The sound of his mother tapping on the keys of the keyboard was almost heaven. Cloud needed a distraction, and not just any distraction. He needed normalcy after all that went on that day, and the sound of cars driving passed him and the slamming of the front door just wasn't enough.
"Welcome home sweetheart." the soft womanly voice came from the living room. His mom was still in school, going for her degree to become a social worker. She was always thinking of him and Sora, and always wanted to help all of the kids that weren't as fortunate. His mother was just the piece of normal he needed in that moment.
Instead of mumbling back and heading for his room, the blonde male actually responded with a 'hey mom' and headed to the fridge to grab a drink for him and her. His mom raised an eyebrow at his sudden interest, he was after all a teenager, but didn't question it when he sat across from her desk on the couch and turned on the television.
Cloud rubbed at his spikes and took a swig of his drink. He knew what he had seen, and knew what everyone else didn't. Tifa, his girlfriend of two years, had been all but thrown out of the eight hundred hall earlier that day. It was enough to have him seeing red. He had never been one to believe in ghost stories, and didn't give two fucks about whether or not he was going to be able to take down the actual culprit. Sure enough, there was a man who seemed to be a hard ass smirking against the lockers.
The brunettes smirk soon fell when Cloud's fist collided with the locker, too close to his face for comfort, and noticed that the blonde was actually looking at him, not just through him.
"You've got five seconds before I hand your ass to you." Cloud seethed, picking up the guy by his white shirt, which only startled the brunette more. After a moment, he smacked away Cloud's hand, furrowing his eyes which only accented the scar between his eyes more.
"She had it coming. All of you did." He sneered. Tifa had made it back on her feet, seemingly unscathed minus a forming bruise on her right elbow, which only made gray eyes smolder in hate.
"Cloud there you are! I tripped over something and took a nasty fall... What's wrong?" She asked him, cocking her head. All the could see was his fist against the locker. Cloud could only shake.
"This bastard pushed you, you didn't trip!" He insisted, eyes never leaving Leon's. His smoldering gaze softened, something akin to amusement in them at that. He knew that she couldn't see him, nobody could. Nobody but Cloud, apperantly.
"What bastard? I don't see anyone." She told him, looking around the hallway before shrugging.
"Did he run off?" Tifa walked up to them, not even a foot away from the brunette man putting a hand on her hip. Cloud blinked when she walked up to them, turning his head from him to her and back to him. Tifa cocked her head and simply walked through the brunette man, looking up at Cloud, whose face was now in shock. The blonde's baby blue eyes were the size of saucers, slowly backing away from the double of Tifa and the brunette.
"Cloud? Are... you alright?" She asked carefully. The gray eyed man smirked and walked forward, this time pinning Cloud on the wall on the opposite side of the hallway, leaning into his ear.
"Don't fuck with poltergeists Strife." He said, whispering something else into his ear before walking into a nearby locker, one that had to be the place he had died. Cloud said nothing for a good minute, even when Tifa had waived a hand in front of his face he was unresponsive. Tifa finally gave in and actually smacked his face lightly, pulling him back into reality.
"Maybe you should lay down in Ms. Yuna's. You look Pale, Cloud." She said, concerned. Cloud just shook his head, swallowing thickly and pushed himself off the wall behind him.
"N-no... I'm fine, Sorry. Just... didn't sleep well last night." He told her. He knew he was lying through his teeth even just sitting on the couch. He was beating himself up internally, taking another swig of his drink. Cloud hadn't lied to Tifa in over five years, but how exactly was he supposed to tell her that she'd been attacked by a hot ghost? Scratch out the hot bit, he told himself.
Enter home an eight year old Sora and Kairi, squealing and giggling about something or another. Cloud smiled and got up, nothing was more real than spending time with his little brother, even if the little brunette was annoying when his friends were around.
"Hey squirt." Cloud said, ruffling his spikes lovingly. Sora pouted, shooing away cloud's hand.
"I'm not a squirt! I'm eight years old!" He protested, throwing off his bag and shoes by the door, while Kairi followed suit. She had run into the kitchen, used to maneuvering the house like it had been her own and grabbed a lunchable out of the fridge before plopping down on the couch Cloud had been on.
