Juukai saaaaaaays: Hello peoples! Sorry for the long wait between the updates. I've actually had this done and beta'd for a long time, but it just never got posted here. When I had internet, it was always fleeting and I didn't have the time to reformat it for , I was busy trying to get my school stuff in order instead. I sincerely apologize. I'm trying as hard as I can to write, but my muse seems to be on permanent vacation. I'm really sorry, guys. I'm trying the hardest I can to get it up for you, because I know I hate waiting for new chapters of stories I'm reading, so why would it be different for you?

Disclaimer: I OWN NOT THE CHARACTERS YOU SEE, ONLY THE ORDER THE WORDS ARE IN AND THE IDEA BEHIND THEM. Thanks.

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Chapter 8

A month and a half of classes and small social visits otherwise came and went. Axel had joined a martial arts club to try and get some muscle on his thin body so Riku couldn't tease him anymore, not that it was working, and Riku had joined the Kendo team and was already flying through the ranks. He was actually pretty good with a sword, and had been training for years before he joined the school team, unlike his roommate who was starting from square one. Riku did get a job with his uncle Sephiroth as a desk man for the big company. He mostly took calls pertaining to orders, since they were basically a company that sold necessities to other companies. Sephiroth himself took most of the calls, though, so he was mostly playing secretary for the few hours that he worked. But he liked it, and it let him spend a little time with the only family member he had that he actually liked. Most of the people in Riku's family called Sephiroth a hard ass, or a cold and ruthless man that was borderline psycho from time to time, but he only ever knew the gentle voiced man that would smile every once in a while.

He also got to meet his uncle's friend Zack, who came around more and more often. Apparently he was starting his own business as Sephiroth had, and he looked up to Sephiroth and occasionally came over to "ask for help." Riku wasn't blind or stupid, and he knew that Zack was seeking more than help, but he didn't pry. The man was too much like Demyx to get a short and straight answer from, anyway, the way he was always hyper and had an endearingly short attention span that often caused him to forget things.

The whole of his and Axel's acting class had already received their scripts, and had their tryout day. Now all that was left was to wait for Leon to post the list online like he said he would. Which Riku learned to mean that Leon was lazy, and when he finally got around to doing it, it would be up. Friday night rolled around without any sign of the list, but Riku was more interested in the website he was reading. He liked to find stories people wrote and posted on the web to read, whether they used original characters or not, as long as they stuck to the personality of whatever character they were stealing for their story. Axel made fun of him for reading fanfictions, but Riku shrugged it off, refusing to use the term. It was embarrassing, and he would never admit that he loved them.

"This bites!"

Riku rose an eyebrow at Axel, lifting his eyes from the story he was reading to give his roommate the appropriate amount of time to explain his unappreciated outburst. When it didn't come, Riku sighed. "Elaborate."

Axel rested his chin on his desk. "Leon posted the cast list for the play already."

This was news to Riku, but he shrugged. "And…?"

Axel gave him a stern glare, like he should have been able to piece together why this fact led to his declaration. "I'm Fred."

Riku leaned back in his chair a bit more, putting his fingers together in the shape of a steeple, a smirk twisting his lips. "This surprises you? Naminé and I told you that you were going to get it. There's no one else that could possibly play it better in any world, let alone this campus. Cover up your tattoos, frizz your hair, slap a green suit on you, and you could be twins!"

Axel's glare intensified with every word Riku said until he finally looked on his desk for something and threw one of the pieces of candy he had floating around at the white haired man. Riku just laughed and ate it.

"I just don't want to play Fred," he whined.

"Why not?" Riku was surprised that Axel was being so bad about it. "I would have thought that he would have been your favorite character. A jackass of an imaginary friend who's violent, sarcastic, and most of the time a complete idiot."

Axel snorted, putting his head back down on his desk. "Nah. Was never really a fan of the movie, even as a kid. Pops loved it, though, so I had to watch it a lot anyway."

"Well suck it up," Riku grinned. "I bet you'll love it by the time you've got your lines memorized. And the suit will match your eyes so well." He dodged the next object thrown at him with a laugh. "Anyway, who did I get?"

