Okay, so this fic will have shounen-ai, shojo-ai and het. If any of these three disturb you, stop here. Although I doubt there will be anything horrifically explicit.

Anyway, yay! New project! I really don’t need another chapter fic, but I’m getting one regardless. This thing bunnied me without permission, and I do hope you’ll enjoy.

xXx

The first time Riku met Axel, he felt an overpowering urge to punch him in the face. The moment the red-head spoke, he did so.

“Jesus fuck, what the hell was that for?”

Riku kept his face blank. “You were looking at me wrong.”

Roxas gave him a profoundly grateful look, which was weird because Riku didn’t like him that much either. But he was Sora’s brother, so he made the effort. “I’ve been wanting to do that all day.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Too fucking tall.”

Riku snorted just as Sora walked into the lounge. “Oh, hey Ax—” He cut himself off, eyes widening as he took in the scene. “Riku!”

Riku pointed covertly at Roxas.

“Don’t be stupid, Riku. Roxas is too short to punch Axel. What did I tell you?”

The silver-haired teen rolled his eyes. “Not to punch idiots.”

“Not to punch Axel.”

“Same thing, isn’t it?”

“Oi!” Axel entered the conversation, wadded up jacket pressed to his nose. “You haven’t even met me properly! How the fuck do you know I’m an idiot?”

He didn’t, Riku noted, dispute the state of his idiocy.

“You're friends with Roxas, aren’t you?”

Quick on his feet, Riku easily avoided the foot Roxas aimed at his face. The lighter suddenly shoved under his chin was harder and the piercing green eyes even more so.

“Don’t insult Roxas.”

Riku looked him dead in those poison eyes, ignored the flickering heat at his chin and smirked.

“Your shirt is on fire.”

xXx

Axel smirked, watching Riku walk out of the house as Sora crashed his way back to his bedroom.

“Oh, hell no,” Roxas groaned, taking in the look on his best friend’s face. “Harada? Riku Harada?”

“Hmm, what?” Axel asked, tearing his eyes away from the window where he was watching Riku’s ass disappear.

“You don’t have a chance.”

“C’mon, Rox,” Axel whined. “Look at him! He obviously a prissy bitch with a stick up his ass. All I have to do is replace that stick with--”

“Trust me on this one. You don’t have a fucking chance. Even if he didn’t hate you on sight, the only thing Riku’s interested in is protecting his friends.”

“Hn. Sound’s like he needs to loosen up a little.” Axel grinned. “I can do that. So his name’s Harada, eh? Feel like giving away some more information, Rox? Date of birth, phone number, address?”

“No way. He’ll kill me.”

“Aw, Roxie,” Axel wheedled, knowing his best friend would do anything to stop him from using that nickname. “I moved all the way across the country to be with you. You owe me.”

“I didn’t ask you to,” Roxas replied bluntly, but the steely look in his eyes softened a little. He was caving.

“I’ll buy you sea-salt ice cream?”

Roxas opened his mouth to reply, then hesitated, thinking about it. “Fine.”

Ten minutes later, Roxas had the ice cream in hand and was back in the lounge, licking the treat thoughtfully.

“Well?” Axel prodded, looking ridiculously eager. "C'mon, Rox, I gotta get back home before Larx shows up. Who knows what she'll do to my cousin's otherwise."

Roxas bit off the tip of the ice cream. “He lives here.”

xXx

“Yes, Sora, I’ll be back in an hour all right?” Riku drummed his fingers on the steering wheel of his car as he waited for the lights to change. "I've got to get a few things from the grocer first."

“Good! Don’t forget to pick Kairi up this time.”

“Sora, I left to pick her up. I’m hardly likely to forget.” His cell phone beeped ominously.

“Oh yeah? What about the time last year, hmm?”

Riku rolled his eyes as the lights changed. “That was once, and Naminé gave her a ride anyway, remember? It‘s not my fault she keeps failing her license.” His phone beeped again. “Ah, shit. Sora, my phone’s about to run out of battery. I’ll see you soon, all right? With Kairi.”

“Okay! And remember, Axel is—”

The phone beeped again, and went dead. Riku frowned, tossing it in the empty passenger seat as he parked the car and ran into the mall.

Axel? What did that idiot have to do with anything?

Probably nothing. Sora’s mind was like that, jumping from A to C without bothering to stop at B.

It had been three days and Riku still hadn’t been able to justify his dislike for the red-head. Of course, not having a reason didn’t stop him hating the guy; if nothing else, Riku trusted his instincts.

He thought on what he knew about Axel. It wasn’t much. Roxas’ best friend from when the twins had lived in Twilight Town, he was staying with his cousin in Destiny Islands, supposedly because Radiant Garden University was just a ferry away on the mainland. But Riku had seen the way the bastard looked at Roxas, and thought the idiot had probably followed the older twin. Grudgingly though, Riku had to admit he admired that, if it was the reason. For sure if Sora ever went back to Twilight Town, he’d follow, although he wouldn’t wait three years to do it.

There was a motorbike parked haphazardly outside the Hikari house when arrived there. Riku glared at the bad parking job and wondered who the mayor knew that owned a motorbike.

