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It was supposed to be a simple visit to San Fransokyo.
Sora had insisted on showing the sights of the worlds he's been in to anyone who was interested. Of course that meant dragging Riku and Kairi along so they could finally travel together as a group instead of separately as they have been for the past few years. Seeing as Ventus had been sleeping for 10 years, he was dragged along to see the sights at any opportunity. That also meant dragging Vanitas to be more acclimated to the world without evil. Lea thought it was a great idea and dragged Xion and Roxas along for the ride. Sometimes it would be Aqua, Terra, and Namine, but today they had other things to work on so here they were.
It didn't take long until Sora landed the gummi ship in San Fransokyo, bouncing off his chair with a smile on his face.
“Welcome to San Fransokyo! I know you're all gonna enjoy being here!” the brunette exclaimed as Kairi stretched a bit. Riku smiled fondly at the younger's excitement.
“Well, anything is better than being bored out of my mind I guess,” the raven haired boy said as Riku checked his phone.
“We should probably head out now. I do have a rental to pick up so we can see the sights at our own leisure,” he said as Sora hummed happily.
“We should get lunch! I heard about this fast food place that's supposed to be really good! Last time I was here, we couldn't really try it but now that there's no rush, we have to give it a go,” the brunette suggested as Roxas rolled his eyes at the antics of his somebody.
“You're still hungry? We just ate before leaving the Land of Departure!” he exclaimed as Sora pouted.
“That was hours ago Roxas and I can't resist Aqua's cooking. Besides she wouldn't let us leave unless we ate the food she provided,” he said as Ventus chuckled at that.
“That's Aqua for you,” he said as Kairi hummed.
“Come on you guys, the longer we stay here the less time we'll have to see the sights,” she said as Sora all but dragged her and Riku out.
“Last one out the gummi ship is a rotten paopu fruit!” he exclaimed as the others followed behind him. Why were they doing this again?
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After getting the van and piling everyone in and realizing that Riku was the only one with an interdimensional license (“That’s a thing that exists?!” was the main complaint from Sora) they headed off with Riku and Kairi at the front, Sora, Ventus, and Xion being the most excited of the remaining bunch in the middle, leaving Lea with Roxas and Vanitas in the back. Kairi had all but called shotgun before they could decide, knowing fully well that having Sora be within vicinity of Riku in a moving vehicle would be bad as Sora would have been a major distraction for the elder.
“Lunch time!” Sora exclaimed as Riku laughed at his best friend's antics before inputting the information into the vehicle's GPS and watched it pull up a route.
“Alright fine lunch time it is,” he said as Kairi rolled her eyes, a smile on her face. Riku was still the same as always of doing whatever Sora wanted to keep him happy. She knew that if Vanitas or Roxas was more aware, they would have definitely made their usual snide comment of Riku being whipped, but as it was, they weren’t paying attention or had given up in teasing the silver-haired boy for the meantime.
“Yay! It'll be worth it I promise!” he exclaimed as Riku hummed and started driving.
Conversations broke out in the van as Kairi took it upon herself to man the radio by connecting her Gummiphone. Riku let her do as she pleased as he tried his best to focus on the road to get them to their destination safely as he listened to Sora talk about his experiences in this world to Ventus and Xion, who were listening to him as they took in the sights.
“And then, we flew around town and there’s a really pretty sight if you sit on top of the bridges that overlooks the ocean. Almost reminds me of Twilight Town’s clock tower,” he said as Roxas kicked Sora’s seat gently.
“Nothing beats Twilight Town’s sight Sora,” he said as he crossed his arms as Lea chuckled a bit.
“Oh come on Roxas, don’t be like that. Maybe we should see it later today to see if Sora is right or if we need to prove that he’s wrong again,” he said as the younger gave in and sighed.
“Ugh, I guess that’s fine,” he said as Vanitas grew bored and summoned one of the Floods to keep him company. Vanitas soon noticed Riku pull up in a brightly colored fast food location and all it took was a gasp of excitement from the brunette in the middle row to realize they have arrived.
