Holy crap! I can barely believe this! I was gone so long, dealing with family issues, I completely lost sight of my fics! D; Don't worry, fans of my fics! I'm getting myself settled, so I hope I'll be able to get steady. Sad thing is, this chapter has been completed for months. Apologies! Thanks for reading, and enjoy!
"Hey, Tidus." Sora smiled when he saw the familiar blonde plop down next to him at the lunch table, tray in hand. "What's wrong?" Sora questioned, frowning slightly. Tidus had been rather down the past two days, even though Riku and his crew left him alone…
"I feel like…like something's gonna happen." Tidus answered, shoving mashed potatoes into his mouth.
"'Something'? As in what?" Sora asked curiously, pushing his tray away from him in favor of leaning on the table. He leaned on Tidus discreetly, who smiled and gave him a playful nudge.
"Just something. Don't worry 'bout it, it usually happens when I'm about to have a pop quiz." Tidus replied, grinning largely.
"Okay…" Sora frowned, then shot up in his seat. "I have art club!" He declared, looking much like a mad scientist with his crazed expression. "Today is the speed draw contest!"
Tidus laughed. "Good luck, then."
"So you'll wait for me before you leave today, right?" Sora asked, the beginnings of a trademark pout spreading across his face.
Tidus chuckled. "Of course, right outside the school. I may have to run a few errands, but I'll be back before five thirty."
"Okay, but…be careful, Tidus." Yes, even Sora felt something bad was about to go down…Sora just prayed that it was a false alarm.
-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-
Tidus yawned, pushing himself off of where he leaned on the tall black flagpole outside the school. It was four thirty now, and Tidus supposed he could go pick up a few things from the store.
Of course, one (or a few) of those few things was for Sora, and he couldn't exactly run these errands on his own time (which was spent with Sora). So he decided he'd go now, and surprise his little brunette on the walk home.
His pocket vibrated suddenly, startling him. He whipped out his phone, flipping the cover to reveal a new text message. He opened it.
'Look up, second floor window.'
Tidus didn't even have to notice the number to know who it was. He looked up and smiled; there, in one of the many second floor windows, was Sora. He was peeking his head out from behind the blinds, a silly grin on his face. He hooked the index fingers and thumbs of his hands, putting them together to form a heart. Tidus, despite how comical the situation actually was, felt himself smile and his heart warm when Sora mouthed, "I love you" against the blue-tinted glass.
Tidus made his own heart with his fingers, and mouthed the words right back to Sora. He didn't have to hear to know the blue-eyed boy was giggling, but he was soon pulled from the window by Kairi. The red-head noticed Roxas, waving before she pulled Sora over to whatever they were really supposed to be doing.
Another vibration from his phone.
'I love you!'
As if that hadn't been established already. Tidus couldn't help but reply nonetheless.
'I love you, too.'
-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-
Sora frowned, pacing back and forth between the flagpole and the entrance of his school. Where was Tidus…? The sun was setting, and the blonde still hadn't made it back. He'd texted Tidus a few times, asking where he was.
There had been only one reply at four fifty five, "Just talking to Riku."
That was hint enough; something bad was happening.
"Oh come on, Sora." He chided himself, shivering lightly as the warm morning air became a little less than comfortably cool. "For all you know he's joking, or really is making nice with Riku." And not even Sora believed his own lies. For Tidus to make nice with Riku was like a jaguar making nice with…an arctic fox or something (he was ridiculously bad at making metaphors; Tidus would tease him for it.).
"Just hurry…" Sora whispered, hoping that maybe the breeze would carry his plea to the ears of his love.
"Hey, Sora!"
Hope swelled up in him, but died when he realized how the voice sounded. It was too high, too perky to be Tidus. "Hey, Kairi." He forced himself to smile when his redheaded friend ran over to him.
"It's seven in the afternoon! Club ended at five thirty five! Have you really been out here that long?!" She asked in shock. Sora nodded, in disbelief at himself. Had it really been that long?
"What about you, why are you here?" He asked.
She blushed at that. "Well, Hayner, Olette, Pence and I were out on a double date of sorts. I left my bag, and just came back to get it. We're meeting everyone at the arcade, remember?" Oh yes, Sora himself was asked to go but he declined due to some 'studying' he'd need to get done. With Tidus, of course.
That, and Riku would have been there. Sora just couldn't handle that; not without Tidus.
