Wow! Thank you so much for the reviews. I was so surprised people actually liked this idea. Yuki was like: you think they're going to think it's funny? I simply told him that I thought it was funny when he had to wear a dress. That shut him up pretty fast. Heh. By the way to those who asked, he did look good, pretty actually. Oooh he'd strangle me for saying that...-nervous laughter goes here-
Anyways uh, thank you a bazillion million quadrillion times! Whoo!
More reviews would of course be fantastically motivating for me!
So then onto it:
Crossplay
Chapter One: I don't like you because...
"I am not wearing a dress!"
"Yes, yes you are! You're the princess Sora! You have to!"
"This is the 21st century! The world of the modern woman! I am not wearing a dress!"
After this continued in a circular way for about twenty minutes much growling, pouncing, and pinning ensued in the form of Selphie struggling for command over the reluctant—and flat-out refusing, Sora. They made an interesting blur, tumbling around on the theater's backstage floor.
Roxas took bets languidly. So far five bets were on Selphie, two for Sora from two students who clearly did not know Selphie...yet.
Part of him felt bad for his best friend, but Selphie was one girl he doubted anyone should, would, or could win against.
She was ruthless.
Also, sidenote, she played dirty.
"Ha-Selphie no!-Hahaha...Selphieeeeeeee! Hahaha!"
The girl was tickling the brunet boy now at her mercy.
Another bet in favor of Selphie came in. Roxas shook his head.
Even he had bet on Selphie, not out of any sort of lack of loyalty to his best friend, more so out of pure logic. Selphie was clearly in her 'determined-mode' which meant Sora could either agree the hard way or the easy way, but in the end the green-eyed imp of a girl would bully him into it.
Or the like.
"Heehahaha...Okay...okay...OKAY SELPHIE! I GIVE! S-S-STOP!" Sora's laughter was so intense he was having trouble breathing. Selphie rolled off of him lightly, hopping to her feet.
"I knew you'd see it my way," she grinned mischievously. Sora groaned, rubbing his head. The girl was dangerous.
"Don't make it too girly...please!" Sora called after Selphie who waved a hand dismissively, which gave Sora very little hope indeed. Roxas walked over and helped him to his feet.
"It can't get worse than that," Roxas commented, trying to make it sound like a good thing. Sora, so resigned, might have even agreed too, except that...
"Not too girly? But Sora, you are girly," Riku walked on backstage. Sora stomped over.
"Says you! The boy with long hair!" Sora shot back.
"Yes, says me! The boy with a fan club of girls, attracted because unlike some, my testosterone kicked in at the right time," Riku retorted smoothly and then with a sly wink added, "Care to join them?"
Sora's face turned a fascinating number of shades of red.
"You're blushing, how cute," Riku said, as if it wasn't enough.
"Why are you so impossible?" Sora demanded, hands spread as if asking some greater question.
"Impossible?" Riku repeated, amusement painfully clear. Sora gritted his teeth.
"Impossible," Sora nodded expectantly.
A pause...students stared, Roxas the more careful observer of the current situation due to his closeness with Sora.
"I..." Riku paused as if in deep thought and then with a mockingly apologetic shrug, "...don't know."
Sora sputtered. Riku laughed.
It was so easy to get a rise out of the boy-girl.
Temptingly easy.
"But really Sora, if you're so curious," Riku leaned down until his nose was nearly touching Sora's. "Then why don't you come closer and find out?"
"I don't need to get any closer to the son of Satan than I already am thanks to this stupid play," Sora frowned, stepping back quickly.
"Son of Satan? Sora, tsk, tsk...I thought you knew," Riku shot him an unreadable stare. Sora, predictably stumbled.
"W-what?"
"I'm not that bad," Riku stated. Sora snorted, clearly skeptical. "I'm worse," and Riku was somehow right next to Sora again, regardless of the brunet's admirable attempts to put decent human space between them.
"Hmph, probably should've guessed," Sora muttered, crossing his arms and gluing his eyes to the floor, still keenly aware of Riku's presence.
"Kobayashi," Riku's breath tickled the back of Sora's neck and the older boy absently played with a lock of Sora's hair.
