By Your Side (ioriku)

4

The following day, Iori was on a mission: Operation Befriend Riku. It was pretty self-explainable.

Iori skips school that day (and feels incredibly guilty about it).

He regretted it the very moment he stood outside Riku's door with his stomach churning in anxiety and his hands trembling as he held a plate of his brother's vanilla-frosted cupcakes, wrapped neatly in tinfoil.

But what if Riku didn't even like cupcakes? Then what? Iori had assumed that someone as cute as him would like sweets. He'd made so many assumptions about Riku that he was afraid that the real version wouldn't live up to the idealized version in his head. Well, regardless, they'd be friends no matter what, Iori was sure of it.

That morning, he was also absolutely certain that Nanase Riku would be awake. After all, the last two times Iori saw him, he was already fast asleep by the late afternoon. It wasn't quite noon yet but Iori was confident that Riku would be awake, but the coward in him silently hoped Riku would be sound asleep.

Iori stands up straight and takes a deep, cautious breath. He knocks twice before turning the doorknob and heading inside.

There's no response but the energy in the room feels different, more expectant. As if someone were waiting for him.

He steps in, past the curtains, and then...  there he is.

His nerves seem to settle with just the sight of Riku, who is wide awake and bright-eyed.

He doesn't say anything when Iori walks in, just raises a confused brow and stares blankly. His red hair is tousled and his clothes rumpled as if he'd just awoken. Iori doesn't say anything either, his mind can't come up with words, but his mouth wouldn't let him talk anyway. After half a minute he quickly realizes that he probably should say something.

But, Riku got the first words in instead.

"No way," Riku says, a smile turning his lips upward. "It's really you."

Of all the words that Iori had imagined coming out of Riku's mouth, those words were definitely not one of them. Iori takes a step back, nearly dropping the tin-foiled plate.

Riku continued enthusiastically, his bed head bouncing as he spoke, "I had a dream about you."

"About... me?" Iori couldn't believe what he was hearing, maybe he was the one dreaming instead.

"Yes!" Riku says, gripping the bed sheets tightly. He leans forward, grinning gently, "You saved me."

"I did?" Iori says, the pink in his cheeks beginning to trickle in. He figured Riku might have caught a glimpse of him either yesterday or the day before. Was his face really memorable enough for it to appear in Riku's dream?

"Mhm!" Riku hums. He waves Iori over, urging him to sit in the empty seat beside the bed. Iori does as instructed, staring in awe. "I was drowning, and I almost died, almost. But then you saved me. It felt so real, too. I was super relieved, not only because I was alive but also because a cute guy saved me!"

Cute? Iori questions with genuine surprise, he's growing weak at the knees by the minute. He's tongue-tied, and doesn't know how to respond to the sudden compliment from the very person he'd been aching to see since the very moment he'd laid eyes on him.

"What's in there?" Riku asks, the shiny tinfoil catching his attention.

"Cupcakes," Iori says, embarrassed for whatever reason. "For you."

Iori hands him the plate and Riku accepts it graciously, a wide smile plastered on his face. He doesn't say anything as he begins to uncover the top, revealing the frosted tops of the cupcakes. He takes one of the six and sets the plate aside.