Sora x Riku
Cloud x Leon hints/ moments
Etc
The Game of Pretend
Chapter One: Help Me Out
"I don't see him. Do you see him?"
Sora stood on his tiptoes, gaze flitting from one spot to another in the main hall of Kingston High.
"Ah, no Sora, but I don't think standing on your toes is going to help," she replied, clearly entertained. Sora was about to deliver what he hoped was a witty retort when a stampede of females all but flattened him.
Kairi, a bit more reflexive, had methodically side-stepped the mess.
"Get the number of the truck?" Sora groaned from the ground. Kairi tugged him up by the back of his shirt.
"No, but I got the truck driver," she said and pointed at an oddly familiar head of white hair...right in the middle of all those ducky females who had just seen fit to make Sora into a disgruntled pancake.
"No wonder we couldn't find him," Sora mumbled and proceeded to try and get through the gabble of gadding girls, all doing some variation on flirting and shamelessly throwing themselves at 'the new kid', Riku Miyahara, of course. "Ah, er, excuse me...hello?" Sora's luck was not with him today, it seemed. Any attempt to get past the throng of girls only served to get him more caught up in the jumble of people until he found himself forcefully backed into someone, tripping, and as far as he knew, on his way down, eyes closed tight on impulse.
That is, until a pair of warm, strong arms halted the fall.
He blinked up at his rather unexpected savior.
"Hi," Sora smiled brightly.
"Hello," Riku replied, not adding the 'beautiful' that somehow worked its way into his mind. Rather shocked at his thought, he found himself staring at the boy in his arms.
"Sorry about that," Sora said, suddenly a little uncomfortable with the silent staring, and tried to stand up only to trip again, once more being caught by the white-haired boy. For some reason, Sora felt flushed, but ignored it as best he could.
"You're not very coordinated, are you?" Riku questioned, his amusement blatant now.
"Heh, well," Sora simply grinned wider and this time managed to pull himself upright. "You're very popular," he commented lightly. Riku's amusement dimmed noticeably.
"It seems that way, doesn't it?" he asked in a very clipped, don't-talk-to-me-anymore tone...a tone which Sora decided to ignore.
"My name is Sora, Sora Kobayashi! I'm your own personal welcoming committee," Sora said, as if announcing some great proclamation, momentarily forgetting his immediate surroundings.
That of a couple dozen rabid fan girls, that is.
"Ano, Kobayashi-kun, I'll show him around for you!"
"No let me!"
"Get out of the way, I was here first. I'll show him the ropes Kobayashi-san!"
And more of the like.
Riku twitched.
Sora chuckled a bit nervously.
Not that he minded tossing Riku off to someone else...he didn't even know the boy...the roguishly attractive, amazing eyes, boy...yeah, didn't even know him...Sora shifted uncomfortably.
Still... he did feel a little guilty about leaving him in the hands of...
Sora gave the growing huddle of fan girls a once over.
It was Sora's turn to twitch.
Yep, just a little guilty about leaving Riku in the hands of...those...girls?
He wasn't sure they were girls so much as human bodies possessed by vengeful demon spirits...if such things existed.
"EXCUSE ME!" Several girls were seemingly flung to either side as Kairi Yamato plowed her way on a direct course for Sora. Once reaching him, she shot him a look. "They should be illegal," she rolled her eyes, but a sly smile graced her lips at the same time.
"Agreed," Sora admitted with a sigh and turned to Riku thoughtfully.
"Riku Miyahara, meet my best friend Kairi Yamato!" Sora's smile was back full-blast, since that's the way Sora was.
"Cheery, aren't you?" Riku asked, feeling the beginnings of a headache.
"Er...uncheery, aren't you?" Sora replied uncertainly. That probably wasn't a real word.
"That wasn't a real word, you know," Riku called him on it. Sora shrugged.
"Does it matter, as long as you know what I meant?" the blue-eyed boy questioned, not at all defensive, just questioning.
"Yes," Riku answered definitively and Kairi snickered. "What?" he asked, annoyance clear now.
"You're a real stick in the mud aren't you," she stated more than asked and proceeded to poke Riku in the chest playfully. "Here Sora and I are, thinking Mr. Stud of the century is going to be prince charming, but it turns out he's a seventeen year-old scrooge!" Kairi continued to laugh.
"Kairi," Sora somewhat pleaded.
"No, she's right, and you don't have to show me around. I'm sure I can fend for myself, Sir Smiles-too-much, so excuse me," and with that, Riku Miyahara all but stalked off.
"See, you went and made him mad now!" Sora pointed almost frantically after the retreating form of Riku and dashed after him. He didn't pick up on Kairi's quiet:
"Yeah, I know, silly Sora."
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Sora caught up with Riku just in time.
Just in time to see him get mauled by another lot of fan girls, that is.
"Sorry, could you let go of my sleeve? Hey, what are you doing?" Riku tried to shake several girls off, muttering curses in between. Sora, meanwhile, tried his best.
Tried his best not to laugh until his sides split.
