And, after the hiatus from hell, One for the Band has returned with the writing greatly improved (especially thanks to beta readers Chiikume and Lady Kaiba!!) and better then ever. ^^ Hope there's a noticeable difference.
Disclaimer: As earlier mentioned, Kingdom Hearts and all related things aren't mine. If wishes were pennies, I still wouldn't even own it because I have zip in the way of money. Yes. Onward.
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One for the Band - Chapter Eleven
'Lullaby for the Wide Awake'
If Sora learned nothing else out of life, he was thankful for learning one thing.
That thing was that, on a regular basis, his mother made something she proudly called 'buffalo wings.' These 'buffalo wings,' Sora had soon found, were not real buffalo wings, for it's a well known fact that buffalos, indeed, do not have wings. But what Sora did find out is that his mothers chicken was the most painful food in existence. A standard two bottles of water had to follow each small piece of chicken, otherwise Sora's mouth felt like it would just flat out explode.
The annoying thing was that he seemed to be the only one with such a problem.
"This chicken's delicious, Bryna!"
"Aww, thanks, Sam!" Sora still shuddered inwardly at the man's name. Sam?? What sort of a name was Sam? Who in their right mind would ever even consider naming a baby that?! But, then again, Sora had to remind himself to try and look on the bright side of things. Such as... Well, he was having a tough time thinking of any... But he was sure they were there somewhere!
Sam actually wasn't the bad person Sora had thought he would be. If anything annoyed Sora (more then the fact that his tongue appeared to be oversensitive... and he figured that if he told Riku about it, the older boy would laugh and tease him about said tongue for the next year), it was the fact that he had trouble finding problems with Sam. He laughed at all the right times, said all the right things, and most importantly, didn't seem to give Sora and Riku's somewhat obvious relationship a second glance.
Once the awkwardly un-awkward dinner was over, Sora excused himself from the table and just disappeared. Riku stayed behind, still finishing one last bite of chicken and received a rather pleading look from Bryna, who seemed to figure that Sora's boyfriend would instantly know what was wrong with her son. Riku gave her a half-shrug and an apologetic smile before he quietly excused himself and began to search for Sora himself.
Pushing his chair in behind him, the silver haired teen chose to start with the most obvious place, that being Sora's room. But upon opening the door, all Riku found was a typically messy, but nonetheless empty bedroom staring back at him as though asking him just what the hell he thought he was doing. Riku was about to close the door, and most certainly would have, had he not noticed the window hanging wide open, curtains askew and wrinkled at its sides.
"Sora?" Riku asked quietly, peering out the window.
"...Hey, Riku." Riku looked up in surprise at the boy's voice, not really having expected him to be outside the window. Sure enough though, a pair of yellow sneakered feet were dangling just inches above his head, scooting over slightly so that Riku could have access to the roof. The silver haired boy reached out a pale hand and swung himself onto the roof with ease, even though the surface was still slick from the rain earlier. Sora didn't look at his boyfriend, instead focusing on his dangling feet in front of him, his mind wandering.
"Something wrong, Sora?"
"...No, I'm just a little tired." Sora was a terrible liar. Riku sighed, leaning back on his hands and looking up at the darkened sky, blackness stretching as far as the eye could see, the only disturbance being that of the gentle waves of the ocean surrounding Destiny Islands. The back of his mind took note of the fact that there were still far too many clouds to allow the stars to sparkle and dance in the sky as they normally would over the island, but that was really the least of his concerns at the moment.
"I'm not going to push it, Sora... But if you wanna talk about it--"
"Why..." Sora trailed off numbly and only continued after Riku asked him to. "Why... does everyone think we're so wrong?"
Riku raised his eyebrows in surprise. He hadn't known that the whole band thing had really bothered Sora all that much. Actually, as far as Riku was concerned, it would have made more since for the younger boy to still just be holding a grudge against Sam's presence, not upset over what some high school punks thought.
"Who cares what everybody else thinks? I've got you, I'm good. Isn't it enough?"
Sora frowned looking at the slated rooftop beneath his fingers. Now he just felt selfish about it all. But just being up there, sitting next to Riku and just talking... It felt nice. Up there they were past everything else. It wasn't the top of the world, but it was still above the surface where he could breathe. It was... Just like his dream. Riku noticed Sora's prolonged silence and cocked his head to the side, worried the silence was due to his last comment.
