Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

A/N: Request for VioletNight97. I have no idea how long this is going to be. Just sit and enjoy the ride.

xXx

Smoking In The Boys Room

Chapter I

xXx

The bar was quiet for a Sunday night. The haze of smoke and the clinking of half empty glasses entered Roxas's ears as the wooden door closed slowly behind him and his eyes adjusted to the musty atmosphere. It was sparsely populated with the usual seedy crowd of late night workers, drunkards, and the occasional woman looking for more than a good time. It was perfect for Roxas.

He walked toward the bar, mounting himself upon a stool and crossed his legs as he surveyed the area with interest. There was a thin blonde sitting a few seats down from his left. Cigarette balanced precariously in one hand and a cocktail pushed up against her plump red lips. A nightwalker, no doubt. He had no interest in her.

He glanced to his right to see a portly, aging man slumped against the bar. The bartender appeared to be asking him something, but he waved her away and she shrugged as she walked away from him. She turned her eyes on Roxas and titled her head curiously to the side.

"Hey there. What can I do for you?" She was young, probably in her mid-twenties from the looks of it.

"Scotch." Roxas answered before she could ask him anything else. He cut weary blue eyes at her, "Straight."

"Coming right up!" He watched her turn around and reach for the highest shelf behind her. When she turned back toward Roxas, she flipped a cup out from underneath the bar and set it down right in front of him. "So, do you have a name?"

"Roxas." He replied, dully.

"That's a unique one, huh?" She poured with expert ease, using her left hand to empty the bottle and balancing her right hand against her hip, "I don't think I've ever seen you before, Roxas. Welcome to Final Heaven."

"Hm." Roxas commented as she flicked the bottle upward and capped it with the same hand. She pushed it toward him and he nodded in thanks to her.

"You're welcome." She observed Roxas for a moment, "So, Roxas, what brings you here tonight?"

Roxas shrugged, "Just wanted to, I guess."

The bartender laughed heartily, her warm brown eyes lighting up at Roxas's response. "Say, you wouldn't happen to be related to someone named Cloud, would you?"

Roxas looked up at her and raised an eyebrow carefully, "No. Why?"

"Just because you remind me of him. The hair, the eyes." She nodded to herself as she washed out a stray drink on the bar counter, "Sorry, just forget I asked." She looked back up at Roxas, "So, you just wanted to, huh? That's a first. Most of the people that come in here seem to have more of a story than that."

Roxas set his glass back down on the bar table top and looked up at the inquisitive woman before him. Her dark hair fell in her face whenever she moved, obscuring her face from time to time. The warmth in her eyes was evident every time she turned her eyes on Roxas in question. She seemed friendly enough, personable, that is. Something he expected from your typical bartender.

"It's okay if you don't want to talk, though. It's just something I've grown accustomed to." She turned around, pulling a cup from under the bar. She reached for the bottle of Scotch that she had pulled down for Roxas and poured a little bit into the glass. She raised her glass up to Roxas before tipping the glass to her lips, "The names Tifa by the way."

"Hm." Roxas pushed his drink away and Tifa took it as an invitation to pour more Scotch into his glass. If experience taught her anything, the drunker the patron got, the more inclined they were to talk. This one just needed a little warming up, that's all.

"Go on, drink up, Roxas." She smiled, setting the bottle back down, "That one's on the house. You look like you need it."

Roxas turned to see her smile. Wide, warm, belying a deceptive charm that she had honed with age. He glanced down at his glass and she nodded in encouragement before he took another sip of his Scotch. Honestly, he wasn't drinking at her behest even if it looked like he was. Tifa took a swig of her own drink and watched Roxas for a moment or two. She set her glass down when she was done and smiled again at Roxas. A few seconds later, she was off to attend to another patron.

Roxas watched her walk away, fingers grasping his glass loosely. He looked away shortly after and sighed as he felt an imaginary weight fall off his shoulders. The taste of the Scotch was welcoming on his yearning tongue. Burning him from the inside and warming the frost in his veins. Any false reservations in his mind dissipated as he felt the amber liquid settle into his bloodstream.

