I have such supportive reviewers! It really makes me very happy when I read your comments and it makes we want to go and write more right away! So last night, I stayed up until 3 AM writing it (in a notebook) and now it's 8 AM and I'm bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, typing it up.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, or you precious reviewers. But I do love you guys a ton!
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Welcome to the Circle of (Mis)Trust.
Our second day of school is over! And it seems that a lot has happened in just two days. I was just wondering why school started on Thursday, but hey, I'm not complaining! Now it's Saturday, and there's gotta be a ton of stuff to go on today.
Replies to comments:
Dear Slashapalooza:
Riku does deserve to be kicked in the shins. You'll find out more about the problems surrounding this promise in this chapter. Thanks so much for the review!
Dear Foolish One:
YAY! You gave my story to somebody on Neopets! That's like, uber! Also, I think I was going for a "oh gosh, I'm gonna cry" effect on the last chapter. This chapter, though, is a little less bittersweet and a little more...creepy. o.o
Dear dancingmistress:
Definitely. Love ya!
Dear myredraincoat: LOL! I giggled at your review. It was a very good idea, but I'm afraid I can't let Riku go to Sora just yet. A little bit of conflict has to occur first. But thanks for your comments!
Dear stargatherer:
Awww! And I can't wait for your next review! Thanks.
Dear lordkagome:
Unfortunately, no apologies yet in this chapter, but if you're one for a little bit of L/C, there is a funny part about them in here. Be prepared to choke on whatever you're drinking. Lol
Dear kmwsweetness:
For you, anything! Lol. You'll find out about the hating-ness of Sora and Riku here. Read on!
Dear Monica7725:
You know I already explained that thing about Kairi lol. BTW, get on and go read chapter 9 of SoM! Also, I think I'm going to have to put your wedding in the last chapter because I had an idea for it to be the venue for the ending. As of yet, I have no idea when the end of SoM will be, so whatever. Lol
Dear Nhamo:
AWWWWWW Thanks so much::huggles back twice: I love you too! Thanks so much. I'm always so happy when people say so many nice things about my stuff that I don't really deserve. Also, you actually read my mind on the issue of Sora/Riku...I'm not planning on making them start getting together for a few chapters. If you like Leon/Cloud, though, there is the first part about them, and you'll find out where the heck they've been in the first chapters!
Dear SkyeCateren:
Why is Tidus an asshole? Tidus is going to be the only person that will actually talk to Sora for a long time here. But of course, Sora's gonna shun him. Hehehe. Just read on.
Dear blackgate:
Your review made me soooooooooo gosh darn happy! I love reading reviews like yours cause that's just what I was going for: the sadness factor to the level of making the readers want to cry. I sure did want to cry when I re-read it. So sad! And thanks so much for the fave!
Dear Ink2:
Totally understand you. Thanks a lot for the review! Lol
Dear Raye-Raye:
Lol! You're the first person to address me by my name! Thanks. Also, the whole thing about Sephiroth...I'll put him in, just for you. Maybe as Riku's uncle like in my other story, or maybe something stranger. Thanks for the suggestion! Love ya!
Dear MiracleLight:
Wow, you like, totally read my mind! O.o; That's exactly what I was writing into this chapter, except Sora's not gonna try to use him to make Riku jealous-it'll just happen. Hee hee. Just don't get too scared of Sora in this chapter. He's really not a bad person, ok? Lol thanks!
So here's what I got:
So it's Saturday evening at 11 PM, and everyone's just gotten back from the first party of the year at Pillar. For those of us with no social life whatsoever, that's the place where they hold parties for "minors," even though we totally smuggle in the vodka and hard lemonade. It didn't look like anybody that was really important had more than one drink, which if you think about it, is the safest way to go.
Except, it looked like W had a little too much fun there and now ST is even more mad at him.
If you don't live out here in La Q, then you wouldn't understand how it works, but...people are still walking around in the street. Yeah, I can see them from my window. Everybody except...L and C. Where the heck have those guys gone?
From Pillar, apparently, R left a little bit early. He was seen in a bit of a rush trying to push through crowds of dancing people. We think that T went after him, because we didn't see him again after that. K was distraught that her R had left, for a lot of the evening, until she started dancing with somebody and making out with him on the dancefloor.
Uhh, maybe K had a little more than one drink. After the dancing died down a bit and she took her new favourite partner away from the dance floor, she realized it was a girl. K was not seen again after that. He he he.
