Too Nice For Your Own Good [2a/3]
Title: Too Nice For Your Own Good
Pairing: Kradam
Rating: NC-17
Word count: 10,867 (AKA way too long) for entire second chapter; actually had to split the post
Summary: AU in which Adam is a desperate kidnapper, who needs three hundred million dollars by the end of the week. What better way to get that money than by kidnapping Kris, who happens to be the boyfriend of a mafia boss? Except things don't quite turn out as he plans...
Disclaimer: I do not own these people, and this is only fiction - which means NOT TRUE.
Beta: None. All mistakes my own. -.- I'm new to LJ so I don't really know how the whole beta thing works, maybe tell me how in the comments?
Author's Note: Wow, this pretty much consumed my life for the last... I don't even know how long. Hopefully, u guys will enjoy it? And please comment telling me if you would like a happy or sad ending, because I kind of have both scenarios thought out and can't quite decide???
First chapter found here: kiri-no-yami.livejournal.com/1579.html#cutid1
DAY 1
Adam wandered the dirty downtown streets in the middle of the afternoon, feeling more than a little out of place in this bustling and poor neighbourhood, so different from the places where he usually spent his evenings. This was most certainly the last thing he had expected to be greeting him upon arriving at the address Michael had given him. He had assumed that by “down-to-earth”, Michael had merely been exaggerating and making Kris sound better than he really was, in order to gain Adam’s sympathy; because seriously, who could date a freaking mafia boss and still be down-to-earth?
Apparently this Kris dude could, because he could be found in one of the poorest and low-maintenance areas Adam had ever seen. And Adam had seen a lot in his days. The streets had a ton of litter and general miscellaneous items lying around. The sidewalks were dotted with beggars, street performers and other such unpleasant types. Adam found himself wondering how anybody with so much money available to them could possibly want to stay in this god-forsaken environment. For certainly, he was down right broke and even he would decidedly rather sleep in some third-rate shelter than here, where the smell was enough to drive anybody out.
There were surprisingly many people though, just hanging around the place, looking left and right for nothing in particular. There were very few stores on the street, because what few of them opened would probably get robbed by the gangs in the area - but the passer-bys were almost endless. Adam had to admit that if there was one thing that this place didn’t lack, it had to be variety. People of all sizes, nationalities and weirdness seemed to mesh just fine in this place where nobody asked questions. Perhaps that notion was what attracted all these people. The rare feeling that this was a home away from home.
He found himself staring at a couple of struggling musician-wannabes, either cringing at their lack of skills or nodding appreciatively. Had he chosen to walk the path of the entertainment industry, he certainly wouldn’t have had to go through this process. His father would have gotten him to meet all the right people, and sooner rather than never (as was the case with most of these street performers) he would have had his own gigs. Somehow though, watching these people fighting so hard with naught but their own ability made him admire them. So many of them had this blazing passion for what they were doing that he himself had once owned, but was now nowhere to be found.
One particular browned-haired guitarist caught his eyes, or rather ears, as he heard the lyrics to Falling Slowly. Beautiful. Breath-taking. And he was only referring to the voice at first, but when he saw the cute young man, he found himself thinking those two descriptions fit him just fine as well.
There was somewhat of a small crowd around the man, who was singing with eyes closed, strumming the guitar and letting pure unrestrained feelings flow through his voice. It felt amazing, and Adam genuinely thought at that moment - this is music. None of the pop-rock, jazz or even R&B that was on in the radio, more lyrics without meaning, without soul. It was acoustic, and the most beautiful sound that Adam had ever heard.
The song ended with a humble and awkward semi-bow (because he was sitting on a stool) by the amazing singer and a quick “thank you” to all the people in the audience. Adam could hear the southern lilt of the man’s deep voice all the way from the back of the audience, where he was currently hidden. He felt his heart clench achingly as a realization dawned on him.
If he had been eight years younger and a lot less wiser, he could fall head over heels for this guy. He would just walk up to the man and start flirting shamelessly, regardless of the cute guy’s sexual orientation. Easy as that. Now though, Adam could not allow himself to get into a relationship. The meaning of the word had changed drastically for him as soon as he had entered into the family business. Now, for him, sex was as much of a daily to-do thing on the schedule as reviewing contracts. It was no longer something he enjoyed, or oftentimes, even did voluntarily, just another necessary thing to get over with so he could seal the deal. He bit his lip hard enough to draw blood. Nobody deserved a lover like that, a freak, who could only take and never give anything in return.
Brad had asked him once what he saw in his own future ten years from now. Adam had answered, without remorse or much of any feeling really, “I don’t see a thing.” Somebody like this unbelievably talented and beautiful man should be able to at least find a lover who could see his own future, who had a future ten years from now, which was more than Adam could say of himself.
“Um, hey dude, are you okay?” Adam was shaken out of his reverie abruptly by soft brown eyes looking at him with full of concern from the musician whom he had been reminiscing about. He gulped, realizing that he was the only one who had stayed after the entire crowd dissipated.
“Oh, yeah, fine. Your voice is beautiful, you know that?” Adam felt his voice crack a little, which was unusual, since most of his business partners would describe his voice as smooth and confident. The voice of the singer, Adam thought bitterly, reminded of his childhood dream. But it was too late, he had already made the decision to turn his back on that easy, care-free lifestyle. He regretted the decision, but couldn’t go back on it, so what was the point in pondering what could have been?
“Wow, um, thanks.” The man gave him a shy smile and rubbed the back of his neck with a hand. Adam raised an eyebrow, was that a blush he saw?
