o-x-Chapter 15-x-o-

Riku stared at the large fruit bowl in front of him. The geese that decorated it glared back at him. Their expressions were all the same. Happy, their proud heads lifted aloft, their slender necks bent towards him elegantly. They were taunting him, and he knew it. They were telling him how stupid he was, he just knew it.

He sighed.

Those geese weren't even breathing.

The silvery-haired boy shook his head; he didn't want to be mentally arguing with a bloody fruit bowl. It was unnecessary.

He sat down on one of the tall stools surrounding the breakfast bar, leaning his head on his forearms. From where he was sat he could see the kitchen. He remembered that Sora had once set fire to that kitchen. That had been an eventful day indeed, and Sora had never been allowed to cook at his house again. Riku gave a chuckle, then realised that Sora would probably never enter that kitchen again. He quickly looked away, only to remember how he had looked away from Sora, how awkward it had been between them recently.

Looking out over into the hallway, he couldn't help but reminisce over all the times he and Sora had played together in his house. The living room, they had first played tug-of-war over a glass coffee table - an ex-glass coffee table. The dining room, they had pretended to be waiters and served Riku's family, with disastrous effects, obviously. Those waiters must have had a (literally) crash course in putting plates on their arms. The study where they had watched various films on Riku's dad's computer together. That had been... nice. Not awkward.

Riku didn't like it. Riku didn't like it one bit. He had to admit to himself that he and Sora were no longer friends. He couldn't hang around with the love of his life, while said love ogled after their girl best friend. But Riku also had to admit to himself that he couldn't just sit inside and have everything remind him of Sora. Sweet, sensitive, clumsy Sora.

He had to get out, he had to leave. He couldn't stay here. He'd run away, he'd cross the ocean and seek some beauty from a distant land then bring her back to Hollow Bastion in time for Sora and Kairi's wedding. Yeah, he'd do that. He wouldn't need much, just his coat and some munny, then he'd be away.

But before he could do anything, there was a ring - at the door. Riku paused. There was another ring. And another. And another. Then two more. The pattern sounded frighteningly familiar. His heart stopped for a few seconds before he slowly, very slowly, made his way to the door.

He put his suddenly clammy hand on the door handle and turned it, a sense of dread settling in the pit of his stomach.

He blinked in surprise at the figure on the other side of the doorframe. It was Sora. But he had expected that, the knock had given it away, so that wasn't what had surprised him. It was what Sora was holding that surprised him. Unless he was very much mistaken, it was a flower. And a very tired-looking flower at that.

Riku blinked again. Several times. Maybe if he blinked enough the hallucination would go away. Because that's what it was, right? It couldn't be real. Why on earth would Sora be standing on Riku's doorstep holding a flower.

"Um… Riku?"

The silvery-haired boy stopped blinking and stared at the brunette, forcing himself to accept that Sora really was standing on his doorstep. Holding a flower.

"…Sora?"

The brunette shuffled from one foot to the other, repeatedly glancing over his right shoulder.

"I-err…" Sora smiled in a strange way, as if he had no idea what he was doing, and bit his bottom lip worriedly.

Riku just stared at him. The boy was acting very strangely, that was for sure, and Riku had half a mind to shut the door in his face and go back to his angsting, but he couldn't quite bring himself to do it.

Just the sight of Sora's nervous smile made him want to wrap his arms around him and never let go. But he couldn't do that either.

He lurched out of his thoughts as he heard one of the bushes rustling and a hushed whisper. His eyebrows furrowed slightly in confusion.

Sora looked up at him and Riku almost melted, he looked petrified. Riku tried to shake himself out of it. He did not melt damn it!

The brunette mumbled something completely incoherent under his breath and looked up at him hopefully.

Riku blinked, "You what? I didn't get that…"

Sora shuffled around again, took a deep breath and said, staring at Riku's shoes, "Riku... I... have to tell... you something? I really... like you... and I have done... for a very... long time... heh." The brunette exhaled loudly, as though a large weight had just been lifted off his chest.

Riku just stood there, stunned to silence, his eyebrows raised and his mouth open slightly in surprise.

"I-I'd better go…" Sora said, biting his bottom lip and he began to walk away, his whole posture slumped in defeat.

Instinctively Riku reached out and grabbed the brunette's arm, stopping him.

"Wait," he said.

