Author's Notes: Thank you for your continuous reading, everyone. I was surprised to actually see a couple of lurkers coming out and giving praise. Thank you for your support!

So, here it is. I was again unsure about the pace in this chapter, but all in all, I think it turned out well. It's nice to actually slow things down a little bit, you know? I'm going to like focusing on something other than angst for a change.

Enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 25

"It's Like Sex, But It's Not."

Sora was up by seven the next morning. The highway traffic was unbearably loud, and there was knocking on the window.

Wait. Knocking.

Uh-oh, not good.

He sat up sharply, wincing a little as the t-shirt rubbed against his still half-open slash wound on his chest. By now it was pretty much scabbed over, but there was still a clean red streak across the shirt, beginning to turn caked and brown. He heard knocking again.

"Helloooo!" cried a voice through the glass.

Riku moaned and rolled over lazily in the back seat as Sora put his own upright again, and coiled back to come face-to-face with a person so covered in pink it was almost blinding.

"Who the fuck is it!" Riku shouted. The Pink Man clicked his tongue.

"Temper, temper! Ruuuude."

Sora turned the car to "on" but didn't start it, and rolled the window down halfway. The guy didn't look like a cop, after all. "I'm sorry, we're not having any car troubles if that's what you're asking."

"Oh, no!" The man shook his head. "But, uh, weren't you two on the news last night?"

Sora paled. Riku thrust his head out. "Go away." he hissed.

"But don't you two need a place to stay?"

Sora paused, surprised. "…Why do you want to help us?"

The man scoffed. "Are you kidding? Like, half my complex is practically dying inside for you. The media racked up such a sympathy rate, oh! It's just di-SASTROUS!" (Here the man flicked his flimsy wrist, and Sora couldn't help but stare.) "The police are SO upset."

"A little early for Christmas Giving, isn't it?" Riku hissed, getting into the driver's seat and starting the car. "Go away."

"Riku!"

"No, no, no, wait!" The man banged his hands on the car. "Seriously, I know the perfect place for you two to go, if you'll just follow me! It's the silver Saturn in front of you, see? I was meaning to stop by his house anyway."

Riku glared at the man. "Why the fuck should we trust you?"

He held up his hands, looking defensive. "Puh. Do I look like I'd turn you in?" Riku narrowed his eyes, Sora nervously shifted in his seat, and the man looked around idly.

"You know what might be betterrr?" he suddenly cooed. "You can just ride with me—I'll betcha the fuzzies are lookin' for you right now."

Sora glanced at Riku sideways. He leaned over, and whispered, "You know, we don't really have a lot of options…"

"I have Cheetos!" said the Pink Man. "Makes a nice cheesy breakfast!"

There was a long silence, and then Riku sighed and turned the car off. "Fine."

The Pink Man shook his fist. "Good choice, Riku!" He paused, backtracking. "Oh, excuse me. That is so unfair of me." He put his hands delicately on his chest. "My name is Marluxia. There, now we all know each other's names!"

"Great." Riku got out of the car, and Sora followed suit. Marluxia just smiled and led them both into his car. Sora sat up front, and Riku sat in the back.

"So…who are you taking us to?" Sora asked. Marluxia just grinned and pulled out into the highway when it was safe.

"Weeell," he started, "Let's just sayyy…he's…very popular. Aaand, you know him very well…" he smirked, "aaand, he has lots of playmates for you!"

"Playmates?"

"Don't dodge the bush, just tell us." Riku grunted. Marluxia grinned at him over the back seat.

"Okay, have it your way. His name is…Cloud Strife."

Sora's eyes widened. "WHAT?"

For all practical purposes, it was just as well that Marluxia picked them up. Someone had reported them on the road that morning, and ten minutes after they'd driven away, the police found their abandoned red Sedan on the side of the road.

"Dammit." Cursed Officer White, who had been on duty for this since Saturday.

"Sora's mother called and asked if we'd gotten a lead," said his partner. "Maybe we should call back and keep her posted."

Officer White shook his head. "Maybe someone saw them take off."

"I doubt it. Do you know many people who stop in the middle of a major highway to double-check a Grand Theft Auto?"

"We'll have to try. That boy's gotta go home, and he's kidnapped the Misses' son."

When they had been on the road for thirty minutes, they passed a green information sign, and Sora read it with some interest.

BURMECIA 5 MILES

ESTHAR 20 MILES

"Oh my God, did we drive that far?" Sora gasped. Burmecia was the next big city near Alexandria, which was more of a collection of counties—not really a city. It was…how long had they spent driving, again?

"I drove all day and night, Sora." Riku pointed out. "You cover a lot of distance when you drive from two P.M. to midnight."

"You can forget about the hike home, honey!" laughed Marluxia. Sora was already feeling a little homesick. Marluxia was right—for one thing, he still only had his driving permit (he'd earned it only a few months before they'd moved), and for another, he was so directionally challenged that he would get lost on the way there. He still had trouble remembering the differences between a number for a Route and a beltway. He sighed and relaxed (reluctantly) in his seat.