“My name’s Adam,” The words left his lips without his consent. Damn, he had given out his real name, which might be a problem in the future if this southerner was questioned by M.G’s guys. At least his last name was still unknown. Hopefully he would just end up as an insignificant memory to be quickly discarded. At the thought of not making any impression on this rare, beautiful man, Adam felt a bit of tightening in his chest.
The lopsided smile he got in return as well as the handshake almost had him swooning. Almost. Because the words that followed killed off any remaining hope, no matter how minute he had of this man being his soul mate. “Well, Adam, I haven’t seen you around here before, so I guess you don’t know who I am? The name’s Kristopher, with a K; but all the folk around here call me Kris.”
Was it a coincidence? Please let it be a coincidence.
“So, um, Kris… You don’t happen to be the Kristopher Allen, Kris, right?” Adam asked, noting how Kris’ entire body had grown rigid, like he had pressed the pause button with that one question. That couldn’t be a good sign.
“Depends. Why are you asking?”
“Oh, a friend of mine heard a Kristopher Allen sing somewhere around this area and told me all about how amazing he is,” Adam lied like a pro, secretly nervous and fearing the answer, “I mean, I didn’t believe them, so I actually came down here today to find out. It would be a real freaky coincidence if you happened to be him though.” He was praying to whatever omniscient being there was up high, for Kris to just laugh it off and tell him he had the wrong person.
He only got half his wish granted.
Kris chuckled lightly, and replied, “Yep, that’s me. Should I recognize this friend of yours? Is he or she one of my more vocal fans, or more of the type that hides in the back?”
Adam’s entire body froze with the confirmation of his guess. He was standing face-to-face and conversing right now with the person he was here to kidnap. Kris Allen. If it wasn’t for the fact that he had been telling, twisting and keeping up lies for so long, he would have most certainly messed up his next words, as his brain was hardly functioning from the shocking revelation. As it was though, he managed to pull through somehow or other, “Uh - he prefers to stay in the back. Y’know, kind of shy and all.”
Then, not because he wanted to, but because it was all a part of the plan and following the plan was the only way he was going to get anything done with Kris looking at him like that, eyes wide and unsuspecting, Adam turned up the charm, “Sooo, is your next song coming up anytime soon? I mean, I’d love to hear you sing, you’re downright incredible. But I’d love it even more if I could treat you to a drink.” He even raised his eyebrow sexily for good measure.
Nobody could resist the sexy eyebrow-thing.
Kris was no exception. He quickly shrugged off his guitar, placing it on the ground, clearly trusting the people in the stands next to his to keep an eye out on it while he left with Adam. “Hot and generous - I don’t see a reason to refuse.” Adam was momentarily caught off-guard by the teasing and interested tone of Kris’ voice. He couldn’t help but feel confused, as he led Kris to a Starbucks he’d seen on his way here. A part of the plan. Unlike Kris’ unexpected and unwanted (or at least, that’s what he told himself) interest, which had him both intrigued and slightly bothered. Wasn’t Kris supposed to be M.G’s boyfriend? Somehow, he couldn’t picture the crime lord being cool with his boyfriend flirting with random strangers like that.
“Uh, Adam? Are you sure you’re going the right way?”
“Oh yeah, this is a short-cut.”
Kris looked unconvinced, but followed anyways. Adam honestly couldn’t believe that the shorter man hadn’t needed much coaxing at all. Kris was far too nice for his own good.
They entered into a shadowy alleyway that was empty except for a blue dumpster on one side. Kris walked right behind Adam, every step tentative. Adam could sense the fear radiating off of Kris even if the man was trying to keep it hidden. Deciding that Kris might as well be distracted from what was about to happen, Adam made conversation, “So, do you, um, live around here?”
Kris seemed to relax considerably as he answered, “Well, yeah. I perform during the day and camp out at night, actually. I know these streets don’t really give off that good of a first impression, but trust me, if you just give it a chance, you’ll find that this really is an amazing place.”
Adam looked at him, not really believing his words, “The only thing amazing I found was you.”
Kris chuckled, grabbing hold of Adam’s right hand, entwining their fingers, and squeezed. “Thank you very much for the compliment. I think you deserve to know that you’re amazing too.”
Adam felt very conflicted between the desire to shove Kris against a wall and kiss him senseless and confusion at the fact that Kris was acting like he was single. According to Michael though, he wasn’t. He couldn’t be because if he was the entire plan would be non-existent and useless. Michael had said that they had been together for six years on and off. That had to mean something right? The last thing Adam needed was a hostage on his hand, and a horrible debt - with a crime lord that refused to pay up.
“Hey, Adam -” Kris was out like a light before he knew what hit him, which, in fact, was Brad’s karate chop. In this case , the term “karate chop” was used loosely. It was more like hitting Kris’ head as hard as he could. At least it worked.
“Dude, you owe me BIG for taking your sweet time,” Brad sounded very cross, and Adam didn’t blame him one bit, “I am actually disgusted by my own smell, and you probably are too. Did you go off flirting or something, completely forgetting the fact that I was hiding in the bloody DUMPSTER!?”
“Brad, I’m very sorry,” Adam said in a voice that ended up sounding more sarcastic than he had intended, “okay?”
“No, it’s not okay! You see this? This is a banana peel. In my hair!”
Adam’s eyes flashed impatiently, “You can either stay here and bitch all day or help me get Kris to the car. Either way, I’m leaving.” He hooked both arms around Kris’ limp body and with a grunt of effort, picked the younger man up over his shoulder like a bag of flour.