Axel just crossed his arms. "Why should I tell ya? Look it up for yourself if you're so interested. You ain't getting shit from me for a week for all the crap you just said."

Riku was too amused to really say anything to Axel, though he did mutter, "drama queen" before he went ahead and checked the website that Leon had posted the cast listing on. It took a minute for him to find his name and trace it across to the character he was assigned. And when he saw it he let loose a sound that had him earning a look from Axel that was a perfect imitation of the one he'd given the redhead earlier.

"What's your issue?" Axel looked over and saw what Riku was staring at on his computer screen. He saw that it was the list their professor put up and smirked. He scrolled down the page until he saw Riku's name and burst out laughing uncontrollably. He didn't even stop when Riku came over and hit him with a good amount of strength on the shoulder. He took a moment to finally be able to speak again, but when he was able he was teasing Riku already, even though the silverette stood over him brandishing his fists and threatening a painful death.

"You're that sleaze-ball Charles!" He couldn't help it, he started laughing again as soon as it was said, and he couldn't seem to stop himself. Eventually, when blows didn't work, Riku started pouting and looking like he was going to fall into a generally black mood. That was when Axel finally tried to reign himself in. "Alright, I promise I won't complain about being Fred anymore," a chuckle escaped his control, and he hid it in a cough, even though Riku wasn't even close to being fooled.

"I hope someone backs into your truck," Riku muttered darkly, fishing around in his drawer for his earphones once he sat back down.

"Aww, come on, Riku! If I had been cast as him you know you'd be acting like this too, so don't even try to get all grumpy on me for laughing." Axel leaned back in his chair, arms behind his head with a huge grin on his face.

"Don't care, that's not the point." He gave up searching with a sigh. "Oh well, I guess. I'm just going to have to pretend to be a complete whore like you for a couple shows."

Axel made an indignant sound. "I am not a complete whore," he refuted with a proud look that instantly melted away into a sly grin. "I'm still missing a few parts that got lost in the mail."

"Could've fooled me," Riku mumbled, then returned to the top of the list to see the complete cast. "Who is Yuna?"

"A girl in our year that doesn't really talk to anyone but Paine, Tidus, and Rikku," Axel answered distractedly as he did something on his own computer. "Why?"

"Just looking through the list. Says she's the main character, Elizabeth." Riku looked a little further down the list. He saw his name, and Axel's, and he even saw a few others he recognized. "Demyx got a part," he couldn't hide the incredulous tone in his voice.

Axel looked up at him. "Kid can act when he tries, got it memorized? Never gets big parts, though. Usually he only tries out for something small. Why, who is he this time?"

"One of the other imaginary friends, I think. I don't know the other people who are playing those with him, though." Riku didn't recognize the names, though he might know the faces from class. "Oh, and Naminé got a part, too."

"Surprise, surprise. She picked this play 'cause she thought she'd get a part, remember?" He scrolled through. "And she got a tiny ass part, too. The little blonde girl that shows up at the very end as Fred's new kid."

"You make Fred, and therefore yourself, sound like a pedophile when you put it like that," Riku rose an eyebrow at him.

"How do you know he isn't, eh?" Axel moved to go sit on his bed, apparently done with whatever had been entertaining him on his laptop. "Knows what sex is, 'cause he talks about it, but he's only ever around children. Makes you wonder…"

"That you put this much thought into a movie you hate is surprising and almost unhealthy," Riku murmured, shutting off the light on his desk and closing his laptop. It was still early, but he was tired of being cooped up in their room. "Didn't you have something to do tonight? Someone visiting?"

Axel had his pillow draped over his face, but Riku could still hear him perfectly fine. "To the extent of my knowledge, no. No, I do not have anything to do which is why I'm bored as fuck, and no I do not have anyone visiting to relieve this boredom."

"That's odd," Riku mused. "I could have sworn Demyx was talking about someone you know visiting today." He heard no affirmation, and thought again about his words. "Maybe it was supposed to be a surprise, or something."

Axel dislodged the pillow only enough for one green eye to stare up at him. "There are only two people that would be visiting me that Demyx knows. One of which probably won't happen till it's raining fire and hell is a giant Popsicle, and the other," he paused, but Riku couldn't see his expression, "dear Gods I hope it's not the other."

