Title: Flowers and Chocolate
Characters/Pairing: Riku/Sora/Kairi/Naminé, in various combinations.
Rating: M for sexual situations and mentions of other mature situations.
Summary: Everyone's getting ready for Kairi's birthday party, and Riku and Sora try their best to make it a happy one.
A/N: Yes, I write het, too. Part of the Awakenings verse. Sequel to Riku, Home, and takes place before Sometimes. It's also recommended that you either read or be aware that Said the Spider to the Fly exists.

. r .

Flowers and Chocolate

. r .

Everyone's been pretty crazy over Kairi's sixteenth birthday later this week, so it's nice to have some time to relax. Relax in this case being loosely defined as things that involve Sora or myself (ideally, both of us) naked, but Riku's willing to overlook semantics for the time being. The point is, Riku's parents are out of the house, Sora is sitting on his bed, and they've finally gotten the chance to be alone for a few hours.

Sora's got at least one of his hands busy removing clothes already, and Riku finds himself down to his boxers in a surprisingly short amount of time; apparently, Riku wasn't the only one wanting some time for relaxation this week. Sora's also got that look in his eyes that usually means something along the lines of Riku, you are going to be the loud one today, but to be honest, Riku kind of likes that look. And besides, Riku is sixteen and hasn't gotten a chance to be alone like this with Sora for eight days – because shivering at three in the morning always scrambles his head up and therefore doesn't count – so he responds like any healthy teenage boy would, which is to say quite enthusiastically.

And then the knob on Riku's bedroom door turns.

"Hey, Riku, I've got some party ideas that-" Riku whips his head over to the doorway, and is met with the sight of Kairi frozen in the doorway, her hand on the knob of his now partly open door, eyes wide and mouth still slightly open. Belatedly, he notices that he hung the Do Not Disturb sign she made him on the wrong side of his door.

You weren't supposed to find out this way, Kairi, Riku doesn't say. Kairi's expression shrinks to a small, reserved smile. She still has her hand on the doorknob, and her other one comes to rest on the doorjamb in the short silence that follows. It's so strange seeing such an unsure expression on her face, and Riku thinks he has a pretty good idea of what she's feeling right now. After all, hadn't he felt the same thing himself, just a little while ago, watching Sora and Kairi reunite in the World That Never Was? That conflicted, left-out feeling... it was awful.

"I'll talk to you two later," she says, still smiling, as she begins to shut the door to Riku's bedroom. Darting a glance at Sora, the brunet looks completely miserable.

"Kairi, wait!" Sora says, and she stops, opening the door a little again but still silent. Sora, who it seems had acted on a reflex, now falls silent himself, a somewhat nervous expression creeping across his face. He looks back towards Riku swiftly, as if afraid Kairi won't be there anymore if he takes too long. Please, he seems to be saying, though he hasn't spoken a word out loud.

Kairi's not the sort of person, Riku thinks, who deserves to be left out like that.

Before everything started, Riku was too insecure to be content with the idea of Sora wanting someone other than him. But Riku's not the same person he was back then, and though he's still insecure about some things, they're not quite the same things as before.

And it's Kairi, so there really wasn't a question in the first place.

"…Kairi?" is all Riku says, but he's turned to her with his hand held out, so now's the time to find out exactly what she thinks of him. Out of the corner of his eye, Sora looks at him, first surprised and then thankful, but then it's back to both of them looking at Kairi in anticipation because the brunet's too upset to do much else right now. Kairi herself looks back at Riku with surprise as well – and there's a few agonizing seconds where she hesitates and Riku prays for the earth to swallow him whole – but slowly, she passes all the way into the room, shuts the door behind her, and takes silent, careful steps towards the two boys.

Everything seems very slow and quiet still, even after Kairi's sat down on Riku's bed next to him and Sora. It's honestly not all that surprising that she leans towards Sora first, but that's alright because Sora's still holds onto his hand when the two of them kiss. Then, one of Kairi's hands rests against Riku's arm and she leans towards him, this time, Sora still holding onto his other hand. Kissing a girl is different from kissing a boy, Riku decides, but it's still very nice. Everything seems… softer, somehow, so Riku's a little more careful about it; Kairi seems to like it, though, and Riku thinks he agrees with her.

