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laniew1I’m off line for a few days. My grandfather passed away and I’ll be tied up with his funeral and calling hours and family stuff.
Here’s the next chapter to tide you over until then.
The calm before the storm... a series of conversations.
TITLE: The Guardians – JC/Justin – JC/AJ
Author: Melanie
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing at all, least of all those contained within.
Chapter 7
“So are you going to tell me or are we going to just sit here and pretend that you’re not going nuts,” Nick glanced over at the passenger seat where AJ was steadily tapping a staccato rhythm out on the door handle.
It was beginning to drive him just a little crazy.
“Do you want me to turn the radio on?” AJ asked blankly, staring forward, fingers never halting.
“I want you to talk to me,” Nick said with more than a little exasperation.
AJ glanced over at him, then shot a look over his shoulder at the back seat as he sighed. Nick was being more vocal than usual and Megan was being more quiet than usual.
He blinked when he realized that the backseat was empty.
“Did we forget Megan?” he asked in confusion looking over at Nick.
To which Nick frowned, gnawing on his bottom lip as his eyes flickered between the road and AJ.
“She left the studio a couple hours ago, said that she had something to take care of before she went home.”
“That doesn’t worry you?” AJ frowned and Nick knew that he too was remembering all the times that Leighanne had left Brian at the studio ‘to take care of stuff’ while he was busy singing with the group that she wanted him to leave.
“I trust Meggie, besides Jace would kick her ass if she was playing around on me. You know how seriously he takes that whole monogamy thing…. I mean he made you give up your multitude of femme fatales and pretty boys,” Nick smirked.
“It wasn’t much of a hardship.” And it hadn’t been. AJ had been more than willing to cut everyone else out of his bed as long as he could keep JC in it.
“Hmm… so?”
AJ sighed loudly again, twining his fingers together. Wishing for a cigarette, some alcohol, something to ease this deep ache that he could feel stirring around inside him.
He had this horrible, gnawing feeling that his life was about to irrevocably change.
“Has she said anything to you?”
“Meggie? About what?”
“About JC.”
“You mean about his migraines…” Nick nodded with understanding. “You know I’d be the last person she’d tell… because she knows that I’d tell you right away if it was something really bad.”
“That doesn’t bother you?” AJ asked in surprise, watched as Nick shrugged. It bothered him more than he’d ever admit. Sometimes he got the feeling that Megan didn’t trust him at all. That she would share her body and her life with him but not her secrets.
And he knew she had secrets. Everyone had secrets… even him.
“So she hasn’t said anything at all.”
Nick shook his head. “She seemed a bit worried about him a couple days ago; in fact judging by the level of over protectiveness of The Guardians in general over the last couple of weeks I would have said that was something was wrong but…”
“But?”
“She doesn’t seem all that concerned anymore. And she really didn’t seem bothered by the fact that we were leaving JC alone in the house all day.”
“Justin was going to be there,” and there was the hint of bitterness that AJ couldn’t quite mask.
“You know you don’t have anything to worry about.”
“He’s an attractive, determined young man that wants to steal my lover from me… and you think I don’t have anything to worry about?”
“You think Justin’s attractive? I thought you didn’t look at other people anymore.”
“I don’t look, but I’m not dead either…”
“Still you don’t have anything to worry about, Justin’s come onto him before and JC’s always blown him off.”
“I think JC’s not sure what he’s feeling for Justin any more.”
“JC’s not interested in him.”
“I wouldn’t be to sure about that,” AJ said darkly.
“You know…” Nick mused, flipping his turning signal on he pulled into their driveway. “I would never have thought Justin was gay… he played that really close to the vest.”
“And we probably never would have found out if I hadn’t caught him trying to kiss JC.”
******************************************************************************
“Would you stop staring at me!” Justin could tell that Megan was pretty much on her last nerve, and he really wanted to just stare out the window and wait patiently for them to arrive back at JC’s.
But she’d had wings.
Big white wings, that were now gone, but now that he was past his initial shock he wanted to touch them.
