Riku stirred slightly, extremely reluctant to fully awaken. He was snuggled up close to Cloud and the last thing he wanted to do was leave that amazing warmth of Cloud's that both surrounded and penetrated his body. At the moment, even the prospect of another round of sex was not enough to make him want to move.

Then again, they had ended up going at it four times over the course of the night.

Without opening his eyes, Riku could tell that Cloud was also turned on his side facing him. This was an unusual position for him as the older man normally slept on his back. One arm was wrapped tightly around Riku's waist in a rather possessive manner.

"Go back to sleep," Cloud quietly murmured, arm tightening a bit.

Humming lightly, Riku attempted to bury himself further into his lover's warmth. "I was thinking about it."

"Thinking only makes you wake up more."

"I know."

Cloud shifted some and Riku placed his own arm along the blond's waist. He then slipped his knee between the man's legs. There was nothing overly suggestive about it, he simply wanted to be as close to Cloud as he could get.

"Any idea what time it is?"

Riku buried his face into the crook of Cloud's neck. "Don't wanna think about it."

"Heh, you sound like me." Cloud idly stroked a finger along the back of Riku's neck.

"Not my fault I don't want you to leave me ever again."

"I'm not, Riku." Cloud squeezed his lover's shoulder. "We're getting married in two months, remember?"

"Fifty-seven days," Riku clarified. "Not that I'm counting them down or anything."

The older male laughed richly. He truly did not have words for how incredibly light Riku made him feel. "Of course not. That would be very girly."

"Very." Riku lifted his head a bit. There was a sad quality to his aqua eyes. "And that isn't what I meant anyway. I just don't want you to go back."

With an understanding smile, Cloud placed a light kiss upon the other's lips. "Yeah, I know what you meant. I don't want to go either."

The corner of Riku's mouth turned up in a weak smile. After a moment, he shook himself from the slight depression. Very reluctantly, he pulled a little away. "We're not talking about this anymore. We have two days so let's make the best of them."

"Translation: you're hungry."

"Well, we did spend nearly all night having sex." Riku smirked. "And I didn't eat very much yesterday."

"I noticed." Cloud sat up and stretched his back. "You have been eating, right?"

"Yeah, Seiya takes good care of me." Riku also brought himself upright. "Actually, depending on what time it is, we should just head over there so she can feed us and we can handle whatever wedding stuff we need to."

"We may want to clean up first." Cloud observed, noticing he was sticking a bit to the sheets and if he was having that issue, Riku would definitely be worse off.

"Mmm," Riku leaned over and licked his fiancé's earlobe. "A long, hot shower sounds really.." he paused and whispered, "nice."

Making a noise in the back of his throat, Cloud quietly asked, "Does it?"

Riku slipped out of bed, the dim light escaping the closed curtains softly highlighting his pale skin. He took hold of Cloud's hand and slowly pulled him toward him. "Mm hmm. Get you all lathered up and wash your hair."

"I like when you wash my hair." The blond let himself be pulled from the bed. In the back of his mind, he decided he was extremely thankful for his high stamina. He had always been rather insatiable when it came to sex and Riku was at least as bad, if not worse.

"Oh, I know you do." Riku grinned wickedly. He tugged Cloud's body against his, relishing the feeling of their forms pressed together. He ever-so-lightly thrust his hips into his lover's, making sure the older man was able to feel how much he enjoyed being the one to wash Cloud's spiky hair.

Cloud groaned softly. With a short breath, he turned and pushed Riku toward the bedroom door. "Shower. Now."

-0—0—

They arrived at Sora's house a little over an hour later. The walk over had been casual and, to Riku's relief, uneventful. While he did not care what anyone else thought of him, he already tended to draw too much attention and walking down the street hand-in-hand with another man would not help that.

When Sephiroth was here the first time, it had been literally impossible to go anywhere without getting looked at. After a few days, they had resorted to keeping to the shadows as much as possible but even that did not help. If anything, it only made it worse because people would wonder where they had come from when they arrived to wherever they had to be.

Upon opening the front door of Sora's small home, they were greeted by Sora's loud laughter. Leon's amused chuckle could just be heard beneath it. Riku glanced at Cloud. "I'm not sure I want to know."

"I do. Leon laughing is a pretty rare thing."

"Not as rare as it is for you, Cloud." Leon appeared in the short hallway leading from the kitchen. There was a very relaxed quality to him and his eyes were bright. He smirked as he passed the couple. "And Sora is going to tear into Riku when he makes his best man toast."

The silver-haired young man lifted a concerned eyebrow. He then released Cloud's hand and brushed past Leon. "Sora! You are not saying anything at my wedding unless I approve it first!"

