Disclaimer: If you snagged every disclaimer from every fic on this site and stuck them all in a Word doc with formatting, it'd be long than most of the fics on here. Oh, and I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Big surprise there, huh?
Warning: My brainchild and current obsession, Roxidus, makes its angsty encore appearance. Also, this is a kinda-sorta sequel to Between Blonds, and while it isn't necessary to go back and read that to understand this, it does help. Oh, and I time-jump. Lots. Just, uh, assume that everything takes place in the nebulous "between" time, when Tidus & co. are still in school but after KH2, unless it says otherwise. (insert sweatdrops here)
Other: This was for the 1sentence LJ community, and I plan on doing all the themes. Whenever I get around to 'em, I'll post the results on here.
Gold and Sapphires
Comfort
Tidus wrapped his arms around himself, trying to comfort himself as the blond walked away.
Kiss
Roxas watched as Sora kissed Kairi and Riku and didn't make a sound; when he watched Tidus kiss Riku on a dare, he screamed and shouted inside Sora's head and not-so-secretly wished that it was him moving his lips against Tidus'.
Soft
Girls' lips were soft and boys' lips weren't but Tidus didn't want just anyone's lips or hands or body on his.
Pain
His heart broke a little more with each step he took but still he walked on, heedless of the other boy's sorrowful stare or mental shouts of his name– 'Roxas!'– because he knew that staying would only bring more pain.
Potatoes
Tidus stared down at the potato he had been carving, and no one in class knew why he got so upset when someone asked if the face was Sora's.
Rain
It had rained in the World That Never Was, but Roxas had never seen rain on Destiny Islands, and he wondered if Tidus had ever seen the sky cry.
Chocolate
What started out as a simple reminder became an annual tradition, and Tidus never ever forgot to set the chocolate down, ever so gently, on the beach that they had first met, early every Valentine's Day morning.
Happiness
Even though he had no heart and was thus denied any true feelings of happiness, Roxas hoped that someday Tidus would be happy.
Telephone
Tidus had flipped through every book in his house and borrowed his friends' as well, but no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't find a number for Roxas listed in any of them.
Ears
Roxas heard Tidus laugh with ears that weren't his own, but the bitter tears that he cried were wholly his and for some reason that made him feel a little bit better.
Name
Whenever Tidus stared at the ocean, Roxas' name came to mind, and he didn't know whether it was because he had met the boy on a beach or because Roxas' name reminded him of the strong, harsh crash of the ocean's waves as well as the flowing grace of the ocean's tides.
Sensual
Sometimes, when Sora sat next to Tidus, Roxas would hear his name muttered under the blond's breath; when that happened, a purely sensual shudder would run down the spine that he didn't have, and he'd suddenly wonder if he really didn't have a heart to feel emotions with.
Death
Tidus knew that everything had to come to an end, but when they ripped down the old pier to build a new, "sturdier" one, he couldn't help but think of it as one hit closer to the death of his memories of Roxas.
Sex
All Nobodies were virgins, and had no desire to be anything other than that, but sometimes Roxas felt that it wouldn't be a very big sacrifice, if he could just hold Tidus in his arms.
Touch
Tidus knew that it was wrong, but each touch brought him closer to the edge, until finally he thought he would go insane while screaming Roxas' name– not the name of the boy who was touching him– in grief for what could have been, and not in passion for what was right now.
Weakness
If Roxas had a weakness, then it was for blonds— but he had never thought of Demyx the way that he thought of Tidus.
Tears
Sometimes, when the sky was overcast on a particular summer day, or when he would look at the pier or the beach and remember, Tidus was bitterly angry with himself for not having the strength to let go of his tears.
Speed
No one on the islands was faster than Riku, except for the one time when Sora had dashed halfway across the beach to catch Tidus and prevent him from cracking his skull on unforgiving rock; only Riku and Kairi had recognized the flash of blond in his hair, and neither of them knew why he had done it.
Wind
Feeling the air blow against him and whip his hair into his eyes and against his cheeks, Tidus wondered if Roxas was feeling the same warm, storm-charged wind on some other beach.
Freedom
The only thing that Roxas wanted more than his own body was Tidus, but to get him he would need a body for himself, and he knew that they were both equally impossible to attain.
Life
Red life swam through his veins and blue life rippled against his legs, but Tidus wanted to feel gold life against him and knew that that would never happen, and so black life was born inside his heart.
Jealousy
As captain of the bliztball team, Tidus was pretty popular with the girls and boys around school, and as Roxas repeated to himself that he wanted Tidus to be happy, happy, happy without him, he hoped that someday that repetition would kill his raging, Axel-eyed jealousy.
Hands
Tidus could tell who someone was just by shaking their hand, and his skin had memorized one hand in particular, so that, even though he knew it was futile, he would be able to recognize his one-and-only when next they met.
Taste
Roxas deeply envied every spoon and fork and straw on Destiny Islands, envied them with all of his supposedly-nonexistent heart, because they had the chance to taste Tidus' mouth and he didn't.
Devotion
Obsession was making a shrine of someone and praying at it every night; devotion was lying on the beach once a week and waiting for the darkness to give him back his Roxas.
Forever
Unlike nothing, Roxas wouldn't live forever, but he knew that if souls lasted forever, he wanted to see Axel and Tidus in the next life.
