A/N: I probably shouldn't be allowed to write everything that pops into my head at three in the morning, but I hope you like this anyway.
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Obviously.
Warnings: Vague AU, Riku/Sora, Sora can't cook, and Riku is a cute twenty-something.
Ten Years
-
Hidden beneath the covers, Sora was an indistinguishable lump topped by messy brown spikes. Riku couldn't help but smirk as he carefully placed two porcelain mugs on the bedside table, pausing to roll up his sleeves before he slid back into bed. Instinctively, Sora blindly kicked out a leg, and the silver-haired man nearly knocked over the cups trying to avoid a knee in a highly sensitive area. In most cases Riku would've been angry – irritated at best – but judging by the steady rise and fall of his chest, the brunette was still asleep.
Sora slept like he lived, little flurries of movement punctuated by sharp kicks and turns, interrupted by occasional, merciful stretches of stillness. Riku, praising quick reflexes and years of experience, had learned to dodge most of Sora's nightly attacks, but sometimes he still woke up in the middle of the night when Sora booted his shin or pushed him off the bed, still wrapped in his half of the covers.
Today, it was neither of those, but rather an elbow to the jaw that woke him up two hours early, craving black coffee and aspirin. He'd been thoughtful enough to bring back a cup for Sora, mixed with so much sugar and milk that it made Riku's lip curl in disgust. Of course, the way Sora was snoring away, it would be cold before the brunette could appreciate the sentiment, but Riku would be sure to rub it in his face ruthlessly later. If everything went well, he could trick Sora into doing the dishes, and possibly get a free backrub out of the deal. His shoulders had been hurting him lately, and as much as Riku hated to admit it, maybe it was finally time to stop playing with swords.
Thank god his hair was already gray, and he wouldn't have to deal with that particular joy of aging in twenty years.
Restlessly, Sora turned on his side and curled around Riku, still mostly hidden beneath the sheets. Riku rolled his eyes and tugged at a particularly sloppy spike of brown hair, earning a soft sound of protest and a nuzzle against his ribs. Sora, Riku knew, was nothing if not a cuddler, but he also knew Sora only cuddled when awake.
"Quit the act," he muttered, sliding his hand away from Sora's hair to push at his chest. "I know you're up, and I made coffee, so you'd better enjoy it."
"No," Sora groaned and burrowed closer, hopelessly tangling the blankets around their waists. "It's Sunday, I wanna sleep."
"Too bad," Riku said, smirking, and trailed his fingers down to the nape of Sora's neck. Predictably, the brunette spasmed and nearly kicked Riku in his haste to get away.
"Riku," he hissed and sat up, sending sheets and covers everywhere in his annoyance. "Your hands are freezing!"
"It's January, of course they're freezing," Riku drawled as he leaned back against the pillows.
"You said you brought coffee," Sora said suspiciously.
"Yeah, about that. There's this little invention called a handle. You may not know this, but if you carry it by that, your hands don't get warm."
"You can't honestly expect me to think of things like that this early," Sora grumbled, reaching for his coffee.
"It's past noon."
"It is not." Sora glared as he sipped from his mug.
Riku merely raised an eyebrow and looked pointedly at the clock, which indeed read 12:01.
"Fine, so I like to sleep," Sora mumbled and rolled his eyes, pausing to pass Riku his cup. As their hands touched, he suddenly grinned and said, "Remember, you agreed to go to Kairi's today."
"Crap," was all he could think to say.
"You don't know the half of it," Sora said, looking unnaturally amused and mischievous as he leaned back.
"What do you mean?"
"You said you'd babysit."
Inhaling when he meant to exhale, Riku coughed and nearly spilled coffee in his lap. Eventually, he managed to look Sora in the eye and ask, "Are you joking? Was I on drugs when I said this?"
"No, you were, uh," Sora abruptly stumbled over his words, blushing even after all these years. "You were on…other things."
"Oh, so that's who called while we were..." Riku trailed off at Sora's warning look, fearing the hot coffee cradled between the brunette's hands, and quickly looked away. "Right, I remember now. I'd tried to forget about that, actually."
"Too bad," Sora said, draining his cup. With a mournful look, he set the mug back on the table and slid out of bed, stretching. "That's what you get for not letting me sleep last night."
"Like you were complaining," Riku snorted.
