From My Mouth to Yours (2/6)

Title: From My Mouth to Yours (2/?)
Author: kaytee412
Rating: PG-13
Summary: AU. Sometimes silence just says more.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, Adam and Kris belong to themselves.
A/N: Sorry this is later than I intended! I've been really busy, dealing with some personal issues, and I wanted to take a little longer writing this instead of posting some half-assed chapter just to get it done. Also, everything in this chapter about Adam's background is made up: AU, remember! Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed the first chapter, you all made me so happy :]] I took the few suggestions into consideration, and I hope it shows in here!

 *

Following Kris into his apartment, Adam took in his surroundings. His first observation: everything was very clean. From the white carpeting to the immaculate kitchen, the residence was spotless. Maybe it was living in L.A. for the past ten years, but he hadn’t seen such a clean apartment in a very long time. His second observation: the loud cheering from the living room. Apparently, the game Kris had invited him over to watch had already began. Kris hung his keys on a hanger next to the door -- which Adam found interesting, he usually just tossed his on a random table -- and waved at the two men in the living room before heading into the adjoining kitchen. Although he wasn’t prompted, Adam took off his shoes before heading further into the room, afraid of somehow dirtying the carpet.

“Hey Kris, we just scored!” the younger man shouted over his shoulder, distracted by the television. He paused, however, when he saw Adam standing next to Kris in the kitchen.

Suddenly, Adam saw Kris’ hands move quickly, and Adam’s eyebrows shot up. He knew he shouldn’t have been surprised; after all, the guy couldn’t talk. But he had never met someone who used sign language before. Adam also thought it funny that this was the first time he really took Kris’ muteness into consideration. He had noticed it before, but he hadn’t given it much thought; his personality already spoke, louder than most people when they screamed. Adam was intrigued, to say the least.

Ripping a piece of paper out of the notepad, Kris quickly wrote a note and passed it to Adam. Adam, this is my brother Daniel and my dad.

Adam smiled politely, crossing the short distance to the couch and taking each of their hands in his. “It’s nice to meet you both.”

“Hey Adam, it’s nice to meet you too,” Daniel greeted warmly, and Adam could tell that “southern manners” weren’t just a myth.

“It’s a pleasure,” Kris’ father said, standing when he shook Adam’s hand. “You can call me Neil.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Neil. That will be easy to remember, my brother’s name is Neil.” Kris’ hands waved eagerly from the kitchen, where he was gathering ingredients for the nacho dip.

“It’s Kris’ middle name, too,” Daniel interpreted for him, patting the chair next to the couch where he and Neil sat. “Have a seat, Adam. If I’m right -- which I am -- the food won’t be ready for at least another hour.” He looked over at Kris, who glared at him from behind the counter.

It takes a long time to reach perfection, he signed. Daniel shook his head but kept his eyes locked on Kris', who refused to look away. Adam determined that Kris and his brother were now engaged in a stare-down. A battle of wills. Neil just rolled his eyes and turned back to the game; apparently the two did this sort of thing all the time.

Kris cracked first. His pursed lips became unnecessarily tight as he tried to suppress his smile. When Daniel wiggled his eyebrows without breaking concentration, Kris lost it completely, hitting his fist on the counter and turning around in defeat.

“You’ll never learn, will you?” Daniel chided, propping his feet up victoriously. “I am the staring King.”

Kris threw another sign quickly as he grabbed a can of black olives from the cabinet.

“He said ‘whatever,’” Daniel told Adam before leaning in closer. “That’s his favorite sign. I told him he sounds like a 13-year-old girl, but he won’t listen to me,” he added quietly, just loud enough for Kris to hear him. Kris huffed, pretending to be annoyed as he spread out a layer of refried beans in the pan.

Adam laughed heartily, enjoying the banter between Kris and Daniel. However, he was beginning to find it increasingly difficult to look away from Kris. Their eyes periodically made four, and Kris would end up looking away first, but not before smiling. Adam’s stomach fluttered and he turned back to the television, idly picking at his dark blue nail polish. He wondered how this man, who he had known for a grand total of two hours, had such a strong effect on him. Adam didn’t know if Kris was gay, but he was going to take every opportunity to become closer to him.

“Hey Kris, do you need a hand with anything?” Adam got up before Kris could respond, joining him in the kitchen. Kris’ eyes sparkled gratefully, handing Adam a bag of shredded cheese and motioning for him to sprinkle it over the pan. Adam followed his instructions as Kris began to clean up around him.

Adam soon set the empty bag of cheese down. “Finished!” he announced happily, grabbing the handle of the pan. As he did so, Kris went to do the same, his hand ending up over top of Adam’s. Adam turned to Kris and laughed as Kris immediately pulled his hand back. The shorter man rubbed the back of his neck and smiled awkwardly. Adam resisted the urge to pull Kris into a hug when he saw him blush, thinking it was one of the most adorable things he had seen. Instead, he patted Kris on the shoulder and grabbed the pan, putting it in the oven and setting the timer.

“Ten minutes,” Adam said proudly, and he responded eagerly to Kris’ prompt for a high-five. The two made their way over to the living room, where Kris immediately flopped on the empty couch opposite his family. Adam hesitated for a moment, looking between the chair, which seemed dull and cold, and the seat next to Kris, which seemed to glow invitingly. Feeling bold, Adam took the seat next to Kris, trying to appear extremely interested in the TV screen. He missed Kris’ mouth curving upwards.

