Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Pairing: Riku/Sora
Rating: R, though for later chapters
A/N: You guys are awesome. Thank you for all your comments I appreciate them greatly. You guys had a few question, unfortunately I can't answer them or I'll be giving everything away, but some of you are right on. Oh and someone wanted to know Sora's age, he's nineteen. I apologize in advance for errors I just did a quick proof read and spell check I'll revise later. I love you guys and enjoy!
(0o0o0) equals scene change
/Ch 7/
On Sunday afternoon Riku was back at the university, he was in his dorm unpacking. He had left the clothes he had taken on his trip back at home and brought more clean clothes. Finishing he put his bag away and was about to sit on the chair in front of his desk, a knock on the door, though, stopped that action. He walked to the door to reveal Tidus and Squall.
Giving Riku a wide smile Tidus threw his arms around his friend and hugged him, a small hiccup escaping his lips.
"Ahh! I've had the hiccups since this morning and I can't," Hiccup, "get rid of them." Tidus finished trying to complain.
"And you would think that would make him stop running his mouth." Squall said stepping into the room. "The only thing that it's done is make him sound more annoying than usual."
Hands on hips Tidus stood in front of Squall who had taken a seat on the edge of Riku's bed.
"And whose fault is that?" Tidus shot an accusing look at Squall, which was less effective than usual as Tidus jerked a little as he hiccupped.
Squall's answer was to raise a brown apparently surprised, that Tidus was implying it was his fault.
"Mine?"
"Yes yours. I told you," Hiccup, "to try to scare me to, " Hiccup, " see if it would work but you," Hiccup, "wouldn't." Once finished with the broken statement Tidus took a deep breath and held it.
"Oh right how could I have forgotten that?" Squall replied not sounding a bit remorseful. "And stop holding your breath to cure your hiccups it hasn't helped since you started two hours ago and it's not going to work now."
Tidus puffed out his cheeks even more, as he tried to glare at Squall which just made him look hilarious. His next hiccupped was muffled by his closed mouth, Riku laughed.
"Wow. Glad to see you two can manage not to kill each other when I'm gone, and by the way, hello to you too."
Letting himself breathe again Tidus smiled, poor Riku they had completely ignored him, since they had stepped in the room.
"HiRiku, howwasyourtrip?" Finishing his question Tidus quickly held his breath again.
Blinking a few time Riku cocked his head to the side. Tidus had spoken so fast he wasn't completely sure what Tidus had said. He heard Squall sigh.
"He said. Hi Riku, how was your trip?" Squall translated and shifted his body to look at Riku, who had gone to sit on top of his desk his feet resting on the chair in front of the desk.
How had his trip gone? Horrible, he had gotten no answers whatsoever and he didn't see any answers anytime in his immediate future. But he couldn't say that to his friends. Nor could he tell them about the tape he had listened too.
When he had returned from his meeting with Dr. Yeo he had asked his parents if they had told Squall and Tidus about the tape. His parents had said they had not, but Tidus and Squall did know about Mr. Trep's mental state. When Riku's parents had told him that, he had felt betrayed by his friends.
However betrayed he felt, though, he knew he was overreacting after such an emotional day. He had been right. The feelings of betrayal and of confrontationing his friends had passed. Riku had decided, when Squall and Tidus asked he would not tell them about the tape nor would he accuse them of hiding anything from him.
Besides Riku was more than sure, had he asked his friends would have told him. As it was he had never asked, so he didn't see any need for any confrontations. He didn't feel much like stirring up problems between the three of them. With that thought out of his mind he answered Tidus's question.
"Not as well as I had expected, but..." Shrugging Riku left the sentence unfinished.
"Why is that?" Squall asked. Another hiccup was heard.
I'm sure you know why, Squall. Riku thought, but out of his mouth came something else. "Turns out the guy who hit me, John Trep, went crazy right after the accident. He thought he had killed me, and apparently the guilt drove him mad. Dr. Yeo said seeing him would do me no good and actually harm Mr. Trep, who he said would be unable to cope with seeing me."
