Fic: What Happens in Manila, Doesn’t Always Stay in Manila
Title: What Happens in Manila, Doesn’t Always Stay in Manila
Author:cepaea
Rating: PG
Pairing: Cookleta
Disclaimer: Made up situation for real people, whom I do not own…Omg I’m writing Real People Slash o_o’
When Cook and David left the concert stage their bodyguards were pressed so close together that they formed an actual wall between the singers and their fans all the way to the car. David still managed to reach over their hulking bodies and grasp hands with a few of the screaming fans.
Cook’s manager was waiting inside the dark SUV when they entered. “We’ve got a problem, boys.”
Cook leaned back once they were situated in the car and dropped his arm along David’s headrest.
“Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s fine,” He said.
Cook reached over with his other arm and softly punched David. “That was amazing! I mean just the energy from the fans was awesome, but we rocked on that stage.”
David’s grin widened even more. He hadn’t stopped smiling since they left the concert.
“Well then, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the hotel manager just called and one of their pipes burst. It’s flooded at least a quarter of the building.”
“Oh my gosh, really? How does that even happen?” David giggled. His brown eyes widened in embarrassment. “I mean not that this is, like, funny or anything.”
Cook grinned at David and ruffled the boy’s short hair. “We can just go to another hotel.”
“Cook, everyone is in Manila to see you guys perform. We probably would have to look in the next city over to find a hotel with an empty room.”
“Then what are we going to do?” David asked nervously.
“Well a lot of the guests are bunking up. Do you two mind rooming together?”
“Nah, that’s cool,” Cook said. He turned to David with a grin. “You cool with it?”
“Yeah, uh, sounds fine.” David’s eyes were wide in alarm, but he gave Cook a reassuring smile anyway.
The hotel manager was waiting to greet them at the door. He wrung his hands nervously as they approached.
“Mr. Cook, Mr. Archuleta! I apologize for this horrible inconvenience,” the manager began.
Cook waved him off and wrapped an arm around David. “Don’t worry about it, me and Archie are going to bunk together. It’ll be like the Idol tour all over again!”
David grinned back at him and stumbled as he tried to keep walking without disrupting Cook’s arm from his shoulders. Cook grabbed him by the bicep and straightened him out again.
“Getting tired, Archie?”
“Um, yeah. I guess it’s been a long day.”David blushed and concentrated harder on walking in a straight line.
:::*:::
David waited until Cook had gone to the bathroom to take a shower before he started his video blog. He knew Cook had seen them before, but it would be embarrassing to make one in front of the older man.
It must have taken longer than he thought to set up the laptop and webcam, because he was less than a minute into the recording when Cook walked out of the bathroom bare-chested.
“Whatcha doing, Archie?” Cook asked and wandered over to the boy.
“Oh my gosh, Cook! I’m going to post this! You can’t walk around in a towel!”
“You don’t think our fans want to see my manly bod?” Cook asked and his voice deepened into an Arnold Schwarzenegger impression while he held the towel with one hand and flexed his arm.
“Just go back to the bathroom and get dressed!” David said with a laugh and gave him a little shove. Cook balked, but walked away with a grin. “Wait, Cook! I was saying thanks to all the fans. You want to, um, say something?”
Cook returned to David’s side and dropped an arm around him as he leaned down to face the laptop’s webcam. “Thank you everyone who came to see us! We loved being here and the support you gave us was one of the most humbling experiences. Thanks again!”
Cook stood up and ruffled David’s hair once more. “Now I’ve got to get ready for bed and you, Mr. Tripping while Walking, should be hitting the sack soon.”
David rolled his eyes and held his hands up in Cook’s direction. “David Cook, everyone! Um, I just wanted to say thanks you guys for both of us, I can’t say salamat enough!”
By the time Cook came back out of the bathroom David had put the laptop away and was grabbing pillows to put on the couch.
“Hey Archie, I’ll grab the couch tonight. You can sleep on the bed,” Cook said.
“Um, no, it’s okay. You have those, uh, long legs and I think I’d like the couch better anyway.”
“If you’re sure?”
“Yeah, it’s not a problem.” David grabbed his things and walked into the bathroom. He double checked to make sure he brought his pajamas with him, he didn’t want to repeat Cook’s mistake.
David couldn’t sleep, the couch wasn’t very comfortable and all the city noises were unfamiliar.
“Archie, switch with me. You’ve been tossing and turning nonstop.” Cook sat up in the dark and stared at the couch.
“Oh my gosh no, I’m fine.” David stiffened his body, going as still as he could manage. “Just, like, sing a song or something.”
