Chaper 3: Dinner at Delia's


Sora sat with his arms folded and a scowl plastered across his face as he sat on his couch. It wasn't that anything was wrong exactly, but there were so many things that simply weren't right that he didn't even know what to do.

He had come home from work the day before and had hunted… hunted for something to be out of place, just so he could find a reason to call Riku up and yell at him. Unfortunately, everything had been put back into place just as it was before he left. The bathroom was actually clean and tidy—unlike how he had left it, but he couldn't complain—the kitchen was still in order as well, not that he really would have been able to tell if Riku had messed up anything. He couldn't help it if he had a thing for empty threats.

In fact, he had bothered to go and actually wash the dishes in the sink. Sora himself thought it was something a jerk would do, but he had been so surprised to actually see the bottom of the sink that he couldn't even get angry. It was a nice surprise; an appreciated surprise. This actually made him angrier now. He wished he had made a bigger deal about it at the time, and had called Riku while it was still fresh on his mind.

He grimaced. What kind of person was he becoming? Was he really sitting in his living room trying to find reasons—even stale ones—to yell at Riku?

The two of them—well, really, the four of them: Sora, Riku, Kairi and Roxas—had been friends for quite a while. They had grown up on the islands together, had gone to the same schools, had graduated together. It wasn't like they were strangers, or needed any kind of prompt to talk.

Kairi and Sora had been friends as long as he could care to think. He could faintly remember a time when Kairi was new to the island, but the gap in time between her arrival and their friendship had been so seamless that he could barely remember it. She was a likeable person, which made her easy to befriend, and since she was willing to put up with all of his wild childhood whims, he was pleased to have her friendship.

Roxas was admittedly hard to swallow at first. He had moved to town a few years after Sora and Kairi had started primary school, and seemed to be less than enthusiastic about the hot sun, the constant presence of sand, and the snowless winters. Kairi had befriended him because she was Kairi, but it wasn't long before his strange, biting charm sort of…forced itself on Sora, and they had been friends ever since.

Riku was different though. They had always been friends, and Sora was prone to think that they were two parts of the same person…if Riku hadn't been taller, older, stronger and stoic.

They had been neighbors, and as soon as they had first laid eyes on each other, it was as if they were going to cause trouble together forever. He'd never forget that day he had been sitting outside in the hot sun, whacking a tree with a stick out of sheer boredom, and Riku had descended his porch, silver mop of hair and pale skin defiant in Destiny Island's infamous summers, and he said with a voice that was too deep for his age, "I'm bored, too."

Riku kind of had a Roxas-eque edge to him, but less abrupt and biting. It sort of worked for his personality though, and created an aura about him that was a little bit mysterious, a little bit cool, and a little bit…right. That day they had ended up swimming in the ocean, destroying an entire section of shrubbery with sticks and magnifying glasses, and falling off of large rocks. It had been the best day Sora had ever had, and those days continued until…

Well, he wasn't sure what had happened. Sora sighed, and willed his mind to move on. He could blame it on Riku getting that job at the harbor, but he knew that there was something else there, something that Riku wouldn't tell him, and something that he wasn't sure he wanted to know. Whatever it was, it was building an unspoken barrier between himself and his best friend, bringing awkwardness to something as simple as talking to him about a tiny little nuisance that smelled a lot like the harbor…

He pulled himself from the cushions of his couch and milled around the kitchen to find something else to be angry about. Kairi had said that he might be slightly obsessive compulsive, but Roxas called him a professional 'fretter.' If there wasn't something wrong, then he often invented things to be wrong just so he could worry about them. It was for this reason that he was grateful for his friendships. He usually relied on Riku to help mellow him out, but since Riku was bent on being the perpetual thorn in his side, that was kind of out of the question.

Sora frowned and looked around the apartment again. Though he probably could have made a fuss about Riku insulting his housecleaning habits by touching his things, but that was admittedly splitting hairs.

