A Penny for your Thoughts
Dark/Riku one shot
Dedicated to You.
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no matter what the ending, my life began with you
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Dark is such a stupid head sometimes
I hate him, I really do.
I hate his smug smile whenever he's pulled of some ridiculous prank. I hate how his lips move when they speak of some stupid remark. I hate how he always gets what he wants; I hate how all the girls have a crush on him.
I can't even stand to look at him.
But sometimes, just sometimes… he would look at me and his eyes would glitter with a genuinely angelic smile it takes my breath away.
And at those times… I envy him.
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It was a quiet night in New York, surprisingly enough. Lights flickered erratically from city buildings, but never entirely going out. Cars passed soundlessly by; restless drivers rushed to get home to awaiting families.
I was sitting in a local coffee shop that was open all night. The chair across from me was empty, but to be honest I was a little bit early. He, unlike me, would be exactly on time.
I wasn't really sure what I was doing, waiting for him. He and I had gone our separate ways since high school- I became a professor at a local college, he- a famous actor. Life worked in funny ways- we both lived in New York for most of our lives but we never really saw each other, aside from occasional phone calls and emails.
I saw more of him than he of me- he in a blockbuster movie, a television commercial or magazine ad. He was always dating some beautiful woman, one after the other. I laughed whenever I did see him- he was the same as he was when he was a child.
Some things never change.
Some do.
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Here it comes.
I was at school during recess on the soccer field that day. Sweat trickled down my face and I was concentrating intently on the soccer ball that would soon be approaching the goal posts. There was only one thought going through my head- Block the ball.
As I eyed the ball down, in the corner of my eye I saw a boy running towards me. I tried to think lesser of it, but he became more and more of a distraction. I glanced quickly at him, silently insulting his name. Didn't he know that I had a game to play?
He was running faster now, his eyes glittering like an eager little boy. My eyes narrowed in disapproval. It was Dark Mousy. I shook my head and quickly averted my attention to the ball, which was coming fast now. The kicker came closer, and closer still and then-
"Hey Riku," he panted, a huge grin on his face. "Look what I found!"
The obnoxious voice snapped me out of my reverie and the ball goes flying past my face. The other team erupted in cheers while my team was glaring intensely at me. The other team scored a goal, and it was ALL. HIS. FAULT. Flustered, I stomped over to give him a piece of my mind, aggravated that he has a big grin on his face.
I screamed at him for a good five minutes, and the whole time he was nonchalantly nodding, but it was clear that he wasn't really listening to a word I was saying. This only got me more angry, and by the end of my long lecture his cheek was bright red from my hand. Then, I 'hmmphed' and began to walk away but am stopped by one word.
"Look."
He stretches his arm out to me. Trying to calm my nerves, I reluctantly looked upon his hand, half-expecting it to be a small frog about to leap out at me. Instead, lying delicately in the center of his palm, lay a sparkling bronze penny. I exploded.
I lost a goal because of this stupid, dirty old penny! Pennies weren't even worth anything!
"Are you insane! That's just a stupid old penny! You can't buy anything with a penny!"Much to my surprise and distaste, his grin didn't falter. His eyes shone with a magical stare, and for a brief moment I was mesmerized. I was quickly shaken out of my trance when he says, "Oh, but that's where you're wrong, Riku. You can buy anything with a penny."
Before I could protest, he grabbed my freehand and before I knew it, I was dragged to a marble water fountain just outside the school. I struggled and I screamed, but he would not let go. With a frustrated sigh, I glared at him but he never flinched.
He led his finger just a millimeter beneath the surface. Defeated, I never admitted it but I was entranced and I was anxious to see what he was going to do. My soccer game and all other things in the world were forgotten.
He squeezed my hand, but I still wondered what his intentions were that I didn't even think to pull away. His eyes closed, and I was distraught by his odd behavior.
He threw the penny into the fountain.
"Don't you know, Riku? There's only one thing you can buy with a penny."
His eyes flickered open, staring intently at me, and then gave me a smile that for once, I could tell why girls were so in love with him.
There are some things you can't buy with all the money in the world.
"A wish."
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Present.
"Man you are really out of it. Thinking of me, are you?"
I jumped out of my chair and turned to find a smug Dark Mousy staring back at me, with a rather large smirk on his face. To my humiliation, I felt my face turn red in embarrassment at being caught so quickly. I stood up, my eyes darkening. "WHAT! No way! I'd rather-"
He held up his hands as his eyes filled up with laughter. "Now, now, Riku. Let's not ruin this meeting with a fight." He sat down in a chair with a smile, waiting for me to join him.
Defeated, I followed his lead and sit down in mine. He looked just the same as he did when he was young, ruggedly um… decent-looking, except a lot taller. His hair never ceases to amaze me, he uses no gel and somehow it manages to defy gravity. It almost made me want to pull at it. I laughed, trying to imagine his reaction if I suddenly yanked at his hair.
