Title: Love On A Rotten Day

Author: Slashapalooza

Disclaimer: So, I was walking down the street and I was thinking because, yes, I actually do think (sometimes) and then we went to the ice cream shop and nearly got hit by a car, but that's okay because I got a vanilla sugar cone and I was very happy. It was a pretty cone with beautiful vanilla-y goodness and I ate it all because, well, it's ice cream and all and I don't own Kingdom Hearts and we went racing across the street again and went to CVS and bought a candy bar and then we went back to school and I gave Lauren a present and she loved it and I was so happy that she liked it and I felt all good and joyous inside. There's a disclaimer hidden in this pointless story. You'll find it if you were paying attention.

Author's Note: I know what you're thinking. 'Slashy-chan, you are so damn lazy!'. Oh yeah! Well… you're right. XD Whenever I don't feel like writing this, I start a new story instead. You must be quite frustrated with me by now. And thanks for all the birthday wishes. They made me feel all loved inside.

Um, so, after Chapter 14, I really have no idea what happens in here besides a few key things (like, oh, say, Sora and Riku breaking up) so I suppose I should make a new chapter plan, shouldn't I? Eh, well. I'm sleepy. –snores-

I also made a LJ community dedicated to my super spiffy best friend. Mwahaha.

Author's Note Part II: So… I screwed up two friendships yesterday and now my second friend is never speaking to me again. Now we're 'acquaintances' but I 'shouldn't hold my breath' about getting anything more than that. So I feel like shit. But writing and making you guys happy makes me happy and at least then I don't feel like a total loser anymore. –sigh- I ramble way too much about my personal life.

Oh, and I finally got a chapter plan for this story. Tra la!

Author's Note Part II: …So tired…

Thanks to:

KiokuYume, ChocoboLuver724, Rezuna Kitsune Of Ice, KHlover, Ice Dragon3, bOb the bUilder, Ink2, ToysofLove, Dark-Saiyan-Angel, cheeto, Insanehikari, Green Feathers, chiyosuke, The Plushie Bandit, Khdude, cammy-world, Shattered Darkness, DevilsThrill, Reina-183, Xeora, kiru, greyspark, ChibiNekoSakura, Gimp6661, somewhatcrazyhappyperson, A Warrior in Love, lymerai, oto wo dasanai utai-te, PSYCH0tic, playingwithfire, moon maiden of time, Anukis-san, kuramasgirl13, WhiteLightning, Tama-Kistune, RiNoA, Insert Bad Cliche Here, hikkix2, Riku's gurl, XxX Chains XxX, Ivaeddia, and the other people who reviewed while I was writing the ending to this, but, since I am currently exhausted, am way too sleepy to add to the list.

Cast Replies:

tenshisuki
Sora: Oh, I was singing Goofy Goober Rock from my favorite of all movies: The Spongebob Movie! It is the shiznet.
Riku: If I give you a dollar, will you promise never to say that again?

thekatgrl
Cloud: Hey, I can't help it that Leon wants my ass.
Leon: ...Shut up, Cloud, before I strangle you.
Riku: Pfft. Slashy may be stupid, but she's not that redundant. ...Is she?
Slashy: Gee. Thanks, Riku.

Fade to Black
Riku: HEY!
Slashy & Sora: -laughing their heads off- Emotional little girl!
Kairi: Somebody loves me! Yay!
Riku: Don't get your hopes up, Cookie.
Sora: WHERE!

Nightmare Abyss
Sora: -pouting-
Riku: Oh, Sora's going to get his brains screwed out alright. Multiple times.
Slashy: -blushing-
Riku: Hell yeah! You all know you love me and all my sexy glory.

Jenni's Heart of Gold
Riku: Bed? YAY BED!
Sora: -sweatdrop- I don't want to sleep with Riku! Why won't anyone believe me?
Riku: -points at last chapter-
Sora: Dammit.

MissShadow
Slashy: Dude, you had that birthday song stuck in my head the whole day.
Riku: There's a statue? Where can I get one?

LiLi-Sama
Slashy: Cloud and Leon have been fucking ever since they got together. Pfft. They're horny bunnies.
Selphie: I'm not a bitch! -foams at the mouth- TAKE THAT BACK!

Amon's-Girl
Slashy: Sure, why not?
Riku: As a warning, it takes her so effing long to reply to her emails that you start to wonder if she died.
Sora: Lazyass.
Slashy: -cries- You're so mean!

Date Begun: April 14, 2005

Date Posted: April 23, 2005

Chapter 13: I Think Of You

Love is blind as far as the eye can see
Deep and meaningless words to me
Easy lover, I need a friend
Road to nowhere, twists and turns but will this never end
Well my dear you'll know that he pleases me (pleases me)
But short time solution ain't no resolution
That ain't no release for me
Too much of something is bad enough
But something's coming over me to make me wonder
Too much of nothing is just as tough
I need to know the way to feel to keep me satisfied
Unwrap myself from around your finger
Hold me too tight or left to linger
Something fine built to last
Slipped up there I guess we're running out of time too fast
Yes my dear you know he shows me (moves me)
There's no complication there's no explanation
It's just a groove in me
-Too Much by the Spice Girls

This was it! The moment of truth! The moment Sora had been waiting for! Riku was opening his locker, Sora was at the end of the long hallway, and there was nothing standing between them except—

—Kairi.

He blinked as the redhead seemed to come out of nowhere and give him a nervous smile. "Hey, Sora…" she said warily, as if expecting him to have an emotional breakdown at any moment. Which Sora was very likely to do if she didn't move.

"Hi, Kairi," Sora returned distractedly, peeking around her to see that Riku was now shoving books into his bag with a wistful expression on his face. Sora's eyes narrowed as Kairi grabbed his face in her hands and returned his attention to her.

"Anything happen last night that you want to talk about?" she persisted, frowning slightly and not releasing his head.

Sora scowled at her, a first for him. "Not that I know of."

"Are you sure?"

"Not a thing. I went into the bathroom with a razor and slit my wrists, but Riku caught me and took me to the hospital, which is why I'm wearing a long sleeved shirt right now," Sora said in a monotone voice, rolling his eyes as Kairi's gaze flitted to his arms – clearly visible what with the t-shirt he was wearing – before coming back to meet his.

"That was not funny," she reprimanded him. Sora was very displeased to know that she still hadn't let go of his damn face.

"Kairi, could you please let go—"

"I didn't know you two were an item," came Riku's slightly annoyed sounding voice. "Want to keep it out of the hallways so the rest of us can keep our food down?"

Kairi immediately released Sora's face and whirled around to face the older boy, walking up to him and poking him in the stomach. Caught off-guard, Riku dropped his books and squirmed slightly. Sora filed this secret tickle spot away for later.

"I need to talk to you, too, mister. I was talking to Selphie and—"

"Kairi?" Sora cut in with a frown, waiting until the redhead turned to look at him before continuing, "Can I talk to Riku first? You know, alone."

Kairi blinked.

"As in without you here to interrupt?"

"Well," she huffed, clearly insulted. "Excuse me for being concerned. Let me leave you alone with your precious Riku-bear so you guys can screw each other's brains out. You're gonna regret it! Mark my words! MARK THEM!"

Riku and Sora stared at her blankly.

Kairi huffed again. "Goodbye," she turned on her heel and marched down the hallway to do some early morning planning on the dance. Sora watched her walk off, then turned to find Riku staring at him intently. A blush spread over Sora's cheeks.

"U-um…"

"So, what do you want to talk to me about?" Riku asked, bending down to pick up the books he'd dropped. Sora bent down to help, blushing as they reached to pick up the same book. Riku raised an eyebrow at the brunette as he straightened up. "Back into that blushing habit? You'd think after all the things I've done to you, you'd have grown out of that…"

This only caused a fresh blush to crop up. Sora looked away to hide it and sighed. "Riku… about last night…"

Riku fell silent, averting his eyes. Sora bit his bottom lip, frowning. His plan had been perfect! Get Riku alone, check. But now what?

Frustrated, Sora began to think aloud to himself, pacing. "This is hard… should I just come right out and say it or should I show him or maybe I should just skip the whole thing because I think he should know it by now or maybe I should write him a letter since that would be safer, but I already know how he feels about me so I should just come out and say it and—"

Riku grabbed Sora by the shoulders and forced the younger boy to look at him. "Sora, you're making no sense. What are you trying to say?"

"I… I'm trying… I… you…" Sora took a deep breath. "Last night… you said you loved me… and you ran away before… b-before I could tell you that… I love you, too," he whispered quietly, a blush on his face as he averted his eyes.

