The two friends laughed before continueing to make their way back to Sora's house. When they got there Riku stopped outside the door and stared at Sora.

"Well?"

"Well, what?" asked Sora staring at Riku blankly.

"Aren't you going to open the door? With the keys?"

Sora stared at Riku for a full minute.

"Aggh!!!"

"Dude, what the heck?!"

"I forgot the keys!" cried Sora, he flung himself at the door and began pulling on the knob relentlessly, "Oh no!" he cried, "Ohnoohnoohnoonhnoohnonononononono… Riku we're locked out!" he turned to face his silver haired friend with tears in his eyes. Riku stared at the chocolate haired boy wondering how Sora had survived all these years without him. Sora continued to look panicked. Riku sighed and walked over too where Sora was standing in front of the door.

"So ring the door bell, moron," said Riku as he pushed the small button.

"Oh…" said Sora calming down immediately, "Oh yeah…"

"Hello?" Kairi said as she opened the door, then she realized who was standing outside.

"Oh my gosh! Sora! Riku! What happened and…" Kairi stared at Sora strangely, "Were you crying?" Sora flushed and Riku rolled his eyes before explaining what had happened. Trying to spare Sora some of his manly pride.

"Wonder boy here, threw a little tantrum because he stupidly forgot the keys to his own home."

So much for salving Sora's manly pride.

Sora shot Riku a glare and smacked Riku on the head.

"I did not throw a tantrum!" he cried in a whiny voice. Riku and Kairi eyed him for a moment before they simultaneously burst out laughing. Riku pushed past Sora and walked into the living room along with Kairi, both of whom were still laughing their heads off. Everybody in the room gave the trio weird looks.

"What happened to you guys?" asked Roxas, he turned to look at Sora and his eyes widened, "Have you been crying?"

Sora's frown deepened as Riku and Kairi doubled over laughing so hard they collapsed on the floor. The five other people in the room stared blankly.

"It's a long story," said Riku as he popped the DVD into the player that rested under Sora's plasma.

"Whatever," said Tidus as he eyed Kairi wiping tears from her eyes.

Everyone settled down to watch the movie.

It had only been going for about twenty minutes when Sora's family came in. Sora had a big family; mom, dad, two younger siblings and one older sibling. Dylan was Sora's older brother; he was in his senior year at high school. Kalinda (girl) and Roland (boy) were both younger than Sora. Kalinda was in third grade and Roland was in sixth.

"Sora, honey!" called his mother, "We picked up the pizza for your big sleep over!" The group of five walked into the living room and instantly spotted all eight teens seated on their individual sleeping bags, eyes glued to the movie that was playing on the TV. Sora's mom spotted Riku immediately and frowned. Since when had Sora hung out with people like this? She wondered.

"Hello," said Sora vaguely, just to let his parents know that he acknowledged their presence.

"Uh, Sora who's this?" asked his mom. At once all the kids turned to look at Riku whose eyes had widened to the size of saucers, "I thought you said it was a sleep over to welcome Riku home…"

"Yeah it is…" said Sora and all the teens lying on the floor grinned at the situation and Roxas paused the movie.

"Well, why isn't Riku here?" asked his dad and once again he turned his attention to Riku, "I'm sorry, who did you say you were?"

"Um… I didn't… say…" said Riku quietly and once again all eight friends smirked a little despite themselves.

"Ummm… Well… " said Sora wondering how to say this without a) thoroughly embarrassing Riku, b) making a fool of himself in front of Kairi, or c) freaking his parents out. Sora decided it was best to freak his parents out. After all they were his parents, they cared about him no matter what. On the other hand his friendship with Riku was… shaky to say the least and Kairi… He had to impress her. So Sora decided to answer bluntly, "Uh, mom? Dad? That is Riku."

"Um, hello Mr. and Mrs. Harada," said Riku giving Sora's family a little wave nervously, "It's good to see you again," he added for good measure.

Dylan raised his eyebrows. He was impressed, you could tell. Dylan might not be the brightest of the bunch but he prided himself on good physique and surfing. It was hard to tell from the position Riku was sitting in but it seemed like he might be taller than Dylan. Whoa… thought Dylan, He's in good shape. Definetly a total three-sixty… Maybe I could get him to hang out with me and my friends sometime. Ditch Sora…

Roland was pretty much oblivious to it all. What did he care if one of his brother's best friends looked like he'd gone to Extreme Makeover?

Kalinda cared though. She'd always looked up to Riku; it was an ongoing joke between Sora and Riku. Riku would tease Sora because his younger sister liked Riku better and Sora would tease Riku with the "nickname" Kalinda had given to him.

"Riri!" she cried running forward and proceeding without hesitation to jump on top of Riku. Poor Riku…

Kalinda was too young to notice a change in Riku's appearance.

Riku of course, being the awesome guy that he is, played along. He was used to Kalinda doing this to him. Except now he was stronger, which was a good thing cause Kalinda was a lot heavier. Riku pretended to collapse under her and even gave a muffled groan just for show.

