Untitled College AU (Chapters 1-4)
I'm putting everything I've written so far into two large posts and then every update from now on will be posted individually.
Pairing: Adam/Kris
Word Count: 15,000 and counting
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: It's a WIP but I promise I won't abandon it unless I die or something.
Summary: AU in which Kris goes to California for college and is Adam's first love.
Author's Note: I started this in the kink meme but I decided to move it here because it is getting way too long.
-
“Promise you won’t forget about me?” Katy asks, her big eyes looking up at him through her long, blond eyelashes.
Kris smiles, shaking his head. “Baby, you really think I could forget about you?” He brings his hands up to cup her face gently, his thumbs brushing the tears away from the swollen pink skin around her eyes, leaning down to press his lips against hers. “Gunna miss you so much.”
Kris isn’t sure how he was going to function without Katy. He hasn’t gone longer than a week without seeing her since they were in fifth grade, and now, he is going to be all the way across the country. Yeah, they’ll have the phone and the internet, but it won’t be the same. He won’t be able to hold her small, soft body in his arms whenever he wants, be able to bury his nose in her hair and smell her strawberry scented shampoo, or feel her tiny fingers tangle with his.
He’s going to miss it all so much.
“Kris!” He hears his father’s voice calling him from downstairs. His body tenses up and he swallows the lump in his throat. “We’ve gotta get going!”
This is it. This is goodbye.
“I’ll call you as soon as my plane lands, okay?” Kris smiles down at her and presses his lips against her forehead. “I love you, baby.”
She falls into his arms and buries her face in his neck. “I love you, too,” she whispers. “So much.”
They head downstairs, hand in hand. He finds his mom sitting at the kitchen table, wiping her tears with a tissue. “Don’t cry, mama,” he lets go of Katy’s hand and walks over to his mom, wrapping his arms around her in a big hug.
She doesn’t even say anything back, she just holds him tightly.
“Kim, you’re going to have to let him go eventually,” his dad laughs softly behind them. “If we don’t leave now, he’ll miss his flight.”
Kim lets go and wipes the tears from her face with the back of her hands. “Okay, go,” she waves her wrist in a ‘get out of here’ gesture, “before I change my mind and make him stay.”
Kris leans in and kisses her cheek. “Love you, mom,” he squeezes her hand before turning around to leave the house with his father, Katy following close behind.
His dad looks back and forth between the two of them and holds up a finger. “One minute, okay guys?”
Katy forces a smile. “So you promise you won’t leave me for some hot California girl?”
Kris laughs. “Don’t worry, babe. Orange skin and fake boobs don’t really do it for me.” His face softens as he looks into her pink, glassy eyes. He feels like he wants to throw up and cry at the same time. Her hair is a blonde mess, her makeup is smudged around her eyes, and she’s just so fucking beautiful. “I guess this is it.”
“No goodbyes,” she looks at him sternly. “It’s I’ll see you later,” she says and gets on her tippy toes to capture his mouth in a kiss, “and I love you.”
“I’ll see you later,” he says once they break the kiss. “And I love you.”
They finally pull away from each other and Kris gets into his dad’s truck. He can hardly breathe when his dad puts it in reverse and starts to pull out of the driveway. As they drive up the street, he watches Katy, his house, his entire life, getting smaller and smaller through the rear view mirror until it eventually disappears.
-
California is hot. Like, really hot. And there are palm trees everywhere. Kris doesn’t know if he has ever even seen a palm tree in real life before now. It’s all so much different than Arkansas, the people, the smell, the energy around him. Everyone just seems so happy and excited to be here.
He’s pretty sure he can end up falling in love with this place.
When the taxi drops him off at his dorm, he pulls out all of his luggage and drops it on the pavement. He needs to figure out a way to carry two duffel bags, a book bag, and his guitar without falling flat on his face. He’s pretty sure that wouldn’t make a good impression on his first day in a new city. He can already hear people whispering in the hallways ‘isn’t that the boy who fell?’ whenever he walked by. His cheeks redden just thinking about it.
Kris somehow manages to strap a duffel bag and his book bag on his back and carries the other bag and his guitar in his hands. As he looks around, he notices all of the parents helping their kids, carrying their bags, hugging and kissing them goodbye. It makes his stomach hurt a little. He wishes his parents were there with him to help him find everything and get him settled. It hasn’t even been a whole day and he misses them, and Katy. A sudden wave of nausea hits him hard, he’s homesick already. This is what he wants, though. It’s what he has worked his ass off for in his last few years of school.
On the plane ride here, he pretty much memorized the map of the school, so he has a pretty good idea where he is headed. He feels like an idiot walking around with bags bigger than him, but nobody seems to notice, or they just don’t care.
After walking for a few minutes, he finally finds the building his dorm is in. It’s huge and looks pretty nice from the outside. He was afraid he’d be staying somewhere with mold and cockroaches.
Kris puts his bag down to open the door and then holds it open with his foot as he reaches back to grab his bag. His arms hurt and the bag is heavy and he can’t quite figure out how to keep the door open and bring everything inside at the same time. Now he really feels like an idiot.
“You need some help?” a voice comes from behind him. Kris turns around and sees a boy standing there wearing a black fedora and an amused smile on his face. “You look like you’re having some trouble.”
“Yeah,” Kris says, handing the boy his guitar so he can use both hands to pick up his bag. “Thanks.”
Kris opens the door and turns to the boy when they both get inside. He drops the bag on the floor and holds out his hand. “I’m Kris.”
“Matt,” he says, a huge smile on his face. “You a freshman?”
“Yeah, are you?”
“Nope, sophomore,” Matt says like it’s a really big deal. “Dude, you are gunna love this place. There are parties every night, hot girls. It’s awesome.”
Kris rubs the back of his neck with his hand. “I don’t think the hot girls thing will benefit me much.”
Matt gives him a look. “Why no-oh! So you’re gay?”
Kris’s eyes get huge and he shakes his head. “Wait, what? No, no! I’m straight,” he isn’t sure why he suddenly feels so anxious and embarrassed, because he’s not gay so it’s not like he’s lying or anything. But he finds himself stumbling over his words. “I just-I have a girlfriend back home.”
Matt laughs, “Chill, dude. It was just a question.”
“Sorry,” he mumbles.
Great, Kris thinks, first dude he meets probably thinks he’s a homophobe. He isn’t, though. Not at all. He’s just never really around gay people. There aren’t that many in Arkansas. He is fine with it. In 11th grade he was sort of friends with the gay boy, Jayden, in his geometry class. They even worked on a project together after school and Kris ate dinner at his house.
“So…” Matt says after a few uncomfortable seconds of silence, “want me to help you bring this shit to your room?”
“Yeah, sure,” Kris says and heads over to the elevator, pressing the button.
It is quiet and Kris not really sure what to say. Thankfully, Matt starts talking. “So you play?” He asks, nodding to Kris’s guitar.
“Yeah,” Kris says, happy the topic came up. He can talk about his guitar and music for hours. “I sing a little, too.”
Matt’s face lights up, “Dude, that’s awesome. I’ve never been very good at the guitar but I kick ass at the piano,” he has a huge grin on his face and Kris can’t help but smile too. “And I sing too. We should jam sometime.”
Kris gets excited, all of the embarrassment from a few minutes ago is gone, “Definitely, man.”
On their way up to Kris’s floor they talk about the kind of music they play. They both write some of their own songs, but play mostly covers. Kris suddenly feels so happy to be here. He realizes that a lot of people are here for the same thing, for music, for nothing other than trying to live the dream and to make it big.
They get off at his floor and walk down the hallway to find his room. When they do, Kris knocks on the door, even though he’s not sure why because it’s his room. A few seconds later, the door opens.
“Well, hello there,” says the boy who opened the door. Kris can feel his eyes as they roam up and down his body, making him blush. The boy is small, even smaller than him. He has on a skin tight sleeveless black shirt and even tighter jeans. “Matty, what have I done to deserve this kind of room service?”
“Brad, don’t scare the kid,” Matt says, chuckling, “he’s new.”
Brad raises his eyebrow. “Fresh meat, huh?”
Kris ducks his head. He is pretty sure his face is a really dark shade of red right now. “I-I’m, uh, your new roommate.”
Brad’s face splits into a shit eating grin and holds out his hand. “Well, roomie. I don’t think I got your name.”
“Kris,” he says and reaches out to shake his hand. He can’t help but notice how soft his hand is.