As he entered the kitchen, Sora laughed again. "Why? You afraid I'm gonna tell everyone about what happened in the locker room when you were in seventh grade and I had to come and-"

"Don't you dare!" Riku paled. He pointed at his best friend, face panicked. "You swore we'd never speak of that!"

"Speak of what?" Cloud asked from behind his lover, now morbidly curious.

"Nothing," Sora nearly sang. He smiled obnoxiously at Riku, clearly indicating that he would come back to whatever it was he had on the older teen later. "Mom made up two plates for you guys which are in the fridge. She should be back in a few minutes, had to run down the street for something."

Riku still looked uneasy but he went over to the fridge and removed the two plates Sora talked about. It was nearly two in the afternoon so the food was sandwiches with a side of fruit. He set them on the counter to remove the plastic wrap before bringing them to the table.

Cloud took a seat beside Sora, who was finishing up his glass of juice. As Riku came back over and placed one of the plates in front of him, he looked to Sora. "Any idea what your mother wants from us today?"

"No idea." The sixteen-year-old stood to put his glass in the sink. "She's been so busy fussing over Leon that she hasn't even mentioned the two of you until this morning."

"Has she tried getting you guys back together yet?"

"Thankfully, no." They could hear the gratefulness in his voice. "Don't get me wrong or anything, I'm glad what happened did but we just don't…mesh. We make much better friends."

The back sliding door opened and Seiya stepped in. She smiled brightly at Riku and Cloud. "How was your night?"

"Amazing," Riku stated simply, popping a grape into his mouth.

"Good, good." The brunette woman entered the actual kitchen space. "I just talked to Miss Sarah down the street. She's going to help me design the cake and she has a few things that she says you absolutely have to do in order to have a happy and healthy marriage."

Riku groaned, finishing chewing his mouthful of sandwich. "Seiya, I love you and always wished you were my own mother but…did you have to get her involved?"

"Yes. She's been involved in every Islander's wedding whether it takes place here or somewhere else for decades."

Cloud looked between them with a frown. "Who's Miss Sarah?"

"She's one of the oldest women on the island," explained Riku. "Her family is one of those that kept all the old traditions and stuff. I think they're descended from the original people or something. Either way, if you want to know anything about the culture and all of that of the island, she's the one to go to."

"People come to her when they're getting married to have the union blessed," Seiya continued, getting herself a glass of water. "And no offense to either of you, but you need all the blessings you can get."

Riku shot a look at Cloud. The couple shrugged, knowing that they really did not have much of an argument against the point. The odds had always been against them but they were determined to beat them.

"Are we going to have to see her?" Cloud asked, picking at a corner of his sandwich. While he had nothing against a few superstitious traditions, he did not relish the thought of doing them for what sounded like an old bat… even if she was a nice old bat.

Seiya chuckled, bringing herself to the table and sitting in the empty seat beside the blond. "No, everything is for the actual day of the wedding. Oh, and two things for the night before."

Riku narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Such as?"

"Oh, nothing terrible." The woman made an apprehensive glance at Cloud. "I'll give you all the details when it's closer to the event."

Cloud caught this look and frowned deeply. "Why do I have the feeling I'm going to hate this?"

"Because you probably will," Leon replied, strolling into the kitchen. He crossed the tile to lean against the edge of the counter next to the glass back door. "But you'll do it anyway because Riku wants the whole damn show and you're whipped like that."

"It's not a show," protested Riku, coming as close to a pout as any of them had seen from him. "It's a wedding and I told you the girls would never forgive us if we didn't have one. I'm totally fine with just eloping."

"Sure you are," said Cloud placatedly while both Leon and Sora snorted. "We'll just hop on the gummi and head to Port Royal-"

"Dude!" Sora exclaimed. "That would be totally awesome if you guys had Jack marry you!"

"I'm not being married by a pirate," Riku stated flatly.

"Actually." Seiya laced her fingers together on the tabletop. "That brings up a point I want to ask about. Who is going to officiate?"

"Uh, well…" Riku and Cloud exchanged brief looks. "We're still kinda working on that."

"You have less than two months," noted Leon, expression and tone indicating that he was not surprised that the couple had not handled that rather vital element. "I thought you decided to ask King Mickey. You haven't yet?"

Cloud smirked at Riku. "Tell them, Riku."

The eighteen-year-old sighed as if realizing how stupid he was about to sound. "I wasn't sure I wanted to bother him with it."

"What?" Sora shouted as Leon threw his head back in a gesture that clearly read he should have known it was something like this. "Oh, come on, Ku! You know that the king would do absolutely anything for you!"

"I know." Riku breathed out. "But that doesn't mean we should take advantage of that. He has a whole kingdom to rule, my wedding is a pretty minor thing in the grand scheme of things."