He had a key, being as good as family to the Hikari’s, so he didn’t bother knocking.

“Larx?” Bright green eyes peered over the couch hopefully, followed by teardrop tattoos and the rest of a face, which quickly twisted into a smirk. “Oh, it’s you.”

“The fuck are you doing here?” A part of Riku’s brain noted that Axel was shirtless. The rest of him was too busy being pissed off to care. Vaguely, he remembered hearing Kairi say that her cousin was coming to live with her…

Axel blinked. “I live here now. Didn’t Kai mention it?” The smirk widened into a wide grin. “Damn, you’re gonna really hate me now. Isn’t this where you spend most of your time?”

“Would you like me to call a taxi?”

“Uh…”

“To take you to the hospital after I rend you limb from limb. I doubt they’d waste an ambulance on someone like you.”

“Oh, ouch. I’m so hurt.”

“He nearly broke your nose the other day, Axel,” a soft voice said from the top of the staircase. Riku turned to see Naminé, Kairi’s half-sister leaning against the rail. “You’d probably do well to err on the side of caution when it comes to Riku.”

Axel laughed. “Me?”

She sighed. “I guess it’s too much to hope.”

The situation with Kairi and Naminé was weird, to say the least. Kairi’s parents had been in the process of divorcing when her mother discovered she was pregnant. By the time she had been born and summarily handed over to her father, he had already met another woman and fallen in love. As such, Naminé was only ten months younger than Kairi, who alternately loved her desperately and hated her guts. Their father, the mayor, was a nice enough guy but Riku always thought he was a bit of an asshole for the way he favoured his younger daughter.

Still, Naminé was the sweetest girl he’d ever met, despite the weird crowd she hung out with (although Riku couldn’t talk; he hung out with them as well) and if anyone had to be crushing on Sora, Riku was glad it was her.

He gave her one of his rare smiles. “Naminé.”

She beamed back at him, running down the stairs in record time. “I thought I heard your voice, Riku, but I wasn’t sure until the limb-rending line. How are you?”

He gave her a one-armed hug as she hit the ground floor. She was one of the few people who Riku would voluntarily touch. “Other than the unpleasant experience of discovering that your cousin is this idiot? Fine.”

“Oi!, I’m not an idiot. And strictly speaking, I’m not even her cousin.”

Ass. So he was related to Kairi on her mother’s side. Riku wondered why her father was letting him stay.

“Did you hear something?” Riku asked the blonde girl.

She giggled. “Not a word. Oh! I’ve almost finished that painting! Did you want to see it?”

“No, I’ll wait until it’s finished.” He peered up the stairs. “Where’s Kairi?”

“In her room, changing. Again.” Naminé rolled her eyes. “You know what she’s like.”

“Just because I wear colours other than white, Nam!” Kairi’s voice came from the direction of her bedroom upstairs. “Riku, get your butt in here! I need your help.”

He didn’t bother replying, knowing she didn’t expect any answer except his presence.

From the couch, Axel stirred. “Hold up, you’re just going to walk in there while she’s getting changed?”

He paused on his way up the stairs for a brief moment before continuing on his way. “I’m gay. Kairi in her underwear interests me about as much as the kitchen table.”

Hopefully the idiot was homophobic and would stay the hell away from him.

A brief silence.

“Heh. Shoulda guessed from that pansy-ass haircut.”

Goddamn.

“Oh, like you can talk Axel,” Kairi appeared at the top of the stairs, wearing only her underwear.

“Jeez Kai, put some fucking clothes on!”

“Says you!” she retorted. “Why is it a guy can walk around shirtless without trouble, but a girl can’t be seen in her underwear? Plus, it’s not like I’m in any danger of being ogled here. Riku’s gay as a picnic and I’m related to the two of you.”

Unfortunately, Riku had in fact been resting his eyes on Axel at that moment. He thrust down the urge to blush and instead met those wicked poison eyes with a level stare.

“You’re not my type,” he said bluntly.

“Oh, I figured that out. You like ‘em short and brunette, right?”

“Axel…” Kairi and Naminé groaned in unison, but Riku could barely hear them, having flown back down the stairs to lay into Axel.

“Hit a sore spot, did I?” Axel taunted, grabbing Riku’s fist before it connected with his jaw.

“Don’t you fucking dare insinuate anything about Sora,” he growled, kicking the other teen in the shin.

“Jeez! Calm down, would you? It’s not like it’s a bad thing, being gay.”

Riku paused, fist poised to crash into the red-head’s nose. “Sora isn’t gay.”

“You sure about that, buddy? It’d make him the black sheep of the family.”

Hold on, what? Riku knew that Cloud, the twins' brother and guardian, was gay, but Roxas?

Axel obviously saw the confused light in his eyes and decided to make the most of it, talking very fast. “Have you seen the way he eats those ice creams? It’s obscene.” The red-head paused. “Uh, if you have noticed, I’m going to have to kill you.”

“I’ve got you pinned to the ground.”

Axel bared his teeth in a grin. “So you have.”

The door flew open with a great deal of melodrama, but that didn’t stop Riku from socking Axel in the jaw.

