Disclaimer: I don't own any characters involved in this story, although I have named a couple of locations.

Warning: love begins to blossom in the form of yaoi (boy x boy), so if you're offended by such, please stop reading!

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Chapter 3: Feelings

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Sora noticed Tidus' bedroom light hadn't turned off in a couple of days, even in the wee hours of the morning when Sora got out of bed for a glass of water or to use the bathroom. It was plaguing him, not knowing what was going on in that house.

It was the evening of Wakka's run-in with Jecht, and everyone had gathered outside of Riku's house to talk to the silver-haired boy about Tidus. No one seemed particularly happy that Riku wouldn't convey the reasoning behind Tidus' grounding, but Sora smiled inwardly, not letting one cross his face.

He made a promise, and he's keeping it, Sora thought. It's sweet how he's making a stand for Tidus' privacy. Sora smirked. It's kind of annoying, too.

Wakka growled at Riku. "Tell me!" he cried, showing the boy a fist and a snarl.

Riku sat down on the porch and shook his head. "I said no," he grunted. "How many times will I have to tell you guys that I'm not going to tell you what's up?"

"Then what did we come here for?" Kairi asked the kid with a huff. "I mean, you were the one who called us all here."

Everyone added their agreement to Kairi's statement, to which Riku nodded. "I did. And I'll do better than tell you why you're here," he added, pointing. "I'll show you."

Riku's finger was pointing straight at Wakka, who was standing directly in Riku's line of sight with Tidus' house. Confused, everyone looked at Wakka, then beyond him, towards Tidus' house.

Tidus was sitting on the front porch with his hands holding his chin, propped on his knees. He looked downright miserable.

"Tidus!" Selphie cried, taking off at a run towards the sitting blonde. Tidus saw the girl and jumped to his feet and dashed towards the street. The two intercepted each other in the center of the street in a bear hug.

"That's kind of cute," Kairi giggled, running after the younger brunette.

Wakka stood still as Sora went shooting past, out towards Tidus. The redhead looked back at Riku, sitting on his front step. "He's not ungrounded, is he?" the inquiry was more of a statement than an actual question.

Riku nodded slowly and sadly. "Exactly right." The white-haired boy's gaze caught Wakka's dead-on. "Every night, for ten minutes, Jecht lets Tidus out of the house to sit on the front step. Ten minutes exactly. No more, no less. And Jecht watches the entire time," he added, pointing to a window next to Tidus' front door. Wakka followed the finger and noticed Jecht's bulky frame watching the boy like a hawk from inside a dark living room.

"Ten minutes, eh?" Wakka replied quietly, his eyes full of sadness. He straightened his spine and started walking towards the group in the middle of the street. He was nearly thrown off-balance by a hand grabbing his wrist. Looking back, the redhead saw Riku latched onto his arm. "Let go, Riku! I want to go say hi to Tidus!" Wakka commanded, trying to shake Riku off of his arm.

Riku held on tightly. "I don't think so. This is the only freedom that Tidus gets from his house on a daily basis now, Wakka. After what happened earlier today, do you really think that Jecht will allow Tidus to go out every night if he sees you out there?"

Wakka felt a pang of sorrow in his chest. Realization hit him like a ton of bricks. Riku was right – if he, Wakka, was truly the one responsible for Tidus' grounding, then Jecht wouldn't let him go out of the house at all if Wakka showed up whenever he was free, even if it was for only ten minutes. Wakka blinked in understanding, his breathing slowing to a crawl. Finally, Riku felt Wakka's arm go limp, and he released the redhead's wrist.

"I'm sorry," Riku murmured from behind Wakka, who acted like he didn't even hear the boy.

Wakka watched as Selphie, Sora, and Kairi hugged and chatted with Tidus, who was smiling like he had received a year's supply of candy. Just seeing his friends again had renewed his energy. Tears welled up in the redhead's eyes when he realized that he couldn't go over to say hi to his friend and risk the happiness of ten minutes with everyone else. Wakka turned on his heel and headed towards the back of Riku's house, not wanting anyone to see him crying.

Tidus noticed a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye, and his attention was drawn to Riku's house. Tidus' heart sank when he saw Wakka rounding the corner of Riku's house with a hand over his eyes. The redhead was storming back behind Riku's house, towards his own back yard. Suddenly the cheerful conversations of Sora and the others directly in front of Tidus meant nothing to him. The blonde wasn't interested in hearing what they had to say anymore. Tears started to well into the corners of Tidus' eyes, but he forced them down. He didn't want the others to be more worried than they already were.

