Riku woke up rather slowly that morning.

For some reason, the bed he slept in felt more comfortable than it had when he had first been tossed on it the night previous by Sora.

Thankfully enough, the pirate captain had gone and fitted on the new, cleaner sheets without anymore teasing on the subject of why the sheets were dirty in the first place. It was already obvious he knew why the sheets had been bundled in the corner, but Riku felt a bit more secure in the fact that Sora didn't bring it up again.

The ordeal was embarrassing enough to remember.

He and Sora still talked while Sora worked on making up the bed for him. Riku had stood off to the wall and found himself conversing back with the brunet that nearly appeared like a different person with the talk they shared.

Riku found himself learning more and more about the pirate captain that he had a feeling more than half the crew onboard had no clue about.

The uncomfortable and awkward atmosphere he shared with Sora had slowly began to ease up with that and for once when Riku went to bed, he had a dream he could actually remember that wasn't completely bittersweet.

Perhaps he was going mad? Perhaps the salt water was getting to him?

Either way, he knew that the moment he had a dream where he and Sora were sitting together and smiling and laughing like they were best friends meant that he needed to reevaluate how he saw the younger male.

It was still early, or at least with the way the light angled into the porthole within the room showed Riku that it couldn't have been too late into the morning.

With his fever from the night previous practically gone and the pain in his arm nonexistent, it was easy to say he felt way better than he had yesterday.

Maybe that was the reason the mattress seemed at the softest it had ever been at since his time onboard?

His thoughts broke at the sound of the door opening.

Immediately, he tried to brush the stray pieces of hair from his face as he sat up with an expectant look at the entrance to the room.

The moment Sora walked in, Riku found himself breathing out a sigh lowly.

"Well, good morning to you too." Sora narrowed his eyes to the royal while walking across the room toward the rack on the wall that held his hat up. He didn't have on neither his boots nor overcoat as per usual and Riku was able to deduce that the captain had just woken up and was coming into the room for the first time in the morning.

Riku shook his head, "Yeah, good morning." He muttered beneath his breath before he removed the sheets from over his body to move his feet over the side of the bed.

He reached to grab his boots and he felt the edge of the mattress sink as Sora took a seat.

Weakly, Riku attempted to speak in order to break any potential tension that could arise between them, "So another day at sea…" It was pathetically worded and he knew Sora would mock him for trying to start a conversation in that fashion.

"Hm?" Sora hummed out in his distracted tone, though Riku knew better.

That didn't mean that the strange air around them wasn't settling over.

Riku was by no means socially awkward; in fact back at the palace he prided himself in being able to charm and communicate with virtually anyone that appeared shy or closed, Kairi was a shining example of that. But it seemed that whenever it came to Sora, everything was put into a different outlook.

Especially with how their current relationship was.

How could you even be friends with someone who technically kidnapped you?

Riku was definitely going mad.

"I said, so another day at sea. I mean, I know it's typical of pirating life and all, but I'm just saying." His words were forced and halfway through he wondered why he was even talking, "Forget it, I'm just talking without thinking."

"Yeah, you have a habit of that." Sora remarked with a shake to his head as he got up from the bed. He began fitting his coat on and Riku scowled, but before he could counter Sora flashed him a crooked grin, "It's charming in a way."

Whatever words he had prepared to shoot out were suddenly lost.

It took him a couple seconds to realize he was still staring at Sora, and he hoped to God his expression hadn't been too laughable while he gawked at the pirate captain. Riku turned away, his focus returning to his shoes that were already properly adjusted.

"Interesting." He half-heartedly replied, repeating the singular phrase that the pirate captain had a tendency to state in reply to some of Riku's own statements. His face had a feeling of a burn to them as he felt Sora's gaze remain zeroed in on him.

Sora snorted, his feet moving him over to the other side of the bed in order to take a seat beside the royal, "Not really." Sora honestly said, within his hands was his hat while he kicked his feet at the floorboards absentmindedly, "How did you sleep last night?"

The question was random and the simple fact it was on his wellbeing made a strange feeling churn in Riku's stomach.

He tried to stay casual.

"I slept alright." He settled on firmly, his eyes dancing over to watch the hat in Sora's grasp.

Sora smirked widely, "Did you dream of me—"

"You ask me a lot of questions, Sora. What about you? How did you sleep?" Riku quickly intervened, his arms folding over his chest as he turned in the direction of the younger male.