After Riku finished with his explanation, he took turns looking from Squall to Tidus. It was an attempt to see if they appeared to already know what he had just told them. They didn't have any inconspicuous sign, except for the fact they were not meeting Riku's eyes. Finally Squall looked up.
"I'm sorry you didn't get what you wanted Riku, but what did Dr. Yeo say about your dreams?" Squall asked.
Waving a hand in irritation, Riku rolled his eyes. "He said whether the dreams were memories or not I shouldn't force them. When and if I'm ready I'll remember."
A scoff at the end of the statement let both Tidus and Squall know what Riku thought about that.
"As if I knew how." Riku added in a quiet note looking down where his feet rested on the chair.
"If you did wouldyoudoit?" The last was said in a rush of words as Tidus held his breath in vain as he hiccupped again. Riku smiled, amused.
"Do what?"
"Force your mem." hiccup, "ories." Tidus gave an irritated groan and held his breath again. Squall rolled his eyes at his antics and turned to Riku curious to know his answer.
Riku was sure if Tidus had not come into his room hiccupping since they had arrived the environment would have felt more tense. As it was, with Tidus hiccupping every few seconds nothing could be seriously taken, like his question. So Riku didn't give it much thought.
"I don't know, doesn't matter really. Its not an option."
Nodding Tidus hiccupped again. Squall stood up and walked towards Tidus. Once he was next to Tidus he stopped staring intently at a spot on Tidus's head. Tidus leaned back to look up at Squall.
"What?" Tidus asked as hiccupped.
Squall took a small step back and nodded his head. " Just wanted to confirm something."
"What?" This Time Tidus sounded irritated, he had the hiccups since early in the morning he couldn't get rid of them and now Squall as staring at him as if he had grown a second head. He glared at Squall and hiccupped.
"You have a balding spot. Right," He raised his hand and poked at said spot on Tidus's hair. "here."
The horror stricken face Tidus's features took was hilarious. His eyes widen his mouth dropped opened taking in a great gasp of air and his hands slapped Squall's hand away before he ran out of the room.
It was a good thing he left so quickly if he hadn't he would have heard Riku's laughter and seen Squall's lips curl into a satisfied smile.
"Where do you think he went?" Riku asked in between bouts of laughter. He had gotten off his desk for fear of falling since he was laughing so hard.
Shrugging Squall sat back down on Riku's bed. "The bathroom to look in the mirror."
Turning to look at Riku, Squall noticed his friend was still smiling playing with the chain around his neck. Squall raised a brow and pointed at Riku's necklace.
"Couldn't go without it could you?" Squall asked.
"Nope. It's my lucky charm I've had it forever, I just forgot it at home and remembered to bring it back when I went to visit."
"And here I thought you had outgrown that." Riku shrugged and smiled tucking his necklace back inside his shirt.
Seconds later a fuming Tidus stepped into the room and launched himself at Squall, who caught him easily around the waist, but went down under the force of Tidus's weight.
"You horrible, evil, lying son of a…" Tidus's protest was cut off when Squall hit him squarely on the face with Riku's pillow.
Tidus yelped and was startled to find their positions reversed with Squall on top of him, pressing the pillow on his chest his hands trapped beneath .
"Do you want to give me heart attack?" Despite his current state of immobility Tidus continued to yell at Squall.
"No, just scare you enough to get rid of your hiccups I didn't actually think it would work."
Hearing that Tidus stopped and realized his hiccups were in fact gone. Gathering the strength from years of playing sports he easily threw Squall off of him and went tumbling onto the floor with him.
"You cured me Squall I love you!" He exclaimed cheerfully hugging Squall around the neck. Riku's laughter rang out loudly in the room.
"Should I give you two a moment?" He asked still laughing.
"Tidus get off!"
Giving his friend a big grin Tidus stood up helping Squall to his feet. "See it worked, now why couldn't you have done that when I asked you to?"
Ignoring Tidus, Squall turned to a smirking Riku. "Riku I'm glad you're back, we'll see you tomorrow."
Squall exited Riku's room.
"Don't ignore me." Tidus followed Squall but not before turning to Riku. " Night Riku." He waved and closed the door.
"Come on just admit it you do love me."
"Why did I ever think hearing your hiccups was more annoying than hearing you talk?"
