Author's notes: Well...here we go with the next chapter. I don't have much to say about it. There's fluff in it. Lots of fluff actually. Not much for the plot I think...but I'll work on that in the next chapter. Or so I hope. Anywayz, have fun with Chapter 18!
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Riku awoke in the morning, wondering when exactly he had fallen asleep. He remembered talking to Sora and then… He shrugged. Turning to the alarm clock on the nightstand he saw it was almost time to get up. Only almost, though.
He snuggled back into his blanket and closed his eyes to drift. Of course, his mind came to rest on Sora. He had to smile a little when he pictured Sora lying in his bed, sleeping like a stone. He would be sleeping now because Riku knew Sora only got up five minutes before he had to get to school.
Strangely, though, Riku suddenly began to think of Kairi. The memory of the last evening came back and he groaned. He really didn't want to remember those things. All the girls wanting to marry him… luckily none was good enough for his mother so there hadn't been any result as of yet. But did this mean there were going to be more of those parties and more girls??
Riku shuddered. Back to thinking of Sora, he told himself, wrapping his arms around the blanket, wishing it was Sora. He sighed as his mind came back to Kairi, though. There was something bothering him and that something was nothing other than the fact that Kairi liked someone and wouldn't tell him.
Who did she like? It wasn't Tidus…so who was it? Or maybe it was Tidus and she just didn't want to admit it? But why shouldn't she? Kairi wasn't that type of girl, or so Riku thought. He realized that he couldn't be sure because even though they'd known each other for a while now, he still couldn't know exactly what Kairi was like. She was as much of a mystery to him as he was to others sometimes.
A beeping sound jerked him out of his thoughts. Time to get up now. Time to get... 'Sora,' was his last coherent thought before he drifted off again.
---
Sora lay in his bed, eyes half lidded, mind still somewhere in the lands of dream. He hadn't slept all that well and was constantly in this state of half sleep. Now it was time to get up and he felt like he hadn't slept at all.
It was still raining outside. He could hear it from the open window.
"Oh crap…" he muttered to himself as he dragged himself out of bed. He had left the window open and it had probably rained in.
When he went to his desk his eyes widened and he groaned. He had left his homework on the desk and it had rained onto that desk, which resulted in soaked homework.
Great way to start the day, he bitterly thought. He decided to throw the useless sheet of soaked paper away and got dressed. He was in a lousy mood today, all right.
After choking on a piece of really hard and almost not edible bread, he decided to leave because Riku would be standing in front of his house early, as always.
He grabbed his things and walked out of the door, locking it before he turned around.
There was no Riku. Sora blinked. Where was he? Could it be he overslept?
Memories came back to him, memories of their conversation last night. Riku had been on this party with all those girls who would be engaged to him. It had exhausted him a lot so maybe he didn't get up this morning?
Sora was worried. Not only because he didn't have anyone to walk to school with but also because he began to worry about Riku's state of health. He remembered the boy having problems with his heart and breathing when things went wrong. He hoped Riku was all right. What if the boy lay in his bed and was in deep pain? What if he couldn't even breathe anymore? Sora nearly panicked and was tempted to run to his friend to see if he was all right. He would just sneak in through the ladder at the balcony.
And he almost did that, turning on his heels to run into Riku's direction when his eyes met a figure in the distance, running towards him. First it was all blurry through the heavy rain (he didn't have an umbrella but he didn't really notice) and then it became clearer. It was Riku.
The silver haired boy dashed towards him, almost running him over when he reached his destination.
"Sorry!" he gasped and panted, leaning against Sora to catch his breath.
"Are you all right?" Sora worriedly asked, patting his friend on the back. Riku panted some more and nodded, holding onto Sora's arm for balance. It was plain that he was not all right.
Riku was trembling slightly and began to cough, first only lightly but then it developed into violent coughing, shaking his body through and through. Sora frowned and pressed them close together, covering Riku with his arms.
"I'm really fine," Riku muttered when he recovered, knowing what Sora was thinking. Even he knew that he must have seemed extremely sick right now but he was all right. Last thing he wanted was to stay at home. Going to school was his only escape, the only way to leave his cage.
Sora kissed him on the lips but Riku pushed him away quickly, for he had to cough again.
"Sorry…" he mumbled, hanging his head. Sora shook his head and gently took his hand.
