Disclaimer: If I owned Kingdom Hearts, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't still be living at home. XD Even though my mom is awesome. (But she keeps making me lose the Game!) Disney and Squeenix own at least one part of my soul, though.

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The first days back were filled with tears, laughter, contentment and at times a strange giddy happiness that would grab hold of Riku's breath and squeeze tight. He would take a moment to close his eyes and force himself to exhale, to remind himself that when he opened them it would all still be there. Sora's laughter, Kairi's teasing grin... his mother's half disbelieving eyes that would shimmer occasionally with tears of relief.

"I thought my mom was gonna ground me for the rest of life once she remembered to be angry with me!" Sora laughed, not bothering to hide the touch of guilt that plagued him when he actually thought about the fact that they'd been gone for two years. "I think she kind of understood, though... Dad said he was surprised she didn't just to keep me around every day."

"They're getting better, though, right?" Kairi asked cheerily. "After all, you guys have been back for a week, now!"

If Riku were less of a coward, he would ask her how his mother had faired that second year. He felt even worse for the fact that he couldn't truly regret it, not when he'd felt the desperation that crawled under his skin as hours, days, months passed. They observed the progression of Sora's exile inside that pod with a frigid disregard that sometimes drove Riku's blood to boil.

In that time, he would've done (and did) almost anything to see those smiling eyes again.

"Yeah! It's going really great. The only difference is that my mom comes into my room to wake me up, now, instead of just calling me." Sora explained, and his smile was indulgent. Riku could tell that he understood his mother's actions in a way the old Sora wouldn't be able to. Back when he'd never lost anything. Once you had there was always a tiny fear in the back of your heart that never really went away. Some people could get past it and some... got stuck. "What about you, Riku? How did your mom take everything?" Sora asked, his voice curious yet softer than usual as he took in Riku's melancholy stance.

Riku ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "She's doing her best. I... really hurt her, y'know?" Along with everyone else.

"Hey." Riku didn't look up at first as the warm hand, rough with calluses, came to rest on his shoulder. He simply soaked in the sensation. "It couldn't be helped. But you came back with us. We're home, now. That's what counts." The warmth of that hand seemed to reflect itself in everything Riku saw as he took in his surroundings once again. He smiled.

"Yeah."

-

For at least the first few mornings Sora and Riku both took a little longer to actually meet up with everyone. There wasn't anything quite like lounging in bed for an extra half-hour or taking an extra long shower or just taking a little time to enjoy the quiet (but not silence, never silence) and think about nothing. Saying good morning to their parents mattered now in a way it hadn't before.

Sora was always relieved when, on the mornings he woke up with a certain problem, he didn't have to worry about Donald and Goofy. Not that he didn't miss them or anything, but he definitely hadn't wanted them around the one time it had happened while they were still journeying ("NOTHING'S WRONG." Squeaked the voice belonging to the spiky-headed blur that had just zoomed behind the bathroom door. He didn't come out for a long while.) and he certainly didn't now, as it became a more and more common occurrence.

He'd felt so awkward going to his dad about it, but it was a much better option than when he'd briefly considered asking Leon about it that first time. The thought of that still made Sora cringe. He'd been too young for the subject to come up 'Before', and he had the feeling he'd missed a bit during that year.

Riku hadn't been in any better of a position except for the fact that he'd had no one to hide from. He figured things out the best he could from the sparse knowledge he'd already had. All he knew for sure was that all his feelings, as always, grew stronger the closer Sora was to him. This was just a physical manifestation of it all. Some mornings were just like that.

-

There were nights he would awaken, sweat-soaked and tear-stained, his lip stinging where he'd bitten down so hard to hold in screams. Sometimes it was simply him, lost in the darkness with no one and no way out. Those weren't the worst ones, though. The worst were the nights when his imagination took the reins. In his unconscious mind he was far too weak, helpless to the darkness as he watched Sora scream in pain, his eyes wide and horrifically comical in their shock as the life was stolen from him in a single breath. Only moments before he'd been fighting, making snide remarks with that deep resolve that had only deepened with time passed. Now as his lids squeezed shut in pain and his expelled a final, gurgling breath, he fell away into a darkness Riku only wished he could reach.

But he couldn't do anything. Not even call out. His mind screamed the name over and over... Sora. Sora! SoraSoraSoraSORA!

The first night Sora was awakened by Riku in this distraught state, his voice was groggy as he spoke.

"Riku? What are you doing here?" He eyes roved over his panting friend, crinkling with worry at the desperation he found. "What's going on? What's wrong?"

