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Riku wasn't really sure how it had come to this. It was hardly the time or the place.
Okay, he conceded, it was almost always the time. It was just the place that was a little inconvenient, what with them being on the beach of their former play island and all. Riku preferred having Sora all to himself within the confinements of four walls, tucked away from the rest of the worlds that had not been kind to either of them very often.
Still, when Sora got that glint in his eyes, Riku was a goner no matter what or where. Even if he'd known a way out of this, he wouldn't want to take it. Like Icarus, Riku had always loved flying just a little too close to the sun, scorched wings and all, needing the ethereal sunlight invading his every nerve in a way that had finally stopped scaring him.
This particular glint didn't show up that often. Sometimes it appeared when Sora figured out how to use a new spell before Riku did, or when he made Riku blush with just one well-timed compliment when they were out in public. But it seemed to happen most often after Sora won one of their morning sparring sessions.
What Riku had yet to fully admit to himself was that sometimes he let Sora win, just to see the rewarding toothy smirk, the tilt of his head just so, the sharp flash of blue as Sora cocked his hip. Fingers curling at empty air as his keyblade left this dimension before he'd flex his arms like the little dork he still was. Seeing Sora like that left him breathless in a way that had nothing to do with the intensity of whatever training they just did. Riku never wanted that confidence to leave Sora.
Ever since they'd been little, Sora had always been a tad audacious, brash in his own casual way. He could talk smack almost as well as Roxas, and only Axel really had him beat as far as cheekiness went. But usually the sunlight spilling out of Sora's every pore outshone all of that. Sora would only have to smile, and people saw nothing more than the cute little boy next door, always friendly and eager to help, well-behaved and expert at doing as he was told.
Of course, Riku knew better than that. Yes, Sora was sunlight — his light — personified, but Sora was so much more than that. Sora, for all of his bold enthusiasm, was way more able to hold the reigns than people gave him credit for.
And yet, after all that Sora had done, all the times he had proven his strength a thousand times over, still no one ever really listened to him when they were planning battles or missions. Not even after the Keyblade War. At most he'd get a pat on the back for the suggestion, followed by a sympathetic look that said "let the grown-ups think of a plan".
It pained Riku to see how easily they all still brushed aside Sora's feelings, and how Sora always let them, because Sora could never stand conflict and would willingly hold his tongue to keep the peace. It was a good thing no one questioned the fact the fact that Sora and Riku only went on missions together these days. Not since the day Riku snapped at Mickey for daring to suggest they were both strong enough to handle things on their own, and couldn’t they split up and take one of the new apprentices instead?
"I've done enough missions without Sora to last me a lifetime. Either I do the mission with Sora or not at all."
Mickey had only nodded, unexpected sympathy in his eyes, and Riku had immediately felt bad for snapping. It was only when Sora leaned closer and brushed gentle fingers up his arm that the knot in his chest dissolved.
So every time after they were briefed, Riku would take the maps and the report in one hand, Sora's hand in the other, and they'd find a secluded spot where Sora would go over his strategies. Riku rarely disagreed with them.
It was Riku who got upset sometimes that Yen Sid had still not yet granted Sora the title of Master. When the old wizard had stated stoically that a true Master would think before he spoke, Sora had flinched and Riku had clenched his fists so hard that the nails bit into his palms, drawing blood. Back in their room, Sora had kissed every painful mark, and Riku had almost cried over how even then, it was Sora comforting him, instead of the other way around.
"I'm gonna give my title back," Riku had said. "I don't want it anymore."
But Sora kissed his palms again and then hugged him so hard Riku felt his ribs bend under the pressure. "Don't say that. You deserve that title. You deserve everything…"
With hot tears and devotion stuck in his throat, Riku spoke before he thought and gasped against Sora's neck. "You'll always be a Master to me."
"Then that's all that matters to me," Sora whispered in his hair.
Riku had never wanted Sora to be anything other than who he was, this juxtaposition of boldness and tender-heartedness. Riku would let Sora be anything, because Sora was everything to him.
Of course, there were other reasons why it was such a turn-on to have Sora take control and slip into this determined, cocky wonder that only Riku got to witness. Reasons Riku was not entirely sure he was ready to confess to.
Sora smirked from his spot on the beach, all sweaty bangs and tanned cheeks, and Riku felt that smirk tingling across his skin like palpable blazing energy.
