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There was something in the way magic imbued modern technology that fascinated Riku to no end. He drew his hand across the cool steel of his motorbike as it purred lowly, and if he had to think about what kind of animal it reminded him of, it was a greyhound.
Behind him, in its undersized perch with a considerable amount of pudge spilling out from the corner, his familiar Bumpis meowed in protest. He looked at the little shadow demon over his shoulder—today, it chose to be an overweight cat (not that it could be anything other than overweight, really) that sat unfittingly in a struggling Amazon box that smiled despite the weight that threatened to tear it apart by the seams.
“Bumpis, I still love you.” He said, as the motorbike fell quiet, his hand dropping to his side as a smile slipped onto his face. Riku leaned down to kiss its head, earning him a haughty huff before he pressed a little dog treat to its mouth. That had it purring again, chomping the little bone up with gusto, and the young witch turned back to his little pet project, humming with thought.
He’d imbued the fuel tank with a simple conjuring rune today—something he and Kairi learned a while back that his childhood friend could never seem to get the hang of.
Affection settled in Riku’s chest. For someone the whole witching community was rearing to be the next bride of the great Darkness, she wasn’t quite as good at this whole thing as he was.
“I heard that.” Kairi leaned into his workshop upside-down, sticking her tongue out at him, and he stuck his tongue back out at her as she let herself in without letting Riku get a word in edgewise. “You’re not doing a very good job at hiding your thoughts, Riku.” She dropped down from the upper landing, skipping the ladder entirely to drop herself to the dusty floor with nothing save for a tiny ‘oof’, and Riku rolled his eyes.
“Showoff.” He snorted, and Kairi grinned at him, striding over to him to look down at his motorbike, leaning on his shoulder with a familiar, friendly weight.
“Like I always say, Riku. I am actually better than you.” She said, though her words held little venom, and Riku felt little offense to it. “Like at listening in to your head, for starters.”
“Hmm, says the girl with her familiar wrapped around mine to listen in.” Riku said flatly, and Kairi looked a bit sheepish at that, a friendly vine unwrapping from around a purring Bumpis, almost as black as its fur and nearly undetectable, at least to the untrained eye.
He’d always been used to Kairi’s flower-based familiars. It was odd, for someone who was meant to be the Princess of Darkness, As far as he knew, flowers and vines and all other plant life belonged to the other side of the spectrum of magic, but he knew better than to be suspicious of it. Kairi had been his friend from childhood, and he wasn’t about to stop defending her every step of the way.
The Council was growing restlessly nervous at her propensity for the lighter spectrum of magic. How unbecoming, for the Princess-to-be, but as her self-proclaimed Knight and best friend, Riku had stood by her, If Kairi had no one, she would have Riku.
Always, as he’d promised. Even as children, they were nigh inseparable, and at first Riku had found himself rather put-out by humanity, but as of late…
“I see you’re working on this again.” She said, deflecting a topic she knew she would lose, and Riku could only laugh affectionately, giving her a noogie that earned him bright peals of laughter. They pulled apart from each other with fond sighs, and Kairi leaned against his side. “You don’t hate the human world as much as you say you do, don’t you.”
“Again, with this conversation.” Riku deadpanned, but by now he knew as much as she did that he did this for show.
Witches were never meant to interact with non-magic folk.
(Kairi called them ‘muggles’ at some point, giggling at a book the two of them read as children out of morbid curiosity, and Riku could never keep a straight face whenever he heard that word these days, especially spoken so unironically by human fans of this grossly inaccurate depiction of witchcraft. Harry Potter was instantly their favourite because of this reason.)
They were never meant to mingle with humans, mostly to keep them safe, more because of the reason that magic was something humans would never fully understand. At least, not in the way witches do.
When Kairi was born, there were several laws broken, and a million more made from that.
She was powerful, harnessing magic skills across both the spectrums of light and dark, and though he had yet to audibly admit it, Riku admired her for it. He knew, someday, despite the fact that he was currently the leading student in studying magic, Kairi would be the one to surpass him.
Someday, Kairi would become Princess of the Dark. He just knew it, even when no one else did.
As a witch, he would be unspeakably proud of her. To serve the Darkness as its Queen was an honour in of itself, but as her friend…
As her friend, he would bundle her in his arms and steal her away from the rest of the world to protect her. No one deserved a life like that.
Kairi snapped her fingers in front of his face, and he blinked at her. “Huh?”
“I said, there’s a party I wanna go to this weekend.” She said, and he simply stared at her in wonder. “God, you’re not even listening.”
“Sorry.” Riku mumbled, his shoulder slumping, and the motorbike whined. Kairi giggled slightly at that, and bumped their shoulders together.
