10.

It was raining in Radiant Garden when Riku arrived. He very nearly had trouble with visibility and the ship skidded a little when he touched down. He swore.

He'd offered his friends the opportunity to come along, on the one hand trying to get Sora interested in something, but he just said to "enjoy time with your boyfriend" with an eyebrow waggle.

He and Kairi had both been merciless, teasing him about it. Neither seemed that concerned he was dating someone who used to be Zexion. They both said Ienzo was a great guy. "Dating." They hadn't been on a date; he could fix that. They hadn't also called it that in so many words. Ienzo had, in his letter.

Riku's heart was racing. He checked himself one last time, making sure his hair looked alright in its ponytail.

Ienzo was waiting under an outcropping, a small duffle next to him. Riku dashed out of the rain as quickly as he could. "Beautiful day, isn't it," he said to Riku, and Riku noted that the subtleties of his tone had not carried over to the letters.

"Just perfect," he said, feeling at a bit of loss for words. He was here, he could touch him.

There was a beat, a moment. Ienzo cleared his throat a little. "I'm not a mirage," he said.

Riku chuckled. "Right."

A bit awkwardly, Ienzo pulled him close. Riku got the notion that he didn't hug much, and it probably didn't feel natural to initiate. But it felt good, too good, to hold him, to breathe in his smell. He didn't want to pull away, not yet. "It feels like ages, and yet an instant," Ienzo said. "Let me look at you." He pulled away and brushed his fingers across Riku's cheek. "Your hair grows preternaturally fast."

"Tell me about it," he said. Riku realized for the first time that he was, in fact, now slightly taller than Ienzo.

Ienzo just stared at him as though he might disappear. Riku wondered if this time had been lonely, or difficult, for him. Ienzo cleared his throat a little. "Enough of the longing gazes for now, I think."

"Right. Ah. But first." He kissed him, and for a second they melted against each other. It felt exactly like Riku remembered. "Not sure I could've flown straight if I didn't do that."

"Well if it's all in the guise of safety," Ienzo said. "Do you need anything before we leave? Are you hungry?"

"I brought snacks," he said. "Let me get your-" He picked up the bag.

"What a gentleman."

They walked quickly through the rain back into the ship. "As many times as I've seen the inside of this on a video, I've never actually seen it," Ienzo said. "It's quite a lot smaller than I thought."

"Yeah, no idea how the three of them managed," Riku said. "You should see the size of the bunk rooms. But Sora's a half-pint. You want to nose around a moment, go for it."

"...I think I shall."

Riku watched him poke around, looking into the tiny rooms, almost hitting his head on the door frames. His eyes were alight with curiosity. "These are so small," he said.

"Sora always said they tried to avoid sleeping in it if they could."

"I don't blame them." He turned back. "Well. Thanks for that. Should I just-"

"Sit wherever," he said. "You only really need the straps for takeoff. It's really safe."

"...Quite." He sat to Riku's right and did up his harness. "Here we go, then."

He smirked. "You nervous?"

"No," he said. "But consider I've never much been off the ground."

"It's okay. I won't kill us."

"How reassuring."

The takeoffs and the landings were always Riku's favorite part, partially because it required the most input from him. Seeing the worlds disappear beneath him, and feeling the g-forces, was always a bit of a thrill. He tried to do so as gently as possible, keenly aware that as a first time flyer part of Ienzo's calm was staged. He had his hands clenched very tightly in his lap. But once they were actually in the quiet of space, this seemed to disappear. "Is that really it?" Ienzo asked softly, gazing down at the world.

"Cool, isn't it?"

"This is bizarre. It's so… small." He pressed his hand gently against the windshield. "Huh."

Riku let him have the moment. "You'll see more as we go along," he said. "But it's mostly a lot of rubble."

"From the Fracture, I'm sure."

"Could be." He turned away and set the course. "We've got a good few hours before we get there."

Ienzo undid the straps and settled more comfortably. "Is it very hard, to fly?"

