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Sora had never been on a date before, not a real one. He didn’t think he could count those pretend outings he and Kairi went on when they were kids. That was more in the realm of using their imagination to make their worlds a little bigger and they had been too young for those dates to be classified as real.
This one, however, had been going well. Sora had met with Titus at the agreed upon time and taken the blond boy's hand with a smile as they walked from campus to town. They’d briefly discussed meeting in town somewhere but what was the point when they’d both need to get there? It felt better to start the date off with a walk.
Ahead of them, Riku trotted along, sniffing flowers and leaves that subtly turned into weeds and concrete. Leaving his familiar in his dorm had never crossed his mind and given Titus’ greeting, he hadn’t expected Riku to miss out on lunch either.
Only a few seconds were uncomfortable for Sora. His stomach had churned miserably as he remembered the last time he’d walked to town on a whim. It had been so long since he met Riku on the way. So much had changed since then.
Walking the same path with a cute boy and his bonded partner was an incredible improvement.
The only notable change was that Sora kept his hood up, obscuring his face to any onlookers who might have recognized him as a Leonhart. Squall’s ascension to King was still a hot topic and rumors said that news sources were desperate to get an interview with him. Sora did not need any of that drama on his first date with Titus, even if the boy would have understood. Probably.
“A bistro apparently opened up a few months ago,” Sora mused, squeezing Titus’ fingers gently. He’d missed so much with all the trials and school drama. Puppies in the house were really attention grabbing. “What do you think about eating there?”
“Sure, sounds good.” There was a touch of shyness to Titus’ tone as he squeezed Sora’s fingers back, eyes sweeping the area as if to ward off potential problems.
Sora beamed, “Cool! A few people have told me it’s good but if it’s not, I can think of like three other places we could try. I haven’t been out in a while with everything going on so this is extra fun for me.” He was a little worried about Riku in public with his dislike of crowds but he’d been doing so much better in recent months.
“Want me to look and see if the food is good?” The blonde’s tone was light, teasing.
“Showing off,” Sora said, immediately noting the strange comment but his smile never left his face. “On the one hand that would save time and on the other hand it kind of takes away from the experience of complaining over dry chicken. Oh, speaking of… I saw you eating meatballs the other day, but I should double check anyway. Are you any kind of vegetarian?”
“I don’t eat snake meat.” He said dryly. “Or fox.”
From ahead of them, Riku gave an amused cry and made Sora laugh.
“Good to know. It’s an interesting debate I’ve heard before. Witches that don’t eat certain meat depending on what their familiar is. Since Riku’s a fox it was never much of a problem for me.” He thought about his classmates though and suddenly thought fish shouldn’t be as palatable to him given that he knew Nemo and Sidon so personally.
As if reading his mind, Titus reminded him, “Fish eat fish.”
“According to my classmates, fish are friends, not food,” Sora said automatically.
“I think you may be missing the context there but fair enough.” He responded with a chuckle.
Sora didn’t bother to disagree and just nodded. “I figured it was secret ocean familiar stuff.” As they made it into the city proper, Riku shuffled back towards the two of them to walk by Sora’s feet. He had the option to change forms if he wanted to but neither of them begrudged him the ability to feel safe.
“More or less, it is, yes.” Titus smiled down at Riku. “Missing your hood?”
Riku seemed to think about it for a few more steps before he stopped to paw at Sora’s knees pitifully.
“This is why all of my hoodies are altered,” Sora said dryly, but today he was actually using it to hide his face. “Can I carry you instead?”
Riku sat on his hind legs with his front paws up while Sora bent to lift him. “Spoiled.”
“Oh please, you enable it.” It was no secret that Sora adored spoiling his familiar.
Sora gasped, mockingly scandalized as he hugged Riku closer to his chest. The fox chittered with amused laughter and licked at Sora’s cheek. “I have no idea what you mean, Titus.” They crossed the street towards the bistro and Sora was quietly pleased it didn’t look too crowded.
The blonde witch moved to open the door for Sora with a small, teasing half bow. “After you.”
Sora felt his face warm and hid his blushing behind another small laugh as he walked in with Riku still in his arms. It only took a minute for the trio to be seated and handed menus.
“You think it’s safe for me to take my hood down?”
“Should be, yes. You could also try a small glamour.”
Tugging his hood down, Sora grimaced a little. “Never one of my strong suits. Maybe I could enchant an item to make it easier but not something I'm good at on the fly.”
“Mm…may I?”
Sora tilted his head, observing Titus. As a polymorph, it made sense that that kind of magic came more easily to him. “Will it affect how you see me?”
“If you mean visually, only while it’s active.” There was an obvious flirt to the response.
