Fic: Clean, 1/1, Rated PG-13
Title: Clean
Author: courts
Disclaimer: No, not true.
Rated: PG-13, since they're naked ;-)
Summary: He wasn't sure why Cook was doing this, but he wondered how weird it was for him to find it comforting.
Notes: Yet another story for the prompt grid. I'm going to stop calling them drabbles, because they just seem to keep getting longer. But, yeah, this one was going to be smut but then it didn't end up that way. I cannot begin to explain how this happened.
Clean
David Archuleta climbed onto the bus after the concert that night, bone-tired and ready to crawl under the covers in his bunk and sleep for a week.
They'd been on the road for a couple of weeks and, while it was a truly amazing experience and he couldn't believe that he was actually lucky enough to get to take part in it, he had to admit that the schedule was more than a little grueling. The nights when they stayed in the hotel weren't so bad. He could sleep better in the beds there and they got to sleep a little later, since they were already at their destination.
But the nights like this one, on the bus, those were the tough ones for David.
He had this thing about showering before bed. He'd always done it, even when he was a kid. He supposed it stemmed from not wanting to fight his sister, Claudia, for time in the bathroom in the mornings. If he'd already had a shower, he could just take his toothbrush down to the half bath downstairs and get ready there before school. Whatever the reason, David was so used to his nightly shower that he found it impossible to sleep without it.
He wasn't alone in this on the tour; they all got so hot and sweaty under the lights on stage that everyone seemed to need to shower before bed. This made it difficult on the bus, since there was only one shower and a limited amount of hot water. They'd instituted a ten minute rule several weeks before, after Michael had ended up being the last one into the shower one night and, about one minute in, had let out the most high-pitched squeal imaginable before the others had heard a loud thud.
It turned out that the shock of the suddenly icy water had made him jump and trip over the edge of the shower stall, causing him to fall forward onto the bathroom floor. He was fine, of course, but he had still limped around for three days afterwards, making everyone look at the giant bruise on his shin and telling them about the grave danger that he'd so narrowly escaped.
"I could have been castrated, for God's sake," he said during one such rehashing of the incident.
"From the sound of that scream you let out I'm not sure that you weren't," Cook had quipped and they'd all rolled with laughter. Even Michael had to smile before launching himself at Cook and putting him in some kind of bizarre wrestling move until the younger man begged for mercy.
At any rate, that was the beginning of the rule. No one else wanted to get stuck in the ice cold shower, and they certainly didn't want to hear about it were Michael the one to be caught again. So, ten minutes, that was the limit.
David was okay with that, really. He could shower in ten minutes if he had to. But, on nights when he was exhausted and sore and just plain weary, all he wanted was to stand under the spray for an hour and let the water wash everything he was feeling away.
That wasn't going to happen tonight, he knew. They'd had to hustle from the arena and onto the buses within ten minutes of the encore. The crew was staying behind to get the sets packed away, but the idols themselves had to get on the road because they had some appearance to do in the next town that started bright and early.
David got on the bus first, followed closely by Jason and Chikezie. Michael and Cook were still standing outside the bus signing a few last minute autographs while the tour manager made sure that everything was ready for them to hit the road.
"Whose turn is it for first shower?" Jason asked. They'd devised a system so that there wouldn't be any bickering.
"Cook," Chikezie said. "I got first last time."
Jason nodded and turned to yell out the door, "Cook! Shower!" David blushed, wondering what was going through the mind of the two girls that Cook was having his picture made with when they heard Jason Castro beckoning him into the shower. Jason didn't seem to give it a second thought.
David sat by the window and watched as Cook smiled once more at the two fans, hugging them briefly, then turning to bound onto the bus. He walked in, his eyes going immediately to David, and came over to sit down beside him on the bench seat. "Where are you in shower rotation tonight, Archie?" he asked. He knew about David's predilection for taking a shower before bed, and he also knew that the younger man was completely exhausted and needed to get to sleep.
"I'm last," David said and he couldn't even summon the strength to keep the weariness from his voice.
