Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Aches of the heart ❯ The house of broken glass ( Chapter 6 )

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SIX : The house of broken glass

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"That was uncalled for!"

"Oh shut up." Sora retorted to Riku's complaint. He stood up from the bed and picked up his discarded clothes that were lying around the bed. "Then we'll lock the door, he says. Don't think, he says. You complete me, he says. Ha! That was the last time I fell for those."

Riku was getting up cautiously, fearing his lover's wrath. "I'm sorry..." He apologized, but only received his jeans on his face. "I'm sorry!" He said again, but received no answer whatsoever. "Sora? Ange? Babe?" He tried, but Sora had already slammed the bathroom's door shut and locked the door from the inside.

With a sigh he sat himself on the bed and took his pants from his head. "Great... Just great..."

 

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Cloud was watching with a suspicious eye how Kairi was applying a dark red colour on her toe nails, purposely not paying attention to him. "Do you sleep with him?"

Kairi glared at him briefly, "He's my boyfriend and we've been together for almost three years."

"That's just the problem; it's been that long already." Cloud spoke, now crossing his arms.

Kairi gave her brother a non-understanding look, "What is the matter with you?"

"Nothing, I'm just looking out for you." He replied as if what he said was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I can look out for myself, thank you." She spoke, frowning at her elder brother's strange attitude. "I love Wakka and he loves me, Cloud. We don't need any babysitter."

The blonde simply sighed, "I just... Be careful, okay? You're a girl—"

"What?" Kairi said in an offended tone, "I can't believe you just said that!"

"Will you let me finish!" Cloud interjected, "You're a girl, Kai. And what I mean to say is, that I don't want to become an uncle anytime soon. Even if that would be great, but I guess that you know what I mean."

Kairi laughed and gave her brother a tender look. "We always use protection, Clo..." She stood up and wiggled her way to her brother so her toes wouldn't get ruined and sat next to him on the couch opposite from her. "I'm not ready to become a mother anyway..."

Cloud took his sister in his arms and held her to him tightly, "I guess it's just that I missed you very much, it's been almost 6 months since I've seen you. And now we're back together and you've changed so much it's almost scary. You're a woman now. A very attractive and beautiful woman on top of that."

"Aww..." Kairi soothingly murmured, holding him close as well, "Thank you... I've missed you too, big bro..."

"I've missed this too... You calling me 'Big bro'." Cloud whispered, kissing her on her cheek.

They suddenly saw the sliding doors of the lounge open themselves and Wakka entering. He sat himself on the couch opposite from the siblings, took the remote from the low table and turned on the TV. He didn't say a word.

Both Kairi and Cloud shared a questioning look before Kairi stood and walked over to her boyfriend to ask what was wrong.

"Wakka? Are you okay?" She whispered, placing a comforting hand on his left shoulder. "Honey?"

Wakka suddenly turned off the tv and turned to face her. "You know? I think we should put up some rules for as long as we are to stay here." He spoke and Kairi blinked a few times at the way his voice sounded. It was high pitched and shaky. "I mean, there are two gay couples and us two. I-It's natural that the need to express feelings in a more physical way will occur, but god... doors, normal people close doors!"

Kairi looked at her brother, not making much out of her boyfriend's rambling. "Huh...?"

Cloud smirked and shook his head, "Again, huh?"

"What do you mean, again?" Wakka suddenly asked, "You mean they go at it like that all the time?"

The blonde closed his eyes and nodded, the smirk now turning into a grin. "And they're quite loud too."

"That I knew, but what I saw in there..." Wakka shuddered in horror.

"Oh my god, you saw them? Riku and Sora?" Kairi giggled, "Oh crap, and I missed it!"

Both men were now giving her very confused looks.

The girl held her hands in front of her in defence, "Hey, don't look at me like that! Since I found out that my best friends turned out to be gay and doing each other, I can't help but find that hot."

