Warning: slash…duh
Pairing: Sora x Riku
For: 30 places, one shot unless otherwise requested
Summary: Riku Miyahara works for a high-class business. As a new employee he does most of the grunt work, but being a workaholic, he doesn't really mind. But with the arrival of the bright-eyed intern, Sora Kobayashi, he may find he has an even better reason to put in overtime.
Disclaimer: kingdom hearts is not mine...but I'd fight you for it, sure.
Request: Review, right?
Same Time Same Place
"Wait! Wait, please!"
Riku arched a brow at the blue-eyed brunette who, it seemed, was all but hurling himself towards the elevator the white-haired boy currently occupied. Said brunette barreled into the elevator just as the doors snapped shut...right on his briefcase. What followed was this: the brunette desperately trying to pull it out from between the doors, the brunette trying to pry the doors open, the brunette then attempting to force it out by prying-method.
"Here, let me," Riku gently but firmly pushed the boy to one side and gave the briefcase one reasonable tug. It came loose instantly. Blue eyes blinked up at him thoughtfully.
"Thanks! I'm Sora, Sora Kobayashi!" The brunette—or rather, Sora—held out his hand, his face brighter than a blue-sky and sunny day. Tentatively, Riku accepted the handshake.
"Riku Miyahara," the white haired boy tilted his head to one side. "You going to pick a floor?" He pointed at the seemingly endless keypad on the left side. Sora eyed it a moment and shook his head.
"Nope, I'm going the same place as you!" he said and began to loosely examine his briefcase. Riku took this moment to examine his elevator-companion more closely. Soft, but oddly spiky brown hair that looked liked it had probably destroyed about a dozen combs, brilliant, sapphire eyes, slight build, clean black suit and tie with standard white collar shirt.
Seemed pretty normal.
Riku himself wore much the same thing, black suit, white collared shirt, black tie, but he stood a decent head above Sora, who, Riku mused, looked like he was fresh out of school.
"How old are you?" Sora asked suddenly. Riku turned sideways.
"24. How old are you?" Riku returned, voice tinged with a smirk.
"19!" Sora grinned at the vague look of surprise on Riku's face. "Intern!" He explained and Riku nodded with a brief 'Ah.'
The floors continued to ding by...27…28...29...30. Here the doors opened and Riku exited, followed by a considerably bouncier Sora who made no show of pretending to be above the place. His admiration and awe of the well-polished office halls and corridors, the elegance of the mahogany desks, was clear...and somehow charming...or so Riku found himself thinking.
So thinking, he felt an odd flush come to his cheeks.
Oh no, that was the last thing he needed.
An attraction to an intern...not even out of University.
Yep, that was what he needed. Pasting on a scowl, Riku hadn't noticed he'd stopped walking.
Until Sora ran into him, anyway.
"Sorry!" Sora exclaimed. Riku glanced over his shoulder. "I was just...looking at everything and..." Sora trailed off with a nervous laugh and scratched his head as if he wasn't sure what else he could say. Riku, not thinking, playfully ruffled Sora's already untamed hair with a half smile.
"Don't worry. I was the same way," he said in a less distant tone than he'd used on the elevator and then, as if just realizing what he was doing, pulled his hand back and began to walk again.
"Thanks again! See you!" Sora called after him. Riku gave a non-descript wave toward the younger boy before turning down another hall.
And he did. See him, that is.
Every day, every morning and every night...for months.
For some reason, they seemed to come and go at the same time each day, even if one of them worked late, somehow, they always caught the same elevator and somehow, they were always alone.
And that attraction?
Riku was growing just a bit frustrated with it.
Somehow he couldn't dismiss it, as he'd done in the past. Maybe it was that he saw Sora every day. Maybe it was just that he'd been alone for too long. Maybe.
But the white-haired boy, being of a smart stock, guessed it had more to do with who Sora was, more than anything logical.
Sora was cheerful, bright, smart, quirky...spontaneous too, something Riku had never quite mastered. Those qualities matched other people Riku had met before too of course, but Sora had something else.
