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the_water_clockAuthor: Clio
Title: Keep Your Enemies Closer, Chapter 7: Gaudy Night
Pairing: Adam Lambert/Kris Allen; established Ryan Seacrest/Simon Cowell
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Simon Cowell, manager of pop star hopefuls and owner of the hot downtown Club Idol, has been framed for a crime he didn't commit. Can new kid Kris Allen convince rival divas David Cook and Adam Lambert to work together to clear Simon's name? And what will happen when Simon asks Adam and Kris to "take care" of his boyfriend Ryan for him?
This chapter: Everyone puts on a show.
Chapter Length: 6200 words
Disclaimer: People sort of own themselves, don't they? Which means this is a work of fiction.
Notes: Keep Your Enemies Closer is an mystery AU set in the New York club scene of the mid-90s, when a rapidly gentrifying East Village contained chain stores and after hours clubs, hungry young artists and heroin dealers. As usual, there will be plenty of music to set the scene and bring you back to a time not long ago. Thank you toali_wildgoose, who as usual went well beyond the call of beta-duty on this one, dreamerren, who encouraged me to keep going when I'd hit an impasse, and honestys_easy, who helped me give it that final polish. This chapter title from Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers. More notes at the end of the story, plus a bonus song!
The Unpleasantness at Club Idol | Whose Heroin? | Crowds of Witness | A Few Red Herrings | Have His Caretakers | Pushers Must Advertise
glitzy night
"Jesus," David said. He walked over to pick up the phone behind the bar. "Damn, she cut the lines or some shit."
Kris pulled out his cell. "Yeah, I have an emergency? There's a woman here with a gun threatening a friend of mine."
All their eyes were on the window to the office so they missed what Ryan did at first. "Ryan?" David hissed.
Adam looked over and there he was, climbing quickly up the staircase to the office.
"Jesus," David said again, and the three of them went after him, Kris still on the phone to the cops. They were at the top of the steps when Ryan got to the office, and he turned and put his hand out, motioning them to stay back. Kris sat down at the top of the staircase, so he could keep talking without anyone hearing him, but Adam and David crept over to the open doorway. Music drifted out of the little radio on the desk: who do you need, who do you love.
Simon had a cigarette dangling from his mouth, but otherwise he seemed pretty calm, considering the circumstances. "Come on now, darling," he said. "I'm sure we can work this out."
"No," Tatiana said, and she sounded like she was crying. "No, we can't. We tried that, remember? When you said you'd help me after you fired me?"
Ryan was walking into the room, slowly, slowly, and Adam hoped that the window wasn't too reflective. Simon hadn't reacted—he was being very, very cool.
She sniffled. "And I watched you playing around with all these other singers, and they can't sing like me and you know it, Simon! And I just waited and waited, and then you know what? I was tired of waiting."
"I'm sorry, darling," Simon said.
"Don't call me that," she shouted, and Adam could see her hand wavering. Ryan was about three steps behind her now.
"Please," Simon said. "You have friends here—"
"No I don't," she said, sounding more tired than angry. "They all think I'm strange. I had a boyfriend and now he won't even admit he knows me. What kind of friends are those?" she asked.
A sound came from inside the club and Tatiana started. "What? Who's there?" She turned, but by then Ryan was close enough to push her arms up, pointing the gun to the ceiling. They wrestled for a moment with the gun before Ryan grabbed it, throwing it to the floor and kicking it away, and pulling Tatiana into his arms.
The others rushed in then, and David went straight to the gun. "It isn't even loaded," he said.
Ryan continued to hold on to Tatiana, who'd crumpled, pulling him down onto the floor with her. "Don't let them take me," she whispered. "I'm scared."
"I know," Ryan said, patting her hair. "We all get scared. I know I do. But you did some things that scared other people—me, Simon, all our friends. So now we have to figure out what to do, okay?"
She lifted her head off his shoulder, and he brushed the hair out of her face. "Okay," she said.
"The cops are coming," Kris said, "so you'd better figure out what that is real quick."
"I think you know what to tell them, Tatitana," Ryan said, "so that other people don't get into trouble, don't you?"
She nodded, as the police came in the door. "We got a report of a woman with a gun?" one asked.
Ryan shook his head. "She's just a girl," he said.
In the end, Tatiana told the cops that she had planted the drugs herself, drugs she had found at Stingy Lulu's earlier that day. Her father was called, and arrangements were made for her to get a psychiatric evaluation before any other steps were taken.
The guys went back to Ryan's house, exhausted, and sat listening to jazz and talking over much-needed drinks while one of the meals Adam had made earlier heated in the oven.
"So Anoop and Megan were the keys to the whole thing?" Simon asked.
"Yeah, and to her credit, Tatiana read them pretty well," David said. "She knew that Anoop would react by taking off, and otherwise not letting anyone know that his drugs had gone missing."
"And even if Megan had been delivering to some other dealer," Adam said, "that person would just have raised holy hell about it, that may or may not have been believed by Nigel, or would have freaked out the same way Anoop did."
"Where she guessed wrong was with Megan," Kris said. "Tatiana knew Megan hadn't told Alexis, and she thought that Megan would keep quiet to keep Alexis from finding out. But Megan told me, and that turned out to be the key."
"Well and Tatiana gave herself away," Adam said. "I'm not sure Anoop would ever have admitted that he dated her."
Kris shook his head. "What a jerk. I hope Matt knows what he's doing."
"Probably not, knowing him," Adam replied.
Simon said, "Well before I'm much older, I'm going to call Nigel and tell him that Megan and Anoop are no longer working for him. Not that any of this is actually his fault, but I'm sure his guilty conscience extends that far."
David cocked his head. "Okay, Simon, what is it that you have on him?"
Simon smiled. "Oh, I'll never tell."
"Don't look at me," Ryan said. "I don't know, either, and I don't want to know."
"All Ryan knows is how to find Nigel, in case of an emergency like this one," Simon said. "The rest is in a sealed envelope in the hands of my lawyer. If anything happened to me, it would all come out, so it's in Nigel's best interests to keep me safe." The phone rang, and Simon looked at the caller ID. "Ah, speak of the devil," he said, answering. "Hello! … Yes? … Yes, that is wonderful news. … Right, first thing tomorrow morning. I'll definitely be there. … Excellent, excellent. Thank you so much, David. … Right. Bye!" He grinned as he hung up the phone.
"Well?" Ryan asked.
"Well, it appears that the DA's office wants to wash their hands of this case as soon as possible. Hernandez's challenge on the search looked like it might go through, and now with Tatitana's admission of course the entire thing falls apart. And without the idea that I would give them information on Nigel—which, by the way, I don't have; I have no idea how he runs his business—none of it is worth their time. Hernandez expects the case against me to be dismissed tomorrow, and for no charges to actually be filed against Tatiana." He paused. "Though I hope she can get some help, poor thing."
"Me too," Kris said.
Simon smiled at him. "Anyway, I'm going to close Idol tomorrow so everyone can come to the showcase, and we can make it a real party. Nick would like that; he loves variety shows. I'll go call him now; he can't have opened yet."
"No, wait," David said. "Let us plan it. You shouldn't have to do any of it. Me, and these guys, and Carls and Nick, we'll work it out."
Simon raised one eyebrow. "So all of you are going to team up to put on a show?" he asked.
"What can I say?" Adam said. "Getting you sprung brought us all together."
"Goody, just like Andy Hardy," Simon said, rolling his eyes.
So Ryan hit him over the head with a newspaper.
"It's already been converted from two flats into a duplex," Michael was saying, "so there's plenty of room for all of us."
There were three bedrooms, two upstairs and one downstairs, a balcony, a music room for Carly and David, plus an office for Michael. Other than Ryan's house, David didn't think he'd been in such a large place since he left Missouri. "We'll have to buy a lot of furniture," David said.
"That's fine," Michael said.
Carly was there too, her girlfriend Amanda in tow. "The kitchen's really nice," Carly said. "Maybe one of us will actually cook once in a while."
