fic: Baby, There's No Other Superstar, 2/2
Baby, There's No Other Superstar
12,000 words, NC-17
Adam/Kris
When Adam got back to the room Kris was already asleep, thank god, sprawled out messily on one half of the bed. The sheets were turned down on the other side like one last silent request, and Adam looked at the awful couch and back to the huge soft bed and he was just too tired, tonight.
When Adam got back to the room Kris was already asleep, thank god, sprawled out messily on one half of the bed. The sheets were turned down on the other side like one last silent request, and Adam looked at the awful couch and back to the huge soft bed and he was just too tired, tonight.
He got undressed and sank into the bed on the empty side, rolling onto his side away from Kris. The mattress was ridiculously soft and the sheets felt like heaven on his skin, and he felt one last wash of hot unfair anger sweep over him before sleep wiped everything away.
In his dreams, he was walking with Kris on the beach and they were both wearing white. The sky above them was made of cotton candy, and he kept pulling down the clouds and feeding them to Kris, laughing as Kris licked at his fingers and kissed his wrist and pressed him down into the cookie-crumb sand and bit down his chest, lower and lower under Adam's laughs turned into moans, until he couldn't make any sounds at all.
Kris, he tried to say, oh god, Kris, Kris, but when he opened his mouth feathers blew out, and bubbles rose that popped and burst in golden showers all around him. He tried one last time, with all his breath, and a huge bubble rose-black where the others had been gentle shimmers, and inside a miniature Sheree stood typing into her blackberry, and she looked out at him and laughed, a harsh noise that tore at Adam's ear and rent the cotton-candy sky.
Kris raised his head up then, confused, and Adam reached for him, reached to grab him so they could run away before the growing black bubble exploded, but just as his hand touched Kris's he woke up, gasping and hard.
For a second he lay there frozen, telling himself it had just been a dream-he was in the hotel room, not out on a magical beach, and the sheets were soft and white around him, and Kris was okay, Kris was here tucked up under his arm, curled in tight and looking up at him with a gentle, worried expression-wait.
"You were over there," Adam said, nonsensically, "when I went to sleep you were over there and I was over here, not touching you, Kris, damn it-"
He raised his head off the pillow a little bit and looked around. They were both exactly in the middle of the giant mattress, like they'd rolled towards each other in their sleep, and fuck, this was exactly why Adam had been against the whole sharing-a-bed-thing from the beginning.
"S'okay, Adam," Kris said sleepily, reaching out a hand to smooth across Adam's cheek, under his eyes. His eyes were half-closed and his eyelashes fluttered across his sunburnt cheek, and he curled back into Adam's chest and pressed his lips against the skin there, slowly.
Adam lay frozen, aching and hard, and then Kris did it again, deliberately, the warm wet press of his lips and the sweet touch of his tongue, and then again, up towards Adam's neck, exploring, gentle kisses that made Adam want to sweat and shake and whimper.
"Kris," he said softly, trying to wake him up from-from whatever this was, but Kris just made a nonsensical but ridiculously hot moaning noise and kept going, up his neck and across his jaw to his lips, and then they were kissing for real, slow and hungry and Kris was biting at his lips, urging him on, and Adam couldn't stop, he didn't-
"Please, Adam, oh," said Kris, and he shifted against Adam's thigh and he was hard too, and Adam kissed him harder and rolled them over in the white bedding like clouds all around them, and he rocked against Kris and listened to the noises he was making and felt something hard and tight inside him start to give way, open like a spreading warmth through his body.
Kris arched into Adam's touch as Adam trailed his hand down, down. Adam could do this all day, forever, and Kris sighed against him in agreement when he said that out loud, and then they were both laughing, happy and easy, Kris with his hands still on Adam's face, framing his jaw, holding him there.
"Stay right there," said Adam, giving him another lingering kiss, because he just couldn't pull away quite yet, and then he gave him another and another and they tumbled back over into the blankets, and Adam was just about to give up on going to the bathroom entirely when Kris's phone went off.
"Hang on," Kris said, and bit as Adam's lip as he pulled away, and Adam groaned as he took the opportunity to heave himself out of the bed. He took one long, lingering glance at Kris, half-naked in the tousled sheets, and he walked into the bathroom without really feeling the floor under his feet.
He brushed his teeth and washed his face, staring at himself in the mirror and telling himself that this was real, this was really happening, Kris really wanted him back, was in that bed right now waiting for him. He couldn't stop smiling, so hard that it hurt, and he ran a hand through his hair a few times, trying to get a hold of himself.
When he went to put his toothbrush away he remembered the other compartment in his makeup case, the one he hadn't opened in-far too long, really, at least since he'd found out about this engagement. He looked at the ring on his finger, almost surprised at how long it had been, and then he got out a condom and lube, just in case Kris-just in case, still feeling like he was floating, like the air around him was buzzing.
He opened the door, though, and Kris wasn't tangled warm and sleepy in the sheets anymore; in fact, Kris wasn't even in the bed. Kris was standing by his suitcase, throwing things into it at random, single socks and a sandy flip-flop and three belts that were definitely Adam's and not his, and something like a rock, cold and heavy, dropped into the pit of Adam's stomach.
"Kris-" he started to say, even though he didn't really want to know, didn't want to ask, but Kris heard him anyway and turned around, face red and hard and furious.
"How could you, Adam?" he asked, voice sort of choked, and he rubbed at one eye angrily with the back of his hand. "I didn't-maybe I'm not what you, but I thought, I hoped, because we're married, and even with Katy, at the end, I didn't, I'd never-"
Adam reached for his phone with a sort of sick feeling of realization, and he was right: twelve missed calls, ten from Sheree and two from his mother, and more than fifty text messages. He opened the first one, and there was a link to Perez, and there it was, bordered in garish pink-" GLAMBERT'S ADULTEROUS ARUBA HONEYMOON," never mind the fact that they weren't even fucking in Aruba, right over a grainy photo of him, in the parking lot last night, head down and Luke's arms around his neck, Luke's mouth against his.
"Fuck," said Adam, and when that didn't feel like enough he hurled his phone across the room; it smashed into the wall with a resounding shattering noise, and Kris jumped like he'd been struck.
"I can explain," Adam said, desperately, because he could, Kris just had to listen, had to give him a chance. "We didn't even, Kris, I didn't want-"
"No, Adam," Kris said, and his voice was calmer now, his packing was slower. "I just-I need some time, okay, I need to go home and think about this and then we can talk, but I can't be here with you, right now, I can't be on this-honeymoon, what the fuck, I just-"
He zipped the suitcase and looked at Adam and said "I'll call you when I'm ready," and then he walked out the door and Adam sank down onto the bed and wrapped his arms around himself, shivering uncontrollably.
