Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. All properties of Kingdom Hearts and its characters are © Square Enix and Disney and I am not, in any way whatsoever, making money or profit from this fanfiction.
AN: Heheh, this idea hit me after watching a movie earlier today. Er, well, yesterday, since it's 1:32AM. And if the characters seem OOC, get over it. I tried to make Sora less like a girly man and more like what I think a gay guy would be like. Gay does not equal 'squealing girly-girl' syndrome. I also apologize in advance for the lack of… everything in this story. I usually don't sit and write one story in a day.
--
It was Wednesday, September 26th. It was seven thirty in the morning.
Had it been any other normal day, Sora would have still been in his bed, wrapped in his blankets, snoring quietly and lost in his own little world of happy frolicking dreams. His alarm clock would have been going off for several minutes while he slept unaware until his mother burst into his room to wake him up and yell at him to turn off that damnable device.
This, however, was no normal day, and Sora was already up and about. He hummed a happy tune as he brushed his teeth, head bobbing to a rhythm only he could hear… yanno, in his mind.
He was already dressed in his favorite outfit – a black short sleeved shirt with the sketchy face of Jack Skellington on the front, a pair of blue jeans with a tear in the knee, and his favorite pair of black converse all stars. His hair was still plastered to the sides of his face from the shower he had just recently taken. And he made sure to put it back even.
He actually felt pretty damn proud of himself for being up so early. He blamed it solely on the excitement.
For today was a special day.
With his teeth cleaned, nakedness masked and hair brushed and styled to its usual spiked bounciness, he practically floated from the bathroom and down the stairs where he happily greeted his mother, who was surely bustling about the kitchen making cinnamon toast for him.
"Hey, mom! Lookie! I saved you the trouble of having to come and wake me up this morning and – Mom?"
Only she wasn't there.
Blinking his blue eyes, he looked around the small kitchen area. This was odd. Usually his mom was in the kitchen in the morning before he had to leave for school. Hum.
He looked around once more until his eyes fell on a purple sticky note on the fridge that wasn't there the night before.
Hey hun, sorry for not waking you up to tell you but your aunt needed help this morning with the baby so I had to rush over. I'll see you when I get home. Love you!
"Buh? Well this sucks," he mumbled to himself, pouting and tossing the little piece of paper in the general direction of the kitchen table, "'See you when I get home.' When will that be?"
Deciding not to let the absence of his mother put a damper on his high spirits, he picked up his school bag and headed for the door. Perhaps school would bode better things for him today. He nodded to himself happily and walked out the door.
Ho ho ho, what a birthday he was bound to have.
--
Sora let his head flop onto the hard surface of the lunch table with a loud bang.
His day hadn't gotten any better as it wore on. On the way to the bus stop, he had nearly stepped on a little old lady's Chihuahua, which in turn earned him a couple whacks to the shins with her cane while he tried to apologize. Eventually he had to stop trying to apologize and retreat, for his poor shins' sakes.
Then he had proceeded to trip on the second step on the bus and fall, knocking over the bus driver's waste basket in the process. After being forced to pick up all the nasty week-old garbage (all the while he occupants of the bus snickers and giggled at him without shame), he had made his way to his usual seat.
Lady Luck seemed especially fond of him today, but she must have been seriously PMSing. He came to that conclusion when he sat in a large wad of gum that had been stuck to the leather of the cushion. And he hadn't even known about it until he tried to get up later and felt the slight resistance at the seat of his pants. He had made it known to the entire bus by an outraged shout of, "Oh come ON!"
As he tried to pick the remnants of the chewy substance off the seat of his pants in the boy's bathroom, he missed the late bell and was fifteen minutes late for his first period.
And in second period, one boy had been polite enough to point out that he had gum on the ass of his jeans before the class broke into a fit giggles. He had kindly returned the act of courtesy with a smile and his middle finger.
This brought him to the now, where he sat with his head down and his friends chatting away around him. Around him. Not to him. Like he didn't even exist…
He wasn't even aware of someone speaking to him until the he felt a tap at his shoulder.
"Huh?" He jerked his head up quickly, locking eyes with the senior Axel.