Riku laughed clutching his stomach as he heard the voices of his arguing friends recede.
That night after settling down, Riku went to sleep and in the morning he knew he had dreamt but could not recall the exact details and decided to leave it at that.
0o0o0
It had been almost a week since he had gone to see Dr. Yeo and since then Riku had, had the dreams but they were no longer as detailed or disturbing as they used to be. He decided, for the time being, to not worry about his dreams. He couldn't get the answers he needed any way, apparently his plan meet my almost-killer had not work, so he figured there was no real use to his worry if he couldn't find anyone to tell him what it was that he was actually dreaming about.
And since Riku had decided to abandon that plan, for the time being, he formed a new one. A plan he could actually do something about, plan get to know Sora. Which had originally been called; plan get to know Sora without panicking or passing out, the title however had been too lengthy. Regardless of the lightly title, the plan was easier said than done.
Sure he saw Sora almost every time he had his psychology class, but Michael, his professor, had not been lying when he said Sora would only be there as much as his time allowed. Sora was hardly ever there and when he was he usually left early or came late or was not there at all.
Riku gave an audible sigh he needed a way to get closer to Sora and not only to see if Sora remembered him it was more than that, every time he was around Sora he felt, a pull an urge to be close to him or to merely stare at Sora all day. Unfortunately for him Sora seemed completely unaffected by his presence.
And Riku also decided to stop having these internal thoughts when he was around his friends like now for instance he took one quick look at Tidus and Selphie and relaxed they seemed quite happy chatting with each other to pay him too much mind. Squall on the other had an odd expression on his face, he looked torn between who he wanted to strangle first.
Riku smiled to himself as he watch his two friends talk, ever since he had introduced Selphie to Tidus they had hit it off quite nicely, but he couldn't help but feel every time the two were together there seemed to be a battle of who could out talk the other. So far neither had won, but hey had managed to get Squall to twitch his eye in annoyance which Riku had found and still found extremely funny.
"Water? How is that going to help?" Riku stared at Selphie and back to Tidus trying to pick up the thread of their conversation. Squall looked as annoyed as he ever allowed himself to appear, with his arms crossed, his back leaning against the tree he was sitting in front of.
"Yes it's perfect!" Tidus explained cheerfully. "If she's as evil as you say she is, she must be a witch so if you throw water at her she'll melt. Like that witch from that movie with the flying monkeys."
After staring at Tidus for a second Selphie started laughing and Riku was still confused about their conversation. Though it appeared they had been talking about some unpleasant person.
"Right, Tidus. And after, I can click my heels together and say there is no place like home." Selphie was still laughing, Tidus planted his hands on the grass and leaned back giving Selphie an serious look.
"Of course not, that only work in the movies. Honestly Selphie!" Shaking his head in apparent disappointment Tidus sighed. Riku's laughter joined Selphie's as he realized whatever the conversation had been about was completely ridiculous.
"Oh of course but throwing water at my English professor to melt her will just work wonderfully." Sarcasm laced Selphie's words as she offered Tidus a playful smile.
Tidus sat up again and took a hand to his chin. He tried to appear serious but in the end ended up grinning. "You know what Selphie, you're right it's too far fetched now a poisoned apple…"
"You guys are pathetic. I'm leaving, I have class and so do you."
Obviously having had enough of Selphie's and Tidus's chatter Squall stood from his place on the ground dusting his pants off. He walked up to Tidus and reached down and pulled Tidus up by the ear, like a scolded little kid.
"Ow, ow, ow! Stop that." With no other choice Tidus stood up. Selphie hid a giggle behind her hand.
"You know Squall, I think it would be best if you just let Tidus go." Riku warned, with a serious and authorities voice. Squall raised a questioning brow. "You see, Selphie here is an avid advocate against animal cruelty, so she'll hurt you if you don't let Tidsu go."
Squall lips twitch in amusement, Selphie laughed and Tidus gasped wrenching away from Squall he launched himself at Riku knocking him on his back.
"Take that back Meneke."
Riku's response was to laugh as Tidus brought on an onslaught of tickles to his ribs. Riku laughed and gasped trying to get away from Tidus.
