"Mm…Riku…harder…"

Shut up shut up shut up!

His face couldn't have gotten redder than it was and Riku was unbelievably glad that Sora couldn't see it. That would get him hours of teasing and no way in hell did he want that. This was already bad enough.

With his knees to either side of Sora's hips, Riku knelt over the younger boy as Sora laid on his stomach on the older's bed, his cheek resting on his hands. Currently, Riku's hands were busy working against the muscles of Sora's back, and damn did that kid have some serious knots.

"You gotta learn to relax, Brat," he commented, forcing his tone to be casual as he rubbed and pressed against the lumps. "These knots are huge."

"Well maybe if—ah—someone didn't work me so hard," came the breathy response, and Riku couldn't help but think he could work Sora a lot harder than he did, in more ways than one.

Moan my name one more time and I swear to whatever gods there are that I'll pin you down and make you scream it.

It wasn't the sort of thought he was proud of having, but he couldn't help it. Not while he was straddling the kid and they were both shirtless. Riku was, by order of Sora, wearing his slutty butler get up once more. Sora was shirtless by choice, seeing as he thought shirts got in the way of back rubs, and Riku hadn't thought to argue. Now, he couldn't decide if he liked the fact that Sora was only wearing a pair of jeans or if he wanted to drown the brunet in layers just so he could stop imagining things to do to his body.

What the hell is happening to me? I never used to be this perverted! I've seen Sora shirtless countless times and never had thoughts like these!

Frustration made him press a little too hard on one of the knots and Sora winced, shifting uncomfortably and therefore rubbing just a little against a very specific part of Riku's body with a very specific part of Sora's body. The older boy's eyes went wide and he quickly picked himself up to put space between them, muttering an apology and gently rubbing the spot to make sure it wouldn't bruise.

With a content sigh, Sora stilled once more, though Riku didn't dare let his weight rest against the brunet. He kept himself up on his knees so that they only touched where his legs were braced on the mattress and wherever he decided to put his hands. Shit, that had been close, and now he was too warm and he knew exactly why but he couldn't say anything or go to the bathroom to take care of it because then Sora would want to know what was wrong and no way in hell was he going to admit that he was getting turned on by something as dumb as a back rub!

"Hey, Riku?" One clear blue eye looked up at him.

"Yeah?"

"Could you get my lower back a little more?"

"Uh, sure." Riku's gaze slid down Sora's spine like a touch to the boy's lower back and he noticed for the first time that the brunet actually had little dimples there.

Oh…

Before he had a chance to stop himself, the silver-haired student was imagining leaning down and kissing the lightly tanned back before him, over the shoulder blades and the back of the neck, trailing lower along the spine until he reached those dimples. He imagined kissing them, letting his tongue slip out to trace them and he knew it would make Sora gasp and shit now he was remembering his dream and oh god no, not now he couldn't really be getting aroused this easily, could he?

"Riku?" Sora was twisting around, propping himself up on his elbows so he could look at Riku. "You okay?"

No, he was not okay, but he forced a grin. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"You just sorta…froze."

The older boy laughed nervously. "Did I? Sorry, must've been spacing off. Here, lie down. I'll get your lower back for you."

Sora regarded him for a moment, blue eyes still concerned, then he nodded and settled on the mattress once more. "Okay."

Relief washed over him and Riku held back a sigh as he set his hands to rubbing slow circles on the spaces between Sora's spine and his hip bones. His thumbs brushed against those dimples over and over again and he just knew that the pad of his finger would fit them perfectly. It was difficult to keep from placing his hands over the brunet's hips so that his thumbs could perfectly reach the dimples and sit inside them, pushing just a little.

A sigh escaped the younger boy and Riku tried not to let it trigger any more stupid little fantasies. "You're good at this," Sora mumbled, his eyelids starting to droop, and Riku couldn't help but smile.

"Well I'm glad Master Sora is enjoying himself."

