Incomplete [PG-13]
[title] Incomplete
[author] Lire Casander
[beta] yehwellwhatever. Any remaining mistakes are my own fault.
[pairing] David Cook/Kyle Peek
[rating] PG -13
[word count] 1254
[summary] All he had now was an incomplete kitchen and a broken heart.
[disclaimer] I don't own nor have ever met David Cook nor David Archuleta. Everything about them is completely fiction, and any similarity with reality is a mere coincidence.
[warnings] Angst like woah. Some unhealthy fixation for a microwave oven.
[author's notes] Written for cherrymaryberry for her prompt of Kyle/David; hot chocolate over at my prompts post. I'm pretty sure this isn't what you were expecting, but this is what my muse decided to write. Also written for ficforhope and for prompt #20 ~ stare from my 100_prompts prompt table.
There was a void in the kitchen, where the microwave oven used to be. Hayden kept asking about it, pestering Kyle about the lack of machines able to warm his milk in the morning. Kyle didn't know what to say anymore - he'd used so many excuses that it felt like he'd run out them all. The only reason he hadn't given his son had been the truth - that he'd had to get rid of it because it reminded him of David.
Everything in the apartment was a permanent reminder of David Cook. Kyle had changed his bed, the curtains. He had even bought a new dining table. He had done whatever it had taken to forget about the hole in his heart. But he hadn't been able to replace the microwave oven; and it was silly, in the end, because it was just a machine and it shouldn't be so important, but Kyle and David had used it to prepare hot chocolate for Hayden. One day, when he hadn't stood the pain anymore, he had thrown something - he couldn't remember what - to the glassy surface of that microwave oven, breaking it into millions of pieces. He'd cut himself with the crystals while cleaning the mess; and afterwards, after all the tears and the pain, Kyle had thrown the broken device away.
But the void was a constant reminder, too. It was the metaphorical expression of how empty and lonely he felt. Kyle hated solitude - growing up, he used to be different, weird. He hadn't had many friends, and he'd only felt happy with his sticks and his drums. Hayden had come to fix that patch of his heart Kyle hadn't realized was ruined, and even if Nichole hadn't stayed around for long, Kyle would always be grateful to her for giving him a reason to breathe. But, in the end, he'd gone to bed alone.
That had changed when he'd made it into David Cook's project. He'd found a family, support, fun and friends. Kyle had felt glee while playing, when he caught his name being screamed from across the room, when fans from all over the country came to ask for his signature. Kyle would never forget one particular case - a girl who'd travelled all the way from Florida to Oklahoma and who'd talked about someone in Europe. She had seemed so truly excited to be talking to him that Kyle had been touched.
And in The Anthemic, Kyle had found love. A love so powerful that it had thrown him off center, right into a whirlwind of emotions he hadn't been able to control. He'd never planned to fall in love with David - hadn't planned to fall in love with a man, for that matter - but that's what'd happened. Kyle had enjoyed a year of pure mirth before it had been taken away from him.
All he had now was an incomplete kitchen and a broken heart.
"Daddy," Hayden asked at his back. "Daddy, there's a man at the door."
Kyle frowned, dragging his gaze away from the hole where the microwave oven used to be. "A man?"
"I've seen the figure," the kid explained. "You know, like a shadow? Through the window. He looks like David."
Kyle sighed as he checked the time. "You know it can't be David, sweetie. He has to be somewhere else right now."
"Why isn't he around anymore?" Hayden demanded. "I miss him and his hot chocolate."
"I'll explain when you're a little older," Kyle petted his son's head as the doorbell rang. "I'll go see who it is, okay? Don't move."
Kyle left his kid in the kitchen and ambled toward the front door. There was a silhouette against the frame, a fist placed on the wood. Kyle opened without asking who it was first, and found himself facing a very dressed up, very pale David Cook.
"What--?" he stammered, looking up at the other man standing on his porch. David was wearing a tuxedo and dress shoes and a tie, and his hair was perfectly tamed. "David, you shouldn't be here. Where have you left your wife?"
"Can I come in?" David asked, voice strained as if he was in pain. "I'll explain it all, I swear. Just let me in."
"No," Kyle shook his head. He was surprised of his own strength - he'd thought he'd never be able to deny David Cook anything. "I don't want to confuse Hayden. It's bad enough as it is. Where's your wife?" he repeated.
"She's not my wife," David counteracted. "That's what I came to say. I'm not married, Kyle, I couldn't, I just--"
"Stop it. Stop it this instant," Kyle lifted an erect finger in front of both their faces. "I don't want to hear it, whatever excuse you're going to give me now, it's probably a lie. I can't take it anymore."
