Gaining and Losing

Chapter 15: Falling Through

By the time Sora had reached Cloud's house, he had already felt so out of his element.

Dressing up in anything but jeans and a t-shirt was not normal for him. Going out into town this late wasn't either, and he found himself missing the video game controller that was almost always permanently glued to his hands. Not being his usual companion either really had him feeling moments of regret. But the remembrance of some hours ago made those regrets wash away just as quickly as they had formed.

"Let's not waste any time." Leon stated as soon as Sora had appeared on the doorstep.

The other two were dressed in their usual color scheme of black and dark blue, but in a nicer form of jeans, shirts, and jackets. Sora was trying to get used to the outfit that the girl had picked out for him, but he hated the fact that when he tried to slip his phone into the pocket alongside his leg, he found nothing. This was definitely a change from the cargo shorts he wore around the house.

Having to put the phone in the tight pocket right at his hip, he remained relatively quiet during the short walk into town. The nightlights could be seen from afar, and as they drew closer to the inner-most section of downtown, the club that they were steadily approaching was visibly glowing the words 'Club Envy' on the front of the building.

A line was already steadily forming outside, but Leon simply walked up to the front man, exchanging a few words and hand gestures before the red cord was lifted and they were allowed entrance inside.

The club was thoroughly packed already. Lights were flashing pigments of red and green. A bar stretched out on the left side and the dance floor was raging with people. Some faces could be recognized from school, but he tried to avoid any eye contact. The last thing he needed now was more rumors spreading. People on the island had way too much time on their hands, and far too active of imaginations. He didn't want to be the talk of being in a three-way with Cloud and Leon or some random crap like that.

Trying not to feel too out of place, he let Cloud lead him to the bar. The blonde easily got them drinks. As he handed a green-looking drink to Sora, he gave him a reassuring look.

"What…is this?"

"It's called an Orgasm."

Sora made a face caught between shock and unsureity.

"I know you like sweet things. You won't taste the alcohol, trust me."

"O..kay.." Sora had already found out how he hated beer from a past experience of taste testing. The drink seemed harmless enough after a few sips, and soon he found himself all but chugging down the contents as they sat at the bar that was radiating light blue from the counter-top.

Leon was brooding over his second beer as Cloud sat next to him. The two were making conversation at times, having to lean in closer than expected to hear over the music. Sora tried not to stare, and it was becoming easier as the alcohol was working its way through his inexperienced system rather quickly. Soon he found himself leaning over to Cloud, but the blonde was giving the bartender a pointed look just as another of the same drink was already prepared and laid on the counter for the brunette before it could even be ordered.

"From the red-head." The guy tilted his head over to the other side of the bar where a guy with red hair gave him a smile and a wink with his alluring shade of green irises.

Cloud simply shrugged and gave the okay to drink it. The brunette nodded to him in thanks, a small, goofy smile starting to form on his face from the alcohol rushing through him. He brought the cup to his lips, sipping the second cup of the same drink. It was as he set the cup down that the stranger had made his way over and was standing next to him where he sat.

"Hey."

"Oh um hey." Sora glanced at the drink and then back to the small-framed yet tall guy next to him. "Thanks for this."

"No problem. It's always routine for me to buy at least one cute guy a drink."

"Yeah?" The insinuation made Sora feel his heart beat run off the rails a bit, but surprisingly, he was more relaxed and didn't tense up as much as he would've before. The fact that he had been attracted to at least one person of the same sex opened the idea that maybe he would've found another he was attracted to. The idea was much easier to grasp when he wasn't entirely sober.

"It's also routine for me to ask them to dance."

Sora took a few more chugs of his drink before sliding off the stool and nodding with a smile on his face. "Yeah okay."

The blonde gave the two a look before turning to the other sitting next to him.

"The name's Reno." The guy had managed to shift a hand onto the teen's hip as they shifted into the crowd.

"I'm Sora." The hand on his hip made him feel a sudden thrill shoot through him. He hadn't felt anything close to this since the one night he thought that his best friend was going to kiss him out on the..no, avoiding that stuff. It wasn't important anymore.

