Note:Okay, I kind of hate this chapter with a passion but… hey! New characters! And no, I'm not bashing anyone, even if it seems that way… More on Riku's friends in the next chapter. The little part at the end really happened to one of my friends so that's where thatcame from. I've been done with this for forever so I may as well get this over with. XD The next chapter is almost done.

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Chapter 25
(Sora's POV)

Riku's been going out a lot lately. I guess I should be jealous or whatever, but I'm actually really happy for him because he's finally found a group he 'belongs' with. I just wish he'd let me meet them. Every time I ask he gets this weary look on his face and just smiles.

So he spends less time with me. Whatever. The time we do spend together is awesome because we just don't fight anymore. I mean, we were never unsteady, it was never unbearable but… well, Riku can be really weird sometimes. We hang (well, make) out and laugh and just… have a good time. And I never thought I'd be able to say that.

One day I catch one of his phone conversations. I assume first that it's with Zakku, but after a moment I can tell that it isn't. Riku wouldn't be this friendly with Zakku. (I don't think it's really that… personal though. I don't think there's any hatred. I'd say it's just annoyance or irritation or something. He wants to make it seem like he hates the guy, but it doesn't seem that sincere to me.)

He opens the conversation with an exasperated: "What?" And a pause. "Oh, hi. No… I thought you were someone else." A beat. He smirks. "I don't know… maybe." He sounds so… playful? "I… really don't know." He glances at the clock, then notices me. "Okay. Sure. Why not?" Huh. He doesn't seem to be mad that I'm practically eavesdropping on him. "Yeah, what about him?" What about who?? "Yeah, we're fine. Why?" Another smirk. "He's wonderful." WHO?! More smirking. "Of course not. Because he's fantastic." He glances over at me and just nods.

God.

He's talking about me!

He hangs up the phone and starts toward the kitchen. "I'm going out again tonight." He says. But I'm only half-listening, prepared to trail him like his shadow until he leaves.

He thinks I'm wonderful.

He totally loves me.

--

Tonight, Riku doesn't come back until the early hours of the morning. I know because he wakes me up getting into bed.

"…Riku? It's 3AM… What are you--" He silences me by smashing his lips against mine.

At least he doesn't taste like alcohol this time. He tastes like himself, for the most part. There's still something… almost off about him, but I guess staying up so late does that to a person. Riku's damn lucky that Dad has been letting him get away with this, especially when you consider all the end of the year tests we've been having.

"Good night, Sora."

"Uh, good night." I guess.

Weird, but I won't question it.

--

"I can't believe how fast the school year went by." Kairi sighs. She and Selphie, plus Tidus, Wakka and I are at the smoothie place that we've gone to the past few half-days at school. Standardized testing sucks, but it's almost worth it to get out of school before noon.

Tidus snorts. "I think it went too slow."

"No one asked for your opinion!" Selphie jumps in. And thus begins the arguing.

"Do they just hate each other, or what?" I mutter to Kairi and Wakka. "They're always doing this."

"No, it's just how they are." Wakka replies.

Kairi nods. "You know, I suspect that by next year they're either going to be dating, or one of them will be dead."

"…Huh."

We sit back and watch them get the bickering out of their systems.

"Anyway…" Selphie says. "What's everyone doing over vacation?"

"Tidus and I are signed up for a ton of sports programs." Wakka says at almost the same time Kairi chirps:

"Absolutelynothing!" She waits until Wakka finishes speaking and continues. "I'm going to lay on the beach and get reallytan."

"And get cancer." Tidus adds. She gives him a playful shove.

"I'm going to camp." I say with a shrug. "For three weeks."

Selphie smiles. "Wow, can you live without Riku for that long?"

"I can give it a try." I reply. Really, I don't know whether to be offended or amused by the comment. Riku's been either going straight home or out with his own friends all week, so it's not like I've been seeing him a lot anyway.

