#kidblader

aren’t  you  could,   too  ?

“  i ain’t out heah wit’  shawt  sleeves,  ”   he answers,  pokes fun.   he won’t add that he’s been out in this weather in  less.

it makes him think,  though,  that perhaps these guys would look  much  worse off if they were in nearly as unfortunate a position as he once was,  a decade and a half ago.   at the very least,  they must have come from someplace warm  recently  enough.

i,   er   ------   didn’t  think  i’d  be  out  here  ?

where the hell did they think they’d be  ?   did they think this place had some secret indoor tunnels when it got too cold out  ?

“  jus’ wheah you guys fruhm,  anyways  ?  ”   can’t possibly be from around here,  they definitely don’t strike him as locals  ------  or  students,  for that matter.   the one that isn’t costumed looks far too young to be one of the college kids.   “  wheah’s yah gahdians  ?  ”

costumes  ?!

the kid in the donald costume looks  impressively  big - mad about the remark,  which  confuses  danny,  because he doesn’t think he’s said anything  insulting.   they must be  really  into their characters.   it seems real disney fans are dedicated even in the wake of a nor’easter.

------------  except,  now danny’s  real  confused,  because the three of them have all just huddled up as if they’re talking some kind of game plan.   is this something the kids do these days,  or are these kids part of some disney cult that’s been taking hold of the city while he’s been gone  ?   it reminds him of when he first enlisted  ---  left home,  left his kids,  and when he came back for shore leave,  they were already getting older and he’d missed their very first day of school and the dunkin’ that was in that plaza off brighton avenue had turned into one of those  blue  bottle  joints.

they’ve spun back around,  and danny’s got his arms crossed,  the look on his face reading  absolutely  perplexed.   he  knows  it looks like something  absolutely  fishy  is going on  ------  but he also knows that kids can be weird like that,  sometimes.

then again,  every time atarah acted like this,  she really was hiding something from him.   then - again  then again,  the first time she pulled that stunt on him,  she was five.

then - again  then - again  then again,  she hasn’t really  stopped  pulling said stunts on him.   and she’s definitely older than this kid is.

uh - huh  !   we,   uh   ------   ‘  got  lost.  ’

maybe they needed to determine whether or not to trust a grown man covered in tattoos,  a pierced nose,  and massive arms.   fair,  and valid.   maybe they needed to huddle up to determine whether or not this was the  ‘ lie ’  they were deciding to go with.

my  name’s  sora,   since  you  already  know  donald  and  goof.

well  ---  danny can’t imagine those guys were  actually  donald and goofy by name,  but he’s heard about these types of people on the extranet.   whatever floats their boat.

“  not  puhsonally,  anyways.   but  ---  big fan o’ the costumes.   fuh real.   i grew up on disney sh-tuff,  too.   wanna hear my sick donald impression  ?  ”   no  ?   unfortunate.   he clears his throat,  tongue presses to the roof of his mouth,  and he hopes he’s not  too  rusty.   “  what’s  the  big  idea,   ya  big  palooka  ?!  ”

still got it.

could  you  ...   tell  us  where  we  are  ?

lying or not,  these kids seem like  good  kids.   this  ‘ sora ’  kid does,  anyway.   he still can’t get a read on these donald and goofy larpers.   if they’re lying because they’re in some sort of bad trouble  ------  well,  danny might as well be the guy they run into.   danny knows what kind of bad trouble kids can get into.   and if he can try to help these kids out  ---

IT’S  CERTAINLY  HARD   to  stay  asleep  when  one  has  someone  who  speaks  as  loudly  as  sora  straddling  one’s  lap.   it’s even  harder  for riku to ignore the way his face is completely covered in kisses,  always soft.   in all actuality,  sora makes waking up easy   (  and worth it  ),  but he most assuredly will put up a small fuss about being woken regardless,  in the form of a long  groan,  for now,  as his eyes slowly open,  adjust to the flood of light within the room.

c’mon,   wake  up  !   i  made  breakfast  !   …   sorta.   little  chef  used  my  hands  to  make  it,   so  i  get  some  of  the  credit  !

he  would  chuckle at that,  but sora occupies his lips first,  and he exhales a contented sigh through his nose as he cups sora’s cheek,  lifts himself to reciprocate the kiss in kind.   he loves  all  of sora’s kisses,  but he would be remiss if he doesn’t say that these ones are his favorite.