That left Riku a little confused. Why wouldn't Axel want to see someone who was coming to visit him? "Who would the last one be?"

"Ain't saying, or I'll jinx it." The redhead answered stubbornly. "Just be sure to lock the damn door, please."

Riku rose an eyebrow at him again, but he didn't move towards the door. Instead he just pulled one of his text books from under his bed and opened it while taking a seat on his recently made bed.

"Oi, didn't I just say lock the door?" Axel grumbled in Riku's general direction.

"You might have, and I almost considered it. But then I noticed your legs aren't broken, and that you can get off your lazy ass and prevent whoever is coming to see you from getting in on your own, so why bother?" His cynical amusement failed to show on his face, but he could tell by the way Axel looked at him that it gleamed in his eyes.

"Mean ol' fucker." He growled, ignoring Riku when he reminded the redhead that Axel was older than he was by a good year. Instead he simply started to get up, his face betraying his thoughts as he weighed the possibilities of whoever he feared showing up or not. He flopped back down on his bed in the end, though, digging his phone out of his pocket so that he could call Demyx and see if the guy really did have anything planned.

A cell phone rang just outside their door, making Riku look up as well as Axel. "Shit!" The redhead cursed, hauling his body off of the bed a lot more gracefully than Riku would have thought and lunging for the door. He reached it just as it opened, and it smacked him deftly in the forehead.

"Axel! There's my boy, yo!" A voice exclaimed with a snicker.

"Fuck, Pops, that was my face," Axel griped, nursing his head, from what Riku could see over the tattooed man's shoulder, which wasn't much due to his height. He could see Demyx hanging further back in the hall, but other than that he could only see a set of short, darker red spikes.

"Watch yer damn mouth, yo. I'm still your father, and I'll turn you over my knee with everyone here as my witness," Riku could hear it was a genuine threat, but he also noticed that the voice was still tinged with amusement.

"Shut it, old man. I'm taking martial arts, now. I'll whoop yer ass." Axel sniffed back, moving out of the door way so that the others could come in and unknowingly quenching Riku's curiosity about what this fabled father of Axel's looked like. "Besides, you're the one that taught me to cuss, remember?"

"Maybe, maybe not, yo." The man that strode in was wearing a black suit, the jacket undone completely and the white shirt beneath missing a few of the top buttons so that one could see a toned but pale chest just peeking out from the folds of the clothes that hung off of him, just like his son's did. He was shorter than Axel, but not by any extraordinary amount; he was still maybe an inch or two taller than Riku. His hair was, in fact, the deeper color that Riku had thought he had seen earlier; his was more crimson to Axel's fire-truck red, and there were a pair of dark sunglasses holding half of the wild spikes out of his face. A few, though, still fell and framed a pair of the strangest colored eyes Riku had seen in a while. At first glance, he thought they were green, like Axel's only a much lighter and natural shade, but then as the man's gaze shifted the color swirled with the light, showing that his eyes were really blue with flecks of green and gold in them. Their change from duller to brighter shades depended on how the light fell, and Riku finally decided that strange eyes were just in Axel's family; especially since the bits where the yellow and green met by his pupils almost seemed to glow. It was the kind of thing Riku had only seen once before with Sephiroth's friend Zack. But he decided that must purely have been a play from the light (for both parties). There were the two red tattoos that Axel had said were there, looking as red as his hair on his pale skin right under his eyes. He looked completely relaxed, but even that posture betrayed his ability to beat someone who meant him harm into a bloody pulp if they weren't careful.

Riku belatedly realized that he was staring, but even then it was only because the man he had been studying suddenly grinned and winked at him. "Take a picture, yo. Lasts longer and it's a lot quieter than me."

He felt the distinct urge to blush, but fought it. Riku just didn't blush. Wasn't his thing. He'd leave that to Demyx and Naminé. "Wish the same could be said of your son."

The stranger burst out into laughter, grinning wickedly at Riku when he was done. "Too true, yo. Boy's had a smart mouth on him since he could talk. Don't know where he picked it up from."

