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sophie_448 ([personal profile] sophie_448) wrote2010-02-06 12:37 am

Fic: 10 Ficlets (Various Pairings, PG-R)

So I did that drabble meme. You know, the one where you put your itunes on shuffle and write a ficlet to each song for the duration of the song? Except I totally cheated. Many times I repeated the song and continued writing, and also I shuffled through until I found songs I actually wanted to write to. I know, shocking! Really I just realized that I hadn't written anything in FOREVER, so I figured it would be a good jumping off point.

Pairings: J2, Cookleta, Neal/Archie, Cookmann, Cook/OFC (implied), Joe/Nick (yes, the Jonas Brothers. I know, SHAAAAME), Nick/Archie
Ratings: PG-R (labeled individually)
Warnings: incest, underage (17), alcohol abuse, implied bombing, unbeta'd, Jonas Brothers
Word Count: 2181 total



In the End – Linkin Park (Cookleta, PG)

Cook’s running. Before he was driving way too fast. Panic blared over the news less than an hour ago. He doesn’t even know how he gets past the line of police and firemen to get so close to the smoking hull of the building that used to hold the 19 Entertainment offices. He looks around frantically. He has no idea what to do now. There were hundreds of people in there. How could he even begin to look—then he hears his name. So low and weak he’s not sure how it even carried to his ears.

He runs over to the stretcher, and there’s Archie. He’s in a neck brace and there’s ugly black soot all over him, but he’s alive. He’s still here. There’s still time.

“Archie! Thank God. I was so worried.”

“I’m okay,” Archie says, smiling weakly and coughing. Cook’s heart constricts.

“I love you, Arch,” he says, taking him by the hand.

“You too, Cook.”

“No,” Cook says, suddenly desperate for Archie to know how much he really means to him. He’d been afraid for so long. Worried about his career, about what people would think. But now he realizes that none of that matters. He’s ashamed he had to nearly lose Archie to realize it. “No, I love you, David.”

Archie’s pained smile gets wider at that. “I know,” he says. “I’m glad you know too.” He squeezes Cook’s hand, and then the paramedics are pulling him away, lifting the stretcher into a waiting ambulance. Cook beams after him. He doesn’t realize he’s crying until he wipes a hand across his face and it comes away moist. His heart is beating so fast, and he can’t even keep up with the emotions running through him. The panic still in the background, fueled by the adrenaline rush that’s still going strong. Relief, and joy, and hope. Because in the end, Archie’s all that matters.

Break My Heart Tonight – Reckless Kelly (Joe/Nick PG-13)

Nick slams his fingers down on the keys in frustration, the discordant clang ringing satisfyingly through the room. He’s gotten a whole album out of the breakup with Miley, but he’s pretty sure he’s tackled that subject from every possible angle. He’s doing fine now. Great, in fact. But guys who are doing fine and great don’t write interesting songs, he’s discovering. After all the work he’s put into making himself and his brothers credible musical artists—writing their own songs, playing their own instruments, and being awesome at it—now it seems like it’s all going to come crashing around their ears because Nick’s over his broken heart.

“Hey, Nicky,” Joe says, poking his head in the door. “Hit a rough patch?”

He offers his brother a weary smile. “No big deal,” he says. “I just need someone to break my heart.”

Joe crosses the room and sits down next to him on the piano bench. He slings an arm around Nick’s shoulders and drops a soft kiss behind his ear that sends shivers down Nick’s spine. “Can’t help you there,” he whispers.

Keep Holding On – Avril Lavigne (J2, PG)

Jared realizes he hasn’t seen Jensen in a while. After a few minutes, he finds him out on the patio alone.

“You’re missing your party,” he says without preamble.

Jensen looks up at him. “Not just mine,” he says.

Jared nods, conceding the point. “What’s up?”

“This isn’t going to last forever.”

“At least another year, though,” Jared says, knowing immediately what Jensen is talking about.

“And then?”

