Sparrow

Chapter 4: Notre Dame

This was so stupid. Everything happening was so so stupid. Riku slashed through a sea of heartless, the keyblade thrumming in his hand as he took countless hearts. He was playing right into the Organization's hands with every death. He was making it easier and easier to hurt Sora, and yet, he couldn't bring himself to stop.

It was justifiable. Of course it was. Heartless and Nobodies killed people. They ripped their hearts from their chests and left them as husks. If he didn't kill them they would be overrunning this world and killing its inhabitants. By serving as a Keyblade Master he was doing his sworn duty to the light, and yet helping the darkness with every turn. It was the same thin line he had treaded before, and that had ended up with him falling face first into darkness with no net. It had led him to Xehanort...to the heartless who had first touched him with darkness.

Riku spun, taking out a group all at once as he flipped backwards, bounding up never-ending spiral stairs as he fought them along the way. He was in some kind of church, though calling it just a church didn't really do it justice. It was enormous, towering over the entire city. He wondered what sorts of gods they worshipped in this place. He wondered if it would matter once their world was swallowed like all of the rest.

His hand closed around an iron ring, tearing it open as he rushed out onto a balcony outside, stomach swimming as it felt like he was miles above the city looking down. He gripped a stone gargoyle, panting as he wiped at the sheen of sweat covering his brow. He reveled in the small reprieve from the heartless, staring down at the beautiful city below.

"I've never been here before," Riku knitted his eyebrows at the sounds of the voice, glancing over to see Axel lounging on one of the stone statues, his feet kicking out on either side of him as his heel kicked one of the gargoyle's carved faces.

"Glad I can take you on such exquisite dates," Riku panted, tugging at his black cloak as he leaned against the railing to look at the nobody better.

"Oh?" Axel questioned with a grin. "Is this a date?"

Riku shrugged, looking down to hide the fact that the bridge of his nose had turned pink. "Am I supposed to pretend you don't come into my room and suck my cock every night?" he asked the other lowly. Three weeks. It had been three weeks since the first time. Three weeks since Saix had choked him out and told him to obey. Three weeks since Axel had discovered his secret, and absolutely refused to do anything about it.

He didn't understand any of it. Axel would take him to world after world to slaughter heartless, and then take him back to his bed and kiss his entire body until he felt clean again from the atrocities he had committed. He never took anything for himself. He even refused the few times Riku had offered. It was confusing. It was so fucking confusing.

"Okay, I'll bite," Axel muttered back, jumping down from the gargoyle and coming to stand in front of the shorter male. Riku held his ground, not willing to admit how his heart had started to race again at his proximity. "What are we going to do on this date?"

Riku's eyes flickered up as he leaned back on his elbows, forever entranced by just how green Axel's irises actually were. "Dunno...I'm not good at stuff like this." Was he? He must have taken Sora out on dates, right? His memories of the brunette were starting to come back, which meant Ansem was doing his job. It meant Sora was about to wake up. Even still, he couldn't remember any dates. "Tell me about you and Roxas?" Riku requested, breath hitching at the way those bright eyes narrowed. They didn't have long before the heartless appeared again. Axel couldn't be too angry at him for this small bit of curiosity.

Axel frowned, gloved fingers carding through long silver locks, brushed out to the pristine silk like Riku knew the other liked it. "No," he denied. "I don't want to talk about him with you."

"Why?" He responded back easily, ignoring the way he felt gut punched with the denial. Why should he care that Axel wouldn't talk to him? Ansem's plan was working. He'd have Sora soon, and Axel...Axel would never have Roxas again.

"You're being deliberately annoying," Axel admonished, reaching out to grip Riku's chin. "You know exactly why I don't want to talk about him. Probably the same reason I don't hear 'Sora' pouring off your lips."

"Only in my wet dreams," Riku shot back bitterly, not sure why he was in such a mood. Axel had been fair with him, confusing, but fair. He was deliberately picking a fight. He was deliberately trying to break up whatever had been going on between them.

