Lick
by Tink and Pet
So, Tink and Pet were looking at this picture of JC, and Tink said "is that his TONGUE?" and Pet said "yep" and Tink died. And then we wrote on AIM. *g*

In Little Rock, when JC smiled and stuck his tongue out just a little at Justin, Chris got annoyed. He told Joey about it later. Joey just stared at him and said, "He wasn't tonguing at Justin. He was tonguing at that girl with the rack in row two."

Chris thought maybe Joey was right, and forgot about it.

Then, in Baton Rouge, JC did it again. Chris glared at him this time and JC caught the look. He asked Chris about it later.

"What was that? Are you mad at me? Did I not hit my timing? What's wrong?"

Chris opened his mouth and wanted to say, "Yeah, you fuck, what the hell are you sticking your tongue out all hot like that for? And at *Justin*?"

But what he really said was, "I didn't glare. I got sweat in my eyes."

And JC grinned a crinkly grin and believed him.

**

In Memphis, Justin noticed it too, and almost bent in half, he giggled so hard. Chris frowned and danced harder. If JC wanted to do his patented lick-the-stage move, it wasn't any of Chris's business. Even if he wasn't licking the stage, he was pretending to lick *Justin*. Chris's best friend Justin. Who looked like he was enjoying the attention an awful lot.

Chris resolved to stop thinking about it when he got his feet tangled on a turn and almost fell off the platform.

He managed pretty well for the rest of the show, but even Lance noticed when he wouldn't talk to JC afterwards. It wasn't that he was mad at JC. Not really. Who JC wanted to lick was entirely JC's affair.

It wasn't his fault that JC's tongue was all pink and pretty, and that he glowed when he was warm and sweating and happy, and that he was way too sexy to live. So Chris just growled at Lance and shut himself in his bunk and did *not* think about JC for the rest of the night.

**

When Joey finally saw JC do it in Austin, he laughed so hard that two girls in the front started to cry with happiness. Chris tried hard not to listen when, on the bus that night, Joey said, "You got a thing for Juppy, C?"

JC, who was tired and warm and delightfully confused, looked at Joey with bemusement.

"What? Why?"

Lance snorted behind his newspaper and Chris tried even harder not to listen when Joey said, "You can't keep your tongue in your mouth. Lookit this picture." And he handed over a publicity shot that had been taken in Atlanta. Sure enough, JC had the tip of his tongue resting on his bottom lip, and there was Justin, just within range. They were grinning at each other, and Chris thought grouchily that JC looked like he wanted to bite Justin's cheeks. Or something else.

"Oh," JC said, and blushed. Chris tried his very hardest not to listen any more at all.

"Shuddup," Justin growled, snatching the picture out of Joey's hand. "Oh," he added, more quietly, when he had a look. His cheeks went red.

"AHAH!" Joey crowed gleefully. "See? You're totally tonguing the baby, Jayce. Fess up!"

"I am *not!*" JC's hands waved wildly in the air. "I'm not, honestly, Joey, I'm really not, because Justin's like, no offense dude, because you know I totally love you like a brother, and I'd do anything for you, and I think you're a great guy and a great *looking* guy, and everything, but so not my type at all. Seriously. I'm not. It's not a him thing, it's a song thing, like, maybe my tongue just really likes that part of that song. I don't know."

Chris looked at Justin, who was still pink but now staring blankly at JC, then at Joey, who was rolling his eyes at Lance, who was chuckling. Good, he wasn't the only one who hadn't gotten that at all.

"JC," he said finally, since JC was looking hopefully from face to face, searching for comprehension he just wasn't gonna find, "you're priceless." He ruffled JC's hair on the way by, not minding at all that it was all curly and kinky and still damp from the dancing.

"Whassat mean?" Chris heard JC ask the others as he crawled, exhausted, into the soft bunk.

"Go to bed, C," Joey chuckled, and then Chris was asleep.

**

Chris watched JC carefully all through the Houston and Dallas shows, but there was no sign of tongue. Chris talked himself out of being disappointed.

Then, in El Paso, Chris found himself making eye contact with JC during "Up Against the Wall", and there it was.

JC winked at him, and stuck his tongue out to catch a drop of sweat hovering on his upper lip.

Chris's mind whirled off in about a thousand different directions, even as he grabbed his dancer's hand, skipped, do-si-do'd, spun around. Maybe JC's tongue really liked that part of that song too. But what the hell was up with the winking?

Next time he caught JC's eye, he glared. JC just grinned, and went back to bouncing.

JC was fucking with him, he had to be. It was finally payback time for all those cold showers, shaving-cream-in-the-shoes, bleach-in-the-detergent incidents. He concentrated fiercely on the dance steps. Damn JC and his damn tongue, anyway. Didn't the boy ever get drymouth that way?

