Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, but if I did you best believe Kingdom Hearts III would be out by now… maybe.

Side Note: I didn't read and revise because I am oh so lazy. Sorry. Haha, you know you missed me though…

Railroad Tracks – Chapter 7

Because We Shouldn't

"Hayner, please come to cash number seven. Hayner, please come to cash number seven." Sora cleared his throat, watching the customer (who had conveniently told him his name, where he lived, what he did for a living and about his many kids) and smiled kindly to him, if not a bit sarcastically. At three AM, Sora had taken to eating much candy, a few energy drinks and was now chewing many pieces of gum to get rid of that coffee breath. He pulled the phone over to his mouth again, twisting the cord between tan, slim fingers making sure to not touch it with his lips and said one more time "Hayner –"

"What?"

Sora screamed, listening to it echo in the intercom. He turned towards the blond haired boy with chocolate eyes exasperated with bulging eyes. "Warnings?"

Hayner got a cheeky smile on his face and commented idly, "Those are so last year."

Sora sighed, forgetting it and pointed it to the frozen screen on the computer. He quickly glanced to the customer and then smiled to Hayner again. "How do you fix it when it freezes? I forgot." Hayner's brow scrunched.

The blond also smiled towards the customer who might have held the answer for Sora's weird behavior. Sora was the assistant manager. He should know this like the back of his hand. "But you –"

Hayner glanced down at his hand which was being squeezed to death. Sora's smile was tight as he said quietly, "I. Forgot."

The customer just glanced between the two of them, smiling like he had been for the past fifteen minutes while Sora was helping him out and then trying to fix the computer.

"Uh, okay…" Hayner said almost as quietly. The brunet was out of the way in less than a second, Hayner left to stare at the empty space. He turned towards the customer again, looking at the basket which was still full and a frozen computer.

"Hey kid," the balding man said. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about World War II, would you? Because I have an amazing story to tell you… Oh! My name's Andy by the way. Here are some pictures of my…" Hayner winced when the man continued to babble on and on. He could faintly hear Sora's sigh of relief. Sora…

Meanwhile, Sora was safe in the electronic section with a guy who was one of the creepiest men he had ever met besides his teacher Vexen. He wondered idly if this man might have been related to him…

But that reminded him of school, which reminded him of home, which reminded him of Roxas. He shook his head from those thoughts. If he didn't think of something for long enough, it was sure to be forgotten at one point.

…Right?

He was glad when he saw Cid walking over, grumbling to himself like usual. But he stopped at the end of the isle he was in and glanced at Sora while he was holding cases upon cases of used DVD's. Cid gestured him over.

"Sora, I need to tell you something."

The brunet gave a little nod before quickly putting everything away. The cough from Cid stopped him again and he glanced over. "It's really important."

He sighed, placing the cases on the ground, hoping they'd be there when he got back and followed Cid as he led him to the front once again, where he enjoyed seeing Hayner nodding slowly to whatever the man was saying and looking beyond annoyed with a fake smile plastered on. Sora smiled even wider when Hayner very gracefully flipped him off behind his back. Cid stopped and turned towards him and Sora smiled sweetly. "What can I do for you?"

Cid shifted uncomfortably "Well, you see, the higher-ups and me were talking, ya know? And it was right after they had treated me to a nice dinner and I couldn't really deny them or anything. I don't really know what came over them! I mean one minute we're –"

"Cid," Sora mumbled while smiling. "You're rambling."

The older man shut him mouth. "Ah," he finally said. Then silence ensued. There were a few minutes Sora thought he could actually hear the clocks ticking on isle twelve.

"Cid."

The man straightened and cocked his head to the side. "What?" he grumbled.

The brunet breathed through his nose to calm his childish antics that would cause him to either groan or laugh. Right now it might have been leaning towards a groan. "You needed to tell me something?"

