Step and Slide

[Amoris]

Amoris could help letting out a delighted trill as Akia brought a hand down to pet him. It felt really good…And the other’s hand was so gentle and warm and soft…

In an unconscious effort to get closer to the nice feeling, the Jshiko hopped forwards until his small feathered head could rest against the silver-haired boy’s chest. He could hear the sound of Akia’s heartbeat as it played accompaniment to the slow rise and fall of his breathing. The sound was beautiful.

Lazily his eyes began to slip shut; him feeling quite comfortable in that position. Mmm…He nuzzled against the other’s torso. He probably would have stayed like that except for the yawn that Akia let off.

The brunette smiled mentally before jumping from the youth’s lap to the headboard. He squawked lightly. His way of saying, ‘I’m sorry I kept you up so long. SLEEP. Now. Pretty boys like you need their beauty sleep.’ He chirped lightly in a chuckle before he fluffed himself up for the night.

After all, Akia did seem to like this form, so he decided that it would become his shift of choice…At least, until he got back home and the white-haired young man forgot all about him…

Amoris closed his eyes with a birdy sigh, and he assumed a sleeping position.

[danicaloy]

Akia had just about fallen asleep, he was so comfortable with the bird, Amoris, resting in his arms.

However, Cerulean eyes were startled awake again as he felt the hawk suddenly hopped off him and glided over to perch upon the headboard, cawing gently. Akia wished he knew what he was saying, but somehow he knew Amoris only meant the best whenever he spoke. The bird closed closed it's sparkling eyes and lulled itself to sleep.

Akia smiled; Amoris looked so beautiful when he slept like this, and he could just imagine that the man looked even more so in his human form.

The night air blew past, making Akia shiver slightly, and pulled the covers over him tightly. He had always been little sensitive to the cold. Just then, he remembered something. Amoris didn't have anything to sleep on!

And so, quickly and quietly, Akia pulled at some of the extra bed sheets and rolled them into a makeshift nest next to him. Then carefully, so to not wake Amoris, Akia gently laid the hawk into the nest of sheets. Finally, he, himself lay his head down upon his pillows, pulling the remainder of the sheets close to him. Akia fell into his own dreaming slumber; as his hand rest lightly subconsciously stroking Amoris' wing.

[Amoris]

Amoris awoke to the feeling of someone’s hand on his arm. It was a comforting thing and he smiled. Slowly his eyes fluttered open, allowing him to look down at Akia.

His smile widened as he observed the peacefully slumbering youth. He really was perfect…In fact, there was just something about Akia that drew the Jshiko to him. He was wonderful.

The brunette stretched out his hand to lightly caress the other young man’s cheek and to brush away a stray lock of hair. It was then that he realized something. Wing equals bird, and hand equals human…So, if he had hands…

Amoris looked down and yelped when he saw the only thing that covered him at the moment was some extra bed sheets. He jumped in surprise and fell of the bed with a ‘THUD’ sound. He winced as he wrapped the sheets tighter around him, hoping he hadn’t woken up Akia. That was all he needed…

It’s not like he could have helped it though. Master Shibbs had discovered that his pupil ‘sleep-shifted’ occasionally after an incident where he found a baby elephant asleep in the brunette’s bed. He wasn’t sure why he did it, he just did; whether it was from human to animal or vise versa.

Normally, a Jshiko would wear at least a pair of pants with the magic to follow with a person’s transformations. They were some what a required thing if you didn’t always want to end up naked in the midst of someplace. Unfortunately he had taken his off in exchange for the nice silky ones his host had given him.

Speaking of…where were those slippery little things?

[danicaloy]

At the sound a loud thump, Akia shifted and blindly lifted his hand to the desk next to him, feeling for the alarm clock thinking it needed to be switched off.

Fingers numbly pushed the button...nothing happened.

However, Akia mind was still too tired in order to register that it wasn't the alarm clock to make that sudden sound. So, he rolled back to his side to get comfortable. Stretching out, Akia reached his hand across the bed but was something was amiss. Sleepy blue eyes opened slightly to see that the other side of the bed, where Amoris slept last night, was empty! It was then Akia, noticed the sheets had fallen over the edge. Slowly, Akia dragged himself over and peered over the side. However, the scene before him made Akia blush like crazy.

There on floor, tangled among the white sheets, was Amoris, back in his human form, and naked! Now Akia knew how Amoris felt when the man saw him naked. Akia tried to quickly calm himself down as he sat up and reached out his hand to help Amoris stand up. He couldn't help but get lost in the other's deep brown eyes.

