Behind the Mask IV
Title: Behind the Mask IV
Fandom: AI8 RPS
Pairing: Kris/Adam
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Sequel to Behind the Mask III. In which Kris doesn’t want to call Adam and wonders if he’s gone insane.
He wasn’t going to call Adam. Why should he? That was twice now that Adam had appeared as if by magic, kissed his brains out and then gone away.
Word Count: 2665
A/N: This ‘verse is sprawling out of control! We’re back with Kris again for this part. Enjoy! <3
The thing about Kris was, he was a good guy. He didn’t kiss people and not know their names and he certainly didn’t let people that had kissed him just disappear and walk away from him, he didn’t really let people walk all over him. And, in all honesty, he didn’t take too kindly to the kiss-and-run thing that Adam seemed to have going on. He was not a princess - if anything he was the prince now since Adam did the mysterious running away thing - and he didn’t appreciate someone just kissing him and leaving. Granted, now he had a phone number, but it was sat on the counter by his phone mocking him with its mere presence. He wasn’t going to call Adam. Why should he? That was twice now that Adam had appeared as if by magic, kissed his brains out and then gone away. Why should Kris call him?
Of course, that had been how he thought for a few days after the second (well, third) kiss. During that time, however, Kris was also kind of convinced he was going insane because he was sure that there was someone following him. Every time he’d turned around, though, there was no one there. So either Kris was actually being followed, or kissing Adam Lambert had made him insane.
Currently, he was seriously considering the latter to be the case. Since Adam had appeared in the coffee house and kissed him, Kris hadn’t been able to think of anything else. And now he had a phone number he wasn’t calling it? He was definitely going insane. He should be put down because he was reaching new levels of pathetic and should be put out of his misery.
Of course, when he’d said that to Charles, the response had been something along the lines of Don’t be such a pussy and just call him. You think he’s hot, he clearly thinks you’re hot. So what if he’s a multi-platinum, many many grammy award winning artist? You need sex and so does he and if you can provide that for each other then go for it. I do not need you bitching about how you need to get laid. There are some things a guy never needs to hear about his best friend and that’s one of them.
God, Kris needed new friends.
He didn’t mention the fact that he was convinced he was going insane, though, because there was a line and if he said that to Charles, that line would have been crossed and then Charles would have been honor bound to call his momma and if Kris’ momma found out about half the stuff he was doing in LA instead of chasing his musical dream, she would kill them both. Kris rather liked being alive and his momma was the queen of the guilt trip.
Three days after Adam had appeared, kissed him and thrust his cell phone number at Kris, Kris actually caught sight of one of the people he thought was stalking him outside his apartment. The shadowy figure had a camera around his neck and when Kris tentatively parted the curtains, there was a camera flash. He pulled the curtain shut again and leaned back against it.
He was being followed. He was being followed. This was insane. Why was he being followed?
In a moment of pure paranoia, Kris went over to his front door and checked that it was locked, sliding the chain across anyway - just in case - and then sat down at his laptop. Now, he’d recognised Adam’s name when he’d heard it, and when he’d told Charles who it was, his friend had exploded in a holy shit! and proceeded to tell Kris about how he was an award winning artist, which made Kris feel all kinds of stupid for not realising. But he didn’t really know who Adam was, not really.
Maybe it was time he consulted Lord Google.
The first article that came up was one on E! and it was accompanied by a picture of Adam kissing some smaller guy in a green apron in a coffee shop. It looked similar to the one he worked in.
Singer Adam Lambert, 27, was seen today kissing an employee of The Coffee House, an inside source says Adam does not have a boyfriend at the time and does not know who this mystery man is.
A link underneath that lead to another page, and another picture of Adam kissing the same guy in a green apron. Kris wondered who the guy was until he saw the picture underneath.
Who is Adam Lambert’s new beau? And he must be special because Adam has not been seen with anyone since these pictures were taken.
Kris stared at a picture of himself. His guitar was on his back and it was the middle of the day. He knew when that had been taken: yesterday. He’d been in the park at lunch singing to a group of kindergartners that played there. On his way back to work he’d thought he had seen someone, but brushed it off as an Adam-related bout of paranoia and insanity, clearly he should be more suspicious of everything.
