Riku was on his front porch sticky tacking spider webs around his front door Friday night. He figured he should probably do it before it got too dark outside. Riku slurped noisily on the half eaten peach that was crammed in his mouth. It was a little overripe and was threatening to drip down his chin if he wasn't careful.
Riku stood back and surveyed his work of the front porch, deciding that not only was he too lazy to take it any further, but figured Kairi would be there in about twenty minutes and if she didn't like it she could fix it herself.
"Hey Riku!" some sort of voice that was offending in nature called out to him from the end of his driveway. He turned around to look and saw Seifer standing there with several other ghetto-ly dressed classmates. Riku went down his steps and out to the end of the driveway to meet them. "What do you half-wits want?" he asked in a could-care-less tone.
"We'll be sure to think of you and your LAME party with your LOSER friends while we get smashed at Brandi's lakehouse tonight," Seifer said, and all his cronies laughed. He proceeded to violently kick one of the two pumpkins that flanked Riku's driveway. He started to stalk away with the rest of his buddies.
Riku looked down at the damaged pumpkin, its carefully carved face now bashed in. Riku made a sour face. It was Sora's pumpkin, too. He was going to be upset when he saw it. Riku looked at the peach in his hand. Meh, he didn't like peaches all that much anyway. Riku lifted his arm and chucked it at the back of Seifer's head. It knocked his stupid beanie askew with a splat and Riku retreated into his house with a muffled snicker while Seifer bullied his friends into not laughing hysterically at him.
Kairi let herself in Riku's house just as Riku was done decorating the downstairs and setting up the sound system for mingling. He was currently on the back porch dropping shiny red apples into a barrel full of water. He himself wouldn't get his nice hair wet sticking his face in a barrel of water to bob for apples, but there were plenty of people who would love it.
"Hey!" Kairi said, opening the back door and smiling at him. "Nice job with the house. Spooky," she complimented.
Riku dropped the last apple in and pushed her back into the house. "Where's your costume?" he asked, surveying her jeans and tee.
"What do you mean? I came as a high school student," she said. Riku gave her a push and she laughed. "And what are you dressed as?" Riku was still wearing the same thing he had worn to school that day.
"A male model," Riku replied and glared at her when she laughed hysterically. "Come work magic in the kitchen," he demanded.
Kairi walked into Riku's kitchen and opened the fridge, seeing that his mom had picked up a bunch of party trays. She knew exactly where everything was in Riku's kitchen, easily setting out a party spread on his counter and table. She gave him orders to set out napkins and plates and cups. "Do you have a marker? You should put it out so people can write their names on their cups," she suggested. The last thing she wanted was someone gross drinking out of her cup.
"Got it," he said, finding a sharpie in the junk drawer. He picked up a cup and wrote 'Sexiest guy here' on it. He showed it to Kairi.
Kairi smirked. "Oh, is that Cloud's cup?" she joked, and dodged when Riku threw it at her.
Riku checked the clock as Kairi set the punchbowl on the table. "C'mon, lets get changed," he said, heading upstairs to where his room was. Kairi grabbed her bag and followed. "Remind me to lock my door. The last thing I want is suspicious activities in my room." Ew. He quickly pushed the thoughts of random people doing inappropriate things on his bed.
Riku didn't think twice before he stripped his shirt off. He turned his back to Kairi, his outfit laid out on his bed, and she did the same. The two of them had known each other since they were six, neither of them were shy to change in front of the other. Riku buttoned his tight leather pants and pulled his shirt on over his shoulders. "Hey, can you tie this thingy for me?" he asked, buttoning up his shirt and picking up a ribbon. He turned around and followed the curve of Kairi's hip with his eyes as she pushed her dress down over it. He immediately felt like a pervert for doing so and forcefully remained composed.
