Summary: Riku loves writing poetry, but despite his understanding of the world of words, he remains convinced that if his poetry is a public fact, his ladies' man reputation will be completely ruined. Enter Xion, his best friend and the only one who knows his secret hobby. Xion decides that Riku's poetry is a gift to mankind, and does her duty as a best friend - publishes it anonymously behind Riku's back. Meanwhile, the drama of senior year continues as their final year of high school wraps up...
Warnings: Language
AN: By the way, I think I'm starting to get better at this transition from scene to scene dealio just a little, so that's neat. -throws confetti-
Confused about character relationships? It works out like this – Xion is friends with Riku, Roxas, Axel, Kairi, and now Olette. She is on friendly terms with Pence and Sora. Riku is friends with Sora, Kairi, and Xion. He knows Axel better than he knows Pence and Olette, and spends a lot of time with Roxas because he's good friends with Sora. However, though Roxas and Xion would spend time alone, Riku wouldn't spend time alone with Roxas - probably only in group-ish settings. So depending on whose chapter it is, different minor characters are featured. That's why there was a long scene with Olette. Naminé isn't here because...well...that's a lot of people then, and since Xion's not technically that major of a character, I felt it was too boring. Not original. Either way, she exists. She just lives elsewhere, because really. Things like that happen. She'll be around at the very end of the story, so look. Stick with it, I have Naminé bribery!
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of its affiliates.
Chapter 3
in which Xion is a mastermind
Xion, from a young age, had been impatient.
This didn't necessarily mean that she couldn't sit still and was always active. It meant that when Xion made up her mind to do something, it got done as fast as reasonably possible. It's the same trait that made her so good at soccer – she saw an opening, made a plan, and executed it right away. With a plan, Xion was unstoppable.
So when Xion got the crazy, bizarre idea to publish Riku's poetry, she began working on a plan right away. Her brain whirred with different possibilities and outcomes, and while she waited for Riku to finish typing up his poems, she was spending her time quietly trying to work out a plan to publish them without him finding out. Normally, Roxas, Kairi, or Riku would have recognized that Xion was in "planning mode" and have stopped her accordingly, but luck was in her favor. Roxas and Kairi, like the rest of their friends, were frantically studying for the group of tests on Friday and had no time to analyze Xion's odd behaviors. Any time Riku caught her staring off into space, he attributed it to her mentally going over the exam material or stressing out like many other seniors were.
The exams on Friday went well for Xion, and she was confident that she had scored a C+ or higher in math. So it was a happy and plotting Xion stood next to Roxas, Riku, Olette, and Axel at the harbor waving goodbye to Sora and Kairi who were taking the ferry to the mainland. As they trooped off the harbor and began walking together over to Pence's house for a movie night, Riku slipped a USB drive into her hand.
"Thought you might want this, High Empress of All Editing Valentine," said Riku quietly before resuming speaking in a louder voice. "So, how did the physics test go?"
"Pretty well," said Xion, and she put the grey memory card into her shorts' pocket. Phase One, get Riku's poetry, complete. "I might have gotten a C+ or a B-. Maybe even a B if I'm lucky."
"Xion! Did you study at all?" Olette seemed horrified that a C+ could be considered as a good thing.
"I knew everything about gravity. And I did 3 of the practice problems."
"We were assigned 45 practice problems." Olette quickly did the math. "That's only 1/15th of the work you should have done."
"Don't listen to her," said Axel. "You don't need to know physics unless you're going into science or engineering. I didn't. I slept through space science last semester. Easiest A I've ever gotten in a science class."
Olette looked very put out, and the group laughed.
Pence's house, like all island houses, didn't have a basement, but instead a second living room that Pence had converted into his own entertainment center. The black and white scheme was modern and attractive, but it was the fluffy white couches large enough seated everyone that sealed the deal as the perfect movie night household. Halfway through the first movie, the group switched over to playing through the impressive amount of games Pence owned. Once they had finished with the dancing and Mario games, they moved onto the street fighter games. There was a brief sour moment when Olette decided to read instead of playing, but through use of peer pressure and puppy-dog eyes from Roxas and Xion, she put down the book and proceeded to button-mash her way to victory.
Roxas was the first to leave at around 11, saying that he had stayed up until three the night before cramming for the tests. Axel left with him.
"Someone's got to protect your innocence on the way home, you know?"
