Johnny had worked for the Backstreet Boys and Lou once and Justin wasn't eager to meet with him at all. But Chris had heard good things about him and Chris made Justin take the meeting. Justin sat down at the table at the restaurant and crossed his arms. He sat slouched back in the chair and his legs were spread so his thigh was snug against Lance's. Johnny smiled anyway and shook Lance's and Joey's hands with the same firm grip he had when he shook Justin's. Joey sat down next to Johnny and watched the entire restaurant.

"Why'd you quit working for Lou?" Justin said without preamble and waved away the waitress.

"Brian's heart surgery. The schedule we had y'all on and then Brian's heart. Didn't want to be that person anymore. Now I work for these guys." Johnny talked about the big firm where he worked a little. Justin waved for the waitress to come back and ordered the most expensive dish for himself and the same for Lance. Lance pinched Justin's thigh, hard. He'd just wanted a burger.

"You didn't like me much then," Justin said.

"Well, A, you weren't very likable then and B, I don't think you're that same kid now, right?" Johnny stayed calm and Lance decided he liked this one. Justin's decision, though, and Lance worried Justin planned to alienate every manager in the United States until Lance caved and agreed to manage him. Well, when that happened, irresistible Timberlake would meet immovable Bass.

Justin looked over at him and Lance knew his expression had been fierce because Justin made a quick pout face. Justin bit his lip. He looked down at his hands. Justin said quietly, "I was pretty miserable for a long time. Seventeen wasn't my best year."

Johnny said, "Every year after sixteen wasn't your best year, Justin. Right? You liked performing and you liked recording and everything else was completely out of your control and you hated it."

Justin nodded. He looked at Lance and looked back at Johnny. "I'm queer, you know, right?"

Lance swallowed his water quickly and heard Joey cough to cover a gasp. Johnny just nodded.

Justin opened his mouth but the waitress came and put their plates down. When she walked away, Justin said, "So. Yeah. I'm queer and I've got a boyfriend and when I get loose of Lou, I wanna come out."

Lance grabbed Justin's leg under the table and Joey said, "Fuck, really?"

Johnny said, "Seriously? Not just saying this to test me?"

Justin actually smiled. "Both. I am serious and I am testing you."

Johnny still hadn't freaked out but Lance had. Justin squirmed under Lance's hand, and Lance thought he'd find bruises from his hand on Justin's leg when they got home. Lance had somehow missed it when Justin went over the edge of sanity. He tried to keep his mouth shut, but he heard himself say, "Justin. Seriously? You want to do this? What the fuck are you thinking?" Justin turned to Lance with his hurt look on his face. Lance ignored it. "You -- when we first met you were joking that you weren't gay. And now you want to come out and wave bye bye to your career?"

Justin inhaled sharply and played with his food a little. He kept his eyes on Lance. "I do. It's not the end of my career at all. It won't be. And I'm queer. I can say that now. I've been thinking about that a lot. And, you know, Lance. You know. I'm not doing this Lou's way ever again and no more. So here's the deal. This is it."

Lance took his hand off Justin's leg and covered his face. "Don't do this. If you're doing this for me, don't."

"I'm not. I mean I love you. You know that. But, uh, you were right when you said, or whatever. I don't know if you said it. Maybe you didn't. But." Justin sighed. He leaned forward and sat up straight. He grabbed Lance's hands off his face and held them in his own hands. Lance could feel Justin's hands trembling. His voice was clear, though. "I'm a fucking brat and I want everything. Everything. So, I want to keep doing this one fucking thing I do well and I want to be me and have you and everything. All of it."

Lance glanced at Johnny. He was still sitting there, calmly eating his salad. Lance looked back at Justin, staring at him. It was all so absurd. "Justin, you do a lot of things well. And you don't," Lance paused. Lance thought he had the fucking craziest boyfriend in the history of the world. "You should do what you want. I'm sorry I interrupted."

Johnny said, "You can do that. Your best bet is to do an interview, get the outing out of the way quickly so the record companies all know. And then they know what they're getting. But they'll still sign you. They just need to see you perform, Justin. But wait until the lawsuits are all settled so you know all the different confidentiality agreements and can speak as freely as you can."

