you can't handle the ficlets! [1/2]
And finally, the last batch of ficlets I intend to post. Which is to say, batches made sense when I was concerned about having more than one short thing to post a day, but that hasn't happened in a while now. Besides, my journal is about 90% fic now anyway, so what are a few more posts? The fact that I had to split this small batch into two parts is also probably a sign I should go back to single story posts. (If you're linked to this post directly and want to see it with the cut tags intact, click here.)
Disclaimer: No disrespect intended to any of the persons depicted herein, who I hope are all living happy and fulfilled lives with their partner(s) of choice. This is purely fictional, and not in any way intended as an accurate representation of reality.
Kris, Kelly Clarkson. Gen. 2280 words. PG. For spangel_kat.
United Here Somehow
Prompt: Kelly goes on tour and kris opens for her. they spend a lot of time together, write together. Tour hijinks ensue.
This hadn't really been what Kris had in mind for his tour. After all, neither he nor Kelly wanted to cling to the Idol label forever, no matter how much it had helped them get started, and pairing them just begged for every media outlet to point out their mutual origins. But it didn't have to be a bad thing. Kris liked Kelly, he admired her, and no matter what anyone said or wrote about it, the tour was going to be great.
"You're up," said Kelly, holding up her hand for a high five as she came off stage. "You got your cable fixed?"
"Apparently," said Kris, slapping her hand and then attaching his guitar strap as Andrew shifted past him and onto the stage for sound check. "If not, well, let's just hope nobody gets electrocuted."
"Wait," said Kelly, grabbing hold of his arm. "They aren't making you soundcheck under unsafe conditions, are they?"
She was serious, much to his surprise, and Kris just grinned at her. "Sorry, I was just kidding," he said. "They said it's fine now. Completely patched and ready to go."
"Okay, good," she said, brushing her hair back behind her shoulders and relaxing again. "Can't hurt to make sure."
Kris didn't ask, but he figured if she was asking him then it had happened to someone and she didn't want to see it happen again. If he was being honest, part of the reason he wasn't asking was because he didn't want her to have to get into when he was about to do his soundcheck, and part of the reason was he really didn't want to know.
They were actually a lot alike. They were both friendly and personable and easygoing, and they both stuck to their guns like nobody's business when it came to their music. They didn't win every battle, but they sure as heck tried every time it mattered. And they were both gracious in defeat. They both had the ability to pick up and move onward and upward.
As Kris tried out the mic and waited for them to mess with the levels before getting the rest of the guys to kick in, Kris saw her take a seat near the front of the empty venue-or mostly empty venue, anyway-and give him a little wave when he looked her way.
Kris soundchecked a little bit of Miss Independent just for her, and had to grin at the way it cracked her up.
*
Kris liked being on the road actually, even though he worried that it was going to wear on him. The tour last year had gone really well and he and Katy had found a system where they saw enough of one another that he never really got to the point where he felt that ache for her. He missed her, of course he missed her, but aching for her was something else, it kept him from performing at his best.
They both actually thrived with him on the road, and Kris valued the time with his band, some of the best guys he knew.
But there were nights when he just got tired of it, when all there was in the fridge was coke and apples and he couldn't stand to play video games for one more minute. So on one of those nights, when Kris was about to pace his way right through the floor of the bus-and Kris wasn't a pacer-he was both surprised and relieved to see Kelly's bus, the lead bus, pull into a service station and all night diner and make it clear they were making a pit stop.
"Guys, I'm gonna-"
"Go, before I trip you just for something to do," said Andrew, and there was an explosion from the screen as Cale's character died when he dared to look up and give Kris a wave good-bye.
Kelly was waiting for him by the doors to the diner, like he'd somehow known she would be. "I absolutely want something greasy and salty," she said. "You?"
"I think I might actually kill someone for that right now," he said. "Well, okay, I probably wouldn’t kill anyone. But I could definitely hit someone."
"You're adorable," said Kelly, and coming from her Kris took it the fond way it was meant. "I just had to get off the bus before I went stir crazy. You know?"
"Me too," said Kris. And as much as the guys were beating one another over the head with sticks-virtually-right now, he had a feeling they'd be showing up in the diner too before long. He had a feeling that everyone who was awake would be showing up, it was just one of those kinds of nights.
Kris was just grateful Kelly'd made it happen, because Kris was pretty much too nice to push for a stop when he didn't need one. Strictly speaking.
"I love my guys," he said, "and it's a good thing I do, because sometimes I wonder how bands who don't like each other as much even survive a tour."
"Separate busses," said Kelly. Kris kind of wondered what hers looked like. He was pretty sure Kelly Clarkson didn't sleep in a bunk, but Kris didn't mind that so much. "I think I'm still wound up about that bullshit back in Pittsburg, you know? Sometimes I don't know what security is thinking. A little girl with a flower is not a bother."
She paused to order a burger platter, and no one showed up to tell her she couldn't. Kris was glad, because he didn't want to actually have to hit anyone tonight.
"I know," he said. "I get it."
"You do," she said, "you get it." And she smiled and Kris wondered how many people hadn't gotten it before.
*
"You should give it a shot," said Cale, urging Kris towards the door with his foot. "Don't worry, I won't feel like you're cheating on me."
"Oh, how nice of you," said Kris, scratching his fingers through his hair and hoping he looked presentable. "We were just kicking some things around the other night, it might be good."
"It might be a duet," said Cale. "That would be pretty awesome. You know that, right?"
"Once more into the American Idol family," said Kris with a sigh, but he sort of knew it wasn't something you ever got away from entirely no matter how many seasons removed you got from it. At least Kelly was proof that it wasn't something that had to hold you back even as it got you started. Of all of them that had come before, Kris wanted to be most like her.
"Deal with it," said Cale. "After everything we did to get you there."
"Oh, everything you did," said Kris and felt Cale's toes nudging him again. "I'm going, I'm going."
Kris grabbed his guitar and pulled the door open with the other hand and no one stopped him as he headed over to Kelly's dressing room. Green room. Whatever.
"Kris!" she said, offering him a grape, which he took with what had to be a slightly confused look on his face. "What, do you want me to feed it to you?"
"Shouldn't we have someone fanning us with palm leaves if we're going to play that game?" he said, putting his guitar down on a chair.
"That's so much more than I needed to know about your marriage," Kelly teased him. Kris, predictably, ducked his head and blushed. Not that they hadn't played that game before, but he didn't talk about his sex life, pretty much ever. "So you've got some time?"
"I've got some time," said Kris, "and I figure you've got some time."
"I've got some time," said Kelly. "I don't usually do it like this."
"If someone is listening to this conversation, they're so going to get the wrong idea," said Kris, pulling his instrum- his guitar out. "You've mostly worked with songwriters in the studio, huh?"
"That's just how it's worked," she said, "but you're different. This is really great."
"As long as by 'different' you don't mean 'completely unprofessional'," said Kris.
"I think this is the way it's supposed to be," said Kelly, and even though Kris did some great work with some great songwriters, there was something about just sitting down and jamming with someone you knew outside of the music industry-or at least outside of the studio-that made the process something different.
"I don't know if there's such a thing as supposed to be," said Kris, "but this feels good."
"Yeah, speaking of things we don't want people to overhear," said Kelly, but then she was laughing and folding herself into the chair next to him and Kris started to play.
*
It was sort of weird how fast the tour was going. Kris just got back from a whirlwind trip to Arkansas, just overnight while he had the chance, and he realized there were just two more weeks before their final date in Sacramento and the tour would wrap up.
Oh, he and the band had a few dates after that, but that was it for the Kelly Clarkson-Kris Allen tour, and it blew by faster than he ever imagined it would.
And maybe he wasn't the only one thinking about that, because when he caught up with the busses, he found Kelly racing against Ryland on the Wii. And winning, too.
"Cale, you've changed," he said, slinging his bag into his bunk. "I thought we were going to talk about this before you made a decision."
"You know how I get when I make my mind up about something," said Cale from behind him, poking him in the side and then squeezing by to the back to join the rest of them. Kelly cheered as Ryland crashed, then they finally acknowledged he was there.
"Welcome back," she said. "How was your visit?"
"Fast," said Kris, and ignored the smirk on Andrew's face when he said that. He didn't even roll his eyes. This time. "I guess I'll be home soon."
"Wow, don't sound so happy about it, you might make us all feel bad," said Andrew dryly, and Kris did at least duck his head this time.
"It's just weird," he said, and Kelly nodded at him.
"It is weird," she said. "You look forward to being home at the same time don't want the tour to ever end. Happens every time. Well, not every time. Sometimes you can't wait for the damn tour to just end already."
"But not this time?"
"Definitely not this time," she said, then looked at Ryland. "Rematch?"
"I know when I'm beat," he said. "Take a ride with Kris. He's been learning from the best for years."
Kelly looked at Cale, but Cale shook his head at her as he opened his coke and sat down. "Katy," he said, and Kris smirked and took Ryland's spot.
They weren't wrong about that.
*
Everything was going wrong, and Kris was right at the center of it. Not the cause of it, but there were problems with the mics, with the guitars, with the gates, with the ramps, with everything. And all he could do was survey it all and take a deep breath and do what it took to get it all together before the performance. Because the show had to go on, and Kris was going to get it done in the nicest way he could.
"How do you do that?" said Kelly, gesturing up and down him like that was somehow meaningful.
"Do what?" said Kris.
"Be you," she said.
"Same way you're you," he said, and smiled at her and put his guitar back down on the stand for someone else to take care of. "What else can we be?"
"Shrieking beasts," she said. "Someone else would've torn that guy a new one."
"Nah," said Kris. "Would that get things done any faster? Would that accomplish anything at all?"
"If you're Mick Jagger it probably would," she said.
"Well, I'm not Mick Jagger," said Kris, grinning at her. "I'm not even Kelly Clarkson."
"Shut up," she said, knocking his shoulder. "Though I probably would've raised my voice, gotta be honest."
"Yeah, but in a really nice way," he said, completely convinced of that. "You know I learned a lot of this from you, right?"
"Whatever," she said, flatting a crease on the thigh of her jeans with her fingertips. "I think you were born this way."
"I was worried about this tour, a little-"
"The Idols thing, I know."
"-but it was pretty awesome. We should do it again some time."
"We should record that song."
"We should record that song," said Kris. "Then we'd have an excuse to pop up in each other's shows forever."
"We'll do that, right?" she said, and Kris knew she didn't mean just popping up on stage. It was about popping up in life.
"I don't let go of my friends," said Kris with a little shrug. "You're stuck with me now."
"I think I can handle that," she said. "Oh, someone's waving at you. Do you think they actually fixed something?"
