Summary: Sora and Roxas are starting University soon and were both accepted into the University across the city. Sora is forced to leave his girlfriend behind for a year but is reunited with his best friend while Roxas finds himself attracted to the lanky redhead that is his new neighbour. Axel's roommate Demyx has problems of his own however and drags the redhead into them without meaning to, while Roxas' older brother – Cloud – has no idea how to finally come to terms with his life now that everything has finally relaxed.

Main Pairing: Roxas x Axel. Others: Roxas x Hayner, Sora x Kairi. Others to come in later chapters.

Disclaimer: I do not own kingdom hearts, final fantasy, or any of the characters stolen from either series. I do however own the plot line and title. O.o

Note: This is not betad, I pretty much write and post, won't be looking it over so I apologize for any mistakes on it.

In a Gray World

Chapter 01 – The Move

Roxas rolled his cerulean eyes as he listened to one end of the conversation his cousin was having while taping down one of the last of the cardboard boxes filled with his stuff.

"Yea, yea! We'll be leaving tomorrow morning to drop off everything and start opening it," Sora paused a moment to listen to the other end. "Of course! Hey, Roxas," he pulled the phone away a bit, "Riku's invited us over to dinner at his place tomorrow!"

"Why?" the blonde raised a sceptical eyebrow.

"'Cuz he says we'll be too tired to make our own and doesn't want us to be ordering in first night," Sora laughed and held up a finger as if to silence Roxas while he turned back to the phone. "Okay," Roxas didn't have anything to say anyway. "Alright… I'll tell him… alright…" Sora's grin never faltered from his features, "see ya tomorrow!" He finally hung up the phone

Roxas stood in the middle of the bare room with hands on his hips and looked down at his cousin. "Tell me what?"

"Oh yeah, remind me to call him tomorrow morning before we leave. He said he'll help us with the move."

Roxas rolled his eyes and chucked the tape dispenser at his cousin.

"Nooo!! I have to go say bye to Kairi!" Sora threw the thing back as if it was hot metal.

"And I wanna say bye to Hayner, Pence, and Olette. Plus… I did most of the work while you were talking to your friend," Roxas rolled his eyes.

Sora only giggled in response. "Riku, my dear cousin, it's Riku."

"Well… I don't care, cuz I don't like him," Roxas scoffed and chucked the tape dispenser back in his cousin's lap as he walked to the door. "Tell aunty I won't be home for dinner tonight."

"Nooo! We can't! We promised we'd have last dinner at home!" Sora's eyes widened almost comically.

Roxas clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and nodded. "Give me a call when she starts cooking then."

"Nooo! I won't be home!" The door shut in his face.

Sora pouted into the room and did a quick job on finishing up on closing the boxes before rushing out. "I'm going to meet Kairi, be back before dinner, bye!" He called loudly and was out before any of the fast-spoken words ever registered to anyone.

After an hour Kairi walked out of the bathroom of her house still fussing about with her hair and smiled shyly at her older sister. The other girl just shook her head and walked back down the stairs to the kitchen while Kairi entered her own room to see Sora sitting on the bed.

"Hey," she smiled softly, her cheeks still pink with blush at being caught making out by her sister. At least nothing more had happened than a groping session between the two.

"Sorry about that," Sora grinned and did not look one bit as sorry as he said he was.

The girl just smiled and nodded to herself. "So… leaving tomorrow…"

"Yea," Sora grinned even wider and pulled the girl to sit between his legs, pulling her to rest with her back against his chest and his chin resting on her shoulder. "You know you can come visit all the time, right?"

"You know Roxas will hate my guts if I do that, right?" Kairi smiled and leaned back into her boyfriend with a relaxing sigh. "I'll help with the move tomorrow, though… I haven't seen Riku in forever anyway."

"Yea… awesome," Sora grinned. "I've missed him. Ever since he started University I felt as if he was trying to pull away from us," Sora frowned slightly, not even noticing the scowl that graced his girlfriend's features. "I mean… he chose a place on the other side of the city! But I'm so happy I got accepted into that University too! I mean… there were others I got accepted into, but that one is like… whoa… like… super high standards… and they have the best program! I've heard so much about it! Did you know that in the last year of my program I'll be supervising a class! I mean… that would be so cool!" Sora kept on rambling, never noticing the discomfort and pain that seemed to have etched themselves onto Kairi's fair features. "But I'll miss you!" he hugged the girl tighter to him.

