A/N: Just a bit of SoRi fluff. C: This I started back a few months ago, and only now tacked on the last few finishing sentences. I'm so pathetic! Hah.

Loser Speaks First

It was over a hundred degrees today, smack dab in the middle of summer on Destiny Islands. Everyone was hiding in their homes, finding comfort in the air conditioning. Or, if they lacked it (like in Sora's household) they had their face in a fan set to high speed. The weather man was advising against anyone going outside unless completely necessary.

This left Sora bewildered as to why he could see his next door neighbor and long-time best friend, Riku, busily set to work in the flowerbed behind his house.

Clad in only his boxers and an undershirt (he dared not put more clothes on then completely necessary; it was just a walk across the yard anyway) he stomped out the back door to inquire Riku why exactly he was trying to kill himself.

But he stopped a few feet away, taking in the view slowly.

Riku's white loose tank top was drenched in sweat and stuck to every muscle on his chest and back. And he had muscles—he was paranoid about the King whisking them both away at any moment possible, so Riku intensely trained a few days a week. He didn't want to get caught off guard and defeat enemies as a pile of flub. At least, that's how Riku had put it.

At this moment Sora reveled in his friend's paranoia. The sight was good. No, it was hot.

Sora had a bit of a crush on Riku. A little weird yes—but Sora really wasn't that put off to the idea of thinking himself of liking guys. It wasn't even the fact that Riku was male—it was more so he was attracted to just Riku. Those feelings had been there for who knows how long—but it had been masked as adoration towards his best friend, only to realize after a particularly scandalous dream that he had a strong desire to kiss his best friend. But at that time he'd been dating Kairi, and had to push those thoughts to the side.

Kairi. It'd only been a few days after the break-up. Sora hadn't told anyone yet, and she probably didn't either. It was just awkward to it bring up and exclaim something like, "Hey, so, I'm single again!" It wasn't exactly a happy moment, no, but it was for the best.

It wasn't that Kairi was a horrible being and Sora regretted being with her. At first it'd been okay; they'd had plenty of fun dates going to the movies or to the park, or even sitting at home and playing video games.

But as the relationship grew deeper, Sora learned things about the girl he never knew there was to learn. Like how picky she was about picking clothes—she would spend a good hour trying on different dresses when Sora didn't care if she threw on a pair of holey jeans. Or, there was the fact that it irritated her to no end when Sora would nervously bite his nails when he was in deep concentration. And he learned the hard way that she needed a lot more attention than what she led on—and when Sora neglected to give it to her (simply because he was distracted) he also found out about her nasty temper.

Not to say that Sora didn't have his flaws either. For example, he was always running behind schedule, and he was a chronic procrastinator who'd spent many a date quickly throwing together a project for school the next day. They were little things that got on Kairi's nerves too.

It went all downhill during one of their fights. A year's worth of anger and bitterness was thrown hastily into a heated argument, both shouting things they didn't even think to filter before saying. And they both realized that maybe they weren't as compatible as what they thought they were initially. After a quieter talk and tears, they both decided that letting go was best for the both of them.

Now that it was over with Kairi, all Sora could think about was Riku. What he was doing, how gorgeous he looked, what it would feel like to kiss him…

If it weren't the fact he was a step short of being absolutely in love with Riku, he probably wouldn't be going out in one hundred degree weather in his underwear to scold his best friend to be working in said conditions. But before Sora could manage to say anything, Riku beat him to the punch. "Is there any reason why you decided to come outside in your boxers, Sora?"

Sora was rooted to the spot, temporarily forgetting his mission. But it came back to him quickly, as he replied nonchalantly, "I don't plan on staying outside in this heat. Shouldn't you go inside too?"

"Well, I promised my mom I'd fix up the flower bed with weeding and everything, and I didn't do it yesterday. But I didn't want to go back on my promise, so… here I am."

"I'm sure she'd understand if you'd hold off until tomorrow."

"But I promised, and I don't want to forget."