Realizing his cheeks were still flushed, Akia turned away and went over to the dresser, pulling out some new clothes. Just before heading out of the room, he paused however keeping his back to Amoris so the other would not see his blushing red face. "Why don't you get dressed for the day, and meet me in the kitchen for breakfast?"

When Akia was all dressed and ready for the day, he went down to the kitchen, and had just about gotten breakfast on the table when he saw Amoris enter the room. 'OK, I'm going to ask him, now. Come on, Akia, what is the problem? Why does my heart always race whenever I'm near this man?' Akia thought keeping his down, barely touching his food.

"Uh...Amoris, I was wondering, if you could stay for a while longer. Perhaps you and I could spend the day together. I don't have to work today, and maybe you could show me your ship, or whatever it is that you got here in."

Akia couldn't believe he had just said that. What gave him the very idea Amoris would want to stay here a moment longer; he probably had friends and family back on his home planet who were missing him, but Akia didn't want Amoris to leave. He wanted to keep Amoris. Akia lo-

No! Wait a minute! Akia couldn't be! He loves Kale! Besides what if Amoris already has someone he loves? That very thought made Akia's heart pound roughly against his chest.

[Amoris]

Amoris grinned and nodded happily at the question. "Sure! I'd be happy to show you my ship; I need to go there and make a connection to the school anyways. If I show you my ship though, could you show me around a bit? I've never been to Earth before...," he said he said as he put some food in his mouth.

The brunette leaned back to chew and observed Akia for a minute. The other seemed conflicted, anxious, confused...He hoped it didn't have anything to do with him though. The cute boy seemed to have enough to worry about without him adding stuff. He wondered what it was though...

After he swallowed, the Jshiko leaned forward and set his fork down before reaching over to set a hand over Akia's. A pleasant tingle ran through him. He smiled lightly before he asked, "What's wrong? I hope it didn't have anything to do with me...waking you up this morning. I'm sorry for that, by the way." He chuckled. "That probably wasn't something you wanted to see first thing in the morning, eh?"

He slowly began to brush his thumb against the other's knuckles before he realized what he was doing. Akia had a boyfriend, after all...He sighed and pulled back his hand before he went back to eating breakfast.

[danicaloy]

A chill ran through out Akia's body, as he felt Amoris' hand leave his own. He just couldn't get enough the other's gentle warmth.

After a few moments he realized he wasn't going to eat, Akia decided he wasn't hungry stood from his place and went to the kitchen, intending to save the food for another time.

When he came back to the room, Akia felt a little better, mostly because Amoris had agreed to stay for a while.

Akia headed for the door then turned back to smile at Amoris, "I have a few errands to run in town, so afterwards you could show me your ship."

'That's' right Akia, smile so no one gets suspicious. You don't want to worry anyone with your own petty problems; especially Amoris.' Akia thought as swung his shoulder bag over his head.

[Amoris]

Amoris looked up and blinked, confused. Despite the smile on the other's face, he could just feel something was off. Why though? ...And what was it?

He stood and walked over to the door where Akia stood and looked down into his eyes, searching for a clue as to what was wrong. The beautiful blue eyes revealed nothing though. The brunette bit his lip and shrugged.

"Yeah...Sure, but...Do you want me to go with you? I wouldn't mind, really," he said slowly. "I mean, if you don't mind or whatever. If you want the company, I'm sure I could help out a bit..."

[danicaloy]

Akia smiled warmly, ' No, just your presence near me is enough.' He wanted to say that but it would've probably have sounded stupid and he felt he was needy little kid.

So, the walk through town was comfortable, talking about random things about Jeskara and Akia described things that Amoris had pointed out to him. Jeskara as well as the other planets Amoris talked about sounded so cool. 'I wish I could vist them all.'

First Akia had to deposit the paycheck, which he had received yesterday, at the bank. Seeing as how there was quite a long line for the teller. Akia decided to just go up to the ATM window. He took out some cash too.

Then they were walking again, side by side, their strides matching perfectly. However, Akia knew that he was the one leading.

All the while walking, Akia kept hearing a tiny voice echo inside his head. Frankly, it was quite annoying. The boy knew it was saying something about himself, but he just brushed it aside, whatever it was, was probably just selfish thinking.

Next they came to the music store. Akia invited Amoris to try out several different kinds of music, and asked him which ones he liked the best. Akia then found that his favorite group had just released a new single, and he couldn't help but buy it.

That voice in his head was back, a little louder this time still reciting the same words over and over again, but Akia was having so much fun talking and just being with Amoris. He didn't want the fun of the day end because he burdened Amoris with his own petty problems.

None the less, the two continued their walk and just reached the corner of the block when Akia noticed that directly opposite them on the corner block was the coffeehouse where he worked most of his days.

