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There was a line holding up the rest of the street sidewalk.
Sora blinked at it, frowning as he came to a stop on the curb across the line, and his little brother fell quiet in the middle of his rant, cocking his head at him before realising what made Sora stop.
“What’s.” Roxas deadpanned with all the liveliness of the cold metal rungs of the fire escapes above their heads, “Going on.”
“I dunno.” Sora frowned, and the two of them crossed the little street to head to the other side. “Is this… what’s this line for?”
The two of them walked along the sidewalk, their eyes growing wider in alarm as they realised that the line had turned a corner, and Sora’s shoulders sank when he saw where it ended.
In a charming sort of little mismatch with all the other buildings around it in Chinatown, a soft pastel yellow and pink little bakery stood at the corner that rounded into a nondescript little alleyway. It contrasted the red brick walls of the rest of the world around it, and it looked packed to the brim with patrons, contrary to its wont. Roxas called it something straight out of a Broadway production with how out of place Mickey and Minnie’s Confectionaries was where it stood, but Sora wouldn’t have it any other way. The sweet couple that ran the shop served beautiful, delicious and warm pastries and breads that warmed up even the bleakest day in New York, and Sora had been a constant regular since the beginning, especially after he landed his stint on Broadway.
And now, this.
“Now that’s a line I’ve never seen before.” Sora didn’t know what he’d do without his brother’s astute observation skills. Roxas kicked snow at his shoes, and Sora jumped, hissing when some of it got into them, soaking his socks slightly. “Asshole.”
Guess he said that out loud.
“Yeah, it’s definitely a new development…” Sora muttered, walking along the line to see the shop more properly, and his eyes widened to realise it was bigger. “Oh, that’s right. Mickey and Minnie did say they were having renovations done.”
“You haven’t dropped by in a while? That’s weird.” Roxas frowned, and Sora shook his head.
“Legally Blonde got in the way. Mickey had my usual orders delivered to the Hudson since I couldn’t make it.” He replied. “He told me about the renovation, though. Something about moving the kitchen to the front so people can see them bake.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure little old Mr. and Mrs. Maus baking wouldn’t draw crowds like that.” Roxas nodded at the line. “So what gives?”
“Who knows.” Sora huffed, and they came to a stop in front of the new installation. “I mean, what else could they do to—oh.”
Roxas cocked his head at him, and looked at where Sora was looking.
There was a new guy in Mickey and Minnie’s Confectionaries. Sora had never seen him around before, but when his brain decides later to log back in and start functioning again, he will remember that Mickey had mentioned hiring a new guy. Some family friend from Philadelphia who was trying to find his footing in the world, something or other like that. At the time, Sora could understand the guy—coming to New York, trying to see if he could find himself, yeah he got that. Hell, he did that, and now here he was on Broadway on his first… kinda-big role in a pretty popular musical. It took a hot minute for him to get there, but he did, and he told Mickey as much about the new guy, if he ever did show up.
It would take a while to get on your feet, but when you were on the ground, there really was no other way but to go up.
Looking at the new guy, though—
Maybe he didn’t belong in New York, because this guy deserved freakin’ Hollywood.
“Holy fuck.” Roxas breathed. “They hired a movie star.”
The guy was gorgeous. Long silver hair tied up in a facsimile of a bun that honestly looked like a tangle of wires at this point, but he made it work. He was in a pair of scruffy jeans and his plain white shirt’s sleeves were rolled up to his shoulders, showing off those god damn arms that could have probably landed this dude in a superhero movie role, if he really tried to. The dude had eyes the colour of cut glass, and if Sora had the mental capacity to be cheesy about it, would start quoting the Princess Bride, much to the chagrin of his little brother.
“That’s gotta be a Hemsworth.” He said dumbly.
“Nah, man. That’s a god.” Roxas sipped at his coffee, probably the only thing more bitter than he was. “Now I understand everything.”
“Yeah…” Sora’s brain needed about a minute or thirty to reboot, and his hand wrapped around Roxas’s wrist. “You, uh… you don’t have classes today, right?”
