Life and Stuff
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, or anything else from Disney and Square Enix.
WARNING: This story contains both heterosexual and homosexual couples. Reader discretion is advised. If you don't like, then don't read-it's that simple.
Summary: Sora, Riku, Axel, Roxas, Zexion, Demyx, Tidus, and Wakka are close friends and are revered as the coolest, and to many, the hottest high school guys at Destiny Islands High...and EVERYONE wants a piece of 'em. Groupies and fans (girls and boys), are their mortal enemy. The boys do anything they can to escape the clutches of these, um, crazy peoples. Over the course of the school year, they will realize who they are, find their shocking love interests, and even do somethings they never thought they would do, like performing in a concert! Along the way, they will make new friends, including a reclusive, enigmatic guy named Buck and the constant "sugar high" twins named Dominic (male) and Dominique (female), and make peace with their fans. Overall, they will have a very...what's a good word...interesting school year. (What ever happened to CRAY-Z?).
Chapter 1: Instant Messaging & Memories Long Past, Yet Never Forgotten
Something hit the brunette boy in the back of the head. Waking up from his slumber in the "very interesting" Geometry class (angles...how fun!), the boy looked around and saw that no one noticed he was asleep for about half the period. Yawning, he laid his head of chocolate spikes back on the thick Geometry book, looking forward to seeing his pleasant dreams again. But before he could complete the transition from consciousness to hibernate, he felt another something hit the back of his head. Raising his head in a fashion of annoyance, he looked behind him to see a silver-haired boy looking right back at him from the back row of the large classroom. The brunette smiled at his best friend, getting a smirk-like smile in reply. He turned back around and grabbed the two balls of wadded notebook paper and opened them to read the sloppily written messages inside:
"I thought you loved math, Sora."
Sora held back a snort. He hated math with a passion because it was his worst subject (AUTHER: I'm feelin' ya Sora. Math SUXS!!) The other message said:
"Wanna come over to my house after school?"
Sora grabbed his pen and wrote:
"Sure. I'll probably need your help with homework for this class tonight."
He tossed the paper back to the silver-haired boy after checking that the teacher wasn't looking. Sora then sat his head back down, looking forward to some rest. However, he felt another paper wad hit his head. Very annoyed now, he read the new message:
"Maybe if you would quit sleeping in here, then maybe you would get it, you lazy bum."
Sora wrote back:
"But math confuses me too much, Riku. I never get it. That's why I need your help."
Sora tossed the message back to the silverette, Riku, hoping that it would finally shut him up so that he may get a few more precious minutes of sleep. After all, Sora didn't get to bed last night until about two in the morning because of yesterday's math homework.
Riku caught Sora's message and opened it to find (to him) a heart-warming message. He loved when he made Sora begin to whine, and when he writes it on paper, Riku can vision Sora whining to him about his problems, and Riku not minding at all. Riku really loved it when Sora would whine, then be needy of Riku; it gave Riku a sense of guardianship, and a little bit of dominance, over his friend. Strange, that he had been feeling this way for over two years now, yet not telling Sora about it. Riku didn't really know why at that time, but now that he is older, he knew what he was feeling, after all he wasn't stupid. He was feeling…love. Not the family kind of love, or the friendship kind, but true love and attraction to someone. It didn't take him long to come to understand that he liked his best friend, despite that Sora's a guy. He didn't feel that it was wrong because the feelings he had for Sora felt so right, therefore balancing his emotions over the whole thing, plus Riku didn't care what others thought about him except for his closest family and friends.