"Or... is it not enough?" Sora looked up in surprise at Riku's voice, turning to look at his friend with a small smile.
"No, it's enough. I was just thinking. I had a dream almost exactly like this."
"Exactly like what?"
"Us. You and me, sitting here on this roof, only the sky was really weird... It was like, the sun had one half of it, the moon had the other... And there were these stars that were like people, but they weren't... You said they were angels, I think, but I said angels had to have wings. And then you just sorta faded away and disappeared." Sora waved his hands about in the air as though conjuring his dream all over again with the real sky, invisible paint dancing from his fingers and up into the clouds.
Riku smiled. So innocent... Sora would never lose that. "Well, I'm not going anywhere now. 'Least not until you tell me you're okay and we can head back downstairs and watch that movie with your mom and Sam."
"Yeah, I'm good now. It was just... bothering me."
"People can change, Sora. They'll change. I promise." Sora smiled as Riku laughed, both of them shifting closer towards the window below them. "And if they don't change, that's their loss, not ours!"
Riku and Sora made their way back down the stairs towards the living room, where Bryna and Sam already were occupying one of the two cream-colored loveseats situated in the small room.
"Sora! How nice to see you're not dead!" Sora rolled his eyes upon hearing Sam's chuckle at his mother's statement. Maybe that's why Bryna liked him. He laughed at her corny jokes. What would be even more pathetic would only be if he actually did think they were funny an-- Sora had to stop himself before he got too carried away. Sam wasn't evil. He'd just have to work a little harder to convince himself of this.
"Everything okay, Sora? I haven't seen you look so bummed like that since... Oh, what was that one's name...?"
Riku chimed in, sitting next to Sora
on the overstuffed couch, a smirk playing across his face. "Oh, you mean the hamsters?"
Uh oh.
"Yes! Now let's see, there was Snotty, Spit, Spike..."
"Spoon, don't forget that one."
"Oh yes, Spoon! That one was such a sweetie."
"Stupid, Silly, Syrup, Siggy, Sumo, Scuba..."
"Stick, Spaceboy, Stew, Special, Sink, Spud, Samoa... Didn't he name one Starburst?"
"No, that was Selphie. I think she put it in the microwave."
"Aw, that's too bad."
If Sam hadn't been disturbed earlier, he most certainly had to be by that point. Sora gritted his teeth, snatching a DVD from atop the TV screen and placing it into the DVD player, jabbing the play button with his index finger. No one needed to know about his inability to keep things alive for more then a few months at best. Honestly.
Sora slid back into his seat next to Riku, shooting the older boy a dirty scowl, receiving only a chuckle in return as Riku slid his arm around Sora's shoulder, instantly melting the younger boy's heart. Sora did, however, glance over at Bryna and... Sam. He still mentally cringed every time he thought of that name. Perhaps it was that immense pity of having to live with such a boring name that made Sora at least give his mother date a chance. It wasn't Sam's fault his name labeled him as boring after all.
But as the movie slowly progressed, Sora found that no one in the room could possibly fit into the category of 'boring' at all. The jokes Sam cracked at the old seventies film were witty and just plain funny, but not hard to understand at all.
Maybe all the guy needed was a chance.
~~~~~~~
"Alright, that's enough!"
Sora's eyes widened as he whirled around in fear to look at the person who's voice had just seemed to rip the entire marching band to shreds, clutching his flag between his hands as though it were his only lifeline. Crap, what had he done now? Sora prayed that the drum major realized that it wasn't his fault he'd tripped. Honestly, had no one noticed that jackass of a trombone player purposely trip him up?
"What on earth was all that about?" Apparently not.
"Sorry... sir."
The drum major sighed, rolling his eyes to the sky as though pleading for some sort of assistance of any kind. Anything to just get this idiot kid to not screw the entire picture up. The blond drum major appeared next to the brunette, shooting his friend a scowl before giving Sora a half smile and a chuckle. "For the millionth time, Sora, when they say 'treat the drum major with respect,' you don't have to call us 'sir' all the time. It's Cloud," the blond pointed to himself, "and Leon," and he then pointed to the disgruntled looking brunette beside him. As an afterthought, Cloud then turned to the nearby trombone player, who was busy trying to muffle her laughter. "And as for you, Leon may have missed that, but I didn't. You're lapped. Start running," he said with a grin, jerking his thumb over his shoulder to usher her onwards.
