(KH) Only a Lifetime 03/06

[tsukinofaerii]

NC17

Only a Lifetime 03/06
By tsukinofaerii
Beta: shinineko1
Rating: SNAP
Supernatural/Romance
Warnings: Sexual, Disturbing, Violence, Death, Male/Male
Spoilers: No spoilers.
Series: Kingdom Hearts
Pairings: Sora/Riku(Sora)

Summary: Sora's been Riku's best friend since he moved into town three years ago. The week before graduation, Riku finds out Sora has a secret, and it's nothing like he would have ever expected. Complete short story.


This story is a work of transformative fiction, such being defined as a work which incorporates characters and situations which have been created by other authors/artists. No infringement of copyright is intended and no profit is being made from the creation or dissemination of this work. Kingdom Hearts was created and is owned by Tetsuya Nomura and Disney. It is used with respect and admiration for the work.

Note: No Kairi, because I admit to a tendency to bastardize her, and this story just didn't have room for the complications she would entail.

***
Classes of any kind had never been such a strange combination of dull and nerve-wracking. He'd been through almost fifty years of varying shades of education, since it became required for people in his apparent age-group. While it meant he knew the curriculum backwards and forwards, it also made school a torture medieval priests would have delighted in.

As last period Calculus flowed by, all of Sora's thoughts riveted on Riku rather than mathematics. He knew the human needed some time to decide. Sora wasn't asking a simple thing, and he wouldn't want him to give up his life on a whim. But the enforced wait had him fidgeting in his seat and staring blankly ahead, lost in thought. More than one person had asked him if he was sick, and Tidus kept shooting Riku knowing looks. It was almost as bad as the sighs Selphie let out every time he passed her in the hall. They'd talked at lunch, and the stars in her eyes said Riku told her something that got her all aflutter.

Yes, Riku needed time for thought, to consider his options away from the pressures of expectation and friendship.

I'll just have to seduce him.

It had been decades since he'd actually seduced someone. Most of his lovers were friends that turned into more. Flowers...? Nah, too girlie. He'd laugh at me. I could strip naked, but then he'd run.

His thoughts were interrupted when a paper football landed on his desk.

~You're staring again. What's up? You can tell me. T~

While Miss Matherson pulled an equation from the text book, Sora twisted to check the desk behind him. Tidus' blonde head was down, sketching something obscene into the wood of his desk. Quickly, Sora turned back around before he was called out. What to say...? Under the red scribble, he wrote his reply.

~I kissed Riku last night. I'm trying to think of a follow-up.~

His fingers folded it back up blindly under the desk, Other students pointedly ignored the blatant note-passing. So close to graduation, everything was review and busywork. They were almost as bored as he usually was. The paper triangle sailed through the air overhead, carefully aimed. Snickers erupted around them when it bounced off Tidus's head.

"Shit!"

"What was that, Mr. Pierce?" Miss Matherson glared over her math book, spectacles looming low on the bridge of her nose. Sora turned to look at him with the rest of the class.

"Nothing, Ma'am. Something bit me." Tidus flushed deep red under his volleyball tan.

"See to it that future expletives are suitable for school, if you please." The math teacher turned back to the board, book in hand. Her droning picked up where it left off.

The next note was scribbled so badly Sora had to squint to figure it out.

~You did? How'd it go? Did he bang you? I've got money riding on you.~

Before Sora could pen a reply, the clock ticked its last, announcing the end of class with a shrill ring that split his ears open. Tidus was at his side before he finished standing.

"Well? Tell me already!"

Excitement radiated off him in waves. Sora laughed, because it seemed like the thing to do. "He's thinking about it."

"Just thinking?" Tidus slapped the back of his head. "Don't let him get away, you've been after him for too long!"

"What should I do then, oh granter of wisdom?" Sora slung his bag over his shoulder and dodged around students as they made their way towards their lockers. "Fall on him?"

"You're sure he's not straight?" Tidus ducked a flying English book, dancing around Sora like an over-excited puppy. "I know he was checking out Carrie in Home Room last week."

"He kissed back." The vampire shrugged. "Won't know until he thinks about it."

"You'd better let me know how it goes." Tidus tossed a companionable arm over his shoulders. "Come on, Loverboy. Ice cream. My treat."

Never one to turn down food, Sora grinned. "As long as it's fast." In the back of his mind, he wondered what Riku was doing after class.
***
"I'm home!" The door slammed behind him. The sound echoed, a hollow sign of desolation. Riku dropped his bag by the welcome mat, eyes skimming the pin-point neatness of the living room. The coffee cup he'd left on the glass table had vanished, meaning the maid had stopped by. He passed the cold white leather couch and headed straight to his room. It was the only place the maid wasn't allowed to touch, and he welcomed the comfortable disorder as his own.

He collapsed on the unmade bed, draped on his stomach with the white comforter bunched at his feet. Movie posters littered the walls, along with newspaper cut outs of strange archaeological finds. Bits of pottery and a massive piece of Egyptian lime stone had places of honor on his shelves, little plaques noting each one's significance. None of it was special, but his small collection of museum rejects was a start of things to come.

With a stretch, He slapped the answering machine on. It beeped.

