Wanna Tell Me About It? part 4

[pensnest]

Adam had thought life was pretty busy when they were shooting the first few episodes. He'd been on set one or two days a week, he'd spend a while learning his lines, he'd work a day or two with JC on the current song. Then they'd added in publicity, and of course with the chaos caused by Jem's accident everything had gotten a little more frantic for a while, with Adam, Gina and Michela, and Paul and Elena too, taking on more of the appearances to give Jem more time to rest. But now that the production schedule was more or less back under control, the show was finally on air and he had fans to deal with. Fans! There was the show's official website, with its weekly Problem Spot—yeah, so it was obvious, there had to be a Wanna Tell Me About It on the website, and he'd asked to have input. There was the fan mail—he couldn't answer it all, but he was amazed and gratified by the letters (he suspected there was a sorting process that meant he didn't get to see those other letters, the ones that called him hateful names, he was sure they existed but he was glad not to have to take notice). There was the increasing likelihood of being spotted when he went out shopping, or when he was sitting having coffee somewhere, or at a club. He wondered if he'd ever get used to being told he was wonderful, and asked for an autograph, or a photo, or a hug. Or all three.

Plus, to his great excitement, JC had indeed found some songwriters who wanted to work with Adam. It wasn't that JC's songs weren't good enough, but sometimes JC's creative muse went a little bit astray. They'd had quite an argument about that Some Girls number, which in the end had been nixed because Joey, Lance and the director agreed it didn't really work with the script. There was that batshit one about the pregnant girlfriend, which Adam secretly loved but which even JC had had to admit did not belong on Family Business. And sometimes the songs were just too raunchy for the show, even if they were fucking perfect for the band's club set.

He did, though, have the chance to work with Alisan on what he liked to think of as a self-empowerment anthem, and they had a lot of fun with it. JC was pleased with the song, and was taking it to Lance once they'd managed to get a respectable version recorded. There was also Kara DioGuardi, who seemed very keen to work with Adam and JC. It just took a little longer, because Adam and JC had settled into a great working relationship and they had to find a new balance with Kara in the mix, but they had the beginnings of something called Strut, which Adam knew was going to be fabulous. Adam kept walking through it in his head, picturing his outfit, his moves, the atmosphere in the bar. It was already pencilled in for late in the season, most probably the final episode.

If only they got to make the end of the season, Adam thought, remembering what Lance had said. First they had to make it all the way to the end without being canceled, then they had to get renewed so he could sing more great songs next year and keep working with these amazing people. The cast really felt like family, now, they got along so well. Jem wouldn't be fully mobile again for weeks yet, which sucked for him but was an ongoing challenge for the writers. Everyone on set was discovering a lot about the difficulties of getting around in a wheelchair, and Jem kept throwing ideas at the writers based on his own experiences. Joey would probably be bald by the time Jem was on his feet again, but a surprising number of those daily frustrations were making their way onto the screen, and Adam thought it was brilliant.

Thinking of Joey, Adam decided to drop in and thank him and the rest of the team for giving Neil such a great introduction to the art of TV writing. Neil had been remarkably enthusiastic, and grateful too, which was a bit unnerving coming from his cynical kid brother.

"He did enjoy the part where he had to promise not to tell me anything about what was in the script," Adam admitted to Joey, who grinned.

"Ah, that sort of sibling relationship. Me and Steve are a bit like that—my older brother," he explained.

"Yeah. Well, sometimes," Adam agreed with a rueful smile. "Anyhow, thanks again. I really appreciate it."

"Oh, Adam, wait up! There's something—stay here for a sec, you'll like this."

Puzzled, Adam stayed where he was.

"Lance is coming over," Joey said, his eyes sparkling. "Trust me, you don't wanna miss this."

Adam was just about to ask for clarification when the door opened and Lance strode through, closely followed by Lisa, who was speaking.

"—never known you go anywhere without your cell, so I thought I'd better bring it right over," she said, and handed the cell over to Lance.

"Huh. Thanks, Giggles. I don't know how I came to leave that behind. Oh, hi, Adam. Joey tells me your brother's visit went well."

"Yeah, I just came over to say thanks, Neil was really happy about it," Adam explained.

It's amazing, just an inch to the left, please don't stop…

Adam stared. Lance's eyes grew huge.

"What the fuck?" Lance said.

Joey gave a great snort of laughter, and Lisa began to giggle.

The sound of Lance's voice seemed to be coming from Lance's pocket. It's amazing, just an inch—he fumbled for his cell, grabbed it—to the left—dropped it—please don't stop, It's amazing—and eventually, his face the color of beetroot, managed to answer it. Adam gaped at Lisa and Joey, who were helpless already, and his own laugh bubbled up into his throat. Nobly, he stifled it, and managed not to grin too widely as Lance conducted a very disjointed conversation.

"I'm going to have to call you back," Lance snapped into the phone, and cut the connection. He shot Joey and Lisa the filthiest look—they had totally caught him with that one, totally—and glared as they laughed and laughed. "You—you—I'm gonna—snakes! Snakes in your cars! Vengeance! Snakes!"

Joey howled and smote the table. Lisa was turning purple. Adam had to clamp his jaws shut so that the laughter in his throat didn't leak out at the edges.

It's amazing, just an inch to the left, please don't stop…

"Oh, fuck!" Lance said, grabbed his cell and fled the scene. Adam burst out laughing and didn't stop until his stomach hurt.

"Lisa, that was brilliant," Joey said, once he could speak again. "His face!"

"We're in trouble now," she agreed, not looking at all repentant.

"Yeah, he's going to be gunning for revenge, " said Joey, but he didn't look too worried. "Man, that was beautiful. Lisa, you are a treasure beyond price. I wish we'd had a camera in here."

