Chasing ~ Part II
~ PART I ~ MASTER POST ~ ART ~
~
Adam could barely make it out of his clothes and into the comfortable sweatpants (with no shirt on, as there was no sight of shirts anywhere) before he crashed on the large bed in the way too spacious bedroom of his way too spacious suite.
He was probably supposed to be irritated with Kris. The guy was a fucking tease, after all.
Maybe he had lead Adam on with his flirting and the kisses and the hand that had been very comfortable in his back pocket for a good part of the night. And maybe the grinding and groping had gotten a little out of hand and had suggested, promised, something more to happen, but it was not like it was ever announced out loud. Not that Kris seemed like the kind of guy who would just come out and say "I want you to fuck me" or any other version of the same sentiment that included the words 'fuck' and 'me'. But, it was implied. And fuck, he wanted it so bad he would punch the fucking wall if he could just summon up enough energy to do that. And if there wasn't a possibility he would accidentally hurt his hand in the process. He wanted to be mad at the fucking tease. He really, really did. But it only took one glance at Kris' apologetic, confused, adorable, face to take away what anger he might have towards him. Because apparently, annoyingly enough, Kris Allen was not a person one could get mad at.
~
The loud banging on his door woke Adam up. He was pretty sure he wasn't expecting anyone. The alarm clock on the nightstand told him it was indeed no time to be expecting anyone, even if he would have someone to expect to turn up to his hotel room.
After bumping into every corner and piece of furniture possible on the way to the front door, Adam finally felt the door handle under his probing hand and opened it as swiftly as he could in his sleepy state of mind, swearing under his breath as the pain started to swell from his hip that he'd hit against the bathroom door.
Adam squinted his eyes, trying to see the person that was clearly standing before him with his eyes that had yet to grasp the idea of being awake again, and let out a quiet "huh" as he recognized the small figure. Either he was hallucinating or Kris was standing before him, looking much more alive than Adam probably did.
They stared at each other for a short moment before Adam finally had the right mind to let Kris step into the room and out of the quiet hallway.
Once inside, Kris was first to speak.
"I wasn't being completely honest earlier. I'm sorry. Because, I do think we should. You know." The nonplussed expression probably made clear that Adam did not know, since Kris felt the need to clarify.
"I think we should have sex." Kris grinned.
Maybe the proper response would've been to sweep the little man off his feet and carry him to the bedroom and make love for hours and hours until neither of them could move a limp, but Adam had never really been very proper in any way.
"I need coffee."
Feeling alive and awake once again, Adam looked at Kris sitting next to him on the sofa. The soft brown eyes were gazing right back at him, obviously on a mission to try and melt him into a puddle of glitter and liquid eyeliner.
"So. This is the most anti-moment moment leading to sex I've ever had. The one outside the club would have been much more… momentous."
"To be honest, I don't really care for moments. Moments are for sappy chick flicks and I don't really want anything in my life to turn into a sappy chick flick. The main characters always get to kiss the one they love at the very end of the movie, which means that they only get to kiss like once and that's just not the way I want my life to be."
"Wow. You have a lot of feelings about chick flicks. At half past four in the morning."
At least Kris had the decency to look a little sheepish. Adam leaned in to wipe the silly expression off that stupid face. After a few minutes of lazy kissing and halfhearted touching, Kris pulled away, unable to suppress a yawn. Adam chuckled.
"Want to go to sleep?" He didn't wait for a reply, just took Kris' hand in his and pulled him up from the couch.
"You mind sleeping on the right side?" Adam asked, although it wasn't so much a question as it was a "Never mind what your preferences, I will not give the left side up without a fight". Kris looked like he did indeed mind.
"Well, you'll have to sleep on me, because I'm not giving up my side of the bed."
Kris did indeed end up sleeping on Adam.
~
"I feel so old." Kris had merely woken up and opened his eyes as he heard the low voice probably speaking to him. He had trouble registering Adam's words. Kris tried to look around without lifting his head up, which turned out to be harder than he thought it would be. The body under him was warm and comforting.
"Why?"
"We didn't fuck last night. We had two perfectly good chances and we passed on both of those. Because we wanted to sleep instead, of all things?" Adam's voice sounded legitimately worried. Although, not worried enough to make Kris find the strength to lift his head up.
"We are not old. It was the sensible thing to do. We needed to prepare ourselves for a full day of fucking and that's how you do it. You need to recharge. That's called thinking ahead." Kris breathed in Adam's scent and listened to the silence as the other man paused before replying.
"I like the way you think, Allen."
"I am glad, Lambert." Kris nuzzled his nose against the side of Adam's neck. "I haven't slept this good in a really long time."
"Well, you didn't have a grown man sleeping on top of you." After realising that with 'grown man' Adam was referring was him and that his weight had probably been suffocating the man all night long, Kris tried to scramble up, rather clumsily, and get off of Adam. But Adam just draped his arms around Kris' back to stop him, starting to draw small circles on the bare skin with his fingers as soon as Kris was relaxed once again.
Both men grew silent as they enjoyed the feel of the other so close to them.
"I don't know what we're doing here," Kris confessed, his voice barely above a whisper.
"We're recharging, remember?" Adam chuckled.
"Oh, right, never mind." Kris had been rather sure that Adam would know exactly what he'd been talking about, but now he wasn't as certain anymore. Or maybe Adam wasn't ready to have the talk yet. Maybe, he had no intentions to have the talk at all, maybe the chase was all he was after. Kris tried to stop that train of thought before it had a chance to go to where it was obviously heading.
"I don't know either." Adam's voice was quiet, the smile on his face reassuring. His fingers touched the sides of Kris' face gently before he brought their lips together into a hungry kiss.
Kris' hands were everywhere at once. Teasing, sliding, squeezing and doing all the right things to make Adam shiver in arousal. After reversing their positions, Adam lowered his own hands to strip Kris off of his boxer-briefs, throwing the redundant piece of clothing to the floor.
"This is just the warm-up," Adam stated, smirked at the smaller man and settled between his legs, running his fingers gently up and down the sensitive skin of his inner thighs and letting his mouth get acquainted with Kris' hardening cock. Kris watched Adam's movements as long as he possibly could before throwing his head back in pleasure.
“You have inhumanly fabulous hair,” Kris stated once he recovered and Adam's erection digging into his hip had been taken care of, reaching to stroke a few of the black strands of hair.
“Not right now I don’t.” Adam was lying practically on top of him, head resting on Kris’ bare chest and hands stroking the tanned skin underneath him.
“You do, it’s really wild and amazing and black.”
Adam just snickered and reached out to absently pet Kris' soft hair in return as his eyes fluttered closed, a small smile on his lips.
There was no one beside him on the wrong side of the bed when Adam woke up. Or, on top of him, for that matter. Adam groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes warily. This was probably the oddest hook up he'd ever been a part of. Usually there was a lot less sleeping and a lot more fucking.
As he stood up from the bed and took a few unsteady steps towards the general direction of where he thought the bedroom door was, his eyes skimmed through the room. He didn't bother with clothes; he wasn't intending on going anywhere.
“Please tell me those aren’t plaid pyjama bottoms?” Adam laughed as he walked into the tiny kitchen.
“They are not plaid pyjama bottoms.” Kris replied, shrugging, as he glanced over his shoulder at the sleepy naked guy leaning against the doorframe behind him, and poured some more coffee into two mugs with his right hand, while scratching one plaid pyjama bottom clad calf with his left one.
“You really are helpless,” Adam said and Kris had no time to protest as he was pulled away from the counter and into Adam's arms with a firm tug of his hand.
Adam was rather sure that Kris' mouth was designed to be pressed against his and Kris’ tongue made to lick its way between his lips and to fuck his mouth with fervour. That, or they were made to make music. Either way, they were pretty damn perfect.
"I think I should fuck you", Adam whispered, using Kris' own words from the previous night. Just then his stomach decided to grumble, causing Kris to let out a small snicker. "After breakfast."
Before stumbling back towards the bedroom, they recharged some more, sitting side by side, laughing, happy, sleepy and relaxed.
~
This was probably how holidays were supposed to go. At least, the really, really great ones. Having sex all day until you were physically incapable of moving a muscle, not to mention getting your dick up and gathering energy for the next round, your lover laying sated in your arms. Adam smiled and made a mental note to give his assistant a raise once he got back home.
And Kris was amazing in bed. Playful and definitely not too serious, which Adam appreciated and probably should have known, seeing how much Kris loved to laugh outside the bedroom. Also, the guy was even bendier than Adam was. And that really said something.
Kris insisted on not ordering room service when there was a perfectly good and reasonably priced pizzeria right outside the hotel. He pulled on his jeans, causing Adam to let out a small sound of protest, put on a t-shirt that probably wasn't his as it was loose and smelled like Adam, and leaned down to kiss the boneless man sprawled on the bed.
