The Shell Must Break 3/6 Adam/Kris
"So, are you ever going to tell me anything about your life?" Adam asked, setting down his sandwich. "You know everything about mine."
Kris wasn't exactly surprised by the question. They'd been meeting every morning for coffee, and every afternoon for lunch for nearly a month, and Adam had told him a lot about his life, while Kris had carefully skirted answering any but the most basic questions about his own. "I've told you about me."
"No," Adam argued. "All I know is that you have a son."
"That's pretty much my life. I work here all day and spend the rest of my time with David."
Adam nodded. "That's your life now, but it wasn't always. What did you do before you were a full-time dad?"
Kris sighed, Adam wasn't going to give up this topic; he tried to bring it up every day. He had told him about David in the hope that it would get him off the subject of Kris' past or even his current life. He'd worked so hard to build this new life here and to keep David safe and he hated the idea of risking that just because he found someone he sort of liked for the first time in two years.
There was also a part of him that realized he was overreacting. He had moved here over a year ago, and no one had come looking for him. Adam had lived here a long time before Kris had shown up. Adam wasn't here to hurt him, and he didn't have to tell him everything, he could just tell him parts of it. "What do you want to know?" Kris asked cautiously.
"Really?" Adam asked, leaning forward and grinning when Kris nodded. "Let's start easy. Where are you from?"
"Arkansas." Kris tried to hide his relief at such a simple question.
"David's mother? Katy, right? You mentioned a Katy the other day." Adam said and waited for Kris to nod again. "Where is she now? Were you married? Girlfriend?"
Kris took a deep breath and considered how to answer those questions without saying too much. "We were married. She died five years ago. There was an accident."
"Is that when you moved here?"
"Not right away," Kris admitted quietly. "We tried to make it work and stay close to both my family and Katy's. In the end it was just too hard. Too many memories and too much pressure. We needed to start over so we came here." It wasn't a lie; they had left Arkansas because of the memories of Katy. It just wasn't Kris or David that hadn't been able to let go of her.
"I'm sorry," Adam said, reaching for his hand. "I didn't mean to bring back the pain."
"You didn't," Kris said quietly, glancing down at where Adam's hand was now covering his. "We came here to move on and being able to talk about her is part of that, I guess."
"Do you have plans for this weekend?" Adam asked sitting back in his seat, clearly trying to change the subject.
"Yes, very exciting ones," Kris said smiling. "I promised David if he had a good progress report from his teacher this week he could have a sleepover and a trip to Chuck E. Cheese. What about you?"
"Nothing that can top that."
"No performances or anything this weekend?" Kris asked.
Adam shook his head. "I'll probably lie around and watch TV and enjoy the quiet. Maybe try to figure out how to have lunch alone for two days."
"I'm sure you can manage it," Kris said, grinning. "Lunch alone isn't that difficult."
"But two days without talking to you, might be," Adam suggested, teasing, "You could give me your number in case I have a lunch crisis or something."
Kris hesitated for a second. Was letting Adam further into his life a good idea? He reached over and grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled his number on it. He hadn't been lying when he said that he needed to move on from Katy. Trusting someone new and letting them into his life was the first step in doing that. He pushed the paper over to Adam. "It's my cell number in case your emergency happens while we're out."
** ** **
"Time for a bath and then bed," Kris said, pushing open the bedroom door.
"Ten more minutes?" David said, turning his most pitiful looking pout on Kris.
"You got ten minutes, thirty minutes ago," Kris pointed out. "It's way past your bedtime and you still have to take a bath."
"Can't I just finish this-"
"The toys will still be there in the morning, David," Kris interrupted; he knew it was David's job as a child to fight bedtime but he was not having this argument again. "Bath, then bed, or I'm canceling tomorrow."
David dropped the action figure he'd been holding into the pile of toys on the floor, and stomped past Kris and headed for the bathroom.
"Let me know when you're done and I'll tuck you in," Kris called just as the bathroom door shut, harder than it should have. He went into his own room and quickly changed into the sweatpants he usually slept in, he was just returning to the living room when his phone rang. Reaching for it, he frowned, it was a local number but he didn't recognize it. Very few people had his number, and they were mostly work related and wouldn't be calling on a Friday night. "Hello?" He said cautiously answering it.
"Kris? It's Adam."
"Hi!" Kris felt himself relax immediately. He'd completely forgotten he'd given Adam his number at lunch. "It's 9:30 at night, you can't be having a lunch crisis."