"I am going to remember his face for a long, long time," she said.

"You two are bad, bad people," Adam said, "but that was hilarious. I have to go now, I'm due back on set in ten minutes," waved, and got himself out of there. He thought he heard, as he walked along the corridor, Joey's voice saying something like, "We're going to have to do something about those two." Better not to know, he decided, and hurried away.

* * *

The only thing wrong with his life was the way the people around him kept prodding him to make a move on Lance Bass. Lisa was getting quite insistent, and Gina had taken to making encouraging noises about what a sweetheart Lance was. Even Jem seemed to be interested! Adam would have thought Jem had enough to think about without interesting himself in Adam's love life, but apparently not. In some ways it was funny, but if Adam's love life hadn't actually been very much more than satisfactory right now, it might just have driven him out of his mind.

Right now, they were shooting episode nine, and it was easy not to think about Lance, or at least it probably was easy for other people, because Lance was nowhere to be seen. It was odd. Lance liked to visit the set at the beginning of every shoot, he'd chat with the director, say hi to the guest stars, watch a couple of scenes as they were rolling, he was always interested in the details. He didn't always turn up when Adam was working, in fact, thinking about it, he'd been around Adam's scenes a lot less lately. But Gina had noticed his absence too, and said it felt weird not to have the boss dropping in. Adam had quite a bit to do in this episode, more than usual, and he could not help wondering whether it was his presence that was causing Lance's absence. Whether it was that or something else, there was a weirdness, a not-rightness when the boss didn't come around, and he didn't like it.

He was waiting around for them to finish the scene between Jem and 'Square Jawed Hunk' when he looked over at the doorway, stared, and sprinted silently into the corridor.

"Hey!" he called. "What are you doing here?"

His brother turned around, and looked pointedly at the tray of steaming coffees he was carrying. "Walking the dog," he said, deadpan.

"No, I mean, but—I didn't know you were coming in again!"

Neil smirked. "I'm interning," he said. "Until the end of the week. I was here all last week, too. Joey said if I didn't mind doing the scut work I could sit in on all the script meetings. I got a couple of lines in the last one."

"Lines? What?"

"Can't tell you about it," Neil said, looking even smugger than usual. "Not until you get the scripts. Look, these will get cold, I have to get back up there."

Adam stared after his kid brother, amazed. Interning here. Wow. Wow!


He was still a bit stunned when he and JC met up next day, and then JC gave him some news which had him speechless with joy.

* * *

"Hi, Adam—nice to see you over here," Lisa greeted him as he stepped into the lobby of the Happy Place production office. She was wearing a jaunty selection of buttons on her black blouse—a pink Breast Cancer ribbon and a red AIDs one, a Mickey Mouse pin, a small Yin Yang button in black and white, a little diamanté L, and a bright green button with 'TEAM LAMBASS' in purple. Adam decided not to ask.

"Hey," he said. "I was wondering if Lance might be free?"

"Lemme check," she said, and ushered him into a small, cluttered office. He stood politely—all the chairs were covered with papers—while she consulted her computer and announced that yes, Lance was free right now, then he had a lunch, then a meeting at three o'clock.

"Should I have called?" he asked. "Only, I haven't seen him over at the studio all week, so…"

"No problem, go right on up. Top floor. Lance won't mind."

So Adam went back to the lobby and up the stairs, up again, up again and—oh. He stepped out onto the broad, flat roof, and grinned in delight at the sight of Lance in the middle, under a gigantic parasol, with his laptop and phone on the desk in front of him. "Er, hi—do you have a minute?"

"Adam! Sure, come on in."

Adam stared about him. "Your office is on the roof," he said.

"Except when it's raining," Lance said, smiling. "Or when there's a heatwave. Look—stand over there, to your right a bit, now turn around, you can see the sea." Adam looked. "Okay, you may have to squint a bit. Oh, excuse me."

While Lance dealt with his phone call, Adam stared around at the view of the city. It might not be the best view from anywhere ever, but it sure wasn't bad.

"Well, damn," Lance said. "Wendy just blew me off. I sense a conspiracy in progress—who told you to come up?"

"Lisa," Adam said, grinning.

"I will bet cash she called Wendy to tell her to cancel lunch so I'd invite you to join me instead."

"Whoa, no bet! But it wouldn't be kind to disappoint her, not when she made such an effort, right?"

Lance considered. "You wanna grab some lunch?"

"I would be delighted, boss." Adam grinned at Lance's reproving look. "It's a bit exposed up here, how about we take a few minutes in the stairwell to say hello properly?"

"I do believe I can fit that into my busy schedule."


Barely twenty minutes later Adam found himself seated in a discreet corner of a snug little tapas bar he hadn't even known was here, just a three-minute walk from the office. They ordered a selection and the waiter brought cerveza and water. Adam wasn't due on set today, but Lance preferred to keep a clear head when he was meeting with the studio execs in the afternoon—which was apparently his three o'clock.

"So, what brought you to my office today?" Lance asked.

"Actually—I just wanted to thank you," Adam said. "Which will take, like, a minute, so now I feel like I'm here under false pretenses!"

"I'd have had to eat all on my own like a complete loser, or else take Lisa somewhere, and you know how she can talk," Lance said with a grin. "But thank me for what? What did I do?"

"First of all, I get to make an album, proper studio recordings of the best of our songs from this season. That's so fantastic, I can't even tell you how happy that makes me. Plus, you hired my brother!"

"I did?" Lance looked so honestly puzzled that Adam began to wonder quite seriously whether Neil had been pulling his leg, just appearing randomly in the vicinity of the writers' offices to mess with Adam's head.

"Neil? He starts next week, starts getting paid, I mean. He's been interning for a while, which I did not even know, but I think it's amazing that you gave him a job."

