A/N: A lighthearted story for our dear Riku, because he needs one. Happy readings!
Of Thudding Shoes and Heartless Guitars.
Thud, Thud, Thud.
His sneakers emit small thuds of protest with each step he takes along the overly crowded, obnoxiously hot main street of the Destiny Islands mainland.
Thud, Thud, Thud.
'It's too bad,' he thinks, glancing down at his poor ole' worn out shoes, 'that you have to walk alone, still, even after having found your way home.'
He glances up and out, looking around him, surveying the crowds and crowds and crowds and crowds (could there really be this many people on the island? Geez…) of friends surrounding him, all chattering away, laughing about something that's more thanlikelynot funny to anybody else.
Thud, Thud, Thud.
'It's also too bad,' he thinks, glancing at all of the friends, 'that I have to talk to my shoes in order to keep my sanity, because no one wants to hang out with me…'
Thud, Thud, Th-
And it is at this moment that Riku stops dead in his tracks because the realization dawns on him that sane people do not think to themselves or their shoes.
Well.
So much for that whole keeping-the-sanity thing.
And it is at this moment that Riku makes a dire decision; one that has been demanding to be made for so long now.
He makes an abrupt, 90 degree angle turn, and walks down a street he has only ever dared glance down before.
Thud, Thud, Thud!
And as he walks, listening to the sound of his thudding shoes, all alone, thoughts of the shoes that should be with his course through his brain.
Hey, if Sora and Kairi want to be together all day, every day, practically inseparable, and ignore him totally and completely then – hey! That is just fine with him.
And so without his best friends to tie his yearning heart down to the Destiny Islands, then really, what was left for him here?
Thud, Thud, Thud!
Nothing!
He has nothing worthwhile to stay for.
Thud, Thud, Thud!
Yes, Riku is pretty much pissed off to the point of impending doom right now, and rational thoughts, he is completely incapable of.
So he does the only logical thing he can think of.
He makes his way to the handy-dandy gummi ship the King keeps well hidden down at the beach.
He hears Port Royal is just lovely this time of year, anyway.
Of course…that could have just been the unbelievably inebriated pirate captain talking…
Thud, Thud, Thud!
Making his way in a clear and concise manner, Riku rounds a corner rather suddenly, and well, scares the toboggans out a group of young girls, who "EEEK!" at his abrupt appearance in front of them.
"Ugh, stupid kids…" Riku scowls.
"Oh no you didn't!" A pre-teen, pre-menstrual young woman scowls back.
And it is as said pre-teen, pre-menstrual young woman, Riku is told, is chewing out said hero of our story, that this hero hears a very unfamiliar, eerie sound, reach his ears…
Strum, Strum, Strum!
Immediately, Riku jumps to the only logical and possible conclusion.
Heartless.
Strum, Strum, Strum!
'Oh no..
No, no, no!
Not here! Not again!' His aqua eyes bulge three times their normal size.
Immediately, he shoves the girl and her friends to safety and the girl responds by snapping a Z, and walking off in a huff.
"No need to thank me," Riku calls, "I only just saved your heart!"
Strum, Strum, Strum!
He creeps into the shadows, attempting to exercise the art of surprise, and summons his might Keyblade.
He moves closer, and closer to the sound; closer and closer to what could be his last moments as a whole being.
He is stealthy.
He is silent…
He
is
Riku!
He listens to his surroundings carefully, attempting to pinpoint the location of the Heartless, and quickly he succeeds.
"Ah-HAH!" He calls triumphantly, jumping around the corner and brandishing his Keyblade all heroic like.
Strum, Strum, Str-
…
Now, any rational, calm-tempered, realistic, sane young man would have realized long ago that this 'eerie' sound was only that of a simple street performer, attempting to earn a few extra bucks on a crowded corner.
Unfortunately, Riku has never been much for any of those qualities.
Giggle, Giggle, Giggle!
And so his 'target' after all, was no heartless, but a teenage girl, playing her guitar a little loud.
Riku blushes for what he thinks must be the first time in his life, and slowly lowers the Keyblade to his side.
The girl, the raven-haired, green-eyed girl, just smirks at the poor Riku, and says,
"If my playing was that bad, you could have just said so."
Causing Riku to blush even deeper.
The girl cocks her head to the side, knowing she's on a roll here, and continues, "Or does my guitar strongly resemble some strangely shaped, musically inclined Heartless?"
Riku blushes shades of red he knows have not yet been discovered by man, and quickly dismisses that pesky old Keyblade.
Awkward, Awkward, Awkward…
Trying futilely to lighten up a few shades, Riku gathers up what little dignity he's go left, and makes his way over to the girl.
"Sorry…about that…" he mumbles, as embarrassed as he red, which, really, is in itself an achievement to be proud of.
She laughs lightly, causing her rich black hair to sway about, and her emerald eyes to twinkle, and Riku realizes she must be about his age.
"It's ok, man." She flashes him a bright smile. "Don't worry about it."
She smiles that smile at him and Riku notices that she is so beautiful; and so the flush that was starting to go away creeps back into his cheeks as a whole new level of embarrassment descends upon him.
"Are you kidding?" Riku retorts. "I just made a compete idiot out of myself! How can I 'not worry' about it!"
She just shrugs nonchalantly and gazes up at him, "By not taking it so seriously, silly, um, what's your name?"
"Riku!" He responds, slightly outraged.
"Riku!" She literally beams at him, and Riku's heart skips a small beat.
"I'm Morgan, by the way." She sticks out the hand of a devoted guitar player; a hand that is calloused, yet gentle and soft to the touch.
Hesitantly, he takes this outstretched hand, and those feelings of slight outraged are soothed over, and a warm smile takes its place upon Riku's lips.
She smiles in return, a rich, warm, happy smile, and all at once Riku's world turns completely upside down.
Mayday! Mayday!
And because Riku is so caught up in the various thoughts rushing around in his head right now, silly Morgan takes it as a sign that he is totally uninterested.
Silly Morgan.
So, a little reluctantly, Morgan pulls her hand from Riku's, and straps her heartless-guitar into its heartless-case, and slings the heartless-case over her shoulders.
"Well uh…goodbye, then…I guess…." She gives him one last please-come-after-me smile, and turns to walk away…
Thud, Thud, Thud!
"Wait!"
Riku runs after her, and grabs her by the shoulder.
She turns around to face him, and hope is abundant in her sparkling, bright green eyes.
"Yes?" She asks him, in an almost hushed voice.
"I was just wondering," Riku begins, "If…you'd…want to have lunch with me. Right now." He flashes her a grin he made just for her, and oh buddy, the deal is sealed.
"I would love too." Morgan replies, eyes dancing as if they'd just woken up from a very long nap and needed to move.
"I'll pay." Riku declares straight off the bat, "Since I almost tried to kill you today…"
Morgan laughs that light and breezy laugh and happily agrees.
"Deal."
Grasp, Grasp, Grasp.
And as Riku makes the daring move to lace his larger, rougher fingers with her smaller, gentler ones, he thinks to himself that maybe he finally found something worthwhile on Destiny Islands after all.
Thud (thud), Thud (thud), Thud (thud).
His poor, worn out old shoes do not walk alone anymore.