Title: Pieces that Fall into Place, Chapter Two
Author: Maho Kiwi
Rating: R. Language and implied themes.
Pairing: Sora x Riku
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is a valuable facet of Disney and Square and I thank them very much for (unknowingly) letting me borrow the boys for a bit.
A/N: I thank my five reviewers very much. Merry Christmas to them and I love them a lot. I fixed the thing about anonymous reviews. I'd /appreciate/ knowing who you are, but you can now tell me what you thought about my story without the fear of me most likely not knowing who you are anyway. ::wink:: My hands are very cold right now, so my typing is poor. Can't. make. fingers. move! Chapter two! Since Sora will be staying with Riku for a week, I plan on doing chapters by the weekdays. So. a seven chapter story I guess? And I know everybody else seems to think that because they live on an island it's pretty primitive, but for my story they have all the latest technology. Cars, TV ect. Kay?
***
Riku's house. Huge, impressive, intimidating. Doom.
I shook my head. No reason to go thinking thoughts like that! Just because he liked me didn't mean that he would do anything about it, if he was too shy to tell me he most definitely wouldn't try to jump me in my sleep. Innocent, pure little me.
Secretly I had always been rather jealous of Riku's house. I wouldn't say that we lived in the slums, but compared to Riku's neighborhood we did. Riku's dad had a very long and impressive job title, with about 18 extra letters following his name. (M.D, PH.D, SLC, YMCA ect.) I probably would have been even more jealous if not for the fact the Riku was on the verge of hating it. Especially when we were younger. He always wanted to come to my house, play on the floor, out back in the dirt. things I gathered he didn't get to do at home. Don't misunderstand; it wasn't a mansion with servants or anything, Riku's mom did all the cooking-and it wasn't always fancy stuff either-they cleaned the house themselves and the only had a two car garage, but it was still the biggest house in town, next to the mayor's of course.
I walked up the familiar path and was (pleasantly? Unpleasantly?) surprised at the door by Riku himself. He checked his wrist, then raised an eyebrow at me.
"Gee Sora, that took you about 10 minutes longer than /usual/ to get here, you get lost on the way or something?" he smiled and stepped aside to let me in.
"Are you implying that this whole 'parents-go-out-of-town-I'll-just-drop-by- Riku's-place' thing has gotten routine?" I slung my bag down on the floor by the door and smiled back. "I ran into Tidus on the way here, wanted to tell me something. And you know how Tidus is when he starts in on a story." I watched Riku for any sort of sign.
"Oh geez, thank goodness you made it at all, then." Not one twitch. Maybe Tidus was lying. No, that was stupid. But then, so was the notion that Riku might like me. Hmmm.
"Oh, Sora, you made it, welcome!" His mother breezed over, and managed to take my jacket, give me a light hug, pick up my bag, hang the jacket up, hand the bag to Riku and straighten my hair all in one fluid movement. Simply amazing. "Riku, show Sora up to your room, I'll put on some soup, it looks cold out there." His mother made a 'concerned face' as she looked out the window. Riku rolled his eyes dramatically.
"Mom, Sora /knows/ where my room is. He's over here more than I am. Stop acting like we haven't seen him in years." His mother frowned disapprovingly at him.
"Really, Riku. It never hurts to be mannerly, something you could learn from you friend." She put her hand on my shoulder, meaning me, I guessed. Was I more mannerly than Riku? I sincerely doubted that, and both mine and Riku's faces reflected that thought.