"Hold up a second. I didn't give your brother a job. I mean, I knew we took on an intern because Joey told me, and he said he wanted to hire the guy because he looked like he might have something, but seriously, not my doing. Thank Joey."

"Oh. Really?" Adam was surprised. He'd assumed all the hiring decisions went through Lance.

"Joey's in charge of the writing team. We talked about who we wanted working on the show, right back when we started, but it's up to him now if he wants to hire and fire anybody. I think it's great your brother got the job, but don't give me the credit. And the album thing was totally JC's idea. He practically salivates over your voice." Lance paused, and his eyebrows twitched.

"Er, ew?" said Adam, and they both burst out laughing.

"Yeah, not quite sure why I said that. But you know, he thinks the sun shines out of your, uh, throat, and he's talking about all kinds of stuff for next season. If we get a next season." Adam chimed in with the automatic disclaimer. "And, you know, I'm pretty sure the network will be happy about it, because it's great publicity for—for next season."

"If we get a next season. Do you—have they said—do you have any idea how things are going? Do you think we'll be renewed? Seriously, I love this job so much."

The waiter interrupted them with an array of dishes which looked and smelled too tempting for words, so it was a few moments before Adam got his answer. "It's looking good so far. Four episodes, and the audience figures are pretty healthy, we're doing very well in the younger brackets… actually, I'm waiting to see the reaction to next week. It's the one where Mickey gets injured. I'm hoping the drama of it all and the unexpectedness and the way we re-slanted everything will really work for the audience, but it could be they won't like it, could be they wanted to see the characters go on in the roles we established for them at the beginning. Well, like we intended. I'm not saying I don't love how things have developed, though that's probably my ADD talking, and it's not like we had any choice anyway, but there's no knowing how it's going to play. And if it doesn't go well, we'll probably be off the air before we get to finish shooting."

"I had to ask," Adam said, fatalistically. "There's nothing we can do about it but wait and see." His own fans would be delighted, he thought, seeing Chance get more airtime and more to do, but on the other hand, Jem got the lion's share of the fan mail and maybe his fans wouldn't be happy.

"You know what? You'll probably get a chance to talk to viewers yourself. You're doing Bonnie's problem show again. I'm sure there'll be questions about the show."

"Oh, right, the broken leg episode is Tuesday, and I'm on Bonnie's show the Monday after—no, wait, two weeks after… but aren't you doing the show with me?"

"Nah. I have a meeting, but you don't need me along. You'll do just fine. Besides, it's way better publicity for you to be there on your own: you're the one on the screen, people still associate me with Synchronicity way more than with producing, and Synchronicity doesn't need publicity. I still get fan mail from the reruns."

"I guess," Adam said. "It's a pity, 'cause I thought we made a great team."

Lance smiled at him. "If you want a drink, after," he said, "it's just possible I may be awake."

"You'd better be," said Adam. "You know how raunchy those problems can be. Think how hot and bothered I'll get."

"Think how I'll be lying on the bed naked while I listen to you talking about sex."

Adam's jaw dropped. "Are you—are you gonna be—"

Lance raised both eyebrows and did a passable impersonation of a completely innocent person, a person who would never lie on a bed masturbating while his lover was miles away in a radio studio.

Adam blinked hard to clear the images from his head. Not that it worked, but he decided to go back to the actual subject. "But you think listeners will ask me about Jem? What—how much should I say?"

"Tell the truth," Lance replied, acknowledging his victory with a tiny smirk. "It won't be that big of a secret by then, because I'm certain we'll have Jem up somewhere answering questions for himself, plus Joey's going to be doing a thing with Kathy Griffin and he's definitely going to talk about the show because if he doesn't he knows I'll kill him. Which he deserves anyway." Lance's cheeks pinked up a little.

Adam couldn't help grinning, and he couldn't, he really could not stop himself saying, "I know I told you how much I covet that ringtone." Lance glowered at him. "Don't worry, you'd never hear it. But damn, that was funny."

"Hah," said Lance. "I'm still plotting how to pay them back for that. My revenge will be slow and terrible."

Adam snickered. "Does that happen a lot? You play practical jokes on each other, I mean?"

"Oh, sure. We had all kinds of ridiculous stuff going on during Synchronicity. JC was such an easy mark… Justin, too. But there's rules. Nothing that does real damage, no innocent bystanders harmed, that kind of thing. Plus you lose points for repeating stuff. The ringtone was a good one."

"I look forward to witnessing your revenge," Adam said, mock-formally. "Er, you know, you could probably enlist Neil. He's basically evil, so if you need help…"

Lance laughed. "In that case, I'm glad he's on the team."

"From what he's said—and he doesn't tell me a whole lot, because he's my younger brother and thinks it's his life's mission to bug the hell out of me—I think he's really impressed with the writing team. Me too, actually. I think you found a whole new level when everything had to be reworked."

"I may be crazy," Lance said, and hesitated, "Could be I'm deluding myself, but I still think Jem being injured might be the best thing that could have happened to the show. This time next week I may have changed my mind. We'll know when we get the audience figures. I hope it's true for Jem's sake as much as anything. He feels like he let everyone else down."

Adam considered. "He did feel like that, at the beginning," he said, "but I think he's got past it."

"Good. Of course, if the show tanks after Tuesday, he's going to feel like shit and I don't know if there's anything we can do about that." He shook his head. "It's not gonna tank. Here, did you try the asparagus? The meatballs? Look, back to the music side of things, JC has some great ideas for how to use you. And he has a lot of contacts in the music industry. If the show doesn't make it there's a good chance you could get a recording contract anyway, if that's the way you want to go. Or, well, at least you've been a regular on a series, it gets you so much visibility with casting."

