Tightly Knit - Kradam - NC17
Master Post | Part One | Part Two | Part Three
Adam knows nothing about knitting, except for the fact that he's pretty sure it requires knitting needles and yarn, so when his mom declares that the only thing she want for her birthday is a scarf he knitted himself, he decides that she's insane. Apparently someone in her parenting class (yes, she attends parenting classes even though Adam is already in his second year of college and Neil is disgustingly well behaved) said the same thing to her son last year and it turned out to be a real turning point for him.
Now, Adam doesn't really believe in the magical powers of knitting needles and he's not exactly sure he needs a turning point in his life, but if his mom wants a horrible hand-knitted scarf, then a horrible hand-knitted scarf is what she's getting. He does some research on the internet and knitting doesn't seem to be too hard; all it requires is aforementioned needles, yarn and time.
Time isn't something he's well stocked on between school and musical theatre practice, but there's always the hour before bedtime he devotes to playing with his makeup and the hour before classes he devotes to playing with his makeup and also all the time between classes that he devotes to playing with his makeup. Come think about it, this is probably one great ploy from his mother to get him away from the makeup table.
Matt, his roommate, says he should pay some chick to knit the scarf for him, seeing as Adam doesn't really need to add another thing to his repertoire that makes people question his manliness, but Matt is a bit of a douche sometimes and also the only one that constantly questions Adam's manliness, so Adam's not going to take his advice. Besides, he would feel awful come her birthday when his mom opened his present if he hadn't actually knitted the scarf himself.
Since Matt pointedly refuses to come with him shopping for needles and yarn, Adam sets out on his own one Monday afternoon to buy the needed supplies. There's still a certain chill to the air that reminds him of winter, enough to excuse him hiding his unruly hair under a beanie and wrapping a scarf around his neck. It's the best thing, he thinks, about attending college in Pennsylvania - there are actual seasons instead of just degrees of heat.
It turns out there's more than one knitting store in town and he has the hardest time deciding which one to go into. There's a big one on the main street, with a bright window display full of yarn, needles and instructions, but it seems like a place for the insanely crafty, because it also has fabric and various craft supplies. There's another store in one of the gallerias that is more specialized, but nothing in the window is as simple as a scarf.. Adam actually goes into that one, but after a quick look around he steps out again. He wants a place where he would feel comfortable asking stupid questions.
He buys a steaming hazelnut latte from a corner coffee shop and when he steps out again he sees it - Allen's Knitting, a small shop on one of the side streets, with an old-fashioned sign hanging above the door. It looks like the kind of place a grandma would own and he just knows it's the place for him. He sips his coffee as he makes his way over, minding his step on the badly lit sidewalk.
There's a lantern standing on the bottom step, candlelight flickering invitingly and he's sure he picked the right place. The dimly lit window display boasts yarns and needles as well as a few finished projects, among them a simple striped scarf, set against a heavy drape that prevents him from seeing into the store. He takes another mouthful of coffee, before walking up the stairs and opening the door. There's an old copper bell fastened above the door that chimes when he opens it and a male voice shouts be right with you from the back.
He steps fully inside and looks around, a grin stretching his mouth wide. It's exactly like a grandma store; old-fashioned shelves full of yarn in every color and texture imaginable line the walls. The cashier desk is made out of sturdy wood and there's one of those antique cash registers standing on it, black with flowers painted on the sides.
Instead of fluorescent lights there are a number of round glass lamps hanging from the ceiling, giving the room a pleasant glow, and the display tables in the middle of the room hold everything from needles to sewing machines. Adam falls a little bit in love with the atmosphere, because he's totally corny like that.
When he was a kid his grandma used to take him to an old fashioned country shop, where the wall behind the cash register was full of jars with mysterious content, and candy was displayed on the counter in slanted glass jars in a specially built stand. He can still remember the heady smell of coffee and tea, and the sweetness of the candied sugar on a stick the old lady behind the register used to give him. He suddenly wonders if the store is still there and decides to ask his grandma the next time he talks to her.
Since whoever is in the back is taking his time Adam starts browsing around, looking at different yarns and needles without any clue what kind, or how much, he needs. His mother loves purple though and there's a really nice purple yarn he would love to use, but he's learned from his internet browsing that different kinds of yarn are used for different things and he has no clue whether this is the kind he needs.
There is a rustle as the drapes to the back room are pulled aside and a guy enters the store. He hasn't spotted Adam yet, so Adam glances furtively at him from under his cap. Dressed in a plaid shirt and too-big jeans, he looks homely enough to be a store clerk in place like this, but the face above the plaid shirt's collar looks good enough to fit on a magazine cover. Hazel eyes, a straight nose and full lips are quite enough to make Adam's dick twitch in interest, but the blush as the guy looks up and spots Adam is even better.
"Uh… hi," the guy says, diving in behind the counter, as if standing there makes him feel braver. It really only emphasizes the fact that the guy is tiny.
"Hi," Adam says, giving him one of his famous beaming smiles. "I'm Adam."
He steps forward and stretches out the hand not occupied with his latte. The guy looks between Adam and the hand, but shakes it nonetheless.
"I'm… uhm… Kris," he says, his blush growing a few shades deeper. His hair is brown and the kind of too long that makes Adam's fingers itch for some product.
A couple of years back Adam and Matt, in true boys-going-wild-at-college fashion, drafted a Three Step Plan to Seduction. Step one is getting to know the subject’s name. Step two is finding out if the subject is interested and step three is letting the subject know that you're interested in return. Over time Adam has found that The Plan is at its best if all steps are rolled into one, thus sweeping the subject off his, or her, feet. Oh, and compliments always work.
