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turnupswritessometimes · 2 years ago

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Fandom: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games) Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts) Summary:

"Still think you should say hi to Santa," Sora murmured. His bat wings fluttered, of their own accord.. "Later." It was Sora's turn to roll his eyes. The door in front of them was not the one to Christmas Town. Instead, it was a red heart. Valentines Town. They were had a heartless problem, according to Jack. According to Jack it was, "A delightful, interesting place! Sally and I honeymooned there, you know. I'd hate for them to have trouble." So Sora and Riku agreed to help out. *** Hijinks in Valentine's Town

"I'm confused," Riku said.

"That doesn't take much," Sora replied. He couldn’t resist.

Screams came from the graveyard behind them. Riku glanced back, frowning. It made Sora feel very brave - very cool - to ignore them, but they still sent a chill up his spine.

Riku elbowed him. Hard enough to make him stumble. "Halloweentown is its own world, yet there are doors to other worlds within it. But they aren't their own worlds. You don't need a gummi ship to get to Christmas Town.”

They walked through the forest, under the silver moonlight. It made every shadow look twice as spindly, twice as long. Sora expected Heartless to jump out from behind any of them. His hand itched to summon his keyblade, even though Jack insisted no heartless had gotten back through to Halloween Town. Yet.2

"I could park the Gummi Ship in Christmas Town.” Sora pressed his tongue against his fang until there was a spark of pain. He tasted blood.

Riku just snorted, and rolled his eyes. Disconcerting, when they were yellow. When they glowed like a cats. Whatever magic disguised them in other worlds had bleached what little colour there was in Riku's skin and hair. It made the black stand out; the black of his clothes (not so dissimilar to his own), the black of the great, clawed hands - the black of the horns. They reminded Sora of Maleficent's. Of course, he couldn't say that. It was hard to say anything whilst Riku had fangs. They were all Sora could see. The thought crossed his mind – of cutting his tongue on Riku's fangs – and his cheeks warmed.

Riku actually paused in their walk to look at him, properly. The snort and eye roll had been a dig at Sora's driving. He'd gotten distracted – the shadows made Riku's cheekbones look carved from marble – so he tried elbowed him back.

Those thoughts were getting harder and harder to control. They snuck in whenever he was with Riku, and sometimes when he wasn't. Passing thoughts, but ones that turned his stomach or made him warm. Thoughts about kissing him. He told himself they were silly thoughts, that he’d never do. But they weren't. He knew they weren't. They were more than that.

Still, weren't to be acted upon. Couldn't be acted upon.

They reached the door, in the middle of the woods. The screaming graveyard could barely be heard from here.

"Still think you should say hi to Santa," Sora murmured. His bat wings fluttered, of their own accord..

"Later."

It was Sora's turn to roll his eyes. The door in front of them was not the one to Christmas Town. Instead, it was a red heart. Valentines Town.

They were had a heartless problem, according to Jack. According to Jack it was, "A delightful, interesting place! Sally and I honeymooned there, you know. I'd hate for them to have trouble."

So Sora and Riku agreed to help out.

He took hold of the handle. Took a breath, and tugged it open. He didn't have the same excitement that he had over Christmas Town. There was no Santa on the other side of this door. Instead, there would be – chocolates, he supposed. Girls made boys chocolates on Valentines.

"You're not scared of here, but you're scared of Valentines?" Riku asked. He had a hand on the edge of the tree, ready to jump.

Sora forced himself to laugh. Forced himself to say, "No way," and take the jump. It was a familiar sensation; magic; rippling his clothes, ruffling his hair, over his wings.

Then, they landed.

His heart still raced. The air here was warmer, with the sun pressing through his eyelids; it smelt sweet. He didn't know why he was so nervous. This was a routine job. In, make friends, fight heartless, out.

This world was extremely pink. The path spread out before them, edged on either side with magenta poppies and red roses bursting from their stems.

"We changed forms to blend into Halloween Town, but changed again to blend into here." Riku shook his head. "It is confusing."