Cook laughed, but obligingly started to hum the first stanza of a song. David laid back and drifted off as Cook began to sing softly. “Don’t want to close my eyes, I don’t want to fall asleep cause I’d miss you baby. And I don’t want to miss a thing…”
:::*:::
The next morning Cook’s manager walked into the room with only a quick rap of his knuckles and then he unlocked the door himself.
He didn’t say anything, just threw a newspaper onto the bed.
“Hey, Archie, we’re on the front page,” Cook cried out and snatched up the paper.
“Oh cool!” David leaned over to look at the pictures.
The manager groaned and rubbed his temple. “I know we asked you to share the room, but couldn’t you have been a little more subtle about it?”
“What?”
“Look at the magazine underneath.”
Cook flipped it over and stared at the cover in amusement. It was a still frame of the video blog David posted last night. Cook was standing behind David in his towel and the boy was grinning up at him, only the laptop’s tiny camera didn’t catch the whole picture and it looked like Cook was standing behind David completely naked. The accompanying headline was in a blocky, 24 point font, “Idol Golden Boys in Secret Love Affair”.
“Hey, I was totally wearing a towel,” Cook said and raised his arms in a ‘please don’t shoot me’ fashion.
“We’re already explaining the situation, but next time could you please refrain from posting anything on the internet.”
“It’s a gossip rag, no one will take it seriously anyways,” Cook said. “Nothing to worry about. Right, Archie?”
David was still looking at the magazine, his face a bright red.
“Hey, Archie, don’t worry about it. We’ll explain everything, okay?” Cook stood in front of the younger boy and gripped his shoulders. “It’s not like anyone will believe this. We haven’t had enough time to stay in contact as friends, much less lovers. There’s nothing to back it up.”
David still hasn’t looked up. Cook placed a hand beneath his chin and lifted David’s head. “Okay?”
“Yeah, okay,” David said as he met Cook’s gaze.
Cook’s manager grabbed the newspaper and smacked himself on the forehead with it as he groaned, “You two are having separate interviews.”
:::*:::
Only, more often than not, the interviews were joined, despite his manager’s very vocal disagreement. Cook was surprised by how many times he had to keep himself from laying a supportive arm around David and finally gave up when they were only halfway through the interviews.
They were finally recording their last one and Cook couldn’t wait for all of it to be over.
“So this is the second time I’ve seen you this week,” the reporter said cheerfully.
“Yep,” Cook said and David just smiled.
“I have to say your demeanor seems to have improved David Cook. My last interview with you was a solo, but you’ve been smiling a lot more with David Archuleta here.”
“What can I say, he’s a funny guy.”
David ducked his head and blushed, Cook smiled even wider.
“So it has nothing to do with the recent rumors?”
Cook’s smile dropped fast and he turned back to the reporter. “Those rumors were false, we’ve already explained the situation and I’d rather talk about something else.”
“Of course, of course.” The reporter smiled and bobbed her head knowingly. “Will you be coming back to the Philippines after the concert ends?”
“I’d like to,” David said with a smile. “The people are so friendly here.”
“Yeah, we might have to make this a summer vacation deal.” Cook grinned at David.
“So the two of you will be returning together?”
“You never know. The kid’s a workaholic though, I’d have to drag him away.”
“Says the man who’s married to his music,” David laughed.
“Exactly, it’s an extremely healthy relationship. The music has her time and I get my time. You, on the other hand, are music all the time.”
“We have a few questions from your fans, if you’d like to answer them?”
“Sure,” Cook and David said at once.
The interview dragged on and by the end of it the reporter had managed to bring up the relationship rumors twice more. David thought it was probably best not to stay any longer than they had to. Cook was starting to look scary.
“Oh, wow, I hope that doesn’t happen back home. That’d be so embarrassing,” David said after the interview.
“I doubt anyone will hear about it and if they do then it’ll have blown over before we even get back,” Cook said reassuringly.
“Yeah.” David looked up at Cook and there was a little frown tugging on the edge of his lips. Cook pulled the other boy close to him in a half hug.
“Hey, I’m sorry about causing all of this. But I promise it’s not going anywhere, rumors end when there’s nothing to back them up. And there is absolutely nothing going on between us, as you would know.” Cook grinned at him.
“It’s not your fault. I should have, um, redone the video or something.” David looked away from Cook, his frown growing.
“Hey, no blaming my friend for things he didn’t do,” Cook said with an offended air. He pulled David closer for a brief, hard hug and let go. “Seriously, Archie. None of this is your fault. We were just being goofy, it’s not a crime.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
By the time they got back to the hotel, the sun had been down for more than three hours and they were both ready to be finished. They had a flight at five o’clock in the morning, which meant they had to be packed and ready to go by four.
