Well, for those of you who downloaded 'Local Gods' and were like, "What the heck is this?!"  I warned you.  ^^;  It really isn't a good song, but I used it anyway.  *nods*  Obviously, there was no snow day on Friday and my excuse for not having this chapter up on Sunday like I'd planned is this: paopu t-shirts.  Yes, I spent my Saturday making paopu t-shirts with my friend before we both were shipped off to the Progressive Dinner for band.  Much fun was had, though I got no homework done, leaving it all for Sunday.  So concludes Ori's misadventures and reasons for the late update.  *bows*

            Righto, so in this chapter you not only get more Riku/Sora fun, but you also get an important moment between Sora and his mom.  More info on Sora's dad and hintage at things to come.  Enjoy!

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One for the Band - Chapter Nine

'Fences to Mend'

            Sora opened the door to his house as silently as possible, poking his head in and looking around to see if Bryna was lurking in a dark corner somewhere, waiting to surprise her son, waving the broken-curfew banner.  Sora's excuse?  Well, he didn't have a watch and most of his attention was focused on the dance/dance partner of the evening, so naturally the spiky haired punk-bunny had no idea that midnight had come and gone.  ...Somehow, Sora figured he'd need a better excuse to get past his mother.

            Grinning as he set his backpack on the floor before quietly tiptoeing up the stairs, Sora tried to relive every moment of the night before, leading up to that very morning.  The kissing, the dancing, the grinding (which still surprised Sora), Riku's lips--  Creak.  Oops.  Sora looked down at the top stair he was now standing on, praying it wouldn't have been enough to disturb Bryna.  Generally, she was a heavy sleeper, but if something like a missing son who was supposed to have been home by midnight was on her mind, then she tended to be the exact opposite.  Hmpf, she's probably too distracted by how her own stupid date went to bother caring about where I am anyway.  Sora inwardly winced at his own thoughts, knowing that they really weren't true, but still thinking them up anyway as he quickly continued to creep towards his room.  Letting out a deep breath he hadn't realized he'd even been holding, Sora closed the door quietly behind him and moved to turn on the lights.

            "Phew, made---  AHH!" Sora shrieked, having turned around into his room only to find Bryna sitting primly on his bed, glowering at him.

            "Where have you been, Sora?"  Bryna narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms as she addressed her son.  Not giving him the chance to respond, she sighed and continued.  "What's wrong, Baby?  You haven't been talking to me much lately...  I miss you."

            Sora gulped trying to keep from crumbling into a pile of guilt on his bedroom floor.  No, he hadn't really been on normal speaking terms with Bryna since she'd started dating that guy.  Sora was never ever one to hold a grudge, his upbeat attitude usually getting the better of him in all situations, but... Sora was disturbed to find that he didn't even want to forgive his mother for just abandoning him like that.  But looking at Bryna as she was now, just a worried mother who'd been waiting for her only son to get back home all night long, Sora wanted to talk to her like he used to. 

            "Nothing..."

            "Sora..."  Bryna half-smiled, patting the bed next to her.  "Come here."  Still being his mother's son, Sora obeyed, sitting glumly next to her on his bed, looking at his feet.  Several minutes passed between the two in silence before Bryna finally spoke up, her voice surprisingly soft compare to her usual bubbly tone.

            "I know that me going out with other guys isn't what you want, Sora.  I know that..."  Sora wished his mom would stop talking since all it was doing was weighing him down with guilt.  Literally, he felt like he was sinking deeper into the mattress from the piles and piles of the stuff he found resting on his shoulders.  But Bryna continued nonetheless.  "I like this guy, Sora.  He's fun to be with and he likes me too.  I want you to meet him sometime, but not now."  Bryna paused, a small smile coming to rest on her lips.  Sora tried to focus as hard as he could on his shoes, switching to idly fiddling with the oversized pocket watch he still had hanging around his neck from the costume.

            "...I remember the first time I met your father I thought, 'This is the one, Bryna!  This is him, this is him!  This is who I've been waiting for!'  And we did love each other... very much.  And you were born and we both loved you so much more, and we still do.  Just because our love for each other isn't there anymore doesn't mean we'll ever forget you, Baby.  Don't ever think you'll be forgotten."  Bryna looked down at her son who had stopped looking so intently at his shoes, his cerulean eyes now closed to the world.

