A/n: I'm so sorry for how long this took to update. This was my first time writing from Riku's POV, so it was hard to knock this chapter out as fast as the others. Yet again, thanks to all of you who reviewed last chapter! You guys are truly amazing! I couldn't ask for a better turn out. Also, really quickly, there's some ranting in a foreign language in this chapter. Because I don't speak Italian, I used the translator that came with Microsoft Word. So, I'm sure it isn't a 100 accurate. So, if you speak Italian, I'm sorry. Anyhoo, enjoy!

Disclaimer: Don't own Kingdom Hearts, really don't want it. So don't sue me.

Never in a million years had I expected to be manhandled into relationship. I guess I'm popular, but only for my looks. Fact is, I have a pretty reclusive personality and it turns people off after they 'get to know me'. This didn't stop me from having girlfriends though.

If a girl ever dumped me it was because I was 'too cold'. Yes, I enjoyed the physical aspects of a relationship, but the emotional part…not so keen on it. Above all else, I'm a guy. I don't care if you're wearing new shoes, or got a haircut. If your pet died, you might get a pat on the back. And that's the truth. I don't care, I most likely never will and I'm not sorry because that's who I am. To me a new dress is more of a hindrance than anything else.

Now, I'm going to be sorry I said this but here it goes. Girls are clingy. They want opinions and presents and I've got nothing to give. Girls are also emotional; when they figure it out that you're "a frostbitten SOB" they get a little upset. As in, hitting, kicking and screaming upset. Girls also have claws, and should seriously consider cutting their nails.

Being bitched out in the middle of the hallway by an ex rather publicly should've turned the other girls off, but it didn't and I had a steady stream of girlfriends since sixth grade. Some girl was always waiting in the wings, ready for their chance with me. So the girls came and went and I had a rather normal life.

That was until Sora jumped me. A whole new can of worms had been opened. Sora went from friend to boyfriend. At first I figured it was a good thing. A boyfriend wouldn't be a clingy as a girlfriend. Sora wouldn't want me to notice his new pair of pants, or drag me out to see some chick flick. Sora wouldn't be as emotional as girls, and life would go on. Only, I wouldn't be bitched out in hallways, and Sora would still be my friend only now we'd you know…make out and stuff.

So, I was dragged into a relationship with Sora, and lived happily ever after.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN'T COME OVER TONIGHT?"

"I have a game Sora, it's not like a make the sched-,"

"LIES!"

"Sora, I wouldn't lie to you. I have a game, and I can't miss it."

"PUH-LEASE! LIKE I DON'T KNOW THE SOCCER CALENDAR BACK TO FRONT!" Sora's nostrils flared for a good few moments before his rage suddenly stopped, and he lowered his eyes, pulling out the ever coveted puppy look. "…How could you think I wouldn't know? I come to all your games Riku..."

"Oh my god…" I pinched the bridge of my nose and diverted my eyes from the pathetic sight. A crowd had gathered around us by now, though Sora didn't seem to notice.

"Don't you drag my God into this, Riku Abe you shameless atheist man-whore!" I, of course, had no response to this. All the above was true, but coming out of Sora's mouth made it all seem very ridiculous. A few girls standing behind Sora nodded in agreement. "You just can't not come over tonight Riku. We had plaaaans."

"We did…?" Bad move.

"YOU DON'T REMEMBER! RIKU, YOU'RE SUCH A JERK!" And with that, Sora stormed away. As always, I was left alone in a circle of watchers, confused. The only real thought flying through my head was that my boyfriend must've had a vagina, and maybe the whole gay thing wasn't working out as planned.

From the crowd emerged the lone figure of Wakka, who clapped a large fist over my shoulder and shook me slightly.

"Man snap outta it, ya?"

"What?" I looked up at him, staring blankly.

"Sora just ran off, and you're gettin' stared at more than normal. You're gain' a rather notorious reputation, ya? First girls now boys." He laughed, and shook me around some more. Tidus stepped in front of us, frowning slightly.

"You shouldn't lie to Sora like that; he isn't like one of your ex-girlfriends."

"I know that. Look, Sora's just being a little…"

"Annoyin'?"

"Clingy?"

"Obnoxious?"

"Sora-esque?"

"Need we go on man?"

By now the crowd had gone, and we were standing alone in the hallway. Tidus and Wakka had their hand on their hips, as they continued to stare down at me. The warning bell rang, and one last girl ran past us on the way to the bus.

