The Ring of Fire - Chapter 2
Title: The Ring of Fire - Chapter 2
Rating: to be safe, let's call this part R (for language)
Pairing: Danny Gokey/Adam Lambert
Summary: The evolution of Danny and Adam’s relationship as it unfolds under the Big Top that is American Idol.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. No disrespect is intended. No money is being made. It’s all done out of love.
Author's note: This part would've/should've been posted much more efficiently but my idiocy knows no ends. Which always concerns me. Because I hope it doesn't translate to my writing. I am rather oblivious.
Chapter 1
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The following night was performance night and, not surprisingly, after the emotional previous night, both turned in poor performances. The evening had drained them and there just wasn’t enough time to recover before they had to go onstage.
There were only four finalists left and Danny and Adam had been the worst of the four so most likely one of them would be going home. They argued over who it would be as they paced backstage.
“It’s gonna be me,” stated Adam.
“No, it’ll be me,” insisted Danny. “I sucked the worst.”
“You didn’t sing ‘Enter Sandman’ as a ballad.”
“No, I sang Alice in Chains as if I was Alice from the Brady Bunch.”
“Ugh,” groaned Adam. “Why did it have to be ‘metal’ week?”
“I guess I have the tour to look forward to.”
“Would you stop,” said Adam, rolling his eyes. “Come on. You’re adorable. I’m willing to bet that every tween and her mom have gone over their minutes to keep you around.”
“Look who’s talking,” argued Danny. “Everybody loves you. One bad night isn’t going to change that. They all voted to keep you around. I know I did.”
Adam looked at him sharply. “Shut up. You did not vote for me.”
“Of course I did,” admitted Danny. “Voted for myself too. I need all the help I can get.”
Adam was touched by his admission, and wondered why he didn’t think of it.
“I bet you I’m right,” continued Danny.
“Here’s hoping,” said Adam.
“No, I’m serious. I’ll bet you.”
“You want to bet? All right, I bet I get the boot.”
“And I bet that it’ll be me.”
“What if neither of us get voted off?”
“Then we both win.”
“In more ways than one,” muttered Adam.
“What was that?” asked Danny.
“We need you guys for the entrance,” interrupted a stagehand.
“Okay,” said Adam, taking a deep breath and turning to follow her. “Well, here we go.”
“Wait, what are we betting?” asked Danny.
“I don’t know,” replied Adam. “We’ll figure it out later.”
They walked onstage with the others and then had to sit through the excruciating wait of Ryan Seacrest being a big tease and then going to commercial. Then came the song by the week’s mentor, Alice Cooper. Then Bo Bice sang some song by somebody. Honestly, it was hard to pay attention. The suspense was unbearable. Finally, Ryan Seacrest let Matt know that he was safe and it was Danny, Lil, and Adam in the bottom three. It didn’t look good. Lil had rocked out to Led Zeppelin and blew it out of the park. There was no way one of them wasn’t going home. They prepared themselves as the final moment arrived.
“Adam,” began Ryan Seacrest. “You sang Metallica’s ‘Enter Sandman’. Randy said it was a major disappointment, dog. Kara said she didn’t get it. Paula said you looked great but you didn’t sound true to yourself. Simon said ‘rubbish’ was too good a word for it.”
Ryan then moved to the next victim. “Lil, you sang Led Zeppelin’s ‘A Whole Lotta Love’. Randy called it ‘now’, dog. Kara loved your updated version. Paula said you looked beautiful and were true to yourself. Simon said you were slightly less rubbish-like than Adam.”
Ryan finally stepped over to Danny. “Danny, you sang ‘Man in the Box’ by Alice in Chains. Randy called it sloppy, dog. Kara said you sounded like you were singing in a box. Paula said she liked your haircut but didn’t think you were being true to yourself, except for the haircut. Simon had to leave because he claimed his ears were bleeding.”
Ryan then paused for dramatic effect. “America voted. Lil……….you’re going home.”
The studio erupted. Everyone was cheering. It was unbelievable. Adam and Danny were both in shock. As was Lil, especially when Danny sort of shoved past her to throw his arms around Adam.
“We’re still here!” screamed Danny, who could barely be heard over the crowd.
“Holy shit,” said a stunned Adam.
“What the fuck just happened?” said Lil.
