FIC: More Things in Heaven and Earth (RPF, NC-17, Kris/Cale, 3/4)

[cjmarlowe]

"So I feel we may have missed a vital step here," said Cale, dropping the plastic convenience store bag on the table next to the coffee maker, the drinking glasses and the iron.

"Between the corner and your hotel room?" said Kris. "We made it here, so I think we did all right."

"Between us before and us now," said Cale, checking the bag to make sure they hadn't grabbed anything that needed to be stuffed in the mini-fridge. "We sort of jumped in with both feet."

"I've been pretty okay with that," said Kris. "I thought you've been pretty okay with that too."

"I've been great with it," said Cale. "We just skipped some stuff and I think we should catch up now."

"Right now?"

"Can't think of a better time," said Cale. "Nobody's expecting to see either one of us till morning. Unless someone set something on fire, and I like to think our guys have better timing than that."

"So what vital steps are we talking about?" said Kris, but Cale just took his elbow and led him to the bed. When Kris tried to take his shirt off, Cale stopped him. "Seriously?"

"Seriously," said Cale, and laced his fingers with Kris's and then kissed those parted, smiling lips. He didn't think there was a necessary and immutable progression when it came to relationships-if they were even calling this that-but he liked this part, this part where you just felt nice with each other, and in their desperation to fill every moment alone together, of which there were admittedly too few, they just never did this.

"Okay," said Kris, kicking his shoes off and then playing with Cale's socked feet with his own. Which was it exactly, it was exactly what Cale was looking for. His teenage self never would have thought that this making out wouldn't just be solely in pursuit of something else, but his teenage self had a lot to learn.

With his free hand he ran his fingers carefully through Kris's hair, playing with it as he kissed him, as Kris kissed him back in that same spirit of playfulness and exploration. Cale couldn't see it, not from this close, but he could just tell that Kris was smiling. Maybe because he was smiling too, because he couldn't imagine doing this and not smiling.

Kris grabbed a little bit at the hem of Cale's shirt but it was just a restless, helpless motion as they continued to kiss. Cale closed his eyes and just let himself enjoy it, the way they instinctively curled around one another and tangled up together. Kris squeezed his hand and Cale rubbed his thumb gently against Kris's scalp and just kept kissing, soft, slow, frequent kisses, moving away only to take a breath before starting again.

"How do you feel about your nipples?" said Cale, letting go of Kris's hair only to run his hand up Kris's abdomen and chest over his shirt.

"They're...there?" offered Kris, licking his lips and looking a little confused about why Cale wasn't kissing him anymore.

"Are they sensitive?" said Cale. "I've never stopped to find out. I've never asked if you like people to play with them."

"I don't know," said Kris, chewing on his swollen lower lip for a moment as he looked down at Cale's hand. "We never...you know I've only been with one other person."

And Cale did know that, even if he didn't think about that very often. Just one woman before, and never another man who might've given him a chance to explore that.

"Do you want to find out?"

"That would mean taking my shirt off," Kris teased him. "Are you sure you want to go there?"

"Shirts are okay," said Cale, pulling it up just far enough to expose Kris's waist and abs. "Pants stay on, though."

"Forever?" said Kris.

"For now," said Cale, pulling his shirt up a little higher, though not quite high enough yet. "I think I want to know. Maybe you'll like me pinching them, or biting them, or tonguing them."

"I, um, think you're getting better at this dirty talk thing," said Kris, and the funny part was, Cale hadn't even been thinking about it. He'd just been saying what was in his head, what he was thinking about trying now that they were letting themselves slow down a little to find out what they might have been missing.

"Well, might as well get it in now before my mouth is too busy," said Cale, pulling his shirt up the rest of the way to Kris's armpits. They had to let go of hands then, and it was funny how reluctant Cale felt to do that when it was such a simple, basic gesture. Then he pulled Kris's shirt over his head, only half-way off and leaving his arms trapped there while Cale took his first tentative licks over Kris's tiny nipples. They hardened so quickly when he did, and he heard Kris gasp softly behind the fabric.

He finally pulled the shirt off the rest of the way then, leaving his own on, kissing Kris again as soon as he could see his face and bringing a hand up to pinch that already-hard nipple. Kris hissed into his kiss.

"Sensitive?"

"I don't know if it's sensitive, or you," said Kris. "I don't really...."

Cale even knew what he was trying to say. He was trying to say that he didn't play with them when he was getting himself off, though Cale wondered if, after this, he would give that a try. It was a mental image that was definitely going to stick with him for a while.

"Either way, it's fun, right?" said Cale, pinching the other one and kissing Kris through another reaction to it.

"Definitely," said Kris, sinking his teeth lightly into Cale's lower lip as Cale moved his other hand in to toy with them both at the same time. Kris's back actually arched as he did.

"Oh, that was good," he said, kissing him again.

"That was definitely good," said Kris. "It's not fair that you still have your shirt on."

"It doesn't do much for me," admitted Cale, "but if you like the view...."

"Maybe it'll be different with me," said Kris, but either way, Cale knew his shirt was coming off and all he could do was give in when Kris started tugging on it. "At worst, it'll be fun for me."