"Sure, whatever mom" he said, bemused. "C'mon then, Sora, I'll 'show you to my room.'" He started up the stairway, me trailing after him. We reached the top of the stairs and I mentally paced out the way to my friend's room. He was right. I knew this house almost as well as my own. Let's see, up the stairs- third from the top squeaks if you step too hard on the left side- down the hallway, past the outlet, first door after the bookcase-the fifth book would be tilted on it's side-end of the hall. Riku's room, in order with the rest of the house, was impressive. First off, it was massive. One giant room, with a high ceiling and a big window along the side. There was a great view of the ocean from this window, and while I got all the pretty sunsets from mine, Riku got stunning sunrises. His bed was huge too, but before you start thinking 'grand four-poster with headboard, silk sheets and feather pillows' style thoughts, let me remind you that this was Riku. His bed was simply the mattress and it's box springs set on the floor, with some standard cotton sheets on it. I'm sure his mother hated it, but it suited him well, and I never fell far if I fell off the edge. I was a clumsy child. Random 'extreme sports' type posters were tacked up on the walls, and there was a (jealousy!) big screen TV with VCR and a Gamestation X in the corner (we'd spent many nights up until the sun rose playing our favorite games on that thing, like Virtual Monopoly. I'm kidding.)
Riku tossed my bag on his bed and looked around. "So, how long are you here this time?" he smirked at me. Okay, so maybe I did stay at his house too often. "A week." He smiled.
"Great."
***
"So, Sora." Riku's mom handed me some crackers to go with my soup "Shall I put an extra mattress down for you, or will you two be okay in the one bed?" My heart ground to a stop. Crap. I had forgotten that part. We had always just slept in the same bed! My head spun, how to play this out? True, now that we were older, it probably wouldn't be unreasonable to request the extra bed, but then, both Riku and I were as skinny as rails and could easily fit on his bed, plus, since we always had before, would they think I was suddenly uneasy sharing a bed with Riku? What would Riku think about that? And of course, it would be extra work for his mother to haul the extra mattress out and whichever option I picked, I had better hurry up and say something because they're sure to notice the lag in response time and-
"The one bed is fine" I smiled at her, my heart sinking. She nodded and moved away to fetch some Kool-aid. Out of the corner of my eye, I swear I saw Riku grin. Crap. Crap. Crap.
***
"Crap!"
I slammed the controller down on the ground as Riku grinned at me.
"Best 24 of 47?" He asked, hitting the Restart button and wagging my controller in front of my face.
"I hate you." I ground out between clenched teeth.
"Naw, you don't. You hate that I beat you at /everything/, but you don't hate Me." He wasn't even looking at me, concentrating on starting up another round of virtual carnage for us to play.
"I beat you once. Twice." I muttered through injured pride. He stopped what he was doing and stared at me, hurt splashed across his face. I winced guiltily. He wasn't supposed to hear that. He was sorry and I knew it.
"Riku. " I started. I was cut off, though, as he abruptly leaned forward and switched the system off.
"What say we just go to bed? I'm kinda-" he faked a yawn in the middle of his sentence "Kinda tired" he looked over at his clock, glowing on the wall: 3:47 a.m. He stood and made his way over to the bed.
"Riiiku. " I half-pleaded. Now I felt bad. He waved and hand at me as he pulled up the covers.
"Forget it. It's fine." He said with an air of casualness that, in my opinion, was way overdone. I stood and walked to the other side of the bed, plopping down on my knees and looking at him.
"No, listen. " Again, he cut me off.
"Really, it's okay, you're right, you have beaten me before. Goodnight." And with that, he turned his back on me and snuggled into his blankets. Slowly, and with no small amount of guilt, I eased under the covers, trying as hard as possible to have no noticeable effect on the condition of the bed. I gave up, with the sad realization that I did have body mass, and wrapped my half of the blankets around me. Back to back with Riku, with about 2 feet of air space between us I realized (happily?) that there was very little chance he would get any closer. He probably would pout/be angry with me for the rest of my visit. Great. Way to go, King Big Mouth. Let's just insult him and dredge up painful history while we stay at his house, shall we? I mentally slapped myself around, then-realizing that this was not punishment enough-I conjured up an image of Riku to mentally kick the crap out of me. Nothing is more humiliating that being beaten inside your own head, I decided.
"Sora."
I froze.
"Yeah, Riku?" Would he be mad?