"Almost Eight, Sora. Your birthday's not for another three days." He reminded the boy, picking him up like a sack of potatoes and grabbed his respected lunch. He would stay on the couch, listening to Sora and Kairi's banter and even went as far as helping the two with their homework. Usually he would put it off completely until they came to him, practically begging him for help.
Before he knew it the sun had started to set, and he escorted Kairi to her house a couple blocks away, taking Sora with him. He almost didn't say anything, but he knew he was going to go insane if he didn't get it off his chest. Sora had always listened to him, no matter how bogus the story. So with a huff, he picked up the small brunette and threw him on his shoulders. His little brother was almost too big for him to do that.
"I met a ghost today." He said bluntly to Sora, who was crouched on his head. Cloud didn't give him a chance to respond.
"He... did some mean things to Tifa, and I tracked him down and yelled at him. He was kinda scary." And hot, the thought to himself. The idea flipped through his mind and left just as fast as it came in. Sora fidgeted, making a 'hmm' sound and tapped his chin.
"Maybe he's lonely." Sora offered, and Cloud blinked. Could ghosts be lonely? Could they feel anything at all? He seemed pretty mad, saying that everyone deserved it. The question was why though.
"Did he have a name?" Sora asked, and Cloud put him down in front of their house. He felt a shiver crawl down his spine, remembering the brunette man stepping way too close for comfort to whisper in his ear. When he noticed Sora's expecting look he crouched and nodded with a serious look.
"Leon. His name is Leon."
I couldn't be happier when gym came to an end and the first time in forever I was unscathed. I praised every deity available; God, Kami, three Goddesses, Jegus, and even Riku, since I was convinced he had to be a walking god. It was a little bit weird that people were complimenting me – shouldn't they be complimenting the walking god? But Riku was all but ignored. I felt anger start to well up and zipped to my locker, yanking the lock off and hauled all my stuff in a stall to change.
How could the just ignore him like that!? He was extremely gorgeous and good at everything. Well, everything that I saw he was good at, and people acted like he wasn't even there! I huffed out of my gym clothes and threw them on the floor, glaring at them. It was all the clothes fault.
Once I was back in my shirt and jeans, I collected my gym clothes and threw them back into the locker,, throwing the lock back on. The locker rooms were just about empty again at that point, and I almost had a heart attack when I spun around to pick up my bag and Riku was leaning against the wall.
"Hey Sora, how far do you live from here?" He asked quickly, tilting his head as my icy heart meted, though I threw him a pout for good measure for scaring me. He didn't seem to care.
"Er... Only a few blocks from here, why? And you don't have to sneak up on me all the time you know!" I scolded him lightly, heading back out to the hallway. The more I thought about it the weirder it was. Not even Roxas' friends had bothered asking where I lived, and here was a gorgeous man practically following me home after only a day. Not that I cared, he could follow me anywhere, to the moon, to New York, into my be-
DOWN BOY.
I felt him move beside me so I guessed he had shrugged his shoulders. "Just curious. Maybe I could come over sometime?" He asked, completely ignoring my mini lecture. My heart just about jumped out of my throat, yes yes, PLEASE come home with me! I was practically bouncing off the walls on the inside.
"Sure! How about... today? I-if you're not busy..." I trailed off, trying and failing to keep it cool. I knew I was praying for the impossible, but I couldn't help it.
"Sure why not. I've got loads of free time." He said with a shrug, which stopped me dead in the hall and caused my books to go flying when someone rammed into my back. I'm sure they said something like 'don't stop in the middle of the hall, moron!' but I was too much in shock to do more than pick up my things. When my mind stopped being goo, I sped up my pace.
"A-are you sure? Won't your parents want you home?" I said quickly, but when I looked over to him I completely regretted saying anything. He looked like a kicked puppy. Not giving care to the wind, I stopped in front of the library not caring if I was late. I was only a TA, and Aerith was a cool librarian anyway.
