Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. I do, however, own a magnificent oven where I can cook pizzas!
Warnings: This fiction contains and is not limited to boy/boy moments, the use and abuse of stereotypes, hints at original pairings, very despicable people, emo-Riku, lustful teenagers, underage drinking, a mix of the last two points, questionable situations, morally ambiguous choices and a few, occasional and really shy attempts at humor.
Chapter 21: A Long Overdue Confrontation
The vigorous ring of a phone filled the room, waking Riku up and leaving him with an uncomfortable sense of disorientation. He was in his room, that was sure, but the details about how he got there were a little blurry.
He quickly glanced at his phone: the name 'Sora' was flashing on the screen. His hand instinctively moved towards it, but he retracted it before answering.
Only then he checked the time: eleven o' clock in the morning. He ignored the call and went back in his bed, turning his head away from the phone. It was Saturday, anyway, he had every right to go back sleeping and call him back later.
If he felt like doing it.
The image of Sora and Roxas kissing the night before was still vivid in his mind. He had thought about it all of the night, and the conclusion he had reached was always the same: the two of them had to be dating! That was the only possible explanation, it would also explain why Sora would always talk about Roxas.
And Riku was...
He was...
...absolutely fine with that, they had every right to be together, after all.
...then why did he feel that way?
He hadn't told him... that had to be the reason he felt that bad: it was something that he could not tolerate, he felt like he had been betrayed. From Roxas he could understand, after all the two of them had gone back on being on talking terms just recently. And barely.
But Sora...
Sora was the first person he had let into his life since a whole year. To hide from him that he and Roxas were dating was unacceptable!
The phone finally stopped ringing and Riku couldn't help but gulp. Now, he regretted not having answered. At least he could have directly asked Sora what the deal with Roxas was.
Still in bed, he turned around and grabbed his phone. He dialed Sora's number, but he couldn't bring himself to send the call. Why does that boy had such a huge impact on him, anyway?
And as he stood there with his phone in hand, it started ringing once more, startling him. Once again, he read Sora's name on the screen. As if someone else would call him.
And once more, the courage to answer was failing him. It took him nearly half a minute before finally answering the call.
"Sora?" he asked coldly.
Sora's usual cheerful voice resounded on the opposite end of the line. "Hey, Riku. Did I wake you up?"
'Yes!' he thought answering, before setting for a more neutral: "It's fine. What do you need?"
"What happened yesterday? You just disappeared without saying anything!" There was no hostility in Sora's voice, just plain curiosity.
"I was tired and I got home." he cut short.
"Not cool, Riku, I barely saw you."
"I thought you were in good company." The words were out before Riku could stop them. He hoped that Sora wouldn't catch the not-so-subtle hostility in his phrasing.
"Doesn't mean I wouldn't have appreciated your company."
Sora couldn't have given a more ambiguous answer, leaving Riku to wonder if he was being honest, sarcastic or plainly caustic. Before he could think too much about it, though, he was talking again. "Anyway... What do you do tonight?"
"Nothing."
"Wrong. You're coming to my house for dinner."
Riku's heart skipped a beat. "Your house? But..."
"Oh? You prefer doing it at your house?"
"What? No, no, that's not the point... I mean..."
"Great. 8 o'clock this evening, then, be on time. Bye."
And with those words echoing in his ears, Riku found himself standing idly with the phone still on his ear. It took him an entire minute to realize that Sora had gotten him once more. Sure, he could simply not go, but he was sure that if he had tried something like that, the probabilities of the brunet showing up at his doorstep were quite high and he surely could not afford the risk of Sora meeting his parents (who, for the record, were still keeping on pestering to invite him for dinner).
What was Sora planning? That was the question that kept on buzzing in Riku's head as he slumped back in his bed, closing his eyes once more.
The day passed in the blink of an eye, until Sora's doorbell rang at 8 o'clock precisely. When the brunet opened the door, he found a clearly embarrassed Riku standing in front of him.
"Hey Riku! Nice to see you. Come in, you can wait for me in the dining room, I'm nearly done with the cooking."
The silver-haired boy muttered a greeting and obeyed. He wasn't really surprised to find Roxas there, sitting on the couch. Still, he had hoped until the last moment that the blond boy would not have been invited.
"Hi, Riku." he welcomed him shily.
Riku acknowledged his presence with a gesture of the hand and he took place on the sofa, the most distant sitting place he could find in the room.
The first few minutes were filled with a deafening silence. Then, the kitchen door sprang open and Sora emerged, holding a large plate in his hands.
"Pizza!" he announced proudly, urging the two boys to reach him on the dining table. "Hope you like it."
Riku didn't answer, but took the chair next to Sora. He grabbed a slice and stuffed it in his mouth, glad to have an excuse not to talk. Roxas, sitting in front of him, was clearly embarrassed and followed his example.
Sora, despite taking place between them, seemed perfectly unaware of the tension in the room. "So, how was yesterday evening, Riku?"
"Mouth full." he muttered back, hoping that Sora would move on from the subject, even though he knew that that was wishful thinking.
Sora didn't have to add anything else: he simply waited for him to swallow what he was chewing.
"It wasn't bad." Riku finally answered, fully conscious of the impossibility to dodge the question.
Sora snickered. "That's all? You seemed quite comfortable around Axel and the others."
Roxas seemed interested by that affirmation, but he resumed eating when Riku gave him a quick glare. "...I guess I can tolerate them if Seifer isn't around." He purposefully avoided naming Kairi, remembering that Sora had disappeared with her during the evening.
"So?" Sora kept asking, swallowing another slice of pizza. "Something interesting happened?"
"What about you two?" Riku finally spat out, unable to restrain himself any longer.