            "I'm sorry, Mom," he murmured.  It seemed pretty stupid then, how he'd been so furious at Bryna just for going out with some guy.  Even though he was sorry and willing to admit that how he'd acted was wrong, Sora couldn't help but wonder-- Mentally shaking his head, the boy pushed his thoughts and questions to the side.

            Bryna smiled, enveloping Sora in a warm hug only a mother can give, the boy gratefully accepting her embrace.  "Missed you, Sora."  Mother and son sat there in a warmer silence after that, not the unnerving one that had lingered in the air earlier.  Finally, Sora's mother chuckled.  "So how was your dance?  Meet someone special, huh?"

            Sora grinned.  "How'd you know?"

            "You were glowing when you walked through the door!  So tell me, is Riku everything you ever, ever wanted?"

            "And more."

            "More is always good."

            "Yeah... But Riku's great."

            "You're so predictable, Sora."

~~~~~~~

            Clink!

            Sora frowned, knitting his eyebrows together, though his eyes were still closed.  Through his half asleep mind, Sora figured that he'd only been asleep a few hours... No harm in adding a few more to the record.  Curling his blankets and sheets tighter around his slim body, Sora began to roll over, only to find his mouth suddenly covered by a warm soft hand.  Okay, he was definitely wide awake now.

            "Shh, Sora, it's just me."  Sora almost let out a huge sigh of relief right then.  It was just Riku... here he'd been thinking it was some sort of cereal killer come to carve out his intestines and use them as a jump rope or something.  Wait, Riku?  Instantly, Sora's heart jumped back into its quick pace again, Sora unable to keep himself from wondering why it was that Riku just happened to have crawled into the younger boy's room at, oh, four in the morning?  As Riku removed his hand carefully from Sora's mouth, Sora shifted around in his bed to face Riku, who obviously had made his way into Sora's room through the window, which was hanging partway open. 

            "Riku?  Wha...?"

            "I couldn't sleep.  Wanna take a walk?"  Sora smiled in the dark, the only light being that of the fading moon as it hung low in the sky behind Riku and out the window. 

            "Sure."  Riku gave the younger boy one of his rare smiles before accompanying him out the window and onto the railing of the porch below, Sora never having realized how easy the railing made it to gain access to his room.  The thought in itself was somewhat unnerving, but the fact that no one other then Riku had ever used the method of getting into Sora's room reassured him.  Riku would always be the one to think of the clever things like that. 

            The two boys walked away from Sora's house, blindly headed towards the island's coastline.  Sora walked along beside the taller silver haired youth, hands in the pockets of the hoodie he'd pulled on before slipping out the window.  Closing his eyes, Sora did what many people failed to realize he always did.  Sora thought.

            More then anything, he felt he wanted Riku to tell Sora how he felt about him, rather then leaving him in the dark like that to wonder.  Surely if the older boy cared as much as-- But Sora's thoughts were cut off by yet another question he proposed to himself.  If the older cared about Sora as much as Sora cared about him, wouldn't he tell Sora?  But then again, Sora hadn't told Riku how he'd felt about him... Did that mean that Sora didn't care about Riku enough?  That thought alone was enough to put Sora in a near panic stricken state, suddenly wanting to turn and run back to his house, burrowing himself back into his bed.  He didn't care about Riku enough to tell him how he felt?  Before Sora had a chance to really start worrying himself about his thoughts, Riku spoke up.

            "Sora?... I, uh... I have to tell you something."

           Oh no, he's gonna say he hates me and he's disgusted by me or... "Haha, Sora!  You should've seen your face, what a funny joke..."  Sora winced, turning to face the older boy.  Suddenly, Riku grinned.

            "Well, I hate to tell you this, Sora, but your mom's decided to marry five men!"

            Sora's eyes widened.  "Whaat???"

