Ours Chapter 14
Title: Ours
Pairing(s): David Cook/David Archuleta
Rating: PG to NC-17
Genre: AU
Disclaimer: The real-life characters do not belong to me, and the story is fictional.
Summary: A year after his high school graduation, David is living with Cook in L.A., but keeping their love hidden from the public eye brings up obstacles that threaten their relationship.
Author's Notes: This fic was originally posted at cookleta from September 2008 to October 2009. :)
14
I. David Archuleta.
Once New Year’s passed, the days started to fly by much too quickly, becoming weeks that soon ran into months. Parenthood was dizzying, and I felt like Cook and I were constantly running around to care for Gabriel or make sure that someone could take our place when there was absolutely no way we could get out of the studio. We were practically up around the clock to squeeze in work and quality time with our son, often dozing off over breakfast or catching some rest between interviews and meetings. But the silly grins never left our faces, which sounds almost impossible but couldn’t be truer. The sudden responsibilities were draining, but all of that melted away with one look at Gabriel. When he curled his tiny fingers around a part of your hand, nothing else mattered.
I was pacing the nursery and humming a lullaby when I felt a small weight touch my shoulder. Out of the corner of my eye I saw that Gabriel had fallen asleep with his head resting against me, his eyelashes fluttering ever so slightly along with each peaceful breath. I carefully lay him down in his crib and turned around to find Cook coming through the doorway, his eyes focused on the iPod Touch nestled in his palm.
“What are you listening to?” I asked, having noticed that he had only one side of the headphones in his ear.
Grinning, he lifted the device so I could look at the screen. I peered closely and blushed when I saw that it was “Zero Gravity,” the unreleased track from my album, which had come out in the middle of November. I still wasn’t used to hearing myself on the radio, so Cook’s constantly putting my music on repeat had made me sputter to no end.
“Zero Gravity” was Cook’s favorite - even though the producers hadn’t chosen it for the album - because, well, it was about him. When Mike Krompass asked me to co-pen the song with him, I instantly knew that I wanted the words to be about Cook. I worked around the pronoun issue by casually suggesting that second person would work better, even though what I actually wanted was to sing directly to the one person who meant everything.
“Aren’t you sick of it?” I teased, taking his headphones away.
“I’ll never get tired of this song,” he replied. My heart jumped at his smile. “And no one else will either once they hear it at your concert.”
My first tour was kicking off later this month, and Cook reassured me every day that I shouldn’t be so anxious about it. The truth was that I had been lying awake at night lately, my gut wrenching at the thought of spending a month on the road, away from Cook and Gabriel.
“Do you really think it’ll be okay?” I asked again for probably the thousandth time.
“You know I’m worried too, babe,” Cook said understandingly. He glanced over at the crib and gave a low sigh. “I mean we know he’ll be fine with your parents.”
“Yeah…” I trailed off.
I lowered my eyes to shield the concern in them but Cook, of course, caught on immediately and wrapped his arms around me. As always, our bodies fit together like two pieces of a puzzle.
“I’m going to miss him too,” he whispered, kissing the top of my head. “I’m going to miss you.”
A curious twist of coincidence as it were, Cook’s solo tour was starting soon, a week before mine. We had compared tour schedules and laughed incredulously when we realized that we could possibly see each other. He was performing in New York on the first of March and then in Pennsylvania on the third, whereas my schedule was the exact opposite - I would be in Pennsylvania on the first and in New York on the third.
“I don’t know how I’m going to make it,” I confessed.
“Just don’t let anyone adopt you and you’ll be fine,” he chuckled, receiving a light slap on the arm from me.
Being recognized by strangers was not too weird anymore, but the occasional odd offers from certain fans still perplexed me. Cook had laughed for about five minutes when I told him that, when I was in New York to appear on several shows, an older fan had asked if she could adopt me.
“I’m twenty!” I exclaimed while he tried to catch his breath.
“Yes, but you are so cute,” Cook said, pinching my cheek to rub it in further.
