Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. Also, I do not usually combine coffee and lemon, but I sometimes do it as a very effective headache therapy.

Warnings: This fiction contains and is not limited to boy/boy moments, the use and abuse of stereotypes, hints at original pairings, very despicable people, emo-Riku, lustful teenagers, underage drinking, a mix of the last two points, questionable situations, morally ambiguous choices and a few, occasional and really shy attempts at humor.

Chapter 8: Echoes of the Past

On Wednesday morning, Riku woke up with a violent headache. He quickly decided that whatever the time could be, he had to sleep a few more hours before being able to get out of bed and decided that the most sensitive thing to do was to hide his head under the pillow.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty." a voice chirped, resonating way too loudly in his ears.

It must have been funny to see him spring out of bed in a split second at the realization that he was in someone else's company and then going back almost as fast at the realization that he was only wearing his pants. "Where's my shirt?"

Sora was standing in the middle of the room, studying his reactions and looking clearly amused by it. "My, my... a bit shy, aren't we?" He then proceeds to toss him a clean t-shirt.

It was a bit short for him, but he started dressing, paying attention to show as less as possible of his skin to the other boy, who seemed perfectly at ease wandering around wearing just a pair of boxers. The dull pain in his head resurfaced again, forcing him to pause for a moment before finally standing up.

"I told you to drink some water yesterday." Sora informed him calmly. "Cool evening, though, don't you think?"

Riku did not know what to answer to that, especially because he didn't remember much of what had happened the night before. He had a few scattered memories of having started to drink a few shots with Sora, then to have sung something together and to have fallen asleep in his bed. With him, no less.

Still, it made a blank of a considerable amount of hours.

"I'm going to get you something for your headache, come down when you're ready, ok?" And with those words, Sora quickly put a shirt on and exited the room, leaving Riku alone with his thoughts.

He massaged his temples for a few seconds before finally deciding to check the time on his phone. A moment later, he followed the other boy into the kitchen. "I think we missed the bus, guess we can forget first class this morning." he said with little to no concern.

Sora had just finished messing with a coffee machine and was now taking out a slice of lemon from the fridge. Riku forced himself to accept that there had to be a reason as to why the boy was squeezing it inside the cup of coffee. "Uhm... aren't your parents home?"

For a moment, he had the impression that Sora's expression had clouded, but a second later he was smiling again, making him think that maybe he had just imagined it. "Mom's rarely here during the week." He then offered him the cup.

"Your father?"

"Left when I was little."

"Oh... sorry."

"Don't be." Sora answered, taking place with him at the long table in the room. "It's not like it's your fault and anyway I don't even remember him. It's always been my mom and me."

Riku looked at the black liquid in the small container resting in his hands, knowing very well what was inside of it. "Listen, I'm not supposed to drink this... thing, right?"

"Just do it, you'll feel better later, trust me."

'Trust you?' Riku thought. 'Just give me a reason to do it.' Then he realized that Sora's piercing blue eyes were staring at him again and he gulped it instantly. He coughed out half of it immediately after.

"That's the most disgusting thing that I've ever experienced." he claimed, indignantly. "And I've been in a relationship for a full year with Kairi." he couldn't resist but add a second later.

"You should stop being so resentful towards them." There was no need to precise who Sora was referring to by saying 'them'. "They were not really nice towards you, their bad. Show them that you're a better person."

Riku glared at him, but in the end chose to ignore that last sentence. "We're still late for school, you know."

"Oh, don't worry about that, I've got a better way to get there than the school bus. Just be ready in fifteen minutes."

And before Riku could ask him what he meant by that, Sora had already disappeared again in the direction of the bathroom. A few moments later, Riku heard the water flowing and Sora -badly- singing 'Should I Stay or Should I Go'. Bizarre choice for a shower song.

His headache had disappeared.

A few minutes later, the two boys were in front of Sora's house, waiting for who-knows-what. Riku had quickly combed his hair the best way he could manage without having at his disposal something better than his hands and his reflection on the microwave glass, Sora having kept occupied the bathroom just until the moment of leaving the house. Sneaky little bastard.

"You look way too good for someone who has slept... what? Four hours top?" Riku said while trying to avoid yawning mid-sentence.

"Uh? No, no. Actually, I'm pretty tired, I just hope this day will be over soon."

Still, Riku got the distinct feeling that Sora was somehow used to getting wasted during the week. Definitely not the first impression he had got from him.

The train of his thoughts was interrupted when a sport car started to approach them at a disturbingly elevated speed. Luckily, it stopped just before running them over. Unluckily, Riku knew the owner of the car way too well.

"Hey, Riku. Sora told me that you needed a passage." Roxas exclaimed the second his head popped from the car window, as if he was trying to justify his being there.

