Sora nestled closer to the warm body next to him, trying to cover himself completely in the heat. Sometime in the middle of the night his blanket had been kicked to the bottom of the bed, and all that was left was the thin sheet halfway down his stomach.

When he tried to sit up and pull the comforter back up to the top of the bed, a soft moan of protest came from the boy next to him. The arms around his waist tightened and entrapped him further.

Sora rolled his eyes and fell onto his back Riku snuggled closer to him, nuzzling his neck. After a few more minutes of Sora staring at the ceiling a screeching beeping noise came from the bed side table. Riku rolled on top of Sora, earning a small squeak from the brunette, and turned the alarm off. He left a small trail of butterfly kisses along Sora's neck, who blushed and smiled, giggling quietly when Riku hit the sensitive spot behind his ear.

The drowsy twenty-five year old smiled, his lips curling against his boyfriend's neck, letting them linger a bit longer until he rolled over off of the bed and stumbled to the bathroom. Sora sighed outwardly and sat up just long enough to grab the quilt at the bottom of the bed pull it up over his head trying his best to absorb the excess body heat still remaining on the sheets.

Ten Years Previous

"Roxas!" The thirteen year old boy ran down the busy boardwalk, looking down every opening he could manage. "ROX! This isn't funny! Please come out!" His voice didn't only have anger in it anymore, there was fear. "Sir, Could you..." Sora tried getting the attention of the adults towering over him, but who would listen to a kid like him. "Ma'am! Please…"

Sora wiped his cheek, surprisingly finding it wet from salty tears down his cheek. He continued looking around frantically from where he stood.

"Excuse me, do you need help?" Sora turned around at the unfamiliar voice. A tall boy, seeming a few years his senior stood above him with a sincere smile. "Did you loose someone?" Sora nodded slowly trying to wipe his tears away, and talk despite his dry throat. "Your mother?" he kneeled in front of Sora and rested his hand on the younger boy's shoulder. Sora didn't look much over ten, and most people assumed he was younger, as did his silver haired rescuer in from of him.

"Umm…my younger brother, he was right with me, I turned around for a second to get a soda and he was gone."

"Don't worry, I'll help you, we'll find him. What does he look like?"

"He's about this tall, blonde, blue eyes…he was wearing a black and white tee shirt and gray jeans. He's only seven; he can't be out here on his own."

"It's ok, what's his name?" The boy's cerulean eyes scanned Sora's face trying his best to reassure him.

"Roxas." Riku nodded and walked closely to Sora scanning the boardwalk.

Twenty minutes later Sora was jerked to the side suddenly, when he looked up, the silver haired boy had grabbed his hand and started sprinting across the boardwalk, dragging Sora and his resented(at this moment at least) short legs behind him.

Once Sora noticed the small huddled blonde bundle sitting next to the bench, his knees drawn up to his chest and a desperately hopeless look upon his worn face, he broke into a sprint that could rival the tall athletic boy's stride.

"Rox?" The small boy looked up with watery eyes and smiled brightly when he recognized his older brother. Roxas stood up and ran into his arms. Sora fell back and sat on the aged wood holding tightly to his distressed brother.

"Sora?" Roxas' timid voice broke the brotherly moment and Sora pulled back, looking at his sibling questionably, "Who's that?"

"That boy helped me find you," Sora said cheerfully, "he's…" Sora paused and looked up realizing that he never asked him his name. "What's your name?"

"Riku Hiraki." He said with another sincere smile.

Ten Years Later

Sora smiled to himself.

Roxas was born five years after him but they had always had a strong relationship.

When their father died, the boys' mother couldn't keep the house they had with her current job andhave enough money to have someone watch the kids all day, so they had to move.

Sora didn't know anybody in the new town and spent most of his time at home trying to help his mother, as much as a seven year old could. Roxas was two, and had a tendency to run into walls, so Sora would keep him occupied while their mother worked in her home office.

Roxas would sit in a play pen during the few hours that Sora was a school and do baby things then as soon as he was dropped off by the neighbors, Sora would run inside and grab Roxas, and take him in the other room and play the game that they invented that night.