“Uh-uh, don’t you dare give me that look, Adam! I am helping you kidnap the boyfriend of a mafia boss because of your lack of funding to buy other henchmen and this is how you repay me? Gosh, if you weren’t my best friend, I’d totally walk out on you right now.”
Adam didn’t reply.
“H-Hey, dude! You’re not seriously going to leave me here, are you?”
Adam shrugged Kris into a more comfortable position and kept moving. He knew that Brad would eventually follow along. They were best friends after all.
“You know what? You stink even more than I do!” And with a pout, Brad dragged himself out of the dump and followed. Adam wasn’t the only one too nice for his own good.
DAY 2
The place they had chosen to keep Kris after the kidnapping went successfully was an isolated house. It was ten minutes drive from anywhere with an accessible phone (its own having been unplugged and hidden quite securely) so hopefully that would deter Kris enough from the idea of escaping.
They certainly weren’t very qualified for the job.
Adam didn’t have enough money, after renting the house anonymously on Craigslist, to hire any goons or musclemen to be guards. All he had in terms of personnel was him and Brad, who was only there voluntarily anyways and couldn’t really be depended upon to stop Kris in an emergency. He hadn’t been trained in all sorts of different martial arts like Adam had.
In the end, they somehow (through rock-paper-scissors, though Adam would never admit to it) reached the decision that Brad would get the morning shift and Adam the afternoon one. They would switch at noon. Hopefully taking turns watching the young man would prove more tolerable than doing so solo.
Currently, Brad was at work and only Adam and Kris was in the house. Kris had both hands and legs cuffed to his chair, as Adam fed him some pepperoni pizza. After all, it wouldn’t do for the hostage to starve, would it?
Adam found himself ever so slightly annoyed though, at Kris’ reluctance to talk. “Seriously, I’m sorry about this entire situation - but you not talking isn’t going to help anything.” Kris still remained bitterly silent, shooting Adam a withering glare that made the man cringe. It was hard to believe that only the day before, Kris had been so trusting of him, and they had been talking so casually, practically on the verge of being friends, or maybe more. Adam had ruined it all, and now Kris would never forgive him or talk to him ever again.
Maybe they were better off this way. Adam certainly felt that this kidnapper-victim relationship was a lot easier to keep up than any other kind of relationship. As of so far, Kris had made no struggle against his restraints, not saying a word. He knew the general idea of what was going on from the semi-briefing Adam had felt responsible for giving an hour ago, but had made no comment on that either.
Adam genuinely wondered if the only time Kris would talk was when he needed to go the bathroom. Or would he stay silent even then - choosing humiliation over wasting another syllable of that beautiful voice on someone like Adam? In the end, Adam released Kris from his bonds without a word and pointed the man to the washroom without him even asking. He may be a kidnapper, but he wasn’t sick enough to torture Kris like that. Kris didn’t even attempt to escape, merely sitting back down and allowing Adam to cuff him once more, much to Adam’s relief.
There were so many questions Adam wanted to ask Kris though, but since Kris wouldn’t even answer his simpler ones (e.g. what type of pizza he wanted, what his favourite TV show was, etc.), there was little chance of the shorter man being in the mood to answer the more personal ones.
Adam asked anyways.
“Is this your first time being kidnapped?”
“Do you think M.G will pay three hundred million to have you back? Because you know, if he does, you’ll be out of here in no time.”
“Why do you live in the streets when you have a boyfriend that rich?”
When all else failed, Adam questioned, almost losing hope of ever getting a response from Kris ever again, “Do you think I’m a prick?”
There was an almost invisible nod of Kris’ head, but Adam knew he hadn’t imagined it. Adam wasn’t sure how he felt about that particular gesture, in the end settling with slightly demoralized, but relieved that Kris was still mentally stable enough to nod at the fact that Adam was a prick.
Slowly, Adam was almost driven insane with the silence inside the house. He tried typing up documents and transcripts for the objectives he had in mind for the business once he had the three hundred million he needed, but he was making very little progress. He kept on glancing back at Kris every little while to check on him. Guilt was driving him mad, as was his conscience.
Michael had told him that he trusted Adam to not hurt Kris. But while it was true that Kris was physically fine, Adam couldn’t help but feel he owed Kris a lot for soiling his trust like that. And for the karate chop - but that was more Brad’s fault than his.
Adam sighed, and apologized out loud for what felt like the thousandth time that morning. It was just another waste of breath, because Kris was staring into space, not caring about him in the least.
Then a movement caught Adam’s eye, and he saw what Kris was so entranced with. The man was absolutely enraptured with watching a beautiful tiger swallowtail just on the inside of the window sill. The little butterfly flapped its wings lightly, almost experimentally a couple of times, and proceeded to plop down right on top of Kris’ mop of unruly chestnut hair, almost making a nest for itself there. Adam found himself staring, for he had never seen a butterfly get so close to someone willingly before. Perhaps it was because of how still and quiet Kris was being, almost as if he was more a part of the furniture than an actual person?
Suddenly Adam was crossing the room in great long strides, having previously been hiding and watching at an angle so that though he had a good view of Kris, Kris couldn’t see him. As he neared, both Kris and the butterfly stirred.
Adam reached out a hand, at first not even sure of what he was doing. His body moved faster than he could think sometimes, and this was most certainly one of such occasions. When the swallowtail landed amidst his palm though, he knew for certain what he intended to do.
He finally had Kris’ undivided attention now, the bound man completely and utterly focused on the butterfly in Adam’s hand, unaware of its impending doom. Adam smirked evilly at Kris. He was going to crush the butterfly and then do the same thing to the stubborn idiot of a victim who refused to speak even a single word to him, while he was clearly being a lot more hospitable than any other kidnapper would be.
