A/N;
It occurred to me while I was reading through the first chapter of this that it was absolutely retarded of me to demand a certain amount of reviews. I'm super pleased so many people were genuinely interested in this even though that first chapter really didn't go anywhere.
HEY GUYS GUESS WHAT.
THIS DOES HAVE A PAIRING.
Love interest is introduced. ; D


I quickly learned that Kairi was not like most of the popular girls in our grade. She wasn't ditsy, not really, though she did seem to lower her IQ whenever she was around big groups of people as if to better fit in. It was a bit strange to see someone obviously doing it, but I understood the reasoning. No one wanted to be the black sheep.

She also had a great sense of humor, especially towards conversations that most girls would have deemed 'guy conversations'. She didn't mind talking about sports, and she didn't even get too offended whenever Tidus or any of the other guys said anything especially crude around her. Hell, she willingly played video games.
Sora took to her almost instantly (the gamer bit was a big plus in his mind) and the three of us became fast friends within the first two weeks that she had been there.

It was odd. Sora and I had been best friends since we were five, and now there was suddenly someone else joining us. It quickly turned into some sort of triangle of friendship. BFF meets BFF meets BFF. The only thing that really held back the progressive of friendship was the one secret I hid from the general population, which was something that wasn't about to change with Kairi, even if she was pretty cute, for a girl.

"Riku," Sora said, jerking me out of my thoughts. I might have jumped a little at being so abruptly interrupted if I weren't so practiced at controlling my little actions.

We were sitting in the grass way behind the art building, on the curve of a small hill. Sora was splayed out in the grass, all awkward limbs and tan skin, while I was sitting a bit more composed beside him. We should've been in English right now, but neither one of us were very fond of words, and old Cid was so absent-minded he wouldn't notice us not being there.
It was a very rare thing to get Sora to cut class, but I had the best friend sway on my side.

I looked over at him where he was picking up small clumps of grass from the ground in an absent-minded sort of way. "How much longer are you going to keep doing this?"

I frowned a little, looking away to watch some of the junior girls playing lacrosse in the distance. "Doing what?" I asked.

Sora shifted to turn those big cerulean eyes up at me. I did my best not to look directly at him – he had some sort of mind control, puppy dog look he could do that would make me doing anything he asked. "Pretending to be something you're not," He supplied. "It's just highschool, Riku. No one's going to stone you if you finally tell people you're gay."

I stiffened slightly, but didn't look at him. "We've been over this so many times, Sora," I muttered. "Just because you're an open minded ray of sunshine doesn't mean everyone is. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that most people are not open minded rays of sunshine."

"Yeah, but... you aren't happy, Riku."

Leave it up to Sora to be blunt at the best of times. I tried not to agree with him, because denial was keeping me sane at this point. "You've been watching Disney again, haven't you?"

Sora sat up, and when I looked over at him, his face was pulled into a frown. "I'm serious! It's not healthy, hiding yourself like this. It's one thing to be in the closest, but you aren't even attempting to pursue anyone outside of school. When was the last time you even went on a date?"

I scrunched up my brow in thought, and palmed the grass on either side of me. "Took that blond out to sushi last weekend... What was her name-"

"Namine, and I meant a REAL date, Riku."

"Not sure," I said after a long moment, finally deciding to humor him. I knew he was only trying to help, but having your lack of a love life pointed out to you so harshly made even my chest hurt. "Seifer, I think... We didn't ever actually go anywhere though." I gave him a pointed look. "You know that."

Sora made a quiet aggravated noise and felt silent. He flopped back down into the grass, crossing his arms behind his head and frowned up at the blue, cloudy sky. I didn't entirely understand why it bothered him so much more than it bothered me that I hadn't ever had an open relationship – or any semblance of a relationship that had lasted more than a few weeks. A month, at the best.

We stayed mutually quiet for awhile. I tried not to start brooding too darkly, but Sora had opened a door to a whole series of thoughts that I had gotten so good at stuffing into the back of my mind.
"You could tell Kairi," Sora piped up. When I looked down at him, he was still watching the clouds float on by. "She would be alright with it, I'm sure."