What happens next is a strange mix of slow and fast, and Riku's brain doesn't seem to be working properly at the moment, but soon enough, he realizes that Kairi has a lot of zippers on her dress. Some of them go down, some of them go up, and – no, wait, that one has two ends like the coats had, so that's a down one. He thinks that he and Sora actually manage to zip Kairi more securely into her clothes for a good minute, at least, until she seems to take pity on them and shows them how to do it. After that, the much-talked-about-by-Wakka Unhooking of the Female's Bra (Capitalized due to its Importance in the Man's Repertoire of Necessary Talents) is downright simple.

The rest of Kairi is nice and soft, too, curved and flowing, but nothing that doesn't fit within his hands. He still finds himself more careful with Kairi than Sora, though; he's still careful with Sora, of course – which is just something he thinks Roxas planted pretty firmly in his head – and he's still honest about it, even if he hasn't discussed Roxas with Sora. It's not until Kairi does some of her own exploration that he feels alright with continuing where they're going. He thinks he might be blushing a little, but Sora and Kairi seem to enjoy that, so he doesn't really mind all that much.

Riku'd originally thought that whatever would end up happening with Kairi would keep being slow, and it's not like he doesn't like where this is going, but he still can't help mentally checking and re-checking that yes, everything is okay and everyone is happy and just stop stressing, already, Riku; both of them really do like you, or this wouldn't be happening. He doesn't know why he's feeling nervous, especially since if he's still being honest, it's probably a given that Sora's going to end up doing more of the work than him, but due to habit – and since it's his room, anyway – he still feels like it's his responsibility that everything go right.

"Hey, Riku, where're you going?" Sora asks, looking over Kairi's shoulder after Riku detaches himself from the other two and goes to open one of his nightstand drawers.

"Condoms, Sora," Riku replies, flatly, and throws one of the packets at Sora's face for good measure. It sticks to his forehead for half a second, before it falls and he catches it. Sora must be really nervous, if he's being this spacey, but Riku can only do so much before he gets more nervous than rational as well. And this thing the three of them are trying really needs to work, because any alternative is just too awful to think about.

"Oh," Sora says, blinking. Then, "Sorry Kairi, I almost forgot." And in addition, with what's almost a pout, "Riku, I don't think throwing it at me counts as proper use."

"It's alright, Sora," Kairi replies, smiling, and Riku sends her a silent thank you, which she accepts gracefully with a glance in his direction. "Here, let me try." And… that seems to make everyone a little less nervous, so Riku hopes they'll just figure out the rest as they go along. Sora's also more easily convincible regarding exploration, so his hand follows where Kairi guides it, from her stomach to her thigh, until Riku loses sight of it from his angle and Kairi makes a wordless noise, eyes fluttering shut. Riku figures that means Sora's, uh, got things covered from where he is, so Riku's just going to stick to Kairi's top half until he figures out what to do next. Kairi obligingly tilts her neck for him – and he makes extra sure that he doesn't leave marks because he really doesn't want to have to explain that to her dad – but Sora, however, seems to object to all this carefulness.

"Riku," Sora says, almost whines, if Riku's going to be honest here, "don't just sit there; do something." Which probably means he's noticed all of Riku's caution and is responding in his usual manner to this Riku-behavior, but also probably translates to: I don't actually know what I'm doing here, Riku. Help me, please?

"Oh, come on, Sora," he replies, slightly exasperated, "it can't be that complicated." He lowers his head down to where Sora's fingers are and so only hears Kairi's slightly breathy giggle, but takes it as a good sign, anyway. Girls aren't exceptionally complicated, right? You just keep touching whatever they seem to like, and as long as you keep some variation, things'll work out and everybody'll enjoy themselves. Well, that's the theory, anyway. Might as well try, if nothing else.

With that strategy in mind, Riku takes an experimental lick or two. Kairi makes a surprised noise, but he thinks that it sounds like a good one, so he tries a few more. One of them causes Kairi to gasp quite loudly, so he thinks he's found a good starting point for further exploration.