Roxas nearly choked on half of his pizza. For Riku, that equaled to a confession. "Something to say, Roxas?" He noticed that he was finding more and more difficult to keep in check his tongue.
He observed carefully the blond boy, who had started blushing furiously and was clearly at a loss of words. On the other side, Sora had resumed on eating peacefully, perfectly composed.
"I'm... sorry, Riku. I don't know what to say." Roxas awkwardly answered.
But that wasn't enough for Riku: he wanted the two of them to confess that they were... that they did... he wanted to know the meaning of whatever he saw the night before. They owed him that, at least. But before he could confront them more openly, Roxas talked again.
"I have... kind of a blank of last night..." Riku's eyes turned into icy slits at those words. Really? That was the best excuse he could come up with? "The last thing I remember was... ehr... drinking something with Sora and then nothing else."
"For real, Roxas?" Sora asked, sincerely interested. "You really do not remember anything else?" He looked kind of amused at that thought, despite the blond boy's clear uneasiness. That was enough to tick Riku off.
"For real, Roxas? You really do not remember kissing Sora?"
An uncomfortable silence fell upon the three of them. What little of color was left on Roxas' face drained away and the slice of pizza he was holding fell from his hands. But Sora...
Sora was clearly glaring at Riku. Some nerve he got! "Why are you looking at me that way?" he asked defiantly, staring back at the brunet.
"What the actual fuck is wrong with you, man?" Sora answered in all seriousness, his usual carefree attitude instantly gone. "That's not the way to drop something like that, show some tact!"
"Don't even try to go there!" Riku answered, furiously. He was sick of having people lying and hiding things from him. "Roxas remembers everything until the moment he kissed you, pretty selective amnesia, don't you think?"
"Are you... are you saying that I'm lying?"
Roxas' weak voice interrupted the two of them, catching their attention. He hadn't lifted his eyes, fixed on his half-eaten dish.
"Are you saying that I'm lying about not remembering what happened?" He repeated, slightly louder, finally managing to look back at the upperclassman.
"Well..." Riku was clearly taken aback by that unusually strong reaction. "You have to admit that it's pretty strange that..."
"That's my fault." Sora interrupted, calmly. "I guess I made you drink a little too much, Roxas. I wanted you to relax a little, but I didn't think you'd end up completely wasted."
Roxas, that until that moment had not stopped glaring at Riku, closed his eyes and looked back at Sora, uncertainty and uneasiness transpiring in his every move. "No, it's my fault and... I'm sorry for whatever happened, especially if I really... if I kissed you."
He paused. His attention then shifted back to Riku.
"...but you! You are a piece of shit!"
Another moment of silence ensued. Riku didn't get the time to defend himself, though, because Roxas was already speaking again. "I know you've had it pretty rough, but that doesn't give you the right to treat everyone else like shit!" It seemed like a whole year of repressed feelings was coming out all of a sudden.
Riku was shocked: he didn't think he would've ever heard him talk that way. Something broke inside his chest. "What... wait, don't you try to turn this on me, it's you that..."
"I'm sick of your attitude. You're always complaining about how unfair your life is. Well, guess what? Life is unfair, man it up and start facing it instead of whining about it all day!"
"I'm not whining!" Riku nearly screamed. "You have no idea what life was like for me!"
"No, I don't!" Roxas answered, louder than him. "I tried to ask multiple times and you never answered me!"
That was the last straw for Riku: he stood up, clenching his hands into fists. "You left me alone!"
"Alright, I made a mistake, you're never wrong?"
"Oh, sure. For once, I trusted you!"
"I tried to call you that same evening!" Now, both of them were standing up, only the small wooden table separating them. "And I called you again the day after! You never picked up!"
To that, Riku hesitated for a second.
"Well I... I was angry at you!" he finally admitted, looking away but refusing to give up on his defiant attitude.
"...and you were right to be." Roxas declared, finally averting his gaze. At those words, Riku couldn't help but look back at him, surprised. "I called you, but that's just an excuse. It took me three whole days to gather the courage to speak directly to you. The truth is... I was scared."
"You... were scared?"
Silence ensued, but it was quickly broken by the sound of Sora chewing his pizza quietly. Both boys blushed at the realization that he was still there with them.
"...what? Keep going, don't pay attention to me." he calmly said, while keeping on eating.
Riku wasn't feeling like talking about personal feelings in front of Sora, though, and it seemed like Roxas was thinking the same.
Sora sighed. "Listen, guys. I think you were doing great: you need to talk about this kind of stuff. But I think you need a moderator, some sort of pacifier, otherwise you'll end up at each other's throat in a few minutes."
The two of them looked at each other for a second, then they sit back.
"And take another slice of pizza, or I'll end up eating everything."
They both obeyed.
After another few seconds of silence, Roxas spoke again, more calmly this time. "I was scared of being targeted for taking your side."
Riku didn't answer, waiting for him to keep going.
"Yeah, about that..." Sora interrupted, calmly swinging in his chair, like he was talking about the most natural subject in the world. Somehow, Riku thought of that attitude as... reassuring. "Do you think you two could fill me in with what precisely happened one year ago? I kinda feel out of the loop."
Roxas looked at Riku, as if seeking permission. The upperclassman sighed resigned: he didn't feel like going through all of that again, but maybe it was for the best. And anyway, Sora already knew the most of it.
And so Riku started to speak.
End Notes:Wow, another huge chapter! It was a lot of fun to write Roxas' dialogues, about time that he finally reacted. Just remember: when a character is pushed to his limits to the point that he starts acting OOC... well, that means business! And that's just the beginning...
Preview: Riku's side of the story is coming next!
Next Chapter: An Outcast Boy's Story