"Stop that!" Sora batted his hand away, but he was blushing too. Riku saw this and barely kept from smirking. "What?"
"Why do you hate me so much, hm? Most people are rather fond of me...too fond, in fact, if you catch my meaning," Riku lowered his voice suggestively. Sora squirmed.
"Ew, no! Too much information...and I don't hate you. I just don't like you," Sora replied immediately. Riku was caught now between two expressions: one, a smile at the childlike response, and two, a scowl at the childlike response. A smile, because, well, wasn't Sora just that adorable? Riku's mind flashed its red alert sign and he amended: because well, wasn't that just amusing.
Not adorable. Amusing. As in entertaining. As in this did not in any way mean Riku was endeared by the brunet. At all.
Not. At. All.
On the other hand, there was the scowl to the impulsive 'ew' from Sora. Not exactly the reaction he'd planned on after all. 'Ew'? Wasn't that reserved for things like Brussels sprouts, wet socks, castration, girls trying to put make-up on you—Riku had come one step too close to this horrible fate once—and wasn't 'ew' more likely the term for things like oh, the cafeteria's noticeably more dubious version of mystery meat...called that not because it was a mystery as to what meat it was, but rather a mystery as to whether it was meat or some strangely mutated form of cardboard and compost.
Riku certainly did not find himself falling under the same category as Brussels sprouts or castration in any case.
Because...well...in Sora's terms: ew.
Really now.
"Well then, why don't you like me? Last I checked, 'not liking' me, is on the list of 'things people just don't do...at all'...a very small list, by the way," Riku asked, voice calm and collected...deceptively so. Sora, noting this, eyed him warily as he answered.
"Well I do, do what people just don't do then," Sora felt his eyes roll around a bit at his own sentence. What the Hell did he just say?
"...you're not going to tell me that's your answer," Riku said at last, his blatantly entertained expression getting more and more infuriating with each passing second.
"No," Sora advanced on the silver-haired boy, poking him in the chest, taking the offensive for once. Surprised, Riku found himself backing up as the boy gave him his extensive list as to why he did 'do what people just don't do'...or however he put it: "I don't like you Riku Miyahara, because you are selfish, you are stuck up, you are heartless, you think that every thing, person, place, or event revolves around you, and most of the time you are just really good at pissing me off!" Sora ended this with a particularly forceful jab at the taller boy before stalking off into the hallway.
Riku blinked, eyes narrowing. People were staring now.
Lots of people.
As in most of class 3-A had just seen him get, for the most part, humiliated by a certain blue-eyed brunet.
As far as Riku was concerned, sure he'd pushed the kid's buttons, but that kind of er...attack, was uncalled for. Completely. Squaring his shoulders, Riku went in the direction Sora had exited.
Have it your way, Sora, he thought as he entered the hall in time to see Roxas speeding around the corner after the boy. Riku decided to run into him 'accidentally' later after he'd gotten a better idea on how he wanted to get back at the younger boy for embarrassing him so.
Embarrassing Riku Miyahara was, as it happened, also on the list of 'things people just don't do...at all'.
Too bad Sora didn't know that.
Backstage where the two rivals had just left, preparations continued as they had been prior to the pair's rather riveting banter. People were getting assigned various stage jobs, etc, etc, etc by various people. Among them was the stage manager who was doing a fine job of getting things squared away.
That is until she approached a certain someone in the class, a certain someone who actually hadn't meant to be there, but had zoned out and was now doing what he did best when people spoke to him, much less asked him something:
He was ignoring her.
"What about scenery, can you do scenery?"
The stage manager shifted nervously, switching the clipboard from one arm to the other for no apparent reason except sheer nervousness. She'd been trying to get through to this particular student for a record-breaking fifteen minutes and thirty-two seconds...amazing.
And, she was beginning to get the feeling, dangerous.
The air seemed to get heavy...like the air in one of those huge meat lockers.
Very dangerous...the stage manager gulped loudly.
Maybe if she waited a little bit...
But no.
When the student didn't respond—not surprising after about fifteen minutes and thirty-two seconds of the same non-responsiveness—she tried another option.
"...um, how about uh...lights, you're good with technology right?"
Silence.
