FIC: The Show Must Go On; or, Yeah Capes! (AI RPF, Adam/Kris, PG-13, 1/3)
I don't even know, you guys. Let's just say this was conceived under the influence of a lot of Rock Creek cider. Kris Allen is a superhero. An AU...OR IS IT? (No, it totally is.)
Written for kradambigbang, with a wonderful fanmix by eleret. Thanks to my girls for putting up with me for the past month (and in general, really) and special thanks to teamkradam for stepping up and telling me exactly what I needed to hear.
Music mix: Wanna be your superhero by eleret
The Show Must Go On;
or, Yeah Capes!
American Idol RPF. 27,000 words. PG-13. Adam/Kris, Season 8 ensemble. AU.
Being a singer has always been Kris's dream. Being a superhero is just an accident of birth.
Keeping up the lifestyle is not going to be easy once Kris moves into the mansion. In the hotel it's been all right. No one really looks at Kris's comings and goings too hard yet, so he can fly off the roof under cover of (relative) darkness and no one's the wiser.
The mansion is going to be different. They'll have a curfew. They'll have minders and rules and, God help him, cameramen. For about the hundredth time Kris has serious second thoughts about this whole thing. Maybe he should just bow out now while he still can and go back to Arkansas, to a life that's at least familiar.
But being a singer has always been Kris's dream. Being a superhero was just an accident of birth.
"So we're going to room together again, right?" says Adam, leaning in to fix his eyeliner in the mirror before looking at Kris and grinning. "Please don't leave me to the wolves, Kristopher. Have you seen who else made the top twelve so far?"
"Sure, of course we will," says Kris. He doesn't even have to think about it.
If he has to have a roommate, and he does, then it might as well be Adam. It was easier when it was still him and Matt, though. Matt knows him. They even went on vacation together to Bali (where they ended up foiling a diamond heist, but that's the danger of traveling with other superheroes; the sense of duty seems to grow exponentially). Matt's a big part of the reason Kris is even here, and vice versa.
But Fate (well, not actually Fate; as far as Kris knows, Fate's still locked up in an ice prison in Antarctica) decided that after his semifinal round Kris would have to go on without Matt, and given that, Adam's an easy choice.
"Good," says Adam, finishing with his light makeup, nothing like what Kris knows he can (and does) do on stage. And possibly elsewhere; he's not entirely sure of that yet. "I'd hate to have to break someone else in when you just got comfortable."
"My thoughts exactly," says Kris, and is rewarded with Adam's delighted laugh as he grabs his coat and they head out to meet the others for dinner.
Kris has his signal close to his heart and his cell phone in his pocket and he's ready as he can be, both to fight crime and to get to know the rest of his fellow finalists so far. He hopes he doesn't have to dash off to fight crime tonight, though. He's really kind of hungry.
This isn't going to be easy, but it's not going to be impossible. Kris will make it work.
:::
"So it would just be weird if I switched now," says Kris as he and Matt hang out by the hotel pool, last night before they finally all move into mansion and no other time to relax and hang out between all their promo and prep duties. Actually, the pool's been closed for hours and they kind of broke in. They don't always have to use their powers for good. "And suspicious."
"I see how it is," says Matt. "You've just upgraded to the newer model."
When Matt made the top twelve-no, top thirteen-after all, Kris did think about switching rooms to be back with him again. He thought about it and weighed the pros and cons. Practice at concealing his identity versus relaxing in his own domain. Making a new friend versus reconnecting with an old one. Lack of bathroom space versus dealing with Matt's mess.
Then he tossed all of that away and went with his gut and stuck with Adam, and didn't dig too deeply into why that was his instinctive decision. Things have just been really good between them, and not as hard as Kris worried it would be because it turns out Adam has a boyfriend he sneaks out to see all the time, which gives Kris plenty of time to do what he needs to do without making clumsy excuses.
Still, it's kind of awkward breaking the news to Matt.
"Adam's cool," he says, laughing and punching Matt in the arm. "I mean he's not cool cool, but it's probably good for me to remember that I can't just fly up to get something off the top shelf when he's around." Matt snickers and Kris smacks him again. "It's not funny."
"It's hilarious," said Matt, "you've just never had the chance to watch yourself do it."
"Short jokes are so last year," said Kris.
"And the year before that," adds Matt. "And the year before that too."
"Well thank you for convincing me I made the right choice."
"So this whole room thing's set in stone then?" says Matt, and Kris kind of winces a little because technically he could change, he's just not. He can accept the consequences, though; he's accepted the consequences for far more difficult decisions in the past.
"Probably for the best," says Kris. "I bet you'll come closer to outing yourself than I will. We can both use the practice."
"It's a bet," says Matt, and rolls with it. "No one's going to suspect a thing, with me. I am a master of disguise."
"Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that," says Kris. "And seriously, how great is it that you're here? I am so stoked."
"Liar," says Matt, though Kris knows him well enough to know how pleased he is. "You were thinking you'd already knocked your biggest competition out and here I am again. I'm the last person you wanted to see."
"Yeah, I only wish you were my nemesis," says Kris, and Matt gives him a friendly and understanding punch on the arm. Matt's been there for the aftermath of Kris's battles with his nemesis more than once. For them, in that way, Idol looks like friendly competition compared to the real world.
The whole thing sort of seems to blow over after that. Whether Matt agrees with Kris's assessment of the rooming situation or whether he's just not bothered enough about it to argue (Kris actually guesses the latter, because Matt once called Kris the biggest cockblocker in the country), Kris guesses it doesn't matter because him and Matt, they're good.
Always have been, always will be, and no friendly competition could ever get in the way.
:::
Hammerhead struck the First Metropolitan Bank at dawn, and Kris knew that if he checked Matt's room he would find him out of bed. He didn't check. But he did make sure to make the coffee extra strong for when Matt arrived late to breakfast, and didn't miss the appreciative moan Matt gave when he first sipped it. By lunchtime everyone was talking about how Michigan Express foiled the robbery, even in the mansion.
Matt had a better pokerface than Kris, but not by much. That was a lie that Kris had grown up learning how to tell.
:::
"So if you weren't here," says Adam, stretched out on his bed with his fingers laced behind his head, "what would you be doing?"
It's late, long after they shut the lights out, but neither of them is sleeping. Kris has already been downstairs to the kitchen twice (where he didn't actually fly up to get the crackers off the top shelf, though he thought about it because nobody was around and would they really go so far as to have night vision cameras?) and Adam keeps slipping out of bed to push the curtains open to look outside. Kris wonders if he's expecting his boyfriend to put up a batsignal or something.
"Going back to school, I guess," he says after a moment of thought, which is at least part of a truth, and one he's allowed to tell. "You can't chase a dream forever. Sooner or later you have to actually do something with your life."
"Is that true, though?" says Adam. "As long as you're making a living...."
"I kind of wasn't," admits Kris, though if you add in some of the superhero bonuses he was doing all right. The job doesn't pay, but there are perks. Some of them in the form of national security clearance. Some of them in the form of diamonds. "I can't rely on my parents' charity forever."
"And your wife."
"Right, and my wife," Kris adds, cursing himself silently. One of the occupational skills he really needs to work on is becoming a better liar when it comes to everything other than his secret identity. "We haven't, uh, been married long."
"That's got to be hard," says Adam. "It's hard enough being away from my boyfriend. If I was married, I don't even know."
"It's all right," says Kris. "We still get to see each other. It's not like we're prisoners here."
"Except that we kind of are," says Adam, and he laughs a little. "It's like a little jailbreak for me every night. If they ever bust me, I'll be on serious lockdown."
"I won't let them bust you," Kris promises him, and if he calls in a couple of favors he can actually back that up. "And hey, if you keep trying to run on no sleep, better for the rest of us who want to win this thing."
"You're more devious than people give you credit for," says Adam. "You ready for this week?"
"I don't know," admits Kris. "I guess so?"
The whole pace of the show is weird. On the outside it seems like it would actually be a lot like being a superhero, short bursts of action interspersed with long periods of waiting, but it's not like that at all. Being a superhero is sort of a 24-7 job, even if you aren't actively working all of the time. Competing on Idol you have almost unbearable lulls of time where you not only have nothing you need to be doing, but very little you can be doing, and the rest of the time everything you do is both rushed and completely dictated.
Other than hiding his secret identity, Kris isn't used to not having a high degree of freedom. After all, what's more free than being able to fly anywhere you want to go?
"That doesn't sound very confident," says Adam, in that way he says things when he's trying to tease more information out of you.
"I don't really know what to expect," says Kris. In some ways the finals are probably more of the same, and in some ways they're probably something completely new. It's hard to be ready for that. "I'm just going to do my thing."
"You make it sound so easy," says Adam, staring up at the ceiling. "No way are we going home this week. I just know it. It's not our time."
"What, you can see the future?" says Kris, and okay, he's joking and it's implausible, but not entirely impossible.
"Yeah, I wish," says Adam, another quiet laugh to punctuate it. "Wouldn't that make life easier, knowing how everything was going to turn out?"
"Easier and more boring," says Kris. "I don't think we're meant to know stuff like that. No matter how nervous I am, I'm a lot happier not knowing."
"Even if you knew you were going to do fantastic?"
"Even then," says Kris. "There's a kind of...I don't know, hopelessness, in knowing there are no surprises coming your way. Ever. I don't know how anyone could live like that." And he doesn't know anyone who does, either. No one Kris knows can see all of the future, not even close.
"Wow, you make it sound so depressing," says Adam. "You're right, though. Even though I wouldn't mind knowing the winning lottery numbers, just once. Or knowing that I'm going to make it through this week."
"You're going to make it through this week," says Kris, and he can't see the future but he just knows it too. Adam is...something new. Something kind of amazing. And Kris can't imagine him leaving the competition this early, not when so many people-including Kris-are fascinated to see what he does next.
"Thank you," says Adam graciously. Even though he already seemed sure that he's going to be okay, it's probably nice to hear. Kris knows it was nice for him to hear. "You probably want to sleep."