Matt leans down to whisper in his hear, but loudly enough so Brad can hear him. “If I were you, I’d beg for a new room.”
Brad slaps Matt’s arm. “You bitch! No way. I had to room with that fat, pimply guy all last year. Kris is like God’s way of paying me back for that torture.”
Matt just laughs. “Well, anyway,” he says and turns to Kris. “I’ve gotta go meet my new roommate so I guess I’ll leave you two alone. I swear Brad doesn’t bite or anything. He’s just a bit… much sometimes.”
Brad puts his hand on his hip and rolls his eyes, “Standing right here.”
Matt hands the guitar back to Kris, “Let me know if you wanna hang out sometime. Brad has my number.”
Kris nods, “Yeah, okay. See you later.”
When Matt walks away, Kris suddenly feels a little uncomfortable. Probably because he can practically feel Brad undressing him with his eyes.
“So, you gunna come in?” Brad asks, standing to the side to let Kris through.
It’s a nice dorm room. Not too small and it’s really clean. Well, his side of the room is. Brad’s has clothes everywhere and candles all over the place. It feels comfortable, though. Almost like he belongs there.
“I swear I’m not going to try to jump you in your sleep or anything,” Brad says as he settles himself on his zebra print sheets.
“Well, that’s good,” Kris smiles. “I probably wouldn’t notice anyway. I sleep like a log.”
Brad laughs like it was one of the funniest things he has ever heard. “Oh my god, how are you even real?” he shakes his head and leans back on his elbows. “Oh! You have to meet our neighbors. Since, you know, we have to share a bathroom with them and all,” he gets up and heads towards the door that Kris assumes is the bathroom. “It’s totally cool, though. They’re my friends and Adam is the only one who hogs the bathroom for hours at a time.”
Kris was nervous about the bathroom situation. He has a weird thing about dirty showers and gross toilets. It was clean, though, which makes Kris happy.
“Knock, knock,” Brad says, not even bothering to actually knock before he walks into the room. Kris follows him, but stands in the doorway. “I have someone I’d like you to- Adam what the fuck are you doing?”
Kris looks in and sees a tall boy crouched over the sink with a towel wrapped around his neck and black gunky stuff all in his hair.
“What the fuck does it look like I’m doing?” he snaps back at Brad. “I’m dying my hair.”
“Oh, well,” Brad starts, “stop for a minute and introduce yourself to my new roommate.”
Adam places the bottle with even more black gunky stuff in it on the counter and turns around. His hair is sticking up in every direction in thick, black clumps. When he looks at Kris, his face goes kind of slack and his eyes get a little bit bigger. Kris can’t help the warm feeling that curls in his stomach.
“Hi,” Adam says, a soft smile on his lips, “I’m Adam. I’d, uh, shake your hand but…” he holds up his hands covered in plastic gloves and black hair dye.
“I’m Kris,” he says quietly. He has never seen someone with eyes like that before. They’re very blue and he thinks there is a little bit of eyeliner smudged under them. And then he notices Adam’s eyebrows, which are also covered in dye. Kris doesn’t think he has ever met anyone with dyed eyebrows. “Your eyebrows…”
Adam rolls his eyes up as if he can see them, “Oh, yeah,” he lets out a small laugh. “I’m naturally a strawberry blonde and that is so not sexy. I look like I’m twelve, so I have to dye my eyebrows too.”
Kris, again, feels like an idiot. It’s his first time talking to him and it’s about his eyebrows. He can’t help it, though. Adam makes him feel nervous. He’s different than everyone else he has ever met. Boys where he is from don’t dye their eyebrows or wear eyeliner. And then Kris notices his freckles. They are all over his face and arms. Kris even sees some on his lips. He didn’t even know somebody could have freckles on their lips.
“So, where is Tommy?” Brad asks, finally making Kris tear his eyes away from Adam’s face.
Adam, who still has his eyes on Kris, doesn’t seem to hear the question at first. “What?” He asks, “Oh, uh, Tommy went to Subway for dinner. I would’ve told him to get you guys something but I didn’t know you’d be coming over.”
“Well, fuck that,” Brad says. “I’m hungry. Where’s your phone? I’m going to call him.”
“It’s on the bed.”
Brad walks over to Adam’s bed and sprawls out on it like it’s his own, “Kris, what do you want?”
“Um, turkey and cheese?” Kris says. He has never been a big fan of Subway.
Brad clicks his tongue and makes a face, “That’s boring. I’ll get you what I get.”
Brad starts talking to Tommy, leaving Kris standing there, awkwardly, with Adam. When Kris doesn’t say anything, Adam turns back around to the sink and grabs the bottle with the dye. He bends forward over the sink, trying to get the back of his head and it looks like he’s having a difficult time.
“Do you need some help?” Kris asks, taking a few steps closer to Adam. He has no idea what made him ask if he needs help. It’s not like Kris actually knows what to do. He has never dyed hair before, or even see anyone do it.
Adam turns around to look at him, “Um, yeah… I mean, if you want to,” he reaches over on the counter to grab another pair of gloves and hands them to Kris. “You’re gunna have to wear these, though.” Kris puts them on and takes the bottle from Adam, and then stands there unsure of what to do. “It’s pretty self explanatory. Just squeeze the dye on until my whole head is covered with it.”
“Okay,” Kris says and reaches up, squirting some of the dye to the back of Adam’s head. He spreads it around a little with his fingers. As he continues, he notices the little soft hairs in the back of Adam’s neck, and the freckles that are there. A part of him wants to count them, but that would be really weird.
“Adam!” Brad shouts as he snaps Adam’s phone shut. “He’s been here for five minutes and you are already making him do your hair?”
Adam puts his hands up in an ‘I’m innocent!’ gesture, “He offered!”
Brad walks over and plucks the bottle out of Kris’s hand and gives it back to Adam. “Well, I’m going to give our new little friend a tour of our room. Let us know when Tommy gets back with the food.”
Kris feels a little disappointed. In a weird way, he sort of wants to stay there and help Adam with his hair. He shrugs up at Adam before turning away to follow Brad, “Sorry.”
The tour isn't really a tour, not that there is much to see other than two beds, two desks, a closet, and a sink. He spends most of the time unpacking and listening to Brad talk about how the shower doesn't always work, or how the hallways usually smell like B.O. or vomit. Listening to Brad talk does make him feel a little more at home. He figures that as long as Brad is here, he’ll never feel lonely.
Kris digs into his book bag and takes out an envelope of pictures. He reaches in and pulls out the first one, it’s of him and Katy.
He feels Brad sidle up to his side, “Is that your sister?”
“No.”
“Cousin?”
“Nope.”
“Swim team instructor?”
Kris laughs, “No. She’s my girlfriend.”
“Damn.”
-
“Oh my god, Katy,” Kris grins. “It’s so awesome. There are palm trees everywhere and it’s super hot outside. And everyone is so cool.”
“Sounds like fun,” Katy says, sounding happy for him. “Have you made any friends?”
Kris gets even more excited. “I met this guy Matt and he plays piano and sings,” he tells her. “Brad is my roommate and he is nuts, but in a good way. And I met our neighbors, Adam and Tommy. Tommy plays bass and apparently Adam has an awesome voice but he wouldn’t sing for me. Oh, and he dyes his eyebrows.”
“He dyes his eyebrows?”
“Yeah! That’s what I was thinking. I didn’t know people did that. But he is naturally blonde and he dyes his hair black. And he has a ton of freckles all over,” Kris almost feels like he’s telling her a secret about Adam that only a few people know about.
“That’s… nice,” she laughs. “So you like it there?”
“I love it,” Kris says, and then his voice softens. “It would be better if you were here, though.”
Katy lets out an unhappy noise. Kris can practically see her bottom lip poking out in a cute little pout. “I know. I still hate my parents for making me stay here. It’s only been a day and I already miss you. What am I supposed to do until Thanksgiving?”
“I’m sure it will go by fast. We’ll both be taking classes and making friends and stuff,” he goes quiet for a moment. “And I miss you too, babe.”
He looks up when he hears a soft knock on the bathroom door and sees a head of messy black hair peaking out. His lips turn upward into a small smile, “Hey.”
“Hi,” Adam smiles back, but then his eyes travel to the phone in his hand. “Shit, I’m sorry. Did I interrupt?”
“Hm?” He looks down at his phone, almost forgetting about Katy. “Oh, no. It’s fine.”
