...Okay. I am not kidding when I say this, but I started writing this story a year and a half ago. No joke. And finally, here is chapter one. It was originally going to be a one-shot, but I decided to break it into a two-shot. Otherwise, it would have been kinda long.

Yeah...truth be told, AkuRoku isn't my favourite pairing in the entire world, but I do enjoy writing it. ^^ So, I hope you enjoy part one of two of this story.

On a side note, today (July 7th) is my seven-year anniversary here on FFnet. Thanks for seven great years, guys, and I'm looking forward to many more to come!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. I am sad.

ooo

There were many other things that Roxas would have rather been doing on a Saturday night. He could be jamming out to his newest CD in his room, speakers blasting at full volume. He could be chilling with Hayner, Pence, and Olette at the arcade, fighting to be the champ at Soul Calibur II. Hell, he could even be doing homework…not that anyone ever did that over the weekend. He could be watching TV, grabbing supper at a fast-food joint, writing the next great Italian opera, something else…

He had no idea why he let his brother drag him to this ridiculous party. Worst. Idea. Ever. Roxas was definitely not the partying type, and of course Sora conveniently forgot to mention that it was a college party, making him feel even more uncomfortable, seeing as they were both high school seniors. This type of get-together meant obvious consumption of alcohol and some kinds of drugs. Which meant drunk and high teens and young adults with no lives. Which meant yelling and fighting and streaking and vomiting and just a bunch of other stuff that the blonde didn't particularly want to deal with. Unable to find his twin, he fought his way through the pulsing crowd toward the balcony on the second floor. He needed some air; the stench of pot and thumping of god-awful music was giving him a headache.

If Roxas has a quarter for every couple making out on the porch, he'd be stinking rich. He had to admit, it was considerably quieter outside. The sight of people sucking each others' faces off kind of repulsed him, though. His discomfort was made clear through his twisted expression, his tongue sticking out as if he had a particularly bad taste in his mouth.

"Disgusting, huh?"

Roxas jumped at the sound of the new voice, taken completely off guard. He spun around, finding no one behind him as he suspected there to be. He was the only person on the balcony not tying tongues with another. Where did the voice come from?

"Up here, Blondie," the voice said with a light chuckle.

Scowling at his new nickname, said blondie glanced straight above. His cerulean eyes met those of a glittering jade colour. They belonged to a male with spiky, flaming red hair that sprouted in all directions possible, in a messier display than his own golden locks…and that was saying something. The stranger had small triangular tattoos beneath both of his eyes, though they were a bit difficult to see with his face cast in shadow. Nothing below his neck could be seen, for the rest of his body was hidden behind the edge of the roof.

…

Wait a minute. This guy was on the roof…? How did he…?

The stranger smirked at the expression of bewilderment that had unconsciously made its way across Roxas' facial features, the corners of his upturned lips twitching in silent laughter. "The railing," he said simply, giving his head a nod toward the black metal framework that lined the second-story porch. "I'll help you up, mkay?"

Before the blonde could even blink, the redhead crawled across the roof, waiting for something. It took Roxas a minute to realize that a verbal invitation to join the guy on the roof had been sent his way. He shook his head violently, trying to rid himself of the side-effects of his momentary stupor. With a held-in breath, he squeezed behind one of the face-sucking couples and, ignoring all the moans and groans, clutched onto the wrought-iron rail. The green-eyed man extended his gloved hand to the high school boy, which he used as leverage to heave himself up onto the railing and to keep his balance. His small fingers gripped the weathered shingles and he struggled to pull himself up. He felt strong hands grip beneath his armpits and hoist him up.

A small laugh erupted from the redhead. "You look funny all sprawled out there, Blondie-"

"It's Roxas," the blonde immediately corrected, propping himself up on his elbows and scowled at his roof mate.

"Ha, alright. Sorry, Roxy."

Roxas groaned. At least it was better than 'Blondie.' Besides…Sora called him Roxy all the time. Of course that didn't mean he liked it. Forcing himself up, he assumed a more comfortable sitting position, legs forming a diamond and hands clutching his ankles. Shy yet scrutinizing blue eyes glanced over to the snickering redhead. This guy had an amazing smile…wait! He didn't just think that! "So…," Roxas began, suddenly feeling extremely nervous, "why are you up here?"

"Isn't it obvious?" the taller one said, a smile still lingering on his lips. "I got sick of being inside. Same as you, by the looks of it." Sea green eyes gazed languidly in Roxas' direction. "I'm not really the partying type." He swung his arm lazily over his knee, leaning back on his other elbow.

"Neither am I," Roxas admitted. "Why are you even here, then?" he blurted accusingly without thinking. Crap. He bit his lip, hoping his question didn't sound as rude as he thought it did.

"I could be asking you the same thing," the redhead retorted, though his voice gave no hint that he was angry or offended, to Roxas' relief. "My roommate forced me to come. Said I need to get out of the chem lab for once." He let out a dry chuckle that died off pretty quickly. "What about you?"

Rolling his eyes, the blond said, "My brother is the culprit. His boyfriend's cousin's friend of a friend's brother or whatever is holding this party, and so I was dragged here by consequence." He couldn't help the slight bitterness that settled in his voice as he spoke. Of course he still loved his twin to death, but the bubbly brunette had gotten the sassy blonde in trouble far more than he liked to remember.

The redhead let out another laugh. Roxas could never grow tired of the sound; it rang like soft bells in his ears. "That sucks. Who's your brother's boyfriend?"

