[Team 1] In Transylvania, Marshmallows Bite You

[mousapelli.livejournal.com]

Sora/Riku, PGish, more of the Dream Drip Distance AU where Sora and Roxas run a coffee shop while Roxas goes to Twilight Town college. Sora is incredibly bad at asking Riku out on a date, but they end up at the Arts House Halloween party anyway.


"Ask him," Roxas ordered, grabbing Sora by the shoulders and dragging him out of Dream Drip Distance's doorway and out onto the porch.

"Ask me what?" Riku asked, head tilted and the box of season flavor syrups Sora had ordered balanced against his hip like it weighed nothing. Late afternoon sunshine caught in the flyaways sticking out from under Riku's red delivery cap, turning them gold.

"Err," Sora faltered, distracted and wretched under Riku's attentive gaze. "It's nothing, just, here, come in and put that down, you can, um, it's heavy right?"

"Not really?" Riku said. Sora pivoted on his heel as if Riku had agreed, then had to hop back a step when the cafe door shut in his face.

Roxas gave him a threatening look through the glass panel in the door, and flipped the deadbolt with a loud click. "Ask him."

"Roxaaaaaas," Sora whined. Roxas flipped the door sign to "Closed" and crossed his arms. Huffing a sigh, Sora turned back to Riku, who was looking puzzled but amused. "You know how the Arts House has a party? This weekend?"

"Sure," Riku said neutrally. "The Arts House does a Halloween party every year."

"Oh! Well…" Sora trailed off as Riku continued just staring at him. Why was forcing words out so hard when Riku was looking at him! "Do you ever go to it?"

"No," Riku said. He and Sora stared at each other.

"Oh my god," Roxas muttered, muffled by the door. "RIKU, WILL YOU GO TO THE ARTS HOUSE PARTY WITH ME AS A NON PLATONIC DATE ACTIVITY."

"Riku," Sora repeated miserably as Riku's mouth twisted in an effort not to laugh, "will you go to the Arts House party with me as a—"

"Yes, yes, ok, please stop," Riku started laughing openly. "Roxas, open the door already, these are actually heavy as hell. How many flavors did you even order?"

"All of them," Sora muttered, cheeks on fire. "I meant to order just pumpkin but they had campfire marshmallow and cranberry and maple syrup. If you don't want to go to the party, you don't have to."

"No!" Roxas scolded as they shuffled in the doorway past him. "No takebacksies!"

"Namine put you up to this, didn't she?" Riku asked Roxas critically. He hefted the delivery box onto the counter with a heavy whunk. "Oof. She's been trying to drag me to that thing ever since we were second years in high school."

"Namine, shmamine," Roxas said airily. "I'm just tired of watching this guy emo bake bat cookies because he can't man up and ask you on a date even though you already defiled the pantry with your kissy cooties."

"Are you five? Shut up!" Sora shoved at Roxas's shoulder, pink creeping up the back of his neck. "Who locked us in there, huh?!"

"Your mom," Roxas retorted, shoving back.

"YOUR MOM," Sora hollered.

"The bat cookies are very cute though," Riku said loyally, interrupting their slapfight. A tray of them was sitting on the counter from when Sora had been interrupted by Riku and Roxas's arrival, iced in colors no bat had ever been even at Halloween. "What flavor are they?"

"The pink and yellow ones are lemon thyme," Sora said. "The purple and blue ones are chocolate mint. Wanna try one?" Riku picked up a yellow one, examining it's cheerful grin before biting off a wing. Smug warmth filled Sora's chest at how Riku's expression melted at the taste; Sora was partial to the lemon version himself. "Namine ordered a couple dozen for the party, but Roxas says my flavors are too experimental for drunk Arts House kids. Axel says they're not experimental enough."

"They're really good," Riku chuckled. "I think you've got the art major stoner market cornered with these." He popped the last bite of the cookie in his mouth and dusted his hands off. "All right, I have to go finish my deliveries. But I'll see you this weekend?"

"It's a date!" Sora said cheerfully. He snuck a quick hug from Riku before his awkwardness could kick back in, butterflies filling his stomach at Riku's quick ruffle of his hair. The butterflies stayed even after Riku had gone. Sora grinned goofily at Roxas, making Roxas roll his eyes. "It's a date!"

"Flipping finally," Roxas said, but he smiled back, self-satisfied. "Now help me come up with some weird monster pun drink names, since you bought all these weird syrup flavors."

"Watch the master at work, little brother," Sora declared, plucking the little chalkboard slate off its stand to wipe it clean. "I think we'll start with a little Blackberry Magic, and then Death by Hot Chocolate, obviously. Campfire Marshmallow can be…Vampire Marshmallow. In Transylvania, marshmallows bite you!"

"Oof," Roxas groaned at Sora's puns. "I think I preferred the emo baking."