"Ah," Sora rolled his shoulders and stretched his back with an audible pop. "The sweet taste of victory."
Riku knew he should reply with a taunt of his own, but all he could think about was the fire that had seeped through his skin and was now coiling deep in his stomach. And so he just stared, mouth twisting into a provocative come-on.
When Sora cocked his head, his smirk widening, Riku took a step backwards before he could stop himself. Sora followed with a step forward and Riku's stomach clenched in apprehension.
He swallowed thickly, his throat suddenly dry, and he didn't look away from Sora for a second as he took another step backwards across the sand. He watched as Sora slowly advanced again, closing the distance a little once more. Riku kept moving backwards until sand and seashells gave way to grass and daisies. And so it went on, until Riku reached the treeline and his back was pressed up against the rough bark of a paopu tree.
A heartbeat or two passed, and then Sora crossed the remaining distance between them in a flash, hands settling on either side of Riku's shoulders as he pressed up on his tiptoes. After the war, Sora had finally hit the growth spurt he'd been waiting for for years, yet it still left him a few inches shorter than Riku. With Sora standing on his tiptoes, however, they were eye-level with each other.
Riku brought up one arm to wrap around Sora's waist, bring him in closer, needing them to touch now. He drew in a sharp breath as the movement brought both their erections together. It was no surprise that Sora was hard, too. Sometimes Riku felt like he only had to think about sex and that somehow transferred across the Dream Eater link.
"Riku…" Sora sighed softly, breath like a warm ocean breeze across Riku's cheek and Riku let his head fall back against the tree. Without breaking eye contact, he opened his mouth and slowly wet his bottom lip with his tongue. Sora's pupils dilated visibly, and Riku shivered.
"Yes, Sora?" The name slipped off his tongue like it had done a thousand times before, a soft, breathy taunt.
Then Sora's fingers were underneath Riku's chin, and a thumb ran over the slick spit on his lip. Riku couldn’t stop the moan that left him, sparks erupting in his chest, tingling down to his cock. Sora's mouth was slack, his eyes wide and unfocused, and his entire being practically radiated pure want.
Riku could feel his own face burning, and his eyes slipped closed just as Sora leaned in.
It was messy, hardly a kiss at all, all silky tongue and little coordination, but it sent white-hot shivers up and down his spine nonetheless.
Then Sora moved closer until every inch of them was pressed together, fingertips and nails trailing a scratchy path across Riku’s collarbones, sliding over to dig into his biceps so hard Riku vaguely thought he would have marks there tomorrow. Both of Riku's hands settled against the small of Sora's back, tugging a little, and he couldn't stop the tiny jerks of his hips, although he was trembling with the effort to keep still. Sora deepened the kiss, but somehow, maddingly, managed to turn it into something slower.
It was always like this. Comfortable and overwhelming and still so electrifying. Riku leaned back heavily against the tree.
Then Sora pulled back abruptly and Riku opened his eyes to see why he'd stopped. To Riku's dismay, Sora stepped out of his personal space, breaking all contact. Riku almost huffed in annoyance and he pressed his lips together against the frown he knew was beginning to form. Sora — in a gesture that only Sora could make — shrugged one shoulder, his face flickering from desire to fondness to smugness, emotions Riku knew so well he could recognise them in his sleep.
Still, he blinked at the rapid shift in the air. Oh.
"You’re wearing too many clothes," Sora declared and he waved his hand. "Off."
And oh. Riku was glad for the support the paopu tree provided, because his knees suddenly lost all their strength.
With great difficulty, Riku found the coordination to raise his arms and slip off his jacket, before pulling his shirt over his head. The only sound was both of their ragged breathing, and Sora's audible gulp as his eyes flicked down to Riku's chest before meeting his gaze again, longing meeting lust.
Riku would never get over the fact that he was the one who could put that look on Sora's face.
"You're not done yet," Sora said hoarsely, sliding off his own jacket, letting it join Riku's against the grass.
Riku swallowed hard, the little hairs on the back of his neck rising at the commanding tone in Sora's voice. Slowly, hyper aware that Sora was watching his every move, he toed off his boots before pulling down his zipper, unable to resist pressing his palm against his erection just a little. The touch sent a jolt through him, and he bit down hard on his bottom lip.
