A High Price (Riku, Axel/Riku)
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Title: A High Price
Author:
aurons_fan
Theme: 18: Auction
Pairing/Characters: Riku; Axel/Riku
Rating: PG13 or T.
Disclaimer/claimer: I do not own neither Riku nor Axel. They belong to Square Enix and Disney.
Notes: Um, I suck at Axel/Riku. I just realized that as I finished the story. D: It's short, it ends awkwardly (like it could continue, but it more than likely won't) and... yeah. That's my warning. :D beta-ed by teh awesome
rainbowserenity.
Summary: School festival, auction, really good looking males. Need I say more?
Word Count: 4,126
Riku wasn’t the type to get mad easily. Sure, if he got much lower than a 90 on a test, he would scowl angrily, knowing that his parents would be pissed at him in the long run. But overall, trivial things never angered Riku.
So, it was a surprise to Sora when his best friend approached him one day at school, his expression downright deadly, with a gleam in his eye. Sora, being the person he is, simply tilted his head and acted confused to the source of Riku’s anger. But the truth was that he actually had no idea why his best friend looked so pissed.
“Sora…why?” Riku all but growled, slamming his head against his locker. “I mean, I can understand if you’re angry at me or something and that’s why you did it, but…I thought we were friends! What friends do these kinds of things to each other?”
Blinking some more, Sora simply thought back to what he could have possibly have done. Sure, nicking a piece of bread off his friend’s lunch tray was “bad”, but it certainly didn’t deserve this level of complaining from the silver haired teen. Instead of pondering such a thing any longer, Sora simply asked Riku what was wrong.
If looks could kill, Sora would be dead on the spot. “The school festival?” Riku gently reminded him, his expression one of an axe murderer. Sora nodded, faintly remembering such an event. Oh yeah! His class had joined up with Riku’s class (why? He wasn’t sure, but he thought the idea was clever enough to join two grades with the other) in order to come up with an idea for their upcoming school festival. And he faintly remembered that he might have suggested something…
Oh…
That.
Sora instantly put on a wide grin and looked up to Riku, hoping his cheerful expression wouldn’t anger the teen even more. “Well… it wasn’t all my idea! Selphie had some input as well…”
“Input?” Riku repeated before giving a load groan. “Sora, you’re the one who suggested the idea in the first place!”
Said brunet pursed his lips. Oh yeah; it had been all his idea. But he didn’t mean it for Riku… “Riku, but school festivals usually have auctions!”
Riku’s expression grew murderous. “They usually don’t auction off males at them!”
Sora blinked, feeling confused. Wait-a-minute. He remembered that Selphie had promised that they were going to auction off old watches, coats, or things the classes didn’t need! But males? Before Sora could voice his thoughts aloud, Riku quickly handed over a flyer, in which Sora took, skimmed over, and groaned loudly.
Class 2-A and 3-A team up for the School festival! On December 20th, from between 11AM to 3PM, we’ll be auctioning off the cutest males in school, most of them being the boys from the classes! From between the charm of senior Riku, to the combination of the fierce and sweet being Roxas and Sora, you, yes youwill be able to win them for a small price! …That is, if you can beat the competition!
Sora’s expression fell, but not for the reasons that Riku had hoped. “Why am I being paired off with Roxas?” he asked, frowning. “I mean seriously, yeah we’re twins and we’re close friends, but it doesn’t mean we’ll do everything together!”
Riku groaned and snatched the flyer out of Sora’s hands. “Did you even read the bottom?”
Sora narrowed his eyes. “Well now I can’t, seeing as someone took the paper out of my hands before I could!”
Sighing, Riku held up the paper to the brunet’s eyes, in which he read: “Don’t forget ladies (and guys, if you swing that way)! You can have the delicious male of your choice for a full week, including (only if they allow it) the Christmas Holidays! Isn’t that just grand?”
What came from Sora next sounded like a mix between a dying cow and a strangled sob. “Riku… Riku, you know I didn’t mean for this to happen! What if…” He gulped. “What if someone bids on me and wins me and it’s not Kairi and I’m stuck with them and I dun wanna!” He clung to his best friend’s arm. “Don’t make me Riku! Don’t make me!!!”
“Calm down!” Riku exclaimed, shaking his friend off. When Sora gave him a mix between a pout and puppy dog eyes, he sighed. “Look, at least you have Kairi -and Roxas has Naminé - who might be able to bid on you. I don’t have anyone… and you know what some of those other seniors have been talking about…”
Sora paused for a minute before grimacing. Ugh. Poor Riku! Why he might be able to be auctioned by Kairi, his best friend might have to spend the holidays with some creepy, flesh-eating girl, who would rape him and murder him and, and, and…
Ah well. Riku was strong enough, and people didn’t eat flesh (at least, he didn’t think so. Well, he really hoped they didn’t). He simply shrugged, gave his best friend his condolences, and together, they began to plot of how Riku might be saved in oh, ten days.
--
Well, to make a long story short, nothing actually worked. They had tried black eyes, bruises, bed head, and even more things to make it seem like Riku was actually thirty times uglier than he was. Heck, Sora suggested that Riku walk to school, claim that he was pregnant and did not know who the father was, but both Riku and Kairi quickly persuaded him out of that one.