"Nev…ha never!"
Somehow Riku managed to roll onto his stomach which didn't do him much good, now Tidus was draped over his back and was still tickling him. Suddenly an unfamiliar laughter joined theirs and Riku stopped struggling and Tidus stopped his attack.
"Sora!"
Selphie shot up form the ground and happily greeted Sora with a hug.
Riku felt Tidus tense on top of him when he heard Selphie say Sora's name. Riku had half turned in Tidus's grasped, Tidus looked down at Riku with wide eyes before scrambling to his feet to see who Sora was.
For his part Riku was somewhat used to seeing Sora so his reaction was almost neutral. Unless, of course, they could hear the mad pounding of his heart and the fluttering butterflies in his stomach. After Selphie released Sora from her embrace Sora smiled at everyone. Selphie turned to her companions.
"Hey guys this is Sora my best friend." Signaling to the corresponding person Selphie introduced Sora. "Sora meet Squall, Tidus and"
"Riku." Sora finished Selphie's introduction, as he smiled at Riku.
Selphie's eyes were not the only ones that went wide with surprised. Tidus looked at Riku, his expression one of confusion while Squall remained unreadable even to Riku.
"Yeah, that's Riku. You never told me you knew each other." Selphie crossed her arms staring accusingly back and forth Riku and Sora. Sora only smiled in response.
"Well I didn't know the Riku you talked about so much was the same Riku from my psychology class."
Hearing that statement Riku saw Tidus relax considerably. But he couldn't concern his thoughts too much with Tidus he was more concern with Sora and Selphie. They were friends. What were the chances? Hr had been so close to Sora all this time and he didn't even know it.
"You two are in the same class. Talk about coincidence and speaking about class, what are you doing here Sora? Shouldn't you be in class?"
Sora shrugged and seemed completely oblivious to the stares he was receiving from Squall and Tidus, which did not go unnoticed by Riku.
"I got out early, I was actually going to grab something to eat but then I say you and decided to come over and see if you and your friends wanted to come to lunch." Sora explained smiling warmly.
"Aw Sora you're so sweet." Sora rolled his eyes, which made Riku smile. Yeah he had it bad.
"Well come on guys lets go eat."
"As much as I would love to we can't Selphie, we have class." Squall explained, Tidus nodded and walked closer to Squall.
"Nice meeting you Sora see you around." Tidus said and then turned to Selphie. "Bye Selphie."
Squall nodded to both Sora and Selphie and began to walk away with Tidus walking next to him. Squall stopped and turned to face Riku fully. "Riku. You coming?"
With his heart beating loudly in his ears Riku looked up to make eye contact with Squall. He bit the inside of his cheek and looked away from Squall's eyes his gaze landing on Sora's eyes instea. Riku bowed his head and looked back to squall.
"I" He begain slowly, "don't have class, Squall." Squall held his gaze and if Riku hadn't known him for so long, he would have mistaken Squall's expression for one of indifference instead of concern. Riku swallowed he didn't want Squall to feel concerned for him, there was no reason to be concerned. He was just going to lunch with Selphie and, and Sora.
"Okay. I'll talk to you later then" And Riku knew that was a promise and he would be talking to Squall later. Tidus gave Riku one last look before leaving with Squall.
"Well come on lets go." Selphie said cheerfully, leading the way.
Riku stared after his friends for a few seconds and then faced Selphie and Sora giving them a small smile.
They walked towards the cafeteria, Selphie filling up any silence with random chatter, which needed no immediate collaboration from Sora or Riku just a well place hmm and yeah once in a while.
They order their food and made small conversation which was once again dominated by Selphie. Riku's brain seemed to have gone on vacation, he was too surprise to actually be sitting across Sora, having lunch with him. Sora who only smiled at Selphie giving her amused looks. Sora who was real and just a few inches across a blue table top. Sora who was most definitely not a dream.
And Riku could think of nothing to say. He would have actually been quite happy to stare at Sora all day, but then that might be considered rude. A moment of silence descended upon the table as their meals arrived. Riku frowned at the carry out container sitting in front of Selphie.
"Selphie why did you get a carry out order?"