"Come on, let's go."
---
School was worse than Sora thought it would be. Not only had the rain soaked his homework, he also forgot some of his books and he had to go to the blackboard to solve a mathematical problem which he didn't understand at all.
And when he thought it couldn't get any worse it turned out they were having Art instead of History today. Art with Ms Gainsborough also known as 'Aeris, the bitch who caught us'.
Riku wasn't feeling well, either. He coughed and sneezed all the time, which then again caused all the girls to come and fuss over him. Sora was always pushed into a small corner where he had to watch poor Riku being massacred by crazy fans.
Eventually the day ended. Sora hadn't paid much attention to Kairi, he didn't know why. Maybe it was because he was too caught up in the things going wrong to notice anything else.
However, when they walked out of the building, Riku coughing beside Sora, Kairi was there to pat his back.
"You ok?" she asked, giving Riku a worried look.
Sora tensed, seeing how easily Riku let Kairi touch him. He usually avoided everyone except Sora. But then Kairi was different. Kairi was his friend, wasn't she?
"I'm fine," Riku replied, waving a hand in dismissal. Kairi nodded, accepting this without further questions. However, she leaned up to his ear and seemed to whisper something. Sora's eyes widened; he had never seen anyone doing that with Riku. Riku would never allow.
He watched how Kairi said something and Riku nodded, giving her a look when she withdrew.
"Right," he mumbled, suddenly glancing at Sora.
He then smiled and extended his hand, beckoning Sora to take it. Kairi smiled at the two and waved when she left.
"See ya tomorrow, boys!"
Sora frowned. "What did she say?" he suspiciously inquired, feeling a slight tinge of jealousy in him.
Riku shook his head. "Oh nothing. Really. It's not important."
Sora frowned more and opened his mouth to reply. However, he was cut off by Riku asking him something.
"Say…do you have any idea who she might like?"
He blinked. Kairi liked someone? Well, she obviously did. And it was so plain to see that this someone was Riku!
"What do you mean?" he hesitantly asked as they began to walk down the street. Sora became distracted with the raindrops hitting the ground, finding it strangely fascinating how it created small puddles. It didn't bother him at all that they didn't have an umbrella this time. He was just a bit worried about Riku, who was sneezing and coughing a lot lately.
"What do I mean?" Riku slowly repeated, trailing off into silence. Sora snapped his head to his friend and frowned. He cocked his head and bit his lip. Then he reached out and grabbed Riku's arm. He didn't really know why he had done it but Riku seemed not to mind. He was a bit surprised, yes, but he didn't do anything to push him away.
"Kairi likes someone…and I can't figure out who it is…" Riku mumbled. 'Of course there's this one possibility…' he kept thinking. Always this one possibility. But he didn't want to voice his thoughts yet. Not until Sora had said something about it.
"And you mean it's not Mr Perfect?" Sora sarcastically answered as they continued to walk. He let go off Riku and turned away, looking at the rain again. Why had he just said that? And why had he just sounded so hostile?
Riku sighed. "Sora…" It seemed Riku knew what Sora felt even though Sora himself didn't.
"No, really, whom does she like then? If it's not you? You're the only one. I mean you're close and all, you never see her with anyone else…she's always with us."
Yes, that was it. Riku felt a pang in his chest. 'Us,' he thought to himself. He thought back on the evening. Kairi had clearly told him that she did not like him in that way but that it was someone else.
"Yeah…always with us…" he mused as his hand searched for Sora's. If Kairi really liked Sora – he barely wanted to think of this – then what would happen between them? Riku didn't want to lose Sora. He was supposed to be his friend. What if Kairi got even closer to him than Riku was? He didn't want that at all.
Sora seemed oblivious, though. He was still of the opinion that Kairi liked Riku and just tried to hide it. And because of all that secrecy going around lately he didn't know what to think anyway. Why were Kairi and Riku exchanging those looks all of the time? Why did she lean up to whisper into his ear today? Why was he so nice to her? There was something going on and Sora swore that it was all an conspiracy against him!
…so maybe he over dramatized things. But it really bothered him. And there was also the thing about the fiancées. Riku hadn't lost a word about it.
They were at the convenience store. Riku stopped suddenly, squeezing Sora's hand lightly.