"Considering how many fires they need to put out right now, odds are actually pretty good they've gotten one of them under control by now."
"Well, good luck with that," she said. "I'll see you backstage."
"Yeah, you'll see me," said Kris, and he had a feeling she got him, too.
And the end of the tour suddenly seemed a little bit easier. Every end was just a new beginning.
Kris/Tommy. 3375 words. PG-13. For inbetweencabs. High School AU.
New Kid In Town
Prompt: CRACK bullies Tommy and Kris saves him and gets into a fight with his bandmates. Then Adam is the drama club president who encourages Kris and Tommy to ~confront their feelings for each other.
Kris could see Cale and Andrew whispering to each other across the table when he sat down with his lunch tray and he had a bad feeling about it right from the start.
"So did you guys finish the chemistry assignment?" he asked them, hoping to fend off anything they might be plotting. He liked his friends, he really did, but they had funny ideas about appropriate sometimes. "I kind of got stuck at the end."
"I'm going to finish during English," said Andrew without even looking at him. "Mr. Cowell won't even notice."
Kris kind of thought he always noticed, actually, he just didn't say anything and saved it up in that book of his that he was always writing in.
Out of the corner of his eye, Kris saw the new kid, Tommy, walking in their direction and his bad feeling returned, even though Cale and Andrew weren't whispering anymore. And sure enough, when Tommy walked by, obviously looking for someplace to sit, instead of offering him a spot Cale stuck his foot out and Tommy's lunch went flying everyone.
"Okay, that's just not cool," said Kris, actually standing up. "We don't do that stuff."
"Come on, he knows it was only a joke," said Cale. "Don't you, Tommy?"
Tommy didn't say anything, just tried to salvage as much of his lunch as he could. Most of it was a lost cause, though, a river of soup already making its way towards the emergency exit.
"It wasn't a joke and it wasn't funny," said Kris, "and it wasn't okay."
He'd barely touched his lunch but he didn't care, he just stuffed his fruit in his backpack and picked up the rest to head out the door with it. He wasn't that hungry anymore anyway. They were still his friends, and most of the time they were awesome, but he just didn't like them sometimes these days.
"Hey, come on-" said Andrew, but Kris wasn't hearing it. Instead, he offered Tommy a hand. He refused to take it at first but Kris was patient, and eventually Tommy realized he wasn't just going to jerk it away again.
"Sorry about those guys," he murmured as he helped him up. "They think they're funny."
"Whatever," said Tommy. "I've gotta go."
Kris was going to share the rest of his lunch with him, but Tommy just clutched his banana and fled the cafeteria. Kris wasn't far behind him.
*
Kris didn't talk to Cale or Andrew after school, even though they tried to catch up with him when he fled his last class, hopping on the bus instead and getting off at the park instead of the stop near his house. He didn't need to be home for dinner for a couple of hours anyway, and he was still upset enough to want to walk it off. Kris wasn't used to feeling upset, not like this. He wasn't used to his friends growing and changing in different directions from him.
"Hey," he heard from behind him, and he hated that he was a little wary when he looked back over his shoulder. But the only person there was Tommy.
"Hey," said Kris, and stopped and gave him a little wave.
"So thanks," he said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "For before."
"You shouldn't have to thank me for that," he said. "They were just being jerks. I don't know why they did that. They're usually-" Tommy shook his head and Kris stopped talking. He didn't want to hear it. "They're my friends, but I'm not like that."
"You're Kris, right?" Kris just nodded, and hitched his backpack higher up his shoulder. "We're in history together."
"Yeah, I saw you," said Kris. "On Monday, when you came in."
"Well, I just wanted to say," said Tommy. "Do you, um, live around here?"
"Not really," said Kris, shrugging. "I just didn't feel like going right home today, and we didn't have orchestra practice so I figured I would walk."
"I saw your friends driving, but you weren't with them."
"No, not today," said Kris, looking at his shoes. "I'm kind of mad at them right now."
"As long as they don't get madder at me because you're mad at them," said Tommy.
"They're not mad, they're just dumb," said Kris. "Sometimes they're dumb, I don't know. They're bored and they watch too much television and...and I don't want to make excuses for them. But I'll make sure they don't give you any more trouble, okay? I know it sucks being in a new school."
"Yeah," said Tommy. "Yeah, it really does."
"They don't need to make it suck more," said Kris. "So do you? Live around here?"
"The other side of the park," said Tommy. "I could ride the bus around to the next stop but I like walking through the park on my way home. It's peaceful, you know?"
"I need to go that way anyway," said Kris, even though it took him a little out of his way. "I could walk with you?"
"Sure," said Tommy, and he shrugged and looked awkward and let his hair fall in his eyes. He said it like it didn't matter to him but Kris could see that it did, and he wasn't just doing it because he felt sorry for him. He was doing it because when Tommy spoke up in class he was really interesting, and the other day Kris saw him carrying a guitar and he wanted to ask about that.
"Okay, good," said Kris, and he turned right around and they started to walk.
*
"Remember when you used to be fun?" said Andrew, elbowing Kris in the side as they headed to class.
"Remember when you did?" said Kris. "I don't know what's with you."
"Nothing's with me," said Andrew. "Come on, can you admit it was funny now? That's just what you do to new kids. It makes them feel like a part of things."
"It kind of doesn't," said Kris, elbowing him back. "Just don't do it again, all right? If you wanted to haze him or whatever, it's done now."
"I remember when you used to be fun," said Andrew. "So I'll see you at rehearsal after class, right?"
"Of course," said Kris, and Andrew peeled off into his classroom while Kris went a few more doors down. To History. With Tommy.
And after class, after orchestra, he hung around while the theatre kids took over the space, which he sometimes did just because it was kind of fun, and they were all pretty nice. Some of them were kind of weird, but always nice to him.
"Hey Kris," said Adam, "can you give me a hand with this?"
'This' turned out to be a table that Adam had one end of, and Kris was quick to get up off the stairs and grab the other for him. "Where's it going?"
"Up onto the stage?" said Adam, which Kris should've asked before they started, because that was kind of a tricky maneuver but somehow between the two of them, and an extra set of hands that suddenly showed up in the middle, they got it up there.
"Hey, thanks..." Adam started, looking at the guy blankly.
"Tommy," supplied Kris. "This is Tommy."
"Are you in theater too?" Tommy asked him, but both Kris and Adam vehemently shook their head.
"I auditioned once," admitted Kris. "I'm kind of terrible. Now I just hang out sometimes. Music's more my thing."
"Kris played piano for our production last spring," said Adam, shoving the table into position. Kris had the feeling that it was supposed to be some kind of bed, the way someone threw a sheet over it, but for all he knew it was a marble slab or something. Or a tree fort. At this stage of rehearsals, it was kind of hard to say.
"That's sort of why I'm here," said Tommy. "I don't really play an instrument for the orchestra, but they told me the drama club sometimes needs musicians. My advisor thinks I need to get involved in things."
"Do you act, though?" said Adam, already trying to recruit him, "because believe me, we can always use more actors."
"I'm kind of terrible too," Tommy admitted. It was interesting, now that Kris was seeing him someplace where he kind of felt comfortable, how much stronger Tommy's voice seemed, how much more sure of himself he stood. "I'll stick to music if it's all the same. If you need me."
"Yeah, we can find a use for you," said Adam. "We might make you haul things, though."
"They make me haul things even though I'm just here hanging out," said Kris. "Actually, it's just Adam who makes me do stuff, but sometimes he gets his friends in on it too."
"So you're saying if I stick around he's going to make me do shit for him?" said Tommy. "I think I'd be okay with that. It's better than...a lot of stuff."
"Yeah, I guess it is," said Kris. "Come sit by me to watch them rehearse, and you guys can work stuff out after, if you want. Adam, it looks like Cassidy wants to get on stage."
"Just another typical day in drama club," said Adam, and grinned at them and took the stage.
*
"Are you coming to the game?" said Cale, stealing the hat off Kris's head and putting it on his own. Kris might've been shorter, but he was perfectly capable of swiping it back. And did.
"I might," said Kris. "I don't know."
"Aw, are you still pissed off?" said Cale.
Kris shrugged. "He's a good guy, you know. Life isn't a teen movie. You don't score points for being a jerk."
"You kind of do sometimes," said Cale, glancing towards the locker room as they passed by. "Look, I'm sorry, all right? Come to the game, we're going to kick some butt. And if you're really good, I'll introduce you to the new cheerleader." Kris just gave him a look. "Oh, right. But Katy's sweet, you'll-"
"What part of gay aren't you clear on?" said Kris.
"I was going to say you'll like her and you could be friends," said Cale. "I'm not a dick."
"Well, lately I wasn't sure," said Kris. "I need to use the bathroom before class."
"You need to use the bathroom, or you just want to be pissed off at me some more?"
"I just drank an entire bottle of water," said Kris. "I wouldn't advise getting in the way."
"Point taken," said Cale. "But you are coming to the game, right?"
Kris sighed. "Of course I'm coming to the game," he said. "I always come to the game."
"I knew it," said Cale, and gave him a bright smile right before Kris disappeared into the bathroom.
*
"Hello, gorgeous," said Adam, and Kris grinned and blushed and helped him with the table again without being asked. He knew purposeful flattery when he heard it. "I've got that Tommy guy in my lit class. I can't believe I didn't notice that before."
"Well, he kind of goes out of his way not to be noticed," said Kris. "Or he did, at first."
"I think maybe I wasn't paying a lot of attention," admitted Adam. "Brad's in that class with me."
"Oh, Brad," said Kris. "I'm amazed you even noticed there was a class going on around him."
"I kind of didn't," said Adam as they set the table down on the stage, with a little bit more finesse this time. "I think he's going to come back."
"Brad?"
"No, Tommy," said Adam. "To rehearsal. Not today, because he has an appointment, but maybe next time."
Kris didn't even know how Adam knew Tommy had an appointment today. Kris didn't know, and it kind of bugged him that Adam knew something about Tommy he didn't, even though they'd only talked a few times.
"What?" said Adam, spreading the tablecloth himself this time. Turned out it was a bed after all, though clearly not a comfortable one.
"Nothing," said Kris. "Nothing."
"Hm," said Adam, and Kris was going to ask him just what he meant by that but the rest of the cast was already assembling on stage and all Kris could do was get out of their way.
*
Kris met Andrew and Cale after practice, both of them freshly showered and a little exhausted, but exhausted in the way that said they played hard and had a great time doing it, not in a way that said they'd been beaten down for a couple of hours. Kris had known them both more than long enough to know the difference.
"I could eat an elephant," said Cale. "Or at the very least, a burger."
"You're going to spoil your dinner," said Kris.
