A/N: When life gives you keyblades... Hahah I have been seriously busy with a lot of things, that even our web show *insert shameless promotion of "The Destiny Islands Show" here* on youtube fell behind. But I am gonna try and write this next chapter. e_e

Enjoy.

Riku threw his school bag into the corner of the tiled kitchen floor, playing with his powder white strands of hair. He was going to find something edible now to stuff his empty stomach in hopes that he doesn't throw any food particles up from the thought of playing Romeo. His stomach turned as he opened up the small set of wooden cabinets that held only a week's worth of food, if it was spared. Riku sighed softly, rummaging through the bags of chips and canned foods. What the hell was there to eat in this joint? The boy brought down some blue corn chips and shuffled, almost forcing himself over to the fridge to grab the glass jar of mildly hot salsa.

Throwing all of the ingredients onto a paper plate, he found himself smothering the chips with the salsa, two different kinds of cheeses, and a slab of avocado placed neatly to the side. He tossed it quickly into his old fashioned microwave that only had numbers on it and no special settings like Tidus's had. It's not like he could just press a "nachos" button and it all be done. Riku thought about how long he should put it on for, now bringing his nail bitten fingers to touch the "3" and the "0" now putting in on for thirty seconds in hopes that it would not be too cold and not explode on him. Enough things were exploding and he didn't need his after-school snack to do so either.

Three... two... one. A loud beep and it was all ready and nicely zapped for his eating pleasure. He could smell the melted cheese and the amazing scent of the salsa, now popping open the door and carefully removing it. Thank God it wasn't in too long or the plate would have shriveled up or melted. Boy had he done that plenty of times before, not wanting history to repeat itself. He set it down on the table and sat on the cushioned chairs in their tiny little breakfast nook. He found himself not even talking out loud like he normally would have, now wondering if he was sick- but then the whole damn Romeo and Juliet thing had crashed into his mind. He shoke his head and started to munch and consume his nachos, taking in deep breaths whenever he could.

Ah shoot water! He could feel the chips and salsa coating his throat and he shot up from his chair quickly, running over to the fridge, half of him actually wanting to die, but the other half gasping for air as little pieces of not-all-the-way-chewed-up chips had sliced at the inside of his throat. He threw open the fridge door and grabbed at the cold water bottle, unscrewing the cap and downing every bit of the liquid he could. The silver haired boy found himself sliding down the cabinets and falling to the floor. A sigh of relief and then another thought. Why was that kid Sora so excited to play the role of Juliet? Why was he so happy all the time when he seemed all alone as well?

Then force came unto Riku as he reached over and into his school bag that was conveniently next to him. His brows perked as he cautiously unbuttoned the straps on the bag as if there was a ticking time bomb that was about to explode in his very own house and kill all of the neighbors around him. His hand slowly slipped into the bag and shifted through the notebooks, books, and graded test papers. He really needed to clean this thing. He felt his fingers dust a small, but thick book. He knew what it was and he slowly pulled it out from the endless abyss. The book rested carefully in his hands as he stared at the curly gold writing that read "Romeo and Juliet". Why? Why did he have to play Romeo. Sure he would have been happy with only being backstage as a stagehand, as so many other thespians would have looked down upon such a role.

He didn't want to open it. He just wanted to continue to stare at the cover and wish for it's disappearance. But it's not like that would happen, he already tried to pull that with the classroom door. Riku closed his aqua green eyes slowly and took in a steady deep breath. He needed to compose himself. He needed to at least look at what he was going to have to do. Riku found himself thinking out loud...

"I have to do this. This is what I am stuck with right? I might not like it... but I have to. I can't act so this is all their fault for choosing me...I can't screw up... they are only screwing themselves over." The boy found himself looking up at those pictures on the wall again. Dad, you bastard. Thoughts and his voice now echoing in his head, shudders working their way up and down his spine. Things such as "You can't really do this anymore..." "Nah, Riku boy, you have to give up... you can't actually play basketball like you used to. The other players are overpassing you... You have to try harder. You have to be better. The BEST."

Why did he have to be like that? Riku threw the book against the wall in front of him, bringing his knees up to his chest, crossing his arms across them and sinking his face to hide from the empty house and the haunting pictures.

Stupid father. Stupid basketball. Stupid play.

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The ever cheerful brunette bounced himself all the way home from the big yellow bus to his tiny little apartment. He was seriously in the best mood he ever had been in, more than when he found out he got the role of Puck in A Midsummer's Night Dream a year back. Sora fumbled in his pockets for the key with the plastic circle chain that read the number "2" on it. Accidentally, he dropped the books that were in his hands, now having them fall all over the concrete floor. "Oh darn it!" The boy found himself plopping down to the ground and gathering up all of the scattered test papers and math homework that he didn't even think about doing tonight, that was due the following morning.

