Disclaimer: Batman na na na na na na! I don't own Kingdom Hearts na na na na na na!

Author's Note: FINALLY! Hehe, sorry for the wait. I got... lazy towards the end. And I have discovered that I absolutely suck at clothing descriptions. Seriously, I was stuck for weeks on Sora's outfit, and it ended up not being that detailed. 'Cause I suck. :O

KH2 is almost here! Hurrah! Expect a lot more work from me once it comes out, 'cause my muses shall be going crazy! XD AND I SHALL FINALLY WRITE SORA/ROXAS GOODNESS/caps abuse Hehe... I ignore all my het couples. -needs to work on some het fics-

Warning: Curse words and sexual refrences. Be afraid, be very afraid.

Chapter Six

Friends

Sora stared at the pitiful mess that he called his closet. Clothes were thrown hastily on the ground, almost covering every inch of the pretty yet neglected blue carpet. The brunette was shocked to find a family of squirrels happily eating a turkey sandwich. He didn't think his closet was that dirty...

Or maybe he did, but he was just in denial about it.

Nah.

Sighing, he sat on the edge of his bed, muttering obscenities under his breath. There was no way he was going to be able to go; he would call the number Yuffie scribbled on his palm and cancel, saying that he was deeply sorry... and that his cat died. Yeah, his cat. Sure, he was allergic to cats, but they didn't know that.

Satisfied with his decision, the boy leaned over to grab his bedroom phone, only to stop, hearing footsteps. Sora instantly recognized the soft shuffling one pair made, and the loud thudding of the other. No, he silently pleaded. Please... not them.

"Sora," a female voice greeted him. "Guess who?"

"Um," the boy gave the pile of rejected clothes a quick glance. "Mom?" The footsteps paused outside of the door, and he heard giggling from the other side. Nope, not his mom.

"What are you doing in there?" a more masculine voice interrupted the girl's giggle fit. "You better not be masturbating or anything—" the brunette heard an 'ew' and smiled "—you don't want to scar poor, little Kai."

Knowing that they wouldn't wait any longer, Sora walked over to the door and slowly opened it, not surprised to see the faces of Riku and Kairi grinning at him. "Hey guys," he said sheepishly as they treaded into his room. "What are you doing here?"

"Your mom called." Kairi hesitantly nudged a pair of pants with her shoe. "She said a tornado struck your room, but we didn't understand... I think I get what she meant, now, though."

Sora felt his eyes narrow; so it was his mom's fault they came. Oh, she was evil. "Really? I see no tornado," he laughed nervously as an avalanche of clothing fell from the closet, and landed on an unsuspecting Kairi. Ouch.

Riku rolled his eyes. "Why does your room look like this, anyway?" he asked, eyes filled with suspicion.

"But my room always looks like this, Ri-ku."

"No. Usually you can see the floor."

The brunette coughed, averting his eyes from his friend's accusing face. He didn't know why, but he had a feeling that Riku knew more than he was letting on. Was it really that obvious? "I'm... going to visit grandma! Yeah, and I can't pick what to wear..."

Kairi's head reemerged from under the hoard of clothes. "Grandma May? Doesn't she live all the way in Traverse?"

"Um, yeah... but she's on the Bingo World Tour right now, and they're at the islands for the finals—" Sora winced when a boot toppled onto the girl's head "—and she wanted me to come and root for her." He nodded vigorously, hoping that it would convince them.

"Well then," Riku gave Kairi a sympathetic look, though his attention was still on Sora. "We'll come, too. After Kai gets an ice pack..."

The dazed girl mumbled something in agreement, but it was obvious she had no idea what they were talking about anymore.

"Actually," the brunette peered at the window, wondering if he would survive a two story drop if he tried to escape through it. "She only wanted me to come; you know, a grandma-grandson kind of thing... without other people."

The older boy's eye twitched, but a wide smile was still plastered on his face. "Okay then, I understand. Tidus said something about wanting to see a movie, anyway. I guess we can hang out with him and Selph today, instead."