Cloud was laughing now and Wakka groaned, "Riku's my buddy too, but looking at him having sex with Sora is not exactly my idea of a turn on." He stood up and walked out of the living room, "I need to go wash my eyes out."

Kairi watched him leave and giggled again, bending over to look at her toe-nails.

Cloud watched her for a moment and then leant back against the couch. "So what did you think when I turned out to be gay?" He softly whispered, curious.

"Let me see... how old was I when I caught you and Sephiroth up in your room 'playing doctor'..." She put her right foot on the edge of the low table in front of her and blew softly. "Eleven? Twelve?"

"Sephiroth and me was almost a decade ago." Cloud grinned.

"Well, alright, I think I was ten back then. I didn't really care." Kairi shrugged, "I guessed that if you were in love, it didn't matter with whom it was."

Cloud smiled, his eyes trailing away from his sister, thoughts of last night crawling into his mind.

"But just for the record, I've never really liked Sephiroth anyway and I still don't." She said, now wiggling her toes and nodding approvingly. "I really hated him from what he did to you. He is such a jerk."

"He is." He agreed, though he couldn't help the small smirk tugging at the corners of his lips.

Kairi closed the small bottle of nail polish while still looking at her toes and missing the small smile her brother wore just seconds before. "Why don't you and Leon come to the club with us tonight? I'm sure it'll be fun."

"I'd really love to, but we already have other plans for the night." The blonde spoke, glancing at his watch.

"What are you guys going to do?"

"I honestly don't even know. Leon said it was a surprise." He stood up, "He said he'd come and pick me up at 6 and it's almost 5.30 so I need to go change."

"Woo... sounds romantic, never thought that Leon was that type of guy." She giggled, standing up too.

"Well he did say that it was all a surprise, didn't he?" Cloud chuckled.

They heard someone descending the stairs now and they turned their heads to the entrance of the room. Riku entered the living room, wearing a long black shirt and jeans. He was dragging with his feet, looking a little depressed.

"Hey you guys." He said without looking at them and plopping down on the couch next to Kairi and taking his face in his hands.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?" Kairi asked, looking at her friend with an amused smile.

"Sora's mad at me." Was all Riku said from beneath his hands covering his face.

Cloud chuckled, "Someone forgot to close the door..."

"God, I could just so slap myself right now." Riku whined, shaking his head remorsefully.

"Being in the doghouse bites." Kairi understandingly said before clapping in her hands happily, "Are we still on for tonight?"

Riku looked up at her with a disbelieving face and then covered his face with his hands again, "I don't think Sora'll want to go anymore."

"Then you come with us!" Kairi cheerfully said, "Come on!"

"If Sora doesn't want to go, then maybe you should, Riku." Cloud agreed, "Give him some space, I'm sure he'll come around."

"Cloud, he's locked himself up in our bathroom." Riku spoke as a matter-of-factly, "He won't even let me get in to wash myself up."

"He's locked himself up?" Kairi asked, "Boy, you are in trouble."

"I know." The silver haired one groaned.

"You can use ours, it's no problem." Cloud offered. "Besides you won't make it better if Sora doesn't want to see you with hanging around the house on your own. Give him some space."

"You're right..." Riku reluctantly whispered, standing back up. "God, how I hate this..."

Cloud put his right hand on the young man's left shoulder sympathetically, "He'll come around, don't worry."

"I hope so, because I have this feeling that I messed up big time with this one..." He moved himself back up the stairs, with his head hanging.

"You know, just between you and me?" Cloud said underneath his breath to his sister as Riku had disappeared from their sight. "Watching Sora and Riku fight is almost as good as watching some sort of soap opera drama."

Kairi laughed, "I know, you know that they'll kiss and make up, but the fights are just too juicy to zap away from."