“Okay, fine. I’ll take it back to the top.” She said, “You like this bike a lot, don’t you?”
Oh, he loved it. Witches were missing out, truly—mixing magic with modern technology was amazing, and he didn’t know why they refused to do this, stuck so far back into the past they were nearly Neolithic at this point.
“Well, yeah.” Riku shrugged. “I’ve been putting some modifications in. Recently put a conjuring rune that a certain princess couldn’t quite do recently in class.”
“Shut up,” Kairi spluttered, elbowing him lightly. “You’re the jerk who couldn’t hold still long enough on a levitating cushion.”
“Hey, balancing on a pillow is different from balancing on a bike.” Riku didn’t pout, if you asked him, but Kairi would beg to differ. “Anyway, what about my bike?”
Kairi shrugged. “I dunno, I’d been thinking about the human world for some time now.” She said, and immediately Riku sobered up. Any bone of humour or amusement left him, and only concern remained. It was probably the strict witch that he grew up as that was speaking when he spoke up.
“But you know we’re not allowed—”
“I know, Riku. You say that all the time.” Kairi sighed, and slumped down to the ground, a beautiful sunflower blooming by her side, her familiar trying to cheer her up. “But… has none of it really made it through to you? All those years of you and me studying at a human school, and none of it has made an impact on you?”
Riku pursed his lips, and Kairi looked up at him pleadingly.
“I don’t see how this has anything to do with that party you wanted to go to this weekend.”
“So you were listening.”
“Partly.”
Kairi rolled her eyes, and pulled away from Riku to look his motorbike over.
“It has everything to do with the party this weekend.” She said quietly, and he blinked at her. “Riku, I…” She took a hesitant breath. “I don’t want to be bride of the Darkness.”
If he had a say in it, he wouldn’t want her to be it, either.
“But you’re the halfling we’re waiting for.” He said, a practiced speech that was more of a knee-jerk response more than anything, and he knew Kairi hated it. He winced, and deflated away from her. “I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s… it’s okay.” She sighed. “It’s all you ever knew.” She rubbed her arm awkwardly, and looked off to the side, smiling softly as Bumpis snuggled up close to her to comfort her. From its perch in the rafters of Riku’s workshop, Wingus came swooping down to rest on its master’s head, and Riku sighed, stroking its fluffy body. “I just…” she blushed, and hugged her knees close to herself. “I’m gonna confess something, is that okay?”
“Shoot.” Riku shrugged.
“There’s a girl I like.” She said, and he cocked his head at her, as if to ask, ‘so what?’, and she laughed weakly. “She’s human.”
Oh.
Riku blinked at her, and scratched his cheek. “Oh.” He said intelligently, and she sighed, burying her face in her knees.
“This weekend, at the party, I wanna tell her. How I feel. What I am. Everything.”
Riku jolted, and he squeezed her shoulder. “Wait, but Kairi, that’s—”
“I know.” She said, and met his gaze evenly. “But I’m gonna fight it. I’m not gonna be the bride of the Darkness.” She took his hand, and squeezed it. “Please, Riku. I.” She hesitated, and he shook his head, pulling her into a tight hug. Her eyes widened for a moment, before she deflated into his hug, hugging him back tightly as tears prickled her eyes. “I really like her. I want to be with her. I don’t want all this.”
Riku took a shaky breath, and hugged her tightly.
“You’re my best friend, Riku.” She said shakily. “Please, you’re the only person I can count on.”
He knew that. She knew that. There was only one answer he could ever give her.
“Of course.” He said, a knight bowing before his Queen. “I promise, Kairi. I’ll help you.”
“Thanks, Riku.” She said shakily, hugging him back. “Thank you, so, so much.”
So Friday came, and Riku found himself sneaking out with Kairi into the human world, following after her into someone’s house, which was decked from the top to the bottom in almost excessive amounts of Halloween decor. Riku almost hesitated, his motorbike purring into silence as he and Kairi came to a stop on the curb, but the redhead didn’t seem to be fazed by it. Hopping off his bike with boundless nervous energy, Riku watched her pace back and forth as Riku waved his hand over his bike, cloaking it in invisibility magic.
“Relax, Kairi.” He said, “Don’t worry. I have your back.”
She gave him a nervous smile, and he straightened up, tutting gently as he poked her cheek with his thumb to pull the corner of it up into an awkward smile.
“C’mon, Princess.” Riku said warmly, “A smile suits your face better.”
