Respect Me Not
Warnings: There still are mistakes in grammar, I think. Also Shounen-ai, which means malexmale love. NOT FOR KAIRI FANS!
Pairings: SoraxRiku, one-sided SoraxAxel, WakkaxTidus, AerithxCid and maybe some more…
Beta-reader: SomedayEternity
Chapter #2, Bastard Riku.
Riku couldn't believe his luck. His life had changed in half an hour, as Sephiroth had offered him an agreement he just couldn't turn down. He had promised to promote Riku's CD, because Sephiroth thought Riku was the most talented person he had ever met.
He walked down a busy street of Tokyo. It was something around 12 p.m., not that Riku cared. No, he was too happy to notice the passing time. He could already see his face in posters, and could hear everybody talking about rockstar Riku. He smirked and sighed. Suddenly he remembered Sora, and he started to smile even more. He couldn't wait to see the expression on the boy's face when he'd tell him about his meeting with Seph.
Beautiful flowers of a flower-shop caught Riku's attention. An idea came to his mind, and he walked in. He looked around, and tried to find the shopkeeper with his gaze, but everything he saw were flowers.
"Can I help you with something?" a smiling girl came from behind a shelf, and moved her dark-brown hair away from her eyes. She smiled sweetly to Riku, who nodded. "Yeah. I was just thinking about buying some flowers."
"Oh, to who?" the shopkeeper smiled.
"My lover." Riku said, before he could stop himself. He mentally slapped himself. Since when had Sora been his lover? He chuckled to himself. The idea of Sora as a boyfriend wasn't disgusting to him. In fact, he had noticed how important the brunette boy really was to him. He'd die if Sora left him.
"Ah, she must be very pretty…"
"He's mostly cute." Riku said. The shopkeeper's expression changed in few seconds to confused, then back to normal, "I see. Anyways, what is HIS favourite colour?" she smiled; still slightly shocked about the fact that someone so gorgeous was gay.
"Hmm… Blue. Baby blue." Riku smiled. He liked thinking and speaking of Sora as his boyfriend. "Do you have… some blue flowers? No, not blue… I changed my mind. Red roses."
The shopkeeper raised her eyebrows. Riku smirked. "Red's a colour of passion… the passion I feel towards him." Riku wanted to laugh to the shocked look on the poor girl's face, but he managed to keep it inside.
"R-right away!"
Sora slowly opened his eyes. It took him few moments to realize he was in Riku's bedroom. Groaning, he sat up. His back was aching because of the rotten mattress he was sleeping on. He glanced around the room, but didn't see Riku anywhere.
"Riku?" He asked, but gained no reply. He stood up, rubbing his neck. "Rikuuu? Are you home?" he yelled, but once again only silence kept him company. Moaning, he exited the room, walked straight to the kitchen and immediately spotted a piece of paper on a table.
I'll be out for a while. I got a call this morning. Sorry for not being there when you wake up. I just couldn't wake you up, you were so cute snoring like that
-Riku
"Cute? Riiiiight…" Sora laughed, and made his way to the fridge. His eyes lit up, when he noticed how much coke cans there were. He grabbed one of them and made his way to the living room. While opening the can, he pushed the ON/OFF button on the TV. Sora sighed and sank to the couch. He flipped through the channels, but couldn't find anything interesting. In the end he decided to watch cartoons, where a stupid cat ran after a stupid mouse trying to catch it, but in vain.
He checked the clock. It was 12:30 p.m. and Sora wondered when Riku'd be coming back home. And who had called him this morning?
For ten minutes Sora watched the most idiotic cartoon he had ever seen, before turning off the TV. Really, who would let their kids watch something as stupid and violent as that? If Sora had children, he wouldn't let them watch such a program.
After sitting in silence for five minutes he started to get impatient. He had already finished his coke, and the can lied on the floor, next to the couch. He leaned his back on the sofa and folded his arms. He looked up at the ceiling. There was a new lamp Sora hadn't noticed before. He snorted and stood up, wondering what he could do to kill some time.
But he didn't have to think about the answer to his question, when the front door of Riku's apartment was opened. He immediately dashed to greet Riku, but was surprised as he saw Riku carrying a bouquet of red roses. "Riku what are those?"
"These are for you!" Riku chirped and shoved the flowers into Sora's hands. Sora blinked his azure eyes, glanced the roses and then Riku. "What for?" He asked, not sure if he should be happy or surprised.
"Because I felt like buying them!" Riku poked Sora's nose, looking very excited. "Guess what!"