Cook nodded even as he began to stand up and David thought for sure that that would be the end of it. He hoped that if he stayed sitting upright until it was his turn that he would at least get his ten minutes before he passed out. But, then Cook was pulling him by the arm, urging him to stand.
"C'mon, get up," Cook coaxed him.
"What? What're you doing?" David asked in confusion.
"Yo Cook, are you gonna take a shower soon, man? Because I reek and I'd really like to get my turn," Jason called out from across the bus.
"Archie's gonna take my turn," Cook replied. "Go on, Arch, get back there," he said.
"No, I . . . that's not fair, Cook. I can wait," he contended.
"Archie," Cook said as he framed the younger man's face with his hands and lowered his head so that they were eye to eye. "I insist. Go."
David knew the look in Cook's eyes. It was the don't-argue-with-me-because-I-am-more-stubborn-than-you-and-I-will-win look. He sighed as he walked back to his bunk to grab a change of clothes.
Soon enough, David was standing in the shower under the spray, letting the warm water wash over him. It felt incredibly good; better than he had even expected. He felt the tight muscles in his back and neck start to loosen, felt his fatigue settling from too exhausted to sleep to the peaceful kind of tired where he could lay down and drift right off. The rest of the world stopped existing; there was only this tiny three-foot square of tile and water and David. And it was all he needed for the moment.
He got lost in his own head rather quickly. So much so, in fact, that his ten minutes were up before he'd even picked up the soap. Jason was knocking at the door and yelling for him to wrap it up and David groaned as he realized that he hadn't had a chance to wash the make-up off his face or the gel from his hair. He was debating how pissed they'd all be if he took an extra five minutes, when he heard the door swing inward.
"I know, Jase, I heard you, I'm getting out," he said begrudgingly as he reached out to turn off the taps. A hand snaked past the curtain and stopped him though, pulling back the plastic just enough so that David could see who it was.
"Cook, um, I'm kind of in the shower . . ." David said awkwardly as he instinctively used his hands to cover himself.
"Yeah, I thought you could use a little extra time tonight," Cook said. "I got Jason to switch with me." He chuckled as he added, "You don't even want to know what it cost me. Anyway, I thought you could use my time, too."
"What? Don't you need to, um . . . I mean, you usually shower after the show," David stammered out.
"Yeah, but I can be quick," Cook told him. "Two minutes, tops." And, with that, Cook had shucked his boxers and was jumping into the shower stall with David.
"I, um, I . . ." David had no idea what to say. He kept his eyes trained to the tile just beyond Cook's head as he kept his own hands clasped in front of him.
Cook, meanwhile, seemed unconcerned with this situation. "Can you pass me the shampoo?" he asked as he ducked his head under the water to thoroughly wet his hair. David nodded mutely and removed one of his hands long enough to hand Cook the shampoo bottle.
Soon, Cook was lathering up a wash cloth and David had to turn around. Cook deserved his privacy, even if he had been the one to jump into the shower with David in the first place. He realized belatedly, of course, that he had just turned his bare ass to Cook, but it was too late to worry about that.
He expected that Cook was nearly finished, that he would soon step back out of the shower and give David enough time to wash his own hair and get clean before he went to sleep. As weird as this whole thing was, David was still grateful to Cook for that. But, when David felt Cook's arms come around him, pulling him backwards, he began to wonder if he had any clue what was going on after all.
"It's okay, don't worry," Cook said softly as he eased the younger man backwards until he was standing fully beneath the warm spray of water. "Just relax." David felt Cook's hands in his hair, then, massaging shampoo into his scalp. Despite the fact that he knew he should be fighting this, David couldn't bring himself to do it. It just felt too damned good.
Cook continued, rinsing the shampoo from David's hair and lathering it again, repeating the process. Then, he took a soapy washcloth and began running it all over David's body. David could feel himself reacting to the touch, his libido taking over and causing an embarrassing reaction. He tensed up and tried to pull away, but Cook just shushed him and whispered that it was okay, everything was okay.