"If I wanted to sleep, I'd be sleeping," says Kris, and if Adam doesn't know that already, after rooming with Kris for this long, he'll figure it out soon enough. "Well, if I could sleep, anyway."
"Yeah," says Adam, but his voice trails off a little bit and Kris can hear his breathing start to even out. "It's going to be a long competition if we don't sleep."
Nine times out of ten Kris would be the one to fall asleep first, but tonight is the tenth time, and as Adam's body grows lax, as his arm falls out beside him over the edge of the bed and as the blankets twist with his body to expose a little more skin, Kris gets to watch him for once.
"If I wasn't here," he says quietly, when he's absolutely certain Adam is asleep, "I'd be up in the clouds right now. I'd be looking out for the world and wondering if that's all I was ever going to be."
He feels a little guilty, a little selfish, for wanting to add 'this is better' but it's at least halfway true all the same.
:::
The pictures aren't a surprise to Kris, but they're apparently a surprise to some other people. Kris doesn’t really know why-it's not like Adam goes around telling everyone he meets that he's gay, but he doesn't go out of his way to hide it, either. Kris knew shortly after meeting him, and he just figured that everyone else did too since he was usually the last one to know that kind of thing. It wasn't something that ever needed talking about.
"Did you see them?" says Matt over a midnight snack, Adam out with his boyfriend again and Kris having just returned from a quick mission with Katy, a bit of surveillance that couldn't be put off. Flying took a lot of energy and he needed to keep his stamina up.
"See who?" says Kris around a mouthful, not worrying too much about politeness in front of Matt at one in the morning.
"The pictures," says Matt. As if there's anyone who hasn't.
"Sure," says Kris. "They're kind of nice, huh? Makes me wish I had some photos of things I've done to show people. My civilian life is so boring, and I can't really show the rest of the stuff."
"That's it?" says Matt. "They're kind of nice?"
"I don't know," says Kris. "That's how I feel about them. I think it's lousy how people are making him feel bad for having his picture taken with his boyfriend. They're making it into such a big deal when it's the exact same thing everyone else does all the time. Who doesn't have vacation photos, you know? Except us."
"I have a couple of me at Mount Rushmore," says Matt. "Does that count?"
"You were on a mission," says Kris. "And there was still a chip in Jefferson's face when it was taken. If that's all you've got, that's all you've got, though. More than I've got."
"That's not true," says Matt. "You have those pictures from South Africa. Those count. Still, they're nothing like Adam's."
"Why are you making a big deal out of it?" says Kris. "They're just pictures. It's not like we didn't know he had a boyfriend. And even if we didn't, so what? I don't think it's a big deal."
"Well, what fun are you if you won't gossip with me?" says Matt with a dramatic sigh. "Even if we aren't making a big deal, though, they're a big deal out there." And Kris knows exactly what he means by 'out there', that world that isn't always as good a place as he wants it to be. But they're working on that.
"Believe me," says Kris, "he already knows that. He doesn't need us telling him. Now, is there more bread? I think I need another sandwich."
"I can't believe how much you eat," says Matt. "Flying must burn a lot of calories."
"You have no idea," says Kris, finding the rest of the loaf and raiding it. "I have to work not to look even tinier." And before Matt can even open his mouth to crack a short joke, Kris holds a hand up. "Not a word."
"You're seriously no fun at all tonight."
"Find a new kind of fun," says Kris, and grins at him and has no doubt that Matt will.
:::
Just because Kris has always been the kind of guy who gets along with everyone doesn't mean he likes everyone. In general he figures people are good at heart and everyone is at least worth knowing, but he's not indiscriminate. So Kris gets along with everyone in the Idol mansion, but that doesn't mean he likes them all the same.
Adam and Allison he's known since their semifinal group, and they might just be his new favorite people on the planet (and since Kris has, in fact, been all over the planet, that's saying something). Matt, of course, he's known for years. Everyone else he's been starting from scratch with, none of them people he'd spent much time with during Hollywood Week.
The first time Kris argues with Danny Gokey, for a value of argue that means he actually voices a contradictory opinion, Danny looks completely shocked that Kris isn't completely in line with his values. But Christian is a pretty broad term, and Kris has seen and done too much to have a narrow view of the world. Of course, being thought of as conservative and religious probably would have been a good cover, but Kris is telling enough lies already. If he's pursuing his dreams, he wants to do it as himself as much as he can or what's the point?
So he doesn't let Danny-or Mike, though he thinks that Mike might just be kind of sheltered and not married to his assumptions-make slurs about Adam, or anyone, without making a quiet disapproving comment. He's not a superhero here, he's just Kris, but there are other ways to fight for what's important in the world.
So there are definitely growing pains, but after their first performance on the big stage things finally just click. Once they've all been through that together there's something concrete to bond over, and after that first night, when they're left waiting a full day for the verdict, they all blow off some steam together in the mansion.
Jorge is kind of like he's on speed, or at least that's what Matt says in Kris's ear when he hands him a drink, and if there's one thing Matt knows it's speed. The guy just keeps going and going though and his enthusiasm is infectious. It's hard to worry about what tomorrow's going to bring when Jorge is up on the coffee table imitating an elephant just because Allison asked him to.
"Can you do a giraffe?" says Megan.
"Can I do a giraffe?" says Jorge. "You should do a giraffe."
"No, Kris should do a giraffe," says Matt, and Kris smacks him because Matt's already used up his lifetime quota of short jokes. "All right, fine. Adam."
"Adam is definitely not imitating a giraffe," says Adam. "At least, not without a lot more incentive than this."
"Adam's more of a peacock anyway," says Allison, and Danny nods along with her which Kris just ignores because that's really not the connotation she was going for. "He doesn't even have to do an imitation!" She cracks up at her own joke and Adam flicks ice water at her as he sits down on Kris's other side. "Ow!"
"That didn't hurt," says Lil, taking Jorge's arm to help him down off the table. "Try getting pushed into a lake in February. Now that hurts."
"Not where I come from," says Allison, hopping up off the chair and then up onto the vacated table, stretching her neck out like a giraffe. "Nope, can't do it. Gotta do something else."
"How about a warthog?" Alexis suggests, and Allison just shoots her a wholly betrayed look.
"Warthog?" she says. "Warthog?"
"Warthogs are noble beasts," insists Anoop. "You should be proud to be a warthog."
"Forget it," says Allison. "I'm a lion." And she musses her hair and leans over and bares her claws and teeth, which isn't all that much unlike every other day that Kris has known her.
"I'm sure you're a very lovely lion," says Scott dryly, which just makes Allison spin towards him and give him a giant roar, to get him in on the action. Scott just cracks up, which may or may not have been what Allison was going for, but since she cracks up too it's hard to tell.
If Kris has to take a turn on the table he's not sure what he should go for. "Eagle or bear?" he asks Matt.
Matt just looks at him and says, "Kitten," loud enough for Adam to hear too. They high five right in front of Kris's face, and Kris has to resist the urge to facepalm.
"I think it's time for Jasmine to go to bed," says her mother, coming in to break up the party. "It's getting late."
"Aw, really?" she says, but Kris figures it's probably long past when her mom wanted to come up and get her so no one complains that loudly. Not even Jasmine. Allison looks around warily, sure it's going to be her turn next.
Kris would normally be pretty early to bed, but tonight he thinks he's going to stick it out to the end. With two of them leaving tomorrow, there's never going to be another one quite like it.
:::
Lil was the last one out the door on their way to the theater, phone still in her hand and looking a little ruffled. "Stormeater hit Memphis last night," she explained. "My husband just called, says he's never seen lightning like that before. The Mountain Master showed up to take care of him, but Stormeater got him back with a hell of a lightning bolt and no one's seen either of them since."
Kris knew he would have already gotten a call if Cale was seriously injured, but he spent the entire drive on edge anyway, until he could call someone and find out what happened out there.
:::
Kris's phone vibrates under his pillow at way too early in the morning. It's not the emergency signal so he doesn't leap right out of bed (with plans to apologize to Adam for leaving his ringer on high), but it's Katy so he doesn't waste much time either. A few moments later he's out the window and on the roof. A few moments after that, she is too.
"Katy," he says when he sees a fresh scrape at her temple, running his fingers alongside it, partly in concern and party in anger.
"It was just in and out-" she started, but Kris shook his head.
"We work together."
"Sometimes we can't right now," she said, grabbing his wrist and pulling his hand away from her head. "It's nothing. You won't even be able to see it in a day or two."
"Where were you?"
"Extracting Cale," she said shortly, and told Kris everything he needed to know. Almost.
"How is-"
"He's fine," she said. "He'll be back on duty next week. Says maybe if you got him tickets for the show he wouldn't have been there in the first place."
Kris smiles weakly, like he's supposed to. " Yeah, maybe once I make it a little further," he says. "I should've been there."
"It was a one-woman job anyway," she says. "Stormeater was long gone already. I went in after dark and pulled him out and got him home, scraped myself up on some of the rubble. I'm not invulnerable."
"No, you just act like you are sometimes," says Kris, and kisses her on the cheekbone, right beneath the cut. "I'm sorry."
"I didn't come here for an apology," she says, "I came here to tell you how Cale's doing. I figured you wouldn't want to wait till I caught up with you at the show."
"And you missed me," says Kris, giving her a nudge.
"And I missed you," says Katy, nudging him back. "How are things going?"
Kris shrugs, not because he doesn't know but because he doesn't know how to talk about it yet. It's strange and new and frustrating and awesome. "It's so hard to know how things are going to go," he says. "I'm just, you know."
"You're amazing," says Katy. "And you're going to do amazing things."
"I didn't count on how cut off I was going to feel," says Kris. "It's like losing a sense or something. I don't have a pulse on what's going on anymore. I have to rely on the news like a normal person."
"Oh, poor you," says Katy, and maybe she's teasing him but he knows she understand what he's saying to her. "That's why we set up things the way we did, so I can always reach you. You know I'll tell you if anything important happens. You know you'll be the first to hear if You Know Who surfaces."
"He's not Voldemort," says Kris. "You can say his name."
