This has been really well received and I'm very glad for it. This is a small step outside my comfort zone in the sense that I rarely deal with a plot outside the romance itself, so I'm pleased at how this is coming along.

Dedicated to my lovely BriKyo.

Why is it So Dark In Here?

Wait A Minute…

The next day, news that a gay club was rejected has spread like wildfire by the morning. From the school bus all the way to my locker, people are talking about how the queers/homos/fags/gay-bays wanted to make a club. I drown it out, trying to come up with good ideas for the poster, but you can't drown out a vice-grip on your shoulder that yanks you to the library.

"Did you see what's going on at the queer table?" Larxene hisses when she's got me cornered in the reference section.

"No."

"It's that Kairi girl. The one who just moved here?" I nod. The name was on an endless repeat yesterday. "Well, she came in wearing this shirt." Larxene says "shirt" like she'd say "roadkill." "Something like 'Lez B Friends' on it. Gawd, she's a dyke. I should have known from the moment I looked at her."

Yes, because gay people have glowing neon signs along their noses. Of course. End my uncharacteristic sarcasm. Outwardly, I give an ambiguous shrug because I am a coward and don't feel like telling Larxene that I'm helping the cause she hates. I know that she'll find out eventually and I want to be in another time zone when she does.

On our way to the cafeteria, Larxene is fuming over Kairi being gay. Why is she taking this so personally? It's none of her business. It's not like Kairi hit on her or anything. Or did she? Like, subtly? Oh, God, what if Larxene is Kairi's type?!

I gauge Kairi's reaction to Larxene not saying hello to her. There is no reaction to gauge. Huzzah! Rather than follow Larxene, which I never do (I'm just her escort, maybe breakfast-retriever), I head over to Sora's table.

Kairi is, surely enough, wearing a blue shirt with two girls holding hands. I actually like the shirt. I really do. She's also wearing rainbow star earrings. Not entirely decked out in rainbows, like Sora sometimes is, but I get the feeling she likes how they look.

"Hi, Namine."

I sit down. When will I stop being shy and say "Hi" back, God? When? Sora urges me to take out my sketch pad, which I do, and he and Riku show me ideas they've written down for posters. I get some ideas, which I hesitantly voice, and I start working on preliminary doodles on the cover of my sketch book.

After a few minutes of that, Tidus talks with Sora and Riku about write-ups and Kairi turns to me. "So, when should I model for you?"

"Huh?" I'm still engrossed in a particularly detailed doodle that might become an actual poster.

"I said, when should I model for you? It needs to be done, right?"

"Yyyyeah…" Because it does need to be done and I do want her to pose for me, but… There's a million "buts." The top 20 under the "She Can't Come Over," sublist include, "My room's a mess," "What if Mom sees the T-shirt?" and "What if Dad sees the T-shirt?" Under the "I Can't Go Over There," list are, "What if Larxene gets the wrong idea about me?" "I have homework" and "Does she have two moms?"

"Cool. Maybe we could work at Riku's house then? We're going to be working over there again today. While Tidus writes, you draw?"

Riku's house was good. It was safe. It was a good and safe idea worth nodding to. Kairi accepts the nod and listens more to Tidus' conversation with Riku and Sora. She sips at her vanilla Coolatta (I think that's a staple of her morning routine) and leaves a faint layer of pink gloss. When she gets up to throw the empty cup away, I can actually think clearly about what's going on.

Okay, so I'm probably in love. Scratch that; I'm definitely in love. If I can't get Kairi out of my head for more than five minutes and her presence renders me unable to think at all, then I'd say I've got a crush, at minimum. The fact that I don't like boys doesn't disturb me as much as what Kairi would say. Somehow, a crush on a girl is scarier than what I imagine is a crush on a boy.

She comes back and my head falls back into that pleasant foggy feeling. Tidus was saying something about Drama club and Kairi was listening to him when another presence sits down at our table. A considerably taller presence that snaps me out of my reverie to stare at the face of my English teacher.

A word on Luxord Liddell: While he is the most informal teacher in the entire school, he is also the strictest. Read whatever you want in his class, but be prepared to analyze it thoroughly. He refuses to be called, "Mr. Liddell," preferring his first name or "Mr. L." He wasn't openly gay, but when his lover came by to drop off his lunch and pecked him on the cheek, it was very difficult to deny that he was gay. As such, I assume that he had been the perfect candidate for the faculty representative of the club Sora was putting together.

"Sora, would you mind telling me what you put on that application to make the principal question my impeccable references?"

"What? Why would he do that?" Tidus looks incredulous.

"I haven't the faintest." Luxord drinks down a gulp of his coffee and sits in the empty chair between Riku and Kairi. "He just called me in yesterday, wailing about me being a pedophile and just what the hell kind of class am I running, et cetera."

Sora moans and grabs his head. "You're kidding. Luxord, listen, I didn't write anything bad in that about you or anyone. I just wrote that you were the faculty representative, I swear."

"I know, Sora. I figured you wouldn't deliberately try to destroy my career. You do too well in my class. Still, this isn't going well. You kids deserve to have your group."

"We're starting a Gay Revolution. Calling attention to the issue and protesting and all that stuff." Kairi says it like it's something that all gay high school students do on their weekends.

"Oh… Marvelous. Well, if you kids need any help. I just wanted to clear up that incident." With that, Luxord scuttled away, leaving the us completely stunned.

"They went after Luxord…" Sora finally said. "He didn't do anything and they went after Luxord. That's, like, not even in the same neighborhood as fair."

Kairi nodded her head. "All the more reason to get this train rolling." As if her statement was some sort of finality, the bell rung and everyone scurried away to their classes.

Lunch time has become more of a club meeting place than anywhere else, which makes me wonder why we need a club in the first place. Obviously, not every gay student in the school has our lunch period. Riku said that there's at least five other gay students, making a total of nine. Ten, if you count me. Which I don't. I have a crush on Kairi, but I'm pretty sure I just have a crush on her as a person, not as a girl.

Details multiply immensely when we actually sit down and start talking. How will we do multiple copies of the posters? Would putting an article in the local newspaper be too much or too little? Should we talk to local politicians? Eventually, after getting a rather large amount of this on paper, Tidus says, "We should meet up during the weekend to talk about this."

Riku looks around at us. Only Sora is missing from our usual group of people. "Is everyone okay with meeting up this weekend? My place?" We all consent quietly and Tidus and Riku embrace the idea of talking to politicians.

Kairi nudges me in the side. "After the meeting at Riku's this weekend, do you wanna sleep over at my house? I'm not hitting on you, I'm just asking."

Reality hits me lightly in the face. Of course Kairi wouldn't be hitting on me. Kairi's interest in me is only friendly interest. Duh. She's vibrant and funny and I'm a wallflower. How could I ever even try to imagine…?

"Yeah, okay."