"Sure," she said, smoothing out her little black dress and taking the ribbon from him. She tied it artfully around his neck. He didn't let his gaze trace down her plunging neckline. Absolutely DID NOT. "Nice dress," he commented, pushing fake fangs onto his teeth and tying a sweeping cape around his shoulders.
"Thanks," Kairi replied, pulling on a witch's hat. "I see you didn't go for the zombie after all. And I was so looking forward to being fed upon."
Riku grinned widely, licking his lips. "I think we can still arrange that, my dear," he said in his best sexy vampire accent. He always preferred British vampires to Romanian ones. "Here, just lend me your neck," she laughed and pushed him away as he went for her exposed neck jokingly.
Riku's doorbell rang signaling the beginning of the party and the two of them chased each other down the stairs.
Sora adjusted his police badge as himself and Roxas hopped out of the car and he locked the door. He reattached his keyring to his belt, where he had so cleverly put his house key and car keys. "Its so policeman-y!" he had exclaimed earlier that night, jangling them at Roxas.
"Hey! What happened to my pumpkin?!" Sora exclaimed, bending down and poking at the gaping hole that use to be its cheerful face. Roxas situated his Royal Mountie hat on his head and shrugged. "Some punk kids must have kicked it over," he said. People were seriously effers.
The two of them went into Riku's house and Sora ran off almost instantaneously. There were so many people there, and although Roxas recognized a ton of them, he was only actually acquainted with a few of them. He sighed, knowing that it was going to be like this. Riku's house was huge and he set to exploring, figuring that Sora wouldn't even miss him. He was the most social person that Roxas had ever met, and there was everyone that Sora had ever been friends with now at his disposal. There was Cloud, writing his name on his punch cup. Tifa talking to Aerith out on the porch. Roxas headed downstairs, and spotted Cid tampering with the sound system. He breathed a sigh of relief when he finally spotted a shock of red hair; Axel seated next to Namine on a couch. Roxas pushed past Leon and plopped himself down in an empty spot.
"Hello, officer," Axel greeted, and Roxas kicked him in the shin. "Who in the world are you supposed to be?" he asked, of Axel's purple coat and top hat.
"I'm Willy Wonka," he said, as if Roxas would know what he was talking about. When met with a blank stare, he shrugged and said, "I just watched the movie last week."
"I'm little Bo-Peep," Namine offered, keeping her knee high stocking legs closed as her skirt was a little short. Her outfit was ruffly and cute, though. "Its from a Children's nursery rhyme."
"I'm Canadian," Roxas informed them. "Whatever that means. Sora just made me wear it. He ran off the minute we got here, probably chatting it up with every person he finds about everything under the sun." He sighed. Sora had insisted the night was going to be fun, but Roxas didn't see how a night spent without Sora was any fun at all.
Axel got up off the couch. "Come on upstairs and eat some stuff. You'll feel better," he insisted, pulling Roxas off the couch.
"Its not like I'm grumpy," Roxas said, particularly grumpily.
Namine stood up and grabbed her crook. She hooked it around Roxas' arm and pulled him towards the stairs with a giggle. "Don't lie. Punch and chips will cheer you up."
Roxas followed them upstairs reluctantly.
Riku waited patiently holding the tail of Yuffie's ninja headband out of the way as she bobbed for apples. "Man, I cannot get one!" she said, repositioning herself over the barrel.
"Stick your whole face in there, Yuffie," Riku said. "I've got the headband."
Yuffie reached over and punched him in the stomach, probably a little harder than she thought. "Can it, Riku. And look away as I magically cheat."
"Yes ma'am," he said, making a show of covering his eyes. Yuffie picked an apple up and shoved it in her mouth. "Tadaa!" she said, through a face full of apple.
Riku dropped her headband and clapped. "Great, now you look like a roasted piggy," he smirked.
"Why you-! Get over here, I'll shove this thing up your nose!" she reached into the barrel and splashed him with the water before chasing him back inside the house.
Kairi watched them run past and play chicken around the table before Riku caught Yuffie around the middle and hauled her off across the room.
