Chapter 8
The sun rose above the land once again, leaving the gold to stay for only the moment. But most people wouldn't notice it because they were too busy sleeping, such as the little brown headed boy, lying halfway off his bed, his legs sprung in the air, and his face flat to his carpet with drool all around him.
His toes and fingers twitched as if having a dream. His mouth muscles were twitching as well, smiling then frowning. He had a beam of sweat at the top of his forehead, and it was unkown to what the boy was dreaming about.
The usual sound to wake the boy up went off, the loud ear popping beeping caused the brunette to jump and a jungle of white sheets and a comforter to fly across the room, landing on the floor.
Sora stood abruptly, and pushed his hands to his backside causing a light cracking sound. He looked around his room seeing clothes, and now sheets sprawled across his bedroom floor.
"Hmm my room is so spiffy, and clean." He laughed sarcastically, but still proud. He yawned, and made his way into the bathroom.
The door shut, and his day begun.
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Today he decided to take the bus, although hardly any words came out of any of the passengers in the back seats. Sora sat there fiddling with paper he had in his hand, while Riku sat with his eyes close, he seemed to be exhausted. He had his dark jeans on, and a navy blue tank top that was loosely fitted, it was almost covered by the over sized gray and black jacket he had on over it, half zipped. Cloud was talking with Leon in a low, careful voice, and Leon was dozing off himself. The two boys had on faded jeans (that's right Leon in jeans) and Cloud had a dark blue coat on, and Leon of course had his leather jacket over a black t-shirt.
Is it just me or did some people have a rough night last night? Sora asked himself looking from Leon to Riku. He figured they must've had a hard time getting to sleep.
"Riku…?" Sora said shyly causing the boy to jump. He seemed to actually be asleep, but he still jumped.
"I dun wan that cookie it fell on the floor, giv it to tha stupid kid ova the-" Riku let out a loud snore, that caused Sora's eyes to widen and look around in embarrassment.
"RIKU!" He said extremely flustered, he pushed on the boy's shoulder until Riku had awakened. Gees this kid gets more like me every day! He coughed.
Riku looked over at a boy who was really red in the face. He rubbed his eyes and let out a large yawn. "Hey Sora…" He said in monotone.
"Late night?" Sora asked right away. Riku nodded and rubbed his eyes again; his hair was a bit of a mess, which was uncommon for the boy.
"Thinkin…" He yawned again.
"About…?" Sora tried to get answers out of the drowsy silver haired teen.
Riku gave him a glaring look, and turned around pouting.
Sora let out a 'hmf' and turned over to find Kairi right beside him. She was wearing a puffy red winter jacket, with a black curvy skirt with black socks up to her knees. She had on dark brown boots that went up a little past her ankles. He rolled around in his seat observing all his friends. They all seemed so 'lively', but wait, where was Tidus?
"Yo Kairi, where's your fluffy bunny?" Sora suddenly blurted out.
She gave him an unforgettable glare, and coughed into her hand. "He's sick today." She said with her eyes closed.
"With…?" Sora was being a little bit irritating today.
"…" She coughed. "None of your business." She snapped.
"Huh, whatever…" Sora said without a care, and turned around with his arms crossed. Everyone seemed to have had something wrong this morning. I wonder who peed in their cornflakes? Sora giggled to himself.
Suddenly he could feel a presence, and some weight appear on his shoulders. He looked over and saw Riku slowly falling on to him. His body was so limp when he was unconscious, and so Sora poked at him for a moment. Riku twitched, and Sora giggled, he allowed the boy to use him as a pillow considering Sora was a comfy little thing.
Sora spotted Riku's hand on the bus seat, beside his thigh. Sora smiled, and grabbed the boy's hand and chose to hold it tightly. Riku smiled in his sleep, and snuggled his head into Sora's shoulder/chest.
Sora closed his eyes, and relaxed allowing the bus's vibrations to make his stress fly away. He was interrupted by the nudging of his shoulder, his eyes fluttered open. Sora had realized he had dozed off on the bus, and Cloud was nudging him to get him off.
"Sora common we're here." He said concerned.
Sora shook his head, and noticed everyone had already gotten off. He arose and grabbed the book bag from the floor. He ran off the bus with the blonde, and stepped onto the cold grounds of his high school 'Destiny High'.
"Thanks Cloud." He giggled. "I woulda been left there."
Cloud nodded and was about to walk when Sora grabbed his wrist. "Well gimme a hug I owe you one!" He grinned. Cloud hesitated.
