Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters (I want to, though). They are all copyrighted to Square Enix.

Author's Note: My first fanfic that has more than one chapter! X3 is excited I've been planning this one for awhile, but was too lazy to start until now...blame the educational system. Anywho..this, of course, shall be Cloud/Sora with a bit o' Cloud/Riku (maybe, maybe not..), Cloud/Leon (if anyone is surprised at this one I will smack you ), and Sora/Riku (Kairi/Sora..? eh..nah, more of a friendship thing there..one of the few people who doesn't hate Kairi ) and just a little tiny bit of Cloud/Aeris. I hope you enjoy it and remember: Reviews are your friend! Oh..and no name yet! ;;

Warnings: Eh..nothing really..it's just the first chapter, after all! A bit of flirting (mostly directed to Sora, of course).

Chapter One

Sweat

"Riku, wait up!" called a brown haired boy, "Kairi!"

The two high school students slowed to a stop, letting their friend catch up. The girl, Kairi, tried her best not to laugh while the older boy, Riku, rolled his eyes.

"Stop waking up late," he snorted, running his hand through his silver hair, "I can't believe you can't figure out how to work that alarm clock!"

"Riku," Kairi gently hit him on his shoulder, "Be nice to Sora, it's not his fault his clock is so complicated.."

Both of them cracked up at this remark, making Sora blush, which got them laughing even harder. Now ticked off, Sora crossed his arms across his chest, doing his famous pout. His friends saw this and stopped their laughter.

"Oh, Sora.." Kairi began, "Not the pout, you know I always give in when you do that!"

"Yeah," Riku said, "That's a cheap move.."

Grinning triumphetly, Sora put his arms around the two, slightly shocked that Riku actually fell for the pout; He was the only person who was able to resist it.

When they reached school and said their goodbyes to Kairi, who had a different schedule than the boys, Sora lowered his voice, "Hey, Riku..how come you gave up so easily?"

The silver haired boy blinked, not getting the question. Suddenly, a sly smile appeared on his lips as he leaned in close to Sora, so his nose was barely touching the other's, "Because you looked so damn cute."

Sora's heart skipped a beat and his face flushed over. He wasn't sure if Riku was joking or not; It was hard to tell with him. Glancing quickly towards the empty hallway, making sure they were alone and that no one was taping this in case Riku was playing a prank, he stuttered, "Erm..uh.."

Riku laughed, his eyes twinkling in amusement, "You really are hopeless, Sora," he patted his friend on the head, "One little compliment and you're blushing like crazy!"

"I..I..shut up!" he was clearly annoyed, "I'm telling Kairi that you're abusing me!"

The older boy merely smirked and continued on to his homeroom, "You should really stop running to her, men don't usually hide behind their women."

Sora watched him leave, still mad but confused at the same time; Riku never did say that he was kidding about the cute comment.

The only subject that Sora was able to stay awake in was P.E., and that was just because the teachers gave you no chance to sleep. The whole period all you were busy doing something, from trying to impress the girls' volleyball team or struggling with the temptation to pass out from exhaustion. At the moment, he was doing the latter.

"Come on Sora," Tidus pleaded, tugging on Sora's arm, "You're lagging behind! Without you we can't do a two-on-two match!" He pointed towards Riku and Wakka, who were waiting impatiently, Wakka with a basketball in hand.

"Fine," he replied crossly, "But no cheating this time!"

Wakka laughed nervously, looking at another direction, "I did not cheat, how was I suppose to know that you're not allowed to throw your opponent?"

"It's called common sense," Riku took the ball from Wakka and bounced it, "Now, are we gonna play or what?"

The group nodded, but before they began the game Riku added, "Alright, but loser does the winning team's laundry for a month." Tidus and Sora quickly glanced at each other: They were never able to beat Riku before. After a minute or two, they agreed to the bet. "Great, let's play!"

The game quickly ended, Riku's team victorious. Tidus, not able to accept defeat, placed the blame on Sora missing the ball a few times. "I think you're the only one who should be doing the laundry!"

"What!" the brunette gasped, not able to believe that Tidus actually thought it was his fault, "You lost too, so you can't leave me with all the work!"

Frowning, Tidus picked up his gym bag and walked to the locker room. "You owe me anyway, for the time I let the teacher blame me for breaking that vase, 'member?"

Realizing that he lost the arguement, Sora sighed helplessly, "Will the pout work?"

"Not this time."

With that, Tidus left Sora alone in the gym to pity himself in private.

