#this is just me sobbing to myself about mushroom islands. not really about the next update that's coming | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

looshk-blog1 · 6 years ago

Text

My Sanctuary

Disclaimer: I own none of these characters. A trio of friends stood on a beach at sunset and admired their handiwork. "So... How far do you think a raft will get us?" Enquired the brunette. The silver haired boy shrugged. "No idea... If we have to, we'll think of something else..." The dark haired girl nodded in agreement... "Tomorrow we get supplies, but right now, how about we get some sleep?" Sora stretched and yawned. "Good idea!"

They agreed to meet back at the raft the next morning at dawn to hunt for supplies, the day after they would start their voyage to answer their question: 'Are there other worlds out there?' Riku thought so. The others weren't so sure, but Sora liked to try new things and anything that got him time to hang out with his best friends was always welcome. Kairi on the other hand was Riku's shadow, wherever he was she was too. Kairi walked on ahead of the boys across the white sands of Destiny Island. Riku regarded Sora with an air of secrecy. "Sora, come here..." Sora walked back to Riku. "What's up?" Riku checked ahead to make sure Kairi wasn't looking back and handed Sora a paopu fruit. Sora looked confused. "Huh?" Riku rolled his eyes. "When you share a paopu fruit with someone your destinies become intertwined for eternity..." Sora stared down at the yellow fruit in his hand, still unsure of what Riku was getting at. "...And?" Riku smirked a mischevious grin. "I know you want to try it with Kairi!" Sora blushed a bright shade of scarlet. "Riku... Be quiet!" But before he could retaliate Riku was already running across the white sand towards Kairi. Sora shook his head and smiled to himself, then put the the paopu fruit in his pocket and ran after his friends.

The trio met as promised at dawn the following day to gather their final supplies. "Ok Sora I need you to gather... Drinking water, coconuts and a seagull egg, Riku you're on gathering mushrooms and catching fish... Also we'll need to find a fishing rod just in case we need more food when we're on our journey!" Both teens agreed and started their hunt to gather what they needed. In a couple of hours all of their supplies were gathered and both boys were lying out soaking up the sunshine on the white sands of Destiny Islands... Riku sat up all of a sudden, bored. "Any ideas for what we'll call the raft?" The brunette opened one eye lazily a thoughtful look on his face... "Hmmm... If I were to name it I would call it... Excalibur!" Riku considered it for a moment nodding to himself. "Yeah its a good name, but if I were to name it I think I'd call it... Highwind!" Sora sat up and dusted the sand off himself letting out an exasperated sigh and Riku helped him to his feet. "The usual?" Sora stretched... "Guess so!"

They set up a race across this section of the island, Kairi was used to this behaviour at this point and waited impatiently at the finish line... "So if I win... I get to be captain?" Sora asked grinning. The silver haired boy looked into Soras eyes. "If I win, I get to share the paopu with Kairi..." Sora's eyes opened wide with shock. "You... what?!" Kairi waved from the finish line. "Ready? Set? GO!" Sora sprinted with all his might, climbed, jumped and took every short cut he knew but somehow, when he came running towards the finish line, sure he'd left Riku in the dust the silver haired teen had beaten him to it. He approached the finish line visibly upset but trying to put on a brave face, he handed the paopu fruit to Riku a smile plastered across his features. "Well you won fair and square, I guess you'll be needing this..." He smiled one hand scratching the back of his head clearly feeling awkward. "Anyway, I should be getting home..." With that he took off at a jog across the sand leaving Kairi and Riku behind him clearly not wanting them to realise just how upset he was. "But... But it was just a joke..." Sora kept running until he reached a place he hadn't visited in years. The three of them hung out here a lot as kids but just stopped coming at some point. They'd called it 'The Secret Place'. This was where he and Kairi had made a promise to each other that they would always remain friends no matter what. However given the events of the day and the fact that it was overwhelmingly clear that she only had eyes for Riku that promise was becoming harder and harder to keep. Lately she made him feel like he was more of a third wheel than their friend... He sighed knowing it might be a promise he would have to break. He leaned down looking for the pictures they'd carved of each other years before, his hand ran over the cold stone wall of the cave and tears started to run down his cheeks. Riku felt bad over the joke he played on Sora and started searching for him. If there was one thing he knew about his friend it was that he liked to be alone when he was upset, or rather he liked to be alone because he didn't like people knowing he was upset. Unfortunately for Sora he hiding his emotions was not one of his strong points. He looked in all the places he had found Sora before when they had a disagreement, the school, his house, the little island nearby that had a huge palm tree where they had made their spot to hang out for a time, but he was nowhere to be found. Kairi never giving up an opportunity to get some alone time with Riku helped out. "So what happened between you two to make Sora so upset?" "Nothing really... Just Sora being a sore loser..." Regardless of how close they were, he was not about to betray Sora's trust and tell Kairi about Sora's feelings for her. Riku was baffled about where their friend had gotten to when a thought entered his head. The Secret Place? "Kairi you keep searching here, I've gotta go check one more place." Kairi wasn't completely invested in finding Sora, she was taking part simply because it meant some alone time with her crush. "Where are you going? Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?" Riku shook his head. "I'm heading to The Secret Place, best one of us stays here in case he comes back." Kairi nodded with a smile and a wave but she was secretly a little annoyed at Riku's concern for Sora and at Sora himself. I just wanted some time with Riku to myself, but how am I supposed to get that when Sora's always around? He told me to stay here... But maybe he'll need help... How much trouble could it cause if we look together anyway? With her mind made up she started after Riku towards The Secret Place. Riku arrived at The Secret Place smiling at all the memories they had here. He crawled through the door, his ears alerted to faint sobbing. He called out gently; "Sora?" Sora ducked behind a rock wiping his eyes furiously. "W-what are you doing here? Are you here to rub yet another victory in my face?" Riku looked hurt. "What? No..." Riku sat down beside Sora. "You know I like her..." "I didn't share the paopu with Kairi." Sora shook his head like he was trying to shake away confusion. "What? Seriously? Why?" Riku pulled the paopu fruit from his pocket. "See? It was a joke... I was just trying to get a reaction... I didn't expect it to get this serious..." Sora stood up clearly upset that Riku would do this to him, his face became serious. "Riku... That wasn't funny... You know I like her... And if you did it and lied to me I'd never be able to trust you again... Losing my two best friends in one go..." His hand reached absently to his chest. "It'd break my heart..." The silver haired teen stood up and gently placed his hand on Sora's shoulder. "I'm sorry for upsetting you? Ok? It wasn't my intention to upset you... I was only kidding. I swear." Sora shrugged his hand away. "How do I know you didn't just... pick up another paopu fruit?" Riku shook his head. "I wouldn't do that to you... Anyway... I'm not interested in Kairi..." Sora examined his face looking for evidence of a lie. "Really? I'm not sure I believe you..." Riku took a deep breath and crossed his arms. "And why is that?" Do I tell him the truth...? Or would it ruin everything... "Well... It feels like we've been competing for Kairi's attention ever since we met her..." Riku smirked. "Is that so?" The brunette crossed his arms. "Stop playing around Riku... I know you like Kairi too..." The silver haired teen looked Sora dead in the eyes. "Who's playing around? I'm not interested in her." Sora threw his arms up in exasperation stomping towards the entrance of their secret place. "Stop it. I know you're trying to make a fool of me and it won't work!" Riku grabbed Sora's shoulder forcefully turning him around. "I'm not trying to make a fool of you! I'm interested in... In someone else..." Sora looked at him unconvinced. "Come on Riku... I know you're not into Selphie... So who else is there?" The silver haired teen had been hiding his feelings for his best friend for over a year at this point, he wasn't sure if he looked too hard into some of their friendly interactions and saw more because he wanted it to be more, or because Sora felt the same way... But in that moment it was now or never. He wiped a remaining tear from the brunettes face and in a single word let all the secrets he'd been hiding out in one fell swoop. "You..." Sora blushed, then nervously laughed. "Come on Riku... Stop trying to embarass me..." Before he knew what he was doing Riku pinned Sora against the wall of the cave and gently kissed his lips. "I'm not trying to embarrass you Sora..." Riku not sensing any resistance tilted his chin up and kissed him again. Sora's was wide eyed, frozen, he wasn't sure why he was doing this, but kissing Riku felt... Amazing. Sora's hands moved from the cave wall tentatively to Riku's back. Riku was trembling under his hands. How long has he felt this way about me? Riku moved his lips down to Sora's neck kissing it whispering softly. "You have no idea, how long I've wanted this... But I feared you didn't feel the same way..." Sora pulled Riku's lips against his own again, he had no idea what he was doing but it felt too good to stop. Riku's lips found their way back to his neck, a gasp escaped his throat. "Riku!" Their lips met again growing more fervent and heated by the second, Sora's hands tangled in Riku's hair as he felt his breath getting shorter and shorter... A surprised gasp broke them apart. "Sora? Riku?" They pulled apart immediately, but she had already witnessed everything she needed to see. "What the hell Sora... You knew... You knew I liked him!" Kairi took off running from their secret place in tears. "Kairi!" Sora ran after her followed in hot pursuit by Riku. "Kairi, come back!" The brunette boy eventually caught up to her and breathlessly exclaimed; "Kairi, please... Let me explain..." Kairi turned angrily towards Sora. "You let me make a fool of myself... You let me chase him like a love sick idiot while you two were sneaking off behind my back!" "No it's not like that at all, this has never happened before... I..." Kairi silenced him with a slap across the face. "Sora... Don't ever speak to me again." He reached up to his stinging cheek tears glistening in his eyes, Riku was sure his friends heart had just been ripped in two. He had never seen him look so distraught, sunny Sora always saw the bright side... Riku reached a hand out to Sora's shoulder which he shrugged off. "Riku?" Riku looked hopeful. "Yeah Sora?" "Please don't follow me this time..." Riku stood silent watching his heart broken friend leave. I've really messed up... He strolled down the beach towards his home thinking of a way to make this up to both of them... He wanted to reveal his sexuality to his two best friends far earlier than this and in a conversation rather than kissing one of them and being caught by the other... He pinched bridge of his nose. Riku you idiot. Sora lay on his bed staring at the ceiling thinking through the events of the day. He had cried so much that he felt numb. Today has been so messed up... Riku likes me? Surely it has to be another joke right? But what happened in the cave... That didn't feel like a joke... His fingers touched his lips absent mindedly, thoughts of earlier flooded his mind again, he blushed thinking about it and let his fingers fall back down to his chest. Riku... Kairi was distraught sitting at her desk writing in her journal. *Dear journal, I'm heartbroken. I feel like such an idiot... Today I caught my crush Riku, kissing someone else... To make this situation even worse the person I caught him kissing was my best friend Sora... I feel really confused... Neither of them ever told me that they... Were like that... I always got the impression that they were best friends and that maybe Sora had a crush on me, I guess I was mistaken... Sora obviously likes Riku... Maybe Riku felt sorry for him? I don't get the feeling that he likes men... What if Sora kissed Riku? I can't imagine Riku initiating it...* She put her pen down trying to remember what she saw; Could Riku have kissed Sora? I mean Sora was backed into the wall... Riku looked interested... No... It can't be... Sora must have wanted it to look that way surely? Riku can't be gay... There's just no way... Right? Riku walked up to his doorstep and took a couple of deep breaths trying to calm his thoughts down before having to face his parents. It's going to be ok... Just act normal... He cracked the door open and his mother called out to him. "Riku honey? Is that you? I've made your favourite... Chicken dumplings! Come and grab a plate!" Riku stopped on the stairs and glanced in at his mom. "Thanks mom but I'm not really feeling too good..." His mother looked up after him; "Well okay... I'll save you some just in case you change your mind ok?" "Thanks mom." He walked into his room and let himself fall face down onto his bed. How do I solve this? About an hour later there was a light knock on his door. "Yeah?" "Can I come in sweetie?" Riku sat up on his bed. "Yeah sure." His mother sat down on the bed next to him. "Something wrong?" Riku shrugged. "Come on I'm your mother... I know when there's something wrong with my Riri!" He smiled. "Do you want to talk about it?" Riku shook his head. "I'm still trying to get my own head around it to be honest..." His mother put her hand on his shoulder reassuringly. "Well if you change your mind you know you can always talk to me right?" He nodded. "Thanks mom." She looked around. "Where's Sora and Kairi today anyway?" Riku sighed. "That's kind of part of the problem... We had a fight..." She looked surprised. "Wow... What happened? You guys never fight!" He gazed at his shoes. "It's uh... It's complicated... It's got a lot to do with Kairi..." His mother grinned. "You both like Kairi?" No I like Sora who likes Kairi who likes me... "Sora likes her... I think he's mad at me because she has a crush on me..." His mother smiled. "I'm sure you'll work it out, you and Sora have been best friends since... Well since you could understand what best friends were!" With that she hugged him tightly and left him with his thoughts. How do I make this right? He pulled on a hoody and quietly grabbed his skateboard and left his house. He threw it on the ground and hopped on when he was out of earshot of his house. It was a clear beautiful night, he made his way towards the school. He liked to practice tricks there when he needed space to think. Kairi wondered more about what she'd seen, she wondered if Riku really had hit on Sora. What if Sora didn't hit on Riku? What if Riku really does like... men? What if he did hit on Sora? Is Sora even into that? Sora was still staring at his ceiling trying to make sense of what happened that day. Do I try and explain what happened to Kairi? Do I go talk to Riku? Did Kairi mean what she said when she slapped me? I guess she's probably still pretty annoyed at me... Maybe I should give her some time to cool off before trying to talk to her... I guess... I'll go talk to Riku... If he's feeling as messed up as I am, I'd bet he's at our school... Sora picked up his phone off the bed and text Riku. 'Hey...' His phone beeped almost immediately. 'Hi.' 'Can we maybe meet up and talk about this?' Riku's stomach filled with a mix of butterflies and dread. 'Yeah, I'm at the school right now if you want to meet.' Sora started feeling oddly nervous. 'Had a feeling you'd be there... Ok I'll be there shortly. See you soon.' Sora stuck his head out the window trying to gauge the temperature, although their little island was warm during the day it got quite cool at night. He hopped off his bed and pulled a hoody from his wardrobe, throwing it on over his t-shirt he quietly climbed out of his window. He looked up at the clear night sky, head rushing with thoughts. What am I even going to say to him? Am I interested in him? Do I see him that way? Was it all a big joke and I'm going to arrive and find him and Kairi there laughing at me? He stopped and scratched the back of his head wondering if this was a good idea. Riku is your friend, he's a goofball sure but something tells me he wouldn't joke about something that serious... His stomach fluttered. Do... Do I have feelings for Riku? He was so lost in his own thoughts that he had walked on autopilot all the way up to the gates of their school. He took a deep breath. Talk to him straighten this whole mess out and everything can go back to normal... Maybe if I act like the kiss never happened everything will just settle down again... He walked towards the playground and watched Riku grind down a rail on his skateboard, music blasting from his headphones. He approached slowly admiring his effortless skill, Riku spotted him and flipped the skateboard up into his hand. He pulled out his headphones and ran over to him. "Hey..." Sora waved and started making his way towards the benches, Riku followed. They sat down quietly side by side in awkward silence for about a minute. Sora sighed and decided to take the plunge. "Look about the whole kiss thing... If you were just screwing around with me, you did a good job... My heads been going in circles all day not knowing what to think... So if this was a joke you can stop now. Mission accomplished. Guess it doesn't matter if you shared the paopu with Kairi now either seeing as she hates my guts..." Riku looked at Sora. "Sora, this is no joke." The brunette rolled his eyes getting angry. "Give it up! Ok? It's not funny anymore... It never was!" Riku stood up in frustration and raised his voice. "It's not a goddamn joke Sora!" Sora nodded resting his head back against his arms and closing his eye. "You've made an idiot out of me one too many times Riku... Plus I've never ever seen you interested in a guy... Ever." Riku growled. "You want proof? I'll give you proof." Riku sat down beside Sora grabbed the front of his shirt and kissed him. Sora's eyes shot open. He's really serious?!