"There won't be another role like Chance," Adam said. Hell, Chance had been created for Adam to play—where was he ever going to find that again? "And, I don't know, it feels like we have such a great team. I guess it always feels like a family, when you're doing a show together."

"No, sometimes it can feel like a prison sentence! Synchronicity was my first experience, and it was great, the five of us just clicked in the most incredible way, and we had so much fun with it. I assumed all shows were like that until I started working in production and found out that most of the time, actors are, well, drama queens and there's conflict and cliques and rivalries and all kinds of nonsense. I didn't want my own show to be like that, but I don't think you can plan that family feeling, it happens, or it doesn't. It was, actually," Lance looked up at him sideways, "my biggest worry when it came to casting you, but you charmed everybody so thoroughly at the audition they none of them saw a problem."

"One day I may even tell you why I said that stuff," Adam said, remembering his outburst at the club. "But not today. There's something else I wanted to ask you. I, um, I was wondering why you didn't show up on set this week. I hope it wasn't because of me."

"Because of you? No! Why would it be because of you?"

"I wondered if you thought I'd, I don't know, give us away. I won't. We agreed to keep things quiet, and I'm not going to, to out our relationship before we're ready."

"I know that, Adam. If I thought for one second you would, this would not be happening. I'm sorry, I guess I should have explained, but it's kind of embarrassing." Lance made a face. "It's because my ex is guesting this week, and I did not want to be around him. Also I'm kinda pissed at the director for picking him. I'm keeping a close watch on the dailies, though."

"You hired your ex, but you don't wanna even see him—okay, that's, I dunno, beyond the call of niceness? Or something?"

"Yeah, Joey's been on my case about it," Lance said, glumly. "I was going to not let it pass, because, you know, why the hell should I? But then all the business with Jem came up and I postponed a lot of the prep and, yeah. It seemed a bit petty to insist on someone else, especially when the director had to wait around for a decision, so I just let it go through. But I'm planning on being vindictive next season, if we get a next… we won't be using Frank as director again. It's funny, I brought him in because he worked on Synchronicity and I thought he'd do a good job, but he has to know about me and Rick, and I think he had some kind of hidden agenda, and I'm not dealing with that kind of crap."

"We're talking about 'Square Jawed Hunk', right?"

"Yeah. Although Joey calls him the Asshole, which is," Lance paused, "also accurate."

Adam laughed delightedly. "I am so glad you aren't always nice about people," he said. "I was beginning to think you had no flaws, and that's kinda scary."

Lance rolled his eyes. "I used to keep a vengeance list," he said. "All the people who deserved a whole heap of shit to be thrown at them, you know? Then I realized life's way better if you just let stuff go. And don't deal with people who give you crap. Unfortunately, a lot of them have the money, so you can't avoid them."

"And work for the network, I'm guessing?"

"True, although right now we've been lucky. Patrick and Leona are good people. Patrick's eldest kid was a Synchronicity fan, so Joey and I sent her some stuff and she came to see us a few weeks ago, did the tour. See, I'm not above a bit of judicious bribery, either, never hurts to have someone's kid on your side. And Leona genuinely gets the show, so I think she's willing to fight for it if we need her to. Ultimately it all depends on the numbers, and she can't do anything if we tank with the viewers."

"Then here's to Jem and his broken leg bringing us luck," Adam said, raising his glass.

* * *

Lance trotted downstairs in response to the doorbell's unexpected summons. Even at two o'clock on a Saturday afternoon, he was never surprised when something from work arrived at his house—

—except for right now, when the bright, cynical eyes that confronted him weren't due to be on this side of the country for two days. Lance gaped, and Chris laughed and stepped in for a bear hug.

"Wow! It's good to see you. You're looking great! You know, I would have sent a car for you—"

"Treated me like a big star, you mean." Chris, of course, didn't sound impressed. "I still remember how to get a cab. I'm crashing at Joey's tonight, but I thought I should see how life is for the big bad boss before I show up on set. You got beer?"

"Come on in." This might be a problem… but you could never plan for Chris Kirkpatrick. He should have guessed, Lance thought resignedly. "Did you eat already?"

"Oh, don't tell me you're too cheap to feed me now!" Chris said, following Lance toward the kitchen. "What happened to that Mississippi heritage? Diane would be—Oh! A-hah!"

"Oh my God!" said Adam, wide-eyed. "You're Chris Kirkpatrick!" At least today Adam was dressed, perfectly respectable in jeans and black T-shirt, even if his hair was still wet from the shower and his feet were bare.

"No kidding," said Chris, and held out a hand. "And you're Adam, the guy Joey tells me Lance doesn't want to get with. How's that working out for you?"

"Yeah," said Lance. "You want some eggs?"

"Uh huh," said Chris, rubbing his hands and following Lance towards the kitchen.

"Also, take no notice of Kirkpatrick," Lance added over his shoulder. "He's evil."

"Actually, I kinda like that in a man," Adam said, and Chris laughed, and the two of them sat down at the breakfast bar while Lance bustled about and produced coffee, omelettes and toast. By the time he set their plates in front of them, Adam and Chris seemed to have bonded and were talking at high speed and high volume about television production schedules, rock music and improvisation—Lance could not fathom the connections between these things but the guys seemed to be enjoying themselves.

"So, show's looking good," Chris said, which gave Lance the opportunity to beam with pride and say it was going great, and to expand upon how fantastic the reactions had been to last week's episode, how Jem's fan mail had literally doubled, how the TV commentary sites were practically cheerleading for them, and how he thought the audience ratings were going to go for the second half of the two-parter.

"Our episode's the first one after your break, right?" Chris said.

"That's right, we wanted to have something special to make sure the audience comes back."

"That's me, something special," Chris confirmed. "Thanks for asking me to play the bad guy, by the way, I love the script. I see Joey's working out as head writer."

