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A Feeling Heart

Disclaimer:
The members of Nsync and their families are real. This is a work of fiction and nothing more.
This story has some major potential to turn slashy. I don't plan to stop it if that's what it wants. If you are under age or don't like that kinda thing it's best to turn back now.

Late Updated 10.09.00

Chris, Joey, JC, and Lance sat flipping channels on the television in the main room of the conference suite that the hotel had arranged for the members of Nsync. They had three days in San Francisco to do whatever they wanted, within reason of course, before they moved on to the next leg of their current tour. They were waiting for Justin to get off the phone with his friend Britany so that they could hit the town for the evening.

It had been a rough season on Justin. Just when things had all seemed to click into place the press started the rumor that he and Britany were dating. That couldn’t be further from the truth. They had been friends for so long that Justin saw her as a sister. However the pressure caused by the press was starting to get to both of them. Management was trying to get the two together. Britany was getting the most pressure and had reached the caving point last week. Justin just kept telling her he couldn’t.

JC looked up in concern as Lance grabbed his head with a sigh. Chris nodded and headed to Justin’s room while Joey went to Lance’s room to grab the aspirin and a glass of water. JC watched him swallow the pills and then they helped Lance to his room to lay down.

"Bad phone call?"

"Not so much anymore, thank you," Lance replied to JC’s enquiry. Joey went see how Justin and Chris were doing while JC watched the young blond drift off into sleep. He thought back to the scare that caused Lance to share his empathic abilities with the group.

~Flashback~

They hadn’t been together for too long. Nsync really wasn’t very Nsync like at the time. They did mostly cover work at local places. Justin had a few friends who had done the show choir thing and between them, the work with the MMC, and a few friends of Chris’ they had worked on some stage choreography in an old dance studio that they had to scrape to afford.

They hadn’t been at it very long when Joey took an awkward side step and with a cry pitched forward, right towards Lance. Lance spun around and caught Joey by the arm. It was what happened next that surprised the whole group. Lance too let out a cry and collapsed, Joey falling on top of him. Justin was the first to react and pulled Joey off of Lance.

"Joey knocked him out!"

"Let me go, I just twisted my ankle, is he ok?"

"Do you think we should call for help?" Cries filled the studio quickly as the boys looked from Joey holding his ankle to the currently unconscious Lance. In a moment of responsibility, of which he was capable, Chris took control of the younger men.

"Hold it a moment!" All the confusion stopped and the group looked up at him. "Joey don’t move, I don’t want to find out that you damaged your ankle worse than it is because you were up and walking," he quickly sank back on the ground. "Justin go and get a towel and wet it," Justin looked up in confusion. "For Lance, now go! Josh, help me get him into a more comfortable position." Justin came back quickly with the cloth and placed in Lance's head.

"Are you sure we shouldn’t call for help?"

"Trust me in this one JC, he will be fine when he wakes up."

"But he hit his head on the ground, something could be wrong."

"I can guarantee that he didn’t get knocked out because of that." The rest of the group looked at Chris with questions. "I’ll tell you when he wakes up." That seemed to satisfy the boys and they sat down to wait.

To JC it seemed like an eternity. He trusted Chris and all, but he was worried about his younger bandmate. If he didn’t get knocked out when he hit the ground and they knew that Joey hadn’t hit him, Lance had grabbed Joey, what exactly had happened? Chris hadn’t suggested that they go and get Lance’s heart medicine from his bag, so it wasn’t that. He didn’t have to wait much longer as Lance stirred and open his eyes.

"Hey," Chris said, pulling the towel off his eyes.

"Lance are you ok?"

"What happened?"

"Do you want us to call someone for you?" All the questions came out quickly as his bandmates jumped to see what he needed. Lance just ignored them and looked at Joey for a moment, then back at Chris.

"It’s just a light sprain, he should be alright in a few days. We’ll just have to sit tight." Chris just smiled, but the rest of the guys looked on with questions.

"What do you mean?" asked JC, it had been the day of a million questions already and he really wanted someone to answer at least one of them. Lance realized everyone was staring at him and instantly turned red.

"I guess I’ll have to tell you then. It’s weird so please wait for me to finish, ok?" There were three nodding heads around him. The others looked at Chris.

He shrugged answering, "I found out last week on accident."