But before Kris had his fun, Cale was still having his, and he finally left off kissing for a little while to move down just far enough to tongue Kris's nipples lightly, then bite one of them just sharply enough to be felt.

"Oh yeah, that, that," said Kris with a soft hitch in his voice, and that was all the encouragement Cale needed to keep going, nibbling first at one, then at the other, and holding Kris's sides as he gasped and squirmed in his arms. When Kris slid a hand up Cale's body and pinched at his nipple, he figured they were both surprised when it was already tight and peaked and hard under his fingertips. Cale knew he certainly was.

"Oh yeah," said Kris, "you aren't into this at all," and pinched it a little harder.

"Never said I wasn't at all," said Cale, and it wasn't his intention to knock Kris's hand off his body, it was just an unfortunate side effect of kissing his way over Kris's body, licking at the curve of his armpit, the hollow of his throat, and down to slip his tongue into the dip of his belly button.

When Kris reached down to open his pants, Cale pulled his wrists away and placed them back on his own body. "Above the waist only," he said, but he did run his tongue right along the waistband of Kris's jeans, and overtop of the button.

"You're going to kill me," said Kris, but Cale just smiled and started kissing his way back up again, lavishing more attention on his nipples.

He was going to kill both of them, but in the best way. He slid a leg between Kris's, their cocks pressed up together through many layers of clothing, and then he started kissing him again. Kris made a noise that seemed to come from deep inside him as he started kissing him back desperately, hungrily, exploring Cale's back with his hands as he did.

They were moving together without either talking about it or even thinking about it, just an instinctive motion, rubbing their bodies up together as they continued to kiss, as they continued to touch and grope and, occasionally, laugh softly in each other's ear.

"I could keep this up all night," said Cale. "I really could."

"We could," said Kris, and it took some willpower but they both slowed down, stopped rubbing off against one another and started kissing more again instead. "Maybe not all night."

But for a long time. For a long time they kissed and whispered things to one another, sometimes about making out, sometimes about music, sometimes about nothing at all, and then they kissed some more, and touched some more, and Cale didn't even want to think about how late it had to be when they couldn't put the inevitable off any longer.

When it happened, it happened pretty fast. Kris sank his fingertips into Cale's back and Cale slid his hands into Kris's back pockets and they bucked frantically against one another, panting and whimpering and gasping, until they finally came. Cale couldn't even tell who was first.

"I hope you're happy," said Kris a few moments later, kissing the spot right below Cale's ear so tenderly it sent shivers through him. "Somebody needs to clean that up."

"Trust me," said Cale, "the hotel laundry has seen much, much worse."

"I would be embarrassed," said Kris, "if you hadn't planned it that way."

"I only planned the making out," said Cale. "The coming in our pants was a mutual decision."

"After four hours we had to do something," said Kris. "Our lips are going to be so chapped."

"Four hours?" said Cale. "Seriously?" Kris nodded at the clock by the bed but Cale didn't even have to look, he believed him. "Wow."

"You should stay," said Kris. "After we get cleaned up, you should stay. For the night. With me."

"I'll probably kiss you more," said Cale. "Fair warning."

"Yeah, I'll probably kiss you more too," said Kris, and despite his complaint of chapped lips he did just that. "But first I need to get out of these pants."

"Don't worry," said Cale, helping him off the bed and reaching for his pants. "I got you into this, so I'll help you get out of this too."

:::

Songwriting, for Kris, had to be a completely different process than it used to be. Before Idol they would just hang out with their guitars, picking away at lyrics in someone's living room at three in the morning. Now Kris had worked with professional songwriters and producers and it wasn't just about jamming with a friend anymore. Cale had a little taste of it through his own little songwriting credit on Kris's album, so he knew it was the truth.

But now here they were, just like the old days, sitting in a hotel room with their guitars out and playing with a new song. A new song that Cale thought was going really well until Kris sighed and put his feet up on the little table (which had to be uncomfortably high to do that on) and stilled his guitar strings with his fingers.

"You don't like it?" said Cale, trying to read the weird frown on Kris's face.

Maybe it was like the old days in some ways, but then it wasn't, too. Music was actually the foundation of their friendship, what had brought them together in the first place, but they were something else to one another now too and that was bound to change things.

"No, I do," he said. "It's just...."

"Not into it?" said Cale. "We can do something else right now. We've got at least an hour before someone comes to collect us."

Kris licked his lips and shook his head. "No, it's going great," he said. "The song's just, you know. About Katy."

"Well, yeah," said Cale, looking more closely like that might help him figure out what was going on in Kris's head. If maybe there were some complications with the divorce that Kris hadn't talked about with him. "You seemed like you were okay with that, though."

"You mean you knew?"

Cale just stared at him for a second. "You mean you didn't?"

Kris cracked a chagrined smile and Cale realized that no, no he hadn't known, maybe hadn't realized the song was about anything at all, other than a vague and remembered feeling. Maybe somehow, in the back of his head, he thought they were telling Cale's story here.

"Well, I do now," he said. "You're okay working on a song about Katy with me?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" said Cale. "I mean, it's your song, but I was around for a lot of this. I get it. I remember too. I remember in different ways, but I remember."