Riku pulled back and gently laid one more kiss on Sora's lips. "I'm not messing around Sora..." Riku moved in for another kiss and Sora froze for a moment before closing the distance. His hands found their way to Riku's shoulders, then around his neck, he wasn't sure about much in this situation, he just knew he wanted to be closer. Riku pulled him up into his lap until Sora was straddling Riku, leaning down to deepen the kiss. When they separated Sora was red faced, shocked and out of breath, he clambered off Riku, embarrassed that he'd ended up straddling him in the heat of the moment. "Sora I..." Sora gazed up still red faced. Riku took a deep breath. "I've wanted to tell you for ages now... I wanted to sit down and tell you how I feel. I didn't want to show you by... Well... Not right away anyway... If it was going to happen I wanted it to happen the right way... Not that the way it happened wasn't amazing... I guess I just wanted to know how you felt about... this." Sora's face remained flushed and red. "But I know you like Kairi..." Sora looked towards the ground and sighed sadly. "Well I'd kind of given up on Kairi to be honest..." Riku looked toward his sad blue eyes. "But why? Not over the fight today?" Sora looked off into the distance his eyes glazing over. "That, definitely didn't help things... But in her eyes, I can't compare to you. I don't stand a chance..." Sora got up and started to walk away even more conflicted now than before, Riku wanted to go after him and tell him that Kairi was wrong, but he too was conflicted... Was telling Sora the right thing to do? Outside the school Sora ran into a rather flustered looking Kairi. "Kairi! I know you're mad at me but please let me explain!" The brunette girl shifted uncomfortably as though she was unsure if she should talk to him or not. "Please?" She made eye contact with him. "Sora, that... That wasn't ok. That really hurt my feelings... You know I've liked him since he came here..." Sora took a deep breath. "I know you did... But it wasn't entirely my fault. I wasn't expecting what happened... I'm not even sure Riku was expecting what happened..." He sighed. "I'm not even sure what else to say..." Kairi sighed and hugged him. "Look I'm sorry for slapping you today. I hate fighting with you Sora. Let's just forget this whole mess... Ok?" Sora pulled away from the hug and smiled weakly at Kairi. "Yeah, ok..." I'm not sure I can forget today... I'm not sure what's going to come from today... But Riku likes me and I think I could like him too... Sora made to leave when Kairi stopped him. "Oh before you go, have you seen Riku? I want to talk to him about today too..." The brunette boy nodded. "Yeah he's in there on the benches." Kairi smiled. "Thanks Sora! You're the best!" Sora waved as he walked home feeling relieved yet uneasy about something. He sent Riku a quick text 'Heads up Kairi's on her way in to talk to you.' 'Thanks Sora!' "Riku..." The silver haired teen put his phone away and stood up. "Kairi..." The brunette girl approached Riku and looked up into his eyes. "Sora said he was in here talking to you a few minutes ago... I ran into him outside..." Riku's stomach felt uneasy for a reason he couldn't quite put his finger on. "Yeah? Did you guys talk it out? He was pretty upset over what happened earlier." She smiled; "Well I told him not to worry about it..." Riku stiffened at her tone, she was acting seriously weird. "He said you were 'talking' but when I came out looking for you two here that's not what I saw..." She held up her phone and Riku's stomach dropped, she had taken pictures and videos of them kissing. Riku narrowed his eyes and grabbed for the phone. "Doesn't matter if you break the phone Riku... I have these backed up." The silver haired teen shrugged beginning to walk away. "Well I'm not ashamed of kissing my crush..." The brunette girl smirked. "Maybe you won't mind these up all over school... But Sora might..." Riku stopped dead. "Are you blackmailing me?" Kairi looked innocent. "I wouldn't call it that exactly... I'm just... Getting what I want." "And what exactly do you expect of me?" Kairi smiled sweetly. "You're going to be my new boyfriend." Riku shook his head. "Kairi... I'm gay. Nothing's going to change tha..." "Well then I guess the whole school will know about it too huh?" "How can you expect me to do this to Sora? He's liked you since you moved here!" "And what about me? I've liked YOU since I moved here... Then Sora suddenly decides if he can't have me he'll have you?!" Riku rolled his eyes. "Do you hear yourself? Do you have any idea of how crazy that sounds? Also look at the pictures you took... Does it look like I'm struggling... He may be on my lap, but I'm the one who put him there... I LIKE HIM. He only found out that I was serious about him today." "You'd best be nice to me Riku and stop talking crap... Unless you want the entire school to know about your and Sora's little secret... I mean I'm sure you can handle yourself if people know you're gay... But Sora? He'll be eaten alive. They'll make his life a living hell, I'll make sure of it." I don't care if people find out about me... But Sora's still figuring himself out... The last thing he needs is people ridiculing and bullying him over it... Kairi could see she was breaking his resolve. "You keep this to yourself and don't tell Sora and those pictures will never see the light of day... Deal?" "Do you promise to leave Sora out of this if I do as you say?" Kairi nodded her head. "Absolutely." Riku sighed heavily, he was finally able to tell Sora he liked him, only to have it ripped out of his hands by Kairi. He offered his hand for a handshake which Kairi took. "Deal?" "Deal..." The next day Kairi and Riku arrived into school together. Sora spotted them across the playground and ran to greet them relieved that they were no longer fighting. That is until something happened that made his blood run cold. Kairi had spotted Sora running towards them and decided that some payback was in order. She looked up at Riku and simply said; "Ok showtime, kiss me." Riku tried to look around to see why she was suddenly so keen in kissing but she grabbed his shirt and kissed him hard on his lips. When Riku re-emerged from his kiss with Kairi he could see Sora retreating back across the playground. Damn it... I have to play her stupid game for his good... Until I figure something else out... Sora was hyperventilating. He lied? I can't believe he lied... Why would he do that to me?! He ran into the toilets and locked himself into a cubicle sitting on the lid of the toilet. Why did I ever believe him? I should have known this was all some big joke... He punched the wall only to end up in tears. Riku you asshole! Riku's mind was on Sora, when Kairi made him kiss her he tried to pretend that he was kissing Sora just to make it bearable. I hope he's okay, I wish I could tell him why I'm doing this... I'll come up with a plan... I have to... Kairi had him doing things he felt stupid doing, like holding open doors, pulling out chairs and kissing her in front of her friends... Telling her she's beautiful when he was very clear that he wasn't interested. This charade went on for months with Sora witnessing their fake displays of affection daily... At first his anger was palpable, but as the weeks went on it turned to sadness and then despair... Then out of the blue one day, he just didn't turn up. Riku had been keeping an eye on Sora as his behvaiour was indicating that he was not handling this well at all. I wonder where Sora is? I know the last few months haven't been easy on him... I just hope he's okay... He took out his phone, tempted to go against Kairi's policy of no contact but remembered the video and posters and put his phone away... If Sora knew the truth he wouldn't be able to keep his cool and he'd give the game away. Riku excused himself to go to the toilet, as he pushed the doors in his stomach exploded with butterflies. "Hey Sora!" He tried to sound normal and chirpy despite the horrible situation he was in. Sora didn't answer him, he was in the middle of taking some kind of medication from his bag, he dropped them and they rolled across the floor and hit Riku's shoe. The silver haired teen picked them up. "What... What are these?" Sora sighed and held out his hand. "Give them back... I need them..." Riku refused out of concern, the brunette looked up at Riku with a sigh. "They're antidepressants..." Riku surprised handed them back and apologised. Sora popped one, took a sip of water from the tap and left the bathroom. He's on antidepressants now? After school Kairi and Riku were walking home together when Riku had an idea. "Hey Kairi?" She looked up at Riku with a smile. "Yes?" "I'm really sorry, but I'm feeling quite sick all of a sudden... Do you mind if I head home and I'll catch you tomorrow?" She looked concerned. "Do you want me to come with you?" Riku shook his head. "I don't want you to catch it too..." Kairi nodded smiling she was truly beginning to believe that Riku had actually fallen for her and was beginning to loosen the reigns a bit, which made it easier for him toget away from her. "No worries Riku, I'll call you later ok?" "Okay thanks Kairi." Riku set off towards his own place until Kairi was out of sight, once he was sure that she was gone, he burst into a sprint towards Sora's house. But when Riku arrived, he wasn't there. I wonder where he could be...? He took out his phone to text him only to find his battery had died. Damn it! If he could have text Sora they could have met at his house, but searching around meant he had to be careful where he looked, as he didn't want to bump into Kairi and mess up the trust he'd gained, he hated her at this point. But trust meant she believed his excuses and excuses meant more time away from her... He had searched almost everywhere he could safely search without bumping into Kairi when he spotted him. He was sitting out on the palm tree on the small island they used to hang out on, he had a book and a pen in his hands. Riku approached him slowly. "Hey Sora..." Sora was unphased by his presence and didn't even look up. "Hi..." Riku sat up on the tree next to him, but Sora barely seemed to notice and continued writing. "Look... I need to tell you something..." Sora snapped his notebook shut took a deep breath and said in a steady voice. "Neither you nor Kairi have uttered a single word to me in months... And now you need to tell me something?" The steadiness in his voice set Riku on edge. "Y-Yeah... It's important..." The brunette hopped down from the palm tree and brushed himself off. "We're no longer friends, you made sure of that so I'm not interested..." Riku felt like he'd been slapped. No longer friends? I guess I deserve that, if only you knew why I'm doing this Sora... He walked towards the bridge that led to the island without another word. Riku jumped up following him. "It's really important!" Sora resisted the urge to stop and listen and kept walking. "Please Sora..." He kept walking. "I'm worried about you..."