“I was just…” Adam looks nervous or uncomfortable or something. Kris isn’t sure why. “Brad wanted me to get a DVD because he’s too lazy to get it himself. Is it okay if I look around for it? Or I could come back when you finish your call.”
Kris shakes his head, “No, it’s okay. We were about to hang up, anyway.”
Adam gives him another small smile and makes his way across the room and sits in front of one of Brad’s boxes to dig through all of the movies and CDs. Kris watches him for a moment before turning his attention back to Katy.
“Sorry,” Kris says quietly. “It’s Adam, the one I told you about with the eyebrows.” He looks down at Adam and sees him grinning to himself. Kris smiles too.
“Okay,” Katy sounds a little disappointed. “Then I guess I’ll talk to you tomorrow?”
“I’ll call you after I finish my classes, okay?” Kris lowers his voice to almost a whisper. “Love you.”
“I love you too,” she says right before hanging up.
He throws his phone on the bed and stares at it for a moment. A part of him misses her so much that it hurts. He isn’t really sure how he’ll go until November without seeing her. They’ve been best friends for years and are used to seeing each other every day. The other part of him, though, is so glad to be away from it all. He was starting to feel suffocated by that small town. Everybody knows who he is and everything he does. He needed to get away, to find something new.
“So, was that Katy?” Adam asks, breaking the silence. Earlier when the four of them sat in Adam and Tommy’s room eating, Brad made Kris tell them all about her.
“Yeah.”
“She’s cute,” Adam says, looking up to the picture on Kris’s desk of him and Katy.
Kris smiles, “Yeah, she is.”
There is another long period of silence, the only sound in the room is Adam sorting through a bunch of movies. Kris watches him read the back of one of them. He has truly never seen anyone quite like Adam. It’s not just the eyebrows or the eyeliner or the black nail polish and rings. It’s everything. Like all of the little things Kris has noticed about him from the very few hours they have spent together. The way Adam talks with his hands when he gets excited and the way he laughs. His smile gets so big and his eyes shine even more than usual. When they were all hanging out earlier, Kris found himself trying to say or do things just so he could hear it again.
“What movie are you looking for?” Kris asks, sliding off of his bed and sitting beside Adam. His knee is warm where it is pressed against Adam’s.
“Clueless,” Adam grins. “Brad’s favorite.”
“Isn’t that the one where the girl ends up with her brother?”
Adam looks at him with wide eyes, looking somewhat offended, “He is not her brother! He was her step brother or… something. I don’t remember. I haven’t watched it in like two years,” he says. “But, anyway. Totally not her brother. That would be gross and they are so cute together.”
Kris laughs and grabs a handful of DVDs to help him look. Brad has a ton of them. He tries not to look too embarrassed when the first one he sees is a porno with a dude running his tongue up a massive dick on the cover. He hopes Brad will wait to watch that one when Kris isn’t in the room.
“You should play for me sometime,” Adam says. Kris is confused until he sees Adam staring behind him at his guitar leaning against the wall. “I mean… if you want to.”
“No, I mean yeah, I will,” Kris stumbles over his words, suddenly feeling a bit nervous. He never plays for anyone except for Katy and she doesn’t know much about music. He can tell that Adam knows a lot, possibly even more than he does.
“Cool,” Adam ducks his head down, trying to hide the small smile on his lips.
Kris shuffles through the rest of the movies in his hand and realizes that he is holding Clueless. He almost hands it over to Adam but, instead, he puts it to the back of the pile in his hands. He likes this time with Adam. Even if it is somewhat awkward and neither of them are quite sure of what to say. It’s strangely comfortable, though. And Kris likes the warm feeling of Adam’s knee pressed up against his.
“Adam!” Brad comes bursting through the door, startling both of them. “What the fuck is taking you so long?”
“I’m still looking, asshole,” Adam turns around and gives him the finger. “If you didn’t have nine million fucking movies it wouldn’t take me so long.”
Since the moment was already ruined, Kris holds the DVD out to Adam, “Found it.”
Brad snatches it from him, “Thank god. Now come on, you two. Tommy promised to give me a back massage but refused to do it while alone in the room with me.”
Adam stands up and reaches his hand down for Kris to take. He looks at it for a moment, covered in freckles and a ring on almost every finger. And the nail polish isn’t black like he thought. It’s a really dark shade of purple and it even sparkles. When Kris places his hand in Adam’s, it’s so warm.
“Thanks,” Kris mumbles when Adam helps him up.
They walk into Adam’s room together. The DVD has already started and Brad is laying on his stomach with Tommy straddling his thighs, pressing his knuckles into Brad’s lower back. “If you keep making those noises,” Tommy warns, “I’m kicking you the fuck out of my bed.”
Adam and Kris both laugh as they climb into Adam’s bed, sitting so close that their thighs are touching. Watching the movie, the sound of Brad’s soft moans in the background, and Adam’s warmth at his side, Kris can’t help but think that this place already feels a lot like home.
-
“Wake up!” Kris feels something bounce off his head and his eyes flutter open. Brad is standing next to his bed with his hands on his hips. “I’ve been trying to wake you up for like ten minutes. You really do sleep like a fucking log.”
Kris laughs and closes his eyes again, “Told you.”
“Well if you don’t get up now, you’ll be late for class,” Brad tells him as he sits down on his bed and picks up an issue of Rolling Stone. Brad made Kris write down his schedule so he knows it by heart and will probably never let Kris be late for class. “Do whatever you need to in the bathroom now or else you won’t get to at all. Adam uses it at 10 and you’ll already be graduated by the time he gets out.”
Kris stumbles out of bed and raises his arms as he stretches, revealing a bit of skin where his shirt lifts up. He looks over at Brad and sees him staring at him over his magazine.
“Are you sure you’re straight?” Brad asks, sounding a little hopeful.
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
“This is going to be even worse torture than when I roomed with the fat nerd last year,” he sighs. “At least he wasn’t hot.”
Kris grins, “You think I’m hot?”
“Fuck you,” Brad throws the magazine to the side and flops down on the bed, covering his face with his hand. “And go fix your hair. Your bed head is horrible and I refuse to be seen with you like that.”
Kris’s face hurts from smiling when he gets into the bathroom. He loves to tease Brad. They have only known each other for a few days but Kris knows Brad respects him and would never try anything with him, so Kris likes to push his buttons a little bit.
He gets in the shower and is out in less than ten minutes and wraps the towel around his waist before going back into the room to get his clothes. Just as he walks out, Brad is heading to the door to leave for class. With absolutely no shame whatsoever, Brad’s eyes roam Kris’s wet, half naked body and he shakes his head.
“I’m not going to make it through the semester with you here.”
Kris just laughs.
A half hour later Kris is walking into his first class of the day. Yesterday was his first day of classes and he was slightly overwhelmed. High school was difficult for him. He had to study so hard to get the grades he got and this will only be worse. When he was talking to Adam about it, he promised Kris to help him out whenever he needed it. That made Kris feel better because he is pretty sure that Adam is a lot smarter than he is.
Kris gets into his English class fifteen minutes early and there is only one other person there in the very front row, so Kris takes a seat in the back. He considers leaving to walk around the building for a bit but he figures he’d get lost and come stumbling in late, so he stays put.
A few minutes pass and two more people walk in, sitting next to each other at two desks towards the middle of the room. One of them has a huge ring hanging from the middle of their nose and reminds Kris of a bull and he laughs to himself.
As the class starts to fill in, Kris pulls out his phone to text Katy.
hope you have a good day. miss you.
When he hits ‘send’ someone sits down in the chair next to him. He looks up and sees a boy with an awesome beard. Kris feels a little jealous that he can’t grow facial hair like that. He has tried many times but he can only grow a mustache and some stubble on his neck and jaw. The beard guy looks down at him with a small smile.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Uh… nothing,” Kris says. “You?”
“Not much,” he replies and drops his notebook onto the table. “I’m Cale.”
“Kris.”
Two minutes before class starts, the room is almost completely full except for the desk in front of them. He and Cale have been talking for a while and Kris can already tell that he has made a new friend. They talk about guitars and The Beatles. Cale also has a girlfriend back at home and her name is Katy, which Kris thinks is pretty weird, but he calls her Kate.
The professor walks in, followed by a girl with a mess of bright red hair on the top of her head, trying to sneak around without being noticed. She takes the seat right in front of Kris and Cale and turns around.