Something without a name.
And so, eventually, by around the third month of their verbally unacknowledged time-synch, Riku's frustration was starting to show.
The first week of the third month, it was simply that he appeared sleepy, not unexpected as he'd been putting in a lot of overtime.
The second week of the third month, he was sleepy and a little snappy.
The third week of the third month, he was sleepy, a little snappy, and his work attire was less than pristine—something frankly appalling to anyone who had known Riku for any short amount of time. The man babied his clothing like nobody's business, but here he was, showing up to work—tie rumpled, jacket too, shirt half buttoned and socks that didn't match—not that anyone saw those to confirm that last bit, but they didn't.
The fourth week as Sora zoomed into the elevator Wednesday morning, Riku simply appeared to be a mess.
Funny, the things a little attraction could do to one.
The doors closed and the long process of dinging began.
2...3...4...
"Ah Riku?"
5...6...7...
"Riku?"
8...9...10...
"Riku, what's the matter with you?" Sora sighed at last, circling to stand in front of Riku, briefcase hanging loosely from his right hand, left hand on his hip. Riku's glass-green eyes stared at him dully for a moment.
He couldn't very well say what he was thinking.
Well, I have this insane attraction to you, even though we don't even know each other, and I feel like I could kiss you every time you smile, because for some reason, it's one of the most amazing things I've ever seen, and oh yeah, I think you're hot too.
No, definitely not.
Riku Miyahara opted for an indecisive shrug.
Sora Kobayashi wasn't going to take it.
"Riku, I'm serious…you look ah...you look like...something bad happened," Sora phrased carefully, realizing 'You look like shit' probably wouldn't go over too well.
"I'm fine, Kobayashi," Riku snapped. Sora, blinked and for a moment, Riku thought he saw hurt flash in those bright blue eyes, but then it was gone as fast as it came and the older boy couldn't be sure.
"You're not, but I won't make you say it," Sora frowned and leaned against the adjacent wall of the elevator idly.
28…29…3—
Something like aluminum crackling and thunder rolling and an earthquake seemed to shake the elevator as the lights flickered in and out of operation and it was like a really horrible amusement park ride—the kind people rode if they had a death wish or the like.
Then the elevator seemed to tilt heavily to one side, sending Riku careening unexpectedly toward Sora, who reflexively tried to brace his fall, and then the elevator tilted again and everything was dark and still.
"Riku?"
"Kobayashi?"
"You okay?"
"Yeah, you?"
"Yeah."
The emergency lights around the edges of the elevator flickered to life and Sora found himself rather compromisingly situated on top of Riku. Neither had realized how close their faces were in the dark but now...
Well.
"Ah, sorry again," Sora laughed softly. "I'm always saying that, aren't I?" he asked and Riku couldn't mistake the undertone of sadness for anything but what it was. Sora moved his hands to either side of Riku and to anyone looking on, it might have appeared he was pinning the older boy to the floor...but he only pushed himself up and away. Riku sat up quickly and reached out a hand, grasping Sora's left wrist to turn him back to him.
"You don't have to be sorry," Riku said quietly and Sora smiled gently at him in return. He seemed to understand. Sora softly slipped out of Riku's hold and tapped the 'emergency' button, and getting no response, turned back to Riku, still on the floor. Both of their briefcases lay to the far right in the corner, and now it seemed they were stuck here...indefinitely...with each other.
Riku ran a hand nervously through his hair. This could be bad...very bad.
"So, now that we're stuck, you want to tell me what's bothering you?" Sora asked, approaching Riku slowly.
"Not really," Riku said honestly enough. Part of him wanted to tell Sora, but all odds pointed against him, and if there was one thing Riku Miyahara didn't do well, it was rejection.
"I don't believe you," Sora replied cheekily and plopped down in front of Riku, crossing his legs like a child in kindergarten. Riku turned his head so he wouldn't have to look at the cause of his problems who was simultaneously probably one of the single most wonderful encounters he'd ever had, or ever would have. Sora tilted his head to one side and peered up at Riku a moment before saying, "Okay, how about a trade?" Riku looked up.
