Elevator

SoraxRiku

A pale hand ran through silver mussed locks as its owner sat straight in bed, his elbow propping himself up. With a languid sigh, he pushed himself out of his comfortable state, hand remaining in his hair all the while. Riku Fair stretched in his richly furnished bedroom and yawned loudly. After his little morning ritual, he glanced at himself in his mirror and snickered sarcastically.

To put it mildly, he looked like total shit. Dark bags were under his aqua eyes and his hair was messier than it usually was in the morning. His cheeks were hollow; his lip chapped and…was that a zit he saw on the side of his forehead? It was obvious that taking care of himself wasn't first on his little agenda.

Then again, who would think about taking care of themselves after failing three consecutive relationships?

He looked like crap and he felt like crap. A discouraged heart was terrible when kept inside a person; it slowly destroyed your positivity from the inside, clawing its way out.

Vexen, Lexaeus, and Zexion. The names of the three different love interests he dumped in 3 months, one right after another. So, you may ask, if Riku was the dumper why was he appearing as the dumpee would, shitted up and all? Alas, the storm of guilt that flooded the boy was too much for him to bear, thus resulting in his current outlook.

'I have work today,' he thought dully, tearing his gaze away from the glass. He stripped down to his socks and boxers and entered his bathroom, soon to exit with a towel around his waist and damp silver strands sticking to his neck.

Another glance was shot towards the visioning device. Good, he was slightly more presentable.

His attire was professional. Black business pants with a crisp, long sleeved ashen shirt , a well fitted, open, dark jacket and polished shoes. His sister, Yuffie, had always said he could pull off appearing as a rich, successful bachelor.

He saw a bit of that now as he adjusted his collar. Now he appeared completely normal to some extent. The zit was still visible but a Yuffie's make up could conceal that right?

He flashed his trademark smirk into the mirror. Aqua lit up mockingly almost immediately. Perfect, now he just needed that cover up.

With silent feet, he made his way to the girl's room, thoughts of his old relationships trying to plague his mind. But he shut those doors and locked them with his master key. His blade of optimism slashed at the guilt that had built up. It was time to forget.

/

A yawn escaped petite pink lips. Yet again Sora Strife had that odd dream. It was about…about…(He scratched at his dark brown spikes as he attempted to remember) a boy…His name was Ventus? Tendrils of his mind tried to grab at other details of the dream but he came up with nothing extraordinary. All he remembered was some giant key and being encased in ice.

His nose scrunched up as even that detail began to fade. Another ten minutes passed, full of attempts at remembering, before the brunette realized he had somewhere to go that day.

"I'm gonna' be late on my first day!" he exclaimed, all traces of sleep disappearing as his eyes widened fearfully. He jumped out of bed right then and zipped for the bathroom. A quick shower was taken and he ran right back out, toothbrush still in his mouth as he pulled on his socks and shirt.

The next five minutes was spent hacking his brains out as he began to choke on the toothpaste suds. The teen's mouth was quickly rinsed after that little unfortunate incident.

The next order of business was to try, in vain, to vaguely control his mess of dark brown spikes.

'Maybe Roxas or Kairi has some hair gel,' he thought as his spike stood up for the fifteenth time. Sora made no move to quiet his steps as he raced down the hallway of the house, thus awakening said siblings before the brunette even got there.

/

"Oh crap! I'm late!" Both boys shouted as they rushed out of their respective households. Riku climbed into his black Ferrari and silently listened to My Chemical Romance while Sora leaped into a red Porsche and sang whole-heartedly to a pop radio station. Simultaneously, both cars pulled into the parking lots of the highly respected Shinra Corporations building, run by none other than Rufus Shinra himself.

The vehicles clicked as they were locked, their owners already heading towards the building. Sora speeded down the halls and into an elevator, rapidly pushing the button that would take him to the twentieth floor, the highest floor in the structure. The doors were about to close when a shoe got into its way. Sora stared at it disbelievingly, then rapidly pressed buttons so that its owner wouldn't lose a limb.

"Thanks," Riku breathed as he stepped in. "I thought-…." he trailed off as aqua met blue.

Many attributes drew Sora's attention to the newcomer. His silver hair, his vibrant eyes, the way the top two buttons of his shirt had become undone in his rush to get to the office building and his nicely toned muscles were only some things that caught Sora's eye.

Of course, in return, many little details about Sora drew Riku's attention. The dark brown spikes that were held up in a way that seemed to deny the very existence of gravity (even though he just used a shit load of hair gel that morning), wonderful azure eyes, and the boy's overflowing with positivity aura were the most noticeable traits about the brunette.

