Thanks for the kind reviews. Yuki thanks you too. I didn't whine...historical, really.
Sora: ...can we start already?
Riku: Eager are we?
Sora: Ew, no...I didn't mean
Riku: But I do.
Funny how I somehow dragged myself from KHII to write this...how, I just don't know.
Yuki: me neither. You're scary.
Riyu: Hehe.
The Game of Pretend
Chapter Two: Don't Remember
The reactions were, if nothing, wide-ranging. Some girls screamed like banshees while others opted for the 'stare in shock with our mouths wide open' choice and still others simply resigned themselves early on by fainting dead away.
Of course, Sora was a little...busy, to notice such reactions from Riku's freakishly large fan club.
Busy with...ahem...Riku.
Now, Sora had had girlfriends before, the count of which Kairi was always keenly aware of, in addition to number of girls he'd turned down. Sure he wasn't a Riku or anything, but with his big blue eyes, fair smooth skin, and likable ways, Sora had certainly attracted his fair share of attention. Oh yes, Sora had had girlfriends. He'd even kissed a few.
But none of those kisses quite compared to the one he was getting now.
Hands held him close by his shoulders as Riku pressed his lips harder against Sora's and the brunet inhaled sharply as he felt his fellow student's lips trail under his jaw, down his throat. The grip on his shoulders seemed to loosen, realizing Sora was in no state to struggle away now as Riku returned to his mouth just as Sora opened it to ask him what the Hell was going on.
Riku was always proud of his timing.
At first Sora didn't know what to think as Riku's hot tongue traced his lips and began probing his mouth. Correction, Sora couldn't think. He felt a glimmer behind his ocean blue eyes, hands unconsciously fisting in Riku's shirt as heat shot through him in wave after wave. Not sure how much more he could take, Sora tried to get a hold of himself as he gently pressed against Riku's chest to get some space, but the zealous Riku simply brought his lips near Sora's ear, making the younger boy tremble as the heat of his breath feathered against him.
"You said you'd help me," was the whisper, which felt more like a purr at this closeness.
"I..." Sora stumbled as Riku lowered his head and breathed steadily onto the nape of Sora's sensitive neck. "I didn't...realize...that...it...you...we..." Sora gulped as Riku brought his face back up, bringing him nose to nose with the stuttering Sora.
"It's perfect, you pretend to be my boyfriend, and they'll disappear," Riku whispered lowly to him, one hand resting lazily on Sora's hip, the other framing Sora's cheek, really mostly to keep the boy looking at him.
Not that Riku understood why someone wouldn't want to look at him.
The idea was absurd of course.
"Me? Why me?" Sora immediately replied, nervous, flustered and all too aware of how his flesh felt hot and strange where Riku's hands were…not unpleasant, but strange. As Sora waited for an answer he thought he saw something flash in Riku's eyes, a darker shade, a trick of the light, maybe...and then...pain…loneliness...longing?
Sora blinked.
The look in Riku's eyes was once again arrogant and lazy.
And Sora wasn't exactly sure what he had just seen, even if it was real at all.
"...because you're cute," Riku finally said as if it was the most obvious reason in the world.
Wrong reason.
Sora scowled, which was technically more of a pout since the boy had never quite mastered the 'die now evil being, die now' look and he slipped quickly away from Riku who only rolled his eyes.
"What?" Riku tapped Sora on the shoulder. "What? You are cute," Riku arched a brow as if to say 'and it's a dead lie if you tell me you're not'.
"I'm supposed to show you around, not help you get around," Sora pouted further, and Riku laughed.
"Well I don't want to get around with anyone but you," Riku said and when Sora's face flushed a questionably healthy shade of red-pink, Riku added quickly in a more normal tone, "...to get rid of the fan girls, I mean." Sora nodded slowly, feeling the heat leave his cheeks at the same even pace. That made sense enough, he supposed. But still...why him? Sora rubbed his arm absently, which Kairi, still present recognized as his 'what to do, what to do…nervous, nervous...help me!' behavior.
"Ah well, as nice as that is, I think you'll have to find someone else," Kairi interjected and put a protective arm around Sora's shoulders. She may have had enough power to blast any unlucky person into next millennium, but she also had a soft spot in her heart...especially for Sora. Sora who, meanwhile, was having this strange whirl of emotions inside him. One said, yes, thank you Kairi! The other said, what, no! I don't want him doing any of that to someone else...but then the other voice shot back that he wasn't gay and then the returning voice argued that point until Sora felt like his eyes were rolling around in their sockets.
