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This is for the iPod shuffle meme that is going around ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif)
cookleta. Basically, you put your iTunes on shuffle and, while a song is playing, write a drabble. Simple, eh? Not as simple as it sounds.
title: play that funky music, white boy
fandom: american idol - season 7
pairing: david cook/david archuleta
rating: t
disclaimer: this is absolutely, 100% fiction. not true.
American Baby Intro – Dave Matthews Band
And the thing is, Cook can’t remember much about the last time that he actually saw Archie. He can remember that he doesn’t remember, and that’s it. It’s like a gaping hole in his memory, and considering that he knows he won’t see the kid for a while yet, not until the tour – it aches.
That kid, he’s really something, you know? He came to care a lot about him over the course of the season.
Giggling Again for No Reason – Alanis Morissette
He calls Archuleta five days before the tour begins.
“I need to see you,” he says, his voice a shade higher than normal. He’s nervous, shouldn’t be around Arch but he goddamn well is and what’s going to happen, anyway --
Archie protests weakly, but in the end says that he’ll meet him outside his hotel in a few minutes. He doesn’t question how Cook ended up in LA, how he’s going to meet him – and that’s one of the reasons Cook loves him.
They drive around for hours, they walk, laugh and talk, do everything that both of them have been missing for far too long.
Neither of them mention it, though, because they’re afraid of what it will mean if they do.
Girls In Their Summer Clothes – Bruce Springsteen
More reports come out about Cook and Kim Caldwell as the tour progresses, and David resents it, because he and Cook spent so much time together, that he thought it was starting to mean something. That maybe, they were working up to talking about what was between them, what had been a slow burn since American Idol. He shoves the tabloid into a trash bin and scowls. It was a stupid thought, he realizes now. To think that maybe David Cook was different than everyone else who wanted a piece of him now that Idol was over.
He stops talking to Cook as the tour nears its end, and he knows it hurts him. David pretends that he doesn’t care, and goes out on a date with a girl from his church. The next day he reads headlines about a possible engagement between Cook and Caldwell, and his heart ices over.
Cook sees him reading the tabloid and moves to talk to him, but Archuleta just waves him away as he throws that magazine in the trash too. He should never have let it matter to him.
What Child Is This Anyway? – Sufjan Stevens
Cook is spending Christmas with his family at the house that he bought in Albany. He drinks eggnog, plays snow football with his brothers, dresses up as Santa Claus to pacify his nieces and nephews, the distant cousins – everything is as it should be. His mother runs his kitchen, his father shakes his head and waves his hands, and he should be happy.
But he isn’t.
After the tour, his relationship with Kim had fallen apart. Fights in public, days spent apart, rumors of infidelity, all of it was his fault. She hadn’t loved him, but she could have. And he spent his days loving someone else, comparing her to him, and it just wasn’t fair. She had found out, of course; Kim wasn’t stupid. She had looked more relieved, though, instead of angry. She had told him to go after David instead of hanging back in the shadows.
“When you find the one person you belong with, David Cook,” she had said, her hand on his arm, “you have to go after them and never let them go.”
His brothers knew that there was something wrong but they didn’t say anything, because if, by now, he hadn’t said anything then it must be serious. And it was. It really was. How could his feelings for Archuleta not be? Cook felt like he was standing on the edge of a precipice. His life was falling apart. He needed to do something, or else he’d regret it for the rest of his life.
“I’m leaving,” he announced suddenly.
I Will Follow Him – Sister Act
It is Christmas Eve, and David is singing in his church’s choir. His entire family sits out in the pews, their hands folded in their laps, basking in God’s love, and the sound of their relation’s voice. “I will follow him, ever since he touched my heart, I knew,” he sings.
Something David knows is that after American Idol, every song that once sang about God’s love became about David Cook.
“Oh, yeah, oh yes I love him. I’m gonna follow him. He’ll always be my true love…”
He doesn’t really know what he believes anymore. He wants to believe in God, he really does. That was his life for years, before Idol. His whole life. But then he met Cook, and everything changed. And how can he reconcile his religion with his love?
