Restoration
Riku was the son of Sephiroth, a self made billionaire.
His life, since the age of five had been spent being paraded around at charity benefits. As he got older, he was taken to meetings and left to hold the fort when his father left the country. As he had no siblings, the business associates he acquired became his family.
By his late teens, he had become a well know philanthropist, using his trust fund to take on restoration projects. Saving youth centres and old peoples homes and other public buildings. He took on some television work to supplement his income, becoming a celebrity in the popular media. The rest of his trust fund went on stocks and shares.
By the time he was in his early 20's, his friends and business partners were starting to pair off, get married. Riku knew who he was, what he wanted from life and this scared some people.
The hour that changed his life happened at the yearly Mayoral banquet held in his honor. He stood by the door in a black tuxedo, a bow tie and very shiny shoes, shaking hands with the guests who he would never remember and in his mind would be a faceless blur.
Half way through the evening, the urge for a nicotine hit forced him to leave out the rear entrance through the kitchen into the darkness and the cold. He leant against the wall by the door and removed a cigarette packet from the hidden pocket in his tuxedo jacket. He always asked his suit maker to add these, a prerequisite of his custom.
He listened to the traffic as it sped past the alleyway, the classical orchestra in the building a dull background noise, a contrast to the dark squalid location he had ventured into.
It was only as he tilted his head to light his cigarette with a match that he saw a young man sitting on the steps below him, Riku recognized his clothing as a waiters uniform, he was sitting on a dark duffle bag.
He must have felt Riku's presence behind him as he turned his head to see who the intruder was. His hair flashing red in a passing car headlight.
"Can I bum one of those?" He said, voice horse.
"Sure." Riku sat down on the step next to him, using his jacket as a cushion. He passed a cigarette over. "Riku" he said as he let it go.
"Axel"
The man lit it. In the light of the flame, Riku could see how young he looked.
"You don't look like a waiter." He said after a few drags
"I'm not, but you do. What are you doing out here, shouldn't you be serving drinks to a load of overstuffed people in their best party attire?"
Axel smiled
"Got fired" he said with a shrug. "Was late again 'cos of my Dad."
He sat quietly for a while, puffing smoke into the air, slightly embarrassed at divulging too much information to a total stranger.
"You live with him?"
The question was innocuous, not too probing.
"He kicked me out. This is all I own" He indicated to the bag he was sitting on.
"How old are you?"
"19. Not a minor anymore, so he can do what he likes."
"Do you go to school around here?"
"Dropped out, got into a bit of trouble."
Riku finished his cigarette and subbed it out against the wall.
"Wait here, I'll be back later. I have an idea."
He turned and went back into the building, leaving Axel sitting on the steps. He doubted that the redhead would still be there when he returned. For some reason, he felt obliged to help him as it was his party and he had hired the overzealous catering manager. Also he found him interesting.
At 3am when, the guests has mostly gone home, drunk and singing, Riku crept out the rear door to the alleyway. He didn't expect to see the redhead on the step. He thought that the man would not want to entrust is safety to a complete stranger.
"Axel?"
The redhead looked up
"You came back?" He looked surprised
"You waited"
"No-where else to go" His voice sounded resigned and numb.
"I have a large house and I'm just rattling around in it by myself. Come and stay with me."
"You are inviting a college drop out with no qualifications and dubious personal history to live with you. Are you crazy?"
"How do you know I don't have any nefarious intentions" Riku smiled, trying to make a joke.
"You're famous right?"
Riku opened his mouth to answer
"It's a rhetorical question 'Ku"
No-one had ever talked to him like that before, he started to admire the guy's confidence. He shut his mouth, saying nothing.
"If you try anything unwanted, I'll blab to the press. They'll be on you so fast, that you won't know what hit you."
From the look on Axel's face, this wasn't an idle threat. The guy was intriguing. Vague innocence and a vicious streak all jumbled together. His sharp green eyes hiding something that Riku couldn't quite put his finger on.
In the harsh light of day, Axel appeared to look worse that he did the night before. Riku piled the redhead's plate with pancakes and bacon, twice as much as he usually had himself. Axel was skinny and pale, like he hadn't been taking care of himself for months, all jutting cheekbones and bony fingers reminding Riku of a skeleton. He watched him wolf down the pancakes like they were nothing.