“What’s up, Archie?” The other boy had been fidgeting on the couch for the past fifteen minutes.
“What if, um, what if there was stuff to back up the rumors?” David asked, quickly.
“What do you mean?” Cook’s brow furrowed in confusion.
“What if we were in a relationship?”
“But we’re not. If you’re still stressing over the reporters, don’t worry. I really doubt we’ll hear about any of this in the states.”
“No, I mean, um, what if I did like you. Would that be okay?” David shrunk back against the couch and pulled the sheets up high enough to cover his eyes. He heard the bed creak and then Cook was walking towards him and pulling down the blanket.
“Archuleta, are you trying to tell me you like me?” Cook sounded incredulous and David didn’t want to meet his eyes.
“Um, I don’t know. Maybe?”
“Archie,” Cook said and grabbed David’s chin. He turned the other boy’s head to face him. “Do you like me?”
“Yeah,” David whispered.
Cook didn’t even hesitate when he pressed his lips to David’s in a brief kiss. He grinned against the other boy’s mouth and leaned back. “As in like like?
“Cook,” David stressed the name and frowned at the man.
“What?”
“You like me too, right?” David stuttered over the question as if there was a reason to doubt what the answer would be.
Cook laughed and kissed him once more. “Yeah, Archie. I like you, too.”
:::*:::
When they arrived in Los Angeles they were both rushed into one of the many airport lounges to wait while their transportation was arranged.
“I’ve got another flight in five hours. So I probably won’t be seeing you anytime soon,” David said and didn’t look up. “I, uh, I had a lot of fun in Manila.”
Cook frowned at the boy and looked away. “Yeah, lots of fun.”
“Cook,” David winced. “I just, I’m not sure if we should keep being whatever we were. Not while we’re here.”
“Yeah. Sure, Archie. Whatever works for you, works for me.” The smile he gave David was stressed and didn’t reach his eyes.
David made a pained whimper and grabbed hold of Cook. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I don’t mean it like that. You know I’m not good with words. I don’t know what to do.”
Cook held him close and pressed his face into David’s shoulder.
“Archie, stay here. With me. Stay in LA with me,” he whispered into David’s ear. And for once Cook’s intense gaze wasn’t locked on David.
“Yeah, um, okay,” David said with a small smile.
Cook grinned wide as he leaned down and kissed him.
~:::*:::~
Author:cepaea
Rating: PG
Pairing: Cookleta
Disclaimer: Made up situation for real people, whom I do not own…Omg I’m writing Real People Slash o_o’
When Cook and David left the concert stage their bodyguards were pressed so close together that they formed an actual wall between the singers and their fans all the way to the car. David still managed to reach over their hulking bodies and grasp hands with a few of the screaming fans.
Cook’s manager was waiting inside the dark SUV when they entered. “We’ve got a problem, boys.”
Cook leaned back once they were situated in the car and dropped his arm along David’s headrest.
“Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s fine,” He said.
Cook reached over with his other arm and softly punched David. “That was amazing! I mean just the energy from the fans was awesome, but we rocked on that stage.”
David’s grin widened even more. He hadn’t stopped smiling since they left the concert.
“Well then, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the hotel manager just called and one of their pipes burst. It’s flooded at least a quarter of the building.”
“Oh my gosh, really? How does that even happen?” David giggled. His brown eyes widened in embarrassment. “I mean not that this is, like, funny or anything.”
Cook grinned at David and ruffled the boy’s short hair. “We can just go to another hotel.”
“Cook, everyone is in Manila to see you guys perform. We probably would have to look in the next city over to find a hotel with an empty room.”
“Then what are we going to do?” David asked nervously.
“Well a lot of the guests are bunking up. Do you two mind rooming together?”
“Nah, that’s cool,” Cook said. He turned to David with a grin. “You cool with it?”
“Yeah, uh, sounds fine.” David’s eyes were wide in alarm, but he gave Cook a reassuring smile anyway.
The hotel manager was waiting to greet them at the door. He wrung his hands nervously as they approached.
“Mr. Cook, Mr. Archuleta! I apologize for this horrible inconvenience,” the manager began.
Cook waved him off and wrapped an arm around David. “Don’t worry about it, me and Archie are going to bunk together. It’ll be like the Idol tour all over again!”
David grinned back at him and stumbled as he tried to keep walking without disrupting Cook’s arm from his shoulders. Cook grabbed him by the bicep and straightened him out again.
“Getting tired, Archie?”
“Um, yeah. I guess it’s been a long day.”David blushed and concentrated harder on walking in a straight line.
