Sanctuary

Chapter 1: It Begins

They embraced, lost in the realm of darkness. Their lips moved rhythmically with each other's. One boy pulled back, leaving the other in a state of confusion. Had he done something wrong?

The boy was smiling. "I missed you, Sora."

Riku sat up in bed with a gasp. A dream? The fifteen-year-old swung his legs over the edge of his queen-sized bed as he recollected his thoughts.

Riku was beautiful, and he knew it. He wasn't being cocky, he was being quite accurate. He had silver hair flowing down to his neck. His aquamarine eyes entranced those which he set his gaze upon. Normally, he wore a self-confident smirk, but now his face was filled with concern.

"Another dream about him…" he said to nobody in particular.

Riku stumbled down the stairs and into the kitchen. His parents had left for work already (they were usually gone when Riku got up; it WAS summer, after all). Riku glanced at the clock. 10:18 AM.

Internally, he sighed happily. Thank God for summer.

Unfortunately, Riku had let summer slip through his fingers. It was now a mere five days until Riku started sophomore year at Destiny High School. Why, just the next day was the Moonlit Destiny Dance, a dance that welcomed in the new year, a dance people loved (hell, it's a dance) and feared (it signaled summer's end).

As far as love goes, summer had been interesting for Riku. He had tried dating Selphie for two weeks in July, but he found he didn't have that same click as other lovers had. So, they broke up (much to Selphie's dismay). Since then, nobody had sparked that kind of interest in Riku.

Nobody except Sora.

But that was dumb. Riku didn't love Sora. Riku wasn't gay. Right?

Riku continued with his normal morning routine of eating, showering, and watching a little TV as he mapped out his week. Today, nothing special was happening so, as usual he was going over to Sora's house, then to the beach to play. The next day was the dance. He would go to the local clothing store, Marcie's, to pick out a suit, then go home, prep, and go pick up his date, whom he agreed with himself he would find today. The next day, he hit the state fair with Kairi, Sora, Selphie, Wakka, and Tidus.

The only problem he now faced: finding a date for that damn Moonlit Destiny Dance.

Riku bounded up the porch steps and knocked on the front door of a very familiar house: Sora's house.

The house itself was very modest. It was two stories tall and painted in an aesthetic combination of red and white. Riku had always liked this house the best of any.

The door creaked open. There stood Sora's mother with an expression Riku had never seen Sora's mother wearing before-sadness. When she saw Riku, she gave a small, relieved smile.

"Thank God," she said, "Sora's up in his room. I'm glad you are here. He really needs a friend right now."

Riku was puzzled by these words, but thought nothing of them. He flew up the stairs, oddly excited to see Sora, almost like a lover going to see his boyfriend.

Not that he and Sora were lovers. They were just friends.

He opened the door.

Sora was lying on his bed with his back to Riku. He was shorter than Riku, but only by a little. He had light brown hair put up in spikes, almost looking like a failed mohawk. No, just a failed haircut. This failure was good, though, he seemed to pull off the "I-Have-A-Failure-For-Hair" look quite well. He had blue eyes. Very beautiful blue eyes. He dressed in a blue and white hooded sweatshirt and red shorts. Riku thought this outfit looked cute on him.

"Hey, Sora…" he stopped. Sora didn't acknowledge his entrance, which was odd for Sora. Normally, Sora would have run up, hugged him, and asked him how he was in a very hyper and peppy demeanor. But today, he just lay there, his shoulders moving in a weird pattern.

"Sora?" Riku was worried now. He walked over to him and turned him so Sora faced Riku.

Sora just stared up at him with those gorgeous blue eyes, a clear liquid falling from them.

Sora was crying.

"What's wrong?" Now Riku was really worried. Sora never cried unless something was really wrong.

Sora paused for a moment, before practically screaming, "GRAMMY'S DEAD!" and bursting into tears.

"…Grammy Naki?"

Sora couldn't respond, instead, he just nodded his head.

Riku laid down on the bed with him, in total shock. Grammy Naki was the sweetest old lady that ever lived. Grammy Naki was Sora's biological grandmother, but Riku loved her like his own grandma. When Riku was five, Sora led him over to his house for supper while Grammy was there. As soon as Riku walked through the door, Grammy Naki hugged him and got him a cookie, all the while commenting on how adorable he was.

Sora's head had fallen into Riku's lap. He still hadn't stopped crying. Riku ran his hand through Sora's hair in an attempt to comfort him.

Even though Grammy Naki had died, all Riku could think about was Sora. As he ran his hands through Sora's hair, he thought, Sora has such cute hair. Sora has such cute eyes. Sora has such a cute…he yawned, body. Sora…

"You're cute."

Shit. Had he just said that out loud? Luckily, Sora had fallen asleep. Riku decided to follow suit. With that, he slowly drifted off to sleep.

They lay on Riku's island, passionately making out. He ran his hand down the boy's torso, eventually making it to his pants.

"Sora…" he said lustfully as he unzipped the boy's pants

"Riku," Sora started, "what are you do-aaaaahh!" he gasped as Riku's mouth found its way around Sora's arousal. "Rrrrriiiiikuuuuu…"

"Riku?"

"Riku?"

Riku opened his eyes. Ay, another dream. This was definitely not normal. Something was up with him. He felt something around his crotch. Something…hot and …wet.

A wet dream? Well, that's new. Why must you be so hot, So-

"Sora!"

Now it registered. He had been resting with Sora. His grandma had died. Sora, with a confused look in his eyes, put his hands on Riku's torso, now just beneath his abs, now…ah…God!

"Riku, why is this…whoa…" he said as he felt the moist boxers Riku was wearing.

A moment of awkward silence occurred. Then, Riku burst out laughing. Sora followed once he figured out what it was. Both boys were beet red.

They stared at each other for a while. Light blue met a darker blue. Riku felt something twinge inside him. Perhaps that's what led to the leap of faith he was about to take.

"Sora?"

"Hm?"

"Er…are you okay?"

Sora thought for a moment, then grinned cheerily and nodded. He took a very small amount of time to bounce back from something sad.

"Good. And Sora?"

Sora looked up at him, smiling. Riku had always loved that smile, it was so cute…so…cute?

What the hell was happening to him?

Riku snapped back to reality, and sharply inhaled. " Do you have a date for the Moonlit Destiny Dance?"

Sora blinked. "Well…no."

"Good! Wanna go with me?"

"What?"

Riku frantically tried to justify why he had asked the question, more to himself than Sora. "Well, neither of us have dates, and we would feel dumb just going by ourselves, right? So, why don't we go together?"

Sora thought for a minute, then gave Riku a small smile. "Sure, I'd love to go with you, Riku."

"Cool." Riku and Sora exchanged a quick hug.

The two bounded off to the islands to enjoy an afternoon of screwing around. Riku was ecstatic, he had a feeling not unlike that one gets when they find out someone they love likes them back.

Not that he and Sora were lovers. They were just friends. Very special friends.