:::
Sheree showed up within half an hour, which was probably close to the last thing Adam wanted in the whole world, but it's not like she'd ever considered things like his feelings or opinions to begin with, so it made sense.
"We're already doing damage control," she said, pacing angrily, "I've got Star and the Post doing pieces that are pretty sympathetic to you, as far as things go, but I'm gonna need you to get back to L.A. right away, be seen with Kris at a lot of red carpets, maybe some candid kissing shots, all of that-"
"He doesn't even want to see me," Adam said miserably. Sheree just looked at him.
"He can want whatever he wants in private," she said, "but he'll fucking see you in public, Adam, if he wants to keep his record contract. Now, we're gonna need this guy to disappear for a while, not sell the story-"
"There's no story to sell!" Adam said, desperately. "We didn't do anything-I mean, I was going to, fuck, but then I just, I couldn't, even though I knew-I thought-Kris didn't care like that, I just couldn't cheat, and yeah, he kissed me, but I fucking stopped him, I left!"
"Mmmhmm, that's okay for a start, but we'll need to polish it up a bit," Sheree said absently, back to caressing her Blackberry.
"What?" said Adam. "I'm not-that's the truth, Sheree, fuck, I really didn't do anything!"
"Of course not," Sheree said, in a voice that was as far from 'convincing' as Sheree herself was from 'comforting.'
"Anyway, your flight leaves in half an hour, so you need to get to the airport. Don't put on too much makeup-you don't want to look good, but you also don't want to look bad, just look-look "minor domestic dispute." Can you do that for me? Good. I've had Kris's flight re-routed from Arkansas to L.A., and he'll be taken to your new house-did I not tell you? You two have a house now, it's quite nice, I'm sure you'll like it-and you can meet him there, and then by five tomorrow you'll be expected to be seen with him, looking very married. In a good way. Okay? All set, then."
"But-" Adam started to say, but she was already gone. He hadn't even heard the door open, actually, and there was a strange smell in the air, vaguely sulfurous, but at least she wasn't there anymore. That was something.
:::
There were paparazzi ten-deep in front of the gate to his new house, and Adam pushed his sunglasses further up the bridge of his nose and hunched down behind his bodyguard, trying to get past the throng without hearing anything they shouted at him.
It was hard to block it out completely, though, and some of it got through-
"Was he straight after all, Adam?"
"Adam, what can you say to the rumors that your new lover is a Russian spy hiding undercover as a porn star?"
"Adam, is Kris really hiring a lawyer-"
"Couldn't handle monogamy for three whole days, Adam?"
"Adam, how do you feel this will affect the recent movement for-"
Someone shoved a camera into his face and Adam was seconds away from grabbing it and hurling it to the ground, but security got there first, pushing the guy back and shoving Adam forward until he was through the gate, walking up an unfamiliar brick pathway, cacophony fading out behind him.
He opened the door with a trembling hand, could barely get the key into the lock. He hadn't slept at all on the plane ride, and he hadn't eaten since last night or even so much as smelled coffee in-over twenty-four hours. Fuck.
He paused, resting his head on the cool wood on the front door. It was just-Kris was in there, if Sheree was right, and she always was. Kris was in there and Adam could explain that he hadn't kissed Luke, hadn't done anything with Luke, but that wasn't even the issue.
He'd wanted to, that was the thing-he'd wanted to, and he'd started to, and Kris knew it, and that was why he was angry and hurt. Adam couldn't blame him, really, but it just-it seemed so unfair, because he hadn't known how Kris felt, hadn't known that he would ever, and he'd been so worn down and angry and hurt, and trapped in a life he couldn't control, except this one thing, offered to him, and he'd turned it down but it had fucked him over anyway.
And he'd hurt Kris, and that was the worst part, because he would never, he could never. Say all that shit to him, then, Lambert, said a voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Neil, and Adam sighed and opened the door.
:::
The front hallway was massive and empty, and when he shouted Kris's name an actual echo came back to him but that was it. Fuck, Adam thought, and started looking-the first floor alone seemed to be nothing but room after room, most of them empty of anything except a few pieces of expensive, uncomfortable-looking furniture. Kris wasn't in any of them, either, and after a while Adam actually got lost.
He searched for the main hallway because he thought he should probably check the second floor, and the third floor if there was one, and please god let there not be a fourth floor, but he just couldn't find it-he thought he might be going in circles, because he'd definitely seen that particular torture device designed as a chair again. He saw it again though, three more times, even after he thought he'd switched directions, and finally he gave up and sat down in it, wincing.
"Kris?" he shouted again, hopelessly, and when the white walls were the only things that shouted back to him he decided to close his eyes and rest, just for a second.
:::
The bright sun woke him up, streaming in the window and illuminating the huge, lonely room, filled with nothing but wood floors and white walls and, in the doorway, Kris.
"I tried to find you," Adam said to Kris, blinking stupidly, and Kris just crossed his arms. His face didn't change at all, blank and hard.
"What are you doing here, Adam?" he asked.
"I'm-" Adam paused and rubbed at his face. He should have prepared some kind of speech, written it down or something. "I wanted to explain to you," he tried again. "I mean, okay, that sounds totally lame and bullshitty but I swear, I have an actual explanation."
Kris just raised his eyebrows, waiting. He scuffed at the floor with the toe of his sneaker. He looked all tight, Adam thought, drawn up into himself and angry.
"I didn't do anything with him," Adam said.
Kris looked up abruptly, like Adam's words had startled him.
"You kissed him, Adam, I saw-the pictures, I saw-"
"Okay," Adam said. His mouth felt heavy and dry and he was so exhausted. "I started to kiss him, and then I stopped, because it felt awful, it felt like cheating."
"It was cheating," Kris said, angry, and Adam just looked at him.
"Cheating on what, Kris?" he asked. "Cheating on a marriage my PR set up for me, that I had no say in? Cheating on what I thought-on a platonic friendship, an unconsummated fake relationship?"
Kris took a step back at Adam's words, rocking like he'd been slapped in the face, but Adam felt hard and dizzy and he couldn't stop.
"Until-until yesterday morning, Kris, damn it, as far as I knew I was fucking locked into this awful caricature of a relationship, married to a straight guy, ha fucking ha. I had no say in that, no say in marrying my-in marrying you, fuck. I live this life where I don't even get to decide who to fucking marry, and I just, I just wanted-control, for a second, to make a decision that was selfish, and for me, and bad."
