Sora found Riku sprawled face-down on his queen sized bed later that afternoon. The days had come and gone when the boys had asked to enter each other's houses – these days they just walked right in and were treated like a member of the family. So Riku's parents didn't think anything of it when Sora let himself in through the back door, waved a greeting to them as he grabbed two cans of soft drink out of the fridge and climbed the stairs.
"Riku?" Sora called as he poked his head in through the doorway. "You in?"
Riku didn't move.
"Riku~" Sora smiled cheerfully "I have cola!"
Riku let out a loud grunt that sounded something like "You stole it from my fridge."
Sora walked in, stepping over the pile of dirty clothes. He cracked both cans open and sat on the end of Riku's bed. Riku moved his feet to the left so that Sora wouldn't sit on them or start up a round of "This little piggy" to try and cheer him up. But because Riku's bed was so large there was plenty of room for both gangly males.
"I opened it. You have to drink it now." Sora said as if talking to a small child. He sipped from one of the cans.
"You drink it." Came the muffled reply.
"How could I drink yours as well as mine? My teeth would rot and fall out. You won't let me rot my teeth alone, will you?" Sora smirked. That did the trick. Riku rolled over onto his back and sat up. His face was very pale and his nose was a little pink. Sora wouldn't say that he had been crying – he doubted if Riku would allow himself to cry – but he didn't look very cheerful.
"That's the way." Sora smiled encouragingly as Riku reluctantly took the can and sipped from it.
"So do you want to tell me what your tantrum was about?" Sora asked, smiling hopefully. Riku just glared at him. "Okay, I guess not."
They sat in silence for a minute. Sora watched Riku carefully as he chugged his cola, while Riku looked anywhere but at Sora and forgot about the can in his hands.
"That witch never knew when to shut her trap." Riku muttered.
"Riku?" Sora's gaze was concerned. Just what had Naminé said that had pissed his friend off so much?
"So Sora." Riku met Sora's gaze. "How do you feel about Kairi?" His voice was laced with sarcasm.
Sora was a little baffled by Riku's sudden question. He looked away. "She's my friend."
Riku made an odd noise with the back of his throat. "Just your friend?"
Sora looked directly into Riku's eyes and met a guarded expression. Why was Riku behaving this way? "Just my friend. She'd drive me mad if I ever dated her. Why?"
Riku nodded and sipped at his cola like it was no big deal. He shrugged.
But Sora wouldn't be put off. He had no idea why Riku cared what he thought of Kairi, but he knew that he wouldn't have asked without a very good reason.
"Riku." Sora glared at him "What the hell is up with you?"
Riku threw Sora a sceptical look from under his fringe. "You really have no idea, do you?"
"She cares for you both very much, but she cares for Sora slightly more. If you know what I mean."
Sora's glare dropped. Was that what this was about?
But before Sora could say anything, a black mobile phone began to ring on the desk. Riku clambered to his feet and strode across the room to answer it. Sora never ceased to wonder why Riku owned a mobile phone – Kairi was one of the only other kids on the island with one. But Riku had said that his parents gave it to him a few years ago in case of emergencies. It never left his room, however, so it kind of defeated the purpose of having a phone.
After checking the caller I.D. on the screen, Riku pressed a button and held the phone to his ear.
"What?" He thundered. Sora wondered who was on the other line and wondered if they cared that Riku was being rude.
Riku listened for a few seconds, and his pale face went even whiter. "What?" He murmured. Sora began to worry. Had somebody died?
"Are you sure?" A pause "And how?"
"Okay. We'll be there in five." He pressed a button and threw the phone back onto the desk.
"Sora, we have to go now.'"
-x-
"What took you two so long?" Kairi glared as Riku and Sora sprinted across the beach. She was standing in the doorway of the shack with her hands on her hips, and was now wearing her baggy shirt over the bikini. "Were you making out or something? Get in here!"
Riku just glared at her as he strode past, but Sora was a little insulted. Riku hadn't said a word for the whole trip back to the island, only that they needed to hurry up. And now Kairi was angry for him being late – had the world gone mad?
But as he walked into the shack he crashed into the back of Riku, who had stopped dead. Protesting, he learned around Riku and froze himself.
Lying on a deckchair unconscious and wrapped in Kairi's sarong was a fifteen year old Riku. He looked identical to how he looked in Sora's dreams, only his shirt, boots and gloves were lying in a heap in the sand. His bare flesh was covered in scars and scratches, old and new. Compared to how peaceful Riku looked in his sleep, Sora thought that he looked angry in his sleep. Was this...?
