"Ugh, today has been way, way too long." Sora dropped himself face first into the clubhouse's entryway couch.

Kairi leaned over and gave him a gentle pat on the head. Obviously going through the gauntlet of having their relationship now essentially being out in the open had been particularly draining on him. Not that I blame him, especially with how Olette reacted. I saw Lea, Xion and Namine coming straight for us from the top of the staircase and glanced back over at Sora apologetically. Not over yet.

"Yo! I'll believe it the minute I see a kiss in person."

Sora groaned and sat up off the couch. "Lea, not you too!"

"-Too?" Lea eyed me curious but I just shrugged. Not my fault he missed the fiasco at the station.

Roxas finally made it back, dropping down his earlier promised bag of sweets on the table. "Yeah, you missed it already. Olette basically forced him to give her a big smooch in front of everyone at the train station."

Lea burst out laughing, clutching at his stomach. "Wait, did he actually do it then?"

"Yeah, after stalling for a good five minutes. But then once he did, it was obvious he didn't want to stop. I had to yank them apart." Roxas prodded the bag of candy on the table, the rustling drawing up Sora's attention. "Also had to promise to bring him some candy to make up for the whole thing."

"Aww..." Xion cooed a little and Sora flopped back down, burying his face into the pillows with another groan.

Lea gave Kairi a friendly nudge on the shoulder. "Ah, well. Next time then. Don't want to overload the poor guy, since showing his girlfriend some affection is apparently such a momentous task."

Kairi giggled into her hand. "Don't be mean. He's been getting picked on all day."

Trying his best to look offended, Lea took half a step back. "Me, mean? Never. But you're right that maybe he deserves a break from the teasing. And that only leaves you..."

She shrank back a bit in panic and Lea leaned closer across the gap between them. "So, Kairi...I bet he can't keep his hands off you in private, hmm?"

Her face flushed but she stood her ground, putting her hands on her hips. "I'll have you know he's been perfectly sweet."

"Oh, has he? Maybe it's you who is the grabby one."

Kairi gave him a sour face and Lea burst into laughter again. Sora mumbled something into the pillows which I'm fairly sure was something along the lines of 'why don't you mess with Riku instead?'

Roxas was finally starting to look a little guilty and he gave Kairi an apologetic nod. "Sorry you two, I think everyone's just pretty excited about the whole thing."

"Makes sense, we were all waiting forever for him to work up the nerve to say something." I tried to rouse my friend up by the shoulder but he swatted at my arm, mumbling something else muffled into the pillows.

Roxas laughed and also tried his luck at getting Sora to sit back up, unsuccessfully. "Listen, all of us were going to go head out to the movie theater. Did you want to come too?"

Kairi shrugged. "I don't know about those two, but I'm just about ready to change into my pajamas and relax finally."

Sora lazily pulled himself up and whacked Roxas with one of the pillows next to him. "Yeah, today's been kinda crazy. Especially thanks to you."

Roxas punched the pillow away and grinned back. "Oh, you're welcome."

"Before we go..." Namine hastily pulled Kairi into a circle with her and Xion and the three started whispering and giggling among themselves. Xion offered up some sort of question, which Kairi seemed to ponder for a moment before giving her answer, the only part of which I could understand was something about marshmallows. For some reason this sent them all into another giggle fit.

Sora was slowly tipping his head side to side, obviously just as confused. My only comfort is I doubt it has anything to do with me.

Lea shrugged and gave Sora a shoulder pat. "Well, congratulations anyway." He prodded me next. "You make sure they stay out of trouble."

"Naturally."

All of them gave a quick parting farewell before heading out across town. I joined Sora on the couch and jostled him with my elbow.

"Well, you officially made it through today at least."

Sora gave an exhausted cheer and slumped over on me. Kairi giggled and bent over to give him a hesitantly quick peck on his forehead. I definitely noticed the way her eyes flicked up to see if I was looking, first. She must still be a bit anxious about it.

"While you take a minute to relax, I'm going to go get changed." She turned her eyes to me, pointing down to the lump crashed against my side. "Then, maybe we can convince him to play a few games with us to get him back in the spirit."

I felt him immediately perk up. "You'll play, too, Kairi?"

