The bouquet had been caught by a distant cousin of Kelly's, invited primarily to avoid offending Kelly's grandmother, who was something of a battleaxe. Justin had made a mock feint for it, until Lance had tackled him low, narrowly missing a very expensive flower arrangement. At least Joey assumed it was expensive, judging by the degree of horror on the wedding planner's face. The table had wobbled but remained upright, and Justin and Lance had degenerated into a tangle of tuxedoed limbs. Joey grinned. Everything was unfolding as perfectly as he could've hoped.
Chris caught the garter. It had taken the coordinated efforts of all four of his bandmates, but when the dust had settled, Chris emerged with JC wrapped around him, forcing his arm up to show the lacy bit of fluff trapped between his unwilling fingers. Chris struggled at first, but when he saw the skittish eyes of the rather dowdy teenager clutching Kelly's bouquet, already braced for further embarrassment, he relented with good grace and moved in for the kill. By the time the photographer finished taking a series of ever-increasingly more ridiculous pictures of them, the girl was even laughing. Joey watched Lance watch them with fond eyes. Joey squeezed Kelly contentedly as chatted with another in a neverending series of relatives and friends. Chris and Lance were drifting back towards each other, even if continents drifted faster, and JC had snuck out of dinner to go chatter at AJ on his cell, giving him a blow-by-blow - Joey snickered - of the ceremony and reception, and Joey had his best girl by his side forever. His friends were happy; he was happy; he couldn't have dreamed up a nicer wedding day.
Justin touched his elbow, dragging his attention away from the spectacle of JC waltzing very intently to Smashmouth with Joey's Great-Aunt Gloria, who was eighty-three and dressed from head to toe in gold lamÈ. Joey beamed at him. "Yeah, baby? This is going better than I expected, yeah?"
Justin grinned briefly. "Yeah. You always throw the best parties." He smiled at Kelly, who had extricated herself from her latest well-wisher. "Can I steal you two for a minute? It won't take long, I promise."
"Of course you can," she said, gathering up her skirt. "Just give us a second." They snuck away as best as any bride and groom could sneak away from their own reception. They found a small office off the main reception hall, and Joey closed the door behind them with a sigh. The chaos abruptly dimmed.
Justin smiled at them, an easy grin, too well-trained to show any awkwardness. ìI just wanted to take a minute to tell you guys how wonderful today has been and how wonderful you both are.î He took both of Kelly's in his own. "Kelly, you've known this big lug even longer than I have, and you still want to spend the rest of your life with him. That's brave." They all laughed, but Justin continued, all seriousness. "No, really. Y'all have decided to spend the rest of your lives together, and that's the bravest thing I think anyone can do. I know you love each other; it's obvious to, hell, plants that you love each other stupid. But what you've done today is really special. I know it's been hard sometimes, I've seen it, which makes me respect your choice even more. To say to the world that you love this man above all others and that you promise to do so for the rest of your life, that's huge. If anyone can make this crazy-ass marriage thing work, it's gonna be you guys. I believe that as much as I believe I love you guys. And I know that with all of my heart."
He bent to hug Kelly and press a soft kiss to each of her cheeks. She smiled a little waterily at him, grabbed his jaw, and kissed him firmly on the mouth. "We love you too, kiddo," she whispered to him. "Just as much."
He squeezed her hands one last time and turned to Joey. "Joe," he started, then stopped. "Joey, I-" For the first time in years, Justin's composure fled him, but Joey had already gathered him up in a hug.
Of all the cities, Trier was the worst, with a rackety space heater and wet sheets. Lynn had gone back to the States for a couple of weeks to take care of Jonathan, who had pneumonia, so Justin couldn't wrap himself around her to try and get warm. She had tried to tell him that he was too old to cuddle up to her like that, but he insisted that he would never be too old to hug his momma. So now he huddled alone in two pairs of socks and his track pants and sweatshirt for rehearsal the next morning. He knew from unpleasant experience that it would be too cold to try and change clothes the next morning.
He was miserably cold, and he was alone. JC, Joey, and Chris had gone out for the few brief hours of free time they could snag, and Lance was in his room with his momma. He thought about enjoying the novelty of being by himself, but mostly he was just miserable. He steadfastly did not think about his momma, or warm blankets, or central heating, He supposed he could go to Lance's room, but he didn't know what to say when he got there. "I'm tired and cold and lonely and just wanted to curl up in bed with you?" No. Certainly not. He gritted his teeth and smiled like it was the end of a ten hour rehearsal and sponsors had just dropped by.
Joey wandered in a few moments later, his cheeks feverbright from the cold and the drinking. "Hey, kiddo," he said, knocking the snow off his boots by the door. "Looks like you're stuck with me tonight. Chris and JC stole the bed closest to the door. Get up to any trouble tonight?"
"Nah, I guess." Justin folded into himself even more, suddenly embarrassed for feeling lonely and homesick moments before. "Did you have a good time?"
