Osculation

Thirty two?” Sora groaned to Namine. “How could I get worse?”

“Sora,” Namine sighed disconcertingly. “Were you actually trying?”

“Of course,” the brunet protested. He had tried to concentrate, hard. But that stupid ‘subwaying’ got in his way… “Namine, I’m going to have to just re-take English!”

“No you won’t. We’ll just study extra hard tonight!” She suggested, a smile on her face. It really didn’t matter how hard Sora kept studying he was sure that he was going to fail it anyway.

“Yeah…” he agreed just to make her happy. She’d come over that night anyway, even if he told her he’d given up. He stuffed his test into his binder and prepared for another fun filled English class of zoning in and out of the lessons. Tidus would occasionally crack a joke, the class falling into a fit of laughter before Ms Rogers would glare at them. It was an uneventful lesson for the brunet, and he found himself purposely trying to distract himself…

And then the bell rang; his saving grace. He packed up his stuff quickly and attempted to get out first, but a rush of kids whizzed past him and he was the last one left. His shoes scuffed against the floor with an echo in the empty classroom and he tried to slip out unnoticed by Ms Rogers.

“Sora.” Her voice sounded, and Sora winced with a hand on the doorframe.

“Yes Ms Rogers?” He asked sheepishly as if he had no clue to what she was going to say, and turned around. The look on her face could have killed Sora. She didn’t look angry or sad or anything like that. Her eyebrows were drawn into a slight scowl, brown eyes on him intently as her off pink lips tugged into a small frown.

“Your grades have proceeded to fall, Sora,” she noted, and Sora looked at his shoes, embarrassed. He knew that. Everyone in the class knew that Sora was failing.

“Yeah, I-I know,” he responded dumbly.

“But then again, your brother and your mother have repeatedly told me that you’ve been studying,” Ms Rogers had that special skill to make you feel like the smallest person in the world. Not intentionally, but she could do it.

“I have,” Sora looked up and bit his bottom lip, this was nerve racking. What was she going to do? Automatically fail him?

“So, what’s wrong?” She asked and her eyebrows raised.

“W-well. Any time I start studying I get distracted by one thing or another – and the next thing I know I’m asleep or I’ve wasted to much time daydreaming…” he said honestly. “But Namine’s been a big help. It may not show it on this test, but I know the meaning of a bunch of new words!”

“That’s great and all Sora, but I can’t grade you on what you tell me. These pop quizzes are really important, and at the rate your going I’m going to have to fai-”

“No!” Sore protested, cutting her off. “Please, Namine’s been really helpful Ms Rogers! Just a few more weeks and I’m sure my marks will shoot right up,” Ms Rogers frowned deeply.

“Sora-” she tried.

“Ms Rogers, please. Just let Namine keep teaching me, and I’ll get right back on track,” he pleaded. Really, did Sora have any chance to win this? Ms Rogers had made up her mind; Sora would have to repeat tenth grade English…

“You didn’t let me finish,” she sighed. Sora perked up and flushed.

“Oh, sorry…” he muttered.

“That’s alright. I understand that you must have been flustered – thinking I was going to fail you on the spot,” she laughed lightly. Did she just laugh Sora’s mind resounded. “But I’m not. I’ve assigned you a tutor,”

“But what about Namine?” He asked.

“Namine has been aiding you Sora, but I’m afraid that she also has other assignments to worry about,” his teacher informed him.

“Oh, right. Yeah, I guess she does,”

“So I’ve found a senior student to agree to tutor you after school in English,” she smiled happily.

“Really? Who is it?” Sora questioned. Maybe it was Demyx – was he good at English? Or his brother, maybe Kairi. There were so many different people who could help him.

“Well, I won’t spoil the fun for you. But you’ll find out tonight,” she said like a little girl and Sora stared. She sounded kind of like his mom for a minute there. He shook his head and grinned, heading out the door to his next class.

_____________________________________________________________________________


“Uhg, no way!” Demyx groaned, waving his hand over the burnt chocolate chip cookies. Home economics was not his best subject.