Riku ignored him, as usual. After all, the best way to keep it civil between them was to avoid every kind of interaction. At that precise moment, though, he couldn't help but think at the possibility of turning back and indulging in the noble art of truancy.

Sora opened the rear car door and took place next to Roxas. After a careful consideration, he resisted the temptation of taking the passenger seat and followed Sora. A whole brunet of distance between him and the blond boy should have been enough to survive a ten minutes journey, after all.

"Hi, Sora. Hey, Riku, it's been a long time." Roxas' brother, Cloud, sitting at the driving place, welcomed the two boys into the car. Then, without even waiting for an answer, he hit the gas pedal and a second later the four of them were running on the roads of Twilight Town.

None said anything for the first couple of minutes, giving Riku hope that the travel could keep going that way. Roxas clearly had other plans. "So... uhm... how are you doing, Riku?"

Alright, even if he was really tempted to, he could not ignore him. Not when his brother was offering him a passage, he was not that rude. "Great, how could it be otherwise?" Cold irony: he could afford that. Still, he paid attention not to ask him how he was doing.

Another minute passed. This time, it was Sora who broke the silence, bearing a huge smile. "So, Roxas, you'll enter the tryouts for the Struggle team, today?"

"I'd rather go on a date with Seifer."

Riku was sure that Roxas' reference to homosexual dates must have just slipped, at least judging from the embarrassing explication that followed, about how the problem was Seifer's character and not his gender. Too bad, without the explanation, it could have been a funny joke.

Another embarrassing silence ensued, broken once again by the brunet. "Well, come see us at least, Riku will take part in it."

Riku made no effort to hide his surprise. "I will?"

"Sure you will! You promised!" Sora scowled at him.

Roxas' face lit up suddenly. "I think it's a good idea. You've not been on a sport team since..." And he stopped talking, involuntarily stressing on the accident with his swimming team. At that point, Riku started to think that Roxas was doing it on purpose. "Well, since a lot." he finally concluded clumsily.

That was unusual of him, Riku thought, Roxas wasn't the kind of guy to make that kind of slips. It seemed like he was extremely nervous.

The rest of the trip went over without another word. Cloud said goodbye and, a second later, he was already out of sight. Of course, Riku's first thought was to get away as fast as possible from Roxas. Sora could stay with him, for all he cared. Still, for some reason, the idea of Sora choosing the blond boy over him made his guts twist up uncomfortably.

At the second step that he took away from the two of them, a voice stopped him.

"Wait for us, Riku."

'Us? US?' He must have hallucinating, surely Sora was not suggesting that Roxas would have stuck with them.

"Let it go, Sora, I'll see you later." Roxas' words hurt Riku more than they should have. Fucking condescending brat.

And at that precise moment, Sora took a deep breath, noisily enough to catch the attention of both of them. "Alright, I get it, Riku: you don't like Roxas." Riku shivered at the bluntness of the boy. "I'm not asking you to become friend with him or anything else, but..." He didn't like that 'but'. At all.

Sora took a few steps, bringing himself face to face to him. "Please, can you just call a truce?"

He just couldn't believe his ears. Sora had no idea what he had had to endure because of his ex-best friend, how could he ask him something like that? He wanted to tell him that, no, he would've never accepted something like that, that the only thing he wanted was to be left alone. But at the same time...

At the same time, for some inexplicable reasons, he could not bring himself to say 'no' to the boy that was standing in front of him, looking at him with those terrifying blue eyes.

"Just do it for me, ok?"

Riku forced himself to stay calm. Then, after a whole minute spent gathering the necessary strength, he turned around and looked at Roxas in the face, for the first time in a whole year.

"I guess we can keep things civil." he blurted out. He then extended his hand as a well-meaning sign, which Roxas promptly shook. Still, Riku couldn't help but feel wrong for having accepted to do something like that. Then, without giving Roxas the time to object, he started walking towards Sora, who was smiling like a kid who had just received a Christmas gift. Before he could say anything, Riku decided to cut him short. "I'm not doing it for you!"

"Nice tsundere line" he answered nonchalantly.

Riku ignored him and kept on walking towards the cafeteria. They still had ten minutes before the first class and he didn't want to spend them in the courtyard. Even if he wasn't looking at him, he could hear Sora's footsteps following him.

And then, he threw a look behind him and realized that Roxas hadn't budged a single inch. He sighed. "Well, are you coming or not, Roxas?"

A second later, another pair of footsteps started echoing behind him.

End Notes: And another couple of "building chapters" are coming. Luckily, there will be something juicier quite soon. Peace.

Preview: The fact that Sora keeps on spending more and more time with Riku is noticed by two people. Roxas... and Seifer.

Next Chapter: Just a Friend