A/N: Here's another chapter! I can't believe it's already mid November! Time really flies when you're busy. I'm still trucking through my education, and work, so forgive this slowness. Please continue to follow, favorite, and review. The more support, the faster chapters go up! Rest assured that posts will increase come my winter vacation! Thanks for your support, and read on!
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Part Two
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Chapter Eleven
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Sora glanced down at his junior schedule with a pen as a pointer. LGBTQ on Monday and Thursday, History Club on Tuesday and Friday, Biology Club on Wednesday and Saturday, and Culture Club Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday as well. He had also signed down for 7 am yoga classes, because he was crazy. Students were not required to fill their schedules with four clubs until the second semester of their second year. Since Sora had been doing it since year one because of probation, he thought he might as well make it a habit. Combat went from 9 to 12 and Magic lasted from 1 to 4 every Monday through Friday. Sora heard rumors that they were finally learning how to synthesize, which meant building relationships with the Moogles in the valley. Sora felt quite smug about the arrangement, as he had built a relationship with one of the oldest Moogles in the Land of Departure and happened to bring him synthesis items to practice with constantly. Hacky had already constructed him several bangles and earrings Sora did not know the use of. But they were gifts and they looked very beautiful, which was what mattered most. Near the bottom of Sora's schedule form, at the side of the combat and magic class sections, was an asterisk stating, "subject to change."
Sora could not help but stare down at the empty space where "probation officer meeting" should have been with pride. Every evening after 7 pm he was now free as a bird. Well, almost free, as he had signed down for another semester of working in the library and tidying the garden. Lexaeus had just recently broken into his old dorm room to retrieve his belongings. Because the administration could not find his old key in the valley they were casting an entire new lock for the door, meaning Sora's old room would be roped off for maintenance for the larger part of the semester. He had to be assigned a new dorm. The assignment and contract had been sent three days before the first day of term. Now, as Sora opened the letter containing it again while he set his schedule to the side, the same flutter of joy and groan of irritation left his lips.
He had gotten the Riku Replica. Reno, Axel, and anyone else involved in the summer fiasco that could get their hands on him had pleaded with him to be the puppet's babysitter. As was well known by now, Riku the replica acted nothing like Riku the real, absent human being. Sora was tasked with turning him into a passable fake as soon as possible. His other roommate, to his steep surprise, was Roxas. When Sora asked Axel what he needed to hide from Roxas, Axel said the honey blond had been told everything. The relief that washed over Sora when he heard those words was life changing. He expected Roxas had been put in with him and the replica to preserve Sora's sanity. After being bound like a magnet to Riku Replica for half the summer, Sora needed someone relatively normal, or at least more "normal" than himself, to carry him through the year.
With a hum of excitement, he flitted back to his club syllabi. His summer homework for LGBTQ was to develop a presentation on an iconic member of the LGBTQ community. Sora had been practicing voguing nonstop, so he figured he would start there. Coco also wanted ten activism and fundraising ideas for next semester. The history teacher wanted nothing; biology wanted a list and descriptions of plants and animals native to each student's home world, and the culture club wanted a list of native dishes and recipes. Sora had given them all the best he could. As he looked up another vogue battle on the computer, a hand fell on his shoulder and made him yelp and snap his gaze up. Two dazzling blue eyes stared down at him. When he blinked, he realized they belonged to Terra. It looked like he was holding a schedule and packet of homework assignments as well.
"Terra, I thought you graduated last year!" Sora barked. Terra shrugged and said that he had. Then he waved his paperwork and grinned.
"I'm applying with Aqua for the Mark of Mastery. I was going to ask if I could use your computer."
Sora blinked before giving a feverish nod and clicking out of the video streaming window he had pulled up. He watched over Terra's shoulder as the boy sat down and followed the paper instructions for getting on Shinra's registration database. When Sora reeled in confusion, Terra muttered that you had to register and be approved before taking the exam. Once Terra finished sending in his information, he went to another web form called "Galactic Federation Weapon Registration," and retyped his personal information.