It was absolute chaos. And Danny couldn’t seem to let go of Adam. He would allow himself to be congratulated by the others. He even finally gave Lil a big hug but each time he would turn back to find Adam and grab him again and yell, “We’re still here!”
It was all very disorienting for Adam. To perform so horribly and still be rewarded. It was a strange business they were in. And Danny…his attention was equally disorienting amid the ruckus. All together it amounted to an incredible high. One that Adam recognized wasn’t entirely healthy or helpful. By the time the remaining finalists and their guests had collected to celebrate and say goodbye to Lil, he had reigned in the euphoria and was brought back to earth with the help of his supporters.
“I can’t believe you didn’t get voted off,” said Evan, one of his friends who made it to the show. “You sucked.”
“Thanks,” chuckled Adam.
“It’s your fans,” said Adam’s mom. “At this point, you could probably do anything and they’d still vote for you.”
“Let’s not test that theory,” added his dad.
“I don’t plan to,” said Adam.
They were relaxing at a table in the restaurant that served as the post-results show celebration/goodbye to the most recent person voted off.
“I want to go talk to Kara,” said his mom. “I’m still not sure why she’s a judge.”
“I’ll come with you,” said his dad a little too enthusiastically, drawing his wife’s attention. “Purely for support.”
Adam’s parents got up from the table, leaving just Adam and Evan.
“So, what’s the deal with Gokey?” asked Evan, throwing Adam for a loop.
“What are you talking about?” said Adam.
“Did you two start dating or something?” continued Evan. “He couldn’t keep his hands off you.”
Adam winced and shook his head. “Shut up.”
“Seriously. Either he’s got a thing for you or he just really likes your fabric softener,” Evan glanced across the room. “He keeps looking over here.”
Adam had his back to where Danny was sitting with his family but refrained from turning to verify the statement.
“Nothing’s going on.”
“It doesn’t look like nothing.”
“We just…” Adam trailed off, trying to think of how to explain the situation.
“Did this ‘just’ involve a bed and some disrobing?”
Adam hesitated. “Technically…”
Evan’s eyes went wide. “Are you shitting me?”
“It’s not how it sounds,” insisted Adam. “I helped him through a bad night. That was all.”
Evan looked disappointed. “So, nothing porny?”
“Not even in the slightest. It was more like a Lifetime original movie.”
“Oh God.”
“Yeah,” chuckled Adam.
Evan then leaned back and looked at him calculatingly.
“What?” asked Adam.
“You like him.”
Adam sighed heavily and put his face in his heads.
“Oh my God, you do like him,” said Evan. “I was just joking.”
“It’s…Nothing. There’s nothing going on. There never will be.”
“Are you sure?” asked Evan, glancing over Adam’s shoulder. “What would he say if I asked him?”
“Why would you…?”
Adam looked up to see Danny walking over to their table with his parents in tow.
“Oh God, please don’t…” Adam quietly pleaded to Evan.
“Hey!” greeted Danny, whose hand immediately came to rest on Adam’s shoulder causing Evan to raise his eyebrows to Adam. “I know you’ve met my parents before but they just wanted to come over again and say hi.”
“Hi, Adam,” said Danny’s mom. “It’s good to see you again. Congratulations.”
“Thanks, Mrs. Gokey,” he replied, taking her hand.
“We’re really glad you and Danny are still in the thick of things despite how crappy you both did,” chided Danny’s dad.
“Gee, thanks, dad,” said Danny.
Adam chuckled. “It’s the love and support that gets us through.”
Danny finally took his hand off of Adam’s shoulder to offer it to Evan.
“I’m sorry. We haven’t met.”
“Sorry,” said Adam. “This is Evan, a friend of mine from home.”
“Nice to meet you,” said Danny.
“Likewise,” said Evan, shaking his hand. Adam watched him warily.
“So, you’re from San Diego?” asked Danny.
“Yeah,” said Evan, with a gleam in his eye. “Adam and I go way back. In fact…”
Adam knew what that gleam meant.
“Speaking of going way back,” said Adam, standing. “Didn’t you have to get going, Evan? You had something you had to do, something nice, like for a friend you’ve known for your entire life and who has always been there for you? Something like that?”
Evan laughed in amusement.