"You better get going man." Warned Wakka, grinning now. Tiddus stood beside and crossed his arms again, still glaring. "You'll wanna get to his house before he tells his mom."

A pause.

"Shiiiit…" And with that, I started the mad dash to the parking lot.

I ran right into a tiny freshman, knocking the books out of his arms, making the papers fly up into the air, and the whole thing was rather picturesque. What with how they fluttered about and I continued to run at break neck speed.

Out into the parking lot, and to the focus. Which I would've never driven if my mom hadn't bought it for my sister two years ago. The thing is decked out with a lot of hearts, and I think she super glued Tinkerbelle to the rearview mirror. Even the seat covers won't come off anymore. The only personal touch I added to the car wasn't even from me. It was a Chiquita Banana sticker that was stuck to one of the over head lights that Sora had stuck up there a year ago. We were so amazed that it stuck there for over a week, we decided to leave it up there until it fell off by itself.

Though, I completely ignored the girlyness of my car, jammed the keys in and speed off to Sora's house. I absolutely had to make it home before he did. If Sora beat me…hell would break loose.

On most days, I would visit Sora's house and we would act as we always did. Still doing the same stupid teenaged stuff. Well, that's not entirely true because the whole fondling thing had been added to the list as well. And in our highly routine life, I'd be asked over for dinner.

Mrs. Lombardi, Sora's mom, is a domestic goddess. Pleasantly plump, and almost always cooking. And while she cooks she sings the oddest, most obscure operas I've never even heard of. One hundred and ten percent Italian, who goes so far as to kiss my on the cheek when she's especially happy with me. She had a bit of an accent, and would grin whenever she would see I finished my plate.

"Ah, Sora dear, this is what we and the Orientals have in common. A love for pasta!" Sora would at least have the decency to look somewhat embarrassed. She however, wouldn't notice and just lean across the table to pat me on the cheek.

And for all of that love and general good nature, Mrs. Lombardi was rather protective of her only son. As in, she'd rip your head off…or have some obscure relation do it for her.

When I arrived at Sora's house, I let out a long string of curses. Sitting in the driveway was Sora's Nissan, and the family van. I smacked my head up against the wheel.

"Shit, shit, shiiiit!" I continued to curse even as I got out of the car and locked the doors. I didn't bother to knock, but let myself in. As soon as the door closed I stood face to face with Mrs. Lombardi herself.

"Hi…I just wanted to go see So-,"

"Voi ragazzo crudele! Come potreste fare Sora caro gridare come quello! Il ragazzo non colpevole! Sta gridando i suoi occhi fuori! Voi cosa wretched! Spit voi! Non meritate il mio soltanto figlio! Ho metà di mente per denominare il mio zio! Sul suo compleanno! Ragazzo crudele!" Mrs. Lombardi had impeccable aim, and a gob of spit hit me right on the shoe. I grimaced, wondering what in the world she had just said, but she decided to storm off into the kitchen and punch numbers into the phone rather angrily.

I seized the chance to escape her wrath and hurried up the stairs to Sora's room. I knocked on the door but got no answer. I knocked harder and only received a rather sulky:

"What?" I had to think quick…and this was the best I came up with.

"It's a-me, Momma! And I be a-havnin' some PASTA for you!"

"…What kind?"

"Spaghetti alla norma, you're a-favorite!" I could practically feel Sora perk up from behind the door. The boy had a thing for eggplant, what else needs to be said? The one certain way to make Sora feel better is food. Unfortunately, all I had was a melted kit-kat bar in my back pocket. I doubted that would satisfy him.

The door swung open, and I sidled in.

"Riku!" He pointed a finger at me, rather accusingly, but like hell I was going to actually give him a chance for us to stop the whole 'healing process', especially since I had been bitched out in Italian only thirty seconds ago by a rather POed Mother Hen with connections to the mob.

And really, my impression was horrible. He should've known it was me to begin with…

"Look, you've been my best friend since forever. I know all most everything about you. And, I like you, truly I do. But we have never hung out every day. There are times, when yes, I am annoyed by you and want to be by myself. And yeah, I shouldn't lie to you. But, come on."

"That's not why I'm upset Riku."

"And I'm sorry that I forgot that we had plans. But Sora, I can't even remember my Mother's birthday, so chances I'll remember a date is slim to none."

"Still not why I'm upset."