Riku laughed. "No," he said, and to demonstrate he lifted his hands from the controls, seeing Ienzo pale. "Aside from takeoffs and landings it pretty much flies itself. All of the positioning gummies. You wanna try?"

Riku could see him debating it. "Maybe on the way back."

"All I have to do is keep an eye on the radar. If we're lucky we might see some Heartless ships, but they're generally getting rarer and rarer."

"Do you fight them?"

"Yeah. There's lasers, and a shield, the whole nine. Sora has it tricked out pretty good. Most of them are weak, anyway."

Ienzo leaned over a little more to see the dash.

"There are other ways to travel around, but this is the most comfortable," Riku said. "Using the lanes between… it's like a motorcycle versus a car."

"I'm going to pretend I've experienced either of those things."

Riku chuckled. "Right. Well, you'll see some of that on DI."

He was quiet for a moment. "This is one of the first times I've physically travelled anywhere," he said. "Whenever I… went to other worlds, I just… used a dark corridor. All it took was a few steps."

"Do you miss it?"

"Travelling? Yes. Darkness? No. Always a stink that's hard to get rid of." He wrinkled his nose. "I haven't been anywhere since I'm human again. ...And that's nearly two years."

"...I can't exactly say the same."

They chatted for a while longer, about nothing much, mostly about Riku's new life back home. He was more excited than he thought to show Ienzo around, to give him a taste of normalcy as well. "Though it's going to be a whole lot hotter than you're used to," he said. "Like, don't be shy to tell me it's too much. We can go back into the AC."

Ienzo laughed. "It's a good thing I like you."

Riku felt his face flush. He tried to come up with something witty to say quickly. "...You said you had to tell your friends something to leave."

"Yes. Well." Ienzo leaned back and crossed his legs. "In their minds, one must always have a reason to go somewhere. Leisure isn't exactly in their codebook. I said I wanted to check in with Sora and Kairi, make sure everything was alright, learn what I could about your journey. Ansem already knew, and asked if I would be visiting you, too. It was only a hop-skip-and-jump before the others figured it out. It… shocked them that I'd even wanted to pursue a relationship of any kind."

"Why? You're grown up."

"To a degree they're used to who I was , not who I am."

Riku frowned and checked the radar. "I know how that is."

Ienzo smiled. "I know you do. Does it bother you that I said something?"

"No. Not at all. Sora and Kairi have been teasing me about it. They think it's hilarious. I've never really… shown that I had a crush on someone."

"You have a crush on me? How sweet."

"I've literally kissed you."

The rest of the flight went smoothly, and Riku saw the familiar blue sphere emerge. "Ah, there it is," he said. "Look."

"How pretty." He was already strapping himself in.

"We're landing down on the play island. It's basically the only inconspicuous place I can keep this thing. But it's not far from there. And we're a good few hours ahead of you for time, I think."

"I see."

His friends had helped him build the makeshift landing pad. The earth of it was different than the rest of the island, and they were on the far side where the ship couldn't easily be seen from the mainland. The touchdown was easy. "Here we are."

"I guess so," Ienzo murmured.

"Ready?"

"Quite."

He took Ienzo's bag, and they started walking.

"You said this was a play island?"

"Oh, yeah. When we were kids we spent hours and hours here. Now we hang out here." He pointed out the main landmarks; the shack, the waterfall, the treehouses. "It's… a good place to come if you need to be alone. Lots of nooks and crannies."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"We'll take my boat back to the mainland. From there it's about half a mile walk."

"A mile?"

"Right… uh…" He struggled to remember metrics. "Almost a kilometer. About ten minutes, fifteen if people stop us. Which they might. Sorry in advance." He helped Ienzo down into the rowboat.

"Stop us?"

"Well, it's a small island," he said. "Everyone knows everyone, and everyone's been chatting me up since I got back. A new face is gonna be interesting to them." He started rowing. The surf was nice and gentle today, making it easy. He noticed Ienzo's eyes flick to his arms and felt a flush of pride. "We'll be staying with my parents."

