Curl Up

AN: thank you guys for the reviews!! X3 I've never gotten good reviews on anything before, lawl. I'm glad you all think it's coming along so far. Yeah, I know the beginning was a bit bare, but be patient. I've never done this correctly before ^^;;


Curl Up
By: WestK

It did not take long for Sora to get home after he ran off on Riku and the island. He walked slowly home, wondering all the while what the consequences would be if he told Roxas' secrets. As much as he loved Riku, he knew that that part of him would not allow him to say much of anything about this whole incident. And who was he to tell Roxas' secrets anyways?

Sora sighed as he reached his house. The place was small and old, but it managed to fit him and his parents quite nicely all these years. Although he begged and pleaded his mother when he was little, she never did give him a younger sibling to play with. That was why Sora was glad Riku lived only down the block. The boys had been inseparable when they were little, and as they grew, so did their friendship. But now...

Now he was keeping things from his best friend.

Another sigh, and he opened the door to his house. He did his routine; wiped his feet on the rug before removing his shoes, grabbed an apple, locked the door, and headed upstairs. It was still quiet in his house. Sora assumed his parents were still out somewhere, probably having dinner or dancing to some crappy old-person music who's artist he had never heard of before in his life. It was sickening sometimes how they constantly expressed their love for each other in the most open of ways. Don't get Sora wrong, he was happy that his parents were in love and happily married, but sometimes snuggling at a restaurant while your six-year old son is sitting across from you is simply too much.

"Mom?" He called as he reached the platform at the top of the stairs. He heard nothing, but took a bite of his apple and chewed. "Dad?" Sora called after swallowing.

So no one was home. He shrugged. Lately, he had wanted alone time more and more, something he would never admit to his friends. Feet quietly padded against the carpeted floor as he went down the hall to his own room. A ghost of a smile touched his face as he gazed at the door. Stickers and signs and silly childhood doodles decorated it. Riku had helped him make the door like that back then, and he hadn't redecorated since.

"I'm home!" He called, as he pushed the door open and took another bite of the apple. Two bites and the thing was pretty much already finished. Sora tossed the fruit towards the bed and walked around small piles of clothing to the desk.

"Welcome back." Called another voice. Roxas caught the apple from his spot on the bed and took a bite as well, "How was the island?"

Down the block and around the corner, Kairi was taking another sip of some drink a girl handed her. It tasted of strawberries and some other sweet fruit that she loved, and the redhead let everyone know it. The party only started a few hours ago, but she was already well on her way to getting drunk. In the back of her mind, she wondered if Riku really had gone off to find their third musketeer. If that was the case, she was content. Soon they would all be together, celebrating... whatever it was she was celebrating.

No sooner had she thought it than Riku came through the gate to her backyard. With a girly squeal, she scampered over to the boy and threw her arms around him. He politely patted her back, even though he really did not like the sight of her drunk. As soon as she was finished squeezing the life out of him, Kairi began to ask about Sora, but Riku just shook his head and motioned to her kitchen to talk. Suddenly feeling less drunk, Kairi solemnly followed the silver-haired boy until they were alone in the house.

"What's going on?" She asked as she got out two glasses and place them on the counter. Riku watched her pour them some water from a pitcher in the fridge before he answered.

"I'm not really sure. He was listening to music, and he seemed to be acting like the same old Sora, but..." He winced as he remembered how he had slipped up.

It only took Kairi a second to catch where he was going, even though she was close to inebriation before, "What did you do to him?" Her tone was suddenly very threatening instead of worried.

"I..." There was a pause as Riku traced his fingers along the edge of the glass Kairi handed him, "I accused him of being gay." The redhead gasped and he started talking faster, "I didn't mean for it to come out, and I was just kidding, and I didn't mean to hurt him, Kai, I really didn't!"

She merely sighed and shook her head at him, seriously appalled at his behavior. "You know he's more sensitive than he puts out, dummy."

"I know..."