Riku looked forward a few desks up the row and saw his crush sleeping on his desk again, resting his brunette head of hair on his forarms, which were crossed. He really did look like a little angel. He looked so peaceful to Riku when he slept. "No wonder I am attracted to him. He's just so ...cute." Riku heard what he said in his mind and blushed ferociously, being thankful that he sat in the very back of the class so no one could see his usually pale-white cheeks were a vivid tint of red. After recollecting his thoughts in order to purge his blush, he wondered if Sora even felt the same way about him. If Sora loved him, or was even attracted to Riku...or guys for that matter. Riku was saddened by the possibility that Sora might not like him that way. Sora had never been on a date or had any boy/girl-friend yet, so Riku couldn't really say who Sora preferred. It has scared him every day of his life for the past two years, consciously or not: unconsciously when he didn't understand his feelings and then consciously after he realized his attraction for the brunette. He wanted Sora and only Sora as his lover, partner, and possible...no, eventual spouse in his otherwise lonely life. For you see, Riku relized that he is a person that tends to build walls around himself, so to block other people from him and his thoughts. He wasn't shy, he just tended to be standoff-ish with people unless he knew them well to begin with. He had both of his happily married parents, but they are both very busy business people who travel the world most of the year without coming home. So Riku, since he was around six years old, would be alone in their big house, save for a babysitter when he was younger. So for Riku, loneliness was all that he knew...dark, cold, empty...loneliness. Therefore, Riku learned that life was like that: not always fair, but can be a, in one word,...bitch. As Riku grew older, he still didn't have any friends, and it felt awful. He could feel a growing hole in his heart, a hole that is reserved for the ones you care about in your life, it was just...empty. He tried to make friends, but he just couldn't get them. Since he had never had any friends in his childhood or at any time in his life; he didn't know how to go around to make friends. He still mentally and emotionally lived in that dark void of loneliness...until one fateful day, a small brunette boy came into his life and extinguished the darkness with his light, took away the loneliness, and filled the terrible, aching hole in Riku's heart. Riku remembers well that wonderful day that the all darkness went away and he had finally made a friend...his first friend:
FLASHBACK
Eight-year old Riku was walking back home after trying to go to the park to try and make at least one friend without success. He just couldn't conversate with them. They were all cocky, annoying, and pretty much came up short in the intelligence category. As bad as he wanted a friend, he wasn't stupid. He didn't want friends like that. So he was heading for home, alone again. Tears were silently leaking from his ice-blue eyes, although he wasn't sobbing (he actually had a normal straight face on, just with tears rolling down his face). "Will I ever make a friend?" Riku thought out loud to himself in a cracky voice. Riku continued to walk down the lonely road to his house when he heard a commotion up ahead. Riku quickened his pace until he came to an intersection that had many old, brick shops and apartments. The noise seemed to be people's voices..people his age. Riku, thinking it was something more exciting, slowed down and sighed, realizing what the noise was, before beginning to walk with his hands in his pockets while looking at the ground-his usual walk.
However, as he was proceeding to walk towards his house, opposite the commotion, Riku heard some of the speech:
"HELP!"
"Shut up, little brat!"
"Yeah, let's beat him to a pulp!"
"Sounds fun, count me in!"
Riku was walked once again towards the cry for help. The voice was so soft, yet it was cracking and had vivid fear-there was no dening that. "Why would anyone want to hurt someone with a voice so sweet?" Riku thought out loud as he was walking. Riku heard more:
"Please" sob "please don't hurt me."
"Ha! What a wimp! Let's punch him!"
With that, Riku heard what sounded like a punch and a scream of pain followed by a groan. He heard then what sounded like a kick to the side and another yell amid howls of mean laughter.
Riku finally rounded the brick building that the voices seemed to be resonating from behind. He saw a group of kids his age (about five of them) standing and laughing at a sixth that looked unconscious on the ground. The boy had beautiful brunette hair that was in several spikes on his head. He was wearing a raggy T-shirt that complimented a pair of somewhat baggy and raggy bluejeans. There was a cut on his left forearm that was bleeding freely and his cheeks were red and puffy. He was lying on the ground curled up in a ball. Riku could make out a barely audible voice:
"Please" sob "j-just l-l-leave muh-me alone...please..."
This was met with another fairly powerful kick to his side, causing him to scream, then sob freely as he lay on the ground.