"I mean..." said Kris, but Cale knew what he meant, he didn't have to spell it out. He was worried it would be awkward, because of the whole sex thing. But it wasn't. Cale had known Katy as long as he'd known Kris. It didn't have to be weird. "Okay, yeah, let's do this."

Cale wasn't sure Kris was a hundred percent sure it was okay, but the only way Cale was going to convince him of that was by doing. So he strummed his way through the intro again and Kris just let his guitar sit in his lap as he hummed a few bars then kicked in a few lyrics that seemed to just come to him as they went. And maybe Kris was feeling weird because it wasn't a sad or a painful or a melancholy song. Maybe he thought that it should have been.

But Cale got it. He liked Katy, and Kris liked Katy, and they'd been together for a long time. There were a lot of good times to draw on, and maybe that was easier now that he wasn't so concerned with the bad.

And okay, maybe Cale was a little relieved they were writing about that common experience, because their other common experience right now was something he thought maybe they weren't ready to starting writing songs about yet.

Cale caught Kris smiling about something, but Kris just shook his head and didn't explain himself, nor did Cale expect him to. But he did kick his feet off the table and slide them towards Cale until they were resting ankle to ankle as they worked out the song.

"Maybe if we brought the key down a little," Cale suggested when Kris's voice trailed off.

"You think?" said Kris. "I thought I was hitting those notes just fine."

"You were," said Cale quickly, "I just like your lower register." There was nothing too revealing about saying something like that-he did like Kris's lower register and had always told him so-but he felt a little embarrassed after saying it, and just shrugged and started in exactly the way he had before until Kris stopped him with a light kick to his ankle.

"Sure, okay, let's try it," he said, and Cale knew, he just knew, that he started smiling again as soon as Kris said it. But whatever, he looked happy most of the time anyway, it was nothing to be embarrassed about.

He was right, too; the change of key brought something richer to the opening that it had been missing, and Cale could see the moment Kris realized that. They'd always worked well together musically-there was no way Kris would have asked Cale to be in his band if they hadn't, not with all the options available to him-but that very situation was what had the potential to make things awkward now. They were a lot more things to one another these days, and their personal relationship would always have the potential to complicate their professional one.

"That was awesome," Kris said, cutting it short before the chorus.

And as much as the song was lyrically about Katy, musically it was about Kris and Cale, and to a couple of musicians that was just as important. And less emotionally revealing, which for Cale right now seemed pretty much right.

:::

They found a few moments together after their LA show, not in a dressing room, not sneaking around, but in Kris's own home, in that short span of time between the end of the show and when they were expected to go out and meet friends, friends they could only meet when they were in LA. This was one time that neither of them could beg off.

"Come on," said Kris, tugging on Cale's t-shirt and trying to get it over his head. "If we're only going to get a few minutes, I want to make the most of them."

Cale was used to Kris being the laid back one, even now that they were doing this, but when he was wound up he was wound up. And right now he was wound up.

"More than a few minutes," he said, finally managing to get the shirt half off. Cale helped him with it the rest of the way, tossing it on the floor. "But less than a lot."

He stripped Kris's shirt off too, but they were still both wearing their jeans when they tumbled onto the bed, kissing and groping each other. Cale toed his socks off even as Kris did, and then their feet were tangling too where they were just barely dangling off the bed.

"I don't care if we only have five minutes, I'm not coming in my pants," said Cale. "Not this time, anyway."

"I want you to...I want to have sex with you," said Kris, then bit down lightly on Cale's lower lip as they kissed.

"I thought we've been doing that for weeks," said Cale, "though we're not going to get around to it tonight if we don't hurry up."

"No, I mean, I want you to do me," said Kris, already growing breathless as he slid a hand flat down the back of Cale's pants. "Not right now, not before we go out, but soon."

"Oh shit," said Cale, and pressed his face to Kris's neck as arousal shot through him, hot and electric. "Do I have to go out all night tonight thinking about that? You want to kill me, don't you?"

"No, I just want your eyes on me all night," said Kris, wrapping a leg around Cale's.

"My eyes were already going to be on you all night," said Cale. "My eyes are always on you all night, in case you hadn't noticed."

"I noticed," said Kris, lifting Cale's head so they could kiss again. His lips already felt a little chapped from the wet heat of Kris's, from the dozens of kisses, from pressing up against one another as their tongues tangled, making it impossible to speak for long stretches.

"Okay, pants," said Cale, and did manage to pull away while he still could. "They're coming off."

He stripped his own, then before Kris could do the same Cale just unbuttoned them and pulled them straight off his body, followed moments later by his underwear.

"Okay, better," he said, and climbed back on, skin to skin again, this time with their cocks rubbing up against each other. And maybe this was going to be quick and dirty, maybe they weren't going to have time to draw it out, to make it really good, but they kind of liked it quick and dirty.

It was kind of their thing.

"I'll do both of us," said Cale, and when Kris panted against his throat and nodded his head Cale knew he understood exactly what Cale was saying.

He didn't do it right away, though. Just because it was going to be fast, didn't mean it had to be immediate. They still had time to roll over on the bed till Kris was on top, to rock against one another, for Cale to grope Kris's perfect ass and to kiss a little longer. Not that they ever seemed to stop kissing when they were alone, when they had a few moments of privacy.

