"Are you ready to do this, Sora?" Riku asked, settling himself in the pod.
"I have to do this," Sora declared, climbing into the pod across the room from him. "K- is in there. M- put her there, and she told us how to break it. I have to go there. I have to find her, and break the spell."
"You'll find her, Sora. Your hearts are linked. Nothing can come between the two of you."
Sora took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He heard Riku pressing a few buttons.
"Okay. We'll be asleep in a few moments. I'll be uploaded immediately, but it'll be twelve hours before you are. I'll find you, and we'll work together."
"We'll find K-. Everything I feel for her won't go away. It will work and then I'll free us all."
"I know, Sora. She's your most important person. The two of you will come together again."
"Riku…"
"It'll be okay, Sora."
"Sora."
He opened his eyes and looked up in the face of his other. Roxas was dressed and ready, a suitbag hanging over his shoulder. He sat up. "You're going now?"
"Yeah," his other said. "We're all getting ready in Olette's house tonight. We're going to play Struggle on the beach in the afternoon. You sure you don't want to come along?"
Sora shook his head. "I'm going with Riku. You go get ready with your friends. I'll see you and Hayner there tonight, yeah?"
Roxas sighed. "Yeah… Hayner."
Sora tilted his head at his other. "Lea was right, you know. You don't sound excited about it."
His twin's face had hardened at the mention of the other's name. But hearing the rest of the sentence, he gave a heavy sigh. "I'm happy," he said carefully. "I've… I like Hayner. Things will go fine with him."
"…But?"
He sighed, looking back at his other. "When I asked him to be my date… He didn't seem surprised – in a good way or a bad way. Not like he was looking forward to it, or that he was uncomfortable. He just…" He fiddled with his sleeve. "He just smiled and said it was fine."
Sora tilted his head at his other. "Like he didn't seem to care either way?"
"Yeah." He shifted. "But that's fine. If it doesn't work out, we can just go back to normal."
"It's safe," Sora said in understanding. "I know you like to feel safe, Ven." He reached out to touch his other's arm. "You'd rather be safe than excited. That's okay. We all just want you to be happy and comfortable."
"You make me sad when you say it like that," Roxas said quietly. "Can't I feel safe and excited? Why can't I have something like you and Riku?"
"Do you want to date Riku?"
"Fuck no," he said, pulling a face at him. "Riku is not my type. He's too…" His face twisted up. "He's just not…"
Sora laughed watching his other trying to find the right words.
"Alright, don't hurt yourself trying to figure it out. You don't want Riku. I get it."
Roxas pulled him close and rubbed his knuckles into his scalp until Sora was laughing, pleading for mercy. Once they were calmed, they laid out on Sora's bed next to each other, looking up at the ceiling.
"So. If you don't want Riku… is there someone you do want?"
Ven was silent. "I want someone… lively. Passionate. Who knows what they want. Someone exciting – who I can have adventures with, but makes just hanging out lively. I want there to be that spark."
Sora raised his head to grin playfully at Roxas. "Sounds like you want Blaise from Keyblade Masters."
Roxas picked up a pillow and whacked him over the head. "I do NOT want Bl—" He cut himself off, pillow going limp in his grip.
"Ven…?"
"Shut up!" He groaned. He sat up and grabbed his suit bag again. "I gotta go. I'm meeting Hayner before we go to Neminem."
"Okay." Sora tugged his shoes on and pulled Riku's jacket on over the top of his thin pyjama shirt. He walked with his other to the front gate. It felt weird to be parting ways from Roxas – and left alone. He was never alone. He didn't like it. "Have a good day, Roxas."
Before his other could answer, Riku's car pulled out of the driveway next door. The driver's window rolled down and Lea looked out at them. "Morning, Roxas. Sora."
He watched them both. "Can I give you a lift?"
"Roxas is going to Hayner's house," Sora explained.
His other pulled a face. "I was just going to take my skateboard. It's fine. Don't go out of your way."
Lea raised his eyebrows. "It's not that far. Offer's open if you want it." He turned his focus. "Sora… Look. Riku's pretty sick. He's going to see how he feels tonight. Thought I'd give you some warning."
"We're supposed to be going together…" Sora said, disappointed.
"I know. He's been a huge dork about how excited he is about it." He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. "I'm closing up early and coming back to get my suit from Riku's. Either we'll both pick you up, or I'll stop by."
Sora nodded, but still stayed quiet.
Lea sighed and looked back at Roxas. "You coming or not?"
"I'll see you tonight, Sora."
Sora was sitting on the stairs, glancing repeatedly up at the clock. The Winter Ball was supposed to start at 7:30, but it would take half an hour to get there, if they were going on the train. He didn't know how long it would take if they were driving into the city.
He checked the clock again, then tugged at his jacket sleeves. He'd spent nearly an hour attempting to tame his hair before eventually mastering his normal spikes and leaving it as it was.
His other had picked him a nice suit – the jacket and pants were plain black, paired with a red shirt and yellow tie. Roxas had claimed the colours were garish and horrible, but he know what Sora liked.
He lifted his foot and retied his shoelace.
Finally, there was a tentative knock on the door. Eager to see Riku, he jumped up to pull open the door. But it was only Lea.
"Oh."
The redhead rolled his eyes. "One day I'm going to think you're actually trying to hurt my feelings, Sora." His suit and shirt were a charcoal grey, and here was a red silk tie hanging loosely around his shoulders. "Sora," he said quietly.
"Riku's not coming."
"No." He spun his car keys around his finger. "He wanted to. He really did. But he can barely stand up."
Sora sighed. "So what now?"
Lea stopped the keys, tossed them up and caught them from the air. "The way I see it, you got three options. You can go, have a terrible time and sulk against the wall all night. Or you could go, have fun with your friends, meet some of the girls from the other school." He paused there.
Sora raised his eyebrows. "And the third one…?"
He smirked and pulled off his tie and slipped it around his neck again, knotting it. Without another word, he turned and walked out to Riku's car waiting on the curb.
"But what was the third one?" Sora yelled after him.
Lea turned back to him. "Talk about blank with a capital 'B'." He rolled his eyes. "Don't you have a date to get to?"
Sora stood in the doorway until the tail-lights of the car disappeared around the corner. Then he closed the door behind him and hopped over the side fence, kneeling down to pick up a handful of woodchips.
He stood under the only lit window. Taking one chip between two fingers, he tossed it towards the window. It took five tries before a familiar silver head appeared at the window.
Riku's annoyed expression shifted to delight. He lifted the window up and pushed his head out. "Sora?" His voice sounded rough and stuffy.
"You gonna let me in?"
Riku rolled his eyes. "What am I supposed to do? Let down my hair? Go use the front door like a regular person. Dad isn't home." He shut the window and disappeared.
Sora grinned and walked around to the front door.
Riku opened the door with a smile. He was dressed in a fluffy bathrobe, his hair messily braided behind his neck. "Hey. You look nice. Did you stop by to say goodbye before you headed for the ball?"
Sora shook his head and stepped inside, closing the door behind himself. "Nope."
"… No?" Riku echoed, confused.
Sora grinned at him. "Together, or not at all, remember?"
Riku smiled and took Sora's hands into his own feverishly hot ones. "You should still go. I don't want you to miss out on all the fun because of me."
"Nah," Sora said. "It wouldn't be the same without you." He gave a cheeky grin. "And anyway, Lea already left without me."
Riku smiled gently. "Alright. You can hang with me tonight."