"I was," Sora said, disappearing into the closet, presumably – and regretfully, as far as Riku was concerned – for clothes.
"Really? It sounded to me like you were—" A pair of jeans promptly smacked him in the face, silencing him from uttering any further embarrassing comments. How Sora had such good aim from inside the closet, Riku would never know.
"Shut it," Sora said and poked his head out, trying to look stern, but Riku could see he was grinning. "And get dressed. You're supposed to be there in an hour."
"And how were you going to tell me this if you were asleep?" the silver-haired man wondered, trailing slowly behind Sora into their closet, his coffee cup left abandoned next to Sora's.
"I know you."
"And that means?" Riku asked, raising a silver eyebrow expectantly.
"It means I know you can't go more than two hours without waking me in the morning, and you're always up early since you still think it's a good idea to practice fencing, or whatever it is you do—"
"It's called training, genius."
"It's called a sprained back, old man," Sora shot back. "As I was saying, you're up, and you always wake me, and you never sleep past ten, so I figured I had at least a good hour to warn you."
Riku stared at him blankly. "First of all, I'm only a year older than you, so don't call me that. And secondly, can't you use this intelligence of yours for other things?"
"Like what?"
"Like getting me out of babysitting."
"No way," Sora said, looking like he wanted to laugh, and shoved a sweater at his chest. "Have fun, Uncle Riku."
"Don't call me that either."
"Make sure you remember to take pictures."
"Like hell I will," Riku grumbled, appearing increasingly grumpy as he pulled on a pair of jeans and the sweater Sora had pushed at him. "I hate Kairi's kids," he muttered.
"That's because they picked up all your insufferable arrogance," Sora laughed from behind him.
"Mock my misfortunate all you want, but I'm volunteering you the next time she needs help."
"And I will easily get out of it because Kairi can't say no when I do the puppy face," Sora said smugly.
Privately, Riku thought that puppy faces on twenty-five year olds should be strictly prohibited, or at least strongly discouraged, but Sora had never listened to him.
"Whatever," Riku sighed and wandered back into the bedroom to rifle through his sock drawer in hopes of something at least vaguely color coordinated. "You're coming with me next time."
"If I came with you, we'd both get distracted and the kids would set the house on fire," Sora called, still inside the closet.
"They'll set in on fire anyway," Riku muttered and finally gave up, grabbing a pair of khaki green socks that didn't even remotely match anything in his wardrobe. Maybe they were Sora's. "At least I'd be warm and sated if you were there."
"Riku."
"Okay, fine, you know I wouldn't touch you while in front of young and impressionable minds," Riku promptly corrected himself.
"Good."
"I'd duck into the bathroom first," he added quietly to himself.
"I heard that."
"Dammit." Sitting on the bed to pull his socks on, Riku craned his neck and tried to peer inside the closet. "What're you still doing in there?"
"Looking."
"For what?" he asked, amused.
"For the camera."
"Oh, god." He rolled his eyes. "You can just forget about that, because there's no way I'm taking pictures."
"You might not, but I will."
Riku blinked, his interest piqued. "Does that mean you're coming?"
"No. I might take before and after pictures," Sora grunted, "if I can find this stupid—ow!"
Riku sighed and pushed himself off the bed, padding back towards the closet. "Tell me you didn't knock over the boxes again."
"I didn't knock over the boxes again," Sora squeaked.
"Are you lying?" Riku asked, peering inside, where Sora was covered in dust and old magazines and books, previously stacked neatly on the top shelf by Riku himself in a sudden fit of organization two weeks ago.
"No," Sora mumbled.
"Then what happened?"
"I broke the shelf," Sora said, looking guilty.
"Christ," Riku muttered and rubbed a hand over his face. "Maybe it's for the best that you're not coming with me."
"Maybe," Sora agreed, standing unsteadily.
"You have dust in your hair," Riku noted with a smile.
"I know that," Sora said, although he obviously hadn't, and immediately reached up a hand to rub it out.
"Of course you did." Smirking, Riku reached over and plucked a particularly large dust bunny lodged between the soft brown spikes and held it out for him.
"Thanks," Sora said dryly, took it, and promptly dropped it next to the pile that had fallen on him. "You should probably get going."
"Probably," Riku said, but he lingered by Sora, drawing his arms around the brunette's waist. With a soft noise of approval, Sora nestled his head beneath Riku's chin and stood still, reveling in the warmth. But when Riku tipped his head down for a kiss, Sora wrinkled his nose and jerked away.