"How are you and Pence doing, by the way?" Sora asked, smiling. He needed some way to occupy himself until Tidus showed.
"We're doing great. He's so sweet, I really don't know what I'd do without him. He even…" Kairi paused mid-speech, then shook her head. "Nevermind."
Sora raised an eyebrow, but then remembered. No one knew about his relationship with Tidus, or his previous with Riku. They thought he was still single.
"I hope you find someone soon. Selphie thinks you're cute, maybe…" Kairi began, but Sora cut her off.
"I don't—" 'Need anyone; I have Tidus and he loves me,' would have been the rest, but he remembered that Kairi didn't know his sexuality, and didn't know that he loved Tidus. So instead: "I don't have any plans to date."
It wasn't that Sora was scared of letting people know. Because he had no problem letting others know; he knew that his most important people would accept him. It was Riku who was worried; he was known for screwing men, yes, but long-term relationships were off-limits to anyone that didn't have tits and a vagina. He'd fed Sora a bull-shit lie about 'protecting' the brunette, because he didn't want 'fans' to get mad. What a lie that had been, and Sora had been the one to fall right into it.
Sora just hadn't gotten a chance to talk about going public with Tidus. Tidus…Tidus was different. Tidus loved him, Tidus cared about him… Tidus would stay with him for as long as Sora wanted (as he had repeatedly assured the brunette), and if Sora had his way then that'd be forever. And while Sora regretted that Tidus couldn't be his first…he'd make sure that Tidus would be his only.
"—And then you'll get married, and have little Sor-Ifa's running about and then—"
"WHAT?!" Sora exclaimed, eyes wide at Kairi's prediction.
"Sor-Ifas. You know, Sora and Tifa together? Like…I dunno, Cleon or something."
"No! Stop!" Sora really couldn't handle much more of this.
"Well, I pegged you for the type to like older women. But I must be going! Make sure you go home soon! It's really late." Kairi ran off to a van, which he assumed had the others in it, and hoped that Riku wasn't in there too.
"Eight already?" Sora asked himself, looking at his watch. Something had to be wrong with it. No, it was set right…so where was Tidus? Sora frowned. "Maybe…maybe if I go to the store and see if he's there…" Sora set off to the little corner store up the street. Tidus had mentioned going there…
-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-
"And you haven't seen him since?" Sora asked, worrying his lip between his teeth. The cashier shook his head, "Nope, sorry."
With a hurried 'thank you', Sora rushed out onto the sidewalk. He had to find Tidus, he just had to. Where could he be? It was approaching night and barely any of the sun was left and soon he wouldn't be able to see his hand in front of his face in this part of town and especially if he ran into Riku and Riku always had friends who hurt people and he could barely imagine how Tidus was holding up and he wouldn't answer his fucking phone and—
Sora's phone vibrated. He snatched it out, looking at the screen.
"Hey, I'm alright. Meet me at my house, k?"
"'K'?" Sora blinked. Tidus never shortened words like that. He, like Sora, would put the whole word. It must have been really dark or Tidus was really tired. But…this message was sent at seven…
Oh, yes. Sora's phone was really…stupid. If he wasn't standing straight in front of the person or right below a satellite or something then a text would take ages to send and ages to get to him.
"So all this time he's been fine?!" Sora scolded himself for being such a worry wart. He sighed deeply in relief, tears almost welling up in his eyes. Sora hurried on, taking a path through an alley as a short cut. Only the moon lit his way.
While walking, Sora heard shuffling from one of the other alleys he passed. His head whipped around, but he only saw a huddled pile in the corner. Someone's trash? He ignored it, picking up his pace to hopefully explain the situation to Tidus and hope that the boy didn't think Sora had stood him up.
His phone vibrated again; probably Tidus. "Oh, I hope he isn't mad…" Sora flipped his phone open. What he saw made him freeze, chills running down his spine.
"help me"
That was it. Just those two words. What about those other texts? This had to be some sort of prank…Sora checked the time it was sent; eight fifty-seven. He checked the current time.
Eight fifty-eight.
Sora spun around dread filling him as he ran back to the alley way. "No…no, no…" It couldn't be. No, it wasn't. Sora stepped in slowly, darkness engulfing him like some soul-sucking black cloud. He approached the pile slowly, almost screaming when something chimed in the darkness.
That was Tidus' ringtone.