“Hi!” She grins and Kris notices braces on her bottom teeth. Her hair is amazing, Kris thinks. It’s bright red and has pink, purple, and blue streaks. He wants to ask if it’s real but that might be rude. He doesn’t know if it is proper etiquette to ask a girl if they have fake hair. “I’m Allison.”
They introduce themselves and Allison turns around when the professor starts talking. Kris has no idea what Sociology is but, from what she is saying, it sounds pretty interesting. He enjoys learning about different cultures and lifestyles so he thinks he’ll like this class. The professor told them that she used to work at a prison, which Kris thinks is awesome.
She makes them get into groups of about seven. Kris, Allison, and Cale join four other people in a circle. Each group gets a list of 20 different types of people, such as white, black, homosexual, athletes, politicians, hairdressers, and they have to write down the first word that comes to mind for each one.
It starts off alright and they get through most of the list without any problems. But then they get to “hairdresser” and the boy sitting across from Kris laughs and says “gay” which kind of pisses Kris off. Yeah, Kris knows that there are a lot of gay hairdressers, but that’s not the point. The way he said it was meant to be offensive.
Kris lets it slide and doesn’t say anything. Allison runs her fingers through her hair and says “brilliant” so they use that.
Two words later is “homosexuals” and the guy immediately says “fags” and then laughs. The boy next to him laughs too. It makes Kris feel sick to his stomach and he clenches his hands in a tight fist. He isn’t even sure what he can say to him. He doesn’t even want to say anything. What he wants to do is punch him in the face but he is a lot bigger than him and could probably break him in half without even trying. Allison is looking down at her boots, upset and uncomfortable, and Cale is looking at the guy with a disgusted look on his face.
He thinks of Brad and Adam and how awesome both of them are. If they were here right now they’d probably feel like shit and be upset all because that guy is an asshole and thinks that being gay is wrong. Either that or Brad would hang the guy by his balls.
“Amazing,” Kris finally says. “They are amazing.”
It makes Allison smile and Cale pats him gently on the back. The guy across from him gives him a dirty look but it doesn’t matter because he doesn’t say anything for the rest of the time they are in the group. Kris feels proud of himself.
“Wow,” Allison says as the three of them leave the classroom together. “Some people are such assholes. How could he just say that, not knowing if someone in the group was gay?”
Kris shrugs, “I dunno. Some people just don’t care, I guess.”
Allison looks up at him, “Are you…?”
“Me? No… I’m, uh…” Kris mumbles. “I have a girlfriend back home.”
Allison raises an eyebrow and nods her head slowly, almost as if she doesn’t believe him, “Okay.”
They go their separate ways after Cale and Kris exchange phone numbers so they can get together and play sometime. Kris is so excited. Maybe he, Matt, and Cale can all get together soon. His fingers itch for his guitar just thinking about it.
His next class is probability and statistics and Kris is bored out of his mind. There is nobody in the class that he is really interested in talking to and he has already learned the stuff the professor is teaching last year in high school. Right now all he wants to do is go back to his room and sleep. Last night he didn’t get to bed until 3am because Adam wanted to watch Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Tommy and Brad fell asleep before Charlie even found the golden ticket. Kris fell asleep for a few minutes towards the end and woke up with his head on Adam’s shoulder. Adam didn’t seem to mind so he just kept it there until the movie was over.
Kris feels warmth in his chest and he smiles when he thinks about it. He probably looks stupid because whatever the professor is talking about isn’t anything worth smiling about but he doesn’t care. He’s really happy. Happier than he’s been in a long time.
The professor lets the class out early and Kris heads straight for his dorm. He plans on sleeping until Brad comes back in a couple of hours. He sprints up the stairs because the elevator always takes too long and it always smells like sweat. When he gets to his floor, he sees someone curled up in front of his door.
“Adam?” Kris reaches down and shakes Adam’s shoulder. He is sleeping with his knees pulled up to his chest and his head falling to the side. It looks uncomfortable and his neck is probably going to be sore. Kris kneels down and touches the side of Adam’s face, for a brief second he thinks about how smooth his skin is. “Adam, wake up.”
“Hmmm?” Adam mumbles, his eyes still closed, and leans his face into Kris’s touch, sighing happily. He reminds Kris of a kitten the way he is nuzzling Kris’s hand. It is sort of adorable. But then he stills and his eyes shoot open when he realizes what he is doing. Adam pulls away quickly and looks up at Kris, not meeting his eyes. “Oh shit… I’m sorry. I didn’t realize…”
Kris cuts him off and shakes his head and smiles. “It’s fine,” he stands up and holds his hands out to Adam to help him up. His hands are warm and soft and a lot bigger than Kris’s. “But why are you sleeping in the hallway?”
Adam ducks his head, embarrassed, “I forgot my keys and I knew that you would be coming back soon so I sat down and waited. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”
Kris takes out his keys and unlocks his door and they both walk inside. The room is freezing because Brad hates being hot so Kris has to suffer. He can’t wait to crawl under the covers to warm up. He belly flops onto his bed and lets out a loud groan, not caring that Adam is in the room. He’s never getting up ever again.
“So…” Adam says from where he is standing by the door behind him. “Thanks for letting me in.”
Kris looks up and sees Adam hesitate before walking to the bathroom door to head to his own room. He can’t help but notice the small pout on Adam’s face and Kris suddenly doesn’t want to be alone in his cold room anymore.
“You want to hang out for a bit?” Kris asks, noticing the small smile Adam tries to hide. “We can just talk or listen to music or something.”
Adam walks over and sits on the corner of Kris’s bed. He traces the design of Kris’s comforter with his finger. “Will you play something for me?”
Kris’s heart stammers in his chest and he suddenly wishes he hadn’t invited Adam to stay. What if Adam thinks he sucks or has a horrible voice? Kris is so fucking nervous, but he agrees anyway. He's going to have to get used to playing for people other than Katy someday. “Yeah, um, sure.”
He reaches over to where his guitar is leaning against his bed and pulls it into his lap. Adam backs up on the bed so he is leaning against the wall, his legs hanging a bit off of the edge. Kris just now notices how long his legs are.
Kris strums his guitar absently, “So, do you have any requests?”
Adam shrugs, “Just play whatever you feel like playing.”
He starts to play the first song that comes to mind.
I don’t know you
But I want you
All the more for that
His eyes flutter shut because he can’t look at Adam while he sings. His eyes are so blue and soft and looking at him in a way that Kris is pretty sure he has never been looked at before. After a while he forgets where he is and that Adam is in the room and that he is singing one of the most romantic songs he has ever heard to another boy.
The room is completely quiet when Kris finishes the song. All he can hear is his heartbeat pounding loud in his ears.
“Wow…” Adam whispers after what feels like an eternity. “Your face when you play… you were so into it. Like you lost yourself into the song completely.” Adam just looked so honest and sincere and it was probably the most amazing thing anyone has ever said to Kris. “It was beautiful.”
“Thanks,” Kris says, playing with his pick to keep himself from looking up at Adam. “I… do you want me to play another?”
“Please?”
Kris plays him almost every song he knows how to play, including some of his own that he wrote. He doesn’t stop long enough inbetween songs for Adam to say anything.
“Did you write that?” Adam asks when Kris finishes the last song, watching Kris’s fingers move slowly up and down the neck of the guitar. Kris nods. “Is it about Katy?”
“Yeah,” Kris tells him. “I wrote it for her right before I left.”
Adam looks away and starts running his finger along the design of the comforter again. “She’s lucky,” he says after couple seconds. “Nobody has ever written me a song before.”
Kris’s heart hurts hearing Adam say that. How is it possible that nobody has ever written a song about him? Kris could write a hundred songs just about Adam’s eyes.
“Seriously?” Kris says. He suddenly wants to write one for him just to take that sad look out of his eyes. “You’ve never dated a musician or anything?”
Adam is focusing a little too hard on the pattern he’s tracing, “I’ve never had a boyfriend at all.”
Kris is stunned. He was sure that Adam has had tons of boyfriends in the past. Adam is one of the most amazing people Kris has ever met. He’s confident and he makes Kris laugh and he has the brightest smile Kris has ever seen.
“In high school I was a fat ginger kid and I got picked on every day,” Adam explains. Kris feels anger bubble up inside of him and all he wants to do is punch anyone who has ever made Adam feel anything less than beautiful. “I was ugly.”
Kris reaches out and places his hand on Adam’s shoulder, squeezing gently. “There is no way you could’ve ever been ugly,” he says honestly.
Adam looks up at him through his long eyelashes and smiles. Kris thinks that he could probably write a hundred songs just about his smile, too.