“Not unless ESU suddenly decided to take back that class suspension.” Roxas replied, already tugging on Sora’s hand to pull him to the back of the line. “I’m only in this if you get me something for free.”
“You always are.” Sora beamed, trailing after Roxas, and the blond gave him a wry grin.
“And a power bank.” He waved his phone at Sora, and the older man deflated. “Because she’s about to go down, and in the middle of an argument with some idiot online again.”
“You’re always doing that.” Sora said exasperatedly, but dug his power bank and cable out of his bag as the two of them settled down at the end of the line to Mickey and Minnie’s Confectionaries.
“Yeah, well, someone was saying that Gerard Butler’s Phantom is the best thing ever, and I’m about to slap them in the face with Ramin Karimloo’s 25th anniversary performance.”
“Listen, it’s just a matter of preference, leave them alone,” Sora said, and Roxas raised an eyebrow at him. He hesitated, and winced. “Yeah, ok, you’re right, Ramin is the best Phantom in the world.”
“Glad you see it my way.” Roxas replied tartly, and turned back to his phone. Sora shook his head exasperatedly, plugging Roxas’s phone into his power bank, and smiled at the end of the line.
Guess the decent thing he could do was send Mickey a text. It had been a while since he showed up at the shop himself, and today’s matinee wasn’t for another few hours.
Sora had time to spare. Worth it, he thought, if it meant he could to that bombshell of a boy working at the bakeshop storefront.
“Was it worth it. Was it.” Roxas deadpanned, as Sora bounced on his heels. Mild panic was beginning to rise in his throat—matinee company call in half an hour, and only just a few more people to go. The Hudson Theatre wasn’t that far away, but Manhattan traffic had a habit of being the absolute literal worst when you needed it to behave. “Sora, are you really jeopardising your second big matinee show for a guy?”
“Oh, can’t you be positive for once?” Sora huffed, but he could feel his panic growing even worse. “We’ll make it. It’s gonna be okay.”
“I’ll make it, because I don’t have to show up on stage at the matinee. You have to be up there in—” Roxas checked his watch, “25 minutes.”
“Don’t remind me!” Sora hissed, and Roxas’s brow creased at him. “It’s okay. We’re okay.”
The line moved along, and Sora beamed at his little brother. Roxas met his gaze with a flat stare, and Sora looked away from him to watch the next set of customers walk into the shop. There was only one more set of people before Sora and Roxas—a group of teenagers, all hunched over one of their group’s phone, talking in hushed voices. Sora bounced on his heels, antsy as he stared at the businessman and his coworker peruse the breads on display, as if him staring at them would make them go faster.
He already managed to meet Minnie’s gaze from where they stood, before the businessman came in, and he spotted the woman give him a wave, and pointed at a paper bag on the counter with his name on it. He’d texted them ahead of time his and Roxas’s orders, and it was right there, holy shit, but there were only three people in there right then and there, and a world’s worth of work to get on with.
“Oh, shit, wait a minute,” someone said, and Sora jerked back to realise that one of the teenagers had looked up from the phone they were sharing to look at him. “I knew it! You’re Sora, that guy who’s playing Emmett in the new Legally Blonde!”
“Wh—” Sora blinked at them, and he jumped when the three teens jumped up and down and cheered in delight. A wide, goofy grin spread across his face when they crowded around him, and Sora laughed brightly among their excitement.
Roxas stood off to the side, smiling fondly as Sora indulged them in taking pictures together, signing a playbill one of them produced, and when the businessman Sora had been staring at stepped out, the eldest of the three teens gestured for them to go ahead.
“Wh—really?” Sora blinked.
“Yeah, it’s no problem! Not much difference between waiting a little more than getting in now.” She shrugged. “Besides, isn’t it matinee time in about… 15 minutes?”
Sora jolted. “Oh, my god.”
