Kairi liked collecting things. Fun things, pretty things, ridiculous things, practical things, weird things, tacky things. She also liked taking those things and making them into new things. And now that she and Sora shared a home of their own, she wanted to fill it with things that represented the two of them. Gluing thalassa shells to a picture frame she'd found at a flea market and then inserting a picture of her and Sora eating sea-salt ice cream. Making a scrapbook of photos from their wedding and setting it on the coffee table that Sora had repainted. Teaching him how to knit so they could work on a big blanket for the couch together with yarn she'd gotten from an old friend.
Sometimes, however, she found things that were perfect as they were. Today was one of those days. She was shopping for some necessities on the Main Island when she spotted the perfect things hanging proudly in front of one of the many little shops that had recently popped up. No local worth their salt would come here, but now that the Lanes Between had been opened up to commercial flight, the tourists happily would.
She giggled and covered her mouth with her hand. Two t-shirts were hanging side-by-side. One was blue with a white arrow pointing to the right, and the other was pink with a white arrow pointing to the left. The blue one said "I'm hers," but the pink one didn't say "I'm his," it said, "He's mine," instead.
She wanted those shirts. They were ridiculous and tacky and perfect for her and Sora.
She blushed and shook her head. "No, I can't get them, they're completely impractical." She started pacing back and forth. "Munny's a little tight this month, and I promised him I wouldn't buy any extra stuff today. What would he even think if I got these? We'd never be able to wear them in public, we'd have a good laugh and then never look at them again—"
She fetched her Gummiphone out of her purse. She'd take a picture and show him later. But right as she was about to, the phone started ringing.
"Sora?" she asked as she answered the call. "What's up?"
"You're still out shopping, right?"
"I am. I'm about done though."
"Guess who had a good haul with the Heartless today."
Her heart pounded in her chest. "You got more munny?"
Ever since she and Sora had gotten married, they'd spent less time fighting as they focused on building a life for themselves on Destiny Islands again, and that meant less munny in their bank accounts. Dropping out of school while they were still teens meant there weren't a whole lot of job opportunities open to them, and their erratic schedules meant that most places didn't want to hire them anyway. Sora had become a mercenary of sorts, traveling the worlds and fighting so he could still help people but also get to keep the munny the Heartless and Nobodies dropped. She went on missions of her own too, but they'd agreed that someone should be home whenever possible, and this month was her turn.
"I did," he said, breaking her out of her thoughts. "I'm gonna talk to Uncle Scrooge about investing some of it with him like we talked about, and the rest we can put in our bank account on one condition."
"What's that?"
"You get something nice to treat yourself with. I know this month's been kinda rough, and I wanna make it up to you."
She smiled and looked at the t-shirts again. "Thank you."
They discussed how much she could spend today, how much he would be investing with Uncle Scrooge, and how much would be going to their bank account, and then he ended the call like he always did: with a heartfelt "I love you," which she returned in kind.
Some careful haggling on her end won her the t-shirts for only 2000 munny, and she still had leftover munny to get something else. Sora had told her to treat herself, but she wanted to treat him, too. She went to the Main Island's department store and found a good bargain on something she knew would catch his eye.
Satisfied with the day's purchases, she boarded the ferry to one of the smaller islands where she and Sora lived. It was bigger than the Play Island but much smaller than the Main Island, and it was their little oasis of privacy from the larger world. Their house was the only house on the whole island, and the previous owners had sold it to them for cheap because it needed so much fixing up. Kairi was proud of how good it looked now, of how much hard work she and Sora had put into it. They'd truly made it their own, and coming home to it felt wonderful.
She set the groceries on the counter and started unloading them, and she heard Sora come in when she was done with putting up all the stuff that needed refrigerating. He wrapped his arms around her from behind and sighed.
"I'm back," he murmured as he kissed her shoulder.
"You're home," she said as she set the groceries down and rested her hands over his. Sharing their usual greeting like this would never get old, and she would always drop whatever she was doing to do so. He smelled so good, too, his natural scent mixed with a little sweat from exertion and the breezy smell of the beach.
"I missed you," he said, and she could hear the pout in his voice as he kissed her neck.
She turned and faced him. "I missed you too."
He cupped her face and kissed her, slowly and tenderly at first and then more and more passionately as she wrapped her arms around him. The groceries all but forgotten now that they were reunited, he swept her off her feet and carried her to their bedroom so they could pick up where they'd left off.
Afterwards, they cuddled and caught each other up on everything that had happened since they'd parted, then took a quick shower to cool down and clean up. Sora went around the house opening the windows to let in the late afternoon breeze after that, and Kairi returned to the kitchen to finish putting up the groceries and get dinner started.
She caught sight of today's extra purchases again and smiled and stashed them away for later. Sora popped into the kitchen soon afterwards, and together they made dinner. Fried rice with pineapple, shrimp, chicken, and paopu fruit that they fed to each other with big goofy smiles on their faces as the sun set behind them.
It had taken a long time to reach this point, but Kairi wouldn't trade their hard-earned life here for anything.
After they'd washed the dishes and put up the food, they cuddled on the couch as they took turns reading each other stories from a book Sora had been given on his latest travels. As Kairi finished up the most recent story, she brushed Sora's bangs back and kissed his forehead.
