Author's note: Strong language, m/m relationship

Ages: Soren - 17, Ronan - 15, Kai - 18, Eli - 16, 'Jem - 13

They'd been dating almost a month now, and most of the outings consisted of eating ice cream or hanging out under Eli's tree, with Ronan showing off his magic. Not because he was particularly inclined to, but because Soren wanted to see it.

So today they were beneath the leafy branches, Soren leaning in close as he watched him. It was taking more concentration than usual, but then Ronan was doing delicate work. When at last he unfolded his fingers, a nearly perfect snowflake lay in his palm.

"There."

"That is the coolest thing I've ever seen. No pun intended."

Ronan blushed, watching the snowflake melt from the heat of his hand. He could freeze it longer without a problem, but-

"Kai says I've got a natural talent for Blizzard, better than his. Most of his is just raw power, but I have an easier time making intricate things."

He wasn't all that sure why; Kai had at least inherited the talent from his mom. Ronan's mother had been incapable of magic as far as he knew, and his father...well, he didn't even know Blizzard.

"Everybody's different. If I ever bother to learn anything, the best I'll manage will be causing sparks." Soren smirked, leaning in a bit closer. "But I do that already, huh?"

"S-soren!"

Ronan reached out with his damp hand, pushing against his boyfriend's forehead. Soren laughed, fending him off.

"Remind me to make jokes like that around Kai sometime just for laughs, okay?"

"I will not." What a disaster that'd be. Kai was protective enough already, and Soren still wasn't sitting well with him.

"...Hey, Soren?"

"Huh?"

"I just realized, maybe we ought to find our own tree to hang around under. I mean, it's not fair to Eli, it was his first. He can't even go climbing with us here most of the time."

Soren settled back on his hands, seemingly giving the matter some thought, then straightened enough to point to the trees in the distance.

"We might find something worth building a fort in over there."

Ronan smiled, getting to his feet. "If we do, don't mention it to Kai. He loves tree houses, he'd be over there all the time."

"He can find his own damn tree." Soren grumbled as he got up, then latched onto Ronan's hand, tugging him along. It took less time than expected to reach the trees, and then they were picking their way through them, looking for anything strong enough to hold a small structure...or even just good for climbing. A weird sense of humor wasn't the only thing Ronan was picking up, spending most of his time around his brother and Eli.

Suddenly he spotted a massive tree in the distance, with enough of it's roots exposed that it seemed to make a little cave. He gave Soren a hard tug, pointing with his free hand.

"What about that one? It looks pretty neat."

"It looks like it might fall over." Was the other's response as they got closer. Ronan let go of his hand and hurried to the tree, dropping down onto his knees to crawl inside.

"Hey! It's huge in here!"

Crouching by the opening, the older boy peered into the dimness. "How can you tell?" He tilted his head back, staring up at the tree. "I hope this thing's solid."

A hand appeared out of the opening, grabbing at his wrist.

"Come check it out!"

Snickering, Soren let himself be pulled in, peering around in the dim light. Ronan was sitting partially in shadow, but his wide grin was still visible.

"Isn't this great?"

"It's full of bugs." Soren sounded wary, and reached up to swat at an imagined insect. Laughing, Ronan stretched out on his back.

"Yeah, Eli'd love it. Remind me not to say anything."

"No worries." Apparently deciding a little dirt wouldn't kill him, he flopped onto his stomach next to Ronan.

"So I'm taking it this is the one then?"

"Mhm. It's perfect...We'll need to bring some flashlights next time, though."

"All the better to see the giant spiders with." Soren snarked, moving onto his side and propping his head up with his hand. Ronan rolled his eyes.

"They're just bugs."

"They're creepy. Maybe instead of Thunder, I ought to learn Fire so I can torch them."

Ronan reached up, pushing a strand of hair out of Soren's eyes.

"You should learn something, just in case Sedge finds me."

"What, here? I doubt he'll be looking under trees for you."

"I'm serious. He hasn't figured out how to cross over yet, or at least he hasn't been here yet. But what he told Kai, about not keeping me? He meant it. He's going to find me and take me back, and if...If you're going to try and stop him, you should learn a spell."

Soren leaned over, kissed Ronan gently, then moved away, his expression solemn.

"I don't need magic to protect you."

Ronan colored faintly at the kiss; it wasn't his first, but still. Deciding not to argue for the moment, he rolled over, tucking himself against Soren and closing his eyes. He smiled faintly as a hand began to move through his hair. There was silence for several moments before Soren spoke.

"Let's bring a blanket or something next time too. I'm not going to be happy if I wake up with something crawling down my shirt."

"Baby."

At first Soren wasn't sure what had woken him; maybe the lack of birds chirping, or the change in temperature, but it took only seconds for him to realize that the faint light barely making it's way into their little cave wasn't sunlight, but moonlight...

And Ronan was scrambling out from under the tree like hell was after him.

