Need You Now

1:15.

The soft lull of distant music picked up outside of Sora's open window. A warm, humid breeze wafted over his still form, brushing sweaty, chocolate-colored bangs from his damp forehead. Sky-blue eyes stared blankly out from his darkened room, past the canopy of palm trees, to the twinkling stars that lit the clear night sky. The former keyblade bearer sighed softly, pulling the hem of his shirt upward, exposing his sweat dampened stomach. He'd forgotten how hot the island could get in the summer. Maybe not as warm as Agrabah or the Pride Lands, but nearly too warm to bear when he wasn't too busy fighting heartless to notice the heat.

Laughter erupted from somewhere below his window.

"Shh! SHHHH!" A soft, drunken, feminine voice hissed. "Sssora's trying to ssssleeeeeep! He doesn't f-feel w-well!"

He recognized the high, dainty sound of Kairi's voice, slightly disappointed when he realized that she'd been drinking. He tried to imagine her downing some type of alcoholic drink, chatting merrily with friends at some party. He tried to imagine her going to school and shopping on weekends. He tried to imagine her being a normal, everyday teenage girl. Over the years, while he'd been traveling from world to world, she had been normal. She'd woken up every day for school, attended classes, hung out with friends.. She'd had a life. A life that didn't include him.

He wondered if that thought should have hurt.

"He's faking it!" A drunken Selphie's voice giggled. "He just doesn't wanna hang out with us! He's been weird since he came back, you know!"

He actually wasn't pretending. He did feel terrible, just not in a way that they could understand.

"Well yeah," A deeper, less intoxicated voice added. "But Riku's been even weirder."

He wondered if it was Tidus. After being gone for so long, it was hard to recognize the voices of all of his old friends. Everyone had grown so much.

He imagined himself walking with the group, laughing drunkenly without a care in the world. He imagined himself growing up like a normal teenage boy. Going to school, doing homework, hanging out with friends..

The voices began to fade into the distance, until Sora could no longer hear them above the music.

Wakka and Tidus were hosting a 'Midsummer's Night' party on the play island, and he decided that it must have been winding down for the night. The music was becoming fainter, laughing voices audible from the streets as the island teens made their way home.

He wondered if he should feel guilty for turning down Kairi's offer to go with her. She seemed to have been happy enough just moments ago, but shouldn't he have wanted to go with her? He'd fought for her all those years, and now that he finally had her... He was letting her go.

He'd read a book once about a soldier who wore his girlfriend's pantyhose around his neck as a good luck charm when he went away to war. He'd never once gotten hurt while in combat, but one day, he received a letter from his girlfriend, in which she wrote that she was breaking up with him. He'd just shrugged it off, saying that the luck was still there, and as far as Sora knew, the soldier had come home safe.

He thought of Kairi and her good luck charm, and the way he really didn't know what kind of person she had become over the years. He thought of fighting heartless, and how the both of them had nothing in common anymore. He thought of coming home from war and feeling that all that she was, in the end, was just a good luck charm and a sweet fantasy.

He missed Donald and Goofy.

He missed Leon, Yuffie, and Cid. He missed Cloud. He missed Merlin. He missed his friends at the Hundred Acre Wood and Atlantica and everywhere else he'd visited over the years.

He missed the thrill of battle, the adrenaline rush, and the joy of being surrounded by people who really, truly, understood him.

He missed the keyblade, he missed the Gummi Ship, he missed the abilities and the magic.

He missed Riku.

The silver haired teen was just a few houses away, but Sora had been so nervous to visit him. Since returning home, all Riku did was hide out in his room, and although Sora realized that the older boy probably needed him now more than ever.. He just couldn't seem to gather the courage to step foot anywhere near his house.

All that time searching and three months after they finally reunited, it seemed that Riku was gone again.

1:35.

Sora wiped idly at his eyes, smearing unshed tears and sweat onto his heated cheeks. He wondered what Donald and Goofy were doing right now. The knight was probably lounging in the garden, as he'd mentioned that he loved to do. Donald was probably finally bringing Daisy on that date. He chuckled to himself, thinking back to his first and only encounter with the temperamental female duck. Mickey was probably tending to all the castle affairs that he'd left behind, Minnie by his side. Pluto would be asleep in his little dog bed, finally able to rest after all those years of travel.

And what was he doing? Moping around, feeling sorry for himself when he finally got what he'd wanted all along. All those years, he'd just wanted to get back home, and now.. Now he couldn't even be content. One day he was a happy, carefree fourteen year old, then suddenly it was like he'd just stepped out of his life, and when he finally stepped back in, everything was so different that it didn't even resemble the world that he remembered. What happened to the Destiny Island that he'd dreamed about all those years?

He closed his eyes, rolling onto his side so that his back faced the window. The light breeze felt good on his bare back.

He hoped that his friends where doing alright. He hoped that Riku would finally leave his house. He hoped that he could finally pick up his life where he'd left off.

Then, he slept.

and slept..

and slept...

2:03.

A scratching outside his window roused him from is sleep. He blinked blearily, rubbing his tired eyes and stretching slightly as he tried to identify the noise.

The music had long since ceased, all chatter silenced as the party-goers finally went to bed. Traffic was very rare on the islands, as most of the locals walked, and tourism wasn't particularly popular until further into the summer.

"Is someone there?" He called out before he even realized he was speaking, suddenly feeling silly if the noise ended up being an animal or a fallen branch.

The sound paused momentarily, picking up steadily until it was directly below his line of vision. He wondered if he should be scared. The old him would have been scared. Then again, the old him and never seen anyone die. Nor had he ever killed anyone.

A deep, clearly human grunt startled him out of his thoughts, and he marveled at the presence of the hand that had suddenly planted itself atop his windowsill.