"Umm… you won in Bingo? Or no… wait…. You won a trip to America? Ah, maybe not… how about…"
"I met my cousin Sephiroth today. I bet you know who he is?" Riku smirked, and folded his arms. Sora frowned, thinking. Suddenly he remembered- Sephiroth was an owner of a big record company. Everyone who was into the music knew him. And Riku often talked about him, since he was his cousin. "Oh yeah! I know him!"
"He promised to pay for my CD!" Riku grinned, and hugged Sora, lifting his feet from the floor. Sora smiled, but couldn't hug back his friend, as he was holding the flowers. But when he got his feet back on the floor, he started to jump up and down. "That's awesome!"
Riku shrugged and grinned from ear to ear. "Yeah… All I have to do now is to find proper band members…" he said, mostly to himself.
Sora watched, as Riku disappeared into his room, mumbling something about calling to few friends. The brunette sighed, happy because Riku was happy. He smiled, and inhaled the sweet of the roses. He went back to the couch and sat down to wait Riku to finish his calls. He still embraced the flowers.
Fifteen minutes passed and Riku was still locked in his room. Sora sighed.
Twenty minutes passed and Riku's quiet murmur from the other side of the door could be heard. Sora yawned.
When half an hour had passed, Riku still hadn't come out. Sora groaned, as he noticed that the flowers were dying, because he hadn't put them on water. He gritted his teeth, starting to become angry. Riku's laugh echoed from the other side of the door. Sora smiled, but the smile faded quickly. It wasn't fair that Riku had just forgotten all about him.
Suddenly a wave of angriness swept over Sora, and he threw the roses to a wall, next to a painting of a green landscape. With a loud 'thud' the roses hit the wall, the flower's petals scattering everywhere. Then they slowly landed on the floor. Sora sighed, feeling relieved for some weird reason. He quickly grabbed his belongings, and stormed out of the front door.
He ran down the stairs, he didn't want to wait for an elevator. He dashed out of the block of flats, nearly knocking down an old lady. He apologized quickly, but never stopped running.
"Riku, you bastard…"
Sora entered his house and tried to be so quiet that no one would hear him. He kicked his shoes off, and tiptoed past the kitchen, where his mother baked something. He sighed in relief, as she didn't hear his sneaking inside the house.
Slowly and carefully Sora started to climb up the stairs. His mother only continued to whistle and sing.
Sora arrived to his room safely without being noticed. He threw his stuff to the floor and jumped to his bed. He was still pissed off. It wasn't fair that Riku just ignored him and went to call his friends.
Of course Sora was happy for Riku. He had always wanted to become a rockstar, and now his dream was becoming true. Sora couldn't wait to see Riku on a stage, singing and dancing like an angel. He could see how Riku held the microphone near to his mouth, waving with the rhythm. He smiled and closed his eyes.
"Sora?" A voice startled him, and made him jump. He glanced to a spiky haired man, who stood in his doorframe, "Cloud? What is it?"
"I didn't hear you came home… Did something happen?" Cloud asked, while he walked towards his brother's bed and sat beside him. Sora growled and lied down again, trying to ignore his anxious brother, "Nothing happened."
Cloud chuckled and lied down next to Sora, "Look, I know there's something wrong. I wouldn't be a good big brother if I didn't notice something as obvious as that." He said. Sora just sighed and turned his head away.
"I guess your brother-senses are wrong. There. Is. Nothing. Wrong." The younger one said and folded his arms. Cloud just continued to chuckle, while poking Sora's ribs.
"I know there is! It's about Riku's band, isn't it?" Cloud asked suddenly.
"How did you-"
"Riku called me. He wanted me to be his keyboardist." He explained and smiled to his little brother, who smiled back, but only a fake-smile. "Really? Cool…"
"Sora, really? What's wrong?… Oh no… I get it!" Cloud's face lit up, while Sora groaned. He knew Cloud had the best imagination in the world, but it was also the most twisted and perverted. "RIKU THAT DIRTY BASTARD TRIED TO-"
"NO!" Sora covered his ears, and kicked Cloud, who started to laugh madly. "I DON'T WANNA HEAR IT!" He tried to act shocked, but he couldn't help but laugh. Soon they were both laughing, holding their stomachs and lying on Sora's bed.
After five minutes of good laughing they started to calm down, but Sora still giggled lightly. Cloud sat up properly, and looked down at his little brother, now death serious. "Sora, Riku didn't take you in his band, did he?"