"Kyle, please, listen--"
"David!" a little, cheerful voice said at Kyle's back. "I told you, Daddy, it was David! Can we have hot chocolate now?"
"Hayden, what did I tell you?" Kyle demanded patiently. "Go back to the kitchen. I'll make something warm for you to drink."
He waited until Hayden left the hall to lift his eyes back up to find David's gaze. "I want you to go away now."
"I didn't marry her, Kyle. I couldn't. All I could see was--Kyle, all I could see was you and fucking hell, Kyle, I'm so sorry--"
"You have no right," Kyle said, tears pooling in his eyes, but he remained strong. "You come back here, fourteen months after leaving me, leaving us, to date her, a beard, David!"
"It was what--"
"It was what the label and the publicists thought appropriate," Kyle spoke patiently, as if he were talking to his son. "But you could have fought, you could have fought for us - but you didn't. You have nothing to do here."
"It's obvious that Hayden needs me," David tried to say; he attempted to reach out and touch Kyle, but the younger man flinched away.
"Don't use my son against me, David. I won't allow you to. Leave, now."
David looked lost, all pale, as if he had left his own wedding in a rush. Maybe he had, Kyle thought for a second - but it wasn't enough - it was too little, too late. He began to close the door.
David put a hand in the doorframe, stopping Kyle for all of two seconds. Kyle pushed harder and managed to close the door completely. He rested his forehead on the frame and exhaled.
He had thought that the hardest thing he'd had to do in his life had been bringing up Hayden on his own, or leaving the band when things with David became unbearable. But he'd been wrong all along - starting a new life without David had proved to be a true feat.
Kyle closed his eyes, breathed in and turned around. He entered the kitchen again and looked into Hayden's eyes that were staring at him accusingly. "Daddy?"
"I'll make you hot chocolate, Hayden."
"And David?"
"He won't be back, Hayden. I'm sorry."
The kid looked down for a second. Kyle knew it would be hard to gain his son's trust again, but he would try every day. He smiled, placed a finger under Hayden's chin and lifted his face. "Everything will be alright, I promise. Now, let's make that chocolate!"
Hayden smiled softly and nodded.
Kyle bought a new microwave oven the next day.
[author] Lire Casander
[beta] yehwellwhatever. Any remaining mistakes are my own fault.
[pairing] David Cook/Kyle Peek
[rating] PG -13
[word count] 1254
[summary] All he had now was an incomplete kitchen and a broken heart.
[disclaimer] I don't own nor have ever met David Cook nor David Archuleta. Everything about them is completely fiction, and any similarity with reality is a mere coincidence.
[warnings] Angst like woah. Some unhealthy fixation for a microwave oven.
[author's notes] Written for cherrymaryberry for her prompt of Kyle/David; hot chocolate over at my prompts post. I'm pretty sure this isn't what you were expecting, but this is what my muse decided to write. Also written for ficforhope and for prompt #20 ~ stare from my 100_prompts prompt table.
There was a void in the kitchen, where the microwave oven used to be. Hayden kept asking about it, pestering Kyle about the lack of machines able to warm his milk in the morning. Kyle didn't know what to say anymore - he'd used so many excuses that it felt like he'd run out them all. The only reason he hadn't given his son had been the truth - that he'd had to get rid of it because it reminded him of David.
Everything in the apartment was a permanent reminder of David Cook. Kyle had changed his bed, the curtains. He had even bought a new dining table. He had done whatever it had taken to forget about the hole in his heart. But he hadn't been able to replace the microwave oven; and it was silly, in the end, because it was just a machine and it shouldn't be so important, but Kyle and David had used it to prepare hot chocolate for Hayden. One day, when he hadn't stood the pain anymore, he had thrown something - he couldn't remember what - to the glassy surface of that microwave oven, breaking it into millions of pieces. He'd cut himself with the crystals while cleaning the mess; and afterwards, after all the tears and the pain, Kyle had thrown the broken device away.
But the void was a constant reminder, too. It was the metaphorical expression of how empty and lonely he felt. Kyle hated solitude - growing up, he used to be different, weird. He hadn't had many friends, and he'd only felt happy with his sticks and his drums. Hayden had come to fix that patch of his heart Kyle hadn't realized was ruined, and even if Nichole hadn't stayed around for long, Kyle would always be grateful to her for giving him a reason to breathe. But, in the end, he'd gone to bed alone.
