fic: rewrite our story 3/4

[inbetweencabs]

Part Two

: : :

Adam thinks he’s dreaming, or having some heat-induced hallucination. Because there is no fucking way on earth that he’s got his arms wrapped around Kris right now.

But Adam buries his smile in Kris’s hair and it’s just like yesterday since he last saw him. Kris has filled up - Adam can totally feel the muscles beneath Kris’s thin white shirt - but he still fits so nicely against Adam. And if Adam’s being honest, it’s totally blowing his mind.

“This is the most awesome surprise ever,” Adam says, breathless and giddy. He can feel the rumble of Kris’s laugh, the sound still so familiar. Or maybe it’s just that Adam still feels the same way he did when he was 18 and he made Kris laugh.

They stay wrapped around each other for what seems like forever. But then Kris takes a deep breath and steps away from Adam. Adam looks at Kris’s face and he wants to reach out and kiss him, just to see if it would still feel as amazing as before.

But Kris is fidgeting and blushing; Adam can feel the awkwardness radiating off him. Kris’s shoulders are tense and he can’t meet Adam’s eyes, but at the same time, it feels like he can’t stop staring at Adam either.

Adam sighs happily. “Oh Kris, you look so good.”

Kris rubs the back of his neck and gives Adam a small smile. “Um yeah. I don’t know…”

Adam rolls his eyes and teases, “Still can’t take a compliment.”

That makes Kris chuckle and blush even more, if that’s even possible. Adam wants to eat him with a spoon. Kris then looks at him and says, “thanks, I guess. I mean, I still look the same. But you…” he waves a hand vaguely towards Adam.

Adam can’t help but preen. “You like the hair?”

“Yeah, it suits you,” Kris nods. “But I liked it when you were blond too, so…” then his eyes widen. He looks down at his shoes then takes a deep breath. “Anyway, it’s good to see you. Who would’ve thought, right?”

“I know,” Adam can hear his tone go wistful. “Hey, we should catch up.”

Kris quickly answers. “Yeah, ok. I know you’re busy with all of these, and Doug and Ste. And um, everything else. So maybe when you have time.”

“I’ll make the time. Come on, when I heard Claire say your name, I don’t even know…”

Kris is about to say something when they hear Blaine calling him. So Adam’s really disappointed when Kris says, “um, see you around. Have a good shoot, ok?”

Then he just turns away, leaving Adam staring at his back. Adam’s so confused. One minute, they cling to each other as if ten years hadn’t come and gone. The next Kris seems to be pulling away and acting so distant that all Adam wants to do is just to pull him back in.

He then hears Kurt looking for him so he walks back to the trailer. They start shooting the dinner with Doug and Adam’s concentration is for shit. He finds himself looking sideways every few minutes, trying to get a glimpse of Kris. Claire takes him aside after a botched take where he’s supposed to kiss the corner of Doug’s mouth, and he fucks it up when he sees Kris standing behind Blaine. Kris is watching them, and Adam can’t help but stare, taking in the subtle changes on Kris’s face.

Then he realizes that the more he messes up, the longer it would take for him to hang out with Kris. So he tries to look so in love with Doug, and a little over 9pm, Claire tells them that it’s a wrap.

Adam gets up, looking around but doesn’t see any sign of Kris. He curses and when he sees Steen, he pulls her aside and asks, “Did you see that guy who’s helping Blaine? Kris?”

“Hot guy? Kinda short?” Steen says, her eyes still on her iPad.

“Yeah,” Adam agrees. Then he takes the iPad from her and says, “he’s my Kris.” At Steen’s confused stare, he whispers in her ear, “you know, Rue Falls Kris? Cake kisses? Time capsule?”

Steen squeals and Adam steps back, nodding at her. Steen puts a hand over her chest and says, “oh my god, this is the best thing ever! Why is he here? What happened?”

“I don’t know!” He flails a bit at Steen. “That’s why you have to go find him while I take off my makeup and…”

“Ahhh, there he is!” Steen jumps a bit and pulls Adam towards the edge of the shoot area. He sees Kris talking to Blaine and then Kris waves goodbye, turning away slightly with his bag slung on his shoulder.

Adam panics because he still doesn’t have Kris’s number. And he doesn’t know where to find him. Then he hears Steen call out, “Kris, wait up!” as she tugs on Adam’s arm so they can walk faster. Adam vaguely thinks that it must look pretty embarrassing, but he really can’t care less.

Kris stops and turns back. Adam sees Kris’s eyes light up and Adam can’t help but grin stupidly. As soon as they’re in front of each other, Kris says, “hi, Steen. Adam. Um, yes?”

Steen nudges Adam. Adam quickly asks, “Where are you going?”

“Oh. I’m off work now,” Kris answers, looking confused. “Did you want to ask me anything? I don’t know if I could help. I’m just covering for Brad today.”

Adam nods slowly, wondering why Kris is even talking about work. “No, nothing about that. I thought we’d hang out. If you don’t have plans, that is.”

Kris clearly looks surprised and Adam kind of wants to smack him when he says, “oh, ok. Yeah, I’m grabbing dinner then I can show you around? I can bring you to where you’re shooting tomorrow.”

