Sora had gone home after walking Kairi home (Riku had split off half way to go home himself) and had instantly changed into his black wife-beater tank and gold colored cargo shorts. He walked to the bathroom to slip on deodorant and caught himself in the mirror. Sora was turning 17 in a month. He was almost 5'11", nearly as tall as his older brother, Leon, who was 6'2". He was skinny but wasn't so much to the point where he looked sickly. His skin stuck to his lean muscle and Sora wondered idly if he should try to gain a couple pounds. His chocolate brown spikes stuck out every which way, the way it had since he was young. Sora had his mother's bright blue eyes, eyes the exact same color of the ocean that surrounded their islands.

The islands weren't small by any means. There were a couple major cities on each of the three main islands that made up Destiny Islands. Sora happened to live on the smallest of the three. He was in a smaller town about an hour away from the big city, where his older brother went to college. His cousin, Cloud, went there too. As did Riku's older brother, Sephiroth, and Riku's older half-brother, Reno. For half siblings, Reno and Kairi looked almost exactly alike.

The brunette turned away from the mirror and walked into his room where he slipped on socks and his red shoes, the ones he always wore when playing Basketball. Tidus loved having him on his time. Even though he was getting taller, Sora was thin and fast and evaded people pretty well.

He didn't bother taking the crown necklace off as he grabbed his iPod and walked out his front door. It wasn't that long of a walk so he just put his headphones in and put on 'Can't hold us,' by Macklemore and Ryan Luis. His head banged as he walked to the court, swinging his arms to limber up before the game. When he got close enough, he could see Tidus and Wakka going over drills and trying to get in a good warm up.

When Sora got to the court, he exchanged bro-shakes with his teammates and continued on to warm up. He didn't bother take out his headphones, letting the song be his motivation to get moving. Even when the song changed, it didn't stop him. He, Wakka, and Tidus warmed up for a good ten minutes before stopping. It was nearly 4 and their opponents hadn't showed up.

Sora didn't know much about gang 12 other than the fact that a couple of the members went to his school and the rest were college age or older. Oh, and that one of them was Axel, Reno's half-brother on his father's side. So while him and Kairi weren't related, he liked to call he cousin and then hit on her immediately afterwards. Sora wasn't the guy's biggest fan, but had no real problems with him.

"I think it's gonna be a good game." Tidus said, throwing Wakka and Sora each a bottle of water from the cooler he brought. Sora was wrapping his headphones around the mp3 player and set it by the cooler, taking a sip of the water bottle he'd just received.

"Well, well, well…" The voice startled Sora and he turned, slightly on the defensive. "What do we have here? Pipsqueaks? Axel, I thought you said we'd be having fun. This seems just… too easy." The man who spoke was tall and hair black hair with grey streaks. He didn't seem old, but he was surely in his late 30's. He also had an eye-patch, which Sora found odd.

"Just calm down, old fart. Ya haven't even seen 'em play yet. They don't look like much, but they're young. Just try not to break your back, old man." Axel laughed. He was taller than the first man who spoke. His flaming red hair was spiky and long, going down his back and a little past his shoulders. He also had two small triangles tattooed under his bright green eyes. Sora had heard he'd almost gotten expelled for it. He couldn't even imagine what Axel's parents must've said when he came home with him.

Behind Axel and the older guy was a guy of similar height. His hair was long and pink, tied back into a ponytail at the nape of his neck. All three of them wore black tanks and black shorts.

"Tiiiduuusss! What's uppp?" Axel grinned and walked up to the blonde, who didn't look nearly as happy to see Axel. "Who's your little friend here?" The redhead asked, motioning his head to Sora.

"Sora." The brunette answered, not giving Tidus the time to answer. "My name is Sora." He couldn't help the bit of venom in his voice. He didn't like Axel's cocky attitude for some reason. Something about the teen irked him.

"Ohhh. Feisty~" Axel laughed, smirking at Sora. He then turned his attention back to Tidus. "I brought Xiggy and Marly with me."