So she needed to bring them back so he could feel them. Because it would be a shame if he ran screaming from the room the first time he saw JC’s. Let alone tried to touch them.
Touching Megan’s would at least prepare him for some of the sensations.
Right.
“Get that thought right out of your head Timberlake,” she muttered.
“You’re not psychic are you?” Justin’s eyes widened in alarm. He’d been having some pretty freaky fantasies about him and JC and JC’s wings.
“I don’t need to be, it’s written all over your face. You’re not feeling up my wings.”
“I don’t want to feel them up… its just… They are real right?”
“As opposed to fake ones that hook on with a hanger?”
“As opposed to a mirage… or something. I mean back at the lake, they kept kind of fading in and out like they weren’t really there…”
“They weren’t really there; I was just showing you the image of my alternate form.”
“So if you were to show me your ‘alternate’ form I’d be able to touch them… right?”
“Yes you would,” Megan said shortly, Justin’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. “But I’m not going to do that,” she continued abruptly, Justin’s face falling.
“But…”
“Look Justin… unfurling one’s wings, allowing someone to see them, touch them. It’s a very private thing.”
“Have you ever done that? Shown someone your true form?”
“Yes,” and from the way Megan was now gripping the steering wheel, knuckles turning white it had obviously not gone well.
“Sorry,” he winced.
“It’s not your fault,” she said shortly. Hesitating only a moment before he could practically see her forcing herself to relax.
“Yeah but still…it wasn’t Nick was it?” he asked with alarm. He actually liked Nick Carter in this world. The young man had none of the sarcastic ego that he’d had gotten used to in the other world
“No… just no… I’m not showing you my wings again and if you’re going to touch anyone’s its going to be JC’s.”
“Hey. Does he know that you came to… you know tell me all about this huge secret that he’s been keeping from me forever?”
“He had his reasons…”
“Does he know?”
“He knows,” Megan winced. “In theory he knows.”
“In theory… what the hell does that mean?” Justin’s eyes narrowed as he looked over at her.
“He knew that someone was going to talk to you…”
“Why not him?”
“Because technically he’s still your Guardian he’s just… not your practicing Guardian. When he granted your wish…”
“Which I really didn’t want anyway,” Justin stated emphatically.
“Don’t fool yourself Justin… JC would never have been able to grant it if you hadn’t really wanted it. That’s the way it works. He didn’t just listen to your words, he looked at your heart… and at the moment you said the words that was what your heart wanted, what it needed, so he gave it to you.”
“He should hate me,” Justin mumbled.
“JC could never hate you, ever…”
“But I screwed up everything. I mean all the stuff we worked so hard for. *NSYNC, our friends, our relationship… our lives. It’s all gone, everything’s gone like it was never even there.”
“And now you have a chance to do it over again, don’t feel sorry for yourself Justin. Don’t punish yourself. It’s done and over with and now you have to move on.”
“Does Nick know? You know about…” Justin gestured at where wings would normally be fluttering in the breeze and armor would be shining.
“No… And he’s not going to know… I have a semi-normal existence here; I’d like to keep it.”
“Umm Megan you have wings how normal can that be?”
“Do you want to hear about my life in your world?” she asked sharply and Justin decided just from the tone of her voice that no, he didn’t want to know anything about her life there.
Because his first instincts were probably right… it definitely had not been pretty.
“Did you know JC there?”
Megan was silent for a minute. “Yes… we weren’t friends there though, we wouldn’t even be friends now if you hadn’t…” she waved her hand and Justin nodded.
If he hadn’t decided to totally fuck his life up with what he thought was just one throwaway comment.
******************************************************************************
JC ran his fingers down the banister, glancing at the dust that accumulated before brushing it off on his jeans.
He would have to talk to the cleaning crew that came in… there was way to much dust for the cleaning they billed them for.
“Are you okay?” Damian watched him carefully. It had only been two hours since Justin had left and Megan had set off after him. He’d watched JC go through a wide range of emotions in that time. He hoped this wasn’t the one thing that would break him.
“Do you think he knows yet?” the tips of JC’s fingers traced the images presented before him. He and AJ, arms wrapped around each other the day they had come out to the public. The fear in their eyes even as they’d smiled for their friends and family.