"Riku, darling, your father and I are stuck over in Paris. They've called an emergency meeting-- stock market has people in tatters, you know how it is. We're not going to make it home in time for your graduation, but we'll send a gift. Loves!"

Snorting, he buried his head in the plain white pillow, breathing through the thick cloth. Yeah, I know how it is.

A loud ring ricocheted around the room. He ignored it, burying his face deeper in the pillow. Stress from a half-dozen unfinished and questionably wanted fantasies weighed down every bone. "Go away world!"

The answering machine picked up. "Hey, Riku!" Sora's voice was loud and fuzzy over the speaker. "I know you're up there. Poke your head out the window."

Before conscious thought kicked in, he kneeled on the bed and reached for the window. The pillow rolled under his knees until he kicked it away as he slid the blinds upward.

Cell phone in hand, Sora beamed at him from three stories in the air.

"Hell!" Riku threw the window open. His knuckles stung as the lock grazed them, taking a shred of skin with it. Grabbing a fistful of t-shirt, he yanked Sora inside. Unprepared for the sudden assistance, Sora tumbled forward against him, which toppled Riku backwards onto the bed. Thick summer sunshine streamed through the open blinds, turning Sora's hair rich gold where it touched it.

"Oof," the smaller boy muttered, squirming so his face wasn't buried in Riku's chest, knees on either side of his left thigh. "Trying to kill me? There's easier ways." He didn't seem in a hurry to move.

"Trying to kill you?" Riku rolled his eyes downward to glare. "You're trying to kill me! What did you do, fly up there? People will notice!"

Head tipped back, Sora blinked at him, then jabbed his cell phone into his side. "Riku. Buddy. Fire escape."

Pink crawled up Riku's cheeks like a choking vine. "I remember that!"

"Sure you did." Sora pushed up to stare down, grinning with suppressed laughter. "You forgot."

"Shut up!"

"You did!" The vampire leaned down until their noses were almost touching. "Admit it." His eyes sparkled, wide and bright with happiness.

The room narrowed around him as nerves danced under Riku's skin. Every inch of air between them gained a new importance and interpretation. He could feel the heat of Sora's skin against his thighs, well-worn jeans too thin to hide anything. It was hotter than it should have been, almost feverish. Maybe that's me, he thought, hand brushing down Sora's back. "You're not cold."

"Huh?"

Riku fought the urge to squirm. It would create a whole new form of embarrassment. His stomach twisted anyway. "Last night you were cold... And now you're not."

Everything softened, a tension seeping away before he'd known it was there. "I ate on the way over. My body temperature does weird things when I'm hungry."

For some reason, Riku couldn't seem to get his voice to rise above a whisper. "Are you hungry now?"

"I'm always a little hungry." Bright chestnut hair brushed his cheek as Sora tipped his head, waiting.

Heart pounding in his ears, Riku leaned up and brushed their lips together. The blue in Sora's eyes spread, bleeding into the whites. Their lips touched again, more firmly, and then again.

Weight pressed him down onto the bed as the careful, soft kisses went on and on. It was a mirror of their first kiss, similar but exactly different. There was nothing hard or rough, just a delicate slow rush of warmth. Need rose in a tide, pooling in his lower stomach. Sora took pains not to crush him, their bodies barely touching from hips to chest. It was maddening and wonderful.

Tenderly, Sora's tongue traced the cut from the night before. Something clicked in his head, and Riku found himself drowning in a storm of heat and aching want that sent blood rushing to his groin. Pleasure dragged out of his lip, tracing through his veins like some kind of drug.

It was bleeding again.

Completely blue eyes widened in worry. Sora tried to pull away. His weight lifted off Riku's hips, mouth pulling away.

Riku's arms tightened around his shoulders, leg twisting at the knee to pin him in place. Their kisses turned deep as Sora fought his own urges with more human ones, tongue only gliding over the wound occasionally, then pulling away to explore some other part of his mouth. He could feel the other boy's tension as sharp blood filled their mouths again. Some of it went down his own throat from the force of the kiss, but Sora got the majority of it before he finally broke away.

"I'm sorry," was the first thing out of his mouth.

"For what?" There wasn't enough air in the world with Sora above him like that. He managed not to pull him down again, barely.

"I didn't mean to bleed you."

"It's okay." Propping himself up on his elbow, Riku touched the wound with gentle fingers. The blood was already slowing. It didn't feel at all like Sora had made another cut. "What happened?"

"Anti-coagulant in my saliva. Other things too." The vampire's face tightened with worry. "I'm sorry."

"I'm not. It felt good." He could feel the world adjusting around him. So much for the 'I'm not gay' argument. It hadn't been a good one anyways. Whatever was happening between them, Sora obviously had as little control as he did. It made Riku comfortable, in a perverse sort of way. "If we're going to do this, I should know what I'm getting into, right?"

"Do this?" Sora turned redder than anything Riku could achieve. He sat up rapidly, looking ready to bolt for the door. "It-- I--"

"Not that, you sicko!" His arms tightened around Sora's shoulders. "I meant traveling together, numb nuts."

"You're thinking about it?"

"Yeah." The bleeding had stopped almost completely, so he smiled. "Maybe. But I want to know more before I decide."

