Two Man Bus - part 2
By: Chaos and Raven

Lance woke with a pain in his neck. The hotel room barely lit with early morning light but he was warm if a little uncomfortable. He was sprawled across Joey's lap; his T-shirt rucked up his chest. One of Joey's hands spread across his stomach.

Oh. Wow. Cold shower time.

"Ew, gross. Joey and Lance are getting sex cooties on the couch."

Lance fumbled to his feet as Chris walked past them into the little hotel kitchen.

"Shaddup, Chis," Joey mumbled from the sofa. He swung his arm out and collided with Lance's knee. "'S early. Just ignore him."

Chris was standing behind the breakfast bar staring out at them. Lance looked up and met his eyes and Chris gave him an encouraging smile. He looked away quickly, embarrassed by the understanding in Chris's face. Joey's grip on his pant leg tightened and he was pulled back down and tucked under Joey's arm.

"Sleep." Came the murmured command.

Lance didn't reply but wuffled agreement into Joey's side. In the other room, he could hear Chris starting the coffee maker. Justin would probably wake up in another hour but JC wouldn't move until someone went in to shake him. And then Lance was asleep again.

Someone was laughing, he thought distantly. Joey. And... JC? He fumbled to his elbows and stared blearily around the room. JC and Chris were sitting together on the floor drinking coffee and JC was reading through a newspaper. Joey was still behind him, in roughly the same position as before. His big, strong hands were stroking comfortably across Lance's exposed stomach.

"Time is it?" He muttered, his voice low and raspy from sleep. Chris called it his porno voice and claimed they could make millions in phone sex. Lance liked to remind him they already had millions.

"Just after ten," Joey replied. "We don't have to leave until two." His grip on Lance's torso tightened as Lance wiggled around for a better position. "D'you want some water?"

Lance nodded gratefully and took the glass Joey offered him. His head was threatening to start hurting. The morning had been so surreal and it was barely started. Joey was being nice to him. Not an abnormal occurrence but it was sexy nice not buddy nice and that was strange. It wasn't unwelcome. Definitely not unwelcome. Except, Lance spent just about all his time reminding himself that Joey was the straight man.

***

"You could have woke me," Lance said later as they were waiting for Justin to finish in the bathroom.

Joey smiled. "Yeah."

"But?"

He shrugged. "You were comfortable. I was comfortable. I don't like to mess with a good thing."

Lance frowned. "Yeah."

"Hey, don't be like that."

"No, it's fine. I was just thinking."

"Always a dangerous pursuit," JC spoke up from the floor.

"Let's get the lead out ladies, it's time to hit the road." Chris grinned at them as he walked back into the room. "Home sweet tour bus."

Lance snorted. "Is Princess Justin finished doing his make-up?"

"Who cares," Chris replied. "Leave him. With my charm and your boyish good looks we could start our own band. That would be great. The Chris and Lance band. The Great Kirkpatrick."

Lance smiled despite himself. "What about JC and Joey?"

"They can be groupies. We'll give them front row tickets and let them look at us adoringly."

"You don't think the fans would notice?" Joey asked.

"Of course not. They're only fans because of me and Lance anyway."

"God, are you sure that ego is going to fit on our bus, Chris? Because, you know, if we have to we can get a separate one just for it." Justin walked into the room tying his bandana. His backpack slung over his shoulder.

"So long as it doesn't have to compete yours for space, Meester Teemberlake," he said with an exaggerated accent, "we should be fine."

Justin grabbed him and gave him a noogie. They rushed out to the buses laughing and wrestling. Lonnie was waiting for them in the parking lot. Chris ran up to Lance at the last minute and squeezed him into a tight hug and planted a sloppy wet kiss on his cheek.

Chris said "you go girlfriend," and winked outrageously.

Lance hated that Chris understood. He may have only just come to realize that Chris understood but he already hated it. Chris wasn't supposed to understand. He was supposed to take Lance aside and tell him all the reasons dating within the group was a bad, bad idea. He was supposed to say "Lance, crush all you want man. Joey's straight."

What he did instead was lisp outrageously and wink and flirt. And, when no one else was looking, he gave Lance that slow smile that meant 'good luck', 'you can do it', and 'it'll work' all rolled into one. Lance hated that look. He had received it no less than five times since waking.

