Disclaimer: I do not own Square Enix’s Kingdom Hearts, nor am I making any money off this fanfiction. Seiya is © S.G. Smythe, and San is © J.E. Jones and S.G. Smythe. To use these characters without permission of the authors is illegal and punishable by law.

-o-o-

Frog Prince

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The Ice That Wouldn’t Melt

-o-o-

Since Sora was young, he had always craved for someone to love him, or even simply treasure him. He’d found Riku, and he’d thought his life was complete from that point on. As long as Riku was by his side, he could do anything, go anywhere, just… be so much greater than he was on his own. Riku gave him potential. Riku made him interesting. Riku was the other half of him; without Riku, he was incomplete.

But somehow he’d found himself in Riku’s shadow, unable to make other friends, in love with him but stuck on the other side of the glass. It was the unrequited side. Beyond it, people could fawn over Riku all they wanted, and he’d return their affections. Sora had to watch on from afar. Riku was his best friend, but he was also untouchable. Sora had spent most of his life trying to break that glass.

Now, though… now—

“All right, Sora?”

Sora nodded his head several times, and his breath eased out of him when Squall leaned forward to rest their foreheads together. Fearing that it was too soon to smile, Sora simply studied gray irises from up close. Squall had always had pretty eyes. They reminded Sora of smoky water.

“Yeah—I understand…” Sora whispered the words, unable to speak much higher than that. He didn’t want to break whatever spell had fallen over them. It was a nice, quiet moment, one Sora hadn’t had in far too long. Often the silence was pervaded by his thoughts, hampered down with depression and the strong desire to do something with his misery but unable to figure out how. “I do…”

Squall’s fingers slid into his hair at the base of his skull and shifted upward. The touches felt good, and Sora had to close his eyes against them, tilting his head back into them. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had given him a decent head rub. It made the corners of his mouth twitch up.

“Good.” Squall pressed a lingering kiss to his lips. “We should get you home. You have school in the morning.”

Sora made a face at that. “You sound like my mom.” But it was true. He hadn’t even had time to start on his homework yet, and he was going to be in trouble if he didn’t get his tush back home soon. The last time he hadn’t told his mom he was going to be out late, she’d really handed it to him. He did not want a repeat of that experience.

He made a promise to himself then and there that Squall wouldn’t find out what had been going on upstairs earlier that evening with Riku, or at least not from Sora himself. And if Riku said anything about it, for some strange reason, in front of Squall—though Sora suspected he wouldn’t dare breathe that he had been kissing another boy—Sora would deny it. He wasn’t sure how convincing he would be, but… well… he didn’t want to mess things up with Squall!

Though it had been a short dating period the first time, it had still been really nice. What was so wrong with that? He just wanted to experience it again for himself. He wanted to have someone who cared for him and wasn’t afraid to.

“Well, I don’t mind that so much in this case.” Squall gave a small, quiet smile, but it still managed to light up his entire face, and in the process it made Sora’s heart soar.

They could do this. They could.

-o-o-

“This is Cloud.”

Cloud inclined his head from where he stood next to the kitchen sink, and Sora noticed that his eyes were an unusually bright blue. It was a little startling, a little creepy, but at the same time, they were really… pretty. Sora had the sense that he shouldn’t tell Cloud that, though. It probably wouldn’t go over well.

“He’s…” Squall trailed off, closing his eyes and turning his head away with a quiet sigh. His hands were on his hips. He seemed embarrassed about something. What?

“He’s Squall’s bodyguard!” Rinoa chirped helpfully. She was seated at the table, arms folded against it, her eyes bright as she studied Sora. Was she happy that the two of them had gotten back together? Had she been eavesdropping? Sora wouldn’t put it past her.

“Bodyguard?” Sora inquired. Cloud nodded. Squall sighed again, a little more loudly than before. “For what?”

Squall waved a hand.

“Ambassador Loire feels it’s necessary.” Cloud pushed away from the kitchen sink and came toward them. He paused in front of Squall, his eyes roving over the boy’s face, before he turned his attention on Sora. An odd feeling shot through Sora’s heart—he had just been pierced by those startling eyes, and he wasn’t sure how he liked it. Cloud’s stare suggested that he could read the very depths of Sora’s mind. It was distinctly discomfiting.