Sora became quiet, closing his mouth to a thin line. He then thought for a moment, before he shook his head rapidly. Cloud sighed and leaned his back on the wall. "Thought so. But Riku is Riku. He's an idiot, don't mind him." Cloud laughed before standing up.
"Oh, by the way. We're planning big parties for your eighteenth birthday. It's a secret, but I let you in on it, because I'm such a damn nice guy." Cloud winked, and exited the room. It took Sora few moments to understand what he had just said. He counted the days to his birthday. Seven days…
He lied down on his bed and closed his eyes. Did Riku remember his birthday? Sora laughed bitterly, as he caught himself thinking about Riku again. He was supposed to be angry to him, but he found out that it was a pretty hard task.
Yawning, he rubbed his closed eyes. He hadn't slept well last night, because of that movie. And because of a nightmare he had had... Maybe he could sleep now… "Riku…" he mumbled, as he slowly fell asleep.
"Tiddy, Tiddy!"
"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" Tidus covered his ears, as he threw a biology book to Selphie's head.
"Oww…"
They were at Tidus' home and Tidus was trying to teach to Selphie that whale isn't a fish, but a mammal, but when Selphie decided that something was something, there was no way to turn her head. Tidus sighed, as she continued to tell him why a whale couldn't be a mammal.
"It lives in an ocean so that makes it a fish! Fish, understand Tidus! Fish!" Selphie said, while throwing the book back towards Tidus, but missed miserably.
"You throw like a girl." Tidus mocked. Selphie snorted and folded her arms, "I AM girl, Tiddy." She giggled.
Tidus sighed, and stood up. After the incident with the mysterious redhead, he had a hard time trying to concentrate to anything else. His mind went through the events, when he crashed into the man. He shook his head and walked to his window and glanced out of the window. Selphie also stood up, and followed her friend.
"Something wrong?" She asked. Her voice was sincerely concerned.
"No, nothing. Just thinking." Tidus replied, staring blankly outside, where happy kids played and laughed. He sighed and leaned his head to the surface of the cold glass. Selphie eyed Tidus, trying to decide, whether to believe or not to believe him. They stood in silence, both thinking, Tidus about the redhead man, and Selphie about Tidus.
"If there's something wrong, you can tell me." Selphie said tiredly. Tidus looked at her gently and nodded his head, "I know that. You're my best friend Selphie." Selphie winced, but smiled all the time. She wanted to be something more than a best friend to Tidus. But deep down she knew there was no future for the two of them together.
"Yeah. And you're my best friend Tiddy!" Selphie laughed and tackled her friend to the floor. "Whoa, hey! Don't get too excited!" And then they laughed, and nothing was wrong…
…Everything was fine.
Riku opened the door of his room. He smiled brightly and walked to his kitchen. Opening his fridge, he grabbed a coke can and then walked to his living room. His eyes widened, as he saw red petals all around the room. Suddenly he remembered something- Sora.
He had completely forgotten all about him when he had been so excited about the contract. He swore out loud and kicked the couch. How could he have been so stupid? Sora must be very pissed right now. Riku opened the can and quickly drank it empty. He searched through his pockets, and pulled out his black mobile phone. He quickly dialled Sora's number, while cleaning up the red flowers.
It took awhile before his call was answered. "Aerith Gainsborough.(1)"
"Hi, Riku's here. How are you Aerith?" Riku said to Sora's mother, who chuckled. He managed to get rid of the most petals and sat down on the couch, making himself comfortable. "As polite as ever I see…"
"Is Sora home?"
"Oh? I thought he was still there… wait a second…" Riku heard Aerith to shout her son to come down. There was a silence, then running footsteps. Riku yawned, while trying to think a smooth way to say sorry. But he knew that if Sora really was pissed, it'd be very hard to apologize him. Sora maybe looked harmless, but when he was angry, there was no force that could stop him from destroying the whole earth.
"Sora." Was a quick reply, which pulled Riku back from his thoughts.
"Sora? Oh, I'm so sorry I ignored you today."
"…"
"Really, I am. I'm such an asshole." Riku sighed, sincerely thinking himself as a total idiot. Sora snorted, sounding a little amused. It wasn't everyday Riku mocked himself. "Soraa… don't sound so malicious…"
"Sorry Riku, that was just something I didn't expect to hear from you. You are usually so full of yourself that you don't even notice how big bastard you really are. No offence." Sora giggled. Riku smiled, happy that Sora wasn't too angry with him. He really didn't want to be on Sora's bad side.