When the commercials began again, Neil turned to Kris and Adam. “So Adam, I haven’t really seen you around before. Do you live in Conway?”

“Well, I do now, but I just moved here about a month or so ago from L.A.”

Daniel’s eyebrows shot up. “And you did this by choice?” he asked, laughing a little.

Adam chuckled. “Yeah, well my mother lived here for a few years before moving to San Diego, and I personally just wanted a change from the California scene. You can only try to make it into show business for so long before you need a break.” Adam felt Kris shift on the couch. “She really liked it here, so I just figured it was the place to go.”

“Oh okay, well yeah it’s a very nice town,” Neil started. “Kind of quiet. It does have that ‘small town’ feel to it, but there’s enough to keep you busy.”

Daniel waved his finger between Kris and Adam. “So how do you know Kris?”

“We met at the grocery store today,” Adam answered vaguely; from what he had gathered, Kris preferred to be left out of the spotlight, and Adam didn’t want to embarrass him by telling the entire story.

“Today?” Daniel interjected, clearly surprised. He looked pointedly at Kris, who began to blush furiously. Adam saw Kris signing again, this time with much more fervor. Adam made a mental note to Google “ASL” when he got home. Daniel smirked. “We were not interrogating him,” he insisted. “These are perfectly normal questions to ask when you meet someone for the first time.”

Adam glanced over at Kris, who was nervously chewing on his lip. He sighed and brought his arm around Kris’ shoulders. “It’s okay, man. I don’t mind,” he reassured. “You can probably already tell I’m a big talker, so I’m pretty comfortable with it.”

Kris shook his head and grabbed his pen and paper, writing to Adam, That’s because you don’t know him. Adam laughed, touched by the concern Kris had for him, and looked up from the note into Kris’ eyes. He didn’t know how long they sat like that, and he didn’t know if Neil or Daniel were watching them, but he did know that he felt warm and comfortable. He felt like himself. So completely Adam.

The timer of the oven went off, pulling Adam back to reality. He suppressed a groan and Daniel jumped up quickly.

“Dinner!”

*

43 first downs, 10 plates of nacho dip, and 16 stolen glances later, Neil and Daniel were heading out the door.

“Thanks for having us over, Krissy boy,” Daniel said, ruffling Kris’ hair affectionately. Kris ducked out from under his brother’s arm, smiling crookedly and pulling Daniel into a hug. He then did the same with his father.

“Just give us a text whenever you want to do this again, okay Kristopher? It was fun.” Kris made a sign over his heart, and Adam knew what it meant right away. “I love you too, son.”

Daniel walked over to Adam, grabbing his hand again. “It was nice to meet you Adam. I’m sure I’ll see you again soon.” The fact that Daniel glanced over at Kris was not lost on Adam.

“Yeah, you too man,” he answered, taking Neil’s hand next.

Waving, the pair left the apartment and Kris shut the door behind them. He walked back towards Adam, his hands shoved in his pockets.

“Thanks for inviting me over tonight, Kris. It was a lot of fun, much better than my previous plans.”

Kris’ eyebrows furrowed as he grabbed his pen and paper. What plans?

Adam shrugged. “Oh, not much. I just had a hot date with some Gossip Girl reruns, but really that gets old after a while.”

Kris’ nose wrinkled as he laughed, and Adam felt his breath catch in his throat. Thanks for coming on such short notice, he wrote. I’m really glad you did.

“Oh absolutely!” Adam responded, making a conscious effort not to sound too eager. After all, he didn’t want to scare the guy away when they were making such progress. “We should hang out again some time, you’re a really cool guy."

Kris grinned from ear to ear, tearing off a new piece of paper and writing down his number. Under the number was a small note: I text all the time, but just as a warning: I rely heavily on smiley faces.

Adam was torn between laughing and kissing Kris on the spot. Remembering his vow to not scare Kris away, he decided on the laughter. He quickly walked over to the dry erase board on Kris’ refrigerator, writing down his number complete with a smiley face underneath. Kris laughed and Adam walked back to the door, putting his shoes back on. As he did so, he saw Kris already programming his number into his cell phone.

He straightened up and looked at Kris. “Thanks again, Kris. Be expecting a text from me very soon,” he hinted, winking. Kris nodded, unable to keep a straight face. He pulled Adam into a hug, and Adam returned it happily, finding the way Kris’ face fit into his shoulder oddly natural.

When they pulled apart, Adam wanted to protest at the separation. He flashed Kris one last smile before stepping outside. “See you later.” Despite wanting to spend more time with his new friend, Adam found Kris’ nod and wave comforting as he climbed into his car. On the drive home, Adam was sure he was grinning like an idiot as his mind kept returning to Kris Allen.

Upon arriving at his apartment, Adam fell into his usual routine: change out of his clothes, wash his face, brush his teeth, set his alarm. When he went to plug in his phone before going to bed, a message flashed on his screen: “1 New Text Message” from an unknown number. He opened it.

Adam sighed, briefly wondering if someone could pull a muscle from smiling too hard. He quickly replied to the text and climbed into bed.

What a perfect day.