Sora was not a person to get angry often, if at all. Ask anyone- he was the happiest person on Destiny Islands. But when he was mad, nobody around him liked it. He went from the most amiable friend Riku had to the last person he wanted to see in a dark alley in the middle of the night.

But for as much as Riku hated to see Sora angry, he was ironically usually the only one able to calm him.

He had known Sora since the two were small children. Maybe that was why he was the only person Sora would let near him when he was mad.

And then there was the hide-and-seek. When Sora felt himself starting to get upset, he'd run off and separate himself from everyone. Riku only mentally called it hide-and-seek, sure that if he said it out loud he would be teased for it. Riku hated being teased.

But this isn't about Riku. Not right now. Because Sora disappeared again. And, of course, as per usual, Riku was called in to find him. Riku had an uncanny knack for finding Sora, possibly (although no one seemed to notice this except for maybe Sora himself) Sora's hiding places were places he and Riku had visited as children.

Riku drove to Sora's house, which the brunet shared with his brother, sister, and parents. He parked the car and watched a worried Roxas come out of the house, Namie on his heels. Riku got out, waving hello.

"Sora's gone again, Riku. We can't find him anywhere!" Namie tugged on Riku's clothes, as if that would help him find Sora any faster.

"I'll find him, don't worry." Riku soothed.

Roxas and Namie reluctantly returned to the house after Riku promised not to come back unless he had Sora in tow.

And so the search began. Riku checked the crawlspace under the backyard's deck, behind the rosebushes, in the little greenhouse the family owned. Sora was truly nowhere to be found.

"Alright then." Riku sighed, running a hand through his silver hair.

There was only one other place to check, and if Sora had chosen to hide there, it must have been really bad. Riku began to head to the very back of Sora's very large backyard.

In the back of said backyard was a little garden. It was surrounded by high hedges that were too thick to see through and too tall to see over, and the entrance was a makeshift door made from an old metal sheet hung on creaky hinges in a doorframe that was set deeply in the ground. Riku just hoped that Sora hadn't locked him out. For indeed, the door did lock, and it was quite effective, too. At least it should have been- Riku helped build it.

Riku stood in front of the metal door, staring at the colorful glass pebbles Sora had glued onto it over the years.

Step one was to commence hide-and-seek. Once he'd found Sora, step two: announce your presence without announcing your presence.

That is to say, make noise so he knows you're coming, but don't say anything.

So Riku gently tried to push open the door. It yielded, and Riku breathed a sigh of relief that was not heard over the monstrous noise of the rusted hinges.

Inside Sora's garden was a swinging bench, a dirty bird bath, and flowers of many kinds.

Sora sat on the bench, staring at his hands in his lap. He didn't look angry so much as sad. But Riku knew not to fall for that. He looked up at the sky, easing the door closed behind him. It was an overcast day, and if Riku didn't know better, he'd say it was going to rain.

Alright, step three: temporary distraction.

One thing that many people still did not know about the two was that they were dating and had been for quite a while, albeit secretly. Though it wasn't like they were really trying to hide it, either. So maybe that was why Riku could get so close.

Regardless, Riku approached Sora, determining it was safe to touch him, bent so that they were of equal height and kissed him softly. It was an innocent kiss, nothing but a brush of lips until Riku sat down on the bench beside Sora. He guided the brunet to lay down in his lap so that he was staring at the sky above them.

Riku rocked the swing back and forth slowly, burying a hand in Sora's hair and playing with the brown locks. He knew Sora liked it, even though he many never admit it. Sora sighed and relaxed, allowing Riku to be the cause of it with his comforting motions and soothingly calm demeanor.

"Hey." Riku finally said.

"Hello." Sora's hands came to rest on his chest, and Riku's other hand drew faint designs over the backs of his palms.

Step four: bring up the subject gently.

"So what happened?" Riku asked quietly, stroking Sora's head to make him more tolerant. That was about as gentle as Riku got when it came to this step.

Sora growled to himself and rolled into Riku, burying his face in Riku's stomach and making him chuckle involuntarily. Still, he seemed to have soothed Sora into answering- he wasn't giving up that easily.

"They were talking about us." Sora admitted, his voice muffled by Riku's jacket.

"Who was?" Riku bent over Sora, his silver hair falling forward and shielding them from the world.

He stroked Sora's cheek gently. He was entering step five: Comfort. After the anger faded, Sora was usually sad or feeling guilty for getting mad in the first place.

His touch made the other teen look at him out of the corner of his eye. Sea-green gazed into sky-blue. Riku smiled encouragingly. Sora was the only one who got to see his smile.

"My parents." Sora said grudgingly. "They said we have an unhealthy obsession with each other." Sora took on a mocking tone, hugging Riku and round the waist and squeezing briefly.

This is where a teensy little footnote comes in- agree with everything Sora says regardless of whether you actually share the same opinion.

"Ridiculous." Riku kissed Sora's cheek, the brunet chasing him when he sat up entirely to kiss him more thoroughly.

Now, legitimately calm, Sora was much more bubbly. He had the reassurance that Riku did not agree with his parents in the least, which was the fear that his anger was masking. He talked to Riku about everything else that had happened that day (like Roxas replacing his toothpaste with peanut butter, which contributed to his bad mood), how he had to go grocery shopping with his mother and all they did was hang out in the freezer aisles which most people in his family knew he hated.

All in all, it had not been a good day for Sora.

Riku sat by and listened, giving his opinion when he felt it was needed but mostly just letting Sora let of steam and kissing him when it looked like he was getting mad again.

"And then Roxas said-" Sora stopped in mid-sentence.

"What's wrong?" Riku asked, looking up at Sora, who had gotten up and started pacing in front of him to talk.

"Nothing, but I think it's about to rain." Sora mused with a smile, looking up at the sky.

"Mm. Then we should probably head in, shouldn't we?" Riku asked rhetorically, standing and putting one hand in his pocket while the other was held out for Sora to take.

As predicted, Sora bounced over and instead of grabbing Riku's hand, wrapped his arms around Riku's arm, hugging it to his chest lightly while they left the garden and went into the house.

"It's starting to rain out, Mrs. Strife." Riku announced when the two walked through the kitchen door, pausing to wipe his feet off on the mat.

"Thank you, Riku." He caught the double meaning, but only nodded in return.

As Riku watched Sora bounce around the kitchen to help his mother with dinner, he smiled, echoing Sora's own winning grin. He couldn't help but think to himself- mission accomplished.

Riku would always play hide and seek. Not because others needed him to, but because Sora needed him to.

This was a request from RoiyaruButterfly, and I have to say, I'm rather pleased with how it came out. I hope you are, too! X3 I was really flattered that you asked for a request- thank you so much! X33 I'm sorry it's a bit late. ^^;; I just now got to uploading it.

Otherwise, please enjoy this bit of fluff! X3

(Also, it was originally Namine that had put peanut butter in Sora's toothpaste, but I decided that nah, it would be Roxy instead. XD)

Ta ta for now!

Pad.