"Everything is digital these days, you know?" he muttered.
"What date is the exam?" asked Sora.
"October 31th," Terra responded. "9 a.m. sharp. Be fifteen minutes early for your appointment with all paperwork ready to hand in to appropriate proctors." Then he winked. Sora smiled. He could tell Terra was nervous. Once Terra finished filling everything out, he thanked Sora for lending him the computer and asked what he was looking up.
"Stuff for LGBTQ," responded Sora in a distracted mumble. He had returned to his study of an intense vogue battle under a file marked, "Twilight Town: Twilight Lounge Drag Ball," gasping occasionally at the sick moves. After it finished he looked up another from La Cité des Cloches. Behind him, Terra snorted.
"Still in that club?"
Sora gave him a defiant look and said yes. Terra held up his hands and chuckled. "You're brave, after last year's drag show. I've heard rumors of a spike in membership. How many people were in it last year?"
"Eight," Sora mumbled. He did not tell Terra that that included Coco, their instructor, and Nao and Sota, two students who had left before the end of their first semester. Terra nodded. Then he wished Sora good luck and wandered back through the library's musty, peeling entrance. After Sora made certain he had left, he pulled out his personal notebook and flipped to the sub tab labeled "day thoughts."
"Shinra in charge of "Mark of Mastery"," he wrote. "Key blade has to be registered as a weapon with Galactic Federation before exam takes place. Look up what Mark of Mastery is."
Sora nibbled his lip. Then he researched jobs available to key blade masters. All that came up in the database was Shinra's Research development webpage and advertisements for locksmiths. Sora decided to go with the research development article. When he scrolled through it, he stumbled upon a picture of Argento.
"Shinra Weapons Development and Science Department leaders Scarlet Red and Paul Hojo, independent research facility Organization Thirteen, and Eraqus Makio, Headmaster of the Land of Departure Key blade Academy, form a revolutionary, interworld bond to pool resources in the study of the mysterious and ancient summon weapon, "key-blade." Argento the Silver, Tsviet and head of the Key blade Department at Shinra, is on temporary leave and should return the 29th of December."
Sora's eyes twinkled as he imagined Argento monster hunting in Agrabah with Sice. When he looked at his watch, he gasped. It was already seven thirty. He would miss the first-day-of-term eve dinner in the grand hall if he were not careful. Quickly he gathered his books together, clicked out of his account on the public computer database, and sidled through the entrance hall to the exit stairwell. On his way up to the second floor, he heard footsteps dashing towards him. When he turned around, Axel Flynn, his former probation officer, accosted him.
"Sora," the man gasped. Sora gulped. For some reason, his heart lurched every time he heard the man's voice. The lurches had been happening ever since Axel hugged him the day Reno returned. It was a confusing feeling. As Sora pushed it down, Axel cocked his head for Sora to follow him. Sora obeyed, jumping when Axel's arm fell around his shoulder.
"Could you come to Reno's office really fast?" he gusted.
"Do you have an update on Riku's location?" Sora gushed. Axel's mouth twitched up before he muttered, "no."
"But Roxas is in there," he continued. "And I think it's serious."
"Roxas?" Sora gasped, tripping over his feet. His heart twisted through his chest as a picture of Roxas sprawled across the office floor in dire pain trundled through his mind. Axel shrugged.
"Combination of jet lag, motion sickness, and something else," he muttered. "He came directly from Twilight Town. He's been moaning your name for hours, but we couldn't find you."
"I was in the library!" Sora whimpered, rushing ahead of Axel at breakneck speed for Reno's office. "I was looking up voguing!" he added in woe. Axel did not even get a chance to ask what "voguing" was. Sora was so far ahead of him the boy could barely hear him when he bellowed for him to slow down. Crashing through the stairwell exit and whizzing up to the familiar door with the white paper blocking the window inside, Sora thought he heard muttered chattering inside. For a terrifying moment, he weighed the odds that Axel had led him into a trap. Then he heard the familiar cough of Hacky the Moogle and gasped. It was now or never. Sora kicked the door open and barreled into Reno's office with his key blade drawn.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HACKY?" he screeched as he lunged towards the room's bottom step. When he saw what was waiting for him, his mouth fell open in confusion.
