Curl Up

Curl Up
By: WestK

Was it so wrong to hope?

After all that he had been through, was it so bad to think that everything was going to be the way he wanted it? Sure, he saved the princess, and he reunited his friends, brought them all back to the island safely, but it wasn't enough. After all he had been through, where did he end up?

It had never occurred to Sora that he went through the galaxy because he was in love with anyone. He just hadn't thought of the possibility. He was 15 when the whole thing happened, and he was 16 when he finally made it back home. A year was all that had passed, and he had learned a lifetime of lessons in that short amount of time. Kairi was safe. Riku was back. The island was the way it had been when they had left. They all found out a bit about themselves during the journey, and none of them wanted to leave the island ever again.

It took a lot of negotiations to get Riku and Sora back into school. They had missed a whole year's worth of education. Why should the system let them back in? After a summer's worth of hard work, they were allowed to walk the halls again. With all the adventure knocked out of their systems, this seemed like an easy task to complete.

Needless to say, they were just happy to have some normalcy back in their schedules. No more fighting Heartless. No more crazy Organization nuts trying to recreate Kingdom Hearts. No more super-powerful creatures to defeat. The keyblade was now allowed to collect dust in Sora's closet.

However, that was not the only thing collecting dust in the closet.

Normalcy was great, but Sora began disappearing to their old secret spot. Even after Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie stopped hanging out on the island, Sora still took his raft there almost every night. He could be seen from the shore, wandering around barefoot, throwing stones into the sea, and then disappearing into the cave where the door was located.

Kairi saw him go there many a time, but she could never bring herself to go after him. After all that had happened, she had noticed a change in the boy. It had happened right after they found Riku. Everything slowed down and then clicked.

The redhead knew who Sora should be with for the rest of his life. It wasn't her. But she was fine with Sora's decision. Now the ball was in his court.

I don't mind. But I'm not surprised to find that you do.

Spinning around and around, his footprints carved into the sand inside the cave. As he twirled, the pictures on the wall seemed to blur together into lines. Sure, the music was not the right kind to slow dance to, but that did not stop him from trying to enjoy himself, even if he was dancing with no partner.

There was a knock at the cave entrance, and he turned abruptly, a blush already on his tan skin. With a low chuckle, Riku entered the cave. Kairi had urged him to go to the island to retrieve Sora for a party she was throwing at the last second. The silver haired boy clicked the pause button on the brunette's boom-box.

"Is this what you do in here?"

Sora blushed harder, if that was at all possible. His embarrassment was clearly showing as he snatched the CD player off the rock and into his knapsack. "N-Not all the time. I've just been in the mood for Relient K a lot lately."

There was a long pause between the two as they looked about the cave together. Finally Sora spoke up, "So what brings you here?" His trademark grin brightened his face.

Riku reflected it with one of his own, "I was sent by the princess to fetch you." They had started to call Kairi a princess behind her back. She had not been so thrilled about the nickname even after they explained the silliness behind it.

Another pause. Sora kicked at the sand. Riku looked at the hole in the ceiling where the wind came in. After all these years, he still got chills from hearing that noise. He knew that Sora obviously did not want to go back to mainland to have fun with his friends, and Riku felt for him, but he knew spending all this time alone was not Sora's style. With a cool smirk, he sat himself on the floor and looked up at his younger friend.

"If you don't want to go back to the party, you know you don't have to."

Hours seemed to go by like seconds as they laid down in the cave and stared at the stars through the hole in the ceiling. They talked or they didn't talk, and Sora was glad for the company. Riku was right; he had been alone for too long. But he needed the solitude to figure out what it was that he wanted. He wasn't happy unless he was laughing and having a good time with Riku.

"Seriously, Sora?" Riku laughed, "Since when did you get into Christian rock?" He flipped another page in the brunette's CD book.

"It's not all Christian rock!" Sora laughed as he defended himself, "I'm not even Christian. It's just Relient K. They've been speaking to me lately." He sounded dreamy right at the end of his sentence. He sat up and rested his elbows on his knees.

Riku stayed on his back, laughing openly at his best friend. "I swear if I didn't know better, I'd say you were gay."

Abruptly, the laughter stopped. Sora began to gather up his things as he stuttered and tried to dodge the accusation. Riku hadn't noticed that he was leaving until he ducked out of the doorway. Of course, he chased after the younger man.

"Wait up, man!!" Riku called, catching up to him out on the beach. "I... I didn't mean anything by it."

But Sora wasn't stopping, he kept walking, always three steps ahead of Riku. It didn't take much longer for Riku to grab a firm hold of Sora's wrist and bring him to a speedy halt. All that could be heard was an occasional wave that would break onto the beach and then recede back into the sea as they stood there in silence. The blonde sighed and pulled Sora so that he was facing him, but his still had no words for his best friend. What was happening between the two of them?

"What's wrong?" Riku broke the silence, obvious concern laced every syllable, "Are you alright?"

But Sora kept his head down in an attempt to avoid Riku's eyes. If he looked into them, he would surely answer the questions he was being asked. There was no way to escape the effect the blonde's gaze had upon him.

There was another sigh from Riku, and he reached over to move Sora's face up to look at him, "C'mon, tell me. You know you can tell me anything." There was a smile, but Sora did not return it.

"I can't stop him." Was all that Sora said before his face contorted and Riku thought he was going to start crying. "It hurts so much, but he can't get over his feelings."

In response to the vague explanation, Riku merely lifted an eyebrow, "What are you talking abo--"

"It's Roxas!" Sora interjected Riku's question before breaking free of his grasp and running to the boats. With lightening-fast speed, he untied the boat and took off for the mainland, leaving Riku standing in a stunned daze.

"Roxas..." Riku muttered under his breath, "What are you doing to him?"


I don't like the steps I took to get to look into your deepest feelings.