"Turn my Back on the Hazy Sky"
Sora remembered, quite fondly, the first thing he'd ever said to Riku.
"What'cha do to your hair to make it so silver?" Sora was only six, and he'd never seen anybody with that hair color before.
Riku looked mildly shocked at the rather brash question to ask a complete stranger, so he in turn asked, "What did you do to your hair to make it look like a bird's nest?"
Six-year old Sora didn't get how the term 'bird's nest' applied to his hair, but he took offense anyway and Riku ended up with a foot print on his shin.
Looking back, Sora realized that that was the only time he introduced himself to new neighbors (besides all the times his mom made him, anyway). He guessed this time, it would be no different from all the other times people moved in from a far into his cozy little sector of the world.
Lazily and with little interest, Sora watched the scene next door. From his viewpoint on his porch, he watched the men in work clothes haul boxes from the large truck parked in the street to what used to be vacant house several feet away. The house itself was in rather decent condition, and painted in a dull shade of blue. The lawn was fairly green despite no one taking care of it in years (well, his mom did make him go over there with a lawnmower to keep the grass from going insane every now and then).
Leaning on the banister, the brunette wondered what kind of neighbors he would be getting this time. The last neighbors he got were Tidus and his family, a bunch of sports fanatics. And the time before that, Selphie and her folks moved in down the street. Decent people, but Riku always said that a neighborhood is never complete without a crazy family, a little old lady who live with nothing but cats, or the random old guy who would sunbathe in a Speedo on his lawn. Of course, none of those ever moved in, but with the recent happenings next door, Sora wasn't so sure if things were going to stay peaceful.
"Sora! What have I told you about leaning on the banister?" said a scolding voice. Sora whirled around to see his mother standing in the doorway, a playful frown on her face. "Remember what happened last time someone leaned on that thing?"
Yeah... Wakka leaned on it by accident when Riku shoved him, and the poor thing collapsed, taking a surprised Wakka with it.
Sora pouted, "I know, I know. But what kind of neighbors do you think we got?"
Sora's mother, Claudia, walked towards where her son was and squinted her eyes, exaggeratingly examining all the boxes disappearing into the house next door. "Hmm... I can't tell as of yet- Ack!" She covered her eyes immediately.
"What?!" Sora searched for what his mom had seen, but there was nothing out of the ordinary.
"Did you not see that lamp? Thing was hideous!" Claudia said in mock terror. Her son gave her peeved look, so she continued with, "Well, judging from that lamp, I'm going to say a guy is moving in. No woman would own a lamp like the one I just saw."
"And what did this lamp look like?" Sora asked, seeing as how he missed it.
"Too hideous to describe," she replied simply before turning around and heading back into the house. "I'm going to go cook dinner early, so why don't you go scamper off for a while with your crazy friends. I don't want my new neighbors thinking that my son is a stalker."
Sora 'hmph-ed', before climbing over the banister, which was also a no-no according to his mom ('Ha, that'll show her!'). Sunny, as usual, not very humid, and the breeze carried with it a scent tainted with sea salt.
The teenager figured he'd head over to Riku's place and see what that particular idiot was up to. 'Probably sleeping, or watching television,' Sora thought as he shoved his hands into his blue jeans' pockets and walked down the street. Riku hardly ever showed up at Sora's house nowadays, preferring to wait for the brunette to show his face on the older teen's doorstep.
"Hmm, well, no one ever said you absolutely had stop right there."
Riku smirked, listening to the female voice coming from the other end of the phone line. Like any 17-year-old high school male, he liked to hear compliments about himself, especially those coming from the fairer sex. The type of compliments one couldn't say in the company of others.
"Yeah, I know I'm great." Riku always believed being humble and or modest was for suckers.
There was a light rapping at his bedroom door, and he looked up from idly cleaning his nails.
"Look, I gotta go. I'll call you later… or something," he said before turning off the phone. In truth, he probably wasn't going to remember to call the girl back later.
There was a knock at the door this, followed by, "Riku, your one friend is here! The one who looks like he doesn't eat at home."
"Mom," Riku called through the door, "That's rude and you know it!" He got up from his seat on his messy bed, and slammed open his window. Peering out, he didn't see Sora. 'He must still be on the porch. You'd think by now, Mr. Rocks-for-Brains would get the routine by now.'