“Oh, stop it.”
“What? It’s true, Arch.”
I had rolled my eyes in feigned annoyance as he made a big show of shrugging and saying something about how adorable people should just accept their fate and move on. He’d become quiet only when I tackled and pinned him down against the cushioned seat of the sofa.
“So you just want adorable then, hmm?”
His eyes widened for a few seconds as he gazed up at my mischievous smile. His surprise was so amusing to me, and I patiently waited for a response.
“Now that I think about it,” he corrected himself. “You should, um, just embrace the, uh, you know, your other side.”
“Yeah.” I leaned down to press my lips against his. “I think you’d prefer that side.”
II. David Cook.
I’ve packed numerous times in my life - when I left for college, when I drove around the Midwest with Axium, when I moved to Los Angeles… I was not the most organized person in the world, but I had gotten accustomed to putting just what I needed and nothing more into my bag. It was a facile process.
This time, though, it was more difficult than I could have ever imagined.
The luggage was mostly clothes, shoes and personal items to use when I wasn’t performing. When I walked out of the bedroom with an armful of t-shirts, I found David sitting cross-legged on the hardwood floor. He was holding Gabriel in his lap with one hand and feeding him with the other, moving the spoon around like an airplane and providing the sound effects to Gabe’s delight.
I sat down next to the two of them and started to pack, stacking the already folded shirts inside the open suitcase. I was about to reach for the second to last shirt when I noticed which one it was. I lifted it up and showed David.
“Arch, do you want to take this with you?”
“Hmm?”
David looked up and his eyes traveled to the object in my hand. It was one of my Our Lady Peace concert shirts, which had basically become his since he wore it to bed so often. Suddenly it dawned on me how much I would miss seeing him walk into the kitchen in the morning, hair disheveled, shirt crumpled.
“You can think of me,” I told him.
He nodded and smiled.
I set the shirt aside and hastily proceeded to finish packing, making a few more trips to the closet. By the time I had filled the suitcase, Gabriel had eaten all of his meal.
“Hey come here, big guy,” I called.
Gabriel hadn’t perfected his walking yet, but he was past crawling, and David helped him make his way into my outstretched arms. I enveloped him in an embrace and kissed his cheek. When I glanced up, my eyes met David’s, and I saw that his had become misty at the sight of the two of us.
I sat Gabriel down between David and me and scooted a bit forward to shut the suitcase. Gabe’s curious gaze followed my movement, and he was intrigued by the sound of the zipper. I kept opening and closing it until he started to giggle. His innocent laughter seemed to ring sweetly in our living room.
“God, he looks so much like you, Arch,” I commented, watching Gabriel fumble with the zipper, his adorable face beaming like he had just made the best discovery in the world. “He even giggles like you.”
“Silly, that’s because he’s a baby,” David said with a grin.
“Really, he does. I mean I feel that he was somehow meant to be our son, you know?”
David finally tore his eyes away from Gabriel and looked at me.
“I think so too,” he answered.
+
At eight the next morning, I stood in the entryway of our apartment with my suitcase by my side. The driver had offered to come up and help me with my luggage, but I’d declined for obvious reasons. As I kissed David, I felt myself become rooted to the floor as my mind became more and more unwilling to leave.
“Bye, Arch.”
“Have a safe flight, okay? Call me when you get settled in.”
David never liked to actually say “goodbye.”
“I will,” I promised.
I turned to Gabriel, who was still looking sleepy in David’s arms. I bent down to kiss his forehead.
“I’m going to miss you, Gabe,” I said, wondering if he had any idea how desperately I wished that he and David could come with me.
His eyes, which had become half-lidded from waking up so early, fluttered open at my words. He peered at me for a few moments, and then he lifted his arm toward my face, his fingertips barely touching my cheek.
“Bye bye, daddy.”
David’s eyes widened and we briefly looked at each other in amazement. When I turned back toward him, my throat was closed up and I had to pull myself together in order to speak.
“I love you,” I murmured simply, thankful for these two… who mattered most.