“Cloud’s been Squall’s bodyguard since he was eight!” Rinoa propped her chin up with her hand, eyebrows raised and a smile on her mouth.

“Eight? Really?” Sora looked up at Squall. The older boy was still steadfastly avoiding his gaze. “…He’s been around all this time?”

“Oh, Cloud’s always around. Even if you don’t see him.” Rinoa said like it was the simplest, common knowledge. But it struck Sora in that moment that every single date he’d been on with Squall, Cloud had… been there, supposedly. It was… well, it was unnerving. More unnerving than that gaze of his.

Sora tried to think back on if he had done anything embarrassing. Nothing came to mind, though he was sure something would later. He was a walking wall of embarrassment, after all. It was embarrassing just thinking about it.

Something was nagging at him. Cloud had watched Squall since he was eight? Sora knew that he shouldn’t judge others based on appearances… he knew that. But how was it that Cloud didn’t look much older than Squall? There was no way he could have been watching Squall that long, unless he had been young himself. Right? It was the only thing that made sense.

“Come on, Sora, let’s get you home…” Squall placed his hand between Sora’s shoulder blades and began to steer him in the direction of the front door. “I’d introduce Rinoa, but she’s done a good enough job of that herself.” His tone of voice was very wry. Rinoa giggled from somewhere behind them.

“Bye, Sora!”

“Yeah, bye…”

Cloud was at their heels, a silent shadow. It made the hair on the back of Sora’s neck stand straight up. Was this guy coming with them? Spiky blond hair, eerie blue eyes, a mostly expressionless face, and a crisp black suit. He had the makings of a government employed bodyguard, it was true. That didn’t make it any less creepy. Was Sora not going to be able to talk to Squall about anything private? Had he ever to start with?

Squall made no comment on Cloud’s appearance, so Sora took it from his book to follow a similar path despite how he burned to ask many questions about the blond.

The BMW’s lights flashed in the garage as Squall unlocked its doors. Sora stood looking at it for a moment as Squall then opened the garage itself. He recalled the last time he had been in this vehicle—just earlier that very day; only a few hours ago, at that. But… somehow… it seemed as though it had been ages. Even though one thing had happened right after the other, what with Riku and then Rinoa and then Squall himself, it still seemed like the afternoon had just dragged on.

“C’mon, Sora, get in.” Squall opened the driver’s seat and climbed in, twisting his key in the ignition. Sora slid into the passenger’s seat, and Cloud took the back. He could feel the man’s eyes on him. Cloud said or did nothing.

Even if it was only a few blocks away, this was going to be an interesting ride home.

-o-o-

The car’s headlights flickered along Sora’s garage door as Squall pulled out of the driveway. Content with the knowledge that they would be reaching one another tomorrow via phone to make further plans, Sora smiled to himself and started toward the mudroom door. The smile didn’t last very long—in fact, all of a heartbeat—because in the next moment his eyes landed on a Riku lump hidden in the shadows with his head bent and his elbows hooked around his knees.

He looked up as Sora approached, something unreadable in his eyes. “…So he took you home, huh?” The taller boy climbed to his feet, brushing snow from his pants legs. “What, you two back together or something?’

Sora opened his mouth. White streamed out. He swallowed, wetted his lips, closed his eyes, tilted his head back to the sky. Though he couldn’t see it, he knew that stars stretched endlessly above them, snow clouds gone for the moment. A memory came back to him, Riku, himself, rolling snow along the ground until they could build a sturdy snowman. They’d laughed afterward, their giggles endless as Sora’s mother coaxed them inside with promises of hot cocoa.

“Guess I shouldn’t have waited.” Riku brushed past him. “I’ll see you at school, Sora.”

Sora wanted to whirl, to shout after him. That was it? All that crap about wanting to kiss him, outing him to his parents, and then the second Sora gets snatched up, he gives up and walks off? Just like that? Like nothing had happened at all?

“See you,” he said instead, and he was proud when the words didn’t waver.

