Chapter Text
~~~~1~~~~
JC leaned out of the door of the bus as he looked across the nearly deserted parking lot. He was still feeling the adrenalin high from the concert, and grinning ear-to-ear as he called, "Hey Curly! C'mon man, we gotta blow this popsicle stand!"
Justin glanced over at his best friend, grinning brightly. "Just a sec C, you know I can't leave these ladies with nothin' to show for waiting around this late!"
JC snorted and shook his head, but he was still grinning. He knew that the late hour was just an excuse. Justin would be willing to stay and sign autographs whether the fans had waited an hour or a week to see him. "Well hurry up, okay? The driver's chomping at the bit and Lance says we gotta go soon if we want to make Nashville on time."
"Gotcha!" Justin nodded and went back to signing jewel cases and posters.
JC scanned the parking lot, glad to see Lonnie wasn't far from Justin. There was no sign of the usual swarms of teenies, but after a moment JC remembered it was well after midnight. He grinned as he realized that most of their fans were probably home in bed. If Justin felt like he just had to sign some autographs now was probably the safest time.
JC stood in the doorway watching his best friend for another moment. The fans Justin was talking to looked to be JC's age or maybe even a bit older, and they weren't dressed like the groupies who so often hung out near the buses after a concert. He finally made a decision and hopped down off the bus step to run over and say hello. He slung an arm around Justin's waist when he reached his friend, his eyes shining as happy as his grin as he looked at the women standing nearby and said, "Evening ladies, I hope you enjoyed the show!"
One of the women grinned at him and nodded. "We sure did, Mr. Chasez. You guys were on tonight!"
Several others nodded, smiling, and JC was glad that they were older fans. Teenies usually began squealing or even crying just because he or Justin had looked at them, and actually talking to them would have meant more screaming and probably a few fainters. JC hated the fainters, it always made him feel bad that young girls would pass out just because he said something to them or shook their hand or something.
"Call me JC, please. Mr. Chasez is my dad," JC said with a grin. "And thanks, we had fun didn't we Jup?" He looked at his best friend, squeezing Justin's waist a bit.
Justin looked up from the disc he was signing to grin at JC. "Oh yeah, we had a blast!" He looked back at the ladies, adding, "You Detroit fans really rocked the house tonight." Several of the fans giggled at that, and Justin gave first them and then JC a quizzical look. "What?"
"Um... Justin, we're in St Louis." JC tried hard not to laugh, but the mirth in his eyes was impossible to miss even in the half-light of the parking lot.
Two of the giggling women dissolved into laughter as Justin tried not to blush and failed. "I knew that, I was just seeing if you're paying attention."
JC grinned at him. "Uh-huh. Whatever you say, Curly."
Justin started to hand back the CD he'd just signed, still blushing, but he paused halfway and pulled it back with a sudden grin. "Hey, would you ladies like JC to sign some stuff, too? If he's gonna stand around making me look a fool he can at least do somethin' useful, right?"
The brunette who'd handed Justin the jewel case he was holding nodded and gave JC a shy grin. "If you don't mind?"
"You don't need my help to look like a fool, Jup. You do that just fine all on your own." JC took his arm from around Justin with an impish grin and took the CD from him, pulling a Sharpie from his back pocket with the other hand as he smiled at the brunette. "And I don't mind a bit." He signed his name next to Justin's with a flourish and passed the CD back to the woman, then accepted another CD from one of the others to sign.
Justin signed the last poster that was handed to him a few moments later and then watched as JC signed whatever was handed to him, pausing between autographs to say something to each of the women. JC was always nice to the fans, but he usually managed to find a little bit more time for the little kids and the older women. Years on the road had made them all pretty tired of the incessant screaming of teenaged girls and they had begun to fight shy of the worst of them, though they often felt bad about it later. Screaming teenaged girls were a large part of why they got to live out their dreams, but the novelty of hearing girls screaming their names had worn off long ago.
Before long, JC had added his signature to everything that the ladies had brought along. JC's eyes met Justin's again, his grin widening just a bit when he saw Justin had been watching him, then he turned back to the fans. "I'm sorry ladies, but we do have that interview in the morning in Nashville, and a photo shoot after that, so we really should get going. Anything else we can do for you before we go?"
Justin slung an arm around JC's shoulders then, watching the women with a grin and waiting for an answer. He figured they'd ask for backstage passes to the next show, or maybe tickets. Word had gotten around that JC would usually give their fans either one, sometimes both. JC was a softie for a sweet smile from a pretty woman, especially if she didn't scream at him or grab him.
The women looked at each other for a moment before one of them nudged the redhead closest to JC. She gave her friend a dirty look and then looked back at JC and Justin as she spoke up hesitantly. "Um... Well, we've been following you guys since the first US tour. We go to a lot of your concerts, and since the last one in Lexington we've been wondering something. Could you answer a question or two for us?"
JC looked surprised but he was already nodding when Justin said, "Sure, ask away."
The redhead glanced at her friends again and then asked, "How long have you two been together?"