"Hey, Riku, I think you should try that again," Sora says, somewhere between upbeat and relieved; Kairi laughs.

"Wh-what he said," she adds, one of her hands touching Riku's shoulder encouragingly.

"Backseat driver," Riku mutters, smiling, loudly enough so both of the others can hear, but it makes Kairi laugh again, so that's a good thing. And it gets a bit easier, now that they're all a little less nervous, so after a bit, when Kairi lets out a moan that sounds like it's slightly muffled by Sora's mouth, quivering and then relaxing, it feels like filling in the blanks between everything that's happened since they got back. Kairi, leaning back on her hands, now has her head tilted back as she tries to catch her breath. Riku sits back up, brushes a hand over her shoulder and down her arm, lets his fingers rest over hers, and watches her face. Sora seems to be waiting for a response, too, so it's a good sign that the first thing she does is smile.

"I…" Her breathing still hasn't calmed down all the way just yet, but Riku hopes that it's another good sign.

"Yeah?" Sora asks, though the question is of course more than that, really, and she tilts her head back up to look at him. She blinks slowly once as she looks between him and Riku, and then smiles again.

"Uh-huh," she answers, and Sora smiles back at her.

"That's good to hear," Riku murmurs, nuzzling a bit into her hair, and she lets out another of those breathy little giggles. And then everyone's hands get a bit all over the place again, and Riku feels his own breathing pick back up when Kairi leans back against him like that.

"Hey, I…" Kairi starts, "I was wondering…" She seems hesitant again, but Riku can't quite place where it's coming from, at first.

"What is it?" he asks, running a hand up and then down her arm again.

"This might seem strange, but…" She still isn't saying exactly what it is, but Riku just lets her finish in her own time. Sora tilts his head to the side.

"Go ahead, Kairi," Sora says. She takes a breath and closes her eyes for a moment; when she opens them, her hair is blonde.

Naminé blinks, eyes wide.

"I-I asked her, but I didn't think she would actually-" She flushes and looks down, then, but she's still leaning against Riku like Kairi was, and although she's nervous, it seems to be an understandable nervousness, perhaps more because she's uncertain of his and Sora's reactions than the fact that Kairi agreed to the switch. Riku figures that if Naminé doesn't really have a problem with being out here, then he doesn't have a problem with it, either. Riku makes sure that he looks encouraging when she turns her head to look at him and squeezes her hand, lightly. Sora, when Naminé turns back to look at him, manages to look both surprised and contemplative.

"Okay," Sora says simply, after a beat. Naminé smiles at that, albeit a little shyly, and Riku thinks that everyone breathes another sigh of relief. Naminé's shyness slowly but surely evaporates after that point, as a little more exploration takes place – and the parts of Riku that are especially bad at rational thought rejoice – and only after it seems to have gone completely does Sora speak up again. "Hey, Naminé." He says it slowly, starting to move a little closer, nudging gently on her knee with one of his own. She tenses, though, breathing gone shallow and reluctance quickly back, and Sora falters, brow furrowing as he moves back to where he was; Riku's stomach lurches in a strange way when he feels that tension. "I thought…" but Sora trails off, apparently confused. Riku almost doesn't want to know why Naminé being nervous would set off his stomach like that, but tries to figure it out anyway because he has the feeling he needs to fix this right away.

Yes, she's nervous, and maybe some of it's due to the short notice from Kairi, but some of it's a kind of nervousness that makes Riku's stomach flip unpleasantly. Naminé's nervous, and she shouldn't be, so Riku needs to help her because he doesn't think Sora's noticing the part of her nervousness that's messing with Riku's stomach. She's expecting something. Why's she expecting something? What's she expecting?

"Hey, shh, it's okay," he murmurs, quiet, almost in her ear. "It's just us, okay? It's just me and Sora, alright, Naminé? Everything's fine." He's mostly just babbling, but it the first thing he can think of that might help. And she lets out the breath she's been holding a little, so they're almost there. "Hey, everything's alright." She turns her head slightly to look at him, so he lets his voice get a little louder, still quiet but not a whisper anymore. Please be alright. I don't know what to do if things aren't alright. "Okay?" And finally, she relaxes, leaning back and resting against his chest. Sora, in turn, seems reassured by Naminé's reassurance, acknowledges Riku's smile – because he is relieved, honestly, and Sora can probably tell that, at least – and returns it with one of his own towards both of the other two. Naminé pulls Sora closer to herself and Riku.