"Just don't want to tempt fate," says Katy, leaning back on the roof and looking up at the sky. Kris only counts three stars, and one of them might've been a satellite. "I should go before someone catches us."
Kris knows they shouldn’t do this, that it's dangerous, but he's glad she came all the same. "I guess there are probably limits to how much the let even a husband and wife get up to."
"And I'm pretty sure sneaking up on the roof isn't on the list," says Katy, "never mind how we got up here in the first place."
"Take care of yourself," says Kris, giving her a squeeze. "I'll see you at the show later."
"Take care of yourself too," says Katy.
A moment later she's flying down to the street again, in a deserted area and outside the boundaries of the mansion, and Kris is flying back in his bedroom window. Adam is still sleeping, and Kris things maybe he can get another hour or so himself, if he's lucky.
It's results day, and now that he knows things are all clear in the rest of his world, he can focus on that again.
:::
They're all sad to see Jorge and Jasmine go, but for the eleven people remaining it's still a time to celebrate making it through the first week. Especially Adam, who Kris knows gave everything in his performance and still expected to be sent home for things beyond his control. Something that should never have mattered.
"Come on, everyone's waiting," says Kris, rapping his knuckles on the bathroom door. "Do you really want them to drink everything up before we get down there?"
"Five more minutes," Adam calls through the door. "If you want to save me some time, you can get my Bowie t-shirt and pass it to me. It should be right at the top of my suitcase."
Kris rummages around and the shirt is exactly where Adam says it'll be, but when Kris yanks it out-a little harder than he means to when it catches on a buckle-he yanks something else out with it from the depths of the suitcase, and it stops him in his tracks.
"Kris?" Adam calls when a couple minutes pass and Kris hasn't returned, but Kris is still busy contemplating the object in his hand. A moment later he peeks out the bathroom door, shirtless, to find him. "Kris, you get lost in there?"
Kris just looks up at him, and when he does he holds up the insignia that fell out of Adam's suitcase along with the shirt. For just a moment Kris can see Adam's genuine, shocked reaction before he smoothes his expression and smiles.
"What did you find?" he says, and if Kris hadn't seen that initial reaction he would've thought it was sincere, would've begun panicking that somehow some of his own things had ended up in Adam's suitcase. When he doesn't answer, Adam leans in for a closer look. "Oh that, that's just part of one of my costumes. I don't think I'll be needing that tonight."
"No," says Kris softly, "it's not."
Adam pauses, sizing him up. They're both silent for a few moments, and there's a growing sense of unease. "You shouldn't know that," he says.
"And you shouldn't have this," says Kris, finally getting up, thrusting the t-shirt at Adam and clutching the insignia so hard the edges bite into his hand. "Where did you get this? Did you take it?"
"It's mine," says Adam. "It's mine."
It's his, thinks Kris, and he could be lying, but Kris really doesn't think he is which means.... "Wait, but I've never met you before," he says, and it's not like he knows every superhero in the league, let alone their secret identities, but he kind of thought he knew most of the ones who were close to his age. Maybe there are a lot of things out there he doesn't know. "You didn't go to the New Year's bash last year?"
"I was on a mission and missed it," says Adam wonderingly. "Wait, you're.... Seriously?"
Kris finally hands over the insignia and the sense of unease between them shatters. He breaks into a smile that's ninety percent relieved and ten percent delighted. "Since I turned eighteen," he says. "Me and Katy both."
"This is incredible," says Adam, shaking his head like he needs to clear it. "And you get to work with your wife too, that must be great."
"Oh, we're not..." says Kris, then laughs sort of nervously. "Me and Katy, we're not actually married, we're just partners. Professionally."
"Wait, really?" says Adam. "Then why...?"
"Convenient excuse to have her around me all the time while I'm on the show," says Kris, "and it gives her more access to me than anyone else gets, even my family. We've been partners since high school, before we were even old enough to officially join."
"This is amazing," said Adam. "So do I know you? I mean, would I know any of your work?"
"I don't know, maybe?" says Kris. "They call us the Supersonic Twins in the press, but I think that's just dumb. I mean, we're not even related, let alone twins. And totally not actually supersonic. Most of the time. But we're both, you know, small and pale and it just kind of stuck."
"You're the guys who can fly!" says Adam. "Of course I know who you are! I always wanted to fly. Is it as cool as it seems?"
"I guess?" said Kris. "I've always been able to fly, so I don't really know the difference. What about you? Wow, the west coast region is always so busy. You must have some interesting stories."
"Yeah, LA is a real hotbed for criminals," said Adam. "I keep busy. Or I did, before the show. I'm still technically active, but I'm only taking on the stuff they really need me on. We've got enough people around that they're not hurting for me."
"So you're not actually sneaking out at night to see your boyfriend."
"Drake's not my boyfriend," admits Adam. "I mean, maybe he could've been once, but I was involved with someone else then-"
"Brad, right?"
"Yeah, Brad," says Adam, "so we become friends instead, and now we work together sometimes. Not partners or anything, not like you and Katy, but sometimes it's convenient. Sometimes you really need someone to have your back."
"So he's...?"
"Yeah," says Adam. "He's got super strength, but only after dark. Which actually is kind of cool. He can be normal sometimes, you know? It'd be nice to be normal sometimes."
"Yeah, it kind of would," said Kris, but if it came down to it, he'd choose being able to fly over the alternative. Losing that would be like losing a part of him, and he just doesn't know anything else. "So you haven't told me what you...I mean, I know it's rude to ask. I'm sorry."
"I transmute and deconstruct," Adam told him. "You know, metals into other metals and stuff. Turning glass into sand, which is both a cool parlor trick and pretty useful during a break and enter. Stopping one, I mean. Not committing one. Too bad I can't turn it back again."
"You can't?"
"Well, I can, but it's just a heap of glass and not window-shaped anymore," says Adam. "It's less useful that way."
"Can you show me?" said Kris. "Would that be okay?"
Before Adam can answer there's a banging at the door. "Come on you guys," says Matt, "you can jerk off later. Sarver's going to drink your beer if you don't hurry up."
"I'm going to drink your beer if you don't hurry up!" says Alli, and Kris and Adam look at one another.
"I'll show you," says Adam softly, finally pulling his clean t-shirt on, "if you take me flying."
"It's a date," says Kris, and waits for Adam to tuck the insignia away safely before they follow Matt downstairs to the party, their whole world changed.
:::
Everyone knew that the Illusionist worked on a six month cycle, so when she hit Los Angeles on a Thursday afternoon at rush hour, causing mass panic and traffic jams with a herd of dinosaurs, Kris covered for Adam when he headed out as part of a task force to take care of it, picked up by an unmarked black SUV around back of the mansion.
Allison commented that Adam was missing all the action when they all crowded around the television to watch it unfold. Kris told her that breaking news was no match for a migraine, and Adam was not to be disturbed. Even knowing he was there on the scene, Kris still didn't manage to pick Adam out.
:::
They have so much to talk about now it's hard to know where to start. It just figures that they would learn this right when they're busy with stuff for the show, when it's hard to find time alone together. But maybe that's good too. It gives Kris a chance to sort of get his head around the idea of who and what Adam is, and what they can be to one another now. Kris has had Matt all along, and that's been great, but discovering Adam is something new.
"So what made you decide to do this?" Kris asks him when they do find the time alone, because that's the burning question, that's the real question. It's one thing to enjoy a hobby when you're a superhero. It's another to do something so attention-getting. Kris has his own reasons, but that doesn't mean they're the same as Adam's.
"Because I like it," said Adam, like the answer was as simple as that. "I've been thinking about giving up the whole superhero gig. It's not like it's a lifetime obligation. I can still help out, in a pinch."
"Really?" says Kris. "You could give it up like that?"
"I'm tired," says Adam with a little shrug. "I'm tired of a lot of things. I mean, I like what I do, I think it makes a difference. But I feel like I could make more of a difference in other ways. If I could talk to a lot of people, if I had a lot of people listening...I don't know. It just seems like I could do more than just foil a bank robbery or something."
"Maybe you could," agrees Kris. "Maybe we both could."
"You couldn't give up being a superhero," says Adam. It's a statement rather than a question but it also sounds like a statement he just that moment came up with. Like all the pieces of Kris that he's earned over the past few weeks have come together to form that conclusion.
"Not a lot of people can do what I do," says Kris with a helpless shrug. "Or what me and Katy do, I guess. Must've been something in the water when we were kids. Some kind of alien insect bite when we were playing together in the sandbox. I don't know. All I know is that we grew up together flying and I help a lot of people."
"But you're doing this too."
"Being a superhero feels like something I have to do," says Kris. "Doing this is what I want to do. Maybe for some people they're the same thing, but they're not for me. And I guess I finally just decided that doing what I wanted with my life was important too. I have to be a person, I can't just be a tool."
"I don't know," says Adam. "Lots of people are tools their whole lives. I know way too many of them."
Kris grins at him and shakes his head, but he appreciates it all the same. "You know what I mean," he said. "I guess I want to have my cake and eat it too. I think it's possible."
"Just look at Bruce Wayne," says Adam. "Millionaire playboy, and superhero on the side."
"Bruce Wayne isn't real," says Kris. "In the real world he would've been figured out in, like, five minutes."
"I don't know," says Adam, "money can buy you a lot of things. Including privacy."
"So what you're telling me is that I can't just be famous and a superhero, I need to be rich, too?"
"It would probably help," said Adam. "I think it's been killing me a little inside, that I stopped pursuing a career in singing. Not entirely, I still did little stuff, but I wasn't me anymore without the dream. I was somebody else who was just sleepwalking through his life, doing things just because he could instead of because he wanted to."
Kris knows exactly what that feels like, even if he doesn't feel as world-weary as Adam sounds. But even with all that, Kris just has a feeling about what Adam is saying.
"I don't think you could give it up either," he says.
Adam is quiet for a moment, and Kris wonders if he's stepped over some line because as much as they're getting to know each other they don't know everything yet, and everyone's history can be a minefield if you don't know what you're stepping into.
