It's Complicated - Chapter 2

Summary: Axel – no, damn it, it's Lea now – is tired of waiting, Riku's kicking himself for waiting too long, and Sora would just like to be able to figure out if all these weird new feelings are actually his or not, thank you very much.

Notes: Like 90% of this chapter is Sora and Riku having a conversation, ahaha. They're wordy, those two.

"I do have one question."

"About what?"

It was a only a few days later, and Riku and Sora were sitting on the beach of their tiny play island, toes digging into the sand while they waited for Kairi. She was due to officially start her training today so they were planning to see her off. It was a little odd – normally she was the one watching the pair of them leave. Sora wasn't sure how he felt about it being the other way around, though there was no denying he was proud of her. He'd been practicing with her while they waited for their next instructions and she'd already improved a lot in such a short amount of time. He just hadn't thought Kairi would be the one called away first.

Honestly, he was getting antsy. It felt a bit like they were in limbo when there were no missions to go on, nothing that needed their attention. He knew Yen Sid had told them to enjoy the little time off they were given, and more importantly to relax and rest up, but Sora had had so little of that over the past two years that he'd almost forgotten how to be lazy.

…Well, that wasn't necessarily true. If asked, Riku would probably tease him and say there was that time he'd spent the entire year sleeping, except that definitely didn't count. But it was true enough that Sora was still happy to snooze on the beach, soaking up the warmth of the island sun. He could feel it under his skin, though – that need to do something. To help. To get back to fighting. Maybe when all was said and done he'd find it easier to bury his face in his pillow, but there was just so much still up in the air right now, so much left unfinished, that resting was harder than he'd thought it would be.

He'd never quite understood before how Riku had felt when all of this had started. How the islands, their home, had somehow been like a prison to him.

Staring out at the endless blue water stretched before them, nothing but the main island visible in the distance, he thought maybe he got it now.

"Axel," Riku replied, and then rolled his eyes when Sora was quick to level a look on him. "Sorry. Lea."

"Mmhmm." Sora turned away with a satisfied nod, watching the waves crash gently against the shore. "What about him?"

Talking about him was…weird. It made something in his chest flutter, but he also just kind of felt awkward. He hadn't heard from Lea since he'd taken off to Radiant Garden and Sora wasn't sure if he was relieved by that or not. Some part of him was actually really annoyed.

Sora was pretty sure that part was mostly Roxas. It was the 'mostly' that was confusing, though.

Still, he hadn't quite figured out yet how to deal with any of…that. Lea. And the potentially dating him thing. It was both a hard concept to wrap his mind around and something that he desperately wanted to give in to.

And that latter feeling was definitely Roxas.

"How old is he exactly?"

Sora blinked. Glanced over at Riku. "Uh… Why?"

"Well, I mean. He's definitely older. Right?"

"I guess so."

"…You have no idea how old he is." Riku looked exasperated. "Sora."

"What?" Sora lifted his shoulders helplessly, digging his feet further beneath the sand. "It's not like it came up before!"

"Sorry, was he too busy shoving his tongue in your mouth to tell you?"

Sora spluttered. Riku just arched his eyebrows at him.

"Ew, no! It wasn't like that, Riku, geez." God. Great, now his face was burning and he had no way to hide it without being totally obvious. Sora whined under his breath, decided screw it after a beat or two, and buried his head against his knees.

Riku chuckled at him because he was a jerk like that. "Did you just say ew? About kissing your boyfriend?"

"You know I don't know if he's actually my boyfriend!" Sora cried, voice muffled. He turned his head just a bit until he was able to glare at Riku. "Why are you asking me weird questions like that?"

"I wouldn't call it weird," Riku said, shrugging. "It's kind of important, actually. He's gotta be in his twenties."

"What? No way." Sora sat up. "You think so?"

To be fair, he hadn't thought about that part.

Like…at all.

"I guess he was a Nobody for a while, though," Riku continued thoughtfully. "Not sure if that counts toward the aging process or not."

"Riku."

"You're only sixteen, though."

"I'm almost seventeen!"

"Almost seventeen is still sixteen." Riku looked at him like he wanted to say something else, but wasn't sure how to. Sora waited expectantly for a moment, but eventually Riku just huffed and shifted his gaze away. "I just want you to be careful."

