Part 2


It had taken some cursing and some bribery, but after about two and a half hours of a "deep conversation", Wade finally had Lou Pearlman on his side. Now. What person could possibly want to collaborate with him? He had done so much to so many people in the past, it was as if he had some obsession with teenage boys and it was rather easily to figure out, really. Well, Justin always said that, and everyone agreed with him. It was as simple as that.

But what about Wade? Why did he want to work with Lou? Lou was there when the whole creation of *NSYNC began, he was the one that started this whole deal. So, Wade figured, that while in Germany they could reveal themselves a bit more than they could in the States, and Lou might be able to gather a little bit of background information on Justin before any plans and decisions were made. And even if that wasn't true, Wade had a second reason. He figured Lou would want revenge, because of the simple fact that Lou was planning on doing things to this group, but never had a chance to because they were taken away from him. Just like the Backstreet Boys had before him. Whatever decisions and schemes these would be, Lou promised he'd give a hand. He, too, wanted to hurt the superstar who had slipped out of his grasp so long ago. It seemed that everyone wanted a piece of Justin Timberlake.

Wade walked over to the kitchen, pulling a can of beer out of the fridge. He cracked it open and placed the cold object to his lips, downing a large gulp of the cold liquid before stepping back into the living room, bending down to the height of a cabinet beside his entertainment system. He opened the wooden doors to reveal a cardboard box full of tapes and CDs, things of the sort. He placed the can on top of the cabinet and pulled the box out of the cabinet, placing it on the ground in front of himself.

The box was full of demos and practice tapes and CDs of when he worked with both Britney and *NSYNC. He figured there had to be something, somewhere, that could help him. Lou had told him to look through tapes and see how Justin acted, things of the sort. Wade didn't exactly understand why, it seemed so stupid to him. What would tapes from the past prove to help him now? Well, it didn't make all that much sense, but Wade was desperate right now. It didn't take very long for Wade to realize a pattern in the first scenes of the first tape.

The first video happened to be a recording of "The Making of 'Pop'" from MTV. Wade leaned back in his seat, taking a long sip of beer. He raised an eyebrow questionably as he watched scenes he couldn't even remember unfolding before him for a second time. He watched himself on the TV screen, walking over to a familiar brunette he used to work with. "JC," he mumbled, perplexed. He stared in utmost confusion as his television self grab the singer by the waist, laughing as he did so. He watched as they both exchanged a few whispered words before laughing a bit more, Wade's hands still on the other man's hips. "God. I don't remember that." The can of beer nearly slipped from his fingers as he noticed the look on Justin's face as he watched the two. A look of anger.

Wade put the can down before he dropped it, changing videos. The next one was full of talk show interviews and music videos. Wade was instantly bored by them, so he pushed the fast-forward button on his remote control, looking for whatever it was Lou was demanding for him to spot. He blinked, quickly pressing the play button when he saw the camera move to Justin and JC. "Larry King Live," Wade mumbled to himself, keeping a mental record.

He watched in interest as a familiar picture from the old MMC was shown on the screen. He coughed, repressing his anger as he looked at two of his past employers when they were younger: Justin and Britney.

*"See, that's me in the dress, and Brit's the one with her hair in the bandana," Justin said, laughing as he ducked his head, shaking it in embarrassment. The other members of *NSYNC laughed at that, looking back to the picture on the screen.

"You look more like a girl," Joey commented, laughing.

"You were cute back then. What happened?" Chris asked, as he turned back to face his younger bandmate.

"Oh God, I looked bad, c'mon," Justin whined, cheeks a bright pink color.

JC shook his head slightly, laughing a bit more as he turned back to face the picture. "Nah, you were cute."*

"Interesting," Wade wasn't exactly sure what he was looking for yet, but he was intrigued by the closeness between the two bandmates that he had forgotten existed. And since he was watching it on TV rather than live in person like he used to, he could see the two in different angles and such, showing more than he could have ever seen. "I DON'T remember any of this."

About an hour and a half later, Wade was a little over halfway done looking through tapes and DVDs of his ex-employers. He was leaning back against the couch, a smug smirk on his face as he downed the remainder of his fifth can of beer. He stretched his hand out, feeling around the coffee table for his cell phone. After a moment of feeling around, he finally found it, and brought the contraption to him, pressing a few buttons. "Hmmm.. Lou? Yeah.. I think I see what you were talkin' about now," he slurred, eyes crinkling with a shine of satisfaction.

