RiSo - The Art of Music Ch.7

The cheerfulness Sora had experienced that night didn't last long. For the next week he locked himself away again, becoming his old reclusive self, returning his and Roxas' room to the art messed and paper cluttered room that it had been two weeks ago. When it started Roxas was irritated that his brother's anti-social tendencies had returned after all of his efforts, but as the week progressed he gave up on trying to take the room for himself and Axel and often retired to the redhead's house instead, always in a bad mood. "He does only have a week left before his show Rox, you can't blame him," Axel tried to comfort the blond on Wednesday, the pair lounging on Axel's sofa while his parents were out and Roxas sighed.

"I know, at least he's actually decided what he's going to submit now I guess."

Axel's interest perked at those words, he wondered if the brunet would ever finalise his idea, "really? What's he doing?"

Roxas scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Guess."

Axel smirked, "he's really painting Riku?"

"Well, he's had plenty of practise."

********

Sora stood in his room and studied his canvas. He tapped his pencil repeatedly against his chin making little dark marks where the point hit his skin and stared in concentration. He'd sketched the boy three times now and it still didn't seem right.

The brunet sighed exasperatedly, it had taken him all of five seconds to have his 'let's draw Riku for my final piece' epiphany -he wondered how he hadn't thought of it sooner, but now the entire thing seemed impossible. He'd spent the last two weeks drawing the boy, now he just couldn't seem to do it.

Sora thought about all the times he'd bumped into Riku, all the times they'd been together for one reason or another and finally thought about the first time he'd ever seen the boy and immediately fallen head over heels in love with him. He'd looked so perfect on the stage, sat up straight holding his guitar, his face framed by long silver hair as his fingers danced across his guitar. Sora suddenly found himself drawing Riku exactly how he'd looked that night. There'd be no background, just Riku, just as Sora remembered it.

********

It took him four days but he finally managed to finish it. He spent most of the week convincing Saïx that everything would be finished on time and his tutor gave him a sceptical look every time he saw the brunet -much to Kairi's amusement. "Do I get to see the final product before the show?" She asked enthusiastically on Monday morning but Sora shook his head.

"Nope, it's a surprise. How's yours coming along?"

"Good, just a few finishing touches and it'll be done," she grinned.

"Alright class, I need your final submissions in on Wednesday morning so they can be hung before Friday's show, you can go home now." Saïx told his class who all shuffled their seats and grabbed their things.

"Hey Hayner, what are you putting in?" Sora asked curiously and the blond grinned.

"A struggle battle, you've got to see it man it looks awesome." He boasted.

"By the way, have you talked to Seifer yet? He hasn't attacked you in like two weeks and that's totally not normal," Kairi questioned and both she and Sora looked on in utter bemusement as Hayner blushed.

"Well, you know, we worked a few things out," he mumbled "nothing unusual."

"Hey Hayner! Your boyfriend's here to see you!" Roxas shouted from along the corridor, the trio's heads shooting in the direction of the boy as he smirked and Seifer lounged against the wall near the blond.

"What?!" Kairi exclaimed and Hayner blushed profusely.

"See you guys later. Roxas, I'm gonna kill you!" Hayner shouted at the boy who howled with laughter as he approached his brother, the new trio catching an "I'm going to kill you too asshole," as Hayner and Seifer disappeared out of the building.

"Did not see that coming," Sora expressed, still staring towards the door Hayner and Seifer had departed through, the beanie blonde's arm slung over his boyfriend's shoulders.

"Seriously? I've been able to tell for years," Roxas said making Sora frown, how was his brother so good at reading people? "Anyway we don't have time for this, we have to get ready."

"For what?" Sora continued to frown.

Roxas rolled his eyes at his brother and his tendency to forget anyone else existed on this planet while he was drawing. "Axel's birthday party Sora. Come on, everyone's going to be there and we need to get ready."

Sora oh'd and allowed himself to be pulled away by Roxas. "See you there Kairi!" He called to the girl who nodded and waved to the twins.

