-1Okay, second one shot in one day… Anyways, this one is LeonRiku, with hints of YuffieKairi. It's in the same universe as the other one, but a little more depressing.
By the way, abscond means: to leave quickly and secretly and hide oneself, often to avoid arrest or prosecution.
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.
Abscond
Sometimes, Riku wished that he could fly. It didn't dominate his waking desires, and he wasn't a wacky scientist that jumped off roof with feathers attached to his back, wondering if he might glide along the air.
"And that's why, biologically speaking, homosexuality isn't right."
But then, what if he could fly, and he got too close to the sun and the wax that held his wings together melted and he fell into the ocean like the Greek so-and-so. Then he would be drowning to death, because he actually could fly but he made a stupid mistake and fell. Because if you set your sites too high you can only be disappointed in the end.
Why he had to have an old, homophobic, super Christian AP Biology teacher made no sense to him. It was a contradiction, a paradox, like in Charles Dicken's A Tale of Two Cities.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
Of course, those were the only two lines anyone ever remembered, because after that it degenerated into flowery language and clichéd morals. Riku wished he could say he was one of those smart people who enjoyed Dickens and Grapes of Wrath and saw into the symbolism behind going to the bathroom or eating mushrooms, but he was just as bored in English as the rest of the class.
He'd heard that one time, during their teachers biology lessons, a student had taped the speech and brought it to the principal, but he had only sighed and dismissed the student. Homophobia was fully accepted nowadays.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
Sometimes he felt like the peasants in that book, licking up acceptance as readily as they licked up the wine that stained their streets. He was starving as well, even though it was a different type of starving. His stomach was full, but his heart and mind were nearly empty.
School was too easy. He and Kairi had been accepted to a school for the "girfted," but they wouldn't actually start until the beginning of next semester, in September. It was currently January. September felt like an eternity and a half away.
His mind would be on its final strands of sanity by September.
Riku sighed, listening to his feet as they hit the concrete sidewalks that lined their pathetic downtown. Biology class had been tough today. Ever since he had realized that he'd rather screw guys than watch football, biology class had been hard.
It was odd, though, how quickly endless confidence could be crushed, and how much denial stung to someone who wasn't supposed to care. Kairi was a lesbian, so she understood what he was going through somewhat, but never to this extent. People didn't bash lesbians. Lesbians weren't found on the streets of Laramie, beaten to death.
It was around eight PM, and Riku turned into his usual stop, Paopu's Ice cream (the Best Ice Cream on the Island).
The bright pink lights annoyed him to no end, and the bell on the door hurt his ears. There was no Kairi here to give him some disgusting sundae, and there was no Sora here to goof around with. Riku didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Sora and Kairi could always see right through whatever façade he placed around himself, and they could always make him smile. Riku didn't want to smile. He wanted to waddle through his own pathetic self pity like penguins waddled through Antarctica.
"Welcome to Paopu's. How may I help you?" The voice was spoken in a monotone, thought Riku could make out the faintest traces of annoyance. After all, not many people ate ice Cream after eight on a cold January day. These were more like hot cocoa months, where you sat curled up on a loveseat with your significant other, gazing into the fire. Riku didn't have a significant other, or a fireplace. He ate ice cream.
"I'll have a dark chocolate cone," Riku replied, looking up into cold, gray blue eyes. Riku stopped, entranced by those eyes. They were continually shifting, like a storm spiraling in the air above your head, dropping cold rain on you forehead and making you shiver. Though, maybe it was more like the calm before the storm, where the sky's a dull blue gray that hides all its secrets until it snaps and unleashes its wrath.
The man, Squall, his name tag read, crouched down to get his ice cream. Riku was the only one in the shop. It was almost dead silent, except for the loud sound of Riku's breathing and the scooping of ice cream. Riku liked silence, sometimes, when he had a headache from Sora's constant chatting.
"Here you go. That will be five munny." Fishing out his wallet, Riku set the money in Squall's warm hand, wishing he weren't wearing plastic gloves so that Riku could feel his skin. It was an odd sensation, wanting to touch but being so scared at the same time. It felt like Riku was divided, that half of him wanted something too much for him to handle, and the other half wanted to hide under his bed, like he and Sora did as kids during thunder storms.
"Thanks," his voice was much softer than usual, but it still seemed to intrude upon some sort of barrier.
Riku sat down at a window seat, resting his head against the glass. Licking his ice cream cone, he shivered at the cold, bitter taste that went along with it's original sweetness. Dark chocolate was like life. It was an acquired taste, and even if you kept eating it and longing to only taste the sweetness, it always kept a bitter edge.
Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed Squall taking off his sparkling pink apron and hanging it up on the rack at the back of the shop. Turning, he glanced at the word's written into the glass walls.
Open: 7 am to 8 pm.
It was well after eight by now, but Squall still hadn't kicked him out of the store. Then again, Riku came to this place often, and he had never noticed Squall before now. Maybe the guy didn't know the closing time.
"Hey kid, it's time to lock up." Riku nodded, of course he was locking up now. As Riku walked outside, he turned back, watching as Squall lowered the protective gate around the shop. It lowered with a loud scraping sound, but no one was around to hear it.
If a tree falls in a forest and know one's around to hear it, does it make a sound?
