Lance smiled softly as he redid the zipper on Joey's pants and gently patted the satisfied flesh that lay behind. He got to his feet and leaned over his lover on the couch, smile widening as he noted Joey's eyelids already drooping closed. Laying a kiss on Joey's lax lips, he whispered what he always did in these moments, waiting until he received the usual half-awake happy murmur in reply before carefully tucking the icepack back over Joey's shoulder from where it had slipped down.

Making a mental note to keep Joey from playing airplane with Brianna until his bruised shoulder healed completely from the latest wrestle-Justin-until-he-squeals injury, Lance shuffled into the kitchen. He scribbled out a note for Joey, signing it with a little heart, and snickered at his own cheesiness--but he didn't erase anything. He picked up the shopping list that they had made together earlier, put the note on the coffee table next to bottles of water and Ibuprofen and put on his shoes. Grabbing keys, wallet, phone and sunglasses, he jogged out to his car. The sooner he got this done, the sooner he'd be home again.

Tonight was Joey's turn to cook. They had plans together. He hummed happily along with radio and began to plan ahead to the next time it was his turn to cook. He'd make something special, definitely. His mom had mentioned a recipe that she thought Joey would like and he'd written it down somewhere. Probably in the den, he decided.

He parked in a fairly deserted corner of the supermarket lot and grabbed a cart that had been left there by a lazy shopper. As he entered the store, he peered down the row of checkstands until he spotted his favorite checker, relieved that she was still working her usual Sunday shift.

He cruised down the aisles with practiced efficiency, head low, sunglasses still firmly in place. He quickly got everything on the list--fettuccini noodles, 1% milk, a tub of "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" for himself and some actual butter for cooking and for Joey, a jar of Joey's favorite bay leaves, a handful of Balance Bars, mushrooms, apples, tomato paste, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, cheddar cheese, provolone cheese, french bread, sourdough bread, potato bread, chicken breasts, frozen pizza, salami, shaving gel and toilet paper. As he placed the last item in the cart, he shivered in the slightly too-cool store air and checked his watch. Joey would probably be waking up soon. He tried to remember if he had left Joey any painkillers within easy reach and then reassured himself that he had. Oh, right. Next to the note. He breathed out and grinned as he pushed the cart into the snackfoods aisle.

He never let Joey put anything from this aisle on their list, but he never made a trip to the market that didn't include at least something that would guarantee a surprised smile when he got home. And Joey's smiles were to be encouraged as often as possible.

He paused in front of the popcorn and crackers and hesitated before tossing a box of Bugles into the cart. He still wasn't sure if they were a cracker or a chip, but Joey loved them and they were fun to put out when the guys came by. He turned and grabbed a bag of Doritos before stopping again in front of the fruit snacks. He knew he really shouldn't do it, and very likely would go to some special corner of hell reserved for egoists, but he put a box of 'NSYNC snacks into the cart anyway.

Joey still hadn't gotten a Lance card and could be pissy about it when JC and Justin teased him with their complete sets. Lance would've thought that one of them would've given Joey one of their Lance cards by now, but no. It wasn't easy to tease Joey since he had very few weak spots and the guys were always tickled when they found a new one. Lance often found himself to unwittingly be the cause of those weak spots but there wasn't much he could do about it. Joey was a sweet guy and Lance never wanted that to change. So, he'd buy Joey the silly things and hope the fruit snack gods were on their side this time. He chuckled to himself and then shrugged off the look of a too-curious nearby shopper, hoping for no recognition. The shopper kept walking and he relaxed.

He wandered to the end of the aisle, still glancing around to see if anything else appealed to him or that he could remember Joey asking for. Once at the end, he stared into the basket of his cart, feeling like he was forgetting something. He quickly scanned the list again making mental check marks against what was actually in front of him. Not seeing anything obvious that he was lacking, he decided that he was done and wheeled his cart over to the stand that his favorite checker was manning.

He had found it easier to use the same person at the store each time, if possible. She knew him by now and had never been overly impressed by Who He Was, even though she had recognized both he and Joey immediately. She had passed it off as being from having to see the covers of countless teenie magazines, but hadn't turned down the free copy of Celebrity they had brought her a week before its release. At this point, they had a casual friendship based on the weekly shopping trips he made when in Orlando and he genuinely looked forward to chatting with her every Sunday. Plus, she had so far proven to be discreet about anything she may or may not have learned about Joey and him from their purchases and the fact that they practically lived together and often shopped together.

Luckily, she was just finishing up her current customer by handing over the receipt and there was no one else waiting. Lance pushed his cart up to her and smiled.

"Hi, Ann," he said quietly.

She grabbed the edge of the cart and looked up at him happily. "Hey, cutie! Where's my man today?"

"Your man?" he asked, raising one eyebrow.

She pretended to pout as she started to scan his purchases. "Hey, let me have my delusions. You get everything else."

He shrugged as he swiped in his debit card. "He was, um, sleepy. So, I left him home. Besides, we have that television special soon and his shoulder is still bothering him."

"Still?" Ann asked as she paused and weighed the apples, deftly typing something into her register. "Wasn't he complaining about that last week, too?"

"Yeah, but this morning he decided that he really was Superman and started playing airplane with his daughter. The fool. It started to swell again about an hour later."

"Ow!" Ann winced sympathetically. "You're making him put ice on it, right?"

"Of course. We'll probably go in the Jacuzzi later, too."

She nodded, said, "Good idea," and told him his total. He finished up his transaction and helped her bag the groceries. She protested, as usual, and as usual he ignored her. He thanked her as they put the last items in the cart and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. She blushed, as she always did whenever he or Joey gave her extra attention, which is one reason he did it. He waved and pushed the cart outside.