Truly, he was nothing but a depressed little rich boy who had run off into the warm summer night after some unresolved altercation with his parents. Something about not taking advantage of his upbringing—you'll never find the proper wife. All the money they had spent on his studies—what could you ever hope to gain from this waste of interest in literature? He would need to find a proper wife to carry on the family line—you are my only son, it would be improper for you not to do so. So on and so forth. On and on and on. He knew the rules; he knew what was expected of him. Roxas just had a problem with abiding by any of it. A real big problem.

Tifa returned shortly to check his glass before disappearing to the end of the bar. She sought to talk with the despondent business man who finally seemed willing to talk to her. First the man downed whatever it was that she had given him and then began to talk. Roxas watched with a bit of rapt interest as the man pounded on the bar and Tifa nodded along to whatever he was saying with what looked to be sympathy. She patted him on the back and he rose from his spot at the bar and nodded his head in thanks to her.

She waved to him as he placed his money down on the counter and stumbled out of the bar. Tifa glanced up at Roxas as she caught him looking in her direction. She jabbed over her shoulder at the man leaving the bar, "His name is Cid. Comes here every now and then, he's a bit of a regular." Tifa began rinsing some glasses out in the sink in front of her, "He's the headmaster of some school up in Balamb called Garden." She smiled at Roxas, "He's going to be a father soon and he gets worked up a lot from all the stress. I usually start watering his drinks down after his first brandy. He's a light weight, can't tell the difference."

Roxas looked at her questionably as if to ask her why she was telling him all of this.

She nodded down toward the end of the bar where the blonde woman was sitting, "That woman down there is named LeBlanc. She waits around here every Sunday and Wednesday night for this man named Nooj. I've never seen the guy but she never stops talking about him. Her drink of choice is usually a fruity cocktail." Tifa turned away from LeBlanc and turned her eye to the door, "And here comes my favorite patron, now."

Roxas glanced over his shoulder at the door to see it a slender red head walking into the bar. He ran a hand through his hair and glanced about the place briefly before heading toward Tifa's direction. He took a seat a few seats away from Roxas, "Tifa."

"Axel." She greeted him, "Jack and coke?"

"As always." He replied mirthfully, drumming his long fingers on the polished wood of the bar counter. Axel glanced in Roxas's direction once and smiled slightly as a friendly gesture. It was one Roxas didn't seem to keen on reciprocating. Unperturbed, Axel turned his attention back on Tifa who was pushing a glass over the bar in his direction. He nodded in thanks and tipped the glass to his mouth.

Roxas frowned at the redhead and shifted his eyes away from him. Just as he did, he caught Tifa lighting up more so than usual, when a spiky haired blond man walked into the bar. He let himself in behind the bar and mumbling something quickly to Tifa as he disappeared into the back. She turned to look at Roxas, "That was Cloud." She began, but didn't continue as she walked off to the other side of the bar to talk to LeBlanc.

Roxas closed his eyes as he took another swig of his Scotch. The guy looked nothing like him. The redhead to his right was preoccupied with his phone at the moment, as he was tapping rapidly on the small device while frowning at the screen. Roxas glanced at him again, eyes narrowed like they had been from before.

"Do you need something?" Axel asked him, setting his phone down next to his drink. He didn't even spare Roxas a second glance as he downed his jack and coke.

"Not particularly."

"Well, you keep staring at me like you do." Axel stated as he flipped his phone open again and squinted at the screen.

"He's a new one, Axel." Tifa interjected her way into the conversation as she came back around. She waved goodbye to LeBlanc as the blonde woman fluttered out of the bar on her cell phone. She was more than likely talking with the infamous Nooj that Tifa had mentioned earlier.

"Really?" Axel questioned, glancing up from his phone to look at Roxas, "Fresh meat?"

Tifa gave him a pointed look as if to tell him to back off for the moment. "Yeah, it's his first time here. Doesn't seem up for talking though."

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't talk about me as if I didn't exist, while you are still in my presence." Roxas snapped, closing his eyes and leaning heavily onto the bar. He was starting to feel warmer than before. His veins were snapped and cracked open, gasping as they allowed to breathe. He could feel his heart in his ears. It was drinking itself silly of his ethanol tainted blood. He inhaled deeply as he pushed his glass toward Tifa.

