Back from the band trip! (Obviously.)
And do you know what guard won first place at the competition? Do you? That's riiiight. That was my color guard, folks! I won't bore you all with the details-- Just wanted to share the awesome news.
Besides. You've got this chapter to read now.
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One for the Band - Chapter Fourteen
'Light the Fuse'
Friday afternoon found the marching band tucked inside the school, due to rain and thunder outside. As was the norm whenever this happened, the band room was too small, too stuffy, and just a little too loud for anyone to even be able to process mildly coherent thoughts. At least, that was the case for Sora, who had been reduced to a puddle at Riku's feet.
The silver haired boy leafed through stacks of paper and glanced down at his boyfriend, raising a silver eyebrow.
"Something wrong, Sora?"
Opening one blue eye, Sora peered up at Riku, a pout forming on his face.
"I think Cloud's mad at me."
"Why would you think that?"
"He's not really talking to me much."
Riku sighed and glanced across the crowded room over towards a corner where Cloud sat, tracing his fingers over the intricate form of his flute. Even though he never really played the instrument much anymore now that he was a drum major, Cloud had seemed to carry the flute around with him quite a lot the past few days. After all, the rest of the flute players had picked up their piccolos, putting away the longer and more cumbersome instrument for concert performances.
It had bothered Riku a bit, how Cloud had suddenly seemed to turn so quiet...
But if it was even starting to penetrate Sora's upbeat mood, then something was obviously going on.
"--tomorrow for the band trip... What if Cloud's sick? He'd tell us, wouldn't he, Riku? I don't want him to get even worse on the trip if he is sick or something."
Riku blinked, looking back down at Sora. Though he hadn't really caught the first part of what the brunette had said, his mind already had an answer to his other questions. Cloud wasn't sick because Cloud just didn't get sick. It was absolutely unheard of. And even if he was sick, he would probably be the first one to pull himself out of practice because Cloud would be smart enough to know that he couldn't be sick for the competition.
The last time he had gotten sick and not bothered to tell anyone before the performance...
Opening his mouth, Riku was about to try and utter some sort of response, but he suddenly found his voice cut off as a foreign object latched onto his throat.
"RIKURIKURIKU! BAAAAANDTRIPTOMORROW! AreyougoingtogowiththeothertrumpetplayerpeoplesandplaythatAWESOMElittlesongthingyareyouhuhhuhareyouareyou?!"
And it was suddenly painfully obvious to everyone in the room just where all the noise in the band room came from. Selphie, of course. Who else?
Sora grinned and snickered, his cloudy mood suddenly abolished at the appearance of his friend, even though she was probably cutting off the circulation to Riku's brain... or something else critical like that. He sat up from the floor, looking up as Selphie gave Riku one last tight squeeze before plopping down on the ground next to Sora, beaming up at the older boy.
"Jeeze, Selphie, do you have to be so--"
"Loveable? Yes."
"Nevermind."
Sora piped up, turning to the brown-haired girl beside him. "But yeah, Riku's playing the Fire Dance with Zell, Irvine, and Leon tonight. Before the trip and all."
"Really? YAY! Riku's so good at playing the trumpet, Sora! Aren't you proud of him?"
"Um, yeah..."
"Aww, you guys are so cute!!"
Riku rolled his eyes as the conversation between the two continued much along those lines, but he couldn't stop his gaze from once again returning to Cloud, who still remained in his corner, though his finger had come to rest on the side of his flute, carefully balanced on the keys. It was as though he would lift the instrument to his mouth at any second and once again prove to the world just what a first chair flute player was capable of... Just like Cloud always did.
For as long as Riku had been in the band, Cloud had always been the perfect flute player, which many found odd. After all, it wasn't all that often that a school had a male flutist as talented as Cloud.
And he was always sharing the spotlight with Leon. Riku still couldn't understand how the first chair players always somehow managed to suck up all the attention... Riku was good, but he was only second chair. Next year, Riku. Next year will be your year.
But that was the last thought Riku allowed to cross his mind on the issue. He couldn't do anything for Cloud if Cloud himself wasn't willing to tell everyone else just what was wrong in the first place. So instead, he just gave the senior a small frown of puzzlement before sitting down beside Sora.
At least Riku knew he was always first chair as far as Sora was concerned.
