Heyyyyyyyyy! How long did this take? Remember me still? :P

Sorry! I have sooo much homework, which reminds me, I have to send my English work to my teacher... Annnyways, yeahs, I kinda uhms.. Wrote this after a long amount of time, and you may think it's crap, but here it is. Also... I have no idea how this story is going to end, or when it will end, but I shall figure it out!

Also, reviews make me happy :) I am sick, and this whole review thingy makes me all happy (yeah that's right, all you non-reviewers, feel bad :P) Talking about reviews... I got my little 'cat-like' quote off of Keuraki-SoraXRiku, so yeahs... I tell you, that woman is a genius. Kinda wish she'd update her stories, though... I WANT THE NEXT CHAPTER OF CAN'T RUN AWAY FROM THE HEART! ... And stuff.

So.. Yeah. Read, enjoy (hopefully) and review! I'd say enjoying it would be the most important thing, but then you wouldn't review so.. Nerr :P

Peace!

"You feeling any better?" was what both Riku and Sora woke up to. Not both at the same times, of course, as that would be too cliché for this drama. Separately, with Riku waking about an hour - hour and a half before his ex-boyfriend.

Kairi was leaning over him, her seemingly pink hair dazzling Riku into an even sleepier state, somehow. The curtains were open (why? Why were the curtains open? They should not have been open!) and that caused everything about Kairi to glow a little more brighten than usual. But there was something in her eyes, a brightness, a shine, that had nothing to do with the glaring light intruding into the only space that Riku could really call his own.

Well.. He could call it his own when Kairi wasn't around, snooping, opening curtains that were clearly shut before she walked in.

"What do you want?" he half muttered, half moaned as he yawned. Riku awkwardly sat up a little bit, leaning all of his torso's weight on his right elbow, as he lifted his other arm up to block the bright, absorbing rays of deathly sun from searing his eyes in half.

Kairi giggled. "Riku, it's nearly two in the afternoon! Get your ass out of bed! We have a story to read."

Uh-oh. Riku didn't like the way his friend had said that. So... cat-like. Kairi was so catty sometimes. He could almost imagine her with twitching whiskers, cunning purples eyes and a flicky tail, prancing around like the domestic devil she was.

"Close the fucking curtains, Kairi."

The 'catty' girl gasped. "How rude!" she exclaimed teasingly, putting her knees on the edge of the bed, almost slipping, and leaning over the tired silverette to pull one curtain to the middle, using only one hand. She could feel her knees slipping off the rumpled bed, her kneecaps going clack as they stretched a bit too far, and suddenly she was on her knees on the ground. "Geez, Riku," she complained, blowing upwards to make her fringe move. She failed, however, only making the piece of hair rise upwards, before falling back down, even more into her eyes. "You're so freakin' wide."

Riku sat up, leaning his stomach all the way in, stretching an arm out to pull the other side of the curtain shut. Ahh.. said his mind contently. Now I can see again. "Thanks," he muttered, his quiet voice thick with sarcasm, at the same time the fallen girl stood back up again, flopping her fingers across her face - absolutely not gracefully - to tuck her hair behind her ear.

"No problem," she said cheerily, returning back to her previous mood. "Now," she continued, swatting the still-tired teen with the notebook she was holding, "Get up! Up!" she repeated when Riku didn't show any signs of moving.

The said boy groaned, why me? he thought as he pulled the covers off his leg slowly. He lifted one leg out of bed, slowly, but not carefully, and plopped it onto the grimy clothes and books covered floor. "Why the - Kairi, get out of my way - sudden urgency?"

Kairi giggled at the way Riku had just molded two differen sentences, one a question, the other a command, into one so fluently. Riku was just smooth like that. Smooth and calm and collected. Which made Kairi wonder why Sora hated Riku. Or, at least... Didn't like Riku like that.

But... After this morning, Kairi didn't know what to think. "I... I loved him!" Sora had said. With such emotion, such a passion. There had been life in Sora's eyes for the first time in a week. Emotion. But which emotion Kairi could not figure out. And if she couldn't figure it out, then it was a mystery worth noting on. He loved Riku? As in, he had loved him, but not any more, or he loved him, and loved him still.

