[ Damnit, not like this. That's not what he meant! A small wind rushes at their feet as Arden clenches his fists at his side. ]

Sometimes you wish you didn't? Yeah right. You can't seriously tell me that you'd give up your memories so far and become someone else, let me take back 'Riku', and be satisfied with that. I wouldn't wish that on anyone, regrets or no.

[ It's basically his worst fear now.]

And like hell do I want you to fix me, or validate me, or any of that! All I was asking for was to eat dinner with the rest of us sometimes! Or come hang out on Friday nights! Or go do a Task together for a bit of extra money!

[ He doesn't really lower his voice, but he evens his tone out. He thought over-explaining himself would help. Apparently not. Fine, but he tried it. He has no idea how to act around Riku so, as he said, he has to keep trying different things. ]

We don't have to get into long-winded stuff like this every time. It could be a "Hey." and that's it, rather than avoiding me entirely.

[ And whatever happened after that would naturally happen, or not. Regardless, he makes sure to stop talking then, since it didn't seem to be helping. ]