AU Fic: Breathe The Same Air
Breathe The Same Air
written for au_bingo, prompt: Alt. Fandom: Musical Theater
fandom: american idol; pairing: cook/ archie; rating: pg; approximately 1,500 words
ETA: I'm scratching this off the au_bingo collection because I think I used the prompt incorrectly. I shall write another for the same prompt but I will keep this fic.
My AU Bingo card
Disclaimer: This is only fiction and written based on the author's imagination. No libel and copyright infringement intended.
A/N: This is AU, not beta'ed as usual, please expect tons of mistakes. I purposely did not disclose what the musical play is that Cook and Archie became part of. Gold star and cookies to anyone who can guess without googling. I did leave tons of clues.
---
They tour for a year. Archie is excited. He should be excited. Except…
The knowledge that his ex-boyfriend is - oh my gosh - in the cast kills all the enthusiasm he has bubbling inside his chest as soon as he got the acceptance letter.
Congratulations, Mr. Archuleta. You have been chosen to play the role of John Thomas. Rehearsals starts on the 21st of January at New 42nd Street Studio, the letter reads or maybe those aren't the exact words written but they are the ones that gets stuck in Archie's head. He has read it a hundred times before he flew out here in the busy city of New York.
Archie doesn't meet the rest of the cast until five days later and he thinks they're all nice and… well, some are a bit snobbish though. It's his first time in Broadway and he's not going to let some actors with attitude problems ruin it for him.
But then he sees Cook and learns that Cook's playing the male lead role. What makes Archie wants to die (figuratively) is the fact Cook's character happens to be the best friend of the character Archie's playing.
It's immature to run to the casting director and beg to recast him but that's exactly what Archie does. Ms. Abdul ("Call me Paula, dear. Please") just laughs and tells him no one else is fit to play John Thomas, not even Archie's understudy. He asks if he did sign the contract because maybe he can, like, back out or something but Paula laughs again, says, "It's too late, sweetie. You're stuck with us for a year and a half," then squeezes his shoulder, adding, "You're too adorable," which… eeww.
Archie leaves her office hurriedly because she's looking at him like she wants to squeeze his head off and dangle it from her rear view mirror.
*
First week of rehearsal goes well. Archie does his best to remain professional, interacting with Cook only on stage. He reminds himself he's John Thomas up there and Cook's Chris Scott - his best friend, not his ex-boyfriend. But Archie's body trembles whenever Cook throws an arm casually around his shoulders, the scent permeating from Cook's body making Archie dizzy.
Six months of rehearsals is like being in a purgatory, waiting for judgment day or whatever. Except there isn't any judgment day here because they have all been signed, been given roles, been honed to play their roles and toughened enough for them to last a night.
Archie survives it all, thank goodness. He has learned his songs, his lines. And he's all pumped for opening night.
Cook ambles by his dressing table before the show starts, his hand warm on the curve of Archie's shoulder. "Good luck, Arch," he whispers, breath warm against the back of Archie's ears. A shiver crawls up Archie's arms, settling at the back of his neck.
The foundation brush Archie's holding slips from his grasp, landing on the table.
"Um…" Archie's mouth has gone dry. "T-thanks. You too. I mean um… good luck to you too." He wants to tell Cook to break a leg but… but it might happen literally? And he so doesn't want Cook to break a leg.
*
"He still likes you." Thia - the girl playing the female lead role of Kim - bounds beside Archie as soon as the curtain call is over.
"Huh?" Archie looks at her stupidly, not sure what she means.
"Cook. I think he's still into you. You never told me you guys used to be together." There's a glimmer in Thia's eyes that spells trouble for Archie.
"I'm uh-"
"Oh please, Archie." Thia hooks her arm around Archie's and starts dragging him toward the dressing rooms. "If you're about to tell me you're not gay, forget it. I have gaydar and I can tell. I know Cook is, too."
"What makes you so sure Cook is um, um…" Archie waves an arm in the air, thinking that it's worth a try to deflect Thia's presumptions but…
"Well, when he was kissing me on stage he was actually whispering your name the whole time."
"John Thomas' name?"
Thia barks a laugh, says, "No, not your character's name, YOUR name," and waggles her eyebrows like she's plotting something um… not nice.
