Work Text:
The coffee shop was quiet, save for the small chatter from the rest of the occupants.
Naminé stared down at her drawing tablet in concentration, her pen moving along the screen with lengthy and quick strokes. She pressed the side of her face against her palm, letting out a sigh as she tapped the undo button once more. It felt like she had been doing that more than actually drawing and it only discouraged her motivation.
She wouldn’t say she was rusty. No. That was the incorrect term but… digital drawing was now a thing in university and while Naminé originally started off with traditional in her early life, drawing digitally looked like it was becoming the norm and as a devoted artist herself, she hopped on the trend and she felt like she could never go back. There were so many advantages to drawing on a tablet. If you were to screw up one part, just one tap on the undo button, and there, it’s gone and you can start over again without having to worry about grainy lines from using a rubber.
However, Naminé didn’t give up on traditional art. Never. She would always doodle on her sketchbook to pass the time out of habit. Whenever her tablet would run out of charge, the sketchbook was out for the remainder of the day.
The more she drew, the more she would experiment with different things. Like colour and line art.
The style was something that was hard to tackle though.
Naminé was happy with her own style, she truly was. But… seeing other people’s art made her think if her own was even that good. She knew it wasn’t healthy to compare someone else’s art with hers since everyone drew differently, but it, unfortunately, kept eating her mind, forcing her to experiment with other ways to draw certain things like hands and even small things like the texture of a table or chair. In the end, she was never satisfied with it and would scrap it and draw them how she usually would. However, she was never fully happy with it and went back to drawing it out of her style. Then repeat and repeat and repeat...
It had been like that for the past month and she never felt so stressed about doing what she loved. There was so much competition.
Sighing again, she erased some of the things she drew and started over again.
One hundred percent satisfaction was the only thing that mattered right now. And she needed to feel that way no matter what.
“There you are.”
Naminé looked up from her screen to see Riku walking to her table.
He smiled at her and pressed a soft kiss against her forehead before sitting down opposite the table. “I was wondering where you were. You weren’t answering my texts.”
She blushed and scrambled for her phone from her bag and saw his messages. “I’m so sorry, Riku,” Naminé apologised meekly, looking at him, “I hadn’t realised the time…”
Chuckling, Riku shook his head. “It’s fine, don’t worry about it. I was gonna come here anyway before seeing you,” he said, glancing down at her empty cup, “Do you want me to get you anything? Cold drink?”
“Iced flat white would be nice, yeah.”
He grinned, sliding out of his seat. “Coming right up.”
As Riku went to the counter, Naminé stared down at her tablet once again. Her brows drew together and she rubbed the creases forming on her forehead.
The composition is wrong. The line art is wonky. I don’t like how I drew that tree...
Kairi’s compliment surfaced in her mind earlier that day. It looks great! Don’t overthink it, Naminé.
She wanted to believe her friend, she really did. However, Naminé was stubborn and inwardly cringed at how her first thought was not to believe her. Kairi was always honest with her and Naminé never doubted that.
Why was it so hard to believe that people actually liked her work? That was meant to be the best part about showing people your drawings, right?
“You know, I get scared that you might go permanently blind because you always look at your tablet screen a little too closely than the average person.”
Naminé jumped at the sound of Riku’s voice and saw him sitting opposite her again. He slid her iced coffee over to her and a small packet of pumpkin bread. She exited out of her drawing app and pushed her tablet to the side. “Sorry…” She blushed and wrapped her hands around her drink.
Riku shook his head. “You wanna talk about it? I noticed you’ve been a little off for a while, but I didn’t want to pressure you into saying anything until you were ready.”
“I feel bad enough you had to worry about me,” she said, guilt in her voice before exhaling quietly, “It’s nothing… It’s just…”
“...Just?”
She anxiously bit the corner of her lip and swallowed nervously. “I’m not really happy with my art,” Namine finally told him as she fiddled with her drink, “I don’t think… it’s even good enough for the exhibition next month either.”
Riku blinked at her wordlessly before his lips pressed into a thin line. “Naminé, the whole point of the exhibition is to showcase everyone’s different art styles, right? You shouldn’t exert yourself about it. There’s a lot of people that love your work the way it is.”
Naminé stayed quiet, looking down at her drink before glancing over to her tablet again. “But-”
“No buts,” Riku raised his index finger up, “Don’t overthink it, okay? I know for a fact that people will be practically rushing to your stand taking pictures of your art and commissioning you.”
A nervous smile crept up her lips, her gaze hopeful. “You really think so?”
He laughed lightly and nodded. “I know so.”
“Thank you,” Naminé gave him a bigger smile, “You’re too sweet to me sometimes.”
“I’m supposed to be that supportive boyfriend, aren’t I?” Riku shrugged, leaning over and gently poking her nose, “You’re amazing and your art is amazing. I’ll never think otherwise.”
She had the urge to kiss him right then and there but remembered they were in a public space. Grinning at him, she blew him a kiss before taking a sip of her drink through her straw. Hesitating, she asked Riku, “Can we go to the park so I can show you the drawings?”
“Sure.”