"I guess I’m what people might consider empathic." Chris smiled, JC’s eyes widened, and Joey was quick to jump and apologize. "I’m fine Joey, you just project really clearly." Seeing the confused look on Justin’s face Lance spoke to him, "Justin, I can feel other people’s emotions, from joy to pain." He addressed the rest of the group again. "I have done it sense I can remember. It’s not the standard, ‘feel the pain around you crap either’, most of the time I have to be touching the person to feel it."

"Like when you grabbed me?"

"Yeah, like when I grabbed you. I hadn’t expected it to hurt that much, it usually doesn’t. When I was eight, Stacy fell out of a tree in the back yard and broke her arm. I was inside the house, but I could still feel it. My mother acknowledged that I could do this when that happened. Family and a few close friends are the only ones that I can feel without touching and only if they are close and feeling something really strongly."

"What about us?" this was Justin’s question.

"I would think that if we all spend more time together that I will be able to feel you the same way too, eventually," Lance smiled.

"Is it like intruding on my thoughts though, if you know how I feel?"

"Its not mind reading, only emotions."

"I didn’t get to ask you this last time, Lance, but what about the idea of taking someone else’s pain from them. Can you really do that?"

"I have talked to a lot of people who are like me, and in one way or another we all are, some are just more sensitive than others. A couple have told me they can do that, take others emotions and release them outward. When I grabbed Joey, I took all the pain, but I don’t know how to send it somewhere else; so, when I released him, he got it all back.

~End Flashback~

Later on they learned Chris had cut himself a week ago when working in his apartment. He hadn’t thought much about the cut, but Lance knew there was something wrong. Chris had it looked at and found out that it was becoming infected. He had his reasons to belive.

There had been a lot more questions go around that afternoon. Just as Lance said, Joey’s friend who was nurse told him his ankle was sprained and he should lay off for a few days. It had been years ago and Lance had indeed developed that connection to the other guys. Sometimes they were glad when he came to talk and sometimes they were angry that his gift had given them an outlet to the emotions they were harboring. It was hard on Lance with the crowds they were constantly around and all the people who touched them everyday.

No one else knew and they worked as group to make sure that no one else would find out. JC was still worried. They had reached the midway point of the tour, the highest stress point and it was weighing on them all. The emotions were high and Lance was more prone to attacks like the one that he had had tonight.

JC sat on a chair on the far side of the room he and Lance shared. It was common for they’re to be only four rooms to this type of suite so the boys often alternated sharing one. Half an hour later he was drifting off when Lance shot out of bed and walked towards the door. JC tried to reach for him; his eyes were fever bright and his skin very pale. Lance just pushed right past him and headed strait to Justin’s room. When JC caught up with him, Lance had Justin by the head forcing the younger man to meet his gaze. He stepped up to separate the two but Chris motioned him down. After a few minuets Justin stopped struggling and looked downward into the older man’s eyes.

“Yes we understand this is about you. But it keeps affecting us all.” Justin opened his mouth. “Just listen,” Lance hissed. “It’s killing you.” Justin nodded slowly. “You need to take a few days during our break next week and deal with this face to face. That’s what is causing all the problems we’ve had in the last month, the fact that we can’t deal face to face.

“If you need to talk, if you want help, we will be here. We cannot and will not solve this one ourselves though. You have to decide how to deal with it. The fact that you aren’t dealing with it is killing us all.” Silence reigned in the room. Lance continued with a whisper, “Please talk to us Justin. We can’t do it ourselves. Talk to Britany, we will help with the press and with her reaction if she can’t see your side. This is about you, but it is affecting us all.” JC could see the anger, sadness, and confusion drain out of Justin; Lance had done something like this for all of them at certain times. “Ok now?”

Justin nodded and Lance pulled his hands away, freeing his captive audience. His knees sagged slightly and he and Justin sank to the ground to sit in front of the bed. JC gathered Chris and Joey and they left the two youngest members of the band in their moment of peace.

~~~~

“That was a close one. He nearly closed down on me,” Chris said turning to look at the others.

“We have to careful,” Joey spoke up. “Remember when we were dealing with TransCon and Lance collapsed, we can’t let things get that bad.” Silence enveloped the group again as the boys sat on the sofa and thought about their situation.

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