He continued washing David, slowly and methodically. After he'd rinsed the soap from his body, Cook began to knead his shoulders, his back, working the tight muscles until they yielded to his touch. Then, all too soon, there was another knock at the door.
"Zip it up, Cookie, it's my turn," came Michael's voice and David gasped. He hadn't even thought about the fact that the other three men on the bus knew that the two of them were in there. Together. Showering.
Cook turned around and cut the water, turning David around to face him. "Don’t worry, Archie. It's fine, okay?" he said and David found himself nodding. Cook got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist, then held out another for David to step into. Cook rubbed the towel over David's body, drying him off quickly before wrapping it around him. He then turned his attention to himself, pulling his own towel free to dry himself off before grabbing a clean pair of boxers from the counter and pulling them on.
Picking up David's own shorts, Cook held them out and David took them, pulling them on without losing his towel, then letting it fall away as he pulled on his tee shirt. He wasn't sure why Cook was doing this, but he wondered how weird it was for him to find it comforting. He was being taken care of and, as awkward as it probably should have felt, it also felt really nice.
He'd expected to be embarrassed when he left the bathroom, but even Michael's gaze didn't make him blush very much. He attributed that minor miracle to Cook's hand curled in his, tugging him gently down the hall and towards the bunks.
When they reached them, David started to crawl into his own bunk and was surprised when Cook followed him in. "Is this okay?" the older man asked as he came to rest beside David on the narrow mattress.
David thought about it and it should have been completely bizarre. He and Cook were friends and, aside from the casual flirting they seemed to engage in most all of the time, there had never been anything else between them. But, suddenly, that didn't seem to be the point. David tried to think of a reason to say that this wasn't okay, that he didn't want Cook there, but he couldn't think of a single thing. So, he snuggled closer to the older man, wrapping his arms around Cook's middle and resting his head against Cook's chest and said, "This is perfect."
When they woke up the next morning, they were both still smiling.
-=-=-=-=-
The End
July 5, 2008
-=-=-=-=-
Author: courts
Disclaimer: No, not true.
Rated: PG-13, since they're naked ;-)
Summary: He wasn't sure why Cook was doing this, but he wondered how weird it was for him to find it comforting.
Notes: Yet another story for the prompt grid. I'm going to stop calling them drabbles, because they just seem to keep getting longer. But, yeah, this one was going to be smut but then it didn't end up that way. I cannot begin to explain how this happened.
Clean
David Archuleta climbed onto the bus after the concert that night, bone-tired and ready to crawl under the covers in his bunk and sleep for a week.
They'd been on the road for a couple of weeks and, while it was a truly amazing experience and he couldn't believe that he was actually lucky enough to get to take part in it, he had to admit that the schedule was more than a little grueling. The nights when they stayed in the hotel weren't so bad. He could sleep better in the beds there and they got to sleep a little later, since they were already at their destination.
But the nights like this one, on the bus, those were the tough ones for David.
He had this thing about showering before bed. He'd always done it, even when he was a kid. He supposed it stemmed from not wanting to fight his sister, Claudia, for time in the bathroom in the mornings. If he'd already had a shower, he could just take his toothbrush down to the half bath downstairs and get ready there before school. Whatever the reason, David was so used to his nightly shower that he found it impossible to sleep without it.
He wasn't alone in this on the tour; they all got so hot and sweaty under the lights on stage that everyone seemed to need to shower before bed. This made it difficult on the bus, since there was only one shower and a limited amount of hot water. They'd instituted a ten minute rule several weeks before, after Michael had ended up being the last one into the shower one night and, about one minute in, had let out the most high-pitched squeal imaginable before the others had heard a loud thud.
It turned out that the shock of the suddenly icy water had made him jump and trip over the edge of the shower stall, causing him to fall forward onto the bathroom floor. He was fine, of course, but he had still limped around for three days afterwards, making everyone look at the giant bruise on his shin and telling them about the grave danger that he'd so narrowly escaped.