The forcefulness of his words clearly had some sort of impact on Sora as his eyebrow cocked upward in what appeared to be a mixture of curiosity and confusion.

In actuality, Riku had to keep in mind that he had no clue where Sora even slept. So hearing about how the captain went through his nights had a bit of stir in the royal's curiosity. Sora had to have been sleeping somewhere that wasn't in his own room after all.

Riku shrugged his shoulders uncaringly in response to Sora's doubt before the pirate captain mirrored the action; his hat was set to rest on his lap while he leaned back on his hands leisurely.

"Slept pretty well. The Captain honestly breathed.

"Where do you even sleep?" Riku inquired almost immediately after the short answer.

This appeared to take Sora by surprise as his eyes widened ever so slightly before they settled down, masking any form of emotion in them while Riku continued staring at him, "Well?" He impatiently said when it appeared that Sora was just stuck on staring at him.

Blinking, Sora gaze didn't cease, "You care?" His tone was flat and nearly disinterested, but as always, Riku knew better.

"Well, obviously if I'm asking." He truthfully replied, "I've been sleeping in your bed from the beginning. I'm just a bit curious as to where you've been sleeping. On the floor or something?"

When put into thought, he knew Sora had way too much pride to put himself to sleep on the floor in favor of giving Riku his own bed. Sora had to have been going to sleep in a secret bed or something similar.

If Riku remembered right, there weren't any extra rooms, which was why Kairi had been put to share a room with Aqua in the beginning.

Sora seemed entirely hesitant to answer the question and that made Riku a bit suspicious.

Bluntly, the royal put a hand to his chin, "It can't possibly be that serious. Unless you're part demon and spend your nights in hell, I don't think telling me should be a problem."

The pirate captain snorted instantly, "I'm not part demon. I'm full-blooded demon. But I'm sure you already knew that."

"Stop changing the subject. Where do you sleep?"

"Princess, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you just don't care… I'd say you're concerned. What brought this on?" Sora taunted with a growing grin to his face.

Riku's lips pursed in indignation, "You're getting ridiculous over a simple question."

"Am I?"

"I don't see what's so difficult about answering."

The spikey haired captain looked just about ready to say something in retort, but Riku intensified his warning glare on the brunet to show that he wasn't joking around. Sora paused at this before sighing heavily and shrugging his shoulders, an uncaring expression flashing over his features while he gazed away, "If you must know, I actually sleep in Hell. Right next to my man Satan. But I must admit it does get quite hot there at night."

The words came out ever so easily and for a moment, Riku had trouble deciphering if he heard right.

He blinked his eyes and leaned forward, "Excuse me?"

"With Axel."

That right there made no sense whatsoever.

Ventus had told him that he, Axel, and Roxas all alternated between sleeping with one another every night to keep things because Roxas doesn't trust Ventus alone with Terra and Ventus doesn't trust him alone with Axel.

If Sora was sleeping with Axel, then that meant that Ventus had been lying? And Ventus wouldn't do that.

"I best be going out to help outside. We should be docking not too long from now." Sora simply remarked, not giving Riku any attention as he rose off of the bed.

Riku's eyebrows scrunched downward in confusion as he stood up along with the younger male who began his way to the door, "No, Sora. How can you be sleeping with Axel? That doesn't make sense."

As Sora made it past the door and into his study room, he slipped his hat on his head and didn't give the following prince a second glance.

From his position trailing beside him, Riku could see that there was truly no sign of a smirk or a grin on the pirate's face but that didn't say anything considering that Sora was known to kid around with the most serious expression ever. Riku had no clue if this was a joke or not.

But it had to be considering his information on Ventus and all.

Not only that, Axel was with both Roxas and Ventus so why would he share a bed with Sora anyways?

"Fine then, you little shit. Keep ignoring me then." Riku hissed out after the two made it out on deck. It was apparent that Sora didn't plan on stopping and clearing up anything with Riku when he began going about his daily captain routine of ensuring everything was running smoothly for the morning.

Riku simply stopped his steps and turned his attention to the waters they were surrounded by. His steps moved toward the edge of the ship where he glanced out to the sea wistfully.

Sora had said something about docking soon… If he looked out forward hard enough, past the light fog up ahead maybe he'd catch sight of something.

