Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. I wish I owned Riku I realy do and Axel to. I do own a Sora. A very lovely Master Form Sora Figurine who seems to take a liking to threatening my RuroKen figures. No Sora, Kenshin is not a heartless.

Author's Begining note: this fic is a product of some frustrations with myself. As such it has a lot of swearing in the the first part. This idea came to me one night while contemplating the direction of my life. It is an AU the setting is the apartment that I currently reside in. There will be yaoi so be prepared- and a very angsty Riku, possible implications of rape and child abuse, and character injury. Joy. The title is taken from the relationship that the two main characters have. Turpentine for those not in the know is a very smelly, highly flammable chemical used to thin down oil paint. In fact it is so smelly that it gives me headaches and watery eyes.

This is my first real fic in years so please be nice. comments and constructive criticism is love. Special thanks to my partner in crime KichouSoodo for beta-ing this for me and coming up with character last names.... and yes giving me the most messed up fight with Xemnas last week (everything that could go wrong went wrong and I still some how won. Riku almost got KO'd, I missed reaction commands left and right and I was in the process of healing myself when that goddamned lazer thing started towards the end, and Sora was left with a screaming health bar....) Anyways Enjoy!

Of Turpentine, Cigarettes, and the Boy Next Door

Chapter One- Of Staircases

"Alright, I was fine dragging you down the sidewalk, but now I need you to help me help you," the redhead said still jostling his keys and the limp form slung across his shoulders.

"I hate stairs," his companion whined.

Of course he did since thoughts of stairs carried with them memories of being thrown down them. But this was ridiculous.

"Well your welcome in my book to sleep down here in the lobby. Mind you it won't be comfortable and that heartless of our neighbor might come out in her curlers and hideous floral bathrobe to harass you for being slumped against her door like the lazy ass bastard you are."

The boy issued a snort and quickly found the strength to put weight on his legs grimacing as he did so.

"Fuck you," he said not so subtly.

"Right here? Your not my type anyway. We discussed this. I don't date whiny, lazy, and immature boys who reek of highly flammable chemicals and have seriously rainbow colored hands. I just put up with the fumes and live with them, and pretend to date them because they can't hold down a job, least of all take care of themselves."

"Oh I love you too. Oh well, I don't date smokers anyway, especially ones who have a fascination for lighting things on fire. And my hands aren't rainbow, I'm not that gay. They are blue and only at the finger tips. If you had to scrub your hands for half an hour to get the damn shit out you'd leave them blue too."

They were halfway up the treacherous stairs by then, and Axel would have laughed at his friend's comment if not for at that exact moment- out of nowhere- a bright ball of energy flew down the stairs. His friend, Riku was that pain in the ass's name, practically leapt into his arms with a tortured yelp at nearly being creamed by what ever that was.

"What the fuck?" was the consensus.

"I'm sorry!"

Was all they heard as the offender, a teenage boy, rounded the corner at the base of the stairs and headed out the front door keys jingling a little too happily.

"Kids these days no manners," Riku snorted as Axel now proceeded to drag him further up those goddamned stairs. The limp injured leg he had been nursing this entire trek banged painfully on a stair tread.

"You shouldn't talk punk. And I didn't just see you look that boy up did I?"

He playfully sent an elbow into Riku's ribs, instantly regretting the joke for Riku let out a pained gasp and a cough.

"Jesus, are you trying to kill me," he wheezed.

"I'm sorry."

They finished their ascent up the damned staircase of doom. Riku dropped unceremoniously to the ground as Axel fumbled with the keys to the door. Finally after yet again trying to use the wrong key and then turning the right key the wrong way, the door opened.

"Ok lump, I assume you can get your lazy butt to your room with out help."

Riku moaned and clamored to his feet, leaning on the door frame as he did so. He then limped off to the back of the dark apartment and flipped on his bedroom light.

Axel sighed and walked into the kitchen, flicking the light-switch as he stuffed his keys into the mail organizer. A random bill fell to the floor and he grumbled and bent down to pick it up.

He shook his head and sighed yet again. the faint sound of the radio could be heard coming from his delinquent roommate's bedroom.

Riku, how the fuck did you fuck up again, He thought. Trust Riku to fuck up the one good thing he had going for him, thus fucking up my life.

And Axel really had to stop saying fuck. It just wasn't healthy. Of course neither was the alternative which included a few beers, some cigarettes and lighting a few things on fire. He really had to resist the latter. And Riku hated smoking. His lungs were sensitive and his stress reliever just might kill the boy. Not a bad idea. No, that was an unnecessary thought as much as the white haired brat deserved his wrath right now.

So instead of lighting a bonfire in the back of the building that was sure to draw out the fire department right across the street, Axel instead lit the burner on the stove and set upon it a pot filled with some condensed 'shit in a can' as Riku liked to call it, that kind of looked and smelled like chicken soup. Kind of. To think of it, it looked like piss from a can. And Riku was to smart to be fooled by imitation soup, but Axel was to tired to care about his friend's picky tastes, even if his friend was sick.