"What the hell?! Cloud!!"
"Yes?" Cloud raised an eyebrow, shooting the girl a look which plainly said he had other and more constructive things to do.
The girl shot Sora an icy glare before storming over towards Cloud, trombone held loosely in one hand, the other placed dramatically on her hip as she approached the drum major and hissed, "You can't possibly be defending him too."
Leon folded his arms and glanced at the girl, but didn't open his mouth. Another apparent fact which became clear to Sora was that Leon didn't seem to speak much. Huh, weird how he'd seemed to get so upset just because Sora had apparently messed up, but he'd allowed Cloud to step in with no problem.
"As a matter of fact, I can, I did, and you now have two laps. If I were you, I'd quit while I was ahead." Cloud stared coolly back at the girl as she gaped at him before bursting again.
"Cl-oud! This is stupid! I can't believe you're actually--"
"Three laps."
"NO WAY."
"Four."
"CLOUD! Cut it out!"
"Five. Want to run two miles and we'll call it even?"
Several other band members were being drawn into the conversation, confused as to why they weren't continuing with the last ten minutes of practice they had left. Clarinet players peered over their shoulders as the girl began to grown pink in the face from arguing with Cloud, who simply continued firing numbers back at her, causing her round face to grow redder by the second. By the time Cloud made it to ten laps, the other players were more then willing to get a foot into the argument.
"Yeah, Cloud, you gotta be kidding me? The guy's a screw-up, he shouldn't even be on the damn guard in the first place."
"Hey! That's not true!"
"Oh, what, like you know?"
"Cloud, isn't ten laps pushing it? I mean, seriously."
"Well maybe all you guys should start running if you're gonna be bigoted assholes about it."
"Hey, shuddup! No one asked for your opinion!"
"No one asked for yours either, so nyeeeeh!"
As more and more voices began chiming in, Sora discovered one final, third fact of band-life from that day's practice session.
"Be quiet."
Everyone listens to Leon.
The entire band somehow managed to hear what, to Sora, had come out as barely audible and the blacktop plummeted into silence. Leon looked coldly around at the surrounding band members who had gathered around the situation, magnifying it to a deal twenty times larger then it actually was. Almost instantly, the students backed down, making to return to their assigned drill spots before Leon's voice stopped them yet again.
"Don't bother. Everyone get over here."
The band members hesitated, wondering if it would be easier to run for their lives, or to obey Leon.
"Now."
'Obey Leon' seemed to be the decision.
"Sit down."
All one hundred and fifty seven members of the band sat down where they were, clustered out in a large blanket surrounding Cloud and Leon.
"Now shut up and listen. You are all idiots. You don't know what you're doing and you don't know how to do it. What's worse is that you don't make the effort to try because you're too busy trying to dismantle someone else's shot at this. So let's go over a few things." Perhaps no one else noticed, but Sora was close enough to Leon and Cloud to see a brief exchange of looks pass between them and he couldn't help but wonder if the drum majors had somehow developed some sort of telepathy between themselves. Leon held up fingers as he began to count off 'a few things.'
"One, you will all treat each other with the same integrity as respect that you would show a member of your family. Two, you will listen to what either Cloud or I say. Three, you will not continue pointing fingers and blaming one another for messing up. Four, you will worry about you and you alone. And five..."
"You'll leave Sora the hell alone!" Cloud chimed in. Leon rolled his eyes and crossed his arms again as Cloud picked up from where he left off.
"Okay, who here has a complaint? You better say it now because I'm sure as hell not listening later." Several hands were thrust into the air, several eyes narrowed at Cloud, begging him to challenge their word. "Alright then, what's your problem?" Cloud nodded towards the nearest person who had his hand raised.
"You sticking up for some homo--" Several spurts of laughter shot up from nearby band members, several growls from others, "who seems to be a total fuck-up anyway."
"And what makes you say that?"
"What, you and Leon got a crush on the boy too?" The boy burst into laughter along with his friends, but failed to notice that the rest of the band members fell eerily silent as Cloud blinked at the speaker, walking towards him and crouching down in front of him.
"Hm, you think we do?"
