Nobody's Fool

fantacination

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy Characters and Concepts all belong to Square Enix. This fic doesn't intend to impinge on any copyrights nor make profit. Etcetera.

Trick I

Don't Leave a Pyromaniac Bored.

"Then comes that hour when you are bored; that's the time for sex."

-H.G. Wells

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"I'm bored," Axel announced.

"Everyone should take a little break from evil and mayhem. It's good for society," Roxas deadpanned, a gaming magazine in his hands. Axel was always bored unless he was plotting, flirting, or burning. Preferably, all three

"But you get so many perks, being evil. There's always the badass fashion sense," Axel snorted. He lay on Roxas' blue-covered bed, twirling a novelty lighter that looked like a gigantic matchstick. He didn't flick it open, though. Most likely because Roxas would kill him if he did.

"And they all look the same in black leather," Roxas countered. He turned a page and settled himself a little more comfortably on the floor.

"Who's that?" Axel said suddenly, straightening up on the bed. His slanting, kohl-lined green eyes were firmly fixed to a point just beyond Roxas' door.

Roxas looked up from the magazine, following Axel's line of sight. Riku stood in the doorway to the kitchen, leaning against it with his hair tucked behind one ear and talking to Sora somewhere inside. "You mean Riku?"

"The guy talking to your brother?"

"Yeah. He's Sora's best friend," Roxas informed him.

Riku came by every now and then, but Roxas and Axel usually hung out at the arcade or somewhere around town. This would be the first time they met. That was a little strange, when he thought about it. Shrugging mentally, Roxas went back to his magazine, marking the pages with the tips on how to get the ultimate weapon for the latest RPG game.

Axel hummed a little and tapped the match stick on the palm of his other hand. Leaning over, he hit Roxas' magazine with the end of the plastic lighter-match.

"Target locked."

Roxas dropped his magazine with a groan. "Please keep your hands off my brother's friends. He gets really twitchy when people play with them. And you won't like him mad."

"It never hurts to take a challenge. Nothing's too hard if you've got a couple of people working on it." That sly little tone never bodes well. " 'Side's I'll be gentle. Like a dream."

Any dream Axel appeared in was more likely a nightmare.

"Well, I'm not helping you." He frowned.

Axel had an all too familiar gleam in his green eyes. The sort of look that told him the redhead was plotting something. He could never hide that gleam from him. Sometimes Roxas suspected the redhead did it on purpose. The younger winced inwardly. This wouldn't be any good for him, he could see it already. He was looking at the edge of a cliff where the train passed by below.

"Why not? Being partners in crime is a full-time thing, didn't you know?"

Roxas sighed. He'd get wrapped in Axel's plan sooner or later. He always did. Something about being best friends did that. Although the older boy's cunning ways helped a lot. Turning the magazine back up, Roxas flopped against the bed. "Sometimes I wonder what I was thinking when I met you."

"That I'm hot, of course," Axel teased. "How much do you know about that guy?"

Glaring at him with exasperation, Roxas decided he'd let it go. He was too used to Axel to be really annoyed. He turned a page to look at the cheats for the latest Kingdom Quest game and exhaled loudly. "How the hell am I supposed to know anything about him?"

"He's friends with your brother."

Shooting Axel an annoyed glance for having a logical point, the blonde kicked the bed, shaking it a little. "Ass," he said succinctly.

"Thanks."

It figured that Axel had to have the last word. "What do you want to know, anyway?" he huffed, giving in.

"Well, for starters, you could tell me if he's gay."

Roxas blinked. "He's got long hair with more conditioner on it than you have gel. What do you think?" Although... Riku was a non-entity, as far as Roxas was concerned. A little like a classmate you knew was in the same year as you since time began but you never really talked to. You knew the guy and you didn't at the same time. He was almost like an interchangable but familiar fixture, like desks and chairs. Roxas had never really thought about whether or not Riku was gay, excepting the times it had been brought to his attention by a hopeful mother.

