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In a Gray World

Chapter 04 – Good Morning

"Riku?" Roxas voice again after eyeing the hand the boy held out warily. Both men had their eyes on him and Riku's heart dropped at the next words the blonde spoke. "You're gay?"

Vaan's smile dropped and his expression turned hard. He moved the hand to his hip and looked over his shoulder at his roommate. The downcast green eyes were enough answer to the both of them. The playful tone from his voice was gone as Vaan spoke. "I'm out of here," he walked past the silverette to his room and left it while putting on a small vest.

"Vaan…" Riku's hand reached out for the other but the sandy blonde hit it away without even a look to his friend. He walked past Roxas without looking at him and dropped down by the door so he could put on his shoes. "One second, Rox," Riku tried to force a smile as he passed the boy to get to his roommate.

"No, Riku!" the other smacked his hand away when it reached out for him. "You told me you wouldn't hide it anymore and I don't want to be here to force you or to watch you lie!" he turned for the door and felt hands wrap around his waist from behind.

Riku spoke softly to the back of the other's head. "I just never had the chance…"

"He's your best friend!" Vaan turned around and pushed the other away in the process.

"I'm not," Roxas spoke facing the two.

"Oh… already breaking it off?" Vaan countered with a glare.

"Sora is his best friend I'm—"

"Vaan, shut it! Roxas, you're as close a friend to me as Sora is," Riku face each of the boys in turn as he spoke. His green eyes settled on Vaan again for a moment and the sandy blonde was ready to turn away and leave again. "Yes, Roxas… I'm gay," his green eyes remained locked with his roommate's.

Vaan was staring the other boy down before turning brown eyes to Roxas to see his expression. Riku followed the gaze and was completely surprised to see the lack of disgust and surprise on the boy's features.

"You two make it seem like you're aliens," the blonde scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. "Now… I think you're burning my breakfast."

Riku smiled softly and bowed his head as he made his way back to the kitchen. Roxas and Vaan watched him leave then faced each other again.

"You're fine with it?"

"He's my friend… I don't judge people based on their sexuality," at this he actually looked the other over and scoffed, "except you."

Vaan scowled but the air around them was lighter now. "You just jealous cuz I can get better ass than you."

Roxas smirked and cocked one hip out to the side. "Not really. I don't have to act like a flamboyant bitch to get attention."

A startled gasp was the response. "You're a closet-fag, aren't ya!?" he pointed a finger at the other and his expression more than the actual comment made Roxas laugh softly. "And you can laugh too!" Vaan continued, his eyes widening. "Riku!" he called loudly. "We have a crisis! The angsty blonde can laugh! Get the fire extinguisher before he blows up in flames and kills as all!"

By this point Riku was standing in the doorway with narrowed eyes and aiming the spatula at his roommate while Roxas was grinning over his shoulder at the older boy. "Angsty blonde?" Riku blushed slightly and lowered the spatula. "Sora, right?"

"Don't tell him you know," Riku laughed nervously and Roxas returned it with a smile.

When they finally sat down for breakfast Riku was the only one that seemed uncomfortable at the mention of his sexuality.

"Out of curiousity; since when?" Roxas started as he cut off a small piece of the breakfast cake Riku had made.

"Erm…"

"Well…" Vaan decided to wave his fork to silence Riku and started speaking. "When I met this poor young fella here—"

"Who is older than you," Riku corrected with a smirk.

"He had just recently realized he—"

"Vaan," Riku interrupted again. "Knowing how much you love the words: 'ass', 'fucking', and 'pussy', I suggest you don't try and tell this story."

Roxas coughed a bit on his juice but quickly regained his composure.

"I realized I was interested din guys from young but didn't realize it was only guys till grade eleven."

"Is that why you moved all the way here?" Roxas asked again. "Sora was devastated, you know? The entire year you were gone if he wasn't by Kairi's side he was complaining to me how boring it was without you."

Riku's cheeks tinged pink and Vaan laughed suddenly. It took Roxas a moment and he realized the answer. "You left because of that?" Riku nodded, staring down at his food. "Because you didn't think we'd accept it?" again a nod. "Riku—"

"No, Roxas. From how much the two of us hung out you were always bitchy and pissed at me for any reason available and we both know Sora, he's she straight-up, bouncy ball of…" he searched the air for a word.

"Straight?"

"Pretty much, yea," Riku nodded.

"Well… he seemed fine with it when he saw those two girls down the hall."

This time it was Vaan that choked on his juice and Riku's food froze half-way up to his mouth.

"You guys met Paine and Rikku?" Vaan was still coughing as he asked.

"Yea… the first day we heard the noises from down the hall and from…"

"Larxene." Riku offered once he recovered enough and Roxas nodded.

