Author's Note: Ok, so it's been a while. I don't even want to guess how long but I am sure it has been too long for everyone. I really am sorry it takes me so long to come out with chapters it's just my time seems to be taken up by other things and when I do have time I am exhausted.
Actually this chapter was going to be out earlier but my computer crashed (something about the hard drive reading arm coming off) so I lost half the chapter. But, I suppose that was a good thing because I didn't like that half of the chapter.
No, this is not going to be the end of the story, I am going to write more, it is just a question of whether I will just make one long epilogue, or actually continue in chapters. If you have any ideas about what you would like to see I would love to hear them.
I don't know if any of you actually think I care about what you say, but I really do. I hate just writing something and positing it without anyone telling me what they think (even though it happens). So comment! Tell me anything you want (within reason).
Thanks to every one who has still stuck around after this long. Anyways, now onto the story.
Warnings: pretty sappy chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Kingdom Hearts characters.
Sora would have enjoyed sleeping in late into the day, maybe even till tomorrow, considering the horrible night he had had a couple hours ago, but he was promptly awoken at 7 AM by a lurch in his stomach.
Eyes opening quickly, though snapping shut from the harshness of the light in the room, Sora looked through partially closed eyes to get his bearings before starting to scramble out of bed. If he wasn't quick he might not make it.
Just as he was on his knees on the bed, what he was looking for appeared right in front of him; the garbage can. Without wasting a moment Sora leaned forward and emptied the contents of his stomach into the can.
He continued to dry heave even after his stomach was completely void and Sora could feel tears prickling his eyes. God he felt like shit.
Finally his heaving stopped and Sora watched as the garbage can lowered to the ground.
He was sure he wasn't drunk... but garbage cans didn't move themselves.
Turning his head round, Sora looked around himself until his eyes fell on a certain silver-haired boy holding onto the garbage can he had just thrown up in.
Now that the mystery of the floating garbage can was solved Sora just groaned pitifully and collapsed back onto the bed. Note to self, collapsing doesn't help an upset stomach, he thought slowly.
Riku couldn't help but smile at Sora who was lying next to him on the bed. He looked so miserable, but yet he looked so cute.
The older male had figured that Sora would be feeling like this in the morning, so he had prepared last night. He had grabbed a garbage can and set it next to the bed and he also had taken some medicine to help Sora's stomach and headache and set it on the nightstand along with some water. After returning to bed, Riku just sat up and watched Sora sleep, making sure
he was ok.
"Feel like shit?" he asked softly as he ran his hand through Sora's erratic hair.
Sora just let out another groan. As he lay awake he could feel the soreness in his body creeping into his awareness. It hurt to do anything, to move anything, to even speak.
God he was never drinking this much again... ever!
"Here, take these," Riku stated as he grabbed the pills off the bed and held them out to Sora.
Sora didn't want to waste the energy moving his hand up to accept the pills so he just turned his head slightly, parting his lips, waiting.
"You've got to be kidding me Sora..." Riku mumbled before gently placing each pill into Sora's mouth. "Water?" he asked and just got a nod from the brunet. Sighing, Riku picked up the glass of water as well and managed to bring it to Sora's lips. Tipping the glass slightly he watched as the water poured into Sora's mouth as well as all over the blankets. Great, what a mess.
Sora swallowed the pills and shifted slightly, curling towards Riku's legs since they were next to him. Reaching out, he wrapped his arm around Riku's thigh and sighed as he tried to ignore the pounding in his head and the rumbling in his stomach.
"Just try and sleep some more Sora, you'll feel better in a couple hours."
Sora didn't need to be told twice. In almost an instant, or so it felt to Sora, he fell asleep.
Knowing Sora was going to feel a little better now, Riku allowed himself to rest lightly, still in his seated position and with his hand buried in Sora's hair. If the brunet woke up again though, he would also be up in a second.
Sora managed to sleep peacefully for another 4 hours until the effects of the medicine started wearing off and his headache started coming back. Slowly blinking his eyes open he was comforted to see Riku was still beside him. And although the fact that he was cuddling Riku's thigh embarrassed him, he didn't move.
Feeling his head give a particularly painful throb, Sora let out a groan.
In an instant Riku had his eyes open and was looking down at his best friend. "You ok, Sora?"
"Head..." Was all he managed to croak out before his buried his face in the blankets that covered Riku's leg.
Grabbing another pill from the table, Riku repeated the process of feeding it to his best friend.
Dampening the sheets a little more, Sora settled against Riku leg again.