There's always that nagging feeling in the back of your head that says 'step back you moron! Step. Back!' But you never really listen. And when Cid sighed and rubbed the space between his eyes and took out the toothpick in his mouth, Sora wished he hadn't bothered to ask just to avoid anything. "Sora, I'm firing you." Though that was kind of unavoidable.

Sora blanched. Cid scratched the back of his head.

"Sales are going down and they said I needed to make a few cuts –"

Stopping him, the brunet smiled again. "No. It's fine. No need to explain. I mean, I come here every night from seven at night till five in the morning when no else will. I totally see why it'd be me you let go."

"Sora…"

"I brought in Hayner when we were still short on staff and drove here through a snowstorm when you couldn't make it in because your computer fried and what-not. How couldn't I see why you'd fire me? Being assistant manager and working nights while I'm underage, which is illegal mind you, is great reason to fire me."

"Sora, I don't think that's any way to act –"

The brunet laughed. "I don't work here." He walked out the sliding doors while throwing his vest on the carts. "Nuh-uh, I do not work here." Cid watched the kid leave, turned around, but when the doors opened again a minute later he narrowed his eyes at Sora

"Sora, what are you –" he started to say before Sora walked over to the counter he was previously at, Hayner not in sight. He grabbed the phone once more.

Opening his mouth he said as loud and clear as he could. "Hayner I need a ride home. Car won't start." He was happy when he could hear the clatter of boxes from somewhere by the clothes.

"Okay!" he heard the blond shout, barely seeing his head above the clothes as he bounced up and down, heading over.

Demyx tugged a little on his headphones. Unlike most of his friends, he preferred the big, black bulky ones that covered all your ears and the large plastic thing connecting them rested along the top of your head. That way, he could place stickers all over them.

He had a lot of stickers.

He had been staring at the house for a while. By now, the pale green of the house and the chipped white shutters were etched in his head. The front porch swing was idly creaking with the slight breeze that had come over night, bothering with his hair for the whole morning.

Why Demyx was even up since seven was a mystery to him. Why no one had called the police on the boy for standing outside the house for three hours was an even bigger mystery. Then again, the many nights the guys had gathered and caused mayhem was enough to have the police blowing off any calls for this particular address. When he effectively sighed for the thirty-first – he was getting used to counting now – time, he took those steps forward, turning up his iPod. Just because he came here to talk didn't mean he had to listen per say.

About to knock, the door flew open with a somewhat pissed Cloud. And when you could honestly tell Cloud was pissed than just his normal anti-social, stoic self, you either move ten yards away or shoot yourself right there. Demyx just preferred to step to the side, allowing the man to walk – or storm, whichever he preferred to his car.

"Bye Cloud!" Demyx said, realizing he might have been a little too loud when the blond slammed the car door more than he should. Demyx shrugged, smiling a little and walking up the stairs.

One step…

Two step…

Three step…

Twelfth step…

Thirteenth step…

It might have been unlucky to count that, he thought as he stood on the top step, looking at the brown, dirtied carpet. He shrugged again, dancing spastically towards Roxas' door. He knocked as he spun in a circle, and didn't notice that the door had opened.

Roxas shot out his hand, effectively stopping the teen from killing the few pictures on the wall and walked back into his room. "Hey man!" Demyx spoke, yelling for every other living being.

"Dem," Roxas said, pointing to the headphones. The boy gave a confused stare before it dawned on him and he knocked out the idea of just yelling at the boy. Now he'd have to deal with his yelling.

"Where's Sora?"

"Don't know."

"Thanks," Demyx muttered sarcastically. "Well, I didn't really come here for him now that I think about it. Actually came for you. I really need to talk to you. Because, you know, talking in a friendship is important. When something that needs to be said isn't said, someone should say it. Thus being said."

"Dem," Roxas said again, staring at the boy. "You pretty much said the same thing, like five different times."

"Really? I did? Woopsie, didn't mean to. Guess I'm just trying to avoid the subject. What were we talking about again?"

