InsaneJournal

[fic] Kingdom Hearts 2, "(Un)complicated"
(Un)complicated
(or, Topping Roxas)
Kingdom Hearts 2
Part of the Completionverse. Completion; The Story of the Time Riku Killed Axel in the Face; Beating Hearts
OT6. Namine, Kairi, Sora, Roxas, Riku, and Axel in various combinations. YOU HEARD ME. Though this part's all the boys.
Wordcount approx 5500
Not safe for work! Post-game spoilers



Truth of the matter is, Axel really likes being on the bottom. It's not that he doesn't like the top position period -- he's had a fair amount of sex for a Nobody, and he likes it. Of course he likes it.

But with Roxas it's different.

Of course, he's thought about doing it the other way, about pressing Roxas down and dragging pleasure from them both, deliberate and rough and watching the way Roxas protests -- it's Roxas, so he'll protest though he doesn't mean it, he could stop Axel in a second if he actually meant it. But the thought, though nice, isn't anything compared to the reality.

Roxas is light, of course, even now with Sora's solidity adding to him, but Axel likes the feel of his weight anyway. He likes the scrabbling, likes Roxas's hipbone pressing into his thigh as Roxas grabs at Axel to twist his arms out of the way and pin him completely down. He likes the angles of Roxas's face seen from below, the cast of his blue eyes into the dark shadow of his lashes, the feeling of Roxas blocking out the world around him.

He likes how relentless Roxas is, how Roxas will twist him this way and that and push in and fuck him hard and jostle pleasure into being and jostle his heart into hurting because he wants me, he wants me, he wants me--

It's absolutely undeniable, unable to be doubted. They're rough together always, really rough on each other, never bothering to go easy with hands or mouths or elbows or knees, never worrying about yanking at hair, at body-slamming to get someone to move. After Roxas has taken Axel he feels really fucking taken, really blown-away and opened up, throbbing and vulnerable and stupidly ...happy.

Of course, since this whole dying-and-coming-back-and-having-a-heart-and-being-loved thing there's been an additional part to it. Not just that weird feeling like he's going to come apart, like his heart is straining the limits of this body's chest, nah. Not just that.

It also has the effect of getting to Riku, but not so much that he'd actually want to stop. Riku bitches and moans about what Axel does to his body without permission, and yeah, given that Axel's pretty rough with it that'd make sense, only Riku never means it. And even if he can't always sit still after, he doesn't mind that either.

It's kind of hilarious.

All in all, Axel sees no reason to mess with a system that works.

***

Sora is sleepy and pliable and really kind of stupid. Fortunately, Riku thinks, he's cute when he's stupid.

"Mmmmn," Sora mutters. "Rikuuuu."

Riku grins at him. "Tired already, Sora?" he asks. They haven't even managed to get undressed yet. Getting Sora's pants open had been enough of a task.

"Nnngh--"

More leisurely now, he goes to work on Sora's top, peeling him out of the jacket, pushing his shirt up--

and then freezes.

"Hey, Sora," Riku says, carefully. "Where'd you get this?"

"Huh?"

Riku traces a fingertip around the bite mark. It reaaaaally doesn't look like something Kairi'd do. "This?"

"Oh, I didn't," Sora mumbles.

"Didn't you."

"Naw," Sora says, and yawns. "That was Roxas."

"Was it."

A moment later, Sora reconsiders. "Well, technically it's Axel's fault," he says. "But Roxas started it when he pinched Axel that hard."

Riku eyes the bruise. "Huh," he says, and bites the other one to make things fair.

***

Technically, he'd rather be doing this with Axel at the other end of his Keyblade, not with his arms crossed, leaning against a wall and glowering at nothing. But he has to work with what he has.

...Oh man, you are so jealous.

"I am not. Jealous."

You want in on me and Roxas that bad, huh?

Riku's scowl deepened, almost etched into place on his face. "No." The word dripped frost. "I'm not interested in what you do with him. The fact that you use my body to do it is something that really pisses me off, but I know it's necessary. I accepted it'd happen. But even with that? Leave me out of that."