Adam just groans because seriously. “Kris, I don’t want to talk about,” he gestures towards the set, “this.” He smiles and softly says, “I just want to catch up. Unless you don’t want to.”

Kris quickly touches Adam’s arm. “No, I want to hang out with you. Don’t be stupid.” Adam tries not to pout when Kris pulls back his hand and stops touching him.

“You’re the one being stupid. Didn’t I tell you we should catch up?”

Kris laughs. “Well, I thought you were just you know, saying that.”

Adam can’t help but laugh with him. “Shut up. Why would I say that if I didn’t mean it?”

Kris shrugs and he gives Adam a small smile. “I’m sorry, ok. But…” he trails off and Adam’s suddenly aware of why Kris is acting the way he is. And Adam feels so stupid for not thinking about it sooner.

So he just says, “our history’s never been that awesome when it comes to follow through.”

That makes Kris crack up again. “Exactly. But ok, if you’re up for it, meet me at The End in about an hour? It’s that little café…”

“I know where it is!” Adam grabs Kris’s hand. “I knew it! When I had that orange soda cake…”

“What?” Kris frowns but doesn’t let go of Adam’s hand. “Wait, did they give you the orange soda cake?”

“Yeah. Matt and Emma did! Oh, and I met Andrew too. I asked to meet the chef because I was so sure it was you, but Andrew came out of the kitchen!”

“Well, he’s a chef there. But I am, too.” Kris shakes his head. “So wait. You remember the cake?”

Adam can feel his face flush, and he can’t help but bite his lip when he answers. “Duh. It’s pretty unforgettable.”

Kris blushes and Adam gives in to the urge to gently touch Kris’s face. Kris’s eyelids droop a little and he sounds a little out of breath when he says, “yeah well, I try.”

Adam laughs and kisses Kris’s cheek. “I’ll just shower and change. And I’ll meet you there?”

“Awesome,” Kris answers. He squeezes Adam’s hand before letting go and walking away.

Adam watches Kris’s back and feels the grin splitting his face in half. He can’t believe he feels this great seeing Kris, but he’s not going to overanalyze. He’ll just go with the moment, see where it takes them.

He turns back, and sees Steen, Blaine and Kurt looking at him with identical shit-eating grins. He walks past them, and they start hooting and teasing him. Adam mock glares at them and says, “whatever. I have a date.”

: : :

“What do we have for dinner?” Kris says as soon as he enters the backdoor of The End’s kitchen. He came straight from the shoot, and he’s still full of crazy nervous energy.

Andrew takes a double take when he sees him. “What are you even doing here?” he asks in his clipped British accent. “I asked Celine to put some food in your fridge so just go home and rest.”

Kris ignores him and walks over to Allison, who’s mixing some greens, cheese and honey in a bowl. “Adam’s coming over for dinner.” When Andrew and Allison both stop what they’re doing to look at him, Kris shrugs. “He says he wants to catch up.”

Allison squeals. “I knew it! You have to tell us all about it!”

Yeah, like Kris is going to do that. “It’s nothing. Just one dinner.” He looks at Andrew. “What do we have?”

Andrew grins at him. “Angel hair with olive oil and anchovies, spiced risotto and pear-glazed chicken, basil-stuffed burger steaks, and the veggie burger. For dessert, cherry strawberry debacle and honeydew pudding.”

“Right,” Kris nods and decides that it’s good enough. He shakes his head and tells himself that he doesn’t need to stress. Or start cooking. Which he always does when he’s nervous.

Emma pokes her head in the kitchen and before she can comment on Kris’s presence, Allison runs over to her and says, “Kris and Adam have a date! Now!”

Emma actually jumps and tugs Kris away from the stove. “What are you even doing here then? Aren’t you going to change?”

Kris looks down at the plain white shirt, jeans and sneakers he’s worn to work that day. “Uh, no?” When Emma glares at him, he says, “it’s not even a date. He just said he wants to catch up.”

Before Kris can say that him changing his clothes wouldn’t make much difference anyway, Emma pushes him out of the kitchen towards the main room. She says, “go shower and change. Don’t worry about anything, we’ll take care of it.”

“What are we going to take care of?” Matt says from behind the bar where he’s pouring a drink.

“Kris has a date with Adam in…” she looks at Kris questioningly.

“About thirty minutes?” Kris mumbles. “And hey, I told you it’s not a date!”

“What the fuck are you still doing here?” Matt says as Emma just drags him to the front door.

“I hate you all,” Kris pouts when Emma finally manages to kick him out of the café.

“You don’t,” Emma kisses him on the cheek. “Go wear that tight grey v neck shirt and those black jeans that make your ass look really good. And for fuck’s sake, don’t wear those ugly brown shoes you always end up with when you’re nervous.”

“Hey! Those shoes are awesome. And they’re lucky,” Kris protests even as he’s walking away.

“They’re still ugly,” Emma wrinkles her nose. “See you in a while. We’ll just give Adam more orange soda cake.” She then runs back in to the café when Kris glares at her.