Naminé and Kairi shared their sympathy for the silver haired teen, but all Roxas did was laugh - loud, rude, in-his-face laugher that made Riku want to maim the blond. It was quite lucky they were still in school and that Riku didn’t want a black mark on his record, or he would’ve punched the blond’s face in, the fact that he was Sora’s twin brother would not even be a thought in his mind.
“You might want to, however,” Roxas commented at lunch one day (actually, one day before the auction), jabbing his fork in Riku’s direction. Said teen sighed and took a sip from his soda, planning to not listen to whatever Roxas was planning to say. “Watch out for Axel.”
Naminé glanced over to Roxas before nodding intently. “Yeah. I’ve heard that he’s bad news,” she added softly, picking at her sandwich. “Wasn’t he following you around before, Roxas?”
Roxas snorted and then shrugged. “I don’t even know if he bends that way,” he began, shaking his head. “All the guy wanted from me was a fight to see how strong I was. And…uh, let’s just say he hasn’t bothered me again.” He beamed over to his brother, who was busy shaking his head and helping Kairi with her math homework, before turning back to Riku.
“Whatever it is,” Naminé noted, finishing a sketch in her notebook. Roxas had continually warned her that her artwork was beautiful, but she might want to stop drawing in her other notebooks, such as history. “Be careful, okay Riku?”
Riku gave her a gentle smile. Despite the wacko she dated (although Roxas would never think he was “wacko”. Perhaps “over zealous,” but nothing much else), Naminé was fairly calm and always made him feel better. “Yeah, I will.”
--
The day of the auction arrived. Everyone who was being auctioned had jitters in their stomachs, and the girls (and guys) paying the munny had brought their wallets full of cash, expecting to get some grand prize. Most of the other events at the festival had been held off just to allow the auction to go on smoothly.
And gone on smoothly it had. For most of the guys being auctioned off, it was fairly obvious to whom they were going. The few interesting ones were Hayner and Pence. Hayner’s was because the girls fought tooth and nail over him, only to be out beaten by Seifer in the end (and Seifer’s only response to this was that he wanted to “make Hayner owe him for beating him at a Struggle Match”). Pence’s was quite humorous (at least to Roxas. Poor Riku and Sora pitied their friend) because all the girls and quite a few guys had wanted him, seeing as the class had given him the tagline, “And he’ll help you with your winter projects!” something that their school had a lot of. However, even though the price went insanely high, Pence was finally sold to Olette, who simply smirked at the people trying to buy him, and dragged him off, telling him her plans for the winter break.
When it was Roxas’s turn, it had also been a battle between sexes, seeing as many of the guys wanted Roxas on their winter sports team, and if they won him, he would have to comply. However, Naminé easily out beat the price (how? Riku, personally, didn’t want to know where the quiet blonde had gotten so much munny to buy her boyfriend) and walked away victorious.
Sora was a hassle as well, but many more females voted for him than the other guys that had been auctioned off. The winner, however, turned out to not be Kairi, but a quite girl named Grace, who had short brown hair, and none of the three boys had seen her before. Luckily for the former Keybearer, she was a new friend of Kairi’s, and he was promptly dragged off by the two of them, both chattering about what they were going to do, and how they would split the time between the three of them equally.
Then…it was time for the hottest guy in the school. And, as if the people doing the auction wanted to fray poor Riku’s nerves, they announced said statement over the intercom, and even more girls arrived from nowhere, willing to bet all their munny on the poor, hapless, hot Riku.
Pity him, mortals!
Riku stood on the auditorium stage, wishing the lights weren’t so bright in his eyes, but still paced around on the stage nervously. He couldn’t even see who was putting up the munny (due to the lights in his eyes), but he grew increasingly nervous as the prices shot through the roof.
“150 munny!” one girl cried, jumping up and down. She was instantly trampled by other hapless teens, who only wanted a few days of Riku glory.
“200!”
“400!”
“900!”
Riku’s eyes widened. Okay. Maybe this was getting a little out of hand. Sure, the munny from the auction would help his class (and Sora’s), but this was getting insane! Where were people getting this munny from!?
The prices continued to steep higher and higher, and Riku only held his head in his hands in pain, afraid of who was buying him and what they were planning to do with him, when one final price out ranked every else’s and made the entire auditorium go silent.
“One million munny.”
So this is silent as the grave, Riku thought, squinting his eyes to see who in their right mind would (or, a better question he wanted answered even faster, could) pay a million munny to spend time with him. He gulped, fairly loudly he thought, but he doubted anyone cared, seeing as the girls were torn between sobbing at their losses and looking to see who the mysterious voice that had bought their precious Riku from right under their noses to notice.
The winner stepped onto the stage and Riku felt his hands grow numb. Of course. He didn’t even realize it, but he had heard the winner, and the winner did have a low voice - much lower than a female’s. At first, he realized that it might not be too bad - until he caught a good glimpse of who it was: Axel. He was one of the more feared seniors at his school - not for fights, or anything of that nature. It was his presences, more so, that scared off people; his spiked red hair (true, both Roxas and Sora had spiked hair, but not like this), his black tattoos under his eyes (were those even allowed?), and his general entourage of friends (Riku had heard that some guy had stepped on one his friend’s feet and she electrocuted him to a near coma) was also helping to frighten Riku.