Roxas stared at his friend, and despite his own problems, he seemed to notice something wrong with Demyx. The kid's mouth was hanging slightly open, as if he was about to fall asleep, and his eyes were bright red. Roxas wasn't stupid enough to not know what Demyx looked like. From his point of view, the teen was fucked up.

But he also wasn't stupid enough to believe Demyx would do that. "Demyx, what…"

"No, no it's not your turn to talk – you aren't holding the 'Talking iPod,'" Demyx laughed, holding up the device that glowed before going off again. "Now, what were we talking about? Ah, right, talking.

"Have you talked to Sora since yesterday? I stopped by Wal-Mart before coming over here and his car was there but neither he nor, nor Hayner was there. And Cid wouldn't talk to me. He just kept mumbling to himself, breaking all his toothpicks in his mouth and then –"

"Dem!"

"Right, skipping the Sora part, have you talked to Axel?" At that, the smaller blond of the two stiffened, watching the other dangerously. The other just tried to keep his eyes open. "I can't tell if that is a yes face or a no face so I'll just continue.

"I personally don't think it's safe what you two are doing. Completely ignoring each other is not healthy at all. 'Specially if you love the person. Axel and Sora have done nothing to you. Well, maybe Axel but whatever he did doesn't deserve what you're doing. And dragging Sora into this mess is just stupid and immature. Does this sound… er, look fair for Axel? Man my head hurts."

Roxas stopped him there, holding up a hand. "Fair?"

"Yeah," Demyx nodded vigorously, smiling a bit, thinking the boy was going to listen. "You know, right, just, of equal treating…"

"I know what fair means."

"I know. But do you know?"

The other let that last statement slide, anger overruling his mind already.

"You're calling…me unfair?

Demyx made a noise from his throat, tipping his head to this side. "Kind of…"

Roxas snorted through his nose, glaring wildly at Demyx. "Why don't you tell Zexion about Reno, Dem. Huh?"

That sentence snapped at the other, his eyes widening and seemingly knocking him out from whatever was affecting him.

"W-what are…"

"You know what I'm saying. Why, don't you, tell him, about Reno Dem?"

The blond musician seemed lost in thought for a second, his eyes saddening a bit, tearing up as his lips trembled, trying to piece together what Roxas was saying with what his mind was allowing. He looked up, wetting his lips and tinkering with something that jiggled in his pocket. He saw Roxas avert his eyes down towards the noise. "…That's not fair."

Demyx walked away, slowly, not intentionally to let the boy stop him, but just because it felt like he was trudging through mud. "Sorry to bother you," he said lamely before walking out the door, slipping his head phones on and blaring the music up again.

He rubbed the top of his head, standing in the same place he had been before he had gone inside. Now that he thought of it, his arm was starting to hurt again, as was his side. He took out the bottle of pain killers his sister had given him and slipped another one on his tongue before swallowing dryly.

That blond kid had looked a little off when he had left, but that wasn't his problem. His problem now was getting out of this horrible traffic so he could just get "to where he fucking needed to go…"

He didn't bother to flip on the radio, because there was nothing good on and Sora had taken his CDs. The brunet was just asking for a major death glare.

Cloud sighed when the mass of cars finally broke the traffic and he weaved around the slower cars till he came to a certain street and turned. He always wondered how Zack could live down here. The houses all looked the same, as did the gardens and fences and sometimes he swore they cloned one dog and gave everyone a copy.

Well, at least Zack and Aerith had a different dog. Too bad it was a Great Dane that loved jumping on him.

He got out of the car, and got ready to be pummeled by Hercules – fitting name – but instead he got to walk calmly towards the door. He rang once, then twice and he heard Aerith's small steps as a small burst of air came with the opened door.

"Cloud!" she said, pleased with the familiar face. "Come in, come in," The brunette ushered him in, smiling as if she had just seen the light after many days of darkness. Cloud nodded to her, and went in through the familiar house, making a straight-line for the kitchen where he could already smell food.