He really can’t, David decides. He has to leave this chapter of his life behind and move on.
Be Still – Kelly Clarkson
They meet on a empty main street in David’s hometown in Utah. They’re both bundled up, scarves and hats and mittens, heavy jackets… It is winter after all. They pause for a moment, seeing the other, not really knowing what to do.
“Hey,” Archie says, his hands shoved deep in his jacket pockets.
“Hey, yourself,” Cook says, then berates himself inwardly. Isn’t he supposed to be the articulate one? That was so lame, hey yourself, David probably thinks he’s the worst person ever…
“I gave up on being a Mormon,” David says suddenly, without any preamble.
“I left my family Christmas gathering to come here,” Cook replies.
The two of them grin at each other stupidly as the snow swirls faster around them.
Glass Onion – The Beatles
“I never really got this song,” Archie says, as the Beatles’ “Glass Onion” starts blasting from Cook’s iPod speakers.
“Dude, the Beatles don’t even get themselves. Just sit back, listen, and enjoy.”
He comes over and ruffles David’s hair.
Waiting – Shiny Toy Guns
The day Archie turns eighteen is the same day that he tells his dad that he no longer wants to be a Mormon. It’s also the day that he tells his entire family that he’s moving to Albany to live with David Cook. It’s a loud meeting, full of gestures and harsh words, but he’s made up his mind and in the end, leaves with his mother’s blessing and hugs from his siblings. His father glowers in his study, and he comes around by the time David is driving away in the car Cook sent to take him the airport, but it’s too late.
Cook pulls Archuleta into a tight embrace as he greets him in the airport.
“Love you,” he says softly, into the younger man’s ear.
He can feel David’s grin against the stubble on his cheek.
“Love you too, man. Always.”
It’s all that either of them could want to hear.
Pressed in a Book – The Shins
Michael Johns comes all the way from Sydney to help the Davids arrange their place. It’s kind of hectic, considering that Johns will be staying with them for a bit while he and his wife are finalizing their divorce, and also putting into mind the constant pranks that the three of them are playing on each other.
They have to take breaks once in a while, because the tension and mischief start to get on their nerves.
After an especially hard argument, Johns presents Cook with a photo album. He looks decidedly awkward, and he practically shoves the book at him. “Just take it, mate,” he mutters.
Cook takes the book and watches as his friend walks away quickly, and he shrugs, beginning to flip through the pages. Oh, he thinks. Oh. It’s pictures of he and Archie, from the beginning of AI through the tour, through now. He started at the first page and began again.
It was strange seeing his relationship through someone else’s eyes, but looking at it that way, he was surprised that it hadn’t happened a lot sooner.
Take My Hand – The Cab
One day while talking to a reporter on VH1, Cook accidentally lets it slip.
A female reporter is asking about what his love life has been like since Caldwell, if he wouldn’t mind mentioning the names of current or past girlfriends, and Cook says lightly, “Oh, I haven’t dated any girls since then. I have a boyfriend, though.”
He doesn’t think anything of it, doesn’t even realize what he’s saying until it’s too goddamn late. It must’ve been the lack of sleep, or maybe he was just dying to tell somebody. But the shocked look on the reporter’s face tells him that he did something wrong, and he knows that the shit’s about to hit the fan.
He excuses himself from the interview and heads directly back to his house in Albany. He gets about a dozen calls en route from some of the other Idol contestants, the judges – most surprisingly Simon – and of course, Ryan, all offering their support.
Whatever, man. Cook turns his phone off and sleeps fitfully on the way back. He gets there sooner than expected, and tips his driver over 300$, not really noticing.
David’s waiting in the doorway, a concerned look on his face.
Cook all but runs up the steps. “I’m sorry, Arch,” he mumbles, reaching for the younger man. “So sorry…”
David gives him this wonderful half-smile, his eyes soft. “Sorry for what, Cook? I,” he says, pulling the Idol winner into his embrace, “am so proud of you.”