"Not to him it won't be." Leon folded his arms. "And you know as well as I do that he'll be extremely hurt if you don't ask him."

"Yeah," the silvered male agreed. He flicked his eyes toward Cloud. "We'll call him later today."

"We?" The blond frowned. "When did this become a 'we' activity? He's your friend."

Seiya chuckled, reaching over to pat Cloud's hand. "You became a 'we' the moment you proposed, honey. Get used to it."

Cloud pursed his lips and glanced at Riku. After a moment, he gave the younger man that faint smile of his and shrugged a bit. Obviously, he did not mind that fact at all.

"Okay, now that that's settled, moving on!" Seiya leaned back in her chair. "Sora and Leon gave me the brief rundown on everything last night but I still have a few questions."

Nodding, Riku reached over and took hold of Cloud's hand. The blond lifted it to kiss the youth's knuckles. They shared a brief look before their joined hands again dropped to rest on the table. "Okay, shoot."

-0—0—

Three hours went by before Seiya was satisfied with her information. As the couple detailed as much as they could, with Sora and Leon throwing in the details that they missed, she listened attentively. All four males were nearly certain that she was carefully filing away every word they said in the back of her mind. The woman would also likely remember all of it.

"All right." She clapped her hands once. "Now that I know exactly what's been done, I have a list of things that still need to be settled upon. Sora, dear, go get my journal."

The brunet teenager sighed and stood up. "Do me and Leon have to stay for all of this?"

"Yes." Riku and Cloud stated at the same time.

Cloud gave his best friend a look. "Especially Leon."

"You are always going to hold it against me that I had to work when you did all of this with Aerith, aren't you?"

"Damn right I am." Cloud muttered. "If I have to put up with all of this wedding stuff on top of dealing with everything else, you can at least help with this part."

Riku looked at his fiancé. While Cloud was also involved in the restoration effort, he had very little to do with any of the actual planning or anything of the like. He was pretty much manual labor there. "Dealing with what other stuff?"

"Don't worry about it." Bright blue eyes settled upon the glass sliding door. "It's nothing."

Something about Cloud's tone of voice set Riku on edge. "No, Cloud. What are you talking about?"

"It isn't anything you should be worried about. It's my problem."

Riku closed his eyes, feeling his anger rise up. Cloud was being evasive which told him exactly what this was about. "I thought we had this settled."

"We do," Cloud ground out. "He's your brother and I just have to deal with it. I have to deal with the fact that he's always going to be around, always going to be involved in anything we do, has to be a part of our life together-"

"What the hell, Cloud?" The silvered teen shouted. "Yeah, Sephiroth is my brother but that doesn't mean he's going to be involved in everything we do! He isn't going to always be around. You're marrying me not my brother!"

The other three in the room glanced between the couple. This entire argument had come out of the blue. While it was not terribly surprising to Leon or Sora, the general tone of it was. Seiya, while she knew there was animosity between Cloud and Riku's brother, had no idea just how severe it was. Sora had mentioned it being a potential problem; this was her first actual exposure to it.

"I know that but do you really think he's going to be content to just let us live our lives?" Cloud snapped back. "No, he's going to find ways to constantly be in a position where he can cause me the most suffering."

Running a hand through his hair, Riku growled in frustration. "Why is it that it's always about you when it comes to him? Are you really that arrogant to think that you are the only thing that matters to him? Maybe, just maybe, Sephiroth agreeing to be in our wedding has nothing to do with you! Maybe he wants me, his brother who loves him unconditionally, to be happy!"

Cloud breathed out slowly. "I'm sure that's part of it."

"But you're still convinced that he has some hidden plan to make you miserable."

"It's not hidden!" exclaimed the older man. "He's already done it! He knows that just by being there I'm going to be miserable!"

Riku laughed bitterly. "Oh, I cannot believe this!"

"I'm sorry." Cloud stood up angrily. "I'm completely wrong and have no justification for my opinion at all! I'll just keep my mouth shut and let you do whatever you want like the obedient puppet that I am!"

He stalked down the hall and after a moment they heard the door open and slam.

Riku clenched his jaw, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. He did not have words for how heart-broken and furious and scared he was at that very moment. He had hoped so badly that Cloud and Sephiroth would be able to work something out, come to some kind of understanding. Maybe there really was too much damage between them; maybe Cloud never would be able to let go.

Let the traitor go, Child.

"I can't," he whispered, earning confused looks from Leon, Sora and Seiya. He wiped angrily at his eyes and stood. There had to be a way to make this work. He flat out refused to choose between two of the most important people in his life.

Without a single word to the others, he left through the back door.