"More?" Sora's eyes were locked on his mouth. He swallowed, Adam's Apple bobbling. "About what?"

Riku pushed himself upward until they were eye-to-eye. "A lot of things." He kissed him briefly, enjoying the vampire's expression of disarmed shock. "Like what I've been hearing about you staking a claim on me?"

If Sora hadn't already been questionably living, Riku would have worried at the color he turned. "I... Er, I can explain..."

"It sounds to me like you scared Kairi off."

"Maybe just a little." He leaned away.

Riku leaned closer. "That was more than a year ago. Why didn't you tell me sooner."

Sora shrugged, but his hands crept around Riku's waist. "You weren't gay."

That shocked a laugh from him. "And I am now?"

Faded sunlight caught the tips of Sora's eyelashes where they'd bleached pale gold. "You tell me."

They kissed. It lingered like sugar on their lips. Still connected, Riku murmured, "Less than hetero."

"Good one." Sora settled in his lap, head tipped against his shoulder. "What other things do you want to know?"

"Well..." His fingers traced Celtic knots over the vampire's spine, tracing the smooth lines of muscle and bone. "Did you know Selphie knows what you are?"

It was like Sora turned into a wooden doll for all the life he showed. Only the heat pulsing from him meant anything to Riku. A too-long moment of deathly stillness passed quietly, then Sora lifted blank eyes to him. "How?"

He wasn't shaking, but that worried Riku more than if he had been. Terror whispered that if he closed his eyes even to blink, his friend would be gone forever. "She rambled it out at lunch today. I don't know how she found out." Soothing pets down Sora's back soothed Riku more than Sora. "Talk to me. What don't I know here?"

Sora shifted closer, still unnaturally hot. Cherry red t-shirt material bunched between them as the vampire squirmed close. His legs wrapped around Riku's waist, using his knees to lock them together. Child-like, he buried his face under the silver waterfall of Riku's hair, against his neck.

"It could be really bad, if people find out vampires are real." Sora's voice was quiet, but a edge in it set Riku's arm hairs to standing. "Really, really bad. There's maybe a hundred of us. We couldn't protect ourselves if..." He pressed closer, until Riku could feel his eyelashes against his neck. The next sentence came as a hissed whisper. "And people will do terrible things to never die."

How many of those things were done to you? It snatched at the tip of his tongue, but Riku held the question back. When Sora was ready, then it would probably come up. Instead, he moved back to a slightly safer subject. "Do you want me to talk to Selphie?"

"I will." The heat coming off Sora's body was almost comforting, like a fire-warmed teddy bear. "If something bad happens, I can handle it."

"It's Selphie-- what could happen?" Riku winced, but Sora didn't seem to be offended. He burrowed deeper into Riku's arms, like he'd crawl inside him.

"I really don't want to talk about it. Please?"

Something about having Sora curled around him, his soft breaths and muted heartbeat that made Riku's breath catch. The sun vanished in a final blaze of reds and purples outside, but inside he felt like he was holding spun moonlight. And if he didn't hold tight, it would vanish forever.

"I want to go with you."

The heartbeat stopped. The warmth pulled away until Sora was sitting on his knees, accusing, human eyes staring at him. "You don't mean that. It's only been a day!"

"So?" Letting himself relax, Riku collapsed backwards.

He heard Sora rustle the sheets as he rearranged himself. When he looked, Sora's jaw hung loose. "How can you decide so easily?"

"It's not much different than sharing a dorm in a University, is it?" he asked mildly, eyes roving his collection of "treasures". "So we travel instead of room. It's good experience."

"What about the... gay thing?"

"If we break up, we can still be friends."

"That wasn't what I meant." A hand touched his knee.

"Are you planning on draining me dry?"

"No!"

"Turning me into a vampire?" He held his breath. It had never come up, but the possibility...

"I..." The pressure on his knee flutters and vanishes. Everything on the bed shifted left as Sora curled his knees up. Riku wedged his feet under Sora's back and tipped him over, following with a slow pounce that anyone could have avoided if they'd wanted to. Sora didn't want to.

"Then it doesn't matter." Their eyes met. Sora looked lost between elation and fear. "You're still Sora, Even if you are on a liquid diet." He smirked. "Girl."

The pillow smacked him upside the head. "Bastard." Their lips met somewhere between them in a mix of emotion Riku didn't even both trying to name. The twists in his stomach were soothed by the knowledge that it was Sora, and somehow that threaded through every tiny, feathery kiss they traded.

The sun was long gone before they stopped, cheeks nestled together in the darkened room. Riku held Sora tight, arms around his waist. The night inspired whispers. "Why aren't I scared of this?"

"I don't know. You should be." A kiss pressed against his neck. "You should be."
***
Sora waited days to corner Selphie somewhere private. For being an apparent bubblehead, she was hard to pin down. Even infiltrating the girls' bathroom had only gotten him some strange looks, a purse over the head, and no Selphie anywhere at all.

After days of laying in wait, he finally found her in the band room the day before graduation, running through a slow lullaby on a mirror-bright flute. Waterfalls of sound cascaded from the thin instrument, too loud to be natural and too perfect to be otherwise. There was a book propped open on her music stand, but her eyes were closed.