“I’m not opposed to letting you try. Kinda sucks that I need to, but it would suck more if our lunch got interrupted by people taking pictures or something,” Sora muttered. It wasn’t like not being able to visibly see Sora would negatively impact their date but Sora wanted Titus to see him.
Titus cupped Sora’s face, thumbs smoothing over skin in a way that left a slight tingling sensation before lightly combing through Sora’s hair. “You’re still you. Doesn’t change that.”
Riku was watching closely from Sora’s lap, his tail flicking in interest. His lack of reaction only confirmed that Titus was doing exactly as he promised.
“I guess so,” Sora felt heat crawling up his throat. “How do I look?”
Titus pulled a mirror out, showing an altered face with black hair. “You tell me.”
Sora huffed with amusement. “I look like Vanitas but different. It’ll work. Thank you.”
“You’re wearing too many clothes to pass as Vanitas. And I left your eyes alone.”
Riku’s chittering laughter covered up the conversation as the waiter appeared and Sora hastily looked at the menu, while Titus seemingly didn’t even need to open his, to pick out what they wanted. Sora ordered spicy chicken for Riku since it was one of his favorites.
“How long will the glamour last?” Sora asked when the waiter walked away.
“Up to two hours unless we dispel it sooner.”
“Huh. Neat. You use it so effortlessly. Is that part of being a polymorph or something you studied?” Sora asked, honestly interested.
“Studied is putting it a bit…more than what it was. It was easy to learn, a step down from what I'm innately good at. It would be like if you were to learn tea leaf divination with how well you read the clouds.” Titus replied with a small head tilt.
Sora snickered, “I should look into that. For fun. You know it’s a little fun for me being good at something that Squall isn’t innately good at.”
“He sucks at dousing too.”
“Yep, and he freely admits to it. I’ve always liked that. He’s an over confident, over powered witch but he has his areas of expertise and the things he’s bad at.” The waiter returned with their drinks and Sora was happy to have something to do with his hands besides pet Riku. “But today isn’t about him.”
Titus sipped something orange and fruity looking. “He’s quite tolerable, yes, but your company is vastly preferable.”
“I’m less grumpy and I come with an adorable fox,” Sora gestured to Riku who had his chin resting on the table, observing Titus. “It’s his first date too.”
“Cuter too.” Titus offered Riku the straw of his drink for a sip.
“Riku, Riku, change forms!” Sora groaned when the fox lifted up onto his paws to sip as he was directed. “Titus. Don’t spoil him too.”
“Why not? Its his first date too.” The line was casually tossed back with a shit-eating grin. The noise that pulled from Riku was nothing short of delighted and had Sora sputtering a laugh.
“It’s why he’s getting the fancy spicy chicken,” Sora argued.
“Gotta have a little citrus to wash down the spice.” Titus countered playfully.
Riku tried to hop up onto the table to get to Titus but Sora grabbed him. “Nu uh. Not on the table you silly fox. We’ll get a third chair for you to sit in the middle.”
Titus just slid his glass closer.
“You aren’t helping!” Sora laughed and didn’t at all care if people glanced their way. Other witches and familiars likely knew what was going on but mundanes looked on in confusion. At least the mundanes in Radiant Garden were used to the overwhelming magical population. Other places might have complained about there being an animal in the restaurant.
The food arrived a moment later and at Sora’s request, a third chair was brought over so Riku could sit on his own.
“Cloud would be scowling at you so hard for not changing,” Sora commented.
Slowly, deliberately, Riku stuck his tongue out at Sora. Titus had to hide his mouth behind a hand to stifle the giggling.
Sora gasped again, theatrically appalled. “Riku!”
Riku wailed and laughed and seemed to be having a marvelous time but both boys were almost surprised when Riku did in fact change into his hume form. He wasn’t wearing shoes, but for once he had on both jeans and a t-shirt. At the very least it showed he’d put some serious thought into the day.
“Sorry,” Riku mused, not looking the least bit sorry.
“I don’t think that word means what you think it means.” Titus said, still giggling, as he reached over to fix Riku’s hair a bit.
“He’s just trying to stay out of trouble,” Sora said fondly, watching as Riku tilted his head towards Titus.
“Riku is good.” Riku said confidently, reaching for Sora’s drink this time to sip from.
Titus continued to lightly fuss with Riku’s hair while they waited for their food to arrive.
“Honestly, you do next to nothing to take care of it…”
“Wrong,” Riku said with a smile. “Sora brushes and washes. Clean.”
Sora hummed his agreement. “Way easier in this form than his fox form. He hates sopping wet fur.”
“Next to nothing.” Titus reaffirmed with a nod.
Riku pouted at him.
“And he’s still so damn pretty,” Sora commented. “Both of you with the long pretty hair. How can I not stare?”
“I could make it shorter?...did you rhyme on purpose?”
Sora went pink,”Nope, and you should keep it how you like it. It looks nice long. I tell Riku the same thing. We can cut it when he wants to and not before.”
