Fan Number 61
by a quirky little tune
"Holy sh—"
Rku stared into his locker with wide eyes. Sora, who was waiting for him to finish so they could stop at the brunet's locker down the hall, impatiently surveyed the empty hallway. Both boys lived nearby, so the two often found themselves staying after to do homework together in the school's media center; they found that there was just something enjoyable about wandering the near empty building without all the fast paced energy or the frantic bodies that were present during the school day.
Sora glanced back at his best friend, an intense, thoughtful look dominating the silver-haired boy's face. Confused, Sora peeked into Riku's locker. He intended to look quickly and then drag the older boy down to his own locker, but as soon as he glimpsed at what was inside, all he could do was stare.
Neither male could find anything to say and stood side-by-side, dumbstruck for a few minutes. Finally, Sora blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
"…Damn. Is that Godiva?"
His response quickly broke his friend out of his stupor. Riku set down the books he had been holding and began pulling out all of the gifts stuffed in his locker. Candies, baked goods, trinkets, gift cards. When he was finished, a small lopsided pile sat next to his bookbag on the floor. The two boys paused, then simultaneously dropped to the floor on their knees and began sorting through the offerings.
"Are these all gifts for me?" Riku asked incredulously.
"Must be," Sora replied, just as nonplussed. He brought a small bag of homemade sugar cookies up to his eyes and evaluated the slightly smudged 'I LOVE RIKU' icing that decorated every single confection.
"This is ridiculous…"
"Look, someone gave you free movie tickets!" Sora cried excitedly, waving a bundle of small passes.
Riku was busy reading the back of a thriller novel someone had bought him. "This is one of my favorite authors!" He placed the book down carefully and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "How the hell do they know what series I read?"
Sora, already munching on some of the homemade goods, wiped his mouth and crossed his arms in deep thought. "Hmm… maybe they just pay a lot of attention to you in class and you never noticed?"
Twitch. "What stalkers!"
Snicker. Pause. Gasp. "Whoa, look! Someone sketched your portrait!"
"What, seriously? Is it any good?"
"Er, yeah, it's not half bad – look."
"… Am I really that girly looking?"
Snicker. "It's your hair, man."
Snort. Quiet mutter. "I knew I should have gotten my bangs cut…"
Munch. Munch. "These are delicious, Riku, you really should have one."
"I would love to try one… if only you hadn't just placed the last one in your mouth, you pig."
"Heh heh… sorry 'bout that. You really missed out, Riku!"
"… thanks…"
Rustle. "Hey, what's this number written here on the back? Number 12?"
"Yeah, there are numbers handwritten on all of them," Riku mused, inspecting several trinkets in his hands. "Number 2, 6, 13…"
Sora picked up a handmade mini pastry and blinked. "Wowwww, this one here goes up to number 23!" He grabbed an unopened box of chocolate. "This one is number 29!"
Riku slowly shook his head, slightly in shock. "This is – insane, to say the least. Who the hell would give me all this stuff? It's like a secret admirer, except I can't imagine a single person making all these—"
The two teens froze for a second. Then, as one, they looked up sharply, sharing a slightly astonished glance. "You don't think…" they said together.
"No way—"
"That would be ridiculous—"
"—besides, according to Kairi—"
"—how would they even get my combination—"
"—they just became a real club today—"
"—how do they even know I like thriller novels—"
"—isn't this more like a cartoon or something – hey, wait, Riku, look at this!"
Riku paused in his incredulous ramblings and scrambled closer to Sora when he saw the boy hunched over a note.
"'Dear Riku,
"We hope that you enjoy these gifs as a token of our admiration for you! Our purpose, as your Fan Club, is to offer you our solid support and endless affection. We only wish the best for you.
"Sometime this week we will create a box with which you can drop messages off to communicate with any of our members. Each gift has the club member's official number written on them, so if you would like to respond to any of them, place your response in our mailbox with the number as the address. We will make sure that all responses will go to the correct members when we empty the box at the end of the week. Forever yours!
"- The newly established, DaiRiZu (heart)(heart)'," Sora read slowly, eyes squinting when he got to the end. "DaiRiZu? What the heck is that?"