His heart was pounding so loudly that Sora was sure he was going to have a heart attack, right there in Riku's arms if the white-haired boy didn't say something soon. He hurried to try and fill up the tense silence. "I… it's okay that you don't feel the same way anymore, I mean, I should have answered you right away and I just wasn't thinking because, well, I kind of couldn't since you were kissing me and you know how I get when you do that, but—"

Sora's incoherent babbling was expertly cut off as Riku pushed him up against the nearby lockers and slammed his lips against Sora's. The brunette made a small, whimpering noise at the back of his throat and clung to Riku desperately, unbelievably relieved.

Riku pulled back, resting his forehead against Sora's as he fought to catch his breath. "I love you, too."

"I figured," Sora said with a smile, leaning forward and initiating another kiss. His arms came up to wrap around Riku's neck and pull him closer, expressing with his mouth what he had barely been able to with words.

Riku returned the kiss whole-heartedly, breaking away from Sora's lips to trail along his jaw, nipping and sucking gently. Sora shivered, his knees close to giving out under him. Riku smirked a bit and continued. "We really shouldn't be doing this here."

"You… nngh… sound like me…" the brunette managed to get out between moans. Riku chuckled under his breath, the vibrations causing Sora to groan again.

"I'm not sure if that was a compliment or an insult." He kissed his way up, nipping at Sora's earlobe before he paused to whisper, "So, does this mean you'll finally sleep with me?" Riku asked as his tongue traced the outer shell of Sora's ear.

Panting, the younger boy tried to concentrate. "Y-yes…"

"Really?" Riku asked, surprised into stopping. Sora blushed for what must have been the hundredth time that day and nodded.

"I trust you, Riku…" he murmured, averting his eyes. Riku smiled, giving Sora a gentle kiss before he backed away completely and let the younger boy move. Sora smiled back, taking a deep breath.

"If I could interrupt this Hallmark moment," Kairi said from the end of the hallway.

"Since when do you ask?" Riku muttered under his breath, prompting a snicker from Sora. Kairi glared at them both, approaching slowly and looking between them as if she expected a bomb to go off at any given time.

She rolled her eyes and plastered a forced looking smile. "Could I please borrow Sora? We need to, er, make more plans for the dance."

Sora gave her a confused look, but he was met with one that told him not to argue. He turned to Riku apologetically. "I'll see you later, Riku. I'd better go with her." Riku took a step forward and kissed Sora deeply, starting to get into it before he heard a loud, exaggerated cough and pulled back, looking at Kairi in irritation.

Kairi grabbed Sora's arm and began dragging him away, muttering something along the lines of, "Stupid boys and their stupid raging hormones…"

Riku rolled his eyes slightly, but couldn't help the happy smile ghosting over his lips. Sora loved him… Sora loved him…

Nothing could bring him down now.

-

Sora snorted with laughter, trying as hard as he could to stop before Kairi got annoyed. The violet-eyed girl was standing in front of him, her hands on her hips as she glared at him and waited for him to take her seriously.

Sora took a deep breath, snickering every so often. "So… let me get this straight… even though Riku and I just started dating less than ten minutes ago, you want me to dump him because you've got the crazy idea that he's only using me to make a porn tape?"

"It's not a crazy idea!" Kairi persisted, practically bouncing up and down. "I heard it from Selphie, who, while a bit touched in the head, is a very reliable source! The whole reason he took an interest in you in the first place was because the popular bastards told him that he had to sleep with you and get it on tape so he could join their crowd!"

Sora snorted with laughter again.

"LISTEN TO ME!" Kairi near shouted, whacking him on the head. "Sora! Have I ever lied to you before?"

Sora quieted down and gave her a blank look. "No," he relented. "But, Kairi, there's no possible way that what you're saying is true. I mean, Riku loves me. He said so."

"He lied to you, Sora! People lie all the time!"

"And what's stopping me from thinking that you're not lying right now?" Sora asked, scowling slightly. Kairi scowled right back and the two friends glared at each other for a full minute before Kairi screamed in frustration, throwing her hands up.

"You're letting some boy you barely even know come between our friendship?" she snapped, her voice radiating with irritation.

Sora folded his arms. "The only thing trying to come between anything is you, Kairi! Why can't you just be happy for me?"

"He's going to use you!"

"No he's not!"

"YES HE IS!"

"NO HE'S NOT!"

"Fine, believe what you want," Kairi hissed in a low, angry voice. "But when he breaks your heart and you go running to your Mom, I'm still going to be there with a hanky and an 'I told you so.'"

Sora glared at her as she turned and stormed away, muttering under her breath. He frowned a bit to himself. That was the first time he and Kairi had ever had an argument. And the first time she'd ever been such a bitch.

He frowned even more. What if she was telling the truth? What if Riku was using him to get in with the popular kids? But what did Sora have to do with that? He didn't talk to those people! He never had, except for the whole Tidus-drama from last year.

But that was dumb. Sheesh, if Tidus wanted to test if he was really bisexual he should have chosen someone he knew. Like, oh say, Wakka.

Sora snickered. Yeah. Right.

Sighing, he turned and began heading up the hallway to his first class, even though he had a full twenty minutes before class began and half the school hadn't arrived yet. Maybe he'd get lucky and Riku would already be in the classroom so they could, er, work until the rest of the class arrived.

-

As soon as Tidus Mihada walked through the school doors, Selphie had her eyes trained on him. She was a girl on a mission. A mission to rekindle the lost friendship between her and her precious Tidy-Whities.

Okay, so he'd told her to stop calling him that under threat of death, but it was still an affectionate nickname. In her mind, anyway.

She took a deep breath to prep herself, watching him walk up to his locker and start digging through it, a frown on his face. For a moment, she doubted herself. He looked so… so…

She quickly snapped herself out of it. No! Friends and nothing more, now until forever. Or until he got over Sora and she could freely jump him again. Whichever came first.

Selphie walked up to him and beamed, hands on her hips. "Hiya, Tidy!"

"Shit, Selphie! Scare a guy why don't you!" Tidus said, putting a hand to his heart and taking a deep breath. He blinked, looking at her in confusion. He would have thought, after the phone call, she wouldn't be talking to him anymore. He couldn't help but feel relieved that he'd thought wrong. "Uh… what's up?"

Selphie looked up at him sheepishly, running her fingers through her hair and rocking back and forth on her heels. "I was thinking… why don't you and I go to the amusement park or something? You know, as friends like how we used to be?"

Tidus stared at her blankly before looking away and nodding. "Yeah. I'd like that," he said honestly, smiling a bit. Selphie had already been smiling, but her smile widened the slightest bit. She was happy seeing him happy. That was all she really wanted.

She guessed it wasn't her fault that she'd fallen hard for a boy who could never love her back. Love was just cruel like that.

Never letting her smile falter, she toyed with the edge of her skirt. "So… how about after school today? Will you be busy then?"

"Um," Tidus said slowly, squinting a bit as he thought about it. Selphie continued to toy with her skirt, wondering why she was so nervous. It was just Tidus…

Oh, right. That's why.

"No, I got nothing to do. I'll take you down to Rye Playland, alright?" he said at last, looking at her. Selphie nodded enthusiastically.

"Sounds great. I'll see you later!" She turned and ran down the hallway, skidding to a halt just before she could turn the corner. She growled at herself, then turned again and ran back over to him, her arms flying around his waist in a tight hug that nearly sent Tidus flying towards the floor.

He righted himself and blinked, looking down at her before hesitantly hugging her back, his fingers ghosting through her hair.

Selphie mentally cursed a thousand times. She was trying to avoid this, dammit. She shouldn't be thinking about how comfortable she was right now or how happy she was to have his arms wrapped tightly around her and how much she wanted to strangle Sora for taking her Tidus away…

She clenched her eyes shut, then took a deep breath and let him go, smiling awkwardly. "Sorry. Now, I'll see you later."

Tidus smiled in amusement. "No problem. I like having cute girls jump me."

Or blue-eyed brunette boys, Selphie thought bitterly, shaking her head. She headed back down the hallway, a bit more confident now. She could do this. She could be Tidus's friend and friend only. Sure, she'd been in love with him since she'd first arrived at school and everything, but that could be easily overlooked.

After all, he'd barely noticed her the first time they'd met. Selphie had come racing into her new school, excited beyond belief and dragging an unsuspecting Yuffie behind her. They'd met on the bus ride over. Yuffie had been sitting innocently and listening to music when Selphie had plopped down next to her in the seat, pulled the headphones from Yuffie's ears, and introduced herself.

