Author's Note: Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry I took so long to update! School was hectic the last couple of weeks, with exams and then break coming up. But I'm back to working on Picture Perfect, and things are about to start heating up in the coming chapters. I'll do my best to keep a backlog of chapters in case I get eaten alive by something again. Anyways, thanks for waiting so patiently! Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter Eight: Practice makes perfect.

~::~

The rest of the day, Riku's ominous warning reverberated though Roxas's mind, driving him to distraction on more than one occasion as members of the staff at Kingdom Pictures tried to explain the inner workings of the movie-making business to him. They whole group eventually got so fed up with this that they unanimously decided to send Roxas and his housemates home so they could start fresh the next day.

"You totally just got dissed, bro," Sora informed him as they walked out to their car with Lexaeus, who materialized from thin air after having been gone for most of the day. "Even I didn't get sent home my first day, and I'm not even working here."

"Gee, thanks, Sora. Love you too," Roxas replied tiredly, rubbing his temples.

"I wasn't making fun of you, I was just being honest. Don't get mad at me!" Sora pouted.

Axel and Riku were quiet the whole way back to the house. There seemed to be some sort of unspoken agreement between the two of them that neither one should say a word, for whatever reason. Even as they went inside and raided the pantry, neither said a word. Sora and Roxas chatted away, but both kept glancing at the other two, unsure what was going on.

After their appetites had been satiated, the boys retreated to their rooms. Before he could escape, however, Sora grabbed Riku and pulled him into his room to play with the kittens. Roxas crept over to his brother's door and pressed an ear to the wood.

"…won't you lay off him?" Sora was saying. "You keep treating him like he's some… I dunno, some sort of villain. He's no worse than the rest of us, Riku. Please. I know you don't want Roxas to have to go through what Ventus and Xion did, but think about it. Axel's banned from ever going near anything that might cause it ever again. The chances of history repeating itself in this case are one in a million."

Roxas recoiled. What had Axel done that was so terrible? More curious than ever, he replaced his ear on the door.

"Sora, I…" Riku was speaking now, his tone one of extreme exasperation. "Don't try to tell me I'm worrying without a good reason. I just want him to have a good time while he's here. And who knows, maybe he'll stick around after as Ven's permanent stunt double if all goes well. But if anything does happen… You know him better than I do. Would he run away?"

There was silence for a few moments. Then, a hesitant reply from Sora. "He would."

"See? I just want to prevent that. Now, can we please not talk about this anymore? It's been a long day," Riku replied wit a hint of smugness.

"Fine."

"Hey, Roxie. Eavesdropping on your brother and his boyfriend, are we?" Roxas whipped around to see Axel standing behind him, hands jammed in his pockets.

"What? I'm not-"

Axel quickly placed a finger on his lips. "Hush. They'll hear you. I suggest you just go back to your room before they find you out here. I'm sure they wouldn't be happy to know you were listening in to their little conversation."

Roxas flinched away from his touch and scrambled for the safety of his room, startled by how casually the redhead had laid a hand on him. They'd barely known each other for a few days, and he was acting like they were far better acquainted than that. It was… honestly, it was a little more than slightly creepy.

The blonde boy checked his closet for any possible hidden cameras before changing into a pair of sweatpants and an old t-shirt, intending to go to sleep soon. However, Sora seemed to have other plans for him. The brunette barged into his room right as he pulled on his shirt and grabbed him, dragging Roxas to his room and shutting the door behind them.

"What did I do?" Roxas squeaked in terror. "I swear to God, whatever happened, it wasn't me!"

"You didn't do anything. We just wanted to talk to you. Promise," Sora said. The brunette made him sit down next to Riku, whom he then sat on the other side of. "Okay. Were you listening outside the door earlier?"

Roxas's stomach clenched in fear. "Um… I… Well, yeah. But just for a few seconds! I was walking past and happened to overhear-"

"Cool it. We're not mad at you. We were planning on coming to get you soon anyways," Riku interjected before the other boy got too worked up. "This is about Axel. We - well, mostly your brother, I still have issues with telling you - wanted to give you a brief summary of his life story so you know why we're so hesitant about you getting close to him."

Roxas raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. The other two took this as a signal that he was listening and began their story.

"Well, even I don't know the full story, so I can't give you details, but Axel… he didn't exactly have a fairytale childhood. He was orphaned at an early age, grew up in the system, and never really had a whole lot to call his own. At some point or another, every family he lived with had to send him back to the orphanage again until he finally found one family that kept him. And, of course, with his luck, their house burned down and they couldn't keep him anymore. Then, he met Saix, and everything changed. Saix was looking for new, young talent, and Axel had it, so he signed a contract, and that's how he got here today."

"Well, other than the awful childhood, he sounds like he's had a relatively normal run through life so far," Roxas interjected as Riku paused. "What's so bad about him now?"

"Well, about six years ago, when Ventus and Xion first came on board, there was an incident involving Axel and alcohol… It must be a hereditary thing, but he's very susceptible to the effects of said substance," Riku continued. "He got very, very drunk, and… Ventus and Xion got in his way and suffered the consequences."