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The door to the bathroom finally opened again after 3 hours now that the house was empty and Sora stepped out, cautiously looking around for a sign of his boyfriend. Finding none, he then made his way to the door and descended the stairs. Once in the welcoming hall, he found all lights out, except for a small trail of light coming through the slightly opened doors of the lounge. He frowned a little, for he had expected the house to be empty tonight. He slid the doors apart and found Sephiroth sprawled out on the left couch in front of the fire, watching TV.

"Sora, good evening, I thought you had gone out." He softly spoke, moving himself to sit in a more presentable position.

"I didn't really feel like going out." Sora softly said with a soft smile, his eyes falling on the half eaten up pepperoni and cheese pizza on the low table.

Sephiroth followed his gaze and immediately moved to offer the young boy some. "I didn't see you leave with the others and I didn't see you at dinner."

"No," He softly whispered, not wanting to step into the details. "Thanks." He thankfully accepted the slice held out to him. "What are you watching?"

"CNN," Sephiroth whispered with a smile and took the remote. "But we can watch something else if you want."

"Oh, but I don't want to bother you or anything..." Sora quickly spoke.

"I've been here for almost three days and I can really use a change from my work or from the boredom." The older one spoke with a small smile.

Sora fell silent and sat himself next to Sephiroth. "Ok." He nodded, feeling another wave of sympathy for the man.

"Besides it looks like you're the one who can really use some company..."

A minim smile tugged at the brunette's lips and he averted his eyes. There was so much he wanted to air off his heart, so much he wanted to say. The feelings of irritation he felt towards Riku, the angst he felt when he thought about their future together and his questions about what he saw last night.

He sighed and closed his eyes, "Normally I would've gone to Cloud for advice, but since I think he has his own problems, I don't really know what to do."

"Cloud's your marriage counsellor?" Sephiroth smirked, making Sora chuckle briefly.

"Kinda."

"Well, I'm ready to listen, if you want to talk to me." Sephiroth said with a comforting smile.

Sora chuckled, a little embarrassed at the situation. "No offence, but I don't really know you. I only know what other people told me about you."

"Then that makes me wonder even more about why you're here talking to me." Sephiroth said, now leaning with his left elbow on the couch's end and observing Sora with a fascinated gaze.

One perfectly shaped brown eyebrow rose questioningly, "Because I'm old enough to form my own judgements on people? I can't just let myself get influenced by what other people have said, I need confirmation for myself."

Sephiroth gave him a satisfied smirk and he bent over to pick up his glass of red wine. "You're a wise young man, Sora." He took a sip, "So what do you think of me? Am I the big bad wolf?"

Sora smiled softly, "That's pretty much what all the others said. Yet it seems that only Cloud and Riku once knew a more… sheepish side of you."

This made the older male laugh heartedly, "Do you believe I'm sheeplike, Sora?"

"Well I'm not saying you're an angel," Sora whispered with a hesitant smile, "but there must have been a reason for all those things you did in the past? I mean, you didn't just do all those things for no reason?"

Sephiroth narrowed his eyelids and leant in closer to the smaller brunette, who leant back a little at this strange move. "Are you always like this, Sora?"

Sora shrugged and blinked, "Like what?"

The other man chuckled and closed his eyes, "Trying to see the good in other people? Are you always so full of pity for those you don't understand?"

"I..." Sora frowned at him, not understanding from which angle he came all of a sudden. "N-no... I'm just trying to help."

"You can't help anyone by pitying them." He replied with a humourless smirk. His face was still close to Sora's and his half lidded eyes were now resting on his lips. "Don't get me wrong," He chuckled at Sora's now nervous state, "I do appreciate the effort, but spare me your pity."

Sora let go of the breath he had been holding in slowly as Sephiroth retreated from him. "I'm sorry."

"That won't help either." Sephiroth sternly said, still smirking.

Sora bit his lower lip and exhaled deeply, controlling his feelings of irritation. He felt deeply embarrassed by the way he had indeed been thinking of Sephiroth, but he wouldn't just leave because of that. He would prove to him that he really had wanted to help and not just pity him.