"Of course."

He definitely looked excited now. Him and his unpredictable moods...

"I guess he's more spirited than we thought already. Sora, you mind going into the kitchen to make a snack or something? I'll get the system set up."

He agreed and bounced off while Kairi and I momentarily lingered in the lounge area.

"Riku, about today..."

I held up a hand to stop her and got up off the couch. "Nothing needs to be said. I've never been better."

She gave me a really bright smile and unexpectedly squeezed her arms around me. "Thank you."

I sighed and waited for her to finish. "It's fine. Besides, you have more important things to worry about tonight."

"Oh, and what's that?"

"When I play games seriously, I play to win. No handicaps, no going easy. You'd better be ready."

She scoffed jokingly. "Oh? Maybe you're the one who shouldn't be underestimating me. We both know Sora isn't going to target me so you'll have us both to contend with."

I'll look forward to that challenge.

"You two better not stay up too late!" She ordered, half asleep before slipping away into the girls' room alone.

I saw the way he was looking at her as she disappeared through the door, almost like he would have given up anything in the world to follow her. I bumped his arm and started leading him back down the stairs. Maybe I needed to start worrying about keeping a closer eye on these two sooner than I had anticipated.

He was stumbling around, almost in a daze, and he flopped down straight onto the floor without waiting to pull the futons out. I kicked at him, forcing him to at least help me a bit get things ready. The minute the beds were laid out, he dropped down on it with a huff.

"I wish she didn't have to go sleep so far away upstairs..."

I scoffed and smacked him with a pillow. "Bad idea. If she was down here with us, you wouldn't get a single wink of sleep."

"Why's that?"

I deadpanned at him. Seriously? "Just think about it for a minute."

I saw him glance up, contemplating it. After a moment, his face started to flush and he swallowed hard. "R-right..."

"Exactly. She'd be sleeping peacefully, snuggled next to you, and you'd be lying there having a panic attack for hours."

He moaned rather morosely. "Does this mean we can't go on camping trips ever again?"

"Just give it some time. I'm sure after a few weeks things will settle back down between you two when you relearn how to get comfortable around each other."

He opened his mouth to complain but I interrupted him right away.

"I mean comfortable in a physical way. Right now she just brushes against your arm and you can barely stand it."

"...and you think that will take a few weeks to get used to?"

I shrugged. "Maybe. I suppose it's different for everyone."

"Well, I guess I'll be okay waiting." He rolled over, stuffing his face into the pillow with a sigh.

"Sure, but then you have the other problem to deal with."

He peeked up at me from out of the pillow in confusion.

"After you get comfortable with each other, you start...what do they call it, the 'experimentation phase'."

"That sounds scary." He rolled back around onto his back, squishing the pillow into his face and groaned. "Why is this stuff always so complicated..."

I chuckled. "It might sound scary but I have a feeling you're going to really like that phase. Unfortunately I'd prefer not to sit there and be witness to you two in the midst of it trying to surreptitiously...participate."

"Serepetita…uh…?"

"Basically, I think we're going to want to invest in at least a second tent."

"Oh. And that would fix the problem?"

I laughed a little to myself. I don't think Sora really got what I was hinting at. Too bad, I wanted to tease him about it a little. Maybe something will click in his head in a few weeks, though.

"Most likely."

"Great!" He grinned and snuggled down into his blankets.

I wish I could take a vacation in his head some day. Ignorance is bliss, right?

"Hey Riku, I have an idea about something I wanna do this weekend."

"And that is…?"

"I'll tell you tomorrow." He laughed and I felt a creeping suspicion.

Something tells me I'm not going to enjoy this...

I'm still not sure how Sora roped me into coming here. Oh, right, that favor I stupidly allowed him to have. My only consolation at least is that Roxas ended up not being able to come. If I had to deal with the both of them in this place...

"Whoa!" Sora's eyes widened in awe at the interior of the store. "Riku, you have to come and see this!"

I rolled my eyes and remained steadfastly just outside the door frame. "I'd really rather not..."

"Oh, relax. I'm sure you'll find something interesting." Kairi yanked on my arm, forcing me through.

