Title: A Good Influence
Author: Andro
Rating: R
Warnings: Yaoi. Later on heavy uses of angst, as well as mentions of suicide.
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts does not belong to me.
Author Notes: Late because my computer finally died and I had pretty much no computer/internet access for about a month. I finally got a new computer, so hopefully I'll be able to update every week or so.
If you haven't noticed, I changed my name from 'Andro-chan' to Andromiel… but obviously, I'm still the person. ^_~
I'm curious. Things will get a lot more complicated later on, and I'm not talking about the expected love triangle. But who would you like Sora to end up? Leon? Riku? No one?
*~*~*~
Crunching on a dry, brittle cracker, Sora twirled the cell phone between his fingers. The shiny black device went dull under the dim lighting. Outside a wind swept through the trees, shaking branches free of their last dying leaves.
Something smacked the window, and he looked up in surprise. He'd not even noticed the storm coming in. Smiling ruefully the teen propped himself back on his feet. With a practiced move, the cell phone popped open. The soccer player beamed, having mastered the move the night before.
Dialing home, Sora yawned and scratched the back of his head lazily.
"Kogai residence."
"Hey Kairi."
"Sora?"
"No, the monster from the sandbox. I am here to eat your toilet paper."
"Ewwww!" His sister's voice fairly oozed disgust across the line. She gave a gusty sigh of impatience.
"You're never going to grow up!"
"Possibly." Sora admitted. "But never mind, do you have paper and something to write with?"
"Hold on a sec," Soft sounds of light shuffling followed a victorious exclamation.
"Yeah, okay. What am I writing?"
"My cell phone number."
"What?"
"Cell phone number. You know what a cell phone is, right?"
"I know what it is! What are you doing with one?"
Sora pressed his lips together, humming thoughtfully.
"Calling you?"
"Sora!"
"What? I am!" He protested. "It's a gift, okay? Just write it down.
629-2418-424."
"629… 2418… 424?"
"Yep."
"Got it. What do you mean it's a gift?"
"Kairi, dear, perhaps I should get you a dictionary for your birthday?"
"Don't be a jerk. Who gave it to you?"
Sora opened his mouth, and then sharply closed it with a nearly audible
'click.'
"That's a good question. I'm not really sure."
/Probably not Riku.\ He crossed off the name from his mental list absently. It
didn't take a brain surgeon to figure out Riku wanted him as far away as
physically possible.
"Look, don't think too much about it. But if Leon calls, just give him the
number."
Kairi made a soft groan.
"I was such an idiot the other day. I can't believe he heard me!"
"Look on the bright side."
"What's the bright side?"
"I can't think of one."
Sora found himself listening to a dead tone, and he shook his head. Well, he
couldn't. Shutting off the phone, he looked outside again. Definitely not a day
to be outside, even for him.
Which left exploring.
Brushing away crumbs, he snickered. Well, perhaps he would be leaving a trail
of crumbs after all.
*~*~*~
Riku tapped a pen languidly against the edge of the book, one hand thrust
hurriedly through loose silver hair. The lamp next to him was turned on, trying
to ward off the darkness of the stormy day. Occasionally blazing white flashes
of lightning violently swept through the room. Strange shapes and shadows
formed out of the unstable lighting, fading and surging erratically. It wasn't
a pleasant day. He hated to think of how bad it probably was down by the beach.
Switching the pen to his other hand, Riku slowly drew nonsensical shapes across
the pristine page, smearing dark charcoal deeply into the woven paper. With the
edge of his fingers he rubbed at the lines, blurring them to cause fading
shades.
There was just nothing to do around the house. On dark days like the current
one, his Aunt firmly locked herself into her bedroom and refused to come out.
His father wasn't even an option for amusement.
Yawning, he glanced down at the sketch. For once, he actually liked how the
eyes turned out. They looked respectably even. Perhaps a bit slanted, but he
wasn't that good of an artist.
Paying more attention, he drew delicate, thick eyelashes, using the tip of the
pencil with near cleric devotion to faithfully curl the ends. His focus was
complete.
Obviously, that was the only reason
the nut managed to sneak up on him.
"Journal?"
The book was shut in a bat of eyelash.
"No."
Sora quirked an eyebrow.
"Writing in books now, are we?" He inquired in a chiding tone. Riku reached for
sharp, annoyed retort when he realized Sora hadn't actually meant it.
Sitting back, he stared expectantly at
the brunette.
"What are you doing here?"
"It is the library… isn't it?" Pointedly staring at the tall shelves packed to
the edges with tomes and volumes of fiction and nonfiction long forgotten, Sora
swept his arm in a grand gesture.
"If it's your room, where do you sleep? I suppose sleeping on top of a shelf
would be nifty. But then there's the negative side of breaking your neck if you
ever happened to roll over…"
"It's not my room." Riku cut in before the other boy could truly launch into
what Riku was starting to mentally title; 'Sora's rants'. He seemed to enjoy
going into a couple every hour. About anything. And everything.
To be honest, and Riku was-sometimes-they were occasionally amusing. And true,
in an odd, startling way.
But it in no way changed the fact that
Sora was an unwelcome guest. A pest, a brown noser trying to get ahead by
helping the bad kid out. And it pissed him off.
"Didn't think so."
