Warm breath tickling his ear slowly brought Sora out of a deep sleep, and he opened his eyes to look directly at Riku's shoulder and part of his collarbone. The two boys had fallen asleep facing each other while talking the night before, but Sora didn't remember being quite so close to the older boy. He was curled up on his side, face mere inches from Riku's shirtless—that really was unfair—torso, and he could feel the taller boy's knees against his shins, which meant he couldn't straighten his legs out without first scooting back towards the wall. But that wasn't much of an option since Riku's arms were wrapped around his waist. Not that he minded being so close. It had been nice the first night, and it was nice now.

A small, sleepy smile making its way onto his face, he shifted himself forward until he was close enough to nuzzle into the older boy's warm body and closed his eyes. He didn't need to be up yet, and he was too comfortable to really do much moving around. Besides, Riku was sleeping between him and the ladder, so there was no purpose in staying awake. It was probably still early, anyway.

Unfortunately, he didn't have a chance to fall back asleep. His slight movements were enough to disturb Riku's sleep and the older boy started to wake up. Sora quickly shut his eyes and pretended to be asleep so he wouldn't be blamed for waking his friend, face resting against the other boy's shoulder.

Riku opened his eyes and yawned quietly, not immediately registering the warm body pressed against his own. A smile lifted the corners of his mouth and he pressed a soft kiss to the top of the brunet's head, thinking he was still asleep.

"Sora," he murmured, rubbing his younger friend's back through the wifebeater he wore. He let go of him when the brunet stirred, but didn't move away. "Morning, sleepy head."

Continuing with his pretense of having been asleep, Sora rolled onto his back and stretched as he blinked slowly and yawned. "Morning…" It was hard not to turn back onto his side and stare at the older boy, but he knew it was safer if he kept his gaze on the ceiling. Riku would definitely catch him if he started to stare while they were in such close proximity to each other, and who knew what the older boy would say then.

Maybe call me a sexy little slut, tease me about liking him or just smirk and hold me like he did last night.

Any of those things would be okay. Sora didn't care. He was starting to get really tired of worrying about what Riku thought of him and having to act like he didn't mean it when he flirted with the older boy. For the entire twenty-four hours he'd spent being Riku's slave, he'd had a feeling in the back of his mind that he'd been too nervous to acknowledge, a feeling that the older boy might kiss him or touch him in some way that went beyond their usual flirtation. But he didn't know if he'd been imagining it or if that was really the vibe he was getting from the silver-haired sophomore, so he'd shoved it from his mind and by the time he'd finished washing dishes, he'd almost forgotten it completely. Now, though, lying next to the older athlete after having cuddled with him two nights in a row…he wanted it to be real.

Sora gathered his courage and turned to face Riku, sucking in a breath when his nose practically brushed against the older boy's, and he found himself looking directly into bright teal eyes. Suddenly, he felt like he couldn't breathe and his whole body tensed with nerves.

Should he? More importantly, could he try something like that without being so terrified of the consequences that he immediately ran out of the room and avoided Riku until further notice? What if he did and then Riku didn't want to be his friend anymore? No, he couldn't handle that. It had been bad enough when he'd ended the friendship out of anger. If Riku did it out of disgust…just the thought nearly brought tears to the brunet's eyes and he looked away before Riku could see it. That turned out to be a bad move, because he dropped his gaze and found himself staring at the older boy's muscled chest and stomach instead.

Damn…he really is hot…why does he have to go shirtless all the time?

"Totally not fair."

"What'd you say?"

Panic widened Sora's blue eyes. Had he said that out loud?!

"U-um, nothing! Just, uh, talking to myself! Yeah…"

The older boy smirked and teasingly pulled the blankets up to cover his torso. "You know, you when you stare at me like that, it makes me think you only want me for my body."

Rolling his eyes, Sora gave Riku a playful push. "Well, duh. It's not like I hang out with you for your personality."

Riku caught his wrists before he could pull away and forced him to come closer, putting the two sophomores almost chest-to-chest. "Then we've come to the agreement that we only want each others' bodies?" he whispered seductively, smirking to see the dark blush that instantly spread over Sora's cheeks. "Because if you're offering a no-strings-attached deal, I've got some sexual tension to release."

Did…Riku just ask me…to be friends with benefits?