Tidus saw Riku stand and give the blonde a reaffirming nod. He hadn't told the others the reason that Tidus had been grounded. That was good. Tidus didn't think that the others were ready to hear it just yet. Riku turned and headed inside his house, leaving the group to continue to question Tidus about his grounding, questions that he didn't answer.

Finally, Sora rolled his eyes. "I don't get it," he said, almost whining, "first Riku won't tell us, now you won't? What's the big deal? We all get grounded, and we all get ungrounded. Just tell us why you can't come out and play!" he almost yelled at the blonde.

Tidus' eyes teared up and he backed up from the group. "I-I'm sorry," he replied in a whisper, tears falling from his face. "I can't."

Kairi's expression turned from happy and giggling to worried to understanding within a mere moment. "It's not that you don't want to tell us," she said in a whisper, "but you can't tell us, or something will happen to you."

Tidus' silence confirmed Kairi's theory. Her eyes teared up and she gave Tidus a hug. "Oh, Tidus, don't worry. We won't ask you any more. It has to hurt, not being able to tell your friends the truth. Don't worry about us. We'll wait until you're ungrounded. How does that sound?" she asked, pulling away from the blonde.

Tidus didn't know what to say. Kairi was always so understanding about these things, and if she said that they wouldn't ask about his situation any more, Tidus knew that she would go out of her way to keep that promise. The blonde just nodded and returned Kairi's hug.

Inside Tidus' house, Jecht's eyes softened, but it was time already.

Tidus gave Selphie another hug and she giggled as she handed him a Sugar Twang, to which Tidus grinned. Selphie was always giving everyone candy.

"Tidus," the blonde's father called from the front door. Tidus cringed at the sound of Jecht's voice.

"Coming," Tidus called back. He gave each of the girls one last hug and did a secret handshake with Sora before heading towards the house. Kairi's eyes were still damp with tears and Selphie was waving frantically. Sora gave Tidus a nod when he stopped in his doorway to take one last look at his friends before heading inside the house. Finally, the blonde disappeared behind the front door of his house, leaving his friends in the dark street.

"What's going on, Kairi?" Sora asked the brunette, who was watching the house with a tear falling down her cheek.

"I think Tidus is being beaten," Kairi whispered. Selphie and Sora stepped back in shock.

"What makes you say that, Kairi?" Selphie asked, drawing in closer to her friend.

Kairi closed her eyes and slowly shook her head. "I…I don't really know. I guess it's just a feeling, but Tidus pretty well admitted it with that silence."

"Can't we do anything?" Sora asked. "If Tidus is actually being beaten, we could try to get him out of that house or something, you know?"

Kairi sighed. "It wouldn't be that simple if we tried, I'm sure. These kinds of situations are extremely delicate." She turned and started walking down the street, towards her house, closer to the pier. "I'm going to bed," she told the others. "I need to do some thinking. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

As Kairi walked off, Selphie kicked the asphalt. "This isn't cool," she muttered, uncharacteristically quiet. Sora nodded.

"We can't do anything about it tonight," the boy replied. "We should head home."

Selphie nodded reluctantly and headed down the street, away from the piers, towards her house, while Sora walked up to his front door, right next to Tidus' house. Sora slowly turned the doorknob and opened the door, catching one last glimpse of Tidus' lit window before entering his own house.

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Tidus sat on his bed with his knees drawn up to him, tears rolling down his cheeks. He had been so happy to see his friends again. It had been an entire week since he'd seen them last, and for any teen, that's entirely too long to go without contact with your friends. He had been ecstatic to see them all again. But when he looked away…

When Tidus saw Wakka running around Riku's house, headed for his own home, Tidus felt like screaming.

Remembering this, Tidus drew his knees closer to him. The blonde closed his eyes and tried to imagine the times that he and the others, that he and Wakka, had had together, but nothing came to him. Only the image of Wakka running away from him poked into his consciousness.

Tidus fell onto his side, his knees still curled up to him. He started to cry.

Don't run, Wakka. Come back. I don't want to…no, Wakka, don't go…I want you to come back…Please, Wakka, come back. Please…

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Commence heart-wrenching sobs. cries I shall finally reveal the truth soon…although I shall not reveal when! 3 Aren't I evil? Read and review if you'd like.