"I'll miss you too… but it's only one year." Although Sora and Kairi were the same age, Kairi had been forced to repeat her last year of high-school due to having missed too many classes. She had been diagnosed with deadly disease last summer and had spent most of the summer and a few months into the school year in the hospital. Sora had always been by her side and the two honestly thought it had strengthened and deepened their relationship.

Now Kairi felt left behind. Her boyfriend was going to a University across the city and going to be living near their best friend. The best friend that had hardly any contact with them during Kairi's stay in the hospital.

The two remained together in the girl's bedroom the rest of the evening, whispering soft words and memories, making scenarios on Kairi's visits to the boy's new apartment, and stealing feather touches and kisses throughout.

It had been interrupted though when Sora's cell phone rang and the brunette paled when he saw the time as he answered.

"Hey, Roxy," he grinned sheepishly and started disengaging himself from his girlfriend. "No. What, really?" he grinned at his girlfriend and she rolled her eyes, already knowing the cause of the call. He placed a kiss on her lips and pulled away. "I'm walking now… I'm like… two blocks away…" he grinned and the two made their way downstairs. He waved a silent goodbye to Kairi's older sister and made his way to the door. "I'll be there in like… five minutes. Okay… bye!"

"Shit!" he spat out as soon as he closed the phone. "Gotta go, love. Sorry, bye," he kissed the girl once more and rushed out.

"Better run!" she called out behind him with a smile. "And don't forget to call me tomorrow morning!" the brunette was gone in seconds after her last call. Kairi closed the door behind her with a soft sigh and lowered her eyes to the floor. Everything would start going downhill soon and she knew it.

Sora made it home in record time and slid into the chair at the kitchen with a grin plastered onto his face.

"Two blocks, eh?" Roxas raised an eyebrow at his cousin and was finally allowed to eat the delicious lasagne placed before him.

"So, boys… did you say 'bye' to your friends?" Lucrecia, Roxas' mother, looked at the two with a soft smile on her features.

"Yea… Hayner said he's definitely coming tomorrow to help with the move." Roxas replied, never once lifting his eyes and never letting a smile grace his features.

"What about Olette and Pence, dear?" Quistis asked the boy before looking over at her husband. "Irvine, clean that up, honey," she ordered with a smile.

The man snickered to himself and nodded before wiping up the spilled beer.

"Olette has work and Pence is leaving tomorrow for a holiday."

"Yea! And Kairi said she'd help too! Maybe even stay over the first night there with us!" Sora added in with that ever present grin.

"Now, boys, I just want to clear some things up!" Lucrecia started with a firm tone but the smile was still obvious in her voice. She looked at her older sister and bit her lip as she looked back at the two. "I know you're both going to be of legal age while there, but don't overdue it with alcohol! You won't be getting any spending money from us other than for school!"

Both Roxas and Sora nodded obediently. Their mothers were a force to be reckoned with when they agreed on something. The fact that Sora's father didn't seem to try and gain any grounds in the house didn't help the matter. Nor did the fact that he was the only male in the house that had the guts to stand up to the sisters.

Roxas' father was another story entirely. He was not there and the truth was, he didn't even know who his father was. Both Roxas and Sora found it strange though since they both seemed to have taken after their fathers in colourings since neither had their mother's colours.

"And don't order too much take-out," Quistis ordered with a stern stare at the two.

"Don't worry, Riku said he'll be keeping us from making the same mistake as he."

"Have to love that boy," Sora's mother shook her head. "He will probably be the one that keeps you two alive."

"I know… too bad his brother turned out…" Lucrecia silenced without further though, unable to continue speaking at the thought of the intimidating man that had entered her house too many times to count. "And anyway," she shook her head with a smile. "Cloud called the other day; he told me that apparently the place where he lives is about a block down from the apartment you two found."