When Kris walks back to the café a shower and twenty minutes later, he sees Adam talking to Celine behind the counter. Adam looks a cross between amused and a little bit scared when Celine shows him her collection of Adam Lambert paraphernalia, with a laughing Matt looking on. Kris finds himself chuckling too as he weaves through the tables to go behind the bar.

“Stop scaring the tourists, Celine,” he says as soon as he’s standing beside Adam. He nods to Matt who’s got tears in his eyes, and Celine gives him a sarcastic toothy smile.

Adam jumps a bit, obviously startled when Kris spoke. But as soon as he turns, he wraps Kris into a hug. Kris closes his eyes, not really caring if his friends make fun of him later. He’s going to take whatever hugs Adam’s going to give him as long as he can have it.

“There you are,” Adam says against his hair. “I really thought you were going to stand me up.”

Kris steps back to laugh, but he sees that there’s a touch of truth to what Adam said when he takes in Adam’s eyes and slightly insecure smile. So Kris just plants his face again on Adam’s shoulder and mumbles, “why would I even do that?”

Adam makes a happy sound and kisses the top of his head. A surge of heat courses through Kris. It’s practically an alien feeling, but then he’s very aware of the changes they’ve both gone through the past ten years. He isn’t the innocent young boy who just had his first kiss anymore.

Matt clears his throat and Kris reluctantly steps back. He sees Matt and Celine beaming at them. Celine even says, “Can I take a picture of you guys? You’re so adorable together!”

“What is this, prom?” Kris replies. But he smiles just the same when Adam says, “hey, it’s ok, if you’re fine with it,” and puts an arm around his shoulders.

Celine happily takes a picture of them on her phone and then leads them to a quiet little corner of the room. Kris thanks Celine for giving them the most private table in the café. And based on the flowers and candles at the center of the table, it seems like Allison had a hand in the preparation.

Emma then appears to take their order and after the first glasses of wine have been served, Adam’s happily telling Kris about how he got the Bachelor gig, and how they chose to be in Rue Falls.

“We were supposed to go to Hawaii,” Adam says, his voice more animated after the third glass of wine. “But when something about the hotel and permits fell through, I called Blaine and Claire, and told them about Rue Falls. I mean, I know the place, more personal because I have memories here. That sort of thing.”

It doesn’t escape Kris how soft Adam’s voice is when he talks about having memories in Rue Falls. But he decides to ignore it and just says, “good thing they got on board. There’ve been a lot of changes down here since we… you were last here.”

Adam nods and fixes Kris with a heavy stare. But after a few seconds, Adam just laughs and Kris lets go of the breath he doesn’t realize he’s holding. “Why are you here? How long have you been here? Because I have to tell you, this is such a trip. That we’re here together!”

So Kris tells Adam his story. Adam makes appropriate noises at the right moments and when Kris says, “and I fell in love with the place all over again. This is home now.”

Adam nods, and takes another sip of his wine. Emma brings their food then (the olive oil angel hair for Adam, the risotto for Kris) and before Kris can even take his first bite, Adam asks, “Why didn’t you write me, Kris?”

Kris suddenly feels uncomfortable and puts down his fork. But Adam’s looking at him intently, obviously waiting for an answer. So Kris says, “it’s a stupid reason, really.” At Adam’s raised eyebrow, he says, “your address got stolen. Obviously, someone could read the future then and knew you’re going to be famous.”

Adam’s genuinely startled laugh makes Kris crack up. Adam gasps, “seriously? Well, good thing we moved then.”

“Yeah, thank your lucky stars.” He smiles a little bit sadly at Adam. “I’m still sorry about that.” He wants to say more but Adam doesn’t need to know that he moped for a year after that summer in Rue Falls. Or how years later, he moped again for a month when he first saw Adam on a magazine cover.

“Not your fault,” Adam mumbles and reaches out to lightly touch his arm.

Kris nods and decides to break the uncomfortable moment by digging in to his risotto. He’s aware that Adam’s watching him and he becomes uneasy. He swallows. “Yeah?”

“Aren’t you going to ask me why I didn’t write?” Adam softly says.

Kris gives Adam an embarrassed smile, and shrugs. “Hey, you don’t owe me any explanations, man. It’s cool. I mean, obviously, you’ve been busy.”

“Didn’t you care? Or you know, wonder at least?”

Kris looks up when he hears the slightly hurt tone in Adam’s voice. He sees Adam looking at him with soft eyes and a small smile. And Kris’s heart melts, realizing that he’s doing this wrong. This Adam is still his Adam, despite the artfully styled hair and the gloss of fame.

So Kris reaches out to touch Adam’s hand, twines their fingers together. “Of course I cared. I became crazy nervous when I first heard you’re coming here. Mostly because I’d see you again, and you know… I’ve always wondered if you were happy when I saw you on tv and the magazines.” He squeezes Adam’s hand. “But then I thought you didn’t write me so you probably won’t remember me anyway.”

