kingdom hearts: sixteen, or a very special vertically challenged birthday
Title: Sixteen, or A Very Special Vertically Challenged Birthday
Author: kel_fish
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Pairing: Riku/Sora
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is owned by Disney, Square Enix, and others who aren't I.
Author's note: This story was written for obstinate_fate's sweet sixteenth; happy birthday, Jer! Are you going to order another daiquiri to celebrate? I'd like to thank caseyvalhalla (like I usually do) for her mad beta skilz, as well as her help with coming up with the lack of subtlety in the title. Also, I'd like to state yet again that we struck writing gold with those thirty minute sprints, because without them I'd probably still be stuck on the opening paragraph.
Summary: Riku decides to start Sora's sweet sixteenth celebration early. Sora starts it off with a bang.
On the morning of his sixteenth birthday, Sora planned to sleep in until he could no longer resist going into the kitchen to investigate whatever his mother was cooking for breakfast. Instead, he woke up to an elbow digging into his shoulder as someone fell through his bedroom window.
After two years of battling his way through hordes of Heartless and Nobodies it only seemed natural that Sora would react defensively when someone crashed onto his bed in the middle of the night, which was his reasoning as his knee jerked up to slam it into his intruder, prompting a gasp of pain from the body still scrambling on top of him. A familiar voice cursed lowly as Sora struggled to get free from the tangle of flailing limbs, and he froze in recognition. “Riku?”
Riku finally managed to sit up on the bed, lightly pressing his fingertips against his abused ribs. “Anyone ever tell you you’ve got bony knees?” he hissed, features turned downward in a scowl as he assessed the damage. “You could’ve cracked something.” He leaned back against the wall so his body was perpendicular to Sora’s and picked up something from the foot of the bed. “Happy birthday.”
Sora squinted at whatever was in Riku’s hand, trying to make out what it was in the darkness. After a moment, he smirked. “Mike’s? I can’t believe you brought me chick beer.” He took the box from Riku, muting the clanking of the glass bottles with his other hand as he set it on the mattress between them. “Do you want to smoke some menthols too?”
“Shut up,” Riku muttered offhandedly, running his fingers through his long hair until it was less disheveled from their confused scuffle. “I got it out of the fridge; enjoy our time together now because as soon as Mom notices this stuff missing, I’m grounded.”
Sora frowned. “For someone who’s facing house arrest, you seem pretty calm about it.” He moved his legs closer to the edge of the bed so Riku would have more room. “What were you planning on saying to your mom anyway: your cat drank it all?”
Riku shrugged. “You’re supposed to do something stupid on your sixteenth birthday.” His eyes were fixed on the opposite wall as he picked at Sora’s sheets absently, silent as he waited for his friend’s response.
Sora was just about to retort that they never got themselves grounded on Riku’s sixteenth birthday when it hit him suddenly that Riku had never had the opportunity to do anything stupid; they’d been too busy rescuing worlds from darkness. He studied Riku for a moment, taking in distant eyes and wary shoulders, and nodded in silent resolution, prepared to go down doing something stupid together. “So… want go to the Secret Place?”
Riku shifted so he was facing Sora again, the unwitting tension easing around his mouth. “It wasn’t really a problem for me to get these over here, but someone might catch us if we walk all the way to the pier.”
“Well…” Sora’s lips pursed in thought, “we could take my mom’s car. I mean, I should do something stupid too, right?” He kicked his legs out from underneath the covers and sat on the edge of the bed, stretching his arms and legs in preparation for snatching his mother’s car keys. “Besides, I’m sixteen now; I’m supposed to be driving anyway.”
“There’s a difference between being grounded and being in jail,” Riku pointed out, even as he turned to face the open window, ready to slip back outside. “There’s also the issue of neither of us knowing how to drive.”
“Nobody’s going to be around to arrest us,” Sora waved dismissively, refusing to think about the consequences of their night of stupidity as he slipped on his shoes, “and I’ve driven the gummi ship plenty of times.” He stood up and grabbed the box of Mike’s. “Have a little faith, huh?”
Riku eyed the drinks, then looked his friend over skeptically. “Well, this is definitely something stupid,” he conceded, accepting Sora’s lack of any real plan as he gripped the sill and ducked through the window without making a sound.
Sora made sure to send a scowl after him before he made his way to the front of the house as quietly as he could, wincing a few times when the floor creaked or his ankle popped. His mother’s keys hung from a ring next to the door, easily accessible, and he snatched them and crept through the door before he could give himself time to think about just how bad the morning could turn out to be.
Riku was already standing by the passenger’s side of the car, looking calm and collected to the rest of the world as his eyes flashed irately at Sora for taking so long. “The idea is to get everything done before people start waking up, right?”
