An Exchange Student

Chapter 10

The next two weeks went by in a blur. Roxas was getting frustrated. His brother just was so damn stubborn sometimes. Many times Sora had cried to Roxas about how much he liked Riku, but even though Roxas told Sora to confess to Riku, Sora had just avoided the boy all together.

Riku had lost all hope on ever getting Sora. He seemed so depressed that even Cloud and Leon had noticed that something was wrong.

Riku had fit in great in his new school, he had immediately become the most popular guy in the school. All the girls – and some of the boys – were daydreaming about him and all the guys wanted to be him. Riku wasn't entirely sure, but once or twice he had seen Sora look at him sadly when he had been talking to some of the girls, who claimed to have established a fanclub for him.

Roxas had had enough of it.

oOo

"Well, bye then, take care of yourselves. And we don't want to come home and find out you've thrown a party here!" Cloud warned. He and Leon were going on a weekend trip to a holiday resort to celebrate their 15th anniversary.

"Yeah, yeah, we know!" Sora said.

"And make sure to eat properly!"
"Of course, Cloud. Sora will cook a nice home-made meal every day", Roxas promised.

"Yeah, Cl – hey what!" Sora cried out.

"Call us if anything – and I mean anything – is wrong, ok?"

"Sure thing", Riku said.

"Lock the doors before you fall asleep, right?"

"My god, Leon, take him away already!" Roxas sighed. Leon laughed and dragged the pouting Cloud into the car.

"Bye, boys, be good!" Leon waved and then they were off.

oOo

"Well, I'm off to a hot date", Roxas announced the same evening.

"W-wha? A hot date?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, I told you about the hot waiter I saw the other day, right? Well, I asked him out! His name is Axel and oh my god, he's hot!" Roxas squealed.

"Yo-you're going out? But they said there's gonna be a huge thunderstorm this night! You know I hate them!" Sora shrieked. Yeah, I know… Roxas thought and snickered inwardly.

"You'll be fine, I don't think there's gonna be a blackout this time…" Roxas said.

"A-a blackout?! You know I'm afraid of the dark!" Sora said, on the verge of tears this time. Oh, I know, my dear brother, Roxas thought.

"You can't leave me here alone!" Sora said.

"You're not alone; Riku's here!" Roxas said and then he disappeared into the darkening night.

oOo

Riku was laying on his bed, listening to some music on his iPod. He had noticed that a big thunderstorm had started outside. He just turned up the volume of the music to cover up the howling of the wind.

The lights flickered a few times and suddenly everything was pitch black. Oh you've got to be kidding me, he thought, turned off his iPod and got up to go and find some candles from downstairs. Riku grabbed a button up shirt to cover his half naked form before stepping out to the hall.

It was difficult, trying to find his way in the dark house. He stopped in front of what he thought was Sora's room when he heard a weird sniffling kind of noise. Riku knocked lightly on the door.

"Uhh… Sora?" he called quietly. When he got no answer, he opened the door. He could make out a shivering, sniffling form under Sora's desk.

"You ok?" Riku asked as he stepped in the room. The only answer he got was a heart-breaking sob.

Riku got down on his knees and crawled over to Sora.

"What's wrong, cutie?" he whispered. Sora whimpered and clung onto Riku.

"Are you afraid of thunderstorms? Or the dark? …Or both?" Riku asked. Sora nodded.

"Oh… Ok then… Well, don't be, I'm here, ok?" Riku said. Outside, the thunder roared and Sora covered his ears, screaming.

"That bad, huh? Well, umm… Come with me", Riku said and pulled the terrified boy with him as he left for the living room.

Next thing Sora knew was that he was curled up in a blanket on the couch. Riku was rattling around in the kitchen, trying to find some candles. Sora hadn't even heard some of the colourful words Riku let out while bumping into stuff.

Finally, after numerous curses and many bruises, Riku found his way out of the kitchen, with candles and matches in his hands. A few moments later the living room was swimming in the soft light of many burning candles scattered all around the living room.

"Is that enough?" Riku asked and glanced over to Sora. The smaller boy's tears had dried and he was staring up at Riku with his big baby blue eyes. When his and Riku's eyes met, Sora quickly turned away.

"Y-yes, thank you, that's fine."

Riku looked around.

"Well, isn't this romantic", Riku said jokingly, as he studied the living room. Sora blushed and they were wrapped up in an awkward silence.