He'd been looking down at his hands while he talked, picking at the few lingering specks on nail polish, and when he looked up Kris had his hands in his pocked, shoulders hunched up, face closed.
"I'm sorry you hate this so much," he said, voice shaking. "I didn't - I wouldn't have," and then he was gone, disappeared back into the huge maze of the house.
"Fuck, fuck, that's not what I-Kris, wait," Adam shouted, but all that came back to him was his own echo.
Yesterday morning felt very far away as Adam wandered through the halls of the house. Like it really had been a dream, like he hadn't woken up at all, and it was hard to believe that that had really been Kris he was kissing, soft and tentative and eager all at the same time. Hard to believe that it had been Kris to initiate it, that Adam had woken to insistent lips on his neck and Kris's mumbled pleas in his ear, determined. And Adam had given in, let the dream carry him, given in where he hadn't given in to Kris's insistence that they sleep in the same bed, or his attempted kiss in the hallway, or all his other efforts to-oh, Adam thought, and started running.
He found a staircase that definitely hadn't been there the night before, and after that there were only three dead ends before he arrived at a bedroom with an open door, Kris curled up on the bed and facing away from him.
His shoes were still on, knees drawn up to his chest, and Adam felt fond and stupid and giddy.
"Kris, why didn't you tell me?" he asked, sitting down on the edge of the bed.
"Tell you what?" Kris muttered, eyes focused carefully on the bedspread.
"That you-that this could have been real, the whole time, that you love me-" he went silent, suddenly feeling like a huge fucking idiot, because what if he just assumed wrong, what if-
Kris was looking at him now, confusion on his face but a little hit of hope there too, the lines clearing out from his brow.
"Oh," he says, softly, and then, "I was-I was going to, Adam, I was going to say something when they first told about this, this plan, to get married, because I liked-I loved you, and I felt bad about how happy I was to do this, how it wasn't a fake thing for me, so I was gonna say it to you, and then you called before I could work up the courage."
"I called," Adam remembers, slowly, "I called and said it was the worst thing and how dare they and we should refuse, didn't I. Oh, Kris-"
"And you just said it again, downstairs, that you hate this, and I'm sorry, I'm sorry this sucks so much for you but that morning, when you, when we, I thought maybe you-and I was so happy, Adam, like, giddy, and then I saw the pictures and I just-I-"
He turned back to the bedspread, picking at it a little bit.
"Do you know what it's like," Adam asked, slowly, "to be told you're going to marry the guy you've carefully not let yourself be in love with for years, but it's a fake marriage, so you have to keep on being careful, and you've spent so much time being careful that you can't see what he's trying-in his own stupid, hopeless way-to tell you, and-"
"I wanted to wait," Kris said, "I wanted to tell you but I wanted to make you fall in love with me first, and I didn't know that you-it seemed like-like it was working, and then you, those pictures, and it hurt so bad."
When Adam touched him, put a careful hand at the side of his face, Kris rolled over and looked up and his eyes were wide and bright, lip white from where he was biting at it.
It looked like it must hurt, he was biting so hard, and Adam ran his thumb towards the corner of Kris's mouth, stroking gently.
"Open," he said, "c'mon," and then Kris's lips were parted in a soft O, and Adam's thumb slipped towards wet heat and he followed it, kissing Kris with careful precision, sucking gently at the abused lip until Kris was shuddering and kissing back, working towards more.
Adam ran his hands down Kris's body, pulled him in until they were twined together, all tangled limbs and Kris's hands in his hair. His heart was pounding so loudly he was sure Kris could feel it even through the shirts they were still wearing, and he sucked kisses down Kris's neck, one by one, trying to calm himself down. When he licked across Kris's collarbone, though, Kris moaned softly and tugged at his hair, jerking him up and pressing their faces back together, kissing him hard. It was hot and frantic and suddenly Adam needed to feel skin, to make this that much more real.
"Clothes off, baby, hang on," he whispered again Kris's lips, and sat up to tug his own shirt off, throwing it towards the foot of the bed. When he looked back down Kris had done the same, and he ran his hands greedily over the expanse of skin, warm beneath his fingers. When his fingers brushed against a tight nipple, Kris jerked and made a cut-off gasping noise, so he did it again, deliberately, slowly, then leaned down and sucked it into his mouth as Kris babbled and shivered beneath him.
He licked across Kris's chest at bit at the other nipple, harder, and Kris moaned and tugged at his hair, desperate.
"Adam, I'm, I-" he got out, and Adam reached down a hand to feel him, rubbing at his cock through his jeans.
"Fuck, Adam," Kris gasped, and Adam reached in and grabbed him, just a rough brush of his fingers against rock-hard flesh and then Kris was shouting and coming, wet over Adam's hand, the hottest thing Adam had seen in years.
Kris was blushing, embarrassed, and Adam kissed his warm cheek and whispered, low, "that was amazing, that was perfect, you're amazing," a gentle litany that broke off when Kris turned and kissed him, long and sweet.
"Can I-" he blushed harder, tried to bite at his lip until Adam kissed it free.
"I want to suck you," he tried again, and Adam breathed out, "God, yes," and watched the way Kris's face smoothed out in relief.
"Naked first, though," he said, and scrambled down the bed to pull at Kris's pants, tugging them off and then going for the damp boxers. His cock was still half-hard, lying flushed against his stomach, and Adam kissed his inner thigh and then licked, cleaning him up, wrapping his lips around Kris and sucking gently. Kris's hands tangled in his hair and he made a pleased happy noise, low in his throat, and then Kris half-laughed, half-gasped and said, "oh no, you first, you said-Adam."
He let Kris's cock slide from his mouth a little reluctantly, but when he looked up and saw Kris just lying there, lips half-parted, eyes lidded and hair in disarray it sent a heavy shock of heat through his body.
"God, baby," he said, fumbling his pants off, "okay, whatever you want, okay," and then he was climbing up the bed, sliding a pillow under Kris's neck.
"This okay?" he asked, and Kris nodded, wordless, so Adam said, "Open up for me, babe," a hand against Kris's cheek to steady him, and just because he wanted to touch.
Kris's mouth was hot and tight and so wet, those red lips wrapped around Adam's cock, and when Adam thrust just slightly, trying it out, he moaned and clutched at Adam's ass, trying to get him closer. It was so good, too good, Kris looking up at him through long lashes, loving it so much, and Adam felt himself getting closer and closer, almost there.
Kris pulled away, suddenly, and said, "Are you gonna-?"