Sora just glared at Riku as he turned the key in the lock and opened the door, then leaned in and set the drinks on the floor behind his seat so they’d be harder to see. Feeling Riku’s increasingly heated stare on him, he shifted on the driver’s seat so he was facing forward and adjusted the settings so his legs could actually reach the pedals (his dad better have been short, because really, if both of his parents were this tall then life really wasn’t fair), all the while pointedly ignoring the button that would unlock the rest of the doors. When Riku’s eyes were practically grating against the window, Sora looked up and met his gaze. “What’s the hold up?” he asked. “We have a time limit, you know.”
Riku’s upper lip twitched, and Sora rolled his eyes and pushed the “unlock” button. “I thought we were supposed to be having fun,” Sora said, twirling the key ring around his index finger once before finding the key that would start the car.
“We’re supposed to be doing something stupid, not idiotic,” Riku retorted, closing his door as softly as possible and pointedly fastening his seatbelt.
Sora sent another scowl his way for his lack of faith and held the right key next to the ignition. “Okay… so I’m pretty sure driving an automatic is like piloting a gummi ship.” He looked over everything he was fairly certain he’d have to use and nodded to himself, mentally preparing for something that could very well end on a horrible note. “This really shouldn’t be too difficult.” He might have heard Riku mutter something along the lines of “and yet you’re you,” but he let it slide in favor of inserting the key and turning the engine over. He let out a triumphant laugh when the car started. “This is it!” he announced, then remembered that he hadn’t fastened his seatbelt yet. “Oops; would’ve failed the driver’s test with that one.” Now Riku may have been praying, but Sora chose not to pay attention.
The seatbelt clicked into place with a finality that was both exhilarating and somewhat terrifying at the same time, and Sora’s hand shot forward to set the car to “reverse,” raising his eyes skyward in thanks as he recalled all of the times his mother had accidentally put the car in “drive” first. “Okay, this is it!” He yanked the lever back and glanced at the rearview mirror before looking over his shoulder at the driveway behind him. Gradually, he realized that the car wouldn’t just roll back because the driveway was more or less flat to begin with, so he lightly pressed his foot down on the gas.
Except his idea of “lightly” didn’t quite coincide with the car’s, and the next thing he knew, the car was jerking down the pavement at a slight angle toward the curb, and amidst his panicked application of the brake, accompanied by his incoherent “Ngh!” and Riku’s much more discernible “Shit!” the car parked itself at an angle on the sidewalk and tipped over the trash can, spilling the-thankfully-securely tied bags onto the street.
The silence seemed to roar in Sora’s ears as he tensed for signs of discovery from the neighbor’s, his eyes fixed intently on his mother’s bedroom window as he whispered a prayer to whoever might have been listening that the light would please not turn on. Seconds stretched by like hours, and when all seemed to point toward remaining undisturbed, Sora murmured a shaky, “Oops.”
Apparently “oops” was all that needed to be said to knock Riku back into the realm of the conscious. “Park the car,” he hissed, clutching the support bar on the side of the door as he tried to peer behind them and assess just how bad the damage was. “Park the car, Sora!” he ordered more forcefully when Sora continued to stare at the knocked over garbage.
Sora shook himself and put the car into “drive,” remembering to keep his foot extra light on the gas pedal. But this time, instead of lurching forward, the car only made a few eager noises while it otherwise stayed put. Sora frowned and applied a little more pressure to the pedal, ready to pivot to the brake at a moment’s notice, but still the car didn’t budge even as the engine sounded even more impatient to be in action again. “Uh…” he uttered softly, just beginning to experience true panic for the first time in his life at the thought of having truly broken his mother’s only car.
Riku moved for the first time since Sora hopped the curb, peering over the younger boy’s shoulder to see if any of the warning lights were on. Almost immediately after scanning the dash board, Riku’s eyes widened in disbelief and he pinched the bridge of his nose. “You idiot,” he muttered, shoving Sora’s shoulder for emphasis as he righted himself in his seat.
“What?” Sora asked defensively, quickly looking over the dash board for signs of what should have been so obvious. Then he saw the angry red light at the lower left hand corner. “Oh.” His lips tilted upward in a sheepish grin as he hazarded a look in Riku’s direction; the older boy only snorted and continued to hold his nose as if it might try to spring out from between his eyes. Sora cleared his throat and promptly released the emergency brake.
Of course, the fates had to make sure Sora had learned his lesson, and thus Sora forgot that his foot was still on the gas and the car immediately stuttered forward and introduced itself to the mailbox. Sora had to wholeheartedly agree with Riku’s exclaimed, “What the fuck?” and didn’t waste any time putting the car in “park” and removing the key before his mother’s demon car could do anymore damage with the use of his hands. And feet.
