coexistent | ic contact;

[those tears are about as heartfelt as it gets, riku can tell this much. if any doubt remained about nobodies and hearts, this moment now completely eliminates it. watching roxas cry like this hurts, too. if only he'd taken a chance to just talk with roxas or stood up against diz's insistence on doing things quickly then maybe things could've ended differently.

instead, he hurt another innocent person. no, not only hurt, but put an end to their life. roxas' hearts lives on inside sora, yeah, but living inside someone isn't the same as having a life. even when trying to do good, he still screws up playing the hero, doesn't he?]

No, I don't know. I didn't know way too much but didn't care because I was way too focused on saving my best friend.

[it blinded him more than that blindfold ever could. times he questioned things happened and several times. sacrificing someone who so obviously felt sora rubbed him wrong. by the time those uneasy feelings won out, sparing roxas from his fate was too late. the most he managed to do was spare namine from elimination when diz ordered it. ...even with her, she still wasn't spared from rejoining kairi, either.]

I guess I needed you to prove to me that... [he pauses, his frown deepening as he glances downward] That I stole your life from you.

[admitting that is hard. so hard. it implies that his goal for over a year had been a bad one... no, saving sora wasn't bad, but the way they went about it was. they wanted to do it quick. if a few nobodies were sacrificed then so what? no hearts meant it was okay.

but it wasn't. it felt wrong and was wrong. seeing him with mary like that, just being friendly and protective with her, drilled home the fact that he screwed up about as bad as it gets. nobodies like roxas and namine and xion all had hearts, all had lives. like a true villain, riku ignored that possibility and took away their chance at living.]

You had a right to live like anyone else with a heart; I denied you that right. Words don't make up for anything and I don't expect them to, but I... I'm sorry, Roxas.

[he truly is.]

[there's a lot here that roxas is definitely not quite ready to hear yet; it's all a bit too much.

the first thought that comes is wondering what made sora so important. why? why was sora so important that he was worthy taking down? why did xion have to go too? it wasn't fair to either of them, and even if roxas has some very vague acknowledgement that he's born from sora...

he's not sora. he doesn't think he belongs with sora, either. he doesn't know him—unlike other nobodies who remembered their original lives without much deviation, roxas is sure they can't be the same.

and maybe riku is acknowledging that now too, but it's really hard for roxas to accept that much. he hears the apology, and while time will definitely mend the rift and maybe make things ultimately better for them both later on, roxas isn't ready for any of that. so the silence is long and heavy, filled with tension as roxas tries to figure out what comes next. he wants so badly to brush off riku's apologies and say they're not good enough, because what he did was unforgivable...

but he can't. he doesn't know why; maybe it's because of sora, or maybe it's because he can tell for the first time that riku is being incredibly sincere about what a shitheel he was.

but that doesn't mean he's ready to accept it, either. his head is swimming from the overload, so instead what he lets out is a very quiet, cold question as he keeps his gaze fixed on his hands.]

...Is there anything else?

[silence hanging like that makes the atmosphere all but comfortable, but riku'll take it to being told off immediately. not getting told off period pleasantly surprises him. he deserves it. hell, he deserves a punch to the face and then some. maybe the lack of it means things between them could improve bit by bit in time. hah, nah, that's wishful thinking. this isn't sora who would pursue a friendship even with someone as shitty as himself while not taking a no for an answer. this is roxas, someone who may be part of sora but is not sora. friendship won't happen. riku's fine with that.

what gets said is a not so subtle push to moving on to chatting about something else. topic change happily accepted. riku looks back toward roxas, not hesitating in giving a blunt response.]

Tons.

[a pause comes before he speaks again.]

But instead of throwing more stuff at you, why don't you throw stuff at me.

[no one ever got around to explaining things to roxas properly. good chance that he needs some things cleared up and riku doesn't mind having a q&a session right now. they can chat about more intense things as they come or a different time. adding any more super heavy stuff unnecessarily when the kid's at his limit feels too dick a move.]

