Kingdom Hearts: Secret

Secret

"So, Sora, I bet you're wondering why I asked you to come out here..."

Sixteen year-old Sora shifted a bit under the sand, half-answering with a simple roll of his shoulder. "Well Kairi, I’m pretty sure it has nothing to do with the paopu fruit you have hidden behind your back, does it?"

The redhead jumped a bit, giggling nervously. "Okay, okay, so you caught me." She pulled the star-shaped yellow fruit from behind her, plopping on the sand next to the spiky-haired brunet. "I mean, we've known each other for a long time now..."

"Mhmm." Sora was tracing a circle over and over in the sand, not quite meeting Kairi's eyes.

"And, you know, I really like you..." Sora didn't have to look to know that she was blushing. "And you like me. Right?"

"Right." He looked up, and her face was beaming with a grin. He couldn’t help but grin back; it was infectious.

"So, Sora...would you like to share the paopu with me?" Kairi held the fruit up in between them like some kind of offering. She was still smiling nervously, her big blue eyes widened in anticipation.

"Sure." The word slipped out of the brunet's mouth before he could stop himself. He didn’t mind; after all, he had always wanted to share a paopu with Kairi...

The redhead's smile lit up her face, like the sun coming out from behind a storm cloud. She broke off a piece of the fruit, handing the rest of it to Sora. She chewed her piece quickly, while Sora just stared. Kairi sure was eating fast...and getting close. Really close.

"Hey, lover boy!"

Sora blinked. Was that his brain talking to him?

"Wrong head, buddy. Hey, guess what. You'd better pucker up!"

Wait, was that Kairi leaning in to kiss him?!

"Whoa!" Sora jumped up in flash, causing Kairi to faceplant into the sand where he'd just been sitting. Being the gentleman that he was, he automatically rushed to help her up, but winced and let go of her when he saw the look in her eyes.

"Sora, wha..." Kairi was confused, angry, and on the verge of tears all at the same time. Sora immediately felt a stab of guilt since he was the one who caused those feelings—but Kairi just didn't get it.

"Uh, um...Igottago," he muttered in one breath, sprinting off of the beach and making his way away from those hurt eyes. In the back of his head he knew running away wasn't going to solve anything, but he didn't care at the moment. There was only one person that could reassure him that he wasn't crazy, and his house was right around the corner.

--

"Riku! Ri-kuuu! Open up!"

It should be advised that one should never answer a door that’s being pounded on mercilessly when the noise woke you up from a totally awesome dream involving sidewalks made of cheese and clouds that were really flying doughnuts. Heck yes.

But the main reason you shouldn't stumble out of bed to get the door isn't because geez, whoever's on the other side must really be desperate to see you, oh no. It's because when you finally do open it, your best friend—who you happen to have a secret crush on, even though you’re both guys, but who cares 'cause he’s totally irresistible—just looks at you and starts cracking his head up at the fact that you're bleary-eyed, fuzzy-tongued, and have worse bed head than a Chocobo on a bad feather day. Not that they have Chocobos on an island, but it's the thought that counts.

"Shut up, Sora," Riku muttered, nonchalantly running his fingers through his silver hair in a sad attempt to get the knots out. "...Ow."

Sora smirked. "Are your fingers stuck in your hair?"

"...No."

"Really?"

"...Yes."

"Hehehe." The two sat on the couch, with Sora behind Riku, as the brunet ran his fingers through the silver strands and tried to untangle them. They sat in silence like that for a few minutes until Riku’s curiosity got the best of him.

"So Sora, what brings you here this early morning while the rest of us humans are trying to sleep?"

"Um..."

Much to Riku's dismay, Sora's fingers drifted from his hair. Riku turned his torso around and leaned back on the couch, raising a silver eyebrow. "Well?"

"Kairi asked me to meet her down by the beach this morning..."

Riku’s eye twitched horribly, which luckily went unnoticed by the brunet. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. She asked if we could share a paopu, and I agreed, but only because...well, I don't know. She just looked so happy, and it was right there, so..."

"Congratulations," Riku mumbled. He missed the old days, when two friends could share a paopu because they wanted to stay best friends forever, but now sharing one was as good as marriage—or in a teenager's case, going steady.

