Some Peace
by Synchronik

"And maybe you'll find some peace tonight."

Angel
Sarah McLaughlin

JC still always knocked on the door, no matter how many times Chris told him he didn't have to. Even when he had Chris' extra key to the hotel room given to him by Chris himself, JC would still tap lightly on the door and wait for him to answer it. Chris swung the door open while he was still on the phone with Dani, grabbing JC by the wrist and tugging him in.

"Honey," he said into the phone. "I gotta go. We're in the middle of --"

"Yeah, tell JC I say hi," she answered and hung up before he could say goodbye.

"Dude, my ex-girlfriends are all bitches," he told JC. "Why didn't you guys say something about this before?"

JC just shook his head against Chris' shoulder, his arms tight around Chris' neck.

"Do me a favor and when we break up, don't get together with Dani and --"

"You shouldn't say stuff like that," JC murmured.

"You shouldn't talk to Justin while he's so upset," Chris said, and hugged him tight.

"I know. He was crying, though."

"He's not a kid, C," he said, running his hands over JC's back.

"No, I know." JC nodded and pulled back. It was funny, Chris thought, how he could have been so close to JC for so long and not have noticed how damn beautiful he was. It still struck him new almost everyday, looking into the blue of JC's eyes, or watching the light on the sharp edge of his cheekbones. He reached up and brushed JC's hair back from his face. "I know," JC repeated. "It's just. He's just."

"He's fucked up," Chris said. "And he's gonna be fucked up for a long time. And he should be fucked up, and why is that?"

"Because he fucked up," JC said, smiling.

"So, yeah," he said. "He'll be fine."

"You think?" JC said, but his eyes were already cloudy and unfocused, and he was licking his lips, and his hips pressed against Chris' in small gentle pulses. JC was already somewhere else, somewhere much sexier than where Chris was, and it was up to him to catch up.