[Day 248]

[coolerthansora]

Who: Roxas and Ruca
Where: Ice cream shop
When: Afternoon
Style: I'll match
Status: Closed

Roxas had been thinking about it since that curse a month earlier with the waking nightmares. He really wasn't very open with most of his friends. There was always some secret he was keeping that he had to tiptoe around or even flat-out lie about. He'd been too nervous before about saying certain things, but around Ruca that feeling was mostly gone.

He felt sure Ruca wouldn't stop thinking of him as a friend, or anything like that, if he just started being honest. Which was why he finally made up his mind and sent Ruca a message asking if he wanted to meet up for ice cream. He stood outside the shop, waiting and thinking. He'd just have to see if Ruca was up for listening.

Comments

[demonicbookworm]

Roxas didn't have to wait too long. Soon a very familiar voice called to him:

"Roxas!"

Ruca noticed Roxas and waved to him, before he walked up. A smile was seen on his face, but it vanished for a short moment, when the boy said:

"I hope you didn't wait for too long..."

Making your friends wait for you? Wasn't that rude? Well, it was rude in his opinion at least.

[coolerthansora]

Roxas smiled, shaking his head. "Nah, not too long." Even if Ruca had been late, he wouldn't have minded much.

He straightened and gestured to the shop. "You wanna go in and get some ice cream first?" he asked. He didn't really realize he'd added the 'first.'

[demonicbookworm]

'Not too long' meant that he still had to wait. Which wasn't good.

Ruca did notice the 'first' and gave Roxas a questioning look. For a second he wondered if he should ask about that or not, but eventually his curiosity won.

"'First'?" he asked. "...You want to do something else later?"

Ruca didn't mind, but Roxas mentioned only ice cream in the message...

[coolerthansora]

When you could portal anywhere almost instantly, you had to expect some waiting.

Roxas paused with his hand on the door and glanced back at Ruca. "Um, sort of," he admitted sheepishly. "There're some things I kind of wanted to talk about..."

[demonicbookworm]

He kind of wanted to talk?

"Oh." Ruca smiled. "Well, in that case let's get some ice cream first and then we can talk as much as you want."

[coolerthansora]

"Okay."

Roxas relaxed again and pulled open the door, holding it for Ruca to catch. He wasn't sure Ruca had really picked up on what he wanted to talk about, but they'd get to that.

"You want sea-salt or something else?"

[demonicbookworm]

For now Ruca couldn't exactly think of anything Roxas would want to talk about. Though, maybe he actually had a guess or two. It didn't really matter much since he would find out soon enough anyway.

The silver-haired boy nodded at his friend's question.

"Sea-salt sounds good."

[coolerthansora]

Roxas picked up two sea-salt ice creams at the counter and handed one popsicle to Ruca.

"You been doing okay lately? ...didn't get stuck to anyone?"

[demonicbookworm]

"Thanks." Ruca said taking the popsicle from Roxas, then nodded.

"Yeah... I guess I got lucky this time."

[coolerthansora]

"Definitely," Roxas said, turning to head back out of the shop and find someplace to sit down.

"It's really hard to coordinate doing anything when you're stuck to somebody."

[demonicbookworm]

Ruca followed Roxas. He looked thoughtful.

"I can imagine it must be really hard..."

[coolerthansora]

Not to mention awkward and at times embarrassing, but Roxas just shrugged. "I'm glad you didn't have to deal with it."

He turned out of the plaza, headed for the park.

[demonicbookworm]

"I guess I should be glad too..."

Ruca just followed Roxas, but after a moment he had to ask.

"Was that what you wanted to talk about?"

Definitely didn't seem like it was it.

[coolerthansora]

"No..."

Roxas was quiet for a moment, until he spotted a bench to sit down on.

"I guess it's kind of personal. I just thought, since we're friends, you should- know what I am and all."

[demonicbookworm]

"I see..." Ruca answered. So he wanted to talk about that...

Ruca already knew about Roxas being a nobody though. Was there something else to it than what he already knew?

He waited patiently for Roxas to say something more.

[coolerthansora]

Roxas thought he had mentioned being a 'Nobody' before, but he certainly hadn't been the one to explain what that meant.

"You remember when I was telling you- how I used to be Sora, right?"

[demonicbookworm]

Someone else explained a thing or two about Nobodies to Ruca before.

Ruca nodded.

"Yeah... I remember."

[coolerthansora]

Roxas put his pospicle in his mouth, thinking for a moment about exactly what he needed to say.

"It was an accident, me being born. Sora was doing something- heroic, I guess, and... he lost his heart."

[demonicbookworm]

Ruca fell silent for a moment.

"He became... a heartless?" then he quickly explained: "Um, Sora told me a bit about heartless and Nobodies..."

[coolerthansora]

"He did?"

Roxas shifted on the bench. Was he just explaining things someone else had already told him? "Um, did he say much about- us?"

[demonicbookworm]

"Yeah, it was during that one curse... when he lost his heart." Ruca paused. "I got worried about him when I heard about that, but he told me that it's only a curse and that he was a Nobody..."

Ruca sighed a little remembering that one curse. He really got scared when he heard Sora lost his heart. It sounded serious.

"I asked him what did it mean to be a Nobody and he explained it to me. He also told me about Heartless..."

[coolerthansora]

"So you already knew- I didn't have a heart..."

Roxas smiled wryly. All this time he'd been keeping something to himself that Ruca had already known and apparently didn't care about in the slightest.

[demonicbookworm]

"I did, b-but..." he suddenly felt like he did something wrong.

"Something like that would never change anything."

He looked away.

"And I-- Asura had a friend that didn't have a heart either. Or at least that was what he said." he looked at Roxas. "I would never call any of you heartless, though."

[coolerthansora]

"That's a lot different from back home," Roxas reflected, looking out into the park. "Even Sora used to say stuff about us not feeling anything."

[demonicbookworm]

"Is it?" Ruca asked.

Not feeling anything... Ruca couldn't imagine how it was, but then he was reminded of Durandal - his... or rather Asura's friend. Durandal couldn't feel anything either... or at least that was what Spada said.

He shook his head.

"Things are different here... or that's what people keep telling me."