Sora made a sound. He was too busy taking Riku's new appearance in. He’d kept the fangs, and curling horns - though they were a dark, shining mauve now. His clothes had shifted; a cravat and collar, though his shirt was still sleeveless. Smart trousers and shining boots. And a tail. He had a long, thin tail with a spade shape at the end. It should not have been attractive.

Riku blinked, his eyes very green in the pink forest. "What?"

His tail twitched, as though it was self-conscious. Not a spade, Sora realised. A heart. It was tinged mauve too.

"Just - you don't look very Valentines-y," he replied, sure his cheeks were burning again. His heart and wings kept fluttering. He still had wings. He hadn't had wings in Christmas Town. He glanced back to see white. They were still small – not big enough to lift him from the ground. Here, they were feathered. He twisted, trying to see them better. Kept twisting, and felt like a dog chasing his tail.

Riku caught his shoulder. Turned him back the right way, and looked him over. Even his cheeks looked pink; that must have been a side effect from the world's magic.

"You do," Riku said. "Look Valentines-y."

Sora glanced down. His own clothes were lightweight, light - draping, like the fashion at the colosseum. He didn't usually feel self-conscious about a different form, but he did now. With Riku.

He tried to play it off. Gave Riku's shoulder a light punch and said, "Watch out, or my arrow’ll go through your heart.”

And Riku laughed - showing those fangs - before following Sora down the path. The rose bushes grew in heart shapes, so did the tree trunks; all cherry blossom of course, scattering pale pink petals down like confetti.

"So, you're an angel," Riku said. His tail twitched behind him, the heart staying upright. "What does that make me?"

Sora stretched an arm above his head. Tried to stay casual. "Some kind of imp?"

"A devil?" And Riku actually looked a little hurt. He pouted around the fangs. "I feel typecast."

They came to an iron gate, entirely made of twisted hearts. Sora stopped, a hand on the swirls, and looked at Riku. "It doesn't matter what you look like, you have a good heart. A good, strong heart."

His hand had risen. It hovered above Riku's chest, to prove his point. They were closer than he realised. Closer than he’d meant them to be.

Riku looked down, eyes searching as though he expected him to be joking. Searching for something. He bit his lip. Didn’t reply.

Sora’s fingers curled into his palm. Slowly, he brought his hand down. Twisted it into the gate behind him, instead. Gripped it so tightly his palm hurt.

Then Riku looked up, sharply. Frowned. “Are those heartless?”

He already had his keyblade summoned. Sora caught his, as he turned, grateful for the interruption, for once. There were dark shapes in the sky, flitting about like huge birds. He ended up hopping onto the gate to see better. One swooped close enough for him to see clearly.

“Those are cherubs,” he replied. Now that the amber sun had caught them in its light, he could make out the baby-like features of their faces. He laughed, releasing his keyblade. “I’m just an oversized chicken.”

And almost squawked like one, when Riku swung the gate open, with him still perched on it. He stepped past, onto the dirt road. His hand grazed Sora’s bare arm, as he did.

“It doesn’t matter what you look like,” Riku chanted. But then turned earnest. “You’ve got a good strong heart.”

Said heart was still racing. Sora hopped down from the gate, and hurried to catch up. Couldn’t help tweaking Riku’s tail as he did. He jumped, with his whole body, turning on him. He looked impish, with that look in his eye, and that smirk on his face.

Sora’s wings fluttered. He grinned back. Only half-heartedly tried to dodge Riku’s hand as he sought payback; he tweaked the covering still over Sora’s eye.

That made him realise it had changed to. A rose. Riku had caused one of the petals to come loose. It fell, almost heart-shaped itself, to the path. Crimson, against the plain dirt.

He tore his gaze away. They had a job to do. Heartless. Fighting. Saving the world. Not messing around. Not thinking about how handsome Riku looked. What the fluttering in him meant.

He needed to shed those thoughts, like petals from a rose.

This world felt like sweet torture.

