Archive of Our Own

When Kris left Arkansas just two days after his college graduation, his mother told him that going back to Rue Falls wasn’t exactly a good career plan. And Kris agreed with her. He wasn’t going to Rue Falls to have a career. He was going there for some well-deserved vacation, or cheesy as it might sound, maybe some soul-searching. He really didn’t have an idea of what he wanted to do with his life just yet, but he knew that Rue Falls was the one place in the world where he could listen to himself, and that was a good time for him to be doing that.

So he packed his bags and guitar case, and took a flight to LA before getting on a bus to Rue Falls. Two hours later, he was standing on the bus stop, and he could feel the heat from the pavement through the soles of his sneakers. He was bone tired and hungry, with no idea where to get a room or a job. He thought it was kind of romantic when he didn’t really make plans. His mother would’ve killed him if she knew.

But that’s how he started working for The End, a small café just a few blocks away from the bus stop he got off from. He just went inside to have lunch and when the owner, an English guy named Matt took in the bags and guitar case at his feet, they got into a conversation and just hit it off. In the time that Kris managed to finish his sandwich in between snatches of conversation, Matt and his French wife Celine had offered him a job to help in the café’s kitchen, and a room at the basement of their house just a few blocks away.

Two years later, Kris is settled in. And he kind of loves it, if he’s being totally honest. Just like with any other job, there are crappy days, especially when there’s an influx of tourists and the café is particularly busy. But the fun he has while working in The End more than makes up for it. He’s in charge of the café’s menu now and he works on it with Andrew, one of Matt’s friends from the UK. They have Allison, a kid who just graduated from college working with them. Kris has discovered that he loves cooking, and The End’s kitchen is the perfect place for some experimentation. In the time that he’s worked there, he has never prepared the same menu two days in a row and that’s really helped business.

On the first Friday after his second summer in The End officially started, Kris wakes up exhausted from dreams full of the remembered smell of cooking food and suntan lotions, and the sounds of chatter and Matt’s open mic sets. For the past few days, he’s been working more and sleeping less. He feels like his brain is always riding high on the buzz of energy that won’t fade until he’s got to get up for work.

His stomach growls, having forgotten to grab a snack before bed because all he wanted was to go to sleep. He’s not surprised to find that he has run out of coffee and the two slices of bread in the fridge are now moldy. Between planning The End’s menu and his open mic sets, Kris has got a lot on his mind. So he just showers, puts on his jeans from the night before and a clean rumpled shirt before setting off to find some food.

He’s thinking of what to put on the dinner menu that day as he walks from his basement room to the café. The sun’s high in the sky and he can already feel how hot the day’s going to be with the morning air brushing over his face. He’s got a slight headache from the long night but he can’t let Andrew do all the work, especially with the lunch crowd all set to come in in just two hours.

“What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to come in until after lunch,” Andrew tells him as soon as Kris walks into the café’s backdoor.

“I can’t sleep, man. And there’s no food in my place,” he yawns as he grabs a piece of apple that Andrew’s slicing. “Better to be here than there.”

Allison laughs from where she’s stirring what Kris can smell is the curried chicken. “It’s like you don’t know Kris.” Kris nudges her shoulder.

Andrew shakes his head. “Go grab some bread. I thought we decided that if you’re doing the open mic nights, that you’ll stay out of this fucking kitchen until it’s way past noon?” He puts some coffee in a mug though, and hands it over to Kris.

Kris has been doing the open mic nights at The End for the past year. It was Matt’s idea to have it in the first place. In the beginning, it was just Matt and his percussionist friend Ali who played some songs every night. But later on, with Celine and Matt’s coaxing, Kris got on stage too, playing covers and some originals he’s written over the years. He plays every Thursday and Saturday nights, and he’s got a set of regulars coming by to see him. It’s not like the dreams he had when he was a kid of being a musician on the road, but he’s happy. He gets to play music, work in an amazing place, try new things and be with good friends.

Kris slathers a fresh piece of bread with some papaya jam that he made the previous week. He takes a bite before speaking. “It’s tourist season, I thought you could use a hand.”

Andrew’s about to say something when the door to the main room opens and a red-haired girl in a waitress uniform peeks in. Her eyebrows rise up when she sees Kris. “Well, thank god you’re here. People are starting to come in. It’s not even 11am!”

Kris smiles at her. “Well, thank you, Emma. At least someone’s happy to see me. Your boyfriend’s being grumpy.”

“I’m not grumpy,” Andrew huffs as Emma gives him a peck on the cheek.

“Then leave the dough alone and let me finish it,” Kris playfully punches Andrew’s side. He swallows the last of his breakfast and washes his hands before grabbing the green plaid apron hanging by the door.

The lunch menu Andrew and Kris decided on the day before is cold quinoa salad, an Ethiopian wrap called injera, Thai curried chicken, seared lemon-drizzled salmon, and olive chicken spaghetti. The café can only seat 20 people at one time, and with the novelty of the ever-changing menu, it has become one of Rue Falls’s most popular places. The End doesn’t accept reservations so a queue outside is almost always present. This means that they have longer lunch hours than most, and while they close between 2 and 5 pm, working there is still pretty demanding.

The rush hour of lunch flies by quickly. Kris, Andrew and Allison work seamlessly as a team, carrying out the orders that Emma and the other servers, Megan and Brad, hand over to them. When the last table is emptied at about 2:30, Kris is ready to fall facedown on his bed, the previous night’s lack of sleep catching up with him. But he’s hungry and the quinoa salad Andrew made looks really good, so he grabs a bowl of that.

He sits between Brad and Megan on the long table at the corner of the café. He nudges Brad’s shoulder. “You look good.”

Brad dramatically turns to him and bats his eyelashes. “Are you turning a new leaf, Kristopher? Have you finally realized that we’re meant to be? Does that mean I can dress you up and make you all pretty?”

Kris smirks but before he can say anything, Emma pipes in. “He’s always liked dick, Cheeks.”

Celine laughs. “And he’s already pretty.” When Brad pouts, she says, “but you’re way prettier. Obviously.”

“Whatever. It doesn’t hurt to try,” Brad says without heat, like he’s done this every single day Kris has known him. Which he has.

Kris digs into his food as Brad picks up the story he’s been telling before Kris sat with them. Kris is vaguely listening, already daydreaming about his bed and cool sheets, but when Brad says, “so when they told me it’s Adam Lambert, I was all, ‘sign me up!’ I fucking love that bitch,” Kris sharply turns to look at him.

Megan sighs. “He’s so hot. Oh, maybe he’ll come here!”

“What about Adam Lambert?” Kris asks, trying to sound casual.

“You need to start paying attention to me, honey.” Brad kisses his cheek before saying, “he’s coming to Rue Falls next month! He’s the new Bachelor, haven’t you heard?”

“Um, well, not really,” Kris admits.

“Well, he is, and they’re shooting some stuff here. So they’re bringing Adam and his crew full of pretty boys here for some fun,” Brad explains. He brings a hand to his chest. “I’ve signed on to be a stagehand slash tour guide. Good money and I totally need it to buy a car.”

Matt pipes in. “It’s just weird that we never got wind of it. Big show and celebrities like this, I’d have thought the word would’ve spread faster.”

Megan nods. “I know, for businesses like us, anyway.”

Brad bites into his apple before speaking, “well, from what I’ve heard, they were supposed to go somewhere else but it fell through. Adam suggested Rue Falls. So yep, one month from now, once all the permits are done and whatever, he’ll be here.”

“Do you know how long he’s staying?” Andrew asks.

“They said it’s for at least two weeks, so that means, I’ll be working my ass off. My afternoon and evening social calendar will totally suffer.” Brad only works in the café during lunch hour, and spends the rest of the day running around and being, well, Brad.

“At least you’ll be with a bunch of pretty boys, right?” Emma smirks.

Brad looks thoughtful for a minute then blurts out, “Well, I’m always with pretty boys now. There’s not going to be much difference.”

Kris laughs with them as they talk about Adam Lambert, the excitement obvious within the group. And it’s perfectly understandable. Adam’s Hollywood’s new It boy. He’s a hyphenate – model-jewelry designer-singer. And he’s everywhere – from magazine covers, product endorsements and red carpet events. He’s also a paparazzi target which makes his face a common sight at every news stand all over the country. The fact that he’s openly gay doesn’t make girls stop from throwing their panties at him. And they do, because apart from being charming, well spoken and really, really hot, he’s also got a voice to die for. The last bit of info Kris heard was that Adam went on a US-wide club tour to promote his debut album.

Kris knows Adam Lambert. He knows his songs and has them in his iPod – he’s even covered a few of them during his open mic nights – and he has read all about his life. Saw his pictures and interviews. Kris is definitely a fan.

But Kris also knows another Adam Lambert. Someone with blond hair instead of black. Someone with rounded cheeks instead of the chiseled angles of his face. Someone with still-unrealized dreams instead of concert tours and screaming fans. Someone he associates with warm summer nights, quiet mumbled songs and time capsules.

Matt’s voice stalls Kris’s train of thought. “Hey Kris, you spent your summers here when you were a kid, right?”

“Up until I was 16, yeah.” Kris had hoped no one really remembers that one little tidbit of info.

“Oh, apparently, Adam used to come a lot to Rue Falls when he was kid. You know, for summer, that’s why he wanted to come back,” Brad ponders.

Megan stares at Kris. “Didn’t you meet him or anything? I mean, it’s a pretty small town. It’s not like there were a lot of places where teenagers could hang out.”

Kris looks down and absently stirs the remaining quinoa salad on his bowl. He tries to sound casual when he says, “well yeah, I’ve met him.”

“Holy shit, and you didn’t even tell me?” Celine practically yells at him. She’s a huge Adam fan and Matt’s obviously trying to keep from laughing out loud at how excited she is.

Kris rubs the back of his neck. “I didn’t think it’s something that I need to tell everyone. Besides, I don’t even think he’ll remember me.”

Kris looks around the table to see his friends gaping at him. Only Brad’s smirking and Kris blushes. Brad says, “oh, interesting. There’s a story here.”

“There’s no story,” Kris protests and groans when they all start talking at the same time.

Emma’s voice rises above the chatter. “Kris honey, you wouldn’t have said that if there wasn’t a story.”

Kris knocks his forehead on the table and lets them talk over his head. This is the reason why he hasn’t told most people that he’s met Adam Lambert. He knows he can always say that it was just some random meeting, but he has a hard time controlling his reactions or how he says things. That’s the problem, really, because then they’d suspect and then they’d ask. And Kris would feel like a total moron because Adam wouldn’t even recognize him if they passed each other on the street.

He tells his friends this once they all quiet down and stop badgering him with questions. When Brad starts protesting again, Kris raises his right hand to shut him up and he says, “it’s nothing, really. We were just kids spending the summer here, we hung out a couple of times. It was totally way before he became famous.”

“It’s not nothing. You’re blushing,” Andrew observes and Kris has the urge to smack his pretty little face.

Allison just looks at her watch. “We’ve got two hours to kill before we start preparing for dinner. Just tell us. You know we’ll force it out of you, anyway.”

Kris glares at Allison, who just smiles at him unapologetically. He sighs and rubs his face with his hands. Allison’s right, though. So might as well give them the abridged version of his Adam Lambert encounter.

When he says, “ok fine,” Brad and Emma actually hug each other. Celine just pushes Megan away so she can sit beside Kris, like just by being closer she’d be closer to Adam Lambert. Allison and Andrew start hooting like the crazy people that they are. Matt’s the only one who sort of looks like he’s sorry for forcing the story out of Kris, but he’s also grinning like he can’t wait to hear it.

Kris rolls his eyes and thinks why just a few hours ago, he actually felt like these people are the best friends anyone could ever have. He’s totally having second thoughts about that.

Kris sits on top of the rock cliff at the far side of the beach. From where he’s sitting, he can see the people coming and going. The cars are also slowly filling up the parking lot on the other side of the area where the sand meets the gravel on the roadside. It’s a typical mid-August day in Rue Falls, and as he breathes in the smell of the ocean, he can’t imagine having a more perfect time at a more perfect place.

He’s been going to Rue Falls since he was nine. Seven years later, he still loves it like a second home. His memories of summer are filled with California skies, instead of Arkansas landscapes. His family usually leaves Arkansas about two weeks after school ends, and then they head out to his Aunt Mildred’s place in one of Rue Falls’ beachside communities to usually stay for a couple of weeks. Kris uses that time to reacquaint himself with the charming little coastal town, finding new nooks and corners to discover.

This particular summer though, Kris prefers to head over to the beach with his guitar and play some songs. It’s a new hobby he got just the summer before, and he tinkered around with his dad’s old acoustic. He’s been learning a lot of new songs, and just recently, he’s started to write his own.

He’s been trying to play ‘Come Together’ for two hours when he hears someone yelp behind him, obviously in pain. He quickly turns around in surprise and sees a guy on all fours, looking at him sheepishly and blushing furiously.

Kris gets up and extends a hand to help the guy get up on his feet. Kris finds himself a little bit out of breath when he looks up to find the guy giving him an embarrassed smile. So naturally he says, “um, you’re tall.”

The guy laughs, the sound slightly drowned out by the splash of waves from beneath the cliff. Then he says, “yeah, I am? And I’m Adam, by the way.” He gives Kris another embarrassed grin. “Sorry, I didn’t see you were here. Didn’t mean to disturb you or anything.” He glances at the guitar strapped to Kris.

Kris shakes his head. “Oh no, it’s ok. You have to be careful though. The climb here is pretty steep.” When he doesn’t say anything more, Kris finds Adam looking at him expectantly and frowns a bit. He awkwardly holds out his hand. “Oh, I’m Kris. Sorry.”

“Hi Kris,” Adam shakes his hand just as awkwardly. “Thanks again for saving my fat ass. I never even climbed trees when I was a kid, I don’t even know why I think I should be more adventurous now.” He rolls his eyes. “Um, so it’s ok, if I stay?”

Kris finds himself nodding eagerly. A part of his brain’s thinking when it became so warm, but then Adam smiles back at him, and Kris stops wondering. He vaguely waves a hand towards the guitar. “I hope I don’t bug you though.”

Adam smiles brightly at him. “Are you kidding? I love music. I can talk about it for hours!”

“Yeah? I’m not any good though, just learning.”

“I wish I could say the same thing,” Adam says as he walks towards the small piece of rock under the shade of the tree. “My brother plays the piano and I tried learning, but I don’t know, maybe I’m too impatient. But I can sing.”

“Maybe you can sing while I play,” Kris says. Then he feels his face get all hot. “Um, you don’t have to. I mean…”

“We can do that!” Adam beams at him. “As long as you promise not to be mad at me for hijacking your little corner like this.”

Kris thinks how he probably should be a little annoyed. But he looks at Adam’s fluffy blond hair, clear blue eyes and bright smile, and thinks that it won’t hurt to have a new friend. It’s always a better alternative than hanging out with his family most of the summer.

So he sits beside Adam and says, “I’m actually learning how to play ‘Come Together’ but I’m kind of sick of it. Any other song you want to sing?”

“Oh my god, that is the most adorable thing I’ve heard in years!”

Adam winces as his assistant Steen practically squeals in his ear. They’re on their way to another meeting, and the traffic in LA is being unforgiving. Somehow he started talking about the summers he spent in Rue Falls, and of course, that led to him talking about Kris.

Steen fully turns to Adam with shining eyes. “So, do you know where he is right now? Have you kept in touch with him?”

Adam sighs. “Well, I e-mailed him twice but it bounced. So I tried writing him. Then I called but they were still in Rue Falls and we moved to LA a week later. I lost that piece of paper where all his details are.”

“That’s so unfortunate.” Steen pouts.

Adam nods because it really was. He sulked for weeks when he lost Kris’s contact info. “And I went back to Rue Falls the following year but he wasn’t around. I thought of going back again after just to see if he’d be around but then, there’s life.” He waved vaguely in the air between them. “Then I met Drake, so yeah.”

“Have you tried Facebook? Or Twitter! It’s easy to creep on people on the internet,” Steen seriously says.

Adam shoots her a look. “Of course I’ve googled him!” Steen cracks up. “He’s not on Facebook. Not on Twitter. Unless he’s using a different name.”

“And the last time you checked was…?”

“I don’t know… last year, I guess?” He shrugs. “He’s probably married now. With kids. And probably a dog, he loves them so much. You know, I’m just wondering if he married a woman.”

