Riku sighed as he turned in their work. The girl quickly grabbed her stuff, and awkwardly said goodbye to Riku when the bell rung. She left before Riku could say anything else.
Riku blinked, then shook his head with a soft smile. He also grabbed his stuff, and almost ran out of the room. His teacher yelled after him to not run, but Riku didn't listen. He passed Roxas, and turned around to wave before looking forward again.
Riku was really curious about what Sora wanted to talk about. He kept running, until he reached the park. He dropped his backpack on the ground, and leaned down to catch his breath. When he was breathing normally again, he dragged his backpack to go inside the building with the pool.
When he opened the door, he mentally groaned. A certain blond teen was talking to Sora, but he seemed mad. Sora was tightly gripping something in his hand, and Tidus noticed. He grabbed his shoulders, and started yelling but his voice was starting to crack as if he was crying.
"But why?! Haven't I've been the one to always be with you?" Tidus cried, and looked down. "Why him...? What's so special about him? Tell me..."
Riku bit his lip, and looked away. He didn't know how much Tidus was...well, suffering you can say. And Riku did say a few harsh things, though he might've not been too at fault. Tidus was the one to start.
"I'm...I'm sorry, Tidus," Sora apologized, moving his arms away, and making him look at him. "I really am, but I don't have an answer."
Tidus broke eye contact, looking away from Sora's bright sky blue eyes. His eyes landed on the box still clutched in Sora's hands. Tidus quickly grabbed it, and opened it. He had an idea what Sora was going to do with them.
"Tidus-"
"Shut up!"
Tidus took the rings out, and threw them in the pool. After that, Tidus turned away, tears still streaming down his face.
"I don't see what's so great about Riku..."
Riku tensed when Tidus' eyes locked with his. He made a 'tsk' sound, and walked to the door. He passed Riku, and stopped for a bit before opening the door and leaving.
"You won..."
Riku stood in shock, but then shook his head. He walked to Sora, who was on his knees near the edge of the pool.
"I didn't even get to talk much..."
"I...hey, Sora."
Sora turned around, but ended up falling into the pool. Riku laughed, and looked down. Sora came up again, and shook his head.
"You idiot!" Sora laughed, splashing water at him. "You scared me."
"Sorry," Riku said, a bit embarrassed.
Sora hummed, a smile still on his face. He looked to the side, and dived down again. When he came back up, the two rings were in his hand.
"I feel bad for Tidus," Sora whispered, looking at the shining golden bands in his hands. "He probably won't talk to me for weeks..."
"Give him time," was Riku's only response.
Sora sighed, and got out of the pool. He started to try and get the water out of his clothes, still holding onto the rings.
"So what's up? Kairi told me you wanted to see me," Riku asked after a few minutes.
A few kids ran past them, getting scolded for running when their guardian reached them.
"Yeah...I just wanted to apologize about yesterday, and give you something," Sora mumbled, and looked away.
Despite his mumbling, Riku understood most of it. He remembered something too, and did it before anything else.
"Hey, Axel is very sorry about what happened yesterday too. He told me to apologize to you for him," Riku passed on the redhead's message.
"Yeah?" Sora shook his head lightly, water falling from his brown hair. "Tell him I'm sorry too, though it might not fix anything."
"And here you go again." Riku rolled his eyes. "It's okay. Think about it, would Axel really apologize if he still didn't like you?"
Sora huffed, and looked away with his eyes closed. After a few seconds, Sora opened one of his eyes. "What was that argument from yesterday about?"
"Oh, that." Riku stayed silent after.
"Yeah, that."
"Axel's weird. Just ignore him," Riku told him with a wave of his hand. "He's been stressed too."
"He's like a ticking time bomb of aggression," Sora said, shrugging.
Riku stared at him, then burst out laughing. Sora jumped at the sudden laughter, and turned to him.
"You okay?"
Riku shook his head, and wrapped his arms around his stomach. After a few seconds, his laughter subsided, only a few giggles were heard. Sora didn't ever expect to hear giggles come out of Riku's mouth.
"Hey, I wanna laugh too. What's so funny?" Sora asked,
"He said the same thing about you," Riku replied, rubbing his eyes. "A bit different, but still."
"He called me a bomb of what?" Sora asked, genuinely curious. "I bet it was emotions, wasn't it?"
"Yep."
"I knew it! I hate him so much."
Sora said that with a laugh, so Riku knew he wasn't being serious. Sora looked down at his hands, where he had the rings.
"Riku, I called you here because I'm leaving tonight," Sora said, the good and calm mood vanishing. "Everything was all ready, without me knowing."
"Yeah...I'm sorry," Riku said, looking up at the ceiling. "I hope we still get to talk."
"Same here," Sora whispered, then walked forward. "Remember these rings? I kept them, hoping I could give one away some day."
"Yeah? They're...a lucky person then," Riku tried to say it with a happy tone, but for some reason he felt his chest tighten.
"I guess so," Sora responded with a smile, and reached to take Riku's hand. "You idiot, it's for you. You already know I like you, so why did you think it's for someone else?"
Riku blushed, and shrugged. Sora gave the other to Riku, and then gently put the ring on Riku's finger. After that, Riku admired it. It was very beautiful, and the words engraved in them turned to a sky blue color.
Riku looked to Sora, who still had a shy and awkward smile. Riku took his hand, and put the other ring on his finger. The same thing happened, the words turned to a turquoise color.
"I hope we meet again, Riku."
Sora and Riku closed their eyes, but Sora only got close enough for their foreheads and nose to touch.
"You know, I would love to stay."
"I-"
The doors were slammed open, startling Sora and Riku. Sora jumped back from the scare, and met the eyes of his parents.
"Sora, time to go. Now," his father said, and stared at his son with a stern gaze.
Sora looked down, and nodded numbly, no words coming out from his mouth. Riku watched as Sora left, and looked down at the ring. Before Sora's mother closed the door, Sora glanced at Riku.
He mouthed something, but Riku didn't really get it. The door was once again shut closed, leaving Riku alone. The sounds from the other people was still loud, but Riku paid no attention to it. He had realized what Sora had said and why he looked so sad.
"I never gave him my answer."