Chapter 90: Smile!

"OhmygoshRikuyou'renevergoingtobelievethis!" Joseph shouted, throwing the door open. He paused, looked between Riku and Namine, and frowned. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

"Well-"

"Good! Because 29 just said it was okay for me to go with you guys when you infiltrate the World that Never Was, and I am ridiculously excited and need to rant a bit!"

Riku frowned.

"We're infiltrating the World that Never Was?" he asked slowly, confused.

"Well duh!" Joseph replied, like it were the most obvious thing EVER. "You just got a key from Axel! Of course we're going to go infiltrate the World that Never Was! Did you think we were just going to hold on to that key for no apparent reason!"

Namine laughed.

Riku turned to her, smiling slightly. He was happy to see her in a better mood.

"Oh! That reminds me! Amaryllis wants to talk to you, Riku," Joseph said. "Somethin' 'bout battle strategies. I think. I kinda stopped listening after 29 said that it was okay for me to go with you guys!"

Riku raised his eyebrows. Joseph was literally bouncing up and down with his excitement.

"I hope it's alright for me to grab my WINNER sticks," Joseph continued, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "I'm already down to my last- oh wait!" He felt his pockets frantically. "Where'd it- oh…" He breathed a sigh of relief. "That's right, I used it to get the King ice cream."

"King?" Namine asked, frowning slightly with confusion.

Joseph stopped moving. "What!" he laughed, though the laugh was nervous. "I didn't go to Twilight Town without permission and get nearly killed by Berserkers! What are you talking about!"

"I… didn't say anything about…"

"Besides, even if I did," Joseph continued, not paying one bit of attention to her. "I would've told 29 about the Berserkers right away! I'm not stupid." He cleared his throat and scratched his ear. "Now, if you'll, uh, excuse me… I need to go talk to 29…"

He quickly walked away.

"That was random…" Riku muttered.

"No, that was Joseph," Namine said.

Riku laughed.

She smiled, but her smile soon fell. "I hope that thing with the Berserkers isn't serious…" she whispered.

He shrugged. "Well, if it is, I'll find out about it."

She laughed and rose to her feet, stretching slightly. "Well, come on then, you've got a meeting to go to."

He made a face and glanced up at her. "Way to make it sound boring."

She just shrugged and laughed again.

He sighed and got to his feet, too. "Eh, it was probably going to be boring anyway," he said, and then rolled his eyes. "I still don't see the point in taking five people at a time. I mean, I know we need Alpha for the computer, and Amaryllis and I are there just in case we need to fight anyone, but everyone else who comes is just in the way. And makes us look suspicious."

"Would I be in the way if I came?" Namine asked quietly.

Riku threw a wry look at her. "Yes, because you going to the Organization's headquarters is a brilliant idea," he replied sarcastically. "We'll just ignore the fact that… oh, just about anyone there can show up and take you away before I can do anything about it."

She turned away, laughing nervously as she did so. "Oh… forgot about that."

He gasped. "Wait a minute! I- I didn't mean it like that. I was only trying to-"

"Make a point, I know. It's fine."

He swallowed.

"It's not fine," he muttered. "I- I didn't have to be so mean when I was making my point…"

She turned back to him, eyebrows raised in curiosity. "Mean?" she asked, and then laughed. "Riku, I think I can handle a bit of your sarcasm. You use it on everyone else all the time."

"Yeah, but… you're not 'everyone else'…"

The look Riku gave her as he said this nearly broke her heart. His eyes were filled with worry and uncertainty, and he looked like was going to turn away any second: as if he couldn't stand to keep her gaze. His mouth was making something between a grimace and a frown, and overall he looked just plain… scared.

And not just scared.

But scared and endearing: like he wished that she could be the answer to all his problems, like he wished that she could tell him that everything was okay.

The look told her more than anything that he wanted so badly for her to be strong and pull him through this; that he was dependent on everything she said and did, that whatever she said or did next would decide whether or not he could make it through the rest of the day.

Namine swallowed.

It was a bit overwhelming.

She wasn't used to being the strong one.

Then, slowly, she reached out and pushed the corners of his mouth into a smile. Shock flickered through his eyes, but he didn't protest.

"Put on a smile, will ya?" she told him, making sure that she was smiling, herself. "I'm not mad at you."

He slowly smiled, and she pulled her hands away.

"There you go!" she said. "Now get going, you've got a meeting that you're going to be late for!"

He stared at her for a moment, and then nodded.

