Chapter 5: Bouncing Off the Walls

I'm bouncing off the walls again

I'm looking like a fool again

Sora practically dragged Riku through the house, which was empty, as Sora's parents were away for the week. Sora was chattering away about something or another, but Riku was just glad to see him happy after yesterday. They reached Sora's room, and Sora grinned at Riku, sitting down on his bed and playing with the radio.

"So then I ate ice cream with a purple hippo…" he said non-chalantly. Riku blink at him.

"Wait, what?" he asked, sure that he'd misheard the younger. Sora laughed.

"Just making sure you were still listening. You looked like you'd spaced out," he answered, finally pushing the button that turned the radio on. The end of Sugarcult's "Bouncing Off the Walls" blared out of the speakers. Sora jumped to his feet.

"I LOVE THIS SONG!" he announced, practically giddy. Riku rolled his eyes, flopping down on the bed.

"I wonder why. It's by a band called Sugarcult," he replied, even though Sora clearly wasn't listening. The song ended only moments later and Sora stood stalk still, staring at the radio with a pout.

"Come on! That's such a good song! It's over already!" he whined. Riku sat up, grabbing a pillow and chucked it at Sora's head. It hit the mark and Sora stumbled into the wall with a muffled grunt. Riku chuckled.

"Stop complaining." he ordered with a smug grin. Sora smirked at him, scooped up the pillow and lunged forward, hitting Riku upside the head with it. Riku nearly fell over and grasped at the other pillow, rolling off the bed to take cover from the ensuing barrage from Sora. Sora made his way around the bed to get to Riku, but as soon as Sora came within reach of him as he crouched beside the bed, his hand shot out and caught Sora's ankle, causing the brunette to tumble onto the bed with a shout. Riku jumped to his feet, beating Sora mercilessly with his pillow.

"GAH!" Sora laughed, holding up one arm to try to block the onslaught. With the other hand, he hit Riku in the stomach his pillow. Riku stepped back, recoiling from the blow, and Sora's free hand shot out to snatch Riku pillow out of his hands. Riku held firm and grinned.

"Not a chance," he said. Sora grinned back at him.

"That's what you think!" he answered, pulling with one hand. Riku pulled back with two, and just about dragged Sora off the bed. Sora went tumbling over dramatically off the side of the bed head first, letting out a cry as he did so. Riku loosened his grip and leaned over Sora to make sure he was okay. Sora sat up suddenly, shouting.

"AHA!" Riku stumbled backwards to avoid getting hit, and Sora pulled Riku's pillow from his hands. A pillow in each hand, Sora leapt out of Riku's reach and onto the bed, giggling maniacally. Riku crossed his arms, clearly unimpressed at the prospect of being unarmed, and watched Sora closely. Both stood stalk still, tense and ready, each waiting for the other to leap first. Riku's lips formed an evil smile as he pounced, grabbing a pillow in each hand, trying to pull them from Sora's hands. Surprised, Sora stumbled backwards, pulling Riku into the foot of the bed, his knee connecting with the foot board. He yelped and started hopping up and down on one foot. Sora burst out laughing as Riku scrambled awkwardly onto the bed, afraid of being dragged into something painful again, but still refusing to give up his hold on the pillows.

"Are you alright?" Sora asked once he calmed down enough to speak.

"Fine, but you won't be once I get my pillow back!" Riku growled, grinning. Sora smirked at him and yanked back on the pillows. Riku stepped forward and widened his stance, pulling back against Sora. Laughing evilly, he relaxed his grip and braced himself to fall forward. Totally unprepared for Sora going suddenly limp, Riku almost fell over backwards. He took a few steps back, trying to regain his balance, and his found his foot at the very edge of the bed, nearly off of it. Sora pulled hard on the pillows to keep Riku from falling. Riku was yanked forward and got his feet tangled in the sheets. He let go of the pillows and waved his arms to try and keep himself upright. The sudden lack of weight on the other side of the pillows made Sora fall over backwards. Riku fought helplessly to stay standing ended and he fell forward on top of Sora. Sora let out a groan as Riku's weight crushed him against the bed. Riku grinned, knowing full well that he had a completely unfair advantage, grabbed Sora's wrists, pinning his to the bed with an evil smirk.

"Gotcha."

