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Gravity shifted under Sora as the mattress moved, dragging him up out of too-deep sleep. He always felt too heavy for a day or two after traveling for too long in the Gummi Ship, and slept restlessly without the steady vibrations of the engine. His eyes felt gritty as he peeled them open to see Riku sitting on the edge of the bed.
“What’re you doing?” Sora demanded. The room was lit in the soft pink-gray of Land of Departure’s early morning, not long after sunrise, but Sora felt like he’d only been asleep for an hour, his sense of time jumbled from world-hopping.
Riku twisted halfway to give Sora a tired smile, his hair sticking up in silly sleep-scrunched tufts. “Morning training.”
“It’s Saturday, you buffoon,” Sora retorted, the idea of morning training making him shudder. They only had one lazy morning a week where their schedules overlapped, and Sora had no patience for Riku getting it wrong. “Get back in here.”
“It’s Thursday,” Riku replied, reaching to tug the blankets back down where Sora had pulled them up higher over his face. He pinched Sora’s nose. “Get up, you bum.”
“It isn’t,” Sora argued, grabbing Riku’s wrist. “Yesterday was Friday, today is Saturday.”
“Yesterday was not Friday, because it’s Thursday. You got your days mixed up on the last world, again.” Riku tried to pull his hand back and frowned when Sora refused to let go. “Quit fooling around, I have to—”
“Think you’re so smart, don’t even know what day of the week it is,” Sora grumbled, Riku’s know-it-all tone getting under his skin. “The new episode of Pasión de Ratones drops on Fridays, and I watched it on the way back yesterday!” Sora yanked Riku’s arm hard enough to make him lose his balance and sprawl half over Sora’s chest. “So there!”
That started a scuffle in earnest, a little sharper than regular play-wrestling since both of them were annoyed from too much travel and not enough sleep. Riku yanked the blankets down so that Sora had no protection from Riku’s fingers digging into his ribs, and Sora kneed him hard in the thigh when trying to roll them over. He only made it halfway, fisting his hands in Riku’s T-shirt, Riku’s larger mass too much for him to get up enough momentum.
“Let go!” Riku barked, unable to get a good enough grip on Sora’s bare skin. He struggled to break free of Sora’s grip, leaning back.
“Fine!” Sora snapped, letting go all at once; Riku toppled out of the bed backwards and hit the floor with a teeth-jarring crash. It was on the tip of Sora’s tongue to call, “Serves you right!” when Riku wheezed a groan that meant he was actually hurt. Sora scrambled over to the edge of the bed to peer down at him. “Riku?”
“I hit my head,” Riku muttered, eyes squeezed shut. “Fuck. Call Aqua.”
*****
“Honestly, you boys,” Aqua said as she probed the back of Riku’s head with her fingertips, feeling for the size of the lump. She only ever called them ‘boys’ when she was really annoyed with them, and Sora sagged even more guiltily against the kitchen table, his cheek was pillowed on his arms. “I’ve told you two dozen times trying to make days of the week work between worlds is useless. We have the 20-day cycle for a reason!”
“We can’t understand that thing at all,” Sora said petulantly. “Who the heck can keep track of 20 whole days?”
“There's nothing to understand! It says the day number right on your Gummiphone lock screen!” Aqua said in exasperation. She poked Riku’s head too hard, making Riku grunt. “It’s a perfectly logical cycle of work, training, and rest days, and it matches more worlds’ time cycles better than your 7-day nonsense.”
“You only think that because you grew up with it,” Sora said. He tapped the screen of his Gummi phone, lying on the table, and frowned at the display. “Day 17 doesn’t mean anything!”
“Your day names don’t inherently mean anything either,” Aqua pointed out. "The moon doesn't only appear on Monday."
“They do so! Saturday means sleeping in,” Sora insisted. His eyes slid to meet Riku’s, expression apologetic. “Thursday means early training and Friday is arm day.”
“Wednesday means you should take your books back to the library,” Riku added, a smile flickering at the corner of his mouth, barely visible. “Monday is breakfast for dinner.”
“Why can’t 17 mean breakfast for dinner?” Aqua asked.
“Because then I’d only make pancakes every twenty days!” Sora said, sitting up indignantly.
Aqua didn’t dignify that with a response, only palmed the back of Riku’s head and cast another Cura; the first one hadn’t done much of anything while the lump was still swelling up. “There. That’s the best I can do. Congratulations, you get a rest day or it really will be a concussion. Take an elixir and go back to bed.”
