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popslash_lollipops2006-02-27 11:38 pm
ephemera-pop.livejournal.com) wrote in popslash_lollipops2006-02-27 11:38 pmAJ / Joey
AJ, Joey, and rain on the windows, please.
ephemera-pop.livejournal.com) wrote in popslash_lollipops2006-02-27 11:38 pm
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It had begun in a hotel, trapped by the weather, rain beating on the windows, AJ saying, hey, man, do you wanna hang out, and Joey shrugging, smiling. Sure, why not?
Today the low cloud, New York in December, meant that the penthouse view might as well have been in foggy Europe. AJ turned away from the windows. Toys lay scattered by the end of the bed, tiny dolls and a big pink rabbit, the remains of a mismatched tea party.
"I don't get it, Joe. I never did. All those years when we were both touring, all those years I was out of control, and somehow there was still a you and me. Then suddenly we're in the same country, and I'm sober, and I look around and you're engaged and then you're fucking married, and -- what? I know I'm kind of late with this, but what the fuck?"
Joey shook his head, brown eyes soft even under the bright hotel lights. AJ had seen that look before, so many times, and all those years he'd thought he knew what it meant. Now, finally, he could see it for what it was.
Kindness.
"I'm sorry, man," Joey said, softly, awkwardly. "I never meant -- I gave you as long as I could."
It would serve Joey right if AJ walked right the fuck out of his hotel room and down to the nearest bar. For just a second, the threat hovered on his lips. But he wouldn't carry it though, and Joey knew that, and AJ knew that Joey knew he knew that, and it was the kind of stupid shit you turned over in your brain when neither of you had anything more to say and only one of you didn't have the sense to let it go at that.
"So. Thanks, I guess," AJ said, and Joey frowned a little, wary. "Thanks for seeing me. And thanks for waiting until I could deal with it. And -- whatever, man. Whatever. Good luck, have a great life."
"I'm sorry," Joey said again.
"Yeah, well," AJ said over his shoulder, not looking around. "Me too."
At the door, though, he had to -- one quick glance. Joey had already turned away, outlined in grey like a dream, watching the rain on the windows.
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This is beautifully painfull, that crack of realisation that puts everything you thought you remembered into a different shape. *happy shivers* Thank you!
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:-) I do read the prompts, I just don't get inspired very often.
*happy shivers* Thank you!
Glad you liked it :-)
Now I have this urge to write an AJ/Lance sequel, to cheer poor AJ up.
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*coughs and controls the squeeing fan girl within*
I'd love to see some comfort/sex and Lance convincing AJ that he chose the wrong member of NSYNC...
*looks forward to you pondering*
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