Sora's eyes widened a little. He was kind of surprised Riku was talking about this at all, to be honest. Not once since they'd been home had either of them mentioned Lea, aside from briefly telling Kairi that he was suddenly alive. If anything, Riku had seemed to be completely ignoring that the situation even existed, and Sora's own feelings towards it were too much of a tangled mess for him to comfortably bring it up.

"You're worried about me?"

Riku snorted. "Almost always." He glanced over again, then reached out and flicked Sora on the forehead. "Someone has to think about these things, since you're clearly not going to."

Sora batted his hand away before making a considering sound. "I think Ariel was sixteen. Jasmine, too! Or maybe she was older? But not that much older."

"That doesn't make it better," Riku said. "Or maybe the legal age is lower in their worlds. Who knows."

"Does it really matter if they got their happily ever afters?" Sora demanded. He paused, his brows drawing down in a frown. "Wait, what's the legal age here?"

"Oh my god."

"Riku! What is it?"

"You should know that already!" Riku exclaimed. Then followed that up immediately with: "You think he's your happily ever after?"

"Oh, well." Sora very pointedly stared at nothing in the opposite direction of Riku, bringing a hand up to scratch absently at his cheek. "I wouldn't say that…no. Probably not? I don't know. It's way too early for all that."

Riku sighed. "Fine, I'll shut up about it. But you should still find out how old he is. And be careful–"

"You said that already," Sora interrupted. He found Riku again out of the corner of his eye. "What do you think he's gonna do exactly?"

"How should I know?" Riku muttered, his cheeks flushing pink. Sora only caught it since he was watching him (stealthily!) but it made him wonder. Riku blushing wasn't something that happened all that often. He was normally the cocky, confident one – or he used to be, Sora amended thoughtfully. He was still confident, of course, but the cockiness of past Riku had dampened significantly in recent years.

In any case, seeing him flustered in any way was sort of new. Not that he was exactly flustered right now, but he definitely seemed uncomfortable about something. Maybe this whole age thing with Lea was really an issue.

Or maybe Riku thought Lea was going to whisk Sora's virgin ass away and have his older, experienced way with him.

The thought popped unbidden into his mind, immediately causing his own face to flame up again. What the hell?

Roxas, Sora thought angrily, as was his tendency to do now when any weird, stray thoughts bulldozed their way into his brain without any warning. He had no idea if it actually was Roxas or not, but he imagined he could hear some snickering in the back of his head regardless.

Sora stood up abruptly, crossing his arms behind his head and hoping his elbow maybe blocked his face from Riku's view. But his mind was working furiously now, trying to figure this out, so he ended up shifting towards Riku after a few seconds anyway.

"Do you think he wants to have sex with me or something?" Sora blurted out, and Riku promptly choked, air or spit or something catching in his throat and causing him to bend forward over his legs as he started hacking. It was almost impressive considering he hadn't been eating or drinking anything. Sora dropped back down to his knees beside him, reaching out to pound on his back. "Geez, Riku, breathe! Don't die! Keyblade Masters aren't allowed to die from choking on literally nothing but air!"

"I'm fine," Riku croaked after a few seconds of trying to cough up a lung. He waved Sora off and straightened up again, drawing in deep breaths.

"Oh good." Sora sat back on his heels. "That would've been really embarrassing. I probably would've had to disown you if you'd suffered a lame death like that."

"Wow, your compassion is overwhelming."

"I know," Sora said, preening for a moment. Then he tipped his head, eyeing a still recovering Riku. "…But seriously. Is that what you're thinking?"

"I definitely wasn't thinking about you and sex at all," Riku said quickly, giving Sora a narrow-eyed look. "I didn't think you even knew that word."

"Sex?" Sora said blankly. "What – Riku. As you so helpfully pointed out approximately three minutes ago, I'm sixteen. Please."

"Well, we sort of skipped all that!" Riku said, gesticulating with his hands in a way Sora wasn't used to seeing him do. He was still flustered! It made Sora feel weirdly giddy that he was able to throw the usually cool older boy off his game like this. "The whole – dating thing and knowing about…stuff. We never used to talk about these things!"

"Riku, I was fourteen when we left the islands for the first time. Not like…nine."

"You couldn't even admit you had a crush on Kairi back then!"

"Neither could you!" Sora pointed out, and Riku looked away with a scowl. "Besides, I definitely got the sex talk from my dad like…years before then. It was horrible."