If Riku hadn't been his friend, he might have killed him by now for putting all this worry on him…

There was a shrill beep from the sound of his phone in the other room, and when Sora dashed to get it and read the name on the caller ID, he couldn't help the grin that spread across his face. It looked as if he was about to be granted a reason to release all of his frustration on the individual causing all of this trouble in the first place.

He took a moment to clear his throat, and really savor the verbal beating he was about to bestow before clicking the answer button and placing it to his year.

"Hello," he said sweetly, drawing out the vowels to lull Riku into a false sense of security.

The reply was cautious, as it should have been. "Uh, hello? Sora?"

"Why yes, this is Sora." He said, pouring on more sweetness. "And who may I ask is calling?"

"Huh? It's Riku. Did you delete my num—"

"Surely it wouldn't be Riku, house crasher and destroyer of frozen foods everywhere."

"…Oh."

"Surely that Riku wouldn't have the nerve to call me after causing me an unspeakable inconvenience, forcing me out of my peaceful slumber, and into an impromptu nursing internship. Surely that person wouldn't be calling me!"

"Eh heh…right, sorry about all that. Maybe I'll call back later."

"Oh no! I couldn't ask you to do that. That would be inconsiderate. Tell me, Riku, what kind of favor have you called for this evening? Perhaps there's some corn you'd like to destroy? Maybe you have your eyes on my steak?"

Riku hiccupped into the phone, but Sora could tell he was using it to hide a laugh. "No, nothing like that. I apologize for last night. I'll try to be more considerate of you in the future."

"You're lying, but apology accepted." He sat down on the couch and let out a sigh of relief. He wasn't sure why he was relieved, possibly because he was glad that Riku had made it through another night at the fighting ring he called the harbor, and he didn't sound like he was in need of any immediate medical care. "What do you want, you free loader?"

"Well, the apology is why I called, well, that and to make it up to you."

"Oh really, and how are you going to do that?"

"Dinner on me?"

Sora stifled a scowl. Was he so easily bought off like with dinner, like some kind of cheap date? They were friends. He was going to have to try a lot harder than that. "Fine, I'll eat dinner, but I get to pick where we go."

"That's fine with me. Do you work today?"

"No. I'm pretty sure Cid is looking for an excuse to fire me."

"There's always an opening down at the harbor."

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that, and I'll see you here in twenty minutes with a lot of Munny. I'm hungry, and I've decided that all of the frozen food you've cost me is going to come back and bite you in the wallet."

Riku laughed into the receiver again and offered a simple affirmation before closing the line.

Sora let out another sigh of relief and flopped onto his couch. He felt relieved, but he knew that it would only last a little while longer. It would only be a few more hours before Riku went back to the harbor for the night, and he would have to keep his fingers crossed that he would appear on his doorstep at an unreasonable hour, or see him at some other point during the day to ensure that he made it out with all of his body parts.

He wrinkled his nose and decided that he was going to give Riku an especially hard time about all of this after all, and waited patiently for his doorbell to ring.

Sora sat in the same spot for twenty minutes, and made sure that he let Riku know it, too. As soon as the doorbell rang he made a show of getting off the couch, as though Riku had taken much longer than the allotted time and was being a further burden on his patience.

Sora opened the door and looked over him. There was something slightly off about his posture, but he chose to ignore it for now. He stared at Riku pointedly, eyes hooded and hand on his hip. "It's about time you got here. I thought I was going to have to eat my arm off."

"What are you talking about? I'm on time."

"Sure you are. Sure you are."

"Anyway," Riku said rolling his eyes. "Are you ready to go, Princess Sora, or do you need a minute to put on your makeup?"

"Pfft, you're the one who needs makeup, not me." He shoved on his shoes and closed the door behind him. "And don't think that I'm going to go easy on your paycheck just because I've forgiven you. I meant it when I said that I was hungry, and that I was going to make you suffer."

"I believed you, so I brought plenty of Munny. As long as you don't decide to fly to another country to eat, I think I can support even your ravenous appetite."

"If you think so."

"I do." The two stepped out onto the porch, but Sora tapped his foot impatiently. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Don't tell me you walked here. Where is your car? I want to eat across town."