But after a few moments of that. When Cale was achingly hard, when Kris was obviously trying to rub off against him, Cale finally rolled them onto their sides and reached between them and started jerking them off together, his hand wrapping most of the way around both their cocks.

He couldn't help moaning a little, especially when Kris's hand wrapped around his, as far as it would go, as Kris thumbed over the head of his cock, and then his own, and panted in Cale's ear before kissing him again and again.

"Yes," said Cale, and let his eyes fluttered closed and concentrated on the sounds of Kris, the feel of him against him, the heat of his body and the press of his lips against Cale's skin, against his jaw, against his cheek, then back to his mouth again, hard and wet and desperate.

"I want to come," Kris murmured, and it was still so rare that Kris actually said things like that Cale almost came on the spot. He gasped and squeezed and tried to prolong it, but then Kris kept moving his hand and so Cale resumed moving his too. Stroking them hard and fast and a little erratically until he spilled over both of their hands.

"Keep going, keep going," said Kris, and Cale did it as best he could, though he was so sensitive now. Fortunately Kris came just moments later, with a hitch in his breath and a jerk of his body.

"I l-" Cale said then stopped himself short when he realized what he was saying. Not that he didn't think it, and not that he didn't mean it, but now wasn't the time to say it. Not when it meant something a lot more than he used to when they said it to one another. He didn't know if Kris heard him, or if he heard him then if he understand what had almost just happened, but if he did he showed no sign of it.

"We need to get cleaned up," said Kris, and made absolutely no move to do that. Cale moved his hand away, but that was the only concession he made to the fact that they couldn't stay like this for the rest of the night. Kris had collapsed on him, cheek against Cale's shoulder, breathing hard. His hand was a little restless, moving up and down Cale's hip, fingertips just brushing over his skin.

"Yeah," said Cale, and kissed Kris's head. "Before we get glued together."

"Do you think that would be a reasonable excuse not to go out tonight?" said Kris. "Could we get away with that?"

"Maybe," said Cale, "but you get to be the one to explain it."

"Hm, maybe not," said Kris. "I'd probably just get tips on how to take care of the problem."

"Knowing some of your friends, probably so," said Cale. And he really felt like it wasn't so much that Kris didn't want to tell them who he was with, even though they hadn't told anyone yet, as that he didn't want to spill just what their relationship was like. Because Kris's friends knew he wasn't as innocent as a lot of people believed him to be, but they still didn't picture him as someone who was having sex in venue closets.

"Just a few more minutes, though," said Kris.

"If we wait a few more minutes, we won't have time for a shower," said Cale regretfully.

"I don't want a shower," said Kris. "I'll just put on a clean shirt."

"That's not going to help," said Cale, but then when Kris got it in his head that he wasn't going to shower, he didn't shower. "We could do it together."

"That's also not going to help," said Kris. "We'd just make out again."

"Well, yes," admitted Cale, "but it would be easier to clean up afterwards, and we wouldn't get stuck together."

"We're not going to get stuck together," said Kris, and it was true that they had enough experience to know that it was pretty unlikely. But he still finally pushed himself up and away, finally rolling off completely and lying flat on his back on the bed, stretching out and still breathing a little hard.

"So," said Cale after a few more moments passed.

"I know what you're thinking about," said Kris, a playful note back in his voice. He must have been recovering already. "And what you're going to be thinking about for the rest of the night. And probably tomorrow too."

"You're a terrible person," said Cale. "No, really. I take back everything nice I've ever said about you since the day we met.

"You l-" said Kris, and for a second Cale thought it was just that, just one of those playful threats, then he saw the look on Kris's face and saw that he'd hesitated on the same sentence Cale had earlier.

Maybe another time.

"So we actually really need to go. At some point. Very soon. Before someone comes and tries to find us."

"Because that would be bad," said Kris.

"Because that would be very bad," said Cale. "Also, kind of embarrassing."

"Speak for yourself," said Kris. "I have nothing to be embarrassed about." And still, it was a long time before either of them managed to move.

"You're absolutely sure we have to go out?" said Cale. "We can't feign the plague or something? No one would expect us to go out with them if we had the plague."

"It'll be fine," said Kris, finally rolling off the bed and onto his feet. "You can spend all night knowing we're coming back here again afterwards."

"Yeah, that's kind of the problem," said Cale, but Kris was already heading towards the bathroom. A moment later, Cale followed.

:::

Three days later Cale thought he was going to die, because they just had not found the right time to do it, and they were going back on the road in another day, tour bus this time and everything, and sure there were hotels on the road and they'd probably find a way but it meant something to him now that they do it here, at home. Or at Kris's home, since Cale was sort of homeless, technically.

And Cale didn't think of himself as a particularly jealous person, he never had been, but he had to admit, in the privacy of his own mind, that after Kris had dinner with Katy last night before they left town he kind of wanted to stake a claim. Not that he would ever call it that. Not out loud, anyway.

They might still be calling it fuck buddies, only Kris would never actually say 'fuck buddies' so he used all kinds of other euphemisms, but they both knew it was something more than that even if just what remained unsaid.