"I could eat a burger and dinner," said Cale, as Kris spotted Tommy quietly slipping out a side door of the school, shoulders hunched and backpack over one shoulder. "Everyone in?"
"I could eat the other half of the elephant," agreed Andrew, while Kris just nodded. Because of course he was coming.
"Listen, I'll catch up with you, all right?" he said, though. "Get us a table."
"What, are you going to walk?" said Cale. "We'll wait for you."
"No really," said Kris, glancing over at Tommy again. "I'm good."
This time, Andrew and Cale figured out where Kris was looking, and Cale gave him an incredulous look. Andrew's look was more curious.
"Really?" said Cale.
"He's my friend," said Kris with a shrug, "so suck it up. I'll just be a minute, I just want to say hi. I can meet you there."
"We'll wait for you in the parking lot," said Andrew, and a second later Kris realized he was making a kind of generous compromise between waiting here for Kris, and leaving him behind to give him his privacy.
"Just a couple of minutes," said Kris again, giving him a nod, and jogged off to catch up with Tommy.
*
Kris sort of not-exactly knew where Tommy lived, so when he walked after school instead of getting a ride home and ended up at that same park again, he was sort of not-exactly hoping to run into Tommy. It took a while of hanging around and looking like he actually had some reason to be there, but he got what he was looking for in the end.
"Kris?" said Tommy, pausing on the sidewalk near where Kris had finally sat down on a park bench with his book.
"Hey," said Kris, all casual-like. "What's up?"
"I was just..." Tommy pointed in the direction that Kris assumed was home. "What are you doing here?"
"It's a nice place to just sit and read sometimes," said Kris. He really hoped his book wasn't upside down. "Quiet and stuff." His sentence was interrupted by the screams of small children running around nearby. "Um. Mostly."
"Right," said Tommy, finally smiling at him. "Studying?"
"Recreational," said Kris, closing his book and putting it away before Tommy could get a good look.
"Oh sorry," said Tommy. "I'm interrupting you."
"No!" said Kris quickly. "I mean, it's cool. I don't mind talking."
"Do you want to come over?" said Tommy, hitching his bag up on his shoulder. "My parents are expecting me home, but it would be cool. If you wanted to come for a while. Play some video games?"
"Cool," said Kris, and was up off the bench almost before Tommy finished talking, ready to go wherever he led. He didn't think too hard about just how eager he was to do it.
*
Tommy was already at the drama club's rehearsal when Kris got there, determined that he was just going to hang out this time and not be put to work. He'd been going to every rehearsal lately, though. Pretty soon they were going to think he was an actual part of the club.
"You again," said Adam, looking from Kris to Tommy and back again. "Don't you have any actual activities?"
"Not at the same time as yours," said Kris, giving him a shrug. "You seem to have been needing me a lot lately. I figured maybe you needed some big strong men around here."
"Oh yeah?" said Adam. "Then why didn't you send some?"
"Ooooh," said Tommy and looked up, and apparently he'd been listening the whole time. Kris almost facepalmed, because of all the people Adam could've done that in front of. Instead he just shot Adam a look, which didn't seem to have any effect on him whatsoever.
"Tommy, can I borrow you to go over the musical cues?" said Megan, and Tommy sort of looked at her and then back at Kris and Adam again before ducking his head and turning to follow.
"You guys are so dumb," said Adam when he was gone. "So dumb."
"Hey!" said Kris. "What's that supposed to-?"
Adam rolled his eyes and interrupted with an even louder, "So dumb, Kris. He likes you."
"It's just because I was just nice to hi-"
"He likes you. And don't even try to tell me you don't like him. Go for it."
"Adam...."
"I'm serious. Don't be stupid about this when you could have that," said Adam. "Pining is not fun."
"It's a little fun," Kris admitted after a moment, a little smile trying to break free.
"Okay, it's a little fun," said Adam, giving him a nudge, "but not forever."
Kris watched as Megan and Tommy went through the script. And as Tommy kept glancing up at them. And occasionally at Adam's knowing looks.
And when Tommy finally came back to join them, when the rehearsal was about to get started, Kris sat down with him in the front row and casually asked if he wanted to do something after rehearsal.
*
Tommy looked up warily when Cale and Andrew sat down with them in the cafeteria. And to be fair, Andrew was eyeing Tommy's tray like he was trying to resist the temptation to upend something, but he had to know by now that Kris wouldn't stand for that kind of crap. And that his own coke was sitting pretty precariously, should anyone try to mess with his tray in return.
"Hey," said Kris finally. "What's up?"
"Lunch," said Cale with a shrug, pulling a crumpled brown bag out of his backpack.
"Um, should I go?" said Tommy, though he didn't actually make any move to go. He didn't seem entirely certain of what he was supposed to go, whether it was go or ask them to go, or see if this truce was going anywhere.
"Kris likes you," said Cale, "so we like you too."
"I'd rather be liked on my own merits, thanks," snapped Tommy, and Kris smiled into his sandwich. When he wasn't cowed, he really did have a sharp tongue.
"Yeah, I don't think that's going to be a problem," said Cale. "Come on, you know we were just-" Kris elbowed him just to get him to shut up. "Kris thinks we're jerks."
"You are jerks."
Andrew shrugged. "Yeah, fair enough," he admitted.
They never actually apologized to him, but Kris figured it was sort of unsaid in the way they befriended him, and maybe leaving the past in the past was better for everyone.
"So what are you and your boyfriend doing after school?" said Cale, around a mouthful of ham and cheese.
"He's not my boyfriend," said Kris, watching Tommy out of the corner of his eye for his reaction. "We're just friends."
"I could be, though," said Tommy quietly, and he had to know that everyone could hear but the words were obviously just for Kris.
"Yeah," agreed Kris. "You could be."
"So maybe that's what you can do after school," said Cale, rolling his eyes at them, "and then when you're done with all the googly-eyed stuff, we can toss a ball around."
"Sure," said Kris and "yeah, okay," said Tommy, and even if his friends were sometimes douchebags, Kris figured that if you did what you knew was right, things worked out for you in the end.
Kris/Katy, KAB. 1985 words. PG-13. For yuppielawyer.
Mutually
Prompt: Long night on the tour bus. Katy, Kris, and the band. They play either "Truth or Dare" or "I Never".
"We're not going to need that many snacks," said Cale, but Kris just looked at him skeptically. "We've got enough there to feed twice as many people as we have right now. And if you say the extra is because Katy is riding with us tonight, I'm telling her you said that."
"I can hear you," said Katy, "and Kris is right. That might be enough. I know you guys, and you're way too keyed up to sleep."
"You know something I don't, don't you?" said Cale, looking from Katy to Kris and back again.
"I might," said Katy, "but I'll never tell."
"You say that now," said Cale, "but I have inside information. There are ways to make you talk."
"You don't know the ways to make me talk," said Katy confidently, "and if you do, me and Kris have to have one serious talk about what is and is not appropriate to share with his friends."
"Wow, okay, I don't know," said Cale, "but I'm really curious now."
Torres was the one with the pot, cracking a window in back to light up. Which Cale should've known was coming, but sometimes Cale made Kris feel like the worldly one. Kris wasn't in the mood but he just gave Katy's bottom a friendly pat as she joined him, indulging when she didn't get a lot of chances back home. Andrew joined them too, while Kris and Cale broke into a bag of Doritos and Ryland dug the chocolate out of the bottom of the bag.
"Don't stay up too late!" Lizzie called from her bunk before they closed the back lounge off, and Kris promised her nothing because somehow she would know he was lying. ("Somehow" likely being how bloodshot his eyes were in the morning when he showed up for his first interviews.) And even if she didn't, Kris would know he was lying, and that fell on the wrong side of his personal moral code.
Steve was riding in the van for this leg or he'd probably be in the back with Torres before any of the rest of them got there so that was everyone now, and with a little jolt and a slight sway they were on their way again, hours to go before their next destination and, as Katy said, too keyed up to sleep. Great shows did that. Heck, even not-so-great shows did that, though Kris tried not to let it get to him because down that road lay chronic sleep deprivation.
"We should do something," said Katy, face angled up to blow a faint stream of smoke out the window. The lounge still smelled of pot, but not as strongly as if they were hotboxing it.
"I thought we were doing something," said Andrew.
"What, this isn't enough for you?"
"I have something," said Ryland, and from the bag ostensibly holding chocolate, he produced a bottle of schnapps and dixie cups. "Classy, it is not, but there is enough to get everyone to admit their deepest, darkest secrets."
"I know you're holding a bottle of peachy goodness," said Cale, "but no can do, my friend."
Ryland was prepared, though, and tossed Cale a lime soda. "Less intoxicating, but you make do with what you've got," he said, "though I'm sure Torres is willing to provide alternatives if you're up for it."
"Not unless you want me to pass out face first on the couch," said Cale.
"Busted," said Katy, passing the joint to Andrew. "That's totally been our plan from the beginning. I guess we'll have to find a new one now."
"I can't beleve the call for college drinking games comes from the old guy," said Kris, shaking his head at him. "Feeling nostalgic?"
"I don't know," said Ryland. "You worried about what I might get you to admit?"
"That sounded like a challenge," said Kris, reaching past Cale for another Dorito. "You're on."
"Everyone in?" said Ryland, and he didn't even have to name the game, there was assent from all quarters, even the slightly stoned back-of-the-bus. Even Cale and his dodgy lime soda. A couple minutes later, pinching off the end of the joint, they even moved in closer again, within reach of the dixie cups anyway.
Torres tucked a freshly rolled joint into Cale's shirt pocket. "In case you change your mind," he said, and patted his pocket and left it there.
Katy had her hand in the Doritos before Ryland even called out the first challenge.
"I never," he said, very dramatically if not very loudly, considering the sleeping persons on the rest of the bus, "used-"
"Wait!" said Cale.
"No," said Ryland, "you should've gone to the bathroom before we started. You're going to have to wait now."
"No, not that," said Cale, though now that he mentioned it Kris kind of had to go. "We need boundaries. No sex questions."
"How can you play I never without sex questions?" said Torres. "I never is entirely about sex questions."
"It'll make it more interesting," said Andrew though. "You'll have to come up with new stuff to use. Challenge yourself."
"All right, all right," said Ryland. "Lemme think of something else, then. You guys probably hadn't done that anyway. Actually, I'm not sure anyone I know has done that, but I live in hope that one day I'll find someone who has."
"Someone who's what?" said Cale.
"Oh no, you're the one who called no sex, you're just going to have to wonder," said Ryland. "Okay. I've never been to Rwanda."
"Oh, hey," said Katy. "That's not fair!"
"That's totally fair," argued Andrew. "In fact, it's sort of the point of the game. Drink up."
