Anime:: Kingdom Hearts II

Summary:: Sometimes the worst day can bring three people closer together.

Author's Note:: Boredom inspired…sigh o

Sigh

He sighed. It wasn't a sigh of relief or sleep, it was one of those sighs that one sighs when one is just about to leap to their death or fight a wild animal. Good thing that's how he felt right now.

"30 quid[1 bud." He opened one yellow eye and inwardly cringed.

'Great there goes booze money,' He though sighing once again, this time at the heavy British accent that came through driver side window as the cab driver repeated himself, "Thanks dude..." He muttered as he handed the money over through the window, turning to face his brother's house with a dejected look. Everyone would be there; it was his nephew's birthday after all. He'd told Xaldin over and over again that it would be awkward if he came but the ever loving brother, the only one who had enjoyed him being the black sheep of the family, insisted that his presence was needed at the momentous occasion that his only son turned ten. He made sure his black hair was still pulled into a tight, sleek ponytail, pouting as a few strands of grey fell across his eye, for some odd reason he'd lost the pigmentation[2 in a few areas on his head and his once black hair now had thick grey/white streaks through it, and made his way up the white stone path, trying not to look out of place against the rather lavish looking house.

'Big deal,' He thought as he knocked on the door, 'I turned ten 14 years ago...' A new thought dawned on him, 'Oh crap I turn 30 in 5 years[3!' He was about to slam his head on the front door when it was opened and his older brother Xaldin stood towering over him.

"Xigbar you made it." The greeted smiled weakly at the man before him, dreadlocks, sideburns and all...at the age of 34.

"Is Ma here yet?" As Xaldin closed his eyes, he nodded with furrowed brows. When their father had died he was greatly missed as an amazing surgeon and loving father. He loved both Xigbar and Xaldin equally, though when he died it was obvious the eldest was the favourite. Xaldin had decided to become something medical or scientific, Xigbar could never remember and he honestly couldn't care; he on the other hand had one morning announced to the breakfast table that he wanted to be a writer...his mother fainted from shock and didn't speak to him for a week. It was a silly dream she told him and he hated her for saying that, so he left. One night he was there in the morning he was gone, though he couldn't help keeping in touch with Xaldin who, at the breakfast table, had punched him in the shoulder and told him to fight for his dream. It was odd calling her Ma now...he hadn't called her Ma in almost seven years.

He followed Xaldin through the house and self consciously tried to straighten the creases in his shirt and rub off that odd little dirt stain that had suddenly appeared on his favourite jacket. As the entered the clean and brightly decorated living room Belle, his brother's wife, came gliding out of the kitchen and pulled Xigbar into a tight hug.

"It's wonderful to see you Braig." She smiled warmly and he cringed inside. Braig was his first name, as Dilan was Xaldin's, but everyone had grown so accustomed to their father calling them by their middle names that it was just the norm now. Though Belle was Belle and still insisted that she call the two brothers Braig and Dilan.

"You're still wearing that coat? Why not buy a new one?" It was a nice enough comment but the cynicism in the underlying tones of his mother's voice made him scowl.

"Hello...Ma." Xigbar's voice was strained but his face brightened quickly when a black haired boy poked his into the room, a huge grin adorning his face.

"Uncle Xiggy!" He cried and tackle hugged his uncle as hard as he could. The older man gave an oomph and stumbled back, hugging his nephew warmly and giving him and rough dutch rub on the head.

"Hey kiddo! Happy birthday for tomorrow!" He laughed happily, forgetting all about his bitch of a mother and just enjoying the bursts of laughter from the young boy, "Here you go squirt. Just for you." The scar on Xigbar's cheek stretched with his smile as he handed over the gift he'd bought the other day. He stood and walked over to punch Xaldin in the shoulder as wrapping paper flew off and a cry of 'Cool!' was shouted at the toy police helicopter, which was instantly out of the packet and zooming around the room making loud noises and obviously giving the young boy's grandmother the peeves...though she didn't seem to have the heart to tell him off on his birthday. As Xigbar walked into the kitchen he lifted the eye patch over his right eye and rubbed at the newly uncovered area tiredly and even though the eye was now uncovered he still couldn't see out of it; he'd been blind in that eye since birth.

"Look Belle I gotta go. I really only came to give him the gift but my deadline for the new book is really soon and I-" She cut him off with a smile.

