Fingers glide through your hair, pulling knots free gently, and you sigh.
It's a clear day, the sky bright and blue as sea-salt ice cream while you mourn the loss of clouds to pull shapes out of. Wind ripples the palm tree leaves above you, and you shift your focus to them, pushing your head into the calming touch on your scalp.
There's a pause in your massage, and you tilt your head backwards, staring at the owner of said fingers. "You're thinking too hard, Sora."
Said Sora rolls his eyes upwards, huffing softly, resuming the scalp scratching. "Shut up, Riku."
"Mm. What're you thinking about?" Sand filters through your fingers idly as you squint up at the leaves above. You're pretty sure you should have headed home a while ago, but it's too calm on your little island to leave just yet.
"Lots of things. Like ice cream. And swimming. Maybe a little about the homework I should be doing, except apparently it's Princess's grooming time." There's a light tug on the end of your hair, and you should really get it cut because you're sick of all this pulling. Goddamn brunets and their abusing hands. You contemplate tugging his own locks, but it's just so far up and you really don't want to move your arms off the hot sand.
"I didn't tie you down and make you brush my hair, you did that all yourself." Sora grumbles in response, leaning over to block your view with his huge head. Glaring, you mutinously think about wrestling him into submission, teach the kid a lesson about interrupting your time examining trees before you realize that would require effort. You settle for a slight frown and hope it works.
It doesn't, but you don't worry about that. "Want to come over and watch a movie?" The brunet grins widely, completely ignoring your disgruntled expression. You suppose that he's had a lot of practice.
"Sure. I'm not helping you with calculus though. Or any of your homework for that matter."
"I wasn't going to ask you!" Sora's cute when he pouts, you think, and smile at the thought. You know for a fact he was so going to try and convince you to help, and you'll probably still end up doing it anyway. You finally move your lethargic limbs, pulling one arm to yank on the tip of one carefully styled brown spike. Ignoring Sora's squawk of protest, you sit up, shaking your hair out and brushing sand off your arms and back. Standing, you reach out an arm, grasping Sora's hand and yanking him up, smiling a little wider when he jumps higher that necessary. You gather both backpacks while Sora gathers strewn popsicle sticks and wrappers, shoving the bundle into the side pocket of his bag. One last glance at the glistening surf before you turn your back, heading to the docks, watching Sora occasionally stop to scoop up seashells and hand them off to you for safe keeping.
By the time you're both settled in the small boat you left waiting, you have a rather large cache of shells stashed in the pockets of your shorts, along with a fair amount of sand. You row slowly, watching as Sora leans dangerously close to the edge to watch fish dart away from the boat. You have half a mind to shove him overboard, except he'd try to pull you too, and you just bought a replacement graphing calculator from the last time that happened, so you sit still and row like the servant you apparently are. You really don't mind doing all the work, because it gives you an excuse to stay silent while you think and watch. A lot of your thoughts are about Sora, and really, that's kind of embarrassing because you honestly think about this boy way too much.
You can't really find it in you to care.
Sora leads the way after you tie up the boat on the mainland, taking the packs while you buy drinks, tapping his foot and sighing as you feed bills into the machine. He accepts the soda gratefully though, twisting off the cap immediately and sloshing Sprite on the ground when you press your own bottle to the back of his neck, jumping and shrieking in the most un-masculine way and it's all you can do to avoid curling up on the ground and laughing until you cry. As it is, you snort and bend over, clutching your knee and Coke, coughing as soda floods your nose.
You really love him, especially when he makes you laugh like this, you think idly as you calm down. You settle this thought on a shelf in your mind, watching as it gleams with soft light. It's a pretty thought, a warm thought.
You focus back to the now, smiling as you ruffle Sora's hair, he still looks affronted and unhappy. You glance around, then kiss his forehead gently, watching his expression soften, and you love the way his eyes get all squint-y when he really, truly grins. You don't even twitch when a hand sneaks up to press a cold drink to your neck, and you laugh again when he resumes his offended expression.
"That's not fair, you prick!"
"It's not my fault you're predictable and it's two hundred degrees out here, that feels good. Are we going to your house or not, douchebag?"
Sora's house is small and right on the beach, making it the official gathering spot for you and your friends. The back door opens right up on the surf, and you have eighteen years worth of traipsing in and out through that sliding glass door, bouncing back and forth from the air conditioning to the sparkling water with Sora, Roxas, and Kairi, with Xion and Axel joining in your early teens.
Right now, the house is dark when you finally manage to wander up with Sora, leaning against the door as he fumbles in his pockets for the key, snorting as he swears creatively before the shiny bit of metal is found.
"Roxas went out with Xion and Axel, he'll be back late. Or he'll probably end up sleeping over with one of them."
You nod in response, immediately heading to the kitchen to grab something, anything, you were on the play island for hours and you weren't keen on the idea of eating sand. Sora settles in on the couch after tossing the backpacks by the door to his room, and you join him with a pack of sliced ham and the loaf of bread. Both of you take turns making sandwiches, Sora turning the TV onto some house hunting show for background noise as you eat.
Two sandwiches each later, you're sitting on the ground in front of the brunet, accepting your fate as he braids your silver hair expertly. Kairi sat both of you down in fifth grade, teaching the pair of you all day to braid. You figured it was karma for having a girl as one of your best friends, plus the fact you haven't cut your own locks in a few years. It brushes just below your shoulders now, and it serves as the perfect plaything for when Kairi and Xion are bored and unamused with your snark. You move back up to the couch when Sora finishes, shifting the bread and ham to the coffee table before spreading out and laying down. You shove your feet in Sora's lap, who tolerates them for all of five seconds before rearranging himself, laying on your chest.
It's dark outside, and the glow of the television is all that illuminates the house. Sometime during the braiding you had found the Harry Potter movie marathon on ABC, and you watch as the young wizard receives his letter from Hogwarts. Sora's humming quietly, making soft noises of contentment as you gently trace letters into his side with the hand that's splayed across his chest. You know he can read the movements easily, ever since he first felt them traced against his spine two years ago when you had slept over after realizing that yeah, you were love-drunk with the idiot.
"You always write them, you know," he gently reminds you, because he knows that sometimes you forget to say it out loud.
Nodding, you trace it one more time before your lips outline the shell of his ear lightly. "I love you."
"I love you too." You can hear the smile in his voice, and you press butterfly kisses down his jawline, ignoring the uncomfortable crick you're developing in your neck.
"I know."
AN: Hello everyone! Thank you for reading my story, if you make it this far! c: Please review if you liked it, and if you didn't, review still and tell me why!
This is my first posted fanfiction for Kingdom Hearts. Since 7th grade (almost 6 years ago, wow!), I've been a huge fan of the series. This is by no means my first written fic for the series, and it won't be the last, but it is the first that I've ever posted. Amazing. But I've always loved the characters and their dynamics, and figured it's probably time to start releasing content for the game, considering the upcoming release of KH III.
So expect to see more in the future!
-vin