Both men were so caught up in the other that neither had even noticed that Riku had never finished his sentence. Previously stated silver head was the first to break out of the wonderful trance.

"Thanks. I-I'm Riku."

As Sora replied with his own title and a handshake. Somehow, the cheery brunette knew that this little meeting would end up wonderfully.

2. 3. 4. The numbers blinked away as the elevator climbed up and up.

"So which department are you working with?" Sora asked, trying to start a conversation.

"I'm in the SOLDIER unit for all mechanical appliances. You?"

"I'm just an intern really. I'm only starting today." Sora admitted. Blue eyes narrowed as he peered up at the numbers.

"Hey Riku?"

"Yeah?"

"Is it just me or did those numbers just go down two floors?"

"…You're probably hallucinating Sora."

"Now it's back at one."

"…I think we may have a problem."

The elevator's antics didn't stop there. Once they landed at the first floor, they went up to the fifteenth, only to go back the ninth, then to the sixth, then twelfth and so on. They never managed to stay in one place and both boys were rapidly getting frustrated.

Then the lights decided to go out.

"Oh jeez. I can't see the emergency button anymore." Riku didn't intend to worry Sora but that's just what he did. The boy's eyes grew to be the size of saucers and his voice had cracked and raised an octave when he replied,

"What if we just press random buttons and see whether we can finally get the emergency one?"

The silver head's face was completely passive, but Riku's eyes had glazed over with worry.

"If we do that there's a possibility that we'll crash."

Sora went absolutely livid at that. With a pallid face, he yelled,

"So what do we do? Oh my God! We may die in here Riku! I don't know you and I'm going to die with you! I still have so many things I need to do! Leon still has to give me the money he owes me! Axel hasn't given me back my Fall Out Boy CDs~ I haven't even finished Final Fantasy 7 yet and Roxas and I were going to participate in the local Struggle match this year! Heck, I still need to know whether or not Kurt and Blaine kissed in Glee! There has to be something-!"

"Sora!"

The boy stopped his frantic yells.

"Calm down." Riku prompted. His soothing voice seemed to get through to the brunette since Sora fell completely silent after that, breathing controlled.

"Riku," the boy squeaked out after moments had passed. The silver took a deep breath. Had interns always been this annoying?

"Yes Sora?"

"I'm afraid of the dark."

Riku bit back the urge to laugh.

"Since when?" he asked. He predicted that Sora's face was completely serious since his tone of voice portrayed such a vision.

"The traumatic incident involving a mean brother named Roxas and his best friend turned boyfriend, Axel, locked bathroom doors, and a dog who wouldn't stop barking when I rudely interrupted his piss at the age of five."

A fit of giggles escaped the silver head at that one. The impulse was too strong to resist.

"Riku!" Sora whined.

"Sorry. Sorry."

They sat in silence for a while before Riku asked,

"So, your brother-Roxas, was it?-has a boyfriend named Axel. That means he's gay doesn't it?"

They may as well converse right? There was nothing else to do.

Sora snorted.

"Everyone in our family's gay. Roxas has Axel. Kairi has Namine. Our dad, Leon, has our other dad-But he's really our mom in this case-Cloud. Don't even ask how those two managed to produce us because even I have no idea."

"Even you?"

"Yeah…"Sora paused before inquiring in a low tone.

"You don't have a problem with that do you?"

"Oh no. Of course not. I'm bi myself. Just don't go telling Mr. Shinra that. He's gay but is still in denial about his feelings for his bumbling secretary Reno. Shinra's a bit touchy on the subject. Last person to mention their sexuality got fired."

"I see. Poor thing."

"It's how you got your intern job so be grateful."

"Seriously?" Sora almost felt contrite, but quickly brushed remorse of his shoulders.

"I explained some of my family life to you so you must explain something to me in return. Equivalent trade right?"

A snicker.

"That's from FMA. You still watch anime on weekends? How old are you?"

Riku would have seen Sora puff out his chest arrogantly if the lights were on.

"I'm 25 and I still read comics and cosplay. And may hell destroy the world if I'm not damn proud of it."

"So you're one of those weirdos who dresses up as fictional characters and writes fanfiction ?"

"Yu-. Wait, how did you recognize the FMA reference if you don't watch it?"

Riku looked away from where he believed Sora was.

"My sister Yuffie still watches that and some shit called Black Butler. She forced me to watch some yaoi crap once too. Lost my straight sexuality and virgin eyes that day."

"Let me guess; Junjou Romantica right?"

Riku shudder gave Sora all the answers he needed.