Banners reading, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SORA!" plastered the walls. Everyone except Hacky sported some form of party attire; whether a hat, clown nose, lei, or kazoo. The Riku replica had all of these clothing items draped around his torso in multiples. As he balanced two kazoos on either side of his lips, he explained to Naminé what he was going to do when Sora walked in. Once Naminé tapped his shoulder and told him to look forward, one of the two kazoos fell from his mouth and pattered down the concrete steps.
"Aw, fuck nuggets," the replica complained. Then he blew a sorry note into his remaining kazoo and shouted, "SAY HELLO TO YOUR LITTLE FRIENDS!"
As Sora looked on the crowd surrounding, and particularly the replica, in confused awe, Axel barreled in behind him gasping for breath.
"What happened to telling us when he got close?" snapped a familiar voice from the top of the room's wide steps. When Sora glanced up, he nearly rocketed out of his shoes.
Roxas sat with his feet crossed and propped against Reno's desk. He wore a lei, bit a kazoo, and sprouted three party hats like colorful, glittering horns from between the tufts of his golden hair. Besides looking tired and grumpy, he seemed fine. He certainly was not moaning Sora's name. When Sora glanced to Axel for an explanation, the man recovered from the stitch in his side enough to shout, "surprise!"
"But… why?" asked Sora in befuddlement.
"Cause we're celebrating your birthday, booty licker!" barked the replica. Axel held up his hand and warned for him to calm down. When the replica scowled and sat at the edge of Reno's desk in a huff, the rest of the room's inhabitants shouted "SURPRISE!" Then they popped crackers and threw streamers at Sora's head. When he batted paper and glitter from his cheeks, he stared around each face with growing excitement.
Reno, Roxas, Kairi, Naminé, Riku replica, Terra, Aqua, Ventus, Hacky, Belle, Aurora, Cloud, Leon, Hercules, Aerith, Tifa, Yuffie, Neku, Joshua, Cinderella, a girl with almond shaped, chocolate brown eyes and bronze skin, a boy that looked startlingly like Axel, another with short blue hair and eyes like Riku, and a girl with skin as white as snow beamed down at him from the top steps. Axel set his hand on Sora's shoulder, winked at him, and asked whom he wanted to meet first. Sora shrugged and jumped up and down. Reno laughed as he sauntered towards them, holding his arms out to give Sora a hug. Sora barreled in and squeezed so tight Reno nearly lost his breath. As the man patted and rubbed his back, Sora glanced up at him with a grin.
"Alright, love birds, break it up," the replica boomed from the side of the desk.
"Would you shut up, you twat?" snapped Roxas in return, nearly knocking the replica from his seat from shock.
"Now, now, Roxas," warned Reno as he spirited Sora up the steps under his arm. "We treat our fellow students with respect."
"Yeah. Respect," responded the replica in a vaguely threatening way. The other kazoo fell from his mouth to the floor. Roxas gave him a dull glance as he rubbed exhaustion from his eyes.
"Who wants food?" asked Axel. Everyone raised their hands and clambered down to the cracks in the wall where a blackboard had once hung, where two fold out tables had been set up with potluck dishes. Sora could not believe he had not noticed them when he first entered. He could usually sniff a good eat a mile away. After grabbing a plate for himself, he went from one person to the next, saying hello and asking how everyone was doing. Axel helped him with the people he did not know, whispering their bios into Sora's ear a few moments before they made their way towards him.
"Snow White and Jasmine Abbas," he muttered, pointing from the pale girl with ruby lips to the bronze girl with almond shaped eyes. "Potential princesses of heart you met in your vision quest."
