Xavier Austin is a fictional character from the Australian Channel Seven soap opera Home and Away, played by David Jones-Roberts. The character debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 20 November 2008. Jones-Roberts was cast in the role after previously auditioning for the roles of four other characters. Xavier has been portrayed as a caring character who has had to look after his family. Many of his storylines have been centred on his relationship with Ruby Buckton. Xavier departed on 3 July 2012, but made a brief return from 23 to 24 April 2013, for the funeral of his mother, Gina.

Ruby Buckton is a fictional character from the Australian Channel Seven soap opera Home and Away, played by Rebecca Breeds. She debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 20 June 2008. Ruby was created by executive producer Cameron Welsh. When she was first introduced she appeared to hide her problems and pretends to be strong. She was characterised as a free spirited and independent girl. Her storylines have consistently followed themes such as romance, unrequited love and rejection. In what has been described as a "shock storyline" Ruby discovered her sister Charlie Buckton was in fact her mother. This had subsequent effects in her character development. She became out of place and confused about her life. It destroyed her trust in Charlie and their relationship never recovered. Ruby went on a journey of self-discovery and used men to redefine herself. Her relationship with Xavier Austin was characterised through their mutual friendship, which ended through lack of passion. She controversially fell in love with her music teacher Liam Murphy, the pair shared an emotional and creative connection through music. Yet, her advances were unrequited and it created problems with her state of mind and began binge drinking. Breeds felt the storyline differed to her romance with Xavier, as it showed Ruby "headstrong and unconfined". Breeds felt they were ill-suited to one another.