"Sora!" Riku called from the second floor window.
Sure enough, Sora did indeed waltz around from the front of the house to the side, stopping when he was directly under Riku's window.
"After all these years, one would think you'd just throw a rock at my window to get my attention rather than knock on my front door," Riku drawled, giving his best friend the typical 'You're an idiot' expression has he balanced his upper half outside of his window frame.
"I did, but you didn't come to the window. I thought I'd just let your mom know you had died, or better yet, had some girl in your room." Sora gave him a knowing look.
"The only girl that's ever been in my room is you, Sora," the silver haired teen countered. "But what brings you here today?"
"My mom told me to go do something with friends, also known as: Mom needs time by herself, now get the hell out."
"Got anything in mind to do?" Riku asked.
"… No, not really."
"Then I can't help you! Talk to you later, Sora!" Riku slammed his window shut.
…
…
"Come back here!" Sora yelled at the top of his lungs. 'That irresponsible, skirt-chasing, son-of-a-bit-'
His mind was interrupted mid rant when he heard a screen door opening, and then slamming shut, followed by a "Riku! Don't slam that door!"
"Worked up so easily, as usual," Riku said, peering from around the corner of the house. "I've got four dollars, and if you have another six, maybe we can find a couple of girls and get a nice, deep dish pizza in town."
"I've only got 3 dollars," Sora dead-panned as he walked towards his friend.
Riku threw his arm over Sora's shoulder, proclaiming, "Skip the girls and let's get a couple orders of fries and burgers!" He wore his trademark grin; Sora was scowling at him and his predictable behavior. "Oh, what is it now?"
Sora's frown changed into a beaming smile, "Oh, it's absolutely nothing, you STD-ridden, good-looking, mature, young man."
"Good-looking and mature are right on the money, but STD-ridden? I think not. You might've gotten me mixed up with some other jock from school," Riku said, feigning injury at the insult as he walked along with his shorter companion.
"I dunno… You probably have Trichomoniasis by now," Sora leered at his friend, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.
Riku looked confused for a second, before he remembered what that was. "I don't have random liquids leaking out of my pipe, I'll have you know!" With that said, he removed his arm from around Sora's shoulder and shoved him hard enough for him to fall.
"Hi! How may I help you toda- AAGH! What are you doing here on the one day I actually have to work this weekend!?" Selphie screeched at the sight of Riku. She was his friend and all, but God, taking orders from someone like him was down right insulting and infuriating. Most customers who walked into the cheap fast food joint she worked at were tolerable, except when they came in drunk or had kids with them. Riku, on the other hand, was sober and childless (to her knowledge anyway) but could still drive a person working at the cash register insane.
"Nice yellow jumpsuit, didn't know Big Bird worked here," Riku teased about the girl's work uniform.
"Selphie, ignore him," Sora had cut in, "I just want a large order of fries and a cheeseburger."
"Thanks for being nice, Sora, unlike some people," she said, giving the silver haired teen a stern look as she punched in Sora's order on the register and took his money. "Now what would you like, Riku?"
"Large order of fries and a double cheeseburger," Riku put on his 'Please-don't-put-dead-mice-you-found-in-the-grease-traps-into-my-food' smile, knowing Selphie had enough distaste for him to do such a thing as he handed her the amount of money the register displayed.
"Okay, your order is in, now can you move to the side and wait for it," said Selphie, more of a statement than a polite question.
So the duo did move aside, Riku all the while muttering about how some who was two years younger than him shouldn't be talking to him as if they were his equal. And thankfully, what they had ordered was brought out in white paper bags (complete with grease stains), and placed onto the counter with the receipts not too far away.
As Riku checked his burger, Selphie said, "What are you doing? There's most likely a little rat poison and heart attack in it, but no dead rodents. I wouldn't be that obvious."
Before the older teen could retort, Sora dragged him away from the service counter, waving good-bye to Selphie with food in hand.
When they exited the restaurant, Riku shot his friend a dirty look before eating a few fries out of his grease-stained bag.
"Glad she's making minimum wage," Riku said off-handedly.
