University was expensive, so the best friends would do anything to help each other out.

Sora and Riku decided that if they were going to the same school, they might as well live together.

Riku and Sora had been best friends for as long as they could remember. Kairi had come in and out of their lives, but she had her heart set on a west coast university far from the dream college of Riku's, which was close to their hometown. Sora was a flexible boy, and he didn't know what he really wanted. It was totally up to fate, whichever friend he followed. He could've taken a year off to decide, but he ended up going with Riku.

So they shared an apartment.

It was 20 minutes walk from the Saint Michael's University Campus, but their climate was warm and both the boys were active. They didn't mind the walk. Sora, an art major, worked as a barista at a nearby Starbucks and Riku was juggling an unpaid internship at the law firm and being cashier at the liquor store. Sora knew he had a lot less on his plate, so he took care of Riku. He did most of the chores for the house, but he didn't mind. Although the only affection he had towards the other boy was nothing more than an unrequited crush, he still had a tender platonic love for him.

The two boys were coming home late one day with armfuls of groceries. They knew their neighbors on each side: to their left was a kind old man by the name of Mr. Xehanort, and to their right was a couple that did nothing but fight, all of which they could hear through the paper thin walls.

They didn't mind, though. They kept each other happy.

"Afternoon, boys," Xehanort was on the way out as they were arriving. He tipped his hat. "Always nice to see such callow youth."

"Nice to see you, sir," Sora answered and Riku offered him a calm smile. As they entered the apartment, the brunette turned around, leaned on the wall and covered his mouth. As soon as Riku closed the door, Sora released a little giggle. "Do you think he's ever gonna realize that we're not brothers?"

Riku smacked a hand against his forehead. "Sora. We don't even look alike."

"You goof." Sora smiled. "We kinda do. We both have blue eyes, you look big enough to be my big brother."

"The hair?" Riku cocked an eyebrow, lifting one of Sora's spikes.

Sora considered it. "You're the albino?"

Riku laughed. "Xehanort can think what he wants. He's half senile anyway."

"Riku!" Sora covered his mouth, shocked at what his often reserved friend said. "Shut it. You're pretty much a brother to me."

"Is that so?" Riku teased with little hesitation and, putting down his groceries, took Sora under his arm and rubbed the top of his head. "If only you'd learn a thing or two from me."

"You taught me a lot of things," Sora continued their back and forth. "Like… uh," he laughed. "I dunno."

Riku sighed and flopped down on the couch. "God, I'm spent. Wanna order something in for supper?"

Sora was putting their groceries in the fridge. "Yeah, ok. What do you want?"

Riku sighed. "Maybe some kind of pasta? I don't care, just get me whatever you're having."

Sora examined the menu on the side of their fridge for the cheap Italian place two blocks down. "I think I'll have the… uh… carbonara."

"Ew, not that," Riku wrinkled his face, looking through a stack of papers on their coffee table. "Ask them what soups they have on today."

Sora smiled and when he asked, they had minestrone and potato bacon, he knew that Riku would want the minestrone. His friend was asleep on the couch, and he didn't want to bother him.

"Riku," Sora came in after work on a Thursday night to find the apartment warm and lit only by a small red lamp in the front room. He shouldered off his backpack from school, hung his apron in the closet, fingered his hair and crossed over to their bedroom/office. Yes, the two shared a bed, but only to save money. They had slept in the same room since the beginning of their school days, and after a few weeks of awkwardness after they'd moved in, they'd just gotten accustomed to it.

Sometimes it felt nice to roll over and see a familiar face.

Their apartment was quite small - only a Kitchenette, a small sitting area, their bathroom, and bedroom. They crammed a desk in the corner where Riku was working, the bright lamp shining on him with his hair pulled back in a tight ponytail.

Sora knew that meant shit was getting real.

"Hey," he said quietly, sitting down on the bed and unbuttoning his Starbucks shirt. "You busy?"

Riku was chewing on a pen cap, scrutinizing the papers. He adjusted his reading glasses. "I'm almost done."

Sora smiled. "I wanna watch a movie tonight. I'll be right back."

He crossed back into their sitting area where they had their couch and TV. He'd grabbed some PJ pants in the bedroom and kicked off his slacks, slipping them on. He couldn't help but wonder what Riku had eaten that day.

Riku came out of the bedroom with a yawn, rubbing his face and propping his glasses on his forehead. "Okay, what's up?"