He and Justin smiling brightly on the last day of filming for MMC. If he looked carefully he could see Britney and Tony and Christina hovering in the background.
He and Megan, him hovering close to her even though he at the time hadn’t remembered anything about his other life.
“By now… yes…” Damian said softly, his eyes soft and worried.
JC pressed a hand to his head and sighed. Conflicting memories dogged his every step. Memories of his life with Justin, memories of his life with AJ butted against each other. Each fiercely fighting for dominance, for importance.
I won’t choose between them.
He loved them both. He’d had so much time with Justin, and so much time with AJ and now those two worlds were getting ready to collide in a huge way and he really didn’t think he was all that prepared for it.
AJ was going to be pissed.
Justin was going to be furious.
Nick… he worried about Nick’s reaction especially knowing what he knew about Megan’s last days.
“Do you think sending Megan to Justin was the best idea?” JC asked quietly, he stared at the picture of Megan and Nick. They looked happy; he wondered if they would still look that happy in a few more hours.
“Well someone needed to stay here with you and Sarah can’t talk so…” Damian shrugged, he’d been elected to stay with JC because he was bigger, and stronger and faster. If JC had tried to run, to stop the inevitable Megan wouldn’t have been able to stop him… but Damian. He didn’t pull his punches, JC couldn’t get around him.
And he’d tried.
Panic had taken ahold about 60 minutes prior and Damian had held him at bay until it subsided into a fierce ache.
His life was getting ready to pretty much suck… a lot.
“Megan was pretty much it,” Damian finished.
“We could have sent for someone else to come in.”
“Who? Megan has done this before…”
“And look how well that went,” JC muttered bitterly dragging a hand through his hair.
“We couldn’t have known that it would go badly.”
“Badly?! She was tortured Damian, they tried to remove her wings, when they couldn’t do that they tried to kill her… if Justin hadn’t made that wish…” JC’s hands clenched at his side. He could vividly remember the feeling of utter hopelessness.
They couldn’t go after her, didn’t even know where she was being held. They knew she was alive because they could feel the utter terror rolling off of her wherever she was.
She’d been so scared and he’d been so caught up in it that he’d missed things.
He’d been distracted, so distracted that Justin, who picked up on the slightest changes in his mood had noticed.
And had taken exception.
The whole basis of their last fight had been because JC had been so caught up in the drama surrounding Megan that he’d not answered quickly enough in support of Justin when Lance had voiced concerns about Justin’s loyalty to the group.
Justin had taken his distraction as agreement, thought he’d sided with Lance and Joey.
And then they’d fought, Justin had said what he’d said. Made the wish which he’d believed in his heart and wanted with all his being and JC had granted it because he always gave Justin what he wanted. What he needed.
Waking in his new life with Megan (an uninjured, uncaptured Megan) staring at him with something akin to shock.
Which he hadn’t understood because while the other Guardians (and Justin it seemed) surfaced with memories still intact, his memories took a little while to catch up with the rest of him.
And now…
Everything that he’d never told Justin, never told AJ… all the secrets that he’d kept from both of them would be finally laid out in the open. He could only hope that neither of them had the same response that Megan’s one charge had.
That they wouldn’t think he was a freak or an abomination.
“AJ and Justin are not Sam,” Damian said emphatically. “Neither’s Nick but Megan’s so scarred by what happened that she won’t believe that right now.”
“If you’d been through what she has could you?”
“I don’t know… sometimes I think it would have been better for her to not have her memories.”
“That wasn’t our call… someone other than us made that decision.”
“They could have stopped you…”
“And you know they would have if it was meant to be… I was meant to grant Justin’s wish, to change this world…” JC walked to the window when he heard the car pull into the driveway. Damian moved up alongside him, his hand coming to rest on his shoulder lightly in solidarity.
A reminder that whatever else happened. He was not alone in this.
Maybe that would be enough if this all went badly and both AJ and Justin left him.
“JC…” Damian started softly.