"I was just remembering why I take so many weekend gigs and rarely stay home on days off," Adam admitted, adding sheepishly, "I hate being by myself and I get bored to tears."
"And you decided to call me to share your epiphany?" Kris asked, pulling a bottle of water from the refrigerator and going back to the living to wait for David.
"No," Adam retorted, and then added, "Well sort of. I'm bored and I needed someone to talk to, so I called you."
Kris grinned. Adam had called him and not one of his other friends. Not that it mattered, of course, Kris wasn't interested in Adam Kris didn't have the time or energy to worry about dating right now. Everything in his life was centered on keeping David with him.
"Aw, admit it, you missed me," Kris teased. Then frowned, he was flirting with Adam again. This wasn't the first time he'd found himself doing that. He kept blaming it on it simply being a natural reaction to Adam's flirting, but this time he'd started it, not Adam.
"Do I sound pathetic if I say you're right?" Adam asked. "Don't answer that. Let's just say you have your very own stalker now. Don't be surprised if you see my creeping around tomorrow."
Kris laughed, feeling more relaxed since meeting Adam than he had in a long time. "Yeah, a childless man creeping around won't attract any attention at Chuck E. Cheese, although, I've never had my own stalker before."
"What's a stalker?" David asked from where he was standing next to the couch. Kris hadn't even heard him come in the room.
Kris dropped his head against the back of the couch, and groaned when heard Adam's chuckle. "It's nothing, Adam's joking," Kris said holding his hand out to his son and pulling him closer when David took it.
"Who's Adam?" David asked, curling into the spot under Kris' arm and resting his head on his chest.
"A friend."
"I didn't know you had a friend," David said, looking up at him. "Is he going with us tomorrow?"
"Going with us?" Kris repeated, surprised. "I don't think Adam would want-"
"You should invite him," David suggested. "Then you'll have someone to talk to."
"Fine," Kris mumbled, then turned his attention back to the curiously quiet Adam on the phone. "Adam?"
"Yeah, I'm still here." Kris frowned at the phone because he could hear the amusement in Adam's voice.
"Would you like to go with us tomorrow?" Kris asked, not really sure what he wanted Adam's answer to be.
"I'd love to," Adam answered cheerfully.
"You sound cheerful now, wait until you've been locked in a building with a couple hundred children running and screaming for an hour.
"It can't be any worse than Saturday nights at the club."
"Oh, you'd be surprised," Kris muttered. "I've gotta go put David to bed now, Do you want to meet us there around noon?"
"Perfect," Adam agreed. "Looking forward to it."
** ** **
Adam was still picking at his salad while staring at the pizza when Kris set the pitcher of lemonade down and slid onto the bench across from him. "You can have a slice, you know?"
"And gain about 20 pounds," Adam sighed. "The salad is fine."
"Whatever," Kris said frowning at him. A group of kids ran behind Adam, screaming. Kris chuckled when he saw Adam wince. "Are you sorry you agreed to this yet?"
"It's not that bad," Adam answered, unconvincingly. "It did mean not having to face lunch alone, and gave you the chance to prove you do have a friend."
"You do know he mostly cares because he thinks if I have someone to talk to we'll stay more than a couple hours, right?" Kris explained.
"More than two hours?" Adam asked, eyes widening in horror as he glanced around the crowded room.
"You don't have to stay," Kris pointed out. "The longer they play here the earlier they will fall asleep tonight."
"Still not sure it'd be worth it," Adam said, nearly shouting to be heard. "I've been to quieter clubs."
Before Kris could respond David and Robert ran up to the table. "Can we have more pizza?"
"Sit down first," Kris answered. Both boys slid onto the bench grabbing slices as they did.
"Do you want to play in the ball pit with us?" David asked Kris, as he reached for the lemonade. Kris grabbed the pitcher first and refilled both boys' glasses. "It's not too crowded."
"I don't think so," Kris answered. "Maybe another day."
"But you always do it," David pouted.
"You always play in the ball pit?" Adam asked, raising an eyebrow in question. "I mean, I know you're small but-"
Kris sighed, glancing back and forth between his pouting son and a smirking Adam. "I will if Adam does," he finally answered.
David and Robert both turned their best puppy dog eyes looks on Adam. Kris almost laughed at how fast the smirk fell from Adam's face. "Please?" David pleaded. "It's fun."
"I don't think I’m dressed for it," Adam said weakly. "These boots are really not-"
"You have to take off your shoes and jewelry to go in, but they have lockers if you don't want to leave them at the table," Robert explained pointing to a small hallway that led to the restrooms.