That had changed when he'd made it into David Cook's project. He'd found a family, support, fun and friends. Kyle had felt glee while playing, when he caught his name being screamed from across the room, when fans from all over the country came to ask for his signature. Kyle would never forget one particular case - a girl who'd travelled all the way from Florida to Oklahoma and who'd talked about someone in Europe. She had seemed so truly excited to be talking to him that Kyle had been touched.
And in The Anthemic, Kyle had found love. A love so powerful that it had thrown him off center, right into a whirlwind of emotions he hadn't been able to control. He'd never planned to fall in love with David - hadn't planned to fall in love with a man, for that matter - but that's what'd happened. Kyle had enjoyed a year of pure mirth before it had been taken away from him.
All he had now was an incomplete kitchen and a broken heart.
"Daddy," Hayden asked at his back. "Daddy, there's a man at the door."
Kyle frowned, dragging his gaze away from the hole where the microwave oven used to be. "A man?"
"I've seen the figure," the kid explained. "You know, like a shadow? Through the window. He looks like David."
Kyle sighed as he checked the time. "You know it can't be David, sweetie. He has to be somewhere else right now."
"Why isn't he around anymore?" Hayden demanded. "I miss him and his hot chocolate."
"I'll explain when you're a little older," Kyle petted his son's head as the doorbell rang. "I'll go see who it is, okay? Don't move."
Kyle left his kid in the kitchen and ambled toward the front door. There was a silhouette against the frame, a fist placed on the wood. Kyle opened without asking who it was first, and found himself facing a very dressed up, very pale David Cook.
"What--?" he stammered, looking up at the other man standing on his porch. David was wearing a tuxedo and dress shoes and a tie, and his hair was perfectly tamed. "David, you shouldn't be here. Where have you left your wife?"
"Can I come in?" David asked, voice strained as if he was in pain. "I'll explain it all, I swear. Just let me in."
"No," Kyle shook his head. He was surprised of his own strength - he'd thought he'd never be able to deny David Cook anything. "I don't want to confuse Hayden. It's bad enough as it is. Where's your wife?" he repeated.
"She's not my wife," David counteracted. "That's what I came to say. I'm not married, Kyle, I couldn't, I just--"
"Stop it. Stop it this instant," Kyle lifted an erect finger in front of both their faces. "I don't want to hear it, whatever excuse you're going to give me now, it's probably a lie. I can't take it anymore."
"Kyle, please, listen--"
"David!" a little, cheerful voice said at Kyle's back. "I told you, Daddy, it was David! Can we have hot chocolate now?"
"Hayden, what did I tell you?" Kyle demanded patiently. "Go back to the kitchen. I'll make something warm for you to drink."
He waited until Hayden left the hall to lift his eyes back up to find David's gaze. "I want you to go away now."
"I didn't marry her, Kyle. I couldn't. All I could see was--Kyle, all I could see was you and fucking hell, Kyle, I'm so sorry--"
"You have no right," Kyle said, tears pooling in his eyes, but he remained strong. "You come back here, fourteen months after leaving me, leaving us, to date her, a beard, David!"
"It was what--"
"It was what the label and the publicists thought appropriate," Kyle spoke patiently, as if he were talking to his son. "But you could have fought, you could have fought for us - but you didn't. You have nothing to do here."
"It's obvious that Hayden needs me," David tried to say; he attempted to reach out and touch Kyle, but the younger man flinched away.
"Don't use my son against me, David. I won't allow you to. Leave, now."
David looked lost, all pale, as if he had left his own wedding in a rush. Maybe he had, Kyle thought for a second - but it wasn't enough - it was too little, too late. He began to close the door.
David put a hand in the doorframe, stopping Kyle for all of two seconds. Kyle pushed harder and managed to close the door completely. He rested his forehead on the frame and exhaled.
He had thought that the hardest thing he'd had to do in his life had been bringing up Hayden on his own, or leaving the band when things with David became unbearable. But he'd been wrong all along - starting a new life without David had proved to be a true feat.
Kyle closed his eyes, breathed in and turned around. He entered the kitchen again and looked into Hayden's eyes that were staring at him accusingly. "Daddy?"
"I'll make you hot chocolate, Hayden."
"And David?"
"He won't be back, Hayden. I'm sorry."
The kid looked down for a second. Kyle knew it would be hard to gain his son's trust again, but he would try every day. He smiled, placed a finger under Hayden's chin and lifted his face. "Everything will be alright, I promise. Now, let's make that chocolate!"
Hayden smiled softly and nodded.
Kyle bought a new microwave oven the next day.