Pre-Author's Note: There I was eating my breakfast… When all of a sudden, out of nowhere, the plot bunnies jumped me. Waving knives and daggers in their little fists and gnashing their little teeth at me… So it was, they tied me up and have forced me to write this now…

But never fear! An update of Ignorance is Bliss is near!

Yeah.

Disclaimer: I saw Christina Aguilera's music video for Beautiful today. Omigosh! It was so inspiring. Maybe I'll write something based off it…

Song: Here (In Your Arms) by HelloGoodbye.

Best. Song. EVER!!!

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During the time he spent living with DiZ and Namine, there were a lot of things Riku was unsure of.

First of all, he wasn't sure if he should be trusting Namine with Sora's memories, seeing as she was the one who'd taken them apart in the first place. Secondly there was the matter of DiZ, Riku really wasn't sure if he should be trusting DiZ. The man was an enigma. Riku barely even knew him, and yet here he was, allowing DiZ to help him save Sora. And there was the other thing Riku wasn't sure of. Sora. Just who was he? Was he really Riku's best friend like DiZ and Namine assured him? He couldn't remember.

There was one thing Riku was sure of however.

He knew this one thing for a fact.

He did not love Demyx.

Bang. End of story.

The only problem with this was that Demyx was very clearly in love with Riku.

Most relationships start because of physical attraction. And sometimes if one is lucky there might even be some feelings slightly akin to romance involved. In the case of Demyx and Riku, it had started off with "some feelings" (i.e. Demyx was madly in love with Riku and Riku could care less). Demyx thought Riku was adorable and sexy all at the same time. Riku thought Demyx was… okay. Well he was kinda cute… In a dorky way.

Anyways, it didn't take long for Riku to learn that Demyx was a romantic. An old-fashioned romantic. He believed in a certain gentleman-esque image that he thought all men should strive to uphold. As soon as their relationship began, Demyx instantly pinned Riku as "the girl". And so, the blonde musician did his best to be the perfect gentleman he'd always had in mind.

Riku had to hand it to him, the poor dear. He tried, he really did. But the fact was that Demyx was really bad at being a gentleman.

He was so clumsy that whenever he tried to hold a door open for Riku, he usually ended up tripping in his haste to get to the door before Riku. And even if he did reach the door in one piece, he usually spent several minutes trying to pull the door open when it was supposed to be pushed. And vice versa.

The first bouquet of flowers Demyx sent Riku was made up of a dozen red roses. The only problem was that he'd forgotten to clip the thorns off and so of course Riku's hands had started bleeding upon impact with the bouquet. The second bouquet went even worse than the first (if that was at all possible); the second batch of flowers was made up of lilies.

The day Demyx presented that bouquet to Riku was the day he learned something very important.

Riku was horribly allergic to lilies.

Note to self: ask boyfriend about allergies before getting him gifts.

And so, downcast and miserable, Demyx tried to get Riku flowers for the third time. But he spent so long fretting over which kind to get Riku that the store closed before he could buy anything. And that was when Demyx had given up on flowers entirely.

But flowers weren't the only things he sent Riku, oh no, he also sent Riku poems.

Unfortunately, it seemed Demyx was really bad at poetry because whenever Riku opened one of Demyx's letters and started to read he would burst out laughing hysterically. They were that bad.

Whenever Demyx and Riku went out to eat, Demyx would offer to pay for the meals. After all, he was a "gentleman". Now one would think that paying the check was the one thing that Demyx couldn't possibly mess up. Alas, being a member of Organization XIII did not pay and so, more than half the time, Riku would have to take the check while Demyx mourned for his empty wallet.

And that was the way their relationship was for a while. Demyx, romantic goofball that he was, would work endlessly to live up to being a gentleman. While Riku insisted that he was not a girl and did not require such pampering. It stayed that way for months. Demyx; hopelessly in love with Riku. Riku; still only mildly attracted to Demyx (though he couldn't deny he found Demyx's antics amusing).

And then one day all that changed. Demyx often glorified it, calling it "The Chosen Day". The day when Riku's mild attraction for Demyx simply exploded into nothing but true love (awwwww…).

On that day, Demyx had portaled into Riku's room as usual with every intention of taking Riku out on yet another one of their dates. During these dates, Demyx often took Riku to new worlds that he had found on his many travels. Today was no different. Demyx was taking Riku to a whole new world. And this world was called…?