They'd been good friends ever since.

Selphie had forced herself to remain calm as she looked around the school yard at her new classmates and year mates. She'd be spending the next four years with these people; she wanted to make sure none of them were gun-toting psychos.

Almost immediately, her eyes became fixated on a blue-eyed blonde boy leaning against the school wall and deep in conversation with another blonde and a brunette. When she'd asked Yuffie who it was, Yuffie had replied that it was her friend – Tidus Mihada. Then added that he was single.

Words could not express how happy Selphie had been.

But that was in the past and this was the present. He wasn't single anymore. Not really. Selphie could never own the one thing she ever really wanted from him.

His heart.

-

Riku blinked as Kairi came storming into the room, her violet eyes dark with barely suppressed anger. He gulped as she turned her searing gaze on him. He'd had experience with angry women.

All bad experience. He now fully understood the quote 'There are two methods of arguing with women – and neither one works'.

"Um… hi Kairi…" he said carefully, wondering if he was the cause for her rage. He surely hoped not. He couldn't remember doing anything (or anyone) in the past month so he was fairly certain that her wrath wasn't his fault.

Although, women were also capable of finding insane reasons for their anger and somehow managing to make it make sense. Riku had yet to acquire this skill.

"Bastard," Kairi hissed under her breath as she took her seat in the chair diagonal from his and glared at him. "How could you?"

Riku blinked. "Well, I didn't think they really wanted you to only take one free sample. I mean, it's Pringles. Once you start, you can't—"

"Not that!" Kairi interrupted with a slight roll of her eyes. "How could you do that to Sora?"

Riku blinked once again. "Well, when two men love each other, it's typical for them to grope and/or make out with—"

Kairi's steely glare told him he was missing the point once again. He scratched his head and looked sheepish. "Maybe it would help if you told me what you were talking about?"

The school bell rang. Kairi took out her books as Sora walked into the room, his eyes narrowing upon seeing Riku and Kairi as the only occupants.

"I know," was all that Kairi said before facing front and proceeding to ignore him. Sora sat down in his seat next to Kairi and in front of Riku, turning around and resting his elbows on Riku's desk. He tilted his head to the side.

"What'd she say to you?" Sora asked, glaring at Kairi out of the corner of his eyes. Kairi glared back and slammed her book onto her desk with enough force to break through the wood. Riku gave the two of them a wary look.

"She was telling me that I have a nice ass and that she wants a piece of it," Riku said in a perfectly serious voice. A notebook smashed into the side of his head and he winced, looking down and not surprised to see Kairi's name written neatly on the front.

He gave her a sweet smile and picked it up, handing it back to her and wincing again when she smacked his hand with it. He turned back at Sora, surprised to see the brunette giving Kairi a fierce glare.

"Did I… miss something…?" Riku asked, looking between them. "You guys had an argument?"

"More like Kairi really, really needs to start dating," Sora coughed. He too became victim to the wrath of Kairi's notebook.

"Don't you start talking about my love life when you barely have one!"

"At least I'm dating somebody. When was your first kiss, Kairi? When you ate a Hershey's on Valentine's Day?"

"Shut up, Harada, or I'll reveal to the entire class every embarrassing thing you've ever done since you were THREE!"

"Try it and everybody will find out about your little embarrassing dream concerning you and—"

Riku blinked as Kairi tackled Sora, sending them flying to the ground. Sora's desk and chair had also tipped over, luckily missing both of them as they wrestled for dominance. He leaned over to watch them, not noticing the rest of the class file in and slowly stop to watch as well.

Kairi had Sora in a headlock while he chewed on her arm in an attempt to get her to let go. Kairi tightened her grip, causing Sora to let go and gasp for air. Not one to be outdone, he grabbed her leg and pulled, forcing her to release him and fall backwards onto the floor.

He moved to bend her foot backwards and get her to say uncle when she kicked him brutally in the rear, pitching Sora forward into his desk. Sora held his poor abused head, whimpering as Kairi jumped on him and started beating her fists against his chest.

Sora shoved her off and bit her arm again, reaching for the nearest thing – Riku's shoe – and was about to stick it in her mouth to keep her quiet when the teacher slammed her ruler against her desk.

"BREAK IT UP NOW!" she demanded, glaring at the wrestling teams. Sora let Kairi's arm fall out of his mouth, albeit drenched in spit, and Kairi released him and allowed him to breathe. She stood, brushing off her jeans and going back over to her seat as if nothing had happened.

Sora straightened his desk and chair and sat down, frowning deeply as Riku slipped his shoe back onto his foot with a small, exasperated whistle. The white-haired boy waited until everyone was settled and the teacher had turned to write on the board before he slowly leaned forward and kissed his cheek.

"Relax," Riku whispered. "Surely whatever happened between you two isn't worth leaving bite marks on Kairi's arm is it?"

"She started it," Sora insisted, pouting slightly.

"And she was winning it," Kairi inputted, ignoring Sora's glare.

Riku sat back and shook his head, once again giving Kairi and Sora an objective look. It seemed as though it was going to be one of those days.

-

Leon, for the first time ever, found it extremely hard to concentrate on the lesson. Maybe it was because it was boring. Maybe it was because he'd left his notebook at home so he couldn't take notes even if he wanted to.

Or maybe it was because he couldn't take his eyes off Cloud.

He really shouldn't have told the blonde that he was denying him sex for a week. That had probably been his first mistake. It was obvious that now Cloud was trying to seduce him. And he knew those tight leather pants had to be in illegal in five states…

…and borrowed from his closet.

Cloud was very lucky there were a whole six seats, two rows, and thirty-two classmates plus one teacher separating them or Leon would pin him against a nearby wall and ravish him. Actually, Leon was pretty close to doing that anyway. And it'd only been one day since he made that stupid promise.

He groaned as Cloud shifted in his seat and brushing his fingers through his spiky blond hair. Leon had somewhat of an obsession with Cloud's hair. It was so damn soft… of course, he'd never tell that to Cloud.

Despite the number of hair care products the blonde used, he still became indignant when anybody inferred that he was anything less than manly.

Leon watched Cloud stretch, his eyes focused on the blonde's muscles, then quickly looked away before that urge came back. Damn his raging hormones. And damn Cloud for being so freaking sexy.

"Mr. Lionhart? Are you paying attention?"

Leon snapped out of his trance to see that the entire class was staring at him, including Cloud who looked entirely too amused for Leon's liking. He'd planned this, the little bastard.

"Yes," Leon said slowly, looking back at the teacher. "Sorry, what was the question?"

The man rolled his eyes. "I asked why Cleopatra killed herself with an asp."

"Because Julius Caesar wouldn't have sex with her anymore?" Leon suggested, knowing he was way off and not particularly caring. He ignored the laughter that sounded and the glare he was getting from his teacher.

"That was extremely off, Mr. Lionhart, but thanks for your input."

As the man went back to the lesson, Leon's eyes flitted over to Cloud. The blond was giving him an obviously amused look as if he could tell exactly what Leon had been thinking about.

Leon sighed and rested his head on the desk. Why him?

-

"Kairi… you're going to burn holes in your pudding," Selphie noted, wincing a bit as the redhead transferred her glare from the pudding cup to Selphie. She smiled in a 'please don't hurt me' kind of way. "But if you want burnt pudding, that's all up to you."

"Whatever," Kairi muttered, pushing the pudding away from her. Selphie wasted no time in grabbing the cup and beginning to finish it off. Waste not, want not.

The two were seated in the cafeteria for lunch and there was an obvious contrast in their moods. Selphie was beaming and as happy as usually why Kairi seemed ready to commit homicide. Twice.

"So… am I ever going to find out what made you so mad?" Selphie asked as she stuffed her face with chocolate pudding. "Was it Sora?"

"Yes."

"With Riku?"

"Yes."

"Fucking in the broom closet?"

"Yes. Wait, NO!"

Selphie snickered, eating some more. "Just a thought. I'd say the broom closet was a perfectly acceptable place," she said in an innocent tone, putting down the empty pudding cup. "Are you going to eat that roll?"

"I was more planning on stabbing it to death, but, hey, you can have it," Kairi sighed as she stabbed her knife into the roll and passed it to Selphie, who wasted no time in devouring it. Kairi's eyes rose to look at the table at the other end of the classroom, where Sora and Riku were sitting. They were laughing about something.