Riku watched Sora leave and then made his way home kicking sand around wondering how he could possibly get through to Sora... Riku wondered about how he could communicate with Sora without Kairi getting suspicious... Wait... I'm an idiot, why didn't I think of this before? The following day Riku arrived into school extra early. He had written a note to Sora the night before, he knew exactly where Sora's locker was and that he switched books after every class, providing he didn't run into any of Kairi's friends, he figured his plan should work. He pulled up his hood and trying to look as inconspicuous as possible moved down the first lot of corridors, ready to move or hide if someone appeared. The hallways were painted different colours to make it easier for people to find their lockers. Sora's locker was located in the cream coloured hallway. He walked brisky through hallway after hallway, blue, green, yellow, orange, pink, red... Finally he was on the cream coloured hallway, he quickly walked towards his locker... Only for his heart to skip a beat, Sora was standing at his locker... Riku hadn't anticipated this... He knew after yesterdays conversation he wanted nothing to do with him thanks to Kairi... But if he could sneak it into his bag... Riku hid behind the end of the lockers, he waited until Sora had his head buried in his own locker and walked up quickly but quietly and placed the note in his bag then slipped away into a hiding place. Sora slipped the backpack off his shoulder and noticed the letter in his front pouch looked up and down the hallway then took it. To Sora... Huh? He unfolded and scanned the note. Sora, meet me at the cave on the beach tonight at 10pm sharp. Come alone. The note made him feel uneasy... Come alone? I mean it could be a secret admirer... Or a murderer... I guess at this point either would be fine... Sora packed the books he needed for his first class into his bag and walked off looking around him for the person who slipped the note into his bag. But there was no one in the hallway except him. Weird... He walked briskly feeling a bit weirded out to the classroom where his first class of the day would be held. Riku stepped out from behind a row of lockers, breathing a sigh of relief that he wasn't caught. Now I just need an excuse to get away from Kairi tonight... He went to meet Kairi and kissed her hello as usual... The memory of kissing Sora was so far out of his mind now, it wasn't working for kissing her anymore, he simply tried his best to hide his revulsion before being able to leave her and go to his maths class. However he found himself unable to concentrate... He spent the whole time wondering if Sora was going to show up tonight. He thought about how good it would be to see him again. He wished he could kiss him again, but knew in his heart the odds of that happening were slim to nil. In a daze he scrawled Sora's name on his worksheet... Kairi's friends of course ratted him out. Kairi approached Riku at his locker between classes. "What's this I'm hearing about you scrawling a certain boys name all over your worksheet?" If I want to get out tonight I'm going to have to make this good... He looked her dead in the eyes and said "They're lying Kairi... You know you're the only one for me... I guess they must be jealous..." Then he grabbed her around her waist and kissed her hard, like he would have with Sora given the chance... Kairi grinned and giggled gliding easily in under his arm. Perfect... She won't suspect a thing... The rest of the school day was relatively uneventful, when it was time to go home Riku told Kairi that his parents were making him study for his upcoming exams. She agreed that getting a good education would be important for their future together. He wanted to scream, but hopefully after tonight he wouldn't have to put up with it for much longer. He arrived home excited for the first time in months... I need to look my best... But this is a meeting to tell Sora the truth... But everytime we've met so far... You haven't spoken in months... He thinks you've completely betrayed him... He sifted through his closet... I guess I don't want him to be able to tell it's me immediately, otherwise he'll bolt... If I can wear something he won't recognise maybe I'll stand a better chance...? I mean he'll probably know it's me once I start talking but... Sora's easily frightened but also stubborn... He may not want to walk home alone even if he does hate my guts but he may try anyway... He chose his outfit, he decided dark colours would be ideal if he didn't want to be noticed, and for transversing a beach and a cave in the dark they'd have to be easy to move in. He made his selection and jumped in to take a quick shower. Sora got home still toying with the idea of going. Is it safe to go? Maybe... Maybe not... Is it smart to go? Maybe... Maybe not... Do I care at this point? Not really... Do I have anything better to do? Definitely not... I guess I can always head down to it and if I decide on the way to turn back I can... Riku got out of the shower feeling better for having washed the day and Kairi's touch off his skin... He wrapped a towel around his waist and stepped out of the bathroom. I wonder should I wear my good underwear, just in case... Riku... You have broken this boys heart, get your head out of the damn gutter. You're right... But ...I'm going to wear them because they make me feel confident... He dried off his hair and slipped into his clothes. 21.07... I'll leave at 21.30... That'll give me some time to get there and find a place shadowy enough that he may not see me or at least recognise me immediately... Sora glanced at the time on his phone. 21.40, I guess I'd better get going... He closed his English homework, grabbed a torch from his closet and climbed quietly out of his ground floor window. Riku skateboarded down to the beach and jumped off just before he hit the sand. He was feeling more playful than he had in months just knowing that he might get a chance to have a proper talk with his best friend again. He picked up the board and put it under his arm, carefully he climbed the few rocks that led to the cave, they fondly called 'The Secret Place'. He had to crouch to get inside. Wow, we used to be so small... But once he reached the main chamber, he was able to stand up at full height again. Realising it must be close to 22.00 now he pulled up his hood and hid his skateboard and waited... Sora clambered up the rocks with his torch in his teeth. He took a deep breath outside the cave... Are you sure you want to go through with this? He nodded to himself and crouched to get inside the cave... He reached the main chamber and stood upright removing the torch from his teeth. "Hello?" A tall figure stepped out from behind a rock. Sora felt intimidated, this guy was a lot bigger than he was, he was immediately on guard. "W-Who are you?" The dark figure stepped back from the light. "That doesn't matter right now..." Sora didnt move and kept his torch shining on this person. "Why did you bring me here?" "I've been sent here to give you some information on your friend Riku..." Sora's face suddenly angry then sad... "He... He lied to me and betrayed me. I'll pass, thanks..." Before Sora could walk away Riku needed to think fast. "Well it's really more information on Kairi and the blackmail she's using to keep Riku away from you..." Sora stopped dead in his tracks and turned back around. "What...?"

The dark figure leaned against a rock in a way that seemed oddly familiar, but he had never to his knowledge met this person before... He sat down on a rock across from the tall teen. "Well...?" The tall boy cleared his throat. "Not to alarm you but, perhaps you should see these pictures for a start, because these are where this whole mess started..." Sora took the pictures in his hand and aimed his torch at them, he recognised the scene straight away. A blush spread across his face along with a ghost of a smirk but in an instant it was gone and replaced with panic and worry. "H-how did you get these? Who took them?" The dark figure didnt move, he couldn't help but notice how Sora blushed and the momentary smirk that graced his features. So maybe he doesn't completely hate my guts... "Riku stole them from Kairi, unfortunately she has copies, they were taken by her using her phone..." Sora felt somehow even more let down by both of his friends. He stood up anger evident in his tone. "Who put her up to it? Riku? One of her friends? Part of his big plan to make a fool out of me huh?"

Sora sat back down clearly upset, a lump fast forming in his throat... They both fucked me over... "I can't believe they both fucked me over..." Large tears welled up in Sora's eyes. "Riku didn't, it was never a joke to him..." Sora wiped the tears from his eyes barely registering what was just said to him. "And why should I believe you?" The dark figure grew serious. "Because right now, I'm all you've got..." Sora bit his thumbnail nervously. "Now are you gonna trust me?" Sora wasn't sure, but he was curious so he nodded anyway. "Are you gonna let me tell you the truth behind Riku and Kairi's relationship?" Sora nodded. "Are you gonna believe me?" Sora nodded again. "I have no choice but to believe you, they both seem to hate me..."