Riku rolled his eyes again. "If I knew you were going to be this fussy I would have brought a corsage and a box of chocolates."

"That wouldn't have hurt your case."

"I parked in the back. Come on."

Sora planted a smug smile on his face, and shoved his hands in his pockets. At least he was succeeding so far, and if he could get to a restaurant and burn a sizeable hole in Riku's wallet, maybe, just maybe Riku would think twice about being so reckless.

"Do you want me to open the door for you, or can you take care of that yourself?"

"I'll spare you." Sora said with a light laugh, then threw himself in the passenger's side of Riku's compact car. It was nice, and it made Sora just the tiniest bit jealous of his Munny reserves. Sora himself had only managed to land a job at a café and could just afford rent. It seemed as though Riku could afford rent and gas. He snorted.

"So, where am I taking you?"

"Across town please. Remember that diner we used to go to when we were kids?"

"We ate at a lot of bizarre places, Sora…including the ocean."

"That one that Tidus got kicked out of because he bet all of us he could fling all of his grapes into that lady's hat."

"Oh. Good choice." He grinned, drove off, the car speeding down the road in the quiet afternoon.

Sora sighed lightly and leaned his head against the door frame and the window. He was fine now, but he couldn't help but feel the slightest bit awkward. He and Riku were still friends as far as he was concerned, and he was pretty sure that Riku considered him a friend as well, but there was something that had changed between the two of them, and he didn't like it. He frowned and turned to him, hoping that something would come to mind to bring up. Then he spotted the dark purple bruise that had formed on the underside of Riku's jaw. He didn't remember icing that the other night, which would have to mean that it was a recent injury. He rolled his eyes and turned back to the window, suddenly irritated. If he tried to start a conversation now, he didn't know if he would be able to keep himself from nagging.

Riku started to notice the silence that filled the car, and he lifted a curious eyebrow.

"What?"

Well, it wouldn't be his fault anymore if he was prompted, Sora supposed.

"What what?" Sora responded.

"'Why are you being so quiet' what?."

"I'm not being quiet. I'm just thinking, that's all."

"Sounds dangerous. You aren't really the quiet type."

"Hmph, you wouldn't know what kind of type I am anymore, now would you?"

Riku broke his sight on the road for a half a second to send Sora a curious look. "Wow, what's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh nothing. Just that you only bother to come see me after you break yourself in half."

Riku made a show of sighing, and shook his head. "Are you seriously still mad about that?"

"Truthfully, no. I just like to make you uncomfortable. On a serious note, yes. I just think you could be doing better things with your time than—"

"Yeah, yeah," Riku interrupted, turning the corner a little sharply. "'Using up my frozen vegetables and space on the couch.' I get it, I'll be more conscientious of your time."

Sora folded his arms and pouted. "I'm not talking about that. Did it ever occur to you that all of this is a bad idea?"

"It occurred to me, yes."

"And that means nothing?"

"Pretty much."

He chuckled, but it was humorless, and Sora caught it. Riku was getting a bit tired of the questioning. He knew that if he kept pressuring the issue that Riku might just pull away from him for good, and that little invisible wall between them would turn into a giant chasm of no return. He chose to swallow the rest of his questioning, and nagging to be inserted into conversations later, and chose to close the subject. He let out a long breath of air and turned to Riku, even though he knew he would only be able to see him from his peripheral vision.

"Just tell me you'll be more careful?"

"Sure."

"I'd make you pinky-promise me, but your finger is broken."

Riku snorted and turned the corner intentionally hard, forcing Sora into the side of the car. "Shut it."

The rest of the car trip was filled with idle chatter, Sora trying his hardest to keep from bringing up the obvious, and Riku offering bits of commentary. Sora was pleased that they had been able to talk freely for now; it was better than the alternative.

Riku pulled into the drive way of the diner. The building was well-lit and colorful. Neon lights bordered the entire building; pink and red streaks that were inherent methods of advertisement. Bars of black and white checkerboard lined the walls, and the windows were lined in bright blue. In front of it all was a tall neon sign offering a corny slogan and the diner's specials. If Sora didn't know any better, he might argue that he would be able to see the sign from space.