Okay, at this point, she had to admit it, clicking her pencil against her clipboard agitatedly.
She was running out of options.
Did someone else out there want her job?
Anyone?
She sighed. Try again.
"...maybe ushering?"
That got a response.
Glare.
Dark, unreadable beyond the possible 'What the fuck?' intonation, and very, very uncooperative...a glare.
Taking that as a sign that there truly was an exception to every rule, the stage manager let go a timid 'eep' before shuffling off to harass other more likely subjects about the class's production.
"You always give people such a hard time."
The young man, still glaring, peered at the speaker through shaggy chocolate bangs that hung unevenly, somehow making him seem more roguishly handsome than unrefined. Speaker, the same height, blond hair and eerie blue eyes shook his head and made an empty gesture with his right hand.
"I know, I know..." the blond held up both hands now as if in making a peace offer.
"...whatever." the scowling brunet said. "...whatever." the blond timed it just right.
Another glare.
No, better: a glower. But the blond wasn't in the least bit intimidated as he strode over to stand next to the unhappy man with grey-blue eyes and took no shame as he mimicked the grumpy one's posture: one leg slightly propped with the foot against the wall, arms crossed, face downcast.
An irritated sigh escaped from the grumpy—now even grumpier—one.
"...what?" the invariably forced prompt from the grumpy one.
"-ever?" the soft teas from the blond—and considerably cheerier—one...with a chuckle.
"Ugh." the articulate response from the grumpy one.
And so it went on for a short while.
It was lunch hour and the hall in which the pair of males now stood was quite empty aside from them, now that the frightened stage manager had left, that is.
"Leon, you shouldn't scare them like that."
"What is with you? You're as much of a jerk as I am...usually." The brunet added this last part with a slight sulking tone as if he didn't understand and was very pissed about it...which he was. He ran a gloved hand through his hair unhappily, not that it did anything. It was more just the comfort of the gesture since his hair did what it pleased and he was too lazy or apathetic—or both—to do anything to change that fact.
"Blame it on Aerith," the blond replied simply and fell in to his more comfortable position of standing up off the wall and eyeing his friend thoughtfully. "You know, she's making me soft."
"I noticed," Leon muttered darkly and for a moment his friend was confused by the shadowed look in those grey-blue irises. But as quick as it was there, it was gone and Cloud had to decide to pretend it hadn't been there at all. Knowing Leon he'd just tell him to go talk to a wall if he tried to ask him if something was the matter...as usual. Absently a slight frown made its way onto the blonde's face. The brooding young man was always like that, even since they were little, and this, Cloud accepted...usually. But lately it'd been a little more difficult to just let it slide. Lately he'd been wanting a little more out of his best friend...like maybe ten cohesive sentences in less than a day maybe.
Yes, that would be nice.
"Let's go get some lunch," Cloud said after what he deemed was an inordinate amount of awkward silence. In response, Leon started toward the lunchroom...without a word.
Of course.
The blond barely kept himself from an amused smile; Leon would hate to know he was that predictable.
Keeping such thoughts to himself, Cloud followed when Leon, noting his absence, cast a glance over his shoulder and paused until Cloud stood right next to him.
They entered the lunchroom, as always, together. It was just the way things were.
Out in the courtyard...
"I just don't even get why people like him exist," Sora huffed.
"Who?" Roxas murmured as he flipped through the pages of the school paper. At his best friend's apparent disinterest, Sora's huffing increased until he was in Sora-sulk-mode as he pushed the paper down forcefully bringing him nose to nose with the calm boy.
"You know who!" Sora exclaimed unhappily. Roxas sighed. It'd been the same tune since he chased his best friend as he ran out of the theater, the same grumpy, inconsolable tune of: Riku Miyahara, you make my life a living Hell without even trying...courtesy of Sora of course.
Unfortunately for Roxas, his life suffered a considerably self-sacrificing fate as the best friend.
Rubbing his temple thoughtfully Roxas tapped Sora on the shoulder with his free hand.
"Look, it might not be so bad," he began.
Two large blue eyes narrowed to two thin blue slits. Roxas gulped.
Okay, probably not the best way to begin his argument.
"…not. so. bad…?"