"As long as this whole game doesn't turn into a geography lesson," said Torres. "Is it my turn? I'm next to you, sort of. It's my turn."
"You're not even close to next to me," said Ryland, "but I'm assuming you have something good so go for it."
"I never...smoked a joint," he said, then cracked up and lifted his glass and drank it. "You always need one that everyone drinks to."
"Yeah, but are you sure everyone drinks to- yeah, never mind," said Cale and threw his drink back along with the rest of them. Maybe he wasn't tonight-yet-but there had been other nights. Many other nights. "Katy?"
"Right," said Katy, sucking peach schnapps off her thumb. Not that Kris was watching or anything. "I never...I don't know! This is hard! Okay, okay, I never...played in a rock band!"
"Okay, now that's cheating," grumbled Andrew.
"You know, actually," said Kris, "you've played Rock Band."
"That doesn't count!"
"I think that counts," said Kris.
"That totally counts," said Cale. "And by the way, this soda is terrible."
"If it was good soda, it wouldn't be any good for this game, would it?" said Ryland. "You'd just drink it. And Rock Band totally counts."
Katy huffed out a sigh, but Kris just grinned at her as she drank up with the rest of them. It was actually a pretty easy sell, but she was going to get him back for that one. Maybe not tonight, though. Maybe when she was a little more sober.
"Andrew," said Torres, giving him a nudge. "You're up."
"I've never been in handcuffs," said Andrew, putting his palm over his cup and making a show of not drinking.
"Hey, I thought we said no sex questions!" said Katy. Kris looked at her. So did everyone else.
Andrew was the one who started laughing. "That's not a sex question," he said.
"Oh," said Katy, while Kris facepalmed. "Right."
"I think you have some drinking to do, missy," said Torres, lifting her glass and handing it to her. "Or does Kris have some drinking to do?"
Katy giggled. Kris sighed. They both lifted their cups and threw them back.
At least they were in good company, because Ryland and Torres both drank, and a moment later Cale did too mumbling something about, "It was a dare," that Kris didn't catch the rest of. He did assume that it had nothing to do with sex. Unlike the other two.
"I didn't mean to bust us!" said Katy, giggling again as she wiped the corner of her mouth with her thumb. "But we would've been busted anyway when we drank, right?"
"Yeah, but they wouldn't have known why," said Kris, shaking his head. But these were his guys. And for all that Cale was the one to call for no sex questions, he was the only one who already knew about the handcuffs adventure. "Am I up?"
"You just want to move on from the handcuffs as quickly as possible," said Andrew. "I want to hear this story."
"I haven't had nearly enough to drink yet to share that with you," said Kris. "I'm not sure there's enough in that bottle."
"You should've just said it was boring," said Ryland, "now he's going to ask you at every opportunity. And yes, you're up."
"Right," said Kris, and he was definitely not taking one for the team here. No way was he calling something he'd have to drink to. "I've never seen Spinal Tap."
"Aw, come on, everyone can't say stuff we all have to drink to," said Torres.
"No, seriously, I haven't," said Kris. "I'm told it's a gaping hole in my musical education."
"I've failed you," said Cale, hanging his head in mock shame. "I can't believe how thoroughly I've failed you. This needs to be remedied as soon as possible. We have a copy on the bus, right?"
"We must," said Ryland, immediately rummaging through their DVDs to try to find it. It was early enough in the tour that they hadn't watched everything five times yet, but Kris kind of thought that if it was there, he would've remembered it. "We don't."
"Not possible," said Torres, sliding down off the bench and down onto the floor to go through them all again. "We must. That would be so wrong."
"A firing offense," said Andrew. "Well, maybe not a firing offense."
"Yeah, you try to fire Lizzie and I'll...actually, not having Lizzie here would be punishment enough, which is kind of the point," said Kris. "Is it really that big of a deal?"
"Wait, are we still playing or not?" said Katy. Kris wasn't entirely sure, and no one else answered her. "Well, I'm just going to drink anyway." And she just threw back her shot just like that. When she saw Kris looking at her, she just smiled. "What? You know how much I like peach."
The other guys seemed to be very intent on their search, even moving it to the front of the bus, so Kris just joined Katy on the couch at the back. "You do like peach," he agreed, to the sound of something falling inside the cabinet. It was possible this search was ill-advised on a moving bus in the middle of the night. Lizzie was going to bust them any moment now.
"You like peach too," said Katy, licking her fingertips again, though Kris was pretty sure they weren't sticky this time. "You especially like peach when it's on me."
"Now might not be the time-"
"Just a kiss," said Katy, leaning over and pressing her lips to his. And sure enough, she definitely tasted like peach. Kris made a thorough examination.
The guys were now talking about what they could possibly watch in place of Spinal Tap, since it really was missing from their DVD collection, and how to get themselves a copy as soon as possible, so Kris figured the game really was over already. Not that he minded too much, he just cuddled with Katy on the back seat and enjoyed where he was and what he was doing and especially-especially-that at the moment they were doing it together.
Adam/Brad. 1245 words. PG-13. For emylina.
Like Burning
Prompt: Adam breaks up with his boyfriend (OMC) and the boyfriend decides to go to the press with made up stories about how horrible and abusive Adam was. Adam feels very alone, and Brad steps in to comfort and stand beside Adam because he knows Adam would never do the things he is being accused of doing.
Adam refuses to talk to the press, which is the damning part. It's maybe the stupidest decision he's ever made-which considering some of the things he's done is saying a lot-but he's too paralyzed to do anything else. It's not just that he doesn't want to talk to him, it's that he can't, he really can't. He doesn't think he can talk to anyone.
People call and message and knock and Adam ignores them all, lets his publicist handle it (or not handle it, as the case may be), sneaks out in the middle of the night and heads north up the coast. Heads north till he can't even see straight, somewhere in Oregon he thinks based on the last sign he noticed and the last gas station he stopped at.
He looks so wrecked that nobody even bats an eye at him when he checks into a motel under a false name with enough provisions that he doesn't need to go out for a while, not for food, not for anything. He's all over the news, and the story makes everything else they've ever said about him seem like puppies and rainbows.
Adam didn't lay a hand on Nate. Not one single hand.
But that's not the story people want to hear, and it's not the story Nate's telling. Adam fell in love, head over heels love, and Nate...Nate had other ideas. Ideas that involved fame, money, and Adam putting up and shutting up. But Adam's nobody's pawn, not after all the fights he's already fought to get where he is.
Okay, maybe that was the stupidest decision he's ever made. Only it doesn't feel stupid. Even now it feels like maybe the one right thing. Even if he loses everything, at least he has his pride and his integrity. Even if everyone else in the world thinks he hits his boyfriend.
His pride, his integrity, and a heart so broken it feels like it's never going to stop hurting.
He doesn't even think it's so much losing Nate as the sheer betrayal of it all. Adam's been burned before, and Adam doesn't trust easily but Adam wanted to be in love, he wanted that someone who could take him the way he was and give him everything he needed, and for a little while he thought he had that. Now he not only doesn't have that, but he feels like he's lost so much more. All because when he's blinded by love he can't tell greed from enthusiasm.
He unplugs the television, turns off his phone, and does nothing but read books for two days. Read books and think entirely too much and ignore the rumblings in his stomach because he can't even distinguish grief and humiliation from hunger right now.
After lunch on the third day, or after lunchtime because Adam replaced lunch with a couple shots of vodka, there's a knock at his door. He thinks it's housekeeping, or someone to fix the rattle in the air conditioner, or maybe something to do with his credit card, but it's none of those things. It's Brad, who just takes one look at him and pushes his way inside.
"You're such an idiot," says Brad. "You haven't even called your mother. And no, texting her to tell her you're fine does not count. She's worried sick."
"What are you doing here?" says Adam. "How did you even find me?"
"I'm amazing, that's how I found you," says Brad. "What are you thinking, Adam? Just tell them what happened. Skipping town doesn't exactly look good."
"I don't care," says Adam, but when he says it he finds that he does care. He actually cares a lot. And instead of sad and broken he feels angry. Finally. "Are the police looking for me?"
"No," says Brad.
"What?"
"Well, okay, they probably need to talk to you just for procedure," says Brad. "But there's not a manhunt or anything. They've already caught that bastard ex-boyfroend of yours in half a dozen other lies, Adam. If you don't pop up on the radar soon, they're going to think he killed you or something."
"I've been in touch with Lane. Is that how you found me?"
"She doesn't know where you are either," says Brad. "She thinks you're in Germany, actually. Did you give her that idea?"
He actually didn't, though it's probably as good a guess as any. But leaving the country would've gotten him a whole lot more attention, what with the airport and the passport and the giving people an opportunity to see him out in the wild.
"I loved him."
"Yeah, I figured that," says Brad. "You love hard. He didn't deserve that. He didn't earn that from you."
"Love doesn't have to be earned," says Adam. "It's just given. And I did."
"I know," says Brad, a little more softly. "I know how you love, Adam. It's one of your best qualities."
"What if that was my last chance?" says Adam, almost matter-of-factly, the fear beneath the betrayal that he hasn't even voiced to himself before now. Hasn't even put the words together in the right order to figure it out. "After everything he said...."
"You don't mean that," says Brad.
"Yes, I do."
"Okay, you mean that, but you won't mean it forever," says Brad, "because you're going to go home again, and heartbreak ends, and this too shall pass. And one day you're going to wake up in the morning and realize that you're Adam Fucking Lambert and someone will love you again."
"Promise?" says Adam, and he says it wryly even though he doesn't mean to because this is Brad saying it to him, and if there's anyone who knows that something comes after breaking up with Adam Lambert, for both of them, it's Brad.
"I don't have to promise," says Brad, "it's just the truth. It hurts so badly right now you can't even see how many people already care about you because it's too easy to believe that Nate can hurt other people the way he hurt you, that he can betray them the way he betrayed you, but he can't, and he hasn't. And pretty soon you're going to see that."
Adam sighs, loud and heavy, but there's something lighter about him now too, just hearing that. Not light, because there's too much sitting on his shoulders right now, but lighter. Like he can breathe again.
"I'm not ready to go back yet," he says. "It's too much."
"Then just make some calls," says Brad.
"Can't you?"
"Yes," says Brad, "but I'm going to make you do it anyway, because you need to."
"Tough love?"
"You know it," says Brad. "And maybe a little less tough love to go with it afterwards, but only after you make some calls. After all, I've got to give you something to look forward to."
"So you're going to stay?"
"Whether you like it or not," says Brad. "I'm not that easy to get rid of."
"Don't I know it," says Adam, but maybe he didn't know it until now. Maybe he didn't know it until his world all came crashing down around him and there Brad was in the wreckage, just like he's always been there. Adam would never take him for granted, but after everything they've weathered together, maybe it's something to think about.