The word "hate" ripped through Riku like a knife. I dont hate you Sora, far from it... "Listen carefully then because I'm not repeating myself..." The tall teen shifted his weight against the rock. "That day after your... meeting... with Riku, you bumped into Kairi at the gates yes?" "Yeah... How did you know?" "Well after that she already had the pictures, she told Riku that if he didnt get with her she would put the pictures up everywhere... Riku didnt care about himself being outed, but he did care about you. He wasn't sure if you were comfortable with it yet or if you had told anyone, so he agreed to get with her providing she didnt release the pictures of you two and if her and her friends left you alone..." Sora was distraught. "I was horrible to him the other day... He really never liked Kairi?" The figure shook his head. "He wasn't attracted to her before, but he despises her now, hates being around her, hates physical contact with her... So far he's avoided anything beyond kissing her... Said he's saving himself for marriage." Sora laughed at that. "I can't even imagine Riku saying that!" The dark figure grew serious again. "He's said that if he could avoid kissing her even, he would... There's only one person he longs to kiss..." The brunette shook his head in disbelief. "So it was all true... He really does like me?" The hooded figure laughed. "Look at all he's been through, he's suffered a manipulation and blackmail to protect you... I think he adores you..." Sora gripped his head in his hands tears spilling freely down his face. "I have to go and apologise to him right now..." He started to crawl towards the entrance when a familiar voice called him back. "Where do you think you're going?" Sora turned around only to come face to face with Riku. "It was you?" Riku nodded. "I knew you wouldnt listen to me as me, so I slipped the note into your bag and hoped against hope that you would turn up. Kairi said she would make your life hell unless I got with her... Now my lifes hell... But you're safe... But unhappy..." Sora sighed heavily. "The pills huh?" Riku nodded. "Okay... Well I stayed in a lot after you and Kairi started, I didn't want to see you guys out together. She told me she hates my guts... She asked me how it felt to have you stolen from me... I told her that you and I were friends..." Sora blushed a little not knowing if he should have said they were more... "But pushing that boundary... I told her despite this, it was never my plan to take you from her and that I used to like her..." Riku nodded a little too pleased to hear that Sora no longer liked Kairi. "And what happened?" Sora looked towards the ground and played with pebbles like he was trying to avoid a painful memory. "Well she told me I was nothing, she said she never liked me, not even as a friend and that she only used my friendship to get to you... She told me I would never ever compare to you... She then grabbed my shirt, kissed my lips, and slammed my head back into the wall, they walked off laughing at me. I heard one of them telling Kairi that kissing me was her good deed done for the day... That hurt... So I was writing to try and get it out of my system... It didnt help enough... So... I started to consider..." Riku leaned forward more afraid of what he was going to say next. "Consider what...?" The younger boy looked down and whispered the word like a sin. "Suicide..." Riku's expression fell. "Why didnt you come and talk to me?" "I was under the belief that you both hated me... I wasn't completely wrong either... Kairi does..." "Who cares what she thinks? I've been hoping most days that she would walk out under a bus..." He thought for a moment... "If I knew she did that to you I would've pushed her... But, did they find you out? Or did you come to your senses?" Sora shook his head. "They found some plans... and notes in my bin, I don't know what posessed them to look at them, instinct maybe? But I guess its my parents doing that I'm still alive..." Riku had tears in his eyes, he pulled Sora close to him burying his head into his hair. "I'm so glad you didnt go through with it..." Sora was a little shocked at Riku's reaction but hugged back, it felt good to be close to someone again... Sora darkened pulling away from his embrace. "The only problem is Riku, you have to go back to her tomorrow and I can't talk to you in school... She threatened to have me beaten up if I even tried..." Riku thought for a moment. "Did she anything about outside school?" Sora shrugged. "The message was loud and clear if I go near you, I'm dead." Riku shook his head. "Forget this, we're both sick of her. Let her show the damn pictures... I can lie and said I was kissing any random person... I won't let her or her friends hurt you... I promise." Sora had a flashback of all those years before of him and Kairi carving themselves into the cave wall. Do you promise Sora? I promise... Do you promise Kairi? I promise too... Sora suddenly angry picked up a rock and took it to the wall where he and Kairi had done carvings of eachother... "You lied to me!" He smashed the rock repeatedly into the cave wall until tears were running down his face and her face resembled nothing. He dropped the stone loudly sobbing and stepped back... Tears were running down his face... Riku wrapped his arms around Sora and slowly led him out of the cave. Sora shivered when the cold sea air hit him... Riku pulled him closer... "Better?" Sora nodded, a small blush making it's way across his nose and cheeks. "Its 23:30, I should walk you home..." Sora was about to protest when Riku stopped. "Look she's ruined several months of our friendship..." He blushed a little. "... And potentially delayed our relationship... I don't want to spend anymore time away from you... Ok?" His face so certain so passionate, he just couldn't say no. Anyway... He's so warm... By the time they reached Sora's bedroom window, it was 23:45. Sora turned to Riku, he had something he desperately wanted to say.. "Riku I'm really sorry for how I treated you... I feel terrible..." Riku shook his head; "I should've never got with Kairi, psycho or not you like her..." Sora shook his head and said in a low voice. "Liked her... Past tense... Over and done with now..." Riku smiled. "Really? What great timing.." Sora looked up into Riku's eyes... "Huh?" Riku leaned in and kissed Sora gently on his lips. "Because now I can do that and not feel guilty over it." Sora stood wide eyed gazing at Riku... I have butterflies in my stomach... Riku kissed Sora's forehead softly... "Goodnight... I hope we can do this again... Very soon..." Sora nodded smiling, and whispered to Riku's retreating form. "I hope so too..." He climbed in through his window and left it open just a crack before changing out of his clothes, snuggling into his fluffy bedsheets and falling into a deep comfortable sleep. Riku awoke the next morning smiling about what had happened the night before... But pained that after having his dream fulfilled of kissing Sora again he'd have to go back to playing pretend with Kairi... He grinned to himself as he had a brief fantasy about saving 'Princess Sora' from a tall castle guarded by the big scary 'Kairi dragon'. Sounds about right... He dragged himself away from thoughts of last night and his fairytale fantasies and went to take a shower. Sora awoke well rested, his thoughts immediately on Riku and the night before, then quickly turning to what school would be like today... I'm going to be alone again... Even if me and Riku are okay... He can't speak to me in school... I'll have to watch him and Kairi... Maybe, maybe I can pull a sickie...? He thought about this briefly before deciding to go ahead with it.