Tutting, Axel wagged a finger at him. "You know that's never a good indication. Not since you found out Wakka used his mom's conditioner. What was it again? Mane and Tail?" Wakka was a senior high school student, captain of the Blitzball team, and madly, embarrassingly in love with Lulu, resident goth queen. His latest courting fiasco involved flowers, a long, wax-slicked hallway, and a distinctly unimpressed Lulu. Roxas had a feeling the conditioner also had something to do with the redhead's bid to win his lady love.

"Fine, so he's straight." Maybe Axel would give up if Riku didn't swing with the rainbow coconut monkeys. He then winced and mentally berated himself for that thought. Axel had turned straight men gay before. They usually ended up gibbering.

"You give up too early," Axel replied archly, twirling the matchstick like a baton. He grinned and held his hands up to frame Riku with his fingers. The angle was far too low for him to be checking out Riku's conditioner. "With an ass like that, it would be a waste not to tap it."

"Spare me." Shaking his head, Roxas snatched the matchstick lighter from where Axel had dropped it. The bastard would probably just set fire to little old ladies or something if he let him keep it.

"Just tell me what you know, then."

"He's Riku," Roxas said blandly. "He's been Sora's friend forever, kicks his ass at basketball, soccer, and most videogames, has a fanclub, and probably gets straight As." He snorted as he ticked off the list. Everyone knew Riku, at Destiny High. Just like everyone knew Sora. Sora was about as popular as Riku was. Either by extension, or by the simple fact that his cheery nature won him instant friends. He didn't have a fanclub, though. Partly due to his other best friend, Kairi's, intervention.

A low whistle. "Right little Mr. Perfect, isn't he?"

Roxas started to shrug, then paused and shook his head. "Probably not." He couldn't quite say why he thought so, but Riku had never struck him as quite perfect, even with all the trappings that he'd just listed. Whenever he saw him, Riku always felt a little… off. It was probably just his inner cynic.

Leaning back, Roxas examined the mobile on his ceiling, a relic from his elementary days. Or was it his kindergarten? The childish shapes swung on the gentle breeze from the window, like colorful birds tied to crossed poles.

"Why are you even asking about what he's like? Don't you usually just pounce and wham, bam, bed?" He sketched a hand distractedly in the air. Axel only ever asked for help when he had some special plan. Usually involving breaking into abandoned places or making people very uncomfortable.

"Is that really how you see me, Roxface? You could hurt a guy, like that."

"Nothing could pierce that thick hide you call skin."

"That's not true." Axel's voice turned abruptly serious. "I've been thinking of settling down with someone for a while, yanno? Saves time getting them drunk first."

Eying the redhead closely, the smaller teen tried to see if he was lying. Axel called it 'bending the truth'. But Axel's face seemed entirely serious. Running a hand through his tightly curling hair, Roxas huffed and let himself flop onto a beanbag chair.

"Alright. I'll see what I can remember." He launched into a meandering litany of the little things he could remember about Riku, a little surprised at how much he knew. Not that there was a lot of it. He often stopped for long periods of time, too. But… it was more than he expected. Riku was right handed, but he favored his left arm, he had a dog that Sora and Kairi had gotten him and Roxas had helped find, and he hadn't been caught smoking or doing drugs.

Axel listened, picking up and turning a controller over in his hands idly. He had always had strangely deft movements. And he'd always be twirling something around. Although he'd recently 'quit' smoking. Something about too many flammable things where he lived.

Roxas didn't want to know.

By the end of it, Axel's lips tugged into a half smile and he tapped his head a little. Another small habit. Roxas sometimes wondered if he had anything that gave him away like that.

"Got it. I think I'll be needing a little help, though."

"With what?" Roxas sighed, resigned.

"Recon." Axel grinned and sat up.

"You could do it yourself," Roxas scoffed, "looks like he's coming over." He jabbed a finger in the general direction of the door, and sure enough, Riku and Sora were making their way over.