Steen looks at him with a fond expression and says, “he seems sweet. Who knows? Maybe you’ll meet him again.”

“Maybe. I hope he comes to one of the shows and talks to me!”

“Yeah, right. Like it’s so easy to talk to you,” Steen snorts. “Would you remember him, if he actually does?”

Adam thinks about the quirk of Kris’s smile, the way his nose scrunches up when he laughs. The way his hands grip the guitar, sure and confident despite fumbling the chords to every Beatles song he tried learning. Or the way his brown eyes grew warm and wide before Adam kissed him.

“I’ll definitely remember him, no question about that.” He wonders about what Kris probably thinks now that Adam’s kind of famous. Knowing that Kris knows what’s happened to him makes Adam want to see him more, see what he’s been up to for the past ten years. He can admit to being curious, more than anything.

“Maybe you’ll talk to someone in Rue Falls who’s heard from him,” Steen offers and Adam just nods, knows that it is highly unlikely.

He sets aside the thoughts of Kris and tells Steen, “I’m just so happy they let us go to Rue Falls. I’m due for a vacation.”

“You’re working when you get there, Adam.”

“Whatever. It’s not like I won’t have some hours off from doing the show.”

“You can go around with Doug and Ste.”

Adam rolls his eyes. “Please. Those two are in love with each other. They don’t give a fuck about me.” He signed on to be on the show way before his campaign for Armani and his album took off. But now, he’s trying to see why he thought it was a good idea. He’s all tied up, and well, a commitment’s a commitment, so he has no choice but to stick it out.

“What? No, I really think Doug’s into you,” Steen says but even she sounds unconvinced.

“Does it even matter? I’m going to pick him anyway, and you know, play boyfriends for a year.” He shakes his head. “Strictly business, though. I don’t want to mess with poor Ste’s head.”

Everybody knows The Bachelor is scripted. But Adam went into it with the mindset that at least he’d meet a lot of cute guys, and maybe one of them would stick. He’s been single ever since he broke up with Sauli two years ago. And he gets lonely too. His days of hooking up with random people have passed, and after coming off a long committed relationship, he finds that he’s the kind who really wants going home and building a life with someone.

Steen tells him about his schedule for the day. He’s going to shoot some scenes with Doug in the new pastry shop that everyone in LA seems to be talking about. There’s going to be some sappy scenes, and there might be some kissing – which Adam totally plans on being all chaste and PG-rated because he doesn’t want to get maimed when he goes on his date with Ste. The date with Ste is going to be in a bar later that night, and Adam hopes that once the scenes were shot, he’d be able to meet someone just to have a drink with.

He tells Steen this, and he gets a glare. “Don’t you even dare. Go find someone you trust. Fuck a friend or something.”

“You’re the most romantic girl I’ve ever known. Have I told you that?”

“Whatever. You know what I mean.” Steen glares at him one more time before looking at her iPad again.

Adam sighs. He knows Steen’s right. But there’s nothing wrong with being a little bit in love. Or maybe a whole lot. Sometimes he wishes he weren’t such a romantic sap.

But at least there’s Rue Falls to look forward to. He can’t wait to see what the changes have been since he was last there. And he can’t wait to climb some rocks, look over the ocean and remember.

”So you’re moving to LA?” Kris props his chin on his guitar. The wind’s ruffling his hair and he’s wearing his glasses, and Adam wants to put him in his pocket and keep him.

He nods and smiles. “Just a few weeks after we go back home from here. I can’t wait to go out there, you know. Sing, maybe do some acting.”

“You’re going to be so amazing, I just know it,” Kris grins back at him and the warm tone of his voice makes Adam feel a bit giddy.

It’s been a week since he’s met Kris, and Adam can’t be more grateful. He’s been kind of dreading this summer, thinking that he’s outgrown Rue Falls. Plus Neil does his own thing now so he thought for sure that he’s not going to have anyone to hang out with. But since stumbling upon Kris on the rock cliff, they’ve hung out every afternoon. Sometimes they walk around the town side streets, checking the small stores and having some ice cream and smoothies. There was a day when they just sat in the den of Adam’s family’s vacation house and watched the Indiana Jones movies. But most of the time, they go to the top of the rock cliff (Adam’s starting to think of it as their rock puddle) and sing.

Kris always brings his guitar and after one afternoon where they thought they could write a song together, Adam started bringing a small notebook. They haven’t gotten round to finishing anything, but Kris has written some chord patterns there and some lines to a song he calls Land of Smiles. Adam just throws some of his own lines there, and Kris writes them down, saying that it could be the start of Adam’s first song. Adam can’t stop smiling every time he remembers it.

Especially when Kris looks at him in moments like this. Like he really believes that Adam’s going to be super successful, that his dreams are going to come true. Adam’s always believed it but having someone else see it too, is just the best feeling in the world.

So he smirks back at Kris and says, “well, you’re going to write my songs and sing them with me. We’re going to have a world tour together! And you’d have your pick of girlfriends!”

Adam tries so hard not to be charmed when Kris blushes. But he’s a lost cause so he just lets it go and flashes Kris a soft smile. Kris just blushes even more and Adam says, “oh, you like that, huh?”

“Well yeah… but um, not really?” Kris looks down at his toes buried in the sand. Then Adam’s heart beats faster when he hears Kris say, “Girls are ok, but boys are cool too.”

Adam feels his mouth open for about a second longer than is acceptable in this kind of situation, and he panics a bit when Kris’s shoulders hunch a bit. Kris is slowly turning away from Adam, face still red, when Adam reaches out to him. Kris turns back to him hesitantly and Adam doesn’t want this kind of uncertainty so he says, “boys are awesome. Totally way hotter than girls.”

When Kris’s eyes flick upward to look at him, Adam feels the breath catch in his throat. Somewhere in the back of his mind, something tells him that this is important, that he’s going to remember this forever. But all he can see right then is the lightness of Kris’s hair where the sun hits it, the brightness that suddenly fills his eyes when Adam reaches out to him. Mostly, Adam just thinks, so this is what it feels like.

Kris moves a little closer to him and Adam raises his arm to put around Kris’s shoulders. Kris is plucking out some tune on his guitar, and Adam hums absently. There are no words to the song just as yet. It’s something new. Something light. Adam makes a mental note to ask Kris to write the chords down on their notebook, but right now, this is perfect.

Kris is having a bad day. He has burnt a pot of maple sauce and Andrew has kicked him out of the kitchen. So now he’s standing beside Celine behind the cash register at the far end of the bar, watching all of their guests come in all excited. All because Adam Lambert’s doing some photo shoot right at the town center quad just a few blocks away from The End.

The thing is, Kris is nervous. He doesn’t even know why he is but he can’t help it. He doesn’t harbor any illusions that Adam would remember him. But just the fact that they’re in Rue Falls at the same time many years after they last saw each other is kind of mind-blowing, even to him.

He blames Emma for putting this in his brain. After telling them about how he knows Adam, his friends just looked at him like he was some panda in a zoo. Or a circus, in Brad’s case. But when Emma said, “this means something. The universe is conspiring for true love to happen,” Kris was the only one who laughed at how ridiculous she was.

Because it is ridiculous. Even on the offhand chance that Adam recognizes him, Kris still thinks what they had when they were kids has sailed away. Summer romances and puppy loves don’t last forever. Everybody knows that, even an idealistic optimist like Kris. So they might say hi to each other, talk awkwardly for a few minutes. Then Adam would go back to his glamorous amazing life, and Kris would go back to his quiet but equally awesome life.

“Stop staring at the door like you’re waiting for someone,” Celine murmurs beside him. Kris shoots her a withering look and she laughs, “what?”

Emma chooses to approach them at that time; Kris is impressed with her timing. “Just go to the quad and say hi, Kristopher.”

Kris laughs. “Really? You think I could just go over there and they’d just let me near him?”

Emma nods. “When he sees who you are, he’s going to bring you to his hotel room…”

“Please don’t tell me you know where he’s staying.” Celine and Emma look at him like he’s mentally challenged so Kris just shuts up.

“Anyway,” Emma waves her hands in the air, “he’s so totally going to flip when he sees how you look now.”

Kris snorts because seriously. It’s sweet that Emma thinks that though, so he says, “thanks, Emma. But you know, the only difference between then and now is my hair. Oh, and I grew a few inches.”

“Oh honey, don’t even lie to us. I agree about the hair, though,” Celine says and Kris seriously thinks of re-evaluating his friendships.

“You’re totally hot. In case you haven’t noticed, everyone who’s met you has a crush on you,” Emma says it all matter of fact.

“Whatever,” he mumbles. “He’s a model. He’s met a lot of cute guys, I won’t be anything special.” When Celine and Emma start protesting, Kris just raises his hands and say, “ok, I’m going to admit that it’d be awesome to talk to him. But I’m not going to stalk him or anything. That’s just creepy.”

Celine turns to him with a smile. “Please tell me you’ll say hi to him at least, when you run into him or something. Oh, maybe if he comes to eat here.”

“Yeah, of course,” Kris says. Then he sits a bit straighter when he sees that Emma’s looking at him with narrowed eyes. “Don’t you dare tell him about me if he comes here! I’m going to end you. Every single one of you.”

Emma says, “You’re so paranoid. It’s not his fault that you lost his contact info.”

“For the record, it got stolen.” Kris remembers sulking for weeks after his wallet was stolen at the LA airport right before they boarded the plane. He’s still beating himself up for putting it in his mother’s purse instead of his backpack thinking it would be safer there. “Besides, he has my e-mail and address, and he didn’t write. Not even once. So you know, all of it wasn’t totally a big deal to him at all.”

“All the more that you need to talk about what happened!” Emma presses on.

Kris knows Emma and her propensity for crazy schemes. So he tries to sound pleading when he says, “come on, Emma. I’m going to be so embarrassed.”

It seems to have worked because Emma just nudges his shoulder and says, “we wouldn’t do that to you, come on. We love your perky little ass.” Then she kisses the top of his head before yelling for Andrew to hurry up.

“Don’t worry about it,” Celine tells him and Kris loves his friends again.

The last of the people who had lunch have left, and Kris feels like he could use a nap. So he yells goodbye to no one in particular, and walks out the front door to go home. But when he reaches the front of his house, he walks past it.

Five minutes later, he sees the small crowd gathered on the quad watching the photo shoot as it progresses. Most of them are tourists who are taking pictures from their cellphones and cameras. There are also a few locals, and Kris stops a bit to talk to Mrs. Harper who owns the sunflower garden at the end of the street. She tells him she hasn’t seen Adam yet, but that she’s met him once when he was a kid and he came to the garden with his parents.

“He was probably 19 at that time,” Mrs. Harper recalls. “All blond hair and blue eyes. Just graduated from high school, though.”

Kris is surprised to hear that Adam came back to Rue Falls the summer after they met. He didn’t go back that year because his Aunt Mildred sold her house, and his family went to Florida instead for the summer. Which at that time, he thought was for the best. He didn’t want to go back to Rue Falls knowing that Adam was probably living it up in LA, having forgotten about Kris. Or that Adam would be in Rue Falls but ignore Kris completely, something that he thought was entirely possible since Adam didn’t keep in touch.

But it doesn’t matter now, anyway. They may be in the same place for another summer, but they’re different people. Kris feels weird thinking about it, but still, he knows it’d be good to see Adam.

There’s a murmur in the crowd and Kris turns to see that they’ve drifted a bit closer to the shoot site. He stands on the edge of the crowd, just a few feet from behind the small table where the photographer puts his equipment. People are milling around the area, and right at the center of everything is Adam.

Kris’s heart beats faster as he takes in Adam’s face. He looks different, obviously. Kris has seen him on tv and he’s bought every magazine that had Adam on the cover, but nothing prepared him for how larger than life Adam seems now. Gone was the boy who hummed love-tinged melodies and laughed at Kris’s silly lyrics. Looking at Adam’s sharp eyes, glistening pout of his lips and the long lithe body, Kris isn’t entirely convinced that the boy whose kisses tasted like mango smoothies could be the same one.

Adam has his arm around a guy who looks like Kris’s age, with a sweet smile and the prettiest eyes. They’re laughing together, and Kris thinks he sees a little bit of the Adam he knows. It’s disconcerting, and yet, Kris can’t seem to take his eyes off Adam.

The photographer waves at the guy on Adam’s arm and calls him Doug. Kris remembers Brad telling him that the two remaining guys in the show with Adam are Doug and Ste. Brad seems to favor Ste, and when he sees the photographer call a gorgeous dark-haired guy with sharp features and a hot little smirk with that name, Kris can see why.

Adam, Doug and Ste’s makeup are being retouched so there’s a kind of lull in the shoot. Kris just watches Adam move around and talk to people. He still seems nice, and Kris hopes that Adam hasn’t turned into one of those Hollywood prima donnas. He thinks that it would probably be better if he doesn’t know about it. Well, he chides himself, he won’t have the opportunity to know in the first place.

The makeup people stand over to the side as Adam, Doug and Ste walk back to the center of the quad. There’s a wishing fountain there called Rainbow Rue. There’s a statue of a little girl called Rue holding a dolphin, the water flowing from the dolphin’s spout. The rainbow from the name stuck because when the sun hits the water coming out of the dolphin’s spout, it always looks like there’s a rainbow right under the statue.

Kris watches as Doug rests his head on Adam’s right shoulder and Ste lightly leans on Adam’s left side. They look comfortable moving together, and Kris thinks that it’s maybe because they’ve been spending a lot of time together. He lets himself wonder what it could be like to spend lazy afternoons with Adam now, if Adam would still sing as Kris plays his guitar. Or write half-finished lyrics.

He’s still entertaining that thought when Adam’s eyes meet his. Kris’s heart stutters, and he’s completely unprepared for the panic and anticipation he’s feeling. Kris sees Adam tilt his head a bit to the right, his eyes narrowed. But after another second, the photographer calls Adam’s name. Adam looks away, and Kris quickly looks down, his face flushing.

Kris tucks his shaking hands into the pockets of his jeans and starts to walk away. He swallows the uncalled for disappointment he’s feeling. He already knows that Adam won’t know him anymore, but he’s unprepared for how bummed he is now that he has confirmed it. He even laughs a little when he realizes how nervous he was. Obviously, there’s nothing to be worried about, what was he thinking.

Suddenly, he’s very tired. The heat’s getting to him and he’s got another hour before dinner shift starts. Time to stop going crazy. He better just take a nap.

Kris and Adam are going to Smoothie Shack’s all-nighter beach party together. Kris has heard of the party – it’s a yearly thing at Rue Falls, and it seems like every kid or tourist who has set foot in the town has gone to at least one – but his parents didn’t let him go before. But now that he’s 16, he’s finally allowed as long as he doesn’t get drunk.

It’s Adam’s first time to go too, so they decide to meet a little bit later, closer to the time when the party’s really in full swing. So at midnight, they’re standing in front of the very crowded bar which serves the non-alcoholic drinks. The dj’s playing a pounding drum and bass trance track that’s got Adam swaying on his feet with his eyes closed. Kris tries but fails not to stare at Adam all sweaty and relaxed. Adam’s mouth is slightly parted and Kris thinks that if he were to step closer, he’d hear Adam humming with the tuneless dancey beat.

But as it is, he doesn’t want things to get awkward between them, now that he’s got a friend to spend the rest of the summer with. So he just stays where he is, sipping on ice-cold Coke and when he can look away from Adam, looking at the other people dancing. It’s a huge crowd but not crazy enough to make the atmosphere stifling or uncomfortable. Kris loves it, and with the slightly chilly ocean breeze drying the sweat off his skin, he knows that this is going to be one fun night.

When Kris turns away from the crowd, he sees Adam talking to the bartender, a slightly older lanky brown-haired guy who laughs when Adam says something. Kris can’t hear their conversation but he can see how the bartender’s checking Adam out when his eyes skim Adam from head to foot. Adam seems oblivious but he leans over the bar to whisper to the bartender’s ears, and Kris feels his stomach churn a bit.

Kris turns his back on Adam and the bartender, and looks at the crowd again. Somehow, he doesn’t find the scene as interesting as it was earlier. He just finishes his Coke and approaches the bar to get another one, already thinking of going home after he finishes it. He’s wondering if he should call Daniel to pick him up, seeing as Adam probably would be staying. Daniel would laugh at him, but at least it won’t be as lame as asking either his mom or dad to pick him up.

