Riku sighed. He wasn't exactly one for parties anymore. He absently looked at his hand, letting a flicker of darkness play across his palm. He went back to his usual stiff pose, observing the royalty and dukes and duchesses and other aristocrats with a bored and distant look. In all actuality he was a little terrified of crowds; lots of potential for something to go wrong or bystanders to get hurt.

He tugged at his collar, wondering how this kind of fashion ever managed to exist. It was so stifling. He then figured dryly that it must have been stifling to him because he grew up on a island world where no one really cared about what you wore as long as it was moderately decent-

"Well?" Riku blinked, then looked to find a girl waving a fan in front of her eyes with a coyish look, "Are you going to dance with me you handsome fellow?"

He looked up slightly to notice her little entourage giggling with encouragement. He could already feel himself panicking, just like what had happened with Shiki. Then again now that he'd finally figured out that other girls could be just as forward as Kairi, even if they weren't as accquainted with him, he'd been a little more prepared.

He held out his hand; why not humor them? "Very well, but be warned I haven't danced before." The girl laughed, figuring the comment was meant to be a joke. She quickly found out she was wrong, and soon Riku was back to being a lonely observer in the crowd.

A brown spike walked past and he grabbed Sora's shoulder and pulled him in, "Hello, Prince of Dorks."

Sora brushed off the hand from his shoulder in annoyance, "Jeez, a little warning next time!"

"Well we aren't gonna get much warning from anything else, are we?" Riku replied. He smirked at the angry pout Sora was forming.

Sora made a little "blah blah blah" mime, then huffed, "Yeah, but I'd like to get warned about the things I can be." Still, he seemed a little happy to settle in right next to Riku. He tugged at his collar, relinquishing his annoyance with Riku to annoyance with dresscodes, "Is it just me or are these clothes really stupid?"

"They're really stupid." Riku agreed. He then scanned the crowd, and looked a little alarmed, "Hey, have you seen-" he stopped himself, then called over to the young lady with red hair, "Kairi!"

Kairi jumped, then turned. It was at that moment Riku realized she'd picked up a... The word was laced with bitter disapproval in his head: "friend". She smiled and skipped over, bringing her companion with her, "Oh! Riku! Sora!" She bounced to a stop in front of them, her loosely pinned up hair bouncing, "I got someone to show you!"

"Yes indeed, Kairi," Riku said, trying to mask his animosity with stiff formality and decency, "Who is this?"

The young man looked dashing enough with well groomed auburn hair (that Riku hated to admit had a nice set of sideburns) and kind hazel eyes that leaned on green. Riku felt something cold creep up his spine. He tasted something horrible and disgusting in his mouth. A smell he hadn't detected in a long time barely drifted past his nostrils among the heavy scent of cologne.

The young man shifted his drink to one hand and held out the other, "Nice to meet you I'm-"

"Prince Hans of the Southern Isles!" Kairi said for him with rapid excitement. Her voice was almost squealing with delight. Riku and Sora glanced at each other; Kairi was always dreaming of her own little Prince Charming, wasn't she?

Prince Hans laughed, and brushed some of her hair, "Yes, my spirited miss is just so eager to show off her favorite." He smiled at Sora and Riku, "I presume you already know Princess Kairi of the Hartlands? She certainly knows you two." He laughed a little, "I honestly haven't heard of the place, you must be from a long ways off!"

Sora gave Hans the oddest look Riku had ever seen on him while saying very slowly with gritted teeth, "Yes".

The look was somewhere between "gotta act nice and kind and cordial", "are you kidding me", "I don't believe this you're lying", and perhaps a tint of jealousy was mixed in. If you didn't know Sora very well it was hard to pick up the suddenly hateful pieces of his smile.

It didn't really matter what the expression really was, though, as it boiled down to just an extremely bitter and hateful look for Sora. One he reserved for the vilest of foes that tried to be masked with his usual cheery disposition. Shortly after he grabbed a drink and began swirling the glass around, as if trying to find something to preoccupy himself with while his glare settled on saying what could be summed as "Please go die in a fire you princely bastard."

Kairi was oblivious to her friends's reactions and snuggled up against Hans, "Oh, Sora, he's so sweet and nice like you!" She playfully bumped Hans, "Utterly hilarious too!"