Axel laughed at that, and Riku grit his chin as hands came down to his hips. "Oh? Is that so?" He was shoved back, Axel pressing between his legs, as his hands slid possessively up his back. "Does he fuck you in them?" he leaned into Riku's ear, and the hot breath sent a shiver down his spine. "You so hard up for it that you have to dream about being fucked by that puny brat?"

Riku could appreciate the sentiment, he knew jealousy down to his very core. But the statement felt like cold water down his spine. "Puny brat?" He pushed back on Axel's chest, shoving him away. "Why me, Axel?"

"What?" The redhead asked, a mixture of confusion and annoyance on his face. "Forgive me if I'm finding it hard to keep up with your vast mood swings. Weren't we just talking about Sora?"

"Exactly!" Riku shot back, trying to push Axel further away, and sighing in annoyance as those arms wrapped tighter around him. "If Roxas is gone, than why not set your fuck me eyes on his doppleganger?" He squirmed in those arms, feeling no give even as Axel's jaw dropped a little in surprise. "Why? I get it if it was like that first night. I get it...but you're not taking. You're not taking anything, and you have the audacity to call Sora puny. When you want him," Everyone wanted Sora. "You can't even bring yourself to get hard for me," Everyone wanted Sora.

Riku glared, teeth gritted in anger at how much he had allowed himself to say. "This is so stupid!" he yelled at the Nobody, shoving him back hard, and back-flipping at the same time off the edge of the cathedral. It occurred to him only after he was falling through the air that he still had the collar on. He wouldn't be able to catch himself with magic.

He glanced around him as he fell, using his keyblade to swipe at a nearby flying heartless, using the momentum to sweep himself up and onto its back. He stabbed the keyblade through the creatures head, propelling off of it and onto another as he landed on the roof of a nearby building. Riku grunted as he rolled over the shingles, using his back foot to stop himself as tiles flew everywhere with the effort. There wasn't anything like jumping off a 420 foot tall building to avoid a conversation you no longer wanted to be part of.

The roof of the building began to shake as a gigantic heartless appeared, careening from rooftop to rooftop as the townspeople screamed. Riku grit his teeth as he stared up at the ugly monster. The sooner he took care of it, the sooner he could find the keyhole. The sooner he could get back to headquarters and away from the fact that he had just acted like a jealous bitch.

The fight took over an hour, and by the time it was through Riku was in the town square, covered in black inky darkness that had come from the creature, and leaning against his blade as he tried to catch his breath.

"That's quite the look for you," Axel called out, and Riku couldn't even bring himself to be surprised that the nobody had just watched as he took out the gigantic beast. "I'm going to have to wash your hair again."

Riku glared up from the key's hilt, wiping at the gooey blackness. He knew that if the collar wasn't on all of it would have been leaking into his skin. He had no doubt Axel knew the same thing. Just like he was sure the redhead had been 'very' aware of the words he had chosen. "Can wash my own hair, thanks," he assured him, ringing out the slime as much as he could as he stripped out of the cloak, throwing it to the ground.

Axel whistled at the little strip show, laughing as he picked up the cloak, throwing it back at the other. "You're not supposed to show who you are."

"Why?" Riku responded sarcastically. "Can we not be a secret organization anywhere without the special uniforms?"

Axel shook his head, biting his bottom lip as he seemed to consider just how much further his patience would stretch. "Let's go back, sound peachy?"

Riku shrugged. "Don't ask me like I have a choice. You want me to come back with you, you don't have to ask."

"I find that manners maketh the man, though," Axel responded back with, grabbing his forearm as he opened a portal.

"It's a good thing you're not a…" He was never allowed to say man, however, as he was tossed through the portal of darkness.

Riku felt like he was going to hurl as the darkness lit through his veins, and he was shaking as he crawled along the white marble floor to make room for Axel to exit. "You didn't let me seal the world!" he accused.

