omfg. this is going to be confusing i bet.
but it's kinda like a flashback chapter.
cause i think it's about time i explain exactly how riku DID get into this kinda thing with axel. :D

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It was cold, so very cold.

I opened my eyes, the tears that had been in waiting finally freed to go down my face with no resistance. I didn't know why I was crying, I wasn't sad. But these damned tears wouldn't stop.

Bitting my lip I tried to stop my shaking, afraid to pull Axel out of his easy sleep. But I did anyway.

His neon eyes stared down at me, my eyes avoiding his gaze as he tried to make eye contact with me.

I felt his arms pull me closer, one hand going up to pet my hair, him murmering stupid things ontop of my hair. Things meant to comfort me.

It was like that for a few moments, my mind drifting back to the last time he'd been so incredibly gentle. It had been so long ago it seemed. And maybe it was? We had both been in college, although I had just started at the ripe age of 19 him already 21, and it was when I had first acknowledged everything about myself.

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My eyes scanned the small room, laughing loudly.

"We made it Riku!" I heard Sora say exubrently, jumping up and down, tossing his bags to the floor to tackle hug me in pure joy. I let my bags fall to the floor also and returned the embrace, ignoring the fact of how I wished he'd do this more often. He let go of me before the hug could become awkward, and instead proceded to check around the small apartment both of us had rented not far from the campus.

He was still just so excited that we had both managed to get into the same college, him taking some business major or other, me focusing on art.

The place had come furnished with the basic things like a couch and bed, fridge, microwave, washing machine, and the such. We of course had the other things like a desk already, and both of us were ready to live off of our laptops as suggested by Sora's older bother Leon.

And that reminded me.
"Hey Sora! We're gonna be late for meeting Leon!" I said, looking at my watch which read 9:17 at the moment. And we were supposed to meet him at 9:30? That wasn't going to happen.

Sora gave a squeak as he ran out of the joining room, snatching me in his hurry to get out the door. I laughed as I pulled away, opting to go at a more leisurely pace then him after locking the door.

By the time I got to our car, Sora looked ready to spontaneously combust.

"Dude, chill." I said, slightly annoyed.

"But! But! Leon! He doesn't like to be kept waiting!" He whined as he opened the door and got in, me rolling my eyes and sliding into the driver side of the car.

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Somehow we made it to the restaurant, or more a cafe if anything, in time barely. Our dashboard clock read 9:28, and Sora with more then enough energy for the both of us to meet his waiting brother who stood outside smoking a cigarette.

Both exchanged hugs as I got out of the car, walking in their direction. Sora had already begun telling him our trip.

"Geez Sora, save it for lunch!" I said jokingly, standing next to my friend and pushing him lightly.

"Oh you! Shush!" He said, pouting but complying.

"Oh, wow." I muttered under my breath as I took a real look at Leon. I may have been in love with my best friend, but that certainly didn't mean I couldn't look at other men. He fixed me with a stare, stormy eyes seeming to appraise me also. With a playful smirk I arched an eyebrow suggestively.

He gave a throaty laugh, holding out his hand.

"I think I remember you. Sora's cocky friend from the mainland."

"What can I say, if you're the best you gotta let the world know." I said sarcastically as I took his hand and shook it.

He nodded and jabbed his brother in the ribs.

"Trust you to bring a boy with enough ego to fill up all of Traverse Town."

We all laughed before filing into the cute little resturant, named The Queen's Orchard.

As he led us to a both I noticed two things. Leon's ass was very good looking and that we weren't going to be dining with just him. At the table he pulled us to sat three other people. A girl with short brown hair and one of those stupid headbands across her forehead that seemed way to popular nowadays making faces at the man next to her. The man next to her had shocking blue eyes, and albino blond hair which was styled like Sora's almost who was trying to ignore the girl. The other man who was crying himself to tears had the most brilliantly colored hair I'd ever seen. Neon red which stuck out as if he himself had been electrocuted and curious little triangles under his eyes.

"Oh! Hey Leon! I told you it wasn't impossible to make him laugh!" She said brightly, not noticing us at all at first. Leon grunted in response and it was then that the girl noticed us.

"SORA!" She screamed, and Sora gave a huge laugh as the girl literally jumped over the table and tackle hugged him.

The man I'd noticed before with the day-glo hair had stopped laughing and was now watching the pair with a careless gaze. Then he turned his eyes on me. I felt shivers run down my spine as I stared into them, which seemed to glow green like acid. We held our gaze a second to long before I gave up and looked down, a blush creeping into my cheeks.

I returned my stare to the bouncy pair who were talking back and forth at a pace I'm sure only they could understand. It didn't even sound as if they were speaking english.

"Yuffie. Sora. Seat, now." Ordered Leon, who was obviously fed up with their inane chatter. Both of them took a seat next to the stoney man who shot daggers at Leon.

"Sorry Cloud." He groaned as the blond haired man returned his glare at the salt and pepper shakers, a small pout lining his face. Turning to stare at me, Leon motioned to take a seat next to the brightly colored man. I swallowed before nodding and slid into the both, my hands in my lap as I tried to not touch him at all. I could smell cinnamon and smoke from him, an oddly arousing smell.

Leon slid down into the booth also, his hand touching my leg accidently, releasing a spark show inside of me. He offered a sorry, but the damage was done.

Now I was stuck between two guys I wouldn't mind fucking and half hard. Great. Yevon you just fucking love me, don't you? I cursed silently, instead trying to focus on Yuffie and Sora who were talking about some video game or other that had to do with dragons and armies and death. Typical freaks.

"Oh! Axel! That reminds me, Roxas wants you to come by later today for something. IDK what for though."

My mind halted.

"...Yuffie...did you actually just say IDK?" I asked. She looked at me like I was crazy before giving a hesitant nod.