Sources claim this man is Kris Allen, 24yr old Arkansas native who moved to LA recently.
They knew his name?! Of course they knew his name. Kris hated the world and he clicked through the links, reading article after article about Adam, learning a whole lot more about the singer than he had any right to considering how he didn’t know him. Everything was up there, from Adam’s baby pictures to sordid details of his sex life (and Kris hated that his imagination tried to run the hell away with the latter and have some alone time with it). And now, included in all that was Kris.
His brother was going to find this somehow, Daniel always found this stuff to show people and embarrass him with. His momma was going to kill him when she saw.
There was a moment where he envisioned his mother finding the pictures of him and Adam making out in the middle of the coffee shop and the comments that were piling up beneath them, ranging from ‘aw cute’ to ‘I bet they have hot sex over that counter’ and ‘Ew, gross, that’s a food establishment’. Kris had wondered why a couple of people had started to look at him in a knowing kind of way, and why business had suddenly started to boom. It was because his face was on the internet making nice with Adam’s face.
Suddenly he felt compelled to call Adam because this was all Adam’s fault and he felt that Adam needed to know just how much this was his fault.
The phone was picked up on the second ring.
“Kris?” Adam’s voice sounded kind of tired and a little tinny, like he wasn’t actually holding the phone against his mouth.
Kris blinked, “Uh, yeah, how did you know it was me?”
The rich laugh that filtered down through from the other side of the line did something funny to Kris’ stomach. “I didn’t, I was just kind of... hoping?”
Somewhere in the background of Adam’s call he heard someone say ”God, you’re pathetic!”
“Shut up, Brad,” Adam grumbled and then there was a rustling and the sound of a door shutting and what Kris guessed was the sound of Adam sitting down on a bed or something. “So, Kris.”
“There are people outside my house.” Kris decided to be done with the pleasantries already. Adam needed to know that his little kiss and run adventure - which Kris hadn’t forgiven him for, by the way - had caused trouble. Big trouble. “And there are people following me after work and someone took a picture of me yesterday at the park and now it’s on the internet!”
“I saw that,” Adam said, sounding a little apologetic. “I didn’t know you played the guitar.”
“That’s what you’re going to take from that?” Kris asked, incredulous. “Of course you don’t know that I play guitar, we’ve never actually spoken, at all, and then you kissed me when I was at work and now there are people with cameras following me around!”
There was a sound on the other end of the line, an almost apologetic sound, and then another like Adam was giving something some serious thought.
“I’m sorry the paps decided to go after you, at least you’re not falling out of clubs at 3am having an argument with someone who’s off their face about fairies?” Kris wondered if Adam remembered the costume. “And since most fairies I’ve met look nothing like you, I’m not that interested in what they have to say.”
Okay, evidently Adam did remember. Kris didn’t want to be warmed by that knowledge. He didn’t want to grab it and keep it and like a lovesick teenager so that whenever he got sad he could look at it and everything would be made better.
“I’m actually really boring,” Kris said, as if that would endear him to Adam. He didn’t even know if that was what he wanted to do; he was still trying to be mad about the whole kiss and run thing. “If I continue to be boring, will they leave me alone?”
“But you’re not boring anymore,” Adam corrected, “because you’re associated with me, so that makes you not boring.”
“I am not ‘associated’ with you.” Kris said, frown in his voice and there was silence on the other end of the line from Adam. Maybe he wasn’t used to people standing up to him. “Nor would I be because I don’t like people who break people’s brains with kisses then leave, and then end up inadvertently making the press stalk their every move.”
There was still silence on the other end. Maybe Adam was considering an answer. Maybe Adam had fallen asleep. Maybe it was like the kiss and run thing only Adam had just put the phone down and wandered away.
“Because there’s a stereotype,” Kris continued, thinking that maybe Adam had put the phone down and maybe he was okay with that. “And when you do stuff like this, you perpetuate it. It keeps going and it just gets bigger and worse and more out of control. Then people don’t want to get to know you because you’re not a person, you’re a stereotype and everyone knows the stereotype so where’s the interest in the person behind it?
