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There’s a knock on Riku’s door followed by a ‘Riku? Are you awake? Rikuuuu?’ that’s definitely too loud for how late into the night it currently is. Riku gets up, swiftly crossing the room to open the door just in time for Sora to knock against the hollow of his breastbone.
“Woah!” he exclaims, startled, before he grins up at him, apparently having missed the way Riku winces. “Hey. Can I come in?”
Riku sighs softly, a small smile tugging at his lips and steps aside, motioning Sora to enter his room. He pushes past him with a hop and settles down on the edge of Riku’s bed.
“Sorry, I know it’s kinda late,” he says, leaning his weight back against his forearms. Riku just shrugs as he shuts the door and follows, standing in front of him.
“It’s alright. Are you okay?” he asks. Sora pulled something similar during the nights leading up to their exam, finding himself sprawled across Riku’s bed so often talking his ear off into the late hours of the night that he began to wonder why they even bothered having separate rooms to begin with when it usually led to Sora falling asleep mid-conversation.
Sora stands up abruptly, stuffing his hands into his pockets and Riku can’t help but wonder why he sat down in the first place.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I have something I wanna give to you before we set off tomorrow, that’s all,” Sora explains, adding, “but it’s a surprise, so you can’t look!” Riku shoots him a look that screams a teasing ‘really? ’ which serves its purpose in riling Sora up. “C’mon, Riku! Play along!”
“Alright, alright, relax.” Riku relents, bracing his hand against his hip and letting his eyes slip shut. “Should I hold out my hand, or what?”
“No, just stand still,” he replies and Riku simply shrugs, doing as he’s told.
It’s easy to tell when Sora finally steps into his personal space even with his eyes closed. The last few years of tireless fighting against the forces of Darkness and the many trying situations he’s found himself in both by fate and volunteering have honed his senses to a fine point. Very little catches him off guard anymore.
Even without those factors at play, Sora makes so much noise wherever he goes that it’s impossible for him to get the sneak on anyone in the first place, let alone Riku, who is even more used to his movements. He’s spent the last couple of years fighting against Darkness, sure, but he’s spent his entire life up until now with Sora.
He can hear the rustle of fabric as he messes with something, the gentle ‘clink’ of what Riku can only assume is his necklace filling the space between them.
He peeks one eye open, enough to confirm, but not draw attention to himself disobeying Sora’s orders. Sora’s nose is scrunched up, brows furrowed slightly and tongue peeking out as he concentrates on freeing the tangles of Riku’s long hair from where he’s clasped the metal chain around his neck. He squeezes his eyes back shut, barely managing to suppress the soft sound that leaves his mouth when Sora suddenly tugs too hard, covering it up with a “careful, Sora” that borders on breathless.
“Sorry,” Sora apologizes, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly before returning to the task at hand. Sora’s fingers brush clumsily against his neck as he tries to adjust it to his liking, leaving a wave of prickles across his skin in their wake as he pulls back. Riku barely registers what Sora says next, his heart pounding in his chest, filling his ears with the rush of his pulse.
“There, perfect! You can look now.” Sora takes a step back, relaxing into his usual posture, a stance that Riku doesn’t even think Sora remembers picking up from him back when they were kids, his arms folded behind his head as he rolls back onto his heels and beams at his handiwork.
Riku opens his eyes and fishes his Gummi Phone out of the pocket of his sleep joggers, catching sight of the gleaming silver of Sora’s signature necklace now snug against his skin in the reflection of the tiny screen. The chain is a bit tighter on Riku, his neck significantly thicker than Sora’s own and it sits more like a choker on him than it does on Sora. Riku swears he can feel the warmth of Sora’s skin still gently heating the small metal crown now settled against his throat.
Something about the gesture feels extremely intimate in a way that Riku doesn’t really know how to explain or process, so he files it away in that little box in the back of his brain that he’s been putting more of their interactions into lately than he’d care to admit.
“You know, when we were still kids, Kairi gave me her favorite keychain,” Sora says, “she said I had to make sure that I gave it back, ‘cause it was her lucky charm.” He looks wistful as he recalls the memory and Riku brushes his fingers against the pendant, humming a soft affirmation as a sign that he’s listening. “It was kinda like...a promise that we’d see each other again.”