"Who's that kid?" Sora asked, pointing to Axel's young lookalike.
"Oh, that's just Reno's little cousin," responded Axel. Sora's brows furrowed.
"Aren't you and Reno brothers?" he asked.
"Yeah."
"So… doesn't that make the kid your cousin, too?"
"Okay, so he's my cousin," snapped Axel in irritation. Sora grinned and said that the kid was handsome. "You two could practically be twins!" he added. When he realized what he had said, the color left his face. He snapped to face Axel. The man was grinning slyly down at him.
"If I didn't know any better," Axel chuckled, "I'd think you said Axel and handsome in the same sentence."
"I- I didn't mean that," Sora gulped. Axel laughed. "I get it. It's the teardrops, huh? Throws everything off?"
"No," Sora muttered, his cheeks going fire red. "You're aye-okay just the way you are." He gave Axel an absentminded pat on the shoulder. After several more awkward moments of silence he coughed and added that he was going to talk to everyone else.
"Stupid," Sora muttered under his breath as he trudged away. Before he could get to Naminé, the Riku replica assailed him with a bear hug and a loud snarl. Sora nearly toppled over the front of Reno's desk from the force of impact, barely missing Roxas' legs as they returned beneath the desk. When one of Reno's knickknacks fell off the side, Naminé yelped and caught it haphazardly in her hands. Reno bellowed for the replica to cut the shit out. The replica saluted him with a wink and whacked Sora so hard in the shoulder he nearly fell again. As Sora rubbed the coming bruise, he muttered a halfhearted hello.
"Twelve fucking years old," said the replica with a beam like sunshine. "Big year, big motherfucking year."
"Big- what?" breathed Sora in perhaps the deepest confusion of his life. The replica stared at him with wide, expectant eyes. Naminé put her face in her palm. Roxas ducked his head in an effort to still his laughter.
"One year away from thirteen?" the replica tried. "The big one- two. You know, twelve!"
"He's fifteen," Roxas managed. The replica turned to Sora and asked if he was twelve.
"They don't allow twelve year olds to go here," Naminé snapped.
"I'm not twelve!" Sora barked. When Roxas kept laughing, Sora rolled a spare streamer and chucked it at one of his party hat horns, making the honey blond yelp and shrink in his seat.
"He just turned fifteen!" Naminé told the replica. As he processed it, understanding entered his creased brow. Then, he beamed and gave a single laugh, clapping Sora on his good shoulder and nearly knocking him down the steps.
"Fifteen," the replica amended with a wink. "Motherfucking fi-fucking-teen. One year away from being legal. Just don't go getting any hanky-panky ideas early, little bro-meister."
"Legal to what?" asked Sora in confusion. The replica blinked out at him and snorted. Naminé changed the subject before he could speak.
"I hear you, Riku, and Roxas are all in the same dorm this year!" she cooed. Then she clapped. "I'm staying with Snow White, Jasmine, and a girl named Skuld!"
Roxas pursed his lips and looked down at the legs of his jeans, swiveling back and forth on Reno's chair with the balls of his feet.
"Hired to spy?" blurted the replica. Roxas snorted and beamed. Naminé's mouth fell open in shock.
"Riku!" she hissed. "You can't just come out with stuff like that!"
"Even if it's true?" whispered the replica, lowering and raising his eyebrows in suggestion.
"Especially if it's true!" whispered Naminé. "My gosh!"
As Naminé and the replica argued, Sora peeked around for Kairi. Every princess of heart bar Belle, who had been carried over to the group against her will by Cinderella, assailed her with questions and passages of joyous song. Sora snorted as he watched her pained expression. When he turned away, someone jumped on his back.
"Junior year, bitches! Woot woot!" Yuffie screeched from Sora's shoulders. Behind her lumbered Leon, Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, and Hercules. When Yuffie saw them coming, she slid from Sora's back and kissed him on the cheek.