"Feel a little better?" Riku asked as he petted the brunet's hair, trying to tame it. He felt like a mother hen or something, fretting over Sora like this, but he didn't want to stop. He still felt like this was all his fault and he wanted to make it up to Sora, wanted to protect him and make sure nothing ever hurt him again.
"A lil'... though... still wanna die" Sora replied in a whisper. At least he didn't feel like he was going to puke anymore, now his head just hurt a lot. "Thanks..." he added. Sora really didn't know how he would have handled his first hangover alone, without Riku helping him.
"It's no problem Sora's it's the least I could do. I mean after yesterday and all that happened..."
Sora just started tuning Riku out, he didn't want to hear about yesterday he wanted to forget about it. Doing the only thing that he could think of that involved the least work, Sora bit Riku's leg through the fabric.
Riku stopped mid-sentence and looked down at Sora. "Did you just bite me?"
Sora just nodded his head once.
"And why did you do that?" Riku asked still stunned by the fact that Sora had bit him.
"Shuddup," was all Sora could mumble.
Though still slightly confused, Riku shut his mouth and just looked down at Sora questioningly.
Ah silence. There was nothing better than it, especially when your medicine hasn't kicked in yet.
They stayed like that a while, Sora finding relief as his headache slowly started to recede and Riku just remaining silent, watching over Sora.
Sora easily fell asleep once again against Riku's leg, but it was only a short nap. In an hour he woke again, curling up against Riku's leg.
"I'm getting kinda hungry," Sora stated, his stomach grumbling as if to prove his point. After emptying his stomach earlier it was understandable, though Sora wasn't sure if he wanted to try anything other than bland foods.
"Do you want to get up and get food, or do you want me to go get something for you?" Riku asked, stilling his hand that had been running through Sora's surprisingly soft hair.
"I should probably get up, then I can shower..." he replied, slowly pushing himself up into a seated position. After a quick bout of dizziness, Sora didn't actually feel all that bad. Riku meanwhile was watching closely, there to catch Sora if he needed any help.
Once Riku was sure Sora wasn't going to collapse back down, he got out of the bed himself and held out a hand for Sora. "Here."
Gratefully taking Riku's hand, Sora used it to pull himself up. Feeling himself go light headed again he quickly leaned against Riku, closing his eyes so he didn't see the room spin.
"Here, lie back down Sora, I will go get you food," Riku hurriedly stating, wrapping his arms around Sora so he wouldn't fall.
"No, it's ok just a little dizzy," Sora replied, warmed by the thought of Riku caring about him so much. "Let's go," he added, starting to walk forward at a leisurely pace. It wasn't so bad once he was up and moving.
As they both made their way down to the kitchen, Sora realized that Riku was shirtless and was wearing a pair of his pajama bottoms; where they pooled on Sora's legs, they fit Riku nicely. Since he was turned in a bit towards Riku, Sora got a nice up close view of Riku's bare chest and Sora couldn't help but admire the definition and tan that Riku had. Sora shifted slightly, feeling his bare skin brush against Riku's and couldn't help but shiver. Mentally kicking himself Sora sighed, he really didn't want to be thinking like that. After last night and everything he was thinking of becoming celibate.
"Are you cold?" Riku asked, noticing Sora shiver.
"Um.. a bit," Sora replied. Well it wasn't a complete lie, it was a little cold in only pajama bottoms, but Riku's body heat was also keeping him nice and warm.
"We'll hurry up then," Riku stated. They were silent the rest of the way to the kitchen.
Seating Sora at the table Riku went to the cupboard and grabbed a can of chicken soup and a bowl. Pouring the soup into the bowl Riku heated it up in the microwave. The kitchen was silent as they both waited for the soup to be finished. A few moments later, once the microwave had beeped, Riku retrieved the soup and placed it before Sora, grabbing a spoon for him along the way.
"Thanks, Riku," Sora practically whispered as he sipped his soup off the spoon.
Riku sat restlessly next to Sora, thoughts racing through his head. He really needed to talk with Sora, but his best friend didn't seem to be in the mood to listen.
"Sora..." he began, watching the brunet to see if he was going to tell him to shut up. "I know you probably don't want to listen to me talk right now, but I really need to get this off my chest."
Sora just continued sipping on his soup, only looking up at Riku momentarily before continuing to eat his soup.
Riku took that as a sign to continue. "I know you probably know this, but I am so sorry for everything that's happened. It's all my fault." He took another pause to see if Sora was even listening.