"Great."

"Right, great."

"Yeah."

"Uh huh."

"Um," Kairi slowly crawled away from the closet, inching towards Sora. "You said something about needing help with an outfit...?"

Sora, realizing that there was no way he would be able to cancel on Yuffie now, sighed in defeat as Kairi went to inspect his closet.

-----

Cloud found himself pacing around the leather loveseat, thinking of excuses if Sora complained about anything while he was there. 'Oh, the couch? Ugly, isn't it? But Leon had to have it...' or 'Oh, Leon? He's mute... did I say mute? I meant to say that he's an ass.' He groaned in frustration, already regretting that he agreed to do this... actually, he didn't; Yuffie forced him to.

"You invited him over!"

"You said I could, Cloud."

"... When?"

"Oh, look! There's Cid. HI CID!"

Speak of the devil, the blonde thought bitterly as the said girl bounced happily into the room. Yuffie's grin widened once she spotted the sour look on Cloud's face. "I've locked Leon in the broom closet so that he wouldn't leave," she announced proudly. "Now all we have to do is wait for Sora."

The blonde shook his head; Leon was going to be maaaaad. "Anything else you care to share?"

"Yeah," her smile faltered. "Aerith can't come, she said that 'something came up at work.' She sells flowers for crying out loud! Did someone overwater a tulip?"

Sighing, Cloud sat down on the loveseat, staring at the clutter of magazines that rested on the coffee table. He and Yuffie attempted to clean the apartment, but forsook the effort long before reaching the living room. Luckily, Leon went on one of his cleaning sprees earlier that week, so it wasn't as disarrayed as Yuffie claimed it to be.

"But," Yuffie winked at her friend, "this is going to be so much fun! Sora is such a cutie, don'tcha think? You snagged a good one."

Cloud's face reddened. "He is not my boyfriend, we're just... just friends," he retorted lamely.

The girl snickered, curling a strand of her hair around her index finger; Cloud already knew what was going through Yuffie's mind: Of course he's only your friend, that's why you had an asthma attack when you found out Sora was coming over, even though you don't have asthma.

Yawning, the blonde leaned more into the back of the loveseat, sneaking peaks at his watch every few seconds. He didn't understand why Yuffie would even think that the brunette was more than a friend to him... it was unthinkable—okay, maybe it wasn't unthinkable, but... it wasn't true, anyway. They only had two decent conversations, for crying out loud! And... Sora's coming to his apartment.

Cloud was debating whether banging his head against the table would give him brain damage or not, when a blatant, ear-splitting crash filled the room, causing him to smack his head on the table anyways. Dazed, Cloud rubbed his head slowly while idly wondering how stars showed up in his living room. After a minute or two, he finally regained his composure. "What," he muttered, "was that?"

Yuffie looked bewildered, but quickly shook it off. "I think Mr. Grumpy-Butt found the baseball bat in there," she sighed. "Maybe I should have locked him in a bigger room instead..."

He rolled his eyes. "You think?"

"Well, you put on too much cologne," Yuffie snapped. "I thought you said he wasn't your boyfriend, so what's with the cologne? Are you trying to seduce him with—" she gave the air a quick sniff "—what is that? It smells like lilac, do lilacs arouse Sora-poo?"

Ignoring the urge to shove his shoe into the girl's mouth, Cloud glanced at his watch again, now paranoid that it was probably broken. Was it almost two, already? Oh God, he'll be here any minute now... wait, what if he isn't coming? Maybe he changed his mind and decided to hang out with Riku or Kairi or that guy with the underwear—Wakka, or some weird name like that...

Or maybe he was overreacting; Sora was just a friend, coming over for a visit.

So why did he feel so nervous?