Riku spotted him anyway, muffled outburst and all.
"I could use some help, Mr. Sunshine!" Riku yelled as he cast a fearful look over his shoulder.
Yep, fears confirmed:
More fan girls were headed this way.
Sora chuckled. Riku scowled. The fan girls continued to be just a little more than psychotic and a great deal more than touchy-feely.
Much to Riku's rather increasing irritation and frustration.
"Would you all get off?" He managed to bodily force his way through the girls to dash behind Sora who gave him a look that perfectly combined patronizing with amusing.
"I thought you didn't need my help," Sora stated smoothly, the smile never leaving his face. Riku made no attempt to hide his scoff.
"Tcha," was all he said.
But actions speak louder than words.
And Riku was still slightly hunched behind an increasingly bemused Sora whose bemusement traded itself in for pure dread when he remembered the shockingly large group of females in front of him and Riku.
Was it just him, or were their eyes...glowing?
...this couldn't be good.
"Well I don't really know what you want me to do, lover boy," Sora shot back at the rather sulky Riku who continued to scowl.
"I don't know but you're supposed to show me around, be my keeper or whatever, and I think that includes keeping me from being involuntarily disemboweled by...by...that!" Riku shook a finger at the group of girls, now greatly resembling a tidal wave of school uniforms and scary facial expressions.
Sora thought.
The horde of fan girls came closer.
Sora thought some more.
Closer.
"Hurry up Kobayashi!"
"Pushy for a beggar," Sora remarked, his former slight irritation returning. Just who did this guy think he was?
"A prince commands," Riku returned with a devilish smirk that made Sora gulp. For some reason, the brunette had the brief notion that no one should look that good and that questionably sane all at once.
Look that good? Oh no.
He wasn't just thinking about another guy like…
Oh hell no.
"Whatever you say, majesty," Sora joked and noticed suddenly that the girls were close enough probably to reach out, grab him and shred him into tiny bits for standing between them and the delectable Riku Miyahara.
Delectable?
Sora did a quick loop around Riku with a nervous wave.
He had to get away...for a few reasons, it seemed. Riku shot him the first genuine expression Sora thought he'd seen from the boy then: horror.
"Kobayashi don't you dare!" he warned.
"Sorry Riku, ah gotta jet! Class...and stuff...you know...uh, good luck! See you at lunch?"
And Sora Kobayashi turned on his heel and sped away as fast as he could manage—surprisingly fast, actually—the flush on his cheeks not all from the running.
I wasn't thinking about him that way...I wasn't thinking about him that way…I was not!
This, Sora chanted mentally to himself so dedicatedly throughout the rest of his classes until lunch, that he missed the four times the professor called on him. Fortunately today was an even schedule and his professor was Aerith...quite a few spades nicer than Leon who probably would have made him hold pails of water outside of class or a desk above his head...or something.
Aerith had simply suggested he take care of his lovesickness sometime before next class.
Which had of course gained many a giggle and laugh from the class.
But Sora was too busy chanting his mantra to himself to really care enough to notice.
I wasn't thinking about him that way. I wasn't thinking about him that way...
Sora hadn't really heard of denial before.
Lunch came around sooner than Sora expected...odd, because it came around the same time every school day, but funny how the mind tricked one into having no sense of time at all...
...especially when said mind was just a bit preoccupied with—
"Kobayashi!" A voice all but snapped as Sora entered the cafeteria and a hand shot out, grabbing his collar. Sora blinked as he was brought face to face with his very preoccupation...or the object of his not being preoccupied with...whatever.
"Riku," Sora greeted, wishing he'd put some distance between them...their faces were so close.
"I need to talk to you!"
"But I—"
"Now Kobayashi!" And with that, Riku Miyahara dragged Sora by his tie over to the nearest empty table...which it should be noted soon had the surrounding tables filled with...yep, fan girls.
"Oy, what?" Sora rubbed his neck absently, readjusting his tie. Usually he didn't mind the school uniform but now he was seriously reconsidering.
"Don't 'what' me! You completely abandoned me this morning," Riku pointed out, glare hardly masked...in fact, not at all. Sora exhaled roughly.
"Well, excuse me, Mr. I can show myself around, blah, blah, blah! I figured you could take care of yourself, for some reason," Sora said pointedly. Glass-green eyes narrowed at him. Sora refrained from gulping, but only barely. He hadn't realized how scary Riku was capable of looking.
Apparently, very.
"Well, I figured you would take a hint when I stooped so low as to try and take shelter behind you!" Riku retorted. "And on top of that, do you have any idea how dangerous those things are?"
"Girls?"
"Yes!"
"Well, actually..." Sora mused on it a bit...visions of Kairi socking him a good one in the stomach when he'd accidentally stepped on her sand castle...Kairi hitting his back encouragingly only to send him flying into a telephone pole...Kairi...doing other bodily harm to him with the disconcerting similarity between all of the instances being that many were entirely accidental. "Yeah," Sora admitted, that guilt from before coming back just a bit.