After we ordered a pair of cappuccinos (that were caffeine free, mind you), I started off the conversation by motioning to a poster of him right outside the window.
"So I've heard you convinced the mayor not demolish our old elementary school," I began, eyeing him thoughtfully.
His eyes lifted to mine from his cappuccino. "Yeah. I just had too many memories there, you know? It's a special place to me."
I laughed in amusement. My arm was propped up on the table, my head supported by my hand as I looked at him with interest. "Dark, you wrote on all the desks, stuck gum in the windows so they wouldn't open, and hot spitballs at everyone who could walk."
"Hey, I didn't spit any at you!"
"You stuck gum in my hair! I had to cut it short!" I exclaimed.
"It looks good like that, and you kept it that way anyways!" he said, looking pointedly at my hair.
I smile but decided to ignore his remark. He got me there, and he knew it. "So why didn't you let them demolish the school?"
Truth be told, I liked the old school. I was glad to see that he saved it, but why, I had to know. I was prepared to hear, "I wanted to save all my graffiti on the bathroom stalls, they could be worth big money now!" or something. But what he said took me totally off guard.
"Because that's where I met you."
For a split second, I thought something that I had once deemed impossible. Quickly though, I banished it away. I didn't have to think twice about it, it was just simply impossible! I laughed inwardly at my own foolishness.
My first reaction was to laugh.
My second reaction was to cry.
Instead, I took the coward's way out.
"Why did you ask me to be here?" I asked. I tried to pretend I never heard his remark. There was no way that he could have been serious. He probably said that to all his girlfriends anyways.
The words he spoke next were casual, as if telling the time of day… but it would change his life forever.
Maybe both of our lives.
"I'm moving to Paris, and I wanted to say goodbye."
I'm not sure why I was so shocked. I didn't see much of him to begin with, but the revelation brought me into denial. I shouldn't' care anyways, right? The States didn't need any more of the likes of him anyway. I didn't even like him, but I've been so used to his presence so long that it was strange to think that he was leaving.
"Why?" He had caught me totally off guard, and for a moment I was thrown off. I quickly regained my composure however, and laughed. "You have everything you want here."
"Yeah?" To my surprise, Dark leaned in across the table, his eyes immersed with mine. Suddenly I felt nervous, heat pooling at the bottom of my stomach. "If only you knew. I've wanted the same thing since I was eleven."
"What's that, a Super Soak-"
He lifted a slender finger to my lips to silence me. "You believe everything you hear, don't you Riku? This guy, this celebrity has it all. He smiles, he dates, but believe me, that doesn't mean he's happy."
His sudden change in demeanor startled me. His carefree, playful exterior had been shed, and beneath was a vulnerable, weak boy who never got the chance to grow up.
"I've done a lot of growing up lately. I realize now, that once you experience the greatest happiness, people envy you. Once it's taken away, you go through the greatest despair that people will not even begin to imagine. They connect, like light and dark."
I wasn't sure if he was being serious or joking, so I smiled uncertainly. I was suddenly afraid, afraid of this boy I've known all my life who one day turns around with a different face. I looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to burst out laughing about how he tricked me.
But he never did.
"Today I asked myself if I were ever to go back in time, would I take away the happiest moments that have ever happened to me, if it means that I wouldn't have to go through that despair?"
I was entranced, hanging onto his every word. It never occurred to me that I hadn't had a clue what he was talking about, but it really didn't matter. I couldn't take my eyes off of him even if World War Three happened to walk by outside our window.
I never knew that Dark could talk like that. There's a lot of things about him that I don't know... how could I have not have seen the things right in front of me?
"Well the answer is no, never in my life. I would want those memories if I had to walk through Hell and suffer for them until the end of time." He closed his eyes shut, as if trying to hold back the tears.
"Do you know what it's like, to know everyday that the one thing you cant live without will never be yours?"
"What do you want?" I whispered. Emptiness filled within my being. A feeling gripped my heart that couldn't be cast away and couldn't be ignored. It was a feeling of loss and confusion… a state I hated being in. I wasn't going to let him walk away without letting me know. He couldn't do that to me.
He reached over and grasped my hands, his eyes begging for me to understand.
"For my wish to come true."
He gave my hand a last squeeze. I could only watch helplessly as he pulled away and walked out that café door… as he pulled out of my life for good.
Then, I glanced into my hand. He had left me something... his last gift to me.
It had been dulled and dirtied over the years, but never was quite forgotten.
There's only one thing you can buy with...
A penny.
-finis
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Okay well, I TRIED to make it sound cute. That was my sucky attempt at first person. In the end, it turned out sort of sad, no? Sorry, I'm a sucker for sad endings! Was it a sad ending? I dont know.
I did realize that I could have ended it differently, and it would be really easy to write a sequel. But now, I think it's better to just end it like that. Reviews would be appreciated!