Bad Reaction
By: JulieOh
© 2001
"...2... 3... 4...
5... 6 and 7... No! No, your right foot comes down on 'and' so you're ready to
step with your left foot on 7! Do it again!!"
Everyone in the room
groaned and panted where they stood.
"Can we have a break?"
JC called from his spot in the back.
"Not until you get
this! You're on the treadmills for this part, if you screw up it'll
matter."
"Come on,
Wade," Justin whined. "We could do the Chicken Dance up there and
people would love us."
With that, Joey and
Chris looked at each other, grinned, and started flapping their arms and
singing the familiar old tune. Wade just rolled his eyes. They didn't have the
energy to keep practicing, but this... this they could do.
"Fine," he
said with a sigh. "Ten minutes. But I want you back here in TEN minutes!
You hear me?"
Chris started saluting
as he backed towards the door. "Sir, yes sir! Thank you, sir! Very kind of
you, sir!"
They all scattered from
the room, Chris heading down the hallway for the small lunchroom at the
compound. He changed his direction, though, when he saw Lance rounding the
other corner on decidedly wobbly legs. He frowned. Recharging his sugar levels
could wait.
He caught up to Lance a
few steps down the hallway and slung an arm around his shoulders. Chris tried
to keep his tone light, knowing how his bandmate could clam up if he started
feeling smothered.
"Hey, Bass! You
workin' yourself too hard again?"
He couldn't make sense
of Lance's mumbled reply, but decided to carry on anyway.
"I hear ya. That
guy's a slave driver sometimes. I think he'd do well in boot camp, what do y-
oh, hey, woah..." Chris shifted his arm from around Lance's shoulders to
his lower back for support when the younger man slumped against him suddenly.
He looked around them and kicked open the nearest door. It led to a conference
room, and he shrugged. Not as good as a couch, but at least chairs were better
to sit on than the floor. "Come on, man, in here..."
Lance regained a bit of
his footing, and he let Chris lead him into the room. He fell into the chair
that Chris pulled out with one foot, and rested his head against the large
table, cradling it in his own arms.
"You stay
here," Chris was babbling, "I'm gonna get a phone..."
"No, no..."
Lance reached out an arm without looking up and swiped in the direction he
could make out the voice as coming from. "It's okay, just... gimme a
minute."
"Are you sure, man?
I mean, you just about passed out there..." Chris sat in the chair next to
Lance and leaned to look at him more closely.
"Nah, just... dizzy
spell. Got this new med... medi... drug... for... y'know... heart." Lance
started giggling, snorting little chuckles into the crook of his elbow.
"Doc said it'd make me feel funny while I got used to it."
"Dumbass..."
Chris muttered under his breath. "You should've told us, we could've
changed the practice. You shouldn't be working so hard with new meds."
Lance rolled his head
back and forth on the table. "S'not usually like this. Thought I could
handle it." He looked up then, and peered out the windows to the driving
rain outside. "S'probably why I see pink fuzzy tailed bunnies outside...
daaaancing in the rain...." he sang, and giggled into his hand, then he
frowned and looked sad. "They're going to get all wet out there. Come
inside bunnies!" He reached one arm towards the window, without actually
moving his body, then he lowered his arm and sighed. "They don't hear
me."
"You're *sure* we
don't need to call someone."
Lance sighed again and
rested his head against Chris' shoulder where he sat beside him. "Nope.
Just gimme a few minutes. It should pass."
Thunder boomed outside,
rattling the windows, making Lance jump. He scrambled in his chair, seeming to
try to get closer to Chris. He whimpered a little, and Chris instinctively
wrapped a protective arm around him. The arms of their chairs were awkward
between them, but Lance didn't seem to notice, leaning past them into the
embrace. Thunder clapped loudly again, and Lance tensed and brought a hand up,
resting it on Chris' opposite shoulder.
"Shh, it's
okay," Chris whispered down to the shaking man, bringing his other arm
around Lance's front.
"Sing to me."
"What?" Chris tried
to pull away, but Lance just held on tighter.
"Sing to me,"
Lance repeated, whispering into his chest, still quivering. Whether it was from
fear of the storm or residual effect of his medication, Chris wasn't sure. He
decided to chalk the request up to the drugs, though. He fumbled for a moment,
not sure what to do. Finally, he started the first few notes that came to mind,
softly, aware that the door behind them was still open.
"Every now and then
I get a little bit restless and I dream of something wild... Every now and then
I get a little bit helpless and I'm lying like a child in your arms... Every
now and then I get a little bit angry and I know I've got to get out and cry...
Every now and then I get a little bit terrified but then I see the look in your
eyes... turn around, bright eyes..."
Chris paused and rolled
his eyes at his own choice of song. He looked down at the man cradled in his
arms, but saw no reaction other than that he'd finally stopped shaking, and
seemed calmer. Chris took a breath and continued.
"And I need you now
tonight and I need you more than ever... and if you only hold me tight we'll be
holding on forever... And we'll only be making it right 'cause we'll never be
wrong... Together we can take it to......"
"Hey, there you
guys- Oh...."
Chris stopped singing
abruptly at the sound of Joey's voice at the door. He tried to sit up
straighter, but Lance wasn't letting go, so he settled for simply clearing his
throat and looking over at Joey, still frozen in the doorway.
"Uh, hey.
Joe." He could feel himself blushing, and would have blushed with
embarrassment at the fact except it seemed somewhat redundant.
"Hey. Um... it's
ten minutes. Wade wants us back now, he's hollering for you. You two. I
mean...."
"Yeah." Chris
cleared his throat again. "Ah, Lance was having a bad reaction to a
prescription so I..."
"Right," Joey
interrupted him. "So, maybe we should... call off the rest of practice? So
Lance can rest. Can go home and rest."
The man in question
stirred at the repetition of his name and seemed to wake from a trance. He sat
up in his seat, letting Chris' arms slip from around his shoulders. "Nah,
I'm okay," he said. "Just needed a break." He rose slowly and
moved to follow Joey into the hall. He paused at the doorway and looked back to
where Chris was still sitting at the table. "Thanks." He smiled a
little, then turned and walked from the room.
"Yeah..."
Chris whispered after him, but he was already out of earshot.
Finis
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