Bare | Adam/Kris | PG-13
Title: Bare
Pairing: Adam/Kris
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2300
Notes: Written for aianonlovefest for the prompt: Kris is asked to pose for Playgirl much to his embarrassment and Adam's delight. Many thanks to my girl skeletontrees for the beta work and being generally awesome ♥
Kris blinks in horror as he stares at Adam. He's pretty sure he's drooling from the way his mouth is hanging open, but he can't seem to care about that right now. Adam's words are bouncing around his brain and he just-he doesn't get it.
Adam chuckles and clasps his hand around Kris' shoulder, giving it a squeeze. "Seriously, Kris? Did you think I'd tell you it was a stupid suggestion and to not do it? Sex sells. Just go for it."
Kris shakes his head slightly and manages to close his mouth, swallowing hard. "Let me get this straight. I come to you to complain about some… some porno magazine harassing me to pose for them, and you, what, encourage this? You want me to sell myself like that?" Kris is trying to sound angry, but he can't quite ignore the thrill that rushes through him at the thought of Adam thinking he could sell sexy.
Adam shrugs. "It ain't that deep, man." He's smirking and Kris is rolling his eyes, so sick of that attitude already.
"It's porn, Adam. I am a musician, not some sexpot."
"You're a struggling musician that just needs the world to pay some attention to you." Adam flashes him a dazzling smile and then arches an elegant brow, smirking as he says, "Trust me, baby. Just a few pictures of you and everyone will be waiting to see what Kris Allen does next."
Kris swallows hard at the intense heat in Adam's eyes.
-
He wanted Adam to be supportive and indignant with him at the Playgirl harassment, but that definitely didn't happen. He wasn't expecting Adam to support the other team (the Naked Team, as Kris has gotten around to calling them in his head) but maybe it isn't as surprising as Kris initially thought.
What's absolutely shocking is the way Katy wants him to go along with it, too.
You'd think Kris just told her the neighbors were inviting them over for a nice dinner. Kris stares agape at her as she stirs tomato sauce and says, "Oh, that sounds lovely! Think of how much more music you can sell," in the most nonchalant voice ever.
Kris is surrounded by a bunch of crazies.
-
This is a bad idea. Not only did Adam and Katy tell him to go for it, but his management, his friends, and even his mother (his mother, for god's sake) were all for Team Naked. He signs the contract and sets his shoot date all before he can change his mind, but as he arrives on the set it all starts to really sink in.
This is a really bad idea.
He's nervous and sweaty and totally unable to form coherent sentences. When some suit grabs him and directs him to a table where he's supposed to hear some posing ideas and pick what he wants to do, Kris is downright blushing to his very toes at all this talk of him being naked.
"He's got great skin. You have great skin, Kris. Let's show all of it."
"Better ass, if you ask me. The bears will love this, have him bending over a leather couch, it'll be perfect."
"I'm thinking we do something with a more obvious theme. Church boy gone bad, Bible covering all the important parts, but not too much covering-"
Kris has to say something before they put him in some altar boy robes and have him lie suggestively in a confessional booth. "Guys?" Kris gulps when they all turn to face him, these creepy men with their cameras and clip boards and crazy ideas. "How about some shirtless shots of me smiling?"
There's about two seconds of silence before they’re all bursting into laughter, slapping their knees and looking at him endearingly. "Where did they find this guy?" one of them says. Kris blushes some more.
"Kris? You're getting naked."
-
Kris totally gets naked. He spends the entire day blushing and trying to angle his body the best way possible to show the absolute least amount of skin, much to the discouragement of the photographers. He gets manhandled, touched, yelled at, and ordered around all day… sans clothing. Kris can't think properly the entire day, fleeting thoughts of "oh my god" and "I'm going to hell" and "Adam will see these" popping up against the meaningless buzzing filling his head all day.
He doesn't like to admit it, but the thoughts of Adam always had him turning towards the camera a little more boldly. He won't think about what that means.
-
It's two weeks before the pictures are all developed and Team Naked calls him back to take a look. Katy comes with him and smiles while Kris looks on in embarrassment and horror at all the shots of him, gazing over his back, sprawled out on a leather couch, sitting in the shower. "Kris, look how adorable you look in this one! Your butt is pink!" She giggles. Kris wants to cry.
-
It's two more weeks after that before the magazine finally hits the stands and the media storm begins. He's surprised Playgirl managed to keep his cover shoot a secret until just a few days before his nakedness graced store shelves, but he's grateful, too. The questions, the media coverage, the debates about his character are all a bit much to handle.