Selphie gave them a charming smile and stood up picking up her food. "Because I have class, but you guys stay here and enjoy your lunch. Bye!" She walked away. "Be good Sora!" She yelled over her shoulder.
Before either Riku or Sora could answer she was gone. And Riku was alone with Sora. Riku swallowed and turned to look at Sora. Needless to say he was startled to discover Sora already looking at him. Sora smiled and lowered his eyes shyly, as if embarrassed to being caught staring, which Riku found incredibly endearing. That action made Riku believe this Sora could really be his Sora.
Now the next logical step would be to talk to Sora. Problem; how to converse with Sora? Riku had what he wanted, actually, more than what he would have asked for. He had Sora all to himself, thanks to Selphie's departure, and what was he doing staring. Say something you idiot.
"So..."
They blurted out in unison and smiled awkwardly at one another. Riku heard Sora sigh and saw him burry his face in his hands. Riku's heart sank, was Sora finding his company irritable?
"I can't believe she did it again." It was a whispered mumble, Riku had a difficult time understanding since Sora had his hands over his mouth. In fact Riku wasn't sure he was suppose to have heard that statement and he wondered what it meant.
"Who did what?"
Sora smiled a little sheepishly and looked away.
"Selphie." Sora gave a suffering sigh. "She has a tendency to try to em set me up with people she thinks I would be good friends with. She seems to believe I don't have enough friends. And it seems you're her latest victim. I'm really sorry she dragged you into this." Sora finished looking away from Riku.
It was official Selphie was Riku's Goddess. Riku decided he was going to build her a shrine and make everyone in the world worship her. After he got to know Sora better, that took priority over building shrines for Goddesses.
Riku focused back on Sora and froze. Sora was looking down at his hands, where he was shredding his paper napkin into fine dust. Riku noticed Sora was also gnawing on his lower lip nervously. Riku's features soften as he realized Sora was just as nervous as he was. Which made sense, Sora had no way of knowing Riku was a very willing pawn to Selphie's plan to get Sora new friends.
The thought of getting to know Sora made him feel something warm and familiar in his chest. However being silent would not help things. Riku decided to remedy the situation and hopefully put Sora at ease by convincing him that he did want to be his friend.
"So, Selphie seems to believe she knows who is good for you to make friends with?"
Sora nodded not looking up at Riku.
"Well I don't know about you Sora." Riku almost paused that was the first time he had actually said Sora's name out loud to a very real Sora. The emotions that made him feel were too overwhelming and he had no time to think about them at the moment, he would think about his emotions later, but now he pressed on. "I don't like disappointing my friends. So what do you say we prove Selphie right?"
Finally looking up at Riku, Sora smiled broadly and nodded agreeing with Riku's proposition. "You bet!"
Letting out a small sigh of relief Riku smiled at Sora. And apparently less nervous Sora began eating the food in fornt of him. "Selphie tells me you're from Midgar."
Riku nodded and followed Sora and began eating his food. "Born and raised. What about you?"
They fell at ease talking about each other's life's and Riku couldn't help but notice how quickly Sora's mood had changed. One moment he had been nervous and shy and as soon as he made his proposition all shyness seemed to leave Sora. He was now conversing quite animatedly with Riku.
Riku was not about to complain, but as Sora talked he found it difficult and strange to believe Sora would need Selphie's help to make friends. But it didn't matter the important thing was that he was getting to know Sora, which pushed all other thoughts aside.
Through out their conversation, Riku learned, Sora had never lived in Midgar, but instead he had lived in this town Traverse Town. Sora had, however, taken classes in Midgar, he had not attended Riku's school, he had, had a tutor who lived in Midgar and that's where he had taken his classes. Also prior to receiving his diploma Sora had taken a number of classes at their university.
"Wow! So you are some type of prodigy."
Sora blushed beautifully when he heard Riku praising him. He shook his head, his hair moving gently into his face due to the movement. Riku found a simple thing like Sora's hair moving almost enchanting.
"I wouldn't say that. I'm majoring in psychology, and I've just always been very good with people and people's feelings and emotions and all the scientific jargon that goes with it." Sora explained laughing.
