Sora opened Roxas' door and poked his head in. "Are you ready yet?" he inquired, opening the door and coming further inside. He hopped about like a kangaroo trying to pull his other sock on.

"I don't get this thing," Roxas admitted, dangling the tie in front of his face. He knew where it went and what to do with it but HOW to do that, he was stumped.

"You tie it around your head," Sora said, completely serious.

Roxas looked at him for a second, then realized his own tie was snug around his neck. "You're stupid," he said, throwing the tie at Sora.

Sora laughed and approached Roxas. "Sorry, gonna have to breach the awkward zone here," he said, standing close to Roxas, but making sure not to touch him.

Roxas took a deep breath slowly. He had half a mind to pull Sora close enough for their bodies to collide. Sora had been doing this to him all week. Standing close, sitting close, really close, but never close enough to touch Roxas. He was a freaking tease and he had no idea about it.

Sora popped Roxas' collar up and buttoned the last two buttons on his shirt. He draped the tie around his neck. "Kay, paying close attention?"

"Does it have to be buttoned all the way up?" Roxas asked. "Won't my neck get hot?" He wasn't a fan of stuffy clothing.

"Only if you're getting too close and friendly with someone," Sora told him, tugging on the tie. "Pay attention. I'm only teaching you this once."

"I'm paying attention," Roxas assured him. He wasn't. He was watching Sora's cute facial expressions as he tied it. His tongue was stuck out between his lips in concentration. Roxas felt his face involuntarily lean closer to Sora's. He was within the awkward zone, right? Roxas lifted his hand and was about to put it on Sora's waist when Sora jerked his head suddenly.

"OW!" Roxas exclaimed, turning to the side and covering his nose.

"Sorry!" Sora replied, placing his hand on his forehead where it had ran into Roxas' face.

Roxas sort of laughed, making sure his nose wasn't gushing blood or anything. "I guess I was just concentrating too hard." Right. Not on the tie.

Sora leaned on Roxas' desk and smiled at him. "You look good!" He really looked handsome in a dress shirt and tie with slacks. All Sora's own clothes, but still.

Roxas looked down at himself, and started buttoning his cuffs. "Thanks. You do, too." He struggled with the buttons for a moment, before finally sighing and holding his wrist out to Sora. Sora knew exactly what he wanted without words. "So…this is not a date, right? Only for Riku and Aerith?"

"Nope. Just friends going out," Sora replied. He fumbled with Roxas' buttons, too. It should be an okay time to bring it up. "I mean, unless you want it to be a date. I mean between us. Kairi and Namine probably wouldn't mind."

Roxas thought that came out of nowhere. Sora was failing his buttons really badly. He was sort of pulling on the two sides, but wasn't really putting them together. Roxas stretched his fingers out and took hold of Sora's wrist, stopping his progress. "I kind of thought-"

Sora immediately interrupted him. "I just was thinking that I know we promised each other and if you wanted to get it over with so you could go on dates with other people that's okay." The last thing Sora wanted was for Roxas to be annoyed that he had a promise to Sora and couldn't go out with Tidus.

"Did you…want to go on dates with other people?" Roxas asked, not letting go of Sora's wrist. Is that why he was asking in specific? Sora had a way of making things about other people and hiding his own interests.

"Well…not really…" Sora replied, staring intently at where Roxas' fingers were curled around his wrist. "But since you and Tidus seemed to be hitting it off so well, I don't want to interfere with-"

Roxas sighed, as if he were at the end of his patience. "Stop it, Sora," he demanded immediately. So, Sora had heard this rumor, too.

"Sorry," Sora apologized, trying to pull his wrist away. He guessed Roxas was sensitive about it, maybe embarrassed about his first real crush or something.

"Whatever you heard from the girlfriend of the brother of the guy that sits next to me in fourth period, just forget it." Roxas was surprised at how fast news, be it false or not, spread through a high school. It was seriously ridiculous.

"So, you and Tidus aren't…? I mean you're sure he doesn't like you?" Sora felt a huge weight lifting off his chest, and a little of his jealousy was slowly dissipating.

Roxas let go of Sora's wrist, in indication that he should start buttoning his sleeve again. "You're SO oblivious, Sora. Just because Tidus gropes my ass, doesn't mean he likes me," Roxas pointed out. This is one thing he'd learned about pervy guys quite clearly by now. "In fact, he likes YOU."

Sora finished with Roxas' cuffs and took a step back. He gave Roxas a curious look. "No he doesn't…"

Roxas rolled his eyes at him. "Yes, he does. Did."

"Did?" Sora repeated, like he'd just learned the word.