David walked around the living room, touching the walls, staring out the windows at the flurries floating by, the twin towers looming large in the downtown view. He sensed Michael coming up behind him. "I know you don't want to go uptown," he said, "so I figured TriBeCa."
"Yeah," he said.
Michael turned him around. "Is it too much?" he asked.
David shrugged. "I mean, it isn't—we need the space, if we're all going to live here," he said. "It's just—"
"Different?" Michael asked.
"Kinda overwhelming," David replied. "I mean, I'm used to living in shitty places or out of a van for months at a time. Not like this."
"Well, you should get used to it," Michael said, "because you're gonna be a rock star soon, and then you'll buy your own place anyway."
"Says you," David said.
"Says everyone," Michael replied, "and you know it."
David sighed.
"Once we're all in it, I'm sure it won't feel too big," Carly said.
"C'mon, Davey," Michael said.
David looked out at the view again, and smiled. "Let's take it," he said.
"Hey, so I'm back home," Kris said.
"You got your boss out of trouble?" Katy asked.
"Yeah, it all kinda worked out," he said.
"It all?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said, and hesitated, though he didn't know why—she was the one who'd encouraged him. "Yeah, I um, I asked Adam out."
"So I guess he said yes," Katy said.
"Yeah, you know, he actually did."
"Of course he did," she said. "He's not a moron."
Kris laughed. "How do you know he's not a moron?"
"Because you like him," she said.
"Yeah," Kris said.
"Nervous about the showcase?" she asked.
"A little," he admitted. "It's been all changed around. Now it's a party with all kinds of people playing. I'm not sure if that's more pressure or less, though."
"You need to start recording things for me," she said. "I miss hearing you sing."
"Yeah?" he asked.
"Unless you're writing bitter songs about the divorce," she said. "I don't need to hear those."
"Bitter? Nah, not bitter," he said. "Sad, maybe."
"Sad I can handle," she replied.
"Okay. I will. And you? Auditions?"
"I have a couple more," she said. "It's actually going pretty well. And I have classes, so it's busy."
"The Crest thing?"
"Friday," she replied.
Kris tapped his fingers. "So, how's your bartender?"
"Oh, he's fine," she replied.
"He's not dreamy?" he asked, mimicking some of Katy's high school friends.
"I don't say that anymore!" Katy protested. She was silent for a moment, then said, "Okay, maybe he's kinda dreamy."
Kris laughed. "Tell me all about him," he said.
Adam laid back on his bed. "Home sweet motherfucking home," he said.
"Sure you wouldn't rather stay in a nice house in Chelsea?" Allie asked.
"Nah," he said. "Then who would watch over you?"
"I can look out for myself, thanks," she said.
"I don't know about that," Adam said. "Pretty sure all you've done the past three days is work and make out with Archie."
"Hey!" Allie said. "I rehearsed my fucking song!"
"Yeah, that's work, Allie," Adam said.
"Oh. Okay, right." She sighed. "Well, I missed you."
"I missed you too, sweetie," Adam said.
"Nah," Allie said. "You were too busy kissing on Kris."
"One kiss!" he said. "One kiss! Jeez, last time I tell you anything."
She giggled. "So when's the big date?" she asked.
"Friday before work," he said.
"And after if you're lucky," she replied.
"I'm always lucky, honey," he said.
"Whatever," she said. "So does this mean you'll be in Williamsburg all the time?"
"No, he said. "I mean, I don't think so. Why, you want to make sure you can have Archie over all the time?"
"Seriously!" she said. "It is Not. That. Serious."
"Seriously it's not serious? Did you really just say that?"
"Shut up, Lambert," she said.
"Whatever, you love me."
"Maybe," she said.
"You missed me," he went on.
"Not really," she said. "I was too busy making out with Archie." She grinned.
"Ew," Adam said. "Maybe I will spend all my time in Brooklyn."
"No you won't," she said. "You'd miss me."
"Yeah," Adam said. "I would."
28 February 1996
After the hearing Wednesday morning, when Simon was finally, formally, cleared of all charges, Ryan decided to work from home. He'd said it was because there was a lot of paperwork and reading to catch up on, but he was sure Giuliana knew that he just wasn't ready to let Simon out of his sight yet. He came downstairs from his office to see Simon walking into the kitchen talking on the phone.
"Well, I certainly appreciate that," he was saying. "Right, well, I'll let Hernandez know. Thanks."
"Who was that?" Ryan asked.
"Del Toro, of all people," Simon said. "Wanted to let me know how sorry he was, and that he had no idea that clause in my lease had caused problems. Apparently he thought they were standard or some such."
Ryan rolled his eyes. "Well, at least he's not trying to kick you out."
"No, he said that he'd rather me than some chain franchisee or mall store. Guess he's more of a New Yorker than I'd thought."
"Did he say anything about Tatiana?" Ryan asked.
"Just that she was going away for a rest," Simon replied as he opened the freezer. "What is all this?" he asked.
"Adam," Ryan said. "He made that chili we had last night, and he took the other dishes and put them into individual containers for me. Stews, mostly, and this veggie loaf thing."
Simon poked at a frozen slice of loaf. "Well, the chili wasn't bad," he admitted.
"Hey, you sent them here to take care of me," Ryan said. "I don't know why you're surprised that the freezer is full of healthy food."
"Hmm," Simon said, non-committally.
"Speaking of which," Ryan said, walking around Simon and hopping up on the counter, "what was with that whole sex thing?"
"What sex thing," Simon asked, closing the freezer in favor of the fridge.
"The whole, 'let's have some young men over to give Ryan an orgasm because I'm in jail' thing," Ryan said.
Simon pulled out the leftover chili and closed the door. "I just wanted to make sure you were being fully taken care of, Ryan," he said.
"I didn't need to be taken care of like that," Ryan said.
Simon got two bowls out of the counter and started dishing chili into them. "Okay," he said.
"No, I'm serious," Ryan said.
"I know you are, darling," Simon said, continuing to fuss with lunch.
"Simon."
Simon put the spoon down. "What?"
"I don't want to be with anyone else if you're not there," Ryan said.
"Even if—"
"No one else, Simon," Ryan said.
Simon looked at Ryan. "All right," he said. He slid the bowls into the microwave. "Perhaps I overreacted."
"Perhaps you were being ridiculous," Ryan replied.
"I'm always ridiculous," Simon said. "Why should this time be any different?" He stood between Ryan's legs.
Ryan smiled. "I also don't want anyone else in that bed if I'm not in it, either."
"Ryan," Simon said, "that goes without saying. Wouldn't be as much fun."
Ryan chuckled. "Good to know," he said. "You know, the other day I came into this kitchen and Kris was sitting on this very counter, snogging Adam, and I was very jealous."
"Of whom? Adam or Kris?"
"Both, I guess. I mean, it's my damn counter, and I've never sat on it and snogged anyone."
"Well," Simon said, grinning, "I can help you with that."
Kris sat at the end of the bar at AGT and tried not to think about how nervous he was. Adam had wandered off, as he was wont to do, so Kris just nursed a club soda and watched the club fill up with invited guests. Pre-show music came out of the speakers as people milled around, just innocuous dance-pop, though he couldn't help but think of Ryan and Simon as Tracey Thorn sang and I miss you like the deserts miss the rain.
The man of the hour sat at a table on a riser just off stage right, and folks had been coming by to congratulate him as they came in. Simon was in his element, grinning, a cigarette dangling from his lips. Ryan was at his side, rolling his eyes more often than not, but you didn't have to have lived with the guy to see the genuine affection underneath the teasing. Kris had never known a male couple like Ryan and Simon before—older, together, basically married—and he wondered if he'll be there, someday. Maybe even married again. Okay, fine—despite everything, like having only shared two kisses and a plan for a date, he wondered if he'd be there with Adam. Sure, he was eccentric, but then so was Simon Cowell and Ryan seemed able to handle him well enough.
