Date Crashers

Kairi happily settled onto the couch wearing her new favorite pajamas – a pair of her boyfriend's Mario sleep pants and her own Princess Peach tank top. Her red hair was down, falling over her shoulders. Snacks and cans of soda were on the table in front of her, along with her pink controller and laptop, which was logged into her Skype account. The large television on the other side of the room displayed the game she was about to play. She checked the time and smiled before picking up the controller and joining a Minecraft game labeled "Happy Fun World".

As she settled into the game and looked around to remember where she left off, her laptop chimed, signally that her boyfriend was finally online. His smiling face soon filled the screen, his blond hair messily falling over blue eyes, just as unruly as ever.

"Sorry I'm late. It took me ages to get the guys out of here," he apologized. "But now I'm all yours, babe."

Kairi couldn't help but smile back. "I guess I can forgive you. But only as long as you don't dump lava on my house the moment you find me! Again."

"Just for you, I'll resist the temptation," he promised.

Kairi turned her attention back to the TV and adjusted the volume just enough that she could hear it but the microphone on her laptop wouldn't pick it up. "So how was your day?" Kairi asked, turning her character around to check the chest she'd stuck on the wall of the sandstone house she was in. All she found was six string and a sapling.

"Ugh, sucky," Tidus groaned. "We had a pop quiz in Chem. A pop quiz, Kai. What kind of professor does that? It's like middle school all over again!"

"I think those are totally normal. We have them sometimes too," she responded. "Hey, do you have a map? I must have died right before we quit last time. My inventory is completely empty."

"Yeah, I've got one. Give me a sec to get away from this cree- SHIT! That was close. I've got one heart of health left. I'm gonna dig down a few blocks and barricade myself in."

"Take your time. I've got to regather supplies before I go anywhere." Kairi left the small sandstone house and wandered around the desert village in search of the gardens. She could spot jungle trees in the distance and took note of where they were so she could go get wood blocks once she was done getting food.

"Oh hey, we're actually not that far from each other. At least we're on the same map," Tidus happily told her. "I'll come to you." He was silent for a moment and then glanced over at the camera. "My health hasn't regenerated enough yet so... how's your day been? And how are Wakka and the others doing?"

Kairi smiled as she found a bunch of grown carrots and began collecting them, diligently replanting every single block so new ones would grow. "I narrowly avoided a shopping trip with Selphie after class today. Her boyfriend showed up and saved me from having to explain exactly why I didn't want to go. I haven't seen much of Wakka lately. He's just so busy all the time with work and school. Other than that, things have been normal."

"Still on track to transfer here in the fall?" Tidus asked.

"Of course," Kairi replied. "Nothing could stop me now!" She found a few rows of wheat and quickly harvested all of it. "Hey, do you have a crafting table with you? I was going to make bread, but I don't think there are any around here."

"I don't have a crafting table, but I've got, uh, twenty-seven spruce wood. Just give me a – oops."

The words BlitzAce fell to their death appeared on the screen.

Tidus scowled. "Well now I'm lost. I think I'm back in the snow biome we started in because my bed was 'missing or obstructed'. Why is that, Kai?"

Kairi bit her lower lip, trying not to smile. "I may have broken it as revenge for lava-ing my house. Sorry."

"Liar. You're not sorry," Tidus said. He grinned seconds later, unable to even pretend to be angry with her. "I guess we need a new plan now. I don't remember what the old one was, but we need a new one. How about we make a bunch of new maps and then meet up somewhere and go on an epic adventure together?"

"Sounds good to me," Kairi replied. "I'll bring plenty of food."

Tidus laughed. "Maybe you should have picked a farm girl skin instead of the Valkairi."

Kairi rolled her eyes. "I can't believe you're still calling it that. Your roommates are the worst influences. And you can tell them I said that."

"I will. They'll think it's funny."

Laughing quietly, Kairi resumed her "gardening", gathering enough food to sustain her journey to the jungle biome and back again.

A half hour passed as they talked about simple things, idle chatter to fill the silence and pass the time. Tidus told stories of his adventures with his roommates and the guys who lived across the hall while Kairi talked about Selphie's everlasting quest to get them all out to the play island every weekend. Just when they both had maps and were about to begin running towards each other, Kairi's doorbell rang.

She shut herself in one of the houses, which would hopefully protect her from any mobs, and then set down her controller. "I'll be right back. It's probably just my neighbor checking in."

"That's cool," Tidus replied. "I need a snack break anyway. See you again in ten minutes?"

