Perfect Match
by Heidi

~..~

We were born the same day
We even think the same way
It couldn't be more right
We are what they call a perfect match

~..~

Lance had a crush. Well, "crush" was such a mild word because he knew, deep down in his heart, that they would be perfect together. They were so much alike and approached so many things in the same manner. All he had to do was convince Kevin that they were meant to be together.

"Yo, Lance. You ready to leave yet?"

Lance rubbed his brow, slightly irritated at the interruption. Didn't Justin understand he had things to do? He had to figure out where the Backstreet Boys would be next week when N Sync had a few days off. And how he could be there, surreptitiously of course; it wouldn't look good to be obvious about it.

"Yo, Lance. You listening?"

Lance snapped out of his thoughts. "Yes Justin. I'm listening. And no, I'm not ready yet. Give me a few, okay?"

Justin studied him for a minute before shrugging. "Whatever. Chris said to have your ass downstairs in five."

Lance got a pass to the Chicago concert from someone at Jive, but stayed out of the way, trying not to draw attention to himself. When the Boys ran off the stage, Nick somehow spotted him.

"Lance? Is that you? Dude, what are you doing here?"

"Uh." He hadn't planned on being spotted so quickly. This was not part of his plan. Think Lance. Think. "I was in town for some business." Yeah, that was good. They'd believe that. "Heard you guys were playing, thought I'd catch the show."

Nick laughed. Whew. "Checking out the competition, eh." Nick walked to him, wrapping one of those long arms around his neck, and pulling him along with him to the dressing room. "So, you got any plans for the evening?"

'Yeah, I have plans,' Lance thought to himself, 'but you're not invited.' "Nope, no plans for the night. Just hanging out."

"Great. Then you can hang with us tonight." Pushing open the door to the dressing room, Nick pulled Lance in with him. "Hey guys. Look who I found lurking in the hall."

AJ looked over his shoulder long enough to see it was Lance, and then dismissed him. Brian smiled, and gave him a heart felt, "Hey Lance. Good to see ya." Lance waved. Howie came up to him, shook his hand and asked how he was doing, along with the rest of the guys. But Kevin seemed to be no where in sight. To Lance, that was just wrong.

"What's Bass doing here. This room is for Boys, not fish."

Nick made a kicking motion at Kevin while laughing. "I invited him, dork."

Kevin nodded, but paid no more attention to Lance as he proceeded to change.

Swallowing the sudden lump in his throat, and trying to put moisture back in his mouth, Lance tried to talk to Nick but had a hard time of it. Yeah, he was hard alright. His eyes were glued to Kevin's bare torso, then bare ass as the older man changed. Oh yeah, that man had a nice ass.

"Hey Lance, are you listening?"

"Huh?" Lance realized just how much he was staring, and turned his attention back to Nick. "I'm sorry, you were saying?"

Nick laughed. "Give it up, man. You aren't gonna get anywhere with him."

"Wha...?"

"Kevin. Don't play innocent with me. I saw the way the drool was rolling down your chin." Lance instinctively wiped at his mouth, finding it dry, and making Nick laugh even more. "Give it up. Kevin isn't gonna go for you."

Lance laughed nervously. "Uh, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Okay. If that's the way it is." But the knowing smile indicated that Nick wasn't buying it.

At the club, Lance hung out by the bar and watched as the crowd danced around him. Nick had invited him up to the VIP area that was reserved for them, but Lance was still smarting a little from Nick's remarks. 'Cause really, what did Nick know about the situation.

Okay, so what if Nick had spent the last ten years of his life with Kevin. He still didn't know Lance. And Lance's intentions. Well, yeah, he did know that, but that was beside the point. Nick didn't know Lance's plans. And when Lance had his mind set on something, Lance got something.

Lance was so involved in his mutterings at Carter, he failed to notice the person who had leaned against the bar beside him. "What are you doing here, Bass? Aren't you supposed to be out west?"

Damnit, he could feel the blush creeping up his cheeks. This was so not right. "Yup." He took a sip of his scotch, but didn't look up to Kevin's green eyes - just yet. "We have a couple of days off." Now he raised his gaze, and was surprised that Kevin almost looked irritated with him. With a shrug, he added, "I have some business in town, so I thought I would check you guys out."

"Uh huh. If you say so."

Taking a deep breath, Lance decided to jump in. "And, you know, I thought that maybe that if you weren't, you know, busy, or something, that maybe, you know, we might, um, you know..."

"Get together?"

"Yeah. Get together."

"And just what do you think we'd do while 'getting together'?"

"Well -- you know?" Damn, when he does that with his eyebrows, he gets even sexier.

"Lance Bass. Are you propositioning me?"

"Um, yeah?"

"Lance." Kevin looked at him incredulously. "I'm married, for God's sake." Shaking his head, Kevin walked back to the VIP area.

"Told you."

"Shut up, Carter."

Lance got back to the hotel and didn't really want to deal with the blinking light on his phone. Probably just Carter saying 'I told you so' again. Bastard.

Sighing heavily, he broke down and picked up his message.

"Lance? I couldn't reach you on your cell. Then one of the wigs at Jive told me you got a pass to a Boys concert. Say it isn't so?" Lance laughed at the horrified tone in Chris' voice. "Then Howie called and told me you were going out with them. Lance, I'm so disappointed with you." Lance wondered why in the world Howie felt the need to call Chris. "He, uh, also said you were acting kinda preoccupied." Fucking Boys. "Anyway, I wanted to know if you wanted to go out. With me. Well, not tonight, obviously. You're in Chicago and I'm in Seattle. But, when you get back." Chris let out a nervous laugh, which in and of itself was pretty odd. "I'm babbling. Christ, I'm actually babbling like a fifteen-year-old girl. I'm hanging up now before I make even more of an ass of myself."

Lance stared at the phone in his hand. Did he just hear what he thought he just heard? He replayed the message. Yup, he heard correctly. After blinking a couple of times, he started thinking. Chris? He and Chris were nothing alike. They sang different ranges. They were from different parts of the country. They acted totally different.

They were nothing alike.

But then again, they do say opposites attract.