"You're twitching."
". oh. Sorry." I lay as still as I could and tried to concentrate on sleeping, guilt eating away at me.
***
Quick, shallow breathing, like. hyperventilation? Warm though, comfortable. my eyes snapped open. Okay, I was in a bed, Riku's bed. That much I knew/remembered. I slid my eyes around.
Crap.
No, scratch that. Shit. Fuck. Fuck!
I was laying across Riku's chest, right arm curled up around his shoulder, left hand tucked beneath my head. I took a moment to thank whatever Deity happened to be listening that it was winter and we were both wearing tee- shirts and fuzzy pants. Because I knew for a fact that in the summer both of our bedtime outfits consisted of nothing more than boxer shorts, and I was pretty damn sure that if I were to wake up in such a situation I would have to spontaneously combust on the spot, just out of decency. As it were, I then proceeded to curse that same Deity that I happened to be the kind of child that instinctively snuggled up to anything warm while I slept.
I rolled my eyes up to look at Riku, I don't think he knew I was awake yet. He was staring at a fixed point on the wall, his cheeks tinged a slight pink (with embarrassment?), arms locked at his sides, and seemed to be the source of the hyperventilation. This confused me. If we were just friends, he'd either let me stay, or push me off. never making a big deal out of either. But if he liked me, then wouldn't he be pleased right now? Why was he acting like he was about to have a heart attack? Then it hit me. he /really/ didn't want me to know he liked me, or he was trying very hard not to. not to.
I sat up abruptly, startling him. I grinned a little too widely at him.
"Good morning Riku!" He stared at me for a moment, then cleared his throat and looked down.
"Uh, good morning, but, well.not really." I checked the clock. It was only 5:15?! We'd only been asleep for an hour and a half? I frowned. That meant I couldn't get up yet. I had to stay in bed and play this off.
"Oh.okay. Well, um, then 'Goodnight' again, I guess." I got as far away from him as possible on the mattress, turned my back and tried to look asleep.
*silence*
I grimaced. Okay, so I couldn't just act like I hadn't snuggled up to him.
"Sorry. About the snuggling. I. uh, well. "
"It's okay. You always used to do that. But it was when we were little and you were still afraid of the monsters under the bed." I heard him turn to face me. "Are you okay?"
I couldn't think of a thing to say, really. Was I subconsciously cuddling in a moment of fear? It was sweet of him to remember, and to worry. Especially after how I had treated him last night-uh, earlier this morning.
"I'm fine. Really."
"'Cause, you know. there can't be any monsters under my bed now. With the mattress on the floor. Unless they're, I dunno, really skinny monsters." I heard the smile in his voice and couldn't help but giggle a bit. "You sure you're okay?"
I half turned at looked at him over my shoulder. "I'm great. Thanks" I smiled at him then turned back around. Sleep. I would go back to sleep. And I would stay on my side of the bed this time. I shivered.
"Ah hah!" I was startled first by Riku's hushed exclamation, then startled a second time as his arms wrapped around my waist from behind. "You're cold! That's why you were snuggling! You're trying to leech heat off me!" he poked me playfully in the shoulder.
"No! I mean, it was just chills, I'm really fine-" He snuggled into the back of my neck.
"Sora?" a beat. Ba-dump, went my heart.
"Yeah?"
"Shut up and go to sleep, you know you like it."
Crappity crap crap crap. Apparently, with me 'making the first move' he felt more at ease to cuddle up to me. I had given him an excuse to do so. Wonderful. but. he /was/ warm. Oh, fine. It wasn't like I had agreed to marry him or anything, we were just sharing warmth on a cold night, like the good friends that. we. zzzzz
***
Well, chapter two up, what do you think? I did not get enough sleep last night, so that's where most of my attention went for this chapter. They're sooooo cute! And don't worry, they'll get more snuggly as the fic goes on. It just occurred to me that the plot is taking a slightly different turn then I had originally planned. Maybe I can still steer it in the right direction.