Defeated, Sora plopped down on the wooden floor, wondering why he agreed to the bet. They never won against Riku, he knew that..but the image of a sweaty Riku running across the court, pushing against him, falling on top of him...

He shooked the image out of his mind. I'm going to have to ask Kairi about this later, he thought to himself. When he finally started to relax, the first bell rang, reminding him that he still had a period left before school ended for the day. With a grunt, he stood up and headed for the locker room, satisfied that he would be able to change alone, withouth fear of other boys watching him. But, to his disappointment, there was still someone there.

He was tall, even taller than Riku, which gave Sora the impression that he was a senior. His blond hair was spiked, similiar to Sora's own hair style. Also like Sora, he had blue eyes, but the blond's were different. They seemed to give off a soft glow, as if the light of the room reflected off of them, but there was more to them. The brunette knew what the feeling they gave you was, but he couldn't think of it. All he knew was that they were beautiful in a dangerous way, and so was their owner.

"I..I..was going to change.." stammered Sora, his face reddening once he realized the blond was only wearing a towel around his waist.

The older high schooler didn't say anything in reply, but a small smile did escape onto his face, as if he was amused by the younger student, which caused Sora to blush even more.

"I'll..change over there," the shorter boy averted his eyes away from the blond and went into a bathroom stall as quickly as possible without seeming rude. When he finished, the young man was still there wearing just the towel. Looking at his shoes, Sora rushed by with the feeling that the guy was waiting for him. Shrugging that thought off, he suddenly remembered about last period and how late he was.

"Boy oh boy, were you in trouble!" Wakka smiled happily, grateful that school had ended, "First time in trouble and already you get detention!"

"Sora? In trouble?" Selphie gaped, unable to see Sora in detention. "Our Sora?"

"Oh, didn't you know?" chirped Kairi, "Sora is a real trouble maker! He totally stole Riku's red crayon in fourth grade!"

"Aha!" Tidus pointed a finger at Riku, "I told you that I didn't do it!"

"Fine, fine," the oldest member of the group admitted, "I was wrong. But what I want to know is why Mr. Goody-Goody was late to class."

The other four nodded in agreement, taking their eyes off of Riku to look at Sora, wanting an answer. Jeez, Sora thought to himself, can't they mind their own business for once? "I was ambushed by the cheerleaders who all wanted my autograph."

Kairi folded her arms, "Sora! You're starting to sound like Wakka, now tell us what happened!"

"I was trying to figure out a way out of the bet, but then the coach locked me in," he lied. He didn't know why, but he didn't want them to know about the blond boy.

"Eh," said Wakka, "I like the first story better."

"Too bad," Selphie stated, "We have to turn here anyway..bye guys!" And with that, she, Tidus, and Wakka waved bye to the others and turned the corner.

The trio walked in silence, though Kairi occasionaly started talking about something that happened in class. After awhile, Riku finally spoke, "We wouldn't keep secrets from each other, would we?"

Startled, Sora and Kairi said no. Sighing, Riku stopped, looking towards the sky, "I mean, if anything really big happened to any of us, we would tell each other?"

"Of course," Kairi pumped a fist into the air, "I love you guys! I would never keep something really important from you!"

"Yeah," Sora grabbed Kairi's raised arm, "The Three Musketeers, forever and ever!"

The silver haired boy smirked, getting in between his two friends, "Fine then, it's a promise. We're not allowed to keep anything from each other, no matter what!"

"Right!"

"Aye, aye sir!"

The next day, Sora found himself staring at a door marked 'Detention'. He felt uneasy since he wasn't use to getting in trouble and he didn't know what kind of people he would be spending it with. Wakka and Riku got detention all the time, but they were his friends, so they were different.Taking a deep breath, Sora knocked once before quietly opening the door.

There was about six or seven people seated in the room, not counting the ancient, wrinkled man who sat at the front of the room, head slumped over a desk. At first Sora panicked, thinking that he died and was about to go call for help before a hand covered his mouth.

"Tell and die," a harsh voice whispered, the person's grip tightening. Before Sora knew it, everyone started talking at once,

"A new one?"

"Kill him, kill him!"

"Not again, leave me out of this.."

"I think he's a freshmen!"

"Ooh..see if he squeals!"

Even though he had no clue who these people were, the brunette had a feeling that they weren't going to let him leave unharmed. Trying to decide whether or not it would be a good idea to bite the one who held him, Sora looked around the room, hoping atleast one person would help him. No good, he realized desperately, they all either want to hurt me or don't care; I'm doomed.