It didn't seem possible, but Sora almost said yes. He wanted to. He wanted to know what it was like to be with Riku, but he was also so terrified and nervous that he had to resist the urge to shove Riku away and cower in the corner until the playful everyday Riku came back and laughed at him for taking the offer of casual sex seriously.

That isn't what I want, anyway, he thought, pulling his wrists free from the older boy's grip and sitting up so he wouldn't have to see the way Riku's eyes darkened when he was being seductive, or the way he'd let the blanket fall away and bare his torso again, or how one corner of his mouth was almost constantly lifted in a smirk. I don't want to be friends-with-benefits. That's just a way of saying he finds me attractive but doesn't like me enough to actually date me. It's insulting…how could he say something like that, even as a joke?

Now feeling a sense of having been emotionally rejected, Sora had trouble coming up with a suitable response. "I might consider saying yes, but you're not exactly who I had in mind for my first partner, much less my first kiss."

Indignant, Riku sat up as well. "Are you saying I'm not good enough for you?" He had to hide the worry and hurt Sora's words caused—did Sora like someone else?

The pretended to think about it, biting his bottom lip in the most innocent way he could imagine.

He's kidding, right? Riku's almost too good for me. Even if I was okay with a friends-with-benefits relationship, I'd be too afraid of disappointing him and never being enough.

Grinning cheekily as if he wasn't an inch from being reduced to a nervous wreck, Sora pushed the older boy back again and straddled him, earning a surprised look from the boy beneath him. "You'd better just accept the fact that you can't have me, Riku," he purred and winked, then swung his other leg over the silver-haired athlete so he could climb down the ladder and went to his bag to change into regular clothes.

This wasn't fun anymore, this flirting that their friendship had evolved into. This flirting just hurt, and even though Sora didn't like it, he didn't want it to stop, either. It wasn't what he wanted, but it was better than going back to being plain friends. This way, at least, he could partially express his feelings without being ridiculed for it.

From his place in the lofted bed, Riku watched his younger friend with hidden concern. It wasn't like Sora to avoid looking at him so much. Sure, he was used to noticing the brunet staring at him then holding back a laugh when Sora would turn red and quickly turn away as if he hadn't been looking at all, but this almost complete avoidance of looking at him at all bothered him. This was not okay. But it was an almost perfect opportunity to admit how he felt—maybe Sora was just kidding about not wanting Riku to be his first kiss.

Moving quietly, Riku climbed down from the loft and approached the brunet, reaching out to touch his shoulder. "Sora?"

"Hm?" The younger boy turned, his clothes in his arms, and looked up at Riku expectantly, but before either of them could say anything else, there was a knock at the door.

"Are you two awake yet?" a voice called through the door, and both boys turned to look at it. Wordlessly, Riku went to open the door while Sora slipped into the closet to dress.

"Morning, Roxas," he greeted the blond, and moved out of the way to allow the younger sophomore into the room. Behind Roxas stood Namine and Kairi, and the redheaded girl was glaring daggers at Riku as if he'd purposefully killed her fish or something. "What?"

Kairi waited until Namine had gone past into the dorm before stepping up to Riku and poking the boy in the chest. "If you did anything to hurt Sora, anything at all, you're dead," she whispered so none of the other teens could hear her.

"Why would I hurt Sora?" the silver-haired athlete asked, trying not to show how amused he was by her protective nature concerning their mutual friend.

"Why would you make him dress up like a male prostitute?" she shot back, hands on her hips.

"Actually, I was dressed as a sexy little slut," Sora said as he emerged from the closet, fully dressed in jeans and a t-shirt and with a completely serious expression. His interruption made Riku laugh, while Kairi looked absolutely stunned. She didn't say anything else as she moved past Riku into the dorm and sat on the futon with a huff, obviously unhappy with how things appeared to be going. Namine and Roxas sat beside her, both blondes red in the face from Sora's choice of words, though the brunet didn't seem to notice at all and claimed the chair placed in front of Riku's TV as the silver-haired boy took his turn in the closet to get dressed.

"So, uh," Roxas began a bit nervously, "how was Slave-for-a-Day?"

Without getting up, Sora stretched and grimaced slightly, shifting on the chair as if his backside was hurting him. "I'm a little sore from last night, but good otherwise."

Silence greeted his words as Roxas went pale and Namine hid her face in her hair as if it would turn her invisible. Once she got over the initial shock, Kairi was on her feet and gripping the front of Sora's shirt.