Or just enough.
He sighed.
"Well?" Riku arched a brow.
"Well, what?" Sora asked, already having an idea of what was coming.
"Will you help me get rid of them?" Riku asked tiredly, as if he'd explained it about a dozen times already. Sora met his gaze evenly.
"...what do you want me to do?" Sora asked, not entirely comfortable with the slight upward quirk of Riku's lips.
They were very nice lips though.
Sora, reflexively, hit his head on the lunch table.
I was not thinking that, he chanted mentally again, almost rabidly.
Riku, meanwhile, not able to read Sora's thoughts, did the only reasonable thing.
He kicked Sora under the table. Sora let out a yelp, head shooting up off the table as he openly glowered at Riku now.
"Fine! I'll help, whatever, just yeah...I'll help!" Sora exclaimed, exasperated and completely backed into a corner, because reality was, Sora Kobayashi was a nice guy, one of those all-around nice guys that in the end, you could probably con into hopping off a decently sized cliff if he thought it would help someone who seemed to really need it.
Riku seemed to really need it.
Therefore...
"Excellent," Riku...purred?
No, surely Sora was making that up.
He tried his best to get his mind out of alien places and watched as Riku stood up from the table to leave.
"Ah, see you after school?" Sora asked, uncertainly.
"You certainly will," Riku replied and exited the cafeteria, the smug look on his face never wavering.
Sora tried to ignore the sinking feeling he was getting.
If it sunk any lower, he'd be a mole.
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"So what do you think he'll do to them?" Kairi asked Sora was they exited their final class, another one they shared.
"I don't know," Sora said.
"Or better yet, what do you think he's going to use you for?" Kairi maintained an admirably even tone in her question, though her grin seemed to say something else.
"I don't know, Kairi," Sora replied again, trying ever so valiantly to act as if he completely did not care.
Of course on the inside was another story entirely.
On the inside, Sora was doing something of an 'oh my god, what if, what if...what the hell could that white-haired devil be concocting anyway' panic attack.
But once more, on the outside, it was a rather successful look of indifference.
"Geez Sora, from the way he practically manhandled you today in the lunchroom, I'd be worried," Kairi half-teased, half considered. Sora tried to pretend he hadn't just heard that, failed and turned with a pout to his best friend.
"Kairi, please," Sora rubbed his temples as they exited into the front courtyard of Kingston High where many people stood gossiping and chatting—among them, the monumentally larger group of fan girls, scattered in pigeon fashion around a quietly steaming Riku. Sora, momentarily forgetting his apprehension, laughed.
Riku, who previously had been standing with his shoulders hunched and head down, as if to shut out the world around him, seemed to spring to life at the sound of Sora's laugh. His eyes caught Sora's and lit up...but not so much in the 'oh I'm so happy to see you' way as much as in the 'finally, now things will get interesting' way.
Sora's apprehension returned, tenfold.
"Sora!" Riku waved amicably.
Sora arched a brow.
First name?
Sure he'd been calling Riku, Riku, but that was Sora. He called everyone by his or her first name...he was friendly like that.
But this...
Sora hesitated.
And missed Kairi's amused expression as she let her gaze flicker from one boy to the other. She barely refrained from rubbing her hands together in an 'oh goody, playtime' fashion...barely.
"Sora!" Riku shouted again and this time made his way forcefully through the fan girls to a rather anxious Sora who looked like he might implode from the nerves. "What's got into you?" Riku asked, sounding much more caring than Sora had so far been able to even imagine him being capable of.
"Riku, why are you calling me by my first name?" Sora asked quietly, so the fan girls could not hear.
"You said you'd help me out, remember, when I asked you to help me get rid of the...the..." Riku had a hard time getting his mouth around the word, "...girls." Sora sensed a distinctive shudder of dislike from the white-haired boy.
Glancing over at the many dangerous looking females, upper and underclassmen alike, Sora couldn't say he really blamed Riku for his dislike.
Well, here goes nothing...
"Yeah, I did," Sora admitted tentatively.
"Good, I thought so," Riku said, conniving smile back, as he tugged on Sora's tie again, this time much more gently...but firmly enough to have Sora lean forward.
"Wait a minute. Riku wha—" But he never finished.
Because Sora Kobayashi suddenly found his mouth otherwise occupied as Riku Miyahara claimed it with his own.
Pretty quick update...dunno, just like writing about those two.
A little Sora/Riku/Riyu dialogue after this chapter:
Sora: I think you made me kind of dumb
Riyu: Oh shush...
Riku: I kind of like you that way
Sora: What's that supposed to mean!
Riku: You're more inclined to do whatever I tell you
Sora: What makes you think—
Riku: Sora, kiss me.
Sora kisses Riku.
Riku: See
Sora: it's because he wrote it
Riku: it's because you want me
Next time: the fan girls reaction, the budding 'relationship' of Sora and Riku, and sideline humor from Ms Kairi and more of the gang...probably
Review, won't you? Thanks, means a lot to me!
-slashable Riyu