Akia was just about to say something, however, the once small voice was now pounding in his head. He couldn't ignore any longer. His vision became blurred with bright light and he legs felt too weak to even stand.

The boy tried to take a step forward in order to shake off the nauscious feeling, but he stumbled. As he fell all he could hear was the voice bellowing, beating against his eardrums.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU EAT SOMETHING IDIOT!!! YOU KNEW WE WERE STARVING HERE!! EAT SOMETHING NOW OR YOU GOING TO GET SICK!!"

Akia remembered that he hadn't really eaten a full meal all week. He had been so busy with work and searching around for clues to his past and most currently Amoris' arrival; he hadn't had time.

[Amoris]

Amoris had been having fun. Akia had shown him so many cool, new things. Especially the music. It was so different from what he was used to that he had contemplated buying some of the CDs with the odd looking money the other young man had shown him.

All throughout the day, the Jshiko made sure to keep a watch on Akia though. He still wasn't sure if something was wrong with the other or not. Sure, he said he was okay, but...There was a feeling inside Amoris that told him that something was off.

They had just turned a corner and stopped. Akia looked over at him and motioned to a store across from them. He looked as if he were about to say something, but stopped short.

The silver-haired youth just stood there, eyes glazed and mouth gapping. Finally, he took a step forward but stumbled. He looked as if he would fall and caused the brunette to spring into action.

Quickly he moved towards the youth and wrapped his arms around him. "What's wrong? Are you okay?" he murmured worriedly. He could tell the other wasn't unconsious yet, but saw that he looked close to it. He bent and scooped Akia into his arms fully, with an arm underneath the other's legs and one around his shoulders.

Amoris looked around for help. He had never been prepared for having to take care of someone else and he wondered what to do. He figured the best place to go would be that shop they were about to go to, so he started in his way across the street...hoping that someone could help.

'Please be okay, Akia...Please...'

[danicaloy]

Rebecca stood behind the bar of her shop. She was getting ready to close, the young woman always closed up for a few hours before sunset, then she would reopen again 'till midnight. And so, the twenty-nine year old red-head began pulling wine bottles and other brewers from under the counter. It was a rather unique place; bookstore/coffeehouse by day, a bar club by night.

Rebecca was just on her way to the back to get more glasses when out of the corner of her eye she noticed two young strikingly handsome young men coming toward her shop. The strange thing was that one of them was being carried and looked to be unconscious. Becoming worried she edged closer to the window to get a better view. She gasped.

It was Akia! Her favorite employee and very good friend. She used to babysit him when he was a toddler, but that's another story.

Rebecca ran to the door throwing it open, she ran over to the two boys. "Dear God! Akia! What happened?!"

She calmed down, to the point her voice was normal again. "Come inside." She motioned to the young man holding Akia to enter the shop.

[Amoris]

Amoris looked pleadingly at the red head as he walked in. "I don't know what happened! We were just walking and he fell and...," he said, trailing off.

He looked around the place before he saw a suitable reading chair to set Akia in. Carefully, he lowered his arms to prop the boy against it, making sure that the silver-haired youth wouldn't fall. He pulled up a smaller chair and sat down next to the other.

The brunette watched Akia silently for a moment. He looked up at the woman who had come to welcome them in with a small frown. "Can you fix him?" he asked, still confused about what had occured and if the red head in front of him could figure it out.

[danicaloy]

Rebecca kept her eyes on Akia and the young man, who carried him in, as they sat down in the louge chairs across from the bar. She was grateful someone was at least with Akia this time.

As she heard the brunette's question, Rebecca smiled. "Don't you worry your pretty head, cutie. I'll be right back." And with that she disappeared to the back room.

The red-head returned with a bowl creamy, hot steamy soup on a tray. She noticed Akia now had his eyes opened, trying to comprehend where he was at. Sighing, she walked over and placed the soup tray in the white-haired boy's lap.

"Eat up, sweetie." She said slightly forceful. Then sitting down on the opposite side from where the brunnette sat.

After a while, when Akia paused for moment to relax.

"Do you feel better now sweetie?" Rebecca said being motherly.

"I do; thank you Rebecca and you too Amoris. I'm sorry I caused you any trou-" Akia answered but was cut off by light blow to the head.

Rebecca had lightly slapped the boy on the back of the head, as she looked at him sternly with her red eyes. "How many times I have told you Akia you don't have to apologize for everything that goes wrong. However, this was your fault, I mean when was the last time you had a full meal."

"I didn't all week." Akia whispered lowered his head.