"Did you? You never said."

"Because it was horrible," Sora repeated darkly. "My mom was there, too. What mom stays for that talk? They're supposed to leave the room!" Riku let out a weak laugh and Sora grinned. "Besides, you never said either. And I assume your dad ambushed you at some point, too."

Riku nodded. "Yeah. I wouldn't say it was horrible, but not exactly a memory I like reliving. And almost definitely before you had yours, so it's not like I was ever going to bring it up."

Sora hummed a little. "I guess we did kind of skip some important years there, huh?"

Years where they would've gotten over their awkward adolescence and made it to a point where they could easily talk about more adult subjects. Sometimes, Sora thought, they still viewed each other as children. They too easily got caught up in their past, too eager to reclaim what they both had been scared they might've lost forever. They had the important things back – each other, their friendship…but there were definitely changes. Sora was still shocked whenever he looked over at Riku and remembered he was a foot taller now. He hadn't been able to see Riku grow to that height, he just suddenly was.

So maybe it was the same for Riku. He hadn't had a chance to accept that Sora knew what hormones were, thanks very much, that he could talk about girls and crushes now without getting (too) embarrassed about it. He'd just had to rather abruptly deal with Sora shoving a potential boyfriend in his face.

"You grew up," Riku said. He pushed a hand through his hair and Sora followed the motion of it, idly wishing he hadn't hacked off the longer length. "I wish I hadn't missed it."

"…It's not your fault," Sora said. He shifted, dropping back onto his bum and crisscrossing his legs in front of him, still facing Riku.

"That's a blatant lie," Riku said dryly. "But I appreciate the effort, I guess."

"I'm serious. And you think I don't feel the same? You turned into a giant while I was world hopping! Every time I see you I'm surprised all over again."

Riku smiled at him but there was something a little sad lurking behind it. "Two, almost three years is a long time."

"It only feels like it now," Sora insisted. "Anyway, I wish you'd been there, too. I had to deal with Donald teasing me every time my face mysteriously got a little red when other people started kissing. Goofy, too! It was betrayal, I tell you. Betrayal!"

"You saw that a lot, huh?"

"There are so many people out there eager to get some, Riku," Sora said, very seriously, and Riku burst out laughing. It made Sora feel better that he'd manage to make Riku feel better, and he couldn't help grinning, too. "Always girls with guys, though," he continued, grin fading a little. "My dad only talked about it that way, too." Sora brought his hand up to his mouth, chewing on his thumbnail absently as he glanced out toward the ocean.

It still managed to calm him after all these years. Even if sometimes now it did feel like the deep blue water was trapping him here.

"…That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with it not being a girl, Sora," Riku said after a moment.

"I know. Love is love, I get it." Sora looked back at the other boy. "But that's not how it usually goes in the stories. And this whole thing kind of blindsided me."

Riku watched him for a moment, eyes searching Sora's like he was trying to find an answer to some kind of riddle. "You're okay with it, though, right? Don't force yourself to do anything you don't want to do."

Sora shook his head, his smile coming back. "You're such a worrywart. I'm fine with it – I've thought about it a lot, in fact. Over the last few days." His face felt warm again. Damn. "A whole lot," he repeated, clearing his throat. Riku lifted an eyebrow that Sora pointedly ignored. "I know I don't really know him well. But it feels like I do? That's the strange part. But the guy thing…I'm fine with that." He let out a helpless chuckle. "I feel like that's something I should've realized sooner, you know?"

"Pity you didn't," Riku said, and Sora blinked. After a beat, Riku blinked, too, and then his eyes went wide. "I – I heard Tidus has been pretty desperate about trying to score a date lately. Wakka was telling me. You could've helped him out."

"Oh, Tidus." Sora snorted. "That would never fly, he's girl obsessed. And an idiot! Selphie is right there. Hey, did you hear Wakka has a girlfriend, though?"

Riku nodded. "I think she's older."

"See? Nothing wrong with that!"

"Like…a year older," Riku said, tone dry. "Not ten."

"There's no way Lea's ten years older than me."

"If you say so."

"I do say so!" Except now he wondered. That would only put him at twenty-six. Mid-twenties. …Geez. Sora pushed that thought aside, focusing on Riku again. "What about you?"

