million_points_of_light

Entry tags:

our house

Who: Lea and Riku
When: Wednesday 11December
Where: Casa de Bro
What: It's move-in day! And the boys manage to find a way to make it awkward.
Warnings: Awkward dorks.

Lea whistled appraisingly as he stepped through the doorway of the attached apartment.

"Guess these dog breeders do pretty well for themselves, huh?" he asked blandly, turning to investigate the coat closet behind the door. It was a spacious place, fully furnished and everything, and Lea was kind of excited about it. No more bunking with strangers, no more closed metal hallways or canned air. "Oh look, there's even a couch!"

He crossed the living room and flopped backwards onto the sofa with a peaceful sigh, folding his arms behind his head.

"Yeah, I think I could get used to this place," he said. "I'll figure out something to bring in some income too, so you don't have to be such a workaholic." He waved a hand then. "I know you're still going to be. The difference is it'll just be of your own volition and not out of obligation to make ends meet."

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"A lot of people need sled dogs," he offered, glancing forwards to the stairs and then sideways at Lea, raising an eyebrow sharply in disbelief.

"You, get a job? Wouldn't that interfere with your napping?" Shoes off, he looked down tot he warm fur rug, closing his eyes and curling his toes. It felt sort of like home, but... it actually had a homey feeling. Funny, that. His frown twitched into a crooked smile, moving towards the kitchen and looking around. Of course the fridge wasn't stocked--there was little in the cupboards and cabinets except a few spare pots and pans.

At least they could make stew. That was probably all he was going to be doing.

"Yes, sadly I doubt my napping skills will be too marketable," Lea said with affected despondency. He sank further into the couch and draped a hand dramatically across his brow. "No one appreciates a professional napper these days."

He frowned when he noticed Riku taking his shoes off, and sat up to tug his boots off in kind. He moved back toward the door and set them down near the closet, then went to investigate the kitchen. Leaning in the ingress, he cast his eyes around the clean tiles and neat little cabinets. He grinned.

"We'll have to have Sheena over sometime," he said, "so you two can have a cook-off. I volunteer to be the judge."

Cheeks tinging red as he brought the pot up onto the stove, he glanced over his shoulder. "You're gonna have to share that spot with Sora, you know," he states idly, with a slight smirk. "Maybe Sora, Roxas and you, so there's a tiebreaker." Even if he was pretty sure Roxas would lean away from anything he made.

Lifting his satchel to settle it on the counter, he turned, passing Lea and heading towards the stairs. "We've got three bedrooms. I'm counting on five of us being here--you, me, Roxas, Sora and Virgil." Of course, Virgil was free to go as he pleased, but... Riku was going to plan for him to be there anyhow.

"Oh, fine, I guess I can share," he grumbled, folding his arms. "You guys better make sure to make a lot, though. I don't wanna get gypped on curry."

He watched Riku stride out of the kitchen, then followed him, taking a moment to fiddle with the door that could conceal the stairway to the second level. Then he took the stairs two at a time to meet Riku at the top, where he looked sightly uncertain.

"Just make sure he doesn't murder me in my sleep, okay?" He rubbed the back of his neck. "Like we seem to be getting along okay, but... it's still a concern for me." Sort of. He didn't actually think Virgil would do something like that, especially since he seemed to care a lot about Riku's happiness, but...

Actually, speaking of sleeping.

"Ah, so..." He pressed a finger to his chin. "Five. Into three rooms." He gently pushed open one of the bedroom doors to see a bunk bed conveniently already in place inside. "Well that makes things a bit easier; Sora and Roxas'll prolly bunk up fine, they're basically brothers anyway, in a manner of speaking. And if Virgil's not gonna be a permanent fixture we can prolly make the other smaller bedroom like a study with a pullout." He pushed that door open and saw it had a day bed in it. Perfect. He looked Riku straight in the face then and asked casually, "Guess we're sharing the master, yah?"

"He's not gonna hurt you," Riku muttered as he came up the stairs, settling beside him. "He knows I'd beat him with my eyes closed and a hand tied behind my back if he tried."