Then Kairi noticed the red dots splattered on the right top half of Riku's white t-shirt, around his shoulder blade area. Kairi gasped. Sora's emotions could wait. They were, hopefully, all written in the small book Kairi threw to the ground in worry, as she hugged the silverette, making sure to wrap her arms around his eblows and middle back area, nowhere higher than that. "Riku!" she cried. "What happened to your shoulder?"

Riku turned around, staring at her, dazed. "Huh?" The silverette was obviously not awake yet. "Oh, that. Right." He flushed, and Kairi was shocked. Whatever had happened between Riku and Sora had obviously been very meaningful to the two boys, because they had both changed so much.

"Well?" Kairi prompted, letting go of the older boy and pulling back to look at him. "What happened?"

Riku looked down at his bare thighs, his legs crossed. "I... A stick went through it this morning. But I taped one of those giant bandaids to it and now it hardly even hurts."

Kairi grimaced. "We need to change that gauze of yours." Her top lip crinkled at the thought of what had most likely grown all over not only the bandage, but Riku's back, too. Oh well, that's what Kairi got for mothering the two boys so much. "Up," she commanded firmly, patting Riku's even firmer arm mscles, standing up from the bed."

Riku sighed. "Let's get this whole 'gauze' or whatever done over with, then." The he chuckled, for some unknown reason, and Kairi looked at him worriedly as they both walked out of the room and into the bathroom. Maybe he has truly lost it...?

Riku was sliding his grimy white t-shirt over his head when Kairi entered. She tried, honestly tried, to keep her eyes from the strained stomach muscles Riku has gained over the years, but her eyes kept sliding back to the pale skin, strong and solid over his abs. Riku was quite attractive, Kairi realised. Surely she had thought he was cute before, but it seemed like she was looking at him for the first time, in this dimly lit bathroom with self-thickening grime flowing the walls. It wasn't love, nowhere near, but more a temporary attraction.

The redhead girl shivered. She was alone with this beautiful creature. But she couldn't do anything - wouldn't do anything - for Sora's sake, as well as her own. She would just hide how she was feeling, knowing full well how stupid she would feel after this was all over. "

"Okay," She said, surprised how calm she felt, compared to how the fluttering attraction was boiling gracefully in her stomach. "Turn around, lemme look."

Riku turned, hunching. He knew this was going to hurt. Kairi hunched over, too. She could see the green slick stuck to his skin, around the edges of the gauze. "The fuck, Riku!" she cried out. She was sort of glad that Riku's parents weren't home at that time, or else it would have been awkward to explain. "You didn't put any cream or anything on it, did you?"

Riku shifted. "Was I supposed to?"

Kairi sighed. "You idiot." Then she chuckled lightly, for no reason, and soon Riku joined in. The whole atmosphere was tense as all hell, but Kairi found she could relax a little bit. She stepped forward, scared that whatever was forming on Riku's back was contagious.

"Just hurry and take care of it," Riku gritted out, his voice shaking. He seemed to be mulling over some inner-worry, too. So Kairi was reached out, ignoring the fact her fingernails were newly painted, and ripped the gauze off. Riku cried out in pain, and Kairi screamed.

"What?" asked Riku, panicking. (A/N - this next bit's kinda.. Dramatic. And yes, I know.. This would never happen after like, five hours, but let me have some fun, okay? xD)

But Kairi was frozen. Horrified. "It... It..." It looks almost alive! she thought frantically. Yellow liquid, thick as blood, was oozing out of a large gaping hole in the teenage boys shoulder. The skin was all crusty and rainbow - dried tissue of red, purple, yellow and green gleaming evilly at Kairi. The blood, mixed with the - was that puss? - was sort of... bubbling, and Kairi felt her stomach heave, her throat go dry. "It's fucking horrible!"

Riku froze. "Well..." his voice was quiet, timid, and that made Kairi snap out of it.

Riku needs me, Kairi reminded herself. So I have to suck it up - she ignored the mental imagine that came with the phrase - and get over it. But she still grimaced as she stepped even closer. It was fucking disgusting, and she had to deal with it. Close up. Hell, she could smell it. Swallowing down the sickening acid building up in her throat, she managed to speak. "I.. I can still see where the stick went - there are still some splinters. Hold on, where are the-?"