"I'll be back in a few." He whispered, brushing another kiss against Adam's soft lips before adding, chuckling, "Don't go anywhere."
Adam muttered something in reply, the sound of the closing door lost on him as his eyelids closed, heavy with sleep.
~
If Kris had been excited about the church earlier, it was nothing compared to what he was like when they entered the Uffizi gallery, hand in hand. He was like a kid in a toy store. Or in Disneyworld. Probably more like a kid in a toy store in Disneyworld. His eyes were shining and he had this dreamy kind of smile on his lips as they walked up the stairs.
"This is one of my favourite places in Florence. It's so huge and there's so many gorgeous pieces of art here that I could hang out here an entire day, just staring at them," Kris sighed, dreamy and overdramatic. Adam looked over at him and laughed.
"You've already done that, haven't you?"
"Maybe a couple of times," Kris answered, grinning and leading Adam forward. Kris could tell him a freaky amount of details about most of the paintings from the top of his head, and there were a hell of a lot of paintings there, it was like having his own (adorable) personal guide. What was fascinating about the way Kris talked about the art was that it was actually fascinating. Adam couldn't possibly get tired of listening to Kris talk about the light and brush strokes and some specific tone of light blue so passionately, it made him want to ravish him right there and then, in front of all the shocked tourists and possibly against some famous painting by a guy called Caravaggio that was most likely worth a couple of fortunes.
Instead of prosecuting his rather fantastic plan, he settled to watch Kris get lost in his own world, a happy smile making him impossibly beautiful in front of all the ideal male and female figures from centuries past.
In one particularly enormous room, Kris sat down on one of the comfortable looking sofas in the middle of the room with a thump and faced two large (their height probably bigger than Kris'), detailed paintings on one wall. Adam sat down beside him, looking over at the pieces of art in front of them, one of them looking vaguely familiar. There was a naked woman standing on a shell and Adam was sure it had something to do with Venus.
"Sandro Botticelli is one of my favourites." Kris just stated, turning to look at Adam briefly before continuing, "He's the one who painted these two. In, like, the 15th century."
He was silent for a while, just looking at the paintings, first one, then the other, like he was searching for something. For what, Adam couldn't tell.
"The Birth of Venus is the one people always talk about, but personally I like Primavera more. There are so many details there. And you can just look and look at it and every time you will find something you haven't noticed before." He went on to talk about all the different ways to interpret the different characters and situations in the painting, pointed out how calculated each person's place was in the whole picture and spoke of all the symbols in it, even the ones that could have so easily gone unnoticed by any other person. Every once in a while he stopped, asking if he was boring Adam and if he wanted to move on already.
Adam just shook his head, although honestly maybe a little bored and overwhelmed with all the information, but the smile lighting up Kris' whole face, the whole room, was more than worth it.
Once Kris was finally done, he turned to look at Adam, a little exhausted by his lengthy speech, and laughed at the eyebrow Adam raised at him.
"I might've written a really long and detailed paper about this particular painting a couple of years ago." Kris admitted, letting Adam pull him up from the sofa and lead him to the next room.
"This thing never ends."Adam didn't have anything against art galleries and museums, but this particular gallery was really a never-ending one. He was exhausted from all the walking and listening and he was sure that by the time they would finally make it out from there, it would already be dark outside.
"There's a really overpriced cafe-slash-bar at the end with a brilliant view. If you make it there, drinks are on me." Kris had a devilish expression on his face, complete with a challenging smirk.
"Are you really bribing me with alcohol, Allen? Because it's working." Adam said, tightening his grip on Kris' hand and strutting determinately towards the general direction of where he though the bar might be, dragging the little laughing man behind him.
The view really was brilliant. And the drinks really were extremely overpriced. Adam saw a glimpse of Kris making a face as he saw just how much overpriced, but the pained expression disappeared as fast as it had appeared, fast enough not to make Adam feel guilty about not offering to pay for the drinks.
"This is nice," he simply stated after pulling away from Kris, licking his lips that now had the faint taste of Kris' beer on them. His arm was draped comfortably over Kris' shoulders, keeping him close as they sat side by side, looking over the railing, appreciating the beautiful view of Florence as they sipped their beverages. Kris leaned to rest his head against Adam's shoulder, his nose brushing softly against the side of Adam's neck as he turned his head slightly.
"It really is," Kris mumbled, barely understandable, and closed his eyes for a moment to just enjoy the warmth radiating from Adam's body against his.
Kris took Adam to a yet another incredible restaurant that was modest, homey and, compared to all the Michelin star restaurants listed in Adam's guidebook, cheap. It was so very Kris it wasn't hard to see him as a regular there, having a good time with his friends in the big, originally decorated dining room.
Stuffed with Fiorentina steak and wonderful red wine, Adam leaned back in his chair, complaining about what this holiday would do to his figure.
"Don't worry, we'll burn the calories later tonight," Kris answered smugly from behind the menu, his eyes skimming through the list of desserts. Adam smiled.
"Is that so? Shall we go, then?" Adam raised a suggestive eyebrow just as Kris looked up, laughing.
"Dolce first, sex then."
The dessert was apparently more wine, served with cookies of some kind. But the wine and the cookies, Adam learned, weren't just any wine and cookies.
"This is a traditional Florentine dessert. Vin Santo and cantuccinis. The cantuccinis are really hard, so the trick is to dip them in the wine to soften them." Kris explained, demonstrating the technique for Adam, dipping just the tip of the cookie into the liquid that reminded Adam more of apple juice than wine. Kris took a bite of the cookie, clearly enjoying the combined taste of the cantuccini and the sweet wine.
Kris repeated the procedure with what was left of the cookie and offered it to Adam. The mixture of flavours that hit his taste buds was sensational and he couldn't help the involuntary sounds of pure delight that escaped his lips. As he opened his eyes, Kris looked happy and very pleased with himself, the smug bastard.
Adam reached for another one of the cookies. The sooner they finished the dessert, the sooner he would be able to wipe the smirk of that pretty, pretty face.
~
Adam woke up to Kris' mouth swallowing his cock. There were brown eyes on him, not a trace of tiredness visible in them as they watched him from under those long lashes. Kris' delicious lips were stretched, his tanned cheeks hollowed as he slid further down Adam's length.
"What time is it?" Adam asked, mind still groggy from sleep and dazed from the late night/early morning blowjob he was on the receiving end of. He regretted ever opening his mouth as soon as Kris lifted his head, leaving Adam's cock to rest hard against his stomach, and answered him casually.
Adam watched Kris give his erection a few more tentative licks before the brown eyes were on his again and the side of his mouth quirked smugly.
"Fuck me."
Adam wasn't one to refuse a pretty boy his wish, especially when asked so nicely. His hand reached for the nightstand next to Kris' wide bed, looking for the lube that he was sure they'd left there earlier that night. Adam slicked his fingers, reaching for Kris, but he was stopped with a gentle hand on his chest.
"No need. I already took care of that." Adam just gaped at him. "What? I couldn't sleep and I had nothing to do."
The mental image of Kris fingering himself right next to him while he was sleeping was enough to drive Adam mad and manhandle the tiny man under him. He rolled the condom on quickly and pushed inside Kris with what was probably too much force.
"When I saw you out there playing for the first time, I had no idea what kind of a sex machine there was hidden under layers and layers of plaid." Adam told Kris, his tired eyes closing once again.
"Looks can be deceiving." Kris mumbled his response, his mind already on the edge of sleep.
Kris wasn’t exactly the breakfast-in-bed kind of guy, but apparently he was the breakfast-on-balcony kind. Adam couldn’t really complain, because the view from Kris’ balcony was amazing and the morning sun made sure that they were able to enjoy their breakfast in minimum amount of clothing without getting cold.
"You should stop sneaking out of bed in the morning." Adam pouted. If Kris had been one to say things like "aww", this would have been the perfect moment to do so. But, as it happened, he was not.
"Sorry. It's just a routine I have. I can't really sleep in late." Kris sipped his coffee, making an approving sound at the taste.
"I can't believe you're a morning person." Maybe Kris could be taught out of it. Eventually.
They ate their breakfast in silence, Kris flipping through the paper while Adam basked in the sunlight.
“I’d like to show you something, if you don’t mind.” Kris looked a little unsure, like he was anxious about Adam rejecting his offer. Adam just smiled, amused, as he realised that Kris actually thought that he could say no to him. Cute.
Kris seemed very sure of where they were going. The bus ride took them uphill for about half an hour, the view out of the window getting more and more breathtaking the higher they got. Kris talked and talked the whole way up to Fiesole, their destination, telling Adam about his university in San Domenico, which they passed on their way up the hill, and his studies. Not talking at all, just letting Kris speak, was a mild form of torture for Adam, who was so used to being energetic and talkative, but as the minutes passed by, Kris’ voice started to sound soothing and Adam was able to relax next to him.
