Chapter Text
The tall silver-haired boy looked out the window, bored; the day was rainy and the bus was crawling along slower than usual. Riku didn’t really care: getting to school early would only mean being around people longer. At least there, in the last row of the school bus, no one bothered him.
It had been nearly a year since he was forced out of the closet, on the fateful day that he had decided to appropriately refer to as 'The Day That Shall Not Be Remembered In Any Shape Or Form'. 'The Day' for short.
Like it or not, 'The Day' was when his life had drastically changed: from 'popular-swimming-champion-and-frankly-quite-good-looking-teenager' to 'gay-loser-nobody-wants-to-talk-to', the fall had been brutally fast. His friends had disappeared, his popularity had crumbled and the last time he had dared to show his face to his swimming team he had found himself with a broken nose.
'Ah, who cares about those losers! I don't need them, I don't need anyone!'
With those words in mind, Riku realized that the school bus had finally reached its destination. After waiting patiently for all of the other passengers to leave, he quickly straightened his shirt and followed them, just to stop a few steps later in front of the silvery gate reading ‘Twilight High’.
‘Alright, then. Get ready for the worst part of the day.’
He breathed deeply, then started to walk as fast as possible through the gates of hell and straight into the fiery pit.
The first fifty steps across the schoolyard passed quietly, if not for the faint awareness that people were staring, throwing him poisonous glares and sneers. Even worse, they were whispering. Just fifty more steps and he would reach the cafeteria, also known as 'The Shelter'. It had been three whole days without anyone directly insulting him, only half a day more and it would have been a new record. Just forty more steps… Thirty… Twenty… Ten…
And then he saw him.
'Shit, and it was shaping up to be such a nice day...'
A small brunet with spiky hair was talking animatedly with a cute redhead girl that Riku knew way too well. His ex-girlfriend, to be precise. The one that had ditched him last year, when 'The Accident' had happened.
Riku despised Kairi -of course he did- but she was nothing compared to what he felt towards the young boy talking with her: a transfer student from Radiant Garden that had come to Twilight High just a week before. He didn't know him personally, but despite being only one week since his arrival, he had already earned a reputation as a Struggle champion, the most popular sport in Twilight Town. Which made it even more impressive, given his small frame. He had become popular so fast that within days he had joined the group of the 'kewl kidz', of which his ex-girlfriend was a prominent member, of course.
Riku didn't really have a reason to hate him, but everything about that boy infuriated him. His voice, his mannerisms, his perpetual smile, even his name. 'Sora', what a stupid name!
And now those two were chatting right next to the entrance of the cafeteria. Riku had no other choice than to walk past them and hope that he could pass without catching their attention.
But just as he reached them, the brunet suddenly turned his head and their gazes met for a second. Ocean blue met aquamarine eyes.
And, for some reason, Riku's mind went blank.
The awkward moment didn't last long, though. Half a second later, Kairi was dragging Sora away, pretending not to have seen her ex-boyfriend. Just before they disappeared, he got the strangest feeling that that small boy was smiling at him.
Once he reached the cafeteria, Riku finally relaxed.
He sat at a small table, just big enough for two people tops and placed in the darkest corner of the huge room. He was alone, as usual, but he didn't care.
Over the past year, that table had been one of the few places where he managed to carve a little spot for himself, a little slice of heaven where he could really loosen up and didn't need to be careful about someone trying to sneak behind him to play some stupid prank.
He started eating his usual chocolate-croissant, calmly studying the tables around his own. One in particular caught his attention. The usual one.
It was one of the largest tables, standing in the middle of the cafeteria, as if to say: 'hey, look at me, the people who sit here must be cool'. Around it, seven people that Riku knew way too well were having breakfast.
Axel and Saïx, ex-comrades from the swimming team and chronic pranksters. 'Red-and-Blue' for short, not only because of their extravagant hair color, but mainly for their antithetic personalities. Axel, the Red Oni, looked like he was laughing his ass off, while Saïx, the Blue Oni, was looking at his friend, a weird mix of amusement and compassion on his face.
Next was Seifer, who had no special merits if not being the biggest asshole on planet Earth. But quite good-looking, Riku had to admit it. Fitting enough, he was talking with the biggest slut of the school -'No, stay objective!'- a very promiscuous girl. Most likely, he was uselessly hitting on her: Seifer had always had a crush on Kairi, everyone knew that, but the girl had always refused his advances.
Hayner and Larxene were next. An ass-kisser and ass-kicker, and not in the good sense of the word. They were sitting there, quietly ignoring each other. Not surprising at all, actually: the two of them could barely stand each other. Hayner usually spent half of his time following Seifer in adoration like a puppet and the other half being insulted by Larxene for doing so.
And finally, the worst one amongst them. The great evil of Twilight High. The devil with an angel face.
Roxas.
