A comfortable quiet had fallen over Traverse Town once again, now that Sora had dismissed his Dream Eaters. He couldn't help but feel a tinge of regret at having to leave them behind in this world—especially if it was about to awaken, now that the Mark of Mastery Exam had ended just hours ago—but there was no other options that he knew of. Hopefully, he'd get to meet them again someday.
Sora swept one last look over the First District's familiar plaza. It was eerie in its emptiness, yet after coming here so many times in his journey, Sora couldn't feel anything but nostalgic about this place. He wondered if he'd ever come back, sure—a Keybalde War was on the horizon, after all—but in this moment, he couldn't bring himself to dwell on his worries.
"Aren't you forgetting someone?"
The voice nearly made Sora jump in surprise, and he whirled around. Up ahead, resting his back against the accessory shop, was Riku, smirking down at him.
"Riku? What're you doing here?"
Riku pushed himself off the building in a single, lithe motion, walking down the steps that separated them. "You called for your Dream Eaters, right? I felt it."
"You did?" He frowned, then the words connected in his mind. "Oh. Right." In the midst of all their celebrating, Sora had had some trouble getting caught up on everything that had occurred after Xehanort had put him to sleep, but Riku had said something about becoming Sora's Dream Eater, protecting Sora from the nightmares from within his own dreams. Sora still had trouble wrapping his mind around it. "What does that feel like?" he couldn't help but ask.
Riku stopped just one step away from Sora, and shrugged. "Not unpleasant," he said. Sora couldn't help but wince—he'd hoped his worry wouldn't have been that obvious. "It's not like our hearts weren't connected before, Sora. This is just another bond. And no matter how, if you were to call for me, I'd always come running. As you Dream Eater, or just as your friend."
His words felt weighty, and Sora's feelings still felt too raw to bear them. "Riku—" he said, feeling a prickling in his eyes. "I don't want to be—"
Riku stepped forward, closing the space between them, and Sora's words fell into a muffled gasp. He raised his hand, lightly brushing his fingers against Sora's cheek. "I don't mind."
Sora's heart started racing at this simple contact, and he could feel a blush creeping up his face. Could Riku feel that through their bond as well, he wondered? It would probably give too much away if he asked right now. So instead, Sora plastered on his best smile, and deflected. "So if you're my Dream Eater, does that mean I can make you play with balloons?"
That, at least, managed to take Riku aback. He made a soft noise of surprise, eyes briefly widening as he stepped back, then chuckled. "Maybe," he said. "You could also feed me treats."
"Or paint you," Sora added, growing more relaxed as the mood between them settled into easy banter. "I bet you'd look great in pink."
"First of all, I absolutely would," Riku said with a mockingly haughty look. "No need for sarcasm."
"Maybe," Sora conceded. "What else?" He raised a hand to his chin, dramatically pondering the question, but only one thought came to mind. And…well, maybe it wasn't the safest thought he'd ever had, but he couldn't get it out of his had now that it'd come to him. "Can I change pet you to change your disposition?"
Riku gazed at him with a weirded-out frown. "You'd certainly get a reaction if you tried."
There was no edge to his tone, so Sora stepped forward. "Here comes the tickle monster!"
A yelp of protest escaped Riku when Sora started tickling his sides, then he broke out into uncontrollable laughter. "Sora!" he said in-between breaths. "Okay, okay, I yield!"
Sora's momentum had carried them into the brick wall on the edge of the plaza, beside the stairs. As Sora relented, his mind caught up with the position they were in. How Riku was pinned against the wall, flushed, out of breath and smiling. How Sora's hands were still resting on his chest. His blush returned at the thought of what they must look like right now, and he was glad the world they were in was still asleep and devoid of inhabitants.
Still, he couldn't help his triumphant grin. "Looks like I was right," he said. "Riku's disposition changed to 'Actually capable of laughing for once'!"
"You've seen me laugh before," Riku complained. "Usually because you did something stupid." He raised an eyebrow and ran his gaze over Sora's body, silently making his point clear.