"Hey, Princess!"

The dreaded nickname that appeared to have grown as a normal for a majority of the crew aside from namely Roxas, Ventus, and Kairi probably wouldn't ever leave the mouths of the rest of the crew much to Riku's aggravation.

He turned over his shoulder to see Aqua bounding over to him, within her hands were two boxes and on her face was a bright smile, one that made the royal's eyebrows furrow in bemusement.

The female pirate grinned up at him as she stopped her steps, "You look like you're in a good mood." She acknowledged teasingly.

Riku shrugged, "Shockingly, I was in a better one until the Captain completely took it down."

Aqua gave a chuckle that made Riku shake his head before she dropped her boxes to her feet to gaze out into the ocean with him, "I fell asleep before the end of your match with Captain Sora… But would it be completely dumb of me to assume you actually won?"

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Riku leaned forward on the ledge, "Assume whatever you want. I don't care. You saw that I can hold my own against him already and that'll be enough until I challenge him to a rematch…"

"A rematch? Ohh. So maybe I should apologize for underestimating you earlier." The blue haired pirate offered a slightly sheepish, but overall good-natured smile his way and Riku found himself able to return the beam with a nod,

"It's alright. I guess I can see why you'd think I didn't know how to use a sword." He admitted simply before Aqua sighed heavily, "Yeah, but as a pirate I should know better than to underestimate anyone. I mean, I'm a girl already and I already get that enough."

Curiously, Riku turned to face the female as she glanced out into the water more intently, "There aren't exactly a large number of female pirates out there. I mean, we're not totally rare, but there's so little of us already out there to the point where it's not uncommon for some other male pirates to sneer at us and all."

Riku cocked a brow, "You're discriminated against even as a pirate?"

"Not discriminated," She held up a knowledgeable finger with a twirl to her locks, "More like, underestimated to the extreme. They think because I'm a girl I'm afraid of getting some blood on my trousers even though I've probably taken down more men in a single raid than they could ever hope to take down in their lives." Aqua folded her arms over her chest with a huff.

It was understandable that that was the case, but Aqua was a part of Sora's crew, that alone should tell offenders that she wasn't someone to take lightly…

"Some pirates are such idiots." Riku snorted out making Aqua nod before her fist was suddenly hitting Riku in the shoulder.

Unprepared for the attack, the royal's hand shot to where he had been hit as the pirate grinned at him, "So, I'm properly apologizing for being so hypocritical before! Just because you're royalty and all, I guess I shouldn't automatically assume stuff about you."

Rubbing his shoulder with squinted eyes, Riku nodded his head, "That's your way of apologizing?"

Aqua laughed, "Toughen up, Princess! My way of apologizing to the people I have to show tough love to!"

Riku prepared to retort something at her, when he paused.

Obviously, Aqua was warming up to him and she was pretty close enough to Axel as it was, so maybe he could ask…

"Aqua, out of curiosity, do you know if Axel shares his room with anyone aside from Roxas and Ventus?" He tried to vaguely question.

Aqua took in the sudden question with a blink to her eyes before she slowly shook her head, "Eh, not that I know of… I mean, from what Roxas tells me, Axel is a shitty sleeper and takes up so much of the bed it's hard to have more than one other person on a bed with him. That's why those three always rotate who sleeps with whom… Why do you ask?"

So he had back-up on his theory that Sora and Axel didn't share a bed.

"What's the extent to Axel and Sora's relationship, if you don't mind me asking you?" Riku ignored her countered question and Aqua didn't appear to take much notice to the fact before she shrugged her shoulders.

"That, I'd probably never be able to tell you. They're extremely close; I can tell you that but Axel and Sora are the two most closed up people onboard so I can't necessarily describe their relationship to you or anything."

Her words made Riku a bit crestfallen but before he could fully think of an alternative to this defeat, Aqua was speaking once more.

"I mean, it's no secret that the two fucked once upon a time, so calling them good friends may be putting it light…"

…

Riku found himself about to choke on his spit at the sudden words given to his ears as he turned to Aqua completely wide eyed. The blue haired pirate appeared oblivious to the shock that her speech brought to the royal as she thoughtfully kept her hand to her chin.

"They did what—"

"Aqua! Get the fuck over here, you lazy ass! We're not done moving the boxes!"

