AUTHOR'S NOTE, IGNORE IF YOU WANT: I haven't written anything in a while so I apologize if this is crap. I'll try to keep this updated as often as possible, I haven't read/written fanfiction in a years :)
Sora grimaced as the humid air hit him when he stepped out of the car. It had cooled down a bit now that early evening was setting in, but since Sora had spent the day in his room, like he had almost everyday since summer began, this was the first time today that he was away from the cool, forgiving arms of the AC. He mourned its loss greatly, so much so that he considered just getting back in the car, turn up the air on full blast, text Kairi that he was outside and play his DS until she came out. Though the thought was tempting he knew that Kairi was probably not near her phone, and even if she was Kairi was not one for short goodbyes. The momentary walk from the car to the gym, no matter how torturous it may be, was probably worth it if it got him home sooner. Probably.
He made a beeline for the gym, not caring whether he walked on cement or grass. Sora paid little mind to the bubbling fountain in front or the mosaic works on the walls of the outdoor corridors. At least here he could walk mostly under shadows, even if the hot air still clung to him.
The once gym, now converted theatre towered over most the buildings like a tower, at least on this side of campus. The arts were pushed to the back end of campus, away from the more populated science and business buildings, and judging from the loud music surging from the building the situation seemed to please everyone.
As Sora slowly opened the door, hoping that he wasn't disturbing any rehearsals, but he found instead a group of kids laughing on the floor, lights flickering on and off through all the colors of the rainbow, a boy playing on a piano enthusiastically if clumsily, and lying across the top of the piano lounged Kairi, lying on her back, a leg in the air, a hand tangled in her hair, singing seductively to the laughing group.
She didn't notice Sora's approach, so he spoke loudly over the music, "This doesn't look like Twelfth Night."
"Brother!" She slid from the piano, looping her arms around Sora's waist. "You came for me in my hour of need, responding most heroically to my call!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Sora shrugged out of her embrace. "Do you have your stuff?"
"Let me go grab it, my bags in the back," she replied, jumping onto the stage. Sora groaned internally. The stage was littered with kids working on stage sets and props, each one that Kairi would want to hug and leave with a heartfelt goodbye, as if she wasn't going to come back tomorrow. And the backroom connected to the back of the stage would surely hold more students.
Sora had met some of these people through Kairi's various plays but he in no way knew everyone in her department, which Kairi tried to remedy by introducing him to as many of the stage crew and actors as would listen, but Sora forgot their names as soon as he met them. Slowly they made their way through the back room, where two thinly walled dressing rooms crudely built stood. Kairi went into one labeled 'Ladies', calling out "I'll be a minute!"
"I thought you said you just had to grab your bag?!"
"Yeah I do but I also have to change out of this costume!"
"You were wearing regular clothes, what kind of Shakespeare play is this?!"
"It's art, Sora, it's up to interpretation. God. Now hold your titties and wait!"
Sora grumbled, leaning up against the wall of the dressing room. The thin board leaned precariously under his weight and for a second he thought it might break. For a second he considered standing again but then he thought stubbornly, Y'know what, let it break. Fuck these stupid walls, if it breaks I'll just tell them it was 'art.'
Kairi sang as she changed, and despite Sora's wishes her voice calmed him down a bit. He was still lost in her voice when a tall man walked past him, knocking on the door. "Kairi, I'm gonna need to grab something from this room."
"Hold on a minute Leon, I'll be right out," Kairi replied. She was quiet for a moment, but then excitedly she called out "OH OH Leon, my brother should be there. SORA ARE YOU STILL THERE?"
"Goddammit Kairi yes I didn't move, you don't have to yell."
"OKAY GOOD. Leon that's my brother, the one I was telling you about. SORA SAY HI TO LEON."
"KAIRI I'M RIGHT HERE STOP YELLING." Sora screamed back. He glanced at the man beside him, realizing that he was yelling at a wall. He coughed, threw an arm behind his head, and turned to the man.
The man had longish brown hair tied back into a short ponytail, blue eyes that stared down at Sora, and a thin scar that began over his left eyebrow and ended under his right cheek. He looked a bit older than Sora, maybe by five years at most. He wore a tight black shirt and dark, thin jeans held up by a studded belt, all clinging to his subtly built body. He's hot, Sora thought. A voice in his mind yelled at him for thinking that. Another replied he didn't have a reason to not find other men hot anymore. Sora hated both of these voices, curled one hand up in a fist, while the other he thrust out to the man while still staring at the wall.
"Nice to meet you," Sora grumbled.
From the corner of his eye Sora saw the man shift a bit before returning the handshake. "Leon."