"You'd better remember your promise." I gave Sora a warning glare and he lifted his hands defensively.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. No buying any Riku exclusive merchandise." He excitedly ran over to a board on the wall and grabbed some sort of magnet off the front of it, brandishing it to me. "But what about something like this!? This would be okay, right?"

It was a drawing of the two of us standing back-to-back, weapons drawn. I'll admit the image wasn't too uncool.

"Fine, if it's something with both of us I'll possibly make an exception. For example, something like that would be-"

Before I could even finish he was already buzzing around a different display, fawning over a few of the items. He was having an absolute field day. I gave a quick glance about the store, noting we were luckily the only patrons at the moment. The only other person was, I assume, the shopkeeper, standing frozen with a dazed look on his face behind a desk plastered with advertisements for some magazine subscription. Oh right, I recognize him now. That was the guy that kept pestering us for interviews and other nonsense after everything. Really frustrating, that guy. Kairi gave him a cheerful wave and the man trembled visibly before bolting behind a thick curtain to some dark back room.

Good riddance. Not what I wanted to deal with today. I wordlessly volunteered to babysit Sora at the moment to make sure he doesn't break anything so Kairi could wander off alone along some of the bookshelves in the back.

Sora found a shelf of assorted bags and a few clothing items and pulled out something that looked similar to my old blindfold. How the heck did this guy know about something like that, anyway? Was he asking for information about us from everyone we ever met?

Sora giddily tied it around his forehead over his eyes and jumped towards me, lifting a prop Keyblade up next to his head and extending his other hand out towards me. Obviously he was doing his best to mock my battle stance.

"Guess who I am!"

"An idiot." I swatted his arm away.

He pulled the blindfold up off one eye and grinned at me. "Aw, that's not nice Riku, calling yourself an idiot."

I bopped him on the head lightly and he took the rest of the blindfold off, returning it to the shelf. Before he could find anything else to try on, we heard Kairi cry out a little in sudden shock.

The two of us quickly darted around the tall shelf to find her standing, white-faced in a section for small postcards and photos. She was holding something in her hands, eyes wide, absolutely transfixed by the image printed on it.

Sora bounced closer to her, curious. "What is it?"

She shoved the picture against her body and stepped away from him, shaking her head rapidly. "N-no, this is...I-I'm not sure you should..." She was biting down on her lip, trying her hardest not to break out into laughter.

"Is it a funny picture of me? Or Riku?...you?"

She couldn't contain it anymore and shook her head, bursting out into laughter, her face still a strange mixture of amusement and shock. "No, no it's a...drawing. It's just...it's a bit..."

Before Sora could snatch it away from her, she stuffed it back into a massive stack randomly in the middle so it would be difficult to find.

He groaned in disappointment. "Hey, I wanted to see it!"

"I really don't think you should." She glanced over at me, and another wave of giggles overcame her.

I sighed. "It has to do with me, doesn't it?"

I had a vague guess it was something mildly inappropriate if a simple drawing someone had dreamed up could make her react that way.

"Well..." She hummed, clearly on the fence about if she should tell us or not.

I sighed. What the hell, let's figure out how bad this thing was. I spotted the place in the deck of cards where it was slightly uneven and shifted them to the side to withdraw the one she had stuffed hastily inside. She gasped and tried to stop me, but I had already flipped the image over before she could pull it away.

It was much worse than I had imagined.

"Is that..." Sora stared at the image and blinked. Several times.

Kairi was trying her hardest to choke her laughter back, tears forming in her eyes. "It's you and Riku, um...having fun."

He blanched and yelped loudly, stumbling backwards so quickly he almost knocked over the display behind him. Kairi burst into unrestrained laughter while I just tried my best to keep staring at the floor.

Sora's voice almost squeaked. "Wh-why would anyone…?"

She stuffed the picture back into the stack where she found it. "I don't know, but it's really funny."

He seemed about to protest, but now that the shock was starting to wear off I could see he was starting to find some humor in it as well. Good for them, because I certainly wasn't amused. It didn't take long before the two of them were searching for mor- oh, great. There's a whole set.

They started fawning and laughing over the most ridiculous ones and having a wonderful time of it.