"Zack! Cloud's come to visit!" He didn't know why, but that phrase seemed to bother him more than it should. He sat at the table watching as Aerith sauntered around the kitchen. The woman would make an excellent mother. His brow furrowed even further but it loosened up when Zack walked in.

"Ah," he said. "He really is here. To what do we owe this amazing visit?"

Cloud smirked a little, happy that he could do it so easily before twisting around the hot chocolate Aerith had just handed him. "Where's Hercules?"

"Ha had to go to the vet for his leg. I swear, the way he jumped out of the back of the truck you'd think he thought he was invincible," Zack muttered.

"Ah…"

Zack coughed in his hand when Cloud didn't continue. He whistled a bit to gain the blonds attention.

"Uh, where's Zexion?"

Zack raised a black eyebrow. "You came all the way here… to ask about Hercules and Zexion?"

"No, I came all the way here to talk to you about something. I just didn't really want Zexion to hear."

The two standing adults in the room casually glanced at each other before both pulled out the table chairs and sat. Aerith spoke first. "Zexion got a call about ten minutes ago and rushed out of the house. He probably won't be back for a while. What's up?"

"I'm having trouble. Financially." Cloud ran his hand through spikes, feeling them bounce back up before sighing. He had worked very hard to not let these two know about his problems. And apparently that wasn't going to cut it.

Before he realized it, he was saying it all – the bills were stacked mile high, and there was no money to pay it off. All but one of his cards had been cut up and thrown away. He had pawned most of the useless valuables he could find without anyone noticing and he had even gotten his now third job. He was tired, spent and desperate. Something he didn't want to admit but had to anyway.

Nothing could hurt worse now.

"Cloud," he looked up as Aerith grabbed the ends of his fingers. "Why didn't you come sooner?"

"Sweetie, it's not in Cloud's nature to. I'm surprised he lasted this long without going to anyone for help. Raising two brothers still in high school, when they themselves just got out of college two years ago is hard." Zack leaned back in his chair, tinkering the collar of his shirt before shifting it down again.

"What do you need?"

"Money," Cloud rasped out, chuckling darkly at his own situation.

"How much?"

"Too much."

"Have you spoken to Leon?"

"No!" Cloud yelled, his eyes opening wider. "He doesn't need to know. Leon does not need to know. Anyone but Leon."

"Cloud, you can't get through this alone," Zack said, watching as Aerith went to go refill his cup. "Why did you come here Cloud?"

The blond looked at his two friends, not knowing what to say. Why did he come here? Why, after years of struggling and hiding his dilemma, did he decide to say something now?

"Because I don't know what else to do."

The two smiled at him and for another two hours they talked. Aerith tried her best he could tell at some points to make him forget why he had come there while Zack just pestered him about only coming when he had dug himself a grave. Aerith wrinkled her nose at that before sighing as the boys laughed.

It had always been like that, all the way back to grade school. Zack, Cloud, herself, Leon and Sephiroth. Though when she tried to recall the last face, she could only see what he looked like now.

"Hmm, just like old times," Zack sighed, saying her thoughts as the two smiled before looking back towards Cloud who had froze as he was lifting the glass to his lips. All of a sudden, it was as if a light blub went off and he hurriedly thanked them for the late lunch, kissing Aerith's cheek and patting Zack's shoulder before walking out with a promise to be back some other time.

Aerith and Zack stared at each other. Zack scratched the back of his head. "What did I say?"

The day had been a long one. He had found the blond – dumb, stupid, moronic, life-endangering blond – walking along the bridge, back and forth as if he were a tight-rope walker. When he had pulled over and just stared at Demyx, the other teen glanced at him before continuing his routine for what he could only assume for the last few hours.

