Hey guys! Kat and Laci here. Sorry to keep you waiting so long, but with school back in session and all that fun craziness, we've been super busy. However, at long last, we're back! This is the sequel to Of Food, Friendship, and Fluff, so if you haven't read that, this story is not going to make a hell of a lot of sense. Well, it might a little, but probably not, so go read the other one first.
So, warnings. There is boy sex. Don't like it, don't read it, it's as simple as that. There's a lot going on along the way that isn't fun, happy times, but we'll warn you if things get graphic or if there are trigger warnings or anything.
With OFFF, we updated twice a week, but we're a lot busier this year, so there will only be Friday updates.
Other than that, we should be good to go. Enjoy!
WARNINGS: silly string, tampons, and sketchy alleys
Summer was hitting the home stretch, and the days of goofing off were drawing to a close. School supplies were bought, flights were booked, and suitcases and boxes started appearing in bedrooms.
It was almost time for college.
Axel and Roxas had to go back to school first. Although they were not going to be very far away, they would be busy, so they probably weren't going to be around much to see the others off. The group decided to have a party before the two started school so that they could enjoy their last day of summer vacation together.
It was doomed to be insane the moment Demyx produced a bag full of cans of silly string.
"You're kidding, right?" Riku asked as he stared at the bag. "You do realize this is a terrible idea."
"Shh, none of your negativity," Demyx said, narrowing his eyes.
"I, for one, think it is a brilliant idea," Roxas said, reaching into the bag and pulling out a can. He wiggled his eyebrows and shook the can.
"That in and of itself is proof that it is a terrible one," Riku said, but he reached in and grabbed a can as well.
"Whoever is covered in the most string when we run out should have to do something entertaining," Sora suggested.
"People have different definitions of entertaining," Zexion pointed out.
"We'll work on it once there's a clear loser."
"The winner should get to pick," Roxas said.
"Winner is the person with the least string on them?" Axel asked.
"Of course."
"And sitting out is automatic disqualification," Sora said. "Because I know some people would try that."
"Being disqualified means you lose," Roxas clarified, staring directly at Zexion.
"Was not planning on sitting out," Zexion said, shaking his head. "We are about to be college students. I think that that, if anything, is an excuse to act a bit immature for just a little."
"You need an excuse for that?" Demyx asked, frowning slightly. "Aside from it being fun, anyway."
Seeing Zexion's developing discomfort, Xion decided to come to his rescue. She reached over and grabbed Riku's can of silly string from him, quickly taking the cap off and spraying some at Demyx. She giggled as his blonde mullet was quickly decorated with strands of green goo.
Demyx blinked a few times, eyes focused upward as he tried to see the string. "No one said go," he said sadly.
"Go," Xion proclaimed.
"Good enough for me," Roxas said. He quickly uncapped his silly string and aimed for Riku, who was unarmed thanks to Xion. Riku quickly reached for a new can so that he could retaliate.
Soon, silly string was flying in all directions. Since most of the people present had oddly spiky hair, their heads soon looked quite colorful with the strands dangling from random spikes and smooshing them down.
Finally, they were all out of silly string.
Out of breath from laughing, Demyx looked around and asked, "Verdict?"
They looked around. Finally, Xion spoke. "Well, Roxas is the clear winner."
"Only because he spent all of his time hiding behind Axel," Riku pointed out.
Roxas grinned widely. "It was a legitimate strategy."
"Coward," Sora said, rolling his eyes. "Can't even face some silly string..."
"Who lost?" Roxas asked, grinning widely. He was going to get to determine the fate of the loser.
The rest of the group looked around at each other before five fingers all pointed to Demyx.
"Hmmm," Roxas said. "What should I make Demyx do...?"
"...I don't think I like this game anymore," Demyx muttered. "Roxas looks evil."
"Roxas is evil," Riku said, trying to hide a smile. "I would have thought you had realized that by now, Demyx."
"I'm not usually the target, though."
"This is surprisingly tricky," Roxas admitted. "There isn't a ton I can think of that would actually embarrass you."
"So don't?" Demyx suggested just a tiny bit hopeful.
"And let you off the hook? That's no fun."
"But..."
"But nothing," Roxas insisted.
"Then think of something."
Finally, an idea hit Roxas. He grinned enormously. "Okay, I've got it."
"That's really scary, Roxas..." Demyx said.
"I have a tutu in my closet," Roxas started. "You have to put that on and walk over to my mom's office. You then have to ask her for a tampon."
"On as in over my pants, or..."
"Nope," Roxas said, his grin widening. "Just the tutu. No pants."
"Oh. Okay." Demyx didn't look bothered.
Roxas pouted. "You don't even look fazed. That's no fun."
"I have three slightly older female cousins. I experienced plenty of tutus when I was younger."
"Well, fine, then," Roxas said. "Have at it. You may not be embarrassed, but I'm still not letting you get out of it."
"Lead the way to the tutu, Roxy."
Roxas and Demyx walked to Roxas' room, and Roxas walked to the very back of his incredibly large closet. There was a box full of dress-up clothes, with a bright pink tutu on top.
