at the edge of the bower

They had been merged for so long; it was hard to tell where one began, and the other ended.

Their forms were melded to one heart, entwined seamlessly on the surface and from within. The sensations that one felt were echoed throughout, akin to a single drop of water rippling through water.

Perhaps that’s why here, in the hollowed psyche that Riku had created within his heart to retain still a sense of self—his or Ansem’s, he wasn’t so sure anymore—that all their differences became painfully apparent.

Riku sat back against the guardian’s broad chest, its arms curled around his waist as Ansem trailed gloved hands along his spread thighs. Riku lifted his hips, a tad bit impatient, and for a moment, it appeared that Ansem was hesitant.

It almost made Riku laugh.

“What’s the matter?” he taunted, trying to goad a reaction from the heartless. In the beginning, Ansem had been less gentle about taking over, declaring Riku as his vessel, and therefore a mere extension of himself. But lately, things seemed to have changed, and Riku would have been a fool to miss the telltale signs of rejection and fear. He raised an eyebrow and tilted his head, “Afraid?”

“Do not taunt me, boy,” Ansem’s response was immediate, and he lifted one of Riku’s thighs, examining the wet cunt before him. “...you are merely impatient, and this requires time.”

Riku grabbed one of the guardian’s large hands and guided it to his groin, sighing softly as the thick fingers began to rub at his slit. “Well, you’re about to run out,” Riku laughed at Ansem’s irritated stare. “We’ve done this at least a hundred times by now. Surely, someone as bright as you already has this committed to memory, yeah?”

Ansem watched as the guardian buried its face in the crook of Riku’s neck, its fingers sinking deeper between Riku’s folds.

“You’ve changed and adapted… I wonder how much longer I’ll be able to follow,” Ansem said quietly, pressing his thumb against Riku’s clit.

Riku squirmed.

He wondered when it happened that he started to think of Ansem as a man.

At his back, the guardian’s presence grounded him, and as Riku rocked against its fingers while Ansem rolled his thumb in circles, he wondered if it was ever possible to love without a heart.

“Does it,” the guardian curled its fingers in him, and Riku’s breath hitched, “D-Does it make you sad?”

Ansem laughed, humored. “Foolish as ever, boy. Such emotions are foreign to me,” he moved closer, “And not possible without a heart,” he lifted his thumb to Riku’s bare chest, marking an x over his heart. “Care to share?”

Riku shivered, his slick cool on his chest. “Do you even have to ask?” he stared up at Ansem through his lashes, blood pounding loudly in his ears as his heart threatened to jump right out into the man’s waiting hand. “It’s always been yours, right?”

He felt a low rumble in the guardian’s throat, and Riku cried out as its fingers curled sharply, its other arm tightening around him.

“What a foolish thing,” Ansem muttered, sitting back and allowing the fabric of his pants to peel away, his cock slowly emerging, “Following only a phantom memory.”

Riku never knew what Ansem meant by that, but the man lined the head of his cock against his cunt, hesitation no longer weighing on his form, and Riku figured he could always find out another time.

The guardian refused to move its fingers, and Ansem rolled his eyes, pushing in.

Riku arched his back, a broken cry in his throat.

They could sort out their differences another time.

Now was the time for them to become one again.