"Yea."

The table was quickly cleared away and the group moved to the living room to watch a movie. After a moment Lucrecia went to the kitchen and returned with a small tray she set on the table. She handed the bottle of beer to her brother-in-law, a tall glass of wine to her sister, the other glass for herself, and left the other two bottles for the boys.

"Last drink with the family," she smiled softly and Sora grabbed the two bottles of beer off the tray holding one for himself and the other for Roxas. They all clinked the glass together in a toast.

"Let's hope you guys don't fuck up!" Irvine laughed.

"Honey!"

"Alright, alright… let's hope you don't royally fuck up!" he started drinking his beer. Roxas and Sora decided to cheer to that and Sora was grinning as he started drinking. Roxas took a few small sips before passing his beer to his cousin. He was not a fan of beer and knew that Sora was. The night ended in light conversation between the family.

When morning came around Roxas and Sora were woken from sleep by Roxas' mother while Quistis was dealing with the movers that had just arrived downstairs.

"Come on boys, showers, work, then breakfast," she smiled at the two.

Due to Roxas' father never been there, Quistis and Lucrecia had lived together when the two got pregnant and had been together ever since, allowing the boys, barely weeks apart in birthdays, to live together. They had become like brothers during that time and felt completely comfortable around each other. Even at the age of eighteen the two had decided to sleep on one mattress so they didn't have to carry two down the stairs.

While Roxas was in the shower Sora finished waking up and was brushing his teeth and styling his hair. While Sora was in the shower Roxas had done the same and changed into new clothes, having laid out a pair for his cousin.

The two were downstairs in record time, carrying the mattress they had just slept on and moving it out the house into the moving truck the parents had rented out. Kairi and Hayner got there within the hour and were both helping with the move.

Everything was finished rather quickly and the Crescent sisters had invited them all for a quick breakfast. Lucrecia was in her sister's car sitting in the back while Irvine was in the passenger seat. Hayner had taken his own car and was driving with the cousins and Kairi seated while the moving truck was being driven by one of the people from the company.

When they arrived to the correct building about two hours later they all piled up to see Riku standing there with hands on his hips. "Took you all long enough," he grinned and had to ground himself at the bouncing brown ball of energy that rushed at him.

He fell anyway with the added weight of his best friend atop him and the two were laughing in seconds. The others exited and Riku and Sora finally got up with the help of a tall, lanky redhead and an only slightly shorter boy with a strangely styled mullet-hawk.

"These guys will be your neighbours, they're friends of mine. This is Demyx and Axel," Rikue introduced the two. The redhead sparked a grin at them and Demyx bounced as cheerfully as Sora had moments ago.

"I'm Axel. A-X-E-L. Got it memorized?" the redhead grinned at the two in what he probably thought was a seductive smile but it only made Sora laugh at him and Roxas turn his gaze away.

"This is my best friend Sora and his cousin Roxas," he then turned to the others. "Hey Hayner… Kairi," he smiled gently at the girl and stepped closer. The two hugged tightly and seemed to hold onto each other for forever before Quistis cleared her throat.

"You trying to steal my son's girlfriend?" she raised an elegant eyebrow behind her glasses.

"No, ma'am," he replied with a grin and nodded. "Shall we get going?"

With the extra help, although this time Kairi, Questis and Lucrecia didn't do any moving, the work was done faster. The women just stood around the apartment and were pointing out where all the furniture would go. Seeing as the house that they had all lived in before was quite large they decided to give all the extra furniture to the boys.

When everything was done and the movers were paid, the two sisters and Irvine decided to smother their kids to death and embarrass them as much as possible before leaving them to their devices.

"So… dinner at my place," Riku smiled at the others and they all piled out of the cousins' new apartment into his own down the hall.

Riku was going to school for a culinary program and he was truly a great chef. As soon as they piled into his apartment he started cooking spaghetti while the others settled around his living room.

"Yo, Riku… where's your roommate?" Axel called from the doorway of the kitchen, leaning against the doorframe with his hands crossed in front of his chest.