Sora blinked. Xiggy and Marly? Weren't those reggae singers or something?

"Cool. Winners get 400 munny?"

Axel nodded and took a hair band from his wrist and tied his hair back best he could. "That's the plan. Try not to cry when we beat your asses, though."

x.x.x.x.x.x

The game started a couple minutes later. The opposing team scored first and a few times before Sora finally scored one for his team. He was just passed the ball when an elbow suddenly collided with his jaw.

It stunned the poor brunette and stars suddenly filled his vision. He fell backwards and hit his head on the concrete and scraped his elbow pretty badly. The ball slowly rolled away from him.

"WHOA WHOA WHOA!" Tidus yelled, running to Sora's side. "That was a foul! I saw Xigbar purposely hit him!"

"Bullshit, pipsqueak!" Xigbar snarled, only for the corner of his lip to curl up.

Tidus grimaced and crouched over Sora. "You ok?" He asked, blue eyes filled with concern. Sora felt dizzy as he slowly sat up, but nodded anyway. He glared at Xigbar, who now had a full on smirk, and spit onto the concrete. Slowly, the brunette stood up and dusted himself off.

"I'm good. Let's play." He said, loud enough for Tidus and Axel to hear the venom in his voice. His ocean colored eyes narrowed on Xigbar.

The game continued on and Sora made it his mission to make sure Xigbar didn't get a single score in. It worked. The score was 88-80, with Sora's team in the lead. Xigbar was getting really ticked off.

"Fucking pipsqueak won't let me fucking score!" He was screaming at Axel from the other side of the court while both teams took a water break.

Seeing the older male upset put a smile on Sora's face as he gulped down a water bottle. Sweat dripped from his body and he panted, twisting the cap back onto his empty water bottle and tossing it in the trash.

"Okay, guys." Tidus said, calling the three of them into a small three-man circle. "We've got this shit. Sora, keep doing what you're doing, but be careful. Xigbar's getting really annoyed. Wakka, you stick to Marluxia. I've got Axel. Wakka, you're our best thrower, so I'll also do my best to protect you. If we have to, pass Sora the ball and let him score. Remember, first team to 100 wins. Let's win that munny, cool?"

Sora grinned. "Hell yeah! Let's do this!" He cheered, throwing a fist up.

Tidus laughed and pushed Sora's shoulder gently, earning a grin from Sora. Wakka rolled his eyes and walked away from the dorky duo. The game started up again and it was nothing but intense. For a full 5 minutes, neither team scored and Tidus and Xigbar nearly got into a first fight. Finally, the score was 98-97. All Sora's team had to do was score once more and that'd be it. Game over.

It was as if a second wind had come.

The boys were annihilated. Xigbar had come out of nowhere with new found speed and scored 2 goals on them without even breaking a sweat.

Sora, Tidus, and Wakka were dumbfounded. They had been so close to winning.

Axel, sweat dripping off of him, held up the 400 munny they'd just won. "See ya later, little fuckers. Nice game. We should do it again sometime. Heh."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Where did that speed come from!?" Tidus growled as him and Sora walked home. "Outta nowhere this fucker has the speed of a fucking cheetah! Fucking hell!"

Sora laughed a little, grinning. "Sorry you lost your munny, Tidus. But it was a really good game."

Tidus glanced over at Sora and most of his anger melted. Instead, he just mumbled and turned his face away from Sora, as if the brunette had some sort of magical calm power. Sora just laughed.

They got to Tidus's first. "Wanna come in, man? I wanna show you these wicked new shoes my mom bought me."

Sora shrugged. He smelled real bad and really wanted to shower and eat before he did his homework, but he wouldn't be at Tidus's long.

The two went in and Sora waved hello to Tidus's parents before going downstairs into the basement. Tidus had let his little sister have the upstairs bedroom in exchange for the entire basement. Needless to say, Sora was jealous. The way Tidus had redecorated the basement and into his room was amazing. Sora only wished he'd had this much room in his bedroom.

