Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.

Author's note: This story is a prize-fic for Nyah-Chan, who sent tin the 1000th review for my one-shot series, Arsenal of Words. Thank you for reading and enjoy.

Leon knocked at the door of the Fair residence, and only had to wait a few seconds before Aerith opened the door with a broad smile. She immediately stepped aside to allow the scarred man in.

"Hi Leon; Zack and Riku aren't back yet but they should be in any minute."

"I'm actually a little early," The former SeeD responded with a small shrug. "We finished routing the new block earlier than expected so I thought I would just come straight here."

"That's nice. I'm sure Riku will be pleased." The green-eyed woman grinned when she noticed the small gift bag that her friend was holding at his side casually. "Did the possibility of him not passing never cross your mind, or did you figure you could pass that as a condolence gift if he failed?"

Leon did not so much as glance at the bag. "It crossed my mind but I dismissed it just as quickly and I couldn't pass this as anything but a congratulations gift."

Aerith smiled again, "I'm glad you had such faith in him. Zack was the same way…that's why he requested today off last week. He said he knew the kid would pass and he wanted to celebrate while he had an opening. Riku disappeared with Axel before the exam this morning and we knew you would steal him away for the evening. Why don't you sit down? You've probably been standing all day."

The steel-eyed man nodded as each took an armchair in the sitting room. "Where did Zack take him?"

The kind woman shrugged, "The only thing I heard was that they were getting ice cream sundaes." She giggled at the scarred man's amused expression. "Apparently it's some sort of tradition for Zack…although I don't know if it started with his family or Angeal."

"In any case, that that definitely sounds like Zack," commented Leon with a grin. "I'm sure Riku's enjoying the new experience."

Aerith nodded, "Well, he definitely seems to like the father role Zack's taken on, but I think he's going to need some more time to get used to my mother…" Leon arched an eyebrow and smirked; Aerith laughed. "She called and I mentioned the exam, so she wanted to congratulate and dote over Riku…he seemed rather unnerved, actually."

The steel-eyed man chuckled at that, "I believe you. I would have expected Elmyra to be the doting grandmother type, but I just never thought she'd be that way with Riku…I don't think he knows how to handle that any better than I would."

The green-eyed woman shook her head, "Oh no…the poor boy looked like a deer caught in the headlights the whole time she was speaking…I think he said a whole of seven words over the near half hour she was speaking to him. Can you imagine her next visit?"

Now, Leon actually laughed. "That is going to be great. If your wedding was any indication, then she'll be alternating between glaring at Zack, smothering you, and doting on Riku. I expect they'll both be at my house as often as they can get away."

"I already told Zack he has to stay here," interjected Aerith calmly. However, she quickly started giggling as she continued. "He wanted to just distract her with Cloud and then take Riku camping or something until she goes home…"

Just then, the front door opened and Zack and Riku entered, their own laughter being drowned by their shock at the sight of Leon and Aerith laughing as their eyes watered.

"Okay….what did we miss?" questioned the ex-SOLDIER as his smile returned.

Riku grinned, "We might not want to know…these two are far more mischievous and manipulative than anyone gives them credit for…"

"That's true," replied Zack as he wiped a tear from Aerith cheek. "Are you two planning retribution in here? Because if it's for that stunt Cloud, Reno, and Yuffie pulled, then I'm in."

"We were just talking about how delightful Elmyra's next visit will be," stated Leon, who had already gained control of his mirth and was crossing the room to greet Riku with a kiss.

"Hey, what did I say?" commented the violet-eyed man. "I don't mind you dating my godson but keep it rated T and not in front of me. Hey, that rhymes: I should make a t-shirt…Or a couple, I'm sure Cid will want one too."

Riku flushed slightly as he smirked and Leon rolled his eyes. Then, Leon smirked as well, "I still have it better than you do with Elmyra."

Now Zack rolled his eyes, "Of course. In addition, she'll probably love you almost as much as she loves Cloud. You stuck with Aerith from the moment we evacuated until the day you guys returned. My only hope is that your stony attitude and pederastic ways will null that out in her book, or then there'll be two guys she'll say Aerith should have married instead of me."

Aerith simply smiled and patted Zack's hand. "Leon, not that this isn't fun but, didn't you come here for a reason other than to molest my stepchild and torment my husband…? Something about seeing how your beloved did on his high school equivalency exam, I believe?"

"As if he thought for a second that Ku wasn't going to pass," the raven-haired man commented with a smile.

Riku shook his head and glanced at each of the other people in the room, "Was I the only one who considered it possible that I might fail?"

"Yes," answered all three adults without any hesitation. The silver-haired teen rolled his eyes and turned to look at his boyfriend.

"You really thought there was no way I could fail?"

