Author's Notes: Mm'kay guys, this is it. Things start picking up after the next couple of chapters. You knew the valley wouldn't last long...
Chapter 18
"Familiar Things"
Elsewhere That Night
GrieversKeepers: So are you ready for this?
RiddlezindaMiddlez: i guess so.
GrieversKeepers: k. hold on a sec.
Leon made sure that his computer mic was working again, and after a few tests, he clicked the "Voice" button in their chat window. The window made a ringing sound, and a picture with sound waves emanating from a phone showed up, captioned, "Waiting for RiddlezindaMiddlez to accept..."
After a second, the phone disappeared and he could hear the fuzzy drone of a microphone. Beside himself with some anticipation, Leon said nothing—besides, he was never good with starting conversations.
The silence went on far too long. All he heard on the other end of the line was a nervous cough. Leon swallowed and decided it would be up to him.
"Hello?"
"Oh!" Riddlez replied, "Er, hi."
There was a pause, and then Leon smirked. "You're a guy."
"You thought I was a girl?"
"Well, no good way for me to tell, is there?" retorted Leon. Riddlez laughed. Leon cleared his throat, sighing quietly. Actually, that was a bit of a relief. He wouldn't want to deal with a girl over the Internet. He wasn't into Internet dating, and besides that, well...not that he didn't like to date girls, but he preferred men. Yep...that was his best, pathetic reason.
"You sound different from what I imagined." commented Riddlez.
"So do you." Leon replied. Riddlez chuckled again.
"This feels weird."
You're telling me, Leon thought. You sound damn sexy.
Leon did a backtrack on that thought, and shook his head. Knock it off. You don't even know where this guy lives. And you know long-distance won't work...
"You still alive over there?"
Leon was disrupted in thought and nodded, but remembered that Riddlez couldn't see that. "I'm still breathing, if that's what you mean."
"You're so cynical."
"And you're surprised?"
"Not really," said Riddlez, "You were the same even when you typed."
"Yeah, I guess I was."
Another long silence. The both of them coughed or cleared their throats at least twice.
Leon sighed. "I guess we're both not very talkative, huh?"
"It's because we're hearing each other." said Riddlez. "I think everyone always lets their guard down more when they're online. That's why parents always tell their kids to be careful. They think the Internet is the safest place in the world."
"Right, even though it's crawling with freakshows and pedophiles." Leon said sarcastically.
"Yeah...there are a lot of weirdos on here."
The brunet frowned. Thinking about pedophiles reminded him of Ansem, which in turn soured his mood a bit. He pushed the thoughts out of his head, trying to focus more on talking with Riddlez. Who still sounded sexy.
"Hmmm..."
"What?" Riddlez asked.
"Nothing. I'm trying to think of something to talk about."
Riddlez chuckled. "Don't bust a brain cell," he joked. Leon just grunted, and silence fell again. He shifted.
"I hope you're not too uncomfortable..."
"What, with silence? Hell, I savor it. These kids shoot you through a hurricane trying to take care of them."
Leon smirked. Then he heard some shouting in the background—louder than the other shouting, that is. Next he knew, Riddlez was saying:
"Oh, shit. I'm sorry. I need to go."
"Something came up?" Leon assumed.
"Yeah, my boyfriend's here."
Leon's eyes widened. "You're gay, too?" he asked, surprised at himself for asking. Riddlez paused.
"...Yeah. Why? You're not homophobic, are you?"
"Not at all. I'm bi, myself. I'm just surprised." Leon's smirk returned. "Anything else I can find out about you in five minutes that I didn't know for three years?"
"Maybe not now. We'll try again on Wednesday, maybe? I'm free then."
Leon nodded. "Sure."
"Thanks. See you then, G!"
"Have fun on your date." Leon said, and Riddlez hung up after saying goodbye. Leon closed the window and then leaned back in his chair. Well, that went better than he'd anticipated. They'd actually said more than five words to each other. He let the clock tick by the minutes, before he paused and frowned.
Why did Riddlez's voice sound so familiar?
Wednesday (Early Next Morning)
Tidus blinked himself awake from his dreams, and sat up in his sleeping bag. He looked around Sora's room, and stifled a yawn, stretching. He checked the clock on Sora's bedside table, noting that it was almost four in the morning. And that he had a huge, unbearable urge to piss.
Oh well. Nothing to do but take care of it, Tidus thought. He wiggled out of his sleeping bag, Sora snoring lightly in his bed nearby, and tiptoed his way out of the room into the hall. Making his way quietly down to the bathroom, he was a little confused to see a light flooding out from under the door. He paused, and knocked quietly—very quietly.
But someone still answered, and Tidus jumped back.