Axel smiled and sat up on the bed, his feet dropping back to the floor. "Don't you love it when everything just falls into place?" he murmured lowly.

"Hey Rox, we're thinking if playing a 4-player tournament on the Wii, are you guys interested?" Sora's loud, cheery voice filled the room immediately, preceding the bouncing ball of energy that was his brother. Riku stepped in behind the boisterous boy, his face impassive, but there was a slight tilt about his mouth that suggested he was keeping himself from smiling.

Unfurling from the bed, Axel stood. "Sure, sounds great. What did you guys have in mind?"

"We'll see what we can find," Sora said airily.

"Meaning he can't remember where he put the games," Roxas noted.

Sora wasn't bothered in the least. "Hey, they're not lost or anything—I'll remember, eventually."

"Your friend's pretty quiet. Are you sure he's interested?" Axel asked, tilting his head in Riku's direction.

"Yeah, Riku loves video games," Sora chirped. Roxas had to hand it to Axel, he knew how to get information out of the right people. "Oh yeah, Riku, this is Axel, Roxas' best friend," Sora added.

Without waiting for them to exchange any pleasantries, he rounded on his twin brother, "So, Rox, you're going to play, too, right?" he asked rapidly, clearly eager to get on with the tournament. Grinning at Roxas' affirmative nod, Sora skipped out of the door, yelling back that he'd dig the Wii out of the closet.

"You guys are best friends? Guess opposites do attract," Axel said mildly.

Riku nodded at Axel with a half-smile. "I just didn't think I needed to say much with Sora around," he said, answering Axel's earlier question. He nodded to Roxas as he went a little further into the room.

Axel arched an eyebrow suggestively. "Oh? Shame, you don't sound half bad."

If Riku noticed the flirting tone, he ignored it, shrugging.

Undeterred, Axel segued into the next topic. "What kinds of games do you like, then, Ri-ku? You don't look like the chess type." The redhead injected a challenging undertone to the last phrase. It worked like a charm. Riku's attention immediately focused on him.

"Just as well. You don't look like you know what half the pieces are called."

For a moment, Riku's eyes rested on Axel's midriff-baring tank top, the incredibly tight low-riding jeans splattered with paint. Axel's eyes were emphasized with a touch of red eyeliner, aside from the kohl, and the mess of bracelets and a smattering of tattoos (some henna and some real) on his arms stood out almost as much as his eyes. He looked like a hoodlum at best; a whore at all other times. Just the way Axel liked it. Roxas privately suspected he just did it for the stir it caused.

Axel grinned, letting the insult roll right over him. Insults to his intelligence were far from the worst anyone had hurled at the university student, Roxas knew. Not that any claims of stupidity were true. Axel's mind was sharp and cunning. Gifted, but bored. He preferred to employ his cleverness to devious strategies. His targets never knew what struck them.

"I can't help it if the chess club geeks can't appreciate a man of my talents." Axel sidled up next to Riku, boldly slinging an arm around the younger boy's shoulders and pressing a little closer than necessary.

"What, they weren't interested in your rates?" Riku asked blandly.

Roxas brought a hand up to cover his smirk. Oh, Axel would have his hands full.

"They'd have to get an offer, first." Said teen snorted, ignoring the pointed glance Riku was giving the arm slung around him.

Shaking his head subtly, Roxas slipped out of the door with no one the wiser, leaving his best friend to try to charm his new target. He did hope that there wouldn't be any blood involved, though. It would take ages to get out of the carpet.

--

He found his twin in the living room. Sora was humming as he set up the Wii game console they'd both gotten for Christmas. Watching him, Roxas wondered if his brother would ever grow up—and what everyone else would do if he did.

"YES, YES, POCKY GIRLS!" Sora sang, with too little right keys and too much enthusiasm.

