It had been raining all day. Not that it was something strange in New York during fall, but it had been unexpected. The weather report had announced a cloud-clear day and the rain had ended up taking everyone by surprise. Justin had been watching the rain fall for quite some time before making sure everything was ready for the interview. Then he’d walked JC to his seat, had gracefully greeted the TV show crew and was now watching as he stared at the reporter intently as if trying to decipher her. He closed his phone after Mike called him to tell him what he already knew, it was pouring and the bodyguard was going to be late. Justin didn’t even know where Mike was, but well, at least the man had called.
“In the early 90’s you were doing a soap opera aired on the Mickey Mouse Club, now you’re hiring the slick and ultrahip Basement Jaxx to record your music again, I must add. Your favourite colour is orange, your favourite Spice Girl is Mel B, you’ve got the dishiest, most sought after personal assistant in the business and your last album was called Schizophrenic, and we’ve all heard that now you’re back in the studio again, correct me if I’m wrong. So what’s your next album called, JC? Manic Depressive? Compulsive Disorder? And finally, would you sing something for us?” The girl with the pink hair, white mackintosh coat and exquisite Manchester accent laughed with glee as her cameraman spun to take JC’s Chasez reaction to the verbal bombardment. Justin rolled his eyes. It was always like that with Candy Floss, and the interview was jus beginning.
New York City’s Hotel Royale had never been so crowded, and the auditorium which had been specially prepared for the press conference which was taking place at that moment was positively overflowing. Everyone was having such a good time, even the hotel staff, who had spent the morning taking snapshots of him with their cameras and phones. The chambermaid had come into his room carrying three cameras and five phones. Her sister’s, her sister-in-law’s, her nephew’s and whoever else’s. Everyone who saw the artist felt like they had everything on the planet, and they did. JC couldn’t deny that to himself or to the people who worked for or with him, even a chambermaid.
Success was at his grasp and he couldn’t help it but enjoy it to its fullest. At least that was what Justin, thought. He’d been JC’s assistant for the past six months and was more than pleased with the way everything was taking place. There was a lot of laughing going on, a feelgood factor that made everyone, even himself relax. He dismissed the reference to himself as the most sought after PA around, but he concluded that the English reporter, Candy Floss was referring to a series of photos he had shot for Gazelle Magazine. He winced a little inside, knowing that everyone in JC Chasez’s entourage was under constant scrutiny, but he had expenses that JC’s generous salary didn’t pay, and the offer had come up…
He turned his mind away from that and looked at his boss. He just needed to look at him from time to time, and he smiled waiting along with the rest for JC’s reply to the reporter’s questions.
“Yeah, well, hi everyone.” JC touched the side of his head with his forefinger, smiling comfortably. “Usually I’m the first person to speak at one of my press conferences, but I guess that’s different in England?” He paused as there was a roar of laughter from those present, and he looked at the English reporter who was laughing out loud, while trying to apologise for having initiated the press conference herself.
“I think, you know, that’s um, called jumping the gun, as I see it, no?” JC smiled shrugging his shoulders. “If this was like, an Olympic sport, you’d be…I mean you’d face, no, you’d be disqualified, dude.” He paused again, and looked to one side, looking for his assistant’s gaze. Justin stood to one side, hidden by the wall and curtain, making him feel that he was backstage. He’d taken that place right after he’d made sure that the table clothes were of the requested colour, the flowers were indeed the white roses JC wanted and that the mineral water was the one JC preferred. It was silly, yes, but JC would pay attention to those little details and they would make him feel comfortable. Justin smiled, he hadn’t moved since he’d checked those.
He would have wanted JC to address each of the zany English reporter’s questions calmly, but JC wasn’t that kind of guy.
“So, em, actually, I’d like to answer your questions in kind of reverse order, so, yes, I’m going to sing a Capela piece from “Babylon”, my, uh, well, you know, latest single.” He glanced at Justin again who couldn’t help nod in approval. He had also been looking at Justin every now and then, long enough to make the younger man nervous, but short enough so as to not arouse the suspicions of those around them. “As to the em, name of my next album, that’s like, still in the works.”
“Interesting.” The woman muttered, annoying both, JC sitting next to her and Justin staring at them.
“Yeah, you know, I’d like to find a powerful name,” JC continued speaking, moving his hands in the air again, “I’ve got a few names—”
“I’m sure your assistant would be more than happy to help you make a decision.” Candy interrupted him. JC smiled as he always did, never showing the nuisance the situation was for him. Of course Justin had been helping him, but he still couldn’t get why the woman kept mentioning Justin instead of focusing on his album.