JC plastered a bright smile to his face, Damian’s hand falling from his shoulder as he turned away from the window.
“It’s show time.”
******************************************************************************
Here’s the next chapter to tide you over until then.
The calm before the storm... a series of conversations.
TITLE: The Guardians – JC/Justin – JC/AJ
Author: Melanie
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing at all, least of all those contained within.
Chapter 7
“So are you going to tell me or are we going to just sit here and pretend that you’re not going nuts,” Nick glanced over at the passenger seat where AJ was steadily tapping a staccato rhythm out on the door handle.
It was beginning to drive him just a little crazy.
“Do you want me to turn the radio on?” AJ asked blankly, staring forward, fingers never halting.
“I want you to talk to me,” Nick said with more than a little exasperation.
AJ glanced over at him, then shot a look over his shoulder at the back seat as he sighed. Nick was being more vocal than usual and Megan was being more quiet than usual.
He blinked when he realized that the backseat was empty.
“Did we forget Megan?” he asked in confusion looking over at Nick.
To which Nick frowned, gnawing on his bottom lip as his eyes flickered between the road and AJ.
“She left the studio a couple hours ago, said that she had something to take care of before she went home.”
“That doesn’t worry you?” AJ frowned and Nick knew that he too was remembering all the times that Leighanne had left Brian at the studio ‘to take care of stuff’ while he was busy singing with the group that she wanted him to leave.
“I trust Meggie, besides Jace would kick her ass if she was playing around on me. You know how seriously he takes that whole monogamy thing…. I mean he made you give up your multitude of femme fatales and pretty boys,” Nick smirked.
“It wasn’t much of a hardship.” And it hadn’t been. AJ had been more than willing to cut everyone else out of his bed as long as he could keep JC in it.
“Hmm… so?”
AJ sighed loudly again, twining his fingers together. Wishing for a cigarette, some alcohol, something to ease this deep ache that he could feel stirring around inside him.
He had this horrible, gnawing feeling that his life was about to irrevocably change.
“Has she said anything to you?”
“Meggie? About what?”
“About JC.”
“You mean about his migraines…” Nick nodded with understanding. “You know I’d be the last person she’d tell… because she knows that I’d tell you right away if it was something really bad.”
“That doesn’t bother you?” AJ asked in surprise, watched as Nick shrugged. It bothered him more than he’d ever admit. Sometimes he got the feeling that Megan didn’t trust him at all. That she would share her body and her life with him but not her secrets.
And he knew she had secrets. Everyone had secrets… even him.
“So she hasn’t said anything at all.”
Nick shook his head. “She seemed a bit worried about him a couple days ago; in fact judging by the level of over protectiveness of The Guardians in general over the last couple of weeks I would have said that was something was wrong but…”
“But?”
“She doesn’t seem all that concerned anymore. And she really didn’t seem bothered by the fact that we were leaving JC alone in the house all day.”
“Justin was going to be there,” and there was the hint of bitterness that AJ couldn’t quite mask.
“You know you don’t have anything to worry about.”
“He’s an attractive, determined young man that wants to steal my lover from me… and you think I don’t have anything to worry about?”
“You think Justin’s attractive? I thought you didn’t look at other people anymore.”
“I don’t look, but I’m not dead either…”
“Still you don’t have anything to worry about, Justin’s come onto him before and JC’s always blown him off.”
“I think JC’s not sure what he’s feeling for Justin any more.”
“JC’s not interested in him.”
“I wouldn’t be to sure about that,” AJ said darkly.
“You know…” Nick mused, flipping his turning signal on he pulled into their driveway. “I would never have thought Justin was gay… he played that really close to the vest.”
“And we probably never would have found out if I hadn’t caught him trying to kiss JC.”
“Would you stop staring at me!” Justin could tell that Megan was pretty much on her last nerve, and he really wanted to just stare out the window and wait patiently for them to arrive back at JC’s.
But she’d had wings.
Big white wings, that were now gone, but now that he was past his initial shock he wanted to touch them.
So she needed to bring them back so he could feel them. Because it would be a shame if he ran screaming from the room the first time he saw JC’s. Let alone tried to touch them.