"I could have been castrated, for God's sake," he said during one such rehashing of the incident.
"From the sound of that scream you let out I'm not sure that you weren't," Cook had quipped and they'd all rolled with laughter. Even Michael had to smile before launching himself at Cook and putting him in some kind of bizarre wrestling move until the younger man begged for mercy.
At any rate, that was the beginning of the rule. No one else wanted to get stuck in the ice cold shower, and they certainly didn't want to hear about it were Michael the one to be caught again. So, ten minutes, that was the limit.
David was okay with that, really. He could shower in ten minutes if he had to. But, on nights when he was exhausted and sore and just plain weary, all he wanted was to stand under the spray for an hour and let the water wash everything he was feeling away.
That wasn't going to happen tonight, he knew. They'd had to hustle from the arena and onto the buses within ten minutes of the encore. The crew was staying behind to get the sets packed away, but the idols themselves had to get on the road because they had some appearance to do in the next town that started bright and early.
David got on the bus first, followed closely by Jason and Chikezie. Michael and Cook were still standing outside the bus signing a few last minute autographs while the tour manager made sure that everything was ready for them to hit the road.
"Whose turn is it for first shower?" Jason asked. They'd devised a system so that there wouldn't be any bickering.
"Cook," Chikezie said. "I got first last time."
Jason nodded and turned to yell out the door, "Cook! Shower!" David blushed, wondering what was going through the mind of the two girls that Cook was having his picture made with when they heard Jason Castro beckoning him into the shower. Jason didn't seem to give it a second thought.
David sat by the window and watched as Cook smiled once more at the two fans, hugging them briefly, then turning to bound onto the bus. He walked in, his eyes going immediately to David, and came over to sit down beside him on the bench seat. "Where are you in shower rotation tonight, Archie?" he asked. He knew about David's predilection for taking a shower before bed, and he also knew that the younger man was completely exhausted and needed to get to sleep.
"I'm last," David said and he couldn't even summon the strength to keep the weariness from his voice.
Cook nodded even as he began to stand up and David thought for sure that that would be the end of it. He hoped that if he stayed sitting upright until it was his turn that he would at least get his ten minutes before he passed out. But, then Cook was pulling him by the arm, urging him to stand.
"C'mon, get up," Cook coaxed him.
"What? What're you doing?" David asked in confusion.
"Yo Cook, are you gonna take a shower soon, man? Because I reek and I'd really like to get my turn," Jason called out from across the bus.
"Archie's gonna take my turn," Cook replied. "Go on, Arch, get back there," he said.
"No, I . . . that's not fair, Cook. I can wait," he contended.
"Archie," Cook said as he framed the younger man's face with his hands and lowered his head so that they were eye to eye. "I insist. Go."
David knew the look in Cook's eyes. It was the don't-argue-with-me-because-I-am-more-stubborn-than-you-and-I-will-win look. He sighed as he walked back to his bunk to grab a change of clothes.
Soon enough, David was standing in the shower under the spray, letting the warm water wash over him. It felt incredibly good; better than he had even expected. He felt the tight muscles in his back and neck start to loosen, felt his fatigue settling from too exhausted to sleep to the peaceful kind of tired where he could lay down and drift right off. The rest of the world stopped existing; there was only this tiny three-foot square of tile and water and David. And it was all he needed for the moment.
He got lost in his own head rather quickly. So much so, in fact, that his ten minutes were up before he'd even picked up the soap. Jason was knocking at the door and yelling for him to wrap it up and David groaned as he realized that he hadn't had a chance to wash the make-up off his face or the gel from his hair. He was debating how pissed they'd all be if he took an extra five minutes, when he heard the door swing inward.
"I know, Jase, I heard you, I'm getting out," he said begrudgingly as he reached out to turn off the taps. A hand snaked past the curtain and stopped him though, pulling back the plastic just enough so that David could see who it was.
"Cook, um, I'm kind of in the shower . . ." David said awkwardly as he instinctively used his hands to cover himself.
