A/N: So, um. This fic will either end on chapter 9 or 10. I still don't think it's that great, but thank you to everyone who's reading it. ;A;


Chapter Seven Tuesday

"Sora...I think your cousin likes me."

"Really? Really? Riku, that's great!"

Riku blinked. Whatever answer he'd been expecting, it certainly wasn't that. Only one word proved to be an appropriate response. "What."

"You know, I was starting to get worried because you've never been interested in anyone before," Sora continued. "We're in college now, after all, and all those other times—oh, if you swing that way, it is totally fine by me. Is that what you were worried about? Because I could never hate you for being gay. Or Roxas, for that matter. I mean, we're best friends! Oh, and if you get together with Roxas, we'll be related by marriage!"

"Sora—! This isn't a good thing! I didn't say—I don't like your cousin!"

"Oh...OH, I see! You love him, right? Wow, that's even better," Sora babbled. "What's the problem, then? Worried about what Roxas thinks? Don't worry, Kairi and I will come up with a master plan for you to win Roxas's heart!"

"Sor—"

Click.

Riku glared at his phone because Sora wasn't there to glare at. He should have learned by now to never try and get help from Sora. He hadn't even said anything about liking Roxas (because he didn't)! He said that he thought Roxas liked him.

The Final Fantasy victory fanfare started playing; his cell phone was ringing. Probably Sora. Riku answered the call without even looking at his phone. "What?" he ground out.

"Wow, I don't think I've ever had anyone hate me so much before. You know, I was kind of hoping you were actually done hating me."

"Roxas?"

"Who'd you think it was?" he drawled.

Choosing not to answer that, Riku said instead, "Why are you calling?" His tone was no less hostile or irritable now that he knew it was Roxas on the other end and not Sora.

"Weeell," started Roxas, dragging out the word, "the midnight release of Call of Duty: Black Ops is tomorrow, and I was wondering if you maybe wanted to come with me to buy it? And then, you know, play or something. At your place."

Call of Duty. Was that all? Maybe Roxas didn't like him that way after all. Or, wait, maybe he did, and this was just an excuse. He did ask to come over to play at his house, after all.

"Um, no, I can't," Riku answered. "I'm...busy."

"At midnight?" Roxas asked skeptically, and Riku cringed at the faint trace of hurt in his tone. What if he did just want to be friends? Riku didn't want to be a jerk for jumping to false conclusions.

"Well, alright," he agreed, albeit grudgingly. "I'll go with you."

"Awesome! Thank you!"

"Mmhm."


Call of Duty was, without a doubt, the only thing that could reduce Roxas to a squealing fanboy. He was not ashamed to admit this. Every guy had acted like a girl before, right? Black Ops, Black Ops, Black Ops! As soon as Riku hung up, he dialed Axel's number.

"Axel!" he cried into the phone. "Black Ops! Black freakin' Ops!"

"Comes out midnight tomorrow! I know!" responded Axel cheerfully. "And I'm getting it!"

"Me, too! I'm taking out of my Xbox savings for it, and then I'm gonna play with Riku on his Xbox 360 and flat screen TV!"

"What? Am I invited?" Axel demanded.

"Of course not!" Roxas replied.

"Screw you. Next Friday, after school, come to my place. I will make your little CoD soul weep," declared Axel.

"Maybe you forgot," said Roxas haughtily, "I'm a Call of Duty prodigy."

"Maybe you forgot," replied Axel, mimicking his tone, "you're out of practice."

Oh, darn. He was, wasn't he? Roxas was surprised he hadn't started suffering from withdrawal yet. He supposed he'd been too busy drooling over Riku's Xbox. But that didn't matter. Prodigy, right? He was a prodigy.

"I'll still beat you," he asserted. "Invite Xigbar. I'll beat him, too."

"Don't get cocky, kid," Axel warned. "You've only tied with him once."

"That's better than you," Roxas pointed out. "Anyways, I gotta go now, so I'll talk to you later."

"'Kay. See ya."


As soon as the final bell rang on Wednesday, Roxas made a beeline for the exit by Riku's last class.

"Riku!" he called giddily, waving.

"'Sup?"

"Black Ops, that's what!" Roxas replied. "Come on, we should hurry to Sunset Terrace!"

"Are we going to the game store now?" Riku asked. "It's not even evening yet."

"Trust me, we want to be there early," Roxas promised. "Now, let's go!"

"Fine," said Riku, rolling his eyes. "God, you're like a kindergartener hyped up on sugar."