~~~~~~~
Paine leaned against the brick wall of the school, carefully shielded from the rain by the slight overhang of the roof. It was rapidly growing dark outside, and not just because of the growing rain and clouds. The past months had gone by too fast. That was all there was to it. The competition coming up was the last one for the seniors. Many of them would graduate, go to college, graduate from there as well, get a job, a family... And many of them would probably never remember the names of those they had spent four long years working with.
Four years surrounded by music, flags, drill charts, and uniforms. And all it was, all that hard work really was... It was just another thing to put on a college application. Odd, really. It was college that was tearing them all apart, wasn't it?
Paine's unusually jumbled thoughts were interrupted as the door beside her opened slightly, Sora appearing beside her. Paine smiled at her younger friend, but knew there was something on his mind. Sora always had the most solemn expression on his face whenever something really troubled him.
She didn't push it however. The two stood there for a few moments, the only sound being the drum of the rain against the blacktop.
"Paine... Do you think Cloud's okay?"
Once again, Sora's thoughts were right on track. Paine couldn't help but be proud of the brunette. He always seemed to read situations so well. It was easy for Sora to spot a problem when there was one, even though he never seemed to know how to go about solving it. Well, it didn't matter anyway.
"He's just a little upset, I think," Paine said quietly.
"But I didn't do anything wrong, did I?"
The senior chuckled and rolled her eyes at the question. "Of course not, Sora. It really has nothing to do with you at all, so it's not your fault." After a moment, Paine seemed to think and continue. "I'm not even positive of what's wrong, you know. Cloud hasn't exactly told anyone what's bothering him, no matter how much we all try and wheedle it out of him."
"Well then how are we supposed to do anything to help??" Sora was getting frustrated now and Paine knew it. To a degree, she was frustrated as well, but she just wasn't letting it show. Another aspect of Sora: the boy had a tendency of wearing his emotions right on his sleeve.
"I think that if Cloud wanted help, he'd asked for it. He's learned by now to do that, especially when he's held in such high regard."
Sora understood absolutely none of this. Everyone made mistakes. It was a universal truth. It was possible, in Sora's mind, that Cloud wasn't feeling well or something... and he just wasn't bothering to tell anyone. It made sense to Sora, at least. But it was obvious that there was something else there that he wasn't getting...
Paine and Sora again found themselves standing there, barely protected from the onslaught of rain, neither one of them talking. Finally, though, Paine broke the silence, though Sora had to strain to hear her voice over the drone of the water pouring from the sky.
"Before I was here, two years ago, the band played the Carnival of Venice as one of their concert pieces. Cid divided it up so that two soloists would be playing the tune back and forth, back and forth, the rest of the band coming in at some parts... It was pretty cool. And the solo pieces were assigned to a trumpet player and a flute player. Leon and Cloud.
"Everyone was so surprised about it because they were just sophomores and they weren't even first chair. But Cid asked them specifically to do the solo pieces and they agreed. That was probably when Leon actually started to open up to other people. Cloud kept sitting with him at lunch and everything and he was always babbling on about band... Heh, I guess he just grew on Leon or something.
"But anyway... The day before the big concert performance, the band held a show just for the parents of the band members. Everyone wanted to hear the Carnival of Venice because a lot of the parents were still skeptical about the idea of having two sophomores as soloists. But they were amazing, I'm told. They completely blew everyone out of the water... I wish I could've been here to listen to them.
"The only problem was that Cloud was getting really sick. He fainted right after the show and told his parents he hadn't really felt well lately. He was dehydrated and when his parents got him home he couldn't hold any food in his stomach. It was probably just a nasty virus he got, but it was really bad... He couldn't convince anyone to let him go to school the next day and it wasn't any better by that night's concert.
"So Cloud didn't perform. Everyone was really upset about the whole thing for a while and I guess some of them blamed Cloud, even though it really wasn't all his fault. Point is, Cloud should know by now that he should tell people when something's bugging him."
Sora thought about all of it and nodded slowly. It made sense, then. How Cloud seemed so devoted to Leon all the time. Perhaps he was still trying to apologize about the whole thing that happened two years ago. It was absurd for people to be angry with Cloud for being sick, though. Yes, Cloud could've told someone that he wasn't feeling well-- Sora couldn't help but frown slightly.
Something still didn't seem... right.
Rather then pushing the issue further, though, Sora just decided to let it rest. In his mind, he was well aware of the fact that pieces just weren't fitting together somehow, but he also had a feeling that Paine was telling him everything she knew about the issue. She would have no reason to lie to Sora now... right?
So perhaps it wasn't Paine that Sora would have to talk to.