Next
Pairing: Adam/Kris
Word Count: 15,000 and counting
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: It's a WIP but I promise I won't abandon it unless I die or something.
Summary: AU in which Kris goes to California for college and is Adam's first love.
Author's Note: I started this in the kink meme but I decided to move it here because it is getting way too long.
-
“Promise you won’t forget about me?” Katy asks, her big eyes looking up at him through her long, blond eyelashes.
Kris smiles, shaking his head. “Baby, you really think I could forget about you?” He brings his hands up to cup her face gently, his thumbs brushing the tears away from the swollen pink skin around her eyes, leaning down to press his lips against hers. “Gunna miss you so much.”
Kris isn’t sure how he was going to function without Katy. He hasn’t gone longer than a week without seeing her since they were in fifth grade, and now, he is going to be all the way across the country. Yeah, they’ll have the phone and the internet, but it won’t be the same. He won’t be able to hold her small, soft body in his arms whenever he wants, be able to bury his nose in her hair and smell her strawberry scented shampoo, or feel her tiny fingers tangle with his.
He’s going to miss it all so much.
“Kris!” He hears his father’s voice calling him from downstairs. His body tenses up and he swallows the lump in his throat. “We’ve gotta get going!”
This is it. This is goodbye.
“I’ll call you as soon as my plane lands, okay?” Kris smiles down at her and presses his lips against her forehead. “I love you, baby.”
She falls into his arms and buries her face in his neck. “I love you, too,” she whispers. “So much.”
They head downstairs, hand in hand. He finds his mom sitting at the kitchen table, wiping her tears with a tissue. “Don’t cry, mama,” he lets go of Katy’s hand and walks over to his mom, wrapping his arms around her in a big hug.
She doesn’t even say anything back, she just holds him tightly.
“Kim, you’re going to have to let him go eventually,” his dad laughs softly behind them. “If we don’t leave now, he’ll miss his flight.”
Kim lets go and wipes the tears from her face with the back of her hands. “Okay, go,” she waves her wrist in a ‘get out of here’ gesture, “before I change my mind and make him stay.”
Kris leans in and kisses her cheek. “Love you, mom,” he squeezes her hand before turning around to leave the house with his father, Katy following close behind.
His dad looks back and forth between the two of them and holds up a finger. “One minute, okay guys?”
Katy forces a smile. “So you promise you won’t leave me for some hot California girl?”
Kris laughs. “Don’t worry, babe. Orange skin and fake boobs don’t really do it for me.” His face softens as he looks into her pink, glassy eyes. He feels like he wants to throw up and cry at the same time. Her hair is a blonde mess, her makeup is smudged around her eyes, and she’s just so fucking beautiful. “I guess this is it.”
“No goodbyes,” she looks at him sternly. “It’s I’ll see you later,” she says and gets on her tippy toes to capture his mouth in a kiss, “and I love you.”
“I’ll see you later,” he says once they break the kiss. “And I love you.”
They finally pull away from each other and Kris gets into his dad’s truck. He can hardly breathe when his dad puts it in reverse and starts to pull out of the driveway. As they drive up the street, he watches Katy, his house, his entire life, getting smaller and smaller through the rear view mirror until it eventually disappears.
-
California is hot. Like, really hot. And there are palm trees everywhere. Kris doesn’t know if he has ever even seen a palm tree in real life before now. It’s all so much different than Arkansas, the people, the smell, the energy around him. Everyone just seems so happy and excited to be here.
He’s pretty sure he can end up falling in love with this place.
When the taxi drops him off at his dorm, he pulls out all of his luggage and drops it on the pavement. He needs to figure out a way to carry two duffel bags, a book bag, and his guitar without falling flat on his face. He’s pretty sure that wouldn’t make a good impression on his first day in a new city. He can already hear people whispering in the hallways ‘isn’t that the boy who fell?’ whenever he walked by. His cheeks redden just thinking about it.
Kris somehow manages to strap a duffel bag and his book bag on his back and carries the other bag and his guitar in his hands. As he looks around, he notices all of the parents helping their kids, carrying their bags, hugging and kissing them goodbye. It makes his stomach hurt a little. He wishes his parents were there with him to help him find everything and get him settled. It hasn’t even been a whole day and he misses them, and Katy. A sudden wave of nausea hits him hard, he’s homesick already. This is what he wants, though. It’s what he has worked his ass off for in his last few years of school.
On the plane ride here, he pretty much memorized the map of the school, so he has a pretty good idea where he is headed. He feels like an idiot walking around with bags bigger than him, but nobody seems to notice, or they just don’t care.
After walking for a few minutes, he finally finds the building his dorm is in. It’s huge and looks pretty nice from the outside. He was afraid he’d be staying somewhere with mold and cockroaches.
Kris puts his bag down to open the door and then holds it open with his foot as he reaches back to grab his bag. His arms hurt and the bag is heavy and he can’t quite figure out how to keep the door open and bring everything inside at the same time. Now he really feels like an idiot.
“You need some help?” a voice comes from behind him. Kris turns around and sees a boy standing there wearing a black fedora and an amused smile on his face. “You look like you’re having some trouble.”
“Yeah,” Kris says, handing the boy his guitar so he can use both hands to pick up his bag. “Thanks.”
Kris opens the door and turns to the boy when they both get inside. He drops the bag on the floor and holds out his hand. “I’m Kris.”
“Matt,” he says, a huge smile on his face. “You a freshman?”
“Yeah, are you?”
“Nope, sophomore,” Matt says like it’s a really big deal. “Dude, you are gunna love this place. There are parties every night, hot girls. It’s awesome.”
Kris rubs the back of his neck with his hand. “I don’t think the hot girls thing will benefit me much.”
Matt gives him a look. “Why no-oh! So you’re gay?”
Kris’s eyes get huge and he shakes his head. “Wait, what? No, no! I’m straight,” he isn’t sure why he suddenly feels so anxious and embarrassed, because he’s not gay so it’s not like he’s lying or anything. But he finds himself stumbling over his words. “I just-I have a girlfriend back home.”
Matt laughs, “Chill, dude. It was just a question.”
“Sorry,” he mumbles.
Great, Kris thinks, first dude he meets probably thinks he’s a homophobe. He isn’t, though. Not at all. He’s just never really around gay people. There aren’t that many in Arkansas. He is fine with it. In 11th grade he was sort of friends with the gay boy, Jayden, in his geometry class. They even worked on a project together after school and Kris ate dinner at his house.
“So…” Matt says after a few uncomfortable seconds of silence, “want me to help you bring this shit to your room?”
“Yeah, sure,” Kris says and heads over to the elevator, pressing the button.
It is quiet and Kris not really sure what to say. Thankfully, Matt starts talking. “So you play?” He asks, nodding to Kris’s guitar.
“Yeah,” Kris says, happy the topic came up. He can talk about his guitar and music for hours. “I sing a little, too.”
Matt’s face lights up, “Dude, that’s awesome. I’ve never been very good at the guitar but I kick ass at the piano,” he has a huge grin on his face and Kris can’t help but smile too. “And I sing too. We should jam sometime.”
Kris gets excited, all of the embarrassment from a few minutes ago is gone, “Definitely, man.”
On their way up to Kris’s floor they talk about the kind of music they play. They both write some of their own songs, but play mostly covers. Kris suddenly feels so happy to be here. He realizes that a lot of people are here for the same thing, for music, for nothing other than trying to live the dream and to make it big.
They get off at his floor and walk down the hallway to find his room. When they do, Kris knocks on the door, even though he’s not sure why because it’s his room. A few seconds later, the door opens.
“Well, hello there,” says the boy who opened the door. Kris can feel his eyes as they roam up and down his body, making him blush. The boy is small, even smaller than him. He has on a skin tight sleeveless black shirt and even tighter jeans. “Matty, what have I done to deserve this kind of room service?”
“Brad, don’t scare the kid,” Matt says, chuckling, “he’s new.”
Brad raises his eyebrow. “Fresh meat, huh?”
Kris ducks his head. He is pretty sure his face is a really dark shade of red right now. “I-I’m, uh, your new roommate.”
Brad’s face splits into a shit eating grin and holds out his hand. “Well, roomie. I don’t think I got your name.”
“Kris,” he says and reaches out to shake his hand. He can’t help but notice how soft his hand is.
Matt leans down to whisper in his hear, but loudly enough so Brad can hear him. “If I were you, I’d beg for a new room.”