"Happy birthday, kid," Leon winked. Sora blushed and shrugged in a way he hoped looked nonchalant.
"Heard you dreamt about us," Yuffie added, raising and lowering her eyebrows. When Sora laughed, Tifa grinned.
"I'm kind of jealous I wasn't in it!" she chirped.
"Cloud was only in it for like, two seconds," returned Sora. "I beat him in a fight and helped him battle a giant dog."
"We know it was a dream because he beat me in a fight," Cloud announced. Everyone but Aerith laughed. When Sora asked how her dream went, she grimaced and said that she died.
"You WHAT?" gasped Sora. Aerith shrugged and nodded. "My vision quest's antagonist was Sephiroth. He killed me. I guess that means I failed."
"So he won?" asked Sora. Aerith shook her head. "Cloud destroyed him. His, my, Yuffie, and Tifa's vision quests were all set in the same world. Cloud turned out to be kind of the hero. Funny how you think you're the protagonist of your life, and then you step into one of those pods and you come out feeling like a plot point in someone else's."
Sora was so shocked he did not know what to say. Aerith smiled and patted his shoulder, asking how his quest went.
"Well," Sora murmured. "I beat the bad guy. Riku and Kairi were in my dream world, too."
"Oh," Aerith beamed. "What happened to them?"
"Riku succumbed to darkness and Kairi slept until the end," Sora explained.
Aerith furrowed her brows, muttering that that did not sound fair. Sora shrugged. Aerith commented that she heard Ventus lost his vision quest as well. Sora glanced over at the boy in curiosity. It looked like the party was the last place he wanted to be. He hung close to Terra and Aqua, muttering and scowling. When he caught Sora's eye, he narrowed his glance before scoffing and looking away. Aerith and her gang said their goodbyes just as Leon congratulated Sora on staying another year. Hercules boomed that Sora really beat the odds. Kairi barely caught a wave at him. The princesses of heart were herding her like a crowd of stampeding gazelles out of the classroom door. Belle escaped to the library when they tried grabbing her as well. When the only people left were Sora, Roxas, Hacky, Axel, Reno, the replica, and Naminé, everyone called it a night and started cleaning up. Axel had amassed a collection of eight party hats. The replica was trying to add a ninth, sporting seven himself. Naminé gathered all the streamers and kazoos. Roxas started putting foil back on unfinished food dishes and scraping any bits from empty ones into the trashcan. Reno reorganized his desk. Sora collected a broom to sweep the debris from the floor as Hacky perched atop his head. When everything was set, Axel let out a loud curse. Everyone glanced towards him and whined when they saw what he was holding.
They had forgotten to do the birthday cake. It was a small, lopsided chocolate one. When Sora asked where it came from Roxas coughed that he had made it. Sora glanced towards him in awe.
"You angel," he gasped. Roxas' face went a deep shade of scarlet as he shrugged.
"Looks like the top layer's falling off," Axel observed. Roxas scowled and leaned between the wall and the second foldout table. Naminé spirited the cake to his side and got out the cutting knife and a couple of candles. After sticking them in, Axel lit them with the tip of his finger. Then, Sora shut his eyes and made a wish. When the candles were blown out, Naminé counted the amount of people in the room and dished it all out. When they were all huddled around the bottom step of the office eating cake with their hands, Reno added that he had left Sora's presents at the back of the room.
"Presents?" Sora asked. Reno nodded.
"Want to open them now?"