“You’re still frustrating, oh my god. Or totally underestimating how awesome you are, if you think I could forget you. Or that summer.” Adam’s voice has dropped to a whisper, and it makes Kris shiver. “I didn’t write because I lost your address when we moved. I tried sending an e-mail and calling, but I couldn’t seem to reach you.” He feels Adam tug his hand and Kris stares into Adam’s eyes. “It’s not because I didn’t want to. I would never want to forget you.”

That makes Kris smile and Adam just smiles back at him. Kris feels a lightness settle on his chest and he mumbles, “well at least we’re both here now. Together. At least for a while.”

Adam nods and says, “do you still have some orange soda cake?”

Kris rolls his eyes but he doesn’t tug his hand back. He catches Emma’s eye and mouths, “cake,” and she hurries off to the kitchen. He then turns back to Adam who’s still got a small smile on his face and says, “now, tell me, what’s up with Doug and Ste.”

Adam chuckles and he leans in to tell Kris about how in love Doug and Ste are with each other, that they can’t be together until after Adam chooses Doug. But all Kris can hear is Adam’s voice, wrapping around him like a blanket. And he thinks, yeah, he’d never want to forget Adam either.

: : :

Adam’s had three hours of sleep, having gone home at around 4am after walking around Rue Falls with Kris after dinner. But he can’t wait to start his day because he knows Kris is going to be on set again. Kris got the call from a still-sick Brad midway through their walk. Adam might have flailed internally when he heard Kris say that sure, he’d cover for Brad for another day.

So when he gets to the shoot site an hour earlier than necessary, Kurt and Blaine raise their eyebrows. Especially when they see how wide he’s smiling.

“Don’t tell me.” Blaine blinks at him. “You totally got laid.”

Adam huffs and says, “what the fuck? No! A guy can’t be happy this morning?”

“No, not you. It’s 8 in the morning. And Steen said you got home at 4am…” Kurt musses. “And she told us Brad’s still not coming in so Kris is going to be here today.”

“I am so going to fire her ass,” Adam says. But he’s smiling so he thinks that might’ve ruined the effect he was going for. When Kurt and Blaine just continue looking at him, he shrugs and says, “we just had dinner then we took a walk. We didn’t even kiss.”

“And why not?” Kurt asks. “You can’t stop touching each other!”

“I don’t know…” Adam takes a sip of his coffee while staring into the distance, looking for Kris. Blaine nudges him and he says, “He’s really hot. But I feel like I don’t know him yet… I don’t know.”

Blaine sighs dreamily. “Did he grow up the way you imagined he would?”

Adam shakes his head. “No,” he takes in how sad Kurt and Blaine looks before saying, “he’s even more awesome. I can’t believe how perfect he is. For me, you know.”

Kurt and Blaine actually squeal, and jump on him, all flaily arms. Adam kind of wants to laugh at how they’ve all regressed into teenagers, but that’s exactly how he felt the previous night when he was with Kris.

Kris, who’s now walking out of Claire’s trailer, and who blushes promptly when he sees Adam being attacked by Kurt and Blaine. But he’s smiling brightly at Adam, and Adam can’t help but grin back. He’s floating and he’s high. And then he realizes that holy crap, Kurt and Blaine are right, he should’ve kissed Kris.

So he walks right over to Kris and meets him halfway, before leaning down to kiss him. Adam feels how surprised Kris is with how he gasps against Adam’s mouth, and Adam takes the chance to catch Kris’s bottom lip between his teeth.

Kris moans softly and it makes Adam want to slam Kris to a wall to have his way with him. But he knows he’s in public and he still doesn’t know if Kris wants that from him, so he steps back after licking Kris’s bottom lip and taking in Kris’s wide surprised eyes.

“Um, this is ok, right?” Adam mumbles. When Kris nods, he lets out a breath and says, “yay.”

Kris grins and says, “good morning,” against Adam’s mouth. He’s on his tiptoes to rest his forehead against Adam’s, and Adam knows it’s supposed to be sweet, but he just thinks it’s so fucking hot.

“I forgot that last night,” Adam whispers back. And that startles a laugh out of Kris, and Adam decides to stare. Just because.

They jump apart when Claire walks by them and says, “Break it up, boys. We have peacocks to shoot.”

Kris groans as he steps away from Adam. “Ugh. I’m going to kill Brad.”

“You don’t want to see me at work today?” Adam asks, all wounded. And cute, he hopes.

“No, no, not that,” Kris smiles at him. “I hate birds. Hate. Them.” They’re shooting at a peacock park that tourists always visit in Rue Falls.

“They’re peacocks! They’re wonderful and gorgeous…”

“And they’re out to kill me.” Kris pouts.

For some reason, Adam finds that adorable and he sends Kris away with another kiss. Kurt and Blaine make kissy noises at each other when Adam turns back to look at them, and Adam gives them the finger. But he knows he’s got a stupid, silly grin on his face. Not that he cares.

The day goes by in a breeze, and Adam finds it easy to look sappy. All he has to do is look at Kris trying to avoid the peacocks walking around, and he just cracks up. When Kris dances around a table because a peacock is going straight towards him, Adam loses it in the middle of a take. Claire rolls her eyes, but sees Kris standing on top of a chair while glaring at a peacock, and she also laughs.

