*is goo* Oi, I know I say it at the beginning of almost every chapter of anything, but all of you are so kind! *sob* I need to think of some way to thank you all... hmm... I'll get to it shortly. ^^ In the meantime, I'd like to first thank everyone for accepting that hint of yuri in the last chapters. I'm glad people caught on that Rikku and Paine's relationship is supposed to sort of mirror that of Sora and Riku's at the beginning, but eventually both relationships go their own happily separate ways.
In this chapter, we see severe evidence that Sora is an extremely dependent individual. ...And just downright stubborn.
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One for the Band - Chapter Four
'Crime and Punishment'
Riku was at a complete loss of what to do. His supposed 'girlfriend' was whining and bitching to him about being drenched in milk, his best friend just appeared to have his heart broken, and Riku's mind was going into overdrive trying to make a list of priorities for the poor boy. On top of it all, Paine looked about ready to kill him. Sora might have punched him, but one look at the older girl's icy glare warned the silver haired boy off and he wordlessly stormed off into the boy's bathroom outside of the cafeteria.
Paine, however, wasn't done. She wasn't willing to humiliate Riku in front of everyone (as much as she believed he deserved it, Sora probably wouldn't like the whole idea) and followed right behind Riku, snapping at anyone who tried to prevent her from setting foot in the boy's bathroom.
"What the hell are you doing here? Can't you tell this is the--"
"Oh honestly, Riku! Do I look like I care?!"
Riku dampened a paper towel and silently began dabbing at his milk-covered torso. The older girl glared at an approaching freshman, who squeaked and hurried out of the bathroom, not even bothering to wonder what a girl was doing in there in the first place. Taking several deep breaths, Paine closed her eyes and counted backwards from ten before she began speaking again, this time in a much more controlled tone.
"Why did you do it, Riku? Do you know how much you mean to him?"
Riku scoffed and pitched the damp paper towel into the trash can in the corner of the restroom, clenching both fists as he wheeled around to face Paine. "Why did I do it? What, go out with Quistis?" Narrowing his eyes, Riku realized there was no way out of not sounding childish in his next thought. Nonetheless, he made a decent effort. "You, Paine. You just waltzed right in there like you were the queen of the world or something and..." Riku didn't want to continue, couldn't continue, without making himself come off as even more of an idiot.
"You think I stole Sora from you?"
"YES! Honestly, it's like you guys are a fucking couple or something! You're always around him!"
"Riku, you are the highest class of moron in existence." Paine let out a deep sigh before continuing, almost sounding tired and worn out from having to deal with Riku's own upset state as well as worry about Sora. She hoped that someone had been able to track him down after he'd run out of the cafeteria and that he wasn't crying all alone somewhere. In a fleeting though, she wondered if Riku was having the same concerns, if not greater ones. Finally opening her mouth to continue speaking, Paine's voice was quieter, though no less intimidating that it had been originally. "And do you know why you're such a moron, Riku?"
Sensing a lecture coming on, Riku did his best to prepare himself. Though unsure of what he was about to hear from Paine, he had a feeling it was going to be just a little painful...
"I'm not interesting in boys, Riku. I've got a girlfriend now, or did you fail to notice that, too?" Paine couldn't help but narrow her eyes as she said those last words, astounded that Riku could be so oblivious to the world around him when he was upset over something. "And Sora came to me only because he felt you wouldn't understand! You didn't have to push him away, but you did, Riku. You threw him away like used garbage when you saw his attentions weren't on you twenty-four-seven and now all you've got to show for it is a whorish girlfriend you don't even like, and a best friend lost.
"You weren't there on Friday night. You. Weren't. There. It's not my fault or Sora's that he turned to me instead, that's just how Sora works. In case you didn't notice this either, that boy is, or at least was, totally devoted to you... He's doing color guard because you told him to, isn't he? Sora would probably jump off a cliff for you, but from the look of things, you wouldn't bother to catch him."