Shit. What time was it?

"Ronan, wait!"

He crawled out just in time to see him disappear through the trees back toward Rainbow's End. By the time he caught up, Ronan was halfway across the field, nearly tripping over himself in his haste to get to the house.

"Hey! Wait a-"

They could see movement on the porch now, a figure lit by the light spilling out of the front door. Soren expected to see short silver hair, but it was long and blonde instead. 'Jem came hurrying down the steps, throwing her arms around Ronan as they finally reached her.

"You're okay! We were so scared, we thought something terrible happened!"

'Jem clung to him a moment longer before stepping back and punching him in the arm.

"Ow!"

"Don't do that anymore!"

Soren would've laughed, but the fact that Kai hadn't materialized at 'Jem's yell worried him.

"Where's Kai?"

'Jem wrapped her arms around herself for a second, then latched onto Ronan again, as if to make sure he wouldn't go anywhere else before Kai returned. She answered the question quietly, looking off toward the town.

"With the others, checking as much of Radiant Garden as they can. We thought Sedge had-"

She broke off, fixing Soren with a glare he'd only heard about until now.

"You're going to be in so much trouble when Kai gets back."

"Hey, how is this my fault?"

Ronan pulled away from 'Jem suddenly, looking over her shoulder.

"He's home."

Seconds later, a portal warped open and Kai strode out, expression somewhere between relieved and upset as his gaze landed on his brother. Ronan seemed tensed for a lecture, or worse, but squeaked in surprise as he was hugged tightly.

"Where were you? You've been gone for hours, it's after one!"

"Uh...we fell asleep."

Kai let go, stepping back to stare at his brother incredulously. "Asleep for- What the hell were you doing?"

Before Ronan could speak up, Soren was answering for him. He wasn't sure why he said it. Maybe he was annoyed that 'Jem was blaming him. Maybe he just wanted to piss off Kai.

"I fucked him into exhaustion, what else were you expecting?"

Three things happened at once, or very nearly; 'Jem gasped, Ronan made an odd choking noise, and there was a Keyblade in his face, with an extremely pissed off older brother on the other end of it. Kai had pulled the shiny crystal one on him. The sharp, shiny crystal one. Heh, he'd been wondering what this thing looked like up close. He lifted his gaze from the weapon back to Kai; amethyst eyes were narrowed, the blade held steady.

"If you ever touch him-"

"What, you'll kick my ass? He's going to grow up sometime Kai, you can't hide him away forever. By the way, if you think I'm scared of you and your dumbass key, think again. You're not quite the badass you think you are."

Maybe that last had gone a bit too far. Something passed behind the other teenager's eyes that he couldn't quite read, and for a moment Soren expected a portal of Darkness to warp open and swallow him. He thought 'Jem felt it too, because she threw herself on Kai, knocking him off balance. Not a lot; even at thirteen she was still too light for that, but it was enough to surprise him. The Keyblade vanished, and Soren let out an inward sigh of relief. He still wasn't scared, but Ronan had seen enough.

Speaking of...

"Why did you say that?"

He turned to face him and was shocked by the amount of hurt he saw in Ronan's eyes. He'd expected embarrassment, sure, but this-

"Ronan..."

But the boy had already shifted his attention to his brother, ignoring him.

"Kai, I'm-"

Whatever he'd been about to say was cut off as Eli suddenly emerged from the house, calling out as he bounded down the steps.

"Ronan! Where've you-"

Soren watched as Eli came to a sudden halt, understanding washing over his face even though he'd barely looked at any of them. That 'vibe' thing he'd inherited from his mom, Soren guessed. Eli heaved a sigh, shooting Kai a look. He seemed ready to launch into a lecture, but instead:

"They should be meeting in the market about now, right? Maybe you oughta let them know he's back."

Kai nodded wordlessly, tousling 'Jem's hair. She moved away as he opened a portal, disappearing into it. The air lightened considerably at his exit, but not enough for Soren. He glanced back at Ronan, who was already heading into the house, 'Jem trailing after.

Shit. No point to sticking around, then.

"Soren."

He paused, head down, waiting for Eli to tell him to get lost. Instead a small ice sphere bounced off his arm. The hell?

"What, you're going to stone me and save Kai the trouble?"

"Don't be stupid. I just wanted to make sure you were paying attention. Come by in the morning to see Ronan, okay?"

The brunette looked just as serious as he had a minute ago, but there was a lightness to his voice that hadn't been there before.

"You've got some apologies to make, right? Bring flowers."

Soren's jaw dropped. What-

"But Kai-"

"Ah, that's something else. We'll fix it. But worry about Ronan first, or next time I'll bounce a bigger sphere off your head."

Eli gave him a cheerful grin before hurrying back to the house. Soren watched the door close, staring.

Flowers.

It was going to take more than flowers to make up for this fiasco. Sighing, he shoved his hands into his pockets and headed for home.