"Well, I try to," Axel's voice drawls through Riku's lips. "But you seem so insistent--"

"You marked Sora up," Riku says, seizing control over his voice again.

....What?

"When you bit Roxas," Riku says, his words coming out sharp-edged and brittle. "You marked Sora. Don't do that again."

...I'll do whatever I want with Roxas, thanks, Axel says, but there's an edge to his voice. When Riku blinks he can see green eyes glittering at him with a sly interest.

He may, he has to admit, have made a fatal error by mentioning that. He grits his teeth and plows on. "I don't want to see you marking Sora up again."

Don't be so stingy, Axel says. He sounds like he's trying to be cute.

"Sora's mine."

And Kairi's.

"--Yes."

And if he feels like belonging to someone else, guess what?

"That still doesn't include you," Riku snaps.

It's almost too far. Axel is silent, and when he finally answers there's a pressure inside, as if Axel's contemplating pushing Riku in some way. That's true.

"So be more careful with what Sora ends up with," Riku says. "And don't top Roxas."

Generally I don't.

That's an overstatement; Axel never tops. It's a pretty safe thing to ask for. Riku snorts. "I don't want Sora feeling that from you for hours after."

He feels the grin spread inside.

I thought, Axel murmurs with the impression of flashing white teeth, that I told you I'd do whatever I wanted with Roxas.

***

"Hey, Roxas?"

"Mm?" Dawn wasn't that long ago, but due to a strange feeling of foreboding, both had woken early.

Sora flops over, elbows tucked under him, and nudges Roxas until Roxas grumbles sleepily and pushes himself out of Sora to look at him better. Sora always tends to prefer face-to-face interactions.

"What," Roxas mutters, and rubs at his eyes with his knuckles.

Sora rubs vaguely at his own chest and smarting nipples, and then says, "Remember when you told me that Axel was in love with you?"

"...Yes," Roxas says. It's not a conversation he's likely to forget.

"You think he was in love with me?"

Roxas is silent a long moment. A sour look crosses his face.

And then he says, "I think if he were in love with you now, he'd be trying to pretend he wasn't."

"Oh," Sora says, relieved. "I haven't noticed anything, so I guess not, huh?"

"Something like that," Roxas says, eyes rolling. "Want to spar?"

That gets a bright grin from Sora. "Sure," Sora says. "I don't want to get rusty. Let's go to the beach to do that!"

***

"Hey baby," Axel says from where he's crouched on the windowsill.

Roxas gives him a look. "Not tonight."

"--Aww? Come on, Roxas," Axel wheedles, and hops down. "I want to."

"That's nice," Roxas says. "I'm tired."

He ducks a bit to take off his shoes, and Axel moves in, puts arms on either side of him, hands against the wall, leaning over. "I can make you feel better."

Roxas shakes his head. "I spent most of the day separate from Sora," he says. "I'm tired. I want to rest."

Run away into Sora's heart, he means, until he feels better. He's already in Sora's body but he's not resting in it. Axel leans in. "I want you."

Roxas ducks under his arm, sits on the bed. "At least let me sleep a little first."

"Roxas," Axel says. He follows, goes as if to sit beside Roxas, then leans, pressing him back into the bed. "I want this."

"You're so demanding," Roxas mutters.

"You don't have to do anything," Axel says. "I can do it this time."

Brows drawing down, Roxas says, "But--"

"Shh. I'll make you like it."

Roxas closes his eyes.

This is, perhaps, he thinks, unbearably incredible already. He runs his hands over Roxas's body, slowly, and pulls down on Roxas's zipper to bare skin.

All of a sudden he's not touching enough, and Roxas is so sleepy; best to hurry, huh? He tugs Roxas's fly down fast, reaches in, draws his hand over Roxas's cock.

"Nngh," Sora says, and opens his eyes.

Axel freezes like that, his heart in his throat or so it feels. There's a noise like distant screaming in his ears and Sora's cock is half-hard in his hand and every breath seems to set his own nerves on fire.

