"Is that all of it?"

Sora turned and looked over the dorm that had been full that morning but now stood empty. "Yep, that's everything." He grinned at his blond brother. "At least we'll have help moving this time."

"Yeah, and I don't think we'll miss this place all that much."

"Nope."

They looked at each other and smiled in excitement. Finally, they were going to join their friends in the sophomore dorm hall. Yes, they would be the youngest students living there, but at least they wouldn't have to move to an entirely different building just to hang out with the others. Luckily, the older students had offered to help them move their things so it wouldn't take very long.

"Oh!" Startled, Sora pulled a vibrating phone out of his jeans pocket and clicked the screen before holding it to his ear. "Hey! You here? Cool, we're all packed. See you in a few." Another click, then the phone went back in his pocket. "Riku, Kairi and Namine are on their way up."

Roxas barely had time to nod his acknowledgment of the news before the door opened and Riku entered the dorm with Kairi and Namine in tow; they rarely bothered to knock these days.

"Hi, guys!" Sora greeted them with a wide smile. "Thanks for coming to help!"

Kairi returned his smile as she looked over the matching suitcases and stack of boxes. "Of course we're helping. It would've taken you all day to move by yourself.

Laughing sheepishly, Sora rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah."

"You guys have a lot of stuff," Namine commented in her usual soft tone.

"But it should only take a few trips to move," Roxas replied, looking at his and Sora's belongings with a critical eye. "What should we take first?"

"Clothes," Riku spoke up for the first time from his spot beside Sora.

It was quiet as they all waited to see if anyone else had an idea of what they should take first. When no one spoke up, Riku stepped forward and grabbed a suitcase, leaving the dorm room without another word. Sora hurriedly picked up another of his bags and ran after him to leave Roxas, Kairi and Namine figure out what they would carry amongst themselves.

"Riku!" He caught up to the older boy and grinned. "I got my grades back today."

"Congratulations." His lack of enthusiasm did nothing to damper Sora's mood as he walked beside the older boy.

"When d'you wanna do the Slave-for-a-Day? I have work tomorrow but we could do it on Sunday like last time."

"Sure."

This time the brunet noticed his friend's tone, though he didn't let his smile falter. Was something wrong with Riku? Had he done or said something to annoy him?

He hasn't looked at me this whole time…

It was definitely upsetting, especially considering how, just yesterday, the older boy had been even more physical than normal during their game of basketball. Somehow, they'd gone from Riku not being able to keep his hands to himself to Riku seeming unable to so much as make eye contact. Sora didn't like it one bit, but he didn't say anything as they crossed the short track of lawn that separated the freshman hall from the sophomore hall. They were silent as they got on the elevator, but the moment the doors closed, Sora dropped the bag he'd been carrying and turned to face the other boy.

"Is something wrong?"

"No."

"You seem upset."

"Nothing's wrong, Sora."

Something was definitely wrong—Riku only called him by his name instead of "Brat" when there was something serious on his mind.

"Then what are you thinking about?"

"Nothing."

He let out an exasperated sigh but didn't ask again. There was little point in trying to get Riku to tell him anything when the older boy felt like being difficult.

A ding sounded as the elevator reached the proper floor and they stepped out onto the landing at the same time.

"D'you have your key?"

"Yep!" Grinning, Sora held up the little golden key that would unlock the door to his new dorm room. With a bounce in his step and the bag once more slung over his shoulder, he made his way off down the hallway as Riku followed behind. "Room 813!"

Excited, he unlocked the door and pushed it open to step into his new room for the first time. "Tada!"

Riku looked the bare room over with a hooded gaze. "Nice."

"Just drop the bag inside the door. Rox and I'll decide where we want to put stuff after we get everything moved over." As soon as he finished speaking, Roxas, Kairi and Namine stumbled in with bags in tow.

"Whaddya think?" Sora asked, grin still in place as he threw an arm around his twin's shoulders. "Home sweet home!"

"Yeah," Roxas panted, dropping the suitcase he'd been carrying next to the one Riku had already set down. "Um, we'll go back for the rest. You start unpacking."

"Aye, aye!" Eager to get going, Sora moved his bags farther into the room and unzipped the largest one to begin unpacking his clothes. He heard the door close again as his brother and the girls left to get more of their things, and a moment later was startled by the feel of hands on his hips.

"Whoa!" Spinning, he found himself face-to-face with Riku, just as close as they'd been the day before when the silver-haired athlete had pinned him on the gym floor. "Uh…what're you doin', Riku?"

"Admit it." The words were spoken softly in a tone that was just short of a growl, and Sora gulped.

"Admit what…?"

A smirk lifted one side of the older boy's mouth and he pushed Sora back against the wall next to the dresser. "That you wanted me to kiss you yesterday. And that you want me to kiss you now."

Sora's face flushed a dark red and he struggled to look away from Riku's teal eyes. "I…I don't know what you're talking about…"

"Yes, you do. You wouldn't be this flustered if you didn't want it." He came even closer so that his nose brushed against the younger boy's and Sora tried to press himself back into the wall.

