Secrets - part two
by Ebonhawk

Mia snugged her silky robe closed about her and slipped out into the hall. She'd stayed up later than she'd intended... How could she have slept when Rowen's room was right next to hers and those wonderfully incriminating noises had filtered, however muffled, through the wall? Images of the archer and Sage in the midst of numerous carnal acts had filled her head along with the sounds of pleasure and had made touching herself all the more ecstatic an experience. Too bad she'd had no one to share it with. Damn Ryo and his outdated chivalrous attitude!

She stepped over the scattered bits of clothing still littering the floor, giggling at the sight. Sage and Rowen either didn't care anymore if anyone knew, or they'd been so hot for each other last night that they couldn't keep their clothes on until they were safely sequestered behind Rowen's door. As she came to Rowen's room, Mia paused. Then, hentai that she was, she hurried back to her room and grabbed her camera. This was too good an opportunity to miss!

Slowly and silently, Mia inched Rowen's bedroom door open and peeked inside. Yes! They were still asleep. Mia tiptoed inside, across the thick carpet and stood beside the bed.

The blankets were a mess, barely covering anything. Rowen's rear was bared and she drooled. Damn, but those cheeks looked just *too* squeezable! The fact that Sage's hand slipped over his partner's hip to do just that as she watched left her ready to explode from an overload of giddiness. Lifting her camera, Mia found Sage suddenly blinking up at her.

"What are you doing?" he inquired, his eyes lazy. Before he could get any farther, though-

"Smile!" Click. Flash.

As she bolted out of the bedroom, she heard Sage yelling after her, "MIA!"

Shoving past Ryo, who stood sleep-rumpled and puzzled in his doorway, and into *his* room, she started digging through his closet. He just turned around to watch her as she struggled to bury her camera where Sage couldn't get his hands on it. That negative was *hers* and blondie and little boy blue were NOT getting it.

"Did I miss something?" Ryo finally asked when she closed the door to his closet.

Smiling at him, she replied, "Yes. Whatever you do, don't let Sage get hold of that camera. Or Rowen." Waiting for his confused nod of agreement, Mia continued, "Now, I've gotta make sure Yuli's okay. He still wasn't in by the time I got to sleep."

"Mia, he's eighteen. When are you gonna stop looking in on him?"

"Well, I didn't stop checking on you guys until you were twenty."

Ryo stared at her in shock. She'd checked on him and the guys? Until they were twenty?! "So...you're saying...he's got two years until you'll stop?"

"Exactly!" Mia bounced past Ryo and into the hall. He shook his head, long black locks falling in his face, then wandered off to secure the bathroom before Sage.

He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and made a face before stripping down to nothing. In the morning, he was not a pretty sight. The water was cranked up to full blast at the hottest he could get and his skin just starting to scald to a bright, cheerful red when he heard it.

"AAAAAHHHHH!!!"

Mia!

Ryo made to jump out of the shower, but slipped on the yellow bar of soap that had landed on the floor of the tub. He slammed a shoulder painfully into the tiled wall and slowly climbed out onto the deep maroon bath rug before grabbing a towel and wrapping it about his waist. Dripping and soapy, Wildfire stumbled out into the hall and hurried toward Mia, barely noticing Sage, hastily covered in a robe, and the others were also headed in the same direction.

"Oh my *GOD*!!! ...Dais?! What the *hell* are you doing in MY Yuli's bed?!?!" Mia howled, seeming weak in the knees and on the verge of collapse, mental and physical.

Ryo choked and almost fell over dead right there. In a short matter of moments, he was a part of the gaggle of oglers that stood dumbfounded, staring at the sight before them. There was no doubting the identity of the white-haired man that was obviously feeling very cozy with his bedmate.

"Uh," Dais started, squinting against the brightness of the hall light, "he invited me?"