"But I understand because in the end, aren't we all selfish?" Sephiroth suddenly said, turning his head his way again. "Even when we don't mean to?"

Sora looked at him non-understandingly.

"Let me explain myself," he smiled. He scooted himself closer to Sora and pulled his right leg up his body so he could lean with his right elbow against it. "Do you know the true reason why people give money to charity or other good causes?" He asked with a smile that dripped with held back excitement.

Sora frowned and gave him a confused look; wasn't the answer obvious? "To help people who need it, what else?"

"My dear Sora," Sephiroth chuckled, "now I can see why Riku fell in love with you." He gave him a soft endeared smile, "You are deliciously naïve."

Sora averted his eyes turned his face away in growing shame.

Sephiroth chuckled again and placed his right hand fingertips underneath the smaller brunette's chin, so he'd look at him again. "That was in no way meant as an insult, Sora."

Sora gave him a defiant look, "Then why do they do it?"

"For their personal peace of mind." Sephiroth said, looking intently in his eyes. For a long moment it was silent between them, before the older man smiled at him again, "Isn't that what you hope to achieve by trying to mend the relationship between my brother and me?"

Sora was already shaking his head with a smirk before he suddenly realized that that had been indeed what he had hoped for... If Riku and his brother made up, then Riku wouldn't be mad all the time anymore and their relationship would be back on track. And he could have a peace of mind...

"But of course, that won't be possible any time soon, even if Riku and I were to make up tomorrow." Sephiroth poured himself some more wine, "Because between the two of you there are slightly nagging issues."

Sora was silently amazed and slightly annoyed by Sephiroth's insightful explanation. "How do you know all of this?"

"Well, for one, I've had some experience with human relations in my field of work and as for the little household problems between you and Riku, I simply heard you yell at him after you two had sex." He answered, emptying his glass.

"Oh..." Sora was now beet-red. "Ok... this is so embarrassing."

"I imagine it is." Sephiroth smiled, standing up and walking towards the bar behind Sora and taking out another glass for wine. "Wine?"

Sora turned and looked at him, shaking his head, "No, thank you. A soda would be nice."

"There's none here, I'll go get some in the kitchen." Sephiroth said and left the lounge.

Sora nodded and watched him leave. He caught himself looking at the man's lean, yet strong build, his beautiful long hair that fell all the way to his—

Something in the pocket of his sweater suddenly buzzed.

He took out his portable and looked at the caller ID. "Riku..." He sighed, a little irritated and relieved at the same time.

"Hey."

"Hey, thought you'd be sleeping."

Sora smiled and rolled his eyes, "It's only a quarter to nine."

"What are you doing?"

"Watching TV." He answered back, and turned his head just in time as Sephiroth handed him his glass of soda. "Thanks."

"Who's that?"

Sora chuckled, "It's Sephiroth. He just gave me a soda."

"So you preferred staying at home with him?"

Sora made an endeared sound at the smallness of his boyfriend's voice, indicating that he felt a little hurt. "No, we just talked that's all," He assured him, "And it's just that I needed to sort a few things out on my own."

"Did you sort them out already? I miss you."

Sora sighed and closed his eyes, "Not yet. It's a little..." He sighed again, searching for the best word to describe how he felt now. "It's a little complicated."

"Complicated?"

Sora sighed, "Yeah…"

"Because of me?"

Sora bit his lower lips and leant with his left elbow on his left thigh and held his forehead. "Riku…"

"No, you can say it, it's okay. I probably deserve that one anyways."

The brunette did not answer but just closed his eyes.

"Sora? Hello?"

"Why do you have to do that?" He whispered sadly.

Sephiroth turned his head away from the TV to look at Sora sitting next to him with a questioning eyebrow.

"Do what?"

"Make me feel guilty!" Sora said, his voice trembling as he was fighting the threatening tears. "I always end up feeling bad for something you cause…"

"Sora what are you talking about? I said I was sorry—"

"How can you be so selfish?" Sora whispered angrily, "You think a simple 'sorry' will make it all okay?"