"Yeah, he swears he's never going to work with me again," Lance said, and grinned. "Mind, though, he could have warned me you were coming!"

"Oh, he didn't know," Chris said, unconcerned. "I plan on showing up at his place around dinner time. Think he'll throw me out?"

"No, but Kelly might, if you get Briahna all hyper again like last time. I suppose I could find you somewhere to sleep, if that happens."

"I'm thinking I have information that might, you know, make it worth your while to be nice to me," Chris said.

Lance and Adam looked at one another. "Is he blackmailing you?" Adam asked.

"I told you he was evil."

"Mmm, that's kinda hot," Adam said, grinning.

"Right, and he was your first crush and all. No, wait, second crush. His first grade teacher," he explained, as Chris cocked his head inquisitively.

"Second grade!" Adam protested.

"Interesting," Chris said. "I'd have bet on JC, personally."

"JC was my third. Crush," Adam admitted.

"Oh, my God. Okay, I need that beer now," said Lance, repressing a grin at the thought of teenage Adam daydreaming about pretty, pretty JC. Lance had grown-up Adam, and no need to daydream.

They sat outside by the pool, reminiscing about Synchronicity and catching up on one another's lives. Lance pondered, briefly, enlisting Chris to help him get his revenge on Joey, but decided that was way too dangerous a strategy, Chris was just as likely to perpetrate something appalling against both of them, and then fly home to Florida before they could get him back.

After a couple of hours, Adam headed back to his own place to work on his lines for this week. As Lance returned to the poolside, Chris smirked at him. "So, nobody knows about this, huh?"

"There's all kinds of reasons why we shouldn't even be together right now," Lance said. "You can figure it out. It's just—he's—"

"Oh, spare me your big gay love story," Chris said, not unkindly. "Eh, I like his style. I won't give you away. Watching Joey play the yenta is way too much fun."

"It's not just Joey. Lisa's been on my case for weeks. She set up this whole campaign, they have buttons and everything. I asked her what 'TEAM LAMBASS' meant, not that I didn't figure it out for myself but I wanted to see her squirm, and she came up with some totally lame story about a charity fundraiser, so I bought one. Half the production staff have them now."

Chris cackled. "Good to see they have the right amount of reverence for the boss," he said.

"They're a great bunch. The cast, too. I think you'll enjoy yourself on set."

"You too—if you can remember how to act. How long has it been?"

"I'll be fine. It's just the one scene."

"Are you scared of getting back in front of the cameras?"

"No, no, I'm fine with it. But producing's my thing nowadays, it really is."

Chris gave him one of those piercing looks that meant he was really thinking about something and wasn't going to give away what it was. "Good."

"Although," said Lance, "if you wouldn't mind going over my scene with me, since you're here…"

"You couldn't have done that with Adam?"

"We, hm, kept getting distracted," Lance said.

* * *

"And this is Adam Lambert, he plays Chance, you have a couple of scenes with him," Joey said with a flourish.

"Hi!" Adam said.

"Nice to meet you," said Chris Kirkpatrick, without a hint of a suggestion that this wasn't their first encounter.

"Adam," Joey said in a conspiratorial tone, "we need a moment." The two of them drew Adam aside, and proceeded to explain that it was important, traditional, and entirely necessary to give Lance a hard time on set while he recorded his scene. "Since you're the one he's working with, that means it's down to you," Joey said. "Make him fumble it, make him laugh, whatever."

"Yeah, everyone's going to be watching the big boss," said Chris, "so it's not an opportunity to be missed."

"Uh, really? I mean—I don't want to piss him off," said Adam, dubiously. It didn't seem like very supportive boyfriendly behavior—not, of course, that he could say that, at least not to Joey. "And I get the impression he's already planning to get you back for that thing with the cellphone, are you sure you wanna escalate?"

"Just getting my revenge in first," Joey said.

"Do I want to be involved in this?" Adam muttered. "Is the director okay with it?"

"Lindsay's cool," Joey assured him. "It's just a tiny little scene, and it's the last one of the day. And it's not a big deal. You saw what Gina did to Jem two weeks ago?"

Adam couldn't help but snicker at the memory. It had been a group effort, a complete set-up with a fake extra scene involving a new male nurse, who had inspected Jem's cast then proceeded to go into a magnificent stripper routine, ending up in a tiny posing pouch with three Peeps peeking from the top. Jem had been crying with laughter by the time he was offered a Peep. And, Adam thought, it had gone a long way to making him feel better, to know that Gina wasn't going to hold back on the retaliation just because of his injuries. Lance had been there, applauding with the rest of them.

"I don't want to throw him off, though," he said. "I mean, he hasn't done any onscreen stuff for a while."

"Lance can do it just fine," Chris said. "I showed up at his place Sunday afternoon and we went over it. And he knows how to hit his marks, and everything. So messing with him isn't going to, like, put a huge dent in the production budget."

"It's traditional," Joey said. "He'd be disappointed if we didn't."

Adam looked at them in turn, two faces bright with mischief. "I'll do my best," he said. "You realize he'll probably kill me."

"Nah," Joey said, "you're safe. Chance is a big hit with the viewers. And you do know he likes you, right?"

"So people keep saying," Adam said, dryly.

"You'll be fine," said Chris, sounding bored with this line of conversation. "Just don't say anything that'll give it away."

Adam mimed zipping his lip, and noted to himself that Chris Kirkpatrick had very expressive eyes.

"Come on then, lemme take you over to Wardrobe, make sure you're all set for Wednesday," Joey said, and hauled Chris away. Adam had the scene with Carla and Mark-the foxy-Fedex-guy (now credited as Mark, but the early handle stuck) in his bar, and he didn't have a lot to do in that one, the two of them would provide plenty of fireworks. He grinned. Working with Michela was a hoot.

