Title: Readjustment
Rating: PG?
Characters: Sora, Kairi, and Riku, mostly. Mentions of their made-up families as well.
Warnings: OCs that are mostly background material, the Trio's families. Hints of a pairing with a threesome nature. Otherwise... nothing much.
Genre: Uh. Friendship/Humor
Summary: In an attempt to make finding their footing back into a newly normal life easier, Sora tells stories of his adventures from when Riku and Kairi weren't around to see them.
Notes: Boy, this jumps around quite a bit. But hey, at least it's finished this time! Written mostly just to have an excuse to write the Destiny Islands trio, because I love them and their OT3 goodness.
Settling back in isn't as easy as they had hoped. They spend the first week back tiptoeing around each other, almost unsure what to say to each other. Sora is quiet and nervous around her, and Riku is distant and obviously troubled. Secretly, Kairi despairs, because this is far from what she had hoped for. But her two old friends need time to adjust, she tells herself, and she realizes that it can't be easy.
Finally, she notices Sora smile at her one day, just like he used to, and she knows that he is on his way. His voice loosens up around her; he starts to laugh again. She only smiles back, even though she wants to do something more dramatic, wrap her arms around him and kiss him or jump for joy.
They don't talk about a lot of things. They don't mention Ansem, or Nobodies, or why Riku refuses to put his bare feet down on Sora's bedroom floor.
Sora tells his stories happily, and they listen, but even Kairi can hear the cuts, the edits of something he doesn't want to mention, and she can't help but wonder why.
Sometimes, its embarrassment; she can see it in his face. He is first in the middle of telling them a story about the rather dark Port Royal, the pirates and their curse. Sora had brought up the names Will and Elizabeth, she remembers, and how they had been happily reunited, when suddenly he'd become flustered and changed the subject, face comically red.
Other times, she can't tell what he's feeling before he changes the path of the story. Sora loses his place a lot, when she thinks about it.
Sometimes, Kairi's sister, Senko, sits on the step that leads into the den and listens to Sora's stories. She takes great interest in tales of Neverland, enamored with the idea of an eternal childhood.
Kairi shoos her out of the room, because she can see that Sora is getting uncomfortable. Senko believes his stories are merely products of a childlike imagination, not true adventures, and he's not sure how to deflect her curious questions.
Senko smiles apologetically before ducking out of the room to assist with the dishes.
When she leaves, Sora claims to have lost his place and Riku forces a laugh while avoiding either of their gazes.
Kairi comes to realize that, outside of telling her how cool it was to fly, Sora doesn't tell a lot of stories about Neverland, unless Senko happens to ask what he thinks it'd be like to never grow up. When she asks Riku, he only shrugs and says he can't think of a reason, but he doesn't look at her when he answers, and she knows that Riku has trouble lying to someone's face.
"Riku?"
He looks up at her, distracted from his task. They're sitting out in his living room, Kairi watching as he sweeps the floor and then scrubs it, a chore his mother had left him with for the day. Kairi had offered her help, but he had turned her down. However, she still hands him various rags and cleaning materials, not content with just sitting and watching him work.
She waits a few seconds, unsure if she should really push him.
"Why won't you guys tell me what happened in Neverland?"
Riku looks away, absentmindedly scrubbing at the floor again; he ends up making a smaller mess in his distraction.
Finally, softly, he asks, "What do you remember of Neverland?"
She goes quiet then, thoughtful. What does she remember of Neverland? Her memories of that time are hazy, but there are a few things that stand out to her, small pinpoints of light in the fuzzy darkness.
"I remember you," she says simply.
Riku's mother, Etsuko, wrings her hands nervously while looking at the three of them lined up in her kitchen. She's afraid, because she's much younger than the other mothers, and she's never dealt with three young children all at once before. She has to prove herself capable.
They assure her that they won't break anything, and she gives them each an awkward pat on the head before leaving them with Riku.
Sora then announces he's starving, and when Kairi agrees, Riku resignedly admits that he, too, is hungry.
An enormous pot of chicken noodle soup is soon after produced.
But Sora doesn't understand Riku's horrified shriek when he happily plops down on the living room sofa with his bowl, and is quite hurt when Riku calls him a "dummy" and tells him to "get off the furniture" like he's carrying lice or something.
Kairi makes them apologize to each other, and they don't bring it up again.
Sora is full of stories when they settle back into home, and only too eager to tell them to a willing audience, and Kairi feels rude interrupting his cheerful voice to ask why there are things he doesn't tell.