Justin nodded again. Chris had the agreements all drawn up the next day and Johnny was Justin's new manager.

A week later, JC and Lance came home from grocery shopping and Joey and Chris were dancing on the table while Justin laughed hysterically and threw wadded up napkins at them. Everclear was playing on the stereo, loud. This was home, Lance thought and laughed out loud. "Is this a moment, or just the evening's entertainment?"

Chris sang, "They have never had the joy of a welfare Christmas!" and shook his ass in their direction.

JC looked up at the two of them and said, "Guys. That table is mine. Can you dance on one of Chris's crappy ones?" JC rolled his eyes and walked back to the kitchen with the groceries.

Lance turned to Justin. "Hey, what's up here?"

Justin laughed again and threw a napkin at Lance. "This, this is not a celebration. This is something else!" He got up and tackled Lance onto the floor. "I know we seem really happy, but we are not celebrating." Justin rested his head against Lance's neck, heavy on top of Lance, but it was nice.

"What are we not celebrating?" Lance ran his hand through Justin's hair.

Chris howled and sang, "I will buy you a new life!" Then Chris said, "Yo! Justin! No celebrating. Get off that fine Bass ass! Save some for me!"

Justin rolled off Lance and sat up. Lance stayed on the floor because it seemed safe there. "Chris, you switching teams? Cause you know, if it's okay with Justin, you can have all the Bass ass you want. You're really hot."

Justin giggled into his hand. "Kinky. Yo, it's fine. Chris, feel free to fuck my boyfriend. But you gotta let me watch."

Joey got off the table and ran to the kitchen. They heard him shouting, "C, baby, come out here, Chris's gone gay and Justin's gonna let him screw Lance while we watch!"

Chris sat down on the table and giggled. "Okay, this is incredibly tempting. Seriously, but I remain straight. It makes me sad, I tell you. And sad is good, because we are not celebrating."

Lance raised an eyebrow. "We're not celebrating. We're dancing on tables and Justin's letting me screw you as long as he can watch, but these are non-celebratory things."

"Okay," Justin said, "I was mostly saying that because I know Chris is all straight. So, uh, it wasn't a real offer or anything."

Lance sat up. "Well, then. I'll abandon all hope of entering Chris." Chris made a repulsed noise. "What's going on?"

JC loomed over them, and said, "Yeah, could someone explain here?"

Chris grinned. "We reached an agreement today. We're not celebrating. We're not celebrating until everything's signed. Until everything's set in stone, approved by judge, we do not celebrate."

JC grinned. "But we're happy."

Joey laughed. "I'm not. I thought I was gonna get to see some hot Chris on Lance action. Tease!" Joey pulled JC close to him and kissed his forehead. "Baby. I'm getting paid. For the bodyguard thing, do you believe it?"

Lance said, "You're getting paid for it? By whom?"

Chris giggled. "TransCon. We put in the pony part, to make sure they were reading it all or whatever. And it just stayed in there, every time we negotiated back and forth. So today, we're going over everything, cause we're gonna sign this shit tomorrow and the TransCon guys are like, okay, we changed the fucking pony to what we would have paid for Justin's security for five months. Joey's made some fine money, man, like, good money. Those fucks pay a lot to keep Justin safe."

Joey hugged JC from behind and sang, "I will buy you that big house, way up in the West Hills." JC looked down and smiled.

Everything got signed the next day, approved and sealed. Justin was free to say all he wanted about the things he had done, but wouldn't comment on his company at the time in return for a lot of money. Chris would get paid, and Joey, too. Lance called his mom and Justin grabbed the phone and said, "I'm free now, I'm free," and Lance could hear his mother cheering through the phone.

They sat around the living room after, giddy and laughing at nothing. JC looked at the ceiling and said, "I can't believe it's over."

Justin laughed. "You can't believe? Dude, I can't believe. This is the weirdest feeling. It's like, wow."

Chris put his hands on his knees. "Fuck. I'm gonna get paid a shitload of money. Like, soon. I'm gonna have me a check for like, six figures. Low six figures, mind you. But, fuck. What the fuck am I gonna do with that?"