He didn't know what else to say or do so he just leaned down and softly pressed his lips on to Sora's. He felt the brunette stiffen in surprise so he pulled away. (A/N: did that sound wrong? :S beta: you do make me lol, nirii)

"I-um, sorry. I shouldn't have don-"

He was interrupted by Sora grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him down into another kiss.

Riku smiled into it and he felt Sora sigh in happiness. Then he heard a catcall and cheering. He frowned in confusion as Sora pulled away and he looked up to see a ruffled-looking Kairi jumping up and down squealing and whistling, he raised his eyebrows at the leaves that were stuck in her hair and the scratch down her left cheek. Now, he was really confused.

She ran towards them and pulled both of them into an impossibly tight hug.

"Oh my god! Now I have two gay best friends! And they look really really hot together! Wait 'till I tell Selphie!"

And with that she kissed them both on the cheek, released them, winked and ran down the road.

Riku looked back at Sora, completely bewildered, but Sora just grinned manically and shrugged.

Riku narrowed his eyes in suspicion, "Did you and Kairi plan this?"

Sora squeaked, "Umm… Maybe?" he said, rubbing the back of his head guiltily and shooting the silvery-haired boy a winning smile.

Riku laughed, "That means yes."

Sora grinned sheepishly, "Yeah, that's why me and Kairi looked so alarmed when you came over to us before Phys-Ed today… aheh…"

"Oh! I-I thought that…" Riku trailed off, mentally smacking himself for jumping to conclusions.

Sora looked at him imploringly, his head tilted to one side, "What did you think?"

Riku cringed at his own stupidity and mentally vowed never to tell anyone what he had thought at the moment, "It doesn't matter. Ah!" he held a finger up when Sora began to protest, "All that matters right now is your answer to my question."

"What question?" Sora asked, his eyes wide, sparking with hope.

"I haven't asked it yet."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Are you going to?"

Riku gulped, he didn't know why he was nervous because Sora had made it perfectly obvious that he liked him, but he was. Damn those hormones.

"Sora, w-will you be my boh- my boyfriend?"

Sora ignored the chorus of people doing CaramelDansen in his head and kissed the other boy with all the emotion he had in him. Unfortunately, they were interrupted again.

"Woah! Would you look at that?"

"Gosh! That's so hot."

"Uh huh. Why are the hot guys always gay?"

"I have no idea, but I guess we'll have to live with that, won't we, Mindy?"

"Yeah. And watch, right Rey?"

"Hell yes, m'dear."

Riku scowled at the two crazy British neighbours he had, staring from their sun loungers and drinking pink lemonade, on the other side of the street. He looked at Sora with raised eyebrows. The brunette shrugged and twirled the wliting flower between his fingers absent-mindedly. Now that Riku thought of it, that flower looked really quite familiar.

"Sora, did you get that from my next door neighbour's garden?"

Sora blushed, "I- It was Kairi's idea!"

"Right… Okay."

"Aw, look they're embarrassed!"

The brunette shot the girls who were still watching a worried look, "Um, Riku? Can we… go inside?"

Riku blinked, "Yeah! Yeah…"

As Riku led Sora inside, he smirked to himself.

'Inside? Hmm…'

.x.X.x.

author's note: LOLOLOLOOLOLOL. gosh, would you look at that! I love my beta. She is amazing. This chapter could not have been done without her. It realy couldn't. I hope you enjoyed it. I know i did :D Emotional Riku belongs to Lamiee. She enjoyed it so much. And the 'crazy british girls' are very familiar. I wonder where they came from... ahee cough

beta: ...Britain, you cretin.

review replies:

DarkHenrych - Yes, yes we shall. They are so fun to write. :D Thank you (again) for the corrections! They are very helpful, you know how annoyed i get when i find them... oh my god, Yuffie is amazing. I would totally love that xD

Cloaked Nocturne XV -I can't wait either, it's gonna be so good xD Lawls. I love a stuttering Sora. It's just too cute. :D

SarahXxUnlovedxX - I am very glad you love this story. I love it too :D It doesn't matter if you didn't review the last chapter, you don't have to apologise! I tried to not go on fanfiction at all. It didn't last long. xD

SporkFilledDeath345 - I hate waking up late o a school day too. I really do. Everything just seems to go down hill from there. Ah, i am not a Kairi-hater..but i am very glad that you like her in this story. I do try. Review reply block. I'm getting that now. :D

read, review, party, enjoy life...

nirii xx