They continued until the road turned to cobblestones, and the found the town proper. It looked like a child’s illustration; chalk white buildings topped with sugar-pink rooftiles, decorated with stained glass, hard-candy windows. Good enough to eat. And there certainly were a lot of things to eat; the highstreets were chocked full of confectionaries and chocolatiers; bakeries and coffee shops. Riku’s stomach grumbled at the pastries, the candy, the chocolate truffles. He noticed the dentists stuck in between like crooked teeth, their windows still full of lollipops.

They wandered, through meadows lined with rainbow tulips and past window boxes of carnations. The smell stayed stuck in Riku’s nose; he constantly had to sneeze here. It was all so very – much. Everyone walked in pairs, wearing flowers or reading poems. All lovestruck like puppies, without a care in the world. The two of them walked in a pair as well, but he couldn’t put an arm around Sora. They could hardly walk hand in hand.

They weren’t like that. Just friends.

And he was grateful they were friends, after everything. That he had been forgiven, and, most of all, they were both still here and whole. Safe. He couldn’t ruin that by turning this into anything more.

But it was so hard, when Sora looked like that. When his hair seemed bouncier and softer; he couldn’t stop staring at the wisps at the nape of his neck; short and fluffy like duckling feathers. Couldn’t look away when the one visible eye stared up at him; blue and shining like light in the darkness. His skin caught the sunlight so that he practically glowed bronze, the white clothes accentuating that all the more. He was, quite literally, an angel.

Which was playing havoc with Riku. It was always like this, now, around Sora, but being here, surrounded by love, made it all the worse.

He’d known for a while. Had confessed to the king in a muddle of, “I care about him – a lot. I thought I hated him. I hated him making friends without me. But that’s not – it was jealousy. And it wasn’t hate. I – I don’t know what it is. It makes my heart hurt.”

Mickey had looked at him, in a way that was part pitying, part amused. “Riku, you love him.”

He’d snapped that wasn’t it at the time. Of course, it was. Of course, Mickey guessed right. Of course, he encouraged him to be honest with his feelings.

He couldn’t be.

It was always Sora and Kairi. They were the love story. And how could he ruin this friendship by adding his feelings into the mix? It was best for everyone to suffer in silence.

Suffering was the word now. They trailed through town, but they didn’t see any heartless. Not a single shadow.

Eventually, they brought giant chocolate eclairs, and sat at the edge of the fountain in town square. It was marble, topped with a cherub statue and pouring pale pink liquid. Riku licked at the chocolate topping on the éclair, and tried not to think about how Sora sat so close that their legs were grazing.

“Do you remember Valentine’s day back home?” Riku’s tongue asked, before his brain could keep up. “I think we were six, or maybe seven, and you gave me handmade chocolates at school?”

Sora swung back, on the fountain, almost dipping into the flow of the water. “Oh, don’t.”

But he didn’t really mean it. Riku smiled. “They were burnt.”

“Riku.”

“But you had this big, beaming smile like you really didn’t care.”

They spoke at the same time, the words overlapping like ill-fitting puzzle pieces:

“Everyone laughed at me.”

“You were my only Valentines.”

They both stopped short, staring at each other in surprise. A sweet-smelling wind picked up, and it took another one of the petals sat over Sora’s eye. It left the rose in a heart-shape. His cheeks were the same red as it. That hurt feeling in Riku’s heart returned in full force, and he couldn’t stand it. That was what love felt like, apparently.

Sora swallowed. He ducked his chin. “Like, ever?”

Their hands both sat on the stone edge of the fountain. Riku looked at them, too. Sora’s gloves were fingerless; his own were tipped with claws. Was there a better metaphor for being unsuited for each other?

Yet, his own twitched closer. “Like, ever.”

“Kairi must have given you chocolates,” Sora murmured.

“Only because she made you some. Because she didn’t want me to be left out,” Riku said. Sora didn’t argue. He took a shaking breath. “You never usually care if people laugh at you.”

“I don’t.” Sora’s finger twitched in response. “Because I’m usually laughing with them. But I wasn’t, then. I was the joke.”