"…What about me?" Riku asked, looking a bit caged in suddenly. Like he wanted to be anywhere else other than stuck in this conversation. Sora was almost insulted.

"Well. Maybe Kairi–"

"No." Riku interrupted him so quickly, it was actually startling. Sora's eyes widened slightly and Riku had the decency to look a little embarrassed. "Sorry. Just…no."

"I thought you liked her," Sora said, mystified. Wasn't that how it had been?

"I think…I thought I did?" Riku sounded uncertain. His cheeks were flushed again and he couldn't seem to meet Sora's gaze, instead watching his own hand as he dug up some sand and let it sift through his fingers. "But I'm pretty sure it was just some competitive masculine bullshit or something."

Sora's brow furrowed. Competitive masculine bullshit, he mouthed, trying to figure out just what the hell that meant. "Who were you competing with?"

"Are you serious?" Riku looked back at him. "Sora."

"Aside from me," Sora said, because yeah, duh, obviously that had been their thing. They were always challenging each other in one way or another.

"What makes you think there was someone other than you?"

"Well." Sora floundered, trying to find words to explain what he thought had been obvious. "I mean. I'm not exactly a threat. Or I wasn't back then. All the girls had a crush on you!"

"Kairi didn't," Riku said. "If she liked anyone, it was you."

"What?! No she didn't–"

"I love her, but she's like a sister. And I figured you two were a sure thing."

"No way!" Sora cried. How? What? Was the world about to spin off its axis? What was happening?

Riku was on a roll now, though, and didn't bother to slow down for Sora's poor brain to catch up with what he was saying. "I was more worried about losing you than I was about losing her. I knew if you two started dating you'd spend more time with her and I'd become the awkward third wheel. I just didn't want to admit it back then, or I didn't know how – I don't know. But I knew if we were sparring or racing or whatever, then you were paying attention to me instead of Kairi. So I kept pushing you."

"So." Sora gripped at his shorts, hands clenching around the loose material. "Wait. The whole thing with the paopu fruit…?"

"Oh my god." Riku groaned, burying his face in his hands. "Don't bring that up, how embarrassing was that? I was such a jerk, geez."

"Hey, stop hiding. I wanna see your face while we air all your dirty laundry," Sora said, reaching forward to tug at one of Riku's wrists. Riku let him pull one hand away, resting his cheek on the other. He squinted at Sora in a moody sort of way.

"Do we have to?"

"You brought it up!"

"Look," Riku said. "I was kind of an ass, that's not news. I could see where you were drifting and I got jealous. And since I assumed I was better at…shit, everything…" He rolled his eyes as he said it, self-deprecatingly, and Sora tightened his grip on Riku's wrist. "I just figured I could beat you at that, too."

"Riku…"

"It wasn't even just Kairi! I was jealous when I found you with Donald and Goofy, too."

"That was Maleficent; she made you feel that way."

Riku shook his head. "She might've twisted things and made it worse, but she was manipulating feelings that were already there." He let out a dark laugh. "That's why it worked so well."

"Okay, well…that's all over," Sora said, shifting his hold from Riku's wrist down to his hand and giving it a squeeze. "So stop beating yourself up over it, stupid."

Riku was right, after all – this wasn't news. This was a conversation they'd already had for the most part. About the jealousy, and how cocky past Riku had thought he was better at things even if he wasn't…and even though Sora had also thought he was. They'd talked that out back after the fight with Xemnas. This stuff about Riku not having those kind of feelings for Kairi, though? That certainly hadn't come up. Sora could clearly remember the other boy's posturing around her, the showing off, the gentle teasing. He actually had a word for it now: flirting! Riku had most definitely used to flirt with Kairi! Whether it was intentional or not. Finding out it was a backwards way of keeping Sora's attention on him was making Sora feel the need to review his entire childhood. What else had he completely and utterly missed? Or been totally wrong about?

Not to mention that all of Riku's suave fifteen-year-old swaggering had often turned Sora into a bumbling mess of embarrassed fourteen-year-old awkwardness, bouncing between his own clumsy attempts at handling his crush and sometimes just pretending Kairi wasn't a girl at all so he wouldn't have to deal with any of it. It had always been easier when the three of them were just hanging out and none of that hormonal craziness was pitting them against each other.

How had Riku not liked her? Was Sora's whole life a lie?!

