the stars are humming for you
just lie here with me---¤
for gray-rain skies
challenge.fic
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Sora slips out his bedroom window, headed for his island. It's a warm, sea-bitten evening, perfect for lying on the beach and staring at the stars. He needs to get out of the house— tonight, walls are simply constrictive. The moon is waxing, barely illuminating his path as he heads down to the wharf, his steps slapping slightly on the rough concrete beneath his sneakers.
The waves slap against the pillars of the dock, rocking the boats beneath it. Sora slips into his, ignoring everything but the sound of the waves and the dipping splash his paddle makes as it hits them. Pressing his palms against the familiar, worn wood, he pushes off from the dock and flows across the water, a familiar path. He has paddled here so many times that he could probably do it in his sleep.
Tonight, the stars are humming. He glances up at them, leaning back a bit against the wood of the boat, hands slowing in their rhythm. Above him, the pinpricks of light dance a little as his eyesight moves with the waves, and he smiles, wide, just because he can.
When he gets to the island, Sora ties the boat to the dock, slips out of his sneakers, and climbs out, not bothering to climb up onto the wood, because the water is shallow enough that he can walk in it. He sloshes his way around the end of the dock and up onto the sand, his bare feet making tracks that meander after him. He pauses a moment to decide whether he wants to stay here, or move on through the door and into the cove.
The cove, he decides, is the better choice. From there, if he's quick enough, he might just be able to catch the suns last afterglow as it makes its way down the horizon. Breaking into a run, he pounds across the sand, remembering briefly the millions of times he's raced across the sand in the sun. He rounds the edge, under the bridge, then slows to a halt and pushes open the door to pass into the other side of the island.
He leaps off the embankment and onto the bridge-type thing that spans the shallow water beneath it. Hopping across the rotted section, he leaps onto the ground on the other side and then trots down the steps.
As he passes the raft that is falling apart from lack of use, he notices Kairi's boat, which has been pulled up onto the sand by the owner of a set of footprints which mills around the boat for a moment and then sets off in the opposite direction from where Sora came. He stares at it for a moment, and then peers around the flap of the sail on the raft, curious.
Kairi is leaning back on her elbows in the sand, her head tilted back, auburn hair falling down against her shoulder blades. When Sora steps forward, he stubs his toe against the raft and stumbles forward. "Owww," he complains, and the noise causes Kairi's head to shoot up in surprise and alarm. When she sees it's only Sora, her furrowed brow relaxes and she smiles.
"Hey."
Sora rubs at his left foot ruefully with his right and grins down at her. "Fancy seeing you here," he says quietly, the happiness in his voice apparent. Kairi smiles back and pats the sand beside her, motioning for him to join her.
"What are you doing here?"
He sits down, leaning back and resting his head on his hands. "Same as you. I wanted to see the stars."
Kairi's smile widens and she drops her elbows so that she is lying flat on the sand beside him. "They're gorgeous tonight," she says simply, her bangs falling off her forehead and settling against her ear. Sora watches the descent, trailing his eyes across her face. She doesn't notice, however, so he turns his head again and watches the sky.
He thought it would be nice, when he left his house, to watch the sky and the stars and the sun's last glow, but it's infinitely better when he does it with her.
"Kairi?"
She sighs happily, rolling over on her side to face him. "Yeah?" Again, her bangs fall across her face to cover her eyes. Sora, after a swift internal battle with himself, gives in to the bolder side of him and reaches out to tuck the stray bangs behind her ear.
Kairi blinks at him, her cheeks tinged faintly with pink. They stay like this for several long seconds, and Sora's brain is trying to figure out why there's so much silence, and then he remembers that she's waiting for him to say something. He grips a bit of sand in his fingers and lets it dribble between them, watching the grains fall, sifting into a castle shape. He's trying to remember what it was, exactly, he was planning to say.
He wings it. "I like the stars."
She quirks an eyebrow up. "Really."
His face turns red. "Yes." Floundering, he tries to come up with something a little more intelligent to say. "Well, they're beautiful. And… um, beautiful."