But for the moment, there was always comfort in just standing there with the older girl in the growing darkness.
"Sora!" Riku called from inside the building. "Get Selphie off me!"
With a grin, Sora turned to wave farewell to Paine, who just chuckled and nodded towards the door.
"Better go save your boyfriend, Sora. I don't think even he can handle Selphie when she's in full-glomp mode."
Sora just laughed and ran through the door, nearly colliding with Rikku on her way out. He uttered a rushed apology before tearing off down the hallways towards the silver haired boy who just couldn't seem to pry Selphie off his leg.
Rikku giggled and closed the door behind him, walking over next to Paine where Sora had stood moments earlier. She had a pretty good idea of what was bugging the senior, but she didn't say anything. There was just something about Paine that made her a good person to just sit with in silence, no words needing to be spoken for a while. It gave both parties time to think about their words before they came tumbling out, which was a thing that Rikku rarely got to do.
"You're worried about him, aren't you, Paine?"
Paine simply nodded in agreement as rain continued to fall around them.
~~~~~~~
Everyone who had been wandering around the halls of the school began filtering into the band room as Cid finally stood up to address the band.
"Okay everyone, shut up and listen up 'cause I know you all wanna get home tonight and get to bed nice and early for tomorrow's trip, right? Right. I want you all here at seven, pronto, got it? No excuses, or you'll be tellin' 'em to the exhaust of the bus as it leaves without ya. We're headin' up to the harbor and gettin' on a ship that'll take us up to the mainland, then we'll be grabbin' a train up to the performance site, got it? Good. Yeah, yeah, now here's what you all really want..." Cid snorted and stepped down from the small platform allowing for four trumpeters to take his place.
As Riku, Leon, Zell, and Irvine came into view, trumpets held in hand and at the ready, the band whistled and clapped, eager to hear the all-famous trumpet piece that the school prided itself for.
If the Fire Dance were capable of living up to it's name, it would have to be because of the intricate dance that the four boys seemed to have going with their hands and fingers. The music swelled to a strong and powerful note that left everyone spinning in their seats before the note fell into multitudes of various tunes and melodies, all of them tying in with the other perfectly.
Aside from the players at the front, the band room was dead silent, everyone intently listening to the music filtering through the instruments held by the quartet. And while each and every person was listening to the music, each and every one of them was thinking about it in a different way.
Selphie was focused on how terribly hot Irvine was.
Kosha was thinking of how evil the world was for giving 'that bastard, Leon' such talent.
Yuna was wondering where Zell had gotten his tattoo.
And Sora was staring dreamily at Riku, simply because that was just what Sora did. If he wasn't drooling over the silver haired boy at the front of the room, well, Sora would just have to be absolutely crazy. ...Or straight. Since he was neither, Sora allowed himself to drool as he pleased.
But as the last note of the Fire Dance began to empty from the air and as everyone was just about ready to burst into a well-deserved applause... There was another sound coming from the band room. A very pure and clean note which soon split off into a simple tune before drawing to a smooth close.
The song was unmistakable and the upperclassmen knew it. They knew it as Leon's shocked expression faded into one of confusion before he once more lifted the trumpet to his lips and mimicked the notes that had come from the flute player that had somehow gotten to be only five feet away from him.
Cloud hadn't forgotten the Carnival of Venice and apparently neither had Leon.
Sora hadn't quite been able to understand what Paine had been talking about when she'd said that the music went back and forth, but it didn't take very long for him to comprehend her words. The way Cid had divided the song, it really did flip back and forth between Cloud and Leon, each time growing faster and stronger, more and more complicated.
It was almost as though they were egging each other on, the way they kept playing. Cloud didn't break eye contact with Leon, his blonde eyebrows furrowed in concentration and something which could have been akin to a glare lacing his look. Sora knew for sure then that there was definitely something he wasn't catching.
And then both the trumpet and the flute came together, if only for a moment, to end the solo segment of the song, tying it all up with a small duet. For a moment, the room was dead silent. And just as expected, the gathered band burst into cheers for the two songs, the set of talented musicians that stood before them, and the reassurance that they were bound to due well at the upcoming competition.
With Leon and Cloud as drum majors, surely there was no way that things could go wrong.
But Sora wasn't clapping along with everyone else. There was something he was missing and it was really starting to bother him.
~~~~~~~
"And just what the hell was that about?"