That got a small laugh from the brunet, and then his eyes were closed and within moments his breathing started to slow. Not sure if he was actually asleep or not, Riku continued rubbing up and down his companion's back, making little circles and figure eights with his fingers. The skin under his palms was warm, tinged pink by being rubbed. Slowly, he worked his way from shoulders to dimples, fingers searching for any knots he'd missed or hadn't managed to work out before. There were none, so, cautiously, Riku braced his hands on the mattress to either side of Sora's ribcage and leaned down.

"Sora?" he whispered—the younger boy didn't stir. "Sora?" The second time was a little louder but there was still no reaction, so Riku took that as a sign that it was safe.

Picking himself up, he carefully crawled backwards and, breathing as lightly as he could, leaned down to place a kiss on the back of Sora's neck. He paused afterwards, teal eyes watching for any movement. When there was none, he leaned over and dropped a line of kisses going across Sora's shoulders, then down his spine until he reached jeans. There he paused, considering whether or not he could risk it, before he gave in and kissed on dimple, then the other. They really were perfect, and, ever so carefully, Riku slipped his tongue out to lick at one of them.

"Mm…"

Eyes going wide, the older athlete froze, his entire body rigid. Shit. Shit, that was a bad idea. He shouldn't have done that. he was going to get caught. Sora was going to know how big of a pervert he was and then it would be game over for their friendship again only for good this time, and—

He relaxed to see that Sora hadn't actually woken up, had only sighed and shifted a bit but was still fast asleep.

Close call. Way to go, Riku.

At least he hadn't woken him. But he was still leaning down, still close enough to place a few more kisses, if he wanted to. Or, hell, it would wake Sora up, but he wanted to drag his tongue all the way up the younger boy's spine just to watch him arch and see if he'd grab onto the blankets. That would be sexy as fuck. But no, it was a terrible idea and no way could he actually do something like that. Not if he wanted to maintain a reputation of not being as big of a pervert as he suddenly seemed to be.

Determined not to lose control of himself again and actually wake the kid up the next time, Riku climbed out of the loft and down the ladder. Thankfully, the movement didn't disturb Sora and he stayed asleep, leaving Riku free to pace the room as he tugged at his hair and cursed at himself under his breath.

"Stupid….bad idea….damn pervert…."

This wasn't helping. It was just making him feel jumpy and nervous. He needed to calm down and to do that he needed to not be in the same room as the boy he had such a huge attraction to. Otherwise he was only going to rile himself up more or worse come up with even more shitty fantasies and that wouldn't help anything.

So, quietly, he grabbed his phone and keys and stepped out into the hallway, shutting the door behind him. No matter than he was wearing something as embarrassing as the outfit Sora had decided to make him wear—there were very few people still on his floor during break and he doubted he'd run into any of them if he went and locked himself in the little study room at the end of the hall.

Only once the door was firmly shut and locked did Riku let out a sigh and lower himself into one of the provided chairs. He couldn't do this. He couldn't be around Sora if he was going to imagine kissing him and then later actually kiss him when he knew he wouldn't get caught. It wasn't right. Sora was his friend. Liking him wasn't supposed to be this much trouble and there was only one person Riku could think of going to for advice, but he really, really didn't want to have to ask. His pride might not be able to take it.

I'm not asking. No way. She'll just yell at me and call me a pervert and then make fun of me because she was right all along. I'm not asking.

She's the only one who can help. She can help me figure out what to do. Just don't tell her…everything. She doesn't have to know you're a perv.

How the hell is she supposed to help if I don't tell her the whole problem? It's not worth it.

You're screwed if you don't.

I'm screwed if I do.

So what's the harm in asking?

The study room was silent as Riku stared at the wall and tried to come up with a reason other than his pride. He couldn't think of anything, so after a few minutes had passed, he opened his phone and scrolled through the contacts until he found the one he wanted, and hit dial.

One ring. Two rings. Three rings. Four. Five. Six. Just as the seventh was starting, it went silent for a second, and then,

"What's up, Riku? Aren't you supposed to be Sora's slave today? I can't believe he's letting you make personal phone calls."