Sora beamed and gave a feverish nod. He reached out his hand as Naminé gave him her gift. When he opened it, he blinked in surprise. It was a picture of Destiny Islands, presumably drawn by her with ink and watercolor brushes. In a pouch beside was a star shaped charm. The next present was from Yuffie, Aerith, and Leon: A visa with 500 munny on it, a strange little steel keychain in the shape of a roaring lion, and a membership card for Hollow Bastion. The princesses of heart gave Sora a red bean with a note saying, "Eat for fire power upgrade," Cloud gave Sora another keychain and a rubbery, translucent shard, the replica gave him a hand drawn birthday card, Kairi gave Sora two tickets to the beach, Aqua and Terra gave him advanced synthesis materials, and Hacky gave him a bucket load of synthesized items. Though most were duplicates, Sora thanked him with a big hug and watched with glee as the Moogle tore back into the hole in the ventilation system. When it came down to Reno, Axel, and Roxas, Reno and Axel glanced from each other to Naminé and leaned in.
"Our last gift is courtesy of Yen Sid, in thanks for helping us catch Marluxia this summer and for all the trouble it caused."
Sora furrowed his brows as they handed over the tiny envelope. When he opened it, he gasped.
Inside was a personal invitation to a private consultation with the owners of The Three Fairies' Magical Armory Collection, free of charge.
"You can send in that crazy outfit of yours and get it magically upgraded," Axel said. "And, maybe taken in a little."
"Wow," Sora sniffed. "I don't know what to say."
"It was a joint begging effort," responded Reno. "Roxas convinced Ventus to put in a good word with Yen Sid. Turns out the old coot remembered you from when you cried in his office last year."
"Oh," said Sora with a grimace.
"Was it a good birthday, Sora?" Naminé asked. Sora glanced over at her, noticing for the first time that she was wearing a new dress and a white flower in her hair. There was something on her eyes that made her lashes darker. Mascara. Her lips were painted matte pink.
"Yeah," Sora croaked. Naminé smiled and gave him a hug. As she pressed against him, Sora felt his heart flutter. Axel and Reno exchanged glances when the hug lingered. When Naminé finished, she chirped that it was time for her to go. Everyone agreed and trasnported the leftovers and foldable tables back to the grand hall. Then they took down the banners and swept up Reno's office for the last time. Sora, Roxas, and the Riku replica trudged back to their dorm together, the replica jabbering on about how sweet it was going to be to start school in the morning.
"Can I have any cool catchphrases?" he asked.
"Riku speaks in abbreviations," explained Sora. "Keyblade is keeb, magic is mag, hit points are HP, that kind of thing. No renaming stuff or calling people weird names."
"So is combat comb?" asked the replica. Sora shook his head and said combat was just combat. The replica scowled and scribbled it out of the tiny notebook he kept in his back pocket.
"At this rate I won't be able to talk at all," he muttered.
"Shame," murmured Roxas, giving Sora the side eye. Sora snorted and cupped his hand over his mouth to stop himself from laughing.
"So, you guys are going to have to call me Riku like Naminé, you know?" the replica warned. "Not Repliku or Riku Replica."
Sora's smile fell with his heart. Suddenly he grew sad. "Can I call you Rick?" he asked. "That's what Nimo used to call…"
He could not finish. Roxas watched him as he swallowed. The replica shook his head and asked them to help him think up names.
"RR, Rick, Ricky, Rico, Ri Ri, Kutchie, Caca," Roxas rattled off.
"Caca," the replica murmured with a faraway nod. "Caca is getting somewhere."
"Rico is nice," chanced Sora. The replica stared into the distance and stopped in his tracks, closing his eyes. When he opened them again, he beamed.
"Ari," he said.
"Ari?" repeated Roxas. The replica bit his lip. "You're right. Something isn't oomph enough."
"How about Rick?" repeated Sora. The replica scowled and jutted his hands out in front of him with finality.
"You can call me Rick in public, but in the dorm I want Ari!"
"I'm calling you Repliku in dorm," responded Roxas.
"Although I do like the feel of Big Boi or Numba 1…" the replica continued.
"Ari, then," Roxas responded with a curt smile, patting the replica's shoulder. As they walked on, the replica pulled out his schedule and asked what clubs they were in.
"Apparently the Organization teaches second years," he said. "I wonder how they divide rank with so many professors."