He didn't seem to care much for conversation, peeking into all the bedrooms systematically before Lea posed the question, and at that, both his stomach dropped down and his cheeks heated up. "W--well," he started, rubbing the back of his neck and not making eye contact. "I... there's--th-there's a couch downstairs, and since it's closer to the door, I was gonna sleep on it, so they could get me if they needed me, I don't need the room."

Before Riku had even finished his explanation, Lea had stepped forward and brought his fist down on top of Riku's head, just hard enough to make a point. He made a loud buzzing sound: wrong answer.

"Try again, sport," he said sternly, shaking his head. "You're the breadwinner right now in the first place, so if anybody's sleeping on the couch it's me. Or maybe Virgil since he's likely to be a floater. Besides, I like sleeping on couches, and you just look uncomfortable on them."

He pulled his hand back and folded his arms.

"Anyway, they're gonna give you a schedule or something, right? I mean, what kind of boss doesn't tell you when to wake up and report for work?" Even Xemnas had given them a strict schedule most of the time, and he was about the lousiest boss Lea could think of, aside from any applicable other incarnations of him, or... however the hell that worked. He fixed him with a serious look and shook his head. "Look, it's fine if you don't wanna share a room, but for crying out loud, you take it and I'll take the couch. Or the daybed and make Virgil sleep on the couch." He gestured at the walls around them. "You're the reason we even have this place, and I'm not that much of an ass that I'd make you sleep on the damn couch, sheesh."

Edited 2013-12-13 07:44 (UTC)

"It's not about being a jerk," Riku rolled his eyes, taking a few steps into the bedroom. Geez, it was spacious. Not as much as his parents', but honestly, if it was, Riku would've felt even more uncomfortable. "I just don't want to end up punching you in the face again."

The thought of waking up to bruised knuckles again was extremely disconcerting to Riku. Waking up to a bruised Lea, moreso. Even so, as he sat down at the desk against a wall and spun in the chair idly, he had to stop himself and take another glance around. A big, empty room...

A shiver crawled up his spine, and he rolled his shoulders. "I want you here."

Lea actually laughed a bit at the excuse, shaking his head. Sheesh, he was still hung up over that? It had hardly even bruised--Riku's knuckles had really taken the brunt of it. Either that or Lea's jaw was made of adamantium.

"Riku, gimme a break," he said. "That was kind of a special case, you know? I'd probably have punched me in the face, too; you didn't do it on purpose." He stepped through the ingress and ran one hand over the smooth top of the bureau behind the door, then leaned against it and folded his arms over his chest. "Listen, I knew what I was getting into, okay? You were delirious, but I wasn't just gonna sit by and let your brains cook in your skull." He ventured a hesitant smile. "I was never mad about it," he said, and chuckled then; "I kinda like those brains. They're worth getting punched once or twice for, got it memorized?"

Watching him spin in the chair, Lea pressed his lips together and stared at the floor a moment. He still really wasn't sure how he felt about this whole thing. He knew Riku was really important to him, and in a completely different way than Roxas or Xion or anyone else was, but he still didn't know just what that meant. He'd never actually been in a relationship with anyone, not since he was in school and that certainly didn't really count. That had only lasted like two weeks anyway.

He lifted his head when Riku spoke then, and something squelched in his gut. He didn't know what that meant either; it had happened a lot recently. He got this weird twisty feeling in his stomach or behind his ribs sometimes when Riku would say something or smile a certain way. He'd gotten the same feeling when Riku had been sick, too, and when he'd been half-frozen in the house in old London.

What did it all mean? Ugh, feelings were so hard. He certainly wasn't about to trade them--not for anything--but man he wished they came with instructions.

Taking a halting breath and then exhaling, Lea moved to the center of the room and flopped backward on the bed, tucking his hands behind his head and staring at the ceiling.

"Then... I'll be here," he said, "for as long as you want me to be."

That shouldn't have made him as beet red as he was. Staring at his curled fist, Riku tried to get his thudding heart under control, feeling a tingle of darkness at his fingertips. It was stranger now that he had control over it--strange that it reacted to emotion. It wasn't just distress, but happiness and sadness, panic and calm. The darkness was more a part of him than Riku was really willing to reveal; he quietly thought on that, though on just how dark the room was, and how alone he'd be if he kept it to himself.