“Your boy’s adorable,” Doug says as the makeup girl powders his nose.

Adam feels his face flame. “He’s not my boy.”

“Yet.” Ste pipes in, and he nudges Doug’s shoulder.

“Oh, you two think you’re so clever,” Adam huffs but he can’t help but smile.

And because Adam’s in such a good mood, they finish the shoot early. He quickly goes to his trailer to change into some cut off shorts and a gray David Bowie shirt, and to take off his makeup. Then he goes out, and looks for Kris.

He finds him talking to Blaine, face serious as he points things at the clipboard. When he spots Adam lurking like a creeper on the background, Kris’s face breaks into a smile, and signals for Adam to wait.

Adam nods and decides to listen to his iPod. All the while, he’s thinking of how amazing it is that after not seeing each other in a long time, being with Kris is still as easy as ever. It’s been awkward at first, yes, but once they’ve gotten past the issue of not keeping in touch, it’s as if the past ten years had never happened.

Adam believes in the cosmic order of things, of people coming into each other’s lives at the particular time when they’re supposed to. When he was with Kris for dinner and reminiscing about their summer together, Adam saw the boy he was so crazy about. It amazes him how it seems like Kris’s smile hasn’t changed at all, how he still scrunches his nose when he laughs. And Adam finds that Kris is still a bit reserved, but his sneaky naughty streak is still there, present in the mischievous light in his brown eyes.

But then, talking to Kris, he sees the man he has become. Adam appreciates the dry sense of humor, the quiet confidence that can only come from someone who knows how to work for what he wants. And Adam’s drawn to that, maybe because he’s like that too.

As the night went on, he found himself wanting to know what’s behind Kris’s contradictions. He wants to know if the ambivalence Kris seems to give off is due to the stubborn belief that there’s always good in everyone and everything, that they all deserve a chance. He can see faith there, a loyalty that tries to make peace with what the world has taught him. And Adam’s fascinated, if he’s being honest with himself.

He hasn’t realized that Kris is standing before him until Kris says, “hey, you ok?”

Adam feels a slight panic when his initial reaction was the intense need to kiss Kris. So he keeps his hands to himself and says, “never been better. Are you free tonight? Want to go out?”

Adam sees a variety of emotions cross Kris’s face. There might have been panic, slight fear, but when Kris settles for excitement, Adam decides to hold on to that. So when Kris nods, Adam puts his hand on the small of Kris’s back, and says, “let’s take a walk!”

: : :

They end up getting some burgers and chips from the café, and Andrew sends them off with a smile. Kris leads Adam to a secluded spot at the far end of the beach. They eat their burgers, looking at the sunset as Adam asks Kris about his friends. Adam genuinely looks interested, and Kris can’t help but try and make him laugh more by telling him about some of their everyday stories at The End.

Kris is aware that he’s so utterly, completely screwed. Ever since having dinner with Adam the night before, he’s just finding himself too heady and nervous and light. He knows this feeling, recognizes it from when he first met Katy and Jake. And that time two years ago, when he met Cale again.

Whose name when he mentions it to Adam was met by a shocked, “Cale? As in Cale Mills who’d been making googly eyes at you since you had that awful bowl cut?”

“Yes, that Cale,” Kris tries not to laugh at the huff that Adam makes. “And stop making fun of my hair. You loved it back in the day.”

Adam gives him a toothy grin and Kris tries not to find that too adorable. “Whatever. So what, you were with him?”

“Yeah, for a while, a few months after I came back here,“ Kris shrugs. “We dated for eight months. It was good, but I don’t know… it felt like we were just friends.”

“And you decided you both deserved better.” Adam nods. “I felt the same thing about my ex Drake. Well, the sex was amazing. But after that, I felt like I was fucking my friend. Something is so wrong with that. That’s what I think, anyway.”

Kris tries not to blush when he hears Adam say that, but it’s kind of hard, seeing that well, it’s been too long. And he finds Adam really, really hot. So he swallows hard and tries to casually say, “well, basically. I’m all for falling in love with a best friend, but yeah…”

“Totally,” Adam says and then Kris finds himself being tugged closer to Adam’s side. “See, I had this boyfriend Sauli. And we complemented each other so well. It was intense and perfect. There was passion there, and you know, I felt comfortable talking to him about anything. But it still didn’t work out.”

“Well yeah, you can’t expect to have a formula there,” Kris says and tries not to wonder who this Sauli is. “I think it’s just being at the right place at the right time.” He realizes what he has said and virtually smacks himself on the head.

But when Adam speaks, his voice is so soft, Kris strains to hear it. “Yeah, there is that. The work, it comes after.”

“When you love someone, it’s always easier.” Kris says automatically. Because he believes that; in everything he does, it is love that drives all of them.

Adam stops walking and takes a step back to look at Kris. Kris tries not to fidget when he sees how Adam seems to not want to take his eyes off his face. And when Adam whispers, “best thing I’ve heard in a while,” Kris laughs and kisses Adam. Just because Adam’s there right now. And he can.

