Home on the Range

Tychos Kouros

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It was ten o'clock when Roxas tried to get Sora out of bed. Roxas tried shaking Sora's shoulder at first, only to have his hand swatted away, Sora rolling over and burrowing deeper into the covers. It wasn't until Roxas yanked the covers off of the bed that Sora gave in, sitting up with a yawn.

"Fine, I'm up," Sora said, rubbing his face. Roxas sat cross-legged on the bed.

"Sorry, but it'll make the transition easier if we do it slow. A little each day," Roxas said. Sora nodded.

"So," Sora said, "me and Riku talked last night."

"Yeah?" A grin tore across Roxas' face. "You 'talked'?"

"Just talked," Sora said. "He drank a little and didn't want to move too fast. It was kind of sweet." Roxas smiled at him. "He was so fucking hot, too. You should have seen him, Roxas, in just pajama pants..."

"You look like you're about to start drooling, Sora." Sora laughed a little, grinning.

"He's a god, Roxas. I could stare at him for hours. And listen to him talk. His voice is orgasmic. And he thinks I'm cute." Roxas perked at that.

"He said that?" Roxas asked. Sora nodded. "Well, we should hurry then." Roxas hopped off of the bed and moved to the closet. Sora followed behind.

"Why, what's going on?"

"Nothing," Roxas said, digging through the drawers of unpacked clothes. "But we're wasting time."

"For?" Sora asked.

"Anything," Roxas said, turning to Sora. "Okay, uh... you're in here, yes?" Sora nodded. "And Riku's out there. And Riku said you're cute. And you think Riku is a god. Therefor...?" Sora shrugged. Roxas shook his head. "Therefor, you go out there, you two get to know each other better, tonight Riku fucks you like the stallion he is, and—"

"Wait," Sora said. "Where did we skip over all the bases and get back to home?"

"It's called a home run, Sora."

"The point is," Sora said, "Riku wants to take it slow."

"Which is why we're hurrying," Roxas said. "So you two can spend all day taking it slow."

"Why are you so set on this?" Sora asked. "You're like a sexaholic, and projecting it onto me."

"Because," Roxas said, "if Riku is keeping you company at night, then I'll know you aren't lonely and brooding. The sooner we get you on the horse," Roxas said, grinning, "the sooner I'll know you aren't holing yourself up in this room. Without good reason," he added.

"Roxas," Sora said, running his hand through his hair. He put his hands on Roxas' shoulders. "I'm okay. I've been okay, and I'm okay now that I'm here and settled in. And I'm more than okay after last night. But I'm not gonna jump into bed with him like a complete slut, okay?" Roxas opened his mouth. "And one day of hanging out isn't enough to get out of slut territory." Roxas let out a breath, deflating. He moved to sit on the bed.

"Fine. Alright, so maybe I'm rushing it. But you have to promise you'll make an effort to get out of this room. Cause that's what I worried about most, that you'd get yourself dug in here and we'd never get you out."

"I promise," Sora said.

"Good, because speaking of horses, that's what we're doing today."

A dusty kind of dirt powdered the concrete floor of the stables. It floated in the air along with the particles of hay, adding a slight burn in his nose to the smell of feed, horse poop, and sawdust. Sora wore a pair of jeans, just like Roxas told him to, despite the heat of late summer. The dirt and hay particles were already clumping in the sweat on Sora's forehead, smearing as he wiped it with his wrist.

"You're gonna love this," Roxas said. "We've got the perfect horse for you. He's solid. A three year old could ride him."

"Why do I have to ride him though?" Sora asked. "Can't I just pet him?"

"You need him to get around," Roxas said. Sora's looked down at his shoes, an old pair that were already a little worn. They had already picked up a brown color just from walking to the stables. He kicked up a dust cloud as Roxas stopped.

"What about the trucks?" Sora asked.

"Trucks get stuck in the mud. Horses can go anywhere. They don't break. Their engines don't freeze in winter, their radiators don't overheat in summer." Roxas leaned against the stable door. "Plus, how long does a car last? Five years? Ten years with lots of problems? On a farm, more like four, before you start paying out the ass to keep it running. But a good horse lasts twenty, thirty if he's healthy. They're reliable, Sora. They go more places than trucks and ATVs. And if it's a place a horse can't go, I promise you an ATV or truck can't get there either. Plus—"

"I get it," Sora said. Roxas laughed, turning around and unlatching the top door to the stall.