"Well... My parents have been dead for a few years now. And since I... turned eighteen I've been on my own." Orphaned? At his age? How does he pay the bills, who makes him peanut butter and jelly sandwiches after school? I thought about a life without my mom and couldn't bare it. I gave him a hug.
"I'm so sorry, Riku! I'll make your peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for you!" I blurted out. It wasn't really about the food, but it was the only thing I could get to come out. Nothing could make losing someone okay. When I pulled away from the hugmy cheeks were hot, and probably pink, when he gave me a funny look.
"Um... thanks?" He said, letting out a chuckle before ruffling my hair. Great, now he thinks I'm weird.
"I-I'll just meet you by the front after school. I'm TA for the library next, and your gonna be late for class." Said, picking up my bag off the floor. When did I put it down? Ah well it doesn't matter. The bell rang and teachers were on the prowl for late students, but it was worth it to see the smile Riku had on his face. It was the first genuine smile he'd had on all day.
"Alright, if you insist. It's a date." He told me before waiving, heading off in the other direction. Damn him, he liked to catch me off guard and turn my legs into jello, cause I couldn't move for a good minute. Did he just say 'date'?
At the sound of heels coming down the hall I quickly ducked into the library, sighing. He must've just meant it as a figure of speech. He seemed to be the kind of guy that would do that... my heart dropped at that, but there was work to be done. I went and dropped off my bag in Ms Aerith's office, waving so she knew I was there to get stuff done.
Being a TA in the library had it's up times, but most of the time it was boring since most people came in during lunch. I propped myself up on a stool, grabbing books out of the return bin and started checking them back into the library, which took no brainpower at all, even for me. Which let my mind wander on other things.
How was I supposed to go back into the hallway with my locker? Sure nothing had happened, but I could FEEL the difference in the air. What if Leon was still there, and still mad? What if Cloud had just gotten tired of living with us? I grimaced at that. No, Cloud wasn't that kind of guy, at least from what I remembered of him.
Still, I didn't know whether Leon was or not. He probably wouldn't recognize me, and if he was as angry as we was back then... the thought made my palms sweat again. I scrunched up my nose and took in a breath, continuing with checking in the books.
I couldn't help feeling this way, ghosts were still ghosts even if you know 'em! I let out another sigh and turned to the back, burying my head in my arms. This sucked. School sucked. And there was no way in hell I was lugging around all of my books around all year!
Someone cleared their throat behind me and I almost shooed them away, couldn't they see I was wallowing in my own misery right the? Stupid people... Wait, Riku? I straightened up when I saw it was him. What was he doing in the library now of all times?
"I want to check out a book." He said simply, as if reading my mind. It was a copy of 'Romeo and Juliet' sitting on the plate to check out books. I gave him a questioning look before scooting my butt and chair back to the checkout station.
"Wait, aren't you supposed to be in class?" I asked him, acting like I actually cared, which I didn't. His presence made all the uneasiness wash away, and for that I was grateful. He just shrugged his shoulders at the question, not really seeming all that focused on the book and more focused on me.
"Teacher never showed up, so I decided to come here and do a little free study instead. Then I saw you looking all miserable and decided to talk to you instead. What's up?" He asked, looking honestly concerned. I didn't want to answer him. Any time people asked about the incident and I told them what I thought, they would just think I was crazy. I opened the program to check out the book and let out a puff of air. This was just Riku, he wouldn't judge you Sora... at least I hoped.
"Err... Just an old wives tale floating around school. Some people believe that someone was bullied to death in the hall where my lockers in, and..." I trailed off, turning my attention back to the screen of the computer. He would just laugh. When I turned to ask about his student number he seemed really serious though, and the question just wouldn't come out. He looked almost pissed, something I didn't know Riku was capable of.
"I've heard of that. It wasn't just one person that died that day though, two people did. They were forcibly shoved in after being brutally beaten, and neither of them were found in time since the hallway wasn't used that much." My mouth went dry, horror sinking into the pit of my stomach. So it wasn't just Leon that died that day, and there could very well be another angry spirit looking for revenge...