"Amazing place, this," Adam says looking around. "Reminds me of a shop my grandma used to take me to. Is it yours?"
"Uh… yeah," Kris says, blinking rapidly. He's really, really adorable. Adam wants to eat him.
"It smells awesome too. Is it the shop, or is it just you?" Adam winks and Kris blushes an even deeper red. It's kind of impressive. Adam doesn't miss the way Kris looks him up and down under his lashes though, so score one for The Plan.
"Scented candle," Kris murmurs, pointing to a candle in a tealight holder on the counter. "Vanilla."
"Cool." Adam beams, because he knows that his smile is his best feature and Kris doesn't seem to be immune.
"Can I help you with something?" Kris asks, sounding slightly bewildered.
"Yeah. My mom wants me to knit her a scarf for her birthday and I don't know the first thing about knitting so here I am." He grins.
"Oh… uhm… Did you have a color in mind?"
"Purple," Adam says. "Actually, I saw some yarn over there, but I don't know if it would be good for a scarf." He gets the bundle of the purple yarn he was looking at earlier and shows it to Kris.
"That would be great for a scarf," Kris says. "But you'll want to use pretty thick needles, like these." He produces a pair of needles from behind the counter and holds them up. Adam thinks they look pretty nifty, thick and black - add some glitter and they'd be perfect.
"Great," he says, putting the yarn down on the counter. "How much yarn will I need?"
"Depends on how long you want to make it," Kris says. "But… uh… maybe you should start with just one, or two, skeins… in case this knitting thing isn't for you."
Adam swallows his grin and nods gravely, but he's pretty sure the twinkling of his eyes betrays the fact that he's onto Kris's plan. "Sounds good," he says. "I'll take that skein, and those needles."
Kris rings it up for him, sadly not on the antique cash register but on a modern computer terminal set a little to the side, and puts Adam's purchases in a bag. As he hands the bag over, Adam scans his fingers for rings but doesn't find any. All in all he feels pretty good about the whole thing.
He doesn't feel as good about it the following night when he settles down with his yarn and needles in front of the computer to get started. He gets 2,450,000 hits on his search for basic knitting instructions and not a single one of them seems as easy and straightforward as he thought they would be. Finally he settles on a page and tries to follow the nine step instruction for how to cast on.
He gets the first step right, because it only requires him to make a slip knot around one needle, but then he gets confused on step two. He fiddles and fights with the needles until it looks like the little picture, only to realize he doesn't have a hand free to scroll with. With a sigh he puts the needles down and scrolls until he can see all the steps on the screen, before taking the needles up again.
Steps three and four aren't all that confusing, so he manages those without a problem, but he immediately has problems again with step five. He manages to get tangled in the yarn and drops the entire thing in his lap. With a long-suffering sigh he starts over again, completing steps one to five, in what he thinks is a pretty speedy manner. He contemplates step six and studies the little drawing closely before attempting it.
It works out fine and so does step seven but step eight proves to be harder. Mostly, he thinks, because he pulls hard enough on the yarn to make the entire thing fall off the needle and vanish in thin air, leaving him back at step one.
Before starting over again, he studies step nine closely to make sure he won't run into any surprises and realizes that step nine is really just starting over from the beginning again.
Full of confidence that he can do this he starts over and manages to complete one stitch and then another, until he has a row of uneven stitches covering his left needle. The instruction says twenty-eight but when Adam counts his stitches he's got over sixty. He’s pretty sure ‘the more the merrier’ applies to knitting as much as it does to other recreational activities, so he decides to head directly for the actual knitting part.
The knitting instructions are more straightforward: Hold needle with stitches in left hand; insert point of right needle in first stitch, from front to back, just as in casting on. With right index finger, bring yarn from ball under and over point of right needle. Draw yarn through stitch with right needle point. This step now differs from casting on: Slip loop on left needle off, so new stitch is entirely on right needle. And with a couple of false starts he manages to knit his first row of stitches. He pumps his fist in the air and starts over, doing it again and again until he has four rows of stitches, at which point he realizes it looks like crap.
It's messy, loopy and uneven, with odd bits of yarn hanging in loose loops from the side and it's easily wide enough to suffocate his mother if she would wrap it just one time around her neck. He throws the needles to the side with a disgusted sigh. He thought he was doing so well and all the time he was really failing spectacularly.
The door to the room opens and Matt falls in. "How's the knitting going?" he asks.
"To Hell," Adam answers with a growl.
"Oh." Matt actually looks contrite. "And here I was all ready to rib you for being a grandmother."
Adam snorts. "I'd make a horrible grandmother. My grandkids would look disfigured in the clothes I knitted for them and I can't bake either."
"Awwww," Matt says, coming over to pet Adam's head as if he's a puppy. "Maybe you just need a crash course from the hot store owner."
Adam has to admit Matt has a point. He was planning on going back to the store tomorrow for more yarn anyway, but he'd hoped he'd be doing so as a knitter and not as a failure.
"I'm sure Kris would be just delighted to show you how to knit," Matt says with a wink. "And maybe you could show him what other kinds of fun you can have with a knitting needle."
"It's too pointy," Adam says morosely.
"Not if you use the knobby end… and oh my God ewwww what am I saying? Brain bleach, give me some brain bleach."
Adam laughs. "Gay is contagious, didn't you know?" he says, sticking his tongue out.
Matt makes a face. "You coming out with us tonight? We're going to Joey's."