"That's what it looks like to me," commented Aerith as she glanced at the gift bag Leon had brought with him, which was still sitting beside his vacated chair.

Zack grinned, grabbed the bag, and stretched it out towards Leon, who took it and handed it to Riku without preamble. The boy smiled softly as he glanced at the scarred man before removing the contents of the bag. The smile broadened slightly as he took out a college-ruled notebook and a book that was on the recommended reading list of a college class, which Riku had offhandedly mentioned that he would like to take a few days before while he and Leon were working on the town's central computer program.

"Thank you." The silver-haired teen tucked the books under one arm in order to wrap the other around Leon's neck and tilt his head up to kiss him.

Aerith giggled when Leon's arms wrapped around the boy as he returned the sentiment. Zack smirked, even as he shook his head and indicated the two, "I get no respect, I tell you…" Again, she simply patted his hand.

"Why don't we take this elsewhere, then?" questioned Leon as he and Riku broke the kiss. "Did you get any real food while you were out with Zack?"

"The ice cream was real," remarked the turquoise-eyed boy with a smirk. "And the new café has penguins for waiters, which isn't as wacky as it sounds."

Steel blue eyes blinked a few times before Leon smiled at his young lover. "Well that I have to see…come on, I'll buy you dinner."

Leon could feel the other adults' eyes on him, but did not take his gaze away from Riku, whose expression was one of open shock. He brushed the boy's bangs aside. "…What?"

The silver-haired teen seemed to recover, but he still looked somewhat stunned and nervous. "Er…that sounds great but…won't that look sort of suspicious?"

"Not if we're just talking and having dinner," replied the scarred man. "I've paid for dinner for friends before, so has Zack and most other people…you've paid for Sora and Kairi before, right?"

"I hate to break it to you, Leon," interjected Zack with an expression torn between amusement, fondness, and nervousness. "But you don't…give off the same vibe with Riku as you do with me or Cloud. It's actually a good thing that neither of you are the social type because it's pretty obvious that you're together if you watch the two of you long enough…and long enough isn't very long."

Aerith nodded, "You interact differently with him and you both tend to be more comfortable with physical closeness with each other than you normally are…Riku also holds eye contact with you longer than he does with anyone else besides Zack. You also tend to…sort of gravitate towards each other." She indicated the proximity of the two males to enforce her point. Leon's body was turned slightly towards Riku's and he appeared ready to move towards the boy at any moment. Riku's head was tiled down slightly as usual, but was also turned in Leon's direction a little as well. It looked as though their bodies were trying to mould to the other's.

Steel-blue eyes met bright turquoise, and Riku smiled slightly. Between his eyes and slight changes in his expression and body, Leon could read both See, I told you and It's fine as though the boy has actually whispered the words to him. The former Seed smiled softly in return. "We'll sit in the back."

"You're serious…?" The silvered teen eyed his boyfriend curiously. "What brought on this desire? You haven't seemed to care about dates and stuff before…"

"You're almost seventeen, you're a high school graduate, and your guardians don't mind that we're together. I still want to be careful of course but…" Leon sighed and brushed the teen's hair aside again, this time keeping his hand on the boy's jaw afterwards and stroking a smooth cheek with his thumb. "I also want to actually be with you."

Riku smiled at his boyfriend and raised a slender hand to stroke the hand holding his face. Then he took a deep breath. "I'm going to kill Axel…" Turquoise eyes turned away. "He was supposed to keep his mouth shut. I should have known that was never going to happen…"

"Axel did talk to me," admitted the Gunblade wielder, bringing the boy's gaze back to him and still rubbing a thumb along the teen's smooth skin. "But I already wanted this. I didn't want to bring it up with you because I don't want to pressure you or put you in an uncomfortable position. He just made it clear that there wasn't any need to be so torpid with you and that you don't want to be treated like a paper doll."

"Okay, maybe I don't have to kill him." The silver-haired boy gently held his boyfriend's wrist. "I know you don't want to make me do anything I'm not sure I'm ready for…but if you start going further than I want to, you'll know I want you to stop."

"I don't want to get to that point," replied Leon as he snaked an arm around the teen's waist. "I don't want to make you that uncomfortable that you want me to stop."

"It won't be uncomfortable because I know you will stop when we reach that point. I doubt I'll even have to say the word aloud." The turquoise-eyed boy grinned slightly. "I'll probably be embarrassed and feel a little bad for denying you, but I think we'll be okay."

Leon sighed, and his expression seemed to soften slightly. "You shouldn't feel bad or embarrassed, if anything, I should feel bad in that situation. But you're right on everything else, just…never do anything you don't want to because you don't want to tell me 'no'."