The sound of knocking interrupted Cloud's thoughts, though it made him ten times more nervous. He was immobilized on the loveseat, horrorstruck at the idea of opening the door... what if it was a police officer, here to burden Cloud with the news that Sora was hit by a truck coming here? Or that Sora was kidnapped on the way? Or that he was Sora, and that he went through some... twisted mutation and became middle-aged!

Dammit! Just open the door, Strife. Pull it together. And. Open. The. Door.

Awkwardly, he stood up and gave Yuffie another death glare before dragging his feet towards the door. Taking a deep breath, Cloud turned the doorknob slowly.

Sora was staring at his shoes, humming softly; he looked peaceful, standing at the doorway as if he came over everyday. The look of surprise on the brunette's face when the door opened made Cloud chuckled despite himself... Sora was too cute. Cloud took in what Sora was wearing, wondering if one of his friends—Kairi maybe?—helped him choose his outfit. Loose fitting jeans hugged his hips nicely; it was as if they were made for the boy. A jean jacket was worn over a plain white shirt, something that most people couldn't pull off without looking tacky, but it worked with Sora. The crown necklace that he always seemed to be wearing was around his neck, as well as the silver chain that was nestled on his hips. Shaking away the indecent thoughts that were crawling into his mind, Cloud waved at his guest.

"Hey," the blonde smiled. "I was wondering where you were."

Sora blushed. "Yeah, well... I woke up late and..."

"Don't worry about it," Cloud ruffled the boy's hair playfully. "I'm just glad you decided to come."

A cat call interrupted the two, causing Sora to jump two feet into the air in surprise; Cloud narrowed his eyes. Yuffie.

The said girl sauntered towards them, smirking. Cloud shot her a warning look, but she ignored him and pounced on Sora. "I missed you, Sora-poo! Welcome, our casa is your casa," Yuffie cooed.

You mean my casa, Cloud thought acidly. He ran his hand through his blonde spikes, inwardly kicking himself for giving Yuffie that key... long, long ago. "Watch it, woman. I think Sora would like to come inside first; you can strangle him later."

The girl snickered, leading a bewildered Sora into the apartment. Cloud watched Sora as he was shown around by Yuffie. Sora's reactions were priceless; never before had Cloud ever seen someone squeal over a chocolate maker like he did.

In the middle of Yuffie's explanation on why it was essential to have an iguana care kit even though none of them actually had an iguana, Sora tugged onto the girl's sleeve. "The closet is talking," he mumbled, pointing towards the closet's door.

"Oh!" Yuffie smacked herself in the forehead, "Leon, I forgot about him," she grinned at Cloud, her eyes sparkling with joy, "you can finish the tour while I handle Squall." With a wink, she hurried to see a disgruntled Leon.

The brunette immediately turned to face the older boy. "You have a chocolate maker," he said, looking awestruck.

Cloud shrugged, "Whenever they buy something that won't fit in their house, they dump it here," he explained. "Why?"

"Chocolate maker..."

Sighing, Cloud patted his friend on the shoulder, wondering how much Sora ate on a daily basis. Shuddering at the thought, he indicated towards the couch with his left hand. "Do you want to sit? It may take awhile for Yuffie to come back."

Sora blinked, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. "Huh? Why? She said something about 'Squall'... who's that?"

"A friend of mine. He's kinda... er, have you ever seen Snow White?" Cloud asked.

"Yup," the brunette nodded enthusiastically. "Why?"

"Lets just say that Grumpy is the G-rated version of him."

Sora let out a loud laugh, clutching his stomach. Smiling, he ruffled Cloud's hair the same way the older boy did to him earlier. "So, you like Disney?"

The blonde bit his lip, hoping that Sora wouldn't notice how long it was taking Cloud to respond; was Sora a Disney fan? Or, was he one of the people who loathed anything that had to do with Disney? But the look of honest curiosity on Sora's face forced away all of the older student's negative thoughts. Smiling sheepishly, he answered.

"I grew up watching the movies. The new stuff is crap, though; I'm a fan of the classics."