I glanced at the backroom curtain and saw the shopkeeper peeking meekly out at us through a small gap. His eyes briefly locked with mine and I heard him give a little shriek, disappearing back into the darkness behind it.

The laughter behind me suddenly cut short and I decided to see what ridiculous thing they had found now. It was another semi erotic drawing of me, half naked on a horse. Because that makes sense.

I hate this store.

Kairi jabbed me with her elbow. "Nice glamour shot."

"As if I would ever..." I flicked my eyes upwards just to get them away from that awful picture and noticed a very small label half obscured by some drooping posters. I cleared my throat a bit to catch their attention and pointed it out.

Sora read it out loud slowly. "Ero...fan...art? What's that mean?"

"It means basically everything in this section is going to be...questionable." I felt a smile creep onto my features when I noticed an even smaller label on the second shelf. "...and it looks like its sorted by pairings."

I tapped our names on the board, separated by a small x and checked for their reactions. It now seemed like Kairi was the one getting a bit nervous while Sora seemed like he was a mixed of curious and horrified. Kairi stepped forward and checked through all the labels and their corresponding shelves, frowning more and more deeply.

"The...overall content of these seems to be a bit oddly balanced..." She sighed, glancing over to me.

Definitely was. About two thirds or more of the entire rack was dedicated to Sora and I exclusively, most of it rather...explicit. Half of the other material was attempting the same between Roxas and Lea. Hopefully those two don't come here and see this stuff. I doubt Roxas would be in as good of a mood as Sora is about it. Or...maybe that was why Roxas suspiciously didn't want to come today.

Sora hummed over the labels. "Now that you mention it...why don't you have a section, Kairi? There's one over there for Aqua...but she's the only girl I see with her own."

Kairi pulled a sour face and smacked him in the arm. "What, are you disappointed by that?"

"Well, ye-" He saw me furiously shaking my head at him and cleared his throat abruptly. "N-no."

She rolled her eyes at the two of us. "Yeah, okay. I'm just going to assume it's because you wanted to make fun of it, not because you're both voyeuristic."

Sora furrowed his brow. "A what stick?"

She laughed at this, folding shut a huge album of Sora and I in fairly compromising positions that was lying open on the table in front of us. "I'm just teasing you. I feel bad that the two of you are bearing the brunt of this but at the same time I am a little relieved it isn't me."

Thanks. Your support is overwhelming.

She patted me a little on the arm. "Anyway, I think I've had about as much of these pictures as I can handle in one day. You two have fun. I'm going to go check out those cute stuffed animals over there."

Sora nodded and fished around one of the shelves dedicated to the two of us, still getting a kick out of some of the more bizarre ones.

"Why do you think people keep drawing us like this? It's...kinda confusing and a little bit weird. What the-ugh!" He grabbed up a particularly mature one and fumbled it in shock.

"Sora, that's just how people are: confusing and a little bit weird."

"Not always..." He withdrew a particularly infuriating one of me being an absolute lecherous creep and he laughed at the shock of it. "Hey, you know, you did give me permission to buy something if it had both of us on it..."

I could tell he was trying to tease me but I wasn't having it. "I didn't give you full permission: I said you possibly could." I pulled out one drawing in particular I thought would interest him.

"Here's the deal, if you get anything like that, then I get to buy this, and leave it somewhere, say, your desk, for Kairi to conveniently discover, then I will fervently deny ever seeing it before."

It was another fan drawn image, from a section marked "the ladies", of both Kairi and Namine in particularly revealing and frilly undergarments, grabbing at each other. I waved the picture in front of him and he gasped loudly, his eyes absolutely glued to it. I could tell he was a little insulted by it, but by the fact that he couldn't take his eyes off despite his obvious attempts to, he was probably also enjoying it a little.

I decided to tease him a bit more with it. "Want it? There's a bunch of others like it, too..."

He huffed at me and yanked the picture out of my hands, shoving it back into the shelf. "That barely even looks like her, they made her chest way too big."

I burst out laughing. "Oh? I guess you studied hers pretty closely?"

"N-no!"

"Oh okay, I get it. Because you don't check out your own girlfriend, right? Poor Kairi."