He couldn’t chase after Riku and demand answers. It wasn’t his place anymore. He was with Squall now, and he was going to make this work. Besides, Riku probably wanted Sora to go after him. That would be just like him, letting Sora do all the dirty work because Riku never had the guts to say what was really in his heart, be it good or bad. Well, no more.

He made it as far as the door, one foot over the threshold, hand still wrapped around the knob.

“I’m not going to let him have you,” Riku said to his back.

Sora’s breath shuddered from him. Already, his heart was hammering, hopeful, traitorous thing that it was, always wanting to believe in Riku until the very end, no matter how smashed up it got in the process. It was hard, to stand there and not to rush to Riku, to spill out all of his feelings honestly, whole-heartedly, to tell him how much he wanted him, how much he wanted all of this to be real.

Willing his feet to move, he walked inside and shut the door behind him. He didn’t once look back. He couldn’t allow himself to do so.

That didn’t mean he didn’t feel Riku’s eyes on his back until he was upstairs in the darkness of his room, buried under his blankets and waiting for the new day.

-o-o-

Isn’t this what you wanted? some tiny voice whispered in the middle of the night, when Sora couldn’t sleep and was left watching the snow flurries drift on top of his skylight. Riku to fight for you? To prove he wanted you?

It is what you wanted, right?

But does he even know what he wants? another voice whispered, this one much more reasonable. Does he realize what he’s asking for? Does he know how far this will go? What will he do once he does? Probably retreat…

You should just give him a chance. Sure, you’ve got Squall now, but you’ve always wanted Riku, and look—you don’t even have to fight for him. He’s going to be the one doing the fighting.

That’s just it, isn’t it? …It’s too easy…

The flurries landed one on top of the other, gathering into a pile that soon began to blot out the night sky entirely. Sora watched long until he couldn’t see the outside anymore and the shadows deepened at the corners of his room. Eventually he managed to doze off. He wasn’t sure when, he just knew that one moment he was drowning in uncertainties and growing questions, and the next his alarm was going off and his mother was calling upstairs that it was time to get ready for school.

His father kept his face hidden behind his newspaper when Sora sat down to a bowl of cereal for breakfast. Seiya smiled at him and ruffled his hair, placed a kiss to the top of his head when Sora said he had to get going for school. No one breathed a word about the night before; no one said that they were going to sit down and chat later. One was sure to come, but right now there was apparently no pressure.

Roxas left five minutes before Sora did. Demyx had come to pick him up. Sora was prepped to catch the bus, hands tucked into his coat pockets as he journeyed outside, but instead his eyes landed on Riku’s Mustang. He hovered on the spot, debating just crossing the snow in his yard to get to the bus, which would be coming around the corner any moment now. It would be a lot easier than dealing with whatever awaited for him in that car.

In the end, he opened up the passenger door and climbed in.

-o-o-

For half the ride, neither boy said anything. Riku kept his attention occupied with the road, and Sora likewise watched the cars in front of them and the passing houses and trees. Snow was everywhere. It hadn’t stopped, and it wouldn’t until the evening if the weather channel could be trusted.

The silence broke a few blocks away from their high school, as Sora had known it would. Riku calmly brushed his bangs back from his face, returned his hand to the wheel.

“…He goes to college, right? Squall?”

“Yeah…” Sora wondered if this was going to end well. Probably not. Riku’s temper always walked a thin line, and he’d never liked Squall from the getgo, ever since they had first laid eyes on one another at the festival. It might have been because Squall had been interfering in what Riku considered their business. It might have been because Squall rubbed him wrong, in the same way that Roxas did. Whatever it was, it didn’t matter. Nothing Sora could say or do could lighten Squall in Riku’s eyes, and it went both ways.

He hoped that maybe when Riku accepted that they were going to be just friends, with no other benefits attached to that, he’d like Squall a little better. Then again, hell could freeze over in the time that it would take Riku to like anybody he’d set himself on hating.

Sora decided to change the subject. “Why didn’t you pick up your other friends this morning?”

“Because—we’re going out now, like I told your parents last night. I always pick up my…” He started to say ‘girl,’ stopped and corrected himself. “…boyfriend.” His eyebrows lifted as a roughish grin settled on his mouth. “You know that.”