Tonight, she was dressed in a simple, straight black dress that went down to her ankles, broken in the middle with a pink ribbon that matched the long sleeves that went out from under the black sleeves of the dress. Riku watched as Kairi huffed, pulling away from him to pull on a blonde wig, securing it with a black headband before touching up her black lipstick.
“Who are you supposed to be?” Riku asked, his arms akimbo, and Kairi stuck her tongue out at him. “You’re gonna make me guess.”
“Uh, duh.” She replied, and took his hand. “You have until Olette’s front porch.”
Riku rolled his eyes. “Sabrina, but a goth.”
“You wish.” Kairi giggled, and Riku huffed fondly, and gave her a noogie. She let out bright peals of laughter, which caught the attention of a young woman standing at the porch, looking out into the darkness of the Halloween evening as if trying to find someone. Riku looked at the young woman at the porch to realise it was Olette, a girl he vaguely remember meeting in the hallways of the human school he attended with Kairi, and he saw his best friend positively light up at the sight of her.
Tonight, Olette was wearing a black shirt and a red skirt, and Riku tried not to think about the way she also had horns on her head.
That wasn’t a good sign, was it?
“Oh, she’s matching with me,” Kairi said breathlessly, and the pieces slid into place.
“Are you cosplaying Homestuck characters?” He asked, but she hurried past him to barrel into Olette, hugging her tightly as he laughed brightly. “Kairi!”
“You really did it!” Olette laughed, “Rose Lalonde! You really did it!”
Riku stood there, gaping at the two as they cuddled together, but he eventually deflated, smiling fondly as he hung back, sliding his hands into his pockets. He hadn’t put in the same amount of effort as Kairi did in his outfit—throwing on a leather jacket on top of a white shirt, a cravat thrown around his neck mostly because of Kairi’s influence more than his own. Right in the middle acting as the pin holding it down was Wingus, still as it could be with its wings spread.
He watched as Kairi and Olette chatted excitedly with each other, the rest of the world already forgotten as they strode into her house, hand in hand.
He sighed. Things will go well, he knew.
Left alone to his devices, he strode in after them, and found himself in a comfortably crowded party. It wasn’t crowded to the point where he couldn’t breathe, but it wasn’t too spacious, too lonely. Just right.
The people there definitely put in more effort than he did. He saw a few werewolves walking around, some witches and other forms of cosplay, and he knew he already lost track of Kairi the moment she saw Olette.
Well, she was a powerful witch. She could take care of herself. Riku, after all, was just there for the cavalry.
He made his way over to the refreshments, and surprise, surprise—he found something spiked there. He knew Olette had wild friends, and while he knew Olette herself was a good girl, she was definitely keeping around characters that didn’t quite fit her sunny personality. He knew it wasn’t her that put the spiked juice there, but he wasn’t about to go running around inebriated, especially when he was supposed to watch over Kairi and help her out when things went south.
No, not when—just if. If things went south.
“Ah, jeez. Look, it’s one thing to look amazing during Halloween, it’s another thing entirely to look amazing at every Halloween party we go to!”
Riku froze, and he quickly hid his face behind his cup in a faux sip to watch as a familiar brunet strode over to the table, pouting at his blond companion beside him.
Riku knew who that boy was—oh, there was no way Riku wouldn’t recognise him, effortless Halloween costume or not.
Sora rolled his eyes at something his companion said, pouring himself a cup of orange juice, and sipped it petulantly. Riku scooted a little ways away from him, his cheeks turning pink, as he watched Sora wave his hands in a wild, exasperated gesture.
“Yeah, well, at least show some effort into this one!” His companion scoffed, “Olette’s my friend, I told her I had cool siblings, not jerks who show up at parties with just a witch hat on and called it a day!”
“You called me cool?” Sora, astute as always, picked up on the important things, and Riku bit back a laugh when his brother spluttered. “Roxas, you called me cool!”
“And I’m about to take it back!” Oh, now Riku remembered the other human, watching Roxas scoff, crossing his arms to turn his nose up away from Sora. “Jeez, quit upending all my plans, you jerk!”
“I’m not, I swear, I’m not,” Sora laughed, holding his hands up defensively, and Riku couldn’t tear his eyes away from that smile.
Oh, he was in trouble, he knew.
It was thanks to Kairi that he came along with her to go to a human school with her. He grew up alongside her, watching her make more and more friends as he hung back in the background, not just because he was shy—
He was a full witch, not like Kairi. When he came of age, he had to cut ties with all humans completely, as was the way, and he knew better than to grow any attachments. It had gone well so far, really, what with how aloof he always stayed as he and Kairi grew up, until he met Sora.