The brunet was looking at him, but as Riku spoke Sora had stopped eating and had resumed once he stopped.
"Ugh... I don't know why I did everything I did... well, no, that's a lie. I know why, but that's not important. The last thing I wanted was for you to get hurt Sora," Riku stated, almost pleading with Sora to believe him.
"I know," Sora replied softly before taking another sip of his soup.
Riku let out a relieved sigh. "Good. Sora, I care about you, but I haven't been respecting you, letting you find out things on your own. That's mostly because I didn't want you getting hurt, but I still can't baby you..."
"Do you have a point?" Sora asked, looking up from his bowl. "I'm sorry... it's just I am not in the mood to listen to an hour long ramble."
Riku looked shocked for a moment, before looking down at the table sheepishly. Collecting his thoughts, Riku looked back up at Sora, who was now looking at him and giving him his full attention. "I messed up bad and I want another chance, I want to start over," Riku stated which earned him a confused look from Sora.
"What do you mean...?"
Riku let out a strangled sigh. Why couldn't Sora just have understood? He didn't want to explain himself. "Well... Sora, I care for you... a lot. And I want another chance with you, like in a relationship."
Sora still looked confused. Where had that come from? Maybe he should have listen to Riku's whole spiel then he might have an idea of where this came from. And wait, when did Riku have his chance? Since when did he want a chance? "What?" was all he could say.
"Sora... don't make me repeat myself, it is hard enough to say as it is..." Riku mumbled, looking down.
"No, I heard you... but, what? A chance? Why...? I don't understand..." Sora stated slowly.
"Sora, I've... had feeling for you for a while. I didn't realize it until that night you came to my house and we... Well, then you ran away and it hurt... so I thought maybe you really didn't like being with men, or me. But then you and Cloud... and I got angry 'cause I didn't know what you saw in
Cloud and in the beginning I didn't want you to be with him because I was jealous. Then I calmed down and realized you wanted more than Cloud was going to give you and you would end up hurt, so I just wanted to protect you but you still wouldn't listen... And then I just messed up further last night when we went out by dancing with that guy..." Riku sighed, he wasn't even sure what he was talking about now. "What I'm trying to say is I want to be with you Sora, not just for one night, but for a long time. You're different Sora..."
Wow, that was a lot to take in when still half hung-over. Though, he did know one thing. "Riku, right now, I don't want to be in a relationship, with anyone. I'm not ready to trust my heart to anyone yet. After what happened with Cloud, I just want to take some time to figure out what I really want," Sora replied quietly. Throughout their entire friendship, Sora didn't think
he had ever seen anyone say no to Riku; and yet here he was doing it, his best friend.
"Oh... ok, Sora, I understand," Riku replied after a moment. His expression was unreadable as he stared down at the table.
"We're still going to be best friends though, right?" Sora asked quickly. He was so afraid that Riku was mad at him now, Sora didn't want to lose his best friend.
That brought a smile to Riku's lips. "Of course we are, Sora."
"Good," the brunet smiled back. Looking down at his soup Sora took another sip, but it was too cold now. "I'm done," he stated, getting up from his seat.
Sora was feeling a lot better now for some reason. Maybe because now he knew what he wanted, or didn't want. He just needed some time to think over what had happened and he knew that everything was going to go back to normal now.
"Do you want me to put that away for you Sora?" Riku asked, immediately standing up and moving closer to the brunet.
"No, I'm feeling better now," Sora replied, sending Riku a playfully annoyed look before going to the sink and pouring out the broth. Throwing the leftover chunks from the soup in the garbage, Sora set the bowl in the sink. "I think I am going to go shower now... I don't know if you want to stick around or just go home, cause I think I am just going to go back to sleep once I shower." Turning from the sink, Sora took a step away from the sink.
"Then I'll just head home. I'll go grab my clothes," he replied. Heading upstairs, Riku quickly change back into his own clothes and came back downstairs.
Sora was waiting by the door as Riku reached the bottom of the stairs. As Riku approached him, Sora quickly grabbed him in a hug.
"Thanks Riku, for everything," Sora whispered before letting go of the taller boy, smiling up at him.
"No problem," Riku replied, returning the smile. "I'll see you later Sora." Reaching out Riku opened the door and stepped out of the house.
"Bye," Sora said, giving Riku a little wave even thought the silver-haired boy's back was to him. "If I don't see you tomorrow, then see you at school."
"Yup, bye," Riku answered before crossing across their lawns and going into his own house.
Closing the door, Sora couldn't help but smile. Things were going to be good now.
R&R please and thanks