Aqua cringed at the calling to her name while whipping her head over her shoulder, "Who the fuck are you calling lazy ass!? I do way more work than you, fucking fucker!" Grunting, she moved downward to pick up the two boxes on the ground into her arms before giving Riku a sigh, "Sorry, duty calls."

"No, wait! Before you go, did Axel and Sora really, erm, I…" Riku found himself trailing off rather pathetically as Aqua's back disappeared down to one of the lower decks, her figure bouncing while she shouted at the crew member who ranted off at her.

Now, apparently he learned something new about both Axel and Sora.

Aqua wouldn't just lie to him like that, would she? There was absolutely no reason for her to anyhow…

Axel and Sora shared a bed and the two of them were having sex.

It strangely made sense but at the same time it didn't.

Axel was with Roxas. Axel had gotten upset at Riku for 'messing' with Sora's heart.

The two of them were always so close though, the more Riku thought about it.

Why was this topic even circulating throughout his head? He shouldn't even care… But he knew a part of him no matter how insignificant did care for some odd reason.

Knowing he'd have to clear his head, he began his way down to the lower deck.

He could go talk to Kairi to get his mind off of this rather peculiar topic.

When he reached Aqua and Kairi's room, he was a bit surprised to see Kairi in there with a few other crew members, all of them sat on the floor in a circle with cards all spread out amongst them.

Confused, Riku halted at the door, "Uhm…" He unsurely voiced out with furrowed eyebrows.

Kairi glanced over her shoulder to view Riku and when she spotted him, she smiled with an excited wave, "Hey, Ri!" She greeted happily causing the royal to cautiously leave the door a bit more open while he walked in slowly,

"Good morning, Kai…"

As she turned back to the game, Riku cleared his throat, "So… What exactly are you doing…?"

"We're teaching her how to play a card game, Princess."

"It was bloody fucking ridiculous how the poor gal had no clue how to even shuffle a deck of cards!"

"Well, at least now she knows! I'm such a good teacher, right Kai?"

Kairi giggled wildly, "Right! Don't even think I'm going to lose this round either, Terra. I think I finally got the hang of this~" She sang out confidently before pushing out one of her cards to the center of the circle.

All the men gave a chorus of 'Ooohs' from her play before Riku unsurely took a seat on the bed to watch.

How is it that shy, sweet, and innocent little Kairi was seriously in a room alone with all these men? As far as Riku could remember, Aqua was always attached to the girl's hip every time they were on the ship, but now she was seriously willing to be locked up in a single area with them?

Wasn't she scared?

One look at his friend's amused expression as she slipped down another card signaled to Riku that it was exactly the opposite… She looked genuinely happy.

His gaze softened down at her considerably. He was happy for her. Having Kairi constantly in fear and anxiety wasn't something he wanted. If she found herself comfortable on the ship and even making new friends, he had to give it to her.

"Okay, so I didn't win this round. Can we play again, please?" She questioned with a pout when their game finally came to an end.

The men laughed and Josh shrugged his shoulders with a grin, "Why not?" He then turned his attention up to Riku, "You wanna join?" He offered out.

Riku found his eyes widening in surprise as everyone's notice flashed up to him expectantly.

The royal's eyes flickered to Kairi who smiled at him warmly as though showing she'd support his answer no matter what it'd be.

Shrugging, Riku glanced away, "No, thanks."

"Pft. He's too good to play a card game with us."

A few chimes of agreement filed after this statement and Riku didn't even stop himself from rolling his eyes.

It wasn't that he didn't want to play exactly… He didn't want to look like an idiot because the only card game he knew to play was the one that Ventus had taught him a while back when Riku had been evading Sora.

"Don't say that." Kairi defended with a scolding glare at the one who spoke up, "If he doesn't want to play, he doesn't want to. Don't be rude!"

"She's right, mate. Don't be such a jackass about it." Terra leisurely added in, he glanced at Riku and gave the male a supportive nod before turning his attention back to the game, "So what should we play now—"

A rap came to the side of the room entrance and immediately everyone was glancing up to see who was there.

Roxas stood pointedly, "We're scheduled to be docked up at the port within the next five minutes, lads. Start packing it up and get ready to head off if you want to. Captain says we're not staying here for more than a few hours."

Instantly, everyone was up and gathering themselves out the room until it was only Kairi and Riku left.