"Scotch, still?" Tifa questioned.

"Brandy." Roxas replied.

"Gotcha." Tifa replied, flipping a new cup out from beneath the bar. She whirled around to find a bottle off the extensive shelf of alcohol and pulled one down. She poured the brandy into the fresh cup and then pushed it over toward Roxas, "Enjoy."

"Hm." Roxas replied, losing himself in his head once more.

Axel watched Roxas with a reserved sort of interest before he turned his attention on Tifa when she was finished with Roxas, "So … Tifa."

"Yes, I'm listening."

"I got this new client today." Axel began as Tifa picked up his empty glass, "Some old dude, fuck, it was terrible."

"I thought you said you were going to stop with the hustling, Axel."

"Talk is cheap." Axel waved his hand nonchalantly as she dropped a fresh cup of jack and coke in front of Axel, "And some of the people I meet are just too fucking entertaining. Like this guy. I don't know, haven't thought of a name for him yet. He's this old dude that lives up on Main Street with this fat ass tabby cat that he calls Simba. That's an insult to the Lion King right there."

"Simba, huh? That sounds kind of cute, actually." Tifa mused, leaning down on the bar.

"Yeah, so, anyway. He's this old rich guy who lives alone with his cat. Supposedly, his old lady left him a ton of money some years ago or whatever and he's lonely. So, that's where I come into play. Or rather, came into play." Axel grimaced slightly, "Said he had a thing for redheads and would I mind calling him Daddy."

Tifa's smile intensified, "So, what did you do?"

"Played my part without giving him what he really wanted." He sipped at his drink, "I think he was new to the whole thing to be honest. He just about talked my ear off and wouldn't stop obsessing over how red my hair was." Axel paused, then glanced up at Tifa with a smirk on his face, "He kept asking me if I wanted to pet his pussy and I told him I wasn't aware he had one. You know what he said?"

"What?"

"He held up that ugly fat tabby and went, 'Really? Can't you see she's right here?' I almost felt bad for the guy at the end of it all. I don't think I can bear to go back there, though. When he asked me if he was going to see me again, I told him I didn't really know. I told him I was moving out to Edge, halfway across the world." Axel shrugged dismissively, winding his drink around so that the ice cubes clinked into one another, "At any rate, I've got the usual four to keep me entertained otherwise."

"Axel, you're horrible." Tifa chided, slapping him lightly on the arm and leaning up so she could wipe down the counter next to him, "And usual four, huh? What happened to the fifth?"

"Patched things up with his cheery little boyfriend, finally. It was about damn time, too. I don't care how much he paid, I was sick of his prima donna bitch fits." Axel tipped his glass to his lips, "I'll get through the other four eventually …"

"And then?" Tifa questioned.

"Haven't figured that one out yet." Axel replied, shrugging his shoulders.

Appearances were deceiving, but Roxas wasn't one who was too often surprised. He cleared his throat as he grasped his brandy in his hand and stepped down off his stool. Axel turned to look at Roxas as he took up residence in two seats beside him. Maybe it was the alcohol that was doing it, maybe he was genuinely curious. Roxas wanted to change things up for tonight, if just for a little bit.

If you asked Tifa, she'd definitely tell you it was the alcohol.

"Oh?" As he sidled into the seat closer to Axel, the redhead's eyebrows rose in question, "Can I help you…?"

"Roxas." Tifa offered without looking up from the dishes she was currently washing. "Axel." She repeated a little while later for Roxas.

"You have any more stories?" Roxas asked, sipping at his brandy.

"Why? Did I intrigue you with the last?"

Roxas shrugged nonchalantly as he downed the rest of his brandy and set the glass down on the counter. "Maybe."

"Go on, Axel." Tifa began, "Show him why I call you my favorite patron."

"Oh, you flatter me, Tifa." Axel snorted and set his half empty drink down. "Let's see, Roxas. That's definitely one I won't forget, huh?" He stretched languidly in his chair and crossed his arms behind his head, "You wanna hear about prima donna boy?

Roxas shrugged, wordlessly telling him to continue.

"He was your typical pretty boy. Crazy green eyes with this weird as fuck silver hair that he claims is natural. I can't really tell you his name, though, 'cause that would be a complete break of customer confidentiality or whatever."

