Axel, That Was Private!

It was a long, scary walk. Who knew what they’d come across. Riku bent down, picking up a sturdy big stick. He gave it to Tidus who was the smallest of the four. It couldn’t help him too much against a big fiend, but Riku knew it would make the blonde feel better.

Tidus tried to smile, as he took the stick, but the smile faltered, "thanks," he said, griping the branch tightly.

Riku nodded, not saying anything. Riku clenched his fists, ready to take on any fiend and kill it with his bare hands; if they so much as touched Sora.

"This way," Sephiroth said, leading them behind a large oak. Riku and everyone else followed, noticing the trail of blood was not as noticable.

They walked and walked, coming to the end of the trail.

"It just stops," Wakka said, looking around. "Where’s Sora?"

"Sora," Riku yelled, "where are you?" Riku felt his heart stop, when he heard a small voice from up above him.

"H..here." The voice was weak, but obviously Sora. Riku looked up, and gasped. Sora had managed to climb a tree, it looked like. How he did it, Riku had no idea; as it looked like Sora’s ankle was broken. Sora was scratched all over and blood was dripping down his face, arms and legs.

"Sora," Riku said, starting to cry, "are you okay?"

Sora gave everyone a weak smile, "I’ll live."

"What happened?" Tidus asked, his body trembling with fear. The fiend could still be nearby. Wakka didn’t even think, before he pulled Tidus to his chest, trying to comfort the teen.

Sora grunted in pain, "I’m not so sure. My brain is all foggy. I was taking a walk; my head was in the clouds, thinking about stuff." Riku. "And this fiend jumped out at me and started to chase me." Sora screwed his face up, trying to remember what happened next, "I tripped and broke my ankle, I think."

Riku wiped his tears and started to climb the tree.

"Then the fiend was on me."

Riku got to the branch Sora was on and grabbed the boy into a gentle hug. Sora gasped, surprised. "Sora," Riku sobbed, "I thought I . . . I lost you."

Sora started to cry. The very person he was in love with, was crying over him. "Don’t cry, Riku, I’m not going anywhere."

Riku pulled away, "you better not." Riku smiled through his tears, "you’re the best friend I have in the whole world. I never want anything to happen to you."

Blushing, Sora looked down. "Thanks Riku," he whispered.

Riku shrugged, "of course."

"I hate to break up this cute little reunion, but what about that fiend? We have to get rid of it, before it hurts someone else," Sephiroth said, his sword at the ready.

"Wait," Sora exclaimed, "I remember something else; how I got in this tree. I was rescued by someone. They ran me to this tree then started to chase after the fiend."

"Who was it?" Sephiroth asked.

"I don’t know; foggy brain, won’t let me remember."

"Well in that case, we need to get you down and home."

Putting his back to Sora, Riku said, "put your arms around my neck and wrap your legs around my waist."

"But Riku, I’m too big for you to carry," Sora said, blushing at the thought of putting his legs around Riku’s waist.

"No you’re not. I can carry you."

Gulping, Sora did what he was told, wrapping his arms around Riku’s neck and putting his legs around Riku’s waist. Sora grinned wide, knowing Riku couldn’t see. This was worth getting nearly eaten. Sora lowered his head, resting it on Riku’s shoulder, knowing Riku wouldn’t mind.

"Comfortable?" Riku asked.

"Yes." You have no idea. Sora took a deep breath, taking in Riku’s wonderful scent. He smells so good.

"Okay, hold on tight."

Slowly making his way down the tree, Riku smiled, when he finally hit bottom. "Phew made it." Riku laid Sora down on the ground and peered at the boy, trying to determine how injured he was.

"R...Riku, what are you doing?" Sora sputtered, when Riku started to take off his shirt.

"Relax, I’m checking on your wounds."

Nodding, Sora tried not to shiver, as Riku ran his hands over his pale skin, looking for any major wound. Sora completely forgot about all the pain; Riku was touching him! So gentle like.

"Is he okay?" Tidus whispered. Tidus was bright red, because Wakka was holding him even tighter; almost intimately.

"It looks like Sora got really lucky," Riku said, "other then the broken ankle; he doesn’t have any major wounds."

"That’s a relief," Wakka said, sighing. Man, Tidus sure smells good. I did not just think that! Man oh man, what is wrong with me?

Tidus looked up at Wakka, noticing the strange expression in his eyes; confusion. "Wakka, are you okay?" Tidus gave Wakka the most dazzling smile, making Wakka feel faint.

"Ya, I’m fine." Just that being this close to you, is making me feel weak in the knees. What can that mean?

"Good," Tidus leaned his head on Wakka’s chest, feeling all worn out. "Lets get back. Sora needs cleaned up."

