Recharge

Riku was exhausted.

The day had been jam-packed from morning to afternoon — too much talking, school assignments needing to be excused, and disputes between inhabitants of other worlds confused on where he'd come from and how he could help them in their time of need.

Due tomorrow, bared down his throat with a snide glance from his homeroom teacher as a thin packet of papers were shoved into his hands. Exhaustion and agitation mingled into an unpleasant taste on his tongue. If not for a timely save by Kairi, assuring it would be on their teacher's desk by the first bel, Riku felt he might've said something that would even make the Heartless cower. To his relief, her arm slipped into the crook of his own as she pulled him through the halls of their school.

Needless to say, Riku was dead on his feet when they stepped outside. The sky tinted a pinkish-red, almost reminded him of her hair, and the light dancing at the back of his eyelids when he closed them. After he nearly tripped over a sand dune and a plank in a bridge, Kairi slowed to walk by his side, her arm tucked around his waist and their school bags held in her hand as he slung an arm around her shoulders. He wasn't sure what he said, distracted by the sweet scent in her hair, and bitter warmth of a biting summer afternoon.

But Kairi giggled and squeezed his hip, muttering a soft, "You're welcome, Riku."

Home wasn't a bad place to be. His mom, emerging from her workshop to answer the door, welcomed him with a little ruffle to the hair as she chatted with Kairi. Riku stumbling on lead feet to the kitchen and cracking open the freezer, thankful for the cool air blasting in his face, until he noticed something was missing.

"Mom!" He called, shoving over a few chocobo ice-cream cups and a box of moogle beef patties. "Did we have any more sea salt ice cream?"

After a brief pause, his mother shouted back, "Did you check the freezer?"

"Yeah!" Riku sighed mentally, wondering where else would he have looked.

"Remind me to put it on the list!"

Riku sighed and snapped the freezer shut with a rubbery slam. He could've sworn that he had one left over.

Can't blame Sora for taking it.

A pang of hurt shuttered his eyes at the thought and he pressed his forehead to the door, attempting to will it away. He must have lingered longer than he thought because a comforting hand wrapped around his wrist and pulled him from the kitchen. Even with his eyes closed, darkness surrounding him, Kairi's light was a small beacon unable to be ignored with its radiance. He opened his eyes to see her climbing the steps with his own feet clunking behind as he tried to match her pace.

"I'll bring you both some snacks later," his mom called from downstairs but the heavy thud of her workshop's door told him later would be a ways away.

Nevertheless, he was grateful to hear the whirring of machines and loud knock of her hammer against wood. The islands couldn't have asked for a better shipwright though he wasn't looking forward to what she made with the help of Chip and Dale.

"Riku, are you okay?" Kairi asked, looking back to him as she pushed open the door to his room. He resisted the urge to shield his eyes from the light slanting through the wide semi-circle windows along the north and west wall of his room.

After his return, he'd taken down the deep blue curtains rendering his room dark and cool. He had done his best to ignore his mother's audible sigh and look of relief when he folded them and set them inside a box at the bottom of the linen closet.

Kairi squeezed his hand. "You've been zoning out all day…"

Fighting back a grimace, Riku tried for his best smile. "Just tired is all."

Her brows pulled together and from the quick once-over, he knew she wasn't convinced but seemed to let it go, releasing his arm to flop on his futon. The deep blue sheets rippled around her like water, a paopu plush he'd gotten years ago hugged to her chest. "Well, we'll finish our homework quick, and then you can take a nap, yeah?"

Nudging the door shut with a kick of his heel, Riku grumbled an affirmative, shuffling across the ombre sea-green carpet to his desk where he collapsed into his spinning chair. It rocked a little from side to side, burdened with his weight but Kairi's giggle when he spun about was worth knocking his knee against his desk drawers. She tossed him his school bag and he shuffled about for the homework sheets, grimacing at the sheer number but setting to work.

If anyone asked him, he'd take an army of Heartless over schoolwork.

A thought that grew more appealing by the second as he blanked on the same problem six times over, deciding to abandon his books in a huff. His laptop pushed to one side of his desk and papers strewn about, pencil lying haphazardly amidst a cluster of eraser shavings. Tossing his head back, Riku glanced aside to find Kairi hard at work, absorbed with scribbling across the paper. She still held the plush in her lap, squished between her textbook serving as a makeshift writing desk. The tip of her tongue poked out the side of her lips, brows furrowed in concentration. Although Riku wasn't sure how comfortable it was to be hunched over as she worked, he had to admit she pulled it off.