This of course sent Kalinda into a fit of giggles. And she proceeded to jump on Riku a few times just to make him give more fake moans of agony.

After a while, Riku rolled over onto his back and held up his hands in defeat.

"Please stop! I can't take it any more! Oh the pain!" he gave a mighty cry before falling limp and silent. Kalinda did a victory dance over his crumpled body. Namine, Kairi and Selphie giggled as they watched Riku lie there pretending to be dead.

"He's good with kids," said Namine.

"That's because Kalinda always used to do that to him," said Selphie as the three girls watched Riku roll over to face Kalinda.

"I live!" he cried and with that he picked up Kalinda and tossed her a few times. This of course was a new stunt considering Riku had never been in good enough shape to pull it off before. But now Riku could throw her and catch her effortlessly; as if she were a foot ball.

This new game of course, only caused Kalinda greater pleasure and she laughed so hard that when Riku finally put her down she collapsed on the floor giggling.

"I think you've killed her, Riku," said Mrs. Harada as she bent to help her daughter up, when she finally straightened up with her daughter in her arms she smiled at Riku and said, "it's good to see you again Riku. Sorry I didn't recognize you! You're growing up so fast!" Riku smiled as he propped himself up on his elbows.

"S'okay, Mrs. Harada," he said good-naturedly.

"Well, we'll leave the pizza on the dining room table," said Mr. Harada looking around at all the kids, "you all have fun."

"Hey, Sora," said Dylan walking up to the group in order to ruffle Sora's hair affectionately, "What movie are you guys watching?"

"She's the Man," said Sora simply as he ran his hand through his hair where Dylan had fluffed it. Dylan nodded.

"Hey Riku, haven't seen you in a while," he said turning his attention to Riku. He and Riku pounded fists (they made it look so easy… it's not… my friend and I always miss… One time I even knocked the sandwich she was holding into the gutter… --).

"What grade are you in now?" asked Riku from his spot on the carpet.

"Senior year of High School," said Dylan.

"So… are you trying to tell me you've made it five years without getting held back or flunking out of school?" asked Riku sardonically with one eye brow raised.

"Har," said Dylan dryly. He and Riku then smirked at each other for a second.

"Shall we restart the movie?" asked Selphie from across the room, she and the others had been watching the conversation and felt very left out.

"Alright, well see ya," said Dylan with his "surfer dude" attitude, "oh, wait… Hey Riku?" Roxas stopped just as he was about to press play and seven heads turned to watch the two teens.

"What?" asked Riku.

"You wanna hang out with me and some of my friends some time?"

The other seven people in the room had faces like: O.o. Riku however remained calm.

"Sure," said Riku, "When?"

"Well, there's gonna be a party at Meg's house this weekend at 8:00 on Saturday. Can you make it?"

"Yeah, I think I'll be there." Sora and the others' faces went from O.o to O.O.

"Cool," said Dylan before he left the room. As soon as he was out of earshot all seven friends turned to stare at Riku; faces still frozen.

"You shouldn't make faces like that," said Riku matter-of-factly, "it doesn't look good and besides someday your faces will freeze like that."

"Riku."

"Yeah?"

"Dylan's a senior."

"So?"

"The party is for seniors."

"There are always younger people there just like there are older people. It doesn't matter Sora so drop it."

"But Riku… It's a senior party!"

"Not you too Roxas…"

"They're both right, Riku!"

"Okay, will you all just let it go? Please?"

"But it's for seniors!"

"Like I said it's no big deal! I've been to plenty of parties hosted by seniors and it doesn't matter if you're younger! Now would you please just let it go?!" Riku snapped and everyone fell silent.

Roxas pushed the play button and the movie resumed. Everyone got up to go get some pizza.

They watched in silence for a while until they got to the part where the main character (I forgot her name, sorry) makes her "transformation" into a boy.

"Who would fall for that?" asked Selphie.

"I know!" cried Sora.

"They did a terrible job," said Namine.

"Yeah," agreed Riku.

Finally they got to one of those sweet, romantic boy kisses girl moments.

"Hey Riku…"

"Yeah?" Riku turned to look at Sora.

"Do you have a girl friend?"

Everybody spun around to stare at Riku who was keeping his face determinedly expressionless.

Oh boy… How do I answer that? Truth or lie? Tough one… Well they won't like the truth but I don't think they'd believe me if I lied anyway so…

"Yes, well had anyway," he said ignoring their stunned expressions.

"Really?"

"Uh-huh."

"For real?"

"Uh-huh."

"How many?"

Ouch… They're not gonna be happy with this…

"Two."

"What?!"

"Yeah…" Nervous laugh.

"And you broke up with both of them right?"

"Well," he took a deep breath before launching into explanation mode, "the first one's name was Resa and I broke up with her because… Well it's complicated. Anyway the second girl's name was Mia and she broke up with me."