***

Justin woke up again around 3:15, stretching his arms out. He pulled the sheets closer to his body and rolled over, cursing aloud when he felt something hard slam into his face. He sat up, rubbing his cheek while wincing, looking down to see the offending object. "The phone?" he questioned, blinking in confusion for a moment before he remembered that he had talked to JC before he fell asleep. "Ah, that's right. He.." Justin pouted a bit, then a playful smile appeared on his lips to replace it.

He tossed the sheets off of his body and got out of bed, stretching a bit more with the phone in his hands. He stumbled over to the bathroom and put the phone down by the sink. He turned the water on and washed his face with only cold water, trying to wake himself up. After having done that, he dried himself off and grabbed the phone once again, stumbling over to the couch. He threw himself upon it and got comfortable, staring at the ceiling.

Over the past few weeks since he started touring with Christina, he had come to the conclusion that it wasn't the same. Not for the obvious reasons that he doesn't have his four best friends alongside him, but for other reasons. Emotional reasons. He missed being around them, he hadn't done so in so long. Rather, he missed rooming with JC, bugging him, watching movies with him, having their long in-depth conversations, everything. It was worse on stage. He was the only lead now, he didn't share it with JC anymore. Everything was him. He couldn't do backup, didn't have anyone around him that was singing like his friends were, it was all him.

Not that he hated what he had now. He loved being back on stage doing concerts, being back on the road. He missed it, longed for it. And thanks to it, it made him come to terms to an important realization. Yeah, everyone knew he loved JC. But no one knew he was in love with JC. He didn't know either until they had to be separated for so long, and that was in June, a bit more than a month ago, so he was still questioning himself and everything revolved around the mere idea. He thought he was feeling as so just because he missed his best friend, like he missed the others, so he didn't call it love. Feeling this way, he went out with many celebrities trying to get over it. But it was while dating these other people that he realized it. It wasn't just because he missed him. He was in love. Like some forbidden romance he had to hide even from the one he was in love with.

He smiled brightly, shaking the conflicting thoughts from his head as he dialed the number, and waited. He cursed aloud, hearing the answering machine go on, but then shrugged, deciding to take this to his advantage. He took a deep breath, trying hard not to laugh as he screamed loudly into the phone, letting it carry across the country and out the speaker of JC's answering machine, into the house.

"JAYCEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! GET UP OFF YOUR ASS AND ANSWER THE PHONE. You said it was all right if I called again when I woke up, and your sorry ass fell asleep on me! That's not fair! You know just for that I'm making you sleep on the floor whe--"

"Hey. You fell asleep on me first, so we're even."

Justin nearly fell off the couch when his friend's voice traveled back to his ear, and he laughed, loudly. "Good morning sunshine! How was breakfast?"

"Meeeeeh."

Shaking his head, Justin snickered as he sat up. "Wow. I'm enlightened. Did you pack yet?"

"Yeah, earlier, actually."

"I'm shocked, You normally save everything for the last possible second."

"And you so shouldn't talk."

"Gr." Justin licked his lips, feeling himself sliding off the couch. "I think I said it before, but it deserves a repeating. I frikkin' miss you guys."

"Aw. I'm touched."

"No, I'm serious! It's scary going on stage by yourself for the first time! You don't know what the audience is gonna think, and when you turn around to expect to see four other guys behind you, they're not there!"

"Now you're making me nervous."

"Huh? Aw heck no, JC. You've got more talent than me."

Justin blinked when he heard laughter coming from the other line.

"Oh my God, Justin. I can't believe you just said that. Flip back, VMAs 2002. You kicked ass, man. Kicked major ass. You were alone for the first time, a nervous wreck -- I know I saw you backstage dude.."

"Don't remind me about backstage," Justin blushed, chuckling.

"Heh. Well anyway, you did fine then, you're doing fine now. Fifty-five percent of the *NSYNC audience comes to see you and your ass, and don't deny it. You're the young cute one on every magazine cover that everyone wants in bed."

"Even you?" Justin meant it as a joke, but quickly dropped right off the couch the moment he said that. 'Oh my God.'

"Oh, yeah, millions of girls nationwide can't be wrong about you, I mean, my God, you're Justin Timberlake. Shit I think I'm gonna pass out. Take me now."

"JC I hate you," Justin laughed, but sulked. He wanted a serious answer, but knew he wouldn't get one. Hey. JC was straight. Er. Ignoring taste in clothes and stuff like that. Yeah. He was as straight as a board. "So what time am I meeting you on Friday again?"

"You lost the paper with the information didn't you?" Justin went quiet, JC snickered. "Never change, Timberlake."

"I won't," Justin beamed, taking down the information JC gave him while laying on the floor in front of the couch.

***

Thursday. 7:15 in the morning. JFK airport.