Brad slaps Matt’s arm. “You bitch! No way. I had to room with that fat, pimply guy all last year. Kris is like God’s way of paying me back for that torture.”
Matt just laughs. “Well, anyway,” he says and turns to Kris. “I’ve gotta go meet my new roommate so I guess I’ll leave you two alone. I swear Brad doesn’t bite or anything. He’s just a bit… much sometimes.”
Brad puts his hand on his hip and rolls his eyes, “Standing right here.”
Matt hands the guitar back to Kris, “Let me know if you wanna hang out sometime. Brad has my number.”
Kris nods, “Yeah, okay. See you later.”
When Matt walks away, Kris suddenly feels a little uncomfortable. Probably because he can practically feel Brad undressing him with his eyes.
“So, you gunna come in?” Brad asks, standing to the side to let Kris through.
It’s a nice dorm room. Not too small and it’s really clean. Well, his side of the room is. Brad’s has clothes everywhere and candles all over the place. It feels comfortable, though. Almost like he belongs there.
“I swear I’m not going to try to jump you in your sleep or anything,” Brad says as he settles himself on his zebra print sheets.
“Well, that’s good,” Kris smiles. “I probably wouldn’t notice anyway. I sleep like a log.”
Brad laughs like it was one of the funniest things he has ever heard. “Oh my god, how are you even real?” he shakes his head and leans back on his elbows. “Oh! You have to meet our neighbors. Since, you know, we have to share a bathroom with them and all,” he gets up and heads towards the door that Kris assumes is the bathroom. “It’s totally cool, though. They’re my friends and Adam is the only one who hogs the bathroom for hours at a time.”
Kris was nervous about the bathroom situation. He has a weird thing about dirty showers and gross toilets. It was clean, though, which makes Kris happy.
“Knock, knock,” Brad says, not even bothering to actually knock before he walks into the room. Kris follows him, but stands in the doorway. “I have someone I’d like you to- Adam what the fuck are you doing?”
Kris looks in and sees a tall boy crouched over the sink with a towel wrapped around his neck and black gunky stuff all in his hair.
“What the fuck does it look like I’m doing?” he snaps back at Brad. “I’m dying my hair.”
“Oh, well,” Brad starts, “stop for a minute and introduce yourself to my new roommate.”
Adam places the bottle with even more black gunky stuff in it on the counter and turns around. His hair is sticking up in every direction in thick, black clumps. When he looks at Kris, his face goes kind of slack and his eyes get a little bit bigger. Kris can’t help the warm feeling that curls in his stomach.
“Hi,” Adam says, a soft smile on his lips, “I’m Adam. I’d, uh, shake your hand but…” he holds up his hands covered in plastic gloves and black hair dye.
“I’m Kris,” he says quietly. He has never seen someone with eyes like that before. They’re very blue and he thinks there is a little bit of eyeliner smudged under them. And then he notices Adam’s eyebrows, which are also covered in dye. Kris doesn’t think he has ever met anyone with dyed eyebrows. “Your eyebrows…”
Adam rolls his eyes up as if he can see them, “Oh, yeah,” he lets out a small laugh. “I’m naturally a strawberry blonde and that is so not sexy. I look like I’m twelve, so I have to dye my eyebrows too.”
Kris, again, feels like an idiot. It’s his first time talking to him and it’s about his eyebrows. He can’t help it, though. Adam makes him feel nervous. He’s different than everyone else he has ever met. Boys where he is from don’t dye their eyebrows or wear eyeliner. And then Kris notices his freckles. They are all over his face and arms. Kris even sees some on his lips. He didn’t even know somebody could have freckles on their lips.
“So, where is Tommy?” Brad asks, finally making Kris tear his eyes away from Adam’s face.
Adam, who still has his eyes on Kris, doesn’t seem to hear the question at first. “What?” He asks, “Oh, uh, Tommy went to Subway for dinner. I would’ve told him to get you guys something but I didn’t know you’d be coming over.”
“Well, fuck that,” Brad says. “I’m hungry. Where’s your phone? I’m going to call him.”
“It’s on the bed.”
Brad walks over to Adam’s bed and sprawls out on it like it’s his own, “Kris, what do you want?”
“Um, turkey and cheese?” Kris says. He has never been a big fan of Subway.
Brad clicks his tongue and makes a face, “That’s boring. I’ll get you what I get.”
Brad starts talking to Tommy, leaving Kris standing there, awkwardly, with Adam. When Kris doesn’t say anything, Adam turns back around to the sink and grabs the bottle with the dye. He bends forward over the sink, trying to get the back of his head and it looks like he’s having a difficult time.
“Do you need some help?” Kris asks, taking a few steps closer to Adam. He has no idea what made him ask if he needs help. It’s not like Kris actually knows what to do. He has never dyed hair before, or even see anyone do it.
Adam turns around to look at him, “Um, yeah… I mean, if you want to,” he reaches over on the counter to grab another pair of gloves and hands them to Kris. “You’re gunna have to wear these, though.” Kris puts them on and takes the bottle from Adam, and then stands there unsure of what to do. “It’s pretty self explanatory. Just squeeze the dye on until my whole head is covered with it.”
“Okay,” Kris says and reaches up, squirting some of the dye to the back of Adam’s head. He spreads it around a little with his fingers. As he continues, he notices the little soft hairs in the back of Adam’s neck, and the freckles that are there. A part of him wants to count them, but that would be really weird.
“Adam!” Brad shouts as he snaps Adam’s phone shut. “He’s been here for five minutes and you are already making him do your hair?”
Adam puts his hands up in an ‘I’m innocent!’ gesture, “He offered!”
Brad walks over and plucks the bottle out of Kris’s hand and gives it back to Adam. “Well, I’m going to give our new little friend a tour of our room. Let us know when Tommy gets back with the food.”
Kris feels a little disappointed. In a weird way, he sort of wants to stay there and help Adam with his hair. He shrugs up at Adam before turning away to follow Brad, “Sorry.”
The tour isn't really a tour, not that there is much to see other than two beds, two desks, a closet, and a sink. He spends most of the time unpacking and listening to Brad talk about how the shower doesn't always work, or how the hallways usually smell like B.O. or vomit. Listening to Brad talk does make him feel a little more at home. He figures that as long as Brad is here, he’ll never feel lonely.
Kris digs into his book bag and takes out an envelope of pictures. He reaches in and pulls out the first one, it’s of him and Katy.
He feels Brad sidle up to his side, “Is that your sister?”
“No.”
“Cousin?”
“Nope.”
“Swim team instructor?”
Kris laughs, “No. She’s my girlfriend.”
“Damn.”
-
“Oh my god, Katy,” Kris grins. “It’s so awesome. There are palm trees everywhere and it’s super hot outside. And everyone is so cool.”
“Sounds like fun,” Katy says, sounding happy for him. “Have you made any friends?”
Kris gets even more excited. “I met this guy Matt and he plays piano and sings,” he tells her. “Brad is my roommate and he is nuts, but in a good way. And I met our neighbors, Adam and Tommy. Tommy plays bass and apparently Adam has an awesome voice but he wouldn’t sing for me. Oh, and he dyes his eyebrows.”
“He dyes his eyebrows?”
“Yeah! That’s what I was thinking. I didn’t know people did that. But he is naturally blonde and he dyes his hair black. And he has a ton of freckles all over,” Kris almost feels like he’s telling her a secret about Adam that only a few people know about.
“That’s… nice,” she laughs. “So you like it there?”
“I love it,” Kris says, and then his voice softens. “It would be better if you were here, though.”
Katy lets out an unhappy noise. Kris can practically see her bottom lip poking out in a cute little pout. “I know. I still hate my parents for making me stay here. It’s only been a day and I already miss you. What am I supposed to do until Thanksgiving?”
“I’m sure it will go by fast. We’ll both be taking classes and making friends and stuff,” he goes quiet for a moment. “And I miss you too, babe.”
He looks up when he hears a soft knock on the bathroom door and sees a head of messy black hair peaking out. His lips turn upward into a small smile, “Hey.”
“Hi,” Adam smiles back, but then his eyes travel to the phone in his hand. “Shit, I’m sorry. Did I interrupt?”
“Hm?” He looks down at his phone, almost forgetting about Katy. “Oh, no. It’s fine.”
“I was just…” Adam looks nervous or uncomfortable or something. Kris isn’t sure why. “Brad wanted me to get a DVD because he’s too lazy to get it himself. Is it okay if I look around for it? Or I could come back when you finish your call.”