His storytelling skills leave something to be desired, being much more accustomed to only giving comrades a quick summary of recent events in place of a long, meandering tale, but Kairi and Riku don't mind.
There are times when Kairi can see his stories, his memories; when she can see him nearly overcome by old emotions awoken with them.
Sometimes, a shadow passes over his face, a hint of sadness or regret, but it's gone so quick that Kairi wonders if she imagined it.
The only time Kairi asks, Sora goes quiet and can't seem to figure out how to start his thoughts.
Before he can answer her, Manami calls from the living room and Kairi has to leave for the night. Sora seems only too glad for a distraction. She leaves in a huff, hurt that Sora doesn't seem to want to tell her and doesn't want her help.
The following week, she is greeted by the sight of a crumpled piece of paper clinging to her school desk, complete with Sora's messy writing stating it's addressed to her.
Opening it up reveals only a single sentence in pencil, one obviously erased and rewritten numerous times.
You and Riku were supposed to be there with me.
She later gives Sora a hug that lasts so long, Riku wonders aloud if they plan on fusing together.
Sora kicks his feet, comfortable on the old Paopu tree as he stares up into the night sky. His voice is meek, quieted with awe.
"Which one do you think is Radiant Garden?"
The first weekend they plan on spending together at Sora's house, his father laughs and shakes his head, remarking, "You three live within walking distance of each other! Why bother with the hassle?"
Sora grins, but can't really figure out an answer for his cheerful father, and he just barely misses the 'fatherly' noogie.
They spend the night playing games, friendly competition and plenty of unexpected victories, laughing and talking well into the early morning hours. When Sora's father, Fionn, finally tells them to go to sleep, they are nearly out of steam anyways and don't need to be told twice.
There is some deliberation about sleeping arrangements, but they all eventually clamber into Sora's bed together without much worry.
But it makes for a horribly awkward morning when Sora's well-meaning but horrified mother finds them curled up together.
It's a panicked rush then, as they all jump in to explain how Riku had flat out refused to sleep on the floor, Sora had refused to let Kairi sleep on the floor alone, and Kairi had refused to let Sora sleep anywhere other than his own bed.
It's all sorted out in the end, but it's still a somber reminder that things are changing, that their relationship is being viewed through different lenses as they grow older.
Kairi wonders what everyone expects to happen: which one is going to end up alone, who is going to become the third wheel and eventually nothing at all?
She thinks to herself that they don't understand, but how could they?
She knows that her friendship with Sora and Riku looks like just that on the surface. Still, she can't help but feel a little irritated at this realization.
They do not belong to a culture that celebrates Halloween, but Sora convinces them to dress up anyway. He also convinces them to spend a few hours of the night in the tiny graveyard on the island.
She and Riku are hesitant, unsure of the morality of having a party in a place traditionally filled with grief and loss.
"We're not being disrespectful or malicious," Sora says, "We're just having a little party. Surely the dead will enjoy a little color, right?"
Kairi thinks of the room in the Organization's castle, the one with the broken doors and red floor, and immediately agrees to it. Riku takes a little more convincing, but Sora persists, and the last day of October finds Kairi waiting at the gate to the cemetery, clad in itchy white netting and stiff yellow cotton. She sits next to a statue, almost entirely hidden behind it. It is the island's guardian, a figure she has been taught to love since she was very young.
Other than the statue, there are no other large monuments. The graveyard, even in the haze of the late evening, has a peaceful, serene air about it. Most of the graves are marked with little flowers, simple headstones dotting the landscape, and there's nothing even remotely sinister in its appearance.
It's a far cry from Sora's descriptions of the world named Halloweentown, with its bizarre residents and animate skeleton leader, but she still feels a little somber.
She looks up into the stone face of the guardian, impassive and stoic, and she wonders who he was. A leader? A father? Perhaps even a villain who had been vindicated by history?
Or was he nothing more than a myth?
Why had he been named guardian of the island: a caring, fatherly figure who led their dead to Paradise?
"Hey."
She jumps, and tears her gaze away from the statue to face Riku, who has snuck up on her. She smiles at his costume; he looks exceptionally small, something she is not accustomed to seeing with Riku, swallowed up in the white cloak he's wearing. At first she isn't sure what he's supposed to be, until she sees the plastic scythe he's carrying with him.
"Aren't reapers supposed to wear black?" She asks coyly.
"I'm tired of wearing black, thanks," he replies, putting his nose in the air and crossing his arms.
And even though he's joking, she still feels a slight tug at his comment.
A/N: I am still working on this one. I promise. D: