Summary: Riku loves writing poetry, but despite his understanding of the world of words, he remains convinced that if his poetry is a public fact, his ladies' man reputation will be completely ruined. Enter Xion, his best friend and the only one who knows his secret hobby. Xion decides that Riku's poetry is a gift to mankind, and does her duty as a best friend - publishes it anonymously behind Riku's back. Meanwhile, the drama of senior year continues as their final year of high school wraps up...

Warnings: Language

AN: Think something's weird? Found a typo? Want to let me know you liked it? Hated it? Regardless, reviewing makes me a very happy bunny. If you review, I will hop around in delight. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of its affiliates.

Chapter I

in which Xion decides to be a good friend

Riku was one manly man's man. And he knew it, too.

He strolled through the hallways of Destiny Academy. His leisurely pace stood out amongst the rest of the students, who were trying to get to their next class as fast as they could without running. There was only one school in Destiny Islands, and consequentially all students, from high school students to kindergarteners, attended Destiny Academy. It was rather pretentious term for the sprawled out, badly organized, slightly-run-down building. To make matters worse, some idiot on school board thought it would be a great idea to organize the school based on subjects instead of grades. Therefore not only was the layout of the building as confusing as hell, the class themselves were organized by a man who was paid hundreds of thousands to sit on a school board each year and make increasing bad decisions for higher paychecks. Instead of separating each wing by class grade, the four-story building was separated by class type for the sake of "inter-peer group interaction," meaning that the seniors' AP Biology was in the science wing next to the third graders' Exploration Science class.

When Riku and his classmates left his fourth period study hall on the D section of the building, first floor, and needed to get to the A section of the building, third floor, for Literature, his classmates began to run the moment the bell rang, shoving aside younger children in their rush.

Riku walked his manly man's man walk.

And by some miracle, he made it to class right on time.

Xion hated it.

She wasn't jealous at all. As captain of the girls' varsity soccer team, she was in very good shape, and took pride in her sprinting abilities by arriving first in all of her classes. No, she hated it when Riku walked to class because despite being on the other side of the building and walking, Riku managed to flirt with almost every female student on the way and still arrive right on time.

After all, it was called Riku's manly man's man walk for a reason.

It was infuriating. It was impressive. It was absolutely, unconditionally impossible.

When Riku arrived in their Literature class, right on time as usual, Xion was waiting for him, half standing her seat in the back of the room. Her blue eyes were narrowed, and her short, black hair stood on end. Her lips were pursed, and her hands were clenched into fists. Riku gave her a once over and gingerly took the seat next to her.

"'Sup?" said Riku.

Xion's left eye twitched, and she slammed her right hand onto Riku's desk, startling him.

"Look at it," she said through gritted teeth, opening her hand and revealing a very crumpled, slightly damp ball of paper. Riku smoothed it out the best he could. On it were dozens of mathematical formulas. A brief skim told him they were partly math but mostly physics, calculating position and time with a few other variables. He flipped it over to see a bunch of scribbles overlaying numerous squares and rectangles.

"Pence and I spent two hours working on this last night. There's something wrong with the math. Or you. Actually, there has to be something wrong with you. It's impossible. You're impossible."

"So that's where you were last night." Riku brushed off the insults and read over the paper again. "This calls for the amount of time it takes for person RJ – those are my initials – to complete SH to L distance –that's study hall to Lit – and more distances, SC to SH…yada yada yada…variable for distraction time?"

Xion nodded and tapped the back of the paper. "Yep. This is the school map. The only answer that we got was that there must be an error in the distraction variable or pace of walking. Pence hacked the school's blueprints, so the distance can't be too off. It has to be one of the time variables."

"Xion," said Riku slowly. "There's also an attraction variable for girls that has nothing to do with magnetism. Were you trying to break down my sexy-swag walk into math?"

Her expression was more than enough as an answer.

"Wait, seriously? Ha! And Pence hacked the school's system for this? Haha!"