"Don’t worry about Sora. I’ll take care of him." Riku picked up Sora, comfortably supporting him in his arms. Sora blushed, putting his arms once again, around Riku’s neck.

Sora gulped. What do you mean, ‘clean me up?’

Riku walked Sora to the bathroom, having no problem with Sora’s weight. He set Sora on the toilet, and went to the towel rack, selecting a soft washcloth. He then went to the medicine cabinet, opening the door, taking out none sting disinfectant. Turning on the water, he ran the washcloth under the luke warm water.

Walking over to Sora, Riku set down on his knees in front of him, setting the things he had gathered on the newly cleaned floor; it seemed Raine had been in a house cleaning frenzy recently. You could tell by the sparkling tiles, and fresh pine smell.

"I’m going to take off your shirt again, okay."

Sora nodded, not trusting his voice. Raising his arms above his head, Sora bit his lower lip, as Riku took his bloodied shirt off.

For some reason, Riku blushed. "I have to take off your pants next."

"WHAT? My pants . . . but . . . "

"Sora, I have too. I can see the blood coming through them. I have to clean your cuts or they’ll get infected."

"Yeah, but," Sora grumbled.

"Oh, what’s the big deal? We’re both boys. And besides, I’ve seen you naked, in gym class."

Sora’s face turned bright red. What was Riku doing looking at him, when he was undressing in gym class? "Fine, do it, but hurry up." Both boys indeed. Yeah, but you are not in love with me.

Trying not to think about what he was doing, Riku started to unbuckle Sora’s belt. Once that was done, Riku pulled it out from the belt loops. Sora took a great intake of breath when he felt Riku’s fingers on his pants.

Riku took a shuttering breath and undid his pants, pulling them down Sora’s legs, being careful not to hurt Sora’s ankle.

"Well, it’s not so bad," Riku said, spreading Sora’s legs, so he could get a look at the cut on his inner thigh. Riku grabbed the wet rag, and gently started to dab at the cut, cleaning off all the blood.

Sora knew his face was redder then it had ever been in his entire life. Riku just . . . just . . . undressed him and . . . and . . . spread his legs. His hands were going awfully close to Sora’s member, as he cleaned Sora’s cut thigh. It took all of Sora’s willpower not to get turned on by all of this. Heck who was he kidding. It did turn him on, but all he needed was for it to become noticeable to Riku.

Riku finished cleaning Sora’s legs and took the disinfectant, spraying it on Sora’s thigh. "There, done."

Sora smiled. The spray had a numbing affect, so the pain was slowly fading. "Thanks Riku."

"You’re welcome. Now your arms." Riku took the washcloth and gently went over the cuts on Sora’s arms, spraying them with the disinfectant when done. "And last, but not least, you’re stomach."

Riku put the washcloth on Sora’s side, laughing when Sora jumped, "ticklish?"

"Something like that," Sora answered.

"I’ll be done, real soon." Once again, Riku put the washcloth on Sora’s stomach and started to clean his marred flesh, spraying it when he was done.

"How do you feel?" Riku asked.

"Cold."

Riku laughed, "well I can understand that; you are almost naked."

Sora rolled his eyes, "yeah, yeah."

Remembering Sora’s ankle, Riku raised Sora’s leg and started to gently squeeze it, feeling for a broken bone. Feeling none, he smiled. "Well, I don’t think It’s really broken; sprained, would be my best bet."

"Thank goodness. However, would we be able to dance in gym, if my ankle was broken."

For the second time that night, Riku blushed. "I’m sure, Miss Highwind, would find a way for us to dance; she wouldn’t like to leave you out."

"Someone’s home," Sora said.

"That’s obvious," Riku said, with a slight smile.

"WHAT IN THE HECK ARE YOU DOING TO BY BROTHER?"

Riku jumped away from Sora, surprised at Squall’s outburst. "I...I nothing."

Squall glared at Riku, then looked at Sora, "Sora?"

"Squall . . . it’s not what it looks like, I can assure you," Sora said, "Riku was helping me." Quickly Sora went over everything that had happened to him, and how Riku had helped him clean up.

Squall narrowed his eyes, still glaring, but if you looked closer, you could see that his eyes had somewhat softened. "Are you sure, that’s all you were doing?"

Riku who was never scared of anything was terrified. A protective Squall was very dangerous. "Of course that was all."

Hearing that, Sora looked down and frowned. Riku didn’t notice, but Squall did. "Okay, sorry for the outburst. Maybe you should leave; I need to talk with Sora."

Riku nodded, telling Sora bye. Then he left, running as fast as he could.

Squall went to Sora, kneeling next to the teen. "What was that look for?"