Jasmine was working the door tonight as a kind of trial run, pretty safe since it was all invitation only but it would give her a chance to try to act intimidating. She'd made up her own outfit for the evening, a bowler hat and a short dress under a long jacket. Kristy Lee had come by early to watch over the girl and give her some pointers, so she was there when a decidedly unhip man came to the door.
"Are you sure you have an invitation?" Jasmine asked with all the haughtiness she could manage.
The man looked confused. "Yes, of course I—Kristy Lee, come on!"
"Jasmine, your instincts are right on," Kristy Lee says. "He's wearing a blue suit and a red tie and brown shoes, and his glasses aren't even a cool shape. Definitely outer borough. But," and here she started smiling, "he's also my boyfriend Danny, who didn't have me there to tell him how to dress for the club. So yeah, he's invited."
"Thanks for that, at least," Danny said, coming in past the rope.
"Gosh," Jasmine said.
Kris was still snickering when Adam returned to him. "What?" he asked.
"Nothing," Kris said, taking his feet down from the stool he was saving. "It's starting, anyway."
"Sit here," Adam said, "since I can see over your head."
Kris moved to the other seat, and as he turned to face the stage he noticed that Adam had stretched out his legs, putting one foot on either of the side rails of Kris's stool. He wasn't sure what to think about that, and so decided not to.
Up on stage, Scott was at the piano, playing a bit of introduction, and Nick came out to general applause. He was wearing his usual Hawaiian shirt and trousers, but had a black boa wrapped around his shoulders. He perched on top of the piano like a chanteuse and chatted up the crowd, not unlike his usual bit but this time liberally sprinkled with references to Simon's experiences at Rikers, and whether he could "ever be happy with Ryan again after being the bitch of prisoner #29736."
Cherry Bomb went on next, mostly reprising their set from the other night, which had included a few songs that Simon hadn't heard before. Kris had to get up and dance because the band was tighter than he'd ever seen them. Alexis and Megan drove the music forward as Brooke and Carly played off each other, Brooke bubbly and smiling, Carly stomping around moodily.
Archie and Allison had made their way to the back of the club, and like Kris were working out their nerves by dancing around to the music. Cherry Bomb took a quick break to set something up, and Kris leaned over to Archie. "Hey, so are you going to stay in Cook's old place?"
"No, actually, I'm moving in with Brooke," he said. "In Alphabet City."
"Ooh, so," Kris said, grinning, "easy walking distance for you two, huh?"
"Whatever," Archie said, giggling.
Kris turned, wondering why Adam hadn't offered up a wisecrack, but he was gone. "Where did he go?" he asked Allie, who shrugged.
"All right," Carly said, "now we have a friend of the band coming up who's singing a song by one of my countrymen." Someone in the crowd shouted "Yeah" at that point, possibly Michael, and Carly shouted, "That's right!" as Adam climbed up on the stage.
"Friends of mine have threatened me with bodily harm when I admit I'm not much into this band, including the woman standing behind me with the guitar," he said, laughing nervously. "But one of them inspired me to find at least one of their songs to sing, and while I've made a few changes"—the crowd laughed then, as Adam always made changes—"I think it suits me pretty well. So, thanks, Kris."
Kris's eyes widened in surprise. Adam really wasn't the type to be persuaded into doing anything he didn't already want to do and Kris was amazed that Adam was singing a song because of him. It took Kris a minute to recognize it, but as soon as Adam sang is it getting better, or do you feel the same Kris broke into a grin. While Adam was certainly singing for him, as Kris listened he thought the lyrics applied more to the situation with David Cook than anything else. He found himself moving forward through the crowd, easily slipping past an audience transfixed by Adam's performance, until he got to the side of the stage. He'd loved the song before—it was a classic—but hearing it from Adam just meant that much more.
The crowd burst into applause when Adam finished, and while he was gracious, he scrambled off the stage the moment he could and came straight to Kris. "Well?" he asked, his fixed smile the only outward sign of nerves.
Kris smiled wider. "I loved it."
"Yeah?" Adam asked, smiling for real this time. "Really?"
"Really, it was great" Kris said, and pulled him down into a kiss. "Thank you." He took a moment, resting his head against Adam's, before Adam pulled him into his chest, and Kris couldn't get over how easy it was to stand in the circle of his arms.
"Get a room!" Carly called out, walking past them off the stage. Alexis and Megan were just behind her.
"So did I tell you?" Megan asked Kris. "I did some graphic design work for Simon a while back and he suggested I freelance! We already have the kids in daycare most of the time, so I could work a few days a week and still be here at night."
"That's great!" Kris said.
Alexis wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer. "Should keep her off the street," she said, smiling.
Nick wandered toward them then, Archie just behind him. "Oh look," he said, "it's like you're a matched set—tall, short, tall, short, like bookends!" He grinned, then scowled immediately. "Now get outta my way, I gotta show to run here!"
Kris and Adam stepped aside—not too far, since Kris would be on soon—as Megan and Alexis walked around in front of the stage to a table Amanda had reserved for her girl Carly's band. Brooke came down off the stage then, and gave Archie a big hug. "You're gonna be great!" she said.
"Thanks!" he said. "I mean, thanks for your help and stuff."
"You didn't need any help," Brooke said.
Nick was beckoning, and Kris and Adam reached out to pat him on the shoulder as he walked onto the stage.
"Okay," Nick said, "we have a few new singers here tonight, and this is the first one," he said as Archie settled himself at the piano. "God, look at him, he's so adorable I could eat him with a spoon."
"Keep your grubby hands off him!" Cook shouted from the back.
"Oh, I'm sorry! Miss Cook wants him for herself apparently," he replied, to general laughter. "See, we're just making him blush, oh, isn't he just precious, Simon? Okay, honey, I'll stop now. David Archuleta, people!"
Archie giggled a little self-consciously at the applause. Then he looked up and found Allie, who was standing next to Adam, and she shouted, "Let's go Archie!"
So David started playing, and after a bit of piano intro, he sang you see this guy? this guy's in love with you. It was perfect, a classic pop song, and both heartfelt and, actually, a little innocent. When he sang if not I'll just die it was less that Archie was some overdramatic adolescent but maybe that love made everyone feel that way.
At least, Kris had certainly been feeling that way lately. He leaned into Adam, who hadn't let go of him, and whispered, "Perfect song for him."
He smiled. "Thanks!" Then he nudged Allie with his elbow. "Aww, he's singing to you!" But surprisingly, or perhaps not, he couldn't even get a rise out of her. She was transfixed, as though she'd never seen him sing, even though she'd been around most of the time he'd been rehearsing. He finished, and she gave him a long whistle. Kris looked over at Simon and of course Adam was right about his being a sucker for pop ballads; he was grinning, pleased.
"Wasn't he great?" Nick asked, as Archie left the stage, and the applause started up again.
Kris had been so distracted by Adam and the performances that he'd forgotten until that moment that he was on next. He felt his stomach drop. Simon hadn't heard him sing yet, and now here he was, getting ready to perform three songs at a showcase for him. He grabbed his guitar from where it had been sitting just to the side of the stage.
"Ready?" Adam asked Kris, a hand on either of Kris's shoulders.
Kris nodded. "Nope," he said, trying to smile.
"You'll be great," Adam replied.
"Okay, we've got another little cutie for you," Nick was saying. "I know! The woods are thick with 'em! But I think someone we all know has his claws in this one, sorry girls. Kris Allen!"
Kris climbed up onto the stage, grateful for the applause. A three-song set in front of a receptive audience should have been nothing after singing for hours at a time in Union Square station to commuters who weren't really listening, but he wasn't used to people paying attention quite yet. He cleared his throat. "Well, since I work at a disco," he said, "I thought I'd start with Donna Summer." He started up "She Works Hard for the Money," and loved once again that no one could place it until he actually started singing—and then they started clapping along and smiling. So far, so good.