Slowness forgotten, he quickly pulled down the trousers and boxers.
"Lie down."
Riku's stomach flipped itself over a few times and he felt himself shaking. It was a wonder he found the strength to move, settling down on the grass a few paces away from the tree and leaning back on his elbows. Riku flushed a little as Sora stared. He shouldn't be embarrassed, it was just Sora. Sora, who had seen him at his best and his worst, and still loved him a little more every day. Sora, the only person in the world he would trust with his heart, a million times over. Sora, whose lopsided grin was so sure when they did this and Riku would never get over that.
He watched as Sora removed his black tank top in one fluid motion, before he all but launched himself at Riku.
Riku barely managed to hold his position, his arms shaking with all of Sora's weight behind the pounce. He was still steadying himself, stomach muscles clenching, when Sora tangled a hand inside Riku's hair and grabbed the back of his head to keep it in place as their mouths clashed again.
Sora's tongue slid firmly across his lips, his teeth, and Riku could feel the heat behind it. He turned his head slightly and pushed up, turning the kiss into something deep and hungry. Sora pressed back hard and curled his fingers against Riku's scalp, fingernails scratching lightly against the skin there.
Riku wanted to touch him, pull him closer, but he was shaking with the effort of just holding himself up, and Sora's gasps into his mouth were so much want that it left Riku with no brain power for multi-tasking.
Then Sora shifted, throwing one leg between Riku's, and the sudden friction of trouser fabric against bare skin was just the right side of uncomfortable, making Riku throw his head back, breaking the kiss. He couldn't stop the low moan from escaping and his hips from bucking up into the friction. Sora pressed his lips to Riku's exposed neck instead, licking a little, then sucking the soft skin between his teeth. Riku's breath hitched, his eyes squeezing closed so hard he saw sparks.
Then Sora, who was almost always too impatient for too much foreplay, slid his other hand between their bodies, towards Riku's cock, and all of the air left Riku's lungs at the gentle brush of fingers across his length. He was shaking so much now that it took everything he had to keep his arms from giving out.
But his arms not giving out was the only thing standing between him and giving Sora full control. And even though Riku knew that would eventually be inevitable, the challenge was always to hold out as long as possible.
His eyes snapped open again as Sora's hand left the back of his head, and Riku sighed in displeasure. But then Sora sat back and reached into his pocket, pulling out a red bottle that looked oddly familiar. Riku's eyes widened.
"You brought lube?"
"Hey," Sora capped the bottle open and rolled his eyes. "No harm in being prepared."
"Okay," Riku swallowed heavily against a painfully parched throat. "Fuck—"
The grin Sora gave him was feral. "That's the idea, yes."
"Jesus…"
Their gazes met, and it was like an unspoken conversation. Sora's eyes softening with a hesitant is this okay, Riku's trust that ran deeper than the ocean, sure and unfailing, his silent answering yes yes yes. Sora's hesitance turning to a gentle kind of certainty, and Riku realised all over again that he had long since gained the confidence to let himself be this vulnerable with Sora. Surrendering to Sora never felt like losing. It felt like coming home.
Riku watched as Sora coated his fingers, and he shifted to spread his legs a little, hitching up his knees. When Sora settled between them and leaned forward, he took hold of Riku's right leg, pressing it towards Riku's chest and holding it there to give himself better access.
As Sora's finger circled his entrance, Riku held his breath in anticipation. No matter how often they did this, it never stopped feeling like the first time, when everything was new and amazing and so intense. When all it had taken was one slick finger inside of him and Sora's mouth on him for not even five seconds before he'd exploded in a sea of white pleasure he'd never felt before. Sora's eyes narrowed in amusement, but the last laugh was Riku’s because in the end, Sora had not lasted three full strokes.
Now Sora was still looking at him with the same hunger on his face as back then, although a little less shy and a little more presumptuous. Whenever Sora got like this, his eagerness made way for unhurried tenderness, and the both of them could make it last longer.
Riku bit his lip, nodding to answer Sora's silent question. Achingly slow, he felt Sora's index finger slip in, and he threw his head back a little, letting out a shuddering exhale up at the clear sky.
"Okay?" Sora murmured from above him, and Riku met his eyes, impossibly blue and wide in wonder, just like the first time.