Every one of Paine's cold words burned into Riku's mind and he couldn't manage to get a hold of a strong argument he could use in his defense. He had nothing. Unable to do anything but listen, Riku felt about ready to just explode from the sudden surge of self-loathing he was building up for himself. He didn't deserve Sora... Riku knew then that he probably couldn't ever understand how much he had hurt his best friend, the one who had stuck with him longer then anyone. The one person who would walk off the edge of the world for Riku.
And Riku, the one who pushed him away.
"Well what do you want me to do about it?!" Riku growled in desperation. "You're right okay? Everything, everything, it's all right! I'm wrong, I know I am, but what do you want me to do, Paine? What can I do?"
Both were silent for several long minutes which seemed to drag themselves out to hour-length. The only sound in the boys' bathroom was the steady dripping noise from on of the not-quite-functioning faucets of the sinks, the bathroom otherwise taking on an almost tomb-like feel to it.
"You can go fix things."
She made it sound so simple.
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Paine was surprised to see Sora appear at guard practice that afternoon after school. She and Rikku had made themselves comfortable waiting for the rest of the girls to show up, and Paine had secretly been hoping that Sora would have taken the afternoon off. No matter how much he may have tried to hide it, the younger boy had been crying and his mood only seemed to plummet further as Quistis appeared on the blacktop, signaling for everyone to gather around her.
Avoiding looking at Sora, Quistis addressed the entire color guard in a cold, hard voice. "Okay. Today we're doing something different. Older girls should group up with the younger kids and we'll have some closer knit practices. I'll be coming around to see how everyone's doing and giving each group a new move to work on." She paused, and added as a last note, "And Cid will be dropping by within the hour to see how things are progressing. Don't embarrass me."
The color guard divided up evenly between Kairi, Selphie, and Sora, Quistis strolled off to the side to survey them all with a cold stare.
Looking blearily up at Rikku, Yuffie, and Paine, Sora realized that it probably would have been wise of him to fake sick and just take the day off. The last thing he felt like doing was spinning the flag, however at the same time he hoped it might help take his mind off things, even though color guard would never be able to solve his problems. Any break from what he was feeling right then would be heaven.
"So, when do I get permission to his her in the head with a brick?" Rikku asked darkly under her breath, obviously meaning Quistis. Yuffie snickered and Paine merely elbowed the girl in the ribs before the three girls again turned their attention to Sora, Yuffie speaking up first.
"Well I can't see how you need our help in the first place. Paine told me about the little practice sessions you guys have all on your own, so I don't even see why you come to practice in the first place!" Yuffie grinned, then paused before continuing. "Come to think of it, I can't see why we come to practice in the first place. Rikku, Paine, any ideas?" The short haired girl asked, turning to the other two girls.
"Because there are obviously things that Paine can't teach him."
Raising her eyebrows, Yuffie turned around yet again, this time finding herself face to face with Quistis. Obviously, the captain had seen better days both emotionally and... hygienically. Really, Quistis seemed to let off a faint smell of old milk. Both Yuffie and Rikku did their best to keep from scowling Quistis as she approached Paine and Sora, though her eyes were focused on Paine.
"I think you can try doing the Holder Toss, Sora."
Holder Toss? It's just a stupid toss...
Quistis continued, a smirk playing across her face. "I think Paine can show you, can't you, Paine? Or do you not remember it from freshman year, mm?"
Paine folded her arms, though her facial expression didn't change at all. Behind Quistis, Rikku looked about ready to hit the older captain in front of her, but held herself in check. Tilting her head to the side, Paine shrugged as she addressed Quistis.
"I could never do that one, Quistis. You know that."
Seemingly delighted in hearing her rival admit her own failure, Quistis nodded and smiled sweetly, turning to Sora, who had unconsciously narrowed his eyes at the harsh captain. He had another growing feeling that this wasn't going to be good, especially when several of the other girls began to look over. Paine and Quistis being the only ones of the senior class, it wasn't like there was someone Sora could go to help for. If Paine couldn't do it...
