Riku slung one arm around Sora's shoulders as they watched the storm. The brunette was still a little jumpy whenever the thunder rumbled, but not as bad as he used to be.

"So what movie did you want to see?" Riku asked.

"All the scary ones are rated 'R', we'll have to get someone to buy the tickets for us."

"So..."

"I don't know. I hear 'Darkness' is creepy."

"Darkness it is then."

The boys watched the storm for nearly ten minutes before Sora sat up and stretched.

"Let's go inside. I'm thirsty."

Riku nodded and followed his friend inside.

"Want a cola?" Sora asked.

"Sure."

The brunette walked over to the fridge and opened it. "We have vanilla, lemon, or plain cola."

"Plain."

Sora grabbed a plain Cola for Riku and a vanilla one for himself. The boys sat at the table and twisted the caps off their bottles. The kitchen tile felt cool on Sora's toes.

"What do you want to do until it's time to go to the movie?" Riku asked.

"No idea." Sora replied, sipping his Cola. "Play cards or something."

The teen nodded and they sat in silence as they finished up their drinks. Afterwards Sora rinsed the bottles out and put them in the recycle.

"We're going upstairs mom!" Sora announced.

"Okay!" April replied.

Sora led Riku upstairs and into his room. Sora sat cross-legged on the bed and got his Magic cards out.

"You really want to play cards?" Riku asked, setting his overnight bag on the bed and opening it.

"I guess." The brunette replied. "Why? What did you have in mind?"

The silver-haired boy chuckled softly and shook his head. "Nevermind. We'll play cards."

Sora moved to sit on the floor and the teens played cards until nearly nine o'clock. After that they got out Sora's comic collection and started reading. Their reading was interrupted an hour later by April knocking on the door.

"Come in." Sora said.

April poked her head in and smiled. "I'm going to bed. You boys don't stay up too late."

"Okay mom. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Ms. Everhart." Riku replied.

Sora's mom nodded and left the room, closing the door behind her.

"We should get going soon." The older teen said. "Will your mom be asleep by ten-thirty?"

The brunette nodded. "Yeah. She falls asleep quickly."

Riku stood up and stretched his arms over his head. Sora put his comics away before standing up as well. He crawled over his bed and looked out the window.

"It's still raining..."

"Yup."

"We're so exciting." Sora chuckled.

"That we are." Riku chuckled back.

Riku sat on the bed and pulled Sora over to him, placing a quick kiss on the teen's lips. Sora smiled up at his friend and gave him a kiss back.

"Want to makeout for a half hour?" Riku asked.

"Mm...I don't know..." The brunette chewed on his lower lip.

"It's ok. We don't have to if you don't want to."

"I asked Selphie what making out is and she told me that's where people kiss and feel each other up..."

Riku laughed. "That's about right, but I was thinking we'd just kiss. No feeling up involved."

"Mn...if it's just kissing then...okay."

The older teen smiled and pulled Sora close, kissing him. It was quite odd. Before, time seemed to drag by when they were playing cards and reading. Now that they were kissing the thirty minutes seemed to just fly by.

"Riku...we should go..." Sora said quietly, looking at the clock.

The silver-haired boy looked over at the clock and nodded. "You're right."

Sora smiled shyly, gave Riku one more kiss, and stood up. He pulled a hoodie on and put the hood up.

"Do you have a coat or something you can wear?" Sora asked.

"Yeah."

Riku rummaged through his bag and pulled his coat out of it. He put it on, zipped it, and put his hood up.

Sora laughed softly. "I almost forgot...we need our shoes."

"I'm better at sneaking. I'll get our shoes." Riku answered.

And with that the teen silently tip-toed out of Sora's room and downstairs. He picked up his and Sora's runners and crept back up to his friend's room. They sat on Sora's bed and put their shoes on before sneaking out the window. The rain made the roof slippery. Sora nearly lost his footing but Riku grabbed onto his arm tightly, keeping the brunette on his feet.

"Thanks Riku."

"No problem. Now go slowly..."

The boy nodded and very slowly walked across his roof and over to the lattice. The lattice was slippery too of course. Sora nearly fell right off the roof and the lattice.

"You're going to give me a heart attack, Sora." Riku smiled weakly.

"Sorry." Sora grinned.

The brunette very carefully climbed down the lattice then waited for Riku. He watched as the teen gracefully swung down from the roof and climbed down the lattice without a problem.

"How can you do that?" Sora pouted.

The older teen grinned. "I'm not cursed with teenage klutziness like you are."

The brunette made a face at his companion and gave him a gentle shove.

"Let's go, jerk." He said.

Riku chuckled and followed Sora out of his backyard. They walked down the sidewalk side-by-side but didn't hold hands just in case anyone saw them. It only took the boys twenty minutes to walk to the small theater. Only three movies were playing and two of them were scary. A small group of teenagers and some adults were waiting in line for tickets. Riku checked over the group and tried to decide who to ask to buy them tickets. Finally he nodded and walked up to a teenage girl.

"Will you buy my friend and I two tickets to 'Darkness'?" Riku asked.

The girl looked down at Riku, snapped her bubblegum, and nodded. She held out her hand and Riku gave her the money.

"Wait near the entrance." She said. "I'll give you your tickets."

Riku nodded and motioned for Sora to follow him. The brunette did so and the two waited by the entrance for the girl. She walked up to them a few minutes later, handing them their tickets and Riku's change.

"Thanks." Riku said.