So Kris does what he always does when it gets to be too much. He calls Adam.
-
Kris hasn't really talked to Adam since he told him about being offered the shoot. He's filled with both dread and anticipation when he waits for Adam to pick up his phone, and the shrill, "Oh my god, Kristopher fucking Allen," that greets him reinforces it all.
Kris swallows. "Hi, Adam."
"I have a magazine with your nakedness all over it. Care to explain? You didn't tell me you were going to take them up on the offer! I had to find out through my mom who heard it on E! news or some shit. Do you know how embarrassing that was?" Adam doesn't sound particularly mad. Mostly surprised, Kris thinks. He tries to imagine that conversation between Leila and Adam, but ends up laughing before he can pan it all out.
Adam huffs impatiently on the other line. "What?"
"Nothing. So, what do you think? I can't believe I did this, it's just so-- I'm freaking out over here."
There's a pause and then Adam says, "Well. You look good."
Kris feels himself get hot all over and manages a weak, "Thanks," a few seconds late.
He can hear Adam clear his throat. He's expecting maybe another lecture, maybe some criticism on the lighting or the set choices or whatever shit Adam can talk to make fun of the photographer, but all he says is, "You look really, really good."
Kris' brain is yelling a million and one different things at him and he can't think properly. It's silent, silent for way too long, before Adam finally says, "Well, it was nice talking to you. I'll let you go," and hangs up.
Kris didn't even vent to him about the media yet, but that frustrated feeling that filled his chest before he called Adam is gone anyway.
-
The next time Kris sees Adam, the media is still talking about his shoot. It's only been a month, sure, but he figured since there's a new issue out now, people would forget about it.
Apparently, Kris' ass is "too delicious," as Perez Hilton put it, to just forget about and move on.
They meet at some industry event, and seeing Adam across the room eases the heavy feeling of boredom in his chest. Adam smiles at him when he comes up to him, eyes sparking behind black makeup but looking strangely guarded. It makes Kris uneasy. "Hey," he says. He moves in for a hug and Adam only hesitates a second before breaking out into a real grin and pulling him close, thumping him on the back.
"You need to call me more," he says into Kris' ear. The hairs on the back of his neck stand up and Kris tries not to shiver.
Adam's seen him naked. That's about the only thing running through Kris' head right now as Adam holds him. That, and the fact that Adam said he looked good. Kris presses his smile at the thought into Adam's shoulder and feels him laugh softly.
-
The party, or whatever it is, is as boring as Kris knew it would be. People come up to him and tease him about the pictures, making Kris blush and duck his head and try to smile, like he's in on the joke, but it's getting hard to keep doing that. Adam notices, and before they're technically supposed to leave, Adam grabs his wrist and says, "Fuck this shit. Let's just go somewhere and enjoy each other's company without all the industry pricks."
Kris smiles and lets himself be lead away.
-
Kris lets out a relieved sigh and plops down onto Adam's couch as soon as he gets through the door, raising his arms to rest behind his head and extending his legs. He loves that Adam's LA rock star mansion is so close to all the boring shit they get dragged to sometimes. Kris' eyes are closed, but he opens them when he realizes Adam hasn't said anything yet and catches him staring, mouth slightly open. Adam looks away quickly and runs to the kitchen with a promise of bringing back something to drink. Kris belatedly realizes Adam's leather couch looks a lot like the one he was laying down on for his Playgirl shoot. Kris fights back the heat in his cheeks and smiles at Adam when he hands him a beer.
They clink their bottles together and drink in silence.
-
It's a great night, Kris thinks, as he leans out on Adam's second story balcony and basks in the crisp desert air. Kris thinks about the shoot, how much attention it's giving him, and yeah, talking about it is embarrassing and sucks, but at least he's managing to plug his upcoming album as much as possible and get people more interested. He thinks if he ever makes that much money, he's going to buy a huge house with a balcony just like this one.
He takes in a deep breath and shivers when a gust of wind wraps around him, chilly. Adam was with him earlier, but went back downstairs to make popcorn and hot chocolate so they could watch a movie together. Kris smiles in anticipation and heads back inside to Adam's bedroom, looking fondly at the bed in disarray and the clothes all over the floor.
He's walking towards the door, ready to head downstairs, when he stops dead in his tracks at the picture he sees taped to Adam's floor length mirror. Right at eye level, taped at the edge where mirror meets wall, is a picture from Kris' Playgirl shoot.
