NOTES & DISCLAIMERS: All made up. For entertainment only. Title from my mishearing of Dire Straits' Brothers In Arms. Thanks to G, Kel and Younger so very very much!

WE HAVE JUST THE ONE

There's so many different worlds
So many different suns
But we have just the one
And we live in different ones - Mark Knopfler (and the author's screwed up hearing)

DAY ONE

Justin had woken up in some strange places and odd situations but this took the cake. This won the prize, the mega prize, the prize of all prizes.

He wasn't in his hotel room, getting ready for a week of promotion. He was in a college dorm room. In a different body. Or, really, his own body, except not exactly. Justin stared at himself in the mirror. He was missing most of his tattoos, and, in fact, the only one he still had was the one on his arm, only smaller. His hair was longer and really, didn't seem to have been near a pair of scissors in several months. He appeared to have gained a little weight. Not much, but just a little. Five pounds, maybe.

Justin couldn't decide if it was a psychotic break, an act of God, or a really bad dream. He'd been staring at the mirror since he woke up ten minutes ago. He wasn't getting any closer to an answer.

"Justin," he heard from the other room. Holy fuck, he'd woken up alone, the other bed had been made. Justin turned and he saw a big blond man walking in the bathroom. Nick Carter. Nick fucking Carter was apparently part of Justin's psychotic break. Which was interesting, to put it mildly.

Nick said it again. "Justin."

Justin waved. "That's me."

"Dude, will you put on some fucking clothes. We have class. Eight o'clock class, dipshit."

Justin nodded. Nick stared. Justin moved past Nick and started opening drawers on what appeared to be Justin's side of the room. Justin decided he'd meet with a psychiatrist, when the break was over, and figure out what twisted part of his psyche was manifesting in making Nick Carter his college roommate.

Justin got dressed quickly and grabbed his backpack after Nick pointed out that he'd need it. He trailed after Nick through a pretty, tree-lined campus looking place. They rushed into a large lecture room and sat in the middle. Justin started looking around, students everywhere and man, his psychotic break was pretty detailed and stuff.

A professor came in, stood at the bottom of the room and started talking. Nick was already taking notes so Justin reached into his bag and pulled out the first notebook he found.

Biology. He was in a biology class, and it seemed to be a low-level one, near as Justin could figure because he remembered some of this stuff from his tutor. He wrote madly, because, well, Nick was taking notes. It was actually sort of interesting, natural selection was something he remembered a little from bus school.

After class he followed Nick outside and they stood by the building. Nick pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one. He puffed on it once or twice and said, "What are you doing, dude?"

"Standing here." Justin watched the students mill around.

"Uh, okay. But you have places to be and I have you know who to meet." Nick leaned against the wall and waved his hand.

Justin said, "Yeah. I know who." He grinned weakly.

"Now that my mom's home from her annoying weekend visit, I can finally see him, so. Yes, we were hoping to have breakfast alone." Nick looked away. Justin thought, 'see him' and then started to put the pieces together.

Nick Carter had a boyfriend? Nick Carter was gay? Justin's psychotic break was taking a weird turn. One could even say a gay turn. Justin stared at Nick, because Nick looked different somehow. Better, for sure. Leaning against the wall of the building, cigarette in his hand, glasses on and hair rumpled. Dark jacket, jeans, he looked good.

Boyfriend. So Justin said, "I'm just, man, I'm out of it. I know I'm supposed to doing something right now and I can't remember what."

"Dude, you could always check your planner." Nick took another puff on his cigarette, eyes scanning the students coming and going. Justin reached in his backpack and found the planner.

He opened and holy fuck. Apparently Justin the college student was very very organized. "Holy fuck, I've turned into Lance," he said quietly.

Nick laughed. "Lance? Lance's pants? You put 'get in Lance's pants' in your planner?" Justin shook his head. This was all very fucked. The planner had things outlined in color, blocks for studying, lots of blocks for studying, activities Justin didn't recognize and it was, wow. Very organized.

"Okay," Justin said, "I'm gonna head back to the room as that is what I've written down here. Have a lovely breakfast with your boyfriend." Justin looked back a few times but he didn't see Nick's boyfriend show up.

Justin stopped looking back because he only half-remembered how to get back to his dorm. He walked by a student center and saw people leaving with food. Inside he found a cafeteria thing and he just went through the line, grabbing cereal and fruit. When he got to the register he pulled out his wallet and stared again. The register lady grabbed his student ID, ran it through a scanner and waved him on.

He sat at a table and looked at his planner. He was starting to think this was maybe not a psychotic break. This was a whole person, a whole college and people. And Justin didn't think he was unstable or anything. Maybe. Maybe it had been some kind of switch. Like the prince and the pauper. Or something. Except different worlds, almost. Justin looked at his wallet. 1982. Right name, the address of his mom's home back in Memphis, except 1982. This Justin was born in 1982. And he attended the College of William and Mary and he was an anal retentive organized freak.

Okay, psychotic break idea rejected. Justin decided it must be some sort of whack Buffy thing. Like alternate worlds and dimensions maybe. And he'd woken up in the wrong one. So he'd woken up in some alterna-Justin's body.

Well, yes, so far this was the weirdest of the weird situations Justin had ever woken up in. He started looking through the planner. It looked like it was the same day it'd been back in Justin's world, February 2002. And alterna-Justin was crazy psycho organized boy because Justin found a map of the campus with little blue and red lines written out for this semester's class schedule on the front page. Crazy. Crazy boy.

Justin finished breakfast and figured out how to get back to his dorm using the schedule and map alterna-Justin had taped in the front of his planner. He had a class at 1pm, and it was only 9:30 am now. Justin found his dorm and he flipped a few pages and pay dirt. Fucking pay dirt. Right there on the first day of classes, alterna-Justin had written 'buy new journal.' And checked off. Baby kept a journal. Justin would be able to make this work.

It took a little looking back at his dorm room but he found a box of journals, hidden under his bed. And the most recent one was tucked in an inside pocket of his backpack. Justin looked at all the journals, spread out on his bed. He was, or really, alterna-Justin was some little girl who wrote down everything that had ever happened to him since he was fourteen. Justin sighed.

He thought, suddenly, that if he was right about the body-switching things, alterna-Justin, mild-mannered anal-retentive college student had probably woken up this morning in Justin's body. In Justin's hotel room. Fuck, fuck. Okay, he was going to worry about that later. Or not worry about it. And in the movies, and comics and stuff, this kind of switch was always temporary. So, Justin was just going to keep thinking that. It kept him calm. All he needed to do was get down the basics of alterna-Justin so he could effectively fake being him. Because otherwise he'd screw up the poor guy's life or, worst-case scenario, end up in a looney-bin. And it would probably only be a day or a few days or a week or something. Not too long. Probably.

So, the journals. Justin started with the earliest one. 1996, so fifteen, except fuck, nope. Fourteen. The date, Justin's birthday, had been written in the upper left hand corner and the first line said 'I have decided I am going to be a writer.'

Huh. Alterna-Justin started off the first entry with the story of his life to date, and it was all the same. Except the year. Parents divorced, remarried. Star Search and losing. And then. No MMC. Just school, and still singing and basketball and school. Justin skimmed through the pages and it was just weird. Apparently, minus MMC, Justin would have become an insanely dedicated student and wannabe writer.

He didn't recognize any of the names of the endless and somewhat boring high school adventures alterna-Justin had had in when he was fourteen, except for Trace. And, weird again, Ryan fucking Gosling. So Justin guessed the what-if wasn't about MMC not existing or something, because no MMC wouldn't suddenly make Ryan un-Canadian. Fuck.

Justin shifted on the bed and felt a twinge in his knee. Huh. And the journal for fifteen explained that. Torn ligament, botched surgery. So no more basketball, and alterna-Justin rededicated himself to writing. Alterna-Justin had written a lot. He wasn't really, given the subject matter, that bad, and Justin had to force himself to skim sometimes, and not get sucked in. Girls, physical rehab, junior year, and then senior year. Which lapsed into weird again. Justin had figured out he was bi somewhere around the age of sixteen, maybe suspected a lot sooner but alterna-Justin seemed to be going along as a happy high school het boy. Happy crazy studying valedictorian alterna-Justin with his dreams of being a writer and his obsessive college plans.

Justin skimmed a little more and halfway through senior year, there it was. Ryan, drunk at some party, groping alterna-Justin. And baby, he'd liked it. So that was reassuring. Pages and pages of questioning with lots of studying and then back to girls. Huh.

Justin skimmed right past the big college decision. Blah, blah, senior year, prom, some girl, sex, not that alterna-Justin hadn't done the Big Deed back when he was fifteen but Justin could pretty clearly tell there was some air of denial in the fevered description of the prom night banging. Summer and summer job and then college.

Justin started paying closer attention. This was the stuff he'd really need. So, alterna-Justin moved into his freshman dorm, and had a roommate. Nick Carter. Nick who was from Northern Virginia, and alterna-Justin liked him immediately. Justin chuckled. Classes, and meeting people. And whoa, now he was reaching the part where he recognized names. A lot of names. Holy fuck. Alterna-Justin had met Britney on the second day, asked her out right away. They'd gone out, slept together on the second date. Then alterna-Justin joined an acapella group, and there were some more familiar names. JC, Joey and Chris. And Jason, which just made Justin grimace.

Justin started skimming again, because it was already 11:30am. He was starting to like alterna-Justin and he really didn't want to screw up the poor kid's life.

Nick told alterna-Justin he was gay, and he'd started dating a junior he'd met in the one art class Nick's parents would let him take. Howie. Justin burst out laughing. Fucking Howie Dorough. Justin had always thought he was gay. And dating Nicky. It was pretty funny. Alterna-Justin had had no idea, though, apparently and had been kinda weirded out but he'd written three pages on his feelings and worked it out. And apparently had a lot of sex with Britney, who seemed to be a lot easier than the Britney Justin had dated. And also, in a sorority.

Alterna-Justin had never stopped singing and he loved his acapella group, became great friends with Joey, JC and Chris. Justin stopped skimming and started reading more closely, because he hadn't quite expected what happened next. JC had decided to move out of his crappy apartment into a new less crappy apartment. With Chris. They were dating and they had decided to move in together. 'You could see in the way they stood,' alterna-Justin had written, 'they gravitated to each other.'

JC and Chris? That wouldn't. They'd decided, long ago, just the five of them, no dating in the group. Five guys with varying degrees of queerness and they'd decided. No hurting the group. No dating. Nothing. But. Of course, this wasn't Justin's world, no NSYNC. Justin swallowed. Alterna-Justin hadn't freaked out this time and when Justin skimmed ahead there were descriptions of JC and Chris and how much alterna-Justin admired their relationship. Justin flipped the pages faster.

Stuck in between two pages was a photo of alterna-Justin with Brit at some sorority party. They were leaning into each other, alterna-Justin's stupid fro taking up half the picture. Brit looked pretty and innocent but awfully thin. Not fit like normal Britney, but skinny skinny, like she dieted too much. Justin looked at the picture and their drunken smiles. A whole different world.