Even the crickets were quiet as Sora stared ahead at the mailbox, eyes widened and breath stilled in apprehension. He remained still, afraid to gauge just how bad their situation was. Instead, he turned his head to the right to study his best friend’s reaction, finding a clenched jaw and flared nostrils that mirrored his own. Sora swallowed, bracing himself, and almost simultaneously they unbuckled their seatbelts and slowly exited the car.
The journey to the front of the hood seemed to take forever and yet not nearly long enough, and Sora had to remind himself that he couldn’t find out just how much trouble he was going to be in if he didn’t open his eyes first. Then he had to convince himself that, yes, he did want to find out. When he finally took in the scene before him, he gulped-the right headlight was shattered, leaving bits of white glass around the mailbox post. He licked his lips nervously, suddenly dry-mouthed, and looked searchingly up at his taller, equally stricken friend. “Do you … uh… do you think Mom would believe that your drunk cat crashed the car?”
Despite his tense frame, after a second, Riku’s lips twitched upward slightly and he choked on something that was almost a snicker. “I never knew Mr. Snuggles was such a badass.” Sora bit back a burst of nearly hysterical laughter, but Riku’s repressed snorts were getting louder and really, the sight of his hair slightly out of place from the upheaval was a little too much, and the next thing he knew Sora was covering his mouth with his hand as he leaned against the car for support while Riku slouched against the other side.
When their mirth faded, Sora looked again at the fragments of glass on the ground and the slightly off angle of the mailbox, then sighed and shook his head, pushing himself away from the car and resolving himself to whatever punishment his mother would come up with when she noticed she was short one headlight. He trudged back to the open car door and peered inside, then considered the evil keys in his hand. “Guess I should park this back in the driveway.”
“Wait.” Riku held up a hand for a time-out and leaned into the car through his own open door, reaching back to grab the drinks from their undisturbed place on the floor. He straightened and closed the door as softly as possible, backing away from the car. “You park, I’ll be up on the roof.”
“You’re bailing?” Sora asked, voice incredulous even though he couldn’t really blame his best friend for retreating from the disaster that was their attempted joy ride. He watched as Riku’s back remained intent on disappearing around the corner of the house, hearing a faded “yes” just before his platinum hair was out of sight. Sora shrugged to himself, understanding the other boy’s desire to get as far away from his mom’s steel death trap as possible, then remembered that he still had to deal with it before he could join his friend on the roof. “Damn.”
He sat in front of the wheel and hesitated for a moment before closing the door after him. “Okay… you can do this. You can,” Sora told himself firmly, willing his hand to just put the key in the stupid ignition already. Eventually he got the engine to kick to life, and very pointedly released the emergency break before putting the car into “reverse” again. The maneuvering was a little tricky and slow-going as Sora got used to driving backwards, and then when he was sure he was aligned enough to pull forward into the driveway, he put the car into “drive” and crept forward on the asphalt at a turtle’s pace, leaning forward anxiously to make sure that he wouldn’t introduce the front of the car to the house as well.
The moment the car was more or less where he’d found it, Sora yanked the keys out as quickly as possible and scurried out of the car and toward the back of the house, pausing to shut the door quietly and then one more time to grimace at the place where the right headlight used to be; he’d have to mow lawns for a month to pay for its replacement.
Sora carefully tiptoed around the house, ducking underneath the window that peered into his mother’s bedroom, and came to a stop at the deck’s railing just below the low-hanging roof. Riku’s feet were dangling over the edge to his left, and he followed the trail from his shoes to his torso, to his hand that was gripping a half-empty bottle of Mike’s Hard Lemonade. Sora decided it probably wasn’t such a bad idea to acquire a buzz to counteract the still-racing adrenaline in his veins, so he grabbed the edge of the roof and hauled himself up onto the shingles.
He was almost completely clear of the edge when his foot caught on the gutter and he began to slip backwards, fingers reacting instantly, trying to find a hold on the shingles. Riku’s hand suddenly shot out and gripped his arm, holding him steady until Sora could lift his foot up further for better purchase, then helped drag him up the rough surface until he could roll over and stare up at the stars. Before he could ask for a drink, Riku was holding an open bottle of Mike’s in his face while he took another long swig from his own.
Sora sat up and took the bottle from Riku’s hand, taking an experimental sip. He swallowed after a bit and licked his lips with a wet smacking sound, tilting the lemonade in acknowledgement. “Not bad for chick beer; at least it tastes good.”
Riku took another silent gulp and looked at the bright yellow print on the bottle, the hints of a smirk at the corner of his lips alerting Sora to the presence of a joke, and the younger boy sat up a little straighter. Sure enough, Riku tapped his finger against the glass and said, “Considering I’ll have to drink myself into alcoholism just to cope with being around you, I’d say it’s a good thing we found something that doesn’t taste like crap.”