"I couldn't even begin to guess," he smirked, glancing over at the scowling Axel.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up you two," he growled. "Pops, this is my bastard of a roommate, Riku. Riku, this is Reno, AKA, Pops."

"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Flynn," there was that dratted polite side that had been drilled into him as a child.

Reno snorted at him. "It's only Mr. Flynn to bill collectors and people I don't like, yo." Then he grinned again, putting one hand behind his head. The motion of his hand disturbed a long ponytail Riku hadn't seen before, and he wondered why both father and son had a desire for off hair styles. "And since you've been takin' care of my boy, guess that means it's Reno to you, eh?" He shoved all of Axel's blankets to one side of the bed and sat on it, relaxing up against the wall as if it was something he did every day.

In the meantime, Axel had rounded on Demyx, and was seething at him in a low tone. Riku and Reno caught the end of it. "Why couldn't you at least warn me he was coming?"

Demyx was caught between being amused and being afraid. He knew Axel wouldn't hurt him, but that didn't make him any less intimidating. "He told me not to…"

"Cool it, kid," Reno interjected, tapping Axel on the back of one knee rather hard with the toe of his boot, which Riku just noticed he was wearing. (Who wore boots with a suit?) Axel almost went crashing to the floor, and he turned his glare back onto his father, who only smiled sweetly at him. "I might start thinking you don't love me anymore, yo!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Axel Marshall Flynn," Reno finally said as the small group trudged back down the stairs of the dorm hall. He was taking them all out to dinner with a certain guest he'd left out in the car. "If you don't shut the hell up about me makin' a surprise visit, I'm gonna get my nightstick and beat ya ta death with it."

"Nightstick?" The silver-haired boy following just slightly behind them asked, his off green eyes alight with interest.

"Yep. I used to be a police officer, yo," Reno hooked a thumb at himself, smiling proudly. "Was best on the force."

"If you didn't ask anyone but him, anyway," Axel jibbed, face expressionless but eyes mischievous.

Reno turned to lash out at him, both verbally and physically, but another voice cut in. "Now he works for me in a special unite of, shall we call them, elite security enforcers. And he still thinks he's the best, and any word against that gets ignored."

Everyone turned to see who had spoken, and Reno's cheeks turned a little pink, first with embarrassment, then with indignation, and Riku almost thought for a moment he meant to pout. "Don't you start sounding like Axel, yo," he looked like there was more he wanted to say, but either he didn't want to in front of his kid, or he didn't want to say it to his boss, even if he was off the clock.

The man was definitely not what Riku or Demyx had been expecting. He was thin, almost frail looking, and with hardly any more color to his skin than Reno. His blonde hair was trimmed short and immaculate, and it looked like it always was, even if he were to take a helicopter where he needed to go. He still wore his all white three piece suit from work, just as Reno was still in his work clothes, since they had left the office early after lunch and had headed straight over. It was no short ride, and they hadn't had time to change if they wanted to get to the campus before it got too late, Reno had said when he'd inquired to his own lazily put together business attire. He had blue eyes that were a deeper, more definite color than his employee's, and overall it added that splash of color he needed with all of the white that went on both in his wardrobe and his natural physical appearance.

"I thought you were gonna wait in the car, yo," Reno whined, obviously hating getting interrupted and simultaneously poked fun at.

"You took too long," the man replied with a careless shrug, resting on hand in his coat pocket. "I wanted to stretch my legs a bit after that drive down here."

Reno rolled his eyes. "Demyx, Riku, this's my boss, Rufus Shinra. As in the president of the Shinra Corporation, yo."

Riku's eyes widened, while Demyx seemed to be a little bit more oblivious. "You're Rufus Shinra?"

Amusement deepened the color of the blonde man's eyes. "I believe that was just established, yes."

This time Riku didn't fight down the slight blush. "S-sorry. It's just that I work for one of the companies you do business with, and I've heard you on the phone, I just never thought I would meet you in person."

This seemed to surprise Rufus a little, and flatter him equally. "Who do you work for?"

