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"Hey, Sora, I was wondering. What do you think of Data-you?" Riku asked out of the blue.
"Huh?" Sora said, having not processed the question. "Oh, yeah, he's pretty cool! Like a mini-me!"
"A cute little mini-Sora," Kairi agreed.
"Hey, are you saying I'm not cute?" Sora protested.
"I don't know, am I?" Kairi stuck out her tongue at him.
Sora stuck out his own tongue at her in response.
"Real mature, guys," Riku said with a laugh.
In unison, they blew a raspberry at him instead.
"Hey, have you ever talked to Flesh-Sora?" Data-Riku asked Data-Sora one day. He chuckled a bit. "It's kinda funny to see how similar you are."
"Haha, yeah," Data-Sora agreed. "Hey, did you see the picture I sent you?"
"The dog, right?"
"Right! Isn't it so cute and fluffy? I want one!"
Data-Riku laughed. "I'll see what I can do about that."
"Yess!" Data-Sora cheered. "This is why you're the best!"
"-And the gummiphone's antivirus protection's been upgraded so if any nasty bugs try to infect it, they'll be bashed in no time and-"
"Hey, mini-me?" Sora broke in hesitantly.
"Yeah?" Data-Sora stopped rambling.
"...Doesn't Data-Riku usually do this?"
"...Yeah, but he's busy so... I had to tell you about the upgrades in his stead. Is that okay?" he asked nervously.
"Oh, no, no, that's perfectly fine!" Sora backpedaled, waving his hands frantically (and jostling the gummiphone because of it). "It's just different, that's all."
"Yeah..." The image of Data-Sora on the phone screen fidgeted a bit. "Um, I think that's all."
"Okay."
They were silent for a bit.
Sora shuffled his feet and his gaze started wandering, absentmindedly lowering the phone.
Should he say something more...? Maybe he'd feel better about lying about talking to Data-Sora if he actually had a conversation with him.
But...
It was kind of hard?
(Data-Sora was just so... bright. Happy and cheerful in a way that came naturally, that didn't come with fake smiles and faltering steps. He was what Sora was supposed to be. A natural hero who could bear everything thrown at him and still keep smiling like he meant it.)
Data-Sora fidgeted some more, then opened up a game on the gummiphone to have something to do while they were... talking?
Maybe he should say something?
Everyone was always saying how similar they were, and he'd never really understand it until he got to know the real Sora, right?
(But weren't they different? The real Sora was the one Mickey and Donald and Goofy cared the most about, the one they hung out with instead of him. He was just... a brief distraction. A substitute Sora to learn a lesson to see if the real one could handle it. It made sense. He was just a data copy, after all.)
The game on the screen chimed out a cheerful victory tune. It caused Sora to startle just enough to bring himself out of his thoughts.
"Uh. I have to go, actually," Sora said.
"Me too," Data-Sora agreed, and promptly blinked away off of the screen.
"Yeah, I kind of avoid talking to Data-Sora," Roxas was saying, "I feel bad about it, but it's just kind of awkward."
"Aww, come on, he's so nice!" Xion said.
"Yeah, but that doesn't make it any less awkward," Roxas shot back.
Xion noticed Sora listening in and reached out to physically pull him into the conversation. "What about you, Sora?"
"Oh, um..." Sora rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I kinda agree with Roxas."
"Ha! See!" Roxas crowed victoriously at Xion.
"Yeah, yeah! Whatever. It's less awkward the more you talk to him, you know!" Xion playfully jostled Roxas's shoulder.
Roxas pushed back, equally playfully. "Yeah, I'm sure."
Sora laughed with them, then excused himself from the conversation.
...Maybe he should try to talk to Data-Sora more...
...Later.
"...Have you ever talked to Flesh-Riku before?" Data-Sora asked quietly.
"Once," Data-Riku admitted.
"How'd that go?"
Data-Riku grimaced. "Well. Not horribly."
"But awkwardly?"
"Yeah."
Data-Sora nodded, and that was that.