RIku flipped his arm back, and suddenly there were a pair of glistening tweezers in her face. She looked at the boy's silver hair, looking darker in the dimer lighting of Riku's old bathroom. How did he know? Then she stopped wondering. Some mysteries were to wonder about, but Riku was not one of them. It was part of his charm. Kairi's stomach flipped over. There wasn't much charm - or attraction - anymore, after seeing what Riku had done to his body.

Plucking the tweezers from Riku's fingertips, she noticed his hands were shaking. "Calm down," she said. "It'll only hurt a little bit."

And so she plucked tiny pieces of wood from Riku's infected wound, both of them well aware that the other was wincing just as badly as them. Kairi managed to stab Riku twice, causing the layers of dead skin to pop and ooze purple goo down Riku's back, barely missing Kairi's somehow still almost-perfectly clean fingers.

Then she splashed some warm water on it, scrubbed it - gently, of course - with a face washer and then got out a fresh gauze. Nobody talked, but it was obvious what the two were thinking to each other.

And so, after half an hour of that, and after Riku had showered, The two settled down on the couch to read what Sora had written. Riku had wanted to read it first, but Kairi snatched it off him, saying proudly that it was her who had made Sora write it, and so she would read it first. She had a suspicion that Sora had only maybe written one sentence about how much he disliked Kairi for making him do this, but then again, her will to believe Sora had done her justice was strong enough to make anything happen, even form words onto a piece of shrivelling lined paper.

And her will, or maybe it was Sora's will, did not disappoint.

"How strange..."

"What is?" Riku jumped up from the couch, tugged the book from a shocked Kairi's hands. He had used her moment of distraction to get it back. Then he shoved the book in his face. He could only see a few words, which you would figure, his eyes being about a millimetre away from the page.

Naked woman and XXX catch his eyes before anything else. "What the fuck does this kid feel about me?" he wondered out loud, sounding horrified.

Kairi giggled. "Come sit back down and read it properly."

And so Riku did just that. And afterwards, after he had read it, he felt tears spring to his eyes, for the second time today. Ugh, he thought. This kid is not good for me. But also... He's the best thing I've ever had, and the best thing I could ever get.

Then he felt a strong surge of guilt. How hadn't he noticed Sora like that? Of course it was strange, because he was so harsh and unrewarding. Of course Sora loved him. Well... It seemed that way anyway, from these words. Maybe Sora really did love him. Then...

Riku grinned. Then that would be perfect.

"You feeling any better?"

Sora groaned. He was just tired, there was no pain. "What'dya mean, there was no pain to begin with." Rubbing the sleep from the corner of his wide blue eyes, he opened them properly, and saw Red and black sploges. "Wait... Axel? Huh?"

Axel laughed. "You don't remember anything, do you?"

Sora shook his head. "Nope. Why.. Did I do something stupid?"

Axel laughed even harder, and Sora got even more confused. It was around that time that Roxas came in, Diet Coke in hand, gay magazine in the other. Seeing Sora awake, he quickly shoved the mag behind his back, looking panicky.

Axel, who had stopped laughing by then, chuckled sharply again. "He doesn't remember a thing," he told the blonde, amused.

Roxas, though, looked worried. Sora wondered why. What had he missed out on? All he knew was that he wanted Riku right now- where was his boyfriend when he needed him?

"Hey, Sora," said Roxas casually, althogugh Axel could see how non-casual the younger boy actually was. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Sora furrowed his eyebrows, looking down. "The, uhm... Hmm.. The last thing.." He swung his feet back anf forth, short but soft movements - movements on the old Sora. "I think it was kis-" Sora went red, and grabbed a plush cushion off the couch and slamming it into his face.

Axel laughed, and this time Roxas joined in. "You and Riku, eh?"

Sora looked back from the pillow with wide eyes. "You know about, uhm.. Us?"

Roxas smirked, and no matter how much of a bully the blonde boy was, this look was unusual for him, somehow. "You tend to uhm.. Talk in your sleep a little there, Sora."