Suddenly Riku really wished that he hadn’t come to school today.
--
“I still can’t believe that I’m the winner of the great Riku,” Axel commented, poking his chopsticks into his bowl of ramen. Riku sat silently across from the redhead, chewing on the inside of his cheek warily and looked around the cafeteria, searching for Roxas, Sora, anyone.
The guys being bought had to at least spend the school festival with the ones who had bought them, so Riku was stuck eating at the Japanese Club’s booth across from Axel, who was cheerily slurping down a bowl he had bought himself. Axel was even kind enough to chip in for Riku’s lunch (having the large expense of three dollars). Wow, big spender, Riku scowled to himself, poking a fork (he wasn’t so skilled at chopsticks, unlike Axel here, who looked as if he’d been using them all his life).
“So, uh,” Axel began, putting down his bowl and chopsticks to stare at the silver haired teen. Riku glanced away. It was just plain creepy the way Axel was staring at him -almost as if he was attempting to stare into his soul. “How come no girls were being auctioned?”
Riku raised an eyebrow at the guy, but since he seemed genuinely curious, he shrugged. “None of the girls in either class signed up, so it became a guy’s only auction.”
“Ah.” Axel noted, taking a moment to crack his fingers, much to Riku’s dismay. He personally hated it when people did that, and Roxas used to always tease him about it.
They fell back into an uncomfortable silence. A few minutes passed before Riku put his bowl down, having finished all the ramen that he wanted (he wasn’t a big ramen guy. More of a chicken lover, or fish, but ramen? Nah…) and finally asked the question that had been burning on his mind. “Why did you put up so much munny to buy me? You don’t even know me!”
The last part came out as more of an agitated shout and a handful of people walking around gave him strange looks. Axel shrugged and put his feet up on the table, much to the annoyance of one of the guys working the booth. “Axel, get your feet off the table,” the male voice complained, peeking a head out of the booth. The guy was seemingly Riku’s age, but had dirty blond hair that quite resembled a mullet. Riku simply blinked and the guy, finally recognizing who Riku was, gave a groan. “Axel… I knew you’d flaunt your munny, but this guy? I thought you were going to buy Roxas and convince him to fight against you or something!”
“Ah, Demyx,” Axel smiled over to the blond before shaking his head. “Roxas was my first choice, but I wanted something more…interesting.”
This guy, Demyx, walked from out of the booth and sat next to Riku, shaking his hand. Riku gave a faint smile back before quickly taking his hand back and nursing it, glad that the over eager blond hadn’t ripped it out of its socket. “Name’s Demyx,” he offered, smiling. “I’m pretty close friends to Axel, so if you need any help, ask me!”
“I’m sure he will, Demyx,” Axel chided, shaking his head. “How about you, Riku, go off and hang with Roxas and your friends. Unless, of course you’d rather to spend even more quality time with me in a staring contest, seeing as that’s all we have been doing for the past hour.”
Riku raised his eyebrow in confusion. “But you bought me -and you’ve evaded answering my question. But sure, I’ll leave.” As Riku got up to leave, Axel quickly grabbed his arm to stop him. “Make up your mind, am I going, or staying?”
“Can’t have my prize leaving me forever, now, can I?” Axel retorted, smirking. Riku scowled inwardly - yes, he had been planning to do just that; even if Axel had put up so much munny for him, the redhead was beginning to creep him out - before nodding. Tapping the phone in Riku’s hand, Axel added, “Give me your number. I’ll call you when you’re ready to leave.”
Noting Riku’s still confused expression, Axel added, “I’m sure that you had plans for today. Go do them, then we’ll spend ‘quality time’,” he made the air quotes when he spoke. “Later. Alright?”
“Great!” Riku nodded before writing out his cell phone number on a napkin and bounding off. He quickly rushed through the stalls of the festival, glad to be rid of Axel’s presence and eager to find his friends.
Demyx collected both Axel’s and Riku’s bowls from the table before glancing down to his friend. “Why did you do that? Let him go, I mean.”
Axel gave a devilish smirk and leaned onto the table. “Because, Demyx,” Axel began, cracking his knuckles. “Once I get him, he won’t be allowed out of my sight until I’m done.”
“Oi…” Demyx shook his head before retreating to the back of the booth and stacking the dishes up for another member of the Japanese Club to clean.
--
“Riku!” Kairi exclaimed, jumping up from her seat to hug her older friend. Riku patted her on the back as the others crowded around him.
“What did he do to you?” Sora wanted to know, gently prying Kairi off of his best friend to allow Riku to breathe (in which Riku gave a grateful nod).
“Roxas was afraid you were sold off to a brothel,” Naminé added, smiling when Roxas began to protest that he had not. Knowing Roxas, however, Riku had to agree more with his girlfriend than him.
He gave a shrug and sat down at their table. “Nothing, actually. We talked, ate, and he let me go hang out with you guys.”
Kairi raised an eyebrow. “Riku, I realize that you love us all, but he did spend a million munny on you. I mean, look at the females who are upset about this!” She casually waved an arm to a large circle of girls who were comforting one another, trying to get over the loss of Riku. Riku simply shook his head.