Those dazed familiar blue eyes look up. "Ax...el?" Sora mumbles sleepily, and then stretches, hips twitching, and Axel's jaw drops.

Riku takes advantage of Axel's complete shivering desperate shock to shove him aside. He manages to fish out a brighter smile by the time Sora shakes himself more fully awake.

"What're you saying, Sora?" Riku says. "It's me."

***

You bastard, you little son of a--

"I have mine," Riku tells him later, when Sora and Roxas are both too fast asleep for either to listen. "You stick to yours."

Oh, I will. You'll see. Axel promises. It's more of a threat.

***

"Hey, Roxas?"

Yeah?

"I've got um. A question."

Sora sounds tentative, uncertain -- even a bit nervous. Roxas bites down on his immediate sigh and brushes a comforting touch along Sora's soul, making him shiver.

"What is it?" Roxas asks instead. The instinctive desire to shut down and avoid whatever it was that Sora had taken issue with -- it is something that's lingering, he reminds himself, and not particularly real.

"It's about Axel," Sora says. Before Roxas can tense too much -- he doesn't really like Sora's questions about Axel; they tend to hit him hard in the heart -- Sora goes on, adding, "and Riku."

Roxas relaxes. A little. "What about it?"

Sora flops over onto his back and prods with a bare toe at the toy airplane hanging by his window. "Just... Is it really, you know, healthy? For them like this. Is it okay? They're not like you and me, or Namine and Kairi."

"They don't belong together," Roxas agrees. It's still weird to say, still weird to feel, and the prideful part of him still tries to throw up a defence against the thought. Lately he tries to quash that part. That part's wrong; whether or not he initially disliked it, he's a part of Sora. Sora's the bigger part of him. Whichever. Two halves. He feels guilty and a bit shameful when he stomps that part down, but he also feels relieved, more peaceful. He visualizes linking hands with Sora; feels Sora's fingers twitch against the bedsheets.

"So is it bad?"

Roxas shrugs mentally, begins to trace patterns out on the bedsheets with Sora's fingers. He lets go of Sora's mouth, just snorts at him silently. It's too late to worry about that anyway, isn't it?

"Roxas!"

Well, it is. He tries to keep the defensiveness out of his voice. Riku made that choice without asking anyone. It wasn't even Axel's choice; once his heart was freed and then put back into a body, it's not like the soul could really stay away, right?

"You're sure?" Sora rolls over like he could look at Roxas; obligingly, Roxas flickers into transparent existence in front of him. "Axel didn't pick it at all?"

Roxas makes an uneasy gesture with a hand. Pretty sure, anyway. I don't think he minds. I mean, he's alive and he's got a heart and he has what he wants, which is just about all you need to make Axel generally okay, I guess? But he didn't pick it. I mean, he was in the middle of a kind of important conversation with me when Riku sucked him in. They both pretend they don't remember the pain in their heart with a sudden tangible stab. He's kind of a jerk, but I don't think he'd leave in the middle of that willingly. Roxas gives Sora an embarrassed smile.

Sora rubs his head. "Man, that just makes it more complicated," he complains. "What if Axel doesn't actually like being there?"

A head shake, quickly, to dissuade Sora of that. "Axel has his heart back, Sora," Roxas says, to hear the words aloud. ...You can't know what a difference that makes.

"Maybe I can sort of," Sora protests. Roxas disagrees silently, but there's a feeling suddenly like Sora's just moved closer to him, like they're pressing closer together in the spot where Roxas rests on the other side of his heart. "Maybe," Sora says again. "I mean. I know a lot of how you feel, you know."

...I know.

They're silent a long moment as both waits for the other to bring it up. Roxas is kind of relieved when Sora's the brave one. "Hey, Roxas? Did anything weird happen last night?"

...I was really tired. Sorry.

"I don't mind."

You don't?

Sora shifts. "...I don't like it? I guess maybe. But..." he hesitates. "It's like, I listen in on whatever you do already anyway so it's not shocking or anything?"