Lance looked up. "Well, first, you need to think about equity. Like, you rent your office space. You should buy a place. So you have assets and you're not pissing the money away. I'd bring on another lawyer, 'cause you're certain to be getting more clients now. Get an office manager. Pay off your mortgage here, kick all of us out. Find a good broker, invest some of it." Lance laughed. "You, you didn't want a literal answer, did you?"

Chris laughed and stood up. "I didn't. I didn't, but thank you, Lance. It's just. Man, I've lived in some rat holes in my life. Justin shoving five thousand in cash in my hands was the biggest amount of money I've ever got at one time."

Justin laughed and kicked at the floor. "Fuck, even Chris is wigging. Let's all go get wasted and dance until our asses fall off." And that was the plan. They drove to Leesburg again and stood in the parking lot, Lance, JC, and Joey playing rock, paper scissors until JC lost and had to be the designated driver.

Lance got good and drunk and even danced for a while, clinging to Justin's hips under the bright lights. Free, free, free, he thought. And everything was over and Justin was free. And they were dancing and sweaty and drunk and no one could touch them.

Justin pulled him into the bathroom and then into one of the stalls. Justin pushed him against the closed door and gripped Lance's waist. "See, if I had my old security and stuff, we could do this out there and have more room, but we'll need to, uh, make do." Lance started to laugh but then Justin was kissing him and grinding his hips against Lance. He forgot about laughing.

Justin turned him around and pushed him towards the back of the stall and leaned against the toilet. He grabbed Lance's shirt and kissed him again. With his other hand, Justin unbuttoned his jeans and started to slide them off. Lance pushed at Justin's jeans and started rubbing Justin's waist. He broke off the kiss and looked down. "Dude, you're not wearing underwear."

Justin grinned. He stepped out of his sneakers, pulled his jeans off and sat on the tank. "It seemed an appropriate choice for tonight." Justin held his jeans in one hand and tugged Lance closer with the other hand. "Stuff in my jeans pocket -- man, come on."

Justin was already flushed and warm from the dancing, and he felt almost feverish and liquid under Lance's hands. Justin wrapped his legs around Lance's shoulders and moaned into his mouth. Like fire and magic, Lance thought as he thrust into Justin. Hot and sweaty and everything perfect, even in a bathroom stall.

He sagged against Justin after he came and kissed Justin's neck. "You, man," Lance panted. "Seriously." Justin laughed a little. Justin braced himself against the tank with one hand and threw the condom into the toilet. He pulled Lance down into another deep kiss.

Lance started stroking Justin's cock while they kissed. Justin shook his head and said with a little gasp, "Man, it's JC's shirt. He'll fucking kill me." Lance sunk to his heels and swallowed Justin's cock with one swift motion. Justin came, loudly, just a few seconds later. Lance gripped Justin's hips so he didn't slide off the tank. They were giggling and sated as they cleaned up and got dressed and zipped up.

As Justin pushed the stall door open, he said, "I wonder if anyone heard us..."

Lance looked over Justin's shoulder and saw Joey leaning against the sinks, laughing. "Oh, man, you guys! Fuck! I don't have a pen!"

Justin looked at Joey and giggled. He started washing his hands at the sink and bumped his hips against Lance, washing his hands at the other sink. "Joey, what the fuck?"

"I was gonna make a sign! Like, you know, Olympic judges. Cause that was, man, a fucking 9.9, guys." Joey laughed and clapped his hands. "I mean, seriously, were you on the tank there, Justin?"

Justin laughed and grabbed Lance's hand as they walked out. "Fuck off, Joey, rent the damn video."

Lance fell asleep in the jeep on the drive home. He woke up with the wind on his face and Justin's hand brushing at his hair. He could see JC driving with one hand on Joey's knee while Joey sang along with the radio softly. Chris was already passed out against Justin's side, smiling even in his sleep. Magic and bright and even here, here we are, Lance thought. Pretty fucking awesome. We're a fucking awesome gang, Lance thought and fell asleep again.

Two days after everything was signed, Lance and Joey sat in the front row of the Backstreet Boys' press conference. They both had camcorders, Joey's trained on the Boys and Lance's aimed more at the press. Kevin spoke about the band's excitement at finally getting into the studio, at how great they would sound still, without Justin. Kevin was starting to wind down and Lance turned his camera to the back, where Justin was standing. Justin walked forward to the middle of the room and stared at Kevin, his arms crossed.