“I’m not gay. I was gonna marry this girl in Arkansas and spend the rest of my life with her but she couldn’t reconcile the fact that I liked guys too. It didn’t mean I loved her any less, but she expected me to be a stereotype and I’m not. I never have been and I won’t be. There’s no point in ti. I’m already a starving wannabe artist, working two jobs and performing whenever I can. That’s enough stereotypes for me.”
Kris couldn’t even hear breathing on the other end of the line. He was pretty sure that Adam had hung up the phone now, or at least put it down and gone to talk to whoever else was in his apartment. Maybe the phone was in the other room.
“And I don’t know why you gave me your number. I can’t imagine your management are thrilled at the idea. I saw an interview today when I finally tried to find out who you were and why my friends were creaming themselves over your name, and in it you said that someone had found your number and texted you so much you had to change it. How did you know that I wasn’t just gonna pass it around? Or sell it to someone?
“It was a huge leap of faith for you, right? Hoping that someone out there wasn’t a dick? That maybe someone would look at you and not think ‘Adam Lambert, rock star’? That someone might see past the stereotype you keep digging yourself into further? But why me?”
Another minute went by and there was nothing from Adam’s side of the line. Kris was about to hang up, feeling a little exhausted after talking into the phone so much when he heard the sound of someone’s breath catching.
“I think the question is why not you,” Adam said finally and his voice sounded a little rough. Kris felt stupid when he realised that Adam had been there the whole time just listening, and Kris had been too busy trying to say something - and he couldn’t even remember what his point had been - at that point that he didn’t hear anything that might have given Adam’s presence away. Though, if he’d known, then he wouldn’t have spoken and then maybe Adam wouldn’t have known that Kris wasn’t that kind of guy.
“Whuh?” Kris’ answer was completely inelegant. Adam chuckled on the other end of the line and Kris remembered that sound, warm and rich like honey against his lips after they’d kissed in the cafe. He shivered and rubbed at the side of his neck, resisting the urge to touch his lips.
“I like people that give me reality checks,” Adam said a moment later, a smile clear in his voice. Kris imagined Adam was lying back on his bed and looking up at the ceiling like he was on that Rolling Stone cover. “Keeps me from becoming a total asshole.”
“You mean the kind of guy that kisses someone in his place of work and then leaves without a number?” Kris asked and Adam blew out a breath. It sounded like a sigh, tired and resigned. It make Kris feel bad, guilty.
“Yeah, that kind of guy. I never wanted to be that guy.”
“Then don’t be.” Kris said softly, like that would help make his former words better.
“I gave you my number, didn’t I?” Adam asked and Kris felt his stomach twist and something tug and he swallowed into the phone. He pressed two fingers against his lips and wished that Adam was in front of him so that he could kiss him. At least he could initiate it, tell Adam that he understood.
“Yeah,” he murmured softly, just kissed fingerprints pressing against the mouthpiece of the phone like that soft kiss would reach Adam on the other end. “Yeah, you did.”
There were voices on Adam’s side and Kris smiled a little. “You sound like you’re busy.”
“I’m sorry about the paparazzi,” he apologised and Kris just made a soft ‘don’t worry about it’ sound. “But I do have to go... people are demanding my presence.”
“So hard, being you,” Kris teased and rubbed his had over his eyes.
He didn’t know what to think when he heard Adam’s soft and sincere reply of, “You have no idea. I’ll call you. Bye Kris.”
“Bye, Adam,” Kris replied to the dialling tone and hung up the phone himself, eyeing the cell for a second before he put it down on the side and walked away. It hadn’t been resolved, nothing had been resolved, but Kris felt a little better about it all.
The only issue he’d had with the whole thing? That Adam hadn’t been in front of him so that he could actually kiss him and make it better. The fact that Kris wanted to do that weirded him out more than a little.
Maybe he needed to take Charles up on his offer of going out and getting laid. It might solve everything. He walked away from his phone hoping to high heaven that it rang again.
It didn’t.
Kris tried to pretend he wasn’t disappointed.
