A/N: SO THIS HAPPENED. I'm sorry guys, I know this isn't my usual stuff but I was on a KH kick and WHO DOESN'T LIKE A GOOD OL' RIKU SORA FIC. This is my first time writing KH, so please be kind to me!
Reviews and comments and CONSTRUCTIVE criticisms are always a welcome privilege, and I hope y'all think this is a good kicker - there's more to come.
Also I am not from Texas. I just use y'all because ALL GENDERS ARE WELCOME AND STUFF. LOVE YOU. LOVE YOU ALL.
Thanks for reading and I hope any new readers will stick with me!
Much love - Masi!
DISCLAIMER: KH, SORA, RIKU, the DESTINY ISLANDS and like. KAIRI AND SELPHIE? YEAH NO NOT MINE. SQUEENIX'S BEAUTIES.
Oh G-d, what am I gonna name this...OH YEAH AND THIS IS SLASH/BL. TEEHEE. I got a twitter? Follow me at masifox ? WHEE?
CHAPTER 1
- Splinters -
Sora shifted. He wasn't entirely used to being back on the Islands yet, and he felt…restless. He and Riku had finally returned, to Kairi's enthusiastic welcome, but…it was midsummer with nothing to do and nothing to whack around with his Keyblade. Not that he was the kind of guy who had such violent tendencies that he needed a constant punching bag, but he was exceedingly and entirely too-
"Booooored," Sora moaned, rolling over on the usual paopu fruit tree and laying on his stomach with his arms and legs hanging limp. "Riku, spar with meeee." Sora rolled onto his side and started poking at the older boy's side.
"Ow. Stoppit." Riku scowled and swatted at Sora's prodding hands. "Will you stop whining?"
"We'll see." Sora grinned and watched as Riku swung his legs up to his chest, letting the momentum carry him up off of the curved trunk of the tree until he was holding himself up with just his arms, then swinging his legs back out again in a smooth jump off the tree. "You always say that I'm whining, though."
The younger boy slid his body off of the tree and landed in a squat on the side opposite Riku, and shoved his hand into the sand before pulling his old wooden sword out of the soft earth. He let the momentum of his arm's upward movement bring him into a one-handed vault over the trunk, bringing his sword into a back handed swing at the older boy's shoulder.
"Hah," Riku let out a swift exhale and dodged with a quick duck and slide under the tree, stuffing his hand into the soft sand and pulling his sword out as well. "You hid mine in the same place. Nice going!" Riku grinned and swung his sword up to defend.
"I haven't used this thing since…I dunno, since the Heartless first came to the Island." Sora's small sword felt dwarfed in his hand, though the handle was wider than that of his Keyblade. But the length was so much shorter than he had remembered; he ended up swinging harder than he probably should have as he launched into a short combo.
"Hm!" Riku quickly blocked Sora's short swing upward, then the long one to the left, even the short poke that followed Sora's slide to the right.
"Hey, stop blocking." Sora chewed on his cheek a little and hopped back, feet sinking into the sand slightly. "At least do something!" He leapt forward again, used to the feral and frequent attacks of the Heartless and unsettled by Riku's cool and concise style. The fact that Riku had advenced so much since they had fought in Hollow Bastion irked him slightly; Riku was becoming a much cooler headed fighter than him.
Riku didn't respond, but the next time Sora launched an attack at him, Riku responded with a back bending dodge and a swift hand change on his sword, moving it from his right to his left. With a swift movement that Sora nearly missed, Riku's dented wooden sword was at the base of his skull, pressed gently into the skin at the back of his neck.
"I win." Riku grinned. "Always do."
"Not always," Sora whined, frowning. He'd beaten Riku before, right? Yeah, sure he was kind of. Infected by the darkness in his heart, but. Aside from that, he had beaten him still, right? "Not…always…" Sora scowled in thought, biting lightly on his lower lip.
"Pretty much always." Riku grinned again, the amusement reaching his eyes this time. "Keep thinking about it, you've never won a fair fight."
"Hey! I don't care who or what was controlling you, fair is fair." Sora pouted again.
The older boy tackled Sora, bowling the younger boy over. "Watch it," he growled, sounding amused and ticked off at the same time.
Sora punched at him. "Gerroff," he protested through a mouthful of vest. "You know I didn't mean that badly. Get offffffff!"