"The Replica!" Riku hissed. "What is it doing here?"
Kairi shrugged. "It washed up on to the beach, so I dried it off, took its wet clothes off and put it here. I was afraid that it'd wake up before you guys got here – I was scared it might attack me."
Riku shrugged. "You're Naminé's Somebody, it wouldn't dream of attacking you. And besides, it's not really vicious, it was just programmed to be psychotic." Kairi roller her eyes. Vicious and psychotic were almost exactly the same thing under that context. But Riku just ignored her.
Sora slowly walked up to the Replica and sank to his knees next to the chair. He learned in and examined the Replica's face almost as carefully as he'd examined Riku's face that morning. It was identical to Riku's face at the age of fifteen. Only its mouth was twisted into a frown and its eyebrows furrowed downwards.
Sora shook its shoulder gently. Even though Riku had told him of the almost manic behaviour, Sora couldn't bring himself to be nasty to anyone, let alone someone who looked just like his friend "Riku. Hey, Riku. Wake up."
The real Riku landed a sharp kick on the leg of the deckchair, causing the whole thing to jolt. The Replica's eyes opened slowly, and he glanced about the room without really seeing it. His eyes were identical to Riku's, and just as dull as Riku's had been the night before when Sora had opened one of his eyelids. Sora shivered.
"Mm? Where am I?" It muttered, blinking dumbly a few times. Its voice was almost identical to Riku's, but only a note or so higher. It looked at Sora and frowned with confusion – Sora could see its dull eyes slowly sharpen into focus.
"Sora?"
Sora smiled. "Hi, Riku."
The Replica looked away. "M'thirsty." It muttered. Kairi stepped forward with a water bottle she had filled at the stream earlier. The Replica took it without a word and gulped down half of it. When he'd had enough he shook his head, coughed up a bit of water and examined the people in the room more carefully.
"Riku?" It asked. Riku nodded grimly.
"Hey there. Long time no see."
"Who are you?" It gestured to Kairi.
"Oh, I'm Naminé's Somebody." She smiled. "Name's Kairi."
Riku groaned. "Shouldn't have said that, Kai."
Before Kairi could ask why, the Replica was on its feet and lurching towards Kairi. Kairi let out a shriek and hid behind Riku. But she needn't have worried – as soon as the Replica was on its feet it crashed to the ground and vomited up a huge puddle of foamy liquid.
Sora grabbed it under each arm and hoisted it back onto the deckchair – an easy feat now that he was sixteen and a few inches taller than the Replica. He wiped the Replica's mouth with the corner of Kairi's sarong, ignoring the girl's protests.
"Steady on, man. You could hurt yourself if you stand up too quickly." Sora smiled, almost like a nurse would smile at a difficult patient.
But he might as well have been telling the deck chair to steady on – the second the Replica's head rested on the headrest it fell into a deep sleep.
The three teenagers looked at each other, a little shocked.
"You say you found it in the water?" Riku asked, not looking up from the sleeping Replica. "Must have swallowed a lot of sea water."
Kairi shot him an odd look. "Isn't it supposed to be dead?"
Riku nodded, but then paused. "Well, I don't think 'dead' was the right word to use. I fought and won – it fell down, melted into a puddle of purple goo and then evaporated." He scratched his chin. "I suppose you could call that 'fading into darkness'."
Kairi cocked her head to the side, thinking "But fading into darkness doesn't necessarily mean you'll die. Sora turned into a Heartless once and he's okay, and you gave over to the darkness but here you are." Riku visibly flinched – it was not a secret that he was deeply ashamed of his actions. Kairi grimaced "Sorry. But still, you get what I mean, right? Hey Sora, isn't that right. Sora?"
She looked over to her brunette friend, expecting backup, but Sora was still staring intently at the Replica's face. His hand was still making a wiping motion on the Replica's chin, but all the vomit was gone and the sarong had slipped from his grasp – to Kairi it looked almost like he was stroking the Replica's jaw. His face was turned away so the others couldn't see the trance-like expression Sora wore as he stared intently at the sleeping Replica.
Sora's mind was slow, so slow he didn't realize that both the vomit and the sarong were gone. But as he stared at the face below his, he forgot for a moment that it wasn't really Riku. Looking down on the worried and careworn face of his friend, Sora's gut clenched up. For a minute he was fourteen again, looking up to his strong friend – his hero. Why was Riku down? Why did he look so miserable? What could Sora have done to prevent it? The young boy who was strong enough to carry the whole world on his shoulders was out for the count. He felt like curling up into a small ball and sobbing out the anguish over his sleeping friend. A hero's right to cry.
