Chapter Ten
Author's Note: We've finally gotten to an important chapter. Whoop. What? I'm tired. This is a looong chapter.
Title: Slight Changes
Time: After KH2 (yeah… Whee… Nah I'm just not feelin' it today…)
Rating: T (not sure why, just seems to make sense)
Summary: A lot can change in two years. By the way I don't want to hear any complaints about Riku's clothes 'kay? I like him dressed as an emo…
Disclaimer: So fucking sue me then.
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And once again Riku and Tidus found themselves in a situation that was well… Awkward to say the least…
"H- Hey," said Tidus waving a hand dumbly.
"Hi," said Riku staring at Tidus in disbelief.
Riku was sitting on his paopu tree on the little lay island. Not that he legally owned the tree. But ever since he'd been six and had first discovered it, Riku had never allowed anyone to sit on it when he wasn't there. And the only people he did let sit with him on it were Sora and Kairi.
Tidus had changed a great deal since the last time Riku'd seen him. For one thing he had definetly bulked up in the muscle department. And he was quite a bit taller… In fact…
Riku got up and walked over to Tidus wordlessly. Finally he put his hand on top of his head and carefully moved it levelly to Tidus. It reached the sandy-haired blonde's shoulder…
…
"You're taller than me!" exclaimed Riku, he looked pretty put out.
Tidus seemed to be pretty shocked as well, "Well this is awkward," he muttered.
"I'll say," said Riku grumpily, "this is so weird… I'm so used to being taller than you. I mean geez people say I grew? You must have grown a fucking foot!"
"Something like that," said Tidus scratching the back of his head.
"Oh well," scoffed Riku, "…Whatever. You want to sit down? I guess we've got a lot of catching up to do… It's been a while…"
Tidus laughed a little before sitting quietly down on the sand. He knew the rules; he wasn't allowed to sit on the tree.
Riku really had changed a lot too. At the moment he'd was wearing all black. The only time Tidus had ever seen Riku wear all black was at a funeral. And not only that, but Riku had gotten very pale. Almost unhealthily pale.
"Why are you sitting on the sand?" asked Riku curiously.
Tidus looked up, mouth going dry. Did Riku mean…?
Sure enough, Riku was patting a portion of trunk and smiling at Tidus encouragingly. Tidus's face broke out into a wide grin. Riku was inviting him to sit on his paopu tree. If that wasn't a good sign Tidus didn't know what was.
He got up and walked over to the tree at a snail's pace, testing to see if Riku was tricking him and would whip him if he tried to touch the twisted tree.
He put one hand on it. Riku didn't flinch.
He put both hands down firmly. Not even a blink… Interesting…
Finally with a small grunt he sat down. As soon as Tidus had began hoisting himself Riku quickly scooted closer to the blonde's seat. When he was finally sitting directly next to Tidus he glanced at the (now) taller of the two… It seemed his movement had gone unnoticed. Riku gave a sigh of relief.
"So this what it feels like sitting up here," said Tidus wonderingly, moving his feet to test out the open air. Riku pulled one leg up to his chest and settled himself down.
Tidus stared at the water beneath them for a while, and then he suddenly noticed how close Riku was sitting to him. Was he that close to me when I first sat down?
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Behind the two, Sora, Kairi, Selphie and Wakka were coming up to meet up with Riku. They stopped short though when they saw just what was going on.
"Is Riku letting Tidus sit on the paopu tree?" asked Sora in awe.
Kairi and Selphie exchanged knowing glances, while Selphie stifled her giggles, Kairi grabbed Wakka and Sora by the shoulders and steered them away forcefully. Despite both boys' complaints.
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"Hey Tidus..?"
"Hm? Yeah?" Tidus looks over at Riku, whose voice is suddenly very small and fragile sounding. He's looking down at his hands and fiddling with his fingers. Tidus straightens up upon noting Riku's nervous behavior.
"I…" Riku sighed and looked up and Tidus with an absolutely pitiful expression on his face, he bit his lip before continueing, "I'm sorry…"
"What?" asked Tidus, utterly taken aback. Riku clammed his teeth down on his lip and shut his eyes tightly. This behavior however did nothing to stop the tears that were leaking out of his scrunched up aqua eyes.
"I'm sorry!" he cried in a tight voice, strained and cracking from the effort of restraining unshed tears. With those last words Riku flung himself at Tidus and wrapped both arms around Tidus's waist.
Tidus sat there for a moment unsure of what to do. But then he remembered yet another of his mother's words:
"Give me a hug!"
Nodding to himself Tidus firmly enveloped Riku's smaller frame with his tanned, strong arms, pulling the distraught silver haired teen closer.
They sat there in that position for a while. Eventually after several minutes Riku pulled away a little and began talking in a high voice, stopping at random intervals to hiccup and rub his eyes, also throwing in the occasional sniffle.
"I- (sniff)… I'm s-sorry I was such a- (hiccup)… j-jerk before. B-but I d-didn't think that… (Hiccup)… I didn't think… I (sniffle)… Oh God Tidus I'm sorry!" Riku hung his head and sat there for a moment looking pretty pathetic.
Smiling softly, Tidus put one hand under Riku's chin and lifted up the other's head so that he could get a good look at Riku's watery eyes. Riku opened his mouth (probably to apologize again) but his words fell on deaf ears as Tidus leaned forward and captured Riku's paler lips.
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From their place behind a conveniently located bush, Sora and Wakka toppled over backwards as their two best friends started kissing right in front of their eyes. Selphie and Kairi merely started giggling, hugging and squealing.
Strangely enough, Riku and Tidus never noticed that "conveniently located" bush.
Author's Note: I'm sorry this took so long to get out. I've been really busy lately. I'm going to write a Tidiku one-shot soon. I don't know if I want it to be rated M or not.
SPECIAL SURVEY: Vote in your review, do you want my Tidiku one-shot to be rated T or M?
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