Sora swatted lazily at Riku’s shoulder and took another long pull from his lemonade, smacking his lips again at the tingly-sweet feeling it left behind. “You wouldn’t freak out as much the next time I crash the car,” he noted.
Riku snorted. “I just don’t plan on being in a car when you’re driving it ever again.” He finished off his first bottle of Mike’s and reached for the second, twisting off the cap and tilting his drink toward his friend with a soundlessly mouthed “cheers” before taking a smaller sip. “So… no problem.”
Sora just rolled his eyes at his friend, grin firmly in place. “How many of these things do you think you’d have to drink before you could actually be an alcoholic?”
Riku’s silence was pointed as he took another long drink, swallowing audibly before looking Sora over, eyebrow raised critically. “I’ll let you know.” Sora clucked his tongue and shoved Riku’s shoulder, and Riku immediately pushed him back before scooting further back on the roof so he could stretch out on his back, one arm folded under his head. Sora followed suit, and an amicable quiet settled between them while they worked their way through the box of Mike’s.
When Sora was about halfway through his third drink and feeling slightly fuzzy, Riku chuckled suddenly and nudged his ribs with the butt of his bottle, rolling over onto his side, arm still tucked under his head so he could look down at his friend. “What?” Sora asked, remaining in his sprawled out position on the scratchy shingles. There was a pleasant haze blanketing his thoughts, centering around the warmth exuding from his friend’s body and how nice it felt, as Riku stretched his limbs languidly until his feet were just above the gutter.
Riku just looked at him for a bit, a single lock of hair waving gently into his eyes in the barely-there breeze, before he absently tucked it behind his ear, still laughing softly. “How long do you think your mom’s going to ground you for crashing her car?”
Sora grinned and lightly shook his lemonade before taking another sip. “About as long as your mom’ll ground you for stealing her liquor.” He reached up and clanked his bottle against Riku’s. “To our last night of freedom.”
Riku nodded and took a celebratory drink, then rested his drink against the roof and began tapping against the glass in some abstract rhythm that only he could follow. Sora watched his friend’s fingers, gaze faraway as if he were being hypnotized, letting his thoughts float around his head lazily as he took a sip of lemonade every now and then. He wasn’t sure how much time passed, but when he spoke up again, Riku wasn’t fazed in the slightest. “I think my mom’ll be relieved, actually,” he said softly, a smile that wasn’t quite wistful lighting his features. “She’s probably been worried about how considerate her teenage son has been.”
Thoughts of runaways and tears and yells and anxiety went unspoken between them, but Riku nodded all the same, his expression mirroring Sora’s in understanding. He finished off the rest of his last drink in one long swallow and set the empty bottle back in the box, then returned to his position angled just slightly above Sora, but now their faces were just the tiniest bit closer, Riku’s breath, sweetened by sugary liquor, hinting against Sora’s cheeks and nose.
Sora wondered if his own breath was supposed to catch in his throat, if his heart was supposed to stutter like everyone else described, but instead, when Riku leaned in the last couple of inches to press his lips against Sora’s, the younger boy just mentally shrugged and tried to figure out why exactly they hadn’t done this before; Riku’s mouth was just as warm as the heat generating from the rest of his body, his lips were just a little chapped, but that was okay because so were Sora’s, and for a second Sora sifted through what he’d heard before for clues as to whether or not they were allowed to breathe through their noses. But it was Riku, and there had never really been anyone else, so when the older boy pulled away there was no hesitation before Sora grinned and propped himself up on his elbows to kiss him back, tasting lemon and the faintest trace of toothpaste.
When they broke apart again, they both stayed in place, lashes brushing against cheeks, and shared grins of accomplishment, smirks that were almost conspiratorial. They both laughed, voices quiet in the late-night air, traded more easy kisses on top of roof where they got to just exist and snort in amusement when teeth clacked or a hand fell asleep, no pressure to ask for anything more.
After awhile, Sora found it increasingly difficult to keep his eyes open, and he gradually realized that he and Riku weren’t so much kissing anymore as they were nuzzling, and at some point Riku’s arm had draped over Sora’s waist, and Sora’s fingers were buried in Riku’s hair. Sora hummed lowly and pressed his forehead against Riku’s, tired smile shining in his eyes when Riku merely sighed sleepily and tightened his hold around his waist, drawing him closer. Sora kissed Riku once more, on the nose, then let his head rest more comfortably on his hand as his eyelids grew heavier, thoughts of whatever awaited them in the morning no longer any particular concern; after all, no matter how many lawns he had to mow or how much TV he had to miss, at least he had moments like this to look forward to.