Sora pulled out his finger, quickly replacing them with two, a little too fast to be fully comfortable, but Riku just grit his teeth as he tried to stop himself from clenching up.
"Relax," Sora leaned forward, hovering, and whispered against his jaw. "Just relax. Please, just let me…"
Riku shivered and burned with the words and the pressure inside, and his exhale was one long whimper. Then, Sora brushed his fingers over that spot, and the whimper turned into a loud groan. He fought the instinct to bite down on his tongue, knowing that Sora much preferred to hear him.
Riku was trembling all over, his skin charged with sizzling electricity. At the next press of Sora's fingers, his elbows finally gave out and his back hit the grass awkwardly, shoulder blades digging into a scattering of twigs and leaves. He'd lost the unspoken challenge, but he didn't care, not when it felt like this. Sora's fingers scissored inside him, drawing sounds out of him he'd never heard himself make before, breathless high-pitched whimpers and mewls.
The pressure began deep in his pelvis, every slow press of Sora's fingers adding a little spark of pleasure to the fire.
Sora inserted a third finger and the stretch that gave was amazing, all warmth and fullness. Riku pushed back in little rocking motions, hands pressing hard against the ground. He lifted his head a little only to smash it back down so hard he saw literal stars.
"Sora," He gasped, breath catching. "Sora— Please—"
Sora stilled his fingers, leaning over Riku so their faces were close enough that Riku could see his own desire reflected in Sora's eyes.
"Please what, Riku," Sora hummed quietly.
Riku tried to grind down his hips, tried to get Sora to move his fingers again, but Sora's hand remained still. He was already so close, all he needed was just one touch, Sora's hand on him, and that would be it. He fisted the grass beneath him between his hands and arched his back, lifting his hips, desperate for that redeeming final touch.
"Touch me…" He choked out.
Sora shifted his fingers, curling them against the tiny bundle of nerves inside, and Riku cried out, his hips jerking up, then down, seeking more of that delicious pressure. He couldn't breathe for a second, clenching down on Sora's fingers, a flash of white exploding behind his eyelids.
"No," Sora said, breath hot and wet across Riku's jaw. "You're gonna come like this. Just from my fingers."
And if Riku had been close before, now he was right on the edge, Sora's words twisting his insides into a hot mess. It always felt good. But it had never felt this good before.
Sora pressed Riku's leg back against his chest with the weight of his body, which changed the angle a little as his fingers pressed deeper, massaging in slow steady motions, and Riku arched his back so hard that he feared it might snap.
"I know you can," Sora continued, voice low. "Feels good, doesn't it?"
Riku was helpless to do anything but lie there and listen to Sora's voice and feel. The pressure inside of him was insane, it felt like he would burst from it. And even though he was close, it wasn't enough, it kept building higher and higher, like water rising against a dam that would eventually burst with the pressure, but fucking when?
His chest heaved with a sob, then another, and he felt tears forming behind his closed eyelids, trickling down to his temples into sweat-soaked hair.
"Shh," Sora hushed softly, lips against the side of his neck. "It's okay. It's okay, I've got you..."
Riku could barely hear Sora over the rushing in his ears, but he strained to focus on the words anyway, not wanting to miss a single one.
"You should see yourself, Riku… So pliant. So good. All for me."
Riku was sobbing openly now, no longer able to hold back.
"You're doing so well. You feel so good, Riku."
Riku's world had narrowed to just the burning friction inside of him and the sound of Sora's voice, so rough and wild, laced with desire so thick he could almost taste it himself. He dug his left heel into the ground for better leverage, pushing his hips up and bringing them down with force against Sora's fingers.
Sora's other hand was rubbing soothing circles across his thigh, and he was still murmuring barely there praises against Riku's neck.
Sora's fingers easily slipped out and back in, sometimes hitting his prostate, sometimes sliding firmly against the walls. Riku didn't know it was physically possible to teeter on the edge for this long. The pressure had been building for what felt like forever, and he knew he was close, only it felt so different from usual, a strong, warm force deep within him that was way past its breaking point. It was glorious agony, waiting for the dam to burst.
"Look at me, Riku," Sora whispered.
Opening his eyes was the hardest thing, but when he managed, he was rewarded with Sora's blinding smile.