“Demyx, what did you do this time?” Mr. Strife sighed and made his way over to where the three had been stationed.

“He burnt our assignment again!” Kairi complained, and Roxas rolled his eyes.

“Well if you weren’t so afraid of the stove Kai then we wouldn’t have had to make Demyx do it.”

“Well why can’t you do it Roxas?” Demyx asked, pulling the now charcoal cookies from the oven.

“Because,” Mr Strife interjected, “he’s been doing it all year, everyone has to learn everything Demyx.”

“Oh right.” Mumbled Demyx walking over to the garbage bin with the pan off cookies. Roxas glanced at the clock.

“We’ve got twenty minutes left, can we restart?” Roxas questioned, looking at Kairi and Mr. Strife.

“I suppose so, if you rushed and made a small batch,” Mr. Strife shrugged. “You seem to have some batter left anyway.” He departed from their station, leaving Roxas to hand out their jobs.

“Okay Kairi, you roll out the cookies okay? I’ll watch the oven when you put them in, and Demyx.” Demyx looked up hopefully as he heard his name spoken “Just stand there and look pretty”. Demyx frowned at his friend, but he understood, he always tended to ruin projects.

When Roxas pulled out the golden brown cookies with a grin of satisfaction ion his face, they only had three minutes left. Mr. Strife, came over to inspect their finished product. He hummed and hawed before picking up a cooking and chomping down on it.

“Shweet” he said, as he stuffed the rest of the small cookie into his mouth. “You pass,” he said finally swallowing the rest of the cookie. Before Roxas could thank him the bell rang and his teacher bellowed that they all must leave him with the baked goods before he took the metre stick to them. Demyx took a little to long gathering his books and was prodded in the back by an impatient Cloud, meter stick in hand.

“That guy has some serious cookie issues,” Demyx said rubbing his back.

“Well maybe if you didn’t bake an entire package of guitar picks into a batch of muffins he’d like you a little more.” Kairi interjected.

“It’s not my fault the package fell into the batter!”

“Yes it was,” Roxas frowned remembering that ruined assignment. “You opened them to show all of us. How you didn’t notice they had fallen in is what always gets me.”

“I told you,” Demyx grumbled “That crazy eye-patched vice principal was leering at me again! It freaks me out!”

“Oh be quiet you two. Roxas we have a game tonight right?” she asked.

“Yeah we better go get ready eh?” Roxas turned around he was heading to his locker to get his books and head home he completely forgot about the game. The entered the gym to find a few of their team mates already ready and running drills. Kairi headed into the girl locker room Roxas and Demyx into the boys.

_____________________________________________________________________________


“You’re late, you three,” Cid scolded. “Now go practice yer sets…the game starts in about five minutes.”

The trio grabbed a spare ball and with Kairi as the setter it worked out fine. Demyx threw the ball to himself and volleyed it to Kairi, she passing it high to Roxas who would jump and spike it down. It seemed they didn’t really get anywhere when the whistle sounded and the team huddled around the bench, Cid holding a pad of paper.

“Okay, Roxas, your gunna start at front center, Kairi to your left and Demyx in front of the server, which will be Hayner,” the blond snickered confidently before Cid continued. “Olette, you’re middle back, and the last spot is for you Pence,”

“Sweet,” he grunted.

The game was tied, and every player was tired. One game for Destiny High and one for Oblivion Private School. Twenty four for the Destiny Chocobos, and twenty three for the Ceberus’. This was the deciding point, and Pence was the server. Everything was silent and Pence bounced the ball nervously, Roxas impatiently holding out his hand to Demyx. He watched as the server threw the ball in the air as soon as he heard contact, Demyx and himself slapped hands yelling, “switch!”

Roxas was now on the frontlines with Hayner and Olette, watching as a cocky blond smirked and bumped the ball. A slender silver haired girl then volleyed it to a bulky and muscular boy who grinned before jumping and spiking the ball into the middle of the court. Roxas glanced to Kairi who dove for the ball from her spot, sliding on her knees to bump it back to a good height.