"Yeah, I thought you could use a little extra time tonight," Cook said. "I got Jason to switch with me." He chuckled as he added, "You don't even want to know what it cost me. Anyway, I thought you could use my time, too."
"What? Don't you need to, um . . . I mean, you usually shower after the show," David stammered out.
"Yeah, but I can be quick," Cook told him. "Two minutes, tops." And, with that, Cook had shucked his boxers and was jumping into the shower stall with David.
"I, um, I . . ." David had no idea what to say. He kept his eyes trained to the tile just beyond Cook's head as he kept his own hands clasped in front of him.
Cook, meanwhile, seemed unconcerned with this situation. "Can you pass me the shampoo?" he asked as he ducked his head under the water to thoroughly wet his hair. David nodded mutely and removed one of his hands long enough to hand Cook the shampoo bottle.
Soon, Cook was lathering up a wash cloth and David had to turn around. Cook deserved his privacy, even if he had been the one to jump into the shower with David in the first place. He realized belatedly, of course, that he had just turned his bare ass to Cook, but it was too late to worry about that.
He expected that Cook was nearly finished, that he would soon step back out of the shower and give David enough time to wash his own hair and get clean before he went to sleep. As weird as this whole thing was, David was still grateful to Cook for that. But, when David felt Cook's arms come around him, pulling him backwards, he began to wonder if he had any clue what was going on after all.
"It's okay, don't worry," Cook said softly as he eased the younger man backwards until he was standing fully beneath the warm spray of water. "Just relax." David felt Cook's hands in his hair, then, massaging shampoo into his scalp. Despite the fact that he knew he should be fighting this, David couldn't bring himself to do it. It just felt too damned good.
Cook continued, rinsing the shampoo from David's hair and lathering it again, repeating the process. Then, he took a soapy washcloth and began running it all over David's body. David could feel himself reacting to the touch, his libido taking over and causing an embarrassing reaction. He tensed up and tried to pull away, but Cook just shushed him and whispered that it was okay, everything was okay.
He continued washing David, slowly and methodically. After he'd rinsed the soap from his body, Cook began to knead his shoulders, his back, working the tight muscles until they yielded to his touch. Then, all too soon, there was another knock at the door.
"Zip it up, Cookie, it's my turn," came Michael's voice and David gasped. He hadn't even thought about the fact that the other three men on the bus knew that the two of them were in there. Together. Showering.
Cook turned around and cut the water, turning David around to face him. "Don’t worry, Archie. It's fine, okay?" he said and David found himself nodding. Cook got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist, then held out another for David to step into. Cook rubbed the towel over David's body, drying him off quickly before wrapping it around him. He then turned his attention to himself, pulling his own towel free to dry himself off before grabbing a clean pair of boxers from the counter and pulling them on.
Picking up David's own shorts, Cook held them out and David took them, pulling them on without losing his towel, then letting it fall away as he pulled on his tee shirt. He wasn't sure why Cook was doing this, but he wondered how weird it was for him to find it comforting. He was being taken care of and, as awkward as it probably should have felt, it also felt really nice.
He'd expected to be embarrassed when he left the bathroom, but even Michael's gaze didn't make him blush very much. He attributed that minor miracle to Cook's hand curled in his, tugging him gently down the hall and towards the bunks.
When they reached them, David started to crawl into his own bunk and was surprised when Cook followed him in. "Is this okay?" the older man asked as he came to rest beside David on the narrow mattress.
David thought about it and it should have been completely bizarre. He and Cook were friends and, aside from the casual flirting they seemed to engage in most all of the time, there had never been anything else between them. But, suddenly, that didn't seem to be the point. David tried to think of a reason to say that this wasn't okay, that he didn't want Cook there, but he couldn't think of a single thing. So, he snuggled closer to the older man, wrapping his arms around Cook's middle and resting his head against Cook's chest and said, "This is perfect."
When they woke up the next morning, they were both still smiling.
-=-=-=-=-
The End
July 5, 2008
-=-=-=-=-