When he pulls back, he looks at Adam’s face. Adam’s eyes are still closed and he’s got a small smile playing on his lips. Kris tugs his hand and when Adam opens his eyes, Kris says, “tell me about making your album.”

And Adam brightens up, happily telling Kris about the people he’s met and written with. How it’s a learning process and everyday is just a new opportunity to try something new. Kris thinks it’s amazing, how Adam’s now living the dream they were only talking about that summer. And he says so, making Adam blush.

“It was a lot of hard work. I did a lot of session work and some musicals.” Adam shrugs. “I’m just lucky the album did well. To be honest, I didn’t expect it to, seeing as how crazy competitive the business is.”

“You’re awesome so I’m glad it worked out too,” Kris agrees. He can’t see Adam doing anything else. He was born to be a star; Kris knew that when he first heard him sing on top of their cliff many years ago. “I got your album the day it came out.”

Adam does a double take. “How did you even know?”

Kris gives Adam a sheepish smile. “I follow you on Twitter.” When Adam goggles at him, Kris tries not to blush too hard. “What? I’m a fan. I saw your ad in Emma’s Vogue, and yeah… you get very excited sometimes.”

Adam ignores him. “Did you even tweet me? Oh my god, you should’ve tweeted me!” He takes out his phone.

Kris rolls his eyes. “Yeah, like you would’ve given me the time of day. You get tons of tweets a day. Besides, the no writing thing, remember?” He shrugs. “But I did tweet you. Just to congratulate you on the album.”

“What?! And you had a picture of yourself there, and I didn’t reply? I can’t believe I missed that!” Adam scrolls through his phone. “And to think I was looking for you on Facebook!”

For some reason, Kris finds his heart stuttering when he hears that. “You were?”

“Duh.”

“I’m not on Facebook, by the way.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Adam glares at him and Kris just laughs helplessly.

Adam then thrusts his phone towards Kris. “Go type in your twitter name there. I’m going to follow you back.”

Kris does as what he’s told and he says, “you already have my number, I don’t know why you need to follow me back. I don’t really tweet a lot. And I’m boring.” He hands back the phone to Adam.

“You are so not boring,” Adam tells him. Then he laughs when he looks at Kris’s twitter. “@Kris_shizzle? Seriously? And you’re using Snoop Dogg’s picture, of course.”

“Don’t hate,” Kris nudges Adam’s shoulder. “And it’s Snoop Lion now. Recognize.”

Adam’s laugh becomes louder. Then he looks at Kris and sighs. “I can’t believe I would’ve known earlier how to find you. And how you turned out, you know.”

Kris scoffs. “How I turned out? I feel like a lab rat.”

Adam kisses the top of his head. “You know what I mean.”

Kris chuckles. It feels good to know that Adam’s wondered about him, he’s not going to lie. “So how did I turn out exactly?”

Kris feels Adam take a deep breath and when he says, “more amazing that I ever dreamed about, to be honest,” Kris just has no choice but to lean up again and kiss him.

: : :

It’s Adam’s first Saturday night back in Rue Falls and he can’t wait to just go out and be a little crazy. He’s thinking of dragging Kris somewhere fun where they can be a little - ok, a lot drunk and maybe dance. He still has to know if Kris is into that kind of stuff, but Adam doesn’t really mind if Kris isn’t. Adam’s fun isn’t exclusive to dark noisy clubs; it’s more in the company he has. He can totally do sitting at home, watching some crappy movie and eating take-out, as long as he’s got some good conversation, and if he gets lucky, some lazy kisses.

He walks back to The End where he’s meeting Kris for their date, and he sees Celine waving at him from behind the bar. He kisses her cheek and tries not to laugh when Celine blushes a bit.

“Stop trying to steal my wife, Lambert,” Matt says in a clipped tone that makes both Celine and Adam bend over in laughter.

“Oh, I’m not trying. It’s a done deal,” Adam says and ducks when Matt punches him lightly on the shoulder.

“Um, I don’t know. Kris is pretty scary. I don’t want to mess with him,” Celine says. She raises her hands and blushes when Matt kisses the top of her head.

“Ah, the sting of rejection,” Adam says, but he knows he’s smiling so hard. “So Kris not here yet?”

Matt nods his head towards the kitchen door. “Still in there. Allison’s having some kind of emergency with the banana and strawberry pudding, and Andrew’s off somewhere with Emma on their break. So Kris stepped in for a while.”

“You can go in, if you want,” Celine suggests.

Adam shakes his head. “Nah, I don’t want to be in their way when they’re having an emergency. Besides, I can wait.”

“Yeah, Andrew will be back soon, anyway,” Matt says after handing Megan a tray with three lemon lime martinis on it. “So where are you guys going tonight?”

“I have no idea, “ Adam shrugs. “Kris says we’ll figure it out. But I don’t know… is he up for dancing?”

Celine collapses on top of the bar in laughter. She’s wheezing when she says, “oh no. No. That would be painful.”

Matt is also chuckling when he tells Adam, “You need to ask him because his expression would be priceless.”

“So,” Adam trails off and laughs himself when he sees that Celine actually has tears in her eyes. “Like, is he really bad? Or just that he doesn’t like it?”

