?" he asked, a fake pout on his lips. "Because," he whispered, dropping the half of the grape back in with the rest. "I want to be the one to wet your lips...not some grape..." Leaning forward, he dragged his tongue lightly over Joeys' jawline, and slowly up to his lips. Joey eagerly tried to take control of the situation, forgetting that he was Lances' for the day. Pulling away far enough to whisper in his ear, Lance said, "Since you've been so good to me...what do you want to do?" "I want to kiss you and eat you all up cause you're so sweet..." Smiling at the reply, Lance, still by Joeys' ear, whispered, "Then I won't stop you..." Joey only began to kiss Lance wherever the bunk allowed him to move. "How about we try this..." Lance said, wrapping his arms around Joey and flipping them over, being careful to not fall out of the bunk. When he was on the bottom, he kept his hands on his loves' lower back. "Better?" "Much..." Joey replied, his voice husky. Rewarding Lance with an extremly moist kiss, he let his tongue roam all about within the confines of his lovers mouth. Bending a knee so that it rested against Joeys' leg, Lance brought his hands up to Joey's back and neck, lightly massaging his shoulder blades and the back of his neck. Joeys' reaction was to deep the kiss even more, letting his hands rub Lances' upper arms lightly. Bending his other leg, so that Joey fell between them, they both hungrily kissed the other, as if they couldn't get enough of each other.