He rubbed his eyes hard to make them red and puffy... Coughed to try and make his voice sound hoarse and at one minute to eight he put his head against the radiator in his room so that it would feel like he had a temperature. Then lay back in bed looking pitiful and waited for his mother to come in and call him for school... At eight am on the dot his mother walked in and felt his forehead. "Oh honey, you don't look well at all... Here let me check your temperature... Oh you're burning up... I think you'd best stay home from school today... I'll call them, you rest up." Once his mother had left the room ad he was sure she wouldn't come back in for a bit he text Riku. 'Hi Riku, I just couldn't face school today so I'm pulling a sickie. I'll just be in bed napping and watching cartoons all day! Don't be jealous! ;)' Riku's phone beeped and he went to the bathrooms to check it, he didn't want to be spotted by anyone that might rat him out to Kairi. 'Hey Sora, I am jealous! But I could probably sneak away from Kairi a little later and drop by to make you feel better? ;)' Sora flushed at the message. I wonder what he has planned... I guess he's been stuck with Kairi he's probably... He felt himself flush at the thought. 'If you can get away, I'd love to see you later on... Providing it's not going to cause problems with you and Kairi...' Riku frowned to himself. Fuck Kairi... Who does she think she is controlling me like this anyway... 'Don't worry about Kairi... I'll see you after school x x x' Sora blushed at the kisses at the end of the message and fell back into his bed blissfully. The day dragged on for Riku, all he could think about was seeing Sora later. How cute he was... "Riku?" His laugh... "Riku!" "Huh?" Riku was harshly snapped back to reality by his angry looking English teacher. "Kindly try to at least pretend you're interested in this class..." Students laughed around him, he nodded and tried his very best to ignore his wandering imagination. Sora if I fail this class, I blame you... He still couldn't help smiling at the thought of him. Riku was piling books into his locker after lunch when Kairi approached him at his locker. "So Riku, do you want to grab some food after school?" The silver haired teen shook his head. "Sorry, I can't, my parents are making me study, remember?" Kairi nodded and smiled but she was getting irritated and suspicious about Riku's excuses. The end of school finally rolled around and after a quick chat Riku kissed Kairi goodbye to get it over with and then took off, careless with excitement. She watched him suspiciously and followed him some of the way at a distance. This is not his normal route home... She pulled her phone out of her bag. "Hey Selphie... Could you do me a favour...?" Riku ran to Sora's as fast as he could but slowed down before he got to his window, he needed to be quiet so as not to alert his parents. He tapped on the window pane. "Sora... It's me." The brunette opened the window and grabbed Riku's hand pulling him in, he landed on top of Sora in a heap and both teens laughed. The laughter subsided and they seemed to realise the position they had landed themselves in. Sora in nothing but his boxers felt somewhat exposed and pulled his arms self consciously across his chest. Riku leaned in slowly and kissed him, on his lips... Then his neck... Then his chest... "I want you Sora..." The brunette sighed as his kisses got lower and lower... Riku made eye contact as he trailed kisses down his stomach. "Does that feel good... Sora?" He shivered under his touch making Riku crack a devilish grin. Riku was getting excited seeing Sora already so wound up. "Y-Yeah..." He was nearing Sora's waistband... The brunette was trembling under his touch. "Please..." Riku grinned. "Please what...?" "P-Please... Touch me..." Sora flushed at the sound of his own voice saying those words, Riku's teeth gripped the waistband of Sora's boxers and slowly pulled them down. "You're gonna want to watch this Sora..." Sora pulled his head up from the bed as Riku looked directly into his eyes and slipped the tip of Sora's erect cock into his mouth. "Fuck!" His hands tangled in Riku's hair hungry for more pleasure, Riku grabbed Sora's shaft and moved his hand up and down in time with his mouth. "Riku... You'll have to stop... Or I'm gonna cum..." The silver haired teen stopped, he was breathless. "Do you want to continue on to... something else?" Sora nodded. "You're sure?" "I want you..." Riku sucked his fingers slicking them up, before slowly spreading Sora's legs. You ready, the brunette looked a little nervous. "Will it hurt?" In that moment Riku realised he'd never done it before. "Uh... Maybe a little at first, but it'll start to feel good soon, I promise." Riku gently pushed one finger inside and Sora winced. "Are you ok?" The brunette nodded as Riku slowly added another finger, he worked them slowly in and out and Sora started moaning softly. Eyed half lidded he looked up at Riku. "I'm ready..." Riku thought he was going to burst. "You sure?" He asked barely able to hide the lust in his voice. "Yeah..." Riku spat into his hand and slicked himself up as well as he could before positioning himself between Sora's legs. "Okay... I'm gonna push inside now alright?" Sora nodded and winced as Riku pushed the tip of his cock inside. Inch by inch he slid inside until he was all the way in. The brunette's toes curled as he adjusted to the new feeling of being penetrated. Riku sat still giving him time to adjust but dying to just go for it. Fuck he's so tight... He tried to keep his voice steady. "You ready?" Sora nodded his cheeks already red from exertion. "I'm gonna start slow ok?" Riku slowly rocked his hips back and forth, Sora looked uncomfortable for the first minute, then closed his eyes and started pushing back low moans escaping his lips with each thrust. "Fuck... Riku... Yes..." Riku wrapped his hand around Sora's hard cock and starting pumping him in time with his thrusts. His moans became louder. "Riku! Fuck, you feel so good! Harder!" The silver haired teen did as he was asked and went harder, but Sora wanted more. "Harder! Please!" Riku let go of Sora's cock and grabbed his hips, he thrust as hard as he could into Sora gaining louder and louder moans. He looked down at the brunette, his cheeks were red from exertion, his eyes were half lidded and his mouth was open spilling a mix of nonsensical noises, his name and swear words. He was pumping himself now in time with Riku's thrusts. His back arched off the bed. Riku wasn't sure how much longer he could last seeing Sora like this. Luckily Sora wasn't up to lasting much longer either. "Fuck, Riku... I'm gonna cum... I'm gonna cum!" One more pump and Sora came across his own stomach and chest, Riku took one look at his in this state and; "Fuck! I'm cumming!" He sped up momentarily and then slowed down riding out his orgasm. "Fuck... Sora..." He looked down at the brunette and smiled. "Damn, you're good." Sora grinned back at him breathless. "Must be... beginners luck?" Riku kissed him gently on the lips. "I've wanted this for so long... But damn... You surpassed every expectation I had..." Sora flushed red. "R-Really?" Riku nodded kissing him again. Outside Selphie moved towards the noise and taking a peek in Sora's window jumped back. Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! She quickly moved away from the window and started walking back towards her own house. Do I tell Kairi...? She shifted awkwardly from foot to foot, then took her phone out of her bag and dialled Kairi's number. Kairi answered almost immediately. "What's up Selphie?" "Uhm... You're not going to like this..." Kairi rubbed her temple in agitation. "What did you see?" Selphie gulped knowing what a hot head Kairi could be. "Well you were right about Riku... He is, cheating on you..." Kairi growled from the other end of the phone. "With. Who." "You're really not going to believe this..." "Try me." "He was in bed with... Sora." Kairi almost exploded with anger but managed to contain herself. "Well Selphie, I think you should come over here... I have to show you something..." Riku's eyes blinked open the next morning, they'd both passed out after... His mind wandered back to the night before. Fuck that was hot... Sora stirred slowly wiping his eyes. His hair was messy, he was half wrapped in blankets and Riku wrapped his arms around him. "Oh, morning Riku!" He grinned up at him and kissed him on the nose. "How are you so fucking cute?" Sora looked down embarassed and shrugged. "Maybe I just needed someone to be cute for?" When Riku and Sora emerged from Sora's bedroom dressed and ready for school Sora's mother was pleasantly surprised. "Riku! Long time no see! It's great to see you again!" They must be friends again. "You know you can just use the front door though right." Riku laughed. "Old habits die hard I guess..." After breakfast, when they were out of sight of Sora's house Riku grabbed Sora's hand and beamed at him. "I wish we could be like this all the time..." They separated before they reached the school gate. Riku kissed Sora goodbye and walked towards the school, then ran back and kissed him again. Sora laughed as Riku walked towards the school. "Okay goodbye, for real this time..." "See you after school?" "Definitely." The silver haired teen waved as he walked towards the school. Sora watched until he was out of sight, waited a few minutes and then followed. Sora couldn't help but smile as he walked towards his locker. Maybe today won't be so bad... He took the books he needed for his next class and clicked his locker door closed, only to be greeted by a large full colour picture of him and Riku kissing on the noticeboard. What the fuck? He pulled the poster down and shoved it into his backpack then ducked into the guys toilets. "Riku, I just found a picture of us kissing on the noticeboard... I pulled it down but I have a bad feeling..." "Yeah... This is what Kairi threatened to do this if I ever contacted you... They're everywhere... We won't be able to take them down before half the school sees I'm sorry..." "Riku... What... What if the school calls our parents?" He let out a breath. "One thing at a time... For now let me go and deal with Kairi. Just carry on as normal... Nothing's going to happen, she's done her worst." "I-I guess..." "Meet me by the basketball courts in ten minutes ok. Everything is going to be fine." The phoneline went dead and he took a few deep breaths before leaving the bathroom stall. Riku dialled Kairi's number she answered immediately. "Hey Riku..." "Hey sweetheart where are you right now?" "I'm in the cafeteria..." "I'll see you in a minute, honey..." He spat the last word out like it was poison. Kairi started collecting up her things just as Riku burst into the cafeteria. "Kairi! He shouted across the cafeteria. "Thanks for the pictures... It's nice to remember that first time I kissed Sora... But I don't appreciate you creeping on me and my boyfriends private time..." Kairi flushed red as students started murmuring around her. "You know what else I didn't appreciate? You blackmailing me, a strictly gay man, with these pictures so I would go out with you." People around them shot disgusted glances at Kairi. "I... I..." "Now that you've outed us to the entire school... You've done your worst... But at least now I'm free to leave you and go and date the man I love... Do you have anything to say for yourself?" He stared her down across the cafeteria, everyone's eyes were on her and she stuttered before bursting into tears and running out of the cafeteria. All eyes were on Riku as he grabbed his bag off the floor and went to meet Sora by the basketball courts. As soon as the door closed the cafeteria erupted into excited chatter. Sora was sitting on a bench near the basketball courts pretending to read a book but wary of other students staring and whispering about him. Sora was approached by Selphie. "Uhm, hi Sora!" "Uh hi Selphie..." He was on guard, he knew Selphie was Kairi's friend and wasn't quite sure why she was talking to him. "Look... I just wanted to say I'm sorry..." Sora looked at her warily. "For what...?" She looked down feeling ashamed of her part in this. "Kairi asked me to go and check in on you guys yesterday..." Sora and Selphie both flushed red. "I followed Riku to your house and heard... Well you know... So I peeked in for like a second and left... Immediately." Sora couldn't even meet her gaze. "After I saw... Uhm... You guys... I called Kairi and told her Riku was cheating on her... I am so sorry and so embarrassed... I thought for sure Kairi was just being paranoid..." Riku walked up from behind them. "Well I guess that explains that then..." Selphie and Sora both jumped. "I did wonder how she found out..." "Riku I'm so sorry I had no idea that she was pulling this shit on you..." Riku nodded; "It's ok... No one did..." The silver haired teen brightened up suddenly. "But now, I've made it so the entire school does..." Sora looked at him confused. "What? How?" Riku grinned. "I confronted her in front of the entire cafeteria." Sora looked guilty. "Isn't that just kind of... Going down to her level?" Riku stood by his decision. "After the months of crap she put us through, it's the very least she deserves..." Sora looked nervous. "Won't she be mad?" The silver haired teen rolled his eyes. "What does it matter? There's nothing left that she can do to us..." Riku kissed Sora gently on the lips and Selphie smiled seeing how much they clearly liked each other. When they got up to leave they were stopped by the principal. "Riku, Sora, my office. NOW." Students around them made an 'oooooooh' noise as they were marched off to the principals office. "Do you think it's acceptable to put indecent pictures of yourselves all over school grounds?" Riku took a deep breath. "No I don't, which is why I didn't." The principal looked at him not believing him and Riku became very serious. "Look, neither of us are out at home and had no intention of being out at school yet... So the last thing either of us wanted were private pictures of us up all over the school." The principal nodded thinking it over, he knew it made sense, Riku nor Sora had ever been any trouble. "So do you know who is responsible and why?" There was a quiet knock on the door. "Come in..." Selphie walked in and sat down. "I know who is responsible for the posters and why..." The principal spoke to all three students separately. They all had more or less the same story. Kairi had blackmailed Riku. Kairi heard her name being called over the intercom and fearfully made her way to the principals office. She wore her sweetest smile and was ready to try her best to worm her way out of this situation. However when she entered the principals office she was met with the stony glares of Riku, Sora and Selphie... Her face dropped. "Kairi I've interviewed these three students and all of them have told me the same story..." Kairi shot a spiteful sideglance at Selphie. "You can tell the truth and lessen your punishment, or we can check our CCTV and find out once and for all..." Each of Kairi's friends were called in to be interviewed, but none of them were willing to lie for her after finding out the full extent of what she'd done. So after checking the CCTV they knew without a shadow of a doubt that she had hung up the posters. Her friends abandoned her in the wake of this scandal. She became known as the 'bunnyboiler' and people in the school avoided her. Many boys were afraid that she might spy on them in the locker rooms or follow them home and that sooner or later pictures of them in compromising situations would end up being plastered across the school, meanwhile the girls didn't want people to think that they were 'bunnyboilers' too so they stayed away. Even the friends who were there when she'd bullied Sora knew nothing of the level of insanity that had gone down. When they found out, they left her too. Loneliness was tough on Kairi and she'd begged her parents to move her to another school but they refused, telling her she couldn't just run away from her problems, that she had created this and she would have to live with it. Seeing Sora and Riku openly out in school and being able to be together made her bitter. Slowly but surely she began to plot her revenge. She knew out of the two of them Sora would be the more forgiving... So she made him her target. She spied on him for a month, following him around, taking note of where he was at all times and more importantly when he was likely to be alone... He was blissfully unaware of her presence. She picked her time carefully and slipped a note into his locker. 