A large slender hand smacked itself onto the spiky haired brunette's back, a loud thwack echoing off of the concrete hallways. "Yo buddy! Seems you kind of dropped some stuff." Sora's oceanic blue eyes scanned over to a pair of pink imitation converse shoes, up a leg that looked like it was being suffocated by some dark blue washed skinny jeans, and locking his eyes onto a pair of softer blue ones, continuing to shove the loose papers into his messenger bag. The older teenage boy tilted his blonde spiked head back and cattily eyed the younger of the two. Sora smiled, embarrassed, and picked up the last piece of paper that had a nice big red letter A at the top. "Hey Demyx..." His voice was soft, warm, and inviting as the thriving starving rock star fixed his covered acoustic guitar over his shoulder. The other's voice sounded like a competitive cheerful tone as he flawlessly grabbed his key out from his own pocket and opened the door.

Sora growled silently and picked out his own key from his pants and found himself having trouble, wiggling the knob and turning the key to the right to unlock the door. Demyx chuckled softly and gave a solute to Sora, stepping into his lonely own apartment room. "Take care, squirt. Hahah." Sora didn't have enough time to even express his enthusiasm to his next door neighbor.

He didn't let it bother him and shrugged it off, walking into his apartment that still had the lingering scent of cigarette smoke, now tossing his bag onto the living room sofa and plopping himself down, sinking into the red velvet cushions. Sora took in a deep breath and grabbed the TV remote, turning it onto the music channels, finding himself listening to classical music to accompany his 'study' time. Oh but Sora wasn't about to pick up his math homework. His own two hands had held onto that one book that would become the rest of his life. His bible. He thumbed through the book until finding the bold name of Juliet printed to the side, taking in the scent of the old printed script pages, enjoying the smell, and flipped open to a random spot in the play. Tossing himself backwards, Sora hung his head over the edge of the couch, reading out loud and letting the blood rush to his head. He found this to be most enjoyable and a way to oddly memorize things.

Sora cleared his throat, and tightened it to make the pitch of his voice higher, seeing if he could possibly master a girly tone. If he was going to do this, he would attempt it again and again until he got it down just right. "Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day. It was the nightingale, and not the lark, that pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear..." Sora found himself almost giggling at himself, knowing that he was gonna be good. He was gonna be real good. A smile tugged at the boy's lips as he thought about ways he could walk and talk like a girl, finding himself to actually be mimicking what his neighbor, Demyx, would do all the time. Sure he was gay, but that was totally not what he wanted to portray.

A small pink blush dusted his cheeks as he thought of ways that he would hold and kiss his Romeo, though Sora was not not not gay at all. There was no ounce of gay in him. Sure he liked Shakespeare, but that didn't make him feminine in the least bit. He laughed at his thoughts and set the book down on the coffee table in front of him, shaking his head and tilting it to the side.

I wonder how Riku will react when he finds out that he has to stage kiss me? You think he'll go for it?

Sora felt as though he was acting like a little middle school girl, flaunting over one of the rebels in the school. But that was definitely not what he was all about. The last thing Sora thought about was boys. Or girls... The brunette's eyes found their way to the clock in the kitchen. He could see passed the island, the clocks hands reading 4:30. His dad would be home in an hour and a half. The boy had to make sure the house was clean and all of his homework was done. His dad was the strict type, and played the dominant king male role, and wanted everything in the house to be perfect and for Sora to have the straight A's and his homework done. The working man also expecting the dinner to be fixed and ready to eat as soon as he was done changing into something more comfortable and not a suit and tie.

The death of Sora's mom didn't seem to bother him all to often, now straightening the books on the bookshelf that sat next to the small television. But it wasn't like he didn't get upset. He missed his mom dearly. Missed her hugs and her cooking. But the thing he missed the most, was her support for his wish to be an actor. The brunette found his way over to the kitchen, opening up the medicine cabinet and taking his daily pill. He was ashamed at what he was prescribed for, but that was okay. He wouldn't be for long. The boy waited for his jittery burst again, making his way over to the table to finish his math homework.

School first. Play later.

A/N: Emooooo. Okay this story isn't gonna be straight up emo. Don't worry. It just needed to get it's emo-ness out of the way. Thanks to all that is reading! Hopefully I'll pop out another chapter soon, seeing as how Christmas break is on the way.