It's not the one of him laying on the couch. It's not the one of him in the shower or with his ass exposed or his legs apart. It's the small picture included by the editor's note of the magazine, just a shot of Kris face, smiling, eye's crinkled against the bright sun from that day. Kris just stares, his chest filling with something, heavy and warm.
He doesn't hear Adam come back up the stairs and into his bedroom until he's asking Kris, "What the hell's taking you so long?"
Adam stops walking towards him when he notices what Kris is staring at. Kris catches a mumbled, "Oh shit," and then "Kris, I know, it seems kind of creepy, I swear-"
Kris doesn’t let Adam finish. "You said I looked good." Adam's embarrassed, cheeks turned slightly pink and head bent down, posture slighted, and he nods.
"This was your favorite picture?" His voice is questioning, disbelieving, thinking that of all the pictures in the magazine to want to look at every day, Adam chose this one of him smiling. He could have taken advantage of the naked pictures, could have kept those out to look at whenever he wanted. Kris did the shoot, he knows that people are going to look, going to ogle at the American Idol stripped bare and vulnerable and some are going to boast his pictures on their walls or somewhere they can see them all the time.
Adam nods again, biting his bottom lip nervously.
All Kris can think to say is, "Why?"
Adam chuckles, small and quiet, and takes a step closer. Kris feels warm everywhere, that something heavy tugging on his heart like it's waiting for Kris to accept a really awesome hug. "Because you look real. Because you look like you." Kris is stunned at the quiet turn to Adam's normally strong, confident voice. "I like the others too, don't get me wrong. But they're posed, they're fabricated, they're not coming from inside you, natural. This one feels-- this one feels more bare to me. And fuck, maybe that does make me a creepy friend, but that's why I really like it."
The warm feeling spreads everywhere, hugs him all over, inside and out, until he's moving closer and letting Adam take him into his arms, hold him tight against his body and kiss the top of his head fondly. Kris clutches at the back of Adam's shirt and pulls back just far enough to look into Adam's eyes and give him the biggest smile that's ever stretched his face.
Maybe Kris will never have as many hits as John Mayer or Jason Mraz, but Kris knows that the smile Adam gives him back will inspire the most beautiful songs he'll ever write.
Pairing: Adam/Kris
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2300
Notes: Written for aianonlovefest for the prompt: Kris is asked to pose for Playgirl much to his embarrassment and Adam's delight. Many thanks to my girl skeletontrees for the beta work and being generally awesome ♥
Kris blinks in horror as he stares at Adam. He's pretty sure he's drooling from the way his mouth is hanging open, but he can't seem to care about that right now. Adam's words are bouncing around his brain and he just-he doesn't get it.
Adam chuckles and clasps his hand around Kris' shoulder, giving it a squeeze. "Seriously, Kris? Did you think I'd tell you it was a stupid suggestion and to not do it? Sex sells. Just go for it."
Kris shakes his head slightly and manages to close his mouth, swallowing hard. "Let me get this straight. I come to you to complain about some… some porno magazine harassing me to pose for them, and you, what, encourage this? You want me to sell myself like that?" Kris is trying to sound angry, but he can't quite ignore the thrill that rushes through him at the thought of Adam thinking he could sell sexy.
Adam shrugs. "It ain't that deep, man." He's smirking and Kris is rolling his eyes, so sick of that attitude already.
"It's porn, Adam. I am a musician, not some sexpot."
"You're a struggling musician that just needs the world to pay some attention to you." Adam flashes him a dazzling smile and then arches an elegant brow, smirking as he says, "Trust me, baby. Just a few pictures of you and everyone will be waiting to see what Kris Allen does next."
Kris swallows hard at the intense heat in Adam's eyes.
-
He wanted Adam to be supportive and indignant with him at the Playgirl harassment, but that definitely didn't happen. He wasn't expecting Adam to support the other team (the Naked Team, as Kris has gotten around to calling them in his head) but maybe it isn't as surprising as Kris initially thought.
What's absolutely shocking is the way Katy wants him to go along with it, too.
You'd think Kris just told her the neighbors were inviting them over for a nice dinner. Kris stares agape at her as she stirs tomato sauce and says, "Oh, that sounds lovely! Think of how much more music you can sell," in the most nonchalant voice ever.
Kris is surrounded by a bunch of crazies.