"I can't get out of this, can I?" Adam asked looking at Kris for help.
"Not likely," Kris responded, trying to hide his own smirk, then turned to the boys, "We're going to get a locker, and we'll meet you over there."
The boys yelled their thanks as they ran toward the ball pit and Kris and Adam headed toward the row of lockers. As they removed their shoes and Kris waited while Adam removed his rings and necklaces, Adam muttered, "I can't believe they even let adults in that thing."
"It's only for ten minutes," Kris said casually. "Each group is allowed ten minutes, then they have to get out for others. When parents go in with the kids they just allow the kids that belong to the adults getting in."
"Makes sense, I guess," Adam said, slamming the locker closed and pocketing the small key. "At least I don't have worry about injuring strangers' children." They quickly caught up with the boys and as David had said it wasn't crowded at all and they got in immediately.
"What do you even do in here?" Adam asked, standing in the center of pit, with brightly colored balls piled nearly to his waist.
"Haven't you ever done this before?" Robert asked. "When you were a kid?"
"Nope."
"We could play Marco Polo," David suggested.
Kris groaned. "You only like that because you can move easier than we can so you always win."
"Yep," David agreed smiling. "Ready? I'll be 'it' first."
"Fine," Kris agreed and Adam agreed.
David turned his back and started counting to give the others a head start.
"How are we even supposed to move in here?" Adam asked.
"Slowly," Kris said, pushing his way closer to Adam. "That's why he likes to play."
They spent the next ten minutes chasing each other around, David and Robert managing to avoid being tagged again throughout the game, as Kris had predicted. When their time was up and they'd all climbed out, Kris told the boys they had a half an hour left to play then they were leaving, before he and Adam headed to the back again to claim their belongings from the locker.
"Oh my God," Adam moaned as he sat back on the bench to put pull his boots on. "I'm going to be covered in bruises tomorrow. You so owe me for this."
Kris smiled. "You had fun, admit it."
"I may have had a little fun," Adam agreed. "But if you tell anyone that I'll deny it."
"Oh, I'm so telling the entire school on Monday morning," Kris teased.
"You wouldn’t," Adam gasped, eyes wide in mock horror.
"I would," Kris said doing his best to keep a straight face. "Imagine the reaction to the news that Mr. Lambert, Rock God music teacher can't handle the ball pit at Chuck E. Cheese."
"Do you really want to admit to the whole school our first date was at Chuck E. Cheese?" Adam asked.
Kris eyes widened. Was this a date? He hadn't thought of it that way when he'd invited Adam. It couldn’t be a date, you don't bring kids on dates, right? It had been so long since dating had even crossed his mind that he hadn't considered that his invitation could be interpreted that way. Of course, it made sense sort of, Adam knew he didn't really have a lot of babysitting options and they'd been flirting all week and then inviting him-
"You should see your face right now," Adam said, laughing and pulling Kris from his imminent panic attack. "I was teasing about the date. Unless you wanted it to be?"
"I don't know," Kris admitted. "I hadn't thought about it, really. I was mostly just thinking of having company that wasn't constantly begging for video game money."
Before Adam could answer, David slid in next to him and began pulling his shoes on. "We're going to stop for movies on the way home, right?" David waited for Kris to nod his agreement before looking at Adam and asking, "Are you coming to the sleepover?"
"I don't think-" Adam stammered.
"Can he come, dad?" David asked. "You said he sings, and you were going to play the guitar so he could sing some of the songs, please?"
Kris sighed and resisted the urge to bang his head against the table. David was doing nothing to help him get over this attraction to the absolute wrong person. "Adam may have plans."
David turned pleading eyes back on Adam. "You can even pick one of the movies."
"Well how can I resist that?" Adam said, smile spreading across his face. Then turning to Kris, "You don't mind?"
He did mind, a lot. Adam being in his house was only going to create the complications he'd been so intent on avoiding. He wasn't going to say that though, David was happier than he'd been in a while and frankly he enjoyed having adult company this past week. "Of course I don't mind."
"I'll have to swing past my place for some things," Adam said, "I'll meet you back at your apartment in an hour?"
"How will you pick a movie if you aren't with us?" Robert asked.
"I'll bring one from home," Adam suggested.
"A child appropriate one," Kris interjected. They'd talked enough about movies to know that Adam's taste was not always acceptable for eight year old eyes.
Part 4