The spotlight fell on Riku in about a half hour. "Lot number five! Our very own sexy silver haired senior, Riku!"
Riku hopped off his stool and stretched as if he had been waiting for this moment forever, pushing the bottom of his shirt up some to show off his well defined stomach much to the delight of the fan girls.
Axel covered his ears a little, trying to block out the piercing screams of the high school students. Kairi looked up to see Riku running his fingers through his hair like a supermodel. "He is such a slut," she said, unintentionally mimicking Sora's earlier statement.
Axel nudged her. "Aw, cheer up. He can be your slut tomorrow."
Kairi turned away from Axel, trying to not make it apparent she was turning red.
"Bidding starts at five dollars for this sizzling hot specimen!" Yuffie said excitedly, knowing this was going to bring them the most money of the night.
The group of girls that had pooled their money together waved their hands excitedly. "Five dollars! Do I have ten?" Some guy raised his hand. The group of fan girls practically spit acid at him. "Ten! And I'm going to assume the rabid waving of the hands back there means fifteen?"
Kairi looked rather bored as the battle for Riku raged on, steadily climbing higher and higher in price. So far, she hadn't even needed to bid there was such a war waging between the group of girls and a few other people in the audience. Riku looked directly at her and she pointedly yawned, looking at her nonexistent watch. Riku laughed and would have thrown something at her if he had anything on him.
Oh, wait. He did. "Two hundred and sixty dollars! Do I hear two hundred sixty five?" Yuffie called. It appeared that no one was going to challenge the group of girls, and so Riku shrugged and stripped his shirt off, wadding it up and throwing it directly at Kairi.
"What the-!" she exclaimed, catching it before it landed on her head.
Axel pointedly laughed at her. "Well if that isn't a hint, I don't know what is."
Kairi raised her hand, trying her best to glare at Riku. The fan girls hissed and waved frantically. Kairi was surprised they had pooled so much money together. They glared at her and she raised her hand again. The few people that were between the two sort of darted out of the way, fearing that lasers would suddenly shoot from the fan girl's eyes.
"Two seventy fi- two eighty- two eighty five…" Yuffie called as fast as she could. "Oh, just tell me how much money you guys got," she got too impatient to keep this up.
"Three hundred fifty dollars!" One of the fan girls screamed at the top of her lungs. The whole gym looked at Kairi.
"Uhhhh….shit…" she said. She had three hundred twenty dollars on her, at the most.
Riku gave her a look that said 'You've GOT to be joking!' She bit her lip a little and sort of shrugged.
"Alright, then," Yuffie said, feeling sorry for Riku. "Three hundred fifty dollars…going once…going twice…"
"I'll take him for four hundred!" Someone in the back called, and Yuffie slammed her mallet on the podium.
"SOLD! To…the lady in leather? Is that you, Tifa?"
Tifa sat herself down next to Kairi and waved a little. "Give me all your cash and I'll pay the rest," she told Kairi, who gladly handed over all of Riku's money to her.
Kairi sighed with relief. "Geeze…I thought he was dog food. Thanks."
"No problem. I heard he wants to talk me into a date, anyhow. I thought I'd save him the trouble and take him out myself. Into the boxing ring, maybe." Tifa had heard all about Riku's womanizing ways from Aerith and had made it her personal goal to realize that she was the last girl he wanted to mess with.
Riku sat back down on his stool, relieved that he hadn't become food for the rabid wolves. He laughed quietly at the girls who had fixated their death glares at Tifa and Kairi.
"You are one lucky guy," Sora said, pushing him a little. "You owe Tifa your life."
Riku sighed. "I know. I owe Kairi, too. She's going to get so much crap from those girls on Monday."
Sora felt someone hit him in the arm and he turned to Roxas next to him. "You should probably pay attention to who's buying you," he said, almost jealously. If he had been smart, he wouldn't have signed up for the thing and he would have borrowed money from Axel to buy Sora.
Sora turned his attention to the audience and waved cutely as bids were being placed for him. The group of girls that were going to buy Riku clasped each other's hands. "Awwwwww!" They all cooed in unison, and then one of them raised their hand.
Sora covered his mouth. "Oh no!" Those girls had a huge sum of money on them.
"Well, shit. You're gonna die," Roxas commented. He looked out at Axel, who was going through his wallet. He doubted there was any way he had over three hundred fifty dollars on him.
Sora hit him. "Don't say that! You're scaring me!"
"Ow! What did you expect when you signed up for this?!" Roxas snapped, rubbing his arm a little.
Sora frowned at him, not expecting that he was going to snap at him like that. "Not to get fed to fan girls!"
Roxas rolled his eyes. "Because you never think before you do anything!"
"I do to!" Sora protested, ignoring the battle for his existence going on out on the floor.
"You do not, Sora!" Roxas argued, not really aware that he was raising his voice. He was nearly at the end of his rope with Sora. How could he not realize how he caused these problems because he didn't think before he acted? "You do stuff without thinking about how other people will feel about it!" Just like last weekend.