"Um…um…" Words fail to form on Archie's tongue.
*
Thia's words reverberate in Archie's head and for the next two weeks that Archie can't dang focus. It's a good thing Cowell has called him out only twice. Pissing off the musical director is the last thing Archie's wants to do.
It's a Saturday night and the theater is packed. Adam says he spots Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in the crowd, near front row. Eager to catch a glimpse, Archie hangs around the off-left wing, trying to see beyond the black curtains.
Soft lights pour over the audience on the front rows but Archie can't see their faces clearly. He settles for watching his fellow cast members instead. It's Cook-or rather Chris and Kim's scene now. Cook and Thia take their places at the center of the stage. This scene is one of Archie's favorites: the wedding scene. The song is just so beautiful, so moving.
Archie feels a shiver surging down his spine when Cook starts to sing. "In a place that won't let us feel. In a life where nothing seems real. I have found you. I have found you."
He pictures Cook singing it to him and his heart grows heavy, his chest swells. He's not sure if he's imagining it or if Cook's really looking at him instead of Thia when Cook sings, "On the other side of the earth. There's a place where life still has worth. I will take you."
"I'll go with you," Archie sings along with Thia, careful not to let his voice float across the stage.
The music, the lyrics echo within Archie, ripping his soul open. The sound of Cook's smooth voice wraps around him like a fleece blanket, comforting him in every way possible.
He's charged with this emotion bottled up inside him for the rest of the night and he sings his heart out during his last few scenes, sings, "I'm not here as a friend, I have a job to do," to Thia like he means it, like he's really John and he's breaking the bad news to Thia's character Kim. "It's strange to find my work, should lead me here to you."
The words may very well fit what he thinks about Cook, about how strange fate has brought them together and has given them both the break they so wanted in the same musical.
*
It takes two months before Cook finally finds the bal-guts… the guts to say something. The entire cast and crew and production team are out celebrating their last night in New York City. They leave for Pittsburgh in two days.
Amidst the alcohol and fruit punches (because some of the cast members are below the legal drinking age still), Cook pulls Archie aside, asking if they may talk or mumbling something Archie barely understands.
Cook takes him back to the theater and they climb up on stage - the place that served as their home for the past months. Archie watches Cook strides over to the center while he remains down stage. A wave of nostalgia washes over him and Archie can tell Cook feels the same.
"I never apologized for leaving you in L.A.," Cook says just as Archie starts to hum a tune from the musical.
"You did, Cook. Twice at least, but I thought I'd punish you by not letting you know I got your messages."
"I wasn't thinking back then." Cook flops down on the floor, crossing his legs. "I wanted to follow my dreams, not realizing until it was too late that I actually left my dream, my life in L.A. when I left you."
"Cook…" Archie's breath hitches when he sees the tears brimming on Cook's eyes.
"I don't expect you to forgive me, Arch. But I'm hoping-"
"I never stopped loving you." The words jumped out of Archie's mouth before he can even think twice. He's tired of lying to himself anyway.
"I never stopped, too, Archie." Cook got up slowly and Archie meets him half way. "Every night, I think of you, imagine that it's you I'm singing with instead of Thia, that it's you I'm kissing."
Archie can't fight the smile playing on his lips. "I kinda know?"
The lump that's been stuck in Archie's chest melts away when Cook starts humming and Archie recognizes the melody so he sings along.
"You are sunlight and I moon, joined by the gods of fortune. Midnight and high noon. Sharing the sky. We have been blessed you and I."
Archie reaches out to brush a few strands of Cook's hair off his forehead. Then his fingers graze the side of Cook's face, feeling the rough surface of his stubble
Cook pulls Archie closer and brushes his lips against Archie's before singing the second verse
"You are here like a mystery. I'm from a world that's so different from all that you are."
Their foreheads are pressed together, breaths mingling, and Cook continues to sing, voice low and deep.
"How in the light of one night did we come so far?"
Archie feels like drowning when Cook's mouth covers his, the kiss is filled with a promise that Archie hopes Cook can keep.
~fin~
End note: (This will kill the guessing game because clicking the links will reveal the title of the play.)