To Cloud's relief, Sora seemed delighted by this. "Me too," the brunette said excitedly. "My favorite characters are Donald and Goofy, they're the greatest!"

"I hate Hercules," Cloud wrinkled his nose. "He seemed too... eh, I would rather slit my throat than be saved by a man in a skirt."

Rolling his eyes, Sora prodded Cloud with his index finger. "Either way you'll end up dead," he teased.

"If his skirt was a little longer, I wouldn't really care," Cloud continued, shrugging." But no, it had to be short. Throughout the whole movie I was scared that there was going to be a panty shot."

Snickering, both boys talked about Disney, describing their favorite moments and greatly elaborating on why a certain villain was either bad-ass or just stupid. They agreed that Hades should have been eaten by that-big-dog-or-something and that Maleficent desperately needed friends. Or plastic surgery. Or both.

Cloud felt himself relaxing next to Sora, his nervousness almost dissipating—almost being the key word. Every once in awhile, Sora's arm would lightly brush against Cloud's leg, turning both their faces a deep shade of pink. Or, Cloud would lean a little too close to the brunette, and he would involuntary take in the scent of Sora's hair before realizing what he was doing. They would laugh it off, not really sure why they were having so many awkward moments—well, Cloud wasn't sure, anyway. He didn't know what Sora was thinking... if he liked the accidental touches or minded having his hair sniffed...

Er, not like Cloud cared, anyway. After all, they were just friends. Right?

Right.

It was that moment when Yuffie decided to return, dragging an obviously ticked off man behind her. His long, thick brown hair looked as if he just went through a brawl, and after being locked in a closet for more than an hour, he probably had. Yuffie, however, managed to come out unscathed, probably because of Leon's reluctance at hitting girls.

"Sora! I hope I didn't interrupt anything," she gave him a sly smile. "This sexy, leather-clad fellow is Squall, or as he likes to be called, Leon," she pointed to the scowling brunette. "Don't mind him, he's just a bit angry that he got his ass whipped by a girl."

"Whatever," Leon muttered.

Sora happily waved at Leon. "Hi, I'm Sora, nice to meet you... Squall, right?"

The older brunette, however, didn't seem to care if he was rude or not. "It's Leon. And... nice to meet you, too... kid."

"Um... it's 'Sora.'"

"Whatever."

Cloud, knowing that the conversation wasn't probably going to end well, decided to cut in. "Well, now that you know each other... um, who wants a sandwich?"

Sora's arm shot into the air; he was practically bouncing off his seat. "Me! Mememeeee! As long as it doesn't have ketchup, I'm happy," he mused.

Yuffie squealed at his reaction and glomped him. "Eeeek! You're just too cute, Sora-poo! Cloud, you just have to keep him!"

Cloud shook his head, wondering if Sora would survive his first visit to Cloud's house. Probably not, he thought and sighed. This was going to be a loooong day.

-----

Riku tapped his knuckles on the table, trying to catch Kairi's attention. He knew that if he kept at it long enough, she would either give in or hurl something heavy and breakable at his head. Hopefully, it would be the former. Every few taps the girl would twitch slightly, but that was the only clue that meant that they were getting to her. Riku grinned, watching her eyebrows rise slightly. Any minute now...

"What," the girl grunted through clenched teeth, "do you want?"

Riku ceased his tapping, having got what he wanted: her attention. "Well, I was thinking..."

She frowned. "About what?"

"Oh, you know... school, the weather, where Sora is really going..."

Sighing, Kairi gave the silver-haired boy a stern look before replying. "Sora told us that he was going to his grandma's bingo tournament, remember?"

"Yes, and I know that you don't believe him," Riku said. "I mean, come on. Grandma May hates bingo with a passion. We all know that. Sora must be hiding something pretty big to think that we would fall for that..."

"Or," Kairi shrugged, "maybe it's none of our business? When Sora's ready, he'll tell us. I know he will."