He walked over to the piano. "Um, this is a song I wrote," he said by way of introduction. He'd never actually played "Sylvia Plath" in front of more than a couple of people, so he felt kind of exposed, but heck, it's not like he said, "this is how I felt after my divorce." But for a soft, slow song in a rock club, it went over well, and he smiled in relief at the applause. He invited Brooke up on the stage then, and she got behind the synth to play the staccato string line alongside his piano for "Ain't No Sunshine," and it killed the same way it had when he auditioned for Nick. He finally dared to look at Simon, and he was beaming, and applauding as heartily as the others. Kris smiled and heaved a sigh of relief.
"I think Adam has in his contract that he gets to sing in everyone else's set," Kris said, and the crowd laughed. "But this time I'm just the accompanist. He wrote this song." Adam came up on stage, bringing two chairs with him, and sat on one as Kris settled into the other with his guitar. He waited, and at Adam's nod, began to play. Adam had been a little nervous in rehearsal but he was rock solid now, as though he were the opposite of Kris, coming alive with the attention.
Besides, the song was great, even if it made Kris's heart ache just a little to hear Adam sing it: limb by limb and tooth by tooth, tearing up inside of me, every day, every hour, wish that I was … was bullet proof. Adam wasn't even in costume tonight, at least not for him—leather jacket, jeans, t-shirt, boots, pretty standard rock show stuff—and his affect, his performance, was as stripped bare as the song was. It was as if he were saying, "Yes, I can do the big dramatic song, but I can do this, too."
Kris glanced at Simon, and he was quiet, just staring, and Kris wasn't sure if that was good or not—that is, until the end, when Simon got up and applauded. Adam turned to look at him, and from his expression Kris guessed that this hadn't happened before. He was surprised, because of course it should have.
Nick was back to herd them off the stage with an "all right, you two, go make out in the corner now" that made Kris blush a little though Adam, predictably, just grinned. David and his band were ready to go on, and as they walked past them David said, "Hey, Adam, I really liked your song."
Adam turned. "Thanks, man," he said. "It's still kind of unfinished, so, you know, suggestions are welcome."
David nodded slowly. "Cool," he said. "Good to know. We're ah, we're playing a bunch of new songs tonight ourselves, so, yeah."
"Cool," Adam said.
Nick appeared on the stage again, as David's band set themselves up. "I'm so pleased to introduce an old friend who's finally returned after wandering the earth, and brought back with him this bunch of ragamuffins." He turned and looked at the band. "If I didn't know better I'd say it was a secret plot to make him look good." As the audience laughed Nick looked over at Simon. "Have you missed him as much as I have, Simon?" he asked
Simon shouted back, "Of course not!"
"I think we can give him a better welcome than that, can't we? David Cook!" Nick walked off as David walked on and the band started up. They were pretty high energy, and easily worked the crowd back up from Archie, Kris and Adam's mellow set.
Kris and Adam were still standing just off stage left, dancing to the music. Allie and Archie were near them again, Allie looking a little twitchy, probably about her song which would come near the end of David's set. Adam leaned over to her and shouted, "You're gonna be awesome, honey!"
She smiled and nodded, but didn't seem convinced, and Adam reached out the hand that wasn't wrapped around Kris to rub her shoulder.
As he did, Kris realized that for most of the night Adam had been positioning himself directly behind Kris. Of course he could see perfectly well over Kris's head, and he often had a hand on Kris's hip, even while they were dancing. It was oddly comfortable, just like living in Ryan's house with him had been, and Kris was trying his best not to read too much into that.
Kris looked out over the crowd and saw Matt and Anoop all wrapped up in each other, as though they needed to fit months of PDA into one evening. He had also been unsurprised when Adam told him how the two finally got together, but unlike Adam he didn't distrust Anoop's intentions. He could certainly understand not knowing what you wanted until you tripped over it, and even then holding it at arm's length for a while.
He felt Adam lean in to his ear. "Matt said Anoop's thinking about going back to school in the fall," he said.
Kris nodded, weirdly unsurprised that Adam had noticed him looking in their direction. Adam seemed to notice most things about Kris. "That should be good for him," Kris replied.
"I hope so," Adam said.
David's band had finished up their fourth song to much applause—Kris found them to be surprisingly tight for a band playing new songs they'd only rehearsed for a short time. David held up his hand. "Okay, one last song for us. Um, so as some of you know I've spent the past few months being a groupie on the tennis tour," David said, and the crowd laughed. "We were driving around outside of Sydney about a month ago and this song came on the car radio and cheesy as it is, Mike and I were singing along at the top of our lungs. I've changed it up a little, but Mike, this is for you." The crowd said, "aww!" and David leaned back into the mic and shouted, "shut the fuck up, I'm a rocker!" Then, in his growliest voice, David sang love, I just died in your arms tonight and the whole place exploded in cheers and laughter, everyone jumping around and singing along.
"Thanks," David said when he'd finished. "We're just going to be a backup band for a couple songs here. Nick said we had three new singers tonight, and here's the third one. Allison Iraheta!"
Kris and Adam hooted and hollered as she came up on stage and grabbed the mic. Archie was standing next to them, cheering her on, too. She winked at him and took a breath, then sang: before loneliness will break my heart, send me a postcard darling and it was as though all those nerves had melted away. Kris was impressed with her ability to take command of the stage so easily, never mind the power of her voice, and not to congratulate himself but the song was totally right for her. He and Adam danced away at the side of the stage, and when he looked, Archie was just standing there, staring at her.
"Oh, young love," Adam whispered in Kris's ear, and Kris elbowed him in response, which just made Adam laugh.
Allie got plenty of cheers, and Simon looked particularly pleased, and when she hopped down from the stage she was as hyper and happy as she'd been freaked out beforehand.
"One last song before the end," David said, once the cheers for Allie had died down. "Kris?"
"Kris?" Adam asked. "You have another song?"
He grinned; maybe he was still able to surprise Adam. "Yep," he said, grabbing his electric guitar and heading back up on stage. He faced the crowd. "So, earlier we heard all about how Adam doesn't like U2," he said. "Well, he also apparently doesn't like REM." The crowd started hooting, and Kris shook his head. "I know, right? But this song, seriously, I can't imagine he won't like this one." Kris started playing with plenty of effects on his guitar, and after the band kicked in, Kris started singing, every line of "Crush with Eyeliner" just sounding like Adam to him:
When it was finished, Adam's reaction was to come bounding up on the stage as soon as the song was over and hug Kris from behind, this big, bearish, wonderful hug, and Kris couldn't stop smiling. He spun his guitar around and hugged Adam properly. The rest of the musicians were coming back up on stage—they had a huge finale of Beatles songs planned—but Kris paid them no mind. He pulled Adam into a kiss—a bit much, sure, for a guy who wasn't generally into making out in front of God and everybody, to kiss Adam in the middle of the stage. But it had been a crazy damn week, and after all that had happened, he figured they'd earned it.
Adam pulled back, breathless. "Maybe we should just call this our first date," he said.
"Some date," Kris said, and kissed him again, letting the applause wash over them.
Notes:
First, thank you SO MUCH to everyone who read this fic, whether you commented or not. It means a lot. This was the first true mystery I wrote, so I'm pleased that it worked for so many of you.
This final song is the one I was listening to a lot when I first conceived of the story, and was originally going to be the song Kris "wrote." "Sylvia Plath" worked better, and this song was cut, but it's such a great one, and musically sort of fits Kris even if lyrically it's a bit more bitter than I wanted this Kris to be about his divorce. So, bonus song from the Canadian band Blinker the Star, special treat for making it to the end. Thanks again, everyone!
Title: Keep Your Enemies Closer, Chapter 7: Gaudy Night
Pairing: Adam Lambert/Kris Allen; established Ryan Seacrest/Simon Cowell
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Simon Cowell, manager of pop star hopefuls and owner of the hot downtown Club Idol, has been framed for a crime he didn't commit. Can new kid Kris Allen convince rival divas David Cook and Adam Lambert to work together to clear Simon's name? And what will happen when Simon asks Adam and Kris to "take care" of his boyfriend Ryan for him?