Already irritated, Riku let his eyes fall closed and rubbed at his forehead. "He's asleep."

"Oooh, so you don't have permission to call me. Naughty, naughty!"

"Shut up, Kairi," the silver-haired athlete growled into his phone. "I didn't call you so you could make fun of me for getting lower scores than Sora on my finals. I called because I need some advice."

"What is it?" immediately, Kairi's tone went from teasing to serious and Riku couldn't help but feel a little relieved that she was taking him seriously.

"How do I tell Sora that I like him without being…" Vaguely, he gestured as he tried to come up with the right word for it. Perverted? Overbearing? Aggressive? Pathetic? "I don't know. But I can't take this anymore. So how do I tell him?"

"I told myself I wouldn't tell you I told you so, but, Riku, I freaking told you so."

Riku rolled his eyes but didn't say anything—snapping at Kairi wouldn't convince her to let it go. She'd probably just lecture him about being a sore loser or something along those lines.

"Now, if you're completely serious about wanting to confess to Sora, I'd be more than glad to help you. Tell me what's going on between you guys."

Putting a hand over his eyes, Riku steeled himself for the scolding he knew he was going to receive after this. "I've been trying to get him to admit if he likes me but he just gets defensive or shy if I get too flirty. But other times it seems like…I don't know, like he'd let me do him if I wanted. Which I don't, at least, not now, but I can't figure out if he likes me or not because he's got this back and forth thing going on and it's impossible to tell if he means it or not so I just tried to make it obvious that I like him and it doesn't seem to be making any difference. No matter how flirty or suggestive or touchy I get, he acts like I'm just trying to make fun of him and it's so frustrating that I almost grabbed him and kissed him this morning just to make him see that I'm serious. I don't want to do it like that, though, so you really need to help me, Kairi. I'm going nuts."

It was a bit of a rant, but Riku didn't know how else he would have managed to say it all without getting bogged down somewhere or becoming too embarrassed to say it.

"Well, that was never going to work."

His heart fell. "You mean I haven't even been close?"

"No, idiot. Have you forgotten that Sora's actually really sensitive? I know he acts loud and like he doesn't care, but come on, don't tell me you forgot about that fight you two had because you made fun of him too much. Being too forward is just going to make him uncomfortable because he's a lot shyer than he seems. You have to be smoother about it if you want him to respond positively."

Great. So being flirtatious and touchy was actually making it nearly impossible for Sora to admit his feelings. Fan-fucking-tastic. Why hadn't someone told him that sooner? "How do I do it 'smoothly'?" he asked, almost desperate now because he had the feeling he had a lot of ground to make up if he wanted this to happen any time soon.

"Well, ask him out. But don't be overly casual about it, or he'll think you're joking. Just…look, if you're this unsure about how to go about it, then don't do anything today. I'll try to come up with something, maybe I'll talk to Sora about how he feels. All right?"

"All right." He could manage to keep from doing anything more today. At least, he should be able to. His self-control hadn't been the best so far, but it wasn't like Sora was deliberately tempting him, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem. "Thanks, Kairi."

"No problem. And, Riku?"

"Yeah?"

"I told you so."

Before he could respond, the line went dead and Riku was left scowling at his phone because he couldn't react to Kairi the way he wanted to for slipping that in at the end. Trust that redhead to make sure she got the last word.

When he walked back into his room, the first thing he noticed was that Sora was awake and sitting up in bed, rubbing his eyes as he yawned. And it was adorable.

"Hey." He set his keys and phone down on his desk.

"Hi." Sora ran a hand through his hair, making the brown locks stick up even more crazily than they usually did. "Where'd you go?"

"Uh, bathroom."

"You took your phone to the bathroom?"

Shit. "…yeah. You know, didn't want it to go off and wake you up."

"Oh." The smallest of smiles appeared on Sora's face. "Thanks."

"Yeah. What woke you, anyway? You were sleeping like a log when I left."