Xion bristled. "It was a scientific experiment, and a good one. Pence is our year's salutatorian and we recorded your pace after school one day and- hey! Stop laughing!"

They were attracting stares across the room, and a few girls were starting to glare at Xion.

"Settle down, class, settle down."

Their literature teacher had finished recording their attendance at the computer and immediately pulled out a stack of papers.

"I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this batch of tests. I can easily say that only five of you bothered to answer all of the questions, let alone study for this very important unit test."

Xion started to zone out. She was pretty sure she had at least gotten a B+, and therefore she didn't need to hear the lecture on how a little under half their class failed. She took out a piece of scratch paper and began doodling, passing the first fifteen minutes of class with spirals and soccer balls. Her earlier conversation with Riku was forgotten until the crumpled math paper and a note were set on her desk. The distraction variable was highlighted, and on the clean sheet of the note said in Riku's neat handwriting:

I don't need to speak with the ladies in order to flirt with them. That makes your distraction variable useless.

Xion smacked herself in the head. Right. Ladies' man Riku. If he looks at you in the eyes, then he's already started flirting. She looked over to the right and glared. He was looking straight ahead at the teacher, the picture of an innocent and studious pupil. Only Xion could tell that supposed look of concentration was Riku trying not to smirk.

I tried. It's been a mystery, and I was so close to solving it. Jeez, Riku, you're not human!

Not even bothering to be sly, Xion lightly punched him in the arm and slapped the note on his desk. Ms. Gainsborough was too busy shaking the tests at an unfortunate student in the front row. Xion spared a thought of mercy before realizing the kid had only written their name on the test, nothing else.

There was a soft tap on her wrist, and she accepted the folded note.

You're right, I'm not human. I'm perfect.

Xion snorted.

Sure you are. Soccer after school today?

Nah, morning practice was enough soccer for the day. I'm not busy though, we can do something.

Xion caught Riku's eye and nodded. Girls' soccer practice had been a bit tougher than normal as well, but she enjoyed it. There was nothing more satisfying that making everyone run extra laps just because she felt like it and knew most of her teammates didn't have her endurance. Ah, the joys of being a captain.

Good enough. Hear about that new Ranger game?

The note passing continued throughout class until Ms. Gainsborough seemed to finally wind down.

"...And if I get a batch of tests like this on the next unit, all failing grades will get a write up and in-school suspension."

With that, Ms. Gainsborough ran a hand through her bangs and glanced at the clock. "Next week, we start our next unit on poetry. Because of poor participation in this class, we're going to have some changes. Students will present projects and important homework assignments at random in front of the class. If you forget your homework more than once, you're in the office for the rest of class. I have been patient with this class since the semester change, but my patience is done. Do not test me. You're dismissed early for lunch."

Riku stood up slowly, stretching as he did. He snagged his bag pack off the floor, and winked at the girls watching him, making his way out of class at his normal, sedate pace. When he was just outside the classroom door, Xion could see him chatting up a junior, swapping cell phones for a second before slowly moving on once more.

Xion shook her head. She hated it when Riku walked slowly not because she was jealous, or because he defied all laws of physics doing it. No, Xion hated it because each time Riku walked like a manly man, he flirted with everything remotely female. She swung on her own bag pack, and quickly left to catch up with her best friend.

Xion sat at the usual circular table with Riku right beside her, talking about the Lit teacher's flip. The cafeteria was just starting to fill up, and was slowly getting noisier.

"I was wondering when it was going to happen. It's always the nice teachers that snap," said Riku, biting into an apple.

"Least it wasn't at us. It's funny when you're not the one in trouble," said Xion. Riku muttered a quiet amen under his breath and took another bite of his apple.

"Hey guys." Kairi, one of Xion's senior soccer players and Riku's childhood friend, sat down heavily in the seat opposite of Xion. Following her was Olette, a mutual friend who was rumored to be their class valedictorian. The two already at the table gave them a quick greeting, and Xion noted Kairi's less-than-stellar appearance. There were bags under her eyes and her normally straight red hair was a little frizzed. She was wearing a form-fitting white T-shirt with a waist belt and shorts, but her crisp clothes only served to highlight how Kairi herself looked tired and worn out.