“Set!” Hayner called, volleying it to Roxas who spiked it perfectly. However, he growled when it was blocked by a tall chubby guy he had heard his team mates yell ‘Pete!’ at. Demyx bumped it up perfectly, and Roxas was able to volley it backwards to the Ceberus. How long could this rally last?

After another muscular light brown haired boy nearly hit Hayner in the face (which was recovered smoothly by a diving Kairi), the blond was determined to win it now. Olette sent the ball over one more time, the girl with silver hair bumping back, obviously forgetting to set.

Demyx volleyed it to an angry Hayner who growled smugly before passing it up higher for Roxas. The blond crouched before making a leap, bringing his arm down harshly and returning the favour to the muscular brunet – hitting him square in the face. Oblivion wasn’t able to recover, and the Chocobo’s got the last point.

A cheer resounded from Destiny High’s co-ed volleyball team, Olette forcing them all into a large group hug. Sticky and sweaty limbs ran around necks and waists, and nobody chanted because they were all to busy panting. They broke quickly and lined up on their side of the net to shake hands with the Ceberus, although they didn’t really want to (they were twice the size of them and were glaring daggers). Roxas led his team in a good show of sportsmanship, smiling and saying things like “nice play”.

“You made Lexeaus nose bleed, ya?” He grunted at the blond, nodding behind him. Roxas flushed, oh god, this was going to come back to haunt him wasn’t it? I really don’t want this ‘Lexeaus’ to come after me or something… A few more shakes and fake “good games” and they reached the last opponent - face to face with the boy he had injured. Rather, face to chest- Roxas was at least a foot shorter then him, now he got a good look. Demyx visibly froze and he saw his eyes squint, as if he was trying to recognise him.

“Uhm – sorry. About your nose,” Roxas apologised, maybe he won’t get a punch in the face now. Oh god, he looked really mean.

“Nah! Don’t worry about it,” Lexeaus shrugged off, adjusting the toilet paper nose plug in his nostrils. “It was a nice spike and I’m use to it by now, I’m sorry about nearly breaking your buddy’s nose!”

“Yeah you better be you son-” Hayner started from behind Demyx before he was slapped in the back of his head by an upset Olette.

“I’m sure he’s alright,” Roxas laughed, looking back to see Hayner’s face scrunched up.

“Wait, you’re Lexeaus?” Demyx asked and everyone looked at him. Lexeaus nodded. “Lexeaus…” he mused, “Gant?” The brunet nodded again, his eyebrows drawn.

“Buddy!” Demyx laughed, ducking under the net.

“Do I know you?” Lexeaus asked.

“It’s Demyx. Demyx Anderson?” Lexeaus eyes widened a little and a smile played on his face.

“Demyx!” He cried, pulling him into a friendly hug, but nearly killing the small brunet in process. “Good to see you again, how’ve you been?”

“Not to bad, got myself into a band now,” he gloated and smiled.

“That’s good, I’ll have to come see you guys play so-”

“Wait, hold on,” Roxas interrupted, shaking his head confusedly. Hayner, Olette, Kairi and himself had all exchanged looks before Roxas had stopped their chit chat. “How do you know eachother?”

“Oh. Lexeaus was a neighbour,” Demyx informed them. “Yeah, we used to run around the streets like wildmen-”

“-you still do,” Hayner grunted with a snort, and received a glare. Demyx continued despite the insult.

“But then I moved across town. And that was what – when we were six, seven? Something like that. We just – never stayed in contact,” the brunet shrugged. “So what have you been doing Lex, benching elephants?” He laughed and Roxas shook his head, looking to his watch.

“Oh no, I gotta go,” Roxas told them, giving them all a slight wave before setting off to the locker room.

“Alright, see ya later Roxas,” they chanted, and he vaguely heard Demyx introduce Lexeaus to Olette, Hayner and Kairi.

He had completely forgotten Axel was coming for dinner tonight, he probably already brainwashed his mother! He pulled on his jeans quickly, stuffing his gym clothes and kneepads into his locker. Roxas threw his backpack over his shoulder hurriedly left the locker room, rushing through the school halls and bursting out the front doors. Not that he hated Axel, he was just so…so…impossible. He took his Fruit Loops after all.