"Hey buddy. You look kinda down," the redhead said, "Somethin' buggin' ya?"
He wanted to reply with a half-hearted 'not really,' but the events of the day so far pressed in on him and he found himself saying, "Yes actually. There is."
"Oh?" the brunet jumped a little from surprise as Demyx, a junior, sat next to him suddenly, half leaning on the table and facing him, "What's up?"
Sora sighed heavily, "This day has just sucked a lot so far. I almost stepped on a dog and got beat up by an old lady, I sat in gum after tripping on the bus and had to pick up nasty trash, I was late for first period and almost got in trouble for flipping someone off in second," he sighed again and rested his head on his crossed arms, "I just wanna go home and go to bed and stay there, and it isn't even one o'clock yet."
"Damn dude, sounds like that sucks just a little bit," Axel said sympathetically, patting his back. Demyx nodded in agreement.
"And on top of that, "Sora continued, "no one's seemed to notice that today's…" he trailed off.
"Today's what?"
Sora didn't reply, just stared ahead bored and blinked, his mouth pressing together into a thin line before relaxing. Today was his sixteenth birthday, and so far no one had mentioned a thing about it. His mother hadn't mentioned anything on the note (he had checked it over in hopes of maybe finding a hidden "PS – Happy Birthday" on the back or something). His friends hadn't said anything so far either. Not a word, not a note passed in class, nothing and it was making him a little agitated.
Suddenly he sat up straight and cleared his throat, "Hey guys! Does anybody know what day it is?" He asked, forcing his tone to remain strictly curious; as if he were merely inquiring for the sake of asking.
"Um… Wednesday?" Selphie said, though it was more of a question than a statement.
Sora nodded and put his head back down, the chattering starting up again around him. As he sighed ruefully, he completely missed the calculating look he received from a certain blond haired young man.
--
"An ellipse is the set of all points in a plane the sum of whose distances from two fixed points is constant…"
"Blah blah blah, who needs this algebra crap anyway?" Sora grumbled to himself as the teacher droned on at the front of the class. Said instructor was writing mathematical terms and their definitions, and seemed to think that he needed to speak the definition as he wrote it.
It was fifth period, last class for the day before he could go home and curl up in his bed forget that this whole day had ever happened. His exasperation had turned into annoyance at his friends for totally forgetting what could possibly be the most important birthday in his life.
His Sweet Sixteen.
Last year his best friend Riku had such a big Sweet Sixteen party that half of the school showed up and got plastered off their asses. His parents hadn't been too happy about that when they came home and a bunch of strangers were passed out in every corner of their house (not to mention a lot of them were half naked), but that wasn't the point! The point was that everyone had wished Riku a happy birthday went to his party and showered him with attention and gifts and… stuff, and he himself was getting blown off like the wind dammit!
Sora was vaguely aware of a voice whispering next to him, but was too lost in thoughts of revenge against humanity to pay it any mind.
At first he had thought that maybe everyone was simply playing dumb and were secretly planning a party for him when he got home or something, but when he saw the looks on their faces at lunch, the lack of recognition on a single face, even a glimpse of a flicker of acknowledgment and he knew that no one truly remembered. It was enough to make him want to break down and cry, but he reminded himself that he was stronger than that…
"Sora!" the voice, said enough to derail his thought train and effectively sending it crashing over a bridge.
"What?" He snapped at the voice, turning his head discreetly to the girl next to him so the teacher wouldn't get suspicious.
"That guy in the back asked to give this to you," she said, holding out a folded piece of paper.
Sora blinked at her, took the paper and looked toward the back of the room. The only guy he knew in the back was Demyx, who was only in his algebra class because he failed it the first time. The mullet-man had his head turned, however, looking out the window with a faraway look on his face.
The brunet blinked again, turned around and opened the note.
"Meet me by the big tree after school.
-Dem"
Sora snapped his head towards the back of the room again, and this time he could have sworn he saw a small smile on the blonds' face.
--
And so as the last bell rang, signaling the end of another school day, Sora found himself under the big tree in the school yard, leaning against the bark as he waited.