"You having fun?" Namine asked, perching lightly on the armrest of the chair Kairi was sitting in.
Kairi smiled at her winningly. "Yeah. Did you get enough to eat?" she tried to change the subject, even though Namine saw her eyes drift back over to where Riku and Yuffie were engaged in a violent game of ping-pong.
Namine crossed her legs and bobbed her foot up and down, ignoring Kairi's question. Riku whipped his cape off and pushed up his sleeves to better challenge Yuffie who was currently kicking his butt. "Lots of people here, huh?"
"Yeah," Kairi replied dully.
Namine spotted Sora trotting by and grabbed him by the sleeve. She put her finger to her lips as he opened his mouth to ask her what she wanted. His eyes fell on Kairi and he traced her gaze to Riku and Yuffie.
"Riku looks pretty cool in his costume, huh?" Namine asked.
"Yeah," Kairi repeated, shifting in her seat.
"Pretty hott in those leather pants, huh?" Namine pressed. Sora lifted an eyebrow at her.
"Yeah," Kairi said automatically. They were tight, too. Half the room must have noticed his ass as he bent over the pig pong table to get the ball that had gotten stuck at the net.
"You like him, don't you?" Namine asked, not changing her tone of voice.
"Yeah," Kairi replied. Wait, what?
"Kairi!" Sora exclaimed, intrigued by this newfound knowledge and impressed with Namine for somehow so easily extracting it. He immediately sat down on the other arm of the chair.
"What? Sora, what?" Kairi asked, confused as she looked from Namine to Sora and back again. "What are you, I mean. Namine!" Kairi was obviously flustered.
Sora laughed. "Don't worry, we won't tell," he promised, winking. He was tempted to blurt out that Riku was pretty interested in Kairi, too, but he figured that would be kind of unfair to Riku. Sora and Namine shared a look before Aerith walked by and caught Sora's attention. He followed after her, striking up a conversation about her flower business. Namine was beckoned from across the room by Axel, and she left Kairi trying to discreetly hide her blush.
Roxas sighed for the umpteenth time, checking yet another room for Sora. He walked past Riku, Yuffie and Selphie tangled up on the twister board. Riku looked like he was about to lose it, Selphie was only supported by her back on Riku's leg, and Yuffie appeared to have been hiding her contortionist abilities all along.
The doorbell rang as Roxas passed it and no one inside the party seemed to notice. He shrugged and opened the door cautiously. Upon seeing who was on the stoop, he absolutely flung it open the rest of the way, causing it to bounce on the doorknob stopper.
"Hayner! Pence! Olette!" Roxas cried, surveying the three friends that stood just outside. What in the world were they doing here?!
"Hey Roxas," Hayner greeted brightly, slapping fives with him. "Figured we'd stop by since you have to be totally bored without us."
Roxas smiled so wide his face hurt. There was no way they could 'stop by' from such a distance! Finally, some highly missed familiar faces that he'd really been longing to see.
"Well, let us in, silly," Olette said, and Roxas immediately moved out of the way to let the three in.
"You guys, this is so great," Roxas shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked on his feet a little as they politely took their shoes off. "Did Riku invite you or what?"
Pence nodded. "Yeah, he did. We figured we'd keep it a surprise, though."
Roxas certainly was surprised. He decided he would give Riku a break for a little bit for actually doing something this cool.
"So what's up, man? How's school? We got such a bad grade on that summer homework," Hayner said, laughing.
Roxas couldn't keep his mouth from running in every direction. The four of them must have just stood there talking in the entryway for at least an hour, before Pence decided he was hungry and they moved to the food table. Roxas didn't realize how much he'd missed the three until now.
Sora found Roxas easily and approached the group, intent on joining in their conversation. He stood there for a minute, waiting for a good time to say hi, but it never really came. Roxas seemed so adamant about what they were talking about. One of the other four practically finished his every sentence, launching into another conversation about something else. Finally, Olette noticed he had been standing there for some time.
