Title: The Key To Our Soul Author: saar_fantasy Pairings: Adam Lambert/Kris Allen, Noah 'Puck' Puckerman/Kurt Hummel (there will probably be mentioned a few more, but these are the main ones)
Rating: PG-13 Warnings: none really Spoilers: none Genre: Humor,Romance, Music, AU, American Idol cross-over/Glee cross-over Word Count:: ~2.900 Disclaimer: As much as I wished I did, I don't own any of them.
Summary: Adam Lambert and Kurt Hummel, both friends; and most importantly, both openly gay; sign up to audition for American Idol in New York. They both hope to make a singing career out of it, neither of them expecting to get so much more...
A/N: Just fyi, the Matt I'm referring to is Matt Giraud from AI, not Matt from Glee.
"Seriously, I don't know what you're so worked up about." Kurt said while watching Puck pace through their room, "You're gonna be just fine, Noah."
Puck huffed a frustrated little breath and kept on pacing until Kris, who was visiting the two boys together with Adam, Blaine and Matt, blocked his path.
"Listen to him, Puck," Kris spoke, blocking his friend again when he tried to side-step him, "You really have nothing to worry about."
"If there's someone who should be worried, it's me." Kurt spoke again and all heads turned to look at him.
"Are you kidding me?" Puck scoffed, "What do you have to worry about? Your voice is amazing."
Kurt ducked his head a little to try and hidehis blush, "I'm too theatrical. Simon said so himself."
"Same here," Adam piped up, "It doesn't surprise me though. We just have to show him another side of us."
"If you're all worried about what Simon says about you, than I should be worried too." Blaine remarked, "He told me I was good boysband material, but nothing more than that."
Puck huffed, "Simon can go fuck himself. It's not him I'm worried about. It's just...I want to get on this show for some reason you all won't understand."
"I do," Kris spoke up, breaking through his own created silence, "I know why you want to get on this show so bad and I understand. You know I do."
Puck gave his friend a small smile, "I know you do and I know you know my main reason to be on the show. I trust you to keep it a secret as well."
Kris nodded while the others looked confused and, especially Kurt, a little intrigued.
"You'll find something, man." Matt, the only one who hadn't said anything yet, finally spoke up, "Just don't over think your song choice."
"Just do what you do best," Blaine said, giving Puck a reassuring smile, "Show them you can work a crowd. Paula and Randy always like a show animal."
"Thanks, guys," Puck finally said, taking his guitar and walking to the door, "I think I'm gonna try and work something out."
Then he leaves the room while Kurt stares after him, intent on finding out about Noah's reason to want to be on the show that badly some other time when they were alone in their room.
Maybe he would confide in him too...
The next morning was showtime.
They were woken up very early and most of the contestants start rehearsing right away, or right after breakfast.
Now it seemed like roles were reversed, 'cause Noah seemed like the most confident person of the world, while all of the other contestants were nervous as hell.
At the breakfast table Kris, Noah, Adam and Kurt shared, Noah was the only one talking about stuff that didn't have anything to do with American Idol.
The others weren't really listening to him anyway, too locked up in their own thoughts.
"You look strangely good-mooded," a female voice came from behind him, and Noah looked around to see Rachel Berry standing there.
"I am in a good mood," Noah replied with a smile, "You look pretty relaxed yourself."
Rachel smiled, took an empty chair from a table next to her and plopped herself down next to Noah at the boys' table.
"Well, Ihave nothing to worry about, have I?" she said with a flick of her hair, "I'm totally gonna rock this thing."
Noah, who was paired up with Rachel in the group round, was already used to this. The other boys on the other hand looked rather confused.
Noah just smiled and shrugged at them. He liked Rachel well enough.
Sure enough, Rachel started talking to all of them and they just became annoyed with her, just like Noah assumed they would.
Kurt was the worst in hiding his annoyance and actually went in against the girl, making her highly annoyed, but the other boys highly amused.
At least their nerves seemed to have calmed down a little... Only to be spiked back up again when one of the crew members called them to the lobby where they all received numbers in which order they would perform that evening.
The rest of the day was spend by all of the contestants in the same way. Practise, practise and practise on their song.
Some seemed to have confidence in their choice of song, while others to change at the very last moment.
According to most of them it was way too soon when the stage boys strolled around to tell everyone it was time to get into the theatre.
They were all told to be quiet during the performances so the judges could concentrate on the person on stage without getting distracted by their reactions.
Nerves were flowing through everyone's veins. Even Puck felt the nerves whirling in his stomach, but healthy nerves.