Yes, perhaps that would feel gratifying to a certain extent. Maybe Adam didn’t like the chains of guilt that tied him down, along with the words of both Michael and his father who seemed to trust him to stay on the right path even when he was thrust in a world where such paths were mere illusions. Maybe all it would take to make him change so he was bad enough to survive in this unforgiving world was his willingness to cross a certain mental line. Crushing a helpless, innocent bug while Kris stared definitely seemed to more than qualify as crossing that line. If he wanted to cross farther, all Adam needed to do was shove Kris into the bedroom and fuck the man, probably by force, like he had wanted to do since he’d first laid eyes on the guitarist with a voice that stole his soul.
A voice that he wasn’t going to hear anytime soon unless he crossed that godforsaken line already.
Just as he got ready to squeeze the life out of the creature though, a twitch in Kris’ calm façade caught his eye. The man looked like was on the verge of saying something, but his pride was still getting in the way. Adam’s eyes shifted from the butterfly to Kris, and then back to the beautiful creature in his palm - its life and death now in his hands.
With a frustrated sigh, he headed to the window and released it back outside.
He couldn’t hurt the butterfly and he couldn’t hurt Kris. No matter how much he wanted to, or how much he tried to pretend he wanted to - Adam still couldn’t do it. Letting out a heavy sigh, Adam just wished for this entire ordeal to be over, for him to be overseas on the other side of the world and as far as physically possible from Kristopher Allen. The man was capable of capturing the hearts of two criminals without even trying, and Adam was not going to stick around Kris, any longer than he had to, knowing that he would only be sinking deeper into a maze of emotions - a dangerous maze he had no wish to participate in.
Kris was his hostage, nothing more, nothing less. He would not harm the man, Michael had definitely been right about that, but as soon as the week ended, they would never see each other again. Their short and not at all pleasant acquaintance would end just like that. Adam had made up his mind.
He turned around, but the resolution written over his face seemed to melt right off the instant he heard Kris’ heart-felt words, a softly whispered, “Thank you.” And saw the streaks of tears pouring out of the man’s eyes.
For once in his life, Adam didn’t regret being too nice for his own good.
DAY 3
Adam had left in order to get send the ransom letter to M.G, in it detailing exactly how he wanted the three hundred million to be transferred to a bank account he had recently opened under a false name through cheque. It would take two days for the cheque to take effect and for Adam to find out if it would bounce or not. After that, if M.G wasn’t a fool and truly gave him the money, he would hand Kris back unharmed and get the heck out of this country in case M.G decided to start a man-hunt.
So, that basically left Brad with Kris for the morning. Neither particularly cared for the other, so it was a pretty unpleasant atmosphere they had going. Kris had started talking to Adam sometime yesterday for whatever reason, but by the time they had switched shifts, the brown-haired hostage had clearly gone back to silent mode and had stayed in it ever since.
“So… Is there like, a password or something to get you to talk?” Brad was bored out of his mind, having no Internet access or cable (it hadn’t been paid for) had certainly taken its toll on him. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair, placed opposite Kris’ so he was looking straight at the man while he asked his question.
Kris seemed to ponder that for a second and then sighed, “Okay, fine. I guess there’s no point in being immature about this situation. I’ll talk, but not if it will put M.G in any harm.”
Brad nodded. So that’s why Kris had been staying silent - the younger man was afraid of revealing his boyfriend’s secrets and having them used against him. It did make a lot of sense. “Okay then, so tell me, Kris, what do you think of Adam?” He laughed in his head at the expression Kris made at this unexpected question, the cute and short guy’s eyes completely bugging out. There was something that looked suspiciously like a blush creeping all the way up from Kris’ lightly stubbled chin to his scalp.
“Well, he doesn’t seem to be too bad, apart from the whole kidnapper thing,” Kris answered honestly. That was definitely a blush. No doubt about it.
Brad decided to tell Kris as much, “Dude, your face looks like a fucking tomato.”
Kris choked on his own saliva and coughed several times before calming down. “Oh, erm, allergies?” The attempt at lying was so pathetic and weak that Brad didn’t even bother to respond to it, instead pretending Kris had never given the horrible excuse. He went right on prodding. It was surprising to say the least, that Kris wasn’t as uninterested in Adam as Brad had first assumed. If there was one thing Brad could tell with his eyes closed, it was that Adam had feelings for this hostage of theirs. The feelings were apparently mutual.
“So, I’m just taking a stab at it but I’m guessing Adam is your type?”
Kris gulped, nervously, then whispered, voice turning from playful to dejected, “So much that it’s goddamn depressing.”
“Huh?”
Kris had a deer-in-headlights look, as if he hadn’t meant to say those last words out loud. He struggled with himself for a second before requesting a change of subject, “Can we not talk about this?”
“But it has nothing to do with M.G!” Brad smirked, remembering Kris’ earlier words.
Kris’ eyes narrowed, and his entire posture seemed to shift and he looked right at Brad and stated, “It has everything to do with him. No matter how hot I think Adam is - which, you must agree, he is pretty hot; I can’t do any more than think it. I have a boyfriend and he is not very fond of me being with other guys. If you want to get the money and leave with your lives intact, I suggest not pushing this any farther.” Wow, the cutie could be real convincing when he wanted to be.
After that, not a single word was exchanged until Adam came home, declaring the delivery was a success. All that was left was the wait.