Earth.

Now before we delve into the story of Riku's blossoming emotions, we must first take note of two very important facts.

One: Demyx and Riku weren't too familiar with Earth's traditions.

Two: Demyx was really bad at getting portals to appear on the exact destination he required.

And so when Riku and Demyx finished stepping through the portal they found themselves in the middle of a clearing in some unrecognizable forest. The thing was… Said clearing was currently being utilized as a battleground for a paintball war. With those fake guns that shot paintball bullets at attackers.

Yeah.

Thus the first thing Demyx and Riku heard upon arriving on Earth was the cocking of about fifty guns on either side of them.

They were standing right in the center of the battle.

And it also seemed that neither side had noticed the two men who had just appeared out of a big, black, swirling vortex of terror. Of course. Life just has a way of making things interesting…

Riku's gasp alerted one side to their presence. However the team on the other side of the field had not heard and therefore had no idea that there were people right in their line of range.

Then all at once, all the guns on the right side of the clearing went off, and Riku and Demyx stood there; rooted to the spot.

Time seemed to slow; one could almost hear the dramatic music swelling in the background…

Riku's hands flew up to block his head and he gritted his teeth; preparing for what he clearly believed would be his death. Demyx's eyes went from the oncoming bullets to Riku, standing beside him. Making a snap decision of utter selflessness Demyx spread both his arms out and shoved Riku out of the way.

Time returned to normal as paintball after paintball hit Demyx, splattering across his face, legs, chest, and arms. Riku stood behind Demyx his eyes shut tight, unaware of the fact that he was currently safe from harm's way. Finally after several long dramatic stretches of time (during which Demyx's outfit was completely and totally ruined), the fire stopped as the side that had shot realized they had just attacked two innocent bystanders.

Riku, taking note of the sudden lack of gunfire, slowly peeled one eye open… Then the other… He removed his hands and looked around. There were people on both sides rushing forward, shouting apologies about how they hadn't seen him. Riku looked down at himself… No bleeding, cuts, scrapes or injuries of any kind… Well, there was one orange blob that had managed to get past Demyx but other than that… Hm…

Then he noticed Demyx. Who, in his haste to save Riku, had fallen sideways onto the leaf covered ground. Riku stared. Demyx was a multicolored mess. He looked like an art shop had blown up on him…

But… He wasn't bleeding… He didn't look very hurt… Except for the fact that he might've bumped his head on his way down… And he was getting up too!

Riku watched the group of strangers approaching them, he looked at the guns in their hands. He stared at Demyx as he got back on his feet, rubbing his bumped head.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm f-…" Demyx looked down at his clothes, "Oh snap."

"Uh hey, sorry about that," said a red headed guy, who had his hair tied back in a long low tail, his eyes were covered by a pair of dark goggles, "we didn't see you 'til after we'd fired." He was wearing a label on his shirt that read "Turk", everyone from his side of the field was wearing the word Turk on them…

"Reno, you idiot," said a raven haired man from the other side of the clearing, the side that hadn't fired, "how could you guys miss them? Sorry about your clothes, man," he added to Demyx. Riku eyed his side, they were all wearing badges that read "AVALANCHE".

Riku wiped some of the colorful substance off Demyx's arm and inspected.

"It's paint," he stated dumbly.

"Uh yeah," said the red head that'd been called Reno, "it's called a paintball war for a reason."

Riku and Demyx blinked in dawning realization.

"Oh."

------

Back at DiZ's mansion, Riku was sitting on his bed, deep in thought. Demyx was using the silver haired teen' shower to get all the paint off. Luckily Demyx always kept some spare clothes in Riku's room so that he'd be able to change the mornings after they'd… Well… Y'know.

Riku sighed, and flipped over on his stomach, picking at a loose thread on his blanket. The more he thought about it, the more he realized what a brave thing Demyx had done that day. After all, Demyx had really thought those guns would kill… And yet he'd still put himself between Riku and the bullets-well… Paintballs. But STILL. It was just the kind of stupidly selfless, romantic thing Demyx would do… Riku felt a smile creeping up his face as the shower was turned off from inside his bedroom.

He flipped over again and smiled at Demyx, who was currently toweling off his hair. Demyx paused and looked at Riku oddly.

"What?" he asked, lowering the towel… Riku had never looked at him quite like that before…

"I love you."