He really couldn't imagine what the older boy had told him to wait for. Frankly, with the way his luck had been going all day long, he wouldn't be surprised if the blond just wanted to play a prank on him for kicks or something. That was probably just has bad mood speaking, however. Demyx was his friend (albeit a little crazy and spontaneous sometimes) and deep down he knew he wouldn't do anything like that to him. But… that still didn't answer the question of what he wanted Sora to wait on him for.
He sighed. He had already been waiting for at least twenty minutes now, with no sign of his friend anywhere. Yawning and pushing himself off of the tree, he was just about to glance around one more time and head home when a familiar voice called out.
"Hey!"
Sora turned to see Demyx jogging over to him, a relieved smile on his face. He wore a thin dark blue (almost black) hoodie with the sleeves pushed to his elbows, the word Dragonforce splashed across the front of it in blocky white letters and flaming designs. His dark blue jeans were torn in places, strings hanging loosely from the tears. There were two huge holes in the knees, and Sora was surprised that the pants from there down actually stayed attached. Half hidden by the frayed ends of the jeans were a simple pair of sneakers that looked to be a couple years old. His hair was styled in its classic mullet-fashion; however the back of it was tied back into a low ponytail that frankly, Sora found quite appealing.
He stopped in front of the brunet, "You got the note then?"
The brunet smiled and rolled his eyes, "Would I be here if I didn't?"
"Hah, touché."
"So," Sora rubbed the back of neck, suddenly nervous, "um, what did you want me to wait for?"
"Oh I see how it is. No chitchat? No 'hey how was your day Dem?' You just wanna leave as soon as possible to get away from me huh?" The blond teased, mocking hurt.
Sora laughed, "Yes, I hate you so much that I waited here for you for twenty minutes with no specified reason to see what you wanted. That's how much I don't want to see you."
Demyx pouted slightly, "You're so mean." But the look quickly dissolved into a smile.
Sora found himself grinning back, "That's me. But seriously, what did you want me to wait on you for?"
"Oh yeah, I was just wondering if maybe you'd like to go to the ice cream shop down the road with me."
This took Sora by surprise. His eyebrows rose behind his bangs, "Um…"
At his uncertain tone, Demyx began sputtering, "W-well you don't have to if you don't want to you know? I was just asking because you looked kinda bummed at lunch and all day in algebra and thought you might need some cheering up…"
Sora blinked owlishly and chuckled, "That actually sounds like a good idea. Today has been pretty crappy and I could use a malt or something."
"Alright then, let's get going!" Demyx said happily, taking Sora's hand and began tugging him away. Sora felt his cheeks heat up at the contact, a warm feeling blossoming inside him. He didn't miss the way that Demyx turned his head and smiled dazzlingly at him. He couldn't quite place why, but seeing that smile made him feel a lot better already. Maybe today wasn't as bad as he had originally thought.
--
They walked down the sidewalk in comfortable silence. It was nearing autumn, the rustling leaves in the trees already tinged yellow and orange and red. A cool breeze swept by them, and Sora couldn't help but sigh in half content as he looked up to the clear blue sky. At least it hadn't rained on his birthday, and he had been blessed with a beautiful day.
He felt a tug on his hand, and he looked down. It was then that he noticed his hand was still being held by Demyx, who had taken to swinging his arm slightly as he walked. He had an at ease look on his face, a small bounce in his step. The brunet blushed harder and averted his eyes, but didn't pull his hand away.
"So," Demyx said suddenly, cutting through the silence, "What's your favorite song?"
"My… favorite song?"
"Uh yeah. You do listen to music, don't you?" the blond chuckled.
"Of course I do. But no one's ever really asked me that before," Sora cocked his head thoughtfully, "That's actually a hard question. Never thought about it."
"Hm… here's an idea. Lemme ask again, and you tell me the first song that comes to mind. It has to mean something to you if it's the first thing you think of, right?"
Sora snorted at Demyx's logic, "Okay, shoot."
"What's your favorite song?"
"River of Dreams."
"Billy Joel? That's the first thing you thought of?" Demyx had turned to him, a disbelieving and amused look mixing on his face.
Sora found himself giggling and blushing again, "I guess so. I said the first thing that came to mind. I think it's because my cousin used to play it all the time when we were little on this little toy tape player. I've liked it ever since."