"No, in case Riku gets mad, I gotta go anyways." He faked a smile, and went off.
Sora gawked at the blonde in disbelief as he eyed him walking away from him. He watched as he opened the large metal doors, and as he closed them leaving him alone.
Sora slumped his shoulders and pulled up his backpack onto his right shoulder, and headed into the school. He heard the doors clang behind him, and he walked and pouted down the hallway. He looked up for a moment, and saw Riku standing in front of him.
"You gunna drag your lip around all day?" He asked and smirked. Sora grunted.
Riku just shrugged, and walked up to Sora. He bent down and kissed the boy on the lips causing him to blush. "See you in first period." He smiled, and walked off.
Sora sighed, and walked further to spot Cloud and Leon leaning against the wall talking happily. Sora thought maybe they'd invite him in so he walked over smiling.
"Hi guys." He said grinning.
"Hey." Leon said with his hands in his pocket. It seemed to be uptight ever since after last night, he wasn't sure how to talk to Sora knowing his crush was crushing on Leon. Oh how it is dog eat dog world, oh how it burns.
Cloud just nodded and smiled. The three stood quietly for a moment, until Sora bravely broke the silence.
"So er- anyone wanna hang out again tonight?" He asked shyly, it was almost like they were never running around laughing like idiots the night before.
"No I'm too tired…" Leon complained. "I'm gonna stay home tonight I suppose."
Sora nodded, and looked over at Cloud. "Whatever…" He sighed.
"Well how bout I come over again tonight?" Sora said happily, unaware that Cloud has never been to his house, neither would he want to.
Cloud just nodded quietly, and crossed his arms. Leon looked over surprised Cloud would even consider it. Cloud winked in secret to the boy, and he just let out a sigh.
"Cool I'll be there after supper." Sora sounded both hopeful and extremely excited. Besides, not only would he be alone in a cool dark room with Cloud, he had the Gamecube too.
Cloud nodded quietly signaling for the overly excited boy to leave them alone now, and Sora did so. He walked off, and didn't even bother saying anything to the auburn girl he passed by who was being a bitch lately because of her poor witto Tidy-widy being sick so she was forced to go the day without making out. Sora just headed straight for his class so he could be with the one person who wasn't acting weird today.
He placed himself in his regular plastic seat, in his regular boring beat up desk, right beside… Riku Sora glanced over to see Riku yawning, and he began running his hands through his matted hair.
Riku glanced over and grinned at Sora. He tried his best to hide his guilt for duping him and Cloud. However, he felt there was no other way to get them to see beyond their young, love struck states.
The bell rang and class began. Sora counted down the hours until he would be heading towards Cloud's house, unaware that everything he was stressing over was soon to come to an end.
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The rest of the day remained normal and quiet, Sora chose to eat alone and Riku went off with bitchy assed Kairi, he was able to deal with that kind of shit knowing Sora of course. She seemed to have needed some company anyway, and Sora wasn't the right kind.
It was now almost dinnertime, and Sora was getting excited, he loved being at Cloud's house, it was like his own little place to be, and be happy, like a paradise or something besides Riku and Kairi's house. His didn't count because to him being home wasn't very entertaining.
Sora sat on his bed with the lights off, and the only light that was penetrating the darkness in his room was the light from outside. Although the sun was setting earlier each day because the coming of winter, there was still a reasonable amount of sunlight out. Sora sat on the bed flicking through channels on his TV; he managed to stop on a channel, which was playing an all Star Trek marathon that was to be going on all day. A smile appeared on Sora's face as he relaxed and watched in amazement of the crappy but still very impressive graphics.
Sora just about dozed off, the room started going blurry, and his eyelids were getting rather heavy. Just before he fully fell asleep his half unconscious self was beginning to produce a dream. There was a familiar figure walking through his doorway into his room. He knew exactly who it was and exactly what to expect from them, he smiled and lifted his weak, numb arms towards the person expecting them to go to him. Just as the person came into view Sora's eyes fluttered open at the sound of his father's voice.
"Kid, hey kid get up." He said in monotone.
Sora lifted himself, to see that he was half way off his bed and that his arms were momentarily in the air. He looked up at his confused father who had a rather faint smile.
"Supper?" Sora asked with a grin, he rubbed his eyes until they were red.
"Yes, hurry up now or we'll be eating your food." His father attempted to joke, and hit Sora on the head with the newspaper he was holding. He smiled and exited the room.