If he felt nothing it wouldn't be good either.
The judges came inside and it didn't take long before the first contestant was called onstage to perform.
The judges waren't going to say anything as critique, so nobody would know if they did good or not.
Sometimes you could catch Paula swaying in her chair or Randy nodding his head, but you couldn't make anything out of Simon without seeing his face.
Puck was one of the last people to perform and when he went on stage, Kurt, Kris and even Adam were on the edge of their seats.
All three of them had already performed and were pretty pleased with it, so now they wanted Puck to do well too.
When Puck started playing the first notes of the song on his accoustic guitar, there was a comotion at the judges' table.
All three of them were laughing and when most of the contestants heard what song it was, they started laughing as well and cheering him on.
He was singing a whole new version of "Straight Up", which is a song from Paula Abdul, so that was the explanation for the comotion with the judges.
Kris was shaking his head, laughing and mentally congratulating his friend for being so balsy.
Matt and Blaine were up on their feet and whistled to jeer Puck on even more.
He was absolutely killing it and judging on the smirk on his face; he knew it.
Paula was up on her feet by the end of the song, Randy followed and even Simon was clapping his hands.
Kurt, Adam and Kris were up on their feet too, as well as the bigger part of the on-looking contestants.
Puck made a bow and rested his guitar against the side of the stage as he made his way down the stairs. Then went down the hallway to his seat, being congratulated by everyone he walked past.
Kurt was bouncing on his heels, waiting for Puck to finally get up to him and his other friends.
It took some balls to sing a Paula Abdul song right in front of her. Especially at this stage of the competition.
It was a make or break kind of thing and, lucky for Puck, it seemed like he had made it for sure.
Kurt pushed hid way through the chairs, not able to contain his ecitement any longer, and practically jumped on Puck when he approached him.
Puck laughed and squeezed Kurt before setting him down on the ground onto his feet again, then took in the hugs from his other friends.
He took a seat next to Kurt to watch the few contestants that were left perform, noticing Kurt's sideways glances at him.
He tried not to look back too obviously, but he couldn't help the small upward curl of his lips.
When all the performances were over, the contestants were guided out of the theater and the judges were left alone to deliberate on who they would let through and who not.
At the end of their decision, all contestants were split up into 4 different groups and were lead to 4 different rooms.
Adam, Kurt and Blaine ended up in one room together, Matt and Kris in another and Puck ended up alone in the third room.
Well, he wasn't exactly alone, but he wasn't with any of the friends he made, not even with Kris, which made him worried that he might be going home.
There was no way in his mind that after any of those three people's performances, they would get cut out of the competition. And even though he thought he hadn't done so bad himself, he still felt very, very nervous.
The one thing he held onto was that Mercedes Jones was in his group. She was a diva, sometimes in the absolute worst kind of way, but oh man, could she sing!
He might be even more relieved if Rachel had been in his room, but she wasn't. He thought he saw her go inside the room with Blaine, Adam and Kurt, so he basically knew at least Kurt would be safe.
Which made him a little bit more happy than he was nervous at the time.
When Puck and the other contestants in his room had heard screams of joy coming out of two rooms already, they knew it was getting tougher and tougher to be the third, and last group to get through.
Puck was hoping that they wouldn't get cut, but his hope slightly faded when the judges came in and Paula was fighting back her tears.
He knew she was good at acting, but still, he was afraid that this would be the last minutes for him on American Idol...
This could be part of the end or the beginning of his dreams.
Kurt, Adam and Blaine were all happy when Kris and Matt joined them in the lobby and told them they were going through.
Their happiness was short lived when the third group arrived and Puck wasn't with them...
Kurt fell tears well up in his eyes as Blaine and Matt dropped their heads, Kris rubbed his temples, shaking his head in disbelief, and Adam walked up to him and gave him a hug.
The cheers and chattering fell silent when the three judges entered the lobby and asked for their attention.
Simon took a microphone from one of the crewmembers and started talking to the contestants in it.
"This has been the season where we've found the most talented people we ever had, so, we want you to realize that this has been a very hard job for us to figure out who to keep and put into our top 24 and who not. Remember, some of you still have to go home." Murmurs were rising up from everywhere around the room, but Simon kept on talking, "It's been so hard for us that we realized that we made a mistake with two people about letting them go home."
Adam, Kris and Kurt perked up at that. They didn't know what it meant, but it sounded promising...
"That is why," Simon continued, "We stopped them from leaving the building and told them they could stay."