:::*:::
David waited until Cook had gone to the bathroom to take a shower before he started his video blog. He knew Cook had seen them before, but it would be embarrassing to make one in front of the older man.
It must have taken longer than he thought to set up the laptop and webcam, because he was less than a minute into the recording when Cook walked out of the bathroom bare-chested.
“Whatcha doing, Archie?” Cook asked and wandered over to the boy.
“Oh my gosh, Cook! I’m going to post this! You can’t walk around in a towel!”
“You don’t think our fans want to see my manly bod?” Cook asked and his voice deepened into an Arnold Schwarzenegger impression while he held the towel with one hand and flexed his arm.
“Just go back to the bathroom and get dressed!” David said with a laugh and gave him a little shove. Cook balked, but walked away with a grin. “Wait, Cook! I was saying thanks to all the fans. You want to, um, say something?”
Cook returned to David’s side and dropped an arm around him as he leaned down to face the laptop’s webcam. “Thank you everyone who came to see us! We loved being here and the support you gave us was one of the most humbling experiences. Thanks again!”
Cook stood up and ruffled David’s hair once more. “Now I’ve got to get ready for bed and you, Mr. Tripping while Walking, should be hitting the sack soon.”
David rolled his eyes and held his hands up in Cook’s direction. “David Cook, everyone! Um, I just wanted to say thanks you guys for both of us, I can’t say salamat enough!”
By the time Cook came back out of the bathroom David had put the laptop away and was grabbing pillows to put on the couch.
“Hey Archie, I’ll grab the couch tonight. You can sleep on the bed,” Cook said.
“Um, no, it’s okay. You have those, uh, long legs and I think I’d like the couch better anyway.”
“If you’re sure?”
“Yeah, it’s not a problem.” David grabbed his things and walked into the bathroom. He double checked to make sure he brought his pajamas with him, he didn’t want to repeat Cook’s mistake.
David couldn’t sleep, the couch wasn’t very comfortable and all the city noises were unfamiliar.
“Archie, switch with me. You’ve been tossing and turning nonstop.” Cook sat up in the dark and stared at the couch.
“Oh my gosh no, I’m fine.” David stiffened his body, going as still as he could manage. “Just, like, sing a song or something.”
Cook laughed, but obligingly started to hum the first stanza of a song. David laid back and drifted off as Cook began to sing softly. “Don’t want to close my eyes, I don’t want to fall asleep cause I’d miss you baby. And I don’t want to miss a thing…”
:::*:::
The next morning Cook’s manager walked into the room with only a quick rap of his knuckles and then he unlocked the door himself.
He didn’t say anything, just threw a newspaper onto the bed.
“Hey, Archie, we’re on the front page,” Cook cried out and snatched up the paper.
“Oh cool!” David leaned over to look at the pictures.
The manager groaned and rubbed his temple. “I know we asked you to share the room, but couldn’t you have been a little more subtle about it?”
“What?”
“Look at the magazine underneath.”
Cook flipped it over and stared at the cover in amusement. It was a still frame of the video blog David posted last night. Cook was standing behind David in his towel and the boy was grinning up at him, only the laptop’s tiny camera didn’t catch the whole picture and it looked like Cook was standing behind David completely naked. The accompanying headline was in a blocky, 24 point font, “Idol Golden Boys in Secret Love Affair”.
“Hey, I was totally wearing a towel,” Cook said and raised his arms in a ‘please don’t shoot me’ fashion.
“We’re already explaining the situation, but next time could you please refrain from posting anything on the internet.”
“It’s a gossip rag, no one will take it seriously anyways,” Cook said. “Nothing to worry about. Right, Archie?”
David was still looking at the magazine, his face a bright red.
“Hey, Archie, don’t worry about it. We’ll explain everything, okay?” Cook stood in front of the younger boy and gripped his shoulders. “It’s not like anyone will believe this. We haven’t had enough time to stay in contact as friends, much less lovers. There’s nothing to back it up.”
David still hasn’t looked up. Cook placed a hand beneath his chin and lifted David’s head. “Okay?”
“Yeah, okay,” David said as he met Cook’s gaze.
Cook’s manager grabbed the newspaper and smacked himself on the forehead with it as he groaned, “You two are having separate interviews.”
:::*:::
Only, more often than not, the interviews were joined, despite his manager’s very vocal disagreement. Cook was surprised by how many times he had to keep himself from laying a supportive arm around David and finally gave up when they were only halfway through the interviews.
They were finally recording their last one and Cook couldn’t wait for all of it to be over.
“So this is the second time I’ve seen you this week,” the reporter said cheerfully.
“Yep,” Cook said and David just smiled.