"I resent that," Roxas said, making a conscious effort to calm down as they headed for the train station.

"So, midnight release," Riku said as they walked. "You realize tomorrow is a school day, right?"

"Yeah, so?" Roxas failed to see the problem.

"...never mind. Are you dropping off your bag at your place?"

Roxas shook his head. "Nah, I can do homework while we wait."

He was right to get to the game store early. Other diehard fans were already waiting inside. Riku might think they were crazy, but for Call of Duty, it was worth it. Roxas proceeded to plop down in the middle of the floor and do his homework, occasionally pulling out his phone to text Axel, nerding out about Black Ops with him.

Riku raised his eyebrows at Roxas but made no comment.


By midnight, the store was packed, which was surprising, considering how small Sunset Terrace was. Then again, the store itself was pretty quaint, too.

Riku finally appreciated the fact that Roxas had dragged him here early; now they had a place near the front of the line. He glanced at Roxas, who was gazing intently at his phone—waiting for the time to change to 12:00 A.M., no doubt.

There was a collective cheer when the minute changed, and a mad rush to purchase the game. Roxas got his almost immediately.

"You're not getting one?" Roxas asked, clutching the box to his chest like it was his lifeline.

Riku shook his head.

Roxas looked surprised. "Then why'd you wait here this whole time?"

Shrugging, he replied, "'Cause you wanted to?"

"Huh. Thanks for coming with me, then. Can we play it?" Roxas seemed too busy being excited over his new game to wonder about Riku waiting for hours in a store for the midnight release of a game he didn't even want.

Riku smirked, amused. "Why not?"

"Yes!" cheered Roxas, skipping a little as they exited the store. "I worked hard to be able to afford this, you know," he informed Riku, waving the game in his hand at 'this.'

"Really."

"Yup!" Roxas grinned gleefully.

Smiling a little despite himself, Riku led the way to his house. A few rounds of Call of Duty at midnight on a school day never hurt anyone, right?

They played until four in the morning.

At least, Riku was pretty sure it was four. He wasn't positive, though, because when you played video games you didn't really look at the clock too often. He'd been lying stretched out on the couch with his head on the armrest (as it was a long couch, Roxas was sitting at the other end, by his feet, as they played), so in the end he had just sort of slipped into sleep.

Riku's internal alarm clock woke him up at six, despite his body's furious protests. Or maybe it was the sound of Call of Duty, still coming from the television, that pulled him from his slumber. Feeling disoriented, he wondered first why he was on the couch, then why there was a weight on him. Blinking his eyes open blearily, Riku took in a mass of spiky blonde hair.

Oh, right. Roxas never left last night, did he? The blonde was still clutching his controller in one hand, which meant he probably didn't even realize he had even fallen asleep—on Riku.

Quite frankly, Riku was too tired right now to care that Roxas had fallen asleep on him. But he still needed to get up. It was a school day, after all.

"Hey, wake up," Riku said.

Roxas whined a bit and pulled the controller closer to him. "Just one more round."

"Roxas," Riku said sharply. "Wake up."

Stirring, Roxas grumbled, "What? What do you want?"

"For you to get off of me, idiot."

Roxas shot up, falling off the couch with a startled yelp. "Sorry!"

Sighing, Riku sat up and rubbed his stiff neck. Sleeping on the couch definitely wasn't good for the neck and back.

"Oh crap, oh crap, what time is it?" Roxas asked, reaching for his phone.

"Six. In the morning."

"Oh crap, oh crap, we're gonna be late for school!"

Riku groaned. Roxas was like Sora in that they both seemed to be able to find an impossible amount of energy early in the morning. That wasn't necessarily a good thing. "No, we won't. Calm down."

"But—Market Street—"

"Roxas. I go to the same school. I get up at six every morning. I've never been late before. I won't be late today. You won't be late. Calm down."

"Right. Okay. Sorry." He didn't need to say what for.

"Just don't let Sora know," sighed Riku.

"Oh, God—he'll see me on the train," Roxas moaned.

Oh, geez. Who knew what assumptions Sora would make? Especially after yesterday. "It'll be okay," he said, trying to convince himself as much as Roxas. "Just don't act suspicious."

"He'll still jump to conclusions."

"Don't worry about it." Riku stood and stretched before heading for the bathroom. "Wait in the kitchen."

When he returned, he saw that Roxas had raided his cupboards and had made two cups of coffee.

"I am so freaking tired," grumbled Roxas, handing Riku a mug.