Riku squeezed his hand back, but he still looked like he was brooding. He was way too good at that, Sora thought, annoyed. "My point," Riku said, "is that I never felt like that about Kairi. It just took me awhile to really realize it."

"Fine, not Kairi then." APPARENTLY. "We'll find another girl. Maybe you can ask Selphie out if Tidus isn't going to."

Riku snorted. "Wow, thanks. No, I think I'm good."

Sora stared at him for a second as one of those out-of-nowhere thoughts suddenly came bursting to the forefront of his mind in full technicolor. He swallowed, feeling too warm, and was abruptly overly aware that he and Riku were still holding hands.

"Or…maybe not a girl?" he asked, voice soft, and Riku's eyes snapped up to meet his. "I guess I didn't check. I was kind of caught up in my own thing…" He hesitated, watching as Riku tensed. It was subtle but definitely there in the way he carefully held himself, like he was bracing himself for Sora's next words. "Not that you have to tell me if you don't want to."

"Pretty sure there's literally nothing I wouldn't tell you," Riku said. He paused for a beat, then cleared his throat and pulled his hand free from Sora's. "Mostly. Um. It's not a big deal, I guess. I haven't thought about it much? I didn't really have time."

Now Sora's hand felt weirdly empty. "But?" he prompted, and Riku blew upwards at his fringe even though it didn't really hang in his eyes anymore the way it used to.

"But," he repeated. "If I'm being honest…I think if there was anyone I, uh. Had feelings for. It wouldn't matter if they were a girl or not."

Sora blinked, his heart pounding so hard he could actually feel it thumping in his chest. His stomach gave a funny little jump and he sucked in a breath, trying not to look like this news was somehow life changing. It shouldn't be, after all. Right? Just because he'd always thought Riku had a thing for Kairi and now evidently Riku's potential love interest was so not Kairi that the mysterious yet-to-be-determined person didn't even have to be female.

That was fine.

"So…both?" he asked.

Riku shrugged. "Sure, maybe. Depends on the person."

"Huh."

"You surprised?" Riku cracked a grin at him. "Consider it payback."

Sora made a face and shoved Riku's shoulder. "I just seriously always assumed it'd be Kairi."

"Yeah, well. Same! And then you threw your ten-foot-tall thirty-year-old boyfriend at me instead."

"Oh, he's thirty now?"

"With zero warning, might I add."

"Alright, alright," Sora said, laughing. "I'm so sorry I upset your entire universe like that." Particularly since he knew how that felt now.

"You should be!" Riku said, shoving him back.

"Also we should maybe stop assuming Kairi even wanted to end up with one of us." Sora knocked his foot into Riku's knee this time, then quickly rolled out of the way to avoid the hand reaching for his hair in retaliation.

"Guess so." Riku gave up and pushed himself to his feet, brushing the sand off his pants. "Hell, maybe she'll be the one to ask Selphie out."

Sora paused, still in a half-crouched position, and gave Riku a wide-eyed look. "Oh my god. I forgot it could go that way, too."

Riku snorted out a laugh and held out a hand to pull Sora the rest of the way up. "Dork."

"Shut up! Do you think she would?" Sora swayed forward once he was back on his feet, nearly falling into Riku as he smiled eagerly up at him. "Riku! How cute would that be?!"

"So cute," Riku drawled, leaning away from Sora's possibly overwhelming enthusiasm. "Maybe don't suggest it, though. Nobody needs you playing matchmaker."

"Where is Kairi, anyway?" Sora backed down, shading his eyes as he turned to look towards the pier. "They're gonna be here any minute."

Yen Sid had told them Donald and Goody were the ones coming to pick Kairi up. Sora was excited to see them again, as always, but unfortunately he'd already been warned against trying to stowaway onboard the gummi ship.

Didn't mean he wasn't still tempted to try…

"Don't," Riku said, like he'd somehow gained the ability to read Sora's mind in the last thirty seconds. Sora gave him an affronted look, and Riku responded with arched eyebrows. "Don't think I won't tie you to a tree. Master Yen Sid will summon us when it's time, Sora. I'm sure it won't be much longer."

Sora groaned. "I know, but I want to go now. I'm ready! Aren't you?"

"Of course I am," Riku said with a sigh. "I just know how to be patient."

"You're too patient," Sora grumbled, and Riku looked away, palming the back of his neck.