“I told you it was Saturday,” Sora grumbled mutinously, but he shut his mouth when Riku and Aqua both gave him the beady eye.
They were both quiet on the way back to their room, Riku’s mouth full taking small swallows of the oversweet elixir and Sora still feeling guilty. Riku was steady enough for the stairs, but Sora kept a hand on his arm anyway.
“Sorry,” Sora apologized again once the door was closed and it was just them. He scuffed his bare foot against the rug. “I just wanted to stay in bed longer with you.”
“Wish granted.” Riku sat heavily on the edge of the bed and reached for Sora, pulling him to stand between his knees. “I did the know-it-all voice. Forgive me?”
“Yeah.” Sora put arms around Riku’s shoulders for a hug, Riku’s face pressed against his chest, Riku’s arms circling Sora’s waist. For a minute Sora just breathed, watching Riku’s head rise and fall with his chest. “I swear my telenovela updated yesterday.”
“It totally was Wednesday when I was Twilight Town,” Riku replied. “Although, now that I think about it, I think it’s always Wednesday when I’m there? And Disney Town might only have Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.”
“Tcht, no wonder I never get the weekday pass discount,” Sora said, making Riku laugh, then wince. Sora patted his head (gently). “I guess Aqua’s right.”
“I wasn’t expecting those words in that order from you,” Riku teased. He leaned back to lie down in bed, tugging Sora down along with him.
“Don’t tell her.” Sora let Riku pull him back into bed, waiting until Riku’s head was safely cushioned on the pillows before settling his weight down over Riku.
“Mm. I might need some convincing,” Riku murmured, cupping his hands around Sora’s cheeks. “I’m injured, you know. My boyfriend got a little rough with me this morning.”
They spent the rest of the morning in bed after Sora (gently) made it up to him. Much later, more rested and with clearer heads, they hashed out the 20-day compromise of their usual days of the week. Sora still didn't think he'd get used to date night being on multiples of 6 instead of Wednesdays, but he supposed he’d get used to it sooner or later.
*****
Three days later, which should have been Tuesday but now was 20, Sora was kissing Riku goodbye on the lawn while Donald leaned out of the Gummi ship and tried to hustle him up.
“Get a move on, will ya?!” Donald demanded. “We don’t have all day!”
“Ok, ok, keep your hat zipped,” Sora grumbled against Riku’s mouth. He pulled back just enough that they could see each other. “See you Friday?”
“No,” Riku said, holding Sora’s gaze until Sora rolled his eyes.
“See you on 3,” Sora corrected himself.
“That’s the one.” Riku kissed Sora’s forehead soundly. “Don’t you dare watch the next episode of Pasión de Ratones before I get there. Oh, and check your phone once you’re past the barrier.”
“My phone? Why?” Sora asked.
“You’ll see.” Riku smirked, gave him a last squeezed, and pushed him off towards Donald.
“Finally!” Donald said, tapping his foot as Sora tried to climb in the ship at the same time as waving goodbye to Riku.
Sora ignored Donald’s fuss and called hello to Goofy as he passed the cockpit and went to stow his backpack in his bunk. The engines were already starting up as he returned to drop into his usual seat, choosing not to get involved in Donald and Goofy bickering over which route to Radiant Garden had fewer asteroids. Instead he pulled out his phone, blinking at the sticky note stuck to its screen.
I had Jiminy run an update to keep us on track. Fly safe ♥
Sora peeled the note off and stuck it back in his pocket, then clicked his phone awake. He stuck his tongue out at the big “20” on the display before thumbing away the lock screen.
There was a new app icon on his home screen that Sora had never seen before, shaped like a cartoon alarm clock.
“What the…” Sora almost clicked it, then paused because Riku had said to wait until he cleared the Land of Departure’s barrier. A second later his ears popped from them passing through, and Sora tapped the new icon.
The app popped up a screen where the top banner said “SORA - Starlight Way - Tuesday.” Underneath Sora’s name was a series of other wielders, sorted by what Worlds they were currently on. Aqua and Riku were under Land of Departure, Kairi and Ventus were in Toybox, Roxas and Lea were in Twilight Town, and so on. Out of curiosity, Sora tapped Roxas’s name, and a dropdown window slid down showing that it was 10:00 PM there, and Wednesday.
“It really is always Wednesday there,” Sora chuckled to himself. “No wonder Lea keeps complaining that it takes forever to get to the weekend.”