            "Yep!  Not only is she doing that, but she's also given your dad legal custody of you.  You'll be moving up to the mainland first thing tomorrow morning!  Oh, not to mention the fact that Paine and Rikku broke up over a disagreement about what color pen Paine should use to write in her notebook, some rabid duck stole all the flags off the color guard poles, and also, Bruno ate your feet."  Riku pointed down at Sora's feet.  Or rather, the lack thereof.  "See?  Oh yeah, and before I forget, Quistis and I are back together!  We've found that we really do have a lot in common and love each other very much.  On top of that, we have big plans for having lots of sex and babies in the fu--""

            "Good morning, Sora!"

            Sora's eyes snapped open, peering up into his mother's face.  "Agh!!!  MOM!!!"  Sora shook his head before gaping at her.  "Why are you marrying five men???"

            Bryna blinked down at her son before bursting into laughter, clutching her sides.  "Oh so that's what you were dreaming about?  I heard you talking to yourself in your sleep... Some babble about pens, feet, and legal custody, so I figured I'd better come in a wake you up before any of it got too out of hand.  ...Not that I really think it would be possible for--"

           Sora sat up in his bed, the covers which had previously been draped over him falling down to his waist.  "Wait, okay, so you're not getting married to five guys?"

            "No!"

            "Not even to one guy?"
            "No, Sora.  Dreeeam.  Need I say it again?"  Bryna ruffled her son's messy hair with one hand before moving across his room to open the curtains of a window, sunlight pouring through.  Dusting off her hands, Sora's mother grinned and walked back out of his room.  "I'm making chocolate chip pancakes this morning!  Up and at 'em, Sora!  Don't forget to look for your feet in that pig pen you so lovingly call a room!"

            "WHAT?!"  Sora whipped off the covers, though was relieved to find both feet still intact and fully mobile.  Scowling at Bryna's fading laughter from down the hallway, Sora flopped back down onto his bed for a few more moments, staring up at the ceiling.  So all that was a dream?  I guess loud music and dirty dancing does weird things to people...  Sighing, Sora dragged himself out of bed, pulling on a pair of old jeans with holes ripped into the knees as well as the small black t-shirt Rikku had given him.  After pulling on his shoes, the spiky haired teen jogged down the stairs, stuffed one pancake in his mouth, grabbing two with his other hand as he then made his way out the front door.
            "Hey, where do you think you're going?  What about an actual breakfast?"  Bryna peered around the corner of the hallway, looking at her son in puzzlement.  She'd hoped that last night he'd gotten over any sulky feelings he'd had towards her...

            Sora chewed the pancake in his mouth, swallowing hurriedly and nearly choking in the process.  "Sorry, Mom, gotta run to the beach!"  Sora had to find out just how much of the night before had been a dream.  Bryna stood blinking at the closed door several seconds before chuckling to herself, turning back to her own plate of steaming hot pancakes.

            "Sora, Sora, Sora... You're such a crazy kid."

            Said crazy kid made his way through a thin copse of trees while polishing off the last of his chocolate chip pancakes, emerging on the other side to find himself looking out on the island's coast.  Grinning, he also spotted the familiar crowd of Kairi, Selphie, Wakka, and Tidus, who had all made a habit of meeting up at the beach on Sundays, ever since they all were little kids.  Though the tradition had been every Sunday of every week, they'd decided to switch it to the first Sunday of every month, just to allow time for sports, clubs, and anything else that might come up in their lives as teenagers.  Sora's grin widened as he saw Riku standing amongst the crowd, his back to where Sora was standing, talking to Tidus and Wakka as the two boys passed a blitzball lazily back and forth, Kairi and Selphie lounging around in the glistening white sands of the beach.  Selphie looked up from her conversation with Kairi and waved to Sora, calling him over happily.  Waving back, Sora jogged over to the group of teenagers, wondering why he was having trouble forcing himself to make eye contact with Riku.

            Looking at the sand... Looking at Selphie who was babbling about tomorrow's practice session with the marching band... Looking at the blitzball now lying forgotten on the beach... Shoes, Tidus, Kairi, Selphie, Wakka, sky, water... Hmm, okay, looking at Riku.... now!  Shoes.  Again.  Grr.  Now!  Sora glanced down at his nails.  Well, if the others hadn't noticed his nervousness by then, the nail-glance definitely did it.