"What? I..." He looked absolutely dumbfounded about how to answer for a moment before glaring at me. "I can't wait until you get your own girlfriend. I'm going to get revenge on you so bad for all this eventually..."

"Well, I do have a date this week."

"What!? With who?"

"Not telling." Sure, calling it a date might be a bit misleading, but he doesn't have to know that.

"Are you serious? You aren't...right?" I could see him studying me as closely as he could, trying to find any tell on my face that I was joking.

"Very serious."

"You have to tell me who!"

I snickered a little to myself. He's being nosy and I don't want to talk. Time to mess with him.

I put my hand on his shoulder and pushed him towards the wall, closing the distance between us. He stumbled, his back thumping against the wall.

"Ow! Riku, what are you-"

I pressed closer to him, looming right over his face. "You really haven't figured it out? The person who I want to date?"

He blinked up, absolutely dumbfounded, his grip around my arm loosening. "No? W-what are you tal-"

"Sora, I was hoping one day you would be able to see the truth about how I feel. But I just can't wait any more. It's unbearable, hiding how I feel."

He just started stuttering, his face turning bright red. I leaned in closer and he obviously panicked, pushing feebly against me.

"R-Riku st-stop joking around!"

"I already told you, I'm very serious about this."

He just sat there, mouth silently flapping as he struggled to respond, his arms shaking. "I...but I...but Kairi..."

"Saying I liked Kairi was all just a cover because I was too insecure to admit to myself how I really felt about you..."

"Riku, s-stop, I can't..." His eyes were just drenched in fear, panic and sadness.

Alright, definitely time to end this. I can't keep a straight face anymore.

"Seeing those pictures stirred something in me. I have to confess my absolute passionate undying desire."

My over the top emphasis finally clued him and he abruptly deadpanned, scowling a little, shoving me forcefully off of him.

"...are you finished yet?"

I laughed and bonked him on the head. "That's what you get for pestering me about my love life. Though I'm glad to know if I did have a crush on you, you would have handled it with absolute masterful grace and tact."

"You're a jerk." He grumbled at me and stomped off, probably go to find Kairi. Shortly after he disappeared around the corner, I heard Kairi gasp.

"A what!?" She came storming back around to where I was, her face glowing. "Riku! You're going on a date? Why didn't you say anything earlier!?"

Of course he sends in Kairi in to try and squeeze something out of me. "It's nothing serious."

She folded her arms and pursed her lips at me. "Okay…I'll let you keep it your little secret for now and I won't pry, but you'd better tell me how it goes afterwards. Deal?"

Her eyes made it very clear that if I refused to agree she was definitely going to be sneaking after me like a little spy. "Deal."

Sora pouted a bit, obviously hoping he would get more information out of me than that. I then noticed that she was cuddling some sort of black stuffed plushy animal under her arm. I pointed to it. "By the way, what's that?"

She giggled and held it aloft for me to see. It was...a shadow? With a few exaggerated features in an attempt to make it look more harmless or cute.

"Isn't it adorable!? It reminds me of Sora when he was a little Heartless." She cuddled it again and I saw Sora sigh heavily behind her.

"Are you getting that? It's not exactly the best thing to memorialize, is it?" I questioned her, probably the exact thing Sora had on his mind but was too insecure to ask himself.

She waved the accusation off lightly. "Well, as scary as it was then, now it just reminds me about how sweet he is."

"Uh huh..."

Sora was looking really embarrassed now. He tried to avert his eyes but ended up turning straight into a poster of an artist rendering of Aqua posing seductively in a swimsuit, panicked, and stumbled into Kairi's back.

She turned around and gave Sora a little wave, using the shadows arm. He gave it a light pat on the head and smiled shakily. "Just...don't stick it in a dark corner."

I scoffed at him. "What, are you going to attack a stuffed animal?"

"I dunno...might just react without thinking about it." He laughed and flicked one of the little shadows' antennae. "This guy is a lot cuter than real ones, though."

"Exactly!" Kairi seemed pretty bubbly now. "I'll make sure to not put him anywhere unexpected...too often."