Kevin coughed and looked at Justin. He said, "And one last thing. A few months we spoke to you and I said that Justin had stolen money from us. We were mistaken about that. And I said that Justin was a drug addict and we misunderstood. So, I apologize." Kevin sneered a little on the last few words, but it didn't matter. Lance and Joey flipped off their cameras and followed Justin out of the conference.

Three days later, Justin leaned back against the wall of the elevator going up to the MTV studios and sang, "your life is now" under his breath. He had his Walkman in his hand, tiny headphones in his ears and he kept tapping his fingers against his thigh.

Chris turned to Justin and said, "Justin, you don't have to do this."

Justin shook his head. "I am going to do this and stop saying that to me."

Lance fiddled with his tie and looked at Joey and Johnny, standing against the other wall. MTV, Lance thought. It was dirtier than he'd imagined. Chris tapped Justin on the shoulder, "Look, kiddo. Y'all didn't tell Loder what you were gonna say, you haven't told anyone who'll tell."

They'd sat in two different kitchens, Justin holding Lance's hand both times, while Justin had explained to both his parents what he was going to do. Justin's mom already knew about Lance and she'd hugged him when they first met. Justin's dad had nodded a lot, asked Justin three times if this was all Justin's own idea and hadn't really smiled that often. Lance had spent the whole time in both homes biting his lip so he didn't end every sentence with a declaration of how he wouldn't take advantage of Justin. He'd slipped once and Justin's little brothers had cracked up when Lance had said, "Please pass the salt and I won't take his money."

Lance's parents had come down to Orlando and gone out to dinner with Johnny, Justin and Chris. Lance's dad had said, "Well, Lance is already out. Everybody in the family knows."

Johnny had said, "You understand, we're not talking about the family here. When this hits, it will be everyone in Lance's high school, the clerk at the grocery store, everyone. It'll be big news." Lance's mom had hugged Justin when they left, told him to take good care of her boy.

Big news. Lance hated his tie. Justin had picked out, made some comment about how it complimented his eyes and hell, Justin was coming out on national TV, Lance could wear a dumb tie. "You didn't tell Loder but then, uh, how do you make sure Justin gets asked the right question? Cause, hi, I'm queer isn't the answer to, you know, what do you think of the new Britney Spears single?"

Johnny said, "I told Loder that Justin was willing to answer questions about his personal life. He wants to address all the rumors. So Kurt'll say, 'Rumor is you're gay,' and Justin'll say, 'yup.'" Johnny paused and looked at Justin, still tapping and listening to his Walkman. "So you don't have to say it, Justin. Cause nobody who will tell knows you planned to do this."

Justin looked down and sang under his breath. "In this undiscovered moment," Lance heard. Justin looked up. "Y'all stop. Why do you keep saying this stuff? I'm gonna do it."

"You seem nervous, that's why we keep saying it. Nobody's got dirty pictures, Justin," Chris said quickly, "so if you don't do it, you're fine."

"I'm not nervous. I'm not. This, this is just, like, stage fright. And it'll be gone before we get there." The elevator doors opened and they all filed out.

Lance recognized a guy from Atlantic Records standing with one of the interns and he pointed at the guy with his head while he nudged Johnny. "You invited him?"

"No, he just showed up. Checking out the goods. They're hinting at a big money offer." Johnny watched the last of the techs fiddling with the mics on Kurt Loder and Justin and didn't look at Lance.

"I have one more dumb question," Lance said.

"Not a dumb question." Johnny turned his head for a moment, looked at Lance. "You would have done fine, I bet, if he'd talked you into the managing thing." Johnny went back to staring at Justin.

"Would never have happened. I won't make money off him." Lance sighed. "My last question is, why are they interviewing him again? He talked about everything two months ago or whatever."

"But now he's free and clear and he can say more and, you know, we said he'd answer questions about his personal life. Everyone still wants to know who Justin Timberlake is dating."

The interview started with the softball questions, how does it feel to be free, tell me again the story of how you ran away. Justin looked relaxed but his fingers tapped softly on his knee. "It was all -- man, I watched too many movies. I had my three plane tickets to different destinations and I had bought train tickets and everything so I couldn't be traced."

