reality won't hurt for longer than it should

[limitstorm]

Who: Riku and Lea
When: January 4th
Where: Casa de Bro
What: Some awkward misunderstandings.
Warnings: Cavities.

There was a reason Riku didn't like making anything with onions.

They made his eyes water like nothing else ever could. No matter what type of onion--white, red, pearl, even shallots--would make him start crying and he would always get frustrated, ending up with a few wads of paper towel next to him as he tried to get through the five onions the soup he was making needed. He coughed into his elbow, putting the knife down and blindly reaching for a new paper towel, turning away from his cutting board and pressing the paper to his eyes beneath his glasses. He knew his eyes were probably red and slightly puffy by now.

At least Sora wasn't here. His best friend would probably laugh at him, and he was only two onions down.

With a sigh, he slid the onions into the pot and took a breather, thankful there were no pups around to distract him. He might cut off a finger at this rate.

Comments

[promises_to_keep]

Lea smiled a bit at the audible exhale; he wasn't terribly tactile, himself, but there were some things you just needed an angle you couldn't get yourself. Riku's shoulders were strong and proud and always thrown back when he was doing something important, but he knew they had to ache just as fiercely as his own did when the day was over and the drive of a mission didn't keep them aloft. They both wore heavy mantles, weighted by chains of old sins, and Lea wasn't afraid to call him out on how painful that could be, even physically. He wasn't afraid to touch him, either, despite knowing just how capable Riku was of injuring him. There was still a gap, a void that needed closing, before either of them would really be able to completely relax around anyone, even the other, but Riku and Roxas were probably the only people Lea was fully prepared to expose his back to.

It seemed that was something mutual between them, at least.

He pressed and held the knotted muscle, then released it and drummed his fingers across his skin a moment.

"You don't gotta be embarrassed about it," he chuckled, "I'm kinda the same way. I'd be surprised if you never noticed me with a popsicle stick or a toothpick or a straw in my mouth." He snorted. "Xigbar used to ask me if I used to smoke."