"I imagine all this climbing probably isn't so difficult for you." A husky, oh-so familiar voice grumbled from below his window. He watched with extreme interest as a muscled arm flexed from the effort of pulling its body's weight over the ledge. "But as it is, I relied more on traveling through darkness than climbing around like a goddamn monkey."

A silver haired head finally peeked over the ledge, aquamarine eyes glowing hauntingly in the dim light.

"Would you mind?"

The light haired teen drew out, sighing, defeated as Sora giggled and helped hoist him into the room and onto his soft bed.

"So, Riku.." Sora whispered hesitantly after some time had passed. "What brings you here so.. early?"

2:14.

"It's sort of strange, actually." The silverette spoke softly, running a pale hand though his long, slightly heat-frizzed hair. Sora took a moment to appreciate the older teen's toned arms.

"I couldn't stop sneezing. Like, I'd be lying in bed, trying to get myself to sleep, and I'd sneeze. Then, before I could collect myself, I'd sneeze again, then again and again. It was a disaster."

Sora found himself laughing lightly, wondering just how all this tied into Riku actually sitting in front of him, but ignoring the thought in favor of the sudden rush of happiness that came with finally getting a moment alone with his best friend.

"So I just assumed that my body hasn't gotten used to the weather on the island yet, but then I remembered this weird superstition that Mickey had told me about once." The older teen paused, eyes twinkling in the moonlight.

"He told me that when you sneeze, it means that someone's thinking about you.. and of course I was thinking that it was bullshit, but I just kept sneezing, and I couldn't figure out who could have possibly been thinking of me so much.. then.."

His voice trailed off. For the first time, Sora realized just how closed they were. If either of them just moved an inch or two forward, they'd be close enough to... to kiss.

"Then I realized... that I haven't been there for you like I should have been... You looked for me all that time.. and I left you.. alone.."

Riku's eyes were now only centimeters away, intense and glowing brilliantly, so close that Sora felt he would drown in them.

"It's just.." The larger teen's voice was hushed now, warm breath ghosting against Sora's skin. "I didn't want to come between you and Kairi.. but then.. I heard that you turned down her offer to go to that party together, and I started to think that maybe the way that I've been feeling for you lately isn't the way that friends feel about each other. Maybe I might be in love with you, and maybe you might be in love with me too.."

Sora's eyes widened, and he almost pulled away. Almost, until he imagined walking to school with Kairi. He imagined going on dates with her and kissing her on the play island by the paopu fruit tree. He imagined their fingers interlaced and her small body pressed against his, and he imagined growing old with her. It felt so wrong.

Then he remembered falling to his knees in front of Riku, tears streaming down his face because he'd finally found him.

'Riku's here.. It's Riku.'

He imagined lacing his fingers with Riku's, holding hands as they sat under the paopu fruit tree. He imagined the way Riku's lips would feel against his, strong but soft and demanding so much more of him than just some superficial, teenage romance

He imagined growing old with Riku, waking up every morning to that beautiful aquamarine stare.

Sora smiled, closing his eyes as a gentle breeze swept over the two of them.

Then, he kissed him.

2:25.

"You're not going to make it to sunrise." Riku laughed -a beautiful, musical laugh- running his fingers through Sora's wild hair. "You're way too tired to stay up that long."

The brunette scowled from his resting place against the silverette, rubbing at his eyes childishly.

"No I'm not." He yawned.

Sunrise was only four hours away, he reasoned with himself. He could last until then, regardless of how much more comfortable his bed felt with Riku laying on it with him.

"You know," He muttered, trying desperately to keep his eyes open. "For the past few months, I've been missing the keyblade, and Donald and Goofy, and all of the adventures we used to go on." He took a moment to cuddle against his bed-mate's muscled stomach.

"But when you're here.." He mumbled sleepily. "I feel.. happy.. Like everything is the way it's supposed to be."

He felt Riku's soft laughter rumble through his chest.

"I'm pretty sure that means that you love me." The older teen spoke, stroking his cheek gently. "and I'm pretty sure that you're about to fall asleep."

Sora's 'No I'm Not' came out as an inaudible mumble as he slipped into unconsciousness for the second time that night.

9:49.

"You missed sunrise." Riku chuckled, patting the sleepy brunette on the head. "I told you you'd miss it."

Sora smiled, stretching tiredly as Riku straightened out the blankets.

"Yeah, I guess you did." The brunette replied, staring out the window, past the canopy of trees, into the clear morning sky.

"But we have the rest of our lives to watch the sunrise together, right?"

The answer was obvious in the way that Riku kissed him.

Sora wondered what all of is friends were doing at that moment. Goofy was probably snoozing, while Donald and Daisy bickered harmlessly. Mickey and Minnie were probably enjoying the day, with Pluto happily by their side.

He smiled into the sunlight, overjoyed when Riku smiled too.

'You know, guys.' He felt his heart whisper. 'I think I'll be alright without you.'

He laced his fingers with the silver haired teen's, enjoying the warmth that radiated from his body.

'I'm.. happy.'

He imagined his friends smiling back at him.

'I'm really happy.'

fin.

By the time I finished writing this last night, I was nearly fainting from exhaustion. Then, upon looking at the clock, I discovered that it was only 10:30pm.. I was like, "Oh, okay then.. Maybe I should just go to bed."

I know, I'm just so wild during my Spring break.

As a quick note, this wasn't intended to be Kairi-bashing. It's just, I can't really see Sora coming home after fighting heartless and whatnot all those years and actually being able to just settle down.. And Kairi just sort of.. kept living when he left, which, what else is she supposed to do? Arghh.. I dunno.. It feels like I was a bit too hard on her.

Anywho, please review and tell me what you think!