"We're here," Riku said with a grin as he unlocked Sora's door. "I hope you're hungry."

"You have no idea." He smiled back and removed himself from the car, shaking his legs and arms.

Upon entering, they were greeted with a cheery hostess wearing a light blue skirt and blouse, and an apron that covered most of her body. She tugged at her garments and adjusted her nametag—'Yuffie' was stamped onto it with gold letters—and fixed her face with the widest grin Sora had ever seen in his life. She looked uncomfortable in the obvious costume, but was none the less eager when she saw their faces, mainly because she wouldn't have to lean against the podium waiting for more customers to come in. She moved a hand through her short dark hair and waved them inside.

"Welcome, welcome!" She said, spreading her arms wide and making a show of bowing. "Welcome to Delia's Diner, where the eggs are cooked to order, and no one knows who Delia is!"

Riku chuckled nervously, partly because he wasn't sure what the wiry girl was capable of, and thanked her. "Uh, we're just going to go grab a seat."

"Of course, of course!" She said with a giggle, whipping out two menus, and a set of knives and forks. "Sit anywhere you like. We don't have a full house, and our wait staff works entirely on an honor system."

"Heh, right."

Sora selected a booth as far away from her stand at the front as possible, and propped open his menu. He peered at Riku over it, whispered, "She's scary."

"I agree."

Sora went back to his menu and fretted over possible menu items, though all of them seemed like they would be swimming in grease and horridly overpriced—probably to pay for the gimmicky signs out front and the costumed wait staff—but he reminded himself that he was treating himself today.

On Riku's Munny.

He grinned and glanced at the menu. It took all of three seconds for him to realize that he didn't really need to look. This was going to be a completely customized order. He put his menu down and looking expectantly at Riku.

Riku felt the gaze on him and slowly lowered his menu. "What?"

"Nothing," he said innocently.

"Why do I get the feeling you're going to eat my way into poverty?"

"You shouldn't feel that way Riku. You should know it." He cackled a bit to prove his point and beat his fist against his chest. "My revenge knows no bounds."

"I can see that."

A few moments later, a woman dressed in the same garb as their enthusiastic hostess appeared holding a ticket book and a pen walked over to their table. She smiled down at them, thankfully a lot less electric than Yuffie.

"My name is Tifa, and I'll be your waitress this evening. Anything I can get you boys to drink?"

"Coffee," Riku said simply.

Sora cracked his knuckles. "Hi Tifa. I noticed that on your menu, you offer strawberry and chocolate shakes. Is it possible to combine the two?"

Riku slapped his hand to his face.

Tifa smiled. "Absolutely, but I'm afraid you'll have to pay the price for both of them."

"Munny isn't a problem, ma'am." He grinned at Riku who scowled in return. "In that case, I'll have a strawberry chocolate shake with extra whipped cream and sprinkles. Then I'll have a coffee."

She looked a bit confused but nodded and marked the order down on her ticket book. "Okay, I'll be right back with that."

Riku leaned back in the booth and groaned. "I should have known you were going to make this as difficult as possible."

"Yeah, you really should have." He smiled.

More idle chatter resumed as they waited for Tifa to return, and Sora found himself missing this. He wasn't kidding when he mentioned that the only time he saw Riku anymore was because of the aftermath of some fight that had been tougher than expected, or the occasional chance meeting in town. It wasn't easy since he worked day shifts and Riku worked nights, but he supposed both of them could have tried a little harder to make contact with each other. He looked at this owed dinner as a rare moment to get back to the way things used to be, and maybe, just maybe a glimmer of hope for what the future could bring.

Riku also found himself glad that he was able to see Sora, though he couldn't help but feel a little anxious about returning to the harbor later that evening. He was starting to feel restless again, and the fight that Seifer had promised him the night before seemed a tantalizing. He tried to force himself to focus though. He was here with Sora, a rare moment when he didn't need something, and even if Sora was eating off of his Munny, he still felt guilty for owing it to him in the first place. He was starting to become what he would consider a bad friend these days…

He shook his head to rid himself of his thoughts and grinned at a comment Sora made on the state of things at his apartment, and Riku remarked that he might just want to start messing things up just to give himself a little variety in life. Sora shook his head violently, and waved him away, so frantically that he nearly knocked into Tifa as she brought their beverages to the table.

