SoRiku. I know I said I don't really like it any more. And I don't. SoKai is my favorite. But this is a present. (I'm sorry, Lex, but I didn't write this for you; I'm pretty much incapable of starting a new SoRiku. I'm pretty much over it. But I wrote this a while ago, planning to put it up, and forgot about it. Please don't be sad; it's not your fault I'm incapable. And please don't be mad either. ILU, okay? I'm just lame.)

This is not supposed to be taken completely seriously. I mean, it's not total crack or whatever. It's just lighthearted. Angst belongs to Axel and Roxas. Sora, Riku, and Kairi get most of the happy fics.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Why would I want to, anyway? To be rich? Munny can't buy happiness, only Hi-Potions.

"So, I'm thinking we should skip school tomorrow," Sora commented idly, hopping onto the long tree-branch and patting the spot next to him. Riku took a seat with a questioning look on his face.

"Why?"

"Because I've never done it before, and because Kairi's on the other island visiting her adoptive aunt so she can't force us to go to school."

"That's a really bad excuse," Riku replied. "But I don't mind ditching tomorrow. What should we do?"

"Does it matter? I think we should go to bed tonight and not think about it at all. And when we wake up tomorrow, we should do the first thing that pops into our heads. As long as it's legal, possible, and not life-threatening. But…we just saved the worlds. Aren't you sick of planning everything out? I just want to float for a day. Just pretend we're kids again and the Heartless are just a bedtime story."

"I am tired of it," he acquiesced, "but that's really dangerous…I mean, taking the situation so lightly is…really…"

"Oh, stop, Riku. I'm the Keyblade master. I know how serious it is. But that doesn't mean I can't be a kid sometimes. I don't want to have to think about all the intelligent beings I killed all the time. I mean…guilt like that can drive a guy crazy. So sometimes I just take a vacation. You should do it too; maybe then you'd smile more. You have a second chance to live life normally; just take advantage of it."

It wasn't very often that Sora could 'wow' Riku with his intellectual superiority, because – and let's face it – when it came to brains, Riku had him beat. In matters of the heart, though, Sora always came out on top, which was why Riku couldn't think up a response and also why the Keyblade loved Sora to pieces.

And this was exactly why Sora was now sitting with Riku on the Paopu tree, trying not to laugh at the absolutely gobsmacked face Riku was wearing.

"I…wow," Riku muttered, looking at Sora as if he had all the answers in the multiverse. Which he didn't. But he wasn't going to tell Riku that.

"Well, anyway, the bad stuff is not something we should relive too often…I mean, even if we have regrets, we can't ever go back and change what we did so we should just keep moving, right? Keep moving forward to make the future better than the past," Sora added, nudging Riku's shoulder with his own. Even after two years, Riku still couldn't let go of his guilt…and Sora sometimes wanted to smack him, but mostly he just wanted to hug him.

(Kairi-hugs were great, but Sora thought maybe Riku-hugs would be pretty awesome too.)

"Yeah, I…" Riku cocked his head and looked sideways at Sora, as if he wasn't sure what he was going to say. "You're right."

"I know."

Riku scoffed and shoved Sora's shoulder lightly. "Don't be so cocky."

"Not cocky," Sora corrected in a singsong voice, wagging his forefinger playfully. "Honest."

"Yeah, whatever," Riku murmured, seemingly trying to hide a smile.

Didn't he know that didn't ever work? Also, his smiles were pretty and shouldn't have been hidden, which was why Sora always tried to make him smile.

"Roxas says it was probably kinder to kill them anyway," Sora murmured. "They were all miserable with themselves."

They sat together in silence for a good while, listening to the waves crash on the beach and watching as the sky began to darken. Finally, Riku spoke. "Sora?"

"Hmm?"

"He really…talks to you?"

Sora shifted and looked at his best friend, confused. "Who?"

Riku rolled his eyes. "Roxas."