"You'll love him, Sora. You can pet him all you want. He's yours."

"I don't know how to take care of a horse, Roxas." Sora walked up after Roxas swung the upper door open. The horse was a paint, white with large splashes of chocolate brown and clear brown eyes, looking up from the bucket of feed he had his nose in.

"Which is why I'll take care of him. You just need to know enough not to kill him, which really isn't that much." Sora reached his hand forward to touch the blaze of white on the horse's forehead, but pulled it back when the horse lifted its head out of the bucket.

"What'd I do?" Sora asked. Roxas shook his head.

"You didn't do anything. But if someone walked up to you while you were eating, wouldn't you try to get a good look at them?" Sora shrugged.

"So it's okay to pet him? He won't bite or anything?"

"Not unless you put your fingers to his mouth and he thinks they're food. But I've only ever seen a horse bite another horse, and only because it was pretty pissed over something. I mean, I've been kicked at, but never bit at, if that answers your question."

"It doesn't make me feel much better," Sora said. "Kicked at isn't a better option. And getting run over..."

"Look, don't worry about it," Roxas said. "We'll come out here every day and do a little bit more. Getting used to him, then getting you up on him, and then working up through the gaits. Okay? And I guess it's not really that big of a deal, at least not until winter. If it's a bad winter then yeah, you'll need to have learned how to ride."

"So that's it for today then?" Sora said, backing away from the stall. Roxas laughed a little, throaty like a chuckle.

"You aren't getting off that easy, Sora." Roxas was grinning. "I don't expect you to ride a horse yourself just yet. But that's not a reason for you not riding along with someone who knows what they're doing." Roxas opened up the stall door to the left. In it was a light brown horse, the darker areas clearly brown and the lighter areas clearly blond. "Sora, meet Sam."

"Sam?" Sora asked, snorting as he started to laugh. Roxas glared, mouth tight, but Sora couldn't stop. "That's not the most horsely name, Roxas."

"Really," Roxas said, flat.

"Aren't they supposed to be named stuff like Silver, or Tonto?"

"Okay, first of all," Roxas said, "Tonto was the Lone Ranger's Pottawatomie sidekick, not a horse. Silver was his horse. And Tonto's horse was named Big Fellow. Second of all—"

"I can't believe you actually know that," Sora said.

"Secondly," Roxas said, poking Sora's forehead, "Sam is short for Sampson, neither of which matter since he can't help his name. And even if he could, Sam is a perfectly fine name. It's a good name for a good horse. I mean, he wouldn't make fun of your dorky name."

"Okay, I'm sorry," Sora said, still chuckling. "Sam's a fine name."

"You should be telling him that, not me," Roxas said. Sora sighed, walking up to the door.

"I'm sorry, Sam is a good name," Sora said. Roxas unlatched the bottom half of the stall door and slipped his fingers underneath Sam's halter, leading him out.

"It was kind of shortsighted that you'd make fun of him when you knew you'd be at his mercy for an afternoon."

The next two hours were a blur that Sora took with his eyes closed. Roxas saddled up Sam, trying to dumb the process down for Sora as he explained, and helped Sora make the awkward climb up onto the saddle, holding tight onto Roxas.

The ride itself went in cycles of slow and rolling, faster and rough, then faster and with his face pressed into Roxas' back, begging for it to stop. By the time it was over, his legs and arms were tired, his ass couldn't shake the feeling of the saddle pounding him, and his head was numb. Sora staggered a few steps after he slid off, then fell into the dirt, sitting on the floor of the barn while Roxas took off Sam's saddle.

"I'm not doing that again," Sora said.

"I bet you will," Roxas said. Sora shook his head. "What if it had been with Riku? And anyways, that was a crash course. When we get you on by yourself, it'll be walking in a circle for about a week. And the slow part wasn't so bad, right?"

"Alright, so I'm gonna learn to ride a horse so I can do nothing but ride it while it walks slowly. That makes sense," Sora said. Roxas rolled his eyes.

"It's called trail riding. It's fun, it's slow, and the scenery is amazing," Roxas said, trailing off a little with a dorky smile.

"Alright, where haven't you and Axel had sex?" Sora asked. Roxas stuck his tongue out.

"Lots of places. We haven't had sex in your room. Or the front porch. Or the kitchen. So lots of places."

"It's sort of scary that you jumped to those places. So I'm guessing you've had sex in the living room and here in the barn, then," Sora said.