Lou Pearlman's plane had landed about thirty minutes ago, and fifteen minutes ago he left the airport with one Wade Robson to his apartment in the city in a limo. Wade was grinning foolishly after having met *NSYNC's old manager face-to-face for the first time, plans of revenge now seemed like they were possible. The two talked about their work with the five boys, and Lou explained his side of the story over the lawsuits. Wade shrunk back as he saw nothing but hatred lie in the eyes of the pudgy man beside him.

"Those liars. Do anything for more money, that's all. Once they had a foundation beneath them, they moved on to higher ground. Ditched me like a burnt out cigarette. If it wasn't for me they wouldn't even exist, wouldn't even know each other." Lou cursed under his breath. "Ungrateful bastards."

Wade nodded, now questioning what he got himself into asking for Lou's assistance. "I see. So. What do you have in mind?"

"I send that back to you," Lou replied, turning in his seat. "What makes you so hell bent on seeking revenge?"

"I already told you--"

"Say it again. Not in detail, the gist of it."

"I want to get back at Justin. He's taken so much from me while he has everything. And so now, I want to take something from him. But what the hell am I going to do with that? I don't know what to take--"

"I made you watch those tapes for a reason, Mr. Robson." Lou lowered his glasses a bit.

Wade raised an eyebrow, then thought back to the tapes he views the day before. His eyes then widened as he looked back toward his soon to be accomplice. "You're not suggesting we.."

Lou merely smirked. Widely. "Temporary. This whole plan has nothing to do with that, all we need is blackmail to get him to listen to what we say."

"And so.. when we do have Justin, what do we plan on doing to him?"

"For one who wants revenge, you sure lack the creative talent needed to do it. Honestly.. you never said YOU had to be the one to perform the revenge, right?"

"No, doesn't have to be me. I just want to make sure it happens, and he suffers."

"Perfect," Lou chuckled. "Then once we get to that stage, I will handle it. Schedules' changed, I hope you know. He's headed here today, airport we just left from."

"How do you know that? Wait, why didn't we just get him then?!" Wade reached out for the door handle as the limo stopped.

"I've been watching him for a while. Besides! How the hell do we do that with all the security? You're jumping ahead of yourself. He's here for two weeks, first week off, then he has a few concerts, then off to Pittsburgh I believe. That's where he was supposed to go first but there was a change of plans."

"What were these plans exactly?"

"Don't know, don't care. It's of no importance to us. So now we need to plan on how to act out stage one. "

***

"Hey Joe! I didn't expect you to pick me up."

"Come off it, J. You just landed here and you're not staying in a hotel when you know very well that I live here."

Justin beamed, embracing the older man in front of him. "You rock man. But I can't, I'm supposed to.. uh.." He coughed.

Joey stepped back, examining his friend very carefully. He then formed a bright smirk on his face, punching Justin's shoulder playfully. "Aha."

"Wha?" Justin blinked, snapping out of his daze.

"You, sir, have the look of love in your eyes. Who's the girl, J? She can stay with!"

"Joe! You're engaged!" Justin burst out laughing. "Congrats again on that, by the way."

"Awww," Joey shook his head, chuckling. "Well? Do I know her?"

Justin rubbed his arm nervously. "Uhm..yes."

"Why, are you blushing? Shit!" Joey laughed again. "You were never so embarrassed to confess your love with Brit or anything before."

"I don't know if I was ever in love with Brit," Justin replied softly.

"What? Hey, maybe we should save this for later, huh? First we gotta figure out where you want to stay."

"Would you mind if we crashed with you?" Justin looked up, realizing he had to tell Joey his recent realization sometime. "It's not for too long 'cause I know you're busy with that Fame thing and all those other things and stuff and--"

"Justin. Listen to yourself here," Joey smiled, trying to calm his friend down. "It's fine. We have plenty of room. Kelly and Bri are away for the weekend, but when they come back on Monday they aren't gonna kick you out or anything."

In response to Joey's statements, Justin nodded mutely. Joey bit his lower lip in confusion, wondering what could possibly be shaking the younger singer up so badly. He reached out, wrapping his arm around Justin's shoulders, drawing the man closer. "It'll be like a big sleepover like the old days! Only if you promise you won't have sex all that loud."

Justin's eyes widened and he turned his head to face Joey, a look of panic and embarrassment painted over his bright red face. "I can't have sex with JC if he doesn't know I love him yet!" He squealed, loud enough for Joey to hear, and anyone close enough, but to Justin's luck there was really no one around.

"J... J... Jayce?" Joey's eyes widened. Justin felt the breath get caught in his throat. Wide, blue eyes staring into Joey's as he wished, hoped, begged for something, someone to just come out and kill him.



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