"Sephiroth Staley, of Jenova. He's my uncle, actually…" Riku didn't know why he tacked on that last bit of information, it was mostly like he wanted to have some claim to Sephiroth as if it would make his story more believable to the business tycoon. Shinra Company literally had their fingers in just about everything. Their logos could be found on anything from a select brand of soda to medical supplies, which they usually ordered from another company like Jenova, his uncle's, and then stamped their title on it. They even owned television channels and had stock in a major cell phone company. Meeting Rufus Shinra, and knowing that Axel's father worked for him, and apparently even a little closely with him, made his mind boggle just a little.

"Don't go gettin' hero worship, yo," Reno said with a touch of jealousy and protectiveness to his face, tapping his fist against his shoulder. "I don't want ta have ta forcibly remove you from our building one day, kid."

"Reno," Rufus chided, his tone clipped but his eyes betraying a patience that went farther than the regular relationship an employer and employee held. He then turned his attention back to Riku. "Jenova is a good company with a lot of promise, and your uncle runs it well. I remind him of that very fact every time I do business with him."

"Not ta interrupt you, bossman, but I'm interrupting you," the senior of the redheads put in. "This is basically a short vacation. Y'know the word vacation, right? Means you stop the business talk, and we head the hell out to dinner before I waste away to nothin', yo."

Rufus made a scoffing sound. "You may be slight, Reno, but I know how much you eat. A few minutes of waiting wouldn't make you starve."

Axel finally stepped in, leading Riku to believe that Demyx wasn't quite comfortable enough with Rufus there to put anything in. "No, but he'd bitch and moan until we finally gave him food to shut him up with, so we might as well get going, right? It's sad watching a grown man pout and whimper like that."

Reno punched him in the shoulder. "Watch it, pup. I know how to make your life on this campus really embarrassing."

"Yeah," Axel teased back, rubbing the shoulder that had been abused twice already that day, "and I could make work for you pretty embarrassing, too." He smirked, and Reno spluttered. Rufus said nothing, and his expression betrayed nothing, but by those two reactions alone Riku figured that his hunch had been correct.

"Boy, you're gonna get beat 'till every bone in that skinny body gets broke, yo!" Reno grabbed his son in a stranglehold, his arm obviously only strong enough around Axel's throat to keep him in place instead of doing him any harm.

Axel just smirked, feeling victorious over his father for the first time that night, apparently. "Like to see you try, old man."

"Hey, security's coming," Demyx warned at the slow moving truck turned the corner towards them. Reno let go of Axel begrudgingly, eyeing the other grinning redhead as if he was considering how much damage he could get away with doing. "I think we should go before you two end up getting us kicked off campus."

"I second that," Rufus said from beside Riku, having moved while his attention was diverted.
"You can tell me more of Jenova once we have the two idiots eating." There was a small smile on the blonde's face that Riku nearly missed, yet that seemed warm all the same, even if the rest of his expression remained stern.

Rufus, being the typical business tycoon, saw fit to treat them to the most expensive restraint in Traverse Town—the Moogle Room, to be precise. It was pretty classy, and the three college students felt a bit underdressed for the occasion, while Reno looked like his appearance would do and like Rufus had dressed planning for this event. Riku and Demyx both picked the cheapest thing on the menu to order, and even though Rufus prompted them to get whatever they desired, they both shared a knowing look at that said they couldn't in good conscience go along with that. Axel and Reno must have been used to the occurrence, though, because they ate and talked without care, louder than the rest at the table, but not loud enough to draw too much attention to themselves.

A couple times Reno almost slipped up and admitted to something that Rufus apparently wanted to keep hidden, like the relationship they had that was becoming more and more obvious to Riku the longer he stayed with them, and almost immediately Reno would tense up and turn to see Rufus giving him a glare that would send him to the grave if looks could kill.

"So," Reno was finally on to subjects about them and their school activities after claiming to be tired of talking (which Riku doubted could ever happen), "what's gonna be the Fall play this year, yo? Did ya get in?"

Riku laughed, aloud at the expression that crossed Axel's face. Reno looked questioningly at him, and he decided to answer since Axel was leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed. "He got in, alright. We're doing Drop Dead Fred, and I'll give you three guesses as to who he got cast as. We just found out today."

