Archive of Our Own ^beta

Visiting Halloween Town in August instead of waiting until October proper probably wasn’t Sora’s best idea, but Riku and Kairi will just have to find it within themselves to forgive him for it. He’d been so excited at the prospect of finally going somewhere as a trio that the date had completely slipped his mind; as it stands, he’ll just have to find a way to revisit the world when Halloween rolls around.

“Ready?” he asks his two best friends with a wide grin, tapping the buttons that will conclude their gummi ship’s landing sequence with the ease of familiarity.

Riku and Kairi look at each other for a good few seconds before responding, communicating with raised eyebrows, smiles and huffs instead of words.

“Wouldn’t be much of a point in saying no after going all this way, would it?” Kairi snarks at Sora once she’s finished her chat with Riku, laughing at the pout this earns her.

“Aww, you know I wouldn’t actually force you guys to go out!” He crosses his arms petulantly, deliberately playing into her teasing. It never hurts to get a reminder, after all.

“No, but your pout and puppy eyes would be insufferable,” Riku mutters playfully, taking on a pleased expression when Kairi chuckles and Sora frowns.

“Would not!”

“Sora, honey, they would,” Kairi tells him gently, reaching out to pat his shoulder. “Don’t worry, we still love you.”

“You’re both bullies,” he scowls, but the expression melts into a grin when Kairi ruffles his hair.

“And yet you still love us!” she declares victoriously, standing up from her seat to go smother Sora in a hug he is all too happy to receive.

“But of course!!” he speaks into her shoulder, standing up with a soft chuckle to make the hug less awkward for them both.

Kairi drags Riku into their embrace by the edge of his jacket, pulling on it until he relents with a fond sigh. This, unsurprisingly, turns into Kairi and Riku attempting to see how hard they can squish Sora between them before he finds a way to worm out of their hold -- a common practice that he loves and hates in equal measures.

“Bullies! Bullies, I tell you,” he protests once he’s made it out, nursing his aching ribs and smiling reflexively at the sound of his best friends’ delighted laughter.

“As fun as it is to tease you, we should probably get going,” Kairi points out. “We’re burning daylight! Or--” she frowns at the darkened field beyond the gummi ship’s viewscreen-- “moonlight, I guess?”

Riku snorts. “I’m pretty sure I remember Sora saying it was always night here, yeah.”

“It is!” Sora exclaims happily, shifting his weight from foot to foot. “It’s kinda nice, though it definitely gets too dark sometimes. But then again, that fits with the whole Halloween theme, right?”

“Sure does,” Kairi hums in response. “So, how is this transformation thing gonna work?”

“Well, since we’ve already got the spell cast on us and stuff, all we gotta do is exit the gummi ship!” Sora explains with a grin, getting more and more restless in his excitement -- much to his friends’ amusement. “When we open the ramp to walk out, the magic’s gonna take hold and we’ll change to fit the rules of the world.”

“Lead the way, then,” Riku smiles.

“Alright! Halloween Town, here we go!!” Sora cheers, practically skipping towards the ramp as Riku and Kairi chuckle behind him.

He doesn’t bat an eye at the tingle the magic sends through his body as he steps out, all too used to the feeling after traveling to so many words, but he hears both of his friends slow down as it hits them. He can’t deny that he’s very, very excited to discover what form they’ll take; he’d already thrown dozens of possibilities at them on the way over, ranging from believable to outrageous, and he can barely wait to see how close he’d gotten to being right.

He has to blink a few times to adjust to the inherent darkness of Halloween Town, especially after the comparatively blinding brightness of the gummi ship. Even though he looks quite different from normal, his sight remains mostly the same; he can see a little better in the dark, sure, but that’s the only change he’s ever noticed.

Sora turns to face his best friends with an ear-to-ear grin, letting out a loud elated noise when his eyes land on them. The first thing to catch his attention in Riku’s new look are the downright adorable pair of fluffy silver dog ears sitting atop his head, while the first thing to notice in Kairi’s is that she’s more than halfway transparent.

It doesn’t take him long to connect the dots.

“A werewolf and a ghost!” he exclaims, barely stopping himself from barreling into their personal bubble to poke and pull at their brand-new outfits, knowing they’ll need some time to adjust.

Sora bounces on the balls of his feet as he waits for them to come to terms with their new forms, grinning as they look over themselves and each other in turn.

“I’m see-through,” Kairi mutters disbelievingly, lifting a hand to the front of her face, turning it this way and that.

“I think I have a tail?” Riku frowns, craning his neck to look at his own back -- and yep, that’s a silvery tail to go with the ears for sure. Sora coos loudly, uncaring of how embarrassing the sound may be.

“Can I pet your ears?” he asks in a slightly pleading tone, ready to bring out the -- hah -- puppy eyes if he has to. He watches in faint amusement as Riku lifts a hand to his own head to verify the existence of said ears, wearing the cutest little furrow between his brows that honestly just makes Sora want to scratch his scalp with his gloved claws until Riku is putty in his hands.

“...Sure?” Riku shrugs dubiously.

Sora bounds over exuberantly, lifting himself up on his tippy toes to give Riku’s dog ears all the love they rightfully deserve. Riku frowns in mild confusion at first, clearly trying to make sense of this new sensation, but eventually his expression morphs to broadcast something approaching bliss.

“That feels so good,” Riku tells him, the words a bit slurred due to the continued attention. Sora giggles when his boyfriend starts to lean into the touch, gradually slouching down to give him better access.

“I want to pet them too!” Kairi pouts from beside them, crossing her arms and feigning a hurt expression.

Sora lets go of the ear closest to her with a giggle, letting his hand drift down to Riku’s shoulder. He watches with clear fascination as her hand goes through the fluffy appendage; the ear in question twitches violently when it happens, the feeling prompting Riku to shake his head instinctively.

“Aww, that’s no fun,” Kairi pouts more genuinely this time, staring down at herself as if her body had betrayed her.

Sora hums thoughtfully, studying her for a few seconds. “There has to be a way for you to touch things,” he says, deciding then and there that they simply have to find some way for Kairi to touch Riku’s adorable ears. “Maybe if you concentrate enough, you’ll be able to touch me?” he offers, extending a hand.

Kairi takes his words to heart, glaring down at her arm while trying to figure out just how, exactly, something like this could work. Her face brightens once she realizes that she’s gradually getting less and less see-through, eventually becoming apparently solid enough for her to attempt to make contact with Sora’s skin.

It feels… weird in a way that Sora can’t really explain, but that isn’t bad, per se; there’s just a certain fuzziness to it that his brain categorizes as ‘not right’ almost instantaneously.

“Congrats,” Riku nods appreciatively, tilting his head towards her when she reaches for one of his ears again.

The touch provokes another -- though smaller -- twitch, but although Riku’s frown is immediate, he remains dutifully still to let her have her fill.

Kairi pulls back with a smile a few seconds later. “They’re kinda soft,” she says, rubbing her own fingers together with a pensive look.

“They’re super soft!” Sora corrects her without missing a beat, scratching Riku’s nape a couple of times. “You couldn’t feel that?”

“Not very well,” she shakes her head, pushing the thought aside with another smile. “But that’s okay. Thank you, Riku.”

“No problem,” Riku nods. “It kinda felt like… I wanna say static,” he tilts his head. “Or something similar to it, at least.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Sora mutters. “Oh, but look-- half of your legs are gone!” he points out excitedly, prompting Kairi and Riku to notice it as well.

“Oh!” Kairi exclaims, shifting in place awkwardly as she studies her own lower half.

The tattered, old-timey nightgown she’s wearing ends just below her knees, and her calves fade into nothingness only a few centimeters below, making it look like she’s floating in place. She takes an experimental couple of steps, watching the area where her feet should have been the entire time, but they remain stubbornly invisible.

“That’s weird,” she decides eventually, startling a little when she reaches down to touch the area her ankle would be only to have her hand go right through it. “Okay, that’s weirder-- I’m not doing that again, nope.”

“Can you still feel them?” Riku asks with a curious glimmer in his eyes, absentmindedly running his thumb over his new claws.

“I guess? I mean, when I try to walk, I do feel like I’m taking an actual step, having my feet push against the ground and all, but it’s really… muted?”

“That’s so cool,” Sora breathes out in quiet wonder. “Oh, hey-- did I ever tell you guys that Donald’s mummy form was, like, hollow on the inside? He was all covered in bandages, right, but there was this one spot around his belly that didn’t have any, and when he tried poking it to see what would happen his hand just went right in!”

His best friends are staring at him in a mix of shock, fascination and disgust by the end of his little rant, their mouths working soundlessly as they try to process this information.

“His hand went… inside???” Kairi asks with a picture-perfect expression of befuddlement.

“Yep!” Sora replies, grinning widely, then pouts. “I really wanted to try doing it too, but he wouldn’t let me.”

“Can you really blame him for that?” Riku huffs, knocking on Sora’s head with his knuckles. “I sure as hell wouldn’t want someone just… sticking their hand inside my belly, whether it’s because of magic or not.”

