Author's Notes: I guess this is sort of one of those chapters everyone's been waiting to see. It's not perfect, but it's here. I liked writing this chapter, except for whenever Lomesir was hovering over me out of boredom. Then it was hard to write. I can't really write two guys having smut when I've got someone watching...

Did I forget to mention that Part 2 is almost at a close? Yes!

But will it be over...? NO, I SAY!

Chapter 40

"Coming To Terms, The Younger"

The clock beside their bed read 12:26 in glaring red numbers. It was almost half past midnight, but they still both showed no signs of stopping. They weren't even having sex. Sora had laid that down clear—no matter how far they took it, no sex. Even in the midst of this strange experimenting, where he was sure of himself and yet still so confused, he knew (or thought?) that he would never forgive himself if he bedded with another man before he'd gotten close to Kairi. Then again, he continuously found himself thinking that he'd never gotten this far with Kairi. Never. Not even a first kiss...

Sora didn't even know what side of the matter his brain lay on anymore. He was stuck in the middle, unsure of which way to go, and he felt so split. At some points, this felt so right, so natural. Lately, he'd been getting more of that. He still had trouble accepting it...but...

...But...

...Riku looked so hot when he arched like that.

Okay, easily distracted. More of that lately, too...

Riku looked down at Sora from where he was reclining against the pillows. Both of them were in nothing but their boxers, and Sora was giving him a weird look.

"What?"

"It's poking my throat," he complained. Riku gave him a half-lidded stare.

"Well, with you licking me everywhere, you expect it not to?" Sora blushed.

"No, it's just..." he got a pout on his face again. "I...I didn't think you'd like it that much." He paused, and looked up. "Am I really that good?"

Riku gestured to the tent between his legs, and with another furious blush, Sora got the picture. There was plenty of proof, and he was staring at it. Riku had a very blunt way of going around things, but that bluntness always seemed to be the most obvious at the right times.

"Ansem didn't make me forget pleasure, you know," said Riku. "Just made my pain tolerance skyrocket."

Sora frowned, and nibbled on a piece of skin on Riku's well-toned abs where a scar of some sort was still clearly visible. Riku purred in response. "Ansem, Ansem, Ansem," muttered the brunet, nibbling the skin again and soothing it with his inexperienced tongue. "Do you ever stop mentioning Ansem?" He sighed and kissed Riku's stomach, just because it felt like the right thing to do. He mumbled again: "Ansem, Ansem, Ansem."

Riku chuckled weakly, "I get it, I get it...mmm...ooh," Riku glanced down when Sora's lips grazed over a nipple. "Hey, do that again."

"Do what again?" Sora blinked, and then looked at the little rosy nub and blushed. "Y-You mean that?"

"Yes, that." Riku mussed up Sora's head, smirking. "And you thought they served no purpose."

Sora grumbled something that was probably a curse, and stared warily at the nipple in question. "...Can you lick that?"

"You just di—haa. Fine, roll over."

"H-Hey!" Sora practically squealed as Riku rolled their bodies over so that he was on top now. Sora pouted. "I was on a roll..."

"Yeah, yeah, but you've still got cold feet."

"Th-That's no reason to switch us!" Sora whimpered. He pouted. "I liked the top..."

"I'm showing you." Riku insisted, running his hands down Sora's sides. Sora moved to protest, but stopped when Riku sucked on a patch of skin at his neck. He didn't know why, but he liked that. So he tilted his head, exposing the flesh to the other, and Riku nibbled and sucked on that spot until Sora was purring for more. He moved downwards over Sora's collarbone, down to his chest, licking and kissing the brunet's scarless skin (save for the thin, ugly slice across his chest). His fingers roamed freely up and down Sora's spine, rubbing his sides and gently squeezing in some areas. Then Riku took a single pink nub between his teeth, tugged lightly, and then he sucked it. And the first thing Sora did was laugh.

"Th-hat feels f-funny," he giggled. Even despite the giggling, however, Sora arched up a little when Riku did that. "Wh-Why do men have nipples?" he suddenly wondered, still snickering. Riku stopped and kissed Sora's chest again.

