Something Like This ~ Kradam oneshot
Title: Something Like This
Rating: PG
Pairing: adam/kris
Summary: Why does it always seem to take something like this to make you admit how you feel?
Warning: angst, darkfic
Disclaimer: I do not own anyone involved.
~~ ☼ ~~
“Really Kris, you don’t have to hang around. I can grab a taxi home.”
“I’ll wait.”
“You sure? Could be another hour?”
“That’s fine, gives me a chance to unwind before getting behind the wheel.”
“You sure?”
“Are you trying to get rid of me?” he laughed.
“Why on earth would I do that? I’ll try hurry things along.”
“Don’t you dare. If it’s not perfect, you’ll drive yourself crazy. Get it right.”
“Adam … we’re ready.”
“Coming Keith.”
With a wave, Adam got back to the sound engineer and donned headphones, listening to tracks he’d laid that afternoon. As the music played, he stole glances at his best friend, feet curled up under his ass, sipping a cola and looking through an old issue of Rolling Stone.
Both men had been recording at their label all day, arriving together. Adam’s car had gone in for an overhaul yesterday and a delay in parts left him without transportation. He could have called his label to arrange a car for him but when Kris volunteered, since they were going the same way, Adam jumped at the chance.
Anytime he spent with Kris Allen was gold.
Kris knew Adam didn’t really want him to leave … he was just trying to be thoughtful. He watched intently how Adam concentrated and expressed his ideas.
Watching that man work was a thing of beauty.
Since he’d moved to LA, Kris and Adam had been nearly inseparable, shopping together, eating together, doing your normal everyday things together. When they hit red carpets, however, they went alone. Adam said it was ‘work’ and it wasn’t far to have a guest with him who’d be ignored all night as he schmoozed and looked pretty for the camera.
The truth was if they’d appeared together, there would have been talk that they were … together. They’d never really talked about it, although for Kris, the idea both scared and delighted him. As far as the public was concerned, he got divorced because he and his wife were on different career paths and had grown apart, though remained good friends. Actually, he’d finally accepted that he was gay, something Katy had apparently been aware of for some time. Adam knew Kris was gay and made it his mission to help him get acquainted with his new life.
Kris would rather get acquainted with Adam.
~~ ☼ ~~
It was around 12:30am when Adam finally wrapped up his day’s … and night’s … work. True to his word, Kris had waited for him, even if he fell asleep. Aside from a few security officers spread out around the vast building, the boys and Adam’s sound engineer were the only people in the complex. Downstairs in the underground parking garage they said they’re goodbyes. Kris was parked at the back and the pair walked in silence, the only sounds dueling yawns.
About 20 feet from the car, a van came out of nowhere, pulled beside them and the back door flew open. Four men with masks over their faces jumped out and grabbed the unsuspecting men. Kris was no match against the two attackers clamped onto his arms. He felt a prick in his neck and his knees gave way. The two attackers let him fall to the concrete and hurried to help the other men. Through foggy eyes, Kris watched the four try to tame their other victim. Adam was kicking and screaming and certainly not going without a fight. One guy sucker punched Adam in the stomach, causing him to double over. Finally getting control, they dragged him into the van and slammed the doors shut as the vehicle tore away towards the exit.
Inside the speeding van, the singer was trussed up and a needle jabbed him in the neck just as it had Kris. Just like Kris, his hearing went funny, the voices slow and stretched and terrifying. As unconsciousness took over, Adam’s last thoughts were of the man left behind.
Kris lay immobile on the concrete. Trying to move, he crawled a few inches, calling for Adam, until he fell into darkness.
~~ ☼ ~~
He was warm and the bed was soft … he didn’t want to get up. Adam kept him out late and he really didn’t feeling like laying down any tracks today. Smacking his lips, he grumbled and rolled onto his side.
“He’s waking up, thank God. Kris … Kris … come on buddy, you gotta wake up!”
The sleepy man shook his head and snuggled more under the blankets.
“Leave me alone … don’t need … go in til noon,” he mumbled.
A strong shake of his shoulder made his head spin.
“Kris! You have to wake up! Adam’s life could depend on you!”
Adam?
The van … the needle … Adam screaming his name …
Moving onto his back, he rubbed his eyes and took in his surroundings. He was in a hospital room, his band mates Cale and Chris standing by his bed and his assistant manager across the room, talking quickly into his cell.