Joey wobbled a hand back and forth at him. "Just okay. It kinda kills the fun when you know you have to be up and dancing at five fuckin' thirty in the morning." Justin muttered agreement. Debooted, Joey padded over to Justin's bed in sock feet and flopped down. "You ever wonder if it's worth it, kid? Whether all this misery and putting up with Lou and being dancing monkeys will ever pay out? You ever just want to say fuck it all and go home to a sane country with sane weather and slightly less crappy hotels?"
Justin was surprised, promptly forgetting his earlier longing for home. "Of course it's going to work out. We're good. We're really good. And as long as we're willing to work for it, I know we'll break through eventually. Lou may be a fat fuck -" the word lay heavy in his mouth, still unaccustomed to swearing in front of the other guys except JC - "but I'm pretty sure he knows what he's doing. Things are shitty now, but one day we'll have the world at our feet. I know it." He shivered, still terribly cold but feeling less empty inside.
Joey looped a warm hand over Justin's exposed ankle. "Jesus, kid, you're freezing. But you're smarter than the rest of us. Or, hell, I dunno, the stupidest one of all. You believe, and that's enough for me." Joey wriggled further up the bed. "C'mere. You're a future superstar-shaped icicle, and I'm still warm from the walk back." He propped himself against the headboard and tried to drag Justin to him.
Justin resisted, embarrassed again. He would never be too old to hug his momma, but that didn't mean he needed a substitute for her any time she was gone. "Joey, I-"
Joey tugged again. "Come here. These shitty-ass beds are never gonna be warm, and there's no sense in both of us being miserable." Justin followed docilely and let Joey fold himself around him. Joey's nose pressed into the back of Justin's neck was cold, but suddenly Justin was the warmest he had been since the end of their third show that day. It was entirely different from hugging up to his momma, and maybe even warmer. Joey was big enough to surround him, make him feel sheltered and safe.
"Can I?" Justin started, waggling his feet, but Joey just hauled his head down to his shoulder. "Relax, kiddo, and stick your freezing feet on me. Try to get some sleep. Five thirty is going to come way too fucking soon."
Justin curled underneath Joey's arm and slept through the night for the first time in a week. When his momma came back, he loved and cherished her even more, but he found he didn't curl up with her as often. More and more, he found himself draped on or around one of the guys, at first mostly Joey but soon with the rest. His momma noticed and smiled. Her baby boy, so very old for his age in some ways, so very young in others, was growing up a little more.
Justin laughed a little shakily into Joey's ear, fists balled up between Joey's shoulderblades. "I don't have anything put together; I don't know what to say to you now."
Joey squeezed him a little tighter. "It's okay, baby. You don't need to say anything." He ran one hand up the back of Justin's neck to bury his fingers in the burgeoning curls at his nape. Justin pressed his face into Joey's neck.
Justin flung open the connecting doorway and arranged himself artfully in it. "Are you ready to bring this town to its knees?" he howled, still buzzing from the night's show.
Joey whooped as he emerged from the hotel bathroom. "You know it. Any other contenders for king of this night?"
Justin made a face. "Not tonight. JC's flying out early tomorrow and 'wants his sleep.'" They made identical noises of disgust. "He's just going to beat off for, like, hours and fall asleep way after we get back. And Lance and Chris are useless. They've locked their door and aren't coming out."
"So it's just you and me, kiddo," Joey said, yanking on the belt loops of Justin's leather pants. He was the only one who Justin would let get away with calling him 'kiddo.' He didn't mind being younger and smaller than Joey, even if he was taller, if you measured from the top of his curls.
It was another nameless, faceless club in another nameless, faceless town, with even more nameless, faceless beautiful people, but it didn't matter. He was with Joey, and sometimes it felt like the only other real people in Justin's world were the guys and his family. Sometimes even Britney didn't feel real. But even as he danced with a stunning blonde who only looked a little bit like his girlfriend, his fingertips tucked under the low slung waistband of her pants, and her small hands with sharp nails wandering like spiders up his chest, pressed warm and sweet against his body, it wasn't half as real to him as catching Joey's eye, laughing and bright, across the dance floor.
With unspoken agreement honed by years together, Justin and Joey worked their way to each other on the dance floor. Joey leaned over and yelled something in Justin's ear, his breath hot on Justin's sweat damp skin. He only caught, "...having fun?" but it was enough for him to grin at Joey, all teeth and bright eyes.
"The fucking best," he said and shook his hips at Joey. Joey laughed, loud and bright, and caught him around the waist, hauling him in. They laughed it off as Justin shimmied against Joey, but Justin found the mock intent in his hips spreading through the rest of him like wildfire. Joey was alive and real beneath his hands, and that was the hottest thing Justin had felt all night. Had felt in a long time. So in the darkness of the strobe light, he kissed him.
Joey was startled, he could tell, but he didn't pull back until the light flashed again. His hands were still loose on Justin's waist. "Justin?" he asked.