Sora waited, back against a wall as she trilled through every note she could and some that were so high even he couldn't hear them. They vibrated in his bones, shivers of sound. Music-themed inspirational posters looked to have been put up randomly. Pictures of competitions won and trips taken were seated between. Selphie wasn't in any of them.

When she finished and lowered the flute, he took a seat next to her on one of the metal fold-out chairs. "You're good."

Selphie smiled at him brightly. Heart-shaped clips and butterflies pinned loose tendrils of hair out of her face. She looked like a pixy, young and innocent. "Thanks."

"I didn't know you play."

"Private lessons." The flute cradled like a baby doll in her arms. Her shirt had ridden up around her midsection. When cold metal touched skin, she yelped and yanked it back down. "I didn't want to play in the band. How are things with Riku?"

It was the opening he needed. "Great. We're together now."

The music stand jolted when she accidentally kicked it while squirming in place. "Yeah!" The cheer bounced off the ceiling. Mossy eyes lit up as she stared off into her own little world. "I was rooting for you! It's just like Brendan and Lady Raven."

Confusion followed her around like a puppy she'd fed once too often. "Who?"

"It's this movie that came out years and years ago. A vampire spent eons and eons alone with only her ravens for company and then she met this human boy who had a curse and everything he touched died but she was already dead so it couldn't hurt her and then a sorcerer came and he wanted Brendan for some kind of thing to take over the world and Raven had to fight all sorts of monsters in this gorgeous pink leather thing that was cut all the way up to here..."

By the time the run-on sentence became incomprehensible, Sora tuned her out. It was the only thing to do when Selphie started rambling. "Not interested" never occurred to her, and staying on topic was equally foreign. The twists in her line of logic could give a sane person migraines.

"... And I was all like 'whoosh!' and Tidus screamed like a girl and he went all day without realizing I'd put the sticker on his forehead and then we went and got some really yummy burgers with this sogood tomato sauce that was just like what that monster tomato in "Die On a Fry" would taste like and I bet it was made out of what was left when the Selikin's exploded it..."

A glance at the clock told him she'd been talking for seven minutes. Worries about what she knew melted away. A theory about what happened began to form in his head. "Hey."

Half-way through a discourse on homicidal vegetables, she cut off mid-sentence.

"You know that none of this is real, right? There's no such thing as vampires or ghosts or giant tomatoes of doom with teeth like a dinosaur."

Woe spread over her face like killer-tomato juice. "Of course it's not." Tears threatened to spill over, but it was ruined by the grin she couldn't quite erase. "It's not my fault if reality won't answer my calls."

"Try voice mail," Sora advised sagely before bursting out in laughter. The human girl was a short breath behind him. Life bubbled out of her, thick and tempting. His stomach growled, the very blood in his veins racing with the hunger. She won't miss a little... right?/

"Hey, Selphie?" She looked up, face pink from giggling. He stretched his aura, encasing her. It was the only trick he had, but it beat whacking them over the head. "Sleep, Selphie. Sleep."

Green eyes widened a fraction of an inch before she relaxed, limbs loose and languid. Guilt tried to gnaw his conscience, but he shut it up. She was a friend, but he wouldn't take much. Just enough to last until he found a more anonymous meal.

Sometimes he could hate himself.

He chose the inside of her forearm, where a bruise from something or other was just starting to purple. Just before his teeth sunk in, he glanced up, forcing himself to watch the face of his victim, even if she wouldn't remember being it. Something like awareness ghosted through her eyes, freezing him in place, teeth already dimpling her skin. Then it faded away, covered by a haze of sleep. Reassured, he bit down, teeth sliding cleanly into smooth flesh. Shocks of heat-lighting pooled in his stomach, tight and hot as the flesh around his fangs. Even with his nose pressed to her skin, her perfume swamped out all traces of her natural scent. Deep in her throat, Selphie whimpered, head lolling back on her shoulders as sensation penetrated through the induced fog in her brain.

Selphie's blood fizzled, like nothing he'd ever tasted before. It was a mouthful of carbonated sugar, laying a thick coating heavy on his tongue. No wonder she's so hyper all the time. Two swallows were more than enough to set his head buzzing. He let her arm drop back to her side. The marks fading neatly into the existing bruise. His entire brain felt jumpy, disconnected, shivering down his spine with the urge to do something, anything.

Ready to bounce off the walls, he retracted his aura, which had gone unruly around the edges as his control slipped. "Wake up."

Laughter picked up right where she left off, her giggles high and piercing. Again, he found himself joining in, though he wasn't sure why. They laughed until it hurt, leaning on each other for support when their stomachs started to cramp.

"Hey, Selph." He'd never called her that before, but the extremely random urge to give her a nickname would not be denied. Quite a few things were making much more sense than they ever had before, such as the impact of killer vegetables on society.

"Yeah, Sore?"

The quip seemed much funnier than it actually was, and they returned to sniggering themselves back into pain. Sora couldn't catch his breath no matter what he did. Since he didn't actually need to breathe, it was ironic and kind of worrisome. Energy tried to connect his toes and brain in little lances of sugared joy.

Eventually, he managed to calm down enough to speak clearly. "You know how Nightwitch Two is coming out?"