"Hah, you're so mean Sora. But I'm happy because you're not pissed off, or are you?"
"…I guess not." Said Sora, little unsure. "…Or not anymore, that would be better way to say it. After a little nap I'm feeling much better."
"Ouch, I affected you that much? Sorry… I know, how about a dinner sometime?" Riku leaned his back on the couch, and looked up at the ceiling, while waiting for Sora's answer. "…As an apology."
"Sure. If you pay."
"Oh, of course Riku has to pay poor Sora's dinner… I'm going to be rich anyways." He mocked, and gained an angry snort as a reply. Riku laughed, as Sora tried to explain he wasn't poor and could very well pay his own food. "Yeah, yeah. Well, I gotta go." Riku said quickly, and ended the call. He chuckled and rubbed his temples. He was glad Sora still wanted to speak to him. He'd go crazy if he couldn't be with him.
Riku shook his head. Since when did he need Sora that badly? He sighed and stood up. The way he was thinking about the brunette scared him sometimes. It wasn't right to feel this way towards your best friend, right? Riku rolled his eyes and ran his hand through his silver locks. Sora had become so close and important to him, that if Sora died, Riku would go straight after him. He just couldn't live without him.
But was it right to feel like this? Riku cursed and laughed. Why would he care what was right and what was wrong? He was Riku, for god's sake! Great Riku didn't care if someone said he wasn't feeling the way he should be. He laughed madly and opened the TV.
He continued to laugh even harder, as there was a show where some crazy priest was yelling that gayness was a sin. Riku collapsed on the floor, as he listened the priest nagging voice preach about how God made peoples love the opposite gender, not the same as they are. He tried to calm his laughter, but he continued to giggle even if he changed the channel.
"I don't care what you say! I LOVE SORA!" Riku yelled, as he threw an empty coke can to the TV screen. Then he realized what he had just said and his eyes widened. Did he really LOVE Sora?
Riku fell silent. But soon the trademark grin was back on his face and he said out loud, "I love Sora."
Sora put the phone back to its place and sighed. He had been too soft with Riku. Really he wanted to yell and scream at him. Tell him how much he hated him, yet liked him. Sora shook his head and started to walk out of the door, but his mother blocked the way. Aerith stood there, watching her son with great interest.
"What?" Sora groaned, as he tried to walk past her, but she grabbed his shoulders. "Mooom… let me go…"
Aerith giggled and poked Sora's nose, "Sora, Sora… you sound like a five years old. No one would believe you're turning eighteen in seven days." She said, and Sora groaned.
"Really mom… what is it?"
"Hmm… How's it going with Riku and you?" She asked and folded her arms over her chest. Sora rolled his eyes, not sure what she was after. Nothing good was all he could say. "What ever do you mean? Riku's being an assho… I mean idiot, but he's still my friend. Can I go now?"
Sora avoided his mother's glance, and looked down at the floor. Aerith sighed, "Sora… if there's anything-"
"There isn't." Sora said quickly, and smiled to her. And without another word, he walked past her. When he stamped up the stairs, he could hear his mother's heavy sigh from the kitchen. He shook his head, feeling quilt for being so cold to his mother.
He was about to enter his room, when a cold hand on his shoulder stopped him. He yelped in surprise and spun around, only to meet a bearded blonde man. "Cid! You startled me!"
"Ya scare too easily Sora." Cid laughed and pulled a cigarette from his pocket. Sora narrowed his eyes. He hated smoking, especially when Cid did it. He was a nice man, except that he smoked and cursed way too much. Cid was Sora's mother's boyfriend and next summer he'll become his stepfather.
"Heh, I thought you left." Said Sora, who tried to snatch the tobacco from Cid's hands, but failed miserably. The blonde man laughed to Sora's poor attempts and folded his arms. "Ya act like your mother dammit. Hehe…"
Sora pouted, "I don't want to see you to die. You have a kid for god's sake!" He joined Cid's laughing. "Hell, he can very well take care of himself, unlike ya. Tidus' a matured kid."
"Yeah right. Whatever. Well did you want something?"
"Yeah." Cid rubbed his nose, "I heard about your eighteenth birthday coming up. So whaddaya want? As a present, I mean."
"Dunno. Whatever is fine." Sora shrugged, and opened his room's door. He heard Cid's mumbling something about troublesome kids, before closing the door. He glanced at his room, which was even messier than usual. Comic books, clothes, papers, coke cans and many more other thing covered his floor. He sighed, but decided he wasn't in the mood of cleaning up his room.