“Oh yeah. That’s right,” said Evan, then he looked at Danny. “My friend’s a great guy and I’d do anything for him.” He then turned back to Adam. “Especially since I know that he’s going to owe me big time.”
Adam rolled his eyes.
“Well, it was nice meeting you,” said Danny, holding out his hand again and gracing him with his usual goofy grin.
Evan moved closer into his personal space.
“You’re playing with fire,” said Evan, low enough so that only Danny and Adam could hear.
“I’m sorry,” responded a confused Danny. “What was that?”
Adam slid in between the two.
“He said ‘you were on fire,’” explained Adam, lamely. “Ya know, with your singing.”
“That’s not what it sounded like,” said Danny.
“I…” started Evan, until Adam covered his mouth with his hand.
“Yeah, you should really be going,” declared Adam, marching him to the door. “Traffic’s a bitch.”
“All right, all right,” said Evan, backing his way out of the room and lowering his voice. “I guess I’ll just wait for the wedding invitation.”
“You’re going to be waiting a long time.”
“I don’t know. You’ve already met his parents. What’s left? Matching tattoos?”
“Have you ever thought of doing stand-up?”
“Nope,” smiled Evan. “You think I should give it a try?”
“No,” said Adam. “You’re really not very funny.”
“Bitch.”
Adam smiled and turned serious.
“Hey, thanks for coming to the show. It meant a lot to me.”
They gave each other a hug.
“You know, I meant what I said earlier,” said Evan sincerely. “You really sucked last night.”
Adam laughed and gave him a playful shove.
“Get out of here.”
“All right. I’ll call you later. See ya.”
“See ya,”
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Adam slept horribly that night. He had a dream that he was driving around in a Ford Flex in search of some sleep but Ryan Seacrest kept cutting to a commercial. He awoke only a few hours later and couldn’t get back to sleep. Bleary-eyed, he stared at the ceiling thinking about the night before, and more specifically, Danny.
He had it bad. And Danny wasn’t helping. Evan was right. Danny always seemed to be touching Adam. All very innocently, mind you, but touching nevertheless. It was exciting and confusing all at once. But last night Danny had disappeared after meeting Evan so maybe Danny had picked up on the vibe Evan was throwing out and realized he needed to back off. It would’ve been hard to have missed the cues. Adam figured that that was probably the case and he would be seeing less of Danny.
He sighed again, closing his eyes to try another attempt at sleep. He was just nodding off when someone jumped on his bed.
“Wake up!”
It was Danny.
There went his theory.
“What the hell!” exclaimed Adam in a gruff morning voice.
“Come on, wake up!” repeated a very excited Danny, ignoring Adam’s sleepy glare. “It’s time to get up. There’s lots to do.”
Adam continued glaring at him.
“Were you dropped on your head as a child?” asked Adam.
“Not that I know.”
“Danny, I didn’t get much sleep last night.”
“I know. Neither did I,” said Danny. “That’s why we have to get going.”
“That makes no sense.”
“Look, we made a bet. We both won. It’s time to get down to business.”
“You woke me up because of the bet?” Adam couldn’t believe it. “For crying out loud. Why don’t we just call it even?”
“No, come on, that’s not how bets work,” explained Danny. “We both won, so we both get something and what I want is for of us both to go to the finale so we’ve got to get up and start working.”
Adam cocked his head to the side.
“What about Matt?”
“Matt’s a great guy and a great singer but only two people can go to the finale and that’s going to be you and me. Which, again, is why I’m asking you to get up because Matt is already downstairs hogging the piano.”
Adam dropped his head back to his pillow and sighed.
“Fine.”
“Cool. So, that will fulfill my side of the bet,” declared Danny. “You just have to figure out what you want?”
Adam thought for a second.
“Coffee.”
Danny laughed.
“All right, I’ll get you a coffee myself,” said Danny, standing up. “But by the time I get back, you better be out of bed and ready to start the day. We are going to pick some great songs and then rehearse until the cows come home.”
“Coffee first,” said Adam, pulling the blanket up over his head.
Danny shook his head in amusement.
“We won’t count this in the bet since you’re obviously not thinking clearly. Just keep repeating this one thing to yourself,” he said and then started getting excited again. “We. Are going. To the American Idols finale, baby!”
“Coffee!”
Chapter 3