Was it selfish? It wasn't as if he didn't want Lea to be here in his own right; sure, he'd like to share, but... there was always the possibility that he'd do something and chase him into the living room. (Heck, he might do that if Lea was a jerk, anyhow. Which he was guaranteed to be.)

"Okay," he pushed himself to say, feeling shyer than he had before. His hands dropped to his sides, gripping into the underside of his chair as he gave another spin, this time lazier. "As long as you're not doing it just to shut me up."

Lea snorted.

"If I was gonna do something to just shut you up I'd definitely take a different avenue," he guffawed.

As if it were possible for Riku to get more red.

His gaze jerked up to Lea's, eyes wide and mouth contorting into an embarrassed, scandalized shape. Trying to say something, he gets out a few syllables--but he just can't spit it out, and he ends up shoving himself up from the seat and punching Lea in the shoulder.

"Are you always this articulate?" Lea asked fiendishly before accepting the punch and just cackling like a hyena. Man, really, this was his new favorite hobby: How Much Can I Embarrass Riku Today?

Maybe he would up the ante just a little. Quick as a cat striking, Lea snapped his hand out and grabbed Riku's wrist to yank him down onto the bad beside him, then just as quickly let go and threaded his hands behind his head again. He didn't want to actually make him uncomfortable, but there was something really endearing about how flustered he got.

Attempting to stifle more amusement, Lea just turned and grinned at him sidelong.

"You're so red you look sunburnt," he chortled, covering his mouth with one hand. "You really need to learn to relax."

An undignified yelp left Riku's lips as gravity fell down all around him, legs flying up and chest flush against Lea. Flailing and flustered, he tried to push himself up onto his elbows, still too shaky to actually get on his feet.

"You need to learn that gravity exists," he managed to say, blowing some hair out of his face.

"Oh pshaw." Lea rolled over and got back to his feet, offering a hand to pull Riku up. "No tricks," he promised. "I'm fully aware of gravity. You're the one it seems to keep catching off-guard."

He chortled and shook his head, moving to the desk where Riku had been sitting and pulling the drawers open one at a time. They were empty, and he wasn't sure what he'd been expecting otherwise.

"S'kinda funny, you know?" He turned and leaned his hip against the desk, folding his arms and looking strangely contemplative. "This place feels so normal these days..." He grimaced and shook his head again. "Er, not this place, but... Exsilium. Whatever incarnation we're calling it now." He shrugged his shoulders, holding them hunched a moment before letting them fall. "Back home, I feel like we'd have no time for anything like this, you know?" He didn't bother to specify what--dog training, snowball fights, dating... all of the above? "Half of me winds up feeling like we should be trying harder to get back home, so we can finish what we started, but..."

He hesitated, wondering if it was even wise to confess such things to Riku, constant workaholic that he was.

"Well, the rest of me just kind of likes it here," he said before he thought better of it. He scratched his head and fiddled with the chair, spinning it idly with one hand and avoiding Riku's eye. He worried at his lower lip, a tug of guilt pulling at his stomach. Isa was still waiting for him. Xion was still waiting for him. Hell, the worlds were waiting for both of them... all of them. Even if he had Roxas here, he knew plain well that it wasn't the case back home. He still had people counting on him, but part of him just wasn't ready to face so much responsibility yet.

"I don't think I want to go back yet." He glanced up hesitantly, something hangdog in his eyes. "Is that cheating?"

"Who's the one who fell through a floor, again?" He supplied snidely, settling onto the bed a little more comfortably as Lea went to inspect the desk. Riku brings one of his legs up, folding it and perching his chin atop his knee, thankful for the heat radiating through the room. Looking up, he locates a vent, and for some reason, he finds himself a little more thankful it's directly over the bed. He's so claiming the left spot. ... if Lea doesn't want to.

Attention's brought back to Lea as he speaks, head canted to the side as he keeps on speaking and Riku isn't quite sure where he's going. He feels normal here, too. He understands that there would be little to no time for... ...