Idly spinning from one side to the other, his mind kept wandering from one thought to the other. Too awake to be tired but too tired to function. Pushing up from his chair, he let it roll away from him as he climbed up to sit on his bed, slipping his legs on either side of Kairi's waist and his arms around her middle. The sun warmed the back of her hair, giving it a musty flowery scent he inhaled with abandon, nosing against her shoulder for emphasis. Even though he had to hunch over with their difference in height, he didn't mind.

Embarrassing as it was, Kairi smelled nice.

Like home.

"Riku…?"

He hummed into her hair, feeling the gentle pat to the side of his head, her fingers working into his hair and lightly scratching at his scalp. That shouldn't have felt as nice as it did. Practically melting into the touch, Riku gently rubbed his hand up and down her side.

"Are you okay?"

"Needed you…"

Kairi's hand slipped from his hair and it was sorely missed but she squeezed his wrist, gently patting with slow circles drawn against the back of his hand. "I'm here…"

Riku almost grimaced. He could hear the forlorn emptiness in her words, despite the comfort. Tension lingering in the air with unspoken words as he was sure they were both thinking of who wasn't. Time had taught him not to dwell though, and he squeezed her lightly in his embrace.

"Thanks…"

"You're welcome, Riku," she murmured, a smile in her voice.

After what felt like forever with her toiling away and him clinging to her back, Riku lifted his chin and set it upon her shoulder, peering down at the pages which resembled nothing but squiggles and lines on white paper to him. "… What're you doing?"

Kairi paused for a second then laughed, and his heart fluttered when she turned enough for him to catch the blue of her eyes crinkled in amusement. "The homework we were assigned, silly. You really need that nap."

On a second glance, Riku had to admit the papers did resemble what he'd shoved aside on his desk. His nose wrinkled and he shrugged, brushing his lips against her cheek beneath the length of her eyelashes before settling against her shoulder again. "You're doing great, Kai…"

"Hehe, thanks…" She giggled, and Riku tried to tether himself to the sound, even if his hold was slurred and shaky with sleep. "Try to rest a little, Riku."

He wanted to tell her that was impossible. Rest for him would mean dreams, and in his dreams, he saw him. It wasn't always those eyes — bright, round, and blue as the sky — haunting his dreams. Sometimes, he saw faces of those who were pushed to the darkness while they yearned for the light. Divested of purpose and existence simply for the sake of the one who connected them all. The same one who gave up everything so they could be free. He had to admit, he was rather tired of this dance of guilt. But he memorized the steps and moved through it alone because he didn't want her to know that her eyes haunted him too.

His hold on her tightened, hand splaying against her stomach, brushing between the paopu fruit plush and the thin fabric of her uniform shirt. "I'm not ever moving again…" He declared after awhile, and Kairi's answering giggle pulled him from his hazy thoughts.

"You have to eat sometime."

He smiled a little and brushed his forehead against her shoulder, smelling the sunshine and light rolling off her in waves. "Nope, gonna just live off light…" He trailed off into silence for a moment, hiding a smile against the back of her neck. "Like a plant."

Kairi scoffed, swatting at his wrist, her pencil thumping against his arm with barely a glimmer of pain. "You're not a plant, Riku."

The corners of his lips twitched up. Light streaming through the windows warmed the back of his neck but hers kept away his troubles, reminded him of his successes, and what he still yet had to fight for.

Just like his.

Opening his eyes enough to view the sea of red obscuring his vision, he smiled. "Then why does your light keep me happy and healthy?"

Her shoulders tensed. The smile curling at his lips only widening when he pulled away and saw the pink tips of her ears. If he looked around to her face, he was certain it would be just as red.

"You're silly…"

A smile in her voice and her light shining bright enough that he almost wanted to look away. Almost but not quite. Her eyes were on her homework but the scratch of her pencil slowed since they'd been talking. Riku watched with fondness curling in his chest, threatening to strangle any sense of reason. Tiredness was temporarily forgotten as he tucked his lips at her ear, cradling her against his chest in a loose hold.

"Kiss me?"

It was an uphill battle asking for one. Kairi — and Sora — insisted he could have as much affection as he wanted from either of them. Happy to give it even at the most inopportune of moments, and no matter how fleeting. Riku was embarrassed at times. How needy did they think him? And above that, didn't they know if he lingered too long in their light, he might have grown to crave it?

Sora didn't seem to mind. So often as it seemed like Sora followed him around, it might have been the other way around. Kairi led them as much as they followed, and the three of them were simply together. Pulled into one another's orbit, bound by some unspoken love and adoration.

Kairi tapped her pencil against the page, the light sticking and click of lead drawing Riku out of his thoughts as she tossed a small wry smile over her shoulder. "You'd have to move for that," she teased, and his worries were entirely forgotten.