"Is that why Michel took you in as his assistant or intern?"
"Assistnt" Sora mumbled between a mouthful of food which got stuck on his throat his eyes watered a little as he gulped a glass of water down. Riku chuckled in amusement and Sora glared at him, this time the familiarity of it all seemed to escape Riku.
After finishing lunch they began heading back to campus settling into a comfortable get to know each other chatter.
"Why aren't you in class often? I know Michael said you would be there as much as your time allowed, but where exactly are you? If you don't mind me asking?"
Sora turned his face towards Riku and gave him a lopsided grin. Riku felt something inside him give a painful lurch, he stopped walking. That smile, that was his Sora. In that instant Riku knew beyond any doubt the man standing before him was the boy he had fallen in love with. Riku wasn't sure how Sora had come to exist in his mind all he cared was that Sora was real. Even if the Sora in front of him had no idea who he was, Riku didn't care anymore.
Or at least he would have liked to believe he didn't care, later he would change his mind. For now he fought the urge to take Sora in his arms and make him feel what he felt. And just like that it was too much, Sora felt too familiar and Riku was no longer sure if it was because he wanted Sora to feel familiar or because, he really was. No! He would not travel down that train of thought.
"Riku?" Sora's concerned voice snapped him out of his confusing thoughts. Pushing the thoughts aside Riku looked down at Sora who was looking at him with worry.
"Sorry. Just space off a little." Riku apologized shaking his head. Seeming convinced Sora smiled then gave Riku a half pout.
"Sorry I didn't know I was boring you so much."
"What? Sora no. I mean, I didn't, you weren't."
As Riku tripped over his words Sora began laughing. "I'm joking."
Riku relaxed. It seemed this Sora had the power to make him relax too, the thought made Riku smile.
"But to answer you question I'm helping another professor and sometimes his experiments run much longer than anticipated."
Riku raised a brown and they began walking again.
"So you are a genius huh?" Riku teased as he have Sora a slight push with his hip. Sora chuckled and returned the friendly shove.
"Nah, just anti-social and thus am a busy nerd who needs help making friends."
"Right." Riku laughed.
The rest of the way was spent in playful banter, as if they truly had been friends forever. Riku decided not explore those thoughts or else the part of the plan that required not passing out when meeting Sora would fail, spectacularly.
After parting ways, Riku walked back to his dorm with a wide grin on his face, to say Riku was happy would not do justice to how ecstatic he felt. Not only had he and Sora clicked right off but they had agreed to keep on meeting outside of class. And Sora was just, so Sora, he was everything Riku remembered, by this point Riku was too thrilled to really care to explore the real reason why he felt like he knew Sora so well.
If Riku was honest with himself nothing really mattered except the fact Sora was back in his life. Thinking about Sora's smile and easy going manner made Riku smile even wider, if that was possible, he felt as if he were truly walking on air. As if nothing could bring him down, ever, and that would have been perfect if Sora was there with him.
0o0o0
0o0o0
0o0o0
Cardel: (looks thoughtful) I'm not sure about this chapter, I'm really not.
Jin: I agree its too, blah.
Demak: Are you guys agonizing over this chapter again? Get over its happy and fluffy and we'll have plenty of angst next chapter, so let me enjoy this sweet moment.
Cardel: Oh don't get me wrong I love writing Sora meeting Riku, it's just Riku wouldn't cooperate with this chapter, he wasn't thoughtful enough.
Demak: You mean depressed and angsty and sad.
Cardel: Precisely!
Jin: Don't worry we can remedy that. (rubs hand manically)
Demak: Why do I even bother?Wait, question. Where did the hiccuping Tidus come from?
Cardel: You know what? I would really love to know that too, the idea just sort of popped into my head. With no help from you two.
Jin: (looks appalled) I should certanly hope not.
Cardel: Well on a lighter note, midterms are soooooo over and I did splendidly (grin) that's why this chapter came out now instead of next week so yay!
Demak: Hurra for you. Now can we please work on your other stories and drabbles? I like those better.
Cardel: Okay! Now readers tell what you think, I hope you liked Sora I'm having too much fun writing him in this story especially this chapter. Ja-ne!