Sora pouts harder. “Well, I guess you have a point…”

Kairi magnanimously changes the subject: “Hey Sora, how does that mask of yours work?” she asks, reaching out as if to touch it before retracting her hand at the last second. “Isn’t it kinda difficult to walk around using only one eye?”

“Oh, uh,” Sora frowns, scratching his cheek pensively. “Not really? I mean, I don’t feel like I’m seeing out of only one eye, and I definitely never had any sight-related troubles during battle here in Halloween Town, so… Probably just another quirk of the magic, I guess?”

“That’s very convenient,” Riku smiles, tapping the mask with a claw a couple of times, then tracing the cheek beneath it with his thumb. “It looks nice.”

Sora beams. “So do you!”

Kairi doesn’t even attempt to hide her giggle, watching them with overflowing affection. “You guys are such saps, you’re going to give me cavities!” she protests, laughing again when Sora sends her a cheeky kiss and turning her cheek towards him to receive it with a wink.

“Don’t worry, you know we love you too,” Sora grins.

“You better!” Kairi nods haughtily, crossing her arms to complete the picture. “Still, I agree-- you do look pretty good like this, Riku.”

Sora gives his boyfriend another once-over, reaching out to trace the handful of ripped patches on Riku’s clothes, grinning when the other instinctively shies away from the feeling of Sora’s sharp nails touching his bare skin. There’s a bit of fur along the back of his arms to go with the solid-black claws and his hair looks messier than usual, but the biggest difference between this Riku and the real one remains, indisputably, the silvery ears and tail.

God, Sora wants to pat them until his boyfriend has just about melted from it.

Riku lets out a bashful chuckle in response to Kairi’s compliment. Even after years of easily being the most attractive person in the room, he still falters momentarily whenever someone comments positively on his appearance -- especially if said praise is coming from an actual friend.

“Thanks, Kai,” Riku says with a half-smile, rubbing his slightly pink cheek absentmindedly.

“Of course he looks great, he’s Riku!” Sora proclaims proudly, lacing his arms around his boyfriend’s waist and grinning up irreverently at him. Riku lets out another chuckle as his blush intensifies, reaching down to gently tug on Sora’s skin.

“And of course you’d say that,” he remarks teasingly, poking Sora’s chin delicately.

“Doesn’t mean that I’m wrong!” Sora huffs, feeling slightly offended over the perceived implication that he’d dole out compliments he doesn’t mean only because Riku is his boyfriend.

“I know, I know,” Riku laughs, patting his head in a placating gesture that Sora nevertheless decides to lean into.

“Cavities,” Kairi mutters under her breath, but the silence around them allows Sora and RIku to catch it anyway, prompting a fresh wave of chuckles.

All this laughing allows Sora to get a glimpse of something that immediately perks his interest, though, prompting him to tug on the back of Riku’s shirt to get his attention.

“Do you have fangs too?” he asks once Riku is smiling down at him again, lifting himself to the tip of his toes to get a better glimpse at the inside of Riku’s mouth.

“Uh, yes?” his boyfriend replies, visibly running a tongue over them. “Not as visible as yours--” he wryly pokes said fang-- “but I do, yeah.”

This new knowledge sets alight a burning curiosity in Sora’s brain. Offering no explanation whatsoever, he starts to pull Riku back into the gummi ship, ignoring his inquisitive expression and Kairi’s knowing gaze.

“If you’ll give us a sec, Kairi, we’ll be right back,” he says as an afterthought, already halfway up the ramp. Though he currently can’t find it within himself to take his eyes away from Riku, he would be willing to bet all his considerable savings that Kairi is rolling her eyes right about now.

“You better, or else I’ll Waterga you both again!” she exclaims just as the two of them leave her line of sight. Sora can hear an undercurrent of fondness in her voice despite knowing that her threat is very, very real and definitely not to be taken lightly.

“What is it?” Riku asks with a reflexive half-smirk, snickering softly as Sora pulls him towards an alcove just to the side of the gummi ship’s ramp.

“I wanna know if kissing with fangs is any different from the usual,” Sora explains quietly, making himself comfortable against the wall as he laces his arms around Riku’s neck, using this position to gently pull Riku’s head closer to his own.

Riku huffs out a laugh just before their lips meet, his warm breath fanning across Sora’s face in a way that has him shivering happily. They take it slow at first, making sure that these pointy additions to their mouths won’t be an outright hindrance, then deepen it upon discovering a way to work around them.

Sora shudders when Riku swipes his tongue over one of Sora’s fangs, then lets out something embarrassingly close to a whine when Riku bites his lower lip at the end of their kiss, blinking dazedly at Riku’s smug expression.

“You really like it, huh?” Riku asks with a breathy chuckle, cupping Sora’s cheek with one hand and keeping the other against the wall for support.

“It feels nice,” Sora mumbles, leaning in for another long, deep kiss in which Riku takes full advantage of this new-found knowledge in order to leave him utterly boneless.

A handful of kisses along the line of his jaw and the column of his neck has Sora making little high-pitched noises that Riku eats right up, pressing even closer to nip at the skin just above Sora’s pulse, only to laugh when he squirms in response.

“We’ve probably taken too long already,” Riku whispers into the space their breaths share after the next batch of kisses, having successfully deescalated things between them despite Sora’s efforts to the contrary. “I don’t want to find out what a Waterga would do to the gummi ship,” he laughs, leaning his forehead against Sora’s to the best of his ability, given that the mask gets in the way.

“Mm, me neither,” Sora sighs, unable to keep himself from pouting at the idea of breaking such a perfect moment.

As if summoned, Kairi’s voice drifts in from the outside of the gummi ship, in a deceptively cheery tone: “Bo~oys,” she singsongs, making a shiver of fear go down both of their spines. “This is my one and only warning; if you’re not back here in two minutes tops, you’re getting drenched~”

“Told you,” Riku smirks.

Sora sighs again, letting his hands fall to Riku’s shoulders. He taps them twice as a warning to turn his head away, then pitches his voice loud enough for Kairi to hear: “We’re coming, Your Highness!”

“106 seconds!” she calls back -- Sora can picture her tapping the imaginary watch on her wrist as clear as day.

“Right, then,” Riku grins, stepping back to allow Sora to make his way out of their chosen alcove. “Ready to officially start our visit at last?” he says, extending a hand towards his boyfriend.

The thought of getting to see Jack, Sally, and the others again -- as well as of being able to show his two best friends all the weird nook and crannies he found around town in his previous visits to this world -- has Sora’s spirits soaring high once more, leading him to deposit his hand in Riku’s with a beaming grin. “Absolutely!”

They close the ramp on their way out, if only to prevent any mischievous inhabitants from wreaking havoc to it in their absence. Given that they had landed a good handful of minutes away from the edge of the settlement, Sora doesn’t think that there’s any real chance of someone coming across it by accident, but remembering the kinds of trouble Lock, Shock, and Barrel were prone to getting into makes Sora want to be cautious, just in case.

On their way to the Guillotine Square, Sora tells Riku and Kairi a few more tales about the curious beings they’re about to meet. His two best friends graciously listen to him prattle on, even though he’s pretty sure they’ve heard it all before. But honestly, with as many friends and stories as he has, Sora rather thinks he can be excused for forgetting which stories he’s told to which friends over the years.

Kairi takes two seconds to stare dubiously at the creaky iron gates that lead towards the square when they reach it, narrowing her eyes when they open out of their own volition once the three of them get close enough. Sora can’t help but snort at her expression, remembering the many times Donald, Goofy and himself had almost gotten hurt when said gates decided to snap shut violently while they were passing through it.

“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about it closing on you, Kai,” he grins teasingly, laughing when she frowns at him in askance for half a beat before realizing what he’s referring to.

“Would you want to put that theory to the test if you were the ghost here?” she raises an eyebrow, smirking victoriously when he hums consideringly in response.

“Yeah, you do have a point.”

The gates close with a bang right then, startling all three of them. Such a reaction is quickly followed by a mixture of snorts and chuckles at the ridiculousness of the situation -- three Keyblade wielders, jumping because of an old iron gate after fighting countless Heartless and Nobodies without breaking a sweat.

“I get it, gate, we’ll stop loitering!” Sora says with a wide grin, smiling wider at the sound of his best friends’ fresh bout of laughter. “In we go!” he proudly announces as he pushes the gate open, which creaks shut once they’ve all gone through. Sora wastes no time before spinning on his heels to face Riku and Kairi, gesturing grandly at the empty plaza and the strange, dark buildings all around them. “Welcome to Halloween Town!”

“Trick or treat!” a kid that definitely had not been there half a second ago cries out right next to Sora’s leg, making him leap about a foot in the air with an ungainly squeak.

“Woah!” Sora exclaims, shifting closer to Riku and Kairi without noticing as the three of them stare at this sudden arrival.