_____________________________________________________________________________


Yeah, but he bought me a new box, his mind grunted and Roxas frowned, skipping over the flowers and running down the sidewalk.
Roxas managed to stifle an unholy scream at what he saw in his kitchen. Not only was Axel in his kitchen but he was in an apron. “What are you doing here already?” he managed as Axel checked a ham in the oven..Hannah came gliding from behind Roxas with an answer.

“He came home with Sora and offered help with dinner. Riku should be along shortly.”

“Where’s Sora?” Roxas grunted.

“Upstairs, calling Namine,”

Roxas’s mom busied herself beside Axel as she hummed the lyrics to some old song she knew. Roxas shook his head and made his way upstairs, he was going to change clothes, and maybe when he got back all would be right with the world.

_____________________________________________________________________________


Sora had called Namine, and invited her over for diner as well. It was only fair, he’d need some sort of emotional anchor if he was going to be dealing with Riku all night. He felt a little for Roxas who couldn’t seem to get a hold of Demyx or Kairi after the game. She had come over straight away and Sora had thought it was just because she was a concerned friend. But she had ulterior motives, she had brought her books as well.

“If I’m going to be here Sora,” she spoke authoritatively, “ were going to do some work.” So Sora had spent the last hour cramming all the words that started with ‘e’. Sora had managed to get through all of those and they had started on the ‘f’s when he heard his mother calling from downstairs. That meant that diner must be ready. Namine picked up all her study notes and made their way downstairs.

“The front door Sora, you’re wanted there.” His mother was putting what he assumed was glaze on something that he hoped was a ham as she spoke to him.

“Okay Mom thanks.” Sora said closing the door as his brother cried out for help. Must be the tutor, Sora thought wistfully. Namine following close behind, Sora made his was to the front door. Mentally crossing his fingers he opened to door, and his eyes fell on a flat chest. A well-defined but very flat chest.

“Riku?” Namine questioned, which was exactly what Sora was thinking. This can’t be right, I’m supposed to be tutored by a hot guy and we fall desperately in love and have a hot passionate affair! He couldn’t have a hot passionate affair with Riku, Riku was straight. Wait, because he’s so gross. That’s why. Sora was still staring open mouthed at Riku when his mother showed up behind Namine.

“Come in Riku, diner is almost ready.” Sora visibly relaxed as Riku pushed past him and Hannah returned to the kitchen. He’s here for diner; my tutor must be coming by later. Sora shut the door and turned to face the pair. Riku was halfway through removing his shoes when they heard the smoke alarm going off. Riku looked up at Namine who gave him a reassuring smile. Although it faltered a bit when screaming started to come from the kitchen. Sora slyly smiled.

“Bon Appetite” he said, and made his way back to the kitchen.

The kitchen could only be described as a war zone. Smoke was billowing from the stove, Axel, who had removed his striped scarf, was atop a chair and was waving at the alarm. Roxas was unsuccessfully attempting to open the kitchen window above the sink, only resulting in soaking his left leg in dishwater. His mom, Sora noted, was now sobbing over her burnt diner, which was nothing more than a smouldering mass. Riku and Namine who had both made their way into the kitchen stared as well. Riku however made his way over to Axel. The redhead abandoned his waving duty as he leaned down to listen to what Riku said to him. Sora couldn’t hear over the incessant bleeping of the alarm, but whatever it was Axel agreed and handed Riku his cell phone. Riku quickly exited the kitchen, phone in hand. Sora was about to follow, curious as to what Riku would need the phone for, now of all times, when he was called over by Axel.

“Take this would ya?” Sora was handed Axel’s black and white scarf. Axel lowered himself from the chair and placed Sora on it. Pointing from the scarf to the alarm. Sora got the message, and began to wave wildly at it. Sora watched as Axel took the would be ham from in front of Hannah and put it in the garbage. Hannah sat down at the kitchen table. The alarm had stopped blaring in his ear and so Sora dragged his chair over beside his mom. Roxas, who had squeezed most of the dishwater from his pants, sat on the other side of his mom.