Touching Megan’s would at least prepare him for some of the sensations.
Right.
“Get that thought right out of your head Timberlake,” she muttered.
“You’re not psychic are you?” Justin’s eyes widened in alarm. He’d been having some pretty freaky fantasies about him and JC and JC’s wings.
“I don’t need to be, it’s written all over your face. You’re not feeling up my wings.”
“I don’t want to feel them up… its just… They are real right?”
“As opposed to fake ones that hook on with a hanger?”
“As opposed to a mirage… or something. I mean back at the lake, they kept kind of fading in and out like they weren’t really there…”
“They weren’t really there; I was just showing you the image of my alternate form.”
“So if you were to show me your ‘alternate’ form I’d be able to touch them… right?”
“Yes you would,” Megan said shortly, Justin’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. “But I’m not going to do that,” she continued abruptly, Justin’s face falling.
“But…”
“Look Justin… unfurling one’s wings, allowing someone to see them, touch them. It’s a very private thing.”
“Have you ever done that? Shown someone your true form?”
“Yes,” and from the way Megan was now gripping the steering wheel, knuckles turning white it had obviously not gone well.
“Sorry,” he winced.
“It’s not your fault,” she said shortly. Hesitating only a moment before he could practically see her forcing herself to relax.
“Yeah but still…it wasn’t Nick was it?” he asked with alarm. He actually liked Nick Carter in this world. The young man had none of the sarcastic ego that he’d had gotten used to in the other world
“No… just no… I’m not showing you my wings again and if you’re going to touch anyone’s its going to be JC’s.”
“Hey. Does he know that you came to… you know tell me all about this huge secret that he’s been keeping from me forever?”
“He had his reasons…”
“Does he know?”
“He knows,” Megan winced. “In theory he knows.”
“In theory… what the hell does that mean?” Justin’s eyes narrowed as he looked over at her.
“He knew that someone was going to talk to you…”
“Why not him?”
“Because technically he’s still your Guardian he’s just… not your practicing Guardian. When he granted your wish…”
“Which I really didn’t want anyway,” Justin stated emphatically.
“Don’t fool yourself Justin… JC would never have been able to grant it if you hadn’t really wanted it. That’s the way it works. He didn’t just listen to your words, he looked at your heart… and at the moment you said the words that was what your heart wanted, what it needed, so he gave it to you.”
“He should hate me,” Justin mumbled.
“JC could never hate you, ever…”
“But I screwed up everything. I mean all the stuff we worked so hard for. *NSYNC, our friends, our relationship… our lives. It’s all gone, everything’s gone like it was never even there.”
“And now you have a chance to do it over again, don’t feel sorry for yourself Justin. Don’t punish yourself. It’s done and over with and now you have to move on.”
“Does Nick know? You know about…” Justin gestured at where wings would normally be fluttering in the breeze and armor would be shining.
“No… And he’s not going to know… I have a semi-normal existence here; I’d like to keep it.”
“Umm Megan you have wings how normal can that be?”
“Do you want to hear about my life in your world?” she asked sharply and Justin decided just from the tone of her voice that no, he didn’t want to know anything about her life there.
Because his first instincts were probably right… it definitely had not been pretty.
“Did you know JC there?”
Megan was silent for a minute. “Yes… we weren’t friends there though, we wouldn’t even be friends now if you hadn’t…” she waved her hand and Justin nodded.
If he hadn’t decided to totally fuck his life up with what he thought was just one throwaway comment.
JC ran his fingers down the banister, glancing at the dust that accumulated before brushing it off on his jeans.
He would have to talk to the cleaning crew that came in… there was way to much dust for the cleaning they billed them for.
“Are you okay?” Damian watched him carefully. It had only been two hours since Justin had left and Megan had set off after him. He’d watched JC go through a wide range of emotions in that time. He hoped this wasn’t the one thing that would break him.
“Do you think he knows yet?” the tips of JC’s fingers traced the images presented before him. He and AJ, arms wrapped around each other the day they had come out to the public. The fear in their eyes even as they’d smiled for their friends and family.
