Chapter 2 – Terrible News

Sora woke up. He rubbed his eyes and lazily checked the alarm on the dresser. Dammit, it's already 7 am. I was having such a good dream, too. He turned over to see if Riku…he was gone! Where did he go? Shit! Why didn't he tell me where he was going! Sora quicky sat up and got off the bed to run downstairs, worried as ever.

He was at the bottom of the stairs. Panting, he went to check the living room. Empty. Okay, he's not watching Saturday morning cartoons … maybe he's in the washroom… he ran to the washroom down the hall. "Riku?" he knocked on the door…no response. He opened the door. Empty. Not one trace of Riku. Okaaay …. So he didn't get up to shower. Dammit. Sora ran around the house for several minutes until he finally stopped in front of the kitchen. The light was on. He went inside. Riku was sitting on the chair, his back facing Sora. Oh, thank God!

"Riku! There you are! You scared me! I thought you ran away or something…Riku?" Riku turned around. His hair was tousled, he was pale (well, paler than he usually is), he had tear stains on his cheeks and his eyes were red and swollen.

"Good morning, Sora." He said. He was shaking, his voice sounded uneasy. His eyes began to water, but he managed a slight smile. "Riku! What happened?" Oh, no, please be okay! Wait, who am I kidding. He's CRYING for God's sake. Something is wrong!

Sora walked up to him and hugged him. Riku looked up, eyes full of tears. "C-Can I ask you something?" he pleaded. "Of c-course you can." Sora was worried now. Riku never cried in front of him unless it was really bad. He usually kept his emotions bottled up inside.

"Would you l-love me if I had a really horrible, contagious, life-threatening disease? And until now, I had no idea that I had it?" his eyes were glassy. He looked up at Sora, waiting for a response. "I …of course I would! Why would you ask such an awful question?" Oh no. He knew where this was going. He stared at Riku.

"Sora …I found out this m-morning that...the doctor c-called me, a-and told me t-that … that …I h-have AIDS, and I'm dying." He looked at Riku, horrified. Riku's last words rang through Sora's mind over and over again. 'I'm dying …. I'm dying … 'NO! Not Riku!

"R-Riku…no….it's not possible!" Sora's eyes started to water now. His heart skipped several beats. "N-No! It's not true! It can't be! Y-You didn't do anything wrong!" He was crying hard now, clinging to Riku as if he would disappear if he let go.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't want to cause you pain …I w-would understand if you didn't love me anymore…" He was crying into Sora's chest now, holding him close. "Riku, I'll always love you, no matter what! Y-you're not gonna die! I w-wont let it happen! God can't take you away from me!"

Tears kept running down his cheeks as he screamed. His shirt was drenched from Riku's tears. Riku got up, gently pushing Sora away. His eyes were redder than before. "I'm so sorry … I've caused you so much heartache. I shouldn't have said anything … I'll j-just die alone…" his words were cut off when Sora spoke:

"No! You're not gonna die alone, Riku! If y-you die, I'm going to die with you! I love you, R-Riku, and when you love a person, you stay with them, even if it means for you to catch the same disease and d-dying with them! " Riku looked at Sora, still crying.

"No! That's crazy! I c-can't let you die with me! If I'm going to die, the only thing I want from you is just for you to s-stay with me when I do. In the time I have left, I want to spend every waking hour with you doing things we've always wanted to do as a couple u-until the time comes. Please, Sora …please, do it for me …" Sora couldn't stop sobbing. Riku reached a shaking hand out and wiped a few tears from his lover's cheeks. "Y-Yes, Riku … I promise." Sora said with quivering lips.

"I promised I would never leave you, and I'm going to keep that promise, even after I die." He took Sora's hand in his own. Sora lifted the sick boy's hand to his lips and kissed it. "I promise." Riku managed a smile. He pulled Sora into a loving embrace. "Let's just try to get some sleep ... I'm tired..." Riku let go of Sora and began walking when his knees suddenly gave out, and he collapsed to the ground. "RIKU!" Sora bent down beside his lover, feeling his sweat-covered forehead with his hand. Riku … no … the disease is starting to take over his body … he has a fever … oh God … why? Tears began to flow down Sora's cheeks again. He gently picked up Riku and brought him to the bed.