"Not my food! PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD NOT MY FOOOOOOOD!" Sora screeched and jumped out of his bed. He tripped on a sock that just HAPPENED to be on the floor, and trampled outside his doorway, and feel at the very tip of the stairway. His head was looking down at the first step and he was fully aware that he was a couple feet away from totally plummeting to the bottom of the staircase. His eyes were wide open, and he lay there gaping at the wooden staircase that seemed to have substantial significance to him.
I…almost…broke…my…neck… Sora choked, and attempted to get back up.
Sora slouched and made his way downstairs. He sat in his hard wooden chair, and grabbed his fork. He looked at his fork, and started poking at his food.
"Mom I'm not hungry…" Sora interrupted the silence, and pushed his plate away. His mother and father stared at him blankly wondering what the hell could be wrong, but they didn't ask. Sora had totally lost interest in food once he saw his life flash before his eyes before he hit the stairs, it wasn't much of a big deal, lots of people fall down the stairs, but these ones were different. These ones… were steep, and Sora wasn't about to take a chance to wonder whether or not he would of lived. He was too dramatic sometimes for his own good.
"Is it okay if I go out?" He asked shyly, and still a bit nervous about earlier. Was it really such a big life altering accident to make this kid lose his APPITITE!
His parents nodded without word. Sora nodded as well and left without touching his plate. He grabbed his coat and headed out the door. By now it was practically night, the sun was beginning to set, and Sora looked around amazed. Suddenly his stomach growled and ruined the moment.
"Dude, common stomach you were friggin' upset a second ago, shut up and live with it." Sora said rudely staring down at his tummy.
He poked his stomach, and glared at it. He then looked up and continued walking away from his residence.
Cloud's house was slowly coming up from the distance and Sora could feel his heart pound, and his temperature rise. He was still so shy to be around the guy alone considering all the stress started because of that. He took a deep breath and swallowed before walking up the cement steps, and knocking lightly on the door.
His hear practically skipped a beat the moment the door made a slight creaking sound, and he saw a blonde spiky haired boy appear from his household. Sora grinned, and waved like a retard.
"Hello Cloud…y…" Sora let out a giggle remembering the boy's pet name.
Cloud glared at him, and smiled. "Hello Sora-MOO!" Pulling out the old nickname Kairi had given him.
Sora put on a really adorable pout and stuck his tongue out. "I'll take that as another fat joke! Man Cloud keep this up I'll be bulimic by the end of the week." Sora whined. Cloud smacked him in the back of the head. He had completely forgot that Kairi used to call him that.
"Just getting pay back, and you never complained to Kairi when she said it, and I swear to god if I catch you throwing up I'll kill you." Cloud said seriously before laughing. Sora laughed nervously.
Cloud put out his hand inviting the nervous brunette into his house, and Sora obliged. He walked into the familiar atmosphere and already got his mind off of how stressed and freaked out he was about the incident before supper.
"Your room?" Sora asked with a grin. Cloud nodded.
Sora followed the boy downstairs into the darkened basement; he passed Cloud's parents without saying a word, as if Cloud's only mission was to get Sora to his room. This made Sora a little bit self-conscious.
Cloud opened the door and allowed the boy to walk in. Sora looked around to see nothing had changed other than there were homework books strewn around the room. Sora sighed in relaxation and lied on Cloud's Ortho-Pedic mattress. He sighed again and put his hands behind his head.
Cloud smiled and walked over to the boy immediately handing him the Gamecube controller. Sora smiled and grinned evilly before accepting the offer.
They played Soul Excalibur II™ for a half an hour before Sora found himself comfortable enough to lean over to Cloud. Cloud stuttered, and paused the game.
"Hii." Sora said in his childish voice and had an adorable grin on.
Cloud had a faint smile, and he coughed. Sora put his arms out for a hug and Cloud couldn't help but give the boy one. Once he had seen Sora wanted a little bit more next he knew it was his queue to talk.
"Uh Sora…" He said leaning his face away from the flirty teen.
"Hmm?" Sora said without letting go of eye contact of the blonde.
"I dunno if… we should do that anymore…" He said almost tiredly.
"What do you mean?" Sora jumped at what Cloud had just said.
"I mean you and I, it can't work. Admit it you're always worried about Riku, and it's okay…" Cloud tried to think of the right wording. Already he could see tears forming at the ends of Sora's eyes.
"Oh don't cry Sor-"
"No no I see your point, but did it ever occur to you that maybe we wer-"
"Yeah, but now…"
"Now what!"
"I don't… think I want to be… with you, not if it tears you guys apart…"
"Uh huh…"
"Plus…" At this point Cloud was flustered.
