I laid out an outline and decided there was quite a bit more I could do with this story so I've officially decided to continue it! I don't have a set amount of chapters right now, but I should be continuing to write this for at least a few months.

Thank you for your continued interest and welcome to any new readers!

I CAN BARELY SAY

Chapter Five: A Different Way of Life

He was thinking it was a bit odd that it was so quiet as he walked to work. Even this early in the morning, there were usually saws running or at least a few workers talking to each other as they tried to plan out what they wanted to do first or else just talked about what was going on in their lives. He had heard it almost every day when he walked to school.

It was only when he finally got to the site of the house and saw literally no one there that he realized, "It's Saturday…"

Destiny Islands was anything but rapidly expanding; they had to build a few new houses here and there, but there was hardly ever a rush to complete them. A decent chunk of construction work was usually dedicated to house modifications but it all depended on who needed what first since there was a limited amount of workers. Because of that limited demand, construction work hardly ever took place on the weekends so that the workers could have a decent amount of time to relax and give their all to every project when they returned.

"Wow, guess I could have slept in…" Sora commented to himself, turning around to head back to the main path. As he walked, he thought, 'It's really nice when the island's quiet and peaceful like this.'

He'd never really gotten the chance to admire it before. Sure, he was up this early whenever he had to go to school, but he was too tired to really even pay attention.

'Maybe this is why Riku and Kairi both like the mornings so much.' He smiled to himself. Taking a few more steps back towards his house, he paused in the middle of the road and thought, 'Actually, maybe I should go see Riku at his house. He's always been coming over to mine and I still need to tell him what happened yesterday.'

He continued, diverting down another path once he got closer to his house. Riku's house was fairly close to his, but it was quite larger so it was on its own farther back from where Sora's was with several others. Riku's house was even bigger than the mayor's house so most important events and holiday parties often took place there, but Riku's parents were great friends with the mayor and his wife so it was no problem at all for them. And since Sora was always over at Riku's house as a kid, once the mayor had adopted Kairi and brought her over all the time as well, the three of them became inseparable. If they weren't at his house, Sora's dad had taken them over to the play island.

He knocked gently on the door, figuring Riku was probably awake but he didn't want to ring the doorbell and wake up his parents as well.

Hearing the door click and seeing it start to open, he heard Riku's confused voice, "Sora?"

"Hey!" He greeted cheerfully.

"What are you doing up this early?" Riku asked, laughing a bit in disbelief.

Sora had to laugh at himself as well, "Uh. I kinda thought I had work this morning. I didn't really think about what day it was."

Riku shook his head and waved him in, "C'mon." The brunette stepped in and followed him into the kitchen where they both sat down at the table.

"So wait, you left early yesterday to work on a paper on a Friday night?" Sora squinted at him.

Riku shrugged, "Yeah? I'm I was trying to get some of it done so I don't have to do everything Sunday night before it's due." Folding his arms on the table, he asked, "So how'd it go after I left?" Sora smiled widely and before he even spoke, the older boy commented, "Alright, I think I can guess. So you're dating now?"

He nodded, "Yeah. After you left, she told me about everything she was feeling after I left and why she reacted the way she did when she first saw me. I dunno if I'll ever really be able to completely forgive myself for hurting her so badly, but I'm just glad she's willing to trust me again. Even just as a friend would have been good enough, honestly. So when she said she loved me, I was blown away."

"She said it first?" Riku gave a small laugh, "Figures, Kairi always was a step ahead."

Sora pouted and fired back, "I didn't want to say it at the wrong time and make her feel awkward! I was trying to work up to it gradually, like you said to me before. And anyway, I kissed her first. Er, I mean, at least I did 3 years ago…"

"Wow." He snickered a bit.

The younger boy rolled his eyes, "Anyway… So, yeah. I know everything's not gonna magically be perfect and I know three years is a really long time so there's a lot we still have to catch up on, but we'll just have to take it as it comes."

"Well, I'm definitely happy to hear you have pretty realistic expectations." Riku answered seriously with a nod, "I figured you were probably going to be a hopeless romantic and think everything was fixed."

Sora smiled and shook his head, "Nah. I'm optimistic, but I'm not stupid. I am almost twenty years old, remember?"

Riku laughed and put a hand to his forehead, "You and twenty years old don't belong in the same sentence."

"I know I've missed out on some stuff, but yeah. I've aged." He joked back, "I know it's hard to believe. But hey, it's hard to believe you're twenty-one too."

"Believe me, I know. I even forget sometimes."