"Or," Riku countered, "maybe he's not planning on telling us. I know that you're curious, too, Kai."

Pushing a lock of hair out of her eyes, the girl rose her hand to signal the waiter. The pair were sitting in a rather crowded restaurant, in one of the few booths that weren't filled with crying kids or gossiping teens. The Oblivion was one of the busiest places in town, mostly because of the three rather attractive co-owners, Rikku, Yuna, and Paine. And thanks to all the noise surrounding them, it was a fantastic place to talk about secrets, especially ones that they didn't know.

The waiter, a muscular man who looked rather out of place in the restaurant, appeared at the table wearing a forced smile. Completely ignoring Riku, he turned to face Kairi. "Hello, my name is Steiner, and I will be serving the two of you this afternoon. Would any of you like to hear today's special?"

"No," Riku said curtly. "We would like to have what we always get when we come here, Steiner."

The waiter gave Riku a cold glare before walking away, leaving the two alone. Smirking, the silver-haired boy looked at Kairi, only to find her staring at Steiner's retreating back.

"Um, Kai...?" Riku leaned over the table and patted Kairi's shoulder. "What are you doing?"

"Is he still mad at you for rejecting Garnet?"

Shrugging, he averted his eyes away from the girl. "Not my fault I'm not into girls, and she doesn't even care anymore. And I thought that he would be glad that I said no, with how overprotective he is... wait. You're changing the subject."

Kairi feigned a gasp. "I would never do that, Ri-ku," she exclaimed, deliberately pronouncing his name the way Sora did. "Especially when the discussion was about you being paranoid of Sora having a few secrets!"

"I am not paranoid," he said defensively. "I'm just... worried."

Blinking, Kairi frowned. "About what exactly? And don't mention your theory about the guy in the Mercedes, please."

"You mean Chocoboman?" Riku covered his mouth, knowing that he just screwed up. He glanced at Kairi, hoping that she wouldn't overreact over the fact that he gave the guy an alias.

She gaped at him, her mouth hanging open. "You named him? Oh, no. You really are serious about this, aren't you?"

Riku laughed nervously. "Uh... yeah, I can explain... well, Choco—er, that guy was too suspicious. And well, there was a chocobo bumper sticker on his car and—"

"So you named him Chocoboman?"

"It was better than calling him a stalker, alright?" the silver-haired boy muttered.

"Maybe you should—I don't know—talk to Sora about this," said Kairi, "and tell him how you feel."

Blushing, Riku jumped out of his seat. "What! I can't do that! That's... that's being nosy—" Kairi rolled her eyes when he said this "—and what do you mean 'how you feel'? We're just friends!"

The auburn-haired girl sighed. "It's a bit obvious, isn't it? It's not like you try to hide your death glares whenever someone hug him," she stated.

Giving Kairi a skeptical look, Riku folded his arms across his chest, leaning over the table. "I have no feelings like that towards Sora. How could I fall for that goof?"

And she surprised Riku by giving him the saddest smile he had ever seen. "It's not that hard, Riku. Falling is a simple thing to do, whether you want to or not," she whispered, staring at a salt shaker on the table.

His curiousity piqued, he returned to his seat. What did she mean? Kairi was in love? Holy shit! With who! Wait... was it really that obvious? Did Sora know? How long did Kai know? Did the guy know that she liked him? ARGH!

"If we want to catch Tidus and the others in time for that movie," Kairi grinned, smoothly changing the subject, "we better get going. I'm sure Steiner won't mind if we leave."

Knowing that the waiter would mind, Riku nodded in agreement and stoff. With a chuckle, he grabbed the girl's hand and pulled her to her feet, ready to spend the day with one of his best friends and... Tidus.

He might even have fun.

-----

"No, Yuffie. I do not want you to braid my hair," Leon said, clearly annoyed at the girl who was impatiently tugging at his hair.

"But I already did Sora's," Yuffie whined, imitating the boy's pout.

