#lightheartedislandboy

[chocobospikes]

waitwaitwait i didn't know social media could connect you if you're from another world...hey, Cloud!

(- @lightheartedislandboy :3)

...Sora? I didn't know either... Are you even old enough to be on here?

[betweendawnanddark]

@lightheartedislandboy

A combination of disappointment and frustration made every step back to the gummi ship heavier. They'd responded as soon as they could after Leon had sent a message about Maleficent and Pete "making a mess" in Traverse Town, but that probably meant they'd already been there for some time before they'd been discovered--

Riku let out a deep sigh as the gummi ship was in sight, parked out of the way and far from any usual foot traffic. He'd confirmed it through asking several people and a few broken stones, bricks, and weirdly deep holes which had clearly been dug with a shovel and a great deal of effort left behind: no one was there to stop or question anymore. Maybe Sora had more luck with a lead, or anything else.

Mild annoyance making him feel tense and jittery, he leaned back against the side of the ship and waited for Sora. It didn't seem like an immediate disaster or anything, it was just... one more thing to have to worry about.

[betweendawnanddark]

@lightheartedislandboy [From here since tUmBLr fORmAtTIng.]

There was a very short, very vaguely unwise sliver of time when Riku considered responding to the request to take off his shirt with a solid "No." Luckily the moment passed, though that didn't make the reality of fulfilling the request any easier. Forced to pay attention to the pain in the motion, to the blood already starting to dry and stick to the fabric--

He hated that feeling. Really hated it. Shame that distaste was drowned out by the additional sharp pain that trying to draw the fabric over his head instead. Well that shirt was ruined anyway, but taking a look at the tears and the stains just confirmed it. He imaged what Sora had to be seeing rather than turning to look at Sora's expression, letting him take the shirt, waiting for the reaction.

The sudden taste of hi-potion was not something he'd fully prepared himself for, but luckily the reflexive panic swallow kept him from choking. It also kept him from cursing or protesting for long enough to feel immediate relief. There was warmth at his back, soft, almost able to feel the touch that wasn't really there as the wounds closed and he let his extremely stiff back and shoulders relax with an exhale.

Not that it lasted long, seeing as how Sora had every right to lecture him. Wasn't that a thing. "Better, thank you." Could he get away with that? There was no way. Riku resisted the urge to glance back as long as he possibly could, trying to gauge the situation from the tone of his friend's voice alone. "It didn't really seem like a big deal."

Unlike quietly contemplating the idea that he might have very little problem lying to himself. That concept was going right in the mental dumpster, then.

[chocobospikes]

hey cloud wanna see a dance i was working on. even leon watched me!!!! no i didn't force him

- @lightheartedislandboy

...Hm. I'll bite, what's the dance? And did Leon survive it

( @island-heart )

[betweendawnanddark]

@lightheartedislandboy [From here because gaaaaaasp.]

Riku hadn't quite realized Sora was full-on looking at him until the words of thanks-- Then he sort of wished those eyes weren't so intent on him, because between the honest gratitude and the smile, he was absolutely lost to the heat he felt across his face. His own complexion betraying him.

"Nowhere I'd rather be." Which-- Well, yes, but he hadn't meant to say that, barely recognizing his own voice with how soft and honest it sounded, but it was just true. An easy truth. Like the truth of Sora having been through too much. That smile had survived too much, and he would protect it. Keep it safe.

And do his best to keep his heartbeat steady with the curl of a pinkie around his own. Fate (or Sora himself) had other plans, it seemed, because--

He'd taken a horribly crushing hit to the chest, once. There was a moment between impact and pain when there was just a ringing vacuum of sound and a bit of gravity loss. That was kind of what it felt like, then and there. Like he stopped breathing because he couldn't, blinking out of reflex and then waiting for whatever resting in front of his eyes to make sense.

He-- Sora definitely didn't say what Riku thought he said. He didn't. He couldn't have.

Except. Sora was still in focus, and looking at him. Like he had said... that. And it had sounded like him. The-- The words that--

A dream, maybe..? He might have fallen asleep. But he could usually tell, usually feel it, and could feel Sora in a different way. Their linked pinkies were real and physical, a distinct tactile experience that didn't carry any lingering dream qualities with it.

So, he'd... said the words. Riku was sure he meant them, Sora would never lie about that, but the meaning-- No, of course. Sora loved his friends. Loved everyone he was close to, and Riku loved that about him. The depth of his love, his heart.