Adam could only nod, tightly, and then Kris said, "Will you, um," and bit his lip again, closed his eyes like he was afraid of what Adam would think and tilted his head back, just slightly, but still an invitation. It was so hot Adam couldn't even breathe, for a moment, and then he was coming on Kris's face, his neck, and Kris shivered and then Adam was kissing him, frantic, aftershocks still shuddering through his body.
The kisses slowed, gradually, faded from frantic to lazy and soft and comfortable. They lay like that for a while, Adam folded over Kris, thumbing across his forehead and rocking his hips slowly, Kris's cock hard and hot against his thigh.
Kris sighed a little and pushed up into him, laziness taking on a sharper edge, and Adam wrapped his fingers through Kris's, pushed his hands up into the mattress above his head.
"Want to fuck you," he said, grinning a little bit. "If you want that too, that is."
Kris shifted underneath him, another slow roll of his hips, and smiled back. "I do," he said. "Want you to, um-fuck me. Please?"
"Well," said Adam, getting up, "okay, since you asked so nicely." There were condoms and lube in the bedside table, already-probably some intern's idea of a joke, but it was convenient as hell. He nudged at Kris until he rolled over, face buried in his folded arms, and then Adam kissed down his back and further, opening him up with fingers and tongue, slowly, slowly, until Kris was shuddering uncontrollably, voice breaking on a "please" that was half-sob.
"Shh, I got you," Adam said, tugging at his hips until Kris rose to his knees, unsteady. Adam pushed into him one torturous inch at a time, head bowed against Kris's neck, sucking at the sweat-salty skin, words tumbling out of his mouth, fuck, Kris, so good, so tight, just like that, baby, perfect, come on, come on, fuck, until his hips rested against Kris's, all the way.
"Adam," Kris groaned, reaching up a hand to scrabble at him, desperate, "move," and Adam did, steady and then picking up speed, biting at Kris's shoulder blade. Kris's body was all tensed muscle underneath him, hot and needy, and Adam lost himself in it until Kris's moans got louder, more frantic, pitch climbing.
He slid a hand from Kris's hip to his cock, wrapped the other arm around his torso and pulled him in close.
"Fuck," Kris gritted out when Adam's fingers closed around his cock, and Adam murmured into his ear and sat back slowly, pulling Kris with him until he was seated in Adam's lap, legs splayed to either side, head lolling back to Adam's shoulder.
"Here we go, come on," Adam said, fingers tweaking at Kris's hard, flushed nipple. He jerked Kris with the other hand, not teasing at all, just going for it, and Kris shuddered and clenched around him, so tight, and came hard enough that his head knocked painfully against Adam's.
Adam held him until his breathing calmed down a little bit, biting at his ear, pressing kisses to his neck. "S'good?" he asked, and Kris nodded jerkily, still panting.
"Mmm," Adam murmured, soft and happy, and fingered at Kris where he was still stretched around Adam, so wide. Kris shuddered at the press of his fingers, dug his nails into Adam's thigh, and Adam laughed and nudged at him.
"Up now, babe," he said, and let Kris fall back to the mattress, flushed and sweaty and swimming back towards fully conscious.
Adam leaned down and kissed him, deep and slow, and then he pushed back in, Kris still so wet and open for him. Kris sighed and shivered a little, mouth falling open helplessly, and Adam pressed their foreheads together and just watched him, until it was all too much and he groaned his climax into Kris's open mouth, bursting.
:::
He woke up to find Kris asleep, head buried in Adam's neck, and the cordless phone on the bedside table going off loudly right next to his ear. He was too busy looking at the fluffy tangle of hair at the back of Kris's head to remember to check the display, and he answered with a sleepy hello and a yawn.
"Adam!" Sheree's voice was shrill and excited, the best antidote to post-orgasm haze Adam had ever found. He sat bolt upright, dislodging the still-sleeping Kris, and felt panic spread like hives across his skin.
"Alright, the most recent analysis is in, and I think you'll like this, we talked to Star and Us Weekly, and they're both willing to be sympathetic when they run the story, but the best part is it turns out people love this, the crazy rock star trend is back in, and that guy you kissed-Leon? Lester? Anyway, he's testing great, surfer good looks and turns out he's an aspiring model, so we'll bring him up here and you'll be seen together at Nobu tomorrow night."
"I-what?" Adam asked. He could feel sweat dripping down his forehead, and he felt feverish.
"Try to keep up, Adam, seriously-we thought the break-up would make you look even more out-of-control, obviously, that's why we were going to have you stay together in the public eye, but it turns out that it's great publicity, you'll be on every magazine cover from here to the UK. What we need is a really messy divorce, go beyond Brad and Angie to Sandra and Jesse, but without the hookers or making you the villain, in fact we're working on a Kris-cheated-too angle; anyway, at the least we'll need him to sell an embarrassing tell-all to the highest bidder, so he gets the money and the satisfaction and you get the publicity, win-win-win all around."
Adam was pretty sure that nothing out of her mouth could be father from a win, but when he tried to say something to that effect he realized she still wasn't done talking.
"You'll be seen with this Lawrence person a few times, then move on, we want a real ladies-man-only-with-men thing from you, think out-and-proud George Clooney, the unattainable dream. Are you still there? Your reservations at Nobu are for seven tomorrow, and make sure you wear the new Prada suit, we want you to look suave and unconcerned."
She was still talking, Adam was pretty sure, but he'd stopped listening. Instead, he was looking down at where Kris was yawning and burrowing further into his pillow, sleep creases running across his face and cheeks dark with morning stubble.
Kris cracked an eye open, then, and looked at Adam, and Adam could see him remembering it all, see happiness and joyful disbelief a rising crescendo across his face.
"Morning," he said, almost shy, but his smile was wide and helpless.
"Morning," Adam whispered back, too happy to trust his full voice, and then he heard Sheree in his ear again.
"Adam? Who are you talking to? Is it Lindsay Lohan-for the last time, Adam, no one who isn't on the list-and if it's Kris, tell him what I've said, won't you, his agent is tied up with the Justin Bieber drug scandal, of all things, and-"
"You're fired," Adam said calmly, not taking his eyes off Kris, and threw the phone across the room.
"Was that-" Kris asked, looking a little shocked.
"Nothing," Adam said, feeling freer than he had in years and years, and he rolled Kris over and started sucking kisses into his neck, hot and insistent.
"Stay married to me," he said between kisses, voice low, "stay married to me forever, Kris, say yes," and Kris laughed and tugged his head up and whispered his "yes," against Adam's lips, again and again until neither of them could breathe with the urgency of their joy.