I'll answer whatever questions you need cleared up.

[straight answers, no dodging around them. consider it the first small step in making things up to roxas.]

[the problem with leaving the ball in roxas' court is the fact that because he's so overwhelmed by everything else, it leaves him at a bit of a loss.

somewhere floating in his mind are approximately five million questions. questions about hearts, about the organization, about sora—about xion and naminé, about xemnas and xehanort. about castle oblivion...

about why he has the keyblade.

about why he has two keyblades.

there's still so much that remains unanswered, but in this state, roxas isn't able to actually ask them. his mind is blank, it's throbbing and the expression on his face probably indicates that he's having an extremely tough time with all of this.]

I don't know. [he finally says after another long silence. his tone is definitely strained as he does so—the overload of having so much to ask is just too much for him. he's not "collapsing and passing out in the middle of castle oblivion" level of overwhelmed, but it's too much.

funny, how being told he has a heart suddenly made every feeling that much more intense.]

I— [he hesitates. he wants answers now, he wants to demand every answer from riku that he can. but all the same, he's too overwhelmed to cohesively ask those things, and probably not much in a state to process it either. he still needs to reconcile the fact that his entire worldview has been completely shattered in the blink of an eye.]

I need time. To think about it. [there's just so much.]

[silence is fine. riku remains patient throughout it, understanding that sorting everything out and figuring where to go may take a few. however long the reply takes to come, not a word gets spoken from his end. roxas had zero say in so much in the past. for once, far later than it should've happened, that's not gonna be the case. what they keep talking about and the pace all rests on him.

when the reply comes, it can't be called surprising. so much has to be swimming around in his head... and in his heart, now that he knows for a fact it's there. sorting it out will take time. good thing riku doesn't mind putting things on hold. the last thing he wants to do today is keep on kicking a guy who's already overloaded enough as is.]

All right. We'll call it quits here for today.

[riku stands, stretching lightly after getting up.]

Whenever you're done thinking, lemme know.

[the ball is staying in roxas' court. part two of their chat will happen whenever roxas wants it to.]

Right.. okay.

[that's all he manages to say. he really just wants to run, to leave and be away from this situation. roxas needs badly to clear his head at this point.

there are still a lot of questions, a strike raid that needs to be aimed at riku, and some form of thanks for at least finally being honest with him about these things he should've known all along. but for now... for now, he just needs to go. so he stands, and rather than leave the traditional way... he's opening up a corridor and scurrying out that way, so he can just go where he feels safest directly without having to travel too much.

bye, riku.]

Hey dude. I haven't seen you since the festival. You doing okay?

[Since Ruby disappeared and came back, he's taken to being more proactive in reaching out to his friends whenever he feels like it. Hello, Roxas.]

[he's not okay, and that's partly why he hasn't made the effort to reach out to hiro. even though he wanted to hang out more and even though he said he would...

it's been tough.]

Yeah. Some... things happened after that, that's all. I'm okay.

[tech...nically...]

[That doesn't sound too promising. He's immediately a little more concerned and giving Roxas his full attention.]

"Some things"? Like...what kind of things?

[there's a really long pause before he texts back; he's not sure how to explain it at all. he's also not really sure he wants to explain it, but if there's one person in cerealia he's willing to tell the truth to beyond mary? it's definitely hiro.]

It's... kind of complicated.
It's really complicated, actually...

[That's definitely not good.]

...the kind of complicated that would make a little more sense with weird ice cream flavors?

I dunno if it'll make more sense but... ice cream still sounds pretty good.

[there's so much Not Good going on with him lately that he just has no idea how to cope like a real person.]

It might not make it make more sense but it'll make it better. That's usually how it works. So...that milkshake place? Or the actual ice cream parlor? They're both pretty easy to get to.

[If it helps it's not like Hiro knows how to cope half the time either, but he's going to help him. He's already decided that.]