Author: kel_fish
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Pairing: Riku/Sora
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is owned by Disney, Square Enix, and others who aren't I.
Author's note: This story was written for obstinate_fate's sweet sixteenth; happy birthday, Jer! Are you going to order another daiquiri to celebrate? I'd like to thank caseyvalhalla (like I usually do) for her mad beta skilz, as well as her help with coming up with the lack of subtlety in the title. Also, I'd like to state yet again that we struck writing gold with those thirty minute sprints, because without them I'd probably still be stuck on the opening paragraph.
Summary: Riku decides to start Sora's sweet sixteenth celebration early. Sora starts it off with a bang.
On the morning of his sixteenth birthday, Sora planned to sleep in until he could no longer resist going into the kitchen to investigate whatever his mother was cooking for breakfast. Instead, he woke up to an elbow digging into his shoulder as someone fell through his bedroom window.
After two years of battling his way through hordes of Heartless and Nobodies it only seemed natural that Sora would react defensively when someone crashed onto his bed in the middle of the night, which was his reasoning as his knee jerked up to slam it into his intruder, prompting a gasp of pain from the body still scrambling on top of him. A familiar voice cursed lowly as Sora struggled to get free from the tangle of flailing limbs, and he froze in recognition. “Riku?”
Riku finally managed to sit up on the bed, lightly pressing his fingertips against his abused ribs. “Anyone ever tell you you’ve got bony knees?” he hissed, features turned downward in a scowl as he assessed the damage. “You could’ve cracked something.” He leaned back against the wall so his body was perpendicular to Sora’s and picked up something from the foot of the bed. “Happy birthday.”
Sora squinted at whatever was in Riku’s hand, trying to make out what it was in the darkness. After a moment, he smirked. “Mike’s? I can’t believe you brought me chick beer.” He took the box from Riku, muting the clanking of the glass bottles with his other hand as he set it on the mattress between them. “Do you want to smoke some menthols too?”
“Shut up,” Riku muttered offhandedly, running his fingers through his long hair until it was less disheveled from their confused scuffle. “I got it out of the fridge; enjoy our time together now because as soon as Mom notices this stuff missing, I’m grounded.”
Sora frowned. “For someone who’s facing house arrest, you seem pretty calm about it.” He moved his legs closer to the edge of the bed so Riku would have more room. “What were you planning on saying to your mom anyway: your cat drank it all?”
Riku shrugged. “You’re supposed to do something stupid on your sixteenth birthday.” His eyes were fixed on the opposite wall as he picked at Sora’s sheets absently, silent as he waited for his friend’s response.
Sora was just about to retort that they never got themselves grounded on Riku’s sixteenth birthday when it hit him suddenly that Riku had never had the opportunity to do anything stupid; they’d been too busy rescuing worlds from darkness. He studied Riku for a moment, taking in distant eyes and wary shoulders, and nodded in silent resolution, prepared to go down doing something stupid together. “So… want go to the Secret Place?”
Riku shifted so he was facing Sora again, the unwitting tension easing around his mouth. “It wasn’t really a problem for me to get these over here, but someone might catch us if we walk all the way to the pier.”
“Well…” Sora’s lips pursed in thought, “we could take my mom’s car. I mean, I should do something stupid too, right?” He kicked his legs out from underneath the covers and sat on the edge of the bed, stretching his arms and legs in preparation for snatching his mother’s car keys. “Besides, I’m sixteen now; I’m supposed to be driving anyway.”
“There’s a difference between being grounded and being in jail,” Riku pointed out, even as he turned to face the open window, ready to slip back outside. “There’s also the issue of neither of us knowing how to drive.”
“Nobody’s going to be around to arrest us,” Sora waved dismissively, refusing to think about the consequences of their night of stupidity as he slipped on his shoes, “and I’ve driven the gummi ship plenty of times.” He stood up and grabbed the box of Mike’s. “Have a little faith, huh?”
Riku eyed the drinks, then looked his friend over skeptically. “Well, this is definitely something stupid,” he conceded, accepting Sora’s lack of any real plan as he gripped the sill and ducked through the window without making a sound.
Sora made sure to send a scowl after him before he made his way to the front of the house as quietly as he could, wincing a few times when the floor creaked or his ankle popped. His mother’s keys hung from a ring next to the door, easily accessible, and he snatched them and crept through the door before he could give himself time to think about just how bad the morning could turn out to be.
Riku was already standing by the passenger’s side of the car, looking calm and collected to the rest of the world as his eyes flashed irately at Sora for taking so long. “The idea is to get everything done before people start waking up, right?”