“What … how’d I … the van … those guys took …,” he tried to jump out of bed but his friends gently held him down, “Adam! I have to find Adam!”
“Kris! Calm down, calm down, the police are on it,” Cale assured him.
On cue, his door opened and a plain dressed detective entered with a uniformed officer. Cale and Chris moved away from the bed to let the professionals take over. They asked Kris what he remembered of the attack. There had been a security camera on them in the parking garage but the angle of the van blocked what went down after it stopped. The video showed Adam being thrown into the back of the van and then it speeding away, revealing a passed out Kris on the concrete. Apparently, they’d injected him with a strong sedative.
Kris didn’t have much to tell them, it had happened so fast.
“Why would anyone do this?” he asked shakily, the drugs in his system still affecting him.
“Money,” the detective replied frankly. “Half an hour after he was abducted, a ransom demand was made.”
“Half an hour? How long have I been knocked out?”
“About two.”
Two hours … what could have happened to Adam in two fucking hours?
~~ ☼ ~~
Cold … he was so cold.
Painfully, he opened his eyes to darkness, the only light a teasing sliver slashed across the floor from under a door. He tried to stretch and found his hands and ankles bound with rope. He tried to scream but he was gagged. The assholes had taken his leather jacket - it had been unusually cold that night ~ and his boots, leaving him barefoot and in a thin short sleeved shirt on a freezing dirt floor.
Despite the physical pain he was in, his heart hurt more, recalling Kris being jumped and injected with something. Adam had screamed out for him as his friend sank to the ground. He prayed they’d given him the same thing they shot him full off because that meant Kris was alive.
Closing his eyes, he pictured Kris curled up like a puppy in that overstuffed chair a few hours ago. Adam was trying to hurry up and probably would have finished earlier if he hadn’t kept stealing glimpses of him, imaging Kris curled up in bed like that beside him.
Why the fuck didn’t he ever tell Kris how he felt?
Adam was the first person Kris told he was gay and when he moved out to Los Angeles permanently, Adam made it his mission to help him through this major life change. He answered all his questions and concerns, showed him around, took him to clubs where he wouldn’t be nervous dancing with another man. That was funny, cause Kris really didn’t dance, he just enjoyed listening to the music more than anything. Adam had just hoped if the urge to dance did strike, Kris would have asked him.
Since they’d met, Kris was well aware Adam had had a crush on him. Now that he was out, Adam should have been the first to step up and ask him on a date. His only excuse was he didn’t want to risk loosing his friendship … he couldn’t handle that.
Tears streaked down his cheeks, making a puddle of mud under his temple. Now that fear of loosing him might actually come true.
~~ ☼ ~~
“When are we going to hear something?!” Kris demanded, pacing around their CEO’s office, waiting with Adam’s family and their friends for word from the SWAT team.
The sun was rising. It had been almost five hours since the kidnapping. The ransom demand had been made thirty minutes after the abduction and it had taken time for the money to be gathered and then an hour ago the call came with orders on where to bring the money. Neil was told to make the drop but as Kris looked across the room at the real Neil, he prayed having a cop take his place hadn’t been a mistake, even with a posse of armed officers discreetly in tow.
“Kris … come on, sit. Yelling and making yourself crazy isn’t going to help him,” Cale quietly said, leading him to a couch.
The distraught man let himself be seated and he leaned into his friend’s side, resting his head on his shoulder.
“I can’t loose him Cale … I just can’t.”
~~ ☼ ~~
Time passed … not in minutes or hours … but in the way the chill settled into his bones, his muscles, his mind.
The cold has invaded his bare feet and hands, leaving them numb. Adam wasn’t sure about anything right now, except that his body quaked with violent shivers and his heart ached. Keeping his eyes open was hard right now. Instead, he closed them and let his frozen brain drift, making up a dream he wished were reality ….
… hot sunlight on a tropical island … the ocean and sand sparkling under the glare … a man lying beside him … holding his hand … kissing his shoulder … cuddling on a lounger for two …
“Can’t imagine my life without you,” Adam declared tenderly, cupping the tanned, beautiful fan.
“Me neither … I love you.”
His heart pounded and he brushed their lips together.
“I love you too K-….”
The pounding became a bang. Adam’s eyes snapped open and he was blinded by the white light. He tried to sit up but his body was so heavy. Out of nowhere, two sets of hands grabbed him and dragged him away.