The ice cream parlor's better. Since I work there, I can get it for free...

[free is good, right? why pay for ice cream when he can get them some for free...]

Good point. I'm already on my way, I'll meet you outside.

[There's apparently no argument here. He's already on his way to Roxas and the ice cream parlor and trying to figure out what, exactly, could be wrong with his friend.]

[this is fine. roxas has only been off his shift for a few minutes—short enough a time that turning back to the shop is only a couple of minutes walk for him. so he'll just do that, sitting on a bench outside meant for customers (of which there are few right now) and playing some tatris.]

[There's a rolling sound first. That'll be Roxas's first clue that Hiro's approaching as the wheels spin on the sidewalk and he brings the skateboard to a gentle stop in front of the blond boy on the bench. He leans forward to look at Roxas's screen, waiting until he finishes the round before he grins down at him.

He's still suspicious of what's going on, sure, but he'll let Roxas go his own pace for once.]

At least you found one way to occupy yourself.

[that won't take too long, since the sound of the skateboard will be enough of a distraction along with thew knowing that hiro is there to break his concentration. it's not that big of a deal, but losing still sucks.

he scrunches his nose a bit as he looks up at hiro.] Gotta do something to pass the time, right?

I'm not that late. [But he grins anyway as he gestures to the ice cream shop.] Wanna head back in? Unless you wanna grab ice cream and talk out here.

[He's not sure which is better, talking outside where people might overhear or talking inside where they might overhear.]

I'll just go get it and bring it out here.

[he's pretty sure strangers aren't going to be paying all that much attention to their conversation, and even if they do? they're not really going to get it anyway.

he barely gets it, and it's his own life. but staying in the shop seems like a bad idea—his coworkers are there, after all. and working with someone like leon generally means he's not the most willing to spilling his life story.]

[So like...... no matter how bizarre things were, they still have to report to work after. Especially since it's just them now, their co-workers long gone, which means they get the majority of the shifts these days.

Hooray. Ice cream for everyone.

Leon's far from recovered from the entire robot disaster, but he's good at putting up appearances and that's exactly what he's intending to do until he makes it to the ice cream shop and then he can't help himself. His mouth goes slack as he stares because................well, apparently in the ruckus, someone managed to upturn the ice cream tubs and turn off the air conditioning, which means that the floor is just covered in mixed ice cream goo that would at least go up to their ankles.

Happy.....Monday....]

[talk about a case of the mondays.

roxas may have evaded the robot disaster directly, but he is still trying to deal with plenty of issues all his own. but much like leon, he doesn't draw attention to it (beyond perhaps being more sullen than usual, but he knows leon doesn't care anyway).

leon gets the pleasure of being the first to walk into the ice cream goop, though roxas isn't far behind.]

Gross. [spoken like a true teenage boy. he scrunchesh is nose and looks at the (nauseating, honestly) grey-brown mix of ice cream and just has to wonder:] What happened in here?

You mentioned that sea salt ice cream, right? Think we can get those? [...he's curious okay. But still, he's getting comfortable on the bench and he's patiently waiting, mentally prepping himself for the worst case scenario for whatever Roxas wants to tell him.] Doesn't sound like a bad plan.

Yeah, there's definitely still sea-salt left.

[it sells pretty well, but it's not flying out of the case or anything. so he'll nod as he motions to stand.] I'll be right back.

[and off he goes into the abyss. or, you know, the shop. it only takes him a couple of minutes anyway before he's back and holding out a bar of sea-salt ice cream for hiro. the benefits at working there are very real.]

[Honestly, Roxas isn't alone; Leon's nose is wrinkled as well, even as his mouth tightens into a flat line. Ugh.]

It would appear like vandalism to me. [robot vandalism, probably.] It is not as though I care about this place, but...

[Working in conditions like these would be unbearable, so... they probably have to clean it up.]

ic contact;

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text, post-riku talk but pre-robots

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action; post-robots

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