"How can you say that?!" Sora practically shouted at him. "I always-" Sora was interrupted by a tap on his shoulder from Riku.
"Tidus just bought you," he informed him, unbelievingly.
"WHAT?!" Roxas and Sora said in unison, searching the audience for Tidus. They found him waving, with a giant smirk on his face.
"I'll fucking kill him," Roxas said, getting up out of his seat. He would do it right now. How could Tidus do this? Tell him he'd back off, then teach Roxas how to kiss just pull this shit?
Sora grabbed Roxas' arm and planted his feet, so he wouldn't go anywhere. "Sit back down! You're supposed to be auctioned off next!"
Roxas sat down huffily as Yuffie gave him a look. He was not pleased about the situation.
"Our next student to be auctioned off is new to the school this year, our cute blonde junior, Roxas." Yuffie said, starting the bidding.
"What's the big deal? You said Tidus only USED to like me." Sora narrowed his eyebrows.
Roxas practically growled. "That doesn't mean he doesn't still want to get his hands on you! Don't be so oblivious, Sora!"
"I'm not! I try to be VERY obvious, I'll have you know, and it isn't my fault that SOME people don't get it. You're the effing oblivious one!" Sora was growing more and more frustrated at Roxas. He was acting so jealous and childish and protective, for what Sora thought was no reason. "Why do you even care?" Why DID he care? It wasn't like Roxas wanted Sora to himself. If Roxas was going to pick someone to be confused over his feelings about, why did he have to pick Sora, whose emotions had already been put through the ringer these last couple years?
"SOLD! To Tidus…again." Yuffie announced.
Roxas and Sora both gaped. "WHAT?!" they shouted again, and Tidus appeared to be laughing maniacally.
"I'm confused," Axel leaned over to Kairi and tried to keep his voice down. "So, this is the Tidus kid who Sora thought Roxas liked? I thought they resolved that?"
Kairi was staring over to Tidus a little dumbfounded. Firstly, what did he think he was doing buying not only the guy that he was attracted to and told to back off of, but the guy who he's supposedly been caught in a compromising position with? Not to mention he knew that Sora and Roxas liked each other! Secondly, where the hell had he gotten a thousand dollars to pay for them?! "That's Tidus but…what's he planning?"
"Oh, hey, Namine is being auctioned off," Axel directed Kairi's attention towards the stage again. She was being bid on by a group of three science nerds who were snickering. Fighting against them for her was on overweight man who kept putting cracker jacks in his mouth and seemed like he refused to swallow them.
"Fifty dollars…do I hear fifty five?" Yuffie called out, putting a little more of a pause in there, it seemed.
Fat man scratched his head and knocked his toupee askew as he chuckled between a mouthful of cracker jacks. Kairi made a face. "Oh, gross. Axel, do something," Kairi said, looking over at the other redhead who had already raised his hand.
"I got it. No worries," he said, winking at her.
"Fifty five dollars going, going, SOLD to the tall redhead down front!" Yuffie said it as fast as she could, more willing to sell Namine (who was practically the picture of the innocent virgin maiden in the cute white dress she was wearing right now) to a guy that Kairi appeared to know.
Namine sighed onstage, relieved. "I don't know how much this was a good idea, it seems to have turned so wrong," she muttered, looking over at Roxas and Sora who had their back turned on each other, fuming.
"What's going on?" Namine leaned over and whispered to Roxas.
"He's being stubborn AND naïve like he always is," Roxas muttered.
"He doesn't make any sense, and he's harder to read than a freaking LaRouche pamphlet!" Sora was complaining to Riku on the other side.
Roxas ignored Sora, and Sora made his best attempt to ignore Roxas for the duration of the auction.
Yuffie shuffled through her notes a little after the last student had been sold. "I'd like to thank everyone who attended the auction tonight and would really like to thank our patrons for their generous donation. Please come to the stage to meet with and pay for your purchase. Have a good evening!" She clicked off the mike and people began to rise from their seats and leave.
Yuffie pulled out a safe box from under podium and sat at the end of the stage, collecting money while the students met their buyers.
Kairi stopped Riku while Tifa dished out the money to pay for him. "What the hell did you think you were doing up there? You were so worried that the cult of vipers would buy you and you were being a tease onstage?" She shoved his shirt at him roughly. "Once in a while, I just don't get you."
Riku frowned a little, catching the not so enthused tone in her voice. He took his shirt and pulled it on over his head. Kairi was standing there with her arms crossed. He'd never really known her to pout, but she looked rather unhappy at this moment. Slightly upset she couldn't save Riku herself, and that she had to be bailed out by Tifa. More upset that he'd acted like he needed her so badly just to turn around and try to sell himself to the entire gym.
Riku smirked slightly, reaching out and wrapping an arm around her waist, pulling her close. "Aw, are you just emo that you couldn't have me for an entire day?"
Kairi frowned, not in the mood to be teased. She pushed Riku away from her and extracted herself from his arm. "Maybe I am, Riku." she said, stepping away from him. "I gave Tifa all your money so, I think I'm going to head home. Night, Sora," she said, noticing he was paying attention to what was going on. Kairi turned and started out of the gym.
