Chapter 33

"Just Falling Short"

Thursday, September Fifth

Fourteen Days Missing

Leon sipped from his Mountain Dew (he really should stop drinking these) as he leaned back in his computer chair.

"I'll be coming in about five days." he said.

Riddlez sighed in the Voice chat. "Do you really have to do this?"

"Unless you would rather turn them in yourself."

Silence.

"I thought as much," Leon grunted, drinking more of the soda-like drink. "What are you so worried about, anyway? I'm just coming to get them."

"...Nothing." Riddlez paused. "Grievers, I'm tired. I'm going to go sleep."

Leon checked the clock. "It's only eleven, Riddlez. Sun hasn't even hit noon yet."

"I'm tired." Riddlez repeated. "I'll talk to you later...see ya."

Leon heard the tell-tale sound of a phone hanging up, signaling the Voice had ended. He frowned and closed the chat window. Riddlez...something's on your mind. His brow creased deeply as he thought. But why won't you tell me?

And why did he suddenly want to know?

"I'll give you four 3-Musketeers if you gimme three of your Milky Ways."

"Here's an idea—you give me all that chocolate you're not going to eat, and I give my Milky Ways to Sora."

Sora looked up from the couch. "Say who what?" he jarbled, a clueless look on his face.

"Don't drag him into this!" Zidane shook his handful of 3-Musketeers. "Fine, just lemme have one, then."

"You gonna eat it all?" Riku kept his Milky Way bars out of reach, dangling them over Zidane's head with a hand on his hip. "Frankly, I don't think you are."

The sixteen-year-old blond hissed and swiped at the chocolate bars, but to no avail.

"Please!"

"You're such a pig. You'll get fat if you eat all that candy."

"Says the one who downed all the Twinkies and Ho-Hos in less than a week!"

Riku grinned. "Cloud said I could help myself, and I helped myself."

Sora raised his hand. "Actually, I ate all the Ho-Hos. And some Fritos bags."

"You're the ones who are pigs!" Zidane moaned.

Riku snorted. "Please, it's a house of twenty little monsters. First come, first serve. Besides, aren't you supposed to be at school?"

Zidane held a finger over his mouth. "Sshhh! I'm skipping. Don't tell anyone!"

"Oh, well, that's practically an invitation!"

"No, don't!" Zidane flailed his arms around and grabbed Riku's shoulders. "Don't tell, please! I hate the stupid test! I won't take it!"

Sora frowned. "Um, but, don't you need to take it to pass?"

Zidane glared at him. "Quiet, you!"

"I'll tell you what." Riku held out his hand. "Gimme all your candy and I'll keep your little escapade a secret."

"Riku!" Sora leered at him. Riku shrugged.

"What?"

"You wouldn't!" whined Zidane. The silver-haired teen just smiled at him.

"I can, and I will."

Zidane debated this for several seconds before he growled and shoved all his candy into Riku's hand. "Fine, take it! Just don't tell Seifer I'm in the basement!" And then he fled downstairs into the land of arcade games and bean bag chairs.

Satisfied, Riku took a seat on the couch beside Sora, who was immersed in a game of Wind Waker. He mashed the buttons furiously, tilting the controller left and right as he fought against an early boss after receiving the Grapple Hook from Medli.

"Here." Riku tossed a 3-Musketeer up in the air and it landed with a plop on Sora's lap. The brunet paused the game and picked it up, glancing at Riku before tearing the wrapper open.

"Thanks." He bit into it and chewed. "Y'know, you're kind of mean to everyone..."

"Oh, whatever. He'll get caught anyway. School's gonna call Cloud and tell him the little bombshell skipped." Riku shrugged his shoulders and ate a Milky Way. "He's fucked no matter what he does, so who the hell cares?" Sora put the controller down after saving and stretched out on the couch, knees drawn up. The shirt he was wearing hiked up just enough to expose an inch-wide stripe of skin on his stomach.

Riku caught himself staring at it.

"That doesn't mean you have to bribe him."

Riku shook his head and "He started the bribing."

"...We really are gonna get fat, eating all this."

Riku glanced at Sora's stomach again—which wasn't pudgy at all, but it was still nice to look at—and he grinned. "We're getting fat? Excuse me, but I work off all the pounds—you're the one who's going to get fat. Look at that." He poked Sora just above his belly button. Sora yelped and yanked his shirt down.

"The hell's your problem! Stop invading my personal space!" He waved his arms around him as if forming a bubble. "Shield! There's a shield here! It has a two-foot radius!"

Riku laughed and lay back on the couch, setting his bare feet on Sora's stomach. Sora glared at him.

"What the fuck are you doing, get off!"

"You said it has a two-foot radius."

"You idiot!" Sora shoved Riku's feet off the couch, and the teenager just laughed. Sora growled at him. "I don't want your stinky feet on my stomach! Gross!"

Riku frowned. "My feet aren't stinky," he argued.

"All feet are stinky. Feet are not meant for touching, they are meant for walking!"

"My feet are not stinky!" Riku lifted up one foot. "Here, I dare you to smell it."