This chapter: Everyone puts on a show.
Chapter Length: 6200 words
Disclaimer: People sort of own themselves, don't they? Which means this is a work of fiction.
Notes: Keep Your Enemies Closer is an mystery AU set in the New York club scene of the mid-90s, when a rapidly gentrifying East Village contained chain stores and after hours clubs, hungry young artists and heroin dealers. As usual, there will be plenty of music to set the scene and bring you back to a time not long ago. Thank you to
ali_wildgoose, who as usual went well beyond the call of beta-duty on this one, dreamerren, who encouraged me to keep going when I'd hit an impasse, and honestys_easy, who helped me give it that final polish. This chapter title from Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers. More notes at the end of the story, plus a bonus song!The Unpleasantness at Club Idol | Whose Heroin? | Crowds of Witness | A Few Red Herrings | Have His Caretakers | Pushers Must Advertise
glitzy night
"Jesus," David said. He walked over to pick up the phone behind the bar. "Damn, she cut the lines or some shit."
Kris pulled out his cell. "Yeah, I have an emergency? There's a woman here with a gun threatening a friend of mine."
All their eyes were on the window to the office so they missed what Ryan did at first. "Ryan?" David hissed.
Adam looked over and there he was, climbing quickly up the staircase to the office.
"Jesus," David said again, and the three of them went after him, Kris still on the phone to the cops. They were at the top of the steps when Ryan got to the office, and he turned and put his hand out, motioning them to stay back. Kris sat down at the top of the staircase, so he could keep talking without anyone hearing him, but Adam and David crept over to the open doorway. Music drifted out of the little radio on the desk: who do you need, who do you love.
Simon had a cigarette dangling from his mouth, but otherwise he seemed pretty calm, considering the circumstances. "Come on now, darling," he said. "I'm sure we can work this out."
"No," Tatiana said, and she sounded like she was crying. "No, we can't. We tried that, remember? When you said you'd help me after you fired me?"
Ryan was walking into the room, slowly, slowly, and Adam hoped that the window wasn't too reflective. Simon hadn't reacted—he was being very, very cool.
She sniffled. "And I watched you playing around with all these other singers, and they can't sing like me and you know it, Simon! And I just waited and waited, and then you know what? I was tired of waiting."
"I'm sorry, darling," Simon said.
"Don't call me that," she shouted, and Adam could see her hand wavering. Ryan was about three steps behind her now.
"Please," Simon said. "You have friends here—"
"No I don't," she said, sounding more tired than angry. "They all think I'm strange. I had a boyfriend and now he won't even admit he knows me. What kind of friends are those?" she asked.
A sound came from inside the club and Tatiana started. "What? Who's there?" She turned, but by then Ryan was close enough to push her arms up, pointing the gun to the ceiling. They wrestled for a moment with the gun before Ryan grabbed it, throwing it to the floor and kicking it away, and pulling Tatiana into his arms.
The others rushed in then, and David went straight to the gun. "It isn't even loaded," he said.
Ryan continued to hold on to Tatiana, who'd crumpled, pulling him down onto the floor with her. "Don't let them take me," she whispered. "I'm scared."
"I know," Ryan said, patting her hair. "We all get scared. I know I do. But you did some things that scared other people—me, Simon, all our friends. So now we have to figure out what to do, okay?"
She lifted her head off his shoulder, and he brushed the hair out of her face. "Okay," she said.
"The cops are coming," Kris said, "so you'd better figure out what that is real quick."
"I think you know what to tell them, Tatitana," Ryan said, "so that other people don't get into trouble, don't you?"
She nodded, as the police came in the door. "We got a report of a woman with a gun?" one asked.
Ryan shook his head. "She's just a girl," he said.
In the end, Tatiana told the cops that she had planted the drugs herself, drugs she had found at Stingy Lulu's earlier that day. Her father was called, and arrangements were made for her to get a psychiatric evaluation before any other steps were taken.
The guys went back to Ryan's house, exhausted, and sat listening to jazz and talking over much-needed drinks while one of the meals Adam had made earlier heated in the oven.
"So Anoop and Megan were the keys to the whole thing?" Simon asked.
"Yeah, and to her credit, Tatiana read them pretty well," David said. "She knew that Anoop would react by taking off, and otherwise not letting anyone know that his drugs had gone missing."
"And even if Megan had been delivering to some other dealer," Adam said, "that person would just have raised holy hell about it, that may or may not have been believed by Nigel, or would have freaked out the same way Anoop did."
"Where she guessed wrong was with Megan," Kris said. "Tatiana knew Megan hadn't told Alexis, and she thought that Megan would keep quiet to keep Alexis from finding out. But Megan told me, and that turned out to be the key."
"Well and Tatiana gave herself away," Adam said. "I'm not sure Anoop would ever have admitted that he dated her."
Kris shook his head. "What a jerk. I hope Matt knows what he's doing."
"Probably not, knowing him," Adam replied.
Simon said, "Well before I'm much older, I'm going to call Nigel and tell him that Megan and Anoop are no longer working for him. Not that any of this is actually his fault, but I'm sure his guilty conscience extends that far."
David cocked his head. "Okay, Simon, what is it that you have on him?"
Simon smiled. "Oh, I'll never tell."
"Don't look at me," Ryan said. "I don't know, either, and I don't want to know."
"All Ryan knows is how to find Nigel, in case of an emergency like this one," Simon said. "The rest is in a sealed envelope in the hands of my lawyer. If anything happened to me, it would all come out, so it's in Nigel's best interests to keep me safe." The phone rang, and Simon looked at the caller ID. "Ah, speak of the devil," he said, answering. "Hello! … Yes? … Yes, that is wonderful news. … Right, first thing tomorrow morning. I'll definitely be there. … Excellent, excellent. Thank you so much, David. … Right. Bye!" He grinned as he hung up the phone.
"Well?" Ryan asked.
"Well, it appears that the DA's office wants to wash their hands of this case as soon as possible. Hernandez's challenge on the search looked like it might go through, and now with Tatitana's admission of course the entire thing falls apart. And without the idea that I would give them information on Nigel—which, by the way, I don't have; I have no idea how he runs his business—none of it is worth their time. Hernandez expects the case against me to be dismissed tomorrow, and for no charges to actually be filed against Tatiana." He paused. "Though I hope she can get some help, poor thing."
"Me too," Kris said.
Simon smiled at him. "Anyway, I'm going to close Idol tomorrow so everyone can come to the showcase, and we can make it a real party. Nick would like that; he loves variety shows. I'll go call him now; he can't have opened yet."
"No, wait," David said. "Let us plan it. You shouldn't have to do any of it. Me, and these guys, and Carls and Nick, we'll work it out."
Simon raised one eyebrow. "So all of you are going to team up to put on a show?" he asked.
"What can I say?" Adam said. "Getting you sprung brought us all together."
"Goody, just like Andy Hardy," Simon said, rolling his eyes.
So Ryan hit him over the head with a newspaper.
"It's already been converted from two flats into a duplex," Michael was saying, "so there's plenty of room for all of us."
There were three bedrooms, two upstairs and one downstairs, a balcony, a music room for Carly and David, plus an office for Michael. Other than Ryan's house, David didn't think he'd been in such a large place since he left Missouri. "We'll have to buy a lot of furniture," David said.
"That's fine," Michael said.
Carly was there too, her girlfriend Amanda in tow. "The kitchen's really nice," Carly said. "Maybe one of us will actually cook once in a while."
David walked around the living room, touching the walls, staring out the windows at the flurries floating by, the twin towers looming large in the downtown view. He sensed Michael coming up behind him. "I know you don't want to go uptown," he said, "so I figured TriBeCa."
"Yeah," he said.
Michael turned him around. "Is it too much?" he asked.