"Maybe." Sora tipped his head, eyeing Riku curiously, but Riku spoke again before he could ask about it. "There she is."

Sora glanced out over the waves, but Kairi's boat was still just a dot on the horizon. At least she was finally on her way. As luck would have it, it was only a couple minutes later that a familiar gummi ship decided to make its appearance, as well. It broke through the clouds above them, noisily circling the beach as it looked for a good landing spot. Riku and Sora backed up toward the small pond and accompanying waterfall behind them as the gummi ship finally settled into the wet sand on the shore.

"Donald," Sora said, shaking his head. "I'm telling you, I'm a way better pilot than he is."

"I'm not sure that's saying much."

They headed over to meet their companions, except that when the hatch opened it wasn't Donald or Goofy who appeared in the doorway.

Nope, instead it was Lea ducking through the opening and jumping down to the ground, dusting his hands off as he looked around. He caught sight of the pair of them back where Sora had completely frozen upon spotting the redhead, and lifted a hand in greeting.

Sora's entire body decided that was an opportune moment to go a little wild, apparently. There was only one reason Lea could possibly be there, after all, on this tiny little island of theirs. He lurched forward before he could fully process it, adrenaline spiking within him and making him feel as though he was practically vibrating with barely concealed glee. He took one step, then another, his feet moving almost with a mind of their own. His insides were a jumbled mess of abrupt excitement, his stomach jumping up into his chest and his heart somewhere in the back of his throat.

Riku had also drawn to a stop somewhere off to the side, but Sora couldn't think about that right now. Not when Lea was there, grinning and looking way too happy to see him, this random boy he honestly barely even knew.

"Yo, Sora!" he called, and the warmth in his voice filled Sora up and caused a wide smile to split across his face. He quickened his pace, practically sprinting the rest of the way down the beach, and while he'd meant to be a little more cool about it, maybe stop a few feet away and greet the other man like a civilized not-child, he ended up more or less throwing himself at Lea like an overeager puppy. Lea caught him easily enough, laughing as he did, but it didn't last as Sora wrapped his arms around Lea's neck and tugged him down into a hungry kiss.

It hadn't even crossed his mind not to. He'd known the second he'd seen the sun highlighting that red hair, turning it an even more vibrant hue that blazed like a beacon against the backdrop of the pale sand and crystal blue ocean, that in roughly five seconds he'd have his mouth sealed against Lea's. He pushed up into him, rising up on his bare toes, his hands curling into the material of Axel's familiar black coat.

Why was it that every time he saw Axel there was such a profound sense of relief attached to the moment? He just felt happy, like being reconnected with him was an impossible dream come true.

…Every time he saw Lea, rather.

Hmm, maybe that was why.

He drew back after a moment, lips tingling and a sheepish feeling quickly invading the dreamlike haze that had surrounded him.

"Uh… Hi," he said, arms falling from Lea's neck to swing awkwardly at his sides. He could see Donald up in the doorway of the gummi ship, tapping one foot at him with his hands propped on his hips. Sora cleared his throat and ignored him. That was a lecture that could wait for another day, as far as he was concerned.

"Now there's a greeting I could get used to," Lea said, one hand still pressed against Sora's side. Sora could feel the heat of it through his shirt and it made something in his gut squirm. "Riku." Lea nodded over Sora's shoulder, and Sora froze again.

Right. Crap.

Riku was here, too.

"…Hey," Riku said faintly, and Sora almost felt bad but wasn't sure if he needed to or not. It wasn't like Riku didn't know, right?

Though he probably hadn't expected Sora to go around mauling Lea in public places.

"I guess that means you've thought about it?" Lea asked, drawing Sora's attention back. His hand flexed against Sora's side, squeezing gently, and Sora tried not to be too obvious as he shivered. Lea wasn't wearing his gloves, he noticed.

"No – yes. I mean, I haven't not thought about it, but I don't. I'm still not sure?" Sora scratched the back of his head, peering up at Lea. His cheeks felt hot. "I was just happy to see you."

"Clearly." Lea smirked at him. Sora reached out and smacked the back of his hand against Lea's chest.

"Stop," he said, laughing. "I'm still trying to work it out, okay? It's confusing. And I feel like we need to actually…I don't know. Talk about it."