But then he was sixteen again – older and stronger than the beaten Riku. The feelings of despair vanished, and in their place a fiery sense of protection and possession. The child lying on the deckchair needed a firm guiding hand, someone to take care of him. Their entire existence together reversed – suddenly Riku was light and Sora was darkness. Riku bore the burden of the Kingdom Key while Sora wimped out and gave into darkness. He was older, he was stronger, and he was meaner. He would never let any soul harm this battered little boy while he still drew breath. It was his turn to take care of Riku while he slept.
"Sora?"
Sora blinked. All thoughts of protection vanished. The boy whose chin he was stroking was not Riku, but the Replica. His hand dropped.
"Hey, Sora. You alright?"
Sora turned slowly. The world around him seemed fake – everything moved too slowly and every sound was muffled. Was this what it was like to be a phony? Sora's head swam.
But then there was light. The concerned face of the seventeen year old Riku loomed in on his. Sora saw the longer hair, the smoother skin and the brighter eyes; the face of a happy, healthy teenager. Sora was no longer sixteen, fourteen. He was seven years old again, staring into the face of another child who was big enough to be an adult. He was small enough to be picked up, cuddled. To play and not worry about a thing like the fates of the worlds. He felt like a tiny puppy – something to be treasured and loved. He resisted the sudden urge to throw himself into Riku's arms to be stroked and petted.
But then he was old – much, much older. He was eighty four. His hands and face were wrinkled, his eyes were far away, but his heart was filled with a lifetime of love and sorrow. And as he stared into the face of someone who he had loved for as long as he could remember, someone who had shared a very long and tiring life with him, he felt his old heart begin to give out. He had loved so many and lost so much he felt that he was going to explode. But then he felt empty – so, so empty. Was he going to die? But so long as Riku's old and frail body caught his when he fell down, he didn't mind.
Sora passed out.
-x-
When Sora woke up, some hours later, all he could smell was Riku. And dirty socks.
His head pounded horribly – was this what adults called a hangover? Sora had only had a few sips of beer in his life, certainly not enough to get drunk. But if this was the sort of headache he'd face the next morning, Sora doubted he'd ever drink.
One of Sora's eyes opened a fraction, expecting to be stabbed by light – but instead a cool darkness obscured his vision. Thank God. Sora's eyes opened slowly and he looked about. It must have been very early or very late. He noticed that he was in Riku's bed, tucked under the blankets. Riku himself was stretched out on top of the covers next to Sora, still wearing the clothes he had worn all day. After a second of close examination, Sora noticed that Riku's eyes were wide open and staring at Sora's face. What was that expression? It was too dark to see. The room was dark, but a street light outside shone through the window and illuminated the room just enough for Sora to see Riku's face, but it would take several minutes before he'd be able to see the expression Riku wore.
"Why are you staring at me like that?" He asked. Riku jumped violently – obviously he had no idea Sora had opened his eyes. Sora cringed. How egotistical could he be? Of course Riku wasn't staring at him.
"Oh good, you're awake and as weird as ever."
Sora cringed. Play it stupid, he told himself. "Hmm?"
"Right, well don't ever do that to me again. You scared the living daylights out of me."
Sora paused. Last thing he remembered was being in Riku's room and drinking cola. "What did I do to scare you?"
"You passed out when we saw the Replica."
"We saw what?"
Riku paused. "You don't remember? Kairi found the Replica washed up on the beach."
Sora paused. He did seem to remember something a little like that...
"Oh yeah." He said, remembering the previous afternoon. He had been wiping vomit from the Replica's mouth, and then he remembered zoning out. He couldn't remember what he was thinking about, but he supposed it didn't matter. "That's right. I remember now. Heh heh" He smiled "Silly me."
Because of the dark, Sora couldn't really make out Riku's expression, but he was a little glad he couldn't. He wasn't in the mood for teasing. But Riku just reached over and affectionately ruffed up Sora's hair.
"Well, make sure you drink plenty of water, okay? You're too heavy to be carried around."
Sora made a face of embarrassment. "You carried me?"
Riku chuckled "It was the only way to get you here. I didn't want to take you to your house and make your parents worry. Besides, they thought you were spending the night here anyway. But yes. I had to lug your lard ass up all those stairs. So you owe me." Riku smirked.
