The Bet
"No way!" Riku growled.
"C'mon, you lost to me! You've gotta do it!" Sora grinned mischievously as he pushed his reluctant best friend toward the microphone.
Sighing, Riku picked up the mic and faced the crowd of expectant faces. "Of course he invited all our friends," Riku muttered. Steeling himself, Riku gustily sighed and turned to the DJ. "Hit it."
"Aye Aye!" the DJ inserted a cd into the karaoke machine. The whole room throbbed to beat blaring from the newly installed surround sound speakers (ho ho ho!). Running his hand through his hair, Riku eyed the crowd as he rapped, "Fer Sure maybe, Fer Sure not, Fer Sure Eh, Fer Sure bomb!" Leaning in close, Riku began to sing,
"Pulled up at the stoplight
Do drugs on the dashboard
Look at the mess we made tonight!"
Prowling the stage defiantly as he sang, Riku coolly glared at Sora, who joined in on the prior line. Boldly, Riku straddled the stage as he belted, "Kick off your stilettos!"
"Oh yeah!" Sora whined, grinning mischievously at his fuming friend.
"Kick off your stilettos," Riku repeated, glancing at Sora.
Together they sang, Sora harmonizing, "And fuck me in the backseat, fuck me in the backseat!"
Reaching over discreetly, Riku turned off Sora's mic. Sora began mouthing the words as Riku sang, smirking,
"You're always falling in disguise,
And always quick to compromise!
Kick off yer stilettos!" Riku hurriedly glanced at Sora, but he was still fumbling with his mic, confused. Grinning triumphantly, Riku repeated,
"Kick off yer stilettos!"
"And-" Riku began, but Sora jumped in on the last part,
"Fuck me in the backseat!
Fuck me in the backseat!"
"Fer Sure maybe!" Riku sang, glaring murderously at Sora.
"Fer Sure Not!" Sora sang back cheekily.
"Fer Sure…EHH!" Riku booted Sora off the stage into the screaming crowd.
"Fer Sur BOOOOOMMBB!" Sora yelled as he flew through the air.
Tossing his hair triumphantly, Riku grinned wickedly as he continued,
"This is the end of what we planned,
Of what we planned toniiight!"
As the mic echoed "what we planned" Riku tapped his foot to the beat. When music "tack-tacked," Riku slightly moved his hips and his hands, palms down, back and forth to the beat, momentarily closing his eyes. While Riku opened his eyes, Demyx snuck behind Riku and grabbed a spare mic as he began the chorus:
"We're not falling in love!
We're just falling apart!"
Riku elbowed Demyx, who gasped and collapsed in a corner. Smirking, Riku continued,
"So go on and dance the night away!"
Kairi and Sora leapt on stage and harmonized with Riku as he sang,
"This is how the beat goes!
This is how the beat goes!"
"Just let your body gooo!" Riku sang alone, making eyes at the crowd while holding the mic close. In unison, Sora, Riku, and Kairi sang,
"This is how the beat drop!
This is how the beat drop!"
Releasing a hand from the mic, Riku pointed at the crowd while boldly singing,
"I wanna see your panties drop girl now!" Grinning at the swooning girls in the crowd, Riku winked at them while he continued,
"All this time is wasted pretending we're in love!
But that's all right.
You know I love being with you
And seeing you cry,"
Stepping next to Riku, Sora glanced at him. In sync, they both raised their heads, closed their eyes and belted,
"So don't let goooooo!
Don't let goooowhoa!
Don't let goooooo!"
Swiveling his hips, Riku tossed his sweat-soaked hair as he rapped,
"Fer sure maybe
Fer sure not
FER sure Eh
Fer sure bomb, bomb,
The dj manipulated Riku's voice so that bomb repeated, distorted, and finally dissolved into the techno music. By now, the whole crowd was jumping up and down, hands flung in the air. Riku smiled cockily at his enthusiastic audience and began dancing. Glancing at Riku, Sora nudged Kairi and pointed at their friend. Kairi nodded. They both began copying Riku's actions. The crowd roared their approval. Riku sang as the music became more urgent,
"This is the end of what planned
Of what we planned tonight!"