"Back then, people could trust each other, or so it seemed to some. It was a smaller town. Back then, the idea of bullies didn't even cross peoples minds... until the town started expanding." He looked in pain when he talked, and if I didn't know any better I would say he had been there himself. Could Riku be a ghost? No, he was talking, walking, and seemed pretty normal. There was no way... right?
" They sealed off the hallway for a long time, up until about twelve years ago when the school decided it needed more space. It angered one of the ghosts, caused him to start acting violent since the two of them could be left in peace. Then two years after that, it stopped. At the same time though, someone disappeared from the school."
"Cloud..." I whispered to myself, feeling my body get heavy and my head droop. So Riku had heard of it too. He heard about Leon... and even thought of my brother. Maybe I wasn't crazy after all.
"You knew him? The guy who went missing?" He asked me curiously and all I could do was nod.
"He... he was my brother. Cliud... Well, he knew the ghosts, Riku, or at least one of them. he... He could see one by the name of Leon. At first the stories he told were about how mean he was, but after a while the man was coming home with Cloud, and nobody knew but me..." I could see his face change and eyes glass over and sighed. He din't believe me...
"You never told me your student number to check out this book." I said, changing the subject quickly. I didn't want Riku to think I was crazy, and only only knowing him for five hours... It would hurt having him think I was a freak.
"It doesn't matter anymore, I should be going back to class in case the teacher shows up. I'll see you after school, Sora." He told me and offered me a small smile before turning and leaving. I groaned and hit my head against the counter top when he was out. Stupid stupid stupid! You just totally blew all the chance you had with the gorgeous man!
I winced, feeling a goose egg forming on my forehead when I pulled up off the counter. It must've done something, cause I vaguely remembered Roxas making a promise to hunt me down at the end of school too. Well, that's two people who were going to think I'm crazy. Well at least one of them is family, right?
"Sora? You alright?" Ms. Aerith called after hearing the repeated banging, no doubt. I just nodded and sniffled, showing the goose egg forming on my head to her, and she just shook her head.
"You've done enough today Sora, go lay down in Yuna's room, okay? It seems like today's been hard on you." She said softly, rubbing my back with a smile. Aerith and Yuna were two of the only teachers remaining at the school from when Cloud went here, and she must have heard Riku and I talk about him.
I didn't say anything but got off the chair, grabbing my bag from her office and headed towards the nurses office. The eight hundred hall was eeriy close to the library, and I couldn't help but take a peek down it, shivers going through my spine. Forget Leon, I had a total stranger for a ghost still living in the hallway to deal with. Just great. What if Leon's friend decided to come after me? I didn't want to be a ghost...
The final bell finally rang through the school and a bolted, heading for the nearest doors. First instinct was to avoid Roxas and Riku and head straight home, hoping that I had made it out before them. But fate was not with me today, and somehow Roxas had managed to be at the gate before me. My feet slowed to a crawl at the sight of him, not wanting to go into details about Riku right then. Curse Roxas and his slightly taller and faster physique!
"You're late." He told me mockingly and I huffed, standing up against the grates of the fence. Roxas had on a stern look before putting on a smile, here comes the bombardment of questions.
"So this Riku guy... you gonna ask him to the dance?" He said simply, though it was a loaded question. How did you guys meet? Is he sexy? Do I need to start teaching you about safe sex? All of that wrapped up in that one little question, and the earth would not do me any favors by swallowing me.
"Maybe, maybe not! I've only known him for like... seven hours!" I huffed, making him laugh up until Axel snaked his way behind my cousin just in time for Riku to show up. I owed him big time.
"I'll tell him to quit bothering ya about your new boy toy, Sora." Scratch that, Axel is dead. My face must've been 5 shades of crimson standing next to Riku, but Axel just walked away with Roxas struggling against him, wanting to get more answers out of me. My blush deepened when I saw the smug smirk on Riku's face.
"Boy toy, huh? Wonder who they were talking about." Riku said, even though it was obvious that he knew. I tugged at his sleeve and practically bounced left in the direction of home, was there something I was supposed to be fretting about Riku? Oh well didn't matter now.