"Psh, yeah, okay, very funny, Riku. Haha," he forced out, grinning nervously. "You can let go now."

"No."

Blue eyes widened as the two stared at each other, Sora red-faces and stuttering while Riku merely smirked and waited for the brunet to say whatever it was that he was trying to say.

"Something wrong, Brat?" he asked softly, leaning so close that Sora could feel the heat of the older boy's breath on his face; he struggled not to shiver.

"N-no! I just—I mean I don't—you—!"

"You just, you don't, I, what?" Riku teased, smirk growing as Sora's blush deepened.

"S-stop it…"

"I'm not doing anything. I'm barely even touching you." It was true, since he'd braced his hands against the wall on either side of Sora's torso so that the younger student was trapped. He was so close that their noses brushed if they moved but otherwise, he wasn't touching Sora at all.

"I mean it, Riku." The brunet did his best to sound confident and stern and cross. "Knock it off. This isn't funny."

"I think it's funny."

"You know, Riku, you can go to jail for that sort of harassment."

Sora jumped, startled, and turned his face away from Riku so that he could see over the taller boy's shoulder. "Kairi! When did you, uh, get back?"

The redhead had her arms crossed over her chest as she stared at the back of Riku's head in clear disapproval. "Just now. Roxas forgot his keys and I offered to come back for them. And I meant what I said about you going to jail, Riku."

"It's not harassment if he likes it," the older boy replied, looking over his shoulder to grin at Kairi. "And I'm not doing anything to him."

"You're pinning him to a wall and he looks like he's about to cry," Kairi pointed out, making Sora look down at his shoes in embarrassment as Riku laughed.

"I wouldn't make Sora cry."

The brunet looked up at that, only to find Riku studying him with a small half-grin on his face.

"Well…not in the way that you're thinking, Kairi."

"What?" Sora burst out, hardly daring to believe his ears. "Hold on a minute! You're not making me do anything!" Overwhelmed, he pushed Riku away and stormed back to his bag to continue unpacking, huffing all the while. "Jerk…such an asshole…"

Riku grinned at Kairi. "He wants me to kiss him."

"I do not!" the brunet shouted, whirling around to glare at the older boy. "Stop saying things like that! If I wanted you to kiss me then I'd have kissed you a long time ago!"

"I don't think you've got it in you to kiss me first," the older boy replied, grin settling into an amused look.

"You're so—ugh!" Throwing his hands up, Sora turned around and went back to unpacking, clearly fed up with Riku's antics for now. "Sometimes I can't figure out why you're my best friend."

"Are you finally accepting my apology, then?" Riku asked, instantly losing his grin in favor of a more serious expression. "We're officially friends?"

Sora paused, a stack of shirts in his hands as he halfway straightened to put them in the dresser. "Oh…"

Crap, I totally forgot about that. We're friends and I never told him…maybe that's why he's been being weird lately…

It made sense. If he'd been the one waiting for Riku to decide if they could actually be friends again, he'd have lost his patience ages ago. The older boy had been waiting for, what, almost two months now? That really wasn't fair to him, and Sora felt a sense of guilt come over him as he carefully put his shirts in the dresser.

"Uh, yeah. We're friends." He smiled at the older boy, apologetic and embarrassed but not willing to admit that he'd actually forgotten about the fact that they hadn't been official friends for the last six-ish weeks.

Riku's grinned returned and he grabbed Sora by the wrist, pulling the younger boy into a tight hug. "Finally. Took you long enough, Brat."

"It was a tough decision, Jerk," the brunet replied, though he was smiling and returned the hug in full. Only Riku could upset him and cheer him up in such quick succession.

"Kairi, are you—oh." Surprised into silence, Roxas stopped in the doorway and blinked as he stared at his twin and friend. "Um…the keys…?"

The redhead snatched the keys in question off a nearby desk and tossed them to Roxas, disapproving gaze locked on Riku. "If you're going to flirt with him, don't be mean about it."

Rolling his eyes, Riku hugged Sora a little tighter for a moment before letting him go. "Yeah, yeah."

Still embarrassed by everything that had happened in the last few minutes, Sora quietly went back to putting his things away as Kairi and Roxas left to get more things from the freshman hall. Riku watched him before beginning to help.

"I wouldn't mind, you know."

"What?" He looked at the brunet, confused because they hadn't said anything for several minutes.

Shy blue eyes looked up at the older boy and Sora forced a smile. "You know." Then he went back to putting his things away as Riku continued to stare at him. If the silver-haired athlete couldn't figure out what he was talking about, then that was his fault. But Sora was proud of himself for admitting that he wouldn't mind it if Riku kissed him, regardless if the older student figured that out or not.

Just as they finished emptying the first suitcase, the door opened and Roxas walked in, along with Kairi, Namine, Axel and Hayner. "We found some more help!"

Grinning, Axel set down the large box he'd carried. "This is all of it. Glad we could help."

"Thanks!" Sora's infectious smile took its usual place as he greeted the new arrivals. "How'd you guys know we were moving today?"

"I told them," Roxas spoke up, offering a shy smile to the two older boys as they grinned back at him. "They offered to help and good thing or it would've taken us another trip or two."