Sora just glared at Riku as he turned the key in the lock and opened the door, then leaned in and set the drinks on the floor behind his seat so they’d be harder to see. Feeling Riku’s increasingly heated stare on him, he shifted on the driver’s seat so he was facing forward and adjusted the settings so his legs could actually reach the pedals (his dad better have been short, because really, if both of his parents were this tall then life really wasn’t fair), all the while pointedly ignoring the button that would unlock the rest of the doors. When Riku’s eyes were practically grating against the window, Sora looked up and met his gaze. “What’s the hold up?” he asked. “We have a time limit, you know.”
Riku’s upper lip twitched, and Sora rolled his eyes and pushed the “unlock” button. “I thought we were supposed to be having fun,” Sora said, twirling the key ring around his index finger once before finding the key that would start the car.
“We’re supposed to be doing something stupid, not idiotic,” Riku retorted, closing his door as softly as possible and pointedly fastening his seatbelt.
Sora sent another scowl his way for his lack of faith and held the right key next to the ignition. “Okay… so I’m pretty sure driving an automatic is like piloting a gummi ship.” He looked over everything he was fairly certain he’d have to use and nodded to himself, mentally preparing for something that could very well end on a horrible note. “This really shouldn’t be too difficult.” He might have heard Riku mutter something along the lines of “and yet you’re you,” but he let it slide in favor of inserting the key and turning the engine over. He let out a triumphant laugh when the car started. “This is it!” he announced, then remembered that he hadn’t fastened his seatbelt yet. “Oops; would’ve failed the driver’s test with that one.” Now Riku may have been praying, but Sora chose not to pay attention.
The seatbelt clicked into place with a finality that was both exhilarating and somewhat terrifying at the same time, and Sora’s hand shot forward to set the car to “reverse,” raising his eyes skyward in thanks as he recalled all of the times his mother had accidentally put the car in “drive” first. “Okay, this is it!” He yanked the lever back and glanced at the rearview mirror before looking over his shoulder at the driveway behind him. Gradually, he realized that the car wouldn’t just roll back because the driveway was more or less flat to begin with, so he lightly pressed his foot down on the gas.
Except his idea of “lightly” didn’t quite coincide with the car’s, and the next thing he knew, the car was jerking down the pavement at a slight angle toward the curb, and amidst his panicked application of the brake, accompanied by his incoherent “Ngh!” and Riku’s much more discernible “Shit!” the car parked itself at an angle on the sidewalk and tipped over the trash can, spilling the-thankfully-securely tied bags onto the street.
The silence seemed to roar in Sora’s ears as he tensed for signs of discovery from the neighbor’s, his eyes fixed intently on his mother’s bedroom window as he whispered a prayer to whoever might have been listening that the light would please not turn on. Seconds stretched by like hours, and when all seemed to point toward remaining undisturbed, Sora murmured a shaky, “Oops.”
Apparently “oops” was all that needed to be said to knock Riku back into the realm of the conscious. “Park the car,” he hissed, clutching the support bar on the side of the door as he tried to peer behind them and assess just how bad the damage was. “Park the car, Sora!” he ordered more forcefully when Sora continued to stare at the knocked over garbage.
Sora shook himself and put the car into “drive,” remembering to keep his foot extra light on the gas pedal. But this time, instead of lurching forward, the car only made a few eager noises while it otherwise stayed put. Sora frowned and applied a little more pressure to the pedal, ready to pivot to the brake at a moment’s notice, but still the car didn’t budge even as the engine sounded even more impatient to be in action again. “Uh…” he uttered softly, just beginning to experience true panic for the first time in his life at the thought of having truly broken his mother’s only car.
Riku moved for the first time since Sora hopped the curb, peering over the younger boy’s shoulder to see if any of the warning lights were on. Almost immediately after scanning the dash board, Riku’s eyes widened in disbelief and he pinched the bridge of his nose. “You idiot,” he muttered, shoving Sora’s shoulder for emphasis as he righted himself in his seat.
“What?” Sora asked defensively, quickly looking over the dash board for signs of what should have been so obvious. Then he saw the angry red light at the lower left hand corner. “Oh.” His lips tilted upward in a sheepish grin as he hazarded a look in Riku’s direction; the older boy only snorted and continued to hold his nose as if it might try to spring out from between his eyes. Sora cleared his throat and promptly released the emergency brake.
Of course, the fates had to make sure Sora had learned his lesson, and thus Sora forgot that his foot was still on the gas and the car immediately stuttered forward and introduced itself to the mailbox. Sora had to wholeheartedly agree with Riku’s exclaimed, “What the fuck?” and didn’t waste any time putting the car in “park” and removing the key before his mother’s demon car could do anymore damage with the use of his hands. And feet.
