#lets pray this formats right sksjs i had to write up another post bc mobile fucked it upwhen i tried to edit something 😭😭

[dargonpoop]

its been a WHILE since ive written any fic but i rediscovered some old stuff and figured id post it?? so. have a cute lil soriku one shot under the cut

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Kingdom Hearts Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts) Characters: Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Pence (Kingdom Hearts) Additional Tags: Mentioned Roxas (Kingdom Hearts), Beach Trip, Fluff, Pining, Yearning, Crushes, THEYRE SO CUTE, Alternate Universe - Normal Life, mentioned locations are just... normal towns, roxas and sora are twins, sora and riku are dummies but mostly sora, sora and riku are also saps but mostly riku, One Shot Summary: Sora wants to go to the beach, and Riku is a sap.

Muggy, humid days always came after rain on Destiny Island. The ground wasn't even wet anymore, as if the air had sucked all the moisture up into itself. Riku wished it would take his sweat too.

Even the shade of the tree he and Sora sat beneath provided little relief. There was no wind, only sun and water and heat. And sweat.

Sora leaned back, closing his eyes against the sun. His arm rested against Riku's, tan against white, hot and slightly sticky.

"We should go to the beach."

Riku turned his head, cheek against Sora's hair. "We practically live on a beach," he murmured, and the corners of his lips curled up.

"Yeah," was all Sora replied. He absently picked at blades of grass, ripping them out of the ground one by one. Riku ached to twine their fingers together.

"If you want to go to the island—"

"No, no." Sora sat up suddenly, turning to face him. His eyes twinkled, an idea dancing behind them. "I mean another beach. Somewhere else."

"Somewhere... else?"

"Yeah!" He hummed thoughtfully, tracing patterns on the ground. "I think there's one near Twilight Town. Roxas told me about how he and Hayner, Pence, and Olette went a few weeks ago. The water there is colder than here, too. What do you think, Riku?"

Riku plucked a strand of grass off the other boy's shirt as he turned the suggestion over in his head. Why would Sora want to go to a beach in a town several miles away when they had one right here? Maybe it wouldn't be as sweaty.

"Twilight Town." He'd go with it for now. “Okay.”

Sora's face lit up. "Twilight Town it is, then!"

Riku hoped it'd be worth it.

~•~

Sora was many things, but he was decidedly not a good planner.

He congratulated himself on at least finding a way to Twilight Town in the first place. He'd managed to remember the route thanks to his visits with Roxas to see Hayner and friends. And he'd remembered to bring enough munny for gas in case they needed it—which they did—and for the train tickets.

But apparently, that was the end of his luck, he figured as he glared at the "Closed for Maintenance" sign hanging on the Central Station door. Riku stood next to him with his arms crossed, trying to hide the amusement in his eyes. It wasn't working.

Sora sighed in defeat.

"Bummer, right?"

He perked up at the familiar voice behind him. "Pence!"

"Heya," said the pudgy boy, waving a half-eaten stick of ice cream and grinning. "What're you up to? And who's he?" He pointed his stick before slipping it in his mouth.

"This is Riku," Sora introduced, hopping down the few steps from the Station doorway to be level with Pence. "Riku, Pence."

Riku nodded in greeting but stayed where he was.

"We were planning on going to the beach," Sora continued, "but.…"

"Ah, yeah. They do mandatory checks every now and then, make sure everything's in working order."

Sora deflated. He felt a twinge of guilt for dragging Riku all this way for nothing.

"Hey, don't look so down. Let me tell you a secret," Pence said quietly, leaning closer. Sora mimicked him, turning his ear, and Riku snorted behind him before turning it into a cough. Sora kicked him in the leg, gently. "See that gate over there?"

Sora followed Pence's outstretched hand to a large doorway in the corner of the lot, squinting his eyes in the sunlight. "Uh huh."

"It leads to the Underground Concourse. You see, it's this underground passageway that connects all of Twilight Town together." Pence spread his arms in demonstration. "If you know how to navigate them, you can go straight to Sunset Terrace. The trains there should be working, but I haven't checked." He stood straight again, adjusting his headband. "Better than nothing, right?"

Sora stood straight and grinned. "Thanks, Pence! You're a life-saver."

Pence sucked up the last of his ice cream. "You know it."

Riku laid a hand on Sora's shoulder. "Are you sure we'll be able to find it?"

"Oh, it's easy," Pence said before Sora could respond. "There are signs everywhere. You can't miss it."

"Yeah, we'll be fine," Sora agreed, tugging Riku's jacket playfully. "I can figure it out."

"You can figure it out? I think the word you’re looking for is we—or maybe just Riku—"

"Hey!"

