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Solo Boys
by Shine
Nick called Justin for the first time the night Justin's album came out.
Justin didn't even know Nick had his number, and when he picked up the phone it took him two rings to recognize the "NGC" listing. He almost didn't answer, but it was Nick Carter and November 5th and Justin clicked "Send."
"Hello?"
"Congratulations," Nick said, sounding relaxed and happy, and Justin sat up in bed and blinked at the wall. It was after three in the morning, he'd been doing interviews and talk shows all day and night, and this was just a little too much for him to deal with right now.
"Uh. Thanks," he said blankly, and Nick chuckled quietly.
"No, seriously," Nick said, and he sounded serious. "It's a great album, really good. You're going to do really well, and you deserve it."
"Thanks," Justin said again, and some of the shock was thawing from his muscles. He started to smile. "You listened to it?"
"I bought it," Nick said, and Justin could hear the grin. "Stood in line and everything."
"I'm touched," and Justin relaxed back against the headboard, smiling.
"I know," Nick deadpanned, "but you'd better not spread that around. Someone might take it the wrong way." Justin laughed, and after a second Nick echoed him.
"I heard yours," Justin said after a second. "It's really good, man. Sounds like Bryan Adams."
"A fact which has not escaped my attention," Nick said dryly, and Justin smirked. "Trust me. I've been informed of the similarity."
"Oh, I bet," Justin said. AJ didn't seem like the kind of guy who'd let that sort of thing go unremarked. "So where are you right now?"
"Tampa and Orlando for a few days. Then LA again. Then I'm not sure. Stuff," Nick said vaguely, and Justin nodded even though Nick couldn't see him. He knew all about "stuff." If the album was good, he'd be appearing everywhere. If it sucked, he'd be spending a lot of time working on his tan. Not many dates were set in stone when your album was subject to the vagarities of the public.
"I'll be back in Orlando in a couple of days," Justin said abruptly, and he wasn't even entirely sure why. "Want to get together?"
There was a short pause, and Justin closed his eyes and wondered if he'd overstepped some boundary. For all that they'd known each other for seven years, they still didn't know each other that well, certainly not well enough to casually hang out. Nick's call might have been just that--a short call between acquaintances.
"I'd love to," Nick said firmly, and Justin opened his eyes again."When? And where?"
Justin didn't even have to reach for his schedule--he always had home-breaks memorized. "Thursday--I come back to New York Friday morning."
"Sounds good. I've got a race that afternoon, you want to meet after that?"
Justin grinned. "Hey, I'll watch you race. Boats, right?"
"Right." Nick sounded surprised that he knew. "Okay. It's in Tampa--Henderson Bay Marina, down on 5th. Race starts at three."
"I'll be there," Justin promised, and wondered if he was insane.
"Looking forward to it," Nick said, and he sounded sincere. "I should let you go, though--you're probably wiped."
"A little," Justin shrugged, trying to downplay it. If there was one thing Chris told him that everyone hated, it was a whiner. Nick snorted, though, and Justin was reminded that Nick had just gone through the exact same thing, if not quite so high-profile, a week previous. "And you can shut up," Justin added, and Nick laughed.
"On that note, I'll say goodnight," Nick said easily. "Good talking to you, Justin."
"You too," Justin said, and the phone beeped as Nick hung up.
Justin stared at the phone in his hand for almost five minutes before dropping it onto the nighstand and slumping back down into the blankets.
***
It took about fifteen minutes in Nick's presence to realize he was being hit on.
The only reason it took him as long as it did was because Nick's new bassist was there for the first ten, and at first Justin thought Nick was flirting with her. Or that Nick's teenage tendancy to drape himself over people had survived into adulthood. Then Alicia left, and the flirting stayed, and Justin looked at Nick and saw the interest there. He blinked and pulled back a little bit, and Nick's casual hand on his shoulder slipped off, easy and quiet.
Nick didn't say a word, but Justin knew that he hadn't missed it.
But Nick didn't appear to mind, stayed as friendly and open as he'd been when Justin had first approached him after the race, and when he suggested they get something to eat before Justin drove back to Orlando, Justin didn't hesitate. He was hungry, and Nick knew a surprising lot about basketball for someone who admitted he didn't watch that much, and Nick wasn't going to ask him embarrassing personal questions about women in his life and whether or not he missed the guys. He already knew the real answers--"Duh," to the second, and "mind your own fucking business" to the first.