Probably her. The rewards of being a concerned friend. Although, she was fairly certain that concerned friends didn't attempt to murder other friends in the middle of a classroom. So maybe she'd gone about this whole thing the wrong way.

She couldn't help it. The fact that Sora was choosing some guy over her really hurt. And even worse was that she wasn't just trying to break them up to get Sora all to herself, as Sora obviously thought. Riku was really going to break Sora's heart.

Kairi rested her head against the table, sighing as Selphie's hand reached out and pulled her tray over so Selphie could finish her food. Kairi wasn't really that hungry to begin with. She and Sora had been best friends since forever. They looked out for each other.

When Sora was afraid of the monster in the closet, Kairi dressed them in Ghostbuster suits and helped him fight them off. When Kairi was afraid to give Satoshi Sagara a Valentine in fourth grade, Sora played Cupid and set them up.

But, she supposed, great friendships like theirs couldn't last forever. Eventually, something that fragile and pure had to shatter into pieces.

She just didn't expect it to happen so soon.

"Kairi…?" Selphie asked, her mouth stuffed with god-knows-what. "Are you crying…?"

"No," Kairi said automatically, standing up. "I'm going to go find Tidus. I need to ask him for a favor concerning the dance." She smiled a bit. "I'll try not to kiss him this time."

Selphie snorted, the food preventing her from breaking out into laughter. Kairi smiled even more and turned, heading out of the cafeteria.

-

Tidus was busy lacing up his soccer cleats when Kairi suddenly burst into the gym, her eyes sweeping over the rest of the children in there before they came to land on him. He blinked as she began marching towards him, wondering what he'd done to offend her now.

"Do me a favor and don't hit me. I've gotta go play soccer in, like, two minutes," he said as he straightened and raised an eyebrow at her.

Kairi rolled her eyes. "Unless you've got a guilty conscience, Mihada, then I'm not here to hurt you. I need your help, actually."

"I don't do sexual favors," Tidus told her, grabbing a soccer ball and starting to toy with it. Kairi muttered incoherently under her breath before grabbing a lock of his hair and tugging, causing Tidus to wince.

"I don't want a sexual favor, you idiot. For the dance, Sora and I were planning on doing a Hollywood theme and I need you to set up a slide-show or a video show of all the people attending so it'll be like the Oscars or something," she corrected, giving his hair one last tug before letting it go.

Tidus rubbed the side of his head, giving Kairi an annoyed look. "Wow, what a way to ask me. Now I really feel like helping you out."

"Please," Kairi said with a sigh, giving him a hopeless look. "Sorry I pulled your hair, but, just… please? I really don't have time for you to be an ass. Please don't do this to me. At least not today."

The other kids began filing out of the gym towards the field outside. Tidus gave Kairi a confused look and leaned against the wall, kicking the soccer ball away. "Why? What happened?"

"Why do you care?" Kairi asked automatically, her voice defensive. "I thought bastard was your default setting."

Tidus rolled his eyes. "Whatever. If Selphie likes you, I don't see any reason for me not to. Well, besides the fact that you're a total bitch. Did you forget to take your happy pills this morning or something?"

"I was looking for them, but then I remembered that they're crammed up your ass," Kairi snapped, her eyes narrowing. She rubbed her temples and sighed. "I can't do this right now. Look, can you take care of the dance for me or not?"

Tidus gave her a contemplative look, one that made Kairi decidedly uncomfortable. She toyed with a lock of her hair and averted her eyes, but she could still feel his burning gaze on her. It wasn't long before she cracked. "St-stoppit."

"Stop what?" Tidus asked immediately, not taking his eyes off her. Kairi looked at him, swallowing nervously.

"Stop staring at me like that," she answered, rubbing her arms. "You're making me really nervous."

Tidus frowned slightly, scrutinizing her for a moment longer before he looked away. "So, are you going to tell me what happened?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kairi said, still rubbing her arms with a sigh. "Nothing happened. At least, nothing that I would tell you about."

"Then why do you look like you're going to break out crying any minute?" Tidus persisted, pointing at her eyes.

Kairi batted his hand away. "Leave me alone, Mihada. I don't have to take this from you."

"And now you're being defensive…"

"Am not!"

"And resorting to childish means of making your point…"

"Stop that!"

"I will when you tell me what's going on."

"Leave me alone!"

"Tell me!"

"NO!"

"NOW!"

Kairi suddenly burst into tears.

Tidus sighed lightly and moved away from her, digging a handkerchief out of his pocket and holding it out to her. He sat down on the floor and Kairi cried, using the cloth to wipe away every stream of tears that fell from her eyes and then blowing her nose.

Thankfully, she didn't attempt to give it back to him. She merely folded it and put it in her pocket, murmuring something about giving it back after it had been washed.

Tidus sighed, wondering how much trouble he would get in for missing gym. Maybe he could get bonus points if he said he was consoling a fallen classmate.

"Why did you do that?" Kairi asked once she was finally able to calm herself.

"Do what? Antagonize you? It's fun." Ignoring the glare he received for this statement, Tidus continued, "Anyway, to be honest, you looked like you were going to cry, but you were trying to hold it in. So I scared it out of you."

"Gee. Thanks," Kairi said, sarcasm evident in her tone.

Tidus raised an eyebrow. "You feel better now don't you?"

Kairi paused. She did feel better. Damn it.

"Exactly. Whatever's going on with you, Kairi, you can handle it," Tidus said as he got to his feet, dusting off his gym uniform. "You're a tough girl. I know that first hand. I'm still hurting from all those punches."

Kairi laughed a bit, smiling at him. "Thanks, Tidus. Really, I mean it. And I'm sorry for every bad thing I thought about you or will think about you."

"You'll be apologizing forever then," Tidus said vaguely, his eyes getting dark with thought. Kairi looked at him in confusion, stepping forward to put a hand on his shoulder.

"Tidus?"

The blonde seemed to snap out of it, his eyes returning to their normal color as he blinked and focused on her. "Huh? Oh, I'm fine. Don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Yeah…" Kairi frowned a bit, dropping her hand. "Yeah, so, thanks for… you know. And you can always talk to me, too, alright? I'm good for that kind of stuff."

Tidus laughed humorlessly. "I don't think you'd want to know what kind of stuff goes on in my head. Most of the time, Selphie's the only one who can handle me and we all know how much I screw that up."

"Well, maybe if you could get over your fixation on Sora…" Kairi suggested, her voice shaking slightly as she said Sora's name.

Tidus sighed. "Yeah, maybe," He seemed to realized something and looked up at her. "Is Sora the one making you cry?"

"No… of course not!" Kairi said quickly, turning around. "I'll see you later, Tidus. Call me if you change your mind about the dance. Bye!"

Tidus narrowed his eyes suspiciously as she dashed out of the gym. Her reaction made it very obvious that Sora was definitely the one making her cry.

"MIHADA GET YOUR SCRAWNY ASS OUT HERE NOW!"

Tidus winced, distracted from his previous thoughts. Dammit.

-

"Riku!"

"Shhh, Sora. I thought you didn't want anybody to hear us."

"Nnegh… Ri-ku!"

"Oh my god, Mr. Masaki, please remove your hands from Mr. Harada's pants immediately."

Riku looked innocently up at Mr. Himura, an absolutely angelic look on his face as he moved his hands from the top of Sora's pants to the textbook in Sora's lap. "Technically, my hands weren't in his pants. They were above his pants. If you gave me a second, then I could fix it so my hands were actually in them."

Sora, on the other hand, kept quiet. It was obvious that he was absolutely mortified if the red color of his face was anything to go by.

"And," Riku continued. "Since this is independent study, I feel I should be allowed to independently study each and every part of Sora's—"

Sora quickly clapped a hand over Riku's mouth, trying not to shudder as the older boy licked his palm. "Nnegh… I'll make sure… ergh… Riku keeps his… ahh… hands to himself… eep!"

Mr. Himura raised an eyebrow and looked down, sighing and covering his eyes as he noticed that one of Riku's hands was on the textbook while the other hand somehow snuck behind Sora to rest on the younger boy's ass.

"I'm… I'm just going to… go over there…" Mr. Himura said with a groan. "Just try to keep it clean. I'd give you detention if I wasn't afraid to leave you two alone in a room together."

Even though Sora hadn't moved his hand from Riku's mouth, it was quite obvious that the older boy was smirking. His eyes were sparkling in a positively evil way that neither Sora nor Mr. Himura were sure they liked.