"Alright, Sora. You're so good and all, I'll demonstrate and you do it after me. M'kay?" Yep, when Quistis talked that sweetly to him of all people, Sora just knew things were going to go from bad to worse in several seconds flat. Quistis took the practice flag Sora had held loosely in his hand and walked several paces away from the others, tucking a loose strand of blond hair behind her ear.
With her left hand holding the pole where the bottom of the flag met it and her right hand resting on the bottom of the flag, Sora caught a small smirk of triumph from Quistis before she began the holder toss, all the while trying to make frantic notes in his mind as to what he was supposed to do for this toss. Left hand on top, right hand on bottom... With a flick of her right risk, the flag popped out of both hands, flipping up into the air in a perfect spin. Quistis sat down on the warm blacktop before smoothly leaning back to lie on the ground as the flag flew back towards the ground, picking up the speed from gravity. Oh... shit. Sora automatically saw that the flag would impale him if he didn't manage to get it into a proper spin and tried to keep the expression of worry off of his face. As a completion to the move, Quistis flipping the flag horizontally so that is rested across her waist, before pulling herself back up into a sitting position and doing a smooth somersault, flag still intact. In one fluent moment, she rolled out of the somersault and back to a standing position.
Sora gawked at the girl in front of him who stood there waiting expectantly for him to try it. Everything Quistis had done had been perfect and Sora couldn't even see a glimmer of hope for him as he took the flag Quistis handed him as she walked off to the side with the rest of the girls.
Licking his lips nervously, Sora managed to mimic Quistis' starting stance. Well... There's always the hope that things won't get any worse after this... But somehow Sora doubted that very much as he flicked his bottom wrist, watching the flag pop up into the air. Time seemed to slow down to a crawl as Sora watched the flag move up into the air and begin its spin... But it wasn't complete before gravity had already began taking effect and pulling the flag down to earth.
Knowing that the toss was already failed, but unable to just give up that easily, Sora quickly laid down on the blacktop (or at least, as quickly as the seemingly sluggish time frame was letting him) and nervously looked to catch the falling flag. Eyes widening, the natural instincts in Sora's mind kicked in, shouting orders like mad at him. There is a falling object headed straight for you! What sort of idiot are you?! If you were dumb enough and totally unskilled, this thing could knock you unconscious! Sure enough, the flag hadn't been able to make a complete rotation, and the tip of the pole was headed straight for Sora's chest. MOVE!
Sora gasped as he frantically rolled off to the side, the metal pole hitting the ground where he had been only seconds before with a sharp clang. Time had sped up back to normal, Sora nearly shaking with worry that somehow another flag would come falling down out of the sky towards him. Everyone around him was in sullen quiet, Paine trying to keep her own frustration in check as Rikku linked their arms together and looked worriedly up at the older girl. Quistis spoke first, her voice cold but still seeming to glow with triumph.
"Try again, Sora."
And Sora tried again. And again, and again, and again. This was the last thing the boy needed on top of everything else that had happened to him that day and several time Paine snapped at Quistis to stop making him do it, but each time Sora wouldn't. If he could show Quistis he could do this, if he could prove it to himself, maybe that would make up for everything else that seemed to be falling downhill. No one tried to stop him, although Paine looked just about stretched to the end of her rope, she was waiting. What the hell are you waiting for, Paine! Make me stop! Sure enough, Sora's body continued to scream in protest, both from the bruises it had acquired during multiple attempts at the toss as well as the constant fear of a metal object falling down on him from above.
It must have been the tenth try at the toss for Sora. Nearly growling in determination as he flipped the flag up into the air, he flew smoothly down onto the ground before realizing with a heavy heart that the flag would still be nowhere close enough to making a full rotation, even worse off then he had been the very first time he had attempted the toss. Why can't I do this?! Sora's mind was trying to think of what he did wrong when it should have been telling him to move out of the way of the falling flag, again pointed straight towards his body...
