Sora's PoV

I went off to school the next morning feeling downright chipper. I had wound up spending the night at Riku's. Although nothing had happened, it worked wonders on my mood to know that someone would miss me if I weren't around. That it was Riku who would miss me certainly didn't hurt. I was wearing his clothes, though I doubted anyone would notice; he was pretty much my size, and I had never seen him in this outfit before. A loose black shirt had the word Otaku printed on it in yellow, with the Japanese below it, and a pair of loose jeans slit nearly to the thigh down the sides were laced up with black leather cord. I wasn't used to it, but most of Riku's clothing seemed to be black.

I was about twenty minutes ahead of him—when I got up at my normal time, he just looked at me, and then went back to sleep. I was willing to bet he'd be late to second hour (if he even showed up before lunch) but I wanted some time to myself. I ran into something surprising on the way to the library. Or rather, someone. Actually, I stopped dead with my mouth hanging open and stared.

"What are you doing here?" I managed to choke out. Alex laughed.

"Decided to shadow here today." His tone turned sly. "Busy night?" I blushed.

"Umm… none of your business. I'm afraid to ask how you figured that out." He just tapped the side of his neck meaningfully, and when I looked in the mirror, I found an impressive red mark. I blushed deeply and fished the choker out of my backpack, clasping it so the leather band hid the mark.

"It wasn't just that. You looked happy. That was a dead give away." Alex said. I grinned at him, feeling my blush recede. "Shadowing, huh? You thinking of trading art school for the nasty public school?" Alex winced slightly, and sobered.

"Yeah. Things aren't going so good."

"What's wrong?" I asked, my good mood hidden from my face but not really gone.

"Aerith is convinced I'm stalking her." I snorted, but asked half-seriously.

"Are you?" He snorted too.

"Of course not. There is no lady for me save one, the fair and radiant Yuffie." Alex sighed like a lovesick fool, and I choked.

"Yuffie? That girl we met at Cloud's Christmas party? The one who drank too much eggnog, then tried to convince everyone she was the queen of ninja, and set Tidus's pants on fire when he wouldn't agree with her? That Yuffie?"

"The very same." Alex replied dreamily. I couldn't help it, I laughed. The idea of somber Alex with that insane ninja was nothing short of hilarious. Alex jus glared at me. He had a very withering glare.

Finally, I calmed down, just in time to see Riku turning the corner, talking animatedly with Kairi. I ducked quickly around the building, and into the library where I could watch from the windows. Riku was talking quite happily with Kairi, and every so often both of them would break out laughing.

Eventually, she left to go to class, and I realized Alex had been watching over my shoulder the whole time, and now watched me, face devoid of all emotion. I sighed, and used one of the hand gestures we had developed, touching the tip of the middle finger to the thumb to form a circle. All clear he replied by forming a fist with his thumb out to one side. Bullshit I rose and walked off, forming as I went a sign we had made up as a joke—all fingers folded save middle and ring finger. I'm the boss, and I say so. Alex wisely enough left me alone for the rest of first hour, and Riku showed up when it was about halfway through.

"Have a nice talk with Kairi?" I asked, a tad bitterly. He looked startled, then amused.

"Why yes, but nothing to get jealous over. She was just doing her best to pump me for info about you." He smiled. "She seems to have a king sized crush on you." I calmed down, mollified, and wondered vaguely how he'd known I was jealous. Only Alex had ever been able to read me like that. I wasn't sure I liked it. I sighed, dismissing it from my mind. It didn't matter.

Riku's PoV

Sora left early the next morning, and I tried to get a few extra minutes of sleep before school. Eventually, though, I gave up on it and dressed in blue jeans and a bright yellow shirt. The cheery color fit my mood perfectly. Walking to school, I crossed paths with Kairi. We chatted for a few moments about the weather, and then one of us brought up Sora. I was more than happy to have the opportunity to brag about how wonderful my boyfriend was, but she didn't seem to be really listening, and several times I caught her looking at me as though she weren't all there.

When I found Sora in the library first hour, he confronted me about it, asking with deceptive mildness if I had had a nice talk with Kairi. I had answered carefully, and he had calmed down. Then he gave me a bit of surprising news.

"Alex is shadowing today."

"I thought he was going to some special art school." I answered. Not the most original of comments, but Sora didn't seem to mind.

"Yeah, but he wanted a day off, and he's used up his absence quota. He's having trouble with a girl at his school, and he's fallen hard for a complete lunatic. Let me tell you, this girl is not normal…" he then told me the funniest story about how he had met Yuffie. Parts of it were too over-the-top to be true, but even still, Yuffie sounded like a character. I pitied Alex having to deal with her on a regular basis.

The rest of the day passed as a happy blur, though we had a moment of anxiety at lunch. Rigel, apparently not believing he could be beaten twice by two "fags", was giving it a third try. However, it never came to blows. Rigel looked at Alex. Alex looked at Rigel. Rigel looked at Alex. Then Alex smiled, showing all his teeth in an expression quite suited to a shark. Rigel left quickly, and I had a feeling he wouldn't bother us again. The rest of the afternoon went by in about five minutes, and I waved goodbye to Alex and Sora in a better mood than I'd been in a long time.

I haven't posted on this in a long time, and for that, I apologize. I have been writing it, but I haven't been able to find time to type it up. I just spent the weekend at TusCon (no, I did not spell that wrong), and I didn't have net access. I was able to get a fair bit written though, so I guess its ok. I've been busy with NaNoWriMo and a large school project, so I probably won't make more than one more post in November, at least on this. Oneshots are subject to show up randomly. Thank you for your patience.

Dyslexic Angel