"What?" Riku asked, confused.
"Morning breath."
"More like afternoon breath," Riku teased, ducking his head again, but Sora insisted on pulling away. "What?" he said once more, resisting the urge to grit his teeth.
"I said, morning breath."
"Well, I brushed my teeth, and I think I can deal."
"But—"
Snorting softly, Riku silenced Sora the most satisfying way he knew how, pulling away only after Sora had suitably curled against him and grinned into the kiss. As an afterthought, Riku really agreed that he should have let Sora at least rinse his mouth first, but he supposed it was too late for that now.
"I'll see you in a few hours," Riku said, kissing Sora's cheek this time, and drew away. Sora surprised him by grinning more mischievously than he had when he'd originally broken the news.
"Try more like six," he said.
"Six?" Riku nearly gaped, but thankfully caught himself in time, just after reminding himself that gaping was in no way considered cool. "I hope I'm getting paid for this."
"Nope," Sora said. In Riku's firm opinion, he looked suspiciously pleased about that.
"And just why not?"
"Because," Sora said with a shrug and a little grin, "it's always good to have people who owe you favors."
"Right." Riku squinted at him suspiciously, but Sora merely smiled and tilted his head charmingly, a habit he had undoubtedly picked up from Riku. "In that case, I guess I'll be going now."
"Bye," Sora said, leaning up to kiss him softly on the jaw, and brushed past him to the bathroom. "Have fun with the twins!" he called cheerfully.
"Thanks for reminding me," Riku grumbled and left the bedroom to face his doom.
-
"Crap," Sora said, fanning down flames with a dishcloth and growing increasingly distressed by the second. "Crap, crap, crap."
"Sora? Is everything okay?" Kairi asked over the phone, sounding crackly with static as she drove home. "Do you need me to come back?"
"No," he squeaked in a voice much too high-pitched to be trusted and grabbed a pan, hoping to smother the fire that way. When he lifted it, however, the flames jumped right back up, and Sora nearly groaned in frustration. "Well, maybe."
"What happened?" Kairi asked.
"I may or may not have set dinner on fire."
He could hear Kairi choking over the line. "How did you manage that?"
"I don't know," he whined, spraying the fire with the little hose from the sink. "I went to the bathroom, but then I got distracted and tried to find the camera again, but I think it's buried under all the junk in the closet, and now I'll never find it."
There was static and silence for a few moments before Kairi ventured to say, "So, let me get this straight. You left a flammable object in an oven for an extended amount of time and didn't expect it to catch on fire?"
"Yes," Sora said, his expression verging on a pout.
"That is…incredibly stupid."
"I realize that now. I just didn't think it would happen so fast."
"Obviously. Is it out yet, or do you need me to come back?"
"Yeah, it's out." He carefully turned the water off with a glum expression. "And no, you don't need to come back. You've already done a lot."
"You're welcome," she said, picking up on the thank you in his voice.
"At least the smoke alarm didn't go off," Sora commented, squinting at its place above the stove. Thinking back, it was a miracle it hadn't started screeching at him the moment he opened the oven. Maybe it was broken. Great.
"That's a surprise."
Sora made a noncommittal noise, somehow balancing the phone between his ear and his shoulder as he inspected the charred remains of the main course. "I don't think I can salvage this. How do you think Riku feels about tofu?"
"I think you've been living with him ten years, and you would be the one to know," Kairi replied, sounding amused.
"Dammit." Feeling dejected, Sora tipped the blackened remains of what had once been dinner into the trash, tossing down the burnt dishcloth as he dismally sank into a sitting position on the kitchen floor. Holding the phone with one hand, he pillowed his cheek against his fist and stared at the ceiling. "So what do I do now?"
"Come clean and hope he laughs?" Kairi offered weakly.
"Oh, he'll laugh all right," Sora muttered. "Right after he disowns me for botching dinner on our anniversary."
"Don't be so sure," Kairi responded in a sympathetic tone. "I mean, for all you know, he won't even care. Maybe he screwed up his present, too, and he'll just be relieved."
"Doubtful."
"Well, don't dwell on it forever, Sora." He heard a car door slam over the line, accompanied by the shriek of two children and Riku's clipped, exhausted greeting. "Hey, listen, I've gotta go now, I'm home. You've got about fifteen minutes to think of something, or at least a good explanation."