12,000 words, NC-17
Adam/Kris
When Adam got back to the room Kris was already asleep, thank god, sprawled out messily on one half of the bed. The sheets were turned down on the other side like one last silent request, and Adam looked at the awful couch and back to the huge soft bed and he was just too tired, tonight.
When Adam got back to the room Kris was already asleep, thank god, sprawled out messily on one half of the bed. The sheets were turned down on the other side like one last silent request, and Adam looked at the awful couch and back to the huge soft bed and he was just too tired, tonight.
He got undressed and sank into the bed on the empty side, rolling onto his side away from Kris. The mattress was ridiculously soft and the sheets felt like heaven on his skin, and he felt one last wash of hot unfair anger sweep over him before sleep wiped everything away.
In his dreams, he was walking with Kris on the beach and they were both wearing white. The sky above them was made of cotton candy, and he kept pulling down the clouds and feeding them to Kris, laughing as Kris licked at his fingers and kissed his wrist and pressed him down into the cookie-crumb sand and bit down his chest, lower and lower under Adam's laughs turned into moans, until he couldn't make any sounds at all.
Kris, he tried to say, oh god, Kris, Kris, but when he opened his mouth feathers blew out, and bubbles rose that popped and burst in golden showers all around him. He tried one last time, with all his breath, and a huge bubble rose-black where the others had been gentle shimmers, and inside a miniature Sheree stood typing into her blackberry, and she looked out at him and laughed, a harsh noise that tore at Adam's ear and rent the cotton-candy sky.
Kris raised his head up then, confused, and Adam reached for him, reached to grab him so they could run away before the growing black bubble exploded, but just as his hand touched Kris's he woke up, gasping and hard.
For a second he lay there frozen, telling himself it had just been a dream-he was in the hotel room, not out on a magical beach, and the sheets were soft and white around him, and Kris was okay, Kris was here tucked up under his arm, curled in tight and looking up at him with a gentle, worried expression-wait.
"You were over there," Adam said, nonsensically, "when I went to sleep you were over there and I was over here, not touching you, Kris, damn it-"
He raised his head off the pillow a little bit and looked around. They were both exactly in the middle of the giant mattress, like they'd rolled towards each other in their sleep, and fuck, this was exactly why Adam had been against the whole sharing-a-bed-thing from the beginning.
"S'okay, Adam," Kris said sleepily, reaching out a hand to smooth across Adam's cheek, under his eyes. His eyes were half-closed and his eyelashes fluttered across his sunburnt cheek, and he curled back into Adam's chest and pressed his lips against the skin there, slowly.
Adam lay frozen, aching and hard, and then Kris did it again, deliberately, the warm wet press of his lips and the sweet touch of his tongue, and then again, up towards Adam's neck, exploring, gentle kisses that made Adam want to sweat and shake and whimper.
"Kris," he said softly, trying to wake him up from-from whatever this was, but Kris just made a nonsensical but ridiculously hot moaning noise and kept going, up his neck and across his jaw to his lips, and then they were kissing for real, slow and hungry and Kris was biting at his lips, urging him on, and Adam couldn't stop, he didn't-
"Please, Adam, oh," said Kris, and he shifted against Adam's thigh and he was hard too, and Adam kissed him harder and rolled them over in the white bedding like clouds all around them, and he rocked against Kris and listened to the noises he was making and felt something hard and tight inside him start to give way, open like a spreading warmth through his body.
Kris arched into Adam's touch as Adam trailed his hand down, down. Adam could do this all day, forever, and Kris sighed against him in agreement when he said that out loud, and then they were both laughing, happy and easy, Kris with his hands still on Adam's face, framing his jaw, holding him there.
"Stay right there," said Adam, giving him another lingering kiss, because he just couldn't pull away quite yet, and then he gave him another and another and they tumbled back over into the blankets, and Adam was just about to give up on going to the bathroom entirely when Kris's phone went off.
"Hang on," Kris said, and bit as Adam's lip as he pulled away, and Adam groaned as he took the opportunity to heave himself out of the bed. He took one long, lingering glance at Kris, half-naked in the tousled sheets, and he walked into the bathroom without really feeling the floor under his feet.
He brushed his teeth and washed his face, staring at himself in the mirror and telling himself that this was real, this was really happening, Kris really wanted him back, was in that bed right now waiting for him. He couldn't stop smiling, so hard that it hurt, and he ran a hand through his hair a few times, trying to get a hold of himself.
When he went to put his toothbrush away he remembered the other compartment in his makeup case, the one he hadn't opened in-far too long, really, at least since he'd found out about this engagement. He looked at the ring on his finger, almost surprised at how long it had been, and then he got out a condom and lube, just in case Kris-just in case, still feeling like he was floating, like the air around him was buzzing.
He opened the door, though, and Kris wasn't tangled warm and sleepy in the sheets anymore; in fact, Kris wasn't even in the bed. Kris was standing by his suitcase, throwing things into it at random, single socks and a sandy flip-flop and three belts that were definitely Adam's and not his, and something like a rock, cold and heavy, dropped into the pit of Adam's stomach.
"Kris-" he started to say, even though he didn't really want to know, didn't want to ask, but Kris heard him anyway and turned around, face red and hard and furious.
"How could you, Adam?" he asked, voice sort of choked, and he rubbed at one eye angrily with the back of his hand. "I didn't-maybe I'm not what you, but I thought, I hoped, because we're married, and even with Katy, at the end, I didn't, I'd never-"
Adam reached for his phone with a sort of sick feeling of realization, and he was right: twelve missed calls, ten from Sheree and two from his mother, and more than fifty text messages. He opened the first one, and there was a link to Perez, and there it was, bordered in garish pink-" GLAMBERT'S ADULTEROUS ARUBA HONEYMOON," never mind the fact that they weren't even fucking in Aruba, right over a grainy photo of him, in the parking lot last night, head down and Luke's arms around his neck, Luke's mouth against his.
"Fuck," said Adam, and when that didn't feel like enough he hurled his phone across the room; it smashed into the wall with a resounding shattering noise, and Kris jumped like he'd been struck.
"I can explain," Adam said, desperately, because he could, Kris just had to listen, had to give him a chance. "We didn't even, Kris, I didn't want-"
"No, Adam," Kris said, and his voice was calmer now, his packing was slower. "I just-I need some time, okay, I need to go home and think about this and then we can talk, but I can't be here with you, right now, I can't be on this-honeymoon, what the fuck, I just-"
He zipped the suitcase and looked at Adam and said "I'll call you when I'm ready," and then he walked out the door and Adam sank down onto the bed and wrapped his arms around himself, shivering uncontrollably.