Loder looked serious. "There were allegations that you were --"

Justin blushed a little and rubbed his knee. "Yeah, I was totally high. I'm not, I never was an addict, but I took, uh, some stuff. Not very often. And I haven't since. But, yeah, I was completely, uh, altered. For the trip."

And then Loder mentioned the other rumors, said the magic words "about your personal life," and Lance inhaled sharply. Justin looked down and sighed. He looked up, past the camera, at Lance. So Lance smiled, mouthed "I love you no matter what," and tried to look like he meant it. He did mean it.

Justin looked all over the studio and opened his mouth. He closed it again and then leaned forward and smiled. "Right. People say things about my personal life. I've heard it all, man, that I'm gay, I'm a slut, I'm a virgin. And," Justin paused and stopped smiling. "Right. And most of it isn't true."

Justin paused again. "So, here are the things that are true. I'm not a virgin, lost it at fifteen. I've slept around, like, way more than I should have. And I am queer." And Lance knew it was coming so he looked away from Justin for a second to watch Loder laugh like Madonna had just said fuck on the air and the widened eyes and gasps from some of the crew. Justin kept talking. "Like, I've had sex with men and sex with women."

Justin finally smiled, a tentative thing. "And right now, I'm in, like, the first real relationship of my life. Like, seriously, I'm in love and that's all new to me. And he's this great guy. He's great." And then Justin stopped and leaned back. Lance looked over quickly and saw Chris wringing his hands while Joey had a big smile on his face that didn't quite reach his eyes.

Loder swallowed and then coughed. He found his voice and said, "So, you're dating a man? Where, uh, when did you meet him?"

Justin grinned. "I met him when I was running away. In Nebraska. Lance was -- his name is Lance -- he worked at this movie theater and I came in. We've been together ever since. I mean -- we broke up for a month 'cause I was an asshole, but except for that." Justin smiled at Lance.

Loder looked back down at his notes and laughed again. Johnny stepped forward and said, "Do we want a break here? Just for a few minutes?" Justin said okay and Loder sighed but agreed. Johnny walked over to talk to him. Lance watched the guy from Atlantic practically run out the door. Justin took off his mic and walked over to Lance.

"You did good," Lance said. "Sounded good."

Justin ran his fingers across Lance's cheek and pulled a little at Lance's tie with his other hand. "So," he said, "I don't wanna have to redo make up or anything, but if you're really careful, you could kiss me." Lance leaned over to kiss him and a flash went off. They kissed anyway. Bright lights, big city, Lance thought. Bright lights.

Timberlake told MTV, "Everyone knew. All the guys in the band, the management." There has been no comment to the press about the interview and Timberlake's revelation from TransCon, Jive Records or the Backstreet Boys with the sole exception of Backstreet Boy Howie Dorough. "I'm really proud of Justin," Dorough told People in an exclusive interview. "He's very brave. And I'm glad he's found someone who makes him happy."

The first time Lance Bass saw Justin Timberlake it was from one hundred rows back when the Backstreet Boys last tour came to Lincoln. Janie Cosallas, 19, who worked for Bass at General Cinema 5 in Lincoln, Neb, brought him along. "I had an extra ticket because my cousin decided she couldn't come," she said. "And I knew he liked the Backstreet Boys and I figured, since he was gay, you know, he wouldn't hit on me the whole drive there." Cosallas laughed. "It was really funny. Everyone in our section seemed to be a Nick [Carter] fan and every time he was on the video screen, they would scream for him. So Lance and I, we would shout out for Kevin or AJ or Justin whenever they did that." On the ride home, Bass told Cosallas he really thought Timberlake was the cutest. "He didn't read teenie magazines or anything, he just liked the music," she said.
-PEOPLE MAGAZINE, cover story

Lance found out he was on the cover of People when he finished taking the LSAT. He walked out of the room and grabbed a cigarette from the pack he'd stolen from Joey that morning. A woman with frizzy hair came up to him as he tried to get his lighter to work and said, "You're that guy. The gay guy."

Lance looked down at his lighter, watched it actually flare up. He sucked on his cigarette. "What?"