"Yeah, you're right," he says finally, and he sounds downright cheerful when he says it. "But I'm definitely enjoying this vacation from it all. Maybe that's what I needed. And a better costume. Something less fashionable. With a better mask."
"What, do you just go out with makeup on?" says Kris. Adam cocks an eyebrow at him, but just when Kris is about it ask him if he's serious he starts laughing. "You had me going there."
"Though it helps," says Adam. "But it's not exactly incognito. Then again, I'm not exactly incognito when I go out. I'd have to worry about it more, if I was famous."
"I'm pretty well covered up," says Kris. "Nothing like I look in my regular life."
"You make it sound like you don't cover up at all in regular life," says Adam, with another little eyebrow cock. "Which I don't think anyone would object to."
Kris facepalms, because he walked right into that one. "You know what I mean," he says. "Not a lot of skin at all. Goggles. Hood. The works."
"Because flying in plaid would just look conspicuous," says Adam.
"Hey, I never said it wasn't plaid," says Kris, but Adam isn't biting. He's probably seen pictures or video of Kris in costume anyway-most people have-and Kris feels a little bit bad that he didn't recognize Adam. But there are a lot of superheroes out there, and not everyone gets the high profile gigs.
Kris knows that flying is pretty high profile. It's another reason he had to give serious thought to even auditioning for Idol. Superman makes it look easy, but there's a big difference between fiction and reality, and getting away from people to change and fly off somewhere and not have them suspect anything is a lot harder than it looks. And that's now, when Kris is nobody. When he's a dropout and retail salesperson and unknown singer.
Even if he doesn't win-and Kris has no idea whether he is or isn't going to; there are a lot of great singers here-he's come too far to ever be completely invisible in his everyday life again, or at least for a very long time.
It's on the tip of his tongue to mention that he's talked to Matt about this stuff, even before they auditioned, but he bites his tongue in time. He can't mention Adam to Matt, and he can't mention Matt to Adam, and that's just the way it has to be. Either one would be a betrayal, and more than anything else in his life, more than this competition, Kris values his integrity.
"You said you're here because you want to be," says Adam, "and the superhero thing is because you have to do it."
"Yeah," says Kris. "Yeah, that's what it feels like. And I mean, other than flying and stuff, this is really my only useful skill. Probably my only marketable one, even if I haven't been doing a good job marketing it so far."
"Well, I feel like I have to do the superhero thing and I have to do this," says Adam, finally coming back around to the question. "And right now I feel like I need to do this more. I don't know what I would've done if it hadn't been audition for Idol, but it would've been something. Started a band. Something."
"Hard to imagine you doing anything other than this," says Kris. "You're going to be really famous. You know that, right? You're going to be so famous after this, no matter what happens from here on in."
"I certainly hope so," says Adam, and gives him a wide smile. "Yeah, it'll make things harder, but not impossible. We'll take a lesson from Bruce Wayne and make it work."
:::
Kris really likes singing, in the shower, in a friend's rec room, on stage by himself or with a few friends. He doesn't even mind the group performances as much as some of the other contestants do because he accepts them for what they are, and if they're not what he really wants to be doing with his time, he puts it in perspective and recognizes that they only take up a small part of it.
It's the videos that Kris struggles with. Everything would point to him being a decent actor-he acts every day of his life in a way-but he's just not. He can't stop being conscious of the role they put him in, can't shake the wooden nature of his performance. When Kris is being a superhero, or when Kris is being a mild-mannered salesperson, in both roles he's just being different aspects of himself. It turns out Kris isn't good at being something that he's not.
But they're fun anyway, in their way. When he's not thinking about being directed to act in a certain way and just starts goofing off, Kris has a good time on the Ford shoot.
"Water balloons," says Allison, and that's definitely a dangerous glint in her eyes. "They're setting us loose with water balloons."
"They're not exactly setting us loose," says Kris. "We probably won't even get to throw any, not for real."
"You think?" says Allison, squishing a blue balloon in her hand thoughtfully. "I'm not sure how they're going to stop us."
"And by us," says Megan, "you mean you." Allison just turns that wicked smile on her, squishing the balloon a little more. "You can't. You'll ruin our wardrobe."
"Oh yeah?" says Allison. "I think we're supposed to look wet."
"Not yet we aren't," says Alexis, but there's a whole bucket of water balloons nearby, and she's eyeing it herself. Kris is surrounded by a lot of dangerous women; Alexis has already figured out that it's better to be the firer than the firee.
There's just a moment where everyone is still, then Kris's finely-honed reflexes kick in and he dives for the bucket before anyone else can get there, grabbing a balloon in each hand and breaking left where there seems to be some cover.
A moment later a balloon hits the ground behind him and just catches the heels of his shoes. That has to be Allison, the only one of them who was already armed. Kris whirls around because the last thing he wants is an enemy at his back, right arm already cocked and ready to fire as soon as he spots a target. Allison's hair makes her hard to miss, and as soon as she stands up again, Kris doesn't.
"Oh, I'm going to get you for that," she says, but before she can she's flanked by Alexis and a balloon splashes all over her entire back.
They're going to get in so much trouble for this, and it's so worth it.
Kris reloads, switching the balloon to his right hand even though technically he can fire with his left if he has to, and there's no way he's making it back to the bucket now so he has to make the second shot count as much as the first. All three girls are looking at him now, and he breaks right this time, straight towards where Adam is heading in their direction, fresh but obviously not entirely unaware of what he's walking into. At least, not once he's taken a few steps in their direction.
Kris's dash is probably a dead giveaway.
"Don't you dare put me in the line of fire," says Adam, trying to duck behind Kris instead of vice versa. That's just never really a successful move for anyone over the age of about twelve. "They just finished with my hair."
"It's going to get wet anyway, sucka," says Allison, and the balloon comes hurtling in their direction, hitting the pavement less than a foot away and catching both of them.
"Come on," says Kris, grabbing his arm and pulling him toward the building and the shelter it provides. "Tactical advantage."
"Close call," says Adam, but he's spoken too soon. A moment later a balloon-Megan this time-hits the fire escape just above his head and water comes cascading down onto him.
"Cut!" someone calls from behind them, and Kris isn't even sure whether it's one of his fellow contestants or someone who actually means it. Either way, the fight seems to be over.
"So," says Megan, picking a piece of broken balloon out of Adam's hair. "Do you think they're ready to start this thing?"
:::
When one too many conversations has to take an awkward turn when Kris realizes he's skirting close to revealing something he shouldn't, it becomes clear to him that he needs to tell Matt about Adam and Adam about Matt since they obviously don't know about each other. It's a tricky thing to handle. He can't ask for permission from either of them without revealing one identity to the other, so either way someone gets betrayed.
As he's learned through years of superherodom, sometimes sacrificing yourself is the only solution.
"So you both know I'm Supersonic Boy," he says after getting them both out by the pool after curfew, and can't help making a face at the name. Seriously, it's so lame. Supersonic Boy. Next time he sees Katy, he's going to suggest they do something about it. There's no way she's any happier about Supersonic Girl.
"Kris, you're not supposed to tell civilians!" both of them blurt out at the same time. And then look at one another.
Adam grins first, then starts to laugh. "Well played, Kristopher," he says.
Because the only way to get out of betraying someone was to get them to tell each other.
"Wait, so you're...?" says Matt.
"I found out by accident," says Kris.
"So did you two already know one another?" says Adam. "Or is Kris just prone to accidental discoveries like that?"
"I won't say he's not prone to happy accidents," says Matt, "but we go way back. It was actually Kris who convinced me to audition for Idol. Or me that convinced him. One or the other. I thought it would never get anywhere, but look at us now, right?"
"I wouldn't say I convinced you," says Kris. "It just seemed like a really good idea over our sixth little umbrella drink in Bali."
"So many things do," says Matt. "I bet Katy had serious buyer's remorse about that new costume."
"It's hanging in the back of her closet," says Kris with a little giggle that he regrets only slightly less than Katy does her costume. "Sorry about the thing, I just figured it was too awkward, me knowing about you guys and not being able to say anything. And there's enough stress with this whole thing, I didn't need any more."
"Well, if we'd known we wouldn't have been stressing you out," says Matt. "At this point I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Sarver's a mad scientist in his spare time. That Anoop can lift houses."
"Lifting houses isn't a useful skill," says Adam. "Trust me, I've seen it done. Stuff starts falling out."
"Not all skills are useful," says Matt. "I know a guy who can make people dance. Seriously. Dance, like the mambo and stuff. The polka. People waltzing all over the place."
"I'm sure there are...practical uses for that," insists Kris. Like distractions. And...winning contests. There's a lot of money in dance contests, he bets. "Everyone's valuable in their own way."
"Yeah, I bet that's what your parents told your brother, right?" says Adam, and Kris kind of winces. "Mine, too. I bet it sounds a lot worse when your brother can fly."
"I bet everything kind of sucks when your brother can fly," says Matt. "I've met him, though, and he seems all right."
"After he saw me come home all busted up from a couple of missions he started to be glad he didn't have to do that," says Kris, but when they were kids it got between them a lot of the time. He wouldn't say they're close, exactly, but at least they get along as adults. "It's a lot less pressure."
"Yeah, I'll drink to that," says Matt, then looks around. "Why don't we have drinks?"
"Because I am more alluring than alcohol," says Kris, when he knows it's because he sort of rounded them up and got them out here alone with him while the others were inside drinking down the anxiety of results night and drinking to Alexis, the last to go before the top ten. "Wow, guys, we're on the tour."
"All the more reason to have a drink," says Matt. "It might actually be easier to pull this off on the road than cooped up here."
"Oh crap, we're going to be famous," says Kris. Ish, anyway. He kind of wants to cower for a moment at the sheer complication of that. "What were we thinking?"
"That half a life isn't enough for anyone," says Adam, "and we can be more than we are."
"I'll drink to that, too," says Matt, and it seems a pretty clear sign that it's time to get drinks from the kitchen. But Kris is sure that they'll end up out by the pool with them again afterwards, because they still have a lot of talking to do.