Pairing(s): David Cook/David Archuleta
Rating: PG to NC-17
Genre: AU
Disclaimer: The real-life characters do not belong to me, and the story is fictional.
Summary: A year after his high school graduation, David is living with Cook in L.A., but keeping their love hidden from the public eye brings up obstacles that threaten their relationship.
Author's Notes: This fic was originally posted at cookleta from September 2008 to October 2009. :)
14
I. David Archuleta.
Once New Year’s passed, the days started to fly by much too quickly, becoming weeks that soon ran into months. Parenthood was dizzying, and I felt like Cook and I were constantly running around to care for Gabriel or make sure that someone could take our place when there was absolutely no way we could get out of the studio. We were practically up around the clock to squeeze in work and quality time with our son, often dozing off over breakfast or catching some rest between interviews and meetings. But the silly grins never left our faces, which sounds almost impossible but couldn’t be truer. The sudden responsibilities were draining, but all of that melted away with one look at Gabriel. When he curled his tiny fingers around a part of your hand, nothing else mattered.
I was pacing the nursery and humming a lullaby when I felt a small weight touch my shoulder. Out of the corner of my eye I saw that Gabriel had fallen asleep with his head resting against me, his eyelashes fluttering ever so slightly along with each peaceful breath. I carefully lay him down in his crib and turned around to find Cook coming through the doorway, his eyes focused on the iPod Touch nestled in his palm.
“What are you listening to?” I asked, having noticed that he had only one side of the headphones in his ear.
Grinning, he lifted the device so I could look at the screen. I peered closely and blushed when I saw that it was “Zero Gravity,” the unreleased track from my album, which had come out in the middle of November. I still wasn’t used to hearing myself on the radio, so Cook’s constantly putting my music on repeat had made me sputter to no end.
“Zero Gravity” was Cook’s favorite - even though the producers hadn’t chosen it for the album - because, well, it was about him. When Mike Krompass asked me to co-pen the song with him, I instantly knew that I wanted the words to be about Cook. I worked around the pronoun issue by casually suggesting that second person would work better, even though what I actually wanted was to sing directly to the one person who meant everything.
“Aren’t you sick of it?” I teased, taking his headphones away.
“I’ll never get tired of this song,” he replied. My heart jumped at his smile. “And no one else will either once they hear it at your concert.”
My first tour was kicking off later this month, and Cook reassured me every day that I shouldn’t be so anxious about it. The truth was that I had been lying awake at night lately, my gut wrenching at the thought of spending a month on the road, away from Cook and Gabriel.
“Do you really think it’ll be okay?” I asked again for probably the thousandth time.
“You know I’m worried too, babe,” Cook said understandingly. He glanced over at the crib and gave a low sigh. “I mean we know he’ll be fine with your parents.”
“Yeah…” I trailed off.
I lowered my eyes to shield the concern in them but Cook, of course, caught on immediately and wrapped his arms around me. As always, our bodies fit together like two pieces of a puzzle.
“I’m going to miss him too,” he whispered, kissing the top of my head. “I’m going to miss you.”
A curious twist of coincidence as it were, Cook’s solo tour was starting soon, a week before mine. We had compared tour schedules and laughed incredulously when we realized that we could possibly see each other. He was performing in New York on the first of March and then in Pennsylvania on the third, whereas my schedule was the exact opposite - I would be in Pennsylvania on the first and in New York on the third.
“I don’t know how I’m going to make it,” I confessed.
“Just don’t let anyone adopt you and you’ll be fine,” he chuckled, receiving a light slap on the arm from me.
Being recognized by strangers was not too weird anymore, but the occasional odd offers from certain fans still perplexed me. Cook had laughed for about five minutes when I told him that, when I was in New York to appear on several shows, an older fan had asked if she could adopt me.
“I’m twenty!” I exclaimed while he tried to catch his breath.
“Yes, but you are so cute,” Cook said, pinching my cheek to rub it in further.
“Oh, stop it.”