Silence for a while—then Sora heard something. Crying. Or laughing.

He frowned and turned around to look at Riku. "Hey…are you okay?"

Riku's shoulders were shaking with laughter, and he was bent over, his head in his hands. He wouldn't stop laughing—he leaned back, head tossed back as he pulled his hands down over his face, and ran them up through his hair, covering his face again.

"Ohhh, God!"

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing!" Riku laughed. "It's just…I mean…" Riku looked down at his hands, and laughed some more, his eyes shining, his smile wide. He bent over again and chuckled, then sat up and smacked his hands on his legs.

"I could cum all over my pants right now, and I wouldn't give a flying fuck." He nodded, seemingly satisfied with this off-the-wall answer. "That's what it's like."

Sora opened his mouth to respond, then closed it. Marluxia was giggling up front and mumbled something, and Sora pivoted to face front. Ooookay. Obviously, he's happy.

But wouldn't that make sense? After all, Riku had just escaped a lifetime of abuse from the person he must have at first thought would treat him like real family. That was definitely something to celebrate. He smiled—at least, now, Riku was able to freely laugh and smile and to be himself. Since they'd left, he'd gradually begun to return to what he suspected was the real Riku. And that made Sora feel happy. Riku was going to heal. It would take time, but he would heal.

"It's like sex, but it's not." Riku said.

"I hope not." Marluxia teased. "We wouldn't want you making a mess all over my car…"

"Bullshit," laughed Riku. "I'll mess it up if I want…"

"Oh no you won't!" cried Marluxia. "I'll dump you right on the side of the road, I will!"

Thus Riku decided it would be best to keep his dick in his pants. (Not that he'd planned to take it out, anyway.)

Sora had thought it would be a wonder just to see Burmecia, but now he was in awe at the thousands of acres of green. As they approached the suburbs of the city, there were acres upon endless acres of land, all of it someone's back yard, front yard, or a massive golf course. And the houses were gigantic!

"Everything's so huge," he gasped in awe.

"White collar suburbs for the rich people," Marluxia said with a shrug. "What do you expect?"

"Don't let your eyes fall out, Country Boy." Sora pouted at Riku and stared ahead, trying to cover up his continuing amazement with little success. Marluxia began to pull up to a house with two stories (and a basement, which they didn't see yet) and thousands of acres of land. Toys and bikes were all scattered around the front yard and there was a woman with short gray hair cleaning it all up. She stared at Marluxia's car, and Sora noticed she had an eyepatch.

"What happened to her?" Riku wondered.

Marluxia rolled his window down as she approached and smiled. "Fuujiiin! Heeyyy!"

"MORNING." Fuujin grunted. Sora coiled at the tone, and Marluxia smirked.

"Don't worry, she's always like this."

Fuujin looked between Marluxia, Sora, and then Riku—and she looked very surprised. Then angry as she glared at the pink-haired man. Riku and Sora just watched silently as the scenario unfolded.

"BOYS."

"Ta-daaa!" cried Marluxia. He whispered to her, "Fugitives from Afar!"

Fuujin jabbed Marluxia's arm. "RECKLESS."

"Well, they're not coming back with me!"

"RECKLESS." Fuujin cursed, hissing at him. "CLOUD, FULL!"

"Why don't we ask him?" Marluxia held his hands up in prayer. "Pleeease, Fuu? I already brought them to the driveway."

Fuujin glared at Riku and Sora, and growled. Riku stared back at her when she leered at him.

"You have something for me, One-Eye?"

Fuujin scowled and stormed off into the house without a word. Sora frowned.

"Riku, that wasn't very nice."

"Hey, when the cobra spits, spit back."

"That would make one very angry cobra," Marluxia muttered. "Fuujin's nasty when she's upset. You might wanna learn to bite your tongue around her. She doesn't say much, but she's a time bomb, I'll tell you that." Marluxia laughed. "Ten to zero, boom! Mushroom cloud!"

Sora examined Cloud's house with awe. Riku watched him from the back, and he grinned.

"Country Boy likes."

"Shut up," groaned Sora. A few moments later, Cloud was meeting Marluxia inside, and had reluctantly ushered Riku and Sora in as well. They were just lucky the cops patrolling the neighborhood were currently off-duty and that the paparazzi weren't around.

"I can't believe you'd do this to me." Cloud grumbled. "Why did you bring them here?"

"They're not coming with me!"

"And why the heck not!" Cloud cried. "I have enough mouths to feed, Marluxia. I can't believe you'd bring two boys, let alone fugitives into my house."

"Get off me," Riku growled, nudging away a little ten-year-old boy who was asking him far too many questions. Sora was trying to cheer up the situation by entertaining the little ones with impressions of people and funny faces. He was succeeding with a high percentage rate. After all, he'd taken care of Selphie.