:::
Sheree showed up within half an hour, which was probably close to the last thing Adam wanted in the whole world, but it's not like she'd ever considered things like his feelings or opinions to begin with, so it made sense.
"We're already doing damage control," she said, pacing angrily, "I've got Star and the Post doing pieces that are pretty sympathetic to you, as far as things go, but I'm gonna need you to get back to L.A. right away, be seen with Kris at a lot of red carpets, maybe some candid kissing shots, all of that-"
"He doesn't even want to see me," Adam said miserably. Sheree just looked at him.
"He can want whatever he wants in private," she said, "but he'll fucking see you in public, Adam, if he wants to keep his record contract. Now, we're gonna need this guy to disappear for a while, not sell the story-"
"There's no story to sell!" Adam said, desperately. "We didn't do anything-I mean, I was going to, fuck, but then I just, I couldn't, even though I knew-I thought-Kris didn't care like that, I just couldn't cheat, and yeah, he kissed me, but I fucking stopped him, I left!"
"Mmmhmm, that's okay for a start, but we'll need to polish it up a bit," Sheree said absently, back to caressing her Blackberry.
"What?" said Adam. "I'm not-that's the truth, Sheree, fuck, I really didn't do anything!"
"Of course not," Sheree said, in a voice that was as far from 'convincing' as Sheree herself was from 'comforting.'
"Anyway, your flight leaves in half an hour, so you need to get to the airport. Don't put on too much makeup-you don't want to look good, but you also don't want to look bad, just look-look "minor domestic dispute." Can you do that for me? Good. I've had Kris's flight re-routed from Arkansas to L.A., and he'll be taken to your new house-did I not tell you? You two have a house now, it's quite nice, I'm sure you'll like it-and you can meet him there, and then by five tomorrow you'll be expected to be seen with him, looking very married. In a good way. Okay? All set, then."
"But-" Adam started to say, but she was already gone. He hadn't even heard the door open, actually, and there was a strange smell in the air, vaguely sulfurous, but at least she wasn't there anymore. That was something.
:::
There were paparazzi ten-deep in front of the gate to his new house, and Adam pushed his sunglasses further up the bridge of his nose and hunched down behind his bodyguard, trying to get past the throng without hearing anything they shouted at him.
It was hard to block it out completely, though, and some of it got through-
"Was he straight after all, Adam?"
"Adam, what can you say to the rumors that your new lover is a Russian spy hiding undercover as a porn star?"
"Adam, is Kris really hiring a lawyer-"
"Couldn't handle monogamy for three whole days, Adam?"
"Adam, how do you feel this will affect the recent movement for-"
Someone shoved a camera into his face and Adam was seconds away from grabbing it and hurling it to the ground, but security got there first, pushing the guy back and shoving Adam forward until he was through the gate, walking up an unfamiliar brick pathway, cacophony fading out behind him.
He opened the door with a trembling hand, could barely get the key into the lock. He hadn't slept at all on the plane ride, and he hadn't eaten since last night or even so much as smelled coffee in-over twenty-four hours. Fuck.
He paused, resting his head on the cool wood on the front door. It was just-Kris was in there, if Sheree was right, and she always was. Kris was in there and Adam could explain that he hadn't kissed Luke, hadn't done anything with Luke, but that wasn't even the issue.
He'd wanted to, that was the thing-he'd wanted to, and he'd started to, and Kris knew it, and that was why he was angry and hurt. Adam couldn't blame him, really, but it just-it seemed so unfair, because he hadn't known how Kris felt, hadn't known that he would ever, and he'd been so worn down and angry and hurt, and trapped in a life he couldn't control, except this one thing, offered to him, and he'd turned it down but it had fucked him over anyway.
And he'd hurt Kris, and that was the worst part, because he would never, he could never. Say all that shit to him, then, Lambert, said a voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Neil, and Adam sighed and opened the door.
:::
The front hallway was massive and empty, and when he shouted Kris's name an actual echo came back to him but that was it. Fuck, Adam thought, and started looking-the first floor alone seemed to be nothing but room after room, most of them empty of anything except a few pieces of expensive, uncomfortable-looking furniture. Kris wasn't in any of them, either, and after a while Adam actually got lost.
He searched for the main hallway because he thought he should probably check the second floor, and the third floor if there was one, and please god let there not be a fourth floor, but he just couldn't find it-he thought he might be going in circles, because he'd definitely seen that particular torture device designed as a chair again. He saw it again though, three more times, even after he thought he'd switched directions, and finally he gave up and sat down in it, wincing.
"Kris?" he shouted again, hopelessly, and when the white walls were the only things that shouted back to him he decided to close his eyes and rest, just for a second.
:::
The bright sun woke him up, streaming in the window and illuminating the huge, lonely room, filled with nothing but wood floors and white walls and, in the doorway, Kris.
"I tried to find you," Adam said to Kris, blinking stupidly, and Kris just crossed his arms. His face didn't change at all, blank and hard.
"What are you doing here, Adam?" he asked.
"I'm-" Adam paused and rubbed at his face. He should have prepared some kind of speech, written it down or something. "I wanted to explain to you," he tried again. "I mean, okay, that sounds totally lame and bullshitty but I swear, I have an actual explanation."
Kris just raised his eyebrows, waiting. He scuffed at the floor with the toe of his sneaker. He looked all tight, Adam thought, drawn up into himself and angry.
"I didn't do anything with him," Adam said.
Kris looked up abruptly, like Adam's words had startled him.
"You kissed him, Adam, I saw-the pictures, I saw-"
"Okay," Adam said. His mouth felt heavy and dry and he was so exhausted. "I started to kiss him, and then I stopped, because it felt awful, it felt like cheating."
"It was cheating," Kris said, angry, and Adam just looked at him.
"Cheating on what, Kris?" he asked. "Cheating on a marriage my PR set up for me, that I had no say in? Cheating on what I thought-on a platonic friendship, an unconsummated fake relationship?"
Kris took a step back at Adam's words, rocking like he'd been slapped in the face, but Adam felt hard and dizzy and he couldn't stop.
"Until-until yesterday morning, Kris, damn it, as far as I knew I was fucking locked into this awful caricature of a relationship, married to a straight guy, ha fucking ha. I had no say in that, no say in marrying my-in marrying you, fuck. I live this life where I don't even get to decide who to fucking marry, and I just, I just wanted-control, for a second, to make a decision that was selfish, and for me, and bad."