The kid -- a spindly thing with way too long limbs -- visibly preens, looking quite pleased with himself for having successfully scared Sora.

“Trick or treat!” he repeats after a few more seconds of silence, starting to frown in response to how they continue to simply stare at him.

“Oh! Uh, I’m sorry, we don’t have any candy?” Sora attempts, bracing himself for whatever trick this kid might have up his sleeve.

“Hmmm,” the kid frowns harder, “well, you were really easy to scare, so I’ll let you off the hook just this once!” he declares with great emphasis, narrowing his eyes at them.

“Yes sir,” Riku responds automatically; Kairi and Sora nod hastily as well, only relaxing when the kid happily skips away.

“Sora, is that you?” a familiar voice calls out, causing Sora to grin instantaneously.

“Sally!”

The patchwork woman ambles over to them sedately, casting a curious gaze towards Riku and Kairi before focusing on Sora once more. “It’s been a long time. Are these your friends?”

“Yeah, they’re Riku and Kairi!” Sora replies excitedly, reaching out to lace his arms with both of theirs and forgetting about Kairi’s current state until his hand goes right through her elbow. “Oh, sorry.”

Kairi rubs the area with a strange expression for a split second, but quickly goes back to smiling. “It’s okay,” she waves his apology off. “Won’t you finish introducing us?”

“Right-- this is Sally!” he presents with a small flourish, watching as the three of them exchange nods and waves. “So, Sally, how have things been around here?”

“They’ve been alright,” she smiles demurely, “though, with Halloween growing closer, they’re starting to get a bit more hectic.”

“I trust that you’ve been keeping Jack in line?” he grins, pleased to see her hide a chuckle behind her hand.

“I’ve been doing my best,” she concedes with a tilt of her head, still sporting a small smile. “I think that what happened last time really made an impression on him; his ideas for this Halloween haven’t been nearly as crazy as last year’s.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Sora nods.

“So, are you here just to visit?” Sally asks next.

“Yeah! I really wanted to show them around, if that’s okay?”

“Of course,” she replies, then frowns thoughtfully. “Though, if you’re going to be walking around, you’d best acquire some candy to hand out -- the kids are all practicing their tricks, and as newcomers, you’ll have dozens of them jumping at you.”

“Yeah, I kinda got that impression,” Kairi laughs.

“I think I have some back home, or I could show you guys the way to the shop?”

Sora exchanges looks with his best friends, then turns back to Sally. “The shop, please,” he responds, falling into step with her once she starts walking before a thought occurs to him. “Hey, do you think they’ll have anything that Kairi could eat?”

Sally glances at Kairi for a moment to gauge what he means, nodding shortly after. “But of course! Ghosts are quite common here, after all.”

“Nice!”

They part ways with Sally upon reaching the entrance to the candy store -- the one spot of bright color amidst all the muted darks that surround them from all sides --, citing some project or another that she needs to finish at Jack’s request. After a promise to visit her later, the three of them wave her off, proceeding to enter the shop.

A dozen children turn their heads in unison to stare at them at the hollow sound of the bell above the doorway; Sora can’t help but falter for half a second, drawing curious looks from his best friends before they, too, notice the children watching them with hawk-like focus.

“Oookay,” Kairi whispers to Sora’s left, “remember to not show any weakness,” she continues wryly, only loud enough for her two boys to hear.

“I think it’s too late for that already,” Riku whispers back, laying a hand on Sora’s mid-back to guide him forward. “Come on, let’s find what we came for.”

The balloon-like man behind the counter studies them for a long few seconds upon noticing them approaching his station. Sora’s about to open his mouth to break the charged silence when one of the man’s arms stretches like a rubber band, reaching out to slap the hand of a nearby child without even looking their way.

“No stealing in my store,” he says in a surprisingly deep voice, completely ignoring the child’s ensuing protests and excuses. “What type of candy are the three of you looking for?” he asks next, studying each of them in turn.

“Uh, could you point us to candies for ghosts?” Sora scratches his cheek, only remembering his claws after almost cutting himself. “And maybe whatever’s most popular around here?”

“The current top hits are right here--” he points to their immediate left-- “while the ghost candy is in the second aisle to the left, near the spider treats.”

“Thank you,” Riku responds with all the politeness that Mama Hoshi had ingrained in him, starting to lead the way towards the aisle in question before the man’s voice stops them short.

“I trust that I won’t need to warn you three about stealing?”

“No sir,” Kairi replies immediately, straightening her posture on autopilot.

“Good.”

Sora waits until they’ve reached the ghost candy to let out a low whistle that has both Riku and Kairi nodding in agreement with the sentiment.

“Alright, time to find candy!” he says after shaking himself slightly, grabbing the closest bag with his usual grin.

They spend a good five minutes discussing the merits of different flavors and whether or not the ghost candy would taste like anything for non-ghosts. If Sora or Riku tried to eat one, would it just fall through their hand? Fall through their body??

Kairi ends up deciding on a mixed bag, arguing that they can just leave the flavors she doesn’t like with Sally before they go back home. After that, they walk through every single aisle in a semi-systematic manner, with Sora wondering in a whisper if the candy would taste the same outside of Halloween Town. Seeing as they have more than enough munny to spare between all three of them, Riku suggests they buy a few extra bags for the rest of their friends to test this idea.

Sora laughs heartily at how Riku’s nose wrinkles in displeasure when Kairi wonders out loud if they should let him have any chocolate, wheezing as Kairi continues to poke fun at Riku’s current werewolf status until he’s forced to sit on the floor to catch his breath.

Riku’s tail whacks him right on his face when he dares to lean against his boyfriend’s leg, causing him to sputter and tickle the back of Riku’s knee in retaliation. Though he tries to scoot away, he is sadly unable to escape Riku’s mean knuckles on his scalp -- both of them pretending to not hear Kairi’s mock-exasperated sigh.

The shop owner raises a thin eyebrow at them when Sora drops half a dozen bags of candy on the counter, with Riku and Kairi laying down a couple each as well.

“Will you be able to pay for all that?” he asks somewhat dubiously, stretching his arm to slap another child’s hand while Sora grins.

“Of course!” he replies proudly, keeping his grin as the balloon man starts to ring their purchases. He remembers the candy for the local kids on the very last second, quickly judging that a singular large bag should be enough for the rest of their trip and setting it on the counter as well.

Riku grabs half of the plastic bags while Sora forks over the required munny. Sora sees him glance at the nearby kids for half a second before tightening his hold on them, making both of his two best friends struggle to muffle their laughter -- though, of course, Sora wouldn’t put it past those kids to run off with their sizeable purchases if they’re not careful.

“Should we ask Sally to hold onto some of this for us?” Kairi inquires once they’ve exited the shop, hugging her one bag of ghost candy as if it were a plushie. “It’s too much for us to be carrying around.”

“Nah, we’ll just shove it into our magical pockets,” Sora shrugs playfully, laughing at Kairi’s huff.

“Sora, I love you, but I swear to god I have no idea how you manage to keep storing the weirdest things in your pockets without anything exploding,” she shakes her head.

“Don’t ask,” Riku half-smirks, accepting the smaller bags that Sora had been holding as he begins the careful process of squeezing the brunt of their purchases through the smaller-than-usual pocket openings of his Halloween Town costume.

It takes a few minutes to get them all inside the bottomless pockets without anything spilling, but Sora might as well be a pro at it by this point, so it’s barely any trouble. Kairi chooses to keep her bag out for the time being, carefully prying it open to pop a candy into her mouth. Sora and Riku store theirs last, thus leaving it within easy reach -- with the one for local kids staying in Riku’s pocket instead.

“Where to next?” Riku asks when they arrive back at the square, smiling fondly as Sora studies their surroundings with a considerning frown.

“How about… the Curly Hill first, then the place where Oogie Boogie’s manor used to be, and then if we haven’t found Jack yet, we can look for him to say hello?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Kairi smiles.

“Alright, let’s go!” Sora exclaims, leading the way to the cemetery without sparing a glance to make sure his best friends are following him. “Oh yeah! Be careful with the big gravestones, they like falling on you if you get too close.”

“Murderous gravestones, got it,” Kairi says, exchanging a grin with Sora when he looks her way.

“Figures that’d be the case,” Riku comments.

“Halloween Town residents, scaring people even from beyond the grave!” Sora boldly proclaims, sharing a few snickers with his friends right after.

“I swear I saw that coming, somehow,” Kairi shakes her head amusedly.

Riku winces when a towering gravestone crashes down with a loud boom right next to him, reaching up to rub one of his ears while Sora nods in understanding.

“They just gotta go out with a bang, I guess,” he muses, walking closer to give Riku’s dog ears some attention as well and smiling when his boyfriend leans into the touch yet again.

“Gotta make it a statement,” Kairi snorts, eyeing the one nearest to her with a hint of suspicion, despite it not having budged once -- maybe because of her status as a ghost? That would be an interesting side-effect. “Anyway, how far is the hill you told us about?”

