Sora grew worried when his dear friend's breaths had turned ragged. He could hear them, feel them scrape against his neck. It was making him feel more than a little odd. "Riku?" he called, tone thick with concern.

Riku had just resigned himself to calm down and finally accept the current events, but Sora's call roused his fears. He's going to think something is off, he worried, quickly moving his face back, looking up at the other boy.

Sora's breath hitched, seeing the state of him. Riku's face was reddened, his pale lips parted slightly as he took air in, quieter but still deeper than normal. Sora moved his fallen hand to Riku's forehead now, noting his flinch. "Are you feeling bad again?"

Riku looked down, clamping his mouth closed, annoyed at himself for not foreseeing this. What does my face look like, he wondered.

"You are kind of warm," Sora quietly added. I need to make him feel better. He shifted his hand up and through Riku's bangs, once against stroking his hair gently. That should help, he thought, seeing the other boy close his eyes in response. Sora then made it a point to relax his features into the kindest, most reassuring smile he had. "Did you have a nice dream?"

Riku's eyes shot open at the question. Ugh, he grimaced despite himself. I need to stop having such knee-jerk reactions. He breathed, squinting to meet Sora's gaze. Please look normal, he hoped.

Sora frowned. Riku looked very uncomfortable. "It was a bad dream?" He was quickly met with a stark expression and furious head shaking, tickling his palm slightly. He chuckled, the action and news returning his smile. "That's good."

Riku sighed, trying to calm himself down, letting his gaze drift downwards and away from the sun that was Sora's smile. As he forced darkness to his thoughts, he finally noticed Sora's body in more detail. Riku's eyes furrowed as he took in the bruises coloring the other boy's form, moving a hand to trace them softly.

Sora's features twisted, and though he tried to hold in his breath, a quiet 'Ow' escaped. Riku's hand froze, his eyes moving back up to the other boy's. He felt horrible upon seeing Sora's expression, but couldn't even apologize. He grit his teeth and moved his hand back to cradling Sora's back. At least this doesn't hurt him. Sora's hand fell away from Riku's head, moving to cup his cheek. Riku held his breath.

"It's okay," Sora reassured him. "I know that you were just trying to help me feel better, Riku." His thumb was stroking Riku's cheek ever so slightly, but the motion wasn't lost on him. Sora continued. "Have you seen yourself? I'm fine in comparison."

Riku looked down, taking in the various cuts, scabs and bruises dotting his own anatomy. He flinched his eyes closed, realizing that seeing it only made him hurt more.

Riku was still for a few moments, but suddenly he felt a warm calm envelope him. It started in his face, slowly spreading through the rest of him. He swore he could even feel his pain lessening. The whole experience gave him such peace, he nearly fell back asleep.

The warmth fell away, but he still felt significantly better. Sora's hand had fallen away. When Riku opened his eyes to see why, his breath hitched. Sora looked even worse than before, eyes closed and breaths deepened. Riku moved to speak, but his vocal chords only greeted him with a coughing fit.

Sora, you… He moved his hand to gently shake Sora's shoulder. The other boy's eyes opened weakly. "Sorry, Riku," he smiled. "I couldn't stand seeing you in pain, and," he breathed. "I had a little mana from resting." That's twice now, Riku thought bitterly, cursing his own poor state.

His face must have betrayed his feelings, because Sora's hand once again cupped his face. Riku tried to ignore how much weaker it felt this time. "Hey, don't be sad," Sora reprimanded him. "After I rest a bit more, we can go home."

Riku looked down, noting that the lacerations in his skin had healed over, but the bruises remained. It was enough to be out of immediate danger, but the two of them were still in bad shape. It's going to hurt walking back, Riku thought, not looking forward to the journey. He turned his attention back on the other boy, positioning his body higher, causing Sora to need to look up to him now. "Riku?" he questioned.

Riku's only response was pulling him against his chest, Sora's face neatly nestled against his neck now. He moved one hand to Sora's head, returning the action he had received earlier, as his other hand softly kneaded Sora's spine.

He was greeted with a puff of warm breath against his neck, no doubt in response to his actions. The smaller boy relaxed against him completely. "Riku," he breathed.

The larger boy hoped that the thrumming of his pounding heart couldn't be heard by the other boy, or worse, felt.

Sora felt so warm, so comforted, and strangely, nostalgic by the whole situation. Did we used to do this? He wondered vaguely, but he felt too weak to ask. Oh well.

After a few minutes, Sora's breaths indicated to Riku that he had fallen asleep. It's your turn to have sweet dreams now, he thought.

He hoped, however futile it was, that dream would involve him.

Sora had been sleeping in Riku's arms for a while now, but his heart wouldn't settle down. His tired arms paused, and he wanted more than anything to just look at his face. He bit back the desire with a deep sigh, knowing it wouldn't be worth potentially hurting or waking Sora up.

I wouldn't even be able to explain myself, he ruminated. Losing his voice was the most troublesome part of this whole thing. Without his words, he didn't know how to keep Sora from getting the wrong idea.

Yeah, wrong idea, he echoed in his mind, shielding himself from his motivations. He felt more than a little sick at the thought of using their compromised conditions to get closer to Sora in a way he might not want.

He… Riku didn't want to continue thinking, choosing instead to focus only on resuming the motions against the other boy's hair. Move, hand. Up and down. Now, slowly raise your fingers. Gently up and down, he focused. I don't want to think.

I don't want to think about… her.

He bit his lip, and tasted the slight hint of iron.