Even the crickets were quiet as Sora stared ahead at the mailbox, eyes widened and breath stilled in apprehension. He remained still, afraid to gauge just how bad their situation was. Instead, he turned his head to the right to study his best friend’s reaction, finding a clenched jaw and flared nostrils that mirrored his own. Sora swallowed, bracing himself, and almost simultaneously they unbuckled their seatbelts and slowly exited the car.
The journey to the front of the hood seemed to take forever and yet not nearly long enough, and Sora had to remind himself that he couldn’t find out just how much trouble he was going to be in if he didn’t open his eyes first. Then he had to convince himself that, yes, he did want to find out. When he finally took in the scene before him, he gulped-the right headlight was shattered, leaving bits of white glass around the mailbox post. He licked his lips nervously, suddenly dry-mouthed, and looked searchingly up at his taller, equally stricken friend. “Do you … uh… do you think Mom would believe that your drunk cat crashed the car?”
Despite his tense frame, after a second, Riku’s lips twitched upward slightly and he choked on something that was almost a snicker. “I never knew Mr. Snuggles was such a badass.” Sora bit back a burst of nearly hysterical laughter, but Riku’s repressed snorts were getting louder and really, the sight of his hair slightly out of place from the upheaval was a little too much, and the next thing he knew Sora was covering his mouth with his hand as he leaned against the car for support while Riku slouched against the other side.
When their mirth faded, Sora looked again at the fragments of glass on the ground and the slightly off angle of the mailbox, then sighed and shook his head, pushing himself away from the car and resolving himself to whatever punishment his mother would come up with when she noticed she was short one headlight. He trudged back to the open car door and peered inside, then considered the evil keys in his hand. “Guess I should park this back in the driveway.”
“Wait.” Riku held up a hand for a time-out and leaned into the car through his own open door, reaching back to grab the drinks from their undisturbed place on the floor. He straightened and closed the door as softly as possible, backing away from the car. “You park, I’ll be up on the roof.”
“You’re bailing?” Sora asked, voice incredulous even though he couldn’t really blame his best friend for retreating from the disaster that was their attempted joy ride. He watched as Riku’s back remained intent on disappearing around the corner of the house, hearing a faded “yes” just before his platinum hair was out of sight. Sora shrugged to himself, understanding the other boy’s desire to get as far away from his mom’s steel death trap as possible, then remembered that he still had to deal with it before he could join his friend on the roof. “Damn.”
He sat in front of the wheel and hesitated for a moment before closing the door after him. “Okay… you can do this. You can,” Sora told himself firmly, willing his hand to just put the key in the stupid ignition already. Eventually he got the engine to kick to life, and very pointedly released the emergency break before putting the car into “reverse” again. The maneuvering was a little tricky and slow-going as Sora got used to driving backwards, and then when he was sure he was aligned enough to pull forward into the driveway, he put the car into “drive” and crept forward on the asphalt at a turtle’s pace, leaning forward anxiously to make sure that he wouldn’t introduce the front of the car to the house as well.
The moment the car was more or less where he’d found it, Sora yanked the keys out as quickly as possible and scurried out of the car and toward the back of the house, pausing to shut the door quietly and then one more time to grimace at the place where the right headlight used to be; he’d have to mow lawns for a month to pay for its replacement.
Sora carefully tiptoed around the house, ducking underneath the window that peered into his mother’s bedroom, and came to a stop at the deck’s railing just below the low-hanging roof. Riku’s feet were dangling over the edge to his left, and he followed the trail from his shoes to his torso, to his hand that was gripping a half-empty bottle of Mike’s Hard Lemonade. Sora decided it probably wasn’t such a bad idea to acquire a buzz to counteract the still-racing adrenaline in his veins, so he grabbed the edge of the roof and hauled himself up onto the shingles.
He was almost completely clear of the edge when his foot caught on the gutter and he began to slip backwards, fingers reacting instantly, trying to find a hold on the shingles. Riku’s hand suddenly shot out and gripped his arm, holding him steady until Sora could lift his foot up further for better purchase, then helped drag him up the rough surface until he could roll over and stare up at the stars. Before he could ask for a drink, Riku was holding an open bottle of Mike’s in his face while he took another long swig from his own.
Sora sat up and took the bottle from Riku’s hand, taking an experimental sip. He swallowed after a bit and licked his lips with a wet smacking sound, tilting the lemonade in acknowledgement. “Not bad for chick beer; at least it tastes good.”
Riku took another silent gulp and looked at the bright yellow print on the bottle, the hints of a smirk at the corner of his lips alerting Sora to the presence of a joke, and the younger boy sat up a little straighter. Sure enough, Riku tapped his finger against the glass and said, “Considering I’ll have to drink myself into alcoholism just to cope with being around you, I’d say it’s a good thing we found something that doesn’t taste like crap.”