"It's this great place, great Mexican place," Nick told him as he pulled out of the parking lot. Nick drove a royal-blue Jetta, fully tricked out but basically boring and completely un-popstar-like, and the headroom on it was a joke for a guy over six feet tall. Justin watched out the window as person after person on the sidewalk didn't even turn their head, and thought Nick might be on to something.
"How's Aaron?" he asked absently, turned to watch a pair of teenage girls with sparkly clips in their hair ignore them completely, and behind him Nick laughed.
"He's doing fine. New album, he's gonna tour soon. We're not sure when. He's got a girlfriend," Nick added, and something about the way he said it made Justin turn around.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." Justin could identify the note now: it was pride. "A dancer on the tour--Maria." The pride was blazingly obvious now, and Justin thought it might be more than just his brother growing up. "Mom had a fit," Nick added, "but Aaron didn't back down. Told her she couldn't tell him who he could date. Mom tried to get her fired, because she's eighteen and it's statutory but Aaron wouldn't let it happen."
"Oh yeah?" Justin said, interested. Aaron had always seemed like a nice kid to him, maybe even a little shy. Jane Carter, though, he'd seen her scream at Nick for twenty minutes before the basketball game in Germany.
Nick snickered. "Yeah. He told her they weren't having sex yet anyway, and by the time she'd stopped sputtering he'd gone to the tour managers and told them if Maria was fired, he wouldn't sing. Period. And he meant it."
"Wow," Justin said, blinking, and Nick glanced at him. "Seriously. That's fantastic, good for him."
"Thanks," Nick said, and his smile was quiet and proud and happy. "He's grown up a lot. He's not letting her get away with any of her usual crap, it's great."
Justin spent the rest of the ride wondering what crap she'd tried with Nick.
***
"I told you the banana was good," Nick said smugly as they walked out of the resturaunt at closing. "Come on, admit it. I was right."
"The banana was good," Justin admitted. "Although man, give me a break. It was *fried*. I don't normally eat fried fruit, even if it does have whipped cream on it." He hadn't felt this good in weeks. It had taken maybe half an hour for the last determined shards of ice to thaw, the last remnants of rivalry and mistrust--real or imagined--to evaporate like they had never existed. Nick was easy to talk to, a good listener, and, as Justin noticed increasingly as the evening wore on, a lot more comfortable in his own skin than Justin remembered him being. He was confident now, really confident, far removed from the cocky brashness he'd had before, and Justin had always been one to respond to confidence and self-assurance.
When Nick started sharing, between dessert and coffee, how he finally got off coke and turned his life around, Justin almost got hard.
And--to be honest, Justin had missed this, the easy cameraderie of hanging with people who knew exactly what it was like, and Nick wasn't one of his boys but he was close enough, one of maybe a dozen people on the planet who knew what Justin's life was like. It was relaxing in a way not many of his recent interactions with people had been.
"Wimp. You should expand your horizons," Nick told him, and unlocked his car. "Get out more. Try new things."
"I try plenty of things," Justin objected, and Nick raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Fuck you," Justin told him good-naturedly, and got into the car.
Nick got in and put the key in the ignition, then stopped.
"Listen," Nick said suddenly, not looking at Justin, "it's late. And you've got a drive. Do you want to just stay the night at my place?" Long fingers fiddled with the steering wheel, and Nick seemed to be concentrating very hard on the crisp night sky beyond the windshield. His face was blank, pale skin gleaming in the streetlights.
Justin couldn't tell what he was thinking, if this was a pass or an offer from a friend. He didn't point out that he wasn't a broke college student who needed a cheap crash space, and he was perfectly capable of getting a hotel room if he was tired. He didn't say that they'd seldom really hung out, and it was a little soon for casual invitations home. He didn't remind Nick that he'd already turned Nick down once that day.
Instead, Justin hesitated about two seconds before nodding and leaning back into the seat. "Sounds cool, man. Thanks."
Nick gave him a look, like he wasn't sure if Justin was playing with him or not but was willing to find out, and turned the key.
***
Nick's house was big and airy, and right on the beach. Justin looked at the vast expanses of black glass and thought that during the day, it must be like being outside. All the sunshine in the world, pouring inside and streaming over tan leather furniture and golden pine floors.