"We're staying in tonight, right?" said Cale. "I don't have anywhere to be and I know you don't have anywhere to be, and if you made other plans I'm just going to have to kill you or something. You think I'm joking, but I've even got a plan. You'll never see it coming."

"I will now that you've told me," said Kris. "You're not very sneaky."

"I'm really not," said Cale, "so it's a good thing we're staying in so I don't have to put my plan into action. We are, right?"

"You're not the only one with plans," said Kris. "And mine definitely do not involve going out tonight. In fact, my plans don't involve anything but me and you and probably my bed because I doubt we're going to want to do this anywhere else."

Cale did not even pretend to mask his sigh of relief. "Are you ready for this?" he asked, though, even though he wanted to kick himself a little for asking.

"As ready as you are," said Kris, "which by the way you look right now is pretty ready."

It took tremendous strength of character not to just jump straight to the main event, but as much as they were both primed and ready for it, Cale kind of wanted it to be special. In a way. Not in a way that involved dinner or romance or even a freshly made bed, but still special.

"Come here," he said, and snagged the bottom of Kris's shirt with two fingers and tugged him closer so they could kiss. "If you can't walk properly tomorrow, I'm telling everyone you twisted your ankle getting out of the shower."

"They're going to wonder why you know what I was doing when I was getting out of the shower," said Kris.

"They really won't," said Cale. "That's what I love about our guys. They probably wouldn't bat an eye."

"They'd probably bat an eye if you told them the truth, though," said Kris, "so let's not do that. And in fact, let's just assume that I'm going to be walking just fine tomorrow. I have it on good authority that it doesn't actually do that."

"And what authority is that?"

"How much my body likes it when you finger me," said Kris, "and a significant amount of time learning exactly how big you are."

Cale kissed him again, and tugged at his shirt this time. "Just promise not to laugh when it takes us about five tries to get it right," he said.

"I think," said Kris, pulling Cale's shirt off as soon as Cale had succeeded with his, "that you've had too much time to obsess about this."

"That's what you get for teasing me with it days ago and then being all busy with trivial things like friends and family and this career of yours," said Cale. "I've had it on the brain."

"It's not going to take us five tries," said Kris. "Well, okay, it might take us five tries, but we'll get there. Because...just because. Because I want us to."

Cale didn't want to go through a whole tease with getting their clothes off this time. He just captured Kris's mouth for a few moments then opened his pants and pulled them right off, out of sight and out of mind. He was so used to being naked with Kris now, sexually and even just casually, that he didn't even think twice about it.

It was just comfortable. It was easy.

"I put everything by the bed," said Kris. "Last thing I wanted us to be doing was scrambling. I figured you'd never forgive me if I sent you to Walgreen's in the middle of the night again."

"I probably would," admitted Cale, "but there would be a price. A price you'd probably be willing to pay, but definitely a price."

"Come on," said Kris, urging him onto the bed with him as if Cale needed any urging at all. "I'm kind of excited. This is the first time we've ever really planned anything." As much as this was planned, which by Cale's previous dating standards of dinner reservations and flowers it really wasn't.

"Yeah, I'm kind of excited too," he said, like that wasn't already obvious. But not so excited that he didn't enjoy what he had in his hands, in his arms. They kissed, and they smiled at one another, and Cale ran his hands up and own Kris's body like he was learning the shape of him even though they'd gotten so familiar with each other's bodies lately, like there was even anything left to learn.

Except there always seemed to be something left to learn, something new, and that was one of the best things about being with Kris. Every day it was just more and more awesome.

"I'm going to..." he said, then figured he didn't actually need to narrate and instead reached for the lube which was, as promised, right by the side of the bed. He held it where Kris could see it, and Kris just shifted his hips, spread his legs. As Cale popped it open he actually watched the way Kris's cock bobbed against his body and wondered if it would be a problem if he sucked it, just a little.

Well, it had never been a problem before so he figured it wouldn't be a problem now.

He just liked it. It wasn't even just about what it did for Kris, though he wasn't going to deny that he liked that too. He just liked the way it felt, liked the way it made him hot, like the way that he got harder when he was sucking Kris off. Or just sucking him, as the case may be, because the last thing he wanted to do right now was take this too far.

Kris didn't have to signal him to stop when he got too close because Cale pulled off on his own long before that, pausing to look up and give Kris a sheepish if pretty much unapologetic look before he actually did anything with the lube in his hand. He moved further down the bed and pushed Kris's knees open and actually took a little lick at his balls before pushing his thighs open even further. It wasn't nearly as weird as he used to think it was.

And he slicked his fingers over Kris's hole before ever trying to push in, small tight circles that were enough stimulation to actually make Kris's muscles twitch a little, to draw a soft sound from him. Though to be fair it didn't take much to make Kris make noise during sex.

If he'd known that months ago, he would've known there was something was wrong between him and Katy before Kris ever had to break it to him.

"Okay," he whispered, less a warning than a strange little endearment as he kissed the inside of Kris's leg and then slowly began to slide a finger inside him, just one, even though he knew now he could start with two and Kris wouldn't protest. Just one finger and he slid it in absolutely as far as it could go with no hesitation, no worry about how Kris was going to react to it or how he was going to react to it. He knew this territory now. Maybe not well but he knew it. He knew what he was doing here.