Roxas backed up a step...and then another, and another, and...so on.
A few curious stares went flitting in their direction as Sora advanced upon his best friend since kindergarten...with a decidedly un-Sora like expression.
No smile...no pout...not even a hint of either...completely un-Sora like.
And that was just plain freaky...weird...and freaky.
"Well, what I mean is, uh..." Roxas laughed nervously and coughed to cover up said laughter as he began to back towards the entry to the lunchroom. The way the school was set up, the lunchroom had several entrances from the hall and on the opposite side there was a doorway to the outside courtyard where, on nice days such as this one, students had free-roaming privilege. So busy trying to calm the blue-eyed brunet down with placating promises of cookies, and other confectionaries, Roxas failed to notice a body coming out of the door he was backing up against.
Several things happened now.
One: Roxas, before he could even properly back into the unsuspecting body coming out the door, tripped backward on one of the steps.
Two: In the process of tripping, Roxas wobbled backwards and hit the student, sending them both off balance.
Three: Trying to regain his balance only changed the direction of Roxas' fall and the stranger's.
Four: The direction shifted toward a stone-still Sora who looked like he had the notion of scrambling away.
Five: Roxas and the student fell on top of poor Sora, because in the time it'd taken for him to get the notion to scramble, it'd been a few seconds too late to put it into action.
"Ow, my head…"
"Watch it!"
"You get your foot off my face!"
"Gah, would you guys get off of me?"
"Stop whining, you think I like this?"
"You think I like this?"
"Guyyyyyyyyys!"
Shortly thereafter, the three boys had disengaged themselves from each other and put a much needed bubble of three feet between each of them. Dusting off bits of dirt and straightening his uniform tie, Sora blinked at the other student for a second before recognition dawned.
"Kobayashi, so nice to run into you," a familiarly infuriating tone of smugness greeted as Riku ran a hand through his silver locks absently.
How convenient. The silver-haired Adonis had been silently plotting...er…hoping, to run into the fiery brunet. After their little verbal skirmish—Riku suffering a shocking and embarrassing defeat by the onslaught of the brunet— Sora had bolted like a frightened colt—though in case, more likely an angry one—too fast even for Riku to catch, probably.
Well...maybe not.
No one was faster, stronger...and most importantly, no one was sexier than Riku.
Nope.
But still, Sora had run pretty damn fast and Riku, certainly wasn't about to make even more a fool of himself of himself by following the kid.
He had a reputation to uphold.
Ahem.
Still, he had been plotting to...er, hoping, to run into his opposite lead, and taking in the distinctly perturbed pout from Sora, it seemed fortune was smiling upon him after all.
Perfect.
"Can't say the same," the brunet mumbled, currently suffering after-effects of his exchange with the older boy from earlier. Note to self, Sora mused, talk less, run more...when Riku's involved anyway.
Okay, there was still that little problem of Sora despising Riku. Yes, there was that minor, minor detail.
But Riku had never really paid too much attention to the minor or the detail. And what with his plan—a plan he was rather proud of for its sheer simplicity and achievable nature—well, he wasn't about to let those kinds of things stop him anyway.
"I'm hurt," the silver-haired young man made a melodramatic wave. Sora ignored him, striking up a conversation about nothing in particular with Roxas who looked every bit as confused as Riku was irritated.
Yes, Sora was using Roxas to ignore Riku.
Pointedly.
Now Riku arched a brow. That kind of behavior simply wouldn't do.
Not at all.
What to do...what to do...ah.
Riku's eyes flashed, which Sora failed to notice since the boy was still in the very preoccupying state of occupying himself with blatantly snubbing Riku.
"We should get in character, don't you think?" Riku whispered as suddenly he was right next to Sora, his lips casually brushing the shorter boy's ear. Riku couldn't repress a smirk as he felt a tremble from the brunet. "Our performance should be...believable, don't you think?" A hand on his shoulder, a trickle of breath on his nape, the scent that could only be described as pure 'Riku' and Sora's head was spinning...heat spreading through his body...The lips brushed his ear again. "Sora."
It was only his name, sure his first name, which Riku had used maybe once before but still, just a name...yet at this distance...or rather, nearness, for some reason that single utterance hit a strange chord in him.