Vaan was laughing now. "Those two girls! I swear! One time, shortly after they moved here, we was coming home and just as the door to the elevator opened and all I see is this…" he couldn't finish the story due to laughter and Riku's cheeks were tinged pink again.

"Rikku… she was running down the hall… butt naked!" Vaan spoke from between bursts of laughter. "Her lover had stolen the sheet from her for some reason and was running down the hall, banging on Larxene's door!"

At this point even the silverette let out a chuckle at the memory. "This guy here," he added, finally letting himself relax since Roxas entered the apartment, "he almost fainted when he realized that Paine was also naked under the sheet!"

"Did not!" Vaan pouted and turned back to their guest. "But man, that woman… she's soo scary! I don't know how you got a show with her and Rikku but we've been trying everything to get them to give us a show."

Roxas stared at the two in surprise and finally cleared his throat. "Well… they sorta… didn't know we were there when they stumbled out of the elevator."

"Oooh… wait, wait…" Vaan held up a finger. "Did Paine slam Rikku against a wall?"

"Against the elevator door actually."

Vaan laughed loudly and Riku swore under his breath. Roxas stared at the two with curiousity as Vaan held out his hand to his roommate. "Pay up! She's the dom…"

"Dom?" Riku took out his wallet as he faced Roxas.

"Dominant. She's the man in the relationship."

"And you guys made a bet on it?" Vaan nodded as he counted his money. "And you said the other one was?"

"Well… not really the man, but she seems like a tease so I expected her to have more power in the relationship."

"I wouldn't be surprised," when Roxas said that Riku held out his hand to his roommate and the money was returned with a promise that they will get proof as to which one of them was dominant.

The rest of breakfast went by in a flash of stories and laughter. As soon as it was done Vaan rushed off with a kiss to Riku's cheek, which he grudgingly accepted, and a hug to Roxas.

The blonde helped out his friend for the clean up and the two were together in the kitchen and in silence finally alone. "Was it because of Sora?" Roxas asked as he leaned against the counter, facing opposite of Riku who was packing away the leftovers of the chocolate cake.

"What because of Sora?"

"That you left," blue eyes focused onto the silverette and Riku froze.

"Am I that obvious?"

Roxas hummed softly and turned back to face the calendar on the opposite wall. "He'll never notice though… not unless you tell him."

"Good."

"You won't tell him?" Roxas' eyebrows creased in confusion.

"No," Riku shook his head.

Without further prompting Roxas shrugged and took a rag as Riku started washing the dishes so he could dry them.

"Why are you accepting of this?" Riku finally asked, his eyes never rising to the other in fear that the previous conversation was because of Vaan and now he was going to be rejected.

"You know Hayner?" Roxas blushed slightly as he took the next dish and Riku nodded. "Him and I have… fooled around a bit," Roxas' blush deepened and his head sunk into his rising shoulders.

The next dish was almost dropped between the two.

"Seriously?"

"You tell Sora and I'll cut your balls off before I confess to him for you," Roxas glared with the threat and yanked the dish away from the older boy.

"Not my place to tell."

Both nodded in agreement to keep their secrets.

"How does the sex feel?" the dish did drop as Riku stared blankly at the foam before him. A snicker came from his side and his eyes finally narrowed at Roxas. He flung water at the boy.

"Common… humour me," Roxas grinned lightly.

"Tempted to try it out?" Riku returned the grin with one of his own and a flint in his eyes.

"No, thank you! I don't find the idea of having something shoved up my ass repeatedly as good as you may." The boys laughed at the statement.

"Not that bad actually," Riku shrugged after a moment. "Haven't bottomed in a while, but first time I was with a guy…" he shrugged and let his words trail off for a moment. "Guys have like a G-spot too, you know?"

"Who was it?" Roxas grinned but at the look Riku gave him he immediately thought he may regret asking his question.

"You remember Professor Diz? Ansem Diz?"

"Oh… eww… no!"

"No, not him, you idiot!" Riku splashed water at the other boy again. "I don't know if you actually met him, but Mister Diz had a student teacher: Xehanort."

"The freaky guy that walked around in a white labcoat?"

"He wasn't freaky," Riku defended his first crush almost immediately.

Roxas just shrugged before a shiver ran down his spine. "That guy gave me the creeps…"

"He taught your class?"

Roxas nodded. "Him and Mister Diz substituted some of my chemistry classes grade eleven." A moment of silence passed as neither of the boys knew what to say.

When Riku handed the last glass to Roxas it fell and shattered. The broken glass however could not drown out the yelling that seemed to be coming from just the other side of the apartment door.

"That's strange," Riku said after glancing at the clock on the stove. "It's just past noon," his eyebrows drew down in confusion at the twelve twenty-two written there.

"Larxene?" Roxas questioned and quickly collected the broken glass with the rag he had used to dry the dishes.