"EWWWW!" Sora shoved it back down. "No THANKS!"

"You're welcome," Riku snickered, "But it smells really fruity!"

Sora huffed. "You mean like the rest of you?"

Riku burst into laughter again. "Oh, ouch!" He tapped his chin in thought. "But how would you know that the rest of me smells fruity?"

"Because you're a fruit!"

"No," Riku corrected, holding up a pointer finger. "A fruit is someone like Mister Pink who flaunts his Flames of Gay like a Miss America crown. I am not a fruit. I am the seed to the fruit."

Sora had snickered at Riku's comment to Marluxia, but he was still lost. "What? How does that make sense?"

Riku grinned. "I give my seed to my partner who's the fruit!"

"What?"

"Just think about it for a minute."

Sora did. And after three minutes of looking lost as could be, his eyes widened and he grimaced, clamping his hands over his mouth.

"OHHHHH, GROOOOSS!" He reached over to slap the cackling Riku, who dodged it. "You big pervert! That's disgusting!"

"But it's true!"

Sora hissed, shaking the images out of his head (oh no! They've returned!) and bit his 3-Musketeer again. The two of them fell silent suddenly, and all they could hear was the toned-down battle music in the background. The brunet chewed on his chocolatey snack for a while before glancing sideways at Riku. Riku cocked his head.

"Yes?"

"...What's it like...? Being gay."

Riku blinked. "You make it sound like it's a crime or something."

"O-Oh, no no!" Sora shook his head. "God, no. I'm sixteen...I don't really care...it's just..."

"Oh, you so do care, or else you wouldn't ask." Riku nudged him. "Right?"

Sora flitted his eyes between Riku and his lap, then stared at his lap and blushed.

Riku drew back and swallowed a bite of Milky Way. "Listen. Sora. If you don't care, and you don't see anything wrong with it, then why are you so adverse to just giving it a shot? Because it's clearly bothering you. You are a classic case of metrosexuality."

"I have a girlfriend!" Sora blurted. "I don't want to tell her when I see her again that I'm gay! That would be horrible! I'd be such a jerk...!"

"Maybe you're not gay," Riku said calmly, biting his treat again. "Maybe you're bi."

"That's even worse!" Sora whined and finished off his candy bar. "Why do you have to make me think about these things? I don't want to mess with this right now..."

Riku glanced sideways at him with a "give me a break!" kind of look. "Excuse me. Did I start this conversation? No."

Sora turned even redder at Riku's truthful point, wincing.

"Yeah...but..."

Riku swallowed what he'd chewed and crumpled up the wrapper, having eaten all of his candy bar, and grabbed another one.

"Listen..." he peeled the wrapper of another Milky Way open, "...If you're going to let this sit and stew, it's just going to hit you in the face. Would you rather find out by choice, or would you rather get drunk and wake up in bed with some random guy and find out you banged him?"

Sora stared at Riku in bewilderment. "Rikuuu!"

"I'm just saying." Riku shrugged his shoulders. "There's no two ways about it, so stop dodging around the bush and hop in. What's the worst that could happen when you're figuring yourself out, you know?"

Sora paused for a moment, and continued to just stare at Riku. Riku cocked an eyebrow.

"What are you giving me that look for? I provoked my dad on purpose with my coming out, so don't think of smashing me with your petty little examples."

"N-No no no! Not that!" Sora shook his hands back and forth defensively, shaking his head. "N-Nothing. Let's...um...let's change the subject!"

Riku frowned and narrowed his eyes at the brunet, trying to pick him apart. Maybe it was just him, but Sora was making himself out to be an oxymoron. He seemed scared to try and acknowledge whatever was going on with him, but he still asked questions about it like he was planning to. Riku was just having a hard time figuring that out.

I really don't like hypocrits, he thought, growling aloud—a gentle rumble in the back of his throat. He put both hands down on the couch and crawled forward, leaning right up into Sora's face until they were inches apart. Sora coiled back until he was flat against the throw pillows.

"E-Er...R-R-Riku?" His cheeks flushed a deep shade of red. He blushes way too much, Riku noted. Jeez. It's so cute it almost makes your teeth rot. He said nothing, but out loud, he scoffed. Sora...you're such a girl at these things.

"...Sh-Shield." Sora held up his hands in front of his face and Riku sat up, leaving him alone.

"Whatever. You hide behind your little 'shield'." Riku thought for a moment, eyes turning off to the side somewhere. Then he sighed and gave Sora his uneaten, but unwrapped, candy bar.

"I'm bored. I'm going downstairs."

Sora, at a loss what to do, simply caught the candy in his hands and watched Riku go with a confused look on his face.

He's still kinda weird...but at least he's not punching me or anything. Sora crinkled his brow, mouth twitched up in an odd sort of shape in his puzzlement. He scratched the back of his head.

Man, I just don't get him. What do I see in that guy?

Author's Notes: This chapter was another amusing one to write. I liked how their conversation turned out and the thoughts afterwards.

EDIT: By the way, if any of you readers are interested (and you should be) my LJ will update regularly. There is actually some news up there right now that you should see, so check it out - the link should be in my profile here on