Afterwards, they lie there on the bed, trying to catch their breaths again, and Naminé slowly drifts back into Kairi. Sora sits up a little and looks at her, a slightly confused expression on his face. Riku lifts his head up, but doesn't do much else because the three of them are still sprawled all about his bed and their legs are all tangled together.

"She still can't stay out for very long if she gets tired," Kairi explains.

"Oh, okay," Sora responds, and lays back down. Riku hums and lets his head drop back down on the bed, a finger drawing lazy circles on someone's thigh.

"I agree," Kairi says, and he can hear her trying not to giggle.

"He's usually not this lazy," Sora says in a fake whisper. "I was the one doing most of the work this time, anyway." And Kairi lets out her giggle, then; it's something nice and feminine, sounding like the best kind of tired, and Riku thinks he really likes the way it bounces around his room.

"I can hear you, you know," he retorts. "And besides, I think at least one of you is still sitting on me." They all crack up then, rolling around a little bit, and Riku thinks he likes this sound even better. After they've settled down a bit more and cleaned up as best as they can without showers, Sora speaks up again.

"Hey, Kairi?"

"Yeah?" She's starting to slide her dress on again, so it's slightly muffled, but Sora waits until she's finished shimmying it on and started zipping it up again. "What is it?"

"What do you want for your birthday?" Kairi blinks, and Riku resists the urge to bring a hand to his forehead at the off-topic question. "You and Naminé, I mean. Because I, uh, want to get you something special." Sora grins expectantly, and Kairi turns slightly pink.

"You don't have to get us anything, Sora," she says, looking down and zipping the rest of her dress up. "Today was already more than enough of a present."

"But Kairi, that doesn't count as something for your birthday." Kairi blinks again.

"What Sora means to say," Riku interrupts before Kairi can open her mouth, "is that today doesn't have to be a one-time thing, if you don't want." The redhead turns to look at him, and he smiles, hoping it looks encouraging instead of slightly unsure. "So he's saying we need to get you something else." She looks back at Sora, who nods in agreement.

"I… thank you," Kairi says, looking properly encouraged, albeit still a bit pink around the edges.

"Sooo…" Sora continues, looking almost like he's trying not to bounce, "what do you want for your birthday, Kairi?" Kairi looks once more between Riku and Sora, gets that inward-turned face that seems to indicate she's discussing something with Naminé, and then seems to come to a conclusion.

"Well…" she starts slowly, "there is one thing I really want."

"Yeah?" Sora asks. "What is it?" Kairi smiles again, and Riku has no idea how Sora, now grinning like a megawatt bulb, is restraining himself from literally hopping up and down.

"It's a surprise," she declares, looking very please with herself. Sora sighs, deflating, and if he was anyone else, it would be completely over-dramatic, in Riku's own personal opinion. Riku, as it is, delays laughing at Sora like the dork he is for later, and tries to find out what Kairi means by that statement.

"A surprise?" Riku inquires. "How are we supposed to know what to get you, then?"

"After the party," Kairi responds, and Sora perks back up again. "We'll all have a sleepover on the Play Island, and I'll tell you what it is then."

. r . s . k . s . r .

"Sora, everything smells like flowers in here." Riku wrinkles his nose, just in case Sora didn't get the point.

"That's because it's a flower shop, Riku," Sora responds. Riku just rolls his eyes.

"I know, and it smells," he shoots back. "Why'd you drag me in here, anyway?"

"Because I want to get something nice for Kairi for her birthday," Sora replies. "I mean, we're going to get her that other present after the party, but I figured that since we've, uh, leveled up our relationship, I should get her something romantic."

"You've never gotten me flowers," Riku points out.

"What, did you want some?" Sora asks, grinning. Riku doesn't dignify that with a response. "That's what I thought. So, I need to get Kairi something."

