Author's Note: I do not, nor will I ever, own the right to any of these characters. Also, I would like to apologize for any OOC content, due to the simple fact that it has been a hot minute since I've written anything for Kingdom Hearts/Final Fantasy. Over time, I promise it will get better and way more will be explained. Also, I only have this under the Kingdom Hearts category because of the multiple Final Fantasy characters (from more than just one of the games). Families and cliques will be explained soon. Enjoy! Criticism and suggestions are greatly appreciated and welcome!
"How'd the deliveries go?" Roxas lifted the lid to the Keurig machine, tossing the punctured K-Cup into the trash can. He turned to Cloud with his full cup of coffee, a smirk on his face from his greeting. Cloud shed his jacket at the front door, draping it by the hood on a vacant hook to his left.
Instead of answering his brother's question, Cloud gave Roxas a once over stare, "You're up early." He said, "And drinking coffee."
"And you're a whole twelve hours later than you said you'd be getting home. Curious, isn't it?" Roxas noticed how Cloud flinched, and his smirk grew.
"We got caught up doing paperwork after deliveries got done. It was too late for Tifa to drive home, so we stayed at the office." Cloud answered, clearing his throat, hoping that maybe Roxas would drop it, because he was still rather exhausted.
Roxas nodded, "Oh, the office." He began, arching a brow, "You mean the office that has the one extra bedroom in case of emergencies, or bad weather? The office that has one twin bed and a recliner? That office?"
Cloud stared blankly at his younger brother. Of course he wasn't going to drop this, because Roxas was the definition of a smart ass – particularly when he thought he knew something that might not exactly be a secret, but isn't quite out in the open. Particularly when it came to Cloud and Tifa, and how he assumed that they were more than just friends. Roxas was a sucker for things like that – he was the front liner for smart ass remarks.
"Tell me, Cloud. Which one of you slept in the bed?"
"Tifa and I have a professional relationship." Cloud said, going into the kitchen and opening the pantry to search for a box of cereal.
It was then that Sora trudged down the stairs, heavy on his feet. His hair, usually pretty haphazard, was completely out of place, and he looked like he hadn't got much sleep the night before. He flopped himself down in the middle of the couch with a loud moan, draping his arms over his eyes. When the first attempt didn't get Sora the attention he wanted, he moaned a second time. Cloud was pouring his cereal into a bowl, and had no intention of starting the conversation – leaving it to Roxas.
"Still hyped up over that rumor?" He blew on his coffee so that it might be cooled down enough for him to take a sip from.
Cloud decided that he may as well at least check on the situation, given that he was the twins' primary caretaker when their mom wasn't around, "Rumor?"
"People are saying that Riku is gay, and now Sora is being a drama queen about it."
That was all Cloud needed to hear, and he nodded through another bite. Sora tended to overreact to a lot of things, and it wasn't out of the norm – but it was exhausting at times, especially because when Sora had something to overreact about, he tended to lose sleep. That only made things worse. Cloud was grateful that Sora had a twin to deal with the bulk of these things.
"How do you think Riku feels with you making a big deal out of the whole thing?"
Sora peeked through his arms, "I don't know why you even care, Roxas. You hate Riku."
Roxas shrugged with a nod. Maybe he didn't exactly hate Riku, but it was pretty darn close – he wasn't going to argue that.
"Talk about tough with a capital 'T'." Axel said to Riku, leaning over a glass display case at his workplace, hands holding up his chin, elbows firmly placed.
Riku stood with his back turned to Axel, arms folded over his chest, but off to the side so that Axel might be able to understand what he had to say, "I'm not that worried about it."
Axel scoffed, "Oh, okay. The whole school is going to hear this rumor about you being gay, and you're not worried about it."
Riku rolled his eyes.
Axel stood a little straighter – the store was a little slow on Sundays, and other than Axel, there was only one worker there to tend to it.
"I know the truth, but you know I wouldn't say anything to anyone. You know how rumors go around in that place. That school wouldn't be half as entertaining without the drama."
Riku grinned slightly, "You would say that, being in the drama clique."
"Are you going to address the rumor, or just let it blow over like the rest of 'em? What does Rikku think about this… or does she… know?"
Riku turned around, palms flat on the case. He let out a heavy sigh, hanging his head a little bit at the thought of telling Rikku… if she didn't already know about the rumor. Truth be told, just having Sora freak out about it was exhausting enough. He had no idea how Rikku handled rumors, especially rumors jeopardizing Riku's sexuality. They were seventeen… why did they have to worry about things like that when they could have a normal school experience and only worry about grades… or something.
"I haven't talked to her all weekend. She's been gone the whole weekend with her family – and she doesn't usually take her phone."
"People didn't care when I came out as bisexual. Why would they give a shit if you came out too? The rumor is only half true." Axel yawned, and slumped back to his previous position on the display case.
Riku narrowed his eyes, "I don't know what I am. I'm figuring it out, but now I have to figure out who started this rumor and why."