Title: Something Old, Something New [Sora/Riku]
Rating/Warnings: PG-13
Summary: This is the place where Sora and Riku make new promises, except that they’re all old promises.
AN: Written for Shiritori. I have no earthly idea why I didn’t post this to Ao3 normally.
Something Old, Something New
Rain began to fall just as Sora zipped up his backpack, heavy drops plunking from the tree leaves onto the roof. The rain made Sora’s childhood bedroom feel even smaller than usual, a safe place Sora barely fit in anymore.
“Are you sure you want to go out in this?” Riku asked. He was still sitting on Sora’s bed, leaning on the windowsill with his cheek pillowed on his elbow. He was dangling his other hand out the window to let fat raindrops drip onto his hand and roll down his fingertips.
The quick tumble in Sora’s bed had been a mistake, because now Riku was unapologetically trying to tempt Sora into crawling back into the mussed sheets and wasting the rest of the afternoon right there.
“It’s just rain, you aren’t gonna melt,” Sora teased. He slung his backpack over one shoulder and reached down to slap Riku’s bare hip. “Will you get up? People say I’m the lazy one, geez.”
It was just a summer rain shower, coming down hard but warm and not making the waves particularly rough. Muscle memory made the trip over to the play island easy enough, and if the rain kept any current island kids from stumbling over them, that was fine by Sora.
Not that most of what they did was scandalous. They jumped waves just off shore and skipped rocks until Sora bitched that Riku was cheating as usual and it turned into a wrestling match. The rain was too steady for a sandcastle, but Sora collected shells in the pockets of his board shorts while Riku dug hands into the wet sand after each receding wave to look for sand crabs.
“Aw, don’t scare him,” Sora said, crouching down next to Riku as he was letting the little thing scuttle from palm to palm, trying to burrow its way out of his hands. He plucked the sand crab up between his fingers, grinning as it waved all its little legs at him. “He’s all ‘help me, help me!’ Go on, buddy.” Sora sat the crab down on the sand and dusted his hands off as the next waved washed over their feet and swept the crab away.
“My hero,” Riku said, apparently his high-pitched impression of a crab voice, and then he shoved Sora so that he tipped over into the receding wave.
“You’re such a diiiiick!” Sora wailed, spluttering as the next wave splashed over his lap and into his face.
“Mm, well.” Riku stood up, reaching down to haul Sora up by the armpits. “Good thing I hear you love enormous dicks.”
When the sun started to set, the two of them washed off the worst of the sand and salt in the spring, and then headed up to the tree house. Sora’s pack had been spelled waterproof, protecting the blankets and sandwiches inside. Riku had brought a jar of fire spelled into a potions jar; it smelled a little funny and gave off green sparks, but it flickered pleasantly across the walls and ceiling.
“Why’d you want to come out here anyway?” Riku asked curiously as he handed over the thermos of hot chocolate. “Can’t see the sunset with the rain, and stargazing’s probably out too.”
“Well…” Sora fiddled with the cap of the thermos. “It’s because this is the place we make promises.”
“Promises?” Riku tilted his head. “Like…promising not to go off on our own anymore after Quadratum?”
“Uh-huh. And promising not to be reckless the night before Xehanort.” Sora took a swallow of hot chocolate. “After the Dark Margin, too. We said we’d go on our next adventure together, for the King.”
“We promised to escape on the raft here, too. We have made a lot of promises here, huh?” Riku’s smile was small, a little bittersweet. “Here, give me that, you’re going to spill it.”
Sora let Riku pull the thermos out of his fidgeting hands. He was so handsome, Sora thought helplessly, watching firelight flicker across Riku’s bare chest and catch in his hair. “So I thought…if we made a new promise, it should be here.”
“A new promise?” Riku asked. Sora hummed, dropping his eyes nervously. “Sora?”
“I mean, I guess they’re all old promises really,” Sora said quietly. His heart was beating in his ears so loudly that he could barely hear himself. “I want to find new worlds together, and fight together and protect each other and just to be with you all the time. I…” Sora’s throat closed up at that point, to his aggravation.