“C’mon, pick it up!” Roxas yanked him into the store. Sora stumbled in after him with an awkward smile and a wave at the teens, and he could hear Minnie’s soft giggling as the two brothers settled down in the store. Sora blinked when he saw Mickey stride into the back room—or was that a backdoor? He was pretty sure he could see the alleyway on the other side—with a little wave at them before he shut the door.
“Huh?” He said dumbly, but Roxas tugged him along to where Minnie stood by the counter, already holding up Sora and Roxas’s orders, freshly reheated.
“Here, sweetie!” Minnie said, pressing the paper bag into Sora’s hand, and the young man jumped.
“Thank you so much, Minnie!” He gasped, shoving the bag into Roxas’s hands and ignoring his little brother’s spluttered protest as he began to dig in his pockets for his wallet.
“Oh, it’s fine! It’s on the house today.” Minnie chirped, and Sora smiled at her thankfully. “It’s awfully sweet of you two to come see us yourselves, but Sora, it’s matinee day today!”
“I know, I know, I just—” Sora turned to look at the window where the new guy was supposed to be, only to find that he wasn’t even there anymore. He definitely did nothing to hide the way his shoulders slumped when he realised the man wasn’t there, and when Sora turned to look at Minnie, the older woman laughed delicately behind her hand.
“Oh, I see!” She said cheerfully, and Sora’s cheeks turned pink. “Well, you could have said so!”
“No!” Sora hissed, “I—I don’t—I don’t want to say so, Minnie, that’s embarrassing!” The little old woman continued to giggle behind her hand, and finally Mickey emerged from the backdoor—yeah, definitely a backdoor, Sora could see New York’s finest kitten-sized rats glaring at them for being unable to get in—with a wide grin on his face. “Mickey!” He greeted.
“Sora, hello!” Mickey beamed, as he ushered for Sora to come closer. “You, young man, have to get going, stat!”
“Y-yeah, I better—” Sora began, laughing nervously, when here came Mickey and Minnie’s Hot New Guy through the door after Mickey, an adorably confused look on his face, and a goddamn black leather biker jacket on top of his plain white shirt. Sora’s words died on his tongue, his jaw dropping to the floor as his brain popped right out of his head, rolling out the door and over the pavement to say hello to its new home in the gutters of the Chinatown district outside.
The young man looked around the shop before he finally noticed Sora, and he gave Sora an awkward little smile.
“Oh, hey.” He said, “You, uh. Uncle Mickey said you needed a ride, so I have my bike out back.”
Sora looked at Mickey with wide, boggled eyes, and the man gave him a knowing wink.
The young man looked at the watch on his wrist, and frowned. “I think we can make it to the Hudson Theatre in less than 10 minutes if we hurry.”
“I.” Sora said intelligently, and Roxas poked him in the back. “Hi.” Sora’s face melted into a wide, goofy grin, and the other man blinked at him for a moment before smiling back.
“Hi.” He said, “I’m Riku.” He offered his hand for Sora to shake, and the brunet stared at that for a long moment, before Roxas sighed exasperatedly, grabbing his brother’s wrist to pull his hand up to Riku’s to shake. Sora jumped, shaking it with a hard grip, and Riku laughed softly. “Wow. Hell of a grip.”
“Yeah.” Sora said dreamily, grinning widely.
“C’mon.” Riku jerked his head at Sora for him to follow him, and he pulled Sora along out the backdoor to lead him to a motorbike parked out at the alleyway behind the bakery. Sora watched wide-eyed as Riku picked up a helmet from the seat to hand it to the brunet. Sora gingerly took it from him, and put it on as Riku mounted his bike.
“Wait, what about you?”
“I’ve been driving this beauty since senior high, I’ll be fine.” Riku said confidently, and Sora swallowed nervously as he gestured for Sora to get on the bike behind him. “C’mon, Mr. Broadway Star, or we’re gonna be late.”
“Wait, how do you—” Sora stammered, and Riku shrugged.
“Uncle Mickey told me about you.” He said, “You’re Sora, right? Helmet fit okay?”