"I…if you don't…um…because…"
Sora raised his eyebrows and turned to face Riku.
"What?"
He saw how Riku kind of blushed and it looked so cute that he had to smile, forgetting all his worries at once. Riku had this half scowl, half frown on his face and the slightly flushed cheeks made him look so adorable.
"Piano…" he heard the boy mumble before Riku looked up and shrugged his shoulders.
Sora blinked at first. Then it hit him. Of course! Riku had asked him to accompany him!
He blinked again. "What? Right now?"
Riku nodded. "We have twenty minutes to get there…it's not far." He gestured towards the bus station on the other side of the road. Then he looked a bit worried.
"Only if you don't mind, of course…"
Sora smiled brightly. "I don't think I have anything better to do," he replied, tugging on Riku's hand. They went along and entered the bus when it came.
Sora watched the houses and cars pass by as the bus went. After a few stops they reached their destination; Sora tried to memorize the way in case he would need to come here some time again.
When they approached the building, Sora was again surprised at the elegance of it all. It surprised him how many beautiful places there were in town while he knew nothing of it.
Riku rang the doorbell and the door opened, revealing a very…intimidating woman.
"Oooh Riku!"
She was fat.
Yes, it wasn't polite to say that but technically, Sora hadn't said it, just thought it. She was fat and her breasts looked like giant balloons and Sora couldn't help but feel pity when Riku was crushed against her, pressed against her huge bosom. Her hair was curly and red, dyed of course. She had a big mouth smeared with red lipstick.
Sora didn't want to say, or think, that she was ugly but she was really kind of scary when he looked at her.
"Riku! How nice to see you! How have you been, sweetie?" She had the habit to roll the R with her tongue and her voice was somewhat shrill so Riku's name sounded like a battle cry whenever she said it.
Riku, however, didn't seem affected by her at all and merely smiled his ever charming smile as he brushed himself off.
"I've been fine, Mrs Oren, thank you."
Sora was tempted to roll his eyes. So here was Mr Perfect again. He hadn't seen that side of Riku for a while, now that he thought about it.
The ugly woman, no wait, her name was Mrs Oren, ushered the boys into the living room where a grand piano stood. It was as beautiful as Riku's.
Sora had trotted behind them, feeling a little out of place as Riku seemed to be completely absorbed into his role as the perfect boy. Mrs Oren was gesturing around with her hands, explaining something to him in that eccentric way of hers.
Eventually, they sat down at the piano and Sora was left there standing. Mrs Oren noticed him, seemingly for the first time and clapped her hands.
"Oh, dearest! Who is this darling little boy?" she inquired, turning her face full of make up to Riku.
The silver haired boy, perfect as he was, smiled smoothly at her and nodded his head towards Sora.
"This is a friend of mine. His name is Sora."
Mrs Oren's eyes widened and she smiled – which made her look extremely scary, or so Sora thought.
"Oooh! A friend! Sora, yes? Doesn't that name have something to do with the sky? Oh yes, you are pure like the sky, I can feel the good vibes coming from you!" She suddenly developed into doing some kind of hand motions, almost as if she were trying to do some esoteric thing. He was scared.
Riku chuckled and shrugged, placing his music book out to ready himself to play.
Mrs Oren sighed and put her hands to her breasts. "Oh wonderful, this boy!"
Riku smiled, secretly stealing a glance at his friend. Yep, he was wonderful. Wonderfully frightened, by the way. Riku gave him a wink, trying to comfort him. 'She's not so bad,' he wanted to say. Sora seemed to understand and tried to keep the horrified face away. He had to look 'wonderful'.
So he smiled.
Eventually, Riku began to play and Mrs Oren listened carefully, seeming absolutely fascinated by the way her pupil's fingers danced over the keys. He was a natural talent, a genius at music. She was not worthy to be his teacher.
Sora watched and listened with interest. He had never heard Riku play before. He was surprised how fascinating it was to see Riku concentrating, creating this beautiful music. However, Sora could feel that he was not as concentrated as he should be. Every now and then Riku would look at him out of the corner of his eyes and he would smile a bit. Then he would continue to play with more force and more passion. Then, however, he would get distracted again and look at Sora.
Mrs Oren was absolutely charmed by her pupil and clapped her hands over and over again. She adored the boy and she said it every time.