Sora shrugged "Fine then. I owe you one. Do you want me to clean your room or something?"
Riku laughed. "I carried you here all the way from the dock. Come on, Sora, you can do better than that."
Sora smiled. "How about I fix that leak in your boat?"
"What leak?"
"The leak I put in it with my lard ass."
The two boys dissolved into a fit of laugher. Now that Sora was awake and with good company he felt wide awake and cheerful. His headache was beginning to slowly ebb away.
"So," Sora began once the laugher had died down. "What did you do with the Replica?"
Riku coughed into his hand. "We left it on the island." Sora half sat up, but Riku pushed him back down with a firm hand. "You shouldn't sit up so quickly. Give it a few more minutes."
"Did you leave it any food or water?" Sora asked. The Replica wasn't a human but he was sure it still deserved basic human rights.
"That was Kairi's job. She said she brought it some food and left it a note" Riku snorted "as if it could read. She didn't like being alone with it, but I had to take care of you so I'm assuming she did. If she didn't I wouldn't hold it against her. That thing was never supposed to be here anyway."
As Sora listened, he noticed the note of contempt in Riku's voice. "Riku, why do you hate the Replica?"
Riku sighed. He settled onto his side to face Sora – Sora did the same thing. His eyes had adjusted to the darkness, so he saw Riku's look of disgust. "If someone came along, pretending to be you, and decided to pick a fight with you over who was better would you stand for it?" Sora shook his head "But then the imposter had the audacity to go and pick on your best friend – that'd piss you off, right?"
Sora smiled "No imposter of me could ever beat you down, Riku." He chuckled "You know that."
"And it seems that my impostor couldn't beat you down either." Riku smiled. "But still – if it tried to trick me into hating you, you'd get pretty angry, wouldn't you?"
Sora nodded. "But still – why do you call it an 'it'? Doesn't it have a gender?"
Riku just laughed.
"You're thinking dirty thoughts, aren't you?" Sora laughed. Riku shook his head.
"Not really. But when it met me it tried to make itself look taller by wearing boots with heels. So, I bet you could imagine what would happen if we ever saw each other in front of a urinal..."
They both laughed again.
"Straying away from your crotch, Riku, why do you call it an 'it'?"
The laughter in Riku's voice was gone when he spoke again, a few seconds later. "Because it isn't human, and it shouldn't exist."
Sora felt that those words were kind of harsh, but he supposed they were true. Riku had every right to hate the Replica. But, Sora decided, he would always be nice to the Replica. It seemed to him that it was just in need of a friend, as the real Riku was at that age.
"Wow. Talk about raising ethical issues." Riku shook his head a little and smiled. He checked his digital wristwatch, pressing a button on the side to make it light up. The small green light shone on Riku's face, and for the very first time Sora was struck by just how... well, how handsome his friend was. His gut jumped about a little. But then the little green light disappeared and Sora smacked himself mentally, feeling his cheeks burn in the dark.
"... At eleven PM, no less." Riku sighed, letting his hand drop back down onto the sheets. "Oh well, at least it's not too late."
"Late? I'm usually asleep by nine!" Sora exclaimed.
Riku laughed "No wonder you're always so disgustingly happy in the mornings."
"Did you get any sleep?" Sora asked.
Riku shrugged. "I'd say I fell asleep at dusk."
"Huh." Sora yawned suddenly. "How did I pass out?"
Riku gently yanked at a strand of Sora's hair. "Your mop tried to strangle you."
They both laughed.
"Seriously though?" Riku smiled "You were wiping the vomit from the Replica's face, and you kind of zoned out. I dunno. Kairi and I were debating over something, and when we looked over at you, you were sort of... stroking the Replica's face. I called your name and you looked at me like I was a ghost. You were shivering and you were so pale." Riku shuddered "And then you just toppled over and we couldn't wake you up."
Sora frowned. "Huh. Well, I'm sorry about that. I remember looking at the Replica up-close, and then I had all these weird thoughts. That's all I remember."
"Weird thoughts?" Riku frowned "What sort of weird thoughts?"
"I don't know. It felt like my head was about to fall off." Sora shrugged "I guess they weren't that important."
Riku rubbed his eye. "I wondered if meeting the Replica would have an effect on you."
Sora frowned. "What do you mean?"
Riku shrugged. "I never thought you'd pass out, but I thought that you might have some weird flashbacks or something. I'm not sure."
