Work Text:
“A place where only the one I love had the key. That’s where we’ll meet tonight.”
Sora balled up the slip of paper embedded in his bagged lunch and stuffed it in his pocket.
The condescending reminder that said “one” was Sora was not one he needed. Really. If anything, Riku was the “one” who could use one from Sora…
And both of them have a key to every lock in the world.
So what key, exactly, was Riku talking about?
“Had.”
Well, originally, that was supposed to be Riku, right? Perhaps he’d reverted to his old ways of excessive self-respect.
No, he’d never. Though Sora wished he would.
Perhaps he meant a world without other sorts of keys?
Sora pored through his journal, where minutes quickly turned into several hours of consideration.
Monstro? No, not quite…
… the Hundred Acre Wood? There were at least a few there…
Space Paranoids? Sora remembered that Pence had tried to teach him about the concept of digital keys (though Sora hadn’t learned much from the effort). That was a no.
It was after such detailed consideration that it occurred to Sora that he hadn’t been the only keyblade wielder to visit these worlds (with the potential exception of the Hundred Acre Wood).
Was it really that simple?
Sora groaned and revved up the gummi ship.
“Riku!” Sora made no attempt at a proper greeting, or even confirming Riku’s presence, before rustling his way into the secret place. “You know that’s not even true.”
Riku was unfazed. “I did say ‘had’, you know. Past tense.”
…OK, technically, Riku had never wielded the key before Sora had.
“It’s too easy, then! Do you really think that’s all I can solve?”
Riku just laughed.
“Hey!” Sora hadn’t even meant that suggestion seriously…
“No, that’s not why I gave you that one. I thought that, if I gave you a simple enough prompt that led you here, you’d wind yourself up for a couple of hours…then come here tired and frustrated, only to find me! Nice surprise, right?” Riku’s shit-eating grin was the one that pulled an instinctive “hmph” out of Sora every single time.
“Maybe I was wrong about how you’d react,” Riku mused.
“Maybe the fairies were right about dating childhood friends…”
“Oh, don’t be like that…” Riku gave him a mildly welcome side hug.
Sora shrugged it off. “Fine. Hey, Riku, try this one: I’ll meet you a place that feels like I do right now.”
“Angry?”
Sora grabbed his hand without answering, pulling him forcefully out of the secret place and towards the small island they spent many sunsets on.
“Oh, Sora, you can be honest about how you feel around m-”
Hypocrite. “Salty.”
He pushed Riku into the ocean.