"Not out in the open barn," Roxas said with a sheepish grin. "Only in the hay loft and a stall. And I sucked him off in the tack room, but that's it!"

"And the living room?"

"No," Roxas said. "Not past heavy petting, anyways. But that doesn't count."

"Yes it does."

"How?"

"Because," Sora said, "a hand was touching a penis. That's illegal to do in public in some states. So it totally counts."

"Yeah, but is it illegal in this state?" Roxas asked. Sora pouted.

"I'm new here, you should know the laws like that."

"Well, I can tell you that the laws don't matter much out here," Roxas said, laughing. "Anyways, Aerith's probably got lunch ready, it's through those doors and straight until you get to the patio." Sora nodded and made his way towards the house with a sluggishness in his legs. The afternoon heat was dry, with a slight breeze that chilled the sheen of sweat on his skin. Ranch hands were eating their lunches with relative transience, the tables more empty than full, with people coming and going in rotation, in sharp contrast to the packed tables the night before. Sora got a blast of cool air as he walked into the house, shivering a little as he came down from the heat he'd gotten used to. Aerith looked over her shoulder and smiled, turning back to the dishwasher she was loading.

"Sandwiches are on the counter," Aerith said. "Or I can make you something else, if you want."

"It's okay," Sora said, taking a turkey sandwich from the pile that was between the peanut butter and the ham sandwich piles. Sora put some mustard and mayonnaise on it, which were in the line of condiments further down the counter. "Is there anything I can do?" Aerith smiled at him, shaking her head.

"Not right now, but thank you for asking." Sora nodded and started eating his sandwich.

Riku pulled the tractor into the garage, throwing his shirt, which he'd taken off within the first hour of plowing, over his shoulder as he hopped down. Axel rolled out from underneath the truck he was working on, watching as Riku moved to lean against the wall over him.

"I need a favor," Riku said, wiping the sweat off of his face with his shirt. Axel sat up.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Riku said, "I was just gonna go for a ride later, was wondering if I could borrow an ATV."

"Sure," Axel said. "But you have to tell me the real reason." Riku looked down at him. "For the ride, I mean. What's up?" Riku shrugged a little, then laughed to himself and sat down on the floor, stretching his legs out.

"I just told Sora I'd take him out to do something today. I figure he's never done that before, so..."

"Damn," Axel said, laughing. "Nice work, stud. He's been here for all of two days and you've already got him hanging off of you on a wild ride in the woods."

"Just to see the sunset," Riku said. Axel's grin was sinister. He moved over next to Riku, who was watching him but too tired to move away. Axel put an arm around Riku's shoulders, his other hand waving around for theatrics.

"What a romantic," Axel said. "Really, my heart is aflutter by such deed. Tis lovethly, thine thoughtfulthness for thou's interest."

"You mean like that ring I hel—" Axel clamped his hand over Riku's mouth.

"It's never to be spoken of, Riku. You promised." Riku pulled the hand away from his mouth.

"Sorry. Just saying though. I'm not the only romantic one here." Axel looked at him with a lopsided grin, then smiled and leaned his head back against the wall.

"Nah, guess you're not," Axel said. "You like him?" Riku nodded, without thinking at first, but then stopped as he thought about the question and nodded again. "Does he know? I mean, have you told him?"

"Yeah. I mean... sort of," Riku said. "I told him he was cute. I didn't sit down and spell it out for him, but I think he got it."

"Maybe," Axel said. "Roxas has said he can be a little bit of a space cadet. So..."

"God," Riku said, dragging a hand down his face.

"I'm just saying, Riku. You need to spell stuff out for him, maybe. If you think he knows though then he probably does."

"But now I'm not sure. What if he was just trying to make me feel better?"

"Hey," Axel said. "Did he say he likes you too? Or something like that?"

"No," Riku said. "I just assumed he did, cause he was staring at me without a shirt on."

"Then there you go."

"But—"

"No buts," Axel said. "Just go up to him, be confident, and you've got a kickass first date planned out. Even if he was just saying it, you're setting yourself up right to win him over anyways. But from what Roxas has told me about him, he wouldn't just say it. Or if he did, he'd commit to it. So go in," Axel said, standing up, "show him the stud you are, and claim his ass for yourself, got it?" Riku looked up at him, and started laughing. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, I just didn't expect to need a pep talk, I guess."