“Actually, Justin’s always a big help,” JC answered clapping his hands loudly, then he opened them as if stating something, “I don’t know where I’d be if it weren’t for Justin and my whole crew.”
Candy Floss couldn’t say more after that. JC was as charming as ever and even she had fallen for that charm. “JC…you said you were going to sing something from your new unnamed record.”
JC nodded, took the microphone and started to sing. Justin couldn’t take his eyes off JC and felt chills up and down his spine as he heard him singing. It was like an intimate moment JC was sharing with the world, those who were in the same room with them and those who would eventually buy the record and go to his concerts. However, what Justin always enjoyed the most was the way in which JC always took the microphone with his left hand, while he stretched his right trying to grab something that was out of his reach and of course, the way the man closed his eyes and pretended the world didn’t exist. Justin loved every piece of the song and smiled broadly as JC finished and every person in the room remained silent.
JC opened his eyes and looked straight in Justin’s eyes. Then the whole room exploded in applause. Even Candy Floss had been left speechless. “Well, JC; you’re singing as well as ever, and you didn’t even have a band accompanying you! Wicked!” The comment didn’t take JC by surprise, nor the fact Candy Floss had taken control of the press conference; it was after all good press for him, but it also made him want to slap the woman, still, JC simply clapped his hands again, and soon, he was taking his finger to his temple as he answered another question.
The reporters felt as if the man was a puzzle very few people, if someone, could decipher. He began a sentence and seemed as if he weren’t actually paying attention to what he was saying. It’s important to save the whales? Wondered a young reporter when he was asked about his next tour and he ended the answer with that sentence. Justin wanted to slap himself for a second. How could JC respond in such a nonchalant way; he wasn’t at all taken aback by the way people were responding to JC. Charming as ever, Justin thought. And everybody was buying it.
“Everyone, JC’s new record will be in the shops in Winter so don’t forget to go to your favourite music shop and buy it! If everything is as good as what he just sang, you’ve got to have it!” Candy pointed with her finger at everyone in front of her, whether they were there or watching them on TV and JC smiled, nodding. Justin smiled as well. It’d ended in a perfect manner.
JC walked in a rather calm pace to where Justin was. By God if he was sweating. Slowly, every reporter was walking to the table on one side of the place to have a cup of coffee and Justin was grateful for that. It meant nobody was going to make last-minute bothersome questions. Justin walked by JC’s side and handed him in a recently opened bottle of water. This one was lemon flavoured. Justin observed JC take long sips of the water and felt thirsty himself. He had this kind of infatuation over the older man that made him feel uncomfortable…at times; the truth was, however, that he loved to have these moments in which he’d just walk with JC to his restroom and help him relax—while of course, he enjoyed the intimacy of the instant—
“Justin, is everything ready for tonight?” JC asked moving his finger to his temple for the hundredth time in the past hour. Justin nodded. They were supposed to perform privately for a few special guests for the record company management. JC stopped making Justin stop at the same time, while his hand was on the younger one’s chest, “you sure?”
“Of course.” Justin said smiling broadly, his face lighted by said smile. JC responded to him by nodding and grinning.
* * *
They were staying on the fifteenth floor of the Hotel. Justin, proving once again how efficient he was at his job, had reserved the whole floor, even the rooms that weren’t going to be occupied, guaranteeing that they wouldn’t be bothered whatsoever during their stay at the place. JC and him walked silently to JC’s room and weren’t surprised by the people there. Half the crew was having a good time, playing video games.
“You’ve got to be kidding me, Sonia! You won again!” George was yelling, and then he threw the video game controller. Soul Callibur wasn’t that fun, Justin and JC heard George muttering. It amused them. Big George from the sound crew, shamelessly losing against sweet stylist Sonia.
“Face it, George; you’re a loser!” The rest of the women in the room were singing silly songs to him and dancing the victory dance in front of him, adding to his humiliation.
“And here I was thinking that you would protect our honour!” Justin said in a funny voice, which made the rest of them finally pay attention to them, “I guess this is the first time a singer’s crew cares more about video games than about the singer himself!” Justin said laughing. JC grinned at the others and lifted his shoulders at them. It was nice to see them relaxing; it’d been a very easy day. When the tour began, JC knew things wouldn’t be that funny.
“Hey guys, do you mind leaving us alone? I need to speak to my ‘personal assistant’ in private.” JC said, mimicking with his hands the quotation marks in the air, and then, he showed them the way out. Justin complied with his wishes and allowed JC some privacy by making everyone leave JC’s room.