Maybe, once he's weathered this one, it's something to think about a lot.
And a pair of Kradam to finish it off.
Disclaimer: No disrespect intended to any of the persons depicted herein, who I hope are all living happy and fulfilled lives with their partner(s) of choice. This is purely fictional, and not in any way intended as an accurate representation of reality.
Kris, Kelly Clarkson. Gen. 2280 words. PG. For spangel_kat.
United Here Somehow
Prompt: Kelly goes on tour and kris opens for her. they spend a lot of time together, write together. Tour hijinks ensue.
This hadn't really been what Kris had in mind for his tour. After all, neither he nor Kelly wanted to cling to the Idol label forever, no matter how much it had helped them get started, and pairing them just begged for every media outlet to point out their mutual origins. But it didn't have to be a bad thing. Kris liked Kelly, he admired her, and no matter what anyone said or wrote about it, the tour was going to be great.
"You're up," said Kelly, holding up her hand for a high five as she came off stage. "You got your cable fixed?"
"Apparently," said Kris, slapping her hand and then attaching his guitar strap as Andrew shifted past him and onto the stage for sound check. "If not, well, let's just hope nobody gets electrocuted."
"Wait," said Kelly, grabbing hold of his arm. "They aren't making you soundcheck under unsafe conditions, are they?"
She was serious, much to his surprise, and Kris just grinned at her. "Sorry, I was just kidding," he said. "They said it's fine now. Completely patched and ready to go."
"Okay, good," she said, brushing her hair back behind her shoulders and relaxing again. "Can't hurt to make sure."
Kris didn't ask, but he figured if she was asking him then it had happened to someone and she didn't want to see it happen again. If he was being honest, part of the reason he wasn't asking was because he didn't want her to have to get into when he was about to do his soundcheck, and part of the reason was he really didn't want to know.
They were actually a lot alike. They were both friendly and personable and easygoing, and they both stuck to their guns like nobody's business when it came to their music. They didn't win every battle, but they sure as heck tried every time it mattered. And they were both gracious in defeat. They both had the ability to pick up and move onward and upward.
As Kris tried out the mic and waited for them to mess with the levels before getting the rest of the guys to kick in, Kris saw her take a seat near the front of the empty venue-or mostly empty venue, anyway-and give him a little wave when he looked her way.
Kris soundchecked a little bit of Miss Independent just for her, and had to grin at the way it cracked her up.
*
Kris liked being on the road actually, even though he worried that it was going to wear on him. The tour last year had gone really well and he and Katy had found a system where they saw enough of one another that he never really got to the point where he felt that ache for her. He missed her, of course he missed her, but aching for her was something else, it kept him from performing at his best.
They both actually thrived with him on the road, and Kris valued the time with his band, some of the best guys he knew.
But there were nights when he just got tired of it, when all there was in the fridge was coke and apples and he couldn't stand to play video games for one more minute. So on one of those nights, when Kris was about to pace his way right through the floor of the bus-and Kris wasn't a pacer-he was both surprised and relieved to see Kelly's bus, the lead bus, pull into a service station and all night diner and make it clear they were making a pit stop.
"Guys, I'm gonna-"
"Go, before I trip you just for something to do," said Andrew, and there was an explosion from the screen as Cale's character died when he dared to look up and give Kris a wave good-bye.
Kelly was waiting for him by the doors to the diner, like he'd somehow known she would be. "I absolutely want something greasy and salty," she said. "You?"
"I think I might actually kill someone for that right now," he said. "Well, okay, I probably wouldn’t kill anyone. But I could definitely hit someone."
"You're adorable," said Kelly, and coming from her Kris took it the fond way it was meant. "I just had to get off the bus before I went stir crazy. You know?"
"Me too," said Kris. And as much as the guys were beating one another over the head with sticks-virtually-right now, he had a feeling they'd be showing up in the diner too before long. He had a feeling that everyone who was awake would be showing up, it was just one of those kinds of nights.
Kris was just grateful Kelly'd made it happen, because Kris was pretty much too nice to push for a stop when he didn't need one. Strictly speaking.
"I love my guys," he said, "and it's a good thing I do, because sometimes I wonder how bands who don't like each other as much even survive a tour."
"Separate busses," said Kelly. Kris kind of wondered what hers looked like. He was pretty sure Kelly Clarkson didn't sleep in a bunk, but Kris didn't mind that so much. "I think I'm still wound up about that bullshit back in Pittsburg, you know? Sometimes I don't know what security is thinking. A little girl with a flower is not a bother."
She paused to order a burger platter, and no one showed up to tell her she couldn't. Kris was glad, because he didn't want to actually have to hit anyone tonight.
"I know," he said. "I get it."
"You do," she said, "you get it." And she smiled and Kris wondered how many people hadn't gotten it before.
*
"You should give it a shot," said Cale, urging Kris towards the door with his foot. "Don't worry, I won't feel like you're cheating on me."
"Oh, how nice of you," said Kris, scratching his fingers through his hair and hoping he looked presentable. "We were just kicking some things around the other night, it might be good."
"It might be a duet," said Cale. "That would be pretty awesome. You know that, right?"
"Once more into the American Idol family," said Kris with a sigh, but he sort of knew it wasn't something you ever got away from entirely no matter how many seasons removed you got from it. At least Kelly was proof that it wasn't something that had to hold you back even as it got you started. Of all of them that had come before, Kris wanted to be most like her.
"Deal with it," said Cale. "After everything we did to get you there."
"Oh, everything you did," said Kris and felt Cale's toes nudging him again. "I'm going, I'm going."
Kris grabbed his guitar and pulled the door open with the other hand and no one stopped him as he headed over to Kelly's dressing room. Green room. Whatever.
"Kris!" she said, offering him a grape, which he took with what had to be a slightly confused look on his face. "What, do you want me to feed it to you?"
"Shouldn't we have someone fanning us with palm leaves if we're going to play that game?" he said, putting his guitar down on a chair.
"That's so much more than I needed to know about your marriage," Kelly teased him. Kris, predictably, ducked his head and blushed. Not that they hadn't played that game before, but he didn't talk about his sex life, pretty much ever. "So you've got some time?"
"I've got some time," said Kris, "and I figure you've got some time."
"I've got some time," said Kelly. "I don't usually do it like this."
"If someone is listening to this conversation, they're so going to get the wrong idea," said Kris, pulling his instrum- his guitar out. "You've mostly worked with songwriters in the studio, huh?"
"That's just how it's worked," she said, "but you're different. This is really great."
"As long as by 'different' you don't mean 'completely unprofessional'," said Kris.
"I think this is the way it's supposed to be," said Kelly, and even though Kris did some great work with some great songwriters, there was something about just sitting down and jamming with someone you knew outside of the music industry-or at least outside of the studio-that made the process something different.
"I don't know if there's such a thing as supposed to be," said Kris, "but this feels good."
"Yeah, speaking of things we don't want people to overhear," said Kelly, but then she was laughing and folding herself into the chair next to him and Kris started to play.
*
It was sort of weird how fast the tour was going. Kris just got back from a whirlwind trip to Arkansas, just overnight while he had the chance, and he realized there were just two more weeks before their final date in Sacramento and the tour would wrap up.
Oh, he and the band had a few dates after that, but that was it for the Kelly Clarkson-Kris Allen tour, and it blew by faster than he ever imagined it would.
And maybe he wasn't the only one thinking about that, because when he caught up with the busses, he found Kelly racing against Ryland on the Wii. And winning, too.
"Cale, you've changed," he said, slinging his bag into his bunk. "I thought we were going to talk about this before you made a decision."
"You know how I get when I make my mind up about something," said Cale from behind him, poking him in the side and then squeezing by to the back to join the rest of them. Kelly cheered as Ryland crashed, then they finally acknowledged he was there.
"Welcome back," she said. "How was your visit?"
"Fast," said Kris, and ignored the smirk on Andrew's face when he said that. He didn't even roll his eyes. This time. "I guess I'll be home soon."
"Wow, don't sound so happy about it, you might make us all feel bad," said Andrew dryly, and Kris did at least duck his head this time.
"It's just weird," he said, and Kelly nodded at him.
"It is weird," she said. "You look forward to being home at the same time don't want the tour to ever end. Happens every time. Well, not every time. Sometimes you can't wait for the damn tour to just end already."
"But not this time?"
"Definitely not this time," she said, then looked at Ryland. "Rematch?"
"I know when I'm beat," he said. "Take a ride with Kris. He's been learning from the best for years."
Kelly looked at Cale, but Cale shook his head at her as he opened his coke and sat down. "Katy," he said, and Kris smirked and took Ryland's spot.
They weren't wrong about that.
*
Everything was going wrong, and Kris was right at the center of it. Not the cause of it, but there were problems with the mics, with the guitars, with the gates, with the ramps, with everything. And all he could do was survey it all and take a deep breath and do what it took to get it all together before the performance. Because the show had to go on, and Kris was going to get it done in the nicest way he could.
"How do you do that?" said Kelly, gesturing up and down him like that was somehow meaningful.
"Do what?" said Kris.
"Be you," she said.
"Same way you're you," he said, and smiled at her and put his guitar back down on the stand for someone else to take care of. "What else can we be?"
"Shrieking beasts," she said. "Someone else would've torn that guy a new one."
"Nah," said Kris. "Would that get things done any faster? Would that accomplish anything at all?"
"If you're Mick Jagger it probably would," she said.
"Well, I'm not Mick Jagger," said Kris, grinning at her. "I'm not even Kelly Clarkson."
"Shut up," she said, knocking his shoulder. "Though I probably would've raised my voice, gotta be honest."
"Yeah, but in a really nice way," he said, completely convinced of that. "You know I learned a lot of this from you, right?"
"Whatever," she said, flatting a crease on the thigh of her jeans with her fingertips. "I think you were born this way."
"I was worried about this tour, a little-"
"The Idols thing, I know."
"-but it was pretty awesome. We should do it again some time."
"We should record that song."
"We should record that song," said Kris. "Then we'd have an excuse to pop up in each other's shows forever."
"We'll do that, right?" she said, and Kris knew she didn't mean just popping up on stage. It was about popping up in life.
"I don't let go of my friends," said Kris with a little shrug. "You're stuck with me now."
"I think I can handle that," she said. "Oh, someone's waving at you. Do you think they actually fixed something?"
"Considering how many fires they need to put out right now, odds are actually pretty good they've gotten one of them under control by now."
"Well, good luck with that," she said. "I'll see you backstage."
"Yeah, you'll see me," said Kris, and he had a feeling she got him, too.
