Roxas sat at the breakfast table, his eyes half open. There were a lot of things he'd learned about Sora just by living with him, that he never would have known otherwise. Like that fact that he simply did NOT get up in the morning. Even if the morning was ten or eleven.

Roxas drank the remaining milk from his cereal bowl as Sora's Mom came into the kitchen. She opened the fridge and took out a yogurt, sitting down at the table. "If you're finished, then would you go wake up Sora please?" she asked, polite as ever.

"Sure," Roxas replied, getting up from the table and shuffling up the stairs. He'd only had to wake up Sora a few times before, and it wasn't exactly easy. He was skeptical as to whether he'd even be able to do it so early in the morning. But it was the first day of school and not only did Sora need to go, but Roxas was going to need him there.

Roxas pushed open the door to Sora's room, careful not to step on any of his clothes that he felt the need to throw all over the floor. Roxas never understood this concept. He stood over Sora's sleeping form and rubbed one of his eyes. "Sora, get up."

Sora didn't move so much as a finger, his body splayed out on his bed awkwardly. Sora's legs jutted out from his blankets, and one arm was draped across the bed. He was lying face down, and Roxas really wondered how he could breathe with his face buried in the pillow like that. Though judging by his snoring, he apparently could.

Roxas sat down on Sora's bed and he didn't stir. Roxas pulled Sora's blanket off, hoping the sudden chill would wake him, but he didn't move at all. The gentle curve of his back was exposed as his shirt had ridden up to his chest sometime in the night. Roxas cocked his head to the side a little and ran his hand down Sora's spine, the skin soft under his fingertips. He drew his hand away quickly at Sora's unexpected sigh, though his Other made no move to rise.

Roxas briefly considered climbing back in bed and going to sleep, and Sora's bed looked particularly inviting right about now. Sora was warm and Roxas' fingers found themselves on his back again, walking one over the other up to where his shirt was bunched up.

Sora woke at the tickling sensation and rolled over with a small whine, as Roxas shoved his hands between his knees rather, what? Nervously, he decided, as if they had been there all along. Sora sat up and looked directly at him, just staring for a moment.

"What?" Roxas asked, scooting away from him. It was okay to sit on Sora's bed, wasn't it? It was totally normal.

"You okay? I mean, you feel okay?" he asked, looking as concerned as a person that just woke up really could look.

"I'm fine," Roxas replied, standing up. "Get up already. You're so freaking slow," he commented, leaving Sora's room.

Sora scratched his mess of hair. Maybe he was still dreaming. He swore Roxas' face was red.

Roxas stopped by the bathroom to look at himself in the mirror. He touched his face. Maybe he should ask Sora about what causes a person's face to heat up like this. Since, it seemed to happen mostly just around him.

SCHOOL. It made Riku frown. Mostly because teenagers were plainly put, just annoying. Especially that crowd of "non-conforming", rumor spreading, soul sucking, pubescent, drama lovers known as freshman. Being a senior this year, Riku hoped he could stay far away from the pit of sickness. Hey, he even had a free period. One which allowed him to hide on the roof. Maybe take a nap or damage his hearing via MP3 player.

"Good morning!" called his favorite redhead (cause lets face it, Axel just didn't do it for him) from across the courtyard. Riku stopped his forward progress towards homeroom and waited for Kairi and Namine to catch up to him. "Hey girls," he greeted, still not fully in his morning mood.

Kairi gave his arm a squeeze, showing her excitement for the first day of school. Namine only smiled at him shyly. She didn't know Riku all that well, but he had never really been anything but perfectly nice to her. She appreciated this, considering how rudely he treated innocent bystanders and people that didn't know their nose from their ass.

"How many confessions do you think you will you get today, Riku?" Kairi asked. "Sora and I made a bet." Kairi bet over three, and Sora bet under three.

"Is it normal for you to get a lot?" Namine asked. It was understandable, Riku was really attractive. His hair practically begged to be petted. Not only that, but he was aloof and came across as really cool and distant. Riku nodded at her knowingly.

"Last night I had a genius idea," Riku said, adjusting his backpack as he avoided the gaze of a group of oncoming girls.

"Oh?" Kairi said, curious. "What was tha---ah! Riku!" Riku's arm had secretly snaked around her waist and had just now pulled her up close to him.

"I decided that you were going on a date with me," he said, as if this were perfectly normal.

Kairi's cheeks flushed a little. "Don't be silly, Riku. What for?"

"For to get all the other girls off my back!" Riku explained. "If I schedule a date with every girl that I'm actually friends with once a week, I can be consistently labeled as 'attached' all the way until I graduate." He was so brilliant, he really didn't know how he could stand himself.

"Riku, that'll just make you look like a dirty hooker," Kairi pointed out, moving his arm up and around her shoulder. It was more comfortable to walk like that.

"I bathe regularly!" Riku protested the 'dirty' part. "Its not being a hooker, its 'exploring my options'. C'mon Kairi, you know you wanna."