"Oh, I don't mean to impose, I brought money for an inn-"

"Ienzo, no," Riku said, with a small laugh. "You even bringing that up is gonna seem rude to my mom."

"Oh… is that cultural?"

"I guess so?" He shrugged. "She loves entertaining, too. Besides, you might decide you want to stay longer than the amount of money you have."

"I see-I didn't even bring a hostess gift-"

"It's alright," Riku said. "That doesn't matter here either. People like to host. They don't expect you to do anything other than have a good time."

He looked a bit embarrassed.

"Relax," Riku said. "It's going to be fine." They were at the dock at last. He docked and helped Ienzo back out, taking his bag from him. The sun was starting to set now, casting the shore in pinks and reds.

"Oh…" Ienzo said. "That is lovely."

"It kinda is," Riku said. He rested a hand on Ienzo's waist, and though he jerked a little at the touch, he leaned into it. "You know, I've seen a lot of sunsets here. But they're always something."

Ienzo nodded. After a few minutes, they headed up the shore to the road. They were standing close enough that their shoulders nearly touched, and Riku's heart was beating hard. He wanted to touch him. He needed to. He reached out, groping for Ienzo's hand, found it at last. Again, he jumped a little.

"I'm sorry-"

"No, I'm just not… used to it," Ienzo said, squeezing his hand gently.

It was nice , walking up the road hand-in-hand like this. With my boyfriend, Riku thought. The streets were emptier at this hour than he thought, but then he remembered. "Oh, right, there's a game going on."

"A game?"

"Blitzball. On TV. I think it's the playoffs. Well, better for us."

"What is blitzball and what is TV," Ienzo asked, not humorlessly.

Riku sighed and explained.

"Oh, almost like volleyball," Ienzo said, with no explanation of what this was. "Though this TV intrigues me."

"Well, I have one in my room, so we can watch later if you feel up to it." If his parents didn't chat them up until dawn.

They turned onto his street. The houses were fairly close together, with small patches of lawn. Ienzo looked around at it all, his eyes wide, curious. His eyebrows shot up when a car drove past them.

"That's a car," Riku said. "We use them to get around on land."

"Fascinating. I've seen them on other worlds, but this looks different. How does it work?"

"Um…" He struggled to remember. "Well, they're solar powered, so the sun charges the batteries, and the batteries… help make the engine go." He laughed a little. "I don't know anything about engines."

"Do you know how to drive?"

"No. I don't really need to. Almost everything is within walking distance, and if it isn't, you can take the bus. Er. It's a car that has room for lots of people, and takes them along a route."

"Like a streetcar," Ienzo said. "Radiant Garden used to have those." He sighed. "I knew our worlds were different, but I didn't realize… how much. I'm already sweating."

"And this is night," Riku said. "Wait til tomorrow." He took his house keys out of his pocket. He could use the Keyblade, but that seemed weird, and extra. "This one." The house looked like any on the street; a simple two-storey, three bedroom, with a small offshoot over the garage. The siding was a bright teal, and his mother's well-groomed strelitzias were in full bloom.

"It's cute," Ienzo said. "Cozy."

"I'll give you "cozy."" He laughed. "Alright. Prepare yourself."

Ienzo sighed.

He put his key in the lock. Predictably, the door flew open before he could even twitch them. "Welcome home!" His mother said. "So glad you made it back in one piece." She gave Riku a painfully tight hug. "You must be Ienzo. Oh, hello, dear, welcome to the islands." Before Riku could stop her she'd swept him into a hug, too, and Riku saw the brief spasm of panic. "Sorry, I'm a hugger."

Ienzo coughed a little. "Ah. Hello. Pleasure to meet you."

"We're so happy to have any friend of Riku's." She'd finally let go of him but was holding his hands tightly. "Dinner's almost ready. You two must be starving after your long trip."