Sora waited until Mr. Himura was a safe enough distance away before he dropped his hand and gave Riku a mild glare. The white-haired boy was laughing. "That wasn't funny, Riku!"

"Yes it was," Riku corrected, snickering. "Good thing I hadn't reached your pants yet or we'd really have been in trouble."

Sora glared a bit more before a smile spread on his face and he snickered as well, resting his head on Riku's shoulder. "This is all your fault in the first place."

"No way. You're the one who was being loud."

"Because you had one hand half-way down my pants and the other half-way up my shirt!"

"So?"

Sora gave Riku a flat look, then went back to the section of their book that they were supposed to be taking notes on. He read the heading and snickered. "Are Adolescents The Victims of Raging Hormones: Evidence For Activational Effects of Hormones on Moods and Behavior at Adolescence."

"Oh, I love Health class," Riku said with a laugh, taking out his notebook. He wrote down the heading and then looked back at Sora. "So, what are you doing after school?"

"Mother-son time," Sora explained, his eyes scanning the page. "Mom and I are going to watch a movie and hang out."

"Cool," Riku said as he peeked over Sora's shoulder and wrote down a couple more notes. "So I'll catch up with you tomorrow, then?" he winked. "We can have some real fun then."

Sora's face flamed. "Okay."

Riku smirked, snickering again and ignoring Sora's glare. He found the whole thing extremely amusing. And slightly disappointing since he'd been quite close to having his wild way with Sora in the classroom.

Which, now that he thought of it, wouldn't be a very ideal place for Sora's first time, but at least it would be memorable. Very memorable.

Sora glanced over at Riku, blinking in confusion at the perverse smirk on the older boy's face. "…Riku…?"

Riku blinked, snapping out of it and looking over at Sora with a smile. "Yes…?"

"Uh… nevermind." Sora was suddenly quite sure that he didn't want to know what kind of images were running through Riku's head. More than likely, all of them would make Sora turn a variety of shades of red.

-

Selphie stared at herself critically in the mirror. She really thought she was trying too hard to look casual for this date.

No, she corrected. It wasn't a date. It was a friendly outing between two… friends. Selphie was wearing a loose shirt that tied at her shoulders with a blue bandana on her head. She was wearing matching capris and blue sandals. On her back was a see-through bag and her hair was done up in two low braids.

She bit her lip and sighed, twirling around. She supposed her outfit was acceptable. She hadn't worried this much about what she was wearing since she and Tidus had gone on their first date. And that was something she preferred not to think about.

At least, not tonight.

She examined herself one more time as she heard the doorbell ring and turned, practically racing down the stairs and skidding to a halt in the living room, watching her mother open the door. Tidus was dressed casually as well in a white t-shirt and beige cargo pants with white sneakers and a blue cap on his head.

Selphie smiled at him, about to say something when her mother beat her to it. "Tidus! I haven't seen you around here very much lately. Did you and Sippy get into a fight?"

"Um…" Tidus stammered, averting his eyes. Selphie saved him from further embarrassment by stepping out onto the porch, pushing him backwards a bit as a signal for him to turn around and starting running away.

"Mom, leave him alone. And don't call me Sippy when we have company!" Selphie wailed, blushing furiously. Her mother laughed and closed the door, leaving Tidus and Selphie alone on the front porch.

Tidus flicked the tip of his cap and smiled at her. "Ready for a night of cotton candy filled adventure?" he asked, holding out a hand.

Selphie smiled and took his hand, holding it loosely. "Ready, moi capitan!"

Tidus' smile widened as he began walking down the block. The amusement park wasn't too far from Selphie's house and it was a nice night. The moon was full and everything. He was much happier walking than he would have been in a car.

And from the way Selphie was beaming and humming cheerfully under her breath, he really didn't think she minded.

He took a deep breath and started to sink into the usual relaxed mood he was typically in whenever he was hanging out with Selphie and just Selphie. Maybe she was right and being friends would be better. For now, anyway.

"I want to go on the roller coaster! The biggest one in the park!" Selphie announced suddenly, grabbing his hand and dragging him through the park entrance. Tidus laughed.

"Calm down, Sippy," he said, ignoring her glare. "We've got the whole night ahead of us. I'll try to keep my hands off your ass."

Selphie grinned and patted her butt, sticking her tongue out at him over her shoulder. Tidus took the time to notice that she had the word 'tease' imprinted on her rear before she sprinted off towards the cotton candy vender.

He checked how much money he had in his wallet and chuckled, following after her. This break from all the drama that had been happening lately was exactly what he needed. And though he'd never admit it to himself or anyone else… he missed Selphie.

He missed that beaming smile she'd give him whenever he did something as simple as returning her pencil or the cute way she pouted whenever he pointed out that she was doing/about to do something dumb or the way she liked to poke fun at him and how adorable she looked when she laughed…

"Tidy, cotton candy doesn't pay for itself, ya know! Get your lazy bum over here so I can eat!" Selphie called, bringing him out of his reverie. Tidus grinned.

"I'm coming and you're going to get fat," he noted. Selphie stuck her tongue out at him again, but laughed anyway as she made sure the vender gave her the biggest piece of cotton candy that he possibly could.

Tidus stood and watched her for a moment before he reached out and brushed his fingers through her hair. Selphie paused in her instructions and looked over at him in confusion, blushing when she saw the look on her face. She took his hand and pulled it away from her hair, her eyes determined.

"Friends," she said softly, looking fixedly at the cotton candy.

Tidus swallowed and nodded, sticking his hands in his pockets. "Friends."

-

Cloud sat on his living room floor, eating a pint of Ben & Jerry's and looking quite proud of himself. He'd seen every glance and longing stare that Leon had sent his way and, boy, did he get one hell of a thrill out of it.

No sex for a week? Yeah, right. He'd take care of that soon enough. Plan A was the tight leather pants.

Plan B was a strip tease. Thankfully, he hadn't had to go there yet.

Leon was currently in Cloud's kitchen, whipping them up some grilled cheese sandwiches while they tried to decide what they were going to spend the rest of the night doing. Cloud wouldn't really mind staying in. It'd be harder to seduce Leon if they left the house.

Well… he supposed he could still try, but last time he'd done that, they'd gotten banned for the mall for indecent exposure and hadn't been allowed to go back for a month.

"Leon, is the food ready yet?" Cloud called into the kitchen, sticking another spoonful of ice cream into his mouth. Silence was his only answer, causing him to blink. "Leon?"

Cloud pushed himself onto his feet and sauntered into the kitchen, swiveling his hips in case Leon was in there and just ignoring him. He froze in the doorway. Leon was in the kitchen, all right. Leon was also bent over to pick up the bag of bread he'd dropped with his ass directly in Cloud's line of sight.

Leon finished gathering the bread and straightened – giving Cloud ample time to appreciate the fact that he was naked – then headed over to the garbage can and threw the now-dirty bread out. He seemed to notice that Cloud was in there with him and frowned slightly.

"Did you want something?" Leon asked, raising an eyebrow at Cloud. The blond saw the positively evil look in Leon's eyes and narrowed his own.

"So it's going to be like that, is it? Fine. This is war," Cloud announced, scowling. Leon calmly gave him the finger. Cloud walked over to the table and grabbed the plate with the sandwiches, running upstairs and holing up in his room until he could come up with a plan.

-

Sora stuck his stick of pocky into the bowl of melted chocolate, finishing the stick off in one bite and successfully getting chocolate all over his face. Seiya laughed at him as she dipped her banana into the bowl, leaning back on the couch.

"Mmm, you were right. Everything tastes better with chocolate," she laughed as she took a bite. Sora beamed at his mother as he flipped through the channels for a good movie to watch. He really loved these nights they had together. Not many people had this kind of close relationship with their mother.

"That's Sora Harada Philosophy # 10!" Sora announced proudly. "It's part of a series," he pulled out another stick of pocky and stuck it into the bowl as well.

Seiya laughed. "What were the first nine?"

"Number 1: everything works better when you kick it. Number 2: illegal is always faster. Number 3: you know you're dreaming when hairy butts start coming out of the ceiling. Number 4: if you can't take over the earth, take over the universe. Number 5—"

"Alright, alright, crazy boy," Seiya said, cutting him off. "I think I get it," she laughed and dipped her banana again, slapping Sora's arm so that he stopped on the Lifetime channel. She smirked. "So, how are things with you and Riku?"

Sora blushed slightly and smiled. "I… we're dating…"

"About time," Seiya cheered with a slight roll of her eyes. "I was afraid you'd be a virgin forever."