Reno followed suit in the laughter, the bursts longer and louder than Riku's had been, and now he was turning a few heads until Rufus whispered his name sharply. "Ain't that just you're luck, kid? The movie you hate getting turned to your semester play, and you getting' cast as the main idiot, yo!" If the restaurant hadn't been so high end, Axel might have stabbed his father with a fork. He was looking like he wanted to.

Reno ignored him. "So," he turned to Riku, "did you get a part?"

Riku scowled a little, and ducked his head. "I'm Charles." He almost seemed to brood on the subject as Reno burst into another bought of laughter, which he stifled into the crook of his arm.

"Shiva's right tit, but you two have bad luck with casting, yo!" The red tattooed man cackled.

"I got it easier," Demyx said happily. "I'm Velctro Head. I always did kinda like him, even if he's only there for like… five minutes."

"You would," Axel muttered into his bite of food before he shoved it in his mouth.

"I have been meaning to ask you, Axel," Rufus finally said slowly after a moment of silence broken only by Reno's chuckles whenever he looked at his son or Riku. "When did you decide that getting facial tattoos like your father's would be a good idea?"

"You say it like it's a bad thing I got 'em, yo," the older redhead whined, shifting the sunglasses that hadn't yet left his forehead before his restless hands started to play with the ring in his right ear instead.

Rufus turned a sardonic eye on him. "I don't necessarily think it's the smartest thing for an aspiring actor to have done."

Demyx chuckled at them. "He got drunk."

All eyes but Axel's turned to him, Riku's with colored with amusement, the others with curiosity, so he continued. "He and Riku had a drinking contest, but we all got to drunk. I don't even know if they finished, let alone who won. I know we did karaoke… and that we did go to the tattoo parlor before we came back to the dorm hall. Zexion drove us, I'm pretty sure, since we went to the place that he and Xigbar work at. And then the next morning we woke up to find Axy had his cheeks all marked up and tender."

Reno snorted. "Surprised you found someone who actually tattooed you when you were drunk. They're usually against that, yo."

"Guy knew Zexion from when he got his tattoo on his back done, I guess," Axel shrugged. "Besides, these'll cover up with makeup. I've already tried using some of the stuff that Rude got me that one Christmas."

Riku looked a little confused at the unknown name, yet another in a long string that started with a R. Rufus leaned in to inform him, "Rude is the person that my head of security has assigned as Reno's partner. He seems to be the only one that can actually work with him without filing for a stress leave every two weeks."

"Only two people have ever done that, yo," Reno sniffed with more dignity than he had managed to maintain all night. "And one of those took three months to actually file it and get her vacation." He smirked. "Cissnei always could handle my company better than any of the crybabies we got down there other than Rude and Tseng." Yet more names that Riku couldn't even begin to guess at.

"Tseng is Pops' immediate boss," Axel said. "And Cissnei… She's real close to the family." He smiled slightly, but he didn't seem to be willing to say anything else on the subject, and both Reno and Rufus pretended like nothing had been said. Riku decided it would be something worth asking about later.
After that, a few topics floated around. Like how Axel and Demyx were doing in their classes, and then the two older men inquired as to what courses Riku was taking, and how he was liking the school so far. They asked where he was from, and Rufus seemed to be the more interested of the two when he told them.

"Destiny Islands?" Reno echoed, raising an eyebrow at him. "That's a teeny tiny place to be coming to here from, yo."

"Oddly enough, Uncle Sephiroth decided to open a new Jenova office there, and my father was the only one of his brothers that was old enough to manage the new branch." As far as Riku knew his other two uncle's were still in their last years of college somewhere, being fraternal twins that looked nothing a like, other than their white hair and green eyes, that were a good seven years younger than his father Kadaj; they were nearly 16 years younger than their older half-brother Sephiroth.

"Curious," the blond man mused, brushing a hand through his bangs as he lost himself briefly in thought. That was, until Reno reached over the table and tapped him directly between the eyes with his index finger.

"I said this was a mini-vacation, yo. Leave work for Monday, bossman." He stared stubbornly at Rufus, refusing to let the glare deter him.