“He said… that since I had planned to hang out with you guys anyway, that I should and we could hang out later.” Riku admitted with a shrug. “I have to think that he’s an interesting, but nice, guy.”
“Great guy!” Sora chimed in, patting Riku’s back. “Excellent, if he’s letting me hang with my buddy.”
Time flew by and the five of them went from stall to stall to test their luck, skills, aim, and the works. One group of students had set up a laser tag area and they all had tested their ability at it.
But even with the amount of fun Riku was having, he still felt a small pang of depression. Sora had Kairi and Roxas had Naminé. Riku had…well, no one. True, they were all friends, but as they were currently sipping hot cider on the side of a hill with the two couples snuggled together, he felt another pang, this time being jealousy, before shaking his head.
Brinng! Brinng!
The other four of them jolted up before glancing to Riku, as the silver haired teen reached into his pocket to grab the phone. Caller Unknown, it read, and he flipped the phone open. “Hello?” he whispered, feeling embarrassed that he’d broken the mood for the others. Roxas scowled at him and went back to hugging Naminé. Riku just shrugged, wondering who could be calling him. It wasn’t like just anyone had his phone number…
“Hey!” Riku’s face fell even farther when he heard the other line - the voice was unmistakably Axel’s. It wasn’t like he had completely forgotten about the redhead, but in a way, he was hoping that Axel was going to just leave him alone for the rest of the day.
But then again, he could stay with his friends and feel jealous of being alone, or…
“Hey, you there?” Axel repeated, putting an end to Riku’s self absorbed thoughts.
Riku nodded quickly. “Yeah, yeah, alright,” he replied, shaking his head. Axel gave a malicious chuckle and Riku just raised an eyebrow.
“Seeing as I could tell you weren’t paying attention, you just volunteered yourself up for a game of Strip Poker.” Riku’s left eye twitched, and almost like Axel was there watching him, he continued. “Joke. But meet me by the front gate.” The line then went dead and Riku closed the phone with a sigh.
“Who was it?” Sora asked leaning away from Kairi for a moment. Riku stood up, stretching a bit before shoving his phone into his pocket, and heading off.
“Axel,” he called over his shoulder just before he left the area completely. “I’ll see you guys later.”
--
At ‘later’, Riku found himself sitting in a coffee shop, a drink resting on the table in front of him and an obnoxious redhead sitting across from him. “So, why did you?” Riku questioned, picking up the drink gingerly. When Axel raised his eyebrow, Riku simply added, “Put up a million munny for me, I mean. Isn’t that…”
“Extravagant?” Axel offered, and when Riku nodded, Axel simply smirked and dropped his now empty cup back onto the table. “True, but would you rather spend days with your adoring public, or hang out with me?”
Riku had to admit that being with Axel, no matter how extravagant for whatever reason (which he was going to find out) was pretty interesting. The look on the people at the coffee shop’s faces when the two of them rolled up in a limo, only to have a second car pull up, dropping a motorcycle off, and handing the keys to Axel was priceless. He was just one of the many that stood open mouthed in awe at such a strange sight. And at the same time, he felt good about being with Axel in general. Unlike Sora and Roxas, he didn’t have to worry about couples irritating him, nor being the fifth wheel, and he could be reguarded as interesting. Even with that, he shook his head. “But…a million?!”
“Dad’s got some extra munny to throw around,” Axel explained, the wide smirk on his face clearly showing that he was lying. “But I think you’re worth it.”
Riku snorted and shook his head. “That’s pretty heartfelt, coming from someone like you.” Axel gave a shrug.
“I’ve been called heartless and now I’m heartfelt?” He shook his head in confusion. “Anyway, I only picked you because I had the munny. Also…I wanted to see those girls crushed faces, which was hilarious, by the way.” Axel chuckled to himself, as if proud for a job well done. “And you’re an interesting fellow.”
Raising his eye and lowering the drink he was about to sip, Riku asked, “Me?”
Axel nodded. “Sure. When you’re not hanging around that Sora kid looking like death warmed over, then yeah, you’re definitely appealing.” He opened his mouth to continue when there was an obnoxious ringing noise coming from Axel. He cursed under his breath before quickly grabbing the phone in his pocket and softly speaking into it.
Riku shook his head before finally lifting the drink to his lips and taking a sip - which he almost spit out in surprise. The drink itself was delicious - hot chocolate, with just the right amount of whipped cream. But…how in the world could Axel have known what he drank?
The sound of the phone snapping shut alerted Riku and he glanced up to see Axel standing and grabbing his coat. “My friends want to meet you. I’d ask if you want to come, but seeing as I spent all this munny on you…” He gave a snicker.
Shrugging, Riku grabbed his coat and the hot chocolate. “I don’t mind,” he stated, glancing up at Axel. The redhead glanced down to Riku and he simply gave a smirk in return.
Shaking his head and reaching into his coat pocket for his keys, Axel led Riku out of the shop, going on how one of his friends was sadistic and would probably electrocute him at first glance. Even with the threat hanging above his head, Riku simply followed after him, glad to be included in whatever the redhead was going to do.