He and Justin smiling brightly on the last day of filming for MMC. If he looked carefully he could see Britney and Tony and Christina hovering in the background.
He and Megan, him hovering close to her even though he at the time hadn’t remembered anything about his other life.
“By now… yes…” Damian said softly, his eyes soft and worried.
JC pressed a hand to his head and sighed. Conflicting memories dogged his every step. Memories of his life with Justin, memories of his life with AJ butted against each other. Each fiercely fighting for dominance, for importance.
I won’t choose between them.
He loved them both. He’d had so much time with Justin, and so much time with AJ and now those two worlds were getting ready to collide in a huge way and he really didn’t think he was all that prepared for it.
AJ was going to be pissed.
Justin was going to be furious.
Nick… he worried about Nick’s reaction especially knowing what he knew about Megan’s last days.
“Do you think sending Megan to Justin was the best idea?” JC asked quietly, he stared at the picture of Megan and Nick. They looked happy; he wondered if they would still look that happy in a few more hours.
“Well someone needed to stay here with you and Sarah can’t talk so…” Damian shrugged, he’d been elected to stay with JC because he was bigger, and stronger and faster. If JC had tried to run, to stop the inevitable Megan wouldn’t have been able to stop him… but Damian. He didn’t pull his punches, JC couldn’t get around him.
And he’d tried.
Panic had taken ahold about 60 minutes prior and Damian had held him at bay until it subsided into a fierce ache.
His life was getting ready to pretty much suck… a lot.
“Megan was pretty much it,” Damian finished.
“We could have sent for someone else to come in.”
“Who? Megan has done this before…”
“And look how well that went,” JC muttered bitterly dragging a hand through his hair.
“We couldn’t have known that it would go badly.”
“Badly?! She was tortured Damian, they tried to remove her wings, when they couldn’t do that they tried to kill her… if Justin hadn’t made that wish…” JC’s hands clenched at his side. He could vividly remember the feeling of utter hopelessness.
They couldn’t go after her, didn’t even know where she was being held. They knew she was alive because they could feel the utter terror rolling off of her wherever she was.
She’d been so scared and he’d been so caught up in it that he’d missed things.
He’d been distracted, so distracted that Justin, who picked up on the slightest changes in his mood had noticed.
And had taken exception.
The whole basis of their last fight had been because JC had been so caught up in the drama surrounding Megan that he’d not answered quickly enough in support of Justin when Lance had voiced concerns about Justin’s loyalty to the group.
Justin had taken his distraction as agreement, thought he’d sided with Lance and Joey.
And then they’d fought, Justin had said what he’d said. Made the wish which he’d believed in his heart and wanted with all his being and JC had granted it because he always gave Justin what he wanted. What he needed.
Waking in his new life with Megan (an uninjured, uncaptured Megan) staring at him with something akin to shock.
Which he hadn’t understood because while the other Guardians (and Justin it seemed) surfaced with memories still intact, his memories took a little while to catch up with the rest of him.
And now…
Everything that he’d never told Justin, never told AJ… all the secrets that he’d kept from both of them would be finally laid out in the open. He could only hope that neither of them had the same response that Megan’s one charge had.
That they wouldn’t think he was a freak or an abomination.
“AJ and Justin are not Sam,” Damian said emphatically. “Neither’s Nick but Megan’s so scarred by what happened that she won’t believe that right now.”
“If you’d been through what she has could you?”
“I don’t know… sometimes I think it would have been better for her to not have her memories.”
“That wasn’t our call… someone other than us made that decision.”
“They could have stopped you…”
“And you know they would have if it was meant to be… I was meant to grant Justin’s wish, to change this world…” JC walked to the window when he heard the car pull into the driveway. Damian moved up alongside him, his hand coming to rest on his shoulder lightly in solidarity.
A reminder that whatever else happened. He was not alone in this.
Maybe that would be enough if this all went badly and both AJ and Justin left him.
“JC…” Damian started softly.
JC plastered a bright smile to his face, Damian’s hand falling from his shoulder as he turned away from the window.
“It’s show time.”