Adam thinks about saying no, because he was really planning on spending his night knitting, but since he apparently sucks at that, he can just as well dedicate his night to suck at something more enjoyable, like a few beers, or quite possibly a nice cock, instead.
Joey's is on a side street not far from Kris's store, but Adam is still surprised when Kris is the first person he sees. He's sitting at the bar with his back to the room, nursing a bottle of beer, dressed in a new shade of plaid. Adam doesn't approach him straight away, but tucks himself into a booth with Matt, Megan, Anoop and Annie. That doesn't stop him from keeping an eye on Kris though, noticing that he doesn't talk to anyone but the bartender.
Joey's is a real bar and not one of the college dives they usually frequent and it only takes a couple of drinks for the girls to start griping about how they want to dance. Usually Adam is all about the dancing, but tonight he's got his eyes on Kris. Besides, he's not sure his new boots are ready for the dance floor and he hates blisters.
Matt probably sees the furtive glance Adam casts in Kris's direction, because he doesn't question Adam's decision to stay behind. He just smirks and gives Adam a wink as he guides Annie out of the bar with a hand at the small of her back. Adam raises his eyebrows at the hand and gets a shrug for an answer. Last time Adam checked Matt was still hung up on Megan.
He waves at them as they leave and ignores the lucky knitting Matt throws in his direction, mostly because he's pretty sure Matt means something other than knitting. Once they're gone he hurriedly empties his beer and walks up to the bar, leaning against it next to Kris.
"I really suck at knitting," he says, without preamble.
Kris looks up and does a quick double take when he recognizes Adam. "You do?" he asks, with obvious amusement.
"Yup," Adam admits, slipping onto the bar stool next to Kris's without being invited. "I tried tonight and it turned out to be this huge, lumpy thing that didn't look the slightest bit like a scarf."
Kris laughs. "Did you make sure your cast-on stitches were even before you started?"
"Uh… No."
Kris grins. "That's a pretty common beginner's mistake, and also you have to make sure your cast-ons are about as wide as you want your scarf."
Adam blinks. "Okay… but how wide should a scarf be? And also, the rows I made were all flat, aside from being lumpy. I thought it would look more…" He makes a vague zig zag motion with his hand.
"You probably used the wrong kind of stitches," Kris says.
"There's more than one?" Adam asks, well, whines really. "My mom is never getting her scarf."
Kris laughs again; it's a nice sound and it makes the corners of his eyes crinkle nicely. Adam wonders how old he is and how come a gorgeous creature like him spends all day tucked away in an old-fashioned knitting store.
"I have a little knitting gathering in the store every Thursday night," Kris says. "It's open to both beginners and advanced knitters. We usually have a lot of fun."
"That's sounds really… Thursdays? I have theatre practice on Thursdays and when I don't classes run late."
"You in college?" Kris asks.
"Yeah," Adam says. "Journalism major."
"That's cool," Kris says with a smile. "I always wanted to be a writer."
Adam refrains from telling Kris he mostly just picked journalism to piss of his brother and because he needs something to fall back on if the whole rockstar thing doesn't work out for him. In ten years he'll either be a successful recording artist or a disgruntled unsuccessful recording artist writing bitchy reviews about those more fortunate.
"What's stopping you?" Adam asks.
"Oh…" Kris looks down on his bottle and picks at the label. "Nothing I suppose."
Adam gets a feeling that Kris doesn't really tell people about his writing dreams all that often, if ever, and he really wants to say the right thing to inspire him. It doesn't really matter if Kris is a horrible writer; sometimes the writing itself is enough of a reward, or so he's heard.
"If you want I could read something you’ve written. I mean if you want some feedback," he says, hoping that it's not the wrong thing to say.
"Would you?" Kris asks, his face lighting up.
"Yeah, it would be fun."
He half expects Kris to pick a manuscript out of his shoulder bag, but he just gestures to the bartender for another beer. When the bartender brings it, he orders one for Adam as well, and the pleased blush on his cheeks when Adam says thank you, speaks eons of his interest.
"You know what?" Kris asks. "If you come around tomorrow afternoon, I'll show you how to knit."
"Really? Thank you."
Adam only barely refrains from hugging Kris and pats his shoulder instead. Matt keeps telling him he makes people nervous when he hugs them and he doesn't want Kris to take his offer back. Kris gives him a small shy smile and looks at him from under his lashes, making Adam regret he didn't go for the hug after all. Kris is simply adorable.
They part ways once the beers are finished, having spent the last half hour talking about all and nothing in that way you tend to do with virtual strangers. Adam learns that Kris is twenty-one and that he inherited the store from his grandma. It turns out Kris is originally from Arkansas but that he's been living in Pennsylvania since he was a kid. Adam tells Kris about his family, his crazy friend, and his involvement with musical theatre, flitting from one subject to the next in a way that comes naturally to him.
They say goodbye outside the pub and Adam is sure he's not misinterpreting the longing look Kris throws his way, just as he's sure Kris can see the same thing in his eyes, but for now he thinks it's better to wait.
On Wednesday afternoon, after classes are over and done with and he's grabbed something to eat, Adam stuffs his sad little knitting project into his backpack and heads out for Kris's store. The lantern from the other day has been replaced with a big glass and wood lantern, but the light flickers just as invitingly as Adam walks up the steps to the store. The bell chimes when he opens the door and this time Kris is behind the counter, going through a book full of neatly written numbers.
"Hey," Kris says, smiling. "I was wondering if you'd show up."