Riku laughed, tilting his head back. His hair fell away from his face, and Sora found himself smiling too, leaning towards him. He took Riku's hand and tugged, catching him off guard, and shoved him towards the tunnel.

"Thanks again for the help, Pence. See ya!" he said over his shoulder, and the other boy nodded and waved as he began walking off.

"Have fun, Sora, Riku!"

~•~

By the time they finally stumbled out of the tunnels, Riku was sweating. Summer in Twilight Town was brutal. He shrugged off his jacket and hooked it around his arm, the open breeze drying his skin.

"I thought it would be cooler in there." Sora wiped his brow, leaning against a nearby lamppost. Seagulls squawked above their heads, circling just above the buildings. Sunset Terrace stood quietly, the sun casting short shadows on the alleyway road.

"It wouldn't have been so bad if you'd actually asked for directions," Riku pointed out.

"Pence said there'd be signs!"

"Which you didn't stop to look at."

"We made it through fine either way," Sora said, waving his hand. "Next stop: the beach!"

Riku scanned the courtyard for the train station as they walked. A tram rumbled across the bridge above them.

"Look over there," he said, nodding to his left. Sora followed his gaze, past the brick steps and beyond the gate.

Sora took Riku's hand as he ran and Riku followed closely behind, warmth flooding from his palm to his arm and to the rest of his body and eventually fluttering in his stomach. The wind picked up as they bounded up the stairs, and Riku wondered what the beach here was like, if the water sounded the same and if the sand was soft, and he felt giddy with excitement like he was a kid again on another adventure with his best friend.

Well, Sora might be a bit more than that, Riku thought airily.

And then it wasn't airy, and his face heated up and he let go of Sora's hand but Sora didn't notice as he handed his munny to the old lady at the ticket counter, that stupid grin on his face like always. The sun seemed to wrap around his body, setting his tan skin aglow and his spiky hair on fire, and now Riku wondered how Sora would look with his shirt off and his hair wet with sea water. How Sora's skin would feel against his own.

He erased those wonderings, scribbling them out of his mind before they wandered into dangerous territory.

Sora turned and handed Riku his ticket, his sky-blue eyes narrowing.

"Exhausted already, Riku?" he teased, elbowing the other as they boarded the train. "Your face is red. Don't tell me you're already out of shape."

Riku sputtered. "Of course not!"

Sora giggled, honest-to-God giggled and Riku's stomach flipped and danced and Oh god he's so cute.

Riku figured he was fucked. Gay, and fucked.

~•~

Sora curled his toes into the warm sand, watching the waves crashed against the shore twenty feet away. He closed his eyes and breathed, breathed in the salty air and the smell of seaweed, almost like home but not quite. No two beaches ever smelled the same.

"I assume we're claiming this spot?" Riku said behind him. Sora could practically feel Riku’s eyes on him, eyes the color of the sea and the waves.

Riku didn't wait for an answer, and promptly stuck a rented beach umbrella in the ground, twisting it secure. Sora turned and watched him lay a blanket in front of it, beneath the shade.

A small moment passed as Riku stared out at the horizon, a brief smile flickering across his lips. "It's nice."

Sora nodded lazily and lightly leaned against Riku, arm to arm. Long silver wisps of hair tickled his chin as they floated in the breeze, and he tucked them back behind their owner's ear. He let his fingers trail down the side of Riku's neck before pulling away, his heart dancing.

"Ready to swim?" he asked merrily, an eager grin spreading across his face.

Riku smiled lopsidedly. "Thought you'd never ask." He threw off his jacket and dropped it onto the sand before pulling his tank top off, pausing to smooth down his hair.

Sora wasn't sure he remembered how to breathe. His mind seemed to freeze, stop, while his heart did the exact opposite and threatened to cartwheel out of his chest. Heat flared in his cheeks.

He was stunning.

Sora tried not to stare, tried not to look at Riku's perfectly chiseled arms and the light tan on his chest and the curve of his back. He tried, really tried to turn away when Riku bent over to wrap his tank top into his jacket and put them away, but it was too late and Riku was all muscle and his back was so smooth and Sora just wanted to touch it, to touch him, to glide his hands over Riku's skin and pepper it with kisses and oh god his face was on fire.

Riku apparently chose that moment to glance up at Sora, who promptly squeaked and shifted his gaze down, rather horrified both at being caught staring at Riku and at the sound that just escaped his throat.

"What?" Riku's voice turned teasing and he put a hand on his hip, the other reaching up to flip back his hair. "Worried you won't look as good shirtless as I do?"