I made a non-committal noise that seemed to satisfy Sora, and he went on, starting to sound a little dreamy. "She's pretty awesome... I've never met a girl who was good at Smash Bros." I started to tune him out a little, leaning back on my palms again and tilting my head back to meet the sun. I closed my eyes.

I couldn't get the thoughts out of my head now that Sora had brought them to attention. Sure, maybe some of our friends might be alright with it, but the overall shock of Prince Riku secretly being a fag for the past three years would probably take over the majority of the school.
Not to mention my parents... I didn't even want to think about that one yet. It was better to just keep my mask up for another year or two before I could go off to college... Not worry about what the people I've grown up would think, not having to hide boys from my parents...

But in the meantime, that mask would need to stay in place.
"She's really pretty, too, don'tcha think, Riku?"

"Sure," I replied lazily, not really listening to Sora. He went on in this pattern for another two minutes before the bell went off and we both looked toward the school. I got to my feet and offered a hand to help Sora up, which he accepted.

"See you after class, Riku!" Sora called cheerfully a minute later as we split to go our separate ways.
I wandered down a crowded hallway, trying not to let my thoughts get the better of me. It didn't take my feet very long to lead me to my last class.

The five minute bell hadn't rung yet, which meant that Mr. C wasn't in the classroom yet, and most of the students who were early were chatting with their friends. Kairi was in her seat next to mine already, one white ear bud headphone in her ear, the other dangling down past her neck. She had a book open in front of her, which her oddly colored eyes were focused on.
I slipped down into my seat and watched her for a moment as she continued, despite my presence. It'd been awhile since I had a girlfriend, or shown any interest in a girl. Tidus had been hassling me for it lately, though thankfully it hadn't gotten to the point where it struck him as odd that I was so against it.

On a sudden thought, I leaned forward to pluck the ear-bud out of Kairi's ear. She looked up in slight confusion, both at the lack of her music and my close proximity. "Hey," I offered, giving her a half smile. Her face brightened considerably, and she plucked the headphone from my hand and set her book down.

"Hey, Riku," Kairi replied easily and shifted in her chair to face me instead of the front of the classroom. "What's up?"

"Do you want to go out sometime?" I shot back, keeping my smile firmly in place. She looked shocked, but her face flooded with what appeared to be excitement, and she leaned forward.

"Definitely!"

+~+~+

In high school, news traveled fast. This was common knowledge. Nothing you said was a secret, nothing was sacred. If Rikku mentioned to her cousin Yuna in the girl's bathroom that her period was late, by lunch everyone would have heard that Rikku was expecting and preparing herself to drop out.

So it wasn't any real surprise that by the time I managed to wander to my locker that most of the buzz in the hallway was about me. It was however, a bit more of a surprise to see a very pissed off Sora standing at my locker.

I had only seen Sora really, genuinely mad three times. Once when we were ten when his Dad had walked out on his Mom, once when we were six and another boy had picked on me for my long hair, and once last year when he'd stumbled upon some bullies beating on some freshman.

I tried very, very hard to not stop where I was and run the other direction. I made myself keep walking, until I was in front of him beside my locker. I gave him my best calm, don't-chew-me-out smile. "What's up?"

Sora balled up his fists, his face getting a little red at my flippant words. He ignored them entirely. "Why did you ask Kairi out?"

My face when blank, then realization dawned on me. There were people trying to subtly watch our conversation and failing miserably in the subtle area. "Because," I started, glancing at a tight knit group of sophomore girls watching with full attention. I chose my words carefully. "Because I like her. Why else?"

Sora took a step towards me and I had to pat myself on the back for not instinctively taking a step backward. Sora may be a whole head shorter than me but, he was a scary mother fucker when he was mad. I usually didn't even want to engage him when he was like this.

"Riku, I literately JUST spent ten minutes telling you that I liked her!" Sora snapped. "How could you do this to me? What am I supposed to do now?"