But, in that moment, the one who held him captive flew across the room. Sora fell to the ground, having no clue what caused that to happen. When he glanced at one of the students who wanted to beat him up, he noticed that he was looking fearfully behind Sora. Holding his breath, the boy turned around only to see the blond guy from the locker room.

"It's you..!" Sora gasped.

"You're welcome," the older student grabbed brunette's hand, helping him up. "You don't really belong here.."

"You noticed?" he grinned, not knowing if it was the appropriate time to be kidding around. To his relief, his savior didn't knock him out.

"My name is Cloud," the blond started towards his seat, "You should stay with me so you won't get your ass kicked."

"Um..I'm Sora," the freshmen replied nervously, the image of Cloud in a towel still fresh in his memory, "Thanks.."

"You don't have to thank me, I wanted to help." His eyes shone brightly, even though the room was slightly dimmed.

"Why?"

Cloud paused, looking over Sora. Smiling, he sat down on the desk's top before answering, "Because I could never forgive myself if a cutie like you got beat up."

By the time detention was over, Sora learned a lot about Cloud Strife. He learned that he was, indeed, a senior and was about to turn nineteen (he was held back a year). Also, he got detention by attacking a soda machine when it stole his money. But what really interested Sora was the fact that Cloud rather listen than talk about himself. Whenever the topic returned to him he spoke in a quiet voice, as if he didn't want anyone to know about his life, but he told Sora anyway. The blond never interupted when the younger student was talking, and asked questions when it was appropriate to ask them. It was as if the two of them were the only people in the room, and that Cloud only wanted to be with him.

"Where do you live?" the older boy asked.

"Um," Sora scratched his head, not sure if it was alright to tell him, "On this island, east coast..right on the beach."

"Ah," Cloud nodded, "I live on this island too, but more inland."

"The city?"

"Yes."

The brunette noticed that girls were gawking at his companion, obviously shocked that anyone that gorgeous can exist. He felt a bit uneasy, even though he was use to when Riku got all the attention. But, this felt different; he didn't want other people to like Cloud. To know about him. "Are you use to this?"

"This?" Cloud looked curiously at Sora, "Oh, you mean the girls? Yeah, but there's usually a few guys too.."

When he said this, he looked down at Sora, with the same amused smile that he had when the younger boy first saw him. Sora quickly looked away, feeling his face burn. "My..friend Riku gets attention, too."

"So you're use to being ignored by others?"

Sora shut his mouth, not really sure whether Cloud was insulting him or asking a question. His eyes glimpsed at the nearby door, thinking if he should make a dash for it. "Erm, well..."

The blond, realizing that his question upsetted his new friend, sighed and patted Sora on the head, "I don't see why they would, I would never ignore you."

And so, the cycle of Sora trying to hide his embarassed face from the older boy, began again.

Once detention was over, Cloud offered to drive Sora home. Upon realizing that no matter what he said he could not refuse the offer, Sora let him place an arm on his shoulder, and steered the younger boy to red Mercedes.

"You have a nice car," Sora mumbled.

"I had a motorcycle," Cloud said, opening the passenger door for the brunette, "But..it was time for a change."

The way he said "change" made Sora wonder, was that anger in his voice? regret? guilt? Before he could decide, Cloud started the engine and left the parking lot.

"So," the blond stole a quick glance at his companion, "You mentioned that one of your friends gets a lot of attention?"

"Oh, yes," he looked down, "Riku. He pretty much gets a new girlfriend or boyfriend each week."

"I see." Silence filled the car. Sora was starting to think that he said something to upset Cloud until he began talking again, "What about this Kairi?"

"She's pretty much what keeps me and Riku from beating the hell out of each other, sometimes," the brunette smiled to himself, letting the memories of his childhood flash before his eys.

"Do you like her?"

This question made Sora choke on air. He turned to face Cloud, only to find that same amused smile that was always on his face whenever he succeeded in making Sora's face the shade of a freshly painted firetruck. "N-no..! Why'd you ask that!"

"Ah, just curious," Cloud spun the wheel slowly, coming into a driveway. "Is this the place?"

"Yeah," he opened the door and slid out of his seat, "Thanks for the ride, Cloud."

The blond merely gave the boy a small smile before driving away. Sora waited until the Mercedes was only a tiny speck before letting out a heavy sigh and he went inside.