Girls gave boys chocolates on Valentines. Boys didn’t give other boys chocolates. But they’d grown up since then, and learnt they could.

“Not to me.” Riku dared to look up; dared to meet that blue eye. Sora stared back, as though he was – amazing. He couldn’t help it, his gaze twitched down, to his parted mouths. His lips were the same pink colour as the rooftops around them. Spun, pink sugar. With a dollop of cream at the edge, from the éclair.

Riku wasn’t really thinking, his heart was beating too loudly; it had taken control of all of him, and his hand reached up. His thumb wiped away the cream. He was hardly breathing; Sora didn’t seem to be either.

His fingers found Riku’s. Seemed to be entangling in his own, when a voice interrupted: “How very unusual!”

Riku pulled away from Sora. Pulled his hand away. Almost summoned his keyblade – half expecting Organization 13 – before he really took in the character before them. Because she was more like a character, than a real person. A towering lady in a meringue of cream skirts; emblazoned with yet more hearts; her beehive hair added another layer of height, coloured as sweetly pink as the rest of the town.

“Oh, sorry—” Sora was already on his feet. His wings stretched out behind him, feathers trembling. “We’re Jack’s friends. Jack Skellington?”

“Oh yes. Him. He’s quite charming, and he knows my dear Mr Shakespeare well.”

Riku managed to pull enough of himself together to stand, and step forward too. He glanced at Sora, who only lifted his shoulders in a shrug back. He supposed if Santa was in this world, there was no reason Shakespeare couldn’t be alive as well.

“He said you had a heartless problem,” Sora continued. “We’ve come to help!”

He put his fist to his chest, looking every bit a plucky hero. Riku’s heart hurt, again. This newcomer glanced to him with eyes the colour of chocolate. Seemed to know, and his stomach jolted in panic.

“Heartless?” The lady shook her head, and it made said beehive sway alarmingly. “No, we focus on filling hearts here. Filling them with love. Why, I thought you were filling your arrows with potion.”

They exchanged another glance, both as blank as each other.

“Sorry,” Riku said, eventually. “It’s our first time here.”

“That would explain the lack of respect for a queen.” She seemed to raise herself even higher, her dress flouncing around her as if it was preening. “Queen Ruby Valentino, the ruler of this land. I would have thought Jack would have told you that. Though—” She peered at them both. “You don’t look like you come from his domain.”

“We didn’t want to disturb anyone in your town,” Sora said. It wasn’t quite a lie, and perhaps that’s why it came so easily from him. “So, we – disguised ourselves.”

The queen stepped around them, examining them both. Riku felt that stupid tail twitch. It was irritating to have something attached to him, giving him away.

“Magic.” The queen concluded. She tweaked one of Sora’s wings. He jumped in response. Pressed back against Riku. He steadied his shoulder without thinking about it.

“And how interesting that magic would choose this. A cupid and an imp, working together. Love and heartbreak.”

Riku suspected his face was terribly red. Imp. Heartbreak. Typecast.

“We’re friends,” Sora said. Defensively. His arm even came out, a little, as if he was shielding Riku.

“Like I said, interesting.” The queen only smiled, glancing between them. “But love is love, darlings. You don’t need to hide it.”

Riku couldn’t move – couldn’t breathe – could only stare. It was obvious, then. He was obvious. She knew. Did everyone?

Sora was frozen too. Even his wings had stopped fluttering. The wind ruffled his hair, and it took another rose petal with it.

“So there are—” Sora sounded choked. “There are no monsters causing trouble about town?”

“None that I’m aware of.”

“It’s not like that,” Riku said. Had to say. “We’re not—”

“Oh. I see.” But she made it sound like she didn’t. The queen stepped forward. Still smiling, and perhaps that was why neither of them moved. She only patted them both on the head, just once, like they were small children. “Well then, enjoy your stay here, sweethearts.”

Then she was swanning off with all of her ruffles and chiffon. Barking an order about flowers to a man who seemed to appear from nowhere, bowing profusely. It left Sora and Riku stood by the fountain. Not alone. Plenty of couples milled at the edges, but they were all in their own lovesick bubbles. They’d barely noticed the entrance of the queen.

