Warning: This story will be containing yaoi and maybe lemons. If you don't know or like what those are, leave.

Main pairing is Axel/Demyx, but Reno/Rude and Luxord/Xigbar are hinted at. (yeah, I said hinted, but I could be under-exaggerating)

For the most part this will be from Axel's point of view.

EDIT (1/28/2012): I have done minor editing to this chapter to provide a bit more flow. Hopefully it's a better read now with fewer typos (one of the many banes of my existence).

Chapter One: From The Ocean

Slouched over the counter, Axel tapped the butt of his pen on the marble countertop. Currently, he was doing some studying from a book on bomb mechanics; it was the required reading for his Thursday class at the University. The chapter was filled with complicated processes and words, many of which he'd definitely need to know for his career and many more would be required for his final exams. Clicking the pen, he jotted down a few more of the key words, defining them and then sketching or noting beside them what they were and how they applied.

DING-DONG

"Shit." He grumbled, looking over through the kitchen entry way. Not that he could see the front door from this current position he glared at whoever was there anyway. Then he glanced at the clock in front of him. It was four in the afternoon, "I didn't invite Roxas, who the hell could it be?" He wondered aloud as he set the pen down and ran his hand back through his spiky red hair.

Not in much of a hurry he slowly made his way out of the kitchen, down the back of the Living Room, to the front door. Before he could reach it, however, the door swung open and his older brother let out a yelp of surprise.

Placing his hand on his chest, the older of the sibling seemed to attempt settling his heart, "Woah! Axel, what're ya doin', yo? Ya psychic now?" Asked Reno with surprise, wondering exactly why Axel had come to the door. His brother looked remarkably similar to him, if they weren't several years apart in age they could be twins. They were both tall and lanky with sharp features and crimson red hair. Both had small tattoos about the eyes, Reno's were crescents that framed his eyes and Axel's were triangles that accented his own.

Just to Reno's side stood a boy, looking about Roxas's age, 16. His hair was a pale blonde, much lighter than Roxas's and Axel might have called it platinum, and he had eyes the color of the sky on a cold winter day. His unusual hairstyle, the bastard offspring between a mullet and Mohawk, was offset by his rather boring attire. He was wearing faded blue jeans and plain white t-shirt. Over his left shoulder a large guitar case was strapped and over the other was a backpack. In his left hand he held a duffle bag.

Rolling his eyes some Axel shook his head at his brother, "Uh, no?" He muttered before raising a brow coolly and folding his arms, "You rang the door bell."

"Huh? You rang the bell?" Reno looked down to the blonde boy with open surprise.

Looking up at him, the blue-eyed stranger shrugged a little. Axel was surprised he'd heard Reno at all because the boy sported a set of headphones as well. The speakers were cranked so loud even Axel could hear the music from where he stood several feet away. Of course, just because he'd heard apparently didn't make him inclined to respond verbally. He didn't seem really up to speaking; actually, he looked rather sad or aggravated. Either way, Axel didn't care to wonder why. His brother was a little out there, so it was quite possible Reno had just gotten on the kid's nerves.

A smug grin began to spread across Axel's lips, "So it finally happened huh?" Axel inquired, a light chuckle forming at the end of his question. His older brother glanced back at him and tipped his head to the side in inquiry.

"Wha?"

"You and Rude finally decided to adopt. A little old though, should've picked a six year old; they're a lot cuter at that age." Teased the college student as he stepped to the side a little to lean on the stairway to his right, "A lot less moody too."

Raising both hands, Reno shook his head, "Oh, no! This ain't Rude and I's kid." Well duh, of course not, he was joking. His brother, of course, didn't quite catch that though. Not that it was expected he would anyway, "You remember Rufus, right? My boss."

"Gee I wonder." Axel's jade eyes drifted back to the teenager as he silently scolded his brother. Rufus had come over just last week with Rude and the four of them had a nice dinner, which had been provided by yours truly. Reno couldn't cook if his life depended on it. After a long bout of silence, Axel brought his gaze up, "God, yes, I remember him. He's the only other guy you bring around other than Rude. It's not that difficult to remember."

"Yeah, anyway! This is Rufus's cousin, Demyx. Demyx, this is my younger brother, Axel." Reno introduced hastily already starting to back out the door, "Anyway, I gotta get back to work in a little while, yo, so I'm gonna leave it up to him to explain things to y-"

"Explain what things?" Interrupted Axel suddenly a bit alarmed.

With a sheepish grin, Reno shrugged a little and lowered his head, "Well, Demyx is gonna be livin' with a us for a few months-"

Axel didn't let him finish, "Damn! Might as well have adopted him. Why's he staying here?" He demanded in agitation as his eyes were caught by the newcomer again. Obviously quite through with the conversation Demyx ducked under Reno's arm, which was still up holding the door open, and slipped into the house. Reno stepped in after him and closed the door casually, realizing he wasn't about to get away that easily.