"I told you it would get a better reaction," came another, sleepy voice. Yuli, draping a comfortable arm over Dais' bare chest and gazing at his friends over a shoulder, grinned slyly at two of the slack-jawed watchers and, changing the subject, said, "Why, Sage...what are you doing wearing Rowen's robe? And Rowen...are those Sage's distinctive green silk boxers I see on you?"

Everyone turned to look. Rowen was quite red in the face, a fact he promptly attempted to hide in the fuzzy, deep blue terrycloth of his robe (or Sage's back, depending how you looked at it) and Sage seemed to be trying to ignore the whole thing.

"Damn, you got me on that one!" Dais exclaimed, drawing their attention away from the discomfited couple.

"Pay up," Yuli returned.

"No. You have to be right on everything to win the bet."

"Screw the bet! I want something *now*, old man."

A high, keening whine sounded from Mia as the group gave in to voyeuristic tendencies and watched as Yuli eased their former enemy into an ever-deepening liplock.

"I need to go now, " Kento mumbled, as he rushed his way downstairs. Cye was right behind him, dragging a now thoroughly disillusioned Mia with him.

Sage and Rowen took this as their chance to escape the coming Inquisition, at least for a while, and vanished back into the archer's room.

Ryo stood in Yuli's doorway, overcome with the scene that had begun to move undoubtedly beyond a kiss. He watched avidly as Dais' long, slender hands traced soft patterns across the well-defined muscles of his young friend's strong back. As one of those hands trailed under the covers and Yuli voiced a soft gasp against Dias' mouth, Ryo licked at his lips and said, "I-I think I'll just close the door and leave you two alone."

The click seemed loud on his ears. Knob still in his hand, Ryo grew very aware of how the drape of his towel had changed. He didn't think anyone had noticed...god, he *hoped* no one had noticed. Well, he hadn't finished his shower, so he could take care of business there.

Stumbling over a bit of his evidence against Sage and Rowen (a stunning, deep blue shirt of silk), Ryo hurried back to the bathroom.

"My baby...my little Yuli..." Mia pouted as she sat at the kitchen table. She played with a tall glass that contained only the last drip of milk to swirl around the bottom. "What happened?"

"He grew up," Cye told her quietly, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Although, one could wonder how he ended up with Dais. I would have thought we'd catch him with Shiho, what with way he always goes on about her."

"But Dais? Why him? I thought he was in the Nether Realm. How did he end up in my Yuli's bed?" Mia whimpered, hands leaving the glass to pull at her hair now.

"If Dais is to be believed, Yuli wanted him there."

"Yeah, the brat didn't seem like he minded too much," Kento added, digging through the refrigerator. "Kinda reminded me of Sage and Rowen on the morning after, the way Yuli was sprawled all over Dais."

Cye frowned. "Kento..."

"What?"

Mia sobbed. "Why *Dais*?!"

"Everyone knows now," Rowen sighed, leaning back into Sage's embrace. He sat cuddled close to his partner on the bed, feeling somewhat despondent.

"At least no one took off running in terror like you thought they would," Sage laughed softly into the nose-tickling blue hair.

"That's because they were all still in shock from Yuli's little surprise!"

"I admit the subject could have been brought up in a kinder fashion but there's no use in crying over it. What's happened has happened." Sage fingered the waist of the boxers Rowen was wearing, which - as Yuli had so graciously pointed out - were actually his. "A good deal of it is our own fault, too."

Rowen's eyebrows rose high into his hair. "*You're* the one that couldn't keep your damn hands off me!"

"Oh, so I guess those weren't *your* grubby little fingers that ripped *my* clothes off last night?"

"Damn right!" he grinned, then sighed. "Ryo's gonna run us through the ringer, y'know."

"Yes, I know. I wouldn't expect anything less."

Yuli giggled as Dais brushed his fingertips lightly over the highly ticklish spot on his left side. "Stop that!" He batted away the hand then grabbed a handful of the long white hair and wound it around his own fingers. "So, who do you think will walk in on Ryo?"