"Look? What look? I don’t know what you’re talking about." Sora said, looking up at Squall with big eyes.

"You are not a very good liar, you know that."

"Squall, what are you saying?"

"You . . . like him don’t you? I saw it in your eyes." Squall sighed, looking away from Sora.

"Is...is that bad...do you hate me now?" Why did Squall look so sad?

"Sora I could never hate my own brother." Squall looked back to Sora, "it’s not bad . . . that you’re gay . . . but Sora, I don’t want you to be hurt. Riku doesn’t know, does he?"

"Oh no!" Sora shook his head, "he does not, and can never."

"Never?"

"My friendship with him is so important; I don’t want to jeopardize it by telling him I lov . . . "

"Love? Sora you love him?"

Tears came to Sora’s eyes, "I do."

"Does anyone else know about this?"

"Just sis, and my friend, Yuffie."

"Ellone knows."

"She guessed. I didn’t have the strength to deny it."

"Oh Sora," Squall took his teared up brother into his arms. "It’ll work out."

"I hope so, Squall." Sora smiled through his tears. This was the most his brother had ever said at one time. Maybe there was hope for him yet.

Kairi paled. Was it another fiend, like the one she heard about that attacked Sora. Because of that attack, everyone gathered had some sort of weapon, and everyone readied them, just in case.

"I’ll go check it out," Roxas volunteered.

Wakka started to protest, saying he’d do it. Roxas was almost as small as Tidus, but before he could Roxas was gone.

Everyone waited, holding their breaths.

A few minutes later, Roxas poked his head back into the secret place. "It’s fine . . . sorry, it seems my friend followed me."

"Friend?" Selphie questioned.

Another head poked into the room. A tall, good-looking redhead.

"Axel," Kairi said.

"That’s the name, babe," Axel said, putting his arm around Roxas. Everyone raised their eyebrows but didn’t say anything. Roxas just blushed, pulling away from Axel.

Kairi hid a smirk. So that’s how Roxas could sense Sora’s feelings so well. "Axel you can stay; if you can keep a secret."

"Of course I can." Axel and Roxas walked the rest of the way into the room and set down on the hard stone floor, very close to each other. Axel put a hand on Roxas’s knee, not caring what the others thought.

"Um, before we go on," Selphie said, "can I ask one thing, pretty please?"

Kairi knew what was coming, as she nodded to Selphie, "sure go ahead."

"Axel, does that hand," Selphie pointed to Axel’s hand, that was caressing Roxas knee, "mean you two are a couple?"

Both teens turned red, and Axel moved his hand, "would that bother you, little lady?"

"Of course not," Selphie said.

Roxas grinned, "in that case, yes."

Axel looked at Wakka and Tidus who looked shocked, "does that bother you two?"

"N..no," Tidus said, blushing.

Wakka scratched his head, "I don’t see why it should, ya. You can’t help who you’re attracted to, right?"

Kairi looked at everyone, feeling pleased. If they were okay with Roxas and Axel then when they learned about Sora’s feelings, they’d for sure be okay with it.

"Yuffie, you’re being quiet; do you have any problems with it?" Kairi asked.

Yuffie grinned, "did you forget who my father was? The man who’s dating your older brother, Rin."

"Oh yeah," Kairi laughed. They still hadn’t proved that Rin and Auron were dating but all the clues said they were.

"Now that we’ve got that out in the open, why did you bring us here, Kairi?" Tidus asked.

"To tell you something very important." Kairi took a deep breath. "Sora’s in love with Riku and we have to find out how Riku feels about Sora," Kairi said all in one breath.

"What?" Yuffie and Selphie said together.

"And I thought it’d be me that would spill the beans," Selphie said.

"You knew, Selphie?" Yuffie asked. "I knew too."

"What, wait, you both knew?" Kairi said, sounding surprised.

"Yes . . . well I didn’t know that he loved Riku, but I guessed that he was gay." Selphie said.

"And I got Sora to tell me the day we meet. He begged me not to tell anyone, though."

Kairi looked at Wakka and Tidus, "did you guys know too?"

Tidus shook his head, "I had no idea."

"Same here," Wakka added.

"So how exactly are we going to find out how Riku feels?" Selphie asked.

Kairi grinned and looked at Roxas and Axel, "first we need to find out his views on gay couples. That’s where Roxas and Axel come in. Feel up to making out in front of Riku?"

Roxas blushed and Axel smirked, "you bet!" Axel said.

"Okay, well that will be step one. If Riku doesn’t act all digested, then it’s a good sign." Kairi looked at Wakka and Tidus. She had been noticing those to acting different a lot lately too. A blush here and there, the light touches. "Um, can you guys help us too?"