And the end of the tour suddenly seemed a little bit easier. Every end was just a new beginning.
Kris/Tommy. 3375 words. PG-13. For inbetweencabs. High School AU.
New Kid In Town
Prompt: CRACK bullies Tommy and Kris saves him and gets into a fight with his bandmates. Then Adam is the drama club president who encourages Kris and Tommy to ~confront their feelings for each other.
Kris could see Cale and Andrew whispering to each other across the table when he sat down with his lunch tray and he had a bad feeling about it right from the start.
"So did you guys finish the chemistry assignment?" he asked them, hoping to fend off anything they might be plotting. He liked his friends, he really did, but they had funny ideas about appropriate sometimes. "I kind of got stuck at the end."
"I'm going to finish during English," said Andrew without even looking at him. "Mr. Cowell won't even notice."
Kris kind of thought he always noticed, actually, he just didn't say anything and saved it up in that book of his that he was always writing in.
Out of the corner of his eye, Kris saw the new kid, Tommy, walking in their direction and his bad feeling returned, even though Cale and Andrew weren't whispering anymore. And sure enough, when Tommy walked by, obviously looking for someplace to sit, instead of offering him a spot Cale stuck his foot out and Tommy's lunch went flying everyone.
"Okay, that's just not cool," said Kris, actually standing up. "We don't do that stuff."
"Come on, he knows it was only a joke," said Cale. "Don't you, Tommy?"
Tommy didn't say anything, just tried to salvage as much of his lunch as he could. Most of it was a lost cause, though, a river of soup already making its way towards the emergency exit.
"It wasn't a joke and it wasn't funny," said Kris, "and it wasn't okay."
He'd barely touched his lunch but he didn't care, he just stuffed his fruit in his backpack and picked up the rest to head out the door with it. He wasn't that hungry anymore anyway. They were still his friends, and most of the time they were awesome, but he just didn't like them sometimes these days.
"Hey, come on-" said Andrew, but Kris wasn't hearing it. Instead, he offered Tommy a hand. He refused to take it at first but Kris was patient, and eventually Tommy realized he wasn't just going to jerk it away again.
"Sorry about those guys," he murmured as he helped him up. "They think they're funny."
"Whatever," said Tommy. "I've gotta go."
Kris was going to share the rest of his lunch with him, but Tommy just clutched his banana and fled the cafeteria. Kris wasn't far behind him.
*
Kris didn't talk to Cale or Andrew after school, even though they tried to catch up with him when he fled his last class, hopping on the bus instead and getting off at the park instead of the stop near his house. He didn't need to be home for dinner for a couple of hours anyway, and he was still upset enough to want to walk it off. Kris wasn't used to feeling upset, not like this. He wasn't used to his friends growing and changing in different directions from him.
"Hey," he heard from behind him, and he hated that he was a little wary when he looked back over his shoulder. But the only person there was Tommy.
"Hey," said Kris, and stopped and gave him a little wave.
"So thanks," he said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "For before."
"You shouldn't have to thank me for that," he said. "They were just being jerks. I don't know why they did that. They're usually-" Tommy shook his head and Kris stopped talking. He didn't want to hear it. "They're my friends, but I'm not like that."
"You're Kris, right?" Kris just nodded, and hitched his backpack higher up his shoulder. "We're in history together."
"Yeah, I saw you," said Kris. "On Monday, when you came in."
"Well, I just wanted to say," said Tommy. "Do you, um, live around here?"
"Not really," said Kris, shrugging. "I just didn't feel like going right home today, and we didn't have orchestra practice so I figured I would walk."
"I saw your friends driving, but you weren't with them."
"No, not today," said Kris, looking at his shoes. "I'm kind of mad at them right now."
"As long as they don't get madder at me because you're mad at them," said Tommy.
"They're not mad, they're just dumb," said Kris. "Sometimes they're dumb, I don't know. They're bored and they watch too much television and...and I don't want to make excuses for them. But I'll make sure they don't give you any more trouble, okay? I know it sucks being in a new school."
"Yeah," said Tommy. "Yeah, it really does."
"They don't need to make it suck more," said Kris. "So do you? Live around here?"
"The other side of the park," said Tommy. "I could ride the bus around to the next stop but I like walking through the park on my way home. It's peaceful, you know?"
"I need to go that way anyway," said Kris, even though it took him a little out of his way. "I could walk with you?"
"Sure," said Tommy, and he shrugged and looked awkward and let his hair fall in his eyes. He said it like it didn't matter to him but Kris could see that it did, and he wasn't just doing it because he felt sorry for him. He was doing it because when Tommy spoke up in class he was really interesting, and the other day Kris saw him carrying a guitar and he wanted to ask about that.
"Okay, good," said Kris, and he turned right around and they started to walk.
*
"Remember when you used to be fun?" said Andrew, elbowing Kris in the side as they headed to class.
"Remember when you did?" said Kris. "I don't know what's with you."
"Nothing's with me," said Andrew. "Come on, can you admit it was funny now? That's just what you do to new kids. It makes them feel like a part of things."
"It kind of doesn't," said Kris, elbowing him back. "Just don't do it again, all right? If you wanted to haze him or whatever, it's done now."
"I remember when you used to be fun," said Andrew. "So I'll see you at rehearsal after class, right?"
"Of course," said Kris, and Andrew peeled off into his classroom while Kris went a few more doors down. To History. With Tommy.
And after class, after orchestra, he hung around while the theatre kids took over the space, which he sometimes did just because it was kind of fun, and they were all pretty nice. Some of them were kind of weird, but always nice to him.
"Hey Kris," said Adam, "can you give me a hand with this?"
'This' turned out to be a table that Adam had one end of, and Kris was quick to get up off the stairs and grab the other for him. "Where's it going?"
"Up onto the stage?" said Adam, which Kris should've asked before they started, because that was kind of a tricky maneuver but somehow between the two of them, and an extra set of hands that suddenly showed up in the middle, they got it up there.
"Hey, thanks..." Adam started, looking at the guy blankly.
"Tommy," supplied Kris. "This is Tommy."
"Are you in theater too?" Tommy asked him, but both Kris and Adam vehemently shook their head.
"I auditioned once," admitted Kris. "I'm kind of terrible. Now I just hang out sometimes. Music's more my thing."
"Kris played piano for our production last spring," said Adam, shoving the table into position. Kris had the feeling that it was supposed to be some kind of bed, the way someone threw a sheet over it, but for all he knew it was a marble slab or something. Or a tree fort. At this stage of rehearsals, it was kind of hard to say.
"That's sort of why I'm here," said Tommy. "I don't really play an instrument for the orchestra, but they told me the drama club sometimes needs musicians. My advisor thinks I need to get involved in things."
"Do you act, though?" said Adam, already trying to recruit him, "because believe me, we can always use more actors."
"I'm kind of terrible too," Tommy admitted. It was interesting, now that Kris was seeing him someplace where he kind of felt comfortable, how much stronger Tommy's voice seemed, how much more sure of himself he stood. "I'll stick to music if it's all the same. If you need me."
"Yeah, we can find a use for you," said Adam. "We might make you haul things, though."
"They make me haul things even though I'm just here hanging out," said Kris. "Actually, it's just Adam who makes me do stuff, but sometimes he gets his friends in on it too."
"So you're saying if I stick around he's going to make me do shit for him?" said Tommy. "I think I'd be okay with that. It's better than...a lot of stuff."
"Yeah, I guess it is," said Kris. "Come sit by me to watch them rehearse, and you guys can work stuff out after, if you want. Adam, it looks like Cassidy wants to get on stage."
"Just another typical day in drama club," said Adam, and grinned at them and took the stage.
*
"Are you coming to the game?" said Cale, stealing the hat off Kris's head and putting it on his own. Kris might've been shorter, but he was perfectly capable of swiping it back. And did.
"I might," said Kris. "I don't know."
"Aw, are you still pissed off?" said Cale.
Kris shrugged. "He's a good guy, you know. Life isn't a teen movie. You don't score points for being a jerk."
"You kind of do sometimes," said Cale, glancing towards the locker room as they passed by. "Look, I'm sorry, all right? Come to the game, we're going to kick some butt. And if you're really good, I'll introduce you to the new cheerleader." Kris just gave him a look. "Oh, right. But Katy's sweet, you'll-"
"What part of gay aren't you clear on?" said Kris.
"I was going to say you'll like her and you could be friends," said Cale. "I'm not a dick."
"Well, lately I wasn't sure," said Kris. "I need to use the bathroom before class."
"You need to use the bathroom, or you just want to be pissed off at me some more?"
"I just drank an entire bottle of water," said Kris. "I wouldn't advise getting in the way."
"Point taken," said Cale. "But you are coming to the game, right?"
Kris sighed. "Of course I'm coming to the game," he said. "I always come to the game."
"I knew it," said Cale, and gave him a bright smile right before Kris disappeared into the bathroom.
*
"Hello, gorgeous," said Adam, and Kris grinned and blushed and helped him with the table again without being asked. He knew purposeful flattery when he heard it. "I've got that Tommy guy in my lit class. I can't believe I didn't notice that before."
"Well, he kind of goes out of his way not to be noticed," said Kris. "Or he did, at first."
"I think maybe I wasn't paying a lot of attention," admitted Adam. "Brad's in that class with me."
"Oh, Brad," said Kris. "I'm amazed you even noticed there was a class going on around him."
"I kind of didn't," said Adam as they set the table down on the stage, with a little bit more finesse this time. "I think he's going to come back."
"Brad?"
"No, Tommy," said Adam. "To rehearsal. Not today, because he has an appointment, but maybe next time."
Kris didn't even know how Adam knew Tommy had an appointment today. Kris didn't know, and it kind of bugged him that Adam knew something about Tommy he didn't, even though they'd only talked a few times.
"What?" said Adam, spreading the tablecloth himself this time. Turned out it was a bed after all, though clearly not a comfortable one.
"Nothing," said Kris. "Nothing."
"Hm," said Adam, and Kris was going to ask him just what he meant by that but the rest of the cast was already assembling on stage and all Kris could do was get out of their way.
*
Kris met Andrew and Cale after practice, both of them freshly showered and a little exhausted, but exhausted in the way that said they played hard and had a great time doing it, not in a way that said they'd been beaten down for a couple of hours. Kris had known them both more than long enough to know the difference.
"I could eat an elephant," said Cale. "Or at the very least, a burger."
"You're going to spoil your dinner," said Kris.
"I could eat a burger and dinner," said Cale, as Kris spotted Tommy quietly slipping out a side door of the school, shoulders hunched and backpack over one shoulder. "Everyone in?"
"I could eat the other half of the elephant," agreed Andrew, while Kris just nodded. Because of course he was coming.
