Wooden swords clanked together time and time again as they spared. Riku was winning, of course. That was normal but Sora still tried his best. Best friend or not he was going to kick Riku's butt one of these days! He was so deep in thought that he paused for a moment. The outcome of this was Riku smacking the back of Sora's hand with his own sword, expecting the younger male to parry or step back or Something other than stand there and get hit.
Sora yelped and dropped his sword, waving his hand around, tears in his eyes. Riku's eyes widened and he quickly dropped his own sword stepping forward to snatch Sora's hand into his own hand to inspect it. "Shit Sora, I'm sorry."
With a small sniffle Sora shook his head. "It's fine, my fault, really." Riku wanted to roll his eyes at the boy, he really did, but he couldn't bring himself to do so. Sora was always blaming things on himself. He was upbeat and wanted to correct everything.
Shaking his head he glanced up to meet the other's eyes. "No, it was mine and I'm sorry." Returning his attention to the wounded hand he lifted it and placed a small kiss on the reddening area. With his eyes lowered he didn't see the blush spread across the younger's cheeks and the widening of his eyes. "Better?" he asked, returning his gaze to the other's just in time to see Sora put on one of his big grins and rub the back of his head.
"All better!" he proclaimed before gently pulling his wounded hand from Riku's and retrieving both of their swords. When he turned his back to Riku the other frowned deeply, hurt by Sora's simple brush off of the kiss. He's been trying for weeks now to show the other in simple gestures how he felt for him. He didn't have the balls to say it outright, afraid of what it could do to their friendship, but if Sora figured it out by himself...
"Riku?" He snapped to quickly, realizing that he had zoned out, frown still in place and that Sora was now standing in front of him waving two wooden swords in front of his face. "Earth to Riku! Anyone in there?" Forcing a smile onto his lips he gently rustled Sora's hair.
"Ha, more than you have in there!" he teased, gently bonking Sora on the head. The younger frowned deeply before smacking Riku's arm with one of the swords. "Oww!" was the only response he could come up with and when Sora's eyes widened and he moved forward to make sure Riku wasn't really hurt he was glad that he had. After a once over Sora scowled up at him, hands still on his arm.
"That wasn't funny, Riku!" He knew he shouldn't, that it would just make it worse, but Riku laughed. He laughed deep and for a long while, Sora staring at him like he'd lost his mind the whole time.
"I-I'm sorry." he replied between chuckles. Sora gently jabbed him in the stomach with the end of one of the swords and turned to walk away. Laughter killed on the spot Riku grabbed him by the arm, pulling him back against his chest. "I'm sorry, Sora. I couldn't help but tease. Please don't be mad at me."
With a sigh Sora shook his head. "I'm not mad, Riku. You know I never get mad at you, even when you Are a jerk." Riku frowned lightly in response and rested his chin on Sora's shoulder so he could get a better look at the other's expression.
"You think I'm a jerk?" His grip was lose enough for Sora to walk away now if he wanted to, but he didn't. He turned and with a deep sigh buried his face in Riku's neck and dropped his arms lightly around the other's waist. Riku's face reddened quickly and he was glad the younger boy wasn't looking at him.
"No, I don't think you're a jerk, but I couldn't help but tease." He could feel Sora grinning against his shoulder and he shook his head. He had asked for that. "You've been acting differently, Riku. Why?" Sora pulled back a little as he said it, far enough that he could look up at the other.
Riku was glad that his blush had disappeared as he ran his fingers through his hair to get it out of his face. His only response was a shrug as he looked out towards the ocean. He felt that if he looked at Sora he'd crack and everything would come spilling out and their friendship would be ruined. So he bit his lip and stood there.
Sora gently hit him on the arm. "Look at me, Riku." He wanted to ignore the request but to do so would send Sora into another pout that Riku really didn't want to inflict on the other boy so he did as requested but with one alteration. Turning his head he faced it towards the younger boy, eyes squeezed shut. If he wasn't looking at him it wouldn't be so compelling, right? He hoped so.