Riku sat back, grimacing. He ran a gloveless hand through his long hair and let out a suffering sigh. "Hell if I know. At least it explains the numbers."
"This is pretty well organized for a club that just started today," Sora murmured, amused. "But at least it doesn't seem like those crazy, vicious fanclubs you find in animes."
Riku's face switched violently from resigned to horrified at the thought. He could almost imagine having weird students following him around with a banner with his face on it, cheering little songs that praised his godliness. "Don't even mention something like that!"
Sora stifled a small laugh. "So, what do you think, Riku?"
"Think? About what?"
"About this mailbox they're setting up! You think you're gonna reply to any of their gifts?" Sora asked earnestly.
Riku frowned and shifted on his knees. "No way. That would only encourage them and I have no inclination to date a single one."
The younger brunet huffed and glared disapprovingly. "But you don't even know who they are, so how can you know that you don't want to date them?"
Patiently, Riku said, "They're in a fan club, Sora. They're giving me secret gifts anonymously; they don't even try to openly get to know me! And the ones that do know me, like the person who got me this book –" he held up the thriller novel with an air of dissatisfaction "—never asked me about my likes or dislikes. They just stalked me. What kind of relationship can be built on a foundation like that?"
"That's kind of harsh, Riku. There are probably some really nice people in that club, so you shouldn't generalize like that… Besides, isn't it a bit mean to not even give them a chance when they're trying so hard and – and showering you with gifts?" Sora asked, frowning.
Becoming a bit annoyed, Riku shot him a sharp look. "What's it to you, Sora? You know I didn't ask for any of this stuff."
"I know. But using their gifts and not replying is kind of… smucky," Sora wrinkled his nose distastefully. "Like, if I were giving a gift to the person I like, I would want them to respond in some way if they did accept the present."
"Wait," Riku mulled over his words carefully, a spark of curiosity lighting his angled face. "Hold on a second, a gift to the person you like? Like, hmm? That was a present tense "like", Hikari – are you crushing on someone?"
It was very hard to hold back his blush… Sora figured he probably failed anyway, what with the way Riku was suddenly grinning like the cat who caught the canary. "Wha -? No way, it was just a slip of the tongue! You read into these things way too much."
The older boy tsked and poked Sora in the stomach. "You're right – it was a "slip of the tongue". It was a slip only because you didn't want anyone to know about your feelings."
Riku was getting way too close to the truth for comfort. Sora wondered idly if he was even breathing anymore and considered the notion that passing out might possibly be the best option for him in this kind of situation.
Seemingly nothing could divert Riku from his line of questioning now. The silver-haired boy leaned forward slightly, not even noticing a fan member's poem crumpling slightly under his palms. "Is it someone I know?"
"I'm telling you, I don't like anyone, Riku!"
"Is it Kairi? You said you were over that crush after The World That Never Was, but sometimes those kinds of crushes can be persistent," Riku mused in a half thoughtful and half teasing tone of voice. He continued to observe his best friend in a piercing manner and didn't seem to even register Sora's loud denials.
Sora gripped his fists and earnestly leaned forward to declare, "NO! Even if I did like anybody, it definitely wouldn't be Kairi! That road is well-traveled and done with." He waited a moment, then added dramatically, "Forever!"
Riku chuckled and crossed his arms over his chest. "Okay, no Kairi, I get it. But you didn't answer my question – is it someone I know?"
"No," Sora answered angrily, "It is NOT someone you know. And you don't know this someone because this SOMEONE doesn't even EXIST!" With his frustration gone, the brunet instantly started to feel guilty for his outburst. He moved to apologize but saw that RIku was contemplating something calmly instead of glaring heatedly or masking hurt.
"Okay, you're obviously conflicted and pressing you isn't gonna help," Riku finally relented, blowing wayward strands of hair from his mouth. He seemed a bit annoyed but he breathed deeply and the last traces of agitation seem to slink away. "I suppose I'll wait for you to spill on your own instead of forcing you."
Sora's lips pressed together tightly, feeling so very, very awkward. He wanted to yell some more and, at the same time, thank Riku for his thoughtfulness. The silence was just the tiniest bit heavy.