Roxas fully entered the room with a smile Riku's way, "You were getting along with the other crew members. That's real good!"

Slipping his hands in his pockets, Riku shrugged, "I think Kairi had more luck with that than me actually." He gave his friend a grin, "She's a social butterfly now."

Blushing, Kairi shook her head with her eyes suddenly pasted to her feet, "Not really. I was hanging out and helping Aqua and Ventus earlier this morning and I met up with Terra and then he offered to show me how to play cards. The other guys aren't scary at all! They're all actually kind of nice! Loud… But nice." She smiled sweetly at Roxas, who chuckled,

"That's our crew for you. We're like a big family! Nice to see you adjusting better too, Kairi. Do you plan on coming out to the town with Aqua, Axel, Ventus, and I? Aqua told me to ask you so the moment we dock we can go off together since Sora's only stopping here fast."

Kairi hummed while glancing down at her clothing, "Well, I guess this is acceptable to go out in? Sure! I just hope with Ventus here with us, Axel and our little bluejay Aqua won't try going into those places again…"

The First Mate of Kingdom Heart cringed, "Let's hope." He paused before giving Riku an apologetic look, "I… Uhm… If you want, I think Sora may let—"

"Let's not kid ourselves, Roxas." Riku sighed out with his arms folding over his chest, "We both know Sora isn't letting me off this ship, so I won't even bother."

"You never know. We thought he wouldn't let you off the first time, but he still did. Even if he doesn't show it, he really likes it when you're happy, you know." Roxas stated to the royal that scowled though he said nothing else on the subject.

Kairi gave Riku a smile, "If you want, we can get you something from the city if you want?"

As they began walking out, Riku tried to think, "Well, if you got me some new clothes that'd be great." He settled on simply.

The three made it out on deck from below, and seeing the surrounding land around gave Riku a slight chill to his spine…

The ship was slowing to a near crawl as the crew members onboard appeared to all be at work at stopping the ship in place properly.

"Ventus!" Roxas called out to the blonde that was now exiting Sora's quarters.

Ventus glanced upward and grinned the moment he saw the three with a wave. He made his way toward them excitedly, "Sor said we'll have about three hours out in the city! It'll be so much fun! Feels like forever since I've been on dry land!"

"Sor?" Riku repeated in amusement, "I think before you called him SorSor?" Riku questioned.

Roxas snickered, "Yeah, Ventus, Axel, and I call him that. It gets him really annoyed. But we think it's cute and it sort of fits him in a way."

Nodding slowly, Riku replayed the words in his mind, storing them for future reference.

"By the way, where is Axel?" Roxas curiously inquired to Ventus who blinked, "Oh, he's with the Captain in his study! They were talking about something private so they asked me to step out." He shrugged his shoulders and at that moment, Riku was abruptly reminded of the earlier scenario with both Axel and Sora.

His lips formulated into a frown and he gazed over at both Ventus and Roxas.

"Yeah, about Axel and Sora…" He began out gradually, earning the attention of the two male pirates, and even Kairi. Riku gave a small breath before starting again, "They're just close friends, right?"

"Yup!" Ventus's answer was instant, however Roxas observantly eyed Riku, "Just? What are you suggesting? You think there's more or something?"

"No, no." Riku quickly denied, "I mean, Axel is really protective of Sora for some odd reason and I was just wondering, really."

His answer didn't seem to entirely appease Roxas who watched him with analyzing eyes whereas Ventus added in, "The two of them have a pretty good friendship. They're like literally best friends, not to mention Axel has a lot of respect for Sora. Probably more than Roxas and I."

But best friends don't fuck each each other.

Riku wasn't so sure if it'd be best to bring that fact up around both Ventus and Roxas because if he slipped something out that he shouldn't, things could go downhill very fast.

"Oh. That's interesting…" Riku mumbled, his eyes moving toward Sora's quarters' door.

Maybe the reason Sora hadn't explained himself about sleeping with Axel was because of this reason. He didn't want Riku saying it to either Ventus or Roxas and Riku himself couldn't say anything since he didn't know the whole story.

"I'm just going to go now." The royal stated before he began walking across the deck toward Sora's room door.

If Axel and Sora were both in there, he could just ask the two of them up front about it…

His hand touched the doorknob and he didn't hesitate to open it.

