Erik knew it was kind of a cliché, and maybe even just the littlest bit lame, but he couldn't help it. Those eyes, and those hips, and the way he moved those long slender hands, and that little blush, so cute...Erik sighed, and tipped his head to Ashley's shoulder, and watched Lance Bass talk about his movie on Regis and Kelly. Ashley sighed too. Jacob made a gagging sound and threw a pillow at them.

"Hey, watch it," Ashley snapped, and settled back down into his side, breathing warm air down his arm. And that was cute - Ashley was always cute when he put a little spin of diva on - but not as cute as this.

Lance leaned down to fiddle with the laces on his left shoe. Erik felt his head being tilted to the side. And that was nice, that helped. He smiled down at Ashley - whose eyes were fixed intently on the screen, though a hand was stroking the side of Erik's neck.

Lance settled back lower on the couch, and his shirt slipped up a notch to reveal a hint of firm stomach.

Jacob flopped noisily behind them. "Oh for..."

"Shut up, " Erik said, and watched.

"I got 'em." Ashley brandished the brown paper bag smugly as he climbed back onto the bus, and Erik looked up from his laptop with a smile.

"Hey, yeah?" He grabbed for the bag, missed, grabbed again, and Ashley danced out of his reach.

"No, none for you, hands off my fruit snacks! You want fruit snacks you can go buy your own." He escaped back to his bunk, and Erik considered chasing him, but sat back and pouted instead.

"I can't believe you're hoarding the fruit snacks!" He shouted over his shoulder. "After I gave you half of mine. Half! And all the Lance ones! You're a greedy little bastard, Angel."

"Shut up!" Dan's head popped up from the couch, looking grim and tousled. "If I have to hear one more word about those fucking fruit snacks I'm gonna kill you both, I swear to-"

"Shh, shhh." Urgent whisper from the front where Trevor was sitting, and they fell silent as the camera crew dragged onto the bus. Erik wondered how Ash had kept them away while he was in the convenience store, and then shook his head. No one was better at ditching the crew than Ashley.

"Hey," Erik hissed, and turned his back to Trevor's death ray glare.

Ashley hummed contentedly to himself, prying open the bag and giving the contents a little shake.

"Hey! Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey..."

"No, you can't have any," Ashley said.

Erik fumbled under his pillow, and accidentally dropped a magazine to the floor. He followed it, crouching beside the bunk, and smirked as Ashley did a double take at the cover, snatching it up so quick that he could hear the pages crinkle.

Ashley sucked in breath, and dropped the candy packet to the floor - which meant, incidentally, into Erik's hand.

"And it's not even sticky," Ashley murmured, and glanced over to share a grin.

"Not even sticky..." Erik acknowledged with pride.

"Oh, you... fuck!" Dan said, and scurried up to the top bunk, though he should know better.

They weren't allowed to swear in public.

"He wants me, oh yeah." Erik sucked in a breath as Lance beamed beside the Christmas tree. He was putting in a tape to catch it next time, definitely. He could just sit and wait there, even, until it came on again. MTV were horrible about replaying their commercials; should be no problem.

Ashley sent a sharp elbow into his hip, and pain laced up his side, and oh. Right. Boyfriend. "He wants us. Us."

"He wants that chick's ass," Jacob said, chuckling low. And Erik bet Jacob was, er, adjusting himself, but he sure as hell wasn't looking. He'd chosen to remain firmly in denial. No, ladies and gentlemen, Jacob Underwood did not have a penis. He was supplying enough of the dick quota just by being himself.

Ashley laughed, and squirmed on the carpet. "No way. He's not even faking it well."

"Oh, and he wants you two?" Trevor laughed, and bounced a crumbled ball of paper off the television screen.

"Shut up," Erik said, even though Ashley was stroking his back, and that helped. They just didn't understand.

"Motherfucker," Dan breathed, and Erik couldn't even yell at him to watch the mouth, because his own jaw had just dropped. Oh, that gorgeous bitchy queen...Erik grabbed the magazine out of Dan's hand and raced through the house, hearing pounding feet behind him and not caring. He had to, hmmm...he dodged around a corner, feinted for the bathroom, cut left and slammed the door to Ashley's room behind him, startling Ashley and Jacob up from comfortable sprawls in front of the tv. He turned the lock on the door, ignored the pounding from the other side, even when Dan's voice joined the chorus, and ran to the bed.

"Oh, man, Dan's like freaking out, seriously, I mean. I think he might have a heart attack, but check it out, look at what he said..." He ran out of breath, and shoved the magazine at Ashley, who took it curiously, read where he pointed, and slowly widened his eyes.

"Holy shit!"

Ashley met Erik's eyes. Yeah, it was a pretty nasty thing to say. Yeah, it wasn't very complimentary to them. But you didn't get to be queen bee of the boyband world by playing sweet and nice, and Lance had cattiness down to its purest, finest form, and...

Erik sighed in lust and envy. He was just so perfect. Ashley nodded in silent understanding, and kissed him, ignoring the "ew! No! Stop!" from Jacob.

"Do you see him?" Ashley weaved his torso back and forth, peering between Eric and Dan, and over the shoulder of Clive. Who, of course, was standing directly in front of all of them.

"Nope." Erik sighed, and slipped his hand over to discreetly rub at the small of Ashley's back.