Absently he rested his head on Kairi's shoulder.
They looked a little like a couple.
Riku, for his part, glowered at the redhead.
"Kairi, is it?" he asked, though it was clear he already remembered her name without asking. She nodded. "Well do tell me, why should I find someone else? The school did assign Sora to me personally," Riku pointed out.
"Ha, and for what? A tour, some help with homework, I don't think any of that includes the life-scarring display you just put on for most of us," Kairi replied with her typical grin, a little devious but entirely feminine all at once, too feminine to seem outwardly dangerous.
Not that she wasn't.
"Scarred for life?" Riku repeated, clearly amused. "Oh I don't think Sora feels that way," Riku intoned suggestively. Sora's head shot up at the sound of his name.
"What?" he asked blankly, eliciting a giggle from Kairi and a sigh from Riku. The boy was something else, surely. Shrugging, Riku's hand shot out, wrapped around Sora's wrist and dragged the boy out of Kairi's protective hold.
"I said I think you enjoyed our little public display as much as I did," Riku murmured, lips against Sora's right cheek. Sora flushed hot again.
Riku seemed to have that effect on him.
Which was weird because, of course, Sora Kobayashi was not gay.
Nope.
Not at all.
Sora felt himself tremble as Riku nipped at his lips teasingly before withdrawing and shooting Kairi a 'see, told you' look with his patented smirk of 'I am so great and better than you, worship me' all rolled into one. Kairi's turn to roll her eyes, she stomped over, grabbed the flustered Sora by his collar and dragged him a full thirty feet away from a rather irritated Riku.
Just who did this Kairi girl think she was?
Sora's...?
And then Riku had a sinking feeling, not unlike the one dear Sora had experienced earlier.
Kairi couldn't be...can't be...
Sora's girlfriend?
The boy radiated gay vibes like no man's business—or in this case, every man's.
But...Riku had been wrong maybe once before...maybe.
Still...Kairi?
Aquamarine eyes took the scene in carefully, not able to hear what the pair were avidly discussing, Sora making wild gestures—which Riku chuckled at—and Kairi matching him for them. They did look like an old married couple from where he stood, Riku admitted with a frown. And Kairi had grown to be very pretty, what with those deep violet eyes and sienna red hair...slender legs…very pretty indeed. And Riku might've considered her a prospect himself if his mind wasn't preoccupied with the brunet standing next to her...Sora...
That's right...Sora couldn't have a girlfriend.
Sora...
Sora who didn't seem to remember him at all. Kairi didn't either, but that didn't matter quite as much to him, though it might have helped, Riku admitted to himself silently.
He repressed a sigh and settled for scowling. Not that he'd expected the boy to remember him. He looked very different back then, whereas Sora had hardly changed at all. Riku also acted differently—pulling hair and boyish brawls being rather different from his overtly sexual advances right now—and it had been over ten years.
But still.
Something painful clenched in Riku's chest.
It might have been his heart.
Still...
Some part of him had hoped...maybe...that those blue eyes would smile at him again...like when...
"Riku?" A hand waved in front of the white haired boy's face, snapping him out of his reverie. Sora's gaze caught him off guard and he felt like maybe he'd drown in those eyes but snapped himself out of that too.
"What?" Riku asked coolly. Sora backed up a step.
"We've come to a decision," Kairi helped. Riku snorted derisively.
"What are you, his girlfriend?" Might as well find out now.
"Something like that," Kairi replied fluidly, shooting Sora a quick look which made him shut his mouth before he could protest. Riku's scowl deepened.
"Well, then, your verdict?" Riku prompted, a clipped tone there now.
Sora frowned. Was he upset with them?
"Sora will pretend to be your boyfriend, but rules are 1: no more of...er...what we just saw, seriously ew; okay, 2: no monopolizing of Sora...I need him too you know," Kairi finished her surprisingly brief list. Riku blinked.
"Fine," Riku replied and then with a thoughtful look, void of his arrogant mask, he whispered playfully, "Bye So-ra!" and left a quick, chaste kiss on Sora's cheek before walking away. Sora stared after Riku until the white-haired boy was out of sight and then turned to Kairi, wrinkling his nose.
