A storm raged outside my window, and I couldn't help that I hid under my covers, and almost cried out at every blinding flash of lightning, then roar of thunder. I gripped painfully at my sheets as I panted, squeezing my eyes shut. What made me feel even worse was that I lived alone.

I was kicked out of my parent's house when I was 17 (After I came out to them) and have lived on my own for almost a year now. I really thought that after so long, being gone because I was saving all the worlds, as well as Kingdom Hearts, that they'd understand, and maybe have some sympathy. But instead, I got a brutal scar on my rib cage, from my dad beating me to the ground, then repeatedly thrusting his steel toed shoe into my side. Ever since then, I've lived alone, and kept to myself. And it was here I stood; In the darkest oblivion.

My eyes stung and I felt a lump in my throat as I tried to stay strong. Honestly, I am scared to death of thunderstorms, or any other storm really. It reminded me too much of how almost all the worlds went into darkness, and being on my own, as always, and being expected to be the hero. I held my knees to my chest, mentally wishing it would stop. Wishing he was here to hold me, and whisper small nothings in my ear. I opened my watery eyes, and smiled a little, thinking about him. Riku. Him and I have been friends since we were three. I remember on nights like this, when we were younger, he'd hold me, and tell me about how the stars were actually different worlds that were distant from our own, and how he wanted to see them one day.

It was when we were eight that he stole my first kiss. I was so upset with him, that I had threatened to tell my mom. That had immediately made him apologize, since he was terrified of her. Truth be told, I was too, but I was just so... mad at him for being my first kiss. I had really wanted it to be this pretty girl named Kairi, a cute red-headed girl. She had appeared on the island a few years before, but no one knew how she got there. Rumours had it that she was from another world, which really fascinated me. She told me once that she really is from another world, but she couldn't remember very much from it. I couldn't help but fall in love with her, she was exciting in every way to me.

When I was 13, I had finally got the feeling that I should ask her out. We were already good friends, and, a few ditzy school girls had even started "shipping" us. I had decided to ask Riku for help, since he's more of a man than I could have ever been at the time. And of course, he had helped me man up a little, and showed me how to be a gentleman, although, he seemed a little glum when I told him that I was going to ask Kairi out. I thought maybe he wanted to be her boyfriend too. I didn't care though; I was still going to ask her out.

And so came the day when I did. Palms feeling sweaty, lungs not breathing, blood rushing to my face, and my heart pounding loud in my ears, I asked her out. She rejected me. She told me that she already had her eyes on someone else, and that someone else was Tidus, one of Riku's other friends. I even ended up finding the bouquet of flowers I got her in the trash. Feeling shattered inside, I ran home that day, bawling my eyes out. I decided not to tell Riku, since I didn't want him to get worried over me like I knew he would. But, when he had noticed that I hadn't gone to the Destiny Islands with him like we always did, he had come to my house to check on me. As soon as he saw me, he already knew something was up. He asked what had happened, but I refused to say anything. He eventually gave up, and was about to leave, but then I finally told him about how Kairi had rejected me, and then I started crying again. He held me, and tried to quiet me down, telling me that she wasn't any good for me anyways. At that moment, I was glad to have a friend like Riku, who could always be there for me when I needed him.

That was probably the last moment of peace I had before the Destiny Islands fell into the darkness. I remember running outside into the dark midst of the storm that whipped freezing cold water at my skin, only to find him there, surrounded by darkness. I was terrified as he told me that we could finally be free, without our parents, and that we could finally see other worlds. Then I remembered Kairi. She may have broken my heart, but at that moment, I didn't care. Shakily, I asked about her. He said that she was going to be there too. I was terrified as he extended his hand out to me, and asked me to join him. I grabbed his hand. I never regretted it.

My life was completely changed from that point on, from defeating Ansem, to saving the worlds a second time, from saving Riku, and from every other point of my life being a keyblade weilder. But I loved the thrill and danger it held, as stressful as it was.