Lance was there - they were sure of it - but the crowd was huge. This entertainment gathering was anything but exclusive - which had been clear already, what with their presence and all.

A blur of blond caught his eye, and he stumbled into Dan as his eyes attempted to track it. "Watch it, man, " Dan hissed, and yelped as Ashley darted as well and stepped on his toes.

"Is that him? Is it?" Erik knew his voice was all high and maybe even crossed the line into 'breathy,' but he just didn't care.

"I think so, I don't...man, I wish everyone would just move!" Ash was up on his tiptoes, craning his neck left, and Erik was looking right, also stretching, and he almost fell flat on his ass as he snapped back around when he heard that distinctive voice, cool and distant and deep, saying hello to someone, oh god, right there.

Erik froze. Ashley froze. Dan snorted, sneered, and turned away, wandering after Trevor, who was sucking up to some lady in a suit already.

Lance was shaking an older man's hand. Lance was five feet away. Lance was wearing green and black and looked, oh, amazing. Lance arched a disdainful, dismissive eyebrow at that man, and turned, and saw them. Erik felt Ashley's hand slip into his, cling, and he squeezed back.

"My, my. If it isn't O-Town. Or at least some of you." Lance arched that cool brow again, a little smirk twisting his lips. "Aren't you out past your curfew?"

Lance Bass. Being a total bitch. To them. Erik checked his blood pressure - yep, he was fairly close to dying. He managed to bump Ashley with his hip, and stutter, "Um, oh. Hi."

"I love those pants," Ashley burst in with. "That shade of green really accents, um, your complexion." Erik could feel Ashley's body loosen as he slapped on his 'I-am-prepared-to-listen-to-you-intently-and-I-sincerely-care-about-what-you-have-to-say' face.

Lance did a quick pan with his eyes, and his jaw twitched. Erik blinked back. "Oh, fuck. You're queer?" Lance swore, under his breath this time, and patted at his pockets as he mumbled to himself. "Does this mean I have to be fucking nice to them now?"

A slim black cellphone was yanked free, snapped down, and a speed dial initiated. "Howie? Yeah, no. No, no. You won't believe this. Did you know O-Town's fucking queer?"

Jacob snapped to attention. "Hey, wait! Not all of us!"

Lance nodded into the receiver. "Uh, huh." A string of loud somethings crackled from the cellphone, and Lance jerked it away from his ear, before slapping it back into place. "Well, yeah but... Hey, I'm not the fucking welcome wagon. Hey, no! Keep them away from Trex, they're gonna fuck up our vibe there. They can go to Blondie's!"

Ashley widened his eyes, and slid closer to finger the jagged seam of Lance's jacket. "Oh, we have to go out sometime."

Lance shot a glance at Erik, and turned away a little, pulling his jacket out of Ashley's fingers. "No, I'm not bringing them. I don't care. Howie. No. Which ones? How the fuck would I- hang on." He put the phone down to his shoulder and eyed them. "Ashley, right? And which one are you?"

Erik tucked in a little closer to Ashley, and tried his best shy smile. "Erik. Pleased to meet-" He was cut off as Lance turned back to his phone with an impatient toss of his head. Ashley grinned at him in delight.

"Ashley and Erik. Yes, the pretty blond one. No, Howard. Honey, you swear all you want, I am not pimping for you tonight. Find your own damn trick. Yes. Yes. Thursday? Fine. Bitch. Oh no you did not. You did NOT. Fine. Thursday. Yeah, yeah, kiss you back." He snapped the phone shut, and turned the full force of big green eyes on them, and Erik shivered.

"Rules. Learn 'em, live 'em, love 'em." He started ticking items off on long slender fingers. "One, do not fuck within the group." He looked at them disdainfully. "And I see we're already behind the ball. And with TV cameras? Very silly, children. Two. Dance only at Blondie's and sometimes Tabu, but only there on Fridays, unless you bring your girlfriends. You do have girlfriends, yes? Lou hasn't gone completely senile yet?" He caught their nods, and continued. "Three. Try very hard not to hold hands in public places, hmmm?" Erik dropped Ashley's hand like it had burned him. "Remember, these rules are not just for your good, they are for the good of all of us. Break them, get busted, and we will haunt you until you die."

"But... I..." Ashley's eyes darted earnestly from Erik to Lance.

Lance sighed. "Oh, you've already done it. There's no point now." He rubbed at his temples, and Erik thought that was really sexy too, but decided not to say so.

"You know I'm no fag though, right?," Jacob said, tugging at the same sleeve that Ashley had attacked.

"Oh, charming." Lance extracted himself, straightening as he caught Joey motioning at him from across the room. "That's great. Have that never change, hmmm?" He straightened his shoulders and shot Erik and Ashley a glance. "Where'd you find that gem?

Erik sincerely wanted to lick Lance, and possibly join him in wedded bliss. Oh. Boyfriend. Um, with Ashley, of course. "Uh..."

"Rhetorical question." Lance quirked his lips, and oh. That was-

Joey pushed through the crowd with broad shoulders, and blocked his view. "You gonna be joining us tonight? Or should I start sending out invitations?" He snickered, and Erik didn't like him very much.

Nice ass, though.

"We're leaving," Lance said, and yanked Joey towards the exec at their right.

"Are you sure..." Joey looked back over his shoulder and winked.

Ashley blushed.

"Oh, shut the fuck up," Erik caught, just barely, under the din. "They had a crush."