Realizing what he'd been doing a little too late, Sora moved to duck away from the flag, only to find that it wasn't falling anymore. An outstretched hand had caught the flag two feet from Sora's body as the spiky haired boy sighed in relief. Wondering who it was who had finally decided to put an end to the torture he was putting himself through, Sora painfully sat up and peered around the flag, only to find a familiar silver haired boy holding the flag steady.
And Riku did not look happy.
Placing the flag on the ground, Riku's brilliant eyes narrowed into a glare thrown in Quistis' direction, causing the captain to wince as though she knew at that moment what was about to come hurtling out of the boy's mouth. Riku spoke as calmly as he was able to force himself to do, though his voice was no less icy then his glare.
"What the hell are you doing to him, Quistis? This is total suicide if he doesn't know what he's doing beforehand!" Glancing around Riku's form, not only did Sora notice that the rest of the color guard was trying to keep small smiles from their faces, but Sora also so the band director, Cid, standing in front of them with his thick arms crossed. Though he obviously wasn't quite as angry as Riku, the man didn't look too pleased all the same.
Cid then took Quistis aside and had a small talk with her as the rest of the girls departed, considering that day's practice over and done with. After looking over at Riku and Sora, Paine gave them a small nod before leaving the blacktop along with Rikku, leaving only Sora, Riku, and Quistis as the band director finished his conversation with her and also disappeared into the school building. Looking over at the two boys, Quistis glared at Sora. Though the girl hadn't lost her position as captain, she'd received a warning she would rather not have even gotten in the first place, and Sora inwardly knew that Quistis was going to get her revenge, even if it wasn't as obvious as the previous time.
"In case you didn't notice, Quistis, I think this pretty much clarify things. Whatever meager little thing we had going is over. Think twice before taking advantage of your position as captain again." Riku turned to leave a raging Quistis in his wake and Sora, not knowing what else to do, followed.
Once the two boys had left the school grounds, Sora having picked up his practice flag and backpack, it was obvious they were going to Sora's house, having missed the turn off onto Riku's street. Both Sora and Riku were silent for quite some time, neither wanting to really be the first one to start up a conversation. For one thing, part of Sora was still angry at Riku for having done all that to him in the first place, but he realized that he still loved Riku and that he wanted to do nothing more then just forgive his friend and hug every last breath out of the older boy, having had such a miserable day.
Riku, meanwhile, was afraid he would say something wrong. He didn't want to expect anything from Sora, for as Paine as said to him before she had left the boys' bathroom that afternoon, he didn't deserve it. And although he thought what Paine said was absolutely true, he couldn't tell this to Sora for worry that it might look like he was begging which... well, was just completely going against his ethics. Thankfully, it was Sora who spoke first, his innocent voice nearly making Riku sigh with relief. For a while there, he'd though he would never hear Sora speak decently towards him ever again.
"I'm still mad at you, ya know." Granted, Riku could have wished for a better message, but hey. It was still something.
"I know. And I probably can't say I'm sorry enough times to make up for it..." Riku paused, trying to think of what else to say. Yes, it was true, he probably couldn't say he was sorry enough, but that still didn't change the fact that Riku was sorry. "Okay, how can I make it up to you, Sora? I'll do anything you want, just tell me and I'll do it!" It was like the bets they'd used to make when they were little. 'If you win, I'll do whatever you tell me to do for an entire day, and if I win, you have to do whatever I say!' Riku almost snickered at how childish he probably sounded, but he was too busy listening and waiting for Sora's answer.