Adam huffs, slightly affronted that Kris seems to think he doesn't take his mom's present seriously. "My mom will be disappointed if I don't show up with a scarf for her birthday," he says. "If you knew her, you wouldn't want to disappoint her either. She wouldn't say anything, but I would see it in her eyes when she opened her presents. And she probably wouldn't let me take thirds of the cake."
Come to think of it, Adam probably shouldn't make her a scarf. His waistline doesn't need thirds.
Kris laughs, and closes his binder, coming around the counter to meet Adam. "I can put your jacket in the back if you want," he says.
Adam shrugs his bag off and hands his coat to Kris, taking the opportunity to shamelessly ogle his ass as he walks further into the store. Kris has a very nice ass and for the occasion it's nicely hugged in a pair of worn jeans. The outfit is topped off with a washed-out t-shirt that's peeking out below his dark grey cardigan. It's hot in a nerdy kind of way and Adam suddenly feels overdressed in his skinny jeans and striped shirt ensemble. Not that it's anywhere close to something he'd consider over the top, but he thinks he and Kris have different views when it comes to clothes.
Kris returns moments later and directs Adam to sit at one of the tables at the back of the store. For the occasion it has been cleared of the products that usually obscure it, and there are several pictures of scarves spread out over the table top.
"I thought the best way to start was for you to pick what kind of scarf you want to make," Kris says, standing next to the chair with one hand on the chair and one on the table.
Adam is kind of touched by the trouble he's gone through and he points to a picture that looks like he imagined his scarf would turn out, except it's blue instead of purple.
"Good choice," Kris says. "And it's pretty easy to do."
"Even if you take into consideration I have two left hands?"
"Yeah," Kris says with a laugh. "Even then. Don't underestimate my powers of teaching."
Adam grins and leans forward with his elbows on the table. "So teach me, Obi Wan."
Kris grins and takes up a pair of needles, much like the ones Adam has in his bag. "I'm sure you're familiar with these," he says and Adam nods. "Good. I thought we'd start with the cast on."
Adam nods again, watching Kris's hands intently as he picks up a ball of yarn.
"There are two basic ways to cast on," Kris continues, pulling a length of yarn lose from the ball. "Knit and long tail."
Adam nods like he understands. The knit way, he supposes, is the one he used yesterday, but he had no idea there even was another way.
"I'm gonna start with showing you the long tail, because it only requires one needle," Kris says, making a slipknot and putting it on the needle. "You can do the same."
Adam realizes that there are needles and yarn on the table for him as well and he blushes slightly. He was a bit too intent in staring at Kris's lovely hands to remember he was supposed to learn something here. He picks up the needle and makes a slipknot around it.
"You'll need a little more loose yarn on the other side," Kris says with a smile. "That's why it's called long-tail."
"Oh."
Adam looks closer at how Kris did it and reties his knot with a lot more loose yarn to the side.
"Okay," Kris says. "Now stretch the yarn between the thumb and forefinger on your left hand like this."
He holds out his hand to show Adam and with some fumbling he manages to do the same, looping one end over his thumb and the other over his forefinger so that the needle hangs in the middle on a stretched thread. The tricky part is to grasp both ends of the yarn with his other fingers to make sure it keeps stretched.
"Good," Kris says with a smile. "You ready?"
"Uh, yeah," Adam says, holding onto his needle with fumbly fingers.
"Look closely. First you pull the needle down and under the part of the thread that runs on the outside of your thumb, so that you get a loop with your thumb and the needle in the middle."
Kris has to show him three times before Adam finally gets the hang of it, but that doesn't seem to set him back at all.
"Awesome," he says when Adam's fingers finally cooperate. "Now you twist your hand a bit like this so that the thread running from your forefinger ends up underneath the needle, before you twist it back with the thread over the needle. Now it should be inside the loop you made earlier and all you have to do is let go of the loop and tighten it."
Kris does just so and ends up with a second stitch next to the slipknot. Adam does so too, at least he thinks he does, but his stitch falls apart and tangles.
"Damnit," he growls, looking down on the mess he made.
"You're not pulling the yarn right," Kris says. "Wait, I'll show you."
If anyone told Adam a few days ago knitting could be sexy he'd have laughed at them, but when Kris moves over to stand behind him, guiding his hands; knitting suddenly feels just like foreplay. Kris loops one hand around Adam's left wrist to help him keep the yarn stretched and puts the other on top of Adam's right hand that’s holding the needle.
"Now loop, twist, twist again and pull."
Kris guides his hands as he says it and this time Adam's stitch stays on the needle. He holds his breath as they do it again and again, until Kris is no longer guiding him, just holding on to his hands, with his cheek against Adam's temple. He smells really good and every breath stirs Adam's lashes. It would be so easy to just turn his head to the side and seek Kris's lips out, but he's not entirely sure Kris realizes how close they are, or how brain-meltingly hot it is.
The bell above the door chimes and Kris jumps away from Adam so suddenly he makes him drop his needles.
"You…" Kris coughs. "Keep going like that. It's looking good."
Adam picks up the needles again with a sigh as Kris rushes forward to greet his customer. It turns out to be someone Kris knows and Adam listens to their idle chit chat as he casts stitch after stitch onto the needle. It takes forever but eventually Kris rings up her order and bell chimes again as she exits.
Kris comes back to the table and sits down on his chair again, putting his palms flat on the table.
"Sorry," he mutters, looking as if he's ashamed.
"For what?" Adam asks, even if he can guess.