He’s leaning against the bar waiting for his drink when someone bumps into him. Before he can stumble onto the stool beside him, a pair of hands reaches out to keep him on his feet. Kris looks up and sees a guy about his age smiling at him apologetically.

“Hey, I’m sorry,” the guy says over the music, looking sheepishly at Kris. “It’s just too crowded in here.”

Kris replies with a reassuring smile. “It’s ok. We’re like dominos here.” Then he groans inwardly because how lame can he get, seriously?

The guy laughs though, and he looks at Kris, eyes bright. Then Kris sees him blush when he realizes that he’s still got his hands on Kris before awkwardly tucking them in the pockets of his shorts.

Kris just keeps smiling. He can’t help it; the guy’s super cute and he thinks maybe there’s a chance of meeting someone new, after all. Especially since Adam’s busy meeting other people too. He pushes that thought away and extends his hand. “I’m Kris.”

The guy looks a bit surprised but a smile brightens up his face when he takes in Kris’s extended hand. He shakes it as he says, “Cale. Nice to meet you, man.”

For a brief moment, Kris wonders if Cale’s into guys too. But then he just shrugs because even if Cale isn’t, Kris has a good feeling about him. Maybe they can be friends too, like Adam and him are. From the corner of his eye, he can see Adam still talking to the bartender. So he just talks to Cale.

And it’s good. Over the music, he learns that Cale’s a local of Rue Falls, and that he’s friends with the dj. They’re both iffy about the trance music, but Cale promises Kris that his friend’s going to play some awesome songs. Just as Cale says this, ‘No Diggity’ comes on. Kris looks at Cale, and without thinking, they both bop their heads to the beat. Kris laughs when Cale wiggles his eyebrows and he answers by moving his hips a bit. He knows he probably looks all sorts of awkward and dorky, but he doesn’t care because Cale’s laughing so hard.

Kris is having a good time but he still finds himself trying to look at Adam from the corner of his eye. He’s pretty surprised when he sees that Adam’s also looking at him, the bartender leaning forward to speak in Adam’s ear. Kris quickly looks away, and he tells himself that he’s ridiculous for feeling like he got caught when he’s just staying out of Adam’s way.

‘California Love’ comes on next and Kris turns to give Cale an approving nod. He starts to lean closer to tell Cale that he loves the song, but he stops when he feels a heavy arm drape over his shoulders. He turns and finds himself staring at Adam who’s standing so close Kris can see the freckles on his lips and on the bridge of his nose.

Kris feels the knot on his stomach loosen and he can feel his cheeks stretch from smiling. He’s having fun with Cale but now that Adam’s standing there beside him, he feels excited and nervous and just plain relieved, all at the same time.

He hears Adam introduce himself to Cale. Cale smiles at Adam and reaches out to shake his hand after telling Adam his name. Adam drops his right arm from Kris’s shoulders but he quickly walks around to put his left arm on Kris’s shoulders before shaking Cale’s hand. Kris bites his lips and looks down, not wanting to meet either Cale or Adam’s eyes.

Kris can hear Adam and Cale make small talk, but he barely registers what they’re talking about. All Kris is aware of is the heat of Adam’s body beside his, the warmth of Adam’s breath ruffling Kris’s hair. Without really meaning to, Kris shuffles closer until his head is almost resting on Adam’s chest. He feels Adam tug him closer and Kris just breathes deeply, fighting not to close his eyes because, well.

He looks up when Cale says, “I was just going to ask Kris to check the hotdog stand down there.”

Kris feels Adam stiffen a bit and he thinks Adam might be cold so he just puts his arm around Adam’s waist. Adam relaxes and tells Cale, “well, he’s with me.” Then he looks at Kris, eyes questioning. “You are, right?”

For some reason, the way Adam’s looking at him makes Kris’s heart stutter. So he stands on his tiptoes to talk near Adam’s ear. “I am.”

Adam shivers and Kris feels heat course through him. They stare at each other for what seemed like forever until Kris feels giddy with it. He remembers that Cale’s still there and he quickly looks away from Adam.

He finds Cale looking at them with amusement on his face. When he sees that Kris is looking at him, Cale shrugs and says, “well then, I’ll just go and check it out. See you guys around.” He steps back to the crowd with a little wave.

Kris suddenly feels awkward. He knows that something happened there but he doesn’t want to think about it too much. For now, he’s just happy with Adam draped over him, and Kris just wants to snuggle with him forever.

“So. Want to leave? We can just hang out somewhere that’s not here,” Adam says, his lips touching Kris’s earlobe.

Well, Kris loves that idea but he also knows that Adam’s been looking forward to the party. So he says, “Are you sure? We can stay for a while, I know you want to.”

“Nah, we can’t drink anyway,” Adam shrugs. “Unless you want to stay?”

The uncertainty in Adam’s voice makes Kris want to hug him. So he does just that, wrapping both arms around Adam’s waist and burying his face on the crook of Adam’s shoulder. Then he murmurs, “how about a walk down the beach?”

He feels rather than sees Adam nod, Adam’s chin lightly grazing the top of his head. When Kris chances a look at Adam’s face, he sees Adam gazing back at him all tender and fond. Kris just smiles and thinks that he can never imagine wanting to be anywhere else. With anyone else.

Adam’s hungry and since he’s shooting a romantic dinner with Ste at the beach, it’s really putting him in a foul mood. But he can’t eat when he’s working, and despite the really beautiful setting and some seared salmon that looks really good, this is still work.

He looks at his watch when their director Claire yells cut. When she tells them that she needs one more shot from an angle that captures the light coming from the setting sun behind them, Adam pouts.

Ste pats his hand. “Just one more take. Make sure the googly eyes you’ll give me are very convincing so we can just eat.”

Adam laughs despite himself. Looking across the table, Adam’s struck again of how gorgeous Ste is. Adam has a thing for guys with amazing bone structure, and Ste totally fits that. Plus Adam really finds Ste’s British accent sexy. But he’s not one to stand between two people in love – which Ste and Doug are, even if they’re not acting on it yet – so he just plays the role the best that he can.

Kurt, Adam’s stylist, approaches them and fixes the collar of Adam’s linen shirt. Adam asks him, “have you heard of a good place to eat here? I haven’t even had time to go around!”

“Honey, you’ve been here two days, of course you haven’t had time.” Kurt fusses about his hair and hums thoughtfully. “Well. Blaine went out to have lunch with this guy…”

Adam fake-gasps. “Your boyfriend did what?” Kurt’s been dating Blaine, the show’s writer, for a few months now. Every time Adam sees them, he highly doubts if there’s a sappier couple in existence.

“Oh shut up, you drama queen.” Kurt rolls his eyes as Ste laughs. “It’s with this guy Brad who’s helping him find some awesome places for you guys to have dates in. So Brad takes him to this café called The End, and Blaine says the place is great.”

Ste pipes in. “So we’re shooting there?”

Kurt shrugs. “I don’t know for sure. But Claire wants some really romantic places and from what Blaine has told me, The End’s kind of like a typical beach café. There’s live music, though.”

Adam perks up at that. “Maybe it’s a new place. It wasn’t here when my family and I came here.”

Claire then tells them to go back to their places and Kurt walks over to the side. As soon as the camera rolls, Adam and Ste take small bites of their salmon and some salad. For Adam’s part, he mostly just sips his wine while Ste talks about working in a bakery back in his hometown of Hollyoaks in England when he was a teenager.

The shoot wraps up after that and Adam goes back to the house he’s renting for two weeks with Steen and his bodyguard Jeremy. He takes a shower and that improves his mood, so he decides to take a walk. He figures he can go by himself, and both Jeremy and Steen frown at that.

“It’s Rue Falls. If someone approaches me, I’ll smile and sign autographs. Big deal,” he huffs as he puts on one of his old shirts.

Steen sighs. “Ok, but call me or Jeremy if you need us.”

“Go have fun! I won’t be going far, anyway. I’ll probably just grab some dinner then come back here.”

He leaves before Jeremy gets out of the shower, just because he doesn’t want to give the same argument. Adam thinks they’re both being ridiculous seeing as he’s not that famous yet. A moderate hit of an album and a campaign with Armani doesn’t make him a household name.

But then, ten minutes into his walk, he finds himself being asked about four times if it’s ok to take his picture. It weirds him out but at the same time, it makes him happy knowing that he’s getting somewhere.

Adam’s always wanted to be famous. Not for any other reason, but what he loves is the work that goes with it. He loves dressing up and photo shoots. He loves meeting creative and interesting people. He thinks that this kind of work is a good outlet to express himself, to make a difference, be creative. The money and the fact that people recognize him are nice, too. He’s bought his own house in a gated community after he landed his big Armani deal, and he finally feels that he’s getting settled.

And he has an album out – finally, after all those years of playing every gig imaginable in the LA club circuit. It was a surprise when it became a hit. Adam thinks it could be because of the buzz generated by his modeling gigs, but he’s not going to complain. If his risqué fashion style and pretty face make people listen to his music, then his life couldn’t be any better.

The album was his life for years. All the songs in Kaleidoscope Lullabies were written in between his random jobs, back from when he was just struggling to survive in his first few years in LA. Some of the people he wrote the songs with are either still his very best friends or have drifted away. For Adam, his album is a collection of snapshots of his life told through club anthems, glam rock throwbacks and quiet introspective ballads.

He remembers writing a song here in Rue Falls back when he was 19, during that summer when Kris didn’t come back. It was the first song he finished. He’d tried finishing something with Kris but at the end, all those stray lines and chords from the summer before were buried in a time capsule. Adam wistfully wonders if there will come a time when he’d be able to see those songs again, maybe finish them. But without Kris, it just wouldn’t be right.

Adam has never really thought about Kris as much in the past few years. Except for that last summer when he wondered why Kris and his family didn’t come to Rue Falls at all. Now that he’s back, it seems like he’s always thinking about what happened to Kris over the years. He wonders if Kris bought his album, if he’s proud that Adam’s finally living his dream. Most of all, he wishes that Kris still writes those songs he kept inside him. Even after meeting a lot of people in his job, Adam still believes that there’s nothing more beautiful than those random melodies Kris plucks on his guitar.

Adam pushes the thoughts of Kris away when he sees a small café with the quaint sign The End above its doors. He’s intrigued because the place looks moderately sized and there’s a queue of about 10 people waiting outside. He walks to the end of the queue, sitting on a wooden bench by the café’s outside walls. He’s hungry but he doesn’t want to walk any further, so he just settles there and checks his e-mails on his phone.

He’s not even halfway through reading one of Blaine’s e-mails (Adam seriously wonders why Blaine won’t just call him) when he hears a gasp followed by, “Holy shit. Adam Lambert. I adore you. ” He looks up and finds himself facing a gorgeous redhead wearing what looks like a waitress apron.

Adam smiles automatically. “Hi…” he looks at the waitress’ nametag, “Emma.”

Emma’s looking at him with wide eyes and her mouth’s slightly parted. “Why are you sitting here? Why don’t you just go inside?”

He waves his hand vaguely towards the people on queue, and that makes Emma laugh. She says, “oh shut up, come on!” Then she tugs Adam inside and they go through the front doors.

As soon as they’re inside, Adam’s absolutely charmed. The inside of the café isn’t too big, and there are only just about ten tables with four or six chairs each. Each of the tables is topped with a small vase with wildflowers, and candles. A jukebox is playing on one corner beside what Adam thinks might be a small stage. The lighting isn’t too bright but it’s not too dim either. All in all, it seems like a casual place where people hang out and eat, instead of going on a first date. But it’s perfect for probably a third date, he thinks wryly. He can already see why it seems popular.

Emma tugs him towards the bar where a good-looking guy wearing a cap is serving drinks. Adam hears Emma yell, “Matt. Look who I found lurking outside,” and the bartender turns.

Matt quickly walks towards him and shakes his hand. “Nice to see you here. I’m Matt, by the way,” he tells Adam. Adam wonders why it feels like he’s suddenly meeting a lot of British guys these days.

“I’m Adam,” he says after letting go of Matt’s hand. “Great place you have here.”

“Yeah? Thanks, my wife and I are pretty proud of it. She’s not here, though. I gotta warn you, she’s a big fan. Please don’t be scared when you meet her,” Matt winks and Adam just laughs.

“I’ll be happy to meet her,” he says then turns to Emma. “What can you recommend for dinner? I’m starved.”

For some reason, Emma gets a weird look on her face, but it’s gone before Adam can think about what that means. She brightly says, “oh, we have strawberry and broccoli salad. And you have to try our chicken wings!”

“Ok, I’ll have some of those, thank you,” Adam nods. His stomach growls in anticipation of food. Matt puts a glass of some blue cocktail in front of Adam and tells him that it’s on the house. Soon after, Matt walks him to the table in a secluded corner of the café.

“Will it just be you? Or are you meeting someone?” Matt asks him as Adam sits on the chair tucked in the corner.

“Just me,” Adam says. Matt nods and tells him to call either Emma or him if he needs anything.

His dinner arrives shortly after. And it’s amazing. Adam wonders how such simple food can make him so satisfied. But there’s something smoky and addictive in the chicken wings sauce that makes him lick his fingers. And the yogurt dressing of the broccoli and strawberry salad perfectly complements the strong flavor of the chicken. He’s still wiping his hands on the wet towel Emma handed to him, when Matt comes back with a slice of cake.

“Try it. I don’t think you can find this anywhere else,” Matt smiles at him, before walking back to the bar.

Adam groans because seriously, he’s cutting down on desserts. But the cake looks sinful, with the chocolate icing melting on top and the white and gold cake just looking so soft. He takes his fork and puts a small piece of the cake into his mouth. Then he just sits up straight because he’s had this cake before.

Adam won’t ever forget having orange soda cake.

Without even thinking about it, he gets up and walks over to the bar to talk to Matt. But Emma meets him halfway with question in her eyes so Adam just blurts out, “where did you get the cake?”

Emma smiles at him. “Oh, the orange soda cake. Isn’t it awesome? Our chef made it.”

Adam’s heart is pounding like crazy and he’s catching his breath. Emma’s starting to look at him weird so he just says, “I want to meet your chef.”

Emma tilts her head to the side, looking like she’s thinking about something. But after just a few seconds, she just smiles brightly and says, “Go finish your cake. I’ll ask him to come out.”

Adam nods, his chest still feeling heavy. His hands are cold and he can feel his knees getting wobbly. Is it really possible? He shakes his head, but he knows he can never be wrong about this.

He sees Emma come out of the kitchen door at the far end of the bar. Adam holds his breath. A tall lanky guy with floppy brown hair and a wide smile follows Emma, and walks towards Adam’s table. Adam releases the breath he’s been holding, lets the disappointment course through him for a while.

Stupid orange soda cake.

Adam smiles when Emma and the chef reach his table. He holds out his hand to the guy and says, “You must be the chef. I’m Adam.”

“Hello, and nice to meet you. I’m Andrew.” Adam thinks oh right, another cute British guy. “Emma here said you wanted to meet me?”

Adam nods and tries not to let the disappointment show through his smile. “Yeah, just to let you know how amazing the food here is.”

“Thanks, that’s always wonderful to hear. Did you like the cake?” Andrew asks him. “It’s a specialty here. I don’t know if you’ve had it anywhere else before.”

Adam’s heart goes crazy again for no reason at all. But he just nods and says, “oh yeah, I’ve tried some orange soda cake before.”

Emma and Andrew goggle at him, and Adam feels weird under the scrutiny. So he tries to school his features and says, “Weirdly enough, it was also here in Rue Falls. Not in this café, though. You guys weren’t around then.”

Emma gives him a dazzling smile and Adam doesn’t miss how her hands squeeze Andrew’s. She then says, “yeah?”

Adam just smiles back at Emma and Andrew, and sighs. The nostalgia he feels is overpowering but then, Andrew’s the one who made the cake. He logically thinks that it’s a simple enough recipe to experiment with. But he still can’t help the trace of wistfulness that crept into his voice when he says, “yeah, best cake I’ve ever had. The last time I had it was a long time ago, though.”

Adam seems to find himself being in a ridiculously good mood whenever he’s around Kris. Or just thinking about being around Kris. It’s crazy, but even his family notices it. Neil even commented that he’ll probably get away with selling Adam’s precious signed Bowie album; Adam smacked him on the head, of course.