'Of what we planned' echoed across the stage as Riku back flipped across the stage. Whipping out his mic, Riku motioned towards his two friends, who stood next to him. They beamed at each other as they sang and continued dancing,
"We're not falling in love
We're just falling apart!
So go and dance the night away!"
In unison, they stepped to the right and pumped their arms every time they sang "beat". Cheering, the crowd mimicked them as they sang,
"This is how the beat goes
This is how the beat goes"
"Just let your body gooo!" Riku sang center stage and threw his head back, revealing his glistening, muscular neck to the screaming crowd. Grinning wickedly, Riku nonchalantly motioned to his two friends and whispered something in Sora's ear. Sora grinned. Looking suspicious, Kairi joined in as they continued,
"This is how the beat drop
This is how the beat drop!"
Grinning mischievously, Riku and Sora stripped their sweaty shirts and threw them into the crowd as they sang,
"I wanna see your panties drop girl now!"
Rolling her eyes, Kairi yanked the goofy friends behind her. They stared as she took center stage, smiling. She crooned to the audience, with her stunned friends as backup,
"All this time is wasted
Pretending we're in love"
Nudging her out of the way, Riku leered at her before facing the thoroughly riled up crowd, cockily singing,
"But that's alright
You know I love being with you
And seeing you cry"
A shadow formed over Riku. Looking up, Riku gasped as something landed on him, leaving him sprawled across the stage. He stared with disbelief as Demyx deftly whipped out his mic, winked at him, and belted with Sora., who was grinning from ear to ear,
"Don't let goOOOOO
Don't let goooo"
A pounding "boom boom BOOM bbbbbboom" echoed out of the speakers and the lights flashed in and out with the beat. Riku, Demyx, and Sora stared, mics still held up. Shaking her head and sighing in disgust, Kairi once again faced the crowd. As the smoke spilled onto the stage, further spooking the boys, Kairi breathed in and rapped,
No JK JK JK
LOLOLOLOLLLLLL.
I heart your fucking makeup
Omigod I love your hair.
Is that a new tattoo?
Did that piercing FUCKING hurt?
No JKJKJK
LOLOLOLLLLL"
Sweat streaming from their faces, Riku and Sora switched places with a beaming Kairi. Lifting their mics to their mouths, they raised it an octave as they sang more forcefully,
"We're not falling in love
We're just falling apart!"
"So go and dance the night away!" Demyx interrupted, swinging his mic heavenward and grinning like a buffoon. Glaring, Sora ad Riku shoved him off the stage and into the arms of adoring girls. In sync, they stomped one foot defiantly and belted,
"This is how the beat go
this is how the beat go"
"Just let your body gooo," Kairi sang, to the delight of the crowd, who screamed and clapped. Stepping out of the way, Kairi pressed a button as Riku and Sora harmonized,
"This is how the beat DROP," At the word "drop," flames shot out from behind the two singers. Jumping in shock, they carefully repeated the line, tensed,
"This is how the beat Drop!" At this drop, both Riku and Sora launched into the air and landed on their knees, sliding to the edge of the stage. Nimbly leaping to their feet, they gyrated their hips as they sang,
"I wanna see your panties drop girl now!"
Beaming as the crowd screamed their favor, Riku and Sora glanced at each other, swung their mics to their lips and faced the crowd as they continued, dripping sweat onto the stage from their bare torsos,
"All this time is wasted
Pretending we're in love!
But that's alright-right right-right!" Riku and Sora stood on the stage huffing, as the crowd exploded into screaming, stamping their feet and hollering. Grinning triumphantly, Sora turned toward his best friend, who was staring at the floor, mic held limply in his hand.
"Hey Riku we did it!" Sora said happily. No reaction from Riku. Puzzlement crossed Sora's face. "Hey Rikuuuu!" Sora said, poking his best friend teasingly. Disgusted, Riku slammed his mic on the ground and stalked off the stage, face burning with cold fury. Sora, Kairi, and the crowd were silent with shock.