"And we all know how that turned out," Leon said flatly, gazing at the mentioned brunette, whose hair now formed a single spike that was sticking up towards the ceiling, thanks to Yuffie and hair gel.

Sora watched the two bicker, hoping that his hair would go back to normal soon; how would he explain to the others why he decided to change his hairstyle at a bingo tournament?

"—it would look cute, Squall, it's not like you're straight or anything—"

But despite that fact that he could probably stab someone with his hair, Sora was having fun. Yuffie always managed to keep the group entertained—or in Leon's case, agitated—and made sure that Sora was enjoying himself. And even though Leon at first seemed like a heartless bastard, Sora learned that he wasn't heartless at all, just a bastard. He could honestly see them getting along fine with his friends.

"—don't you ever stop talking? I'm getting a migraine listening to—"

Oh, yeah. How long was he going to keep this a secret? Eventually, the pressure would get to him, and he'd tell them. But... why didn't he want to tell them in the first place? Wouldn't Cloud someday want to meet Sora's friends? Sora couldn't lie to his friends forever, he would have to introduce them. And then... Cloud wouldn't be his secret anymore.

"—you are so grouchy, geez! Do I sense sexual frustration? Ow! You little—"

Cloud. Shyly, Sora glanced at the blonde seated next to him, who was watching the pair with a bored expression; he probably went through these arguments on a daily basis. Every so often his position would shift slightly, occasionally exposing his midriff or other appeasing parts of his body. Yum.

"Ack!" the brunette squeaked, covering his mouth with his hands. Did he just think 'yum' referring to Cloud? Oh. Wow. Wowwowwow. Yes, Cloud was sexy. Yes, Sora was attracted to him. But, that was just hormones. Sora thought Riku was hot, but he only liked him as a friend. They were only friends.

He looked up to find his companions staring at him with strange looks on their faces—even Leon. Blushing, Sora gave them an awkward grin. "I... saw a spider... he... hehe."

"Uh-huh," Cloud patted Sora's head, looking doubtful. "Right. A spider."

Yuffie slung one arm around the brunette and winked. "Sora is scared of spiders? Haha, well don't worry! Cloud will protect you, ya know," she laughed.

Blushing, Sora shook his head. "H-hey! We're just—"

"—friends. We're friends, right Sora?"

The look Cloud gave him sent chills down Sora's spine; he couldn't describe it. The blonde's eyes were so full of feeling and... and some foreign emotion that Sora didn't understand. Gulping, he smiled meekly. "Yeah, just friends."

And suddenly being "just friends" wasn't enough.

Not anymore.

Mwhaha! I shall now reply to the reviews of people who weren't signed in! 'Cause I feel bad for replying to everyone else, but not them. :O Sora and Cloud shall help!

Sora: Huh?

Cloud: ... -glares-

Okay! Here we go!

I like the story! please write more! Me like!

Sora: Yay! Don't worry, she's writing lots!

Cloud: Sure, she's being an indolent ass about it, but she's still writing.

... Thanks, Cloud.

'squeals' like some Yaoi fan girl
Love it 'says it in singsong voice
Please oh please update please um...thats all

:DYAOI FANGIRLS UNITE!

Cloud and Sora: -edges away-

Oh love the CloudXSora fic, I wonder if Sora's Freinds well meet Cloud or Riku getting Jealous over his new Freindship...but yeah SoraXCloud Fic are good to see. they do make an new couple to read so good luck with this one.

Yeah, they do! Hopefully people will start to realize how great they are together.

Cloud: Why are you talking about us like we're not even here...?

And yes, evantually Sora's friends will meet Cloud... just not all at once. As in, Riku is last. Mwhaha!

Sora: Poor Riku...

Riku: What the hell? What have I ever done to you, woman?

Oh, crap... he escaped. Uh... buh bye for now! READ AND REVIEW! -flees!-

Riku: Bitch! -chases-

Cloud and Sora: ...