"But that’s the thing..." Sora seemed fidgety now. "I never ate my piece because she tried to kiss me, so I freaked and ran over here."

"Why'd you freak out?" How odd. Riku thought that Sora would've wanted to kiss Kairi.

"I..." Sora sat up and looked at Riku with pleading eyes. "I need you to teach me how to be a good kisser."

Riku, who had been mid-yawn, promptly choked on his own spit. "Wha--what?"

"I don’t know how to kiss. I need you to teach me." The brunet glanced at the floor, his face beet red to the tips of his ears.

Riku was quickly turning red himself. "...What makes you think I'm a good kisser, Sora?"

Sora looked up, his eyes wide. "Because you're Riku. You’re good at everything."

"...Well, maybe, but I don't know about this..."

"Oh, come on. Pleeeeease?"

"Sora, how do you expect me to teach you how to be a good kisser?"

The brunet clearly hadn't thought that far ahead, because he opened his mouth to reply before turning an even more interesting shade of red. "I dunno," he muttered. "But I bet you are a good kisser. Maybe you can give me some pointers."

"Uh, well...I don't know about that..."

"Why?"

"I, uh..." Riku cleared his throat. When he’d been woken up from his blissful dream earlier, he really didn’t expect to engage in a secret-sharing party mere minutes later. "I've...never actually kissed anyone."

It should also be advised never to reveal something you've managed to keep hush-hush for the past two years or so just so your best friend's face will stop resembling a tomato. The intensity of your blush, however, was probably the same color as Kairi’s hair.

"Wait...what?" Sora's mouth fell open. "You haven't? But you always said that you kissed that one girl way back when. You lied about that?"

"I was fifteen, Sora. Give me a break."

Sora desperately wanted to tease Riku about this new-found information—payback for years and years of the silver-haired boy clobbering him with a wooden sword, for beating him at swimming races, and for kicking his butt at video games. However, the brunet very quickly remember his own situation, and if he let this slide, maybe Riku wouldn’t tease him about running for the hills when he was about to get his first kiss.

"Yeah, well..." Sora let out a sigh. "I guess we both need lessons, don't we?"

"We sure do." Riku picked at a thread on his pajama pants. "Now you’ve got me wondering if I am a good kisser. Heh, wonder when I’ll get to find out..."

Translation: OMG SORA LET ME MAKE OUT WITH YOU RIGHT NOW, SCREW KAIRI. BUT NOT LITERALLY BECAUSE I WILL BE TOO BUSYING MAKING OUT WITH YOU FOR YOU TO EVEN THINK ABOUT HER.

Sora laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, same here..."

Translation: Sure, Riku! Kiss me into oblivion! It’ll be, uh, 'practice' for Kairi!

"Want to find out?" Riku was smirking now. He could obviously read between the lines. Either that or he could translate small talk really, really well.

"If I screw up, you won’t laugh, right?"

"Of course not. C'mere." Even though he'd never kissed anyone, Riku wasn’t exactly sure as to how you could screw up a kiss, unless you bit their tongue off or something. Ew.

Sora nervously inched towards the silver-haired teen, who placed his hands on the brunet's small shoulders. "So..." Sora said, fidgeting a bit.

"So..."

"What now?"

"I guess we start practicing." Riku had always pictured his and Sora’s first kiss way more romantic, preferably during the sunset after they'd confessed their love, shared a paopu, and decided to be together forever and ever and ever—not on the couch in his living room when he hadn’t even brushed his teeth yet.

But hey, he was about to kiss Sora. Hell yeah! He'd take what he could get!

Riku was slowly leaning in, totally prepared for a totally awesome make out session—and Sora seemed pretty content, too--when a movement caught his eye. He looked up and out the window, only to see—

"Kairi?!" he yelped, jumping up and grabbing the armrest of the couch to prevent himself from faceplanting. Unfortunately, Sora wasn’t expecting the sudden movement and fell face-first into the couch cushion.

"Mmph!"

Okay, Sora was making some very satisfying noises, but without Riku's mouth on his. Arguh, damn it! Stupid couch!

