First Love and Other Miscommunications by Sandy Keene - PG-13

[shutyourface.livejournal.com]

Fandom: POPSLASH - *NSLASH
Pairing: Justin/Lance
Author on LJ: callmesandy
Author Website: Suitable for Framing

Why this must be read:

This is one of those stories that's stayed with me for a long time. From Lance's POV. Lance is in love and Justin's stupid. It's the kind of AU that I love, in that we're completely enmeshed in this other world. And it feels real.


The office was full of signature gatherers every day and every single day, Lance had to bug Justin to get the I-9s and W2s for all the new people they were bringing in for the push. JC and Chris got it, they always made sure Lance got the forms, but Justin was always a struggle. Fucker, Lance thought, because Justin had been supervising for at least a year, he knew Lance had to have the tax forms for payroll and he couldn't blow this shit off. Justin could recruit anyone, and even train most of them to be decent at it, but he had to be a dork about this one simple part that Lance needed.

Lance had tried the calm little speech first, the "we need to make sure we do everything right because you know there's lots of people who would love to shut us down, blah blah" and Justin had nodded and said he'd be better about it. When that hadn't worked, Lance had tried the "I can't pay them if you don't get this stuff to me and then they'll quit and hate you" speech and Justin had nodded again. And now it had been a month of new people every day and Justin never getting the I-9s and W2s to Lance on time and Lance was considering just complaining to Chris. One last try, Lance thought, because if he complained to Chris, which he should do, damn it, Chris would bitch at Justin. It would be one more thing, besides Lance's actual affection and interest in a job Justin judged boring, one more thing that Justin would hold against Lance.

Lance sighed and went into the main room where Justin was doing announcements for the lunchtime crew. He waited until the signature gatherers had started to drift out in smaller groups and just stared at Justin until Justin came over to him. Lance crossed his arms and just said, "I-9s. W2s. Come on, Justin, seriously."

Justin huffed and puffed and launched into a diatribe about immigration laws and how important was it really to verify citizenship with little asides about kowtowing to the Man and people just trying to make a difference. Lance tuned him out and just stared at Justin with rising contempt. Stupid kid. It wasn't kowtowing to the Man to follow the law and pay people and this was all just bluster because Justin couldn't be bothered. Justin sputtered out and flounced out of the office, noting he was off to "actually do something for this campaign." Lance went back to his desk and fumed and made sure the bills were paid and that the lights would stay on.

The next day, Lance got into work later than usual because he'd stopped by the copy shop first to make sure there would be no problems with the account they'd set up there. Lance found a stack of I-9s and W2s on his desk, tied in a bright red bow with a doughnut sitting right on top. He looked over at Justin and held up the doughnut. "Is this some kind of thing? You think I'm fat or I'm some sort of pig or what?"

Justin blushed and looked down. "No, I was, uh. I was being a dork about the thing," Justin actually said very quietly, like he meant it. "I was being a dork and uh, I knew you liked those. So I got you a doughnut. Sorry. Do you, uh, do you not want it?"

Lance sat down and tapped his fingers on the desk. "No. I do want it, thanks."




First Love and Other Miscommunications.