I did my best to play it off, shrugging a shoulder absently. A thought came to me and I managed to lean forward a little, offering a grin. "So take her," I replied. It hadn't sounded like such an asshole retort in my head, I immediately realized. But it wouldn't tarnish my track record if Kairi got snatched away from me. Granted, people might be suspicious if Sora and I remained such good friends afterward, but we could deal with that when it got to that point.

Sora looked at me like I was mental, and like he wanted to to punch me in the face. His eyebrows furrowed deep, and he pointed a finger at me. It was an inch away from my nose, all up in my personal space bubble. If it had been anyone but Sora I would have been annoyed. Judging by my current scenario, getting mad would probably only antagonize things.

"You're just dating Kairi to make yourself look better," Sora accused. I glanced at the students watching us, and looked back at him with a frown. Best friend or not, I had worked too hard for my mask to be pulled off by Sora.

I made myself scoff aloud, verbally telling him how ridiculous an idea that was. I knew he was right though. Sora knew that I knew he was right. The hard glare in his eyes proved this theory, but everyone around us was oblivious.
"You're a fucking asshole," Sora said finally, anger dissipating into something sadder before he turned heel and stormed off down the hall.

I made a big show of looking after him with a 'what the hell, man?' kind of look, before popping open my locker. The crowd broke up while I was shoving things into my book bag, and by the time I slammed my locker closed again the hallway was mostly empty.

With less of an audience to observe and analyze my every movement, I allowed myself a moment to feel guilty. I ran a hand through my long hair, sighed, and headed towards the front doors of the school. Out front of the parking lot I found the usual group of friends who had their own cars. It was an unspoken tradition to hangout here for a few minutes, until the school-buses were gone and things had gotten calmer. Then everyone would head off to their separate cars and activities.

Kairi looked up at me with a big smile when I joined the semi-circle. Her expression faltered. "Where's Sora?" She asked, and I noticed a few more pairs of eyes to look at me expectantly.

I shrugged, and moved to fiddle with my jacket, pulling the zipper up and stuffing my pockets inside of it. "I'm not his keeper," I replied bluntly. Kairi looked at me in confusion for a second longer, before she evidently dropped the subject and turned back to her conversation with Selphie about smoky eyeliner.

I tried to follow a conversation with Zack and Yuna about some band that was coming to town soon, but failed miserably. I was faking interest pretty well until a loud roar interrupted my thoughts. A few of us looked up in time to spot the source of the loud noise. There was a man on a sleek black motorcycle tearing down the road that winded past the school. Even from this distance he looked skinny, entirely clad in black that didn't really look like leather. It was hard to tell. He wasn't wearing a helmet, which I immediately recognized as stupid, but his bright shock of unnaturally red hair was visible without it.
"Why's he not riding a helmet?" Selphie wondered aloud, and when I glanced at her I realized that her and a few of the other girls were also watching the mysterious red-haired biker.

Kairi rolled her eyes dramatically, a foreign irritated expression flashing across her face. "Because he's a dumbass," She supplied helpfully, then pulled Selphie's attention back to the conversation at hand.

After another few minutes, the group started to break away. Kairi started to wander down the sidewalk with Selphie, since the brunette was giving her a ride home. She turned to look back at me, walking backwards. "Hey, Riku, I'll call you." She smiled big, pretty. No wonder Sora liked her.

I bit back the groan of frustration, pushing down the waves of guilt that surged over me. What the hell kind of best friend was I?

Pulling up to the curb, I flipped my phone open to peer at the text message I had received from Kairi earlier. I leaned forward to look out my window for a house number on the big, off-white two story house in front of me.
Matching the two, I stuffed my phone into my pocket and stepped out of my car. I clicked the lock icon on my shiny BMW keys as I walked up the driveway, which was empty aside from what was probably a motorcycle of some sort. It was covered by a big black tarp.
I didn't stop to investigate, moving up the front steps to knock on the door. I was there for only a few seconds before I heard a feminine voice call out, "I've got it!" and the front door swung open to reveal Kairi.