Sora turned over in the bed and stared at the bedside table, where his phone was. Roxas lived in Tokyo and still had a year of high school left, he was seventeen. Sora moved to New York to go to college in America, he hadn't seen his younger brother in almost three years and hadn't talked to him on the phone in a month.

He glanced at the time on his cell phone; 9a.m. Sora hated the time difference. It took him ten minutes to figure out if he could call or not. He counted on his fingers slowly, and finally figured that it was about 11pm there, but the next day. Which also meant it was a Saturday and knowing Roxas he wouldn't be caught dead inside on a Saturday night.

Sora grabbed a pair of sweat pants from the floor slipped them over his boxers and dialed the number of Roxas' phone. He shuffled into the kitchen to start a pot of coffee as the phone connected.

After a few rings the familiar voice of his younger brother filled the phone lines.

" 'lo?" The blondes voice sounded a little slurred, probably was out at a club or a party.

"Rox, hey what's up?"

"Sora? Hi." Roxas' voice picked up and seemed to sober up immediately once he realized who it was. "I'm good. I just got in. What about you? 'Roxie you want another beer.'" Sora heard a voice call from another room.

"Roxie eh? Where are you exactly?" Sora said a chuckle lacing his voice.

"Umm…I'm spending the weekend with..."

"Roxas?" Sora's protective older brother tone took over the lines; he could get Roxas to do anything with that voice and knew this fact very well.

"…Axel." After a few more moments of silence Roxas spoke up.

"Awww…Rox!" Sora's voice hit a note that most men would be embarrassed to admit to ever achieving, and started bouncing slightly where he stood.

Sora had known Axel for a few months, or knew of Axel that is and Roxas had sent him pictures of the gorgeous redhead as well. Roxas had met Axel at the beginning of this year, both seniors,and they became quick friends. Sora had heard about Axel's constant advancements but as far as he knew Roxas had yet to give into temptation. Apparently the blonde's opinions had changed.

Sora thoughts were pulled back to the conversation when he heard Roxas start to laugh on the other line.

"Ax-x-el stop th-tha-t…"

"Roxas?" There was a weird shuffle noise then a strange voice came onto the phone.

"Hello? Who is this and why are you taking my precious Roxie time away from me?" Sora's rich laugh filled the line.

"Hey, you must be Axel right? Can you put "Roxie" back on the phone?"

"I'm sorry but he is currently unavailable you'll have to try again later." 'AXEL! Get off me right now and give me back my phone!" Sora heard his younger brother's cries from the other line and started giggling once again.

"Can you please tell him that I love him and I'll call him later this week then."

"Message fully noted…anything else?"

"Yeah one thing, don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"And what exactly wouldn't you do?"

Sora chuckled again before hanging up the phone, promising to call back later, listening to
Roxas' muffled giggled before he hung up the phone. Riku walked into the kitchen pulling a shirt over top his still damp hair, trying to towel it dry.

"Who was that?" He asked an elegant eyebrow rose as he poured a cup of coffee.

"Just my little slut of a brother," Riku still looked at him questionably, so Sora continued, "He's spending the weekend withAxel" Riku nodded in understanding grabbing bowls and cereal for breakfast.

Sora pulled the milk from the fridge and stood on one side of the counter and Riku sat on the other.

"Why don't you sit over here?" Riku patted the seat next to him, with a sly smile on his lips.

"I like standing, you should know that." Riku nodded and pushed his bowl to the other side of the counter, and stood next to Sora wrapping one arm around Sora's waist.

Both sat in silence for a moment. "You've been using my shampoo." Sora stated.

"What makes you say that?" Riku raised a delicate eyebrow and glanced at Sora.

"You smell like strawberries." Sora smiled fully popping a spoonful of cereal into his mouth letting the milk slip down his chin.

"You're such a mess."

"But you love me that way." Sora smiled.

Eight Years Previous

Ever since the day that Riku had helped him find his younger brother Sora admired the older boy.

Riku didn't seem to mind hanging out with someone three years younger than him, but it he only seemed to want to be around Sora when it was just the two of them (or the three when Roxas pushed his way into the group). Sora had come to the assumption, in his own mind, that Riku didn't have many friends.