"You like it?"
"Mhm. I don't know why but it just makes me happy for some reason. He sings about looking for something and not stopping till he finds it. I think it gives a positive message."
"I guess that makes sense. You are usually ridiculously optimistic," the blond teased, poking his cheek.
"Hey, it's better to be optimistic than all emo right?" Sora said, pushing the offending hand away and grinning, "'My soul is like a dark abyss of pain and… dark stuff.'"
Demyx couldn't help but burst out laughing at that; trying to imagine Sora of all people being one of those depressed emo dudes talking about death and darkness was just too funny. Soon the brunet himself joined in the laughter.
"Oh hey," Sora piped up, "we're here!"
"Ah, so we are. I was about to walk right past it," Demyx snickered. He waltzed over to the door and pulled it open, the jingling of a bell ringing through the shop. Some random radio station could be heard playing random music through the speakers on the ceiling of the restaurant. There were stools before a counter near the front of the store, booths lining the rest of the walls. No one besides the employee was present.
The blond held the door open and made a sweeping motion toward the inside with his free arm, "Ladies first."
Sora scoffed at him playfully before walking past him into the lobby, but not before delivering a small punch to his friend's shoulder. Demyx smirked good-naturedly and let the door slowly swing closed behind him.
"Tell me what you want and I'll order for you. It's on me," he said to the brunet. Sora looked as if he was about to protest when the blond held up a hand, "Don't even try it. I'm buying you ice cream and that's final."
Sora glared at him for a second before shrugging and smiling, "Okay, your money. I want two scoops of coffee toffee."
Demyx nodded and turned to the girl behind the counter while Sora wandered over to a booth seat next to the big window. He shrugged his backpack off of tossed it onto the far side of the seat before plopping down. He rested his elbows on the table and laid his head on his hands while he gazed out the window.
As he watched the goings-on outside, his thoughts drifted to his blond friend.
Even though he had been friends with Demyx since his freshmen year, he had never really bothered to get to know him. Sora never really knew that he could be so nice and funny, so easy to talk to. He had had so much fun with the blond in just the last few minutes that he had almost completely forgotten all about his cruddy birthday. He thought back to the school yard and to the fluttery feelings inside him when Demyx had taken his hand, smiled at him. He smiled into his hands and felt his cheeks heat up again and thought that maybe, this birthday wasn't as bad as he had originally thought.
--
Demyx glanced over his shoulder, making sure that the brunet was still gazing outside and not looking at him and what he was about to do. When he saw that Sora's attention was indeed focused on the outside world, he turned to the employee and spoke in a low voice so the music would drown him out.
"Psst, miss!"
The girl looked up from the freezer, pausing in mid scoop of the first cone, "Hm?"
Demyx waggled his finger, signaling her to come closer. The light brown haired girl looked cautious for a moment before slowly stepping closer.
Demyx knew what it must look like to her, and was quick to assure her that he meant no harm, "Nothing like that. I just needed to ask a couple favors…"
--
Sora was pulled from his own world when Demyx sat down across from him in the booth.
"Hey there, porcupine. Want your ice cream?"
Sora grinned and gladly took the coffee toffee filled waffle cone, "Thanks."
Demyx smiled back at him, "No problem."
Sora found himself blushing once again.
They ate their respective flavors (Demyx loved lemon custard apparently) in silence, listening to the sounds from the radio and the whooshing from the ceiling fans.
"So," Demyx said after another lick to his ice cream, "Hm… what's your favorite color?"
Sora started from the abrupt question, "Um… lavender. Why?"
Demyx shrugged, "It's just that we've been considered friends for a year or so now and I don't know much about you. Figured it'd be nice to learn some things."
"Oh. That's reasonable. Okay, well what's yours?"
There wasn't even a pause before he answered, "Reddish orange."
Sora cocked his head to the side, smiling slightly, "Why reddish orange?"
"I dunno really. Just always been my favorite color. I think because it reminds me of warm stuff." When Sora nodded in understanding, Demyx spoke again, "You play video games?"