"And her partner, yea…"

"You know… I've never seen her," Roxas mentioned as he threw the glass into the garbage can that Riku revealed. "Only heard her."

Riku grinned. "We should make sure it's nothing serious anyway."

The two made their way to the front door and when they opened it Roxas was caught completely off guard.

Standing a few steps away from the opened door across him was a slim, short woman with her blonde hair slicked back and two locks on either side falling in front of her face. She was growling and punching at the air, held back by the very same redhead that Roxas knew too well as his neighbour. For a moment he thought that maybe Axel was involved in the violence of the floor more than a bit, however he remembered that he was with the redhead more than once when they had heard the sounds.

And then he noticed the man standing that was punching at the down button for the elevator.

"I swear! You leave now and you are never coming back here again! Never! You hear me?!" the short woman, whom Roxas guessed was Larxene, was screaming out at the man.

He was tall, well build with finely chiselled features and a stern expression. The thing that stood out the most however was his feathered pink hair which he flicked in irritation before giving the woman the bird.

"Marluxia, don't! Axel shouted from behind Larxene. "She's serious, man!" he groaned at the elbow that was shoved in his stomach but his grip loosened and after a stomp on his foot and her head butting into his chin, the blonde woman stormed off.

She passed by Demyx, the blonde male having hidden against the wall the entire time and straight towards the elevators where the male, Marluxia, was still waiting.

A door opened down the hall and Rikku stepped out, her hair mussed around her features and her vivid green narrowed in anger as she watched Larxene come at her. "What's going on here? It's just past noon!"

The elevator pinged open and Marluxia had to step back as a tall white-haired male, the same one Roxas had seen Paine with this morning, stepping out beside the cold woman herself.

Paine took one look at the situation, taking the most time on her barely clothed and still half-asleep girlfriend, before narrowing her dark red eyes at Marluxia. She didn't move from his way so he could get in the elevator and her companion seemed to get the idea for he didn't move either. Both of them were holding holders with cups of coffee from the near-by coffee shop and Paine gave hers to her companion before stepping back, pressing a button inside the elevator, and stepping forward.

Marluxia tried to push around them to get in before the elevator ran away again, but that only resulted in some of the coffee splashing onto his white shirt and the white-haired man to complain at the tussle.

Larxene was on them by then and her hand reared back, ready to punch at the pink-haired male, however she was suddenly grabbed and turned around, a hand around her waist tightly and the other arm capturing her own above her head. "Everybody inside. Now." The red-eyed woman growled into Larxene's ear yet her command was heard by all down the hall.

Riku stepped back, pulling Roxas with him into his apartment before Axel slipped in after them. Demyx passed by Larxene's door to close it before sliding into the apartment as well.

The white haired man was herding Marluxia with the coffee containers to go down the hall to the chosen apartment and Paine hoisted the slim blonde over her shoulder with a groan before carrying her in long steps to the apartment. Rikku only sent a kiss as her lover passed by and went back inside her own apartment to continue sleeping.

"That's it," Paine finally spoke as she deposited the blonde onto the couch and dropped down beside her with a heavy sigh.

"We have to clear things up because if you guys continue like that none of us are gonna get any sleep!" Axel seemed to finish off the woman's thought as he spoke. Marluxia reluctantly sat down at the single couch furthest from his girlfriend and glared at her, never once speaking a word.

Roxas pulled away as his phone rang and quickly answered his cousin in silence. "I'm at Riku's place," he answered the question and noticed the silverette looking at him curiously. "I don't think it'd be such a good idea to come… it's…" Riku shook his head suddenly and took the phone from the blonde.

"Hey Sora, we're having a mini-intervention," he spoke glad that Axel was yelling at Larxene so none of them would hear his words. Just as he hung up the phone the door to the apartment opened and Sora walked in quietly.

"What's happening?" he asked his cousin.

"Meet Larxene and her boyfriend Marluxia," Roxas pointed out the two and Sora stared with wide eyes at the strange couple.

Larxene was sitting with crossed arms in the couch as Axel towered over her, yelling at her about how she had no right to be mad at Marluxia since it was all her fault. Marluxia was sitting silently on the other couch, guarded by the white-haired man that had yet to put down the containers with coffee. After a moment Riku came to the pink-haired man's side and offered him a t-shirt that Marluxia changed into on the spot.

That was also when Demyx squeaked out: "but Marluxia cheated on her first." That statement froze Axel in mid-word and he stared wide-eyed at his roommate and Larxene let out a triumph humph.

tbc
thanks for the reviews
hope you guys still like it
=D

Disclaimer: I do not own kingdom hearts, final fantasy, or any of the characters stolen from either series. I do however own the plot line and title. O.o

Note: This is not betaed, I pretty much write and post, won't be looking it over so I apologize for any mistakes on it.