The girl nodded and went inside with her friends. Riku made sure the tickets were for the right movie before leading Sora inside.

"You want something to eat or a soda?" Riku asked.

Sora looked the menu over. "Just a small iced tea for me. I don't like having to use the washroom halfway through the movie."

Riku chuckled and nodded. He ordered Sora's drink and a small popcorn and a soda for himself. He paid for their snacks and they made their way to the theater Darkness was playing in. The ticket taker eyed them slightly but didn't say anything. He tore their tickets and moved aside to let them in the theater. The two teens walked into the theater and ascended the stairs to the balcony seats. They sat right in the back in the very middle seats. There were four people sitting in seats on the ground floor and it didn't look like it was going to get any fuller.

"I love late-night movies." Riku said.

"This is the first one I've been to." Sora replied.

Two more people came in and sat in seats on the ground floor before the lights dimmed and the movie started. Riku flicked a piece of popcorn into his mouth and sat back, putting his feet up on the seat in front of him. Sora followed suit, pulling his hood down before leaning back and putting his feet up.

"This is another perk of late-night movies. People tend to get pissy if you put your feet on their chair." Riku smirked.

Sora laughed and took a sip of his iced tea.

"This movie is boring." Riku said after ten minutes had passed by.

"Uh...yeah." Sora yawned.

"Want to sneak into another movie?" The boy asked.

"Yeup."

The boys stood up and left the room, sneaking into another movie. There were more people in this theater, but there was still no one sitting in the balcony.

"What happened to your iced tea?" Riku asked as they sat down.

"I was finished so I left it in the other theater." Sora replied.

"Oh. Want some of my soda?"

"Nah."

This movie was much more scary than the other one. Riku grinned when Sora jumped and clung to his arm. The silver-haired teen patted Sora on his head then finished off his popcorn.

By the time the movie was finished Sora had jumped and clung to Riku nearly ten times. The boys stayed for the credits then left the theater.

"Stupid iced tea!" Sora muttered, jumping up and jogging towards the washroom.

Riku laughed and followed his friend to the bathroom. They both relieved themselves then washed their hands.

"Ready to head home?" Riku asked.

Sora dried his hands and nodded. He stifled a yawn behind his hand.

"Yeah. I'm getting tired."

"Yeah. Me too." Riku smiled softly.

The teens left the building and looked around. It was still raining.

"Come on." The silver-haired teen said.

Sora put his hood back up and followed Riku down the sidewalk. The boys were not even halfway home when they heard something behind them. They both stopped and turned to look over their shoulders.

"Did you hear that?" Sora asked.

"I heard it...but I don't see anything." Riku replied.

The teens both shrugged and headed down the sidewalk again. They hadn't even taken six steps when the noise sounded again. The couple stopped and looked around again. Riku and Sora froze as a pair of yellow eyes blinked at them from the rainy darkness. Riku felt like his heart dropped into his stomach. It was one of those things that had attacked him in the Secret Place!

"Run Sora!" He exclaimed.

The yellow-eyed thing leapt at them. Riku grabbed onto Sora's hand and they ran full-tilt down the sidewalk. Both their hearts were pounding when they turned and nearly burst through the Everhart's back gate. Sora slipped on the wet grass and fell, taking Riku down with him. With a small groan Riku lifted his head up. He expected the shadow-thing to be right on top of them but it wasn't. In fact...it wasn't even around. He didn't even think the thing had followed him.

"What...was...that...?" Sora panted. "A...dog...?"

"I don't know. Some kind of animal." Riku replied. "Are you ok, Sora?"

Sora swallowed hard and nodded. "I think I bruised my elbows, but I'm okay."

"Your ankles okay?"

"Yeah."

Riku slowly got up and helped Sora to his feet. His jeans were torn at the knee and his knee was raw, but he was otherwise fine. The brunette examined his bruising elbows and nodded.

"That was freaky. I've never seen an animal with eyes like that."

"Me either. Come on, let's go inside just in case it followed us."

The brunette nodded and climbed up the lattice. Riku slowly followed his friend, his knee was aching. The pair climbed in the window, but refrained from crawling over Sora's bed. They didn't want to get it wet and dirty. While Riku returned their shoes to the front closet Sora changed into clean and dry sleeping pants and a T-shirt.

"I'm sorry I made you fall." Sora said sheepishly when his friend returned.

"Don't worry about it. I was about to slip myself." Riku answered. "We would've fallen either way."

"How's your knee?"

"Sore, but it's not bad."

Riku peeled his wet clothes off and hung them on Sora's desk. He changed into jean shorts and a T-shirt. Sora examined Riku's knee and frowned. The raw skin was bleeding a bit. The brunette rummaged through his desk drawer until he found a gauze patch. He wrapped the bandage around Riku's knee and taped it on.

"Thanks Sora." Riku smiled.

"You're welcome."

"We certainly had a memorable first date, huh?"

The younger teen chuckled, "Yeah. Definitely."

Riku yawned and stretched. "Man. I'm totally beat now. Let's sleep."

Sora yawned as well and nodded. Riku climbed into bed and pulled the blankets up to his waist. Sora turned the light off then squished into bed beside his older friend.

"Goodnight Riku. Sleep well."

The brunette pressed a chaste kiss to Riku's lips and lay down, snuggling into his pillow. Riku looked out the window for the shadow creature. He didn't see any but he felt like he was being watched. The teen shivered and lay down. He snuggled up to Sora and forced himself to sleep.

To be continued...

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R&R Please .