"Two cups of coffee and a chocolate-strawberry shake." She said, setting the mugs and glass down. "Did you have a chance to look at the menu? Anything look good?"

"Yeah," Riku said "Cheeseburger, no onions, please."

Sora cracked his knuckles again and made sure he made eye contact with Riku. "Yes, as a matter of fact I have." He waited for Riku's face to meet his hand again, then plastered on a smug grin before continuing. "To start with, I really like that country steak and eggs. Does that come with pancakes? Because even if they do, I'd like to have an extra order of them. Now, I've also noticed a ham steak that you have here on this fine menu. I'd like to get one of those with another order of eggs, and gravy—sausage gravy. I realize that it's a whole seventy-five Munny charge onto that, but as I said earlier, that isn't really a factor in my overall purchase. Now, let's talk potatoes…"

By the end of Sora's order, Riku was rolling his head on the table in sorrow, half laughing, half sobbing at the ridiculousness and creativity in which Sora was stringing together menu items. He wasn't even sure the restaurant even served red-eye gravy, and there might be a special place in the record books for the amount of toppings Sora had included on his french-fries. Even Tifa looked as though she might have been breaking a sweat.

"And finally," Sora concluded resting his hands behind his head. "I'll have an order of your cheesecake. What's that? There are three different types? Well, it looks as though I'm going to have to try all of them."

Tifa nodded into her receipt book, recounting menu items to make sure she had collected all of them correctly. "Eh, will that be all gentlemen?"

Sora looked skyward in mock thought. "Well now that you mention it—"

"We're done," Riku moaned into the table. "I think your cooks will be plenty busy with all of that."

"Okay," she said with a nervous laugh. "It may take a few minutes, but I'll have the food out for you as soon as I can."

"Sounds good." Sora smiled sweetly at Riku. "What, can't afford me?"

"Oh I can afford it. I just won't be able to eat until next week."

"Don't worry, I'll be able to eat quite well for the next few days."

"Glad I could help you out."

"Good." He sat with a smug grin on his face for a few more moments so that Riku could really, truly appreciate it, then folded his hands neatly in front of him and kicked him under the table.

Riku grinned. "So, what's been going on with you? How's life at that coffee shop you work at? Roxas driving you to homicidal whims yet?"

Sora cracked a smile as well. "Not yet. It's not bad. Just as you'd expect."

"Huh, you mentioned earlier you thought Cid was trying to fire you. Finally get fed up with a customer and dump coffee in their lap?"

"Hah, I wish. The most exciting thing that's happened these days was getting a new espresso machine, since Cid's usually too cheap to buy anything new. It's sad that these are the highlights of my life. I just got yelled at for having story time behind the counter."

Riku lifted an eyebrow in interest, and a flash of instant alarm rose in Sora. It would probably have been better if Riku didn't find out the subject of their discussion, so he quickly waved it off. "Nothing to tell, really. We just…eh…discussed Roxas' latest failed attempt at baking muffins, and how he tried to hide it by blaming it on the ovens."

"Ah," Riku breathed, his eyes losing interest almost immediately. "Wow, sounds like you have a blast."

"I told you, this is my existence."

Riku snorted. "It doesn't have to be. Haven't you ever wanted to do something really interesting? I mean, something that really gets your blood pumping?"

Sora narrowed his eyes. "Like getting tossed around at the harbor? No thanks. I prefer my blood pumping in my veins, not all over the dock."

Riku shrugged. "Eh, to each his own. You can find something else to do. What about race car driving?"

"You can't be serious."

"Shark fisherman? What about being a bounty hunter?"

"…Or I could stick with brewing coffee and sweeping up napkins."

"You could, or you could do something with a little more zest. Surely it's killing you that you have nothing better to do than discuss how Roxas can't cook?"