LINK TO SECOND HALF OF CHAPTER: kiri-no-yami.livejournal.com/2303.html#cutid1
Pairing: Kradam
Rating: NC-17
Word count: 10,867 (AKA way too long) for entire second chapter; actually had to split the post
Summary: AU in which Adam is a desperate kidnapper, who needs three hundred million dollars by the end of the week. What better way to get that money than by kidnapping Kris, who happens to be the boyfriend of a mafia boss? Except things don't quite turn out as he plans...
Disclaimer: I do not own these people, and this is only fiction - which means NOT TRUE.
Beta: None. All mistakes my own. -.- I'm new to LJ so I don't really know how the whole beta thing works, maybe tell me how in the comments?
Author's Note: Wow, this pretty much consumed my life for the last... I don't even know how long. Hopefully, u guys will enjoy it? And please comment telling me if you would like a happy or sad ending, because I kind of have both scenarios thought out and can't quite decide???
First chapter found here: kiri-no-yami.livejournal.com/1579.html#cutid1
DAY 1
Adam wandered the dirty downtown streets in the middle of the afternoon, feeling more than a little out of place in this bustling and poor neighbourhood, so different from the places where he usually spent his evenings. This was most certainly the last thing he had expected to be greeting him upon arriving at the address Michael had given him. He had assumed that by “down-to-earth”, Michael had merely been exaggerating and making Kris sound better than he really was, in order to gain Adam’s sympathy; because seriously, who could date a freaking mafia boss and still be down-to-earth?
Apparently this Kris dude could, because he could be found in one of the poorest and low-maintenance areas Adam had ever seen. And Adam had seen a lot in his days. The streets had a ton of litter and general miscellaneous items lying around. The sidewalks were dotted with beggars, street performers and other such unpleasant types. Adam found himself wondering how anybody with so much money available to them could possibly want to stay in this god-forsaken environment. For certainly, he was down right broke and even he would decidedly rather sleep in some third-rate shelter than here, where the smell was enough to drive anybody out.
There were surprisingly many people though, just hanging around the place, looking left and right for nothing in particular. There were very few stores on the street, because what few of them opened would probably get robbed by the gangs in the area - but the passer-bys were almost endless. Adam had to admit that if there was one thing that this place didn’t lack, it had to be variety. People of all sizes, nationalities and weirdness seemed to mesh just fine in this place where nobody asked questions. Perhaps that notion was what attracted all these people. The rare feeling that this was a home away from home.
He found himself staring at a couple of struggling musician-wannabes, either cringing at their lack of skills or nodding appreciatively. Had he chosen to walk the path of the entertainment industry, he certainly wouldn’t have had to go through this process. His father would have gotten him to meet all the right people, and sooner rather than never (as was the case with most of these street performers) he would have had his own gigs. Somehow though, watching these people fighting so hard with naught but their own ability made him admire them. So many of them had this blazing passion for what they were doing that he himself had once owned, but was now nowhere to be found.
One particular browned-haired guitarist caught his eyes, or rather ears, as he heard the lyrics to Falling Slowly. Beautiful. Breath-taking. And he was only referring to the voice at first, but when he saw the cute young man, he found himself thinking those two descriptions fit him just fine as well.
There was somewhat of a small crowd around the man, who was singing with eyes closed, strumming the guitar and letting pure unrestrained feelings flow through his voice. It felt amazing, and Adam genuinely thought at that moment - this is music. None of the pop-rock, jazz or even R&B that was on in the radio, more lyrics without meaning, without soul. It was acoustic, and the most beautiful sound that Adam had ever heard.
The song ended with a humble and awkward semi-bow (because he was sitting on a stool) by the amazing singer and a quick “thank you” to all the people in the audience. Adam could hear the southern lilt of the man’s deep voice all the way from the back of the audience, where he was currently hidden. He felt his heart clench achingly as a realization dawned on him.
If he had been eight years younger and a lot less wiser, he could fall head over heels for this guy. He would just walk up to the man and start flirting shamelessly, regardless of the cute guy’s sexual orientation. Easy as that. Now though, Adam could not allow himself to get into a relationship. The meaning of the word had changed drastically for him as soon as he had entered into the family business. Now, for him, sex was as much of a daily to-do thing on the schedule as reviewing contracts. It was no longer something he enjoyed, or oftentimes, even did voluntarily, just another necessary thing to get over with so he could seal the deal. He bit his lip hard enough to draw blood. Nobody deserved a lover like that, a freak, who could only take and never give anything in return.
Brad had asked him once what he saw in his own future ten years from now. Adam had answered, without remorse or much of any feeling really, “I don’t see a thing.” Somebody like this unbelievably talented and beautiful man should be able to at least find a lover who could see his own future, who had a future ten years from now, which was more than Adam could say of himself.
“Um, hey dude, are you okay?” Adam was shaken out of his reverie abruptly by soft brown eyes looking at him with full of concern from the musician whom he had been reminiscing about. He gulped, realizing that he was the only one who had stayed after the entire crowd dissipated.
“Oh, yeah, fine. Your voice is beautiful, you know that?” Adam felt his voice crack a little, which was unusual, since most of his business partners would describe his voice as smooth and confident. The voice of the singer, Adam thought bitterly, reminded of his childhood dream. But it was too late, he had already made the decision to turn his back on that easy, care-free lifestyle. He regretted the decision, but couldn’t go back on it, so what was the point in pondering what could have been?
“Wow, um, thanks.” The man gave him a shy smile and rubbed the back of his neck with a hand. Adam raised an eyebrow, was that a blush he saw?