Lea backed up a step and held up his hands. "Hey, I get it," he said, and Sora somehow refrained from stepping right back into his personal space even though he very much wanted to. "Take all the time you need. I'm gonna be busy for a while anyway, but you're right. We should chat sometime soon."

"Busy with what?" Riku asked, suddenly by Sora's side again. Sora wasn't sure when that had happened.

"What do you think?" Lea grinned and extended an arm to the side, snapping his wrist just so, and looked quite pleased with himself when his Keyblade immediately popped into existence. It was a pretty thing, his Keyblade, all deep reds and golden oranges with swirling flames along the blade itself. Sora stared at it in awe. "Training, of course."

"Training?" Riku didn't sound as impressed by the Keyblade as Sora felt. "With Kairi?"

"That's the plan, I guess. Yen Sid's, not mine." Lea hesitated briefly. "Speaking of, does she know about me?"

"No," Sora said immediately.

"Yes," Riku said at the same time. They glanced at each other. Riku's brow furrowed. "Sora…we definitely told her he came back."

"Oh – right! That." Sora gave a sheepish laugh. "Yeah, of course. Sorry, I meant… This." He waved his hand between them. "I haven't exactly told her about us. Or a potential us. That we're – never mind. You get it."

"I get it," Lea repeated. "You told Riku, though, huh?" Lea looked at him, one eyebrow lifted, taking in the other boy's crossed arms and general grumpy appearance. "He's thrilled, I can tell."

"That was mostly an accident," Sora admitted, though he glanced over and poked Riku in the arm. "Riku's fine."

"Totally fine," Riku agreed. He forced himself to smile, and it was completely obvious but Sora appreciated the effort nonetheless. "Getting used to it."

"He thinks you're too old for me," Sora blurted, and Riku groaned a little under his breath, letting his head fall backwards.

"You make me sound like an overprotective grandma or something."

"You kind of are."

Riku dropped his head back down to glare at him. Sora just grinned.

"That's fair, though," Lea said, propping his hands on his hips. "Probably a legitimate concern, actually. God, is it always this hot here?"

"You might want to think about investing in something other than an Organization coat," Riku pointed out. "Also yes, it absolutely is always this hot. Surprised you aren't used to it – isn't fire your thing or whatever?"

"I packed other clothes," Lea said with a dismissive wave, and chose to ignore the rest of what Riku had said.

Sora waited a beat but was afraid to let the semi-tense atmosphere get worse. Mostly because he wasn't sure if he was imagining it or not and would prefer not to let it get to a place where it was obviously awkward. "What're you doing here, anyway?" he asked in a rush.

Lea grinned, jutting a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the gummi ship. "Hitched a ride. Goofy said I could take his place this time. Thought I'd come say hi."

"I'm glad you did," Sora said, voice weirdly soft. It made his cheeks flush.

Unfortunately they were interrupted then by Kairi running down the beach toward them, backpack slung over her shoulder as she called out and waved.

"Hey guys! I'm here, sorry to make you wait!"

"Finally," Donald muttered from up on the gummi ship, and Sora shot him a look.

"Like you've been waiting just so long."

"Wak! Long enough! You didn't even say hi."

"I got distracted," Sora said, crossing his arms behind his head.

Donald narrowed his eyes. "Oh, I saw."

"…Guess it's gonna be a quick visit," Lea said. He actually looked kind of upset about it, which made Sora bounce on his feet a little. He wanted to tell him he'd come visit next, hell, that he'd take off with them to Yen Sid's tower now if he could. But he could feel Kairi watching them and swallowed the words back.

"You got everything?" Riku asked Kairi. "Need any help?"

"I'm good," Kairi said, smiling up at him. "Though it's sweet of you to ask. Especially after I already lugged everything all the way over here."

Lea snickered. "Nice. I think I like you, Kairi."

"Oh, right," Sora said. He gestured between the two of them. "Kairi, this is Lea. Lea, Kairi. Apparently you guys are training together."

Kairi blinked. "Oh." She gave Lea a long look, but eventually held out her hand. "It's nice to meet you properly, Lea."

"Likewise," Lea said. He looked a little relieved as he shook her hand. "Sorry for kidnapping you and stuff. I was a little obsessed with getting Roxas back in my previous life."

Sora sucked in a breath, struck by an unexpected pang behind his ribs. He rubbed at his chest and sent soothing thoughts to his… Well. To that place deep inside of him that he was more and more sure was where Roxas had settled. Riku gave him a curious look, but Sora just shook his head.

