Sora smiled, holding the ticket, and suddenly caught Riku in a one-armed hug. Riku felt tingles all over his body, and when Sora let go his body cried out for more. Sora excitedly grabbed Riku's arm, leading him towards the front gate. Riku handed over his ticket and Sora gave them to the tender at the ticket box. The young girl looked them over, a warm smile on her face and said with slight affection and a wink,
"Awww…I'll rip 'em in half for you guys… so you can remember the date." Riku struggled to keep his face neutral and was shocked when Sora didn't argue. As they walked a little into the zoo Riku turned to Sora and questioned his lack of argument. Sora replied, as if it were the most obvious thing on earth,
"Well duh! We are on a date" he informed Riku with an ear to ear smile. At that moment Riku's heart swelled to about ten times it's normal size and he almost hugged the boy, before he noticed Sora wasn't finished.
"I mean, we're always going out to places and such…and it's like, ever heard the expression 'it's a date?' well…it's a date!" he finished with his usual enthusiasm, oblivious to Riku's immense pain at his finishing sentence. Or so Riku thought, for Sora was a touch more perceptive than most gave him credit for, and he had long ago suspected Riku's attraction. He was teasing Riku, just the same as Riku teased him, the difference being, Riku wasn't even aware that Sora was…well…aware. One day…maybe one day…but…it was wrong…evil…and…after Kairi…Sora just wasn't ready.
"A date huh?" Riku asked, trying to shrug off his feelings and keep the disappointment from his voice, "Well then…guess I'd better let you choose the first animals to see…yourself excluded of course" he quipped, poking his tongue out at Sora. Sora knew Riku would soon shrug off the disappointment…after all, he had learned to deal with it in the years he'd been around Sora.
"Shall we grab one of those thingos, uh…one of those map things?" he asked, gesturing towards a stand containing several bright, glossy, brochure style zoo maps. Riku nodded, stepping ahead of Sora and handing him one, then taking one for himself. Sora opened his, transforming the small rectangle into an A4 sheet. Glancing over the animals, he shuddered involuntarily…some of them reminded him distinctly of the heartless.
"It's okay…I knew this'd happen. We can avoid them if you'd like" Riku comforted, his voice gentle, but slightly disheartened.
"No…it's okay…I just…it's fine…after all, deep down inside…there's a light that never goes out…right?" he said, sounding more like he was trying to convince himself.
"Right" Riku confirmed, his voice strong, and leaving no room for doubt to whomever cared to listen. Sora smiled after all, Riku'd never let anything happen to me he thought to himself.
"I think we should start with the monkeys" Sora suggested, watching as Riku raised an eyebrow,
"How could I guess…of course you'd want to return to your own kind" he laughed. Sora giggled, slapping him lightly on the arm. They started towards the monkeys laughing and joking. Yes, a good day indeed.
After hours of walking around, oogling animals, joking, play fighting and even water fights the two boys collapsed at a table outside of the zoo café.
"Whew! Man… good fun, but sore feet!" Sora puffed. Even after saving the worlds, running around a zoo all day sure could tire you out!
"Tell me about it" Riku answered, "would you like some lunch?" he asked kindly, handing Sora a laminated menu. Sora thanked him then began looking over the menu.
"I'll go get us some drinks, aye? Sprite, right?" he asked, raising himself up off his seat.
"Uh, sure. Thanks!" Sora replied, giving Riku a wide grin.
"Let me guess, you my friend, will have an iced coffee? Right?" Sora asked, trying to predict Riku in the way Riku predicted him.
"Actually, yes" Riku replied, giving Sora a wink, even though he grimaced slightly at the 'my friend'. Oh yeah! That reminds me! Better ask Sora about the party! Heh, he has no idea…Riku thought as he walked into the café. He grabbed Sora a bottle of sprite and himself an iced coffee and handed over a five dollar note. He didn't receive any change. He sighed slightly as he walked back out into the sunlight, and towards his table. Typical over priced café. He rolled his eyes as he sat back down. Sora jumped slightly at the sudden noise so close…Riku tended to walk silently. Riku followed Sora's eye-line, noticing a giraffe a few metres away, being led around by a zoo keeper. Sora turned to Riku with wide eyes,
"What is that?" he queried, his voice showing the amazement his face seemed to be incapable of containing all by itself. He glanced over his shoulder at it before turning to Riku expectantly.
