writetomyheart | [team one] Teeth In-Trined

Soriroku (but just Sora and Roxas), G, 779 words

Happy birthday to Avi/x_oath_x!

"Get that out of your mouth, Sora."

"Hmh?"

Sora spat out the crown necklace—carried by the teeth between his teeth, a pun that had amused him so much that he'd started putting it there offhand (rather than always in-hand, under-thumb).

Though he was pretty sure those spikes weren't actually called "teeth". A question for the Jiminy list, probably making an appearance there for a third or fourth time.

"Just because it's stainless steel doesn't mean it's good for your teeth," Roxas grumbled, but Sora could see that he cared when he looked directly into Sora's eyes.

Riku often wondered aloud what Sora liked about somebody so openly grumpy (and to Sora's displeasure, that doubt still extended to Riku's own occasional moods), but it was growing up with Riku that had made him so fond of being familiar with a secret kindness.

Though it was hard to call Riku's kindness secret these days. Sora liked that about Riku. He liked having both.

"Hey, I know that's not what stainless steel means! Besides, it's made of one hundred percent pure silver!" Sora jumped out of his thoughts and proudly displayed the possession he prized so much it didn't even leave his neck at night.

"I was going to say you could chip a tooth, but now I'd actually be more worried about you ruining the necklace." Roxas popped off a quick water spell to clean the spit off the necklace—it splashed Sora in the face, but Roxas drew close, clasped Sora's hands, and grasped the crown before Sora could protest.

But he was quickly satisfied with his observation, and didn't give Sora a chance to get flustered, either. "Who gave that to you, anyway?"

That did the trick, but it wasn't Roxas he was thinking about. Sora hadn't found himself wanting to hide how flushed he was so badly since Goofy had first pointed out the resemblance between "good-lookin'" Yozora and Riku.

"Oh, uh," Sora laughed and put a hand behind his head. "You wouldn't remember because I didn't remember, huh? Not until I heard recently..."

Roxas stared sharply at Sora, and then he turned away. "Ah. Why'd I even ask, huh."

"I can tell you if you want," Sora offered.

"That's the last thing I need right now, Sora." Roxas sighed.

"Oh." Sora suddenly remembered that Roxas carried all kinds of reminders of the bond between Sora and Riku, from keyblades to unwanted memories, and now here was another one that he didn't even know about. He probably felt a lot like Riku did when Riku was about to go to high school all by himself. Or like Sora did when Riku had implied he had a thing for Kairi. He was still a bit angry about that.

"Well... Riku's got the lame wrist, right?" he tried.

That only got Sora a glare. "Shut up."

Sora wondered why that had bothered Roxas. If it had been Sora who'd managed to get a hit on Riku like that... no, actually, he probably would feel even more openly guilty than Roxas did about the whole thing, never mind. Moving on.

"How about... this! There are three teeth on this crown, just like there are three of us." Sora beamed at his clever use of double meanings.

But Roxas just scoffed. "What, you want me to bite it? And then I'm in on it too? Talk about sappy and gross."

"No! Roxas!" Sora felt his eyes getting a bit teary, but then as if he'd detected it the moment the feeling hit, Roxas turned back with a soft smile. (These were the aforementioned moments Sora lived for, by the way.)

"It's OK. I'll just have to get you two mementos of my own. I can't compare twenty years to what... two, right?"

Sora wiped the burgeoning tears from his face, pumped his fists, and nodded.

"And remember—you'll be an adult when you get it, so you'll have no excuse to be chewing on it." Roxas flicked Sora on the nose.

"That hurts, you know!" Sora wouldn't admit he'd long been an adult when he'd started the habit, let he risk another flick.

Sora wasn't sure whether it was just the utterance, or also Roxas reading his thoughts, that got him a second, and then a third flick on the nose.

But he returned them with three kisses, anyway.

"You get that sap from Riku, don't you? Get it off of me or I might not be able to put up with him later."

Sora duly wiped Roxas's lips off with the crown charm, to which Roxas's expression flattened.

"Sometimes I have to remind myself that I love you, you know."

Tagging oath_breaker!