"Hey," Roxas greeted, sitting down on the couch and crossing his legs idly in front of him. The couch sank blissfully under him. It was definitely his favorite piece of furniture in the house. When Sora and he had been small, they used to jump up and down on the cushions, screaming in glee at how far up or down they'd get. Their mother hadn't really helped by tickling them both whenever she caught them. Some days, they'd ended up sleeping on the couch, exhausted and sticky with whatever sweet their aunt had left for their little hands to find. Other times, when their parents had fought upstairs, the sound of their muffled shouts audible between thin walls, they'd crept down and curled up together on the sofa, their star-spangled blankets dragging behind them and small hands clutched together.

"Ro-xas, hand me the cable," Sora asked. From his tone, it hadn't been the first time.

"Sorry." Roxas took the cables his twin had pointed to and tossed them over. He felt inexplicably mild, right then. Axel was fun, but he always felt a little uneasy when he was with him. Sometimes he never knew where he was with the redhead. If he were hiding things or not. Axel's mysterious nature wasn't comforting. He shook his head to clear the thought. Axel was his best friend… He had stood up for him when Roxas got into trouble with that gang. It was unfair of him to judge him like that.

Something suddenly hit Roxas' shoulder, narrowly missing his face by inches. "Sh-" He swallowed the curse before it was born, the rest of it filtering to a little hiss. He didn't want to swear with Sora nearby. It was probably a stupid sentiment. Sora was by no means as innocent as he unconsciously projected himself to be. But Roxas had always felt a little self-conscious, anyway, biting back his tongue whenever he spoke with his brother. Sometimes he resented that gap between him and Sora, the product of growing up in different schools. But for the most part he felt responsible. The brunette was younger by a few minutes and he'd always tried to take care of him whenever their parents were away. That happened more and more frequently. It helped that something about Sora exuded an instant and subtle conscience zone. Anyone in that bubble would feel a little quelled and embarrassed for things that they may otherwise not have considered 'bad'.

"Oh man, sorry! Are you okay?" Sora asked, running over and looking on worriedly. "I got a little excited—I guess the controller slipped out of my hand. The slim white plastic Wii controller was beside Roxas' thigh, having rolled over there after bouncing.

Roxas grimaced and pretended to faint.

It didn't work. But, he hadn't meant it to. Sora had seen this routine any number of times by now.

"Oh ha ha, Roxas. I was worried," Sora pouted, rapping his fist less than gently on Roxas' gold-blonde hair. It was so different from his twin's long mahogany spikes. But the eyes were the same, Roxas reflected, opening his own and sticking his tongue out. Yeah, the same deep color of blue, but Roxas' were a little more slanted, 'a little colder'.

"There wouldn't be any need to worry if you used something properly, for once," Roxas pointed out. He was fine, though, for all that.

"It slipped!" Sora protested, "and I was eating buttered popcorn!"

"We had some?" Roxas asked, genuinely surprised.

Sora nodded, smile back in place. "Riku and me made some, earlier." He picked the Wii controller off the sofa, fastidiously wiping his hand off on the side of his pants before he did so. "Anyway Roxas, I still own you at Hopper, so you can't say I'm a klutz," Sora continued, naming one of the games.

"Only because jumping around like a kangaroo on too much coffee comes naturally for you," Roxas replied easily. It's an old argument, one Sora hasn't won yet.

Sora poked Roxas' side, carefully missing where the controller had hit. That was all it took for both of them to have an all out war.

That was how Riku found them, about ten minutes later, Roxas winning. He hadn't even noticed the taller teen' presence until seconds after the fact. Riku had the sort of smile on his face that was unconscious, a tilt of the mouth rather than a grin. With the living room in a mess and Sora currently facedown on the floor from tripping, he could guess what the silver-haired boy found so amusing. Throwing a cushion pilfered from the sofa at Sora's unprotected back, Roxas straightened up and said a quick, "I win."

"That didn't count!" Sora insisted, sitting up, probably cursing the fact that his shoes were bulkier than his twin's, and thus, more prone to getting in the way.