Axel ran a hand through his spikes, staring down at Riku on the ground, who was trying to swallow down the whine of need that had filled him as his body sang from such a small hit of power. The dark flames had licked along his flesh, leaving him oversensisitied and strung out. "If I let you seal it the heartless would stop coming," he tapped his temple. "We obviously don't want that. Got it memorized?" He leaned down, hauling Riku to his feet in one fluid movement. "Let's get you bathed." He pulled him toward the bathing house, mumbling 'cranky asshole' under his breath.

Riku ripped his arm away the second they were inside the room, glowering at Axel as he was able to get himself on steady footing. He was lucky it had only been the redhead watching. If anyone else had seen the state he had come back in there would have been endless questions. "Thanks for the escort,"

"You're welcome, princess," Axel bowed, face still a hard line. "Now, should we talk about that nonsense you were spouting earlier?"

Riku frowned, stripping out of his clothes as he went over to turn on the shower. He didn't want to take the ooze into the bath. "I don't want to talk about it," he didn't beat around the bush with excuses. He had no intention of justifying his neediness up there on the roof.

"Too bad," Axel breathed out with a grin. "I do...and as you so eloquently mentioned earlier, you have to do what I tell you to."

"Axel…" Riku warned.

"Riku…" Was mocked sarcastically back at him. Axel was grinning ferally by this point, eyes glued on his ass as he stepped into the spray. He didn't feel any modesty around the nobody anymore. Not after the last few weeks. What was the point? "Let's begin with the obvious start of your neurosis...shall we?" he asked toothily.

"Oh?" Riku turned, letting Axel watch as he lathered soap across his skin. "I didn't know you were my therapist. Haven't had one of these since Destiny Islands. You want me to lay down on your couch for our session?"

"Always prefer you on your back," Axel responded cheekily with, not rising to the bate. He could feel those eyes on him as he turned off the spray, wrapping a towel temporarily around his waist as he started for the tub. The towel hid the half mast erection he was sporting over just hearing Axel's flirtations. ...He was truly pathetic. "You got mad when I insulted your boyfriend,"

Riku's teeth grit at the carefully phrased words, not able to help but to bite back with, "I got angry when you 'pretended' to insult him."

Axel's eyes widened at that, honest curiosity filling his features. "Pretended?" Axel's mouth opened to respond further, before he seemed to realize something, and he let out a small laugh instead. "You're jealous of Sora. You're jealous of your own lover,"

"I'm not!" Riku bit back, fingers sliding through the hot water. "Can you just go? I can get back to my room."

"You are!" Axel chuckled at him, annoyance being replaced by amusement as he was all grins. "You're jealous of that scrawny brat!" Riku narrowed his eyes, about to yell when Axel stalked forward, shoving him back hard off the edge of the tub to splash back into the quickly filling water, towel and all.

Riku yelped, shooting up out of the water to yell at the redhead, only to gasp as Axel clambored in right after him, still fully clothed as his knees sunk to either side of his hips and his mouth was quickly claimed as Axel yanked it towards him.

He whined in need as his hands came to wrap around the nobody's neck, tongue pressing against the others as he was yanked up and onto Axel's lap. Water spilled over the side of the tub, still running as Riku ate at the mouth pressed against his as if were drowning. He kissed him with the desperation of the darkness, even though with the collar on he could hardly even taste it on his lips.

Riku's fingers worked almost desperately at the now soaking wet cloak, getting it unzipped and revealing the red tank and tight black jeans underneath. He moaned as he pressed his palm against those jeans, biting along Axel's neck as he rubbed at the hardness he found there. "You want me," he said before he could help himself, kissing him deeply again as he moaned wantonly into his mouth, pressing his barely covered crotch against the other to show just how much he wanted the nobody in return. Three weeks. It had been three weeks and he was becoming just as addicted to this as the darkness itself. Only he was positive that in the end Axel would be far more dangerous. Far more volatile...his nobody of fire.