The piazza they arrived to was quiet, nearly deserted. A few cars drove past them as they started to walk, the road taking them even higher and higher, but otherwise there weren’t many people outside during this time of day. Kris took Adam’s hand in his, sending small shivers up Adam’s body. The few elderly people walking down the hill just smiled at them, to Adam’s great surprise, and wished them good day.
“’Giorno!” Kris replied to them cheerfully, the winner smile on his face probably melting all the old ladies’ hearts.
“This is where Leonardo Da Vinci tested his flying machine. Or I guess hired someone to test them for him would be more accurate.” Kris pointed at the cliff where it supposedly happened. Adam looked suspicious.
“Oh really?” One of his eyebrows was lifted in disbelief. Kris just let out a laugh.
“Well, so they say. I always come here when I need to clear my mind or when I miss home so much I can’t bear it anymore. I know it’s pretty damn far away from my flat to only come and clear my mind to, but it’s… The view is incredible and there’s usually no-one here.” There was seriousness in Kris’ voice that made Adam look at him, really look at him. It was obvious that he missed home.
Kris seemed to be a mind reader.
“After five years of living here, you’d think that it felt like home. And most of the time, it does. But sometimes all I can think about is my mama’s homemade meals and my brother mocking me about my height and everything else he can come up with and my dad crying about everything… Sometimes it’s just tough and the culture shock is too much, even after all these years.” There was a ghost of a wistful smile on Kris’ face, but it never quite grew into a proper one. Adam took the few necessary steps and put his arms around him, hugging him from behind. Kris leaned back into his touch, resting his head on Adam’s shoulder, and letting out a sigh. They stayed silent for a while, Adam nuzzling Kris’ neck, while the young man was eager to give him easier access, loving the tenderness of the innocent touch.
“So, is this where you bring all of your dates to? Lure them with your magnificent guitar playing skills and your unexpectedly bright and geeky mind?” Adam hears, feels, Kris chuckling against him.
“Unexpectedly bright? What ever made you doubt my intelligence in the first place?” Adam could swear he was grinning that beautiful grin of his only by the sound of his voice.
“Oh, I don’t know, must have been all the plaid shirts deceiving me.” Adam replied, placing a small kiss just below Kris’ hairline at the back of his neck.
~
“I didn’t know you can cook.” Adam commented as he watched Kris being swallowed by his fridge while he tried to find something inside it. Kris was making the funniest noises as he reached for whatever it was that was hiding behind every possible jar and bottle on the shelf.
“I didn’t either, until I moved here. But I lived with this guy who was, is, a chef for two years, so I guess I must have learned something along the way.” Kris just shrugged, his face blank, before breaking into a triumphant smile as his fingers closed around the packet of mozzarella he had been looking for. For some reason Adam could swear “this guy” hadn’t just been some random roommate for Kris.
“I hope cooking skills aren’t a requirement if one wants to be your boyfriend, though.” As Kris turned to look at him with curious eyes, Adam shrugged and gave him a half-hearted smile.
“No, they aren’t.” Kris replied slowly, still watching Adam, trying to study the changes in his expressions. “But it was really, really nice, I’m not going to lie.” Kris grinned and paused for a second, as though pondering whether he should elaborate or not. Adam waited in silence, reaching for Kris’ hand with his. Kris dropped his gaze to watch Adam’s fingers rub the inside of his wrist, sending small shivers up and down Kris’ spine.
“It’s hard to find a guy like Luca in Italy, you know. Well, I suppose it’s hard anywhere. But here… Have you seen how the guys are over here? I’m sure you’ve got your share of ciao bellos already.” Adam couldn’t say that he hadn’t heard quite a many of those. He thought it was sort of flattering. Kris quite clearly didn’t agree with him.
“Oh, I know what you’re thinking. I must be crazy not to like having guys flirt with me like that. I have to admit all the attention I got during my first few weeks here was nice, but after a while it just gets tiring.”
Kris startled Adam by making a small sound that sounded a lot like ta-dah. He looked at Kris for a second, puzzled, and as Kris pointed at the plate in front of him, lowered his gaze to take in the arrangement on the plate.
“This is all that you learned? Even I can make salad, you know.” Adam looked at Kris again, still a little confused, but there was amusement in his voice.
“Not just any salad, but Italian salad. Look, it has the Italian colours and everything.” Kris looked down at the plate fondly, seemingly proud of his work. The green salad, tomatoes and mozzarella cheese did indeed create the colours of the Italian flag. Adam tried his best to hide his stupid grin from Kris.
After dinner they lay together on the couch in Kris' tiny living room, happy and full.
“I’ve only ever been in love once,” Adam started, wondering for a second what made him want to share this with Kris. “And it was a match made in Hell.” The added comment made Kris chuckle from where he was hidden in Adam’s armpit.
“Oh, come on.” There were fingers running up and down Adam’s torso, teasing away.
“No, I mean it. Literally. We met at a club called Hell.” The fingers paused for the shortest of moments before continuing their journey. Adam could feel Kris’ small body shaking a little against his side in silent laughter and smiled a little.
“It was just really intense, you know. It never could have worked. Not in the long haul. We're still good friends, though." Adam thought he heard Kris mumble something in return, but his voice was too low for Adam to catch the words.
It wasn't like Adam couldn't be silent for a couple of minutes in a row. But the sudden silence was starting to get a little too much for him after a while.
“Kris?” He whispered. He was just checking if the tiny man was still awake. Really, he was.
“Hmm?”
“Why are you so quiet? It’s freaking me out a bit, if I’m completely honest.”
“I’m just checking something.” Kris answered. Now that didn’t make the situation any clearer for Adam.
“… Wait. What?”
“My dad always says that it’s important to find yourself someone you can talk about anything with, but it’s more important to find yourself someone you can share the silence with. So. I’m just -”
“Checking. Got it.”
They were silent for a moment.
“I don’t think that applies when you happen to be one of those people who can barely shut up at all.”
“Point taken.”
~
The next few days flew by, lazy, happy and relaxed, full of good food and silly and meaningless, playful and deep conversation. Kris showed Adam around town, taking him to all the most common and also the most unusual sights, covering his skin with sunblock and feeding him grapes. They sat on park benches, stairs on the side of piazzas and wherever Kris could talk Adam into sitting on, since Adam wasn’t the type to just sit anywhere.
“You have the most perfect bottom lip.” Adam noted randomly, sliding his right index finger over said lip as they were enjoying the beautiful day at a piazza full of other couples, happy tourists and bold pigeons.
“Yours isn’t too bad, either.” Kris laughed, squinting at Adam as the bright sunlight was practically blinding him.
“Yes, but yours is so full and soft and red and… lickable.” Adam demonstrated the last point with his tongue, apparently not caring that they were not exactly in private.
“You know, most lips are.”
~
Back at the small apartment once again, Kris ran his hands over Adam's dotted skin for the umpteenth time, his gaze following the path of his fingertips, fascinated by the beautifully random patterns that made Adam's skin so original.
"These are really kind of awesome." He proved his point by licking the freckles experimentally.
"The freckles?" Adam asked, glancing down at him, "I used to hate them so much. As a kid, I always thought they were just another flaw and something else to add to the list of things to feel insecure about." He hummed a little, enjoying the lips adoring his skin, pressing feathery kisses across his stomach.
"Stupid thing was, I never even minded other people with freckles, I found them beautiful, even. But it took a long time to finally get in terms with my own."
Kris looked up at that, his lips breaking the contact with him.
He smiled a little, telling him how glad he was he did, though.
~
Adam couldn't believe his luck. Sure, his horoscope had told him there would be something unexpected and amazing waiting for him in the near future, but he had expected 'something unexpected and amazing' to be a couple of pairs of fabulous boots from one of the many designer stores on Florence's expensive shopping streets and not… Kris.
Not that he was complaining. Kris just happened to be, well, unexpected.
And pretty fucking amazing.
Adam was the happiest that he had been in months, probably years. Kris made him happy. It was as simple as that.
But, of course, he should have known that nothing was simple when you lived the life of Adam Lambert.
~
His phone rang right in the middle of Velvet Goldmine, a movie which, to Adam's horror, Kris admitted not to have seen before. The sound of the ringtone was an ominous one, the few people who had had the number knew to disturb him only in a case of emergency.
Adam fished the phone out of his pocket, frowning as he looked at the screen, and told Kris he'd be right back.
Kris didn't exactly enjoy eavesdropping, but as the call seemed to never end and Adam clearly started raising his voice in the other room, he walked closer. During the short moment Kris spent standing outside the bedroom door, he heard Adam use more profanities than he had ever heard coming from his mouth.
Then, suddenly, there was no more swearing and a second later the door opened. For the first time Kris saw Adam look less than happy and anxiety wasn't exactly a good look on him. Kris realised what him standing outside the door like this probably looked like and hurried to explain himself.
"I wasn't… I didn't mean to eavesdrop on you, but… What is it?"