“I have to say your demeanor seems to have improved David Cook. My last interview with you was a solo, but you’ve been smiling a lot more with David Archuleta here.”
“What can I say, he’s a funny guy.”
David ducked his head and blushed, Cook smiled even wider.
“So it has nothing to do with the recent rumors?”
Cook’s smile dropped fast and he turned back to the reporter. “Those rumors were false, we’ve already explained the situation and I’d rather talk about something else.”
“Of course, of course.” The reporter smiled and bobbed her head knowingly. “Will you be coming back to the Philippines after the concert ends?”
“I’d like to,” David said with a smile. “The people are so friendly here.”
“Yeah, we might have to make this a summer vacation deal.” Cook grinned at David.
“So the two of you will be returning together?”
“You never know. The kid’s a workaholic though, I’d have to drag him away.”
“Says the man who’s married to his music,” David laughed.
“Exactly, it’s an extremely healthy relationship. The music has her time and I get my time. You, on the other hand, are music all the time.”
“We have a few questions from your fans, if you’d like to answer them?”
“Sure,” Cook and David said at once.
The interview dragged on and by the end of it the reporter had managed to bring up the relationship rumors twice more. David thought it was probably best not to stay any longer than they had to. Cook was starting to look scary.
“Oh, wow, I hope that doesn’t happen back home. That’d be so embarrassing,” David said after the interview.
“I doubt anyone will hear about it and if they do then it’ll have blown over before we even get back,” Cook said reassuringly.
“Yeah.” David looked up at Cook and there was a little frown tugging on the edge of his lips. Cook pulled the other boy close to him in a half hug.
“Hey, I’m sorry about causing all of this. But I promise it’s not going anywhere, rumors end when there’s nothing to back them up. And there is absolutely nothing going on between us, as you would know.” Cook grinned at him.
“It’s not your fault. I should have, um, redone the video or something.” David looked away from Cook, his frown growing.
“Hey, no blaming my friend for things he didn’t do,” Cook said with an offended air. He pulled David closer for a brief, hard hug and let go. “Seriously, Archie. None of this is your fault. We were just being goofy, it’s not a crime.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
By the time they got back to the hotel, the sun had been down for more than three hours and they were both ready to be finished. They had a flight at five o’clock in the morning, which meant they had to be packed and ready to go by four.
“What’s up, Archie?” The other boy had been fidgeting on the couch for the past fifteen minutes.
“What if, um, what if there was stuff to back up the rumors?” David asked, quickly.
“What do you mean?” Cook’s brow furrowed in confusion.
“What if we were in a relationship?”
“But we’re not. If you’re still stressing over the reporters, don’t worry. I really doubt we’ll hear about any of this in the states.”
“No, I mean, um, what if I did like you. Would that be okay?” David shrunk back against the couch and pulled the sheets up high enough to cover his eyes. He heard the bed creak and then Cook was walking towards him and pulling down the blanket.
“Archuleta, are you trying to tell me you like me?” Cook sounded incredulous and David didn’t want to meet his eyes.
“Um, I don’t know. Maybe?”
“Archie,” Cook said and grabbed David’s chin. He turned the other boy’s head to face him. “Do you like me?”
“Yeah,” David whispered.
Cook didn’t even hesitate when he pressed his lips to David’s in a brief kiss. He grinned against the other boy’s mouth and leaned back. “As in like like?
“Cook,” David stressed the name and frowned at the man.
“What?”
“You like me too, right?” David stuttered over the question as if there was a reason to doubt what the answer would be.
Cook laughed and kissed him once more. “Yeah, Archie. I like you, too.”
:::*:::
When they arrived in Los Angeles they were both rushed into one of the many airport lounges to wait while their transportation was arranged.
“I’ve got another flight in five hours. So I probably won’t be seeing you anytime soon,” David said and didn’t look up. “I, uh, I had a lot of fun in Manila.”
Cook frowned at the boy and looked away. “Yeah, lots of fun.”
“Cook,” David winced. “I just, I’m not sure if we should keep being whatever we were. Not while we’re here.”
“Yeah. Sure, Archie. Whatever works for you, works for me.” The smile he gave David was stressed and didn’t reach his eyes.
David made a pained whimper and grabbed hold of Cook. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I don’t mean it like that. You know I’m not good with words. I don’t know what to do.”
Cook held him close and pressed his face into David’s shoulder.
“Archie, stay here. With me. Stay in LA with me,” he whispered into David’s ear. And for once Cook’s intense gaze wasn’t locked on David.
“Yeah, um, okay,” David said with a small smile.
Cook grinned wide as he leaned down and kissed him.
~:::*:::~