"I love you." The words were accompanied by Sora twisting his fingers up just right, and with a shattering wave of heat and godyesfuckSora, Riku's orgasm hit him in a way it had never done before.
He cried out Sora's name and snapped his hips up as stars exploded behind his closed eyelids, his body taking over completely, everything heat and static as the pressure finally, finally gave. Sora pressed his thumb down against the spot behind his balls, and Riku convulsed with a long wave of indescribable pleasure. With his back arched, he felt hot spurts of come hitting his stomach, his chest, his chin. The rest of the world faded away under the constant hum of his body.
Sora kept stroking and pressing, and Riku rode out wave after wave until the stimulation was too much, and he sighed out a whiny "Stop."
Sora stopped, removing his hands, leaving Riku empty and completely spent.
It felt like he had been scattered into a thousand pieces.
He sobbed again, a final heave, before he sank bonelessly against the grass and opened his eyes, blinking into the light. Sora was there, hovering above him, still smiling like Riku was the brightest thing in the world.
As Riku lay there, quivering with exhaustion, Sora grabbed his jacket to wipe off most of the mess, then tossed it aside again. One hand came up to brush silver bangs out of his face, fingers like clouds against Riku's burning skin.
Every time, Sora was able to reduce him to this: a mess of shallow rapid breaths and tears drying in the corners of his eyes, bottom teeth pressed firmly in his upper lip.
Riku loved it. He loved him.
But even those words wouldn't come to his lips now in this supreme afterglow.
Sora didn't mind. He talked enough for the both of them while he kept brushing his fingers through Riku’s hair, and slowly Riku felt his other senses return.
"I love you, Riku. I love you, always." Sora sighed deeply. "I love you when we spar and you're so graceful, spinning and twirling, you were born to handle that keyblade. I love you when we go on missions together and you always have my back."
Riku's breath quickened again as Sora's right hand traced over the swell of his biceps, the muscles quivering beneath the calloused, slightly slick touches.
"I love how you're so strong. I love how you can pick me up and swirl me around like it's nothing. You make me feel like I'm on top of the world, it always gives me butterflies."
And suddenly Riku was crying again, but this time not from arousal. This was a different kind of overwhelming. Every word that spilled from Sora’s lips put him back together piece by glorious piece. He closed his eyes.
Featherlight thumbs brushed over his eyelids, rubbing away the tears in his lashes, Sora's palms on the curve of his jaw.
"I love the sounds you make when we do this. You don’t know what it does to me, hearing your moans and sighs, how you never hold back. It’s so good, Riku, you don’t even—" He trailed off, and Riku felt Sora shaking against him.
"I love it when you surrender yourself to me. I love how much you trust me. It terrifies me, the thought that I might one day betray that trust—"
Riku's eyes blinked open at the waver in Sora's voice. He opened his mouth to speak, to tell Sora that he knew that would never happen, but Sora put a finger to his lips and shook his head.
"I love how you never question me. You always believe in me more than I believe in myself. You make me feel like I can do anything."
Sora leaned down to press their foreheads together, and the next words were punctuated by gentle puffs of air.
"I love you so fucking much."
Sora kissed him then, a rough press of lips, laced with a kind of desperation that made Riku's fingers and toes curl. As Sora smoothed a hand down Riku's side, Riku's whole body shuddered.
"I wanna be inside you," Sora's voice broke on the second syllable of the fourth word, and Riku couldn't stop his hands from trembling as he reached up and pushed his fingers into Sora's hair. "Can I?"
And Riku fought to form words, dragging them from deep inside him, where they'd been patiently waiting for just this moment. "I love you. I love you. God, Sora, please—"
Sora huffed, rolling down his hips against Riku's thigh just once, the friction of rough fabric scratching against tender, oversensitive skin. Riku moaned softly.
"Riku…" And then Sora was sitting back, a hand on Riku's chest, the other on Riku's hip, and Riku's arms dropped back to the cool grass by his side. "Is that a yes?"
Riku nodded, not able to take his eyes off Sora.
"Yes," He breathed.
Sora's eyes darkened in a way that always made heat shiver through Riku's insides. Even if he was too spent for his cock to display proper interest again, it wasn't for lack of trying.
Sora rocked back until he was sitting on his heels, and stood to quickly slip out of his trousers and underwear. Then he was at Riku's side again, lube back in his hand.