'Dear Sora, I'm sure you hate my guts and I'm sure I'm the last person you want to be hearing from right now, but I want to apologise. I know Riku definitely won't talk to me... But I'd like to make amends where I can. If you'd like to meet me I'll be on the bench near the basketball courts after school. I hope to see you there, Kairi.' Sora held the note in his hands unsure about the whole thing... Maybe I should go just to hear what she has to say...? Maybe she's had a think about it and wants to make amends...? I mean it's day time by the basketball courts... It's not like she could do anything right? Maybe I shouldn't say this to Riku until I've figured out whats going on though... He decided that everyone deserved a second chance and sat waiting on her at the designated spot, he busied himself with reading they had to do for homework. He heard footsteps stamp quickly up behind him, a sickening pain vibrated through his head... Then everything went black. Riku was waiting outside the school for Sora. They were supposed to meet today once Riku had finished the detention he got for punching someone who dared to called him and Sora 'faggots'. He checked his phone 17.05. Maybe he went home...? He dialled Sora's number and waited... 'Hey Sora here, I can't come to the phone right now, leave a message after the beep and I'll call you back later! Bye!' Riku hung up the phone and started walking towards the boys house. Sora opened his eyes, his head was pounding... He couldn't see a thing around him, everything was pitch dark he blinked only to realise he was blindfolded... He moved his hands slowly only to realise in a panic that they were bound to something... He tried to move his legs but they were also tied up to something. He opened his mouth to call for help but he had been gagged. Sora became even more panicked, he struggled against his restraints trying to free himself, but to no avail he was stuck there... He sat alone terrified and out of breath wishing he'd told Riku that he had planned to meet Kairi... Riku arrived at Sora's house and rang the doorbell. His mother answered. "Hi Riku!" "Hi! Is Sora in?" Sora's mother shook her head; "No we thought he was meeting you after school... Have you tried calling him?" Riku nodded worry now coursing it's way through his body. "Yeah... Straight to voicemail..." His mother looked concerned. "Maybe we should call the school?" Riku nodded. I can't help but have a bad feeling about this... Sora's mother called the school and enquired if he had detention or any reason to be held back, they told her no and called him over the intercom several times just to make sure. They assured her that he wasn't there. "They said he wasn't there... I'm beginning to get worried... This isn't like him..." Riku had a bad feeling in his stomach, he tried calling his phone again... Lights flicked on, Sora could make them out from the edges of his blindfold. He could hear someone walking towards him and then lost his breath as he was kicked in the stomach the chair he was tied to hit the floor. "Ngh..." He gasped for air, tears forming on the edges of his eyes, soaking into his blindfold, he sobbed loudly feeling like he was going to vomit. A female voice he knew spoke. "You're pathetic..." Riku and Sora's family decided that something had to be desperately wrong and contacted the police, they filed a missings person's report and explained that due to recent events they felt his life could be in real danger... A large search party gathered along with the police to find the missing teen. He tried to beg for mercy through the cloth she'd gagged his mouth with. "Please... Please don't do this... I'll do whatever you say... Just please let me go..." She looked at him crying on the floor and laughed. "You've already done enough..." She pulled him back up from the floor by his hair. "It's time for me to get my own back..." The search and rescue team were spread far apart looking anywhere and everywhere they could think of... "Sora!" His name carried on the wind. Sora... Where are you? Please be safe..." Although he hoped his gut feeling was wrong something in him knew that some horrible had happened. Kairi hellbent on revenge had been smart enough to cover her tracks when she'd had Sora kidnapped. She also hadn't given away her identity, although she knew Sora would recognise her voice, and part of her wanted him to and even if he knew it was her... He wouldn't be able to prove it, she had no intention of him living to tell the tale. Sora had passed out and blinked his eyes open to his blindfold. The lights in the room were on and he could hear his phone ringing. "What fantastic timing..." Sora jumped thinking he was alone in the room. Kairi answered his phone and whispered in his ear; "If you want to call for help now's the time to do it..." She cut his gag and left the room. "He's all yours now Saix..." Sora shouted as loud as he could into the phone. "Please help me! I have no idea where I am, I got a note from Kairi asking me to meet her after school..." Riku was wide eyed listening to Sora screaming for help on the line, it was exactly what they'd all feared, hands shaking Riku handed the phone to one of the police officers. Desperate pleas sounded out to an unknown person. "Please I am begging you... Don't don't do this..." A ripping sound could be heard. "Please... Please don't..." He sobbed. "I-I didn't do anything..." The mystery figure cut off the last of Sora's clothing. The teen was hysterical. "Please don't do this... I'm begging you..." The stranger positioned himself behind Sora fully erect and pushed his full length inside. "No!!!" His voice cried out on the line as everyone realised what they were hearing happen to Sora. "You're hurting me... Please no! Stop!" His protests became quiet sobs as he went into shock and a sickening skin against skin noise could be heard... They were trying to trace Sora's phone. A sickening grunt was heard over the line and a muffled whimper from Sora before the line went dead. Sora lay on the floor staring at his blindfold, he heard the person who had violated him leave and started trembling violently on the cold stone floor. Tears escaped his eyes, he could feel something dripping from him, he wasn't sure if he was bleeding or... He shuddered disgusted at the thought. Sora sobbed loudly in the dark room believing that he was going to die here. The police had the location from where the call had come from finally... Riku was in shock. The police armed themselves believing that they must be dealing with a seriously twisted individual and got ready to go and get Sora. Riku demanded to go too, as did his family. Sora realised he must have passed out, he jumped to icy water thrown on his skin. "Sora you lazy bum... I should have known I'd finding you snoozing down here..." The brunette's voice was hoarse from calling for help earlier. "Why... Why Kairi... I didn't do anything to you..." Kairi looked at him viciously. "Didn't do anything? Didn't do anything?! You stole him out from under me you little slut... Then right after sleeping with him you let another man fuck you... Sora, Sora, Sora... What would Riku think?" She finally removed his blindfold and he blinked his eyes into focus. In front of him there were a series of medical instruments. Sora's heart pounded. "Please Kairi... Just let me go, I won't tell anyone this happened... Just let me go..." The girl lifted a small blade from the table and sliced a shallow cut along Sora's cheek. "I wonder if he'll still love you without your pretty face...?" Sora closed his eyes as she walked to get something else off the table. When the door was kicked in, by the time Kairi turned around there were fives guns aimed at various parts of her body. A police officer handcuffed her and let her out while another cut Sora free and gave him a blanket to cover himself with and led him out of the storage container. He blinked in the sunlight and broke down into tears. Riku couldn't contain himself and hugged his friend tightly. "I thought I'd never see you again..." Sora was quickly put on a stretcher and bundled into an ambulance, Riku and Sora's family went with him. The brunette started violently trembling and crying in the back of the ambulance. "I didn't want him to touch me... I didn't have a choice! He wouldn't stop!!! You heard me! You all heard me!!!" He buried his face in his hands hysterically crying. "I didn't want him to!!!" The nurse administered a sedative to calm him down. "Shhh... We know you didn't want that to happen... No one blames you..." Sora lay back down on the bed becoming dosy from the sedative. "I... Didn't... Want..." Riku leaned over the bin in the ambulance and vomited up everything he'd eaten that day. Sora was admitted as an A&E case. Doctors and nurses rushed around him talking about what they would need to get him. "First let's get him down to ward C6 to check him over!" The nurses spoke to him as he groggily blinked awake. "You're in the hospital and you're going to be just fine..." With that Sora was out of sight, they all sat in silenced shock, not sure what to say or what to do at this point. Hours passed and they waited... Riku and Sora's family popped in and out waiting but Riku stayed. He decided to climb up onto the bed in Sora's room and close his eyes for five minutes. "Riku... Riku?" Riku opened his eyes to the dark room, Sora was standing there in his pyjamas, face stitched up along his cheek, his eye was bruised and swollen and his lip was split. "Sora!" Riku reached out to hug him but hesitated. "Is it ok if I hug you? I don't want to catch on any stitches or hurt you..." Sora nodded and hugged Riku quietly sobbing into his shoulder. "Kairi said what would you think of me... After only having sex with you I went and fucked another man and what kind of a slut was I... But... But I didn't want it... He... He made me..." He broke down into Riku's shoulder. "It's all my fault..." Riku pulled Sora back and looked him in the eyes wiping tears away from his cheeks. "Sora, I know you didn't want him to do it. You are not a slut or anything of the sort and most importantly none of this was your fault... No one could have guessed that Kairi would pull something like this..." He held his crying boyfriend until they both drifted off to sleep. Riku awoke at 7 am the next morning and made his way to his school. He's all yours Saix... His fists clenched as he got closer and he pulled his hood up as he approached the school. He crept along corridors to the secretaries office and tried the handle, to his surprise the door was unlocked. He moved the computer mouse praying lightning did strike twice, but of course the computer was locked... He gazed around the filing cabinets. Surely Saix can't be that common a name... He tried his luck with the filing cabinets and have up against a brick wall. Fuck... He could hear someone coming and quickly left the office, he pretended to be figuring out a locker combination and then after a few minutes decided to try his luck with the secretary. He pulled down his food and tried to make himself look as friendly as possible, "Hi!" The secretary eyed him warily. "I've been asked to drop off some assignments to two absent students... Sora and Saix. I know where I have to drop Sora's off to, but I seem to have misplaced Saix's address... You couldn't give it to me could you?" She stayed silent clicking keys on the computer and eyeing Riku up inbetween. "And why do you need his address? Surely they'll just email the assignment on to him?" Riku was beginning to panic when her phone rang. "Excuse me..." She picked the reciever up and turned he back for a moment, he leaned across the desk and took a quick look at the screen. Wait... I recognise that guy... He's on the school basketball team... Quietly he took a picture of the screen with his phone and left the office before she was done with her phone call. He pulled his hood back up and left the school quickly before anyone else spotted him. He took a quick look in his phone at his address, and made his way there. He hid in a laneway between two houses and waited... At 8.45 he emerged from his house and started walking towards the school. Riku pulled his hood up, covered his face, kept his distance and followed... I have to get him somewhere secluded... He rounded the end of a street into a laneway between two houses and Riku saw his chance. "Saix isn't it? Saix froze and turned around and saw Riku's covered face and hood. "What... What the hell is going on?" "Get on the fucking ground... NOW!" "Or wha..." Riku punched him in the stomach winding him, he fell on his knees coughing. "...Here's my wallet and my phone... I don't want any trouble..." Riku kicked his phone away from his hand. "I don't want your crap... What I want is for you to turn yourself in..." Saix shook his head; "I have no idea what you're talking about!" "Oh yeah?" Riku roughly turned Saix on his back and put his foot on Saix's crotch. "You know Kairi?" "N-No..." He stepped a little harder making Saix wince. "You want to think about that again... I know who you are... Saix..." He pressed his foot down and a little harder and Saix paled. "I know where you live, I know where you go to school and I know you raped Sora... Now I suggest you tell me the truth... Or..." He picked up a brick. "You'll have to clean what's left of your testicles up off the pavement!"