"Oh, yeah. Not often…mostly when I'm bored. It's weird…I have no idea where he goes when he's not talking to me, because I can feel him in my head when we're talking. But I'm never bored any more, because he somehow knows when I'm getting antsy and shows up to tell me about his memories or help me concentrate. He's actually really funny, if you ignore the…well, the random angst that slips in sometimes."

He raised an eyebrow. "Angst?"

With a shrug, Sora replied, "That's what Demyx called it, according to him. He says he's just a realist, but I've never seen things like he does. He calls me an incorrigible optimist when I say that, though."

He settled against the trunk of the tree, watching the sky again. The sun hurt his eyes if he looked at it directly, but the whole picture was pretty as long as he kept his eyes off the brightest part.

"Well, you are an incorrigible optimist," Riku pointed out teasingly. "He didn't seem very funny to me, when I met him, though. Wonder if you've rubbed off on him?"

Sora sighed with amusement and looked over at Riku again, shaking his head. "He wasn't a bad guy. You know…I don't think most of them were. It's just…they didn't have hearts, and they were confused, and really, it wasn't their fault they were created in the first place. They didn't exactly ask to get their hearts removed, you know. Except the upper six, according to Roxas. He didn't like them much though."

Riku stared, looking confused. "Are…are you going somewhere with this, or are you just talking now?"

"Of course I'm going somewhere," Sora replied with a violent gesture of his hand. Riku ducked out of the way. "What I'm trying to say is that when you guys fought, he wasn't mad at you or anything."

"He wasn't? It sure looked like he was."

"Well, you don't know him like I do. We're two brains in one body, you know. We've got a connection." He grinned and laced his hands over his stomach, and Riku wondered if Sora really knew what he was talking about. Sure, it was slightly profound, but Sora's mindless rambling usually was.

"I know that."

"Well, that makes me more qualified to tell you about it. You were like 'Why do you have the Keyblade?' And he was like 'Damn you, silver-haired bastard! I want to know the same thing! But I'm not gonna say that, because…because…" Sora took a breath and continued, "Because I'm splenetic and you suck!"

"So…he wasn't mad at me at all?"

Sora snorted. "No. Not at that time."

"That time?"

"He got mad at you later."

Riku lifted an eyebrow questioningly.

"You kidnapped him and took away his memories and shoved him in a computer. You kept erasing his brain every time Axel tried to tell him who he was. You teamed up with Ansem, who wasn't actually all that nice after all. So yeah…that kinda pissed him off," Sora explained.

Riku winced. "It sounds bad when you put it like that." He paused, and then asked, "…Splenetic?"

"Yeah. You know…ill-tempered. Ornery. Synonymous with 'cantankerous,' and other such words."

"…"

"Roxas totally told me that."

"When did he tell you that?"

"Just now."

He frowned, looking slightly afraid. "Wait…so he can hear everything? See everything? He's listening right now?"

"He only showed up to inform you that as long as you don't try to kill me again, he'll consider forgiving you," Sora replied, shrugging and smiling. "That's his way of saying if you're both reincarnated and he somehow randomly remembers you, he won't kill you in your sleep. He's gone now."

"That's…not really all that comforting," he said dryly. "I'm still completely weirded out by the fact that he can see and hear what's going on. How do you know he's not…"

"What, watching me bathe or something? That's gross. Besides, I'm not his type. I'm short."

Riku winced. "That wasn't…"

"Well, he also gives me advice from time to time," Sora added slyly.

"…Advice."

"Yes, advice."

"Really?"

"Yes, Riku. He told me something interesting this morning during my math class. He said, 'Sora, it's okay. You can think that kind of thing. You and Riku are best-best-friends, phrasing courtesy of Demyx the Almighty, and that's the kind of friend it's okay to kiss.'"

He choked on air. "What?"

Sora sighed exasperatedly and touched their lips together. Riku didn't hesitate to pull him closer, leaning back to allow more room for Sora.

And as the sun finally dipped below the horizon, they came to a mutual agreement: life was great; second chances were definitely good things; and kissing was awesome.

Also, it hurt to fall out of a tree.