Jared crowds into Jensen’s space. “And then you go on to become the fabulous movie star you deserve to be,” he says.

“You know what I mean,” Jensen says,

Jared kisses him soft and quick, conscious of the public space, but needing to reassure his boyfriend. “We just keep holding on.”

Jensen leans his head against Jared’s shoulder. “Yeah, okay.”

Peaceful Easy Feeling – The Eagles (Neal/Archie PG)

Neal breathes in deep, feeling calm and contentment curl around him. He’s lying on his back in the bed of his old pick-up. David is curled into his side, and they’re watching the stars scattered like so many diamonds across the night sky.

“You don’t see stars like this in LA,” David says, almost whispering.

Neal shakes his head. “Too much smog,” he says, thinking there are also too many people trying to compete with the real supernovas.

David leans up and kisses the hollow under his jaw. Neal turns his head and catches his lips. They linger in the kiss, warm and familiar, for a few minutes before David pulls back.

“It’s nice out here,” he says, smile shining in his eyes. “Thanks for bringing me.”

Neal suddenly feels humbled. He doesn’t know what he ever did to deserve this beautiful, loving boy, but somehow David loves him, rough edges and all. David is his solid ground, and he’s never going to let him go.

P.S. – Toad the Wet Sprocket (David Cook/implied OFC, PG-13)

David pushes his glass forward a little, signaling the bartender. He watches the amber liquid splash into the bottom, then knocks back the shot, savoring the familiar burn down his throat.

He comes in everyday after work. He feels guilty about it, but not guilty enough to go home to his wife, his son. He’s a shitty husband and father, and the knowledge burns, but it’s not nearly as painful as facing up to the reality that his dreams are dead. The band broke up, and David, good as his word, went out and got a real job when he turned twenty-six and he was no closer to actually earning a living doing what he loved.

Now his life is an endless string of nine-to-fives and fights about money, fights about his drinking. He hates being a cog in the fucking machine, hates it so much that the best he can do is numb the pain with shot after shot. He destroying himself and taking his family down with him, and he can’t bring himself to care.

He watches as the hours tick by until it’s so late it’s early. “Last call,” the bartender finally says. As usual, David is the only one still in the bar.

“One more,” he says, and the words taste like defeat.

You Know I’m No Good – Amy Winehouse (Joe/Nick, PG-13)

“Where were you?”

Nick jumps. Joe’s waiting up for him in the dark. He hunches his shoulders. “Out,” he says, hoping Joe will leave it alone.

“Out where? With who, Nicholas?” Of course not. Joe never did know when to leave it alone.

“Just out. I’m going to bed. You coming?”

Joe’s eyes flash in the low light, but he gets up and follows. When they reach the bedroom, he pushes Nick up against the closed door and burrows his face into Nick’s neck. After a second, he pushes him away, disgust and hurt warring on his face.

“You still smell like her,” he says, his voice low and rough.

“I told you, Joseph. I’m not as good as you think I am.” And he did. But he’s sorry he proved himself right.

Come Undone – Vanessa Carlton (Joe/Nick, R)

Nick’s always on. Always careful of the image he’s projecting. He just wants everything to be right. So he keeps it together. He practices hard, and he makes sure that the Nick Jonas that everyone sees is exactly what they should see. Not just the fans, but his parents, their managers, Kevin, everyone. Everyone except Joe.

“How do you make me come apart like this?” he pants as Joe scrapes his teeth lightly against Nick’s ribcage. Joe looks up the line of his body, grinning.

“It’s a skill,” he says. It sounds flippant, but Nick hears the deep love and affection behind the words. Somehow Joe just knows. He understands that he’s Nick’s safety valve. He’s the one Nick doesn’t have to be on for. Doesn’t have to present the perfect image. With Joe he can just be. And if he needs to come undone, Joe’s there to put him back together.

One Night Only – Dreamgirls (Cookmann, R)

Neal closes his eyes, waiting until Dave realizes he’s not kissing back.