-
This is a bad idea. Not only did Adam and Katy tell him to go for it, but his management, his friends, and even his mother (his mother, for god's sake) were all for Team Naked. He signs the contract and sets his shoot date all before he can change his mind, but as he arrives on the set it all starts to really sink in.
This is a really bad idea.
He's nervous and sweaty and totally unable to form coherent sentences. When some suit grabs him and directs him to a table where he's supposed to hear some posing ideas and pick what he wants to do, Kris is downright blushing to his very toes at all this talk of him being naked.
"He's got great skin. You have great skin, Kris. Let's show all of it."
"Better ass, if you ask me. The bears will love this, have him bending over a leather couch, it'll be perfect."
"I'm thinking we do something with a more obvious theme. Church boy gone bad, Bible covering all the important parts, but not too much covering-"
Kris has to say something before they put him in some altar boy robes and have him lie suggestively in a confessional booth. "Guys?" Kris gulps when they all turn to face him, these creepy men with their cameras and clip boards and crazy ideas. "How about some shirtless shots of me smiling?"
There's about two seconds of silence before they’re all bursting into laughter, slapping their knees and looking at him endearingly. "Where did they find this guy?" one of them says. Kris blushes some more.
"Kris? You're getting naked."
-
Kris totally gets naked. He spends the entire day blushing and trying to angle his body the best way possible to show the absolute least amount of skin, much to the discouragement of the photographers. He gets manhandled, touched, yelled at, and ordered around all day… sans clothing. Kris can't think properly the entire day, fleeting thoughts of "oh my god" and "I'm going to hell" and "Adam will see these" popping up against the meaningless buzzing filling his head all day.
He doesn't like to admit it, but the thoughts of Adam always had him turning towards the camera a little more boldly. He won't think about what that means.
-
It's two weeks before the pictures are all developed and Team Naked calls him back to take a look. Katy comes with him and smiles while Kris looks on in embarrassment and horror at all the shots of him, gazing over his back, sprawled out on a leather couch, sitting in the shower. "Kris, look how adorable you look in this one! Your butt is pink!" She giggles. Kris wants to cry.
-
It's two more weeks after that before the magazine finally hits the stands and the media storm begins. He's surprised Playgirl managed to keep his cover shoot a secret until just a few days before his nakedness graced store shelves, but he's grateful, too. The questions, the media coverage, the debates about his character are all a bit much to handle.
So Kris does what he always does when it gets to be too much. He calls Adam.
-
Kris hasn't really talked to Adam since he told him about being offered the shoot. He's filled with both dread and anticipation when he waits for Adam to pick up his phone, and the shrill, "Oh my god, Kristopher fucking Allen," that greets him reinforces it all.
Kris swallows. "Hi, Adam."
"I have a magazine with your nakedness all over it. Care to explain? You didn't tell me you were going to take them up on the offer! I had to find out through my mom who heard it on E! news or some shit. Do you know how embarrassing that was?" Adam doesn't sound particularly mad. Mostly surprised, Kris thinks. He tries to imagine that conversation between Leila and Adam, but ends up laughing before he can pan it all out.
Adam huffs impatiently on the other line. "What?"
"Nothing. So, what do you think? I can't believe I did this, it's just so-- I'm freaking out over here."
There's a pause and then Adam says, "Well. You look good."
Kris feels himself get hot all over and manages a weak, "Thanks," a few seconds late.
He can hear Adam clear his throat. He's expecting maybe another lecture, maybe some criticism on the lighting or the set choices or whatever shit Adam can talk to make fun of the photographer, but all he says is, "You look really, really good."
Kris' brain is yelling a million and one different things at him and he can't think properly. It's silent, silent for way too long, before Adam finally says, "Well, it was nice talking to you. I'll let you go," and hangs up.
Kris didn't even vent to him about the media yet, but that frustrated feeling that filled his chest before he called Adam is gone anyway.
-
The next time Kris sees Adam, the media is still talking about his shoot. It's only been a month, sure, but he figured since there's a new issue out now, people would forget about it.
Apparently, Kris' ass is "too delicious," as Perez Hilton put it, to just forget about and move on.
They meet at some industry event, and seeing Adam across the room eases the heavy feeling of boredom in his chest. Adam smiles at him when he comes up to him, eyes sparking behind black makeup but looking strangely guarded. It makes Kris uneasy. "Hey," he says. He moves in for a hug and Adam only hesitates a second before breaking out into a real grin and pulling him close, thumping him on the back.
"You need to call me more," he says into Kris' ear. The hairs on the back of his neck stand up and Kris tries not to shiver.