“Oh, not far at all! It’s just through that gate,” Sora replies, pointing at it. “Oogie’s manor is a few minutes of walking from it, but that’s it.”

“What are we waiting for, then?” Riku asks, gently prying Sora’s hand away from his ear with a fond smile to get the three of them moving again.

“Right,” Sora nods.

He pushes the gate to the Curly Hill open with an overexuberance that has Kairi stifling a giggle, waiting until the other two have crossed it as well before allowing it to fall shut with a long groan of squeaky hinges. There’s not much to look at in the area -- just a dozen or so tombstones dotting the surroundings of the weirdly-shaped hill -- but Sora gestures at it all with a sweeping flourish all the same, imitating the tour guides they’d always seen in movies.

“And here we are! The Curly Hill, as promised,” he declares, looking around to see if he spot any possible changes. “Kind of a boring place, sure, but the hill is fun to look at, right?”

“Yeah, it’s weird,” Kairi half-smiles curiously, walking forward to study it more closely. “I wonder if it could have happened naturally, or if someone made it be like this instead.”

“Who knows,” Sora shrugs. “Other worlds can be super weird, so I wouldn’t be surprised either way.”

“What now?” Riku inquires, cocking his head. “I think you told me there’s something you can mess with to uncurl it, is that right?”

“Yep! Lemme just-- find it,” Sora replies, biting his lip as he does a circuit around the hill to remember where the little stone in question is.

A splash of white in his peripheral vision has him stopping on his tracks. When he turns around to see what it is, his mouth drops open upon realizing that it’s not a Heartless -- which would be a totally valid idea, given the world they’re in -- but instead a walking bathtub.

It takes him a half second to figure out where he knows it from: it used to walk around Oggie’s manor back when it still existed, ready to take him, Donald, and Goofy back to the bridge if they accidentally fell; moreover, he’s pretty sure he’s seen Lock, Shock, and Barrel going around on it a couple times as well.

A terrible idea hits him like lightning. Riku and Kairi immediately share suspicious frowns when Sora turns to them with a maniacal grin firmly in place, but he’s too caught up in his own terrible, terrible stroke of genius to mind.

“Guys,” he starts in a stage whisper, adding a touch of urgency to his tone just for effect. “We have to get in the bathtub,” he declares with as much seriousness as he can manage -- which, at the moment, might as well be none.

“...Why?” Kairi narrows her eyes, leaning away on instinct.

“We just have to!” Sora insists, grabbing hold of Riku’s wrist before his boyfriend can snatch it out of his reach in a desperate attempt at self-preservation.

“Sora, I don’t like where this is going,” Riku tells him in a warning tone, digging in his heels to make Sora’s endeavor of dragging him forward as difficult as humanly possible.

“C’mon, it won’t be that bad!”

“What won’t be that bad???” Kairi huffs, remaining stubbornly rooted in place.

“Just get in!! Me, Donald and Goofy rode it a lot, it’ll be fine!”

The bathtub stops obediently once they get close enough to it, lowering itself slightly onto its clawed feet to retain its stability while they get inside. Sora tries to push Riku into entering it, but his boyfriend remains as immovable as a brick wall, heaving a great sigh in response to Sora’s pout.

“Sora, the three of us will never fit in there together,” Riku says, trying to appeal to Sora’s rational side despite being exhaustingly aware of how hard-headed Sora can be when he wants to.

“We’ll figure something out,” Sora says, waving a hand dismissively. “You’re the tallest one, so get in first,” he urges, tapping a staccato rhythm on Riku’s chest until his boyfriend finally complies -- with a very long groan of displeasure, of course.

Sora wastes no time in climbing in after him, scooting backwards until his back is pressed flush to Riku’s front. In fact, he’s so happy over having been able to convince Riku that he doesn’t protest when his boyfriend lays his chin against Sora’s head; he’ll indulge in one of Riku’s favorite ways of flaunting his greater height in exchange for begrudging compliance with Sora’s crazy ideas.

Sora turns to Kairi next, grinning as she huffs in exasperation under the weight of his obviously expectant gaze. They both know she’s already lost -- whenever any two of them agree on something, it’s basically impossible for the third one to stay out of it -- but she makes her disapproval crystal clear, dragging her metaphorical feet for the entirety of the short walk to the bathtub.

Riku was right, unsurprisingly: it is exceedingly difficult to have all three of them fully inside the bathtub, even when considering the fact that they stopped minding being cramped together like this ages ago. They could technically cheat a little, what with Kairi currently being a non-physical entity, but Sora remembers how uncomfortable she’d looked when a kid accidentally went through her leg at the candy store, so he’d rather give her some space.

As a direct result of that, he ends up invading more of Riku’s personal bubble, leading to a few muttered protests and a yelp of pain when Riku’s tail gets jabbed against the porcelain particularly harshly. In fact, they’re so caught up in this awkward dance of theirs that they fail to notice the bathtub starting to move, only doing so when it begins to jostle them around during its crossing of the unfurled Curly Hill.

“Sora, I hate you!” Kairi exclaims after a sharp lurch, staring down at her hand in intense concentration for a few seconds just so she can slap his arm with it.

“This thing is so slow!” Riku groans, clinging to the edge of the tub like his life depends on it.

All that Sora can do in response to their -- completely valid -- complaints is cackle delightedly, half-heartedly batting their hands away when they begin to pinch him in retaliation.

Another hard jolt has Kairi almost losing her bag of ghostly candy, prompting her to hold it more securely against her chest. A little under two minutes into what will probably be at least a fifteen minutes ride, Riku decides he’s had enough of being squished on all sides and hauls himself up to sit at the edge, pressing his knees to each side of the tub to keep himself from tipping in either direction.

Sora moves in to occupy the space Riku has left empty, giving Kairi some actual breathing room in the process. Riku huffs exasperatedly when Sora leans against his thigh with a mischievous grin, looking probably all too satisfied with himself and the situation he’s managed to land the three of them in. Although Riku tries to hide it by turning his head away, Sora still catches the glimpse of a small, fond smile on his lips; proof of how familiar Sora’s antics are at this point.

Seeing Kairi delicately unwrap a candy reminds Sora of the incredibly precious loot stored in his magical pockets, prompting him to take out his and Riku’s bags of assorted candy. A quick glance towards Riku’s white-knuckled grip on the edge of the tub makes him grin mischievously again, and he snorts at the exaggerated eye roll he gets when he reaches up to hand feed his boyfriend a candy.

Which doesn’t mean that Riku refuses it, obviously; it’s all part of their song and dance.

“Right in front of my candy??” Kairi drawls in a teasing tone, with what appears to be five or so sticky candies inside her mouth. Sora pretends to kick the area where her leg would be, relishing in the sound of her laughter.

“You knew what you were signing up for!” he huffs exaggeratedly, blowing a raspberry in her direction. “That’s what you get for traveling with a couple,” he adds, snorting at how she curls her lip in faked distaste.

“It’s not my fault that my two best friends had the grand idea to get together!” she argues, crossing her arms petulantly. “What else was I supposed to do!?”

Riku chuckles heartily at her pout, shifting just enough to be able to sink his hand into Sora’s hair. “She’s got a point and you know it, Sora,” he points out in a teasing tone, gently scratching the base of Sora’s skull with a claw in order to make him extra agreeable.

Sora still puts on a show of being displeased about it -- pouting and scowling and huffing -- but he lets go of their mock-argument, leaning into Riku’s touch until both of his best friends laugh at the shameless request for more affection.

There has never been any issues between the three of them regarding him and Riku dating, of course, but it’s fun to squabble about it every now and then. Roxas, especially, likes to make gagging noises whenever he sees them kiss. It always leads into him laughing boisterously as he runs off with Sora hot on his heels to give him a good noogie while everyone else watches on in amusement.

God, they have such good friends-- Sora wouldn’t exchange them for the world, even though he seriously wants to whack some of them with his keyblades at times.

He keeps his eyes closed for the rest of the ride, resting his head against his boyfriend’s leg and tilting the bag he’s holding upwards whenever Riku taps his shoulder to ask for another candy.. Like this, he can even pretend that they’re back home, maybe going to the Play Island in one of their boats. Going around in a bathtub is way bumpier than doing so in a boat, sure, and the ever-present sound of the waves is very obviously missing, but those are all things that Sora’s brain can fill in on its own with no problem.

He’s so caught up in his little fantasy that he startles when they come to a stop, earning himself a snort from Kairi for it.

“Can we get out now?” Riku asks in a tired voice, prompting Sora to direct his gaze to their surroundings.

Sora nods. “Yeah, we’re here,” with here being just beyond the gate that marked the edge of Oogie’s territory.

Riku jumps away with a grateful sigh, reaching down to rub the sides of his knees with a slight wince as Sora laughs softly at his predicament. Kairi is quick to climb out once given go-ahead as well; Sora, meanwhile, takes his time with standing up and stepping out, patting the edge of the tub affectionately once he’s done.