Rebecca was shocked. Then sighing in exasperation, "Oh, Akia when will you learn it's not healthy to over work yourself? Now, I know I'm not a doctor or your mother, but finish your soup and rest here."

Rebecca stood from her place, and pulled the brunette up with her and over to the bar to give Akia time to himself to relax. She could see the worried look in the man's eyes as he kept them on the Akia.

"Don't worry about Akia, cutie, he just needs to eat something once in a while. That boy can be so stubborn sometimes, he never lets anyone help him, always afraid he'll burden someone. He just doesn't think he's important, but everybody else in the world is. I'm sorry where are my manners, My name's Rebecca Natsumi, and who are you cutie?"

[Amoris]

Amoris was, to say the least, shocked. He couldn't figure out how someone so wonderful and great could see himself as being unimportant. He watched Akia sip his soup for awhile before turning to Rebecca to respond to her question.

A small flush colored his cheeks. 'Cutie?' he question in his mind. He would have chuckled if not for his concern about his host. No one had ever called him 'cute' before; it was always him who called people. He figured himself more...sexy...handsome. Okay, so he was a tiny bit vain. He fingered the sunglasses on his face a bit before he answered.

"My name's Amoris...Amoris Chilton. I'm a...friend of Akia's, I suppose." He glanced back at the other, wondering if he really was considered a friend. They had only known each other for not even a full day; yet, there did seem to be a connection between them like most friends had...

The brunette quirked his lips up at that. He really did enjoy spending time with the other youth. It made him...happy, happier then he had been in forever - which was funny because Akia was hardly his first friend. There was just something about him that attracted the JShiko to him.

Said Jshiko looked back over at Rebecca with slightly furrowed brows. "But...How exactly could someone so perfect think so little of themselves?" he asked in a low time. "I mean, how could he deprive himself like that?"

He shook his head, dismissing his own question. "No matter, I'll be sure to take care of him. I should have noticed that he hadn't eaten dinner...He just pushed it around...," he said, feeling a small pang of guilt. He also felt sympathy for the youth. After all, his parents had been gone for ten years, and where in Jeskara was this boyfriend of his?! Akia had said he had been waiting for him, but exactly how long had he been waiting?

Amoris glanced back Akia worriedly and bit his lip.

[danicaloy]

"Well it's good thing were with Akia, Amoris." Rebecca smiled. "He needs some friends like you, maybe even more. Especially since his parents left and Kale left."

At the very thought of those people, Rebecca was ranting, "I mean can you believe it, his parents left him alone when he was only ten year old, and on his birthday for Kami's sake! Sure, that boy is responsible and mature for his age, but that's just ridiculous. You want to know a secret Amoris, I don't think their even coming back. Taylor and Megumi love adventure, and they love to travel, before Akia came into their lives they didn't even give a second thought about having children. And don't even get me started on Kale, that boy, he said he loved Akia, and I actually believed him, but just two years ago, when Akia turned 17, an important age for a boy, the kid just up and disappears without even a trace! I know Akia was heartbroken but he didn't show it, he just kept it bottled up inside, not letting it anyone know. You know one day he going to get himself sick for doing that! I don't want that to happen, Akia's like my brother. I don't want to see him fall into a depression-state though I fear he might already be too deep."

Rebecca paused for a moment, to catch her breath, just then an idea struck her, and she abruptly turned to face Amoris.

"Amoris, I notice Akia trusts you a lot, and don't give me that look, I've seen the way he's looked at you. Anyway, I have an idea, suppose you were take Akia on a vacation of sorts, make sure it's relaxing enough to make Akia nearly forget everything, possibly even in this life, except me of course. You will help Akia won't you Amoris? Do whatever it takes. I want to be able to see Akia smile again, like he would when he was a child."

Rebecca leaned close to Amoris' ear, smiling serenely. "I know you want to see that too; I've seen the way you look at him and him at you, and I know you would be good for each other."

[Amoris]

Amoris just stared at Rebecca with wide eyes. "What?" he asked dumbly. "I mean, yeah...I want to help him, but there's no looks!" He had to surpess a grin at the
mere idea of Akia looking at him, whether it was true or not. He continued on though and said, "He doesn't look at me; he has a boyfriend...Well, at least in his mind if what you're saying is true." He had to resist the urge to sneer at that. Akia deserved so much better then that.

"Besides, where would I...take...him...?" His voice faded as a thought struck him. "I think I might know of a place to go...actually. If you honestly think it would help, and if he agrees. I'm not doing anything he doesn't want me to..."

He looked at Rebecca and then back at Akia. Slowly, he moved over to the other youth. "Hey, what's up?" he asked, setting a hand on Akia's shoulder. "Feeling better?"