A second finger came only once Cale had moved the first in and out a little, drawing some more soft sounds from Kris, getting a little delighted squirm out of him. Both went in just as smoothly as the first, Kris exhaling slowly and his whole body relaxing as he did. He was tight, but easy (though Cale knew enough not to use those exact words to describe him out loud), and Cale pushed and turned and twisted those fingers until Kris's noises were less restrained, more unabashed.

The neighbors were really going to hate them after this. They only way they could top it would be to rehearse some more after shouting out their orgasms.

"More," said Kris, though Cale still took this at his own pace, because he'd had a lot of time to think about it and he had a plan. A much better plan than the one that involved killing Kris if he decided he didn't want to do this tonight. He twisted those fingers some more, pushed them in deep, curled them a little, and only when he got a hitched gasp out of Kris did he pull them out and add another.

This part he was unsure of, not sure how far he needed to take this, not sure how he was going to know Kris was going to be ready for something that wasn't fingers. But three seemed reasonable, three seemed fun, and if he thought Kris felt tight before it was nothing compared to how tight he felt now.

Cale imagined what that would feel like around his dick and felt a pulse of arousal go through him.

Three fingers got a whole new set of noises out of Kris, little gasps and soft moans and little hitched cries that Kris would probably be embarrassed about if he even realized he was making them. Cale loved them. He loved it all.

"Are you ready?" he said finally, fingers deep inside Kris's body and just holding there. "Kris?"

"I think so," he said, his voice sounding raw and breathless. "I want to try."

Cale had to pull his hand away to get the condom on, and he ripped the first one which got a creative set of curses out of him and a laugh out of Kris. "Yeah, you try this with slick fingers," he said, and Kris said, "Maybe one of these days I will," and that, surprisingly, turned Cale on a little too.

Huh. That was interesting.

He finally did get it on, clumsily but effectively, and slicked himself down with lube. Maybe too much but it seemed like just enough, just enough that everything was just slick and easy but not sloppy. He returned his fingers to Kris's body, not so much because he thought Kris needed more prep but just to reassure himself that Kris hadn't somehow tightened up in the two minutes it took him to actually get the condom on.

"I'm ready," Kris reassured him, sounding more confident about it this time, and maybe Cale making him laugh, unintentionally as it might have been, was just the right thing.

"Okay," said Cale, and pulled his fingers out, and they'd talked about this, they'd decided on doing this face to face the first time as much as they decided on anything and as much as they could talk about it in a minute-long conversation, but now that he was faced with it he was unsure. For a total of two seconds until Kris pulled his legs apart and his knees up and Cale just moved right in.

Both his fingers and his cock were slippery and it was hard to line things up at first, but it didn't take five tries to get it in, it just took one. Kris let out a hiss and Cale almost stopped, hyperaware of every reaction, worried that this wasn't going to be as fantastic as everything else. For Kris, anyway, because Cale's dick was cheering. But Kris's expression was a mix of determination and curiosity and there was definitely still a little lust there so Cale kept going, slowly, steadily.

He heard another noise, low and shaky, and realized it was coming from himself this time, that he was in deep and it felt kind of amazing.

"Kris?"

He looked up, still apprehensive, but then Kris smiled at him and wrapped a leg around him and Cale had to smile back.

"Okay, this is awesome," Cale said, and leaned forward and started moving. It was slow and a little awkward but it was good too, and after a few minutes of shifting against each other, finding slightly different positions and trying them out, they finally settled against one another and Cale began to move inside him for real, slow sharp thrusts that sent little shocks of pleasure through his groin.

Kris actually looked a bit out of it, a little half-smile still on his face but looking miles away.

"You with me?"

"Yeah," said Kris, making the word a sigh. "It's so...keep going. You can go harder."

Cale certainly could go harder, and at the slightest encouragement he did. It was so tight and so breathtaking and he wasn't hung up on this one thing, he called everything he and Kris did together that led to orgasm 'sex', but this was intimate on a whole new level. They wouldn't be something new after this, but maybe they'd have to start calling it what it was.

When he was going down on Kris, or jerking him off, or fingering him, Cale knew exactly what to do to get Kris off. Tonight it was a little harder, but in that small corner of his brain that wasn't focused on putting his dick in something, he tried. He angled himself differently until Kris gasped and squirmed, he scratched his fingers along Kris's skin, and finally he wrapped a hand around Kris's cock and started stroking him when it became clear he couldn't hold off his own orgasm for much longer.

"This is...you're amazing," he said, and he gasped and shook and in the end he won the race in spite of his best efforts, but he managed to keep stroking Kris through his own orgasm, hard and fast, Kris's hips moving with him until he let out a strangled cry and spilled over Cale's fingers. Cale was still buried inside him, could feel Kris's muscles tighten and let out another gasp of his own as Kris's body squeezed him.

Kris looked like he wanted to say something but was struck speechless, or maybe he was just savoring the moment. Cale lay there for a few moments then finally moved away, pulling out carefully and taking care of the condom as quickly as his still-slippery fingers could because he just wanted that out of the way.