* * *

Wednesday was the first day shooting the new episode, and Lance's scene as 'Uptight Lawyer' was scheduled for that afternoon. Adam was quite surprised not to see him on set during the morning, to give Chris a formal welcome, at least. Producer stuff, he supposed, there was usually some kind of analysis the morning after an episode aired. Adam had a busy morning, too, quite a long scene with Jem, Michela and Chris; Chance didn't have a lot to do, but the director wanted plenty of coverage of the crackling tensions between Mickey and Carla and Ethan, whom they'd all dubbed 'the Wicked Uncle'.

There was a subtle air of expectation on the set as they cleared and re-dressed for the little scene with Chance and 'Uptight Lawyer'. Jem parked his wheelchair next to the director's spot, and Michela showed no signs of leaving either. When Gina showed up alongside Joey and half his writing team (mercifully there was no sign of Neil in the group), and Lisa and Wendy casually happened to arrive two minutes later, Adam felt his nervous butterflies ramp right up. He'd been looking forward to this, but he stupidly hadn't anticipated the audience. Of course they were all going to want to watch.

"Don't worry," Chris had sidled up to him. "Lance really concentrates, he won't notice us all watching, at least not for the first take."

And then Lance came in, and Adam realized that his problem was not going to be ignoring the watchers behind the cameras, it was going to be not bursting out laughing. He hadn't even thought about how Lance was going to look as 'Uptight Lawyer', but his normally spiky hair was slicked down into a severe corporate style, he wore wire-rimmed glasses and a pinstriped suit, and he looked as though his collar and tie were choking him.

Adam clenched his jaw on the giggles that wanted to erupt, and forced himself to listen as director Lindsay had a quick word, and then it was action, and Uptight Lawyer walked up to his bar and tapped impatiently. Adam looked him up and down, shook his head and said, "Man, you so need to get laid."

Lance's mouth flopped open and he floundered. "I—I—what? I thought—did we change—" Then he registered the snickering crowd. "Oh. Right. Okay, go on, laugh." He shook his head ruefully and turned back towards Adam.

"Seriously, that suit," Adam said apologetically, and tried to control his face. "Sorry about that."

"Okay, guys, let's try this again," called the director.

Second take, more or less the same as the first, except that Lance wasn't quite so thrown and Adam was on the verge of laughing aloud.

Third take, Lance managed to get his request for a drink out before Adam burst into giggles and told him to get laid. "I'm sorry," Adam spluttered, as they re-set, "I just—the tie, my God." It was navy blue with discreet red dots, and this somehow struck Adam as ridiculously funny.

A couple more takes, and it was beginning to feel a bit like Lucy and Charlie Brown and the football, but everyone in the studio was finding it really hard to stay quiet, and Adam just had to keep pushing.

Next take, Lance strode up to the bar, grabbed Adam firmly by the shirt front, looked right into his eyes, and in his darkest, deepest voice said, "Wanna fuck?"

The studio erupted. Adam cracked up completely, and clung to his bar to keep himself upright as he laughed himself silly. Lance, as the end-of-season gag reel would reveal, stood there looking calm and superior and ever so slightly smug.

"All right everybody, show's over," the director called, and Adam had to go back to makeup to have his eyes re-done. He heard a vengeful bass cry of "Kirkpatrick!" as he left the scene, and ran to the trailer.

The place was cleared by the time he got back, and although Lance's eyes promised retribution Adam was fairly confident it would be the fun kind, so he wasn't worried. And the first take went perfectly, though the director asked for a couple more anyway. The close-up coverage went equally quickly, and they were done for the day.

"Forgive me?" Adam said as the two of them walked back to makeup to be cleaned off.

"I know who put you up to it," Lance said. "But you're gonna have to make it up to me anyway."

"I'll think of something," Adam promised.

"Oh, by the way, you missed the big announcement," Lance said casually. "I'll be sending out a memo, but since practically everybody seemed to be on set—seriously, you are so going to pay for that—I gave them the good news. We're confirmed for the rest of the season. Audience figures for episode six were really good. So getting Chris out here wasn't a waste of money, which is just as well. Party at my place on Saturday, everyone's invited."

"I guess I should bring someone? As, um, camouflage?"

"Yeah," Lance said, sounding a bit reluctant. "I guess."

"My ex would love to see your house, and he's great at parties, he'll flirt with everyone. And he won't expect anything from me after. Except, oh my God, he'll probably want a part on the show."

"Get him to flirt with Joey," Lance said, grinning wickedly, "and I might just feel like rewarding him."

"Did I tell you how much I like your dark side?" Adam said, as they paused outside the makeup trailer. "If we were somewhere else, I could kiss you."

"I can wait," said Lance, opened the door and waved Adam through. "I so need to get laid, remember?"

* * *

"You're late," Lance said, severely, as Adam let himself into the kitchen on Sunday afternoon. "The work's already done."

"Don't tell me you didn't have a service in to clean up the party, because I won't believe you," Adam said. "Place looks too good to have been tidied by a person with the kind of hangover you must have this morning."

Lance grinned. "Nah, I'm good," he said. "And the refrigerator is full of leftovers, so you can have as much smoked salmon as you can eat. Later."

Adam smiled. "Yeah, first things first." They met in the center of the kitchen and wrapped one another into a firm embrace as they kissed, slowly, taking their time. Adam's tongue slid across the silk-wet, sensitive inner surface of Lance's lips, and there was that gorgeous sound, that deep, hungry rumble that he so loved to hear. Lance's hands slipped under Adam's T-shirt, warm on his waist, his thumbs stroking lightly.