As I continued my adventure searching for the king, as well as Riku, and saving the worlds, I eventualy got over Kairi; She was probably with Tidus anyways, so who gave a damn? I had still felt the same way when I saw her again in The World That Never Was. She had definitely changed since the last time I saw her, but that didn't change how I felt about her. But when she revealed that the "Ansem" I was seeing, was actually Riku, I couldn't help but cry. I had been looking for him everywhere… and yet there he was, overtaken by the darkness. I immediately had convinced him to return to the light, and since then we had fought together, and had each other's backs like we used to.

After a few months of being back from finally saving Kingdom Hearts, Riku and I were still good friends, and eventually I had told him about how I got kicked out of my house. He told me that my parents were insane for doing that to me, and since then he's been visiting on the weekends to keep me company.

Beyond that point, I have always loved him. He was really the only one I knew who had my back, and I had his. Even now, in this raging storm, I'm still thinking about him. A clap of thunder sounded in the room, making me jump a little, and snapping me out of my thoughts. My phone immediately started ringing. I quickly answered.

¨Hello?¨

¨Hey Sora. You okay over there? It's raining pretty hard outside.¨ It was Riku. I gave out a sad chuckle, and replied ¨I wish I could say I was, but right now I'm scared to death."

"I'll come over then."

"No! Are you nuts?! It's way too dangerous out there!"

"I'll be fine Sora, chill out. I only live five minutes away."

"No! Y-you stay home. I'll be fine." I said, calming down a little.

"Alright, but I bet you're hiding under your covers, hugging yourself."

I blushed profusely. "Hey, how'd you know that?" I questioned. He gave a light chuckle and answered "You do it every time". I rolled my eyes at this. Sometimes he knew me a little too well than I'd like him to know.

"Well, see you later then." He said. I frowned, knowing I was going to be alone again. "Alright, you too, bye." I said, then hung up. I sighed and closed my eyes, even though I knew I wasn't going to get any sleep in this kind of weather.

A little while later, there was a loud knocking at my door. I jumped in surprize, then checked the time. It was 1:33. I quickly jumped out of bed, and nearly fell downstairs. "Who the hell was stupid enough to go out in this storm this late?!" I thought, grabbing the doorknob. I froze, then my eyes widened.

"RIKU, YOU IDIOT!" I screamed, swinging the door open. He jumped back, holding his hands up in defense. He opened his mouth to speak, but I quickly cut him off, my eyes stinging again.

"I-I told you not to come here! Riku, you could have gotten hurt, or lost, or killed out there!" I exclaimed, tangling my fingers in my hair in exasperation. "I don't want to lose you again!" I cried weakly. I felt yet another huge lump in my throat, and he quickly swept me up in his arms.

"Sora, I'm sorry I didn't listen to you. I really am. It's just I know you get really scared during storms like this, and I know what it's like to be alone, and scared. I didn't want you to feel that way." He said soothingly, stroking my hair lightly. I sniffled a tiny bit, and sighed. "It's o-okay. But don't ever do that shit again." I whispered, holding onto him tightly. A flash of thunder struck, causing me to cry out, and bury my face into his chest, heavily breathing.

"We'd better get inside" he said uneasily. I quickly nodded, shaking as I let him go. Once inside, we didn't bother turning on the lights; the storm had cut off all the power. We both cautiously went upstairs to my room, and I turned on a few small battery powered lamps. Another crash of thunder sounded through the room, and squealing, I jumped onto my bed, throwing the covers over myself. I heard Riku chuckle a little, and I pouted. He sat down next to me, uncovering me as he did so. "That's exactly how you got scared when we were younger." he commented, stroking my hair "Who would've known you still squeal like a little girl?" . I sat up, and crossed my arms at this. "Whatever, and we're not kids anymore Riku. We're 17." I sighed and went on "And I really need to learn to grow up… On my own..."