Roxas glares a bit. You could try not listening in.

"Roxaaaaaas."

Fine, whatever.

"...Anyway," Sora says, "accidents don't happen that often, and Riku almost convinced me that it was him. So it's easy enough to not let them know, right?"

I guess.

"You think it's bad for Riku?"

What, interrupting you and Axel about to--

"NO! ...I mean, no," Sora hisses as he hears a curious call from downstairs. "Just, Axel. I mean yeah, he picked it. But Riku always makes all kinds of choices that're bad for him because he thinks it's the best choice for him and his friends. Like, he gets himself into trouble a lot."

Roxas notices that even Sora doesn't think Riku does it because Riku thinks it's the good thing to do. He smiles a little despite himself. It's too late now. The heart's in a body again. It's not coming out without either becoming Heartless or-- he trails off but his mind is full of a jagged black and red Keyblade that he never saw. Sora feels a pang that he squashes before Roxas can start to squirm too hard. Getting it out somehow.

"We could—"

And you don't want to do that, Sora.

"Because Axel's heart won't have anywhere to go? I could—"

That would just be weird, Roxas says firmly. Besides, it's -- no. Not unless you want Axel to be incomplete again. Maybe worse. Roxas doesn't want to think about what happens if someone who's still kept their Nobody identity loses their heart again. Not unless you want Riku to be incomplete, and someone else as well.

Sora doesn't get it for a moment. And then his eyes go wide. "You think it'd make a Nobody for Riku?"

He's too much like the Superior already, Roxas says. Don't even think about trying to get either heart out of him.

"So if it is bad, what do we do?"

We don't know it is bad, you know. Besides, Roxas says, and hesitates. They probably just need to come to terms with each other better. I mean, it's easier for you and me-- not that it's always been easy, neither of them says. Because, I mean at first it was harder since I hadn't picked it myself. But later on, when I decided that this, right here, is where I want to be-- A warmth is growing inside them and Roxas struggles to ignore it before it sweeps him away and makes him forget what he's trying to say. When I submitted myself completely to you, we began to fit right. Jagged edges are hard to line up even when they came from the same parts, right? When they're not, they have to reshape to fit. Give them time.

Sora nods slowly, folds a hand over his chest because Roxas likes feeling his heartbeat through his palm. "I guess. But why do you say you've submitted yourself completely, huh?"

Because--

"There's still things that're just yours and just mine, right?" Sora says. "Or if not really, we kind of want them to be and get mad when they're not. Right?" Sora's thinking of fighting styles, moves he was proud of. He's thinking of the feeling he gets when he feels the sand under his feet, he's thinking of liking to sleep in until after noon. Which is weird, because they're nothing he's fought Roxas over, but maybe sometimes the deep-down uneasiness is worse than fighting.

Roxas thinks of other things. He nods after a moment, wry. Well, it's not like they fit perfectly yet either, just really well.

Guess you're right, he says, and curls Sora's hand against his chest.

***

When Riku lies down to sleep the next night, Axel is ruthless in acquisition of his body. He feels Riku stir inside as he heaved himself to his feet again, and sends out a cool touch of darkness to ease him back into sleep.

He's finished dressing and started to head out when he hears the trellis beside the balcony rattle and scrape. A grin crosses his face despite himself and he goes over, plants his elbows on the rail, and watches Roxas pull himself up hand over hand, scraping himself on the roses.

"I missed you too, baby," Axel murmurs.

Roxas jumps, almost lets go of the trellis, then glares up at Axel vaguely. He holds out a hand demandingly. "Don't just watch me."

"I like watching you," Axel says, but he takes Roxas's hand and hauls.

For a moment Roxas is hanging off the balcony, Axel's grip on him the only thing holding him up, the strain between their arms and the tight grip of their hands on each other. And then Roxas gets a foot up onto the balcony and pushes as Axel pulls and he stumbles over, into Axel's arms.

"Hey," Axel whispers into Roxas's hair.

Roxas tilts his face up, then shoves a little. "Room," he says.