"Is Marluxia still here?" asked Sora. Roxas shook his head and said he had been fired. Sora could not believe it. A teacher actually being fired for inappropriate conduct.
"They got someone to replace him," responded the replica. "Got in today with that weirdo DiZ."
As they clobbered through the stairwell to the boy's dorms, the deafening sound of new blood ransacking the halls blistered closer. Sora peeped through the exit door window before going through. Upperclassmen from the junior and senior class lined the halls, taunting incoming freshmen like they had when Sora first got there. Vanitas seemed relatively subdued, for once, either because he was in a lazy mood or because most of his posse had graduated or been kicked out. For a moment Sora looked out at the demon's victims in awe, thinking how lucky he was to be here for another year and out of his claws. When he stopped gawking and started registering faces, though, he gasped.
"Son of a nutcracker," he breathed. "Son of a butter nutting nutcracker!"
Before Roxas or Ari could ask what was wrong, Sora burst into the fray and reached out his hands.
"Tidus!" he screeched. "Tidus, I can't believe it!"
A little boy with scruffy blond hair parted down the middle straightened and turned around in confusion, his duffel bag clutched tightly in his arms. When he noticed Sora shoving towards him, he screeched and dropped every belonging he possessed, jumping up until he was almost crowd surfing to Sora's side. When he got there, he pulled the older boy into a hug. Sora hugged back, trying to hold in his sobs. But when Tidus started whimpering, all bets were off. Soon they were wailing like idiots in the middle of the crowd of incoming freshmen.
"Aw, just take him to your fucking room, faggot," called Vanitas' grating voice. Sora ignored it and pulled Tidus away to look at him. The boy had grown a couple inches. His cheeks had less chub. But he was still the dusty blond, blue-eyed boy Sora remembered.
"How's Wakka?" Sora asked. Tidus shrugged and wiped the snot from his nose. "Better. He prefers regular high school. He told me not to try out, but how could I say no? Oh, hey, Riku!" he cried. Sora felt the color drain from his face for the third time that day. When he turned around, the replica was holding out his palm to shake Tidus' hand. When Tidus caught sight of the gesture, he snorted and jumped into Riku's arms, nuzzling him with a bear hug. Riku responded with a growl and tickle that made Tidus squeal and tumble to the ground. Sora yelped and separated the boys, telling Tidus Riku was not feeling well and that they were going to catch some shuteye.
"This is what cool DI friends do, right?" asked Ari.
"No," Sora snapped. "That's what weirdoes do." Then he turned to Tidus and asked what dorm he was in.
"Number eleven, what number are you?"
"Sixteen, so opposite sides, but I'll come visit you!"
"Yeah," responded Tidus. Then his eyes sparkled. "Oh! Selphie got in, too!"
"DIY coming together," Ari bellowed. Tidus furrowed is brows. Before he could ask questions, Sora shoved him and his belongings into dorm eleven and kicked Ari towards dorm sixteen with Roxas. Before he could escape himself, a bronze hand grabbed him by the shoulder and swiveled him around. Vanitas glared down at him with piercing golden irises.
"Ever since Marluxia got kicked out faculty have been asking what I did to you," he hissed. "If I get suspended for fingering your stupid ass, expect me to take you down."
"Gotta suck his stupid dick first!" cackled Ari out of nowhere. Before he could cause any more damage, Roxas wrenched him out of the hallway and into their dorm. While he was gone, Vanitas hissed that he was the most powerful key blade wielder in the student body. Before Sora could respond, Roxas was at his side again.
"Mess with him, you mess with me, Vanitas," the boy warned. Immediately Vanitas straightened up and grinned.
"Maybe if you let me mess with you I'll keep out of his way."
"It wasn't an invitation," responded Roxas. "Go fuck a lance."
Vanitas sputtered and hissed as Roxas spirited Sora into their dorm. Once the door locked and the ruckus outside faded to nothing, Sora stood at the center of the room in disbelief. Had Roxas and the Riku replica just gotten him out of a potential fight with his arch nemesis? When Sora snapped to his senses, Roxas and Ari were organizing their sides of the room.