What amazes Adam even more is that Kris is hardly his type, but all he wants to do is hang out with him. Sure, Kris ticks his boxes for Southern, pretty and tiny, but they really don’t like doing the same things. Adam’s into the dramatic and crazy; Kris likes laidback and quiet. Adam’s sure that if they didn’t get into talking about music the first time they met, they wouldn’t have discovered how much they really have in common.

Like, now, Adam’s looking at Kris mix some cake dough. They’re standing in the kitchen of Kris’s Aunt Mildred’s house and the sun’s bright outside. Adam would’ve preferred going to one of the small restaurants near the town square to have some tea, but he’s watching Kris bake instead. If any of his friends hears that he’s wasting a totally good afternoon just watching some boy cook, he’s never going to hear the end of it.

But he’s having fun watching Kris measure the sugar and the flour. He wants to take a picture of Kris’s fingers, the calluses on his fingers buried under the moist cake dough. He laughs when Kris tells some lame joke about the egg whites he’s beating. Yes, Adam’s a creeper, but he doesn’t care because he just can’t stop smiling.

When Kris takes out a bottle of orange soda from the fridge and starts to pour some into a measuring cup, Adam says, “seriously?”

Kris laughs. “Hey, wait until you taste it.”

“Where did you learn this anyway?”

Kris pours the orange soda over the cake mixture and starts mixing it. “I made it up. I wanted some orange-flavored cake, but we didn’t have any. But we have some orange soda, so there you go.”

Adam wrinkles his nose. “You’re weird.”

“You’re saying that now…” Kris waves the wooden spoon in front of Adam’s face. “No seriously, those who’ve tried this always ask for more.”

Adam grins. “I better be impressed.”

Kris looks at him, the side of his mouth quirking a bit. “That’s the idea?”

Adam feels warm all over and he just grins stupidly at Kris. Kris dips a finger to the dough, and puts it in his mouth to taste. Adam knows he’s staring but he has stopped caring the moment Kris opened the door earlier that afternoon wearing a denim apron. He’s still wondering when he started finding a guy with bowl cut hair hot.

“Want to try it?” Kris offers, thrusting the bowl at Adam.

Adam’s slightly peeved because that means he has to stop looking at Kris’s mouth. But he just shakes his head and says, “I’ll just wait until it’s done.”

Kris shrugs and pours the mix to the cake pan. He then puts it in the pre-heated oven and once that’s done, he washes his hands. All the while he’s talking to Adam about some horror movie he saw on cable the night before. He then takes out the things they need for the icing and puts it in front of Adam.

“Now you can make the chocolate icing,” Kris just says as Adam stares at him dumbly.

“You realize I don’t know shit about this, right?” He raises his eyebrows. “I’m just here to eat.”

“We’ll do it together,” Kris says. “I melted the chocolate in the pot over there, now we’ll just mix everything in this bowl.”

And that’s how Adam ends up mixing the chocolate icing in a stainless bowl while Kris puts on some Queen in the cd player. They’re singing together, Adam using the spatula as his mic and Kris leaning on the counter leaning helplessly as he laughs.

Once the cake’s done, they let it sit for a while. They end up taking a nap together on the deck. When Adam wakes up, Kris is leaning against him, head lolling as he sleeps. Adam stares at Kris for a while before lifting his arm to tug Kris closer. Kris just snuffles a bit, but he just settles comfortably against Adam’s chest. Adam feels overwhelmed for some reason, his breath coming in a bit faster. Kris smells like cake and chocolate and the summer breeze, and all Adam wants to do is to bury his nose in Kris’s hair.

Adam closes his eyes to take another nap. When he wakes up, he finds Kris looking up at him. Kris is smiling slightly and he feels warm against Adam. Adam doesn’t think about it before leaning down and placing a chaste kiss on Kris’s lips. Kris gasps a little and Adam takes the time to bite Kris’s lower lip, to nibble on it. Kris starts kissing back, and Adam tugs Kris onto his lap, letting his hands touch.

When Kris breaks away to catch a breath, Adam puts a hand at the back of Kris’s head to tug him forward. He presses their foreheads together, and Adam can’t stop looking at Kris’s mouth.

Kris sounds a little breathless when he says, “let’s go finish the cake.” Then he leans down to kiss Adam again and all Adam can think about is how perfect everything is.

They manage to stop touching each other after a while, Kris tugging Adam up from the bench on the deck. Adam wraps his arms around Kris as they walk to the kitchen and he keeps on standing behind Kris as they put the icing on the cake together.

Adam takes the first bite of the orange soda cake from Kris’s fingers. Kris holds a small piece of it between his thumb and forefinger, and Adam licks the chocolate icing on his fingers. Kris feeds him the entire slice, small bites in between kisses. And when they finish it, they take a walk on the beach, ending it by making out on top of their rock cliff.

When Adam walks Kris home, Kris gives him half of the orange soda cake and kisses him goodbye under the moonlight. As soon as Adam’s home, he opens the container and eats two slices of the cake. Neil asks for some but Adam chases him out of the kitchen.

Kris goes to LA for two days, buying some things for the café. By the second night, he can’t wait to just do the hour and a half drive back to Rue Falls. He’s got the entire day off before going back to work and he’s so looking forward to it.

He normally loves going to LA, loves the energy of the city and he spends it taking some pictures, trying out some restaurants and buying some music. But the craziness of the tourist summer season at The End just exhausts him. And much as he doesn’t want to admit it, Adam being in Rue Falls kind of makes him tired too.

He’s been thinking of Adam way more than he should. Seeing Adam the day before he left only made things worse. Because Adam looks better than he does in all those magazines and tv interviews. He’s not entirely the Adam Kris knew, he can say that for sure, but when Kris saw Adam’s smile, it makes him think of stuff when he’d rather not.

So some sleep after the long drive from LA would be nice, that’s why he chooses to just drive in the middle of the night to avoid the traffic. As soon as he gets home at around 4am, he falls facedown on the bed and goes to sleep.

Which is interrupted so rudely by Brad, who wakes him up three hours later with a nudge on the shoulder.

“Kristopher, wake up! It’s an emergency!” Brad whispers to his ear and Kris groans.

He turns away quickly, burying his face under a body pillow. “The last time you had an emergency, you went makeup shopping. So… no.”

Kris feels Brad stand on the bed and step over him. Then Kris opens one eye to see Brad’s face close to his, and Brad looks kind of pale. He can also see the dark shadows under Brad’s eyes and well, Brad never goes out without at least some concealer.

Kris sighs. “Ok, what happened? Can’t Andrew take care of it?”

Brad looks confused for a moment, and then he says, “oh no, the kitchen’s fine. I need your help with another thing.”

Kris is starting to get nervous. “Tell me. So I can say no already.”

“You wound me,” Brad says, sounding so confident that Kris would actually help him. “I’ve been throwing up since last night. Some shellfish disaster. Such a bad omen – that guy’s not getting a second date. Anyway, I feel terrible and I called Celine to let her know and…” he takes a deep breath, “I need you to cover for me in the Bachelor thing.”

“You’re kidding, right?” He can feel the panic start and it’s a totally unwelcome feeling.

Brad turns wide pathetic eyes on Kris. He bites his lips and Kris thinks that he actually looks contrite. “Um, no? Come on Kris…”

“It’s my day off!” Kris whines and closes his eyes.

“I’m sorry, I know. But no one else is available! It’s just for today, though. I’ll definitely try and be there tomorrow.” Brad hugs him and Kris can feel himself giving in without meaning to. “I’ll totally make it up to you, I promise. It’s just a short shoot today, you can still sleep in until 1.”

Yeah, like that’s going to happen, Kris thinks. He sighs and mumbles, “you’re so going to owe me.”

Brad hugs him tighter and whispers, “you’re awesome!” in his ear. Then he pulls back and looks at Kris, all excited. “Oh, you’ll get to see Adam!”

Brad gets a funny look on his face and Kris narrows his eyes. He got a bunch of weird texts from Emma, Allison and Celine when he was in LA, and now Brad’s making eyes at him. “What happened?”

“Nothing! You’re so paranoid,” Brad huffs. But Kris still has a weird feeling about the whole thing.

“Are you really sick? Because you’re so going to have your ass kicked if you’re playing me.”

“Hot, but no! The doctor at the walk-in clinic gave me a shot but she said I might throw up some more later,” and Brad actually pouts. Kris pushes the weird thoughts away and decides that Brad’s a schemer, yes, but he’s also Kris’s friend.

Kris rolls away from Brad and stretches. “What time do I have to be there?”

“The shoot starts at 3,” Brad quickly says as if Kris would change his mind. “So you have to be there at least an hour early. It’s at small restaurant beside the rock cliff.”

Kris mumbles. “Of course. It has to be there.”

“It’s perfect! You can rest there after the shoot’s done,” Brad says. Then he squeals. “And oh my god, didn’t you meet Adam there?”

He just nods vaguely. “Well yeah. It’s been ten years, though. Things have changed.” Brad gets a weird look on his face again, like he wants to tell Kris something, but Kris has had enough of this today. He has to be around Adam and it’s making him nervous. He’s even clenching his teeth, which is so totally not good. So before Brad can say anything more, Kris just says, “anyway, that’s not important. So what should I do for this job?”

At 2pm later that day, Kris is already trailing after Blaine, the show’s writer. He’s balancing the clipboards on his arms as he takes notes while Blaine talks to Claire, the director. They’re saying something about having Adam and Doug walk on the beach, and sip some cocktails while talking about Doug’s family.

Every mention of Adam’s name makes Kris more on edge. Adam still hasn’t arrived on set, and Kris tries to train himself not to look around to wait for him. It’s unnerving, and he’s obviously distracted, but Blaine just smiles at him. Kris thinks it’s because he’s just covering for Brad, which is part of it, but the uneasy, heady feeling is hugely because of Adam.

He forces himself to snap out of it, and it helps when he gets sent to talk to the restaurant’s manager to tell them what they should serve. So when he gets back on set, he’s pretty relaxed. But all the crazy feelings come back when he spots Adam standing just outside the air-conditioned tent they’ve set up.

Kris finds himself rooted on the spot, eyes completely on Adam. He’s closer now than when he went to the town quad on the day of the photo shoot, and the way Kris’s heart is pounding completely takes him by surprise. He chalks it up to nostalgia, because he knows how Adam kisses. He knows how Adam lights up when he’s happy. He knows how soft and beautiful Adam’s voice is when he says good night and don’t go.

Blaine appears at his side and Kris quickly turns away from Adam, pushing down the force of memories. He smiles when Blaine tells him that Claire’s looking for him.

Kris turns and walks over to where Claire is standing near the table where Adam and Doug are sitting. He feels hot all over and he looks down as he walks towards Claire. Then he kind of virtually rolls his eyes at himself, because Adam’s deep in conversation with Doug and not even looking his way.

Claire smiles at him when he gets to her side. “Kris!” She points to the blueberry, cherry and corn dessert on the table. “Is that what we ordered? I want the Rainbow Parfait, because it’s a thing here, right?”

Kris nods. The restaurant they’re at is famous for the Rainbow Parfait. “That’s exactly it. Looks like it kind of melted though.”

“Yeah, it won’t look good on camera,” Claire says. “Would you be a dear and tell them to make two new ones, then we can have them bring it out when we’re all set to roll?”

“No problem.” He starts to walk towards the restaurant, Claire’s “thank you, Kris” following him. He passes by Adam and Doug, but he keeps his eyes set on the distance, not even daring to take a glance.

He’s just stepped out of the restaurant and looking at the clipboard when he hears, “Are you Kris?”

Kris underlines tell Blaine about peacocks and without looking up, he says, “yep, anything I can help you with?”

Kris hears a gasp and when he looks up, he finds himself face to face with Adam. Adam’s looking at him without blinking, and Kris fidgets because he can feel himself blushing. He tries to smile.

“I’m Adam,” Adam says unhelpfully. Kris kind of wants to laugh. But then, his heart is going into overdrive and he knows he’s not breathing properly. Also, Adam’s not giving any hints whether he knows who Kris is, so Kris just calms himself down and does his job.

“Hi, I know who you are,” he says. Adam smiles brightly, and Kris wants to take a picture and keep it forever. He’s that lame. “Um, need my help?”

Adam’s smile dims a bit, then his eyes go wide and he laughs. “You don’t remember who I am!”

Everything then falls into place and the relief that Kris feels is totally unexpected. He chuckles nervously and he says, “of course, I remember you. Welcome back, man.”

Adam gets a gleeful look on his face, and Kris feels the sudden overwhelming urge to kiss him. Which isn’t helped by the fact that Adam practically jumps to hug him, and Kris finds himself hugging back. It’s so familiar to be buried in Adam’s arms like that, yet still so different. But it still feels so good.

When Adam whispers, “I can’t believe you’re really here,” Kris just nods and buries his face on Adam’s chest.

Adam thinks he’s dreaming, or having some heat-induced hallucination. Because there is no fucking way on earth that he’s got his arms wrapped around Kris right now.

But Adam buries his smile in Kris’s hair and it’s just like yesterday since he last saw him. Kris has filled up – Adam can totally feel the muscles beneath Kris’s thin white shirt – but he still fits so nicely against Adam. And if Adam’s being honest, it’s totally blowing his mind.

“This is the most awesome surprise ever,” Adam says, breathless and giddy. He can feel the rumble of Kris’s laugh, the sound still so familiar. Or maybe it’s just that Adam still feels the same way he did when he was 18 and he made Kris laugh.

They stay wrapped around each other for what seems like forever. But then Kris takes a deep breath and steps away from Adam. Adam looks at Kris’s face and he wants to reach out and kiss him, just to see if it would still feel as amazing as before.

But Kris is fidgeting and blushing; Adam can feel the awkwardness radiating off him. Kris’s shoulders are tense and he can’t meet Adam’s eyes, but at the same time, it feels like he can’t stop staring at Adam either.

Adam sighs happily. “Oh Kris, you look so good.”

Kris rubs the back of his neck and gives Adam a small smile. “Um yeah. I don’t know…”

Adam rolls his eyes and teases, “Still can’t take a compliment.”

That makes Kris chuckle and blush even more, if that’s even possible. Adam wants to eat him with a spoon. Kris then looks at him and says, “thanks, I guess. I mean, I still look the same. But you…” he waves a hand vaguely towards Adam.

Adam can’t help but preen. “You like the hair?”

“Yeah, it suits you,” Kris nods. “But I liked it when you were blond too, so…” then his eyes widen. He looks down at his shoes then takes a deep breath. “Anyway, it’s good to see you. Who would’ve thought, right?”

“I know,” Adam can hear his tone go wistful. “Hey, we should catch up.”

Kris quickly answers. “Yeah, ok. I know you’re busy with all of these, and Doug and Ste. And um, everything else. So maybe when you have time.”

“I’ll make the time. Come on, when I heard Claire say your name, I don’t even know…”

Kris is about to say something when they hear Blaine calling him. So Adam’s really disappointed when Kris says, “um, see you around. Have a good shoot, ok?”

Then he just turns away, leaving Adam staring at his back. Adam’s so confused. One minute, they cling to each other as if ten years hadn’t come and gone. The next Kris seems to be pulling away and acting so distant that all Adam wants to do is just to pull him back in.

He then hears Kurt looking for him so he walks back to the trailer. They start shooting the dinner with Doug and Adam’s concentration is for shit. He finds himself looking sideways every few minutes, trying to get a glimpse of Kris. Claire takes him aside after a botched take where he’s supposed to kiss the corner of Doug’s mouth, and he fucks it up when he sees Kris standing behind Blaine. Kris is watching them, and Adam can’t help but stare, taking in the subtle changes on Kris’s face.

Then he realizes that the more he messes up, the longer it would take for him to hang out with Kris. So he tries to look so in love with Doug, and a little over 9pm, Claire tells them that it’s a wrap.

Adam gets up, looking around but doesn’t see any sign of Kris. He curses and when he sees Steen, he pulls her aside and asks, “Did you see that guy who’s helping Blaine? Kris?”

“Hot guy? Kinda short?” Steen says, her eyes still on her iPad.

“Yeah,” Adam agrees. Then he takes the iPad from her and says, “he’s my Kris.” At Steen’s confused stare, he whispers in her ear, “you know, Rue Falls Kris? Cake kisses? Time capsule?”

