As some of you may know, Peanut and I are crazy about Roleplaying, and it's clear, since this is the second one on this site that belongs to us. And we aren't even done with the first one! Regardless, that won't stop us from starting this new roleplay, Rude Awakening!

 

Kinda dark and mysterious title, eh?

 

As stated in the title, this RP is one on one, no exceptions. Please refrain from posting in the RP. Instead, follow us on this new journey!

 

Peanut, my amazing friend, let's begin!

"I'm not gonna lie to you, Light," Riku continued, watching the girl as she ate. He knew the last bit would drive her away a little, but he continued. "I felt something. A part of me liked the attention, but another part of me realized that Ashe and I were through." He lowered his gaze to his plate, his food hardly touched. "Ashe and I are different people than we once were, and we realized that, so we said our goodbyes." They were just friends, nothing more. But...the person who took the picture was asking for a beating, that was for sure.

Lightning swallowed her food but continued staring down at it as her fork played with the potatoes. "You didn't go into the kiss knowing it was going to be goodbye," she said quietly. "You went into it thinking it was something more, didn't you?" Did he believe that he and Ashe were going to be together again? Did he even think about Lightning when he kissed her? She wanted him to have.

"I didn't see it coming at all," Riku admitted softly, glancing up at Lightning. "I was more surprised than anything." Like he said, a part of him liked the kiss, but he realized it wasn't the same as it once was. It was different, and that difference meant volumes.

"Not too surprised to kiss her back," Lightning said quietly. She wasn't trying to pick a fight, though she definitely had the right to. Not only did Riku kiss another girl, but he kept it a secret from her. If it meant nothing, he would have told her about it, wouldn't he have? He would have told her that Ashe kissed him out in public and that he didn't have any part in it. But he did his part in that kiss.

Riku lowered his eyes again, glancing to the side. "Guess not," he said in agreement. He did kiss back, that was for sure. But...he felt guilty about it after it happened, if that helped Lightning feel better. Surely she would like to hear how miserable he was because of the aftermath.

Lightning set down the fork, hearing it softly bump against the plate. She wasn't sure if Riku had anything to say, but she did. "I saw basically all of your friends today," she declared without looking up. "All of them said you can be quite the flirt. ...But they also said you're different with me." She looked up at him. "I want to know how." How was it different?

Riku looked back up at Lightning then, simply staring at her. His friends said that? It wasn't that it wasn't true, but he was surprised that his friends went out of their way to admit that. He smiled a little, unable to help it. He loved his friends, but they knew how to put him in embarrassing situations.

Lightning was confused at the smile. What was he so happy about? She awkwardly looked back down at her food, eating some of the mashed potatoes but not paying attention to the taste. If he couldn't answer this question, then they were going to have some problems. Bigger problems than what they already had.

Riku ran a hand through his hair, leaning back in his chair as he looked down at the table. "The truth?" he asked softly, his smile lingering slightly. He was sure Lightning would answer positively to that question; nobody liked being lied to. But he really just needed a moment to come up with the right words.

Lightning rolled her eyes and otherwise stayed silent, since she had food in her mouth. Of course she wanted the truth; what kind of an idiot would ask for a lie at a time like this? Especially since she asked the question. Just answer me, Riku. It doesn't need to be elaborate or phrased just right. Tell me why I'm different.

Riku let his smile linger for a few seconds longer before it faded. His eyes found Lightning in the silence. "I can be myself around you, completely," he finally admitted. "And you're real with me. You don't hide anything, you're blunt, to the point, and you give me grief when I deserve it." He hoped she could tell he was being sincere, because he didn't know how else he could. "Do you honestly think I would go out of my way to protect another girl like I have you? Especially when I barely knew you? Do you think I would lay out a path of candles and set out flowers for someone I didn't care about? I knew you were different the moment I met you in that classroom, Lightning." He shook is head. "To this day, I don't think anything different. Not even Ashe can change that."