Adam's seen him naked. That's about the only thing running through Kris' head right now as Adam holds him. That, and the fact that Adam said he looked good. Kris presses his smile at the thought into Adam's shoulder and feels him laugh softly.
-
The party, or whatever it is, is as boring as Kris knew it would be. People come up to him and tease him about the pictures, making Kris blush and duck his head and try to smile, like he's in on the joke, but it's getting hard to keep doing that. Adam notices, and before they're technically supposed to leave, Adam grabs his wrist and says, "Fuck this shit. Let's just go somewhere and enjoy each other's company without all the industry pricks."
Kris smiles and lets himself be lead away.
-
Kris lets out a relieved sigh and plops down onto Adam's couch as soon as he gets through the door, raising his arms to rest behind his head and extending his legs. He loves that Adam's LA rock star mansion is so close to all the boring shit they get dragged to sometimes. Kris' eyes are closed, but he opens them when he realizes Adam hasn't said anything yet and catches him staring, mouth slightly open. Adam looks away quickly and runs to the kitchen with a promise of bringing back something to drink. Kris belatedly realizes Adam's leather couch looks a lot like the one he was laying down on for his Playgirl shoot. Kris fights back the heat in his cheeks and smiles at Adam when he hands him a beer.
They clink their bottles together and drink in silence.
-
It's a great night, Kris thinks, as he leans out on Adam's second story balcony and basks in the crisp desert air. Kris thinks about the shoot, how much attention it's giving him, and yeah, talking about it is embarrassing and sucks, but at least he's managing to plug his upcoming album as much as possible and get people more interested. He thinks if he ever makes that much money, he's going to buy a huge house with a balcony just like this one.
He takes in a deep breath and shivers when a gust of wind wraps around him, chilly. Adam was with him earlier, but went back downstairs to make popcorn and hot chocolate so they could watch a movie together. Kris smiles in anticipation and heads back inside to Adam's bedroom, looking fondly at the bed in disarray and the clothes all over the floor.
He's walking towards the door, ready to head downstairs, when he stops dead in his tracks at the picture he sees taped to Adam's floor length mirror. Right at eye level, taped at the edge where mirror meets wall, is a picture from Kris' Playgirl shoot.
It's not the one of him laying on the couch. It's not the one of him in the shower or with his ass exposed or his legs apart. It's the small picture included by the editor's note of the magazine, just a shot of Kris face, smiling, eye's crinkled against the bright sun from that day. Kris just stares, his chest filling with something, heavy and warm.
He doesn't hear Adam come back up the stairs and into his bedroom until he's asking Kris, "What the hell's taking you so long?"
Adam stops walking towards him when he notices what Kris is staring at. Kris catches a mumbled, "Oh shit," and then "Kris, I know, it seems kind of creepy, I swear-"
Kris doesn’t let Adam finish. "You said I looked good." Adam's embarrassed, cheeks turned slightly pink and head bent down, posture slighted, and he nods.
"This was your favorite picture?" His voice is questioning, disbelieving, thinking that of all the pictures in the magazine to want to look at every day, Adam chose this one of him smiling. He could have taken advantage of the naked pictures, could have kept those out to look at whenever he wanted. Kris did the shoot, he knows that people are going to look, going to ogle at the American Idol stripped bare and vulnerable and some are going to boast his pictures on their walls or somewhere they can see them all the time.
Adam nods again, biting his bottom lip nervously.
All Kris can think to say is, "Why?"
Adam chuckles, small and quiet, and takes a step closer. Kris feels warm everywhere, that something heavy tugging on his heart like it's waiting for Kris to accept a really awesome hug. "Because you look real. Because you look like you." Kris is stunned at the quiet turn to Adam's normally strong, confident voice. "I like the others too, don't get me wrong. But they're posed, they're fabricated, they're not coming from inside you, natural. This one feels-- this one feels more bare to me. And fuck, maybe that does make me a creepy friend, but that's why I really like it."
The warm feeling spreads everywhere, hugs him all over, inside and out, until he's moving closer and letting Adam take him into his arms, hold him tight against his body and kiss the top of his head fondly. Kris clutches at the back of Adam's shirt and pulls back just far enough to look into Adam's eyes and give him the biggest smile that's ever stretched his face.
Maybe Kris will never have as many hits as John Mayer or Jason Mraz, but Kris knows that the smile Adam gives him back will inspire the most beautiful songs he'll ever write.