"Why do women have boobs?" he countered. Sora grumbled something—which neither of them could really decipher, but it sounded like a rebuttal to the derogative comment—and Riku turned his attentions to the other little pink stub, and Sora's giggles melted into silent moans. He found himself twining his fingers through Riku's hair, feeling the soft silvery strands against his palms, surprised at how airy and light it was. Like a halo, almost. A halo of hair, Sora mused. Yeah, that sounds about right.

Riku kept steadily to the experimental foreplay, until Sora's nipples were wet and red, and then he kissed and nipped the skin in a line down the center of his stomach, reaching behind to grab Sora's butt and squeeze. Sora blushed, but he didn't complain. Everything Riku did to him, he ended up liking, one way or another—he was the one who had much to learn. With this setup, whenever it was Sora's "turn", Riku would constantly (but gently) pass him suggestions, such as, "I like it when you do this..." or, "Hey, why don't you try this...". It made him feel like such an amateur, but at the same time, Sora didn't mind it—because he was getting to know what Riku liked and what Riku didn't like, and that in turn, he thought, was slowly making him better. On the other hand, Sora was just liking everything. Riku needed no directing. Trial and error was all he needed—if Sora gave him a displeased face or muttered an off-handed comment, Riku would switch tactics, and ninety percent of the time, he succeeded in doing the job ten times better.

It might not be so bad. Being like this. Sora got this thought often nowadays, and the more it passed by him, the more he considered it. Maybe. It might not be so bad...

Then the brunet felt a searing jolt of something run through him, and he yelped—more of a half-moan—managing to crane his head up to see Riku, even though he thought that jolt would make him melt right there. "What are you doing?" he demanded, his voice a little high-pitched. Riku's breath warmed the reacting flesh guarded only by Sora's boxers, and Sora's face was so red, his head might have popped on his shoulders.

"I-I said no sex!"

"It's not sex," Riku argued, "It's foreplay." He sucked through the material the throbbing length beneath, and Sora exhaled sharply, breathed in again, and covered his face in distress. Falling back against the pillows, his entire body shuddered. He wasn't sure what came out of his mouth then, but it was somewhat between a moan and a sob. But why exactly would he think to cry? Because it felt so good, or because Riku was being so overbearing? He didn't know. Sora was having another "in the middle" moment. He felt his breaths becoming more and more like pants under his palms as Riku continued, until finally, the voice of reason cried out from the back edges of his consciousness. That was when he chose the moment to grasp the sheets beneath him and cry: "S-Stop!"

On a dime, Riku stopped. Sora sighed, relieved. His body was still suffering small waves of pleasure centered in his groin. He felt a soothing hand on his chest, and the sensation of Riku's body snaking upwards against his, until the other was on top of him, his back arched ever slightly as he nuzzled Sora's jaw.

"Sorry," he apologized. "Guess I'm just a little selfish."

A little? Thought Sora. You call that a littleAlthough, it seemed that even despite whatever they did, Sora could trust Riku to stop when he said so. He couldn't picture Riku doing something to him that he didn't want. At least, so far it hadn't been that way. Imagining Riku raping somebody was difficult for Sora to do. Besides, hasn't he already suffered through enough of that?

Riku reached over and turned off the bedside lamp, immersing them both in darkness and tangles of sheets. Sora blinked, even though he couldn't see.

"Hey...?"

"We've been 'experimenting' for two hours straight. I think we need to stop."

Sora was disappointed. He'd liked where that had been going...

"Okay..." he mumbled. He then said, with more hope than even he liked, "But can we do some more tomorrow?"

Riku sighed and nestled into the sheets beside Sora. "Catch me in a good mood, and we'll see."

Sora frowned. Good mood? Why would Riku be in a bad mood?

"...Hey...Riku? You okay?"

Silence.

"...I don't know," said the teen. "I'm just feeling a little...weird, I guess."

Hmmm, wondered Sora, Maybe he's just as offish to this as I am? That didn't seem very valid, though. If anything, Riku was cool as a cucumber, while Sora was the tense little newbie. He was curious to know why Riku would be feeling off.

Oh, well...he yawned. He was tired, and it was late. Maybe sleep would cure all the problems while he dreamt.