Sora swatted lazily at Riku’s shoulder and took another long pull from his lemonade, smacking his lips again at the tingly-sweet feeling it left behind. “You wouldn’t freak out as much the next time I crash the car,” he noted.
Riku snorted. “I just don’t plan on being in a car when you’re driving it ever again.” He finished off his first bottle of Mike’s and reached for the second, twisting off the cap and tilting his drink toward his friend with a soundlessly mouthed “cheers” before taking a smaller sip. “So… no problem.”
Sora just rolled his eyes at his friend, grin firmly in place. “How many of these things do you think you’d have to drink before you could actually be an alcoholic?”
Riku’s silence was pointed as he took another long drink, swallowing audibly before looking Sora over, eyebrow raised critically. “I’ll let you know.” Sora clucked his tongue and shoved Riku’s shoulder, and Riku immediately pushed him back before scooting further back on the roof so he could stretch out on his back, one arm folded under his head. Sora followed suit, and an amicable quiet settled between them while they worked their way through the box of Mike’s.
When Sora was about halfway through his third drink and feeling slightly fuzzy, Riku chuckled suddenly and nudged his ribs with the butt of his bottle, rolling over onto his side, arm still tucked under his head so he could look down at his friend. “What?” Sora asked, remaining in his sprawled out position on the scratchy shingles. There was a pleasant haze blanketing his thoughts, centering around the warmth exuding from his friend’s body and how nice it felt, as Riku stretched his limbs languidly until his feet were just above the gutter.
Riku just looked at him for a bit, a single lock of hair waving gently into his eyes in the barely-there breeze, before he absently tucked it behind his ear, still laughing softly. “How long do you think your mom’s going to ground you for crashing her car?”
Sora grinned and lightly shook his lemonade before taking another sip. “About as long as your mom’ll ground you for stealing her liquor.” He reached up and clanked his bottle against Riku’s. “To our last night of freedom.”
Riku nodded and took a celebratory drink, then rested his drink against the roof and began tapping against the glass in some abstract rhythm that only he could follow. Sora watched his friend’s fingers, gaze faraway as if he were being hypnotized, letting his thoughts float around his head lazily as he took a sip of lemonade every now and then. He wasn’t sure how much time passed, but when he spoke up again, Riku wasn’t fazed in the slightest. “I think my mom’ll be relieved, actually,” he said softly, a smile that wasn’t quite wistful lighting his features. “She’s probably been worried about how considerate her teenage son has been.”
Thoughts of runaways and tears and yells and anxiety went unspoken between them, but Riku nodded all the same, his expression mirroring Sora’s in understanding. He finished off the rest of his last drink in one long swallow and set the empty bottle back in the box, then returned to his position angled just slightly above Sora, but now their faces were just the tiniest bit closer, Riku’s breath, sweetened by sugary liquor, hinting against Sora’s cheeks and nose.
Sora wondered if his own breath was supposed to catch in his throat, if his heart was supposed to stutter like everyone else described, but instead, when Riku leaned in the last couple of inches to press his lips against Sora’s, the younger boy just mentally shrugged and tried to figure out why exactly they hadn’t done this before; Riku’s mouth was just as warm as the heat generating from the rest of his body, his lips were just a little chapped, but that was okay because so were Sora’s, and for a second Sora sifted through what he’d heard before for clues as to whether or not they were allowed to breathe through their noses. But it was Riku, and there had never really been anyone else, so when the older boy pulled away there was no hesitation before Sora grinned and propped himself up on his elbows to kiss him back, tasting lemon and the faintest trace of toothpaste.
When they broke apart again, they both stayed in place, lashes brushing against cheeks, and shared grins of accomplishment, smirks that were almost conspiratorial. They both laughed, voices quiet in the late-night air, traded more easy kisses on top of roof where they got to just exist and snort in amusement when teeth clacked or a hand fell asleep, no pressure to ask for anything more.
After awhile, Sora found it increasingly difficult to keep his eyes open, and he gradually realized that he and Riku weren’t so much kissing anymore as they were nuzzling, and at some point Riku’s arm had draped over Sora’s waist, and Sora’s fingers were buried in Riku’s hair. Sora hummed lowly and pressed his forehead against Riku’s, tired smile shining in his eyes when Riku merely sighed sleepily and tightened his hold around his waist, drawing him closer. Sora kissed Riku once more, on the nose, then let his head rest more comfortably on his hand as his eyelids grew heavier, thoughts of whatever awaited them in the morning no longer any particular concern; after all, no matter how many lawns he had to mow or how much TV he had to miss, at least he had moments like this to look forward to.