He feels a little crazy that he's doing this, but it's not the first time and he's sure it won't be the last. But it's his choice, and even when he thinks he's crazy he doesn't regret it at all.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Written for kradambigbang, with a wonderful fanmix by eleret. Thanks to my girls for putting up with me for the past month (and in general, really) and special thanks to teamkradam for stepping up and telling me exactly what I needed to hear.
Music mix: Wanna be your superhero by eleret
The Show Must Go On;
or, Yeah Capes!
American Idol RPF. 27,000 words. PG-13. Adam/Kris, Season 8 ensemble. AU.
Being a singer has always been Kris's dream. Being a superhero is just an accident of birth.
Keeping up the lifestyle is not going to be easy once Kris moves into the mansion. In the hotel it's been all right. No one really looks at Kris's comings and goings too hard yet, so he can fly off the roof under cover of (relative) darkness and no one's the wiser.
The mansion is going to be different. They'll have a curfew. They'll have minders and rules and, God help him, cameramen. For about the hundredth time Kris has serious second thoughts about this whole thing. Maybe he should just bow out now while he still can and go back to Arkansas, to a life that's at least familiar.
But being a singer has always been Kris's dream. Being a superhero was just an accident of birth.
"So we're going to room together again, right?" says Adam, leaning in to fix his eyeliner in the mirror before looking at Kris and grinning. "Please don't leave me to the wolves, Kristopher. Have you seen who else made the top twelve so far?"
"Sure, of course we will," says Kris. He doesn't even have to think about it.
If he has to have a roommate, and he does, then it might as well be Adam. It was easier when it was still him and Matt, though. Matt knows him. They even went on vacation together to Bali (where they ended up foiling a diamond heist, but that's the danger of traveling with other superheroes; the sense of duty seems to grow exponentially). Matt's a big part of the reason Kris is even here, and vice versa.
But Fate (well, not actually Fate; as far as Kris knows, Fate's still locked up in an ice prison in Antarctica) decided that after his semifinal round Kris would have to go on without Matt, and given that, Adam's an easy choice.
"Good," says Adam, finishing with his light makeup, nothing like what Kris knows he can (and does) do on stage. And possibly elsewhere; he's not entirely sure of that yet. "I'd hate to have to break someone else in when you just got comfortable."
"My thoughts exactly," says Kris, and is rewarded with Adam's delighted laugh as he grabs his coat and they head out to meet the others for dinner.
Kris has his signal close to his heart and his cell phone in his pocket and he's ready as he can be, both to fight crime and to get to know the rest of his fellow finalists so far. He hopes he doesn't have to dash off to fight crime tonight, though. He's really kind of hungry.
This isn't going to be easy, but it's not going to be impossible. Kris will make it work.
:::
"So it would just be weird if I switched now," says Kris as he and Matt hang out by the hotel pool, last night before they finally all move into mansion and no other time to relax and hang out between all their promo and prep duties. Actually, the pool's been closed for hours and they kind of broke in. They don't always have to use their powers for good. "And suspicious."
"I see how it is," says Matt. "You've just upgraded to the newer model."
When Matt made the top twelve-no, top thirteen-after all, Kris did think about switching rooms to be back with him again. He thought about it and weighed the pros and cons. Practice at concealing his identity versus relaxing in his own domain. Making a new friend versus reconnecting with an old one. Lack of bathroom space versus dealing with Matt's mess.
Then he tossed all of that away and went with his gut and stuck with Adam, and didn't dig too deeply into why that was his instinctive decision. Things have just been really good between them, and not as hard as Kris worried it would be because it turns out Adam has a boyfriend he sneaks out to see all the time, which gives Kris plenty of time to do what he needs to do without making clumsy excuses.
Still, it's kind of awkward breaking the news to Matt.
"Adam's cool," he says, laughing and punching Matt in the arm. "I mean he's not cool cool, but it's probably good for me to remember that I can't just fly up to get something off the top shelf when he's around." Matt snickers and Kris smacks him again. "It's not funny."
"It's hilarious," said Matt, "you've just never had the chance to watch yourself do it."
"Short jokes are so last year," said Kris.
"And the year before that," adds Matt. "And the year before that too."
"Well thank you for convincing me I made the right choice."
"So this whole room thing's set in stone then?" says Matt, and Kris kind of winces a little because technically he could change, he's just not. He can accept the consequences, though; he's accepted the consequences for far more difficult decisions in the past.
"Probably for the best," says Kris. "I bet you'll come closer to outing yourself than I will. We can both use the practice."
"It's a bet," says Matt, and rolls with it. "No one's going to suspect a thing, with me. I am a master of disguise."
"Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that," says Kris. "And seriously, how great is it that you're here? I am so stoked."
"Liar," says Matt, though Kris knows him well enough to know how pleased he is. "You were thinking you'd already knocked your biggest competition out and here I am again. I'm the last person you wanted to see."
"Yeah, I only wish you were my nemesis," says Kris, and Matt gives him a friendly and understanding punch on the arm. Matt's been there for the aftermath of Kris's battles with his nemesis more than once. For them, in that way, Idol looks like friendly competition compared to the real world.
The whole thing sort of seems to blow over after that. Whether Matt agrees with Kris's assessment of the rooming situation or whether he's just not bothered enough about it to argue (Kris actually guesses the latter, because Matt once called Kris the biggest cockblocker in the country), Kris guesses it doesn't matter because him and Matt, they're good.
Always have been, always will be, and no friendly competition could ever get in the way.
:::
Hammerhead struck the First Metropolitan Bank at dawn, and Kris knew that if he checked Matt's room he would find him out of bed. He didn't check. But he did make sure to make the coffee extra strong for when Matt arrived late to breakfast, and didn't miss the appreciative moan Matt gave when he first sipped it. By lunchtime everyone was talking about how Michigan Express foiled the robbery, even in the mansion.
Matt had a better pokerface than Kris, but not by much. That was a lie that Kris had grown up learning how to tell.
:::
"So if you weren't here," says Adam, stretched out on his bed with his fingers laced behind his head, "what would you be doing?"
It's late, long after they shut the lights out, but neither of them is sleeping. Kris has already been downstairs to the kitchen twice (where he didn't actually fly up to get the crackers off the top shelf, though he thought about it because nobody was around and would they really go so far as to have night vision cameras?) and Adam keeps slipping out of bed to push the curtains open to look outside. Kris wonders if he's expecting his boyfriend to put up a batsignal or something.
"Going back to school, I guess," he says after a moment of thought, which is at least part of a truth, and one he's allowed to tell. "You can't chase a dream forever. Sooner or later you have to actually do something with your life."
"Is that true, though?" says Adam. "As long as you're making a living...."
"I kind of wasn't," admits Kris, though if you add in some of the superhero bonuses he was doing all right. The job doesn't pay, but there are perks. Some of them in the form of national security clearance. Some of them in the form of diamonds. "I can't rely on my parents' charity forever."
"And your wife."
"Right, and my wife," Kris adds, cursing himself silently. One of the occupational skills he really needs to work on is becoming a better liar when it comes to everything other than his secret identity. "We haven't, uh, been married long."
"That's got to be hard," says Adam. "It's hard enough being away from my boyfriend. If I was married, I don't even know."
"It's all right," says Kris. "We still get to see each other. It's not like we're prisoners here."
"Except that we kind of are," says Adam, and he laughs a little. "It's like a little jailbreak for me every night. If they ever bust me, I'll be on serious lockdown."
"I won't let them bust you," Kris promises him, and if he calls in a couple of favors he can actually back that up. "And hey, if you keep trying to run on no sleep, better for the rest of us who want to win this thing."
"You're more devious than people give you credit for," says Adam. "You ready for this week?"
"I don't know," admits Kris. "I guess so?"
The whole pace of the show is weird. On the outside it seems like it would actually be a lot like being a superhero, short bursts of action interspersed with long periods of waiting, but it's not like that at all. Being a superhero is sort of a 24-7 job, even if you aren't actively working all of the time. Competing on Idol you have almost unbearable lulls of time where you not only have nothing you need to be doing, but very little you can be doing, and the rest of the time everything you do is both rushed and completely dictated.
Other than hiding his secret identity, Kris isn't used to not having a high degree of freedom. After all, what's more free than being able to fly anywhere you want to go?
"That doesn't sound very confident," says Adam, in that way he says things when he's trying to tease more information out of you.
"I don't really know what to expect," says Kris. In some ways the finals are probably more of the same, and in some ways they're probably something completely new. It's hard to be ready for that. "I'm just going to do my thing."
"You make it sound so easy," says Adam, staring up at the ceiling. "No way are we going home this week. I just know it. It's not our time."
"What, you can see the future?" says Kris, and okay, he's joking and it's implausible, but not entirely impossible.
"Yeah, I wish," says Adam, another quiet laugh to punctuate it. "Wouldn't that make life easier, knowing how everything was going to turn out?"
"Easier and more boring," says Kris. "I don't think we're meant to know stuff like that. No matter how nervous I am, I'm a lot happier not knowing."
"Even if you knew you were going to do fantastic?"
"Even then," says Kris. "There's a kind of...I don't know, hopelessness, in knowing there are no surprises coming your way. Ever. I don't know how anyone could live like that." And he doesn't know anyone who does, either. No one Kris knows can see all of the future, not even close.
"Wow, you make it sound so depressing," says Adam. "You're right, though. Even though I wouldn't mind knowing the winning lottery numbers, just once. Or knowing that I'm going to make it through this week."
"You're going to make it through this week," says Kris, and he can't see the future but he just knows it too. Adam is...something new. Something kind of amazing. And Kris can't imagine him leaving the competition this early, not when so many people-including Kris-are fascinated to see what he does next.
"Thank you," says Adam graciously. Even though he already seemed sure that he's going to be okay, it's probably nice to hear. Kris knows it was nice for him to hear. "You probably want to sleep."
"If I wanted to sleep, I'd be sleeping," says Kris, and if Adam doesn't know that already, after rooming with Kris for this long, he'll figure it out soon enough. "Well, if I could sleep, anyway."