The woman grabbed a copy of People out of her bag and shoved it at him. "That's you," she said, pointing.

And it was Lance. Half the cover was a picture of Justin, a nice one, full face, and the other half was the two of them, clearly Lance and clearly Justin from the MTV studios, as Lance leaned in to kiss Justin. "That's -- yeah, that's me."

The woman stared at him. She finally said, "Can I get your autograph?"

Lance took a step back and laughed. "Sure." She handed him a pen and he scrawled his name across the cover, and started walking fast to his car. He ran the last few feet and collapsed in giggles against his steering wheel.

He stopped at a grocery store on the way home and saw his face on three of the aisles. He grabbed one and some bottled water, stood in line. The girl at the register didn't say a thing, so perhaps Lance wouldn't need sunglasses.

When he got home, everyone but Chris was out back. Lance threw open the screen door and waved the magazine. "Hey, guys, did anyone else see this?"

Joey looked up while Justin and JC remained hunched over the table. "It came out yesterday, dude."

"My mom called yesterday and said yesterday she got her subscription copy," Justin said.

"Okay. Thanks for the update, guys. 'Hi, Lance, you're on the cover of People' might have been nice to say yesterday."

Justin looked up. "You were studying. How did the test go?"

"Fine. And then, when it was over, some woman came up to me, called me that gay guy and had me sign an autograph. I'm on the cover of People, you know." Lance rolled his eyes and sat down on the grass.

"Seriously? Someone wanted your autograph?" Justin laughed. "People are freaks. Look, you knew they were doing the story. You turned down the interview four different times but it's not like they have to talk you to put your pretty face on the cover. Have you looked at it, yet? Your mom said some really nice things."

"Yeah, I told her to go ahead and call them back. It's just -- I knew the story was happening. I didn't think it would be the cover." Lance started playing with the grass. "Like, would it have been so hard for J-Lo to break up with someone or something?"

Justin laughed again and ran his hand through Lance's hair. "Honey, J-Lo would have had to start dating Madonna to bump us this week." Lance groaned and fell back on the grass.

One record company insider sums it up by calling Bass "the six-million dollar man." He says, "That's about how much Timberlake gave up. There were three or four companies, including mine, ready to go to the mat for that kid. But now? We'll see." Polls by MTV, People and even CNN show support for Timberlake from many teens, but it's unclear if that will translate to record sales.
-ROLLING STONE, In the News

The record company weasels stopped coming by, waiting for Justin's performance at the one gig he'd been offered since coming out. Johnny seemed confident they would all come around, and Lance hoped he was right. Lance's mother said she'd fly down for the show and Justin said something about knowing there'd be at least one person cheering.

Lance worked for Chris now, managing his office and the endless calls. He and Justin were still at Chris's place, but Joey and JC had moved out after a week. Joey had bought a nice place with his money from TransCon. After they'd hauled all the boxes in, Joey had run into the house and thrown JC over his shoulder so he could carry JC back in and say, "I'm carrying you over the threshold, baby! This place don't suck and it's all ours."

Lance drove from Chris's office to the rehearsal space Johnny had rented. When he walked in, Justin was lying on his back on the floor singing into a mic. JC sat next to him, singing along without a mic. Joey stood over by the band and when he saw Lance, he said, "Break! Break time! Lance is here."

Justin put the mic down carefully and sprang up. "Baby!" He hugged Lance and rested his head on Lance's shoulder.

"You got time for a break? I'm just stopping by on the way home." Lance rubbed Justin's back, felt sweat and tense muscles under his hands.

"Time for a short break." Justin didn't move, really, except to melt a little into Lance's arms. "So, I don't get it, you know? I worked a shit load more hours a day prepping for tours in the old days. Now I'm all tired so quickly."

JC said, "Cause it's all you this time, bozo brains," and clapped Justin on the shoulder as he walked outside with Joey.

"Right. I knew that." Justin sighed. "We, uh, narrowed down the set list today. Ten songs now. So that's good."

"How many do you actually do?" Lance knew this and he still ended up asking the same things over and over again. He wasn't used to thinking about all this shit, he told himself.

