AN: So, another chapter up pretty quick, although not much at all changed in this one, I just added a character or two. I'm not going to lie, I'm only about halfway into the first Kingdom Hearts game, so honestly, I only know how some of the characters act from reading other fanfics or listening to friends who have finished the game. But that being said, this is a fanfic and I can make the characters act however I want, though I will do my best to stick to the real character.


Chapter Two
Moving is a Pain

Roxas picked up another of the heavy brown boxes, muttering distractedly under his breath. He hated moving, it was the biggest pain in the world. Having to pack up an entire house was bad enough, but putting it all in a new one was even worse. He missed his old house already, thinking of his dad's massive 3 story house back in Twilight Town.

Roxas and his twin brother Sora had always speculated where there dad had gotten the money for all of the things he owned, because he never seemed to go to work. They had found out a week ago when the cops showed up with a search warrant. They ended up finding mostly weed, but had also found quite a bit of meth. Their dad didn't actually do the drugs, but sold them to make money, and he had had quite a large business going before he had gotten caught. So he got arrested and thrown in jail, and Roxas, Sora, and their sister Rikku had to move back into their mother's small 4 bedroom house. The house where they had all lived before the divorce, before the fighting. The only plus was that the house was only a ten minute walk from a beach, and the island they had played and grew up on as children. They hadn't actually seen their mother in a while, choosing to call or email her instead of traveling so far. Their older brother, Cloud, lived on his own, so he hadn't had to move, but promised to visit them as often as he could.

She had greeted her children warmly enough, but all of them knew it was a very awkward situation. Roxas had blamed all of their problems on her and her drinking problem, but had changed his opinion after the situation with his dad. Despite his change of heart, years of anger directed at her couldn't just be forgotten, and he knew that there would be problems. So after blundering through a few awkward hugs and stumbling through some rather uncomfortable hellos, the boys and Rikku had begun to move their things into the house.

Sora and Rikku had already gotten most their boxes to his new room, being more inclined to actually do it, knowing that they had no where else to go, while Roxas had only shifted about half, being more inclined to complain to himself about the situation. He had a small room on the second floor, with a little window facing out to the fenced in back yard, where the grass looked like it hadn't been mowed in year, which, knowing his mother, it probably hadn't.

Roxas stacked the box on top of one of the many others in one corner of his new room. He threw himself onto the bed, the old mattress creaking rather loudly, and stared dejectedly at the opposite wall. The walls were a light yellow, courtesy of his mother, who thought Roxas would appreciate the new paint job, but this was just more proof about how little she knew about her younger sun. Whereas Sora would have loved the happy color, Roxas was much more inclined to black and white. Rikku's room was an interesting shade of light purple, almost lavender, but she was too nice to say anything about how much she loathed the color. She'd probably run out to the local hardware store as soon as possible so she could paint it orange.

Sora walked into the room at that moment, breaking through his bother's dreary musing, and plopped down next to him, sighing.

"Well, all of my stuff's moved in. I thought I'd see if you wanted any help with yours. I noticed half of it's still out on the lawn, and I didn't think you were planning on sleeping out there." Roxas grimaced at the thought of all the other boxes that had to be moved.

"Sure. Thanks a lot So." They got up off the bed, heading down the creaking stairs to get the rest of the boxes. Their mom wasn't in the living room, but the sound of banging pots and pans was coming from the kitchen, along with a smell that wasn't horrible, but not quite pleasant. Sora shrugged as if to say well, at least she's trying, but Roxas didn't care. He knew dinner was just going to be one more in the long line of obstacles ahead of them. Their sister's voice drifted out from the kitchen as well, even more loudly than the banging pots and pans, and the boys could hear her trying to make small talk with their mother while she cooked, and even though they weren't in the room, they could tell it was awkward, and Rikku was usually very good at not making things awkward.

Sora carried the last box into the room, setting it down on the floor and looking around at the still closed boxes and empty walls and dresser. "Aren't you going to put things away?"

Roxas looked at him from were he again sat on his bed, leaning against the yellow wall behind him. "No."

"Why not? I've already got all of my things put away. With the posters and stuff, you can't even tell there's a nasty color on the wall."