"Why are you sore? What did Riku do to you?" she demanded, shaking the brunet slightly.

Out of nowhere, hands gripped the redhead's wrists and pried her away from Sora, and she found herself face to face with Riku.

"What did you do to Sora?" she inquired before he could say anything, and he rolled his eyes at the accusation in her tone.

"I didn't do anything to him. Ask him yourself if you don't believe me, but if you grab him like that again, I'll kick you out of my dorm and I won't let you back in." The silver-haired boy's tone held a possessive edge that made Kairi stay quiet even though she continued to glare at him. He let go of her after a moment, and she returned to the futon, huffing again, but Riku had already forgotten her. His attention was on Sora as he straightened the younger boy's shirt.

"You okay?"

Sora nodded, glancing at Kairi apologetically as if it was his fault Riku had grabbed her. "Fine. Just sore."

The older boy grinned. "Told ya you'd feel it today."

"Okay, okay, what the hell are you talking about?" Roxas burst out, unable to control himself any longer. "What did you do to my twin?"

Shrugging, Riku ignored the vacant chair and sat on his desk since there was enough room for him to, thanks to Sora's efforts of cleaning it. "I just showed him a few of my moves. It's not like I didn't warn him that he'd be sore afterwards."

"I think you bruised me," Sora complained, rubbing his rear and making Roxas looked slightly panicked. The brunet rolled his eyes at his twin. "Quit staring at me like that, Roxas. It's not like we had sex or something."

"Not that Sora would've said no if I'd offered," Riku added, smirking, and Sora reached over to smack his arm.

"I wouldn't have said yes, either! I wouldn't even respond to a jerk like you if you asked me for sex."

"Can we please talk about something else?" Namine cut in quietly, face beet red behind her white-blonde bangs. Sitting beside her, Roxas wasted no time in agreeing with her request.

"Yeah. I really don't know if I have it in me to sit here and listen to my twin talk about having sex with one of my friends. Or the lack of sex between my twin and our friend," he added at the end to insure that neither Riku nor Sora would make some smart-ass comment.

Never before had Roxas felt so uncomfortable around the two athletes. Sure, they'd been flirting for a while, and they spent a lot of time alone together, and there had been a few moments when he wasn't entirely sure where they drew the line of their flirting or if there even was a line, but that wasn't this. That wasn't after they'd spent two nights alone in Riku's dorm while Sora was acting as the silver-haired boy's personal slave. Roxas didn't even want to think about the sort of comments that had probably been made, especially after Sora admitting that Riku had called him a "sexy little slut."

Nope. Don't want to think about it.

But as his friends moved the conversation onto a more comfortable topic, his thoughts strayed to something else: a little piece of paper tucked into his pocket. He'd kept it close to him all weekend despite trying to convince himself to throw it away. Several times, he'd had it clenched in his fist, held above the trashcan just waiting for his fingers to uncurl and drop it. It should have been easy, but it wasn't. Why wasn't it easy?

I don't have to text him just because he gave me his number. What would I even say to him, anyway?

Nothing came to mind, but he couldn't stop himself from slipping his hand into his pocket to make sure the note containing Axel's phone number was still where he'd put it. Really, he didn't need the paper. He'd already added the senior into his contacts list, so there was no point in keeping the note. He just didn't want to get rid of it. It was the first note he'd received from the older student that had actually been signed by his name, even if the signature was messy and Axel had made his A look like a star, which was childish and amusing at the same time. It would be the easiest thing in the world to pull out his phone and send a short text to the redheaded senior, something as simple as, "Hey, what's up?" Whatever response he got, it couldn't be that bad, right?

XXX

It was completely silent in Axel's dorm save for the quiet sound of pages turning. Time passed but the senior hardly seemed to notice; all of his attention was devoted to the book in his hands. Finally, he closed the book and set it down, eyes half closed as he stared at his ceiling, lost in thought.

That was fantastic. No wonder Roxas likes it so much. I'm definitely going to talk to him about it when I see him tomorrow. Maybe I'll ask to sit with him at lunch.