Riku was burning. He stepped away, trying to get his tail under control. Running a hand through his hair and finding those horns. Maleficent, he thought, and knew he’d never be entirely free of her.

Sora ruffled his wings like a duck shaking off feathers. He turned to Riku and smiled, shakily. He put his hands behind his head, like nothing was wrong.

“Looks like we’re not needed, after all.”

They weren’t going to talk about it. That was fine – good – Riku could cope with that. He let go of the horn, but still didn’t feel settled. “Why would Jack send us here, if there was no heartless?”

“He must have gotten it wrong.”

Riku wondered about that. Hoped it was not a case of sending them to the wrong world, because he had no desire to see what was behind the door shaped like a turkey. But Jack Skellington didn’t seem like someone who got things wrong. It felt deliberate.

All he wanted was to stop feeling this fluttery panic, stop feeling this pain in his chest. He bit the inside of his cheek, gently, because of the fangs.

“Well,” Sora said. “As long as we’re here, we might as well explore.”

Riku didn’t have an argument to the contrary.

Sora didn’t want to go home. Not yet. Not when he had a purse leaden with munny and they were surrounded by sweet things. Certainly not when going home meant sitting in the Gummi ship, with the queen’s words echoing in their heads. They couldn’t talk about it.

So he chattered loudly and kept buying chocolate. Fluttered around and tried to act as though nothing was wrong. But it wasn’t working. Riku became more and more distracted, fiddling with his hair, biting his lip, looking anywhere but Sora.

It was probably a bad idea to suggest the rowboats. But they were moored on the lake, and Sora had ran out of ideas. So, he caught Riku’s arm and tugged him closer.

“Come on, Riku, you always rowed us to the island.”

Riku dug his heels in. “Sora, we’re wasting time.”

“They expect us to be gone all day.”

“Because you said we would be fighting heartless. They’re out there, in other worlds, and we’re messing around.”

“It’s fun.” Sora dropped Riku’s arm. “You remember fun, don’t you?”

“Don’t do that,” Riku snapped. He looked over Sora’s head, in that infuriating way. As though he couldn’t bear to look him in the eye. “You’ve always gotten to be the careless one. I’m the one who pieced everything together, who—”

It was what Sora couldn’t bear to think about. “I didn’t mean that!”

They shouted it at the same time: “Stop being so stubborn!”

Sora had been focusing so much on the argument – on trying to make Riku look at him – that he hadn’t paid attention to the birds over their heads. Not birds, cupids. Hadn’t noticed the giggles. Hadn’t noticed one notching an arrow. Not until it was flying towards the back of Riku’s head. He didn’t have time to cry out.

It was, mercifully, not sharpened. It bounced off the back of Riku’s head and to the sweet-smelling grass. Rubber.

But it did knock him off balance. He stumbled. Caught hold of Sora for balance, just as an arrow hit Sora’s shoulder. He stepped back, raising a hand to ward them off, and Riku’s weight lurched him over.

He fell, backwards. Hit wood with a great crash that jarred the back of his head. Something heavy landed on top of him. Whatever he’d landed on began to move, sweeping out in the direction of the lake.

The boat. He’d landed on one of the little row boats. He scrambled, trying to sit up properly to grab the oars.

Realised what had fallen on top of him was Riku. Riku, over him, his white hair hanging down, his face flushed red to his pointed ears; hips on top of Sora’s; knees nudging his; hands either side his head.

And Sora’s hands were on his chest. He stared.

Riku blinked. Pulled away, catching himself on the side of the boat. “It’s fine, it’s moored.”

It had been moored. They both sat in time to see that one of the cupids had swooped down. It threw the loop of rope from the side. They had set the boat in motion, and it was getting further and further from the shore.

“The oars,” Riku said. They dove in opposite directions – sending the whole thing swaying – grasping for the oars in their mooring holes. The one on Sora’s side fell through He fumbled, catching it just before it could disappear into the murky water. He threaded it back through, turning with a grin to Riku.

