#Also thinking about how Kairi was written out when she really didn't need to be

[hestzhyen]

Sunken Ships and SoRiku

Hi internet void. I went feral and maybe you'll read the result.

KH has made a lot of choices around SoRiku from a narrative perspective that, in isolation, wouldn't amount to much. A heart-to-heart here, a questionable line there, and so on. The usual things that one would do to court a queer shipping audience in an otherwise het or unromantic work. And SoRiku circles have painstakingly documented every instance to show something that looks more like a consistent and intentional effort rather than a few dollops here and there to keep shippers engaged. There's... a lot. But one stupid, insignificant thing really shook me up and made me a believer in SoRiku Endgame, Actually.

Silly as it is, it's Nomura's reaction to people shipping RikuNami that gets me the most.

Generally speaking a writer doesn't want to interact with fandom shipping unless it's to urgently course correct. As in it would be catastrophic to the narrative if the fandom had the wrong idea. Otherwise it's best to just take note of how people are interpreting things and adjust the next installment accordingly, or live and let live. Keep distant and don't risk accusations of retconning/bad writing/queerbaiting in bad faith. So the normal reaction from Nomura seeing people get excited over RikuNami would have been to just do nothing. But instead, the scene was patched to downplay the smile, and Nomura went on the record to clarify that it's not a setup for a romantic relationship between Riku and Namine.

That's insane.

Why is it so important that Riku remain romantically uninterested in a girl he'd have a natural connection to, huh? What about accidentally implying RikuNami was so detrimental to the story that it was changed and explicitly addressed like that? Even if it wasn't meant to be, surely letting it play out like AkuRoku did would be enough. Just gently clarify and move on with the story (which pretty much sunk the ship on it's own anyway). You don't wade into fandom shipping and launch nuclear warheads like Nomura did against RikuNami unless you want to leave no room for doubt.

Torpedoing RikuNami also doesn't help them keep up appearances in terms of straightness at this point. Leaving it intact would only help the case of Riku and Sora being bffs with the strongest bond 5ever- a huge boon for the writing team if they wanted to avoid things looking too gay. Nomura et. al. are absolutely aware of the impressions and jokes about how gay KH is. And KH definitely would not be the first series to play in to queer ship teasing for the lols until it's time to pair everyone up at the end.

But they did the one thing you're not supposed to do if you're just aiming to queerbait: undermining the plausible straight ship. You don't eliminate the only straight option for your character like that for the sake of "he so gay" jokes! Having a straight option available is vital to make the bait; they don't have to be compelling or important to the story, they just have to exist. Yet at this point, Riku's only option is Sora. They went out of their way to ensure we wouldn't think anything else makes sense for him.

Holy. Shit.

[capriciouswrites]

on the fourth day of halloween my true boo gave to me...a kingdom hearts ficlet

(Technically this is a present for @borndeaddd but I was going to write more and then I didn't, but, well, enjoy babe. I don't know what I'm doing, per usual.)

It’s a stupid thing to say. It’s also a lie.

He knows it. Kairi knows it. He thinks even Roxas and Axel might know it.

But he’s said it like it wasn’t a lie — like it wasn’t a stupid thing to say — and now he can’t back down.

He’s staring at Kairi because he can’t look at Riku, which is maybe the first time tonight he hasn’t just been staring at Riku but —

Kairi’s eyes are saying ‘oh honey, no’, and he’s fairly sure she can see the panic in his eyes, but she’s not saying anything or calling her a liar and that’s because she’s the best.

And, to be fair to his stupid, stupid lie, they are going to marry each other if they don’t find anyone else before forty-two. (It had originally been twenty-five because at eleven years of age, twenty-five had seemed like the reaper must’ve been calling, but at fifteen they’d been going through a Douglas Adams phase and also realized just how close twenty-five was.) Though, to be fair with Aqua and their gender studies major and their constant lecturing, Sora isn’t going to be surprised if they end up changing the contract again — still written in crayon, just with increasingly better handwriting and spelling — to require them to live together in platonic life mate harmony, or something.

Unless they need to get married for taxes.

(At eighteen, taxes still terrify Sora — though not as much as admitting his crush to his crush after having played two and a quarter rounds of circle of death, which is really how he got here in the first place.)

And maybe if Riku wasn’t so cool, and older, and cool, and handsome — and wasn’t just himself, then Sora would’ve admitted to his crush when he was asked in the truth round — but he couldn’t and now he hasn’t.

