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It’s been a few weeks, almost a month, since the battle against Organization XIII. Sora, Riku, and Kairi are all back home and caught up with their other friends on the island. They even went to see their parents, just to let them know that they were okay. Even though they were back on the Islands, it felt strange to them. To them, Sora and Riku especially, the Islands didn’t feel like home anymore to the two boys.
So much has happened in just a year; Destiny Islands falling to darkness, the heartless, keyblades, Castle Oblivion, the Organization, and Sora falling asleep for a year. Riku always wished he would go see other worlds, especially with his best and closest friends, but he never thought it would ever come this route.
But here they all are, back home on the play island, sitting by the Paopu tree and watching the sunset. Well, just Riku and Kairi at least. It was a bittersweet feeling, that even though they felt like this place wasn’t home to them anymore, they felt a sense of homesickness when coming back, and also just a bit relieved.
“Do you know where Sora is?” Kairi asked Riku, breaking the comfortable silence that was between the two of them. “He should be coming in a bit, I think he’s just catching up with his mom. Why Kai, don’t you want to hang out with me?” He was joking with her of course; he doesn’t have that sense of jealousy anymore whenever it comes to either Kairi or Sora. He and Sora managed to talk it all out when they were in the Realm of Darkness, and it all worked out. Riku never felt happier than just sharing that moment of peace with him.
“Riku, can I ask you something?” He hummed in response, curious as to what she wanted to ask. “Do you…perhaps like Sora?” He felt as if right there, his breathing had stopped. He suddenly felt a little guilty, almost. He can’t deny that he is in love with his best friend. He did so much for Sora, and he would do it over and over again in a heartbeat if anything ever happened to him again.
“Riku?” He heard Kairi yelling his name, trying to catch his attention. He didn’t even realize he zoned out, seeing Kairi waving her hand in front of his face. She let out a sigh of relief, “ Oh thank goodness, thought I lost you for a second. Are you doing okay?” Her voice laced with concern, he nodded and smiled at her.
Then the expression on her face became stern, “You sure? Don’t lie to me, Riku. You promised both Sora and me that you wouldn’t keep things from us anymore and would tell us what was wrong. Be honest with me, was it the question I asked?”
“I know I did, Kai. I just- that question came out of nowhere I was just..uh,” he felt his whole body suddenly becoming very hot, and he hated it. He knew Kairi was expecting an answer, but he didn’t know what to say.
He knows Kairi though, he knows that she’s patient enough to wait for his response. A hand was placed on his shoulder, and he looked up to see Kairi’s reassuring smile, “Riku, you know I don’t care if you do, right? And it’s completely okay if you do. I was waiting for you to finally admit to it,” she says to him with a sly smirk.
“Wait, huh? I don’t even know what you’re talking about-” Kairi cut him off in an instant, and gave him a look. “Riku, I’m not dumb. I’ve seen the way you look and talk to him. I don’t know if you were trying to hide it or anything, but if you were, then you kind of suck at it,” she chuckled, and then suddenly she was combing her hand through his long hair.
“You don’t mind if I play with your hair, right?” Riku laughed and shook his head, “Do whatever you want with it.”
“So when did you?” Riku let out yet another laugh, knowing that his friend was never going to stop pestering him about it. He already knows she’s gonna endlessly tease him about this whole thing for the rest of their lives. “You’d laugh at me if I told you..”
“Oh, stop that. No, I won’t,” she said as she was currently braiding Riku’s long silver hair.
“I guess I’ve always liked him since we were kids, you know? But I always viewed it as me just liking him because we’re best friends. But now that I’m older, and after everything that happened, I think it wasn’t until we shut that door that I realized that I was in love with him. Ever since we were kids, and that meteor shower happened, I swore to protect him. Always. I love him so much, Kairi. I don’t know if he feels the same, and he doesn’t have to. I feel extremely lucky to have him in my life, even right now.”
Kairi just hummed, as if she was extremely satisfied with his response. She stayed quiet though because, for the first time in a year, they can finally have a normal conversation that doesn’t involve the heartless or nobodies. She’s been elated lately because she has her two favorite people here with her, and she doesn’t want either of them out of her sight.
She continued to stay quiet, waiting for him to continue, wanting Riku to just let his feelings out because she felt like he needed it. “There was something I did in the Land of Dragons,” He stated quietly. “I had a paopu fruit with me, and I gave it to the guy named Shang and told him to give it to Sora when he got the chance,” Riku said, chuckling softly.
“And?” Kairi questioned, waiting to hear more.
“That’s the thing, I don’t know. I don’t even know if Sora got the hint. I left right after I saw Sora there on that mountain. It was my first time seeing him after he slept for a whole year. Seeing him awake, being the energetic one he always is… I have never felt so happy.”
Kairi was done braiding his hair, and she hopped off the tree and saw the brown-haired boy finally coming to where they were. “It’s about time he finally showed up!” Kairi sarcastically said. She looked back at Riku, punching his arm lightly, which made him wince a bit. “Ow! What the hell, Kai?”