He tipped his head back with a groan. "Kairi…"

"You can't have a kiss if I can't see your face," she replied in a lilting tone, too amused for his liking.

Riku wrinkled his nose and mulled over the consequence of not. On one hand, he could kiss Kairi and drift off to sleep peacefully. While on the other, he could mess around and not have it at all. Weighing the costs and the gains, Riku sighed. "I want three."

Kairi hummed thoughtfully, tapping her pencil to her chin. Her silence stretching on for so long that Riku huffed and squeezed her hip, earning a giggle. "Alright, deal."

Burying a smile against her shoulder, he laid a kiss at the crook of her neck before lifting his head, shifting backward. "Three," he reminded while she set aside her work, turning toward him.

"Three." It was a repeat but also an agreement. His heart skipping a beat at the determined look in her eyes as she settled on her knees facing him. Her hands slipping in his hair sending him into a buzz of sensory delight, working lightly against his scalp, his eyes fluttering shut. Even in the dark, he could see her approaching but the softness of her lips was something he was unprepared for.

Along with the faint taste of sea salt.

Her hands threaded in his hair, elbows resting against his shoulders and he tipped his head up to meet her at the new angle, finding purchase with his hands against her hips. The taste of sea salt and dried fruit, something sweet but not so overpowering that it was bitter, lingered on her lips. Anchoring himself with the hold, Riku hummed deep in his chest and pulled away enough to speak against her lips.

"You ate my last ice cream, didn't you?"

Although he couldn't see her face when she gasped, Kairi's voice always pitched when she was fit with giggles. "That's not the point of why we're here right now, is it?"

Riku couldn't help but smile. She definitely ate it but he couldn't find it in himself to be upset with her. Pulling her to him with another kiss pressed to her smiling mouth, he brought his teeth down on her lower lip, pulling lightly when she gasped. A brief flick of her tongue against his own before he pulled away again.

"… You definitely ate it."

Kairi's light was a bit brighter and when he cracked his eyes, the flush to her cheeks had returned just as the bite of her fingernails against his scalp reminded. She was beautiful. Freckles beginning to show along her nose and cheeks, faint but hardly able to be missed.

"I'll buy more," she assures, and Riku shrugs.

"Forget about it."

He could hardly care about it now. Looping his arms around her waist to pull her against him as he rocked backwards, spilling over onto his bed in a tangle of limbs. Kairi's surprised squeak and shout of his name drowned out in startled laughter. Her knee almost catching him in the hip as she squirmed but he smiled nonetheless, tucking his nose against her cheek,.

With the angle of light slanting through his windows, her freckles were prominent and so was the blue of her eyes. If Sora was the sky, then Kairi was the ocean, and Riku was sure he could linger in the sea for awhile longer if she was the one holding him.

"That was unfair," She huffed, poking his stomach, breaking the small trance he'd been in. Her lower lip poking out in a tiny pout and he was hard pressed not to laugh. That would've only spurred on the challenge and he didn't have the energy to wrestle with her today.

"Call it even for eating my ice cream."

She rolled her eyes and threw her arm across his side, resting her head against his shoulder. "I guess," she murmured, face lax with contentment and half-buried shirt.

Riku's eyes softened and he rested his forehead against hers as she hugged closer to him, shielding her cheek from the sun as he cradled it with his palm, combing her hair behind her ear. "Nap?" He asked when the silence carried on for awhile longer.

Kairi shifted slightly, her eyes barely opening but it felt as if the tide had washed over him. "Nap." She closed her eyes again and Riku smiled, remiss to move too far from her. With a light flick of his finger and a whisper of Aero, his blanket lifted up and a murmur of Gravity brought it closer to them, lying it over them.

It wasn't often he goofed off but he could make an exception. And it might have been a misuse of his powers, but looking down at Kairi resting peacefully.

So what?

Author's Note

So! Here's another contribution to the Kingdom Hearts fandom. I wrote this awhile back and decided to post it up since it's a oneshot. And as you can tell, there's some lowkey Sorikai feelings along with the feeling of 'Can Riku catch a break'? Our boy is stressed. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed writing this and shoutout to my friend teraflare to which this wouldn't have been possible.

There's probably going to be more of these snippets. Although I know it's said Kairi was placed in a coma for about a year to search her memories, be it far from me to be like: "Okay, I see that. But can it be sometime after KH3 so they have time to deal with their shit?" And that's where this series came to being!

So as a disclaimer, you guys can find me on Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Pillowfort, and a few other social media platforms as unlockthelore! If you want to check out my original fiction, find me on Tapas with my book Legend of the Four Elemental Heroes.

As always, thank you so much for reading! Peace.