Chapter Text
Riku was quietly furious. Quietly, stoically. His face had fallen into it’s familiar blank mask that remained uncracked. No one could tell what he was really thinking though some might take a guess. Most thought he was probably always angry.
Maybe he was.
At seventeen years old, he knew what he was about. He knew his limits. He knew his strengths and weaknesses. He knew what he could and could not tolerate and he just couldn’t tolerate this. He was hanging on by strings to not go and throw a tantrum unbecoming of his age and status.
Of all the stupid.. Music lessons.
His parents had gone mad. They must have, it was the only explanation. He was a prince, he didn’t have time for something so frivolous. Music lessons were for children who had nothing better to do with their time. Riku didn’t just have time for pointless shit like that.
The chunks of his day that weren’t spent in royal lessons, preparing him to be king, were spent with either the royal knights or guards. His form was top notch and he’d been informed more than once that had his duties not laid elsewhere he would have become a skilled and revered knight. He’d honed his swordsmanship and his archery wasn’t half bad either. Had being a true knight been an option...
Some days it sounded better than playing nice with nobles and rich oafs who thought the best way to gain his favor was to throw their daughters at him. If there was one thing he couldn’t stand it was his clingy peers that just wanted to be a princess. No one cared about him.
Honestly, he had enough to do and enough to prepare for. The only reason his parents cared about these lessons at all was because one of their ‘dear’ friends was boasting about their oldest child, the pianist. So lovely and musical.
Riku could do that couldn’t he!?
Fuck, they were so easily manipulated. He couldn’t stand it. To be so skilled meant they’d started as a child and kept up with it. Practiced daily and had no time for anything else.
Riku didn’t have luxuries like that. Didn’t they understand? No, of course they didn’t. They’d grown complacent and were used to things just being done when they snapped their fingers, never mind how it was managed.
God, he was livid. He’d had to endure his father’s stern disappointed look and his mother's dramatic crocodile tears when he’d refused. They put on such a production of guilt that he’d finally caved.
Running away to be a knight had never felt so damn appealing.
Worse, was the pair of them would forget about the whole idea of music lessons in a week or two and the only one that would be put out by the entire affair would be Riku. Only his time wasted. Like always.
He stormed through the palace corridors and perhaps he did look a touch more intimidating than usual if the servants ducking out of his way was any indication.
His music teacher had been sent to the fourth room of Riku’s suite. It was the room that had been his classroom when he was younger. Apparently that made it a suitable spot for private music lessons.
The last thing he wanted was to be stuck in that room again with some old man going on and on about music theory before any of the music actually began, or some stern faced woman with a long ruler ready to smack him at every minor mistake.
His parents were going to sorely regret this when he bowed out of the next formal dinner to practice whatever ridiculous instrument they’d signed him up for.
When Riku got to his suite of rooms the guards standing outside bowed as he entered his personal corridor. God knew they would be snickering when the sound of his horrid attempts at music reached their ears.
Riku threw the doors open to his room, striding in. It was his space after all, but he halted almost immediately when he saw a boy on his balcony through the glass doors, cheek pressed to his violin. The sounds were carried away on the wind, but he was enchanting to look at all the same.
He was so young, younger than Riku himself, at least he assumed. His attire was middle class and he was...cute. He was lost in the song he was playing while dangerously straddling the railing to the balcony. The drop would have killed him.
Riku opened the glass door carefully and the full range of the music finally hit him. It was joyful, but he didn’t know what else. It was like listening to a story. He wanted to listen longer and see where it went but bright blue eyes opened and peered at him.
“Highness!” He greeted with the brightest smile Riku had ever seen. No one greeted him with a smile like that. He was too cold to warrant it.
“You’re the tutor then…”
“Yes,” He grinned, spinning around dangerously and hopping back onto the safety of the balcony. “My name is Sora, Highness. Pleased to meet you.” He made a sweeping bow but laughed like it was part of the game.
He was blinding.
“Look,” Riku began. “I understand that you were hired for this but-”
“But you couldn’t give a flip about music, am i right?” Sora snorted. “Yeah, i figured that out for myself.”
“Oh?” Riku asked slowly, eyeing him. What did this guy know?
He nodded and set his violin down on the table. “Well sure. I got some official looking men coming to my music store, inquiring about a teacher. Two hours later i’m in the royal palace, in a very large suite with a bunch of scary looking guards outside. I’m not very smart but this didn’t take a lot to put together.”