            "Sora, you okay?"  Riku looked down at the younger boy with mock-concern.  Riku would have to have been a complete idiot not to notice Sora's sudden timid nature which seemed to be radiating off the younger boy.  Again, Riku had wished they'd been able to spend a bit more time together the night before, but the sudden realization that Sora's mother was going to kill him for being late had put an all too abrupt stop to the evening, not giving the boys the chance to clear things up between them.  As far as Riku was concerned, however, that just gave them an excuse to do it all over again.

            "Yeah, you look kinda funny, Sora."  Selphie cocked her head to the side and peered up at him, frowning slightly.  "Maybe it's just too much sun too soon after ya woke up?"

            Kairi nodded in agreement, also turning her gaze to look up at Sora before even allowing the boy a chance to disagree with Selphie's assumption.  "Yeah, maybe you should go sit in the shade a while.  How about the Secret Place?  It's nice and cool in there and the sun won't bug you so much."  Sora opened his mouth, trying to protest that he was really quite alright and wasn't feeling under the weather at all, only to find himself yet again cut off by Kairi.  "Hey, Riku?  Why don't you take Sora there?  If he faints or something along the way, we don't want him to be all alone," she said, nodding her head as though to agree with her own statement.

            More likely then not, Kairi and Selphie had somehow found out about last night's little dancing escapade.  More likely then not, it had been Rikku who'd told them in the first place.  Making a mental note to get revenge on the older blond girl, Sora soon found himself being escorted along the beach towards the waterfall, the Secret Place gingerly tucked behind some shrubbery off to the side of it.  Riku walked along beside the younger boy, hands in his pockets, trying to figure out if it would be alright for him to laugh or not.  Really, he was finding it hard to keep the laughter in, even more so when he managed to get a look at the puzzled pout Sora had on his face.  The younger boy was still obviously having trouble trying to figure out what Riku had meant by dancing with him the night before, whether or not it really meant anything.  Riku rolled his eyes inwardly.  Sora could be so dense sometimes.  Actually, it was one of his best qualities that made him the blissfully ignorant and innocent Sora that he was.  Well, that would just mean Riku would have to prove to the boy that the feelings Sora harbored for Riku weren't just one-sided. 

            "Do I really look sick to you?" Sora asked, finally breaking the silence between the two as they pushed past the plants in front of the cave entrance, making their way down the narrow passage which lead into the Secret Place. 

            "Nah, just scared."

            "Hey!  How do I look scared?"  Sora shot Riku the best glare he could manage, though he ended up looking more like an angry little kid rather then the threatening look he'd been aiming for.  Memo to self.  Glare: practice it. 

            "Well..." Riku crossed his arms, both boys now standing in the middle of the dim cavern the group of them had dubbed the Secret Place.  Thin rays of sunlight managed to find their way through the holes in the top of the cave, though it wasn't enough to be truly bothersome, nor was it really enough to light the cavern properly.  "You look like a skittish horse, Sora.  Like one wrong move could send you running."  Riku smirked at the reaction his words got out of Sora.

            "It would not!"  Sora narrowed his eyes at Riku, trying to ignore the voice in the back of his mind which pointed out how damn sexy Riku looked when he smirked like that.  Scratch practicing the glare.  Make Riku smirk more. 

            "Oh really?"  Riku took a step towards the younger boy, Sora's eyes widening as he did so.  Sora would've taken a step backwards as well, were it not for the fact that Riku would probably laugh at him.  Well, that as well as the fact that Sora would've just backed into the wall of the cave.  Riku uncrossed his arms, placing his hands on his hips and raising an eyebrow at the younger boy in front of him.  "Alright then, Sora.  Prove it."

            "Prove what?" Sora asked hesitantly.

            "That you're not scared.  Come on, Sora, you can't possibly be scared of having to prove you're not scared."

            "I'm not!"

            "Then what are you waiting for?"

            "I'm not waiting."

            "You're stalling."

            "I'm not stalling!"