Onto part 5!
Fandom: AI8 RPS
Pairing: Kris/Adam
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Sequel to Behind the Mask III. In which Kris doesn’t want to call Adam and wonders if he’s gone insane.
He wasn’t going to call Adam. Why should he? That was twice now that Adam had appeared as if by magic, kissed his brains out and then gone away.
Word Count: 2665
A/N: This ‘verse is sprawling out of control! We’re back with Kris again for this part. Enjoy! <3
The thing about Kris was, he was a good guy. He didn’t kiss people and not know their names and he certainly didn’t let people that had kissed him just disappear and walk away from him, he didn’t really let people walk all over him. And, in all honesty, he didn’t take too kindly to the kiss-and-run thing that Adam seemed to have going on. He was not a princess - if anything he was the prince now since Adam did the mysterious running away thing - and he didn’t appreciate someone just kissing him and leaving. Granted, now he had a phone number, but it was sat on the counter by his phone mocking him with its mere presence. He wasn’t going to call Adam. Why should he? That was twice now that Adam had appeared as if by magic, kissed his brains out and then gone away. Why should Kris call him?
Of course, that had been how he thought for a few days after the second (well, third) kiss. During that time, however, Kris was also kind of convinced he was going insane because he was sure that there was someone following him. Every time he’d turned around, though, there was no one there. So either Kris was actually being followed, or kissing Adam Lambert had made him insane.
Currently, he was seriously considering the latter to be the case. Since Adam had appeared in the coffee house and kissed him, Kris hadn’t been able to think of anything else. And now he had a phone number he wasn’t calling it? He was definitely going insane. He should be put down because he was reaching new levels of pathetic and should be put out of his misery.
Of course, when he’d said that to Charles, the response had been something along the lines of Don’t be such a pussy and just call him. You think he’s hot, he clearly thinks you’re hot. So what if he’s a multi-platinum, many many grammy award winning artist? You need sex and so does he and if you can provide that for each other then go for it. I do not need you bitching about how you need to get laid. There are some things a guy never needs to hear about his best friend and that’s one of them.
God, Kris needed new friends.
He didn’t mention the fact that he was convinced he was going insane, though, because there was a line and if he said that to Charles, that line would have been crossed and then Charles would have been honor bound to call his momma and if Kris’ momma found out about half the stuff he was doing in LA instead of chasing his musical dream, she would kill them both. Kris rather liked being alive and his momma was the queen of the guilt trip.
Three days after Adam had appeared, kissed him and thrust his cell phone number at Kris, Kris actually caught sight of one of the people he thought was stalking him outside his apartment. The shadowy figure had a camera around his neck and when Kris tentatively parted the curtains, there was a camera flash. He pulled the curtain shut again and leaned back against it.
He was being followed. He was being followed. This was insane. Why was he being followed?
In a moment of pure paranoia, Kris went over to his front door and checked that it was locked, sliding the chain across anyway - just in case - and then sat down at his laptop. Now, he’d recognised Adam’s name when he’d heard it, and when he’d told Charles who it was, his friend had exploded in a holy shit! and proceeded to tell Kris about how he was an award winning artist, which made Kris feel all kinds of stupid for not realising. But he didn’t really know who Adam was, not really.
Maybe it was time he consulted Lord Google.
The first article that came up was one on E! and it was accompanied by a picture of Adam kissing some smaller guy in a green apron in a coffee shop. It looked similar to the one he worked in.
Singer Adam Lambert, 27, was seen today kissing an employee of The Coffee House, an inside source says Adam does not have a boyfriend at the time and does not know who this mystery man is.
A link underneath that lead to another page, and another picture of Adam kissing the same guy in a green apron. Kris wondered who the guy was until he saw the picture underneath.
Who is Adam Lambert’s new beau? And he must be special because Adam has not been seen with anyone since these pictures were taken.
Kris stared at a picture of himself. His guitar was on his back and it was the middle of the day. He knew when that had been taken: yesterday. He’d been in the park at lunch singing to a group of kindergartners that played there. On his way back to work he’d thought he had seen someone, but brushed it off as an Adam-related bout of paranoia and insanity, clearly he should be more suspicious of everything.