"His name's Riku," the blonde said darkly. He didn't like the silver-haired college freshman all that much. Hearing a small "ah" in response, Roxas tilted his head to the side and blinked at his roof mate. "Why? Do you know 'im or something?"

The other male was now fully lying down on the rooftop, arms behind his head as a makeshift pillow, jade eyes cast skyward and lost in the myriad of stars. "I know of him, but I've never met the guy. Zex talks about him sometimes…when he actually talks, that is," he added with another snicker. "I swear, that guy's eyeballs are going to melt out of his head with how much he reads. That, or his brain'll just implode on itself."

Roxas couldn't help but laugh, which was rare for him, being the sourpuss he normally was. Roxas wasn't the type to abandon his almost permanent scowl, so the fact that he barely knew this guy and was already smiling-laughing, even-around him was a huge deal. He contributed nothing more to the conversation, merely letting his new friend continue.

"Sometimes I don't know what Dem sees in him; Zex is a total bookworm brainiac nerd, and Dem, well…between you and me," the redhead paused, leaning up to whisper in Roxas' ear, like he was telling him some deep, dark secret, "Dem's kind of an idiot. He doesn't understand what Zex says half the time."

Both males let out a snort before falling into quiet, shoulder-shaking laughter.

"That's so nice to say about a friend," Roxas commented sarcastically, yet smiling at the same time.

The taller male resumed his former position of lying flat on the roof, hands behind his head. "Aw, hell, Dem knows he's an idiot. He doesn't care when we say it, because it's true."

"What's true, now?"

Roxas jumped at the new voice-what was it with people surprising him tonight? His cerulean irises glanced down past the edge of the roof, spotting a tall, lanky, mullet-haired man wearing a cross between a scowl and a pout. Roxas couldn't help but chuckle; whoever this guy was, he sure couldn't pull off that kind of expression. He looked rather silly. And what the hell was with that hairdo?

The redhead forced himself to sit upright, a smirk playing across his wonderfully delicious-looking lips (wait, had Roxas just thought that?). "I was just telling Roxy here that you're a moron, Dem-Dem," he said as casually as ever, gesturing to the blond to his left, who cringed at his dreadful nickname.

Whatever trace of a scowl that had been present on Dem's face vanished completely. Now it was just a full-on pout. "Oh yeah? You forgot to mention to Roxy," another cringe, "that you're a big, fat meanie, Mister Poophead!"

…Had a college student seriously just used the term 'poophead,' or was Roxas high from all the marijuana fumes?

At this, Roxas' roof mate just laughed. "Must've slipped my mind."

Mullet Man let out a growl-slash-sigh-slash-indistinguishable noise at that, folding his arms across his chest. "Well, stop making fun of me and get your big, fat, meanie butt down here. I have work early tomorrow, and I'm your ride tonight." A cruel smile crossed the man's lips. "Unless you want to walk all the way back downtown. Or hitchhike and get raped."

The redhead let out an exasperated sigh, almost too lazy to exert the force needed to sit upright. "All right, all right, I'm comin'," he said, shaking his head before glancing over to Roxas. "Gotta jet. Nice talking to you, Roxy." He spared a wink as he scooted toward the edge of the roof. In one fluid motion, he leapt off the roof and landed gracefully on the balcony, scaring the bejeebus out of his ride home.

"Let's just go, already, meanie," Dem huffed, dragging his friend back inside the house.

Roxas was sad to see the redhead go. He really enjoyed talking to him, however short their conversation may have been. To think that he wasn't the only one that hated social gatherings like this…it made him happy. Happy enough to let loose a small smile on his usually frowning lips. His heart fluttered in his chest.

It wasn't two minutes later that he heard his twin calling his name, saying that it was time to leave this godforsaken place.

ooo

Riku sped off down the street in his old piece-of-shit car, and Sora slammed the door shut as soon as his boyfriend's vehicle disappeared from sight. Roxas was in the middle of untying his shoes when his twin glomped him, knocking him on the floor.

"Oh, Roxas, I had so much fun tonight!" the brunette squealed.

"Shush!" Roxas hissed, trying to ignore the pain of his brother's weight crushing him to the tile in the entry way. "Do you want to wake Dad up?"

"Oops…sorry!" Sora apologized in an enthusiastic whisper, hopping off his brother as harmlessly as he could. Roxas was sure he'd have some new bruises come morning. "Anyway," the bubbly boy continued, hanging his jacket on the coat rack. "Didja have fun? Didja meet anyone?"

The blonde's cheeks flared bright pink, and he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Well, um…I…," he stuttered, obviously flustered.

Sora took the opportunity to tease his younger brother (by two minutes; he never let Roxas live it down), complete with oohs and ahhs and Roxy's-got-a-crush-es. He toned down the taunting after a minute or so, and instead opted to stare Roxas right in his pair of matching eyes, his face so close to the blonde's that their noses were almost touching. "Well? Who was it?"

"A-a college guy," Roxas muttered, and he could swear his ear drums would break from his brother squealing. Obviously, the brunette had no respect for their sleeping father.

"What was his name?" Sora asked, jumping up and down excitedly.

It was then that Roxas deadpanned. He paled, his gaze going blank and eyes growing wide.

"I…I NEVER ASKED HIS NAME!"

ooo

Ah hahahaha...poor Roxas and his crappy social skills. XD Look out for the second and final chapter, coming...EVENTUALLY!

Until next time,
Chibi