“Riku! We’re here! You should park in a stall so we can all eat here instead of getting the food through drive-thru!” the brunette exclaimed, removing his seatbelt to all but push himself toward the front, pointing to an empty stall as Riku froze to try and compose himself. The Flood in Vanitas’ arms started to react to the irritation that the elder of the idiot trio must have felt in the instance of the brunette removing the protective restraint. Why the silver-haired moron was irritated was beyond him considering the brunette seemed blessed by the gods when it came to not being able to be killed easily by anything throughout his travels and considering the speed that they were going he highly doubted that Sora would have died if he had slammed the brakes by accident.
“Sora please, sit back down and put your seatbelt on. I’ll park in the stall if you just calm down and let me drive us into the spot safely,” he said as Kairi tried not to laugh at the situation that Riku had been placed in. And this was exactly why she insisted she get the front instead of trying to sit with Vanitas to keep the raven haired boy from going insane. Sora took the hint and sat back down, bouncing in his seat as Riku was able to calm down and pull up into an empty stall. He started to visibly relax when the car was put in park with the brake on.
The next thing that was heard by everyone in the vehicle was Sora reading the menu back to them excitedly as if they couldn’t read the menu themselves. “Look Riku! They have Ocean Water! I wonder what it tastes like?” he asked as Roxas groaned.
“Gee, I don’t know, maybe like ocean water?” he replied as Vanitas snickered at that.
“That’s too simple, it probably tastes nothing like ocean water,” he said as Sora either didn’t hear them or downright ignored their negativity. Riku looked at them both through the rear view mirror with eyes that practically screamed ‘don’t ruin this for him or I will end you myself’ causing for the two to shut up.
Kairi hummed and opened up an app on her phone typing something up before looking up. “To make things easier on Riku here, I’m going to pass around my phone and all of you need to type up your orders then pass it back to Riku. We’re going to start with the people in the back since I’m hearing a lot of quips coming from Vanitas and Roxas so I’m guessing you two are ready,” she instructed as she passed her phone to Xion, who then passed it to Roxas, looking at him apologetically. Roxas begrudgingly took the phone and inputted his order before passing it on to Vanitas. Sora was still reading off the menu, and Riku had noticed that Sora had all but pressed his face against the window, excited at all the possibilities. He also noticed Kairi’s all-knowing smile appear as he tried to distract himself from admiring Sora in his excitement.
Riku sighed and decided that while the phone was being passed around, maybe he could get his order in along with Kairi’s to give the other passengers in the car time to put their order in. This would also help distract him from Sora. He pushed the red button and waited until he heard a voice come from the intercom.
“Oh sorry sir, but our stalls aren’t actually working. Would you mind going through the drive-thru for your order?” he asked as he noticed Sora just deflate into his seat with Ventus trying to cheer him up.
“Hey, the stall may not be working, but we can still get shakes?” the blonde suggested as he took the phone from Xion and started putting his order in.
“Well, I mean, yeah, but the experience Ven! Hiro was telling me of all the fun times he had with his friends in the car,” he said as Vanitas groaned.
“Oh for fuck’s sake, Sora, you and your bunch of light guardians do that every single fucking time in the gummi ship. Why does it matter if you can’t recreate that in the car?” he asked as he felt the burning glare that was sourced from Riku. Right, the sunshine idiot was being protected by this fool.
“Still, this is the first time we’re doing this with you in the group y’know?” he said as Kairi smiled softly and turned to look at Vanitas.
“Yeah Vanitas, you should join us more often,” she said as Vanitas stopped and looked away, unable to say anything too mean to her request.
“I’ll think about it,” he murmured as he pulled the Flood closer to him. Kairi smiled and looked back at the front as Riku pulled up a bit more, getting close to the intercom. The phone had finally been passed to Sora as Sora quickly typed his order before leaning up front to hand the phone to Riku and staying in the awkward position of being between Riku and Kairi as Ventus tried to let him have the space.
