Finding Mr. Right

DISCLAIMER: Don't own Kingdom Hearts, but wish I could borrow some of the characters. They're all so kewwwt, I can't possibly stand it. :3 This silly drabble is AU and doesn't have much connection to the actual KH worlds.

Oh, and beware the yaoi. There's lots of shonen-ai fluff in here. :D

"Sorry, guys. I can't go with you today."

Sora looked at Roxas in surprise. "Really? Why not?"

The sixteen-year-old let his gaze slide evasively away, running a hand through his unruly, pale blonde hair. "Well… I've got some other plans."

"With the Usual Spot guys, right?" Kairi asked, fiddling with her tie. School had only let out recently, and she hadn't yet changed out of the nicer clothes she usually wore. "It's all right if they come too, you know. We've done that kind of stuff before, and I doubt Ansem will mind."

Riku coughed and averted his eyes. "He'll start minding if we keep making him pay for it."

"It's just ice cream," Kairi protested.

"You know what an ice cream fiend Ansem is," Riku pointed out. "He only takes us to the good places, and those are expensive."

Kairi huffed angrily and smacked Riku's shoulder. "Shut up!" She looked at the others, red-faced. "C'mon, Namine! Back me up here!"

The blonde girl just smiled. As usual, she had her sketchbook out and was drawing at a furious pace. Sora peeked over her shoulder and saw that the entire page was decorated with small chibi pictures of Ansem. The one she was working on at the moment was shaking lint out of an empty wallet, looking sad.

Sora snorted. Namine's smile grew.

"Er… no." Roxas shrugged. "Hayner and the others are in a Struggle tournament today anyways. I'm going to be with someone else."

Sora stared at Roxas for a while, nonplussed. The five of them were walking down the city streets, heading for the corner where Ansem or Leon would usually pick them up for their weekly ice cream outings.

"Well, if that's not it, then where…" Sora started, but Kairi cut him off.

"Ooooh, don't tell me… Roxas has finally found Mr. Right!" she exclaimed, giggling.

Roxas' face flushed bright scarlet and he stared pointedly at the ground. Sora watched him in interest. For the past few years, Roxas had roamed aimlessly from boyfriend to boyfriend, never seeming to find exactly what he was looking for. Sora tried to sympathize, but he'd been with Riku for so long that he didn't remember clearly enough what the wandering years had been like.

The stream of Mr. Right Nows had gone on for so long that Sora and the others had doubted that Roxas would ever settle down. But the way he was acting now…

"Who is he?" Kairi asked gleefully, bouncing at Roxas' side. "Come on, tell us who!"

"Roooxas!"

All five of the friends turned. Across the street, sitting at the parlor of a restaurant with a club soda in his hand and his feet on the table, sat a young man a few years older than them. He wore black cargo pants with chains running along the belt loops and silver thread on the seams, big, clunky, cleated black buffalo sneakers with red laces, and a gray T-shirt with the sleeves ripped off. On the T-shirt, the phrase "I'm trouble, who are you?" was inscribed in vibrant red. He was waving lazily at Sora's little group, making the studs in his black wristband flash, grinning widely all the way. His hair was long, spiky, and dyed a particularly obnoxious shade of red, with the black of the roots just showing through. Tattoos like teardrops adorned each cheek, with a black "XIII" blatant on his right shoulder.

Roxas went decidedly pink and waved back, speechless.

"Him?" Riku asked, staring. "No way."

"Way," Sora retorted, grinning almost as widely as the man across the street.

"I recognize him," Riku continued. "He's one of those punks in black leather who call themselves Organization XIII, even though there's only twelve of them. They're all weirdos."

Kairi stomped on his foot.

"Ow… what?"

"Don't say bad stuff about Roxas' new boyfriend," she told him pointedly.

"…Whatever…"

Roxas' new boyfriend was already up and striding purposefully across the street towards them.

"Guys, this is Axel," Roxas mumbled, staring at his shoes as Axel (still grinning like a madman) slung an affectionate, possessive arm around the boy's shoulders. "Axel… these are my friends Riku, Sora, Kairi, and Namine."

"Hi!" Kairi beamed.

"Yo." Axel looked the four of them up and down. "Lemme guess… the gay boys…" he gestured at Riku and Sora "…the princess…" he pointed at Kairi "…and the one who draws stuff." Namine nodded and went on drawing.

"Since when do you call Kairi 'princess'?" Riku sulked. "That's an us thing."

Axel looked blank. "Obviously I'm going to be hanging out with you a lot. I better know the 'us things'."

Sora looked at Roxas with upraised eyebrows. The blonde shrugged helplessly, obviously flustered by Axel's casual display of affection.

"So what are you two doing?" Kairi asked, curious.

"That'd be telling, wouldn't it, Princess?" Axel replied, grinning like an idiot again. "We just happen to have our own secret place."

Riku made a miffed sound at the mention of his, Sora, and Kairi's childhood hideaway by a complete stranger. Sora hushed him.

"I'm just saying… maybe next time you can come get ice cream with us," Kairi suggested. "We could get to know you better."

"Sure!" was Axel's easy response. "I like ice cream."

"Don't we all," Sora agreed. "Well, don't let us intrude on your date any further. Riku, Kairi, Namine, let's go."

As he turned to leave, Sora heard Axel speaking in a low tone, then Roxas' surprised laughter.

As the group headed on, Sora looked back only once. By that time discussion between Axel and Roxas had ceased entirely; they were standing on the corner of the sidewalk, wrapped in each other's arms—Roxas on tiptoe, Axel leaning down—with their lips sealed together.

"I don't like him," Riku said bluntly.

"Well, I do," Kairi replied. "You probably didn't notice because you were too busy being huffy, but Axel seems pretty sure that he and Roxas are going to be together for a while. Whatever his faults may be, he's not afraid of commitment."

Sora shrugged. "He's… interesting, that's for sure. And I think that might be good for Roxas." He turned to the last member of their little foursome. "What do you think, Namine?"

The blonde girl simply smiled. She'd turned the page of her sketchbook and was working on a new drawing, outlining the pencil sketches in rich reddish-brown Prismacolor.

She certainly hadn't been idle during the conversation with Axel and Roxas. The picture in her hands was a perfect image of their kiss.

OWARI