Riku blinked. His parents had all but had this poor guy kidnapped. “I am….I apologize. They always go too far…”
Sora just laughed. “Don’t worry about it, your Highness. I’m not upset. I got to see a bunch of cool things today. Can’t complain about that. I thought maybe i would give a lesson you know but well, you’re the prince.”
“So?” Riku frowned faintly.
“So?” Sora’s look rapidly swapped to confusion. “So you’re the prince. You battle thieves and run around with knights. What would you want with violin lessons?”
“I…” Riku faltered. He’d just been silently fuming about that very thing, but suddenly the notion that Sora thought he would refuse to learn felt like a challenge. “You’re not wrong, but only because i am extremely busy. The song you were playing was very nice though. I’ve never heard it.”
Sora’s smile returned. “I should hope not, i wrote it.”
“Wrote it?” Riku asked. Right, someone had to compose these things. “It was incredible, but i’m not sure if the violin is my instrument.” He’d break the damn thing.
“Well, if you’re considering learning an instrument, something to play from time to time.” Sora seemed to consider it. “We can talk about what you might like. What would be annoying and so on. If you’re interested?”
Riku had never been brought down by huge blue eyes before but… “Okay…”
Sora perked up instantly, “Great. I can play quite a few instruments adequately. Certainly enough to give you beginner lessons at least. The violin is my expertise but i dabble...so..." He smiled, realizing he was babbling. “May i ask, Highness, what spurred on the sudden desire for lessons?”
“Pride.” Riku sighed, nodding his head for Sora to follow him back into his suite. There were chairs around a little coffee table that they could both settle in. “Someone else knew how so now i must too.” He rolled his eyes and stopped himself from complaining about the King and Queen to an outsider.
“Oh.” Sora hummed, maybe hearing more than Riku wanted him to. “Any instrument you have any attachment to?”
“Not particularly.” Riku rested his chin on his palm and sighed. He almost felt bad for Sora. This wasn’t his fault but he was probably getting paid handsomely. “Nothing complicated.”
“Kay, well maybe we’ll just skip wind instruments.” Sora mumbled more to himself. “Probably too much to keep track of where your fingers should be, while learning the notes you’re playing and how you're breathing when you’re only partially interested.”
That sounded sensible.
“What about yours?” Riku gestured to the violin Sora had remembered to grab on the way in. He still felt like he'd break it but maybe it was simple enough to learn.
“The violin? I wouldn’t call it easy but it’s fun. It can be intimidating.”
Riku frowned. “Can it?”
Sora smiled, “Well sure. If you’re playing the piano and miss a key, only someone with an ear for music really notices. If you mess up bad enough that it is noticeable well, it’s just a tone change isn’t it? Not so bad." He picked up his violin. “Beginners find the violin intimidating because…” He ran his bow against the strings poorly and it made an awful screech.
Riku winced and suddenly agreed with Sora. A few seconds later the screeching smoothed out into a gentle song.
“Just takes practice.” Sora smiled. “You might like a string instrument. Maybe a mandolin or guitar. I can bring them with me whenever our next lesson is scheduled."
“Could.” Riku said, watching Sora pluck at the strings without the bow. For some reason it was hypnotic to watch. Every flick of his fingers created a sound. It was ethereal and it loosened up the pain in his head. “Or i could just listen to you play.”
Sora laughed and Riku couldn’t help but stupidly think that sounded musical too. Sora was different. Already they were having a full conversation together where most people couldn't even meet his eye until the third time they met.
“I don’t know if that’s how this is supposed to work.” Sora admitted with a smile. “Don’t they check to see if you’re learning anything?”
“With as reluctant as i was to learn, they probably won’t be surprised when i’m not very good.” Riku chuckled. “I like listening to you play though. I'd like to hear more.”
“Oh c’mon, you gotta at least learn scales.” Sora laughed but he’d evidently heard Riku’s request and put his bow back to the strings to play a new song. “I wrote this one too.”
Riku smiled faintly, listening as the song began. Sora was easy to talk to, easy to be around. If he’d had more teachers like him, his lessons wouldn’t have been the chore they were. Maybe he’d keep up the pretenses of lessons for a little while longer than he thought.
He liked Sora's melody almost as much as he liked his smile.