"Yeah," says Adam, but his voice trails off a little bit and Kris can hear his breathing start to even out. "It's going to be a long competition if we don't sleep."
Nine times out of ten Kris would be the one to fall asleep first, but tonight is the tenth time, and as Adam's body grows lax, as his arm falls out beside him over the edge of the bed and as the blankets twist with his body to expose a little more skin, Kris gets to watch him for once.
"If I wasn't here," he says quietly, when he's absolutely certain Adam is asleep, "I'd be up in the clouds right now. I'd be looking out for the world and wondering if that's all I was ever going to be."
He feels a little guilty, a little selfish, for wanting to add 'this is better' but it's at least halfway true all the same.
:::
The pictures aren't a surprise to Kris, but they're apparently a surprise to some other people. Kris doesn’t really know why-it's not like Adam goes around telling everyone he meets that he's gay, but he doesn't go out of his way to hide it, either. Kris knew shortly after meeting him, and he just figured that everyone else did too since he was usually the last one to know that kind of thing. It wasn't something that ever needed talking about.
"Did you see them?" says Matt over a midnight snack, Adam out with his boyfriend again and Kris having just returned from a quick mission with Katy, a bit of surveillance that couldn't be put off. Flying took a lot of energy and he needed to keep his stamina up.
"See who?" says Kris around a mouthful, not worrying too much about politeness in front of Matt at one in the morning.
"The pictures," says Matt. As if there's anyone who hasn't.
"Sure," says Kris. "They're kind of nice, huh? Makes me wish I had some photos of things I've done to show people. My civilian life is so boring, and I can't really show the rest of the stuff."
"That's it?" says Matt. "They're kind of nice?"
"I don't know," says Kris. "That's how I feel about them. I think it's lousy how people are making him feel bad for having his picture taken with his boyfriend. They're making it into such a big deal when it's the exact same thing everyone else does all the time. Who doesn't have vacation photos, you know? Except us."
"I have a couple of me at Mount Rushmore," says Matt. "Does that count?"
"You were on a mission," says Kris. "And there was still a chip in Jefferson's face when it was taken. If that's all you've got, that's all you've got, though. More than I've got."
"That's not true," says Matt. "You have those pictures from South Africa. Those count. Still, they're nothing like Adam's."
"Why are you making a big deal out of it?" says Kris. "They're just pictures. It's not like we didn't know he had a boyfriend. And even if we didn't, so what? I don't think it's a big deal."
"Well, what fun are you if you won't gossip with me?" says Matt with a dramatic sigh. "Even if we aren't making a big deal, though, they're a big deal out there." And Kris knows exactly what he means by 'out there', that world that isn't always as good a place as he wants it to be. But they're working on that.
"Believe me," says Kris, "he already knows that. He doesn't need us telling him. Now, is there more bread? I think I need another sandwich."
"I can't believe how much you eat," says Matt. "Flying must burn a lot of calories."
"You have no idea," says Kris, finding the rest of the loaf and raiding it. "I have to work not to look even tinier." And before Matt can even open his mouth to crack a short joke, Kris holds a hand up. "Not a word."
"You're seriously no fun at all tonight."
"Find a new kind of fun," says Kris, and grins at him and has no doubt that Matt will.
:::
Just because Kris has always been the kind of guy who gets along with everyone doesn't mean he likes everyone. In general he figures people are good at heart and everyone is at least worth knowing, but he's not indiscriminate. So Kris gets along with everyone in the Idol mansion, but that doesn't mean he likes them all the same.
Adam and Allison he's known since their semifinal group, and they might just be his new favorite people on the planet (and since Kris has, in fact, been all over the planet, that's saying something). Matt, of course, he's known for years. Everyone else he's been starting from scratch with, none of them people he'd spent much time with during Hollywood Week.
The first time Kris argues with Danny Gokey, for a value of argue that means he actually voices a contradictory opinion, Danny looks completely shocked that Kris isn't completely in line with his values. But Christian is a pretty broad term, and Kris has seen and done too much to have a narrow view of the world. Of course, being thought of as conservative and religious probably would have been a good cover, but Kris is telling enough lies already. If he's pursuing his dreams, he wants to do it as himself as much as he can or what's the point?
So he doesn't let Danny-or Mike, though he thinks that Mike might just be kind of sheltered and not married to his assumptions-make slurs about Adam, or anyone, without making a quiet disapproving comment. He's not a superhero here, he's just Kris, but there are other ways to fight for what's important in the world.
So there are definitely growing pains, but after their first performance on the big stage things finally just click. Once they've all been through that together there's something concrete to bond over, and after that first night, when they're left waiting a full day for the verdict, they all blow off some steam together in the mansion.
Jorge is kind of like he's on speed, or at least that's what Matt says in Kris's ear when he hands him a drink, and if there's one thing Matt knows it's speed. The guy just keeps going and going though and his enthusiasm is infectious. It's hard to worry about what tomorrow's going to bring when Jorge is up on the coffee table imitating an elephant just because Allison asked him to.
"Can you do a giraffe?" says Megan.
"Can I do a giraffe?" says Jorge. "You should do a giraffe."
"No, Kris should do a giraffe," says Matt, and Kris smacks him because Matt's already used up his lifetime quota of short jokes. "All right, fine. Adam."
"Adam is definitely not imitating a giraffe," says Adam. "At least, not without a lot more incentive than this."
"Adam's more of a peacock anyway," says Allison, and Danny nods along with her which Kris just ignores because that's really not the connotation she was going for. "He doesn't even have to do an imitation!" She cracks up at her own joke and Adam flicks ice water at her as he sits down on Kris's other side. "Ow!"
"That didn't hurt," says Lil, taking Jorge's arm to help him down off the table. "Try getting pushed into a lake in February. Now that hurts."
"Not where I come from," says Allison, hopping up off the chair and then up onto the vacated table, stretching her neck out like a giraffe. "Nope, can't do it. Gotta do something else."
"How about a warthog?" Alexis suggests, and Allison just shoots her a wholly betrayed look.
"Warthog?" she says. "Warthog?"
"Warthogs are noble beasts," insists Anoop. "You should be proud to be a warthog."
"Forget it," says Allison. "I'm a lion." And she musses her hair and leans over and bares her claws and teeth, which isn't all that much unlike every other day that Kris has known her.
"I'm sure you're a very lovely lion," says Scott dryly, which just makes Allison spin towards him and give him a giant roar, to get him in on the action. Scott just cracks up, which may or may not have been what Allison was going for, but since she cracks up too it's hard to tell.
If Kris has to take a turn on the table he's not sure what he should go for. "Eagle or bear?" he asks Matt.
Matt just looks at him and says, "Kitten," loud enough for Adam to hear too. They high five right in front of Kris's face, and Kris has to resist the urge to facepalm.
"I think it's time for Jasmine to go to bed," says her mother, coming in to break up the party. "It's getting late."
"Aw, really?" she says, but Kris figures it's probably long past when her mom wanted to come up and get her so no one complains that loudly. Not even Jasmine. Allison looks around warily, sure it's going to be her turn next.
Kris would normally be pretty early to bed, but tonight he thinks he's going to stick it out to the end. With two of them leaving tomorrow, there's never going to be another one quite like it.
:::
Lil was the last one out the door on their way to the theater, phone still in her hand and looking a little ruffled. "Stormeater hit Memphis last night," she explained. "My husband just called, says he's never seen lightning like that before. The Mountain Master showed up to take care of him, but Stormeater got him back with a hell of a lightning bolt and no one's seen either of them since."
Kris knew he would have already gotten a call if Cale was seriously injured, but he spent the entire drive on edge anyway, until he could call someone and find out what happened out there.
:::
Kris's phone vibrates under his pillow at way too early in the morning. It's not the emergency signal so he doesn't leap right out of bed (with plans to apologize to Adam for leaving his ringer on high), but it's Katy so he doesn't waste much time either. A few moments later he's out the window and on the roof. A few moments after that, she is too.
"Katy," he says when he sees a fresh scrape at her temple, running his fingers alongside it, partly in concern and party in anger.
"It was just in and out-" she started, but Kris shook his head.
"We work together."
"Sometimes we can't right now," she said, grabbing his wrist and pulling his hand away from her head. "It's nothing. You won't even be able to see it in a day or two."
"Where were you?"
"Extracting Cale," she said shortly, and told Kris everything he needed to know. Almost.
"How is-"
"He's fine," she said. "He'll be back on duty next week. Says maybe if you got him tickets for the show he wouldn't have been there in the first place."
Kris smiles weakly, like he's supposed to. " Yeah, maybe once I make it a little further," he says. "I should've been there."
"It was a one-woman job anyway," she says. "Stormeater was long gone already. I went in after dark and pulled him out and got him home, scraped myself up on some of the rubble. I'm not invulnerable."
"No, you just act like you are sometimes," says Kris, and kisses her on the cheekbone, right beneath the cut. "I'm sorry."
"I didn't come here for an apology," she says, "I came here to tell you how Cale's doing. I figured you wouldn't want to wait till I caught up with you at the show."
"And you missed me," says Kris, giving her a nudge.
"And I missed you," says Katy, nudging him back. "How are things going?"
Kris shrugs, not because he doesn't know but because he doesn't know how to talk about it yet. It's strange and new and frustrating and awesome. "It's so hard to know how things are going to go," he says. "I'm just, you know."
"You're amazing," says Katy. "And you're going to do amazing things."
"I didn't count on how cut off I was going to feel," says Kris. "It's like losing a sense or something. I don't have a pulse on what's going on anymore. I have to rely on the news like a normal person."
"Oh, poor you," says Katy, and maybe she's teasing him but he knows she understand what he's saying to her. "That's why we set up things the way we did, so I can always reach you. You know I'll tell you if anything important happens. You know you'll be the first to hear if You Know Who surfaces."
"He's not Voldemort," says Kris. "You can say his name."
"Just don't want to tempt fate," says Katy, leaning back on the roof and looking up at the sky. Kris only counts three stars, and one of them might've been a satellite. "I should go before someone catches us."
