Challenge Post - 211
Dec. 17th, 2009 02:00 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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kh_drabbleChallenge: [211] Apology
Title: As Difficult as Breathing
Wordcount: 424
Notes: Saying “I’m sorry” should be as easy as breathing. What if breathing’s not so easy?
It starts with incomprehensible babbling, which turns into simple words such as Mama and Dada. Over time, one gets progressively better—stringing words together and rattling off sentences (and, later on, speeches) like there’s nothing to it… like it’s not a honed skill, but instead a natural ability. Easy as breathing, right?
So, what’s so difficult about saying “I’m sorry”?
What if breathing’s not so easy, sometimes?
For Riku, just breathing lately has been pretty tough—not because his nose is perpetually stuffy or because he’s inhaled too much dust or because he has asthma or anything like that, but because….
He feels guilty, he supposes. Guilt will do strange things to a person, and in his case, it makes him even more silent than usual and it gives him the sensation that there’s shards of glass in his chest, and each breath he takes only drives them deeper into his lungs—they cut, and it hurts, and the words that he should say (should have said already) are lost.
It’s even worse when he thinks about all of the times that he could have said it, but didn’t; he remembers that he always said other things instead:
“Take care of her.”
I’m sorry.
“C’mon, Sora. You’ve got to pull it together.”
I’m sorry.
“I’m not a total sap like you.”
I’m sorry.
“You lead.”
I’m sorry.
And back home:
“Let’s go to our place.”
I’m sorry.
“Did you forget what the assignment was again?!”
I’m sorry.
He actually says it one day, entirely out of the blue, while the glass shards are digging in and digging in and he can’t breathe: “I’m sorry.”
Sora looks at him, clearly bewildered, and then he smiles in what Riku knows to be understanding. “You’re sorry? Well that’s good and all, Riku, but I don’t forgive you.”
And Riku’s world abruptly comes to a grinding halt. He’s certain the metaphorical shards are digging into another – though just as vital, if not more so – organ within his chest. “What?”
Sora’s smile is brilliant, unapologetic. He leans in so that their noses are nearly touching. “There’s nothing to forgive, Riku.”
He sounds so sure, and Riku can’t help but feel some sense of wonder at those words. Nothing to forgive?
“You’re over-thinking it,” Sora informs him. “Just believe me, okay?” He doesn’t move. Neither does Riku.
“… Okay,” Riku answers after a moment, and damn, that smile is really a hell of a lot more contagious than it ought to be.
The whole breathing thing’s not so difficult anymore.
Title: As Difficult as Breathing
Wordcount: 424
Notes: Saying “I’m sorry” should be as easy as breathing. What if breathing’s not so easy?
It starts with incomprehensible babbling, which turns into simple words such as Mama and Dada. Over time, one gets progressively better—stringing words together and rattling off sentences (and, later on, speeches) like there’s nothing to it… like it’s not a honed skill, but instead a natural ability. Easy as breathing, right?
So, what’s so difficult about saying “I’m sorry”?
What if breathing’s not so easy, sometimes?
For Riku, just breathing lately has been pretty tough—not because his nose is perpetually stuffy or because he’s inhaled too much dust or because he has asthma or anything like that, but because….
He feels guilty, he supposes. Guilt will do strange things to a person, and in his case, it makes him even more silent than usual and it gives him the sensation that there’s shards of glass in his chest, and each breath he takes only drives them deeper into his lungs—they cut, and it hurts, and the words that he should say (should have said already) are lost.
It’s even worse when he thinks about all of the times that he could have said it, but didn’t; he remembers that he always said other things instead:
“Take care of her.”
“C’mon, Sora. You’ve got to pull it together.”
“I’m not a total sap like you.”
“You lead.”
And back home:
“Let’s go to our place.”
“Did you forget what the assignment was again?!”
He actually says it one day, entirely out of the blue, while the glass shards are digging in and digging in and he can’t breathe: “I’m sorry.”
Sora looks at him, clearly bewildered, and then he smiles in what Riku knows to be understanding. “You’re sorry? Well that’s good and all, Riku, but I don’t forgive you.”
And Riku’s world abruptly comes to a grinding halt. He’s certain the metaphorical shards are digging into another – though just as vital, if not more so – organ within his chest. “What?”
Sora’s smile is brilliant, unapologetic. He leans in so that their noses are nearly touching. “There’s nothing to forgive, Riku.”
He sounds so sure, and Riku can’t help but feel some sense of wonder at those words. Nothing to forgive?
“You’re over-thinking it,” Sora informs him. “Just believe me, okay?” He doesn’t move. Neither does Riku.
“… Okay,” Riku answers after a moment, and damn, that smile is really a hell of a lot more contagious than it ought to be.
The whole breathing thing’s not so difficult anymore.
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Date: 2009-12-17 07:34 am (UTC)Damn it, Sora, you're always so damn cute. And it doesn't help that I'm a total sucker for Riku. Gah. Awesome piece.
Sora’s smile is brilliant, unapologetic. He leans in so that their noses are nearly touching. “There’s nothing to forgive, Riku.”
PERFECT. Perfect, perfect, perfect. lol. Perfect makes no sense any more.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-17 02:52 pm (UTC)Thank you again. ^_^
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Date: 2009-12-17 07:50 am (UTC)My reaction was the same as Riku's. XD And then I kept reading and I 'awwed'. That is so Sora. ♥
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Date: 2009-12-17 02:53 pm (UTC)Thank you! ^_^
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Date: 2009-12-17 08:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-17 02:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-17 08:36 am (UTC)THIS
THIS
epic.
I love everything about this. You win.
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Date: 2009-12-17 02:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-17 02:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-17 02:59 pm (UTC)Thank you for reading! ^_^
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Date: 2009-12-17 04:07 pm (UTC)We both edged at characters and poked to make people cry. :D
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Date: 2009-12-17 02:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-17 03:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-26 01:00 pm (UTC)Everything was so perfect and so in character for Riku especially! :)
no subject
Date: 2009-12-27 07:07 am (UTC)