Who looked stricken. His hands were empty. The oar on that side was already gone.

Sora looked back to the shore. The cupids sat on the docks, nudging each other and giggling. They rested their chins on their hands, and watched the two of them.

He shifted, so that he sat properly in the boat, his back against the rim and one hand on the oar. “At least we can go in circles.”

For a moment, he thought Riku was going to punch him. It certainly looked like the thought occurred to him. But then his eyes closed, and he begun to laugh. So widely that it showed his fangs. They glinted in the sunlight.

Riku shifted too, so that he was sat opposite. The boat rocked. Years of rowing back home made it easy to keep their balance, and settle it.

“Or we could swim for it,” Sora said.

Riku raised an eyebrow. He reached a hand over the side, dipping his hand into the water. He held out his clawed fingers afterward, and Sora saw it wasn’t water. It was chocolate.

“I don’t relish the thought.”

“Of course not. Relish is made with pickles,” Sora replied.

Riku flicked the chocolate at him. It landed on his cheek, but he could only laugh. He brought his hand up to wipe it, and paused, the heel of his hand on his cheek. The moment at the fountain. Riku had wiped the cream from his cheek. He’d been so close. His green eyes had made Sora’s heart flutter faster than his wings. Then they had looked down. His eyelashes cast shadows over his cheeks, and he did look like a devil, then.

Then, he’d looked like he was about to kiss Sora.

And he’d wanted him to. Was desperate for him to. That would answer his thoughts and feelings; would solve them.

“Riku.” He swallowed. Pulled his hand back down and there was a smear of chocolate on his white glove. “Back there…”

Riku looked away. His chest heaved with a sigh. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

They continued drifting, chocolate lapping at the hull of the boat. It wasn’t so dissimilar to being back home. Boats and islands had been their world.

Riku didn’t answer. He stared stubbornly into the distance, his tail flicking back and forth like an angry cat’s.

“We can’t do anything else.” Sora looked back to shore. It would be simple enough for one of the cherubs to fly out and tow them back in with the rope, but they were sat, watching. Like this was fun for them.

“It doesn’t matter,” Riku said. “It wasn’t anything.”

Sora slumped further into the boat, crossing his arms.

“The queen’s just – so used to everybody being in love, that…” Riku waved his hands. They fell, heavily, onto the bottom of the boat.

“I didn’t mean her.” Though he’d been turning those words over and over in his head. Love is love. Love. “I meant, before.”

“You’re not a joke to me,” Riku repeated. His green eyes finally flicked back. Shone, like emeralds.

“Thank you.” And Sora really meant it, because that memory still made him want to curl up like a woodlouse. “But, after that.”

“After that—” Riku’s cheeks burnt red. “I don’t know what you mean, after that.”

It was easier to be frustrated, than dwell on that Valentines day. Sora remembered the sniggers. Remembered sitting on his mom’s lap and crying when he got home because they’d laughed at him. He sat up, properly, kicking his shoe against Riku’s.

“You’re not a very good imp.”

“I’m not an imp at all!” Riku stayed slumped.

“Pretty sure love imps are meant to entice people into falling in love.” Sora knew he was pouting. Knew he was being childish. Only half-knew what the plan was. “But you can’t even kiss me.”

“I can.” Riku did sit up then. So suddenly the boat swayed and they both had to catch the side to keep their balance. “But you – we’re not – we’re friends. Just – friends.”

“Well, yeah.”

“And you – and Kairi—”

“No.” Sora didn’t realise that the word had escaped. He clapped a hand over his mouth, but it was too late to stop it. It was out. The admission. His twitched the hem of his toga, instead. “I don’t feel this way about Kairi.”

There was a pause. They were nearing the middle of the lake now. The sun was starting to set, tinging everything rose.

Riku shifted, again. They were very close, their legs fitting around each other. “This way?”