Kris shakes his head, “No, it’s okay. We were about to hang up, anyway.”
Adam gives him another small smile and makes his way across the room and sits in front of one of Brad’s boxes to dig through all of the movies and CDs. Kris watches him for a moment before turning his attention back to Katy.
“Sorry,” Kris says quietly. “It’s Adam, the one I told you about with the eyebrows.” He looks down at Adam and sees him grinning to himself. Kris smiles too.
“Okay,” Katy sounds a little disappointed. “Then I guess I’ll talk to you tomorrow?”
“I’ll call you after I finish my classes, okay?” Kris lowers his voice to almost a whisper. “Love you.”
“I love you too,” she says right before hanging up.
He throws his phone on the bed and stares at it for a moment. A part of him misses her so much that it hurts. He isn’t really sure how he’ll go until November without seeing her. They’ve been best friends for years and are used to seeing each other every day. The other part of him, though, is so glad to be away from it all. He was starting to feel suffocated by that small town. Everybody knows who he is and everything he does. He needed to get away, to find something new.
“So, was that Katy?” Adam asks, breaking the silence. Earlier when the four of them sat in Adam and Tommy’s room eating, Brad made Kris tell them all about her.
“Yeah.”
“She’s cute,” Adam says, looking up to the picture on Kris’s desk of him and Katy.
Kris smiles, “Yeah, she is.”
There is another long period of silence, the only sound in the room is Adam sorting through a bunch of movies. Kris watches him read the back of one of them. He has truly never seen anyone quite like Adam. It’s not just the eyebrows or the eyeliner or the black nail polish and rings. It’s everything. Like all of the little things Kris has noticed about him from the very few hours they have spent together. The way Adam talks with his hands when he gets excited and the way he laughs. His smile gets so big and his eyes shine even more than usual. When they were all hanging out earlier, Kris found himself trying to say or do things just so he could hear it again.
“What movie are you looking for?” Kris asks, sliding off of his bed and sitting beside Adam. His knee is warm where it is pressed against Adam’s.
“Clueless,” Adam grins. “Brad’s favorite.”
“Isn’t that the one where the girl ends up with her brother?”
Adam looks at him with wide eyes, looking somewhat offended, “He is not her brother! He was her step brother or… something. I don’t remember. I haven’t watched it in like two years,” he says. “But, anyway. Totally not her brother. That would be gross and they are so cute together.”
Kris laughs and grabs a handful of DVDs to help him look. Brad has a ton of them. He tries not to look too embarrassed when the first one he sees is a porno with a dude running his tongue up a massive dick on the cover. He hopes Brad will wait to watch that one when Kris isn’t in the room.
“You should play for me sometime,” Adam says. Kris is confused until he sees Adam staring behind him at his guitar leaning against the wall. “I mean… if you want to.”
“No, I mean yeah, I will,” Kris stumbles over his words, suddenly feeling a bit nervous. He never plays for anyone except for Katy and she doesn’t know much about music. He can tell that Adam knows a lot, possibly even more than he does.
“Cool,” Adam ducks his head down, trying to hide the small smile on his lips.
Kris shuffles through the rest of the movies in his hand and realizes that he is holding Clueless. He almost hands it over to Adam but, instead, he puts it to the back of the pile in his hands. He likes this time with Adam. Even if it is somewhat awkward and neither of them are quite sure of what to say. It’s strangely comfortable, though. And Kris likes the warm feeling of Adam’s knee pressed up against his.
“Adam!” Brad comes bursting through the door, startling both of them. “What the fuck is taking you so long?”
“I’m still looking, asshole,” Adam turns around and gives him the finger. “If you didn’t have nine million fucking movies it wouldn’t take me so long.”
Since the moment was already ruined, Kris holds the DVD out to Adam, “Found it.”
Brad snatches it from him, “Thank god. Now come on, you two. Tommy promised to give me a back massage but refused to do it while alone in the room with me.”
Adam stands up and reaches his hand down for Kris to take. He looks at it for a moment, covered in freckles and a ring on almost every finger. And the nail polish isn’t black like he thought. It’s a really dark shade of purple and it even sparkles. When Kris places his hand in Adam’s, it’s so warm.
“Thanks,” Kris mumbles when Adam helps him up.
They walk into Adam’s room together. The DVD has already started and Brad is laying on his stomach with Tommy straddling his thighs, pressing his knuckles into Brad’s lower back. “If you keep making those noises,” Tommy warns, “I’m kicking you the fuck out of my bed.”
Adam and Kris both laugh as they climb into Adam’s bed, sitting so close that their thighs are touching. Watching the movie, the sound of Brad’s soft moans in the background, and Adam’s warmth at his side, Kris can’t help but think that this place already feels a lot like home.
-
“Wake up!” Kris feels something bounce off his head and his eyes flutter open. Brad is standing next to his bed with his hands on his hips. “I’ve been trying to wake you up for like ten minutes. You really do sleep like a fucking log.”
Kris laughs and closes his eyes again, “Told you.”
“Well if you don’t get up now, you’ll be late for class,” Brad tells him as he sits down on his bed and picks up an issue of Rolling Stone. Brad made Kris write down his schedule so he knows it by heart and will probably never let Kris be late for class. “Do whatever you need to in the bathroom now or else you won’t get to at all. Adam uses it at 10 and you’ll already be graduated by the time he gets out.”
Kris stumbles out of bed and raises his arms as he stretches, revealing a bit of skin where his shirt lifts up. He looks over at Brad and sees him staring at him over his magazine.
“Are you sure you’re straight?” Brad asks, sounding a little hopeful.
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
“This is going to be even worse torture than when I roomed with the fat nerd last year,” he sighs. “At least he wasn’t hot.”
Kris grins, “You think I’m hot?”
“Fuck you,” Brad throws the magazine to the side and flops down on the bed, covering his face with his hand. “And go fix your hair. Your bed head is horrible and I refuse to be seen with you like that.”
Kris’s face hurts from smiling when he gets into the bathroom. He loves to tease Brad. They have only known each other for a few days but Kris knows Brad respects him and would never try anything with him, so Kris likes to push his buttons a little bit.
He gets in the shower and is out in less than ten minutes and wraps the towel around his waist before going back into the room to get his clothes. Just as he walks out, Brad is heading to the door to leave for class. With absolutely no shame whatsoever, Brad’s eyes roam Kris’s wet, half naked body and he shakes his head.
“I’m not going to make it through the semester with you here.”
Kris just laughs.
A half hour later Kris is walking into his first class of the day. Yesterday was his first day of classes and he was slightly overwhelmed. High school was difficult for him. He had to study so hard to get the grades he got and this will only be worse. When he was talking to Adam about it, he promised Kris to help him out whenever he needed it. That made Kris feel better because he is pretty sure that Adam is a lot smarter than he is.
Kris gets into his English class fifteen minutes early and there is only one other person there in the very front row, so Kris takes a seat in the back. He considers leaving to walk around the building for a bit but he figures he’d get lost and come stumbling in late, so he stays put.
A few minutes pass and two more people walk in, sitting next to each other at two desks towards the middle of the room. One of them has a huge ring hanging from the middle of their nose and reminds Kris of a bull and he laughs to himself.
As the class starts to fill in, Kris pulls out his phone to text Katy.
hope you have a good day. miss you.
When he hits ‘send’ someone sits down in the chair next to him. He looks up and sees a boy with an awesome beard. Kris feels a little jealous that he can’t grow facial hair like that. He has tried many times but he can only grow a mustache and some stubble on his neck and jaw. The beard guy looks down at him with a small smile.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Uh… nothing,” Kris says. “You?”
“Not much,” he replies and drops his notebook onto the table. “I’m Cale.”
“Kris.”
Two minutes before class starts, the room is almost completely full except for the desk in front of them. He and Cale have been talking for a while and Kris can already tell that he has made a new friend. They talk about guitars and The Beatles. Cale also has a girlfriend back at home and her name is Katy, which Kris thinks is pretty weird, but he calls her Kate.
The professor walks in, followed by a girl with a mess of bright red hair on the top of her head, trying to sneak around without being noticed. She takes the seat right in front of Kris and Cale and turns around.
“Hi!” She grins and Kris notices braces on her bottom teeth. Her hair is amazing, Kris thinks. It’s bright red and has pink, purple, and blue streaks. He wants to ask if it’s real but that might be rude. He doesn’t know if it is proper etiquette to ask a girl if they have fake hair. “I’m Allison.”
