Title: Coffee and Consequences
Author: Leela (leela_cat)
Pairing/Characters: Adam/Tommy
Rating: PG
Word Count: 9x100
Content/Warning(s): AU
Author's notes: Written for glam_100, prompt #062: night and day. Many thanks to aislinntlc for the preread.

This continues from last week's drabble-set, Picture Perfect.


"Me next." A girl all but shoves the woman out of the way and pushes a camera into a friend's hands. "Like this," she says, as she hangs her arms around Tommy's neck. "He totally has to hire you. You're, like, so his type and you'd be adorable on stage." And then she kisses Tommy's cheek and bounces off to join the crowd around Adam.

Tommy can't do anything but stare after her and scrub at his cheek. "What the fuck?"

"Call it the Adam Lambert effect," Brian says. "And be ready for even more cray if you join up."

.o0O0o.

"Cray?"

"Crazier than fuck?" Brian laughs. "It's one of the things that comes with playing for Adam. Gotta be experienced to be understood."

"You trying to, like, talk me out of this gig?" Tommy lowers his voice, not wanting to be caught by the video camera that a fan's wielding like a pro.

"No gig's perfect, but Adam? He makes it worthwhile."

Tommy glances at Adam, who's leaning over to the other guy and nodding. Then, as if Adam's given them an invisible signal, the crowd backs off.

Adam beckons them over and says, "We've got a new audition space."

.o0O0o.

The new space, of course, is miles away from where they are, and there's no fucking way Tommy's gonna leave his car behind. He can't afford to replace the passenger side window again. So he's playing follow-the-leader down side streets he didn't know existed.

He's just raced through a not-quite-red light, because Adam couldn't stop in time, when his phone rings.

"Yeah?"

"Tommy, darling!" Leo says, putting on a fake Hollywood accent. "Can I say I knew you when?"

"What?"

"You're famous, baby."

"Leo? What the hell are you smoking, and why didn't you wait for me to get home?"

.o0O0o.

"Just watching my twitter feed explode over pics of a guy who might be Adam's new guitarist."

"Aw hell." Tommy would've closed his eyes if he hadn't needed them to drive.

"Then again, there's a blurry pic of Adam and this blond dude sharing coffee, and some people are saying he's Adam's boyfriend."

"Fuck no." Tommy glances over his shoulder and switches lanes, flipping off the guy who honks at him. "And seriously? There was no one out there."

"Seriously," Leo says. "And I'm not correcting them, even though I know you'd tell me if you got a new guy."

.o0O0o.

"As if I'd be able to keep it from you if I did." Tommy takes a corner too fast, laying down rubber that his tires can't really afford to lose.

"Not without me fucking you up but good."

Tommy sticks out his tongue, even though he knows she can't see it. "Promises, promises."

Leo laughs. Tommy grins for a moment, but it fades when he realizes what she said.

"There are pictures of me? All over the internet?"

"You were with Adam Lambert. Of course there are pictures of you all over the internet. What did you think would happen?"

.o0O0o.

"Fuck if I know." Tommy swallows hard. He hadn't thought about anything except getting a paying gig and a chance to prove he's as fucking good as he told his folks he was when they kicked him out.

"It's okay," Leo says. "No one has your name, and I'm sure as shit not giving it out."

"It's just—" Spying a cop car as he turns left, Tommy pauses to pull the phone away from his ear and out of sight. When it's clear they aren't interested in him, he picks it back up again. Leo's obviously been talking the whole time.

.o0O0o.

"Anyway," she says, "that's enough of that. How'd the audition go? Did you get the gig? And since I trust your judgment, what's Adam really like?"

Tommy hits the brakes, breathing a sigh of relief when he doesn't hit Adam's car. "On my way there. Don't know. And he's cool."

"Cool?" Leo says, the amusement clear in her voice. "You like him. You really like him."

"Fuck off."

"Love you too, Tommy."

"Maybe a bit," he admits, "but it's not like I know him or anything."

"Dude, you gave him your coffee."

"He took it."

"And you let him."

.o0O0o.

There isn't much Tommy can say to that, but he tries anyway. "I was up all night. Totally wasn't in my right mind. Besides, I didn't want to piss the guy off before the audition."

"Even you don't believe that." Leo makes the noise that lets him know she's pressing in on her temples then, all humor gone from her voice, she says, "Just don't leave me behind, okay? When you're rich and famous and everything's as different as night and day."

"I won't," Tommy says.

"Yeah, okay."

"I fucking well won't."

"I know, okay. It's just— I'd miss you."

.o0O0o.

"I'd miss you too, but that's not the fucking point. I'm not Tara. I'm not going anywhere, whether I get the gig or not. You're fucking stuck with me. Night and day."

Leo's laugh sounds snotty even through the hiss and crackle of Tommy's shitty phone. "I'll manage somehow."

He's still trying to figure out what to say when he has to slow down to make a right, and they're being waved through a set of gates and into a parking lot.

"Gotta go," Tommy says, flipping his phone shut on her goodbye as he pulls into an empty spot.

Promises in Purple Ink continues in Amped Up.


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