Part 2

The Lunch

Sora did not know what he was expecting, or what Riku was thinking. It was almost twelve-thirty, and Sora was hungry when he got the text from the silver-haired teen. It was short and precise, almost commanding-like telling Sora to go down to the small café the campus has, where Riku is waiting.

The café was called Valentine's and was located in a building away from the quad, a short walk down a path. The café was the bottom floor of another building that holds the cafeteria that the dormers eat in, that is on the fourth floor, with a small convenience store that Sora never went to on the second and something in the third that Sora was never sure of. He walked into the building and down the stairs to the entrance of Valentine's, the walls were designed in the college's colors, there was one wall that was entirely glass that looked out into a garden. On the far side there was the counter, and a small line formed in front of it. Tables were spread around, there was a relaxed area with couches and small beanbag chairs around a few televisions which hung on the walls at intervals, most on the same channel with captions on or turned off entirely. Sora found Riku sitting at a table alone, and walked up hesitantly.

"Um… hello," Sora said.

Riku looked up from his phone and smiled, his eyes had a weird glint to them that drew Sora in. "Sora Hikari, perfect," Riku said, he stood up and pulled a seat close to him, "sit, kitten."

Sora blushed as he sat down. "Will… will it just be us?" he asked.

"No, I have a couple friends coming too," Riku said. Sora frowned, you idiot, shouldn't have asked, of course he wouldn't want to sit with a loser like you alone. "But don't worry," Riku smiled, as if reading Sora's mind, "I'll give you plenty of attention, kitten."

Sora blushed and bit his lower lip, he didn't know what to say. Riku smirked at this, "You look adorable when you blush Sora."

"I—"

"You're gay right?"

Sora was stunned by that question. "Y-Yeah—why?"

"Just making sure," Riku hummed, he leaned close and whispered, "I just couldn't stop looking at you during English, you were just so stunning to look at kitten." Sora couldn't help but give a soft smile, despite the nasty voice inside him telling him not to. "It's a shame then that you always look so alone kitten, why is that?" Riku asked softly, he moved his hand and gently held Sora's face, his touch was inviting, almost electric. Sora's cheeks grew red under the touch, he unconsciously moved closer, pressing against Riku's hand and a small noise, desperate for affection, slipped out.

"I don't… I don't have any friends," Sora confessed.

"That's horrible kitten," Riku frowned, "why is that? You look perfectly normal to me—and likable and approachable."

"Too anxious… they'll leave one day, they always do," Sora sighed, he did not know why he was confessing all of this, but the more he did, the better he felt Riku's touch and he was desperate for the sensation and affection.

"That's terrible—then they are not real friends, but I'll be there for you, if you'll let me," Riku said.

"Sounds weird…"

Riku chuckled, "Well, I am a weird guy," he said. He gave Sora a smile, showing a perfect set of white teeth. "So how about it kitten? Trust me?"

Sora did not know why, something deep inside him arose, something stronger than the negative voice, and he let it out, nodding and saying, "Yeah." Riku smiled in approval and Sora's heart raced.

Riku chuckled, "I can feel your pulse," he commented, "you're as excited as I am."

"Sorry… I just… I never done anything like this before," Sora said. This caused Riku to laugh.

Sora frowned.

"I'm sorry," Riku apologized, "it's just… you never ate with a friend before?"

"No, it was always me and my brother and his boyfriend and his friends," Sora said, looking a little down, "then after they graduated… it was just me for lunch."

Riku shook his head and his hand left Sora's check and moved to his waist, pulling the boy closer, "Well no more," he declared, "from now on, you're eating lunch with me every day. Gods help you if you miss one," he winked. Sora blushed and he felt a strange emotion rush through him, something he never thought he would feel. Riku looked from his boy to the door and his smile grew, "Finally, they're late," he said.

Sora looked up to see a pair walk towards them. They both were very odd and reminded Sora of Riku. One was very tall, looking at least twenty-one years old with blood-red hair that was long and spiky. He was wearing a black open coat that showed a crop top that ended halfway down his stomach and tight dark blue jeans, even though it was almost eighty degrees outside. The other guy, who was hanging off of the redhead, their arms around each other, was around Sora's height and age, with short blonde hair and light blue eyes. He was appropriately dressed for the weather and had a nice tan like Sora, wearing a light pink muscle shirt and shorts that showed off his legs. As they got closer, Sora saw that both their ears were pierced. The two looked as different as anyone could, but something in Sora's mind, he couldn't envision one without the other.

"Hiya Princey, who's this?" the redhead said as he sat down, pointing at Sora.

"My new friend, Sora," Riku answered coolly, "Sora, this obnoxious redhead is Axel, and his boyfriend Roxas."

"Hi," Roxas waved, "So where did Prince find you?"