They introduce themselves and Allison turns around when the professor starts talking. Kris has no idea what Sociology is but, from what she is saying, it sounds pretty interesting. He enjoys learning about different cultures and lifestyles so he thinks he’ll like this class. The professor told them that she used to work at a prison, which Kris thinks is awesome.
She makes them get into groups of about seven. Kris, Allison, and Cale join four other people in a circle. Each group gets a list of 20 different types of people, such as white, black, homosexual, athletes, politicians, hairdressers, and they have to write down the first word that comes to mind for each one.
It starts off alright and they get through most of the list without any problems. But then they get to “hairdresser” and the boy sitting across from Kris laughs and says “gay” which kind of pisses Kris off. Yeah, Kris knows that there are a lot of gay hairdressers, but that’s not the point. The way he said it was meant to be offensive.
Kris lets it slide and doesn’t say anything. Allison runs her fingers through her hair and says “brilliant” so they use that.
Two words later is “homosexuals” and the guy immediately says “fags” and then laughs. The boy next to him laughs too. It makes Kris feel sick to his stomach and he clenches his hands in a tight fist. He isn’t even sure what he can say to him. He doesn’t even want to say anything. What he wants to do is punch him in the face but he is a lot bigger than him and could probably break him in half without even trying. Allison is looking down at her boots, upset and uncomfortable, and Cale is looking at the guy with a disgusted look on his face.
He thinks of Brad and Adam and how awesome both of them are. If they were here right now they’d probably feel like shit and be upset all because that guy is an asshole and thinks that being gay is wrong. Either that or Brad would hang the guy by his balls.
“Amazing,” Kris finally says. “They are amazing.”
It makes Allison smile and Cale pats him gently on the back. The guy across from him gives him a dirty look but it doesn’t matter because he doesn’t say anything for the rest of the time they are in the group. Kris feels proud of himself.
“Wow,” Allison says as the three of them leave the classroom together. “Some people are such assholes. How could he just say that, not knowing if someone in the group was gay?”
Kris shrugs, “I dunno. Some people just don’t care, I guess.”
Allison looks up at him, “Are you…?”
“Me? No… I’m, uh…” Kris mumbles. “I have a girlfriend back home.”
Allison raises an eyebrow and nods her head slowly, almost as if she doesn’t believe him, “Okay.”
They go their separate ways after Cale and Kris exchange phone numbers so they can get together and play sometime. Kris is so excited. Maybe he, Matt, and Cale can all get together soon. His fingers itch for his guitar just thinking about it.
His next class is probability and statistics and Kris is bored out of his mind. There is nobody in the class that he is really interested in talking to and he has already learned the stuff the professor is teaching last year in high school. Right now all he wants to do is go back to his room and sleep. Last night he didn’t get to bed until 3am because Adam wanted to watch Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Tommy and Brad fell asleep before Charlie even found the golden ticket. Kris fell asleep for a few minutes towards the end and woke up with his head on Adam’s shoulder. Adam didn’t seem to mind so he just kept it there until the movie was over.
Kris feels warmth in his chest and he smiles when he thinks about it. He probably looks stupid because whatever the professor is talking about isn’t anything worth smiling about but he doesn’t care. He’s really happy. Happier than he’s been in a long time.
The professor lets the class out early and Kris heads straight for his dorm. He plans on sleeping until Brad comes back in a couple of hours. He sprints up the stairs because the elevator always takes too long and it always smells like sweat. When he gets to his floor, he sees someone curled up in front of his door.
“Adam?” Kris reaches down and shakes Adam’s shoulder. He is sleeping with his knees pulled up to his chest and his head falling to the side. It looks uncomfortable and his neck is probably going to be sore. Kris kneels down and touches the side of Adam’s face, for a brief second he thinks about how smooth his skin is. “Adam, wake up.”
“Hmmm?” Adam mumbles, his eyes still closed, and leans his face into Kris’s touch, sighing happily. He reminds Kris of a kitten the way he is nuzzling Kris’s hand. It is sort of adorable. But then he stills and his eyes shoot open when he realizes what he is doing. Adam pulls away quickly and looks up at Kris, not meeting his eyes. “Oh shit… I’m sorry. I didn’t realize…”
Kris cuts him off and shakes his head and smiles. “It’s fine,” he stands up and holds his hands out to Adam to help him up. His hands are warm and soft and a lot bigger than Kris’s. “But why are you sleeping in the hallway?”
Adam ducks his head, embarrassed, “I forgot my keys and I knew that you would be coming back soon so I sat down and waited. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”
Kris takes out his keys and unlocks his door and they both walk inside. The room is freezing because Brad hates being hot so Kris has to suffer. He can’t wait to crawl under the covers to warm up. He belly flops onto his bed and lets out a loud groan, not caring that Adam is in the room. He’s never getting up ever again.
“So…” Adam says from where he is standing by the door behind him. “Thanks for letting me in.”
Kris looks up and sees Adam hesitate before walking to the bathroom door to head to his own room. He can’t help but notice the small pout on Adam’s face and Kris suddenly doesn’t want to be alone in his cold room anymore.
“You want to hang out for a bit?” Kris asks, noticing the small smile Adam tries to hide. “We can just talk or listen to music or something.”
Adam walks over and sits on the corner of Kris’s bed. He traces the design of Kris’s comforter with his finger. “Will you play something for me?”
Kris’s heart stammers in his chest and he suddenly wishes he hadn’t invited Adam to stay. What if Adam thinks he sucks or has a horrible voice? Kris is so fucking nervous, but he agrees anyway. He's going to have to get used to playing for people other than Katy someday. “Yeah, um, sure.”
He reaches over to where his guitar is leaning against his bed and pulls it into his lap. Adam backs up on the bed so he is leaning against the wall, his legs hanging a bit off of the edge. Kris just now notices how long his legs are.
Kris strums his guitar absently, “So, do you have any requests?”
Adam shrugs, “Just play whatever you feel like playing.”
He starts to play the first song that comes to mind.
I don’t know you
But I want you
All the more for that
His eyes flutter shut because he can’t look at Adam while he sings. His eyes are so blue and soft and looking at him in a way that Kris is pretty sure he has never been looked at before. After a while he forgets where he is and that Adam is in the room and that he is singing one of the most romantic songs he has ever heard to another boy.
The room is completely quiet when Kris finishes the song. All he can hear is his heartbeat pounding loud in his ears.
“Wow…” Adam whispers after what feels like an eternity. “Your face when you play… you were so into it. Like you lost yourself into the song completely.” Adam just looked so honest and sincere and it was probably the most amazing thing anyone has ever said to Kris. “It was beautiful.”
“Thanks,” Kris says, playing with his pick to keep himself from looking up at Adam. “I… do you want me to play another?”
“Please?”
Kris plays him almost every song he knows how to play, including some of his own that he wrote. He doesn’t stop long enough inbetween songs for Adam to say anything.
“Did you write that?” Adam asks when Kris finishes the last song, watching Kris’s fingers move slowly up and down the neck of the guitar. Kris nods. “Is it about Katy?”
“Yeah,” Kris tells him. “I wrote it for her right before I left.”
Adam looks away and starts running his finger along the design of the comforter again. “She’s lucky,” he says after couple seconds. “Nobody has ever written me a song before.”
Kris’s heart hurts hearing Adam say that. How is it possible that nobody has ever written a song about him? Kris could write a hundred songs just about Adam’s eyes.
“Seriously?” Kris says. He suddenly wants to write one for him just to take that sad look out of his eyes. “You’ve never dated a musician or anything?”
Adam is focusing a little too hard on the pattern he’s tracing, “I’ve never had a boyfriend at all.”
Kris is stunned. He was sure that Adam has had tons of boyfriends in the past. Adam is one of the most amazing people Kris has ever met. He’s confident and he makes Kris laugh and he has the brightest smile Kris has ever seen.
“In high school I was a fat ginger kid and I got picked on every day,” Adam explains. Kris feels anger bubble up inside of him and all he wants to do is punch anyone who has ever made Adam feel anything less than beautiful. “I was ugly.”
Kris reaches out and places his hand on Adam’s shoulder, squeezing gently. “There is no way you could’ve ever been ugly,” he says honestly.
Adam looks up at him through his long eyelashes and smiles. Kris thinks that he could probably write a hundred songs just about his smile, too.
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