"Sounds lovely," Ienzo said dazedly. "Thanks so much."

She waved her hand dismissively. " Matsu! Your son's back!"

"Watching the game?" Riku asked.

" Glued. All afternoon." She rolled her eyes. "Why don't you two get settled and I'll call you when it's ready?"

A tall, slender man-Riku's father-came out of the room. He had a well-groomed mustache, his hair close cropped to his scalp. "Smooth ride?" he asked.

"Went off without a hitch," Riku said. "Dad, this is Ienzo. Ienzo, this is my dad, Matsuda."

"Nice to meet you, sir," Ienzo said, offering his hand. Riku saw how hard and how firm his father took it and winced.

"You know when Riku said you were from another world I was imagining a little green guy, but you look pretty normal," he said.

"Dad," Riku said. "I told you about the One Sky thing."

Ienzo laughed politely, a little stiffly. "I'm very much human."

"Well I think that's good. Can I get you something to drink? We have it all."

"...Drink?"

"He means alcohol," Riku said, rolling his eyes. "Dad, don't make Ienzo drink if he doesn't want to."

"Er…" Ienzo clearly wasn't sure what the right answer was.

"You know what, I'll get you two a cassis." He disappeared into the den, where the liquor was.

"You okay?" Riku asked. "I'm sorry they both grabbed you like that. We're… feelers, here."

Ienzo shook his head. "I'm sorry, this is all new to me."

"It's okay. I think they both understand. They're just trying to be friendly." Riku kicked himself both for not preparing Ienzo better and for not telling his parents to chill.

Matsuda came back a minute later with two highballs of cassis orange. "Be careful with these," he said, with a wink.

"Dad," Riku said.

"Alright, alright, I'll let you two get settled."

Riku bobbed his head towards the garage door. "We're up through here."

"Does this have something to do with that long story?"

He sighed. "Yes."

Ienzo followed Riku up a set of stairs to another door, which Riku unlocked. The drink was cold in his hand, and felt awkward to carry up. "Here we go," he said.

It looked to be more of a studio apartment than a bedroom. There was an alcove opposite the door, which was just wide enough for a double bed. The alcove had a large window which faced the sea. Next to it was a tall dresser with a lamp. To Ienzo's right was a small kitchenette, with a minifridge, a hot plate, a coffee maker, and a toaster oven. On the left was a sofa, which had been made up neatly with sheets and a few pillows. Near it was what looked to be a computer screen on a small stand, powered off, but with no accompanying console. The walls were a plain gray, and unadorned, and there were a few boxes labeled "RIKU-SAVE" shoved in one corner. The dark hardwood floors were clearly beautiful, but needed a good refinish. Everything smelled very clean, though there wasn't anything that said anything about Riku as a person. "You have your own apartment," Ienzo said.

"Ah-yeah, sort of." Riku set down the duffle next to the couch. "I… used to have a bedroom in the main house, but then I disappeared, and my parents… went to grief counseling." He turned red and couldn't meet Ienzo's eyes. "They were told it would help if they packed away my things, and they sold my furniture. They would've remade my room downstairs, but dad works from home now, so he kind of needs it as an office." He cleared his throat. "This used to be my grandma's apartment before she passed. They didn't have the heart to rent it out, or anything."

"Oh," Ienzo said, very quietly.

"I like it, though," he said. "Being close to them, but not too close. Having a sliver of independence."

"I can see that."

"We used to have an air mattress, but mice got to it. I hope the couch will be okay until we can get a new one."

"I'm sure it'll be fine." It was cooler in here, but not cool enough. Ienzo didn't anticipate sleeping well anyway. He was still a bit shaky. He took a sip of the drink, found it went down easily.

"You don't have to drink that," Riku said.

"It's tasty."

He smiled a little. "He meant what he said when he said to be careful. He makes drinks strong."

"Your parents. Do they know about us?"

"Yeah, I'm out," Riku said. "Mom probably just didn't want to push it."