“  well  —  that was real nice of little chef to pitch in,  ”   he answers goodnaturedly as sora pulls away,  slowly starts to shift himself so he can sit up against the back of the bed.   “  neither of you had to do that for little ol’ me.  ”

and,   afterwards,   i  have  something  special   —   just  for  us.

sora seems  nervous  as he says it,  and his eyes soften.   he leans forward,  kisses the space between sora’s eyes,  all gentle,  settles his hands upon his hips as sora remains seated upon his lap.   looks a little sheepish,  himself,  when he answers.

“  aw  ---  i love  you,  sora.  ”   another kiss,  this time placed atop his nose.   “  whatever it is you have planned,  i know i’ll love it.   after all,  the best birthday gift i could ask for is to spend it with you.  ”   then,  a final kiss,  placed upon sora’s lips not unlike the way he’d done so earlier.

“  i guess the food’ll get cold the longer we sit here,  huh  ?  ”   though he’s most certainly loathe to get up,  and force sora to get up off of him.   he pulls his legs in from beneath him,  reluctantly pokes them out from beneath the warmth of his blankets and slides the rest of the way out of bed.   he adjusts his tank top,  pulls the fabric more taut over his stomach,  and then turns back to offer sora a hand.

“  besides,  the sooner we eat,  the sooner i get to see what you’ve got planned,  huh  ?  ”   and he’ll give sora’s hand a reassuring squeeze,  at that.

he proceeds to pull him toward the kitchen  ---  which will most certainly turn into  him  being pulled,  he expects,  by the time they arrive to a neatly set table,  food set and coffee already prepared exactly the way riku likes it.

he can’t help but press another kiss to sora’s cheek,  wonders how on  earth  he could be so lucky to call this guy his,  after everything.   he won’t betray the fact that he’s thinking it in that moment,  but he knows he couldn’t possibly ever hope to deserve sora.   though he keeps trying.

“  ------  this looks incredible,  ”   he says,  thoughtful,  slowly seating himself down at the table,  with sora’s chair already pulled out next to his own.   he lifts his mug of coffee  ;   teasingly,  he adds:   “  you’ve gotten real good at cracking eggs,  huh  ?  ”   takes a sip,  feels just  that  much warmer   (  and his heart already feels like it’s about to melt  !  ).

THIS  COULD  VERY  WELL  BE  THE  END.   riku knew it,  the moment the demon tide swallowed everyone whole,  ripped their friends away from them,  plucked them off the ground one at a time.   it’s just him and sora,  now,  and he knows even then that won’t be for long.

behind him,  sora loses hope.   and riku’s heart breaks to know that beneath all that shining light,  beneath all the hope he inspires in others,  he,  too,  feels worthless,  feels that he’s weak and that he is powerless without the strength of the others,  feels like he’s lost hope.

you  don’t  believe  that,   he says to him,  knows he has to do something  !   even if he knows that this demon tide will surely swallow the both of them next  ;   he knows that sora will find a way,  sora  always  finds a way.   so he can’t give up,  needs sora to see that he refuses to get up,  and so too should sora.

he stands tall in front of the boy in despair,  bares his teeth and his blade.   he knows what it feels like to be swallowed by the darkness  —  he’s not afraid  !   he’s not afraid of the darkness,  not afraid of the tide of heartless that heads straight for him,  opens its mouth wide and prepares to consume him.   and if he’s to go down,  it will not be without a fight.   it will not be without giving his all to protect the person that matters most to him.

he moves to thrust his blade forward,  to hold the heartless off for as long as he can  —  but,  suddenly,  he’s thrown back by an outside force,  by something  other  than the heartless in front of him.   he gasps for air,  digs his feet into the ground to steady himself,  keyblade vanishes for the time being as he shields his eyes from the oncoming blast of dirt and debris,  finally lifts his head to see what has taken his place  —

“  ————  sora  !?  ”

shrouded in darkness,  aura  oozing  darkness,  nails extended into claws  —  a shadow in human form,  in  sora’s  form.   it can’t be  —  but he looks behind him,  and sora kneels there no longer.   it  must  be.

sora  must  have acquired this power after  he  became a heartless  —  to save kairi.   if only riku had possessed a strong enough will to deny the darkness,  himself.   he might have  succeeded  at protecting sora and kairi both.   riku knows he cannot be solely to blame,  but he certainly feels he ought to take the brunt of it.