To see all the prompts, go here.
Title: A High Price
Author:
aurons_fan
Theme: 18: Auction
Pairing/Characters: Riku; Axel/Riku
Rating: PG13 or T.
Disclaimer/claimer: I do not own neither Riku nor Axel. They belong to Square Enix and Disney.
Notes: Um, I suck at Axel/Riku. I just realized that as I finished the story. D: It's short, it ends awkwardly (like it could continue, but it more than likely won't) and... yeah. That's my warning. :D beta-ed by teh awesome
rainbowserenity.
Summary: School festival, auction, really good looking males. Need I say more?
Word Count: 4,126
Riku wasn’t the type to get mad easily. Sure, if he got much lower than a 90 on a test, he would scowl angrily, knowing that his parents would be pissed at him in the long run. But overall, trivial things never angered Riku.
So, it was a surprise to Sora when his best friend approached him one day at school, his expression downright deadly, with a gleam in his eye. Sora, being the person he is, simply tilted his head and acted confused to the source of Riku’s anger. But the truth was that he actually had no idea why his best friend looked so pissed.
“Sora…why?” Riku all but growled, slamming his head against his locker. “I mean, I can understand if you’re angry at me or something and that’s why you did it, but…I thought we were friends! What friends do these kinds of things to each other?”
Blinking some more, Sora simply thought back to what he could have possibly have done. Sure, nicking a piece of bread off his friend’s lunch tray was “bad”, but it certainly didn’t deserve this level of complaining from the silver haired teen. Instead of pondering such a thing any longer, Sora simply asked Riku what was wrong.
If looks could kill, Sora would be dead on the spot. “The school festival?” Riku gently reminded him, his expression one of an axe murderer. Sora nodded, faintly remembering such an event. Oh yeah! His class had joined up with Riku’s class (why? He wasn’t sure, but he thought the idea was clever enough to join two grades with the other) in order to come up with an idea for their upcoming school festival. And he faintly remembered that he might have suggested something…
Oh…
That.
Sora instantly put on a wide grin and looked up to Riku, hoping his cheerful expression wouldn’t anger the teen even more. “Well… it wasn’t all my idea! Selphie had some input as well…”
“Input?” Riku repeated before giving a load groan. “Sora, you’re the one who suggested the idea in the first place!”
Said brunet pursed his lips. Oh yeah; it had been all his idea. But he didn’t mean it for Riku… “Riku, but school festivals usually have auctions!”
Riku’s expression grew murderous. “They usually don’t auction off males at them!”
Sora blinked, feeling confused. Wait-a-minute. He remembered that Selphie had promised that they were going to auction off old watches, coats, or things the classes didn’t need! But males? Before Sora could voice his thoughts aloud, Riku quickly handed over a flyer, in which Sora took, skimmed over, and groaned loudly.
Class 2-A and 3-A team up for the School festival! On December 20th, from between 11AM to 3PM, we’ll be auctioning off the cutest males in school, most of them being the boys from the classes! From between the charm of senior Riku, to the combination of the fierce and sweet being Roxas and Sora, you, yes youwill be able to win them for a small price! …That is, if you can beat the competition!
Sora’s expression fell, but not for the reasons that Riku had hoped. “Why am I being paired off with Roxas?” he asked, frowning. “I mean seriously, yeah we’re twins and we’re close friends, but it doesn’t mean we’ll do everything together!”
Riku groaned and snatched the flyer out of Sora’s hands. “Did you even read the bottom?”
Sora narrowed his eyes. “Well now I can’t, seeing as someone took the paper out of my hands before I could!”
Sighing, Riku held up the paper to the brunet’s eyes, in which he read: “Don’t forget ladies (and guys, if you swing that way)! You can have the delicious male of your choice for a full week, including (only if they allow it) the Christmas Holidays! Isn’t that just grand?”
What came from Sora next sounded like a mix between a dying cow and a strangled sob. “Riku… Riku, you know I didn’t mean for this to happen! What if…” He gulped. “What if someone bids on me and wins me and it’s not Kairi and I’m stuck with them and I dun wanna!” He clung to his best friend’s arm. “Don’t make me Riku! Don’t make me!!!”
“Calm down!” Riku exclaimed, shaking his friend off. When Sora gave him a mix between a pout and puppy dog eyes, he sighed. “Look, at least you have Kairi -and Roxas has Naminé - who might be able to bid on you. I don’t have anyone… and you know what some of those other seniors have been talking about…”
Sora paused for a minute before grimacing. Ugh. Poor Riku! Why he might be able to be auctioned by Kairi, his best friend might have to spend the holidays with some creepy, flesh-eating girl, who would rape him and murder him and, and, and…
Ah well. Riku was strong enough, and people didn’t eat flesh (at least, he didn’t think so. Well, he really hoped they didn’t). He simply shrugged, gave his best friend his condolences, and together, they began to plot of how Riku might be saved in oh, ten days.
--
Well, to make a long story short, nothing actually worked. They had tried black eyes, bruises, bed head, and even more things to make it seem like Riku was actually thirty times uglier than he was. Heck, Sora suggested that Riku walk to school, claim that he was pregnant and did not know who the father was, but both Riku and Kairi quickly persuaded him out of that one.