"I'm just glad I'm not going to be a sophomore anymore." Kairi jumps in, helpfully. She always knows when something's up, and she always knows how to fix it. "But I guess it's better than being a freshman." God, I feel like I completely skipped freshman year. My old school had middle school go from 7th to 9th grade. Schools here have middle school as grades 6th to 8th.

Not that I'm complaining.

"Been there, done that." Selphie grins. Show off. Just because she skipped a grade doesn't mean she has bragging rights…

"Nerd." We all retort at once.

--

The closer it gets to summer, the more and more anxious I get thinking about camp. My thought process constantly switches from: "This is great and I'm going to have so much fun!" to "I'm going to be stuck with a bunch of assholes for three weeks!"

But it's too late now as Dad's driving me up to the little beachfront house that's serving as the boys' cabin.

Or part of it, I hope. Unless there are only going to be like, ten guys, I'm seriously wondering how we're all going to fit in there.

Riku's not even here to see me off, because the first of his classes started today. I wish we could've had another night together like we did after our anniversary, but we were both way too tired. I hope that wasn't a one-time thing…

"Sora?"

"Huh?"

"I love you, but get out of the car. You're going to be late for orientation." Oh… crap. I yank the door open and jump out of the car. My knees pop because of the way I was sitting, and I almost lose balance. "Sora!" Dad shouts as I turn to leave.

"What?"

"Your suitcase!"

Crap.

--
I'm a little late so I sneak way into the back, behind a really tall kid. It already feels weird to be away from home. I guess I totally missed the most important part, because people start filing out and I have no clue what to do. I walk up to the closest, least-threatening guy I can find-- a fairly short kid with wild blonde hair-- and ask, "So… what's going on?"

"We're going to our rooms." He kind of brushes me off, but I follow him as he heads to the bulletin board to see who he's rooming with. Suddenly I'm wishing that I knew at least one person here. He finds his name and sees who his roommates are and lets out an excited, "Yes!"

"You're with all of your friends?" I guess.

"Yeah. And some guy named Sora."

…Hold on… "That's me!"

"Cool. I'm Roxas."

"Great! …Now, where the hell are we going?"

--

At least there's more cabins than what I originally saw from Dad's car, because there are a ton of guys here.

Rooming with Roxas is intimidating at first. He's already close with the other guys in our room, Hayner and Pence, and I don't know anyone. We're polar opposites. He's always moody and thoughtful, angsty in a way that you know is partly just from the woes of being a teen, but there's something else to it.

But we hit it off, and we become inseparable. He's like the brother I never had. I think his friends (or Hayner, at least… Pence almost strikes me as being like Goofy in that happy-lala-when-I-want-to-be sort of way) are kind of pissed because I'm kind of stealing their friend away. Well, they get him all the time! I only have two weeks! Roxas is completely awesome and it's going to suck when we have to go our separate ways.

We eat lunch sitting next to each other always, sometimes with his friends and sometimes without. Once in a while they sneak to the girl's camp to visit another friend who I haven't met. That's where they are today.

"What school do you go to?" I ask. I've never seen him around school before.

"I go to one just a few miles up north from here." He replies, finishing off the last few bites of his sandwich. "Why?"

I shrug. "Just curious."

"I might move, though." He says, after a moment. "Not like, out of state or anything. Just more toward the coast, to where I used to live."

"Where's that?"

"Occiana."

I pause. Hold on…

"Yes!" I shout, startling him and a few people at the tables surrounding us. "You have to! That's where I live!" He offers a weak smile. "So… do you move a lot? Is it because of work, or what?"

"No, nothing like that. We moved because of… some stuff, but now enough time's passed where we're comfortable going back."

"…Huh?"

"It's nothing… I was younger when it happened, so… I can't really say. Old news, you know…"

"Oh."

And I don't overstep my boundaries or try to pushing him into telling me more… I leave him alone. But because of the sudden coldness in his eyes, I throw an arm around him. I can see that he's debating whether to go along with it or not, but he does.