Tidus peeled off his white tank and threw it in the hamper, his tanned, toned body glistening under the florescent light. Sora took a seat on the edge of Tidus's bed, waiting for his friend to show him the new shoes he'd gotten.

Sora had to admit, they were pretty impressive. They were yellow with silver buckles and white soles. They fit Tidus's personality perfectly. Sora wished he could get a pair, but the price tag on them made him laugh. "Did your mom sell your sister for this damn thing?"

"Nah. I've just got to do the dishes until I graduate high school."

The two boys laughed.

When Tidus's laugh died first, Sora looked at him inquisitively. "Something wrong, Tidus?"

Tidus looked at Sora and Sora blinked rapidly. Something about Tidus's expression… the way his eyes seemed to roam Sora before meeting with his eyes again… the way his lips twitched downward… It concerned Sora.

"I'm fine, Sora." Tidus said, his mood and expression completely changing in an instant.

Sora played along and returned the grin. He then stood up and stretched his arms above his head. "I guess I better get going," The brunette spoke, his arms dropping to his side. Tidus stood too, though remained silent. "Homework, shower, food. Ya know, the same old." Sora turned and flashed Tidus a bright grin, one so big his eyes closed to do so.

When he opened them back up, Tidus was staring at the floor, his eyes half-lidded. He looked like he was thinking hard about something.

"Tidus? Everything ok, man?" Sora inquired, slowly reaching out his hand to touch his friend's shoulder.

It happened so quickly, Sora didn't even have time to react properly. Tidus reached out and grabbed his wrist, yanking the brunette to his fit, toned form. In seconds, Tidus's lips were pressed against Sora's, who was frozen solid.

It took a minute for Sora to finally react. He placed his hands firmly on Tidus's shoulders and pushed the older male. Hard. SO hard in fact that Sora flew backwards and lost his balance, crashing into Tidus's dresser. His head hit the corner so hard, Sora's eyes instantly teared up.

He crumbled on the floor for a second, holding the back of his head, trying to man up and not cry. But fuck, it hurt! The spikey haired teen heard Tidus shuffle and his head shot up, blue eyes narrowed in a glare. He got to his feet and balled his hands into fists at his side.

"What the fuck is your problem!?" He yelled before making a dash for the stairs.

"Sora- wait! Please!" Tidus's pleas were in vain. Sora was up the stairs quick and rushed out of the house without even saying anything to Tidus's parents.

He ran straight till he got home. The second he got home he slammed the door behind him and leaned against it, breathing hard. His mother, who poked her head out of the kitchen, tilted her head. Sora was staring down at the floor with a terrified look in his eyes. He wasn't sure if his heart was beating so fast because of his run or because of what happened at Tidus's house.

"Sora? Everything ok?" His mother's voice snapped him out of his trance and he looked up at her.

"Y-yeah. I just need to shower…." He said, averting his bright blue eyes away from her. He slowly walked up the stairs to his room and when he got in the familiar space, he closed and locked the door behind him.

This gave him a couple minutes as he slowly emptied his pockets and undressed to think about what the fuck had just happened.

Tidus had kissed him! Fucking kissed him! A boy kissing a boy! Why the hell had he done that? Did that mean that Tidus…?

"What the hell just happened…?" Sora asked aloud to himself, shaking his head.

He walked into his bathroom, naked, and turned on his shower. As he waited for the water to heat up, he looked at himself in the mirror. He couldn't help but stare at his lips. The lips that Tidus had kissed.

His shower was long and thoughtful, as was dinner. He hadn't said a word, which concerned Sora's mother and father. Thankfully, Cloud hadn't been mentioned either. Sora had a hard enough time getting his food down without having to think or talk about his favorite cousin being gay.

The brunette didn't even bother with his homework. He went straight to bed. The basketball game and run home had worn him out. He hadn't even bothered to check his phone, which he was sure had texts from Riku, Kairi and even… Tidus.

And as he fell asleep, the most sickening thought of the entire night came to him.

Sora had liked the way Tidus's lips felt against his own and he wished he could feel it again.