it has come to my attention that the clothes Master Xehanort wears and Ansem SoD wears are basically the same, so it occurred to me that maybe what Ansem wears is what Xehanort wore when he was younger and, well, this came about xD

Fashion problems

It was the third time in a row that Eraqus ended up with his face in the dirt in this training session, it was starting to be ridiculous, he never lost like this!

The low laugh behind him made him want to bury his face deeper in said dirt.

"Am I'm getting better?" said Xehanort as he walked towards him "Or are you just getting worst?"

Eraqus mumbled something unintelligible as he slowly got on his knees. He sat over his heels but kept his eyes firmly on the ground, refusing to see Xehanort.

"I'm tired, let's call it a day," he said.

Xehanort noticed his strange behavior and raised one eyebrow, confused. Eraqus was not one to give up easily, not even when he wasn't feeling well, so he wanting to cut short their daily training was slightly alarming. Something must've been wrong with Eraqus, he wasn't even looking at him!

"All right," Xehanort said and offered a hand to help his friend get up, "let's go back inside."

Eraqus nodded and took Xehanort's hand, still trying to keep his eyes on the ground, but soon realize that he was going to have to lift his gaze sooner or later. It wasn't something hard, he just had to lift his eyes from the ground at the same time he got up, he did it all the time, why was it so damn difficult? He decided to stop being unreasonable and with a deep breath he got up.

His eyes landed first in Xehanort's face, which was a safe place to land, more or less. He commanded his eyes to stay there but his eyes had other ideas and, slowly, slipped from Xehanort's face to his neck, his shoulders and his…his sorry excuse for a shirt.

It was the stupidest thing that had ever happened to Eraqus, but he couldn't just stop staring at him.

Days before Eraqus had seen Xehanort messing around with some sewing articles he had found in some lost room in the Land of Departure. When Eraqus asked him what he was doing, or trying to do given that he had several band aids in his fingers, Xehanort told him he was tired of wearing the clothes Master Eclipe made for them, said they were stuffy and hard to move in. He also said they were tasteless, and that's why he had decided to fashion his own clothes.

Eraqus had been skeptical, and slightly offended because he thought the clothes their master had given them were pretty cool, thank you very much, but let Xehanort to keep pinching himself with a needle.

It had been almost a week and Eraqus had forgotten all about that conversation. Until this morning, when Xehanort showed up to their daily lesson wearing that. He was wearing a long, black coat, matching with black, tight pants and black boots. Eraqus wasn't fond of the color scheme, but that wasn't the problem, the problem was what he was wearing under the open coat: it was a...a shirt, or something, it was beige color and was long enough to reach his knees, but it looked like it wasn't the right size and the thing couldn't close over his chest, to the point that he had to put a belt over it and around his waist to keep it in place.

So Xehanort showed up to the lesson and when Eraqus had turned to greet him and after looking him over with his mouth slightly ajar, his eyes had landed in his chest. It wasn't his fault! It was right there for everyone to see! And who wouldn't have like to see it? Xehanort had a nice body shaped by his hard training, and it wasn't until this moment that Eraqus realized how much.

"What do you think?" Xehanort had asked, putting his hands on his hips to display the outfit and, for Eraqus dismay, proudly puffing his chest.

Eraqus was sweating and his mouth was suddenly dry, he didn't know what to say, he just stood there and kept staring, unable to tear his eyes away for the sight, and what a sight it was.

"I think it needs work," Eraqus managed after what seemed like an eternity. It wasn't a lie, there were places where the sewing work seemed sloppy and the coat looked slightly uneven, it was a safe observation to make.

Xehanort frowned.

"I know," he said "I mean, do you like it?"

Liked it? He loved it! But he was not going to say that so he simply nodded.

"It suits you," he said, trying to look at his friend in the eyes and failing miserably.

Xehanort smiled, happy with the comment.

By then, Master Eclipe entered the room, gave Xehanort a look over and commented too on his sewing work. After that they took their seats and the lesson started, with Eraqus stealing glances in Xehanort's direction every now and then, and suddenly getting why his friend had called this clothes stuffy.

Everything had been more or less manageable but when they got to the training ground to spar, Eraqus found he was doomed.

It was torture trying to keep his attention anywhere else that wasn't his friend's body. Covered in sweat for their workout, his dark skin glistened magnificently under the sun, and thanks to his new clothes Eraqus could see every detail there was to see, how his muscles flexed every time he moved and how the sweat drops descended slowly until getting lost into uncharted territory.

It was no surprise he ended up with his face in the dirt three times in a row, he could barely concentrate in breathing with Xehanort looking like that, let alone spar.

So now, after getting up, he was still unable to look away. By now Xehanort had to have noticed, Eraqus wasn't being exactly subtle with his ogling, but on the brief moments Eraqus was able to look at his face, he found out Xehanort didn't look like he had realized.

Instead he was frowning and seemed worried.

"Are you feeling all right, Eraqus?" Xehanort asked, concern dripping from his voice. His friend was still keeping his eyes low and his face was red, maybe he had a fever.

No, he wasn't all right, Eraqus felt terrible for ogling him like this, but that wasn't what Xehanort meant.

"I'm fine," he assured "I'm just tired."

"Are you certain?" Xehanort pushed and, to Eraqus' horror, leaned forward "Your face is red." He said, as he put a hand over Eraqus' forehead.