"Great party," Adam murmured to Lance's lightly stubbled cheek. Too many people crowded into the space available, plenty of delicious food, and apparently infinite vodka cocktails. Everyone in any way connected with the show had been there—Adam met several people he'd never seen before in his life, including Leona from the network, the casting agent, two editors, an adorably shy gay guy from accounting at A Happy Place, and Neil's new girlfriend Sandie, who worked in the props department. And, to his great delight, Justin Timberlake, in between movies right now, who charmed everyone within radius and could be heard, in the wee small hours, loudly demanding a guest spot on the show next season. Adam very much hoped Leona had still been around to catch that. Adam had not left until almost four in the morning, along with the hardened party-going core of the Family Business cast and crew, but by then the five Synchronicity guys had settled in together, the bond between them obvious to everyone, and Adam had no doubt they'd talked the night out. "Missed you last night," he said.

"Me too," Lance said. "We just don't get together much these days, not all five of us, with Chris in Florida and Justin on location as often as not. Chris went to stay at J's place, so makeup will have a hell of a time with him tomorrow."

"I'd have liked to hide in a corner and just listen to you guys, but I had to get Brad home."

"I hope your pixie enjoyed himself."

Adam snickered. Brad, quivering with curiosity which he'd tried to cover with a veneer of world-weariness, had stayed at Adam's side long enough to be introduced to Gina, to Melinda and to Paul, then launched himself into the crowd and had, by all accounts, a whale of a time. "I think he actually did flirt with everybody. He definitely flirted with Joey, because I saw them. I'm pretty sure Joey was flirting back."

Lance laughed. "Joey is such a tart. Luckily for the rest of us, his wife keeps him under control." His hands were inching higher. Adam shivered, and bent to nip at Lance's mouth again, and his hands smoothed down over Lance's spectacular ass in its soft, snug jeans. Adam loved this. He loved the way they fit together, loved the way they could stand hip to hip, groin to groin, hard against one another, and just talk, letting the arousal build. Soon they'd go upstairs and take off their clothes and have mindblowing sex, but there was no hurry, they had so much time.

Not like that first night, stumbling out of the car and into Adam's apartment, practically ripping one another's clothes open, they hadn't done more than get inside, and Adam had pressed Lance up against his front door and they'd jerked one another off right there, frantic, rough, messy, and unbelievably good. And after they got their breath back, they'd staggered to his bedroom for more, and sweet, easy-going Lance had turned out to be honey-gorgeous all over, just as attentive as advertised, and—to Adam's delight—the bossiest bottom in the world, and as perfectly insatiable as Adam could wish. Adam thought of it now, of being buried deep in Lance's ass, and he rubbed closer and sucked on Lance's neck. Lance very nearly purred when he did that.

"You know, there were an awful lot of people sporting TEAM LAMBASS buttons last night," Adam said. "I don't think they were entirely serious, most of them, but it does feel like they'd be mostly pleased for us if they knew we were together."

"I thought about telling Joey I'm firing you," Lance said.

Adam froze. "Uh…"

"Hey, I'm not gonna fire you, Adam, I'm certainly not that stupid."

Adam breathed. He hadn't really thought Lance would fire him, but it was a bit of a shock to hear the words.

Lance went on: "Because of all the pestering I'm getting from him and Lisa, and those stupid buttons, and—I thought maybe I could get some traction with telling him I have to fire you so that we can start dating. But then I thought, nah, Joey knows I'm not that stupid, I doubt I could pull it off. I seem to be losing my edge with the practical jokes," Lance went on, ruefully. "Just don't have time to think up anything really good, I guess. Someone keeps distracting me." His hips pushed urgently against Adam's. "So maybe we should just let people know we're together. Though I kinda like it being just us, you know?"

"I do know. We don't have to say anything. We could just not hide."

"Have sex in the makeup trailer again, you mean?"

"I'm definitely not going to say no," Adam said. It had been terrific. The instant Katya had finished with them and headed home, Lance had removed the pinstriped suit, since it would not do to get come on his costume. Him stark naked, Adam still clothed in Chance's purple shirt and black leather pants. It seemed Lance had a teeny, tiny kink for being naked while Adam was dressed, a teeny, tiny kink of which Adam entirely approved. Lance also had an admirably practical habit of carrying condoms wherever he went. "But we can just… just not hide."

"No more of the oh-so-carefully phrased denials?"

"No more avoiding me on set? You know you do."

"Only because whenever I see you I want to take off all my clothes and beg you to fuck me. It might not be appropriate," Lance said.

Adam laughed helplessly. "I guess that could be distracting."

"I wouldn't want us to be unprofessional," Lance said. "I guess we can figure things out. Meanwhile, now that you're here, what's it to be? Smoked salmon or sex?"

"Interesting choice," said Adam, taking Lance firmly by the hand, turning him around and propelling him towards the stairs. "I figure I can have both, so long as I take them in the right order."

"So long as you do that," Lance agreed.

* * *

Adam peeled off the condom, dumped it in the trash, flopped down next to Lance and did his best to breathe. Lance seemed to be melting into the mattress, boneless and utterly relaxed. Adam stroked one hand along Lance's hip and thigh. He didn't think he'd ever get tired of how it felt. "You are so…" beautiful, he wanted to say, but it didn't seem like enough, it didn't seem to say what he wanted. "Have you—" he started again. "Have you ever had your fantasies come true?"

Lance leaned up on one elbow and looked at him earnestly. "If there's something you want that I'm not giving you, we can always—"

"No, no, that's not what I—of course, I mean, there's always, we can try, I'm sure we can think of some—but that's not what I meant."

"Yeah, so now tell me what flashed into your mind right then," Lance said. "Come on, I know it was there."

"Well," said Adam, "you could try not giving me instructions. I mean, it's hot and I love hearing you talk, but you could let me take charge, just for a change."

