Author's Notes: So, here we go. Things may seem a little loose at the moment, but it'll tighten up as we go. A little more downtime before we go into the romantic "Part Two" of this story. Yep - up ahead there's going to be more relationship developments than before, so that's going to become the center focus for a while.

Thank you for your reviews, guys! You all are a great audience of readers, and I appreciate your support. I hope you see this through to the end, because I'm not gonna stop until this is done!

Here's a new chapter - have fun and enjoy!

EDIT

This was spliced into the proper "Part Two" of the story on Tuesday, June 13th, 2006.

Part Two

"Intertwining"

Chapter 24

"Nightfall and Downtime"

That Saturday evening, the boys found themselves camping out on the side of the highway, having stopped by a Seven-Eleven and picked up munchies and cherry-flavored soda for dinner. With money that hadn't been theirs. Riku didn't know where he was driving to, and Sora didn't know what he'd gotten into. He and Riku hadn't spoken so much as a few words to each other since Riku drove them out of the cul-de-sac. Now here they were, car turned off, headlights off, freezing in the car and eating Doritos and Twinkies while drinking soda that had turned flat and warm.

Sora, thanks to Riku's trip to the thrift shop, was now wearing boxers, a pair of khaki cargo jeans and a shirt that barely fit him with the brand of SomethingAwfulon the front. Hell, Sora didn't even know what SomethingAwful was. He didn't care what was on the shirt, but he did care that it was tight to his torso and was making him all the more cold.

Swallowing some soda in the silence as Riku nibbled a Twinkie, Sora stared out the windshield, and he finally sighed and rubbed his arms to try and keep warm.

"You bought me the wrong shirt size."

Riku bit the Twinkie. "I was in a hurry."

"It's cold," Sora complained.

Riku answered pointedly, "It's fall. It's fifty-two degrees outside and it's dark."

Sora gritted his teeth. "You forced me into this."

Riku turned and looked at Sora. For the first time in years, since they had left, his eyes actually held some sense of level-headedness and normality in them.

"If I had left you there, Ansem would have grilled you well-done."

"But what about my family!" Sora glared at him. "Did you think about that? I have people that care about me—people that I have to be with! I don't care about Ansem! I wanted to help you, Riku, but this—"

"Go back and you'll die. It's not a joke, it's fact." Riku ate another bite of his snack. "I came close to death several times in that house. He tried to make me wear a frilly pink dress once." Riku swallowed. "I fought him until I spent the night bleeding myself to sleep. I'm lucky he felt the obligation to nurse me back to health or I would have died by hemorrhage."

Sora's bottom lip stuck out in a pout. "I'm not going to keep feeling sorry for you—now you're just making up leverage to keep me here!"

Riku rolled his eyes and his hands flung up, and he dropped the Twinkie in his lap as he slapped his palms onto the ledge of the door window and the cupholder. He sneered at Sora.

"Fine. Fuck it. I'm lonely. Is that what you want to hear?"

"Stop being so stubborn!"

"Get used to it." Riku finished off his munchie. "I won't take you back."

"This is kidnapping!" Sora cried. "You can't keep me here against my will, take me back to my house!"

"Did you hear a word of what I said? We'll die."

"See—you're still scared of him, and you won't admit it!" Riku's lips pressed thin and he clenched his teeth. "You won't go back because you think that if you do, he'll have power over you again! That's it, isn't it? You totally didn't think this out and—"

Riku lunged across and grabbed Sora's shirt, wrapping it in his fist and pulling him in. "Look," he snarled, "I'm not going back to that life. I'm never going back to that place again, and I'm not turning around. You're safer running with me than you are hanging around the neighborhood while Ansem looks for a substitute."

Sora blinked dubiously. "Substitute?" he laughed.

"It's not funny!" Riku shook Sora. "He's sick enough to do it. He'll ruin my life and then focus on yours! And if that won't work, Roxas and Tidus…" he trailed off, his eyes full of worry. Sora paused for a moment, staring into them, and then Riku drew back and slumped in his seat with a huff. Sora curled his legs up against him and hugged them with his arms, trying to keep warm.

"…If you're going to keep going, are you really going to spend your whole time stealing money and clothes?"

"I'll steal a car if I have to." Riku grunted.

"That's not right!" Sora argued. "Riku…you really do need to just find someplace to stay…"

Riku sighed. "Good, then, got any brilliant ideas Sherlock?"

Sora frowned. He opened his mouth to speak, but then the words left him when he realized he had none. He flitted his eyes away, and sighed, adjusting the seat to lay back.

"I thought so." Riku crawled into the back seat to lay down. "This'll be fine for now."

"How do we know a cop won't find us?"

"Because they're fat, stupid and blind as bats."

Sora pouted. "That's not very nice of you to say."

His companion snorted and lifted up an exxagerating arm as it waved through the air. "Who are you, Morel Orel? Goodnight. I'm going to sleep."

Sora sighed and tucked his bare feet up against his thighs, wrapping his arms around himself and shrugging his shoulders up to his ears. Several minutes passed. He was still cold, and he might even be shivering a little. It never got this cold out where he lived unless it was winter, and he hated winter.

He heard a sigh. "Are you really that cold?"

"Yes." Sora grumbled, shuddering. "It's freezing."

Sora heard some shuffling of clothes, and then blinked as a school coat was draped over his shoulders.

"Wuss."

Sora looked up and stared at Riku, a little surprised. Some of his scars were visible under the shirt he wore, but for the most part they were covered up. That didn't make them go away, however. The brunet crinkled his brow, his lips puckering as he thought.

"…Thanks," he said quietly, snuggling up under the oversized coat. Riku just turned to face the back of the seat and hugged his arms to his body.

"Whatever…"

Sora now listened to the sound of highway traffic outside as he tried to drift off into Dreamland. He was having difficulty doing so with so much on his mind. He didn't like being held here, but he knew Riku wasn't giving him the choice.

I wonder how Kairi's doing, he thought. She must be worried. She might have seen me on the news. Sora pondered on that. He remembered Kairi's face, her smile, her pretty red hair blowing in the wind and the way that she laughed. It made him smile, too.

To help him sleep, Sora let his mind wander, and he imagined what it would be like to see Kairi, to hug her and tell her he was okay, and then to kiss her just to show her how much she meant to him. It wouldn't be a deep kiss, but it would be passionate, and he would hold her and run his fingers through rich auburn-red hair. The thought of hugging Kairi's body to his made Sora's hormonal teenage thoughts shift tracks and roll on a different tangent, and he went to bed with an unloved rush of testosterone stirring down south. But the images did help him sleep better.

Thinking of Kairi always made him feel better.

Author's Notes: So now, it appears Riku is going to even out in his previous half-madness. Sorry, guys, Sora's not gay/bi yet. Yeah, I just had to remind you of that. Don't worry. It'll blow over soon enough.