Naminé and Kairi shared their sympathy for the silver haired teen, but all Roxas did was laugh - loud, rude, in-his-face laugher that made Riku want to maim the blond. It was quite lucky they were still in school and that Riku didn’t want a black mark on his record, or he would’ve punched the blond’s face in, the fact that he was Sora’s twin brother would not even be a thought in his mind.
“You might want to, however,” Roxas commented at lunch one day (actually, one day before the auction), jabbing his fork in Riku’s direction. Said teen sighed and took a sip from his soda, planning to not listen to whatever Roxas was planning to say. “Watch out for Axel.”
Naminé glanced over to Roxas before nodding intently. “Yeah. I’ve heard that he’s bad news,” she added softly, picking at her sandwich. “Wasn’t he following you around before, Roxas?”
Roxas snorted and then shrugged. “I don’t even know if he bends that way,” he began, shaking his head. “All the guy wanted from me was a fight to see how strong I was. And…uh, let’s just say he hasn’t bothered me again.” He beamed over to his brother, who was busy shaking his head and helping Kairi with her math homework, before turning back to Riku.
“Whatever it is,” Naminé noted, finishing a sketch in her notebook. Roxas had continually warned her that her artwork was beautiful, but she might want to stop drawing in her other notebooks, such as history. “Be careful, okay Riku?”
Riku gave her a gentle smile. Despite the wacko she dated (although Roxas would never think he was “wacko”. Perhaps “over zealous,” but nothing much else), Naminé was fairly calm and always made him feel better. “Yeah, I will.”
--
The day of the auction arrived. Everyone who was being auctioned had jitters in their stomachs, and the girls (and guys) paying the munny had brought their wallets full of cash, expecting to get some grand prize. Most of the other events at the festival had been held off just to allow the auction to go on smoothly.
And gone on smoothly it had. For most of the guys being auctioned off, it was fairly obvious to whom they were going. The few interesting ones were Hayner and Pence. Hayner’s was because the girls fought tooth and nail over him, only to be out beaten by Seifer in the end (and Seifer’s only response to this was that he wanted to “make Hayner owe him for beating him at a Struggle Match”). Pence’s was quite humorous (at least to Roxas. Poor Riku and Sora pitied their friend) because all the girls and quite a few guys had wanted him, seeing as the class had given him the tagline, “And he’ll help you with your winter projects!” something that their school had a lot of. However, even though the price went insanely high, Pence was finally sold to Olette, who simply smirked at the people trying to buy him, and dragged him off, telling him her plans for the winter break.
When it was Roxas’s turn, it had also been a battle between sexes, seeing as many of the guys wanted Roxas on their winter sports team, and if they won him, he would have to comply. However, Naminé easily out beat the price (how? Riku, personally, didn’t want to know where the quiet blonde had gotten so much munny to buy her boyfriend) and walked away victorious.
Sora was a hassle as well, but many more females voted for him than the other guys that had been auctioned off. The winner, however, turned out to not be Kairi, but a quite girl named Grace, who had short brown hair, and none of the three boys had seen her before. Luckily for the former Keybearer, she was a new friend of Kairi’s, and he was promptly dragged off by the two of them, both chattering about what they were going to do, and how they would split the time between the three of them equally.
Then…it was time for the hottest guy in the school. And, as if the people doing the auction wanted to fray poor Riku’s nerves, they announced said statement over the intercom, and even more girls arrived from nowhere, willing to bet all their munny on the poor, hapless, hot Riku.
Pity him, mortals!
Riku stood on the auditorium stage, wishing the lights weren’t so bright in his eyes, but still paced around on the stage nervously. He couldn’t even see who was putting up the munny (due to the lights in his eyes), but he grew increasingly nervous as the prices shot through the roof.
“150 munny!” one girl cried, jumping up and down. She was instantly trampled by other hapless teens, who only wanted a few days of Riku glory.
“200!”
“400!”
“900!”
Riku’s eyes widened. Okay. Maybe this was getting a little out of hand. Sure, the munny from the auction would help his class (and Sora’s), but this was getting insane! Where were people getting this munny from!?
The prices continued to steep higher and higher, and Riku only held his head in his hands in pain, afraid of who was buying him and what they were planning to do with him, when one final price out ranked every else’s and made the entire auditorium go silent.
“One million munny.”
So this is silent as the grave, Riku thought, squinting his eyes to see who in their right mind would (or, a better question he wanted answered even faster, could) pay a million munny to spend time with him. He gulped, fairly loudly he thought, but he doubted anyone cared, seeing as the girls were torn between sobbing at their losses and looking to see who the mysterious voice that had bought their precious Riku from right under their noses to notice.
The winner stepped onto the stage and Riku felt his hands grow numb. Of course. He didn’t even realize it, but he had heard the winner, and the winner did have a low voice - much lower than a female’s. At first, he realized that it might not be too bad - until he caught a good glimpse of who it was: Axel. He was one of the more feared seniors at his school - not for fights, or anything of that nature. It was his presences, more so, that scared off people; his spiked red hair (true, both Roxas and Sora had spiked hair, but not like this), his black tattoos under his eyes (were those even allowed?), and his general entourage of friends (Riku had heard that some guy had stepped on one his friend’s feet and she electrocuted him to a near coma) was also helping to frighten Riku.