So imagine his surprise when he walked down the halls of his first day of high school a lowly freshman and saw Riku, surrounded by guys, not to mention the few girls hanging on his arms.

An already crumpled class schedule and a terrible map of the school in his hands, Sora slowly made his way to his old friend, trying his best not to be intimidated by the horde of seniors surrounding him.

"Riku?" he said timidly, a slight squeak in his voice.

"Hey who's the kid? Y'know him Riku?" a tall boy with lengthy hair enough to rival Riku's but more maintained, not the same wild messy wisps that Riku's had.

"O'mygaw! He's absolutely adorable! Can I keep him?" A tall strange pink haired JESUS! It was pink! (Sora had to double take to be sure) boy, wrapped his arm around the small brown-haired boy, his fingers curling around his shoulder protectively.

"Stop being such a pedophile Marly, leave the boy alone." Another said, a tall blonde girl, her hair slicked back, but two antennas sticking out.

"Ok, one time! That was one time! Just because I dated an eighth grader last year doesn't mean…" He was cut off by the bell ringing and the shuffle in the hallway.

"Ok kiddies, time to get to class." The tall brunette said, a scar tracing over his features.

"Riku..I'm sort of..l..lost, could you…?" Sora mumbled. They all turned to look at the silver haired teen.

Riku started to mumble something that could be mistaken as a response but he was cut off.

"So, you ganna help the kid or what, cause I have Ms. Lockheart first period and I don't want to miss one second of Geometry, I can wait to measure the circumference of those spheres, I've got a bet going with Cid." The brunette spoke again.

"Stop being such a perv Leon!" The pink haired one slapped his shoulder playfully.

"Rikuu! We're going to be late for class, come on!" One of the girls whined, and pulled on his arm. He stumbled at first but then picked up pace, and walked in step with the red head, "why would you worry about a stupid little freshman?"

"I wouldn't." and without another glance Riku walked down the hallway with the slutty girl on his arm and a gang of others behind him.

Sora couldn't help the tears that slowly started to slide down his cheek. He wiped them away quickly with the back of his hand and ran to the closest open door where he could hide

When Riku finally found Sora, after managing get out of class to "use the lavatory" and searching through every open door he could find, while glancing in the freshman classrooms, the small brunette was huddled in the utility closet, crying softly.

"Hey bear." Riku tried to soften him up a bit, using an old endearment that wasn't heard in some time. He closed the door behind him and just now noticing that perhaps not the best idea. When he finally managed to sit down his knees bumped Sora's and his shoulder kept knocking over a mop.

Riku reached out to grasp Sora's arm, but the younger boy shied away as far as the walls would allow. "Com'on Bear…I'm sorry ok?"

"You're an ass." Sora finally muttered. Riku brightened that his friend was responding.

"I know I am, we had fun this summer right...Well, my friends in school are different, you saw them. High school is dif—"

"Different. I know gods. People have told me this a thousand times! 'People act strange in high school; they change', ok I get it! Tell me if you want to steal my lunch money I'll save you the trouble." Sora stood up abruptly nearly knocking over the old bucket next to him, he reached for the door but Riku's hand caught his wrist.

When he turned around the older teen was towering over him, a look of anguish on his face.

"Sora…" Riku's voice was hoarse and pleading. He entrapped the lesser boy in his frame, placing both hands on either side of Sora who stood against the door, his head still down refusing to look at him. "Please believe me when I say," He pushed up Sora's chin with his index finger forcing the brunette to look at him, "that I would rather have you as a friend then anything else in the world. And I know what I did was wrong, I don't even know why I did it, but I will do anything to make it up to you."

Sora sighed loudly in aggravation and stared into the sea green eyes of his friend, "There you go again, I try to be mad at you because you are such an ass but then you say things like that and you make it impossible for me to stay mad at you. I hate you Riku…I really hate you." Fresh tears started pouring down the boys cheeks. A warm hand brushed over them and Sora looked up, Riku smiling at him adoringly.