Which brought him full circle to the cause of that day's stress. Simply put it started with a phone call, some dropped boxes, a long car ride in the middle, some yelling, and ended with a pink piece of paper. And then that trek up those blasted stairs, but we already know about that.

To elaborate, the day had started out just fine even if it had meant that he had been forced to take the morning shift because he was the only one his boss trusted to unload the morning's liquor shipment. This had it's upside though, after a morning of forced labor he would have the afternoon, evening, and next morning off.

And then his cellphone rang in the middle of the unloading process. Luckily his boss, a shifty blonde man by the name of Luxord, had been their to catch the box of most likely very expensive liquor when he jumped. Noticing that the call came up with an unknown yet vaguely familiar number, and ignoring the death threats that were being issued from Luxord's eyes, he answered the call.

"Is this Axel Xanti," the female caller asked.

"Yes."

"Well your name was the only one on the emergency contact card for Riku Ryoichi."

Shit. What have you done now dimwit. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"Well he just kind of collapsed in a coughing fit during the morning rush."

Shit there goes this months earnings in medical bills. Shit Shit Shit. (notice how Axel's swearing just escalates during the day)

"Where's he been taken?"

"Oh it wasn't that bad, at least we don't think. He's in the office right now being calmed down."

There was a sigh of relief somewhere in there.

"I take it you need me to come pick him up right?" he asked cutting to the chase. This woman was way to cheerful for her own good.

"Yes."

He had stolen the words out of her mouth.

"Fine. I'll be there in a few hours, I have to finish a few things at work. Alright. Bye."

He then shot a very apologetic look at Luxord before grabbing another box from the floor of the truck.

And so a few hours turned into a monotony of him turning various thoughts over in his head. And then finally after a twenty minute drive that took way too long, traffic on the parkway aside, (Hey he hadn't meant to cut off that jackass ok?) he finally pulled into the parking lot of the newest place Riku had found employment, dogging the apparently suicidal pedestrians, parking the car, and proceeding to walk into the oh so blindingly bright interior.

The moment Axel's eyes adjusted to the brightness he could instantly see why Riku might have problems in a place like this. It was absolutely swarmed with customers, all will looks of displeasure upon their faces. Children's screams reverberated off of the walls. All the while the employees all looked like anti-depressant addicted drones, mindlessly scanning items- and smiling.

He struggled past the teeming crowds and the cashier-drones and happened upon the manager who he had talked to on the phone who shepherded him to the employee break-room. Riku was slumped in his chair with his head down other table. He pulled out a chair and sat down beside him, placing his hand on his shoulder and noticing that proverbial pink piece of paper underneath Riku's hand.

All Axel could think was Shit they fired him

"Riku are you alright?"

"No," was the reply.

"What did they say to you?"

"If I have a bad leg I should have told them and they could have accommodated me."

"Why didn't you. Hell you've had this problem for years."

"Because I didn't want to be treated differently. I have been for my entire life."

"So instead you ended up standing for too long on that leg of yours. You let the pain spark an anxiety attack and you fell down coughing, right?"

There was silence.

"And then they fired you."

More silence.

"Riku you're such a lucky bastard that I care about you enough to put up with this shit."

Riku turned his head to face him and smiled- slightly.

"Come on let's get outta this place. It gives me the creeps," he said as they both stood up.

Riku seemed a bit unsteady on his feet but he insisted on walking, and Axel let him keep the last bit of dignity he had in that god forsaken place.

"Maybe now we can concentrate on getting you a job you can keep," he said. "Maybe I'll try to convince Luxord that the club needs a mural."

And that's how it had been. But the time they had cleared the parking lot Riku was no longer able to walk on his own and he stumbled the last few steps to the car and sat down in a huff, exhausted from the effort.

There was more silence in the car. Riku was a man of a few (but choice) words, and Axel wasn't the type to press.

So now he stood there in the kitchen resisting the urge to smoke and running off a mental list of things to do.

First he took out the tray table from the cabinet, placing a bowl and a spoon down on it. Then he went to the freezer and put ice cubes in a ziploc bag and wrapped that in a towel.

Ah the things one would do for love- mind you platonic love. They had tried the whole romantic love thing finding that completely cliché statement true. What they liked about each other as friends they despised as lovers. So they went back to the whole friend thing.

Of course Riku had more emotional and physical needs than most friends were willing to take care of. He was constantly sick, and had a nearly crippling injury to his leg that instead of healing- was just getting progressively worse. Not to mention he was lazy, bitchy, a very poor housekeeper, and completely unable to care for himself. No one wanted to be a full time babysitter to a twenty year old. Except for him- because he was a masochist.

Down the hall Riku struggled to get his pants off without setting off another wave of pain in his right knee. Finally he just stood up and let them drop to the ground with a soft thump and stepped out of them. He then sat down and pulled on his PJ pants and pulled off his work shirt, a button snagged in his long hair and he had to practically rip it free. He grabbed his sleep shirt and pulled it on, and then promptly laid down and buried his face in his pillows.