"You sure your not related to the energizer bunny? You've been squirming all day Sora." He said with a chuckle, making me grin right back at him. He was right, I couldn't sit still for the life of me, but more so because Riku made me nervous. In the give you butterflies all over and fangirl squeals kind of way, of course.
" Well what did you expect? Staying crammed in a seat for hours on end, not able to move a muscle, soooo boring!" I whined out, dragging my feet for emphasis. Score! Another chuckle escaped those beautifully shaped lips of his.
We stopped by Ci'd place on the way to my house, but Riku stayed outside and waited, insisting that he didn't want to get asked about his hair. I was confused, since Silver hair was rather common around the area but shrugged and dropped it, picking out two cold root beers and put them on the counter to be rang up.
"An extra one? Pickin' one up fer your girl, eh?" He asked and I blushed, pulling out my wallet. Riku was definitely no girl... but I did wish he was mine.
"No, just for a friend." That sounded a little depressing. "He's waiting outside 'cause he didn't want to get asked about his hair. I don't see the problem, lots of people have silver hair, but he insisted." I explained, grabbing the change he put in front of me and stuffed it in my suddenly jam-packed wallet.
"Ah well, kids these days. Count yer change, kid, gave you a freebie!" He chided me and I grinned. This afternoon has turned out to be great after all.
"Thanks old man!" I told him, practically bouncing back outside and smiled to Riku. He was leaning up against the brick of the building, looking up at the sky looking a bit distressed until he looked at me. Wonder what that was about. Oh well, he could tell me if he wanted to.
"You ready to go?" He asked and I nodded, two drinks in tow as I opened one and took a swig of it. It was hotter outside lately, so the cool drinks were so refreshing.
"Mhm. My house is only a couple streets away from here. The old man gave me a discount and I got you a drink for free if you want it." I told him, offering up the soda. He looked at it wearily and didn't take it, and for a minute my heart sank. He wasn't going to accept my lov- er, discounted drink offer?
"I'm... not really thirsty right now. I'll drink it when we get to your house." He said. I could feel my head tilt as my confusion rose, but I chose to drop it. The last thing I wanted to do was scare off my hot sexy... friend something... before he had even made it to the house. We weren't that far at all, and soon enough I had to put down the cold drinks on the cement step in front of my house to swim through the bottomless pit known as my bag.
It was a decent sized house that my parents had, starting with a main level with a large living room, a bedroom with it's own bathroom, and a decent sized kitchen. The upstairs held the master bedroom, master bathroom, and a closet, all of which I convinced my parents to let me have since I was currently the only one at home for more than twelve hours anymore... and I might be a little greedy. The basement was finished after I was born since they were planning on having more than just Cloud and me, adding in a family room, two bedrooms, and a bathroom/ laundry room. Obviously things didn't go as planned.
Shuffling through the mess of books was a pain. I was in so much of a hurry when school got out that I forgot to go to my stupid locker, AGAIN. Not that I really minded ,I would avoid it at all costs if it meant not running into a scary ghost in the near future. With my bag contents littering the front steps I turned to Riku and gave him a nervous grin. Crap, I remember putting them in here!
"Let me guess... You lost your keys." He said bluntly ad I smacked my forehead with my palm. He helped me pick up the books and papers littered about and I let out an inward groan. It was going to take a miracle to get in the house before my mom got home...
"The only other way in is through the balcony door to my room and it's not easy to get to." I whined. The balcony only had two skinny, slippery poles that held it up, the rest of it being attached to the siding. He shrugged and got up, holding his hand out for me to take.
"It shouldn't be that bad." I took his hand and my face felt hot from the touch, he was so freiken' warm and it shot electricity through my, sending messages that were just too crude to mention and wow he is ripped.
We went through the gate to the backyard, It was neat and tidy with a door into the kitchen – that was always locked since no one was ever home. I kept my balcony door unlocked mainly because I had no faith that anyone could make it up there, that is until Riku did his Riku thing.