"Whoa. Riku." He murmured. "I thought you were still asleep."
"Not really." Riku whispered back. Tidus smiled.
"Well, are you done in there?"
"Sorry. I'll get out." Riku squeezed past Tidus, who thanked him, and went in. The door shut behind him as he did.
Riku didn't completely leave the hallway when Tidus went into the bathroom. Instead, he waited outside, picking a spot a little further down the hall and leaning against the wall. He stared in front of him at the picture of young Sora hung up and framed, a school picture of when the boy was roughly six. He had a goofy smile on his face and wasn't looking at the camera. He was very cute, Riku realized. And he wasn't half-bad looking even right now. But as things stood...well...
Riku frowned. He knew that today, he'd go back to Ansem's, and his dreams would be shattered again. He'd dreamt such good dreams while he was here, but he knew that on the horizon lay his doom, and that they would all go away—he would once again sleep a dreamless sleep, or wake up with the sheets of his too-small bed soaked in sweat, his heart pounding. He only had so much time left to savor his freedom, and it made Riku's heart turn to lead in his chest. He hated today, solely for the reason that he would soon be going back to his jailer's cell. Quite literally, if Ansem was mad enough.
He heard the toilet flush and a quick ten seconds of running water—Tidus must have washed his hands after. Riku smirked. Tidus was a mini-neat freak. If Sora ever left his room, Tidus would probably pick up all the clothes scattered around. He wasn't obsessive, but it was obvious enough. It was just one reason why Riku thought he was so...
Riku sighed enviously, just as Tidus came out of the bathroom, turning the light off and wiping remaining water droplets off his hands on his boxers (which he slept in, obviously). He blinked at Riku when he passed him in the hall and stopped.
"You comin' back to bed?" he asked.
When he didn't respond right away, Tidus turned his body to face him completely. "Riku? Are you feeling alright?"
Riku wasn't sure himself, actually. This day was just making him feel so pressured—like he had to hurry up and say something before it was too late. Make good of the time he had, the few precious hours allotted to him.
"Riku?" Tidus tilted his head. Riku turned his carribean gaze away.
"Tidus...about yesterday..." he licked his lips. "I'm sorry that I hit you."
Tidus was silent for a brief moment, but Riku took it as a good sign when the blond didn't lecture him.
"It's fine. I think I understand why you did that."
"No..." Riku shook his head. "No, you have no idea."
Tidus was quiet, shaking his head, and Riku could hear him taking a long, slow breath, then letting it out in a sigh. "Riku," he said, "Are you going to keep hiding it from me when it's obvious that I already know?"
Riku's fingers twitched, and his chest rose and fell with a heavy breath. He shut his eyes, swallowing dryly. Oh, God, that made his heart ache so bad. His chest hurt. Yes, that had scared him yesterday—Tidus knew. Whoever he'd been talking to knew. They knew Ansem was hurting him. Riku understood it didn't take much to guess, but he'd always done so perfectly hiding it, covering it up, for his sake. (That disgusting son of a bitch's sake.) How had they figured it out?
"You're scared, aren't you?"
The pressure was making him crack. Riku swallowed again, and allowed himself to nod. He was working hard to control his breathing, trying not to sound like he was gasping or panting. He suddenly felt short of breath somehow. But it all went away when Tidus took his hand, and squeezed.
"Don't worry, Riku. We'll figure out a way to save you."
Riku looked up then, staring down at Tidus. " 'We'?" he asked, disbelieving. Tidus nodded.
"Me and Roxas..."
Riku shook his head, eyes widening in that moment. "Tidus, do you know what he's going to do if he catches you?"
"It's a risk that I'm willing to take." Riku bit his lip, squeezing Tidus' hand. No! If Ansem hurt Tidus, he would never forgive himself! He would never forgive him! Tidus was too beautiful, too innocent—he had no part of this. He wasn't deserving of Ansem's horrible games.
"I won't let him hurt you." (And neither will Roxas or Sora, thought Tidus aside.)
"Tidus..."
The blond drew his hand back, looking up into Riku's eyes. "I just want to let you know, that we're going to do this, even if you threaten to tear us apart."
Riku felt that pang of aching again. He gulped, his eyes still a little bigger than normal. He drew breath in sharply through his nose, and suddenly reached out to Tidus. He couldn't stand it. There wasn't any time left. In the slim chance that Tidus succeeded, he would still never be able to tell him. So Riku cupped his palms to the blond's beautiful cheeks, and he kissed him.
Tidus wasn't sure how to take it. That was a little more gratitude than he'd expected. Riku was definitely being more than a little overbearing, but Tidus said nothing and just stood still. Oddly, he didn't feel at all violated; it was just a little weird that his best friend since twelve years old was cupping his face and kissing him. On the mouth. Well, at least he's got the sense not to pull out his tongue.