~~ ☼ ~~
Kris paced around the ER entrance, unable to sit still while they waited and waited and waited. Throngs of paparazzi and news agencies filled the parking lot, looking for that million dollar picture of rock star Adam Lambert after his attack. The label’s PR was in talks with the police department about a press conference, a move designed to get the media away from the hospital and everyone in it.
Cale returned with coffee for everyone. They’d been up all night and half the morning, waiting on the police. Finally, around 8:00am, word reached them that the kidnappers had been caught and Adam had been rescued. An ambulance was bringing him in and they all rushed to the hospital in a flurry of cars and taxis, arriving before Adam. It was now 9:30 and they were still waiting.
A blare of sirens jolted everyone to their feet and they crowded around the automatic doors, back far enough to let the EMTs bring in the stretcher but close enough to assure themselves he was okay.
A gurney was rushed through and all they could see was blood staining the covers. Leila nearly fainted into her ex-husband’s arms and Kris froze, thinking if he didn’t move, this wasn’t happening. Tommy was on top of the situation and ran after the gurney. Minutes later, he returned, assuring them all it wasn’t Adam, just another poor soul.
Louder sirens filled the air, a mix of police cars and an ambulance. Officers got out first, lining the entrance to the ER and keeping the path open as another gurney was brought through. On this one, the person strapped in had their face covered. Again, panic rattled Kris’ bones until he realized if Adam were … well, the sirens wouldn’t have been going and he wouldn’t have been brought here.
The gurney came through the doors and rounded a corner, keeping it out of camera shot. As soon as the doors shut, a nurse moved the sheet and blue eyes, open and very much alive, looked around. Adam was still confused though he was pretty sure he was safe now.
After he’d been dragged out of his prison, he was thrown back in the van and blindfolded. Eventually, they came to a stop and the kidnappers left him alone in the back. There were voices, then gunshots, then a cold breeze as the door was opened and others clamored in. The blindfold came off and the glint of badges shone in the multiple flashlights that zipped through the darkness like spotlights at a premiere.
The rest was a blur until the sheet came off his face and he found himself surrounded by his parents and brother and a few close friends. Willing his facial muscles to move, he let out a shaky ‘Hi’ before he was buried under a tangle of hugs. The doctor let that continue for a minute then urged them to step back and let them check Adam out. Once he was settled in his room the reunion could continue.
As the gurney rolled away, Adam looked frantically around hips and butts until he found who he was looking for. Kris was keeping his distance but he’d been watching, letting the man’s family assure themselves he was alright. The moment their eyes locked, Kris smiled and whispered, ‘Adam’. In turn, Adam smiled as best he could and mouthed, ‘Kris’.
~~ ☼ ~~
Kris waited anxiously outside the room. After Adam was examined, they’d brought him up to a private room and while the interns and nurses got him settled, the doctor shared the good news with the concerned group: aside from moderate hypothermia and abrasions on his wrists and ankles from being tied up, he was fine and would make a complete recovery. Eber, Leila and Neil went to see him first but it wasn’t long before the detective showed up to get Adam’s statement. Kris tried to get the man to wait but he declared they were holding a press conference and needed Adam’s statement before they did so.
The detective came out first and half an hour later, Adam’s family reappeared. The friends surged towards the door and skidded into each other when Eber raised a hand like a traffic cop.
“Hold on there folks. Our son is really tired and even though he’d love to see all of you, he’s not ready to see you all at once.”
The disappointment was obvious, even though they understood.
“Can we go in small groups?” Ashley asked.
“After breakfast,” Neil declared, rubbing his stomach, “I don’t know about you guys but I’m starving.”
Kris looked at the closed door and sighed, forcing himself to wait a little longer. The crowd flowed towards the elevators but Leila held Kris back.
“He wants to see you,” she told him softly.
“I want to see him too.”
“He wants to see you now.”
“He …? Oh!”
Leila gave him a warm hug and kiss on the cheek.
“We’ll keep the others away for an hour. Make the most of the time you have.”
Adam was sitting up, awkwardly holding a cup of steaming tea and sipping it through a straw. The moment the door opened and Kris stepped in, he set it down on the rolling table and nudged it aside. They looked at each other, grinning like fools, neither one knowing what to say.