Steen squeals and Adam steps back, nodding at her. Steen puts a hand over her chest and says, “oh my god, this is the best thing ever! Why is he here? What happened?”

“I don’t know!” He flails a bit at Steen. “That’s why you have to go find him while I take off my makeup and…”

“Ahhh, there he is!” Steen jumps a bit and pulls Adam towards the edge of the shoot area. He sees Kris talking to Blaine and then Kris waves goodbye, turning away slightly with his bag slung on his shoulder.

Adam panics because he still doesn’t have Kris’s number. And he doesn’t know where to find him. Then he hears Steen call out, “Kris, wait up!” as she tugs on Adam’s arm so they can walk faster. Adam vaguely thinks that it must look pretty embarrassing, but he really can’t care less.

Kris stops and turns back. Adam sees Kris’s eyes light up and Adam can’t help but grin stupidly. As soon as they’re in front of each other, Kris says, “hi, Steen. Adam. Um, yes?”

Steen nudges Adam. Adam quickly asks, “Where are you going?”

“Oh. I’m off work now,” Kris answers, looking confused. “Did you want to ask me anything? I don’t know if I could help. I’m just covering for Brad today.”

Adam nods slowly, wondering why Kris is even talking about work. “No, nothing about that. I thought we’d hang out. If you don’t have plans, that is.”

Kris clearly looks surprised and Adam kind of wants to smack him when he says, “oh, ok. Yeah, I’m grabbing dinner then I can show you around? I can bring you to where you’re shooting tomorrow.”

Adam just groans because seriously. “Kris, I don’t want to talk about,” he gestures towards the set, “this.” He smiles and softly says, “I just want to catch up. Unless you don’t want to.”

Kris quickly touches Adam’s arm. “No, I want to hang out with you. Don’t be stupid.” Adam tries not to pout when Kris pulls back his hand and stops touching him.

“You’re the one being stupid. Didn’t I tell you we should catch up?”

Kris laughs. “Well, I thought you were just you know, saying that.”

Adam can’t help but laugh with him. “Shut up. Why would I say that if I didn’t mean it?”

Kris shrugs and he gives Adam a small smile. “I’m sorry, ok. But…” he trails off and Adam’s suddenly aware of why Kris is acting the way he is. And Adam feels so stupid for not thinking about it sooner.

So he just says, “our history’s never been that awesome when it comes to follow through.”

That makes Kris crack up again. “Exactly. But ok, if you’re up for it, meet me at The End in about an hour? It’s that little café…”

“I know where it is!” Adam grabs Kris’s hand. “I knew it! When I had that orange soda cake…”

“What?” Kris frowns but doesn’t let go of Adam’s hand. “Wait, did they give you the orange soda cake?”

“Yeah. Matt and Emma did! Oh, and I met Andrew too. I asked to meet the chef because I was so sure it was you, but Andrew came out of the kitchen!”

“Well, he’s a chef there. But I am, too.” Kris shakes his head. “So wait. You remember the cake?”

Adam can feel his face flush, and he can’t help but bite his lip when he answers. “Duh. It’s pretty unforgettable.”

Kris blushes and Adam gives in to the urge to gently touch Kris’s face. Kris’s eyelids droop a little and he sounds a little out of breath when he says, “yeah well, I try.”

Adam laughs and kisses Kris’s cheek. “I’ll just shower and change. And I’ll meet you there?”

“Awesome,” Kris answers. He squeezes Adam’s hand before letting go and walking away.

Adam watches Kris’s back and feels the grin splitting his face in half. He can’t believe he feels this great seeing Kris, but he’s not going to overanalyze. He’ll just go with the moment, see where it takes them.

He turns back, and sees Steen, Blaine and Kurt looking at him with identical shit-eating grins. He walks past them, and they start hooting and teasing him. Adam mock glares at them and says, “whatever. I have a date.”

“What do we have for dinner?” Kris says as soon as he enters the backdoor of The End’s kitchen. He came straight from the shoot, and he’s still full of crazy nervous energy.

Andrew takes a double take when he sees him. “What are you even doing here?” he asks in his clipped British accent. “I asked Celine to put some food in your fridge so just go home and rest.”

Kris ignores him and walks over to Allison, who’s mixing some greens, cheese and honey in a bowl. “Adam’s coming over for dinner.” When Andrew and Allison both stop what they’re doing to look at him, Kris shrugs. “He says he wants to catch up.”

Allison squeals. “I knew it! You have to tell us all about it!”

Yeah, like Kris is going to do that. “It’s nothing. Just one dinner.” He looks at Andrew. “What do we have?”

Andrew grins at him. “Angel hair with olive oil and anchovies, spiced risotto and pear-glazed chicken, basil-stuffed burger steaks, and the veggie burger. For dessert, cherry strawberry debacle and honeydew pudding.”

“Right,” Kris nods and decides that it’s good enough. He shakes his head and tells himself that he doesn’t need to stress. Or start cooking. Which he always does when he’s nervous.

Emma pokes her head in the kitchen and before she can comment on Kris’s presence, Allison runs over to her and says, “Kris and Adam have a date! Now!”

Emma actually jumps and tugs Kris away from the stove. “What are you even doing here then? Aren’t you going to change?”

Kris looks down at the plain white shirt, jeans and sneakers he’s worn to work that day. “Uh, no?” When Emma glares at him, he says, “it’s not even a date. He just said he wants to catch up.”

Before Kris can say that him changing his clothes wouldn’t make much difference anyway, Emma pushes him out of the kitchen towards the main room. She says, “go shower and change. Don’t worry about anything, we’ll take care of it.”

“What are we going to take care of?” Matt says from behind the bar where he’s pouring a drink.

“Kris has a date with Adam in…” she looks at Kris questioningly.

“About thirty minutes?” Kris mumbles. “And hey, I told you it’s not a date!”

“What the fuck are you still doing here?” Matt says as Emma just drags him to the front door.

“I hate you all,” Kris pouts when Emma finally manages to kick him out of the café.

“You don’t,” Emma kisses him on the cheek. “Go wear that tight grey v neck shirt and those black jeans that make your ass look really good. And for fuck’s sake, don’t wear those ugly brown shoes you always end up with when you’re nervous.”

“Hey! Those shoes are awesome. And they’re lucky,” Kris protests even as he’s walking away.

“They’re still ugly,” Emma wrinkles her nose. “See you in a while. We’ll just give Adam more orange soda cake.” She then runs back in to the café when Kris glares at her.

When Kris walks back to the café a shower and twenty minutes later, he sees Adam talking to Celine behind the counter. Adam looks a cross between amused and a little bit scared when Celine shows him her collection of Adam Lambert paraphernalia, with a laughing Matt looking on. Kris finds himself chuckling too as he weaves through the tables to go behind the bar.

“Stop scaring the tourists, Celine,” he says as soon as he’s standing beside Adam. He nods to Matt who’s got tears in his eyes, and Celine gives him a sarcastic toothy smile.

Adam jumps a bit, obviously startled when Kris spoke. But as soon as he turns, he wraps Kris into a hug. Kris closes his eyes, not really caring if his friends make fun of him later. He’s going to take whatever hugs Adam’s going to give him as long as he can have it.

“There you are,” Adam says against his hair. “I really thought you were going to stand me up.”

Kris steps back to laugh, but he sees that there’s a touch of truth to what Adam said when he takes in Adam’s eyes and slightly insecure smile. So Kris just plants his face again on Adam’s shoulder and mumbles, “why would I even do that?”

Adam makes a happy sound and kisses the top of his head. A surge of heat courses through Kris. It’s practically an alien feeling, but then he’s very aware of the changes they’ve both gone through the past ten years. He isn’t the innocent young boy who just had his first kiss anymore.

Matt clears his throat and Kris reluctantly steps back. He sees Matt and Celine beaming at them. Celine even says, “Can I take a picture of you guys? You’re so adorable together!”

“What is this, prom?” Kris replies. But he smiles just the same when Adam says, “hey, it’s ok, if you’re fine with it,” and puts an arm around his shoulders.

Celine happily takes a picture of them on her phone and then leads them to a quiet little corner of the room. Kris thanks Celine for giving them the most private table in the café. And based on the flowers and candles at the center of the table, it seems like Allison had a hand in the preparation.

Emma then appears to take their order and after the first glasses of wine have been served, Adam’s happily telling Kris about how he got the Bachelor gig, and how they chose to be in Rue Falls.

“We were supposed to go to Hawaii,” Adam says, his voice more animated after the third glass of wine. “But when something about the hotel and permits fell through, I called Blaine and Claire, and told them about Rue Falls. I mean, I know the place, more personal because I have memories here. That sort of thing.”

It doesn’t escape Kris how soft Adam’s voice is when he talks about having memories in Rue Falls. But he decides to ignore it and just says, “good thing they got on board. There’ve been a lot of changes down here since we… you were last here.”

Adam nods and fixes Kris with a heavy stare. But after a few seconds, Adam just laughs and Kris lets go of the breath he doesn’t realize he’s holding. “Why are you here? How long have you been here? Because I have to tell you, this is such a trip. That we’re here together!”

So Kris tells Adam his story. Adam makes appropriate noises at the right moments and when Kris says, “and I fell in love with the place all over again. This is home now.”

Adam nods, and takes another sip of his wine. Emma brings their food then (the olive oil angel hair for Adam, the risotto for Kris) and before Kris can even take his first bite, Adam asks, “Why didn’t you write me, Kris?”

Kris suddenly feels uncomfortable and puts down his fork. But Adam’s looking at him intently, obviously waiting for an answer. So Kris says, “it’s a stupid reason, really.” At Adam’s raised eyebrow, he says, “your address got stolen. Obviously, someone could read the future then and knew you’re going to be famous.”

Adam’s genuinely startled laugh makes Kris crack up. Adam gasps, “seriously? Well, good thing we moved then.”

“Yeah, thank your lucky stars.” He smiles a little bit sadly at Adam. “I’m still sorry about that.” He wants to say more but Adam doesn’t need to know that he moped for a year after that summer in Rue Falls. Or how years later, he moped again for a month when he first saw Adam on a magazine cover.

“Not your fault,” Adam mumbles and reaches out to lightly touch his arm.

Kris nods and decides to break the uncomfortable moment by digging in to his risotto. He’s aware that Adam’s watching him and he becomes uneasy. He swallows. “Yeah?”

“Aren’t you going to ask me why I didn’t write?” Adam softly says.

Kris gives Adam an embarrassed smile, and shrugs. “Hey, you don’t owe me any explanations, man. It’s cool. I mean, obviously, you’ve been busy.”

“Didn’t you care? Or you know, wonder at least?”

Kris looks up when he hears the slightly hurt tone in Adam’s voice. He sees Adam looking at him with soft eyes and a small smile. And Kris’s heart melts, realizing that he’s doing this wrong. This Adam is still his Adam, despite the artfully styled hair and the gloss of fame.

So Kris reaches out to touch Adam’s hand, twines their fingers together. “Of course I cared. I became crazy nervous when I first heard you’re coming here. Mostly because I’d see you again, and you know… I’ve always wondered if you were happy when I saw you on tv and the magazines.” He squeezes Adam’s hand. “But then I thought you didn’t write me so you probably won’t remember me anyway.”

“You’re still frustrating, oh my god. Or totally underestimating how awesome you are, if you think I could forget you. Or that summer.” Adam’s voice has dropped to a whisper, and it makes Kris shiver. “I didn’t write because I lost your address when we moved. I tried sending an e-mail and calling, but I couldn’t seem to reach you.” He feels Adam tug his hand and Kris stares into Adam’s eyes. “It’s not because I didn’t want to. I would never want to forget you.”

That makes Kris smile and Adam just smiles back at him. Kris feels a lightness settle on his chest and he mumbles, “well at least we’re both here now. Together. At least for a while.”

Adam nods and says, “do you still have some orange soda cake?”

Kris rolls his eyes but he doesn’t tug his hand back. He catches Emma’s eye and mouths, “cake,” and she hurries off to the kitchen. He then turns back to Adam who’s still got a small smile on his face and says, “now, tell me, what’s up with Doug and Ste.”

Adam chuckles and he leans in to tell Kris about how in love Doug and Ste are with each other, that they can’t be together until after Adam chooses Doug. But all Kris can hear is Adam’s voice, wrapping around him like a blanket. And he thinks, yeah, he’d never want to forget Adam either.

Adam’s had three hours of sleep, having gone home at around 4am after walking around Rue Falls with Kris after dinner. But he can’t wait to start his day because he knows Kris is going to be on set again. Kris got the call from a still-sick Brad midway through their walk. Adam might have flailed internally when he heard Kris say that sure, he’d cover for Brad for another day.

So when he gets to the shoot site an hour earlier than necessary, Kurt and Blaine raise their eyebrows. Especially when they see how wide he’s smiling.

“Don’t tell me.” Blaine blinks at him. “You totally got laid.”

Adam huffs and says, “what the fuck? No! A guy can’t be happy this morning?”

“No, not you. It’s 8 in the morning. And Steen said you got home at 4am…” Kurt musses. “And she told us Brad’s still not coming in so Kris is going to be here today.”

“I am so going to fire her ass,” Adam says. But he’s smiling so he thinks that might’ve ruined the effect he was going for. When Kurt and Blaine just continue looking at him, he shrugs and says, “we just had dinner then we took a walk. We didn’t even kiss.”

“And why not?” Kurt asks. “You can’t stop touching each other!”

“I don’t know…” Adam takes a sip of his coffee while staring into the distance, looking for Kris. Blaine nudges him and he says, “He’s really hot. But I feel like I don’t know him yet… I don’t know.”

Blaine sighs dreamily. “Did he grow up the way you imagined he would?”

Adam shakes his head. “No,” he takes in how sad Kurt and Blaine looks before saying, “he’s even more awesome. I can’t believe how perfect he is. For me, you know.”

Kurt and Blaine actually squeal, and jump on him, all flaily arms. Adam kind of wants to laugh at how they’ve all regressed into teenagers, but that’s exactly how he felt the previous night when he was with Kris.

Kris, who’s now walking out of Claire’s trailer, and who blushes promptly when he sees Adam being attacked by Kurt and Blaine. But he’s smiling brightly at Adam, and Adam can’t help but grin back. He’s floating and he’s high. And then he realizes that holy crap, Kurt and Blaine are right, he should’ve kissed Kris.

So he walks right over to Kris and meets him halfway, before leaning down to kiss him. Adam feels how surprised Kris is with how he gasps against Adam’s mouth, and Adam takes the chance to catch Kris’s bottom lip between his teeth.

Kris moans softly and it makes Adam want to slam Kris to a wall to have his way with him. But he knows he’s in public and he still doesn’t know if Kris wants that from him, so he steps back after licking Kris’s bottom lip and taking in Kris’s wide surprised eyes.

“Um, this is ok, right?” Adam mumbles. When Kris nods, he lets out a breath and says, “yay.”

Kris grins and says, “good morning,” against Adam’s mouth. He’s on his tiptoes to rest his forehead against Adam’s, and Adam knows it’s supposed to be sweet, but he just thinks it’s so fucking hot.

“I forgot that last night,” Adam whispers back. And that startles a laugh out of Kris, and Adam decides to stare. Just because.

They jump apart when Claire walks by them and says, “Break it up, boys. We have peacocks to shoot.”

Kris groans as he steps away from Adam. “Ugh. I’m going to kill Brad.”

“You don’t want to see me at work today?” Adam asks, all wounded. And cute, he hopes.

“No, no, not that,” Kris smiles at him. “I hate birds. Hate. Them.” They’re shooting at a peacock park that tourists always visit in Rue Falls.

“They’re peacocks! They’re wonderful and gorgeous…”

“And they’re out to kill me.” Kris pouts.

For some reason, Adam finds that adorable and he sends Kris away with another kiss. Kurt and Blaine make kissy noises at each other when Adam turns back to look at them, and Adam gives them the finger. But he knows he’s got a stupid, silly grin on his face. Not that he cares.

The day goes by in a breeze, and Adam finds it easy to look sappy. All he has to do is look at Kris trying to avoid the peacocks walking around, and he just cracks up. When Kris dances around a table because a peacock is going straight towards him, Adam loses it in the middle of a take. Claire rolls her eyes, but sees Kris standing on top of a chair while glaring at a peacock, and she also laughs.

“Your boy’s adorable,” Doug says as the makeup girl powders his nose.