"We've -- I've got thirty, forty minutes so it kinda depends on what songs we pick. I pick. Now that I can, that people aren't telling me I'm too stupid to write anything and TransCon doesn't have me under contract and it's all mine, and stuff." Justin sighed and leaned on Lance a little more. "I even wrote a song, maybe, but I want to work on it more. So we've got these songs. I've picked these songs. But I'm all working with C, so I'm gonna keep saying we."

Lance patted his back and pulled away a little. "Let's at least sit down. I don't want to keep you and shit." Justin sat down Indian style on the floor. "You want -- do we have time to go out and eat or you want me to go run and get something?"

Justin tugged Lance down into his lap. "I'll get something later. Just, um, sit with me?" So Lance sat there and let Justin nap on his shoulder until JC came back in and woke him up and they went back to work.

VH-1's AIDS benefit show should have been another tolerable batch of performances from the non-threatening rock acts favored by the adult contemporary cable channel, with Justin Timberlake, unsigned joke, as a minor twitter of novelty. Everyone knows, after all, that the Backstreet Boys are just another teen act, dancing boys who can't sing outside the studio. Timberlake's just another hopped-up dancing boy who had had only three weeks to put together a band and try to make people notice him for something other than his sexual orientation. The 15-year-old girls could have set everyone straight, but no one listens to 15-year-old girls, they just market to them.

Timberlake had put together a tight band in just three weeks, with always appropriate backup singing from fellow Mickey Mouse Club alum, JC Chasez and former bodyguard Joey Fatone. Chasez and Fatone complimented Timberlake perfectly for the Jackson Five and Dusty tributes. During "Preacher Man", while Timberlake whipped the crowd into a frenzy with hips more scandalous than Elvis could have ever imagined, it wouldn't have surprised anyone if Springfield herself had descended from Heaven and given her blessing to the performance. And certainly not the 15-year-old girls, who knew all along that Timberlake was no joke at all.
-ROLLING STONE, Reviews

Everyone around them was standing up, cheering and Lance could feel the vibration of feet stomping. He could see Justin on the stage shining, and looking up at the balcony. Chris grabbed Lance's hand and started pulling him to the backstage entrance. They waded through people, flashed the badges Justin had made sure they both had and found themselves in another crowd. Chris knew the way and he didn't let go of Lance's forearm as Lance heard Chris saying over and over again, "excuse me, let me through, excuse me." They were standing in the bunch of people who had been watching the side of the stage and Lance could hear people still screaming when JC pushed up against him and hugged him hard.

"You're incredible, C," Lance said. He patted JC's hair, already slicked back with sweat.

JC laughed and said, "I really do love it." Then JC was replaced by Joey and the kind of hug that made Lance question whether his ribs were still intact.

"Voice like an angel, who knew?" Lance said, with the breath he could muster.

Joey patted Lance on the back and then he was gone, too. Flashbulbs went off on every side of Lance so he knew Justin had found him right before they were together. "Justin," he said, "You're so fucking amazing."

"Flat in a couple of places and the pacing was a little off, but I think it went good."

Justin bumped his nose against Lance's, and Lance had time to say, "Went amazing, you were amazing," before Justin kissed him. Like fireworks or headlights from a truck barreling at him, and Lance thought, this is how we kiss now. Every time they were out of the house, every kiss was a blaze of lights.

Johnny came up from the voices and lights and started pushing them somewhere and then they were all inside the dressing room with the door closed. Johnny smiled. "That was good, Justin."

Justin ran a hand through his limp hair and then grabbed a bottle of water. "Could've been better." Justin dissected every song for a few minutes and then drank half the bottle in two swallows. He had grabbed Lance's hand somewhere in the push to the dressing room and still hadn't let go.

Lance laughed and tugged at Justin's hand. "It was fucking incredible. Y'all brought the house down."

Johnny said, "Lance is right. And now, Mr. Timberlake of the house brought down, as we didn't do interviews before the show, now would be ideal."

Justin nodded and sat down in the chair. He grinned over at JC and Joey and said, "Dude. Make sure they get to talk to the incredibly talented Mr. Chasez and Mr. Fatone."

