The afternoon had turned into early evening by the time Sora had everything planted, labeled, and watered. Riku was still in his parents' garage. Making good on his promise Sora walked over to his friend's place and peered into the garage.

"Riku?"

The silver-haired youth was currently cleaning off his father's tool bench.

"Hey Sora. Just in time to help me go through all these tools."

"And do what?" The brunette asked, walking up beside Riku.

Riku motioned to a bucket of clear green liquid.

"Put the rusty ones in that solution. Put the ones that are still in good condition back where they belong."

Sora nodded and started sorting through tools.

"Hey guys! Need more help?" A chipper voice asked.

"Sure Tidus. Come on in." Riku said.

Tidus nodded and bounded in. His hair was all wet and his clothes were slightly dampish. He must have just got back from his swim with Wakka.

"So what're we doing?" The blonde asked.

Riku explained the process to their friend as Sora carefully set a wrench in the rust remover liquid.

"So did you tell him?" Riku asked casually. Sora looked at his older friend with wide eyes.

"Tell who what?" Tidus asked, setting a hammer in the rust solution.

"Did you tell Wakka that you want him?" The teen asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Riku!!" Sora scolded.

Tidus flushed bright red. "I-i don't want him. I have a cru...hey... how did you know it was Wakka?"

"Tidus, it's obvious to everyone." Riku paused, smirking. "Except Wakka, Kairi, Selphie, and Sora. I had to enlighten Sora this afternoon..."

The blonde blinked, his cheeks still bright red.

"It's nothing to be embarrassed about. You and Wakka would make a cute pair."

"Really? Do you think Wakka likes me too?"

"Well... Wakka is pretty thick skulled. I think he likes you too...he just doesn't know it."

"Oh. So... what do I do?"

"Just follow Sora's paopu advice. That's something even Wakka can't mistake."

Tidus smiled brightly, "Thanks guys."

Riku nodded and went back to sorting tools. Sora smiled sheepishly at his younger friend and started cleaning the tool bench. Tidus put another rusty tool in the rust remover.

They had just finished cleaning all the tools when Riku's dad poked his head into the garage.

"I see you conned your friends into helping." He said.

"They volunteered, dad." Riku muttered.

"Your mother says you can come in the house now. You can finish cleaning the garage tomorrow."

"Okay, dad."

Lee nodded and went back inside. While Sora looked like his mother (or so he was told) Riku looked like his father. The same aquamarine eyes (though Lee's were probably a shade darker) and the same natural silver hair. But unlike his son Lee kept his hair short. He tried (on several occasions) to bribe Riku into cutting his hair, but the teen refused every time. The only thing the boy had inherited from his mother was her pale flawless skin. Lee was very tan. Riku and Mileena hardly ever tanned. But as stated before that's were the similarities ended. Mileena had the darkest ebony hair and violet eyes. People who met Mileena before Lee always thought Riku had been adopted.

"Your dad is scary like my dad." Tidus said once Lee was out of ear-shot.

Riku chuckled, "My dad isn't so scary once you get to know him."

"Yeah." Sora grinned. "He baked cupcakes for Riku's birthday once."

"Really?" Tidus giggled. "My dad would never be caught dead baking. 'That's women's work'."

The oldest boy snorted, "One of those, huh?"

"Unfortunately... but it's really not that bad. Mom just whaps him when he says stuff like that."

Sora and Riku laughed.

"Y'know what's kinda sad though? We've all known each other for a pretty long time but some of our parents have only interacted a few times." The blonde said.

"That is said." Riku replied. Sora nodded his agreement.

"Well..." Sora stretched. "The tools are all clean and I'm sore and covered in dirt. I need a bath."

"Me too. The ocean water is drying my hair out." Tidus pouted.

"You're such a girl." Riku teased.

"Am not!" The blonde protested, giving Riku a playful punch in the arm.

Riku grinned and put Tidus in a headlock, giving the boy a noogie.

"Riku!" Sora laughed. "Unhand the Tidus!"

The silver-haired boy released his friend. Tidus hid behind Sora before sticking his tongue out at Riku. The older boy laughed and waved at his friends.

"See you guys tomorrow."

Sora and Tidus nodded and left the garage. Riku closed the door behind them. Tidus was Riku's neighbor on the right so he and Sora said good-bye at the end of the driveway.

"So...when are you going to tell Wakka?"

The blonde blushed. "I dunno. Soon."

Sora smiled. "Goodnight Tidus."

"Night Sora!!"

The brunette chuckled as he watched Tidus bound off. He turned and headed for his house.

[Riku is right. There's no mistaking paopu...] The boy paused briefly, frowning in thought. [Didn't Riku...? Didn't he offer me a paopu as an apology when he whapped me in the face? Well... he didn't really ask if I wanted to share it with him. Riku is Riku. He's my best friend.]

Confused and slightly disturbed over his thoughts Sora ran the short distance home.

******************

Riku poked his head into the living room. His mother was sitting on the couch watching TV.

"I'm almost done the garage, mom."

She looked up at him and smiled. "That's good, sweetie."

"I'm going to have a shower, okay? Do you need anything before I go?"

Mileena shook her head and gently patted her pregnant stomach. "We'll be fine."

"Okay. Yell if you need anything."

Riku's mom smiled. "Your father is in the basement. I'll yell at him if I need anything."

Riku chuckled and nodded. "All right. Hey...mom?"

"Yes?"

"How much longer?"

She smiled. "Two months, Riku."

"Two months..." Riku repeated, running upstairs.

He grabbed clean clothes from his room before heading into the washroom. The teen turned the shower on and tested the temperature of the water. Riku turned it to cold when found he couldn't get the image of Sora's shirt rising up to expose his stomach when he'd stretched out of his mind.

"Riku. You're a pervert." He muttered to himself, stepping into the shower.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Found out more about Riku's parents in the chapter *nod, nod* R&R Please ^^.