The songs featured in this fic are:
Last Night of the World
Please
Sun and Moon
written for au_bingo, prompt: Alt. Fandom: Musical Theater
fandom: american idol; pairing: cook/ archie; rating: pg; approximately 1,500 words
ETA: I'm scratching this off the au_bingo collection because I think I used the prompt incorrectly. I shall write another for the same prompt but I will keep this fic.
My AU Bingo card
Disclaimer: This is only fiction and written based on the author's imagination. No libel and copyright infringement intended.
A/N: This is AU, not beta'ed as usual, please expect tons of mistakes. I purposely did not disclose what the musical play is that Cook and Archie became part of. Gold star and cookies to anyone who can guess without googling. I did leave tons of clues.
---
They tour for a year. Archie is excited. He should be excited. Except…
The knowledge that his ex-boyfriend is - oh my gosh - in the cast kills all the enthusiasm he has bubbling inside his chest as soon as he got the acceptance letter.
Congratulations, Mr. Archuleta. You have been chosen to play the role of John Thomas. Rehearsals starts on the 21st of January at New 42nd Street Studio, the letter reads or maybe those aren't the exact words written but they are the ones that gets stuck in Archie's head. He has read it a hundred times before he flew out here in the busy city of New York.
Archie doesn't meet the rest of the cast until five days later and he thinks they're all nice and… well, some are a bit snobbish though. It's his first time in Broadway and he's not going to let some actors with attitude problems ruin it for him.
But then he sees Cook and learns that Cook's playing the male lead role. What makes Archie wants to die (figuratively) is the fact Cook's character happens to be the best friend of the character Archie's playing.
It's immature to run to the casting director and beg to recast him but that's exactly what Archie does. Ms. Abdul ("Call me Paula, dear. Please") just laughs and tells him no one else is fit to play John Thomas, not even Archie's understudy. He asks if he did sign the contract because maybe he can, like, back out or something but Paula laughs again, says, "It's too late, sweetie. You're stuck with us for a year and a half," then squeezes his shoulder, adding, "You're too adorable," which… eeww.
Archie leaves her office hurriedly because she's looking at him like she wants to squeeze his head off and dangle it from her rear view mirror.
*
First week of rehearsal goes well. Archie does his best to remain professional, interacting with Cook only on stage. He reminds himself he's John Thomas up there and Cook's Chris Scott - his best friend, not his ex-boyfriend. But Archie's body trembles whenever Cook throws an arm casually around his shoulders, the scent permeating from Cook's body making Archie dizzy.
Six months of rehearsals is like being in a purgatory, waiting for judgment day or whatever. Except there isn't any judgment day here because they have all been signed, been given roles, been honed to play their roles and toughened enough for them to last a night.
Archie survives it all, thank goodness. He has learned his songs, his lines. And he's all pumped for opening night.
Cook ambles by his dressing table before the show starts, his hand warm on the curve of Archie's shoulder. "Good luck, Arch," he whispers, breath warm against the back of Archie's ears. A shiver crawls up Archie's arms, settling at the back of his neck.
The foundation brush Archie's holding slips from his grasp, landing on the table.
"Um…" Archie's mouth has gone dry. "T-thanks. You too. I mean um… good luck to you too." He wants to tell Cook to break a leg but… but it might happen literally? And he so doesn't want Cook to break a leg.
*
"He still likes you." Thia - the girl playing the female lead role of Kim - bounds beside Archie as soon as the curtain call is over.
"Huh?" Archie looks at her stupidly, not sure what she means.
"Cook. I think he's still into you. You never told me you guys used to be together." There's a glimmer in Thia's eyes that spells trouble for Archie.
"I'm uh-"
"Oh please, Archie." Thia hooks her arm around Archie's and starts dragging him toward the dressing rooms. "If you're about to tell me you're not gay, forget it. I have gaydar and I can tell. I know Cook is, too."
"What makes you so sure Cook is um, um…" Archie waves an arm in the air, thinking that it's worth a try to deflect Thia's presumptions but…
"Well, when he was kissing me on stage he was actually whispering your name the whole time."
"John Thomas' name?"
Thia barks a laugh, says, "No, not your character's name, YOUR name," and waggles her eyebrows like she's plotting something um… not nice.