Sora folded his arms. "No, thank you, I'm fine. Why is having an exciting job so important to you, anyway?"

Riku shrugged again and crossed his legs underneath the table. "I don't know. I spend so much of the rest of the day not doing anything, so why not have a little fun when you work? There's nothing better than being paid for an adrenaline rush."

"I can think of a few things, like living until I turn fifty," Sora said with a smug look on his face. "But you're pursuing this harbor thing with an obsession. It's scary."

"Really?" he tilted his head to the side. "I don't think it's anything out of the ordinary. Besides, what does it matter? I like to have fun. So do a lot of people."

"Yeah, but—"

Just as Sora saw this conversation steering in a direction he wasn't comfortable with, Tifa returned with a tray and two other waitresses behind her. She smiled awkwardly as she arranged the tray stand along with her cohort.

"Okay," she said taking a deep breath. "You ordered a cheese burger with no onions, right?"

Riku nodded, his eyes widening at the sheer enormity of the amount of food Sora had ordered. Tifa pushed his plate in front of him, then turned to Sora. "Okay, first we have the country fried steak and eggs…"

Plate after plate of food was delivered to the table, so much so that Riku was concerned that he may have to start piling food into his lap.

"And your pancakes," Tifa continued, taking plates from another waitress. "And your second order of eggs."

Sora rubbed his hands together as the plates kept coming, and he felt even better as the look of panic built on Riku's face. Soon, Riku did have to move his cheeseburger to the edge of the table just so Sora's ham and sides of toast could fit to on the table.

"And finally," Tifa said breathing a sigh of relief. "Your order of French fries smothered and covered in brown gravy, chili, cheese, bacon, sour cream, onions, mushrooms and tortilla strips. Is there anything else I can get you?"

"Ketchup?" Sora asked sweetly.

"Of course," Tifa said with a smile, snagging a bottle off of a nearby table and placing it in front of him. "I'll be around a bit later if you all need…eh…extra napkins."

Sora grinned and neatly opened his silverware, enjoying Riku's stare of incredulity.

"Problem?"

"…No."

"Good."

He dove into the massive amount of food. It tasted just as good as it felt to order all of it in the first place. Riku looked as though he had lost his appetite just looking at all of it, but Sora was both hungry and vengeful. It was a hard, but delicious lesson that Riku would have to learn, he decided as he began cutting into the omelet stuffed with spinach and pulled-pork just in front of him. It would be a delicious lesson indeed.

He grinned around a mouth full of food and reached for the salt and pepper. It would probably do them good to resume their conversation, but he decided to take it from a different angle. "So, what's been going on with you? You obviously didn't fall apart since you dragged your sorry self to my house the other day. What have you been up to?"

Riku leaned back against the booth again and shrugged. "Nothing really, just working and…well, you know."

"Mmhmm." He nodded, trying to sound nonjudgmental. "Is that where you got that bruise on your face?"

"Riku looked surprised, then rubbed it thoughtfully. "Hm, I guess so. Forgot about that."

"You've probably lost count by now, I get it."

Riku took a bite of his cheeseburger and licked a finger thoughtfully. "It's hard to explain why I get such a kick out of these things. I can't help it."

"And that blow to the face didn't knock some sense in you? I don't know why I'm not surprised."

"Probably because you have faith in my victory." He got a dreamy look in his eyes, and Sora realized he had lost control of the conversation.

Riku was getting excited.

"Is that what it is?" Sora said stuffing more food in his mouth. "All my skepticism and disapproval is based on faith in you winning?"

"Of course it is. To be a good fan, you need a dose of drama. Since it's boring knowing that I'm going to win all the time, you have to create some for yourself. Your doubt is merely a reflection of your enjoyment of a good show."

Sora snorted at this and nearly choked on his fries. "Wow, here I've had it wrong all these years."

"It happens to the best of us."

"I bet. So I take it you didn't break anything?"

"Eh, that doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, does it?

Sora rolled his eyes. "Well, since it obviously wasn't pride, I'm going to guess your sanity."