After Sora had calmed down and both boys made sure that no one was in the hallway, they stumbled out of the closet and once Riku got Sora situated and pointed him to the correct class, Riku agreed to meet Sora at his locker and they would have lunch together after fifth period.

Sora was surprised at the ease of most of his teachers, they still were getting use to the fact that summer vacation was over, also and most did short introductions agreeing to actually start the learning tomorrow, by the time lunch came around Sora only had one book to place on his locker's shelf.

"Hey bear, ready to eat?" Sora turned and nodded, smiling as he told Riku about his first day of high school, Riku nodded and smiled every so often saying "I've had that teacher before they're cool," or "that sucks," but mostly the older teen stayed quiet and merely listened.

"We sit over here." He pointed to the table already filled up with a few people, some of which Sora recognized from the morning. "Everybody this is Sora, Sora this is everybody." Riku pulled out two chairs and slumped down into one, motioning to the other for Sora to sit. When he did, Riku stretched his arm around the back of Sora's chair, the others noticed that Riku wasn't acting as cold as he had been that morning, but decided not to question it.

"Hey, you're the boy from this morning aren't you?" Sora nodded shyly slowly pulling the contents of his lunch bag and laying them out onto the table. "You know you really are cute, I'm Marluxia by the way, but you can call me Marly."

"Or pansy boy, pinkie" The boy from the morning with the scar across his face said jokingly as he plopped down at the table a full tray of food in front of him. Riku snatched some fries much to the boy's disdain, Riku merely shrugged and said,

"What? I forgot my money on the counter this morning."

"You can have my apple Riku, I wasn't planning on eating it anyway." Sora handed Riku the red delicious with a shy smile.

"Thanks Bear." Riku took the apple with a gleaming smile.

"That's Leon," Marluxia continued as if uninterrupted, "and the book worm over there is Zexion, everyone else is in line." Sora hadn't even seen the boy he was so quiet, his face buried into a book every so often reaching around to take a bite of his sandwich. "You're a freshman right?" Sora nodded, "Then how do you know Riku?"

"Umm..we're old friends." He said quietly, the rose haired boy accepted the answer making an "o" with his mouth and biting into his veggie sandwich.

"Hey! What's he doing there?" The same whiny voice from the morning sounded from behind them.

"He'smy friend Kairi and he'll sit with us if I want him to." Sora smiled smugly at Riku's protectiveness.

"But Rikuuu, I wanted to sit by you todaaay."

"To bad, the seat is taken." She stomped her designer heels angrily to the other side of table and sat down in a huff.

"Boo you whore." Kairi glared at Marluxia who was playing innocent and Sora giggled, until he noticed the red head glaring daggers at him.

With in the next few weeks the routine became normal, after fifth period Riku would meet Sora at his locker and they would go to lunch together, sometimes Riku would go in line and others he would spend the time stealing food from the table members.

Marluxia was always there first and Zexion at the end of the table, never talking. The others who sat with them were Leon and Kairi, the same silver haired boy from the previous morning named Kadaj. Occasionally the grasshopper, Larxene Sora had learned was her name, would sit with them only talking to Zexion at the end of the table. Kadaj's younger brothers would stop by and a few others would sit for a day or two, but the regulars were always the same.

Two months into the school year Sora sat down, Riku next to him picking food from various people. Marluxia and Leon seemed to be in a heated argument about something and Sora watched them curiously.

"He's absolutely beautiful how could you not agree!" Leon shouted.

"He looks too fake, there has to be some Michel Jackson action going on there, have you seen his nose?" Marluxia retorted.

"Yeah it's perfect! He's so hot!" Confused slightly Sora sipped his drink and watched in amusement he glanced at Riku who seemed just as entertained.

"That's why he has to be fake, no one can be that perfect."

"He is." Leon said with a slight drift in his voice.

"Sora, you're gay right?" Marluxia looked at him with an eyebrow elegantly raised; Riku was about ready to respond for him with a confident 'Are you crazy! Of course he's not!' But Sora beat him to it.

"Actually, I'm bi." Riku started choking on the coke he'd stolen from Leon, and nearly spit up all the contents of his mouth onto the table. "Riku? Are you ok?" He nodded and coughed.