Sora narrowed his eyes, not amused. “You’re not my boyfriend. We’re not going out. I’m going out with Squall, remember?”

Riku only hummed in response and turned the heat up a little higher.

Great. Just what the hell was he planning now?

He can’t be trusted. This will blow up in your face, Sora, if you let it continue. He just thinks he wants to be in a relationship with you.

The thought wasn’t very comforting.

“Are your… parents upset? About—you know…?”

Sora shook his head and shrugged, returning his gaze to the window. They were nearing the school now. Soon, he’d be free of this awkward bubble to roam his classes without Riku there. For once he was glad that Riku was a senior and he just a junior. It meant that they didn’t see one another very often except in the hallways. A lot of things could happen in hallways—as was evidenced by the kiss they had shared in front of some students the afternoon prior—but Sora liked to think he could avoid Riku if he wanted to. He’d done it pretty well before they’d made up the first time.

“They haven’t said anything yet.”

“They’ll understand, Sora. They seemed more surprised than upset.”

Sora chewed on his lip. He wished that things could go back to normal. Part of him even wished that he had never outed himself to Riku. Then maybe things wouldn’t have gotten so complicated… Then again, maybe he’d still be hurting more than he was now. It did feel very relieving to have Riku know everything. At the same time, it’d be easier if Riku wouldn’t keep trying to take out his bicuriosity on him.

“Listen, Sora.” Riku put the car into neutral, released a long sigh, and rested his wrists over the steering wheel. Sora didn’t bother to look at him, preferring instead to watch the students crunching through the snow on their way up to the school. Riku was a senior, so he got to park up in the front and didn’t have as much of a walk. Sora almost wished he could have trekked along in this cold weather like the others—then he’d have a better chance to clear his mind.

“Riku, I don’t want to hear it.” Sora shook his head very minutely. “I don’t care what you want, okay?” Harsh, yes. However, one had to be harsh to penetrate Riku’s thick, stubborn skull. “I’ve always cared about what you wanted, and it never got me anywhere. I have the chance to be happy now. So—if you really do care about me like you said, then… you’ll understand when I say I want us to be just friends.”

“What the hell?” Heat laced the words. “Why can’t I make you happy?”

Sora pinched the bridge of his nose. He did not want to do this right now, not when they had a whole day of classes ahead of them and too much stuff to think about as it were, like academics and not their chaotic relationship. “I don’t want to be late. We can talk about this later. And you know why. Because you haven’t been happy with anyone yet, so why would I, a guy, be any different outside of a new body to play with?”

You should go easier, he told himself.

…But if I do, he’ll just walk all over me… whispered back at him.

“Sora.” Sora heard Riku twist around in his seat, along with the snap of his belt being unbuckled and thrown behind him. “Listen to me, you’re not giving me a chance, we’re on even footing now, and—”

We’ll never be on even footing, is he kidding? Sora thought in disbelief.

He waited for Riku to continue on with his rant, except that no other words were coming. Confused, he arched a brow and glanced to his left. There was no way that Riku would have stopped himself in the middle of something he felt was important. He was a guy who liked to get things off his chest when he was irked or pissed, usually more of the later.

But…

Riku’s eyes were closed. His chin was dipped toward his chest. Utter calmness had relaxed his face.

Er, is he okay?

Sora reached out to touch his shoulder, maybe nudge him a little bit. “Riku?”

His head lolled to the left.

…Was he asleep?

“Riku.” Sora shook him harder. God, why now? They had school in, like, five minutes! If he got another tardy, his teacher was going to kill him; that, or mire him down with detentions, which he really didn’t want today. Especially not with Riku. “Riku!” Still no response. The boy could have been dead, for all the response he was giving.

Had he had a heart attack or something, and—?

Don’t be ridiculous, Sora.

“Riku! Seriously!” he hissed. He unlatched his own seatbelt and turned so that he could place both of his hands on Riku’s shoulders. He better not be playing around, or Sora was going to murder him. “Riku! Riku!”

Nothing.

He growled in disbelief and swung back down in his seat. He scrubbed a hand over his face, cast a glance out his window. Few students were left. Mostly everyone was inside, preparing for the first class of the day. Great, just freakin’ great.

Fingers seized his wrist.