“  s - sora,  come  back  !  ”   he calls out,  desperate,  chest feeling too painfully tight,  tears welling up in his eyes no matter how hard he tries to blink them back.   if this is all to end,  it  cannot  be like this.

sora pulled him out of the darkness,  and now it’s his turn to do the same for sora  !   for sora may think that he gets his strength from his friends,  but it’s the opposite  —  they get  their  strength from sora.   riku is only strong because of sora,  only has hope because sora inspires it within him.   were it not for sora,  he would be where his past self stands,  alongside the rest of the organization.

determination stirs anew within him,  something brighter than ever before.   keyblade materializes back in his hand and without a second thought he’s lunging forward,  leaps over sora’s shadow form,  and as he lands he’s twisting around,  winds himself up,  his keyblade formchanging into a broadsword as he slices at the demon tide,  a shockwave made of light surging forward.

the heartless falter,  just in time for his keyblade to vanish again,  and riku turns back around and bridges the gap between he and sora,  throws his arms around him.

if this is to be the end,  let it be with the love of his life in his arms.

“  ——  it’s  okay,  sora,  ”   he breathes,  holds onto him for dear life,  prays he can get through to him beneath the darkness that billows around them.   “  it will be  okay.   you always find a way.  ”

the demon tide has recollected itself from behind him,  and he tucks sora’s head into his chest so that he might not see them coming,  might not watch as the mouth opens wide and prepares to devour.

HE  FEELS  AS  THOUGH  HE’S  BEEN  FLOATING   for  hours,  now.   he and mickey had come dangerously close to being lost in the realm of darkness,  for he’d held his own against aqua fine but he knew he wouldn’t last  —  the darkness that had consumed her made her far more powerful than he,  gave her far more endurance  ;   and riku had already exhausted himself.

mickey had been trapped,  and riku had known he wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer,  had felt himself starting to become overwhelmed by exhaustion,  his limbs weakening.   he’d felt fear,  that he would be overpowered,  that they wouldn’t make it out,  that he’d never see sora again  ——

sora.

uttered under his breath like a prayer,  pleading for a miracle,  pleading to see him one last time.   and it was as though he’d been heard,  for he was answered immediately,  no sooner had he called for him than a door opened from above. light shown through,  and an angel descended upon them,  a savior to pull them out of the dark.

sora.

stood next to riku,  glowing,  smiling so brightly at him that riku felt as though he’d been blinded,  felt as though the breath had been completely knocked out of him,  and never before had he been so thankful to have been disobeyed in his life.   sora should not have been able to find a way to access the realm of darkness,  and yet  —

i  made  it  !

he never fails to surprise him.

now they’re back at yen sid’s tower,  aqua safe and alongside them,  and he and mickey are left to recuperate while sora prepares to go off yet  again  to recover ventus.   he can’t wait for this to be over,  is growing weary of only having his gummiphone to check on sora’s wellbeing,  of only being able to speak with him through video calls  —  but he supposes it’s still better than not being able to speak with him at all,  than following not too far behind to make sure he was safe and was on the right track,  all the while far enough so that he wouldn’t be  caught,  wouldn’t be  seen,  for fear that sora would look upon ansem’s face and feel  repulsed,  scared.

the harder he falls,  the harder it is for him to be apart.

———— i  know  what  you  meant  now.

distracted,  riku nearly jumps at sora’s appearance,  but is ultimately more relieved to see him,  glad that he’s able to see him before his departure.   distracted,  riku isn’t immediately sure what sora means.

until sora takes his hand in both of his own,  leans in and kisses him so confidently that riku almost forgets to breathe again,  and he remembers.

you’re  important  to  me,   too,   sora   —   more  than  you’ll  ever  know.h - hey.   what’s  that  supposed  to  mean  ?

“  sora  —  ”

i  love  you,   too.   rest  up,   okay  ?   i  gotta  go  now.   catch  ya  later  !

“  s - sora,  wait  —  ”   if he  thinks  he’s going to get away just like that  —  the way sora treats this so  casually  would  astound  him were it not for the fact that riku  knows  this is just how sora is.   if they’re to make the moment last,  even an extra moment longer,  riku has to be the one to do something about it.

he grabs back onto sora’s hand,  pulls him close,  and if he had wanted to be a  wise  ass,  if he were the same kid that had wanted so badly to leave home three years,  who thought he was too cool for  everything,  he’d be making some stupid remark about how it certainly  took  sora long enough to figure it out.

but he’s patient.   and when it comes to sora,  he believes in him more than he believes in anything else.   he knew he’d figure it out.   he was willing to wait as long as he had to for when the time came.

so he kisses him back,  instead,  equal certainty and  desperation   (  thank  you  for saving me,  be  safe,   please  come  back  to me  ),  cups the boy’s cheek and settles his forehead against sora’s.