“My name’s Adam,” The words left his lips without his consent. Damn, he had given out his real name, which might be a problem in the future if this southerner was questioned by M.G’s guys. At least his last name was still unknown. Hopefully he would just end up as an insignificant memory to be quickly discarded. At the thought of not making any impression on this rare, beautiful man, Adam felt a bit of tightening in his chest.
The lopsided smile he got in return as well as the handshake almost had him swooning. Almost. Because the words that followed killed off any remaining hope, no matter how minute he had of this man being his soul mate. “Well, Adam, I haven’t seen you around here before, so I guess you don’t know who I am? The name’s Kristopher, with a K; but all the folk around here call me Kris.”
Was it a coincidence? Please let it be a coincidence.
“So, um, Kris… You don’t happen to be the Kristopher Allen, Kris, right?” Adam asked, noting how Kris’ entire body had grown rigid, like he had pressed the pause button with that one question. That couldn’t be a good sign.
“Depends. Why are you asking?”
“Oh, a friend of mine heard a Kristopher Allen sing somewhere around this area and told me all about how amazing he is,” Adam lied like a pro, secretly nervous and fearing the answer, “I mean, I didn’t believe them, so I actually came down here today to find out. It would be a real freaky coincidence if you happened to be him though.” He was praying to whatever omniscient being there was up high, for Kris to just laugh it off and tell him he had the wrong person.
He only got half his wish granted.
Kris chuckled lightly, and replied, “Yep, that’s me. Should I recognize this friend of yours? Is he or she one of my more vocal fans, or more of the type that hides in the back?”
Adam’s entire body froze with the confirmation of his guess. He was standing face-to-face and conversing right now with the person he was here to kidnap. Kris Allen. If it wasn’t for the fact that he had been telling, twisting and keeping up lies for so long, he would have most certainly messed up his next words, as his brain was hardly functioning from the shocking revelation. As it was though, he managed to pull through somehow or other, “Uh - he prefers to stay in the back. Y’know, kind of shy and all.”
Then, not because he wanted to, but because it was all a part of the plan and following the plan was the only way he was going to get anything done with Kris looking at him like that, eyes wide and unsuspecting, Adam turned up the charm, “Sooo, is your next song coming up anytime soon? I mean, I’d love to hear you sing, you’re downright incredible. But I’d love it even more if I could treat you to a drink.” He even raised his eyebrow sexily for good measure.
Nobody could resist the sexy eyebrow-thing.
Kris was no exception. He quickly shrugged off his guitar, placing it on the ground, clearly trusting the people in the stands next to his to keep an eye out on it while he left with Adam. “Hot and generous - I don’t see a reason to refuse.” Adam was momentarily caught off-guard by the teasing and interested tone of Kris’ voice. He couldn’t help but feel confused, as he led Kris to a Starbucks he’d seen on his way here. A part of the plan. Unlike Kris’ unexpected and unwanted (or at least, that’s what he told himself) interest, which had him both intrigued and slightly bothered. Wasn’t Kris supposed to be M.G’s boyfriend? Somehow, he couldn’t picture the crime lord being cool with his boyfriend flirting with random strangers like that.
“Uh, Adam? Are you sure you’re going the right way?”
“Oh yeah, this is a short-cut.”
Kris looked unconvinced, but followed anyways. Adam honestly couldn’t believe that the shorter man hadn’t needed much coaxing at all. Kris was far too nice for his own good.
They entered into a shadowy alleyway that was empty except for a blue dumpster on one side. Kris walked right behind Adam, every step tentative. Adam could sense the fear radiating off of Kris even if the man was trying to keep it hidden. Deciding that Kris might as well be distracted from what was about to happen, Adam made conversation, “So, do you, um, live around here?”
Kris seemed to relax considerably as he answered, “Well, yeah. I perform during the day and camp out at night, actually. I know these streets don’t really give off that good of a first impression, but trust me, if you just give it a chance, you’ll find that this really is an amazing place.”
Adam looked at him, not really believing his words, “The only thing amazing I found was you.”
Kris chuckled, grabbing hold of Adam’s right hand, entwining their fingers, and squeezed. “Thank you very much for the compliment. I think you deserve to know that you’re amazing too.”
Adam felt very conflicted between the desire to shove Kris against a wall and kiss him senseless and confusion at the fact that Kris was acting like he was single. According to Michael though, he wasn’t. He couldn’t be because if he was the entire plan would be non-existent and useless. Michael had said that they had been together for six years on and off. That had to mean something right? The last thing Adam needed was a hostage on his hand, and a horrible debt - with a crime lord that refused to pay up.
“Hey, Adam -” Kris was out like a light before he knew what hit him, which, in fact, was Brad’s karate chop. In this case , the term “karate chop” was used loosely. It was more like hitting Kris’ head as hard as he could. At least it worked.
“Dude, you owe me BIG for taking your sweet time,” Brad sounded very cross, and Adam didn’t blame him one bit, “I am actually disgusted by my own smell, and you probably are too. Did you go off flirting or something, completely forgetting the fact that I was hiding in the bloody DUMPSTER!?”
“Brad, I’m very sorry,” Adam said in a voice that ended up sounding more sarcastic than he had intended, “okay?”
“No, it’s not okay! You see this? This is a banana peel. In my hair!”
Adam’s eyes flashed impatiently, “You can either stay here and bitch all day or help me get Kris to the car. Either way, I’m leaving.” He hooked both arms around Kris’ limp body and with a grunt of effort, picked the younger man up over his shoulder like a bag of flour.