The tub wobbles with uncertainty once it’s empty, but after a few seconds it goes off on its merry way, probably back to the Curly Hill or to wherever Lock, Shock and Barrel are at the moment. Sora watches it leave with a neutral expression -- he’s already gotten his wish of riding the bathtub with his two best friends, so he doesn’t mind walking back once they’ve had enough of exploring.

Standing there next to the broken bridge, Sora once again wishes he had more than just words to describe how the manor used to be like; no amount of emphasis or gesturing can encompass just how strange it had been in all its patchwork glory -- with its differently styled doors, stairs that led nowhere and little strangely shaped niches Sora had scrutinized excessively in his never-ending quest for treasure chests.

Now, all that remains is an eerily empty pit. The manor had completely disappeared after Sora found and destroyed all the dark blobs during his second fight against Oogie, years and years ago; not even a single piece of debris had stayed behind to hint at what once used to stand there.

“It definitely feels like something’s missing,” Kairi comments, peering over the edge of the wooden bridge’s remnants. “It’s kinda creepy.”

“Everything in this world is creepy,” Riku snorts beside her, absentmindedly picking at the holes in his jeans as he studies the area around them.

Kairi snorts as well. “You absolutely have a point there,” she admits. The wind -- stronger than usual due to them being so high up -- whips her hair and nightgown around, but she doesn’t seem to care. “Are we going down there?”

“I mean, if you guys don’t mind,” Sora shrugs. “There’s nothing really worth mentioning there, but we could still take a look around.”

“Well, you go first, then,” Kairi grins, earning herself a chuckle from Riku and a pout from Sora.

“Fine,” Sora replies with mock annoyance, leaping off the edge and summoning a touch of magic to help him control his descent.

He’s done similar jumps countless times during his travels -- some of them from much, much higher than this -- but falling never stops being downright exhilarating. There’s something about the wind roaring all around him; the single-minded focus needed to make sure he hits the ground just right; the satisfaction of being able to finish the jump with a tidy little roll to dissipate his excess momentum; something that never fails to leave him positively giddy.

Riku shares a knowing smile with him once he lands nearby. Sora doesn’t even try to resist the urge to walk closer and intertwine their hands, laughing quietly at the state of his boyfriend’s hair. Kairi makes the expected noise of childish disgust at the sight, but she’s grinning as she does it, which takes away any bite the sound could have had.

Sora most certainly appreciates how warm Riku’s hand is in his, but there’s a consequence to this situation that he had failed to foresee: their joined hands provide Riku with an easy way to stop him from doing stupid things, such as poking around debris without considering what might or might not be lying in wait under it. A sharp tug and a raised eyebrow is all it takes to stop Sora on his tracks, and no amount of pouting will change Riku’s mind.

They’re in the middle of one of those silent arguments when Kairi lets out a wordless noise of alarm, drawing both of their gazes to her in an instant.

“Looks like we’ve got some Heartless incoming,” she tells them, tilting her chin towards the area where a handful of Shadows and Search Ghosts have spawned in as she falls into a battle-ready stance.

“Can’t really say I’m surprised we came across Heartless here of all places,” Riku shakes his head, summoning Braveheart to his hand just as Sora summons the Kingdom Key to his own.

“I mean, it makes sense that there’d be some darkness lingering around here, right? This was Oogie Boogie’s lair after all,” Sora shrugs.

“Well then, let’s see how this whole ghost thing will impact me in a fight,” Kairi mutters. Destiny’s Embrace doesn’t look any different when she summons it -- no transparency or anything of the sort -- and when she runs up to a Shadow to slash at it, the hit seems to connect just fine, thankfully.

It’s laughably easy to dispose of the few opportunistic Heartless, but Sora is definitely not going to complain about that. The three of them stand in a defensive formation for a handful of seconds after the last Search Ghost turns into mist, just in case anything else decides to try to surprise them, but their surroundings remain quiet and still, so they dematerialize their keyblades one by one.

“I highly doubt that it’d happen, but can you guys imagine how funny it would have been if a Shadow went to attack me and it just passed right through my arm or something?” Kairi wonders, huffing out a short laugh.

“It would have been pretty funny, yeah,” Sora grins.

“I’ll be happy if we don’t have to find out how that would go,” Riku says, giving the area one last scrutinizing once-over before finally turning to face Sora. “Anything else you want to see around here?”

“Nah, we can go back now. It’s boring in here anyway.”

Kairi groans loudly. “So~ora, don’t you dare tell me that we jumped all the way over here just for us to have to climb back up afterwards!”

“No, we just follow the stream until we end up at the bridge again!” Sora replies hurriedly, pointing at where said stream disappears into an opening in the surrounding rock.

She squints suspiciously at him. “Are you even sure there’s still a way through? You haven’t visited this world in over a year, right?”

“I mean, there should be,” Sora frowns.

Riku shrugs. “Only one way to find out.”

It’s not until they’re standing at the entrance to the tunnel that Sora remembers how dark it is. Donald’s staff had barely been able to light their way back then, and Sora doubts that their keyblades could act as reliable light sources -- though it’s something he’ll have to ask Aqua about, the next time he sees her.

He turns to his two best friends, opening his mouth to give voice to this issue, but is stops short at the sight of Riku summoning a little fireball to float over his open hand -- Aqua did teach them how to do that a few weeks back, how could he have forgotten!

The fireball that Riku creates is different, however. Although they’ve all been receiving lessons from Aqua, some of Riku’s magic is still inherently rooted in darkness; as such, the result of his spell is a ball of dark fire, casting an eerie purple glow over their surroundings instead of the usual warm reds and oranges.

Sora can’t help but smile at the truly adorable crease between Riku’s eyebrows as he tries to transform the dark fireball into a normal one, to no avail. The most it does is turn slightly blue, and only when Riku narrows his eyes particularly hard at it; otherwise, it remains stubbornly purple, brushing itself against the pads of Riku’s fingers in a manner that could be considered affectionate.

“It’s okay,” he says at last, taking hold of Riku’s wrist and bringing it down just enough to be able to press a kiss to one of his boyfriend’s knuckles, his smile growing wider when he notices the flame attempting to float closer to his face. “Kairi and I can handle the lighting just fine-- you can have Braveheart out just in case any Heartless tries to attack us.”

“Has there ever been any Heartless in there?” Kairi asks, graciously allowing Sora and Riku to have their little moment without any teasing.

“No, never, but it’s best to be prepared, right?” Sora replies, fondly caressing the fireball with a gloved finger before it winks out of existence.

“You don’t have to throw my words back at me,” Riku huffs amusedly -- he is, after all, the one usually pushing Sora into being more cautious, not the other way around. “I know it’s alright, it’s just… a little frustrating sometimes,” he continues in a lower voice, curling his hand into a loose fist.

“Dark Firaga is one of your strongest spells,” Sora points out, pressing another kiss to Riku’s fingers. “Of course the normal fire spells wouldn’t stand a chance against it,” he laughs quietly, pleased to see Riku’s lips curling up in response.

“I guess you’re right,” he says, brushing his thumb over Sora’s cheekbone in a way that has Sora feeling all warm and fuzzy.

“I’m always right,” Sora declares pompously, unwilling to let such a chance pass him by. His rewards are a chuckle from Riku and a muted snort from Kairi further away -- what else could he ask for, really? He smiles and shrugs slightly in response to Riku’s silent thanks, slowly letting go of his boyfriend’s wrist to turn back to Kairi.

He lets out a little ‘ooh’ of wonder when he notices the flame Kairi had summoned while he and Riku were otherwise distracted dancing merrily over her cupped hands. It could be just his imagination, but Sora swears that the fire is tinged a little pink around the edges; then again, that wouldn’t truly be a surprise, considering how often magic tends to take after its caster.

“It looks good,” he tells her. She turns her soft grin towards him for a moment, then back to her spell as it does a jig over her thumbs, causing her to giggle under her breath.

It’s easy enough to conjure up his own small flame after so many years under Donald’s strict magical tutelage, though he does take extra care to follow Aqua’s instructions as he concentrates, lest he ends up summoning an attack fireball rather than a lighting one.

The spell hovers over each of his clawed, gloved fingers in turn -- as if inspecting them -- before slowly testing its boundaries, trying to find how far it can go before it starts to flicker out. Riku watches this entire process with a soft smile, reaching out to return the caress Sora had given to his own flame.

“Ready to go?” Kairi asks them, straightening her posture.

“I’ll go first, you bring up the rear?” Sora suggests, taking the first step into the darkness upon receiving nods of assent from both Riku and Kairi.

There’s nothing they can really say while traversing the tunnel, so they remain silent for the most part -- only Sora speaks up every now and then to warn them of any obstacles or bumps in the way that he remembers as they go. They pause upon reaching a larger waterway, with Kairi coaxing her flame into growing in brightness to allow them to study their surroundings with a little scrutiny.

“Do you know where all of those other entrances lead to?” Riku asks him in an undertone, tilting his head in the direction of said openings in the rock.