"It's ok Braig. He knew you wouldn't stay long, but he's glad you came. So are Dilan and I. You should come over again for dinner sometime...when Kath isn't here." Belle laughed, she too wasn't fond of the elderly woman either.

"Yeah...thanks Belle, that'd be nice." He smiled softly and kissed her cheek. Ducking down to pick up the rampaging child, tipping him upside down and enjoying the hysterical screams and giggles he received. He was about to leave when Xaldin stopped him.

"Belle wanted to thank that kid in your apartment building that babysat Tyler for us when you were sick. Her and Ty went out and bought him this, picked by Tyler of course; but yeah it's a thank you present for him. Tell him we say hi."
"Yeah sure, whatever it is I'm sure he'll love it. See ya soon." Taking the package he stuffed it into his faded green and black messenger bag and left with a wave over his shoulder, feeling more out of place as he walked across the white stones of the hedge lined path once again. He reached the sidewalk and a boom of thunder echoed over head...it began to rain as he turned towards his apartment.

He sighed. It wasn't a sigh of relief or sleep, it was one of those sighs that one sighs when one has been forcefully tied to a chair and placed before a wall and made to watch paint dry. And that's about as much fun as he was having right now.

"How much?" A voice startled him from his trance of staring at the nine of spades in his solitaire game. Pale blue eyes looked upwards blandly, though he kept his head still; thrust a few inches from his face was an old hardcover book with a black slip cover, a picture of three sets of evil looking eyes, a humanistic canine face and white and blue letters proclaiming the books title as 'The Wolfen'[4.

'You don't want to read that book; you give off the impression that you're too much of an imbecile to understand the deep yet subtle story of such a book, you'd only read it for the gore,' Was the first thing that crossed his mind but he pushed it away and smiled politely at the customer, "That would be a first addition of Whitley Strieber's, The Wolfen; as for price, £35," He said the price with an offhanded manner though he knew it was slightly over priced[5. The man holding the book made a face and the blonde behind the counter inwardly scowled, 'Yeah well tough luck buddy, that's a limited hardcover first edition so you're going to have to pay the reasonable price for it!' He would have loved to have shouted this at the man, not being able to stand people who didn't understand the true value of such wonderful novels. The man placed the book on the counter, messing up his solitaire game, and began shuffling through his pockets for his wallet.

"Well," He leant forward to inspect the blonde's name tag, "Luxord, I shall have to buy this book since it does sound like an excellent read." The addressed smirked as he knew the man desperately wanted to proclaim how he thought the book was over priced. He tucked the pink-red note he was handed into the till and handed the man a purple note in return, placing the book in a paper bag with a receipt and smiling painfully until the man was out the door. The bell tinkled and he looked down at his ruined solitaire game with a face that showed nothing but very thinly stretched patience.

"I'm gon' close up for the night Luxord. You can go 'ome." Luxord's blue eyes flickered over to the thin, aging woman who appeared from behind a bookshelf and smiled weakly at her.

"Much appreciated ma'am." Unceremoniously the blonde man shoved his cards into his favourite brown duffle bag. The old woman set some books on the front counter and took £100 from the counter and stuffed it into his hands. Slinging the bag over his shoulder Luxord blushed slightly and gave her a hug.

"You take care, child." She croaked before bending over into a raspy coughing fit. Twenty-one and she still called him kid.

"Thanks..." She knew he was a university student and although he insisted he was well off she still gave him the 100 at the end of each week for coming in and working each day when he wasn't in classes.

He handed her back £10 and took a thick paper back with a picture of two cats on the front and the words 'Tailchaser's Song'[6 printed on the front.

"For a friend..." Luxord left through the back door, finishing his keys out of his pocket as he seated himself on the black and blue motor bike. As he jammed the key in the ignition a rumbled of thunder made him look up and a droplet of rain hit his exposed nose before he pulled the plastic shield of his helmet over the rest of his face...it began to rain as he pulled out onto the street.

He sighed. It wasn't a sigh of relief or sleep, it was one of those sighs that one sighs when one lifts weights for a while before a friend dares him to make it heavier and thus one adds a few more kilos to the already crushing weight. That was exactly how heavy the bags in his arms felt.