David shrugged. "I mean, it isn't—we need the space, if we're all going to live here," he said. "It's just—"
"Different?" Michael asked.
"Kinda overwhelming," David replied. "I mean, I'm used to living in shitty places or out of a van for months at a time. Not like this."
"Well, you should get used to it," Michael said, "because you're gonna be a rock star soon, and then you'll buy your own place anyway."
"Says you," David said.
"Says everyone," Michael replied, "and you know it."
David sighed.
"Once we're all in it, I'm sure it won't feel too big," Carly said.
"C'mon, Davey," Michael said.
David looked out at the view again, and smiled. "Let's take it," he said.
"Hey, so I'm back home," Kris said.
"You got your boss out of trouble?" Katy asked.
"Yeah, it all kinda worked out," he said.
"It all?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said, and hesitated, though he didn't know why—she was the one who'd encouraged him. "Yeah, I um, I asked Adam out."
"So I guess he said yes," Katy said.
"Yeah, you know, he actually did."
"Of course he did," she said. "He's not a moron."
Kris laughed. "How do you know he's not a moron?"
"Because you like him," she said.
"Yeah," Kris said.
"Nervous about the showcase?" she asked.
"A little," he admitted. "It's been all changed around. Now it's a party with all kinds of people playing. I'm not sure if that's more pressure or less, though."
"You need to start recording things for me," she said. "I miss hearing you sing."
"Yeah?" he asked.
"Unless you're writing bitter songs about the divorce," she said. "I don't need to hear those."
"Bitter? Nah, not bitter," he said. "Sad, maybe."
"Sad I can handle," she replied.
"Okay. I will. And you? Auditions?"
"I have a couple more," she said. "It's actually going pretty well. And I have classes, so it's busy."
"The Crest thing?"
"Friday," she replied.
Kris tapped his fingers. "So, how's your bartender?"
"Oh, he's fine," she replied.
"He's not dreamy?" he asked, mimicking some of Katy's high school friends.
"I don't say that anymore!" Katy protested. She was silent for a moment, then said, "Okay, maybe he's kinda dreamy."
Kris laughed. "Tell me all about him," he said.
Adam laid back on his bed. "Home sweet motherfucking home," he said.
"Sure you wouldn't rather stay in a nice house in Chelsea?" Allie asked.
"Nah," he said. "Then who would watch over you?"
"I can look out for myself, thanks," she said.
"I don't know about that," Adam said. "Pretty sure all you've done the past three days is work and make out with Archie."
"Hey!" Allie said. "I rehearsed my fucking song!"
"Yeah, that's work, Allie," Adam said.
"Oh. Okay, right." She sighed. "Well, I missed you."
"I missed you too, sweetie," Adam said.
"Nah," Allie said. "You were too busy kissing on Kris."
"One kiss!" he said. "One kiss! Jeez, last time I tell you anything."
She giggled. "So when's the big date?" she asked.
"Friday before work," he said.
"And after if you're lucky," she replied.
"I'm always lucky, honey," he said.
"Whatever," she said. "So does this mean you'll be in Williamsburg all the time?"
"No, he said. "I mean, I don't think so. Why, you want to make sure you can have Archie over all the time?"
"Seriously!" she said. "It is Not. That. Serious."
"Seriously it's not serious? Did you really just say that?"
"Shut up, Lambert," she said.
"Whatever, you love me."
"Maybe," she said.
"You missed me," he went on.
"Not really," she said. "I was too busy making out with Archie." She grinned.
"Ew," Adam said. "Maybe I will spend all my time in Brooklyn."
"No you won't," she said. "You'd miss me."
"Yeah," Adam said. "I would."
28 February 1996
After the hearing Wednesday morning, when Simon was finally, formally, cleared of all charges, Ryan decided to work from home. He'd said it was because there was a lot of paperwork and reading to catch up on, but he was sure Giuliana knew that he just wasn't ready to let Simon out of his sight yet. He came downstairs from his office to see Simon walking into the kitchen talking on the phone.
"Well, I certainly appreciate that," he was saying. "Right, well, I'll let Hernandez know. Thanks."
"Who was that?" Ryan asked.
"Del Toro, of all people," Simon said. "Wanted to let me know how sorry he was, and that he had no idea that clause in my lease had caused problems. Apparently he thought they were standard or some such."
Ryan rolled his eyes. "Well, at least he's not trying to kick you out."
"No, he said that he'd rather me than some chain franchisee or mall store. Guess he's more of a New Yorker than I'd thought."
"Did he say anything about Tatiana?" Ryan asked.
"Just that she was going away for a rest," Simon replied as he opened the freezer. "What is all this?" he asked.
"Adam," Ryan said. "He made that chili we had last night, and he took the other dishes and put them into individual containers for me. Stews, mostly, and this veggie loaf thing."
Simon poked at a frozen slice of loaf. "Well, the chili wasn't bad," he admitted.
"Hey, you sent them here to take care of me," Ryan said. "I don't know why you're surprised that the freezer is full of healthy food."
"Hmm," Simon said, non-committally.
"Speaking of which," Ryan said, walking around Simon and hopping up on the counter, "what was with that whole sex thing?"
"What sex thing," Simon asked, closing the freezer in favor of the fridge.
"The whole, 'let's have some young men over to give Ryan an orgasm because I'm in jail' thing," Ryan said.
Simon pulled out the leftover chili and closed the door. "I just wanted to make sure you were being fully taken care of, Ryan," he said.
"I didn't need to be taken care of like that," Ryan said.
Simon got two bowls out of the counter and started dishing chili into them. "Okay," he said.
"No, I'm serious," Ryan said.
"I know you are, darling," Simon said, continuing to fuss with lunch.
"Simon."
Simon put the spoon down. "What?"
"I don't want to be with anyone else if you're not there," Ryan said.
"Even if—"
"No one else, Simon," Ryan said.
Simon looked at Ryan. "All right," he said. He slid the bowls into the microwave. "Perhaps I overreacted."
"Perhaps you were being ridiculous," Ryan replied.
"I'm always ridiculous," Simon said. "Why should this time be any different?" He stood between Ryan's legs.
Ryan smiled. "I also don't want anyone else in that bed if I'm not in it, either."
"Ryan," Simon said, "that goes without saying. Wouldn't be as much fun."
Ryan chuckled. "Good to know," he said. "You know, the other day I came into this kitchen and Kris was sitting on this very counter, snogging Adam, and I was very jealous."
"Of whom? Adam or Kris?"
"Both, I guess. I mean, it's my damn counter, and I've never sat on it and snogged anyone."
"Well," Simon said, grinning, "I can help you with that."
Kris sat at the end of the bar at AGT and tried not to think about how nervous he was. Adam had wandered off, as he was wont to do, so Kris just nursed a club soda and watched the club fill up with invited guests. Pre-show music came out of the speakers as people milled around, just innocuous dance-pop, though he couldn't help but think of Ryan and Simon as Tracey Thorn sang and I miss you like the deserts miss the rain.
The man of the hour sat at a table on a riser just off stage right, and folks had been coming by to congratulate him as they came in. Simon was in his element, grinning, a cigarette dangling from his lips. Ryan was at his side, rolling his eyes more often than not, but you didn't have to have lived with the guy to see the genuine affection underneath the teasing. Kris had never known a male couple like Ryan and Simon before—older, together, basically married—and he wondered if he'll be there, someday. Maybe even married again. Okay, fine—despite everything, like having only shared two kisses and a plan for a date, he wondered if he'd be there with Adam. Sure, he was eccentric, but then so was Simon Cowell and Ryan seemed able to handle him well enough.
Jasmine was working the door tonight as a kind of trial run, pretty safe since it was all invitation only but it would give her a chance to try to act intimidating. She'd made up her own outfit for the evening, a bowler hat and a short dress under a long jacket. Kristy Lee had come by early to watch over the girl and give her some pointers, so she was there when a decidedly unhip man came to the door.