When he finally pulled him into the car, it was because cars kept honking at him and he was sure some old person would call the police soon. He would have stood there all day if he had to, because Zexion hated being the one to call it quits first. He liked to watch the other person grow agitated.

Only for Demyx would he cave. And they drove home in silence – a confusing silence which at times was very comforting for Zexion. He hated to admit it, but Demyx was his muse some of the time for his chosen career. He refrained form mentioning it to the blond though, because he would be very upset.

Demyx was not a test subject for him. He was his boyfriend.

And any gay man would be happy when the minute they had found an empty parking lot for an abandoned building their boyfriend pulled them into the backseat and started making out with them madly. Though, Zexion would have to say he wasn't any gay man.

He was Zexion.

And Zexion had a blond boyfriend whose name was Demyx. And as much as Demyx loved having sex in weird places, he would definitely regret it later when whatever funk he was in was over. Zexion hated when that happened because he always felt he was to blame partly.

"Dem," he whispered, his breath not as erratic as it would have been if he was actually interested in what the teen was doing. "Demyx." The blond continued his ministrations, his shirt already off and the blonds pants unzipped. "Mizu!"

Demyx pulled back, breathing hard. Those were the seconds that Zexion took to examine him.

Demyx had half-lidded eyes but he was sure it was because he was tired. He was breathing too hard even for what he had been attempting to do and the visible parts of his eyes were red. Zexion felt that the blond leaned more towards his right compared to the usual left and his right hand rested lightly on his chest while his left took most of the weight. "Will you explain?"

Suddenly, defense kicked in. "What, that I'm trying to have sex with my boyfriend – the one I love – in the back of his car and he won't touch me? Does that explain it? So we can have sex when you want it, just not when I want it? Am I being too pushy? Do you not want to have sex with me anymore? Did someone tell you some gross little secret about me?"

Zexion knitted his brow together. "Dem, what are you talking about? You were just walking on a bridge as if you were some acrobat and then pulled me in the back of my car, and it vaguely resembles as if you are doped up right now. Are you on something?"

"Pain meds. My body hurt." He jingled the bottle in front of Zexion and the blue-haired teen grabbed it, the other not protesting. "Larx gave it to me this morning before she left."

"Why did she give them to you," Zexion asked.

"My body huuuurt."

"Demyx," Zexion warned.

The blond sighed, resting his head of Zexion's shoulder. "Dad got a little mad at mom last night. Larx was out with, uh, her boyfriend and well, what do ya know? Blondie-fag is all alone." Zexion grunted. He didn't know if he wanted Demyx to continue his tirade or not.

"So of course he deserves a little kick there and a little punch here. Oh, he wants to struggle now does he? Well then lets pull his hair and rip his shirt and spit on his face and now he's starting to sound like an Eminem song. Now he wants to yell? Gotta mix it up a little then. Let's twist his arm and sprain his ankle and then give him one last kick before going off to bed.

"Larx wasn't home," Demyx sniffled into Zexion's shoulder, who was now trying to not squeeze the life out of his boyfriend for not calling him and then talking himself out of killing the blond's parents. "I'm kinda glad she washn't." His words were starting to slur now. "She wou' 'ave gotten hurft. Bro'er can't let tha' happen."

Zexion sighed when he realized the blond had knocked himself out. He debated a little on taking the blond to the hospital to make sure he didn't overdose on pain killers but decided to take him home to Aerith and Zack instead. As much as he hated the thought of leaving Demyx at that moment in time, he had something he had to do today and if he didn't do it now, he probably wouldn't attempt it again.

"Sorry Dem," He grunted, laying him down in the back seat comfortably before driving off back towards his house. Zack and Aerith didn't question him when he said a friend would be staying. They already knew who it was. And once again they didn't question where he was going when they heard the door quietly click, signaling it closed.

He had learned from Roxas that he brunet wasn't home and that he wasn't at Wal-Mart but his car was there. So he went to Hayner's. While he wasn't greatest pals with him, he had once been partnered up with him for a school assignment.

