Welcome To Our World: Creative Expression - Holiday (theme 33) [rough draft], a Kingdom Hearts fanfic written by Raberba girl
List of themes by DavisJes, Variation 3 for the 100ThemesChallenge group on deviantART
Summary: Van & Sora visit friends on their day off.
A/N: I'm not sure when exactly this takes place, but it's pretty close to the original Welcome To Our World story.
o.o.o
Van's alarm clock went off. He crawled out of bed, dragged on a pair of jeans, and was trudging toward the kitchen when he saw Sora watching cartoons, at which point Van realized that it was a holiday, so he didn't have to take his little brother to school after all. "Uuuuugh," he groaned. He flopped down on the couch, heedless of the boy already sitting there.
"?!" Sora struggled free, climbed on top of Van, and signed, "Good morning!"
"Shut up," Van mumbled.
"Sleepy?"
"Go awaaay."
Sora got to his feet and trotted off into the kitchen.
Van had nearly dozed off when he realized that Sora was back, poking something at his lips. "Stop it." Some of the thing got into his mouth, and he tasted chocolate Pop-Tart. "Mmmnngghh..." He slowly reached up to grasp the Pop-Tart for himself. As he continued eating it, Sora crossed his arms on Van's chest, laid his chin on them, and gazed at his big brother adoringly.
"Stop looking at me like that."
Sora simply blinked and continued smiling.
"I don't even like you..."
The adoring smile turned to crestfallen puppy eyes.
"Stop it." Van crammed the rest of the Pop-Tart in his mouth, sat up, and wrapped the boy in a gruff hug. He let Sora snuggle against him for a second, then pushed him away. "Stop liking people so much, Sora." He got up and went into the kitchen to look for something more substantial to eat, and rolled his eyes when he heard Sora trotting after him.
The refrigerator and cabinets were pretty empty, all he could find was peanut butter. Van scooped globs of it out of the container with his fingers. Sora dutifully got a spoon, though it was a dirty one from the sink; their grandmother hadn't had the energy to wash dishes in a while. They took turns scooping, though Van soon started teasing Sora, darting his hand in for extra helpings and occasionally holding the container out of reach. Sora got indignant and reached for the container in frustration, and even hit Van with the spoon at one point.
"Ow, Sora! Give me that," Van snapped, yanking the spoon away.
Sora giggled and pressed his finger to the peanut butter that was now smeared on Van's cheek.
"Sora!"
"Messy face."
When Van was fully recovered from feeling like a zombie, he beckoned to Sora as if he was a dog and led him outside. They took the bus to the more affluent side of their school district. Sora spent the whole ride either glued to the window or cheerfully signing at random strangers. One of them even broke into a huge smile and started signing back, and they had a lively conversation until she had to disembark. Van spent most of the ride with his eyes closed and his music in his ears.
Even after getting off the bus, they had to walk a fair distance before reaching the Crescent house ('Mansion,' Van thought resentfully). They stopped at the gate, and Van pressed the call button.
Finally, a servant's voice came crackling through the speaker. "Yes?"
"It's Van and Sora."
There was a long pause, then the voice said disapprovingly, "Come in." The gate slowly creaked open.
In the huge living room, Yazoo was lounging on a couch with one of his laptops, and Kadaj and Loz were fighting over a video game. Van pushed Sora toward the staircase. "Go away." Sora scampered up to find his friend.
Riku was lying with his face to the wall, listening to music. Sora bounded across the room and flung himself on Riku, trying to hug him. Riku screamed in distressed surprise and thrust him away, then squeezed himself down between the side of the bed and the wall.
Sora peered down at him for a while, then sat back and looked sad. He finally gave up, climbed off the bed, and wandered around inspecting Riku's toys.
After a while, Riku slowly crawled back onto the bed and lay down, facing the door this time. Sora happily went and flung himself over Riku again. Riku's only response was to blink.
"Hi, Riku!"
"..."
Sora patted Riku's soft hair, then offered him an action figure. Riku didn't move. Sora tucked the figure into Riku's hand, and Riku's fingers closed around it. Sora picked up another action figure and bounced it on the bedcovers. "Mm, mm, mnh?" he inquired politely.
Riku, eyes still gazing elsewhere, flopped his hand with the figure in it.
"No winter clothes. Only ice and snow."
Riku's hand shifted, dragging the figure with it.
"We save Elsa. You and me, okay? Together, up the mountain."
Riku blinked.
"Go, reindeer!"
By the time they'd fought their way through a bloodthirsty wolf pack, Riku had turned down the volume of his music, sat upright, and was now looking at the toys. "I like being alone. Go away."
"Come back, Elsa! We love you!"
"I don't care what you say. I'm staying." Riku jabbed his finger at Sora's action figure.
"Ow! My heart froze! Help!"
"Go away." Riku picked up a pillow and slammed it on top of the toys.
"Noooo, snow monster!"
Van leaned through the bedroom doorway. "Oi, we're taking off. The guys and me."
Sora scrambled off the bed and ran to him.
"Not you, stupid. You're staying here with Riku."
"Don't leave me!"
"I'm not your mom. Stay here and play with Riku."
Sora wrapped his arms around him.
"Let go or I'll hit you."
Sora unhappily retreated, and signed, "Come back for me."
"You'll be fine." Van walked out again.
Sora looked after him unhappily. Then he went and climbed back onto the bed and curled up next to Riku. Riku patted his head. "It's okay."
"He left me," Sora signed miserably.
Riku took his headphones and put them on Sora's head.
"Music."
"Listen to music. It's better."
"Riku is my friend. Riku won't leave me."
Riku picked up one of the action figures and put it into Sora's hand. "We're still playing."
"Now we have to save Anna, too."
"We'll fix everything together."
Sora smiled.
o.o.o
Author's Notes: I swear I do have ideas for other characters in this universe, but for some reason Van/Sora keeps giving me the most and quickest plunnies. XD There's still a lot for them I haven't written yet. Eventually I'll get around to writing the Axel/class(mostly Sora & Demyx?) and Sapphique/Roxas/Ven ideas, and someone requested Vexen/Xion and Marluxia/Larxene/Naminé.
Riku barely knows any sign language, but he and Sora do that weird little-kid thing where they can somehow communicate without actually understanding each other. XD
I actually wrote this story before Treasure of my Heart: Arm, and the little paragraph with the lady on the bus who knew sign language inspired me to write "Arm." The problem is that I accidentally typed and posted "Arm" first, when I should probably have posted this story first. *sweatdrop* The two bus incidents are similar, but they're not meant to be the same; I got the idea that the young woman in this story was a hearing student who knew ASL.
And I'm obviously still in a Frozen mood, despite the fact that I STILL have not watched the movie. XD This is not the last time Frozen will be referenced in this universe.
Complete: 4/100