"Let's watch a movie!" Sora pulled his legs up onto the couch. "Something scary! Tomorrow's just Friday, we can stay up a little late tonight!"

Riku didn't need much convincing - Sora always got his way. He sat down next to his roommate and let out a sigh of relief. He was really overworking himself. The brunette started Netflix and Riku threw his arm over his shoulder. Sora didn't hesitate in cuddling up next to him. He started the first suggested horror film and turned his attention to Riku. Fair hairs were slipping out of his ponytail, and Sora reached back to take the elastic out, letting Riku's shoulder-length hair fall down.

Sinister was the movie they watched, and it was pretty violent for someone as soft as Sora. Riku didn't mind the younger man hiding his face in his side during the gory parts; he was tough and has seen some shit for a young man of twenty, and he knew in his heart he'd accept any excuse to get a little closer to Sora.

In more than this night only, what they were doing was not good for them - by some unspoken agreement, they allowed a certain amount of intimacy with each other, enough to lead the heart in one direction, with no clear boundary where things were not acceptable. Riku knew that if he asked Sora to kiss him, he probably would, but he didn't want to remind himself of that. For some bizarre reason, both of them were convinced the other was straight. It made sense with Sora - he flirted with Kairi, but he flirted with guys too! Everything Riku did seemed inherently gay to everyone around him, but his seriousness made Sora believe that he would never be gay, and even if he was, he wouldn't want a goofball like himself as a lover.

But there was a certain jealousy between them too. They didn't need to say it - neither of them would date anyone else for fear of upsetting the other. They were both too empathetic; something Sora had since he was born and something Riku tried very hard to absorb from his best friend.

Sora was very much regretting his choice of movie by the time he saw children being run over by the lawnmower, but he didn't want to back out. Riku was dozing before midnight - Sora didn't notice and stuck it out. When the credits rolled, Riku gently awakened to a wide-eyed Sora. "I really shouldn't'a watched that."

"Oh, Sora," Riku rolled his eyes and smiled, stretching his sore neck. "You know these things aren't real."

Sora set his jaw. "I have bad dreams though."

Riku sat up a little more and frowned. His tone sharpened: "I thought you said you weren't having as many."

"Well… not many." Sora was looking bashfully down. He explained, "I don't want to worry you."

Riku smiled. "I like worrying about you." He was so scared of hurting the people he loved. "Have some milk and crackers, and come to bed."

Sora wrapped himself in the enormous throw and stood up to go to the kitchen. He looked back at Riku before asking, "will you come with me?"

Riku stayed with him while he ate his arrowroot, brushed his teeth, washed his face, and got into bed.
"Goodnight, Sora," he turned off the lamp and crawled into the other side.

It was quiet for a second until Sora hysterically whispered, "Riku… I'm scared…"

As tired as he was, the blond turned to see Sora near tears. He hated seeing him like this. "Here," he tapped the lamp next to him to turn it on its lowest brightness. "Does that help?"

Sora nodded. "A-a little."

Riku smiled with a sigh and scooted so he could put his upper arm protectively over Sora's body. "No one's gonna hurt you…" Not while I'm around.

Riku was exhausted and fell asleep easily, and Sora was able to distract himself enough to get to sleep. However, throughout the night, he was plagued by shadowy dreams, leaving just on the edge of sleep where he wasn't conscious enough to make a decision to think about something else, but he wasn't getting any rest either. When he woke up, he cuddled hard into Riku's side, trying to shake the thoughts he'd been having.

He tried counting to get himself back to sleep, but that was boring and he would get distracted and trail off from the idea. Instead, he put his whole mind to work by imagining Riku. Sora was determined not to let any other thoughts in - he pictured his best friend, imagined his voice, his eyes.

This allowed Sora to rest, and he felt a little less scared the rest of the night.

It was near the end of the semester again, and summer was falling hard on Hampstead, their hometown. Their little apartment was always hot, so they always left the window open - the cool breeze was peaceful, and they liked the city noise.

In fact, a heat wave has hit their little town - the boys were up early, sweating and panting, lying on top of the hot bed with all the sheets on the ground.

Riku sat up, getting a drink of room temperature water from the glass next to him. "We need something cold," he groaned.

Sora sighed. "I call the shower."

"Don't take too long," Riku teased him. The younger man was notorious for taking his time in the shower. Plus, Riku had a better idea.

