Hi, I'm back with another angsty Soriku fic!

The excitement for KH3 is real, guys! SO REAL. I've been immersing myself in the series again in preparation for January, so here's a little something I had to get off my chest. Not beta'd. Please feel free to point out any/all errors to me!

Enjoy!

Riku could never stay asleep anymore.

After spending so much time away, so much time running and hiding, so much time forcing himself to remain alert at every moment, so much time trapped in darkness with his own demons...it was hard not to wake several times during the night. Most of the time, it was the tiniest sound that would suddenly rouse him. Other times, it was the nightmares.

Tonight, it was a light tapping at his window that drew him from his restless sleep.

Riku sat up, peering through the darkness of his bedroom to see what was causing the noise. The moonlight illuminated the outlines of a familiar mop of brown spiky hair, and blue eyes he knew all too well seemed to almost glow in the night. Sora had his face pressed against the glass, hands splayed on either side, with one of his index fingers tapping on the clear, hard surface. Riku couldn't help the fond smile that crawled across his lips. It was just like when they were kids, sneaking out of their houses and climbing into each others' windows in the dead of night.

"Riku, let me in," came Sora's muffled voice from outside, laced with a hint of desperation. Riku was already on his feet and reached the window as Sora spoke. He unlatched the hook holding the two panes together and pulled them open. Sora climbed in and practically fell into him, clinging to his best friend as if his life depended on it.

"Sora?"

Riku clutched the smaller boy, his form almost deadweight in his arms. Unable to support Sora's weight, he slowly lowered them both until they were seated haphazardly on the floor. Riku's long legs bent around Sora's compact form, like a shield of sorts. Sora situated himself in Riku's lap and pulled himself as close to him as he physically could. He buried his face in Riku's chest, tangling his hands in the loose fabric of Riku's sleep shirt and holding on with a white-knuckled grip.

"Sora?" Riku said again, trying to get some sort of answer out of his best friend. Slowly, he wrapped his arms around Sora in a tentative hug.

This wasn't like Sora. Not at all. Something was definitely wrong. But Riku hadn't gotten a single word out of Sora since he'd opened the window, so until the brunet decided to talk, Riku could just be a steady, supportive presence for him.

It wouldn't make up for all their missed time, Riku thought with no small amount of shame. But it was a start.

"You're here," Sora whispered into Riku's shirt, so quietly that Riku almost didn't hear him. Instinctively, Riku's arms tightened around Sora.

"Of course I'm here," Riku assured him. "Where else would I be?"

At long last, Sora looked up at Riku. Tears welled in his cerulean eyes. "I just…" His gaze fell then, and he tried sniffing back his tears. "I had to make sure." His tanned hands loosened their grip on Riku's shirt, and were now fidgeting idly with the wrinkled fabric.

Riku let out a long breath, the air from his lungs rustling the tips of Sora's hair. He felt the guilt swelling up inside of himself, accumulating too quickly for him to try and subdue it. Everything was all his fault. Everything that had befallen their trio, their island…

Every bit of trauma that Sora had endured up to this point had all started because of Riku's ambition and selfishness. His desire for power.

The feeling of hands on the bare skin of his arms pulled him out of his darkening thoughts. Sora was running his fingers up and down Riku's pale arms, causing goosebumps to rise out of his skin. His touches were feather-light at first, as if hesitant and unsure. As if Sora wasn't entirely convinced of Riku's corporeal presence.

"I'm here," Riku reiterated, suppressing the shivers Sora's touches elicited in him.

Sora looked up at Riku again, like he was seeing him for the first time. His hand reached up to touch Riku's face, cupping his cheek and lightly stroking his sharp jaw. Riku leaned into the touch just slightly, his aquamarine eyes staying locked with Sora's darker blue ones.

"Sometimes, I wake up…," Sora started, taking in a breath through his nose. His eyes slid shut. "I wake up, and my hand is reaching out into the darkness. But no one is there."

Riku brought his own hand up, holding Sora's hand against his cheek.

"And when I close my eyes again, you're there...but you're far away. And no matter how far I reach, I can't…" Sora's voice wavered, and he hiccuped as the tears began anew. "I can't touch you."

A hole opened up in Riku's chest at Sora's admission, and he wanted nothing more than to curl in on himself before he could drag Sora into the darkness with him. After all he did to right the error of his ways, after all he did to protect Sora…

He still let him get hurt.

He still hurt him.

"I'm sorry…," Riku said lamely, twining his finger's with Sora's. His own tears fell, unbidden, down his cheeks, sliding wet and salty over their joined fingers. "I'm so sorry, Sora. I should have never-"

Riku was silenced by a pair of lips on his own. And before he fully realized that Sora just kissed him , the brunet had already pulled away.

"It's okay, Riku," Sora said, pulling their joined hands down from Riku's face and holding them to his own chest, above his rapidly beating heart.

Riku shook his head, his long silver locks swishing back and forth before falling still, shielding his eyes and casting his face in shadow. "No. No, it's not okay. Nothing I did was okay , Sora. None of it. I..."

He sucked in a deep, shaky breath.

"I can never forgive myself for hurting you."

With his free hand, Sora brushed Riku's bangs back so their eyes could meet again. "All I wanted was to have you back, Riku. And you're here."

Letting out another trembling sigh, Riku leaned forward and touched their foreheads together. "I'll always be here, Sora. Always."

"I know you will," Sora replied, his warm breath ghosting Riku's lips.

Closing the infinitesimal distance still between them, Riku gently kissed Sora back. He pulled the brunet so close that it was hard to tell where he ended and Sora began. If Riku could help it, he would never, ever leave Sora reaching for him again.

They stayed like that for the rest of the night, eventually falling asleep right there on Riku's bedroom floor, their hands still intertwined. Their legs tangled together in their sleep. Sora used Riku's chest as a pillow. Riku held Sora flush against him, protecting him from whatever monsters hid in the shadows. Sora's touch was a warmth in the cold depths of the darkness still lurking in Riku's heart. Riku's touch was confirmation, reassurance, that Sora hadn't lost him.

After reaching for so long, Sora finally held Riku's hand. And he was never letting go.

Thanks so much for reading!

Until next time,
Chibi