Adam looked hesitant for a moment.
"That was my assistant. I need to get back to LA as soon as possible." Adam was checking something on his phone, possibly to avoid eye contact with Kris.
"What does that mean, though? Are you leaving right now or next week or -"
"Tomorrow."'
"Oh." Kris lowered his gaze to the floor.
"I think I need to pack. But I'll come back later and we'll… talk." Adam said, looked at Kris and leaned forward to plant a kiss on his forehead.
Kris didn't quite know what to think or how to feel about it all. Adam would be leaving the next day, Adam who had turned his simple life upside down with his charm and his countless products and whatnot. As unbelievable as it was, it seemed that Adam and his products fit his life like cantuccinis fit Vin Santo. One was fine without the other, but the best result was achieved when combining the two.
He had never been in a situation like this before. He was certain that if given the chance, their relationship had the potential to be something extraordinary. Even if the two of them might have seemed like polar opposites at first, there was something there. A spark, an energy and a world view they shared. But they didn't have the best of circumstances. Long distance relationships were hard to begin with, even when you were still on the same continent.
Kris had a bad feeling it was the beginning of the end for what could have been the best thing to ever happen to him.
Once Adam returned, they both refused to talk about the matter looming above their heads just yet. Instead they opted to stay inside, Kris fiddling with his guitar and playing Adam the new song he had learned for the night.
Adam didn't even notice he'd been singing quiet harmonies for the song until he saw Kris gaping at him with curiosity. Kris hadn't heard him sing before. He hadn't been full-on singing even then, but apparently Kris had heard enough to be impressed. Enough to convince him into performing with him in a few hours, on his last night in Florence.
“This is a song I’ve never performed before and Adam here is going to help me with it a bit. If we mess up… Blame him.” Kris’ face was beaming with delight as he started strumming his guitar again. The smile stayed put through the whole song and Adam watched, fascinated, Kris’ eyes opening and closing and opening again and harmonized, as planned, with him during the chorus.
‘Cause I swear it’s you, I swear it’s you, I swear it’s you that I’ve waited for. I swear it’s you, I swear it’s you that my heart beats for. And it isn’t gonna stop, no, it just won’t stop.
It was too cheesy and too soon, and Adam was probably reading way too much into all of this, but it put a smile on his face anyway.
He really should have seen it coming; the herd of teenage girls swallowing him inside their little group as soon as the performance was over. He should have, but he didn't.
“Oh my god, you’re Adam Lambert!” One of the girls screamed and immediately after Adam’s “The one and only” reply and smirk, they were all over his personal space, leaving Kris gobsmacked next to the squealing group. Kris heard one extremely excited “I voted for you!” that caught his attention. Voted for him? To be what? The homecoming king? The mayor of Los Angeles? No, that probably wasn’t it… There was some more chattering about something to do with music and albums and songs, but Kris couldn’t make out the whole sentences as the girls kept talking over each other, trying to get Adam’s attention.
Deciding that Adam should probably take care of the situation by himself and that it was really none of his business to listen to the conversation like that, again, Kris turned away and flashed a smile to the people coming to thank him for an excellent performance.
Apparently now that the girls had Adam’s undivided attention, they weren’t going to give it up any time soon. Kris packed his stuff slowly, collecting the money from the bottom of the guitar case, gathering the albums to his bag and stuffing his guitar to the case, trying not to listen to what was being said. But they were talking, still mostly screaming, so loud that it was impossible not to hear bits and pieces of the enthusiastic talk. Something about American Idol and touring and it all started to make sense.
Adam had said that he worked in the music business, but he could’ve mentioned that he was actually a big deal. He got recognised in public. As Kris lifted his gaze to look at Adam, he noticed the tall man looking right back at him with pleading eyes. Picking up his overstuffed bag, the guitar case and the amplifier, he made his way to the group and raised his voice to tell them it was time for him and Adam to go. There were disappointed sounds all around, but, after signing the last few autographs, Adam was finally released from the middle of the group.
“Thank you.” He sighed, sounding relieved and genuine. They walked in silence, without any specific destination, it seemed, for a while, Adam wordlessly offering to carry the heavy amplifier.
“You could have said something.” Kris started when the silence was becoming too much for him. Adam glanced at him quickly, but the Kris was looking away from him, adding: “You know, about being… famous.”
He probably had no right to demand Adam to tell him every little bit about his life, they had only known each other for less than two weeks. But it wasn’t the same not to know what brand of aftershave Adam used or how many ex-boyfriends he had back home or how he ate his eggs. This was a huge part of Adam’s life, and if things would have gone anything like Kris had planned against his better judgement, it could have become a huge part of his life as well.
He said as much to Adam, leaving out the part about the future he had planned on the back of his mind. Adam just hummed his reply, still deep in thought, it seemed. He was still carrying his amplifier like they hadn’t just walked several blocks, heading towards Kris’ apartment, like the amp wasn’t way too heavy to be carried long distances and like Adam was some kind of Superman. Kris wouldn’t even be all that surprised if Adam was wearing blue tights and the tightest Superman shirt he could found in all of Florence under his casual clothes. All he’d need was the fabulous red boots.
Kris snickered, completely lost in his own thoughts for a moment, until Adam coughed a little, signalling that they’d arrived to their destination. Kris shook his head a bit, leaving all thoughts about superheroes behind him, and looked expectantly up to Adam’s blue eyes.
“Can we talk about this up there?” Adam made a gesture that Kris translated as up there in his apartment. “This is really kind of heavy.” Adam continued, gesturing at the amp now, a little smile on his lips. Kris chuckled and opened the door, letting Adam past him to the chilly hallway.
"You should know that I didn't want to keep it from you. Because now that I know you better, I know that you wouldn't use my status to get ahead. But when you have been in the business for as long as I have and you've tried to date people like normal people do, you learn to be careful." Adam sat on the couch and tried to explain it all to Kris, willing him to believe that what he was saying was the truth. Kris' eyes looked gentle as they looked in his, inquiring.
"Yeah, I get that. You don't know if people are dating you because they genuinely like you or because you are who you are." Kris' smile was encouraging and his warm hand came to rest on Adam's knee. "What I would like to hear is the truth about what you do. The whole truth, if you don't mind."
And Adam told him. He filled Kris in on American Idol, on the controversies and rumours, the fame and the glory and the wonderful people, his fans, who loved him for who he was and whom he loved for who they were. He told him about the stress of being what people considered a gay icon and the struggle with handling the media and the pressure coming from his label and Kris understood him. He didn't see Adam as "poor little rich boy", but as just someone who was truly having trouble coping with the overwhelming feeling of being pulled into every direction possible, stretched until there was nothing left in him.
Once it was all out of him, there were tears spilling out of Adam's eyes, but Kris said nothing, just held him close as he let out a sigh of pure relief.
~
The cab drive to the airport the next day was a quiet one, only the sound of the traffic and the driver singing along to a pop song on the radio surrounding them as they sat on the back seat. Adam stared out of the window, watching the scenery change.
"We will make it work," Adam told Kris. He was wearing a pair of comfortable jeans, a simple t-shirt and a black baseball cap, not wanting to get recognised again, not before he reached LA, anyway. He gazed at Kris from under the lid of his cap.
Adam downed his last cup of Florentine espresso. He was going to miss it.
"Long distance relationships don't really work." Kris had the courage to voice out what Adam had only dared to think. He put the tiny coffee cup down, got up to his feet and lifted his backpack from the ground, swinging it over his shoulder. Kris looked a little lost for a while, but raised to his feet as well, taking Adam's hand in his.
"I will make it work," Adam said again, more strictly. "I will come to Italy to promote the album and I will fly you to the States if that's what it takes. I will even come to Arkansas with you."
"How big of you," Kris teased and for the first time that day, his smile reached his eyes, the wrinkles around them coming out of hiding.
Adam stopped near the security check, turning to face Kris. They looked at each other for a second before Adam pulled Kris closer by hand and hugged him tight. They stayed that way, their arms wrapped around each other, for a long while.
Kris looked thoughtful as he finally stepped back. His hands were still on Adam, not ready to let go just yet.
“You know, I never even noticed the lack of eyeliner, leather and glitter in my life before you. Now I don’t understand how I was ever able to live without them.” Kris smiled fondly before continuing. “Now it’s all so silly and obvious, how I never realised that. Because they, no, you, are exactly what was missing from my life. It’s like… I thought I could see just fine until somebody gave me glasses and once I put them on I finally realised that up until that moment I had never really seen at all.” Adam looked at Kris for a second, a serious expression on his beautiful face, before cracking up.
“Oh my God, that is the cheesiest thing I have ever heard.” The obviously mocking way his hands flailed around annoyed Kris to no end.
“Shut up.” He mumbled and pressed his lips against Adam's to stop the flailing.
And the flailing stopped.