Sources claim this man is Kris Allen, 24yr old Arkansas native who moved to LA recently.
They knew his name?! Of course they knew his name. Kris hated the world and he clicked through the links, reading article after article about Adam, learning a whole lot more about the singer than he had any right to considering how he didn’t know him. Everything was up there, from Adam’s baby pictures to sordid details of his sex life (and Kris hated that his imagination tried to run the hell away with the latter and have some alone time with it). And now, included in all that was Kris.
His brother was going to find this somehow, Daniel always found this stuff to show people and embarrass him with. His momma was going to kill him when she saw.
There was a moment where he envisioned his mother finding the pictures of him and Adam making out in the middle of the coffee shop and the comments that were piling up beneath them, ranging from ‘aw cute’ to ‘I bet they have hot sex over that counter’ and ‘Ew, gross, that’s a food establishment’. Kris had wondered why a couple of people had started to look at him in a knowing kind of way, and why business had suddenly started to boom. It was because his face was on the internet making nice with Adam’s face.
Suddenly he felt compelled to call Adam because this was all Adam’s fault and he felt that Adam needed to know just how much this was his fault.
The phone was picked up on the second ring.
“Kris?” Adam’s voice sounded kind of tired and a little tinny, like he wasn’t actually holding the phone against his mouth.
Kris blinked, “Uh, yeah, how did you know it was me?”
The rich laugh that filtered down through from the other side of the line did something funny to Kris’ stomach. “I didn’t, I was just kind of... hoping?”
Somewhere in the background of Adam’s call he heard someone say ”God, you’re pathetic!”
“Shut up, Brad,” Adam grumbled and then there was a rustling and the sound of a door shutting and what Kris guessed was the sound of Adam sitting down on a bed or something. “So, Kris.”
“There are people outside my house.” Kris decided to be done with the pleasantries already. Adam needed to know that his little kiss and run adventure - which Kris hadn’t forgiven him for, by the way - had caused trouble. Big trouble. “And there are people following me after work and someone took a picture of me yesterday at the park and now it’s on the internet!”
“I saw that,” Adam said, sounding a little apologetic. “I didn’t know you played the guitar.”
“That’s what you’re going to take from that?” Kris asked, incredulous. “Of course you don’t know that I play guitar, we’ve never actually spoken, at all, and then you kissed me when I was at work and now there are people with cameras following me around!”
There was a sound on the other end of the line, an almost apologetic sound, and then another like Adam was giving something some serious thought.
“I’m sorry the paps decided to go after you, at least you’re not falling out of clubs at 3am having an argument with someone who’s off their face about fairies?” Kris wondered if Adam remembered the costume. “And since most fairies I’ve met look nothing like you, I’m not that interested in what they have to say.”
Okay, evidently Adam did remember. Kris didn’t want to be warmed by that knowledge. He didn’t want to grab it and keep it and like a lovesick teenager so that whenever he got sad he could look at it and everything would be made better.
“I’m actually really boring,” Kris said, as if that would endear him to Adam. He didn’t even know if that was what he wanted to do; he was still trying to be mad about the whole kiss and run thing. “If I continue to be boring, will they leave me alone?”
“But you’re not boring anymore,” Adam corrected, “because you’re associated with me, so that makes you not boring.”
“I am not ‘associated’ with you.” Kris said, frown in his voice and there was silence on the other end of the line from Adam. Maybe he wasn’t used to people standing up to him. “Nor would I be because I don’t like people who break people’s brains with kisses then leave, and then end up inadvertently making the press stalk their every move.”
There was still silence on the other end. Maybe Adam was considering an answer. Maybe Adam had fallen asleep. Maybe it was like the kiss and run thing only Adam had just put the phone down and wandered away.
“Because there’s a stereotype,” Kris continued, thinking that maybe Adam had put the phone down and maybe he was okay with that. “And when you do stuff like this, you perpetuate it. It keeps going and it just gets bigger and worse and more out of control. Then people don’t want to get to know you because you’re not a person, you’re a stereotype and everyone knows the stereotype so where’s the interest in the person behind it?