"That's what you said the last two times, Sowa," Roxas singsonged lightly before settling back on the couch , taking over most of it's somewhat de-cushioned length.

"Hey, Riku," Sora said brightly, noticing his best friend. "Where'd Axel go?"

"He… I think he got a phone call," Riku said, looking away evasively. Roxas' estimate of Axel possibly sustaining bodily harm got kicked up a few notches. Probably somewhere tender, to boot. He wasn't terribly worried. Axel was enough of a fighter that he probably saw whatever it was coming fast enough to mitigate the damage.

"We can start choosing characters without him, I guess." Sora switched the TV on, the Wii having also survived the impromptu pillow fight.

Riku sat on the only remaining space on the couch that Roxas hadn't sprawled over. Blinking, Roxas found his head very nearly touching Riku's thigh and looking up at the other's smooth jaw through his mussed blonde hair. He frowned and immediately straightened up, uncomfortable with the implied intimacy.

"Dibs on Dante," Axel drawled, appearing from the shadowy entranceway of the living room and naming a character from the game. Walking over, he plopping himself in the space on the sofa that Roxas had freed up. He also managed to oh-so-accidentally press his thigh to Riku's in the process. Clearly, his 'phone call' was done. Riku looked a little like he wanted to say something about personal space, but said nothing. He did look a little uncomfortable at the way Axel's hips would brush against him, every now and then, though.

Roxas decided that Axel must be trying the 'awaken their inner homosexuality' approach. Via physical contact. If he weren't careful, though, he'd probably end up scarring Riku before making out with him.

The redhead must have picked up on the fact. Aside from the touches and a few lingering glances there was hardly any sign that Axel was interested in Riku anymore. He was taking it slow. Riku was younger than his usual targets.

Concentrating on his character on-screen, Roxas left Axel to it before Sora could tip his character over the edge of the ring. He'd never hear the end of it he lost that easily.

--

After twenty matches and almost as many rematches, the tournament finally ended with a showdown between Riku and Axel. Both of them had been pretty into it, calling out mocking retorts as their characters duked it out on the screen. Axel won by a hairsbreadth. By the somewhat indignant look on Riku's face and the little blush on his neck, though, Roxas suspected Axel had cheated in some unmentionable way. But there were no rematches.

With the sun already nearly set, the two finalists left soon after that. Axel claimed to have a school-related errand. Riku had gone quiet, saying something about his house.

Kicking his feet against the kitchen table idly, Roxas sorted through the flyers of take out that he and Sora had collected over the years. Neither of them could cook, or really ever learned how. Most days, their parents left them food to heat up. Today, though, they were in some jungle country for work and the boys were left to fend for themselves.

Sora was on the chair to his right, leafing through another sheaf. "What do you think? I kinda feel like burgers tonight." Sora tapped a worn Burger King flyer. "And onion rings- we haven't had any in forever!"

"We haven't had any in two weeks, you mean," Roxas scoffed, but he picked the phone up anyway. Burgers and fries made for minimal clean up, and he felt like having one, anyway. As he waited for the call to get picked up, he noticed Sora staring out the window strangely.

"What's up?"

"Nothing," Sora said quickly, "…Don't you think Riku and Axel were a little odd, today?"

Roxas made a noncommittal sound and started talking to the Burger King employee who answered the phone. Axel must have been bad if even Sora noticed it. The brunette tended to focus more on what was immediately at hand than take the time to observe the people around him. Although, Roxas amended, the headlong rush into things hadn't been occurring nearly as often, recently. Maybe hanging out with Kairi and Riku was rubbing off on his brother.

--

Someone called just as he was getting ready for bed, the haunting ring tone that his friends said always sounded a little sad permeating the air. Roxas had kept the song all the same. It reminded him of afternoons and dying sunset light. He finished pulling on his favorite oversized sleep shirt, white with cloud gray stars that bled into the sleeves and walked over to the bedside table.