Riku himself had already decided on this nice, pink and silver... girl-hair-thing. Actually, he wasn't really sure what it was, but it was the kind of thing Kairi liked and the colors would look pretty on her. That was the present he'd give her in front of everyone else, of course; her and Naminé's real presents were something else, but he'd give those to them later, in private. But still... something about Sora's idea sits uneasy in Riku's stomach, and he's not quite sure why.

Riku temporarily stops being honest, and hopes that Sora's distracted enough by the flowers that he doesn't notice.

"Are you sure that Kairi likes flowers?" Riku ventures, mostly trying to stall for time while he thinks up a better excuse.

"She's a girl, right?" And Sora's train of thought finally makes its way out of the station, Riku thinks. "Girls like that sort of thing, don't they?"

"She might like them, we don't know for sure, but what if you get something that has pollen she's allergic to?" Sora's brow furrows in confusion.

"…Kairi's allergic to pollen?"

"Have you ever asked her?" Riku counters, before Sora has time to really think about it.

"No, but-"

"So you can't be completely sure, can you?" he declares. "I don't think it'd be the most thoughtful of presents if you ended up making her sneeze the whole day." Technically, it's not actually a lie.

"Well, this is just an extra present to surprise her," Sora explains, glancing back at a bouquet or two, confusion mostly gone, as he seems to be accepting Riku's reasoning. "I already picked out this thing she was talking about to Selphie earlier, but I wanted this to be romantic."

"If you insist on getting her something romantic, then get her some chocolate," Riku says. "It's something we know she likes, and you won't have to worry about getting her something she might be allergic to." Though Kairi getting hay fever isn't exactly what's weighing on Riku's mind at the moment, it was the quickest thing he could think of to say to Sora in order to settle the uneasy flip in his stomach that had come back with determination.

. r . s . k . s . r .

"What is it, Riku?" Kairi asks him as she steps off the bridge and onto the small island with the Paopu tree, where he's been waiting. "You wanted to talk to me about something?"

Meet me at the Paopu tree at sunset, he'd written, passing her the note as discreetly as he could. There's something I need to talk to you about, alone. Sora's doing a school project with Tidus, Wakka's at blitzball practice, and Selphie's at her part-time job, so their privacy is pretty much assured. He'd wanted to put it off if it was possible, but since Kairi's birthday is in just a few days, it needed to be before then, and today is the best possible opportunity.

"Yeah, it's… about Naminé, actually," he begins, somewhat awkwardly. A quiet sort of comprehension dawns on her face, and she gives him another one of those reserved smiles he rarely sees.

"That's right," she says, taking the few steps forward so that she's standing beside him in front of the tree. "I was wondering when you'd ask me about that."

"Really?" he asks, somewhat surprised.

"Yeah," she answers. "You wanted to ask me before the party, right?" She gives him a more Kairi-smile when she sees that her comment only makes him a little more surprised, but then it's back to the reserve that's probably coming from Naminé, now. "I guess she was acting a little strange, wasn't she?"

"I don't know if strange is the right word…" Riku replies, reluctantly. Was something like that considered strange? He doesn't think of Naminé as a strange person, but something about the whole situation makes him not allow himself to think about it too much; his head stops being honest and starts thinking in diagonals.

"…But it wasn't what you were expecting, was it?" Kairi finishes for him.

"I don't know what I was expecting," Riku admits, frowning. "I'd like to think I'm overreacting, but…"

"It's okay, you're not overreacting," Kairi says. How does that make it okay? Kairi confirming his hunch makes it just about as not okay as it can possibly get. But she's still talking, so he keeps listening.

"Sora doesn't remember anything about Castle Oblivion, so I don't think it'd be wise to tell him about this," Kairi hesitates, but then takes a deep breath and continues, "but it'd be alright if you knew." Riku just waits for her to find the words. "In Oblivion, Naminé, she..." Kairi takes his hand impulsively, and he returns her squeeze in a way he hopes is reassuring, "Marluxia…" She trails off, but they both know that she doesn't have to explain any further. With a jolt in his stomach, Riku swiftly brings her into a hug, still holding her hand; he doesn't really know what else to do, but hopes that it'll help somehow.