She nodded repeatedly, so hard he could almost hear her brain rattling.

"I want to go, and I know you do to. Why don't we grab Tidus and Riku and make it a group thing?"

Her face lit up like a Christmas tree ornament. "Costumes?"

"Wouldn't be the same without it."

Squeals of joy rebounded off his eardrums as she tackled him. Together they tumbled to the floor, chairs and music stands giving way with a painful crash. "Yes! Yes yes yes yes yes!" She kissed his cheek repeatedly, squirming in ways that brought longing thoughts of Riku to mind. "Thank you!" The show finished with a kiss smacked directly on his lips.

Just briefly, he smelled metal and sulfur before her perfume covered it. Something hard pressed against his ribs, an awkward shape tucked away inside her blouse. His sugar-drenched mind connected the odd feeling with something else entirely. "Um, Selph, you know I'm gay, right?

She stared down uncomprehendingly, knee between his thighs and skirt hiked up. "Yeah?"

"... Never mind."
***
Their last week of high school sped by in a blur Riku never could have expected. School was a joke, with nothing looming by way of tests and only the strictest of teachers even taking attendance. He spent most of his time with Sora. Even more than before, they were hardly ever apart. In classes, they enjoyed the reactions of their female classmates. They'd agreed not to bother keeping their relationship secret, and watching the female population of the school droop more with every touch turned into a hobby.

Away from school they talked about the future, the past, anything and everything just as they always had. The only difference from friends to more, as far as Riku could see, was that their conversations tended to turn into make-out sessions. Neither boy complained. Sora almost never went home, causing Leia to show up at Riku's door every night with food, though Sora tried to make her stop. She just smiled and kept doing it.

Sora called Professor Oran, who he claimed was a werewolf of old lineage, and they planned to move at the start of the fall semester. A few semesters at a normal university, they agreed, would let them get the basics out of the way before taking off. Riku's college fund was more than enough to get him into any school he chose, though his grades wouldn't hurt. Trellis University, the school where Prof Oran taught, seemed to be the best choice. Applications were sent, websites browsed and dreams made.

Before he knew it, graduation day arrived with a burst of birdsong and speeches. The school lawn was unnaturally green in the early morning sunlight, which was explained by the tiny residue of paint left on his fingers when Riku plucked a piece of grass. They'd been put in order of last name. Sora, who used the name Eldsang as a joke no one seemed to get, was already on stage, fidgeting in middle of the universally taller sea of black-robed students.

The Dean spoke at length on futures and responsibilities. It was the usual graduation speech. Riku barely noticed it. He'd heard the whole bit of tripe at rehearsal, and didn't see a reason to bother. Instead, he thought on Sora. There were moments when he froze up and his eyes looked somewhere into the past. He always looked so lonely when he came back to himself. More and more, Riku found himself wanting to make those times vanish, to wipe the haunted ghosts of memories from his eyes.

"Riku Wellrond."

He started. Somehow his classmates had vanished around him. Sora's eyes met his as he rose and paced the length of the stage. Diploma exchanged hands, tassel flipped, and the moment sped by. Before he knew it, caps were flying through the air and it was all over.

They'd graduated.

Something he'd been waiting for most of his life, and it was over. Watching Sora scramble to catch his cap, he wondered why he wasn't nervous.

When Sora's eyes met his, he had his answer. There were much bigger things to think about.

The milling mess of new graduates began to break up, mixing into the crowd of family members and friends. No one was waiting for him down there, so he fought the tide of black robes, locked on the shock of chestnut spikes that were barely visible over the heads of the taller students. They vanished suddenly, ducking down and out of sight. As Riku tried to recall if there was a set of stairs in that area, something wrapped itself around his knees. People shouted and darted out of the way as he went down, the temporary stage rushing up to meet him.

"Oof!"

Bright eyes peered down at him. They were, Riku couldn't help noticing, the exact same shade as the sky overhead, a deep hue that defied all traditional definitions of "sky blue". "Are you alright?" Sora's fingers raked through his baby-fine silver hair, cradling his head off the floor. Feet moved all around them, leaving the platform. "Did you hit your head?"

"Urg." He tried to glare at his attacker, but it was impossible to stay mad when Sora bubbled with happiness. "No."

The stage around them was rapidly clearing, only a handful of people loitering around. Long familiarity with the two of them kept people from staring, though one or two comments about the "fags" did make themselves heard before being shut up by more accepting people. Riku felt dimly grateful as Sora squirmed until they were nose to nose. He tried to glare harder.

"Aw, don't be that way." Their noses rubbed together. Against his will, Riku's bones began to resemble jelly. "I only do it because I love you."

"You just like the way I taste," the crushed boy grumbled, leaning upwards to steal a short kiss.

"Ahem." Together they looked upwards. The principal stared down at them, fingering his necktie in disapproval. "Boys, don't you think this is an inappropriate place for such... activities?"

Under the critical gaze of the principal, grinned and yanked Sora down against him. "Not really." Their lips met in a brief but messy clash of tongue and teeth.

Choking sounds came from above them. "Boys!"

Sniggering at the way his face turned purple, they scrambled to their feet and scurried down the stairs off the stage. The principal harrumphed and stalked off.

