As if a cannon had gone off, Sora's confession burst from him. "Yes! I love you!"
Riku's face paled as the confession settled between them like fresh snowfall, and he let Sora's chin fall. Sora bowed his head, clamping his eyes shut.
"Sora..."
"Please don't tell my father that I...that I am attracted to men..." Sora uttered.
"Of course not," Riku assured, "I'm just...surprised, I suppose. I had no idea you felt that way about me..."
"R-really? Kairi seemed to think it was obvious..." Another light laugh bubbled from him.
"Kairi knows?"
"She figured it out not hours ago," Sora confirmed. He added, "I already know you won't return the feelings."
"How can you be so sure...?" Riku wondered, closing the gap between them.
Sora gasped, lifting his head and letting his eyes meet Riku's.
"I-I'm sure it's rare to find someone...someone like Axel and Roxas..." Sora noted, "and me..."
"Maybe in this town," Riku said, "but from all the way across the sea? It's not impossible."
"Wh-what are you saying, Riku?" Sora demanded. "Please, don't play with my feelings like this."
"I'm not playing," Riku replied honestly. "Sora, remember when I told you about Tidus? I miss him greater than I could miss any friend because I was in love with him, but I never told him. And now he's gone..."
Sora's knees buckled. Riku caught his arm, stabling his friend against the wall of the tavern. Relief and disbelief washed over Sora like the waves in the port. "I-I'm so sorry about Tidus..."
"Shh, it's alright. He'll be in my heart, and...he'd want me to find someone who will return the feelings. Now, come here," Riku said, his voice low. He closed his eyes, leaning in to close the space between them. His lips caught Sora's, and Sora closed his eyes. He sighed into Riku's kiss, placing his hands on Riku's broad shoulders.
Riku broke off the kiss, offering Sora a genuine smile. Redness flooded Sora's cheeks. "Riku..."
Riku leaned in again, pushing against Sora's lips harder this time. He tilted Sora's head to deepen the kiss. Sora entwined his fingers in Riku's ponytail.
When the kiss broke this time, Sora was panting. A new feeling - desire - coursed through him. "Riku...I want you..."
"What do you want?" Riku murmured, his breath hot on Sora's ear.
"I...I don't know. Just...you." Sora replied. His lack of experience embarrassed him, which only ignited the fire that burned beneath his skin.
Riku shifted to stand directly in front of Sora, pinning him to the wall. Their lips collided, smacking loudly as they kissed. Involuntary moaning escaped Sora's mouth, and his stomach fluttered. Riku's leg shoved Sora's legs apart slightly, and he pressed his thigh between them. Sora shivered with pleasure, and the blood rushed between his thighs.
Their lips broke apart, and Sora whispered Riku's name again.
Riku looked down at Sora's crotch, then met eyes with him and asked smugly, "What's this?" He palmed the front of the boy's trousers. Sora whimpered in response as Riku kneaded the growing bulge underneath.
"Already, Sora?" Riku smirked, his lips pressing against Sora's neck.
"Riku...please..." Sora panted, gripping Riku's coat.
Riku slipped his hand into Sora's trousers and pulled out his stiffening length. He swept his thumb up the underside, and Sora shuddered back into the wall.
"M-more..."
"Hush, you'll draw attention," Riku chided, sweeping his thumb across the sensitive skin again. "What shall I do with this, hm?"
"Wh-what do you want to do with it...?" Sora asked.
"I think I shall do this," Riku decided, dropping to his knees, ducking his head down, and engulfing Sora's cock into his warm, wet mouth.
"Aahhh!" Sora clapped a hand over his mouth, quieting his pleasured groan.
Riku lapped at Sora's dick feverishly, slurping and messily rolling his tongue around the crown.
Sora twitched on the wall, worrying about throwing his head back and slamming it into the building.
"You like the way this feels?" Riku asked, licking the side up to the tip.
"Ahh, yes...please, don't stop..." Sora hissed. His body trembled with pleasure.
"You're so, so lewd..." Riku shook his head, gulping him down again.
"Y-you're the one - ah! - who's d-doing this..." Sora protested, spreading his fingers through Riku's hair.
Riku swirled his tongue around the crown again, and Sora squirmed.