"That, Sora, is what we call a giraffe. They come from a place called Africa, on a different world. You know, like the same place those lions came from." Riku explained, enjoying himself immensely, as look of understanding settled on Sora's face. "Ooooooooohhhhhhhhh!" he exclaimed, "I get it! Oh…thanks, hows much do I owe you?" he asked as Riku handed him his Sprite. Not so unexpectedly Riku replied, "don't worry about it". Sora smiled at Riku once again.
"Thanks. Oh, wanna go halves on some hot chips or something for lunch?" he asked, feeling like having something processed and greasy.
"Sure," Riku replied, smiling as Sora got up and dug around his pockets, until he realised sheepishly that he'd left his wallet at their apartment.
"Uh…oops…" he said blushing and showing his empty hands.
"Don't stress, I'll get it…on one condition" he said, melodramatically.
"Oh?" Sora asked, raising an eyebrow quizzically. He seemed to be doing that a lot around Riku lately.
"You have to come with me tonight to Yuffie's party. Deal?" he asked, smiling.
"Deal!" Sora agreed, nodding his head, "I'm not quite sure what sort of condition that is but still…" he trailed off, giggling slightly. Another thing he seemed to be doing a lot of around Riku lately. Riku reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet, handing Sora a twenty.
"Thanks." Sora said reflexively, "back in a moment." he began to walk towards the café before turning and whilst walking back wards adding "promise" with a big wink. Sora came back out of the café after a few minutes, blinking as his eyes readjusted to the bright sunlight, carrying a bowl of chips. He placed said bowl down on the table, before handing Riku his change. Riku grinned as he deposited the money back in his wallet. He planned for Sora to not pay for anything, in fact, he'd hidden Sora's wallet so he wouldn't remember it. They sat for a while, just eating and making small talk, and turning occasionally to stare at the giraffe, before getting up and preparing for their last two destinations.
Sora gasped at the beauty of it, as he entered the butterfly house. It was warm and humid, with lush tropical plants everywhere and bowls of a syrup like substance here and there. There were all sorts of butterflies around, big ones and small ones, ones with frilly wings, others with ovoid wings, and a veritable rainbow of colours.
"It's just like Deep Jungle!" Sora exclaimed. Just at that moment a butterfly with blue-edged-with-black wings landed on Sora's nose. Sora went cross-eyed looking at it and it was Riku's turn to giggly quietly. A yellow winged butterfly came and landed on Riku's arm, flapping its' wings slowly.
"It is," Riku agreed, "except with more butterflies." they stayed like that for a while, just enjoying the gentle warmth of the house, and the attention of the butterflies, loosing themselves in the beautiful world, before finally and suddenly deciding that they needed to move on. With a sigh Sora closed the door behind them.
"That was so beautiful!" Sora exclaimed, a hint of amazement apparent in his voice.
"Yeah," Riku agreed wistfully, "wish we had a garden like that!" he mused out loud. They began to wander to their final destination…the zoo gift shop! Once they reached the building Sora was, quite literally, like a child in a toy shop. Riku laughed, before deciding to get Sora a funky pewter snake necklace, and a giant giraffe teddy. Sora's eyes widened as he was given the gifts and he began to sputter out something to the effect of being unable to accept, but Riku just let go, forcing Sora to grab his pezzies.
"Thanks! Wow! Thanks heaps!" he said cheerily, donning his necklace, giving Riku a big, bone breaking hug and then placing the giraffe on his shoulders so as to be giving said creature a piggy back. They left the zoo and decided to go shopping, after a quick stop at the apartment. After all, Riku was just dying to see his new line in stores, and, almost more importantly, they needed party clothes.