After that, he forgets all about his record sales falling and the shit hitting the fan. Cook feels kind of awesome.
cookleta. Basically, you put your iTunes on shuffle and, while a song is playing, write a drabble. Simple, eh? Not as simple as it sounds.title: play that funky music, white boy
fandom: american idol - season 7
pairing: david cook/david archuleta
rating: t
disclaimer: this is absolutely, 100% fiction. not true.
American Baby Intro – Dave Matthews Band
And the thing is, Cook can’t remember much about the last time that he actually saw Archie. He can remember that he doesn’t remember, and that’s it. It’s like a gaping hole in his memory, and considering that he knows he won’t see the kid for a while yet, not until the tour – it aches.
That kid, he’s really something, you know? He came to care a lot about him over the course of the season.
Giggling Again for No Reason – Alanis Morissette
He calls Archuleta five days before the tour begins.
“I need to see you,” he says, his voice a shade higher than normal. He’s nervous, shouldn’t be around Arch but he goddamn well is and what’s going to happen, anyway --
Archie protests weakly, but in the end says that he’ll meet him outside his hotel in a few minutes. He doesn’t question how Cook ended up in LA, how he’s going to meet him – and that’s one of the reasons Cook loves him.
They drive around for hours, they walk, laugh and talk, do everything that both of them have been missing for far too long.
Neither of them mention it, though, because they’re afraid of what it will mean if they do.
Girls In Their Summer Clothes – Bruce Springsteen
More reports come out about Cook and Kim Caldwell as the tour progresses, and David resents it, because he and Cook spent so much time together, that he thought it was starting to mean something. That maybe, they were working up to talking about what was between them, what had been a slow burn since American Idol. He shoves the tabloid into a trash bin and scowls. It was a stupid thought, he realizes now. To think that maybe David Cook was different than everyone else who wanted a piece of him now that Idol was over.
He stops talking to Cook as the tour nears its end, and he knows it hurts him. David pretends that he doesn’t care, and goes out on a date with a girl from his church. The next day he reads headlines about a possible engagement between Cook and Caldwell, and his heart ices over.
Cook sees him reading the tabloid and moves to talk to him, but Archuleta just waves him away as he throws that magazine in the trash too. He should never have let it matter to him.
What Child Is This Anyway? – Sufjan Stevens
Cook is spending Christmas with his family at the house that he bought in Albany. He drinks eggnog, plays snow football with his brothers, dresses up as Santa Claus to pacify his nieces and nephews, the distant cousins – everything is as it should be. His mother runs his kitchen, his father shakes his head and waves his hands, and he should be happy.
But he isn’t.
After the tour, his relationship with Kim had fallen apart. Fights in public, days spent apart, rumors of infidelity, all of it was his fault. She hadn’t loved him, but she could have. And he spent his days loving someone else, comparing her to him, and it just wasn’t fair. She had found out, of course; Kim wasn’t stupid. She had looked more relieved, though, instead of angry. She had told him to go after David instead of hanging back in the shadows.
“When you find the one person you belong with, David Cook,” she had said, her hand on his arm, “you have to go after them and never let them go.”
His brothers knew that there was something wrong but they didn’t say anything, because if, by now, he hadn’t said anything then it must be serious. And it was. It really was. How could his feelings for Archuleta not be? Cook felt like he was standing on the edge of a precipice. His life was falling apart. He needed to do something, or else he’d regret it for the rest of his life.
“I’m leaving,” he announced suddenly.
I Will Follow Him – Sister Act
It is Christmas Eve, and David is singing in his church’s choir. His entire family sits out in the pews, their hands folded in their laps, basking in God’s love, and the sound of their relation’s voice. “I will follow him, ever since he touched my heart, I knew,” he sings.
Something David knows is that after American Idol, every song that once sang about God’s love became about David Cook.
“Oh, yeah, oh yes I love him. I’m gonna follow him. He’ll always be my true love…”
He doesn’t really know what he believes anymore. He wants to believe in God, he really does. That was his life for years, before Idol. His whole life. But then he met Cook, and everything changed. And how can he reconcile his religion with his love?