Wakka sputtered and looked at Tidus, "what exactly do you have in mind?"

Tidus stated to look down at the stone floor, finding it fascinating all of the sudden.

Yuffie, slapped her knee, "oh yeah," she whispered. "She remembered the first day she had meet Wakka and Tidus and how Tidus asked Wakka if he could walk him home, then the wrapped their arms around each other.

"What was that, Yuffie?" Kairi asked.

"Oh nothing; answer Wakka’s question." It took everything Yuffie had, not to start giggling at the looks on Wakka and Tidus’ faces.

"Well," Kairi started. How should she say this . . .

Being the blunt person he was, Axel butted in, "just admit it you two. Tidus likes Wakka and Wakka likes Tidus. It’s actually cute, don’t you think, Roxas."

Roxas slapped Axel on the knee, "Roxas, that’s private."

"Well now they both know, so what’s the big deal?"

Tidus was as red as a tomato. Was it true? Did Wakka really, really like him. For the longest time, Tidus had started to feel different about Wakka, but he’d never imagine that Wakka would feel the same way.

Wakka took the risk and looked at Tidus, hoping he didn’t look disgusted by the idea of them liking each other. Wakka was still confused, but even he was not so thickheaded to deny he had feelings for the teen.

"Tidus?" Wakka whispered.

"Yeah?" Tidus looked at Wakka, his eye filled with so much hope and longing, that Wakka was nearly dazzled by how bright his eyes looked.

"Is . . . I mean . . . uh . . . "

Everyone silently got up and left the small cave, giving the two boys some much needed privacy, although Selphie was dying to hear what was being said; she had to be dragged out by Yuffie and Kairi.

"Wakka, don’t hate me if Axel was wrong about you liking me, cause he wasn’t wrong, about me liking you."

Wakka smiled, scooting closer to Tidus, "really?"

"Yeah."

"Oh." Wakka reached out, lifting Tidus’ chin, "i don’t hate you, you know."

"Y..you don’t?"

"Of course not." Slowly Wakka leaned forward, gently kissing Tidus on the lips. Backing away, he grinned, "is that answer enough for you?"

Tidus touched his lips; they were tingling. "You do like me?"

"Yes, now let’s get everyone back in here and hear what Kairi wanted us to do."

Tidus grinned, jumping on Wakka, hugging him tightly, "okay."

"Can we please come in?" Selphie whined. She was missing out on some juicy stuff.

Wakka laughed, "yeah, come in."

Everyone walked in, snickering; Tidus was still hugging Wakka.

"Well, I guess this means, Axel was right?" Kairi said.

"Yep," Tidus let go of Wakka and set back. "So Kairi, what did you want us to do?"

Kairi grinned, rubbing her hands together. "Well have you two made it official?"

"Huh?" Tidus said.

Wakka knew what Kairi meant and blushed. What the heck; who cares if everyone was watching. "Tidus I should of asked this before, but I was so surprised that you felt the same way, that I didn’t."

"Ask what?" Tidus asked.

"Will you be my boyfriend?"

Tears started to fill Tidus’ eyes, "really?"

"Yeah."

"Yes. Of course."

Wakka grinned, hugging Tidus.

"Aww," Selphie cooed, "that’s so cute. I’m going to cry."

Everyone started to laugh, making Selphie pout.

"I meant it, I’m all teared up."

Kairi shook her head, smiling at the softhearted Selphie, "now that you two are official, you can be somewhere, you know Riku will show up at. Kiss and act like you don’t know he’s watching. Then gasp, acting like you’ve just spotted him. We’ll see how he acts, after you tell him you’re going out."

"What about us? Should we still start making out in front of him, or just leave it to Wakka and Tidus?" Roxas asked.

Kairi put a finger to his chin, stroking it, thinking hard. "I think we need to use you two to make him jealous."

"What do you mean?" Axel asked.

"Would you mind it so much, if Axel kissed Sora?" Kairi asked Roxas.

Roxas frowned. He didn’t want his boyfriend to kiss someone else . . . but . . . "if it helps Sora win Riku’s heart, I guess it’s a sacrifice I can make."

"You make it sound like you’re giving me away," Axel said. Axel grinned, leaning over to whisper in Roxas’ ear, "don’t worry, I couldn’t want anyone but you. I love you, you know."

Roxas turned blood red, "I know . . . I love you too." Roxas looked at Kairi, "okay, I don’t mind."

"Good. Okay after, Riku finds out about Wakka and Tidus, well invite everyone to a get together, and put the ‘Axel kisses Sora and makes Riku jealous’ plan into action.

A/N Phew, that was a long chapter. I made it longer, because I felt bad for leaving you all hanging in the last chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. Please review.