Shorties

It began with a simple enough proposal, Lea’s green eyes catching Riku’s own with a knowing look.  They had been watching Sora chat casually with Kairi, his trademark shiny grin bright even across the practice ring.

“I can still see Roxas in him, you know?” Lea murmured, tilting his head to indicate their friend.  As if it wasn’t clear who he meant.

Riku gave a nod.  “Yeah, me, too.”

Lea sent him a sidelong glance.  “Does that bother you?”

Riku lifted his shoulder in a shrug.  “Maybe a little.”  He scuffed his foot along the ground.  “He’s…”  Riku struggled to find the words.  “It hurt that he never shared that part of himself before.”

Lea nodded.  “Yeah, I get you.”  He was quiet for a while, and then:  “They told us that Nobodies didn’t feel anything, but it was a lie.  I believed it, for a long time, but Roxas changed that, you know?”  He laughed, a low, bitter sound.  “And now I actually have a heart.”  He didn’t bother to elaborate.

Riku nodded in understanding, and they stood in a contemplative silence.

“You’re not going to pursue him, are you.”  Lea made it a statement, rather than a question.

Riku sighed and ran a hand through his hair.  Shook his head.  “Even if he’s forgiven me, I still can’t forget everything I’ve done.”

Lea gave him an appraising look.  “You’re a different person, now.”  He leaned against the wall behind them, crossing his arms.  “Me, too, come to think of it.”  Another dark laugh.  “That doesn’t make it any better, does it?”

“No, it doesn’t,” Riku agreed.

Lea cocked his head in thought.  “You know…”  Riku looked over at him, eyebrows raised.  “Maybe we could do something about this,” he waved a hand vaguely, “mutual pining.”

“What do you mean?”

Lea straightened up, away from the wall, and cast a surreptitious glance around before jerking his head, indicating for Riku to follow him.  He led the way to a secluded hall off of the training ring and turned to face Riku, who was giving him a curious look.  Lea pulled him close by the collar of his vest, surprising Riku when their lips met.  It was brief, bruising.  “Like that.”

Riku licked his lips.  Considered what he’d just been offered.  Nodded a little.  “Yeah.  Alright.”  He leaned up and caught Lea’s lips with his own.

After that, Lea and Riku’s sparring sessions were followed by a new kind of physical exertion.  Their heaving breaths in the practice arena were mirrored by the ones against walls, between sheets, whatever seemed the most convenient at the time.

If anyone noticed, they didn’t say anything.  In any case, no one had ever forbidden it, and, if anything, it seemed as if it drove them both to work harder.  In fact, the arrangement saw them both healing, improving for the better.

Until Lea’s behavior began to change.  Riku noticed a new irritability in him, anxiousness where he was used to confidence.  Indecision in the practice ring.

“Lea, what’s going on with you?” he confronted him after a sparring session, before Lea could dart off.

Lea avoided his eyes, tugging at a lock of red hair.  “It’s nothing.”

Riku crossed his arms.  His voice cut through with a rare tone of command.  “Lea.”

Lea bit his lip and shrugged, still not meeting Riku’s gaze.  “You know, I think I finally realized what it’s like to have a heart again.”

Riku cocked his head.  “How do you mean?”

Lea’s voice was low.  “I think I’m in love with you, and I’m terrified.  My heart—it races when I’m around you.  And not from, you know,” he waved his hand.  “Is it…is this normal?”

Riku opened his mouth, closed it.  “Lea…”  He stepped forward, grabbing Lea before he could scurry back, and pulled him into a hug.  “It’s okay, Lea.”  He stroked Lea’s back.  “It is terrifying, isn’t it?”  He was quiet for a while, just holding Lea, and then:  “I think maybe I love you, too.”