Author: Maho Kiwi
Rating: R. Language and implied themes.
Pairing: Sora x Riku
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is a valuable facet of Disney and Square and I thank them very much for (unknowingly) letting me borrow the boys for a bit.
A/N: I thank my five reviewers very much. Merry Christmas to them and I love them a lot. I fixed the thing about anonymous reviews. I'd /appreciate/ knowing who you are, but you can now tell me what you thought about my story without the fear of me most likely not knowing who you are anyway. ::wink:: My hands are very cold right now, so my typing is poor. Can't. make. fingers. move! Chapter two! Since Sora will be staying with Riku for a week, I plan on doing chapters by the weekdays. So. a seven chapter story I guess? And I know everybody else seems to think that because they live on an island it's pretty primitive, but for my story they have all the latest technology. Cars, TV ect. Kay?
***
Riku's house. Huge, impressive, intimidating. Doom.
I shook my head. No reason to go thinking thoughts like that! Just because he liked me didn't mean that he would do anything about it, if he was too shy to tell me he most definitely wouldn't try to jump me in my sleep. Innocent, pure little me.
Secretly I had always been rather jealous of Riku's house. I wouldn't say that we lived in the slums, but compared to Riku's neighborhood we did. Riku's dad had a very long and impressive job title, with about 18 extra letters following his name. (M.D, PH.D, SLC, YMCA ect.) I probably would have been even more jealous if not for the fact the Riku was on the verge of hating it. Especially when we were younger. He always wanted to come to my house, play on the floor, out back in the dirt. things I gathered he didn't get to do at home. Don't misunderstand; it wasn't a mansion with servants or anything, Riku's mom did all the cooking-and it wasn't always fancy stuff either-they cleaned the house themselves and the only had a two car garage, but it was still the biggest house in town, next to the mayor's of course.
I walked up the familiar path and was (pleasantly? Unpleasantly?) surprised at the door by Riku himself. He checked his wrist, then raised an eyebrow at me.
"Gee Sora, that took you about 10 minutes longer than /usual/ to get here, you get lost on the way or something?" he smiled and stepped aside to let me in.
"Are you implying that this whole 'parents-go-out-of-town-I'll-just-drop-by- Riku's-place' thing has gotten routine?" I slung my bag down on the floor by the door and smiled back. "I ran into Tidus on the way here, wanted to tell me something. And you know how Tidus is when he starts in on a story." I watched Riku for any sort of sign.
"Oh geez, thank goodness you made it at all, then." Not one twitch. Maybe Tidus was lying. No, that was stupid. But then, so was the notion that Riku might like me. Hmmm.
"Oh, Sora, you made it, welcome!" His mother breezed over, and managed to take my jacket, give me a light hug, pick up my bag, hang the jacket up, hand the bag to Riku and straighten my hair all in one fluid movement. Simply amazing. "Riku, show Sora up to your room, I'll put on some soup, it looks cold out there." His mother made a 'concerned face' as she looked out the window. Riku rolled his eyes dramatically.
"Mom, Sora /knows/ where my room is. He's over here more than I am. Stop acting like we haven't seen him in years." His mother frowned disapprovingly at him.
"Really, Riku. It never hurts to be mannerly, something you could learn from you friend." She put her hand on my shoulder, meaning me, I guessed. Was I more mannerly than Riku? I sincerely doubted that, and both mine and Riku's faces reflected that thought.