"A trade?" he repeated, feeling unpleasantly slow.
"I tell you what's bothering me, and you tell me what's bothering you," Sora explained.
"Things bother you?" Riku said before he could think and immediately regretted it. Sora's light expression had muted to one of blankness and acceptance, the kind of person who had problems, but usually didn't focus on them enough to let other people see them. "Sorry, shouldn't have said that." Riku mumbled. He wasn't very good at apologies either. Sora, after scrutinizing his co-worker further, nodded.
"So, trade?" he asked again.
Somehow, Riku felt obligated now.
And wouldn't it be better anyway, perhaps, to be rejected, have Sora be appalled and just take a different elevator from now on? If he couldn't have him, then he couldn't have him...and he was an intern besides, so even if he could he—
"Riku?" Sora broke into his mental tirade.
"Okay, trade," Riku accepted. Sora's eyes took on a pensive shade, a little darker than usual, or maybe Riku imagined it...but still...
"I'll go first," Sora said as if out of protocol. Riku nodded. "See, I have this friend," Sora began, pulling his knees to his chest. "Well, maybe not really a friend, but I think of them as my friend. Anyway, I like this friend, more than a friend, got it?" Sora checked to see if Riku was keeping up.
See, he already has someone, was what Riku was thinking but only nodded for Sora to continue.
"Well, I've been worried they might not like me back. I'm just a kid anyway," Sora added with a laugh. "But I was wondering," and here he shot Riku an unreadable look. "How do you tell someone you barely know that you think you'd like to spend every day of the rest of your life taking the elevator at the same time, as long as you could see him?"
Riku wasn't quite sure he heard right.
"What?" he stared straight at Sora now.
"I'm not going to say it again," Sora said, not unkindly, but not willing to budge either. "It hurts," he said almost to himself, but Riku caught that too.
"Sora, I—"
The lights went out again, more shaking, more tilting, the sound of the briefcases hitting the opposite side of the elevator and two bodies falling over and then the shaking stopped. Sora felt that once again something warm was pressed against him in the dark, but this time it was on top of him.
One guess as to who that might be.
"Riku?" Sora asked unnecessarily.
"Sora," he said and though blind in the dark, reached out a hand to gently trace the boy's face. He felt Sora lean lightly into his touch.
"You called me by my first name," Sora breathed, his face filled with an expression Riku couldn't read, but before he had the chance to contemplate it further, Sora prompted him with, "Trade, remember? Your turn."
As if on cue, the emergency lights came back on, dimmer than last time, but still a bit of light.
Green-glass eyes locked with bright blue ones, Riku with his hands on either side of Sora, firmly planted on the ground, the earlier scene reversed, Riku seemingly pinning Sora against the floor, but this time, Sora didn't move away.
"Fair and square," Riku replied and brought his lips down hard onto Sora's, putting all the days and nights of wondering and longing and uncertainty into what he still feared could be just one moment of contentment.
But maybe one was enough.
Sora was only surprised for a moment before he began to respond, tangling his hands in Riku's usually well kempt hair, now a bit ragged from his months of infatuation...not that Sora minded. It was still really nice hair.
Breaking apart for the necessity that is oxygen, they stared at each other again, both flushed and breathing a little heavily.
"Were you ever going to tell me?" Sora asked, not accusatory, but definitely curious. Riku, for the first time in too long, smiled kindly at him.
"I really don't know, but I'm glad you did," was the best he could do. Sora reached up with his hands, bringing one to trace Riku's jaw, feather-light, earning him a shudder from the older boy. Sora smiled with something akin to impishness as he brought Riku down for another kiss, mumbling against his lips:
"Me too," as their lips met again, hard and passionate with breaths in between. But soon Riku, feeling like Sora had a little too much of the upper hand let his lips meander, leaving butterfly kisses down Sora's jaw and neck, and, out of curiosity, sucked on the prominent juncture at the boy's collarbone. Sora gasped slightly and Riku's eyes seemed to take on a sharper, darker tone as he proceeded to undo the rest of the buttons to his companion's shirt.