"When'd we get so old? Being mature? Forgetting things? We're practically old men already."

The two boys laughed for a minute, interrupted by a light knocking on the doorframe.

"Good morning." Riku's mom greeted from the doorway. She was a very small and slender woman with straight silver hair that went just past her chin.

"Good morning!" "Good morning." Sora answered a little more enthusiastically than Riku before realizing his volume, "We didn't wake you up, did we?"

She strolled into the kitchen and gave Sora a half hug from where he was seated in the chair, "Not at all. It's great to see you again."

"Nice to see you too." He hugged her back as best as he could.

She let him go and moved over to the stove to start preparing herself breakfast, Riku calling, "So, hey Mom. Sora and Kairi started dating."

"Who would have guessed?" She answered with a hint of sarcasm, turning around briefly to add, "I'm just teasing. But really. I think everyone saw it coming."

"So I've heard." He laid his face on the table and stretched his arms out across it in an over dramatic fashion, "Even my own mom's response was just 'finally'."

Riku laughed again, "Sorry, Sora. It's just too easy to read your face."

He let out a groan. Sitting up, he said, "Well, speaking of my mom, I guess I should head home and see if she needs me to do anything since I'm not working."

"Sure you don't want any breakfast?" Riku's mom questioned sincerely.

He shook his head, "I ate before I left this morning. Thank you, though." Getting up out of the chair, he waved to Riku, "See ya. And make sure to tell your dad I said hi, as well." He started to leave.

"See ya." He heard Riku's echo from behind him.

Once he was out of Riku's house, he cut through a back alleyway to get to his backyard's gate. Sliding open the back door, he heard his mom's amused voice, "Did you really go to work this morning?"

"Yes…" He answered bitterly, sliding the door closed before he walked into the living room where she was sitting, "Give me a break. It's been years since I've paid attention to week days."

"Guess that's true. Sorry." She smiled, watching him begin to sit down on the arm chair across the room.

Once he had plopped himself down, he asked, "So, got anything else for me to do today?"

She shook her head, "No, not really. The grass probably needs to be cut in a few days but it's fine for now. That's really the only thing since you went grocery shopping already." Shrugging, she added, "I guess you could sweep if you get really bored."

"Yeah, I can do that." He volunteered, putting his elbow on the arm of the chair and resting his face against his palm, "I might try to catch up on a little bit of the sleep I missed this morning, though."

"Not a bad idea considering you were out somewhat late last night." She replied before continuing with a question, "Speaking of, are you seeing Kairi today?"

"Yeah, supposed to meet at the dock for the sunset as usual." Sora replied automatically, moving his arm back to his lap as he considered, "But I guess I could leave earlier and meet her at her work."

His mom raised an eyebrow, seemingly disapproving, "As long as you don't distract her from doing her job."

Sora scoffed and jumped up from the chair, "I'm only gonna go in like ten minutes before the end of her shift! Plus I wouldn't get her in trouble, that would make me feel terrible." He headed towards the stairs, "Any way, I'm gonna go get some sleep. Maybe when I wake up you'll have a little more faith in me." He turned his head back slightly to call out.

She just laughed, answering back teasingly, "We'll see."

Once he had climbed up all of the stairs and headed into his room, he kicked off his shoes and went to collapse on top of his bed; not bothering to close his door behind him. He wasn't exhausted by any means, but his bed was comfortable and it seemed like there wasn't much else to do.

Besides, when was the last chance he got to actually be lazy? And how long would that last?

Thinking that over, he closed his eyes and turned over onto his side. When he woke up, it was almost two in the afternoon and he was starving.

Walking down the stairs, he noticed it was extremely quiet again, save for the birds chirping outside. His mom wasn't really one for just sitting around so he figured she must have gone out somewhere. For a walk on the shore or around the island, into town to do some window shopping or real shopping; there was no telling with her.

After throwing together a sandwich and munching on it while watching TV for a bit, he pulled out the broom from the closet in the hallway and started sweeping. With as much sand as everyone brought in constantly, most places on Destiny Islands only had wood floors to make it easier to clean. Riku and Kairi's parents both happened to have one of the few with carpets but only on the second floor and needless to say he was amazed the first time he saw them.

He finished the kitchen, living room, hallway and the stairs before he realized it was about time to leave. Since it seemed like his mom wasn't even that concerned with it getting done, he figured it probably wouldn't hurt to leave their bedrooms until tomorrow. Since the temperature was probably going to drop quite a bit once the sun went down, he decided to quickly change into jeans before heading out the door.

