I am finally uploading the 3rd story in my Kiss of a Mer series! Today it is of course SoRiku! (to those who are new to the series not every other story in the series is required to read this one but they all exist in the same universe).

Ever since Sora was a young boy, he had a very special friend. A friend that was unique from the rest, and the only other person that knew about him was Sora's friend Kairi. Other than that there was not another soul who knew of this very special friend of Sora's.

Sora knew though that he had to keep it a secret. His friend was a merman after all, and alerting people of a merman in the area would only cause panic. So ever since they were kids, he promised the merman that he would keep the secret, just between the three of them.

Over the years though, Sora visited Riku, the merman, more often by himself than with Kairi. He just got along so well with Riku with their friendship building up more and more over the years. It was hard to explain just why he connected so well with Riku, but Sora wouldn't have it any other way. Riku was his very best friend and he was determined to always be friends with him, even if they were separated by land and sea.

When he was with Riku he didn't feel like they were any different. They goofed off, chatted and played games together and it felt just right. With that, Sora's feelings only grew stronger and he had thoughts about their friendship turning into something else. He knew what it was, but he didn't want to act on it yet… not until he figured out how Riku felt.

He had just got to the island that he played at all the time and began to look around the shore. Riku was supposed to be there already since the ocean was his home after all. It was far easier for him to get there than Sora, who had traveled by his little row boat.

"Riku!" Sora shouted loudly. "Riku are you here yet?"

He waited a moment before he saw silver hair pop out from the water. Smiling widely, Sora kicked off his shoes and ran into the water.

"Riku!" He tackled the merman over before he even had a chance to say anything.

Riku started to laugh once he was able to balance himself and Sora in the shallow of the water. "You're awfully excited today."

"Well yeah! I get to see you!" Sora said, beaming brightly.

"Miss me that much, huh?"

"You know it! Ready for some fun today?" Sora asked, leaning his face in closer to Riku's.

He could see the blush appearing on Riku's cheeks. "Yeah, I'm ready."

Riku then playfully tossed Sora off of him and into the water. Sora laughed before standing back up and taking off his outer clothes, leaving nothing but his swim trunks. "I'm ready to race!"

"You know you'll just lose like the last time, and the time before that and the-"

"Not this time!" Sora declared. "I have gotten way better! We have a swimming unit now in gym class, so I am totally prepared to win."

"If you say so," Riku smirked as he swam further out into the water.

"Ready when you are."

Riku smiled before he counted down. When he shouted go the two began to swim as fast as they were able around the island. Sora, at the start, actually managed to keep a close pace with Riku, only trailing slightly behind him. Riku actually was pretty impressed, but he still had to keep his lead so he tried to pick up his own pace.

By the time they got a third of the way around the island, he saw that Sora was beginning to tire out. He slowed down and let Sora catch up to him. "You ready to call it quits?"

"What? No way… I just need to… catch my breath," Sora said as he took in several deep breaths.

"Nah, I think you've worn yourself out. Starting off too strong."

"Well I gotta start off strong otherwise you are going to pass me up like seven times! You're built to swim all the time and super fast!"

"Guess that means I win again, now come on, let's get you back to the shore."

Riku wrapped an arm around Sora and started to swim him back, chuckling softly at the small pouty sounds Sora was making. When they got closer to the shallows, Sora sighed and stood up. He stumbled back to the sand and plopped down, letting out a huge sigh.

"Will I ever be able to beat you?"

"I don't know, maybe?"

"But you're always better at everything!" Sora sighed as he flopped back onto the sand.

"You already are better than me at a lot of stuff, Sora," Riku said as he pulled himself up onto the shore slightly. "You can run faster than me."

"But you can't even run in the first place! We can both swim at least."

"Okay how about…" Riku thought for a moment. "Being able to juggle all those coconuts? I can't do that."

"Fiiiiiine, that's one thing I can do better than you. But you are better at everything else!"

"Nah we just need to think a bit more, there's plenty more that you can do because you're human," Riku replied.

"Maybe… but you're the coolest. You're a merman so you got all the super cool stuff that you can do," Sora replied. He lifted his head and smiled at Riku. "Everything is cool about you."

"Yeah?" Riku asked.

"You know it! You're strong and your tail and hair are so cool. And you've been my best friend since we were four!"

Riku smiled as he thought back to their younger years, back when they first met. "Wow, has it really been 14 years?"

Sora hummed before nodding. "I think it has. And we'll still be best friends forever, right?"

"Yeah, for sure."

Somehow that answer didn't satisfy Sora enough as he would have wished. He felt a small empty part of him that didn't like the 'friends' aspect. It was all of those feelings he had been feeling lately. They were the ones that were changing his perspective on how he felt towards Riku.

He knew he could trust Riku to listen and to understand him. No matter what, their bond was always stronger than anything else, so Sora decided to take a chance and ask what was on his mind and his heart.

"Hey Riku?"

"Hm? What is it?"

Sora sighed deeply. "What if one of us wanted to be more than 'best friends'?"

Riku tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

"You know… something other than friends," Sora said. He dug his fingers into the sand, trying to keep them from being too fidgety.

"Like what? What's more than friends?"

Sora could feel the heat in his cheeks burning as he finally pushed out the words. "Like dating? Boyfriends?"

Now it was Riku's turn to blush, his beautiful pale complex turning a strong red. "O-Oh lover stuff."

Quickly Sora shook his head, not knowing how to interpret Riku's reaction. "S-Sorry! It was just a stupid question. Just kidding, you know?"