Then, her phone rang. She excused herself and left the living room to answer the phone privately. Riku was supposed to play the next piece on his own because it was new so he should pracitce a bit.
After a few minutes of playing, Riku suddenly stopped. There was this smile again and he turned to Sora, who was sitting on the couch now. He lifted his hand and motioned him to come over. Sora raised his eyebrows, not sure what Riku wanted from him, but shrugged and got up to walk to his friend.
"Yup?"
He blinked as Riku wrapped his arms around him, burying his face in his stomach.
"…need a break…" the silver haired boy mumbled as he nuzzled Sora's abdomen. Sora inhaled sharply at the feeling; it tickled slightly. His hands found their way into Riku's hair. Oh how he loved the feel of that silky hair. And Riku was moving his mouth and he could feel it, hear the rustling of clothes when he did.
"Riku…" Sora murmured, too caught up in the sensations to think straight. But Mrs Oren would come back any second.
Sora gasped when he felt Riku's hands, which had been wrapped around his waist, sliding under his shirt; fingers teasing up and down his spine.
"Riku!" he whispered, pushing the boy away a bit.
Sora blushed furiously and shook his head. Riku bit his lip and looked down.
"Umm…Sorry…I didn't know what I was doing…" he mumbled, shaking his head to clear his mind.
Sora shrugged. "You should practice," he murmured, gesturing to the sheets of music. Riku nodded and turned back to his task while Sora returned to his seat.
Neither noticed that Mrs Oren had already finished talking on the phone and had seen the whole scene when she had been standing in the doorway.
When she came back, she smiled knowingly but neither of the boys realized that.
She just smiled and patted Riku's head, then went to Sora and ruffled his hair, too.
"Now you two, I'll let you go earlier today," she announced as she looked at the clock.
Riku blinked. "What? Why?" he asked in confusion. Not that he wasn't glad. He was ecstatic to know he could spend more time with Sora but why would she stop earlier? His lessons were always two hours long. And right now only forty minutes had passed.
His teacher, however, shook her head. "Oh, I've got business," she lied. It was obvious when she lied. She just wasn't the greatest liar but she was always a kind-hearted woman. Riku thought that whatever reason she had, it would only be good for him.
"All right," he reluctantly agreed, packing up his things to leave. Sora was still a bit puzzled about it all but followed Riku.
Mrs Oren waved at them when they left.
"Oh and," she turned to rummage through a dresser on the right of the anteroom, "don't you want an umbrella?" she asked, waving one of those horribly pink plastic things at the boys.
Riku and Sora exchanged a look.
Then they turned.
And ran for their lives.
Mrs Oren laughed, shaking her head. "Boys will be boys," she hummed, closing the door to her apartment. The fact that Riku had a friend now made her more than happy. She had always been of the opinion that a friend would do the poor boy some good.
---
"So…" Sora and Riku were standing at the bus station. They didn't really know where to go so Sora thought it was best to return home. Or wherever.
Riku had a better idea.
"Let's go to the park there," he suggested and pointed into the direction of a few trees.
Sora shrugged. He didn't know the area here but he was sure that as long as he was with Riku, things wouldn't be so bad.
"Okay," he agreed and they made their way to the park. There were lots of empty benches but Riku didn't seem to want to sit on them. Sure they were wet but so were they… Riku, however, seemed to be looking for a particular bench. They went through the park until Riku turned to the side and walked over to the trees. There was a small hill and behind that hill, there was a perfect secluded bench surrounded by great trees giving shelter.
It was beautiful.
They sat down on the bench there. First Sora was sitting on the far end of it while Riku was on the other side. Then, however, they moved closer, closer and closer until Riku put his arm around Sora.
Silence. Only the rain was audible. The trees were giving such a perfect shelter, it seemed as though they were in some kind of cave. Sora couldn't help thinking of it as romantic, even though he was not being in a romantic situation with Riku. That would be really wrong. They were just…together. In a perfect place…
"You never told me about the rest of the evening," Sora suddenly said, turning his head to look at Riku.
The silver haired boy sighed and shook his head in dismissal.
"It was horrible. Just horrible. That's why I overslept today. Why I feel so awful. You know that I get kinda sick when something worries me."
Sora only nodded before he let his head fall back on Riku's shoulder. He liked being close to him like that.
"So I guess you didn't find any girl you liked?"