"You gonna be ok Mr?" The boy behind the check out asked cautiously as the dirty blonde haired teen shifted the weight in his arms. He had three paper bags, all 50cm deep and all full to the brim with all different items he'd felt the need to purchase at the supermarket. Not to mention the red backpack on his shoulders was full of the glass bottles which made it the heaviest.

'Do I look ok? My backpack weighs so much I'm about to tip over backwards and if it wasn't for these bags, that would probably be more at home in the arms of a Olympic weight lifter than a scrawny 19 year old student, I would have already!' He wanted to shout at the assistant and cry, and his aqua eyes gave away his distaste for the zit faced teen, but he gave a very strained smile and shook his head, his oddly styled mullet thing flipping about.

"Nah I'll be ok. Thank anyway, my house is just up the road." He huffed, already out of breath and half walked half waddled out of the automatic doors. He could barely see over the top of the bags as he puffed and panted up the street, though his apartment building was in clear sight as it stood at least three stories over most of the surrounding two story buildings.

He reached the thick iron gate that kept non-residents out and a thought dawned upon him...how was he going to push the keypad to key in the four digit code that would let him into the complex if he had his arms to full? A loud rumble of thunder gave him a start and his smile widened a little as the rain began to fall. He liked the rain, it was so soothing. A sigh of annoyance escaped his lips as he leant right up against the wall next to the keypad and extended his little finger and pushed the little numbered buttons, smiling once again when the gate buzzed and he shoved it open with his shoulder.

By the time he'd reached his home on the third floor he was almost in tears; the heavy bags had to be lugged up the stairs as the elevator was broken. He looked at the door with longing and then suddenly froze...his keys...the key chains weren't jangling at his side as he walked. They always jangled; he let them hang out of his pocket so they jangled! He chocked back tears when he remembered, they were inside...on the coffee table...he'd locked himself out. Suddenly the bottom of the wet bags gave way and he slid down the wall and burst into tears as everything spilled onto the concrete balcony.

Xigbar glared darkly at the little red man in the pedestrian lights, the rain making the usually bright figure blurry. He was already soaked and he hated the feeling of water trickling between his eye patch and skin, but waiting by the side of the road in the rain was making him start to shiver. The lights gave a whoop and began blooping, flashing green and as he went to step onto the road and motorbike pulled up beside him, nearly taking his leg off in the process.

"Damn it Luxord! You nearly took my leg off!" He growled, his California accent becoming stronger in his fright and annoyance, instantly recognising the blue and black bike. The shield on the helmet went up and Luxord's blue eye closed in a smile.

"Get on already." The British born and raised blonde laughed, chucking a spare black helmet to the disgruntled yellow eyed man. Xigbar rolled his visible eye and jammed the helmet on his head, climbing onto the bike and placing his hands on the small handle behind the second seat. Luxord restarted the motor and shot off towards the apartment block where they lived.

They'd met each other in a bar about two years ago when Xigbar had moved back to London after spending four years in California away from his family. They'd found out they went to the same university and had decided, as Luxord needed to move closer to school, the cheapest option was getting an apartment together and sharing the rent and bills. This had initially made the blonde rather nervous as he became a lot more open about being gay when he wasn't fully awake. Though when he made a pass at Xigbar the older man had laughed and kissed his cheek, when Luxord asked why he wasn't annoyed the raven haired man admitted he didn't really care for which gender his companions were. They'd slept together once after a few drinks and had declared it a just friends thing but that didn't stop them flirting with each other occasionally.

As the pulled into the underground parking area the older male wrapped an arm around the blonde's waist and leant to the side to swipe his key card for the door to open. As he leant back he placed a teasing kiss on Luxord's neck and muttered.

"Only electronic thing that works in this bloody place." They both laughed, knowing the elevator had been out of order since 2 months after their big move and despite constant reassurances that it would be 'fixed this week' it hadn't.

As Luxord parked the bike they both hopped off they made their way into the very dimly lit stairwell and began to climb the ugly concrete stairs. Xigbar was visibly shivering when they reached the third floor and Luxord's lips were turning blue as they heaved the heavy door open and spilled onto the concrete balcony. They turned towards their apartment and both men had to hold back the urge to 'aww' at the sight just ten or so meters away from them and right next door to their apartment.