Riku had seen and heard enough. These bullies needed to be taught a lesson. Riku walked up to the closest one and as soon as the guy turned around, Riku hit the boy straight in the nose with much force, causing blood to go everywhere. The guy went to the ground on his knees, cupping his broken nose, and screaming sobs of pain far louder than the boy who was curled up on the ground. The guy's buddies all looked at Riku with astonishment-where did this guy come from? They didn't want to find out. They knew what he was capable of now, and didn't want to risk it. So the others grabbed their fallen member and ran away as fast as they could. When they were out of sight, Riku ran to the boy that was still curled up on the ground. Upon being able to view the boy upclose, he almost gasped at how...perfect the boy was. He had a petite but slightly muscular build, wonderful light tan skin, and the cutest, yet most timid face Riku had ever seen and for good reason. he also looked around Riku's age as well! Riku mentally lept at what his heart was trying to tell him "This is the one. The friend you've been looking for. This is the one." Riku was starting to decipher the strange message he felt his heart giving to him. By this time in his life, he was readily able to do what his heart commanded, but first needed to see if the boy was okay before doing anything else. He gently pulled back the bangs sticking to the brunette's swollen, sticky, sweaty face with his hand. He had never seen anyone looked to scared, yet so beautiful, not in a feminine way, but in a way Riku just couldn't describe. Riku shook the boy very gently as to not agitate his injuries any further.
"Hey. Um...are you...uh, okay?" he asked timidly, afraid that his efforts to save this kid were for nothing if he turns out tp be the usual mean, stupid, cocky person like everyone else Riku meets. However, his heart had never told him anything like this before, so that made him feel better. He also was being timid because he never really socialized in his life, so he didn't know what to say at first. Unfortunately, the boy didn't open his eyes and his breath was becoming very labored, causing Riku to worry. He needed to get him to his house and fast! Without hesitation, Riku picked up the brunette and carried him over his shoulders, locking the boys hands with his own after placing one hand on each side of Riku's neck, so the their hands were together at Riku's chest (sort of like when you have a backpack on). Riku then, very carefully, jogged with the thin boy on his back toward home.
About fifteen minutes later, Riku burst through the door of his mansion and raced up the circular staircase to the closet guest bedroom to his bedroom. In the bedroom, there was a Queen size, expensive-looking, exotic wood bed, complimenting the matching exotic wood dresser with mirror, nightstands, and chairs. There was also a very nice, expensive sofa as well. To the left (looking in from the door to the room) was a door that went to Riku's room. Riku gently set the still unconscious brown-haired boy on the left side of the bed, not caring one bit about the boy's bleeding arm running down onto the extravagant bedsheets. Riku left for his bathroom and came back with towels, disinfectant, bandages, ice, and blankets. He began to clean out the wound on the boy's arm, the deep cut, with the disinfectant, only noticing a wincing of the boy when he applied the fluid to his wound. After cleaning the cut, he used bandages to close it. After that, he checked the boy's ribs to make sure none were broken (none were). He felt the boy's head and noticed the boy had a slight fever. So Riku placed some ice in a small towel and rolled it up before placing it gingerly on the brunette's forehead. Finally, Riku bundled the guy up with several blankets so he would stay arm. Riku thought he should let the guy rest, so Riku went to the kitchen to grab some food. By the time he came back he noticed the guy was awake and was trying to sit up in the bed. Riku sat the soup he made for the guy on the dresser and rushed to his side to help him.
"Hey! You're awake!"
The boy turned and looked straight into Riku's ice-blue eyes, whose in turn, meet the most vivid, most beautiful, most captivating, oceanic blue eyes Riku had ever seen. It was like angel eyes. "Oh my God...those eyes...they're so beautiful. He's perfect." The boy smiled such a cute, innocent smile that made Riku's darkness seem so remote.
"Did you...um...save me?" His voice was so soft and timid. Riku felt his heart skip a beat to the boy's voice.
"Uh...yeah, I...uh...thought you needed some help. Those bullies won't mess with you anymore."
"Th-thank you...you didn't have to do that." Riku couldn't believe how nice this guy sounded; he couldn't believe how modest he was being.
"It's
alright. Er...what's your name?" Riku asked, his voice
becoming slightly more confident in talking to someone.