Kris knows they shouldn’t do this, that it's dangerous, but he's glad she came all the same. "I guess there are probably limits to how much the let even a husband and wife get up to."
"And I'm pretty sure sneaking up on the roof isn't on the list," says Katy, "never mind how we got up here in the first place."
"Take care of yourself," says Kris, giving her a squeeze. "I'll see you at the show later."
"Take care of yourself too," says Katy.
A moment later she's flying down to the street again, in a deserted area and outside the boundaries of the mansion, and Kris is flying back in his bedroom window. Adam is still sleeping, and Kris things maybe he can get another hour or so himself, if he's lucky.
It's results day, and now that he knows things are all clear in the rest of his world, he can focus on that again.
:::
They're all sad to see Jorge and Jasmine go, but for the eleven people remaining it's still a time to celebrate making it through the first week. Especially Adam, who Kris knows gave everything in his performance and still expected to be sent home for things beyond his control. Something that should never have mattered.
"Come on, everyone's waiting," says Kris, rapping his knuckles on the bathroom door. "Do you really want them to drink everything up before we get down there?"
"Five more minutes," Adam calls through the door. "If you want to save me some time, you can get my Bowie t-shirt and pass it to me. It should be right at the top of my suitcase."
Kris rummages around and the shirt is exactly where Adam says it'll be, but when Kris yanks it out-a little harder than he means to when it catches on a buckle-he yanks something else out with it from the depths of the suitcase, and it stops him in his tracks.
"Kris?" Adam calls when a couple minutes pass and Kris hasn't returned, but Kris is still busy contemplating the object in his hand. A moment later he peeks out the bathroom door, shirtless, to find him. "Kris, you get lost in there?"
Kris just looks up at him, and when he does he holds up the insignia that fell out of Adam's suitcase along with the shirt. For just a moment Kris can see Adam's genuine, shocked reaction before he smoothes his expression and smiles.
"What did you find?" he says, and if Kris hadn't seen that initial reaction he would've thought it was sincere, would've begun panicking that somehow some of his own things had ended up in Adam's suitcase. When he doesn't answer, Adam leans in for a closer look. "Oh that, that's just part of one of my costumes. I don't think I'll be needing that tonight."
"No," says Kris softly, "it's not."
Adam pauses, sizing him up. They're both silent for a few moments, and there's a growing sense of unease. "You shouldn't know that," he says.
"And you shouldn't have this," says Kris, finally getting up, thrusting the t-shirt at Adam and clutching the insignia so hard the edges bite into his hand. "Where did you get this? Did you take it?"
"It's mine," says Adam. "It's mine."
It's his, thinks Kris, and he could be lying, but Kris really doesn't think he is which means.... "Wait, but I've never met you before," he says, and it's not like he knows every superhero in the league, let alone their secret identities, but he kind of thought he knew most of the ones who were close to his age. Maybe there are a lot of things out there he doesn't know. "You didn't go to the New Year's bash last year?"
"I was on a mission and missed it," says Adam wonderingly. "Wait, you're.... Seriously?"
Kris finally hands over the insignia and the sense of unease between them shatters. He breaks into a smile that's ninety percent relieved and ten percent delighted. "Since I turned eighteen," he says. "Me and Katy both."
"This is incredible," says Adam, shaking his head like he needs to clear it. "And you get to work with your wife too, that must be great."
"Oh, we're not..." says Kris, then laughs sort of nervously. "Me and Katy, we're not actually married, we're just partners. Professionally."
"Wait, really?" says Adam. "Then why...?"
"Convenient excuse to have her around me all the time while I'm on the show," says Kris, "and it gives her more access to me than anyone else gets, even my family. We've been partners since high school, before we were even old enough to officially join."
"This is amazing," said Adam. "So do I know you? I mean, would I know any of your work?"
"I don't know, maybe?" says Kris. "They call us the Supersonic Twins in the press, but I think that's just dumb. I mean, we're not even related, let alone twins. And totally not actually supersonic. Most of the time. But we're both, you know, small and pale and it just kind of stuck."
"You're the guys who can fly!" says Adam. "Of course I know who you are! I always wanted to fly. Is it as cool as it seems?"
"I guess?" said Kris. "I've always been able to fly, so I don't really know the difference. What about you? Wow, the west coast region is always so busy. You must have some interesting stories."
"Yeah, LA is a real hotbed for criminals," said Adam. "I keep busy. Or I did, before the show. I'm still technically active, but I'm only taking on the stuff they really need me on. We've got enough people around that they're not hurting for me."
"So you're not actually sneaking out at night to see your boyfriend."
"Drake's not my boyfriend," admits Adam. "I mean, maybe he could've been once, but I was involved with someone else then-"
"Brad, right?"
"Yeah, Brad," says Adam, "so we become friends instead, and now we work together sometimes. Not partners or anything, not like you and Katy, but sometimes it's convenient. Sometimes you really need someone to have your back."
"So he's...?"
"Yeah," says Adam. "He's got super strength, but only after dark. Which actually is kind of cool. He can be normal sometimes, you know? It'd be nice to be normal sometimes."
"Yeah, it kind of would," said Kris, but if it came down to it, he'd choose being able to fly over the alternative. Losing that would be like losing a part of him, and he just doesn't know anything else. "So you haven't told me what you...I mean, I know it's rude to ask. I'm sorry."
"I transmute and deconstruct," Adam told him. "You know, metals into other metals and stuff. Turning glass into sand, which is both a cool parlor trick and pretty useful during a break and enter. Stopping one, I mean. Not committing one. Too bad I can't turn it back again."
"You can't?"
"Well, I can, but it's just a heap of glass and not window-shaped anymore," says Adam. "It's less useful that way."
"Can you show me?" said Kris. "Would that be okay?"
Before Adam can answer there's a banging at the door. "Come on you guys," says Matt, "you can jerk off later. Sarver's going to drink your beer if you don't hurry up."
"I'm going to drink your beer if you don't hurry up!" says Alli, and Kris and Adam look at one another.
"I'll show you," says Adam softly, finally pulling his clean t-shirt on, "if you take me flying."
"It's a date," says Kris, and waits for Adam to tuck the insignia away safely before they follow Matt downstairs to the party, their whole world changed.
:::
Everyone knew that the Illusionist worked on a six month cycle, so when she hit Los Angeles on a Thursday afternoon at rush hour, causing mass panic and traffic jams with a herd of dinosaurs, Kris covered for Adam when he headed out as part of a task force to take care of it, picked up by an unmarked black SUV around back of the mansion.
Allison commented that Adam was missing all the action when they all crowded around the television to watch it unfold. Kris told her that breaking news was no match for a migraine, and Adam was not to be disturbed. Even knowing he was there on the scene, Kris still didn't manage to pick Adam out.
:::
They have so much to talk about now it's hard to know where to start. It just figures that they would learn this right when they're busy with stuff for the show, when it's hard to find time alone together. But maybe that's good too. It gives Kris a chance to sort of get his head around the idea of who and what Adam is, and what they can be to one another now. Kris has had Matt all along, and that's been great, but discovering Adam is something new.
"So what made you decide to do this?" Kris asks him when they do find the time alone, because that's the burning question, that's the real question. It's one thing to enjoy a hobby when you're a superhero. It's another to do something so attention-getting. Kris has his own reasons, but that doesn't mean they're the same as Adam's.
"Because I like it," said Adam, like the answer was as simple as that. "I've been thinking about giving up the whole superhero gig. It's not like it's a lifetime obligation. I can still help out, in a pinch."
"Really?" says Kris. "You could give it up like that?"
"I'm tired," says Adam with a little shrug. "I'm tired of a lot of things. I mean, I like what I do, I think it makes a difference. But I feel like I could make more of a difference in other ways. If I could talk to a lot of people, if I had a lot of people listening...I don't know. It just seems like I could do more than just foil a bank robbery or something."
"Maybe you could," agrees Kris. "Maybe we both could."
"You couldn't give up being a superhero," says Adam. It's a statement rather than a question but it also sounds like a statement he just that moment came up with. Like all the pieces of Kris that he's earned over the past few weeks have come together to form that conclusion.
"Not a lot of people can do what I do," says Kris with a helpless shrug. "Or what me and Katy do, I guess. Must've been something in the water when we were kids. Some kind of alien insect bite when we were playing together in the sandbox. I don't know. All I know is that we grew up together flying and I help a lot of people."
"But you're doing this too."
"Being a superhero feels like something I have to do," says Kris. "Doing this is what I want to do. Maybe for some people they're the same thing, but they're not for me. And I guess I finally just decided that doing what I wanted with my life was important too. I have to be a person, I can't just be a tool."
"I don't know," says Adam. "Lots of people are tools their whole lives. I know way too many of them."
Kris grins at him and shakes his head, but he appreciates it all the same. "You know what I mean," he said. "I guess I want to have my cake and eat it too. I think it's possible."
"Just look at Bruce Wayne," says Adam. "Millionaire playboy, and superhero on the side."
"Bruce Wayne isn't real," says Kris. "In the real world he would've been figured out in, like, five minutes."
"I don't know," says Adam, "money can buy you a lot of things. Including privacy."
"So what you're telling me is that I can't just be famous and a superhero, I need to be rich, too?"
"It would probably help," said Adam. "I think it's been killing me a little inside, that I stopped pursuing a career in singing. Not entirely, I still did little stuff, but I wasn't me anymore without the dream. I was somebody else who was just sleepwalking through his life, doing things just because he could instead of because he wanted to."
Kris knows exactly what that feels like, even if he doesn't feel as world-weary as Adam sounds. But even with all that, Kris just has a feeling about what Adam is saying.
"I don't think you could give it up either," he says.
Adam is quiet for a moment, and Kris wonders if he's stepped over some line because as much as they're getting to know each other they don't know everything yet, and everyone's history can be a minefield if you don't know what you're stepping into.
"Yeah, you're right," he says finally, and he sounds downright cheerful when he says it. "But I'm definitely enjoying this vacation from it all. Maybe that's what I needed. And a better costume. Something less fashionable. With a better mask."