"Girlfriend?" Sora asked, equal amounts of shock and 'ew gross' emanating from him. Kairi giggled, tilting her head to the side.
"It was worth it just to see the look on his face," she smirked and when Sora frowned disapprovingly at the comment, she waved her hands innocently. "I don't mean it in a bad way, I just think, it's a good safe-guard for you really Sora," she added. "He seems a bit…er...advanced for you," she tried to phrase it delicately. Sora pouted anyway.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he huffed, beginning to walk home. Kairi shook her head and followed.
"Exactly what I said it means, a little bit advanced, you know," Kairi arched her brows suggestively and Sora blushed traffic-light red.
"...oh," he managed, slowing his pace. A hand ruffled his hair playfully.
"Don't get so bashful, silly Sora," she tackled him and he laughed. They really were the best of friends. As such Sora could make fun of Kairi and vice versa as much as the other wanted to without getting too deep in hot water.
It had been when they were very, very little when they first met. Sora had been lost in the nearby woods of their old, beachfront town, and eventually he'd given up trying to find his way, sitting alone, crying. Normally he wouldn't have been alone at all. There was another boy he vaguely remembered playing with, well, squabbling with and occasionally getting along with was a more accurate description, but still...normally that boy would've been with him. But...for a reason Sora to this day couldn't remember, the boy hadn't been there. And so there Sora was, lost...and very afraid.
He'd thought no one would find him, he'd thought he was alone forever.
"I d-d-don't wanta be...awone," he'd sniffed, hugging his knees to his chest.
"Then let's be fwends," a soft voice smiled and Sora had looked up into a pair of mischievous but compassionate violet eyes, covered by shaggy reddish bangs.
"Who…who're you?" Sora had asked.
"Kairi," she'd said and then held out her hand to the young Sora who blinked at it until Kairi added with a roll of her eyes he would become quite used to, "Come on! I wanna play pirates!" This had gotten a giggle out of Sora who looked once more up at Kairi who offered her hand again and this time, he took it.
And that's where it all began.
Now, walking home, Kairi poking him in the side, teasing him about Riku this, and Riku that, Sora couldn't help but smile brightly. He was lucky...to have her.
He knew.
But if she didn't stop poking him…
"Kairiiiiiii!" Sora dodged her next poke.
"Soraaaaa!" Kairi replied, amused as she added, "What? I'm right aren't I? You think he's hot."
"Who?" Sora sped his pace up, feigning innocence. Kairi matched his pace, a sly look crossing her features.
Now, Sora knew exactly who she was talking about...and she knew he did.
"Come on Sora, say it...Riku Miyahara may be a social misfit but with his looks it probably doesn't matter...he's hot, say it!" Kairi smirked as Sora's cheeks became tinged pink. That was all the answer she needed. "Ha!" She shouted triumphantly and when Sora arched a brow at her she shrugged innocently. Sora continued to eye her with suspicion but Kairi wasn't about to give away how well she read him.
Not that it was especially difficult, what with Sora's emotions kind of being stamped across his face like a shirt brand...but still...
He sighed as he slipped the key into the front door, turning it.
"So-ra!" Kairi giggled, imitating Riku.
Sora jumped, dropping the key, earning him full-fledged laughter from his 'best friend', soon to be ex best friend if she didn't stop laughing at him so much, Sora thought sulkily as they entered the apartment.
Kairi passed him, flipping on some lights as she went idly.
"What do you want for dinner?" Sora called to her as he slung his backpack over a chair.
"Don't care!" Kairi called back. Sora nodded to himself and headed into the kitchen. They usually swapped turns daily making meals. Tonight?
Sora went for the chocolate chips, flour...sugar…
"Sora we can't eat just cookies for dinner!" Kairi's voice called through the small apartment. Sora paused in his gathering with a pout. She knew him too well.
"Fiiine! But just so you know, chocolate chip cookies definitely add years to your life and uh...make...your hair shinier!" he shouted back in his defense, and heard a distinct giggle in the background.
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Not far from there Riku Miyahara dusted himself off absently as he entered his own single apartment. There was a bathroom, a kitchenette, a bedroom and the tiniest of living rooms, but it was plenty for him. He didn't do much entertaining, not that he'd been there that long anyway, but it was the same as at home, since he didn't do much entertaining there either.