"Then why ask?"
"Well, you did make it seem like I wasn't supposed to be here," Sora pointed
out mildly. "Where is your room anyway? Not that I'd ever be able to find it.
I'm about to start carrying paper and markers with me and posting signs. 'To
the kitchen' on the wall with a little arrow pointing to the left. I might even
put a 'To the dungeons' sign for the basement. What do you think?"
"I think that you're probably capable of doing it."
"What?" Sora looked hurt. "It's a perfectly fine idea. Don't tell me you've
never gotten lost here."
"I grew up here."
"Really? It's odd that I've never met you."
Riku shrugged, gliding back into an icy indifference.
"It's not."
"Mysterious."
"It's not a mystery for you."
"Oh, no, no, I don't do mysteries. I do science. Mostly physics and the sort. A
little biology. Not to mention I make a mean Cheesecake for Home Ec." Sora
remarked proudly. "It's about the only thing I can make though."
"I'm sure it'll come in handy at some point in your life."
"I'm sure too! I mean. Who doesn't like cheesecake? Nummy." Perching himself on
a corner of the desk, Sora raised up his knee against his chest, forming a
precarious balance.
"What's there to do around here?"
"Stuff." Riku replied noncommittally, standing up. "Figure it out." He added
with a trace of malicious pleasure.
Sora sniffled impatiently.
"'Friendly' really isn't a word you recognize, is it?" He complained briefly,
bouncing to his feet and hitting a switch on the wall. Hard fake yellow light
filled the room.
Riku swept one eyebrow up questioningly.
"Funny. I thought you couldn't do anything but smile uselessly."
"Didn't I tell you? I make a damn good Cheesecake. You haven't tasted anything
until you've had mine." The teen avoided looking at Riku, feeling a little
tired. No matter what he did, his tries to be friendly kept getting thrown back
in his face. He had –no- idea what he was supposed to be doing. Suggesting that
they sit around a campfire and sing Kumbaya was out of the question.
Or was it?
Frowning, Sora's head snapped up.
"Hey, hold on a second!"
The other teen sighed. So close, and yet so far, he thought enviously, eyeing
the door just a couple feet out of his grasp.
"Yes?"
"Do you have a fireplace?"
"Why? It's not cold enough to use it."
"That my man, is beyond the point completely," Sora glided past him, neatly
avoiding crashing into a small table.
"Do you have marshmallows? Chocolate? We can make smores!"
"What are you, five?" Riku demanded, appalled, but never the less followed
after.
"I was born on leap year's extra day. So. Yeah." Sora confirmed, humming a
ditty.
"Seriously?" Riku paused, thinking it over. "… You're lying."
"Yep, but I thought it'd make you feel better. Now, where's the kitchen again?"
*~*~*~
"This is disgusting."
"No way! It's awesome!" Sora protested. To prove his point, he crammed the
smore into his mouth and closed his eyes, letting out a breathy little moan.
White, melted marshmallow smeared his lips, and Riku blinked.
That had to be illegal. No one could manage to look ridiculous, little-kid-cute
and sexy at the same time.
"It's disgusting." Riku repeated again, automatically, shifting his gaze away.
Sora made a muffled sound, a snort if Riku was translating it right. It may
have been Sora choking. But since he looked perfectly fine, it seemed more
likely that it was a snort.
Swallowing, Sora smirked triumphantly.
"Come on! Try it!" He ran his fingers across his lips, scrapping off the sticky
mess and licking his fingers. "Really, really good. Oh, god. Mmmmn."
Riku groaned.
"I hate you."
"Bull. Eat your smore. You'll be thanking me."
"Or threatening to sue you while you're driving me to the hospital to get my
stomach pumped," Riku retorted, looking at the toasted creation tossed on the
plate. He picked it up, fingers on the cookie past. Sora seemed to enjoy just
feasting on the gooey mess.
He bit into it, and found not unpleasantly that the inside was still melted,
and the mixture of chocolate and marshmallow along with crumbling bits of
cookie hit his taste buds.
Sora watched Riku, head tilted to the side, smile widening gleefully.
"See?"
*~*~*~
He really, really shouldn't have done that.
Frowning thinly at his own actions, Riku gave a frustrated growl. He liked
having fun-enjoyed it. But Sora wasn't welcome, despite not being as bad as a
prude, rules obsessed little geek he'd imagined he'd be stuck with. Facts were
facts though. Sora was there because his father was pulling strings again to
make his son behave.
Looking bitterly at the wall of family portraits, he sneered. Well, perhaps his
father should learn to behave himself before preaching about it.
Sora Kogai wasn't just a friend he was having over, he was part of his father's
plans. He was there to make sure Riku became well adjusted. Just another chain
around his neck.
*~*~*~
Sunday morning.
He had a routine on Sundays.
Sora showered and threw on his favorite red bodysuit, black shorts and hoodie,
knowing he'd need it all eventually in the day. Slipping his feet into
comfortable sneakers, he jogged out of the room. This Sunday was going to be a
bit different. He was going to drag Riku to The Council whether he liked it or
not.
*~*~*~
End Chapter
*~*~*~
Next: 'The Council' is both what it sounds like, and something completely
different. Is Riku's resolve to keep Sora away melting? Or will he push him
away even more?