Kris lowered his legs and Cale was sort of struck breathless as he watched Kris stretch and squirm on the bed while he had it to himself.

"You're like pure sex," Cale murmured and Kris just smiled contentedly.

"Coming back?" he said, stretching an arm out invitingly. As if Cale had ever considered not wrapping himself back around Kris as soon as he could. They were both a little sweaty, a little hot and slick, but it still felt good to touch him and hold him and share that body heat.

"You good?" he said, kissing Kris's jaw.

"Yeah," said Kris. "Yeah, I'm...I feel a little weird. But it's a good weird. And before you ask, yes, I'll be able to walk tomorrow."

"I wasn't going to ask," said Cale with a little laugh, kissing closer to Kris's mouth. "What does weird mean?"

"I don't know," said Kris. "Just weird. Different." And Cale kind of got that he meant somehow emotionally different, but he didn't know how to ask about that.

"But good?"

"Definitely good," said Kris, brushing his fingers over Cale's shoulder then turning his head so they could actually kiss for a little while. "You think you would ever consider it?"

"What, you mean the other way around?" said Cale, choosing to kiss him some more before actually answering him. "Yeah. Of course. Maybe not tonight though."

"No, not tonight," said Kris, murmuring the words against his lips. "I was just wondering."

"I'd be willing to do just about anything with you," said Cale, and he kind of thought that said everything.

:::

It was weird to say, after all the time he'd spent on stage, that he'd never been on tour before. But it was true, Cale had never been on tour before, not really. And it wasn't even like it was that different from everything that had come before, but in his head something was different. There was a new kind of energy when he was on stage, or maybe that had something to do with who he was on stage with, hard to say.

It was all of them, though. They were all kind of revved up, full of energy, bouncing all over the stage. Except Ryland, but his job involved a lot of bouncing in place anyway so he was sort of covered.

"Cale, get over here," said Kris, and Cale didn't even have to think about it before he was getting out from behind the keyboard and heading downstage to where Kris was waiting to wrap an arm around his shoulders. Or attempt to, anyway, before giving in and going for his waist. "Now I'm pretty sure y'all know who this is-" Apparently, from the cheers, they did. Cale was sort of getting used to those few people who liked to call out his name during shows, enough to make him feel special, not so many that it went to his head. "-but on keys and guitar we have my buddy Cale, who's known me since I was just a dork that nobody would look twice at."

"Aw, once you got rid of the bowl cut I was willing to be seen in public with you," said Cale.

"There are so many facial hair jokes I could be making right here," said Kris, shaking his head at him. "Remember, later, that I took pity on you and didn't make them."

"We've seen pictures!" someone called out audibly from the audience, and Kris and Cale just looked at one another and cracked up.

"Guess you're going to have to find something else to hold over my head," said Cale, and Kris even managed to sneak in a pat on his ass as he moved away back to retrieve his guitar for the next song.

"Don't worry," Kris called after him, "I'll think of something."

"You always do," Cale called back as Kris moved on to introduce Torres on bass.

During Can't Stay Away Kris ended up on his knees in front of Cale, mouth open and looking ready to swallow his microphone, and Cale just did not want to know what the look on his face was saying. Maybe he'd been there before, but this time Kris knew exactly what he was doing and he did it anyway. He did it with a glint in his eye and, when his back was to the audience, a lick of his lips.

"Bad boy," Cale mouthed at him without missing a beat, and Kris just grinned back and bounced to his feet and carried on with his song.

Cale was really, really going to enjoy being on tour. But then, he was kind of enjoying everything these days.

:::

Bus sex was a terrible idea. Kris had never been shy with stories about the tour so Cale already knew that, and knew entirely too much about how some of the guys Kris had toured with felt about it. Adam always said there was no way he could do what he wanted to do in that tight of a space, and Anoop said you'd have to be super quiet since they could hear each other sniffle and shift against the sheets and wow, how loud would actual sex be. Matt said it hurt his back.

Apparently the rest of the guys called bullshit on him but Kris had spotted him sneaking onto the bus with a girl once and had sort of herded the rest of the guys away from the bus for at least a few minutes. Cale kind of didn't need to know that.

But with the two of them on the bus together with a long ride ahead of them and with the rest of the guys crashing early-genuinely crashing, from the snores-Kris got an itch to try it.

"It could be a disaster," he said, though he had his hand on the front of Cale's jeans when he said it so he was really sending mixed signals there. "The guys could hear us."

"Or maybe they won't," said Cale. "I can be quiet. I could even...if you wanted to stuff something in my mouth."

"I know you can be quiet," said Kris, and Cale almost blew the whole deal and laughed when he realized Kris was worried he was going to make embarrassing noises and they'd have to spend the rest of their natural born lives trying to live it down.

"Can I gag you, then?" said Cale, licking his lips, and it was supposed to be a joke but then he looked at Kris's mouth and kind of really wanted to put something in it. In a completely non-dirty way. Okay, he wanted to put something in it in a dirty way too.

"Um," said Kris, and looked back over his shoulder at the bunks and holy shit, he was actually considering it. "Okay, yeah okay. I think that's the only way we're going to do this."