"Yeah."

He started for the door, but paused. He glanced over his shoulder at her.

"I'll come see you before I go, okay?"

"Okay."

He turned and headed out, fingers tracing the corners of his still smiling mouth, where her hands had been moments before.

xxx

"What's that face for?" Joseph asked, leaning across the table so he could look Riku in the eye.

Riku stared at him for a second.

"What face?" he said slowly. "I'm not making a face."

Joseph grinned.

"You were!"

Riku shook his head.

"No I wasn't."

"You were smiling!"

Riku raised his eyebrows.

"Am I not allowed to smile?"

Joseph made a face.

"Well… yeah… but- it was more than just-" he sighed and sat back down in his chair. "You're no fun to tease," he muttered, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting.

Riku groaned.

"And why is he allowed to come along?" he asked, interrupting the discussion that Amaryllis and Alpha were having over… something. Riku hadn't actually been paying attention. He was finding it hard to care.

Both Amaryllis and Alpha turned to 29.

"He wouldn't stop asking…" 29 said, seeming to actually twitch slightly as he said so. He pointedly looked away from everyone. "Besides, he's almost out of WINNER sticks…"

"Actually, I'm completely out," Joseph said, flicking a piece of paper across the table. He didn't even look up.

29 frowned, watching as Joseph found another piece of paper and prepared to flick it, too. "How did you manage to use three WINNER sticks in one day?"

Joseph stopped rather suddenly.

"I didn't go to Twilight Town without permission and use the rest of my WINNER sticks to get complete strangers ice cream! What are you talking about?"

Riku snorted.

"I see that you talked to 29 about- ow!"

Joseph had flicked the piece of paper at him, and it had hit him in the eye.

"Joseph! Really!" he said, rubbing his eye.

Joseph laughed, a tad maniacally.

"Joseph," 29 said, warningly.

"What? I wasn't aiming for his eye!"

"Regardless!" Riku said quickly, before 29 had time to start reprimanding Joseph again and send the meeting off track for what had to be the fifth time. "There is one small problem we haven't covered yet." He held up his hand and tugged at one of the loose bandages. "I'm not quite sure if I'll be of much help, actually. Can't really fight, remember?"

Alpha frowned at him.

"Why didn't you mention this sooner?" he asked through gritted teeth.

Riku shrugged casually.

"Forgot about it."

Alpha groaned and rubbed his head. "First we have to take Joseph with us, and now you're telling me that you can't go! At this point we might as well walk up to the Organization's front door and tell them to kill us!"

"Alpha, calm down," Amaryllis sighed. "It isn't really that bad. Joseph knows how to handle himself in battle—"

"Honestly Amaryllis I'm less worried about Joseph coming, and more worried about Riku not," Alpha spat back, in a quieter tone, not that it really kept anyone from hearing the conversation. "You and I both know—"

Amaryllis grabbed Alpha firmly by the shoulder with one hand, cutting the rest of that off. He didn't say anything right away, but something in his expression must have spoke volumes to Alpha, who promptly shut his mouth.

"I'm sure you can come up with a plan that doesn't hinge on Riku's fighting prowess, Alpha. That's what you're good at." There was a certain… gentleness, in Amaryllis's voice as he spoke.

Eyebrows well up into his hairline, Riku loudly cleared his throat.

"I mean, that's kind of what I was going for?" he said. "I never said I wasn't going. I mean, I don't want to, but…" He trailed off there, sighing. It wasn't like he could get out of it. "Just, coming up with a plan that shouldn't require fighting as an immediate back up plan would be—"

"I could cause a distraction!" Joseph interrupted. He reached across the table for the map of the World that Never Was and pulled it towards him. He glanced over it a moment, and then grinned.

Riku grimaced.

That was the grin Joseph grinned when he was plotting something.

"See, look," Joseph said, pointing. "That's the Grey Area, and then this-" He pointed at a different section of the map, which was quite a ways away. "Is the Computer Room, where you guys need to be. So if I cause a distraction here-" He pointed at the Grey Area again. "Then, theoretically, everyone will head over there to see what's up, and almost no one will be around the Computer Room!"

Alpha raised his eyebrows.

"So you're suggesting that you go do something stupid and we get into the Computer Room while Saix is trying to kill you?"

Joseph made a face, but then nodded.

"Basically, yeah."

"I'm not so sure if that's a good idea…" 29 said, slowly.

Riku groaned.

This meeting was going to take forever.