"Really? You got dumped?" asked Sora as if his life long dream was to be dumped. Riku looked at Sora agitatedly.

"Yes, Sora, my God don't have a heart attack," he paused, "you act like it's fun getting 'let go', as she put it."

"I'm sorry," said Namine.

"For what?" asked Riku looking at her in surprise.

"It hurts when someone leaves you," said Namine putting a comforting hand on Riku's shoulder.

"And you would know this how?"

"Roxas and I went out for a while."

"What?" asked Riku wildly.

"Yeah," said Roxas sounding very tired all of sudden, "it didn't work out…"

"Why not?" asked Riku looking between the two.

"I don't know… It was just too weird. Roxas is like my brother," said Namine, she looked a little uncomfortable at the topic.

"Yeah, it's like that," said Roxas shiftily.

"Oh, okay," said Riku not wanting to press the matter; he'd noticed the look on Namine's face and figured it was best not to go into detail.

"So why did Mia break up with you?" asked Selphie (she likes big gossip sessions). Total gossip girl.

"Well actually," Riku began, "she broke up with me because I was moving and she didn't want to go through the hassle of keeping a relationship with the distance… I offered to go see her every weekend but… I don't know I guess she was probably going to end it anyway… she'd been acting a little distant lately."

He looked at the floor and twiddled his thumbs a little.

Namine placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and to everyone's' surprise Riku leaned into her hand until his head was resting on her shoulder. Namine looked a little taken aback but pleased all the same (That's right! This is a Namiku story! Yay!).

Slowly the rest of the kids returned their attention to the movie which was nearing its finale. When the credits started rolling Riku still hadn't removed his head from Namine's shoulder and his back was rising in slow steady motions.

"Is he asleep?" asked Tidus tilting his head to get a peek at Riku's eyes from under a curtain of silver.

"Uh, I can't tell from here," murmured Namine quietly in an effort to not wake Riku incase he was asleep.

Finally Kairi bent her head and tilted it upwards to stare at Riku's face. His eyes were closed and his expression was peaceful. His silky smooth, silver hair drifted around his face breezily.

"He is," said Kairi in awe.

Sora sighed and sat back, folding his arms behind his head, "Man, what a change… He used to be so insecure and nervous… And he looks so different… It's like he's a different person but," Sora looked up at all of them, "he had his reasons for wanting to make a change."

"And what makes you say that?" asked Roxas.

"He told so me while we were renting the video," said Sora smugly.

"Really? What did he say?" asked Kairi eagerly, leaning forward on her sleeping bag eagerly.

"He was tired of being the class geek," said Sora simply, "and he said he didn't want to let us down."

"Huh?"

"He told me that he felt like if he didn't change he'd just be burdening us forever so he didn't want to let us down," said Sora. Everyone stared at him.

"What?" asked Sora blankly.

"You actually just made sense," said Selphie with wide eyes.

"Well. I was trying to explain…" Sora muttered nervously.

"Sora, you used a big word!" cried Kairi. Tidus's mouth was hanging open.

"Shh," hushed Namine putting a finger to her lip, she jerked her head at the still sleeping Riku.

"Oh, right, I gotcha mon," said Waka settling down a little.

"So, did he really say that, Sora?" asked Tidus bringing his voice back down to a whisper.

"Well," said Selphie, "while he's asleep we might as well take advantage of his iron sleep capabilities and discuss this…"

"Discuss what?" asked Roxas.

"This," said Selphie waving her hand around airily in Riku's direction.

"Right," said Tidus folding his arms and nodding.

"Well…" began Kairi slowly, "What do you think?"

"How's he going to fit in with us?" asked Roxas, "He's from a completely different social class now."

"Don't say things like that," said Sora quietly, "it's depressing…"

"Look, there's no point in denying the truth," said Tidus stubbornly.

"Well…" said Kairi, "I personally don't know how I can act normal around him… he's just so…"

"Hott? Irresistible? Sexy?" offered Selphie. All the girl's faces turned crimson.

"Hm… But he's still a nice guy," protested Namine, "even if his looks and personality are different he's still nice!"

"Well yeah but… It's just so weird seeing him like this, ya," said Wakka with raised eyebrows, "we might as well be calling him a different name altogether."

"But you can still be friends," insisted Namine.

"Oh yeah? Name one thing we still have in common with him," Tidus prodded.

"Well…" Namine said softly, "You guys all still have the same memories… of each other and stuff… You know… Um, you all have the same fond memories from when you were younger. When you guys were all still friends."

Kairi nodded sagely, "You're right."

Everyone seemed to agree with this statement as a whole. But nobody noticed the fact that Riku's eyes were open and that he had been listening in the whole time.

So, he mused, it looks like this just might work out after all… I think we can still get along… Thank you Namine! I owe you one!

Author's Note: So was that ending fluffy enough or what? -- Oh and peoples… Please review. It's really not THAT hard… And it makes me write faster! So come on! Click the little button… Go on.

bliss