Roxas laughed halfheartedly, but he didn't want to unpack, not yet; it seemed too much like completely letting go of the life he had, the one he wanted back. Although Sora did have one good point. Putting up all of his posters and stuff up on the wall would hide the hideous yellow.



He spent the rest of the day unpacking boxes with Sora's and Rikku's help, though he would have much rather just sat there in a state of languid depression. His brother had decided that it was better to be doing than Roxas's alternative, and Roxas knew they would unpack them whether he helped or not, and decided he would rather have his things go where he wanted them, not where Rikku thought they'd look best. He was surprised when they had finished and he actually felt better about the situation, but all of that disappeared as soon as his mother called them for dinner.

The only sound in the kitchen was the metal clanking of forks and knives on their plates. The round wooden table was pushed into one corner, vying for space with the fridge. Rikku had tried to continue the conversation they had been having at first, but that had died off when she realized that all the answers he was going to get were mumbles from her mom, noncommittal grunts from Roxas, and completely unrelated topics from Sora. They finished their rather burnt food in silence, no one looking anywhere but their plates.

The two boys looked up when their mom put her silverware down, clearing her throat. "Well, I know you don't want to be here," she started, waving off Sora's protests, "I know this isn't what you wanted. I just want you to know that I'm going to try this time. I know that you blame me for what happened, and I'm not a good mother," her voice cracked and her eyes swam with fiercely held back tears. "I'll make it better this time, I promise."

Roxas looked up from his plate, suddenly angry. "Don't make promises you won't keep." And he stood up, put his only half empty plate on the counter, and walked out of the kitchen, ignoring Rikku, who followed him out, trying to make him come back.

"Rox, will you just calm down?"

"No, Ri, I won't. I won't call down because she's making promises she won't keep. Just leave me alone, okay?" He shut the door in her face, trying not to be mean, but also trying to convey that he really did want to be alone. Rikku had a knack for not caring, and had been known to climb through windows and pick the locks of doors just to get her brothers to talk. She was older than the two by a year, and constantly felt the need to mother them. She amazingly got the hint this time, though, and went back downstairs or into her room; Roxas was just glad she wasn't bugging him anymore.

Ten minutes later a knock on his door went unanswered, but Sora refused to be kept out for very long. He stood in the doorway, holding a small purple ball, and told Roxas they were going to go play catch outside. The blonde knew it was futile to try and argue when the brunette was in this mood, and just followed, tugging his shoes on and following him outside, where the setting sun cast an orange glow on everything and the shadows were getting longer and longer.

"Why do you do that to her?" Sora threw the ball across the front yard to the blonde.

"Do what? It's not like she doesn't deserve it." Roxas threw it back a little harder than he meant to.

"I know, Rox, but at least she's trying." Sora just barely managed to catch the ball on the tips of his fingers, and threw it back to Roxas again.

"She 'tried' last time, and it didn't work then either. I refuse to get my hopes up when I know for a fact she's not going to stop drinking, and I bet you she kept up her night business too."

Sora didn't say anything, because he knew his brother was right. His mother probably wouldn't stop drinking, and probably wouldn't stop her 'night business', as Roxas put it, either. The blonde threw the ball back to Sora, but he was lost in his thinking, and completely missed it the ball, it hitting him on the head before bouncing to the sidewalk, were it came to rest at the feet of a tall redheaded figure.

"Hey, you mind throwing that back here?" Sora asked, walking over to the newcomer. Roxas followed, rather than standing there and looking stupid.

But he stopped in his tracks when he got closer and was standing in the presence of just about the most gorgeous man he had ever seen. He was tall, much taller than he was, and clearly too skinny. He was holding a lit cigarette in between his fingers, and was wearing tight jeans, a red shirt, a rather beat up looking leather jacket, and a pair of antique looking sunglasses, but Roxas didn't notice any of this. His eyes were glued to his face, and he seemed unable to tear his stricken gaze away from the piercing emerald eyes that were studying him from over the sunglasses, the two tear drop tattoos under them that only seemed to enhance his beauty, and his red hair that stuck out at all angles and seemed on fire in the glow of the setting sun. He didn't even hear his brother introducing himself, or realize that he was waiting for the blonde to introduce himself; he didn't even realize the redhead was staring back.