“You just want to spend some quality time together!” George snorted and walked behind the line that was already leaving the room.
“Nah…” Katty retorted, “JC’s Sara is coming tonight.” A slow voice Justin could hear as he close the door behind him. Though what George had said was nothing but a joke, the second piece of information took him by surprise.
JC had left the half-emptied bottle on the table in the sitting room and had found one of the big couches to rest on. The door to the bedroom was opened just enough to see the big well-made bed in it. Justin stayed in silence for a second, feeling awkward by the fact that it didn’t matter how much time had passed, being with JC in the same room, alone, felt the same way he’d felt the day he’d met him. Even, in spite of Sara.
Still, Justin couldn’t hold himself much longer; “Sara’s coming tonight?” Justin asked, worried about the answer he could get. When Sara was around, there was nothing else in JC’s world. He sang for her, told her the cheesiest love lines. JC would even attempt cooking for her. It also meant Justin wasn’t allowed any private moments with JC.
“She is.”
“And when were you going to tell me that?” Chasez’s eyes were closed, his head resting on the back of the couch and his arms by his sides, in perfect relaxation. Justin could see him and enjoy the view, while at the same time, he felt bewildered by the latest news.
“You gonna stay there staring at me the whole day?” JC asked without moving an inch, which made Justin smirk. After all, in his line of work, it was all about JC.
“What do you want me to do? Sara’s coming tonight after all.” Justin was hurt by a man who seemed not to have any feelings for him.
“Justin…Justin…” JC hummed, his eyes still shut. JC wasn’t someone ready to lose, much less to someone who worked for him and provided him with great sex in times of loneliness; “You can leave if you want to, I’m sure there’d be others dying to work with you.” JC opened his eyes enough as to see the younger one sideways, then closed them again, “You heard Candy, you’re the most sought after personal assistant.” He continued faking her accent.
“I…I don’t want to work with anyone else…” Justin said in a low voice. JC stretched his hand, inviting Justin to walk to him; Justin complied. He then knelt in front of his boss and remained there for just a moment. The relationship between them was nothing but a boss-employee one. JC had made it very clear the night before, and every night since they kind of got together for that matter, and now, while he was looking at him, he realised he didn’t particularly care. Or did he? This—thing of theirs, brought him more sadness than happiness; there wasn’t a moment in which JC didn’t make it clear that he wasn’t interested in Justin. However, it was equally demonstrated how much JC enjoyed whatever little pleasure Justin was always willing to give to him. It pained Justin to know that there was no way out of that. He didn’t care much about the mayhem it was for him. He was still JC’s PA, a very well paid one, and was known worldwide. Plus, no one else could see and enjoy the sight of a compliant JC as Justin unbuttoned his pants and rolled them down on his ankles.
The next thing Justin heard was a grunt, and the rustling of the fabric against the couch. Justin believed being in that position wasn’t right, but his rail of thought got lost in the moment JC put his hand on his head and held him by his curls. It was firm and steady. JC sighed this time, moving against Justin’s face, the couch giving in under his weight. Justin took him deeper in his mouth while JC held him tighter by the hair. All of a sudden, JC set the pace, strong and fast. Sometimes Justin thought he was going to choke. He just had more pleasure out of it.
It was even more intense, the second JC avidly came, his seed splashing on Justin’s face.
JC panted, trying to catch his breath back. He was oblivious of everything around him, even Justin. He would never say what Justin wanted to hear from him. He wasn’t going to ruin his life and career over a triviality like a homosexual relationship was. JC was to keep Justin by his side for as long as he could. And he was going to receive as much pleasure as Justin could give him, and when it was over he’d drained him. And perhaps just then he’d whispered against his mouth what Justin wanted to hear. He loved him, but he’ll never say it.
Justin walked to the bathroom and fetched some towels for them to clean up. JC smiled, the way he always did, and brought Justin closer to him, kissing him in slow motion. He savoured his lips and allowed him to pant against his. It was at times like this that Justin would do anything he requested. He loved that, it meant that Justin’s words, when he said them, weren’t a lie.
“Would you pick her up?” JC asked as soon as he separated from Justin and walked into the bedroom, looking for his robe before going to the bathroom and take a hot shower.
“Sara?” Justin asked, a hint of pain present in his voice.
“Who else?” JC responded as if annoyed. Justin simply nodded
By hurting Justin, JC proved to himself that Justin was going to stay. He wanted Justin to stay.