--

It's weird being the only gay guy at camp. I'm not sure if I should say anything about Riku, or my own sexuality. I'm sure everyone here is totally cool with it, but in case they're not… I mean, I'm not ashamed or anything, but I have to live with these people for another week. I want to avoid making this experience a hell. Getting called a faggot on a daily basis is an experience I'd rather not repeat. (And that was before I even knew I was gay.) But with everyone talking about how they want to get laid or whatever, it's hard to just sit there and nod as if I agree.

The only person who doesn't take part in that stuff is Roxas. He's so introverted I sometimes wonder if he even notices. Maybe he just doesn't care. Although I sort of wonder about him. He doesn't strike me as being gay, but then… Riku doesn't either. But that didn't stop me. Maybe Roxas is bi. I mean, he seems kind of close to Hayner in a strange sort of way. But I could only imagine them having an extremely dysfunctional relationship. Or he's straight and… why am I even thinking about this? It's none of my business.

That stuff aside, I wonder how Riku's doing? He's probably busy with his classes and hanging out with his friends. I wonder if he misses me? I hate having to sleep by myself and…

Huh… that's weird. I never missed him before right now.

"Sora?" It's Pence.

"Huh?"

"A bunch of us are heading down to the beach… you wanna come?"

I smile. "Definitely."

--

Lunchtime is almost up, but I don't want to move. The sand is so soft and warm, but the breeze is so cool. When I get back home I definitely need to hang out with Kairi and Riku…

I close my eyes.

"I don't want this moment to end." Pence says. Hayner snorts.

"Sap." He murmurs. Somewhere next to me, Roxas sighs.

"Feels good out here." He says. "…I want ice cream."

"You always want ice cream." Hayner retorts.

"It does sound good right now…" Pence replies.

"I want a popsicle." I say. "Camp food is terrible."

"Popsicle? Blasphemy." Someone mutters, but I can't tell who.

There's a collective sigh, this time because we know we have to get up in about thirty seconds or we'll be late for…hiking, or whatever it is we have to do today. Screw hiking… I just want to lay here all day. Either way, I still have to get up, brush the sand off my pants, and head back to the campsite when Roxas and the others start to head back. But it was nice while it lasted.

--

I'm dreading the last day. We're all packing up silently, not really even making eye contact. It's extra-awkward because this is probably the last I'll see of Hayner and Pence, and this is probably the last they'll see of Roxas. It's the last I'll see of him for a few months. We're too close now to not do anything, but not quite close enough to be able to get emotional. We wait around for our respective parents (or parent, in my case) to arrive. I shove my hands in my pockets and stare up at the sky. It's very… blue. It's very… sky blue.

…wait…

"I'm going to miss this." Pence says, finally.

"Not this again…" Hayner groans.

"I'm serious! It's going to be really different next year. We'll all be separated."

I shiver. I feel like I'm intruding on some private moment, and I justknow I don't belong, even though we've practically been brothers for a whole month.

Pence's parents come to pick him up first.

Then Roxas's. I give him my number to keep in touch until school starts up again.

Then, finally, Hayner's.

My Dad's pretty late, but I don't really mind. We don't talk much. My phone starts vibrating so I pull it out of my pocket. …It's a message from Roxas. It says: Sora, do you think I'm hot??

…Excuse me…? A moment later I get a call. From Roxas.

"Hello?"

"Oh, my God, Sora. I am SO sorry. My cousins got a hold of my phone."

"It's okay."

"They didn't do anything mean, did they? If they did…"

"No, no." I assure him. "Of course not."

"Okay, good."

"Hey, Roxas?"

"Huh?"

"Do you think I'm hot?" I ask, then hang up and turn off my phone.

"What was that about?" Dad asks, not taking his eyes off the road. I smile to myself and tell him it's nothing. He wouldn't find it half as amusing as I do.