At the end of alterna-Justin's first year in college he and Britney had decided to cool things off. Alterna-Justin had made the dean's list, of course, psycho study freak. And alterna-Justin went home and started working a summer job and, damn. Ran into Ryan again and they started fucking. At first, alterna-Justin seemed to have decided it was just experimenting, but then he had a huge weeklong freak-out and decided he was bi. "Could've you told you that one, dork," Justin said.

Alterna-Justin's entire summer seemed to be working, writing and fucking Ryan Gosling. And fuck, alterna-Justin never met a thought he couldn't dwell on and write about and dissect. Justin remembered figuring out all this stuff and he really hoped he hadn't been this much of a fucking drama queen. 'I told my mother today,' alterna-Justin had written, 'and she smiled and blinked and said she loved me. She said she'd known for a while.' Then he'd gone on for another page about how she might have figured out. Justin sighed.

Also, alterna-Justin wrote a lot about sex. And he was having a lot of sex. So, it was a little sleazy, but still. Justin went into the bathroom and locked both doors and jerked off reading about a particularly athletic quickie alterna-Justin and Ryan had had in the back of Ryan's car. He made sure not to get anything on the journal.

Justin cleaned up and started skimming again. Blah, blah, sex, blah, blah, what did it mean that alterna-Justin turned out to be someone who liked to be fucked, blah blah blah. Summer over and the little sex addicts broke up, but Alterna-Justin wasn't that hurt, he hadn't expected it to last. He'd never invested his heart. Alterna-Justin came back to school and broke it off completely with Brit. Told Nick he was a big ol' queer, and Nick wasn't surprised at all. Another two pages from alterna-Justin about how much of a human torch he must be. Justin shook his head. Nick was his roommate still because they'd decided to be roommates again for their sophomore year.

And, finally, Justin thought, here comes Lance. Lance was the third person to come to the auditions for the acapella group, when they were down to four because of three seniors graduating. Alterna-Lance had had quite the impact on alterna-Justin. Justin was pretty taken aback. Alterna-Justin had flipped over his Lance. Completely flipped. This Lance was a transfer student from Ole Miss, a junior, living in the same dorm as Joey, newly arrived to campus. Alterna-Justin spent pages describing Lance's voice, Lance's eyes. Boy had a crush something fierce.

Reading on, Justin saw that fierce didn't even cover it. Alterna-Justin wrote a lot about how he felt about Lance, how great Lance was, how hot. And damn, the boy could create drama out of a paper cut. College Lance talked to Alterna-Justin at a movie night at Chris and JC's apartment and said he was gay. And dumbass Alterna-Justin choked and didn't say he was bi. And then it was this huge thing, Justin saw, flipping past page and page of why didn't he say anything, and now everyone else knew but Alterna-Justin hadn't said anything and what, oh, what would happen? Justin sighed. Alterna-Justin went to another party where College Lance was and saw College Lance making out with AJ, a drama major here apparently. AJ, Justin sniggered. Fuck, apparently Justin had ended up in some gay college alternate universe where everyone who'd ever been on TRL in the year 2000 was matriculating.

Alterna-Justin had finally confessed to his bisexuality to Lance, but things were still slightly awkward, because Lance had already heard and had been wondering why alterna-Justin didn't tell him. Justin sighed again. So he was all caught up and he had class in half an hour. Justin reviewed the planner and he had rehearsal with the other four guys in the group that evening. Justin rooted around and found the sheet music for the songs they were singing and shoved it in his backpack. He'd review things.

Okay, Justin thought, class. He needed to take notes for Alterna-Justin, the big shlub. Justin could do this. He stopped in the doorway and made sure he didn't have any homework due and then he headed out.

*

Justin couldn't take it. He put his head to his hands and said, "I swear. I'm not crazy. But I'm not the Justin you know."

He'd woken up at 3 am in a hotel room. A big hotel room. Justin had looked around and gone back to sleep. Then he woke up at 7 am and it was still a hotel room. Justin considered some elaborate practical joke, but. No practical joke would have given him a batch of new and ugly tattoos that didn't look new at all. And didn't rub off. Justin had panicked. He was still panicking. Even with these other two strange people standing there.

Chris, a strange Chris who was older, heavier, and had a weird beard said, "Justin, this isn't funny. We had an interview this morning. Stop with this shit, ha ha ha, we've all laughed."

And Lance. Lance was so built and older and something in his eyes was hard, not the Lance Justin knew. Lance said, "Seriously. And what is this, J? You woke up as a college student?"

"I am a college student. I'm a sophomore at the College of William and Mary, I made Dean's List my last three semesters and I don't know what all of this is." Justin could hear himself whining. He'd been saying this for the last two hours, since Lance and Chris had knocked on the door. "I turned on MTV and there's my room-mate and his boyfriend and then me -- me with no hair, and all of you but y'all look weird and I know you don't believe me, but it's true." He made a face. "Look, I sound like a jackass, but this is incredibly weird for me. Weird beyond measure. And I think we could move this along if y'all would just believe me. You could quiz me. I know a lot of things that a rock star wouldn't."

Lance sighed. "So, okay, this isn't a joke. Maybe more of a psychotic break?"

Chris shrugged. "You think?"

"I'm sitting right here and I am not psychotic." Justin stood up. "Look, I'm not psychotic, and I know this sounds insane, but I'm a college student and I've, just, God, I've just woken up in a different world or something."

Justin sat back down. "And okay, I understand, you don't get it, but damn." Justin rubbed his forehead. "Your Justin must be in my body back at school and he's gonna fuck everything up. Some uneducated person, and not to be mean to the one you know, but really, I'm saying, this person who doesn't appear to read books with more than three syllable words from what I've seen looking through his bag, and I take pretty advanced classes --" Justin paused and drew a breath. "He's in my body, going to my classes and I wanted to be Phi Beta Kappa and now it won't ever happen, it just won't." Justin knew he was being a baby, but he bit down on his lip and tried not to cry. All those years of work down the drain.

Lance sat down next to him and touched his knee. Justin wouldn't look up, he wouldn't. He wanted his Lance, not this souped up, glaring Lance, but if he looked up into those eyes, he'd forget and just start crying. Lance said, "God, Chris, maybe he's not lying."

Chris said, "Justin. You think, you think the other Justin is gonna screw up your GPA or something?"

"He is. Clearly, he's, sorry, but he's clearly someone who hasn't done the kind of reading he'd need for the classes I'm taking. When I, I woke up and I was looking through the bags and he's reading self-help books and he's a year older than I am, but I looked at his notebook and he has these idiotic songs written down and, and. Look, William and Mary is a good school, okay? And I'm a good writer. I have ways to go, certainly, but I'm a good writer. I work very hard at it, it's like, my life's dream to be a writer." Justin stuck out his leg. "He thinks it's a good idea to have his initials tattooed on his ankle. Who would do that?"

Lance sounded pissed as he said, "Look, Justin's not an idiot. He's very smart. I'm sorry he's not some college boy, but you know, he's been working since he was twelve, and fuck. Now you've got me believing this story."

Justin said, "It's true. God, what kind of sick fucks are you that someone would make up this kind of joke?"

Chris said, "You're fun. Do you have friends back at your school?"

"I do. I really do. People like me. Everyone likes me, I think. My room-mate and you, you guys, except different and Joey and JC and Brit and Trace back home and people like me and they're not all older and they believe me when I tell them things." Justin sniffled. "I'm sorry. I know you don't believe me, and that makes sense because this must be as weird to me as it is to you, but I'm the one who isn't home and I just want to go to my classes and wake up in my own bed."

Justin knew he must have looked pathetic because Chris walked over and hugged him. Justin lost it. He tried not to, he buried his head in Chris's chest and bit his lip. But he could hear himself crying. Lance walked over and patted his head and Justin pulled back and wiped his nose.

He looked down at his hands and sniffled again. He heard Chris say, "God, what the fuck do we do now? How long is this shit gonna last? How the fuck does this happen?"

Justin looked up. "I have a theory."

Lance said, "Yes?"

Justin sprang up and went to his laptop, to the other Justin's laptop. He looked at the website he'd pulled up. "I think it's sunspots."

Chris said, "What?"

Justin pointed. "See, I know it happened last night between 1 am and 3 am. I went to bed at 1 am in my dorm room and I woke up at 3 am and I was here. And I remembered, Lance was telling me, my Lance, he was saying that there was some kind of sunspot thing happening. So I checked and last night, or, uh, really, this morning, there was this big ass flare. All the cell phone satellites were fucked up for an hour or so. And there's supposed to be another one, like that, on Friday night. Or really, Saturday morning. So, I think, maybe, sunspots. Because that makes sense. As much as this makes sense."

Lance says, "Sunspots? Sunspots caused you to switch bodies with our Justin and end up here in our world? And you think you're gonna switch back in a week?"

Justin shrugged. He refused to turn around and look at them. It just made him feel worse. "I think. Maybe. I think it's a working idea."

Chris said, "God. Okay, I'm gonna. I'm gonna tell Joey and JC and they won't believe me and I'll tell them again. And then we'll make up a story for Johnny about how this one can't do any promo this week."

Lance said, "I'll stay here with college boy."

Justin got up and flopped on the bed, pushed his head into the pillow. Lance sat next to him. Lance said, "So. And how strange does this sound, but tell me about yourself. What are you majoring in?"

"English," Justin mumbled. "I'm an English major, and I'm gonna get my MFA and I'm gonna write murder mysteries. And they're gonna be good and that's my plan. It's been my dream since I was fourteen. What else do you want to know?"

"So, uh, you know us in your world?" Lance started rubbing Justin's back and, fuck, Justin felt like a tool. It was the voice, he thought, he loved Lance's voice. So, okay, he was also a little hard now. Justin sighed.

"Yeah, I said, didn't I? Nick's my room-mate, not some guy on MTV, an' I've known Chris and JC and Joey since I was a freshman, we all sing in acapella group. And you, Lance, my Lance, or, the Lance I know, he joined the group back in September."

Lance laughed a little. "Always the fucking replacement." Justin shifted and tried to look up.

"Always the replacement?"

"Never mind." Lance smirked. "So, you got a girlfriend back home?"

Justin sunk back on the bed. "No. I don't. I used to have a girlfriend but then last summer I did some really deep thinking and I realized I'm bi. And now I'm not seeing anyone, and if I were, it would be, well, it would be a guy." Justin sniffled quietly. "Didn't mean to shock you." Justin bit his lip. "There's no reason to think your Justin is like me. I mean, he might not like guys. If he doesn't. Because I don't want to cause him trouble. He probably doesn't. He probably doesn't have his eye on anyone or anything."

Lance said, "You've got a crush, huh?"

Justin sat up and shrugged off Lance's hand. "I don't have a crush." Justin sighed. "I'm being rude, I'm sorry. I'm in love. It's real and it's not silly adolescent crush."

Lance nodded and Justin could tell he was trying not to smirk again. "That would your Lance, right?"

Justin hunched his shoulders. "Yes. Am I obvious or something?"

Lance rolled his eyes. "No, no, not at all. I just, you know, know you. Even you from this weird bizarre world."

Justin played with his hands and bit a nail. "Can I ask you something?"

Lance looked at him expectantly. Justin said, "Okay, I'm bi and um, in my world, I guess, you're, well, gay. Is that like here?"