“Hey, what’s going on?” Riku slid closer, until they were hip to hip, one arm sliding around Sora’s back.
Sora had wanted to say more, but all the other things were stuck, caught in his throat. Instead he reached into his pocket and pulled out what he’d been hiding there. He reached for Riku’s free hand and opened his fist to let his surprise slither down into Riku’s palm, a silver chain with two rings strung on it.
Riku blinked at his hand, eyes wide, for the longest second of his life. One ring was a Master’s Ring, purple with a center band of shifting blue-green, and the other was a Force Ring, etched gold with a bright red stone. “Did you…make these?”
“Yeah,” Sora sniffled, scrubbing at his eyes with the heel of his palm. “Aqua helped some…or like a lot, but, yeah.”
“Sora, you…” Riku narrowed his eyes suddenly. “Were you fooling around in the ocean with these just loose in your pocket?!”
That startled a watery laugh out of Sora. “Kinda! Relax, they were spelled to me, or I’d have lost them a hundred times. I was carrying them around for…a while.” Sora raised his eyes up to Riku, whose expression was a complicated combination of shock, love, and exasperation. “It doesn’t have to be that kind of promise, if you don’t want it to. It can mean anything we want.”
Rings clutched protectively in his hand, Riku crushed Sora against his chest in a hug. Sora hummed at the tightness of his grip, the anxious knot in the center of his chest loosening as Riku’s heartbeat thudded against Sora’s cheek.
“You’re such a menace,” Riku muttered into his hair, voice cracking. “Are you kidding me with this shitty proposal? Ask me properly.”
“Nuh-uh, it’s your turn,” Sora retorted, smile hidden against Riku’s chest. “I already did.”
“Saying we should get married when you were five so I could sleep over every night does NOT count,” Riku argued. He hefted Sora more fully into his lap, Sora’s legs curling comfortably around Riku’s waist.
“Who says it doesn’t?” Sora pulled away just enough to give Riku a showy pout, knowing full well that it was very unfair of him to do that with tears still clumping up his eyelashes. “I meant what I said. You complain all the time I never take turns.”
“I never learned to share, so we’re a match.” Riku brushed the tip of his nose against Sora’s. “Want to take your homemade rings and get married so we can sleepover every night?”
“Yes,” Sora said, pout melting into a wide smile. He pressed his mouth against Riku’s, quick, firm. “So no more adventures without me, got it?”
“And no more blipping yourself out of reality,” Riku replied sternly. Sora nodded, miming crossing his heart. “Deal. Unless you think I have to ask Master Yen Sid for permission for your hand.”
“Don’t joke about that!” Sora laughed. Riku snorted softly as he found the clasp of the chain and undid it to free the rings. “They probably won’t fit, we need Aqua to size them.” Sure enough, Sora’s ring was so big he had to wear it on his thumb for now, while Riku’s only fit on his pinky. “Guess I should have gone for engagement earrings, huh? One size fits all.”
“They’re beautiful,” Riku assured, kissing Sora’s forehead, his temple, his cheek. “You’re beautiful. I’m gonna marry you.” He pushed Sora back, Sora going willingly until he was flat on his back, Riku’s weight pleasantly heavy against his chest and belly.
Riku kissed him slow and possessive, one hand tight on Sora’s hip and the other palming the back of his head, cushioning it from the rough wood floor. Sora wrapped his own arms around Riku’s neck to pull him closer, winding fingers in Riku’s hair until Riku was humming low in this throat, like a purr.
By the time Riku lifted his head, Sora was flushed and a little dizzy, and only regretting a little bit that he’d dragged Riku out of his soft bed earlier.
“Sora?” Riku asked, voice low and rough. Sora blinked at him slowly, eyelids heavy. “Do you know how to undo the spell so that my ring is stuck to me instead of you?”
“I…do not,” Sora admitted sheepishly. Riku shook his head like he hadn’t expected any better, and Sora tugged his hair more roughly, making Riku’s eyes flutter. “Shut up, you. We’ll figure it out.”