Gasps broke out of several mouths and Kurt suddenly felt a slight tinge of hope flow through his body.
"The first person we decided to keep in the competition is..." everyone turned their heads towards the door while Simon announced the first person's name. "Mercedes Jones!"
Mercedes was taken into the group with claps and cheers from everyone inside the lobby.
Kurt was clapping with them, but he just couldn't keep his eyes off of that damn door.
It was like he was demanding the door to let the one person he wanted to still be in the competition walk through it.
"And, the second person is..."
Simon seems to drag the "is" longer then he should and all Kurt can think is, "Get on with it!"
"Noah Puckerman!"
Kurt doesn't waste any time and runs to the door, making Puck barely get inside when he throws himself in his arms.
Puck's arms wrap themselves around the crying boy and barely holds back the tears of his own.
He thought it was over... That his dream was over.
But it wasn't.
He made it this far, now he only had to make it into the top 24 and life would be perfect.
Everyone congratulated Puck while Kurt never left his side.
It's a strange feeling, but Puck thinks he could never be happier than right now at this moment.
The fact that he hasn't thought about his girlfriend or about calling her to tell her the good news somehow doesn't frighten him.
He's happy here, with his friends, and he really, really doesn't want to leave.
As they're waiting in the room until Ryan calls them one by one to go up to the judges to see if they made it to the top 24 or not, Kris and Puck get a visit from two people they really hadn't expected to be there.
Family and friends were allowed to support them, but both Puck and Kris had told them not to come.
Of course they should have known that Santana wouldn't hold her agreement. In fact, she hadn't agreed to it at all.
So here she was, strutting into the holding room they were all sitting in, locked pinkies with her girlfriend Brittany.
Santana looked around, spotting her friends and walking right up to them, strolling Brittany along with her.
They got a few cat whistles from the other guys, while Kris felt his face turn red, Puck just smiled at the two girls.
"Please tell me those bitches have let you two into the top 24." Santana said when she stood in front of the two boys.
"We don't know yet, San," Puck answered, "We're still waiting to be called up to the judges to get our verdict."
"Oh," Santana replied, flipping her ponytail a little, "Well, we can wait."
She glared at some girls who were sitting next to Puck, who quickly scrambled away to let her and Brittany sit there.
Santana smiled triumphantly as she and Brittany took their seats, then turned to her girl to kiss her.
More whistles rose up and jaws dropped as guys were staring at them in awe.
Kris hid his head in his hands,groaning a little, Puck laughed and Kurt and Adam just looked kind of fascinated and confused at the same time.
Suddenly there came a whisper of, "That's just disgusting," from behind them and Santana broke the kiss, snapping her head back to look at the scrawny boy with glasses on his nose who just said that.
"Excuse me?"
"I said," the boy repeated himself, "That's just disgusting."
"Now you listen to me, dorkface," Santana snapped, "Who are you to judge us? If you don't like what you see than turn your stupid face away before I slam my fist into it, get it?"
The boy muttered something under his breath and Santana snapped her fingers in front of his face.
"I said, .?"
She spelled the words like she was talking to a three year old, making the guy all red in his face from embarassment.
"Yeah, I get it. Sorry." he muttered before standing up and moving to another chair. Far, far away from where Santana and the rest of them were sitting.
Matt and Blaine both started clapping and whooping, all the other non-homophobic people joining them.
Santana stood up with a huge smile on her face and did a little courtesy, earning even more cheers from the crowd around her.
"Wow, she's feisty," Kurt whispered softly to Puck, leaning close enough to him so he could hear.
"Yep," Puck answered with pride, "That's our Santana."
"I love her!" Adam exclaimed, "She's totally awesome."
Kris, who had now recovered from his shame and was pretty mad at the guy himself, finally found his words again.
"She's a handful," he smiled when Santana rolled her eyes, "But we love her. And Britt of course." He quickly added the last part when the blond girl next to Santana coughed softly.
The pair of friends, and the rest of the room for that matter, went quiet when another contestant came out and told them all she wasn't going through.
"Kris Allen," Ryan called out after he comforted the disappointed girl and send her home with her family, "It's time for you to go up there."
Kris swallowed and stood up, looking down at his friends he said, "Wish me luck."
"Good luck," Puck and Kurt said in unison while Adam showed him his crossed fingers.
Santana huffed, "You don't need luck. You're in that top 24, there's no doubt about it."
Kris just wished he could believe that...
"And if they don't put you through," Santana continued, "I'll go up there and give those judges a piece of my mind."
Now he was just wishing it wouldn't have to come to that.