“Y-yeah.” Sora nodded, and he got on, wrapping his arms around Riku’s midsection, and he rested his head on the man’s shoulder with a happy sigh.
“Hold on tight.” Riku said, and Sora nodded gingerly.
“S-sure.”
Riku started the motorbike and drove out of the alleyway, and Sora buried his wide, goofy grin into the warm leather of the man’s jacket.
He had never run late to a company call, but maybe a first time would be worth it. Sitting behind Riku and practically hugging him while the other man saved his ass driving across Manhattan just out of an act of kindness?
Everything was worth it.
(And if Sora hadn’t noticed that Riku didn’t let his hand go after their handshake, until he absolutely had to, to hand him the helmet, that was Riku’s business, and his alone.)
Sora was almost resentful when they arrived at the Hudson Theatre, the bike coming to a steady slow stop as Riku parked it on the curb with a little sigh. Sora pulled away from Riku, getting off the bike as he unclasped his helmet and pulled it off.
The brunet handed it to him gingerly, and Riku gave him a little grin that made his freaking heart do somersaults, and Sora finally mustered enough brain cells to keep himself from sighing dreamily at the sight of it.
“So, Legally Blonde, huh. Loved the MTV recording.” He said, and Sora laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “You know, Uncle Mickey just said you were a Broadway actor, but I don’t actually know who you play on the production.”
“Why don’t you give me a guess?” Sora asked, crossing his arms with a coy little grin on his face, and Riku laughed sheepishly into his fist, and god, he was so pretty like that. “Answer carefully!”
“That’s not fair.” Riku replied, and Sora laughed, shaking his head.
“Yeah, I guess that isn’t fair.” He said, “You’re just gonna have to find out.” He gave Riku a wink, and the other man’s lips twitched up in a happy little grin.
“I guess so.” Riku nodded, shrugging easily, and Sora watched the way the black leather slid over his shoulder, and he swallowed nervously. “One of these days, maybe I’ll surprise you.”
“I think I’ll look forward to that.” Sora said, and Riku laughed softly. The brunet laughed, too, and looked at his watch. “Oh, it’s—uh. I gotta—”
“Yeah, go for it.” Riku said, and Sora gave him a grin. “I’ll… I’ll see you again soon.”
“Yeah.” Sora laughed nervously. “Yeah, that’d be… nice.”
Riku mirrored his grin, and put on his helmet. He sped away, and Sora watched him go, sighing happily. When Riku turned a corner, he shook his head fondly, and headed inside.
His cast mates kicked his ass for being late because of that, and when he gave them all his side of the story, Sora never heard the end of it. For the rest of the matinee performance and into the evening performance, he kept receiving knowing grins and good-natured, cheeky whistles that never failed to make him smile.
Not that acting on stage didn’t make him happy, it was his dream come true to be on stage in Broadway, singing his heart out to an audience every night, living a life that would never be his. It was like stepping into a brand new world with each time he stepped out on stage, either back then as a member of the chorus or now as his first major role. For a moment, he forgot about Riku, losing himself in the joy of his career on stage, under the spotlight, living the life he’d always dreamed of, until the show ended, and the lights dimmed out their goodbyes to the audience.
Sora joined some of his fellow cast members outside to greet people, sign playbills and take selfies with people, and when the crowd thinned out, he finally felt his exhaustion settling in his bones. He leaned against the cold brick wall of the Hudson Theatre, laughing fondly as the rest of his cast mates headed back inside to pick their things up.
“God, I love Broadway.” He breathed, and he turned to see a familiar motorbike parked on the curb, a familiar young man in that familiar black leather jacket smiling at him. Sora lit up as Riku approached him, pulling out what he was holding behind his back—a little bouquet that had three roses in it. “Riku, you…”
“Before you start jumping to conclusions, no, I didn’t see the evening performance.” He said, and Sora burst out laughing, warmth blossoming in his chest as Riku handed him the bouquet. He looked down at the flowers to realise they weren’t real—they looked like they were made with spun glass, and Sora looked up at him, head cocked.