He'd been looking down at his hands while he talked, picking at the few lingering specks on nail polish, and when he looked up Kris had his hands in his pocked, shoulders hunched up, face closed.
"I'm sorry you hate this so much," he said, voice shaking. "I didn't - I wouldn't have," and then he was gone, disappeared back into the huge maze of the house.
"Fuck, fuck, that's not what I-Kris, wait," Adam shouted, but all that came back to him was his own echo.
Yesterday morning felt very far away as Adam wandered through the halls of the house. Like it really had been a dream, like he hadn't woken up at all, and it was hard to believe that that had really been Kris he was kissing, soft and tentative and eager all at the same time. Hard to believe that it had been Kris to initiate it, that Adam had woken to insistent lips on his neck and Kris's mumbled pleas in his ear, determined. And Adam had given in, let the dream carry him, given in where he hadn't given in to Kris's insistence that they sleep in the same bed, or his attempted kiss in the hallway, or all his other efforts to-oh, Adam thought, and started running.
He found a staircase that definitely hadn't been there the night before, and after that there were only three dead ends before he arrived at a bedroom with an open door, Kris curled up on the bed and facing away from him.
His shoes were still on, knees drawn up to his chest, and Adam felt fond and stupid and giddy.
"Kris, why didn't you tell me?" he asked, sitting down on the edge of the bed.
"Tell you what?" Kris muttered, eyes focused carefully on the bedspread.
"That you-that this could have been real, the whole time, that you love me-" he went silent, suddenly feeling like a huge fucking idiot, because what if he just assumed wrong, what if-
Kris was looking at him now, confusion on his face but a little hit of hope there too, the lines clearing out from his brow.
"Oh," he says, softly, and then, "I was-I was going to, Adam, I was going to say something when they first told about this, this plan, to get married, because I liked-I loved you, and I felt bad about how happy I was to do this, how it wasn't a fake thing for me, so I was gonna say it to you, and then you called before I could work up the courage."
"I called," Adam remembers, slowly, "I called and said it was the worst thing and how dare they and we should refuse, didn't I. Oh, Kris-"
"And you just said it again, downstairs, that you hate this, and I'm sorry, I'm sorry this sucks so much for you but that morning, when you, when we, I thought maybe you-and I was so happy, Adam, like, giddy, and then I saw the pictures and I just-I-"
He turned back to the bedspread, picking at it a little bit.
"Do you know what it's like," Adam asked, slowly, "to be told you're going to marry the guy you've carefully not let yourself be in love with for years, but it's a fake marriage, so you have to keep on being careful, and you've spent so much time being careful that you can't see what he's trying-in his own stupid, hopeless way-to tell you, and-"
"I wanted to wait," Kris said, "I wanted to tell you but I wanted to make you fall in love with me first, and I didn't know that you-it seemed like-like it was working, and then you, those pictures, and it hurt so bad."
When Adam touched him, put a careful hand at the side of his face, Kris rolled over and looked up and his eyes were wide and bright, lip white from where he was biting at it.
It looked like it must hurt, he was biting so hard, and Adam ran his thumb towards the corner of Kris's mouth, stroking gently.
"Open," he said, "c'mon," and then Kris's lips were parted in a soft O, and Adam's thumb slipped towards wet heat and he followed it, kissing Kris with careful precision, sucking gently at the abused lip until Kris was shuddering and kissing back, working towards more.
Adam ran his hands down Kris's body, pulled him in until they were twined together, all tangled limbs and Kris's hands in his hair. His heart was pounding so loudly he was sure Kris could feel it even through the shirts they were still wearing, and he sucked kisses down Kris's neck, one by one, trying to calm himself down. When he licked across Kris's collarbone, though, Kris moaned softly and tugged at his hair, jerking him up and pressing their faces back together, kissing him hard. It was hot and frantic and suddenly Adam needed to feel skin, to make this that much more real.
"Clothes off, baby, hang on," he whispered again Kris's lips, and sat up to tug his own shirt off, throwing it towards the foot of the bed. When he looked back down Kris had done the same, and he ran his hands greedily over the expanse of skin, warm beneath his fingers. When his fingers brushed against a tight nipple, Kris jerked and made a cut-off gasping noise, so he did it again, deliberately, slowly, then leaned down and sucked it into his mouth as Kris babbled and shivered beneath him.
He licked across Kris's chest at bit at the other nipple, harder, and Kris moaned and tugged at his hair, desperate.
"Adam, I'm, I-" he got out, and Adam reached down a hand to feel him, rubbing at his cock through his jeans.
"Fuck, Adam," Kris gasped, and Adam reached in and grabbed him, just a rough brush of his fingers against rock-hard flesh and then Kris was shouting and coming, wet over Adam's hand, the hottest thing Adam had seen in years.
Kris was blushing, embarrassed, and Adam kissed his warm cheek and whispered, low, "that was amazing, that was perfect, you're amazing," a gentle litany that broke off when Kris turned and kissed him, long and sweet.
"Can I-" he blushed harder, tried to bite at his lip until Adam kissed it free.
"I want to suck you," he tried again, and Adam breathed out, "God, yes," and watched the way Kris's face smoothed out in relief.
"Naked first, though," he said, and scrambled down the bed to pull at Kris's pants, tugging them off and then going for the damp boxers. His cock was still half-hard, lying flushed against his stomach, and Adam kissed his inner thigh and then licked, cleaning him up, wrapping his lips around Kris and sucking gently. Kris's hands tangled in his hair and he made a pleased happy noise, low in his throat, and then Kris half-laughed, half-gasped and said, "oh no, you first, you said-Adam."
He let Kris's cock slide from his mouth a little reluctantly, but when he looked up and saw Kris just lying there, lips half-parted, eyes lidded and hair in disarray it sent a heavy shock of heat through his body.
"God, baby," he said, fumbling his pants off, "okay, whatever you want, okay," and then he was climbing up the bed, sliding a pillow under Kris's neck.
"This okay?" he asked, and Kris nodded, wordless, so Adam said, "Open up for me, babe," a hand against Kris's cheek to steady him, and just because he wanted to touch.
Kris's mouth was hot and tight and so wet, those red lips wrapped around Adam's cock, and when Adam thrust just slightly, trying it out, he moaned and clutched at Adam's ass, trying to get him closer. It was so good, too good, Kris looking up at him through long lashes, loving it so much, and Adam felt himself getting closer and closer, almost there.
Kris pulled away, suddenly, and said, "Are you gonna-?"