"All that aside," Riku slowly said, "I'm still not replying to that fanclub."
Sora took the opening gladly and some of his earlier energy concerning the matter of the DaiRiZu club returned. "That's really mean, Riku! I mean, these are all really special gifts that must have taken a lot of thought and effort!"
The older boy spoke in an uncaring voice, "That's not my problem."
Sora tried to whack his friend on the shoulder, but Riku ducked skillfully out of the way. "Look, I'm not saying you have to go out with them or write a novel length response or anything. Just… if I were them, I'd really want to know if you liked what I put so much effort into."
Riku rolled his eyes and chucked a bag of brownies at Sora's head, smirking as the brunet was hit right on the cheek. "Alright, alright, fine. You can get off your soapbox now. I'll send them a general thank you note when they put that stupid mailbox up. But you can't expect me to write them all."
Done glaring, Sora was now helping himself to the projectile-brownies. "'Course not," he mumbled, mouth full of chocolate. "Just let 'em know you're grateful for their—"
"Insanity?" Riku muttered darkly.
"I was going to say their 'thoughtfulness', Riku," Sora laughed, brushing crumbs from his face. He stood quickly and hefted his bookbag onto his shoulder. "Come on, Mr. Popular, I still gotta go to my locker."
Riku looked up from underneath his unruly bangs and asked contentedly, "Help me up?" He extended one pale hand and shifted his long legs on the hard floor.
Sora huffed, grumbling about Riku's laziness, but grasped his hand nonetheless. Tan fingers wrapped around Riku's wrist tightly while pale ones gripped similarly around Sora's. There was a small shock of something that Sora refused to acknowledge and with a quick pull, Riku stumbled onto his feet in a somehow graceful way.
Tch. Only Riku.
"Hey, Sora?"
"Hmmm?"
"… How the hell are we going to carry all these presents?"
C-Could it possibly be...? An u-update on time? Well... don't expect this to become a habit, unfortunately. Especially for the next one, because I've kinda got a lot on my plate currently. On Wednesday, I leave for a college road trip lasting until Friday - then, my brother and I will meet up with the rest of our family for a Bar Mitzvah directly after. Then I've got SATs to worry about and a school event and...
I think you've got the picture... please ignore my whining, really.
In any case, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. For the seven of you who reviewed, thank you so so much! I greatly appreciate it and hope you see this through to the end (speaking of which, I hope I see this to the end, too...)! Two quick notes to end on:
1) For the fan club name DaiRiZu, ummm, you can guess? I sort of doubt you'll get it, though (no offense). It's kind of obscure, really; and I promise it will be explained in later chapters. But there is a sort of meaning behind it, so I didn't just pull it out of thin air like a moron. For real.
2) More Sora and Riku interaction. In all seriousness, please tell me what you think about their characters. Sora and Riku are both horribly mutilated in this fandom, sometimes... it makes me seriously want to punch myself in the face when I read some stories nowadays. If you see my Sora and Riku beginning to teeter off the edge of IC, please give me a nudge. Or a shove, if need be. I would REALLY appreciate it.
*a quirky little tune*
Updated 4.14.09
I received a review commenting (not very nicely, actually) on my use of the fictional term "silveret". All of the message's rudeness aside, I agree with the criticism - me using a made up, fanfiction term like that is just plain laziness on my part. I apologize and have tried to scan for each "silveret" I may have originally written so as to correct this mistake. In truth, I'm not exactly sure why I allowed that term to enter my story, as I always get a little annoyed when I see an author write a brown-haired male as a "brunette" and not a "brunet", etc. I also cannot stand the term "bluenette" - I forget where exactly I saw this, but that's just ridiculous.
I feel a bit better, having corrected my error, but in the long run, I have to ask of my reviewer: Really? You couldn't have tried to make your review a little more constructive and a little less snarky? It's not as if I am refusing your criticism - on the contrary, I accept your point and still feel insulted by the manner with which you wrote. Next time (if there even is a next time), please try to write an actual review and not just a petty insult, as it actually served to ruin my morning completely over something quite small.
*a quirky little tune*