Saix broke under the threat motioning for Riku to quieten down.

"Shhh... Ok... Ok... I did it... I'm-I'm sorry..." "You're fucking sorry? Turn yourself in right now or I promise you Saix... No one will be able to tell the difference between you and a ken doll." Saix was shaking now. "Now you're gonna take your phone and call the police... You're gonna tell them what you did and I'm gonna stay here... Until the call is done and you're gonna wait for them and if you run... Well, I know where your family live." Saix's blood ran cold, he didn't take a chance as he was sure this man would hurt his family, he seemed unhinged, cold maybe even heartless... He dialled the number and did as he was told and didn't dare move until the police arrived. He could tell he was close by, he could still feel his eyes on him as he was taken away in the police car. Riku made his way back to the hospital. He asked at reception for which room Sora was staying in and took the lift up. Music played as he watched the floors go by, finally he stepped out and looked in the windows of the rooms he was passing. He spotted Sora, he looked deflated sitting alone watching TV. "Hey!" Sora waved. "Hi!" "How are you feeling?" Sora shrugged. "They said I'm healing up well and the blood tests came back negative so..." Riku nodded and Sora scratched the back of his head. "But... I keep having nightmares... About her... About him..." Sora's eyes filled with tears and Riku kissed him gently on the forehead. "You don't have to worry about either of them anymore..." "Huh?" "Saix turned himself in..." He looked up at Riku with tear filled eyes. "Really?" "Yeah..." The feeling of relief from Sora was palpable. "Neither of them will be bothering you again..." Sora nodded understanding. "W-Would you mind sleeping in with me? I... I just don't like sleeping alone anymore..." Riku climbed into the bed beside Sora and the pair of them fell fast asleep. Sora's head was snuggled into Riku's chest as they slept. This is how their parents found them, Sora's father cleared his throat loudly waking them both from their sleep. Riku flushed slightly and climbed out of Sora's bed. "Would one of you mind explaining what's going on here?" Sora looked at Riku and then back to his father. "Uhm... Riku is my... Boyfriend... Dad..." Riku's mother stared him down. "What?! You were dating Kairi..." Riku looked back at Sora then back to his mother. "She blackmailed me... She... She had photos of me and Sora... Kissing..." He took a deep breath. "She threatened to plaster them up all over the school if I didn't do what she said..." Riku's father stared at him. "So you know what you're doing is wrong!" "No. I didn't want you both to find out like that and I didn't want to out Sora before he was ready either... So I went with what she said... Didn't matter anyway in the end the posters went up." His mother stared at him horrified. "There were posters of you two kissing up all over your school?!" "Thanks to Kairi..." "Did you not think of how this would reflect upon us? Pictures of our sons kissing up all over the local school? Riku... It's unnatural." Riku looked his mother square in the eyes. "Then I guess I'm unnatural... Because I'm in love with Sora..." His parents looked at him with disgust. Sora's dad stared at Sora. "You... You were mad about Kairi for ages..." The brunette blinked, angry tears welling up in his eyes. "She kidnapped me, tortured me and tried to kill me... She had me..." He swallowed hard trying to keep his composure. "Raped..." The word hung in the air like a curse. Sora continued getting eve more heated. "How could you even... Mention her... As though having feelings for a maniac who tried to... Kill me is better than me... Loving my best friend..." Sora's father shook his head. "Sora I only want what's best for you... this is a phase. You'll grow out of it." The brunette shook his head. "No I won't..." Anger flashed in his fathers eyes. "Oh yeah? And how would you know? Did getting fucked by a man turn you funny?" Blue eyes welled up with tears. Sora's mother stepped in. "Stop it... Stop it... That's enough." Sora's voice was low but stern. "Get out..." His father responded; "What did you say to me?" Sora took a deep breath. "GET OUT!" Sora's father looked both teens in the eye. "See you two? You've shamed both our families... You've made a show of us in the school. I don't know how we're ever going to show our faces around here again... Now I'd advise you to say goodbye and make it quick, because after today you two are not allowed to see each other again." Riku looked Sora in the eyes and kissed him gently. "We'll find a way... Okay?" Sora was panicking now tears running down his face. "But what if we dont?" Riku looked serious and spoke quietly. "If we don't then we sneak out and meet on the cliff road after our parents are asleep on the 15th at 2am. Got it?" Sora nodded and kissed him quickly. "I... love you Riku..." "I love you too Sora..." With that Riku's mother dragged him out of the ward and out to the carpark. Sora returned home a few days later, with a stockpile of meds to keep his pain, anxiety and sleep in check. He found he didn't really need the painkillers as most of the stitches he'd had were gone and the bruising under his eye and had healed nicely. On the outside was looking a bit more like himself again. On the inside however he was completely torn up. Some nights he was still having nightmares and sometimes he would just get completely panicked for no real reason. The only person who he truly felt safe with was Riku and his parents had banned them from seeing each other. His mother tried to come in and talk to him but anytime she did he just ignored her or pretended to be asleep, soon after he just started locking his door. "Look Sora like it or not you're gonna have to talk to me sooner or later and I'd rather not have to say this to the door..." She voice was met with silence. "Alright then... We've decided after everything that's happened, we could all use a fresh start..." Sora's heart froze in his chest. "Your father contacted work and they've agreed to let him transfer... We're moving, we're hoping to be packed and ready to go in the next week..." His heart shattered, he sobbed into his soft white blanket. If I don't have Riku after all of this... What do I have...? How do I tell him??? His parents deleted Riku's number from his phone, they were idiots to think he didn't have it memorized by now. They'd had to go to drastic lengths like pretending to be advertisers and telling each other things only they would know to ensure that they were talking to each other. 'Your lucky numbers for today are 5 0 12 4' 'Sora?' 'Riku... We need to meet sooner than planned...' 'Why is something wrong?' Sora took a deep breath. 'Yeah... My parents are moving me away...' 'What?! When?!' 'They want us gone within the next week, two weeks tops... Meet me tonight on the cliff road at 2am?' 'Yeah... I'll see you then...' Sora wore away the rest of the day in his room, playing video games and just trying not to think... He had a plan and if it was the only way they could be together, he would do it... 1.35 am flashed up on his phone and he pushed his window open carefully and climbed out. Sora moved quickly away from his house and strolled along the beach, breathing in the cold sea air before turning off towards the cliff road. He spotted Riku up ahead and ran to him and threw his arms around him. "Riku..." He said sobbing. "I don't want to be apart from you..." Riku kissed him softly at first, but as they continued he became needier. They collapsed into the long grass needy lips meeting and hands wandering everywhere over each others bodies. They lay back and held hands, the stars seemed to be set ablaze just for them and Sora thought if he just could live in this moment forever life would be perfect... Riku kissed Sora gently and as his lips parted from Riku's he whsipered something... "Love me..." Riku looked at him unsure. "Riku... This could be the last time we ever..." His breath hitched in his throat thinking of never seeing him again. "Are you sure you're ready...?" Sora nodded. "Just take it slow and let me face you..." Riku nodded and started on the brunettes neck. Sora let his eyes fall shut enjoying the sensation of Riku's teeth and tongue on his neck, he pulled his shirt up working his lips and tongue down Sora's chest and stomach... Sora sighed out softly as Riku's lips went lower and lower. He stopped at his waistband. "Are you sure? We don't have to..." Sora nodded eyes half lidded waiting for the rush of pleasure that would come when Riku took him in his mouth. Riku's tongue licked him from top to bottom and he sighed tangling his hands in silver hair as he pleasured him. "R-Riku!" He rocked his hips forward towards his mouth enjoying every second. His breath hitched in his throat as he was getting closer. "Haaa... Riku... Stop... I'm gonna cum..." Riku pulled away making eye contact with Sora once more. "Are you sure?" Sora nodded breathlessly. "I love you..." Riku kissed his lips softly. "I love you too..." He took his time memorizing Soras body as he undressed him, every little detail, in the knowledge that he may never again see it after tonight. Riku slicked himself up and entered Sora slowly making sure not to hurt him. He felt Sora arch against him a small moan escaping his lips. "Are you ok?" Sora nodded eyes closed concentrating on feeling everything Riku was doing to him... Silver hair fell around Riku's face, it shone like moonbeams in the dim light. Rikus hips and hands worked together to make sure Sora would never forget this... Soras body began to move against Riku's. Riku moved down kissing his lips as he thrust faster and faster. The brunette was panting hard and fast now... "R-Riku..." Without warning his hands gripped Rikus hair and the force of his teeth biting his bottom lip made it bleed but what he was feeling was pure ecstasy. Riku gripped Soras hips and pulling their bodies together, closer... "Ngh... Sora!" He came deep inside Sora and held him close. Both lay there in that embrace for what seemed like blissful hours... Both were drifting somewhere between awake and asleep... Sora gulped as he redressed and took something from his pocket. Riku took it examining it and looked at Sora questioningly. "Riku... I-I couldnt bear being without you..." Riku stared at the younger boy kissing him gently. "I know... Neither could I..." Sora sat up looking directly into Rikus eyes. "I know my own heart and you're the best thing I have in my life... If I cant have you..." Riku nodded in grim understanding. Sora opened the cap on the bottle and split the pills evenly. "Once we take them... Thats it... Theres no turning back..." Riku took a deep breath and swallowed them all in one go. Sora smiled a sad smile and did the same. "Hey Sora?" The brunette sat back into Rikus arms. "Yeah?" "Think we'll last til sunrise? We've never seen the sun rise together..." "If we can fight off falling asleep until then we should get our sunrise... Its almost four am now and it should rise at about five... Think you can handle an hour?" Riku smiled. "I hope so..." They embracing each other for an hour without a word, all that needed to be said had been said all they had wanted to share had been shared. The long grass swayed about them and suddenly the horizon was on fire... Riku was ready to drift off. "We made it Sora look..." Sora raised his hand to block the light from his eyes. "It's... Beautiful..." Riku smiled at Sora who was intently watching the sunrise. "Riku, I love you..." "I love you too Sora..." Slowly the brunettes eyes closed and the older boy didnt take long to follow... Their breathing became shallow and slowly but surely their heart rates dropped... We can be together forever now... The younger boys body grew cold and limp against that of the older boy... Slowly Riku drifted away too... They resembled sleeping angels, skin so pale yet a peaceful look on their faces as though in the midst of a beautiful dream... This is how they were when they were found by an elderly man walking his dog a few hours later... The funeral was held a few days later, their parents all distraught and heartbroken by the death of their boys, concluded that they should at least be buried together. "If only we had not been so harsh our babies would still be here..." Soras father was particularly grief stricken at the burial. "Two young men stricken down by the trials of life... While their own lives had barely begun... May their hearts find peace..." The priest blessed the white coffin and moved back to allow people to throw flowers down onto the coffin... The school gave hundreds of white roses, one per student, everywhere students, teachers and family members sobbed... Selphie sobbed as she threw her rose, she couldn't believe that after everything they had been through their families couldn't accept them together. Elsewhere two blue eyes opened to meet with those of an aqua colour surrounded by silver hair. Sora wiped his eyes groggily... "Where are we?" He looked around to find himself surrounded by flowers, Riku took his hand. "We're free Sora... We did it..." Sora smiled and with Riku by his side they walked into the bright light that lay ahead. Together forever until the end of time. "Are you scared Sora?" "Not while I have you..." They walked bravely forward no longer fearing rejection, hurt or separation... "But what if they dont want us in heaven?" Asked a worried Sora. Riku laughed. "I've had my own heaven for quite a while now..." The brunette looked puzzled. "Huh?" Riku kissed Sora's lips softly. "Dont you get it? All this time my heaven was you..." Sora flushed and grabbed Riku's hand and together they walked into the white light of eternity.

#kh sora #kh riku #riku #sora #kingdom hearts #yaoi #kingdom hearts 3 #love #romance #fanfic #fanfiction

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aurum-fidei · 7 years ago

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The Billionaires, The Lawyer, and The IT Girl - Chapter 8 - Rise of The Huntress

It had been a long day for Laurel. It had started with a sobbing phone call from Thea letting her know that Moira had been attacked. Laurel couldn’t very well understand the girl so she had to call Oliver and get the complete story from him. Moira was fine and currently resting at home under the watchful eye of Thea. Oliver was just shaken up due to the fact that he witnessed the attack.

After Laurel talked with Oliver she spent a long day at work only to come home and work even longer. She was ready for a break. She was also ready for some food. And the knocking at her door meant that her pizza from Mario’s was here. She was surprised when she opened her door to find not only the pizza delivery boy but a nervous looking Tommy.

She handed the delivery boy a handful of bills and said “Keep the change.” The young boy handed the pizza off and retreated. “So what brings you by so late, Tommy?”

“Well, I assumed you would be working at home tonight… And I also assumed you would be hungry. Both assumptions are right.” Tommy said nodding to the pizza box.

“I don’t know” Laurel said as she walked into her apartment. “This is a mushroom and olive pizza from Mario’s”

Tommy winced “That is a damn good pie”

She put the box down on the table. “All right, what do you have to offer?”

Tommy held the bag up “Spicy Tuna on crispy rice from Toro’s.”

Laurel narrowed her eyes “Ohh, damn you Merlyn.” She headed to her kitchen to grab plates “Now tell me what’s eating at you because you obviously didn’t come here for just sushi.”

“Well, I sort of came here for advice.” Tommy chewed on his lip “I thought about what Ollie said to me. I really do like Felicity. Like a lot. I don’t even have a word to describe how I feel about her. I really want to take her on a date but I need some advice on how to ask her.”

Laurel raised an eyebrow before rolling her eyes. “You don’t”

Tommy sputtered “What do you mean?”

Laurel looked up from her plate and said simply “If you ask her out now, she WILL say no.”

“What? I thought she liked me?” Tommy looked confused

“Anyone with eyes could see you two like each other Tommy. You guys were less than subtle.” Laurel snarked.

“Then why would she say no?”

Laurel sighed “Because… You, Thomas Merlyn, messed up. And you messed up big time at the fundraiser for CNRI. She thought that was a date. And then you two proceeded to act as though it was a date all night long. And then you tore that away from her a broke her heart. She doesn’t trust you with her feelings right now Tommy.”

Tommy groaned with frustration. “How do I get her to trust me again Laurel?”

“Well to start off you can stop avoiding her. She is still your friend.”

“I… I can do that. I mean I wanted the next time I see her to be when I asked her out but I think we can just be friends if its working towards something more…” Tommy frowned

“Also, no more flings. If you are serious about this entire having different feelings for Felicity, you need to prove it. So no more one night stands and flings with girls you meet.” Laurel said seriously as she stood to clear the plates from her table.

“I can do that. The only woman I want is Felicity.” Tommy nodded

“Good. And last thing Tommy. Just give her time to heal. You hurt her. But the reason you could hurt her is because she has these same feelings for you. If you give her time to heal… You two should have a good relationship.”

“Thank you Laurel.”

“No problem. Now I am sorry, but I must kick you out now… I have work to do. Thank you for dinner though.” Laurel smiled as she gave her friend a hug.

“Ok. Tell Ollie I said hi when you see him.”

Next Evening

Laurel had just finished putting on her red dress when knocking sounded through her apartment. When she answered the door she found Oliver standing there dressed in a business suit and looking apologetic.

“We aren’t going on our date are we?” Laurel said wryly.

“No. I am so sorry Laur’” Oliver said sheepishly “Mom dropped it on me last minute. She is still not feeling at her best since yesterday so she wants me to meet with the Bertinelli’s”

“The Bertinelli’s?” Laurels eyes widened

“Yea. Apparently she wants to make some business deal with them. I just need to eat with Frank Bertinelli and agree on the deal. I will be perfectly safe.” Oliver said

“Where is Mr. Diggle?” Laurel looked for her boyfriend’s body guard.

“He isn’t coming with me tonight. He has the night off.”

“Ollie…” Laurel said on edge “I really don’t like this… Maybe I could come with you? Strength in numbers as they say?”

Oliver hesitated before saying “I guess… If you insist.”

Laurel nodded “And I insist.”

“All right… Business meeting date it is then.” Oliver said.

At the Bertinelli’s

When they reached the door Oliver rang the doorbell as Laurel clung to his arm. The man Laurel knew to be mobster Frank Bertinelli answered.

Oliver smiled “Mr. Bertinelli” he put out his free hand

“Please call me Frank” the man shook Oliver’s hand

“Call me Oliver.”

“Thank you for agreeing to meet me at my home” The man said

“My father used to say that living rooms make the best conference rooms.” Oliver flashed a smile

“Oh, I am gonna steal that.” Frank said with a laugh “And who may I ask is this lovely lady you have brought with you?”

“Laurel. Laurel Lance. I am afraid your meeting interfered with date night so I just had to come along.” Laurel smiled as she too offered her hand out to shake Frank’s hand. But Frank instead took the hand and kissed it delicately.

“Miss Lance, it is a pleasure.” Frank said before he finally released Laurel’s hand “This is my associate Nick Salvation.”

“How do you do?” Oliver asked as he shook the other man’s hand.

“Let’s have a drink.” Frank said.