"You go to school around here?"

Sora barely managed to yell out his reply as they moved more onto the dance floor, finding a semi-crowded spot just as the bass kicked in and they split apart with enough room between them to jump and dance as they pleased.

He had never danced before, aside from trying to impersonate the Napoleon Dynamite dance. So with his arms flailing and the alcohol pushing him into a freer mindset, he was starting to tap into the basic ideals of dancing that he was seeing around him. Just thrusting his hips sometimes, tilting his head, letting himself be led by the music.

There was nothing holding him back anymore. He'd felt so lost, so unsure of what he was going to do given everything that happened. Everything simple hadn't seemed as easy anymore, and everything that he had always been sure about was now nothing but a crumbling set of truths.

But as he moved on the dance floor, letting a pair of hands grip onto his hips to pull him closer, he felt like it could all be figured out at some other point in time. For now, he was becoming lost in the moment, his hands gripping at the black vest that was opened over the other's chest. As the bass dropped again and their bodies swerved down together, their hips connected, and eyes met through the flashing lights of the club.

Green and blue-grey eyes glanced at the scene before returning to their drinks set on the bar.

"You would think it would be harder for him to transition to doing something like that." Leon mused over the concept as he lifted his beer to his lips.

"When people get their heart broken, they're grateful for distractions." The blonde stated almost knowingly as he watched the man near him.

"I figure most people prefer to sit around at home and be depressed when that shit happens."

"Well Sora isn't most people."

"That's true." Leon paused for a moment, setting a hand on the counter as he started shift to look at the other. "You make it sound like you've been through this before."

"I'm sure everyone has gone through a heartbreak at least once in their life." Cloud surveyed the other before adding on. "You did with Rinoa right?"

"That wasn't heartbreak, that was getting rid of unnecessary baggage."

The faintest mutterings of 'stupid slut' was heard from Leon just as the blonde inwardly smiled in amusement.

The dances went on for a while, going on an hour.

Every time a new song would come on, they would either be able to converse somewhat if it was soft enough or they would be stuck dancing non-stop from start to finish.

Unknowingly, with every flash, their bodies were moving closer, lips shifting from feet apart to mere inches. It was almost as if they were being led along with the entrancing lyrics, the bridges in the songs making them feel the temptation that was unfolding.

Before the brunette knew it, he was being pushed through the crowd, ending up against the wall of a nearby pillar. His body was trapped with the tall one of the red-head's; his hands were gripping at the open vest as he responded to the rough kiss that was forced on his lips.

Eyes slid shut; all care was about to be cast away with the rhythm until a voice slid in between, completely breaking the happenings.

"Sora!"

Blue eyes snapped to the left, hands falling as the grip on his hips suddenly loosened.

Riku stared, a slight hint of anger and something else lingering through his aqua eyes. As they simply stared at one another for a few moments, Sora couldn't even take just being under his gaze and pulled away from the red-head, darting and trying to disappear into the crowd.

"Sora!" Though a mixture of too many emotions were pushing him to follow the brunette, Riku was still yelling that one name, repeating it in his mind and through his words as he pushed past people in an attempt to catch up.

The darkness of the club overtook any light as Sora stumbled off the dance floor and his hands slid along the wall that shifted into a corridor. He moved along, almost feeling blind as the only light that kept him going was the light at the end of the small hallway. It was so faint, and the drink that he had was slowly wearing off but it still made him feel somewhat out of it.

The concept of his best friend following him though was quickly forcing him back into reality though.

"Sora-wait!"

Riku glanced around the dark hallway, managing to catch the small figure in the traces of darkness. As he moved forward, he could see that figure now moving underneath the light further ahead.

"Go away."

"I can't-"

"Yes you can."

The smaller teen had barely made it underneath the light just as a figure swooped in front of him, standing so close that he shied away and was pressed back into the wall.

"I have to tell you something."

"I don't want to hear it."

Sora glared while trying to think of how he was going to get out of this. He didn't want to hear or see or just anything to do with the person in front of him right now.