"Seriously? You can't climb up this?" He asked me with a shiny grin, and with all of three jumps he had managed to hop up the pole and onto the wooden balcony, pulling himself up and looked down at me. I drooled, he was like a parkour ninja and a sex god wrapped into one perfect little bundle of yum. His smirk got bigger and I realized that I'd totally missed what he just said.
"I'm sorry... What?" I asked lamely.
"I asked if you wanted me to go in and open the front door for you. But if your too distracted I guess I could just come back down.." He said turning to sidle back down the pole. I almost just told him to come back, getting to watch a show like that didn't happen every day, but my brain betrayed me.
"N-no, If you could open the door that would be great." I asked, watching him walk in and headed to the front once more. A wave of panic turned in my stomach though and I practically bolted for the door. When was the last time my room was cleaned up!?
He was already there, smirking at my panicked self, and I felt so ashamed. He's gonna think I'm a slob!
"Nice room, Sora. You should really do something about the moldy pizza and hole in the wall, though." He said with a grimace. I resisted the urge to smack my head for a third time that day, completely forgetting about the hole in the wall from my head that morning.
"The hole was made this morning after my comforter attacked me and threw me at the wall." I told him with complete honesty and walked into the almost immaculate living room. Besides the upstairs the house looked almost untouched, save for maybe my parents room, but then again, I never went in there anyway.
"And the rest of the mess?" He asked with amusement, taking the untouched root beer I had and sat at the table to drink it. I huffed and sat across from him with my own root beer.
"Whats the point of keeping my room clean in the summer?" I asked him kiddingly, but another thought came to mind. "And it's not like anyone cares if it's clean or not anyway."
I half expected Riku to throw out another arrogant and sarcastic question, but instead he hummed at me and took a sip, scooting to sit in the chair next to mine before that. "Speaking of, where are your parents?" He looked at me expecting and I could only shrug.
"My dad left on a business trip this morning and won't be back for a couple of weeks. And my mom around this time has finished working and is doing overtime working on cases. She usually goes between working at the courthouse and the police station." It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the full truth, either. He gave me a questioning look.
"Sounds like you must be pretty lonely, then." I could tell he wanted to say more, but what he said hit me so hard I didn't get the chance to ask. Was I lonely? I remember being lonely after Cloud had disappeared. Before that mom had her own office in the basement and a workbench in the living room. She was home as much as possible, probably because dad was hardly ever home.
That had changed though. Mom hadn't been downstairs at all since most of Cloud's stuff was still down there in his old room. In fact, no one had been down there in years. I vaguely remember what it actually looked like.
"I... never really thought about it that way before." I told him honestly, shaking my head out of it's stupor when Riku got up and ruffled my hair.
"You have a Playstation, right? Let's play some Fallout 4." He suggested, grabbing the case from the front of the television and popped it in, grabbing a controller before plopping on the couch. I finished my root beer and nodded, throwing away the can and sat next to him on the couch. He bumped his shoulder into mine and I blushed as my body fell onto his, not bothering to get off of him when we started playing.
Everything about today had been whirring around in my head, how different it had been. How coach Larxene didn't hit me once. How there is a second ghost that's wandering the halls of Destiny High and possibly out to get me. How I couldn't stop thinking about Cloud and where he was all day. And it was all thanks to Riku.
Maybe I didn't have to worry about things. The thought popped in as Riku finished the mission, waiving the controller in my face, which I greedily took. I couldn't help but think that Riku would protect me, be it from an angry ghost or a psycho gym coach. But this nagging feeling wouldn't leave, nagging that I should be careful. Everyone I talked to today had looked at me strange when I mentioned Riku, like he wasn't even there. But here he was, sitting and playing games, drinking root beer and snorting at my repeated failures. Ghosts couldn't do that.
Right?
A/N: Whoo, Second chapter finally out. The third chapter probably won't be out as quickly as this one, mainly because I needa break from and there are plenty of other things calling my name to be written. BUT! I will do my best to have the next one out by valentines day. Two weeks isn't too bad I don't think.
Please Review! The first chapter has also been revised if you wanna bother with re reading it. If not it doesn't really matter, not much changed anyway.