Sora leapt back.
"...n-no," Sora mumbled, feeling his face flush madly. Well aware of how evident his blushes could be, Sora did the only logical thing.
He darted behind Roxas.
Roxas, surprised by the sudden retreat, only stared blankly at the glower Riku sent his way this very moment. Thinking fast, Roxas did his best to assess the situation. Riku, if Roxas had proper eyesight, which he did—just had a check-up a week ago—was openly flirting or at least flustering his best friend. Okay, got it. Sora, successfully flustered by the older boy, seemed to be reacting to the boy's advances but whether or not this was a good thing, that's where Roxas stopped relying on observation and had to go with the honest admission that he didn't know.
So...then...plan of action?
Operation fend off Riku/ OFOR...whichever.
For now, anyways.
"What?" Roxas shrugged nonchalantly. This, perhaps, only served to further push Riku's buttons...and not in the good way. But Riku was infamous for keeping his cool.
He would not disappoint.
"You're in between me, and what I want," Riku explained offhandedly. Roxas' turn to arch a brow, the blonde's lips curved upward in a half-smirk...much more subtle than Riku's god-pose, but just as effective.
Especially in this case.
Riku's glower deepened several degrees.
"I could be completely wrong but I don't think Sora wants to see you right now," Roxas said calmly, glancing over his shoulder and getting an overenthusiastic nod from his friend. "See?" Roxas turned back to face Riku.
"He doesn't know what he wants," Riku replied flatly. This earned him a fierce pout from the brunet in question.
"I do so!"
Riku almost chuckled at the outburst, but that would've ruined his intimidation technique completely, so he refrained.
Barely.
"What's your name?" Riku poked Roxas in the chest. The blond scowled.
"Roxas."
"Interesting," Riku murmured, taking in the sudden realization that with Sora standing almost right next to Roxas, the two held striking resemblances. Not identical, and on closer inspection, some might say they didn't much resemble each other at all, but on a first glance...they could have been brothers...twins. "Listen, Kobayashi," Riku said at last, over Roxas' shoulder. "We do have to rehearse and we will be stuck with each other until this stupid festival is over, so stop sulking."
Slowly, Sora stepped out from behind Roxas who put out a hand to his friend to wordlessly say 'You don't have to do what he says' and Sora just smiled reassuringly at him. The blond dropped his hand. Sora, in the end, was pretty much a nice guy type of boy, the kind that would, in all likelihood, hand himself over to the devil if it seemed like it would do anyone a speck of good.
Riku who was well aware of this and fully intended to use it to his advantage, nodded in approval. Better.
"Fine, until the play is over then," Sora rolled his eyes as if saying 'heaven...if there is one...help me out...damn it!' and then, not even daring to look, offered his hand.
This gesture, however, was something the silver haired one completely did not expect.
As such, Riku, for once, stared dumbly, looking remarkably uncool.
Sora blinked as he looked over.
Wait, what?
As far as he knew Riku Miyahara didn't even know 'uncool' existed.
Not that it did.
The word, anyway.
But the meaning, the manifestation of it…
Sora was rushed out of his thoughts as Riku accepted his hand and shook it thrice.
"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Riku arched a brow, as Sora pushed past him.
"Painless," Sora muttered, sarcasm coiling its way through every letter. Riku had the nerve or carelessness to simply laugh, causing Sora to hunch his shoulders and hurry off. Roxas stood to one side, head tilted thoughtfully.
Weird.
And weirder.
"So you're his best friend?" Riku asked him suddenly and Roxas jumped.
"Er, yeah," he said, feeling immediately lame...times ten.
"You look alike," Riku commented, running a hand through his hair and for a moment Roxas could see what others saw in him, the appeal in the grace of his neck, the definite but sensual definition of all the right muscles, the sort of constant come-hither look in those deep aquamarine eyes…and so on. But the effect was completely spoiled as the stage manager ran into him, causing him to turn and glare at the female who uttered a quick apology before darting off in some inscrutable direction. Roxas averted his gaze.
