Author's Note: Here's the next part of that double update! See you tomorrow!!

Reindeer Games

Chapter One: December 20th

When Sora woke Wednesday morning, he was not sure which was predominantly felt – the sinking stone of dread in his gut, or the childlike elation. Namely, Sora was unable to decide if he would lie around all day and worry about Selphie's party, or if he would lie around all day and simply enjoy vacation.

As tends to happen near Christmas however, fate intervened, saving him the trouble of making a decision; and it intervened in the form, or rather sound, of a doorbell ringing.

However, fate does have a fickle hand, and so this intervention turned out to be one of the key factors of Sora's Christmas party dread.

There were many reasons why Sora did not want to attend this party, despite his feeling of obligation to do so and his wish to see all his friends on Christmas night. But, there was one rather large reason, which stood head and shoulders above the rest.

Sora was in love with this intervener, this first-morning-of-vacation interrupter, this doorbell ringer.

More specifically, Sora was in love with Riku. This presented a problem, as there was a world of expectation on both of their shoulders to ask Kairi to Selphie's party. That, and Sora had not even the slightest reason to suspect that Riku might feel the same.

"I brought you a present," Riku said with a smirk as soon as the door had swung open.

Upon seeing that smirk, and hearing the word 'present', Sora's worry instantly dissolved.

"Gimme!" he cried excitedly, grabbing for the small, bright package in Riku's grasp.

"Nuh-uh," the silver-haired man replied, easily lifting the gift up out of Sora's reach. "You can't open it until tomorrow morning."

"Why not?!"

"If you open it and don't like, I won't be around to see your reaction, and that will make it easier for you to lie to me in order to protect my easily bruised ego."

"So why only tomorrow morning? Why not wait until Christmas?"

"Sora, you and I both know you can't hold out for that long," Riku laughed as he brushed past the brunette and entered the apartment. "Besides, I've got another Christmas present for you. That one won't be ready for a few days, though."

Sora pouted as Riku handed him the present, which was then placed under a small, pathetic Christmas tree.

"Fine," the younger man sighed, "I'll wait until tomorrow morning."

"Good. Now, the gang's getting together downtown in a bit. You coming?"

"Sure. Should we hang out here for a bit before we head over?" Sora asked, praying that Riku would say yes. This year, Sora had planned to reveal his feelings as some strange sort of Christmas present. However, even as he hoped for Riku's agreeing to remain here for a while, Sora was presented with second thoughts. Perhaps bringing this up right around the time of Selphie's party was not a good idea. Riku might think it was something sudden, or a joke Sora had thought up after reading the invitation, and Sora wanted it to be clear that his feelings were true and strong.

Riku shook his head. "Nah, let's walk. It's not too far."

"Okay," Sora chirped, throwing on a light jacket and following his friend out the door.

As they passed through the small, quiet island town, it was discovered that Riku's thoughts were also on the party.

"Speaking of the gang," he said after a few moments, "what do you think of Selphie's party?"

Sora's heart sank a little in his chest as his gaze locked onto his bright shoes.

"I don't know, really. It's kind of…weird," he answered.

"Yeah, I thought so too," Riku agreed. "It would make sense if she knew a lot of couples, but there's only four other people that can make it to this thing without going out of their way. And it's pretty short notice to wrangle up a date."

Nodding, the brunette relaxed a bit. Maybe Riku would decide not to attend the party, and then Sora could do the same without his motives being questioned. If he decided now, he was sure Selphie, who he could tell was already suspicious, would see it as a result of his feelings for Riku.

"You know, Tidus and the others are wondering which of us is going to ask Kairi to the party," he murmured finally.

"Really?" Riku asked, laughing. "Go figure that that's the first thing they'd think of."

Sora chuckled nervously. "So, did you plan on asking her?"

Turquoise eyes slid slowly towards the small brunette, and narrowed slightly as they surveyed the boy's expression.

"Not really. I don't think I'm going to go to the party at all, actually," the older of the two answered curtly. "What about you?"

"I don't know," Sora answered with a shrug, hoping his playing at indecisiveness would prevent Riku from suspecting that Sora had feelings for either Kairi or his silver-haired friend.

"Why not? I'm sure she'd say yes, Sora. Everyone knows she likes you."

Riku was smiling mischievously at his friend, and the brunette found that he was discouraged by his friend's apparent amusement. If Riku thought the idea of Kairi and Sora as a couple was worthy of this reaction, then what would he think if Sora did decide to confess his love?

Luckily, the steps they had taken since the conversation had begun were enough to take the two friends to the center of town, and Selphie was waiting for them with an excited expression. And so, Sora was spared from explaining why he did not wish to ask Kairi to attend the party with him.

"Hey guys!" Selphie called, running over to meet Riku and Sora. "Guess what! I came up with the greatest idea last night!"

Riku turned to Sora and rolled his eyes before directing his attention to the girl. "And what might this stroke of brilliance be, Selphie?"

"I've decided," she chirped, "to take bets on which of you Kairi will come to my party with!!"

Now, Sora had not gathered any hope for that missing miracle of his in the course of his day, but if he had, it would have fled just then, as Selphie heaped upon him yet another reason to dread this party of hers.