"Um, what happens if you run out of girls?" Namine pointed out. She hadn't wanted to butt in on their conversation, but she didn't see Riku hanging out with a whole lot of girls. "How many do you even know?"

Riku thought about it for a minute. "Well there's Kairi and you-"

"Me?!" Namine squeaked. Her cheeks turned pink. Riku actually would?

"-yeah, and Selphie, Yuffie, Tifa-"

"Tifa is like, four years older than you. And she can punch through brick walls," Kairi pointed out. She guessed there was some sort of an appeal of older women, especially since Tifa usually wore leather.

Riku shrugged. "Aerith would do it, too. She's too nice-"

"You could probably get Olette to date you uh…long distance?" Namine offered.

"Oooo, cybersex. Good one, Namine," Riku said, nodding.

It took Kairi a second. "CyberWHAT?!"

"Joking," Riku said, holding his hands up. "How many does that give me?"

"Seven," Namine said. "So if you ask them out on Monday, date them on Friday, then repeat, but dump them before the second date, you've got 14 weeks covered. Eleven will be unaccounted for. Then what will you do?" It was sort of fun to scheme with them like this.

Riku paused in the hallway, in front of the locker he had been assigned. Kairi studied him, and it looked as if he were carefully considering something. He slowly turned the dial on his locker, while Kairi and Namine shared a sideways glance.

"Well?" Kairi asked, a little impatient.

"How many guy friends do I have?" he asked, looking at Namine pointedly. She seemed to be the number wizard right now. She turned red.

"REALLY?!" Kairi asked, trying to contain her shock. She didn't want to offend Riku in case he really, actually wanted to…swing that way.

"You're right," Riku said, popping his locker open. Ah, the emptiness of it. As it should be. Not like the girls with their stickers and mirrors and pictures and weird random crap they felt the need to hang up inside. Or Sora and his taplight. Whatever he saw in that thing, Riku would never know.

"Most of them probably wouldn't agree, it'd damage their reputation. Like Wakka, since he's captain of the blitz ball team. He has to remain untouchably manly." If not for that, Wakka probably wouldn't care in the least bit. He was friendly and always quick to help people out.

Riku looked over at Kairi who was paused in thought. He waited until she looked over with a grin.

"Tidus," they both said, in unison. Namine lifted her eyebrow.

"He's already gay," Riku explained. "I won't even have to turn him." Yes, Riku was confident in his ability to turn men gay with his sex appeal alone.

"Oh," Namine replied. A thought struck her. "Riku, you're not worried about your reputation?"

Riku closed his locker and shrugged. "The only reputation I have is being the hottest piece of unobtainable ass this school has ever seen." Kairi rolled her eyes at his arrogant tendencies. "Trust me, Namine. Its not just the ladies that want some." Yeah, you better believe Kairi and Sora didn't put any gender specifications on that confessions bet.

Riku absently turned the dial on his locker, watching Kairi show Namine how to open hers and describe its uses out of the corner of his eye.

"Hey, do you guys think Sora would-" he started to say, but was loudly interrupted by the same exact subject he had been thinking about.

"School is gayer than Tidus!" Sora exclaimed from directly behind him, causing him to jump a little.

"Geeze, Sora. Put a muffler on that thing," Riku said, covering his best friend's face with his hand and giving him a little push.

"No really!" Sora said, batting Riku's hand out of the way. "My locker is all the way in the 400 block! What the heck were they thinking?"

Kairi shrugged. "What about Roxas'?" she asked, noticing him standing there silently.

"Right next to mine. At least those jerks can do SOMETHING right," Sora complained, crossing his arms and doing his best to look irritated by it.

"Are you always gonna be this loud at school, Sora?" Roxas asked with a little sigh. The entire hall had to be staring at them. Maybe Roxas could sneak off and find his classroom by himself? Staring…the last thing he needed was to look like a weirdo on his first day of school.

"Everyday," Sora informed him, grabbing his arm. "And sometimes secretly at night." Roxas gave him a look that said 'You stay stupid stuff for no reason, don't you?'

"Sora, no one wants to know what you secretly do at night," Riku said, playfully shoving the brunette out of the way. "Don't be late to class, you losers," he told them, before walking off in the direction of his homeroom. Kairi looked after him a little curiously, but forgot it a second later.

"Hey, I guess Riku has some plan to date every girl he knows and I have to be at the top of his hit list," Kairi explained. "So if anyone asks, he's "attached"." She wasn't sure what she thought of it yet. A date with Riku couldn't be all that bad. They went to movies and stuff together all the time.

Sora cocked his head to the side. "Okay?" He didn't quite get it, but why not? Kairi was about the best girl to pick, even though he wouldn't particularly want to date her. It'd be like dating his sister. Gross.

The warning bell suggested they get themselves to class, and the group of juniors hurried towards their homeroom.