"Considering that both of them are also upstairs, I would think it would be either Sage or Rowen?"

"Are you asking me, or is that your answer?"

"You decide," Dais replied.

"Mmmm, I hope it's Rowen. That would be the *most* fun. I don't think Cye's even noticed how Ryo's been checking the Blue One out lately," Yuli grinned.

Dais chuckled. "Yes, that would be fun. Now," he said, pulling Yuli's mouth down toward his own, "where were we?"

"Right about here," Yuli breathed against his lips, freeing his hand from the Dais' silken curls and running it down the length of the former Warlord's sleek body.

Ryo flipped his wet hair back to slap against his nape and let the water splash over face as his hand drifted down to toy with himself. Leaning forward, Ryo braced himself with an arm against the tile. The water ran over his skin, the pounding on the tile sweet on his ears. He soon enough turned from the teasing touches and took himself in a firm grip. Slow, always slow, at first. His breath was coming in soft pants now. "Mia..."

Involved as he was, Ryo didn't hear the door open or close as someone else entered the bathroom.

"Are you still in the shower, Ryo?"

He nearly fell from shock. Struggling to breathe normally, Ryo croaked, "Rowen?"

"Yeah. Are you okay in there?"

"I-I'm fine," he answered, his eyes open wide as he silently pleaded with whatever divine power was listening that Rowen would leave...quickly. Almost absently, Ryo stroked himself once, then twice, barely keeping himself silent.

The curtain was pulled back a little as Rowen looked in on him. "Are you su..." he trailed as he saw what he'd caught Ryo in the act of, "...re?" Rowen had the decency to blush at this point. "So... Who's that for?" he asked lamely. He winced at his own tactless question and forced his curious eyes to focus solely on Ryo's rather white face. Of course his face is white, Rowen thought, all his blood is in another part of his body. "I'll go now."

As Rowen turned away, Ryo grabbed one of his thin wrists and pulled him back around. "I-I'm s-sorry."

Rowen almost laughed. "For what? *I* walked in on *you*! Albeit, this is a rather embarrassing situation, but I'm the one at fault here. Please, contin- uh, yeah... I'm going now."

Thoughts then spilled through Ryo's mind faster than they ever had before. Images. Rowen. Himself. He'd seen what effect Sage had on his definitely ravishable friend. Maybe...maybe he could bring that same deep glaze of lust to the indigo eyes? He had done it before, in his dreams. Mia, she was too good for him - way out of his league. Maybe Sage would consent to share? The other had almost reached the door when Ryo suddenly spoke up, "Ro?"

"Yeah?"

"What's it like to ...you know... with another guy?"

Rowen felt his chin drop and was certain everyone downstairs heard its impact with the floor. "Why?"

There was silence for a long time before Ryo tentatively started. "You know I've got this...thing for Mia, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, um, well...Cye doesn't necessarily see everything."

"What are you talking about?" Rowen felt his insides start to quiver.

Ryo steadied himself with a deep breath. This was *not* going to be easy. "Um, I know what Cye's been trying to do with Mia and me... But, um, I don't think he took into account that I've been watching you, too."

Rowen was speechless. He blinked in stunned disbelief. Ryo hadn't just said...he couldn't have. No, Ryo wanted Mia. *He* was with Sage. He obviously wasn't hearing right.

"Rowen, I-I know you're with Sage. I've seen how good you two are together. I don't want to mess that up...but, just once, maybe...would you let me love you?"

The last few words tumbled from Ryo's wavering lips in such a quiet haste that the archer wasn't sure he heard them. He could hear his heart pounding and feel the increased heat in his cheeks. "What did you say?"

"Please?"

Rowen turned around and saw Ryo had stepped out of the shower. Wildfire stood, baring his heart (among other things) to his friend as steam billowed out from the streaming water of the shower. Okay, maybe he *was* hearing things right.

END PART TWO