"Oh all the time!" Sora grinned and put his free hand on the table, "Right now my favorite game is God of War 2. It's just so insanely hard, and I guess I like the challenge, you know?"
"Really? I found it kinda easy."
"Have you beat it on God mode?"
"Er… no."
"Okay then." Sora laughed, taking another bite of the frozen treat in his hand, "So what's your favorite game?"
"Flatout, without a doubt! You get to throw your driver through the freaking windshield!" Demyx then proceeded to make a flying-through-the-air gesture with his whole upper body.
Sora burst out laughing, laying his head on his free arm and laughing into the table. Demyx joined in and soon the entire store was filled with the echoing sounds of their uproarious mirth. After a minute it slowly died down into giggles and chuckles and gasps for air and they lifted their red faces to each other.
"Oh man. That was too funny dude, too funny," Sora said through pants for air, wiping a tear from his eye.
"Oh my god, I was only laughing because you started laughing. I didn't think it would be that funny," the older boy said, still chuckling some.
They lapsed into silence once more, aside from the single titter and chortle here and there. They opted to finish their ice cream, having to bite away at the waffle cone to get to more of the sweet treat.
That is, until Sora heard the soft drumming sound of the beginning of a certain song.
"Oooh, Aaaah…"
"…oh my God. No. Way."
"In the middle of, I go walkin' in the, in the middle of.
I go walkin' in the, in the middle of,
I go walkin' in the, in the middle of…
In the middle of the night
I go walkin' in my sleep
From the mountains of faith
To a river so deep…"
Sora's jaw dropped, though the corners of his mouth stayed upturned and he looked at Demyx with excitement, "They're playing my song! That's so weird! We were just talking about it earlier!"
"I know, weird huh?" Demyx said softly, a knowing smirk on his face.
Sora either ignored the look or didn't see it and continued to lick at his ice cream, now bouncing in his seat to the tune of the song.
"In the middle of the night
I go walkin' in my sleep
Through the valley of fear
To a river so deep
And I've been searching for something
Taken out of my soul…"
"Oh, you might wanna take the paper off the cone now. You're gonna end up eating it." Demyx teased, his eyes twinkling.
Sora mock-pouted, "I will not. Paper tastes nasty anyway…" But he complied, and began peeling the paper from around the cone.
He was about to crumple it up and toss it to the table when something on the back of it caught his eye. Cocking his head, he flipped it over and straightened out the paper to see someone's handwriting.
"Happy Birthday Sora."
His jaw dropped for real this time, and his head snapped up to look at the blond boy before him, "Wha… how'd…?"
"I had a hunch after seeing how bummed out you were at lunch. Hehe, that rhymed. Anyway, so I went to the office after school and asked for your record to see if today was in fact, your birthday," Demyx said, and Sora could tell that he was the one blushing slightly now, though he tried to play it off nonchalantly, "Sorry I couldn't get you anything on such short notice. It was all I could do to get her to play this song."
"You got her to play this song… for me?" Sora looked overwhelmed.
"Yeah. You said it was your favorite so…" the blond trailed off before clearing his throat, "So yeah. Happy birthday, Sor."
"I don't know why I go walkin' at night
But now I'm tired and I don't wanna walk anymore
I hope it doesn't take the rest of my life
Until I find what it is that I've been looking for…"
"I… don't know what to say. Thank you," the brunet said sincerely, gazing at the paper and refusing to put it down.
"Uh-oh. I think this calls for a birthday hug!" Demyx stood up abruptly, holding his arms out wide in front of him.
Sora smiled and stood up as well, welcoming the embrace fully, "Seriously man, thank you. This actually means a lot to me."
Demyx wrapped his arms around the younger boy's shoulders and smiled widely, "No problem. Was the least I could do."
Sora blushed again as his face was pressed into the taller boy's chest. The arms resting on his shoulders felt comforting, the heartbeat on the other side of the chest he was pressed into soothing, and Sora couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, this was one of the most special birthdays he'd ever had.
"We all start in the streams
We're all carried aloooong!
By the river of dreams
In the middle of the niiiight."
It's ovah foo'! Go on witcho bad self!
Leave yo jibbuh jabbah in a review! Uraaah! -throws a Snickers at your face-