"It's good to have you back," she said. Even though he'd only been gone a few days, it wasn't the same without him around.
"It's good to be home."
He hummed happily as she played with his hair, then said, "Oh, I forgot to ask, what did you get to treat yourself?"
"Oh! I nearly forgot, too." She untangled herself from him and went to get the bag out of the corner. "I found these at one of those new little tourist shops today, and I couldn't say no."
She pulled the t-shirts out of the bag and showed him, and he burst out laughing. She loved his laugh, loved how it made his entire face light up and how the sound started deep in his belly and echoed across the whole room. Soon she was giggling too, because it was impossible not to join with him. His laughter was contagious and warm and always made everything feel better.
"Kairi, they're amazing! What a great find."
"Right? I've never stumbled across clothes that suited us so well."
She tossed the blue one to him and he held it to his body. "Yep, looks like it's gonna fit."
As she saw him sizing it up like he was serious about wearing it, her face flushed. "You don't have to actually wear it, silly. I can take them back if I need to—"
"Don't. I'm gonna wear this, and I'm gonna wear it proudly." He looked at her and grinned, and she felt her blush getting darker. "What? It's true, and I'm proud I'm yours."
She ducked her face and giggled. "I would've gotten one that says, 'I'm his,' but they didn't have any."
His grin turned into a smirk. "Oh, we both know the 'He's mine,' shirt fits you better anyway. Don't you even try to deny it."
"Guilty as charged." She giggled and reached into the shopping bag for the other thing she'd bought. "I got a little something else, too, something I think you'll like…"
He perked up as she pretended to rustle around for it.
"I wanted to get something for you, too," she said, "something to treat you…"
Now she really had his interest. He craned his neck to try to see into the bag, and she shook her head and hid it behind her back.
"You have to guess what it is."
"Chocolate? Candy?"
She shook her head.
"A new project for us to work on together?"
She shook her head again.
He laughed. "C'mon, gimme a hint please," he said, putting on his best pout paired with his best puppy dog eyes.
"Starts with an 'L.'"
He murmured to himself, trying out various L-words, and then paused. A grin spread across his face, a mischievous, playful grin, and he wiggled his eyebrows.
"Oh, I think I know exactly what's in there, and you're right, it is a treat for me." He waited for a moment, building up the tension, and then said, "You got me lemonade, didn't you?"
She stared at him for a moment and then burst out laughing.
"Just kidding," he said with a grin, then sprang to his feet and gave her a peck on the cheek. "I'm looking forward to seeing you wear that lingerie for me later, though," he murmured in her ear. "Tomorrow maybe, when we're both feeling well-rested."
"When would you like me to wear it, exactly?" she teased. "The morning, the afternoon, the evening…"
"Surprise me."
She followed him to the bathroom and then to bed, and they fell asleep soon afterwards. They were both tired, him from his travels, her from the day's errands. She slept like a baby with him here; not once did she wake up in the middle of the night. It had taken a little while to adjust to sleeping together, but once they had, neither of them slept very soundly without the other.
The next morning, she woke up to an empty bed. Strange. Sora usually preferred to cuddle with her in the morning as they soaked in the sunlight and murmured sweet nothings to each other. She rolled over onto her back, only for him to burst through the door with breakfast for her. Sausage and eggs and pancakes all neatly arranged on a plate her family had gifted them.
"Morning!" he called as he set the food on one of their bedside tables. That was when she realized what he had on.
"You're actually wearing it. You're actually wearing the shirt," she said with a giggle.
"Darn right I am, and you should wear yours today, too."
"But we were planning on going to the Main Island again today."
"Exactly."
"You won't be embarrassed?"
"No. It's like I told you, I'll be proud. How could I not be when you're my wife? Now eat up, we've got a lot to do today."
They got some really great looks from random tourists they passed by, and Sora even called a few of them out on it and offered to take pictures with them, which made everyone laugh. One couple even took them up on the offer, and Sora charmed them into taking a photo of him and Kairi on his Gummiphone afterwards.
"There, now there's photographic evidence," he said very seriously.
"Of what?"
"Of my beautiful wife being as charming as ever."
They finished up the day's errands, and once they'd gotten home and had put everything away, Sora turned to her with another one of his mischievous smiles. She knew what he was thinking, and he knew what she was thinking. And not much more needed to be said about the subject.
"Now?" was all he said as he wiggled his eyebrows.
She giggled and nodded. "Now."
He swooped her into his arms and carried her to their bedroom, and as she did, she couldn't help but smile. The t-shirts were fun, but the reality behind them was so much better. She and Sora were finally together, and they would always have each other. His, hers, mine, ours, the labels didn't matter so much as the truth behind them. And because they were so serious about being with each other, they didn't have to take themselves very seriously at all.
And all the moments of joy and playfulness and teasing that came out of their love and commitment to each other—that was the best part of all.
A/N: Happy Birthday to Alja! Thank you so much for your friendship and support over the past few years! I'm so glad we met and bonded over SoKai. Thank you for all the wonderful memories, all the writing feedback, and all the great conversations and discussions. I hope you enjoyed!
And to everyone else, as always, thank you for reading!