-1Disclaimer: I own the plot and those weeds that torment Sora. That's it…

I Can't

Riku sat by his bedroom window, arms crossed on the sill. He gazed across to his neighbor's yard in a sort of trance. One brunette teen was hunched over the grass, struggling with a particularly stubborn weed.
Sora and Riku had been neighbors since they were 14, three years now. Riku had always felt responsible for the hyper-active Sora, and somewhere along the line, responsible friendship had turned to a tentative crush had turned to love. Though Sora, of course, had no idea whatsoever.
A thump made Riku snap back to reality. Sora had pulled out the weed with enough force to land himself on his back. He sat up and beamed triumphantly. Riku laughed softly to himself.
Without any warning, Riku's bedroom door burst open. He jumped away from his window, the smallest hint of a blush on his cheeks. His father stood filling the doorway, all six feet, two hundred and twenty pounds of him.
"Why aren't you working on your homework?" he demanded of his son.
"I already finished," Riku answered. He was just starting to recover from his father's unannounced entrance.
"What's with the blush?" his father asked suspiciously. Riku's eyes unconsciously flicked to the window.
"Nothing."
Riku's father stomped over to the window, eyes narrowed.
"What's out there worth being embarrassed about?"
"Nothing!" Riku said, a bit too enthusiastically.
His father turned on him. "You think I haven't seen you staring at him before?"
Riku blanched. He'd had no idea his father knew how he felt about Sora.
"Wha-what do you mean?" he asked uncertainly.
His father made an ugly noise in his throat. "No goddamn son of mine is gonna be some freaky homo! Do you hear me?!"
Riku flinched as his father gestured widely, almost hitting Riku in the face. He'd seen this coming, hoped it wouldn't actually come.
"There will be no fkin' fags in my house!" He took another step toward Riku, hatred evident in his eye. "You're a disgrace to me and the rest of this family!"
Riku tried to get a word in edge-wise. "But I wasn't-" He was cut off by the back of his father's hand colliding with his face. He was sent falling to his bed as his father continued to yell.
"Don't you lie to me!" he roared. "Now you are not allowed to even think about that fkin' neighbor of ours! Am I understood?"
Riku was silent, glaring daggers at his father. His father's glower intensified, if possible, as he yanked his son up by the collar.
"Am I understood?!" Riku shot him a loathing look before dropping his gaze to the floor. He still said nothing.
"Get over this messed up priss thing and act like a man!" He then promptly dropped Riku to the floor and stomped out, slamming the door behind him.
Riku slumped down near his window and gazed outside again. Sora glared spitefully at a second weed, even more steadfast than the first. Riku sighed.
"I can't."

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A/N: Yeah, I posted this on dA originally, and it was received well, so I thought it was time to share the wealth with ff. Review plz!