S wasn't seen inside Pillar, but somebody reported that he was seen stalking around outside the building for a while, and then he went home. I wouldn't know, because I was the center of the party!
And, I'm really tired, too. I mean, I would so be sleeping right now if W wasn't pounding on ST's door. I wonder how T's gonna get inside?
I'll let you know when I find out! For now, it's time to blast some music in hopes that I can get to sleep.
More later!
Irvy Kinneas XIII, Gossiper Extraordinaire
Chapter 3 Part 1
l and c are in the heat
"You're such a god damn mother fucking...hot bastard. You're sexy, okay? Quit ignoring me! I said you're fucking..."
Cloud sighed like a drunkard and he fell back in the seat of the convertible. Leon sighed to himself and kept his eyes on the road. Cloud hadn't consumed any alcohol, but Leon knew that he'd have one hell of a time trying to convince anyone of that. He tried to imagine himself in that scenario.
o0o
"But officer," Leon would plead as Cloud drew circles on his neck with his tongue, "He's never had a drink in his life, honest-to-God!"
He would stop to shove Cloud off him, who would be giggling like a maniac.
"The thing is, my friend always gets really ridiculously horny when he's dehydrated for a long time."
Leon would sigh in frustration as the police man would write them a ticket anyway.
"I see, son," the officer would say, as if he'd heard the same excuse a hundred times before, "just make sure your friend doesn't disrupt your driving again. That's pretty dangerous."
Cloud would hiss at the officer and stroke Leon's ear affectionately, while the brunette would shut his eyes, wishing he'd get transported to the polar ice cap.
o0o
"Yeah," Leon said, "I'm such a fucking genius. Go on a road trip to Las Vegas, through the fucking desert in a convertible, with a guy who turns into a wanton idiot from the heat. So fucking smart."
Cloud let out a loud, bored wail, sounding like he was on drugs.
"Man, I've got this wood," Cloud cracked his neck and pointed to his crotch. "It's really killing me. I'm like soo..."
He lost his train of thought and leaned forward to bang his head against the headboard.
"Oh yeah..." he groaned, "...next time, let's use that really good toothpaste you packed instead of lube, okay?"
Leon felt like slapping the blonde. And not in the way Cloud would have wanted, mind you.
"Cloud, please get a hold of yourself. You're not usually this fucking stupid, remember?"
He sat up again and stared at Leon intently.
"Leon..." he said in a pretty normal voice, and, hopeful, the brunette glanced at him.
"What?"
Cloud grinned. "Let's have phone sex!"
At that moment, he attached himself to the brunette's shoulders, and the car swerved sharply to the right.
"What the fuck are you-? SHIT!"
He almost hit a cactus, and the car spun out a few yards off the road and onto the sand. When it finally stopped, Leon literally kicked Cloud off of him as he found the tires were useless on the sand.
Getting out of the car, Leon pushed at the end of the car, but it wouldn't move.
"Get out of the car and give me a fucking hand!" He yelled gruffly.
Cloud sighed happily and jumped out of the car. But instead of pushing against the back of the car like Leon had intended for him to do, he kneeled in front of him and started undoing the brunette's pants.
"What are you doing!" Leon yelled, and the blonde looked up innocently.
"You said you wanted a hand fuck, didn't you?"
It simply amazed Leon just how fucking stupid Cloud was when he was horny.
"I need help on the car," he explained patiently. The shorter boy nodded and stood up, pushing Leon down onto the head of the car and kissing him unchastely. Leon pushed him off.
"No," he said, calmly. "Let's try this."
He pointed to the car, watching Cloud. "Let's get it on the road."
Cloud frowned. "You want us to get it on, on the highway?"
A little confused, Leon nodded. "Yes..."
The blonde shrugged and smiled. "Sounds kind of dangerous, but fuck, I'm game for anything at this point."
The brunette's eyebrow twitched.
"So..." Cloud continued, "You or me on top this time? Want to flip a coin? Wait, we don't have a coin. Want to flip me? I call heads!"
"ARGH! JUST FORGET IT!"
Leon walked away a few feet and stared down the road. He definitely couldn't walk for help, that was for sure. He faced himself then, with two options.
One: Ignore Cloud's advances for 6 hours until nightfall, when his companion could think straight, or
Two: Just give the idiot what he wanted so he'd calm down and they could push the car out.
Option two was obviously the faster choice, but he didn't really want to have sex in the middle of the desert with all the lizards and snakes and who-knows-what-else watching. Option one. Definitely option one.