The idea made him smile, though he knew the chances of Roxas allowing him to sit with him at lunch were slim. He still wanted to ask, and who knew, maybe borrowing Pride and Prejudice was proof that he was heading in the right direction with the blond sophomore. Asking couldn't hurt anything, and if Roxas said yes, it would be a huge leap in the right direction. Axel was more than ready to finally be on the blond's good side. Just as long as Larxene didn't find out and do something to ruin things for him yet again.

He wasn't going to let that happen, not after getting himself a month's worth of detentions with the whore, which he was only about halfway done with. At least he didn't have one today because there weren't classes. But he only had to suffer through it for two more weeks, and then he'd be done. After that, all he had to worry about were finals and then Christmas break.

Three high-pitched beeps sounded from the redhead's desk and he sat up, looking towards where he'd left his phone on Friday and hadn't touched it since. He'd been too busy reading to bother checking for messages, and besides, this was the first time it had gone off. It was the ringtone that sounded for unknown numbers, so that could only mean…

"Roxas!"

Leaping off his bed, the senior snatched his phone off the desk and almost dropped it in his hurry. Sure enough, when he opened the message it was indeed from the blond he so desperately wanted to please.

How's your fall break going? -Roxas

Axel wanted to launch into a detailed description of having spent the last three days reading Pride and Prejudice and talk to the sophomore about his favorite parts and why Mister Darcy was the absolute epitome of gentlemen.

Ha, epitome. I never used words like that before, but it's true. I guess all I needed was a good book to get me to expand my vocabulary. I'll have to thank Roxas for lending it to me.

But such a long message in response to such a short question was probably a little much, so he settled for a simpler answer after adding the younger student's number to his contacts list under "Baby Blues." If Roxas knew about that it might annoy him, but Axel couldn't get the nickname out of his head. It seemed almost too perfect for the blond.

It's going pretty good. I just finished P&P and it was great, better than I was expecting. Thanks for letting me borrow it.

Did you think I'd read a bad book, much less lend one to you?

The message made Axel chuckle and he returned to lounging on his bed, phone in hand as he thought of what to say in response. As innocent as Roxas looked, the senior often forget that he actually had a bit of an attitude, which only made him even more attracted to the sophomore.

Nope. So I'll give the book back in Chemistry tomorrow, if that's okay. Would you mind if I sat with you at lunch?

Unexpected nerves twisted his stomach as he hit the Send button and he couldn't help but fidget as he waited for the next text to come into his phone. Rather than sit in silence, he began scrolling through the ringtones he had in search of the perfect song to use. This decision might take him a little while, but he was sure he would find the right one. The three beeps sounded again before he could pick one, however, and he hesitated before looking at the message.

I'll ask my friends if it's okay and let you know.

A sigh of relief escaped Axel and he fell back on the bed, letting his eyes close. Roxas hadn't said no! He hadn't exactly said yes, but he hadn't said no!

Cool. See you tomorrow.

Content with his interactions with the blond, Axel put his phone back on his desk and once more picked up the borrowed copy of Pride and Prejudice. Time to read through his favorite scenes again.

XXX

"You sure you don't want me to walk you back?" Demyx asked for the third time as he watched Zexion put on his coat.

"I'm sure. It's cold out and it's not that far." Quickly, the blue-haired senior leaned in and gave the blond junior a gentle kiss. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay? We'll have lunch with your friends."

Demyx nodded, smiling and blushing lightly from the kiss. "You can invite your roommate, if you want, so he doesn't have to sit by himself."

"I will."

Even though he had no intentions of informing Axel of the fact that he was now going out with the junior, Zexion agreed to avoid upsetting Demyx and picked up his bag. He was ready to leave, but he didn't want to Spending the last few days in the junior dorm hall had been great, and he knew Axel was going to drill him for information the moment he got back to his room. But it was already dark outside, and he wanted to go over his homework to make sure he'd finished it all before he went to sleep, so he pulled Demyx into a hug.

"Bye, Dem," he whispered into the blond's ear.

"Good night, Zex."

Soft lips brushed against his cheek and Zexion let go of the younger boy, waving goodbye as he left. Demyx really was too good for him, and despite himself, he hated the thought of abandoning the blond to go back to repressing his emotions like he'd been doing before. Of course, he'd keep up with his studies like always, but now he had someone other than Axel to spend his free time with, and he didn't think it was possible to be happier than he was thinking about spending time with the blond junior.

Abandoning his usual neutral expression, Zexion let himself smile all the way back to the senior dorm hall.