Lance was the one to notice when Chris did not leap gleefully into the bus after the show, demanding frozen pizza. "What's with you?" he asked, watching Chris stomp up the bus steps and fling himself onto the couch.

"Nothing!" Chris shouted in Lance's ear, which normally would have started a pillow fight from the shouting, but Lance leaned away and looked at him thoughtfully.

"Uh huh. You got tongued."

"Fuck off! What the fuck? Fuck off." Chris used the remote to turn on the television and started flipping channels maniacally.

Lance grinned. "We know all about JC's tongue, Chris. Welcome to the cult."

"I don't give two shits about JC's tongue," Chris growled, while picturing JC's tongue. Picturing it capturing that sweatdrop.

"Yep," Lance nodded sagely. "You've been tongued."

"I have SO not been tongued," Chris muttered, eyes fixed on the tv. "Being tongued involves actual application of tongue, which has CLEARLY not happened, so you can just fuck off with your strange cult talk. Also, like I care. Tongues are all nasty anyway."

"Sure." Lance patted his knee sympathetically. "Want I should go get JC?"

"NO!" Chris shouted again, then looked at Lance's grin and almost smacked him.

"Fine. Methinks you do protest too much." Lance wandered off, and Chris kept his comments about mangling Shakespeare to himself.

**

Over the next three days, Chris noticed that JC drank everything with a straw, curling his tongue around it. He licked his fingers after eating. His tongue peeked through his lips when he was thinking hard. It was like porn or something, and it was driving Chris crazy.

It was also making him a real pain in the ass, as Joey cheerfully pointed out. It was a travel day, with no show either that night or the next, and this made them all lazy. Bodies were sprawled everywhere, and Chris got pissed off when he tried to walk from the bunks through the lounge, and couldn't.

"Hey," Justin said from the floor, and snaked a hand around Chris's ankle. "Play with meeeee." He waved a Playstation controller in Chris's direction.

"Quit it, child," Chris growled, and shook Justin off.

"Want food?" Joey asked, gesturing toward the turkey sandwiches on the counter.

Chris wrinkled his nose. "Meat? At ten a.m.? Gross."

Lance looked hurt. "I made those. My mom's way, with Stove Top stuffing inside."

"Well, little corn fed country boy, it sounds disgusting." The words were out before he could stop them, and immediately Chris was ashamed. Lance didn't answer, just turned red and looked back at his laptop.

It was finally JC who unsprawled himself from the couch where Joey was playing with his hair and approached Chris. "What's wrong with you?" he asked softly, curiously. Chris tried not to look at the concern in JC's ocean eyes.

"There. Is. Nothing. Wrong. With. Me." Chris realized it was really hard to talk through clenched teeth. "Why does everyone keep asking me that?" He shot a guilty look at Lance, though. "Sorry, Bass," he muttered. "Didn't mean it. It's just early, is all."

"You're being a huge pain in the ass, is why," Justin said bluntly. "Come on, Lance, let's go eat and leave the cranky old fart alone."

Chris sighed and flopped back on the couch. Life sucked. He sucked. His friends sucked. He was gonna hide all the straws in this place if it killed him.

"Chris?" JC's voice was tentative. "Why are you gonna hide the straws?" Chris groaned as he realized he'd been thinking out loud again.

"I'm going to hide the straws for very good, very secret reasons, JC," he said gravely. "They're detrimental to my mental health and the well-being of *N Sync."

JC squeezed into the very small space left between Chris and Joey and looked very seriously at Chris. "Really? Detrimental? In what way?"

Chris realized the room had grown quiet and the others were waiting for his answer. Justin had rolled to his stomach and lay with his chin propped on his hands, listening.

He tried to laugh it off. "You ever heard the term 'grain of salt', C? Why you gotta take everything so seriously?"

"I don't," JC answered simply. "But I take *you* seriously."

"You should kiss him right now," Justin offered helpfully. Joey pushed his head with a bare foot.

"Fuck OFF, Justin!" Chris wailed, dropping his head into his hands. It was quiet for too long, so he peeked through his fingers finally. Justin was grinning at him. Smug little fucker. Lance was grinning at him. He was just as bad. He couldn't see Joey past JC, but JC...was smiling. Tongue out, just a little.

He knocked JC right into Joey when he dove in, grabbing JC's head in his hands and holding him still. Joey laughed so hard he could feel JC shake with it, but he didn't care, because JC's mouth was open under his, and that pretty pink tongue was in his mouth, and he kind of lost track of time.

"Goddamn." He gasped, when he finally had to come up for air. JC's eyes were wide and shining, still smiling at him, bright and flushed and happy-looking.

"See?" Joey said, leaning over JC to give him a nod. "I told you. Tongued."

[end]

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