In front of the store were newspaper dispensers and he checked his pocket for quarters. Deciding that he had enough for the Sunday edition, he went and bought a copy of the New York Times for Joey. Joey tended to make fun of the quality of other newspapers and refuse to read them. He never turned down the Times, though, and had been known to read it cover to cover. He put the paper in the same sack as the Bugles, chips and fruit snacks and made his way out to the car.

After loading the groceries into the car, he wheeled the cart to the front of the store and then jogged back and quickly drove home.

He managed to get all the sacks into his hands at one time and staggered into the kitchen. He grunted as he swung the plastic bags up onto the counter and whipped around as he heard laughter from behind.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Why aren't you helping me? I'd hit you but you're fragile and could break easily," he spoke as he walked slowly in Joey's direction. He noted that there was a pot of water on the stove not yet boiling and that Joey's shoulder had wet spots from the ice pack he had probably just removed. He had probably just woken up.

"Who you callin' fragile, Mr. My-Skin-Burns-At-Very-Idea-Of-UV-Light?" Joey wrapped his good arm around Lance's waist and hauled him up against Joey's body and almost off his feet. Oh yeah, no way was Joey fragile. "My little albino." He nuzzled into Lance's neck.

Lance felt like purring. "I stand corrected. You are clearly very buff." Joey pulled back and beamed. "Buff enough to even help put groceries away, one might say." Joey's face fell a little. "And for the last time, I am not albino." Joey laughed and Lance kissed his cheek. "Let's get movin'. The pizza's probably melting."

Joey set him back fully onto his feet. "Melting pizza? Does pizza really melt?" He started going through the sacks, presumably to find the melting pizza. Lance made a face, stepped up next to him and grabbed the sack of apples to be washed. He waited. Joey made a happy noise and Lance knew he had found the special bag. He turned around to get the full effect of a happy Joey.

"Thanks, babe!" Joey tossed the Times off to the side and then brandished the boxes of Bugles and fruit snacks at Lance. He also gave Lance the smile Lance had been waiting for. The smile that rose from his lips and didn't stop until every part of his face was involved in it. His cheeks flushed and bunched, his lips stretched so wide that they almost turned down at the corners, his eyes narrowed and crinkled and lit from within. Lance felt his breath catch at the sight. It was so beautiful that his chest actually ached a little. His body flushed in reaction and he felt the first waves of arousal roll through him.

Joey's smile turned knowing and his eyes flickered down and then up again. "Silly Lance. Wait until after dinner. I've got plans." They smirked at each other. Joey set the boxes back onto the counter and turned his attention to them. "Let's see who we got. You better be in there or I'm going to have to break into Jup's house and steal his stash. Chris says he has three Lance's. I should just kick his ass and be done with it." Joey was opening the fruit snack box as he talked.

Lance snorted. "Haven't you tried that already?" He looked pointedly at Joey's now-damp shoulder.

"Shut up, you!" Joey shook out the packs of fruit snacks and the backstage pass card within. He snatched it up and flipped it over to see the face. He scowled and then turned it so that Lance could see Justin's faux-sexy-look picture before shoving it into his hands. "Ok, so it's plan B. I break into Justin's house and kick his ass."

"I thought you were just going to break in and steal his stash of cards."

"Well, that will be the bonus part of the trip."

Lance looked at the card in his hands, studying the "tour dates" on the back that were now mostly a year out of date. Already he could barely remember those individual shows. "You know, if you want a picture of me on a backstage pass, I could probably get you one. I have connections. Or maybe," he quirked an eyebrow at his groupmate, "you could just be happy looking at the real thing?"

Joey scowled again and paused from where he was sorting out groceries to be put into the refrigerator. "It's the principle of the thing," he growled. He looked more closely at Lance's skeptical face. "Um, not that you're not nice to look at." He huffed a soft laugh and leaned over. Lance waited to see what he would do and then squealed in protest as Joey licked his cheek all the way up to his hairline. "Very nice to look at." He smacked his lips. "Taste pretty good, too."

Lance wiped his sleeve across his face and stepped over to the sink with the apples. "Gross, Joey."

Joey found the noodles and emptied the sack into the now-boiling water. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Complain now, see if I lick you later."

Lance turned on the sink and ran water over the apples. "You'd better."

They worked quietly for a while and then Joey let out a sharp, "Hey!"

Lance turned from where he'd been cutting up salad fixings. "What?"

"You forgot something, dumbass."

"What'd I forget? I felt like I was forgetting something at the store, but..."

Joey gave him a significant look. "You know. Think about it." Lance thought and Joey nudged him. "This is why I wanted to put it on the list, but you wouldn't let me." He mimicked a whiny voice, "But what if I run into a fan and she manages to steal the list when I'm not looking?"

Lance's eyes widened. "Well fuck."

"Not if we're out of lube."

"We're not out already, are we?" Lance asked worriedly. "I can't believe I forgot. Stupid!"

Joey rubbed a hand over his shoulder as he walked by to put the plastic bags in the recycling bin. "Nah, we still have enough. Just be sure to send Theresa or her assistant out tomorrow. It'd look weird if you just bought that one thing and Ann wasn't your checker."

Lance gave Joey an apologetic smile. "Yeah. Sorry, babe."

Joey came back over and wrapped both arms around Lance's waist. "No worries," he said and licked Lance again.

"Dude, you freak!" Lance giggled and leaned forward to wipe his face on Joey's shirt.

Joey laughed and squeezed his arms closer to Lance's body. "You love it."

Lance wrapped his arms around Joey and squeezed back. He looked into Joey's happy, glowing face. "Yeah, I do."

~end~