"Out. He's been staying at his boyfriend's place a lot recently," Riku replied in a slightly quieter voice and Axel raised an eyebrow.

"Hold on. They don't know?"

Riku glared at his friend as he closed the lid on the pan where he was frying some shrimp. "They don't need to know."

"You said he was your best friend," Axel hissed out with narrowed eyes. The triangle tattoos under his eyes seemed to emphasize the action as he hissed at the younger boy.

"Exactly why he doesn't need to know."

"He'll find out eventually, ya know?"

"Yea…" Riku looked solemn for a long moment then shook his head. "Doesn't matter. Whatever happens, happens." He started stirring the shrimp again before pouring tomato paste into the mix and cutting up some garlic.

Axel shrugged as well and after getting drinks for the guests, offering a beer to Riku as well, he left. Riku had refused the beer for the simple reason that he loved cooking with dry red wine. Cooking with wine meant drinking wine while cooking. So he took another drink from his glass before splashing some of the liquid into the other sauce he was making. He knew Kairi was vegetarian. The wine reminded him of Kairi. Her hair was a similar red.

"Hmmm… smells good…" Sora grinned as he made his way into the kitchen, beer in hand. Riku glared at the boy a moment before shaking his head. "Almost done," he turned off the stove. "Just gotta let it cool and we're finished," he poured his glass back up and grabbed it as he made his way to the living room.

It wasn't long afterwards that the group was all sitting around and eating the delicious food made by their host, praising him as often as they could.

At the end of the night Sora and Kairi helped Riku with the clean up while Hayner had pulled Axel and Demyx into the struggle sport that him and Roxas loved so dearly. The older boys were immediately captivated by the sheer description in the sport and both immediately started hating the main antagonist of what was becoming a war novel.

Roxas was hiding a small smile as he watched his best friend and the two people that would be his neighbours starting tomorrow talking. He was constantly being mentioned by Hayner, after all, he had been to one to beat Seifer most of the time, so he noticed an awed pair of blue eyes from Demyx and the curious green pair from Axel focused on him more than once.

He started to become aware of those stares.

That night Kairi and Sora fell exhausted into bed together after a long conversation with Riku on everything they had missed out.

Hayner had pushed Axel into introducing them to the harder liquor, the stuff that Roxas could actually drink without gagging, and the four of them had proceeded to talk and drink casually, acting more like adults and less like teenagers with the alcohol.

When Hayner and Roxas stumbled back to the apartment Hayner was almost drunk and Roxas was buzzed. As soon as the two got into Roxas' new room though, they realized how thin the walls were when they heard a throaty moan.

"Holy fuck," Hayner couldn't hold back his laughter so Roxas did it for him with a hand while he completely sobered up, his expression a mix of surprise and disgust as he faced the wall that separated his room from his cousin's.

"Hey, Roxy," Hayner breathed with a low chuckle at the back of his throat.

"Hey, Hay," Roxas grinned back, finally relaxing after hearing the sounds when Hayner purred out his nickname like that.

"Hey, hey," Hayner played with the name and giggled before stumbling back.

The two landed in bed with locked lips, neither of them knew who started it first, they just knew they were bored and growing teenagers. "Fuck… Sora sounds hot," Hayner breathed out in between kisses and Roxas' eyes widened before he pushed the other away.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" when Hayner started laughing Roxas realized he was not drunk enough to get the joke and regretted that he didn't drink some more before getting back here.

Neither of them was gay, they both knew that since they were both interested din girls and Hayner even had a girlfriend at the moment. They had found out from young that being with someone else was comforting and, though true, sometimes it did go a little too far, it never made them awkward or made them regret it. It was just a physical need to be closer to someone who understood. And nobody understood either of the boys better than each other.

The two got back into the bed and with a final soft kiss they closed their eyes and cuddled closer together. Roxas has always had the need to be held and while Sora usually answered that need, sometimes it would be Hayner that helped him out. Tonight it was Hayner and Roxas was completely tranquil as he fell asleep with ease.

tbc
please read and review
also... i need help with figuring out one of the characters...
who looks like they would be an abusive boyfriend? please list a few since i have a lot of characters who already have roles in the future
thank you