If he kissed Squall and no one else saw it, could anything actually go wrong?
Shaking the preposterous thoughts from his head, Riku walked away from the shop, through a forested path back towards his house on the other side of the island. His parents wouldn't worry. Hell, they probably hadn't even noticed that he was missing.
Riku shivered as the cold air hit his arms. Inhaling, he took pleasure in the fact that the air smelled like snow. On a tropical island such as this one, it was almost unheard of to have snow, but this year a miracle had happened.
Most people didn't believe that snow had a smell, but Riku would always argue otherwise. Snow smelt fresh and clean, crisp and cold, full of joy with a touch of disappointment, like waking up on Christmas morning and realizing your parents had forgotten to wrap your presents, but here, just take them anyways.
"Hey fag!" RIku ignored the insult, picking up his pace only a little.
"I know you heard me, you disgusting little cock sucker!" Riku bit his lip, his hands closing into fists. An arm on his shoulder spun him around, and he met the gaze of five upperclassmen.
"What do you want?" Riku bit out irritably, "a blowjob. Sorry boys, you're a little bellow my standards."
Shoving the older, taller boys arm off with surprising strength, he spun around.
A shove to his back sent him sprawling over the ice and into the snow, where he lay shivering. Even if these boys didn't manage to kill him, hypothermia would. He wondered which was easier, getting beaten to death or freezing to death?
Getting to his feet, he turned to face his attackers, his silver hair flying in all directions as he glared at him, his green eyes reduced to mere slits.
"What the hell was that for?" Riku asked, even though he knew very much why they were here.
One of the guys laughed, swinging a burly fist at Riku. Riku dodged to the left, and using the other boys unsteady balance, tripped him, sending him into the cold snow. There was a loud, almost sickening noise as he hit his head. Riku wondered if he had just become a murderer, or if the boy was merely unconscious. He wondered if it was cruel that he didn't really care.
"Stupid fag," Riku didn't dodge this time, too busy staring at the might be dead form of the older boy on the ground. The hit sent a wave of pain spiraling down his face, as he was jerked to the side, almost looking his footing.
Bringing a hand up to the red hot pain spreading across his ice cold cheek he wondered. Who would find him? Would it be a little girl or an old man? Would his parents cry at the funeral? He knew Sora and Kairi would. What would being dead be like? Would he be floating in endless darkness, hovering between life and death and then snatched away, or would it be like falling into an endless sleep. Was there a heaven, if there was, was there a Hell? Would he be going to Hell?
One of the boys slipped behind Riku, grabbing his arms and pinning them at his side. It was like a deadly lover's embrace.
"What are you trying to do?" Riku yelled. "Get your dirty hands off me!"
One of the boys in front of him punched him in the stomach, and Riku's eyes shot open as he tried to curl into a ball, the boy behind him holding him upright.
"Fuck you!" One of the boys shouted. They all looked alike, with nasty sneers on their faces. Stupid homophobes. Or maybe they weren't so stupid. Humans feared what they didn't understand.
"Only in your dreams," Riku answered, a sneer on his face despite his situation. He could handle this with spirit. He'd keep fighting, knowing that no one would here him, since the night life in Destiny Islands was nonexistent.
The boy that punched him yanked his head back by his hair. "You won't be so cocky soon, fag," he spat, all over Riku's face. The spit was disgusting, and his head hurt, but Riku refused to flinch. He wasn't a weakling. None of them would stand a chance against him if they went one on one. Cowards attack in packs, the same way sheep flock together. There's safety in numbers.
"And when you're in jail for murder, remember not to drop the soap!"
That seemed to be the last straw, because out of either fear or anger, the boy behind him dropped him. Riku landed on his side, hissing as his hip and shoulder impacted on the ice covered concrete.
Then the boy behind him kicked him, sending him forward, sprawled out in the snow. Ignoring the pain, Riku lashed out, swinging a leg and knocking the feet out from under the boy, and when the boy fell, Riku kicked him in the head as hard as he could.
"Pathetic bastards," a voice muttered somewhere behind him. Riku glanced up, but he couldn't make out anyone in the darkness.
"You have to gang up on someone because you know you can't do it yourself." Riku knew that voice distantly, like he knew the stars in the sky. There was en emotion behind each one, but no name that Riku could recall.
Then he heard the crunching of heavy boots through the snow and something warm surrounded him. Riku looked up into stormy blue gray eyes that were constantly swirling, thought they seemed more gray than blue now.
"You dropped your wallet, Riku," the man said, a tiny, almost untraceable smile on his face. Riku smiled as well, ignoring the pain it caused the side of his face. Squall was this man's name. A man who he had just met who saved him because of something stupid like a dropped wallet after eight when the ice cream parlor was supposed to be closed.
The boys, who had seen no problems in picking on someone smaller and younger than them, seemed scared of facing a full grown man with eyes like a storm, who could lift Riku as if he were nothing. Dragging their two injured friends with them, they scattered along the path.
"Can you walk?" Squall asked softly, in an almost monotone voice. Riku nodded and Squall set him down.
"Thanks," Riku told him, steadying as an arm fell across his now jacketed shoulder.
"My dorm is close." Squall said, and Riku nodded, understanding the unspoken question in those words.
"Maybe," Riku began, leaning against Squall. "Maybe I should leave my wallet behind more often."