"Wait, Monday?" Axel sounded incredulous. "How long do you plan to friggen stay, old man?"

Reno finally dropped his staring contest with his boss, and stuck his tongue out at his pride, joy, and automatic torture victim. "Till Sunday night, yo." He snickered, "I wanna spend as much time as I can with my ickle Axy-kins." If he was within reach of his boy, he might have pinched his cheeks.

Axel seethed. "Old man, I hope you got a hotel room, 'cause you're gonna wake up dead if you try to sleep in my room after that."

Reno waved off his threats with a throaty laugh.

Rufus chuckled softly. "Of course we booked a hotel, Axel. You do have a roommate this year, and, let's face it, we all know better than to expect your father to sleep on the floor without complaining like an old man about his back tomorrow, or something equally as ridiculous."

"He's going to do it anyway," Demyx interjected mischievously, smirking shyly at the glare he received. "He can't last two hours without complaining about something."

"That's it, yo," Reno grumped, pointing his fork at Demyx, even though he had finished eating long ago, "you are so not gettin' a card this Christmas."

They lingered over their plates for a while longer, and Rufus offered everyone a choice of dessert, but only Axel and Reno could still manage to pack away more food, even though they looked like the most malnourished of the bunch. It was getting late by the time they were able to get out of the restaurant, and Rufus drove them all back to campus, but when they arrived he didn't bother getting out. He apologized to them all for not giving them a proper farewell, but he claimed to be too tired from the drive to manage. Reno, stifling a yawn into his coat sleeve, got out long enough to give his taller son a bone crushing hug (Riku could have sworn he heard a couple pops come from his roommate's back), muss Demyx's hair, and give Riku a few good thumps on the back as he said his goodbyes with promises to see them all before lunch the next day. (He knew his boy liked to sleep in, and since he was getting good grades so far, he told Axel he'd allow him the luxury of sleeping a little late just this once).

Riku, Axel, and Demyx walked back up to the room in near silence until Axel smacked the mohawked boy in the back of the head. "That's for not warning me." He turned towards the direction of his room once they reached their floor with a small wave. "See you in the morning, 'cause you're getting dragged everywhere I am as punishment, sitar geek." Demyx's dismayed splutters fell on deaf ears, and Riku waved his own goodbye to the poor blonde boy before he followed the retreating figure of the redhead.

"Your dad doesn't seem that bad," Riku said, pulling his shirt over his head and throwing it into his laundry bin once their door was closed. "Not exactly what I expected, but not bad."

"Nah, I just don't like it when he surprises me like this," Axel shrugged, averting his eyes from the naked torso of the islander before shrugging and copying him. Even after that big meal his skin just seemed to hang off the bones of his ribs and hips. "Just bugs me for some reason. I'd like to at least pick up before he comes over…especially if he comes with Rufus, which he seems to be doing a lot more often lately."

Riku grabbed his brush and a hair tie, setting to work on binding the annoying strands away from his face. He was trying to get into the habit of doing it when they were starting to relax and get ready to go to bed within the next hour. "Speaking of Rufus Shinra, are he and your father…uh…"

"Partners? Doing the horizontal mambo? Bumping uglies? Fuck buddies?" He sat on the edge of his bed, sighing tiredly and putting his head between his hands as if being around his father wore him out. "Yep. Have been for… oh… five or six years now. Probably longer, but that was just when I figured it out. Used to call him Uncle Rufus, 'cause I've known him for as long as I can freakin' remember."
As Axel started to strip off his shoes and socks, Riku remembered something from earlier that night.

"So…who exactly is Cissnei?"

Axel looked up sharply, then chuckled. " 'Course you would ask." Once his feet were bare he stretched and groaned, falling back onto his bed once he was done. "That's not her real name." He was staring up at the ceiling. "I don't know what it is, but Pops does, and so does his boss, Tseng. All the security guys do, just in case something happens to her so her family can be notified, y'know?" He glanced over his bony chest at Riku, then looked back up and went on.