"What, do you just go out with makeup on?" says Kris. Adam cocks an eyebrow at him, but just when Kris is about it ask him if he's serious he starts laughing. "You had me going there."
"Though it helps," says Adam. "But it's not exactly incognito. Then again, I'm not exactly incognito when I go out. I'd have to worry about it more, if I was famous."
"I'm pretty well covered up," says Kris. "Nothing like I look in my regular life."
"You make it sound like you don't cover up at all in regular life," says Adam, with another little eyebrow cock. "Which I don't think anyone would object to."
Kris facepalms, because he walked right into that one. "You know what I mean," he says. "Not a lot of skin at all. Goggles. Hood. The works."
"Because flying in plaid would just look conspicuous," says Adam.
"Hey, I never said it wasn't plaid," says Kris, but Adam isn't biting. He's probably seen pictures or video of Kris in costume anyway-most people have-and Kris feels a little bit bad that he didn't recognize Adam. But there are a lot of superheroes out there, and not everyone gets the high profile gigs.
Kris knows that flying is pretty high profile. It's another reason he had to give serious thought to even auditioning for Idol. Superman makes it look easy, but there's a big difference between fiction and reality, and getting away from people to change and fly off somewhere and not have them suspect anything is a lot harder than it looks. And that's now, when Kris is nobody. When he's a dropout and retail salesperson and unknown singer.
Even if he doesn't win-and Kris has no idea whether he is or isn't going to; there are a lot of great singers here-he's come too far to ever be completely invisible in his everyday life again, or at least for a very long time.
It's on the tip of his tongue to mention that he's talked to Matt about this stuff, even before they auditioned, but he bites his tongue in time. He can't mention Adam to Matt, and he can't mention Matt to Adam, and that's just the way it has to be. Either one would be a betrayal, and more than anything else in his life, more than this competition, Kris values his integrity.
"You said you're here because you want to be," says Adam, "and the superhero thing is because you have to do it."
"Yeah," says Kris. "Yeah, that's what it feels like. And I mean, other than flying and stuff, this is really my only useful skill. Probably my only marketable one, even if I haven't been doing a good job marketing it so far."
"Well, I feel like I have to do the superhero thing and I have to do this," says Adam, finally coming back around to the question. "And right now I feel like I need to do this more. I don't know what I would've done if it hadn't been audition for Idol, but it would've been something. Started a band. Something."
"Hard to imagine you doing anything other than this," says Kris. "You're going to be really famous. You know that, right? You're going to be so famous after this, no matter what happens from here on in."
"I certainly hope so," says Adam, and gives him a wide smile. "Yeah, it'll make things harder, but not impossible. We'll take a lesson from Bruce Wayne and make it work."
:::
Kris really likes singing, in the shower, in a friend's rec room, on stage by himself or with a few friends. He doesn't even mind the group performances as much as some of the other contestants do because he accepts them for what they are, and if they're not what he really wants to be doing with his time, he puts it in perspective and recognizes that they only take up a small part of it.
It's the videos that Kris struggles with. Everything would point to him being a decent actor-he acts every day of his life in a way-but he's just not. He can't stop being conscious of the role they put him in, can't shake the wooden nature of his performance. When Kris is being a superhero, or when Kris is being a mild-mannered salesperson, in both roles he's just being different aspects of himself. It turns out Kris isn't good at being something that he's not.
But they're fun anyway, in their way. When he's not thinking about being directed to act in a certain way and just starts goofing off, Kris has a good time on the Ford shoot.
"Water balloons," says Allison, and that's definitely a dangerous glint in her eyes. "They're setting us loose with water balloons."
"They're not exactly setting us loose," says Kris. "We probably won't even get to throw any, not for real."
"You think?" says Allison, squishing a blue balloon in her hand thoughtfully. "I'm not sure how they're going to stop us."
"And by us," says Megan, "you mean you." Allison just turns that wicked smile on her, squishing the balloon a little more. "You can't. You'll ruin our wardrobe."
"Oh yeah?" says Allison. "I think we're supposed to look wet."
"Not yet we aren't," says Alexis, but there's a whole bucket of water balloons nearby, and she's eyeing it herself. Kris is surrounded by a lot of dangerous women; Alexis has already figured out that it's better to be the firer than the firee.
There's just a moment where everyone is still, then Kris's finely-honed reflexes kick in and he dives for the bucket before anyone else can get there, grabbing a balloon in each hand and breaking left where there seems to be some cover.
A moment later a balloon hits the ground behind him and just catches the heels of his shoes. That has to be Allison, the only one of them who was already armed. Kris whirls around because the last thing he wants is an enemy at his back, right arm already cocked and ready to fire as soon as he spots a target. Allison's hair makes her hard to miss, and as soon as she stands up again, Kris doesn't.
"Oh, I'm going to get you for that," she says, but before she can she's flanked by Alexis and a balloon splashes all over her entire back.
They're going to get in so much trouble for this, and it's so worth it.
Kris reloads, switching the balloon to his right hand even though technically he can fire with his left if he has to, and there's no way he's making it back to the bucket now so he has to make the second shot count as much as the first. All three girls are looking at him now, and he breaks right this time, straight towards where Adam is heading in their direction, fresh but obviously not entirely unaware of what he's walking into. At least, not once he's taken a few steps in their direction.
Kris's dash is probably a dead giveaway.
"Don't you dare put me in the line of fire," says Adam, trying to duck behind Kris instead of vice versa. That's just never really a successful move for anyone over the age of about twelve. "They just finished with my hair."
"It's going to get wet anyway, sucka," says Allison, and the balloon comes hurtling in their direction, hitting the pavement less than a foot away and catching both of them.
"Come on," says Kris, grabbing his arm and pulling him toward the building and the shelter it provides. "Tactical advantage."
"Close call," says Adam, but he's spoken too soon. A moment later a balloon-Megan this time-hits the fire escape just above his head and water comes cascading down onto him.
"Cut!" someone calls from behind them, and Kris isn't even sure whether it's one of his fellow contestants or someone who actually means it. Either way, the fight seems to be over.
"So," says Megan, picking a piece of broken balloon out of Adam's hair. "Do you think they're ready to start this thing?"
:::
When one too many conversations has to take an awkward turn when Kris realizes he's skirting close to revealing something he shouldn't, it becomes clear to him that he needs to tell Matt about Adam and Adam about Matt since they obviously don't know about each other. It's a tricky thing to handle. He can't ask for permission from either of them without revealing one identity to the other, so either way someone gets betrayed.
As he's learned through years of superherodom, sometimes sacrificing yourself is the only solution.
"So you both know I'm Supersonic Boy," he says after getting them both out by the pool after curfew, and can't help making a face at the name. Seriously, it's so lame. Supersonic Boy. Next time he sees Katy, he's going to suggest they do something about it. There's no way she's any happier about Supersonic Girl.
"Kris, you're not supposed to tell civilians!" both of them blurt out at the same time. And then look at one another.
Adam grins first, then starts to laugh. "Well played, Kristopher," he says.
Because the only way to get out of betraying someone was to get them to tell each other.
"Wait, so you're...?" says Matt.
"I found out by accident," says Kris.
"So did you two already know one another?" says Adam. "Or is Kris just prone to accidental discoveries like that?"
"I won't say he's not prone to happy accidents," says Matt, "but we go way back. It was actually Kris who convinced me to audition for Idol. Or me that convinced him. One or the other. I thought it would never get anywhere, but look at us now, right?"
"I wouldn't say I convinced you," says Kris. "It just seemed like a really good idea over our sixth little umbrella drink in Bali."
"So many things do," says Matt. "I bet Katy had serious buyer's remorse about that new costume."
"It's hanging in the back of her closet," says Kris with a little giggle that he regrets only slightly less than Katy does her costume. "Sorry about the thing, I just figured it was too awkward, me knowing about you guys and not being able to say anything. And there's enough stress with this whole thing, I didn't need any more."
"Well, if we'd known we wouldn't have been stressing you out," says Matt. "At this point I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Sarver's a mad scientist in his spare time. That Anoop can lift houses."
"Lifting houses isn't a useful skill," says Adam. "Trust me, I've seen it done. Stuff starts falling out."
"Not all skills are useful," says Matt. "I know a guy who can make people dance. Seriously. Dance, like the mambo and stuff. The polka. People waltzing all over the place."
"I'm sure there are...practical uses for that," insists Kris. Like distractions. And...winning contests. There's a lot of money in dance contests, he bets. "Everyone's valuable in their own way."
"Yeah, I bet that's what your parents told your brother, right?" says Adam, and Kris kind of winces. "Mine, too. I bet it sounds a lot worse when your brother can fly."
"I bet everything kind of sucks when your brother can fly," says Matt. "I've met him, though, and he seems all right."
"After he saw me come home all busted up from a couple of missions he started to be glad he didn't have to do that," says Kris, but when they were kids it got between them a lot of the time. He wouldn't say they're close, exactly, but at least they get along as adults. "It's a lot less pressure."
"Yeah, I'll drink to that," says Matt, then looks around. "Why don't we have drinks?"
"Because I am more alluring than alcohol," says Kris, when he knows it's because he sort of rounded them up and got them out here alone with him while the others were inside drinking down the anxiety of results night and drinking to Alexis, the last to go before the top ten. "Wow, guys, we're on the tour."
"All the more reason to have a drink," says Matt. "It might actually be easier to pull this off on the road than cooped up here."
"Oh crap, we're going to be famous," says Kris. Ish, anyway. He kind of wants to cower for a moment at the sheer complication of that. "What were we thinking?"
"That half a life isn't enough for anyone," says Adam, "and we can be more than we are."
"I'll drink to that, too," says Matt, and it seems a pretty clear sign that it's time to get drinks from the kitchen. But Kris is sure that they'll end up out by the pool with them again afterwards, because they still have a lot of talking to do.
He feels a little crazy that he's doing this, but it's not the first time and he's sure it won't be the last. But it's his choice, and even when he thinks he's crazy he doesn't regret it at all.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3