And it was true. Sora had mumbled and muttered and twittered about the older boy for the last two hours. Poor Sora, both Roxas and his boyfriend knew almost all the juicy details by now.

This made Sora blush. "Do I really?"

There was a knock on the door. And with that sound, somehow the whole atmosphere changed. Many things, not only the atmosphere swap, but many other things happened in that moment too. Sora caught a glimpse on the past, remembered something, but he didn't know what. Roxas and Axel looked at each other, and shared one thought - who this time?

And.. On the other side of the door, waiting outside in the boiling hot sun.. Riku gulped. What will happened next, I don't know, but then again, what the hell do I know anymore?

In every play there is an interval. Well actually, most of the time there is two. But anyways, there is an interval in this story. Just because it makes the story more interesting, and also because... Well, doesn't it shape a story up better - climaxing to the end result just that little bit more extremely - if the reader has to wait and get really pissed off before they can finish the chapter?

Or maybe that's just my sick sense of humour speaking.

So... Regardless of the reason, there is an interval. And yeah... This interval is it.

Over.

Bam.

Ka-pow.

You can continue reading now :P

Axel was the one to open the door. He was the one to look shocked and mutter under his breath about how coincedence and perfect timing just didn't seem all that real anymore. Riku was shocked, too - something seemed different. He knew Sora was here, but it felt different this time.

Almost like...

Walking around the corner and into the loungeroom, Riku's suspisions were confirmed. Sora was back to normal. In fact... Maybe a little too normal. But the teen boy was too relieved to notice that at that moment, he would realise that in a minute or two. He practically leaped across the room, pulling the stunned brunette off the couch and into his strong arms like a rag doll.

"I love you," said the older boy softly, lightly, so light that it fluttered out of the spikes in Sora's hair and out behind, escaping through the window. If this was a fantasy, then maybe those words would have sparkled and shimmered, like Kairi's hair in the dank bedroom, and blown over to someone else, helping them in life. But no, this is just fiction, and the words did nothing of the such, just flying out the window in a metophorical term.

Sora pulled back, confused. "I'd be sorta worried if you didn't, ya know." Then he blushed. "Oh, I.. Uh.. Love you too."

Now Riku was confused as well. Roxas had been confused from the start, and Axel was confused too, as much as he'd never admit it. So.. With everyone confused... The story needed to be sorted out.

And so.. Riku, Sora, Roxas and - Well, Axel sort of pissed off after that, because 'emotion' and 'talking it out' weren't his favourite words to put together - at down to explain it all.

"... And then yeah, I read what you wrote, cried a bit, and then got Kairi to drop me off here ASAP."

Sora shivered. "I don't remember any of that." He heard Roxas chuckle softly, nervously, and turned to him, along with Riku. "What's so funny?"

Roxas's gaze quivered to his thin legs. "It's not really funny, just.. Well... A few hours ago you kind of bombarded in here balling your eyes out, rasping for air and all that but then you fell over, wheezing - I think you mentioned running here all the way from the fucking beach - and then when you woke up you couldn't remember anything from like, the last week, and so we figured you'd hit your head pretty hard and forgotten it all."

Sora stared, shocked. "I thought that only happened in movies."

Riku laughed. "That is so Sora."

Roxas smiled. "Yep."

Axel called out," Rox, com'ere! I can't get this thing to work!"

Confused, Roxas stood up and walked out the door. "Where are you?" he called out. A quick shout told him the bathroom. When Roxas didn't return ten minutes later, Riku figured that the lucky blonde had gotten the thing Axel couldn't work to run pretty smoothly. Grinning bitterly, he turned to Sora.

"So.. What now?"

Sora felt guilty. He had not only shattered Riku's heart, but then he had hit his head and forgotten about it. He could see it in Riku's eyes that he was forgiven, no doubts about it, but something had changed in Riku. Something that Sora yearned to fix, needed to fix, before he could be whole again, too. So, putting on a smile that was only really a quarter fake against his pale and beautiful face, he answered, "Anywhere's fine." ... As long as I'm with you.

They both caught the rest of the half-spoken sentence as they stood up and headed towards the door.