            "You're doing it right now."

            "Then stop talking!"  In a haze of blind panic, Sora closed the small distance between then, bringing their lips together in one smooth, fluent motion.  Oh crap!  What have I done?!  Sora's blue eyes were tightly shut, Sora having found himself suddenly afraid of looking at Riku's expression.  But upon feeling the initial surprise Riku had possessed when Sora had first initiated the kiss drift away from the older boy, Sora felt Riku twine his strong arms around Sora's narrow waist, instantly taking control of the kiss away from Sora and deepening it as he gently nudged Sora against the smooth rock of the cave wall behind him.  After several more moments like that, Riku gently released Sora's lips from his own, looking down at the younger boy, grinning as he noticed Sora's own small, dazed smile.

            "So... Did I prove anything?"  Sora looked hopefully up at Riku, who chuckled in response.

            "Yep."

            "But you're not kissing me again."

            "Then stop talking."  With that, Riku leaned down to continue where the last kiss had left off, pulling Sora closer against him.  Just as Riku was almost at a confident enough stage to slide his tongue into Sora's mouth, both boys were jolted back to reality by a loud and obnoxious noise from outside the Secret Place.

            "Hey, Sora, what'd you do?  Die in there?" Tidus called from outside the cavern.  Sora heard Wakka's chuckle as Kairi cut in.

            "Aww, come on, Tidus.  You don't need Riku to play blitzball!  You can teach Selphie and me!  Riku has to take care of Sora..."  This was followed by Selphie's squeak of dismay at having to play blitzball, though she grudgingly agreed several seconds later.  Sora and Riku listened to the argument that ensued outside the cave, Tidus not wanting to have to teach all the rules of the game to the girls, as well as Selphie and Kairi not wanting Tidus to go into the Secret Place... for some strange and unknown reason to Tidus and Wakka.  Riku frowned at the tunnel leading towards the cave entrance where the voices were coming from, looking down at Sora.

            "You know, we probably could've just kept right on doing what we were doing and they would've never noticed," he said quietly.

            "Yeah.  But they kinda destroyed the mood."

            "Well, wanna go play blitzball?"

            "Like nothing happened in here?"

            "Mm... no."

            Sora thought about this a moment before cocking his head to the side and looking up at Riku.  "Sure, but, uh... Does this mean I'm your..."

            "Boyfriend?" Riku asked.  Sora nodded.  "Yep.  Heh, like I'd really have it any other way."

            As both Riku and Sora made their way outside the Secret Place, they found that letting Selphie have access to a blitzball was by far the worst mistake any of them could ever have possibly made.  To put it bluntly, the innocent little girl just played downright dirty. 

            "Hey, Sora!  Are you gonna have a baby?"

            "Whaaa?" Sora gaped at her, rooted to the spot, unable to avoid the blitzball which came careening towards his head.  Bok!  "...Owww..." Sora rubbed his temple, scowling at Selphie who giggled madly as she ran to retrieve the blitzball.

            "Omigosh! Tidus!  Something just crawled in your pants!"

            "AGH! WHAT?!"  Bok! 

            "SELPHIE!"

            "Heehee!"

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            Phew.  Sorry that took so long to post everyone.  T.T  Yes, I know, for all that it took so long the chapter isn't exactly as long as I wanted it to be.  But in other random news, I caused a traffic jam in the hallway after passing a girl who had a t-shirt with Mickey on it.  He was wearing a crown.  Naturally, I put two and two together, stopped walking, attempted to suddenly turn against the flow of people and... well... pain was had.    Random Kingdom Hearts experience of the day: done. 

            As for more important personal info, I got my PSATs back today and... Well, let's just say I'm going to be pushing myself in the verbal department for a while.  Verbal, honestly!  *tears papers to shreds*  Nonetheless, my extra self-discipline verbal study will probably slow down updates for a little while.  I'm incredibly frustrated with myself at the moment...  Thankfully, all my angst will be poured into the next chapter, which is going to be rather lengthy.  So for those of you who like angst, stay tuned!  As always, thanks for your reviews as well as the time you spend reading my stuff!

~Ori