Edited July 31, 201213 yr by Forever Love

Lightning finished the food in her mouth before Riku even spoke, so she didn't have any awkward moments where she choked on food because of compliments. Of course she didn't know what to say to any of that. She looked up at Riku when he was done though, the firelight dancing in her eyes yet again. He said she was different from other girls, or so she took his words to mean that. "Then why did you kiss her back?" she asked quietly. If Lightning was so special to him, why did he kiss Ashe back?

Riku shrugged, but he kept eye contact. "I don't know," he answered softly. And that was the truth. He didn't know why he kissed Ashe. "But I don't have feelings for her, if that's what you're worried about." Lightning should have known by now that he cared about her, and her only. Nobody else.

Lightning nodded faintly, looking down at her plate again. If Riku didn't know, how was she supposed to? She believed him, but that didn't take away the hurt. He still kissed Ashe while he was in a fake relationship with her. He broke her trust and she didn't know if she could ever forgive him for that. Trust wasn't something she handed out too easily.

Riku gazed at Lightning in silence. Wasn't it obvious, how much he cared about her? And her only, of course. He admitted before that he had feelings for Lightning, and he told her that they weren't fake. None of his actions weren't realistic, even out in the public alongside her. Didn't she realize that?

After a few seconds, Lightning looked back up at Riku. "I'm still mad at you," she declared. "Even if the kiss didn't mean anything." He still kissed Ashe while he was Light's "boyfriend". The press was going crazy with it. And so was she. She had trusted him not to do something like this, but he did it anyway. It'd take a while to trust him again.

"I know," Riku replied with a small nod. He wasn't happy about it, but he didn't really expect his explanation to change things. He just wanted to explain himself to Lightning, and the situation. Hopefully now she had a better understanding.

"It'll take a lot to get me to trust you again," Lightning said bluntly, staring at Riku as she spoke. She was dead serious, and honest. She wanted to trust him again with her heart, but after an incident like this, it was going to take a lot of hard work on Riku's part. She had a feeling he'd be up for it since he apparently cared a lot about her, but still. It wasn't going to be an easy road.

Riku lowered his gaze to the table, but he nodded again in silence. He knew that too. And he didn't have anyone else to blame but himself. It wasn't Ashe's fault, even if he did suspect her of setting him up when he found out the news. But it was just his carelessness; he should have known someone would be eager to snap a picture of the moment, no matter who they were.

After a few moments of looking at Riku, Lightning lowered her gaze back to her food. "The other night," she said softly, recalling all the things that she said in her anger. "You should know I'm not sorry for anything I said. And I'm offended you didn't think I had a right to know about Ashe just because this is a fake relationship." He kept it from her when he should have fessed up. It would have been bad, but still.

Riku closed his eyes briefly, but after a moment he looked to Lightning again. "I didn't tell you because it didn't mean anything," he said softly. "But once I knew it was going public, Serah got to you first." He was going to tell her, but he didn't get the chance.

"I don't care about the meaning behind the kiss or it being made public," Lightning said, lifting her eyes and looking at Riku again. "What I care about is that you kissed her. That has significance whether the kiss meant something to you or not." How could he not realize that? Were guys really so clueless?

Riku leaned forward slightly, setting his arms on the table as he gazed at Lightning. "How is it significant to you?" he asked, curious. He knew it was significant, as far as things went for him. But he wanted to know what kind of significance it had in Lightning's point of view.

Lightning looked away at the question. Why was she so offended by it? Riku hadn't seen the kiss coming and it didn't spark any emotion in him--Well, not love for Ashe, anyway. That was important. She supposed that she was just...jealous. Jealous that Riku would even show that kind of affection to another girl. A gesture of affection, not that there was actually affection behind it... You make no sense even to yourself.

Riku waited in silence, but after a few minutes of nothing but quiet, he looked away from the girl in front of him. "Forget I asked," he told her, getting back to his food. It was starting to get cold, so he found this the best way to distract himself. If Lightning wanted to really know how to the kiss made him feel, he would tell her: shame, regret, and guilt. Lots of it.