“So … ummm … how you feeling?” Kris asked slowly, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Well, I don’t have to buy any blue lip gloss or nail polish for a while,” Adam replied nonchalantly, wiggling his nails, “and I got a groovy new set of cuff bracelets,” he added, showing off the gauze bandages around his wrist, “even got a matching pair for my ankles. All in all, I’m not doing too bad.”
Kris half smiled, uncomfortable with his friend’s levity. The guy had been drugged, kidnapped and nearly frozen to death. Joking about his ‘new look’ seemed out of place.
Adam noticed, wishing Kris wouldn’t look like he was about to cry cause the minute one tear falls, Adam was going to loose it too.
“Seriously Kris, I’m okay. My brains a little muddled from the cold, my skin is tingling and it hurts like a bitch and I’m buried under enough heating pads and electric blankets to give me a tan. But I’m alive … we’re both alive. How are you?”
“Me? I’m great … I mean, it wasn’t fun being drugged….”
“Tell me about it.”
“… but the worst … the worst was knowing you were in trouble and there was nothing I could do to help you.”
“Baby … come here.”
The gentle command and the endearment wrapped Kris in a warm blanket as he moved to Adam’s side. His dearest friend took his hand, holding it to his chest.
“You did help,” Adam explained softly, “When I was afraid, I thought of you … or getting back to you. I realized that I’ve been an idiot. It shouldn’t have taken something like this to make me admit my feelings for you.”
“Your feelings?”
“Let me get this out Kris. I’ve been afraid if I said anything, I’d ruin what we have already … a strong friendship. I want more than a friendship. Kris … Kris I’m in love with you. I have been since we met.”
“Adam ….”
“I know, I know, it was a crush at first but its become so much more. If I’d died without telling you, I’d never forgive myself.”
Kris listened quietly. He wanted to blurt out that he loved him too and the thought of being without him was too much to handle but a lump of emotion in his throat left him speechless. Instead, he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to the bluish lips.
Adam’s initial reaction was nothing … he was too stunned that Kris was kissing him for real, not a teasing peck like they’d exchanged every so often in fun. When he felt Kris falter, probably thinking he’d made the biggest mistake of his life, Adam gently ran his fingers through the soft brown hair and joined in, sealing the deal.
Rating: PG
Pairing: adam/kris
Summary: Why does it always seem to take something like this to make you admit how you feel?
Warning: angst, darkfic
Disclaimer: I do not own anyone involved.
~~ ☼ ~~
“Really Kris, you don’t have to hang around. I can grab a taxi home.”
“I’ll wait.”
“You sure? Could be another hour?”
“That’s fine, gives me a chance to unwind before getting behind the wheel.”
“You sure?”
“Are you trying to get rid of me?” he laughed.
“Why on earth would I do that? I’ll try hurry things along.”
“Don’t you dare. If it’s not perfect, you’ll drive yourself crazy. Get it right.”
“Adam … we’re ready.”
“Coming Keith.”
With a wave, Adam got back to the sound engineer and donned headphones, listening to tracks he’d laid that afternoon. As the music played, he stole glances at his best friend, feet curled up under his ass, sipping a cola and looking through an old issue of Rolling Stone.
Both men had been recording at their label all day, arriving together. Adam’s car had gone in for an overhaul yesterday and a delay in parts left him without transportation. He could have called his label to arrange a car for him but when Kris volunteered, since they were going the same way, Adam jumped at the chance.
Anytime he spent with Kris Allen was gold.
Kris knew Adam didn’t really want him to leave … he was just trying to be thoughtful. He watched intently how Adam concentrated and expressed his ideas.
Watching that man work was a thing of beauty.
Since he’d moved to LA, Kris and Adam had been nearly inseparable, shopping together, eating together, doing your normal everyday things together. When they hit red carpets, however, they went alone. Adam said it was ‘work’ and it wasn’t far to have a guest with him who’d be ignored all night as he schmoozed and looked pretty for the camera.
The truth was if they’d appeared together, there would have been talk that they were … together. They’d never really talked about it, although for Kris, the idea both scared and delighted him. As far as the public was concerned, he got divorced because he and his wife were on different career paths and had grown apart, though remained good friends. Actually, he’d finally accepted that he was gay, something Katy had apparently been aware of for some time. Adam knew Kris was gay and made it his mission to help him get acquainted with his new life.
Kris would rather get acquainted with Adam.