Lance pressed his hands together. "Look," he said. He paused. "Okay, we're hardly gonna let you near the press anyway, but you need to remember, we're famous here, okay? So, yes. You're bi, and I'm gay, and no telling."

"Who would I tell?" Justin paused. "So Chris and JC are together here, too?"

Lance looked surprised. "What? No, no. No. None of us are, you know, together. We don't. Not ever. And Chris isn't." Lance shook his head. "Okay, maybe Chris is. But. We decided a long time ago, none of us, we don't. Ever. Not with each other, anyway. Because of the group. You know?"

Justin nodded. "Okay. Message received."

Lance flopped back on the bed. "So you think you're only here for a week?"

"Yeah." Justin sighed. "This is hell. No offense."

"None taken," Lance said, laughing. Justin almost giggled.

*

Justin sunk into the chair in the rehearsal room and looked at the other four guys and smiled. College life was fucking boring and pretty hellish but it was hard not to be happy when he had his boys.

Alterna-Justin's writing had improved a lot from fourteen and he'd developed an obsessive habit of doing character sketches of everyone he met that he was interested in, so Justin had the skinny on this world's versions of his friends. Joey had been a sophomore when Justin was a freshman, last year and man, Justin wasn't the only one whose age was all screwed up here. Joey was from Brooklyn, taking drama and English classes and alterna-Justin had liked him right away. JC, oddly enough, was the same age as JC in Justin's world. A graduate student, in something called American Studies, which sounded dorky. And Chris, who was younger, but not that much younger, only 27 here. Chris was just a junior.

He'd navigated alterna-Justin's class that afternoon and then headed to the library. Justin had found the Rolling Stones and he remembered the issues, and sure enough, there was NSYNC on the cover. But no one Justin recognized. He'd scanned and the Backstreet Boys were the same, a bunch of strangers, and instead of Brit, there was some teen girl named Madison Langley all nearly naked on the cover of Rolling Stone.

The worst part of the trip to the library was seeing Ashley fucking Angel and that other guy from O-Town hanging out together. Even stupid O-Town was attending this college. Maybe it wasn't as good a school as Justin had thought.

He'd used the map and found the room where the group rehearsed and looking at his friends, he felt better. Just better and relieved. This was normal. Even if the guys looked slightly different and weird.

JC looked about the same, the only one. A smudge skinnier, not as built, but long hair and spacey smile. The right age. Justin tried not to giggle about the casual way JC had his hand on Chris's neck, rubbing. Like it was nothing. Chris was skinnier. Skinny like he hadn't ever had one decent meal every day for a week and Justin flinched and looked down. Chris probably hadn't. Justin wished he could transfer half his money to this Chris, make things right the way they were at home. Chris didn't have the weird beard, he just had a goatee, but he looked tired.

Joey looked about the same, a little more solid though, and younger. He had the eyebrow piercing and the goatee and his hair was untamed. And then Justin looked at Lance. He felt weird really looking at Lance, but after reading all that stuff about how alterna-Justin considered him some fucking beau ideal, Justin just wondered if Lance was so different here.

He wasn't. More solid, like Joey, but hardly chubby or anything. Just not super workout Lance like at home. He looked soft, and not so something. Justin stared. Lance blushed and looked down and Justin thought, unguarded. Lance was just more open. And he glanced at Justin and Justin realized what a complete idiot alterna-Justin was. Lance had it bad. Justin knew that look, that was Lance's "I want to fuck you senseless" look. Justin sat back in his chair. It was a pretty powerful look. Justin rubbed his thigh. He hadn't gone laid in a very long time. Not with a hot guy. And this Lance was pretty hot, in a cute collegiate way.

The rehearsal felt like home. After a day of crap that made no sense, Joey gave him shit about his solos, Chris tugged on his curls and JC grinned when he did something right. And Lance was clearly incredibly hot for him. Justin smirked as they walked out. That part didn't feel like home, but. Oppur-knockity tunes just once, Justin's mom told him that when he was kid. Alterna-Justin's mom clearly never did. At home, Justin wouldn't think of Lance that way, but at home, Lance didn't look at Justin that way, either.

Justin wondered what it would be it like. And hell, he could. He could right here. He had this time. The rehearsal was over and everyone was leaving. Justin sprang up from his chair and ran after Lance. "Hey, Lance, uh." Justin paused. "Lance, I got this thing. Can I talk to you about it? Walk you back to your dorm?"

Chris looked over his shoulder as he got in JC's car. He smirked and gave Justin a thumbs up. Justin bit back a laugh.

Lance blushed and looked down. He was adorable. All soft and cuddly like the Lance Justin knew hadn't been for years. He said, "Sure."

They walked back to Lance's dorm in silence, Lance radiating a sort of nervous tension Justin knew from a million times waiting backstage and Justin was just happy. He was going to get laid.

Lance had a single and it was neat and spare. He perched on the bed and patted his comforter. "Okay, sit down and spill."

Justin put his backpack on the floor and sat down next to Lance. This Lance didn't smell of the same cologne, he smelled college-y somehow. Justin couldn't pin down the notes but he knew it was college. He smiled. "It was just. You know." Fuck it, Justin thought. He leaned over and kissed Lance.

Lance kissed back immediately, hands in Justin's hair pulling him closer. Lance pushed him back on the bed and Justin moved closer. Warm, cuddly soft Lance who was actually hard. And not so cuddly in the right places.

Lance broke off the kiss and said, "Hey. You."

Justin laughed. "Yeah, I just, you know. I like you. I wanted to let you know."

"I figured it out." Lance smirked and Justin was even more turned on. "I'm glad you decided to do something."

"Let's get it on, then," Justin said and laughed again. "Except, uh, I have to get home later. I mean, I can't stay."

"Whoa, you move fast." Lance pushed down more, hard against Justin and Justin pushed back. "On the other hand."

They stopped kissing to get naked and Justin couldn't get enough of Lance's soft stomach and pale, pale skin. No tanning beds, no vacations in the Bahamas. It was February and Lance looked like snow with pink blooming underneath. Justin never believed in the appeal of forbidden fruit before, but now he considered himself converted.

He kept saying Lance's name. Lance gave pretty great head. Justin tugged Lance away and lifted his legs. "Come on," he said.

Lance frowned, just for a moment. "Have you, look, we should have talked about this before. I mean, what have you done? And --"

Justin said, "Everything. For serious, all I did last summer was write and work and fuck. A guy. Anything you want to do, man, I've done it. And it was just him and I'm clean as a whistle."

Lance smirked. "You are just full of surprises." He reached around under the bed and came up with a condom and lube. "Let's do this then."

And it was fucking amazing. Wonderful, wonderful. Lance kissed him as he came, moaned against Justin's neck as he came in turn. Justin almost fell asleep against Lance's chest, thinking cuddly, sweet. Cuddly. He opened his eyes and said, "Okay, I gotta go. I can't stay. I really want to, but."

Lance sat up. "Yeah, so get out before I don't let you." He handed Justin his clothes and as Justin zipped up his jacket, Lance said, "Um. Will you want to do this again?"

Justin rolled his eyes. "I think fucking so. How does tomorrow night strike you?"

Lance kissed Justin goodbye. "I like that idea."

Justin got lost twice trying to find his dorm in the dark and then it took him two tries to navigate the card key to get in, and then another three tries to figure out the right key for his door.

Nick looked up from the bed when Justin came in. "Man, where were you?"

Justin licked his lips. "Studying."

Howie came in from the bathroom and got in bed next to Nick. Justin blinked and remembered not to act surprised. Howie said, "You don't look like you've been studying. Did Lance finally jump you?"

Justin tossed his backpack on his bed. "I jumped him, thank you very much."

Nick said, "Ooooooooooooooooh. Well then, we'll leave the light on so you can write about it for the next two hours."

Justin thought about it and sat down at his desk. He opened the journal and started writing. Alterna-Justin would be back and he'd need to know what happened. Justin couldn't describe the sex the way Alterna-Justin had made it all porny and erotic and stuff but he wanted his counterpart to know everything. It took him forty-five minutes to get the whole day down and then he went to bed. He had two classes the next day.

*

DAY TWO

Justin woke up early and rolled over and groaned. No classes, just this fucking hotel room. He was trapped. He just wanted to get his reading done, do some writing, get things accomplished. He turned on the TV and watched MTV again, dumbfounded all over again. There was Nick and Howie, except Howie looked older. And Nick looked uncomfortable. He wore big shirts and loose clothes and he was more polished and less graceful. And there was Brit, she looked really good. She looked better, really, healthy and not so skinny. Though this Britney could really use a deep conditioner.

Chris showed up around ten am. He said, "How long you been up?"

Justin shrugged and turned off the TV. "A few hours. Why?"

"You get up this early? Willingly?" Chris grinned and sat down.

"I have classes. And I need to study and get breakfast and I like to work out. So. I usually get up around 8 am." Justin played with the curls on the back of his neck. "So, so. What do I get to do today? You guys need me to do anything? I can speak effectively, if prepared properly. I took a speech class in high school."

Chris shook his head. "Nothing. You can come down to the gym with me, if you want, but no leaving the hotel room and no talking to anyone. Anyone who's not someone in the group, okay?"

Justin inhaled sharply. "Can I get other books or something? If I'm locked in, I'd like to at least be able to read something other than Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus."

Chris glared at him. Justin glared back. Chris burst out laughing and said, "What books do you want?"

Justin wrote down the titles, things he knew he was supposed to read this week and he handed the sheet to Chris. "I can pay."

Chris rolled his eyes. "Yes, you've got the bank account for it now. I'll get right on this, college boy." Chris stood by the door and said, "Don't answer the phone. Don't let anyone in if they're not from the group. For us, okay?"

Justin nodded. He got online and tried one more time to get into his school account, just like the day before, the account did not exist. He thought about crying but he refused.

He was sitting on the bed watching the History Channel when Lance, JC and Joey came in. JC and Joey looked as slightly off as Chris and Lance had. JC was more built and fluffier, gayer. Joey looked older. Justin smiled and waved. "Welcome to house arrest!"

JC stared for a second. He said, "Get up for a second."

Justin scrambled up and stood. JC said, "God, you weren't kidding. But, but, our Justin is coming back, right?"

Lance shrugged. He leaned against the door and looked down. "I hope so. College boy says he thinks at the end of the week they'll switch back."

Justin looked down at his feet. "Can I sit down now?"

JC waved his hand and turned his back. He was talking to Lance and Joey now and not Justin. Justin sat back on the bed and picked at the bedspread. Hotels were cool, Justin had only stayed in two or three in his life, but he was already sick of this one. He didn't even listen to the other three talking. He wanted to be home.

Joey came over and sat next to him. When Justin looked up, he saw JC and Lance looking at him. Justin said, "What?"

"So, you know all of us. In your world?" JC said.

"I think it's, um, more of an alternate universe. I dunno. I don't read a lot of science fiction, just Samuel Delany, really. And I only watched Buffy last year when my girlfriend made me. Brit loves Sarah Michelle Gellar." Justin looked at Joey. Joey wasn't too weird. Joey made him feel better. He said, "Yeah, I knew all of y'all and you were students, like me. We all go to William & Mary, an' I already told Lance all of this. Do I need to repeat it? I'm a writer, can I just write a quick summary of life in my land and y'all can pass it around among yourselves?" He tried grinning so it didn't sound so rude.