"Did you see his face?" Sora asked, hanging on Riku's arm to keep balance as he laughed. "I thought he was going to scream!"

Riku wrapped an arm around his waist. "Maybe if he'd kept up he would have--"

Someone touched his shoulder from behind. "Riku?"

Oh no. He couldn't be sure what his own expression did, but he saw the humor dim out of Sora's eyes. The slowly emptying courtyard felt much colder. It became harshly clear that the stage couldn't be missed from anywhere on the lawn.

"Dad." Slipping free of Sora, he turned. "And Mom. You said you weren't coming."

"The meeting was canceled unexpectedly. We caught a red-eye." Calipher Wellrond hadn't towered over his son for two years, but he managed to give an impression of being ten feet tall. The razor-sharp creases of his designer suit and the hair-perfect trim on his black goatee were intimidating as an executioner's chair. Premature gray hair fell into his eyes, the lone black streak a smudge of shadow. "Sora. You've grown since we last saw you."

Sora, who hadn't grown at all, smiled. "Thanks." It may have been Riku's imagination, but Sora leaned a tiny bit closer to him. Even if it was in his head, the show of solidarity made him feel better. "Nice to see you."

His mother sighed, sunlight blonde hair pulled back into a strange kind of half-twist. Her perfectly painted lips tilted downward enough to express displeasure without risking wrinkles. "Now Riku, don't be like that."

"Like what?"

"As though you'd rather we left." Her face took on a pleading expression that never touched her sea-green eyes. "You're our baby. You're about to go to a university and maybe even find a nice girlfriend--"

"Aramina." Calipher placed a restraining hand on his wife's arm, eyes on Sora. "I don't believe this is the time or the place."

"I already have a boyfriend."

The moment froze. Riku almost expected a tumbleweed to roll by. Sora stopped pretending to breathe, and both his parents wore the perfectly blank faces he'd seen them close business deals with.

Finally, Calipher moved, face so stony Riku was surprised it didn't crack as he spoke. "We saw."

Aramina smiled too-brightly. "All boys go through a period of confusion."

"Huh?" Sora beat him to the question.

There was a glassy sheen to her voice, a fragile rendition of someone trying to be well-meaning. "Oh, don't worry Sora. I'm sure your friendship will be just fine."

Riku wished they'd just go. "So you think Sora and I are-- what? An experiment?" He met their eyes boldly. "Just a fling?"

A hand touched his elbow. "Don't." Sora's skin was hot, refreshed by someone else's blood. A flare of jealousy spiked, quickly shoved down.

Jealous of my boyfriend's lunch. How low.

"Why not?" He met Sora's eyes. The black gown took away the tan that rested on the very outer layer of his skin. "They--"

"They'll get over it." The vampire's smile, just a curve of the lips, said everything Riku needed to hear. "We can't change their minds. They'll figure it out eventually."

Someone cleared their throat. When Riku turned back to his parents, they seemed to fade into their own perspective. "You're right." He looked at the people who had raised him. They looked back, briefcases in hand, cell phones still on in case someone needed them for business. They should have been celebrating or arguing, and they weren't even going to stay to yell at him.

"Do you even care?" He didn't realize he'd spoken until Sora's hand squeezed his arm. If anything, Calipher and Aramina's expressions closed even more. "Why come? I'm not valedictorian, not student body president. Why bother?"

Dark brows knitted as Calipher frowned, but Aramina paled under layers of make-up. "You're our son!"

"So?" He wanted to yell so badly his throat ached with restraining it. But Sora's hand stayed on his arm, an anchor. He wasn't alone. "It's never mattered before."

She fell silent, mouth framing a little "oh" of dismay.

"Don't take that tone with us." Silver hair glinted in the late-spring sunlight as Calipher straightened his shoulders and loomed. "We raised you, fed you, clothed you, saw to your education--"

"Because it reflected back on you." Riku straightened his own shoulders, raising his chin to meet his father's wintry blue eyes. "I remember how mad you were when I transferred from Sarte Private."

"It would have been for the best--"

"I was miserable!"

Calipher never noticed the interjection. "--and if you'd stayed, you'd be on your way to Yale instead of playing around with old bones and bits of pottery." He continued on, red anger creeping up to stain his face. "There wouldn't be any of this 'gay' nonsense. You'd be something!"

By the time he finished, his voice raised enough that people nearby were visibly trying not to listen. Sora gave up being discreet and wormed his way under Riku's arm, head against his shoulder. His warmth radiated through Riku, comforting.

Riku locked his teeth together. He finally had his parents' undivided attention. Acid washed up the back of his throat. "I am something. Come on Sora." His parents didn't follow as they turned away, not even enough to call after him. Walking was awkward, since Sora wouldn't let go of him anymore than he would Sora. Their hips bumped with every step, a heartbeat right between them.

Riku didn't look back.
***
Sora leaned on Riku's bed, leaning to the side to avoid a stray shaft of sun. His not-yet lover paced agitatedly around the bedroom, speculating loudly on his parents. They'd been fully graduated for a week, and Riku had been more and more on edge. Arrangements for their enrollment at Trellis University had already been handled, including off-campus living arrangements. They had no classes, and neither had ever needed a job. The lack of activity gave Riku more time to think than Sora thought was healthy.