~~ ☼ ~~
It was around 12:30am when Adam finally wrapped up his day’s … and night’s … work. True to his word, Kris had waited for him, even if he fell asleep. Aside from a few security officers spread out around the vast building, the boys and Adam’s sound engineer were the only people in the complex. Downstairs in the underground parking garage they said they’re goodbyes. Kris was parked at the back and the pair walked in silence, the only sounds dueling yawns.
About 20 feet from the car, a van came out of nowhere, pulled beside them and the back door flew open. Four men with masks over their faces jumped out and grabbed the unsuspecting men. Kris was no match against the two attackers clamped onto his arms. He felt a prick in his neck and his knees gave way. The two attackers let him fall to the concrete and hurried to help the other men. Through foggy eyes, Kris watched the four try to tame their other victim. Adam was kicking and screaming and certainly not going without a fight. One guy sucker punched Adam in the stomach, causing him to double over. Finally getting control, they dragged him into the van and slammed the doors shut as the vehicle tore away towards the exit.
Inside the speeding van, the singer was trussed up and a needle jabbed him in the neck just as it had Kris. Just like Kris, his hearing went funny, the voices slow and stretched and terrifying. As unconsciousness took over, Adam’s last thoughts were of the man left behind.
Kris lay immobile on the concrete. Trying to move, he crawled a few inches, calling for Adam, until he fell into darkness.
~~ ☼ ~~
He was warm and the bed was soft … he didn’t want to get up. Adam kept him out late and he really didn’t feeling like laying down any tracks today. Smacking his lips, he grumbled and rolled onto his side.
“He’s waking up, thank God. Kris … Kris … come on buddy, you gotta wake up!”
The sleepy man shook his head and snuggled more under the blankets.
“Leave me alone … don’t need … go in til noon,” he mumbled.
A strong shake of his shoulder made his head spin.
“Kris! You have to wake up! Adam’s life could depend on you!”
Adam?
The van … the needle … Adam screaming his name …
Moving onto his back, he rubbed his eyes and took in his surroundings. He was in a hospital room, his band mates Cale and Chris standing by his bed and his assistant manager across the room, talking quickly into his cell.
“What … how’d I … the van … those guys took …,” he tried to jump out of bed but his friends gently held him down, “Adam! I have to find Adam!”
“Kris! Calm down, calm down, the police are on it,” Cale assured him.
On cue, his door opened and a plain dressed detective entered with a uniformed officer. Cale and Chris moved away from the bed to let the professionals take over. They asked Kris what he remembered of the attack. There had been a security camera on them in the parking garage but the angle of the van blocked what went down after it stopped. The video showed Adam being thrown into the back of the van and then it speeding away, revealing a passed out Kris on the concrete. Apparently, they’d injected him with a strong sedative.
Kris didn’t have much to tell them, it had happened so fast.
“Why would anyone do this?” he asked shakily, the drugs in his system still affecting him.
“Money,” the detective replied frankly. “Half an hour after he was abducted, a ransom demand was made.”
“Half an hour? How long have I been knocked out?”
“About two.”
Two hours … what could have happened to Adam in two fucking hours?
~~ ☼ ~~
Cold … he was so cold.
Painfully, he opened his eyes to darkness, the only light a teasing sliver slashed across the floor from under a door. He tried to stretch and found his hands and ankles bound with rope. He tried to scream but he was gagged. The assholes had taken his leather jacket - it had been unusually cold that night ~ and his boots, leaving him barefoot and in a thin short sleeved shirt on a freezing dirt floor.
Despite the physical pain he was in, his heart hurt more, recalling Kris being jumped and injected with something. Adam had screamed out for him as his friend sank to the ground. He prayed they’d given him the same thing they shot him full off because that meant Kris was alive.
Closing his eyes, he pictured Kris curled up like a puppy in that overstuffed chair a few hours ago. Adam was trying to hurry up and probably would have finished earlier if he hadn’t kept stealing glimpses of him, imaging Kris curled up in bed like that beside him.
Why the fuck didn’t he ever tell Kris how he felt?
Adam was the first person Kris told he was gay and when he moved out to Los Angeles permanently, Adam made it his mission to help him through this major life change. He answered all his questions and concerns, showed him around, took him to clubs where he wouldn’t be nervous dancing with another man. That was funny, cause Kris really didn’t dance, he just enjoyed listening to the music more than anything. Adam had just hoped if the urge to dance did strike, Kris would have asked him.