Adam could only nod, tightly, and then Kris said, "Will you, um," and bit his lip again, closed his eyes like he was afraid of what Adam would think and tilted his head back, just slightly, but still an invitation. It was so hot Adam couldn't even breathe, for a moment, and then he was coming on Kris's face, his neck, and Kris shivered and then Adam was kissing him, frantic, aftershocks still shuddering through his body.
The kisses slowed, gradually, faded from frantic to lazy and soft and comfortable. They lay like that for a while, Adam folded over Kris, thumbing across his forehead and rocking his hips slowly, Kris's cock hard and hot against his thigh.
Kris sighed a little and pushed up into him, laziness taking on a sharper edge, and Adam wrapped his fingers through Kris's, pushed his hands up into the mattress above his head.
"Want to fuck you," he said, grinning a little bit. "If you want that too, that is."
Kris shifted underneath him, another slow roll of his hips, and smiled back. "I do," he said. "Want you to, um-fuck me. Please?"
"Well," said Adam, getting up, "okay, since you asked so nicely." There were condoms and lube in the bedside table, already-probably some intern's idea of a joke, but it was convenient as hell. He nudged at Kris until he rolled over, face buried in his folded arms, and then Adam kissed down his back and further, opening him up with fingers and tongue, slowly, slowly, until Kris was shuddering uncontrollably, voice breaking on a "please" that was half-sob.
"Shh, I got you," Adam said, tugging at his hips until Kris rose to his knees, unsteady. Adam pushed into him one torturous inch at a time, head bowed against Kris's neck, sucking at the sweat-salty skin, words tumbling out of his mouth, fuck, Kris, so good, so tight, just like that, baby, perfect, come on, come on, fuck, until his hips rested against Kris's, all the way.
"Adam," Kris groaned, reaching up a hand to scrabble at him, desperate, "move," and Adam did, steady and then picking up speed, biting at Kris's shoulder blade. Kris's body was all tensed muscle underneath him, hot and needy, and Adam lost himself in it until Kris's moans got louder, more frantic, pitch climbing.
He slid a hand from Kris's hip to his cock, wrapped the other arm around his torso and pulled him in close.
"Fuck," Kris gritted out when Adam's fingers closed around his cock, and Adam murmured into his ear and sat back slowly, pulling Kris with him until he was seated in Adam's lap, legs splayed to either side, head lolling back to Adam's shoulder.
"Here we go, come on," Adam said, fingers tweaking at Kris's hard, flushed nipple. He jerked Kris with the other hand, not teasing at all, just going for it, and Kris shuddered and clenched around him, so tight, and came hard enough that his head knocked painfully against Adam's.
Adam held him until his breathing calmed down a little bit, biting at his ear, pressing kisses to his neck. "S'good?" he asked, and Kris nodded jerkily, still panting.
"Mmm," Adam murmured, soft and happy, and fingered at Kris where he was still stretched around Adam, so wide. Kris shuddered at the press of his fingers, dug his nails into Adam's thigh, and Adam laughed and nudged at him.
"Up now, babe," he said, and let Kris fall back to the mattress, flushed and sweaty and swimming back towards fully conscious.
Adam leaned down and kissed him, deep and slow, and then he pushed back in, Kris still so wet and open for him. Kris sighed and shivered a little, mouth falling open helplessly, and Adam pressed their foreheads together and just watched him, until it was all too much and he groaned his climax into Kris's open mouth, bursting.
:::
He woke up to find Kris asleep, head buried in Adam's neck, and the cordless phone on the bedside table going off loudly right next to his ear. He was too busy looking at the fluffy tangle of hair at the back of Kris's head to remember to check the display, and he answered with a sleepy hello and a yawn.
"Adam!" Sheree's voice was shrill and excited, the best antidote to post-orgasm haze Adam had ever found. He sat bolt upright, dislodging the still-sleeping Kris, and felt panic spread like hives across his skin.
"Alright, the most recent analysis is in, and I think you'll like this, we talked to Star and Us Weekly, and they're both willing to be sympathetic when they run the story, but the best part is it turns out people love this, the crazy rock star trend is back in, and that guy you kissed-Leon? Lester? Anyway, he's testing great, surfer good looks and turns out he's an aspiring model, so we'll bring him up here and you'll be seen together at Nobu tomorrow night."
"I-what?" Adam asked. He could feel sweat dripping down his forehead, and he felt feverish.
"Try to keep up, Adam, seriously-we thought the break-up would make you look even more out-of-control, obviously, that's why we were going to have you stay together in the public eye, but it turns out that it's great publicity, you'll be on every magazine cover from here to the UK. What we need is a really messy divorce, go beyond Brad and Angie to Sandra and Jesse, but without the hookers or making you the villain, in fact we're working on a Kris-cheated-too angle; anyway, at the least we'll need him to sell an embarrassing tell-all to the highest bidder, so he gets the money and the satisfaction and you get the publicity, win-win-win all around."
Adam was pretty sure that nothing out of her mouth could be father from a win, but when he tried to say something to that effect he realized she still wasn't done talking.
"You'll be seen with this Lawrence person a few times, then move on, we want a real ladies-man-only-with-men thing from you, think out-and-proud George Clooney, the unattainable dream. Are you still there? Your reservations at Nobu are for seven tomorrow, and make sure you wear the new Prada suit, we want you to look suave and unconcerned."
She was still talking, Adam was pretty sure, but he'd stopped listening. Instead, he was looking down at where Kris was yawning and burrowing further into his pillow, sleep creases running across his face and cheeks dark with morning stubble.
Kris cracked an eye open, then, and looked at Adam, and Adam could see him remembering it all, see happiness and joyful disbelief a rising crescendo across his face.
"Morning," he said, almost shy, but his smile was wide and helpless.
"Morning," Adam whispered back, too happy to trust his full voice, and then he heard Sheree in his ear again.
"Adam? Who are you talking to? Is it Lindsay Lohan-for the last time, Adam, no one who isn't on the list-and if it's Kris, tell him what I've said, won't you, his agent is tied up with the Justin Bieber drug scandal, of all things, and-"
"You're fired," Adam said calmly, not taking his eyes off Kris, and threw the phone across the room.
"Was that-" Kris asked, looking a little shocked.
"Nothing," Adam said, feeling freer than he had in years and years, and he rolled Kris over and started sucking kisses into his neck, hot and insistent.
"Stay married to me," he said between kisses, voice low, "stay married to me forever, Kris, say yes," and Kris laughed and tugged his head up and whispered his "yes," against Adam's lips, again and again until neither of them could breathe with the urgency of their joy.