Lance said, "He's a surly fellow. Ask him what he thinks of Justin." Lance frowned and walked to the bathroom.

Joey said, "Our Justin?"

Justin shrugged. "I just, you know. I don't even really listen to pop music. I guess I just don't understand all the work you guys do or something. I'm not a surly person. I'm happy, really."

Joey patted his knee. "Fuck, this is really fucked up."

*

Justin stared at the computer screen. Email, a ton of incredibly organized folders, crap. Crap, crap, crap. Alterna-Justin had a damn paper due on Wednesday, a short writing exercise and Justin didn't want to fuck up the kid's grade. But he wasn't the writer psycho obsessed Alterna-Justin was, so Justin was pretty much fucked. He found rough drafts and notes for other longer papers and short stories in progress, but nothing that fit the assignment. Justin bit his lip.

Behind him, he heard Nick come in. "Now that's more like it," Nick said. "Feels like home when you're glued to your computer."

"Fuck off."

"Whoa, I thought getting laid would put you in a good mood. Cause, you know, you've been an asshole lately with this fucking big dramatic love for Lance thing." Nick threw his books down on the bed. "Fuck you, too."

Justin turned around and said, "Dude, I'm sorry. This thing is stressing me out. I'm buggin', yo."

Nick stared. He burst out laughing. "When, fuck, Timberlake, since when are you ghetto? What happened to the boy who scored 780 on his verbal SATs?"

Justin rubbed his head. "He's back in my fucking hotel room, I bet." He sighed. "Okay, you know what? I can't deal with this shit. I'm gonna go see Lance."

Nick raised an eyebrow. "You go, boy. Get down with your ghetto homo self."

Justin threw a sock at Nick as he walked out. He'd never thought Nick Carter would be a decent room-mate, much less someone he would be friends with. Of course, his Nick Carter seemed a lot less relaxed, from what Justin knew. And less gay, though he'd maybe check up on that when he got home.

Home, home, he thought. Maybe it was going to be a week. He thought he could handle a week. More than that, and he'd be wigging something fierce.

Lance grinned as soon as he opened his door. "Man, I didn't expect to see you."

"I couldn't take studying anymore." Justin threw his backpack on Lance's bed. "Let's do something else."

An hour later, Lance reached over Justin's naked chest and shook the box of condoms. He laughed and said, "Okay, signs I didn't expect to be sexually active this year. I bought these in September. And now, finally, you need to remind me to buy more tomorrow." Lance paused. "I mean, if you think you're coming back."

Justin stretched and then kissed Lance, mouth open and wanting. "Fuck, you're gonna have to pry me off you soon. If I'd'a known you were this amazing in bed, I'd jumped when you were sixteen."

Lance rolled his eyes. "You didn't even know me when I was sixteen. And I wasn't very jumpable back then."

Justin opened and closed his mouth. Right. He'd just met this Lance a few months ago. He grinned and said, "Well, I have faith. I mean, you're a big gay stud of hot lovin'."

Lance made a face and leaned back on the bed. And Justin had known Lance since he was sixteen so Justin recognized the expression that flitted across Lance's face. "Dude, what's wrong?"

College Lance didn't cover as well as Justin's Lance. He said, "Nothing," and it wasn't in the same realm as convincing.

"No, for serious, man, tell me what's up. You have a hot boy in your bed, what's bugging you?"

Lance said, "For serious? What are you reading these days?" Lance sighed. "It's mostly nothing. But."

Justin sat up and pulled on his underwear. "Spill, bro."

Lance stared for a moment. "At some point you're going to go back to talking like you used to, right?" He sat up as well and put on his jeans. "So, you know I volunteer with Circle K, at the local elementary school two days a week." Justin nodded even though he hadn't known. Man, this Lance was the greatest guy ever. "So, last week this girl from the BSU --"

"The BSU?"

Lance raised an eyebrow. "Uh, you know, the Baptist Students Union? That place you used to go? Anyway, so that's how I know her and so she's knows I'm gay because I told a few people when I got the position on the Interfaith Council, and yeah. So we're tutoring these kids, and you know, I'm just sitting there, helping this kid with his math homework and she sees me and is all, 'can we talk?'" Lance sighed again.

"She's all pulling me out into the hallway and saying all this crap about how maybe I shouldn't be working with children with the way I am and even worse when it's unsupervised and why do people like me want to work with children anyway and she thinks maybe, her conscience requires that she tell the teachers or something."

"That's fucking bullshit. Dude, you can't put up with that shit. You think those teachers give a fuck? You show up and you help those kids, right? And like, are you really unsupervised?" Lance shook his head. "So, come on, give me a break. What kind of ignorant bitch believes that gay automatically means pedophile? Statistics show, fuck, they don't show that. Man, you don't stand pat for that crap. Tell me her name, man, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna yell at her."

Lance laughed and patted Justin's chest. "Down, boy." He grinned and kissed Justin's forehead. "You're really fucking sweet, you know that? I think, I dunno. I went back in the room and she just sat next to me the whole fucking time and I was thinking I'd just switch my volunteer project, you know? I could do recycling or something. I don't wanna make a fuss."

Justin shrugged. "It's up to you, but you can't, you know, I don't think you should let her ignorant ass win. What's this chick's name?"

"Jessica Simpson. What am I gonna do, Justin? I don't want to make a fuss with the teachers. They're just happy to have us there, you know." Lance pulled on his shirt and started pacing around the room. "I'm not activist, you know. I had to deal with enough crap when I ran for the position on the IFC. And most of those kids didn't even know I was gay."

Justin licked his lips. "Look, is there like, a volunteer coordinator? Maybe she could get that bitch moved off the project. She shouldn't be all spreading her ignorance to kids and stuff. What's she saying to the people she tutors, you know?"

Lance stopped pacing. "Actually, yeah. One of the seniors, she's our liaison. And, hey, she's not very likely to take Jessica's side of this thing."

"Yeah?"

"Pink? Oh, yeah. I know her girlfriend." Lance grinned. "You're brilliant, Justin."

Justin smiled. So, Jessica Simpson was officially on his shitlist as soon as he got home, and Pink was a dyke. This was a weird ass little alternate universe. Justin needed to remember to write all this down in Alterna-Justin's journal, so when college boy returned to his life he would know why he was supposed to hate Jessica Simpson. Justin blinked. The journal. He pulled on his jeans and started getting dressed. "Lance, I gotta motor. I figured out this assignment I couldn't figure out and I'm gonna go back and do that. And get dinner. And then, come back here. If that's okay with you?"

Lance sat down at his desk. "Yeah, dude, it's okay with me. We, uh, we don't have any condoms left, so."

Justin smirked. "There's a lot of ways to have sex, cutie. And most of those aren't so hard on my damn knee."

*

They made him get dressed for dinner. Justin tried not to be resentful, because these were his friends, even if they really weren't. They were in the essentials, he thought.

Chris picked through the other Justin's bag and selected a t-shirt, some jeans. Justin couldn't help himself from saying, "How is that different from what I'm wearing now?"

Chris shrugged. "It just is. Just change, J."

Justin blinked at the unfamiliar nickname and took the clothes from Chris. He changed in the bathroom, even though Chris made a face of confusion as Justin closed the door. When he got out, JC, Joey and Lance were there.

JC said, "You're not, you don't even stand right, man."

Justin frowned. "How'm I supposed to stand? And why do I have to do this?"

Lance said, "So people don't think you're in rehab. We said you're sick, so we need people to actually see you now."

Justin sighed. JC walked over and pushed at his shoulders, pushed at his back. Justin said, "What?"

"You need to stand better. And walk, too. Look, I get it, you're just a college student. Justin Timberlake isn't, here. Don't slouch so much. Walk more like, like you're some kind of stud, or something. Just not so much like you walk. People'll start saying Justin's depressed." JC stepped away, frowning as well.

Justin said, "People are gonna notice if I slouch for a few days? Seriously. Y'all have scary lives. That's almost the definition of inconsequential."

Chris started laughing. "Inconsequential? Dear God, do not talk to the press. Ever."

"Yes, I get it, I watched some of those tapes you gave me, I'm supposed to talk all hip hop or something and I guess y'all sell records by acting like we have the vocabulary of twelve year olds who's hooked on phonics, but. I don't think I'm funny." Justin blinked. "Okay, maybe I am. That hooked on phonics remark was kinda funny."

Lance said, "You're really not. It's laugh at you or strangle you. Or, should I have said 'throttle' -- feel free to correct me."

Justin bit his lip and walked to the door. "Can we go now?"

They went to dinner at a restaurant in the hotel, sitting right next to a window that looked out on the hotel's entrance. JC had hissed at Justin as they walked through the lobby, and Justin had tried to stand up straighter or something. It was all very irritating.

A few minutes after they sat down, the window started to get crowded with faces. They were at least four feet away but Justin turned in his seat so he didn't have to see them. He said, "That's creepy." And then, because he was supposed to be the other Justin, he said, "That's fucking creepy," he paused, "yo."

Joey frowned. "Stop that. They're just fans. They've been waiting outside the hotel for a while, man."

"Okay, that's unalloyed creepiness. I get that y'all are famous, but I like celebrities and I've never ever waited outside hotels."

Chris sighed. He said, "Move in your fucking seat so we don't spend the next two months dealing with more Justin the motherfucking diva bullshit. Smile and then look down." Justin did as he was told.

Lance said, "There are things you like?"

Justin kept his eyes on his food. "I like lots of things. Look, I'm sorry I'm being surly. You try waking up some international pop star someday with no preparation." Justin ate more of his food, and the good food, that was definitely the only plus so far.

They talked, he didn't listen. He thought about the life of Flaubert and wondered if Chris would find him that book he wanted about Foucault. Then Joey poked him. Joey said, "We're going outside to sign autographs."

"Okay. And I need to smile, too, right?" Justin patted his pocket and wished he had his backpack. Then he'd have a pen and everything. Then he'd be home.

Lance grinned, a little, he was so pretty and Justin's heart turned over. "That'd be good. Smile and don't take time, sign and move on, okay?"

So he thought about Lance smiling at him and tried to smile back as they went outside. There was high pitched screaming and it was his name, over and over again. Only thirty girls, he thought, but it was hard to think because they were all coming at him. They wanted to hug him and touch him and it was hard to sign the autographs because they kept grabbing at him. He tried not to flinch.

The bodyguards had their hands on him and Justin tried not to shove them off. People touched him a lot, and the bodyguards were the one who kept him safe.

But it was nice, too, almost intoxicating that they were all happy to see him. They were happy to see Justin Timberlake and in Justin's experience, that hadn't happened much. He smiled back and signed, not even close to the automation that he saw JC had.

Then he turned again and the guys were gone and the bodyguards were pulling at him. "Time to go," the bigger one said. Justin nodded and let himself be pulled away. Back in the hotel lobby he shrugged off the bodyguard's hand and rubbed his head. It was just weird. How could that be an ordinary experience for anyone? He caught up with the guys and got in the elevator with Lance and Joey and their bodyguards.