Axel ripped him away, panting slightly as he examined his pleasure blown eyes. "You want me to show you how much I want you?" The nobody husked, and Riku felt his breath hitch in fear at what that could mean. They hadn't gone further than blowjobs. Not since that night...he hadn't been with him sober. Riku touched the collar pressed to his throat, watching Axel's eyes narrow.

"I'm not taking it off," Axel assured him, hands dragging down his wet flesh, throwing the towel over the side of the tub. "I told you I wanted to know the difference."

Aqua eyes fell at that, insecurities bubbling to the surface. His wet locks fell in front of his face, hiding his nervousness as he dragged his palm away from the other's crotch. "It'll just disappoint you,"

He was met with chuckling, which caused him to shoot his head up in a glare. "Don't laugh at me!"

The redhead just chuckled harder. "Don't be so stupid then," he admonished, leaning into to kiss him. "Do you know how hard these last three weeks have been for me?" Riku opened his mouth to tell him off, but Axel covered it with a gloved palm. "Because I've wanted to fuck you so bad...not for whatever it is you're telling yourself in that messed up head of yours. But you're not ready…" He leaned in to Riku's ear. "Not yet," he pulled Riku's palm and pressed it back to his wet jeans. "Your turn."

Riku locked eyes with the nobody, popping open a wet button under the water. His slim dexterous fingers slid under the waistband, kissing Axel at the same moment as he grabbed his cock.

"Axel!" A voice interrupted, as a fist pounded on the door. "Yo buddy, you in there?" Demyx. Of course it had to be Demyx.

'Keep going.' Axel mouthed at him, working to slide down his pants as Riku stared at the engorged flesh in his hands in the water. "Yeah man, what is it?" Axel yelled back, voice annoyed but breathy as Riku began to run his hand up and down.

"Saix needs to see you and Riku immediately. Like immediate immediately. Like right now immediately!" he said with excited nervousness.

Riku's pumping stilled at the same time as Axel groaned, reaching up to touch his neck almost reverently under the collar. Saix had choked him the last time they met. What was he going to do this time?

Axel stared forlornly at his hard cock in Riku's now limp hand, sighing with frustration as he pushed the other away altogether. "Blue balls again...my favorite," he managed under his breath.

"Axel?" Demyx said through the doorway, obviously anxious that the other nobody hadn't responded. "You know where Riku is right...I mean...you normally know...because...you know…"

Riku knitted his eyebrows as he watched the door. "You told him!?" Why would he? Axel had sworn he wouldn't tell. He had promised to protect him.

"No Riku I…" Riku got out of the tub, water splashing everywhere as he grabbed for a towel, wrapping it around his waist as he scurried over to the robes.

"Asshole…" He murmured under his breath, cheeks on fire as he covered up.

Axel just shook his head, slipping out of the water and ripping open the door, dragging Demyx in by the front of the robes and slamming it behind him. "Hey, when I'm fucking the help, could you please try to keep it to yourself!? You know half the bitches in here are spies for Saix."

Riku spun on his heels to glare at Axel, hair and legs dripping as his cheeks were burning hot. "The help?"

"Yeah the fucking help!" Axel barked at him, and Riku's anger was doused with ice water. "I don't have time to reassure you on every last thing I say! Saix finds out about us and we're both fucking dead. Clear enough for you, Princess!?"

It shouldn't have hurt as much as it did. It shouldn't have felt quite like being slapped. It did though, and he would examine that particular part of his psyche later. "Crystal," he managed, looking over to Demyx who was staring wide eyed at his half nude form. "Demyx," he greeted.

"Riku," Demyx stopped him. "I'm sorry," he managed.

Axel snorted, shaking his head. "And just why the hell are you apologizing to him, dumbass?" he managed teasingly.

"Well…" Demyx thought about it, giving a shrug. "Because you should be."

A small smile came to his face, cutting through the hurt surrounding his heart. "Thank you for the message," he managed before exiting through the door. The asshole of a nobody could find his own way to his latest dished out torture.

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