"You're one to talk, mom. You went around asking boys to be the father of your babies!" Sora pointed out as he dumped all of his pocky sticks into the bowl and then started fishing them out, now getting chocolate everywhere.

Seiya eyed her son with a small sigh. "Would it kill you not to eat like it's your last meal? Do you go outside and eat like that? Your friends must think we don't feed you or something."

Sora ignored her and kept eating. Seiya looked back at the TV and frowned slightly seeing that there was no movie on. She got up, deciding to go fish a Disney movie out of Sora's room. Maybe Bambi. That one was a family favorite.

That, and the Fox and the Hound.

She walked up the stairs and into Sora's room, frowning slightly at the mess. Cautiously stepping over the piles of god-knows-what all over the floor and hoping none of them would come to life and eat her, she looked around.

Knowing Sora, where would he keep his movies?

"Under the mattress," Seiya said, thinking of the last place any sane person would put video tapes. The opposite of sane was usually what Sora was thinking in the given situation. Not that she'd ever say that to his face.

She pushed the dirty sheets and clothes and underwear off the bed and began sliding off the mattress so that she could search beneath it. Her search awarded her with two half-eaten Mickey Mouse lollipops, Sora's left shoe from the fifth grade, a busted pen, three dollars and eight-five cents, Mulan 2, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, and a stack of ripped envelopes.

She sighed, pocketing the money and eyeing the letters. Who'd been writing to Sora? She intercepted all of his mail and read it.

Not that he knew that.

So who was writing to him? She'd never seen these envelopes before. Was he sneaking his letters out of the mailbox before she could get to them or something? She'd have to do something about that.

Her eyes scanned the first sentence.

Dear Mrs. Harada,

We regret to inform you that your husband has fallen into a critical condition…

Seiya's eyes widened. Trying to ignore the pit in her stomach, she pushed that letter aside and pulled open another one, dated a few months earlier.

Dear Mrs. Harada,

Your husband has been moved into a special section of the hospital for extensive care…

And another.

Dear Mrs. Harada,

I'm afraid to say that your husband is not responding to the treatment as well as he should be and we may have to operate…

And more and more and more.

Dear Mrs. Harada,

Dear Mrs. Harada,

"Mom?" Sora called from the doorway. "What're you—" He stopped when Seiya turned around and he caught sight of what she had in her hands. His smile faded immediately. "I… I can explain…"

"When were you planning to tell me about these, Sora?" Seiya asked, trying not to get hysterical. Her husband was in intensive care on life support and nobody had thought to tell her? Whose idea was it to send those letters to Sora? They didn't concern him! She was the one paying for all of that!

"I…" Sora, never one to lie when he was in trouble, looked at the ground, his voice quiet and guilty. "I wasn't…"

Seiya twitched, about to snap. "Then how are you paying for any of this? Why were you hiding something like this from me!"

"I-I… I thought you had too much to worry about!" Sora said in defense of himself. "I didn't want to give you more! So I just got a job at Starbucks in my spare time! It's no big deal!"

"You think Starbucks is going to pay off the medical bill? Starbucks is for caffeine addicts and drama junkies!" Seiya noted, throwing the letters on the ground. For a moment, her eyes flashed dangerously and she looked ready to maim the boy in front of her.

Then, all the life drained out of her and she pressed a hand to her forehead, shading her eyes. "Get out."

Sora blinked. "What? But Mom—"

"Get. Out." Seiya repeated in a perfectly serious voice. There was no mercy in her tone. "Get out of the house, Sora. Now. Unless you want to die early."

Sora swallowed, his eyes starting to tear up, but he bravely held off the waterworks. "Mom, I'm—"

"OUT!"

He turned and ran down the stairs, only stopping to pull on his shoes before racing out the door and into the night air. He wasn't paying attention to where he was going since his vision was clouded by tears, but he had a good idea of where his legs were taking him.

He could only hope that Riku was home.

-

Selphie smiled as the vender handed her the giant purple teddy bear that Tidus had just won for her. So far, she could honestly say that she was having fun. Okay, so, Tidus had gotten sick on the virtual roller coaster and they'd had to stop it, like, one minute into the ride, but what did that matter?

The point was, she was having fun. Maybe this 'friendly' date thing wasn't such a bad idea. Maybe she could just stay friends with him. How hard could that be?

She held the bear tightly in her arms and gave Tidus a thoughtful smile. "I think I'm going to call it…" she smirked. "Tidy Whities."

Tidus mock glared at her. "No. No, you're not."

"Oh yes. Yes, I am. You can't stop me," she held the teddy bear up and shook it from side to side. "Tidus, meet Tidy Whities."

Tidus gave her a flat look, then grabbed the bear and took off running. Selphie ran after him, waving her bag over her head and screaming much like Xena the Warrior Princess. "MIHADA! GIVE ME MY TIDY WHITIES BACK!"

A great number of the people in the park turned to give the girl an odd look as she raced by, but Selphie didn't notice them. Tidus was heading towards the boardwalk. She narrowed her eyes in concentration and decided to cut across the beach itself and hide under the pier until he came by.

She ran across the sand, losing one of her shoes along the way, but she didn't notice that either.

Tidus was just running down the boardwalk when she reached it. She jumped and hoisted herself up, following after him. He came to a skidding halt once he reached the edge, but Selphie went the extra mile.

With another Xena yell, she tackled him and sent them both flying into the water.

Tidus and her bear went under just as Selphie hit the water with a laugh. She swam back to the surface and grinned at Tidus, laughing when he splashed her. "Take this!" she shouted, splashing him back.

Tidus laughed and disappeared under the water, swimming over to Selphie's legs and dragging her under without warning. Selphie batted at him with her hands to get him to let go, but Tidus merely stuck his tongue at her underwater and came up for some air.

A few seconds later, Selphie did the same, grabbing her bandana as it floated by her. Tidus held up her now-ruined teddy bear, sheepishly.

"Whoops?" he said, shaking his hair out of his face. "I'll get you another one."

Selphie smiled. "Thanks, Tidus. I think today was fun, don't you?"

"Well, other than the fact that we're in the water even though the beach is closed and I'm soaking wet, then, yes, this has been great," Tidus deadpanned, laughing when Selphie splashed him indignantly.

"You know what I mean!" she shouted, pouting.

Tidus nodded. "I do."

Selphie smiled softly, her cheeks turning a bright pink color and she looked down at the water to hide it. Tidus copied the smile, about to say something when an authoritative voice broke the comfortable silence for him.

"Hey, you kids. What are you doing in the water?"

Tidus and Selphie exchanged panicked looks and then simultaneously started swimming as fast as they could in the opposite direction of the pier and towards the shoreline on the other side, just before the lake flowed into a river, which led to the ocean.

"THERE ARE KIDS IN THE WATER!"

"STOP THEM!"

"WHERE THE FLYING FUCK ARE THEY GOING!"

"Where does that shoreline go to?" Selphie asked, in-between her frantic paddling and trying to ignore the screaming of the guards.

"I think it's behind that seafood store downtown," Tidus answered, not slowing down. It was likely that if they were caught they would either be banned from the park or put in jail for the night and neither was a very appealing option.

They finally reached the opposite shoreline and crawled onto the sand, collapsing immediately and trying to catch their breath. Tidus rolled onto his back and threw his arm over his forehead, laughing breathlessly.

"I should have known. All our dates were this eventful," he noted with another laugh.

Selphie grinned, breathing heavily as she collapsed half on top of him. "More like we kept on getting kicked out of places. Remember the time when we went to go see that ballet—"

"—and you fell off the edge of the balcony seats and I had to grab your arm and pull you back up?" Tidus finished for her, smirking slightly.

"And I bought you nineteen strawberry shortcake ice cream bars to make up for it?"

"You mean the ones I had to watch you eat because my mom had barred me from eating sugar for a week?"

"Yes, those," Selphie said with a smirk. "They were good by the way."

The two laughed again. Tidus waited for Selphie to get off him before sitting up and running his fingers through his sopping wet hair. "We can't stay here. They're probably driving dune buggies to get over to us right now."

"…Tidus…?" Selphie began in her sweetest voice.

"No, Selphie, we can't hide in the bushes, then steal the dune buggy."

"Damn."

-

Riku was extremely preoccupied. He only had two more cards left in his deck and if he could successfully place them on top of the elaborate card castle he was building, he would – in his mind – have achieved all greatness.

The doorbell broke his concentration, thankfully before he'd even attempted to place the final two cards so his precious life's work stayed standing.