Oh.
“Is that what this is?” Riku asks, putting the pieces together for him. The look that crosses Sora’s face then is, in Riku's professional opinion as a master of all things Sora, beautifully genuine. His mouth falls open, eyebrows shooting upwards, cheeks dusting an adorable shade of pink as he quickly looks away.
“W-well, I mean! It’s just, um,” he stumbles and Riku can’t help the soft bubble of laughter that slips out of him. Sora smacks the back of his hand against Riku’s chest, but it has the opposite effect intended; Riku continues and Sora just does it again. “Aw, c’mon, don’t laugh, Riku! Jeez!”
Riku brings his own hand up to close around Sora’s fingers, gently guiding them into a fist and squeezes gently. “Sorry, I can’t help it. You’re just such a dork.”
Sora squawks indignantly, wrenching himself out of Riku’s grip and crossing his arms with a huff. He averts his eyes, lips settling into a pout much in the same way they always had when they were kids and Sora wasn’t getting his way. It’s much more endearing to him now than it was back then.
“I just thought that...that if I gave you something of mine, then you would have to come back to me, too! You wouldn’t be able to just disappear on me again!” He forces out, still refusing to look at Riku and then it’s Riku’s turn to turn tomato-red as his heart squeezes pitifully in his chest. So much for Sora never catching him off guard.
“Sora…” Riku says gently, struggling to keep the swell of emotion out of his voice. As much as he wants to ask why Sora feels the way he does, he can’t blame him. It’s his own fault, after all, having given him no reason not to think any other way, not when he deliberately went to great lengths to avoid their meeting not too long ago. It would take longer than a few months to really heal that wound, no matter how brave Sora tries to act about it. Suddenly, his mind drifts back to what Mickey told him during their Mark of Mastery exam the week prior, about their hearts being in tune. It was a comment made regardless of the fact that they were apart at the time, like an inherent promise deep inside them that they were always together, no matter how much distance actually separated them physically. “Like we’re always holding on to a little part of each other...” he murmurs barely above a whisper, intentionally too quiet for Sora to hear despite their close proximity.
“Riku?”
Riku looks up and shakes his head, carefully considering what he wants to say. It’s too important to rush, but there’s so much he wants to tell Sora, to explain to him, that he can’t decide where to even start. Instead, he settles on “you don’t have to give me something for me to do that.” Short, simple. Less embarrassing. He moves his hair to the side and out of his way, undoing the clasp of the necklace before taking Sora’s hand and depositing it safely back into his palm.
“But Riku-” Sora protests. Riku just shakes his head, silver strands slipping off his shoulder to resettle against his back again as he does.
“Besides, somebody has to keep you in check. I can’t trust anybody else with that much responsibility, so I have to be here to do it myself.” He chuckles as he watches Sora’s face contort, laughing again as he shoves lightly against his chest with his free hand.
Riku watches as Sora secures the necklace back in its usual place, right against the small swell of his chest. He looks up at Riku through his thick, dark lashes, voice coming out quietly. “Promise?”
“Yeah,” he affirms with a small, reassuring smile. “Promise.”
“If you break it, you owe me your pudding for an entire year.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Riku rolls his eyes before going back and settling down onto the edge of the bed. “I won’t break it.”
When Sora still shows no indication of leaving, he moves closer to the wall, pulling the covers back in invitation. Sora always sleeps better next to Riku, especially when he’s worked up about something. “Just lock the door and get the light,” he says, turning his face towards the wall so Sora can’t see the flush creeping back over his cheeks.
Sora wastes no time, doing as he’s told and climbing into bed next to him close enough that their shoulders ghost against each other and Sora’s body heat washes over Riku’s skin. He does his best to hold back the chill that threatens to shudder through his body despite the warmth.
“‘Night, Riku,” Sora says in quiet contentment and Riku has to wonder if he was after this from the start. He doesn’t think Sora’s that much of a mastermind, though. It's probably more wishful thinking than anything.
“See you in the morning.”