After a few more half-assed punches from both sides, Riku rolled off to the right and hopped back onto the paopu trunk. Sora clambered up after him, tossing the short cat fight out of his memory almost immediately.
"Hey," Riku started. Then he paused, looking concerned. Or…unsure? Sora stared at Riku, blinking in confusion.
Unsure Riku. That was a new one. "Mm?"
"Since when are you and Kairi a thing?" Riku was looking straight forward, expression giving nothing away.
Sora scowled. "What's that supposed to mean?" He was honestly and genuinely confused, and the frustration of the event that had begun to take place.
"You and Kairi. Together, dating, a thing. She was practically eating your face earlier." Riku was scowling, his eyes not meeting Sora's, expression sour.
Sora was puzzled. " You mean the kissing? Well I dunno, she asked me if she could kiss me when I got back and was all blushy about it. I thought it'd be okay if we kissed a couple times. Why?"
"She said you're dating."
"Well that's new," Sora remarked, complete honestly and innocence in his voice; he honestly had been no part in deciding that.
Riku raised his eyebrows, expression staying frustratingly poker-ready. "Mm? Does kissing not equate to dating in your mind? You rascal."
Sora turned from the ocean to face Riku. "Well I mean. She told me she liked me like waaaay back." Sora held his hands up to emphasize the vast time interval. "So I was okay with it, and we just kind of assumed that was how it would work, and I agreed since it'd make her happy and all."
Riku scowled, and Sora continued, trying to urge the thing on Riku's mind out into the open. "And well, I'd heard from Selphie that love isn't something that just happens, and that you start to like someone after they tell you they like you."
Riku grunted, so he went on. "I thought it made sense and all, since I like it when people tell me they like me or are happy, so I thought 'Yeah, that makes sense' so like…yeah." Sora shrugged. He found himself running out of things to say, but Riku still wasn't saying anything.
"Sora."
Sora grinned to himself; finally, a response.
"Yeah?"
"How many times do I have to tell you that you're a blockhead?" He let his head fall onto his left shoulder to look at Sora blandly.
"Hey! That's rude!" Sora scowled, sitting cross-legged on the trunk now.
"Also, don't you remember how people keep telling you that you need to learn how to say 'no'?"
"I do remember, but this is different, and happened before they said that."
"How so? How are you thinking for yourself and not just doing a favor to her?"
Sora felt himself getting flustered. Riku never really showed much emotion, let alone showed when he was upset with something. Or in this case, someone. "Because...! Why does it even matter?" Sora felt his eyebrows coming together in confusion. He'd never been forced to question something that had been there for so long before.
"Because you don't have a mind of your own in whatever kind of relationship you two have!" Riku's tone was still smoldering, but seemed slightly toned down in temper and volume. As if he had to control himself. The older boy turned to face him, speaking with a calm intensity. "Do you like her."
"Yes."
"Why."
"Because she likes me."
"What if I said I like you?"
Sora froze. This was hypothetical, right?
Right?
"You're joking, stop coming up with scenarios to throw me off."
"I'm not joking."
Sora balked. No, that wasn't possible, Riku liked…Sora frowned. He had never actually asked Riku who he liked, and he knew that Riku had never told him.
He gasped. "Riku! You like Kairi, don't you! And you're jealous that you didn't get a chance?"
Riku stared dumbfounded at Sora, disbelief coloring his face, and Sora was convinced he had hit the problem spot on. It made sense, right?
And then Riku snapped. The other boy stood up, sliding off of the tree, and walked to stand in front of Sora.
"Sora. Think. Before. You speak."
Sora froze, eyes wide. It wasn't the face that Riku's face was only inches from his own that shocked him, nor the fervent tone of Riku's voice. It was the boy's vivid eyes, the striking cyan filled with too much emotion for Sora to handle.
The brunette shivered under the pressure of Riku's gaze before the older boy finally broke eye contact, right side of his mouth twisted in annoyance. He stalked off, eyebrows furrowed and fingers squeezing the bridge of his nose.
"Riku, wait!" Sora cried out half-heartedly, voice still a little shakey from the pure intensity of the glare he had just received. But Riku did not oblige, and Sora could have sworn that the dark storm clouds far away in the distance were making their way slowly but surely towards the older boy.
What had just happened?