The way Axel watched him from the other side of the table over a mug of coffee was full of suspicion. He just looked damaged and forlorn. The romantic in Riku kicked in, he wanted to nurse this poor man back to health and take care of him.
"Why do you live here alone?" Axel finally asked
Riku looked up from his newspaper and smiled
"It's easier to keep my privacy"
"No-ones ever done anything for me without wanting something in return. What do you want?"
"Just your company. You respect me and I'll do the same for you."
Axel grinned. Riku had never see such an expression before in his life, a cross between gratitude and feral passion.
"See later 'Ku"
Axel ran his long fingers across Riku's shoulders as he left the room. Riku's heart stopped for a second then restarted, beating faster. He breathed out as soon as Axel had left the room. He pictured the way the redhead had said his name, the way his lips curled around the word, leaving Riku with an overwhelming and uncomfortable urge to kiss him.
Axel put his meagre belongings in the spare room, knowing perfectly well the reaction he had left his housemate with. The lone duffle bag looking pathetic on the double bed in the functional but dull bedroom. It was even bigger than the lounge in his dad's house.
He sat on the edge of the soft bed and threw himself backwards, his body bouncing then settling. He closed his eyes and fell asleep like he hadn't slept for days.
He woke up to the sound of the doorbell, he sat up, disorientated, not recognising where he was for a second. It was night outside and he was sitting in pitch darkness.
"Axel. Axel." He heard someone shout is name, it was not his dad or his brother. "Axel, can you get the door, it's Jack, I'm still trying to get ready."
Axel rose from the bed and thundered down the stairs.
Who the fuck was Jack?
He opened the door. In the doorway stood a man in mostly white, with blonde hair that defied gravity even more than Axel's did.
"Hey babe, you ready for..."
He stopped mid sentence when he noticed it was a skinny redhead, not the object of his affections. He looked a little surprised.
"You must be Jack"
Axel let him through, nearly slamming the guy's coat in the door.
"Who are you?"
The guy's voice affected the snobby tone Axel was used to
"Axel is my housemate."
Riku spoke as he walked down the stairs, saving Axel from any further small talk or in Axel's opinion, saving the blonde. He was a complete douche.
Jack looked Axel up and down as if to say 'why you, what's so special about you?'
"I was lonely." Riku purred as he slid up to Jack and took his arm before kissing him lightly on the cheek.
"If you were lonely, I could have moved in."
Jack grinned, it was an expression, Axel didn't like. Riku giggled, he actually giggled.
"Axel, this is my boyfriend Jack."
The blondes grin widened.
"You're gay?"
"It appears so. Is that a problem?"
"No problem"
"I'm sorry, I should have told you yesterday."
"Like I said, it's not a problem. Have a good time."
He shoved them out the door
"If you ever get bored of that jerk off, let me know." He called out the door.
Torturing the blonde would be fun.
Axel slammed the door and went to find something to eat. His phone rang when he was halfway through a pot of crab paste and a bag of nachos.
"Dad kicked you out huh?"
"Took you long enough to find that out Reno."
"You knew he would find out eventually, and it wasn't from me before you start to issue threats."
"We had a huge fight, I was late for work and got fired. No home and no job."
"Where are you staying?"
"With a friend."
If you could call him that. Axel couldn't quite figure out why Riku, a celebrity would invite him to live with him in the first place.
"You could always stay with me and Yuff."
"And interrupt the amazing adventures of the Great Ninja Yuffie and Reno with his EMR of power?"
"You heard that?"
"From two floors down. Seriously Re, your role-plays suck."
"At least I'm not a bed hopping little brat with anger management issues"
"Your words wound me."
"Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, you're smarter than that, yo".
Why did he have to marry someone like Yuffie. Such a bad influence. His comebacks were getting pathetic.
"So this friend, anything going on?"
"With Riku? It's not like that. He's hot, but he's got a boyfriend."
"That's never stopped you before."
"He hangs out in places that aren't my scene anyway."
Axel thought of the charity ball where they had met.
"Where there's people, natural lighting and music that has words you can hear?"
"Precisely. Now that you've insulted me. I'm going to bed."
"Alone?"
"Big brother, what do you think I am?"
He shut his phone and after much deliberation, decided to take his crab paste and nachos upstairs and finish unpacking.