"It might be a bit small," Roxas said, walking out of the closet with the tutu and holding it out to Demyx. "The waistband is elastic, though, so you can probably manage to squeeze it on."
"That thing is awful. What if I can't fit?"
"Well, it was made for a little girl," Roxas conceded. "A girl lived next door for a while, and her mom was friends with my mom, so she would sometimes come over to play. My mom bought her a ton of dress-up stuff, and we never got rid of it. If it doesn't fit, you don't have to wear the tutu. Like I said, though, the waistband is elastic, and you're fairly thin."
Demyx sighed. "Okay. Shoo."
"Yessir," Roxas said, grinning. "Come back to the living room when you're dressed. We all get to see it before you go talk to my mom."
"You are the worst kind of person."
"Damn straight."
"Go now. I'll... be out in a few minutes."
Roxas waved and headed back into the living room.
Once Roxas was gone, Demyx looked at the tutu with disdain, and he took his sweet time trying to wiggle into it. Finally, and quite unhappily, he managed to get it on, but just barely. Grumbling to himself, Demyx headed to the living room.
"Awe, DemDem, you look adorable," Xion said cheerily when he finally entered the room.
He only pouted at her.
"You do!" Xion insisted.
"Sure..."
There was a flash, and Roxas tucked his phone back into his pocket. "Now for the second part."
"Can we negotiate this? I've never even talked to your mom before."
"She's not that scary," Riku said. "You'll be fine."
Demyx gave him a look that said he was not helping.
"She isn't," Roxas confirmed.
"I don't want to make a bad first impression."
"She loves me, and I don't think you could possibly make a worse first impression than I did," Riku said, grinning. "I spent the night at Roxas' and forgot to lock the door when I was showering."
"Oh."
"She didn't open my bathroom door without knocking for a month and a half after that," Roxas said, grinning at the memory. "Plus, she's used to me having people around, and she knows I enjoy getting up to interesting things. You'll be fine."
Demyx sighed. "Fiiiine."
"You have to tell us what she says," Zexion cut in.
"Okay."
"Now run along," Roxas said, poking Demyx. "Go have fun."
Slowly, Demyx trudged his way to Roxas's mom's office.
When he arrived at the door, Roxas' mother looked up. "One of Roxas' friends?" she asked as she looked him over once. "I'm not going to question why he put you in a tutu."
"I lost the silly string war," Demyx explained.
"I'm going to hope my carpet is not stained and just not question it." She smiled at him. "What's your name?"
"Demyx."
"Well, Demyx, I'm Mrs. Strife, but I'm sure you already knew that. You can call me Tifa." She gave him a warm smile.
"Mmkay." Demyx tried to return the smile as he fidgeted in place.
"Is there anything else you have to do?"
"Yeah..."
"What?"
Demyx fidgeted more. "I'm s'posed to ask you for a tampon..."
"Wow, this must have been a serious silly string fight," she said amusedly. "Do you have to actually bring one back?"
"I don't think so... Roxas didn't say I had to."
"Well, here," she said as she reached into the bottom drawer of her desk. She pulled out a tampon and a black sharpie and scribbled something on the wrapper. "Give this to Roxas for me."
"Yes ma'am," Demyx said as he took it from her.
"Nice meeting you, Demyx."
"You too."
With that, she went back to her work, and Demyx headed back to the living room.
"Well?" Roxas asked.
Demyx threw the tampon at him. "She told me to give that to you."
Roxas looked at the wrapper and grinned. When he was done reading, he attempted to chuck it at Axel's head, only missing slightly.
"It's for you," Roxas said.
"Me?" Axel looked confused as he picked up the poorly aimed object.
"Yup. The contract she's working on must be going well, because my mom apparently has a sense of humor tonight."
Axel read what was on the wrapper and laughed. "This isn't mine, it's Sora's."
"God no," Roxas said, making a face. "Don't even imply that."
"What does it say?" Xion asked.
"It told Roxas to give it to his girlfriend."
Xion furrowed her brows. "But you're a boy..."
"Hence why it's Sora's."
"Hey!" Sora protested before whining at Riku. "Make them be nice."
"Awe, but you'd be such a cute girl," Riku teased, ruffling Sora's hair.
"No."
"Fine, fine."
The small brunette grinned at him, leaning to kiss Riku's cheek. Riku smiled and pulled him close.
"And was she as scary as you thought?" Roxas asked.
Demyx shook his head. "She's really nice."
"Told you," Riku said. "Of Roxas' parents, she's the sweet one, generally. She's very demanding, and you don't want to screw with her, but she's usually fairly nice."
"We should probably clean up now..." Sora said, looking around the room.
"It could be worse," Roxas said, but he excused himself from the room to get a trash bag for them.
As soon as he was back, everyone pitched in to clean up the silly string. When they were finally done, Roxas took the trash out and settled in on the couch. "I wish this didn't have to end."
"We'll just have to do something like this every break," Axel said.
"Definitely," Riku agreed.
"Until then, though, we should enjoy the rest of today."
Xion skipped over and poked Roxas, "That means you're not allowed to be depressing, got it?"
"I wasn't being depressing!"
"What are we gonna go now that we're out of silly string?" Sora asked.