"They're not fugitives! Well…" Marluxia made hand gestures as he spoke. "Think of them as children without a home."

Cloud growled. "Marluxia, I don't know if I can even afford it, okay? Even my wallet's tight these days. Damn economy's been slipping like soap on tile."

"RECKLESS," hissed Fuujin.

"You're gettin' Cloud in a whole lotta trouble, ya know?"

"Dumb cameraman." Seifer crossed his arms. "You know, it could have been a whole lot simpler if you'd just taken them with you."

"They're bad luck for my plants!" Marluxia whined. "My babies need a very specific balance of aura."

"What sort of bullshit reason is that!" Riku snarled. Cloud winced.

"Please…there are children in the room."

Riku rolled his eyes and spread his arms out, gesturing to the thousands of little kids flocking around him. "Like I didn't figure that out sooner."

"Marluxia, this is going to kill me. The press is going to come straight back to me for the big news stories now." Cloud grumbled. "They were all focused on those two boys…and now you brought them to MY house. We just got rid of all the wire taps on our phone…God, I can't believe this." Cloud began to pace, running his fingers through his hair. He sighed and turned, whistling.

"Everyone clear out!"

"Awwwww!" groaned the children.

"But we wanna play with Sora!" Vivi whined.

"Sorry, kids, the grown-ups have to talk." Cloud pointed to the stairs. "Go and play in the upstairs rooms, or in the basement! Come on, file out, I won't repeat myself!"

"It's okay—I'll come with you guys, how does that sound?"

"YAY!" cried the children, ushering Sora into the basement and stampeding down the stairs. Riku shook his head. When silence ensued, he raised his hands up.

"Oh Lord, I praise thee!" he said, mimicking a preacher.

"Silence IS golden in this house." Cloud explained. He sat down on one of the three couches with Fuu, Seifer and Rai. "Now, Marluxia…"

"Come on, Strife, you gotta take them in!"

"I told you, no."

Riku looked between Cloud and Marluxia as they started to bicker, and then finally raised his hand. "Erm. Can I say something?"

Cloud looked at him, and so did Marluxia.

"You know," Riku explained, "I left my fucking rapist's car on the side of the highway. Far as I can tell, if this prissy little Frill-Fest here is too chicken to take us back, you don't have a lot of choice."

"Frill-Fest?" whined the photographer.

"Come on, your flaming is so high, my Gaydar broke."

Seifer snorted and covered his hand with his mouth, hiding the biggest grin he'd had all day, and started chuckling. Marluxia just leered at Riku with his face bright red, and looked away with a "Hmf!", obviously offended.

Cloud blinked, and put his head in his hands, sighing. "Let me think." He muttered.

"Frankly, Mister Model-Person, you don't have a lot of time for that." Riku spread himself out on the third couch and stretched. "We either crash here or you take us back to the police, and the fucker makes me bleed again, God forbid that he's alive. I told Sora he shoulda let me strangle 'im…"

Fuujin whispered to Seifer, "PITY PLAY."

"No doubt about that." Seifer grumbled. "But he's got a point."

"I can't keep you from the authorities," Cloud said calmly. "I'm sure if you get a restraining order—"

Riku shot up, his eyes angry and flaring. "Like hell he'll listen to a restraining order! The sicko raped me since I was thirteen, he could be on fucking Death Row and he'll still make his last will and testament forcing me to ride his dick!"

Cloud glared at him. "If you're going to corner me into keeping you, the least you can do is show some decent respect!"

Riku straightened haughtily. "If you want respect, the least you can do is keep me."

"Hey, you watch it," Seifer growled. "You're pushing for a can of whoop-ass."

Marluxia sank back against the couch. "Aaaalll-righty then."

"Look, all I'm saying is, we're out of options, and you're out of time." Riku stood up off the couch. "If you're going to make a choice, it's simple—we stay, or we don't stay. So what's it going to be?"

Cloud groaned and hid his face. It's not that simple! He thought. There's too much at stake, too many complexities! This is dangerous! I shouldn't be keeping him here…

Unfortunately, reason beat down on Cloud like rain and thunder, but did little to push back the voice of sympathy in his head. Cloud was going to kill Marluxia for bringing them here—he was a bleeding heart, an orphan who cared for orphans. He suddenly felt used. Marluxia clearly knew that if there was anyone who would take care of them, it was him.

He glanced up and glared at the photographer, and then sat up and sighed.

"Marluxia, leave. Cancel tomorrow's photoshoot."

"What? Why?"

"Just do it. Reschedule for next week; I don't care what day." Cloud rubbed his throbbing temple, eyes shut. "I need Aspirin."

Riku smiled. "Where's your medicine cabinet?"

Author's Notes: And that's one of the ways Cloud is now a part of the major plot.