"Which bunk do you want, Sora?" Roxas asked.
"Topsies," called Ari, barreling into the top bunk on the right side of the room and rolling the covers around himself. Roxas looked to the heavens and shook his head, making Sora laugh. As usual, Roxas' smile acted like a magnet. Sora was leaning at his side watching him divide clean bedclothes before he realized.
"Or you can cuddle with me, if you like," Roxas joked with pinking cheeks. Sora shrugged and said he farted in his sleep. "You don't want that kind of trouble too close," he added. Ari snorted from the top bunk and farted in approval.
"You want to take your chances under him?" Roxas asked.
"Can I bunk under you?" asked Sora. "I get scared I'll fall off the top."
"Sure, Sora," Roxas said. After taking his shirt and pants off, he climbed up the bunk ladder and laid down his bedding. Sora watched the pull of the muscles in his back in awe as he worked. Though Riku's muscles might have been larger, Roxas was more toned than Riku had ever been on Destiny Islands. Every tendon, it seemed, coursed just beneath his thin golden skin like pulled strings. When he turned to ask Sora what he was wearing the next morning, Sora blubbered and trundled for the combat outfit with the steel plated shoulders he bought with his first paycheck. Roxas snorted.
"Is it stupid?" Sora asked. Roxas shook his head.
"No, Sora," he said. "Wear whatever you like."
Sora beamed and set the clothing out. Then he hooked his hands around the rim of his shirt and gulped, peeping down his collar to see how he looked. Shutting his eyes, he tore off his own shirt and athletic pants and dived to make his own bed. Before long Roxas helped him. When they finished, Sora put his hands on his hips and shook his head.
"What?" asked Roxas. Without thinking Sora slid his arm over Roxas' shoulder. When Roxas' hand slipped around Sora's waist, Sora blinked in surprise and stared at him over pinking cheeks. When Roxas beamed, he melted.
"I think this is going to be a good year," he announced.
Roxas blinked back at him before smiling as well. "Yeah, I think so, too." He murmured. Then he curled his lips towards Sora's ear. "That is if we figure out how the hell to deal with that dipshit."
Ari groaned for them to get a room. Sora threw a pillow at him. Ari farted in return. As Roxas climbed into his top bunk, Sora chuckled and sighed, trailing his toes back and forth across the carpeted ground with an absent mind. Roxas asked if he could turn off the lights. Sora nodded and pulled down the switch, sinking the room into soft blue darkness. As he stood at the center of the room in silence, his glance trailed towards the window. Mist already clung to the grounds outside. Sora's gaze moved up to the stars. His shoulders sagged. Destiny Islands was up there, somewhere. It seemed like ions since he, Kairi, and Riku had laid with clasped hands on the sands of the uncharted island near Luca, Wakka's dad's longliner anchored a five minute swim away. Sweet, salty sun clinging to their lips. If Sora concentrated he could feel the wash of the waves on his fingertips right now. Moisture pooled around his eyes as he thought of it. His heart ached.
In a different universe, he supposed, he would never have met Roxas. He would have remained on Destiny Islands with Riku and Kairi and lived out his life. He would never have had to deal with Rosso, or Vanitas, or Marluxia. Sice, Nao, and Sota would have continued their studies. Riku would be safe. Life would have trudged on as normal.
But when Sora really thought about it, he was not sure which path he would choose over the other. All he could hope was that his friends would remain close, and that Riku was somewhere, amongst those stars, hunting for a way to reach Sora's side.
~X~
A/N: Aw... does Sora have a crush? How does everyone like the reappearance of Roxas? Much more to come in coming chapters... things will get increasingly spicy... there will be twists and turns... get ready to gasp... and at some point, things will start getting dark... but that's for later. PLEASE FOLLOW/FAV/REVIEW! And tell me what you think! Your support is my inspiration!