“Uh-uh, don’t you dare give me that look, Adam! I am helping you kidnap the boyfriend of a mafia boss because of your lack of funding to buy other henchmen and this is how you repay me? Gosh, if you weren’t my best friend, I’d totally walk out on you right now.”
Adam didn’t reply.
“H-Hey, dude! You’re not seriously going to leave me here, are you?”
Adam shrugged Kris into a more comfortable position and kept moving. He knew that Brad would eventually follow along. They were best friends after all.
“You know what? You stink even more than I do!” And with a pout, Brad dragged himself out of the dump and followed. Adam wasn’t the only one too nice for his own good.
DAY 2
The place they had chosen to keep Kris after the kidnapping went successfully was an isolated house. It was ten minutes drive from anywhere with an accessible phone (its own having been unplugged and hidden quite securely) so hopefully that would deter Kris enough from the idea of escaping.
They certainly weren’t very qualified for the job.
Adam didn’t have enough money, after renting the house anonymously on Craigslist, to hire any goons or musclemen to be guards. All he had in terms of personnel was him and Brad, who was only there voluntarily anyways and couldn’t really be depended upon to stop Kris in an emergency. He hadn’t been trained in all sorts of different martial arts like Adam had.
In the end, they somehow (through rock-paper-scissors, though Adam would never admit to it) reached the decision that Brad would get the morning shift and Adam the afternoon one. They would switch at noon. Hopefully taking turns watching the young man would prove more tolerable than doing so solo.
Currently, Brad was at work and only Adam and Kris was in the house. Kris had both hands and legs cuffed to his chair, as Adam fed him some pepperoni pizza. After all, it wouldn’t do for the hostage to starve, would it?
Adam found himself ever so slightly annoyed though, at Kris’ reluctance to talk. “Seriously, I’m sorry about this entire situation - but you not talking isn’t going to help anything.” Kris still remained bitterly silent, shooting Adam a withering glare that made the man cringe. It was hard to believe that only the day before, Kris had been so trusting of him, and they had been talking so casually, practically on the verge of being friends, or maybe more. Adam had ruined it all, and now Kris would never forgive him or talk to him ever again.
Maybe they were better off this way. Adam certainly felt that this kidnapper-victim relationship was a lot easier to keep up than any other kind of relationship. As of so far, Kris had made no struggle against his restraints, not saying a word. He knew the general idea of what was going on from the semi-briefing Adam had felt responsible for giving an hour ago, but had made no comment on that either.
Adam genuinely wondered if the only time Kris would talk was when he needed to go the bathroom. Or would he stay silent even then - choosing humiliation over wasting another syllable of that beautiful voice on someone like Adam? In the end, Adam released Kris from his bonds without a word and pointed the man to the washroom without him even asking. He may be a kidnapper, but he wasn’t sick enough to torture Kris like that. Kris didn’t even attempt to escape, merely sitting back down and allowing Adam to cuff him once more, much to Adam’s relief.
There were so many questions Adam wanted to ask Kris though, but since Kris wouldn’t even answer his simpler ones (e.g. what type of pizza he wanted, what his favourite TV show was, etc.), there was little chance of the shorter man being in the mood to answer the more personal ones.
Adam asked anyways.
“Is this your first time being kidnapped?”
“Do you think M.G will pay three hundred million to have you back? Because you know, if he does, you’ll be out of here in no time.”
“Why do you live in the streets when you have a boyfriend that rich?”
When all else failed, Adam questioned, almost losing hope of ever getting a response from Kris ever again, “Do you think I’m a prick?”
There was an almost invisible nod of Kris’ head, but Adam knew he hadn’t imagined it. Adam wasn’t sure how he felt about that particular gesture, in the end settling with slightly demoralized, but relieved that Kris was still mentally stable enough to nod at the fact that Adam was a prick.
Slowly, Adam was almost driven insane with the silence inside the house. He tried typing up documents and transcripts for the objectives he had in mind for the business once he had the three hundred million he needed, but he was making very little progress. He kept on glancing back at Kris every little while to check on him. Guilt was driving him mad, as was his conscience.
Michael had told him that he trusted Adam to not hurt Kris. But while it was true that Kris was physically fine, Adam couldn’t help but feel he owed Kris a lot for soiling his trust like that. And for the karate chop - but that was more Brad’s fault than his.
Adam sighed, and apologized out loud for what felt like the thousandth time that morning. It was just another waste of breath, because Kris was staring into space, not caring about him in the least.
Then a movement caught Adam’s eye, and he saw what Kris was so entranced with. The man was absolutely enraptured with watching a beautiful tiger swallowtail just on the inside of the window sill. The little butterfly flapped its wings lightly, almost experimentally a couple of times, and proceeded to plop down right on top of Kris’ mop of unruly chestnut hair, almost making a nest for itself there. Adam found himself staring, for he had never seen a butterfly get so close to someone willingly before. Perhaps it was because of how still and quiet Kris was being, almost as if he was more a part of the furniture than an actual person?
Suddenly Adam was crossing the room in great long strides, having previously been hiding and watching at an angle so that though he had a good view of Kris, Kris couldn’t see him. As he neared, both Kris and the butterfly stirred.
Adam reached out a hand, at first not even sure of what he was doing. His body moved faster than he could think sometimes, and this was most certainly one of such occasions. When the swallowtail landed amidst his palm though, he knew for certain what he intended to do.
He finally had Kris’ undivided attention now, the bound man completely and utterly focused on the butterfly in Adam’s hand, unaware of its impending doom. Adam smirked evilly at Kris. He was going to crush the butterfly and then do the same thing to the stubborn idiot of a victim who refused to speak even a single word to him, while he was clearly being a lot more hospitable than any other kidnapper would be.