Joey said, "Good work, J." He pressed his lips together and Justin remembered that the bodyguards weren't in on the whole 'switched universes' thing. So Justin just nodded and smiled.

Lance followed Justin into his room and said, "Joey's right. Thank you for indulging us." He smirked.

Justin flopped onto the bed and shook his head. "Sorry. But, you know, I'm sorry I'm such a burden in my non-pop star state. I'll be better next time, I'm sure."

Lance said, "You're a fucking bundle of fun. Do you, seriously, does anyone like you back in happy intellectual college land?"

Justin rolled over and said, "I think so. I'm sorry. Okay? I take it back. It was a pleasure being grabbed and mauled. I actually liked the part where they were all happy to see me, so it wasn't that bad. But it was scary. I'm glad I made y'all's lives easier."

The bed shifted and Justin felt Lance's hand against his shoulder. "Look, we're just, okay, we're all stuck in the same boat, and you're sniping at us, and we're sniping at you. I bet lots of people like you. I bet you're a perfectly fine and fun person when you're not stuck in, uh, an alternate universe."

Justin sniffed. "I hope so. I'm sorry, I'll try to be more perky or poppy or whatever you guys need."

Lance patted Justin's head and Justin bit his lip so he didn't say anything. Lance said, "Okay."

*

DAY THREE

Walking from breakfast back to his dorm, Justin suddenly thought he was fucked. Fucked, fucked. Baby did a bad, bad thing, he thought. He was cold and he pulled on his hat, the only damn hat alterna-Justin seemed to own, blew on his hands to stay warm for the short walk back. And he was just fucked.

Lance was forbidden fruit. And now Justin had slept with him for two straight days and loved it. Lance with his pretty eyes and warm, cuddly ways and wide smile. Justin was just screwed. He'd go back, because these things were never permanent and there would be his Lance, who wasn't as warm or cuddly, but was the Lance Justin had known since he was fourteen. And there he'd be, knowing what it was like to fuck Lance and wanting it and he just couldn't. He wouldn't be able to.

Justin got into his dorm and sat on his bed. Nick was sitting at his computer, hunched over. Justin said, "Hey, man, what's shaking?"

Nick said, "Shut up. Okay? Just shut up until you decide to talk like a person."

Justin blinked. "What the fuck? What's wrong with you?"

Nick stood up and threw himself on the bed. "Nothing, god. Nothing." He turned on his side, away from Justin.

Justin bit his lip. Fuck, alterna-Justin liked Nick a lot, Justin had gotten that from the journals, and Justin wish he'd read closer so he could guess what was going on. Justin decided on a shot in the dark. He said, "Is it your mom? Something with Aaron?"

Nick said, "It's my mom, of course. It's always my mom. My stupid mom. She, just, fuck. She's all." Nick sniffled and didn't turn around. "She bitched me out and we were almost having a perfectly nice conversation. I was, I told her I got a damn B+ and she's all why can't you get an A, why aren't you studying, you need to study, you're not very smart and you won't get anywhere without studying." Nick sniffled again.

Justin walked over and rubbed Nick's back. "That's bullshit, you know that, right? You are smart."

Nick turned slightly and smiled, his eyes wet. "I know. I know. And then she gave me shit about not having a girlfriend and maybe if I dropped the one art class she lets me take I wouldn't get such crappy grades. She's just, you know? She always says this crap. Fuck."

Justin shook his head and rubbed Nick's back more. "She's crazy, man. Always has, always will. You're the best of her, the part of her under all that shit."

Nick grinned. "Right. Right. Okay, stop feeling me up because Howie's coming over and he'll beat your ass."

Justin went back to his bed. "Howie's good people."

Nick looked relaxed and Justin thought his Nick Carter, the one from home and all famous, he never ever looked like that. Nick said, "And now I'm not the only one with a boyfriend, so maybe you know, you could stop jerking off all the time."

Justin smiled and looked back down at his backpack. Boyfriend. He'd never had a boyfriend, ever. And fuck, he kinda wanted Lance to be his boyfriend, this Lance. Fucked in the head.

*

Justin looked up when Lance walked in the room. Chris had finally got him his books earlier in the morning, so Justin finally had something he wanted to read. He hadn't noticed how much time had passed. Justin said, "Good morning."

Lance blinked and said, "Hey. You were good about the thing yesterday, and I have a little surprise for you."

Justin said, "Really? What?"

Lance said, "The surprise will be not so surprising if I tell you." He smiled. "Put on some workout clothes."

Justin shrugged and did as he was told. He'd actually been up late, talking to Lance which had been nice and weird. Talking about Justin's life, his own at home and school and working and things like that. Lance had been Lance, almost his own Lance. Nice. So Justin put on some stupid work out clothes that cost more than all of Justin's school books last semester, he was sure.

They got in a limo and Lance kept smiling, he was happy about his little surprise so Justin decided to be happy, too. Something good. Maybe a really nice library.

Instead they got out at some big workout facility and the bodyguards led them to some basement door. Lance opened it up and pushed Justin in. A basketball court. Justin turned around and Lance grabbed a basketball, threw it at him. "Come on, J, basketball."

Justin said, "I don't play anymore, I told you. I busted my knee and I can't."

Lance smiled. "See, it's a gift. You busted your knee. Justin Timberlake, pop star never did. Look, man, no scar. You're good to go. Play with me."

Justin said, "You're kidding. You. Okay." He picked up the ball and dribbled. He grinned.

It took him fifteen minutes to unlearn five years of favoring his knee, of waiting for pain to tell him what he could do. Fifteen minutes and then it was pure bliss. Lance had very little game. Justin had had game and it all came back. It was amazing, unbelievable to have his body just work, without strain. Nothing to worry about, no twinges, just the joy of doing and feeling and sweating.

Lance backed against the wall and wiped his forehead with his shirt. Justin paused and stared at Lance's firm stomach. Lance said, "Okay, seriously, no more, you're killing me. It's worse than playing Justin."

"A little more, please? This really rocks. I'll, uh, I'll use made up words and smile at every fan and wave from my hotel room and go to stupid parties and pretend to be straight if you want, just, please, fifteen more minutes."

Lance grinned. "Fifteen minutes. And then you can carry me home." Justin turned away so he didn't smile too much.

Justin didn't need to carry Lance home and it made Justin a little sad. Lance was in great shape, only a little winded. But a little winded looked really good on him. Justin waited until they were alone in the back of the limo to say, "Thank you. That rocked so much."

"Well, you know, I'm not gonna let you spend Justin's money and you don't appreciate Justin's fame. So, you know, his body you can use." Lance smirked. "Just don't, you know, use it too much."

Justin said, "Fine, I won't pick up any hot hookers. Or rentboys? What's the correct term?"

Lance raised an eyebrow. "I'm not going to tell you on the grounds it might incriminate me."

Justin started giggling and Lance laughed. Justin said, "Okay, okay. So, what do I owe you?"

Lance snorted. "It's fine. Smile brightly next time we take you out in public, but really, you're not press worthy at all."

Justin said, "Thank god."

*

Lance kissed Justin and smoothed the sheets on his bed. "Here you are. How were your classes?"

"Hmmmmm, small talk. My classes were boring. I turned in my assignment, I have a million things to get from the library according to my insanely organized planner and, having done all those things, I am, like you said, here." Justin grinned. He thought, mistake, mistake. Lance grinned and Justin knew he was grinning back. He was so fucked.

They talked. They actually talked, which just burned Justin something fierce. It was fun and funny and not just about the sex. Then Lance kissed him and that was even nicer. Things were really good, Justin thought. Alterna-Justin would come back and he'd have everything he wanted in a neatly wrapped gift. So good, Justin had done his wimpy ass counterpart a big favor.

Then Lance was inside him and over him and Lance said, "I love you."

Justin closed his eyes and came. Then Lance made a noise and he was done and they fell apart. Lance said, "Okay, um. I'm sorry. I didn't --"

"No, you did. You did." Justin closed his eyes again and he knew what he should say. Role-playing, sort of, because he knew what alterna-Justin would say. So he said, "No, no. I love you, too. I just."

Lance said, "Just?"

"Maybe we're, uh, moving too fast?" Justin put his hand on Lance's face and Lance sat up quickly.

"Right, right. I mean, yeah, two days is pretty quick. Right?" Lance pressed his lips together.

"It is. It's really not, because, of course, we've known each for years, I mean months, but I just, you know. I want us to last. Like a long time. So, I just think. Maybe we should slow things down?" Lance looked hurt and Justin felt like an ass. It had maybe not been the best idea of his entire life to jump Lance. It had definitely been selfish of him. And now he was fucked. Justin rubbed Lance's arm. "Maybe, you know, not every night together or something. Right?"

Lance nodded and stood up. "Right." He wasn't looking at Justin and he started pulling on his underwear and pajama pants. "So, um, not tomorrow night?"

Justin licked his lips. "Um. Tomorrow night would actually be good. I don't wanna not see you."

Lance turned around and almost smiled. "Okay. Well, you know what? We've, uh, we've never been on a real date. Why don't we -- let's go to a restaurant, not the caf, and I'll pay and a movie. A real date. Tomorrow night."

Justin said, "Perfect. I would really like that."

Lance nodded. "Right. And then, uh, Friday night? We're already supposed to go to Richmond and hang with Chris's family. All of us. So, that's not really a night together."

"But we could still, um, it'd be nice to, uh, spend the night? Maybe not the whole night, but I would like to see, see you." Justin rubbed his ankle and put on his socks.

Lance laughed. "Okay, how is this slowing things down?"

Justin said, "Well. Okay. Um, Saturday night? We won't do anything Saturday night. And then we'll have brunch on Sunday and won't see each other the other times. How's that?"

Lance smiled. "Okay. So you're not. You're not dumping me, are you? I just want to be clear. If you are, just say it."

"Yes, I'm dumping you. We're making plans for the next two nights, and I'm begging you because I want to see you two nights in a row, and I just can't wait to get rid of you. Dude. I love you. I just don't want us to flame out. Okay?" Justin grinned and watched Lance relax.

Lance said, "Okay. So get out of here before I tie you to the bed."

*

DAY FOUR

Justin sat against the hotel bed and played with the asinine video game Chris had hooked up for him. He was supposed to like this, he was pretty sure. Mostly he was thinking about the paper he needed to write about Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. He really did prefer Absalom, Absalom.

On the screen his video warrior died again. Justin turned off the Playstation and the TV. He found the one CD of the other Justin he liked, a greatest hits thing of Sam Cooke, put on his headphones and picked up his book about Foucault. He'd read about fifty pages when he felt someone tap him on his shoulder.

"Oh, hey, Joey." Justin took off his headphones and smiled. "Y'all need me for something?"

Joey smiled. Big warm Joey smile and something were exactly the same from universe to universe so Justin felt better. Joey said, "Nope. You're kind of useless for anything, bro. Because, you know, I've never walked in on Justin reading a book about, uh, whoever that guy is."

Justin started to explain about how important Foucault was and then stopped. It was kind of like being home, talking to Ryan about movies or something, because Ryan was only interested in shallow things. Not, Justin thought, in a bad way, just in an unintellectual way. Justin said, "So. You're babysitter for now?"