"Are you sure you have an invitation?" Jasmine asked with all the haughtiness she could manage.
The man looked confused. "Yes, of course I—Kristy Lee, come on!"
"Jasmine, your instincts are right on," Kristy Lee says. "He's wearing a blue suit and a red tie and brown shoes, and his glasses aren't even a cool shape. Definitely outer borough. But," and here she started smiling, "he's also my boyfriend Danny, who didn't have me there to tell him how to dress for the club. So yeah, he's invited."
"Thanks for that, at least," Danny said, coming in past the rope.
"Gosh," Jasmine said.
Kris was still snickering when Adam returned to him. "What?" he asked.
"Nothing," Kris said, taking his feet down from the stool he was saving. "It's starting, anyway."
"Sit here," Adam said, "since I can see over your head."
Kris moved to the other seat, and as he turned to face the stage he noticed that Adam had stretched out his legs, putting one foot on either of the side rails of Kris's stool. He wasn't sure what to think about that, and so decided not to.
Up on stage, Scott was at the piano, playing a bit of introduction, and Nick came out to general applause. He was wearing his usual Hawaiian shirt and trousers, but had a black boa wrapped around his shoulders. He perched on top of the piano like a chanteuse and chatted up the crowd, not unlike his usual bit but this time liberally sprinkled with references to Simon's experiences at Rikers, and whether he could "ever be happy with Ryan again after being the bitch of prisoner #29736."
Cherry Bomb went on next, mostly reprising their set from the other night, which had included a few songs that Simon hadn't heard before. Kris had to get up and dance because the band was tighter than he'd ever seen them. Alexis and Megan drove the music forward as Brooke and Carly played off each other, Brooke bubbly and smiling, Carly stomping around moodily.
Archie and Allison had made their way to the back of the club, and like Kris were working out their nerves by dancing around to the music. Cherry Bomb took a quick break to set something up, and Kris leaned over to Archie. "Hey, so are you going to stay in Cook's old place?"
"No, actually, I'm moving in with Brooke," he said. "In Alphabet City."
"Ooh, so," Kris said, grinning, "easy walking distance for you two, huh?"
"Whatever," Archie said, giggling.
Kris turned, wondering why Adam hadn't offered up a wisecrack, but he was gone. "Where did he go?" he asked Allie, who shrugged.
"All right," Carly said, "now we have a friend of the band coming up who's singing a song by one of my countrymen." Someone in the crowd shouted "Yeah" at that point, possibly Michael, and Carly shouted, "That's right!" as Adam climbed up on the stage.
"Friends of mine have threatened me with bodily harm when I admit I'm not much into this band, including the woman standing behind me with the guitar," he said, laughing nervously. "But one of them inspired me to find at least one of their songs to sing, and while I've made a few changes"—the crowd laughed then, as Adam always made changes—"I think it suits me pretty well. So, thanks, Kris."
Kris's eyes widened in surprise. Adam really wasn't the type to be persuaded into doing anything he didn't already want to do and Kris was amazed that Adam was singing a song because of him. It took Kris a minute to recognize it, but as soon as Adam sang is it getting better, or do you feel the same Kris broke into a grin. While Adam was certainly singing for him, as Kris listened he thought the lyrics applied more to the situation with David Cook than anything else. He found himself moving forward through the crowd, easily slipping past an audience transfixed by Adam's performance, until he got to the side of the stage. He'd loved the song before—it was a classic—but hearing it from Adam just meant that much more.
The crowd burst into applause when Adam finished, and while he was gracious, he scrambled off the stage the moment he could and came straight to Kris. "Well?" he asked, his fixed smile the only outward sign of nerves.
Kris smiled wider. "I loved it."
"Yeah?" Adam asked, smiling for real this time. "Really?"
"Really, it was great" Kris said, and pulled him down into a kiss. "Thank you." He took a moment, resting his head against Adam's, before Adam pulled him into his chest, and Kris couldn't get over how easy it was to stand in the circle of his arms.
"Get a room!" Carly called out, walking past them off the stage. Alexis and Megan were just behind her.
"So did I tell you?" Megan asked Kris. "I did some graphic design work for Simon a while back and he suggested I freelance! We already have the kids in daycare most of the time, so I could work a few days a week and still be here at night."
"That's great!" Kris said.
Alexis wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer. "Should keep her off the street," she said, smiling.
Nick wandered toward them then, Archie just behind him. "Oh look," he said, "it's like you're a matched set—tall, short, tall, short, like bookends!" He grinned, then scowled immediately. "Now get outta my way, I gotta show to run here!"
Kris and Adam stepped aside—not too far, since Kris would be on soon—as Megan and Alexis walked around in front of the stage to a table Amanda had reserved for her girl Carly's band. Brooke came down off the stage then, and gave Archie a big hug. "You're gonna be great!" she said.
"Thanks!" he said. "I mean, thanks for your help and stuff."
"You didn't need any help," Brooke said.
Nick was beckoning, and Kris and Adam reached out to pat him on the shoulder as he walked onto the stage.
"Okay," Nick said, "we have a few new singers here tonight, and this is the first one," he said as Archie settled himself at the piano. "God, look at him, he's so adorable I could eat him with a spoon."
"Keep your grubby hands off him!" Cook shouted from the back.
"Oh, I'm sorry! Miss Cook wants him for herself apparently," he replied, to general laughter. "See, we're just making him blush, oh, isn't he just precious, Simon? Okay, honey, I'll stop now. David Archuleta, people!"
Archie giggled a little self-consciously at the applause. Then he looked up and found Allie, who was standing next to Adam, and she shouted, "Let's go Archie!"
So David started playing, and after a bit of piano intro, he sang you see this guy? this guy's in love with you. It was perfect, a classic pop song, and both heartfelt and, actually, a little innocent. When he sang if not I'll just die it was less that Archie was some overdramatic adolescent but maybe that love made everyone feel that way.
At least, Kris had certainly been feeling that way lately. He leaned into Adam, who hadn't let go of him, and whispered, "Perfect song for him."
He smiled. "Thanks!" Then he nudged Allie with his elbow. "Aww, he's singing to you!" But surprisingly, or perhaps not, he couldn't even get a rise out of her. She was transfixed, as though she'd never seen him sing, even though she'd been around most of the time he'd been rehearsing. He finished, and she gave him a long whistle. Kris looked over at Simon and of course Adam was right about his being a sucker for pop ballads; he was grinning, pleased.
"Wasn't he great?" Nick asked, as Archie left the stage, and the applause started up again.
Kris had been so distracted by Adam and the performances that he'd forgotten until that moment that he was on next. He felt his stomach drop. Simon hadn't heard him sing yet, and now here he was, getting ready to perform three songs at a showcase for him. He grabbed his guitar from where it had been sitting just to the side of the stage.
"Ready?" Adam asked Kris, a hand on either of Kris's shoulders.
Kris nodded. "Nope," he said, trying to smile.
"You'll be great," Adam replied.
"Okay, we've got another little cutie for you," Nick was saying. "I know! The woods are thick with 'em! But I think someone we all know has his claws in this one, sorry girls. Kris Allen!"
Kris climbed up onto the stage, grateful for the applause. A three-song set in front of a receptive audience should have been nothing after singing for hours at a time in Union Square station to commuters who weren't really listening, but he wasn't used to people paying attention quite yet. He cleared his throat. "Well, since I work at a disco," he said, "I thought I'd start with Donna Summer." He started up "She Works Hard for the Money," and loved once again that no one could place it until he actually started singing—and then they started clapping along and smiling. So far, so good.
He walked over to the piano. "Um, this is a song I wrote," he said by way of introduction. He'd never actually played "Sylvia Plath" in front of more than a couple of people, so he felt kind of exposed, but heck, it's not like he said, "this is how I felt after my divorce." But for a soft, slow song in a rock club, it went over well, and he smiled in relief at the applause. He invited Brooke up on the stage then, and she got behind the synth to play the staccato string line alongside his piano for "Ain't No Sunshine," and it killed the same way it had when he auditioned for Nick. He finally dared to look at Simon, and he was beaming, and applauding as heartily as the others. Kris smiled and heaved a sigh of relief.