Once the drinks were poured and passed around Frank looked at Oliver and began talking “So, Oliver, I’ll be honest with you. I was surprised to hear from you. It was my impression from the local news that you wouldn’t be involved in the family business.”

“The press never gets anything right.” Oliver said simply

“Oh, I know a thing or two about that…” Frank agreed “So, Oliver, I’ll be blunt, I would like the contract to build Queens Consolidated’s new Applied Science Division”

“And I am inclined to give it to you” Oliver said.

“Your mother wasn’t so enthused” Laurel raised her eyebrows in surprise but remained silent. “How is she by the way?”

“She is recuperating.” Oliver said “Thank you”

“What a terrible thing that happened” Frank said sincerely

“And Frank I was very sorry to hear about Paul Copani.”

“Paul was a good friend. He was a good man.” He sighed and rubbed his eyes “Yeah. The violence in this city. I sometimes wonder why I stay.” He said taking a drink

“I have had the same thought” Oliver said to Laurels surprise.

“So why did you come back?” Frank asked “After the island you could have settled anywhere.”

“Starling is my home. For more than one reason.” Oliver said as he grabbed onto Laurel’s hand and squeezed it. Laurel smile at him.

“Chi si volta, e chi si gira, sempre a casa, va finire.” A woman said as she entered the room her eyes locked on Oliver “No matter which way you go or turn, you always end up at home.” They all stood

“Oliver, Miss Lance, This is my daughter Helena.” Frank introduced her

“Hello” Oliver said as Laurel gave a small wave. Helena smiled at them.

“Nice to meet you both.” She turned to her father. “I’m heading out”

“All right. Take one of the guys with you.”

“I can take care of myself!” She protested

“I wasn’t asking sweetie.” Frank said as he touched Helena’s chin. Laurel shivered at the threatening intonation that dripped from his voice.

Before Helena could further her protests Nick walked back into the room.

“Frank, that meeting you requested. They can do it. Now.” He told his boss.

“I can come back another time?” Oliver questioned

Frank shook his head “No, no, no…” He looked at his daughter for a moment “just, uh… just excuse us for a moment, would you? Thank you.” And with that Frank escorted Helena to the hall.

It only took a moment before Helena’s voice echoed back to them “Oliver Queen” She barked out a laugh “The rich mans Lindsay Lohan”

Laurel scrunched up her nose in disgust as her eyes narrowed. Oliver has changed since his days of being in the tabloids. He has changed greatly. Laurel deftly ignored the rest of the father and daughters conversation that drifted back to them. She snapped out of her trance when she felt Oliver tug on her hand. He led her into the foyer where Frank and Helena stood. Helena seemed less than pleased with her father.

“Oliver. I am so sorry. Something has come up. But Helena would love to take you both to dinner and discuss the deal further.” Frank said with a wave towards his less than enthused looking daughter.

“Oh.” Oliver sounded disappointed “I was hoping to speak with you.”

“Well, as you speak for your family, my daughter also speaks for ours.”

“It’s really not necessary.” Oliver said as he glanced at Helena.

“It would be my pleasure” Helena gave a fake smile.

“Come on, Ollie. I know you and your mom want this deal closed. Lets just have dinner with Helena and discuss things.” Laurel said

Oliver smiled at her before saying “Sure”

Frank held his hand out to Oliver “I look forward to working with you” He said as Oliver shook his hand again

At a little Italian Bistro

Helena had taken them to a lovely little Italian place. As soon as they had arrived the owner came out and had begun gushing over Helena. He immediately ushered the three of them to a small a private booth near the back of the building.

“You are an angel, Helena!” The man said as they took their seats “Please tell your father I said hello”

Helena smiled at him “Of course, Mr. Russo”

“I’ll give you a minute” He said as he walked away.

“Thank you” Helena said after him before turning to Oliver “I heard about your mother’s accident. Is she gonna be ok?”

Oliver smiled as he let go of Laurels hand for the first time since they entered the restaurant in order to pick up the menu “She is going to be fine. Thank you.”

“I’m glad.” Helena said sincerely.

The three of them sat in comfortable silence looking at the menu.

Helena set her menu down “So, why would you want to go into business with my father?” Helena questioned “You know who he is and how he makes his money.”

“I am kind of curious to know this too, Ollie. I honestly thought you and your mother would never do business with the likes of the Bertinelli’s. No offense, Helena.” Laurel said looking at her boyfriend. Helena waved her hand dismissing the idea that Laurel insulted her.

“You don’t approve of your families enterprises?” Oliver asked

“We share a name. And that defines us whether we want it to or not.” She smile painfully. “You have already made judgements about me, just like I have made my judgements about both of you.”

Laurel scoffed as she rolled her eyes “Yes you think my boyfriend is the rich mans Lindsay Lohan. And I can only imagine what you must think of me for taking him back after all he did before the island”

Helena winced “Sorry”

“It’s ok” Oliver said for the both of them. He cut his eyes at Laurel ensure she stayed quiet.

“Hey, can I ask you something?” Helena asked out of nowhere.

“Sure” Oliver smiled.

“I know it must have been hell for you, alone on that island for five years, but I’m…” Helena began

Oliver looked curious but Laurel was simply enraged. Her vision turned red as she fixed a glare on Helena.

“You. Do not get to ask about his time on the island. You are a perfect stranger to him and he barely feels comfortable opening up to me and his family about the island. So you can back track and right there and think again about asking what you were about to ask.” Laurel seethed.

Helena’s eyes widened “I apologize. I didn’t think.”

“No. No you didn’t” Laurel snapped.

“Laurel!” Oliver said in shock.

“Ollie! You are barely comfortable sharing with me about your time on the island. You don’t talk to your mother or Thea about it. A stranger has no right asking you about anything to do with your time there.” Laurel place her hand on his cheek.

“Thank you, Laurel, for defending my honor.” Oliver teased “Yet another reason for me to love you. But please can we get back to the lovely dinner we were having? It would be nice to get to know the real Helena. Even if we can’t make a deal.” Laurel smiled

“I would like that very much” Helena said

A glint of silver around Helena’s neck caught Laurel’s eye “Your necklace is beautiful”

Helena gave a pained smile “It was a gift. From my fiancé”

“Fiance?” Oliver asked

“Mmm” Helena hummed

“I had no idea you were engaged” Laurel said surprised

“Well I am not. Anymore. He died.” Helena explained her tone sad

Laurel gasped “I am so sorry Helena.”

“Yes, so sorry for your loss” Oliver echoed.

“Thank you” Helena said as she thumbed at her cross.

They sat in silence yet again until Oliver’s phone began to ring. He stood and stepped away.

“I apologize but that was my sister. My mother would like me home now. If it was anything else I would stay. I have enjoyed getting to know you.” Oliver said as he pulled money out of his pocket and set it on the table.

“Ollie? If it is alright with you I think I will stay here with Helena for a little bit longer.” Laurel looked up at her boyfriend through her eyelashes

“Fine with me. I will have my driver come and take you back to your apartment in an hour.”

“Alright. Thank you. Tell your mom and Thea I said hello.”

Laurel and Helena both watched Oliver walk out the restaurant before turning to each other once again.

“I should apologize for how I reacted when you started asking Ollie about the island. It is just he gets harassed by the paparazzi and news reporters about the island all the time. He is just barely opening up to me and his family about his time on the island. It was a terrible hell there for him. Lian Yu means purgatory is mandarin you know. And it really was purgatory for him. I just get defensive when people bring it up unnecessarily.”

“No need to apologize Miss Lance. I understand completely.” Helena smiled sympathetically

“Please, call me Laurel.” Laurel said

“Alright Laurel.”

“You know. Ollie and I are planning on going to the grand opening of Table Salt next week. We already have reservations with our friends Tommy and Felicity. But we can always add another seat. I have a feeling we will be great friends.” Laurel smiled.

“I would really like that.” Helena smiled genuinely

Next day at CNRI

Laurel had be fairly busy at CNRI so far today and had only just now gotten to take a break. When she looked at her phone she saw a message from Felicity that said ‘Call me when you get this. URGENT.’

Laurel frowned as she dialed her best friends number. Felicity picked up on the second ring “Hey!”

“Hey ‘Lis, you ok?” Laurel said with concern.

“Yea. I’m fine. I just wanted to talk to you about what happened yesterday.” Felicity actually sounded happy.

“What happened?”

“Well Tommy came by my place.”

“He did?” Laurel tried to sound surprised

“Yea. He apologized to me and then he said he wanted to take me to dinner. He said it was a ‘friend date’. He actually seemed really sincere.” Laurel could hear her friends grin.

“Sounds like he finally came around.” Laurel laughed.

“I know! But that’s not the craziest thing that happened. Don’t tell him I told you but apparently his dad cut him off.”

Laurel gasped in shock “No.”

“Yes. None of his cards were working when he went to pay for dinner last night.” Felicity said

“Oh, no! What is he going to do?” Laurel leaned her head into her hand

“Well I told him that Oliver is still looking for a GM… So hopefully he will talk to him.”

“Yeah hopefully he will.” Laurel agreed as she looked at her watch “I hate to cut this short ‘Lis but I got to go.”

“Alright. I will talk with you later?”

“Of course! By the way, Helena Bertinelli is joining us for the grand opening at Table Salt next week.”

“Sounds good. Enjoy the rest of your day, Laur’”

“You too!”

OUTTAKE

Felicity had honestly been expecting things to stay awkward between her and Tommy for a lot longer than they did. She was very surprised when he ended up at her door apologizing for being rude to her and asking to make it up to her with a ‘friend date’. So here she was sitting across from him and eating Chinese food. Tommy was looking at her with a weird expression that made the butterflies that were always in her stomach around him do a fluttering dance.

“Is…is there something in my teeth?” Felicity broke the silence that had grown between them.

“No!” Tommy said “No. You… you just have really pretty eyes is all and I really like looking at them. I’m sorry.”

Felicity shifted uncomfortable “Thank you Tommy.”

“No thank you. For forgiving me. And for letting me take you out tonight as more of an apology than just my words.”

“You do know that your words are just enough for me right?” Felicity raised an eyebrow.

“Yea. I know that.” Tommy said as he slipped his credit card into the hand of the waiter. “But I am still going to be making it up to you in other ways. I was a jackass to you and you deserve better than that Smoaky.”

“And I won’t argue. But I am telling you that you don’t need to do it.”

“Mr. Merlyn?” The waiter asked

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry. Your credit card has been declined.”

Tommy’s eyes opened wide in confusion “Did you swipe it a few times? Sometimes these things can be glitchy.”

“I did. And I am sorry but the credit card company wants me to confiscate your card.”

Felicity immediately took out her own wallet and handed over her own card and said “For our bill.”

The waiter walked off.

Tommy was still shocked. “My card… It has no limit… This must mean that… My dad… Cut me off….” He looked at her then “I am so sorry Felicity…”

“There is no reason to be sorry. Its not like I can’t afford to pay for our dinner.”

“But I was supposed to pay as part of my apology.”

“It is fine Tommy. I already forgave you.”

“What am I gonna do Felicity?” Tommy rubbed his eyes.

“Well, I am still helping get all the glitches out of the system for Verdant so I happen to know Oliver is still looking for a general manager. And I think you would be good at that.” Felicity said warmly

“That… is actually a good idea… It will be a bit embarrassing to go to Ollie for help like that but I will do it.” Tommy said.

When the waiter brought back Felicity the check they walked out together.

#laurel lance #felicity smoak #oliver queen #tommy merlyn #lauriver #flommy #lauricity friendship #Laurel and Felicity are friends #helena bertinelli #black canary #green arrow #huntress #overwatch #arrow #arrow au #The Billionaires The Lawyer and The IT Girl #aurum-fidei

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