"Tidus!" Sora gasped, throwing himself down to the body. He turned it over carefully, almost fainting when Tidus' bruised and bloodied face came into view. The suntanned male was pale now, shivering even. "Oh, god…" Sora couldn't fight the tears that welled up in his eyes. He pulled Tidus as slowly as he could into his lap, hugging the blonde to his chest with one hand and using the other to dial 911. He had just pushed talk, sobbing, when the phone was kicked from his hand and nearly took his own face along with it.
"Riku!" Sora gasped when he saw who it was, but wasn't nearly as shocked as he should have been. The phone lay face up on the ground, but Riku paid it no heed.
"What did you do to him, Riku?" Sora glared, voice full of venom. He thought that he and Riku could be friends, and he thought he could forgive Riku, but that had crossed the line.
"Little shit wanted to disrespect me. So I showed him what happens to people who disrespect me." Sora was enraged as he listened to Riku speak. He held Tidus to his chest tightly, and felt the blonde stirring. He can't wake up now… Sora didn't want Tidus to see this.
"Hm. Looks like he's not the only one that needs to be punished. What's this here?" Riku feigned curiosity as he took Tidus' cellphone from his own pocket.
"Oh, look. A text. Quite a few. Let's read. 'I love you, Sora.' 'I love you, too.'" At this, Riku smirked.
Sora only glared harder. He remembered those, the ones Sora and Tidus had been sending back and forth after they first started dating.
"So he loves you? Like how I 'loved' you? Does he know how to love a whore?" At this, Sora tensed.
"It's nothing like what you did. He cares about me."
"Does he even know who you are? What you are? How you are?" At this, Sora's eyes softened.
"He knows...about you and I. And he doesn't care."
"Does he know about how you cheated on me?"
"That's not fair, Riku!" Sora shouted, purely pissed off. "You'd been cheating on me since the start! We weren't even together anymore when that happened!"
Riku went from smirking to just being plain…emotionless. He walked over to Sora slowly, yanking him up by the collar. Tidus fell from Sora's arms, and Sora reached out to him only to have his arms smacked away by Riku.
"When I want someone, when I mark them," Riku started, tapping Sora's neck lightly. Sora's skin felt as though it would shed itself at his touch, disgust welling up inside of him. "they're mine. Forever. Whether we're together or not. Just like you are mine. One of my dolls." He dropped Sora, and Sora landed on his knees before the silverette. He bit back tears—he wouldn't give Riku the pleasure of seeing him break.
"On your knees so soon? Insatiable, as always."
Sora felt Riku's hands in his hair, and couldn't stop himself from gagging. "Get off of me. Let us go home."
Those hands grasped his hair, yanking his face up so he could see Riku's smirk. "No. Make me." He pushed Sora down, crawling on top of the brunette.
Sora looked to Tidus, who was facing them and still unconscious. A tear slipped from his eyes. I'm sorry… He closed his eyes.
"Aw, don't cry." Riku's tone was anything but comforting. "It was bound to happen. He was nothing anyway. You didn't love him, and he didn't love you." Sora's eyes snapped open, and with those words something inside him broke.
Like an angry, flaming volcano, it just...exploded.
He punched Riku in the face, harder than he had ever punched anything ever before.
The fact that Riku was knocked off of him by the sheer force was shocking, if not extremely pleasing. He got up as Riku nursed his injured face, running over to Tidus and picking him up as best he could.
He made to haul ass straight out of that alley, but was nearly knocked over by someone rushing into him. He fell back, hitting his head on the hard ground and dropping Tidus again. Sora winced, thinking about the injuries that Tidus would have.
All because of him.
"No, no, Sora…it's not going to be that easy." Riku picked a dazed Sora up by his neck, and his head wasn't the only reason his vision was going blurry. His air was severely cut off as he was slammed against the wall, Riku pushing his own body against him.
Riku's grip was relentless, even when Sora grabbed at the silverette's hands with his own in an attempt to pry them off.
"Oh, what's wrong, Sora?" Riku asked, mock concernedness seeping through his voice. Sora couldn't speak, only choke against Riku's fingers digging into his neck.
"Oh, you can't breathe?" Riku's grip loosened only slightly.
"If you want to live, beg for it." The voice was by his ear, invading his mind and making him almost physically sick. He couldn't handle this...
But he wouldn't beg.
