the love story in kh is...really well written. in every sense it's been shown that sora and riku feel it for each other even before they recognize that's what it is, and each have to examine why that feeling is different. it takes them time to put words to it. --

this is something that would not be done for a heterosexual relationship, and it's as if that has been done in the opposite direction. kh1 starts out with sora and those around him thinking he has a romantic crush on kairi and over time not much is shown to ever validate that. --

from the beginning it's just *assumed* what sora and kairi's relationship is and no one, not even sora for a long time, even thought about it. he rarely thinks about kairi unless she's in danger. but he thinks about riku all the time, especially as we saw in kh3. --

despite the fact that everyone (even sora?) in kh1 (and beyond, in some cases) were certain of sora's romantic feelings for kairi, he becomes LESS and less certain of that over time, not more so. but when he encounters love in kh3 he continues to think of riku, always --

he doesn't "get" romantic love yet bc he hasn't put these pieces together. he meets a pair of siblings whose love and devotion to each other reminds him of him and riku and wonders is this what siblings are like? is this what love is like? he still doesn't get it. --

if he did get it, if he understood what siblings were and thought that's what he and riku were, that's what he would say. but he didn't. he recognized love, like he and riku have for each other, and questions it, questions what kind it is, as he sees it between others. --

he thought of riku, meeting mulan and shang. he thought of riku in corona. he thought of riku in sanfransokyo. he thought about how cool and handsome riku is in toy box. he's always thinking about these things, as if they have no reason to be questioned before this. --

at the same time we see riku go through something similar but from a different angle. he understood from the beginning that sora was the center of everything, but didn't question its romantic nature until he realized how far he was willing to go for it, even against himself --

at the same time we see riku go through a journey of feeling like he has to act like a protective brother of sora bc he's older and getting to a point where he states outright he stopped seeing it that way a long time ago. his feelings for sora aren't brotherly and he knows. --

the fact that they both question this in narration and BOTH do not think they have a sibling relationship and processing what kind of love theirs is, in their own ways, is so beautiful to watch even if frustrating bc their words and actions made their love clear to US already --

sora is seen as "stupid" for taking longer to understand love than riku does, but i disagree. for whatever reason, riku never seemed to fall deep into comphet, likely bc he knew his focus was sora from long ago and just needed time to define that exact feeling --

but sora has another hurdle in his way, in the way he's assumed from the beginning to be with kairi by other people /even when he did nothing to make them think that/ bc boy liking girl is the default right? everyone just assumes his favorite girl is his Crush --

if sora was already so uncertain about the difference between types of love, of course the fact that the person that's Supposed to make him feel romantic love, doesn't make him feel it, like he thought she would, would make it seem impossible to understand. --

it seems it just hadn't occurred to sora that his love for riku even COULD be romantic bc he'd spent so long assuming that was for kairi. but she is not who he thinks of in those moments anymore. and it's left him more confused than ever. --

kh3 takes him on a journey of showing him true love, while riku is having it explained to him what power true love gives him. it culminates in riku showing the ultimate act of true love and sacrificing himself for sora. the moment is so huge it creates the tear in reality. --

this is the moment where they both understand what true love is. and sora is sent flying through darkness towards a light he recognizes as riku. the light in the darkness calling to him. the love riku has for him, calling him to safety like it always has. sora almost Gets it --

but as we saw in re:mind, this memory is erased from his mind. his heart still remembers, but he can't recall it anymore. he doesn't remember this understanding of love, and the next time he's in the darkness, kairi is there to block out the light. --

the clues are there to suggest larger forces have set this situation up, but the metaphor itself is a very innocent and relatable one -- it's a comphet narrative. sora's love for riku, though understood, is blocked by his incorrect assumption that kairi is the only option. --

too many times it's been shown that riku is the light of kh for sora and it is often water used to represent a force keeping them apart. but this isn't in and of itself evil. it's representative of the comphet experience. and it seems someone wants sora confused on purpose. --

telling the love story this way is one of the most fascinating things to watch, because it's told through sora and riku's understanding and how different and complicated discovery can be. there's a reason gay fans understand it easily -- we live(d) it.