Axel grins at him, drops his hand to take Roxas's, leads him in. The bed's unmade; he drops into it and drags Roxas down with him.

Roxas resists faintly.

"Whaaat," Axel whispers. "What?"

"You've got a weird look on your face," Roxas says. "What're you planning?"

For a moment the truth rolls against Axel's lips. As it passes through the knife's edge of his smile it parts and curls. "Nothing much, I guess? Just. You want to try something different?"

"Different?" Roxas asks, and Axel pulls.

As Roxas tumbles down against him Axel feels Riku wake up, grope around groggily inside him as if looking for the alarm that woke him, and then hears Riku's mute cry of -- annoyance, actually.

Riku doesn't like being bested. Axel knows; they're enough alike in that. Axel rolls over onto Roxas, feeling him freeze underneath him, and grins a bit. Axel doesn't like acquiescing either, and Riku's got no right to try to dictate what he does with Roxas.

And if Sora feels it too, then and after the fact -- well, that's ...

Too bad for Riku, Axel thinks firmly instead of anything more dangerous. Roxas is trapped under him and while Axel may prefer the feeling of Roxas forcing demands on Axel's body, Axel thinks this is good too. He can feel every one of the too-quick breaths Roxas is sucking in; can feel the pressure of Roxas's body as Roxas shifts under him. Can feel the slow, shuddering relaxation of Roxas's muscles under him, like surrender.

The feelings that rush over him come too fast and hard for him to put into words. He isn't even able to identify more than the tail ends of each -- surprise, relief, something like realization. Desire slamming into him so hard he has to duck and bite Roxas's neck then, suck on the skin. He can't chase his thoughts from the circles they're in.

"I love you," he rasps. "Roxas. I--"

Roxas's arms lift slowly around Axel, tangle in the back of his hair. "Yeah," Roxas manages. "I. Axel."

Axel bites again, grinds the skin between his teeth, jerks his hips down. Sora's pyjamas are red and don't suit Roxas at all but make him look pale and fragile and Axel shoves a hand up under the top, dragging his hand hard along Roxas's lean but muscled chest, catches at a nipple and tweaks it hard.

Roxas yelps.

Smothering a grin into Roxas's skin is less relaxed than he'd like it to be; it's because he can't lift his head to grin at Roxas, not when the scent of Roxas's neck, the feel of it is right there against his mouth. He's sucking great gasps of air now himself, right against Roxas's skin, and drops his hand fast, slides it under Sora's waistband, cradles Roxas's hardening cock with a heated palm. "Fuck," Axel swears, his tone almost reverent. "Fuck, I--"

Twitching up against him, Roxas squirms just enough to reach over to the bedside table and pull out the tube of lube Riku'd stolen from the pharmacy on the main island. It's half-empty and Axel can only remember using it with Roxas a handful of times. But it's not like Roxas really does that often. Axel thinks. He tries to think how often Sora has but he can't really--

"Stop thinking," Roxas says, and Axel takes the tube. It doesn't matter, he decides finally, and barely slicks his fingers before dropping them back into the pyjama pants. Oil stains them and Roxas hisses a curse which does more to turn Axel on than discourage him, and then Roxas is squirming, kicking his pantlegs down and off, arching a bit.

Axel tries to say something, swear or -- something, but he can't seem to manage it when Roxas takes his hand and directs it down and in, pressing roughly with his hips even as he forces Axel's fingers in. He's shaking, his mouth is a bit open, there's a low noise in his throat and -- Axel doesn't have any control at all at the moment and doesn't need it with Roxas sliding his fingers in slick and hot an smooth until Axel's curled knuckles beside those fingers press hard into his flesh. Even then Roxas pushes a moment more, mouth open and breath laboured, like he's not sure.

"Fuck," Axel manages finally, thin. He's done this before, other Nobodies, other people, it's always good, but this is Roxas pulling him inside, this is Roxas flexing around him as his body spasms against unfamiliarity, this is Roxas whose pulse he can feel from the inside out.