The boy yawned cutely, causing Riku to smile warmly. "I'm Sora..." he said faintly before laying his head back down onto the silky pillow and fell back into sleep in mere seconds. It didn't bother Riku one bit that the brunette boy, Sora, was going back to asleep unstead of talking to him or eating the food Riku prepared. He was happy to see the nice and beautiful Sora sleeping so peacefully. "He must be exhausted..." Riku thought, remembering how thrashed Sora was when he rescued him. Riku grabbed the covers and wrapped Sora with it before climbing up on the other side of the bed and fell asleep from his own tiredness. He decided he would take a nap too. He would help Sora back to his home, but after he befriends and plays all day with the boy. "I can't wait to have fun with him..." Riku thought happily as he drifted into dreams...not his usual bad, lonely dreams, but...happy, sweet, bright dreams for the first time in his life as he slept by his wonderful, first friend.
END OF THE FLASHBACK
Riku closed his eyes and smiled as the memory played itself out before his eyes. He loved watching this memory over and over again and never would get bored of it; it made him feel so warm and happy inside. Sora was his first friend he had ever had, and he wasn't completely surprised when he discovered his feelings would be for him; his first and best friend in Riku's otherwise, lonely life.
Riku was already finished with his Geometry homework for the day, so he could do all this musing over Sora and himself without any guilt or weight of the assignment's due date. However, Sora had a severe problem with math. He just couldn't absorb the concepts the teacher was trying to teach him. He loved that Sora was dependent on him for help in math. It gave him more time to be with the boy because Sora rarely depended on Riku for anything simply because that was just how life was being. Therefore, Riku was glad there was at least one thing, if not more yet to be discovered, that Sora would come to him for.
Sora was chewing his pencil, trying to think of a way to get this Geometry problem done. He just couldn't remember the steps to figure it out, despite just hearing and taking notes about the concept of finding the degree of the angles of a right triangle. How could schoolwork get this hard so early in the school year? It was only the second week of August after all! Frustrated in his cute pouty way, Sora turned his head away from the paper and looked out the window. Oh how he wished he could just be outside right now. He loved being outside in the warm, salty sea breeze almost as much as he loved being inside in the coolness of life-saving air conditioning. He loved going out to the little island that he and all his friends go to so they can hang out. The beauty of the little island was just amazing. The legendary paopu fruit grew there. A very unique, star-shaped, very sweet fruit, it is said that if two people share a paopu fruit, their destinies shall forever be intertwined. Over time, this legend has been extrapolated into a romantic myth. Ironically, shortly after sharing the fruit, many of the older couples had gotten married, extending the belief of the "magical" power of the paopu fruit. Sora had always wanted to try it, but, due to believing in the legend, he preferred to wait until he found that one that he could give his heart and soul to. He had never had any boy/girlfriends, had never been on a date, and still had his virginity (he was actually both proud and ashamed of this. Strange feeling huh!). He was rather sad that he had never even been on a date while he saw all his friends go on their first flings.
Only Riku, Sora's best friend in the entire world, hadn't been on a date yet. Sora was glad that he wasn't alone in his situation. He really appreciated Riku, and for many things. First, Riku had always been there for him since they had met. They always played and sparred and played some more in their more youthful side of youth (after all, they are only in tenth grade! That's not over the hill yet!)! Riku and Sora took turns going over to each other's houses and staying up until dawn talking, laughing, playing video games, and watching late-night anime cartoons, criticizing the bad cartoons and applauding the good ones and the animators & artists that had the creativeness and skill to create them. Sora and Riku shared pretty much everything with each other. But as they became older, they began to change, and secrets in their hearts that they promised would always be shown to each other without hesitation, without thought due to the sincerity of the other, were beginning to be hidden. The perfect example of this would be Riku's feelings, his cravings, for Sora. It was beginning to take a toll on Riku's heart too. After all, the heart can only bear the burden of secrets and lies for so long before it starts to weaken the heart itself. Riku could feel this. It hurt him so bad that he was hiding his secret crush from..uh...his crush, and it hurt that he felt he couldn't tell Sora, as well as his expectation that Sora would leave him and no longer be his friend, his light in his loneliness, his life in an unfriendly world. Basically, in one sentence, all that Riku lives for.
Riku looked up ahead at Sora have a pout on his face after failing to unravel the secrets of finding the degrees of the angles. Riku couldn't help but smile at his little crush...his cute, sweet, loveable, nieve...unknowing, little crush. Thinking this over, Riku sighed sadly again to himself. His thoughts didn't cloud his senses though, for he heard the bell ring to release school.