The coffee shop wasn't too far of a walk as it was one of the first things that came into view as islanders walked into town. Since everyone had to walk in the same direction to get to their jobs or school, it only made sense to put it where people would pass it every single day.

It usually wasn't as busy in the afternoon but Sora saw a few people sitting in the shop through the window as he walked towards the door, noting that most looked like college students who needed a pick-me-up after a long day. He opened the door slowly, setting off the little bell that hung above.

"Welcome!" He heard a few voices come from the counter.

Kairi was busy making someone's order while Noctis was taking another and Serah and Vanille were staring at him intently. Noctis was Riku's age so he didn't know him very well but had seem him around, Serah was in the same year as him and Kairi so he knew her pretty well from classes, and Vanille was a good friend of Selphie's that he had met a few times.

"Hey," He greeted a little nervously, "Can I just get some water?" He wasn't really a coffee person and he had just eaten not that long ago but it seemed rude to just order nothing.

"Sure." Serah answered, turning around to grab a cup.

He looked back over to Kairi who had just passed over the coffee cup to the customer. Once she turned and saw him, she flashed a bright smile, "Hi."

"Hi." He mirrored her before he saw Serah slide the cup of water towards him out of the corner of his eye. "Thanks." He took the cup and went to the closest corner of the room, sitting at the booth there.

"Is that really Sora?" He heard Vanille ask in a loud whisper and glanced back over to the counter, all the girls gathered at the other side while they worked on restocking things.

Kairi gave a little laugh of disbelief, "Yeah. Isn't it obvious?"

"I mean, I know no one else on the islands has hair like that, but still. He was so dorky and now…" He looked down and sipped on his water, not wanting to get caught looking, but still listening as Vanille finished, "He's hot."

The girls all laughed and he grinned to himself, his ego boosted.

"Better be careful what you say, Kairi and him just started dating." Serah warned her teasingly.

"I was just making an observation. He's not really my type." Vanille replied simply, "But congrats to you both! I know you really missed him and I'm sure he's happy to be back."

He peeked back over there to see Kairi smile shyly, nodding, "Yeah."

"Little help over here." Noctis interrupted them, nodding towards a new customer about to come in through the door. Vanille dashed over to the other side of him to help while Kairi and Serah continued organizing the cups, still talking to each other but they were a bit quieter now.

Sora had taken to looking out the window, watching the groups of high school kids going in and out of the shops and the people walking home from work while he idly drank from his cup. When he felt hands on his shoulder, he jumped a little bit before looking up to see Kairi giggling. Smiling himself, he commented, "It sounded like you guys were having fun."

"I figured you probably overhead." She answered with an embarrassed smile, "Vanille never has been the quietest."

"I heard stuff like that all the time about Riku when we were younger, so it was kinda cool getting to be the focus for once." He admitted, pausing to add, "Though I didn't really appreciate the dorky part."

"You're still dorky to me." Kairi slid her hands off his shoulders and stepped to the side of the table, his eyes watching her as she said, "But that's part of your charm."

"Hmm." Sora started to slide out of the chair, "So are you ready to go, then?"

She nodded, "Yeah." Once he had stood up and they began walking towards the door, she asked, "By the way, is there a reason you came early?"

"Sort of…" He trailed off, feeling the eyes of Kairi's coworkers on him, "I'll tell you in a minute."

Her eyes flickered over to the counter, curious, but agreed, "Okay." She looked back again to wave at them all, "Bye!" Sora also added a small wave. Once they were outside, she immediately questioned, "So what is it?"

He managed to keep her walking towards the dock though she was dying to know, "It's just something stupid that I've already been picked on about a couple of times today. Nothing serious."

"Just tell me." She whined, purposely bumping into his side.

"I went to work this morning." He answered simply.

"So—" She realized only a moment after she had begun, "Oh. It's Saturday."

He nodded, "Yeah. I didn't even think about it. I haven't had a weekend in forever."

"You never had any days where you didn't have anything to do?" She questioned curiously.

"I mean, yeah. That happened every once in a while. But I haven't had certain planned out days of the week in years." He finished loudly and over dramatically, "Anyway, since I was already up, I just went to Riku's house for a little bit. Then I went home and slept some more before sweeping my house."

Kairi looked at him intently, "So you told him."

"I didn't even say a word, he just guessed." He answered truthfully, giving a small laugh, "He said the reason no one's surprised is because it's so easy to read my face."

She giggled as well, "It is kind of true."

He smiled back at her as they approached the row boats. Once they had set sail for the play island, his face fell a little bit as he asked, "So did you tell Selphie?"