"Ventus, ya sure you wanna do this?" Riku asked.

Ven nodded, pulling at the hair at the nape of his neck a little awkwardly, "Yeah. I mean, I spent so much time designing it, why should I chicken out now?"

Riku looked over the design again- angel wings, one crippled, both extended over his shoulders, and immensely detailed and delicately drawn, "Dude, this is really complex..."

Ven glanced back at Riku over his shoulder, "Ya can't-"

"No, no I can." Riku said "It's not out of my skill range. It's just..." he hesitated, "the pain involved might make it a few days-"

"One day.", Ventus said firmly "I want to remember everything."

Riku set it aside, "Remember WHAT? Xehanort's gone, your troubles are over-"

"You of all people should understand, Riku." Ventus murmured, turning to the sunset.

Riku silently joined Ven, but his gaze wandered off to Sora cuddling Kairi on their Paopu tree. The young hero's foot lazily swayed in rhythm with the wind, but otherwise they were both asleep. Still. Peaceful. Hard to believe that Sora now had more scars than he'd already had and bags under his eyes that made him look older. Hard to believe Kairi had gotten a pretty nasty scar on her shoulder that Riku was sure he would never look at without wincing. Hard to believe that only a few days ago they were all fighting for their lives and countless others.

Ventus smirked a little as Riku came to his realization, "I don't want to become complacent. I don't want to forget. None of it. Good, bad, I don't care. I want to make sure that I can remember all of this."

Riku picked up the draft from the sand and looked at it again, "Hmmm."

Ventus chewed on one of his bangs, "So, can we go ahead with it?"

Riku sighed as he picked up his tattoo tools and loaded up some ink, "If you wake them up with your screaming don't blame me."

Ventus snorted, knowing what Riku was really saying. He then rubbed his neck again and turned to watch Sora, "Okay then, needle away."

What followed was the rest of the evening spent with Riku hunched over Ven's back, delicately drawing in the wings. The outlines took enough time as they were, and coloring didn't even really start until the sun was almost down and continued as the full moon rose. Ventus took it all in stride. His hands dug into the sand, he bit his lip so hard at one point it bled, but his tears never escalated into sobbing, and whimpers never grew louder than a small whine. Riku's hand never strayed where it shouldn't have, and occasionally he would pause to ask Ventus if they wanted to call it quits for the night only for him to shake his head and say to continue.

And the night drew on...

Sora yawned and stretched, then quickly hugged Kairi and the tree to him so they wouldn't tumble off as a rude morning wake up call. Kairi stirred a little, but slept just as soundly as before. Sora smiled at her. Gosh she was such a trooper. He then quietly kept her sleeping on the Paopu tree while he stretched his legs.

He looked over to see Riku and Ventus passed out on the sand in the early light. Ven's back was turned to the sky, sore and red, but now graced with a gorgeous set of wings. Sora rubbed at his eyes, then hopped on over. He looked at Ven's new tattoo, then nudged Riku with his foot "Riku...! Riku, come on get up!"

Riku groaned "Sora... I pulled a freaking all-nighter on this one... Leave me alone to sleep...!"

Sora shook his head, chuckling, but shrugged and sat down between the two sleepyheads. He stared at Ven's wings while putting a hand on Riku's shoulder "Really outdid yourself, bud..."

Riku patted Sora's leg in response, "Good."

Sora grabbed his ink stained hand and shook it, "Man, how'd ya do it-"

"Ven came up with it now let me freaking sleep!" Riku snapped.

Sora laughed quietly. He then sat back and watched the sunrise. It was a little pale from mist over the water, but otherwise beautiful. Sora lightly traced a finger over one of the wings "Well Ven, glad that the first sunrise to see this is the best."

just figured I'd post up a drabble inspired by rakatakat's (she's a person I follow on tumblr) Riku-is-a-tat-artist headcanon and Ven having wings tattooed on his back to show off writing skills. I primarily listened to "Wake up little spaceman" from Broken Age while writing if anyone wants to know.