Sora looked up, his chin still pressed to his chest. He opened his mouth, but couldn’t even find the word, much less form it. His heart hammered, wings fluttering. He looked to Riku’s mouth, his tongue pressing against his own bottom lip. Back up, to his bewildered eyes, and back down. Struggled to catch his breath, his fingernails digging into the wood underneath them.

Riku seemed to understand, all the same. Of course he did, he was Riku. His hand raised, palm grazing Sora’s cheek. It wasn’t so much leaning closer, when they were already so close, but just tilting his head closer. Close enough to graze their lips together.

It felt like magic. Like when he cast magic. Sora pressed their mouths together, firmly, chasing that feeling. Caught the back of Riku’s neck as he went to pull away. Kept him close, their legs tangled, one hand finding Riku’s chest, leaning into the hand on his cheek. Feeling like he was truly flying.

It made sense. It was Riku. The thoughts and feelings – the puzzle – fit together. Love.

Riku was gentle, when he took Sora’s shoulders. He let himself be tugged away an inch, gasping for breath. He was sure he heard cheering in the distance.

“We’re – is this just because of the town?” Riku whispered.

Sora’s eyes were still closed. It was a great effort to prise them open. “I meant that valentines. You were my valentines.”

Riku’s hands went to his cheeks. Pushed him just far enough to examine his expression. Whatever he saw made his brows unfurrow. Made his eyes soften. Riku tugged Sora back, their lips crashing clumsily. But that was fine. Still felt like magic. He kissed Riku back, fangs catching against his lips. It made his stomach leap.

They kept kissing. It kept feeling wonderful. Until one of Riku’s fangs caught Sora’s bottom lip in earnest, and made it bleed. Riku insisted on no more of that until they were in their own bodies again. Sora pouted. Settled for entwining their hands though, and marvelled at the feel of it. They used to hold hands, when they were very small. Until they’d been told boys didn’t do that. He’d missed it.

“How long?” Sora asked.

Riku shrugged. “At least Castle Oblivion. But I have a feeling it was before.” He made a face. “I feel like even Maleficent guessed.”

Sora couldn’t help cringing. It was one thing to fight an enemy. It was another for them to get involved in their love life.

“I felt so confused,” Sora admitted. “After that valentines. After – everything.”

Riku’s fingers tightened on his. It sent a bolt of warmth through him. He pressed his tongue against the cut Riku’s fangs had made, and smiled to himself. His fluttering heart didn’t feel so terrible anymore. Not when they were both smiling at each other, cheeks warm, eyes shining. They were still drifting, but that was alright. They weren’t expected back, yet. They were floating on a chocolate lake, at sunset. It was like a dream.

Riku sighed, but was still smiling. “If we hadn’t gotten stranded here, I wonder if I’d ever have told you.”

“All according to her majesty’s plan,” a new voice said. A high, squeaky voice, from above them. A cherub. Up close, they really did look like chubby babies. It grinned at them.

Another had picked up the rope from the helm. It took three cherubs to tow them back to shore, where the rest of the flock was. They clapped and waved at the two of them.

Sora really did want to curl up like a woodlouse. He looked at Riku, his stomach twisting.

“They planned this,” Riku replied. Rolled his eyes, and maybe there was something in the air, because Sora found himself chuckling. Their string of clumsy tumbling made sense. The bad luck that had stranded them on a boat with nothing to do but confess to each other. Of course, the queen of Valentine’s Town would set something like that up.

The rest of it fell into place. There weren’t any heartless here. There never was.

“No.” Sora didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. They had been so obvious, even the dead had realised it. “Jack planned this.”

Riku groaned, throwing his head back. But his shoulders were shaking with laughter. Sora leant against him. Hid his face, and felt safe. He always felt safe, with Riku, now. Another petal flew from over his eye, catching the wind and somersaulting.

They were towed back into shore. An imp and a cherub. But they weren’t, really. It didn’t matter what they looked like.

What mattered was their hearts.

#kingdom hearts #turnupswrites #kh #soriku #sora/riku #fanfic #fanfiction #soriku fanfiction #this is what i do now #i see kingdom hearts fanart #and i write fics about them

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