"Jumping away like that… I just thought it might look…" He licks his lips, but doesn't say anything more.
Adam wants to be mean and ask if Kris thought it might look gay, but he decides against it. If he manages to convince Kris to bend over the nearest flat surface for him, they can have that talk afterwards; having it now would probably make it a lot harder to convince Kris to bend over. Sure, he cares about gay rights and stuff, but not enough to get in the way of getting laid.
He shows Kris his pretty neat row of stitches instead and Kris smiles. "It looks good," he says. "You're getting the hang of this. Just give me a moment to catch up."
Kris picks up his own needles and casts a neat row of stitches in hyper speed, until there's about thirty lined up on the needle.
"Now we get to the actual knitting part," Kris says, picking up the other needle. "There are two basic types of stitches. The knit stitch and the purl stitch. To make a Mistake Rib Stitch like the one you picked, you need to master both."
Adam makes a face and thinks about changing his mind, but there could be worse things than having to learn two types of stitches, especially with Kris as his teacher.
"The knit stitch is the basis of all knitting," Kris says. "And I'm guessing it's the one you learned how to do yesterday."
"I don’t know," Adam says.
"Show me then."
Adam haltingly manages to repeat the movement from yesterday, getting an approving nod from Kris.
"Good," he says. "You already mastered the knit stitch. The purl stitch is yin to the knit stitch's yang, and if you know how to knit stitch, learning how to purl stitch isn't very hard."
Adam gives Kris a dubious look, because he kind of think the knit stitches are really fucking hard. Kris completely ignores him and holds up his needles to show Adam.
"This is the knit stitch. See how I do it?"
"Yeah."
"Now with the purl stitch the yarn needs to go over the needle instead of under it, like this."
Kris moves the yarn to rest on top of the needle, before the first stitch and Adam does the same, watching Kris's needles intently.
"Good. Now with a purl you go through the loop from the front instead of the back. Like this… Good. Now you loop the yarn over the needle and kind of slide the needle around until the stitch ends up fully on your right needle."
It looks so easy when Kris does it, even if it involves a flick twist, but when Adam tries his needle skates away and he drops the yarn. So he tries again and again and again with the same depressing results.
"Help," he says and he doesn't even mean it in a knitting is possibly foreplay way, but an honest this will never work for me way.
Kris moves into position again, guiding Adam's hands and this time the stitch ends up on the right needle.
"Yay," Adam says happily, making Kris laugh against his ear.
Kris keeps guiding his hands and the easier the stitch gets, the more Adam notices the way Kris is pressed up close. He isn't even aware of letting his eyes drop shut until the needle pinches his hand.
"Ouch," he says, opening his eyes quickly.
"It would be a whole lot easier if you paid attention," Kris says, but there's laughter dancing in his voice.
"It's your own fault for pressing up all close and smelling really good," Adam defends himself.
Kris laughs and straightens up. "You don't exactly smell bad yourself," he says and when he returns to his chair opposite Adam there's a slight flush to his cheeks.
Adam ducks his chin to hide his grin, but he doesn't think he's entirely successful.
"Okay," Kris says. "Now that you've mastered the stitches, do a couple of rows alternating every second stitch. Like two knit, two purled, two knit, two purled and so on. It doesn't matter if it doesn't add up in the end. I'm not sure how many stitches you have on."
Adam follows Kris's instructions and does a few rows alternating stitches. He finds that it actually gets easier for every row and soon he has a sizeable chunk of knitting, even if it's still a bit uneven and weird looking.
"Good," Kris says. "You're about ready to start. Now for the scarf you want to knit, you'll be alternating stitches like that. For the first row, you'll do two knit, two purled and so on, ending the row with a lone knit stitch. For the second row you'll do it in the opposite order and start with two purled and then two knit and so on, to end the row with a lone purl stitch."
Adam nods and he's quite proud that he actually gets what Kris's talking about. He's a knitter now, if not a very good one.
"I need to close up and stuff, but there's a comfortable chair in the corner," Kris says. "That way I'll be handy if you need any help."
"Thanks," Adam says with a beaming smile.
The comfortable chair is tucked into the corner between two shelves, with an old-fashioned reading light curling its neck over the back rest. There are two knit blankets thrown over it and a couple of pillows on the seat and when Adam sits down it feels as if the chair is reaching up to embrace him. He digs his knitting stuff out of his bag and pulls the knitting he did last night loose from the needle, unraveling the yarn and wrapping it around the ball.
"How many stitches?" he asks as he ties a slipknot around the needle.
"It depends on how wide you want it to be, but start with thirty-three and I'll come look at it," Kris answers. "The important part is that you have an uneven number of stitches."
Adam dutifully casts thirty three stitches onto the needle and shows the results to Kris. They both agree it looks a little thin so he adds another ten to make it wider. Kris goes back to the register and Adam settles into the chair knitting his first two rows without much problem. It's nice, to sit enveloped in the chair, listening to Kris puttering about the store and fiddling with the cash register. Homey. He keeps going at a steady snail pace until he's running out of yarn.
"Help," he says when he realizes there isn't enough yarn to make another row. "I'm out of yarn."
Kris grabs another ball from the shelf and brings it over. "It's not very hard," he says. "You just start using yarn from this ball instead, you'll deal with the lose threads later."
"Cool," Adam says, taking the ball and making another row of stitches.
He looks up at Kris when he's finished his row and puts the knitting down on his lap. "I should head home," he says. "I’ve got classes in the morning."
"Yeah," Kris says with smile.
"How much do I own you for the yarn?"