Adam feels his face flame. “He’s not my boy.”

“Yet.” Ste pipes in, and he nudges Doug’s shoulder.

“Oh, you two think you’re so clever,” Adam huffs but he can’t help but smile.

And because Adam’s in such a good mood, they finish the shoot early. He quickly goes to his trailer to change into some cut off shorts and a gray David Bowie shirt, and to take off his makeup. Then he goes out, and looks for Kris.

He finds him talking to Blaine, face serious as he points things at the clipboard. When he spots Adam lurking like a creeper on the background, Kris’s face breaks into a smile, and signals for Adam to wait.

Adam nods and decides to listen to his iPod. All the while, he’s thinking of how amazing it is that after not seeing each other in a long time, being with Kris is still as easy as ever. It’s been awkward at first, yes, but once they’ve gotten past the issue of not keeping in touch, it’s as if the past ten years had never happened.

Adam believes in the cosmic order of things, of people coming into each other’s lives at the particular time when they’re supposed to. When he was with Kris for dinner and reminiscing about their summer together, Adam saw the boy he was so crazy about. It amazes him how it seems like Kris’s smile hasn’t changed at all, how he still scrunches his nose when he laughs. And Adam finds that Kris is still a bit reserved, but his sneaky naughty streak is still there, present in the mischievous light in his brown eyes.

But then, talking to Kris, he sees the man he has become. Adam appreciates the dry sense of humor, the quiet confidence that can only come from someone who knows how to work for what he wants. And Adam’s drawn to that, maybe because he’s like that too.

As the night went on, he found himself wanting to know what’s behind Kris’s contradictions. He wants to know if the ambivalence Kris seems to give off is due to the stubborn belief that there’s always good in everyone and everything, that they all deserve a chance. He can see faith there, a loyalty that tries to make peace with what the world has taught him. And Adam’s fascinated, if he’s being honest with himself.

He hasn’t realized that Kris is standing before him until Kris says, “hey, you ok?”

Adam feels a slight panic when his initial reaction was the intense need to kiss Kris. So he keeps his hands to himself and says, “never been better. Are you free tonight? Want to go out?”

Adam sees a variety of emotions cross Kris’s face. There might have been panic, slight fear, but when Kris settles for excitement, Adam decides to hold on to that. So when Kris nods, Adam puts his hand on the small of Kris’s back, and says, “let’s take a walk!”

They end up getting some burgers and chips from the café, and Andrew sends them off with a smile. Kris leads Adam to a secluded spot at the far end of the beach. They eat their burgers, looking at the sunset as Adam asks Kris about his friends. Adam genuinely looks interested, and Kris can’t help but try and make him laugh more by telling him about some of their everyday stories at The End.

Kris is aware that he’s so utterly, completely screwed. Ever since having dinner with Adam the night before, he’s just finding himself too heady and nervous and light. He knows this feeling, recognizes it from when he first met Katy and Jake. And that time two years ago, when he met Cale again.

Whose name when he mentions it to Adam was met by a shocked, “Cale? As in Cale Mills who’d been making googly eyes at you since you had that awful bowl cut?”

“Yes, that Cale,” Kris tries not to laugh at the huff that Adam makes. “And stop making fun of my hair. You loved it back in the day.”

Adam gives him a toothy grin and Kris tries not to find that too adorable. “Whatever. So what, you were with him?”

“Yeah, for a while, a few months after I came back here,“ Kris shrugs. “We dated for eight months. It was good, but I don’t know… it felt like we were just friends.”

“And you decided you both deserved better.” Adam nods. “I felt the same thing about my ex Drake. Well, the sex was amazing. But after that, I felt like I was fucking my friend. Something is so wrong with that. That’s what I think, anyway.”

Kris tries not to blush when he hears Adam say that, but it’s kind of hard, seeing that well, it’s been too long. And he finds Adam really, really hot. So he swallows hard and tries to casually say, “well, basically. I’m all for falling in love with a best friend, but yeah…”

“Totally,” Adam says and then Kris finds himself being tugged closer to Adam’s side. “See, I had this boyfriend Sauli. And we complemented each other so well. It was intense and perfect. There was passion there, and you know, I felt comfortable talking to him about anything. But it still didn’t work out.”

“Well yeah, you can’t expect to have a formula there,” Kris says and tries not to wonder who this Sauli is. “I think it’s just being at the right place at the right time.” He realizes what he has said and virtually smacks himself on the head.

But when Adam speaks, his voice is so soft, Kris strains to hear it. “Yeah, there is that. The work, it comes after.”

“When you love someone, it’s always easier.” Kris says automatically. Because he believes that; in everything he does, it is love that drives all of them.

Adam stops walking and takes a step back to look at Kris. Kris tries not to fidget when he sees how Adam seems to not want to take his eyes off his face. And when Adam whispers, “best thing I’ve heard in a while,” Kris laughs and kisses Adam. Just because Adam’s there right now. And he can.

When he pulls back, he looks at Adam’s face. Adam’s eyes are still closed and he’s got a small smile playing on his lips. Kris tugs his hand and when Adam opens his eyes, Kris says, “tell me about making your album.”

And Adam brightens up, happily telling Kris about the people he’s met and written with. How it’s a learning process and everyday is just a new opportunity to try something new. Kris thinks it’s amazing, how Adam’s now living the dream they were only talking about that summer. And he says so, making Adam blush.

“It was a lot of hard work. I did a lot of session work and some musicals.” Adam shrugs. “I’m just lucky the album did well. To be honest, I didn’t expect it to, seeing as how crazy competitive the business is.”

“You’re awesome so I’m glad it worked out too,” Kris agrees. He can’t see Adam doing anything else. He was born to be a star; Kris knew that when he first heard him sing on top of their cliff many years ago. “I got your album the day it came out.”

Adam does a double take. “How did you even know?”

Kris gives Adam a sheepish smile. “I follow you on Twitter.” When Adam goggles at him, Kris tries not to blush too hard. “What? I’m a fan. I saw your ad in Emma’s Vogue, and yeah… you get very excited sometimes.”

Adam ignores him. “Did you even tweet me? Oh my god, you should’ve tweeted me!” He takes out his phone.

Kris rolls his eyes. “Yeah, like you would’ve given me the time of day. You get tons of tweets a day. Besides, the no writing thing, remember?” He shrugs. “But I did tweet you. Just to congratulate you on the album.”

“What?! And you had a picture of yourself there, and I didn’t reply? I can’t believe I missed that!” Adam scrolls through his phone. “And to think I was looking for you on Facebook!”

For some reason, Kris finds his heart stuttering when he hears that. “You were?”

“Duh.”

“I’m not on Facebook, by the way.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Adam glares at him and Kris just laughs helplessly.

Adam then thrusts his phone towards Kris. “Go type in your twitter name there. I’m going to follow you back.”

Kris does as what he’s told and he says, “you already have my number, I don’t know why you need to follow me back. I don’t really tweet a lot. And I’m boring.” He hands back the phone to Adam.

“You are so not boring,” Adam tells him. Then he laughs when he looks at Kris’s twitter. “@Kris_shizzle? Seriously? And you’re using Snoop Dogg’s picture, of course.”

“Don’t hate,” Kris nudges Adam’s shoulder. “And it’s Snoop Lion now. Recognize.”

Adam’s laugh becomes louder. Then he looks at Kris and sighs. “I can’t believe I would’ve known earlier how to find you. And how you turned out, you know.”

Kris scoffs. “How I turned out? I feel like a lab rat.”

Adam kisses the top of his head. “You know what I mean.”

Kris chuckles. It feels good to know that Adam’s wondered about him, he’s not going to lie. “So how did I turn out exactly?”

Kris feels Adam take a deep breath and when he says, “more amazing that I ever dreamed about, to be honest,” Kris just has no choice but to lean up again and kiss him.

It’s Adam’s first Saturday night back in Rue Falls and he can’t wait to just go out and be a little crazy. He’s thinking of dragging Kris somewhere fun where they can be a little – ok, a lot drunk and maybe dance. He still has to know if Kris is into that kind of stuff, but Adam doesn’t really mind if Kris isn’t. Adam’s fun isn’t exclusive to dark noisy clubs; it’s more in the company he has. He can totally do sitting at home, watching some crappy movie and eating take-out, as long as he’s got some good conversation, and if he gets lucky, some lazy kisses.

He walks back to The End where he’s meeting Kris for their date, and he sees Celine waving at him from behind the bar. He kisses her cheek and tries not to laugh when Celine blushes a bit.

“Stop trying to steal my wife, Lambert,” Matt says in a clipped tone that makes both Celine and Adam bend over in laughter.

“Oh, I’m not trying. It’s a done deal,” Adam says and ducks when Matt punches him lightly on the shoulder.

“Um, I don’t know. Kris is pretty scary. I don’t want to mess with him,” Celine says. She raises her hands and blushes when Matt kisses the top of her head.

“Ah, the sting of rejection,” Adam says, but he knows he’s smiling so hard. “So Kris not here yet?”

Matt nods his head towards the kitchen door. “Still in there. Allison’s having some kind of emergency with the banana and strawberry pudding, and Andrew’s off somewhere with Emma on their break. So Kris stepped in for a while.”

“You can go in, if you want,” Celine suggests.

Adam shakes his head. “Nah, I don’t want to be in their way when they’re having an emergency. Besides, I can wait.”

“Yeah, Andrew will be back soon, anyway,” Matt says after handing Megan a tray with three lemon lime martinis on it. “So where are you guys going tonight?”

“I have no idea, “ Adam shrugs. “Kris says we’ll figure it out. But I don’t know… is he up for dancing?”

Celine collapses on top of the bar in laughter. She’s wheezing when she says, “oh no. No. That would be painful.”

Matt is also chuckling when he tells Adam, “You need to ask him because his expression would be priceless.”

“So,” Adam trails off and laughs himself when he sees that Celine actually has tears in her eyes. “Like, is he really bad? Or just that he doesn’t like it?”

“Kris is not bad,” Megan butts in when she approaches the bar and overhears them. “He’s actually got some moves when he gets going, but he’s so self conscious and that makes him so awkward. It’s pretty hilarious.”

“And hot,” Celine repeats. “Maybe get him drunk first. Or better yet, just ask him to dance when it’s just the two of you.”

Adam snorts and he hears Megan make the same sound when Matt leans over his wife and says, “why does that sound dirty?”

“Because it’s supposed to be dirty!” Celine rolls her eyes but she’s still smiling when she looks at Adam. She then grabs a small box from under the counter and hands it over to Adam. “Since you’re taking Kris away, you can pick from there.”

Adam sees that the box has about 6 CDs in it. He picks the one on top of the heap with the name Matt Cardle written on the cover. He looks over at Matt. “Hey, are these yours? Like, your songs?”

Matt grins at Adam and takes the box. “Yeah, 2 of them.” He removes 2 CDs from the box and hands it over to Adam. “The rest are Kris’s.”

Adam sits a bit straighter, the excitement at having Kris’s music right there making him bop a little. He takes out the remaining CDs on the box and turns them over in his hand. They’re just labeled as 1, 2, 3 and 4, and Kris Allen written with a blue marker. There are also dates on the covers and Adam thinks those could be when the songs on each CD were recorded.

“I don’t know what to pick!” he says then looks over at Matt, Celine and Megan.

Celine frowns a little and asks, “haven’t you heard any of his songs before?” When Adam shakes his head to say no, Celine just says, “Well then, I’m picking 3 because that’s my favorite.”

Adam hands over 3 to Celine, trying not to smile too hard. After Celine puts it on, a bluesy guitar-driven song comes on and after just a few notes, Kris’s voice.

Adam remembers Kris’s voice from when they sang together. But just as there have been a lot of changes in Adam’s voice and technique over the years, Kris’s also improved. Adam can hear some hitches that can totally be corrected with training and technique, but somehow, it just makes the song seem more earnest. And Adam can just hear how Kris sings his heart out, so quietly but so sweetly pleading, and it’s making him so proud.

The kitchen door opens then and Kris comes out wearing his apron. And he’s looking at them with surprised eyes before walking over to the CD player to turn it off. Matt and Celine run over to block his way and Adam stands up to meet Kris halfway.

He puts his arms around Kris’s shoulder and tugs him closer. “This is so good! I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you had your stuff recorded!”

Kris has a slight panicked look on his face, and Adam just wants to kiss it away. So he tells Kris that, and Kris gasps in surprise before pulling away. Kris then says, “This is so embarrassing.” He looks at Celine and Matt. “Why are you even playing this?”

“Because Adam’s stealing you away. The people who came to see you tonight deserve to still hear some of your stuff,” Celine shrugs and grins so cheekily that Adam just has to laugh.

Then what she said registers and Adam looks at Kris who’s busy glaring at Celine. Adam pulls Kris closer and forces Kris to look up at him. “You’re supposed to play tonight? You should’ve told me!”

“Yeah, no.” Kris starts to remove his apron. “We’re supposed to go out.”

“Well, we can go out and be here,” Adam whines. “I want to hear your stuff.” When Kris starts to argue, Adam raises his hand to stop him. “You heard my stuff. It’s only fair that I hear yours.”

“ You released your songs commercially, of course I heard them. What kind of argument is that?” Kris mutters, facing Adam completely.

“A good one, actually,” Matt nods and Adam tries not to laugh when Kris shoots his friends a betrayed look.

Adam then decides to play dirty and wraps his arms around Kris. When he feels Kris melt against him, he speaks softly in his ear. “Hey, remember when we were writing our songs back in the day? It’s just me… just us. So please?”

It takes a few seconds before Kris nods. And Adam plants a kiss on Kris’s temple because well, it’s one of those things. Before they can even break apart, Celine’s walking over and hands Kris his guitar.

“Slave driver,” Kris glares at Celine, but he’s got a smile on his face. And Adam wants to kiss him, but thinks that there’s a time and place for that. So he just wraps his arms tighter around Kris and buries his face in Kris’s hair.

They’re sitting on the bench tucked in a dark corner beside the back entrance of The End. Everyone has gone home but Kris and Adam have decided to stay behind, the buzz from the night still not close to fading away.

Kris is right on that cusp of deliriously sleepy, so he leans on Adam, who turns out to be a cuddling machine. He hasn’t really let go of Kris since Kris got off the stage after performing his usual three-set Saturday show. Kris just finds himself burrowing into Adam’s side the rest of the night because it feels good to have Adam there.

It was a good show, one of Kris’s best, he thinks so himself. In the beginning, he thought that having Adam there was probably going to throw him off his vibe, but it just ended up helping him. He knew that he wanted to impress Adam, wanted him to see what he came up with during the time they weren’t together. And at the same time, he also hoped that Adam would see that he was still the boy that Adam met all those years ago, the one he made music with, the one he built dreams with.

But in the end, as it always does, the music just does it all for him. And he tells Adam all of this, courage fueled by the warm night, and the sparkle in Adam’s eyes.

And right there in the dark, Adam kisses him. It seems to go on forever, much like the kisses they first shared, back when they were still learning how to really make a kiss matter. When they pull back, Kris feels heady and he touches Adam’s face. “That was fun.”

“Understatement,” Adam says against his mouth. “I’m so glad you’re still doing this.”

“Kissing you?”

“Well yeah,” Adam kisses him again. “Seriously though, I’m so happy you’re still writing songs. And you’re so, so good. Like, shut up, I’m just not saying that.”

Kris laughs. “No need for flattery, I’m a sure thing.” When Adam rolls his eyes, Kris pulls away a little and holds both of Adam’s hands in his own. He looks straight into Adam’s eyes and says, “thank you. That means a lot coming from you. And not just because you actually do this like, as your job, but because you know…”

“I know,” Adam finishes for him. “I can guess you now probably feel the same way I did when you told me you liked my album.”

Kris nods because yeah, he gets that. “It’s the reason I stayed here. That I can still play my music.”

“Yeah?” Adam nudges him. “Why not LA? Or New York? Nashville?”

“Remember when I said I just came here without a plan?” When Adam nods, he says, “and it turned out that I can have the life I wanted at that time here. I mean, you’ve met my friends…”

“They’re pretty awesome.”

“They totally are. And The End let me have a job I enjoy. I get paid to cook and write music and sing…”

“And to eat. And to flirt with Brad.”

“Which is totally a full time job in itself,” Kris smirks as Adam laughs. “So yeah, Rue Falls has always given me good stuff.”