They could hear the two friends bickering all the way out the door
Riku left thirty minutes after Roxas.
"My dad's leaving on a business trip early tomorrow morning," he said as he put on his shoes. "Let me know if there's any plans for this week."
With half of their numbers gone, Xion and Olette helped Pence put away the dance mats, soda cans, and pillows that lay haphazardly around the room. When the room was finally clean again, Pence brought out a deck of cards, and the three of them sat down in the middle of the carpet and started a relatively quiet game of go fish.
"My turn," said Xion. "Pence, got any fives?"
"Go fish. Olette, any sevens?"
"Dang it," Olette grumbled, and handed over two cards. "Xion, fives?"
"I knew I should have asked you for the fives." Xion gave Olette her single five. "So you two are super smart, right?"
"Don't underestimate yourself, Xion." Olette glanced over her fan of cards. "You're definitely intelligent; you just need to apply yourself a bit more."
Pence scratched his head. "You seemed good at math to me when we worked on Riku's walking impossibilities."
"Oh no, not like that," said Xion, frantically waving both hands. Pence craned his neck to try to read her cards. "I know all of that, school's boring and I hate doing homework. No, I want to know what you guys know about publishing."
Pence blinked, and Olette gave her a blank look.
"Why publishing?" Pence straightened up and gave her his best serious look. "You've never liked writing before."
It was time to initiate Phase Two – lie like crazy. "I was cleaning out my closet the other day and found a book I wrote about if sports were magical when I was five. It's pretty cute, and I wanted to know what I would have to do if I wanted to published it as a children's book."
To Xion's satisfaction, they seemed to buy it.
"You'd have to get a literacy agent, and make sure that they aren't a fraud," said Olette. "Then the agent will send the book to different publishing companies. If the publishing company accepts it, then you moving on the negotiating a contract and editing the book before it's finally published."
"Or," said Pence. "You can publish it online. Skip all of the work, immediate public access, bam. There are some drawbacks, though."
Olette picked up where Pence left off. "You have to realize, though, that online publishing is easier because you don't get the publicity that printing the book will. You'll be lucky if 10 people read your book online."
"And there's a higher chance people will steal your work," said Pence. "You can get it copyrighted, but people use and steal copyrighted material all the time on the Internet. Heck, I downloaded a movie illegally last night. There's some websites that let you publish online if you join them, too, so you have that option besides publishing it online on your own."
"Wait." Xion was confused. "In order to have copyrights, I would need a publishing company or an online publishing company then, right?"
"Not necessarily," said Olette. "Any original piece of work has its own copyright. Let's say you write a book for a young author's contest. If someone reads your book, and then steals your idea and gets their book published, you can press charges. It doesn't matter that you were signed on with a publishing company. What matters is that they stole what you wrote, and as long as you have proof that you wrote it first, you're fine."
Xion nodded. "Thanks. Not that I'm complaining, but how do you know this stuff anyway?"
"My cousin used to be an intern at Bashwords," said Pence, blushing slightly at the compliment. "It's one of the big online publishing companies."
"I read a book about a girl who publishes her own book when I was younger," said Olette. "The School Story by Andrew Clements. I think I have it at my house if you want to borrow it sometime."
"Sure," said Xion. She checked her phone. "Jeez, it's midnight. I'd better get going."
Olette stood up as well. "Me too. Thanks for having us over, Pence, and sorry we couldn't finish the game."
"No problem!" Pence smiled and put the deck of cards away. "I think I was going to lose anyway."
The two girls made their way out into the cool night air, a pleasant change from the usual heat of the Islands. Despite being in the same friend group as Olette, Xion didn't know her personally very well. Kairi was better friends with Olette than she was, but Xion never saw the brunette around very often. When Xion was finished playing soccer, Olette was studying or working as student vice-president, and altogether had a conflicting schedule when it came to hers and Xion's free times. Somehow, though, Kairi managed to attend all of the practices, be a student representative, spend quality time with Sora, Xion, and Olette, and still finish all of her homework. Xion had no idea how Kairi did it, but the end result was that Kairi and Olette spent more time together than Xion and Olette did.
"So where do you live?"
Olette pointed to the right. "That way, on 2nd Street."
"I'm on 5th Street, I'll walk with you for a bit," said Xion.