"Riku, you're terrible," Sora said around a mouth full of fries. "Let's go back to my place. I wonder if we can see my new neighbors yet."
Riku quirked his eyebrow at that. "New neighbor? I think opportunity is calling."
"Well, tell opportunity to call back later or to never call again."
The two walked to Sora's house, munching on high cholesterol all the way. A nice twenty minute walk past the laundry mat, a library, a few apartment complexes, a few dozen palm trees, and tiny cozy looking homes as they got closer to Sora's residence. As they got closer, Sora realized the truck that was there earlier was gone, but the pale blue house still had boxes and other random belongings strewn across the front lawn.
As Sora and Riku climbed the porch of his house, he realized his mom was sitting on the top step. Claudia looked up and was promptly greeted by what was in her son's hands.
"Didn't know you thought of me while you were out," she said as she snatched Sora's bag and let out a groan of disappointment when she found that it was empty. "Didn't even save me a single fry." She crumbled up the empty bag and placed it in Sora's hand. "Throw it away once you get inside."
"So Mom, see the new people yet?" Sora asked as he seated himself next to his mom.
Riku also sat himself down on a lower step, "I have reason to believe that these neighbors might include a very pleasant to look at young female under the age of eighteen."
"Sorry to burst your bubble," Claudia began, pushing her brown hair behind her ears, "but I have yet to see any girls over there. I have however, seen some very nice looking young men poking around the house. Once they come out again, I might just introduce myself. When I do that, I want you to pretend to be my younger brother." She looked in Sora's direction.
"… I'm not going to have you hit on the new neighbors, Mom." This earned Sora a tussle of his hair on his mother's part before she stood up.
Riku smirked, "Don't be jealous of the fact your mom is more ambitious than you are, Sora."
Sora glared at his friend as Claudia made her way back inside of the house.
"I'll be in the kitchen if you boys need me," she called.
Riku sighed, resigning to the new information Claudia provided. No chicks evident, only guys. 'Guys aren't all that bad, but chicks are nice for the overall ego boost,' Riku thought. Speaking of guys, Riku peered at Sora. Said brunette was looking next door, probably hoping for any traces of human activity. Riku, quite honestly, liked Sora. He found his companionship so much better than any other girl or guys. And he was… pretty. Yeah, pretty was what described Sora. His features weren't masculine enough to be called handsome, per se.
Riku thought of his friend as the best combination he could ever get his hands on; Resilient and firm like any guy, yet smart and naïve (at times) like a chick. Of course… Riku kept his hands off. Molesting a friend is just taboo, no matter how you try to justify it.
"Psst, Riku! Look!" Sora hissed. He unabashedly pointed in the direction of the house next door.
Riku, startled from his thoughts, turned to see what the hell Sora was making a fuss about.
'Why hello!'
"Quit being stupid and pick up the box, Strife"
"I have no idea why I decided to move in with you all people, Leon." A blonde, blue-eyed man bent over on the lawn to pick up a visibly heavy box. "I'd be better off living on a rock; the only difference with you is there'd be insults and warm food."
"I never said you had to stay with me. You could've stayed in the dorms like anybody else," the taller, brown haired young man countered. Judging from the conversation, Riku and Sora guessed his name was Leon, and that the two men were of college age.
The blonde man made his back into the house with the heavy box in tow, not responding to his companion's remark.
"Hn," Riku said at last, obviously annoyed with this development.
"What is it, Riku?" Sora asked.
"Nothing interesting over there. A creepy old pedophile would've been more entertaining than this."
Author's Notes
I think, at some point, I did die. And by die, I mean go get something resembling a life. A lot has happened for me! SO I congratulate myself!
I believe this is really, really, Out of Character, but in a endearing sorta way. I mean, the way Sora and Riku just rip eachother is something only the best of guy friends can do. If chicks try it, one gets all teary-eyes and whatnot.
I've written some stuff in my down time, none of it is done. Like, that one fic I got, I started the 18th chapter (I think it's at 18 anyway), but I never finished it. And then I started another one, but then I just randomly stopped. Go me?! They're all under lock at my livejournal, just staring at me, going "WHY THE FUCK AREN'T YOU WRITING ME?!"
But leave me love, for writers love ego-boosts.