He really can’t, David decides. He has to leave this chapter of his life behind and move on.
Be Still – Kelly Clarkson
They meet on a empty main street in David’s hometown in Utah. They’re both bundled up, scarves and hats and mittens, heavy jackets… It is winter after all. They pause for a moment, seeing the other, not really knowing what to do.
“Hey,” Archie says, his hands shoved deep in his jacket pockets.
“Hey, yourself,” Cook says, then berates himself inwardly. Isn’t he supposed to be the articulate one? That was so lame, hey yourself, David probably thinks he’s the worst person ever…
“I gave up on being a Mormon,” David says suddenly, without any preamble.
“I left my family Christmas gathering to come here,” Cook replies.
The two of them grin at each other stupidly as the snow swirls faster around them.
Glass Onion – The Beatles
“I never really got this song,” Archie says, as the Beatles’ “Glass Onion” starts blasting from Cook’s iPod speakers.
“Dude, the Beatles don’t even get themselves. Just sit back, listen, and enjoy.”
He comes over and ruffles David’s hair.
Waiting – Shiny Toy Guns
The day Archie turns eighteen is the same day that he tells his dad that he no longer wants to be a Mormon. It’s also the day that he tells his entire family that he’s moving to Albany to live with David Cook. It’s a loud meeting, full of gestures and harsh words, but he’s made up his mind and in the end, leaves with his mother’s blessing and hugs from his siblings. His father glowers in his study, and he comes around by the time David is driving away in the car Cook sent to take him the airport, but it’s too late.
Cook pulls Archuleta into a tight embrace as he greets him in the airport.
“Love you,” he says softly, into the younger man’s ear.
He can feel David’s grin against the stubble on his cheek.
“Love you too, man. Always.”
It’s all that either of them could want to hear.
Pressed in a Book – The Shins
Michael Johns comes all the way from Sydney to help the Davids arrange their place. It’s kind of hectic, considering that Johns will be staying with them for a bit while he and his wife are finalizing their divorce, and also putting into mind the constant pranks that the three of them are playing on each other.
They have to take breaks once in a while, because the tension and mischief start to get on their nerves.
After an especially hard argument, Johns presents Cook with a photo album. He looks decidedly awkward, and he practically shoves the book at him. “Just take it, mate,” he mutters.
Cook takes the book and watches as his friend walks away quickly, and he shrugs, beginning to flip through the pages. Oh, he thinks. Oh. It’s pictures of he and Archie, from the beginning of AI through the tour, through now. He started at the first page and began again.
It was strange seeing his relationship through someone else’s eyes, but looking at it that way, he was surprised that it hadn’t happened a lot sooner.
Take My Hand – The Cab
One day while talking to a reporter on VH1, Cook accidentally lets it slip.
A female reporter is asking about what his love life has been like since Caldwell, if he wouldn’t mind mentioning the names of current or past girlfriends, and Cook says lightly, “Oh, I haven’t dated any girls since then. I have a boyfriend, though.”
He doesn’t think anything of it, doesn’t even realize what he’s saying until it’s too goddamn late. It must’ve been the lack of sleep, or maybe he was just dying to tell somebody. But the shocked look on the reporter’s face tells him that he did something wrong, and he knows that the shit’s about to hit the fan.
He excuses himself from the interview and heads directly back to his house in Albany. He gets about a dozen calls en route from some of the other Idol contestants, the judges – most surprisingly Simon – and of course, Ryan, all offering their support.
Whatever, man. Cook turns his phone off and sleeps fitfully on the way back. He gets there sooner than expected, and tips his driver over 300$, not really noticing.
David’s waiting in the doorway, a concerned look on his face.
Cook all but runs up the steps. “I’m sorry, Arch,” he mumbles, reaching for the younger man. “So sorry…”
David gives him this wonderful half-smile, his eyes soft. “Sorry for what, Cook? I,” he says, pulling the Idol winner into his embrace, “am so proud of you.”
After that, he forgets all about his record sales falling and the shit hitting the fan. Cook feels kind of awesome.
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