Sephiroth now put down his glass of wine, watching with genuine concern at the escalation of the lovers' quarrel.

"Selfish?! What the hell has that—"

"Yeah, selfish!" Sora loudly replied, "And I've had it!"

"What's wrong with you?!"

Sora laughed jeeringly, "Oh? Because now that I'm angry there just has to be something wrong with me, huh?"

"But I don't understand why—"

"Well let me put it in words you'll be sure to understand, Riku. You're an insensitive, selfish prick!"

And with that he hung up and threw his portable on the carpeted floor.

Sephiroth frowned as he observed the younger male, not saying a word.

Sora ran his hands through his hair and looked at the chandelier for a few seconds before he sniffled, stood up, turned around and ran towards the stairs, seeking for the refuge of his room to let his tears flow free.

Sephiroth sighed and waited until he heard the door to Sora's room fall shut in the distance before he stood in turn and made his way up the stairs.

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Muffled sobs and whimpers resounded in the dimly lit room as he cried his bitter tears into his pillow. A soft knock was heard coming from the door and he sobbed harder, not wanting to see anyone.

Sephiroth entered anyways and closed the door behind him softly.

"Go away." Sora whimpered, his head turned away from him on the pillow.

"I can't." Sephiroth simply whispered, approaching the bed and sitting himself at the end of it, next to Sora.

"Have you come to pity me?" The brunette whimpered, still not looking at him. "Come to laugh at me?"

Sephiroth frowned and shook his head, "Not at all. I want to try and give you comfort, if you let me."

Sora started to sob again, "How?"

"First tell me what's bugging you. And why you called Riku insensitive."

"Don't forget selfish." Sora added bitterly, sitting up now wiping away his tears. "He's selfish."

Sephiroth smiled briefly and laid a comforting hand on Sora's right shoulder. "And selfish…"

Sora now turned around, facing him, and crossed his legs on the bed. "Okay…" He sniffled and looked down into his lap, his hands playing nervously with a tissue.

"Okay…" Sephiroth softly whispered, patiently waiting for him to collect his thoughts.

With a sigh, Sora looked up again, having difficulties to keep his eyes locked with the other man's. "I've… I've been feeling… feeling stuck lately."

"Stuck?"

Sora nodded and another tear rolled down his right cheek, "Yeah… In my relationship with Riku..."

"What do you mean?"

"I feel like I can't… Riku he…" Sora sighed in desperation and growing frustration. He just couldn't seem to bring the words out.

Sephiroth took him by his hands and held them gently in his while he looked into his eyes. "Now breathe and calm down. Relax a little."

Sora took a deep breath and let it go slowly, closing his eyes, trying to calm his heart down.

"Now try again and tell me what the problem between you and my brother is." He whispered, still holding the brunette's hands.

Sora sighed and nodded. "I feel like I can't refuse Riku anything and that, because of that, he has grown to assume that whatever it is he wants I'll give it to him…"

"Do you feel satisfied with him?"

"Yes…" Sora smiled and opened his eyes, "He satisfies me in so many ways." The smile then slowly started to fade and the sad look from before came back on his face, "But not where it truly matters." He bent his head and closed his eyes again, not wanting to give into the new wave of sorrow that was commencing to take over again. "I love him, heaven knows how much I do, and I know he loves me too, but he has a problem with keeping his promises to me… it makes me feel of smaller importance in our relationship. Even when he says that I'm his equal, I just don't get that feeling from him in some things he does. And lately…" He blushed and turned his head to the side, "I feel almost abused when we make love—I know abused is a big word, but it's how I feel afterwards, because I always seem to regret it."

"Because you can't refuse him." Sephiroth added comprehensively.

"The sex is great and I always enjoy it, but it's over 80% of the time his insatiable lust that induces our lovemaking and I always end up having sex with him when at first I didn't feel like it." Sora pulled up his legs to his body and held them to him, "It's like he completely ignores what I really want assuming I'll want what he wants."