Hans laughed, "Oh, you're too kind, Kairi. Positively unflattering." After a moment he added, "Unflattering in the sense you'll overstate my qualities." He smiled at her in a special way that made Sora shatter the glass of his drink (which surprisingly went unnoticed by all except Riku). Sora grabbed another while Hans delicately took Kairi's chin into his hand, "I just want people to see me for how I really am."

Kairi pulled away, giggling and pulling out a fan, "Oh, so modest, too!" She looked at Hans and tapped her right cheek with the fan.

Riku had had enough and cleared his throat. He hoped Kairi would follow along with what he was thinking, "Yes, and, Prince Hans?" he delicately brought Kairi to his side, "Kairi is my fiancé."

Kairi looked completely stunned, and her face was as red as her hair in an instant. Sora let out a very flat and angry, "WHAT."

Riku then leaned in to Kairi, acting apologetic, but with a second layer for Kairi and Sora to play along, "I'm sorry, I was going to tell you formally and in private that our parents have arranged our marriage." He realized they didn't have rings, so he added, "I was going to give you the engagement ring then." he gave Prince Hans a pointed look while still talking to Kairi, "But I suppose I'll have to tell you now; I don't want you to ruin such fidelity-"

"My apologies, I was unaware!" Hans held up his hands and backed away. He bowed, "I am deeply sorry, please forgive me."

"It's fine." Riku quipped, "She didn't know of the engagement either."

Sora smiled in a much more enthusiastic way, but it looked cruel and possibly gloating, "Yes, it's perfectly fine." His voice still growled. He took a sip of his drink (his features rippled with distaste upon realizing it was an alcoholic beverage) and he carefully watched Hans as he apologized once more and proceeded to leave. Riku then saw Sora leave as well, except he followed Hans.

Sora- very, very purposefully and nonchalantly -spilled the remainder of his drink on Hans while saying quite loudly, "I don't like you." He tromped off while Hans sputtered in shock.

Hans turned to Riku, who very quickly grabbed a towel and helped him dry off, "Kairi's bodyguard is a little... Touchy. He doesn't like a lot of people, I apologize." After Riku's own set of apologies, Hans left for good in a rather angry fashion. Which was odd considering how easy-going and relaxed he had been previously.

Riku looked at Kairi, "You're really bad at this..."

Kairi glared at him and pointed her fan at him, "He's awfully nice and you scared him off-"

"Kairi, there's darkness in his heart." Riku looked for Hans again, worried, "Lots of darkness."

Kairi was silent for a moment before she sniffed, "Hmph, you're just jealous."

Riku sighed back, "Hartlands? Really? You've given away what you are."

Kairi groaned, "He was very, very persuasive, okay? He wanted to know where I was from and I gave him an answer! Quit being my dad-"

"Kairi you just met him." Riku left her, "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go find Sora."

He found Sora leaning in the shadows of some drapery, looking positively dismal. Riku slipped next to him without a word, waiting for Sora to act upon the urge to express his feelings when a vent was available. The music of the event shifted three times before Sora said bitterly, "I thought I was her prince."

Riku held his shoulder, "You are."

Sora shrugged him off, "Sure thing, Mr. Fiancé." He looked at her, sitting in the crowd and becoming a spotlight of attention. "She accepted that you and her were engaged just fine, didn't she?" Sora leaned back into the shadows again, "Because who cares what I think."

Riku frowned and looked away, "it was spur of the moment. I needed to come up with something to get him off of her before things got suspicious on his end." He suddenly snorted, "Or you decided to punch him in the face."

Sora held up his hand and looked at it, "That would be very nice." He then made an expression that seemed to humor the thought more, "A bloody nose would certainly look good with his hair."

"Sora... What am I going to do with you?" Riku chuckled.

"I dunno." Sora replied. He gave Riku a grin- a sincere, genuine, trademarked Sora grin, "What are you gonna do with me?"

Riku laughed. Possibly for the first time that whole night.

Everyone does the Frozen parts where Elsa's attained freedom and Anna's lookin for her but no one ever really ever talks about what happened at the ball or our teenaged heroes just relaxing for once.

And warning our less experienced Kairi of douchebags