"Wow." Was all I could say, before the whole table began laughing. We all chatted amiably for a few minutes before the waitress came by and took or drink orders, leaving for a bit and then coming back with a tray filled with glasses.

"Root beer?" She asked, and Cloud raised his hand.

"Uhm, colas?" Both Sora and Yuffie said here at the same time, looking at each other before breaking into a fit of giggles.

"Then a beer and two iced teas?" She said, Leon saying he had the beer. Which left me and Axel, both of us smiling at her. She set the glasses down before us before asking if we were ready to order. In truth, none of us had so much as glanced at the menus.

Leon gave a guilty no, then told Cloud and Axel to hand us the menus which sat neglected on the side.

With some trepidation, I took the menu from Axel and passed it to Leon, managing to not touch either man's hand. As I reached for a menu Axel coughed.

"Uh, this is the only remaining one. You don't mind sharing?" He asked, and my yevon. His voice was addictive sounding. With a strange lilt about it, he had a strange accent but one that was unidentifiable to me.

Ignore that I told myself, ridding the image of him whispering things into my ear.

I shook my head no since I didn't want to seem as uncomfortable as I really was and followed what everyone was busily doing: finding something to eat.

Which I would have been doing if I wasn't thigh-to-thigh with this exotic stranger, our faces close enough that I could feel his heat.

"Oh, that looks good, no?" He asked, pointing to something on the menu as he shifted and turned his face towards me. His scent wafted around me, sending my heart into a crazy tattoo.

"Uhmmm..." I couldn't think straight at the moment, not with him so close. What I wanted to do was stare at him or maybe bury my head in his chest and smell him.

"Oh wait. Don't tell me your a vegetarian also?" He asked, jokingly acting like it was a horrible thing. Yuffie shot a nasty glare over her menu, offering up a humph from her end. Axel rolled his eyes and returned that gaze to me.

"N-no," I stammered, mentally kicking myself. This guy was going to think I was a a nervous little prat! Not that I wasn't nervous at all. If I was younger I'd probably piss myself from being nervous, such was the extent of my nervousness.

"I think I'll just get the Super Subbie." I read out, and it did look rather tasty. Axel nodded, before picking out what he was going to get.

The waitress came back a few moments later, taking our orders and leaving, us resuming our casual banter.

"So, how long have you know Sora?" Axel suddenly asked, turning towards me. He placed his hand on my thigh and I gave a little start, him giving a very unsorry sounding sorry as he replaced his hand in his own lap.

"Er, since we were little. I think I was five and he was four at the time." I answered, angling my own body to face him.

"And you?"

He quirked one red eyebrow, slight confusion entering his face. I laughed.

"I mean, how long have you known Leon?" I clarified, stifling another laugh.

"Well, I knew him back from highschool before I moved out in my tenth year to live here."

I nodded as he continued on, describing how the pair had met up a year ago by accident in college and quickly rekindled their friendship. Something struck me suddenly though.

"Wait. Is your last name Simons?" I asked, a sudden recognition of this man entering my mind.

He eyed me suspiciously before answering yes.

"You wouldn't happen to be related to K-"

"Kairi Simons? Why yes, I am. She's my little sister. As with Reno also." He said, already guessing my question.

"Oh wow," I mumbled, "Small world, heh. I heard that you set Dr. Vexen's lab on fire? Is that true?"

Axel did a double take before laughing.

"Oh yevon, don't tell me he still remembers that!" He said, continuing to laugh.

"Actually on my first day there he told us that and how using lab equipment needs 'responsibility and a sense of right and wrong. These chemicals are dangerous substances and should not be used for folly!'." I imitated, tossing my hair over my shoulder as he had done.

Axel gave a hoot before laughing hard enough that his eye's became creased with tears.

"Seriously? That old man needs to get laid," He took a sip from his tea, shaking his head and smiling. "I mean, it was an honest mistake. Besides, he's the one who walked through the shit with that long-ass lab coat of his." He muttered, rolling his eyes.

We exchanged stories for a bit longer before food arrived. And at our table the first moment of silence occured, all of us eager to devour the food before us.

All of us finished around the same time, me and leon both asking for togo boxes before a bit of a fuss over who paid the bill. Leon won.

And now, as all of us sat outside, talking quietly and smoking, watching the sun disappear inch by inch behind the town.

"So, are you two coming with us later? Going to have a few drinks down at a club Cloud's friend owns." Axel asked of me, me shaking my head no and laughing.

"I'm only 19. Can't get into a bar here."

This answer cause Axel to laugh, shaking his head.

"My YEVON Leon! Have you told this boy nothing about Traverse Town?" Axel chided his friend who rolled his eyes and took another drag off of his cigarette.

"What?" I asked, cheeks turning a shame-filled pink color.

"The legal drinking age here is 18." He said, smiling happily.

"Oh, well then. It's more up to Sora really since I honestly don't want to be anywhere with him unhappy. Very whiney you know?"

Sora turned his head to pout at me.

"Am nooooot!" He whined, glaring me.

"Case in point." Cloud supplied, reading all of our minds.

We made plans to meet the group of people later that evening at a club called 7th Heaven then parted. I couldn't resist giving a last look at Axel over my shoulder, but quickly turned around when I noticed him staring after me.

Damn.

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btw, a friend was all, well what did everyone else oooorderrr? D:
axel ordered wings. hot and spicy. yumyum.
leon got chili yuffie got a bocca burger (omfg. i have like fifty boxes of that shit in my freezer)
sora got a ceaser salad cloud got steak and obviously, riku got a giant samwich! :D so. this is prob going to be divided into like two or three parts.

and it's being uploaded today because i will be out with some frans this weekend and am trying to stay true to my upload on weekends policy.

TGIF!

:D

xoxo -spot