1Disclaimer: not mine, but we know that already right?

A/N: Right back into it moving the story along! (Or trying to anyway xD).

Chapter IX:

After lunch Riku headed to his English class. As he walked to the back of the room a few of his classmates asked how his summer was and already a few girls wanted to hang out so they could catch up. He had learned that one word responses generally helped to get him to his seat quickly.

He knew many of his classmates thought he was slightly stuck up because he didn't like to associate with them. However, he couldn't really help it. He had a close group of friends he rarely ventured out of because he was a bit shy.

He leaned back in his seat as he waited for class to begin and looked at the boy who had sat down next to him on his right. Riku assumed he was new since he had never seen him before and nobody spoke to him when he walked into the classroom and made his way to a desk. They merely stared and in a way, Riku couldn't blame him. He looked rather scary, even in his uniform and his blue eyes looked extremely cold. The fact that all he did was frown as he looked out the window didn't help much either.

"Can I help you with something?"

The hairs on the back of Riku's neck stood on end when the other male quietly addressed him. He had been caught off guard and was a little embarrassed, but he wasn't about to let him know that.

"Are you talking to me?" Riku asked. He shifted his gaze elsewhere for a moment.

"You were staring, so I wanted to know what your problem was." He turned to face Riku.

Their eyes met and Riku briefly studied his face, making note of a small scar running across the bridge of his nose. He prepared himself to ask about it but the boy spoke first.

"You must think you're tough. So far you're the only person who'll look at me directly." If one looked at him intensely they might've been able to see a ghost of a smile on his lips.

"And you're name is?" Riku asked.

"Leon." Was all he said before turning back to the window.

Riku smirked. "Well I'm Riku."

And just like that their conversation ended, but not without a feeling of curiosity developing between them.

X

"Today was the best day ever! Thanks for the ice cream Riku." Sora smiled at him before working on finishing his cone.

Every year Riku bought him ice cream after school on the first day to make up for him not having fun. A scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough, a scoop of vanilla, and scoop of rainbow sherbert, all topped with some rainbow sprinkles.

"Instant happiness." Sora sighed happily.

Riku smiled at him, happy that he wasn't complaining about his day anymore. "You want to come over when we get off the ferry?"

Sora pretended to think about it. "I don't know. I have all this stuff to do and well, its time consuming."

"I guess you don't want to get beaten at some games," Riku shrugged, "I'd chicken out if I were you too."

"You're on." Was Sora's only reply.

They sat in silence, Sora eating the last of his ice cream and Riku staring out the window at the water. He could see their island getting closer.

"Riku, why didn't you get any ice cream today?"

"My day wasn't too bad so I got you an extra scoop instead." He took Sora's left hand in his right one, watching as he carefully fit his fingers between Sora's, satisfied with the end result. He squeezed Sora's hand before relaxing his grip a little. "Its almost as though there is nobody else here on the boat." Riku commented.

Sora nodded in response. There were many of their schoolmates around, laughing loudly and talking about their day and finishing up telling their summer stories, but it seemed as though Sora and Riku were in their own little world, quietly sitting in seats away from the other students and not carrying on a complete conversation.

"Its relaxing." Sora concluded.

Even when the ferry docked, they were the last ones off to avoid getting trampled by students who were eager to get home. They took their time walking to Riku's house in silence. With Kairi hanging out with her friends somewhere on the mainland, there was less talking between them.

"Let's race." Sora suggested when they turned onto Riku's block.

"What are the rules?"

"From this corner to your bedroom. First one to make it there wins."

"How will you get in without a key?" Riku asked.

"I'll take the window unless you want to give me you key."

They looked at each other, Riku letting go of Sora's hand to pull his keys out.

He smirked. "Don't get hurt on the way up."

"Don't cry when you lose."

They simultaneously counted to three before taking off at top speed, Riku racing down the sidewalk and Sora cutting through yards in an effort to reach Riku's backyard a little faster than normal.

Riku cursed hen he reached his front door, first he couldn't get his key in the keyhole and then for some reason the door wouldn't unlock. He growled, quickly switching the keys before opening the door and running up the stairs, his long legs helping him skip multiple steps in the process. Despite having trouble, he was able to make it into the room at the same time as Sora.

When they saw each other they glared before yelling out 'tiebreaker' and meeting at Riku's desk. They would settle the score with arm wrestling. However, both knew Riku had the advantage so they were allowed to try their best to distract the other as long as their elbows stayed on the table.

Riku rolled up his right sleeve and leaned over, placing his elbow on the desk as he wiggled his finger to signal he was ready. However when Sora shook his head no, he looked at him confused.

"I want a different tiebreaker." Sora stated. "Lets settle this later, by the paopu tree okay? Right now," he started, as he tossed his shoes and socks in a corner, "I'm going to be a TV zombie."

"Chickening out again." Riku smiled at him before taking off his shirt and placing it on a hanger. He put on a blue shirt he had tossed on the bed that morning before walking to his dresser and tossing Sora one too. "You want sweat pants or shorts?" He asked.

"Whatever you have." Sora put on the shorts Riku tossed at him before giving his school uniform to Riku to be put neatly on hangers.

"You keep your stuff so clean Riku." Sora said as he watched Riku straighten the shoes and socks he had carelessly kicked in the corner. He grabbed a blanket and went downstairs to the couch.

Riku followed a few moments later, kicking Sora off the couch the stretch out and stealing the remote away to change the channel. Sora stuck out his tongue before laying in the other end, the two gently kicking each other until they got comfortable. Within two hours they were asleep.

X

"Are you serious? Sora and Riku are dating now?" Selphie whispered excitedly. When Kairi nodded yes in response she squealed. "That is so cute!"

"Yeah. But school couldn't have picked a worse time to start. It would've been nice if they could've had a few days to get used to the relationship before having school throw onto their list of things to worry about."

"Well it can't be that bad. Nothing will be going on in school for a while anyway." Selphie said as she followed Kairi through the bookstore. "They still have time."

Kairi sighed, picking up a book and glancing at its cover before putting it back down. "True. I guess there really-"

"Hey," Selphie interrupted, "that boy, I think he is new to our school this year."

Kairi looked in the direction Selphie was looking at. Not too far away was a boy who, Kairi assumed, looked to be about Riku's age glancing at the books on one of the shelves.

"Well he is wearing our uniform." Kairi said, but she was only speaking to herself. Selphie had already left her side and was happily introducing herself to him.

She came back a few moments later. "His name is Leon, he goes to our school. He's a senior. He lives on our island, said he's seen us on the ferry before. He also doesn't like to be touched but he let me touch his hair because I said it looked really soft. It was," Selphie said, "in case you're wondering. He said the only person he met so far is some boy in his English class, but he forgot his name already."

"He seems rather talkative." Kairi said in amazement.

"He's not talkative. He wasn't interested in conversation but he wasn't so rude as to just ignore me." Selphie paused to think for a second. "He seems a little scary when you're looking at him directly. He didn't smile once." She shrugged. "Ready to head home?"

Kairi grabbed the closest book to her and started to head to the register. "Sure."

A/N: this is hard TT.