"But I know what I like," said Lance.

"Babe, my entire apartment building knows what you like." Lance gave him a reproving stare. "I certainly know what you like, and I know how to give it to you. Maybe I should just gag you and tie you… to the… bed…"

They stared at one another in silence.

"Okay, I don't have the strength right now," Adam admitted with regret. No way was he going to get hard again for, well, at least an hour. "Plus, the handcuffs are in my apartment." Lance glanced meaningfully towards the drawers of his bedside table. Adam investigated, and laughed. "Oh, now that's just wrong. All these weeks and you never told me you like to be handcuffed!"

"I'm pretty sure we'd have gotten to it."

"Oh, yeah."

"You should probably eat first."

"There's really not much chance of me fainting from hunger while I have you handcuffed to the bed." It was very easy to be singleminded when naked Lance was stretched out in front of him. Adam was fairly sure nothing as trivial as wanting a snack would distract him.

"Added to the reduced blood flow to the brain, it's gotta be a risk," Lance said, nodding wisely. "I mean, I'm kinda surprised you remember how to use your words when you're hard."

Adam's mouth dropped open. "Was that the most convoluted compliment on the size of my cock that I have ever heard in my life?" He pounced, fingers poised to tickle, and Lance's deep chuckles eventually turned into pleas for mercy and then languid, careful kisses.

"So what were you going to say?" Lance asked eventually.

"Say?"

"About fantasies coming true?"

"Ah," Adam said. He tugged and adjusted until Lance was snuggled against his side. "That. Well. Like I told you, when I was a teenager, I was kind of a Synchronicity fan."

"I knew it," Lance said, but he didn't sound as though he minded. "Justin was your, wait a minute, your fourth crush, and now you got to meet him. Glad I could help."

"No, no, I was never, okay, his mouth, but, no. Don't laugh!"

"Blowjob lips!"

"Oh, totally. But it wasn't him I had the crush on. It was—you just, middle of the third season, suddenly you were just—I used to imagine that we'd meet up, somehow, and maybe get to be friends, and maybe I'd get to be on the show and act with you, and…"

"Seriously?"

"Honking great big crush. Lots of fantasies. Ow! Don't do that, you can't just poke people. You Southern boys are supposed to be polite."

"Fantasies?"

"And stop using the porn voice, it's cheating. Yeah, I used to masturbate thinking about you."

"Now that," Lance said, sitting up part-way and staring into Adam's eyes, "I want to see. I want to watch."

Adam blinked. "Handcuffs first," he said.

"Deal." Lance nodded, and let himself back down onto the bed. "It's funny, I thought my life was exciting before you came into it, but compared to now…. Don't—don't go anywhere."

"Not going anywhere," Adam said. He rolled over to pin Lance to the mattress, and looked him in the eyes. "My life seems to be perfect just as it is."

Lance considered. "Mine too… so long as they renew us for another season." He smiled.

"Don't worry," said Adam. "This show will run and run."



fin

Comments

[katzb101.livejournal.com]

Oh man, this was so awesome and a really awesome way to spend my evening too.

Loved this.

And chance of any more in this 'verse?

[pensnest]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I kinda fell in love with this whole universe, so I hope I'll be able to think of more stories in it. I had to make myself stop writing this before it turned into something of a soap opera!

[lizibabes.livejournal.com]

Really cool fic, I can see myself reading this one again!!!

[pensnest]

Excellent! Glad you enjoyed it.

[banbury.livejournal.com]

It's amazing! I love your story so much! You captured them so well and Adam is adorable :-) and Lance is so layered with all his business-type and eagerness and craving for love...
I've read some stories about Adam/Lance before and liked the pairing and you complete the craving for more. Thank you! Just... I need even more now ::looking with pleading eyes::

[pensnest]

Thank you! I'm hoping I will write more in this universe, as I know so much about what happens with the show and the people—there just isn't an actual *story* in it at the moment.

[banbury.livejournal.com]

OMG, just realized that The Bouquet Stories are yours as well - I just love them! That was my first introduction to that pair and it was awesome! Thank you again.

[pensnest]

I keep hoping someone else will write Lance/Adam, but so far, it's just me... except there is a Lance/Adam/Justin Timberlake story written *for* me, which you can find here. Anyway, I'm glad you like the Bouquet stories, I'm very fond of them myself.

[zebraljb.livejournal.com]

Aw, you rec'd me. :) Thanks.

I plan on finishing that Lambert story I sent the start of ages ago...after I finish the Beauty and the Bassez thing.

But it won't be worthy - you are the Queen!

[pensnest]

I had a feeling you did another Lambert story, I was sure I remembered reading that, but couldn't pin it down. Let me encourage you to write more! I need stuff to read, too!

[robin1961.livejournal.com]

AWESOME STORY !!! WONDERFUL WRITING !!!! LOVED IT

[pensnest]

THANK YOU! :-) Glad you enjoyed it.

[brandywine28.livejournal.com]

I love this universe! You managed to cram in so much detail, everything feels completely real. I'm dying to know wether or not the show gets picked up for a second season!

Also, you win ALL the Cool Points for name-checking Company! Best musical ever written, yo. :)

[pensnest]

Well, I have to state firmly that the best musical ever is Guys and Dolls, closely followed by Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods, but I'm glad to see someone else thinks Company is cool. And that song is amazing! (I have an idea Adam actually did take part in a production of Company, possibly in high school.

I'm pretty sure I'll be writing more in this universe, so don't go away!

[brandywine28.livejournal.com]

<3!

I've always loved Company, I don't know why. (It just speaks to me, I guess.) But you can't go wrong with anything Sondheim!

[pensnest]

I'd love to be in a production of Follies, too. So many amazing musicals!