"Why haven't they taken my name off the account yet?" he demanded of absolutely no-one. Stride, stride, stride, pivot, repeat. Silvery hair flared in feathery arcs as he paced, hands emphasizing his points.

Since an answer wasn't required, Sora felt himself free to focus on the floor show. Riku had just exited his morning shower when he'd arrived, and had only slipped on a pair of faded blue sweatpants since. They slung low across his hips, barely gripping hipbones, the hollows of which curved up into a flat stomach. His hair had long-since dried in silk tendrils, clumping into soft spikes around his face. It caught the sunlight from the open windows as he paced, gleaming in a way that made Sora long for his pencils. Every line of muscle begged to be sketched, and the tarnished silver trail of hair leading down from his belly button demanded quite a bit more than that. He desperately wanted to discover if he could capture the graceful stalking in line and shade. Maybe he'll sit for me one day.

As a background to his less than pure musings, Riku continued on.

"Not a single word! Maybe I should get a job. Just in case." His arms inscribed slash marks in the air. "They're acting like nothing's changed!" Riku's eyes flashed in the sunlight, snapshots of the ocean.

He's beautiful angry.

"Has it?" When Riku turned an incredulous stare on him, he elaborated. "For them, I mean."

"Of course it has!"

His heart twisted in sympathy. Sometimes it was hard to forget their ages. He was so delicate in his mortality, Sora felt ashamed for laying claim to him. "Not for them. We're just 'curious', remember?"

The human kept staring at him, though much less balefully. Finally he slumped down to the floor, fire burning itself out. "That would be just like them."

Sora leaned over the bed. "You don't have to do this."

"You keep saying things like that." Flat on the floor, Riku was able to stare straight up into Sora's eyes. "Am I that much of a drama queen? Want me gone that bad?"

"More like I'm worried you'd be happier with me gone." Hair falling into his eyes, Sora felt like a child again. It was a feeling that didn't occur often, and he treasured it. "You're risking a lot more than I am."

Riku stared up at him, blue-green eyes lowered in thought. Reaching up, his fingers threaded through Sora's hair, gently holding. The vampire leaned into the touch.

"Hey." Dark wood flooring paled Riku's tan out, making him glow like an angel in the sunlight. "Have I ever let you down?"

"This is about me letting you down."

"You couldn't."

"I don't want to cost you your parents." That had developed into Sora's single largest fear, over and above sunlight and fire. Even though his own were dust and ashes, he remembered the pain too well.

"You won't. They did that themselves a long time ago."

White fabric and feathers of the comforter rumbled as Sora scooted farther off the edge of the bed and leaned down. The shaft of light that turned Riku into a heavenly creature burned a tendril of pain across the back of his neck, thick and slow as venom. It would take hours to kill him, but it could. "You really think we'll last?"

A strange hesitation stuttered Riku's breathing. Gently, the other boy lifted up to press a tiny kiss to Sora's bottom lip. "I know I love you. We'll see where it goes from there."
Sora leaned down to kiss him, opening his mouth when Riku's tongue begged entrance. Under his palms, the edge of the bed slipped away. Riku tried to hold him up, but his own unsteady balance tipped him over. With a crash, Sora tumbled head-first onto the floor and Riku, arms flailing. The comforter followed, a white cloud settling over them both, blocking away the deadly sun.

For several minutes, Sora just lay on his friend, trying to re-orient himself in the world. Over them was the blanket, creating a dim cocoon. Under him Riku's chest rose and fell, his heartbeat a faint pulse through the cage of ribs and flesh. It didn't help put his head back on straight, but it was a nice enough sensation that he stayed there even after the world stopped ringing. His elbow was twisted under him, but mere discomfort wasn't worth losing that heartbeat under his cheek.

Riku was warm against him. Even though he'd already eaten, he had to fight the urge to twist his head and sink teeth into artery and vein, so draw out the blood and pleasure he could smell so close...

Reluctantly, he pressed a careful, closed-mouth kiss to the skin over Riku's heart. He imagined he heard it throb in response. "You don't know what that means to me." A small thrill went through him as Riku smiled at him.

Therefore, he was startled when Riku's hand reached up to cup his cheek, thumb brushing lip and extended canines. Sora jerked away reflexively.

Riku sat up, comforter falling around him like a shroud. His hand curled around Sora's wrist to keep him near. "Don't. I want to know."

"Know what?" Speaking without unclenching his teeth was awkward, but Riku's hand was still on his cheek, dangerously close. "It's not a game."

"I know." The grip on Sora's wrist tightened, pulling him closer. Sora pulled, but couldn't put his full strength into it. A real escape attempt, he knew, would hurt Riku. Determination never to hurt him again kept him still as Riku's thumb pressed at his lips again.

Certain he could hear their tentative relationship breaking, Sora let the thumb push his lip up, and kept it up as Riku's attention moved to his eyeteeth.

"They weren't like this earlier." A nail traced the length of his tooth.

Shivers of pleasure ran down Sora's spine and rebounded back upwards from his toes. "They extend when--" His voice cracked when Riku tapped the point, creating just enough pressure to start them aching.