Joey said, "Yeah. Actually, you up for babysitting a little? I have a thing to do for a half hour, just a radio thing, and you're here, so."

Justin looked over and saw a small girl clinging to Joey's leg. He said, "Whoa. Uh. Sure. Who's this?"

Joey laughed. "Man. Right. Okay, Briahna, you remember your uncle Justin, right? Justin, this is my little girl, Briahna."

She really was the cutest thing. Justin said, "Oh, that's cool. That's, wow. Man. It's not a problem at all, I take care of my little brothers all the time when I'm home from school. I even took an infant CPR class and I'm certified and everything. I can deal with emergencies." Justin made a mental note to ask Lance who Briahna's mother was.

Joey said, "Good, good. Hopefully you won't need any of it." He kissed Briahna's cheek and left.

It was a lot of fun. Briahna was the cutest thing and Justin swung her around and chased her while she crawled. Justin didn't notice the time passing again. Joey came back before he'd even thought ten minutes had passed.

Joey picked up Briahna and said, "You're a good babysitter."

Justin grinned. "Man, you got a kid. That's really wonderful. I know you're a great father."

Joey blushed. "Thanks."

"How old is she?"

"She'll be a year in April." Joey played with her little hands. It was pretty close to the most adorable thing ever.

"She's really smart for that young. I mean, seriously. I read a bunch of parenting books when my little brothers were born and I remember all the stages. She's smart." Justin sat down in front of the chair where Joey was holding Briahna.

"That's her mom. All she got from me was a pretty smile."

Justin rolled his eyes. "Be quiet. You're smart, man. You're smart."

Chris came in and leaned against a table. "Aw, Justin, you're so sweet. I thought you were crushing on Lance, man."

Justin felt his cheeks flush and he looked down at his hands. "I was just saying."

Chris laughed as Joey answered his cell phone. Joey said, "Yeah, yeah," and hung up. He stood up carefully, Briahna still in his arms. Then he said, "Gotta go, Chris, you coming?"

Chris shook his head. "Dude, I'm free as a bird for a few hours. I'm gonna hang with the college boy now that he's being sociable."

Joey left. Chris turned on the TV and then the Playstation. "You wanna play?"

Justin shook his head. "I don't really enjoy it. Sorry. We don't have one at home or at school, so."

Chris shuddered. "Dude. You're an odd duck. Am I as weird, is your Chris a stuffy headed bookworm?" He smiled and it didn't seem as mean as Justin thought it could have been.

"No, he's, um, he's like you. He's kinda crazy. But he's a student, not all rich like you." Chris's eyes narrowed and he turned away from the TV. Justin continued, "Um. He's happy, though. He really is. He lives with, uh, someone. And he really loves them, it's very apparent."

"How old is he?"

"He's, uh, 27. Okay, really, this is weird. I can't look at you and not say you and I was taught that it's rude to talk about people in third person to their face." Justin picked at his nails.

Chris said, almost laughing, "Turn around. I'm interested in hearing."

Justin stood up and turned around and looked at the ugly abstract painting over the bed. "Okay, um, he's 27. Chris is 27. He's a junior now, when I met him he was a sophomore. That was his first year, because he graduated from some community college, and William and Mary wouldn't take a lot of his credits. It's a really good school."

Chris snorted. "I believe you. He's living with someone? Tell me more."

Justin thought. "Um. Okay, but Lance told me it's, um. Okay, it's actually, uh, JC. Y'all, sorry, they met last year in the group and stuff and started dating and now they live together."

Chris made a weird noise. He said, "Really? Me and JC? Or, sorry, your me and JC? Together? I haven't killed him yet?"

"No, not at all. Y'all get along great. It's a really great relationship. You're happy together." Justin grinned. "Is it okay if I sit down?"

"I'm admiring your ass. It's my normal view in concerts, I like it a lot. A lot. You can't see, but I'm making finger quotes." Chris laughed again. "Sit down. You could even look at me, it's okay."

Justin sat on the bed. "Did you have any more questions?"

Chris looked serious. He said, "I didn't start your fancy pants college until I was 26?"

Justin nodded. "Yeah, yeah. See, um, you were singing jingles and you wrote a few and stuff and but you've been working non-stop and didn't have money for college because you were giving a lot to your mom and your sisters. And then, your mom got this insurance settlement, like fifty thousand, and she made you use some of it to go back to school. You're still working and stuff, but, um." Justin trailed off. "I'm sorry I said you."

Chris just stared for a moment. "So. Okay." He stared at Justin again. "Look, promise me something. When you get back and you wanna tell people about your grand adventure, don't ever tell your Chris, okay? You get me?"

Justin nodded. "I won't. But, maybe your Justin was like me and he spilled to his friends. Maybe he already told your Chris."

Chris frowned. "I know he didn't. He wouldn't in a million years." Justin nodded and looked down.

*

Justin fussed with his hair. Stupid alterna-Justin should have gone to a hairdresser more than once a damn year. Justin primped as best as he could with his hair this extreme length.

Howie said, "Justin, man, you look fine."

Justin turned and stuck out his tongue. "I have a date. Lance said we're going to a nice restaurant. I want to look nice."

Nick giggled. He pushed his glasses back on his nose. "Dude, you've been fucking for a few days now, he's seen you look pretty crappy."

Justin sat down on his bed and started tying his tie. "Fuck you, man, I look great when I fuck. I look hot naked."

Howie giggled. "You sound so confident."

"I'm just saying."

Nick said, "I bet your hair looked bad."

Justin sighed. "Of course it did. I need to cut my damn hair. Do I have time to cut my hair? Maybe just shave it all off?"

Howie was on the bed with Nick, one arm thrown across Nick's chest. He said, "Don't do that. You have great hair."

Justin said, "You're not in charge of my hair."

Nick said, "Lance likes your hair like it is. I swear."

"How do you know that?" Justin stood up again and looked at his hair, his stupid out of control thicket of hair. He'd never had it this long in his life. Stupid alterna-Justin who never had to dance all the time and didn't mind this wild afro.

Nick said, "I can tell."

Justin opened the door two seconds after Lance's knock. Lance looked good in his suit. Justin felt a surge of love and he was sure he was standing there with a stupid grin and a flushed face. He'd need a day or two to get back to being a pop star and not wear his heart on his sleeve. Lance looked like Lance from the lawsuit, dressed up in his suit and serious only without the edge in his eyes and his stance. It was a pretty appealing look.

Nick hooted. "Come in, man!" When Lance was in, blushing and looking down, Nick said, "It's like Out's style issue."

Lance rolled his eyes and grabbed Justin's hand. "We're leaving now. You two have fun."

They didn't hold hands as they walked to the restaurant. Justin knew the vibe -- they weren't going to get harassed per se, but it wasn't the best idea. They talked a little about classes, and the singing group. The restaurant was really nice, right across the street from the Wren Building and campus and right before Colonial Williamsburg started. Pretty and expensive. They sat in a corner and ordered wonderful food and Lance looked beautiful in the soft light.

"This is a nice date," Justin said.

"Yeah. Dating, here we go." Lance smiled. "And thank you for not ordering the most expensive thing."

"Well, you know. Next time I'll pay." Justin sat back and looked at the dessert menu. "What's this death by chocolate?"

"It's amazing. Oh my goodness, it's amazing. In the fall, my RA brought us all here and I shared one with this girl. Man, it's amazing." Lance ordered it as soon as the waitress came by.

"So it was amazing? Because I'll have some if it's amazing."

"Shut up. I'm not an English major, I am not responsible for having a huge vocabulary." Lance smirked.

"So, what happened with that Jessica Simpson bitch?"

Lance leaned back and smirked even more. "Oh, she's off the after school tutoring. Pink suggested she try recycling. Pink's not very impressed with Jessica. At all."

The death by chocolate dessert was incredibly rich and filling. "Delicious," Justin said. He hadn't ever been on a date with a guy before, and he couldn't remember the last time he'd been on a date with anyone who willingly ordered something this caloric when they were out.

"Isn't it?"

Justin leaned forward and whispered, "You have that same expression on your face when you come."

Lance blinked and signaled the waitress. "I'm ready to go now, how about you?"

Justin kept smirking while Lance signed his name to the receipt. They walked quickly out of the restaurant and Lance said, "We were gonna see a movie. I mean, we have time."

Justin said, "Or not. I mean, we had a nice date. And that dessert was really good. I was just thinking. Of, you know. Um. We could go back to your place and fuck. If you want."

Lance started laughing. He managed to say, "Fucking works for me. This whole slowing down thing isn't working so well for us, is it?"

Justin pulled Lance into the darker parts of the walk by the Wren Building. He said, "I'm not saying it was a bad idea. I'm just saying. We had a nice date. We talked. It's okay to screw. Don't you think?"

Lance kissed him. Justin pulled away and said, "Your room, please."

*

DAY FIVE

Lance showed up in his hotel room at ten. He tapped on the bureau and said, "So you think you're leaving us today. Tonight."

Justin nodded. "Yeah. I really think so. I mean, the day before, okay, that day of the night we got switched, twice during the day there were these weird times when I could hear things that others couldn't. I'm not explaining it well, but. I think there were signs."

"Had those same signs today?"

"Not yet. But I checked online and the switch should happen around 2 am. I think. That's when the sunspot thing does its thing again." Justin watched Lance opening his cell phone.

"I'm gonna call Chris. We're gonna have someone with you all day, okay? So when the switch happens we can bring our Justin up to speed." Lance spoke for a few minutes to Chris and then sat on the edge of the bed. He picked up Justin's book, looked at the back and quickly put it back down.

Justin said, "Can I ask you something? Actually, it's two things."

Lance lay back on the bed. "Fire away."

"Okay, first, I was talking to Chris and he said, okay, he didn't say it explicitly, but I got the impression that he preferred his life here of riches and wealth to his life in my world of not so much riches and true love. Does that, am I misreading things?"

Lance frowned. "I think. I think it's not that easy. I think Chris probably does prefer being wealthy. Because, you know, his mom lives in a house that she owns. That he bought. And his sisters are all taken care of, all his family. That's worth a lot to Chris."

"And maybe JC isn't his true love, I guess."

Lance shrugged. "We have a thing. No fucking inside the group. I told you."

"They make each other really happy back home." Justin nodded and lay down next to Lance. "Okay. Second question. You, um. Okay, y'all seemed to not like me, uh, at first. And maybe a little bit after. That's not normal for me. And I just, um, I'm kinda worried that maybe my Lance doesn't like me either."

Lance snorted. "Okay. Are you this upset when you're home?"

"No."

"Do you complain as much?"

"No. I don't, I don't have a lot to complain about." Justin rubbed his leg. This Lance was really fit. Really, really fit. It was somehow very apparent when they were lying next to each other.

"Okay, also? Speaking purely for myself, let's assume College boy Lance has the same, uh, kind of physical attractions? Or is attracted to the same things. You're not, uh, you're in shape? Back in your own body?" Lance turned on his side so they were facing each other.

"Yeah. I work out a lot. I mean, this body's in slightly better shape. But just a little. Only slightly. Not to be all arrogant."

"Last question. What's your hair like? Shaved your head recently?" Lance smirked.