Sora counts five and commits the number to memory. Back when he was travelling with Donald and Goofy, they weren’t able to illuminate the whole area like this; maybe he can take the time to explore them fully in a future visit, to see what sorts of interesting things are hiding in those paths.

“Nope! We just went for the first one--” Sora points to the entrance closest to them--”and found out that it leads straight to the bridge, so we didn’t bother with looking into the other ones.”

Kairi wrinkles her nose delicately, staring at the burbling water a few paces away. “Are you sure we aren’t in the sewers right now? I mean, the stuff from the manor had to go somewhere, right?”

“It doesn’t smell like sewage, though,” Riku remarks off-handedly, scratching the side of his nose with the hand that isn’t holding Braveheart. “Water looks pretty clear, too.”

“I don’t know, I’m not here to ask questions,” Sora shrugs, laughing at Kairi’s aggravated huff over his nonchalance. “But anyway, let’s keep going,” he says, making sure to splash plenty of water around as he steps out of the little side platform and back into the stream. “We’ll be there in no time at all.”

True to his words, they’re back at the waterway under the bridge not even three minutes later, though not without stumbling a bit on the darkened steps leading up. Sora lets his fireball fizzle out with a wide grin, gesturing at their surroundings with a fair amount of self-satisfaction.

“Ta-da!” he exclaims proudly, lacing his hands behind his head. “That was easy, wasn't it?”

“If only all your shortcuts were this simple,” Riku remarks as he sends Braveheart away, getting a snort of agreement from Kairi and a pout from Sora. “We’d doubt you much less, then,” he continues, dropping a kiss to Sora’s exposed temple that does nothing to lessen his pout.

“I’ll let you guys take the long way back the next time, if that’s how you’re going to be!” Sora huffs, turning away to hide his automatic smile at the sound of his best friends’ laughter. “A-ny-way, if we keep following this stream, we’ll eventually get to the Guillotine Square again,” he tells them, pointing towards the other opening in the rock further ahead.

Kairi heaves a great sigh, putting her hands on her hips to become the textbook picture of exasperation. “Well, why didn’t you say we’d be going back into the darkness before I sent my fireball away!?”

“Oh, uh,” Sora laughs awkwardly, scratching his cheek with a claw. “Oops?”

Kairi shakes her head at his response, cupping her hands once again and probably muttering something unflattering about Sora as she recasts her spell. Sora quietly follows suit, recalling his own curious little fireball; upon confirming that Riku and Kairi are both ready to continue, he trudges onward, letting muscle memory lead the way to the square.

A dozen or so minutes of splashing around in the echoing tunnels later, they finally reach the square once more. Riku is kind enough to lift the grate overhead to grant them passage after watching Sora struggle to reach it for a couple seconds, hauling himself out of the waterway before turning back to give Sora and Kairi a hand.

Not that they need it, of course; at this point, lacing magic into their jumps to reach higher altitudes is as easy as breathing, but it’s fun to do things the so-called “boring” way every so often. There’s a split second of hesitation when they all remember Kairi’s current intangibility, but rather than sighing and calling upon her magic, she takes it as a challenge, frowning at herself until her arms are solid enough for Riku to pull her out as well.

“I thought we’d get some weird looks for what we just did, but no such thing, huh?” Kairi asks Sora under her breath once the grate has been put back on its place.

She quietly pulls her bag of candy out of a pocket Sora hadn’t even realized existed; he can’t help but snort at the sight, shaking his head minutely in response to her raised eyebrow.

“If they aren’t completely unflappable, they’re pretty darn close to it,” Sora replies in a whisper.

“Close enough for it to be impossible to tell, I bet,” Riku adds, wiping the grime from the grate onto the sides of his pants.

“Something like that,” Sora nods.

Kairi clears her throat. “Well, Sora, where to next? Are you gonna lead us into any other weird tunnels or have we had enough for one day?” she asks teasingly, popping a candy into her mouth just as she finishes speaking.

Sora sticks his tongue out at her before turning on his heel to present his back to her, crossing his arms with an air of petulance just to complete the picture. He taps his foot as he thinks about what else there is to do on Halloween Town; he’d decided days ago that it was best to wait until later in the year to show them around Christmas Town, so they can’t do that, and they’ve already visited most of the places he knows of, so where else can he--

“Sora!” a voice exclaims, startling him out of his reverie in time to have his arm violently shaken by a very familiar spindly figure. “It’s been so long since you last visited us!” Jack continues, still shaking Sora’s hand like a madman -- probably not even realizing how hard Sora is wincing because of it. “I can’t wait to show you what we’ve got planned for Halloween this year!”

“Hey there, Jack,” Sora manages to greet back, unable to keep himself from heaving a great sigh of relief when the skeleton lets go of his arm -- not that Jack sees it, anyway.

“And you’ve bought new friends!” Jack adds excitedly, proceeding to give Riku the same treatment he’d given Sora. Kairi, to her obvious relief, gets a kiss to the back of her hand instead.

“Yeah! These are Riku and Kairi!” Sora beams, gesturing at the two of them with as much flair as he can manage. Kairi giggles as she curtsies in return; Riku only nods in acknowledgement, surreptitiously shaking some feeling back into his arm.

With introductions officially out of the way, Jack wastes no time before going off on a lengthy explanation of his plans for Halloween, complete with dramatic expressions and sweeping gestures. Sora tries to follow it at first -- crazy as his plans can be, they’re usually pretty fun -- but eventually he blinks and realizes he’s been spacing out for the past two minutes, thus prompting him to deem it a lost cause and move on as best he can.

He doubts that Jack would notice him slowly shuffling closer to Riku, but he tries to be subtle about it anyway, receiving a tiny half-smirk from his boyfriend as a result. On Riku’s other side, Kairi looks like she’s dozens of worlds away. Sora wouldn’t dream of calling her out on it, obviously -- she would immediately accuse him of doing the same, and rightfully so -- but it's still very amusing to see the one who is usually the most respectful out of the three of them zoning out so hard.

Sora mutters a Cure under his breath as he touches Riku’s arm, dismissing the typical bells and vines that accompany the spell before they even get the chance to twinkle into existence. Donald would probably have berated him for doing it, arguing that it was a waste of his magic reserves to cast a spell to solve something so minor, but Sora doesn’t care; it makes Riku smile at him with that impossibly soft look in his eyes that always makes Sora’s insides turn to mush, and that’s all that matters to him, really.

Sora drifts in and out of the conversation as the minutes tick by, making sure to nod or make some sort of encouraging noise whenever it feels appropriate to do so, but his mind is, to be quite honest, filled with pure static at this point.

An unknown amount of time later, he notices Sally ambling towards them with an apologetic smile. She makes quick work of distracting Jack -- Sora hears something to the effect of the mayor wanting to talk to Jack about some detail of the upcoming festivities --, doing it so masterfully that Jack nearly forgets to wave his goodbye at the three of them before walking away.

“Thank you for that, really,” Riku tells her once Jack is out of earshot, letting out a sigh of relief. Sally laughs under her breath at the sincerity in his tone, waving her hand in response.

“It’s quite alright. It’s hard to keep up with him when he gets truly excited; oftentimes, redirection is the only way out,” she smiles, clasping her hands in front of her. “I trust you three have been having fun?”

“We have!” Sora exclaims happily, lacing arms with Riku and getting an amused huff for his troubles. “I showed them around the outer lands and Oogie’s manor!”

Sally’s frown is immediate, despite Sora’s cheery tone. “Is there any trouble at where the manor used to be? I try to go to the bridge every few weeks to check for any signs of him coming back, but...”

“Nah, it was all fine! Just a couple Heartless lingering around-- nothing we couldn’t take care of,” Sora grins brilliantly, puffing out his chest in obvious pride.

“I’m glad to hear it,” Sally says, nodding to herself. “You’d let us know if you found anything bad, right?”

“Of course,” Sora reassures her earnestly, happy to see her smile again in response.

“That’s good.”

“Oh yeah-- is there anything you need help with?” Sora scratches his cheek absentmindedly. “We’ve still got a few hours to kill before we have to get home, so we wouldn’t mind lending you a hand, right?” he continues, looking at his two best friends for confirmation.

“Yep,” Kairi nods with a small smile; Riku nods in assent as well.

“Oh no, there’s no need! The three of you came here to have fun-- you should walk around and enjoy yourselves, not get caught up with preparations,” she shakes her head.

“Are you sure? It really wouldn’t be any trouble for us to help you out; I already showed them basically all the places I wanted them to see,” Sora insists, tapping a random beat on Riku’s forearm. “Plus, preparations can totally be fun!”

“Very sure,” Sally nods resolutely, seemingly unfazed by the pout Sora sends her way. “We’re ahead of schedule, even,” she mumbles to herself, picking at one of the stitches in her left arm, then looks back up to meet Sora’s eyes once again. “Why don’t you take a look around town?” she suggests. “I’m sure it’ll help you find something to do until you have to leave...”