"Uhh… we share an English class," Sora said hesitantly, he glanced over at Riku for a moment. Is Prince a nickname or something? Again, as if reading Sora's thought, Riku rolled his eyes and looked at him, "Prince is a silly nickname my friends call me," he explained. "Anyway, I'm hungry boys, let's get something to eat." He stood up, actually all royal like as he did so, and held out his hand for Sora. Sora looked at it for a second before taking it, Riku helping him up. The other two followed and they joined the line.

"So… um," Sora said awkwardly, "how many… how many friends do you have?"

"That's a normal question," Axel snickered. Sora blushed and stared down as Riku turned around to glare at Axel.

"Axel and Roxas are two of my best friends," Riku said, "they're the two who call me 'Prince' the most, but all my friends do. There's also Kairi and Naminè, twin sisters, I think you'll like them, and Demyx and Zexion are there too… thinking about it, I think I only have one straight guy friend, Hayner."

"That's because he was my friend first," Roxas said, pipping up. "Other than that, you only know gays and girls," he snickered.

"As if that's a bad thing," Riku rolled his eyes.

Roxas shrugged, "True," he said He thought for a moment, "There's Marluxia! But he's bisexual, does he count?"

"He doesn't call Princey Prince," Axel said.

"Well neither does his cousin," Roxas shrugged.

"That's because he's my cousin," Riku said, "it would be… weird for him to call me Prince."

Axel and Roxas shared a look but Sora did not understand. He was just overloaded with names. "That's… that's a lot of people," Sora muttered.

"Don't worry kitten, you'll be introduced to them slowly," Riku said in a soothing voice. That calmed Sora immensely and he smiled softly as the four walked up to the cashier. There were menus laminated on the counter, taped so that nobody could take them. Sora looked down and read quickly, finding what he wanted before saying, "Can I please have a Caesar salad with chicken?"

It costed twelve dollars and Sora started to reach into for his wallet when Riku stopped him, "I'll pay for ours, kitten," he said, "you can pay for tomorrows, okay?"

"Oh… okay," Sora said a little awkwardly. Riku smiled and winked at him before turning to the cashier, "I'll have a slice of pizza," he said.

"Any toppings?"

"None," Riku shrugged. She rang the two up and Riku paid, they were given a number and were told to wait for it to be called.

Sora glanced at Riku's body and bit his lip, "You eat pizzas?" he asked.

"Of course, who doesn't eat pizzas?" Riku scoffed. Sora blushed.

"I just thought… with your body like that…"

Riku laughed and shook his head, "Relax kitten, I mean yeah I eat pizza but I also take really good care of my body working out. Do you exercise?"

Sora blushed, "Not really… I just barely eat," he muttered, "Not that hungry."

Riku frowned but made a mental note of that. "Alright kitten, but you're taking care of yourself right?"

"Yeah, I guess," Sora shrugged. He looked down at his body, "I just… I don't like it."

"What?"

"My body."

"Why is that?" Riku asked.

Sora bit his lip, "Never mind," he said quickly, "forget I said anything."

Riku did not want to press his new kitten and friend, so he sighed and said, "Alright but promise me right now that you'll tell me one day, Sora."

The fact that he used his name caught Sora's attention. He looked into Riku's face and saw a seriousness that made him promise. "Yeah," he nodded.

"Good," Riku smiled. They were at their seats again and sat down. Sora found it both strange and relaxing to be with Riku. He wasn't disgusted or bored by him—none of them were. They listened when Sora talked, always asked for Sora for his opinion on one thing or another—always talked so that Sora could be included. It was a new sensation, one that the boy hasn't felt for two years. By the time lunch was over, Sora was sad. He reached out and grabbed Riku's wrist.

"I don't want to leave you," he declared, blushing, "can you… can you walk me to class?"

Riku chuckled. "Of course I will kitten, what do you have?"

Sora pulled out his phone and looked at his schedule. "My final class for today," he said, "an Art elective, ART 246, Depictions of Myths through the Paintbrush."

"Sweet! I actually have that too," Roxas said, smiling, "We can go together."

Sora hesitated, he looked up at Riku like a little child looking up at his father. Riku looked down and patted Sora's shoulder, "I'll walk with you today kitten," he said, "besides, I still want to talk with you."

Sora smiled and felt warm with Riku, the taller teen leading the conversation as the four left the café, Axel departing from them to head to the nearby library as Riku led the two smaller teens back towards the quad into the Dusk building.

"Sora," Riku said when they stood in front of the classroom. Sora stopped as Roxas walked inside.

"Yeah Riku?"

Riku leaned down and placed his lips on Sora's cheeks, kissing him gently before whispering, "Be a good kitten for me Sora."

A/N: Boy moves fast, doesn't he? Thank you all for reading! The spookiness of vampires is slowly coming in…

Ern: Thank you friend! It's great to read your reviews!