"I thought he was enjoying himself," Sora hoarsely whispered.
"Me too," breathed Kairi. They both stared, dumbfounded, in the direction where Riku had left.
…
The cold night air slapped against Riku's bare, sweat soaked stomach and arms as he stalked away from the hated karaoke bar from hell, mortified at what he had just done. Shivering, he hugged his arms close to his body, muttering evilly, "I swear, if I ever see that irritating, no good, prick-faced, goofy haired, STUPID best friend of mine, I'm gonna…"
"Well looky here! Why if it isn't Mister Cool, Calm and Collected walkin around without a shirt on, and at this time of night too!"
Riku flinched. He knew that voice. Slowly, he looked up to seeing the smirking face of Axel, Roxas' irritating best friend. Axel chuckled as Riku scowled at him. Crossing his arms, the towering red head drawled, "Never thought I'd see the day that Riku fucked up! And here it is! Too bad I don't have my phone with me…" Axel rummaged around in his gigantic messenger bag as he muttered the last sentence, searching for his newly purchased Itouch.
"Hmph." Riku shook his head in disgust and kept walking, arms still clinging to his chest. "You can thank Sora for this one," he muttered under his breath as he past Axel.
Axel froze. Whipping his head around to stare at the shivering boy marching down the street, he said, "Wait, SORA is the cause of this?"
Riku stopped, and stared over his shoulder with an ironic smile. "Yeah. That little fucker decided that tonight he would force me to do something I swore I'd never do." He shuddered. "Thought it was funny, seeing me sing in front of all our doofy friends at the karaoke bar, that little…"
"Oh, THAT'S what he did? Wow, Roxas really was his Nobody." Riku halted and completely turned around to see Axel shaking his head while chuckling to himself. "They really do think alike…"
"Wait…" Riku said, walking back towards Axel, "What exactly did Roxas do?"
Wiping a tear from the corner of his eye, Axel sighed and said, "Let's just say Roxas was not exactly a little angel in the Organization."
"If he is ever," Riku muttered.
"Hey, Roxas is perfect!" Axel retorted fiercely. He paused, thinking. "…well at least better…ish…" Snapping out of his pondering, Axel dismissively waved his hand. "Anyway, that's not the point." Axel continued, "Thing is, we had biweekly board meetings where we would update Xemnas on our missions and offer our opinion if necessary…Well," Axel cleared his throat, "Let's just say Roxas found it hilarious if I so happened to turn up drunk out of my mind. I kinda have a tendency to start randomly hollering sappy love songs, when I'm…ahem…in that state."
"He didn't!" Riku exclaimed, leaning in eagerly.
"Oh yes he did," Axel said, glorying in the attention. "And that's the least of all his little pranks!"
"Seriously?" Riku's eyes were practically popping out of his head.
"Yep! I've got oodles of stories to tell!" he finished proudly, holding his head high.
"I totally know what you mean! Sora's been shoving things down my shirt and into my food since we were little!" In his excitement over finding a fellow victim, Riku slipped and face planted into an icy puddle. Axel bent over him in concern.
"Hey, are you alright?" he asked nervously.
Slowly, Riku lifted his dripping head from the puddle. "Just peachy."
"Wanna head back to my place to clean yourself up?" Axel asked as Riku hoisted himself up from the puddle, eyes obscured by bangs. "I'm pretty sure your ma would freak if she saw you like this," he added, eyeing Riku's dripping, muddy body.
Flinging water and mud from his arms with a disgruntled flick, Riku looked up at Axel and said calmly, "That sounds…good."
As they trudged over to Axel's apartment, Riku added, "While I'm there, how about we swap a few stories about the two imps?" Looking down at his drenched, filthy form, he added darkly, "That would just make my day."
Chuckling, Axel said, "Sounds fine with me. Looks like you could use some venting." Staring off into the distance, Axel added, "Wouldn't mind some venting time myself."
That miserable night, through the bond of clean towels, hot tea, and tales, Riku and Axel finally decided to put their differences aside and became friends.