"It's on the house," Kris says with a wink. "I think I remember you offering to read something I wrote."
"Yeah?"
"I kinda… uhm… printed it out for you."
"Awesome," Adam says and he means it too. He has no idea what Kris writes, but reading something of his is exciting even if it turns out to be a knitting pattern. Besides, you always learn something about the writer from their writing, and Adam wants to know more about Kris.
He gets up from the chair and packs his knitting into his bag, making a mental note to start with two knits the next time he picks it up. Kris hands him a thick binder with an embarrassed look on his face and Adam takes it greedily.
"What's it about?" he asks.
"Oh," Kris says, swallowing. "It's just a… uhm… story. If you don't like it, you don't have to keep reading it or anything."
Adam sticks the binder into his bag and Kris looks as if he's about to be sick. "Maybe I should take it back," he says. "It's pretty long and you’ve got course work and stuff…"
"Don't be silly," Adam says, pulling his bag out of reach in case Kris tries to make a grab for it.
Kris licks his lips. "I don't think… God, this is horrible." He wipes a hand over his brow and bites down on his lip. "Just… don't be offended."
"Don't be offended?" Adam's eyebrows shoot up. "Unless you wrote an epic tale on how to commit genocide or rape dogs, I don't think I'll be offended."
"Okay… yeah… You are gay, right?"
"What… Yes. Yes, I'm gay."
"Good. I mean… If you think so… I mean… I don't know what I mean."
Adam laughs and pets Kris's shoulder. "Don't fret, man. I'm a nice person."
Kris nods, still looking nervous. He hands Adam a business card for the store, with a couple of numbers scribbled on the back. "That's my cell number and home number… In case you want to call me."
Adam laughs, and winks. "I might take you up on that."
Kris flushes bright red and mumbles something about getting Adam's jacket. Adam looks after him as he disappears with barely concealed amusement. He can't wait to get home and start reading Kris's novel. Whatever it's about is enough to make Kris wonderfully frazzled, and Adam finds that he's dying to know what that is.
Unfortunately real life (especially Matt) conspires to make sure Adam doesn't have time to start reading until Friday night and even then it takes begging out of a pub crawl to get the opportunity. He makes sure he has water and snacks before settling down on the bed with the manuscript clutched in his hands.
The title page simply says: Brand New Shoes, by Kris Allen, but Adam still spends way too long staring at it. Truth be told, he's wildly curious but also a bit apprehensive. What if Kris is a horrible writer? Adam is man enough to admit that it would change the way he looks at Kris and he doesn't want that to happen, damn it. Writing isn't for everyone, so it shouldn't even matter. It's not like Adam would care if he had a boyfriend, or something, that didn't write.
With a sigh, he opens the manuscript and starts reading the first page and after that he just keeps going. Kris is a good writer, a really good writer, and Adam finds David, the guitar-playing main character, wildly appealing and that's before he gets to the porn. The gay porn. The very graphic gay porn that makes his dick stand at attention and his mouth water.
Apparently David falls for this guy Steve that works in a garage, and with a few false starts they end up having way-too-hot sex on the hood of David's car, and then again up against the wall, and once more on the floor. By the end of the last scene Adam is so hard, he's sure he's going to spontaneously combust. Kris has a way of describing not only the physical acts, but also the way it feels, and it’s so spot on it sets Adam's blood on fire.
Without preamble he pushes his sweatpants down and grabs his cock, jerking it hard and fast while reading the last few sentences over and over. It takes about ten seconds for him to come all over his fist with a deep groan that sends shudders through his body. He rolls over on his side and keeps reading, caressing his sticky cock idly.
A couple of sex scenes later, he's literally panting, pulling slowly on his renewed erection with his eyes half closed. It's easy to imagine doing the dirty acts from the text with Kris, bending him over the table in the store, sitting in the comfy armchair with Kris on his lap, sucking him off when he's standing at the counter. The possibilities are endless.
In the story, David is giving Steve a lazy blow job, and Adam grips himself a little tighter, imagining what Kris's lips would look around his cock. It's hard to know what is most exciting, the actual text or knowing that these filthy words came out of Kris's head. Kris, who is the picture of an innocent closeted man. Adam finds himself wondering how many of the sexual acts in the novel Kris has experienced himself.
The plot gets back on track, describing the slow evolution of the actual love story between the two characters - one who thought himself to be straight and the other who has been badly burned in a previous relationship. When the next sex scene rolls around Adam is so invested in the story, he’s almost forgotten that he's stroking himself.
He quickly remembers when David and Steve have a tryst in the bathroom of a mutual friend though, stroking himself harder to match their desperate urgency. His cock head slips easy and slick through his tight fist and he groans with the ever harder down strokes. His balls pull up tight before he's even at the end of the scene and he comes so hard, his thighs clench up as if in a cramp.
He keeps stroking himself through the aftershocks, twitching violently with every down stroke, but not even two orgasms make him lose interest in the story, and he finishes the novel with his cock hanging out of his pants. Brad and David end up living happily ever after and it's with a smile on his face that he hits the shower.
He can't stop thinking about the novel, or the fact that Kris wrote it, as he soaps himself up and it doesn't really surprise him when his cock starts to harden again. Taking the shower head with him, he sits down with his back to the wall and his legs spread wide. It's a bit of a tight fit, but if he pulls his knees up there's just enough room. He soaps his swollen cock, making sure it's covered in lather, before letting the water stream hot and hard over it, sending shivers down his spine.