Sora opens his mouth to try and persuade her one last time, but Riku cuts him off before he can find a suitable argument.

“We’ll do that,” he says, shifting their linked arms until he’s able to lace his fingers with Sora’s. “Thanks for the tip -- and for the help, again.”

“It was nothing,” she smiles, shifting her weight from foot to foot. “I should go back to the lab myself; Dr. Finkelstein is likely to call on me anytime now,” she adds. “Do let us know when it’s time for you to go back-- I’m sure Jack would like to say goodbye to you properly.”

“You got it,” Riku nods, walking away and pulling Sora along before he can think to protest.

“You know,” Kairi enunciates carefully a minute later, fiddling with the sleeve of her nightgown. “I hadn’t really believed what Sora told us about Jack before, but now I realize he was absolutely telling the truth.”

“Hey!!” Sora huffs, feeling reasonably offended. “I never lie to you guys when telling stories about my adventures!”

“No,” Riku concedes, squeezing Sora’s hand. “But you do have a tendency to exaggerate,” he tells him as gently as he can, biting the corner of his lower lip to stop himself from smiling.

Kairi laughs at the scowl that settles onto Sora’s features. “Couldn’t have said it better myself,” she grins, reaching up to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear.

“I’m never telling you guys any of my stories ever again,” Sora mutters darkly, letting go of Riku’s hand to cross his arms petulantly.

“As if you’ll be able to stop yourself the next time you remember some interesting detail you haven’t told us before,” Riku smirks, pulling on Sora’s exposed cheek while being careful not to break the skin with his claws.

Sora nearly stomps his foot. “Yes I will!”

“Sora, darling, you won’t,” Kairi snorts, patting his shoulder twice for good measure.

He’s briefly distracted by the thought of how she must be getting used to forcing herself to become tangible -- she hadn’t even frowned, this time! -- but he catches himself before he can start to gush over it, making sure to retain his pout.

“I ha-- woah!” he cuts himself off when Riku bends down to pick him up and throw him over his left shoulder, as if Sora weighed nothing.

“Yes, yes, you hate us, we know it,” Riku drawls teasingly, patting Sora’s lower back in a condescending manner.

“Riiiiku, put me down!” he protests, squirming like an eel in his boyfriend’s steady grip.

“Nope,” Riku replies, walking deeper into town.

“You’re making a scene, you know,” Kairi singsongs behind the two of them, prompting Sora to look around and notice the half dozen kids staring unabashedly at them.

He quiets down after that. He doesn’t do it out of shame, no -- when has he ever worried about making a scene when in the company of his friends? -- but instead because their little beady eyes are unnerving; he’d rather not be at the center of their attention, thank you very much.

He turns his attention to their surroundings, reading the shop signs hanging overhead and peeking into the darkened storefronts they pass in front of. It’s nice to take the chance to do something like this; to really get a feel for the world they’re in.

While he was traveling with Donald and Goofy, they didn’t have the time or opportunity to just walk around a place at their leisure. They had some downtime, of course, and they certainly found ways to have fun even as they worked to rid the worlds of Heartless, but they always had an objective to fulfill, or another world to save, so fun wasn’t exactly a priority.

That’s partially why he’s so adamant to revisit them now -- as well as the promise he, Riku and Kairi had made years ago to explore the universe together. There are still some hurdles to overcome before they can have the worlds tour he’s been dreaming about ever since he woke up in Traverse Town, but that’s okay; despite all of his dramatic whining, he is capable of waiting.

Plus, checking the worlds they know of to make sure the Heartless threat is truly taken care of is a pretty important mission, so he can’t exactly complain about it -- even though it has been severely limiting the time he can spend just hanging out with his friends lately.

“Earth to Sora,” Kairi says in a slightly teasing tone, waving a hand near his face with a wide smile.

“This is Sora, copy,” he replies automatically, grinning in satisfaction when both Riku and Kairi laugh.

“What were you thinking about?” she asks him, lacing her hands behind her. “Anything interesting?”

“Just how happy I am to be here with you guys,” he answers honestly, chuckling to himself when Kairi giggles bashfully.

“You’re a sap,” Riku tells him, but Sora knows he’s smiling too.

“Well, yeah,” Sora shrugs as best he can in his current position, proceeding to maneuver himself in the other’s hold until he can lace his legs around Riku’s hips and his arms around Riku’s shoulders. “But I’m you guys’ sap,” he declares, leaning in to press a noisy peck to Riku’s cheek.

“Touché,” Riku huffs amusedly.

“So, where to next?” Kairi raises an eyebrow, practically skipping to keep up with Riku’s longer strides.

Sora hums, trying to think of anything else he wanted to show them but coming up empty. “I guess we can just do what Sally told us to and see if anything catches our eye in town,” he says, casting his gaze to the buildings around them again.

A few more minutes of walking later, Kairi lets out a noise of interest, prompting Riku to slow to a stop in order to find what caught her attention. Sora grins in delight upon spotting it too: a store that seems to be filled to the brim with Halloween decorations and accessories, if what they can see at the storefront is any indication.

“We could buy stuff for the others!” Kairi exclaims excitedly, though the mischievous glint in her eyes tells Sora that whoever receives her particular presents will not enjoy them in the least.

“Yeah!” Sora exclaims back with an equal amount of enthusiasm, thinking more along the lines of harmless gag gifts than evil pranks.

Two quick taps to Riku’s shoulder has his boyfriend setting him back on the ground, from where he immediately makes a beeline to the store, hot on Kairi’s currently-invisible heels. He hears Riku’s amused chuckle behind them, but he pays it no mind, exchanging a brief nod with the shelf-stocker they come across before fully immersing himself in the search for the perfect terrible souvenirs.

He doesn’t know how long he spends scouring the shelves -- it’s very easy to lose time when he gets this focused on something -- but he figures it’s somewhere in the vicinity of “a lot” when he notices the cashier seemingly in the midst of telling Riku some grand tale or another. His boyfriend straightens up from his half-slouch against the counter upon seeing him, his mouth curling into a small smile in a heartbeat.

“Ah, so this is the boyfriend,” the lady says in a tone of great understanding, nodding to herself. “The little missy is still caught up in her search, I’m afraid,” she adds, gesturing to a far-off aisle with a crooked finger.

“That’s okay,” Sora replies, carefully setting his prizes onto the counter -- next to what he guesses is the still-growing pile of Kairi’s purchases. If he turns his head just right, he can catch a glimpse of the edge of her ghostly nightgown. “I hope my boyfriend has only been saying nice things about me,” he continues teasingly, bumping Riku’s thigh with his hip when he gets a laugh for his efforts.

“The best things,” Riku snarks back, reaching out to stop an eerily fuzzy spider decoration from rolling off the counter.

The lady smiles indulgently at the two of them, her eyes crinkling at the corners. Her expression has a warm bubble of glee rising in Sora’s chest; he’ll never be able to deny that part of him just loves to show off his relationship with Riku, and loves it even more when people are genuinely happy to see them together.

When she goes back to telling her story, he listens attentively, appreciating the fact that she takes the time to explain the things he hadn’t been there to hear; she, in turn, is very pleased whenever he asks a question or otherwise engages with her storytelling. Riku, for his part, remains steadfast at their side, allowing Sora to take the spotlight and flex all of his interpersonal skills.

Some fifteen minutes later -- when the woman has already finished her story and started telling another, this one about her younger son -- the aisles finally spit Kairi back out. She sighs tiredly after setting her prizes down on the counter, wincing as she rubs her trembling arms.

“Honey, you should have grabbed one of the special carts,” the woman tuts disapprovingly, frowning in concern. “They are made specifically to help non-corporeal beings do their shopping-- didn’t you know?”

“Oh,” Kairi says, glancing back at said cards and biting her lip. “I didn’t, sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize to me,” she shakes her head, starting to organize their purchases on autopilot. “But you’d best avoid becoming tangible for the rest of the day, at least; you need to give yourself time for your energy to recharge.”

“Got it,” Kairi replies, shuffling on invisible feet.

“Don’t worry, ma’am,” Sora reassures her with a beaming grin. “We’ll take care of her.”

“You better,” the lady narrows her eyes, wagging her index playfully.

The total cost of their items has her eyeing them worriedly for a moment, but Sora only continues to smile.

He never expected the universe-saving business to be a lucrative one, but that’s exactly what it is; over the three and a half years since that fateful night, they’ve amassed a sizeable fortune. Even Kairi, who has only been accompanying them for a year and a half, has gathered enough munny by now to last for at least a couple of decades, if she uses it well.

Riku raises an eyebrow at the amount of shopping bags littering the counter once everything has been sorted and paid for, prompting Kairi to chuckle bashfully. The lady is kind enough to provide them with special bags, too, so Kairi can hold them without exerting herself, getting a heartfelt thanks for the trouble.

Sora responds to her request for them to come by again someday with a promise to do so, waving goodbye at her to the best of his ability while weighted down by their newest purchases.