He heard Cloud sigh and crawl up to him, hugging his legs.
"Let's get married in Vegas, and have a kid. It'd be a pretty fucking sexy little bastard if it were your kid."
Leon only grunted and ran a tired hand through his hair.
Man alive, this was going to be one hell of an afternoon.
Chapter 3 Part 2
t learns that curiosity killed the cat
"Riku, I don't understand why you just don't let me-!"
"Shut up."
"No, listen to me! If you can't deal with him, fine, but I want to und-!"
"Shut your face!"
"RIKU. YOU'RE NOT MY-."
Riku turned and gave Tidus an icy glare.
"No, no, no, and for the fuck-teenth time, NO. Why can't you just let it be like it was last year?"
Tidus frowned back. "I don't know. It just seems there is something more than just bullying going on."
The taller boy scoffed and crossed his arms.
"Yeah, there is. It's a simple four-letter word: hate. I hate him, everything about him. Hate, hate, hate. You can say it, right? Go ahead. No, really. Tidus. Say it."
The blonde raised his eyebrows. "...hate?"
"Good, that wasn't so fucking hard to understand, now, was it?" They finally reached Riku's house. "And Tidus..."
"Yeah?"
Riku raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "If you ever go near him, I swear I'll punch your pretty little face in." Then he turned and shut the door.
Tidus rolled his eyes and continued down the street until he came to his house and saw Wakka pounding on the door.
"Let me in! Come on, let me IN!"
"FUCK OFF!" He heard a muffled scream on the other side of the door. He silently cursed Selphie for having such an interfering love life.
Since he was obviously not going to get into the house anytime soon, he considered his options. He didn't really feel like going to any of his followers' houses, and he definitely was not going to just walk into Riku's house after that argument.
Then he turned his attention to the house across from his-the Nakenawa home. He shrugged and decided that it was a fair idea to see what Kairi was doing.
Okay, so that was a lie, but that's what he would have told you if you had asked.
Slowly, he ambled up to their driveway and saw Kairi checking the mailbox. She didn't notice him and she took the tall stack of letters. On her way back in, she managed to drop them about 4 times, bending over each time to pick them up in such a way that the...view beneath her skirt could be visible all the way to China.
Silly bint, Tidus thought, wondering what anyone saw in her. Then again, he reminded himself, he was gay. Perhaps the secret was only known by straight guys. Oh well.
When Kairi opened the door, a series of loud crashed and a yelp was audible from inside, but she calmly shut the door and went inside. Curious, Tidus snuck over to the window and looked inside.
There was Kairi, walking up the stairs, while her psychotic stepfather was swinging a steak knife around in the family room. And there was Sora, standing dangerously close to the drunken man.
Tidus resisted the urge to yell when the step-dad curled his huge hands around Sora's neck and lifted him up. Sora didn't even struggle. He just watched the man, bored.
The tall, silver-haired man brought the knife to Sora's neck and slowly cut a line down through his shirt until it was split all the way. A positively evil look plastered on his face, the stepfather cut little lines all over Sora's chest, where it looked to Tidus like cuts had been before.
The brunette didn't even flinch. He just existed, looking kind of tired. Finally the dad stopped, and started to yell.
"Stupid little fucker!" He threw Sora at the coffee table, sending him through the glass table top and making a loud crash. He just lay there.
"What, you like the pain? Is it some kind of sick homo turn on? Fucker! You'd be happier dead!" He leaned back and held the knife high in his fist.
Tidus wasn't watching anymore. He was running in the front door, and right as the dad was about to shove the knife into Sora's already bloodied body, he did the only thing he could think to do-he grabbed a tennis shoe and hurled it at the man's head.
He spun around, glaring. "Who the fuck are you?"
But before Tidus could answer, Sora had knocked the man out with what looked like a broken broom handle. Both breathing hard from adrenaline, Sora and Tidus stared at each other for a moment before Sora turned and went upstairs, leaving the other boy to wonder how he could move so effortlessly with little pieces of glass under his skin.
Slowly, he followed the brunette up the stairs and into a room that he realized must be Sora's.
The walls were white, and nothing but a bed, lamp, and small black dresser was inside. It had to have been the cleanest room he'd ever seen. The only thing out of place was the wall on the left side of the room. It had tally marks all over it.
Sora was sitting on his bed. "Thanks," he said shortly, and Tidus sighed.
"No problem," the blonde said, "I mean, it's not cool that you'd have died so young."
Sora laughed morbidly, and Tidus felt the hair on his neck rising.