Instead he’s said he has a crush on Kairi, and oh no what if Riku thinks he’s still in the closet?

He’s not, he’s really not, and his friends and his family know but he only went to one of the Spectrum meetings when he’d first got to campus and seen how biphobic they were to know he didn’t want to deal with that. He’d been so hopeful that the queer group had called itself ‘Spectrum’ because yes, it was a whole spectrum, but then he’d heard the president bemoaning all the sorority girls who were just ‘going through stupid bi phases’ and how he hoped they didn’t show up to many meetings and Sora had noped right out of there with Kairi.

Sora knows that Riku goes to the meetings, because the meeting rooms at the student union have glass walls, so he’s still got some hope that Riku might be Sora-sexual.

But what if Riku knows that Sora is lying about his crush on Kairi and assumes it’s because he’s still in the closet? But it’s not like he could’ve said he had a crush on Axel or Roxas — he’s not sure what they are but there is a zero percent chance claiming to have a crush on either of them would end in anything but something awful for him. And obviously the whole lie was to not admit the truth and no one else was playing circle of death with them and —

He’s an idiot. He could’ve named someone not playing circle of death with them!

‘Help me’, he tries to convey with his eyes to Kairi. She studiously avoids meeting his gaze.

[oathofpromises]

❛   i felt your absence.  ❜  [ for kairi ! ]

Kairi froze for a second, not because she didn't believe Riku's words. She knew the older boy was always honest, especially when it came to Sora or her, but there was a tiny part inside the young girl's heart that felt like maybe he hated her. After all, it was only because of her that Sora ended up fading from this world, who wouldn't blame her...she hated herself for it. Her hands slowly tightened at her skit, as so many thoughts filled her head. 

Ever since the journey had started, the two of them had hardly gotten a chance to talk. Some people probably even wondered if they still cared for each other. Maybe the red-haired girl felt like all of this was her fault. Xehanort had used her to find the keyblade wielder, and thus this whole adventure started with their islands falling to darkness. It didn't seem fair that Riku and Sora both suffered because she was unable to keep them safe. 

"I missed you too, Riku..I know I probably wasn't the best at showing it.." whispered Kairi, as her blue eyes looked sad. She truly cared for both Sora and Riku so much. Those two had shown nothing but kindness to her since landing on the islands. They never once treated her badly, but thinking back on it. Maybe she had hurt Riku. Not that the others would ever out rightly show it. He was too good sometimes at hiding those deeper emotions, but the more she reminisced about their childhood days. It was starting to piece together that perhaps she had made RIku feel unwanted at times. 

"Riku..did you ever hate me?" Her voice seemed to break slightly at the question. It wasn't easy to ask, nor did she ever believe he truly did, but past memories made her feel like maybe she had hurt him. It was something they certainly needed to talk about. To finally have that heart to heart conversation. 

Kairi paused before continuing, " I don't think you did..you're not that type of person, but when we were kids..at first it felt like I was maybe hurting you. You and Sora were so close and when I arrived it felt like maybe I was getting in the way of that. Please be honest with me Riku..I know we haven't had a chance to talk but I missed you just as much as Sora. I don't want you to feel like I hated you or that maybe didn't care as much." 

That wasn't the case at all. The young girl had written Riku plenty of letters too, but she never had a chance to let the others read them. It seemed like something she wanted to let them read but also each letter was written during the time Sora and Riku were away from the islands. The two already had enough to worry about. If anything, the young girl wanted the two to lean on her more. 

"I know that I still have work to do..to catch up to both of you, but I am right here. I just wish you both would understand that it's hard to be the one always left behind...trying so hard to catch up but feeling like no matter how hard I try, the result always turns out the same. I know you've been worried about Sora too, and because of that, we haven't had time to really talk to each other..Riku, I care about you as much as I do Sora. You're both my best friends...that hasn't ever changed and I'm sorry if it ever felt like that wasn't the case. "

Did it hurt to say all those words..a bit but it felt like it was needed. Riku had gone so long trying to handle stuff on his own. Kairi just wanted him to know that she was also here for him. That nothing had ever made her look at him differently. Slowly her hand reached over to touch his, a gentle smile forming across her face. This was hard on both of them and all she wanted was get past whatever they had weighing on their hearts. Even if it took time, she was willing to wait.