“All I wanted was a nice diner,” she sobbed. Sora’s mom although blessed with baking skills had never been able to cook very well. It was usually Sora or Roxas who did the cooking,. Why she chose this night of all nights to start cooking again he’ll never know.

“Don’t worry mom” Sora reassured , “Roxas and I can whip something up real quick you’ll see.”

“Yeah,” Roxas offered. “ And Namine can help too!” Sora looked to Namine. His brother had just offered her up as kitchen help, but she didn’t seem to mind.

“I’d love to help” she said quietly and made her way over to stand beside Sora.

“Oh you guys are so sweet.” Hannah grabbed her two sons in hugs, before turning to Namine and saying, “you get in on this too.” Hannah’s arm found it’s way around Namine’s shoulder. The four of them were in a very awkward hug but it was loving and that’s all that mattered. It was till loving still when Axel exclaimed he didn’t like to feel left out and wrapped his arms around Roxas and Hannah.. Sora grinned as he saw his brother’s cheek redden as Axel hugged a little closer to him. Sora was so caught up in the moment that he didn’t even notice when Riku made his way back into the kitchen. Shrugging to himself Riku wrapped his arms around Namine and Sora. Sora felt Riku’s arm brush against his cheek and he felt heat rising where he was touched. Sora knew that Roxas was probably seeing a mirror image of himself as well. After a few moments of comforting silence Namine spoke.

“Um Mom?” Namine asked.

“Yes?”

“My arm is going numb.”

“Oh well then we should probably get out of this hug then. First Axel will have to remove his arms from around Roxas and I.” Axel obliged.

“Besides”, Axel spoke,” the chinese should be getting here and minute.”

_____________________________________________________________________________


Sora poked at the rice on his plate, he had eaten his fill, it seemed that he on auto pilot during dinner. Hannah began clearing the table, grabbing up Roxas’s plate, followed by Axel’s and her own. Riku, who seemed to have the urge to be polite, grabbed his own as well as Sora’s and Namine’s. Sora grunted in response, but was quickly silenced by a punch in the arm from the blonde, followed by a glower. Geze, no need to get touchy, Sora thought. As much as Namine denied it, it was obvious to Sora that she had a thing for Riku and he ‘oh-so’ obviously returned the feeling. Yeah well, he though thoroughly disgruntled. He’d have feeling for the houseplant if it had breasts
Sora grabbed the few leftovers and headed to the fridge. Closing the door, he saw his mother and Roxas starting dishes. Sora saw Riku and Namine chatting, and Axel flitting through the numbers on his cellphone. Sora was about to excuse himself when Axel flicked his mobile closed, a grin on his face.

“Well, I’m off,” he announced. “Thanks for dinner Mom!”

“Oh no, thank yourselves. You bought it; I’ll make it up to you. If you happen to be in the neighbourhood tomorrow come on in and I’ll give you something I baked, not cooked.” Axel’s grin got even wider.

“Alright, I might pop by tomorrow sometime. Bye Roxas,” Roxas grumbled into the sink, something that Sora assumed to be a farewell but could have very well been a curse.

“Wait Axel. Could I walk with you?” Namine spoke from where she was standing with Riku.

“Yeah sure, you don’t live far from here do you?” Axel said. “Hey Riku, think you can drive us home?”

“I can’t, gotta stay here,” he shrugged.

“Wait, what?” Sora asked.

“Alright man, that’s okay. I’ll just walk Namine home,” he offered. “Why are you staying anyway?”

“I’m helping Sora study. I’m his tutor.”

“Wait, WHAT?”

“Oh, okay. Well have fun then,” he said and ushered Namine out the of the kitchen door and they soon heard a dull thud of the front door closing.

“WAIT. WHAT?” Sora almost shouted this time, his face pale and eyes wide with surprise.