"I know why you did it," Kairi said. "Or why Axel did it. It's okay."

"Eh, 'okay' is probably letting me off too easy." Lea pushed a hand through his hair, glancing away. Sora found himself kind of wanting to push his hands into Lea's hair, too. "I appreciate it, though."

"Well, there's no sense being upset with you for something Axel did. Right?" Kairi smiled. "You're Lea now. If everyone else trusts you, then so do I."

"Can we get a move on, already?" Donald asked. "I'm gonna leave without you." He disappeared from the door, evidently headed back to the cockpit to start the gummi ship up again.

"Guess that's our sign," Lea said. "Riku, Sora…" He looked back at them, only eyeing Riku briefly before his gaze lingered on Sora. He grinned. "See you soon, I hope."

Riku and Sora took their turns hugging Kairi goodbye, Sora trying not to let on how flustered he suddenly was just from having Lea smile at him. What the hell even was that? Be cool, man, damn. "Good luck with everything!" he told Kairi instead, squeezing her tightly.

"You'll do great," Riku added. "Bet you'll be kicking both of our butts soon."

"You know it," Kairi said with a giggle. They were both loaded onto the gummi ship in no time, and then Sora and Riku were left on the beach, watching them fly away.

Sora huffed out a long, dramatic sigh. "We should've gone with them."

Riku rolled his eyes. "You just wanted to go with Lea."

"No," Sora said, pouting, but it was at least partially true and thus hard to sound too convincing. He sighed again, and then grinned knowingly at Riku. "I gave you a heart attack, huh? When I kissed him."

"What the hell makes you think that?" Riku asked, propping one hand on his hip.

"I don't know," Sora said airily, giving a small shrug, as well. "You seemed shocked."

"Really? Because you seemed a little too preoccupied to notice me being shocked."

"Is that you admitting it?"

"Absolutely not."

"I'm so adult now, Riku. Kissing people and all."

"One person. You've kissed one person."

"That you know of!"

Riku snorted. "Yeah, okay. Wanna spar?"

Sora's eyes lit up as he promptly summoned his Keyblade. "Yes! But…" He pointed his Keyblade at Riku. "I've been meaning to say something important. Riku!"

"Um…yes?" Riku looked somewhat bewildered, holding his own Keyblade now and watching Sora with clear trepidation.

"You've got to do something about your hair."

"I – what?" Riku gaped at him. "What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

"Your hair!" Sora repeated, waving his arms wildly. He'd been sitting on this for weeks, privately mourning the missing length that he'd sadly only seen Riku pull up into a ponytail all of twice. What a loss. "You gotta style it differently or something, or trim the back some more – did you cut it yourself? Because it sucks."

Riku ran his fingers through some strands, pulling the locks around so he could stare at them in a cross-eyed, baffled sort of way. "I was just trying to get it out of my face. What's wrong with it?"

"It's not doing you any favors, that's what! With girls, guys, or whoever you decide you like. You had a good thing going before!"

"Maybe, but I couldn't see anything! Wasn't exactly great for fighting either. Anyway, I'm really not all that worried about that stuff right now…"

"Riku! That's what hair ties are for!" Honestly, he was impossible. This was why he needed Sora – to help make sure he wasn't such a disaster.

Never mind that until very recently, perhaps even a mere sixty seconds ago, Riku had been the cool one and Sora had been the disaster.

…Probably was still the disaster, actually, as his brain chose that moment to helpfully remind him about how he'd jumped Lea on the beach not fifteen minutes ago. Ugh, embarrassing.

"Just come over later," Sora said, shaking the thoughts from his head. "My mom will fix it for you."

"…Definition of sexy right there," Riku said. He seemed a little pained. "Getting a mom haircut."

"She does a good job!"

Riku eyed the many spikes sticking out in every direction on top of Sora's head. "Does she?"

"Yes! Shut up! Let's spar already!"

"Thank god, yes, please."

Riku slid into his battle stance and Sora quickly followed suit, a sharp grin splitting his face. As antsy as he might be, stuck here on their island with infinite ocean surrounding them, at least having Riku there made it a little easier.

Listen, I'm sorry, but Riku's haircut in 3D needed so much help lol. It looks much improved in KHIII, at least!

~ Maxine