She lifted up on her tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Just as she did so there was the unmistakable snap of a camera and I spun around to see the shopkeeper standing there, eyes opened wide in awe, waiting for his picture to spit out the front of one of those older style instant printing cameras. I snatched it out of the camera before him and saw it was definitely a photo of my friends.

...It was actually a good picture, despite being a serious breach of privacy.

I glared at the shopkeeper who was shrinking back a bit. "Who, exactly, gave you permission to take pictures of us?"

"W-well...I just...they were...I-I'm such a big fan and..." His stuttering continued unintelligibly.

Kairi glanced around my arm at the photo and hummed. "That's a nice picture..." She turned her eyes up to the shopkeeper. "You run this store, right?"

He nodded uneasily.

"It must have taken you a long time to gather all of this stuff up in one place."

It looked like he started to relax a bit and I considered snatching his camera away, too. "Y-yeah...it was a real labor of love, as they say…"

"It's quite a high compliment, in a way, isn't it?" Kairi jabbed at me with her arm and I just grunted a little.

Sora took the picture out of my hand and smiled at it for a minute before looking over to the shopkeeper. "Yeah, this place is really cool. Riku doesn't like having his picture taken, but I wouldn't mind letting you get a photo or two of us." He pointed to him and Kairi together. "It's the least we could do. Right?"

Kairi nodded in agreement. This seemed to really make the shopkeepers day and he practically danced back and forth.

"Really!? Oh, oh, this is..."

"Just please ask permission before you take someone's picture next time, okay?" Kairi scolded him a little and he nodded, listening eagerly. At least she knew how to take care of rowdy fans.

Sora handed the picture he had taken earlier back to the man who hastily gestured for the two of them to follow him over to a more open part of the store. "Okay, okay, okay, could you stand here, please?"

"Sure, did you want to be in one with us, or..."

The man eagerly lifted up his camera and snapped a picture before Sora could even finish talking. A bit shocked, Sora blinked to adjust his eyes, laughed and tried to speak again. But the man continued undaunted, photo after photo. Kairi shrugged and snuggled up against Sora's arm. I saw him shift uncomfortably, clearly not used to having photos taken with her clinging to him. Sorry buddy, but you're the one who volunteered.

I gave him a sarcastic wave. "While you two enjoy your little session I'm going to go wait outside."

The shopkeeper abruptly turned and almost snapped my picture, but I diverted the camera to the left in time so he ended up just getting a nice shot of his own store wall.

"Wait! Before you go! Could I at least get an autograph?"

I knew I didn't like this guy. "...Fine."

He shifted anxiously as I signed the paper with the flimsy pencil he handed me. "A-and maybe a photo of you and Sora kissing as a couple?"

The pencil snapped in my fist.

"...What did you say?" I threatened him so sharply with my eyes he visibly gulped and scuttled away from me.

"W-well back there, y-you were...that's why I ran for my camera..."

I smacked my face in frustration. Lovely, this pest almost got the most blackmail worthy photo on record. That was incredibly careless of me.

"That. Was. A. Joke." I enunciated clearly so he couldn't possibly misunderstand me.

Sora was looking horrified while Kairi was just standing next to him impatiently waiting for an explanation.

"I understand if it sells in your shop as a silly fantasy for people to indulge in, but in the real world there is a pretty big difference between friends and lovers, wouldn't you agree?"

The man stared down at his camera and fiddled with it, nodding.

"Great. Glad we could clear that up." I guess that shop owner isn't too familiar with sarcasm.

Kairi coughed a bit into her stuffed animal, looking suspiciously devious. "I bet he makes a ton of money on those types of pictures, though. Maybe you two should pose for one slightly ambiguously suggestive photo and really rake it it."

"Kairi!" Sora's suddenly indignant face made me smile, despite the circumstances.

"I'm just kidding!"

I turned and headed for the exit, giving Sora a warning glance. "You'd better remember your promise, too. No weird souvenirs."

It felt a good finally getting out of that place.

I waited around a bit by the fountain outside, watching the people passing by. Some threw some munny into it, most just hurried off to their destinations without a second glance. I enjoyed watching the ripples of the water as they spread out across the surface. There was something calming about watching it flow.

After a while, I felt the two of them approaching me and I turned to give them a sarcastic wave.