"Coming, you annoying and pitiful excuse for a human being," he called, setting down the cards and hopping up. He sauntered over to the door and opened it with a slight roll of his eyes. "What do you—mmph!"

His sentence was cut off as he was suddenly jumped and pair of lips came crashing against his own. The person's arms wrapped tightly around his neck, not giving him time to react to anything – well, besides stumbling backwards from the force of leap.

Riku closed his eyes as he realized it was Sora who had just jumped him and pressed the brunette up against the door, effectively closing it at the same time. Just when he was really starting to enjoy this kiss, he noticed Sora's hands drifting downward.

Toward his pants.

Which wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't Sora doing it. Inexperienced, blush-boy, Sora. There was something wrong here.

Riku felt brushed his fingers against Sora's cheeks and then he was sure. His fingertips were wet. Sora was crying.

The white-haired boy stepped back, no longer pinning Sora against the door. His face took on a look of concern. "Sora? Are you okay?"

The brunette refused to answer. Instead, he launched himself at Riku again for another mind-blowing kiss. However, now that Riku was aware that Sora was crying, he found it harder to focus on anything else.

Even the fact that Sora's tongue was in his mouth.

Or the fact that Sora's hands were in his pants.

No, for once, instead of concentrating on sex, all Riku could think about was the fact that Sora was crying.

He pushed Sora away, placing his hands on Sora's shoulders to keep him from attacking. "Seriously, Sora, what happened to you?"

"Let go!" Sora struggled, his voice bordering on hysterical. Riku noticed that Sora was crying harder now. "Let go of me, Riku!"

"Sora—"

"What? I'm not good enough for you, anymore? You wanna go sleep with Kairi, then! BASTARD!" Sora shouted, shaking slightly. Now, instead of trying to rape Riku, he was now attempting to beat the shit out of him. "DAMMIT, RIKU, I DEMAND THAT YOU FUCK ME RIGHT NOW!"

Riku blinked.

"DAMN YOU!" Sora screamed in frustration. Before Riku could even process that Sora was losing his mind, the brunette's arm was flying through the air and Riku went reeling backwards from the force of the slap Sora had been kind enough to give him.

"Ow! Fuck!" Riku winced as he touched his cheek lightly. It was burning. He was probably going to have a giant, hand-shaped bruise there in the morning.

"Too late! Now I don't even want to anymore!" Sora shouted before all the anger drained out of him and he sank to the floor, curling up in a little ball and crying steadily. Riku eyed him carefully for a moment or two until he was sure Sora wouldn't kick him in the balls as soon as he kneeled down.

Riku gently brushed his fingers through Sora's hair, pulling his hand back as Sora listlessly brushed it away.

"Leave me alone," Sora murmured in a shaky voice. Riku ignored that statement. If he'd listened to those three words from Sora, they probably wouldn't have gotten this far already.

He sat down on the floor and pulled Sora into his lap, despite the mild struggling the boy put up. Sora, obviously too tired to do anything else, snuggled up into Riku's arms and let Riku hold him as he cried.

Riku sighed lightly, brushing his fingers through Sora's hair as he stared at the wall and tried to figure out what had gotten Sora so distraught. He felt a rush of pride at the fact that it was him Sora had decided to come to in his time of need.

Of course, Sora had come to try and rape him in an attempt to forget about his problems through the mind-wiping effects of a session of hot, passionate, animal sex.

But Riku was trying to look past that to see the bigger picture.

He blinked as he realized that Sora had stopped shaking and was now… sniffing him. Then he blinked again. "Sora… what are you doing…?"

"You smell good," Sora muttered, his cheeks pink. "It's… nice…"

"Okay…" Riku said with an amused smile. "So, are you going to tell me why you just came rushing through my door, molested me, slapped me, then cried all over me?"

Sora sniffled. "Sorry…"

"Oh, no, I liked the molesting," Riku reassured him.

"I meant the slap," Sora corrected, rolling his eyes slightly. "Although, I guess I'm sorry for the molestation, too. That's your job."

"Damn right. But you're avoiding the subject now."

Sora shifted uncomfortably, getting out of Riku's lap and wiping his tears away with his hands. Riku pushed Sora's hands away and did the job himself, gently pressing a kiss to Sora's cheeks once he finished. He pulled away, delighted to find that the boy was blushing again.

"So," Riku said with a grin. "Why were you crying?"

The blush faded and Sora frowned, staring at the ground. "Remember when you found that letter? About my Dad?"

"Yeah…"

"I never showed it to mom. Along with a lot of other letters. And she found them and she told me to get out, so I came here," Sora explained in a rush. He looked over at Riku, his eyes overly shiny again. "Can I stay here, Riku? Just for the night?"

"Of course," Riku said, wrapping his arms around Sora once again and ignoring it when the brunette sniffed him again before relaxing.

"Thanks, Riku," Sora whispered softly. "I love you."

Riku smiled, kissing Sora's forehead. "I love you, too. You rapist."

Sora glared at him. Riku only looked innocent and laughed.

-

Leon knocked on the door to the bedroom, tapping his foot as he waited for Cloud to open the door. The boy had been in there – with Leon's grilled cheese sandwiches – for the last hour and a half and Leon was tired of waiting for him to come out.

"Cloud," Leon said in a mildly irritated voice. "Call a truce or something. We have a job to do."

There was a long pause before Cloud's voice answered, "What kind of job?" Cloud still hadn't opened the door.

Leon rolled his eyes a bit and leaned against the opposite wall. "Remember? Tidus told us during lunch that he wanted us to go check on Riku and the tape situation," Leon reminded him, shrugging his shoulders slightly.

Cloud opened the door and blinked. "And Tidus couldn't do this himself because…?"

"Because he's out on a 'date' with Selphie. They're probably making out right now," Leon clarified, yawning. "Anyway, once we do that, then we'll come back here and you can hole up in your room all you want and I could care less."

"Wow. That's true love," Cloud said sarcastically, brushing past Leon to head down the stairs. He slipped on his shoes and waited for Leon to do the same before heading outside. "So where'd Tidus and Selphie go?"

"Amusement park," Leon answered as they walked down the block. "Selphie loves those things. I don't know why Tidus is so concerned about Sora when he's obviously crazy in love with Selphie. Best of both worlds, I guess."

"How does he count Selphie as the best of the female world? She's kind of… psychotic…" Cloud commented, making a face. "Not that I don't like her or anything."

"She's better for Tidus than Sora is. For one, she cares about him. For two, Sora has no interest in Tidus whatsoever," Leon said flatly. "But you know what I think? I think we spend way too much time contemplating other people's relationships."

Cloud had to agree with that. Just not out loud. "What else is there to do?"

"Have sex, sleep, and eat," Leon replied with a smirk. "Well, in our case, the last two."

"Tch. You've broken that promise once and I can make you do it again," Cloud said with an air of defiance. "I'm just that irresistible."

"Do you always lie to yourself like that?" Leon asked in as innocent a voice as he could manage. "If I said no sex, then I mean it."

"Uh huh," Cloud hummed, obviously not listening. Leon glared at him, but that too went unnoticed. Finally, Leon just gave up. He was beginning to think that Cloud was only in this for the sex.

And while that was great and everything, Leon liked the emotional connection they had way more than he liked finding out just how many different positions they could get into while doing it on the kitchen table.

-

"HAHAHAHAHA! I OWN YOU!" Sora shouted as he bounced up and down on the couch. He and Riku were in the midst of a game of Mortal Kombat 3 and with Sora's character – Subzero – freezing Riku's measly Shang Tsung, Sora was sure he was going to win.

That is, until Riku made Shang Tsung turn into Subzero and defeated Sora with his own attack. Riku: 15 wins. Sora: 0. Sora glared at the smirking boy next to him. "You. Suck."

"You don't know that. We haven't slept together yet," Riku said with a wink, laughing as Sora's face turned a bright red. The brunette was about to retort when the doorbell rang and he settled for merely trying to melt Riku's brain with his nonexistent eyebeams.

Riku laughed again and got up, tossing down his controller and rolling his eyes as Sora started a new game so he could beat Riku without Riku being there to stop him. The white-haired boy opened the door, blinking as he saw Cloud and Leon standing on his doorstep.

Uh oh.

"Who is it?" Sora called in a distracted voice, obviously busy kicking the shit out of Shang Tsung.

"Um… girl scouts," Riku answered quickly, ignoring the annoyed looks on Leon and Cloud's faces at being called girl scouts.

