Title: Ice Cream
Characters/Pairings: Riku, phantom-limb'ed RikuShi
Rating: G
Warnings: Possibly my most unoriginal title to date. Post KH2. For those of you who don't know what Rockin' Crunch is, it's an ice cream featured in BbS described as "A bittersweet, nut-covered ice cream with a sophisticated taste."
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the stories I write.
Summary: Riku can't eat sea-salt ice cream.
Word Count: 258
Submitted: 5 May 2011
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He's not sure why he refuses to eat sea-salt ice cream. He knows how the treat tastes, can recall from memory the sweet and salty flavor, though the memory of the circumstances surrounding the experience is unclear. It's not that he finds the taste unfavorable, if anything, it's one of his favorites, second only to Rockin' Crunch.
But whenever someone offers him a bar of sea-salt ice cream, his stomach churns—not in the nauseous way, but something more akin to having nervous knots twist inside him. It makes his hands shake and his vision blurs for that one instant before he blinks and it clears again. In the end, he takes a bar of Rockin' Crunch instead and finds some relief in grinding the nuts between his molars.
Seeing everyone enjoying the salty-sweet ice cream also does something to him. He's not disgusted so much by the eating—though Sora's blatant gorging can do wonders to someone's appetite—as he is by the fact that everyone seems to be enjoying themselves while doing so. At times, he can see Roxas and Naminé superimposed over Sora and Kairi while they all eat ice cream. In those moments, few and far between as they are, anger and resentment wash over him. A part of him screams "no fair," but he can't understand why. They're all safe, whole, and home.
What could possibly be wrong?
But once all the ice cream is gone, his own treat lingering bittersweet on his taste buds, he wonders why he is the only one left feeling unsatisfied.
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This is kinda inspired by the lack of response Ansem!Riku gives when DiZ says "We could always buy some sea-salt ice cream."
I can't believe I actually forgot to do a shout-out to Amatus for adding the collection to her alerts list. I'm so sorry! And thank you so much! That includes the reviews. I also need to give a big kudos to delphigirl689 for adding the collection to her favorites. You made me so happy. Thank you!
I have something entirely "fluffy" in mind for the next installment, so hopefully that's something to look forward to.
Oh! And happy Cinco de Mayo for those who celebrate it!
