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Riku didn't get sick. That was something everyone who knew him took as fact. It wasn't that he never got sick. It was just extremely rare.
Riku never got colds or fevers, no stuffy noses or sore throats. But maybe once, every year or two, he'd find himself throwing up, and on a couple really rare occasions his parents had rushed him to the hospital (one of these times being Sora's own fault, seeing as he had dared his silver haired friend to eat nothing but Cheezebites for an entire day when they were younger, and Riku had refused to back down from the challenge, leading to him waking up in the middle of the night with really painful heartburn).
Then came the storm, and the Heartless, and then Sora found himself traveling from world to world with Donald and Goofy. If Sora were more observant, he might have noticed that he was getting sick a bit more often with all the changes in climates between worlds, or that the few times he saw Riku, his friend looked much paler than usual. And when Mickey pulled Riku aside after he'd had a coughing fit, well, Riku had been stuck in darkness for a while, and he and the king were probably good friends by now. Of course Mickey would be worried. So was Sora, but right now he was just glad to have his friends back in one piece. When Riku was unsteady on his feet and collapsed at the Dark Margin, well, they had just gotten out of a fight with the leader of the Organization, and Riku had taken a huge hit to the side. Why wouldn't that have an effect on him?
It's not until they've been back on the Islands a few days, having gone home after the king told them all to get some rest and recover (giving a particularly pointed look at Riku), that Sora realizes something is wrong. It's already been three days since their return, and Sora hasn't seen hide nor hair of his best friend. If he hadn't been sending Sora a message every day saying he was stuck at home recovering, the brunet would have been panicking, wondering if Riku had gone missing yet again.
As it were, though, three days is too long for Sora to go without seeing his long-missing friend, and after telling Kairi where he'll be instead of heading to the play island, he heads to Riku's house, a potion or two stuffed into his pockets just in case.
It's Riku's mom who opens the door, and she greets him with a look of shock which quickly turns to a painfully fake smile (and Sora's been facing living people down long enough to tell between a real and a fake smile by now).
"Sora," she says, looking him up and down. "I wasn't expecting to see you. Riku didn't tell me that you were coming over."
Sora thinks quickly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I, uh, was actually hoping to surprise him," he says, and the words are true. "I haven't seen him in a few days, and I was getting worried."
"Well, I'm afraid he's sick," she says, and Sora's immediately worried. When Riku's sick, that usually means a trip to the ER. "But I'll tell him you came over, okay?"
Sora can see that she's trying to get him to leave, and he's not surprised. He's well aware of what they think of him and his "life choices," and that they don't like him spending so much time around Riku (and Sora knows the conclusions they've jumped to about his feelings for Riku, and he won't exactly deny or confirm them). Still, he's come all this way already, and he'd rather not break in through the window to see Riku, so he places his hand on the door and gives her his most pleading look.
"Please? He wasn't looking so good when we came back, and I wanted to make sure he's okay."
Riku's mom stares at him a while, and she audibly holds back a sigh before opening the door wider. "Alright, but you can't stay too long. Riku needs his rest."
Sora nods, flashing her a wide grin. "I got it, thanks." And not for the first time, Sora is grateful for his charming personality that not even Riku's family can resist.
He heads upstairs to Riku's room and knocks on the door. He hears what sounds suspiciously like someone blowing their nose before Riku says "come in" in a scratchy voice. Still, Sora takes comfort in hearing Riku's voice again and pokes his head in. "Hey, Riku. I haven't seen you in a while. You okay?"
And Riku gapes at him. He's sitting on the edge of his bed (because Light forbid that Riku stays under his covers all day), and he's got a half-wadded up tissue in his hand, and close by is a whole trash bin near overflowing with even more used tissues. Riku flexes his jaw, trying to form words but apparently unsure of what to say. Instead, he wipes at his nose with the clean part of the tissue, rubbing away the bit of snot that remained.
Sora grimaces. Runny noses were not a thing Riku got. Ever. This had to be serious. "How bad is it?"
Riku blinks a couple times and then swallows, throwing the tissue into the bin. "Um, it's not so bad, actually." Sora's first instinct is to tell his friend to cut the bullcrap, but he knows Riku well enough to see he's not lying. In fact, he'd say that Riku actually looked kind of amused. "It's… actually just a cold."
Now Sora gapes at him. "Just a cold?"
Riku nods, and chuckles for a moment before it turns into a cough. "Yeah. Crazy, right?" He looks back to Sora. "Apparently, my perfect immune system was only perfect in the tropics of Destiny Islands, and now that I've been to all these different worlds, it's all out of whack. It's not very adaptable."
"Oh." Sora tries to think of a response to that. "So… I guess you're just like the rest of us now, right?"
"I wouldn't say that," says Riku, with his usual smirk back in place on his face. "You're still a lot more of a sap than I am."
"I'm hoping that's a compliment."
"You can take it as one, if you want."
Sora huffs, but still can't help but smile. "So, how long have you been sick for? Was it just since we got home?"
Riku shakes his head. "I've been sick since I followed you from… one of those worlds. Can't remember which one." He gives Sora a wry look. "You guys move around so quickly, it's hard to keep track of where. My poor immune system just can't keep up." If he'd been anyone else, Sora is sure he would have dramatically raised the back of his hand to his forehead and fallen back on the bed. But Riku is too serious for that.
Instead, Sora places his hands on his hips in a half joking manner. "So, are you saying it's my fault? Huh?"
Riku shrugs. "It could be. But passing through Twilight Town when it's nearly autumn was definitely a bad idea. Ever heard of hay fever?"
Sora thinks he's heard someone mention it once or twice, but doesn't know what it entails, so he shakes his head. "What is it?"
Riku leans back on his bed a little, apparently trying to find the right words to explain. "It's like… in some worlds, the seasons change a lot more drastically than they do here. And sometimes when they do, stuff happens with the plants to adapt to the change in the weather, and they might release pollen or spores or stuff. And if you're like me, that apparently means watery eyes and a stuffy nose." He gestures to the trash bin, and Sora thinks he understands a little.
"So, no ER worthy, life-threatening sicknesses?"
Riku shakes his head with a smile. "Nah. I should recover soon. And it's not nearly as bad as it was at first."
"Okay." Sora looks over his friend again. "Next time, at least tell me if you're sick. You had me worried, you know."
"Yeah, yeah." Riku starts to chuckle, then cuts off as he blows his nose again. "My mom might start getting suspicious if you're here too long, though. You should probably go."
"Right." Sora pulls Riku into a quick hug, ignoring his protests about how Sora would catch his sickness. "So, you'll keep in touch?"
Riku nods. "Yeah. If I can, I'll send my brother to let you know how I am. I've been meaning to have him talk to you."
"Your brother?" Sora frowns. "He's like… three, isn't he?"
But Riku smiles and shakes his head. "Not that one. The other one. Apparently, he figured out he's like you while we were gone."
It takes a moment for the meaning of Riku's words to sink in, but when it does, Sora finds he can't stop himself from grinning. "I'll definitely talk to him, then. But you need to get better soon, okay?"
Riku rolls his eyes, but is still smiling. "Sure thing, Sora. I'll see you soon."
Sora pulls him in for one more hug, before going to leave, ignoring the suspicious look that Riku's mom gives him as he passes her.
And when Riku is better and Kairi starts teasing him about getting sick like a normal person, Sora denies ever telling her anything (even though he so totally did, because nobody hides anything from Kairi anymore).