Sora wouldn't admit that he would die if Riku found a girl he liked. Luckily, however, Riku snorted.
"Girl I liked? I hated them. All of them!" He sighed in exasperation. Even though he lied about that. He didn't hate Kairi. But he couldn't tell Sora about Kairi. He didn't know why but he just couldn't. And also, Kairi had told him, when they went out of school, to keep it from Sora for a while. He didn't know why she wanted that but he supposed she had her reasons.
Sora sighed, too and moved a bit away from Riku as he stretched. He yawned, rubbing his eyes. The sound of rain was making him sleepy, and also this place was so relaxing and soothing, he just wanted to sleep.
Riku smiled and stretched, too. Just relax and be with each other, he thought. That was it. That was the way it should always be.
---
Time passed.
They sat under the shelter of the trees, rain drizzling down from the edges of the leaves. Sora felt the chilly wind stroke over his face but couldn't find any discomfort in the feeling. It was a beautiful day, dark and rainy but beautiful nonetheless.
Riku sat beside him on the small bench. He'd let his head fall backwards, arms spread on the armrest and his legs stretched out. It seemed he was relaxing as his eyes gazed at the green leaves dancing with the wind. He blinked occasionally to prevent raindrops getting into his eyes and Sora found himself staring in awe.
The long eyelashes descended with such grace. The silver hair was slightly damp through the rain and it looked so beautiful, so tempting to run one's fingers through it as the drops rolled off the smooth hair.
Suddenly, as if to shake Sora out of his daze, a sigh floated in the air. Riku turned his head into Sora's direction with a fluid motion. The aqua eyes were mesmerizing in their own mystifying way. It was as though they were adopting the colour of their surroundings and mixing them into the beautiful sea of green and blue.
Sora could not look away even if he wanted to. He just wouldn't move or blink. However, as nature demands it, he had to blink for a split of a second. And in that split of a second a smile crept up the silver haired boy's lips. Slowly and lazily it crawled onto those well-shaped lips, forming the most wonderful smile Sora had ever seen.
And when he thought it couldn't get any better, this splendid sight, the creamy lips parted and began to move.
"I never thought this was possible," he said, shifting in his position to be closer to Sora. For once, he could be out with a friend, not being controlled by his parents, being caged, being forced into things he didn't want. Now he was free.
He remained stretched out even as he moved close to Sora. Sora watched him, unable to take his eyes off the boy. He began to smile.
"There's always a first time for everything," he replied, feeling a strange yet pleasant feeling in his stomach. Those eyes, those hauntingly gorgeous eyes caused him to fidget. Yet he couldn't look away.
Riku chuckled and turned his head back to stare upwards at the leaves.
"I guess so…" he trailed off into silence.
Only the rain was audible as they sat under the tree. Only the sizzling of drops lightly hitting the ground or splashing against leaves echoed through the comforting silence. There was no need for talk.
Riku's eyes became half-lidded and he tilted his head. Sora could see it all from the corner of his eye as he tilted his head upwards, just like Riku. They stared at the mightiness above them. Hundreds of green or slightly yellow leaves hung on the strong branches. The rain splattered against them but they never really reached the boys. The tree was giving perfect shelter.
"Have you ever experienced…" Riku suddenly began, breaking the silence again.
Sora was too caught up in staring at the fascinating wonder of raindrops meeting leaves that he didn't turn to look at Riku. The silver haired boy wasn't looking at him either, just staring upwards.
"…when you look at something long enough…no matter what it is… it turns into something abstract…" the silver haired boy went on, now narrowing his eyes a bit. Sora imitated this and tilted his head slightly. He looked at the many leaves and the grey sky in between. And when he looked long enough, until he wasn't really looking anymore… he found that Riku was right.
Somehow it all turned into a pool of colours. No shapes, no definite outlines…just colours.
"It feels good, too," Sora murmured, somehow drawing a connection between this phenomenon and their relationship. There wasn't any shape or outline…no definition. There were just colours, beautiful, nice colours swimming in a pool that mixed them all together. Their emotions were mixed together without any shape or rules.
"If I had to marry…I'd want to marry you," Riku then said, finally tearing his gaze away from the sky to look at his sky. That was his decision. The girls were all horrible, Kairi liked someone else – not that he wanted to marry Kairi – so the only person he wanted was Sora. Sora and no one but him.