"I don't care if I die young," Sora explained, "but I can't yet. Not until Riku remembers..."
Tidus' well manicured eyebrows shot up.
"What? This is about Riku? Don't tell me you're in love with him?"
He sighed, and Sora laughed hollowly again.
"Don't get excited," he said flatly, "because it's not love. I was betrayed, and I'm just waiting for him to realize it. When he does, he'll suffer slowly. Maybe as slowly as I did."
Trying not to be too bothered by the cryptic comment, Tidus turned his gaze to the tally-mark wall.
"What's that?" He asked quietly.
Sora got up and walked over to it. He slowly ran his fingers over the tallies, smiling only in a way that somebody seriously disturbed can. He shot an apprehensive look at Tidus and smirked.
"This wall reminds me how many times a promise was broken."
He pulled a pen out of his pocked and made another tally at the very end, chuckling.
"It happened again today, see?" He capped the pen and Tidus stared in awe, completely clueless.
"What...promise?"
Sora gave him a "nice-try" look. "I don't think it matters to you," he said bitterly, and Tidus bit his lip.
"Do you know what number it is?"
Sora watched the wall for a bit and turned. "Seven hundred and three just today," he said, almost sounding proud.
"Sora...why did you and Riku start to hate each other?"
Sora shot him an icy glare.
"I think you should leave now," he said gravely.
Ignoring his instinct, Tidus shook his head defiantly.
"Just tell me why! I want to know." Another glare.
"I'm sure you have other places to be," he growled.
Tidus shook his head again and swallowed. Suddenly very angry, Sora reached under his bed pillow, and before Tidus' mind could register what exactly was happening, he was staring down the barrel of a gun.
"Really," Sora said, brow furrowed and eyes flashing dangerously, his finger hugging the gun's trigger suggestively, "it's been a fucking ball, but I couldn't take up any more of your valuable time."
And then, Tidus finally did what he realized he should've done the moment he had seen Kairi on the sidewalk: he ran.
Sora dropped the gun carelessly to the floor, and the port opened as it spun. It was empty.
He fell against the tally-marked wall and started to laugh, and laugh, psychotically, maniacally. All that he understood was that he had successfully avoided having to answer a question he had no answer to.
And that was just so funny to him.
Chapter 3 Part 3
r finds a memory
Riku sighed as he fell onto his bed with the perfect C3: Chips, Cola, and Cookies. His parents had gone out to some all-night party, and he was home alone for the rest of the evening. Opening a bag of chips, he clicked on the TV and flipped to the basketball game.
Offhandedly, he noticed Kairi's dad near the court, looking very grim because his team was behind by 14 points in the 3rd quarter. He sighed in frustration and flipped to a different channel.
There were his parents on channel 42, at a super-exclusive party somewhere, making small talk with big stars and being big-shots. Boring!
On channel 46, Wakka's dad, the star of the city's championship Blitzball team, was giving a press conference to nosy reporters. Kind of would have been interesting to watch, but he wasn't in the mood.
On channel 53, music videos of rock artists, a lot of whom he'd met in person at one party or another. Yawn!
Channel 54: Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi.
Riku sighed loudly and turned the TV off. Bye-bye, Puffy AmiYumi!
Decidedly bored, he got off the bed and went back downstairs to the movie closet. They had practically every movie ever on sale (save Barney the Dinosaur and Tele-tubbies.)
Riku yawned as he scanned over all the movies. My Fair Lady...Ivanhoe...Finding Nemo...
Suddenly, a small, dusty tape in the far corner caught his eye. It looked ignored, and he knelt down and picked it up. It had a DIY label sticker on it and he recognized the messy scrawl as his own handwriting. He turned it around in his hand, examining it.
"Don't Lose This!" he had written on the label. He couldn't remember what the tape was, and he figured the thing was years old. Curious, he haphazardly brushed the dust off of the tape and took it upstairs.
He took out his old video camera and connected it to the VCR, sticking in the tape and rewinding it for a minute. Then he sat back and pressed play, picture a little blurry at first, but soon it became clear enough.
o0o Camera rolling: 1 minute and 15 seconds o0o
The camera panned around a small, dark room. Suddenly, a light fills the room, and a young, innocent, blue-eyed brunette smiled up at the camera lens.
"Hiya, Riku," he smiled, "what're you doing?"
"I'm documenting," Riku's voice came from the other side of the camera, sounding very official. "It's the first day of spring in our 8th grade year," Riku-voice said for the sake of documenting. The boy grinned happily.