Reno took a deep breath, "Well, he's movin' in with Rufus, yo, but, since his place is pretty small, he's having some renovations done to accommodate him. So until that's done, Rufus asked me to keep him around here." He explained, trying to be civil about it so Axel wouldn't blow up in his face over this. Though, he couldn't help but add in, "PS: You'll be cooking for him and taking care of him for the most part little bro." Reno grinned, "You know I work a lot so I don't have the time."

"Oh… Lucky me." Groaned Axel as he looked to his new burden for the month. Demyx was wandering about the small hallway, which was attached to the open Living Room. Peeking his head through the kitchen doorway, he surveyed the area, probably trying to gain his bearings in the new house. He'd be living here for months… And Axel wasn't looking forward to the unpleasantness of it all. He didn't know the first thing about dealing with kids, let alone teenagers. The only two people he talked to were Luxord and Roxas, but he'd known them for years. He didn't remember how to open up conversations with people anymore.

Waving his hand Reno went on, "He'll be sleeping in the guest room next to yours, yo. Tell him the rules of the house and the schedule and what not- Crap." Reno glanced at his watch, "Later, yo!" He bade farewell and dashed out the door to get back to work before Axel could get in another word.

Axel growled quietly in reluctance, this sucked so much ass it wasn't even funny.

"Hey Demy-" Turning from the door, his voice was cut off when he saw that Demyx was speaking. Actually, he wasn't speaking, rather he was singing to the song that he was listening to on his headphones. Given he wasn't singing very loud, but Axel recognized the song from a movie he'd watched a month before. The song had been the opening theme to the movie; he couldn't recall what the show was about or the name of the song.

"Now back at the homestead,

Where the air makes you choke

And the people don't know you

And trust is a joke.

Don't even have pictures

Just memories to hol- Oh, you say somethin'?" Demyx turned attentively, both eyes suddenly bright and expressive, unlike the saddened dull stare that had occupied his gaze previously. Somehow, when he turned the dull light of the room seemed to light up his face, making him appear almost angelic in a sense. Axel might have even said he looked rather… Beautiful- But that certainly wasn't the case! No, Axel had been studying for quite some time. His eyes must have been tired.

Clearing his throat, Axel pushed off from the wall, "Come on into the kitchen; I'll tell you what you're going to need to know." He muttered, slipping by his new 'neighbor'. Sitting down in his once vacated seat, he closed his textbooks and pushed his things aside for the time being, "Hand me that calendar from the fridge."

The teenager picked up the calendar and handed it over, before leaning on the counter from the opposite side of Axel.

"You won't remember a lot of what I tell you so I'll mark it in here as well." Axel said in a matter-of-fact kind of tone, "First off, my brother is almost never home and when he is he's usually got Rude with him. If you haven't met him, Rude a big guy built like a wall and he's always wearing his uniform and black sunglasses; you'll know him if you see him. Reno leaves the house at nine in the morning, works at the office till seven, comes home and sleeps (usually). Then he goes back to work as a bouncer at nine, comes home again at midnight, and the cycle repeats itself. He get Sundays off so you can see him then if you like, if not he'll be out with Rude." While he spoke he wrote most of this in the margin since it was a consistent daily thing. Then he moved to specific days, "I have one class on Monday, two classes on Wednesday, and a class on Thursday. For Monday and Thursday, I'll be in class from 1:30pm to 3:30pm and Wednesdays I'll be there by 2:00pm and back by 6:00pm. On weekdays, I'll leave the house at 7:00am to go to work, and on Sunday's I'll be gone from 9 to 5." Yeah, Demyx wasn't going to remember a word, good thing he was writing this down for the kid, "I sometimes work on Saturday, but I'll inform you when that happens. If you need to call either one of us, our work and cell numbers are on the last page of the calendar.

"Also, apparently, I'll be cooking for you, so you best tell me anything you're allergic to now or everything's fair game- oh, and you'll eat what I cook. I don't give a damn if you don't like it, you'll eat it. Got it memorized?" Axel cast Demyx a look, he'd turned his face just slightly so once again the light hit him just right and gave him that virtuous aura. Axel shook his head a bit, maybe he was hungry. Yeah, Axel was hungry that's why he was thinking like that.

"I'm lactose intolerant, but I'm not allergic to anything that's eatable." Demyx told him quietly with a bit of shrug.

"All right. House rules are pretty simple. Basically if you make a mess, clean it up, and if you do something wrong, don't get caught. For your own sake, I'd suggest you don't go into my brother's room, and if you go into my room or lab and touch something I'll chop off your fingers. Other then that do as you please, eat what you like, and stay out of my way because I'm busy. Got it memorized?"

"All right." Demyx gave a short nod. No smart-ass remark? No back-talk? Nothing? It was strange.