"Umm… well, I guess I'm gonna go back upstairs and…"

"No!" Sora cried out abruptly. Riku looked taken aback. Sora slapped a hand on his mouth.

"I…I mean, I don't think I wanna be alone…" he mumbled. Riku grinned inwardly.

"Oh, that's fine, I'd be happy to stay here with you…uhh, I mean… Oh, whatever", Riku said and sat beside Sora.

"So…" Riku said. Sora was fiddling with the hem of his shirt.

"So, you're scared of thunderstorms?" Riku asked, and as if on cue, a huge flash of lightning illuminated the room and right after they could hear a loud roar of the thunder. Sora shrieked and suddenly Riku had his arms full of a trembling Sora.

"Shh, it's ok, nothing's gonna happen. You're safe with me", Riku comforted. He wrapped his arms around the small, shivering form. "You'll be just fine."

"I-I know", Sora whispered. Riku made the mistake of looking down at Sora.

The boy was looking adorable. His brown hair was a mess, strands of chocolate locks sticking out in every direction. The beautiful eyes were glittering with unshed tears and a dark blush had risen up on Sora's cheeks. Their eyes met again, but this time, Sora didn't look away.

Riku knew he should've thought about it before doing it, but he couldn't stop himself as he leaned down to press his lips on Sora's own. It wasn't a passionate kiss, it was just a gentle touch of lips, both of them were too scared to deepen it.

After a moment, a moment too short in Riku's opinion, Riku pulled away slowly. Sora blinked at him, looking dazed. Riku smiled timidly at him.

"I'm so –" he started, but was cut off by Sora yanking him down by the collar of his shirt and muffling his words with his lips.

This time, the kiss was completely different with teeth clashing and tongues battling for dominance. Riku lowered Sora down on the sofa, placing himself on top of him. Sora whimpered when he felt Riku slide a cold hand under his shirt.

Riku's lips left Sora's mouth and trailed down to place soft kisses to his jaw and neck. Sora started giggling.

"No, stop! Riku, that tickles!" Sora squealed. Riku lifted his head to look at Sora and smiled.

Sora lifted his hand to slide his fingers into Riku's silky hair.

"Riku…" he whispered. Riku moved his eyes from Sora's kiss-swollen lips to look Sora in the eyes.

"Sora", he said. A wide charming smile spread on his face and Sora felt like his heart skipped a beat.

"I… I've been really mean to you lately, haven't I?" Sora said. Riku chuckled.

"A bit, yes."

"B-but it's only because… I mean… I like you, Riku", Sora stuttered, looking at Riku with eyes full of hope.

Riku was speechless. He was sure this was a dream, and soon his alarm clock would start ringing and he would wake up, grumbling. Any moment now and he would wake up…

…But he didn't. Sora was staring at him, the hope in his eyes gradually turning into disappointment, then sadness, and Sora turned his eyes away.

"I like you too", he said abruptly, making Sora snap his gaze back on him.

"Y-you do? You mean…really, really like me? For real?" Sora asked. Riku chuckled.

"Yeah. I really, really, really like you."
"But I-I thought you were a womanizer, and you just wanted to tease me! That's why I was so mean to you. A-and all those girls you were talking with at school…" Sora babbled.

"You were jealous?" Riku asked, grinning. Sora blushed.

"What, me? No way…" he mumbled and Riku started laughing. "Don't laugh!"

"I'm sorry, you're just too cute", Riku chuckled. The blush on Sora's cheeks deepened.

"Oh, shut up…" he muttered and made Riku laugh again.

Riku turned them on the sofa, so that they were laying on their sides, facing each other. For a long time, they were just staring at each other, smiling goofily. Sora blinked slowly.

"Tired?" Riku asked. Sora nodded and curled up against Riku. Riku placed a soft kiss on Sora's forehead.

"Sleep, I'll protect you", was the last thing Sora heard Riku say before he fell asleep.

Sora didn't even notice anymore, that there was a thunderstorm raging outside.

A/N: Chapter 10 - complete! Didn't take that long this time, I'm so proud of myself.

Thanks, zero434 for the review ^^ It was the only reason I had enough motivation to finish this. How I wish there were more of reviews like that... *sniffle*

Please look forward to the next chappie, and leave lots of reviews ^^ Cookies for all!

- Lumeton