"Next year, we're going to high school," he told the camera. "I hope everything turns out okay."
"Tell me something more interesting," Riku-voice said quickly, and the boy nodded and frowned thoughtfully. Then he blinked.
"Guess what! Since you're documenting our days as 8th graders, for us to watch when we're all 80 years old, I'm gonna say something that I don't ever want to forget, alright?"
"Okay," Riku-voice agreed.
"Okay," the boy repeated, smiling and clutching a piece of stationery to his chest. "Today, I'm going to make a declaration of love!"
The Riku-voice snorted/laughed. "Is that your love note? How cute," he said.
The brunette frowned at the camera cutely. "Don't make fun of me! Otherwise we'll have nothing to look back on when we're old geezers!"
"O-kaay," Riku-voice got impatient. "I have limited battery, you know. Make the most of it!"
The boy smiled again. "Alright. I've liked this girl for a really long time. Today's the day!"
"Tell me about her."
"Hmm. Well, she has purple hair. It's really awesome, actually..."
"Go on," Riku-voice said.
"And she's got really pretty brown eyes. I actually gotta stop myself from staring sometimes..." The boy blushed and looked to the side.
"I think I know who it is. Kura...right?"
"Yup! I'm really really nervous!" The boy frowned intensely at the camera. "These feelings..." he pointed at his heart, "...they're real! Very serious!"
The Riku-voice burst out laughing. "Good for you, Sora! What else?"
"I told you not to make fun of me," Sora whined. "Now I can't bare my soul to the camera anymore."
"Aww...just a little more?" The Riku-voice asked. "It's pretty funny."
Then Sora's hand came onto the lens and the picture went screwy for a moment before it focused on Riku.
"How about you say something interesting, now?" Sora-voice came from the camera, and Riku nodded and sat down.
"I'm pretty nervous, myself," Riku admitted, putting a hand behind his head. The camera focused in and out for a second, showing Sora's inexperience with video cameras.
"What for?" Sora asked, zooming onto Riku's ear on accident, and then zooming out again.
"We've got a big test in math today. I didn't study at all."
Sora-voice laughed dryly. "You're so bad," he said quietly.
Riku suddenly got very close to the camera.
"Sora, I need to tell you something very important..." he whispered, and the camera unfocused and focused again.
"What is it?" Sora-voice whispered back, breathlessly.
Riku stared intensely at the care lens for a while, and a small smile crept up his face, and the camera tumbled to the floor, a blurry picture of the wall.
"RIKU!" Sora's urgent voice was heard amongst thudding and grunting. "Give that back!"
Riku's voice was also audible, laughing hysterically. "Hahahahaha! Hold on, hold on, I gotta see this!"
"Nooooo!" Sora's voice wailed loudly. Riku's voice started to read something in between fits of giggles.
"Dear Kura," he read, and then he struggled for a second. "Hahaha! Dea-Dear Kurahahaa!"
"RIKU! NO! STOP! GET OFF MEEEEE! GIVE-THAT-BACK!" Sora wailed.
"Dear Kura!" Riku said, even louder. "I'm writing this letter to say..."
Suddenly, a loud thud and hysterical laughter.
o0o Camera Battery Critical. End Taping: 6 minutes 48 seconds o0o
Riku realized he had been staring at the screen like a zombie for about 5 minutes. How could he have forgotten that? He had been sure, at the time, that that day would always stay on his mind. Sora was the closest friend he had ever had, wasn't he?
He sighed and threw the uneaten bags of chips across the room, then went and lay on his bed.
Why did it seem like Sora was everywhere he looked all of a sudden? It wasn't right. Sora was a loser, he was a faggot, and he was creepy and morbid...
That's what he had been told. That's what those seniors had convinced him of at the beginning of 9th grade.
So that's what it was, Riku sighed. It wasn't really my fault, after all. I was just so naïve...
He heard a crash and a slam from across the street, and looked out the window. In the darkness, he could see Tidus running exceptionally quickly down the street.
Hold on...what was I just thinking about? Ugh... Riku turned off the light and fell on his face. Best not to think too hard. I guess it wasn't important...
Not to Riku, perhaps, but to Sora, the video would have meant the whole world.
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Lol. I just felt like writing a bit more. Enjoy! It's a guilty pleasure. I hope you guys liked the Leon/Cloud bit. I felt a little kooky today.
Teizontidus (Irvy Kinneas XIII, Gossiper Extraordinaire)