His stomach demanded food loudly more or less, but ignoring it, Riku dropped his bag to the floor and made his way into his small bedroom. Simple with white walls he probably wouldn't bother to change and plain blue bedcovers he was too fond of to change even if he wasn't excessively lazy, Riku's room suited him to a T. A sliding glass door led out onto a small balcony on which one could watch the moon or the sun, both of which Riku would probably view more than few times and the closet was surprisingly roomy for such a small space. All in all it was perfect.
Sliding the closet door open Riku reached up to the top shelf, way above most people's reach and pulled a box down, setting it on the bed beside him as he sat at the foot of it. With a breath Riku opened it. There was only one thing in it, for all that it was a decently sized box.
"You don't remember at all," Riku smiled sadly, tracing his hand over the photo so gently it was as if he thought it might disintegrate at his touch. In it was a very, very young Sora and next to him a very, very young Riku who was showing signs of developing his trademark smirk, while Sora wore an innocently bright smile.
Riku let his aquamarine gaze turn to the sky through the window briefly.
It was a deep beautiful blue...like his eyes.
Riku shook his head and glanced at the photo one more time before replacing it in the box. He was starting to feel a little stalker-ish and that was never good. He didn't want it to come off that way. He hadn't even meant to pull Sora into this whole boyfriend farce in the first place.
No his original plan was for it to be real.
But...it seemed for now this was what he'd gotten himself into.
And since Sora didn't seem to remember the little boy he used to play with...the one before Kairi came into the picture...well, Riku would take what he could get.
It would probably be awkward at best if he tried to 'make' Sora remember. Riku could just see it now: "Hey, I'm that kid who used to pull on your hair and tease you and the one who built sandcastles with you and the one who played hide-and-seek with you...and...and…" yes, Riku could see it all very clearly. And that simply would not work. People you were a mix of best friends and best rivals with didn't appear out of the blue and say "And lastly, the one who loved you and is in love with you now!"
No, people just didn't do that.
That aside, Riku was also a firm believer in the 'what will be, will be' motto.
Plus the chance that Sora would return his feelings...his most precious feelings...
Riku pushed the box back up into the closet and shut it.
Well, that chance was less than one a million, as far as he knew.
You're an idiot, a voice in his head scoffed. Riku brushed it off.
Seriously, less than one in a million.
Yeah, sure, the voice returned.
"Knock it off, would you?" Riku snapped and then, realizing he was talking to himself groaned, running a hand through his hair.
Food.
He needed food...that would make him stop talking to himself like a crazy person and get his mind off of Sora.
Surely, that was all he needed.
Riku did a quick run-through of his cupboards. Having just gotten there, there wasn't much...in fact, there was only water, milk, bread, and cookies...
Basics, right?
Riku settled on the cookies.
Chocolate chip...
Sora's favorite.
The white haired boy hit his head on the breakfast counter dully.
Mind off of Sora?
Fat chance.
Chapter 2! Wheehoo. Hope you liked it.
Yuki says I should stop taking from our personal lives. I say everything is fair fodder in fanfiction. Ha. Besides, he did constantly destroy my sandcastles...granted that was last year and we're well over the age Sora and Riku were...er...okay. Haha.
Riku: whoa, stop there.
Sora: -nods-
Riku: -to Yuki- How do you stand him?
Yuki: -shugs-
Next chapter some LeonxCloud because I'm fond of them in ties, kissing the hell out of each other in a classroom...er...too much information perhaps? Heh. Also next chapter more RikuxSora…duh…and Riku's never been good at controlling his jealousy so...what happens when on top of thinking Kairi's Sora's girlfriend...someone else begins to show interest in the brunet, blue-eyed wonder?
What indeed.
Review, review, review.Yuki: You have no shame.
Riyu: You like that about me.
Yuki: ...-cough-
Riyu:–chomps on a chocolate chip cookie-
(In case you were wondering where that came in...totally random, to be honest I'd planned for it to be cheesecake or something since I was just eating some really good stuff yesterday but then I was thinking why on earth would Riku have cheesecake? And I couldn't come up with an answer. Cookies are easier to get a hold on and much more likely to be lying around. Chocolate chip is MY favorite, so it wins by default. Heh. Yuki likes oatmeal raisin. Ew...no offense...just...ew.)
-slashable Riyu
p.s. sorry for any typos etc, I'll re-edit later, but the game calleth.
Yuki: -holds up a sign that says REVIEW with a blank look-
That's the way, lover!