It was outside the school, while Riku was waiting for Kairi to meet with him as he tinkered with his bike to pass the time, and Sora’s innocuous little comment caught him by the heart, hook, line and sinker.
“Wow, you’re amazing with machines,” Sora had said, wide-eyed as he looked at Riku’s motorbike. “You’re really cool!”
Sora didn’t know his name, and back then Riku hadn’t known his, either, but there was something magnetising in the way he smiled, in the feel of his warm, warm hand against Riku’s back as he patted it.
Somehow, he ended up wanting to do anything and everything to stay with him in his side of the world, despite everything.
His heart skipped a beat for a moment, as Sora grinned brightly again, and Riku felt like the sun was shining on his skin.
Oh, he shouldn’t do this. He shouldn’t turn his back on his own kind, but.
But.
He looked around the party to see Kairi and Olette standing together on the balcony, chatting quietly, and he could see that beautiful, lovestruck smile on Kairi’s face as she talked to Olette.
A human, just like Sora was, and for a moment, Riku forgot how to breathe.
If Kairi could do it… then perhaps he could…
He shook his head, and turned away from him, cheeks red, heart pounding.
No, he couldn’t. He was here to protect Kairi, to support her in her own endeavours, with her life up here, instead of down there.
In a way, he was glad she herself wanted out of the life the witching community forced her into, it made protecting her easier, but he knew he couldn’t last long up here. He wasn’t like Kairi, he wasn’t as powerful, no matter how skilled he was.
One of these days, he had to return to the witches, and he knew better than to bring human baggage with him.
Oh, but the heart knew what it wanted, and as Riku strode through the crowd, he almost ran into Sora again, passing by behind him like a pair of parallel lines.
Never meant to meet, only ever meant to admire each other at a distance.
He sighed, looking at Sora over his shoulder as he chatted excitedly with other friends, and he tore his eyes away from him.
No, Riku. He thought to himself, squeezing his eyes shut. He had to deny himself, he had to resign himself to this fate, as Kairi’s self-proclaimed knight, as a witch—
“Huh?” Sora whirled around to look at him, and Riku’s heart lodged itself in his throat as their eyes met. When they did, the confusion disappeared from Sora’s eyes to be replaced with wide-eyed surprise, and then—
Oh, no.
Recognition.
Sora’s cheeks turned an impressive red, and turned away, as if hoping Riku didn’t actually meet his gaze, as if maybe they really didn’t have that one embarrassing connection between them, and Riku let out a breath he didn’t realise he was holding.
“Crisis averted.” He sighed, but realised that he was still heading the same way Sora was, and—
Riku looked down at his throat and realised it had been Wingus who caught Sora’s attention. The bat looked in no way regretful of what it did, meeting his gaze one more damning time as it reached forward to tap Sora’s shoulder, and his eyes widened, smacking Wingus in the face in panic as Sora turned around like a jolt of electricity had bit his skin, eyes wide as he looked up at Riku with that gut-churning wonder that had Riku rooted into place.
Oh, his eyes were so blue.
He shook his head, turning bright pink as Sora finally approached him, laughing nervously.
“Hey…” he greeted awkwardly, and for a moment, Riku forgot how to speak.
Or function like normal human beings.
“You’re, uh, Riku, right?” Sora asked, “Kairi’s friend?”
Riku nodded mutely, not trusting his tongue to come up with anything coherent, and Sora’s smile widened slightly. “I’m Sora. It’s nice to finally meet you!”
Finally, he said. He’d been noticing Riku too, had he?
“Yeah, I have.” Riku blinked at him owlishly, and Sora laughed nervously. “Um, it’s kinda hard not to notice someone as hot—um,” he stumbled over his words, hiding under the wide brim of his witch hat, and tried again. “Um. I mean.”
Somehow, the ‘hot’ part didn’t register. (At least, not yet. That would come later. Much later.)
“You read my mind?” Riku asked instead, because he was a decent person who knew how to hold a decent conversation with decent humans, and Sora blinked at him. “Are you… are you a witch?”
Sora looked lost for a moment, before he grinned widely, recognition lighting up in his eyes as he leaned forward into Riku’s personal space. Riku’s heart shot into his throat, his cheeks hot like they were on fire, and Sora waggled his eyebrows at him.
“Why, did you think I cast a love spell on you?” He asked, tipping his witch hat, and Riku spluttered, pulling away from him in embarrassment.
“A-a-absolutely not!” He stammered, “I-I—you—that’s not allowed—”
“Whoa, calm down!” Sora gasped, grabbing him by the wrists as Riku forced himself to calm down, his cheeks ruddy, his blood pounding in his ears. “Dude, it’s just a pick up line.” He laughed, and Riku thought he could hear angels in it.