Uh, everything. Yeah, everything they've been doing. And even Riku can admit that maybe they should be trying to go back home more urgently, but he's too stubborn to try and leave when there's a clear and present danger.

What Lea suggests, what he admits, however--that's clear and Riku looks surprised, straightening and then looking down.

Is it cheating?

"I--I don't know," he finally lets himself admit, hands fisting in covers.

"Hey, that was completely different!" he retorted, wagging a finger. "I wasn't surprised by gravity, I was surprised by the floor not being there anymore. Totally different."

Lea was both a little pleased and a little sorry that Riku looked so uncomfortable with this question. Pleased because it meant he wasn't the only one who wasn't sure what to think about it, but... sorry because Riku just looked so damn torn.

He cleared his throat and ventured a watery smile.

"Well, it's not really up to us anyway," he said, maybe a little too brightly. "If we get sent home, then I guess it's back to business, but... in the meantime, I guess it's not really a bad thing to enjoy what we have here, right?"

Riku didn't answer the question, still troubled.

Ever since they'd shared a night in that old, rickety building--since Riku'd tried to open up, tried to address the subject of feelings, he'd tried to do it more often. It seemed like it was a good thing to do. He wasn't necessarily dishonest, but... he tended to think ahead, to reassure others that he'd be okay.

He still wasn't quite sure about troubling Lea with this, but he... should probably be clear with him, especially when he'd asked, and when Lea had a reaction that seemed a little... off.

Finally, after a long while, he managed to slowly say, "I don't think it's cheating."

He looked up to Lea afterward, and pursed his lips, tried to smile, and looked back down.

"We're doing our jobs, right now, by protecting and defending this world. I think... if we can do this, maybe we'll be more ready by the time we have to go back." He let out a breath and leafed a hand through his hair, swallowing a breath to work up courage.

"I don't think I want to go back--not without setting things right here."

Something that had coiled tightly in the base of Lea's spine came unwound instantaneously as Riku responded, and he sort of sagged where he stood. He knew he had something of a reputation for being lazy--and rightly so!--but this wasn't about a lack of motivation. Lea had always preferred to run away from a real fight when he had the option, but this time there was no option. He had a Keyblade now. He was supposed to be some guardian of light or something. And he had absolutely no idea what the hell he was doing.

Maybe Riku's reasons for wanting to stay were a little more noble (a little more excusable), but the fact that he wasn't ready to head home just yet either was a weight off Lea's shoulders. Part of him wasn't even sure why he cared so much, but... no, he knew why. It wasn't so much that he wanted to impress Riku as it was he wanted to be respected by him. He didn't want to be a screw-up anymore. He wanted the other guardians of light to take him seriously, to trust him, to depend on him, and that was so alien somehow. He was a turncoat, a traitor, and the idea of them wondering, even for a moment, if he would betray them too made him sick to his stomach.

He nodded noncommittally, not quite willing to air his concerns, then hefted a sigh.

"Sorry," he said, pulling at his neck, "didn't mean to make things heavy." He stretched his arms up over his head, then let them fall back to his sides and nodded toward the door. "You wanna like go get some groceries or somethin'? I know you've been itching to make some actual food."

He wouldn't deny he'd been itching to actually eat some.

His mouth curved into an actual smile, a light blinking bright in his eyes again. He had wanted to cook for a while. It was a good way to destress after a long day, and he'd seen a few things he wanted to trade for.

"Sure, I guess," he dialed back some of his initial happiness. It was such a relief to actually be free of small, dank spaces, to have something more than freeze-dried food. He hesitated for a moment as he got up, though, not sure if he should invite Lea along, or if Lea was planning on going with him, or...

"You gonna... break in the new bed?" he ventured, noncommittally.

He blinked, tilting his head.

"I wasn't telling you to go buy food to get rid of you," he said, frowning a little. "If you wanna go alone--I dunno if you have some like chef zen thing you do--that's fine, but for the record I was offering to go with you."

"'Chef zen thing'?" Riku laughed and shook his head. "First of all, I'm not a chef. Second of all..." ...