He moves the shower head and repeats the process with the soap, coaxing beads of precome from the shiny tip. He always produces unusual amounts of precome and his recovery time is amazing, or so he's been told, but three times this close together is a lot even for him. Still, it doesn't keep him from moaning when he directs the water back down between his legs, letting it pelt down on his cock and balls.
He moves the shower head lower and sinks down until the water is teasing his ass, adding just enough pressure against his hole to make him long for penetration. He closes his eyes and grabs his cock, pulling up an image of Kris before his inner eye. In his fantasy Kris is bent over the counter with his legs spread wide, panting with need. Adam imagines running his fingers over Kris's sweaty skin, making him ache like Adam's aching now.
He finds the soap and soaps up two fingers, moving the shower head out of the way before reaching down to tease himself open. It's not often he finds the time to play with himself like this, usually he has Matt in the other room, or somewhere to be, but tonight he's got all the time he needs. He groans when the first finger slides in, stretching him open and then again when he impatiently adds another one.
He drops the shower head as he starts to finger himself in earnest, letting it worm around on the bottom of the cubicle sending water flying everywhere. It's not the most comfortable of positions, curled up like a pretzel on the shower stall floor, but when he finds the sensitive bundle of nerves inside, it's totally worth it.
He keeps rubbing his fingers hard and fast over that spot, while he grabs his cock with the other hand, easily manipulating a third orgasm out of his tired body. He quakes with the force of it, groaning Kris's name over and over again, until he's finally completely spent, collapsing in an uncomfortable tangle with the shower head digging into his thigh. He can't wait to see Kris again, because he'll easily do anything to get into Kris's pants at this point, and if Kris doesn’t want him back, at least a little bit, he would have never given Adam his porn. He's sure of it.
Adam spends most of Saturday morning re-reading Kris's novel this time with the intent of actually being a helpful reader. He makes little notes in the margin with suggestions and underlines typos and stuff, trying really hard to ignore the scorching hotness of the porn seeing as he has Matt sleeping in the other bed. Once he's done with the novel, he reaches for his knitting, and spends an hour bent over his needles until he runs out of yarn again. It's time for another visit to Kris's store.
He grabs a bite to eat in the cafeteria, while reading one of the boring required reading books for his lit class. He thinks it's amazing that with so many books to pick from, his professors still manage to pick the dull ones to force upon their students. Maybe it's just a language barrier, there's nothing wrong with the plot, but the archaic language makes it difficult to take to heart.
He puts the book away as soon as he's eaten; deciding that he much prefers Kris's erotica to boring classics; too bad that the latter is required reading and the first only for pleasure. As he walks into town he wonders where Kris got the inspiration for his story. If Adam had to guess he'd say that Kris has never had sex, at least not with someone else, but after reading Kris's novel, he's not so sure.
There's a light burning outside the store when he gets there, which is good because Adam never thought to check whether the store was even open on Saturdays. When he walks in accompanied by a bell chime Kris is helping a gaggle of school girls pick out yarn. Kris gives him a near panicked look when he spots him, but Adam isn’t sure whether it's the girls or Adam's presence that bothers him. It's amusing how hard the girls, likely no older than fifteen, are coming on to Kris, taking every opportunity to bend over and show him their pert little asses in too-short skirts.
That is, of course, until one of them spots Adam and half of them drift over to surround him instead, asking about his knitting experience and admiring his eyeliner in a very forward way. Adam does his best to deflect their interest, because even if he went for girls, this bunch is a bit too young for his tastes, but it's difficult and he's sure he spends at least half an hour making polite small talk before Kris finally manages to shoo them out of the shop.
"Every Saturday," Kris says with obvious pain. "Every Saturday they come here, looking for yarn and chatting me up. It's horrible, really."
Adam laughs and unbuttons his coat, overheating in the stuffy interior of the shop. "Well, at least they buy stuff," he says.
"Mmhmmm. I'm expecting a call from their parents any day now; they must be spending their entire allowance on yarn and needles. Opal is the only one of the bunch with some real interest, she's very talented, and I think she's a bit sorry she accidentally got the others into this as well."
"Opal?" Adam asks, because he thinks it's so cute that Kris is befriending high school girls.
"The… uhm… bigger one with dark hair. She usually comes to the Thursday meetings."
Adam vaguely recalls a girl with a dark hair cut in an abrupt bob that was standing a little aside from the other girls, not pestering either of them for attention. She was also the only one with a decent amount of clothes on.
Kris looks a bit troubled. "I don't think she has it very easy in school… She comes here sometimes in the afternoons… You think it's wrong of me to encourage her? I mean… I don't think she has a crush on me, but maybe… I'm not sure."
"Why would it be a problem?" Adam asks.
Kris makes a face. "A couple of years ago this… girl used to come here and it was pretty obvious what she wanted, but I kept turning her down. I don't even go for girls, you know. Anyway, she was a bit troubled, and an attention seeker, so when I didn't want her, she accused me of raping her. She planned it really well too, she came to the store first and made a scene and then she ripped her own shirt to shreds as she ran out. Luckily for me, there was a whole bunch of people in the back room, including her mom. So the accusation fell pretty flat."
"Oh," Adam says. "That must have sucked."
"Yeah." Kris sighs. "But they can't all be like her, right? I mean, she was just starving for attention."
Adam smiles. "No, they can't all be like her," he says.
"So…" Kris looks up at him. "Did you… uhm… read the manuscript?"
"Yeah," Adam says airily, reaching behind himself and pulling the binder out of his bag.
Kris takes it with a bewildered look on his face. "So uh… what did you think?"