Sora blinked. He dropped his eyes to his wrist, followed fingers to a paler wrist than his own, and from there kept his gaze going until it had trailed over Riku’s arm and finally up to his face. Riku’s green eyes were watching him, more intense than they had ever been before, even the afternoon previous when Riku had been trying his version of seduction (read: manipulation). The look in them was almost… eerie, how focused it was, how desperate, how worried, how grieving, all those things and more. Riku had never looked at him like that. Riku had probably never looked at anyone like that.

“…Riku?” he whispered, uncertain of what was going on. Had the guy lapsed into a premonition of some sort and was about to tell him that the world was going to end in five minutes if they didn’t figure something out?

“Sora,” his friend whispered back. Those eyes softened into tenderness, and the hand that wasn’t gripping his wrist came up, slightly trembling fingers brushing their backs over Sora’s cheek. A faint smile pulled at the corner of his mouth. It was the saddest thing Sora had ever seen.

Sora opened his mouth to question Riku again, but his throat locked up, and nothing would come out.

Riku’s hand slipped to the back of his neck, drawing him close until their foreheads rested together. Sora felt Riku’s breath on his cheek. The warmth from his fingers seeped into his skin, chasing away the wintry chill that had begun to permeate the car now that it had been shut off. Sora felt his heart skip a beat, two. The moment was almost… fragile, as if he said or did anything, it would break, and then something great would be lost.

You’re being silly. It didn’t do anything to shake the feeling.

Riku drew back. He lifted the hand that held Sora’s wrist. His grip loosened, turned Sora’s hand, and as gently as ever, he closed his eyes and brushed the lightest of kisses to Sora’s knuckles.

“We don’t have much time.” Riku said the words, but his lips didn’t move.

And all of a sudden, Sora was scared. His heart skipped again, picked up its pace until it pounded against his ribs. He stared worriedly at Riku, wondering again what could possibly be going on, and just as he had finally found his voice enough to ask, Riku dropped his hand and settled back into his seat. His eyes closed. A moment passed in which he said or did nothing. And then, when Sora was in the middle of reaching for him again, Riku opened his eyes again and drew a hand over his face.

“Fuck… That was weird. Felt like I dozed off.” He blinked at Sora, saw the look on his face. “What?”

Sora mouthed words. No sound would come.

Riku narrowed his eyes, then pulled his cell from his pocket and flipped it open. His eyes widened when he saw the time. “Shit! Sora, we gotta go.”

Sora only sat there, staring at him, mouth still hanging open.

“Sora—doofus—Sora. Sora! Sora—God.” Riku climbed out of the Mustang, shut his door, swung his backpack over his shoulder from where he had grabbed it from Sora’s share of the floorboard, and then made his way around the car. He opened up the passenger door, wrenched Sora’s backpack up, as well, grabbed Sora’s elbow, and jerked him from the seat. Cold air slapped against Sora’s cheeks. “C’mon!”

He numbly followed his friend up to the school, the two of them outright running. Riku was talking, something about being late and detention. Sora only half heard him. His thoughts were still with what had happened in the car.

He hadn’t imagined that, had he?

Riku going all weird, and the part where Sora heard him talk but hadn’t seen his mouth move, and… that strange gentleness?

Had he?

Riku deposited Sora in front of his class. He started to rush off before he seemed to remember something and jogged back. A kiss was smacked to his temple. “I’ll see you in detention,” he murmured, and then he was off again.

Sora stared after him.

After some time, long after Riku had disappeared around the corner and from view, the door to his right opened, and the sounds of snickers reached his ears.

“Mr. Shiozu, would you care to grace us with your presence, or are you just going to stand out here all day?”

Sora blinked and looked up. His teacher stood in front of him with a pursed mouth, eyes not amused. Professor Vexen had a nasty icy temper when he wanted to. Behind him, Sora could see his classmates hiding their laughter behind their hands. How long had he been standing out in the hallway?

“Well?” Vexen drawled. “Come on in, boy, I know you are competent enough for that despite what your grades would tell me.”

His ears burning bright red, Sora saw himself into the class and didn’t look up even after he had settled down into his desk. Great.

This was going to be a perfect fucking day.