"How was the photo session?"

Kairi rolled her eyes. "He hammed it up a bit again.

Figures. I indicated for them to join me sitting on the edge of the fountain. Sora stared out at the water for a moment before taking a seat.

"I was thinking about something, though..."

I sighed. His tone concerned me. "Uh oh. About what?"

Sora jumped up onto the wall of the fountain and bounced his knees up and down a bit in agitation. "Well...I mean, it's one thing to laugh at how crazy it would be for you and I to get together, but thinking back on it-"

Kairi started furiously twiddling her hair. "Um, S-Sora, where are you going with this…?"

He quickly threw his hands up, waving them in front of himself. "N-no, it's not like that! I just...when Riku was joking about liking me, I was mostly panicking, but part of me felt, well...that it made sense."

"Uh, excuse me?" I glared back at him.

"Riku, it's not...ugh, how do I explain this? You're my best friend. I trust you more than I trust myself about stuff. Isn't that...isn't that the sort of thing people try to find in a romantic partner? Someone they can trust completely? I mean...isn't that kind of like loving someone?"

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I think I basically understand what he's getting at. He's just wording it like a clumsy idiot.

He desperately tried to salvage it and dissipate the awkwardness. "I'm not saying I want to date you! I'm just wondering if it's...weird to be a little confused."

I glanced over at Kairi who, luckily, didn't seem too bothered by his astounding ineptitude; bringing this up right in front of his own girlfriend. "Sora, you feel like you can trust Kairi with your heart too, right?"

"Well yeah, of course I feel the same way about her."

"...And you like kissing her, right?"

His eyes darted over to where Kairi was watching intently and she smiled, answering promptly for him. "He definitely does."

He blushed and nodded down towards his shoes.

"Now the important question: Sora, do you want to kiss me?"

"What!? No!"

I folded my arms. "And there's your answer."

"I don't-"

Kairi gently tried to explain it to him. "Sora, you're not wrong. The bond you have with Riku is a really, really wonderful thing. But...um..."

I took over for her. "Attraction is hugely vital and you can't force that where it isn't. So, about us specifically, Sora: we understand each other, want to protect and support each other. We both clearly feel that way. But...attraction? That's a zero for me, no offense."

"None taken." He laughed.

"Maybe in another life you two could be a great pair!" Kairi offered this advice like she was trying to be helpful, but I could tell by her smile she was just messing with us.

"Yeah, right..." Sora seemed much more at ease now, at least. "So, it's really not too weird that I feel that way about you?"

"Nope. Not unless you make it weird and try to make a move on me." I shrugged casually.

He glared. "Ugh, I already said I don't want to kiss you!"

"Good, I don't want to kiss you, either."

Kairi cleared her throat. "Well, I'm glad that's settled. I'm not entirely sure what I'd do if you two started making lovey-dovey faces at each other."

Grinning, Sora tickled her a little in the side. "I thought you said you wanted to sell pictures?"

"Ah well, I guess I'll have to earn my riches somewhere else." She lovingly pinched his nose and leaned against his arm. I could tell she wanted a minute or so alone with him but would never come out and outright ask for it.

Lucky for her, I'm observant. "I'll go grab us something to eat from the corner store over there. You two can just wait here."

Sora tilted his head in confusion. "Why?"

I yanked him towards me and spoke in a low voice in his ear. "Because right now you need to go reassure Kairi that she's the love of your life."

"H-hey!...Seriously?"

I strolled off, giving him half a wave. "I'll take my time."

Once I made it into the store, I glanced back at them through one of the wide shop windows. Obviously Kairi was feeling much more comfortable about public affection. I sneaked back out around the corner and pulled out my camera. Sure, it was a little sleazy of me, but it was a pretty nice shot of the two of them with the fountain in the background. It'll make a nice gift sometime in the future. Heck, maybe I'll just make a compilation over the years and gift it to them if they ever end up getting married or something.

I paused and considered this a minute with a smile. If Sora had this much trouble just finally telling her he liked her, how he is ever going to work up the nerve to propose? It'll take him a while, that's for sure. Maybe Kairi will do it for him again.

Yeah, the future is certainly going to be fun.