"Um…um…" Words fail to form on Archie's tongue.
*
Thia's words reverberate in Archie's head and for the next two weeks that Archie can't dang focus. It's a good thing Cowell has called him out only twice. Pissing off the musical director is the last thing Archie's wants to do.
It's a Saturday night and the theater is packed. Adam says he spots Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in the crowd, near front row. Eager to catch a glimpse, Archie hangs around the off-left wing, trying to see beyond the black curtains.
Soft lights pour over the audience on the front rows but Archie can't see their faces clearly. He settles for watching his fellow cast members instead. It's Cook-or rather Chris and Kim's scene now. Cook and Thia take their places at the center of the stage. This scene is one of Archie's favorites: the wedding scene. The song is just so beautiful, so moving.
Archie feels a shiver surging down his spine when Cook starts to sing. "In a place that won't let us feel. In a life where nothing seems real. I have found you. I have found you."
He pictures Cook singing it to him and his heart grows heavy, his chest swells. He's not sure if he's imagining it or if Cook's really looking at him instead of Thia when Cook sings, "On the other side of the earth. There's a place where life still has worth. I will take you."
"I'll go with you," Archie sings along with Thia, careful not to let his voice float across the stage.
The music, the lyrics echo within Archie, ripping his soul open. The sound of Cook's smooth voice wraps around him like a fleece blanket, comforting him in every way possible.
He's charged with this emotion bottled up inside him for the rest of the night and he sings his heart out during his last few scenes, sings, "I'm not here as a friend, I have a job to do," to Thia like he means it, like he's really John and he's breaking the bad news to Thia's character Kim. "It's strange to find my work, should lead me here to you."
The words may very well fit what he thinks about Cook, about how strange fate has brought them together and has given them both the break they so wanted in the same musical.
*
It takes two months before Cook finally finds the bal-guts… the guts to say something. The entire cast and crew and production team are out celebrating their last night in New York City. They leave for Pittsburgh in two days.
Amidst the alcohol and fruit punches (because some of the cast members are below the legal drinking age still), Cook pulls Archie aside, asking if they may talk or mumbling something Archie barely understands.
Cook takes him back to the theater and they climb up on stage - the place that served as their home for the past months. Archie watches Cook strides over to the center while he remains down stage. A wave of nostalgia washes over him and Archie can tell Cook feels the same.
"I never apologized for leaving you in L.A.," Cook says just as Archie starts to hum a tune from the musical.
"You did, Cook. Twice at least, but I thought I'd punish you by not letting you know I got your messages."
"I wasn't thinking back then." Cook flops down on the floor, crossing his legs. "I wanted to follow my dreams, not realizing until it was too late that I actually left my dream, my life in L.A. when I left you."
"Cook…" Archie's breath hitches when he sees the tears brimming on Cook's eyes.
"I don't expect you to forgive me, Arch. But I'm hoping-"
"I never stopped loving you." The words jumped out of Archie's mouth before he can even think twice. He's tired of lying to himself anyway.
"I never stopped, too, Archie." Cook got up slowly and Archie meets him half way. "Every night, I think of you, imagine that it's you I'm singing with instead of Thia, that it's you I'm kissing."
Archie can't fight the smile playing on his lips. "I kinda know?"
The lump that's been stuck in Archie's chest melts away when Cook starts humming and Archie recognizes the melody so he sings along.
"You are sunlight and I moon, joined by the gods of fortune. Midnight and high noon. Sharing the sky. We have been blessed you and I."
Archie reaches out to brush a few strands of Cook's hair off his forehead. Then his fingers graze the side of Cook's face, feeling the rough surface of his stubble
Cook pulls Archie closer and brushes his lips against Archie's before singing the second verse
"You are here like a mystery. I'm from a world that's so different from all that you are."
Their foreheads are pressed together, breaths mingling, and Cook continues to sing, voice low and deep.
"How in the light of one night did we come so far?"
Archie feels like drowning when Cook's mouth covers his, the kiss is filled with a promise that Archie hopes Cook can keep.
~fin~
End note: (This will kill the guessing game because clicking the links will reveal the title of the play.)
The songs featured in this fic are:
Last Night of the World
Please
Sun and Moon