"When you're hungry?" Every touch Riku bestowed pooled heat in his stomach, set off little bursts of light behind his eyes. It was almost like sex, and that thought alone made him redden. All he could do was let Riku explore. "I thought you weren't hungry."

"There's... other things too." He willed his heart to stop beating. It had become a drum pounding in his ears, holding a beat no living person could sustain for long. It wouldn't even slow, the traitorous thing. The effort, though, did give him something to focus on when the pressure of Riku's fingers forced first one, then the other fang to retreat back into his gums. When they dropped back again, he couldn't keep from shivering.

"Did that hurt?" The hand left his face, but Riku didn't let go of his hand."

"N-no..." Voice throaty and low, Sora knew what he sounded like.

It was confirmed when pink flared on Riku's face, spreading from neck to the tips of his ears. "Oh." He swallowed.

The sound was too loud in Sora's ears, every muscle working to move his gorgeous throat. "Sorry." Nothing else could be said. He tried to catch Riku's eyes, but the human wouldn't look up from their hands, still painted bright red. "I should have told you. They're really sensitive."

"Is that why you won't bite me?"

"Huh?"

"Is that why you won't bite me? Because it feels good?" Riku's tone was fierce, too loud in the peaceful bedroom. He still refused to look up, but his hand on Sora's clenched.

"No!" Sora reclaimed his wrist, surprised when Riku didn't try to keep it. "You're more than a meal."

Their eyes met.

"It's more than food though, isn't it?" Rising to his knees, the taller boy moved closer.

Warm, living skin intruded on Sora's senses, smelling of rich life and soap and the blood that filled it. Teeth already sensitized from the earlier exploration pulsed with want. "You don't know what you're saying."

"Then show me." The tips of their noses brushed. Only pride and a horrified fascination with the way the light accented every dip and angle of Riku's toned body kept him in place. "It's part of you. I want to know what it's like."

"I..." Air shuddered from Sora in a sigh. He'd started breathing involuntarily, and his heart never had slowed. "I can't." The bed frame pressed against his back, cold and unyielding.

"Why?" Anger colored Riku's voice, but his lips pressed a soft kiss to the corner of Sora's mouth. "You do it to other people. To complete strangers."

Heat built between them. If Sora didn't do something, it would burst into one kind of fire or the other. They weren't ready for either. Thoughts of Selphie hovered in the back of his guilty mind. "It's different with other people." A hand brushed the inside of his thigh, up under the leg hem of his shorts. He squirmed. "Only people I can-- make forget." Thought almost derailed as fingers drifted higher. "Who I won't look at and want. Who aren't important." Sliding along the bed, he slipped away from his encroaching boyfriend. "You are."

Riku didn't follow him, but a smile played on his lips. He had almost won the game, and they both knew it.

The vampire used the extra space to regain self-control, frightened by how far it slipped. "I don't--"

"I want it." Aquamarine eyes human-bright, Riku leaned forward, encroaching on Sora's hard-won space. "And you do to."

Sora wondered how those eyes would look as his teeth sliced into a vein. "I won't." He used the bed to push to his feet, less embarrassed by his erection than his eyeteeth. "It's too risky."

"So's sex." Amusement threaded Riku's voice like silk as he stretched, back arching like a wanton offering to the Gods. Sora's knees gave way, sitting him on the bed. Riku crawled up between he knees, body predatory and liquid in ways only a man could manage. "You're not going to keep that from me, are you?" Lips kissed the spot just below his sternum. Even through the cloth, he could feel the heat of Riku's breath.

Eyes closed, focus shattering, Sora whispered, "It's too soon."

The touches vanished. Shaken, Sora opened his eyes to see Riku looking up at him from his knees. "Then soon?"

He didn't trust himself to kiss him, so Sora settled for cupping his cheeks, thumbs feathering over his eyelids. Those eyes are going to be my undoing. "We have a lifetime."

"Yeah." The sound vibrated through his palms, deeper in touch than in voice. "A lifetime."

( Part 04 )

Comments

[rosalyn-angel.livejournal.com]

I found this through the khyaoi community. XD I thought you might have more in your journal, and voila! The entire thing! Don't worry, I won't tell.

afdhdjtjkktyr I love you. This is so awesome. I'm musing if Selphie is one of those people in prologue... that'd be a strange twist. Also, I LOVE HOW YOU WRITE SORA. XDXD gah. Your vampire is so much more believable than others.

I loved how you wrote Riku's parents. I could see them so clearly. And.. guh. Your writing is just awesome all over. I was on the edge of my seat at the last scene. So tense!

Off to read more...

[tsukinofaerii.livejournal.com]

Selphie... Well, you'll see. School girl, or plot twist? Bwahaha. (cough) ^^; So glad you like it this much. Does quite a bit for my bloated fragile author's ego.

And I lure another one to my main journal. ^-^

Pretty nice.

[(Anonymous)]

I loved the whole blood like carbonated sugar thing. Your writing has a good tenseness about it. Definitely my style in that regard. But wait, I wasn't supposed to read this, was I? ^-^;

Re: Pretty nice.

[tsukinofaerii.livejournal.com]

WAH! BAD! -.-! You're not supposed to read my fics. BAD STRAIGHT BOY! NO COOKIE.