Roxas crossed his arms. "Yes, did. Before I told him to back off. I can't believe you didn't noticed how he always stared at you."

"You noticed?" Sora asked, his face threatening to break into a happy smile.

Roxas avoided looking at him. "It was obvious."

There was another issue, though. It technically wasn't any of Roxas' business if Tidus liked to gawk at Sora, and was interested in him. So telling him to back off seemed a little…protective, if not possessive. "So why did you-"

"We should get going," Roxas interrupted, turning and leaving Sora's room. Sora stared after him with a confused look that eventually morphed into a grin.

Roxas and Sora drove to Namine and Kairi's house, where they picked up the girls. Riku left a little early and picked up Aerith, meeting them at the box office of the 5th Avenue Theater. Riku pulled an envelope from his pocket and distributed the tickets.

"You clean up decently," he said, holding Roxas' ticket out to him. Roxas reached for it and Riku held it back with a smirk. Roxas glared at him and Sora snatched the thing from Riku.

"Play nice, children," he said, handing the ticket to Roxas. Roxas stuck his tongue out at Riku.

Riku offered his arm to Aerith. "You're so very gentlemanly," she complimented. "Everyone looks so cute tonight." She looked as if she wanted to pinch all their cheeks.

"I was going for suave," Riku said. Maybe he hadn't achieved the desired effect.

Aerith patted his arm. "You've got it, Riku," she said. "It was nice of you to take everyone here. How many girls have you dated this year so far?"

Riku stopped to think. "You are my fifth. I've been busy." When he really thought about it, it made him feel slightly scummy.

"And? I heard you're after Tifa, too? If you're nice, then I'll put in a good word for you." Aerith promised. They all gave their tickets away at the front door and entered the old fashioned theater. The doors to the floor seats were to their left, and the twin staircases up to the balcony were to their right.

"Thanks, Aerith. I think I might need that good word," he'd have to turn the charm all the way up to get that date. But he was Riku. Its not like she would say NO. "You want anything to drink?" There was a bar just upstairs and while Aerith was legal, Riku figured she wouldn't want anything alcoholic anyway, so he could buy her a soda or something.

"Sure," she said, and the two of them headed up the stairs.

Namine checked her watch, Roxas flipped through the program, and Sora watched Kairi try to act like she wasn't watching Riku take Aerith up the stairs.

"You're going to shoot yourself before too long," Sora told her, hands in his pockets.

"What?" she asked, turning towards him. She saw the look on his face. "Sora, don't start."

Sora put his hands up. "I'm just saying! I just hate seeing that look on your face all the time. Whenever he goes off with another girl."

Kairi crossed her arms, unaware that Roxas and Namine had stopped what they were doing to listen to their conversation. "I can't. We made a promise, you KNOW that."

Sora rolled his eyes. "We were just kids then-"

"What promise?" Roxas blurted out. Namine hit him.

"Sorry, we didn't mean to listen," she apologized.

"We made a promise, when we were little. Kairi, Riku and I. We weren't allowed to fall for each other, because that would mean we'd leave the other person behind," Sora explained to them.

"And we didn't want resentful love triangles," Kairi added. "It was going okay until Sora liked me."

"Thanks, you make me sound like the ruiner," Sora said, sticking her tongue out at her.

"Riku liked Sora, though," Roxas pointed out, feeling the need to defend Sora a little, and to label Riku as definitely not innocent.

"And now I've broken the promise, too," Kairi said, looking back up to the wraparound balcony. Aerith was talking with someone she appeared to know while sipping on a drink, and Riku was leaning over the edge, looking down at the people below. She caught his gaze and he smiled, waving a little. Kairi waved back, and Sora put his index fingers in his mouth, pulling his cheeks apart and sticking his tongue out. Kairi have him a push and Riku laughed.

"You guys are cute, its gross," Roxas said, looking back at the program.

Sora put his arm around Kairi. "Forget about the promise. You're not leaving me all alone," he started, directing her off towards the staircase. "I don't like either of you that way, you know that. I set my sights a little, blonder…"

Roxas looked up abruptly from his pamphlet, catching Sora's words. He looked at Namine, and pointed to her curiously.

Namine reached over and turned Roxas' pointing finger towards himself. He looked down at it as if he couldn't decipher what it meant.

"Oh? Oh! Ohhhhh" He said a few times. "Wait…" Namine grew impatient with him and grabbed his hand, pulling him towards the stairs.

A/N: In case you were wondering, 'Adjusting' has 20 chapters currently written, and is still not finished. I'm estimating no more than ten more chapters beyond that. Happy reading!