Kairi nodded and stood up, noticing her boyfriend doing the same. A glance at the clock told her it was a little past eight, which wasn't Ms. Dunhill's normal time to check in on her, but there wasn't anyone else it could be.

She walked down the hall and checked to make sure she looked somewhat presentable in her pajamas before opening the door.

"Kairi!"

Kairi grunted as a brunet with blue eyes surged forward and pulled her into a tight hug. Blowing one of his unruly spikes of hair away from her face, she raised her eyes to the tall, white-haired man standing on the front porch with an amused smile. She breathed a little easier when Sora finally released her.

"It's good to see you," Riku said, stepping forward for a much less bone crushing hug.

"Welcome home," she said sincerely. As untimely as their arrival was, it was still good to see the two of them looking healthy and whole. "Sorry I'm not really dressed. I was planning on staying in all night."

"That's okay."

A loud shout from the living room reached their ears and Sora eagerly peered around Kairi's shoulder into the house. "Are you having a sleepover? Riku, lets go say hi to everyone!"

Before Kairi could stop him, Sora skipped into her houses and headed straight to the room where all of their childhood sleepovers used to take place.

"Sorry about this," Riku apologized as the redhead let him inside and led him down the hall. "I've been trying to get him to stop barging into places, but it's not working so far." He walked into the living room behind her, ready to scold Sora for his lack of manners. They found him sitting on the couch.

"Kairi, who's your strange friend?" Sora asked, gesturing to her laptop where one of Tidus's neighbors was making funny faces at the camera.

Sighing, Kairi walked over and sat down next to Sora. She crossed her arms over her chest and raised one eyebrow before addressing the blond with a ponytail. "Zidane, what are you doing?"

"Kairi! My love! You look as beautiful as ever! Even if you are wearing Tidus's pants." Zidane pouted and moved in even closer to the camera. "You know, if you really want some pants to wear, I've got-"

"Zidane! Stop harassing my girlfriend!" Tidus interrupted, off-screen. "Why are you here? How did you get in?"

"Cecil."

"Cecil, you traitor!"

A grinning brunet popped up over the back of the couch and handed Zidane a bottle of beer. "I'm here too! Hi, Kairi!"

She smiled back at him. "Hello, Bartz. Is anyone else there or is it just the four of you?"

"Well, we tried getting Light to join us, but he stared at us until we got too uncomfortable and left," Bartz told her. He climbed over the couch and settled down next to his best friend before removing the cap from the bottle he was holding. "Dunno where Firion is."

"Library," Tidus said as he moved into view, grumpily sitting down on the other side of Zidane. "Because he's a good friend who doesn't interrupt people's dates when he's bored. Unlike some people." His disgruntled expression turned to one of surprise when he got a good look at Kairi's visitors. "Sora? Riku? Is that really you?"

Sora enthusiastically waved at him. "We had some free time. Where are you? Who are they?"

Tidus proudly sat up. "I go to Destiny University now. These two are Bartz and Zidane. They live across the hall from me with Light," he explained, gesturing to each of them in turn. "And Firion and Cecil are my roommates. Hey, Cecil, get out of the kitchen and come join us!"

Zidane popped the cap off his bottle of beer and took a swig.

Tidus narrowed his eyes at the action. "Is that mine? Are you stealing stuff from my fridge again?"

"Yup," Zidane deliberately popped the 'p'. "Though technically it was Bartz this time."

"It was your idea!" Bartz exclaimed.

A guy with long, slightly wavy white hair swooped in and moved the laptop out of harms way just as Tidus grabbed one of the decorative couch pillows and began walloping Zidane with it. He smiled into the camera. "I'm afraid there's not much to salvage of your date tonight. I'll remind Tidus to call you once he's done chasing them around campus, okay?"

"Okay," Kairi replied. "Thanks, Cecil."

The screen went blank.

Riku and Sora were silent for a short, blissful moment.

"Soooo... they seem, um, interesting," Sora said.

"If you think that was strange, wait until you see them on a day when they're trying to cause trouble," Kairi said, trying not to smile too broadly as she recalled what happened to first time she went to the mainland to visit Tidus. She stood up and started for the kitchen. "If you two have the time, I'll make dinner and tell you some stories of the adventures I've had."

Sora and Riku exchanged curious glances and then nodded in unison.

"That sounds great."


End


I'm thinking about writing some more of these, since I have a few ideas for a prequel (and more for a sequel). I'll put up a poll on my profile and anyone interested can vote. (Or, y'know, you can write a review letting me know what you think. Either's good.)