Sora crossed his arms, setting a pout to his lips. "Well… fine, die for all I care."

"It makes me that much more grateful for the air conditioning." Riku's determined expression confirmed that he was not going back inside until his work was finished.

Whatever. What do I care anyway? It was just an excuse to come outside for Riku.

"You're lucky," Sora sighed, trying to buy time to stay outside more without suspicion, "Our air conditioning's been broken for the past few days. My little sister turned it up way too high, and it died."

"Your parents don't want to fix it?"

"Someone's coming tomorrow to fix it, but for today, it's hot even with all the fans running."

Riku paused in his toil to glance up at Sora. His expression was unreadable, but strange. "If you want, you know, you could stay over at my house for the night. I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind; they like you."

"You mean it?" Sora blurted it out without trying to, and attempted to recompose himself after such a weird proclamation. Riku's awkward stare continued as Sora quickly followed with, "I've been dying all day; it'd be nice."

"Just get what you need and come over when you're ready."

Sora nodded happily. "Okay! Let me get some clothes on then…" He bolted back into his house without waiting for Riku's reply, and began haphazardly throwing things in his backpack while wriggling into more suitable attire. Tonight, he'd be with Riku… for the whole night!

Oh god, that sounded like the thought of a fourteen-year-old girl.

Sora stood on a stage, curtain drawn across the front. The students around him were bustling around, getting ready for the musical's opening number. As Sora attempted to cross the stage, a strange hand tugged at Sora's shoulder and pulled him behind a wooden piece set.

As Sora spat out an, "oomph!" Riku chuckled at the sight. The younger boy blinked, staring at his best friend. "Are you high?"

"No… well, I mean, yeah, I am, but that's not the point." Sora's jaw dropped a little at the reply as Riku nervously swept a hand through his hair. "Look, I gotta tell you something now."

"But we're about to start!"

"Sora—" Riku interrupted himself with a bout of giggles, most likely brought on by whatever he was intoxicated with, "I just wanna say that I really really like you!"

Sora deadpanned on the spot. "You needed to interrupt me for that?"

"Yeah, I know it's stupid."

Sora blinked open his eyes to a dark room, save for the light illuminating from the television set. Some late night show was playing. Weren't they watching a movie before this? Then he remembered that he'd closed his eyes during a love scene. He must've fallen asleep.

But what a weird dream. Sora was not exactly the musical type (except for Atlantica, but that was a secret from all inhabitants of Destiny Islands, including Riku and Kairi), and Riku was most certainly not the type to let himself get high.

And if Riku just out of the blue confessed to him, Sora wouldn't have responded with such a bored expression! He would have grabbed Riku's hand and gone running to some secret corner where no one could find them so they could smother each other with their lips.

Well actually, reality stated that Sora would have blushed and gone on to get ready for the musical, but it was a dream anyway so it was pointless to try to bring rationality into his theoretical response.

Sora's stirring must have gained Riku's attention, because Riku's hand touched Sora's bare shoulder. Sora quickly rose from his sluggish state. "You awake?"

"Yeah," he murmured, "What time is it?"

"It's 8:30," Riku replied. "The movie's only been over for a few minutes. Too boring for you?" he chuckled.

"Naw…" Sora sat up to rub his head, brunet hair even more disheveled than usual. "I'm just tired, is all."

"Tired from what?"

"The heat, I guess… I don't really know." Sora rubbed his face to keep his eyes from shutting again. Then the dreaded topic came up, the question that he knew was bound to be asked eventually.

"Weren't Fridays your and Kairi's night? I was actually surprised you accepted my invitation so quickly."

Sora was still for a moment. The truth was going to have to come out some time anyway. "Well, you see… Last Monday, we decided to break up."

"You broke up?" The shock was evident on Riku's face. "But why?"

"It wasn't working out," Sora explained. "We… just got on each other's nerves too easily."

"I see."

That's all he had to say? "I see"? He wasn't concerned? How was Sora supposed to interpret that, especially with Riku always being stoic? Was that, "I don't care" or was that… "I'm relieved"? A small piece of Sora wanted to believe the latter…

"So…" Riku continued, "Tell me the truth. Do you like someone else?"