Riku repeated the action, much slower, savoring the flavor of Sora's flesh. He pressed his palm against the front of Sora's trousers, massaging his swollen balls underneath.
Sora moaned into his hand, and his face felt like a wildfire raging underneath his skin.
Riku pressed his tongue into the slit, and Sora jerked.
"Ahh!"
Riku licked the tiny slit in the skin, urging for it to release. He swirled his tongue around the crown again, and Sora slammed his back into the wall.
"Ahhhnn...gaaah!" Sora jerked as he came, the rush making his body tremble. Riku closed his mouth around the tip, letting Sora's release spurt onto his tongue.
While Sora came down from his high, Riku locked eyes with the boy and swallowed. He wiped the remaining traces from the corners of his mouth and smirked.
Sora, blushing and panting while staring with hazy eyes, smiled back at his love. "What...was that...?"
"Just a little trick I learned back in England," Riku dismissed.
"You mean you've done that to people before?" Sora asked in disbelief, stuffing himself back inside his trousers.
"Just once or twice," Riku shrugged, "neither were as good as you."
"Wh-what?!" Sora shrieked.
"I didn't love either of them," Riku clarified, "but I do love you."
Sora felt as if his skin had begun melting off. "I...I love you too, Riku..."
Sora returned home an hour later, his head still swimming with his confession to Riku, and his hand gripping the switch he had brought to his father.
Cloud took the switch, instructing Sora to lie on his stomach on the floor and pull his stockings down. The switch snapped against Sora's skin, and Sora bit his sleeve to stifle his cries. Once Cloud had finished, Sora tugged his stockings back up his stinging legs.
Exhausted, Cloud plopped into his armchair. "Sora, I don't like to punish you, so please don't give me any reason to."
"Yes, sir."
"Now...how much did you see?"
Sora met his father's eyes. "I saw the effigy hanging in the tree, next to the boot...who is Andrew Oliver?"
"A tax collector," Cloud replied, "the colonists have been restless since the taxes have been increased."
Sora remembered that day at the docks when Axel showed his ass to Captain Sephiroth.
"What's going to happen...?" Sora asked.
"I suppose the colonists will continue rioting until the taxes are repealed, or..." Cloud faltered.
"Or what?"
Cloud swallowed. "Secede from Great Britain."
Sora's eyes widened. "That's impossible, isn't it?"
Cloud sighed. "The people do not like tyranny, Sora, and they feel that Great Britain has enacted tyranny upon them..."
"But there are soldiers everywhere! Won't they notice some kind of...revolution?"
"The ones who organized the riot today have already formed an organization that has somehow escaped the eyes of the soldiers," Cloud explained, "they call themselves the Sons and Daughters of Liberty."
"Did they ask you to join?" Sora asked.
"Yes," Cloud replied simply.
"Did you...?"
"Yes."
Sora went silent, like a flame that had been extinguished.
"You must try to keep this from Riku; the Sons have created codes that have so far passed by the soldiers, but if those codes fell into the wrong hands..."
"I understand," Sora interrupted.
"Good. Now, goodnight Sora."
"Goodnight, Father."
Sora retreated to his room where Kairi sat awake in her bed.
"So, how did your confession go?" She asked.
"Oh, it went...great." Sora couldn't help his smile.
"Did he kiss you?" Kairi pressed.
"O-on the lips, yes..." Sora's fingers drifted to his mouth, remembering the softness of Riku's lips on his.
"Are you courting now?"
Realization hit Sora like a bullet. "I didn't ask him to court me! But..."
"But...?"
"He...he told me he loved me," Sora replied slowly, skirting around the other event that had happened as a result of his confession.
"Anything else?"
"No."
Kairi pursed her lips skeptically.
"Nothing else happened." Sora repeated.
"Alright...goodnight Sora." She threw her blanket over her head and turned on her side.
"Goodnight, Kairi." Sora replied, swinging his legs over his bed. He pulled the blanket up to his neck, wrapping himself in it. Riku's words echoed in his head, and his lips tingled with Riku's taste. "I love you, Riku..." he whispered to himself.
"Hm?" Kairi mumbled in response.
"N-nothing, that wasn't for you," Sora stammered.
"Mm." Kairi replied.
Sora closed his eyes, drifting off into dreams of Riku.