“Yeah, Ms Rogers told me you need help with English so…Here I am,” Riku smiled maniacally and Sora’s gut sunk So much for a hot affair…

Sora chose his room to study in, his books were already there and he didn’t feel like dragging his books down to the kitchen. After grunting a goodbye towards his mother and brother he led Riku up to his room.

Sora grumbled as he sat down on his chair, Riku taking a comfortable seat on Sora’s bed. The brunet swivelled his chair to face the silver haired other. “You have that blue book that Ms Rogers was talking about?”

“I asked Namine, but she said that you had kept it,” Riku responded.

“Oh, right,” Sora said, and filtered through pages of mindless doodles until he found the familiar blue book.

“Here,” he said and threw it casually to him. While Riku read through the list Sora grabbed his definition list, a pen and a hard covered book to write on. Crossing his legs, Sora readied himself to write down anything he didn’t answer correctly; which would most likely be a bundle of words. Riku’s hair was falling in front of his face, the brunet watched as he unconsciously moved to tuck it behind his ear. That’s an awfully girly thing to do Sora thought. Well if his stupid pretty hair wasn’t so long…

“So,” Riku interrupted Sora’s thoughts.

“So?” Sora echoed, unsure of what he was supposed to be doing. Was he supposed to recite definitions? Sora was feeling a little nervous all of the sudden. He felt the sudden desperation not to look stupid in front of Riku. Sora fidgeted awkwardly in his chair.

“Where did you leave off?” Riku asked, raising a slender eyebrow.

“Oh,” Sora clued in and looked for the last word he had written down. “ ‘Flaccid’,”

“Alright then, the next word is,” He minded and looked down, once again putting his hair behind his ears “fluster,”

“Oh-oh..to be uhm,” Sora paused, chewing his pen.

“Close Sora,” Riku encouraged.

“To be nervous or embarrassed!” He explained a little to excitedly. Realising how ecstatic he just got, Sora found himself embarrassed, his cheeks turning a nice shade of pink. Riku only chuckled.

“Right, next word then,”

_____________________________________________________________________________

“So,” Hannah extended her vowels like a child, scrubbing grime off a plate. “That ‘Axel’ is pretty nice,”

“Yeah…I guess so,” Roxas shrugged, drying that glass cup with the checkered tea towel.

“Guess so?” His mother pushed. “He just bought dinner for six people!”

“Yeah, that was nice and all. But when I first met him, he was really creepy,” he sighed, putting the glass into the cupboard above him. “And he took my Fruit Loops!”

“Is that why you were so grumbly at the dinner table? He took your Fruit Loops?” Hannah mused, laughing lightly as her son grumbled.

“No! And I wasn’t grumbling,” he pouted, and his mother frowned.

“You hardly said a word sweetie, and when you did, it was usually a jab at poor Axel,”

“Mom” Roxas whined. “B-but-”

“I thought I raised you better than that Roxas,” she sighed. “It wouldn’t hurt you to be a little nicer to him, would it?”

“I’m perfectly nice to him! You should’ve seen him yesterday, he was the one holding my Fruit Loops above my head,” he informed her, trying to get himself out of trouble. “I had to jump to get them.”

“You make it sound so … dare I say it – flirtatious?” She smirked and lifted the plug from the bottom of the sink. Roxas blushed profusely.

“It wasn’t flirting…I just wanted them back,” he mumbled, shaking a few plates dry before pulling the plug, letting the water drain out of his sink. “Why would I flirt with Axel anyway? First, he’s a guy and second…” he rambled off. He didn’t really care that Axel was a guy, he was just… a little bit creepy. That’s all.

“Hush you,” she laughed, throwing him a mock pointed glare. “All I’m saying is that you might flirt with him because he’s – oh I don’t know – funny, chivalrous, kindhe-” and she was off, paying the red head compliments that Roxas had to blush at. He had to admit he was everything his mother was saying. “Nice build too, and-”

“Mom stop, before I start saying that he is very good looking, but in that crazy ‘I-know-what-you-did-last-summer’ kind of way,” Roxas tried to stop her, but only succeed in reddening his cheeks. He slapped a hand to his forehead and Hannah raised her eyebrow.