~
~ PART I ~ MASTER POST ~ ART ~
~
Adam could barely make it out of his clothes and into the comfortable sweatpants (with no shirt on, as there was no sight of shirts anywhere) before he crashed on the large bed in the way too spacious bedroom of his way too spacious suite.
He was probably supposed to be irritated with Kris. The guy was a fucking tease, after all.
Maybe he had lead Adam on with his flirting and the kisses and the hand that had been very comfortable in his back pocket for a good part of the night. And maybe the grinding and groping had gotten a little out of hand and had suggested, promised, something more to happen, but it was not like it was ever announced out loud. Not that Kris seemed like the kind of guy who would just come out and say "I want you to fuck me" or any other version of the same sentiment that included the words 'fuck' and 'me'. But, it was implied. And fuck, he wanted it so bad he would punch the fucking wall if he could just summon up enough energy to do that. And if there wasn't a possibility he would accidentally hurt his hand in the process. He wanted to be mad at the fucking tease. He really, really did. But it only took one glance at Kris' apologetic, confused, adorable, face to take away what anger he might have towards him. Because apparently, annoyingly enough, Kris Allen was not a person one could get mad at.
~
The loud banging on his door woke Adam up. He was pretty sure he wasn't expecting anyone. The alarm clock on the nightstand told him it was indeed no time to be expecting anyone, even if he would have someone to expect to turn up to his hotel room.
After bumping into every corner and piece of furniture possible on the way to the front door, Adam finally felt the door handle under his probing hand and opened it as swiftly as he could in his sleepy state of mind, swearing under his breath as the pain started to swell from his hip that he'd hit against the bathroom door.
Adam squinted his eyes, trying to see the person that was clearly standing before him with his eyes that had yet to grasp the idea of being awake again, and let out a quiet "huh" as he recognized the small figure. Either he was hallucinating or Kris was standing before him, looking much more alive than Adam probably did.
They stared at each other for a short moment before Adam finally had the right mind to let Kris step into the room and out of the quiet hallway.
Once inside, Kris was first to speak.
"I wasn't being completely honest earlier. I'm sorry. Because, I do think we should. You know." The nonplussed expression probably made clear that Adam did not know, since Kris felt the need to clarify.
"I think we should have sex." Kris grinned.
Maybe the proper response would've been to sweep the little man off his feet and carry him to the bedroom and make love for hours and hours until neither of them could move a limp, but Adam had never really been very proper in any way.
"I need coffee."
Feeling alive and awake once again, Adam looked at Kris sitting next to him on the sofa. The soft brown eyes were gazing right back at him, obviously on a mission to try and melt him into a puddle of glitter and liquid eyeliner.
"So. This is the most anti-moment moment leading to sex I've ever had. The one outside the club would have been much more… momentous."
"To be honest, I don't really care for moments. Moments are for sappy chick flicks and I don't really want anything in my life to turn into a sappy chick flick. The main characters always get to kiss the one they love at the very end of the movie, which means that they only get to kiss like once and that's just not the way I want my life to be."
"Wow. You have a lot of feelings about chick flicks. At half past four in the morning."
At least Kris had the decency to look a little sheepish. Adam leaned in to wipe the silly expression off that stupid face. After a few minutes of lazy kissing and halfhearted touching, Kris pulled away, unable to suppress a yawn. Adam chuckled.
"Want to go to sleep?" He didn't wait for a reply, just took Kris' hand in his and pulled him up from the couch.
"You mind sleeping on the right side?" Adam asked, although it wasn't so much a question as it was a "Never mind what your preferences, I will not give the left side up without a fight". Kris looked like he did indeed mind.
"Well, you'll have to sleep on me, because I'm not giving up my side of the bed."
Kris did indeed end up sleeping on Adam.
~
"I feel so old." Kris had merely woken up and opened his eyes as he heard the low voice probably speaking to him. He had trouble registering Adam's words. Kris tried to look around without lifting his head up, which turned out to be harder than he thought it would be. The body under him was warm and comforting.
"Why?"
"We didn't fuck last night. We had two perfectly good chances and we passed on both of those. Because we wanted to sleep instead, of all things?" Adam's voice sounded legitimately worried. Although, not worried enough to make Kris find the strength to lift his head up.
"We are not old. It was the sensible thing to do. We needed to prepare ourselves for a full day of fucking and that's how you do it. You need to recharge. That's called thinking ahead." Kris breathed in Adam's scent and listened to the silence as the other man paused before replying.
"I like the way you think, Allen."
"I am glad, Lambert." Kris nuzzled his nose against the side of Adam's neck. "I haven't slept this good in a really long time."
"Well, you didn't have a grown man sleeping on top of you." After realising that with 'grown man' Adam was referring was him and that his weight had probably been suffocating the man all night long, Kris tried to scramble up, rather clumsily, and get off of Adam. But Adam just draped his arms around Kris' back to stop him, starting to draw small circles on the bare skin with his fingers as soon as Kris was relaxed once again.
Both men grew silent as they enjoyed the feel of the other so close to them.
"I don't know what we're doing here," Kris confessed, his voice barely above a whisper.
"We're recharging, remember?" Adam chuckled.
"Oh, right, never mind." Kris had been rather sure that Adam would know exactly what he'd been talking about, but now he wasn't as certain anymore. Or maybe Adam wasn't ready to have the talk yet. Maybe, he had no intentions to have the talk at all, maybe the chase was all he was after. Kris tried to stop that train of thought before it had a chance to go to where it was obviously heading.
"I don't know either." Adam's voice was quiet, the smile on his face reassuring. His fingers touched the sides of Kris' face gently before he brought their lips together into a hungry kiss.
Kris' hands were everywhere at once. Teasing, sliding, squeezing and doing all the right things to make Adam shiver in arousal. After reversing their positions, Adam lowered his own hands to strip Kris off of his boxer-briefs, throwing the redundant piece of clothing to the floor.
"This is just the warm-up," Adam stated, smirked at the smaller man and settled between his legs, running his fingers gently up and down the sensitive skin of his inner thighs and letting his mouth get acquainted with Kris' hardening cock. Kris watched Adam's movements as long as he possibly could before throwing his head back in pleasure.
“You have inhumanly fabulous hair,” Kris stated once he recovered and Adam's erection digging into his hip had been taken care of, reaching to stroke a few of the black strands of hair.
“Not right now I don’t.” Adam was lying practically on top of him, head resting on Kris’ bare chest and hands stroking the tanned skin underneath him.
“You do, it’s really wild and amazing and black.”
Adam just snickered and reached out to absently pet Kris' soft hair in return as his eyes fluttered closed, a small smile on his lips.
There was no one beside him on the wrong side of the bed when Adam woke up. Or, on top of him, for that matter. Adam groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes warily. This was probably the oddest hook up he'd ever been a part of. Usually there was a lot less sleeping and a lot more fucking.
As he stood up from the bed and took a few unsteady steps towards the general direction of where he thought the bedroom door was, his eyes skimmed through the room. He didn't bother with clothes; he wasn't intending on going anywhere.
“Please tell me those aren’t plaid pyjama bottoms?” Adam laughed as he walked into the tiny kitchen.
“They are not plaid pyjama bottoms.” Kris replied, shrugging, as he glanced over his shoulder at the sleepy naked guy leaning against the doorframe behind him, and poured some more coffee into two mugs with his right hand, while scratching one plaid pyjama bottom clad calf with his left one.
“You really are helpless,” Adam said and Kris had no time to protest as he was pulled away from the counter and into Adam's arms with a firm tug of his hand.
Adam was rather sure that Kris' mouth was designed to be pressed against his and Kris’ tongue made to lick its way between his lips and to fuck his mouth with fervour. That, or they were made to make music. Either way, they were pretty damn perfect.
"I think I should fuck you", Adam whispered, using Kris' own words from the previous night. Just then his stomach decided to grumble, causing Kris to let out a small snicker. "After breakfast."
Before stumbling back towards the bedroom, they recharged some more, sitting side by side, laughing, happy, sleepy and relaxed.
~
This was probably how holidays were supposed to go. At least, the really, really great ones. Having sex all day until you were physically incapable of moving a muscle, not to mention getting your dick up and gathering energy for the next round, your lover laying sated in your arms. Adam smiled and made a mental note to give his assistant a raise once he got back home.
And Kris was amazing in bed. Playful and definitely not too serious, which Adam appreciated and probably should have known, seeing how much Kris loved to laugh outside the bedroom. Also, the guy was even bendier than Adam was. And that really said something.
Kris insisted on not ordering room service when there was a perfectly good and reasonably priced pizzeria right outside the hotel. He pulled on his jeans, causing Adam to let out a small sound of protest, put on a t-shirt that probably wasn't his as it was loose and smelled like Adam, and leaned down to kiss the boneless man sprawled on the bed.