"I've never shaved my head. I haven't gotten a haircut in ages. I need one, really, it's kinda long."

Lance closed his eyes and smiled. "Oh, yeah, college boy Lance wants to jump you. Jump you and take you back to his dorm and have his wicked way with you for days on end."

Justin laughed. "Really? Clearly, you've never thought about this. I thought you guys didn't."

Lance opened his eyes. "We don't date in the group ever. But, well. There have been slip-ups. Like, one-night stands have happened. But never again. Nope, nope, nope."

"Really? You and me?" Justin's voice squeaked.

"Actually, no. Me and um, JC, but that was only once. And I think Chris and JC maybe, once, many many years ago. But yes. No hanky panky in the group. We have a business here." Lance nodded solemnly.

Justin shrugged. "I'm not in any business."

Lance stared at him. For a while. Justin said, "Sorry, should I have not said that?"

Lance said, "Well. It would be wrong. I think. For you to use that body. It's not really yours. Of course, maybe you weren't saying what I thought you were saying."

Justin smiled. "I was saying that. And I think. Okay, here's what I think. It would be bad to do something permanent to this body. But you know, he's got my body. So it's like, you know, you switch apartments or something. And maybe you have a party. But you clean up afterwards. Also, it's not like he can yell at me."

"He can yell at me. He probably would yell at me."

"I won't tell. I bet he wants to. He'll just say, man, wish it had been me." Justin shimmied a little closer. "Because, right? You want to do me. I want to do you. Clearly, our attraction spans the universes. You know? It's not like I'm off screwing someone he hates." It would be, Justin thought, a practice run. He'd get to have sex with this souped up Lance and then he'd definitely be ready to talk to his Lance.

Lance licked his lips. Justin moved even closer so they were pressed up against each other. Lance said, "You're evil."

"I've been wanting to fuck you for months. Or, well, my Lance. Anyway, I haven't gotten laid since the summer and you're fucking hot."

Lance kissed him and his hands were clawing at Justin's jeans. He pulled away and said, "Okay. I'm gonna call Chris. I'm going to tell him to come watch you in three or four hours."

Justin put his hand against Lance's crotch and rubbed. He said, "Why don't you call Chris and have him come watch me at like, eleven. Tonight. And we can spend all day in bed."

Lance looked at Justin for another thirty seconds. Justin could feel that Lance was hard. Justin licked his lips. Lance got out of bed and snapped open his cell phone. "Hey, Chris? Change of plans. I've been talking with College Boy. You don't need to come by until eleven tonight." Lance paused. "No, it's okay. He just wants to read his books and it'll give me time to go over things. You know? It's fine." Another pause. "Great. I'll see you at eleven." Lance put his cell phone carefully on the bed after he closed it. He took off his shoes and socks and lined them up by a chair.

He said, "Baby. Get naked. We have twelve hours." Justin smiled.

*

Justin sat in the back seat of JC's car and put his hand on Lance's knee. Joey looked over at them and said, "Awwwwwwww, lookee how cute! Lance and Justin sitting in a tree..."

Chris said, "Are they fucking?"

Lance said, "Not in front of y'all. Unless you pony up some cash."

Justin laughed with everyone else and left his hand where it was. He looked out the window and watched the highway going by. He said, "It was really nice of your mom to let us all have dinner, Chris."

Chris said, "My mom is a great cook. I don't know why you guys brought all that food, cause we won't need it." He laughed and turned up the radio. Justin didn't say anything. He'd made Lance buy a bunch of food, snack things and bread, and they'd pretended it was for the drive up or something. Justin intended to make sure it got left with Bev. He didn't know what else to do.

*

Justin grunted. He said, "I love my undamaged body so much." He was up on his knees, face in a pillow while Lance thrust in and out. Hour three of sex, he thought, and it was one for the record books. Just fucking awesome. He'd fried his brain somewhere around the sixty-nine in hour two and lost all his adjectives.

Lance came and then pushed Justin over, his hand already wrapped around Justin's dick. Justin blinked and grunted again and came. Lance said, "God. I'm gonna die before we get to hour twelve."

"Well, we need to stop before that and shower and dry our hair and do something about the sheets. So, you know, die around hour eleven." Justin grinned and rubbed Lance's cheek. They were both flushed and covered with sweat.

Lance said, "Maybe we should nap now?"

"Set the damn alarm so we don't just sleep for too long." Justin stretched out and wiggled his toes. Still alive.

Lance said, "Forty-five minutes. And then we'll get back to the sex."

Justin rolled over and spooned against Lance. "Good. You're amazing."

Lance chuckled. "Thank you. Now sleep."

*

Justin bit his lip so he didn't say "Bev" and run into her arms. They'd never met here and alterna-Justin hadn't known Chris's mother since he was fourteen. But he loved Bev, so he didn't stop smiling.

Bev had made spaghetti for all of them. She didn't blink when Justin brought in the food he and Lance had bought and he said, "We bought this but we don't need it. And the car's all crowded with all five of us, so y'all can keep it. If you want."

She smiled and said, "That's fine with us."

Joey said, "The car will be even more crowded after this. We'll all be waddling out." He started waddling through the kitchen, Taylor in his arms.

Justin walked through the small house, clean and neat, and thought about Bev's house back in his world. The one Chris had bought. He sat on the couch and unobtrusively shoved all the cash he had between the cushions. It was only about forty bucks, but he just wanted to make everything right. The way it should be.

Sitting in the doorway by the kitchen, Taylor in his lap, he watched Joey and Bev argue about how long they should let the garlic bread cook. Then he heard grunting and Lance, maybe, saying, "Fuck me." He whipped his head around but he couldn't see Lance anywhere.

*

Justin pushed against Lance. "Wait, wait. I heard something."

Lance said, "What?"

"I heard, uh, Joey and someone I didn't recognize, talking about food. It's like the day I switched. Fuck, I'm definitely going home tonight. I'm sure of it."

Lance said, "Yay. How 'bout a celebratory blowjob?"

Justin smirked. "Don't let me stop you."

*

After a long and tasty dinner, JC and Chris lingered for a moment at the door with Bev. Justin watched her talking to Chris, laughing with JC and he felt homesick. He wanted to be back where Bev wanted to talk to him, too, where he wasn't so much of a stranger to all his friends and their families. Lance grabbed his hand and Justin smiled. He said, "I miss my mom."

Lance smiled back and said, "Me, too."

It was a long drive home somehow, even though it was only an hour, and they got to Lance's dorm room around ten thirty. Justin pulled Lance onto the bed. He said, "Look, I need. I need to just say this. It won't make any sense to you now, maybe ever. But I do love you. Me. The me sitting here, loves the you sitting here. Okay?"

Lance nodded and looked confused. "The me sitting here loves you, too."

"Okay. And we're done talking. I gotta get home by, um, 12:30, I think. I dunno."

Lance said, "Someday you'll stay over." Justin shrugged and undid the buttons on Lance's shirt. He couldn't stay over, he didn't want poor alterna-Justin waking up in Lance's bed. He went to bed every night with the journal under his hand after he'd written in it. He didn't want alterna-Justin to be lost.

*

Chris walked in and said, "Hey, you two look worn out."

Justin stretched and regretted it. He wasn't sure he'd ever attempt eleven hours of sex again, or, really, nine and half when you subtracted two forty-five minute naps. It had been really nice, though. He said, "We were just reading. I was reading, Lance was doing computer things. But it's been a really long week."

They'd made the maid come and change the sheets while Lance was showering. Justin had stood against the wall and avoided the maid's eyes. He knew what the sheets smelled like.

Lance said, "A very long week. But Justin's even more convinced that he's going back tonight."

Chris said, "Really?"

Justin said, "Yeah. I heard things, like, um, I think what the other Justin was hearing." He kind of hoped the other Justin hadn't been able to hear his side of things.

Chris nodded. "So now we wait. You wanna get some rest, Bass?"

Lance didn't move. Justin suspected he was too sore to make any sudden moves. Lance said, "I'm fine with waiting for the big switch. Wake me up if I fall asleep, okay?"

Chris nodded and opened his book. Justin rubbed his thigh. He reached for one of his books and winked at Lance. Lance rolled his eyes and turned on the TV.

*

Justin ran his hand over Lance's pristine back. Lance looked up, over his shoulder and said, "Didn't you say you had to leave?"

Justin said, "It's hard. I really like you."

Lance turned over and took Justin's hands in his. "I thought you loved me. The you sitting here." He smiled.

"I do. Fuck, you're, you know. You volunteer. You're all sweet and sarcastic sometimes and you've never, you know, been sued."

Lance laughed. "I've never been sued, that's true. Have you been sued, Justin?"

Justin grinned. "It's, um, a figure of speech. From Memphis. We say that. 'You're so sweet, you've never been sued.' Really, my mama says it all the time." Justin kissed Lance, and he thought, maybe the last time. He got out of bed and pulled on his clothes. He had to write everything down before he fell asleep. He stood in the doorway and said, "Bye, Lance. I'll see you soon, right?"

Lance nodded. "Sunday brunch. I'll see you then."

Justin walked home, noting that he'd memorized the route. Five days and he knew the campus pretty well.

He wrote for a long time, everything he'd done that day and all the stuff he and Lance had talked about. He added in more, things he wanted to tell alterna-Justin about how great Chris's family was and Lance's mom was a great lady and to be nice to Nick because he could be a lot worse and more tense and hobbled by his parents. He'd never even met this Brit, but Brit was a really good girl, too. Justin sighed and looked at the clock. Tonight might be the night he switched. It was 1:45 am. He stripped to his boxers and got in bed. Nick was out, still, probably at Howie's room.

Justin tucked the journal under his pillow and put his hand on it. He fell asleep as soon as he closed his eyes.

*

Justin blinked and tried not to fall asleep. He thought it would be cool to feel the switch. He watched Lance lean forward in his chair and Chris stood by the bed, his eyes on Justin.

Justin breathed in and felt warm. Warm and it was dark suddenly.

*

Justin's eyes were open and he didn't know when he had woken up. He rubbed his eyes.

Chris said, "Justin?"

Justin looked at Chris. His Chris. Definitively. Justin felt tears against his eyes. "Fuck. Chris!" He sat up suddenly and hugged Chris. And fuck, he was sore. He felt twinges from his thighs and his back and what the hell had he been doing?

Chris said, "J? Is that you?"

Justin sat back. "Um. Yeah. Do you, did you know where I was?"

Lance said, "Where were you?"

Justin grinned at Lance and looked down. "Okay, you might not believe me. But, uh, I think, for the last five days, I was in some alternate universe where I was a college student. I mean, I was me, but I was also a college student. And you were all there, but different."

Lance said, "You were a college student at what college?"

Justin said, "William and Mary. And for serious, I don't think I've ever heard of William and Mary. Do they have any decent teams?"

Chris said, "Fuck. I believed it, I did, but now. Man, how fucking weird." Chris grinned. "I am so glad you are back, J, your college student counterpart was, uh, more difficult to deal with."

Justin laughed. "I got the impression he was kind of snooty, really. And um, prone to over-analyzation."

Lance stood up slowly and said, "That's one way to put it."

Justin moved again and thought he felt like he'd been fucking all day. He watched Lance standing awkwardly and thought, oh.