"Why Kairi, you're absolutely looking wonderful today," Xion said cheerfully.
Kairi groaned. The short soccer captain had finger-combed her own short hair back into place, and her old, faded blue shirt with khaki shorts looked much more comfortable than her own outfit at the moment.

"I hate morning practices. I could be doing tons of different and more fun things in the morning than running in circles. Like folding laundry. Or cleaning the toilet."

Xion waggled her sandwich in admonition. "Running is fun, and good for your health. We've got that tournament coming up soon, so run run run!"

Kairi groaned and took a sip of her soda. "Oh sweet mother of God, caffeine."

"That has more sugar than caffeine in it," said Xion. She leaned sideways to read the label. "I thought you were on a no-sugar diet?"

"Not anymore," said Kairi shortly.

"So I heard that Ms. Gainsborough lost it during 5th period. That's your class, right?" asked Olette, playing her usual role of peacemaker. "I saw her in the hallway on the way here and she looked pretty upset."

Xion nodded. She would never cease to be amazed at how fast news traveled. Kairi gave her a sympathetic look as she set down her Mountain Dew. "Xion, you were complaining about that class two practices ago and saying you had trouble with the homework. You know, if you need help, Olette, Riku, or I are good at Lit."

Xion scowled.

"Riku already helped me," she said. The other girls turned to Riku and opened their mouths to tell him what a good friend he was, but Riku beat them to it.

"And man she needed it!" he said. "Her work? Terrible."

"What's terrible?"

Roxas, blond twin of Kairi's boyfriend and another soccer player, sat down next to Xion to complete the circle at the small table. Olette jumped on the opportunity to redirect the conversation back to its original topic.

"They were about to tell us how Ms. Gainsborough lost her temper at their class."

Xion shrugged, forgetting the quip about her homework. "I wasn't paying too much attention," she admitted. "But I do know it was because the unit test scores were low. I checked online and I knew I got a good grade on the unit test, so why bother listening? She did end up waving the tests in one kid's face though, it was pretty funny."

"She almost cried a few times," said Riku. "She said she was disappointed and that classes like ours made her feel sorry for the few who are there to learn."

The rest of the table winced. It was always worse when the nicer teachers like Ms. Gainsborough pulled the disappointment card.

"Ouch," said Roxas.

"At least it wasn't directed at you," said Kairi. She shuddered. "I hate it when the disappoint is directed at you."

"Amen," said the table quietly.

"I've never had that happen to me," said their resident valedictorian in a mild tone, and immediately earned glares that she ignored with ease. "What's the next unit on?"

Kairi answered for Xion and Riku, having Lit first hour.

"Poetry," said the red-head. Roxas groaned and let his head fall to hit the table, his blond spikes dangerously close to his mac-n-cheese.

"You're kidding me, right?" he said, voice muffled by the table.

"What?" asked Kairi. "Poetry's the easiest unit. It takes about five minutes for each assignment."

"For most people," Xion gave a pointed look at Riku, who was suddenly fascinated by his apple core. Olette misread the silent communication and crossed her arms.

"Riku, I'm not doing your assignments for you, so don't even try on this."

"Hmph," said Roxas. He turned his head to the side and began the hazardous task of eating sideways. "Get your fangirls to do it. Don't some of them write you poems from time to time?"

Olette reached over and bopped their blond friend on the head.

"Don't encourage him."

Roxas gagged. "Watch it, I'm eating here!"

"Right," said Xion. "The poetry-writing fangirls. Better not let them write for you, Riku. Olette is on the homework cheating war path, watch out."

"Can't help them wanting to reward my good looks with poetry," said Riku breezily. To prove his point, he turned around and swapped phone numbers with the nearest girl at the table behind him. Xion sighed, recognizing the distraction for what it was. Olette and Roxas started up an argument concerning Olette's "domestic abuse and murderous tendencies," with Kairi chiming in from time to time. The topic was officially dead, and Xion moved on, grinning with a new idea.