"I swear, if I didn't know for a fact that he was already dead, I'd find him and kill him myself." His voice is harsh, but she seems to know that it's not towards her. The girl in his arms shifts momentarily, before hugging him back.

"Thank you," Naminé whispers, leaning her forehead against him, and the two of them just stay like that for a while. Eventually, they're both leaning against the Paopu tree, watching the sun slowly set in silence. Only after the horizon is a thin strip of red does she speak again.

"I guess I'm not really surprised that you'd notice when Sora didn't," she says, looking at him calmly from the corner of her eye.

"I wasn't completely sure, but-" Riku stops himself short, because she's still looking at him silently. "...What is it?" he asks, very, very carefully, and the conversation suddenly has an undertow he's never learned to navigate.

"You know what I mean." Her voice is so steady, and he doesn't know how she's become the one treading without effort, while he's left struggling just to dog-paddle.

"No, I don't think I do." Why is she talking about this? He doesn't want to talk about this.

"Riku, you know-" she protests, turning to face him fully, and he really hopes that the tone alongside her sadness is frustration and not disappointment.

"It wasn't like that," he insists, mouth in a thin line. "That was different." He might have to admit that he knows what she's talking about, but he doesn't have to agree with her. Riku already knows that she's wrong; she has to be wrong, because Riku really doesn't want to think about what her being right about this would mean.

"You know, Riku," Naminé suggests slowly, "you'll feel a lot better if you just tell Sora about it."

"Like you're planning to tell Sora?" Riku retorts, flushing and wishing he didn't sound quite so defensive.

"And we both know he doesn't remember anything about Castle Oblivion," she replies easily. Then with a breath of a sigh, she puts a hand on his arm, which relaxes there when he doesn't pull away.

"There are... things Sora doesn't need to know about," he murmurs, looking out towards the sea as he puts his hand over hers, and that's all the allowance he's willing to give her, right now.

"Alright," she murmurs back, leaning more comfortably against his side. "For now." It means she's going to try and talk about this to him in the future, but that the conversation is over for the time being. They watch the rest of the sunset together, and then meander back to their boats. Kairi hugs him goodbye at the dock with a smile and says she hopes he and Naminé had a good conversation.

"…Yeah," he responds, a little slower than he meant to. Then, more quickly then he meant to, "Listen, Kairi…" He catches her hand before she can turn to untie her boat from the dock.

"What is it?"

"If there's…" and he only has half an idea of what he's going to say, but pushes on nonetheless, "…anything you want me to do – not just for your birthday – if there's anything else, just say it and I'll do it." That's his real present, and she probably knows it. He feels better, for some reason, when he's the one that's being strong for her.

"I know," Kairi says, smiling softly, looking up at him and tugging him just a little bit closer with the hand he's holding. It's a nice, quiet moment, and she looks especially pretty right now, so he leans down to kiss her, wrapping his other hand around her waist to steady her when she gets up on her tiptoes. "Besides," she adds, after they've parted and just a little bit impishly, "I already told you there's something I really want for my birthday."

"Right," Riku grins in response, watching her walk back over to where her boat's tied up, "your mystery gift. Is that happening the day of the party, or sometime later?"

"Oh, it's not that mysterious," she giggles. "At least, I hope not." She lets out a contented little sigh. "As for when, it's going to be on my birthday, after the party's over." And then she unties her boat, gets in, and pushes away from the dock, humming. "See you later, Riku! Mm-mmm-mm-m-mmm-mm-mmm-mm…"

. r . s . k . s . r .

Kairi's birthday party goes off without a hitch, of course. There're a good number of people here, both teens and adults. Most of the teens are from Kairi and Sora's grade, but Riku sees a number of people from his grade too, as well as a couple younger middle school kids. Everyone's already gotten their cake and punch, so after a bit of mingling in which Riku focuses on his cake instead of some eighth grade girl who's trying to flirt with him, someone declares that it's time for Kairi to open her presents. About halfway through the stack, she comes across a box from the "SweetSweet Island Confectionery".