"No!" Sora blurted, but unfortunately the smirk on Riku's face indicated that Sora was a terrible liar.

"Oh really?" the older boy teased. "Because it sounds like you do. Who is it? Please don't tell me Selphie."

Sora deadpanned. "Of course it's not Selphie!" Sora rubbed his nose anxiously. He could just lie, but then that'd probably cause complications too… ugh. Then, a thought. "But what about you? Do you like someone, Riku?"

Riku's smile fizzled away, but if he was embarrassed, he was hiding it well. "No, not really."

But as Sora stared into Riku's eyes, he noticed they were downcast. This usually indicated that Riku was fibbing. "I think you're lying."

That's when Riku looked up into Sora's eyes. "I'll make you a deal."

"A deal?" This intrigued Sora's curiousity. "What is it?"

"Let's play a game of Tetris." Before Sora agreed, Riku was already on the floor, grabbing game controllers and yanking the console from under the television. "Whoever loses has to tell who they like first."

"First? Does the winner have to tell?"

"It's only fair if we both share," he explained. "But loser has to spill first."

Sora wasn't sure if he liked the terms of this challenge. However, he just couldn't turn it away. This was another chance to beat Riku! He didn't even think of the consequences of where this would eventually lead to.

"You're on."

"Haha!" Sora cheered triumphantly, "Sucker!"

Riku leaned back into the couch, defeated. His embarrassment was glowing then—because he knew what was coming.

"Now you have to tell me who you like. And don't say 'no one,' because I know that's not true!" To be honest to himself though, a part of Sora didn't want to know who he was rivaled with. Not like that really mattered, because Riku would never return his feelings.

Riku fidgeted, and placed his controller beside his leg. "Well, uh…" He cleared his throat, more than likely to stall. Then he heaved a great sigh, and finally said, "It's…. it's you."

"What?" Sora was in a great deal of disbelief. "Are you joking with me, Riku?"

"No, I'm really not. I'm sorry, I should have just lied to you, but…. ugh. Please don't mad at me, I just can't help it. You're adorable—"

"Adorable?" Sora did not want to be "adorable."

"Um, admirable. Strong, stronger than I'll ever be. And… I don't know. This isn't going to be awkward between us now, is it?..."

Sora began to chuckle, mostly out of relief. Was this another dream? Was this really happening?

"I don't find this funny, Sora." His voice was dead serious—certainly Riku didn't want to be laughed at after such a confession. But Sora just felt like an idiot in that moment, so he couldn't help it. "Okay, I get it. Please stop."

"But Riku," Sora replied. "you didn't hear who I like."

"I don't know if I really want to hear it now…"

"Are you sure?" Sora grabbed Riku's face, jerked it to the side, and kissed him. However, despite that it was sudden and unplanned, Sora was nervous as hell. He ended up nearly missing and catching the corner of Riku's mouth. Riku, on the other hand, was stunned still.

"What was that?" He said, pulling away. "You don't have to do this for me, y'know."

"But I like you, Riku!" Sora smiled, staring straight into his friend's eyes. "I didn't think you'd return my feelings, because well, I thought you were a bit of a lady's man. That's why I didn't say anything."

"Really?..."

"Yeah." Sora flashed a wide, toothy smile.

"I see…" There was that "I see" again! But… this was like the one before. Relief.

"So…" Despite the fact that both were quite satisfied with the turn-out, there were at a stalemate. They looked over at the television screen, where a proud victory on Player 2's side was being celebrated.

"The fact that you won was a fluke," Riku announced, scooping the controller back up into his hands. "I think a rematch is in order."

"Okay, fine, I'll show you." Sora grabbed his own respective controller, more than willing for a rematch.

Maybe tonight was a little awkward, with these new-found feelings at all. But Sora was excited for what was to come. At this moment, playing Tetris with a stubborn Riku was plenty for him.

End.