“What? It’s true, Arch.”
I had rolled my eyes in feigned annoyance as he made a big show of shrugging and saying something about how adorable people should just accept their fate and move on. He’d become quiet only when I tackled and pinned him down against the cushioned seat of the sofa.
“So you just want adorable then, hmm?”
His eyes widened for a few seconds as he gazed up at my mischievous smile. His surprise was so amusing to me, and I patiently waited for a response.
“Now that I think about it,” he corrected himself. “You should, um, just embrace the, uh, you know, your other side.”
“Yeah.” I leaned down to press my lips against his. “I think you’d prefer that side.”
II. David Cook.
I’ve packed numerous times in my life - when I left for college, when I drove around the Midwest with Axium, when I moved to Los Angeles… I was not the most organized person in the world, but I had gotten accustomed to putting just what I needed and nothing more into my bag. It was a facile process.
This time, though, it was more difficult than I could have ever imagined.
The luggage was mostly clothes, shoes and personal items to use when I wasn’t performing. When I walked out of the bedroom with an armful of t-shirts, I found David sitting cross-legged on the hardwood floor. He was holding Gabriel in his lap with one hand and feeding him with the other, moving the spoon around like an airplane and providing the sound effects to Gabe’s delight.
I sat down next to the two of them and started to pack, stacking the already folded shirts inside the open suitcase. I was about to reach for the second to last shirt when I noticed which one it was. I lifted it up and showed David.
“Arch, do you want to take this with you?”
“Hmm?”
David looked up and his eyes traveled to the object in my hand. It was one of my Our Lady Peace concert shirts, which had basically become his since he wore it to bed so often. Suddenly it dawned on me how much I would miss seeing him walk into the kitchen in the morning, hair disheveled, shirt crumpled.
“You can think of me,” I told him.
He nodded and smiled.
I set the shirt aside and hastily proceeded to finish packing, making a few more trips to the closet. By the time I had filled the suitcase, Gabriel had eaten all of his meal.
“Hey come here, big guy,” I called.
Gabriel hadn’t perfected his walking yet, but he was past crawling, and David helped him make his way into my outstretched arms. I enveloped him in an embrace and kissed his cheek. When I glanced up, my eyes met David’s, and I saw that his had become misty at the sight of the two of us.
I sat Gabriel down between David and me and scooted a bit forward to shut the suitcase. Gabe’s curious gaze followed my movement, and he was intrigued by the sound of the zipper. I kept opening and closing it until he started to giggle. His innocent laughter seemed to ring sweetly in our living room.
“God, he looks so much like you, Arch,” I commented, watching Gabriel fumble with the zipper, his adorable face beaming like he had just made the best discovery in the world. “He even giggles like you.”
“Silly, that’s because he’s a baby,” David said with a grin.
“Really, he does. I mean I feel that he was somehow meant to be our son, you know?”
David finally tore his eyes away from Gabriel and looked at me.
“I think so too,” he answered.
+
At eight the next morning, I stood in the entryway of our apartment with my suitcase by my side. The driver had offered to come up and help me with my luggage, but I’d declined for obvious reasons. As I kissed David, I felt myself become rooted to the floor as my mind became more and more unwilling to leave.
“Bye, Arch.”
“Have a safe flight, okay? Call me when you get settled in.”
David never liked to actually say “goodbye.”
“I will,” I promised.
I turned to Gabriel, who was still looking sleepy in David’s arms. I bent down to kiss his forehead.
“I’m going to miss you, Gabe,” I said, wondering if he had any idea how desperately I wished that he and David could come with me.
His eyes, which had become half-lidded from waking up so early, fluttered open at my words. He peered at me for a few moments, and then he lifted his arm toward my face, his fingertips barely touching my cheek.
“Bye bye, daddy.”
David’s eyes widened and we briefly looked at each other in amazement. When I turned back toward him, my throat was closed up and I had to pull myself together in order to speak.
“I love you,” I murmured simply, thankful for these two… who mattered most.