Sora wasted no time, slippery fingers reaching down to his entrance, two pushing in without further warning, and Riku's hips jerked up. There was barely any pressure, he was still open and slick from moments ago.
It was different this time. Sora wasn't teasing, there was another kind of determination in the way Sora's fingers opened him up. Riku spread his legs wider, giving Sora more space to work with. Then two fingers became three, and Riku enjoyed the burn, the tiny pangs to his insides.
This time, he was just content to lie there and let Sora handle this, feeling pliant and pleasantly soft. There was no urgency on his part, nothing but the everlasting desire to be whatever Sora needed him to be, always.
Sora was urgent enough for the both of them at any rate. He fumbled with the lube, slippery fingers losing their grip on the bottle, and Riku reached out to take it from him. Without words, he coated his own fingers in the warm gel, and then wrapped a hand around Sora's hardness, giving it a few light strokes.
Sora bucked his hips and tensed all over, falling forward, trembling arms on either side of Riku's chest. He choked out a strangled, "Stop."
Riku grinned languorously.
"Shut up," Sora whined. Leave it to Sora to whine in the middle of sex.
Riku's grin only widened, until Sora cracked and they were both grinning like a pair of lovestruck idiots. Which, Riku supposed, they were.
Then Sora bent down to kiss him again, and Riku somehow found the energy to wrap his spent legs around Sora's waist, digging his heels against Sora’s back, his entire body relaxed as Sora pressed against him. It was strange, doing this without any sort of desperation on his part. He could just lie here and enjoy the sight of Sora above him, a mess of freckles and sweaty dark bangs, the sun above framing him like a halo.
Sora pushed in, slowly. Riku could tell he was holding back for his sake. Every muscle in Sora's body had tensed up, a perfect contrast to the way Riku's body was all pliant with lethargy. Riku lifted his legs further, improving the angle, his shoulder blades now digging awkwardly into the ground. When he relaxed again, that sensation melted away, making room for that familiar pleasant fullness as he felt Sora slide in further.
Then Sora was all the way in, and Riku sighed.
"Ugh," Sora said, and Riku's face slipped into a lazy smirk. He did this. He made Sora feel this way.
Sora was shaking as Riku traced soothing fingers across the muscles along his spine. Sora didn't move, though Riku wasn't sure if he was waiting to collect himself or for Riku to tell him he was okay. He wasn't sure he could speak, however, emotion catching in his throat.
He managed to rock up with a little shiver of his own, and thankfully Sora got the hint.
The air filled with breathless gasps, Sora's groans into the dip of his neck, and Riku felt every single slow drag and push. He trailed his fingers down, around the curve of Sora's ass, then further down over the quivering muscles of his thighs.
Sora barely managed to find a rhythm, and Riku was still too softened to do much more than dig his heels into Sora's back, couldn't even find the energy to move his hips up, but Sora didn't seem to mind. Riku was surprised by how slow it was, how it filled him with light and adoration, how long Sora managed to drag it out.
Eventually though, the snap of Sora's hips came a little faster, and Riku moaned in encouragement. That seemed to be Sora's breaking point, as his movements became more erratic, bordering on desperate, and he bent down for a frenzied kiss. Riku's legs and arms tightened around him, and even though he still wasn't hard, wasn't looking for any kind of release of his own, he felt Sora's desperation as his own. He managed to clench down around him, and Sora shuddered above him, burying his face in Riku's shoulder.
There was the sudden swell and thrust as Riku felt Sora's final push and then the first wave of his warm release inside him. Sora cried out Riku's name, and Riku lost himself in Sora's little spasming pulses, the hitch of his breath against Riku's shoulder, the way his hands curled almost painfully against Riku's skin. Riku tensed up a little to make himself feel every little twitch and arched his back to meet Sora's hips. Sora vibrated against him, and Riku felt that deep inside of him.
When Sora stilled, he collapsed against him and they joined together in a tangle of sweaty limbs.
Riku slid his hands up across Sora's back, around his shoulders, to cup his face, pulling it up from where it had dropped against Riku's chest.
Sora's gaze was dazed, his eyes wet and Riku loved him so goddamn much he wasn't sure how he could ever put it into words.
He tried anyway.
"That was…" He sighed deeply. "So good. You're so amazing."