Hayner slung an arm around the younger blond's shoulders and ruffled his hair. "What're friends for?"

With a nervous laugh, Roxas glanced first at Hayner then at Axel, knowing that the senior wouldn't like how friendly Hayner was. As expected, the redhead was staring daggers at Hayner, though the blond junior seemed oblivious.

"So, whaddya wanna put away first, Roxy?" he asked, his tone turning flirtatious and possessive as he stepped to the blond's other side and put his arm around the younger boy's waist. Roxas hid his alarm at this sudden development, managing to force it down to little more than a blush as Hayner looked at the two of them in interest.

"U-um…clothes…?"

Axel grinned again and pulled Roxas away from Hayner, towards the dresser that Sora hadn't claimed. "Then let's get your clothes put away."

"Okay…"

Clearly confused, the blond allowed himself to be steered across the room and began unpacking his clothes with Axel's help.

"What d'you want me to do, Rox?" Hayner asked, looking around at the other bags and boxes they'd brought over.

Sora looked at Kairi and Namine, jerking his head towards the three males on the other side of the room. "What's up with that?" he mouthed silently, and Kairi gestured vaguely that they would talk about it later when Axel and Hayner weren't there to overhear. A nudge in his side brought his attention away from his brother and the two older boys that were paying so much attention to him, and he turned to find Riku looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

"You gonna finish unpacking or what, Brat?"

Oh, right.

He smiled and nodded, laughing quietly as he, Riku, Kairi and Namine began unpacking the rest of his things. Being in the sophomore dorm hall was interesting already.

XXX

With a sigh, Zexion stepped off the plane and began making his way up the ramp with the rest of the passengers. After two long flights and an overnight stay in an airport lobby, he was only a car ride away from being home for the first time since August.

First, collect his suitcase from the baggage claim, then hail a taxi once he got outside. It was a silent forty-five minute drive out of the city to his small hometown. The lights were still on when he got there, surprisingly.

Why is she still up? She has work in the morning; she should be sleeping.

Despite his disapproval, the blue-haired teen couldn't help but smile at the thought that she'd waited up for him. As soon as he opened the front door and stepped inside, arms were flung about his neck and he was pulled into a hug, his bag falling to the floor. Smile growing, he returned the hug and took a deep breath.

"Welcome home."

"Hi, mom," he replied quietly, and she pulled away enough to look up at him. Eyes that were identical to his own examined his face.

"You look exhausted."

"It was a long trip. I'm just glad to be home."

His mother smiled. "It's good to see you."

Zexion nodded and picked his bag up again. "Don't you have work in the morning?" he asked as he moved farther into the house. It was small and plain, but neat.

"Yes." Her tone was slightly guilty. "But my boy is more important than an extra couple of hours of sleep."

Moving down the short hall to his old bedroom, Zexion looked back at the tired-looking woman behind him. "You need your rest." He knew she wasn't getting enough sleep and that she had been working even more than normal—he could see it in the dark circles under her eyes, how her shoulders sagged just a little.

"I'll be fine," she insisted, watching him open his suitcase and retrieve his pajamas.

A sigh escaped him and he turned to her, smiling fondly. "It worries me. You work too hard."

She smiled back at him and moved to hug him again. "The money you send helps. I know it isn't fair to you, but I'm grateful."

"Don't be ridiculous. You raised me without help from anyone and managed to get me into a great school. It's the least I can do to send a little money every couple of weeks." He hugged her tighter for a moment before letting her go. "Go to sleep, mom. I'll see you tomorrow night."

Going up on her tiptoes, Zexion's mother placed a kiss on his forehead. "Good night. I love you."

"Love you, too," he murmured as she left the room. As soon as the door shut behind her, Zexion took a deep breath and let it out as a sigh, sitting on the familiar, creaky old mattress as he examined the room he hadn't seen for five months. It was exactly as he'd left it, though his mother had obviously come in to dust and vacuum during that time. The walls were bare, the shelves held nothing but odds and ends of things he'd collected over the years. A small dresser stood in one corner and a desk that had been repaired too many times to count occupied another. His room. Small, plain, a little cramped, but, like the rest of the house, neat and orderly and clean. Nothing close to the luxury he lived in at school, but he didn't care. This was home.

Home.

Something he was ashamed to talk about, even to Axel, who'd known him longer than anyone. How could he hope to explain to the rich kids that went to Kingdom High that he was there purely on scholarship, that if he didn't work in the school's lab as Vexen's assistant and send his meager paycheck home to his mother, she would lose their house even though she worked almost constantly just to pay the bills?

No, he couldn't tell anyone where he was from. Not even Demyx, and he knew Demyx wasn't rich. But the blond junior had more money than Zexion had ever had and he wasn't comfortable with talking about his hometown or what it had been like growing up. It just wasn't something he brought up, and he avoided getting involved in conversations about family. He didn't want to have to explain that his dad vanished when he was three or that he had siblings somewhere in the world whom he'd never met.

The blue-haired teen let out yet another sigh as he lay back on his bed and stared at the ceiling. "Home, sweet home."