"I'll be back in a few." He whispered, brushing another kiss against Adam's soft lips before adding, chuckling, "Don't go anywhere."
Adam muttered something in reply, the sound of the closing door lost on him as his eyelids closed, heavy with sleep.
~
If Kris had been excited about the church earlier, it was nothing compared to what he was like when they entered the Uffizi gallery, hand in hand. He was like a kid in a toy store. Or in Disneyworld. Probably more like a kid in a toy store in Disneyworld. His eyes were shining and he had this dreamy kind of smile on his lips as they walked up the stairs.
"This is one of my favourite places in Florence. It's so huge and there's so many gorgeous pieces of art here that I could hang out here an entire day, just staring at them," Kris sighed, dreamy and overdramatic. Adam looked over at him and laughed.
"You've already done that, haven't you?"
"Maybe a couple of times," Kris answered, grinning and leading Adam forward. Kris could tell him a freaky amount of details about most of the paintings from the top of his head, and there were a hell of a lot of paintings there, it was like having his own (adorable) personal guide. What was fascinating about the way Kris talked about the art was that it was actually fascinating. Adam couldn't possibly get tired of listening to Kris talk about the light and brush strokes and some specific tone of light blue so passionately, it made him want to ravish him right there and then, in front of all the shocked tourists and possibly against some famous painting by a guy called Caravaggio that was most likely worth a couple of fortunes.
Instead of prosecuting his rather fantastic plan, he settled to watch Kris get lost in his own world, a happy smile making him impossibly beautiful in front of all the ideal male and female figures from centuries past.
In one particularly enormous room, Kris sat down on one of the comfortable looking sofas in the middle of the room with a thump and faced two large (their height probably bigger than Kris'), detailed paintings on one wall. Adam sat down beside him, looking over at the pieces of art in front of them, one of them looking vaguely familiar. There was a naked woman standing on a shell and Adam was sure it had something to do with Venus.
"Sandro Botticelli is one of my favourites." Kris just stated, turning to look at Adam briefly before continuing, "He's the one who painted these two. In, like, the 15th century."
He was silent for a while, just looking at the paintings, first one, then the other, like he was searching for something. For what, Adam couldn't tell.
"The Birth of Venus is the one people always talk about, but personally I like Primavera more. There are so many details there. And you can just look and look at it and every time you will find something you haven't noticed before." He went on to talk about all the different ways to interpret the different characters and situations in the painting, pointed out how calculated each person's place was in the whole picture and spoke of all the symbols in it, even the ones that could have so easily gone unnoticed by any other person. Every once in a while he stopped, asking if he was boring Adam and if he wanted to move on already.
Adam just shook his head, although honestly maybe a little bored and overwhelmed with all the information, but the smile lighting up Kris' whole face, the whole room, was more than worth it.
Once Kris was finally done, he turned to look at Adam, a little exhausted by his lengthy speech, and laughed at the eyebrow Adam raised at him.
"I might've written a really long and detailed paper about this particular painting a couple of years ago." Kris admitted, letting Adam pull him up from the sofa and lead him to the next room.
"This thing never ends."Adam didn't have anything against art galleries and museums, but this particular gallery was really a never-ending one. He was exhausted from all the walking and listening and he was sure that by the time they would finally make it out from there, it would already be dark outside.
"There's a really overpriced cafe-slash-bar at the end with a brilliant view. If you make it there, drinks are on me." Kris had a devilish expression on his face, complete with a challenging smirk.
"Are you really bribing me with alcohol, Allen? Because it's working." Adam said, tightening his grip on Kris' hand and strutting determinately towards the general direction of where he though the bar might be, dragging the little laughing man behind him.
The view really was brilliant. And the drinks really were extremely overpriced. Adam saw a glimpse of Kris making a face as he saw just how much overpriced, but the pained expression disappeared as fast as it had appeared, fast enough not to make Adam feel guilty about not offering to pay for the drinks.
"This is nice," he simply stated after pulling away from Kris, licking his lips that now had the faint taste of Kris' beer on them. His arm was draped comfortably over Kris' shoulders, keeping him close as they sat side by side, looking over the railing, appreciating the beautiful view of Florence as they sipped their beverages. Kris leaned to rest his head against Adam's shoulder, his nose brushing softly against the side of Adam's neck as he turned his head slightly.
"It really is," Kris mumbled, barely understandable, and closed his eyes for a moment to just enjoy the warmth radiating from Adam's body against his.
Kris took Adam to a yet another incredible restaurant that was modest, homey and, compared to all the Michelin star restaurants listed in Adam's guidebook, cheap. It was so very Kris it wasn't hard to see him as a regular there, having a good time with his friends in the big, originally decorated dining room.
Stuffed with Fiorentina steak and wonderful red wine, Adam leaned back in his chair, complaining about what this holiday would do to his figure.
"Don't worry, we'll burn the calories later tonight," Kris answered smugly from behind the menu, his eyes skimming through the list of desserts. Adam smiled.
"Is that so? Shall we go, then?" Adam raised a suggestive eyebrow just as Kris looked up, laughing.
"Dolce first, sex then."
The dessert was apparently more wine, served with cookies of some kind. But the wine and the cookies, Adam learned, weren't just any wine and cookies.
"This is a traditional Florentine dessert. Vin Santo and cantuccinis. The cantuccinis are really hard, so the trick is to dip them in the wine to soften them." Kris explained, demonstrating the technique for Adam, dipping just the tip of the cookie into the liquid that reminded Adam more of apple juice than wine. Kris took a bite of the cookie, clearly enjoying the combined taste of the cantuccini and the sweet wine.
Kris repeated the procedure with what was left of the cookie and offered it to Adam. The mixture of flavours that hit his taste buds was sensational and he couldn't help the involuntary sounds of pure delight that escaped his lips. As he opened his eyes, Kris looked happy and very pleased with himself, the smug bastard.
Adam reached for another one of the cookies. The sooner they finished the dessert, the sooner he would be able to wipe the smirk of that pretty, pretty face.
~
Adam woke up to Kris' mouth swallowing his cock. There were brown eyes on him, not a trace of tiredness visible in them as they watched him from under those long lashes. Kris' delicious lips were stretched, his tanned cheeks hollowed as he slid further down Adam's length.
"What time is it?" Adam asked, mind still groggy from sleep and dazed from the late night/early morning blowjob he was on the receiving end of. He regretted ever opening his mouth as soon as Kris lifted his head, leaving Adam's cock to rest hard against his stomach, and answered him casually.
Adam watched Kris give his erection a few more tentative licks before the brown eyes were on his again and the side of his mouth quirked smugly.
"Fuck me."
Adam wasn't one to refuse a pretty boy his wish, especially when asked so nicely. His hand reached for the nightstand next to Kris' wide bed, looking for the lube that he was sure they'd left there earlier that night. Adam slicked his fingers, reaching for Kris, but he was stopped with a gentle hand on his chest.
"No need. I already took care of that." Adam just gaped at him. "What? I couldn't sleep and I had nothing to do."
The mental image of Kris fingering himself right next to him while he was sleeping was enough to drive Adam mad and manhandle the tiny man under him. He rolled the condom on quickly and pushed inside Kris with what was probably too much force.
"When I saw you out there playing for the first time, I had no idea what kind of a sex machine there was hidden under layers and layers of plaid." Adam told Kris, his tired eyes closing once again.
"Looks can be deceiving." Kris mumbled his response, his mind already on the edge of sleep.
Kris wasn’t exactly the breakfast-in-bed kind of guy, but apparently he was the breakfast-on-balcony kind. Adam couldn’t really complain, because the view from Kris’ balcony was amazing and the morning sun made sure that they were able to enjoy their breakfast in minimum amount of clothing without getting cold.
"You should stop sneaking out of bed in the morning." Adam pouted. If Kris had been one to say things like "aww", this would have been the perfect moment to do so. But, as it happened, he was not.
"Sorry. It's just a routine I have. I can't really sleep in late." Kris sipped his coffee, making an approving sound at the taste.
"I can't believe you're a morning person." Maybe Kris could be taught out of it. Eventually.
They ate their breakfast in silence, Kris flipping through the paper while Adam basked in the sunlight.
“I’d like to show you something, if you don’t mind.” Kris looked a little unsure, like he was anxious about Adam rejecting his offer. Adam just smiled, amused, as he realised that Kris actually thought that he could say no to him. Cute.
Kris seemed very sure of where they were going. The bus ride took them uphill for about half an hour, the view out of the window getting more and more breathtaking the higher they got. Kris talked and talked the whole way up to Fiesole, their destination, telling Adam about his university in San Domenico, which they passed on their way up the hill, and his studies. Not talking at all, just letting Kris speak, was a mild form of torture for Adam, who was so used to being energetic and talkative, but as the minutes passed by, Kris’ voice started to sound soothing and Adam was able to relax next to him.