"Lance," Johnny said, "come talk to me for a second outside." Justin let go of Lance's hand so Lance got up and stood right outside the door with Johnny. Lance watched all the people drift by and half of them turned to stare at him for a minute. The Big Gay Boyfriend, Lance thought. On the cover of People. Before the show, when he'd stood back here to watch Justin rehearse, people had gawked at him and he'd heard people pointing him out, saying, "That's the boyfriend. Six-million dollar man." He'd heard someone say, "Must give blowjobs like a god."

"Lance, he won't say it, so I will. You gotta do an interview."

Lance shook his head. "I won't make money off him. I won't take money to talk about him." And it was a lot of money. Chris had told him right before Justin came onstage that a producer from some TV show had told Chris they would go as high as twenty thousand to get Lance on camera. One year's tuition at law school, if he got in, just to talk about his boyfriend. He wouldn't let Justin pay for that and he wouldn't use Justin to pay for that.

"Then don't take money. Talk to Rolling Stone, talk to someone real who wouldn't pay you anyway. But Lance, he won't say it and I will, you gotta do it."

Lance watched a roadie heft a guitar while trying not to look at Lance. Lance hated this. Hated that people wanted to talk to him about Justin. Not his mother's kind questions, or his sister's curiosity about this boy in his life, but people wanting to know because Justin was famous. Because Justin could bring the house down with a twist of his hips and the lift of his voice, Lance supposed. Lance had nothing to do with those things, he was just another fan in the audience. "He'll get signed now, don't you think?"

Johnny lit a cigarette. "He will. He'll get signed on the terms he wants, for significantly less upfront than we would have had before he came out, and he'll make a great album and we'll do press and everyone will ask about the boyfriend and him being bi."

"They're gonna ask him about it until -- until forever, Johnny." Lance wanted a cigarette. But he was going to finish this discussion and go back in the dressing room and sit with Justin. And Justin wouldn't want him to smoke.

"They are. They are going to ask and ask and you are part of that. And right now, you're just this blank space and you gotta answer some questions. If they ask something you don't wanna answer, say 'I'm not comfortable talking about that.' Say, 'Let's talk about something else.' But damn it, you need to say something. And he won't say it to you, so I am."

Lance stared at his feet. "When I first met him, I asked him out because he was Justin Timberlake. And when we first started, I really thought he was crazy or, uh, more than a little off, but he's hot and he wanted me and I stayed."

Johnny laughed. "God. Kid, you are so in love with him. You fucking love him so much, it's really. It's heartening."

And this was it now. Backstage and rude people who gawked and Johnny telling him things Justin wouldn't. So, Lance would get in to law school, probably, and he wouldn't let Justin pay for anything, his parents would cover what they could and he'd get loans for the rest. But he would live with Justin and he was pretty sure Justin would buy a house wherever Lance ended up for the two of them. And Lance would be in school and Justin would be on tour and they'd maybe talk every night. And in between there'd be events with more bright flashes and people staring as they held hands and Lance would go wherever to see Justin.

He'd go anywhere for Justin. He'd go anywhere. He'd left Mississippi and Nebraska because they took Justin away. So, anywhere and everywhere for Justin and that was what he had.

Lance grabbed the cigarette from Johnny and took a long drag. He said, "Okay. Okay."

They went back inside and Lance sat on the armrest next to Justin. Lance said, "Okay, I'm ready for my close-up. Bring on the dancing reporters. And the ones that aren't dancing." Justin turned around in the chair and grinned at him, that amazing wide perfect grin. Lance looked away because it was so blindingly beautiful. JC looked tired and glazed but he was smiling at Lance, like Lance had done something right.

"You're better off going for candids," Justin Timberlake says to the photographer as an assistant fusses with Timberlake's boyfriend's hair. Lance Bass looks like he'd rather be anywhere else but he offers a tight smile in our direction when Timberlake waves. This is only the third photo shoot Bass has agreed to in the last six months and Timberlake knows what he's talking about when it comes to how best to capture his boyfriend's charm, as the best shots are all candids, just as in the last two shoots Bass has done.

"We went to the movies," Bass says. "We've decided we're gonna do that for every anniversary. It's our new tradition."
-ROLLING STONE, profile of Justin Timbberlake

THE END.
Thank fucking goodness.

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