Roxas's eyes went wide. "He… No. There's no way."

Sora's expression was one of utmost seriousness, one that he only bore when something very dire was being discussed. "Roxas… Riku's telling the truth. None of them remember, although Axel knows something happened; Ventus and Xion's memories were suppressed because of the trauma. We just want you to know so you can prevent it from happening to you. Axel's banned from even being in the same room as alcoholic beverages, but that doesn't mean he can't get them if he's not being watched."

"Guys, you're really scaring me. Stop it," Roxas squirmed in discomfort. "I barely know the guy, and this is gonna ruin any inklings of amity that might have been forming."

"Not our fault he did it," Riku stretched backwards, lying down on the floor with his hands behind his head. Instantly, the kittens emerged from their bed and scrambled over to play on him. "We're just warning you, like Sora said."

Roxas gritted his teeth. "Well… Maybe I didn't want to be warned!"

"Yes you did. You said so yourself. Something about wanting to know what his story was," Riku retorted.

"No I didn't-…" The blonde boy paused. "Oh yeah, I did. Shit."

"Like I said, you didn't want to know. Now you do, and you'll have to deal with the consequences. Axel's not the prettyboy everyone makes him out to be."

"You called?" The three of them looked up, startled, to see Axel leaning against the doorframe.

"Shit, we need a more private room," Riku muttered. He then raised his tone so Axel could hear. "Nobody called you."

The redhead sauntered into the room and sat down across from the others. "Mind if I join your little pow-wow, then? I'm sure I won't be a bother."

"You're bothering me already," Riku hissed under his breath, suddenly very annoyed that he was covered in kittens and couldn't attack the redhead. Axel chose to ignore this. "Did you need something?"

Axel smirked at him. "I got lonely. That's not a crime now, is it?"

"Guys, will you fucking growup?" Everyone turned to look at Sora, shocked. He seldom raised his voice and cussed at the same time. "Really, I'm so sick of this, and it's only been a couple of days!"

"Sora, we're not trying-…" Riku began, stretching out a hand to his boyfriend.

"No, you're not trying to do anything except annoy the shit out of each other!" Sora exclaimed, smacking his hand away. The room fell silent for a few moments before the brunette's eyes widened and he covered his face with his hands. "I'm so sorry. Don't listen to me. I didn't eman any of that. It's been a long week for me."

"Axel, Roxas… I think it's time for Sora to go to sleep. We'll see you in the morning, okay?"

As Sora slouched over to Riku and wrapped himself in the other boy's arms, Axel and Roxas took their leave, feeling extremely awkward to have witnessed such an intimate moment between the other two.

"Hey, Roxie, what's up with your brother?" Axel asked as they headed downstairs to give the other two some space.

Roxas scowled at the use of this apparently now-permanent nickname, but kept his tone civil. "I… I'm not sure. He's never done this around me before. Maybe he's just really stressed out over something."

"Stressed enough that someone as mild-mannered as he is would scream at one of his friends and his boyfriend?" Axel replied, shaking his head. "I doubt it. Something's going on."

"Yeah. You and Riku fighting. That's what," Roxas was almost as fed up with it as his brother was. "I mean, really… Why are you even fighting? I think it's stupid."

"It is stupid," Roxas looked up at Axel in surprise. "But that's why we're doing it. If we had a good reason, we wouldn't be talking to each other at all. That's when you know there's something seriously wrong."

"But then-…" Roxas stopped himself. "I don't get it!"

Axel shook his head and sighed in lieu of a real answer, leaving Roxas to ponder the strange relationship between him and Riku. The taller man wandered away into the kitchen and began rummaging through the pantry to find a snack. Roxas sat down on one of the plush couches in the living room and sank back into the pillows. He closed his eyes, intending to go to sleep right then and there, but a quiet voice interrupted his plans.

"Um, 'scuse me for a moment, sir. Would you mind getting up for just a bit so I can clean the sofa, please?" Roxas opened his eyes to see a pretty woman with sea-blue hair staring down at him, a handheld vacuum in one hand and a feather duster in the other.

"O-oh, yeah, I'm sorry," Roxas scrambled up to allow her access to the couch. "I didn't mean to get in your way."

"It's perfectly all right, sir," the woman replied. "I'll be done as quickly as possible and then you can go back to what you were doing."

"Aqua, I see you've met the new addition to our little family," Axel walked into the room, munching on a handful of crackers. "Roxas, this is Aqua, our resident maid, cook, and just about everything else. She's a doll."

Aqua finished vacuuming the sofa and walked past Axel, flicking him in the face with a dust rag that she pulled out of her pocket. "Oh, hush. You're a terrible flatterer, Mr. Sinclair. It's nice to meet you, Roxas. Please find me if you ever need anything. My room is down the hall from the kitchen. And Mr. Sinclair? No eating in the living room. How many times must I tell you?"

Axel glanced down at the crackers in his hand and shoved them all in his mouth, grinning around them as Aqua rolled her eyes and continued with her work. "Come on, Roxie, let's go back upstairs and let her work."

