Hello all! As you can see, it took me a while to pop this sucker out, but through endless tediousness it's done! I had to do a lot of thinking to get everything situated how I wanted.

Sometimes I want a beard just so I can have something to rub while I'm pondering my outlines. XD

At any rate, please enjoy.

Sora gulped hard. The last thing he wanted to do was embarrass himself with a bad first impression, but the bundle of nerves wrestling around in his stomach and the odor of gasoline wafting about his person made it difficult.

"Yeah...er...that's me."

"Riku," he said simply, rising from the couch. He met Sora at the doorway, and extended his hand.

Sora inspected it for traces of blood or any other tell-tale evidence of an axe murder related past, but to his relief, he didn't find any. With an uncomfortable smile, he grabbed hold of his hand and shook.

He glanced around the room, taking in the space he would be sharing for the next...however long he could stand it, and after a quick once over, he decided that he would be able to stand it for a long time.

The floor was the desirable shade of off white, but the rest was entirely different from his old home. His old livingroom he remembered, was a sort of warm, inviting rose color, with rich mahogany furniture stippled with dents and cracks. The medium sized television sitting on a plastic stand had tape over the buttons so they wouldn't fall out.

Here, the walls were a fresh waxen yellow with orange rag-rolled accents. White crown molding swooped along the ceiling where a few bulb shaped lamps attached to the wall with golden holds. There was no tape on the TV, which was, as a side note, gigantic.

It was shockingly different, and quite possibly the most expensive looking apartment Sora had ever seen–not that he had seen many apartments—it was still something he thought he could get used to.

It was clean, and perfect, like he had dreamed—and Kairi insisted—it would be.

"So...er...nice place." Sora ventured, scanning the room for a dirty shovel or an unusual amount of rope lying around. (After all, one could never be too careful).

Riku didn't look at him. "I'd hope so. You're paying for half of it."

"Oh...right."

He smiled, but it was directed toward the floor."You're friend...Kairi was it? She said you'd like it, though I find it a little strange that you weren't the one looking around."

"Oh...well, about that..." He scratched the back of his head searching for an logical yet creative lie. It only made sense that one eluded him now. "Yeah...she's my...house scout."

Sora could almost see the gigantic question mark sprouting right above Riku's mop of hair. At least it was creative...

"House scout?"

"Yeah...they're really...useful."

"I can imagine."

Sora wanted to get off that subject as soon as possible. The last thing he wanted was for this Riku character to think he was incapable of finding himself a house; shy, weak, easily subdued. If it came down to it, He wanted Riku to know that Sora would put up the fight of the century before he was dragged off behind some random shed and chopped to bits.

It was about this moment that Sora noticed something particularly odd about his roommate's appearance.

It wasn't that the silver hair didn't make him look old, or that he was wearing pajamas when he greeted his guest. It was that not once during the entire conversation did Riku's eyes meet his, or his face for that matter.

Sora tilted his head sideways. Now that he thought about it, it was very strange. However, he didn't appear to be staring at his anatomy in an inappropriate or otherwise offensive way, or that he was so disgusted with Sora's appearance that he couldn't bear to look at him either.

His eyes seemed to drift around Sora's head, or off to the side at the wall behind him. So, Sora was led to only one logical conclusion.

"Kairi didn't tell me you were blind."

"What?!" Riku's mouth hung open so wide that Sora was sure a Kawasaki Ki-45 Toryu would fly out and fire at his head. It made him a little bit uncomfortable.

His mouth closed after a moment. "She probably didn't tell you because I'm not."

Sora's expression was sympathetic, but none the less relieved. There weren't too many murderers out there that couldn't see. The poor guy was embarrassed. "Look man, I have no animosity toward your condition whatsoever."

Riku closed his eyes. "Good, because I don't have a condition."

"It's okay. Really."

"Look Sora, I can see. You're wearing jeans, you haven't combed your hair in days, and your running shoes are yellow, though not automobile-esque in the slightest, smell strongly of gasoline."

Sora regarded that last part with a sharp cough. "Oh, well, then...er...sorry."

Riku rolled his eyes and headed to the back of the small apartment. "Why on earth..." He muttered.

Sora followed him, feeling somewhat idiotic. However, despite his slight recoil, he didn't like being muttered about. "You could at least look someone in the eye when they're talking to you!"

"Why would blindness be your first assumption? Maybe I'm was looking at a spider on the wall, or hey, maybe I'm shy." Riku headed into a closet retrieving a pile of sheets.

Sora crossed his arms. "Well, was there a spider?"

"No."

"Are you shy?"

"Not really."

Sora was really about to lose it now. "Then what's your problem?!"

Riku paused for a moment, then shrugged and headed to another closet for a few pillows. "Force of habit." Quickly he changed the subject. "Hey, are you a goose feather or a polyester person?"

Sora sighed. "Polyester."

The pile of sheets and pillows was dumped into Sora's arms. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. So, you live pretty far away?"

Sora cringed. His parents' house seemed like it was on another continent. "Yeah. I have to say, this place is quite a bit different."

Riku headed down the hall again, all the way to the back. "Different good or different bad?"

"Um...different I-haven't-decided-yet."

Riku shrugged, looking at him in a sort of not-looking-at-him kind of way. "Well, then I guess I'll show you around." He opened one of the doors at the back of the short hallway. "My room is on the right, yours is on the left." He wrenched the golden knob open, and never in Sora's wildest dreams would he have imagined such a stunning room.

The mattress was bare, as expected, but the walls were beige with the same white molding as the living room. There was a bathroom, which Sora didn't even bother to go in for lack of nerve, and enough closet space to house Kairi's entire collection of shoes and matching hand bags.

Sora dumped his pillows and sheets onto the bed. "Show me more!"

Riku led him through the general areas of the house, the kitchen, and the balcony, from which Sora could see the car port, and the coat closet. Most of the house was empty, as Riku didn't have a lot of personal belongings. Sora, however, had enough to fill in the rest of the empty space.

"That's it," Riku said, taking note of the carpet.

"I like it." Sora smiled. "I like it a lot." Just then, a dull, flat chime from the clock on the wall announced the hour.

Ten.

Riku yawned. "Do you mind if we bring your stuff in tomorrow? It's kind of late."

Sora nodded. "Right. Well, I'll see you in the morning then?"

"Right."

The two headed down the hallway into their respective rooms, but Sora didn't fall asleep at first. He flopped down on the mattress—the silky-smooth, extra fluffy luxury mattress—and kicked his bedding off over to the side. This would have been the perfect time to call Kairi, however he didn't exactly feel compelled to do it.

Were the few hours he spent away from home hardening him into a man?

Could he finally go to sleep without being tucked in at night?

He snorted mentally. Whatever it was, he was tired, and didn't have the energy to analyze it.

He snatched the pillow off the mound of sheets and crammed it under his head. Tomorrow he would be officially moved in, and his life as an adult would finally start.