Title: Choice and Consequence (That Nasty Thing Called "Life")

Author: Akane Arihyoshi

Disclaimer: Because this is what happened in the game. Even if the closing scenes for Kingdom Hearts Two show much more fluff and sappiness than I could ever imagine for Sora and Riku. They're all like "There's a perk to being me, and that's that I have you as a friend." Litetrally, they say that. I don't know whether to squeal or die. I digress.

GUESS WHO FINISHED KINGDOM HEARTS TWO TONIGHT?! That's right, kids, I'm awesome like that.

It's just that nasty little concept called 'choice'.

Like the choice I made when I was four, and I decided to go talk to that Sora kid who was playing by himself.

Like the choice I made at age sixteen, to give up on ever dating Kairi and be happy with her and Sora going out together.

Like the choice I made last month to acknowledge that I was, in fact, in love with Sora, my best friend.

Or like the choice I made last week, to not suffer in silence and actually do something about it.

In retrospect, it was a pretty stupid choice. They all were pretty stupid choices. I'm probably just a pretty stupid guy all around. Love tends to do that to people, you know? At least I'm not dead. Now I just have to repeat that to myself until I believe that it's a good thing.

Ah, yeah. But I haven't even told my story yet, have I? Just the end of it. I'm no good at English essays. The topic on the board was easy, since 'choice' is something I'm all too familiar with, but I'm just no good at writing in a 'beginning-middle-end' style.

Will that get me a few point docked off? I guess it would have to, right? Improper conventions, and all that. Tragic. Am I even supposed to be debating about this in my English essay? Am I allowed to?

The world may never care.

Alright. We've established that the topic of this paper is Sora, yes? And the choices I made concerning him. I've got this gut feeling that's telling me that this is going to be a very painful assignment. But I've already spent five minutes of my time on this, and I'm not going to waste another five redoing it with another topic. So, Mr. Teacher, you'll just have to deal with a story about a gay teenager who decided a month ago that he was in love with his best friend, who was currently dating his other (female) best friend, all because you decided to spring a quiz-essay on us the day before spring break.

Isn't karma a bitch?

Whatever. I guess it all started last month.

And now, for your amusement, I'm going to tell it in all it's gay detail. Cheers. You know you'll love it.

-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-

I'm eighteen now. I wasn't back then. Fourteen whole years ago, I decided that Sora was going to be my best friend. I didn't take no for an answer, even when I literally received the word 'no' as an answer to my statement, and we became really good friends.

Thirteen years ago, a year after we became best friends, we met Kairi. We thought she was the most disgusting thing ever, since she was a girl, and avoided her like the plague. Have you seen those Calvin and Hobbes comics? You know the way they treat that poor girl Suzie, throwing water balloons at her and pulling pranks on her every other second? Yeah. That's basically what we did to Kairi. She was displeased. Very displeased.

Ten years ago, we decided in an hour long meeting at my house one day after school that Kairi really wasn't all that bad, and we would permit her to talk to us occasionally without insulting her. That was it. She wasn't allowed to be our friend or anything.

Five years ago, we decided that we were mature enough to accept a girl as our friend. After all, most people in our eighth grade class were already dating, so most other guys our age seemed to find girls tolerable. We figured that since they hadn't died from cootie-overdose yet, we wouldn't either. Kairi hit me when I explained this logic to her, and refused to talk to us for a week. It confused me a lot. I had no idea what the heck she was mad about. Hadn't we just asked her to be our friend?

Three years ago, Sora and I developed a crush on Kairi at the exact same time. Like lots of other things do with most guys, even friends, this sparked a great fist fight that left us bruised, hurt, and best friends again. We didn't act on our crush or anything, we just beat each other up. It was cool, we were friends again, and life went on.

A year after that, I decided that Sora liked Kairi a lot more than I did, so I'd give up. I told Sora to ask her out, he asked to be her date for Homecoming, and they've been going out ever since. I dated a few other girls, was dumped for the stupidest reasons, and complained to Sora about them before deciding I really didn't care and asking another girl out, which for some reason seemed to make my ex angry, and I'd get hit by a girl multiple times, as well as all of her friends (including the male ones, who would later come up to me, apologize, and explain that they had no idea why they'd hit me, by my ex had just told them to and they didn't want to make her mad, which, after what I'd received, I thought was pretty damn smart of them). Yeah. The typical high school experience, right?