"I think" cough "I'll go wait in line," cough "with Kadaj." He stumbled off in a rush and Sora watched him until he was in line and stopped hacking.

"What's with him?" Sora asked confused. Marluxia and Leon looked at each other and even Zexion glanced up form his book, but just for a moment.

"Well, if the boy I loved just confessed his gayness openly I'd choke on what I was eating too."

"What? Riku doesn't love me, not that way. Besides I'm not gay I'm bi." Sora said matter-of-factly.

"You keep telling yourself that sparky." Leon chimed in.

Marluxia smiled and leaned toward Sora, "Ok, you're bi; you say you'll go either way. But you also said that you like guys right? So that's opportunity for Riku, he has a fighting chance now."

"Come on guys, he's not even gay...is he?" Sora flushed slightly glancing back at Riku who was laughing with Kadaj in line, Kairi on his arm once again. "Besides, he's got Kairi."

"Sora, ever noticed that he brushes her off constantly, he only sits by younot her. And the fact that she completely hates you. The boy is completely head over heels in love."

Riku stood from the table quickly, his chest tightened and he walked to the other side of the cafeteria. Kadaj was in line and he slunk next to him, Kairi latched on as soon as she could. Did he really hear what he thought? Sora the boy he'd adored and only dreamed of being with was bi. There was a glimmer off light and Riku tried to think of what he could do with this information.
When Riku returned to the table after a few more minutes the three were all talking about the same subject as they had started when he left.

"Ok, so" Marluxia continued, "What do you think of the new English teacher?" The pink haired boy asked Sora.

"You mean Mr. Strife?" both Leon and Marluxia nodded, "He's gorgeous." Sora said excitedly.

"But he's fake right? There's no way someone could be that pretty and not have had some help right?" Sora shook his head as he finished swallowing a bite of his sandwich.

"Doesn't that kind of stuff leave scars? I think it's natural. He doesn't seem the kind that would care that much about how he looks to actually cut him self up."

"HA!" Leon shouted in triumph leaning across the table closer to Sora, "but aren't you so happy you got into an honors English class?"

Sora nodded with a huge smile on his lips, "His first day and he's already changed English to my favorite subject! In my class, some of the girls closed all the windows so it would get nice and toasty, just enough so that he'd have to take his sweater off. His shirt got stuck to it at first, I nearly died. The man is ripped."

Leon listened intently to Sora's story and Riku grimaced, if that's the kind of stuff Sora liked he had no chance, not that he wasn't in good shape as well, but he was nothing compared to the way Sora was describing the teacher.

"Sora," Riku interrupted, he couldn't take anymore descriptions of the teacher's 'awesome body'.

"Yeah?" Sora said slowly.

"You need help with your math? Want to go the library now and study?"

"Sure."

Marluxia winked at him as he stood and walked out of the cafeteria with Riku.

Of course it was till much later that Sora actually stopped denying the fact that Riku was madly in love with him, and Riku openly confessed his feelings. But the inevitable did happen.

Two Years Later

Roxas ran down the hall again, making as much noise as humanly possible.

How could a boy a big as a twig making so much noise. His feet slapping against the wooden floor sounded like cement blocks smashing through the ground.

Well at least they did to Sora.

To Sora any noise no matter how minute, sounded ten-fold while he was trying to study for midterms. And in just a few months he would also be taking his Junior SATs. Just the mere thought of it gave him a bigger migraine.

He heard another loud bang from the hallway, with a sigh he stood from his desk and leaned out the door.

"Roxas why don't you play outside, instead of in the hallway," he asked in a yawn.

"I could, but it just not as fun as out here in the hallway." Roxas said in a sing-song voice with an innocent smile, scrunching his round cheeks.

"Where's Hayner? Go play with him."

"Hayner's busy." He said with another bright smile and continued run up and down the halls.

Chemistry was hard enough for people who understood the basics let alone Sora who barely could balance a simple equation and had obnoxious noises coming from all around him. Then Sora remembered something, Riku had always been good at Chemistry. In fact he'd gotten straight A's.