Riku had a little flush high on his cheeks, he realised, and he couldn’t help the warm smile that crossed his face. “They’re sugar flowers.” He said. “Made them today in class.”
“Class?” Sora echoed.
“I’m… I’m a pastry chef. Uh. Sometimes.” Riku replied, “I teach culinary classes at ESU. Today, we made sugar flowers.”
“Oh, wow.” Sora breathed, looking down at the beautiful roses in his arms. “That’s… that’s amazing.”
“Y-you think?” Riku asked sheepishly, and Sora nodded enthusiastically. The young man’s flush deepened, and he smiled shyly. “Th-thanks.” He said. “I just… thought they’d be a step up from the flowers you guys normally get after a show.”
“A step up? This is an entire floor up, I think I need an elevator.” Sora replied easily, and Riku’s laugh was so beautiful. He watched Riku laugh with a soft smile on his face, and he shook his head. “Hey, Riku?” He asked, and the other man nodded. “I… uh…” He laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “Do you wanna grab lunch together tomorrow?”
Riku’s eyes widened, and Sora couldn’t quite meet his gaze, nerves a little bundle he shoved into the back of his head with way too much force than necessary.
“I’d like to get to know you better.” He continued, unsure of the silence between them after he invited Riku to lunch, and the man finally smiled.
“Yeah, I’d like that a lot.” He replied with a nod. “I, uh… I’m at ESU in the morning tomorrow, but I’m free in the afternoon.”
“That’s great.” Sora laughed breathlessly, grin so wide his cheeks began to hurt. “I—I, yeah. That’s amazing. I’ll meet you there?”
“Room 236.” Riku replied, and his grin didn’t quite mirror Sora’s, but he was definitely smiling, albeit shyly. “Don’t be late.”
“Not this time.” Sora winked at him, and the other man laughed into his fist. “But I think even if I did come running late, you’ll be there to make sure I make it on time.”
“I just might, yeah.” Riku laughed, and only then did Sora realise how close they were to each other. The other man fell quiet, too, and for a long moment, they simply stared at each other, bathed in the warm glow of the lights of the Hudson Theatre above them. Sora’s smile softened as he looked up at Riku, and the other man’s smile was just the best damn thing in the world.
(With apologies to Mickey and Minnie’s Confectionaries’ Sunflower Custard Bun.)
“Hey,” Sora said quietly, feeling their breaths mingling, and Riku nodded absently. “Is this a date?”
“I’m not sure.” Riku replied, voice barely a murmur, but Sora’s smile shaped the space between them into a throbbing heartbeat.
“Do you want it to be?”
“Maybe.” Riku replied, and they fell quiet for a moment—
When Riku’s helmet fell down from his bike, and the two of them jerked apart. The silver-haired man whirled around to look at his bike, and the two men let out twin shouts of alarm when they saw a large rat perched on top of Riku’s bike seat.
“Shit!” Riku swore, “Get off, get off!” He shooed the rat away with Sora’s help, and when it finally scuttled away, the two of them leaned heavily on the man’s bike, panting heavily. They looked at each other, and the both of them burst out laughing.
Sora shook his head, pressing his forehead into his palm as Riku ran his hand through his hair, and when they calmed down, the two of them shared a secret little smile.
“Next time.” Riku said, a promise for tomorrow, and Sora grinned back at him. “Next time, we’ll get it right.”
“Yeah. You better start heading home.” Sora said, getting up and off Riku’s bike as the other man mounted it, pulling his helmet on. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow, Sora.” Riku smiled back at him, giving him a little wave before he drove off. Sora watched him go, and when he rounded a corner, he jumped up and down in place, cheering delightedly, Riku’s sugar flowers securely held in one hand as he danced around.
“It’s a date!” He sang into the cool air of the night. “It’s a date!”
Riku buried his wide, sheepish grin in the padding of his helmet, unable to stop smiling as he thought about Sora.
“It’s a date.” He sighed dreamily. “A date. I can’t wait.”