"Okay, I won't." Leon noted that Riku's response sounded like it hadn't been a given before and it must have shown. The boy sighed as well. "If you acted on what you wanted more often, then I wouldn't feel so bad about denying you once in a while. So let's just play it by ear, alright?"

The scarred man smiled, "Alright. Now, how about I take you on that date?"

Riku smiled in return, "That sounds good."

"Wait a minute," Zack's voice reminded the couple that they were not alone in the room. "They didn't just agree to try what I think they did, did they?"

Aerith scoffed softly, "Of course not…because Riku's set on staying a virgin until he's an adult, just like the rest of us did, right?" Her voice sounded sweet at the start, but was decidedly sarcastic by the end of her statement. The three males simply stared at her blankly for a moment. She did not seem to care.

"We were talking about everything, Zack…not just that," amended Riku, as he seemed to be the first to recover. He glanced at his boyfriend, "Right…?"

"Of course," agreed Leon, looking at Riku before returning his attention to his friends. "I think I've proven that I can control myself already."

Both Aerith and Zack nodded at that. "Okay then, have fun," said the violet-eyed man. "But not too much…and you still have to be home by midnight, Ku."

The boy smirked and rolled his eyes before getting his jacket. "Of course, Zack…I'm sure I'll see you when I get home. Goodnight, Aerith." He waved over his shoulder as Leon guided him out of the house.

As they walked to the café, Leon noticed that he did walk closer to Riku than he did with anyone else, but he made no move to distance himself from the boy.

"You're really okay with this?" questioned Riku quietly. "It'll be harder on you if anyone figures us out."

"On a weeknight before they had time to properly advertise their opening, few people are likely to be at the new café tonight, and we'll sit in the back as I suggested earlier." Leon discreetly brushed the boy's arm with his knuckles as they turned onto a seemingly empty street. "If anyone was to figure it out, they would need proof to convince most anyway and I'll deal with it then. The others have powerful reputations here too…the reconstruction project will be fine even mine were to take a negative turn and I don't care what the masses think of me."

"Axel isn't the only one you've been talking to," remarked the turquoise-eyed boy with a thoughtful glance at his boyfriend.

"Unsurprisingly, Reno knows all about the laws surrounding age of consent issues," replied the Gunblade wielder with a slight smirk. "He's rather confident that it would be nearly impossible to punish me legally with no proof and without Zack backing their case, so the only thing I have to lose is my reputation or you. I don't care about my reputation."

The silver-haired teen smiled, "You don't have to worry about losing me. So basically, you don't want to advertise but you want to pretend like it isn't an issue tonight and see how it goes?"

The steel-eyed man stopped the boy with a shake of his head and a hand on his waist. His grip tightened slightly when the teen's gaze immediately flickered over the street to see if anyone was around who might see them. He spoke when the boy's attention immediately darted back to him. "I don't want to advertise but I don't want to pretend anything…in fact, that's what this is all about. I don't want to pretend that we aren't together anytime anyone is around aside form a few of our closest friends…even around them, we're too careful."

Riku arched an eyebrow, "And this realisation doesn't have anything to do with a sudden surge of possessiveness that reared up with the arrival of a certain former Nobody, does it?"

Leon smirked, "Well, I don't have the right to act possessive if I don't even act like you're mine to begin with, now do I?"

The silver-haired teen rolled his eyes and the Gunblade wielder grinned at him. "I just realised that I can be doing more than I am, for several reasons, alright?"

The teen nodded with a small smile, and the two continued to the café. They were pleased to see that it was in fact rather empty, and the penguins who worked there seemed to assume that they were together, but did not give the impression that the couple bothered them at all.

The pair went for a walk around the town after dinner and eventually stopped at the Bailey to talk, snog, and stargaze. They enjoyed their first true date immensely and Riku arrived home a little late and slightly dishevelled.

Zack pointed this out, but then grinned at his godson. "It's hard to complain when you look so happy, but don't make it a regular thing, okay? …Except the being happy part, that I'd like to see more of."

Riku smiled and surprised his godfather by hugging him tightly. "I think I can comply with that now…thanks, Zack."

The violet-eyed man smiled and kissed the boy's head as he returned the embrace. "You should get to bed. Now that you aren't in high school anymore and are actually acting like you're his, you know that boyfriend of yours is going to want to make you to work."

The turquoise-eyed boy chuckled, and Zack shoved his shoulder lightly, "I didn't mean like that, you little brat. You just graduated, you aren't even old enough to buy cigarettes yet -not that I better ever catch you smoking- and you're still a kid in everyone else's book."

"I know," The silver-haired boy smiled as they headed into the hallway. "Goodnight, Zack."

The raven-haired man smiled in return. "Sweet dreams, Ku."

For once, the boy thought that he would.