"Welcome to being a grown up," said Joey softly, joining JC in the doorway and watching the scene in front of them.

It was like watching the same movie he'd seen a thousand times before, only from a different camera angle. There were the fans, and there were the bodyguards, and there were Justin and Lance in the middle of the frenzy, hastily signing autographs and dodging the most menacing of the groping hands. JC would have been there once, in the thick of it, back to back with Justin and trying to get free so he could join the rest of the guys.

He didn't really have that problem anymore. Sure there were fans, and there were so many autographs every day he wasn't sure his hand would ever stop aching, and his bodyguard stuck by his side come hell or high water. Just like it was for all of them. But then there was that other level, the one he was watching, where the crushes never ended. Where Justin and Lance were young and gorgeous and popular and better as a pretend boyfriend than even the captain of the football team.

JC had always been the second oldest in the group, but for the first time people were seeing him at that level. Seeing him as something past the teen dream stage. A place where he was still adored, but could start to take his life back. Start to become himself again.

He felt Joey's arm come around him as they watched the scene, right before they both started slowly backing out of the doorway. Joey'd been there; he understood.

"I think I'm going to like it here," JC admitted, then gave him a smile and let Joey lead him away.