Today was so not his day.

Needless to say he had hated that job, so it wasn't much of a loss to him. But it was for Axel. His friend was still paying the bills from the last time he had to be hospitalized for a bout of pneumonia, and that was a year ago. Not to mention the prescription painkillers.

Or for that matter the countless hours that the redhead spent tending to his needs, like what he was doing right now in the kitchen. The older man was too good for him. And Riku felt so helpless.

He didn't need Axel to remind him that he was a lazy bastard. He already felt like one. Its just that the motivation was not there. And that was more debilitating than his leg injury.

He truly was an awful person.

"Riku."

Axel's voice snapped him out of his self loathing.

"I know your aspiration is to become one with the bed but come on."

Riku flipped over unto his back and looked back over at the threshold to his bedroom. Axel was standing their tray in hand. If only he had an apron on he'd look like a housewife. Mind you a very tall, masculine, housewife with gravity defying red spiked hair.

He snickered despite Axel's statement. He was used to that tone from his friend, in fact if Axel didn't speak to him like that Riku would be worried.

Axel glanced about the room. Riku was one who lived in a state of organized chaos. Only Riku could make sense of the mess and woe to the person (Axel) who tried to clean up after him.

Upon entering the room one would immediately see Riku's workspace, a folding table stretched out from where the door hit the wall, littered with a myriad of oil paint tubes, cling wrapped palates, brushes, and pickle jars of medium and turpentine. Besides the table was his easel with one of his giant hand built canvases upon it. His latest imagery tended to be figurative with twisted white forms on dark backgrounds, with bright red and blue demon wings.

Tucked between his easel and the corner of the room was his computer desk that doubled as his eating space for it was littered with bowls and soda cans. On the adjoining wall was a window, a cluttered bookcase, a night stand and then his bed stretched out from the corner and took up much of the third wall. On the final wall sat his dresser with a TV on top, placed so Riku could watch it while in lying position on the bed. A gaming console was set up and the wires dangled off of the dresser haphazardly. Most of his clothing lay strewn on the floor.

Axel stepped over the clothes towards the bed and placed the tray down on the night stand. He regarded Riku for a few seconds noticing just how tired and sick his friend looked.

He grabbed some extra pillows from the hall closet and returned to the room. Riku had begun to sit up so that he could eat and Axel placed a few of the pillows behind him so he could sit up comfortably. The last pillow he folded and used to elevate Riku's right leg. He rolled up the pant leg immediately noticing how red and inflamed the knee was. His suspicion was right.

It wasn't' the first time he had seen Riku's knee like this- but this was certainly the worst it had been since he met him. His eyes moved down to his ankle which was also inflamed- though not quiet as bad.

The reason for this? Well if you looked closely you would notice that Riku's right foot and ankle didn't align properly. Because of this that leg hadn't grown as much as the other and it put uneven pressure on his knees wearing away at the joint. In a few years the damage- not to mention the pain- would be so great that he would no longer be able to walk.

All could be fixed with surgery and a knee replacement. And of course neither of them could afford that with no insurance. So Riku endured the pain he had been feeling since the initial injury when he was still a kid. The incident had involved a set of stairs not unlike the one that they had just ascended- and Riku's father, something that Axel didn't feel like thinking of at the moment.

So he pulled the pant leg back down and used an ace bandage to hold the ice pack to Riku's knee. He then pulled the bed's covers over his friend and placed the tray on his lap so he could eat.

"Your pills are on the tray next to the bowl. Take them after you eat," Axel said sitting down on Riku's computer chair.

Riku gave an appreciative nod in his direction. His sea-green eyes were tired slits now. Axel sat there and watched him as he ate. When he finished and took his pills, Axel removed the tray and Riku slouched down into a more comfortable position and nestled under the blankets, falling asleep almost instantly.

Axel sighed for the umpteenth time that day, and realized that he had completely forgotten about the information he had printed off at the library the other day and left in his car. He had been researching civil partnerships in order to make sure he could gain authority over Riku's medical care decisions. After all Riku was technically a ward of the state and he was unsure of how this would effect his care when the inevitable time came.

God, Axel didn't want to think of that. Riku needed a fucking miracle.

He walked briskly to the front of the apartment, opened the door and nearly walked right into a short brunet boy carrying a moving box that looked too big for him.

"Watch where you're going," they both said.

The boy let out a nervous laugh and put his box down. His coppery brown hair spiked up at odd angles, and he had amazing crystal blue eyes and a beautiful smile. He was dressed in navy blue band tee, black hoodie, ripped jeans and black fingerless gloves. Obviously a student, couldn't be over 20. Around Riku's age then, he thought.

"My god your the kid that ran us over on the stairs," Axel said.

The boy laughed again.

"I'm sorry. I guess I'm your new neighbor. My name's Sora," he said extending a hand.