“I don’t have to cut my hair to make it shorter.” Titus sounded more than a little amused as he reminded Sora.
“Guess that’s true,” Sora muttered, watching him for a long moment. “Do you have a preference? A look you like best? Hair color or length?”
“Uh?” The pure confusion and surprise on his face should have been funny.
Sora waited a bit and slid his drink towards Riku when he seemed thirsty still. He’d just order another one. “Can I ask you a question? It might be kinda personal.”
“Well, sort of the point of dates, isn’t it?” Titus replied easily, seemingly attempting to return to lighthearted flirting.
Sora gave him a warm look but it faltered into something closer to hesitation. The moment nearly dragged while he debated on even asking. It took Riku lightly kicking him under the table to decide. “Do you prefer Titus or Joshua?”
His mouth dropped into a comical little ‘o’ of surprise. “I uh…well…”
“I want to make sure you're comfortable,” Sora said immediately. “That’s all.”
Riku reached out to pat Titus’ hand. “I didn’t tell.”
His mouth did a funny thing before his face tilted to the side. His hair stayed the same, but it was undeniably Joshua looking back at him now. “What gave me away?”
Sora exhaled slowly. “Squall’s party. Naminé couldn’t see you. She can’t see certain things with her sight but there was only one person she couldn’t see when they were physically right in front of her. I realized it wasn’t the first time you’d been around and she hadn’t noticed.” When Joshua still seemed stunned, Sora continued. "Also, a little while ago on our walk here you references your ability and look and see things. Titus told me, quite adamantly, less than a week ago that he was not a seer. I was kind of hoping the slip up meant you were okay with me knowing."
“Ah, right, that…fair enough, I suppose.” Joshua’s face finished morphing, eyes barely needing a change at all. “I’d prefer to be myself, but Titus is a necessity for the foreseeable future.”
“I don’t plan to say anything. I figured you have your reasons and part of that might be legally not being able to be around Naminé. Avoiding Ansem is probably a perk too.” Sora offered him a smile. “It doesn’t really matter to me what you look like, I just wanted to know your preferences.”
Joshua smirked. “Funny, isn’t it. Only I am legally barred from seeing her; meanwhile she’s physically incapable of seeing me. Creates some odd loopholes.”
Sora rested his chin on his palm and offered a smile. “Well, should you ever want to, I’m happy to help you exploit those loopholes.”
“Romantic,” Riku muttered.
Pink flushed across Joshua’s cheekbones. “Ah, thank you.”
Sora reached out to touch Joshua’s free hand, the one Riku hadn’t already claimed. “I know I don’t understand a lot of what you have to deal with but I’m not going to blab your secrets. You just have to ask if there’s something you need I can help with.”
A tight smile forced itself into existence. “I appreciate the offer, wildcard, but it's a bit too risky.”
“Not just with Naminé. With whatever you want,” Sora elaborated.
“Wildcard,” Riku repeated, looking nothing short of pleased. “My witch is wild.”
It got a laugh out of Joshua, at least. “I’m never unconvinced you know more than I think, fox.”
“Is that good or bad?” Riku asked with a head tilt, his hair cascading over the table.
“Depends. Are you planning on mischief?”
Riku’s lips turned up into a smile but he said nothing.
It was Sora that sighed. “You two together are going to be trouble, I think.”
“Says the wildcard.” Joshua quipped back, face sliding back into Titus as their food was carried over.
Sora squeezed his hand again before pulling away and thanking their waiter before they walked off again. Riku in particular looked pleased with his meal and the added appetizer. “I dunno how I feel about being called a wildcard by the confident, cute boy that appeared out of the mist in a trial to completely turn things upside down.”
“Not a wildcard. The wildcard. Just like my sister can’t see me, I can’t see you. It complicates nearly everything.”
A slow smile appeared on Sora's face. “I have a title? Cool.”
“Prince,” Riku added. “Prince and wildcard.”
“Sounds like having me on your side is a good thing, Joshua.” Sora shoved a bite of food into his mouth.
Perhaps too quietly for the other witch to hear, he muttered, “By my side is even better.”
Sora might not have heard, but Riku did. The small pleased smile he wore said it all. He’d known Joshua was Titus for ages now and as fun as it had been teasing the witch, he was glad the biggest secret between them was out in the open.
“I hope you like dessert.”
“The food, Riku! The food!” Sora said when Riku’s eyes just darkened at the words. He briefly dropped his head into his hands. “Oh my god, you silly fox.”
Riku just shrugged and smiled at Joshua. “Food is good too.”
Joshua laughed. “Yeah; we can get some dessert before dessert too.”
Sora went scarlet, flustered between the two of them while Riku rumbled pleasantly. “Good lunch date. Successful.”