"Oh, what's this?" Kairi unfolds the note taped to the box of chocolates. "To Kairi, Happy sixteenth birthday. From an admirer," she recites, smiling, but neglecting to tell the rest of her audience that there are actually two different handwriting styles in the note, both of which she can easily recognize. Riku himself had written "Kairi", "sixteenth", "From", and "admirer".

"Sweet Sixteen," Selphie sighs happily, "such a romantic age." Kairi's father looks like a man who is calm on the outside but quietly trying not to panic too much on the inside; her mother pats him on the arm once or twice with a resigned smile, which is probably a slightly healthier attitude for any parent of Kairi's. One of the girls next to Selphie – Lulu, from Riku and Wakka's grade, and Riku had no idea she and Kairi knew each other – rolls her eyes and takes a sip of punch like she wishes it was something stronger, but Selphie doesn't seem to mind in the slightest.

"Thank you, Admirer," Kairi says, glancing around the room as if to try and spot the "mystery" gift-giver but finding Riku and Sora's eyes and giving them an extra smile in the process. Sora tries to look casual, and Riku hides his smile behind his own glass of punch.

. r . s . k . s . r .

When Riku gets to the Play Island later that evening, Sora and Kairi's boats are already there. He looks around once, but doesn't see them immediately. Ignoring the part of him right there that knows exactly where they are because there is nowhere else that Kairi would be right now for something she's been so close-mouthed about, he starts walking around, first going up to the tree house, then the shack, then the cove; he even checks the little shortcut passageway between both parts of the island, but that's mostly to stall for time. It's only after he looks one more time to make sure that no, they still aren't at the Paopu Tree, either, that he drags his legs over to the waterfall.

Going back to that place again... he doesn't want to do it. He'd rather be anywhere else in all the damn worlds than back in that cave right now. Funny, how before he left he would go and just sit there sometimes, facing the door with its giant golden keyhole, almost never daring to touch it but constantly aching to pry it open all the same – rip the wood out of the rock wall with his fingers, if he had to – and pretending he didn't see the drawings on the walls.

No, most of them were fine. It was just that one he didn't want to look at. The thought of things staying like that forever was just painful, in a very private part of him, something that had metaphysical chains and bolts and caution tape plastered all over it. The night they all left the Islands, right before the storm arrived, he saw the addition Sora had made earlier that day and felt his face burn because everything was going wrong, and no one had ever bothered to consult Riku on what he might want. Nothing was going to change if he didn't do something to change it himself.

Yes, the darkness whispered.

But Riku can't avoid the truth anymore, and it's just embarrassing to be nervous about a stupid little cave, anyway, so he walks in.

"Not until Riku gets here, Sora." He hears Kairi's voice drift out from where she must be talking to Sora.

"…Okay," Sora says, but he sounds impatient. Riku hadn't thought that his delay at finally going inside the cave would be causing Sora or Kairi undue distress, and now he feels a little stab of guilt about it. He starts to walk down through the cave to where Sora and Kairi are, to where he knows the door is. Sora must have been shifting on his feet when he was talking to Kairi because as Riku keeps walking down the corridor, he hears them suddenly quiet once he gets close enough for them to finally hear his footsteps.

"Hey," is all Riku manages to say, and it doesn't have much weight to it, so it seems to just hover in the air between him and where Sora and Kairi are standing. Riku recognizes a bag sitting against one of the walls that belongs to Kairi, but it's zipped closed for the moment.

"Hey," Sora responds, with a little wave; Kairi smiles, and Riku returns the smile to both of them, but then his eyes are inevitably drawn to the wooden door behind them. It feels like it's been a lifetime since he last saw that thing. He thinks he might be a different person than he was back then – hopes he's a little different, at least, that maybe he's made at least one better decision since then – but the keyhole isn't there anymore, so it almost feels like exploring it all over again.

"I'm sorry, Riku," Kairi says suddenly, and Riku drags his eyes back to her, seeing that she's fiddling with one of her bracelets. How long had he been staring? "You haven't been in here since before, have you? I didn't think of that."