He frowned slightly. "Nobody can do everything on their own, Sora. And it's okay to have a fear of something, It's what makes you yourself. And eventually, you'll get over your fears. But I don't want you to feel like you should change yourself, just to make everyone else happy. You're my best friend,and without you, I would have been lost in the darkness to rot." Riku said, slinging an arm around my shoulder. I remained silent, wincing at the thought of not having Riku. "I just lo-" I whispered, then automatically stopped myself, looking down. There was no way I was going to confess my love to my only friend. I mean, what if he hated me for it? What if he tortured me about it? But… What if he left me?... I tried to gulp down the lump in my throat as I thought about the last one. Now there's definitely no way he can know. It's too big of a risk, and it's a risk that could ruin my life.

"You just what?" Riku asked, looking at me with concern. "Nothing" .My eyes stung worse as I fought the urge to cry. I shouldn't keep a secret from him! He's my best friend! He trusts me with all of his secrets, so I should trust him with mine, right?! No, no, no. Not this one though… But it's wrong to hide things from people that care about you! The lump in my throat expanded as I mentally argued with myself.

"Sora, please."

"It's nothing." My lip quivered violently. I bit it roughly. This isn't supposed to be happening. He shouldn't know. He can't know. Dammit Riku,why couldn't you have just listened to me!?

"Sora."

I bit my lip with full force, causing it to burst and bleed out. I gasped loudly as I felt tears rolling down my face. Without thinking, I gripped onto Riku's shirt. He jumped. "Riku," I trembled, tightening my grip. This is it. The rest of my life, forever alone. I can only blame myself for it now. "I...I,I LOVE YOU RIKU!" I cried, sobbing with loud gasps."I-I always have loved you! I-I'm so sorry! P-PLEASE don't leave me!" I choked out, my shoulders bouncing heavily as I bawled, still holding a vice grip on the fabric of his shirt.

I felt a warm, gentle hand rub my back as I hiccuped. "It's okay Sora… Don't cry about it, i-it's fine Sora…" Riku said slowly, wrapping his muscular arms around my slender body. My crying died down a couple minutes later, but I still sniffled and hiccupped a little. I looked up at him confused. "You mean… you don't hate me?..." I asked feebly, my lip quivering a tiny bit. He shook his head. "No, not at all. I understand that it must have really hurt you to keep that away from me for so long, because you thought I wouldn't understand. I really wish you would have told me sooner though…" He said, wiping away small silent tears off my cheeks as well as the blood that had trailed down my chin. I quirked a brow at this. "What do you mean you wish I would have told you sooner?" I questioned. His cheeks flushed an adorable shade of pink. "Well, because I feel the same way too. I… I love you too Sora. I always have, since we were eight, when I had kissed you. I really loved you a lot. I loved how cute and childish you are, how bright your eyes get when you're excited, how deep you blush when you're embarrassed, and how… absolutely loving and optimistic you are. You never look at the downside,always the good news, and you always found a way to shine bright again. Sora, I love you!" He said, then quickly pressed his lips onto mine. My eyes shot open, and I felt small tears cling to the corners of my eyes. All these years, I had been waiting for a moment like this,and I always thought of it as a fairy-tale. Like it was something to wish for, but never receive. Yet here I am living it.

I gently kissed back. Our lips touched as if one of us made the wrong move, we'd wake up from a sweet dream. But this was no dream, and I wanted this moment to last. I gasped as he bit at my bottom lip faintly, allowing him to make an entrance between my bruised lips. I whimpered as I felt his tongue invade my moist cavern, and explore the area. Shivers were sent up my spine as our tongues stroked against one another,with a light taste of copper(From the cut on my lip). We then broke apart to breathe, panting some. "Sora…" Riku said, stroking my cheek. "Yes… Riku?" I asked faintly. "Will… you be my boyfrie-" I didn't let him finish as I tackled him into a hug, causing him to fall on his back on my bed, with me on top of him. I gave him quick light kisses on his nose, and then his soft warm cheeks. "Yes, you idiot!" I said chuckling lightly. He smiled up at me and pecked my lips. A roar of thunder filled the room. "Oh shit!" I squealed, burying my face into his shirt. He laughed at this, wiping his face of any blood that may have stained it. " My poor baby Sora." He said, rubbing my back. I rolled my eyes, nuzzling his chest. "I love you."

"Love you too." I sighed in return. I finally broke free, out of the oblivion.