"Sure, whatever mom" he said, bemused. "C'mon then, Sora, I'll 'show you to my room.'" He started up the stairway, me trailing after him. We reached the top of the stairs and I mentally paced out the way to my friend's room. He was right. I knew this house almost as well as my own. Let's see, up the stairs- third from the top squeaks if you step too hard on the left side- down the hallway, past the outlet, first door after the bookcase-the fifth book would be tilted on it's side-end of the hall. Riku's room, in order with the rest of the house, was impressive. First off, it was massive. One giant room, with a high ceiling and a big window along the side. There was a great view of the ocean from this window, and while I got all the pretty sunsets from mine, Riku got stunning sunrises. His bed was huge too, but before you start thinking 'grand four-poster with headboard, silk sheets and feather pillows' style thoughts, let me remind you that this was Riku. His bed was simply the mattress and it's box springs set on the floor, with some standard cotton sheets on it. I'm sure his mother hated it, but it suited him well, and I never fell far if I fell off the edge. I was a clumsy child. Random 'extreme sports' type posters were tacked up on the walls, and there was a (jealousy!) big screen TV with VCR and a Gamestation X in the corner (we'd spent many nights up until the sun rose playing our favorite games on that thing, like Virtual Monopoly. I'm kidding.)
Riku tossed my bag on his bed and looked around. "So, how long are you here this time?" he smirked at me. Okay, so maybe I did stay at his house too often. "A week." He smiled.
"Great."
***
"So, Sora." Riku's mom handed me some crackers to go with my soup "Shall I put an extra mattress down for you, or will you two be okay in the one bed?" My heart ground to a stop. Crap. I had forgotten that part. We had always just slept in the same bed! My head spun, how to play this out? True, now that we were older, it probably wouldn't be unreasonable to request the extra bed, but then, both Riku and I were as skinny as rails and could easily fit on his bed, plus, since we always had before, would they think I was suddenly uneasy sharing a bed with Riku? What would Riku think about that? And of course, it would be extra work for his mother to haul the extra mattress out and whichever option I picked, I had better hurry up and say something because they're sure to notice the lag in response time and-
"The one bed is fine" I smiled at her, my heart sinking. She nodded and moved away to fetch some Kool-aid. Out of the corner of my eye, I swear I saw Riku grin. Crap. Crap. Crap.
***
"Crap!"
I slammed the controller down on the ground as Riku grinned at me.
"Best 24 of 47?" He asked, hitting the Restart button and wagging my controller in front of my face.
"I hate you." I ground out between clenched teeth.
"Naw, you don't. You hate that I beat you at /everything/, but you don't hate Me." He wasn't even looking at me, concentrating on starting up another round of virtual carnage for us to play.
"I beat you once. Twice." I muttered through injured pride. He stopped what he was doing and stared at me, hurt splashed across his face. I winced guiltily. He wasn't supposed to hear that. He was sorry and I knew it.
"Riku. " I started. I was cut off, though, as he abruptly leaned forward and switched the system off.
"What say we just go to bed? I'm kinda-" he faked a yawn in the middle of his sentence "Kinda tired" he looked over at his clock, glowing on the wall: 3:47 a.m. He stood and made his way over to the bed.
"Riiiku. " I half-pleaded. Now I felt bad. He waved and hand at me as he pulled up the covers.
"Forget it. It's fine." He said with an air of casualness that, in my opinion, was way overdone. I stood and walked to the other side of the bed, plopping down on my knees and looking at him.
"No, listen. " Again, he cut me off.
"Really, it's okay, you're right, you have beaten me before. Goodnight." And with that, he turned his back on me and snuggled into his blankets. Slowly, and with no small amount of guilt, I eased under the covers, trying as hard as possible to have no noticeable effect on the condition of the bed. I gave up, with the sad realization that I did have body mass, and wrapped my half of the blankets around me. Back to back with Riku, with about 2 feet of air space between us I realized (happily?) that there was very little chance he would get any closer. He probably would pout/be angry with me for the rest of my visit. Great. Way to go, King Big Mouth. Let's just insult him and dredge up painful history while we stay at his house, shall we? I mentally slapped myself around, then-realizing that this was not punishment enough-I conjured up an image of Riku to mentally kick the crap out of me. Nothing is more humiliating that being beaten inside your own head, I decided.
"Sora."
I froze.
"Yeah, Riku?" Would he be mad?
"You're twitching."