Just thinking about him made Riku want to stand up and punch him in the face. He sat there quietly, pretending to fit in with anyone on that cursed table, but the silver-haired boy knew better. He knew that he was little more than a self-righteous egotistical little bastard.
There was one empty chair next to him. The chair where Riku used to sit until last year and that since a week had started to be filled by Sora, the boy that, for some reason, everyone liked. The boy who had stolen his place, his social status and pretty much everything else that Riku had ever cared for. As he thought that, he found himself gritting his teeth unconsciously. He just couldn't stand that little piece of...
“Is this place free?”
That innocent question broke Riku's flow of thoughts and an unpleasant feeling of surprise struck him. Nothing compared to when he realized who his interlocutor was.
He stared for a couple of seconds at the scrawny brunet standing next to him, holding a tray full of food. A couple of shining blue eyes were looking at him, waiting for an answer.
Riku couldn't believe it: Sora was talking to him! He was daring to talk to him! He wanted to insult him, to tell him to go away, to disappear from his school.
Instead, a surly “It always is.” came out of his mouth.
The brunet, clearly oblivious of his hostility, put the tray on the small table and sat next to him.
“My name is Sora.” he then said, all the while stuffing a whole pancake into his mouth. “I'm a transfer student.”
“I don't remember asking.” Riku answered coldly. “And I don't remember inviting you to sit here.”
The brunet smiled peacefully, irritating him even more. “Now that you mention it, it's true that I've always seen you sitting here all by yourself, is that a choice?”
“Sure, just not mine.” Riku retorted. He was dead set on making that infuriating boy leave him alone. “Don't you have another place to sit?”
“Pwowably.” Sora muttered, his mouth full of food. “What's your name, by the way?”
Riku was feeling more and more uneasy. He noticed that the nearby tables, including Seifer’s group, were starting to watch them, evidently surprised that someone was talking to him. The popular transfer student, no less.
He took a deep breath, trying to control himself. “Listen, for your own good, you'd better change table as soon as possible. If people see you with me, they could get the wrong idea...”
Sora looked at him, clearly surprised. Riku couldn't help but stare once more at the boy's deep blue eyes, shining faintly in the neon light of the cafeteria. “What do you mean?”
The question that Riku didn't want to hear. He knew that he liked guys. He knew it since he was thirteen and had fallen in love with his then best friend. Which he had accepted, unlike the rest of the world. But admitting it, plainly saying 'yes, I'm gay' was something that he had still not managed to do.
“I'm a social outcast.” he finally muttered, in all sincerity.
As an answer, Sora resumed eating. Not the reaction that Riku had expected.
“You don't look like one.” he said a moment later, slightly surprising him. “I mean, you can clearly hold a conversation -even if you clearly don't feel like doing it right now-, you don't have any strange mannerisms that would make me think you're a psychotic serial-killer and... you're quite good-looking.”
Riku spat his coffee on the table, earning a gentle laugh from the other boy.
“Relax, I was joking. You really need to loosen up.” Riku felt the urge to strangle that scrawny boy return.
But just before he could do so, the ring of the school bell echoed in the cafeteria, announcing the beginning of another long school day. Riku could clearly see, in the corner of his eye, Seifer standing up and starting to walk towards them. He pretended not to see him.
“Hey, Sora, coming with us?” Seifer exclaimed grinning when he reached the two of them. He hadn't shown the slightest sign of having noticed Riku's presence. And for that, Riku was actually thankful.
“Sure!” the brunet chirped happily. 'Well, that takes care of him, at least.' Riku thought, just a second before Sora turned to look at him. “You coming with us?”
A palpable silence fell over the three of them. The awkwardness of the situation was evident, but Sora was obliviously keeping on moving his eyes from Riku to Seifer, waiting for one of them to say something.
“I don't think that'd be a good idea.” Riku finally said, averting his gaze.
Seifer smiled viciously, grabbing Sora's arm and starting to walk away. “Great, let's go then!”
“Riku.” he exclaimed before Sora could disappear from his sight. The brunet turned to look at him, quizzically. “My name. You asked.” he added quickly, in an apologetic tone.
“It was nice to meet you, Riku. See ya.” Sora had just the time to say, before Seifer dragged him out of the cafeteria, leaving Riku to wonder why he had felt the need to tell that strange boy his name.
He took a moment to look around him: a few people quickly looked away, while a group of girls were confabulating among themselves. He might have said it just to get him out of the way, but what he told Sora about spending time together was entirely true. High school was like a food chain: what determines if you're at the top like Seifer or at the bottom like himself is your reputation, and sitting and talking with the gay loser of the school was not exactly the best way to earn points.
Whatever, class was starting and he couldn't afford to be late. He stood up and slowly walked out of the cafeteria, for once too focused on his encounter with that strange, tiny and genuinely surprising boy to care about the whispers that reached him from behind.