According to Sora, Riku was somewhat of a jerk. From what he'd heard from the inescapable school gossip—and Roxas did try with ardor to escape it, to no avail— Roxas had been able to discern that at the very least, the boy was somewhat of a practitioner in the art of seduction.
That is, seduction combined with slithering out of the resulting relationship.
While this did nothing to put the boy in Roxas' high esteem, he also didn't see how it much mattered what this Riku guy did or didn't do in or out of social graces...not until now anyway.
Based on the signs from earlier, Sora looked to be the next marking on Riku's map of so-far uncharted territory. This, however made no sense because it appeared after today's little spectacle that the two boys had a sizable and even dislike of each other.
Which meant something was up.
But what?
A few more silent minutes of thought and Roxas, though he could not come up with any conceivable idea as to what or why Riku would be wasting his time making Sora blush like a fire hydrant, he did know that if for some reason Sora did fall for the silver one's charms...that could end badly.
Horribly actually.
Frowning, the blond sighed. The likelihood that Sora would fall was slim to none but that 'slim' margin worried him enough to steer him to some form of action, in his best friend's defense. And possibly something more.
He didn't quite understand the pinch at his heart when he thought of Riku…seducing Sora.
Shrugging it off as a friend's concern, he approached the source of trouble.
Riku who had spaced out after watching Sora's retreating figure, turned at a tap on his shoulder.
Oh that's right...the blond one...he was still there.
"Yes?" Riku intoned blandly.
"Don't do anything to hurt him," Roxas said quietly, and it was that soft tone as well as the intense look in the boy's eyes that kept Riku from laughing at him, that actually had Riku considering his words...seriously.
"Kobayashi?"
Roxas nodded firmly.
And then Riku's well-practiced mask of pride and arrogance filtered back in and a part of him—the less intelligent part it should be duly noted—scoffed at the very idea.
"Don't be stupid. I'm not interested. I just like making him squirm." There, that sounded true enough.
Wait.
It was true.
Riku nodded to himself internally.
Absolutely. Completely. Nothing but.
The truth.
He just liked to make Sora Kobayashi squirm, was amused to see the boy blush like a stop light, and get all fidgety.
That was all.
Nothing more.
"Right," Roxas said, clearly skeptical. Now, of course, the blond said this under his breath—a.k.a. to himself, but Riku heard it anyway, and that same less intelligent part of him flared in defensiveness.
A wicked idea crept forth from that part of him almost immediately.
Before he knew it, Roxas found his chin held gently but firmly with Riku's fingers as the older boy looked at him, unblinking...unwavering. The blond swallowed hard.
What the...?
"I just like making him squirm. You, on the other hand," Riku murmured, mirroring his movements from earlier, but purposefully more suggestive as he blew on Roxas' nape. The boy jumped back as if burned, eyes glaring.
"I don't know what you're trying to pull here, but stop," Roxas bit out, but his icy tone didn't bother Riku in the least. He had what he wanted. The look of pure shock on the blonde's face was enough to tell Riku he'd completely erased any remote notion of him liking Sora in that way from Roxas' mind, at least for now.
Which was exactly how it should be.
Since Riku most certainly did not like Sora in that way. Burying any further doubt over that notion heartily beneath all his well practiced layers of self-confidence, Riku sauntered away with a whistle, further plotting payback for the feisty brunet.
Back in the lunchroom a hand attempted to stealthily nab a French fry.
A gloved hand slapped it away.
"Aw Leon..." Cloud sulked.
"No."
Whew, okay, let me know what you think! Stuff, stuff, and stuff!
Next: the first rehearsal. What on earth could Cloud and Leon have been cast as? Heh, and you thought he was just refusing stage work because he was a stiff...nope...oh they have roles, oh yes they do...HEEHEE Anyways, uh, Yeah, next we find out their roles, we have the first rehearsal, we have a couple interesting Sora and Riku moments, and we see a bit more deeply into the friendship between Roxas and Sora.
Review! Make me smile! So Yuki doesn't have to listen to me whine like a moron.
Yuki: ...please.
Aw I'm not that bad.
Yuki: yes, he is. On that note, please review.
-slashable Riyu, running off to go have fun with his boyfriend because it's the weekend and the weekend should most certainly not be wasted