Cloud couldn't help but gulp, warily turning around to face Leon. He really hadn't known what had happened earlier... It had just, well, happened. He'd actually been hoping to hightail it back home before Leon got out of the band room, but apparently Leon was just a bit faster then Cloud had really expected. And now: confrontation. Blech. Cloud hated the word.
The two of them stood outside the school building, the only light coming from the street lamps in the parking lots. The rain had been reduced to a thin drizzle and Cloud really wanted nothing more then to just run home as fast as he could, if that's what it took to get away from Leon.
"Cloud! Answer me!"
"What? I'm answering you, okay?! What do you want?!"
There was nothing that could tear Leon apart more then the sight of Cloud standing there, rain slowly trailing down the sides of his face and tears forming in his eyes. The last thing he wanted was for Cloud to cry.
"I want to know what's wrong."
It was a reasonable response and an honorable one, but Cloud didn't want to hear it and Leon probably knew that the very second the words had left his mouth.
"Why, so you can help? You can't fucking help, Leon. You don't know how. You don't even know what's wrong!"
"I would if you'd tell me."
It was when Cloud started forcing himself to laugh that Leon's concern had reached its highest point. Cloud was a good actor. Leon knew that. So why did his laughter sound so sickeningly fake?
"You really are a riot, Leon. I mean, wow. What a--" Cloud let out a shaky sigh, trying to regain control of his vocal chords. "Let me put it this way. 'Well it's tough to have a crush when the boy doesn't feel the same way you feel. Well it's tough to have a crush, when you're best friend breaks the news.'"
Leon frowned slightly, confused.
"Doesn't ring a bell, huh? Try thinking really, really hard, Leon, and maybe someday you'll get it. Maybe when you stop being the antisocial, stoic, icicle you are, maybe then you'll get it." Cloud was no longer making an effort to hold his tears back and they flowed freely in thin rivers down the sides of his cheeks, mixing together with the sweet rain water. "But I'm not always going to hang around and wait for you to get it."
And with that, Cloud simply turned and walked away.
Leon knew he'd heard those words somewhere before. He just couldn't for the life of him remember where. Then again, knowing that he'd made Cloud cry wasn't exactly doing a whole lot to grant Leon the ability to think, since he was so completely overwhelmed with guilt.
And it was the antisocial, stoic, icicle side of Leon that reassured him. It was that side which said that in a day or two, Leon would surely find Cloud feeling better. Cloud was bound to bounce back to his upbeat nature, because that was what Cloud did.
He was social, upbeat, and warm. In Leon's mind, it was impossible for those facts to change.
~~~~~~~
May 3--
I talked to Riku after today's "practice" session. We were stuck inside all day, so no one really got any work done. But I was asking him about the whole thing with Cloud, since I figured Riku might know something. He was a freshman when Cloud was a sophomore, and would've known him through band, so I guessed with was worth a try.
Apparently, Cloud was only out of school for two days. Seems kinda weird that it only took him two days to get over a virus.
But maybe I'm just being weird. Whatever.
Riku's coming over later to help me pack for the
Sora looked up from the notebook as Riku opened the bedroom door, grinning. Sora couldn't help but smile and close the notebook, shoving it off to the side as he went to 'greet' the silver haired boy.
He did not notice, however, when the notebook slipped off his bed and fell with a quiet thud to the floor. Sora wouldn't notice it when minutes later, when he and Riku were busily packing Sora's bag for the trip, that a shirt would land on top of the notebook. No, the notebook was out of Sora's mind as Riku drew his lips towards his own, pulling the younger boy into a kiss.
As Riku smirked against Sora's mouth, trailing his hands up Sora's spine...
As Bryna jokingly called out that it didn't really sound like they were packing...
The notebook wasn't thought of at all.
For who thinks of petty things like notebooks when life holds so much more appeal in the arms of another?
No one, that's who.
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Gasp. Angst! Yeah, had to put this in here. OftB was getting a bit too perky to have a good hold on plot, so here we go. It's like a sub plot. Within a bigger and happier plot.
Basically, I sat down when I got home from the band trip today and typed this thing out, just like I promised. Now that I'm not worrying about guard for a few more months, expect updates! Yes! Perhaps I'll be able to finish this fic before school lets out... That'd be nice.
Umm... I'm almost positive there was something important I had to say, but I can't remember what it was. So instead, just know that in the next chapter, they all actually leave for the band trip. The Fire Dance and Carnival of Venice kick ass. That is all you need know.
And yes, I know some of you are probably worried about Cloud. ...Well, so am I. Yeep.
~Ori