He reached his phone before it vibrated off the bed stand and flipped it open, sparing a glance for the caller ID. Axel. Why was he not surprised? He was probably going to change his mind about Riku or going to tell him about an upcoming party (that Roxas would inevitably decline). He pressed the 'accept' button, leaning against the beech headboard and crossing his legs underneath him.

"Yeah?"

"I think I'm going to have to get a little serious."

Brow furrowing, Roxas let out an incredulous sound. "You mean with Riku?"

"Yep. Pull out all stops, the big guns, move mountains, paint a rainbow on every damn room in his house if I have to, and…"

"Jump his bones?" Roxas suggested, amused at the overdramatic tone Axel was using.

"That too. But he's pricklier than one of Larxene's chokers. Not that it doesn't have it's own appeal."

"Looks like it. You're really going to paint rainbows to make him gay?"

"Can't hurt. I still don't know a damn thing besides what I got from Sora. He could get it up for Bonobo monkeys, for all I know."

"Wouldn't be that hard for you to get into the right habits, then."

"Or he could be an asexual, slightly intelligent bacterium, like you."

"I went out with Olette, in case you don't remember."

"For six days. And in all that time, all you did was kiss her cheek and hold hands. Twice."

"Not everyone dives into bed at the drop of a hat, Axel."

"Everyone doesn't know what they're missing."

"That's obviously why you need to pull out all the stops to convince Riku."

"It's for a good cause."

"I didn't know 'good cause' even existed in your vocabulary."

"Getting a boyfriend is always good," the redhead replied, tone airy, even from the overlaid mechanical tone of the phone. Something about the way he said 'boyfriend' made Roxas stop, though. Axel sounded like he meant it differently from usual.

"Even if you're probably going to hop to the next one soon after?"

"I told you: this time's special." There was a pause and then, "got to go. Later, Rox." Then, the call ended, leaving Roxas to stare at it, perplexed.

If he hadn't known better, he'd say it hadn't been his best friend saying that. But then, maybe even firebrands like Axel wanted a little stability, after a while. He supposed it would be good for Axel if he did end up staying with one person for a while. He had made plenty of enemies and his loose lifestyle held him completely unaccountable to anyone. Just the way he liked it. Up until now, it seemed. Riku was the steady sort, as far as he could tell. But the idea that Riku could tame his best friend was almost laughable. If you weren't a friend and didn't hold your own, Axel would walk all over you.

Sighing, Roxas placed the phone back on the bedside table and shoved himself feet-first under the comforter, staring at the patch of star-dotted night he could see from his window. He supposed he could help. But the jumble of events today made him wonder exactly why Axel thought this time was special—or why Riku in particular had caused it.

It was strange, really. Despite having known Riku distantly since Sora had first come in with him, dirty and perfectly happy about it, Roxas had never really interacted with him. He had never thought about him beyond the fact that he was Sora's best friend and one of the school golden boys. That someone could be right under your nose and yet a stranger... Was that just how the world worked?

So many questions were still unanswered by the time Roxas fell asleep in the quiet night.

Notes:

The song Sora sings is a Morning Musume song- guaranteed to be so hyper it'll make you see double. Hey, it's a band with cute girls and hyper music, why wouldn't Sora like it?

Bonobo monkeys look like small chimpanzees and are very, very sexual. They have been described as rubbing genitals in order to say 'hello'.

10 pages look really short, but I'm kinda happy just making it this far. I'm more or less trying to see how I am at the chaptered fic HS AU thing. I have a rough outline and stuff, and some parts later on were very fun to write. I'm struggling a little with characterization, but otherwise, I guess I'm pretty pleased about the whole thing:P The much funner chapters are up ahead. This one was a bit of a strain, I admit.

Ah, the game, as far as I know, does not exist. It's a collage of other games. And but over where I am, Burger King deliveries existed at one point.