It was a Saturday, one that both of them had off. This was a rare occurrence, considering their busy schedules. Riku packed up a little picnic while Sora cooled off in the shower and laid out a tank top and shorts for his friend. He ignored the stack of papers waiting for him on the desk. Today was about making his best friend happy.

Sora's mind was very fogged in the heat - he wasn't in a bad mood, but he was awful lethargic. When he came out of the shower to find Riku packed up with sun hat and glasses, it took him a second to figure out what was going on.

"We're going to the beach!" Riku announced.

Sora's heart soared. He dressed quickly, grabbed his straw hat and the two packed into their good friend Aqua's sedan (she often let them borrow it if they needed a vehicle). It wasn't far to the island the two had spent their childhood summers on, and Riku was sure this was a good way to quench the summer heat.

Nearing their island, Sora suggested they stop at the corner store for something cool. He picked them out two sea salt ice cream bars - it just caught his eye. The two boys sat at a picnic table outside of the store and ate their ice cream. It was a truly beautiful day.

They both got brain freeze at the same time.

Their beach day was fantastic - it was a quiet little beach they'd found, barely anyone else there. They'd got to lounge around, Sora dozed, Riku read his book. They went in the water for a little. The day wasn't important - they had plenty of happy days. It was when they got home that things were different. They were relaxed, happy, but still very hot. They lay on the couch with the window wide, the fan on, the TV quietly playing the weather channel.

"I'm so hot," Sora moaned breathlessly. "I wish I was back in the water."

"Here," Riku moved the fan closer to Sora. "You can take off your shirt, if you want to."

Sora felt a little sheepish because he knew that he could take off his shirt. He shouldn't have been embarrassed about it. Oh, and now Riku was watching him intently, so he did remove his shirt. The cool air felt nice on his bare chest. Riku laid back again and pulled off his own tank top.

Both of them were sneaking peek at the other's gorgeous body.

Riku liked Sora thin waist, his freckled arms and shoulders, and even tan. The hair on his arms was fair, lighter than that on his head. Of course, Sora's hair always lightened in the summer, gold highlights coming out. Sora was special.

The brunette marveled at Riku's body whenever he saw it. He never had issues building muscle, but kept a lithe frame. Riku's hair was a unique attraction - all over his body, every hair was silvery white. Some random mutation must've let him be that way. Sora had seen Riku's parents: his father's hair was brown and his mother's was honey blonde. He hadn't the slightest inkling how Riku came to be.

Sora shook himself from his adoring thoughts. "I'll start supper. You want salad?"

Riku nodded. "Yeah… yes, please."

Sora came home one afternoon the next week with sketchbook in hand. "Hey, Riku," he called, dropping his pack in the closet. "What time are you working 'til tonight?"

Riku was getting dressed and stepped out of the bedroom, fiddling with his tie. "Uh… it shouldn't be long . I'm secretary-ing a court session today. Usually the ones I get to go to aren't more than a few hours. Sometimes they can be a laugh, too." As he was talking, he kind of got confused and his tie ended up in the wrong orientation.

Sora smiled and moved in to fix Riku's tie. It was just a knee-jerk response, he would do anything he could to help. "Um, do you think I could come? Just to watch? And then, when you're done, could we go out for drinks or something?"

Riku laughed. "It is Friday night… don't you have work in the morning?"

Sora shrugged. "I'm not really gonna get drunk. Too expensive."

Riku smiled. "Then my answer is yes. But put something nicer on, the judge won't want to see you looking like that!"

Sora smiled and dug out a dress shirt and pants for himself too. Riku always looked sharp, putting on a suit jacket and tying back his hair. Sora tucked his beloved crown necklace under his short sleeve dress shirt, tied on his western bowtie and chased Riku out the door.

They walked the short distance to the courthouse - it was a beautiful summer day, but with a bit more of a breeze so they weren't so hot. The building itself was a big, 19th-century masterpiece with huge staircases and arched windows. It was pleasantly air-conditioned, and Riku pointed Sora in the right direction and then went off to find his firm. Sora wandered in awe for a few minutes, enjoying the gold light coming through the western windows. He went into the courtroom and sat in the back half of the stands where he could get a good view of Riku at the typewriter.

The case actually was interesting - not as good as what you would see on CSI, or even on Cops, but still enough to keep Sora's attention. A lady was looking to get a restraining order from her ex-husband, and besides the lengthy opening statements, Sora enjoyed it. A few people came to testify, but it didn't take much for the judge to deal out the sentence. Riku was a wicked fast typer, that's for sure!