"Axel. Axel King." The stricken blonde jumped a little when a hand with long, thin fingers and slightly bitten at nails was suddenly outstretched towards him, but he seemed incapably of grasping onto it and shaking it, so he just continued to stand there, still gaping. "Maybe next time, Sunshine." Axel's beautiful voice combined with this new nickname startled him out of his trance, and he knew he was blushing furiously, but couldn't do anything about it. Oh my God, thought the blonde. He is the most beautiful fucking thing I've ever seen in my life. And then he 

realized what he was thinking, and stopped dead. I..why would I think that? I'm not…gay… he thought, panicking a little and drawing in deep breaths, feeling like he'd just run ten miles in the last two minutes. He shook his head to rid himself of the thoughts of the beautiful redheaded boy's figure, the curve of his cheek, the soft looking skin where his jaw met his throat...

The object of his fevered and confused thoughts turned around, pulling the cigarette out from between his thin but perfect lips, lips the blonde found himself wanting to touch, wanting to press his own lips against, and Roxas's stomach tightened when his alluring voice rang out again, "Remember, the name's Axel. Got it memorized?" He stood there on the sidewalk a little longer, watching the figure walk down the sidewalk, smoke blowing occasionally out from his mouth, and eventually walked a little dazedly back inside.

Roxas, refusing to answer any questions of his brother's about is strange behavior, went to bed that night thinking this was the most confused he had ever been in his life, but unable to get thoughts of the redhead's angelic visage out of his head, or his voice from weaving in and out of his. He found himself wishing he had had the nerve to run his hands over his jaw line, running his lips across his soft throat, pressing them gently to his thin but oh-so-warm-looking lips...

No. He tried to tell himself. I'm not gay.

oOoOoOoOo

Sora and Rikku stayed up late that night, talking about their situation and their brother. When Sora explained why he was worried about the blonde, because just about everything made Sora worry, the crazy-haired girl smirked knowingly, knowing exactly what was wrong with him.

"He's gay, So, it's as simple as that. I'm totally excited for him, but I hope he comes out of the closet soon, 'cause I totally want to hook him up. Which reminds me, when are you going to tell mom you're gay? Because I need to hook you up too, and we can't have you just waltzing home with some boy if she doesn't know."

Sora sighed, looking nervous. "I don't know when I'm going to tell her. She took it okay when Cloud told her, but I don't know. I just don't want to."

"Well, you'll have to sometime, but maybe it would be best to just get comfortable here first; that's not going to be easy for any of us."

Sora sighed, looking uncharacteristically sad, still worried about his twin. "Do you… do you think it's my fault if he's gay? I mean, what if I did something… I don't want him to be unhappy."

Rikku snorted. "Trust you to think it's your fault he's gay. It's no one's fault, that's just how he is. He'll deal with it just like you and Cloud did, and I'm sure he'll be fine. And we start school in two days. It's a whole new beginning, you know? Maybe he won't have to deal with creeps like the guys that bothered you at our old school. Although I don't mind beating up punks for my little brothers." She grinned, and succeeded in getting Sora to smile back.

"Yeah, I'll never forget that time you beat up the football player and managed to get him suspended instead of you. That was great." Both of them laughed, remembering the incident that happened right after Sora had come out to some of his friends and the word had gotten around. "I am going to miss our friends though." Sora looked a little sad again.

"Yeah, but we'll make some new ones." Rikku poked Sora playfully in the arm before announcing that she too needed to go to bed, and she walked out of the room and down the hall to her own, leaving Sora to think about what they'd talked about.

All four inhabitants of the house were awake, thinking about just how hard it would be to get used to the new situation.


AN: You know, I'm totally bummed out, because I just deleted all the previous chapters and the hits went from 768 to 3. Ah well, I suppose that can't be helped. I'll try to get chapter three back up later today, and maybe chapter four. I'm typing as quickly as I can! I have to go get a new cell phone though, so it might be a while, but I will try my hardest. Promise.

Review, my most wonderful readers, and I'll… give you virtual cookies or something, I don't know. Maybe a virtual hug? :)
-demyyyxkun