"You're a fucking moron, I hope you know that." She slapped his arm with as much force as her sauced mind could manage, which wasn't much.

"I know! I know." Riku rubbed his arm, although the slap felt more like a feather had brushed up against him.

Kairi wasted no time. She quickly turned her friend around and pushed him to the front door. "Go. Go and apologize and don't come back here unless you have Sora. It's time we straightened this out." She nodded as she finished her sentence, clearly serious.

Riku waved her off as he walked down the steps from her house and made his way to Sora's house.

"There. Leave it to Dr. Kairi to fix everything." Kairi said to herself as she closed the door and went back to her party.

The front door opened and closed, and Sora thought he heard a familiar voice downstairs. After glancing at Roxas on the bed, he decided against greeting their visitor, whoever it may be. If the blonde wasn't worried about whoever was in the house, Sora felt like it was safe. Since Roxas had been here, he had only been nervous once, and the keyblade reacted to something, but nothing had shown itself. Something was brewing though, that much he could feel.

The brunette distantly wondered what challenge would come at them now. Aside from the mixed feelings he had about being home, nothing else seemed to change with him.

True, Roxas warned him when he first appeared, but Sora had yet to see the real danger in the world.

"Sora?" A male voice called as footfalls sounded on the steps.

"In here!" Sora replied as he closed a magazine and turned towards the door.

It swung open and his father stood there, smiling politely at his son. Even he could sense something off about the boy, but the man was not one to pry into the personal lives of youngsters. He chalked it up to being some adolescent turmoil. After taking one sweep around the room with his eyes, he raked a hand through his hair. If anything, Sora should have at least learned to take care of his things better while he was away.

"Jeez, son. Can your room get any messier?" The polite smile turned into a grin that echoed Sora's own. It was no secret where he got his pearly-whites from.

"Sorry, Dad." The brunette glanced at Roxas, who sat staring out the window.

His father pat Sora on the shoulder, "I'll tell your mother another tornado did it." And he winked before turning to leave the room.

As the door slid shut, Sora sighed and turned to Roxas. He waited until his father's footsteps were down the hall and in his parent's room. His mother was waiting for the old man over there anyways, he just knew it.

"You're no good at hiding what you're feeling, Sora." The blonde muttered from behind the hand he was resting his chin on.

Sora bit his lip and quickly changed the subject, "Tell me again why they can't see you."

It was more of a demand than a question, but Roxas would tell him again anyway. He motioned for the brunette to come over to the bed. After Sora tripped over some socks and almost shattered a lamp trying to shut it off, he settled into the bed beside his Nobody. Side by side, they looked like mirror images of each other. They could be twins if Roxas' hair was slightly different. It was no wonder Riku was taken aback when he had to capture this specific Nobody.

Roxas took Sora's hand and intwined their fingers together before speaking, "You and I are one in the same." There was a pause as he continued, eyes peering out at the island, "But after what I've gone through, we're no longer the same person. This pain in my heart--" His free hand moved to the place where his heart would be, "--just won't let me stay where I need to be."

"That didn't answer my question." Sora interjected.

With a grin, Roxas finished where he was going, "We're the same person, silly. We walk the same, we fight the same, we even love the same. No one else can see me because I'm really all inside you. I just can't be there and feel these things at the same time." There was another pause as a look of sheer heartache crossed the blonde's features, "I can't feel my heart break and your heart break at the same time. It's too much for one person to handle. Even a 'nobody' like me."

As much as he hated hearing that his Nobody was heartbroken, he took solace in knowing he was not alone. Roxas took the brunette's silence as his way of saying he understood what he was saying, and laid down on the bed with a sigh. Sora tugged a blanket out from underneath himself and dragged it over the blonde's body. Cerulean eyes found their way back out to sea, and soon he was sitting in the same position the Nobody had been in earlier; head perched on the heel of his hand with his elbow rested on the windowsill.

If there had been wind that night, he would never have heard the whisper of his name from down below. Eyes the color of the sky met those of the ocean as Sora peered down to see Riku there, rock in hand in case the boy hadn't heard his name.