With a quick call to Riku's dorm, he agreed to help Sora with his problem if he wanted to come down. Sora decided to drive there (only about an hour away) and hung up his phone, shoving all his notebooks into his messenger bag and running down the stairs, almost tripping over his younger brother in the process.

"See ya later Rox!" he shouted down the stairs flying into his mother's office to tell her where he was going and for how long, then he was out the door and hopping into his car

Riku's apartment wasn't big, but there was more than one room. The first thing you saw when you walked in was the living room area straight ahead of you with the TV and a modest coach across from it. The kitchen was in the same room, separated by an island counter that stretched from the wall to the middle of the room.

Of to the left was a bathroom, then one bedroom (a single) and across from those was another bedroom (a double) with a bathroom attached.

When Sora arrived, Riku's roommate was out, but they stayed in Riku's room anyway, the single. The room was small, enough for a bed a cabinet and a small desk with a little walking around room so for both of the boys to be comfortable they stayed on the bed.

Riku explained stoichiometry for the third time to Sora trying to break it down to a simple equation.

"Ok Sora, this is a simple mole ratio." Riku pointed to the paper with his pencil, his elbow bumping Sora's slightly as both boys were lying on their stomachs on Riku's bed.

"A mole what?" Sora looked up thorough confusion gracing his features.

"Ok say you want to make a sandwich."

"Riku, you can't be serious."

"Have some faith, ok so your sandwich. It's got tomatoes, lettuce, salami, onions and a roll. Now you need one roll, two tomato slices, four pieces of salami and two slices of onion to make the sandwich." Sora nodded, "but you only have one roll, five slices of tomato and five onions and eight slices of salami. How many sandwiches can you make?"

Sora pondered for a moment then simply said, "One," Riku egged him on, "because you only have one roll. So you can't go further no matter how much of the others you have."

"That, my dear Watson, is Stoichiometry." Riku said with another smile.

"Ok, I get that, but I still don't get how that is related to anything."

"Ok like this, to make carbondioxide you need one carbon and two oxygens, hence the name carbondioxide." Sora nodded so Riku continued, "So if you have four oxygens but only one carbon can you have more than one bond?"

"No!" Sora said confidently.

"Now that is Stoichiometry, all you need to do is put it in equation form like this." Riku being left handed reached around Sora's neck and began writing down numbers and formulas. "Ok." Riku said with a proud smile dropping his pencil, letting his hand rest on Sora's back.

Sora picked it up where Riku left off and started writing down numbers and filling in the blanks. "I think I did this right. Could you check?" Sora pushed the paper over toward Riku and rolled on his side, facing toward the silver haired-teen watching his eyebrows knit together in concentration.

"Well So," he said slowly, "I think you've finally got it," a huge smile spreading across his face.

"No way!" Sora exclaimed wrapping his arms around Riku, "You're a miracle worker, I swear, I never would have understood it without you!" Riku shined in all his brilliant glory as Sora spouted more compliments. "Thank you!" with out thinking, Sora kissed his friend lightly on the cheek.

Riku stiffened at the touch but Sora as always was blissfully unaware Sora pulled away and rolled onto his back the same smug smile stretching his lips.

"Sora," Riku started off slowly giving himself enough time to come up with something stupid to replace the question perplexing his mind if he decided to run scared.

"Yeah?" Sora asked in the same happy tone he always seemed to be in, on his back, staring at the ceiling.

"Would you…um…I mean that is. Do you…" Riku's stomach knotted and he felt sick, nervous.

Sora lifted his shirt slightly rubbing his stomach, Riku suddenly lost his train of thought, he started trailing off, and staring at the sun kissed muscles of Sora's stomach. "Riku, what time is it?" Riku glanced the clock at the corner.

"It's only 5:30. Umm Sora..."

"I'm hungry; do you have anything to eat?" Sora whined.

"Sora would you listen to me, I'm trying to tell you something." Riku's voice was annoyed now.

"How about…we order pizza?"