"So Kairi," she said. Kairi's eyes widened and stopped mid-argument, recognizing the Xion Evil Grin of Doom for what it was. "I thought practice was great today. Fantastic, even. What do you think about making every morning practice like that?"

Kairi's head joined Roxas's on the table.

Sunset found Xion at Riku's house, sprawled out idly on his bed while he typed on his laptop. Most of the houses in Destiny Island had the same standard layout, making it easier on builders during reconstruction from typhoons and hurricanes. Because of this, Riku's room was almost identical to Xion's, his red and grey color scheme and furniture type the few differences from her blue and green room. There was a wooden desk at the corner left of the door with a bookshelf built in over it, and on the opposite wall there Riku had a TV with a bunch of gaming consoles hooked up to it. A few pillows lay on the floor in front of the TV, evidence from when the two had been playing video games earlier. Riku's bed was shoved under the windows next the wall, in between the TV and desk.

Xion picked up the plushie moogle she had given Riku on his eighth birthday. Maybe Riku could have gotten away with denying that it was a gift he kept around to please his best friend a few years ago, but the amount of wear and tear showed that it was a well-loved companion.

"So, the poetry fangirls strike again?"

Riku nodded, not once pausing in his typing. "I've got a few other poems I'd like to see reactions to. Peotry fangirls strike again Monday."

Xion rolled her eyes. "You know," she said, "Nobody would make fun of you if you came out of the closet."

Riku scoffed. "If our peers knew what I do in my spare time, they'd think I was in the closet. And don't think I'm not mad about you trying to bring it up during lunch."

"Weeeelllll...you flirt a lot, but don't have a girlfriend. People might think it's a ploy, trying to get with all of the girls but never committing. Fear of commitment, or denial at its worst, or so they say. Also, you're not mad at me."

Riku paled. "I'm not afraid of committing, it just never works out." He slammed the laptop shut and spun around to face her. "Do you realize how much crap I would get from the guys if my hobby got out? And forget dating, no one would be interested."

"Riku..." Xion sighed. "In PE today, the girls were talking about how hot you were. You've got to have more confidence in yourself. I bet they'd like you more if they knew you liked poetry. Being sensitive can be attractive, and maybe you'll finally start being attracted to the right type of people, instead of those who only want the jock you act like."

Blue eyes met teal, and for a second Xion thought Riku was thinking over her words seriously.

"How hot did they say I was?"

"Argh! You're impossible."

Xion punctuated the last word by throwing the moogle at him. To her frustration, it was caught right before it hit Riku's smug face. She flipped over onto her stomach and spun herself so she was facing the laptop, deciding to pretend that her defeat had never happened.

"History report?"

"Nah, I finished it yesterday. This is a little project of mine."

He opened up the laptop and handed it to her. It was a typed document with a poem on the first page. Xion went to scroll down, and her jaw dropped.

"Riku, is this all poetry? Your poetry?"

1/108 pages, read the page count at the bottom of the screen. Xion flipped through a few randomly. "Hey, I remember this one! You gave it to me when I broke my arm."

Riku's hand gently pushed her own off of the mousepad and scrolled down a few pages, showing more poems that Xion recognized from years of critiquing her friend's work.

"Hmmm, so you did change the title there. And I like the new stanzas in "Far Away". How many poems are there?"

Riku shrugged. "I don't know. I've been typing up new ones at the same time I've been going through old notebooks and typing those up."

"Her imagination ran wild and left her behind

She´s trapped in a world of real emotion.

No safety, no comfort, as she steps forward,

The only direction her heart will go."

Xion looked up. "Riku, these are great! When are you publishing these?"

Riku raised an eyebrow. "Publish? They're a hobby, and not nearly good enough."