"Hey, Sora," she said, touching Hayner's arm to interrupt him.
"And so I was like-wha? Oh! Hey, Sora," he said. "Long time."
Roxas looked at Sora pointedly. "Is something up?" he asked, as if Sora had no real reason to be there unless there was something he wanted to say in specific.
"Oh uh…we were gonna play poker soon…" Sora trailed off, sort of losing his enthusiasm for being there at Roxas' blatant ignoring of his presence.
"Okay, I might come later," Roxas replied, before turning back to Hayner, listening intently as he launched back into talking about the field trip to the zoo where he fed a polar bear some sea salt ice cream when no one was looking.
Sora sort of smiled awkwardly and retreated, not quite sure where to go. He had talked to everyone here for a significant amount of time already, and was sort of looking forward to spending the rest of the night hanging out with Roxas. Unfortunately, Roxas seemed to care less about where he was or what he was doing. Sora fixed a pout on his face.
Yuffie stood up on Riku's coffee table and he put his hands on her waist to support her. His parents would kill him if she broke the little table. What was her deal with jumping onto furniture anyway?
"STRIP POKER! CLEAR OFF THE TABLE!" she called out, and leapt off the coffee table onto the couch, then from the couch to the armchair, then directly into one of the kitchen chairs, perching on it as if she were ready to jump again at a moments notice.
Riku sighed and followed her, helping Kairi who had begun to clear off the dining room table. The chairs were quickly filled by Axel, who practically carried the embarrassed Namine over and plopped her in one, Sora, reluctantly Roxas, and Tidus who bribed Selphie for one. Kairi and Riku took a seat and Riku threw a deck of cards in the middle of the table.
"Okay guys, everyone take your socks and shoes off. Lets have a…" he looked around and surveyed the various outfits. Kairi's dress was only one piece, but Tidus wasn't wearing a shirt under his fireman suspenders. "Four pieces of clothing start. Hats can count if you need them to."
Yuffie dealt and everyone looked at each other slyly over the top of their cards. After a second, Sora shouted "Yes!"
"Sora!" Riku said, rolling his eyes and folding with everyone else.
"What?!" Sora complained, not getting why everyone was suddenly giving up.
"Ever heard of poker face, shorty?" Axel said sarcastically, plucking Sora's cards out of his hands and throwing them back towards Yuffie to redistribute them.
Sora stuck his tongue out at Axel. What a meanie.
Twenty minutes later, Sora was sitting there in just his boxers. Tidus had his suspenders off, and Kairi was glad she wasn't easily embarrassed, sitting there in just her bra and panties. Axel and Riku had lost their shirts and the redness of Namine's face as she tried to hide behind the table with no skirt on didn't particularly compliment her pale hair. The only people still fully dressed were Yuffie and Roxas.
"Haha! Take that, you suckers!" Yuffie announced, laying out her two pair of kings and aces.
Riku grumbled as he stood up to unbutton his pants, and Sora groaned. "Maaan, I'm completely out," he sat back in his chair.
"You can take your boxers off if you want," Tidus suggested, eyes fixated on Sora's bear stomach as he stretched in his chair. Roxas kicked Tidus violently under the table, making a threatening face at him.
Riku pushed his pants off his hips and Kairi distracted herself by standing up and gathering her clothes. "Come on, Sora. You and I are both out."
"If you guys want to, you could go grab some more soda from the store," Riku suggested, putting his arms up behind his head comfortably.
"Sure," Sora replied, pulling his pants on clumsily. "Maybe I can trick-or-treat and get free candy, too! Yeah!" he psyched himself up for it, heading for the door before his shirt was even fully buttoned. "Come on Kairi! Mini snickers and Three Musketeers!"
Sora was out the door as fast as Kairi could get dressed, and she ran out behind him with her shoes still in her hand calling for Sora to wait.