"It's really important-"

"Important? Do you know what else was really important? Me. My feelings. Our friendship-and whatever else might've been there."

"I know it was impor-"

"No you don't. You think your pride is more important. That's how it's always been though. I guess, you just couldn't stop being selfish long enough to figure out that maybe you need to-"

"I know!"

The yell intervened making the brunette suddenly stop short and stare up at the other.

"I fucked up okay, I know that. All I've been doing is thinking about it, about how I made you cry."

Sora looked away, trying not to listen to the words that were far too prominent not to take in.

"I hurt you, I hurt you again and I'm so sorry." Silver locks shifted over eyes that were still set on the boy in front of him. "I kept thinking, maybe you'd really be better off without me around. You wouldn't have to deal with all the fuck ups and how selfish I can be. But I remembered how we already went through this already."

The reminiscence of two years ago started up, and Riku could hardly keep his voice steady as he spoke.

"When I accepted the darkness, I was completely caught up in my own selfishness. I didn't care who I hurt, and it got to the point where I couldn't even remember you. I couldn't remember our friendship, all the years we grew up together. But you didn't give up on me."

He breathed in slightly, his voice visibly wearing thin now as he could sense the other starting to try and look back at him.

"And you know, when you tried to come back for me, I tried to help you. I didn't want you to see me that way though, I didn't want you to see how my pride got the better of me, and it ended up completely changing how I looked because I craved that power. I thought I needed it to make me better."

Sora was steadily looking up to aqua eyes now.

"And when you touched me, all you had to do was touch me; I remembered that I don't need anything except you."

The sensation of tears prickling the corners of various shades of blue began.

"I need you in my life. I had forgotten that, until tonight."

Eyes connected, remaining unmoving as words were spoken through soft intakes of breath.

"It's selfish of me to expect you to just forgive me after what I did today. I know it is, and I guess this would be the last time I would ever be selfish."

Sora was taking in the words now, the sobriety gradually kicking in as he was now becoming too enraptured with the way the other was talking.

"You know if I make promises I never break them..we never break them, that's the vow we have lived by ever since we were little. So please, forgive me.." He moved a hand onto a cheek that had a single tear falling now. "I won't ever put anything or anyone else above you again because I love you Sora."

"I shouldn't. I should hate you."

"I know you should."

"But I can't-I can't make myself-" Sora hiccupped softly as he was trying to keep himself from outright sobbing. "I hate you for that."

Riku smiled, a soft chuckle coming from him as he tried not to let too many tears fall from his eyes. "I'll gladly take that hate then."

Their eyes met in a gentle gaze regardless of the tears that were mixed in. Riku cupped the side of the boy's face, leaning down to gently press a kiss to his lips. It was simple, chaste, but only for a few moments as the feelings enveloped them.

Sora tilted his head into it, responding with all the emotions he was inwardly feeling. He couldn't imagine his life without his best friend, and feeling his lips pressing onto his own was making his chest swell, his body becoming hot, and his hands found themselves darting out to grip onto the black shirt the other wore.

Riku felt the sudden response, the kiss becoming something different as their mouths parted and tongues touched and ran together. His milky-white hands slid down the teen's small frame, moving to his hips as he pressed forward and kept him pinned into the wall now.

The passion continued to creep in, the remembrance of a stranger having been so close to doing what he was now doing to this very person drove Riku forward without hesitation. He forced a kiss so hard it was sure to bruise, but the softest sound of a whimper and moan came in response to such a thing. He licked at the boy's lower lip, managing a rough whisper as their hips were starting to rub together from how heated things were becoming.

"Have I ever told you how much I've grown to want you.."

"No.."

"I want you…in every way. I don't want anyone else having you that way either." He let his lips brush over pink ones that were blemished with red. "Can I be possessive instead of selfish.."

The question made Sora take in the words, responding without even having to think through a decent reply. "Yes." Possessive was fine, more than fine with the way his best friend was looking at him and touching him and just being with him.

"Can I be possessive now..?" The question was spoken in a way that was opening a possible invitation.

"Yes please."