"Close. Rib."

Sora nearly dropped his fork. "Are you serious?"

"No, I'm playing a practical joke on you."

"You broke a rib? Riku, that time when we were twelve and I fell off that rock wall we were racing up, I just bruised one, and thought I was going to die. How are you not rolling over in agony?"

"How many ribs have I broken in the past, Sora? This is not that big of a deal. Besides, it's more of a crack."

Sora thought he should have been feeling just the tiniest bit guilty about enjoying his feast, but after hearing this he started to enjoy it even more, and was remorseful that he didn't add another hundred or so items to his list. If Riku was bent on destroying himself, then Sora was going to make sure that he at least got something out of the deal for having to sit by and watch. He stuffed pancakes in his mouth.

"You should have seen it," Riku continued, the dreamy look in his eyes only intensifying. Sora thought he was going to be sick, so he crammed eggs in his mouth on top of the pancakes.

"I fought two guys at once. It was pretty great if I do say so myself."

"I'm sure you do."

"Hey, don't be mad just because I have an exciting job. I told you, there's always a place open for you at the harbor. How do you feel about working during the day?"

"I'd rather keep my sanity and my bones intact, thank you." He chose this time to bring a stab of reality back to the conversation. "Besides, this diner wouldn't be able to handle the collective food-debt of two imbeciles." He gestured to the array of plates. "I'd imagine that I cleaned them out of their inventory for the rest of the night."

"And you're proud of this?"

"Are you proud of your broken rib?"

"Cracked."

Sora stared at him pointedly and crammed more food into his mouth. "I'm done talking to you. My food is getting cold, and I've barely breeched the surface of this marvelous food ocean."

"Eh…I'll let you get to that, then."

Sora plunged a fork into his food at the table, and for an hour he ate, partly because he was hungry, but mostly because he wasn't sure he would be able to keep from saying something that insulted Riku's career choices or decision making skills. He was determined to have a reasonable evening with his friend, even if it meant ignoring some pretty glaring issues, no matter how much Kairi insisted that she talk to him.

Riku finished his cheeseburger midway through the process and just sat and watched the destruction of enough food to feed a small army of children. The mountain appeared to be too much for Sora, though, and after clearing three and a half plates, he admitted defeat.

"I'm stuffed," he said leaning back in the booth, waving his napkin in surrender. "To-go boxes are going to be a must, and no, you can't have any of my leftovers."

"I assumed you wouldn't be so generous."

Tifa arrived a moment later with boxes—as though she knew they were going to be necessary—and the ticket. "I have to say gentlemen, I don't think I've seen a ticket this large at this diner…ever."

"You're welcome," Sora breathed. "This is a lesson taught to our friend Riku over here." He indicated Riku. "He would be more than happy to take care of that."

Tifa uneasily handed him the bill, and Riku swallowed as he prepared to look at the number.

A pained expression.

A victorious grin.

Tifa looked slightly nervous. "Um, you can pay when you're ready…"

Riku managed to scrounge up the proper amount of Munny, much to his dismay and Sora's pleasure, then noticed with a hint of urgency that it was nearing time for him to get ready for work. He told Sora as much, who didn't look pleased, and he begrudgingly followed Riku to his car.

"Well, that was an experience," Riku said getting inside. He handed Sora three of the containers he was forced to carry and waited for Sora to get in. "I'll remember in the future to always get hurt at a decent hour."

"Or you could just not get hurt at all. That just seems like the easy route."

"You're right." Riku beamed. "I just need to get better at fights."

"You are ridiculous."

"Maybe. But you're boring, and somehow, I think that's worse."

Sora stuck his tongue out at him and folded his arm. He meant for the gesture to be playful, but deep down, he really was angry. There was no reason for all of this senselessness. Sure, Sora may not have held the most exciting job on the planet, and by some standards it wasn't even interesting, but at least he was able to put bread on his table and live to see another day.

Unlike Riku and the harbor, where everyday seemed to bring the promise of trouble, and his ever-present fear that something just may be too tough for Riku to handle.


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