"Like you pay attention to client confidentiality, Axel." Tifa chimed in as she began readjusting bottles on their shelves, "I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to be telling anyone half of the stuff you talk about."

"Ignore her." Axel said, waving his hand at Tifa, "Anyway, he's this pretty boy frat kid who's all confused about his sexuality. He started dating this little twink that he was tutoring and then that's where I come into play. Claims he needed another gay experience but something with no strings attached … or something equally stupid. Whatever, the pay check was more than enough to keep him around for a bit."

"…Twink?" Roxas questioned, raising a questioning eyebrow.

Axel leaned in closer to Roxas who kept his features neutral as Axel observed him for a moment. The redhead raised a scrutinizing eyebrow of his own, "Young, slender … no body hair." He cocked his head to the side, eyes roaming over Roxas, "A little like yourself, hm?"

Tifa turned around to Axel, hands on her hips, "Axel."

"What?" Axel asked, leaning back from Roxas and shooting a sly grin at Tifa, "He asked me a question."

"Stop with the wandering eyes and tell your story." Tifa snapped, looking at him pointedly.

"Right, right." Axel rolled his eyes and leaned back into his chair.

The Scotch was talking to his mind right about now. The beginning of drunken philosophies were starting to take root in Roxas's psyche. He didn't question the exchange between Tifa and Axel, he wanted to hear more. He wanted to know more.

As Roxas had roamed the streets earlier that night and randomly happened upon Final Heaven, the first thoughts in his mind had been to get away from home. He wanted to find a place to unwind, where he wasn't as stifled as he was within his father's walls. He was sick of the daily chiding and arguments. Annoyed with his father's calls of folly for his passion of literature. But, he needed him for financial support. And with that came the abiding of certain rules and expectations.

But here, in this bar, there was none of that. The focus of his restrictive family couldn't reach him here, now could they? Nor could the inhibitions they placed on him. And that lack of focus and inhibition was currently directing him in Axel's direction. It was mainly from the alcohol, minutely from his own natural curiosity that was amplified due to said alcohol. Tifa had mentioned something earlier about hustling, didn't she? What was that? From the way Axel had been talking, he deduced that it was more than likely another name for prostitution.

Roxas found himself laughing briefly at the absurdity of it all as he sipped at his brandy. Look at that, him, sitting at the bar with a prostitute. A male prostitute at that. How many of those did you see walking around on a daily basis? Well, not in Roxas's world. In the glare of wealth, country clubs, stuffy parties and false reality … it might have happened. But, people rarely spoke of it willingly.

He turned to Axel, feeling bold. Daring. Audacious. "Axel?"

Axel turned back to Roxas, "Oh, right, right, right. I left you hanging there." He sat up, biting his lip. "Let's see … where was I?" He tapped his finger on the counter and then nodded, "Right, back to confused pretty boy. So, yeah. Uhhhh …he started dating the little high school kid. It was great. Kid's parents didn't know that while pretty boy was tutoring their son, he was also fucking him underneath his 4th grade representation of the solar system when they went to sleep at night. Soooo, I think this went on for four months or some shit and then I came into the picture. I was like his gay therapist or something. We'd fuck and then he'd talk about the kid. All the time. Blah, blah, blah did this. Blah, blah, blah, did that. I can't stop thinking about blah, blah, blah."

"Was he that bad?" Tifa asked, somewhat interested in the story now, too.

"Oh, that was in the beginning. Then he started ignoring the kid and the kid started to blow his phone up. It got to be ridiculous after awhile." Axel shrugged, "The more he ignored the kid, the more sex we had. Oh, God, it was terrible. I thought he was going to break down on me numerous times. He'd even pitch fits while we were fucking."

"Axel, I think you're exaggerating a bit." Tifa stated incredulously as she washed her hands off in the sink.

"A bit." Axel replied, slyly. He reached into his back pocket and withdrew a black box and then a lighter from his front. He tapped a black clove out and lit up. The sweet, ashen smell filled the air near him as he exhaled, "At any rate, he patched things up with his little boyfriend and finally realized that he pitches and bats for the same team now. I don't particularly enjoy being used as a little experiment, but, hey, it was somewhat interesting to say the least."

