Theory
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just burn b r i g h t so i can gaze at you
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Sunshine didn't suit him.
That word belonged to Sora; Sora, his brother, who was always bright and friendly. His smile could reach clear across a room. His boundless energy was an infamous trait, known to all who'd ever met him. He always carried a kind word for someone or offered a comforting shoulder.
Roxas wasn't like that; not at all. He wasn't unfriendly but talking wasn't something that he typically felt necessary. He smiled, but only when the party receiving it actually deserved such a gesture. He was much more subdued than his other half. Every movement he made was precise and deliberate; every twitch and gesture, purposeful. The words that spilled from his lips could usually be called neutral, at best. His version of 'comfort' was a blank stare and a disinterested, "You'll survive."
Sunshine didn't suit him.
His favorite season was winter, when the cold air and rains would come; when people opted for coffee shops and living rooms, over the beaches and their boats. He liked walking along the sand when no one else was there for fear of becoming sick. Unearthing the long forgotten scarves, hats and gloves from the previous year, carried with them promises of snowball fights and splashing in puddles. His shirts would stop sticking to him from hot sweat and he could collapse again, in front of the fire with a heavy blanket and the television remote.
Sunshine didn't suit him.
He liked scary things. Horror films and murder stories intrigued him. Tales of ghosts and killers made goose-bumps rise deliciously on his skin. A bloody torture scene with a beautifully sculpted corpse always made him shiver with delight. Worms crawling through hair and maggots swallowing the flesh of a decaying body was more than most could handle, but just fascinating enough to keep Roxas interested for hours.
Sunshine didn't suit him.
And so, it was very surprising to hear someone liken him to it.
"…what?"
"You heard me."
Riku shifted. He brought a hand to his hair, lightly pulling at a lock. Roxas' mouth quirked slightly at the corners, secretly adoring what he had realized recently was a nervous habit of Riku's. It wasn't often that the older boy became ruffled. Roxas took the chance to bask in the moment of bashfulness the other was experiencing.
The blonde leaned back, supporting his weight on his hands as he relaxed on the slightly damp grass, with both legs bent at the knee. "I didn't, actually," he replied teasingly. "Say it again."
A small huffing sound came from the spot on his right, where the silver-haired teenager was sitting cross-legged, staring at his feet. "I don't want to."
Roxas' nonchalant voice inquired, "Why not?"
"Does it matter?" An eyebrow rose in question.
He turned his head just enough so that he could look at Riku. The boy was still looking at his feet, but now his hands had been moved to rest in his lap. He was hunched over, slightly. He decided, as he watched the silver-haired teen grow more uncomfortable by the second, that he really wanted to hear him say it again. "It matters to me," he replied seriously.
Riku glanced at him awkwardly and began fiddling with the hem of his shirt. "I said you remind me of sunshine."
"Why?"
Riku blinked in obvious surprise. The blonde figured he'd probably been expecting a laugh or ridiculing comment. When Roxas hadn't done either, it seemed to have thrown him off a bit. "Um...ah, well," Riku started, "your hair, for one. I'm sure that one's pretty obvious to you."
Roxas nodded. Riku started to pull at his hair again. "And your smile. It's rare…but it's got to be the most gorgeous smile I've ever seen. I could fill three pages with all of the cliché phrases I would use to describe it." Riku chuckled a bit at that. Roxas didn't reply, instead, fixing the effeminate teen with an unwavering stare.
Riku lifted his head to look at the blonde. He smiled fondly at him, a look in his eyes that, try as he might, Roxas could not decipher. "Also," the smile grew softer, "my world gets just a bit brighter, whenever you're near."
Roxas choked. That new, weird feeling he had been getting whenever he saw Riku was back again. It blossomed in his chest and he suddenly felt an overwhelming affection for the boy on his right. In response to the unfamiliar feeling, he fixed a scowl onto his face, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. He snorted. "Tch. Those cheesy lines make me want to vomit."
Riku released that soft, warm laugh that Roxas had begun to listen for.
Sunshine doesn't suit me, he thought, as he watched the boy flop backward into the grass, with a large sigh.
It suits Riku much better.
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fin