"I made notes in the margin."
"Oh…" Kris bites down on his lower lip.
Adam ignores him a picks up a new ball of purple yarn, heading for the comfy chair in the corner. "I'll be over here if you have questions," he says.
It's totally worth it to see the dumbstruck look on Kris's face. He just stands there with the manuscript clutched in his hand as if it's an alien object. Adam takes his coat off and settles into the chair, taking his knitting out of the bag. The scarf really looks like a scarf now and even though it's not perfect he's very proud of what he's accomplished. He doesn't think he'll need the entire ball of yarn for the rest of the scarf; it's already getting quite long, but he wants to add a little more length before he starts thinking about tassels.
Kris finally moves to the table and opens the binder, starting to leaf through the pages looking for Adam's notes. It only takes two notes for him to start blushing and Adam happily divides his time between adding another row and staring at Kris. When Kris is halfway through the manuscript he's squirming in his seat, casing furtive glances in Adam's direction. Adam pretends to ignore him even though he's straining to hear the rasp of Kris's breathing over the clicking of needles.
When he wrote the notes he debated whether to give Kris some kind of warning or not, but he decided against it. Besides, they are legit notes, even if most of them are of the X-rated character, explaining why a certain position is anatomically impossible and gleefully suggesting the use of another.
Kris finally closes the manuscript and looks up at Adam, his face pleasantly flushed and the hand resting on the tabletop trembling minutely. "Thanks for reading," he croaks, his blush deepening.
"Believe me, it was no hardship." Adam considers his statement. "Well, some parts were hard but…"
"Oh God, shut up," Kris groans hiding his head in his hands. "I'm so embarrassed right now I could die. In fact I will die… I will die from embarrassment."
Adam laughs. "Why? I think you're an awesome writer, even if some parts would have benefited from more thorough… research."
"Oh God." Kris sinks down so that he has his face pressed against the tabletop and his hands covering his ears.
Adam thinks it's stupidly cute how embarrassed Kris is, and wonders again if he has any sexual experience at all. From what Kris has told him so far he knows that Kris has been pretty sheltered, being homeschooled by his grandmother and spending most of his life in this very store. Kris hasn't said anything, but Adam got a feeling from the way Kris talks about his grandmother that she was maybe not the most open-minded and forgiving person, even if Kris loved her dearly.
She died about two years ago if he understood Kris correctly that night in the bar, and maybe Kris didn't head straight out to grab life by the balls, but stayed hidden instead, living life through his raunchy writing.
"You think this is long enough?" Adam asks, holding his scarf up.
"If you show me your cock I will kill you," Kris mutters, looking up cautiously.
"Jesus, Kris. Some of us have class," Adam says, sticking his tongue out. "But I'm kinda affronted you don't want to see my privates."
"Not in broad daylight."
"I'll have you know my privates are very attractive and can easily stand up to an inspection with the lights on."
"Jesus Christ can we just not discuss your cock," Kris almost shouts, so naturally that's when the door opens and a matronly woman walks in.
"You have cocks for show now?" she asks brightly with obvious laughter in her voice.
"It's not for show. That's what the discussion was about," Adam says with a beaming smile.
"Damn shame," the woman says, looking Adam up and down.
Kris throws his hands up in the air, muttering something about Canada not being far enough, before disappearing into the back room. The woman laughs and walks closer so Adam gets out of the chair to take the hand she stretches forward.
"Jenna Hart," she says. "I've known Kris since he was itty bitty."
Adam laughs. "I'm Adam Lambert, pleased to meet you ma'am."
"With an accent like that you can't be local."
"San Diego," he says with a grin.
"You in college then?"
"Yeah, majoring in journalism."
"And now you've turned to knitting," she says, nodding towards the scarf Adam's still holding onto. "Kris is a good influence."
Adam grins, because he thinks Kris is a good influence too. Kris comes back from the back carrying a cardboard box that he puts down on the table.
"This is everything but the alpacan wool," he says. "They say it'll be shipped by the end of the week, but we'll see about that."
"Awesome," Jenna says with grin, grabbing the box. "Will you bill me as usual?"
"It's in the box," Kris responds.
She carries the box to the door, pulling it open, but stopping halfway through to look back at them. "I really like your boyfriend, Kris," she says, winking at Adam before disappearing out the door.
Kris sputters and gapes like a fish, turning beet red again. "Did you tell her you're my boyfriend?"
"Of course not," Adam answers, affronted that Kris thought he did.
Kris clenches his teeth for a moment, then he looks down. "Gimme that and I'll cast off for you."
Adam hands the knitting over and watches as Kris neatly removes every stitch but one. He has no clue how Kris is doing it and he's not sure what happened just now to make Kris not show him. Kris tears the thread off and hands the scarf back to Adam.
"It looks good," he says with a humorless smile and it's kind of obvious he wants Adam to be anywhere but right in front of him.
Adam looks down on the scarf, but instead of feeling proud and accomplished he just feels stupid for not getting it. "Did I do something?" he asks. "I swear I didn't say anything to Jenna."
"It's nothing… Just… I… I want to be alone for a while."
"Oh."
Adam carefully folds the scarf and puts it into his bag, grabbing his jacket and shrugging it on. Kris doesn't say anything, he just stands there staring at his feet.
"How much for the yarn?" Adam asks.
"Nothing," Kris says, his words tightly clipped.
"Okay… Thanks…"
Kris doesn't answer and when Adam looks back before exiting, Kris is still staring at the floor.
Part Two