"That's it?" Roxas asked, emptying his glass of the last bit of brandy.

"Mmm," Axel mused, taking another long drag, "Yeah."

"Hm." Roxas propped his elbow up on the bar counter, "What's it like … being with a guy?"

"You mean fucking?" He flicked the clove slightly, "Well, it's like being with a girl. Except a lot less squishy and gentle. Its rougher and domineering … due to that ever present drive of testosterone driven insanity that you find in men. Ah … typically they'll talk less, if at all, after you're done." Axel turned to Tifa who was currently leaning across the bar with her arms crossed over her chest, "Sorry, Tifa."

"No offense taken."

"So, yeah." Axel turned to Roxas, "Why? You curious?"

Roxas tapped his finger on the bar, trying to find a response to Axel's question in his muddled mind, "No."

Roxas had been with three girls in his entire twenty four years of existence. Kairi, Xion and Olette. Olette broke up with him to date Hayner halfway into their sophomore year of high school, Kairi went off to college in Twilight Town and Roxas broke things off with Xion right after they graduated from college.

He lost his virginity to Xion right before Christmas break in his freshman year of college. The concept of sex with a man had entered his thoughts as a mere, what if? Roxas considered himself to be a pretty open minded person, but that was territory he never thought about venturing into. Merely, he never had the chance to do so. Nor did he care to do so.

"What? Afraid to?" Axel asked, flicking his clove again.

Roxas shrugged. His tongue was starting to get looser, "Never had the chance to."

Axel observed Roxas, eyes roaming him up and down again. "How old are you?"

"Twenty four."

Axel looked genuinely surprised. "Really? You look much younger than that."

He got that a lot. Roxas frowned a bit, "Well, what about you?"

"Twenty two."

"Hm." Roxas crossed his arms over his chest, "I would have guessed older."

"Ouch." Axel laughed gingerly, mocking hurt. He tilted his head to the side, "Well, never too late to start something new, Roxas. Do you think you could give it a try?"

Roxas shrugged and signaled to Tifa, "Another Scotch."

Tifa raised her eyebrows a bit. While it was none of her business to question what her patrons ordered, she did take their safety into consideration from time to time. She could see that Roxas was already buzzing—actually, he was beyond that—and didn't want to give him anymore than he could handle. Sighing, she turned around to pull the same Scotch from before off the wall and reached down behind the bar to get a fresh cup for him. "Last one, okay?"

"Yeah." Roxas replied, accepting the drink from her. He turned his attention back to Axel who was watching him with rapt curiosity. "Maybe."

"Maybe, huh?" Something flashed in Axel's eyes.

Roxas cleared his throat, "Yes. Maybe." He sipped at his Scotch, "I haven't really thought about it much."

"Really? Why not?" Axel replied, chuckling to himself. He glanced over his shoulder at the clock hanging by the door.

"Always dated girls. Always fucked around with girls." He closed his eyes as the Scotch settled over his taste buds. All it was was increasing the warmth. "Never had the chance."

Turning back to Roxas, he raised an eyebrow in question, "You ever kiss a guy, Roxas?"

Roxas shook his head, finishing off the rest of his Scotch. "No." He was starting to feel fuzzier than before.

Axel chuckled again. Roxas was fucking wasted and the drunker the blonde was getting, the more endearing Axel was finding him. It was a far cry from the standoffish demeanor he had exuded when Axel had first walked into the bar. "Hm, really? Do you think you could kiss another man, Roxas?"

Roxas braced himself against the bar and seemed to have a hard time compiling his thoughts. It was getting warmer, he was feeling happier. He was simply unwinding and losing control like he wanted. "Hmm ... maybe. Yeah." He turned to Axel, lids lowering. His eyes were playing tricks on him. Was Axel getting brighter?

"Hm, I see..." Axel flicked the clove again, "Roxas?"

"Yes?"

"Would you ... object to the possibility of turning your maybes into reality, tonight?"

Roxas felt his eyes widening briefly. Tonight he was audacious wasn't he? Bold, brave, intrepid, dauntless? It was that factor alone that prevented him from saying no.