"Go fuck yourself." Sora growled. If he had the oxygen to spare, he'd have spit in the smirking male's face.
Riku chuckled. "Why do it myself when I have you to do it for me?"
At this, Sora only smirked bitterly. "Not anymore you don't."
"Oh I don't?"
Sora was yanked from the wall, and thrown back onto the ground.
-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-
"Sora…" Tidus frowned, still getting used to having to see out of only one eye, "You don't have to keep hiding in the corner."
"…" The brunette was silent, but he did step up to the foot of Tidus' bed. His eyes were downcast.
"Sora…"
"How much did you hear?" Sora said suddenly, his voice portraying no emotion. Tidus winced, he wasn't ready for that question, nor was he prepared for the lifelessness in his love's voice.
"…He almost raped you, Sora." Just saying it, even the 'almost', came as a difficult task. His throat wanted to close over the words, cutting them off and banishing their existence. How long had he lain here earlier, hoping and praying to himself that everything he heard was a lie?
"As long as he left you alone, I wouldn't have cared."
"Sora, Riku knew that! Do you even know what he would have done to you had help not arrived?!"
"I would have lived. I would have been fine, as long as you were alright."
"Sora, don't say that!" Tidus really didn't want to hear that; he didn't want to hear how much Sora would go through to keep him safe. Not when Tidus was supposed to be the one to bear the brunt of it all, so that Sora could finally be happy.
"But it's true." Sora looked down, his hair obscuring his eyes, and the way his shoulders shook, Tidus thought for a minute that he was crying. Until he looked up, eyes almost angry. "What were you doing down there, anyway? How did they get to you?"
"I went to the store, like I said." Tidus explained. "And…I saw a stray cat. So I went back into the store, got some catfood, and fed it. That's when Riku and friends," Tidus noted the flinch Sora made when Tidus said it. "came to me. And they said they had to talk to me about you. But, as you can see, we did more talking with our fists. That coward couldn't fight me himself, so he got his friends to do it instead. And…I guess I passed out or something, because all I remember is when I woke up to you and him…"
Sora was shaking now. "Sora…?"
"Tidus…god, Tidus…I'm so sorry." Tidus hadn't been prepared for the brunette to fall to his knees beside Tidus' bed, sobbing. "I should have been more careful…what was I even thinking, dragging you into this?" Sora shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry…"
Tidus frowned. He could feel what Sora was thinking; probably thinking he was a failure, and that he didn't deserve Tidus' love. "Sora. Sora, look at me." Though his healing ribs still hurt, Tidus pushed himself up off of the bed, leaning over it so that he could reach out and cup Sora's cheek. The boy still kept his head down.
"Sora, please…" Tidus had all but begged.
The brunette complied, lifting his head slowly to face Tidus. Tidus felt like he could break at the sight before him; the reddened cheeks and the tears streaming down them, the tears filling those gorgeous blue eyes, those lips contorted to fight back sobs…god, what had Riku done to the two of them?
"Sora, I love you." Tidus had to fight the tremor in his voice, and the tears that threatened to fall and join his lover's on the floor. "I love you…I want to help you. I want to take your pain and make it mine. If I can't take it all for you, I'll share it with you. We're in this together, and we're not going back because of some bastard." He smiled then, taking Sora's hands in his own.
"T-Tidus…" Sora seemed taken aback by the strong emotions in Tidus' words.
"Please, let me hear your answer. Tell me you want this, too." Tidus whispered, bringing Sora's hands up to his lips. He kissed each of the fingers gently, nuzzled his cheek against the hands.
Sora finally spoke. "I…I want this." He whispered, voice fighting against tiny sobs. "I love you, too…"
"Then come up here with me." Tidus smiled, more than pleased that it wasn't a one-way effort of love. Sora nodded, standing and sitting on the bed.
"Not like that." Tidus shook his head, and Sora wore a look of confusion until Tidus's arms wrapped around his waist. The brunette squeaked, and Tidus laughed as he let himself fall back onto the bed with Sora in his arms. Sora's back was against Tidus' chest, and Tidus' hands resting on Sora's hips. Sora's fingers had laced themselves with the blonde's own.
"Like this." He whispered, his breath ghosting across Sora's ear.
"O-oh…" Sora gasped, his eyes fluttering shut. Tidus smiled, burying his face into those spiky brunette locks.
The nurse found them like that later in the day, asleep and content in each other's arms.