"Well, so long as it doesn't happen again I suppose it's not really important."
"Speaking of the unimportant, did you tell Kairi what Naminé said?" Riku smirked. Sora laughed.
"I told her everything and now we're going out."
Riku froze up. Sora watched curiously as Riku's smirk slowly slid from his face. But after a second, he cleared his throat and forced a smile. Sora smiled – how he loved to rile his friend up on occasion.
"Oh really? That's great." Riku said stiffly
But Sora just laughed, trying to hold onto his sinking gut. So I was right. He did freak out. "I'm joking, I told her nothing."
Riku paused, forced a laugh and flopped onto his back, grinning like an idiot. "You shouldn't trick me like that, Sora." Riku mumbled.
"I could never date her when I know how much youlike her, Riku." Sora smiled, cutting through Riku's thoughts. His face was smiling, but on the inside his guts were knotted. He knew that Riku liking Kairi was a bad thing, but he wasn't sure why. But still, he'd decided that morning that he'd support them both when they decided to go out together. No sense in changing his mind now.
Riku's initial reaction was to laugh. "You think... You think I like Kairi?"
Sora paused. "Well, yeah. Why else would you freak out like you did today?"
Riku just laughed. "You couldn't be more mistaken. Do you like Kairi?"
Sora shook his head. "I know I did when Destiny Islands was destroyed by the Heartless, but when I came back I didn't anymore."
Riku smirked "Why not?"
Sora shrugged "I suppose I just grew out of it. Those few years really changed me." He smiled "She's more like a sister to me now."
Riku smirk turned into a smile. "Me too."
"So, if you don't like Kairi, then who do you like?" Sora gave Riku a cheeky smile.
"Don't be a fag, Sora." Riku smiled.
"Don't be a homophobe, Riku." Sora's smile dropped into an icy glare. Riku was a homophobe? Unbelievable. Sora felt his high spirits take a plunge.
Riku paused. "Why, are you...?"
Sora sighed and shook his head. "No, but I don't like people calling other people 'fags'. I've met a few gay people and they're all very nice."
Riku paused. "Who did you meet who was gay?"
"Cloud."
They both laughed. Riku had never personally met Cloud, but Sora had told him all about his adventure and the people he met along the way. In fact, Sora had gone into such detail Riku felt like he knew them all too.
"Okay then, Mr. It's-totally-not-gay-to-act-like-a-girl, who do you like?" Riku asked when they'd stopped laughing.
"Ha ha! I have infected you with my homosexual ways!" Sora laughed, imitating an evil genius. The imitation was so poor Riku burst into laughter.
"What time is it?" Sora asked once the laughter had died down. Riku checked his watch again – but after their little conversation about gays and homophobes, Sora squeezed his eyes shut so he wouldn't see Riku's face.
"Midnight."
"Wow, really? Seems like we've been here for hours."
Riku shrugged "Technically we have. Only we were asleep."
Sora sighed. "I feel all tired again."
"Really? You slept for seven hours." Riku laughed.
"Yeah, well I'm tired again." Sora yawned. Riku caught himself yawning too.
"I suppose you're right. We should go to sleep." Riku agreed. He yanked his shirt off, tossed it across the room and burrowed under the blanket. He came to a rest on his side, facing Sora, who hadn't moved an inch.
"Well, good night Sora." Riku smiled.
"Night." Sora rolled over. "Don't let the bed bugs bite."
Riku laughed "If you bite me I'll make you sleep on the floor."
Sora just laughed. He didn't feel tired at all – He just wanted an excuse not to tell Riku who he liked. He stared at the wall for what seemed like an hour, mind blissfully blank. But just as he was about to give up and roll over see if Riku was still awake, the bed shook slightly. Riku was sitting up. Sora's eyes snapped shut.
He could hear the bed creek as Riku learned over, and feel his breath on his neck when Riku's mouth came to a stop centimetres from his ear. Some strands of Riku's hair tickled his skin lightly. He fought the urge to scratch.
"I care too. I wish I could tell you how much. How I always will." Riku whispered. He paused for a second, his breath caught in his throat. Then he learned down and pressed a gentle kiss to Sora's neck. With that, he lowered himself back down and shut his eyes.
Sora felt numb. So wonderfully numb. He knew that thoughts should be running through his head like a running creek, but everything was frozen stiff.
Riku liked him. Riku liked him.
Sora smiled. Suddenly, nothing else seemed to matter anymore.
