"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves."
...
"I was wondering... if I could have your number? Us being friends and all, I might need to call you." Riku hopped from foot to foot.
"Uh..." Sora wondered if it was a good idea. He only had a house phone, and he wouldn't always be there to pick it up. There were limited options, but Sora decided to make it work.
There being only enough room in his apartment to need a single phone, he decided that he would do what he always did. He would keep it in his room, the ringtone on the lowest volume. It was a risk, but rejecting Riku's offer would make it seem personal.
Sora looked up at Riku and smiled. "Where do you want me to write it?"
Riku held out a sheet of paper and a blue pen. Sora snorted at the large yet girly handwriting at the top, declaring "Sora's Number" with little swirls around it.
Riku stiffened and ripped the paper away. "If you won't appreciate my handwriting, because we all know that's what you were laughing at- then I don't want your handwriting to ruin the page."
"Hey!" Sora struggled for the paper as Riku deftly turned and blocked his efforts.
Riku smirked and handed the page to Sora, resisting the urge to pat Sora's head like he used to, when Sora didn't have a care in the world and Riku didn't...
When Riku was still Riku.
"I could've gotten it on my own..." Sora pouted as he scribbled his number down. Riku took the pen and paper, avoiding touching Sora's fingers. "What, you're too good to touch me?" Sora taunted, standing on his tippy toes to gain a few inches as he looked directly in Riku's eyes.
"Like I would want to touch you, you little monster."
Riku faked a smile and Sora pretended like those words didn't hurt. Remembering things they both had tried so hard to forget, to ignore. But you can't escape the past.
The problem with becoming close to someone, Sora thought, is that they also get close to you.
...
"H-hey... Sora." There was a slight tremble in the voice.
Sora rubbed his eyes and moaned. "What's up, Riku." He shifted the phone to his other ear and sat up slowly. As his location finally registered he leaned against his window sill, looking out at the full moon hovering in the sky; the stars gleaming, flickering in and out. Sora loved to watch them as he fell asleep, like he could leave all his worries inside of the stars.
Sora didn't even need to look at the clock to know it was early in the morning. He knew he he should give Riku hell for calling so early, but something told him not to.
"I had a," Riku choked. "I had a bad dream." His usually smooth voice was rough and clogged with painful emotion.
Sora had never called Riku at night. There never was any reason. He always had his mother and father to turn to, both of them able to fight off the monsters Sora didn't want to face.
But when Sora finally had the birthday he had been waiting for, he realized that the monsters were never under the beds.
They were inside the people.
"Do you want me to come over?" Sora asked him, tender but determined. Sora wanted to be there when no one else could. Even if they had slowly come apart, they were never completely gone from eachother. Sora fingered his keychain.
"No... it's fine. I just wanted to hear your voice." To chase the other voices away- the unspoken words that didn't need to be said. There was a silence, with only an occasional shivering breath breaking through. "Tell me a story?" Riku provoked, his voice reeking of desperation.
"Sure." Sora's voice began slowly, his voice soothing and soft as he repeated the only story his mother had told him.
...
When the world started, there was nothing but the Sky and Land. They intertwined perfectly- where ever one went, the other was there. They were never apart.
Then came Separation. Sky and Land craved her, and all the beautiful things she betowed upon them. Land suddenly had plants and Sky had stars. They wanted Separation more than they appreciated eachother as the days flew by. They soon began to forget eachother's friendship, viewing it as only competition for Separation's love.
But then Separation gave Sky the largest star of all, a Sun, and gave Land large bodies of water. And as the day set between them, and the Sky's sun fell and the Land's water glistened, they realized how far their infatuation had torn them apart. They realized that no matter how far they reached, they could never touch again.
Only at the farthest point of the globe will it seem as though the Sky is finally touching the Land again, but even then it is nothing but an illusion.
For Land and Sky had lost themselves in Separation, and now Separation would forever be between them.
...
Riku's breath had evened out, and by the time Sora had finished the story the older boy had fallen asleep.
Sora listened to the breathy whispers that Riku made as he slept. "Goodnight, Riku." His phone clicked off.
Sora stared off at the stars. How he wished he could touch them.
...
I didn't like this chapter. Writing it felt awkward in a sense. Review?