It was just as nice to hear as it was a little stinging. That wasn't Sora's fault. He was... Glad. Grateful. He didn't know what he should have done, what might have been expected under the circumstances, but he--

Followed his heart. "I love you, too." It was a whisper. Even if they didn't mean it the same way, even if he did truly love Sora as a person and as a friend, there was something the depth of an ocean drifting underneath that he hoped to never draw attention to. And that was... that was okay. As long as he got to say those words, just once. That was okay. He got to be at Sora's side, got to be in his life, that was all...

It was a bittersweet okay, maybe, but it was still something cherished. Precious.

[betweendawnanddark]

@lightheartedislandboy [Continued from here because... words!]

He regarded Sora with wide eyes for a moment before his expression became a little more closed off. Did he know that? Did he believe it? Not that Sora would ever lie to him, not about something like that, but--

The touch made it impossible to draw away in more than merely the literal sense. The contact was solid and real and he'd automatically grasped back in response, but he hadn't expected the hold to be so tight. Why was it so tight, what was his oldest friend so worried about--

Ah. Besides... the obvious. Fine, Riku would take responsibility for worrying him, but what he said...

Sora wasn't dumb. A little slow on the uptake sometimes, and naive in the way only an optimist who believed good intentions was a default could be, but that--

Riku teased, of course. But he also wanted to protect that. All of it. Every part of Sora. And he didn't want to cause him this kind of worry, any kind of... pain. There'd been enough.

Still... "Are you sure you don't just deserve the happy parts of me?"

[betweendawnanddark]

"I'm going to fix you up, but you have to sit still."

from here! - @lightheartedislandboy :3

Hidden Injuries starters | accepting but slow unless the words just decide to show up and shove me out of the way

"Sora, really..."

It was probably what he deserved for unsuccessfully hip-checking a Heartless, but he'd already been mid-swing and most of that momentum was needed to keep claws away from Sora. If some got him instead, well--

They did. And they sucked, all the way down the right side of his back from shoulder to hip. (Almost a matching set, huh?) As usual, he gasped in a breath, swallowed the sound his body wanted him to make and kept moving. He felt it with every step, every motion, even more every time he stretched or twisted or stood a certain way; but there were more Heartless and the rhythm of the fight kept his attention. The way he and Sora could move together required that he keep his side of the battle tight and together and there just wasn't room for the pain. Or the heat he felt spreading. Wasn't the first time, anyway, and red was easy to wash out of black.

It was when the adrenaline started wearing off that it sucked more, got much harder to walk with a normal gait, breathe with a normal rhythm, think about how he was going to manage their combined inventory (would one Hi-Potion be enough? two?) because his healing magic still needed work when he wasn't naturally attuned to it.

"I've got it, alright? Let's keep moving a little." Not that Riku wanted to think about standing up when sitting down had almost torn another sound from him, but he felt the need to get further away from where they'd just been. Maybe it was slightly irrational, but there'd been too many times when he wondered if felled Heartless attracted more, and he could not do that again so soon after. If he couldn't protect Sora, then...

Sora. Ah. A very familiar look met him when their gazes locked. Unmoving. He'd have said pouting, but that wasn't really the half of it. Stubbornness was another thing that Sora had managed to strengthen and perfect over time, and if Riku thought it was impossible to get past when they were children... He sighed, deeply. Hoping the wince and the light hitch in his breathing was hidden underneath it. "Alright." Absolutely dry, toneless, holding steady. Trying to keep himself upright without letting on how much the wounds were starting to burn. "I'm being still."

[betweendawnanddark]

( @lightheartedislandboy / Sora)

"Everyone dies, eventually."

FFVII Remake prompts | accepting but s l o w

Too many things. Happened at once. Were felt at once. Nothing showed on Riku's face, but that didn't mean a storm surge wasn't raging underneath.

That didn't... sound like Sora. Or-- No, that wasn't quite right. That didn't sound like the Sora he'd known before all of this and everything; of course they'd been aware of death, but he'd never just... said that before...

"Yeah." Brittle word from a suddenly aching throat, brittle voice. He suddenly just--

Riku needed to turn and see Sora. To look. Sometimes his nightmares felt like that. Solid and unmoving and full of some horrible realization that oozed terror. Was it better or worse that it wasn't one of the nightmares where the ground opened up and Darkness consumed one or both of them?

He wondered if he looked as thoroughly spooked as he felt, but he tried to push it aside. They both needed assurance, something certain. A massive subject change so he could get his racing pulse back under control. "Let's do what we can to prevent that, though? Like paying attention to where the gummi ship is going?"