Since they’d met, Kris was well aware Adam had had a crush on him. Now that he was out, Adam should have been the first to step up and ask him on a date. His only excuse was he didn’t want to risk loosing his friendship … he couldn’t handle that.
Tears streaked down his cheeks, making a puddle of mud under his temple. Now that fear of loosing him might actually come true.
~~ ☼ ~~
“When are we going to hear something?!” Kris demanded, pacing around their CEO’s office, waiting with Adam’s family and their friends for word from the SWAT team.
The sun was rising. It had been almost five hours since the kidnapping. The ransom demand had been made thirty minutes after the abduction and it had taken time for the money to be gathered and then an hour ago the call came with orders on where to bring the money. Neil was told to make the drop but as Kris looked across the room at the real Neil, he prayed having a cop take his place hadn’t been a mistake, even with a posse of armed officers discreetly in tow.
“Kris … come on, sit. Yelling and making yourself crazy isn’t going to help him,” Cale quietly said, leading him to a couch.
The distraught man let himself be seated and he leaned into his friend’s side, resting his head on his shoulder.
“I can’t loose him Cale … I just can’t.”
~~ ☼ ~~
Time passed … not in minutes or hours … but in the way the chill settled into his bones, his muscles, his mind.
The cold has invaded his bare feet and hands, leaving them numb. Adam wasn’t sure about anything right now, except that his body quaked with violent shivers and his heart ached. Keeping his eyes open was hard right now. Instead, he closed them and let his frozen brain drift, making up a dream he wished were reality ….
… hot sunlight on a tropical island … the ocean and sand sparkling under the glare … a man lying beside him … holding his hand … kissing his shoulder … cuddling on a lounger for two …
“Can’t imagine my life without you,” Adam declared tenderly, cupping the tanned, beautiful fan.
“Me neither … I love you.”
His heart pounded and he brushed their lips together.
“I love you too K-….”
The pounding became a bang. Adam’s eyes snapped open and he was blinded by the white light. He tried to sit up but his body was so heavy. Out of nowhere, two sets of hands grabbed him and dragged him away.
~~ ☼ ~~
Kris paced around the ER entrance, unable to sit still while they waited and waited and waited. Throngs of paparazzi and news agencies filled the parking lot, looking for that million dollar picture of rock star Adam Lambert after his attack. The label’s PR was in talks with the police department about a press conference, a move designed to get the media away from the hospital and everyone in it.
Cale returned with coffee for everyone. They’d been up all night and half the morning, waiting on the police. Finally, around 8:00am, word reached them that the kidnappers had been caught and Adam had been rescued. An ambulance was bringing him in and they all rushed to the hospital in a flurry of cars and taxis, arriving before Adam. It was now 9:30 and they were still waiting.
A blare of sirens jolted everyone to their feet and they crowded around the automatic doors, back far enough to let the EMTs bring in the stretcher but close enough to assure themselves he was okay.
A gurney was rushed through and all they could see was blood staining the covers. Leila nearly fainted into her ex-husband’s arms and Kris froze, thinking if he didn’t move, this wasn’t happening. Tommy was on top of the situation and ran after the gurney. Minutes later, he returned, assuring them all it wasn’t Adam, just another poor soul.
Louder sirens filled the air, a mix of police cars and an ambulance. Officers got out first, lining the entrance to the ER and keeping the path open as another gurney was brought through. On this one, the person strapped in had their face covered. Again, panic rattled Kris’ bones until he realized if Adam were … well, the sirens wouldn’t have been going and he wouldn’t have been brought here.
The gurney came through the doors and rounded a corner, keeping it out of camera shot. As soon as the doors shut, a nurse moved the sheet and blue eyes, open and very much alive, looked around. Adam was still confused though he was pretty sure he was safe now.
After he’d been dragged out of his prison, he was thrown back in the van and blindfolded. Eventually, they came to a stop and the kidnappers left him alone in the back. There were voices, then gunshots, then a cold breeze as the door was opened and others clamored in. The blindfold came off and the glint of badges shone in the multiple flashlights that zipped through the darkness like spotlights at a premiere.