"Haha, I dunno, Cloud, why don't you tell us!"
"If you think that calling me gay is going to insult me, I think you better try a different tact."
"Huh?"
Cloud stood back up just as suddenly as he had crouched down, raising his voice so that even the most distant band members could easily hear him.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the next 21st century Charlie Chaplin! Please give this man your undivided attention as he fails to amuse us with his charming words and wit!" Clapping loudly several times, Cloud turned to face the boy again, the surrounding band bursting into laughter as he hauled the boy up off the ground. "Please, oh please entertain us, dear Charlie!"
"What the fuck, Cloud?"
"If I call you gay, what will you do?"
"WHAT?!"
"You are gay, you are homosexual, you're about as straight as a hula-hoop! What now?" Thankfully, Cloud was a rather agile person and easily dodged the blow the boy attempted to swing at him before brining his hand up to slam against the other's fist, both boys locking arms against each other. The band members, which had previously been laughing good-naturedly, suddenly drew quiet yet again as they stared up at the scene unfolding before them. Again, Sora noticed something that everyone else seemed to miss. Leon tensed just as the boy had drawn back his fist to hit Cloud, eyes narrowing to a glare that could freeze fire itself, as though Leon had been ready to fly forward and beat the kid to a bloody pulp.
How very interesting.
"Now listen closely, everyone. I know you all hear it from Cid a million times over each and every day. 'You have to be a leader to be in my band, you gotta do better then that! This band is full of leaders, not followers!' Am I right?" Cloud released the boy's fist, grinning as he looked out at the other band members who chuckled at his impersonation of Cid. Glancing back yet again at the boy beside him, Cloud continued, "But what you all don't seem to understand is this. Your attitude is your leadership. Leon and I are higher then you in the food chain, yes, but if you want to follow some idiot like a bunch of sheep then you don't belong near me or anyone else of some measure of integrity.
"I can tell you right now that we look like shit. Hah, we look terrible, but as we all know, we always look like shit at the beginning of the season like this! But we always get better because eventually, we all take it upon ourselves to learn what it is we're doing. You don't have to rely on anyone else by the end of the season because you're so sure of yourself and your choices." Pausing, Cloud chuckled, running a hand through his blond spikes. "Yeah, yeah, well. I hate preaching at you guys. So I'll just say one last little thing. Get better. Aaaand that's it. Go home, everybody!"
As students began to filter away from the blacktop, Sora pulling himself to his feet and hesitated, unsure of what to do. He really should thank Cloud and Leon for sticking up for him and everything...
"Hey, Sora, can we talk to you a sec?" Cloud asked, leaning against one of the basket ball hoops adorning the large blacktop. Sora glanced nervously around, hoping Riku was somewhere nearby to give him some support or something. But Riku wasn't there. Sora had almost forgotten that the older boy had a dentist appointment that afternoon and had left practice early. Dentist appointment... great. Wonderful. Leave Sora to handle two drum majors alone. Besides which, as far as Sora could see, Riku's teeth were absolutely perfect to begin with. Stupid dentists.
"We don't bite or anything." Cloud laughed and Sora walked forward, leaving his flag lying on the blacktop.
"I just wanted to make sure you were okay with everything that just sorta... happened. Ehehe, I didn't mean to get so carried away." Leon snorted at this, causing Cloud to scowl and elbow the brunette in the ribs. "Ah, shuddup, Leon!"
Sora couldn't help but chuckle. So the drum majors really weren't the overpowering rulers of the band that many people thought they were after all. No, it was plain as day that Cloud and Leon were humans through and through, no remarkable godly abilities granted to them or anything. Although that might just have helped enforce their rule over the band a bit better, Sora still felt more reassured by their normalness then he probably would have felt otherwise.
"It's fine. Thanks for sticking up for me..."
"Hey, no problem! If we didn't have so many bigots willing to argue with the more open-minded crowd..." Cloud sighed. "There's not much we can do to change their opinions, but we can at least try and keep 'em from doing anything they'd regret. They're not bad people, just... That's the way they were brought up, you know?"
Sora nodded. He did understand, and he thought back to Riku's words from the night before. Perhaps these people would change after all, and maybe when it was all over, they'd be more accepting and understanding... Maybe.
Before he knew it, Sora asked the first question that came into his mind. "Cloud, are you and Leon... ah... you know...?"