It was a zen thing, wasn't it? His shoulders slumped before he looked up to Lea. It was something to destress, but... having someone around never hurt.

"... it's more zen with someone else there, alright?" he found himself saying, heart beating loud in his ears. "I think too much if someone isn't talking."

"Fine, fine, a short order cook zen thing," he corrected with a roll of his eyes. "I think you think too much anyway," Lea said then, but chortled and gestured toward the door. "But I guess if you want somebody to natter at you I'm your guy."

He waited for Riku to move through the doorway and then followed him down the stairs.

"Hey." He paused as he grabbed his shoes to step into them, giving Riku an uncertain look. "You know you can tell me to knock it off, okay? If I'm pissing you off." He'd never been a terribly tactile person, but with certain people he could make the exception. Riku happened to be one of them. "You're fun to tease, but I don't wanna like... make you actually uncomfortable or nothin'."

Riku paused, slipping his shoes on and zipping up his coat before he focused on Lea. "I--" ... really? Riku blinked at him for a moment before laughing quietly, raking a hand through soft hair.

"Lea, part of the reason I like you is because you're annoying," he teases, shrugging his shoulders. "I'll tell you to knock it off if something happens, though. I promise." He lifts his chin. "I can hold myself to that. And so can you."

Lea made a startled noise, then did his best to look indignant.

"Well I didn't really think my obnoxiousness was one of my most attractive features, but I guess if that's what blows your skirt up..." He sort of huffed and slipped his shoes on, then quickly wrapped his scarf around his neck in the hopes of hiding the fact that his ears had inexplicably gone red. Then he hunched his head down into his shoulders and yanked the front door open.

Really, he'd been trying to make sure Riku was comfortable with the teasing and somehow he'd been counterteased! Inconceivable!

There was a pause, before Riku looked at the door, looked at Lea, and then slowly, deliberately nodded his head as he spoke. "Lea... you know I'm not a girl, right?"

Maybe it was the combination of him opening the door and mentioning skirt, even if he'd used that turn of phrase several times, but he suddenly remembered the constant pronoun and gender assumptions when he'd asked for help in regards to his romantic relationship. He sincerely doubted Lea didn't know, but--

He wasn't treating him like a girl, was he?

The sudden nonsequitur question startled Lea so much that he was actually fairly certain he heard a record scratch somewhere in his brain. Wait... what?

"Wait what?" Suddenly the fluster was gone, replaced with absolute bafflement, and he tugged his scarf down to give Riku a flabbergasted look. "Riku, your luxurious silver locks and long eyelashes aside, yes I'm aware that you're a dude." He shook his head, still completely flummoxed. "The skirt thing is a turn of phrase. You know, whatever floats your boat, blows your hair back, winds your clock, blows your skirt up?"

Lea was so caught off-guard that Riku felt a little bad for springing the question on him so suddenly... until he mentioned his hair and eyelashes, and Riku's shoulders hunched, chin lowering until his mouth and the tip of his nose was obscured in the standing collar on his coat.

"Nevermind," he mumbles, face bright as Lea's hair as he shuffled through the doorway. "It's dumb. Let's get going."

"Wait, wait, no, come on." Lea reached out and grabbed his shoulder as he shuffled past, arresting his forward motion. "Okay that was a really weird question, but something prompted it."

He shook his head and narrowed his eyes at him before pulling the door closed behind them.

"I'm not really the chivalrous type in the first place," he admitted. "Like okay I'll give you my scarf if it's cold, but I don't pick up tabs and I'm not gonna pull your chair out for you at dinner. I didn't think I was treating you any differently than I treated any of my friends, really...?"

Except, you know, the teasing and sharing a bedroom part?

He groaned as Lea pulled him back, looking back up at the redhead as he spoke.

"It's not about this," he finally found himself saying, rubbing the back of his neck. "I posted to the network a while ago for help about how to... wrap my head around something like this. Trust me, there wasn't a lot of help." He nearly rolled his eyes, remembering many 'suggestions' that he ended up wincing about, and others he nearly didn't respond to.