They talked as they made their way home through the neighborhoods lit with streetlights. While they didn't have much in common, Olette was a good conversationalist, possessing a quirky sense of humor that Xion hadn't known she had. They parted with promises to hang out more often now that the exams were over and school would start to become easier for the seniors.
On Saturday, Xion spent the day with Axel and Roxas, eating ice cream and walking around town, generally hanging out and listening to some of Axel's wilder college stories. Apparently there had been a class field trip to the Land of Dragons, where Axel had convinced some of his friends to help him set off every firework he could find.
"Turns out there was a ceremony going on at the same time, and everyone thought that the fireworks were a part of it. We never got caught, and I even smuggle a few fireworks back with me to Radiant Gardens."
"How did you smuggle them back? I heard the airlines are pretty strict about fireworks leaving the country," asked Roxas. Xion was distracted by her rapidly melting ice cream, but leaned in to hear Axel's answer. Security at the Land of Dragons was legendary for being completely obsessed with preventing contraband material from leaving the country.
"Very carefully," Axel leered. "They aren't that big. Use your imagination."
There was a thud as Xion's ice cream hit the ground. Roxas turned a bright red.
"You…what…how is that even…"
Axel laughed. "Relax, we took the train back. Security only checks you there if you look suspicious. You know those incense sticks? I put a bunch of them in my suitcase. That way if there were any security dogs, they'd smell soothing sandalwood and flowers instead of gunpowder. What were you thinking I did? Hmm?"
"You made me drop my ice cream!" said Xion.
On Sunday, Xion and Olette met up at Destiny's public pool. Living next to the ocean had its benefits, but it was impossible to go swimming in the ocean all of the time. The clean, bleached water of the pool was a nice contrast to the salty ocean. They swam a bit, but mainly sat on their towels and talked, occasionally pausing to reapply sunscreen. At some point, they called Kairi and put her on speakerphone.
"See Olette, I told you that you should get to know Xion better," Kairi's disembodied voice said triumphantly when she realized she was speaking to both girls. "I'm always right about these things."
"Whatever you say, Kairi," said Olette. "How's Twilight Town?"
"Great! Naminé says hi and that she's going to try to visit us this summer."
"Tell her we say hi back and that she should definitely visit, but if not, my family's going over there for vacation for two weeks before school starts." said Olette.
"I'll let her know. If she's not there, you can always meet up with some of her friends here."
"How's Sora?" asked Xion. "Is he getting along with your family?"
Kairi snorted. "You know Sora. My aunt already adores him and he calls her 'Auntie'. He's made friends with one of Naminé's guy friends, this kid named Hayner who was rude to both of us at first. So Sora volunteered to help him clean up their hideout here, and ten minutes later they're fist bumping and joking around like they've known each other for years."
The girls shared a laugh.
"That's our Sora," said Xion. "It sounds like you guys are having fun."
"Yeah, we are. Have you two heard from Riku lately? And by 'you two' I mean Xion," said Kairi.
"I'm meeting up with him tomorrow," said Xion. "We're going to the old secret island to start fixing up the tree house, the shack, anything that needs repairing before summer starts."
The old 'Secret Island' was an island offshore of Destiny Island and part of the archipelago that made up Destiny Islands. The gang had been using the same island as a playground since childhood, hence the somehow childish name of Secret Island. However, because of the rainy season that hit the islands, every year the rotting wood had to be replaced. When they were younger, their parents would do it for them, but that had stopped once they had been old enough to wield a hammer without killing each other. Riku and Xion had made it a tradition to go out and start on the repairs during spring break.
"I think the shack needs a new roof, so don't get hurt. I think Sora's going to call Riku tonight. He hasn't called at all, and I feel bad that he didn't come with us."
"He's not upset with you or anything, don't worry," said Xion.
Xion could almost hear the smile in Kairi's voice. "Yeah, I know, thanks Xion. Okay, I'm sorry to cut this short, but we're going to this struggle tournament, I've got to go. Love you, bye!"
"Bye!" said Olette, and made to turn off the phone before Xion grabbed her wrist and put her mouth right next to the mic.
"Don't forget to exercise! Find a park and run laps."
Her response was the cool dial tone of Kairi hanging up. Xion buried her face in her towel and groaned. "She's going to come back completely out of shape and I'll have to ban her from the tournament."