Hand in hand, they exited the coffee house and made their way to the park just outside of campus. They seated themselves underneath the tree they usually go to before Naminé pulled out her drawing table to Riku. “They’re not much. I just drew whatever came to mind, mostly from the trip we had to King Mickey’s Park.”
Riku swiped his thumb along her gallery with a smile. “How could you ever tell me that these wouldn’t be good enough for the exhibition?”
“I hope you’re not just being biased, Riku...”
“I’m not,” he said, bumping her shoulder before looking at her tablet again, “You drew Sora and Kairi?”
“Yeah,” her eyes lit up as she saw the drawing of the two, “I saw them holding hands in front of the ocean and thought it looked beautiful, so I asked if I could take a photo of their backs. They haven’t seen the drawing yet though, I’m keeping it as a surprise when they come to visit the exhibition,” Naminé grimaced a little, “Do you think they won’t mind?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well,” she pressed her lips together, “The way I drew Sora’s hair isn’t all that great, I think I got the shading wrong too and Kairi’s fingers look a little off and the shape of both of their faces looks rushed and-”
“Naminé,” Riku interrupted her rambling, placing his hand on top of hers, “Sora and Kairi are gonna love it. If anything, they’ll literally fawn over it until they tire themselves out!”
Not saying anything for a moment, Naminé let out a breath of relief before nodding. “Hopefully.”
She watched Riku continue to swipe along her tablet as he gave her his compliments, even taking a few moments to admire the sheer amount of detail that went into some drawings as well. It warmed her heart to see that he was noticing the smallest things she took time to put in.
“Aw man, you drew Donald and Goofy too?” He laughed at the drawing when he saw all the ice cream on Donald’s face with Goofy looking like he was apologising.
“They invited me to one of the art museums near the King’s palace last year. Let’s just say Donald wasn’t too happy when Goofy was trying to feed me strawberry ice cream instead of vanilla.”
Riku snorted another laugh and shook his head. “They don’t change, do they?” he said, his fingers swiping off to the next drawing.
Naminé’s eyes suddenly widened. “W-Wait, don’t look at that one!” She panicked and quickly snatched the tablet away from him.
Riku held up his hands as if surrendering whilst blinking at her. “Why? Is there anything wrong with it?”
Blushing, the young artist squeezed her tablet against her chest before glancing down at it. “No but…” Her blush deepened, peeking up at Riku’s gaze to see his concern and she instantly felt bad that she was hiding such a thing from him, “Promise me you won’t be mad?”
Her boyfriend arched a brow. “Mad? Why would I be mad?”
Naminé held his gaze and then pulled up the drawing on the screen, turning her tablet around to him, apprehensive. “I… kind of drew it while you were sleeping…” she trailed off but then quickly added, “I can delete it if you want!”
Before her fingers hovered over the delete icon, Riku gently took hold of her wrist and left a quick kiss against her palm before grinning, placing her tablet in front of him again. “You made me look cute, so don’t you dare think about deleting it.”
“I just thought it was a breach of privacy…” she muttered.
Riku continued to look at the drawing of him sleeping and then looked up at her. “Was it for self-indulgence? So you could kiss me anytime you want?”
“Riku!” Naminé’s cheeks flushed a bright shade of pink, pushing his shoulder as he started laughing. Though, she bit the corner of her lip whilst she smiled at the sight of him hunched over. Bringing her knees to her chest, Naminé shyly shrugged. “You just looked really peaceful. I didn’t wanna pass up the chance.”
“That means you have a picture of me sleeping on your phone, right?”
“So what if I do, hm?” she quietly countered back at him, the heat on her cheeks not fading away the slightest.
Riku let out a chuckle and handed her tablet back to her. “I love it. I love it even more now that I know you took a cheeky photo of me and because you found my muscles so endearing to emphasise on.”
Naminé glanced down at her drawing. “I’m glad you like it. ...To be honest, this was the piece I spent the most time on, even though it’s not meant for the exhibition,” she said, tracing her thumb across the screen, “I love art as a hobby and I had to constantly remember that I don’t always have to draw because it’s work-related or a job,” Naminé sent Riku a flustered smile, “Drawing something personal like this helped a lot, so thank you.”
Riku tilted his head, raising a brow. “For passing myself out on your bed?”
Laughing, Naminé nodded, wiping off the sudden tears that began forming underneath her eyes. “That and just… being here for me when I feel unconfident about what I do. You have no idea how much it means to me, Riku.”
“Hey,” Riku cupped her face against his hands as he took over the duty of wiping off her tears with his thumbs, “You know how much it means to me when I want to make you happy. I’ll always do my best to be there for you at your lowest, okay?”
“Spoken like a true prince,” she joked, sobbing some more before planting a kiss on his forehead.
He smirked lightly and lifted her chin up so that the lips were breathing close to one another. “Well, you are my princess. I’ll fight anyone and anything that snatches your beautiful smile away from me.”
Naminé playfully bumped his nose with hers and pulled away. “I forgot how cheesy you can be when you cheer me up.”
Riku just smiled and intertwined their hands, gently squeezing them together. “But you love it.”
Closing her eyes, Naminé laid her head onto his shoulder and hummed approvingly. “I do.”