Riku watched her retreating back, and looked over at Sora.
Sora raised an eyebrow.
"You are no help!" Riku said, exasperated.
"Go after her, you DUMBASS." Sora demanded, shoving Riku roughly. "How's that for help?"
Riku turned and ran out of the gym.
Yuffie watched as Tidus counted out one thousand dollars to her. "This is probably inappropriate but, where'd you get all this money?" Yuffie asked.
Tidus handed her the last hundred. "Got it from my parents," Tidus said, shrugging. Everyone that was standing around him sort of just looked at him. There were quite a few loaded kids in their school, take Riku for example. Riku played the rich boy pretty well, though, and Tidus never let on the amount of money he apparently had.
"What, did your parents invent sticky notes?" Roxas asked sarcastically.
Tidus sighed and put his hands in his pockets as if it were a burden to have to tell him. "My parents own 'Stiff-Oh'," he muttered.
"What?" Yuffie asked, leaning forward.
"My parents invented 'Stiff-Oh'! You know! Get your stiff on with Stiff-Oh! Can't get it up in the morning, try Stiff-Oh! Stay rock hard all day with Stiff-Oh hairspray!" Tidus practically shouted, clearly annoyed and embarrassed.
There was a silence in the room before Sora broke it with a huge grin and a shout. "Dude! I LOVE Stiff-Oh! It's like, so awesome!" He pat his gravity defying spikes lovingly.
"Is that the stuff we have in our bathroom?" Roxas asked, touching his own hair. He didn't really know, he just used whatever Sora kept around.
"It makes my hair stand straight up, but it stays so soft!" Some random student yelled.
"I know! I love the volumizing shampoo and conditioner! It smells so good!" another guy called out.
Axel shrugged. "I totally use it."
Tidus rubbed his nose, a little embarrassed. "Glad you guys appreciate the family business," he muttered. He grinned at Roxas and Sora. "I'll see you guys at my house tomorrow, at 10am."
Roxas and Sora watched Tidus exit the gym with the proud gait of a guy who actually was too cool for school.
Namine came to stand beside Yuffie as Axel finished paying her. She had no problems wrapping her arms around his neck in a grateful hug. "Thank you soooooo much."
Axel returned her hug and picked her up, lifting her off the stage and setting her gently on the ground. "Of course. Like I'm gonna let some creepo pervert guy get his hands on you for a day." Not only would Roxas kill him, but he felt inclined to look out for her. After all, once in a while they both still felt like people who were just not quite normal yet.
"Going home," Sora told Roxas shortly, walking out of the gym. Roxas followed him wordlessly, seeing as how Sora had the keys and the car. They would ride all the way home in silence, and go into their separate rooms once they got there, Roxas slamming his door, Sora shutting his quietly and falling onto his bed.
Riku chased Kairi out of the gym and caught up to her just as she was about to get in her car. "Kairi, stop."
She pulled her arm out of his grasp. "What, Riku?" she asked, sounding impatient.
Riku held his hands up defensively. He wanted to ask if he had done something wrong, but he knew that Kairi was a girl, and girls always expected you to know what you had done wrong. "I was kidding, okay? You know you don't have to win me in a stupid auction to spend the day with me."
Kairi didn't look at him. "Really, oh okay then. When can I pencil you in? Between your date with Slutty McHookerface, or your girlfriend in Atlantica, or can you squeeze me in sometime after you've finished your ego-trip?" She knew she was being a little unreasonable right now, but she was tired of this. Helping him pick out clothes for his dates, discussing places to take girls to, talking to him on the phone afterwards as he ranted about how crappy it was.
Riku sighed, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into a close hug. "You're being silly, worse than Sora and that's saying something."
Kairi couldn't help chuckling, holding onto Riku tightly. She lay her head on his chest lightly, and could feel it rise and fall as he inhaled and exhaled. "I belong to Tifa tomorrow but, Sunday is all yours," he promised her, tucking her dark red hair behind her ear. She looked up at him quizzically. "However many days it takes," he added. "That is, until Sora gets grumpy that his best friend is too busy."
Kairi lifted her head and looked up at him. "Psh, Sora has Roxas."
Riku sighed. "They're fighting, I think." He didn't blame either of them. They were both hard to deal with in their own ways.
Kairi rolled her eyes. Boys will be boys. Sora and Roxas would get over themselves eventually, and if not, then they knew a few people who were willing to force them to for their own good. Kairi heard Axel and Namine's voices, and turned her head to see them approaching the car.
"Sunday, alright?" Kairi said, looking up at Riku again.
Riku nodded, leaning down and barely kissing her on the forehead. He let go of her as Namine reached the car. She shared a knowing look with Axel.
"You know what you wanna do," Axel said suggestively towards Riku.
Riku half-smiled, pulling his keys out of his pocket. He clicked the unlock button and the lights on his car over just a few stalls flashed. "Yeah, yeah. I'll give you a ride home."