He jumped onto his bed and grabbed the closest book he reached. He opened it, without even looking what it was. He flipped through the pages absently, and didn't even notice what he was reading. He was too deep in his thoughts to notice that what he was reading was Gravitation. (2) Not until a page, where two men were kissing rather passionately. His eyes widened and he threw the manga away while screaming like a schoolgirl.
Sora gasped for air, trying to forget the sight he just saw. What did that kind of comic do in his room? It wasn't his for sure. Sora narrowed his eyes to the book, what lied on the floor.
"That's just disgusting…" he said to himself. Giving the last glance towards the manga, he went to his laptop and opened it. He had to finish his history essay about American civil war. He groaned, as he started to read through the web pages about Abraham Lincoln. "…This' boring…"
Cid sat down by a table. He glanced at Aerith, who looked thoughtful. There were two cups of coffee on the table, and Cid grabbed one of them. The silence started to become awkward to the blonde man. He hawked before breaking the stillness, "Somethin' wrong, Aerith?"
"Oh? No, no… everything's fine." She replied and formed a smile on her lips, her eyes still remaining blank, watching to the emptiness. Cid rubbed his nose and drank some more coffee. Dealing with women was tedious job. They never wanted to admit something was wrong, but they were angry if you didn't ask them. Cid groaned, but before he could question her further, she said, "Sora's acting weird these days…"
"What do ya mean?"
Aerith sighed and looked down at her cup of coffee. "…Well… first of all, he has been using long sleeved shirts for about five years now… When I ask him why he doesn't use T-shirts anymore, he just says 'it's cold'. He has also been moaning and crying while sleeping… And now he barely eats. All he eats is cookies. I'm starting to get really worried about him… That kind of eating habit can't be healthy!"
Cid nodded, but didn't say anything. Sora sure was acting strange these days. Always wearing a shirt, which sleeves covered his arms. The blonde man sighed and reached his hand to touch Aerith's, and rubbed it gently, "Everything's gonna be alright. Trust me Aerith." He smiled.
"I… Yes, you're right. I'm just being paranoid." Aerith smiled weakly, as she continued to watch blankly out to nowhere. "You know what? I've been planning Sora's birthday parties… He's so old already! I remember when Cloud turned eighteen… that kind of parties I won't accept ever again!" she laughed.
"What happened?"
"Well, I was away few days with Sora, so Cloud could have some good time with his friends… But when I came back the house was destroyed! It took us nearly a year to clean up that mess!" Aerith giggled and continued, "So that's why I've planned everything, for safety of my house."
Cid raised his eyebrows, and gestured his lover to continue. "…You see, the parties are on Saturday. So we're leaving on Friday night… And we return on Sunday."
"I thought ya said ya didn't want your house to be destroyed?"
"Of course I don't!" Aerith poked Cid's hand gently. "We're leaving Cloud to look after Sora, so he won't drink too much. And we leave them on Sunday morning to clean up the house."
Cid chuckled and gave Aerith a very sceptical look. But he just shrugged and stared at the brown-haired woman. "You told me 'we're' leaving?"
Aerith smirked and pulled something from her pockets. She waved two tickets in front of Cid's eyes. "Like I said, I've planned all out. We're going to go to a relaxing vacation to the Destiny Island's Hotel!" she chirped, while Cid snatched the tickets from her grasp.
"What 'bout Tidus? Can he come to Sora's parties?" Cid frowned as he eyed the two pieces of paper. "Of course! Everyone's welcome to Sora's eighteenth birthday!" She nodded her head rapidly. Cid chuckled and handed the tickets back to Aerith. He leaned his head back on the chair, and grabbed a cigarette. Aerith narrowed her eyes warningly.
"Ok, ok… Geez, ya and Sora are both the same." Cid put the tobacco away and smiled. Aerith nodded her head. "Of course. Sora's my son."
CC: Whew. Is (1) Gainsborough Aerith's last name? I'm stupid, I know it -.-' I've never played FF VII, but I've wanted to… :cries: (2) Gravitation is famous shounen-ai manga.
Riku: Isn't it strange that in this story we live in Tokyo, but we don't use –san, -kun, or –chan.
CC: Yeah I know.
Riku: Why don't you do something about it?
CC: Because I'm stupid. Now piss off. Sorry it took me so long to write these two chapters… I hope you like it anyways, and review me many nice reviews :) Thank you all who already have reviewed me!