Kintsugi

Don't Think Twice. Pt 2

The complete version of this is now on Archive of Our Own. Same username and story title.

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By the time Aqua, Terra, and Ven arrived back in the late afternoon Riku had given in to his own need for rest. The last few weeks hadn't been easy, and sleep had been difficult with so much constantly on his mind.

When the three of them peered into the living room they found the two boys curled up together, sleeping on the couch and withdrew quickly, not wanting to wake them.

They found Kairi in the kitchen, sitting at the table with a large collection of shells spread out in front of her. She'd enjoyed making the two wayfinders, so was experimenting with some other projects now.

The moment she saw them she cried out "you're back!" and jumped up from her seat. She raced over and knocked the wind out of a very surprised Aqua as she hugged her. "I don't know how you did it Aqua," she said, squeezing her tightly, "but thank you so much."

It took Aqua a few moments to recover, but when she did she smiled and hugged her back, as her heart swelled with joy.

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Sora hardly opened his eyes for several days, waking only when the others forced him to eat and drink, or when gently shaken awake as the occasional nightmare began. Whether it was simply having people beside him or the severity of his exhaustion, they didn't know, but for a wonderful change, he was barely bothered by his nightmares. Riku began to wonder if maybe some of his dream eater powers really had carried over into the waking world.

The six of them spent much of this time together. The combination of relief that Sora had reached out for help, concern for his physical state, not to mention just how stressed they had been for weeks, meant they were all in need of some relaxed time together.

Sora slept almost constantly, whether it was on Kairi's shoulder, in Riku's lap, or lying against his chest with his head tucked under his chin. In his fever delirium every now and then he would chime in while the others talked with barely related and baffling comments, much to their entertainment.

He would complain multiple times a day about everyone hanging around him, worried they would also catch his cold. He did this no matter how often they pointed out how unlikely it was since they, unlike him, all currently had functioning immune systems. He'd run himself down so much they thought it was a miracle he hadn't become ill sooner.

As they all sat together, talking, playing games, or pursuing their own interests in comfortable silence, it struck Riku that this was going to be the first time in years that he and Sora would actually be able to stay in one place for more than a week or so. He had frequently stayed with Mickey over the past year but had never really lived there. Aqua had said they could stay here as long as they wanted and somehow, in just a few days, the Departure castle had begun to feel like home.

They would surely return to the islands one day, but right now this felt like the right place for them and Kairi to be. After all they'd been through, the idea of living in a world where they were the only ones aware of what lay beyond their island shores seemed lonely, or claustrophobic to say the least. He wondered if Sora would feel the same way about it when he began to recover and if he would feel like he had a home again as well.

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"I was lying..."

"Hmm?" Riku looked down at Sora, curled up in bed beside him, not having realised he was awake.

They were alone in Sora's room for a change, as it was still relatively early in the day and Kairi had already left for training. After the revelation that she'd known Riku's secret all along she had asked him if it would still be alright for her to stay in Sora's room with the two of them while he was sick. He had, of course, said yes, knowing how awful being pushed away had been for her as well, so it was rare for the two of them to be alone right now.

"When I said I didn't want to see you, I was lying," Sora murmured, eyes still closed.

"How come you said it?" he asked as he put his book down. There was no hint of accusation in his voice, he just wanted to know.

"Didn't want you to see."

"See what?"

"This..."

He opened his eyes now and, though he didn't look up at him, Riku could see that his eyes weren't entirely blurred from exhaustion like they usually were. They were empty, and awfully sad.

It was four days now since he had collapsed and they'd realised he was ill. Luckily they had been right when they suspected it wasn't a serious illness. His cough and body aches had begun to fade. His fever was yet to break but considering he'd just managed several coherent sentences in a row, Riku was hopeful it wouldn't be much longer now.

"Sora..." Riku shuffled down the bed so he could lie down with him, face to face. Sora looked away, staring down at the pillow beneath Riku's head instead of his eyes. "You never have to hide anything from me, you know that."

"Didn't want to hurt you though... Don't want you to be sad."

The roles really have been reversed huh... He reached out and took Sora's hand. "It makes me sad that you're hurting, but that's OK. I want to be here for this."

Sora was silent for a while, then looked up and finally met Riku's gaze. "Thanks... I missed you." His voice came out slightly slurred, and his eyelids were beginning to droop already. Riku expected he wasn't entirely sure what he was saying. He smiled and squeezed Sora's hand.

"I missed you too."

"I don't want you to ever leave... want you to stay, but if you want to leave again it's OK."

"What?"

"If you want to, that's OK."

Riku gave him a shocked look. "You're kidding, right? Why would I want to leave?"

"This..."

Riku stared at him, open-mouthed, then closed it slowly as he realised what Sora meant.

"You dummy." He let go of Sora's hand and placed a hand on his cheek instead, stroking it with his thumb. "I just told you, I want to be here for this. I'm not going anywhere." He smiled at him and got a tiny one in return. Sora's eyes were almost closed by now, just a tiny sliver of blue still visible, and Riku smirked at him."You really must be out of it if you think there's any chance of that happening."

"Huh?" he looked bemused, and Riku laughed.

"Sora, I'm never leaving again."

"Oh, that's good..." he murmured, eyes finally closing. "I never want you to leave either."

"You already said that."

"I did?"

"Just go back to sleep."

Sora gave a small nod and was gone again. Once he was certain he was asleep Riku leant over and pressed his lips to his forehead. Hurry up and get better, he thought to himself, smiling affectionately and wondering how much of this Sora would even remember.

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