Sora hadn't turned his head yet so the silver haired boy could take in his profile. Adorable. There was something about Sora he just couldn't describe. The best word he knew was adorable but even that did no justice. He adored Sora like nothing else, that he knew. Then he turned away from the sight because he was sure he wouldn't be able to bear it any longer.
There was really no doubt, he thought. He had been thinking about it for a while now and there was his final conclusion. If he had to spend his life with someone, it would have to be someone with whom he could feel at ease. Someone with whom he could joke and fool around. Someone with whom he could spend time in silence. Someone he cared about.
Sora couldn't say he hadn't expected to hear this. Well, he wasn't really prepared for it, didn't know what to do or say about it, but somewhere in the back of his mind he had known that this would come. The thoughts of Kairi liking Riku had vanished into a small corner of his mind, if not perished completely. Now everything that mattered was Riku and no one but him.
And everything seemed logical, too. He figured that he would want to marry Riku, too, if he had to marry someone. Not that he wanted to get married to anyone… it was stupid and too early anyway. But if he had to…it had to be someone like Riku. It had to be Riku.
Realizing their thoughts, they both blushed and shook their heads simultaneously. Both smiled and both turned to look at each other and their eyes met.
A long silence regarded them then, kind of leaving them hanging in nothingness. It wasn't until Riku leaned forward, until Sora closed his eyes, and until they both moved to press their lips together, that they both knew that something was going on between them.
Something that was not friendship in the sense of friendship. Something that was not what they thought it would be. Something that was…much more than that. Much more than anything they knew.
And that something they shared was…
Riku wrapped his arms around Sora and held him tightly, closing his eyes slowly. Sora did the same and rubbed his friend's back with his hands. There were whispered confessions then. Half-murmured, then inaudible whispering that wasn't intelligible, probably because the thoughts in their heads weren't intelligible either. Sweet nothings, gentle touches, rain drizzling from above, it all mixed into one state of emotional vulnerability and need. Never having experienced this but both knowing that it was right this way, the boys drowned in the closeness of each other. It felt as though they melted into each other. At one point Sora made a sound that could have passed as a moan if one wanted to hear it that way and Riku pressed his lips to his cheek in a soft gesture. Everything between them was so tentative and timid, almost as though one hasty movement could destroy everything between them. They were careful but not afraid.
Because when Sora opened his eyes and saw Riku opening his eyes, too, he knew that nothing could ever destroy what had formed between them. He smiled again, then it turned into a grin. It was that adorable encouraging grin he always had and Riku found himself smirking in response.
And in a matter of seconds they were half wrestling, half tickling each other, laughing all the while. Sora noted how carefree Riku's laughter was and it made him more than happy. He had been so fragile before, stressed because of his parents, afraid because of their strange feelings. But everything was back to normal as they played around.
---
"Even though my mother thinks I'm having piano lesson, I should still get home on time," Riku murmured as Sora had his arms around him, unwilling to let go off him. They were already in front of the gates and Riku was getting slightly nervous even though he didn't want to let go off Sora either.
"Just another minute," Sora pleaded, hugging Riku tightly.
They kissed one last time, just a short brushing of lips, to say goodbye. There were still those doubts about whether they were supposed to do that. But then they both felt that it was a feeling that was too amazing, something that was simply too wonderful not to do.
"I'll call you, I promise," Riku murmured when he left. Sora smiled brightly and nodded.
"I'm living for those calls," he answered, grinning and waving at Riku as he walked backwards, leaving slowly but surely.
"Don't trip," Riku mocked, smirking slightly as a panicked look crossed Sora's features. The boy spun around and looked if there was anything that might have made him trip and glared when there was nothing.
"Take care, marshmallow," Riku teased and Sora stuck out his tongue.
Riku smirked. He loved that boy and nothing would ever change that.
– To be continued –
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Ending notes: ::sigh:: I hope this chapter was all right! I had lots of fragments written and had to connect them somehow to make it a chapter. I don't know if you noticed, I hope not
Well anyway...I hope you liked this chapter! I liked the bit with Sora and Riku sitting under the trees on the bench... cause I know place like this and it's the most beautiful thing you can imagine. I love that place hehe...
Ok, I'm gonna stop rambling. Review please!