Sora smiled a sleepy smile that was still full of pleased smugness.
"I love you," Sora whispered, and Riku could cry with the adoration in his voice. "I love you so much."
With a shudder, Sora slowly slipped out of him and Riku winced a little at the warm wetness slipping down his thighs. But that, more than anything, felt so intimate that Riku's chest filled with emotion.
"I love you too, Sora. I love you more than you'll ever know." He didn’t mean for his voice to crack, but he couldn't help it.
Sora clung to him, tangling their legs together. "I know."
They just breathed for a few long moments, Riku enjoying the smell of the sea breeze and the paopu fruits, the feel of Sora's puffs of breath against his neck. The sight of the bright blue sky above them through the perfectly green leaves.
Eventually though, Sora pushed himself off a little. That glint in his eye was back, and Riku realised what Sora was about to do a mere second before he did.
"Oh no—"
"Water."
A wave of cool water rushed over them, and for a moment Riku felt dazed. Then he sat up abruptly and shook his head, sending droplets everywhere.
"Sora!"
Sora was giggling and Riku pounced, toppling them over in the grass, reversing their earlier position.
"God, you just can't help yourself, can you?"
"The look on your face!" Sora gasped around laughs and he hiccuped as Riku shook his head again, sending more droplets all around them. "Everything was sticky. It was either that or the ocean, and I know you hate skinny-dipping."
Riku sighed in fond exasperation. Then gave a smirk of his own, and...
"Wind."
Sora gasped underneath him as they were swept dry by the tiny tornado.
"Now we're even."
Sora sat up, laughing. Riku took the moment to reach for his clothes, slipping his shirt and boxers back on now that he was both clean and dry again. He held out Sora's shirt and underwear, and Sora dressed quickly before scooting closer. Riku made space for him so they could sit side by his side, staring out across the empty beach and the endless ocean. Sora's head on Riku's shoulder, Riku's arm tightly around Sora's waist.
The silence between them was easy and comfortable, the only sounds the rolling waves of the ocean in the distance and the gentle breeze rustling through the paopu tree leaves. Riku sighed and leaned his head on top of Sora's. He felt peaceful and safe in the way only Sora could make him feel. He wanted to stay in this moment forever. There was nothing else in the world he needed besides what he had right here.
Riku should have known the moment would be broken not seconds after, though, because Sora could never sit still for all that long.
Sora lifted his head, leaning forward to catch Riku's gaze. "What're you thinking of?"
Riku wasn't really sure he was thinking anything. It was more like a feeling. On the one hand, he wasn't sure how to put it into words. On the other hand, it was always so easy, confessing to Sora when they were in their own little bubble, so he said the first thing that came into his head.
"I love who I am when I'm with you."
Sora went all doe-eyed and his smile bloomed across his face as if in slow-motion. It spurred Riku on.
"I love how you make me feel confident and safe. I love how you always seem to know exactly what I need, without me having to say it. Because…" He paused, briefly clenching a fist against the grass. "I don't think I could put it into words..."
"Riku…"
Riku felt his cheeks heat up, but the soft look on Sora's face prevented him from averting his eyes.
"I love how you let me protect you, even though you don't need my protection. I love how you always see the best in people, you always see the best in me and it makes me feel so special." Riku swallowed thickly around the sudden lump in his throat. "You're everything to me, Sora. I wish I knew how to tell you—"
Sora hugged him then, desperate and so tight that Riku gasped for air.
"You are telling me. Whenever you let me be... And you always let me be," Sora was trembling a little, hot dampness soaking into Riku's shirt. His voice faltered. "You don't say it with words but I know, Riku."
Riku's arms came to encircle Sora's shoulders as his chest felt like it would burst with all the ways Sora overwhelmed him. He slipped a hand into Sora's hair and rubbed it in little circles. Slowly, the trembling that shook Sora's body subsided, and Riku felt him relax into the hug.
Sora pulled back and the smile he gave Riku was pure warm sunlight, if a little streaked with dried tears. Riku felt dizzy from it, could never respond to that smile with anything but his own.
And he was once again struck by the idea that he would be perfectly happy to stay here in this moment, in this spot, forever. What a difference from a couple of years ago…
And how ironic, he thought, that after all he had done after leaving the islands, his destination turned out to be right back where he had started.