Once Riku was done wrapping up, he met Sora back in the lobby and the two were ready to head downtown. The sun was still barely above the horizon.

The two young men had a few coolers at a trendy little bar in the downtown of Hampstead. They both were smiley, laughing drunks. Sora was careful to limit how much he took in. Riku loved when it was just the two of them out like this. He knew that he was drinking with the hottest man in the bar, and everyone else was jealous of him. That gave him some comfort, even if he couldn't do as much with Sora as he wanted.

They walked home late, coolness finally beginning to settle in. Riku gave his suit jacket to Sora to cover his bare arms, and it didn't take them long to get home.

"Riku," Sora's motives were finally ready to be realized. "I have a favor to ask you."

The older boy was hydrating, leaning on the kitchen counter with the top few buttons of his dress shirt undone. "Yes?"

"Would you…" Sora licked his lips. "Would you let me sketch you for my art class?"

Riku smiled, replacing the glass on the counter. "Sure. What do you need me to do?"

"A-any pose," Sora stuttered, shocked at how easy this was. He needed the intoxication to ask the next part, though: "you have to be… naked, though." Riku's eyes widened and Sora could see the doubt in them. "It's not gay if it's for art!" Sora insisted.

Riku closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. "No… no, it's fine. I don't mind. I wanna shower first, though. And maybe have something more to drink."

Sora started to beam. "Of course - anything you need."

Riku smiled. The things he would do for Sora if he asked. He undressed in the bathroom and took a quick, medium-cool shower.

Sora was excited, changing out of his dress clothes as well and putting on PJ shorts (basically boxers) and a tank top. His excitement was initially from the success of knowing that he was going to be able to complete his project for art class, but something in his heart was telling him he was excited about something more.

If he'd thought about it, he would've realized he'd seen Riku naked before. That would have made this situation a little less awkward. When they were little, they could get changed in the same room. Riku's shorts had been swept off in the ocean when they were eleven. But Sora had never seen Riku at his full potential, as he was now.

Again, he was excited.

Sora set up his sketchbook and a little lamp so he'd be able to see. He kept the rest of the apartment dark; he thought it would be less awkward that way. He was going to get Riku to lie on the couch, so at least he would be comfortable. The blonde came out of the shower wearing a cloth bathrobe and toweling off his silky hair.

Sora lay down on a couple cushions he'd laid out and propped up his 20"x16" sketchbook. He laid out is 2B-4B pencils - he liked them soft - and turned on his lamp. His mouth was dry as Riku finished drying his hair, straightened it into place and took off his robe. Sora's face was already flushed from the alcohol, so thankfully Riku couldn't really tell as Sora heated up admiring his body. He didn't look where he wanted to most.

"What should I do?" Riku asked.

"Just make yourself comfortable," Sora was trying to be professional. "It's supposed to be in the moment."

Riku sat down, flushed as well. He was really well built, but no one was good at being naked, especially not around your best friend of many years who you kind of wanted to bone. He stretched out on their couch with one arm behind his head and the other stretched along his side, legs loosely bent. It wasn't inherently sexy, but very romantic, much like a renaissance painting. His pose looked effortless, and Sora set to work.

"So," Riku chatted after a few minutes of silence. "You're still enjoying your art?"

Sora nodded, an eraser grasped in his mouth. "I lofe ih," he mumbled before dropping the eraser. "I mean, might as well do something I like if I don't know which career I'm going to end up in."

"You'll find something," Riku tilted his head up just a degree, but Sora noticed and swiped the eraser over his page. "Sorry," Riku quickly tried to correct it, but Sora shushed him, "no, go back, it's better that way. That's the perfect angle for your jawline." Riku returned to his second posture.

As focused as Sora was at his work, his mind started to wander as a masterpiece unfolded before him. Riku was so well built, his muscles all in perfect condition. This should have been no surprise - the two of them worked out together as often as they could, and Sora was seeing similar results in himself. There was something nice about seeing Riku, though: Riku was kind of forbidden territory, and everything showed so much nicer on him, too. Sora loved displaying it - his work was turning out excellently.

Riku was actually enjoying this experience. Once he got over the initial embarrassment, it was rather nice being naked. It cooled him off considerably, but the heat from the day kept him from cooling too much. Riku, for some reason, didn't feel self-conscious around Sora. He felt proud of his body.

He wouldn't mind spending more time with Sora like this.