"Are you ok Demyx?" Luxord asked kindly, bending down to scoop up some of the cans that had rolled a few meter's from the sobbing teen. Big, tear filled, aqua eyes looked up at the two men and their owner whimpered, mumbling something to his knees and trying to wipe away his tears with the back of a ratty grey jumper.

"What'd ya say?" Xigbar's question was soothing and as the oldest of the trio crouched beside the youngest Demyx gave a wail and threw his arms around the writer's neck.

"I locked myself out of my house!" He sobbed and the two older men smiled, Xigbar helping the dirty blonde to his feet, "It's been such a crappy day. First I was late for my class and then I forgot lunch and had to buy something and that meant I had no money to catch the Tube[7 home so I had to walk and then I grabbed my wallet at home and went to go get groceries and stuff and it weighed so much and then it started to rain and the bags got wet and then I got upstairs and the bags broke and I'd locked myself out and this is the worst birthday ever!" The Demyx sobbed into Xigbar's shoulder. Luxord began picking up the fallen items quietly, nodding at Xigbar to take Demyx into their apartment to calm down until a locksmith got there.

Once all three of they were inside, Demyx's wet groceries dumped by the door, Xigbar turned the heating up and the two blondes grabbed towels from the cupboard. Luxord slumped into the couch the now damp towel draped around his shoulders, he smiled as Demyx sat on the couch, tucking his legs under and pulled the towel around him like a blanket and giving a pathetic sniff, and Xigbar flopped down beside Demyx and dialled the number for the lock smith with one hand and drying his hair with the other, while trying to pull on the orange jumper that had come out of the package from Xaldin (though Xigbar said it was from him as he forgot it was Demyx's birthday).

There was silence for a moment, Demyx flicking through Tailchaser's Song (his gift from Luxord), and the scarred man's yellow eye went skyward and he glared at the phone as he pressed the talk button.

"They're shut and the recording says they won't be open till 10:30 tomorrow morning." Demyx let out a whimper and sighed heavily, leaning against the older blonde and smiling at the sudden warmth he felt.

"I guess I'll call Axel and ask if I can stay at his place for the night then..." He mumbled, reaching out to take the phone from Xigbar, pouting when it was thrown across the room and the older man grabbed his wrist and pulled the aqua eyed boy into his lap.

"You could stay here..." He said coyly, making Demyx blush darkly before quirking an eyebrow at Xigbar and catching the other off guard when he pounced on him.

"If you insist." Luxord rolled his eyes and grabbed the other blonde around the hips and dragged him into his lap.

"Hey don't leave me out pretty one," The older blonde said coyly into the youngest one's ear; said blonde giggling like a school girl and blushing wildly. Demyx stood and sauntered over to the bedroom door and slowly stripped off his white business shirt making sure that all attention was on his slim body as the piece of clothing hit the floor.

"Coming?" The young blonde asked glancing seductively over his shoulder before slipping through the door, his hand trailing around the frame as a last beckoning movement for the other two to follow.

The next morning at 11:00 a man dressed in working overalls turned up at the door to Xigbar and Luxord's and knocked loudly to announce his presence. He listened and smiled lightly as he heard some muffled 'I've just awoken' noises and some colourful swearing to accompany the loud thump that signified someone stubbing their foot. The door swung open and a deep blush spread across the locksmith's cheeks as he came face to face with a tall, olive skinned man, with a few love bites on his neck, chest and shoulders, long dark hair and a scar across his left cheek…he was also completely naked.

"Oh are you the locksmith?" He asked casually.

"Uh…"

"Xiggy put some pants on!" Demyx shouted from the bedroom door, a laugh echoing from inside the room as Luxord rolled over in bed, looking at the door and getting a wonderful view of the younger blonde's arse as Xigbar came pelting back into the room bright pink.

Notes[1 Quid Pounds [I'm using English money because I love England and felt like having that as the setting

[2 This happened to a girl in my year level and now she has this pretty white steak…

[3 I know that by the numbers in the previous sentence he is 34, the five years means he turns 35 in the year the story is set in…whatever year that is…

[4 The Wolfen EXCELLENT BOOK!!! READ IT!!!

[5 First edition books do cost more than a regular edition when you by them many years after they are first released.

[6 Tailchaser's Sing ANOTHER EXCELLENT BOOK!! READ IT TOO!!

[7 Tube Underground train around London