Xion inwardly frowned. Riku had been writing poems since sixth grade, and it had taken two years of close friendship for Xion to be the first to learn of their existence in eighth grade. Xion had fallen in love with his writing style and, after a lot of poetry research, had decided that Riku was as good as Emily Dickenson and Robert Frost, but he never believed her. Even when members of their social group reviewed his poetry under the impression it was from fangirls and gave glowing reviews, Riku was extremely self-critical. Not wanting to start yet another argument over the quality of his poems, she let his negative comment about his work go and kept the smile on her face. "Okay. Then...why are you doing this?"

Another shrug. "Sora and Roxas came over after soccer practice a few weeks ago, and Sora, nosy as he is, got close to finding the notebooks under the desk because I left one out showing a corner."

"So now you're typing it all up and getting rid of the notebooks? And if Sora gets on your laptop?"

"I hid the file in the Program files. It's password blocked with encryption, and the online backup copy is encrypted as well."

Xion didn't know whether to give props for a well-thought out solution or facepalm. It was almost too clever for something so…unnecessary.

"That's so ingenious, it's pathetic," she announced.

Riku smiled faintly before switching topics. "Roxas said Axel's coming back for a few weeks and is free on Sunday. He wanted to know if we wanted to meet up."

"Of course we do! Geez, he makes it sound like we could say no to that. Where at?"

"The beach in the morning, then we're going over to Roxas's to hang out. I already told Roxas we'd be there."

"Hey, Rox-ass, looking good!"

"Axel!"

Roxas's face lit up, and he leapt off the wall lining the border of the beach that he, Riku, and Xion were sitting on. It was another beautiful day at Destiny Islands, and the blue sky contrasted sharply with Axel's bright red spikes as he put Roxas in a headlock and began ruffling the younger teen's hair.

"Let me go! Argh, why did I say I missed you?"

"Because I'm irresistible and irreplaceable?"

Xion laughed, and Axel grinned at her over Roxas's head."Ah ah ah, don't think you're off the hook too." In a few strides, Axel was standing right in front of Xion. She tilted her head back in to give him a smile, not even bothering to struggle when he reached over and messed up her hair as well.

"Hi. How's college?"

"Eh, it's college. Study, sleep, party. Same old, same old."

Xion had never been more surprised when Axel proudly showed them his acceptance to Radiant Garden University's Pre-law program, accompanied by a scholarship from his volunteer firefighting work. They were all happy for him, but Roxas had battled some initial depression when he realized his best friend would be living it up mainland-style and far away from the islands.

Currently Roxas was patting his hair into place while grumbling. "Go to say hello, get a noogie. How come he's not bothering Riku?"

Axel gave her hair a final muss. "You two wimpy midgets can't do much. Riku, on the other hand, would kill me if I did that to him." He nodded at the teen in question, receiving a sharp nod in return. "'Sup?"

"Can't...do much? Midgets?" Roxas's left eyebrow twitched.

"Uh oh, I made princess mad." It was a poor insult, but Xion reveled in the familiar banter, even if it was a bit rusty. Roxas appeared to have the same feeling, his face lighting up as he began chasing Axel and calling him names.

When Roxas started trying to hit Axel, who was running away and laughing like mad, Riku glanced over at a mock-fuming Xion.

"I'm the average height for a girl, dammit!" Xion made a fist and slammed it into her palm. "Also, I'm the pretty pretty princess around here. Axel should know that by now."

"Well, if you're going to join in, Your Highness…"

A large stick, big enough to be called a club, was shoved in front of her hands. Xion had no idea when or where Riku had obtained such a fine branch for smashing things like skulls, but couldn't bring herself to care at the moment.

"Riku, have I ever told you that you're a wonderful, beautiful friend and that I should never doubt how wonderful you are?"

"Yes, but feel free to continue complimenting me. It's not like I don't deserve it. Say cheese."

Riku held up his phone. Xion posed with the stick, holding it above her head with both hands and making an angry face, doing her best to keep from smiling. There was an automated clicking sound as Riku took the picture.

"Nice," said Riku. He took a snapshot of Axel being chased by Roxas, sand flying everywhere. "Now get in there and do your business. I always want to see how the hobbits fought in real life."