“Kris is not bad,” Megan butts in when she approaches the bar and overhears them. “He’s actually got some moves when he gets going, but he’s so self conscious and that makes him so awkward. It’s pretty hilarious.”

“And hot,” Celine repeats. “Maybe get him drunk first. Or better yet, just ask him to dance when it’s just the two of you.”

Adam snorts and he hears Megan make the same sound when Matt leans over his wife and says, “why does that sound dirty?”

“Because it’s supposed to be dirty!” Celine rolls her eyes but she’s still smiling when she looks at Adam. She then grabs a small box from under the counter and hands it over to Adam. “Since you’re taking Kris away, you can pick from there.”

Adam sees that the box has about 6 CDs in it. He picks the one on top of the heap with the name Matt Cardle written on the cover. He looks over at Matt. “Hey, are these yours? Like, your songs?”

Matt grins at Adam and takes the box. “Yeah, 2 of them.” He removes 2 CDs from the box and hands it over to Adam. “The rest are Kris’s.”

Adam sits a bit straighter, the excitement at having Kris’s music right there making him bop a little. He takes out the remaining CDs on the box and turns them over in his hand. They’re just labeled as 1, 2, 3 and 4, and Kris Allen written with a blue marker. There are also dates on the covers and Adam thinks those could be when the songs on each CD were recorded.
“I don’t know what to pick!” he says then looks over at Matt, Celine and Megan.

Celine frowns a little and asks, “haven’t you heard any of his songs before?” When Adam shakes his head to say no, Celine just says, “Well then, I’m picking 3 because that’s my favorite.”

Adam hands over 3 to Celine, trying not to smile too hard. After Celine puts it on, a bluesy guitar-driven song comes on and after just a few notes, Kris’s voice.

Adam remembers Kris’s voice from when they sang together. But just as there have been a lot of changes in Adam’s voice and technique over the years, Kris’s also improved. Adam can hear some hitches that can totally be corrected with training and technique, but somehow, it just makes the song seem more earnest. And Adam can just hear how Kris sings his heart out, so quietly but so sweetly pleading, and it’s making him so proud.

The kitchen door opens then and Kris comes out wearing his apron. And he’s looking at them with surprised eyes before walking over to the CD player to turn it off. Matt and Celine run over to block his way and Adam stands up to meet Kris halfway.

He puts his arms around Kris’s shoulder and tugs him closer. “This is so good! I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you had your stuff recorded!”

Kris has a slight panicked look on his face, and Adam just wants to kiss it away. So he tells Kris that, and Kris gasps in surprise before pulling away. Kris then says, “This is so embarrassing.” He looks at Celine and Matt. “Why are you even playing this?”

“Because Adam’s stealing you away. The people who came to see you tonight deserve to still hear some of your stuff,” Celine shrugs and grins so cheekily that Adam just has to laugh.

Then what she said registers and Adam looks at Kris who’s busy glaring at Celine. Adam pulls Kris closer and forces Kris to look up at him. “You’re supposed to play tonight? You should’ve told me!”

“Yeah, no.” Kris starts to remove his apron. “We’re supposed to go out.”

“Well, we can go out and be here,” Adam whines. “I want to hear your stuff.” When Kris starts to argue, Adam raises his hand to stop him. “You heard my stuff. It’s only fair that I hear yours.”

“ You released your songs commercially, of course I heard them. What kind of argument is that?” Kris mutters, facing Adam completely.

“A good one, actually,” Matt nods and Adam tries not to laugh when Kris shoots his friends a betrayed look.

Adam then decides to play dirty and wraps his arms around Kris. When he feels Kris melt against him, he speaks softly in his ear. “Hey, remember when we were writing our songs back in the day? It’s just me… just us. So please?”

It takes a few seconds before Kris nods. And Adam plants a kiss on Kris’s temple because well, it’s one of those things. Before they can even break apart, Celine’s walking over and hands Kris his guitar.

“Slave driver,” Kris glares at Celine, but he’s got a smile on his face. And Adam wants to kiss him, but thinks that there’s a time and place for that. So he just wraps his arms tighter around Kris and buries his face in Kris’s hair.

: : :

They’re sitting on the bench tucked in a dark corner beside the back entrance of The End. Everyone has gone home but Kris and Adam have decided to stay behind, the buzz from the night still not close to fading away.

Kris is right on that cusp of deliriously sleepy, so he leans on Adam, who turns out to be a cuddling machine. He hasn’t really let go of Kris since Kris got off the stage after performing his usual three-set Saturday show. Kris just finds himself burrowing into Adam’s side the rest of the night because it feels good to have Adam there.

It was a good show, one of Kris’s best, he thinks so himself. In the beginning, he thought that having Adam there was probably going to throw him off his vibe, but it just ended up helping him. He knew that he wanted to impress Adam, wanted him to see what he came up with during the time they weren’t together. And at the same time, he also hoped that Adam would see that he was still the boy that Adam met all those years ago, the one he made music with, the one he built dreams with.

But in the end, as it always does, the music just does it all for him. And he tells Adam all of this, courage fueled by the warm night, and the sparkle in Adam’s eyes.

