By heidi
 

Moving through the bus, he picked up pillows, various items of clothing, looked behind the couch, anywhere and everywhere he could think.  No matter where he looked, he could not find it.  He knew he had put it on the shelf with the other books two days ago, wanting it to be somewhere where he would remember, but now, it was gone.

"Hey dude, what are you looking for?"

Amazing.  Justin Timberlake actually was showing interest in something besides the video game that he had been playing with Chris.

"A book."

Okay, he knew he wasn’t the great literary expert, but really, he didn’t deserve this type of reaction.  Chris literally punched the pause button then stared at him. . . which in a way was fine, because then Justin didn’t look like a total dork all by himself.

"What?"

"A book?"

"Yeah."  He started the search again.  "A book.  You know, a thing about yay big," providing a demonstration with his hands, "tends to have pretty colors on the outside, lots of words on the inside.  I think the one I bought has a lot of blue and red on the cover.  Can’t remember the title, but it sounded good."

Looking up, he could see the two dumbfounded faces watching him.  Sighing heavily, he threw the pillow in his hands aside and continued his hunt.

"Lance was walking around earlier with a book."

Great.  At least someone wasn’t treating him like an imbecile.  He turned to JC, who was still picking away a tune on his keyboard, earphones firmly in place.  Looking around, he noticed that Lance was nowhere in sight.

"He’s in his bunk.  I think he took the book with him."

This time, JC looked up and smiled at Joey.  "Thanks man."

Heading back to where the bunks were, he pushed the curtain aside.  When he turned to close it, he could see Justin mouth the words, "Joey bought a book?"

God, what did they think of him anyway?

Squatting, he moved the curtain to Lance’s bunk.  The kid was sound asleep, facing the back of his bunk.  Joey’s book was lying under Lance’s arm.  Considering Lance was already asleep, Joey figured he could simply mark his place, and start reading the book himself.

Leaning forward, he hovered within inches of the sleeping man, carefully moving the arm from the book.

Lance groaned, then moved onto his back, causing his hand to drag across Joey’s chest.  A gentle sigh escaped his mouth as he reached up, linking his fingers through Joey’s spiked hair before pulling the older man down, bringing their mouths together.

Joey was stunned by the move, watching Lance at all times.  Lance apparently was dreaming, unaware of what he was doing.  Joey, too surprised by the move, had his mouth open, allowing entry of Lance’s tongue.  If Joey pulled away, he’d wake the younger man, creating a very awkward situation, but if he stayed…

Lance was kissing him, and the kiss was - well, it was incredible.  It was slow and penetrating, as if the younger man was mapping out his soul through this one connection.

And then it ended.  Lance pulled back, sighed, a smile on his face, and proceeded to snore.

Blinking a couple of times, Joey moved out of the bunk.  Yet he couldn’t take his eyes off the sleeping man.  Disturbed by what had just happened, he pushed the curtain across the railing, blocking Lance from his vision, then climbed into his own bed.

And shit, he left the book in Lance’s bunk.

*****

Joey walked into the kitchen area, having slept hardly a wink, his mind playing over the kiss.  What was with that?  You’d think he’d never been kissed before.  Feeling a growl rising from within, he grabbed his cup, and proceeded to fill it with coffee.

"Morning, all."

He looked at the newcomer, feeling that growl starting again.  Irritated that Lance looked so vital and carefree when he had gone and turned Joey’s world upside down.

"You look good this morning."

Lance smiled at JC as he filled his own coffee cup.  "I had the most incredible dream last night.  It was just so real.  Made me feel, I don’t know… invigorated.  Yeah, that’s it.  Invigorated."

"Cool."

He knew it.  It was just a dream to Lance, and Joey was simply standing in for some girl.

Joey simply glowered at them all before leaving.

*****

Slamming the door of his hotel room, Joey threw himself down onto his bed.  It had been weeks, and all he could think about was that kiss.  No matter what he was doing, it crept into his mind.  It wasn’t so much that it had been that Lance had kissed him, or even another man for that matter, but that the kiss had felt so right - like he found something that he never knew he was missing.  And now that he found it, he didn’t know what to do.

So he did what any red blooded American boy would do - he slept with a girl every chance he got.  That is until he realized that he started comparing how they kissed to how Lance kissed.  And when he fucked them, he began to imagine what Lance would look like underneath him.

Glaring at the ceiling, he let out a barely restrained scream.

Lance was totally screwing with his head - and the sad part was, Lance was completely unaware of this fact.

*****

Somewhere in the middle of Nebraska, he had a revelation.  He had facial hair.  Okay, maybe that wasn’t much of a revelation, but what was was that his facial hair had not awakened Lance.  If Lance was dreaming of kissing a girl, he most definitely would have awakened while kissing Joey.  Plain and simple.  But he hadn’t.  If anything, the kiss had deepened.

Whatever Lance was dreaming, it involved another man.

Joey didn’t know if that made the situation better or worse.

*****

He was sitting on the sofa, flipping through a magazine that he had read cover to cover at least four times already.

The bus was stopped at mini-mart in the middle of nowhere, and everyone else was either outside stretching their legs, or in the mart buying out the place.

He felt the sofa shift next to him, but didn’t bother to look up to see who it was.

"Here.  I didn’t realize this was yours until JC told me this morning.  I’m sorry.  Didn’t mean to take it."

Joey looked up at Lance.  The younger man was watching him, obviously worried.  He knew he’d been a beast to the others, especially Lance - constantly snapping at him, or ignoring him all together.

"That’s okay.  I knew you had it.  If I wanted it, I could have gotten it."

Okay, did he just feel his face flush?

Lance continued to scrutinize him.  "Are you all right?  You seem like you’ve been, I don’t know, angry or something."

He wiped his hand down his face, pulling at his beard.  How did he ever let this get so out of hand.

"I’m sorry.  I’ve just had something on my mind."

"Wanna talk about it?"

He smiled weakly.  How did he talk about this with Lance?  Since the kiss, he’d become almost obsessed by the beautiful man in front of him.

And when did he start thinking in terms of Lance being beautiful?

Unconsciously, he reached out and ran his fingers through the blonde hair, watching the strands as they sifted through his fingers.  His gaze moved slowly to Lance’s face.  The younger man had his eyes closed, and was leaning into the caress.

Then it hit him.  Lance had not been dreaming about just any man.

Lance had been dreaming about him.

Cupping his hand behind the other’s head, he pulled Lance forward, bringing their mouths together.

Groaning, he felt the talented tongue enter his mouth, possessing him.  Joey knew without a doubt.  This was right.

The end.
 

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