"I've got guest rooms in the back," Nick said, and Justin followed him out of the huge main area and down a corridor. Nick opened the first door on the right, and Justin saw a double bed with a white counterpane glowing in the darkness. "Bathroom's across the hall," Nick added, and stepped back to let Justin by. "I'll get you towels. There's a toothbrush and crap there already."
"Thanks," Justin said, and watched Nick walk further down the hall and open a narrow door. Linen closet, obviously, and he came back with a stack of green towels. The bathroom door was already cracked open, and Nick turned on the light and set the towels on the toilet seat. The light cast odd softening shadows over his face when he stepped back out into the dark hall.
"What time tomorrow do you have to leave?" Nick asked, and Justin shrugged, leaning against the doorframe. The hallway was wide, but he and Nick were both tall and broad, and it wasn't wide enough. Justin could feel Nick, the heat of his body almost close enough to touch.
"Eleven," Justin said absently, distracted by that--the intangible press of Nick close to him. "No big deal--I'll change my reservations to leave from Tampa. I've got my stuff with me."
"Oh?" Nick said, sounding confused. Justin smiled slowly.
So. Offer from a friend, then. Justin smiled, suddenly and absurdly charmed by a guy who, when someone said no, thought that it meant no.
"Yeah," he said, straightening from the doorframe and taking a step forward. It put him fully into Nick's space, and Justin felt Nick's surprised breath as his own. He leaned forward, hands moving to cup Nick's jaw, and Nick's mouth opened under his, spicy and warm and wonderful.
When he slid his hands down, past Nick's shoulders to his waist, Nick shivered and thrust forward gently. "You said no," Nick muttered, tearing his mouth free and licking a path to Justin's throat. Justin tipped his head back, breathing faster. "Before. You said no." He sounded distracted, like he wasn't entirely paying attention to his words, and Justin moaned when Nick sucked his earlobe.
"There were. people," Justin managed hoarsely, and Nick tensed, drawing back slightly. Justin groaned and urged Nick to continue in short full-body presses, his hands restless and sliding under Nick's shirt. "Private," he went on, as Nick resumed his slow exploration of Justin's skin, "not their. oh god. their business." It wasn't shame, or not wanting to be seen with Nick. It wasn't even fear of being outted. It was, quite simply, that the last thing, the absolute last thing he wanted right now was another person to be asked questions about. And from the way Nick had relaxed, was curling his tongue right at the sensitive spot above his pulse, he thought maybe Nick understood that.
"mmm." Nick moved on and nibbled at his collarbone, choosing a spot low enough to be hidden by a shirt, and that was another reason to sleep with a popstar, Justin thought happily. They didn't bitch about little things like a "no visible hickies" policy.
"No talking?" Justin panted hopefully, and Nick pulled back enough for Justin to see his smile.
"Not right now," he agreed, and Justin shivered at the naked happiness in the whispered words, breathed into skin that craved more.
***
Morning came way, way too early, and Justin was right--the sunshine pouring in from the dawn-facing windows was pink-tinged and endless. He tied his sneakers, sitting down on the bed by Nick's hip. Nick was laying on his stomach with his face buried in a pillow, and Justin knew Nick was awake but neither of them had spoken since Justin had come out of the shower.
Outside, faintly, he heard the taxi pull up, and looked regretfully towards the door.
Nick spoke then. "Gotta go?" he mumbled, muffled, into the pillow.
"Yeah," Justin said, rubbing his shoulder. "Go back to sleep."
"See you again?" Nick asked, and no amount of muffling could disguise the wistful tone in his voice.
Justin leaned down and pressed a kiss to the nape of Nick's neck, right below the hairline on tender, silky skin. "You better believe it," he muttered, and Nick huffed a tiny laugh.
"Cool," he murmured, and Justin kissed him again, once more, before he slipped out the door, closing it carefully behind him. He suspected Nick was falling back asleep even as he did, but it didn't matter. He had Nick's number, after all.
Justin smiled slightly at his cell phone, remembering.
Nick had programmed it in himself, afterwards when Justin pretended to be asleep. Justin had watched him, secretly, naked and stretched luxuriously across the bed while Nick frowned and poked at buttons, fingers deft and eyes sated and happy.
Justin couldn't wait to try it out.
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