"Hmph. Not for long!" Sora answered, pushing up against Riku's weight. It didn't work half as well as he thought it would have. Riku smirked triumphantly. Sora started to squirm underneath him, unknowingly grinding his hips seductively against Riku. Riku's breathing caught and he realized all at once that he was on top of a completely helpless Sora, in bed, and that that two were close enough that if he so much as moved, he'd kiss the younger. Riku could feel himself growing hard and immediately rolled off Sora, blushing furiously and hoping beyond all hope that Sora hadn't noticed. However, he apparently misjudged his location on the bed and how close he was to the edge, because he rolled off and landed flat on his face on the floor. He sat up, groaning, and saw a red spot on the floor. He blinked and then all at once realized that he had a nose bleed, though whether it was caused by Sora or the floor he'd never know. Sora leaned over the side of the bed, snickering, to ask if Riku was alright, and gasped.

"Your nose!" he exclaimed, hopping off the bed and kneeling next to Riku on the floor. Riku shrugged.

"I'm okay," he answered, sitting up. More of the red liquid began to seep out of his nose. Sora frowned.

"You are not. You're still bleeding. Come on," he ordered, motioning for Riku to stand. Riku cupped one hand over his face and took Sora's outstretched hand with the other. The young brunette led him into the bathroom. "Sit," he ordered, pointing to the counter. Riku did as he was told and pulled himself up onto the bathroom counter, pulling toilet paper off the roll and wiping his nose with it. He was still bleeding. He frowned. It's not like I hit the floor that hard. Maybe it was Sora that caused me to get a nosebleed, he thought. He could feel his face heating into a blush and pushed the thoughts out of his head. He tilted his head back to keep the blood from running.

"Thanks for doing this Sora, but I'm fine," he said, his voice sounding funny because the air was blocked from getting through his nostrils and his head was tilted so far back.

"No problem! I just want to… Riku!" Sora turned around and placed both of his hands on Riku's face, tilting his head forward again.

"What?" Riku asked suddenly, well aware of Sora's closeness. Their foreheads were nearly touching, and he could feel Sora's breath on his skin. Sora's hands were cupped over Riku's cheeks for long moment, passing his fingers over Riku's jaw and neck once he did. Then, he turned away suddenly and began to rummage through the cupboard again.

"Don't tilt your head back when you have a nose bleed. It's bad for you," he replied, his voice muffled because he was hiding his face in the cupboard. Riku wasn't listening; he was busy trying to calm his beating heart and waiting for the colour his face to go from it's current cherry red to it's normal fair shade. He shut his eyes and sighed. He wanted nothing more than to spend time with Sora, but if this was what was going to happen every time he did, he knew he was going to let something slip or do something stupid, and then things would change forever. If he'd been paying any sort of attention to the object of his affections as the brunette found what he was looking for and began to help Riku clean up, he would have noticed how quiet Sora's voice had gotten, and how he didn't once look Riku in the eye, and how his own cheeks were tinted pink. But as it was, Riku was absorbed in his own thoughts, and didn't notice any of those things. The bleeding had stopped. Sora wet a cloth and carefully started to wipe away any blood left on Riku's face. The cloth was cool, but it burned on his skin simply because it was Sora's hand on the other side of it. Riku tried to sit still, but the entire situation was making him dizzy. Finally, unable to stand it anymore, Riku spoke.

"I can do it myself," he muttered, lifting his hand to grab the cloth from Sora's hand. In trying to clutch the washcloth, he grabbed hold of Sora's hand. Sora tensed and pulled away. The cloth dropped, Riku's fingers tangled in Sora's. Sora's muscles were tense to the point of him nearly trembling, probably from surprise, but it felt strangely like he was holding Riku's hand tighter, not wanting him to let go. Their eyes locked for a moment, and Riku pulled his hand out of Sora's death grip, picking up the cloth and passing it over his face once before dropping it in the sink and jumping off the counter. He glanced in the mirror and passed his hand through is hair; it was still almost numb just from that moment of contact.

"Look, I gotta go," he said simply. He kept his eyes on the floor as he stepped around Sora and walked out.

"Oh. Okay," Sora answered dumbly after a few minutes, even though by then, Riku was long gone to try and sort his own thoughts out.

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Wheeeeee! I updated again! Yayay! I'm so proud! Now hurry and review, and I'll keep my string up hopefully, although work schedule is eating my soul. I'll see what I can do, but I'd most definitely like to hear what you all think!