Cloud blinked. Leon blinked. Sora felt rather awkward. Thankfully, it was the blond who broke the unnerving silence, bursting into laughter merrily before replying.
"Are we gay? The two of us?"
Sora nodded numbly as Cloud glanced over at Leon. There it was again, that weird feeling that something was passing between the two that Sora just couldn't place. Perhaps drum majors had some sort of innate gift after all. After several brief seconds, Cloud looked back at Sora with a snicker, patting the younger boy on the head and ruffling his brown spikes of hair.
"I dunno. Maybe. But what difference would it make, right? We all want to be treated the same anyway. No different from you and Riku, Paine and Rikku, or anyone else in this school. We all start off from the same point, all have to go to the same place... What makes some people outcasts and others not?" Cloud smiled and shrugged. "Again, I don't know. Don't think anyone does."
"Oh."
"No worries though. They'll come around eventually. And if not..."
"Their loss, right?"
Cloud beamed and turned to Leon, a look of triumph spread across his face. "See now? I'm not completely over the top."
"Yeah, whatever."
"Neeeh, whatever, whatever, whatever. Stoic bastard." Turning back to Sora, Cloud rolled his eyes in Leon's direction mockingly. "You get used to it after a while. Point is, just know that you're not totally alone out there, okay, Sora? Yeah, there's a lot of idiots on band, but there's also a lot of people cheering for you, Leon and I included!" Sora smiled up at Cloud and said the only thing he could think of.
"Thank you."
~~~~~~~
Later(,) that day had Sora knocking lightly on Paine's front door, rocking back and forth on his heels, waiting anxiously in front of her door. She'd agreed to help him polish up the routine for color guard that evening, even though she assured him that he no longer needed the extra practice sessions. On top of that, Sora just felt like not being alone, and since Bryna was out grocery shopping and Riku's parents had taken him out to dinner that night, he naturally turned to Paine, who was always there for him anyway.
At least, he hoped so.
Sure enough, after several moments the door was opened and the crimson eyed girl peered down at Sora, seeming somewhat annoyed at first, but instantly softening once she realized who it was at the door. Her mind instantly clicking all the pieces together easily, she winced, shooting Sora an apologetic look, opening the door wider to usher him inside.
"I'm sorry, Sora, I completely forgot... I was just sort of in the middle of something..."
"Oh! That's okay, we don't have to practice if it's too much trouble," Sora replied amiably, his eyes taking in his surroundings. He'd never been in Paine's house before, since the offer had never seemed to come up. All Sora really knew is that Paine's parents, much like Riku's(,) were out of town often, since they worked with large business companies situated on the mainland and had simply bought a house on Destiny Islands because of the good school system and laid back atmosphere. So it really was no surprise for Sora to find that except for himself, Paine was completely alone inside the house.
Rephrasing that in his mind, Sora had to correct himself. The 'house' was more like a mansion, really. Rich mahogany carpet covered parts of the twin staircases which spiraled up and joined together at a landing branching off from the second floor of the house, their railings polished so well that the light from the above chandelier sparkled and danced across the glossy surface. Light hardwood floors were adorned with rather expensive looking oriental carpets scattered across the house as well as antique-looking furniture, expensive artwork... Sheesh, Sora couldn't even begin to think of how much money had gone into the house.
"Actually, I'm glad you came." Sora cocked his head in question at this statement, looking up at Paine with concern. The girl laughed and rolled her eyes, heading towards a room branching off from the main hallway, assuming Sora would follow behind. "Don't worry, it's not like anything's wrong. But remember that song I had in my notebook?" Sora nodded and took a seat in the chair Paine motioned to, following the older girl with his eyes as she sat down at a piano bench and turned to face him.
"I've been writing out the tune that goes along with it and I'm not sure if it fits right. Want to listen and tell me what you think?"
"Whoa, Paine, I didn't know you could actually write notes and stuff too!"
"...Of course I can, idiot. How do you think I could write the song?"
"I dunno, maybe they were just lyrics... You play the piano too? Wow."
"Piano, flute, clarinet, guitar, and even the harp."