Demyx froze. The towel stopped halfway to his hair. His eyes widened.

If it were at all biologically possible his jaw would've hit the floor.

Riku just continued to smile at Demyx.

"You're gawking," he pointed out mildly. Demyx's mouth immediately shut.

"I love you too," he said, head spinning in confusion. What had brought this on? Riku had never told Demyx he loved him before…

Riku just continued to smile.

"Why're you suddenly saying that?" asked Demyx. It couldn't possibly be about the paint incident could it? Demyx had acted like an idiot! Why would Riku suddenly love him just because he'd gone and made a moron out of himself?

"I don't know," said Riku, now smiling wider than ever, "you're just so sweet, and dorky, and you're such a doofus… But you're a really sweet doofus, and I mean that in the nicest way possible…" His smile stretched across his face as he walked over to where Demyx was standing, snaking his arms around the latter's neck, "And that was incredibly brave… What you did today I mean," said Riku, "Stupid? Yes. But really, really brave."

Demyx looked like he'd just been hit by a ton of bricks. He blinked a few times before smiling.

"So basically," he began, "you just discovered you love me… All because I made a big fool of myself for you?"

"Yup."

"You should wash that before it stains," said Demyx suddenly, indicating the orange stain on Riku's shirt where the one paintball had hit him.

Riku looked at the offending mark, "No," he said firmly, "I'm going to keep that stain and I'm going to keep this shirt, and I will tell all my friends and family about you and how heroic you were," he paused and began playing with Demyx's damp hair, "and how selfless you were, and how wonderful you are and how much I love you and-

"Okay, okay," said Demyx, he looked torn between pride and embarrassment; he chuckled, wrapping his arms around Riku's waist, "I get the idea."

"Good."

"But just outta question, what would you have said if I'd let you continue?"

Riku laughed, "Well like I said I'll tell everyone how much I love you, and then I'll make little shrines honoring you, and I'll use them to worship you and I'll make other people worship you too, of course, and then I'd form a cult and we'd take over the world in your name and-

"Okay stop now before my ego explodes."

"Too late for that," said Riku, eyeing a very sensitive spot of Demyx's anatomy.

"So basically, you're saying that you completely and totally adore me?"

Riku hummed, "Something like that."

"Good. Because you have no idea how hard I've been working to get you to say that. I mean first the flowers-

"I'm sorry but that really was pathetic on your part."

"-then I had to try and write all those nice poems-

"I think I could seriously sell those on eBay as joke cards."

"-and after that there were all those times I hurt myself opening doors!"

"I gotta say I didn't think you could pull something that sad off."

Demyx frowned at Riku, "I thought you said you loved me."

"I do love you. Really. You're just a dork."

"…"

"Oh come on, don't get all offended. I love you because you're a dork."

------

"Hey Riku?"

Riku looked up to see Sora, Kairi, Tidus, Wakka and Selphie staring at him, "What?"

"Well," Kairi hesitated, "the five of us have been wondering… You see uh… Why do you wear that shirt?"

Riku plucked at the shirt he was wearing, a black hooded t-shirt with a small orange stain near the bottom. He raised his eyebrows at them.

Tidus spoke up, "I mean, it's just that… It's got a stain."

"A bright, orange stain," said Selphie.

"It's a mark of selflessness," said Riku, "back when Sora was still asleep… Someone risked their life to save mine. And because of them this orange spot," he pointed at it, "is the only mark I got."

Sora peered at him curiously, "Who was it?"

Riku bit his lip, "You wouldn't know him…"

"He must have been a really great guy," said Kairi thoughtfully.

"Actually," said Riku, "he was biggest dork I've ever met."

Author's Note: -rereads the ending- Aw damn… And it was so fluffy and happy too and then Riku just had to ruin it with his last lines and make things all bittersweet… Pish. Ah well… The rest of it was pretty sweet though. And I could totally see this happening between those two. Seriously. This is how I review their relationship.

Also I guess you could view this as a side story for Playing the Dozens.

Anyways guess what? I'm so happy! Know why? Know why?! Because I just got a pet lobster!!!

…

Well technically it's a crawfish… But it looks like a lobster. A really small lobster but STILL… And it's fun telling people I have a pet lobster.

He's bright blue and he's really pretty and really cool… And I have named him Lupin in honor of Remus from Harry Potter.

I love my Lupin.

Review. Now.

bliss