When he finally got to the house, it was two. He spotted the brunet in the house, playing video-games with Hayner, laughing and bumping each other to push them off balance. He sighed, not sure for a second before getting out of the car, walking up and knocking on the door.

"Ah," Naminé whispered, bumping into what her mind told her was a wall but looking up she realized it was Axel. "You're here early Axel." She cleared her throat, not used to talking when she came to school this early. Marluxia usually let her in when she wanted to get some drawings done. The last person she expected to run into was the flaming red-head Axel.

The man in front of her yawned a little, shrugging in his over-sized coat. He gave her a tired, cheeky-grin before following her. The blond bit the inside of her cheek lightly, not wanting to object to Axel following her but definitely feeling uncomfortable. She was used to seeing Axel with everyone around rather than just him and her together.

Plus, if by the off chance Roxas saw the two together, he might blow a gasket. She chuckled to herself, despite knowing that'd be bad but not being able to picture it in any way but funny.

When they had made it to the art room which was one the third floor, she sat at her usual stool after pulling out her large sketch pad from the cupboard. It was easy to get used to having Axel around, she mused.

Where the man might have been frighteningly large and looked the part of someone who could possible kill and not regret, he sent a warm atmosphere out and patiently let it rest around the room.

She found herself, instead of sketching the empty room as she had been doing for the past two days sketching Axel into it. He was sitting on one of the empty stools facing the window only showing half his face to her, leaning forward so that the back two legs were above the ground.

Naminé started with the teardrop under his eyes, shading it in. Then came the outline of his body and the way his hair stuck up slightly and fell over his shoulder, twisting and curling. Once she had sketched his clothes and hair, she drew the down-curve of his lips and the point of his nose.

His eye was the hardest. The sun from outside was reflecting too strongly and she didn't know whether to draw the rays of light just to avoid her predicament. But she drew the sea-foam green of his eye, making sure not to miss the way the light shone off them. When she looked back at him though, she realized his mouth had opened slightly and she was patient enough to look at him long enough to watch as his mouth moved slightly, forming a word.

She smiled to herself when she realized what he said and erased only the lips of Axel and re-drew them to be parted just a little, as if the Axel in the picture was talking to himself.

"Why…?" Naminé didn't realize she had said anything till Axel was looking at her point-blank. She coughed again, trying to get her voice up.

"Why'd… why'd you guys do it?"

The red-head chuckled to himself. "Other than Sora you're surprisingly the only one to ask," he sighed. She made a half-smile, not sure what that really meant. "I think," Axel continued, narrowing his eyes a little. "That you might already know why."

This time she fully smiled. "Just wanted to be sure. Have you talked to him?"

"Which one," Axel asked, grunting.

"Sora."

The red-head shook his head. He leaned the stool back down, breaking the atmosphere and it caused Naminé to look back at her sketch. She smiled to herself when she looked at it. It was a peaceful moment and she knew exactly what to do with it.

"Why'd you only color in my eyes?"

Naminé jumped a little, stuttering as she dropped the pencils she was holding. Axel laughed and she smiled again. "They stood out the most when I looked at you. That, and your lips."

A silence came for a few seconds before Axel pushed her a little in the back. "Shush, or I might think you're hitting on me."

The room was once again filled with the blonds laughter, as they each parted, going there separate ways.

The day had been going slow. And despite having one too many classes with a certain blue-haired maniac that was out to ruin his mood even further, he was doing a good job and avoiding any unnecessary conversations.

He was glad when the bell rang that signaled for his sixth class to be over. That meant he had no more classes and a free period. He, with unusual bouncy-ness as Demyx liked to put it, hopped down towards the basement door, passing a relaxed Axel, cranky Demyx and a flustered Naminé as he almost ran into her.

With a hurried but meaningful apology, he continued on his way, not noticing the smile that reached the girls face.