"Sora!" Riku exclaimed. Sora felt a sudden pressure on his wrists, he looked up, Riku was hovering above him. With quick movement, he released one of Sora's wrists and leaned onto his elbow. Brushing back the soft spikes on Sora's cheeks, he threw all his reservations out the window.

"Riku…what are you doing?" Sora said breathlessly, his eyes darting back and forth on Riku's face.

"I don't know." His eyes drifted down and with slight hesitation he placed his lips on Sora's own. Riku let his arms fall, resting his palms against Sora's cheeks. Sora's stiff lips softened and relaxed timidly kissing back. Riku's mouth curved into a smile, more confident, ecstasy flowing through his veins.

The younger boy writhed under him; Riku took this as a sign of pleasure and got more aggressive trying to access every crevasse and detail of Sora's mouth. He pulled back, taking in air for the first time, his lips still brushing Sora's.

"Sora," his voice ghosted over the brunette's lips, "I love you." Sora froze; Riku could feel his body stiffen under him.

"Riku..I.." Sora pushed the older teen off of him, and slipped off the bed. Riku sat up and looked at him strangely. Sora back away slowly to the door. "I don't…" he stuttered.

"You don't feel the same. I figured as much, why would you. I mean…" Riku half mumbled running a hand through his hair in aggravation.

"That's the thing Riku," Sora interrupted him staring at the floor; "I don't know how I feel. I need to think about this." Sora turned and walked out the door, closing it slowly.

Riku held his breath waiting for the doorknob to turn, and have the small boy run back into his arms. Another minute past by and Riku couldn't take it anymore, he stood from the bed, stumbling a little, but walking to the door.

He walked out into the kitchen area, his chest tightened when he turned the corner into the living room. Something within him, some hope, was expecting to see the brunette on the couch, crying his eyes out, waiting for Riku to wrap his arms around and comfort him. When all he saw was a horrible aged couch, his heart sank.

Riku leaned against the wall and tilted his head back sighing loudly, kicking the wall hard in frustration. He sank to the ground, "Damn it, Sora," He said through gritted teeth.

"Riku?..." a timid voice called from the end of the hall. Riku looked up, Sora stood at the end of the hallway, stepping out of the bathroom, wiping his cheeks with his sleeve like a small child.

"Sora…" Riku stood form his slouched spot on the ground and walked hastily to Sora's side, "I thought you left…" Sora half laughed despite the tears still streaming down his cheeks.

"I couldn't leave you if I tried." Sora said with a shy smile, "Riku I don't know what I feel…" Riku's eyes went dark with anguish but Sora continued, "But I know that I feel good when I'm around you, that I wouldn't be the same without you, and I know…that if you ever left my heart …my heart would shatter. You are one of my greatest friends but..." Sora looked up, "But I don't know if I'm ready for this, whatever it is."

"That Sora…" he lifted his palm to the slighter boy's face, wiping away the tears that were running down his cheeks. "That is what love is." Without any hesitation this time, Riku brushed his lips against Sora's, a quiet sob flowing from his lips.

Sora's mother wasn't entirely surprised when Sora called her later that night, saying that he was going to spend the night, and would call the next morning.

And when all the door was locked six different ways, Leon just assumed that he's pretty boy roommate had finally wised up confessed his feelings, and him and Sora were doing the nasty. Figuring they'd want some alone time, he walked down a flight of stairs and stayed the night on Yuffie's couch.

Despite the stickiness of his skin, and the uncomfortable position that his leg was currently in, intertwined with Riku's, Sora wouldn't dare move in fear that everything disappear and he would wake up in his boring dark room, wrapped up in his Mickey Mouse sheets. Riku's steady breathing of sleep, gave the room and steady rhythm.

Sora looked up, shifting ever so slightly atop his lover and watched him. Lips slightly parted with light snores, matted waves of silver framing his chiseled features. He had a purplish mark on the base of his neck; Sora's first sad try at a hickey didn't go over as well as he planed.

The attempt to be sexy and slowly trail down Riku's neck as they walked to the bed had failed when he tripped making them both fall onto the bed in awkward positions, and his teeth scrape the elder teens neck bruising it, not in the way that Sora had originally planed.