He must defiantly had to be burning up, because Eraqus felt his pulse rising as Xehanort leaned closer. Now he had to deal with the other's exposed chest up close, and his caring touch over his skin was not helping. He wondered what it would be like to just, rise his hand and slip it over Xehanort's chest.

"You don't have fever," Xehanort informed, distracting him of such thoughts for a moment "but if anything your face is getting redder, are you sure you feel all right?"

"Absolutely," Eraqus nodded feeling everything but absolutely certain "I'm tired, that's all, I'll go to my room to rest."

Eraqus started walking quickly in direction to the building, relief washing over him now that Xehanort wasn't in his line of view and didn't have to worry about keeping his eyes on check. The relief didn't last long.

"Allow me to accompany you," Xehanort made a small sprint to his side "I'm still not sure you're really okay, you're acting strangely today."

"No." Eraqus said, sure that if he spent one more minute at Xehanort's side he was going to have a heart attack. "I can go by myself."

Xehanort frowned, it wasn't like Eraqus to reject his company so coldly and he definitely didn't look like he was all right. His steps were too quick for someone that claimed to be tired, he also looked nervous and was still not looking at him.

"Are you mad at me?" Xehanort asked after a moment of following Eraqus inside the building.

"No." Eraqus said.

"Then why are you running away from me?"

Eraqus stopped in his tracks, Xehanort was getting the wrong idea and he didn't want to have an argument with him over a misunderstanding, he hated when he and Xehanort fought.

"I'm not running away from you," Eraqus said firmly.

"You're not?" Xehanort asked skeptically.

"I'm not," Eraqus assured "how I said, I'm tired and—"

"You aren't even looking at me." Xehanort pointed out, sounded between offended and hurt.

Eraqus wanted to scream, Xehanort was getting it wrong! Maybe he was kind of running away from him but it wasn't because he was mad or something, it was because—

"Did I do something to upset you?" Xehanort asked at Eraqus silence. He too hated when they fought and if he had done something wrong, he wanted to know what.

"No!" Eraqus exclaimed, unable to bare Xehanort's sad tone.

"Then why aren't you looking at me?"

"Because—" Eraqus didn't know what to say, he wasn't good lying and even if he were his brain wasn't in position to make up lies, he was screwed "Because of your damn clothes!" He sputtered, finally turning to look at Xehanort and, once again, getting lost in his exposed chest.

"Excuse me?" Xehanort said, without understanding "what does my clothes have to do with…?"

By then, Xehanort bothered to follow Eraqus' gaze. He had thought he was simply looking down, but now he realized that his friend's eyes were directly over his chest. It was easy then to connect the dots and see that his strange behavior and his reddened face and his downcast gaze were all for the same reason.

Xehanort didn't know what to say and feeling suddenly self-conscious, crossed his arms over his chest, trying to conceal as much of himself as possible.

Eraqus seemed to be released of some kind of curse because he lift his gaze and breathed deeply. Now he appeared physically capable of looking Xehanort in the face but still didn't do it, obviously embarrassed with the whole ordeal.

They stood there in the hallway in a very awkward silence, now both of them staring at the ground. It was Xehanort who braved to say something.

"Does this mean," he started, awkwardly but wanting to know the answer "that I was distracting you?"

Eraqus nodded, thoroughly ashamed.

"Very much, yes," he said "since I saw you this morning."

Xehanort swallowed hard, this was too much to take in.

"I was distracting you," he repeated, quietly.

They fell silent again.

Eraqus stole a glance at Xehanort and saw the other deep in thought. He felt like an idiot, not only he had been unable to keep himself from looking at him through the day, but also had now told him that he found him attractive, this was sure to make things awkward between them.

"Xehanort, I—"

"I have to say," Xehanort interrupted him, sounding confident enough but keeping his eyes on the floor "that if you were wearing something like this, I would find hard to concentrate too."

It was Eraqus turn to swallow hard, he hadn't expect such a response but if he was honest, hearing that made him feel better about his behavior, and a little giddy about what it implied.

"I would never wear something like that," he said instead of voicing any other thought that may had entered his mind.

Xehanort chuckled.

"I know," Xehanort said "but you would look good."

Eraqus blushed, way harder than before.

"It's hard to beat you on that."

This time Xehanort was the one looking flustered.

"Still," Eraqus started, embarrassed and agitated but feeling more at ease "I don't think I can train with you wearing that so…"

"Maybe I should just wear it all the time," Xehanort said, smiling "so you'll get used to it."

Eraqus didn't think that was possible but he couldn't oppose the idea of seeing Xehanort wearing that every day from now on. Beside it would do for great mental training, what kind of Keyblade master he would be if he couldn't learn to focus.

"Maybe," he echoed, looking again at his friend's chest.

This time, instead of trying to conceal himself, Xehanort blushed and found he enjoyed the attention, if it was from Eraqus.

The next day Xehanort showed up to their lesson wearing their Master 'tasteless' clothes. Eraqus didn't hide his disappointment and when he asked Xehanort if he had changed his mind, his friend answered:

"I'm going to work more on them, I want them to be perfect."

He didn't say it but with the way Xehanort was looking at him, Eraqus was still able to hear a very clear 'for you' at the end of his sentence.

That let him way more flustered and distracted than any clothes Xehanort could wear.

So that was it, this was a lot of fun to write, when I got the idea I laughed at loud thinking about poor Eraqus dealing with this xD This also probably came out as really OOC but i'm giving myself a free pass bc this is from a time before everything goes to shit, so yeah

Thanks a lot for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Every comment will be appreciate!