Roxas didn't bother arguing because he knew Axel would make him go anyways. The shorter boy followed him up the stairs and then through a hallway or two before he asked, "Axel, are we just going to wander aimlessly until we fall asleep in the middle of the hall?"

"Yes. Yes we are."

"Well, this is exciting. I think I'm going to die of amusement, this is so exciting," Roxas rolled his eyes and leaned against a door. With a yelp of surprise, he fell backwards through the doorway and landed on what appeared to be a pile of cloth-covered planks.

Axel immediately began panicking and grabbed Roxas, dragging him back out and shutting the door before the blonde could get more than a quick glance at the contents of the room. "Come on. Time for bed," Axel said brusquely.

"What's the big-… Hey! Let go!" Roxas struggled against the taller man, but despite his years of athletic training, Axel was still stronger. "Seriously, leggo!"

"Just… go to sleep. And don't go in that room again, got it memorized?" Axel shoved him towards his door and then stalked back to his own, shutting the door behind him with a loud bang. Roxas stared after him in confusion before sighing and going into his room to do as he was told.

~::~

Shouting was the first thing Roxas heard when he woke up the next morning. The combination of Riku's furious cursing and Axel's self-righteous admonitions was almost deafening. When Aqua's high-pitched yelping joined the mix, Roxas shoved a pillow over his head and rolled over.

"Roxas, got any spare room under there?" The blonde boy peeked out from under the fabric and nodded, wincing at the din from downstairs. Sora slid under the covers and joined his brother, grabbing another pillow to make a small tent around their heads. "They're being stupid again. I want them to stop."

"What happened this time?" Roxas inquired with a roll of his eyes.

"Apparently Axel overheard us talking about him last night, and so he went after Riku at breakfast a couple minutes ago, and now they're yelling at each other and Aqua's mad, which never happens, and I'm just so sick of them!" Sora's babbling ended in a piteous whine that made Roxas want to hug him and make all the bad things go away. "Why do they have to fight?"

The younger boy shook his head and shrugged. "I don't understand it. We never fought much when we were kids because you're a pacifist and I just don't like conflicts, so… Who knows. Maybe this is their way of getting pent up anger out without really hurting anyone."

"But it's hurting me," Sora pouted. "And they never fought this bad before you came."

"Well, maybe it's my fault," Roxas's tone was flat.

His older brother was silent for a few moments. "No, it's not you. I think everyone's just stressed because from what I've heard Riku say, this new movie… it's a big bid for the film company."

Roxas raised an eyebrow. "Because?"

"I dunno. All I know is that's what Riku said."

The conversation went into a lull as the two boys lay there in their little cocoon, trying to ignore the enraged shouting from below. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the noise subsided and the two deemed it safe to go downstairs.

To their surprise, they found Riku sprawled on the couch flipping through channels on the TV as Axel leaned against the base of the sofa next to him, shoving handfuls of popcorn into his mouth. Aqua was nowhere to be seen, which was even more surprising.

"Um… what the hell?" Roxas's expression was the epitome of confusion. "Weren't you two just screaming at each other a couple minutes ago?"

"Yes, we were," Axel replied. "But now, everything's cool. We just needed to vent a little steam."

Roxas gave his brother an "I-told-you-so" look that earned him an eye roll. "You're ridiculous," said the brunette. "You can't go a day without a fight, can you?"

"Look, if it bugs you that much, Sor, we can try and be better about it," Riku said, reaching out and taking his boyfriend's hand. "I'm sorry."

Sora looked like he had several unkind things he wanted to say, but he merely sighed and gave Riku a weak smile as he squeezed his hand. "Okay. Promise?"

"Promise."

"You two are so cute, I could just eat you up," This remark earned Axel a smack upside the face from Riku.

"Oh, shut up. You're just jealous," Riku fell silent when Sora shot him a warning glance. "Um… So… I think we get to see the script for the movie today."

Axel perked up at this. "The Boss-man's finally gonna let us see it? Man, it's about time. I thought we'd never get our hands on it. I hope this isn't another cheesy chick flick like last time. I was barfing rainbows for weeks afterwards."

"Barfing… rainbows?" Roxas shot him a confused glance.

"It was that girly. Literally. Had it not been for Riku's timely intervention, I might not be standing here today."

Sora blinked. "But you're sitting down."

Every burst out laughing, evaporating whatever tension had been left in the room. Sora picked up Riku's legs and sat down underneath them. Roxas, after a moment of hesitation, sat next to Axel and stole some of his popcorn. The redhead's eyebrows inched up in surprise, but he said nothing.

"Don't look so stunned," Roxas said. "As long as you don't hit on me every five seconds, then you're okay."

"Well, I'm honored. And very surprised," Axel replied. "I guess I better start being good."

"Practice makes perfect," Riku smirked. "You've got a long way to go to be good, buddy."

"Oh, shut up!" Axel shoved him playfully and the four boys dissolved into laughter.

~::~

Author's Note: What's this? Axel and Roxas are getting along? Well, don't assume anything yet. Next chapter, shit hits the fan, dood. Prepare for trouble, and make it double while you're at it.