Sora ignored the jab. "I wonder what other dispositions this Dream Eater has," he said absently, pretending to talk to himself—the idea of addressing Riku right now felt daunting. "What happens if I pet here?" He raised a hand to pat the top of Riku's head. He'd intended to make Riku laugh again, but halfway through his gesture, he found himself stroking Riku's hair instead, smoothing stray locks on the side of his head and tucking them behind his ear. As if in response, Riku averted his eyes, and Sora could swear he saw a dash of color on Riku's cheeks and across his nose.
He pulled his hand back slightly, hesitant to repeat the action, but lowered it instead. "Interesting result," he said. "That turned him into—" He didn't dare finish his sentence, afraid Riku would put a stop to this…whatever this was. So instead, he placed a hand on Riku's chest. "What about here?"
Riku looked back at him, narrowing his eyes and tilting his head slightly. "Sora, what're you—"
Sora wasn't sure himself, but he was sure that the thrumming he felt under his finders was Riku's heartbeat from under his jacket. "That confused him," he said. "Better try something else."
"Sora."
The tone Riku put into his name forced Sora to meet his gaze. But he refused to just stop—it felt like he'd followed his idea too far to turn back now. "What if I pet here," he said, running his fingers down, grazing over the strip of midriff bared by Riku's jacket, and hooking around his belt. Summoning every ounce of willpower he possessed, Sora managed to keep staring into Riku's eyes when he said, "Would it change your disposition to 'horny'?"
Riku's lips parted beautifully, his gasp more felt than heard. "Why don't you find out?" he said, his voice quivering with tension.
Sora was surprised by how loose Riku's belt really was—it barely offered any resistance to his hand as it slipped under the fabric of Riku's jeans. His fingers traveled over a seemingly interminable expanse of hot skin before they found what Sora had been looking for. He could feel Riku rapidly hardening, and wasted no time wrapping his hand around him. When he did, Riku finally broke their unspoken staring contest, closing his eyes with a sharp, strangled intake of breath.
"Good Dream Eater," Sora cooed as he began to slowly run his hand across the length Riku's erection.
Riku let out a chuckle, opening his eyes again with a new, hungry look. He placed a hand on Sora's shoulder and pulled him closer, pressing their chests flush against one another with just enough space between them for Sora to keep working his hand over Riku. "You have no idea," Riku whispered into Sora's ear, bending down slightly to press his lips into the crook of Sora's neck.
"Oh," Sora let out in surprise, leaning into it. "Learning new tricks, too?"
Without pulling back, Riku hummed against his skin. Then, without warning, he nipped at Sora, gently grazing his teeth over his pulse point, then kissing once more. His hands roamed across Sora's back, securely holding him close—as if there was a chance Sora would pull away now.
Not to be outdone, Sora slipped his free hand between them. This was nice, but it wasn't enough; he blindly found Riku's belt buckle and, after some fumbling, pulled it loose. There was a satisfying sound of fabric against the ground as Riku's jeans and underwear fell to his ankles. In response, Riku bucked his hips, sliding his cock out of Sora's grasp. It rubbed against his forearm, before pushing with a pleasant weight into Sora's lap.
The sudden contact made Sora keenly aware of his own arousal. His pants were looser than Riku's, but in that moment he still needed to be free from them. And yet, even through the fabric, the friction combined with Riku's kisses was enough to make Sora's knees weak, so instead of undressing, he had to use prop his hands against the wall behind Riku, just to stay upright.
As if on cue, though, Riku's hands drifted further down, deftly pulling at Sora's waistline and peeling off the layers of clothing. Sora almost teared up in relief when the heated skin of his cock pressed against Riku's. He ground against Riku, desperate for more fiction, his need for release maddening.
Yet even in his heated state, he couldn't help but wince at the cold bite of the zipper of Riku's top, and it brought him back down. His brain felt stuck on processing the through that this was happening at all, yet at the same time, it was going too fast. Sora didn't want to just touch. It wasn't enough.
He drew back as far as Riku's hands would let him. Riku stared back at him, a worried question in his eyes, but Sora eased it with a smile.