"Well, she knows Pops' gay. He has been since way before I was born. Guess she knew him 'fore he worked for Shinra, too. I think he was the one that actually got her the job she has now. Pops always wanted a kid really bad for some reason, but since he was gay there was no way in hell he was getting one. She let him stew on it for a good few months, kept asking him if he thought he was ready for a kid and all that. Thing was, he was real attached to this guy at the time, and they were all geared up to start a family, and so they always answered yes. Cissnei, she didn't really like the guy Pops was with at the time, though, but she trusted my old man, so she offered to give him one. Technically, she's my mom. Hence why I said she's really close to the family, but it was really just Pops who raised me. Turns out that guy split before I even hit a year old."

Riku took a few minutes to let it sink in, and then looked at Axel. "You ever wish she helped Reno raise you?" His voice was soft, his tone hesitant.

Axel half sat to look up at him, his mouth open with a retort that was obviously coming fast, but then he sort of paused and considered it, and fell back against his mattress again. "Not really. I mean, a mom might have been nice, but Pops was just fine for me. He's all crash and hard language, but he's sweet enough to make your teeth rot under it all. I never grew up wantin' for very much, either, 'cause when I was about five he switched from the police force to working for Rufus once he started getting enough attention to need a security force of elite officers. And for all that we make fun of Pops, he really is great at his job. Under Tseng, he's the highest ranking of the group, even if he does get a lot of shit for being the goofiest and the loudest." He shrugged finally. "So no, I don't really regret not knowing Cissnei that way. She's always been nice to me, and it's still a little awkward around her sometimes, but it's not bad. She helped me get the scholarship that's putting me through this place, and whenever Pops' needed a hand with me, she's always been there."

He drifted off into silence, taking his phone from his pocket and standing up to plug it in and put it and his wallet on his desk.

"You ready for bed?" Riku asked after another few moments of silence. He just put his own phone and wallet, plus his keys, in his shoes by his bed and slipped his shorts off to trade them out for a pair of black pajama pants with little broken hearts on them.

"Yeah, I guess so." Axel stretched again, and this time it was Riku who was looking pointedly away from his roommate's body as he crawled in under his covers.

"Good, get the lights while you're up." Axel whacked him with a pillow as he passed.

"Lazy ass," he grumbled, shutting off the lights and heading back to his bed. He stumbled over something, and Riku chuckled when he heard his muffled curse. Then he turned over onto his side, busying himself with getting comfortable so he could force himself to ignore the sound of Axel slinking out of his pants and getting into his own bed in nothing but his boxers.

"Night, ickle Axy-kins," Riku snickered.

"Oh shut the fuck up, you white haired bastard," Axel snarled in return, chucking a mysterious heavy object at him that completely missed him in the dark and thumped against the wall just past the foot of his bed.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

D: I DID IT! I FELL INTO THE IDIOTIC FANDOM OF MAKING RENO SAY "YO" ALL THE TIME. And I ain't sorry. 'Cause it's catchy. I find myself doing it when I'm really friggen tired. I'll start cussing a lot more, and then suddenly all my sentences, even when I'm talking to myself when I'm moving around the house, end in "yo." Stupid Reno and his stupid "yo"s. . Lol, moving on… Yeah, again, not much happening Least we found out the casting… Damn me and my faulty inspiration device! Where the crap is my muse in times such as these when I have 16 page chapters that do nothing but give backstory?! XD Anyway, thank you to chibibabe07 and My Friend for your nice comments. ^w^ And a most special thanks to Ellipsis the Great, my beta, my Hikaru, my Axel, and the one that made one of my birthday wishes come true.

Isha Falas- I based it really closely on my own dorm life for a lot of stuff, even though I only got to experience one year, lol. But thank you! And I might ask you a few questions pretty soon about some of the acting stuff… I must say, I've never been a theater kid, but I want to be, so I, being the genius that I am, wrote about something I have absolutely no knowledge of. XD

Rusilu- Thank you so much! =D Anyway, I can't write Axy that way… I mean really, there was only maybe twice when he acted like that, but otherwise he was a sarcastic bastard who just wanted his friend *cough*LOVER*coughcough* back. Other than that he seemed pretty pleasant. I say this as a complete and utter fangirl, though.