*****

Four days and dozens of bat cookies later, along with some pumpkin cream cheese cookies Axel had talked him into, Xion was helping Sora carry the boxes of cookies over to the art house. The sun was just setting, everything washed in pinks and purples, leaves crunched under their boots, and the air was pleasantly crisp. Xion was in high spirits and rather dashing in her Prince Charming costume, plastic sword swinging at her side and cape fluttering in the wind as they strolled across campus.

"I look silly next to you," Sora said, frowning at his homemade vampire costume. He'd been too busy baking and serving people pumpkin coffees to sort it out properly, so he and Roxas had thrown his costume together that afternoon. Sora had streaked some red food dye down a white V-neck and shredded the arms off an old black hoodie, while Roxas sacrificed a mini foldable umbrella to make him a little pair of batwings. Axel had insisted Sora needed some makeup to make the look pop; Sora had had some misgivings but had to admit, Axel did draw a mean pair of wings, and the smoky eyeshadow job ringing his eyes made their blue wide and luminous.

"You look great!" Xion assured, bumping her shoulder into Sora's. "Riku'll definitely let you take a bite out of him."

"Xion!" Sora laughed. "When did you get so spicy anyway? Namine's a bad influence."

"Mm, she can't help it." Xion winked. "She's an art major."

"Nobody knows what it means when you say 'art major' like that," Sora protested, but Xion only laughed and explained nothing.

The Art House party was already well underway when they arrived even though it wasn't full dark yet; pregaming was a time-honored Arts House tradition before any Friday night party, all the more so when the Arts students didn't have to go anywhere else for the party. They passed plenty of costumes more half-assed than Sora's, some barely a quarter of an ass, and skirted around the cluster of people sloshing water everywhere as they bobbed for apples in a clawed bathtub.

"Xion!" Namine called over the throb of the music, waving from the other side of the room. "Sora! Over here!" Sora and Xion made it across the room by weaving this way and that around people trying to decide if they were drunk enough to dance yet. Finally they found Namine clearing a space on a chaotically painted beer pong table for Sora's cookies, in between a huge punchbowl of crushed-oreo dirt and a white sheet cake that said "LET'S GET SHEET-FACED" in dripping red letters.

"What are you supposed to be?" Sora asked, eyeing Namine's costume curiously. She was wearing a lime green sundress with no obvious ornamentation, and a headband with two big googley eyes.

"You can't guess?" Namine asked, smiling sweetly. She tapped her cheek, and Xion leaned in to kiss it with exaggerated smooching noise. "Hm, anything?"

"Nope," Xion sighed, hand on her hip. "Not a princess yet!"

"Darn, we'll just have to keep trying," Namine said, tugging Xion's arm around her waist.

"OH! Oh my god, you're the frog!" Sora cracked up when he realized; Namine preened, pleased by his reaction. "Man, you two are way funnier than me!"

"Oh, tell him he's cute, he's having the vapors over it," Xion chuckled, shaking her head.

"You're a very adorable vampire," Namine assured easily. "Even if you let Axel do your makeup, poor dear. Riku will love it anyway; I sent him to get drinks a minute ago, so he should be right back."
By the time the three of them had set the cookies out from the boxes, Riku did indeed appear, holding two plastic solo cups, and wearing his Twilight Delivery red cap and jacket.

"Riku!" Sora groaned, regretting worrying about his own costume for even one second. "What the heck kind of costume is that?"

"Oh, well, I had work all afternoon so I didn't have time for much, but…" Riku ducked his head sheepishly and turned around. The back of his jacket had a new label affixed over its usual logo, reading 'Pizza Planet.' "The guy in the room next to Namine's does screen printing and made it for me. Apparently now I make deliveries to infinity and beyond."

"I guess that's acceptable," Sora allowed. Somehow even the shittiness of Riku's costume was charming, which was how Sora knew he had it bad.

"Here, take this one," Riku said, handing Sora one of the cups in his hand, and passing the other to Namine. "I have no idea what it is, my choices were red or green."

Sora took a long sip; the drink was sweet and burned all the way down, dangerously smooth. After another swallow, he handed the cup back to Riku. "How drunk do you have to be before I can get you to dance?"

Riku considered the inside of his cup, then looked over his shoulder at the people already drunk enough to dance. "Maybe two of these." Riku threw back the rest of the drink; Sora's eyes tracked the bob of Riku's throat as he swallowed. "Maybe just one. Your wings are very cute."

"You like them?" Sora asked shyly. The knot of warmth in his stomach was only partially due to alcohol. "We had to murder Roxas's umbrella."

"They match your bat cookies," Riku said seriously.

"Are they flirting?" Namine asked Xion in a loud whisper. Sora shot her a dirty look. "They're so bad at it, it's almost cute."

Sora stuck his tongue out. "Come on, Riku, let's get you another one of these." He hooked his arm through Riku's and pulled him in the direction of the kitchen, trying not to be too obvious about how he was feeling up Riku's bicep through his jacket. How was this guy even real?

Riku was looking down at him, a smile lurking just at the corner of his mouth, as if he was thinking the same thing about Sora. "Lead the way."

----

Next up is Greeneggs101!