********

Once home Roxas proceeded to get ready a lot faster than necessary and Sora knew the blond would sit and fidget for the hour he had spare after rushing everything, the brunet on the other hand took his time and secretly added more shading to his pencil drawing of Riku, double checking that the words on the canvas were perfectly visible, almost drawing a long, jagged line across his picture when Roxas shouted at him from downstairs to 'leave the damn thing alone and hurry up'. Sora sighed, glared through the floorboards at his brother then searched for his black jeans, blue t-shirt, rainbow converse and any other multi-coloured accessory he could find (today it was his necklace and belt) and sauntered downstairs with his sketchbook in hand once he was dressed.

In the living room he found Cloud pestering Roxas and smirked, maybe he should sit and watch this for a while, Roxas already looked like a nervous wreck and Cloud's dancing around in front of him teasing the younger boy about him and his boyfriend was just entertaining. But Sora's 'kind heart' told him to help Roxas out, and though he cursed the angel on his shoulder he did as it asked. "I'm ready to go," he told Roxas, distracting Cloud from his taunting "are you inviting Zack over while we're gone?" Sora asked making Roxas smirk at Cloud's blush as the younger blond stood from the sofa and grabbed his car keys, his twin following him to the front door. "No funny business!" He called and left the house, Roxas laughing as they went.

"I owe you one," Roxas smiled at his twin who grinned back.

"I'll think of something good," Sora replied mischievously as they both climbed into the car and set off for Axel's.

********

Even though the pair had managed to arrive early to Axel's house there were still a few guests already there. Axel welcomed them inside and slung an arm over Roxas' shoulder once the door was closed, in the living room Demyx and Zexion were lounging on one of two couches, the blond fiddling with his guitar (as was customary for Demyx when he was invited to someone's house) and in the kitchen Sora found Kairi which was a huge relief for the brunet, he didn't want to be stuck with the two couples all night as they fawned over each other much like they did at gigs.

"Hey," he greeted the girl, Kairi looked up and glanced at Axel who winked at her and made a shushing sign with his finger in front of his lips. Roxas looked on at the pair bemused and as Axel caught the look he bent down to whisper into Roxas' ear, a wide, cunning smirk suddenly spreading across his features before he and Axel walked away and left the two friends alone.

"Hey," Kairi greeted in return, "Roxas dragged you out early huh?" she asked and Sora nodded exasperatedly.

"Anything to see your brother," he rolled his eyes and Kairi giggled.

"Oh hey, do you want to see my finished piece?" she asked the boy as the doorbell rang.

Sora nodded enthusiastically, "definitely!" he said and they both left the room to go upstairs, greeting Marluxia and Larxene as they went.

********

Sora was in awe when he saw the painting, the jet black buildings had been shaded with dark blues and faded grey at the bottom, all of the lights were slanted and a pale green colour leading up to a skyscraper, but the most astonishing part of the painting was the giant heart shaped moon which now had a floating, grey castle eclipsing the bottom of it. "Wow," was all Sora could say in his stunned silence.

"Do you like it?" Kairi smiled and the boy nodded.

"It's incredible," he praised but then he slowly frowned, "you're totally gonna overshadow me, I'm so jealous."

"Oh don't be silly Sora, you know what I'm like for cityscapes, and yours will be amazing you're like the master of portraits." Kairi denied but Sora only sighed. "Come on, we're leaving before you get too depressed," she said and pulled him from the room by his arm.

Sora spent the next half hour talking to Demyx and Zexion, all of the guests Sora knew Axel would invite were all here (Ven, Aqua and Terra having arrived while Sora was upstairs a short while before Luxord who was promptly kicked out for being too drunk) apart from Hayner –and probably Seifer- so when the doorbell rang again he expected it would be the couple, however he was mistaken quite quickly as the newcomer entered the house and walked to the living room and Demyx greeted with a "hey Riku."

All of Sora's brain functions suddenly stopped and he turned around to see the boy standing in the doorway smiling –clad in slightly baggy grey jeans and a Foo Fighters t-shirt and his shark tooth necklace hung visibly from its usual perch around Riku's neck- "hey," Sora grinned and stood up to talk to the boy he hadn't seen for over a week. "Axel invited you too, that's awesome," he continued to smile.

"Sora, why don't you show him to the kitchen and get him a drink," Demyx told the brunet with an amused smirk and Sora nodded.

"Right, it's just through here," he said and led the silveret away, Riku smiling at Demyx and Zexion before he followed Sora.