"Are you?"

"W-Well I wouldn't want to say anything wrong. Don't want to mess stuff up between us."

Riku scooted a bit closer to Sora, wrapping an arm around him. "Hey, you wouldn't mess up anything between us."

"Not even if I am weirding you out? I don't know why I feel this way! I just have been feeling these weird thoughts lately. I don't know how to explain it."

Holding Sora tightly in his arms, he shook his head. "No, I'm not weirded out. I just…" he looked away, his face red again. "Just didn't think about it before."

Sora looked up, trying to hold on to the little hope that he had. "Could we think about it?"

Riku let out a sigh as he looked out into the ocean. "It's hard to think about it. Were from different worlds, Sora. It… It wouldn't be that simple."

"I think we could find a way to make it work. We've managed to hangout and play for 14 years after all. What would be different about it if we, well uh, dated?"

"I guess… but there are still a lot of other factors. I really like you Sora, but we'd have to talk-"

"Wait! You mean like me as in 'like like' me?" Sora asked, his eyes growing wider.

"Well why wouldn't I?" Riku laughed.

Oh how Sora loved that laugh. It was so soft and so gentle.

"You're great Sora. There's not a thing I don't love about you."

"Aw Riku!" Sora shouted as he tackled Riku down to the sand. He laughed as he brought his face closer to Riku's. "You really mean it?"

Riku let out another laugh. "Yeah. So you don't have to worry how you feel. But I should-"

With the sudden feelings of joy flooding him, Sora leaned in to kiss Riku. Maybe it was a tad impulsive, but he just couldn't help himself. Riku accepted his feelings! They actually felt the same way for each other and Sora couldn't have been happier for that.

When he stopped the kiss, he looked down to see Riku completely shocked. "S-Sora? What did you do?"

"Huh? I kissed you, what else?" Sora replied.

"Do merfolk not kiss each other on the lips? I never asked Riku about those kinds of customs before…" Sora thought as he sat back up and helped up Riku.

"But why though? I didn't even finish what I was saying."

"I was just excited," Sora said as he lowered his head. "Was that wrong? Do merfolk not kiss?"

"N-No it's not that… But…" Riku rubbed the back of his neck. "There's something I never told you. Never had a reason to bring it up before."

"And what's that?"

"Uh well, we kind of have this magic thing. When we kiss a human on the lips, we kind of put a spell on them."

"A spell? What kind?"

Riku was blushing again, but this time his expression was far more embarrassing. "A spell that turns the human into a merfolk."

"Wait what?!"

"It was used a lot more in the olden days to 'curse' those who tried to hunt down our kind. But now that most people forget that we even exist we don't have any reason to go out to actively use it."

"And it's not something you can turn off or choose to do?"

"It's not a light switch, Sora. It's a magic that is built into our bodies. It just always is."

Sora started to feel bad. He knew he had gotten excited, but he should have waited to see what Riku was going to say. "Sorry.. I guess I messed up, huh?"

"No, it's my fault for not telling you first. I didn't think it would ever matter," Riku sighed.

"Is there any way to stop it? Or reverse it?"

Riku shook his head. "Not that I know of. I'm sorry Sora…"

Humming, Sora thought over the situation. Sure, it was a little freaky to think he was just going to turn into a merman, but part of him felt excited. He smiled and leaned closer to Riku. "Hey it won't be all too bad. I'll be finally able to race you and beat you for once."

"Always trying to find the bright side, aren't you?" Riku grinned as he ran a hand through Sora's hair.

"That's what I do best," Sora said as he smiled brightly. "So how does it all work? If I walk into the water will I suddenly get fins?"

"It's going to take three days," Riku explained. "It's a slow transformation, but you'll see it working. I don't know much else about it, but I could go and ask around."

"You think anyone else would really know?"

Riku shrugged. "Don't know. But I did hear rumors that a few months ago, the prince transformed a human because he fell in love."

"And the human is okay?"

"Yeah. I've seen the couple a few times in the kingdom, and they look happy."

"So maybe you can go and ask them? Learn what you can? I can try and set up stuff in the hut on the island here so I can sleep over. That way I can be right here when you got the info."

Riku turned, looking at Sora with a serious look. "Are you sure? You're really not mad about this? I'll be tearing you from your life here."

Sora's eyes drifted down to the sand again, his fingers lightly tracing through the surface. "Not too much of a life though is it? Mom passed away last year. I live with Kairi so I can have a place to stay as I try to find a job that will support me, and I see you whenever I can. Riku…"

Sora looked up and placed his hands over Riku's. "You're the best part of my life, so why can't I take this chance to spend it with you?"

"Only if you're sure… but I'm still going to investigate, okay? Just to see what I can find out."

"Sounds like a good plan. I'll see if I can come back here later tonight with stuff to sleep. Come back at sundown?"

"Sure."

"Also, Riku?"

"Yeah?"

"If you already kissed me and put the spell on me and whatever… Does it matter if you kiss me again? Like it won't do anything else to me?"

Riku hummed, looking down at the sand again. "I don't think so…"

"So could we?" Sora asked, his eyes pleading with hopefulness.

Looking up, Riku smiled again. "I think we could."

Leaning in, Sora wrapped an arm around Riku's neck. He took in every aspect of Riku's face, from the beautiful color of his teal eyes, to the smile that lit the fire in Sora's heart. Everything about Riku was wonderful and Sora was going to enjoy getting to see a whole lot more of that in the coming days.