The rest was a blur until the sheet came off his face and he found himself surrounded by his parents and brother and a few close friends. Willing his facial muscles to move, he let out a shaky ‘Hi’ before he was buried under a tangle of hugs. The doctor let that continue for a minute then urged them to step back and let them check Adam out. Once he was settled in his room the reunion could continue.
As the gurney rolled away, Adam looked frantically around hips and butts until he found who he was looking for. Kris was keeping his distance but he’d been watching, letting the man’s family assure themselves he was alright. The moment their eyes locked, Kris smiled and whispered, ‘Adam’. In turn, Adam smiled as best he could and mouthed, ‘Kris’.
~~ ☼ ~~
Kris waited anxiously outside the room. After Adam was examined, they’d brought him up to a private room and while the interns and nurses got him settled, the doctor shared the good news with the concerned group: aside from moderate hypothermia and abrasions on his wrists and ankles from being tied up, he was fine and would make a complete recovery. Eber, Leila and Neil went to see him first but it wasn’t long before the detective showed up to get Adam’s statement. Kris tried to get the man to wait but he declared they were holding a press conference and needed Adam’s statement before they did so.
The detective came out first and half an hour later, Adam’s family reappeared. The friends surged towards the door and skidded into each other when Eber raised a hand like a traffic cop.
“Hold on there folks. Our son is really tired and even though he’d love to see all of you, he’s not ready to see you all at once.”
The disappointment was obvious, even though they understood.
“Can we go in small groups?” Ashley asked.
“After breakfast,” Neil declared, rubbing his stomach, “I don’t know about you guys but I’m starving.”
Kris looked at the closed door and sighed, forcing himself to wait a little longer. The crowd flowed towards the elevators but Leila held Kris back.
“He wants to see you,” she told him softly.
“I want to see him too.”
“He wants to see you now.”
“He …? Oh!”
Leila gave him a warm hug and kiss on the cheek.
“We’ll keep the others away for an hour. Make the most of the time you have.”
Adam was sitting up, awkwardly holding a cup of steaming tea and sipping it through a straw. The moment the door opened and Kris stepped in, he set it down on the rolling table and nudged it aside. They looked at each other, grinning like fools, neither one knowing what to say.
“So … ummm … how you feeling?” Kris asked slowly, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Well, I don’t have to buy any blue lip gloss or nail polish for a while,” Adam replied nonchalantly, wiggling his nails, “and I got a groovy new set of cuff bracelets,” he added, showing off the gauze bandages around his wrist, “even got a matching pair for my ankles. All in all, I’m not doing too bad.”
Kris half smiled, uncomfortable with his friend’s levity. The guy had been drugged, kidnapped and nearly frozen to death. Joking about his ‘new look’ seemed out of place.
Adam noticed, wishing Kris wouldn’t look like he was about to cry cause the minute one tear falls, Adam was going to loose it too.
“Seriously Kris, I’m okay. My brains a little muddled from the cold, my skin is tingling and it hurts like a bitch and I’m buried under enough heating pads and electric blankets to give me a tan. But I’m alive … we’re both alive. How are you?”
“Me? I’m great … I mean, it wasn’t fun being drugged….”
“Tell me about it.”
“… but the worst … the worst was knowing you were in trouble and there was nothing I could do to help you.”
“Baby … come here.”
The gentle command and the endearment wrapped Kris in a warm blanket as he moved to Adam’s side. His dearest friend took his hand, holding it to his chest.
“You did help,” Adam explained softly, “When I was afraid, I thought of you … or getting back to you. I realized that I’ve been an idiot. It shouldn’t have taken something like this to make me admit my feelings for you.”
“Your feelings?”
“Let me get this out Kris. I’ve been afraid if I said anything, I’d ruin what we have already … a strong friendship. I want more than a friendship. Kris … Kris I’m in love with you. I have been since we met.”
“Adam ….”
“I know, I know, it was a crush at first but its become so much more. If I’d died without telling you, I’d never forgive myself.”
Kris listened quietly. He wanted to blurt out that he loved him too and the thought of being without him was too much to handle but a lump of emotion in his throat left him speechless. Instead, he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to the bluish lips.
Adam’s initial reaction was nothing … he was too stunned that Kris was kissing him for real, not a teasing peck like they’d exchanged every so often in fun. When he felt Kris falter, probably thinking he’d made the biggest mistake of his life, Adam gently ran his fingers through the soft brown hair and joined in, sealing the deal.