Riku was more prepared this time as he stayed relaxed in his chair, taking the phone from him to prepare for when he finally pulled up to the intercom and just relishing in the moment that Sora was up here. While he was grateful that Kairi had taken shotgun, a part of him still wanted Sora to take the shotgun, but it was too late now. It seemed Sora had realized that he was in a rather awkward position with Ventus behind him and sat back down. Riku noticed the car in front of him move as he pulled up.
“Hello! What can I get started for you?” the voice from the intercom asked as Riku hummed.
“Uh, can I get the number four with tater tots and an Oreo shake?” he asked, waiting for the order to reflect on the screen before he would read the next order on the phone.
“Ah, sorry man, we’re not serving any of the shakes as we’re not serving ice cream right now,” the voice answered as an anguished “NO” was heard in the back. And it was in that instant that a heart was shattered as Sora once again deflated in his seat, a pout apparent on his face. Riku continued to order as Kairi looked at Riku, knowing fully well the elder was having a tough time maintaining composure while the younger was anguished.
“Hey, we can always get a milkshake from another fast food place if you want? Or we could see if sea salt ice cream exists here?” Xion asked as Sora crossed his arms.
“It’s not the same Xion. Hiro had said that this place serves the best shakes…” he said as Vanitas rolled his eyes.
“It’s just a fucking shake moron. Anyone could make shakes that’s better than processed garbage served in a fast food restaurant. I’m sure if you asked, Aqua would happily make one for you in whatever flavor you wanted,” he said as Sora sighed.
“You don’t get it Vanitas, I really wanted to try this one and now I have to change my order,” he said as Riku finally finished placing the order for the entire group in and looked behind him as he handed the phone back to Kairi.
“It’s fine, I got you the Ocean Water that you wanted to try instead,” he said as Sora smiled a bit, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes.
“Thanks Riku,” he said as the elder nodded and moved to look back at the road, moving up when the car in front of him had moved. Sora slowly gave in and sat back upright before leaning his head against the window, still murmuring about how this was a disappointing experience as Ventus and Xion continued to cheer him up. Had they known that the fates would be against him they would have voted for Sora to sit in the front with Riku. Maybe the brunette would have cheered up faster seeing how the brunette seemed to be oblivious to his own feelings that it took their combined energy to keep Roxas and Vanitas from practically spelling it out for him.
Riku pulled up to the window and paid for the order before taking the orders as they were passed to him and passed them to Kairi to disperse amongst the other passengers. Kairi held on to her order as well as Riku’s with Xion helping in taking the food to pass to Lea, Vanitas, and Roxas. Once the orders were dispersed and everyone was settled again, Riku drove off the fast food place and went on a search to find a public park so that they could park and eat. Kairi hummed along with the music as Sora started to perk up from the disappointment and started chatting up again with everyone in the car. If one listened close enough, the collective sighs of relief could be heard that the boy had cheered up slightly.
A blip was heard coming from Kairi’s phone as she blinked and opened up her phone.
“Oh hey, my phone just asked how our experience was?” she asked as Roxas groaned when Sora sighed in disappointment.
“It was a disappointment!” he exclaimed as Vanitas sighed and all but facepalmed. Of course the calm just had to be ruined by a stupid survey. Riku sighed and shook his head. Well so much for a calm ride to the park. Kairi smiled sheepishly and gave Riku an apologetic look.
“Well, hey, maybe we’ll come again next time when it’s warmer? I mean we did come here in the dead of winter Sora, I’m sure they didn’t think anyone would order shakes and thought it would be best that they didn’t add ice cream to the inventory,” she suggested, hoping that he would cheer up.
“I guess.” Sora replied as he took a sip of his drink before almost spitting it out. “This tastes nothing like the ocean!”
Roxas kicked the back of his chair. “Did you not hear what we were saying earlier?!” he asked as Riku shook his head.
“No of course not, you know how dense the idiot is when it comes to food,” the raven haired boy said as another Flood appeared on his lap as a clear sign of spike in his irritation.
This was the last time he would take Roxas and Vanitas anywhere if Sora was going. The urge to summon Braveheart and knock some sense into the brooding versions of Sora was strong but he had to be the mature one out of the group.
Again, why did he agree to this?