She smiled big when she saw me, not a hint of nervousness showing on her face. It was a bit impressive, compared to the other girls I had gone out with. There was always at least that first couple of days of weirdness while they tried to determine how much like themselves they were allowed to act around me.

Kairi held the door open wide and I stepped in, pulling my hands out of the pockets of my hoodie.

"Hey, you," Kairi said, grinning at me. She popped up to stand in front of me as I glanced around the house. Her family was well off, I noted absently. "I'm almost done. I just need to change real fast. You can look around and stuff – my parents aren't home, so you don't have to worry about running into them."

She lingered for a moment until I nodded, assuring her I would be fine in her downstairs without her, then she skipped up the carpeted steps to the second story and out of sight.

I looked around the living room. The only hints that the family had only recently moved to town were the few scattered boxes stuffed underneath shelves and furniture. Everything else was set up and looked relatively lived in.
I wandered past the living room, eyeing the meager DVD collection in the shelves next to the flat-screen TV. On the fireplace's mantel there were framed photographs stacked, ready to go up onto the walls whenever someone had the surge of productivity to do so. The only one I could see on the top was a picture of what appeared to be Kairi in the 5th grade, with big shiny braces.

I grinned and walked up the two carpeted steps to the hallway, and looked around. If she was going to take awhile, then I might as well try to find the back door and get a smoke in. It was usually only a social thing with me – the only thing I really enjoyed smoking were clove cigarettes (which Sora ragged on me about constantly), but every once in awhile I'd feel the urge to indulge in one.

So I started off to find the back door. There was no visible glass sliding door like most houses, which was a bit strange in itself, but I didn't think too much about it. After finding the kitchen, a downstairs bathroom, and a closet, I wandered down a hallway towards a door at the very end.

No other door but this one, I reasoned, grasping the bronze knob in my hand. I could faintly hear voices, but Kairi had turned on her stereo as soon as she had gone upstairs, so I dismissed it.
I twisted the knob and stepped forward with the swing of the door.

I immediately realized that this was not a door to the backyard, but what was probably the garage. My second realization was that this room was not empty. I looked blankly at a small group of people sitting on various couches and chairs scattered around the room. There were four people total, and three of them were currently staring at me with various degrees of shock, confusion, and amusement.

The fourth was the one that caught my attention. I heard the exhale before I saw the bong and the thick cloud of white smoke, and my eyes flicked to the only person not staring at me.
I had never been one for metaphors, or weird figures of speech – but my heart jumped into my throat.

He was sitting in an abused looking stained green arm chair, a milky white bong clasped in his hands. His head was tilted back against the chair, exposing his pale long neck, which was littered with various criss-crossing necklaces of varying length.

He was wearing tight fitting red plaid pants, and a white zip-up hooded jacket that was pushed up his elbows, exposing the black permanent ink that spiraled up his arms, disappearing underneath his jacket.

He sputtered and the smoke cleared. The light caught the silver hoop going through his nostril, the big black stone gauges in his earlobes. His hair was pulled up in a messy 'art student meets Heath Ledger' attempt at a pony. It was an alarming shock of red.

My mind immediately went back to the tarp in the driveway, to the man with the bright red hair hauling ass past the school a few days ago, and tied the two together.

He looked at me in confusion, coughing smoke out of his nose. His green eyes were watery and locked on mine.

I was immediately head over heels.



A/N:

SO. I'm hoping that'll make you all happier. I clarified a few things that were evidently up in the air/confusing to readers, so that makes me happy. I'm also insanely happy with the concept of Kairi and Axel being related in AU stories. I mean, REALLY, why doesn't that happen more often?

I'm sorry this is a bit short. I have 10 pages of outline written up, but I absolutely never get time to write anymore. When I finally popped this out in two hours I wanted to put up SOMETHING so no one would feel abandoned.

333 TO ALL MY READERS.