Author's Note: I do not, nor will I ever, own the right to any of these characters. Also, I would like to apologize for any OOC content, due to the simple fact that it has been a hot minute since I've written anything for Kingdom Hearts/Final Fantasy. Over time, I promise it will get better and way more will be explained. Also, I only have this under the Kingdom Hearts category because of the multiple Final Fantasy characters (from more than just one of the games). Families and cliques will be explained soon. Enjoy! Criticism and suggestions are greatly appreciated and welcome!


"Sora, you're really taking this whole rumor the wrong way." Kairi said as she handed Sora an ice cream cone, before sitting down on the opposite side of the table from him. She had her own cup, versus a cone, and a little red spoon to eat it with – which she began to take little dollops from.

Maybe he was, but Sora always thought that maybe Riku saw him as someone that he could talk to, being his best friend at all. Sure, maybe Sora was prone to overreacting, or taking things out of context or proportion, but… still. He sat there and stared at the cone, his favourite chocolate-vanilla swirl in a neat little whipped tower, and then took a bit off the top.

"Do you think that it'll blow over before tomorrow?" He asked Kairi, who shrugged her shoulders without really giving Sora a response at first.

"I think we should try not to worry about it, especially in front of Riku."

"He said he wasn't."

"Then, he isn't" Kairi quickly said, before Sora could get in another word.

Sora sighed, and before he knew it, he was halfway through his ice cream, wondering whether or not he actually wanted to finish the rest. Kairi had continued to eat the rest of hers, staring out the window with a blank expression – Sora stared at her for a moment. He knew she would just blow it off again if he brought up Riku, so he decided to change the subject altogether.

"Zack is supposed to be in town early in the week."

Kairi's head turned for that, and Sora grinned a little bit. Since Kairi was five, and since she first met and hanged out with Sora at his home, Kairi had a crush on Zack. At the time, Zack was twelve, and on the teetering edge of blossoming puberty, but Kairi followed him around like a puppy for a good two months at first whenever he and Cloud were at the house the same time she was. Sora always picked on Kairi about it, because even years down the road, Kairi still had a crush on Zack.

Almost everyone knew, too.

"Really?" She wasn't helping her case. Sora sat back with his hands behind his head in amusement.

"Wanna come over that day?"

"Yes!" She replied eagerly.

When Sora laughed at her, Kairi turned a shade pink. She swatted her hand, threw her spoon, and told Sora to shut up several times – especially when he waggled his brows at her suggestively. Sora lived to embarrass either himself or his friends, and it was usually both simultaneously. Kairi hated being embarrassed – she hated being teased.

"I'm allowed to have crushes, Sora!"

"Come on! You've had a crush on him for years! It's so funny!"

She was about to protest more when she saw Riku walk into the ice cream shop from behind Sora's giant head. It was her opportunity to steer Sora away from this, so she called out for Riku.

"It's Riku, hey Riku! Riku!" He turned his head left to right, and then gave a small wave when he spotted the waving Kairi, and Sora only laughed more.

Riku eventually sat next to Sora in the booth as Sora scooted to his left, and greeted them, "Hey guys, what's up?"

Sora leaned towards Riku, "I told Kairi that Zack was coming to town and you should have seen how fast she reacted."

What was worse, is that Riku laughed too!

"Oh, get ready for all the outfits Kairi never wears unless Zack is around." He taunted.

Kairi made a noise. She was borderline annoyed with the both of them, but even more embarrassed since Riku was poking fun of her on top of what Sora had already done. She thought Riku was more mature than that, but it wasn't surprising with Sora's bad influence. Kairi feigned petulance with her arms wound tight over her chest, kicking her feet at them under the table, to no avail.

She needed to start hanging out with her girlfriends instead of those two.

"It's almost as funny as the time that you had a crush on Riku, remember that?"

Kairi's mouth fell open, eyes wide in shock at what Sora had just revealed, "SORA!"

And again, Sora fell into a fit of laughter, "It was so long ago! In the fifth grade! Did you think he would never find out? He probably already knew!"

But, he hadn't, and chose not to acknowledge it years later. Riku shook his head, and when Sora's laughter was reduced to mainly chuckling, struck up something of his own, "So, you two already got your ice cream."

"Oh yeah, but I could eat more, if you're buying." Sora batted his eyes.

Riku hummed, "Well, I only came here because it was on the way from the mall, and I wasn't sure if I wanted anything. I came to browse."

"You'll still buy me some, right?"

"Of course, Sora."


Roxas was over after Axel's shift, and took it upon himself to turn on Axel's game system and pop in an RPG. Meanwhile, Axel was in his kitchen, grabbing bags of junk and two cans of soda. He aimed to sit with Roxas, maybe even join in, granted he picked a two player, but most likely wouldn't. Roxas didn't really play games at his own house, because Sora would want to join in and they were too opposite to be playing games together. Occasionally, but hardly ever.

Axel cracked his can open and took the first huge gulp, "Riku stopped by work today."

Roxas grunted, "I care, why?"

"I don't know. I was trying to start conversation. What'd you do today?"

"Oh, the usual. Cloud came in late. Except this morning Sora was moaning about the rumor about Riku being gay… which is annoying, of course, but, it's Sora." Roxas said, and Axel flinched – poor Sora. Sometimes Roxas was a little too abrasive with what he said, and Axel wasn't entirely sure Roxas realized just how abrasive he was.

"It's crazy isn't it?" Axel began, followed by saying something that just happened to slip out of his mouth, "This time it's not a rumor."

Even though he was in the middle of a fight, Roxas turned away from the game and stared at Axel for a moment, up until Axel realized what he'd just said. Right after telling Riku that he would never expose him like that – in different words, but the same deal nonetheless. The look on Roxas's face, much to Axel's dismay, meant that he'd heard it, and Roxas was not the type of person to just let something like that go.

"Wait." Roxas trailed off with a laugh at the end of the singular word, "Riku's gay?"

Axel cleared his throat twice, then tried to formulate words, then cleared it a couple more times.

This confirmed everything Roxas needed to know.