"So what happened to you last week?" Riku asked, "you totally disappeared, Axel told me that's pretty normal?"

Sora blushed a little as he handed Riku a can of Coke, "yeah, when I paint I turn into a hermit," he laughed embarrassedly. "So you're like an official member of our group now," Sora smiled, "Axel inviting you to his birthday and all."

"Oh, sure, I guess, if you guys will have me."

"Sora will probably throw paint on anyone who says otherwise," Roxas chimed in with a smirk making his brother glare daggers at him. "We're playing spin the bottle; do you want to play Riku? I'd ask Sora but we managed to get him to play once and he broke his thumb so he won't."

"No I'm good, I've never been a big fan of it," Riku admitted and Roxas shrugged.

"You can keep Sora company for me then. We'll all be in the living room if you need us." The blond informed them then began to walk away, "and Sora, Kairi's going to kill you if you don't introduce her soon."

"Alright," Sora laughed and Roxas left the room, leaving the two boys by themselves.

"So what do you normally do while they're all playing?" Riku asked.

"Usually I just sit with them and draw." Sora shrugged.

"You broke your thumb?"

"Oh, yeah, they dared me to dance on top of the table and Larxene pulled the cloth away and I slipped. Trust me no one found it funny." Riku scowled, he'd met the girl and though she hadn't seemed particularly friendly she didn't seem that bad. Now he was having second thoughts about his judgement. "She apologised though so it's ok."

"If you say so," Riku mumbled.

A few cheers emanated from the living room and Sora smiled, "oh hey, Axel has this awesome huge pond, do you want to see it? I always feed the fish when I'm here," the brunet grinned goofily and Riku smiled and nodded.

Sora lead the way out of the back door and down the patio steps into a rather large and very well kept garden, "Axel's mum's a gardening master," Sora explained as they walked deeper through the lines of various flowers and plants into the centre where a large pond sat, an oversized koi carp water feature spilling water from its mouth and into the pond. The sound was soothing and the pair was so far into the garden they couldn't hear the noise from the house anymore.

Sora retrieved the fish food he'd picked up from the house from his back pocket and threw a handful into the pond. A mass of multi coloured fish surfaced and ate quickly before they dispersed to make way for the fattest koi carp Sora had ever seen. Even Riku seemed impressed by the fish and gawked at it. "That's one big fish" he commented and Sora laughed.

"Yeah, we named him Finn and he's pretty old now. When Roxas and I used to come here with our parents me and Kairi would feed it for ages. The first time I saw it I was five and almost fell into the pond."

Riku laughed at Sora's story and took some fish food when it was offered to him. They both fed the fish in silence for a while, but an unreadable expression fell upon Riku's face and as Sora looked over to smile at the boy he frowned. "Is something wrong?" he asked, snapping the silveret out of his daydreaming to shake his head and smile at the brunet.

"No, I'm fine," he promised and though Sora nodded he wasn't convinced that was at all true, but he let it go, and bent down to put his finger in the water, the fish gathering around the possible food to nibble on it making Sora giggle.

"So have you, Roxas and Axel always been best friends?" Riku asked as he joined Sora and kneeled in front of the pond.

The brunet nodded, "pretty much, though Roxas and Axel have always had more in common with each other. I'm friends with Kairi more than Axel," he admitted. "She's like a little sister to me."

"I know that feeling," Riku smiled and Sora could tell this one was genuine and grinned in return. Suddenly Sora felt a sharp nip on his finger and pulled the appendage out of the water with a curse.

"Ouch! Oh man that hurt," he shook his finger as it throbbed.

"Are you ok? Let me see," Riku offered and took Sora's wrist in his hand to inspect the finger closely but there were no marks.

"I'm fine, really, I just got a bit of a shock," Sora mumbled in embarrassment, his cheeks flushing red as he stared at Riku's hand.

"Well you don't want to get an infection," Riku replied and rubbed his finger across Sora's to check for broken skin. "There are no marks or anything so you're ok," the boy smiled.

"Well that's a relief," the brunet smiled bashfully.

"You should be more careful," Riku laughed.

"I've always been a clumsy kid, it's in my nature," Sora shrugged jokingly.

"I guess I'll have to stick around and make sure you don't get hurt then," Riku replied and grinned making Sora blush again, his heart skipping happily in his chest at the idea of Riku staying with him.