After Riku stopped laughing and he pulled Sora out of the hole he was trying to crawl into from embarrassment, everything else went smoothly. Well mostly, the throbbing between Sora's legs probably wouldn't go away for a day or so, but it was supposed to be like that right? The first time anyways.

First time.

Sora got butterflies thinking of doing that again with Riku, he felt like a little kid with a crush, blushing still, just thinking about were he lay and what he had done a few hours previous. Sora shifted again, trying not to dig his chin into Riku's abs, laying his flushed cheek against the cool of the elder's stomach.

"Sora…" Riku murmured under his breath, "stop fidgeting…"

"Sorry." Sora whispered, trying his best to be perfectly still. A few minutes later, Riku stirred, looking at the clock, it read about three in the morning.

"We should probably change the sheets." Riku said finally, rolling out of bed clumsily, pulling on the first piece of clothing he could find, a pair of fish boxers. Sora stayed in bed afraid to move, when he finally did move sensationally a shot of pain coursed through his lower back and legs. Riku came back into the room with a pile of spar sheets, still half asleep. "Get out'a bed, I can't change 'em with y'there."

"But Riku, it hurts, I don't think I can move." Sora curled up slightly wincing as he did that. Riku smiled slightly as Sora reverted to a child-like state on the bed. He dropped the sheets on the floor and walked over Sora, scooping him up in his arms. "Riku what are you doing?" Sora made a sad attempt to cover himself up, feeling extremely embarrassed to be carried bridal style in such a state as he was.

"You can't walk well; if you take a hot bath it will relax your muscles. " He shuffled down the hallway and the cocooned brunette in his arms. The water was already running when they got in the room, and Riku place Sora on the ground slowly, making sure that the younger boy had his footing before letting go completely. Sora walked slowly, taking the few steps to the back slowly and steadily. The water had pooled to about knee height by then, getting higher by the moment. The hot water burned his skin at first, but it cooled off quickly and Sora could start to feel his muscles untangling from the previous night.

"I'm going to clean the room." Riku bent over slowly and kissed Sora on the cheek, leaving him alone in the tepid water. Sora did his best to scrub down his body, trying to wash his hair slightly, it didn't work.

He drained all the water and pulled himself out of the tub when he was done, limping to the linen closet he grabbed a fluffy white towel and dried off slowly, being careful when he bent over, he then wrapped it around his waist tightly and limped to the bedroom.

"Riku..?" The small brunette opened the door a crack, and then hobbled in gradually. Riku was sprawled out on the bed, which was fresh with sheets. "Riku…do you have any extra clothes?" Riku nodded and pointed to the dresser against the right wall. Sora shuffled toward it, grabbing a pair of boxers and an extra long tee-shirt.

He then walked toward the bed and collapsed next to Riku, who by then had managed to crawl under the covers. Sora snuggled close to him, Riku's arm protectively draped around him both boys completely content to sleep forever.

Six Years Later

"Riku?" Sora asked his lover, as they stood in the kitchen. Sora had jumped up on the counter, Riku standing between his legs, hands laying on the younger boys thighs.

"Yah?" Riku played with one of the spiky strands of Sora's hair, pulling on it slightly as he wrapped it around his finger.

"Do you think we lived happily ever after?" Sora's childish face looked down at the elder man, a slight smile in his lips waiting an answer

"What kind of question is that?" Riku asked, belittlement in his voice.

"Never mind then, it was just something I thought about when I was little. It just stupid." Sora blushed and hung his head down, embarrassed that he would ask something so childish. He was in his mid-twenties for gods sakes. 'Always a child at heart, no matter the age.' Something his mom often said to him when he did or said something immature.

Riku took his cereal bowl away, seeing as he was just mashing around the soggy flakes, and put both of them in the sink, to lazy to clean them, only doing when they had no choice.

"Well, Cinderella, I don't know about 'happily ever after' but, we did pretty damn well for ourselves." Riku walked back toward the brunette atop the counter and scooped him up, bridal style, with a large grin on his face.

"Riku, what the hell?" Sora screeched as he wrapped his arms around Riku's neck. Riku smiled devilishly as he made his way toward the bedroom.