"It's not my fault we played for God knows how long," muttered Riku after taking an appreciative drink.

"It's fun, though. You have to admit that it's fun."

"Yeah. Sure." RPGs were still better than first-person shooters, but Riku didn't feel like inciting an argument so early in the morning, despite the sarcasm that was clear in his tone.

"And I totally won," Roxas continued.

"Excuse me? I won the last match."

"You fell asleep during the last match," Roxas accused.

"That one doesn't count," Riku huffed.

"It so does." Roxas drained the rest of his mug, then asked, "When do you usually leave the house?"

"Six thirty."

Roxas glanced at the clock, then ambled back to the living room, flopping down on the couch. "Wake me up in twenty minutes."


It seemed like Riku was shaking him awake just minutes after he'd curled up on the couch. He sat up tiredly, rubbing his eyes.

"Hurry up, Roxas. I'm not going to be late because of you."

"Right, I'm coming, I'm coming," he yawned, pulling on his jacket and grabbing his backpack. He ushered Riku out the door, combing his fingers through his hair as they hurried towards the train station.

Call of Duty: Black Ops sat conveniently forgotten in Riku's Xbox 360.

Roxas, you are such a friggin' genius, you should get a medal for geniusness. And geniusness is a word starting now.


"What? Roxas stayed over at your house last night?"

Sora and Kairi's ability to speak in perfect unison both amazed and scared Roxas.

"We were playing Call of Duty," he tried to explain. "It came out at midnight and we wanted to play it."

Sora exchanged a glance with his girlfriend.

"Roxas, are you sure you're not making excuses?" Kairi asked.

"Positive!" Roxas affirmed.

"You don't have to pretend, you know," sighed Kairi. "We're your friends now."

"What?"

"We already know."

"Know...know what?" Roxas asked worriedly. Did they realize his plan? "I don't..."

"We know you're madly in love with Riku," Kairi continued.

The words took a minute to sink in. Roxas just stared blankly at first, then said, "WHAT?"

"Sora told me," she explained.

"Wait...wait...WHAT?"

"No, no, Riku is madly in love with Roxas. Get it right, Kairi!" Sora slung his arm over Roxas's shoulders. "But I know you like Riku, too. And that's fine, because we're here to support you! You two don't have to hide it anymore."

"But I don't—I don't like him! And he doesn't like me! Riku, tell them!"

"Roxas is right," Riku said, but he didn't sound very convincing—probably because he was being distracted by his PSP.

"Right." Kairi looked amused. "You're in denial."

"Am not!" Roxas snapped. He glanced out the window as he felt the train slow down. "Oh, look, we're here. I need to talk to Riku alone for a minute, 'kay, thanks." He pulled Riku out of the train and dragged him out of Sora and Kairi's hearing range. "Will you stop playing your game and pay attention?" he asked exasperatedly.

"I'm listening. Do go on."

"Well, how do we get Sora and Kairi to stop thinking we like each other?" Roxas asked. "Wait, you don't like me, do you?"

"Don't be silly. I'm not gay," Riku said. "It's just Sora making assumptions. As usual."

"Okay, good. Just checking."

"Anyways, Sora's your cousin. You deal with him."

"Yeah, and he's your best friend, who you've known since, what, kindergarten?"

"Preschool."

"Exactly. I've only known him since he moved here. And most of that time was spent not talking to each other because I wouldn't give him free ice cream."

"That's nice to know."

"Riku! Don't you care about this at all?" Roxas demanded, throwing up his hands in frustration.

"Not really," Riku admitted. "This is Sora we're talking about. He'll drop it soon."

"He won't. Not something like this."

"The more you deny it, the more he'll think you're lying. It's annoying, but it's the truth. So just ignore it. Don't confirm or deny anything. He'll get over it. Trust me."

Something about Riku's tone told Roxas he was speaking from experience. Roxas frowned thoughtfully, tugging Riku to the side before he crashed into a lamppost (Honestly, how do you play while walking without crashing into something?). Maybe this had happened to him before.

"Will that really work?" he asked.

"Probably," Riku answered.

"Okay. Don't confirm or deny anything, and he'll forget about it soon, right?" Roxas checked.

"Yep."

Roxas nodded to himself slowly. This could work. It might be a little annoying at first, but he'd learn to deal with it, and soon it would all be over. Right?

"Just a warning, though," Riku added, "Sora and Kairi love interfering when they think I'm, quote, unquote, 'finally in a relationship.' So, sorry in advance if they set us up on a date or something."

"...what."