“  ————  be quick,  alright  ?  ”   he says at last after breaking the kiss,  although he hasn’t lifted his head away from sora’s and his breath still breaks against his lips.   “  it sounds like we have a lot of catching up to do.  ”

IT’S  ALWAYS  SOMETHING,   ISN’T  IT  ?

————  is what mitsunari  would  have thought,  initially,  at the sight of a literal kid,  seemingly under the delusion that akkorō was threatening mitsunari,  flinging  himself at akkorō in an attempt to save mitsunari.   as if he  needed  the help.   this would have just been par for the course in mitsunari’s life,  except  then  he witnessed the arrival of a  massive  duck and a dog that stood exclusively on its hind legs  —  both of whom could  talk,  and wear  clothes.

it’s always something,  except now mitsunari is starting to think that maybe he never woke up this morning,  and this was all some absurd dream.   perhaps he oughtn’t eat so close to bedtime.   perhaps he oughtn’t be having such a  late  bedtime.   all things to consider,  if this truly  is  a dream.

don’t  worry,   mister  !   i  …   got  it  covered  !

the kid’s spiky hair was more voluminous than that shimazu pup’s is   (  and they both certainly possess the same spirit  ).   he’s wielding the  strangest  blade,  unlike anything he’s ever seen before.   and akkorō is still in a deadlock with this kid,  although he isn’t really  trying  one way or another.   it would be  entertaining  if mitsunari weren’t currently so preoccupied  ————  with  pinching  himself.

he’s so  certain  that this must be a dream.   but,  he doesn’t wake up.   it seems as though he’ll have to ride this dream out a little longer.   very  well.

“  okay,  that’s enough,  ”   mitsunari says at last  —  directs his words toward the kid with a wave of his hand.   he knows very well thatakkorō could hold his own for significantly longer  —  that he likely doesn’t  need  to intervene,  but if he’s to humor this dream,  then he needs to know what exactly he’s humoring.

“  he’s with  me,  ”   he elaborates,  gesturing toakkorō.   “  your intent is  …   admirable.   but you’d do well to learn to  assess  the situation better.  ”

and,  now that  that’s  out of the way  ——

“  state your name and purpose here.   as i’m certain i’m  dreaming,  i’m not even going to  question  those two things behind you.  ”

he is,  however,  most certainly going to ask about that weapon  ;   out of interest in hearing what the darkest depths of his mind have created for him.

sora has always been the light that guides him home.

and while most other people would let him wrap gauze around his injury while they’re on the move,  he knows sora will not rest until he is certain the injury has healed,  or is well on its way to healing completely.

you’re  not  ‘ fine, ’   riku  !   sora insists,  and riku doesn’t have the heart to tell him he has shed far more blood than this.

there  isn’t  anything  more  important  to  me  than  you  !   don’t  you  get  that  by  now  ?!

perhaps he ought to have expected it,  but the words still take him aback,  cause his chest to tighten up,  make it almost too hard to breathe.   he  does  understand,  although part of him wishes he  didn’t.   he  does  get it  ---  but he wishes that he  wasn’t  so important to sora.   after everything,  he still doesn’t think he’s  worth  it.

(  he’s  trying  to be worth it,  though.   he wants more than anything to be the friend that sora has always deserved.  )

i’m  not  going  anywhere  until  you’re  better  !   you  can’t  make  me.

punctuated by sitting himself right on the ground,  cross - legged,  puppy dog eyes right back up at riku,  and that tightness in his chest loosens just a touch,  blossoms into warmth,  and there’s  amusement  that pulls at his lips,  alights his eyes.

“  bold  of you to assume i’m  above  putting you over my shoulder and  leaving,  ”   he remarks,  arms crossed.   at the same time,  though,  he feels himself starting to give in  ---  begins to suppose that this will go a lot easier if he just  gives  in.   and,  then,  he notices the tears in sora’s eyes.   and he’s surprised,  once again.   breathless.   and there’s a brief stab of pain in his heart.

because,  he  loves  sora.   and he comprehends the way that he does fully.   he just isn’t certain sora loves him in the same way.   maybe he does,  and he just doesn’t understand it.

above all else,  sora reminds riku that someone in this world thinks he’s worth loving.

so he offers an arm to sora.   and he sighs,  resigned,  but all soft.   “  two seconds,  huh  ?   fine.   get back up then,  will ya  ?   you win,  this time  ---  but  only  if you start smiling again,  got that  ?  ”