"What I realized was that... everyone thought I was talking about a girl." He furrowed his brows, almost troubled. "I thought, maybe you were treating me like one? No one's really..." He pursed his lips and then turned away, shaking his head.

"Nevermind."

Lea wasn't sure what he was more abashed about: the idea that Riku had asked people on the network for input, the idea that everyone had assumed he was a girl, or the idea that this somehow made Riku think he was being treated like one. Standing on the front porch of the little duplex, Lea tried to formulate a response. His jaw worked soundlessly a moment, and then he finally found his voice.

"Why the hell would I be treating you like a girl?" he asked, releasing Riku's shoulder and scratching his head furiously. "I mean I guess... weren't you seeing a girl last year anyway? So I can understand why they might think this was about one too, but." He shook his head again. "I'm just treating you like Riku."

Then he paused a moment in thought, trying to conjure a moment when he'd acted any differently recently than he always had. The teasing aside, he really couldn't think of anything.

"... Aren't I?"

Suddenly he wondered if he'd done something wrong without meaning to.

"You're not treating me like anyone else ever has," he mumbled, looking at Lea a little strangely. "I've always been the person taking care of everyone else. You're usually the one taking care of me. Which is really weird for me."

(Though, any kind of care was generally quite foreign for Riku in general, but Lea's was a strange mixture of honesty and humor that Riku really appreciated.)

He hunched his shoulders again. "I... think you're treating me the same. It's like before, but--just a little different, not like night and day."

Lea went rigid at that. Like nobody else ever had? Was that a bad thing? He pressed his lips together, rolled his shoulders back, and tucked a stray spike of hair behind his ear.

Honestly, he'd gotten used to being the adult in whatever situation he was in. Roxas and Xion hadn't really known how to do much of anything when they'd first been put in his charge, and from that moment on he'd just never quite managed to take off the mentor hat. It wasn't quite the same with Riku--he had said it himself, that he didn't feel obligated to watch his back so much as he just wanted to. He liked being depended on, he always had. It was why he'd been such a good agent for the Organization. He didn't have to like his assignments, but he knew if he did a good job they would look to him again, and it was validating.

People who needed you missed you when you were gone. People who were missed weren't forgotten.

He half-shrugged, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Well, let's be real here, you're pretty lousy at taking care of yourself," he said, avoiding eye contact. "It isn't like I've got your back because I think you're incapable. For that matter, I know a few girls who are more than capable, so even if that were the case, your gender wouldn't have anything to do with it." His eyes searched the ground, then swam back to Riku. "I just like to make sure the people who matter are doing all right, that's all. And that's... not something that's gonna change just 'cuz our friendship has, you know?"

Riku at least tried to give him an offended look when he noted that he was bad at taking care of himself, but slowly looked back away with a roll of his eyes.

... but then, he realized what Lea had said, and he raised his eyes, and smiled.

His heart shouldn't feel so light when Lea said that, but-- I just like to make sure the people who matter are doing all right... why did it mirror what he'd always said? Even if he tried to hold it in, he ended up chuckling, feeling more fond of Lea than he had before.

As if that was even possible.

"I get it. Sorry for misunderstanding."

Lea arched an eyebrow as Riku looked up and smiled at him. Like really smiled. Not the sly half-grin or the I'm Humoring You look, but an actual genuine smile. It was more symmetrical than the grin, and didn't pull in at the sides the way the indulgence smile did. It was such a rarity that Lea actually took note whenever it happened, and he kept noting little differences each time. He didn't show any teeth until he laughed, and Lea ventured a hesitant smile of his own.

"Besides, of the two of us," he said then with a snort of laughter, "I'm the one with the girly hips anyway."

Oh yes, he'd gotten teased about that many times.

"Come on, let's go find Roxas and Sora and convince them the house is haunted or something. See how long it takes them to call shenanigans."

He had a feeling this was all going to work out really well.

I didn't notice, he was about to say, letting his eyes flit away from Lea's form.

"Roxas first. You always start with the hardest stuff first." And convincing Roxas there were ghosts or any sort of supernatural shenanigans--that was like asking for trouble. Especially with Riku himself around.

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