"Y'all ain't allowed to let Chris watch Oprah anymore," Lance yelled after he slithered out of Chris's grasp. "His brain is going wonky."

Joey laughed as he bounced up the steps onto the bus. Chris gave Lance 'the look' again and dashed over to give Justin a wedgie. Lance sighed.

Chris wasn't supposed to understand.

***

The sun was setting back the way they came and it was the only time Lance really thought the ugly desert they were driving across looked good. California was nice but once they were into Nevada there wasn't anything to look at. It was depressingly devoid of green. The setting sun stained the sand orange and red. Soon the light would be gone and Lance would be forced to face Joey again.

"Hey Lance? Wanna play poker or something? I'm bored."

Lance turned a little. The light shone against half of Joey's face and he looked burnished and beautiful. He bit back a wistful sigh. "Not now, Joe. I just... I wanna watch the sunset."

"Yeah." Joey said softly. He came up behind Lance, settling his broad chest half against Lance's back. "You okay? Not mad at me or anything?"

Lance pursed up his forehead. "What are you... You mean this morning? Of course not."

"I just thought, you know, I was kind of groping you in your sleep. Maybe you'd be upset. The, uh, the religion thing. Isn't thou shalt not grope one of the commandments?"

Lance smiled for what felt like the first time. "Nah man, it's thou shalt not grope in public."

Joey relaxed into him a little more. "Oh, so then can I?"

"Uh, what? Joey you're--"

"Chris said--" Joey backed up a little.

"Fucking Chris," Lance said but he didn't really mean it. "You know he's been giving me 'the look' like, all day. I was wondering what the hell was up with him."

Joey smiled and nodded. Yeah, he knew. He brought one hand up and used it to turn Lance into him, his thumb trailing across Lance's jaw and the slight beard stubble along it. Lance gasped in a shaky breath as Joey thumbed across his lower lip, opening Lance's mouth gently with his finger.

"Can I?" Joey breathed into his mouth.

"Uhh..." Lance replied.

And Joey sealed their lips together, his hands framing Lance's face, gently stroking his skin. Lance shifted, trying to settle in Joey's lap without breaking their kiss. Joey's kiss was soft, his tongue barely flicking past Lance's teeth. He rocked forward and Joey gasped, dropping his face to Lance's shoulder.

"God, you're beautiful," he mumbled. "I've wanted you." Joey mouthed his way back up to Lance's mouth, licking broad strokes across his jaw that made Lance shiver as the cool air hit.

"Just... slow," Lance said, his fingers digging into Joey's shoulders.

"Yeah."

And Joey licked across Lance's mouth and sucked on his tongue and generally made him feel sexy. When Lance snuck his fingers between their bodies and tried to undo his pants, Joey pushed him away and wove his hands through Lance's hair.

"Slow, right? We've got forever," he said into Lance's mouth.

Lance hummed in response and chased Joey's lips into another kiss. They kissed and kissed and eventually slept a little and then woke up to kiss some more. Outside, the night was still and clear. Lance leaned into Joey's warmth and stared out at passing road markers. Joey's hand was soft against the skin of his belly, the same way it had been forever.

Lance tipped his head up and rubbed his nose against Joey's cheek. "Can we?"

"Yeah."

Joey undressed him slowly, mapping his body carefully and with enough reverence to make Lance uncomfortable. He felt awkward lying naked on the long couch. It wasn't as if Joey had never seen him naked, just, not like this. Lance's breath hitched as Joey ran long fingers across his stomach; tracing his hips and abs into the vee of his legs.

They moved together slowly and perfectly. Lance's breath came in short ragged bursts. He bit his lip as Joey pushed into him, muttering soothing words into Lance's neck. Joey's hand was firm against his cock, stroking in double-time with his thrusts. They breathed together, their lips skittering against each other.

Lance came first, arching his back and groaning loudly. Joey's hand, wet and semen smeared, slid to his hip and Joey pulled them together forcefully. Lance kissed Joey again, trying to match his thrusts even though he wasn't racing towards completion any more. A few more minutes of yellow streetlights flashing golden across their skin and Joey stilled above him.

"Oh God," he said.

Lance smiled into their kiss. "Yeah."

"Oh baby, you're beautiful." Joey stroked Lance's side gently.

He purred happily in response. "Mm. I love you."

"Yeah? I love you."

"Yeah."