"Listen, I'll catch up with you, all right?" he said, though. "Get us a table."
"What, are you going to walk?" said Cale. "We'll wait for you."
"No really," said Kris, glancing over at Tommy again. "I'm good."
This time, Andrew and Cale figured out where Kris was looking, and Cale gave him an incredulous look. Andrew's look was more curious.
"Really?" said Cale.
"He's my friend," said Kris with a shrug, "so suck it up. I'll just be a minute, I just want to say hi. I can meet you there."
"We'll wait for you in the parking lot," said Andrew, and a second later Kris realized he was making a kind of generous compromise between waiting here for Kris, and leaving him behind to give him his privacy.
"Just a couple of minutes," said Kris again, giving him a nod, and jogged off to catch up with Tommy.
*
Kris sort of not-exactly knew where Tommy lived, so when he walked after school instead of getting a ride home and ended up at that same park again, he was sort of not-exactly hoping to run into Tommy. It took a while of hanging around and looking like he actually had some reason to be there, but he got what he was looking for in the end.
"Kris?" said Tommy, pausing on the sidewalk near where Kris had finally sat down on a park bench with his book.
"Hey," said Kris, all casual-like. "What's up?"
"I was just..." Tommy pointed in the direction that Kris assumed was home. "What are you doing here?"
"It's a nice place to just sit and read sometimes," said Kris. He really hoped his book wasn't upside down. "Quiet and stuff." His sentence was interrupted by the screams of small children running around nearby. "Um. Mostly."
"Right," said Tommy, finally smiling at him. "Studying?"
"Recreational," said Kris, closing his book and putting it away before Tommy could get a good look.
"Oh sorry," said Tommy. "I'm interrupting you."
"No!" said Kris quickly. "I mean, it's cool. I don't mind talking."
"Do you want to come over?" said Tommy, hitching his bag up on his shoulder. "My parents are expecting me home, but it would be cool. If you wanted to come for a while. Play some video games?"
"Cool," said Kris, and was up off the bench almost before Tommy finished talking, ready to go wherever he led. He didn't think too hard about just how eager he was to do it.
*
Tommy was already at the drama club's rehearsal when Kris got there, determined that he was just going to hang out this time and not be put to work. He'd been going to every rehearsal lately, though. Pretty soon they were going to think he was an actual part of the club.
"You again," said Adam, looking from Kris to Tommy and back again. "Don't you have any actual activities?"
"Not at the same time as yours," said Kris, giving him a shrug. "You seem to have been needing me a lot lately. I figured maybe you needed some big strong men around here."
"Oh yeah?" said Adam. "Then why didn't you send some?"
"Ooooh," said Tommy and looked up, and apparently he'd been listening the whole time. Kris almost facepalmed, because of all the people Adam could've done that in front of. Instead he just shot Adam a look, which didn't seem to have any effect on him whatsoever.
"Tommy, can I borrow you to go over the musical cues?" said Megan, and Tommy sort of looked at her and then back at Kris and Adam again before ducking his head and turning to follow.
"You guys are so dumb," said Adam when he was gone. "So dumb."
"Hey!" said Kris. "What's that supposed to-?"
Adam rolled his eyes and interrupted with an even louder, "So dumb, Kris. He likes you."
"It's just because I was just nice to hi-"
"He likes you. And don't even try to tell me you don't like him. Go for it."
"Adam...."
"I'm serious. Don't be stupid about this when you could have that," said Adam. "Pining is not fun."
"It's a little fun," Kris admitted after a moment, a little smile trying to break free.
"Okay, it's a little fun," said Adam, giving him a nudge, "but not forever."
Kris watched as Megan and Tommy went through the script. And as Tommy kept glancing up at them. And occasionally at Adam's knowing looks.
And when Tommy finally came back to join them, when the rehearsal was about to get started, Kris sat down with him in the front row and casually asked if he wanted to do something after rehearsal.
*
Tommy looked up warily when Cale and Andrew sat down with them in the cafeteria. And to be fair, Andrew was eyeing Tommy's tray like he was trying to resist the temptation to upend something, but he had to know by now that Kris wouldn't stand for that kind of crap. And that his own coke was sitting pretty precariously, should anyone try to mess with his tray in return.
"Hey," said Kris finally. "What's up?"
"Lunch," said Cale with a shrug, pulling a crumpled brown bag out of his backpack.
"Um, should I go?" said Tommy, though he didn't actually make any move to go. He didn't seem entirely certain of what he was supposed to go, whether it was go or ask them to go, or see if this truce was going anywhere.
"Kris likes you," said Cale, "so we like you too."
"I'd rather be liked on my own merits, thanks," snapped Tommy, and Kris smiled into his sandwich. When he wasn't cowed, he really did have a sharp tongue.
"Yeah, I don't think that's going to be a problem," said Cale. "Come on, you know we were just-" Kris elbowed him just to get him to shut up. "Kris thinks we're jerks."
"You are jerks."
Andrew shrugged. "Yeah, fair enough," he admitted.
They never actually apologized to him, but Kris figured it was sort of unsaid in the way they befriended him, and maybe leaving the past in the past was better for everyone.
"So what are you and your boyfriend doing after school?" said Cale, around a mouthful of ham and cheese.
"He's not my boyfriend," said Kris, watching Tommy out of the corner of his eye for his reaction. "We're just friends."
"I could be, though," said Tommy quietly, and he had to know that everyone could hear but the words were obviously just for Kris.
"Yeah," agreed Kris. "You could be."
"So maybe that's what you can do after school," said Cale, rolling his eyes at them, "and then when you're done with all the googly-eyed stuff, we can toss a ball around."
"Sure," said Kris and "yeah, okay," said Tommy, and even if his friends were sometimes douchebags, Kris figured that if you did what you knew was right, things worked out for you in the end.
Kris/Katy, KAB. 1985 words. PG-13. For yuppielawyer.
Mutually
Prompt: Long night on the tour bus. Katy, Kris, and the band. They play either "Truth or Dare" or "I Never".
"We're not going to need that many snacks," said Cale, but Kris just looked at him skeptically. "We've got enough there to feed twice as many people as we have right now. And if you say the extra is because Katy is riding with us tonight, I'm telling her you said that."
"I can hear you," said Katy, "and Kris is right. That might be enough. I know you guys, and you're way too keyed up to sleep."
"You know something I don't, don't you?" said Cale, looking from Katy to Kris and back again.
"I might," said Katy, "but I'll never tell."
"You say that now," said Cale, "but I have inside information. There are ways to make you talk."
"You don't know the ways to make me talk," said Katy confidently, "and if you do, me and Kris have to have one serious talk about what is and is not appropriate to share with his friends."
"Wow, okay, I don't know," said Cale, "but I'm really curious now."
Torres was the one with the pot, cracking a window in back to light up. Which Cale should've known was coming, but sometimes Cale made Kris feel like the worldly one. Kris wasn't in the mood but he just gave Katy's bottom a friendly pat as she joined him, indulging when she didn't get a lot of chances back home. Andrew joined them too, while Kris and Cale broke into a bag of Doritos and Ryland dug the chocolate out of the bottom of the bag.
"Don't stay up too late!" Lizzie called from her bunk before they closed the back lounge off, and Kris promised her nothing because somehow she would know he was lying. ("Somehow" likely being how bloodshot his eyes were in the morning when he showed up for his first interviews.) And even if she didn't, Kris would know he was lying, and that fell on the wrong side of his personal moral code.
Steve was riding in the van for this leg or he'd probably be in the back with Torres before any of the rest of them got there so that was everyone now, and with a little jolt and a slight sway they were on their way again, hours to go before their next destination and, as Katy said, too keyed up to sleep. Great shows did that. Heck, even not-so-great shows did that, though Kris tried not to let it get to him because down that road lay chronic sleep deprivation.
"We should do something," said Katy, face angled up to blow a faint stream of smoke out the window. The lounge still smelled of pot, but not as strongly as if they were hotboxing it.
"I thought we were doing something," said Andrew.
"What, this isn't enough for you?"
"I have something," said Ryland, and from the bag ostensibly holding chocolate, he produced a bottle of schnapps and dixie cups. "Classy, it is not, but there is enough to get everyone to admit their deepest, darkest secrets."
"I know you're holding a bottle of peachy goodness," said Cale, "but no can do, my friend."
Ryland was prepared, though, and tossed Cale a lime soda. "Less intoxicating, but you make do with what you've got," he said, "though I'm sure Torres is willing to provide alternatives if you're up for it."
"Not unless you want me to pass out face first on the couch," said Cale.
"Busted," said Katy, passing the joint to Andrew. "That's totally been our plan from the beginning. I guess we'll have to find a new one now."
"I can't beleve the call for college drinking games comes from the old guy," said Kris, shaking his head at him. "Feeling nostalgic?"
"I don't know," said Ryland. "You worried about what I might get you to admit?"
"That sounded like a challenge," said Kris, reaching past Cale for another Dorito. "You're on."
"Everyone in?" said Ryland, and he didn't even have to name the game, there was assent from all quarters, even the slightly stoned back-of-the-bus. Even Cale and his dodgy lime soda. A couple minutes later, pinching off the end of the joint, they even moved in closer again, within reach of the dixie cups anyway.
Torres tucked a freshly rolled joint into Cale's shirt pocket. "In case you change your mind," he said, and patted his pocket and left it there.
Katy had her hand in the Doritos before Ryland even called out the first challenge.
"I never," he said, very dramatically if not very loudly, considering the sleeping persons on the rest of the bus, "used-"
"Wait!" said Cale.
"No," said Ryland, "you should've gone to the bathroom before we started. You're going to have to wait now."
"No, not that," said Cale, though now that he mentioned it Kris kind of had to go. "We need boundaries. No sex questions."
"How can you play I never without sex questions?" said Torres. "I never is entirely about sex questions."
"It'll make it more interesting," said Andrew though. "You'll have to come up with new stuff to use. Challenge yourself."
"All right, all right," said Ryland. "Lemme think of something else, then. You guys probably hadn't done that anyway. Actually, I'm not sure anyone I know has done that, but I live in hope that one day I'll find someone who has."
"Someone who's what?" said Cale.
"Oh no, you're the one who called no sex, you're just going to have to wonder," said Ryland. "Okay. I've never been to Rwanda."
"Oh, hey," said Katy. "That's not fair!"
"That's totally fair," argued Andrew. "In fact, it's sort of the point of the game. Drink up."
"As long as this whole game doesn't turn into a geography lesson," said Torres. "Is it my turn? I'm next to you, sort of. It's my turn."
"You're not even close to next to me," said Ryland, "but I'm assuming you have something good so go for it."