The piazza they arrived to was quiet, nearly deserted. A few cars drove past them as they started to walk, the road taking them even higher and higher, but otherwise there weren’t many people outside during this time of day. Kris took Adam’s hand in his, sending small shivers up Adam’s body. The few elderly people walking down the hill just smiled at them, to Adam’s great surprise, and wished them good day.
“’Giorno!” Kris replied to them cheerfully, the winner smile on his face probably melting all the old ladies’ hearts.
“This is where Leonardo Da Vinci tested his flying machine. Or I guess hired someone to test them for him would be more accurate.” Kris pointed at the cliff where it supposedly happened. Adam looked suspicious.
“Oh really?” One of his eyebrows was lifted in disbelief. Kris just let out a laugh.
“Well, so they say. I always come here when I need to clear my mind or when I miss home so much I can’t bear it anymore. I know it’s pretty damn far away from my flat to only come and clear my mind to, but it’s… The view is incredible and there’s usually no-one here.” There was seriousness in Kris’ voice that made Adam look at him, really look at him. It was obvious that he missed home.
Kris seemed to be a mind reader.
“After five years of living here, you’d think that it felt like home. And most of the time, it does. But sometimes all I can think about is my mama’s homemade meals and my brother mocking me about my height and everything else he can come up with and my dad crying about everything… Sometimes it’s just tough and the culture shock is too much, even after all these years.” There was a ghost of a wistful smile on Kris’ face, but it never quite grew into a proper one. Adam took the few necessary steps and put his arms around him, hugging him from behind. Kris leaned back into his touch, resting his head on Adam’s shoulder, and letting out a sigh. They stayed silent for a while, Adam nuzzling Kris’ neck, while the young man was eager to give him easier access, loving the tenderness of the innocent touch.
“So, is this where you bring all of your dates to? Lure them with your magnificent guitar playing skills and your unexpectedly bright and geeky mind?” Adam hears, feels, Kris chuckling against him.
“Unexpectedly bright? What ever made you doubt my intelligence in the first place?” Adam could swear he was grinning that beautiful grin of his only by the sound of his voice.
“Oh, I don’t know, must have been all the plaid shirts deceiving me.” Adam replied, placing a small kiss just below Kris’ hairline at the back of his neck.
~
“I didn’t know you can cook.” Adam commented as he watched Kris being swallowed by his fridge while he tried to find something inside it. Kris was making the funniest noises as he reached for whatever it was that was hiding behind every possible jar and bottle on the shelf.
“I didn’t either, until I moved here. But I lived with this guy who was, is, a chef for two years, so I guess I must have learned something along the way.” Kris just shrugged, his face blank, before breaking into a triumphant smile as his fingers closed around the packet of mozzarella he had been looking for. For some reason Adam could swear “this guy” hadn’t just been some random roommate for Kris.
“I hope cooking skills aren’t a requirement if one wants to be your boyfriend, though.” As Kris turned to look at him with curious eyes, Adam shrugged and gave him a half-hearted smile.
“No, they aren’t.” Kris replied slowly, still watching Adam, trying to study the changes in his expressions. “But it was really, really nice, I’m not going to lie.” Kris grinned and paused for a second, as though pondering whether he should elaborate or not. Adam waited in silence, reaching for Kris’ hand with his. Kris dropped his gaze to watch Adam’s fingers rub the inside of his wrist, sending small shivers up and down Kris’ spine.
“It’s hard to find a guy like Luca in Italy, you know. Well, I suppose it’s hard anywhere. But here… Have you seen how the guys are over here? I’m sure you’ve got your share of ciao bellos already.” Adam couldn’t say that he hadn’t heard quite a many of those. He thought it was sort of flattering. Kris quite clearly didn’t agree with him.
“Oh, I know what you’re thinking. I must be crazy not to like having guys flirt with me like that. I have to admit all the attention I got during my first few weeks here was nice, but after a while it just gets tiring.”
Kris startled Adam by making a small sound that sounded a lot like ta-dah. He looked at Kris for a second, puzzled, and as Kris pointed at the plate in front of him, lowered his gaze to take in the arrangement on the plate.
“This is all that you learned? Even I can make salad, you know.” Adam looked at Kris again, still a little confused, but there was amusement in his voice.
“Not just any salad, but Italian salad. Look, it has the Italian colours and everything.” Kris looked down at the plate fondly, seemingly proud of his work. The green salad, tomatoes and mozzarella cheese did indeed create the colours of the Italian flag. Adam tried his best to hide his stupid grin from Kris.
After dinner they lay together on the couch in Kris' tiny living room, happy and full.
“I’ve only ever been in love once,” Adam started, wondering for a second what made him want to share this with Kris. “And it was a match made in Hell.” The added comment made Kris chuckle from where he was hidden in Adam’s armpit.
“Oh, come on.” There were fingers running up and down Adam’s torso, teasing away.
“No, I mean it. Literally. We met at a club called Hell.” The fingers paused for the shortest of moments before continuing their journey. Adam could feel Kris’ small body shaking a little against his side in silent laughter and smiled a little.
“It was just really intense, you know. It never could have worked. Not in the long haul. We're still good friends, though." Adam thought he heard Kris mumble something in return, but his voice was too low for Adam to catch the words.
It wasn't like Adam couldn't be silent for a couple of minutes in a row. But the sudden silence was starting to get a little too much for him after a while.
“Kris?” He whispered. He was just checking if the tiny man was still awake. Really, he was.
“Hmm?”
“Why are you so quiet? It’s freaking me out a bit, if I’m completely honest.”
“I’m just checking something.” Kris answered. Now that didn’t make the situation any clearer for Adam.
“… Wait. What?”
“My dad always says that it’s important to find yourself someone you can talk about anything with, but it’s more important to find yourself someone you can share the silence with. So. I’m just -”
“Checking. Got it.”
They were silent for a moment.
“I don’t think that applies when you happen to be one of those people who can barely shut up at all.”
“Point taken.”
~
The next few days flew by, lazy, happy and relaxed, full of good food and silly and meaningless, playful and deep conversation. Kris showed Adam around town, taking him to all the most common and also the most unusual sights, covering his skin with sunblock and feeding him grapes. They sat on park benches, stairs on the side of piazzas and wherever Kris could talk Adam into sitting on, since Adam wasn’t the type to just sit anywhere.
“You have the most perfect bottom lip.” Adam noted randomly, sliding his right index finger over said lip as they were enjoying the beautiful day at a piazza full of other couples, happy tourists and bold pigeons.
“Yours isn’t too bad, either.” Kris laughed, squinting at Adam as the bright sunlight was practically blinding him.
“Yes, but yours is so full and soft and red and… lickable.” Adam demonstrated the last point with his tongue, apparently not caring that they were not exactly in private.
“You know, most lips are.”
~
Back at the small apartment once again, Kris ran his hands over Adam's dotted skin for the umpteenth time, his gaze following the path of his fingertips, fascinated by the beautifully random patterns that made Adam's skin so original.
"These are really kind of awesome." He proved his point by licking the freckles experimentally.
"The freckles?" Adam asked, glancing down at him, "I used to hate them so much. As a kid, I always thought they were just another flaw and something else to add to the list of things to feel insecure about." He hummed a little, enjoying the lips adoring his skin, pressing feathery kisses across his stomach.
"Stupid thing was, I never even minded other people with freckles, I found them beautiful, even. But it took a long time to finally get in terms with my own."
Kris looked up at that, his lips breaking the contact with him.
He smiled a little, telling him how glad he was he did, though.
~
Adam couldn't believe his luck. Sure, his horoscope had told him there would be something unexpected and amazing waiting for him in the near future, but he had expected 'something unexpected and amazing' to be a couple of pairs of fabulous boots from one of the many designer stores on Florence's expensive shopping streets and not… Kris.
Not that he was complaining. Kris just happened to be, well, unexpected.
And pretty fucking amazing.
Adam was the happiest that he had been in months, probably years. Kris made him happy. It was as simple as that.
But, of course, he should have known that nothing was simple when you lived the life of Adam Lambert.
~
His phone rang right in the middle of Velvet Goldmine, a movie which, to Adam's horror, Kris admitted not to have seen before. The sound of the ringtone was an ominous one, the few people who had had the number knew to disturb him only in a case of emergency.
Adam fished the phone out of his pocket, frowning as he looked at the screen, and told Kris he'd be right back.
Kris didn't exactly enjoy eavesdropping, but as the call seemed to never end and Adam clearly started raising his voice in the other room, he walked closer. During the short moment Kris spent standing outside the bedroom door, he heard Adam use more profanities than he had ever heard coming from his mouth.
Then, suddenly, there was no more swearing and a second later the door opened. For the first time Kris saw Adam look less than happy and anxiety wasn't exactly a good look on him. Kris realised what him standing outside the door like this probably looked like and hurried to explain himself.
"I wasn't… I didn't mean to eavesdrop on you, but… What is it?"