Suddenly Riku really wished that he hadn’t come to school today.
--
“I still can’t believe that I’m the winner of the great Riku,” Axel commented, poking his chopsticks into his bowl of ramen. Riku sat silently across from the redhead, chewing on the inside of his cheek warily and looked around the cafeteria, searching for Roxas, Sora, anyone.
The guys being bought had to at least spend the school festival with the ones who had bought them, so Riku was stuck eating at the Japanese Club’s booth across from Axel, who was cheerily slurping down a bowl he had bought himself. Axel was even kind enough to chip in for Riku’s lunch (having the large expense of three dollars). Wow, big spender, Riku scowled to himself, poking a fork (he wasn’t so skilled at chopsticks, unlike Axel here, who looked as if he’d been using them all his life).
“So, uh,” Axel began, putting down his bowl and chopsticks to stare at the silver haired teen. Riku glanced away. It was just plain creepy the way Axel was staring at him -almost as if he was attempting to stare into his soul. “How come no girls were being auctioned?”
Riku raised an eyebrow at the guy, but since he seemed genuinely curious, he shrugged. “None of the girls in either class signed up, so it became a guy’s only auction.”
“Ah.” Axel noted, taking a moment to crack his fingers, much to Riku’s dismay. He personally hated it when people did that, and Roxas used to always tease him about it.
They fell back into an uncomfortable silence. A few minutes passed before Riku put his bowl down, having finished all the ramen that he wanted (he wasn’t a big ramen guy. More of a chicken lover, or fish, but ramen? Nah…) and finally asked the question that had been burning on his mind. “Why did you put up so much munny to buy me? You don’t even know me!”
The last part came out as more of an agitated shout and a handful of people walking around gave him strange looks. Axel shrugged and put his feet up on the table, much to the annoyance of one of the guys working the booth. “Axel, get your feet off the table,” the male voice complained, peeking a head out of the booth. The guy was seemingly Riku’s age, but had dirty blond hair that quite resembled a mullet. Riku simply blinked and the guy, finally recognizing who Riku was, gave a groan. “Axel… I knew you’d flaunt your munny, but this guy? I thought you were going to buy Roxas and convince him to fight against you or something!”
“Ah, Demyx,” Axel smiled over to the blond before shaking his head. “Roxas was my first choice, but I wanted something more…interesting.”
This guy, Demyx, walked from out of the booth and sat next to Riku, shaking his hand. Riku gave a faint smile back before quickly taking his hand back and nursing it, glad that the over eager blond hadn’t ripped it out of its socket. “Name’s Demyx,” he offered, smiling. “I’m pretty close friends to Axel, so if you need any help, ask me!”
“I’m sure he will, Demyx,” Axel chided, shaking his head. “How about you, Riku, go off and hang with Roxas and your friends. Unless, of course you’d rather to spend even more quality time with me in a staring contest, seeing as that’s all we have been doing for the past hour.”
Riku raised his eyebrow in confusion. “But you bought me -and you’ve evaded answering my question. But sure, I’ll leave.” As Riku got up to leave, Axel quickly grabbed his arm to stop him. “Make up your mind, am I going, or staying?”
“Can’t have my prize leaving me forever, now, can I?” Axel retorted, smirking. Riku scowled inwardly - yes, he had been planning to do just that; even if Axel had put up so much munny for him, the redhead was beginning to creep him out - before nodding. Tapping the phone in Riku’s hand, Axel added, “Give me your number. I’ll call you when you’re ready to leave.”
Noting Riku’s still confused expression, Axel added, “I’m sure that you had plans for today. Go do them, then we’ll spend ‘quality time’,” he made the air quotes when he spoke. “Later. Alright?”
“Great!” Riku nodded before writing out his cell phone number on a napkin and bounding off. He quickly rushed through the stalls of the festival, glad to be rid of Axel’s presence and eager to find his friends.
Demyx collected both Axel’s and Riku’s bowls from the table before glancing down to his friend. “Why did you do that? Let him go, I mean.”
Axel gave a devilish smirk and leaned onto the table. “Because, Demyx,” Axel began, cracking his knuckles. “Once I get him, he won’t be allowed out of my sight until I’m done.”
“Oi…” Demyx shook his head before retreating to the back of the booth and stacking the dishes up for another member of the Japanese Club to clean.
--
“Riku!” Kairi exclaimed, jumping up from her seat to hug her older friend. Riku patted her on the back as the others crowded around him.
“What did he do to you?” Sora wanted to know, gently prying Kairi off of his best friend to allow Riku to breathe (in which Riku gave a grateful nod).
“Roxas was afraid you were sold off to a brothel,” Naminé added, smiling when Roxas began to protest that he had not. Knowing Roxas, however, Riku had to agree more with his girlfriend than him.
He gave a shrug and sat down at their table. “Nothing, actually. We talked, ate, and he let me go hang out with you guys.”
Kairi raised an eyebrow. “Riku, I realize that you love us all, but he did spend a million munny on you. I mean, look at the females who are upset about this!” She casually waved an arm to a large circle of girls who were comforting one another, trying to get over the loss of Riku. Riku simply shook his head.
