love: / / 𝙛𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙.

“... are you trying to rub it in?” he shouldn't complain, really, when the alternative to this was having to patch himself up — been there, done that: it'd been extremely inconvenient and inefficient. (which is why riku had smartly phrased it as a question, so that he could deny any allegations of looking a gift horse in the mouth. and any allegations, in general.)

the only thing worse than having to patch himself up, of course, was having an enemy do it. it’s not even like riku’s short on those.

the thing is, he doesn’t know where roxas falls.

(he doesn’t know if he could think kindly of someone who would 1. trade him for another, 2. say as much to his face, and perhaps more relevantly, 3. be hands on about it. riku is unrepentant about the whole thing, because repentance implied he wouldn’t do it all over again. he would, for sora.)

riku’s learning, more and more, that for how much they could be the same, sora and roxas are different — especially now when they’re able to inhabit separate bodies. for one, when sora patched him up, it was unfailingly accompanied by incessant chatter and heated concern. roxas, on the other hand, hasn’t said a word. the chill radiating in the air could freeze a fire. but the thing about riku is, he wants to know where roxas falls.

he understands riku, as much as he wants to not like him.

(he couldn’t have imagined it back then, killing someone for someone else’s sake, but… he can now.)

(for xion, for lea, he’d sacrifice a lot. too much, according to some.)

he guesses there’s something to be said about that. baby steps.

“i thought you were supposed to be the quiet one,” he says, not looking up from his task. again, baby steps. (besides, he doubts riku’s expecting him to be nice about it. they both know where roxas’s seeded grudges lie, and it has nothing to do with what went on between them on that rainy night. he also doubts riku’s expecting him to forget about it. and he won’t.)

“...there’s a difference.” it’s an answer that comes after several more prolonged moments of silence, and it’s to a question riku didn’t really even ask in the first place. at least not directly, and not in as many words. “just ‘cause we don’t get along—” he glances up to meet riku’s gaze (sensing the follow-up question before it’s even had a chance to form as a fleeting thought) and silently dares him to mention phrasing— “doesn’t mean i won’t care if you’re hurt.” or that i won’t have your back.

he feels a headache building already. riku presses thumb and index to his temple as if he can physically suspend his disbelief. and to think — he’s only been in this world for a whole fifteen minutes. 

he sucks in a deep breath. “alright, let’s say i believe you. why would someone who ran into me — dressed only in boxers — be lying about this, after all, huh?” 

speaking of which. he’s glad he remembered to bring his jacket, if only so he doesn’t have to witness further embarrassment on the stranger’s part. riku slips out of it and shoves it at him. “just. put this on, and then we can talk.”

(and yet. and yet, you’d think that being a high school senior would have at least allowed him some leeway.)

he wishes — more than he’s wished for anything since his birthday last october when he asked his mother to stop giving him her designated monthly papa updates★~! despite the watery look in her eyes — that he was anywhere other than here right now. he even gives it a few moments, waits to see if he’ll magically, supernaturally disappear and reappear a couple of blocks away, but when the silence begins to stretch into uncomfortable territory, he sighs and offers his rendition of a withered stare as he accepts the stranger’s jacket.

“thanks,” is muttered, and it’s a testament to how many times this has happened that tsuna doesn’t shift on his feet, doesn’t dart his gaze in random directions, doesn’t straight up run off — simply stands in the middle of the street with a stranger’s jacket draped over his shoulder and a long-suffering, distantly pained expression plastered semi-permanently to his features.

Art by  jXbQC0MUUUhCRrV