"…No, I haven't," he answers slowly. He tries not to, but his gaze slips once again, this time to one of the rock walls. It's been added to again, with a second hand now holding a second piece of fruit, and he feels his face start to flush before he can suppress it. "…It's okay." And he drags his gaze back to Sora and Kairi. He's… not entirely sure why Kairi, of all people, thinks she needs to apologize, or on how many levels she means that apology, but just reminds himself that she must've chosen this place for a reason, reminds himself of the things and conversations that happened earlier this week, and makes an effort to smile. He's not sure, for a moment, if it'll stay, but she smiles in return, and then his is easier to hold up anyway.

"Well, now that we're all here," Kairi says, looking at both him and Sora for a moment, "we can start." Then, quieter and just a fraction slower, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, "This is something I really, really want. Is it okay if-"

"Yeah," Sora responds instantly.

"Of course," Riku says, at the same time. Kairi laughs once, then smiles wide.

"Alright," she announces. "I'll start, then." She walks over to her bag and unzips it; Riku tries to subtly crane his neck to look inside and see what she's getting out, but the angle she's leaning over it from seems designed specifically so that he and Sora can't peek. After she's zipped the bag back up again, he sees that she's holding three rocks, two in her left and one in her right.

"Kairi…" Sora asks, with a little waver to his voice, "What are you doing?" Riku almost doesn't catch it over the sound of rock scraping against rock, but he supposes that the fact that no one besides Kairi is breathing right now makes up for that extra noise.

"Fixing it." And on the wall, a third drawing is added, as is one more filled hand coming from one of the existing drawings. Then, she hands Riku and Sora their own rocks - maybe a little more forcefully than she might've originally intended, but Riku's brain doesn't really process that too well - gestures towards the wall with a slightly nervous smile, and the two of them kneel to reach the drawing and finish it.

There's a moment or two after he and Sora have stood back up again to face Kairi where Riku waits for them to take it back, to cross him out right then and there because there's absolutely no reason for him to have deserved that, but then he feels a tentative little half-smile creep onto his face because something that he never, ever thought once in his life would happen just did – take that, insecurities – and then it's joined by two others, and everything in the world feels just a little less heavy and just a little more right than it did before. Now, he mostly feels sixteen – won't be seventeen for a couple more months, and that's something Kairi always likes teasing him about this time of year – and awkward and maybe a little too tall and serious for them, but he also feels a little hopeful that maybe he's actually doing something right in his life and something else he can't quite define that nags and keeps calling his attention to itself. All he can really say right now is that it's amazing.

"There's one more thing…" Kairi speaks up again, and Riku thinks that he's always going to take a little extra time to process hearing nervousness in Kairi's voice. He can't really figure anything else out about it, but he doesn't really think that's so important right now.

"Okay."

"Yeah." Riku slips his rock into his pocket while Kairi goes to get something out of her bag again, and when he glances at Sora, he sees that the rock he's gotten has also somehow mysteriously disappeared. The two of them share another smile when they realize what the other one's just done, and when he turns back to look at Kairi again, she's laid out a blanket on the cave floor with a smile and slightly pink cheeks. There's a strange sort of energy around all three of them that Riku still can't name, but he likes it and he's pretty sure that Sora and Kairi like it, too, so that's… a relief, to say the least.

"Sit down?" she asks, and they do so, the three of them cross-legged in a little circle with their knees touching lightly, Riku on her left and Sora on her right. Kairi squeezes each of their hands with one of her own once, then turns over her right shoulder to open the bag one more time. Riku sees Sora's eyes widen once she starts turning back around, and although Riku can't see what's in her hands just yet, the part of him right there is already pretty confident about what it is.

"I…" Kairi says, once she's turned back around all the way, and that part right there is very, very right. A third time, she receives two confirmations, so she splits it into three parts. Riku thinks he spends both an eternity and a second looking at his part, before looking back up with an indefinable half-thought caught somewhere and waiting to be let out. "On the count of three?" and they all take a bite at the same time.

The three of them stay there the rest of the night. Then, somewhere in the night when he's pressed close between the two people who have always been the most important, the name for the feeling finally hits him.

I'm home, Riku thinks. I'm finally home.

A link to the soundtrack for this fic, Dream, and the revised Sometimes will in my profile once all three fics are posted :)