Riku's PoV
Sora's house wasn't anything like what I expected. It was quite small, and a tad rundown-looking, with peeling white paint over peach stucco. We went in a dark wooden door in the back that opened onto a concrete-floored hallway with a washer and dryer and two doors at one end. Sora led me through the door on the right, down a short hallway to an apparent dead end. There he opened what looked like a closet door to reveal a ladder up to the second floor. He climbed it quickly, talking softly.
"the entire second story is mine, or all four rooms of it, but the first floor is my dad's. watch your step getting out, I haven't cleaned in--- shit, Alex, what happened to you!" the last, I saw as I climbed into the room, was directed at a tall man sprawled hapazardly across the couch. His long black hair was caked with mud, and he had the beginings of a spectacular black eye, and blood was streaked randomly across his arms and chest, revealed by sharp slashes in his shirt. He looked like he'd come out the loser in a fight, but eyeing the wiry muscle that showed when he moved, I'd bet money the other guy looked worse.
"Hey Sora." The man, Alex I assumed, greeted him, "new boyfriend?" The last, I realized after a moment, was referring to me. I blushed, but Sora just laughed.
"as if. No, Riku doesn't swing that way." Sora answered, and I wondered for a moment at the other boy's assumption that if Sora brought home another guy, it was a date. Sora ran his hand along the other boy's jaw and stopped at the chin, tilting Alex's face to get a better look at the black eye. Alex allowed the caress with gentleness in his eyes I suspected was rare indeed, raising a hand to take Sora's in his own. I blushed again at the sensuality in the gesture. They were acting like old lovers. I cleared my throat, softly. They both jumped.
"in the kitchen," Sora pointed to a door on the far wall, "there should be a blue plastic box marked 'first aid kit'. Grab it?" he asked. I only nodded, though he wasn't even looking at me. There was a hard lump in my throat, and I couldn't speak around it. I headed into the kitchen, but there voices drifted to follow me. I grabbed the blue box, and paused near the door, listening.
"How did you get in, anyway? You're in no shape to have used the window route." Sora's voice was soft and gentle, and so trusting it sounded like someone else speaking. I had never heard him so calm. Alex's chuckle was barely audible, low and sensuous. Then Sora's laugh joined his. I walked back into the room, wondering what was so funny, to find Alex holding a brass key on a black cord, looped about his throat.
"you still have that, huh?" Sora asked Alex, taking the box from me. "God, it seems like it's been years. Thanks for getting the kit, Riku." I just watched, feeling like a third wheel, while Sora gently bandaged Alexiel's arm.
"You planning to introduce me?" The older boy asked, nudging Sora. I thought I saw a faint tinge of pink in the younger boy's cheeks.
"Sorry. Alex, this is Riku." He glared at Alex. "get your mind out of the gutter, I told you it's not like that. Riku, his royal tactlessness here is Alexiel."
"Actually, I mostly go by 'Hawk' now." The other boy interjected.
"some day, you will have to tell me how that happened." Sora was smiling softly, the happiness in his eyes plain for all to read. I took a moment to size up 'Hawk'. He was several inches taller than me, making him barely taller than Sora. Strait, blue-black hair fell to his shoulder blades, cut to frame his face, and dusky golden skin, slightly ashy from fatigue. His eyes were his really striking feature, though. A frosty grey the color of a wolf's pelt, cold and hard when they turned on me. He was built fairly lightly, but only a fool would miss the quiet grace he moved with, or the wiry muscle hidden beneath an almost foppish exterior. It was clear why Sora respected him; I had expected him to be strong, but his beauty surprised me, sharp steel lightly masked with soft silk. The pang of emotion, wild and nameless, was just as surprising. It was like being pricked with a rose thorn all over.
"I should go home now," I told Sora, "See you at school tomorrow."
"I'll walk you out." He said, not even trying to detain me. I wished he would try. For some reason my chest didn't feel quite right and my eyes prickled suspiciously. When we got outside, the sky was nearly black with storm clouds, and the wind had picked up, whistling almost mournfully. I trudged home slowly, and the rain began when I was less than halfway home. I tilted my face up and let the rain fall on it, feeling my eyes burn and wondering, bitterly, why all the rain tasted ever so slightly like salt.
Sora's PoV
I had always loved the rain. It tapped patterns on the windows, and ran in streams down the glass. Alex's arms around my shoulders weren't bad, either. I leaned back against his chest.
"I missed you." I said. "it's been months." In fact, I hadn't seen him more than twice since we had broken up. He hugged me a little closer.
"I missed you too. I just wasn't sure you wanted to see me." He chuckled slightly, and his tone turned teasing. "besides, you seem to have found a replacement quick enough." I heard the rumbling of quiet laughter in his chest.
"I told you, it's not like that. Not that I don't wish it were." My tone was light, but the words were serious.
"impure thoughts count, imp." His voice grew more serious, and soft enough to be almost hard to hear. "we weren't really a good couple anyway. I think we're better off as friends." A year ago, this pronouncement would have had me in tears. Now I smiled.
"you found someone else, too?" I teased, and heard the smile in Alex's reply.
"yes." He replied, and then continued, in the voice he always used for quoting poetry. "Life is a long trek through bitter desert, spotted with thorns and harsh with rock, watered only by the sky's tears. We walk, always into the sun, while the wind erases out path behind our feet. We cannot go back." Then, more softly still in his own voice, "we can never go back." My own reply was just as soft.
"no." I whispered, "we can't."
Ouch. I hadn't realized quite how short this one is. I like how it came out, but a bit more length would have been nice…. Thank you again for all your kind reviews, and who ever figures out what's special about the story/chapter titles gets a cookie.
Sorry and Thanks,
Dyslexic Angel