For the first time in a long time, Justin felt unsure again. Joey had the uncanny ability to make him feel exactly his age, neither decades older and jaded nor painfully naÔve. Just your average nineteen year old guy having one of the best years of his life, who had a scorchingly hot girlfriend who he had fucked too many times to count, not to mention the three lighting guys and one studio exec he had fucked around with and was thus comfortably bisexual, and who had just put the moves on one of his best friends in the world. Just your average, everyday guy. Yeah. Justin could feel an uncomfortable heat start to creep up his neck. "Joey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that to you. I mean, I did, but not like that. Not hear. Dammit." He clenched his fingers in the back of Joey's shirt, damp with sweat, and pressed up against him. "I don't know what to say."
"It's okay, baby." Joey's voice was light, but his eyes were dark with intent. His fingers stole beneath Justin's waistband, trapped between butter-soft leather and even softer skin. "You don't need to say anything."
They faded into the darkness of the club's corners and out the door, leaving their bodyguards to take care of their tab and driver. In the relative privacy of the back seat, Justin learned what it was like to kiss a man with facial hair, craving the scrape of Joey's beard over his kiss-bitten lips. Joey's hand was almost hot on his cock, the scrape of his drumstick callus enough to make Justin throw his head back too hard against the seat back. He was almost startled when he came, pleasure flashing through him, still five blocks from the hotel. Once back in a room with a bed, Joey fucked him for the first time, and when it wasn't very good for him, woke him up the next morning to fuck him for a second time. That time, it was very, very good, and JC, Chris, and Lance golf clapped them when they emerged for breakfast.
Justin still had Britney, and Joey still had Kelly, and they both still had random boys and girls on the road, but every so often, they had each other. In many different ways and positions.
"Joey?" Justin tried one more time. Joey looked at him, eyes as kind as they had ever been with him.
Justin kissed him. With the knowledge and experience of years together, with the desperation of 'one last time,' with the hunger of an attraction that still vibrated between them.
Justin kissed him, long and dirty, pressed against the wall of the Quiet Room. Chris was asleep on the couch, Lance curled around him with his laptop, and JC was playing Halo with the headphones on. Justin kissed him, lips clinging and tongue heavy in his mouth, until Joey started to let small noises slip from between their mouths.
"Shhhh," Justin whispered into Joey's neck, sucking a mark just below his collar. "How far will you let me go before they notice?"
Justin kissed him, tracing his tongue across Joey's lower back. He loved the noises Joey made as he got closer and closer to his ass, teasing and tormenting but never quite where Joey's writhing demanded.
"Just do it already, fucker," Joey said, slightly muffled and breathless. "We have to be back on set in an hour, and you still have to find that stupid hat."
Justin slid one slick finger into him, Joey's harsh gasp almost enough to make up for their months apart. "Patience is a virtue, grasshopper." Joey swore long and creatively, but in obvious delight.
Justin kissed him, ignoring the tears leaking down his face and wetting the pillow beneath his head. "Shhh, baby," Joey said, pressing their naked bodies closer together. Justin tried to bury himself into Joey's warmth and presence. He clung to him like the only real thing in his world. ":It'll be better one day."
"She lied to me," Justin gasped, pulling Joey closer and deeper into him him. Joey murmured soft, meaningless words into his ear and fucked him harder.
Justin kissed him just below the hipbone, tonguing the fragile skin there. He licked a stripe along the crease of Joey's thigh, enjoying the tenseness of the muscles under his hand. He lost the smell of greasepaint and stage lights in the air as he buried himself in the smell and feel of a post-show Joey, all adrenaline and sweat. It was odd to have the familiar taste of Joey full of nervous energy, wanting nothing more than to come really hard once or twice to bleed off the high of a really good show, while not feeling the same way himself. He wondered what it would be like if their positions were reversed. Heh. Positions. Reversed. Justin grinned to himself, made plans for the future, and did his best to make Joey scream in the present.
Justin broke off the kiss and rested his forehead against Joey's. "I love you," he said. "Things are gonna be different after today, and that's right. That's good. But I wanted you to know anyway." He looked over Joey's shoulder at Kelly, and she smiled at him.
"I know, baby." Joey's voice was soft. "I know. I always knew." Joey thumbed his lower lip one last time and pulled away. Justin used the moment of straightening his shirt and tie to gather himself again. Joey hovered between Justin and Kelly, watching them both with fond eyes. "We'll be gone next week, and then you're out in L.A. the following week, but I expect to see you the Tuesday after that, like usual. We'll even get Thai from that skanky place you like so much, so we don't have to go out at all that night."
Justin looked startled, eyes flicking back and forth between Joey and Kelly like a nervous little bird. "Are you both sure? I know in the past that, but, I mean, I figured that after today-"
Kelly looped her arm around Joey's waist and grinned up at Justin. Joey answered for them both. "We're positive." Slowly, consideringly, Justin grinned back.
After all, Kelly did like to watch.