"I'll show you to you around then." Getting to his feet, Axel began the tour, "Obviously, this is the kitchen, the back door's right there if you want to go hang out there." He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb, "That door behind you, next to the kitchen entry way, that leads to my make-shift lab; you shouldn't go in there. I've got a lot of dangerous stuff in there and I'm not going to be responsible if you get killed. Gotta go through there to get to the garage though… Come on." Striding out of the kitchen, he paused near the front door, "The Living Room. We don't use it much unless we're watching a movie so sit around here all you want, just be quiet if I'm in the kitchen or lab." Then up the stairs. "First door on the right is your room, second door is my room, and third door is storage. To the left is the bathroom and Reno's room. The door at the very end goes up to the attic, nothing up there but old boxes of junk. So that's the house, got it memorized? I'm not showing you around again."

"I've got it, I'm not a kid." Demyx voiced revealing some state of normalcy about the kid.

"Make yourself at home; I'm going to get started on dinner." Axel informed before pushing onward back down the stairs and past Demyx, "I'll call you when it's done if you're not down when I finish." And that was that.

Well, that didn't go too badly. Of course, he'd probably not helped the kid out much at all. Still, that was over with and Axel couldn't be happier to get that out of the way.

About halfway in his cooking, Demyx came down and sat at the counter. He was no longer wearing his headphones or carrying anything. He didn't make any move to speak with him and in turn Axel didn't make any move to speak to him either. It was a fairly awkward and heavy silence, but since Axel was cooking his mind was quickly distracted from that point.

There was the soft rustle of paper and the sound of pages flipping, "What're you studying?"

"My major is Military Science. I'm designing weapons for the future and constructing more efficient battle plans. I'm getting a minor in Pyrotechnics at a specialty college." Axel replied absently.

"Oh… So… What's your job?"

"I work at a restaurant. I'm a cook and part-time delivery boy. Don't even think about laughing, I like my job and I'm damn good at it. Not only that but my college doesn't pay for itself and I'm not going to have Reno pay for everything himself. I earn enough to pay for most my tuition, half the utilities, and for things that I might want." Replied Axel not even looking up from his frying pan.

"So…" Demyx drawled a moment, possibly still thinking of the words as he spoke them, "That motorcycle out front… Is it yours?"

"Yup. The hotrod is Reno's. Doesn't matter though, I use either one I please; Reno normally gets a ride with Rude."

"Huh… I guess, I'll go and sit in the front room." Demyx voiced and then left.

"Strange kid." Muttered Axel watching him from the corner of his eye. Didn't matter. Axel wouldn't have to talk to him much. Although, Axel did wonder- Well, it wouldn't hurt to ask, "Hey! Kid!" There was a soft creeking sound as Demyx leaned back on the couch and glanced back over at Axel through the opening in the wall, "So, you're just moving in with Rufus, right? Where'd you live before?"

Demyx frowned, a sad look entering his face again. His eyes fell to the ground as he furrowed his brows lightly. He slipped back into a semi-relaxed position and looked back at the blank screen of the TV, "The coast." He finally spat out before quickly standing up and retreating to the room upstairs.

"Fuck it was just a question..." Muttered Axel sourly under his breath. The coast was about a four hour drive from there, but that was only if you were lucky. If the traffic was bad, it could take twice that long. Axel supposed it might be upsetting for Demyx, if he had liked living on the coast, "He just needs to get over it; moving's not the worst thing in the world." With a heavy sigh Axel turned off the stove. Taking out a few plates, bowls, and glasses he served the food, "Dinner's ready, get your scrawny ass down here, punk!"

No sooner had he called, Demyx was back in the kitchen. Of course, now he had his headphones back on and was being quite silent and dreary. Again with the light too, he had his face bowed in such a way the light only intensified the emotion he was so bitterly expressing.

"Thank you." He muttered before he began eating. The teenager didn't look thrilled about eating, but was choking the food down anyway. Good for him, he'd listened. Then suddenly, "Don't talk to me anymore."

The hair on the back of Axel's neck bristled in irritation. Damn brat, Axel definitely did not like him. He took back all the thoughts that Demyx was normal and decent looking kid. No, Demyx was a bipolar brat of a child and he was definitely going on Axel's 'shit list' for the rest of the week. If he wasn't going to be nice, neither was Axel.

Yay, so there's chapter one. Please don't be deterred by Axel's foul attitude, he'll lighten up and things will get better (that goes double for Demyx, he's a stressed pupper wupper). First impressions are always a bit rocky, don't you know? Also, it was a bit informational about Axel and Reno's life, this plays in continuously throughout the story but it's more or less here so I don't forget. Chapter two will be more entertaining.

If you don't know who Reno and Rude are, look up screenshots of Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children, or better yet, go watch it. They are oh-so-sexy together! Reno's such a goof-ball; he makes me laugh. So does Rude, but that's because of the sunglasses thing.