"I want to see you," he managed to say. Not that Riku wasn't presenting a wonderful sight right now: flustered, his pants down, his hair mussed. But if they were going to do this, that wasn't enough. It was all too rushed, too spontaneous. Like something they might regret later. That was unacceptable. "And I want you to see me."
As if to demonstrate, he stepped back, and let his own jacket slide off his shoulders. He could see Riku's gaze trailing over his body, following the jacket's fall but never quite coming back up. Riku licked his lips, sending a rush of excitement up Sora's spine that overrode his feeling of self-consciousness. He fumbled to remove his shirt and tossed it aside, awkwardly worked to remove his shoes and free his ankles from his pants. And finally, he stood still, naked, basking in Riku's hungry gaze.
"Well?" Sora managed to say, his voice crackling under the pressure.
Riku looked up, steadying himself and blinking quickly as if distracted from a daydream, and nodded. He removed his jacket, and toed off his shoes with an assurance that Sora couldn't help but envy, tossing his jeans aside with them. Then, at a pace that seemed tortuously slow to Sora, he unzipped his tank top and let it fall open, revealing his bare chest underneath. Then he leaned back against the wall, raising a defiant eyebrow at Sora as he let the open top rest against his skin.
Sora huffed in frustration, and all but charged at Riku, determined to fight Riku if necessary to take that offending piece of clothing off. However, Riku didn't stop Sora. He allowed Sora to take his top off, smirking the whole time, then cupped Sora's face, angling it up as he bent down.
The kiss came as a surprise, but after the initial shock wore off, Sora was eager to return it. Riku's hands returned to Sora's back, pulling him closer, and this time, Sora truly had no intention of backing off again. Every inch of his body felt like it was pressed against Riku, skin on skin, and Sora melted into that touch, into the kiss, exploring Riku's body with his hands, allowing himself to seek release.
One of Riku's hands slid between their bodis, and Sora shivered when his fingers wrapped around Sora's erection, moaning into the kiss. Between Riku's hands stroking at him, his cock grinding against him, his lips devouring him, it was like Sora was being consumed—but, unlike all the other things that had threatened to consume Sora before, he was more than happy to give in to this.
Riku broke the kiss first, to Sora's surprise, pressing their foreheads together. His breathing was laborious, and his eyes, locked with Sora's once more, were glazed over. After just a moment, a whimper escaped Riku, and Sora felt the warmth of his release spreading between them. It was all Sora could take, and he couldn't delay his own orgasm any longer, crying out Riku's name as he came.
He felt his knees grow weak, but Riku caught him, holding him close. Sora leaned into it, nuzzling into Riku's shoulder as he caught his breath. The hand Riku kept secured on Sora's back was now stroking him, soothing at the same time as it held Sora up.
Finally, Riku spoke. "I hope you didn't do that with all your Dream Eaters," he said, teasing.
Sora let out an indignant gasp, though he wasn't ready to pull away just yet. "Ew, Riku! Why would you even say that right now?"
Riku chuckled in response. "Guess you don't have the monopoly on saying stupid things anymore."
Huffing in protest, Sora decided to play along. Pressing a kiss in the crook of Riku's neck, he said, "Well, no. You're the only one. The best Dream Eater."
Riku scoffed. "Good," he said. "It'd be weird if I had to be jealous of them."
Sora couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of his words, but he could sense the underlying insecurity. "You don't have to be jealous. Of anyone."
Against him, Riku relaxed ever so slightly, and sighed. "Okay," he said. "Okay, good."
Smiling to himself, Sora laid his head against Riku's chest, listening to his heartbeat as it slowly calmed down. "Do you mind if we stay like this a little longer?"
"This world's going to awaken in a few minutes," Riku pointed out—as if Sora didn't know that.
"Well, just a few minutes, then." It wasn't just that Sora didn't want to move. Once they were ready to leave, they'd have to go on their separate assignments. There was, after all, still a war on the horizon.
He wondered if Riku thought the same thing. "Okay. Just a few minutes."