Blood
Girls bled once a month and boys bled every chance they got, but Tidus thought that his heart bled every second that Roxas wasn't with him, burning drops of love and despair and loneliness and disappointment that trailed down his eyes without air to turn them red; he then thought that he was being melodramatic and resolved not to tell anyone about the slip.
Sickness
Sora got sick with fevers and flues every so often, but Roxas felt sick more often, and Sora told him that the sickness was called love and that there was only one cure; Roxas told Sora where he could shove his 'love' and went to find a dark corner of Sora's mind to sulk in.
Melody
There was a tune, a rhythm, to the beating of the waves and the rustling of the wind and sand and the shivering of the leaves and fronds of the tress and vines; every night, Tidus listened to this melody, and sometimes he would dance, twirl step spin jump like no one knew he could, while other times he would waltz, because you need two to tango but the wind was always willing to dance with him when he felt particularly depressed and couldn't get a certain person out of his head, like lyrics to a song that went on and on and on...
Star
Roxas knew that one star in the sky was Twilight Town, but he also knew that there was nothing there for him; besides, none of those stars could hold a candle to the brilliance that was Tidus' heartfelt smile.
Home
They said that home is where your heart is, so Tidus didn't know where his home was, because he had given his heart away to someone after only a day and then they had left, and taken his home with them.
Confusion
To say that Roxas was confused would be an understatement; after all, who wouldn't want to share ice cream with Tidus?
Fear
Tidus was not a regular fan of fright, because every day he dreaded waking up to find out that Roxas had died that night, years ago, when he had walked off into the darkness.
Lightning/ Thunder
Roxas felt that Tidus was like lightning— bright, fast, and deadly— but he hoped that Tidus wasn't as fleeting, because both Tidus and lightning were too beautiful to leave the world forever.
Bonds
Sora blabbed on and on about how the strong the bonds of friendship and love were, with significant looks in Kairi and Riku's directions, but all Tidus heard was "everybody's connected" and "always."
Market
The marketplace at Destiny Islands was much different than that of Twilight Town, and Sora found himself jumping on top of a building just so that Roxas could get a good view of Tidus in a sea of heads.
Technology
Tidus was amazed at how fast Destiny Islands' technology had advanced, and he eagerly awaited a way to get in contact with other worlds; hopefully someone out there would know something about Roxas.
Gift
Roxas picked out a present, and Sora wrapped it and let Roxas sign it, but Roxas didn't leave his name; after all, it was just a birthday gift, not an engagement ring, though Roxas wanted to get Tidus one of those too.
Smile
Tidus knew that a section of the yearbook was devoted to "the best...", but he had ripped out the picture for "the best smile;" his cheeky grin was nothing next to Roxas' heartwarming smile.
Innocence
While Roxas was hardly an expert at life, he held none of the innocence of his Other, and some days he wished that that wasn't so; that innocence might let him believe that he and Tidus would get the "happily ever after" that his heart was yearning for, while his coldly rational mind told him that that would never be the case.
Sky
Tidus knew that his name was derived from a word that meant "sun," and that Sora's name meant "sky," but he knew that he would never, ever want his sun to be above or within Sora's sky.
Clouds
Marring the beautiful sky with their fluffy whiteness, Roxas laughed as he compared himself to the wisps of water vapor, briefly amusing and depressing both the sun and the sky.
Completion
Riku had tried explaining how the body, soul, and heart worked together, and how you needed all three for completion; after Tidus asked him what someone without a heart was, Riku didn't understand why Tidus insisted on calling himself a Nobody.
Heaven
Watching Sora and Riku spar, hearing them exchange words meant just for each other, and feeling their keyblades and skin hit each other, Roxas couldn't help but feel left out, and he wished with everything in him that he would suddenly be somewhere else, and that Tidus was there so that he could explain everything and know that he was in heaven.
Hell
Hell for Tidus wasn't a place of fire and brimstone, or thick fog and the smell of dead and rotting things; Hell was watching all his friends pair off and get married, and being alone because he had made the mistake of falling in love with someone who he had only ever talked to once.
Sun
The one thing he missed most about his semi-real life in Twilight Town was the sun, he had thought; feeling the warm breeze on his face, touching sun-baked sand with his bare feet, exploring heated waters with his friends...but somehow, watching Sora and Tidus do it for him was just as good.
Moon
Tidus loved how the moon illuminated the waters; somehow, even though the moon in the sky was mostly silver with a hint of gold, the moon in the clear water was mostly gold with a hint of silver, and it helped Tidus remember a face that he had committed to memory so long ago.
Waves
Roxas watched as Tidus and Wakka dove into those churning waves, swimming towards some toy some silly girl had dropped; mentally, he commended that silly girl for getting him a view of Tidus' bare chest as the water swirled against it.
Hair
Everyone on Destiny Islands had odd hair: Sora's mom's was purple and always escaping from its braid, while Riku's dad's was a painfully bright green that was a weapon all on its own, but Tidus preferred the other kids' hair, especially Sora's, because with a bit of gel and dye, Sora's hair could look like Roxas', and Tidus both liked and disliked that idea at the same time.
Supernova
They learned in Science that when suns and stars 'died,' they exploded in bright flashes of light and heat that somehow produced the basis for everything in the world, and Roxas mentally snorted at their ignorance: Tidus wouldn't go out in a great big explosion, because it was physically, mentally, psychically— and all those other -ally's— impossible for Tidus to go out at all.