Title: Sure Author: Jules - mailto:goddess_julie@just-in-dreams.com Pairing: TimberNick Part:1/1 Rating:PG Disclaimer:Fiction for entertainment purposes. So not true. Warning:Crossover warning. Slash warning Notes: For TimberNick Slash challenge. Had to use 'in his kiss'. I haven't specifically named either Justin or Nick for a reason. It's interchangeable. You can think that either one of them is the narrator, and the other is the one being talked about. I'm in a strange mood lately and am trying to be all dramatic like. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sure by Jules Almost everyone he knows that knows about them has asked him the same question. Repeatedly. Repeatedly to the point that he's ready to deck the next person who asks the question, women and children included. Hell, at this point he'd probably hit his own grandmother if she asked him that question as well. And it's the whole line of questioning, not just that one question annoys him. The intent behind their curiosity. The scorn and skepticism with which they speak to him, as if he's not capable of making up his own mind, living his own life. They're worried. It boils down to just that one issue, they worry about him. Worry that he's going to get hurt. That he'll be taken for a ride and is too blind to see people for what they're really worth. But the way he looks at it is this, they don't trust him. They see him as the child he once was ...still is some of the time. But what they don't understand is that they taught him well. He grew up watching them, his four brothers. Learned how to deal with people in their business, who to trust and who not to trust. And what to do to protect himself. He grew up at an early age and if they all really stopped to think about it, he hasn't been young and innocent for a long time. He's seen more, heard more and done a hell of a whole lot more than anyone at his age should have. But with all that, he's grown and matured. Built up a perfectly good shield to anything and anyone who tries to tear him down. He did that once and learned his lesson. Girls always were more trouble than they were worth. He learned that the hard way. Never again. ,,Why?"His best friend asks one night while they're watching MTV. They're sitting in his hotel room on his latest tour. It's been a while since they've seen each other and it was going really well until this point. ,,Why what?"He rolls his eyes and exhales loudly. He thinks that this is one of the reasons the group never *really* got back together after the break. They'd all gone in such different directions that they had a hard time finding their way back. And well they claimed that after his solo cd, after 'their' relationship started, he changed. Changed to the point they didn't know who he was anymore. He thought maybe that was true, but he liked who he had become and didn't bother to fight for it. What's done was done. ,,Why him? What is it about him that you find so ...attractive? That you'd give up everything we worked for..." He couldn't listen to this question any longer. ,,I wasn't the one that gave it up. You guys all did, I was just the scapegoat." They both knew it was true, and the other man stopped talking, averting his eyes to the screen. The room was silent for a few moments. ,,How do you know that this wasn't exactly what he wanted for you? To break us all up. I mean, look at them. They've recorded again, they're back on the road as a group and here we are... not." ,,That's not his fault."Blue eyes met green and he set his lips in a thin line, indicating his growing anger. The thought to hit the other man flashed in his head. ,,He proposed we take a break. He wanted to do anything he could to ensure that we as a group got back together. This isn't about him, it's about the five of us."

		They both knew that was true too, but it was easiest to blame him. He was the supposed enemy. The two friends stared at each other, neither breaking the heated gaze between them. ,,How do you know that he's not ...you know, just fucking around with you? That this is as serious for him as it is for you?" ,,Why?" ,,Because we're ...."He cringed as he knew that word was coming. ,,...worried about you. We know how hard you fall, how fast. And we just have this feeling that he's just using you to pass the time until the next person comes around that catches his eye. So, please, tell me and I'll leave you alone. I'll never ask again, and I'll never bother you about this. Just make me understand." He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, wondering how exactly to explain in words what he knew in his heart. ,,Because it's how I feel when I'm with him. How he can make my day a million times better just by ...being there. He touches me, even the gentlest, most innocent touches set my body on fire. I feel so safe in his arms, with our bodies pressed together."He stopped to look into his friend's eyes. ,,I feel our love in his kiss, see our future in his eyes and know my soul is in his heart. I can't make you understand something that I don't even fully get. All I know is that my life, is with him. And I know you guys can't understand that, but it's not something that can be compromised." The other man's eyebrows were furrowed, his face a mask of stone. It was as if he wasthinking about what had just been said, trying to grasp it all. He knew it wasn't their business to understand, it had nothing to do with them. And whether his friends liked it or not, they were in love. With bated breath, he waited for them to speak, to continue to give him a hard time about it. This was just something that would never be resolved. ,,You're happy? He makes you happy?" He nodded. ,,And it's love? For both of you? He's said it?" ,,He said it first actually. It took me about a month after he said it to me, to be able to say it back." ,,And he was okay with that?"They cocked an eyebrow, not skeptically, just with curiosity. He nodded. ,,Yeah. Said he'd wait forever to hear it. And even if that wasn't long enough, he could live with that. As long as I knew he loves me that was all that mattered." ,,Wow." ,,Yeah. So I don't know what to do to convince you that this is real, for both of us. But believe me when I say I know what I'm doing." They nodded slowly, a slow grin covering their face. ,,Okay. As long as you're sure." ,,Never been more in my life." ,,Okay." Finis