Stepping inside the study, Riku kept his face straight as he came to the imagine of Axel sitting on the side of Sora's desk, his arms folded over his chest while he gaze down at the seat captain that watched up at the red haired haired pirate.

Riku's entrance to the room caused both males to turn their attention to the door.

Axel's face cracked into a grin while he nodded over at Riku in greeting and Sora shook his head slightly before moving his attention back toward Axel.

The spikey haired captain beckoned him closer and Axel easily complied by bending himself lower so his ear was near Sora's mouth. Two seconds later Sora pulled away from a rather bemused looking Axel.

"Well, I suppose this is my signal to leave." Sora snorted before standing to his feet. Within his grasp were several sheets of paper that he shoved into a portfolio on his desk before grabbing it up toward his coat.

He started walking to the entrance and the moment he was upon Riku he gave the royal a smirk, "Plan on moving for me, Princess?"

"Now you want to talk to me?" Riku sneered with a glare into the other's eyes.

"Oh, you wanted me to talk to you before?" Sora arched a brow of amusement,

Scoffing, Riku tried to fight back a smile from his face as he allowed the pirate captain to brush past him, however before Sora could fully exit, he glanced back at Riku dully, "My clothes are big on you, right?"

"Well, not really. Only a little." Riku truthfully responded with his eyes gazing down at the sleeves.

Sora said nothing more and the door closed behind him.

"Here's to hoping my presence in here won't be awkward." Axel stated with a hand up,

Riku didn't question that, instead he folded his arms and began to approach the still seated pirate, "Alright, so this may be incredibly blunt to bring up but I have to know the answer."

The red haired male watched him curiously to continue and Riku sighed heavily…

The more he thought about it, the more he came to realize none of this was even any of his business.

If Axel and Sora had sex, it had nothing to do with him. If Axel and Sora shared a bed, it had nothing to do with him. Even if it put Axel's relationship in jeopardy, it didn't affect him in the slightest so he shouldn't care.

But the more progression he put into this, he had to consider. There were a lot of things that didn't affect him that he had the power to change for the better. If he needed to get something straightened out, it was best it just do so.

"You and Sora, you two share a bed, right?"

He started out with the softer accusation, not wanting to jump straight into the sex topic.

Axel shook his head, "Nope. I only share a bed with my lovely Roxas and rotate with Ven. So I sleep with Roxas and Ventus you can say." His expression of honestly brought out all traces of doubt within Riku's mind and he found himself able to give an inward breath of relief.

Okay, so obviously if they didn't share a bed, they didn't have sex.

"Haha, I figured. It's funny, I actually heard that you and him had sex before, you know." Riku chuckled as his hands trailed over the papers on Sora's desk.

"Uhm, not so sure how it's funny, but we did." Axel said and Riku found himself freezing before he slowly turned his head toward the seated pirate that watched him in mirth, "Now, now. Before you go into a gigantic royal fit and strangle me and everything, just know that we had sex way back before I even found Roxy. The sex meant nothing and I am not in love with Sora. I'm very much in love with that blonde beauty that is probably on his way to the city without me right now."

The words came out moderately but it still took a moment for Riku to digest all of it down and when he did, he scowled in disdain, "Does Roxas know that you two went through that?" He couldn't help the irritation rising onto him from this situation.

Axel nodded, "I told him about the first night we had our own encounter. He said he was okay with it since I didn't cheat on him or anything."

"So… You two just had sex and that was it? You're friends and you just decided one night to have sex?" Riku asked in disbelief.

The pirate snorted, "Well, we've had sex multiple times in the past, actually."

Riku couldn't help the souring to his face with that but he listened on.

"I just understood him the most and aside from Roxas, he understood me the most. We knew it wouldn't affect our relationship because we were good friends and all so we just did it. It helps that he used to be willing to experiment with me." Axel shrugged his shoulders almost thoughtlessly, "Our relationship is nice like that."

Their relationship was closed off and mysterious in accordance to most people onboard, and Riku could say he agreed.

But it was Axel after all. Sora wasn't the most secretive man but when he didn't want to speak, it was obvious he wouldn't. Riku wasn't even sure if he knew anything about Axel aside from his name.

Nodding in somewhat understanding, Riku watched Axel in wonder, "How'd it get to be like that?"

Axel gave a crooked smile, "So long of the two of us being together. We're best friends because of that naturally."