“What was that?” She giggled.

“Nothing, I didn’t say anything,” he said. Stupid, stupid, stupid Roxas…

“No, I think you just said Axel was good looking!”

“No, I didn’t, I said ‘mom stop’, then that was it,” he protested. “Seriously mom, you’re hearing things.”

“Well, at my age,” she played along.

“Exactly,” Roxas covered up with a nod. “Anyway, I’m gunna head upstairs,” he said quickly and briskly left the kitchen, leaving Hannah to smile like a kid in a candy shop.

_____________________________________________________________________________


Sora was beyond annoyed now. They had only been at it an hour and it had happened thirty two times now. Sora watched as Riku bit the end of his pen and tucked a few stray strands of hair behind his ear. Thirty-three! His mind yelled. Namine did the same thing with her hair, except she flipped it out after tucking it back. But somehow seeing Riku doing this utterly feminine thing was driving him insane. Why did it bother him so much?! He swore, if he saw him do it one more time…

“Sora, I said ‘garnish’.” Sora rapidly searched his brain for the definition.

“Erm- isn’t it like a radish?”

“Uhm, no,” Riku shook his head. “It’s to add to something.”

“Oh,” was all Sora managed. He went along with the task of writing it out. They had finished the ‘f’s and were slowly starting the ‘g’s. Sora was quite impressed with himself, he had only had to add about fifteen new words to his list. Mind you, he had been through thirty definitions by now. Sora looked up just in time to see Riku tucking his hair back once again. There he goes!

“Uhg,” Sora said, uncrossing his legs and slamming his book on his desk. Opening the drawer in his desk, he searched for something he knew that Namine had left a while ago. Pulling out knick-knacks and throwing them on the floor, Riku could only ask, “What’s wrong?” as Sora triumphantly pulled a hair tie from the drawer. It as orange with little papou charms. Admittedly not the most manly hair tie in the world, but Sora wasn’t going to be the one wearing it. Without thinking, he closed the gap between himself and Riku. The brunet leaned down, gathering up his silver locks in his hands, making sure to get the loose ones in the front that were irritating him so much. Sora leaned closer over Riku so he could see what he was doing, his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth. With a snap, he managed to twist all of Riku’s hair in a loose ponytail at the back of his neck.

And then he realised what he was doing…

Sora pulled back slowly, sitting back down in his chair and avoiding Riku’s piercing aquamarine eyes. “S-sorry about that,” he stammered sheepishly.

“S’okay,” Riku shrugged it off with a coy smile on his face.

“So uhmm- where were we?”

“Oh right. You next word was” Riku continued to quiz Sora on the words from the book. Sora now solely focused on the definitions trying hard to ignore the fact that since Riku’s hair had been pulled back into a makeshift pony tail, Sora began to realise just why Riku could charm so many girls. His slender eyebrows accented Riku’s eyes and the smile he gave Sora when he had successfully defined a word was oddly attractive. Not that I’d tell him that. Once they had finished the ‘g’s it was already dark.

“I should get going” Riku stated as he closed the blue notebook. Sora who was still writing the last word he had unsuccessfully defined, looked up.

“Yeah okay, are you going to come by tomorrow?” Sora asked.

“Don’t sound so hopeful Sora you’ll get me thinking you actually like me.” Sora frowned. He’d admit, this study session wasn’t all that bad. They had even shared a few laughs. All in all Sora enjoyed it. “Well anyway I’ll come by tomorrow, your mom mentioned baked goods and I can’t pass that up.”

“Yeah alright” Riku nodded at Sora’s response and left the room his backpack hanging off his shoulder. Sora sighed and flopped down onto his bed. It was still warm from where Riku had been sitting. Sora smiled in spite of himself. He didn’t know why he felt so giddy. Maybe it was at the prospect of having a new friend while getting rid of an old enemy. That must be it. Sora thought. As he drifted off to sleep Sora realised that Riku still had Namine’s hair tie. He’d have to get it back from him tomorrow.
AN