"I think Adam has in his contract that he gets to sing in everyone else's set," Kris said, and the crowd laughed. "But this time I'm just the accompanist. He wrote this song." Adam came up on stage, bringing two chairs with him, and sat on one as Kris settled into the other with his guitar. He waited, and at Adam's nod, began to play. Adam had been a little nervous in rehearsal but he was rock solid now, as though he were the opposite of Kris, coming alive with the attention.
Besides, the song was great, even if it made Kris's heart ache just a little to hear Adam sing it: limb by limb and tooth by tooth, tearing up inside of me, every day, every hour, wish that I was … was bullet proof. Adam wasn't even in costume tonight, at least not for him—leather jacket, jeans, t-shirt, boots, pretty standard rock show stuff—and his affect, his performance, was as stripped bare as the song was. It was as if he were saying, "Yes, I can do the big dramatic song, but I can do this, too."
Kris glanced at Simon, and he was quiet, just staring, and Kris wasn't sure if that was good or not—that is, until the end, when Simon got up and applauded. Adam turned to look at him, and from his expression Kris guessed that this hadn't happened before. He was surprised, because of course it should have.
Nick was back to herd them off the stage with an "all right, you two, go make out in the corner now" that made Kris blush a little though Adam, predictably, just grinned. David and his band were ready to go on, and as they walked past them David said, "Hey, Adam, I really liked your song."
Adam turned. "Thanks, man," he said. "It's still kind of unfinished, so, you know, suggestions are welcome."
David nodded slowly. "Cool," he said. "Good to know. We're ah, we're playing a bunch of new songs tonight ourselves, so, yeah."
"Cool," Adam said.
Nick appeared on the stage again, as David's band set themselves up. "I'm so pleased to introduce an old friend who's finally returned after wandering the earth, and brought back with him this bunch of ragamuffins." He turned and looked at the band. "If I didn't know better I'd say it was a secret plot to make him look good." As the audience laughed Nick looked over at Simon. "Have you missed him as much as I have, Simon?" he asked
Simon shouted back, "Of course not!"
"I think we can give him a better welcome than that, can't we? David Cook!" Nick walked off as David walked on and the band started up. They were pretty high energy, and easily worked the crowd back up from Archie, Kris and Adam's mellow set.
Kris and Adam were still standing just off stage left, dancing to the music. Allie and Archie were near them again, Allie looking a little twitchy, probably about her song which would come near the end of David's set. Adam leaned over to her and shouted, "You're gonna be awesome, honey!"
She smiled and nodded, but didn't seem convinced, and Adam reached out the hand that wasn't wrapped around Kris to rub her shoulder.
As he did, Kris realized that for most of the night Adam had been positioning himself directly behind Kris. Of course he could see perfectly well over Kris's head, and he often had a hand on Kris's hip, even while they were dancing. It was oddly comfortable, just like living in Ryan's house with him had been, and Kris was trying his best not to read too much into that.
Kris looked out over the crowd and saw Matt and Anoop all wrapped up in each other, as though they needed to fit months of PDA into one evening. He had also been unsurprised when Adam told him how the two finally got together, but unlike Adam he didn't distrust Anoop's intentions. He could certainly understand not knowing what you wanted until you tripped over it, and even then holding it at arm's length for a while.
He felt Adam lean in to his ear. "Matt said Anoop's thinking about going back to school in the fall," he said.
Kris nodded, weirdly unsurprised that Adam had noticed him looking in their direction. Adam seemed to notice most things about Kris. "That should be good for him," Kris replied.
"I hope so," Adam said.
David's band had finished up their fourth song to much applause—Kris found them to be surprisingly tight for a band playing new songs they'd only rehearsed for a short time. David held up his hand. "Okay, one last song for us. Um, so as some of you know I've spent the past few months being a groupie on the tennis tour," David said, and the crowd laughed. "We were driving around outside of Sydney about a month ago and this song came on the car radio and cheesy as it is, Mike and I were singing along at the top of our lungs. I've changed it up a little, but Mike, this is for you." The crowd said, "aww!" and David leaned back into the mic and shouted, "shut the fuck up, I'm a rocker!" Then, in his growliest voice, David sang love, I just died in your arms tonight and the whole place exploded in cheers and laughter, everyone jumping around and singing along.
"Thanks," David said when he'd finished. "We're just going to be a backup band for a couple songs here. Nick said we had three new singers tonight, and here's the third one. Allison Iraheta!"
Kris and Adam hooted and hollered as she came up on stage and grabbed the mic. Archie was standing next to them, cheering her on, too. She winked at him and took a breath, then sang: before loneliness will break my heart, send me a postcard darling and it was as though all those nerves had melted away. Kris was impressed with her ability to take command of the stage so easily, never mind the power of her voice, and not to congratulate himself but the song was totally right for her. He and Adam danced away at the side of the stage, and when he looked, Archie was just standing there, staring at her.
"Oh, young love," Adam whispered in Kris's ear, and Kris elbowed him in response, which just made Adam laugh.
Allie got plenty of cheers, and Simon looked particularly pleased, and when she hopped down from the stage she was as hyper and happy as she'd been freaked out beforehand.
"One last song before the end," David said, once the cheers for Allie had died down. "Kris?"
"Kris?" Adam asked. "You have another song?"
He grinned; maybe he was still able to surprise Adam. "Yep," he said, grabbing his electric guitar and heading back up on stage. He faced the crowd. "So, earlier we heard all about how Adam doesn't like U2," he said. "Well, he also apparently doesn't like REM." The crowd started hooting, and Kris shook his head. "I know, right? But this song, seriously, I can't imagine he won't like this one." Kris started playing with plenty of effects on his guitar, and after the band kicked in, Kris started singing, every line of "Crush with Eyeliner" just sounding like Adam to him:
I'm imbibed, I'm infatuatedAdam was just staring at him in such blank surprise that Kris couldn't really look at him as he sang. He hadn't thought, when he planned to sing the song, how it would be like a declaration to the whole crowd that he had a thing for Adam; he was just thinking about singing it for Adam. But now that he was doing it, he kind of didn't mind, didn't care who knew he was into Adam. It didn't seem like a crush he needed to hide, now that he actually knew Adam as more than just that cool guy who wears makeup and platform boots. He reckoned it was his version of Adam's standing behind him all night.
It's all too much passion, he's all that I can take
What position should I wear? Cop an attitude?
How can I convince him that I'm invented too, yeah
When it was finished, Adam's reaction was to come bounding up on the stage as soon as the song was over and hug Kris from behind, this big, bearish, wonderful hug, and Kris couldn't stop smiling. He spun his guitar around and hugged Adam properly. The rest of the musicians were coming back up on stage—they had a huge finale of Beatles songs planned—but Kris paid them no mind. He pulled Adam into a kiss—a bit much, sure, for a guy who wasn't generally into making out in front of God and everybody, to kiss Adam in the middle of the stage. But it had been a crazy damn week, and after all that had happened, he figured they'd earned it.
Adam pulled back, breathless. "Maybe we should just call this our first date," he said.
"Some date," Kris said, and kissed him again, letting the applause wash over them.
Notes:
First, thank you SO MUCH to everyone who read this fic, whether you commented or not. It means a lot. This was the first true mystery I wrote, so I'm pleased that it worked for so many of you.
This final song is the one I was listening to a lot when I first conceived of the story, and was originally going to be the song Kris "wrote." "Sylvia Plath" worked better, and this song was cut, but it's such a great one, and musically sort of fits Kris even if lyrically it's a bit more bitter than I wanted this Kris to be about his divorce. So, bonus song from the Canadian band Blinker the Star, special treat for making it to the end. Thanks again, everyone!