Chris said, "Fuck, I'm gonna tell Joey and JC and get some sleep. Lance'll catch you up." He hugged Justin and said, "Good to have you home, babe."

After he left, Justin said, "Well, Lance. I feel a little sore."

Lance looked down. "I was waiting until it was just the two of us. I mean, I don't know if you found out when you were there, but, um, Justin, the other one, he kinda had this crush."

"It was hardly a crush. I'd say obsession. Dude's in love. With you, or I mean, the other you. You noticed, huh?" Justin grinned and lay back.

"Well, yeah. Look, tomorrow, I'll bring you up to speed, but right now, I'll just say, yeah. I spent ten hours today having sex with your college counterpart, in your body. As weird and fucked up as that sounds. I apologize." Lance rubbed his forehead.

Justin said, "No problem. Really. Y'all were using protection, right?" Lance nodded. "Okay, good. Because, yo, Bass, I've spent the last five nights screwing your college counterpart. And he was really good." Justin laughed. "Fuck. We can't, you know. We can't."

Lance said, "Of course." He walked to the door and grinned. "But, man, wish we could."

*

THE REST OF IT

Justin bit his lip and walked slowly to the caf. Sunday morning was beautiful, clear sky even in the cold. Justin tried to breathe. He couldn't believe he was meeting his boyfriend. His boyfriend. He'd been trembling since he'd woken up in the dorm and read the journal. He'd skipped back to when the other Justin had started writing and stopped wincing at the bad grammar after the first page. Lance, his Lance and he'd said he loved Justin. He'd been angry, thinking that the other Justin had had all his firsts, but that had lasted a minute. He had his boyfriend, his Lance, and now there would be all these things that would happen for the first time for him, but without the stress.

He took out the journal again and read the letter from his counterpart. It was long and rambling and all about how much he loved the guys and how great they all were no matter what universe. Justin shook his head. They really were and the only one he hadn't met for real was the one most like himself. And lots of things were the same, just a little different. Like Lance, he thought. Fuck.

He walked in and got his food and looked around. Lance. He was sitting at a table all by himself with his hands clasped in front of him, maybe praying. Justin said a prayer that everything would turn out okay. He took his tray and sat down across from Lance. "This seat taken?" Justin knew his voice squeaked.

Lance grinned. "Only by you."

Justin smiled back. "Baby. Uh, things are weird, I know, and I think it's a good idea we're slowing things down a little but that doesn't change, it's everything to me that you know that I love you. And, god, I sound like a romance novel. I'm sorry."

Lance said, "Don't be sorry. It's good. It's all good." Justin couldn't stop smiling. It was all good. All of it.

*

Lance pushed Justin against the wall of the bathroom. "Fuck," Lance said. "We can't do this again."

Justin tried to find purchase against the wall and tilted his ass up. Stupid, stupid, he thought, right before a fucking show, stupid. Then Lance was in and he stopped thinking. So fucking good. Lance's left hand dug into Justin's hip and his right hand wrapped around Justin's dick. Couldn't be better.

Lance grunted and came right before Justin did. They separated as much as they could in the small stall. Justin said, "We need to stop lying, man. Last time, my ass. That might have worked the first time, but this, what? The tenth time. It's not the last time."

Lance zipped up his pants and looked down. "Look, we can't. We're not dating. No dating." Lance glanced at the condom floating in the toilet and flushed it. "We can't be dating. This is just, it's a thing. And it will be over."

Justin said, "Whatever." He pulled down his shirt and walked out of the bathroom.

*

Chris started looking through the CDs and shaking his head. "Who likes these pop bands, man? We're as good as any of them. And we don't charge fifty bucks a show." Chris grinned at Justin. "Maybe we should, man. I could quit my pizza delivery job."

Justin smiled back. "I don't like those guys either." He flipped through the CDs in front of him but didn't really look. Over to the left, Lance and Joey were laughing about some used DVD they'd found in that section. Lance turned toward Joey and Justin looked at his ass. His boyfriend. Justin thought he had a pretty perfect life.

JC held up a CD and said, "*NSYNC. Don't you like them, Justin?"

Justin almost laughed. "I like the other guys."

"You like Backstreet?" Chris said.

Justin looked down and said, "No, the other guys."

Lance and Joey walked over with the DVD. Joey said, "Dudes, you gotta see this movie. It sucks, but it's really great."

Chris said, "Yo, you think we could get away with charging fifty bucks for a night of acapella singing?"

JC smirked. "Let's throw in a lap dance from Justin and maybe."

"I'd pay fifty for a lap dance from you." Chris pinched JC's butt. Justin giggled.

Lance said, "I'd pay fifty for Justin." He winked at Justin.

Joey said, "And I'd pay fifty for a lap dance from Lance and Chris, so. I mean, fifty cents."

They were all laughing and then Justin said, "We could do it. I mean, not the lap dances, but we could. We could do anything, you know. Us. All of us. We have amazing potential. All of us."

Lance bumped Justin's hip. "He's mister positive, lately." Justin looked down and smiled. He was just happy to be home, with his Lance and his friends and things he knew how to do well. Things, he thought, couldn't be better. Great boyfriend who rocked in bed, and whomever said that sex was best with the one you loved had that nailed. His parents had taken the news really well and he wasn't like Nick, sneaking around behind anyone's back. He could look and see and know how great things were. All of it.

JC said, "For the last two months, really."

Chris said, "Yeah, he starts getting laid and it's amazing how cheerful he is."

Justin laughed with everyone else and said, "But I meant it. I did. We're all gonna go far. I've seen it and I know it."

*

Lance looked around at the red brick building and said, "Why are we here?"

Justin kicked at a stone and kept walking. "I wanted to see it. To see it here, in my world, you know. It's a pretty campus. And it looks like it did."

Lance made a face. "So this is William & Mary. Does it have any good teams?"

Justin laughed. "Their teams are nothin', man. But it's a really good school. Four US presidents and Jon Stewart. So, you know." They walked past the Wren Building and then down through the Sunken Garden.

Lance said, "Did you do research since, you know, or did you learn that when you were, you know, wherever?"

"Heard it when I was student here. You know." Justin walked ahead and went up a hill to bench, set above a wooded path. The bodyguards stood on the path and didn't follow.

Lance looked at the students walking by. "We have to get back, you know, we have a show."

"Tomorrow, yeah. We'll leave soon. I just wanted to see it." Justin stared at one of the students. He recognized a boy shuffling by, the boy had been on the cover on the Rolling Stone in the library. Justin gestured, didn't point at the boy, but he got Lance's attention. "That kid? In the other world, where we were all students? He's, uh, that's the Justin of NSYNC. I mean, not Justin, but. He's in NSYNC. I bet all of 'em are here. Their Brit, Backstreet, NSYNC. They're all just college students."

Lance looked at the kid. He said, "I like you more. You're cuter." Lance rubbed his thigh. He said, "I never asked, I mean. I wondered. Did you like college?"

Justin shrugged. "It was fine. It was interesting. But, you know, I don't feel like I missed something not going. I'm not ever going. It's not, it doesn't mean anything to me. It is real important to alterna-Justin, but he's got a different plan from mine. We both have plans and his is college. So. I know lots of people do it, and it's a good thing, but it's not for me."

"Yeah." Lance sighed.

Justin said, "Okay. So it's pretty. But, yeah, I asked you here for a reason."

Lance didn't say anything. He sat back and pressed his hands together, almost like he was praying. Justin said, "About us. I've been thinking. I don't know how to say this without sounding like a tool, or incredibly stupid, but, uh, I was in love with the college version of you."

Justin paused and Lance said, "Oh, and I'm not good enough for you?"

"And I love you, too." Justin looked down. "I mean, this is the really stupid part. I think I'm in love with your immortal soul. Don't laugh, okay?"

Justin looked over at Lance. Lance was just staring at him. Justin said, "Because I see, I loved him and you and it's the same thing. Except, um, I love you more because I've known you forever. And, also, you're better in bed."

Lance started giggling. He said, between gasps, "No, it's. I'm better in bed?"

Justin looked down again. "Yes. He was really sweet, but he lacked your, uh, experience. Um, less aggressive sometimes?"

Lance squeezed Justin's knee. "Look, um. I just. I don't know what you expect me to do. I have a boyfr--"

"Please. Don't even say that. God, Lance, you're not that stupid and you're not that cruel. He's not your boyfriend. You've slept with me, like, fifteen times and he's -- just shut up."

Lance said, "Fine. Objection withdrawn. But, you know, we made rules. No, fucking someone in the group."

"So what? It's all different now."

"Yeah? Different in the sense that we're about to have this long hiatus and you're doing a solo album and --"

Justin said, "And you're going into space --"

"I hope." Lance said quietly. "But, yeah, Justin, there's this little timing thing. As in, we're not even going to be in the same country for a few months. And you're going to be even more in the public eye because you'll be Justin Timberlake, solo artiste. Not that I don't support that, but it's hardly the time to start your first big homo relationship."

Justin tapped Lance's knee. He looked out at the trees and the squirrels. "Is it just me or are there five million squirrels on this campus?"

Lance laughed, which made Justin feel better. He said, "There really are."

Justin said, "Right. So, I'm noticing that among your objections is not that you don't love me. Because you do, you know."

Lance rolled his eyes. "So what?"

"Okay. So I have a plan, kinda. A thought. I thought, you know, we could just wait. Like wait for things to be done. My thing and your thing. And in the meantime, we fuck when we can and you fuck your starfucker boy toy and whatever, and I'll be with whomever, or whatever. We just wait." Justin played with the inseam of his jeans. He couldn't look at Lance.

"Because you're in love with my immortal soul and you have patience?" Lance didn't sound very confident.

Justin said, "Yeah. I know, when everything's done and you're back, I'll still want you."

Lance spread his legs and rubbed his thigh against Justin's. "I think, you know." Lance paused. "Okay. I can wait. You know. To be your big gay boyfriend. I get to be your boyfriend, right? I can say that?"

Justin looked over and grinned. He was pretty sure he was smiling like his face would split. "For serious? Really?"

"Really." Lance smirked. "If we go back to the car now, we could even kiss in the back of the car."

Justin stood up. "It's a plan."

As they were walking back, Justin pointed at the Wren Building. He said, "You know, they burned it down. The Yankees. I mean, the Union forces. They burned it down. And they wouldn't let the townsfolk put out the fire. Anyway, so there's a bell. In the Wren building. All the seniors pull it, they ring the bell on the last day of classes of their senior year and shit. So the building's burnt down. And the President, back then, he would come every year and ring the bell. You know, I think. I heard this once in one of my classes. Anyway, he rang that bell for twenty years before they rebuilt the school."

Lance said, "That's a great parable."

"Yo, it's not a parable. It actually happened. It's an analogy. Or something. Whatever. You got my point, right?"

Lance laughed. His fingers brushed Justin's. "I got it. My immortal soul is like the bell, you love it, you'll keep ringing even as the evil Yankees keep away the townsfolk. I got it."

Justin grinned and bumped his hip against Lance's. "I'm mister positive lately, man. And yeah, it's exactly like that, you ass."

They made out in the car and the bodyguards stayed in the front seat.

THE END!

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