He's coming undone, he thinks distantly, his eyes wide, and he couldn't stop it if he tried, wouldn't want to try, it'd be okay to completely unravel, his heart feels like it's squeezing and expanding at once and--

Riku takes ruthless advantage and shoves him aside.

***

He feels horrible, a little sick, but he doesn't think he could have stopped himself if he'd tried; not with Sora on the line. A bet for Sora, what Sora'd feel, what Sora'd walk away with. He's shuddering and aroused and his stomach is churning and he can feel Roxas flexing around him, feel each sharp breath Roxas is drawing in.

Roxas's grip on Riku's hand doesn't falter. His hips are twitching almost despite himself, and Riku thinks Hell. This isn't something he should want. His chest hurts as if he's out of air. This isn't something he should--

"Please," Roxas says, low and hoarse and meeting Riku's eyes, still moving like Axel's with him. "Please. Give him back."

It hits the centre of his chest like a blow and he opens his mouth as if to speak, he stares inwards where Axel is shuddering and desperate and then he grits his teeth and closes his eyes.

He's never been good at surrender, so it's not particularly graceful as he falls backwards and shoves Axel forward.

***

Axel gasps for air like he's broken through the surface of water and he can't catch his breath, doesn't have time because Roxas is kissing him.

"Come on," Roxas says, low. It's like he's inviting Axel to fight, he's usually used it in that tone, but he's dragged Axel down against him hard.

Axel shivers, doesn't thank anyone, and drags his free hand down Roxas's thighs. Roxas's shirt is pushed up and twisted and Axel can see the flush on one bruised nipple where he'd pinched. His fingers twitch.

Roxas's full lips part and his brows draw down like he's frowning. "Nngh..."

"Want you," Axel breathes.

Roxas shakes his head fiercely, but it's not a denial. "Don't wait," he mutters. "Don't, just -- come on," he says, and drags at Axel's hips.

Axel's never really been good at saying no to Roxas and never really wanted to be. Right now he can't see why he'd try. Roxas's bruising grip on his wrist lets up and Axel shivers, twists his fingers one more time against that smooth silken heat and tugs his fingers out, slow enough to feel the stretch of Roxas's body cling to his fingers until they're out.

And at that time Roxas shakes himself, like he's fighting off a chill or an empty feeling and he arches, he squirms, he gets a leg up around Axel's hips.

It's not the best position in the world but it's Roxas and it's not the worst. He doesn't warn Roxas that it'll hurt; he's never cared. Not really. Roxas either, and maybe it doesn't hurt at all because Roxas's lips just part again as Axel presses in at the awkward downward angle, and he lets out a heavy sigh a moment later.

Axel remembers the heat of a roaring fire and swallows around the clenching inside him. "Roxas, Roxas," he mutters. "So good, you're so--"

Almost despite himself, Roxas's lips twist into a kind of embarrassed smile. "Idiot," he mumbles, and arches hard, shifting up off the bed.

The angle's better, all at once, a hell of a lot better, and Axel doesn't even try to fight it. He snaps his teeth together inside his grin and moves, knees digging hard into the mattress, in and forward and up as his hands dig bruises into Roxas's hips.

Roxas leans back and takes it and moves into it as best as he can, his body a strained arch from shaking thighs up. His shoulders roll against the bed, his head is tilted so he can watch Axel through bright, blue eyes.

He's staring hard and even though his gaze is blurring, even though sweat is trickling down into his eyes, Axel stares back.

***

Roxas's thigh digs hard into Axel's side, his other foot pressed against the bed, dragging bedsheets down whenever it slips. He can hear his own breath in the air, ragged stuttering cries, and digs his blunted fingernails into Axel's back, as if he can hold on that way.

He's so close, so close, desperately close; Axel's not, but that's fine. It's okay, he thinks hazily, if he lets go, lets himself come, and he's not sure how much of that's him and how much of that's Sora watching and helpfully pointing out that you're having fun, right? So do what feels good--

And it does, he thinks desperate and aching, and he digs his nails in harder, grits his teeth, and despite everything he hits the edge hard, head jerking back almost convulsively as he shoves back onto Axel's cock roughly, cries out and grind into the throbbingly sharp pleasure ripping through him. It lets him go slowly and he sinks back, sweaty and boneless as Axel curses over him and moves and moves, and he thinks Axel is close.