He hoisted himself up with his arms and sprang backwards off of the wall, narrowly avoiding the stick that had slammed into where he had been sitting.

After a brief chase, Riku and Axel joined forces and brought out the water guns from the back of Riku's car, which lasted until Axel accidentally hit Riku with a shot meant for Roxas. Everyone stripped down to their bathing suits, Xion wearing board shorts over her tankini bottoms, and it degenerated into a free-for-all that ended with Axel and Xion versus Riku and Roxas.

Xion's face hurt from laughing so much. She ran her free hand over her cheeks and jawbone. Next to her, hidden behind another large paupu tree stood Axel.

"Status?"

She peeked out from behind the tree. If she squinted, she could make out a blob of silver and blond in the distance, slowly becoming larger. "They're still a few minutes away, but they're getting closer."

"Good eye, solider. Stand down."

They both leaned their water guns against the tree and slid to the ground, ignoring the way the sand clung to them.

"Any fun classes at college?"

Axel ran a hand through his waterlogged spikes. "Eh, not really. I'm only a freshman, so I've got gen-eds - general classes that are required - with only one class on law. Professor's cool, makes the class real interesting."

"Well, at least you have the parties to go to." In highschool, Xion knew that Axel liked going to the occasional party, often taking Riku with him.

Axel shook his head. "I don't have time to go very often. Got to work at their town's fire station, you know? Keep up the scholarship. Though for the record, when I do get the chance to go," he winked at her. "It's quite the party. Status?"

She checked on their ambush targets again. They were closer, so close she could see the outline of their bodies, but they had stopped for some reason. Ah. There was a girl standing near Riku. "Stopped their advance so Target 1 could flirt."

"Is she hot?"

"I don't think I can judge that."

She watched as Riku flexed an arm and the girl ran her hand over his muscles. A sudden ripple of anger spread through her. Riku, her best friend Riku, wasn't like this. Sure, he enjoyed the attention of the fairer sex, but he had this crazy idea that they liked masculine figures more. She knew that instead of a physical relationship, he would rather woo the lady in the most romantic sense, none of this "Look at my muscles, hear me roar," nonsense. But here was Riku, once again not listening to her and doing his manly show anyway, and here she was, once again watching her best friend be someone he wasn't from a distance. She could already see the date and subsequent disappointment that would follow when the two realized they had nothing in common.

"Hey Axel," she found herself saying. "Say you have a friend, and you want to give them a push because you know it's good for them. What do you do?"

Axel blinked. "I have no idea what you just said."

"Okay," she said, searching for a way to properly explain herself. "Say you've got a friend who doesn't ride roller coasters with a group of friends because your friend screams a lot during the ride. You know that they like roller coasters because they make you go alone with them all the time. You try to convince them that your friends won't care if they scream, but they don't listen. What do you do?"

"Huh." Xion could almost see the wheels turning in Axel's head. She waited patiently.

"Weeeeellll," said Axel after a minute. "I'd get them to go on the roller coaster with their friends. Blackmail, force, whatever works. Even if they hate me afterwards, I would know that the friends wouldn't care, and I'd eventually be forgiven. The scared friend maybe wouldn't like it at first, but it's an irrational fear that they needed to face. Friends help friends face irrational fears, got it memorized?"

Xion nodded. "I think so."

"Good. Status?"

Xion was thankful that Axel wasn't the type to pry, and turned back to their targets. "Closer, maybe another minute, they had to stop again. Roxas is out of water, they're trying to transfer part of Riku's water to his tank and ignoring the freaking ocean, which is about five feet away."

"All right. We charge when I say charge. Ready? CHARGE!"

And as Axel and Xion won their water flight, the four of them ordered out pizza, and played video games and watched horror movies until it was time to go home, Xion thought about what Axel had told her. She couldn't fall asleep that night, roller coasters, masculinity and poetry swirling around in her head, until finally she fell asleep with one thought in mind.

If Riku wasn't going to publish his poetry due to an irrational fear, she would publish it for him.