"I'm sure it won't be that bad." Olette tucked the cell phone back in Xion's purse for her. "Besides, aren't you taking a break from all of the soccer stuff right now too?"
"Sora's taking a break. Roxas's taking a break. Riku's taking a break. And now, Kairi's taking a break. I ran 2 miles this morning."
"Oh," said Olette faintly. "Well." She cleared her throat, and diplomatically changed the subject. "So, you and Riku are pretty close. Have you always been like this?"
"I guess so, we've known each other since second grade. You know, like how Pence and I are friends. Riku and I became good friends around seventh grade, though." Xion put her cell phone into her bag and tipped down the overlarge white sunglasses she wore, making eye contact with Olette. "If you want information on him, ask him yourself. You're not the first person to try to cozy up to me to get some intel on him."
Olette swatted at Xion. "I'm not a fangirl!"
"Oh good," said Xion, relieved. "I was worried about your sanity for a moment there." She pushed her sunglasses up and waved a hand lazily at Olette. "Go on."
The other girl huffed, but continued nevertheless. "How does that work?"
"What do you mean how does that work?"
"Like, for example, Riku dates all of these other girls. You just said that you've had problems with fangirls. Doesn't that…I don't know, bother you? Well, bother you guys at all?" Olette said, correcting herself at the end.
"Not that I can think of," said Xion. "Yeah, we've had problems before, but that happens with everyone. You and – who do you hang out with the most besides Kairi?"
"I study."
"Oh. Right. Well, how about Axel and Roxas? They're best friends, but they've gotten into fights. Heck, half the time they're spending time with each other they're fighting over something, but they always work it out in the end. It's like that."
"Okay," said Olette, but Xion thought she seemed a bit disappointed in her answer, as if it wasn't detailed enough. Then the valedictorian shrugged and smiled. "What time are you and Riku leaving for the island tomorrow morning? I could help in the morning for a bit before I have to babysit my baby cousin."
"We leave at around four forty-five."
Olette shook her head. "That's way too early. Sorry, but I think I'm going to save my sleep for my cousin."
"Waking up early is good for you. It gives you a new start on Earth. Or something that sounds cool like that." Xion nodded as she spoke, convinced in her own wisdom. Olette snorted and began packing up her pool things.
"Thanks, but I think I'll pass."
"Too bad. Nothing makes you appreciate the new day like waking up early."
"Why are we so crazy to wake up at four freaking thirty in the morning? Why? Why did I agree to this again?"
"You said the same thing last year."
"Riku. Why am I so stupid to do the same thing again? Why didn't you tell me?"
"It was funny then, and it's funny again now. Besides, you drank half of my coffee."
They had woken up early that morning and taken the boat over to the island, Riku rowing while Xion stole sips from his coffee that she was holding for him. The first thing they did was check out all of the problem spots on the island. Kairi was right, the roof to the shack did need replacing, and Xion found out the hard way that the bridge on the east side of the island had a faulty spot in it. She survived the nine-foot drop into the shallows, but was now soaking wet. She stripped down to her board shorts and green tankini swimsuit and Riku hung up her shirt and cargo shorts on the zipline to dry out.
"Why don't I learn from my mistakes?" moaned Xion. She plopped down onto the beach. "Aw, and now I've got sand everywhere."
Riku sat down next to her, wearing his own pair of trunks and a t-shirt. "You can wash it off in the spring later?"
"Yeah," said Xion. They fell into silence after that, watching the grey sky lighten and the beginning of a spectacular sunrise.
"Hey Riku," Xion said a few minutes later as the sky was stained pink, "We're friends, right?"
"Of course."
"Through the bad and good?"
"Yeeessss," Riku said slowly.
"Through the sometimes stupid decisions that we make?"
"Sure." Riku tore his eyes away from the rising sun and raised an eyebrow at her. Ignoring this, Xion pressed on.
"But with forgiveness and happiness and through brilliant plans too? That may or may not end up helping us in the long run?"
"I guess? It sounds like you're trying to marry us by friendship or something."
"I'm making sure we're cool," said Xion. "You know, as friends."
Rike rolled his eyes at her. "We're cool, Xion. Always will be."
"Same here." Phase Three, get Riku's indirect permission, complete. Xion thought she might burst from the cleverness of it all. Instead, she took a deep breath, smiled, and watched the sunrise reflect off the clear, blue ocean.
