There was a certain pride one could take in traditions borne of necessity, Riku considered, as long as they weren't utterly humiliating and kept his dignity intact. This, of course, pointedly ignored the yearly torturous initiation of rocky river rapid diving at Solomon Schechter (that the counselors were always, unsurprisingly, trying to stop). This one in particular was a good one, though.
"Hello? Helloooo? Pass the soy sauce, space cadet!"
And even better for the company.
Riku pointedly jabs Sora lightly in the arm with his elbow, but slides over the soy sauce in question with no extra fuss. Sora's mantra of `MSG is life` had never quite stuck with Riku - at least, not since the time they'd flown a little too close to the sun during a particularly intense game of Truth or Dare. Riku had downed half the bottle before desperately tapping out and running to the kitchen to restore equilibrium to his fluid percentages while Sora and Kairi in the other room laughed so hard they cried. Riku spent the rest of the week feeling like a dried-out sponge. So, now he uses it just for taste. Like HaShem intended.
Sora, naturally, disagrees, drowning his chow mein in an amount that even just watching makes Riku's tongue go numb. Eugh. He tears his eyes away from the noodles floating in the takeout container and sticks his chopsticks back into his sweet and sour chicken and rice (covered with a more reasonable amount of MSG), refocusing back on the computer screen playing their Lord of the Rings marathon.
Kairi had been called to visit family back in Destiny for the holidays, so the trio's yearly Christmas celebration of hitting the theaters and swinging by their favorite Chinese restaurant was trimmed down to just a movie night in Sora and Riku's shared dorm room with takeout. With Sora's head leaning against his shoulder while Gollum whines about 'those nasty Hobbitses', Riku finds himself unable to complain about the outcome of the evening, even as the side of his boyfriend's jaw works against Riku's bicep while munching on his noodles.
It's around the time Gollum leads Frodo into the spider Shelob's cave when the breathing next to Riku's ear evens out, and he turns his head from the screen to his boyfriend's sweetly sleeping face.
And drool dripping on his arm.
Ew.
Still, Riku is grateful the takeout boxes have long since been set aside, and keeps from jostling Sora to the best of his ability while he reaches for the touchpad to pause the movie and shut the laptop. Sora wouldn't be mad about missing the end of the movie - sad about missing more time with Riku, maybe, something Sora tells Riku all the time after he falls asleep early during movie nights, and it makes Riku's chest feel like it is full to burst.
The electronic light is turned off and moonlight fills the room. It hits and bounces off Sora's limbs where they're loosely wrapped around Riku, off Sora's peacefully rising and falling chest, off the soft lines of Sora's (gorgeous, sun-kissed, freckled, glowing) face, making him look ethereal, and Riku is struck dumb with the realization of how lucky he is to be in love with and be loved in return by this beautiful person.
For as long as Riku could remember, Sora had been the light in his life. Even when things had looked darkest, Sora had always been there for him, smiling his brilliant, loving smile at Riku regardless of the negative thoughts swirling in Riku's head that beat him down into a spiral lasting years and years. He can only hope that Sora knows how thankful Riku is every day for everything Sora had ever done for him, because while words were a good starting point they would never, ever, be enough, and Riku wants to be that same stable rock and person of comfort for him that he'd been for Riku.
After rising from his reverie, Riku is quick to realize that jostling Sora, even to move him across the room to his own bed, would wake him. But it's not like they didn't spend their childhood cuddling in the same bed as often as they could, nor was it common to have both beds filled come night anyway because of this. They always are most comfortable wrapped around each other, so moving Sora back to his own bed is really only a quick thought before Riku stops considering it.
Instead, he carefully moves his computer to the side table with a foot and even more carefully holds Sora's still-sleeping form as he leans back to lay on the bed proper. A blanket is deftly wrapped around them both and after nestling a kiss into the soft spikes at the very top of Sora's head, Riku lets his eyes close as well. Yes, this really is the best Christmas tradition there is.