They stop for a second just outside the store to figure out what to do next, shuffling awkwardly in place.

“Should we take these back to the gummi ship, or?” Kairi asks hesitantly. She sees Sora opening his mouth and immediately cuts him off: “No, Sora, we can’t store them on our pockets-- there’s a lot of stuff that could get accidentally triggered that way, and I’d rather not deal with the aftermath,” she says, huffing pointedly at him.

“I didn’t say anything!”

“You were going to!”

“Heading back to the ship would take too long, I think,” Riku hums, completely ignoring Sora and Kairi as they stare daggers at each other. “Sora, could we keep those with Sally until we’re ready to leave?”

“Hm? Oh, sure! I doubt she’d mind.”

“Lead the way, then.”

Dropping their shopping bags at Sally’s is a quick and painless affair; she has their purchases stored away far from prying eyes almost before they can blink -- Riku comments under his breath that that must be a valuable skill given the world they’re in, and Sora can’t help but agree.

It takes a few more minutes of walking around for something to catch Sora’s attention: a group of kids playing a game that reminds him of blitzball, while still being different enough to make him feel slightly weirded out while watching it unfold.

“Hey Riku,” he starts, leaning closer to his boyfriend until their arms touch, “doesn’t that look like blitzball to you?”

“It kinda does,” Riku replies, frowning slightly.

“Don’t think I’ve ever seen Wakka or Tidus use some of those moves, though,” Kairi mutters on Sora’s other side.

Sora hums noncommittally, narrowing his eyes as he tries to make sense of what he’s seeing. “I want to know how it works,” he decides, nodding to himself once. “Do you think they’d be willing to teach us?”

Riku laughs at the determination in his voice, then shrugs with one shoulder. “We won’t know until we try it, right?” he says, smiling fondly.

“If they say no at first, I’m sure we can just show them some candy and they’ll change their minds,” Kairi snickers.

In the end, the kids do need some candy to sweeten the deal, so to speak; their eyes zero in on Sora when he reaches into Riku’s pocket to take out the bag they’d bought for the locals, and they all but trip over each other to be the first to explain the game to the three of them in the hopes it’ll earn them more treats.

After a brief adjustment period -- they certainly never had to deal with opponents that can stretch and contract their limbs like a spring -- Sora and Riku take to the different rules with a fair amount of ease. It comes with the territory of having trained their bodies for so long; they’ve been sword-fighting since their parents deemed them old enough to play with toy swords, after all, so studying another’s movements and working to copy them comes as easy as breathing.

Kairi bows out of the game pretty early on, but that doesn’t surprise Sora. Blitzball has always been more Tidus and Wakka’s thing than theirs; Sora and Riku only became proficient at it due to their inability to back down from a challenge, adding it to a still-growing list of skills just to prove that they can do it.

Plus, she’s got her own strengths: being Kairi’s opponent in either dodgeball or soccer may as well be a death sentence.

By the time Sora finally declares he’s had enough of playing, only a fifth of their candy remains in the bag. He ties it as best he can to keep the contents from spilling before hiding it away in Riku’s pocket again, since they’ll be walking around town for a couple more hours yet and are thus bound to find some practicing trick or treaters on the way.

Kairi taps her chin for a second in response to Sora’s question on what they’d like to do next, then shrugs. “Why don’t we just find a place to sit at and talk for a while?” she suggests, playing with a few strands of her hair. “With all the worlds we’ve been having to visit lately, we haven’t had the time to do that in a while.”

“I like it,” Sora smiles, lacing his hands at the back of his head. “Any idea of where we should go?”

“Somewhere high, maybe? The sky here is a little weird, but we could still stargaze,” Riku offers.

The Curly Hill would probably be the best place to stargaze at, but neither of them want to walk all the way to it again; instead, they settle for sitting on the roof of one of the town’s tallest buildings.

True to form, Sora hadn’t quite realized how much he missed this until they’re making weird faces at each other and laughing so hard they almost fall off; it fills his heart with warmth, making him pull them just a little bit closer until they’re squished together even though there’s no need for them to do such a thing -- and even though being in such proximity to Kairi’s incorporeal self makes his skin break out in goosebumps pretty much constantly.

At some point in the midst of all this talking, they get their candy bags out to have something to occupy their mouths with whenever they’re letting someone else speak. Kairi’s expression of horror when she goes to grab another only to realize she’s eaten every single last one of them has Sora laughing so hard that Riku has to hold him by the waist to keep him from tumbling straight to the ground.

Not too long after that, they head back towards Sally’s place -- Sora had seen Jack entering the building about half an hour earlier, and now that he’s sufficiently sugared-up, he feels pretty confident in his ability to keep up with the energetic skeleton.

He and Jack discuss the year’s plans for Halloween until he knows the special day’s schedule down to the second, with Jack extracting a promise for Sora to bring his friends to the celebration with no resistance whatsoever. Riku looks up from where he’d been talking to Kairi and Sally to raise an inquisitive eyebrow at his boyfriend upon hearing the names of their friends, but Sora only grins widely in response.

After what feels like only the blink of an eye, Riku’s gummi phone starts beeping: a warning for them to wrap things up and start making their way home, lest they incur the disappointment of their parents by arriving late to the joint family night they’ve been planning for the past two weeks. The little frown Aiko always gets when she’s hurt but trying to hide it would quite simply murder the three of them in the spot; they must keep it from making an appearance no matter the cost.

“Be sure to visit us again soon,” Jack tells them with his usual ear-to ear grin.

“We will! I have to see how that choreography you told me about will turn out!” Sora exclaims, replaying in his mind some of the moves Jack had showed him while they talked.

“Thanks for helping us today, it was fun!” Kairi smiles at Sally and Jack, bowing slightly at the waist.

“Yeah, we had a good time,” Riku nods, wearing a small smile as well.

“It was no trouble at all,” Sally insists good-naturedly.

Jack takes nearly half of the shopping bags that had been waiting near the door before Sora, Riku and Kairi can even think about reaching for them, declaring that he’ll see the three of them to the gate and refusing to hear otherwise. In fact, he very nearly leaves them behind; they end up scrambling to gather the remaining bags and wave goodbye at Sally in an attempt to keep in pace.

He keeps the gate from hitting them on their way out, waving energetically at their retreating forms for almost a full minute -- Sora counts, looking back every few seconds to check if Jack’s still there.

The walk to the gummi ship is considerably quieter than the walk to the town had been, unsurprisingly. Now that Sora has stopped moving around so much, he finds himself starting to droop; the chilly evening wind and his full belly working together to convince his brain that taking a nap at the earliest possible opportunity is the best idea he’s ever had.

He lifts his head at the sound of a snicker only to find Riku watching him with a sappy smile on his face, prompting Sora to smile back and quicken his step until he can bump arms with his boyfriend -- remembering at the last second to be careful with the bags they’re both holding.

Sora does not want to experience first-hand the awful things Kairi is planning to inflict on Axel and Vanitas, thank you very much.

Riku and Kairi both let out sighs of relief when the transformation magic falls away as soon as they step into the gummi ship, securing all of their purchases at one of the cargo compartments near the ramp before looking over themselves to make sure everything is in its correct place.

Sora can’t help but smile as he watches Riku flex his hands and touch his head, or Kairi tap her feet a couple of times and reach out to touch the wall. For his part, he runs his nails over the palms of his hands until his brain understands the fact that he doesn’t have claws anymore, then swipes his tongue over his teeth to consciously register the lack of fangs.

“I’ll pilot the ship,” Riku announces in a tone that allows for no arguments, stepping closer to drop a kiss to Sora’s forehead before following Kairi to the cockpit.

Sora considers arguing anyway, just for the hell of it, but then decides he’ll let Riku win just this once. He almost says that out loud, too, but Riku would probably begin listing off all the times he’s won against Sora throughout their lives as Kairi laughed in the background, so he keeps his mouth shut instead.

Plus, having Riku at the helm means Sora can start sending the photos he’d taken during his trip to their friends already; he can’t wait to see what Ventus, Xion and Naminé will say about the world’s inhabitants and general atmosphere. Napping can wait until Riku’s able to join him for a good cuddling session, after all.

“As strange as some parts of it were, I really did have fun,” Kairi tells them, settling onto her usual seat with a sigh of contentment.

“I’m never getting into that bathtub again, though,” Riku says while checking over the ship’s sensors, shooting Sora a half-smirk when Kairi laughs.

“I already got you in it once, so my mission is complete,” Sora declares haughtily, blowing a raspberry in Kairi’s direction for good measure.

“Good,” Riku replies amusedly. “Ready to go back home?”

“As I’ll ever be,” Sora grins.

“Wouldn’t want to keep the parents waiting!” Kairi singsongs.

“God, yeah,” Riku shudders. Sora nods vehemently.

“That’d be the worst.”

“Off we go, then!” Kairi exclaims, striking a pose.

A few taps from Riku onto the ship’s dashboard and they’re off, speeding away until Halloween Town is just another dot in a sea of stars.