Chapter Five:
Sora sighed as he reached the front door, the rumble of a car engine meeting him as he opened it, along with Riku's voice, yelling over the noise,
"You grab the other car, it needs a drive" he told Sora, backing his sleek convertible out of the driveway. Sora sighed, he hated city driving.
Things were so much easier on the island.
He thought almost regretfully. He had left the island, after defeating Ansem (the thought of said evil-doer made Sora's tongue flick to the gap in his smile) the daily routine struck fear into him. He found the city, and the ability to lose himself in the masses of people. Faithfully Riku had come with him, he'd never been that comfortable on the island anyway. Sora's smile faded slightly he thought of what he wanted to say to Riku after the party, how he was thanking him for all he'd done. But…he needed to get this over with, if he was to ever move on. He jumped into his zippy little car, it was cute and sleek, just how he liked it, and started the engine. He then copied Riku, backing out of the driveway carefully and bracing himself for some serious zipping.
Sora pulled up outside of the warehouse come party zone, parking on the other side of the building to Riku's car, as all the spot's were taken. He shut off the engine, a slight nervousness settling in his stomach. He had a bad feeling about tonight. He brushed the feeling off, starting towards the front doors. He took a deep breath then entered the building. Loud dance music slammed into him as he stepped into the room, along with several very drunk teens. Nearly two thirds of the floor was dedicated to dancing, the other third was filled with tables and a bar. He spotted Riku with Yuffie in the third with the bar, sitting at a table, both of them with devious smiles on their faces, discussing something quickly. Riku looked away and noticed Sora, his face widening into a smile. Sora made his way over to them, euro-kissing Yuffie and congratulating her on the great party. She simply giggled a little, causing him to raise an eyebrow, and Riku's eyes to widen in what Sora could've sworn was fear. She simply grabbed a drink off the nearest bar tender, and handed it to Sora, who looked aptly confused.
"Uh, Yuffie…what's going on?" he asked slowly, having to yell it three times in her ear before she heard. She opened her mouth to answer when the doors burst open, revealing two very hot looking guys, clad in skin tight leather pants and skin tight see through tank tops, arm in arm, faces plastered with the most seductive smiles Sora had ever seen. Sora found himself staring and shook himself out of it, looking at Riku whose mouth was in danger of being stepped on. He got slightly irritated at the thought of him being so utterly floored by these guys. He suddenly felt possessive, as if he wanted to yell 'mine' at the two guys. He then questioned why he would feel that. Deep down a voice told him that it was because he had exclusively drooled over Sora for years, and that's just how Sora liked it. The voice that he choose to listen to assured him that it was just because those two were obviously players…not to mention together and he didn't want Riku to get hurt. The deeper voice replied to his chosen ignorance with a mocking 'yeah, right'. all this thought happened in about a second, before Yuffie elbowed him in the ribs. He jolted slightly before blinking about ten times in rapid succession.
"Who are they!" Riku asked still slightly amazed by the entrance.
"I'll introduce you!" she replied excitedly running over to them and literally dragging them to where Riku and Sora were standing. Sora's expression changed dramatically seeing them up close, it more resembled this: 0o;;. one sentence kept running through his mind,
'jeez they're tall!'. Riku glanced over at him and laughed until Yuffie began to speak,
"Riku," she said pointing to the silver haired cutie, "this is Cloud," she then pointed to the blonde hottie, "and this is Leon" she then pointed to Sora, "you heard Sora!" she said tweaking his nose. Sora screwed up his face until accepting the offered hand of cloud. Clouds grasp was surprisingly gentle and his smile surprisingly warm, not to mention sincere. As was Leons, although his smile was less warm, more guarded.
'They remind me of, well…Sora and I…' Riku thought. He noticed that Cloud and Leon's hands were intertwined and that they kept glancing at each other lovingly every now and again. He felt an amazing stab of jealousy towards their relationship, and savagely destroyed any resemblance between himself and Sora from his mind. Yuffie noticed his rising anger and pulled him aside quickly (the others didn't notice, as they were talking rather heatedly about who was the better musically inclined artist, Missy Higgins-Sora's fave, or The Black Eyed Peas-both Cloud and Leon's fave) and told him quickly to cool it, and explained that they were in on the plan. The conversation which had only moments before had mutated into an argument, seemed to have mellowed out, with dreamy, lovey-dovey induced looks on all three faces. It was at that moment that a preppy, mini skirt and cut-across-the-shoulder top clad chick tackled Sora from behind.