"And I know I'm still adjusting to the whole gay thing. And I'm sorry it's taking me forever to get it. Because you know, me and relationships…not very compatible. But me and you are, so it's weird to be like not making out all the time… And I don't know how to treat a girl, even though I've dated a lot of 'em, so there's no way in hell I know how to treat you. I don't know how to be a good boyfriend."

"That's really not the problem Riku."

"Well then I have no idea, because I've just like, apologized for my whole existence and I've got no other idea as to why you were upset in the first place."

"Well yeah at first I was upset. That you didn't remember and that you lied to me and that you're an idiot. But I'm more upset with myself, because yeesh. I'm such a baby!"

"…" Why does this sound like a really bad soup opera?

"And it's just like. You're Riku. And sometimes I forget that you're Riku. That you're not some awesome kickass boyfriend and that upsets me. But I shouldn't let it upset me because you're really dense. I mean, reaaally dense."

"Okay, now that just hurts."

"It's like 'Duh, of course he won't remember, its freakin' Riku. He can't even catch on that I was like, madly in love with him for months!' you know? I mean, I know I'm pretty naïve but come on!" Sora laughed a bit. "I mean, like if you can't remember your Mom's birthday, why would you remember mine?"

"Oh…"

"Oh indeed."

"Well… fuck."

"Yeah." And that's how Riku Abe was declared the World's Greatest Douche Bag. The thing is, it was really cliché. That I forgot his birthday and all. But the worst part was we'd only been celebrating it for like…the last ten years. Before he was my boyfriend, he was my best friend. This was the kid who didn't laugh at me when I needed to sleep with a nightlight on up until the age of fourteen. It was just like, one of those moments when you just want to run away and scream "fuck" for the next couple of hours.

As in, lock yourself up because you're a jerk and just scream at yourself because you're a jerk and yell and yell and never come out again. Which sounds really weird, and makes me seem psycho, but that's how I felt. I wanted to run away from Sora and never come back again. Because me being with him was hurting him. And even though I didn't really understand the whole dating thing, I did get the best friend thing. And best friends don't forget birthdays. That's like, rule number one.

Sora continued to give me a kinda sad smile. It's like, he's smiling at me, but it didn't reach his eyes. It was small, and nothing like I'd ever seen on his face before. Normally, when Sora smiled he smiled with his whole body. Like, everything just light up, from his head to his toes. And now… I wasn't ready to face this. Disappointment, I guess. It's like, he knew that it would happen, but he still wanted me to exceed his expectations of myself.

When we were growing up, Sora always looked up at me. I was always the cool kid, the person to aspire to. Like, whenever we had fights, I came up on top. Or during field day, we'd compete against each other and I'd always get the blue ribbon. Even when it came to doing homework, I was the one Sora always came to first for help.

So suddenly being the disappointment… well it hurt. Or…I was shocked…or I don't know. It was odd. I couldn't believe I had let Sora down like that. It was like my whole world falling apart. I wasn't sure of where I belonged anymore. If I wasn't his friend…could I be his boyfriend?

I could feel my mind chasing itself in circles. Like Sora's retarded dog Pluto attempting to catch its tail. Around and around, and not really gaining any ground. Just, falling into this abyss of…not knowing, but fearing the worst.

Wow am I ever messed up.

Sora just stared at me, with that sad little smile and I wanted to run away and keep on running until I've figured everything out or died trying. So, I took a few steps back, my arm reaching behind me for the door. And, I pulled it open and quickly walked backwards out of it. Sora's eyes widen slightly as I turned around and sprinted down the stairs.

I got to the bottom, and ran past little Mrs. Lombardi who was shaking a large wooden spoon at me, and out the door into the street. Panicking, I had no idea where to run to. If I went home, surely somebody would let Sora in. I couldn't run to Wakka's or Tidus's house. I would feel really uncomfortable intruding on them. We were only friends through soccer. My mind continued to reel, wondering how I could be such a looser.

My whole life was wasted. Completely wasted. Sora had been the only person who really noticed me, liked me. And I wrecked it.

So there I stood, in summer's heat, about mid May, staring down an empty road of our subdivision maybe ten feet away from Sora's house. I stood there, on the blacktop staring at nothing in particular…just…staring off. My legs were tense, ready to run, but the rest of my body felt numb, dulled by the racing thoughts in my head.

"RIKU!" Sora was standing behind me, framed in his doorway, looking at me like he couldn't believe what I'd just done. My head turned all by itself, and I could just see Sora out of the corner of my eye. We must've looked at each other for a good minute before I took off.