". oh. Sorry." I lay as still as I could and tried to concentrate on sleeping, guilt eating away at me.
***
Quick, shallow breathing, like. hyperventilation? Warm though, comfortable. my eyes snapped open. Okay, I was in a bed, Riku's bed. That much I knew/remembered. I slid my eyes around.
Crap.
No, scratch that. Shit. Fuck. Fuck!
I was laying across Riku's chest, right arm curled up around his shoulder, left hand tucked beneath my head. I took a moment to thank whatever Deity happened to be listening that it was winter and we were both wearing tee- shirts and fuzzy pants. Because I knew for a fact that in the summer both of our bedtime outfits consisted of nothing more than boxer shorts, and I was pretty damn sure that if I were to wake up in such a situation I would have to spontaneously combust on the spot, just out of decency. As it were, I then proceeded to curse that same Deity that I happened to be the kind of child that instinctively snuggled up to anything warm while I slept.
I rolled my eyes up to look at Riku, I don't think he knew I was awake yet. He was staring at a fixed point on the wall, his cheeks tinged a slight pink (with embarrassment?), arms locked at his sides, and seemed to be the source of the hyperventilation. This confused me. If we were just friends, he'd either let me stay, or push me off. never making a big deal out of either. But if he liked me, then wouldn't he be pleased right now? Why was he acting like he was about to have a heart attack? Then it hit me. he /really/ didn't want me to know he liked me, or he was trying very hard not to. not to.
I sat up abruptly, startling him. I grinned a little too widely at him.
"Good morning Riku!" He stared at me for a moment, then cleared his throat and looked down.
"Uh, good morning, but, well.not really." I checked the clock. It was only 5:15?! We'd only been asleep for an hour and a half? I frowned. That meant I couldn't get up yet. I had to stay in bed and play this off.
"Oh.okay. Well, um, then 'Goodnight' again, I guess." I got as far away from him as possible on the mattress, turned my back and tried to look asleep.
*silence*
I grimaced. Okay, so I couldn't just act like I hadn't snuggled up to him.
"Sorry. About the snuggling. I. uh, well. "
"It's okay. You always used to do that. But it was when we were little and you were still afraid of the monsters under the bed." I heard him turn to face me. "Are you okay?"
I couldn't think of a thing to say, really. Was I subconsciously cuddling in a moment of fear? It was sweet of him to remember, and to worry. Especially after how I had treated him last night-uh, earlier this morning.
"I'm fine. Really."
"'Cause, you know. there can't be any monsters under my bed now. With the mattress on the floor. Unless they're, I dunno, really skinny monsters." I heard the smile in his voice and couldn't help but giggle a bit. "You sure you're okay?"
I half turned at looked at him over my shoulder. "I'm great. Thanks" I smiled at him then turned back around. Sleep. I would go back to sleep. And I would stay on my side of the bed this time. I shivered.
"Ah hah!" I was startled first by Riku's hushed exclamation, then startled a second time as his arms wrapped around my waist from behind. "You're cold! That's why you were snuggling! You're trying to leech heat off me!" he poked me playfully in the shoulder.
"No! I mean, it was just chills, I'm really fine-" He snuggled into the back of my neck.
"Sora?" a beat. Ba-dump, went my heart.
"Yeah?"
"Shut up and go to sleep, you know you like it."
Crappity crap crap crap. Apparently, with me 'making the first move' he felt more at ease to cuddle up to me. I had given him an excuse to do so. Wonderful. but. he /was/ warm. Oh, fine. It wasn't like I had agreed to marry him or anything, we were just sharing warmth on a cold night, like the good friends that. we. zzzzz
***
Well, chapter two up, what do you think? I did not get enough sleep last night, so that's where most of my attention went for this chapter. They're sooooo cute! And don't worry, they'll get more snuggly as the fic goes on. It just occurred to me that the plot is taking a slightly different turn then I had originally planned. Maybe I can still steer it in the right direction.