The door creaked less that it usually did, signifying that it had been being used more often. He smiled to himself, knowing the boy was down there. Even humming a bit, he skipped a few steps, almost falling before gracefully catching himself at the bottom. He 'humphed' to no one in particular giving a bow to the imaginary crowd that had witnessed his excellent save.

He almost forgot who he had come to see down here when there was a slight whistle and two claps. He stood straight up, blushed a little before blinding Riku with a smile. Riku smiled back, never seeing this look come from the boy.

"That's cute," he muttered.

"Huh?" Sora said, tilting his head so he could hear the other boy better.

As he sat down on one of the cushion, he watched as Riku resumed throwing the basketball up and down in the air as he guessed he was probably doing that before he had come down. "Nothing. What's got you in high spirits, if I may ask?" the silver-haired teen mumbled.

"A lot happened in the past three days." Sora's smile faltered for a second before coming back, dismissing it with a flick of the wrist and chose to instead change the channel from yet another Hitler episode. How many of those could they make without repeating?

"Hmm." The soft smile on his lips had Sora thinking of the other day when he had seen him with Axel. He still wanted to hear the laugh.

"Hey, Riku," the boy turned towards him and Sora smiled wider once again. "What do you wanna watch?"

"You," Riku raised a brow and Sora blushed. "Trying to play basketball." Sora found the orange ball in his face. "That'd be an interesting sight, I would think." Sora scrunched his nose at the orange menace he held in his hands. It mocked him for his lack of dribbling experience. Any other sport he'd most likely excel in. But for some reason the art of basketball eluded his genes.

"I'd rather not…" He mumbled, watching Riku shift in the beanbag to face him more and smirk slightly.

The teen sat straighter and quickly stole the ball. "Why, can't keep up with me?"

"No!" Sora shouted indignantly, fumbling to stand up. Riku was sure to follow just as fast with much more grace that made Sora's face scrunch up even more. His friends would call it pouting, but at a time like this Sora would call it a minor glare. Because pouting wasn't manly.

Sora didn't like the smile the boy had on his face. And he didn't like the tone in his voice when he said after successfully stealing the ball back, "Prove it."

When he looked down once again at the orange ball this time held by Riku and this time he would admit to pouting, one thought raced through his mind.

Maybe this wasn't the best idea.

…Didn't stop him though.

Catching him off guard by throwing the ball at him, Sora tried to dribble the ball like he had seen his brother do when playing Demyx. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out like that and Riku was quick enough to snatch it up between the long pauses. Riku twirled the ball on his finger. "Are you sure, Sora?" No, no he wasn't sure when Riku said his name like that, but he lunged for the ball anyway.

It wouldn't take a genius to figure out the landing, and cliché as it was, neither of the boys were prepared for it. And Sora watched the teens mouth shake with what he hoped were laughs, because he oh-so wanted to hear what his laugh sounded like again. He had only heard it once up close and his hand had been –

But he really never expected for Riku to kiss him. Why would he expect that? It wasn't like he had been secretly wanting to know what those lips felt like on his skin. He wasn't secretly hoping for a moment like this to pop up to taste those lusciously pink, puckered lips as the slowly moved against his own. But there was a small voice in his head that was telling him he had wanted to let those slender fingers race up his tingling spine and –

Riku kissed him.

And he kissed back.

Right before, standing up, staring at the worried, slightly dazed Riku and walking away.

4/9/10 – Started

6/30/10 – Finished

Oh boo, I think I'm just getting worse at the romantic scenes. It turns out so much differently than in my head and I'm frustrated it doesn't turn out the same when I write it. Gah, damn these fingers which can't make the story great!

Side Note off the Side Note: Longest chapter yet! And I added a little RiSo (even if it was short and bad). So, does that get me slightly off the hook for not updating in forever?

P.S. Sorry for the late update. You'd never be able to guess what I have gone through. Haha...