Last year, we started our Junior year at our high school. I actually started looking at clubs, Sora and Kairi reached a whole new level of total fluff, and I learned that Choir is actually pretty acceptable (I took it for a credit. Surprisingly, women seem to really like a guy whose sensitive enough to go for a singing class instead of an art class for a fine arts credit. I'm not sensitive, I just can't draw, but they didn't need to know that). I thought for sure that Kairi and Sora would break up by the end of the year, but to my shock and amusement, they just kept going. I was seriously amazed.

This year is our Senior year. Sora and I have officially been friends for fourteen years, and Kairi has been friends with us for four. Sure, we've made other friends along the way, like Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie, but when it comes down to it, the three of us are the closest. That's just how it goes in high school, I guess. It's not like I'm complaining.

No, wait, yes I am. I'm complaining quite a bit. Because high school sucks. It sucks a lot, and I'm living proof.

About a month ago, I made a choice. It was a really big choice, and the outcome didn't exactly make me thrilled. I chose to actually acknowledge the fact that I was in love with Sora.

FIRST BIG MISTAKE. If there's one thing your DO NOT DO in high school, it's admit to yourself that you're in love with a guy. If there's a second thing you just don't do, it's have that guy you're in love with be your best friend. Bravo Riku, what a smart thing to do. You'll win awards with that intellect.

The ironic thing is that I actually have won contests in the past that were supposed to prove how incredibly smart I was, and then I turned around and did something like this to myself. Amazing.

So, where was I?

I chose to acknowledge that I was in love with Sora. Right. Smart me.

Then a few weeks later, I made a decision that was even stupider.

I decided that I had had enough of sitting around in silence watching my love date another person. I decided to tell him how I felt.

Oh, was that fun.

This isn't going to be a very long story, because it's not very long at all. It only lasted about fifteen minutes total, and so…really, how much can a person write about fifteen minutes? You'll just have to hear the only version I have, which is the short version. The long one is under construction.

It was a Wednesday.

Just a stupid Wednesday. That was it. One of those days in the middle of the school week that isn't close enough to Monday to be considered horrible, but is too far away from Friday to be very excited about it at all. Wednesday.

I cornered Sora outside by the Language Hall after school. Or…well, 'cornered' sounds kind of mean. It's more like I told him I had to talk to him privately. He agreed, and we took a trip to a deserted part of campus. Nothing totally special.

He was like…seriously nervous or something. He kept staring at his feet and dragging them across the dirt floor, like I was about to yell at him or something instead of declare my undying gay love for him. Jeez, kids these days.

"R-Riku," he stammered, still not looking at me, which was driving me insane. "Um, be-before you say whatever, I kind of…wanted to tell you…um…"

"Yeah?"

"Kairi and I broke up this morning," he blurted out, cheeks turning bright red and shoe furiously trying to rid his little patch of earth of all the dirt covering it. The poor kid was going to dig a hole to China if he didn't stop soon. I'd like to say that I eloquently and sincerely offered him my condolences, but that wouldn't be true. Instead, I did the most sensitive thing I could think of, and for a guy, that means I stared him down until his face turned an unhealthy shade of purple.

He stammered off some other stuff, but I was only partially listening. He was kind of crying at this point, and after a while he managed to worm his way into giving me a hug without me noticing or caring that I suddenly had my arms around him. My head was scrambling to reboot and reprocess itself, and I think I might not have been breathing. At any rate, he looked up after a time, and stepped away. His eyes went straight back to the floor, and he mumbled an apology.

"Sora…but…why…?" I managed, eyes wide, desperately trying to keep my mouth from dropping open. He looked uncomfortable.

"I…kind of…well…" he stammered, his face burning red. I watched him for a moment, and he snapped.

"I don't know how it happened it was just so sudden when I realized it and I was caught totally off guard but then I thought about it for awhile and I remembered this one thing that my grandma used to say and that was to get over your fears and face them head on but then I got scared - I mean REALLY scared - and Kairi --"

"Sora," I interjected. I raised my eyebrows at him and his speech slowed down to include proper punctuation, before stopping to allow for a breath of air.