He clearly avoided the in depth meaning to the question and Riku realized he'd have to be straight to the point if he wanted a proper answer. Running a hand through his hair he gave Axel a half-lidded stare to move away any traces of interest that would otherwise make Axel not willing to share,

"I've heard Roxas, Aqua, Ventus, and even Sora's back story. I have yet to hear yours… So what's your past all about?"

Axel blinked, "My past?"

The prince nodded his head, watching Axel vigilantly.

"Well… My past is all about me, but I guess that's pretty obvious, huh?"

"You're not going to tell me, are you?" Riku dryly asked earning a wink from the dark haired pirate that hopped off the desk, "Maybe one day. Just stick around for a bit and we'll see."

"Fair enough." The royal replied easily before gave Axel a skeptical look, "Where does Sora sleep? He doesn't sleep with you, something he lied about and I'll have to tell him about, but he doesn't sleep in his room, so where?"

The question came as simple to the pirate that tilted his head to the side, "He sleeps right on this chair," His hand reached over to the spinning chair in front of the desk, "I'm not so sure if it's the comfiest, but he doesn't complain so I suppose it's alright."

Riku silently allowed his irises to trail over the desk's chair… It was so plain and the cushion on it didn't look half as decent as a mattress could be.

Sora had been sleeping on that since Riku had been onboard. Riku grimaced and tried to take his mind off of that fact as he moved his eyes back to Axel, "On another note, why are you even in here? Shouldn't you be heading out into town with the others?"

His words made Axel laugh lightly, "Isn't it obvious?"

When Riku found himself unable to retort with a proper answer, Axel snorted, "Sora didn't want you to stay locked up in here alone. Ventus hasn't been on land in a while and we both didn't want to deny him that, so I'm here to stay with you."

That was a bit of a surprise.

Sora didn't want him alone as ironic as it was…

"Thanks for volunteering and all but I think I can last three hours alone." Riku flashed a thumbs up toward the male that shook his head, "At least take some degree of notice to recognize the thought behind this. I don't know if you see it or not, Riku, but Sora cares about you a lot more than you think."

Riku stiffened at the sudden bring up of the topic, however Axel persisted,

"His scarf is really special to him. He doesn't let anyone else touch it, yet I heard he let you wear it and even then, you-know-what happened and… I think that was partially the reason he was so detached from us during those four days. When he talked to me it was like he wasn't even here with me, you know? Not to make you feel bad or anything, but what you did may have hit him just as much as it hit you. Not physically, but emotionally. And emotional wounds are always harder to heal than physical ones." Axel considerately voiced.

The hat's significance had already been briefed to him and hearing it again by another mouth certainly didn't make things better.

Riku released a heavy exhale, "You seem to know him better than I do… Would you say he's still hurt by it?"

Unhelpfully, Axel shrugged his shoulders, "He doesn't show it but I have a feeling it might. Why?"

"I don't know… I was just… I don't exactly have anything of value that I can give him in exchange to help him or anything." Riku tiredly mumbled. If he had his old bracelet that his mother had given him, back when he had it on the royal ship before the raid happened and he got stripped of all his values, he probably would have given that to Sora to show the pirate's sentiments weren't going to waste… But he didn't have it.

"We're by a town now. I'm sure there's valuable stuff out there. But, Sora would kill me if I let you go out…"

Almost instantly with Axel's words, Riku found himself brightening up.

That was actually a perfect idea.

His change in mood apparently didn't go unnoticed by Axel who cringed his way.

Riku slowly began edging to the door as Axel watched him stiffly, "Riku…"

"Yeah?"

Axel tensed as he followed the royal's movements, "Okay, so let's just stop being hasty for a second."

"I'm not being hasty, thank you very much. I'm just moving toward the door, Axel."

"Okay, so stop moving toward the door, because we both know if you do what I think you're going to do, it won't end well and—"

Riku didn't wait for him to finish, he turned and bolted straight for the exit.

Oh hellllllllllllllllllllllllll l to the no Axel is not trying to steal Riku's man! Dramaaaaaaa...not really. But yes that is the extent of Sora and Axel's relationship. And see even though Sora has that heartless bastard motif on, he still has emotions like normal people. Feedback would be great. I'm positive you guys will like the next chapter :) No there isn't going to sex...well maybe ;)