Sora opened his mouth and quickly shut it, nearly biting off his tongue, and attempted to melt into the sand. He'd been so busy staring at Riku shirtless he'd forgotten to take off his own shirt and now Riku was laughing, and while the sound made Sora's heart do even more rather advanced gymnastics, it did absolutely nothing to help his situation. His mind swirling, he quickly undid the buckle on his shirt and pulled the shirt up. It managed past his neck before catching, half of it up over his head and the rest stuck somewhere between his nose and his chin, because god dammit he'd neglected to pull the belt off first and now he was trapped with his arms dangling awkwardly in the air and his eyes covered by red fabric. In front of Riku.

Who had the audacity to laugh even harder.

"Help," Sora demanded weakly, muffled.

"Hold on—I'm sorry, but—hahaha!" A thump as Riku dropped to the ground, and Sora kicked him, using sound to guide his angry foot. "Ow! Okay, alright, c'mere." Sora could hear the smile in his voice.

Calloused hands tugged Sora by the arm before reaching for the belt, slipping it out of its loop. The shirt loosened around Sora's face and he pulled it off at last, ran a quick hand through his hair to fix the spikes. Despite everything, his lips tugged upwards into a sheepish grin.

"Sorry about that."

Bright green eyes met his, crinkled with laughter. "Shirt troubles? Really?"

Sora chucked the clothes at Riku's face, morphing his face into a pout. Riku caught it deftly and tossed it next to his own clothes.

"In my defense," Sora said, "I still need Roxas's help putting that thing on."

"That's supposed to be a defense?"

"Well, at least you know it isn't totally my fault!"

"Sora…"

"What?"

Riku paused, his head tilted down a degree and his eyes watching Sora through his bangs, still twinkling. "You're… cute." He blinked and backtracked, his cheeks tinged pink as he stuttered without forming a sentence.

Sora was definitely floating, he figured without looking down; he was too light and he couldn't feel the sand anymore, and the wind wasn't blowing but if it did he was sure it would carry him along with it. He struggled to speak, to form a coherent response to Riku's words.

You're… cute.

Instead, his body decided to act of its own accord, and he sprinted towards the water.

"Race ya!"

~•~

The sun hung low in the sky, barely brushing the tips of the waves reaching up towards the two boys lying back on the sand, sea salt ice cream in hand. The summer heat had dissipated and the wind had picked up, brushing past Riku and Sora as it crossed the beach.

Riku watched through his hair as the other boy finished his ice cream, digging the stick into the dirt idly. His eyes reflected the entire world and the setting sun, like blue mirrors. He's beautiful.

As he finished his own popsicle, Riku recounted the day in his head, backwards. Heat poked his face as he recalled their earlier conversation, just after he'd freed Sora from his shirt, and the words he'd let slip. You're cute. He mentally slapped himself in the face.

He was surprised Sora hadn't picked up on anything yet, that he'd continued on like it was nothing. They'd run into the frigid water and splashed each other and played around like usual, laughing until they cramped and couldn't swim, salt water stinging their eyes. Just like they did back at Destiny Islands.

"Hey, Sora?"

A hum in response.

"Why'd you take me here?"

Why, when we have our own perfectly good beach? Why, when it took half an hour to drive to Twilight Town and another to find a working train station? Why, when we could have easily turned back around to save the trouble?

Sora's lips curled up in a soft smile, the corners of his eyes crinkling.

"Well?" Riku asked.

"I wanted to spend time with you is all," came the quiet reply.

He turned his head to face Sora, met his eyes. "Why not at home?"

Sora shrugged. "I guess I just wanted to do something special. With you."

Riku felt heat crawl up his neck and his stomach curled in on itself. Sora's eyes never left his.

"And why's that?" he said, his voice tilting playfully, the corner of his mouth tugging upwards in a smirk.

Something danced across Sora's eyes, flickering for a split second before Riku could no longer see it, could no longer see anything but Sora as Sora's lips pressed against his own, sliding between them, and Riku immediately melted into the kiss, his hands reaching up to cup Sora's face. Sora tilted his head and the kiss deepened, and the world spun and then disappeared. He tasted like ice cream and the sea, and Riku's arms tingled where Sora's hands were before they moved down to wrap around his waist and a part of him wished they were still shirtless but this was fine, everything was wonderful and made of Sora.

They pulled apart slightly and Riku breathed a sigh of 'Oh, the entire day clicking into place. And now he was surprised he hadn't picked up on any of the hints Sora had been dropping. He leaned their foreheads together, his eyes closed, and Sora giggled and pulled him closer, tighter.

"So…" Riku murmured, his mind numb in perfect happiness, "was this supposed to be our first date?"

"Well, it definitely ended up that way."

Riku hummed, placing one last kiss before pulling away and opening his eyes. Sora was absolutely glowing, and Riku was sure he must've been the same.

"Let's do it again sometime."