Damn, maybe Sora did put a spell on him, after all.
“You were talking out loud and you didn’t notice?” Sora chuckled fondly, and Riku paused.
“Oh, I. said that out loud. That you notice me.”
“That I notice you too, but yes.” Sora scratched his cheek, laughing nervously. “Honestly, I should be the one extremely stoked that you notice me. I mean. Everyone knows you as Kairi’s super quiet friend, so I—”
“Well, there’s a reason,” Riku began, but he stopped himself. He couldn’t tell Sora about the witches, that would be an utter mess. “I’m just. Um.” He rubbed his arm, and sighed. “I’m shy.”
Sora’s answering smile at that was warm, and he shrugged, the simple, casual gesture sending a wave of warmth pooling in Riku’s heart.
He was probably smitten.
Who was he kidding, of course he was smitten.
“Well, uh, d’you mind if I intrude on you a little bit?” Sora asked, “You could use a friend, for starters.” Sora offered him his hand, and Riku looked at it, lost.
He shouldn’t do this. In less than a year, he would turn 18, and that would be that. He wouldn’t come out here anymore, he wouldn’t ever have to go to human schools anymore, no more loud hooligans in a world where magic didn’t exist—
He would never see Sora again, and.
And.
Oh, the thought of it scared him.
“Of course.” Riku said, and sealed his fate alongside Kairi’s, smiling as he took Sora’s hand and shook it. “But, uh. I’m pretty sure you don’t make friends starting with a pick-up line.”
“No, you don’t.” Sora laughed. “But it’s a start.”
“Of what?”
Sora winked at him, and he felt his heart flutter.
“Of that magic spell I’m gonna put on you.” He giggled, and Riku couldn’t help the laugh that escaped him as Sora held up a pair of finger guns. “Besides, isn’t it better off if you start off a relationship as friends?”
“A relationship, you say?” Riku raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms as he smirked down at him. “How bold of you.”
Sora grinned back at him, equally determined. “Yeah, well, I think I’ve already got a bit of a head start.” He said, and Riku tried not to blush at how obvious he was being. “Want a handicap?”
“You have until November 11 to get me to kiss you.” Riku said, and Sora cocked his head at him. “You know, like a kiss to break the spell.” Sora smiled at that, and shook his head fondly.
“Anything special happening on that day?” He asked, and Riku simply hummed.
“It’s your job to find out.” He said, and Sora beamed.
“Awesome.” He said, and Riku tried not to linger on the fact that Sora seemed dead-set determined to be his friend.
More than friend. Something more.
“Seems my first mission is to find out this November 11 thing, huh.” Sora hummed, and tapped his chin. “I’m going out on a limb here, is it your birthday?”
“Hammer, nail, head.” Riku chuckled, and Sora lit up. “I think we’ll get along just fine.”
Sora huffed proudly, and rubbed his nose. “Anything special happening that day? Turning 18 and suddenly some weirdos on the internet are gonna call us problematic for dating?”
“Please don’t say that like you’re just 12,” Riku rolled his eyes, “Aren’t you turning 17 yourself?”
“Well, yeah, but you never know.” He shrugged. “My big brother keeps picking fights with people on the Internet about that, but that’s just his hobby.”
“You sound like you have an interesting family life.”
Sora winked at him. “You can be a part of that.” He elbowed Riku lightly in the side, and the taller teen snorted, lightly pushing him back.
“As if.” He said, and Sora laughed as he straightened up. “Take it easy, champ. You’ve got a good part of a month to get me to come around.”
“I know.” Sora hummed, and leaned on his side. “It’s definitely gonna be the best month of my life.”
Riku tried not to think about that, and instead noticed the odd little rose that bloomed at Wingus’s throat.
Hey, Kairi’s voice in his head said, how’d it go?
Riku smiled. How did yours go?
Like a dream. She sighed, She’s taking it really well.
Riku looked down at Sora at his side, content to share a quiet moment with him, and smiled softly.
Kairi, I have something to tell you.
Shoot.
I think… Oh, he was going to say it. I think I wanna stay here with the humans, too.
He felt more than saw Kairi’s joy blooming in his heart.
Oh, Riku, that’s. Oh.
He leaned back against Sora, too, sighing, and the brunet smiled into his juice cup.
Yeah. We’ll make it together, Kairi. I promised you that, and nothing’s gonna change.
Yeah. She replied. All of witchdom can’t take us back now.
Riku smiled at that, and let Sora lace their fingers together.
It was going to be difficult, but then again, Riku was one of the brightest witches of his age. They could find a way.
They always find a way.