It was dark... Yeah.

It was dark. But, not cold.

I was lonely. But, certainly not alone.

My friend was sitting next to me, but as to why we weren't talking (or hardly acknowledging each other's presence) was I think, because of the heavy air of awkwardness emanating from… an incident that had just occurred.

See, we had been watching the sunset down in the park on the waterfront. We were sitting on the children's swings, watching the shattered reflection of the tired sun dance along the waves far out into the ocean. Having a good time.

Summer had only begun a few weeks ago, but it almost felt like the last. There was an odd feeling flowing through our air waves. My friend was swinging slowly, looking at the woodchips beneath us, watching his feet go forward, back, forward, back… There was a cloudy look in his eyes, and his mouth bore a melancholy half-frown. My contradicting happy smile faded slowly, and I cocked my head to the side.

"Riku?" He looked up, as if he had never been frowning, a big, Riku grin.

"Yeah? What's up?"

"Oh, um, nothing much, but um…" He was giving me blank stare, and a happy, empty smile. His face hid no emotion, there was none. "The sunset is… nice, isn't it?"

"Oh yeah," He said, looking forward, smile intact. "Really… um, really nice." His expression softened, his eyelids relaxed, and he stared peacefully into the water. His smile lingered, if not somewhat gloomy.

"Ugh," I said, more to myself than anyone. "We've been on these things for hours! I'm getting nauseous."

"Actually," he mumbled, checking his phone, "Only an hour, and twenty… two minutes." Brilliant deduction Holmes.

"Regardless, I AM getting nauseous. Let's get off, please?"

"Whatever you say," he said, leaping off his swing, smile back, playfully dancing across his lips. Legs wobbling, I made my way over to the grass, just to the right of the woodchips and swings. We sat under our favorite tree (Though there was no shade, perhaps a habit), and stared.

"I'm glad this park is here." I said, sappy as can be.

"Yeah." For crying out loud, could his voice trail any further and remain audible? I do wonder. There was no noise, save the waves and the occasional bird cry. The crickets weren't quite out yet. "I'm so tired," he whispered, "I might fall asleep right here." He stretched his arms out and collapsed backwards, limbs haphazardly inhabiting as much square area as physically possible, on the soft green grass. (The water for the sprinklers in this park must cost a fortune, with grass this lush in July!)

"Sucks for you. If you fall asleep, I'm so not carrying you," I warned. He trusted himself up from a completely laid-down position up an on his knees (an effort which, from his position, must have needed a lot of stomach muscle), clasped his hands together, and dramatically mused,

"You wouldn't, Sora? You wouldn't lift me up in your strong arms, carry me all the way home, and send me to bed?" Covering his eyes with his arm and falling back down dramatically, "How could you threaten such a thing?" I laughed.

"You're way too heavy for me!" After a moment's pause, his dramatic voice stated grandly from beneath the muffling barrier of his own arms,

"You'd be surprised how powerful your love for me will make you."

"I'm sure." I said, lying down next to him, twisting a lock of his hair between my fingers, playing along to the best of my ability. He dropped his arms to his side, turned his head slightly to my direction, looking at me from the corner of his eyes distantly, as if looking for something far away/ Then, he said, in a dead serious tone and a completely straight face,

"Never underestimate the power of true boy love."

Silence.

We both burst out laughing.

"What is this, a cheesy fanfic?" I said through laughter.

"Yeah really," he said, chuckling. We exhaled in unison on our backs, looking up to the sky, now dyed an odd mixture of blue and orange. Odd, but beautiful nonetheless.

"I count… One cloud," I said childishly.

"It looks like your head." He said, bluntly in turn.

"Was that a compliment?" He shrugged. (My head looks like a cloud?) "… Heh," I giggled. "Heh heh, ha ha ha!" Riku looked over. "Hee hee! Hah ha ha!"

"What is it?" He asked, his smile almost questioning.

"You said my head looks like a cloud!" I giggled some more. "Ha ha… Stupid."

"Who's calling who stupid now?" He asked, raising himself up on to his side, his hand holding his head up. I mimicked his position exactly. He raised his eyebrows, and I in turn, raised mine. An obvious challenge to the Copycat Game. He scrunched up his nose and crossed his eyes. I of course, did the same. He rolled his eyes, and looked back at me with a sudden look of insatiable intent. He reached his free arm out and cupped it under my chin. "Oh, Sora," He said in the most provocative voice you'll ever hear Riku speak in.

"Oh, Riku my love," my copycatting hand in place under his chin as well.

"…"

"…" We just sat there for a while. I knew the competitive spirit in Riku wasn't going to let me win any time soon, even at the Copycat Game. Yeah, awkward, I know, right? The contented smile never left his lips, but I wasn't going to crack, he couldn't beat me. Then suddenly, his hand jerked under my chin, brining our heads together in the quickest, slickest way that only perfection like Riku could pull off. I felt a strange sensation in my stomach, and during the process of figuring out why, I realized he was kissing me, and when my poor slow brain finally did, I jerked my head back and away. An infamous taunting smile haunted his visage.

"I win." He said, breaking into a sparklingly toothy grin.

"Well Riku," I said arrogantly, "I didn't think you'd go… that far," (At this point I'm just bent on retaining what little dignity I have left). Sitting up, I just knew my face was a deep red by now. Maybe with the light, he wouldn't notice. He shrugged, sitting up as well.
"I figured you wouldn't crack unless I did something outrageous."

"And what, that was the first thing that came to mind?"

"Yeah, basically," he said, smiling, as if rather proud with himself. Now, I won't say Riku isn't cute, or even a little hot (just a little!), but I didn't think of him THAT way. We were friends, and, well, he, he's kind of a guy too. Neither Riku or I had boundaries though, so we always did the feigning gay lover jokes, and though everyone involved denied it, there were a few rumors that there was a Riku x Sora fan club. Imagine that. Well, in any case, I guess everything that happened that night started with the one little awkward incident, my best friend gets my first kiss, and he's a boy. This isn't one to tell the grandkids though… I just know that.