"…I don't know what's happening to me," he finished lamely. His eyes finally met mine, and it looked like he was about to cry. Not that that was in any way unusual for Sora, being as totally sensitive as he is, but the sight of it made me feel like someone had ripped my chest open, pulled out my heart, and scared it to death with a severe reprimand, it was beating that hard. I swallowed, and shook my head.

"So, you just don't love Kairi anymore, is that it?" I asked carefully. He nodded, then considered it, and shook his head. Then he nodded again. He was about to shake his head again before I grabbed his face between my hands and held him still. "Alright, so that's partially it," I allowed, letting go of him. He thought for a moment, then nodded sadly.

"It's more like…" he began miserably, "…I sort of fell in love with someone else. Or I've been in love with them, and I realized it recently."

I nodded. "So you finally fell for another girl? Jeez, Sora. I was wondering if she owned you, with the way you'd never think to look at another female. It's just not normal."

His faced changed a bit, he looked almost as though he were sick, and he spoke again. "That's not…really the case."

"Well, I never saw you checking them out."

"No, Riku, forget about the girls!"

"…why would I ever do that?" I teased. He looked frustrated, and finally he gave up.

"Kairi broke up with me because I told her…that…I'm not exactly straight, Riku," he sighed, shrugging. "Probably never have been."

I could have burst out laughing. We all knew that in eighth grade when he cried after watching the Romeo and Juliet play the high school put on at our school. It was only a matter of time to us until he figured it out, even with him dating Kairi.

I thought it was a sign of my immense maturity that I managed to stay quiet and feign shock. "Really?"

He nodded, looking scared, trying to judge my next reaction. I grinned.

"Well, that explains a lot."

He punched me in the arm, but I could see the relief in his face. "Jerk," he muttered, but his smile ruined the effect.

"Thanks."

"Yeah." he said. He thought for a moment. "Riku, didn't you want to say something earlier?" he asked, leaning against the wall. I took a deep breath and let it out again.

"S-Sora…I…"

He took one look and my face, and smirked. "With the way you're stumbling all over yourself, I'd say you're either about to declare your undying love for me, or you're moving," he dramatically declared. "So, where're you moving, Riku?"

Damn, this kid was perceptive.

"A-Actually…" I muttered. He stopped flitting around and stared at my face. "You're not actually moving, are you?" he asked in shock. I shook my head quickly. He smiled again. "Then, Riku, you really do love me! And here I thought you were just this emotionless drone," he teased. "But no, wait. You are."

I growled a bit at him. Then I said probably the stupidest thing I've ever said in my entire life.

"Yes, actually. I do."

He stopped. Time stopped. I think even the Earth itself stopped turning for one brief moment as Sora tried to process everything he'd just heard. I waited there in total suspense, cursing at myself for saying it, and congratulating myself for getting it off my chest all at once. I turned to run as far away as I could manage, but a hand grabbed my arm, and suddenly I was facing the other direction again, my best friend pressed up against me with our faces dangerously close together. I thought he was going to slug me, and I pulled, but he held me there.

"Damn it, Riku," was the only thing he said before he kissed me.

All my mental processes went on high alert before I gave up and went with it. He pulled away and looked at me. "Riku…" he trailed off. I bit my lip. "You're just…so dense, sometimes." He pulled me closer and kissed me again, and by that time, I was so far on cloud nine I couldn't even care.

So there you have it. The story of a gay teenager, and how he got together with his best friend. It's not one of those romantic stories with a confession under the moonlight and a passionate kiss before a horse-ride into the sunset, but it's my story, and I like it just the same.

You know, I said they were some of the worst decisions of my life.

I never said I regretted them.

A/N: Did I mention that I'm kind of proud of this one? Please don't make me fall. XD

Sora/Riku this time. An amazing switch from my AkuRoku obsession lately...but even though it's not the couple I'm obsessed to death with...well, it's sort of similar, since...you know...Sora and Roxas are kind of...like...well, anyways, it turned out good. That's always excellent.

Reviews, as always. Different kind of writing this time, I don't usually write the whole high school setting. In fact...I believe this is my first time writing a high school scene. XD Good for me, I'm moving to different places. Hopefully I stop here, though, before I start going to Mary-Sue kinds of places...

~Akane