"What are you doing here?" Sora whispered to his friend, a smile already creeping onto his face despite how lonely he felt inside. Even with Riku right there, he still felt his heart crumbling.

The silver-haired boy wrung his hands together before saying, "I still need to talk to you. I... I wasn't finished." Of course he was not finished. He was nervous as hell.

Their time on the island suddenly came rushing back to Sora, and he felt his face go hot in anger. He turned his head abruptly and decided against speaking to the older boy until Roxas took a soft hold of his arm.

'Please...' The blonde's eyes seemed to say, 'Please go and speak to him. You and I will both regret it if you do not.'

With a resigned head-nod, the brunette got up from the bed and grabbed a sweatshirt. He crept silently down the hall and past his parent's room. His feet did not make a single noise as they descended the stairs, their knowledge of the creaks each step made helping to keep them quiet. When he made it to the front door, he briskly shoved those trusty feet into his shoes and inched the door open. Once outside, it wasn't hard to find Riku. The older teen had resigned to sitting in a crouched position underneath the brunette's window.

A small smile found its way to Sora's face as he knelt down next to his best friend, "Oi." He whispered, "Didn't you know loitering is against the law?"

Riku's head snapped up at the sudden words, and he couldn't help the disbelieving smile on his face. "I thought you were going to hate me for all eternity."

"Naw." Sora quietly chuckled as he tapped Riku on the shoulder with his fist, "What kind of best friend would I be if I didn't hear you out?"

It was then that the brunette stood up and offered his hand to the other boy still on the ground. After taking it, Riku rose to his feet as well and they began their walk down the street towards Kairi's house. At first, their walk was in silence, but Riku knew that it could not last for long. He still had to apologize, and then explain, and then finally confess.

He inaudibly gulped at that last notion.

How, oh how in hell, would he manage to live through this night?

Before any speaking could be done on Riku's part, Sora spoke up, "What I said before..." He trailed off, unsure how to continue. The boy wrung his hands together and then began to play with the zipper of his sweatshirt, "Don't... Don't tell anyone what I said before. About Roxas." He could not stop his hesitating, "I don't want anyone to, you know, think I'm crazy or anything."

It was a slightly good cover-up, but Riku was smarter than that. Riku knew Sora better than that.

Discerning all that, he still let it go and nodded along with what the younger male said, "It's fine." He lied. "That's not what I wanted to talk about really."

A long pause spread between them as they walked on. They passed several more houses and turned down another block before Riku could even think of continuing his sentence. All was quiet on the streets they sauntered down. Any noise came from another neighborhood in the distance and was most likely a car heading home or a dog barking at a car heading home. The only noise these boys made were in breath and step. The elder male sighed and pushed an unruly strand of hair out of his face and behind his ear.

It wasn't until they were in front of Kairi's house that Riku stopped Sora from walking any further. With a smile, Sora quirked his head to the side as if asking what was on the other's mind. While biting his lip, Riku place both hands on Sora's shoulders. The door to Kairi's house opened, and the redhead began stumbling out of the doorway, waving and calling to her friends in a 'too-loud' voice. But to the two teens standing on the sidewalk, no noise could be heard other than their breath and their hearts beating together.

"Sora, I lo--." He blurted out, noting how Sora's eyes became as wide as dinner-plates.

But he wasn't fast enough.

Their inebriated friend nearly tackled the two into the pavement as she ran into them at full force, shouting something about how her 'bestest westest friends evar' were finally there to share the night with her. She hooked her arm into Sora's and began to drag him away. The brunette watched over his shoulder as Riku got further away, a deep blush tainting both of their faces.

Did that really just happen? Was all of this for real? Sora was not sure if he was ready to find out. With both his and Roxas' emotions swirling within him, it was probably better to put off Riku's confession for another time.

But would they have another time for the conversation?


And I don't like the place I'm in, headspace within the hardwood and the ceiling.