"Roxas used to love that show."

"Your Roxas sounds like an interesting character."

"If you think he's unique, you should talk to Axel. The guy's a riot. He knows how to start a fire using only a safety pin, a PS2, a ball point pen and various Final Fantasy games."

"Wow." was all Riku could come up with. The silver head inwardly smacked himself. 'Wow'? Seriously?

About 30 minutes into their dark, stuck-in-an-elevator session, Sora's voice spoke again, this time a bit calmer and mischievous than before.

"You know, now that I really think about it, this is kind of cool."

Riku couldn't keep the frost out of his words.

"How so?" he asked curtly. Unfazed by his tone of voice, Sora replied,

"Well, it's not every day that you get stuck in an elevator with strangers right? Besides, if we use our imaginations, we could be spies sent on a secret mission to defeat those in the Shinra company using giant blade-like keys of kingdoms and dark auras whilst fighting alongside mouse kings, ducks, and dogs."

The first question that popped into Riku's head was 'Is this guy serious or…?'

The second being, 'Did he just say whilst?'

"It's an interesting change from everyday life. Having an incident like this every once in a while would give me a sense of actually living more often. If we get out of this, I think I'll appreciate life more."

"We will get out of this. They're bound to figure out that we're missing before the end of the day."

That was a total lie and Riku knew it. Reno would probably laugh evilly before marking him as absent for a day of work and he would do it again and again until he finally got fired. His family knew he usually came home late and left early so they wouldn't be concerned until weekend finally hit.

But Sora seemed so unsure and panicky before. Hell, he probably still was. Sora was a nice guy and Riku would hate to hear him start whining again. Seriously, the sound of Sora's whines were annoying enough to make him punch infants.

"Hey," Sora began, bringing Riku out of his brooding.

"Hmm?"

"You never really told me about your family."

Riku pondered over whether he should say anything or not before sighing languidly and starting his family story. After all, Sora would probably nag him into giving the other information.

"My father is Zack Fair (He's one of the most famous SOLDIERs Shinra has ever trained.) and my mom is named Yazoo. I have one sister, you already know about Yuffie, and four brothers, Kadaj, Loz, Sephiroth and Joshua. I don't really interact with my brothers as much as Yuffie so I can't say as much as you did with Roxas. I know Joshua's dating some kid named Neku. He's pure gay. Kadaj is…Kadaj and Loz is pretty much asexual from what I can tell. Yuffie's going after some guy named Vincent, Sephiroth is another asexual one and that's it for sexuality."

"What did you mean by 'Kadaj is Kadaj?" Sora asked. Riku shrugged.

"He's just a bit…quirky."'

"What about you? Do you have any quirks?"

"I'll tell you mine, Sora, when you name all of yours."

The brunette's index finger connected with his forehead as he looked up.

"Okay, um, I have a math fetish."

Riku spluttered briefly. He had his masters degree in mathematics but he decided to conveniently forget that little fact about himself.

"My favorite word is 'Spontaneous Combustion' and yes, I do realize that you believe that it is two words but the way I read it is 'Spontaneous-a space that bridges the single word together-then combustion' so take that."

Riku closed his mouth.

"I will always wash my hands twice before and after a meal and am afraid to leave my valuables downstairs for fear the monsters will get it. Your turn!"

"…Damn you're weird."

"Thank you! Now answer the statement."

Riku rolled his eyes, action unseen in the dark, and began elaborating on his list of oddities.

"I hate things that are dirty and yet my room's a total mess. My sister Yuffie and I live together to help each other pay the rent so I tend to have a few…girlish moments."

Sora nodded. He did the same with Kairi and Roxas. The red headed girl occasionally rubbed off on him.

"I have an obsession with buttered toast."

Sora laughed out loud.

"What?"

"Buttered toast? You seem so sophisticated 'Ku! I thought you would, like, read the paper whilst drinking a cup of coffee and daintily munching scones."

'Ku? Riku didn't know it was possible to shorten his name and make it sound kind of cool. His right eye twitched as he heard the brunette say that word again.

"What's up with your vocabulary? You keep using words like whilst and you just mentioned daintily. No one ever uses those anymore."

He heard Sora let out the rest of his giggles before the other replied,

"Oh, my 'mom' Cloud is a writer. He writes literature centered in olden times and often reads his work aloud when trying to get past a scene. I picked up a few of his words when I was younger I guess. Didn't even realize it either."

"What does your Dad do?"

"Oh he-. Wait, I see what you're doing. You didn't finish naming your quirks Riku! No fair!"