Yes, perhaps that would feel gratifying to a certain extent. Maybe Adam didn’t like the chains of guilt that tied him down, along with the words of both Michael and his father who seemed to trust him to stay on the right path even when he was thrust in a world where such paths were mere illusions. Maybe all it would take to make him change so he was bad enough to survive in this unforgiving world was his willingness to cross a certain mental line. Crushing a helpless, innocent bug while Kris stared definitely seemed to more than qualify as crossing that line. If he wanted to cross farther, all Adam needed to do was shove Kris into the bedroom and fuck the man, probably by force, like he had wanted to do since he’d first laid eyes on the guitarist with a voice that stole his soul.
A voice that he wasn’t going to hear anytime soon unless he crossed that godforsaken line already.
Just as he got ready to squeeze the life out of the creature though, a twitch in Kris’ calm façade caught his eye. The man looked like was on the verge of saying something, but his pride was still getting in the way. Adam’s eyes shifted from the butterfly to Kris, and then back to the beautiful creature in his palm - its life and death now in his hands.
With a frustrated sigh, he headed to the window and released it back outside.
He couldn’t hurt the butterfly and he couldn’t hurt Kris. No matter how much he wanted to, or how much he tried to pretend he wanted to - Adam still couldn’t do it. Letting out a heavy sigh, Adam just wished for this entire ordeal to be over, for him to be overseas on the other side of the world and as far as physically possible from Kristopher Allen. The man was capable of capturing the hearts of two criminals without even trying, and Adam was not going to stick around Kris, any longer than he had to, knowing that he would only be sinking deeper into a maze of emotions - a dangerous maze he had no wish to participate in.
Kris was his hostage, nothing more, nothing less. He would not harm the man, Michael had definitely been right about that, but as soon as the week ended, they would never see each other again. Their short and not at all pleasant acquaintance would end just like that. Adam had made up his mind.
He turned around, but the resolution written over his face seemed to melt right off the instant he heard Kris’ heart-felt words, a softly whispered, “Thank you.” And saw the streaks of tears pouring out of the man’s eyes.
For once in his life, Adam didn’t regret being too nice for his own good.
DAY 3
Adam had left in order to get send the ransom letter to M.G, in it detailing exactly how he wanted the three hundred million to be transferred to a bank account he had recently opened under a false name through cheque. It would take two days for the cheque to take effect and for Adam to find out if it would bounce or not. After that, if M.G wasn’t a fool and truly gave him the money, he would hand Kris back unharmed and get the heck out of this country in case M.G decided to start a man-hunt.
So, that basically left Brad with Kris for the morning. Neither particularly cared for the other, so it was a pretty unpleasant atmosphere they had going. Kris had started talking to Adam sometime yesterday for whatever reason, but by the time they had switched shifts, the brown-haired hostage had clearly gone back to silent mode and had stayed in it ever since.
“So… Is there like, a password or something to get you to talk?” Brad was bored out of his mind, having no Internet access or cable (it hadn’t been paid for) had certainly taken its toll on him. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair, placed opposite Kris’ so he was looking straight at the man while he asked his question.
Kris seemed to ponder that for a second and then sighed, “Okay, fine. I guess there’s no point in being immature about this situation. I’ll talk, but not if it will put M.G in any harm.”
Brad nodded. So that’s why Kris had been staying silent - the younger man was afraid of revealing his boyfriend’s secrets and having them used against him. It did make a lot of sense. “Okay then, so tell me, Kris, what do you think of Adam?” He laughed in his head at the expression Kris made at this unexpected question, the cute and short guy’s eyes completely bugging out. There was something that looked suspiciously like a blush creeping all the way up from Kris’ lightly stubbled chin to his scalp.
“Well, he doesn’t seem to be too bad, apart from the whole kidnapper thing,” Kris answered honestly. That was definitely a blush. No doubt about it.
Brad decided to tell Kris as much, “Dude, your face looks like a fucking tomato.”
Kris choked on his own saliva and coughed several times before calming down. “Oh, erm, allergies?” The attempt at lying was so pathetic and weak that Brad didn’t even bother to respond to it, instead pretending Kris had never given the horrible excuse. He went right on prodding. It was surprising to say the least, that Kris wasn’t as uninterested in Adam as Brad had first assumed. If there was one thing Brad could tell with his eyes closed, it was that Adam had feelings for this hostage of theirs. The feelings were apparently mutual.
“So, I’m just taking a stab at it but I’m guessing Adam is your type?”
Kris gulped, nervously, then whispered, voice turning from playful to dejected, “So much that it’s goddamn depressing.”
“Huh?”
Kris had a deer-in-headlights look, as if he hadn’t meant to say those last words out loud. He struggled with himself for a second before requesting a change of subject, “Can we not talk about this?”
“But it has nothing to do with M.G!” Brad smirked, remembering Kris’ earlier words.
Kris’ eyes narrowed, and his entire posture seemed to shift and he looked right at Brad and stated, “It has everything to do with him. No matter how hot I think Adam is - which, you must agree, he is pretty hot; I can’t do any more than think it. I have a boyfriend and he is not very fond of me being with other guys. If you want to get the money and leave with your lives intact, I suggest not pushing this any farther.” Wow, the cutie could be real convincing when he wanted to be.
After that, not a single word was exchanged until Adam came home, declaring the delivery was a success. All that was left was the wait.
LINK TO SECOND HALF OF CHAPTER: kiri-no-yami.livejournal.com/2303.html#cutid1