"Plus…? Plus what?" Sora interrogated.
"I…like…someone…else…I think…" Cloud coughed.
Sora gaped at him. How could this be? Who could have changed his heart's direction!
"WHO?" Sora asked unaware he was slightly raising his voice.
"L-Leon…" Cloud said almost ashamed.
"LEON! HE'S NOT GA-" Sora looked down at the floor.
"Is he?" He swallowed. "He wasn't… but apparently I changed that." Cloud said scratching the back of his head.
"How you…" Sora stopped himself.
"We both have liked each other kind of, yeah I never really thought about him because I hardly knew him, but the past few days… well you said before it didn't take you long to realize you liked Riku right?" Cloud tried to back up his feelings.
"Yeah, but…"
"I helped Leon realize what exactly he was feeling…" He said looking at the floor.
"By…" Sora was getting slightly irritated, his face was beaming red.
"…" Cloud couldn't say the answer; the words just couldn't come out.
"Oh I see." Sora said with confirmation. "I know what happened, you don't have to talk Cloud. Just tell me, when?"
Cloud twiddled his thumbs; he was preparing himself for the most shocked look in his life. "Uh… last…night?" He said almost unsure of himself.
Just as he expected, Sora had the biggest open mouth possible. It was almost like it was physically impossible for something like that to even happen.
"L-last night?" Sora gulped.
"Yeah…huh…" I suppose making us walk home together wasn't the greatest idea, but that was Riku's idea… aheh. Cloud held back his thoughts to be said into words.
"Why? WHY?" Sora screeched confused as he put his hands to his face, he was completely confused, but part of him was relieved he would be forced to finally be with Riku. Maybe everything had been misjudged, maybe Sora was just meant to be friends with Cloud, and Riku was meant to be his… Lo…ver… Sora blushed.
Cloud couldn't come to help the kid calm down, he couldn't even get close enough to put a hand on his shoulder. He was stuck there until Sora either chose to leave or live with it. Suddenly Sora, wipped his eyes, and looked up at the boy.
"So, I guess if you guys were never left alone, you woulda never figured this out." Sora let out a fake giggle.
"I'll hafta blame Riku for that one…" He said, and something clicked in his head.
"Wait a minute…" Cloud gulped at Sora's words. "It's almost like… Riku knew…" Sora was piecing together his own puzzle.
All this time, it was like he was acting perfectly normal, but I knew he was trying to get my attention more knowing he would be there when Cloud did this to me. He was the one who let them walk alone together… and I just bet he was the one who got Leon to go with us… That little sneaky conniving BASTARD! Sora cringed in secret.
Of course everything he had just pieced together would need more proof, and the only one to go to was the one he was accusing. Not once did he ever consider talking to Riku, but that was because he had thought maybe Riku didn't know like he should have, he was way to scared that Riku would try to leave him again, but this time for good. So if Riku did know, he would admit it right? Sora stood abrupt, and looked down at the uncomfortable blonde on the floor.
"It's hard to dump people isn't it?" Sora smirked. He knew the pain of someone leaving another.
Cloud nodded, and made a tiny sob.
"Don't worry, it's not like we were going out… and I hope you have better luck with Leon." He put on a genuine smile for once. Cloud looked up surprised by the boy's actions.
"I've got to straighten my own life out now, and Cloud…" Sora looked back down at Cloud. Cloud looked up again.
"Yeah?" He asked shyly.
"Don't worry 'bout it, we'll be friends. We still cool?" He smiled putting out a hand.
Cloud smiled with his eyes closed, he put out his hand happily, "yup."
Sora giggled, and grabbed his coat. He looked over at Cloud. "Sorry to leave so early but you know I've got someone to see." He smiled again. Cloud nodded.
Sora gave Cloud a hug like nothing ever happened, and it was true. Sora was now feeling better than he had ever in the past while, he felt like all the stress of his misdeeds been lifted away.
Sora exited through the doorway, and headed up the dark street. He ignored the cold breeze that blew against his face; it was time to figure everything out. Although Riku had his own puzzle to make out, but Sora had his own as well. It was time to put an end to the secrets; it was time… to kill the barrier!
Sora took a deep, very calming breath as he stepped up to another household, which was rather familiar to him, and knocked. There was no hesitation in the body of Sora the moment the large hollow door opened to reveal a young silver haired boy with spaghetti still hanging from his mouth.
Sora looked up at the boy and smirked.
"Hi may I come in?" Sora said boldly.