"Riku, maybe, maybe not here," Sora warned, head ablaze with the argument of whether to keep it safe in the work place or possibly experience more pleasure than he'd known possible.
"The elevator's broken," Riku replied absently, slipping Sora's tie off.
Three months was a long time to wait.
"But," Sora said a bit helplessly as Riku turned his wrist over and kissed where he could feel his pulse. Maybe Riku was right...it was broken, and chances of it being fixed soon appeared to be...
The lights went out and then went completely on, normal ones, not just emergency lights and a voice came on through the speaker where silly old elevator music usually played on.
"If anyone is in the elevator, this is a one-way transmission, but we want you to know we have gotten the elevator working again and will having it take you to the nearest floor."
Sora made a face at Riku as if to say: See? Ha!
Riku groaned unhappily but instead of saying anything simply set to buttoning Sora back up, slipping his tie on last, adjusting it carefully.
"I really am glad you told me. I don't know if I could," Riku confessed.
"That really doesn't seem in your character, this insecurity," Sora commented thoughtfully and added, "But if it's a part of you that you don't like to share, I promise I won't tell anyone." He winked and Riku, shaking his head, laughed as he turned to stand. But this time it was Sora who grabbed his wrist, turning him to face him, nose-to-nose with his 'I'm so cute, love me' smile.
"What?" Riku asked, amused.
"What?" Sora teased, imitating Riku before drawing him in for another long, hard kiss. Riku planted his hand against the elevator wall next to Sora's head as they kissed, hissing as Sora decided to gently suck on his neck and then blow on it.
"Sora..." Riku warned.
"Riku..." Sora mimicked, still taunting.
"I thought you said 'not here'," the older boy reminded him, pulling Sora to his feet only so he could better pin him against the wall.
"I did," Sora replied, not missing a beat, and with a chaste kiss on Riku's cheek slipped out from under him and straightened himself out just as the elevator dinged and the doors opened on floor 30.
They'd been closer than they thought, apparently.
And as Riku followed Sora out of the elevator, whose step it should be noted, was a bit bouncier than usual, he was still trying to slap himself mentally out of the daze the mischievous little brunette had put him in.
And he was still trying about five hours later when he took a late lunch break.
Catching sight of a familiar head of spiky brown hair he casually entered the lounge at the far end of the hall. Sora turned with a wave before going back to making his...hot chocolate? Riku repressed a laugh, barely.
"That's just like you," he said and when Sora gave him a blank look, he shook his head and said, "Never mind."
"I always wondered how we caught the same elevators every day!" Sora remarked, biting into a muffin as he sat at the table. Riku leaned his chin on his hand.
"Me too," he admitted.
"Fate," Sora decided.
"Chance," Riku amended.
"Same thing," Sora argued and swallowed the rest of the muffin whole, with a resounding gulp.
Sora stood to go rinse his mug, sipping the last bit of hot chocolate away before setting it in the sink underneath the faucet. Riku quietly took this moment to sneak up behind him and lower his face next to Sora's.
"Hey, we never really finished what we started. I don't like starting something I can't finish," his breath was hot and feathery against Sora's ear. Sora's hand slipped and the mug fell on its side with a clang, but did not break.
"Oh?" Sora seemed to encourage.
"So...I'll see you in the elevator," Riku said, letting his hands slide down Sora's shoulders, over his sides, before stepping back. Sora, flushed beyond all belief and blushing like a stop light turned to respond, but Riku had made a hasty exit, perhaps to pay the blue-eyed boy back for leaving him so hot and bothered earlier in the day.
Sora arched a brow thoughtfully and grinned on his way out of the lounge.
So that was how he wanted to play?
Well then, let the games begin.
Reviews are super if you've got a sec.
-slashable Riyu