“He said… that since I had planned to hang out with you guys anyway, that I should and we could hang out later.” Riku admitted with a shrug. “I have to think that he’s an interesting, but nice, guy.”
“Great guy!” Sora chimed in, patting Riku’s back. “Excellent, if he’s letting me hang with my buddy.”
Time flew by and the five of them went from stall to stall to test their luck, skills, aim, and the works. One group of students had set up a laser tag area and they all had tested their ability at it.
But even with the amount of fun Riku was having, he still felt a small pang of depression. Sora had Kairi and Roxas had Naminé. Riku had…well, no one. True, they were all friends, but as they were currently sipping hot cider on the side of a hill with the two couples snuggled together, he felt another pang, this time being jealousy, before shaking his head.
Brinng! Brinng!
The other four of them jolted up before glancing to Riku, as the silver haired teen reached into his pocket to grab the phone. Caller Unknown, it read, and he flipped the phone open. “Hello?” he whispered, feeling embarrassed that he’d broken the mood for the others. Roxas scowled at him and went back to hugging Naminé. Riku just shrugged, wondering who could be calling him. It wasn’t like just anyone had his phone number…
“Hey!” Riku’s face fell even farther when he heard the other line - the voice was unmistakably Axel’s. It wasn’t like he had completely forgotten about the redhead, but in a way, he was hoping that Axel was going to just leave him alone for the rest of the day.
But then again, he could stay with his friends and feel jealous of being alone, or…
“Hey, you there?” Axel repeated, putting an end to Riku’s self absorbed thoughts.
Riku nodded quickly. “Yeah, yeah, alright,” he replied, shaking his head. Axel gave a malicious chuckle and Riku just raised an eyebrow.
“Seeing as I could tell you weren’t paying attention, you just volunteered yourself up for a game of Strip Poker.” Riku’s left eye twitched, and almost like Axel was there watching him, he continued. “Joke. But meet me by the front gate.” The line then went dead and Riku closed the phone with a sigh.
“Who was it?” Sora asked leaning away from Kairi for a moment. Riku stood up, stretching a bit before shoving his phone into his pocket, and heading off.
“Axel,” he called over his shoulder just before he left the area completely. “I’ll see you guys later.”
--
At ‘later’, Riku found himself sitting in a coffee shop, a drink resting on the table in front of him and an obnoxious redhead sitting across from him. “So, why did you?” Riku questioned, picking up the drink gingerly. When Axel raised his eyebrow, Riku simply added, “Put up a million munny for me, I mean. Isn’t that…”
“Extravagant?” Axel offered, and when Riku nodded, Axel simply smirked and dropped his now empty cup back onto the table. “True, but would you rather spend days with your adoring public, or hang out with me?”
Riku had to admit that being with Axel, no matter how extravagant for whatever reason (which he was going to find out) was pretty interesting. The look on the people at the coffee shop’s faces when the two of them rolled up in a limo, only to have a second car pull up, dropping a motorcycle off, and handing the keys to Axel was priceless. He was just one of the many that stood open mouthed in awe at such a strange sight. And at the same time, he felt good about being with Axel in general. Unlike Sora and Roxas, he didn’t have to worry about couples irritating him, nor being the fifth wheel, and he could be reguarded as interesting. Even with that, he shook his head. “But…a million?!”
“Dad’s got some extra munny to throw around,” Axel explained, the wide smirk on his face clearly showing that he was lying. “But I think you’re worth it.”
Riku snorted and shook his head. “That’s pretty heartfelt, coming from someone like you.” Axel gave a shrug.
“I’ve been called heartless and now I’m heartfelt?” He shook his head in confusion. “Anyway, I only picked you because I had the munny. Also…I wanted to see those girls crushed faces, which was hilarious, by the way.” Axel chuckled to himself, as if proud for a job well done. “And you’re an interesting fellow.”
Raising his eye and lowering the drink he was about to sip, Riku asked, “Me?”
Axel nodded. “Sure. When you’re not hanging around that Sora kid looking like death warmed over, then yeah, you’re definitely appealing.” He opened his mouth to continue when there was an obnoxious ringing noise coming from Axel. He cursed under his breath before quickly grabbing the phone in his pocket and softly speaking into it.
Riku shook his head before finally lifting the drink to his lips and taking a sip - which he almost spit out in surprise. The drink itself was delicious - hot chocolate, with just the right amount of whipped cream. But…how in the world could Axel have known what he drank?
The sound of the phone snapping shut alerted Riku and he glanced up to see Axel standing and grabbing his coat. “My friends want to meet you. I’d ask if you want to come, but seeing as I spent all this munny on you…” He gave a snicker.
Shrugging, Riku grabbed his coat and the hot chocolate. “I don’t mind,” he stated, glancing up at Axel. The redhead glanced down to Riku and he simply gave a smirk in return.
Shaking his head and reaching into his coat pocket for his keys, Axel led Riku out of the shop, going on how one of his friends was sadistic and would probably electrocute him at first glance. Even with the threat hanging above his head, Riku simply followed after him, glad to be included in whatever the redhead was going to do.
To see all the prompts, go here.