"Yeah I heard Kairi."
"Ah – oh. Yeah, I guess." Sora kicked himself internally for being rude to this hot man for no reason than being hot, but shoved his hands in his pockets nonetheless.
The tension was broken when Kairi threw open the door while slipping her last sandal onto her foot. "So as I was saying, Sora here would love to help out this summer."
Sora spun towards his sister. "I would love to what now?"
Kairi smiled at her brother sweetly. "Ah yes I forgot to tell you. Leon's the stage manager and he needs some help with making sets and doing the back stage stuff. He can teach you lights and things. It'll be fun!"
"Kairi I can't –"
"Why, because you're too busy playing LoL and going on Reddit all day?" Kairi laid a hand on Leon's arm, staring up sadly at him. "He's become quite the recluse the past year, the family is very concerned."
"Would you, I don't want to –"
"You can make friends, get out of the house, and Leon here might even be able to get you for a school credit for it. It'll be fun Sora. You just saw, we barely even do much work until the last three weeks before the play anyways so you won't even be doing much."
Leon stuffed his hands into his pockets and flicked his hair out of his face. He glanced from his shoes to the wall, then to Sora's eyes, where the stayed for a second before quickly glancing away. The moment where their eyes met threw Sora off for a moment, enough time to calm him down. "Listen Kairi, lets talk about this on the way home, okay?"
"Okay, but you know you should say yes." Kairi was about to walk away when she stopped, clapping her hands together. "Oh I know, before we leave you two should exchange numbers, so you can talk once Sora agrees to help out."
"Kairi –" Sora began to plead, but Kairi had taken his arm and turned to face her brother, her back to Leon. Suddenly her happy demeanor was gone, and she gave him a pleading look, the one she used when they were kids when she wanted to watch the channel she liked, when she wanted to play the game she wanted to play, when she wanted him to stay in her room a bit longer so the monsters wouldn't come from the closet just yet. Sora sighed, putting a hand behind his head. "I mean, okay, fine." Kairi smiled gratefully.
Sora pulled out his phone and held it out to Leon. The taller man looked down at him, his icy blue eyes staring into his as he reached into his jacket. The look felt familiar, awakening that dull pain again. Sora glanced away; the pain lessened, but still lingered. Leon pulled out his phone from an interior pocket in the jacket. He keeps his phone in his jacket's inside pocket, how hipster Sora thought. They traded phones, and Sora added his phone under 'Sora (Kairi's brother)'.
Kairi smiled when they returned their phones. "Alright cool, we'll be seeing you tomorrow Leon." Sora opened his mouth to protest but then decided against it.
Leon nodded. "Be seeing you, Kairi." He turned to Sora, and after a second nodded again. "Sora."
Yeah, pretty hipster, Sora thought as they walked back to the main room. Even so, Sora couldn't help but find him attractive, no matter how much it tugged at his heart.
"I don't see why you shouldn't join us, Sora," Kairi said as Sora turned the car onto the main road home. "You're not working this summer and you haven't been doing much since it began anyways. And you can get to know Leon – he likes men too, he's single and I know you thought he was cute."
I'm taken Sora almost said, but then he remembered that that wasn't true anymore. Or, at least, not really. "I don't need my sister to try to hook me up with someone." Sora grumbled.
"We have a lot of fun, you won't even have to go on stage, or even be at the performances if you don't want to," Kairi continued as if he hadn't spoken. "You don't have to do that much work. And you can make friends."
"I have friends," Sora replied.
"Roxas is away for another month, and I haven't been seeing Tidus or Waka around lately. And you can never have too many friends, Sora" Kairi looked out the window, and said under her breath. "I remember when you had more friends than me."
Anger sparked fiery. "I don't need to make friends, I don't need to do anything, I'm happy and content and just super, okay?"
For a time the only sound in the car was the lazy mumble of the AC. The light in front of them turned red, and Sora pushed down on the brakes and pulled into a stop.
"No, you're not." Kairi whispered.
Sora gripped the steering wheel, whirling his face to Kairi. She looked at him sadly. Her eyes made him pause, and after a moment he sighed. The light turned green.
"Fine."
Sora tossed in bed that night for the hundredth time, this time landing on his back. He watched the fan spin lazily in the moonlight, cooling the one leg he had exposed from the blankets. Without looking Sora reached for his phone and brought it up above him, his arms extended out. He opened his contacts and scrolled down until he found Riku's name. He almost clicked, almost opened up the text message, almost…
He tossed his phone to the ground, turned to the wall, and eventually fell asleep.