"I never...smoked a joint," he said, then cracked up and lifted his glass and drank it. "You always need one that everyone drinks to."
"Yeah, but are you sure everyone drinks to- yeah, never mind," said Cale and threw his drink back along with the rest of them. Maybe he wasn't tonight-yet-but there had been other nights. Many other nights. "Katy?"
"Right," said Katy, sucking peach schnapps off her thumb. Not that Kris was watching or anything. "I never...I don't know! This is hard! Okay, okay, I never...played in a rock band!"
"Okay, now that's cheating," grumbled Andrew.
"You know, actually," said Kris, "you've played Rock Band."
"That doesn't count!"
"I think that counts," said Kris.
"That totally counts," said Cale. "And by the way, this soda is terrible."
"If it was good soda, it wouldn't be any good for this game, would it?" said Ryland. "You'd just drink it. And Rock Band totally counts."
Katy huffed out a sigh, but Kris just grinned at her as she drank up with the rest of them. It was actually a pretty easy sell, but she was going to get him back for that one. Maybe not tonight, though. Maybe when she was a little more sober.
"Andrew," said Torres, giving him a nudge. "You're up."
"I've never been in handcuffs," said Andrew, putting his palm over his cup and making a show of not drinking.
"Hey, I thought we said no sex questions!" said Katy. Kris looked at her. So did everyone else.
Andrew was the one who started laughing. "That's not a sex question," he said.
"Oh," said Katy, while Kris facepalmed. "Right."
"I think you have some drinking to do, missy," said Torres, lifting her glass and handing it to her. "Or does Kris have some drinking to do?"
Katy giggled. Kris sighed. They both lifted their cups and threw them back.
At least they were in good company, because Ryland and Torres both drank, and a moment later Cale did too mumbling something about, "It was a dare," that Kris didn't catch the rest of. He did assume that it had nothing to do with sex. Unlike the other two.
"I didn't mean to bust us!" said Katy, giggling again as she wiped the corner of her mouth with her thumb. "But we would've been busted anyway when we drank, right?"
"Yeah, but they wouldn't have known why," said Kris, shaking his head. But these were his guys. And for all that Cale was the one to call for no sex questions, he was the only one who already knew about the handcuffs adventure. "Am I up?"
"You just want to move on from the handcuffs as quickly as possible," said Andrew. "I want to hear this story."
"I haven't had nearly enough to drink yet to share that with you," said Kris. "I'm not sure there's enough in that bottle."
"You should've just said it was boring," said Ryland, "now he's going to ask you at every opportunity. And yes, you're up."
"Right," said Kris, and he was definitely not taking one for the team here. No way was he calling something he'd have to drink to. "I've never seen Spinal Tap."
"Aw, come on, everyone can't say stuff we all have to drink to," said Torres.
"No, seriously, I haven't," said Kris. "I'm told it's a gaping hole in my musical education."
"I've failed you," said Cale, hanging his head in mock shame. "I can't believe how thoroughly I've failed you. This needs to be remedied as soon as possible. We have a copy on the bus, right?"
"We must," said Ryland, immediately rummaging through their DVDs to try to find it. It was early enough in the tour that they hadn't watched everything five times yet, but Kris kind of thought that if it was there, he would've remembered it. "We don't."
"Not possible," said Torres, sliding down off the bench and down onto the floor to go through them all again. "We must. That would be so wrong."
"A firing offense," said Andrew. "Well, maybe not a firing offense."
"Yeah, you try to fire Lizzie and I'll...actually, not having Lizzie here would be punishment enough, which is kind of the point," said Kris. "Is it really that big of a deal?"
"Wait, are we still playing or not?" said Katy. Kris wasn't entirely sure, and no one else answered her. "Well, I'm just going to drink anyway." And she just threw back her shot just like that. When she saw Kris looking at her, she just smiled. "What? You know how much I like peach."
The other guys seemed to be very intent on their search, even moving it to the front of the bus, so Kris just joined Katy on the couch at the back. "You do like peach," he agreed, to the sound of something falling inside the cabinet. It was possible this search was ill-advised on a moving bus in the middle of the night. Lizzie was going to bust them any moment now.
"You like peach too," said Katy, licking her fingertips again, though Kris was pretty sure they weren't sticky this time. "You especially like peach when it's on me."
"Now might not be the time-"
"Just a kiss," said Katy, leaning over and pressing her lips to his. And sure enough, she definitely tasted like peach. Kris made a thorough examination.
The guys were now talking about what they could possibly watch in place of Spinal Tap, since it really was missing from their DVD collection, and how to get themselves a copy as soon as possible, so Kris figured the game really was over already. Not that he minded too much, he just cuddled with Katy on the back seat and enjoyed where he was and what he was doing and especially-especially-that at the moment they were doing it together.
Adam/Brad. 1245 words. PG-13. For emylina.
Like Burning
Prompt: Adam breaks up with his boyfriend (OMC) and the boyfriend decides to go to the press with made up stories about how horrible and abusive Adam was. Adam feels very alone, and Brad steps in to comfort and stand beside Adam because he knows Adam would never do the things he is being accused of doing.
Adam refuses to talk to the press, which is the damning part. It's maybe the stupidest decision he's ever made-which considering some of the things he's done is saying a lot-but he's too paralyzed to do anything else. It's not just that he doesn't want to talk to him, it's that he can't, he really can't. He doesn't think he can talk to anyone.
People call and message and knock and Adam ignores them all, lets his publicist handle it (or not handle it, as the case may be), sneaks out in the middle of the night and heads north up the coast. Heads north till he can't even see straight, somewhere in Oregon he thinks based on the last sign he noticed and the last gas station he stopped at.
He looks so wrecked that nobody even bats an eye at him when he checks into a motel under a false name with enough provisions that he doesn't need to go out for a while, not for food, not for anything. He's all over the news, and the story makes everything else they've ever said about him seem like puppies and rainbows.
Adam didn't lay a hand on Nate. Not one single hand.
But that's not the story people want to hear, and it's not the story Nate's telling. Adam fell in love, head over heels love, and Nate...Nate had other ideas. Ideas that involved fame, money, and Adam putting up and shutting up. But Adam's nobody's pawn, not after all the fights he's already fought to get where he is.
Okay, maybe that was the stupidest decision he's ever made. Only it doesn't feel stupid. Even now it feels like maybe the one right thing. Even if he loses everything, at least he has his pride and his integrity. Even if everyone else in the world thinks he hits his boyfriend.
His pride, his integrity, and a heart so broken it feels like it's never going to stop hurting.
He doesn't even think it's so much losing Nate as the sheer betrayal of it all. Adam's been burned before, and Adam doesn't trust easily but Adam wanted to be in love, he wanted that someone who could take him the way he was and give him everything he needed, and for a little while he thought he had that. Now he not only doesn't have that, but he feels like he's lost so much more. All because when he's blinded by love he can't tell greed from enthusiasm.
He unplugs the television, turns off his phone, and does nothing but read books for two days. Read books and think entirely too much and ignore the rumblings in his stomach because he can't even distinguish grief and humiliation from hunger right now.
After lunch on the third day, or after lunchtime because Adam replaced lunch with a couple shots of vodka, there's a knock at his door. He thinks it's housekeeping, or someone to fix the rattle in the air conditioner, or maybe something to do with his credit card, but it's none of those things. It's Brad, who just takes one look at him and pushes his way inside.
"You're such an idiot," says Brad. "You haven't even called your mother. And no, texting her to tell her you're fine does not count. She's worried sick."
"What are you doing here?" says Adam. "How did you even find me?"
"I'm amazing, that's how I found you," says Brad. "What are you thinking, Adam? Just tell them what happened. Skipping town doesn't exactly look good."
"I don't care," says Adam, but when he says it he finds that he does care. He actually cares a lot. And instead of sad and broken he feels angry. Finally. "Are the police looking for me?"
"No," says Brad.
"What?"
"Well, okay, they probably need to talk to you just for procedure," says Brad. "But there's not a manhunt or anything. They've already caught that bastard ex-boyfroend of yours in half a dozen other lies, Adam. If you don't pop up on the radar soon, they're going to think he killed you or something."
"I've been in touch with Lane. Is that how you found me?"
"She doesn't know where you are either," says Brad. "She thinks you're in Germany, actually. Did you give her that idea?"
He actually didn't, though it's probably as good a guess as any. But leaving the country would've gotten him a whole lot more attention, what with the airport and the passport and the giving people an opportunity to see him out in the wild.
"I loved him."
"Yeah, I figured that," says Brad. "You love hard. He didn't deserve that. He didn't earn that from you."
"Love doesn't have to be earned," says Adam. "It's just given. And I did."
"I know," says Brad, a little more softly. "I know how you love, Adam. It's one of your best qualities."
"What if that was my last chance?" says Adam, almost matter-of-factly, the fear beneath the betrayal that he hasn't even voiced to himself before now. Hasn't even put the words together in the right order to figure it out. "After everything he said...."
"You don't mean that," says Brad.
"Yes, I do."
"Okay, you mean that, but you won't mean it forever," says Brad, "because you're going to go home again, and heartbreak ends, and this too shall pass. And one day you're going to wake up in the morning and realize that you're Adam Fucking Lambert and someone will love you again."
"Promise?" says Adam, and he says it wryly even though he doesn't mean to because this is Brad saying it to him, and if there's anyone who knows that something comes after breaking up with Adam Lambert, for both of them, it's Brad.
"I don't have to promise," says Brad, "it's just the truth. It hurts so badly right now you can't even see how many people already care about you because it's too easy to believe that Nate can hurt other people the way he hurt you, that he can betray them the way he betrayed you, but he can't, and he hasn't. And pretty soon you're going to see that."
Adam sighs, loud and heavy, but there's something lighter about him now too, just hearing that. Not light, because there's too much sitting on his shoulders right now, but lighter. Like he can breathe again.
"I'm not ready to go back yet," he says. "It's too much."
"Then just make some calls," says Brad.
"Can't you?"
"Yes," says Brad, "but I'm going to make you do it anyway, because you need to."
"Tough love?"
"You know it," says Brad. "And maybe a little less tough love to go with it afterwards, but only after you make some calls. After all, I've got to give you something to look forward to."
"So you're going to stay?"
"Whether you like it or not," says Brad. "I'm not that easy to get rid of."
"Don't I know it," says Adam, but maybe he didn't know it until now. Maybe he didn't know it until his world all came crashing down around him and there Brad was in the wreckage, just like he's always been there. Adam would never take him for granted, but after everything they've weathered together, maybe it's something to think about.
Maybe, once he's weathered this one, it's something to think about a lot.
And a pair of Kradam to finish it off.