Kris realizes that his voice becomes soft when he says that, and he sees Adam looking at him tenderly. So he clears his throat and casually says, “so how about you? What’s your life in LA like?”

Adam leans back on the wall but still doesn’t let go of Kris’s hand. “Well, I’ve been working the LA club scene for a while and I met a lot of people, most of them casually. But some of my best friends I also met during that time when we first moved there. And we all sang together, kind of like a struggling artist thing going on. But without the greasy hair and hobo clothes.”

Kris grins because seriously. “Of course.”

“Not to say I wouldn’t be able to rock the hipster homeless look, but whatever,” Adam waves their joined hands together in the air. “But my life before the album and the modeling was pretty simple. A lot like yours, actually.”

Kris raises an eyebrow but his voice is teasing when he says, “Yeah? So no wild parties? Crazy nights?”

Adam rolls his eyes. “Well, I didn’t say that. What I mean is that my friends practically became my family and actually, it’s still the way it is today. They totally tease me about what’s going on right now in my life, but I know they have my back.”

Kris thinks how that just by looking at Adam, it’s hard to see how he’s really someone who just wants love in his life. The leather and the makeup and the fierceness make Adam look totally unapproachable and intimidating, but Kris revels in the knowledge that Adam’s still as sweet and real as the guy he met when he was 16.

He squeezes Adam’s hand. “They must have flipped out when your album just took off. Since you know, they knew you were recording it and all.”

Adam nods excitedly. “I actually recorded the songs from my album sporadically...”

“Who even uses the word sporadically in normal conversation?”

“Kris, honey,” Adam shoots him a withering look and Kris feels himself grinning wider. “As I was saying – and I told you this the other night – I wrote most of the songs with my best friends. And I recorded it…”

“Sporadically. Over the years.”

“Yes,” Adam kisses him and Kris laughs into his mouth. “Until it became the thing that it is.”

“And the modeling?”

“That was just luck. I was actually asked to stand in for someone, but the photographer really liked the mock shoot we did. Then sent it to one of his contacts at Ford.” Adam smiles. “And yeah, it’s been good since then. I mean, the modeling helps with the music, and it’s my job now. But it helps people to hear my music, same with this Bachelor gig. And hey who am I to complain?”

“I really loved your album.” When Adam scoffs, Kris twines his fingers through Adam’s. “No, I really did. I do. But then again, your voice is insane! Like, you just get better and better and… yeah.” He blushes but Adam just grins at him so Kris thinks it’s ok even if he sounded like a total fanboy.

Adam suddenly says. “We should write something together. Finish one of those songs.” He pulls Kris closer.

Kris nods. “Maybe. When we get the time.”

“We’ll totally have the time.” Adam says it so confidently that Kris just has to squeeze his hand to say yes, he’d love that.

Kris looks at Adam, and he’s got to admit that he’s still a bit intimidated. But as Adam tells some stories about the stuff that he had to go through to get to where he is, Kris realizes that they pretty much have, and are still going through the same things. They both have bad days, and busy seasons, and insecurities. Only Adam has glamour and smokes and mirrors, and Kris knows that those aren’t even the important stuff anyway.

He also knows that it also makes a whole lot of difference even if they don’t want it to. But Kris doesn’t really care about that now, not when Adam’s still making him laugh, telling him stories about drag queens and wild road trips. Because right there in the dark where the air still smells a bit like The End’s kitchen and the sky bright as any Rue Falls summer, they’re just two people talking and who are just so into each other they can’t even stop holding each other’s hands.

”It’s starting to get really cold up here,” Adam says and Kris just nods. He tightens his arms where they’re wrapped around Adam’s waist. They’re sitting on the cliff, Adam between Kris’s legs, his head resting on Kris’s shoulder.

“Summer’s ending,” Kris softly says, turning his head to kiss Adam’s nose. Adam just hums and pulls Kris’s arms tighter around him.

Since their last week in Rue Falls has started, Kris has been going up to the cliff with Adam every day. They talk about some of the stuff they’re going to do back home, but mostly they just sit in comfortable silence. Kris thinks that’s just them trying to soak in each other’s presence, no matter how lame that sounds.

But six weeks together is just too short. And this night is going to be their last together. For a while, anyway. Kris knows he’s going to miss Adam. And Kris believes Adam when he says he’s going to miss Kris.

But if he’s going to be honest with himself, Kris has no idea if they’re going to work outside of their little summer bubble. Kris is going back to Arkansas to be with his friends, and Adam dreams of LA. He knows that it’s not fair to hold Adam to that promise, not when he knows there would be other guys falling all over themselves to be with Adam, but Kris wants to keep the dream. He never claims to have the most practical of hearts.

“I’ll be waiting for your first letter,” he says against Adam’s ear, “so don’t make me wait too long.”

“I’ll send you an e-mail as soon as we get home,” Adam answers, smiling widely. “And write you an old-fashioned letter. God, you’re such a sap.”

“What, letters are more personal than e-mails,” Kris huffs when Adam laughs. “And I’ll do the same. Because I know you’ll love it.”

“Jerkface,” then Adam props his hand on Kris’s thigh to lean up and kiss him. Kris moans softly against Adam’s mouth, missing this already. He’s never had a real boyfriend or girlfriend before Adam, but he just wants Adam so badly. Charles, his best friend from home, tells him that it’s hormones. But Kris thinks it’s not just that.

There’s something bigger between them, and Kris just can’t deal with it sometimes. He makes Kris believe that he can do everything he sets his mind to. Kris can have the foulest of tempers, especially in the mornings, but Adam can turn that around with just one of his silly offhand comments. He makes everything that Kris feels deeper, brighter, louder. It scares the hell out of Kris, but to be honest, he’s stopped caring that it does.

The sun is starting to set. Kris tries to push away the heaviness that seems to have settled on his chest. He buries his face on Adam’s blond hair and says, “I have something to show you.” He reaches behind him to grab his backpack and takes out a small wooden box. When Adam turns to look at it, Kris says, “I thought we could make a time capsule. To open next summer.”

“Like I said, you’re a sap,” Adam says. But his eyes are unnaturally bright when he looks at Kris.

Kris playfully nudges Adam, and Adam turns around to face him. Kris puts the box on the ground between their feet, and opens it. He rummages in his backpack and takes out their notebook. “Let’s see if we could finish these songs next year.”

“We would,” Adam says with such conviction in his voice that Kris can’t help but smile. Adam then takes off his leather bracelet and places it over the notebook. After that, he removes a silver hoop on his right ear. “I have the other one at home, I’ll wear that when we get there.”

Kris takes a guitar pick from his jeans pocket and puts it beside the earring. “I was using this the first time we met. You know, when you fell on your face climbing up here.” Adam pushes lightly at his feet and Kris laughs. “And then this,” he puts a battered book on the box. “My Beatles tab book.”

Adam takes the tab book and flips through it. When he smiles, Kris knows that he’s looking at the page where ‘Two of Us’ is. On it are their silly doodles, and Adam’s stick figure portrait of the two of them. They learned the song together on one of the first days after they met and when Kris was finally able to play it without mistakes, they celebrated with some avocado ice cream and making out until sunrise.

“Daniel gave me this,” Kris hands Adam a picture. “We can put it there, if you want to.” It’s a candid photo of them laughing at something they’re watching on tv. Kris’s nose is squished on the picture and his head’s lolling on Adam’s shoulder. Adam’s mouth is opened wide, his eyes closed tightly. But Kris’s favorite part of the picture is their clasped hands resting over Adam’s thigh.

Adam stares at the picture for what seems like forever. When he looks at Kris, he reaches out to intertwine their fingers together. “I’m going to miss you.”

Kris smiles and he tries to say something. But then, he just nods and Adam puts the picture in the box.

They lock the clasp together. Just as the last light of the sun shines over the ocean, they bury the capsule in the hole they dug behind a stack of rocks at the far end of the cliff.

Adam puts a large rock over it and when it’s finally in place, he pulls Kris into a hug. “Until next summer.”

“Until next summer,” Kris agrees and stands on his tiptoes to give Adam a kiss.

When he’s not working, Adam spends the rest of his stay in Rue Falls with Kris. The erratic schedule that Claire and Blaine made makes Adam and Kris go on dates at random times during the day. When they finish the shoot early, Adam goes to sit at The End chatting with Kris’s friends. On days when the shoot’s at night, Kris comes over to the set after work and brings food. Those nights usually end with the rest of the guys on the set going to The End to watch Matt or Kris play.

Adam’s never felt happier in such a long time.

And when he’s happy and trying to ignore things he should be thinking about, time flies by quickly. He spends a lot of his time with Kris but whenever he wants to talk about what’s going to happen once he goes back to LA, Adam just freezes. He doesn’t know how to start the conversation, not wanting to hear that Kris doesn’t see the thing they have between them going anywhere. And Kris doesn’t initiate anything or drop a hint either, so Adam’s really kind of lost on what to do.

Adam wants so bad to try and see if they could make things work. But he knows it’s unfair to make Kris understand that Adam has to be with Doug for at least a year. That for a year, Kris would be a secret kept from the public, when all Adam wants to do is to take his hand and kiss him whenever and wherever he wants to.

Kris could agree even if it hurts him, and that’s the last thing that Adam wants to happen. He can’t even act the way he wants to around Kris in Rue Falls because people can’t see them together, not when Adam’s supposed to be into Doug or Ste. So they have dates where they know people won’t talk. Like on the set, or at secluded corners of The End. Or those private places that Kris has discovered through the years. So Adam thinks that having to do that on a much larger scale is totally going to scare Kris away.

Adam wakes up the morning he’s set to leave Rue Falls with panic threatening to claw up his throat. He takes a deep breath, mentally compartmentalizing his schedule for the day. He’s supposed to have brunch with Kris before Steen picks him up to go to set. They’re doing the last date with Doug and Ste at a secluded resort at the far end of the beach strip. After that, they’re back to LA to film the final scene, where he’s going to pick Doug.

He’s still deep in thought when he meets Kris at The End an hour and a half later. But when he goes to the kitchen to see Kris waiting with two plates full of blueberry pancakes, fried bacon, and cheese omelets, Adam pushes his thoughts away and gives Kris a good morning kiss.

“I probably smell like grease, sorry about your life,” Kris tells him but he’s giving Adam his lopsided smile.

Adam’s heart lurches. “You have the food, I won’t be complaining. Even if I’m going to have to do an extra hour of crunches because of this.”

“You don’t need that,” Kris retorts before setting the plates on the table at the corner, and Adam just has to grin at him. Megan comes over and gives them coffee, and Adam some orange juice. Adam has started eating his pancakes when Kris leans over and whispers, “what time do you have to be on set?”

“In about an hour and a half,” he answers. “Why are we whispering?”

“In about 30 minutes, Emma’s going to be coming in,” Kris leans forward to whisper directly in his ear, “and Andrew’s going to propose.”

Adam makes a noise that is, to his horror, close to a squeal. Kris runs around and sits on his lap. Adam says, “oh my god” at the same time that Kris mutters, “shut up.” Adam starts laughing and he just stops when Kris kisses him full on the mouth, their teeth clicking together and tongues darting out to slip against each other’s.

Adam groans and gets lost in the kiss, the fog only lifting when he hears Allison’s “Jesus fucking Christ, this is a food establishment. Stop doing that with your tongues.” Adam breaks away from Kris and realizes that his hands are on Kris’s ass, his thumbs tucked on the waistband of Kris’s jeans.

“I told you to shut up,” Kris says a little breathlessly. When Adam opens his mouth to protest, Kris grinds down.

“You are so evil,” Adam moans and pushes Kris off his lap. Kris laughs and sits back down on the chair across from Adam.

Under the table, Adam hooks his feet with Kris’s and smiles dreamily. “So, is it going to be in here?”

Kris points his thumb towards the door. “Right there in the main room. And that’s where we need your help.” He then calls Andrew who’s nervously hovering by the stove.

So that’s how thirty minutes later, Adam finds himself standing outside The End. The people on queue outside are starting to shoot him some really weird looks, but Adam’s eyes are trained on the parking lot. When Adam sees Emma drive by in her vintage red beetle, he quickly calls Kris to let him know.

“Stall her! We’re not finished here yet.” Kris says in response.

“For fuck’s sake, I don’t even know why you didn’t set everything up sooner!” Adam says but he’s laughing.

“You already know why, stop laughing!” Kris is chuckling too. Apparently, Andrew just decided to propose that morning and sent everyone into a panic with all the preparation he wants to do. Kris thinks it’s amusing, but Celine is panicking that there isn’t enough time. Matt, Brad, Megan and Allison just started jumping around, doing whatever it is that Andrew wants them to do. Adam tries not to find it too charming.

Adam hears what sounds like a chair crashing on the floor and Andrew cursing. Celine’s also cursing in French and Adam just laughs harder. “Oh crap, here she is. Don’t kill yourselves in there.” He then puts his phone in his pocket.

“Adam! What are you doing standing here?” Emma says as soon as she sees him.

“Kris hates me,” Adam tries to make his voice sound really sad.

Emma looks at him weirdly for a second then says, “then why are you smiling?”

Adam internally panics for two seconds – Andrew’s going to kill him if he blows this – then tries a save. “Errr… because you’re here now and I need you to help me talk to him.”

Emma huffs. “What did he do now? You know Adam, he may act really stupid sometimes, but I think he’s in love with you.”

“He is?” Adam squeaks and reminds himself that he’s not here for that tidbit of awesome info. So he tries to push that aside and says, “I don’t know about that. He’s been acting really weird these past few days.”

“Huh,” Emma leans on the wall. “Well, maybe it’s because you’re leaving. And I don’t know what you guys have talked about but maybe he thinks this won’t be going on after you leave.” She then gives Adam a look and says, “please tell me this isn’t just a thing for you.”

Adam swallows. “It isn’t,” he says and Emma smiles at him brightly. “But… I don’t know, I have stuff to do.”

He must look really miserable because Emma leans up to give him a hug. “I know, sweetie. And I didn’t mean to put you on the spot. But Kris is my friend and I haven’t seen him this happy in forever.” She then kisses him on the cheek. “But you have a life too, and sometimes things happen at the right time. He’ll get over it.”

“I don’t want him to ‘get over it’,” Adam whines against Emma’s hair.

Emma just smiles at him sadly. “But hey, you still have today. Go talk to him, do whatever. Come on, I’ll yell at him.”

Just then, the phone vibrates in Adam’s pocket. He takes it out and sees that it’s a missed call from Kris, their signal that they’re ready inside. Adam swallows past the lump in his throat that just seemed to get bigger when he sees Kris’s picture on the screen of his phone.

But he just takes Emma’s hand and tugs her inside, “yeah, it’ll work out.”

As soon as they step inside the hall, Adam sees the different colors of petals strewn on the floor. He knows they took the flowers from Matt, Celine and Kris’s backyard, but looking at them, he hasn’t seen anything more beautiful. They look wild and yet oddly charming, just like Emma is. There are balloons all over the place and right at the middle of the room is a small pumpkin- shaped piñata.

“What the fuck is going on?” Emma says and then she looks at Adam with wide eyes. “Holy shit, is it Adam’s surprise goodbye party? Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

“What? No!” Andrew steps forward. Adam moves to stand beside Kris. They’re all standing by the door, which was left open when Adam and Emma came in. The people lined up outside are now standing on the doorway and watching.

Emma looks at Andrew with raised eyebrows and Andrew quickly falls on one knee. Adam sees Emma’s eyes widen in surprise and in a second, they were filled with tears. Andrew has started to say, “Emma, will you…” when Emma tackles him to the floor, covering his face with kisses.

“I’ll marry you, you jackass,” Emma says and kisses Andrew. Celine and Matt take a picture of the two of them sprawled in the middle of petals and balloons. Megan, Brad and Allison throw confetti on them. Adam can hear the people laughing and clapping by the door, but when he turns to look, he sees Kris looking at him with a small smile.

Adam suddenly just wants to reach out and keep Kris forever. He thinks it might be the romance and the place, but standing there, he realizes that all those moments in between are the ones that make him want to stay. The quiet conversations. The warmth they make each other feel in the middle of the breeze. The way they believe in each other. And the things they do to each other that make the bad seem good, and the good better.

But Kris doesn’t move closer, and when Adam sees him looking at the people by the door, he then understands why.