"I want cookies! I want the iced berry piñatas, the caramel deLites, and the peanut butter patties!" Sora said. "HAHAHAHA! NOT SO TOUGH NOW, ARE YA SHANG SISSY? YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME! EAT THIS!"

Riku stepped out onto the porch and closed the door behind him, saving Sora, and himself, any further embarrassment. He ran his fingers through his hair. "And you guys are here… why?"

"We came to have a talk concerning a certain tape you owe us," Cloud explained simply, not surprised when Riku swallowed and averted his eyes. "You can't back out on us now, Masaki. Tidus really wants that tape."

"Why doesn't he just have his fun with Selphie and leave Sora alone?" Riku asked, leaning against the door and frowning.

Leon shrugged. "Because he's retarded. Now, about that tape. We'd kind of like it before the dance. So when are we getting it?"

Riku looked from one teen to the other, then looked at the ground, not saying anything. Sora's elated shouting could still be heard, even though the door was closed. He'd just finished another match that ended with Shang Tsung in many tiny little pieces.

Taking a deep breath, Riku looked up again. "I can't. I can't do that to Sora. He's… I just can't do that to him. So you guys can forget about your tape."

"Tidus said you might say something like that," Cloud said, examining his nails. "He said if that's the case, then we're supposed to head to Sora's house and tell him a very interesting, and very true, story about his favorite white-haired lover."

Riku blinked, feeling his throat close up. "You… Sora would never believe you guys!"

"Tidus covered that, too," Leon added in, smirking slightly. "Kairi knows. She's already tried to tell Sora. If he hears it from her, then from us, I think you'll have a hard time convincing him that the video camera in your closet wasn't a Christmas present."

"Sounds like Tidus has all his bases covered…" Riku said, swallowing. His head was swimming and he felt like crying, but he held it back. It wasn't like him to cry. Especially not in front of other people.

Especially not in front of these people.

"So, we'd like that tape. Preferably by next week Friday. Or Sora gets the truth and nothing but the truth," Cloud finished, patting Riku on the shoulder. "Don't look so depressed. Once you hand us the tape, you get some new friends."

"So what if you lose a scrawny little boy in the process? Sora's not that important," Leon told him, nodding his head at Cloud. The blonde smirked at Riku, then turned and began heading towards the sidewalk with Leon right next to him.

Riku watched them leave, his eyes unfocused. Then he snapped back to reality and ran his fingers through his hair again, opening the door and heading back inside.

Sora stopped pounding the crap out of Shang Tsung and bent his head back, blinking when he saw Riku's empty hands. "Where are the cookies?"

"There are no cookies," Riku said in a depressed voice, heading over to the couch.

Sora eyed him warily. "Then… where are the girl scouts?"

"They died, Sora," the white-haired boy snapped. Sora blinked and fell quiet, sliding to the other end of the couch to avoid Riku's wrath. Riku dropped his head into his hands and sighed deeply.

After eyeing him for a few more minutes, Sora crawled to his side. He wrapped his arms around Riku's waist from behind. "What's wrong?"

"Everything," Riku responded, only feeling a small amount of comfort from Sora's warmth. He tried to enjoy it as much as he could. Either way he went, he may never get to feel that warmth again.

-

Tidus chuckled as Selphie wrung out her hair, covering the porch in water. They'd practically run down to the bus stop to catch the last bus back uptown and, at first, the bus driver wouldn't let them on since they were so wet.

Tidus had to pay the guy off with the last of the money he'd taken with him on the date. Selphie had expressed her deep gratitude for the gesture.

The blonde sat down on the porch swing, patting the seat next to him. Selphie sat down gracefully, flipping her braids back over her shoulder and laughing. "That was fun! Let's do it again!"

"If they ever find us, we're dead," Tidus pointed out, laughing as well. "Why can't we ever have a normal date?"

Selphie's smile became a bit strained. "But this wasn't a date so it doesn't count."

"Oh yeah," Tidus amended quietly, looking down at his feet. He began moving the swing back and forth, taking a deep breath and leaning his head back. Selphie just remained quiet. She pulled her legs up off the ground and sat cross-legged to give Tidus more control over the swing.

Tidus noticed her starting to shiver and slipped off his coat, laying it around her shoulders for warmth. Selphie gave him an appreciative smile. "Thanks."

"No problem," Tidus said, staring at her for a few minutes before he looked away. "You know… tonight was really fun. I didn't realize how much I missed hanging out with you. As friends, I mean."

Selphie sighed. "Yeah…"

"And I also didn't realize," Tidus continued. "How much I missed you. Just you. As a girlfriend."

Selphie gave him a surprised look. Then her hand reached out to touch his forehead. "Are you sick? Maybe swimming around in that water gave you a fever…"

Tidus chuckled a bit and took her hand away from his forehead, holding it gently. "No, I'm serious, Selphie."

Selphie, unsure what to make of this, just blinked, her cheeks pink. On the one hand, she missed him too. It was incredibly hard to pretend she only wanted to be his friend. On the other hand, he still had feelings for Sora. She was only setting herself up to be hurt.

Taking advantage of the fact that he'd managed to make Selphie speechless – for once in her life – Tidus brushed her wet bangs out of her face and leaned forward, brushing his lips across hers in a gentle kiss.

Selphie melted. "I hate you so much right now," she whimpered as she kissed him back.

Tidus smirked. "I love you, too, Selphie," he leaned in to give her another, deeper kiss when someone cleared their throat, effectively ruining the moment.

Tidus and Selphie sprang apart and stared, wide-eyed at the sheepish looking Leon and Cloud. Tidus frowned, not noticing when Selphie did the same. "What?"

"Could we talk to you?" Leon asked with a tired sigh. "Sorry if we interrupted something."

"You didn't," Tidus said, getting up immediately and heading over to them. Selphie blinked, swallowing. So telling her that he loved her didn't qualify as something anymore? She strained her ears to hear what they were talking about.

"—by Friday or else we'd tell Sora. He was very predictable," Cloud was saying in a low voice. Tidus nodded at him.

"So we can still get Sora in time for the dance. It all works out."

Leon frowned. "Next time you want to toy around with Selphie, don't get us to do your dirty work while you're out, alright? We've got lives."

"What?" Selphie asked, getting up. All three boys turned to look at her. Leon looked confused, Cloud looked annoyed, and Tidus looked guilty. She supposed it was because her voice was shaking slightly. "You had Cloud and Leon go threaten Sora while you and I were out on our date? I mean, our not date?"

Tidus paused. "I…"

"You bastard! Just when I actually started to think you were… you just turned around and… I hate you, Tidus Mihada!" Selphie shouted, turning and running into her house before they could notice that she was crying.

Leon and Cloud stared at Tidus, wearing matching disapproving looks. The blonde boy didn't notice. He stared at the light in Selphie's bedroom window until the window slammed shut and the light went out.

-

F.A.Q.

When will We be expecting the next installment of this story?
Er… Now? I never know when I'm gonna finish a chapter. It just kind of… happens.

Do you write a chapter for this story then one for Born to be Wild or do you write them both at the same time?
I alternate, writing one chapter for each story. I never write them at the same time. Way too much work. Besides, my poor little head hurts when I try and do that. So, yeah, one at a time.

When will we see the next chapter for Born to be wild?
Um… when I finish it?

Oh, and what happened to Sora's dad anyway?
Oh, he's practically comatose. He gets talked about again in the next chapter, but you guys don't really get to meet him until Chapter 17.

Does Riku still care about that damn video tape?
Well, he does now.

You still aren't going to use the tape thing, are you?
…Maybe…

Where can you get that book you named this after?
Barnes and Nobles, the shiznet place to get books! And drink coffee while getting books!

So, I take it that we haven't managed to convince you that the number 14 does in fact come next?
Well, I learned in math class that 14 does come after 13…

You DO realize that doctors don't want people drinking red bull for the fact that two cans could potentially kill you, right?
OMG! IF SORA WAS REAL, I'D HAVE JUST KILLED HIM!
Sora: Gee… thanks. I've always wanted to die.

Oh and please don't make Selphie and Kairi 2 stupid kay?
I can try, but it can't be helped.

In the story you said that they were in Sora's house and then you said they were at Riku's house and then I think back 2 Sora's house so which was it?
I can't remember… But most of their moments take place at Riku's house so it was probably Riku's house.

If you hate kairi so much, just like I do, why isn't she an evil bitch in your story?
Because I've always found evil bitch!Kairi to be extremely unrealistic. She's not like that. So I either shove her off to the side or make her tolerable. Because those are her default settings.