"Yeah, well. It's dating," Axel said. "We all need pep talks to get through it." Riku nodded, balling his shirt up and heading to get an ATV.

"Thanks, by the way," Riku said.

"Don't mention it," Axel said, smiling. "I owe you for the ring."

Roxas had walked Sam and gotten him fed for the day when he walked into the kitchen, where Sora was loading the dishwasher while Aerith started a new load of laundry.

"So," Roxas said, grabbing a sandwich. "What do you want to do for the rest of the day?"

"I don't know. Riku asked me last night if I wanted to do something, so..."

"... so?" Roxas asked, wanting more.

"I don't know. He was buzzed when he asked. So what if he doesn't remember? Or regrets it?"

"He wouldn't," Roxas said, grabbing a Coke out of the refrigerator.

"How do you know?" Sora asked. Roxas put the sandwich and Coke on the table, moving next to Sora to help him load the dishwasher.

"Because I can't imagine Riku doing that even if he were shit-faced. Riku's the kind of guy who says what he means and never says much more than that. If he says it, he means it."

"I guess," Sora said.

"Yeah, well, I know," Roxas said, "and you'll find out. Plus it's kind of early. I mean, everyone's still working, so... seriously, don't worry." Roxas smiled at him, and Sora smiled back, but Roxas could tell he was forcing it. "Look, I'll get the dishes if you wanna go change and shower. Kill some time and all that." Sora nodded and started up for his room, but stopped and hugged Roxas.

"Thanks, by the way," Sora said. Roxas started to ask what he was being thanked for, but he nodded and didn't force it.

"Don't worry about it, Sora. It's what brothers are for, right?" Sora nodded and walked into the living room.

"Hey," Riku said, catching Sora off guard. He was in the doorway still, walking in with a handful of mail. Sora's breath caught on the sight of Riku sweaty and shirtless, his wrinkled shirt hanging around his neck while he looked at the letters.

"Hi..." Sora saw the tiniest drop in Riku's smile when he said it, small enough that he was wondering if he'd seen it at all. But Riku rubbed his neck and smiled wider, putting the letters on the table by the door.

"So I had an idea about what we could today," Riku said, "if you're still interested I mean." Sora let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, nodding as a smile split his face.

"Yeah! I mean.. yeah, I'm definitely still interested."

"Good. You'll probably need a change of clothes or something to swim in if it's an issue," Riku said. "I mean, if you don't like swimming in your clothes. Or we just screw it and... I mean..." Riku took quick breath, letting it out with a nervous chuckle. "It's up to you. But yeah, swimming."

"That works out well," Sora said. "Roxas took me riding earlier, so I needed a shower anyways."

"Yeah, me too," Riku said with a smile. "So I'll only smell like shit on the way up, if it doesn't kill you by the time we get there." Sora laughed, followed by a dragging silence. "So, we both get changes of clothes and whatever, and you meet me here in ten minutes?"

"Sure," Sora said, waving as he started up the stairs. He took the first few stairs deliberately, until he heard the door shut, taking the rest of them fast, skipping stairs when possible. By the time he reached the top, he was going fast enough that he lost his balance trying to keep from running into the person standing around the corner. Looking up, he saw Roxas grinning like a moron.

"He really is a genius," Roxas said, ignoring the confused glare Sora was giving him. "A first date that gets you naked and relaxed... oh, and I told you so," Roxas said, sticking out his tongue as they walked to the third floor.

"Yeah, yeah... so what do people wear to swim out here?" Sora asked.

"Depends," Roxas said. "I mean, what everyone else wears if it's like a day at the pool or whatever. But if it's for cooling off after working, then... I don't know. Naked if it's too far back for wet clothes. Otherwise, in your clothes if you're too tired to get them off and bother with it. It just depends."

"Why would I need another change of clothes though?" Sora asked.

"Cause he's gonna fuck you Sora. A change of clothes is mandatory when you have sex in the woods." Sora stared at him, not entirely believing him but not completely unconvinced he wasn't serious. It was visible enough that Roxas noticed, laughing at him. "In case you wear your clothes to swim, Sora. Look, stop worrying. Just watch what Riku does and do the same thing. And if something goes wrong, you have a second change of clothes and a guy who knows what to do. It'll be fine." Sora nodded as they went into his room, trying to relax a little. It didn't do much good though. His brain was busy unknotting itself while he dug through the drawers full of clothes.