His movements slow, Sora began climbing down from the loft. "I got cold. And I need to shower—I don't sleep well when I feel dirty."

I'll make you feel dirty. Wait, no! Stop thinking like that!

Riku hid his frustration with himself and smiled charmingly. "Then let's go take a shower."

Nodding, the brunet gathered the things he would need and, with Riku walking just behind him, the two left the dorm and headed off towards the bathroom. They chose the same stall as on the previous Slave-for-a-Day, though there was one major difference. This time, Riku was more nervous than he could describe and Sora didn't seem to have a care in the world.

In silence, they stripped and Riku turned the shower on, getting it to just the right temperature before he held the curtain open to let Sora in first. Once he stepped in, he kept to the side to give his companion as much room as possible, gaze averted in an attempt to avoid any more fantasies starting up. Who knew what would happen if he let his imagination get carried away while they were in the shower together. And, shit, they were naked—it would be all too easy to check Sora out, and it wouldn't be the first time he'd done so. But after what Kairi said, Riku was determined to keep himself in check.

"Riku."

Carefully, the older boy let himself look at the younger, making sure to keep his eyes trained on the brunet's face. "Yeah?"

"Wash my hair for me, like you did last time. It felt good."

Oh, okay. Yeah, he could do that. No problem.

"Sure."

Sora smiled and turned so his back was to Riku, and the teal-eyed boy instantly wanted to kiss the back of his neck again. He resisted though, focusing on opening the bottle of shampoo and squeezing some onto his hand then lathering it into his friend's hair. Instantly, a quiet moan escaped Sora and Riku felt his face turning red all over again. Still, he made sure to rub at the younger boy's scalp with his fingertips and ran his hands through the brown locks just as he'd done last time. By the time he finished, Sora's shoulders had drooped and he looked completely relaxed.

"Wash me, too?" came the quiet request, and Riku only nodded mutely.

The shampoo was rinsed from his hands and he picked up his bar of soap, rubbing it until his hands were covered in white, soapy bubbles. Then, starting at the tops of his shoulders, he began rubbing the suds onto Sora's body. The tops of his shoulders, his neck, then down one arm and the other, back up to his shoulders. Down his spine, up his sides and then down again to coat his entire back. His hands stilled when they reached the shorter boy's hips, and Sora half-turned.

"Riku?"

Without warning, Riku used his hold on Sora's hips to pull the brunet back against himself, making Sora gasp in surprise. Then, before the brunet could move away again, he bit down on that spot where neck meets the shoulder.

"Riku!" Roughly, Sora jerked away from the older boy and spun around, a hand over the spot that had been bitten as he stared with wide blue eyes. "W-what are you doing?!"

What was he doing? He hadn't been thinking…he'd bit Sora…

Embarrassed and a little ashamed of himself, Riku lowered his gaze to the shower floor. "I'm…sorry…I shouldn't have done that."

It was quiet for a few moments as both boys stood, unmoving. Then Sora, without taking his eyes off Riku, stepped into the stream of water, rinsed off, and got out of the shower. Riku listened to him dry off and gather his things, listened to the sound of hurried footsteps until the only sound was the shower running.

"Damn it."

Closing his eyes, he leaned his forehead against the shower wall. He'd fucked up. He'd just promised Kairi he wouldn't do anything more today, and what had he done? Gone and freaking bit Sora on the shoulder, and he'd have given the kid a hickey if Sora hadn't pulled away. Kairi was going to have a cow when she found out, and he knew she would find out. Sora was bound to tell her, and then Riku was going to get hell. He'd probably get hell from Kairi and Roxas, since the blond was going to know what happened, too.

Great. He'd made a complete ass of himself again, and why? Because of the way Sora sighed and how it looked when the bubbles ran down his skin and he was wet from the shower? Yeah, great reason. Not.

"You're an asshole, Riku. You're an asshole and now he isn't going to want to talk to you, so you can forget about asking him out. This is going to take a lot more than an apology to fix."