"Riku?"
"Hm?"
"I'm glad we're friends."
"So am I."
There was a pause.
"Have you ever thought about how weird it is for us to be here?" This time it was Riku who broke the silence.
"Well, no," said Xion, allowing the topic change and recognizing Riku's introspective mood for what it was. "What do you mean?"
"Out of all the other places we could be, we're here, on Destiny Islands. Weird, right?"
"Yes. We are. A lot of people would love to live here. Grass is greener on the other side and all. What about Destiny Islands?"
"Well….We're so small, a part of something more significant and greater than we could ever imagine. Wouldn't it be cool if we could set sail one day and explore the world? Wait. Don't answer that. Stay here, I'll be right back!" He suddenly leapt up and sprinted for the boat, leaving Xion behind. He did return quickly, but instead of running, he was walking, notepad held in from of his face as he wrote.
"Wow. I've thought about it from time to time, but not like that." Xion tapped her chin. "I can see why you're such a good poet, though. Is that another poem?"
"Mhm."
"Can I read it when you're done?"
"Mhm."
"Cool." She stood up and stretched. "I'm going to go get the lumber from the tree house and bring it down to start working. Let me know when you're done."
"Mhm."
"Hey Riku," said Xion. She wiped the back of her hand against her forehead, but only succeeded in smearing sand and dirt across her sweaty face. She rested back on the her heels, surveying the roof of shack she had been ripping up. After the sun had risen, Xion and Riku, who had finished the first draft of his poem, got to work. They started on the bridge on the east side of the island and had almost finished it before the harsh heat of the sun forced them to switch to working on the east side of the island, which was still partially shady.
Riku crouched three feet to her left, doing his best to hammer in the new boards without falling off the miniature cliff that stood almost even with the roof of the shank. He looked to be in as bad shape as she was - both with damp, sweaty hair and skin, dirt everywhere, and thumbs bruised from occasionally missing with the hammer. The tendency for the two to miss the target of the nailhead was the main reason why they switched who ripped up the boards and who nailed them down.
"Want to switch?"
"Shit," Riku swore as he hit his thumb yet again. "Actually, let's take a quick break." He checked his waterproof watch. "Make that a long break. It's been five hours already. It's going to be too hot to work soon - we should probably go home for a bit and come back after 3'o'clock when it's cooler. "
"Thank god," said Xion, and rose to her feet. She brushed the sand and dirt off onto her shorts, and extended an only slightly grimy hand to help Riku. Riku threw the hammer to the beach below before accepting Xion's hand and pulling himself up. Xion eyed the hammer below with slight distaste.
"I'm not picking that up."
"Never asked you to," said Riku, and lead the way back down the staircase. Once at the beach level, he picked up the hammer and flung it back onto the cliff, where it landed with a solid thump. The clatter of a carefully arranged pile of wooden boards tumbling to the ground soon followed. Xion gave Riku her best smile, eyes slightly crinkling upwards.
"I'm not picking that up," she said sweetly.
Riku grumbled something in reply, but Xion was already at the dock, bouncing in place as she waited for him to trudge his way over and start the motor. Everyone had chipped in some money to buy the standard, off-white dingy equipped with an old, second-hand motor. There were times where it didn't work, but overall the group was pleased with their purchase and to finally put the rowboats they used as children into storage.
By the time they arrived at the harbor, both teens were too hungry and too eager to shower to say anything other than a hasty goodbye. Xion was going to her own house, not having brought spare clothes to change into if she showered at Riku's.
After a rushed lunch and shower, Xion sat at her desk typing on her laptop. She reached the site she was looking for and clicked it open. A slightly boring grey and green screen popped up, and the name of the site was printed across the top of the screen.
"Bashwords," she read aloud. She explored the page, and was immediately attracted to the section reading Creating an Account – Literacy Agents. Her mouse hovered over it.
Impatience wasn't what drove Xion to start trying to publish her friend's work behind his back within a week of realizing he was digitalizing his collection. Xion had a plan. She thought quickly, made her plan, and executed it like she would on the field, considering all of the things that may end up going right or wrong along the way. No, it wasn't impatience that drove Xion to click on the sign-up page. It was a part of her plan – her brilliant plan to help her best friend overcome his own insecurities.
And that, in her mind, was worth more than possibly losing her friendship with him.
.
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