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Lance catches his breath and JC, sitting across from him, laughs.
“No, really, third row, the one with the-“
“With the head?” Joey cuts in, and Chris flips him off.
“The one with the big fuckin’ sign, moron,” he says.
Joey holds up his hands in mock apology. “You ask for it, I swear. What’d it say?”
JC laughs again but manages to say, “Lance loves JC” somewhere in between the gasping breaths and high-pitched giggles.
“Ha! They’re catching on, eh?” Joey laughs at his own joke as he slaps Lance’s shoulder. “Wait, hey, Lance, man, you breathin’?”
--
Back on their bus, and Joey grabs him before he can hide in his bunk.
“You got a thing for C?”
Lance grumbles “no” and hunches his shoulders in a rather obvious manner that just screams that he’s lying and he does, in fact, have a thing for C, has for a while but hasn’t said anything, and is a horrible, rotten liar like everyone believes, but Joey lets him go anyway.
He doesn’t really feel like he’s lying, because eight years ago it would have been true. He didn’t have a thing for JC before he met him, just after.
--
This breathing thing is new.
--
When he leans his head back against the window, the sun catches in his curls and turns his brown hair golden. JC does it again, resting his head against the window as Lance breathes in and he strangles the breath, almost choking on it. The sun gives him a halo.
“Lance, you okay?” the angel-JC asks.
Lance nods. JC sits up, leaning forward to look closely at him and suddenly he’s just JC again, with the normal brown hair and fake highlights, but Lance still can’t let go of his breath.
--
He thinks it might have started when JC grew his hair out. When it started doing things like catching the sunlight or flopping lazily against Lance’s arm when JC stretched out on the couch.
He can’t be sure but he sits next to windows a lot, or on the edge of the couch, in hopes that JC will sit near him.
--
Chris flops down beside him, taking what should be JC’s spot, and Lance glares at him.
“What did I do?”
Lance shrugs. “Nothing.”
“Thing for JC, huh?”
“What?”
“’Been talking to Joey.”
“I don’t.” Lance crosses his arms and tries to go back to watching his movie, but JC shuffles in from the back, warm and sleepy-looking, and leans against the counter, directly in a patch of sunlight, as he pours himself some coffee.
Chris pokes him in the arm and Lance looks back at Chris and he’s grinning, ear to ear like a loon. “Sure you don’t,” he says. He laughs and Lance looks away again but JC is already gone.
--
“No, it’s right near our hotel. We could sneak out and not even have to ask…” JC spreads the brochure in front of him on the table and his fingers smudge the glossy pictures.
Joey doesn’t look over from the TV, just directs his comments toward it. “And there’s your first problem, C. I’m not going to risk getting chewed out by a 300-plus pound black man for a museum.”
JC frowns at the back of his head. “But it’s a good museum.”
“No museum is that good.”
Lance reaches over to pull the brochure from JC’s fingers. “I’ll go with you,” he says quietly.
JC turns toward him and smiles. “Really? You will?”
But Lance’s ability to breathe has already left him, so he just nods.
--
JC holds his hand sometimes at the museum, when they are far away from other people, and usually to direct his attention toward some plaque or exhibit. Mostly he forgets to let go and Lance is the one to pull away, turn somewhere else so he can catch his breath.
He is dizzy by the time they leave and JC is holding onto his arm, smiling and laughing and he leans into Lance’s ear and says, “thanks for coming,” and Lance ducks his head and smiles.
--
JC starts hanging out with him more and Lance doesn’t know if he’ll ever breathe normally again.
--
Lance wakes up in the quiet room and JC is leaning over him, one hand on his thigh. Lance looks down and watches the fingers flex on his jeans and breathes in, catching the small puff of air and strangling it somewhere in his throat.
JC whispers, “look at them,” and Lance looks over to the other couch, where Joey and Justin are both asleep, curled around each other.
JC leans down and whispers in his ear. “They’re cute, huh?” He pulls back and smiles at Lance and his eyes crinkle up. Lance wonders how he can see.
JC leans down again. “You’re cute,” he says, barely breathing the words into Lance’s ear.
He pulls back again, smiling, and this time when he leans forward he brushes his lips over Lance’s, teasing them open with his mouth and tongue.
Lance pushes back against the sofa back as JC slides in next to him, mostly on top of him, and it doesn’t matter that his weight is crushing down on Lance’s chest because he isn’t breathing anyway.
JC kisses him for a while and his lungs burn and there are stars on the back of his eyelids, but Lance can’t breathe, doesn’t breathe, and every time he opens his eyes, JC is all he sees.
Finally, JC pulls back, gasping, his full pink lips open and a little moist and Lance looks at them, thinks, “I did that.” JC is frowning now.
“Breathe,” he says, poking at Lance’s diaphragm. “I know you know how.”
Lance doesn’t, he just stares at JC’s lips and JC finally sighs and leans forward again. Lance thinks he’s going to kiss him but JC breathes into his mouth. Lance feels JC’s hand slide across his stomach and he closes his eyes again, back to the stars, back to concentrating on the feel of JC touching him, finally.
JC pulls away again and the stars don’t go away when Lance opens his eyes. JC smiles and pushes hard against his diaphragm and Lance exhales.
"Better?" JC asks, his lips grazing Lance's cheek. His hand is warm and soft on Lance's belly and he looks up, meets JC's eyes. They are big and blue and fuzzy from this close and Lance breathes in and out a few times and smiles.
"Yes," he says, slipping his hand around JC's waist. "Much better."
Thanks to Nemo and Carolyn for betas.
I said it couldn't be done. They say it can.
cuddlebugging: And I've never gotten birthday fic. ::sniff::
skeabs: yeah, but you're all about the jc/lance
skeabs: i can't write jc/lance
cuddlebugging: I know!
cuddlebugging: It would kill you.
skeabs: ha, you're NEVER getting fic from me now
I live, as we all do, to eat my words.
Happy Birthday, baby. You're one of the best JC/Lancers I know. :)
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