“Bastard!”

The insult was called out lovingly. Riku knew that voice.

“Ow, fuck - whore!”

Riku was rather put out by the way Axel had just brushed off his punch. Maybe it just happened so often that he didn’t notice any more.

“Damn, I thought I’d actually walked in on something interesting, but you’re just getting the shit kicked out of you again, Axel.”

“You know Larxene?” Riku asked. Larxene was the petite blonde vocalist of the band World That Never Was (WTNW, affectionately referred to as What Now? by its small fan base) in which Naminé played the violin and Riku’s friend Zeixon played the piano. It was the weirdest rock band Riku had ever come across.

Larxene was a sadistic bitch and Riku got along with her rather well.

“You know her?” Axel twisted awkwardly to look at the woman, who was staring back at them, obviously amused. “Larx, what are you doing hanging around this pansy? Fuck!”

Riku frowned down at his knuckles. The idiot’s jaw was like rock.

“Axel, you’re the pansiest pansy-ass I’ve ever met.”

“You’re in a band with Marluxia.”

“Yeah, but he’s straight. Somehow. He doesn’t count.” The woman’s eyes scanned the room restlessly and landed on Kairi, who was frozen in horror. The blonde smirked, evil light in her face. “Hmm. Maybe I did walk in on something interesting after all.”

Kairi squeaked and ran back into her room.

“Larxene, I asked you to stop doing that,” Naminé sighed.

“Sorry, sweetheart, but if she’s going to stand there in her underwear, she’s asking for it.”

“You’re hitting on both of my cousins?” Axel exclaimed, apparently forgetting that Naminé wasn’t ‘strictly his cousin’. “You whore!”

“Axel, if you thinking that ‘sweetheart’ is flirting, you’re stupider than you look. And you look pretty stupid.” She raised an eyebrow at Riku. “Getting comfortable there, old man?”

It took him a moment to realise she was talking to him, having forgotten her habit of calling him ‘old man’ because of his hair. It took him a moment longer to realise what she was referring to.

Underneath him, Axel smirked.

Riku just barely resisted smacking him one again, and that was just because his hand was starting to hurt.

“You’re not my type,” he repeated, pushing himself to his feet. “I’ll see you later, Nam, Larx. Have to help Kairi get dressed.”

“Don’t bother,” Larxene purred. Riku flipped her the bird, making her cackle as he headed up the stairs again. “Oi! You coming to see us at Castle Oblivion tonight?”

“Why do you think Kairi’s having such trouble deciding what to wear?”

xXx

Axel waited until the silver-haired teen had disappeared into Kairi’s room before peeling himself off the ground, rubbing his jaw.

Larxene laughed at him. “You are in so much shit.”

“Shut up.”

Naminé frowned. “What’s this?”

The older woman laughed again. “Flame-brain here’s gone and fallen in lurve. With the worst possible person. What’d you do to make him hate you so much, rape his precious Sora?”

“I’m starting to get the feeling I’d be dead and dismembered if I had.” Axel flopped back onto the couch. “And I exist, apparently. Calling his best friend gay apparently isn’t the best way to go around making nice with him either. Did you see that, Nam? He nearly fucking murdered me.” He frowned. “Oh, sorry ‘bout that cousin line. I was just pissed off, you know I love you.”

Naminé smiled. “It’s fine, Axel. There aren’t many people who Riku doesn’t rub up the wrong way. And vice versa.”

“Damn, he can rub me up anyway he wants.” Axel groaned. “I mean, shit. Sora’s gotta be straight if he ain’t tappin’ that.”

“Piece of advice, pansy-ass,” Larxene drawled. “First time’s free, even. Be safe and don’t talk about Sora at all to Riku. Huge fucking sore spot, kid’s like a psycho ex-boyfriend.”

“What, is he actually in love with the brat?”

“He’s not a brat!” Naminé objected, then blushed.

“Don’t blush like that, honey, we all know you’re in love with him.”

The younger girl blushed harder and tried to escape the devilish look Larxene was giving her. “And no, Axel, he’s not in love with Sora. He’s just been ridiculously over-protective ever since his dad beat the kid up.”

“Who did what now?”

“Larxene, that’s none of Axel’s business,” Naminé said softly.

“What? You can’t just say something like that and leave me hanging!”

Larxene pulled a face. “The sweetheart has spoken, Axel. Do you wanna argue with that face?” She turned to said sweetheart. “Although I don’t know why can’t tell him, Nam. He’s gonna find out about Riku’s emanci--”

“Larxene!”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine. Hey, why aren’t you dressed yet?”

Naminé looked down at her simple white dress. “We’re not going to have this conversation again.”

As Naminé and Larxene wandered away bickering why you couldn’t wear white in a rock band and how Naminé really didn’t care what people thought, thank you very much, Axel sifted through all the words in his head that started with ‘emanci’.

xXx

All right! Wow, a lot of firsts here - first KH chapter fic, first proper AU, first shounen-ai chapter fic in a long time. I hope I didn’t fail too epically on any of those counts, lol, and I particularly hope you liked the chapter. Either way, feel free to tell me what you think.