"Hay! Rikku!" Sora said excited, "guys," he said gesturing to all of the assembled group of friends, "this is Rikku…he he, you and Riku have met before, I'm Sora, heh, just incase….I mean with your memory…"
"Hey!" she interrupted, tickling him in the ribs. Yuffie giggled, Riku looked on with a slightly bemused look, and Cloud and Leon looked at both Sora and Riku with knowing smiles. Once the mini fight was over, Sora resumed his introductions, "sorry about the minx…she just discovered the truth hurts sometimes," he taunted dramatically, "well this here is Cloud, and next to him is Leon…aren't they just so cute together! And last but certainly not least, Yuffie!" he ended, receiving big smiles all round. Riku spent most of the rest of the night dancing with randoms and discussing the great plan with Yuffie, who spent most of the time introducing herself to Rikku. They got on amazingly, as did Sora, Cloud and Leon. Little did Sora know that that was part of the plan, which Rikku instantly got in on, with an exclaimed "it's so about time someone did something about them! They'd make the cutest couple…ever!". After a lot of careful words and planning, towards the end of the night Sora was in the most amazingly romantic mood, as was Riku. Eventually all their friends left them alone in a booth, Yuffie had managed with a little help from Rikku to have Sora and Riku's favourite song was playing-Don't Ever-Missy Higgins. They started the conversation with the usual small talk, about the good party, before Sora launched into a big speech about Cloud and Leon and how gorgeous they are together and how much they reminded him of them. This was Riku's cue.
"I wish we were more like them…" he said in a small voice, not small enough, for Sora to miss it, he looked confused for a moment before asking simply "what do you mean?"
"Sora…I…I've…they're so good together…and" 'now or never' Riku thought, though his throat seemed to clog up, and fear coiled inside of him like a snake, threatening to suffocate him in its folds. "and, I wish we could be together like that. Sora I…I love you." Sora just sat there for a moment, looking shocked, but Riku went on, "look, I know you don't feel the same. And that you still love Kairi…and that you probably don't even like guys, but if I didn't tell you this…I…I don't know what I would've done. Please don't hate me." he finished, sinking in his seat slightly. All vestige of confidence and surety in himself gone, stripped bare by this simple statement of fact. Sora burst out laughing. An incredible hurt enveloped Riku. He felt like the sky had fallen on him, and that he would implode…if only he could. In that moment he wished he was dead.
"what…what's so funny?" he demanded, feeling angry now, Sora laughs finally subsided.
"I…I…I thought…for once…I would make the first move" he said in between giggles.
"you…you mean…?" Riku asked, without asking,
"Riku, there is no one I have ever been closer to, not even Kairi. Just after the zoo…I realised. Riku, I've know you liked me for about a month, and at first I wouldn't accept it. Slowly I began to realise…I felt the same. Then… after the zoo, it finally sunk in. Kairi's dead. She's gone. I can remember her as much as I like, cry for her as much as I like, but she's gone. Before the party I was going to talk to you about it. But I hated the idea…because you know, even though I know she's gone, it's still painful to talk about, and…I know you hate it when I bring it all up. Being honest I don't think you ever forgave her for stealing me did you? But that's in the past now. Kairi's in the past. She's not here…you are." and with that he leaned over, and kissed Riku, gently, absorbing the warmth and joy that emanated from the young hottie. Once the kiss finally finished, Sora looked into Riku's eyes, and they told him everything words couldn't.
"Just…one thing…can we take this all slow…? I'm afraid, Riku…what if something happens to you?" he asked, fear creeping into his voice.
"Of course…but Sora, you know…I'll always be here. always. I promise."
"I know Riku…I know" Riku tentatively reached out his hand. Sora complied, gently sliding his hand into Riku's.
" YAY!" a familiar voice burst from the booth to the left.
"Yuffie?" Sora exclaimed, wide eyed, "how long were you there!" he asked accusingly,
"only after the kiss…promise!" she assured him, slightly flustered. "so…are we an item or what?" she asked, almost as one would ask if the weather in your area had been fair, or whether or not your cat had eaten recently…except with a couple of buck loads more energy and expectation.
"a…a quiet one" Sora answered, "taking things very slowly" Yuffie smiled an evil smile before each of the boys was hugged by either cloud or Leon from behind.
"Congrats, kiddo!" Cloud said to Sora with a little squeeze. A slightly icier congratulations was offered from Leon to Riku. It was at that moment that Rikku burst in on the scene, shoving past Yuffie, resulting in a small 'hey' from her. She tugged them both away from the older boys, one on each arm, before crushing them in a hug.
"hey guys…you are so gunna end up being one of those old couples…you know the type, that share romantic stories about how they first met to their friends grand kids" they all laughed at the mental image before something sparked in Sora's mind.
"wait a second…this was all planned wasn't it? You were all in on it weren't you?" he accused them all. Riku's head lowered slightly, before Yuffie piped up with a loud, so you can thank us when we all celebrate your ten year anniversary…not to mention the twenty year one after that…" she explained beaming, before disgruntled voices rushed up, flooding her with corrections to the effect of 'don't you mean they can thank me'. Sora burst out laughing, and Riku squeezed him hand before joining in with the laughter. They spent the rest of the night drinking and informing Sora of the plot Riku and Yuffie had come up with about two month ago. Everyone exchanged phone numbers agreeing to meet again in about a week or so.