"What the-, RIKU!" I could hear Sora pounding after me. Horrible scenes few threw my head, of all the horrible repercussions that Sora catching up to me might bring. So, I continued to run.

I right down to the end of Destiny Street, and right into Dawn Lane. I quickly looked behind me and saw that I was widening the gap between me and Sora. Sora had never really been a match for me when it came to athletics. Anyway, I had longer legs. Though, stupidly enough, I forgot that Dawn Lane led right into Radiant Court. I ran to the forest side, and stared around, looking for an exit. Sora had entered at the top of the court, and was staring down the cud sac, watching my every move. I twitched slightly under his gaze. Behind me there was only prairie grass, in front of me, Sora. I choose the grass.

Leaping over a fence, I took off into the field. I could hear Sora curse in the distance, something he only did when he was really upset. Unfortunately for the both of us, we had opted for shorts due to the hot weather we'd been having. So, the underbrush of unkempt prairie land bit into our legs as we ran through the wilderness.

Sora now had the advantage. He could easily maneuver around the weeds were as my long limbs were getting tangled. I could hear him crashing behind me, catching up. I pumped my legs faster, almost sprinting in an attempt to get away from him.

Though Sora was now like a little bulldozer, keeping to the path I had already carved out, and still gaining. When ran like that, for another handful of minutes. Sora gaining, and my pace dying down from all the sprinting I had done.

I could now hear Sora's heavy breathing from behind me. And as hard as I tried, I couldn't move any faster. If I had stuck to a steady pace, I would've outrun him, but all the panicking I'd done wasted a lot of energy. So now, Sora had caught up, and launched himself at me. I was able to turn around just in time, so it wouldn't be my face smacking into the ground.

He fell right onto my chest, and my head snapped back with a sickening thud. I winced, not only from the blow to the head, but as because of Sora's weight, who was now on top of me. Sora continued to wheeze, not even attempting to get off of me. I was winded, having felt all of the air in my lungs come out in one burst when Sora landed on me. So, we stayed still in the grass trying to catch our breath.

Slowly, Sora pushed forward, so his head wasn't on my chest anymore but hovering over my face. He looked down at me, still panting slightly, and a frown formed on his face. Instantly, I felt the urge to run again, to simply kick Sora off of me and run for my life.

"Don't you ever do that again." Sora propped himself up better, an arm on either side of my head and straddling my hips. I guess it would've looked somewhat provocative had Sora not looked ready to beat me within an inch of my life. "Don't you ever run away from me again, got it?"

I didn't answer him. Because I really didn't have one. I couldn't promise that I wouldn't take the easy way out again. I still wanted to run, so I couldn't promise I wouldn't do so in the future.

"So you screwed up, big deal! I told you I was okay with it, disappointed, yeah, but okay. And I try, really hard to remember that you're a freakin' retard, but come on!"

"I forgot your birthday Sora. That's not something you should be able to forgive me for. I'm not only your boyfriend; I'm your friend too. Friend's don't forget friend's birthdays."

"I told you. I'm fine. You could've made it up to me, like taken me out or something. But no, you ran and that's what really pissed me off. What did you expect to happen? Did you think I wouldn't love you anymore because you forgot something as stupid as that? Huh? Huh?"

"…Love?"

"Yes, you giant idiot. I've loved you since you came bearing a tray full of cookies and asked if I wanted to play color tag with you! I love you! Forgetting something as stupid as a birthday isn't going to change that you're the love of my freakin' life and that sounded really gay but I don't care!" And in a spasmatic flurry of limbs, Sora flailed, and planted a rather large kiss on me.

And really, it's hard to be kissing Sora and depressed. Well, it's hard to be in the presence of Sora and not lose a few brain cells, so it really wasn't the time to be doing any deep thinking about how I was a jerk and how Sora hated me…which he obviously didn't.

When Sora finally pulled up again, he was panting again. But now, he was also grinning.

"Happy birthday Sora."

"Whatever." And with that, he dove back down again.

And really, if forgetting somebody's birthday is going to reward you with a kickass make out session in a field; then it's worth it.

"You cruel boy! How coudl you make darling Sora cry like that! The innocent boy! He's crying his eyes out! You wretched thing! I spit at you! You don't deserve my only son! I have half a mind to call my Uncle! On his birthday! Cruel boy!"

A/n: Thanks for reading, as always! If we can get up to 20 reviews, that would be kickass! Next chapter is Demyx's turn! Hopefully it won't take to long to update...