He was actually tingling a little when Riku drew back, and Tidus cursed mentally when he realized something. Damn it, Riku, you stole my first kiss! This was going to take months for him to live down. Well, on the bright side, at least his first kiss hadn't been a terrible one.
When it was over, his silvery-haired friend pulled him into a tight hug. The only thing Tidus could do was to hug him back, just for the sake of consoling him. He knew that Riku must be feeling like such a wreck—today he'd be going back into Ansem's care, and they wouldn't be open for liberating him until Friday. It was two days too long for Riku.
"I love you, Tidus," Riku murmured. "I've always loved you. Even though I know you're straight."
The last bit made Tidus laugh a little, but the pity made it get stuck in his throat. Poor Riku. It almost seemed like nobody had loved him for so long; he must feel so lonely. Maybe I'll forgive him that kiss, he thought, Riku seems to have been shouldering that for a long time.
"I love you too, Riku—as a friend." That was as gently as Tidus could break it to him in a short sentence. There wasn't really much breaking to be done. Riku had confessed to him in a way that said he understood their friendship would be nothing more than just that: friendship.
He felt Riku nodding when he nuzzled his shoulder, breathing deeply. Tidus squirmed a little.
"Come on, man. You need sleep. Besides, a straight man can only hug for so long."
That made Riku chuckle.
Riku dreaded as the hours in school ticked by. Sitting in fourth period Biology, all he could do was stare at the clock or stare out the window. Tidus and Sora were in different classes—he was alone again, just like he always was. Soon he would be picked up by Ansem, and they would grab his things from Sora's house, and then they would go home. Into the basement.
He sighed and put his head down on the desk. He wanted to sleep—he wanted to sleep and die. He didn't want to go back, but he knew there was nothing that he could do about it. Again, more than ever, he was reminded of how much he hated Ansem, how he hated that house, but most of all, how he hated himself.
Right as the teacher was about to throw a piece of chalk at his head to wake him up, the P.A. system bleeped in their classroom.
"Mister Eisenhower?"
"Yes?" answered the teacher.
"May I please have Riku Lockheart in the Guidance Office?"
Riku's head shot up from the desk as his teacher said "of course." Oh, God, no...they didn't!
Tidus would never tell the guidance counselor, would he?
"Riku? Fill out your agenda so I can give you a pass."
Riku froze. It took him several seconds before he shuffled around in his backpack for his school planner, and wrote out a pass for the teacher to sign. With sweat on his brow and a heavy heart, he walked down the halls to Guidance. Oh God...oh, God, Tidus...how could you? Why? He deliberately walked slowly, just to prolong the trip, trying to tell himself that the whole school was not just about to find out about his horrible life with Ansem. He would never live it down. Everyone would suddenly look at him with pity, and he would have to shoulder their sympathies like it was something he was supposed to appreciate. He would die inside. Everyone would see him differently just because he was abused. It was sick. It just reminded him of how flaky humanity was.
When Riku made it to Guidance, he stepped slowly into the room. All the students who were there stared at him, as though it were a shock he was here in the first place. Riku wasn't surprised. Then the woman stepped out who was the Guidance teacher for students with the last names M through L, Mrs. Leigh. She adjusted her coke bottle glasses, her blond hair long and frizzy.
"Riku?"
"Um...yeah." Riku nodded.
"Come with me." She put an arm behind his shoulders and led him back into her office. She then murmured under her breath, "There's someone here you might want to see."
Riku looked up at her and frowned. Someone here to see him? Who the hell?
Mrs. Leigh took him through the quiet halls, until they finally reached her door, and she opened it up. Riku stepped inside and stopped again. His eyes bulged, and he gasped softly.
Turning to face him was a young woman, only just in her late thirties, her hair long and brown and soft, her eyes the same color, her body built like a fighter's but not overly so. There were some scars on those beautiful arms, those arms that had held him when he was little. It made him tremble, it made his lip quiver. He gulped.
The woman smiled at him, and he was so stunned, he was so shocked, just to see her face. Her name tag read "TIFA".
"Hello, Riku."
Riku's planner slipped out of his sweating, trembling hands. His voice cracked as he spoke, his eyes welling up with tears.
"Mom?"
Author's Notes: DUN DUN DUUUNNNN! Just remember, guys, it won't all be Tidus-centered forever. Sora's going to get the attention pretty soon.
And don't ask me how Tifa became his mother. That's just how it worked. (And I refuse to make Sephiroth his daddy, so don't anyone think that Seph is tied to Riku somehow here - sorry, but that's a plot that's been done to death.)