He could almost see Sora roll his eyes. "Riiiiku!" he whined and pushed the other lightly, causing him to take a step back but his eyes remained closed. "C'mon, Riku! Tell me what's up."
Riku shook his head again, lips pressed together to force himself to remain silent, eyes squeezed shut even tighter. This was way harder than he figured it would be. He heard the other sigh and then nothing. For a period of time there was no sound at all. A pretty long period of time. Furrowing his brows he gently peaked one eye open. Sora was gone.
Opening both eyes all the way he sighed before sinking to his butt in the sand, legs spread out in front of him. He's made Sora upset with him once again and he hated himself for it. He hated himself for not being able to say how he felt but he was just so damn afraid.
He almost jumped out of his skin when a pair of arms looped around his neck from behind and warm breath tickled his ear. "You thought I left, didn't you?" It was Sora, and there was a smugness in his voice that Riku hardly ever heard. "Please, Riku, tell me what's wrong."
His walls shattered then within the warmth of his best friend's arms. Within the arms of the one person he'd ever truly loved. He was shaking and Sora's grip tightened a little so he knew he could feel it. "I don't know how to, Sora. I... I don't know if I can."
The grip around his neck disappeared as Sora slid sideways and plopped onto the sand facing the opposite direction beside him. Looking at him, he gently reached across his chest to gently stroke the older's back. "Then show me."
For a moment Riku's mind went completely and utterly blank and then Sora's words hit him like a bag of bricks. "W-what?"
"Show me, Riku. Show me what's bothering you so much." Riku wanted to. He wanted to so badly but he froze, mouth gapping, just staring at his best friend. The soothing rubbing on his back didn't stop, not once.
"Sora, I-" before he could go any farther Sora pressed his finger to his lips to silence him and he felt his resolve shatter.
"Show me." Gently pushing his finger off his mouth, he did just that. Leaning over he closed the distance between them and brushed his lips lightly across Sora's cheek, brushing the corner of his mouth. Sora fell still, a blush quickly coloring his face. His eyes meet Riku's own and didn't look away like he thought they would.
"That's what." He was the one to look away, pulling his knees up to his chest. "If you don't want to talk to me I won't blame you for that. I just... I couldn't keep it a secret anymore."
The sand shifted beside him and a hand grabbed his chin and jerked his face to face Sora's. "Shut the hell up, Riku. Shut up and kiss me again!" Riku didn't know if he should be more shocked by the profanity, no matter how mild, thrown into the sentence or the fact that it had been an order.
After a moment of staring at the boy like he'd grown a second head he leaned in and pressed a light kiss to the younger's lips. Sora didn't pull away, he didn't hit him, he just sat there. When he went to pull back Sora gripped the collar of his shirt and pulled him back, kissing him fiercly for a moment before pulling back.
"Now, was that so hard? I may be kind of slow but I'm not stupid, Riku. I figured out what has been bothering you a week ago, I've just been waiting for you to admit it." He released the other's collar and gently leaned against his shoulder. "I don't hate you, Riku. It's the exact opposite."
He could have dropped dead then and been 100% happy. Instead he slid his legs out in front of him in the sand and wrapped his arm around Sora's waist, pulling him into his lap. "I'm sorry, Sora," he mumbled with his face buried in the other's shoulder, "I'm the idiot."
Sora wrapped his arms around Riku's shoulders with a small chuckle which caused the older to glance up just in time to receive a kiss on the cheek. "What ever you are, Riku, I like it and don't want it to change." They both smiled and embraced.
They sat there for some time before the sand crunching nearby caught their attention. "What the heck?" a voice questioned and Riku tensed. It was Kairi. He should have known this wouldn't be that easy. Both boys looked at each other before turning their eyes to their other best friend with guilty eyes.
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Horribly ending, I know. I figured that I'd leave it to you to decide upon Kairi's reaction in your own mind since I really, really dislike her. xD None the less, thanks for reading! Reviews are greatly appreciated!