It feels good like this, he thinks wistfully. He wants to stay here, like this, spent and tired and not wanting to move, limbs limp and Axel rocking fast and brutally hard into his body. He traces a fingertip against the wrinkles in the bedsheets, watching Axel's tense face screwed up with pleasure and shivers at the aftershocks.

And then he closes his eyes and reaches inside.

--Huh?

"I'm sorry," he says aloud.

***

Axel catches his breath at the apology, and a moment later the body under his squirms and he stares down, blinks away the blurring in the vision, blinks away the haziness and--

"A-Axel..." and the voice is hoarse and spent and content and kind of shocked.

Axel bites out a high, sharp curse and grabs Sora's hips hard, driving himself in and comes a moment later with such a brilliant sudden pressure it's like he's combusting and he can't breathe and he can't think and he can't do anything but burn up.

***

No! and Yes... and I'm sorry. and

...I-it's okay.

***

Axel passes out. He doesn't mean to, and later he's not sure if it was because of the completely overwhelming way climax had hit him or if it was the blinding whiteness of Riku's own shock at the last moment. But he passes out, and when he wakes up, it's Roxas again, like he was there all along, like he can take it back, make Axel believe it.

His mouth is dry. Axel swallows, finds his limbs drained and hard to move. He lifts a hand anyway, touches it to Roxas's cheek.

Roxas blinks sleepy eyes open. "...Axel."

"Roxas."

Roxas rolls over, but he doesn't move away; he squirms closer, rather, tucks his body into the curve of Axel's and mumbles, low and husky from what must be sleep, "I do love you, idiot."

***

Riku can't seem to place his feelings on the matter, not throughout the next day. Not with the next night upcoming. He sways between outrage and acceptance and something almost like approval. He's pretty sure he wants again to run off to Disney Castle and just spend a few days or weeks or months talking with Mickey, maybe help the worlds out. Only that's a bit more difficult when he'd be bringing one of his concerns with him.

In the end, a symbolic gesture is all he can do when night falls. When he drags the blankets down, away from his room, into the rec room a few doors down, and flops down there, he feels Axel's teeth grin at him from inside.

What do you think you're doing?

"You're sleeping on the couch."

What, together?

"Seems fair," Riku says. Later that night he hears bare feet padding down the hall and moments later Sora, in the doorway, gives him an annoyed look with one eye narrowed and his lips all pursed up. He shrugs back, like what can you do?

Sora pads over, tries to shove Riku over, and when there isn't room he just flops down on him instead, driving the air out of his lungs.

Riku doesn't need to be wary; Axel stays quiet, glittering eyes in the back of his heart watching the two of them together.

***

"I don't mind," Sora reassures him again, later. "It's okay."

It was kind of -- I didn't really plan it, I just--

Sora shrugs, rubs the back of his head. "I mean," he said. "It's not like I wasn't there anyway. Just--" He feels Roxas's shame and reaches out for it, grabbing and trying to tear it free like ripping a toy from Roxas's hands. He ponders it himself a moment then discards it. "I mean it!"

...Yeah.

No idea why that worked, but Roxas seems happier now, more genuinely relieved. On his own face, Sora can feel his eyebrows twisted upwards with self-depreciating hope. "I just don't get why," Sora says.

No?

"Yeah? I mean. You like him. And it's not like you were totally okay with it, so why--"

And a feeling like Roxas shoving him back, putting a hand over his mouth to shut him up. Ghostly and distant, a pointed chin coming to rest against his shoulder.

Surrender, Roxas says. And, ...I wanted to try it.

"Huh?"

"It's okay now," Roxas says aloud, and Sora feels his lips smile.

"Idiots. Go to sleep," Riku says, and hits him lightly upside the head.