Kris cheers with Brad when Emma asks, “Where’s my ring?” and Andrew answers, “in the piñata!”

Adam laughs when Emma gives Andrew a withering look. But when she hits the piñata and the box falls on the floor, Adam stops caring and puts his arm around Kris’s shoulders to tug him closer. When Kris just lets him, he suddenly feels like he wants to cry a little.

Adam leaves soon after Emma gets the ring on her finger. He’s quiet in the car and Steen doesn’t push, just softly tells him his schedule for the day. When Steen finishes, he asks her, “When are we leaving?”

“Tonight,” Steen answers. “If you want to. You’re shooting the final scene tomorrow afternoon at 3pm in LA.”

“I’m leaving tomorrow morning,” he says while staring into the distance. “We can make it, right?”

Steen looks like she wants to protest but she just nods. “As long as we leave by 7am, we’re good. I know it’s just an hour-long drive, but there might be traffic. And you need to have a fitting…”

“That’s fine.” He then closes his eyes until they get on set.

Later that day, an hour after his last scene has been shot, Adam stands outside Claire’s trailer waiting for her to come out. When she finally does, Adam quickly says, “I need to talk to you. Bring Blaine,” and just walks back to his trailer.

In the two years that Kris has lived in Rue Falls, he’s only been on top of the rock cliff where he met Adam twice.

The first time was about two days after he got off the bus. He remembers standing on the edge of the cliff, his hands slightly burned from the first day of working in The End’s kitchen. It’s funny how he can’t even recall what he was thinking about that time, but he remembers that his shirt smelled like petite cherry pies and cinnamon crusted chicken wings. He also wondered where Adam was at that time, and he even thought about digging out the time capsule. But he thought it was pointless, anyway, and left everything the way it was.

And the second time is now, when Adam texts him to meet him on top of the cliff. On the days that they’ve spent together, Kris never really brought up the idea of going to the cliff. He doesn’t want to pressure Adam, give him ideas that he has to be something for Kris when Kris knows that Adam can’t promise him anything.

And since Adam didn’t say anything about going to the cliff either, Kris thinks Adam feels the same way. Kris thinks it’s kind of like that time when they were kids, when they made promises that in retrospect, were really naïve and hard to keep.

But now Kris is older. He already knows how the world works. And he’s aware that there are just some things that have no way of happening. He lives for the moment, making little plans about the things he can control, and just enjoying the stuff that he can’t. Matt tells him he’s being passive; Kris thinks it’s just him being pragmatic.

But standing there on the cliff waiting for Adam to show up, Kris allows himself to daydream. Maybe he can visit Adam in LA and know how he arranges the pillows on his bed. Or Adam can hang out in Kris’s place in Rue Falls and have him lounge on Kris’s favorite chair. They can visit their families together because that’d be fun.

Kris is startled when he hears Adam say, “hey,” behind him. He turns and smiles at Adam, allows himself a kiss. Adam responds all warm and pliant, and Kris breaks the kiss before he gets to the point where he won’t want it to end.

“Not that I’m not happy you’re here but aren’t you supposed to be on your way back to LA?” Kris asks, staring at the setting sun.

“What? I haven’t even said goodbye to you yet,” Adam says, confusion obvious in his tone.

Kris looks at Adam and shrugs. “Oh. I thought the brunch earlier… never mind. Steen just mentioned you were leaving right after the shoot so when you didn’t say anything, I figured that was it.”

“I’m actually leaving tomorrow morning,” Adam softly says then he looks intently at Kris’s face. “Why didn’t you ask me?”

“I don’t know… I just thought if you wanted me to know, you’d tell me,” Kris mutters. That’s the truth, anyway. When Adam just remains silent, he tries to smile. “Hey, it was awesome to see you here. Made my summer.”

Adam nods. “I want to see you again, Kris. I’ll definitely keep in touch.”

“I’d love that,” Kris answers. They’re silent for a while and Kris takes a deep breath. He turns to Adam and twines their fingers together. “Hey, don’t feel bad if you get too busy to call me or anything like that.”

Adam squeezes his hand tightly. “Kris…”

“Listen, I know what your life is like. I mean, I don’t know but I can imagine. So if you forget to call or you know, when life happens, it’s alright.” He looks down at their joined hands and gives Adam what he hopes isn’t a too-sad smile. “And if you do want to hang out with me again, you know where to find me.”

Kris finds Adam staring at him with bright eyes, and when Adam leans over, Kris meets him halfway.

The kiss starts off too soft, too gentle. But then Kris cups Adam’s jaw and feels the day-old stubble there, and he’s suddenly so aware that they’re not the boys who shared their first kisses anymore. They still are, in a lot of ways. But the confidence with which Adam’s tongue is mapping the inside of Kris’s mouth leaves Kris feeling so intense in a way that it never did before.

Adam breaks the kiss and he’s got his eyes closed when he speaks against Kris’s mouth. “Please tell me you want this.”

Kris quickly says, “yeah. All you have to do is ask.” Then he kisses the tip of Adam’s nose. “Or you know, just take.”

Adam huffs out a laugh before kissing Kris again. Kris doesn’t have an idea how he ends up straddling Adam’s lap, and how his hands got under Adam’s shirt. When Adam says, “take me home,” Kris just gets up and holds his hands out to Adam.

Ten years ago, the most that Kris and Adam had done was give each other handjobs. They were fumbling teenagers who liked rutting against each other, but mostly they just loved making out. Kris even regretted not doing everything with Adam, but then he thought they had time.

He knows better now. And that’s why as soon as they get inside his room, Kris falls on his knees and fumbles with Adam’s belt buckle and fly. He holds Adam’s cock, trying to see if he can remember if it feels the same way. But Adam moans and Kris decides that he’s with this Adam now.

And that’s how Kris discovers that Adam bucks his hips mercilessly when the head of his cock is licked. Or that Adam lets out a string of garbled curses when his cock is swallowed to the base and his balls are lightly raked with fingernails at the same time. Kris laughs when Adam gets mad at him when Kris insists on just playing with the rim of Adam’s hole, totally refusing to let the tip of his finger slip in. And now he can say that Adam likes to cling helplessly when he’s fucking someone; Kris is totally going to have bruises all over his chest where Adam held him tightly as he moves with Kris from behind.

But mostly Kris is going to remember how Adam says Kris’s name as he comes. And how he kisses Kris so tenderly after, almost like he’s committing all of it to memory.

When Kris wakes up early the next morning with just a handwritten note from Adam (You’re amazing. You don’t even know how much.), he isn’t really surprised. But he still hopes that maybe this time, it’s going to be different.

So he sends a text to Adam (I actually do. Know how amazing I am) then quickly follows it up with another (See you soon).

He totally doesn’t smile towards the ceiling for about an hour when Adam replies. (Yeah, see you soon!!! And I’m not losing your number this time. Having Steen guard it with guns and fire)

He’s still in a good mood when he goes in to work. His friends tease him mercilessly, but Kris just laughs with them. The fact that he doesn’t receive more texts from Adam the rest of the day doesn’t really bother him. He knows Adam’s working, anyway.

But when Kris wakes up the next morning and goes to check his phone, he sees that there’s still no call or text from Adam. Without really thinking about it, he calls in sick, reassuring Celine that he probably just needs some fresh air.

He reaches the top of the cliff when the sun’s already high in the sky, the heat beating on the back of his neck. He walks over to the pile of the rocks on the far end, and pushes the biggest rock aside. Then he picks up the shovel he brought and starts digging.

The box, when he sees it, still looks the same. Kris knows that when he washes the dirt off it, the wood would probably be more weathered. He hits the lock with the shovel to break it, and it doesn’t take long before he’s opening the box.

Ten years. And the pages of the Beatles tab book have yellowed, the frayed leather bracelet not so soft anymore. Kris sees a bit of discoloration on the hoop earrings, probably having come from some of the condensation that has seeped from the edges of the box. The pick’s a little brittle, and Kris decides to try using it on his guitar. Maybe it won’t break, but if it does, maybe he’ll mail the other half to Adam. Or give to him when Kris goes to LA, if Adam would be able to meet him.

And he looks at their picture. So much has changed, but Kris thinks it’s amazing how Adam and him seem to be happiest when they’re together. At least, Kris feels that way.

Kris puts everything back in the box as soon as he’s got the notebook on his hand. He laughs when he reads all their lyrics, either so simple or overwrought back then. But there’s one verse written on the last page of the notebook that Kris thinks he can work with. He tears the page and folds it carefully before tucking it into his pocket. This one he’s totally e-mailing to Adam if he gets to finish it.

He then puts back the notebook in the box and takes the picture. He puts the picture in his back pocket before walking over to where he had dug the hole. He drops the box back in the hole and stands up to bury it back again.

When Adam gets to The End and Celine tells him that Kris has called in sick but isn’t at home, he knows that he has to take off his wedged boots. After Andrew hands him a pair of running shoes, Adam takes off and goes to the beach.

Which is how he finds himself falling face first on top of the rock cliff, his jeans caked with dirt and his hair sticking to his forehead. But Kris is looking at him like he couldn’t believe that Adam’s actually there, and Adam lets the laugh bubbling up his chest escape as he turns over on his back.

Kris walks over and tackles him to the ground, settling down for a kiss. Adam can feel the rough ground poking his back but Kris is deliciously pliant and eager on top of him. And Adam can’t seem to stop kissing and touching Kris in all the places he remembers from their first summer together and from the other night.

When Kris finally stops mauling him with kisses, Adam breathes out, “I want to make this work. I really want to try. Like, so badly.”

“Yeah? That’s awesome. Because yeah… that’d be awesome,” Kris mumbles, hot breath tickling Adam’s neck.

Adam cracks up helplessly. “We’re changing the ending of the show.” At Kris’s confused look, Adam says, “I talked to Claire and Blaine. And we had a meeting yesterday with the producers. I don’t have to choose Doug and pretend to be with him.”

Kris slightly tenses and starts to move away from Adam. But Adam keeps a steady hand on Kris’s lower back to keep him in place. Kris frowns. “Wait, aren’t you getting into trouble?”

“No,” Adam whispers in Kris’s ear. “I told them I met someone and that not being with you isn’t an option. But Doug and Ste are in love, so yeah, main story arc?” He grins. “They’ll get together at the end.”

“And I’ll have you.” Kris is beginning to smile.

Adam nods. “And I’ll have you.”

Kris laughs. “The ratings will go through the roof.”

“I know! That’s why they agreed so fast, I think.” Adam nuzzles Kris’s neck, breathing in the smell of sweat and summer. “And now that that’s settled, you want this, right?”

“I’m on top of you, I think the answer’s pretty obvious.” Kris rolls his eyes.

“What? I just want to make that clear.” Adam hugs Kris tighter. “And I know you love it here in Rue Falls so we might have to drive back and forth. And you might need to put up with some publicity. God, especially after they show the show’s finale… and I’m a drama queen sometimes. And you need to start talking to me. Like, subtext is hot but sometimes, I’m dense. And…”

Kris slips a hand into Adam’s pants, and Adam just trails off because, yeah. Kris licks into his mouth and when they break apart, Adam hears him say, “We’ll work it out along the way. Stop thinking.”

But Adam sees how earnest Kris is with the way he’s looking at Adam, can feel it with the soft touch of Kris’s hands. And Adam’s just knows this is totally going to work.

Maybe they’ll get to finish writing all those songs, after all.

Not a lot of people tend to go to The End’s annual New Year Throwdown, but this year, people seem to be crawling out of the walls. Kris, Andrew and Allison are just going crazy in the kitchen, and Matt, Megan, Brad, Emma and Celine are just as busy in the main room. It’s a good thing that they just decided to have one big party – and as Brad suggested, “get everyone drunk. Drunk people don’t get hungry” – or else, Kris would be swimming in sauces and dinner stock.

But it’s been a good year – Kris thinks so, anyway. Business is good and he’s talking to Matt and Celine about opening a small The End in LA. It’s not going to happen anytime soon, but they’re working on it. He’s also written a couple of new songs and would probably have enough to record a demo. But he’s not thinking about that just yet.

Right now, what’s important is that Adam’s going through the kitchen doors, smiling widely. Kris still thinks it’s pretty amazing how they found each other again, but then, maybe it was just something that was bound to happen.

“Kris,” Adam whines. He starts untying the knot on Kris’s apron, and Kris squirms just to annoy him.

“I’m almost done here,” he laughs. “Stop that!”

Allison loudly says, “how many times have I told you guys not to grope each other in the kitchen? It’s totally unsanitary!”

“Hey, that was just one time!” Adam protests even as he leers at Kris when the apron finally comes off.

“One time too many. I’m still having nightmares,” Andrew shakes his head as he takes off his own apron.

“I know my cock is a monster but come on,” Adam pouts. Of course, Kris blushes as Andrew and Allison tease him, but he can’t stop laughing.

“Get out of here, all of you,” Allison shoos them away. “I’ll man the kitchen while you guys are goofing around.”

Kris kisses Allison’s cheek and tells her to come out around midnight. They then go to the main room, which is mostly occupied by the people who worked in the Bachelor. It’s basically a wrap party for the show, since they just had the final episode filmed live earlier that day. Claire suggested that they do the reveal live in Rue Falls, and since the ratings are insanely high, the producers readily agreed.

Kris feels Adam steer him towards the corner where Doug and Ste are kissing. They got together after it was decided that Adam won’t be choosing Doug, but now that the final episode has been aired on national television, they can’t seem to stop touching each other.

“You guys owe us,” Adam teases them and Kris smirks.

Ste rolls his eyes. “Yeah, like you didn’t get anything from this.” But he laughs when Doug playfully punches him on the side. “Seriously though, how great is this?”

Kris tucks himself closer to Adam’s side and just smiles. Because it really is pretty awesome how everything worked itself out.

He looks across the room and it’s one of those moments when everything feels just right. Andrew and Emma are laughing themselves silly in the middle of the room while Brad waves his hands animatedly telling a story. Matt and Celine are busy behind the bar, serving drinks but trading small smiles and light familiar touches. Megan’s ruffling Allison’s hair as she gets the order of fries and yells at Brad to start working his pretty ass off.

And all of that blends just perfectly with how Steen’s having a drinking game with five of the guys who were in The Bachelor. Claire’s also snuggling with a lifeguard named Max that she just met earlier that day. And Kurt and Blaine are standing in front of the jukebox, dancing to Love Shack, goofing around and being sappy at the same time. Adam’s bodyguard Jeremy is totally hitting on one of Celine’s friends. Even Adam’s best friends Danielle, Scarlett and Lee are standing by the bar chatting with Matt, Celine, Andrew and Emma.

And Kris has Adam standing behind him, arms wrapped around his waist. Adam props his head on Kris’s shoulder and simply says, “I’m happy.”

Kris turns his head because how can he not? “Yeah?” When Adam looks into his eyes and nods, Kris softly says, “I am, too.”

And Kris thinks they really are. Happy, that is. It’s hard work, especially when Adam has to travel and Kris has busy nights, and they sometimes have to go through the day with just a text. But it’s all worth it when they’re able to spend time together.

They’ve decided to see each other at least once a week, just to get to know each other better. They usually spend it lounging in bed whether they’re in LA or in Rue Falls. And they’re slowly building their life together, meeting the important people in their lives and consulting each other when decisions have to be made. Somehow, Kris thinks that the silence in between the times they’re actually together just makes everything better, more real.

Adam hugs him tighter and kisses his shoulder. They smile at each other – Kris is sure they look like the total saps they are – until Kris hears Brad say, “Kris and Adam!” When they turn to look at him, Brad points to the stage and makes kissy faces.

Everyone chants “Kris and Adam” so Kris tugs Adam towards the small stage. Celine’s already waiting there with his guitar and Megan hands over the mic to Adam. Their friends are rudely yelling out their requests until Adam says, “do we look like a jukebox to you? Break it up!”

They answer Adam with loud laughs and more yelling of song titles. But when everything has been hooked up and they hear Kris strum the guitar, they all quiet down.

Kris looks at Adam, and maybe it’s the high he’s on this night, but it almost feels like the first time they did this. Right there on top of the cliff, both infatuated with music and each other. It’s amazing and overwhelming in the best of ways. And when they start singing, Kris realizes that after all those years of falling in and out of love, and hair color changes, and discoveries and failures and dreams coming true, they’re still just Kris and Adam.

And they’re still perfect for each other.