"And they're okay with… us staying in the same room?" It made him blush just thinking about it, even if this was in the most innocent sense of the word.

Riku blushed too. "I know I said they're suffocating me, but when I'm up here they try to give me privacy," he said. "I don't think they, uh, care what I do so long as I'm happy. And here. I'm an adult, after all."

"Right. Understood." Ienzo drank down more of the cocktail, partially because he was thirsty.

"...I hope you're hungry. Mom cooks a lot , and I'm sure she'll use you as an excuse to pull out all the stops. Show you islander cuisine and all that."

He smiled a little. "Sounds lovely."

A few moments later they were summoned. Riku's house was similarly styled in bright colors, with a full living room. There was a shelf full of photos of Riku, and Ienzo couldn't help his curiosity. "Oh, god, don't," Riku said quickly.

Ienzo smirked. "Look at you. Was this when you were a baby ? Look how fat your cheeks were."

He turned redder than the drink in his hand. "I think she put these out specifically because you were coming."

"I think it's sweet." He reached out and touched the frame in question. He felt a sudden stab of melancholy and wondered if there were any photos of him when he were little, if he'd have had this type of life if his parents hadn't passed-

"Boys? Dinner's ready." Riku's mother was slender and very beautiful; he looked more like her than his father. She brushed her hands off on her apron. Riku brought him through to the dining room.

The table was low to the ground, and there were no chairs, just small cushions. Most of the table was cluttered with lots and lots of small bowls of all sorts of things, some of which Ienzo could identify, some he couldn't. He saw kimchi and poi, meats in some kind of sweet sauce, something that looked like dim sum. The mixture was eclectic but somehow it seemed to work, to make sense. And it all smelled delicious. He realized that, between the travel and being afraid to meet Riku's parents, he was actually ravenous. "Oh no, you didn't have to go to all this trouble for me," Ienzo said.

"It was no trouble at all, dear," she said.

"Mariko loves to cook," his father said. "Besides, we'll eat on it for the week."

"Go ahead. Sit down."

Ienzo did. It felt a little odd to be so low to the ground. "So you sort of take a little of what you want and use the same plate," Riku told him.

There was also a pitcher of something pink that was passed around that he was also told was mildly alcoholic. Ienzo waited for the others to serve themselves before quickly taking at least a bite of everything onto his plate. But nobody ate. Instead, Riku's mother and father both offered him one of their hands.

"They like to say a prayer first," Riku said, a little embarrassed.

"Oh," Ienzo said. "Sorry."

Joined in an odd little circle, Matsuda bowed his head and the others followed, so Ienzo did too. "We'd like to give thanks to the gods for the meal we're about to receive, and to give thanks for welcoming our son back safely home along with his new friend." He said something in a language Ienzo could not understand, and Riku and Mariko both repeated it. "Alright, let's eat."

Everything was delicious and so interesting , not quite like anything he'd had before. He tried to remember the manners he'd been taught when he was young, but he noticed that all of them were even eating some of the dishes with their hands. "Everything is just wonderful," he said. "I can't thank you enough."

"Aren't you sweet," Mariko said.

"...I like to pretend I'm something of a cook myself. Will you tell me a little bit about this?"

"Oh, don't get her started," Matsuda said.

Mariko told him all about islander cuisine and how it was prepared, down to the use of marinades, where their things were sourced, and on and on. Ienzo found it fascinating and wished he could write it down. "I'd be happy to share some of the recipes with you. Not all of it, though. Some of it's secret." She winked.

Ienzo wanted to keep eating, but he was already getting full and he'd been warned there was dessert. "I see."

"What is it like where you're from?" Matsuda asked.

"Riku's kept it very hush-hush. Very mysterious," Mariko said, approvingly.

"Oh… well, Radiant Garden isn't all that special," he said, thinking of how overwhelmed he'd felt on the island streets. Perhaps they would feel the same if they ever came to visit.