Riku shook his head and his fingers twitched on Sora's skin. It was then that Sora realized he was trembling faintly. "...Riku?"

"Sora..." Riku rasped and his voice sounded scratchy but from what, Sora wasn't sure. "I just..."

Needed to see you alive.

Some part of Sora seemed to understand and he simply covered Riku's hand with his own and nodded. "It's okay." He whispered.

The air sizzled with emotion neither could define as Riku leaned forward and pulled Sora flush to his body. Sora easily returned the embrace and closed his eyes until Riku pulled back a few moments later. Any confusion was quickly waved away by hormones and sensation as strangly elegant pale hands roved over his face, neck, shoulders and back. The hands lingered where flesh met flesh and Sora's breath caught halfway in his throat.

Riku made sure to check and memorize everything, his thumbs trailing feather-light over dark lids and lashes, hands cupping smooth cheeks. Breathing became a bigger task for both of them as he brushed Sora's lips and they opened slightly on instinct. Riku closed his eyes and shuddered as he felt the hot, damp breath that escaped Sora.

The part of Riku's mind that had been trapped, replaying that image of a younger Sora over and over again, snapped to the present. Riku ran a hand through that stupid hair and marveled at how soft it was despite it's shape. His other palm smoothed down Sora's neck and kissed his collar bone, shoulder blades, and then trailed down his spine to rest against his lower back.

Sora sighed and nearly hummed his name as his eyes opened slowly. They seemed to struggle against the sluggishness of sleep and the gentle minstrations and rested in a half-lidded state. "Riku."

Riku wondered if he would get punched if he called Sora "beautiful." He wanted to anyways. Some part of him still feared those eyes filled with rejection, though, so for now he only replied in kind. It came out in a moan as he rested his forehead against the other's, millimeters away from a kiss. "Sora." SoraSoraSoraSora.

Those nights began with fear, but quickly transformed into heat, curiousity, laughter, and something yet unnamable.

Sora never asked, and Riku never explained.

-

"Wow, Sora! What an amazing adventure!" Selphie gushed as Sora inevitably wrapped up the tale of their adventure, leaving a few choice things out and skimming over some parts.

"Where were you in all of this, though, Riku?" Tidus piped up, again, inevitably. "I mean, I know that you helped close that "door to darkness" thing, but where were you before that?"

Riku's smirk was dark in a way they didn't comprehend. After all, he smirked a lot anyways. "I was on the other side."

"Of the door, yeah, but where were you before that?"

Sora nudged Riku gently and quickly replied, "He found Kairi before I did, so he was looking for a way to wake her up."

Selphie gasped. "Because her heart was missing, right? Where did you find it?"

"It turned out it was locked inside my heart all along! That's why I sometimes heard and saw her when I was traveling. I had to release it with a keyblade." Sora grinned easily. Riku's stomach turned at how casually he said it, but of course Sora was still Sora. And he didn't want to freak the others out.

"Kairi was inside you? That sounds a little wrong, man." Wakka leered good naturedly. He was quick to lift his hands in defense and laugh as Kairi wacked him upside the head.

"Don't be such a pervert!"

After Selphie was finished glaring at Wakka she turned to Sora again, eyes wide and earnest while Tidus high-fived the red head.

"That must have been so freaky! Weren't you worried that the keyblade would turn you into a heartless?"

"A little, but Kairi's worth it. Plus it all worked out!" Sora evaded the truth very smoothly.

"Oh my gosh, that's so sweet Kairi!" And they were back to gushing. Kairi smiled back at Selphie in response. Sora was the only one who understood the melancholy mood that hung over his two friends, now.

"Yeah." Sora nodded and suddenly flopped backward, pillowing his head in his arms as he slumped onto Riku's right leg and took a moment to meet his eyes meaningfully. Riku, who had refrained from meeting anyone's eyes for the past couple minutes and had become increasingly dark tempered, gasped very softly in surprise and his gaze turned rather sheepish as it met Sora's. "We were real lucky. Things could've turned out a lot differently. But they didn't, so everything's good!" Once Sora was certain that he'd gotten his message through to Riku, he turned his eyes to Kairi. She was already grinning back at him - watching him convince their stubborn friend was enough for her.

Wakka, Tidus and Selphie all paused a little at the position. Wakka quickly brushed it off as a Sora thing, but Selphie sent Kairi a searching look and Tidus furrowed his brow in thought.

Even still, no one said anything as the conversation moved on with Sora remaining exactly where he was, and Riku didn't tell him when his leg fell asleep.

--

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it, and I also, as always, hope you review. ^_^ Part 2 coming soon.