“I’m not gay. I was gonna marry this girl in Arkansas and spend the rest of my life with her but she couldn’t reconcile the fact that I liked guys too. It didn’t mean I loved her any less, but she expected me to be a stereotype and I’m not. I never have been and I won’t be. There’s no point in ti. I’m already a starving wannabe artist, working two jobs and performing whenever I can. That’s enough stereotypes for me.”
Kris couldn’t even hear breathing on the other end of the line. He was pretty sure that Adam had hung up the phone now, or at least put it down and gone to talk to whoever else was in his apartment. Maybe the phone was in the other room.
“And I don’t know why you gave me your number. I can’t imagine your management are thrilled at the idea. I saw an interview today when I finally tried to find out who you were and why my friends were creaming themselves over your name, and in it you said that someone had found your number and texted you so much you had to change it. How did you know that I wasn’t just gonna pass it around? Or sell it to someone?
“It was a huge leap of faith for you, right? Hoping that someone out there wasn’t a dick? That maybe someone would look at you and not think ‘Adam Lambert, rock star’? That someone might see past the stereotype you keep digging yourself into further? But why me?”
Another minute went by and there was nothing from Adam’s side of the line. Kris was about to hang up, feeling a little exhausted after talking into the phone so much when he heard the sound of someone’s breath catching.
“I think the question is why not you,” Adam said finally and his voice sounded a little rough. Kris felt stupid when he realised that Adam had been there the whole time just listening, and Kris had been too busy trying to say something - and he couldn’t even remember what his point had been - at that point that he didn’t hear anything that might have given Adam’s presence away. Though, if he’d known, then he wouldn’t have spoken and then maybe Adam wouldn’t have known that Kris wasn’t that kind of guy.
“Whuh?” Kris’ answer was completely inelegant. Adam chuckled on the other end of the line and Kris remembered that sound, warm and rich like honey against his lips after they’d kissed in the cafe. He shivered and rubbed at the side of his neck, resisting the urge to touch his lips.
“I like people that give me reality checks,” Adam said a moment later, a smile clear in his voice. Kris imagined Adam was lying back on his bed and looking up at the ceiling like he was on that Rolling Stone cover. “Keeps me from becoming a total asshole.”
“You mean the kind of guy that kisses someone in his place of work and then leaves without a number?” Kris asked and Adam blew out a breath. It sounded like a sigh, tired and resigned. It make Kris feel bad, guilty.
“Yeah, that kind of guy. I never wanted to be that guy.”
“Then don’t be.” Kris said softly, like that would help make his former words better.
“I gave you my number, didn’t I?” Adam asked and Kris felt his stomach twist and something tug and he swallowed into the phone. He pressed two fingers against his lips and wished that Adam was in front of him so that he could kiss him. At least he could initiate it, tell Adam that he understood.
“Yeah,” he murmured softly, just kissed fingerprints pressing against the mouthpiece of the phone like that soft kiss would reach Adam on the other end. “Yeah, you did.”
There were voices on Adam’s side and Kris smiled a little. “You sound like you’re busy.”
“I’m sorry about the paparazzi,” he apologised and Kris just made a soft ‘don’t worry about it’ sound. “But I do have to go... people are demanding my presence.”
“So hard, being you,” Kris teased and rubbed his had over his eyes.
He didn’t know what to think when he heard Adam’s soft and sincere reply of, “You have no idea. I’ll call you. Bye Kris.”
“Bye, Adam,” Kris replied to the dialling tone and hung up the phone himself, eyeing the cell for a second before he put it down on the side and walked away. It hadn’t been resolved, nothing had been resolved, but Kris felt a little better about it all.
The only issue he’d had with the whole thing? That Adam hadn’t been in front of him so that he could actually kiss him and make it better. The fact that Kris wanted to do that weirded him out more than a little.
Maybe he needed to take Charles up on his offer of going out and getting laid. It might solve everything. He walked away from his phone hoping to high heaven that it rang again.
It didn’t.
Kris tried to pretend he wasn’t disappointed.
Onto part 5!