Sephiroth nodded in comprehension again. "Ah… selfish…"

Sora nodded, "And the worst part of it all is that he doesn't even seem to realise he's doing it."

"Insensible."

Sora nodded sadly, "I know what you might think; that I should try and refuse him from time to time and explain it to him, but it's not that easy." He wiped away another tear rolling from his left eye, "Because I'm terrified he'll go seek his satisfaction elsewhere." He now rested his head on his kneecaps and turned his face away from the elder man again, "Like Cloud did."

Sephiroth rose one eyebrow in mild surprise at that statement.

"Yeah. I know." Sora whispered, now looking back at him. "And I don't understand."

Sephiroth chuckled, "Are you basing that on what you heard about Cloud and me, or is it something else?"

Sora shook his head, "I know that Cloud and Leon are happy together, I don't understand how you can love one person and still sleep with another, whether it is with love or not."

"You have never loved anyone beside my brother, so you cannot say otherwise..." Sephiroth gently spoke, smiling. "Though I think you will agree with me when I tell you that you cannot explain love rationally, you just know it when you feel it."

"Still... Leon is a friend and what you guys are doing to him..." Sora fell silent and just shook his head.

"The choice of telling him is entirely yours, but not your burden to carry." Sephiroth wisely spoke, raising a hand to stroke the younger one's right cheek soothingly.

"So I'm just supposed to sit back and watch you two sneak around?" Sora disbelievingly asked.

"You truly are a very compassionate person, aren't you Sora?" Sephiroth chuckled.

Sora sighed in defeat, "This is so wrong."

"Then stop thinking about it." He whispered back with a soft smile, "It is not a problem for you to handle."

Sora looked up at him again and smiled at him softly, "Thank you."

"Did I help?" The older one asked with a knowing smile.

The brunette giggled, nodded and took hold of Sephiroth's hand against his right cheek, "Yes, more than you even know."

"Alright," Sephiroth bent over and pressed a soft kiss on Sora's left cheek. He then halted just in front of his face, "You make my brother happy, Sora." He whispered, "Don't ever believe anything else."

Sora smiled at him and nodded, closing his eyes.

"So this is the reason why you stayed at home tonight?"

Both Sora and Sephiroth turned their head to the door of the room, finding Riku standing in its opening, looking furious.

Sora gasped as he realised in what position he and Sephiroth were in and shook his head rapidly while getting off the bed, "Riku! N-no, it's not what you think. We—"

"Save it." Riku whispered, shaking his head slowly.

Sephiroth sighed and stood up, "Still as narrow minded as ever, aren't we, little bro?"

Riku humourlessly chuckled, "You. Don't even talk to me, okay?"

"Riku please, we didn't—" Sora pleaded, but stopped abruptly as Riku took a step away from him in disgust.

"How could you?" He loathingly whispered, "How could you, Sora?"

"You're making a big mistake!" Sephiroth sternly spoke approaching his brother.

"Correction, I was." Riku calmly said with his eyes still on Sora, "I thought we could rebuild our relationship, big brother." He turned to look at Sephiroth now, "But apparently, you're the one who hasn't changed. You're still a traitor and you've manipulated the only person I've ever loved."

"Look at him!" Sephiroth whispered, "He only loves you."

"Then what are you doing here?" Riku narrowed his eyes, "In my room? With him?"

Sephiroth didn't answer, not wanting to aggravate the situation by saying that he was here comforting Sora because of his brother's behaviour.

"He was here because I asked him to." Sora whispered, "I needed some help."

"And you couldn't have got turned to me?" Riku whispered back to him, "You had to stab me in the back with him?"

"No, you don't understand…" Sora whimpered, shaking his head.

"I think I do, Sora…" Riku softly said, shaking his head. "Apparently, I'm not needed here."

With that he turned around and left.

 

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To be continued…

 

-BDP-

 

 

 

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