Cale licked his lips again and hoped they had something they could use other than socks or underwear because he didn't think either one of those was going to fly. "Your scarf," he said. "Your scarf, that'll work, your scarf."

Kris nodded and led the way into the bunks, to his bunk, and Cale stood perfectly still for a moment trying to make sure that everyone was asleep, but he couldn't tell. He couldn't know. And that kind of made it all the more exciting.

Somehow he was going to have to make it back out of the bunk too, afterwards, but he wasn't thinking about that right now. He was just quickly stripping down to make as little noise as possible once they got in there, throwing his clothes to the end of the bunk with Kris's and sliding inside. Kris was right behind him, scarf in hand.

Cale didn't want it in right away, though. It would just feel wrong not to lie together and press up against one another and kiss for a little while first. Kris's mouth was just made to...do things with. Innocent things and fun things and sexy things and dirty things too. Right now Cale was into the sexy things, kissing him slow and wet and smiling against him and lacing their fingers together and then kissing him some more.

"Maybe we can just do this," murmured Kris, sliding his leg against Cale's. And for a little while they could, but Cale was long since hard and he could feel that Kris was too, even if they weren't in a position to rub off against one another right now. That would be a mess and a half anyway, and definitely something they weren't going to get away with.

"I'm going to go down on you, okay?" said Cale, right up against Kris's ear, partly because it was hot and partly for purely pragmatic reasons. "In just a second. As soon as you're ready."

"I'll do you after," whispered Kris, sending a delicious shiver right through Cale's body. Okay, so it wasn't dirty talk exactly, but it was a little bit naughty, and for them, it was enough. "I'll suck you off afterwards. I can be quiet."

He was certainly quiet after Cale carefully gagged him with the scarf, making sure it wasn't too tight, making sure Kris was comfortable. And silent. "Okay," he murmured afterwards, keeping his voice so, so low. "Okay." He was more worried about the sound the sheets were making with two bodies sliding around on them, and moved slowly and carefully down the bed until he was hunched over and straddling Kris's legs and ready to bend down and take him into his mouth.

There was a noise deep in Kris's throat, something audible, and Cale grinned at him and lightly pinched his thigh, part acknowledgement and part warning. Then he licked up Kris's cock at a leisurely pace, swirling his tongue around every bit of it before letting it slide into his mouth. He felt like if Kris could have let out a deep sigh at that moment, he would have.

Instead of taking cues from the noises Kris was making, Cale had to rely on his hands, had to trust that Kris would stop him if he needed to, push him harder if he needed that, and generally let him know how things were going by the way Kris's hands were tangling in his hair. Now that Cale was used to this he kind of liked to take it slow, but tonight was not a night to take it slow. Tonight was a night to get Kris off, and to let Kris get him off, and then if he was lucky to wrap around one another and kiss for a long time again because that sounded like just about the best thing in the world.

After an orgasm, of course.

When he normally would have pulled off or at least slowed down, gone back to licking and given Kris a bit of a cooling off period before starting in again, this time Cale just grabbed a handful of Kris's ass and kept going, sucking him hard, pressing the flat of his tongue against him and feeling the head of Kris's cock bump against the back of his throat.

He kind of needed Kris to get off before he just started rutting against the bed himself and not only missed out on a great blowjob but also probably gave them away completely. But that didn't seem like it was going to be too hard. Kris was grabbing frantically at his hair and not to get him to stop, and a moment later Cale felt the first hot splash against the back of his throat.

He even swallowed without a second thought. He really was getting pretty awesome at this.

Afterwards he made sure Kris was clean, licking him while Kris squirmed beneath him, then moved back up the bed again and untied the scarf and kissed him even before Kris had a chance to catch his breath.

Kris panted for a little while, wet his lips and kissed Cale and scrubbed at the corner of his mouth with his thumb where it was either sore or had just collected saliva, or maybe both.

"Intense," he said after a few moments, just the one word delivered with a shiver and a little smile. "You sure you can keep quiet on your own?"

"There had to be one thing I'm better than you at," said Cale, and when Kris started moving down his body Cale did nothing but encourage him. It wasn't easy to stay quiet when Kris was swallowing him down, and swallowing him down with such stealth, but Cale really was good at keeping his noises to himself.

Not his hands, though, his hands were all over Kris, wherever he could touch without making telltale sounds, without shifting so much fabric that their motions became suspicious. Maybe everyone else was asleep, but he was still conscious of everything.

Not so conscious, though, that he wasn't completely taken away when he came. Maybe he didn't cry out, maybe he didn't gasp or moan or whimper, but he did suck in such a huge breath that he felt dizzy with it. He wasn't even fully back to himself when he felt Kris's lips on his shoulder, then on his neck.

"Good boy," Kris whispered against his ear, and it was all Cale could do not to laugh. After staying silent through all of that, he wasn't going to give it away now.

"I can't stay," he said a few moments later, after Kris had been kissing him for a little while. "I can't fall asleep here."

"I know," said Kris. "Just a few more moments."

If everyone knew, Cale could have stayed, cramped and uncomfortable as it might have been. But that wasn't how it was.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4