Adam looked hesitant for a moment.
"That was my assistant. I need to get back to LA as soon as possible." Adam was checking something on his phone, possibly to avoid eye contact with Kris.
"What does that mean, though? Are you leaving right now or next week or -"
"Tomorrow."'
"Oh." Kris lowered his gaze to the floor.
"I think I need to pack. But I'll come back later and we'll… talk." Adam said, looked at Kris and leaned forward to plant a kiss on his forehead.
Kris didn't quite know what to think or how to feel about it all. Adam would be leaving the next day, Adam who had turned his simple life upside down with his charm and his countless products and whatnot. As unbelievable as it was, it seemed that Adam and his products fit his life like cantuccinis fit Vin Santo. One was fine without the other, but the best result was achieved when combining the two.
He had never been in a situation like this before. He was certain that if given the chance, their relationship had the potential to be something extraordinary. Even if the two of them might have seemed like polar opposites at first, there was something there. A spark, an energy and a world view they shared. But they didn't have the best of circumstances. Long distance relationships were hard to begin with, even when you were still on the same continent.
Kris had a bad feeling it was the beginning of the end for what could have been the best thing to ever happen to him.
Once Adam returned, they both refused to talk about the matter looming above their heads just yet. Instead they opted to stay inside, Kris fiddling with his guitar and playing Adam the new song he had learned for the night.
Adam didn't even notice he'd been singing quiet harmonies for the song until he saw Kris gaping at him with curiosity. Kris hadn't heard him sing before. He hadn't been full-on singing even then, but apparently Kris had heard enough to be impressed. Enough to convince him into performing with him in a few hours, on his last night in Florence.
“This is a song I’ve never performed before and Adam here is going to help me with it a bit. If we mess up… Blame him.” Kris’ face was beaming with delight as he started strumming his guitar again. The smile stayed put through the whole song and Adam watched, fascinated, Kris’ eyes opening and closing and opening again and harmonized, as planned, with him during the chorus.
‘Cause I swear it’s you, I swear it’s you, I swear it’s you that I’ve waited for. I swear it’s you, I swear it’s you that my heart beats for. And it isn’t gonna stop, no, it just won’t stop.
It was too cheesy and too soon, and Adam was probably reading way too much into all of this, but it put a smile on his face anyway.
He really should have seen it coming; the herd of teenage girls swallowing him inside their little group as soon as the performance was over. He should have, but he didn't.
“Oh my god, you’re Adam Lambert!” One of the girls screamed and immediately after Adam’s “The one and only” reply and smirk, they were all over his personal space, leaving Kris gobsmacked next to the squealing group. Kris heard one extremely excited “I voted for you!” that caught his attention. Voted for him? To be what? The homecoming king? The mayor of Los Angeles? No, that probably wasn’t it… There was some more chattering about something to do with music and albums and songs, but Kris couldn’t make out the whole sentences as the girls kept talking over each other, trying to get Adam’s attention.
Deciding that Adam should probably take care of the situation by himself and that it was really none of his business to listen to the conversation like that, again, Kris turned away and flashed a smile to the people coming to thank him for an excellent performance.
Apparently now that the girls had Adam’s undivided attention, they weren’t going to give it up any time soon. Kris packed his stuff slowly, collecting the money from the bottom of the guitar case, gathering the albums to his bag and stuffing his guitar to the case, trying not to listen to what was being said. But they were talking, still mostly screaming, so loud that it was impossible not to hear bits and pieces of the enthusiastic talk. Something about American Idol and touring and it all started to make sense.
Adam had said that he worked in the music business, but he could’ve mentioned that he was actually a big deal. He got recognised in public. As Kris lifted his gaze to look at Adam, he noticed the tall man looking right back at him with pleading eyes. Picking up his overstuffed bag, the guitar case and the amplifier, he made his way to the group and raised his voice to tell them it was time for him and Adam to go. There were disappointed sounds all around, but, after signing the last few autographs, Adam was finally released from the middle of the group.
“Thank you.” He sighed, sounding relieved and genuine. They walked in silence, without any specific destination, it seemed, for a while, Adam wordlessly offering to carry the heavy amplifier.
“You could have said something.” Kris started when the silence was becoming too much for him. Adam glanced at him quickly, but the Kris was looking away from him, adding: “You know, about being… famous.”
He probably had no right to demand Adam to tell him every little bit about his life, they had only known each other for less than two weeks. But it wasn’t the same not to know what brand of aftershave Adam used or how many ex-boyfriends he had back home or how he ate his eggs. This was a huge part of Adam’s life, and if things would have gone anything like Kris had planned against his better judgement, it could have become a huge part of his life as well.
He said as much to Adam, leaving out the part about the future he had planned on the back of his mind. Adam just hummed his reply, still deep in thought, it seemed. He was still carrying his amplifier like they hadn’t just walked several blocks, heading towards Kris’ apartment, like the amp wasn’t way too heavy to be carried long distances and like Adam was some kind of Superman. Kris wouldn’t even be all that surprised if Adam was wearing blue tights and the tightest Superman shirt he could found in all of Florence under his casual clothes. All he’d need was the fabulous red boots.
Kris snickered, completely lost in his own thoughts for a moment, until Adam coughed a little, signalling that they’d arrived to their destination. Kris shook his head a bit, leaving all thoughts about superheroes behind him, and looked expectantly up to Adam’s blue eyes.
“Can we talk about this up there?” Adam made a gesture that Kris translated as up there in his apartment. “This is really kind of heavy.” Adam continued, gesturing at the amp now, a little smile on his lips. Kris chuckled and opened the door, letting Adam past him to the chilly hallway.
"You should know that I didn't want to keep it from you. Because now that I know you better, I know that you wouldn't use my status to get ahead. But when you have been in the business for as long as I have and you've tried to date people like normal people do, you learn to be careful." Adam sat on the couch and tried to explain it all to Kris, willing him to believe that what he was saying was the truth. Kris' eyes looked gentle as they looked in his, inquiring.
"Yeah, I get that. You don't know if people are dating you because they genuinely like you or because you are who you are." Kris' smile was encouraging and his warm hand came to rest on Adam's knee. "What I would like to hear is the truth about what you do. The whole truth, if you don't mind."
And Adam told him. He filled Kris in on American Idol, on the controversies and rumours, the fame and the glory and the wonderful people, his fans, who loved him for who he was and whom he loved for who they were. He told him about the stress of being what people considered a gay icon and the struggle with handling the media and the pressure coming from his label and Kris understood him. He didn't see Adam as "poor little rich boy", but as just someone who was truly having trouble coping with the overwhelming feeling of being pulled into every direction possible, stretched until there was nothing left in him.
Once it was all out of him, there were tears spilling out of Adam's eyes, but Kris said nothing, just held him close as he let out a sigh of pure relief.
~
The cab drive to the airport the next day was a quiet one, only the sound of the traffic and the driver singing along to a pop song on the radio surrounding them as they sat on the back seat. Adam stared out of the window, watching the scenery change.
"We will make it work," Adam told Kris. He was wearing a pair of comfortable jeans, a simple t-shirt and a black baseball cap, not wanting to get recognised again, not before he reached LA, anyway. He gazed at Kris from under the lid of his cap.
Adam downed his last cup of Florentine espresso. He was going to miss it.
"Long distance relationships don't really work." Kris had the courage to voice out what Adam had only dared to think. He put the tiny coffee cup down, got up to his feet and lifted his backpack from the ground, swinging it over his shoulder. Kris looked a little lost for a while, but raised to his feet as well, taking Adam's hand in his.
"I will make it work," Adam said again, more strictly. "I will come to Italy to promote the album and I will fly you to the States if that's what it takes. I will even come to Arkansas with you."
"How big of you," Kris teased and for the first time that day, his smile reached his eyes, the wrinkles around them coming out of hiding.
Adam stopped near the security check, turning to face Kris. They looked at each other for a second before Adam pulled Kris closer by hand and hugged him tight. They stayed that way, their arms wrapped around each other, for a long while.
Kris looked thoughtful as he finally stepped back. His hands were still on Adam, not ready to let go just yet.
“You know, I never even noticed the lack of eyeliner, leather and glitter in my life before you. Now I don’t understand how I was ever able to live without them.” Kris smiled fondly before continuing. “Now it’s all so silly and obvious, how I never realised that. Because they, no, you, are exactly what was missing from my life. It’s like… I thought I could see just fine until somebody gave me glasses and once I put them on I finally realised that up until that moment I had never really seen at all.” Adam looked at Kris for a second, a serious expression on his beautiful face, before cracking up.
“Oh my God, that is the cheesiest thing I have ever heard.” The obviously mocking way his hands flailed around annoyed Kris to no end.
“Shut up.” He mumbled and pressed his lips against Adam's to stop the flailing.
And the flailing stopped.
~
~ PART I ~ MASTER POST ~ ART ~