And right there in the dark, Adam kisses him. It seems to go on forever, much like the kisses they first shared, back when they were still learning how to really make a kiss matter. When they pull back, Kris feels heady and he touches Adam’s face. “That was fun.”

“Understatement,” Adam says against his mouth. “I’m so glad you’re still doing this.”

“Kissing you?”

“Well yeah,” Adam kisses him again. “Seriously though, I’m so happy you’re still writing songs. And you’re so, so good. Like, shut up, I’m just not saying that.”

Kris laughs. “No need for flattery, I’m a sure thing.” When Adam rolls his eyes, Kris pulls away a little and holds both of Adam’s hands in his own. He looks straight into Adam’s eyes and says, “thank you. That means a lot coming from you. And not just because you actually do this like, as your job, but because you know…”

“I know,” Adam finishes for him. “I can guess you now probably feel the same way I did when you told me you liked my album.”

Kris nods because yeah, he gets that. “It’s the reason I stayed here. That I can still play my music.”

“Yeah?” Adam nudges him. “Why not LA? Or New York? Nashville?”

“Remember when I said I just came here without a plan?” When Adam nods, he says, “and it turned out that I can have the life I wanted at that time here. I mean, you’ve met my friends…”

“They’re pretty awesome.”

“They totally are. And The End let me have a job I enjoy. I get paid to cook and write music and sing…”

“And to eat. And to flirt with Brad.”

“Which is totally a full time job in itself,” Kris smirks as Adam laughs. “So yeah, Rue Falls has always given me good stuff.”

Kris realizes that his voice becomes soft when he says that, and he sees Adam looking at him tenderly. So he clears his throat and casually says, “so how about you? What’s your life in LA like?”

Adam leans back on the wall but still doesn’t let go of Kris’s hand. “Well, I’ve been working the LA club scene for a while and I met a lot of people, most of them casually. But some of my best friends I also met during that time when we first moved there. And we all sang together, kind of like a struggling artist thing going on. But without the greasy hair and hobo clothes.”

Kris grins because seriously. “Of course.”

“Not to say I wouldn’t be able to rock the hipster homeless look, but whatever,” Adam waves their joined hands together in the air. “But my life before the album and the modeling was pretty simple. A lot like yours, actually.”

Kris raises an eyebrow but his voice is teasing when he says, “Yeah? So no wild parties? Crazy nights?”

Adam rolls his eyes. “Well, I didn’t say that. What I mean is that my friends practically became my family and actually, it’s still the way it is today. They totally tease me about what’s going on right now in my life, but I know they have my back.”

Kris thinks how that just by looking at Adam, it’s hard to see how he’s really someone who just wants love in his life. The leather and the makeup and the fierceness make Adam look totally unapproachable and intimidating, but Kris revels in the knowledge that Adam’s still as sweet and real as the guy he met when he was 16.

He squeezes Adam’s hand. “They must have flipped out when your album just took off. Since you know, they knew you were recording it and all.”

Adam nods excitedly. “I actually recorded the songs from my album sporadically...”

“Who even uses the word sporadically in normal conversation?”

“Kris, honey,” Adam shoots him a withering look and Kris feels himself grinning wider. “As I was saying - and I told you this the other night - I wrote most of the songs with my best friends. And I recorded it…”

“Sporadically. Over the years.”

“Yes,” Adam kisses him and Kris laughs into his mouth. “Until it became the thing that it is.”

“And the modeling?”

“That was just luck. I was actually asked to stand in for someone, but the photographer really liked the mock shoot we did. Then sent it to one of his contacts at Ford.” Adam smiles. “And yeah, it’s been good since then. I mean, the modeling helps with the music, and it’s my job now. But it helps people to hear my music, same with this Bachelor gig. And hey who am I to complain?”

“I really loved your album.” When Adam scoffs, Kris twines his fingers through Adam’s. “No, I really did. I do. But then again, your voice is insane! Like, you just get better and better and… yeah.” He blushes but Adam just grins at him so Kris thinks it’s ok even if he sounded like a total fanboy.

Adam suddenly says. “We should write something together. Finish one of those songs.” He pulls Kris closer.

Kris nods. “Maybe. When we get the time.”

“We’ll totally have the time.” Adam says it so confidently that Kris just has to squeeze his hand to say yes, he’d love that.

Kris looks at Adam, and he’s got to admit that he’s still a bit intimidated. But as Adam tells some stories about the stuff that he had to go through to get to where he is, Kris realizes that they pretty much have, and are still going through the same things. They both have bad days, and busy seasons, and insecurities. Only Adam has glamour and smokes and mirrors, and Kris knows that those aren’t even the important stuff anyway.

He also knows that it also makes a whole lot of difference even if they don’t want it to. But Kris doesn’t really care about that now, not when Adam’s still making him laugh, telling him stories about drag queens and wild road trips. Because right there in the dark where the air still smells a bit like The End’s kitchen and the sky bright as any Rue Falls summer, they’re just two people talking and who are just so into each other they can’t even stop holding each other’s hands.

Part Four