"Must be special enough if our boy's going out of his way to see you," his father said, though his tone was teasing.

"Matsu," Mariko said. "Don't embarrass the boy."

Riku rolled his eyes a little. "Well," Ienzo said. "For one, it's quite a lot cooler there." He told them a little bit about what the weather was like, about how the town was. He tried to not mention that Ansem had once been king, just that he was a scientist in the castle and that Ienzo had grown up there.

"A castle ," Matsuda said, whistling. "Fancy."

"Ah-not quite. Our world fell to darkness, quite like yours. So bits of it are in disrepair." He didn't mention Riku's assistance there, not sure of the situation with his parents. "Coming here and seeing all these family homes has been quite refreshing."

"So what is it you do?" Matsuda asked. "Do you go to school? Or work?"

Ienzo swallowed and took a sip of the pink drink. He drank so rarely that he feared he was a bit tipsy. "I'm a scientist, and a researcher," he said slowly. "My main project lately has been restoration of the library's collections." A glamorous phrase for what he was actually doing.

"What is it you study?"

He blinked. "Well, historically, hearts. The metaphysical hearts in us all. But I've studied a fair share of lots of fields along the way."

"Hearts. How romantic," Mariko said.

"Ienzo's work was actually instrumental in helping Kairi and I find Sora," Riku said.

"I wouldn't go that far," he murmured.

"Oh, don't be modest, you helped bring him back to us. For that, you'll always be welcome here," his mother said.

Ienzo blushed and looked back down at his plate.

"Are you boys ready for dessert?"

Hours later, more stuffed with food than Ienzo could comprehend, Riku gently pried them from the table. Both of his parents kept asking all sorts of questions about Radiant Garden, about Ienzo, about how they'd met (this caused quite an awkward moment). Riku just said they'd met when he was looking for Sora and only got to know each other later. Ienzo was a bit drunk and a bit dehydrated and definitely tired.

"Mari, we should let the poor boys sleep before you keep them up all night," Riku's father said at last.

"Please at least let me help with the dishes," Ienzo said. He could only imagine what it must look like in the kitchen with all this food.

"I absolutely will not," Mariko said. "You're a guest, and you're exhausted. Go on, get settled. Get. "

"Thank you," he said softly, and followed Riku back to the apartment.

The room was mostly dark; Riku flicked on the lamp. "How are you holding up?"

"So full I could burst," Ienzo said. "But that was… lovely."

"I'm sorry if they made you uncomfortable."

"No, they didn't. Not really. I'm…" How to put this without sounding pathetic. "I've never really… seen or taken part in such normal life."

"No?"

"I was raised by five scientists in a lab. Sitting and having such an extensive home cooked meal was not a common occurrence." He offered a smile. "Nor were either of the castles so homey."

"Oh…"

"Don't pity me," Ienzo said gently. "That is just to say this all feels a bit foreign. You must be exhausted. You had a much longer day than I did."

"The carbs don't help," he said.

"Is there… perhaps… some place I can shower?"

"Right-oh, of course, the bathroom's through there. Do you need anything?"

"...Just a towel." He dug into his duffle for his toiletries and pajamas.

Riku handed him one from a cabinet. "You can hang it on the door when you're done."

"...Thanks."

After a cold, cold shower Ienzo felt a bit better. Riku had already changed and was sitting on his bed, braiding his hair. "If I don't sleep with it like this it ends up a mess of knots."

"...I see." He identified the strangeness he was feeling-the odd intimacy of sleeping in someone else's house, seeing them getting ready for something as mundane as bed.

"You wanna watch some TV?"

"I really am exhausted," he said. "Maybe tomorrow?" Perhaps by then he'd feel curious.

He smiled. "Sure. Of course. Let me… let me know if you need any more pillows or blankets."

"I sincerely think I won't need more blankets," Ienzo said. He sat down on the made-up soda. It was actually quite comfortable.

"Good night, Ienzo."

"Good night, Riku."

The light clicked off.