"Thanks," Sora replied sarcastically.
"You're welcome," Kairi giggled. "And don't worry about it, you'll be fine."
"I'm sure," Sora muttered. "Bye, Kairi."
"Goodbye!" Kairi called cheerfully, and the line went dead.
"Crap," Sora said, leapt to his feet, and scrambled to destroy the evidence of his failed cooking attempt. Maybe if he hurried, he'd still have time to make the room look at least vaguely romantic before Riku arrived.
-
When Riku came home, the first thing he noticed was the smoke. It hung in a hazy cloud around their kitchen lights, looming above a burnt dishcloth and a scorched pan, and Riku could only assume that Sora's day hadn't been much better than his. Carefully, he toed off his shoes and crept into the bedroom, where Sora was swearing under his breath and trying to light a candle with little success.
"What're you doing?" he asked.
Sora squeaked, "Nothing!" and dropped the lighter, nearly knocking over the candle and the two mugs from this morning as he scrambled to hide everything. Blushing furiously, he kicked the lighter under the bed and attempted to look innocent.
"Uh huh," Riku said, resisting the urge to point out that it was useless to hide anything, since Riku had already seen it all the moment he'd walked in. "What've you been up to all day?"
"I cooked dinner."
Riku blinked, his mind rapidly backtracking to the charred mess and smoke he'd seen in the kitchen.
No, Sora had definitely not had a good day.
…then why the hell did he still look so happy?
"Really?" Riku asked, trying to push Sora's abnormal mood from his mind. "But you never cook."
"I know," Sora mumbled with a sheepish expression. "But, I mean, I thought I might as well try, since I made you babysit the twins all day."
"You didn't make me. Kairi asked."
"Well, see, that's the thing," Sora said, his blush growing a darker shade of red. "I sort of bribed her."
Riku suddenly grew very still. "You what?"
"I bribed her," he explained in a rush, "to get you out of the house, so I could get everything ready, but I'm clumsy and now nothing is ready, so I'm sorry, and—"
"Slow down," Riku said, crossing the room to place a soothing hand on Sora's arm. "What's all this for, anyway?"
"I—" Sora blinked at him. "What do you mean, what's all this for?"
"I mean—" Riku paused to wave his arm at the forgotten candle and lighter, the remnants of the kitchen fire, and Sora's expression "—what's the occasion?"
Sora stared at him, opening and snapping his mouth shut twice before he felt calm enough to actually speak. "You forgot."
"Forgot what?"
"You've never forgotten before," Sora said, pulling his arm away and taking a step back. "Ten years."
"Ten years," Riku repeated, looking confused, then suddenly his eyes widened in a flash of realization. "Oh crap."
"Oh crap is right," Sora grumbled unhappily. "I can't believe you—are you laughing at me?"
"No," Riku said, although he was rather close to it, biting his lip and smirking so hard his cheek cramped.
"You are," Sora hissed, sounding scandalized. "Go on, then. What's so funny?"
"Aside from the fact that you nearly burned down the apartment trying to set this up for me?" Riku asked, ignoring Sora's downtrodden expression as he grabbed the brunette's waist and tugged him closer, imitating Sora's puppy look as best he could with laughing green eyes. "The fact that our anniversary isn't until next week."
"Oh," was all Sora could say, faced with a mischievous-looking Riku and a roaming hand on his back. "Well, in that case, I'm glad I didn't throw anything."
"You were planning to?"
"I was thinking about it, but I thought it might be too dramatic."
"Undoubtedly," Riku said, nuzzling the top of Sora's head. "When you said you cooked dinner, I don't expect you meant that nasty black thing on the counter?"
"What?" Sora asked, head snapping up. "I thought I threw that away!"
"I was referring to our pan and dishcloth," Riku said with a raised eyebrow. "But is there something you'd like to tell me?"
"Oh. No, not at all," Sora said, sounding relieved, and carefully rested his head beneath Riku's chin again.
"Huh. I hope you're not lying, for your sake."
"Definitely not," Sora said with a smile. "But hey. I have a question."
"Hmm?" Riku looked down at him, unable to resist playing with the soft hair at the back of his neck. His fingers were warm, and the brunette leaned into his hands with a soft sigh. "What is it?"he asked.
Sora grinned. "How do you feel about tofu?"
-
End.