JC blinked and then turned his head to look at Justin, meeting his best friend's equally surprised look. Fans who'd followed them for several years ought to know when they had met, they had talked about it often enough.
JC looked back over at the woman, wondering if somehow he'd misunderstood the question. "Do you mean when Justin and I met?"
"No, of course not," she said, shaking her head. "We all know you two met when Justin joined the cast of MMC. I meant how long you've been together, as a couple."
"Oh!" JC said, his eyes going a bit wide. He glanced at Justin again before he looked back at the group of women, suddenly conscious of Justin's arm around his shoulders. He had no clue how to answer the question, so he asked another instead. "What makes you think we are?"
The redhead's eyebrow went up and she looked rather obviously at Justin's arm, but it was the brunette next to her who spoke. "Well, you two sing to each other a lot when you perform and, well, you just look like you're in love..." She trailed off and then shrugged, looking almost embarrassed. "You have for a long time, since that Christmas special you did for Fox."
Justin looked at the women, his dark blue eyes thoughtful. "Would it upset you if we were?"
JC glanced at Justin again, surprised that he had asked that, then looked back at the fans because he wanted to hear the answer to Justin's question. Justin was as straight as they come and rather firmly taken besides, and all the fans knew it as well as JC did. Justin really had no reason to care whether or not the ladies would be upset if he were gay. JC on the other hand... Well, rumors had been flying about him for years, and it really didn't help that some of them were true. JC had learned the hard way that denying rumors was much easier to do if they were lies.
The redhead answered Justin's question, smiling. "I think it would be great. You're best friends, you have the same interests and you're just so cute together. And, like Kaela said, you two seem like you're in love."
The others nodded and JC blinked a few times, wondering why - if the fans could see it - someone who'd shared a bus with him for years couldn't tell how he felt. For that matter he wondered why four guys who'd shared a bus with him for years didn't see it. Of course, he didn't particularly want them to figure it out, but that was beside the point, right? If strangers saw how he felt, it seemed like his best friends should, too.
Justin spoke again then and distracted JC, his voice calm and a smile on his face even though JC could feel the tension in the arm around his shoulders. "I'm glad you wouldn't be upset by it. JC is my best friend in the world, but we're not together like that."
JC just nodded, thinking that was accurate even as he wondered why Justin was glad they wouldn't mind if he was gay. Most straight guys would have a screaming fit if a woman 'accused' them of being gay. He knew Justin wasn't homophobic because they knew a lot of dancers who were gay or lesbian and Justin got along great with them, but he still hadn't thought Justin would want anyone to mistake him for gay. Some of Justin's oldest friends were a little on the homophobic side, though, which was why they were only Justin's friends and not JC's. It seemed like anyone who cared if people were gay or not spotted JC a mile off and avoided him, even though people who knew him well seemed to take it for granted he was straight. It had never made sense to him.
The taller of the two blonds in the group of fans spoke up then, her head cocked to one side. "But y'all are always hanging all over each other, and I've seen you together at Tabu and at the Club in Orlando several times. Forgive me, but you do not dance together like two straight guys." She gave them a wry grin.
JC laughed and then said with a smile, "Going to places like Tabu doesn't make you gay. I do like the gay clubs, but it's because I can dance in one and not have to worry as much about someone trying to grope me when I just want to do the ride. That, and I don't have to dodge half as many fans at gay bars as I do at the straight places. A lot of our fans wouldn't be caught dead in a gay club."
Justin nodded. "And the people at those two clubs aren't going to have a cow if JC and I want to dance together. After the manager of that place in Seattle called the cops on us for 'public indecency', that's become something else we have to think about when we go clubbing. C taught me to dance back when we were on MMC together, and we still want to be able to dance together if we feel like it. It's nice to be able to just get out and enjoy dancing without having to wonder what the other person wants from you or your friends, or if they're going to try something."
They all heard the bus start up then and looked that way just in time to see Lance stick his head out the door. "Come on, you two!" Lance called, exasperated. "You can pick up girls some other time. We gotta go now!"
"We're coming!" JC turned back to the small group of women with a quick smile. He reached into his jacket then and pulled out a pass, drawing a Chinese symbol on the back with quick, efficient strokes of his pen before he handed it to the redhead. "I'd like to introduce you ladies to the other guys, but we don't have time right now. If you show this pass to Lonnie or one of his guys at the next concert you come to, he'll bring you all backstage to hang out with us, okay?"
JC grinned at the surprised group of women as Justin spoke up, not giving them a chance to say anything. "It's been great talking to you, I hope to see y'all again soon. Thanks for coming tonight."
JC and Justin turned and ran side by side to the bus then, matching strides without trying or truly even noticing. They had moved together on stage for so long that they often fell into step with each other offstage too out of habit.
The door had just closed behind Justin when the redhead spoke up, grinning like a Cheshire cat at her friends. "Justin is straight, but he's glad we wouldn't mind if he were gay." She snorted. "I can't believe he expected us to believe that! Those two are about as straight as my brother's boyfriend."
The other women laughed and watched the buses pull out of the parking lot before heading to their own van for the drive home.