Riku's nose scrunched. He was hoping the other wouldn't realize that.

"Fine then. I…~~~~"

"What was that 'Ku? I couldn't hear you."

"I-I still watch Disney movies."

"Oh well. I do too. So does Roxas. And Kairi. Heck, we even got Axel to watch Hercules with us once. 'Course he never came over on Movie Night ever again after that but he still watched it."

"But,uh,Sora, I'm addicted to…Beauty and the Beast."

"…Wow."

"Yeah."

"I could've lived my life without knowing that."

"And I could've lived my life without telling you but someone was being persistent."

"Least you managed to confide in a good friend."

"Oh so we're good friends now?"

"Of course! No one knows about my math fetish except for me and my DSi. Not even Roxas and he and I tell each other everything. Well, almost everything. He didn't mention whether he was still a virgin or not after that night with Axel... Anyway, since you know about my little quirk I have to keep you by my side and make sure I don't annoy you. 'Cause having everyone know about my…problem and start shooting random math terms at me would be troublesome."

There was silence as Riku took Sora's little speech in. Said brunette attempted to catch his breath as the silver head smirked. Then,

"Hey Sora,"

"What?"

"Prime factoring."

There was some uncomfortable seating arrangements and Sora's right foot twitched against Riku's leg.

"PEMDAS."

"Riiiikuuuu!" Was that…a moan Sora emitted?

"Subtraction. Addition. Multiplication…Sine! Cosine! Tangent! SoCahToa!"

Riku heard Sora's embarrassing mewl and smirked.

"Intergers."

"I hate you sooo much right now."

"You don't sound like it~!" Riku said almost immaturely.

"Oh but I do. Ngh, When this is all over, Riku I swear, I will kill you."

"Interns shouldn't disrespect theirelders."

"Elders shouldn't purposely put their interns in uncomfortable situations."

"I suppose you'll have to subtract me from this equation."

"Ugh…You're a frickin Jerk!"

"I know."

"You're a jerk!"

"I know."

"You're a jerk!"

"Do me a favor. Call me jerk one more time."

"You're a Jerk! Jerk! Jerk! Jerk! Jerk! Jerk! Jerk!"

"…Random exclamations of song much?"

"Hey 'Ku?"

"Yes Sora?"

"Have you ever kissed anyone?"

Riku flinched. The memory of the three relationships he ended were fresh in his mind and stung. Realizing that Sora was waiting, he responded,

"Of course Sora. I'm not a child."

"Have you ever kissed a guy?"

"Yes Sora."

D-Did Riku just hear the brunette scoot a bit farther away from him.

"You've been in a relationship with a dude…Tell me about it."

The silverette swallowed the lump that lodged itself in his throat and responded.

"They didn't really end up well. None of them really fit you know? We didn't get too intimate. I didn't want to just in case the relationship didn't last. If we both jumped into it without taking precautions we would regret it. The most I ever came with any of them was a light peck on the lips so,"

Riku shrugged depressingly at this point.

"I don't know."

Sora was silent for a while and Riku grew anxious. Had he said too much?

"Sora," he began. He wanted to keep the conversation going. "Have you ever kissed someone?"

"Yes!" the boy shouted defiantly.

"Your Dad/Mom/Cloud person does not count."

"…"

"I thought so Sora. I thought so." Riku jeered.

What caught Riku unawares, however, was when a pair of soft lips landed on his.

It was a brief kiss. Nervous and awkward, but it was warm. And it made the little food in Riku's stomach jump up and perform a National Award Winning Cheerleading Routine before settling down again.

As quick as it came, it left, leaving his lips cold.

"Now I have." Sora muttered, looking away. The silverette could almost feel the blush creeping up the other's face.

"You…"

"Hey! You two okay in there?"

It was Reno who was yelling through the doorway. Sora was the one to reply with an airy laugh and witty comment, seeing as how Riku was still in shock. He sat in silence as the red-head and brunette kept up a conversation as the doors were pried upon. He didn't know that they were free until a certain bubble of joy tapped his shoulder. He quickly stood, stretching, before they both finally made it out of the confining box.

"Guess this is it huh?"

"Yeah."

Sora beamed up at him, shaking his hand vigorously.

"I'll see you around RiRi."

With a wink, the brunette stepped away and casually walked towards the stairwell, whistling the theme for some Disney-Square Enix collaboration under his breath.

Judging by the digits scrawled onto the piece of paper left in his hand, Riku would be seeing the brunette around. Real soon.

With a small grin, he went to join Reno for a quick coffee run. And perhaps borrow a few video games and Fall Out Boy CDs from his best friend.