“What’s wrong, baby?” he asks, and Neal opens his eyes.

“Don’t call me that.”

“What? Why?”

Neal sighs heavily. “We both know what this is, Dave. Don’t try to pretend it’s something more when we’re gonna be just friends and bandmates again tomorrow.”

Dave looks like he wants to argue, but Neal stares him down. Finally his shoulders drop and he nods. “Fine.”

Neal kisses back this time, moans when Dave pulls their hips together and grinds against him. And if he maybe wishes that Dave had fought a little harder, he brutally shoves that thought to the back of his mind. No point in wishing for something that’s never going to happen. Neal takes what he can get.

Last October – Green River Ordinance (Neal/Archie, PG)

The leaves don’t really change in LA. They just sort of shrivel up and drop off the trees at some point with very little fanfare. Somehow David finds that much more depressing. Then again, he finds a lot of things depressing these days. Turns out he’s actually a pretty decent actor because, as far as he knows, no one’s figured out that he’s been dying inside for the past year.

He’s parked on the 405 when it hits him like a bolt of lightning from the clear, smoggy sky. He, David Archuleta, is an idiot. He’s already hit send when it occurs to him that it might be too late. His heart leaps to his throat, but it’s too late, the call is connected. It’s ringing and ringing, and David’s afraid it will go to voicemail. Which might not even mean anything, but then again it might, and how is he supposed to know which? But then he hears a voice on the line. Not a recording.

“David?” Neal says, sounding shocked, and David really can’t blame him.

“I’m an idiot,” he says.

“You won’t get an argument from me,” Neal says, snappish and guarded.

David bites his lip. This is scary, but he decides quickly that not knowing is scarier. “Am I too late to not be an idiot?”

He hears Neal suck in a sharp breath. Then he’s silent for so long Archie checks to make sure the call didn’t drop. “What about your career? Your parents? The church?” he says, rattling off all the reasons David had given him nearly a year ago.

David swallows thickly. “You’re more important,” he says, because he’s finally figured that out.

Neal laughs suddenly, bright and happy. “Took you long enough, Archuleta,” he says, and David can hear the grin in his voice.

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“Why don’t you come over and start making it up to me?” Neal says.

Archie thinks that sounds like the best idea he’s heard all year.

Travelin’ Thru – Dolly Parton (Nick/Archie, PG-13)

David knows that he likes boys, and he knows what the Church says about that. He knows what his parents would say if he told them. He’d be shipped off to a treatment facility so fast his head would spin. He’s prayed for God to fix him countless times, desperate, shaking, hot tears spilling down his cheeks. He doesn’t want to be wrong. He wants to be right in the eyes of God, but he doesn’t know how. But it seems to David that God must not be listening, because all he’s ever gotten is stony silence in reply.

When Nick kisses him, quick and a little off-center, David waits for the bolt of lightning to come and strike them down, but nothing happens. The wind keeps blowing gently through the trees in the park around them, and Nick looks at him, eyes clear and a slight, expectant smile on his lips.

David thinks about it for a second. Kissing Nick didn’t feel wrong, and Nick isn’t bad or evil. He isn’t any of the things that David’s been taught go along with being a homosexual (He hears the word layered with scorn, spit out like it tastes bad). Nick is kind and sweet and likes David. And David likes him too. He makes a decision in that moment.

He leans in and kisses Nick back, a little longer than the first time. Nick makes a happy sound against his mouth and puts a hand gently on David’s shoulder. It makes David feel bold, and he reaches out to run a hand through Nick’s curly hair. After a minute they pull back and just smile at each other.

David knows he’s going against the church, but he thinks maybe that’s okay. He doesn’t quite fit into their picture of the world, but he’s going to figure out how all his pieces fit. And right now, today, kissing an amazing boy in the middle of a park with God’s creation all around them, he thinks maybe he’s come a step closer to doing that.


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