Riku groaned and opened his front door. "Kairi, what the heck are you doing here?"

"Well, I'm sure Sora told you about what happened on the beach this morning," she replied, stepping into the house. Sora finally unstuck his face from the couch cushion and gave a sheepish, yet worried grin. "So I figured that he either went home or came here. I mean, he tells you everything, Riku."

"Yeah, he does." Riku scratched at his stomach before sinking down on the couch.

"Riku tells me a lot, too..." Sora added.

"Anyway, I decide to come over here to talk to Sora, and what do I find? You guys were about to kiss, weren't you?!"

Riku and Sora instantly turned bright red.

"Uh, I don't know what you're talking about. Best friends forever, yup." The silver-haired teen pulled Sora into a half-hug, which only became more awkward when he realized that he was still clad in only pajama bottoms. He quickly released the brunet. "I'm gonna, um...yeah. See you guys later." He jumped and tore up the stairs, probably heading to the bathroom, no doubt for a nice, cold shower.

"He does realize that we're still here, right?" Sora muttered.

"Probably not," Kairi answered. "Speaking of which, think you can stay here? Maybe you can set some kind of romantic mood with him or something."

"Wha...what? What on earth are you talking about?"

"Sora, if you didn't like me, you could've just said so." Kairi rolled her eyes. "But you'd also have to tell me that you liked Riku! You guys make such an adorable—not to mention pretty hot—couple! Can Selphie and I watch?"

"What? No!” Sora's mind was running a million miles an hour. "I mean, no because there will be nothing to watch! I don’t like Riku like that! He just...erm..."

"'He just' what?" Kairi cocked her head curiously.

Knowing that Riku would rather get smacked in the head repeatedly with coconuts than have Kairi know his lack-of-kissing-experience secret, Sora was unsure of what to do about this dilemma. Hmm...

"Where’s Riku when you need him? Nice, shirtless, dripping-wet-from-the-shower Riku. You totally know that that cold shower won't help him any, right?"

Noooo! Not that wrong head again! Shut up!

"You liiiike him. Him and his sexy hair. Oh wait, everything about him is pretty sexy, don’t you think?"

"Uhh..." Sora cleared his throat, realizing Kairi had been waiting quite awhile for an answer. "Um...actually, yes! I do like him!"

"Score!"

"Well good for you!" She stood up and clapped, a huge grin beaming on her face. "I have really liked you for a long time, but if you'd rather be with Riku, it's okay. As long as you’re both happy."

Sora wanted to kick himself, then chop off the leg that kicked him and use it to whack himself repeatedly. How the heck did he always manage to get himself into these messes?! He didn't like Riku like that! They were best friends! He liked Kairi!

"Hey, what's going on out here?" Riku suddenly asked, apparently done with his shower.

"Mmm, shirtless, towel-clad Riku. You sooo like him."

Arguh!

'Fine, second head! You win this round! But someday, I'll beat you! I'll...beat...you!'

Sora marched up to his practically naked, dripping-wet best friend and yanked his shoulders down, bringing their faces together. Without another moment's hesitation, their lips crushed together in a hot, brazen kiss.

It seemed like ages, but it was really only seconds before Sora pulled back with raised eyebrows. "And you said you needed practice?"

"I'm that good, huh?" Insert classic Riku smirk.

Their rapport was interrupted by a sudden fit of giggling, courtesy of Kairi. She was laughing while looking away and hiding her eyes with one hand, fighting to keep a blush down.

"I know you, hehehe, probably enjoyed that Riku, but, erm...hehe...you might want to make sure you hold on to the towel next time you make out with Sora right after getting out of the shower..."

"Hey, Sora! Look down!"

Riku sheepishly pulled the towel back around his waist, much to Sora's second head's disappointment. "Hey...how about I get dressed and we go over that lesson one more time?"

"Well, you always were really anal about studying," Sora replied with a smirk.

"Awesome!" Kairi squealed. "I'll go get Selphie!"

"NO WAY!"

Years down the road, he'd still frequently engage in lessons, with the excuse that he 'needed the practice'. No matter how private the 'lesson', though, it was always tough to escape Kairi's delighted squeals. Oh, the joys of knowing a fangirl...