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5. Christina Aguilera and Ricky Martin – Nobody Wants to Be Lonely

Mickey hunched at the edge of the campfire, a tiny figure made smaller by the way his black coat blended with the flickering shadows. Riku sat up, rubbing the back of his head. He had been catnapping. It wasn't his turn to take watch, but seeing the king staring into the flames like that made sleep fall away like sand shaken off a wooden sword after you finally found where your best friend buried it.

"Your majesty?"

"Nu-uh. Try again."

"Mickey." It didn't get any less bizarre through repetition. Neither did thinking this little mouse could decimate him if he wanted. Probably. Riku looked at his own hands. Even he wasn't sure of his limits anymore. "Is something wrong?"

"Hm?" Mickey finally looked at him. "Nope. All hunky dory." He was smiling, but he usually was. The more they travelled together. The more attuned to those smiles Riku became. This was Smile #43, or Something Is Bothering Me But I'm Not Going To Tell You About It Because I Have An Over-Developed Sense of Kindness and Think You Have Enough Problems of Your Own to Think About and Don't Need to Concern Yourself With My Angst Too. Riku really hated that one.

Riku blew out a breath and came to sit next to the fire. "I may not have done a great impression of it lately, but one thing I do know about being friends is you're supposed to talk out stuff that bothers you. Share worries. A problem shared is a problem halved, right?"

Mickey looked at him, but his eyes were shuttered. For a second Riku couldn't read him. Then he looked away and gave a smile Riku rarely saw: #16, or Okay, You Got Me.

"I'm just … missing home," Mickey said softly. "And the people there."

"I hear that," said Riku.

That strange look again; not judgemental or suspicious, but assessing. Assessing in a really friendly way, but … yeah. The king saw stuff in people that people themselves didn't even realise. Why else had he chosen to believe in a boy who had screwed up on a near-cosmic level? Maybe Riku was apt to map what he thought people should think about him onto others when they got into talking about personal stuff. He knew he had screwed up. It was only right that the rest of the universe acknowledge it as painfully as he had.

"I guess you do," Mickey said.

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