The brunet swallowed the lump in his throat nervously, "I guess being clumsy isn't such a bad thing then," he said and looked into Riku's eyes, the gleaming pools of aqua he'd fallen in love with only a few weeks ago.

The atmosphere became heavy as both of them searched each other's expressions, Sora's hand still in Riku's, but the atmosphere quickly evaporated as the back door crashed open and the startled pair watched as Hayner sprinted towards them with a small square they could only guess was a phone in his hand. "Hayner! If you throw that phone in that pond I'll come to your house and set your picture on fire!" Axel shouted angrily at the running boy who glanced back over his shoulder at the mostly laughing crowd and a furious looking Axel.

"Sorry dude, I don't want to do this!" He called back, but the sudden turn caused the blond to trip and he fell face first onto the grass, skidding to a stop a couple of feet in front of Riku and Sora who looked at Hayner, back to each other then back at the face down blond. "That fucking hurt," Hayner mumbled into the grass and with a bark of laughter Sora removed Axel's phone from his friend's hand and stood up.

"I got your phone back Axel!" the brunet called to the redhead who sighed with relief.

"Thanks Sora!" he called back as Riku helped Hayner off the ground, but with the thick red stripe from his forehead to his chin so boldly visible Riku couldn't help but double over with laughter and Hayner huffed.

"Man you're such an ass hole; I'll never understand why Sora likes you so much." He complained, receiving a smack across the back of the head from the brunet as he glared.

"Come on guys it's time for cake!" Roxas shouted at the trio, snapping the tension between Hayner and Sora and the wispy blond stomped off up the garden and back into the house.

"I didn't mean to upset him by laughing," Riku said guiltily, now standing beside Sora as the pair set off for the house.

"He didn't mean it; he just has anger issues, trust me everything will be fine once he has cake."

********

"Bye guys!" Sora waved to his departing friends from Axel's front door, each of them waving in return.

"See you later Sora, Riku!" Demyx called back and the group of nine walked away.

"I guess I should go too," Riku said from behind the brunet who turned to look at his crush.

"If you wait around a little while we can give you a lift home," Sora offered, looking over Riku's shoulder at his brother and Axel who were currently fawning over each other making Sora frown.

"I think I'll be here all night if we're waiting for Roxas," Riku admitted, joining Sora to watch the pair, Roxas flipping Riku off in return to his comment.

"You're leaving?" Kairi questioned as she joined the remaining four boys in the hall and Riku nodded. "It was really nice to meet you Riku, thanks for… well" Kairi glanced at Sora who gave her a warning look, "coming, I guess," she smiled brightly at him.

"It was nice to meet you too Kairi," he smiled at the girl who then hugged Sora and walked upstairs to her room.

"I'll get going, I hope Roxas doesn't keep you all night," Riku laughed.

"I have ways of getting him to leave," Sora shrugged.

"Ok well, I'll probably see you next week then."

"Maybe I'll bump into you again sometime," Sora grinned, glanced over at his brother and sighed. "I'll walk you out, watching those two is just depressing me," the brunet admitted and walked with Riku to the door and out onto the porch.

"Does it really bother you?" Riku asked they stopped outside the house and Sora shook his head.

"No, I just get jealous," he admitted and chuckled in embarrassment. "Besides, it's weird that Roxas is the happy-go-lucky one, that's usually me and he's the manic depressive."

Riku laughed, "I'm sure things will change for you Sora," the boy promised, "in fact I guarantee it" he smiled and Sora blushed. "So turn that frown upside down and give me my goodbye hug."

Riku nudged Sora's chin with his finger and that was all he had to say to spread a wide grin across Sora's face and the brunet pressed himself tightly against Riku's chest in a tight hug making the boy chuckle again. "I'll see you soon Sora," Riku said as the boys pulled away from each other after a long hug and the brunet nodded.

"See you Riku," Sora beamed and watched as his crush walked away.

He stood there for a long moment, his heart still hammering in his chest and his body still warm from the hug, wishing more than anything that Riku could just stay with him. 'At least he's part of the group now' he thought optimistically and sighed contentedly before turning on his heels and heading back through Axel's front door with a loud "oh my god Roxas! Is that a spider?!"