Sora, meanwhile, found that he was quickly slipping back into his old nature, already thinking of what exactly he could ask for from Riku. Anything he wanted from the older boy? Well, that could be pretty interesting... Sora eventually dug his mind out of the gutter, feeling rather stupid at ever having thought some of those things in the first place. Yes, if he had the guts to do so, he'd ask for Riku to kiss him or at least tell him how he felt about the younger boy. But Sora was too afraid of what Riku's reaction would be, and eventually came to the conclusion that forcing that kind of thing out of Riku would not only be awkward, but probably not very sincere either. So instead, Sora thought of something that would work out perfectly without revealing his feelings for the silver haired boy walking alongside him.
"Okay. Tell me what I can get you for your birthday."
Riku's eyebrow furrowed together in concentration, not really having expected that demand from Sora. Hmm, it has to be something simple. ...Heh, I could always ask for a hug. ...But that would just be stupid. While Riku thought the question over, Sora looked at the ground, looked at his sneakers, looked at everything but Riku for fear of him babbling out, 'Wait, wait, I take it back! Just kiss me you moron! Then it'll all be okay!' Assuring himself that his hormones were definitely out of whack, Sora only looked up after Riku had spoken.
"How about your forgiveness?"
"Huh?" Sora cocked his head to the side in confusion.
"Just forgive me for being such an ass and we'll call it even."
That didn't seem like a very good gift as far as Sora was concerned. He had planned on forgiving Riku anyway over time, but if it was what Riku really wanted...
"...Hm...Okay! Consider yourself forgiven, Riku." Sora shot his older friend a brilliant grin, more then happy to give Riku his forgiveness.
Riku let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd even been holding in the first place. Thank god that Sora would never change from his innocent, carefree self. He wouldn't be able to live with any other kind of Sora. It was like nothing had ever happened as they continued down the street towards Sora's house, Riku just happy to be in the younger boy's company and to know that his best friend would keep being his best friend, even though Riku probably wouldn't have been nearly as forgiving if he were in Sora's place.
As Riku and Sora drew closer to Sora's house, Riku grabbed Sora's arm, pulling him back for a moment. Sora blinked and looked up at his friend in surprise, his mind jolting into overdrive. "Riku, wha--"
"Why are you always so damn sweet?"
Sora blinked rapidly, not quite grasping the fact that the person he wanted more then anyone in the world had just called him sweet. Riku smiled down at his younger friend before pulling him into a hug, his face pressed against the soft mass of hair, Sora's head tucked against his neck. Running a hand teasingly along Sora's back, Riku chuckled softly (Sora meanwhile was absolutely at a loss for words and actions) before pulling out of the hug.
"Just checking for wings, Sora."
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A Note on the Holder Toss:
Yep, I did this one! The reason it's in this fic is because that was the move everyone had trouble with, even our captain. I thought it'd fit in here well, especially seeing as it's so easy to get injured when you have a flag hurling down towards your body. Though Sora is supposed to be quite good at guard due to his extra practice sessions, he never practiced the Holder Toss or anything like it. Even the way you hold the flag in the beginning is totally off the board as far as any other toss is concerned, so Quistis picked it out because she knew Sora wouldn't be able to do it without Paine's help. Paine could never do the move, so naturally she was unable to help Sora. (Note: This does not mean Paine or anyone else unable to do that toss is bad at guard. I know several seniors who couldn't do the toss, but are just downright amazing otherwise! XD)
I'm not sure if any other high schools do the move, since our band director named it after himself (Mr. Holder) and we've been the only ones to use it. But every bit of the move is completely from real life, and if you think it's easy... well, get a flag and try doing it. The only problem I have with writing the move is that it's just plain hard to write. ^^ Hope my random clip of guard-geekyness didn't bore you to tears too much!
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Sora's forgiveness of Riku might seem a little fast, but I always thought of Sora as being a generally forgiving person since he's so innocent to begin with. ; Anyway, I wish this chapter were a bit longer, but it is six pages. Besides, the next chapter will probably be... quite long. XP In the next chapter, both Riku's birthday and color guard tryouts are approaching and Sora gets invited to a little party.
As always, thanks for reading!
~Ori