Kairi is staring openly now, mouth open. "Well, that's, uh—"
"— but, but, the thing is," he says, babbling, "they're really not anywhere as beautiful as you are, 'cause they don't have red hair that glimmers or, or, blue eyes, or— and when you laugh, I can't think very well, and I'm not sure whether that's because of some mental disability or the fact that you're pretty much gorg—"he trails off as Kairi rolls onto her back, laughing.
Sora stares at her in disbelief. Now that his brain's finally come back, it's yelling at him profusely for spewing words he didn't even think consciously. And now, now that he's made a complete and utter fool of himself, she's laughing.
He raises a hand and scratches the back of his head in embarrassment. "Why are you laughing?" he asks plaintively. Kairi calms down a bit and turns her head to look at him, looking highly amused.
"You do have the habit of making a bit of a fool of yourself," she teases, poking him in the stomach. He flushes, embarrassed, and turns his head back to stare at the sky again. At least then he doesn't have to look reality square in the face; the reality that he just spilled practically his entire soul to the girl of his dreams (and days and nights and memories and favorite moments), the reality that she will probably never look at him the same, ever again.
There is silence for several minutes. Sora can hear her soft breathing beside him, and it lulls him into a quiet that keeps him from thinking about the mistake he's made. It surprises him immensely when she speaks up.
"Sora?"
He turns his head, takes a breath. "Yeah?"
Kairi grins playfully at him. "I like the stars."
Sora groans. "Okay, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said it. Can we drop it?"
Kairi reaches out a hand to trace his eyelids with a finger. "No, we cannot drop it," she says, eyes sparkling, "because I like making you blush."
He reddens (manfully). "I don't blush!"
"Yes you do."
"No, I don't!"
Kairi grins up at him, leaning forward so that their noses brush. "Yes you do. You're blushing right now."
In fact, he's also rapidly losing all moisture in his mouth, and his heart beat is skyrocketing. Their proximity is getting to him. "No, I'm really n—" And he can't talk anymore, because Kairi has leaned the rest of the way forward and her lips are on his, and if he thought her laughter stopped his mind and heart, her kiss swallowed that whole.
Without thinking, he slides closer in the sand and brings one hand up to slide along her jaw, his fingers brushing mirror-kisses across her cheek. Sora can feel her shiver against him, and that is all it takes to break his concentration and make him pull away, gasping slightly for breath. Her eyes flutter open, and she grins, slowly.
"You're okay at kissing," she tells him, and her whispered words start up butterflies in his stomach.
"Compared to who?" he doesn't want her to answer that, because that would mean she's kissed someone before him, and that thought is not a good one.
She grins mischievously. "Compared to Riku."
Sora's eyes widen, and the butterflies stop dancing. His fists clench. "What?" Right know, all Sora wants to do is take Riku down. He's surprised. He's hated people before, but this is… this is intense. He's glad Riku's back on the other island, because if he were nearby, fists would fly.
Kairi's still grinning. "Oh yes," she says matter-of-factly, "He's a wonderful kisser. The things he does with his tongue! And his hands—" She stops at the look on Sora's face, giggling.
Sora glares at her for a moment. Then he reaches for her, determined to prove to her that anything Riku can do, Sora can do better. Because Riku's always bested him at everything, at all the little things that don't really matter; this does matter, so much, and he's going to prove that he can.
Sora smashes his lips to her, pouring everything into this kiss. And when he pulls back, Kairi's lips are swollen and her eyes are wide.
"Sora," she says, and her voice is hoarse, "I was joking."
He stares at her. "What?"
Kairi giggles, pulling him close. "I've never kissed Riku in my life."
Sora's still gaping. She laughs and kisses him again. When she pulls away, he finally realizes that he's been acting a little silly, and he grins at her. He's suddenly very relieved. Riku isn't in the picture. It's just Sora, and Kairi, and the stars, and now.
He stares her in the eyes for a long moment. And then he presses a light, quick kiss to her lips and grins. "Tag. You're it!"
She looks confused for a second before it dawns on her. And then they're both up and running, dashing along the sand and away from the raft, their feet making deep imprints in the sand. After they're gone, the sand slowly sifts back into place, like it always does, so that the next time they come, they can make more.
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ze end.
awww, poor sora. you're so gullible.
standard disclaimer applies.