Sora gaped at his friend, completely amazed at how Paine could possibly be able to cram all that instrumental knowledge into her brain. He had had enough trouble just learning how to spin a flag, and Paine did that too with the ease and grace she seemed to posses for everything. Were Paine male, Sora would've been green with envy. But he'd come to accept the fact that some people were just naturally good at learning things and there was nothing he could do about it but enjoy what it was they turned out.
"Right then. So you want to hear it or what?"
"Of course I do!"
"Alright then." Paine turned her back to him, laying her fingers across the keys of the piano, seeming to pause a moment in thought. It was then that Sora noticed that the sheets of music were laying off to the side of the piano, not directly placed in front of Paine as they should have been. About to open his mouth to say something, Sora snapped it shut in less then a second as Paine began to play.
Her fingers danced back and forth along the piano, taking on a jauntier motion then Sora would have expected, but the tune certainly tied in with the song he remembered well, his mind easily being able to piece together the notes with the words. Closing his eyes, Sora allowed his mind to wander as the piano continued to play in the background. He couldn't help but wonder why Paine took no music classes at school, choosing color guard instead. Oh wait... With a smile, Sora remembered. Rikku was on the guard, of course.
No sooner had the song began, it felt as though it had ended. Sora's eyes snapped open in surprise, only to find Paine smiling back at him, her elbows resting on her knees.
"Put you to sleep, huh?"
"Whoa, nononono! It was awesome! But why'd you stop it so soon?"
"Sora, I've been playing for the past four minutes."
"You have?"
"Yep."
"Jeeze. Are you sure?"
"Positive." Reaching over, Paine picked up the sheets of music and leafed through them, running her gaze over the notes briskly.
"Hey, how come you played without using the notes?" Sora asked, peering at the papers from his seat.
Looking up, Paine blinked at him as though he'd asked the most ridiculous question he could've possibly thought up. "Because it's easier to get a feel for the music, you know, to sort of get your own hold on what it is, when you're not trying to follow notes with your eyes. It turns out better if you take it by feel rather then sight."
"So you memorized the notes of the song?"
"Yeah, pretty much." Paine placed the papers on top of the piano.
"Wow."
"I'm actually going to use a guitar for the song's background, not the piano. I only use the piano to try and get the tune out of my mind and on to paper, then the only problem is switching instruments and everything."
"Sounds complicated."
"Not really, once you do it a couple times." The two sat in companionable silence for some time after that before Sora's eyes finally rested on the artfully polished grandfather clock as it began to sound the approach of seven o' clock.
"Oh shit!"
"What?"
"My mom's probably home by now and wondering where the hell I am... Eeegh, and I'm late for dinner."
Paine chuckled, standing up from the piano bench as Sora lurched to his feet, panic written all over his face. She accompanied her frantic friend back to the front door and waved goodbye, though couldn't stop herself before the words spilled hesitantly from her mouth.
"Sora... About what happened at practice today... Are you okay?" Paine didn't need to point out that many people were worried about Sora, who had lived his entire life as the boy-next-door who everyone loved and cherished. The sudden change of people's attitudes towards him... Well, Paine wouldn't have been at all surprised if Sora was just more then a little upset by it all.
But Sora simply turned to her as he was halfway out the doorway and grinned, erasing his friend's worries as best he could.
"I'm fine. Trust me." And with that he hopped down the several stairs leading up to Paine's front door and jogged around the side of her house, up to his own backyard.
…………………………..
Woooow. It feels so weird not having song lyrics in a chapter. *has been working on WIWYL for way too long* Anyway, you were introduced to both Leon and Cloud in here and YES, I know, I went way over the top with Cloud's personality, but I love him this way. *shrugs* Besides, no one would get anywhere with two drum majors who rarely ever talked. Fwahaha.
From here on out, Paine and company will probably only make brief appearances in the story since it will now mainly focus on Sora, Riku, their relationship, and the band as a whole. Leon and Cloud, depending on how everyone likes them, may or may not play a larger role in the grand scheme of things. (No, I'm NOT making it up as I go along. *waves her chapter plans around* Twenty chapters, people, all planned out and ready for typing!)
So thanks for everyone who has once again found it in their heart to pick up OftB yet again. ^^
Preview for chapter twelve: Leon and Cloud aren't always going to be there to protect Sora… Mild angst, but a pleasant twist at the end you're all sure to smile about! Two words for you: Drag. Queen. *cackles*
~Ori