“You better tell him today, Ri. I’m serious, too. Ever since we were at the Organization's castle and all three of us were together again, I had to witness you two endlessly pine for so many hours.” She then grabbed a paopu fruit, giving one to him. And Riku grabbed it, giving her a questioning look. “And give him this too, while you’re at it. You both mean the world to me, all I want is to see you two be happy.”
They both smiled at each other and hugged, and Kairi walked away the second she saw Sora getting closer.
Sora ran up to the paopu tree and quickly hugged Riku to the point where it felt like they were both going to fall. “Riku!!” Sora yelled out and Riku laughed and gently pushed him away. “Calm down, Sora. The last time I saw you was yesterday.”
“I still miss you... Oh, hey! I saw Kairi as I was running over here, what were you two talking about?” Sora saw that Riku was feeling a bit tense, and his eyebrows were starting to furrow in concern. “Riku, you okay?”
Riku only nodded in response, giving Sora a reassuring look to know that he was feeling fine. He has no clue on how to just confess at all, he’s pretty new to this so he was just a bit nervous about what to say. “Sora, I have something to tell you.”
“Yeah?” He crossed his arms, waiting patiently for what needed to be talked about.
“I, uh… you know what? Never mind, it’s kind of dumb. Come on, we should head back,” Riku said quickly and slowly started to walk away when he felt a hand on his wrist, holding him back.
“No, I can tell something is bothering you, Riku. Come on, tell me what’s wrong.”
“There’s no way I’m getting out of this, am I?” Riku asked, sighing.
“You’ve known me for how long? You should know by now that I’m always a worrywart when it comes to you,” Sora said, putting his hands on the back of his head, smiling brightly at him. “I wanted to talk to you about something, too. But, before I go into what I want to say, first tell me what’s wrong.”
“Sora, I’m okay.” Sora was eyeing him suspiciously but stopped when he saw that Riku was fine. His bright smile came back.
“Okay, fine. I believe you. I wanted to ask you something though, Ri. It’s about what happened back in the Land of Dragons. What was the point of the paopu fruit? I don’t understand..”
Riku was scratching the back of his neck, looking down at the ground. “I was going to talk to you about it. For one thing, I wanted you to know that it was me at that mountain, and I guess it was also a sign to show you that I was doing okay.”
Sora almost looks defeated, when he notices that Riku doesn’t say anything else. Riku notices, and walks up to Sora. “There’s also another reason,” Riku takes out the paopu fruit that Kairi gave him and holds it out to Sora, and he gets a confusing look in return.
“Sora, there’s so much I wanted to do when we were on that mountain. When I saw that you were fine and awake, you didn’t know how happy I was. I gave Shang the fruit and told him to give it to you because... I wanted to give it to you.”
“Riku, why didn’t you-” Sora starts, but then quickly gets cut off.
“I never said anything about it because I- well,” his voice getting quieter, feeling more nervous than how he was a few minutes ago. “I just assumed that you and Kairi were having a thing together, so I didn’t wanna get in the way,” he says in a whisper, looking down at the white sand, feeling anxious about what Sora’s reaction was going to be.
Sora took something out of his pocket, gazing back and forth at the fruit he got back in the Land of Dragons and Riku. He smiled warmly, grabbing Riku’s hand gently and putting it in his hand, which made Riku quickly look up and had an astonished look on his face.
“I still have it, you know? Ever since I got it, I have been trying to figure out what it could mean. Wait a sec, you thought Kairi and I had something going on?” Riku bashfully nodded, which made Sora grab both of his hands. “Riku, I also wanted to share it with you, there’s no one else I would want to share it with. I don’t know that much about love, but I do know one thing, and it’s that I care for you so much, and I would do anything for you.”
“I mean, after I woke up in that pod, I was looking in every world just to see if there were any signs of you. Seeing you there at the mountain, knowing it was you, I also felt very happy, just knowing that you were okay. I didn’t care if you were with the Organization or whatever it was, I was just happy that I finally got to see you after being extremely worried that something bad might have happened.”
Sora then put one hand on the back of Riku’s head, their foreheads touching each other gently, the sun still setting. “I love you, Riku.”
Riku couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Never in his life would he think that the one person that he cares for and loves the most would have mutual feelings. “Sora… I-”
“You were right, guess I am a big sap, huh?” They both laughed, but then it died down and they were just staring at the paopu fruit that was still sitting in both of their hands. Riku then snorted, which made Sora give him a puzzled look.
“Sorry it’s just- you don’t plan on really sharing it with me when that thing has been sitting in your pocket for how long?”
“Come on Riku! You should know that it’s not exactly the sturdiest fruit to keep. I mean, we were kind of fighting for our lives. I don’t think my main concern at the time was to make sure that fruit would come back in one piece.”
“It’s okay,” he reassured Sora, still holding the one that Kairi told him to offer. “By the way, I just want to let you know I feel the same way. I think I’ve known since we were kids, since the meteor shower even. I think I just became sure of it though during the time you were asleep. I love you too, Sora. During the time you were asleep, there was so much I did. I want nothing more than to protect you from everything.”
Suddenly, the silence between them wasn’t tense anymore. It was comforting and just felt right to them.