"Beats me," Roxas said. "We agreed from the beginning that I was doing no planning."
"If you had a pool..." Demyx muttered.
"Nope, sorry."
"We could play charades or something!" Sora said. "That's always entertaining."
"Roxas and Sora aren't allowed to be on the same team," Riku said immediately.
"We don't have to do teams. There's an odd number of people, anyway."
"That works, then."
Sora grinned. "Yay!"
"How are we doing this?" Zexion asked.
"By height," Axel said immediately.
"Hey!" Roxas protested. "That's not fair."
"You'd just say age, and that's not fair," Sora said. "So hush."
"Age is legitimate," Roxas insisted.
"So is height," Axel protested.
"We could go alphabetically?" Xion proposed.
"I like that one," Demyx said.
"Everyone else cool with it?"
There were random nods with some pouting.
"Then let's play!" Xion said, beaming.
The group set out to play charades, which turned out to be a rather interesting event. Roxas chose crude words almost every time (though they were remarkably easy to guess). Xion's words were almost impossible to guess, because she did a lot of flailing around instead of actually acting out her words.
At some point, Sora's pants fell down. Roxas caught photographic evidence of that, but Riku threatened to murder him if he ever did anything with it.
"I do not know why any of you are surprised," Zexion said wryly. "It seems these days that we can't get together without someone losing their clothing."
"At least his underwear stayed up..."
"Thank god," Roxas agreed.
"You guys aren't special enough for that," Sora said.
"Save that for me," Riku agreed.
"Yep."
"So who won?" Roxas asked.
"We were keeping a score?" Dem asked.
"I don't know. That is why I was asking."
"I guess that means we weren't," Axel reasoned. "Or Demyx is just worried about losing again..."
"I am not!" Demyx protested. "I just didn't know."
"Sora won," Zexion said.
"I did?" The brunette looked confused.
"If you assign one point for every correct answer given and one for every acted out charade that went unguessed, then, yes. You won."
"Oh. Awesome."
"Yay, Sora!" Xion said happily.
"Who lost then?" Axel asked.
"Xion."
"Oh."
"Yup."
Sora hugged Xion.
"It's okay," Xion said cheerfully. "I had fun! That's the important part, right?"
"Yep!"
Xion beamed and hugged Sora tightly back.
The group enjoyed the rest of their time together, though it eventually started to get late. Xion was the first to leave, with Zexion and Demyx taking off not long after.
Finally, it was just Axel, Riku, Roxas, and Sora.
"Have fun in college," Riku said to Roxas. "I know you'll be around here, so it's not like I won't see you ever again, but I know you'll be busy, and before long I'll be off. Don't do anything stupid, and keep in touch."
"Yes, Mom," Roxas teased, but his tone was fairly affectionate. "I know Sora will want to hole you up in your room the day before you have to leave, but between now and then, you two should come visit us. It's not exactly far away, and Axe and I are sharing a dorm room, so it's not like you're running around all over the place on campus searching for us."
"I think we can squeeze a bit of time into our schedules for you," Riku said. There was a smile on his face, but something about it seemed almost sad.
"You're not allowed to be sad about us leaving," Roxas insisted, catching where Riku's brain was headed. "We aren't going far. Hell, even you aren't going far. It's, what... a five hour drive? I could probably make it in four and a half hours."
"Axel, never let Roxas drive to come see me," Riku insisted.
"I will be sure to keep him so busy he doesn't have the time to spare," Axel promised.
"Hey!" Roxas said, pushing Axel slightly. He tried to come off as offended, but the big grin on his face undermined his efforts.
Axel grinned back. "You won't mind."
"Remind me never to visit your room, after all," Riku said, wrinkling his nose. "It's going to constantly reek of sex, if you're serious about actually trying to keep Roxas busy."
"I never said a thing about sex."
"You basically promised lots of sex," Roxas argued.
Axel put his hand over Roxas' mouth. "Shhh."
Roxas stuck his tongue out and licked at the palm of Axel's hand, but Axel didn't react to it. Roxas pouted and bit gently on the skin, instead.
"Roxas."
"Mm?"
"Stop trying to make out with my palm."
Roxas just glared, and Riku rolled his eyes. "Well, I think it's time to leave you two in peace. Don't kill each other trapped in your little room, okay?"
Finally prying Axel's hand from his mouth, Roxas said, "No homicide. Got it. Axel, thanks to Riku, your life is no longer at risk."
"That is both comforting and concerning," Axel said.
Roxas held out his arms and gave Riku an enormous hug. "Watch out for yourself, okay?"
"Okay," Riku agreed, the same, sad smile on his face as before.
When they broke apart, Roxas bopped Riku on the nose. "No sad," he said. "Life moves on, and I'll see you at Christmas."
"Don't move on and forget us all when you're off at college. Don't get drunk off your ass all the time. Go to class, do your wor-"
"Thanks, Mom," Roxas repeated, rolling his eyes. "I'll be fine. Now, we're stretching this out. Let's just man up and get this over with."
"Fine," Riku agreed. "Call me when you're moved in, okay?"
"Will do."
They finally exchanged final goodbyes, and Riku took off.
"Well," Roxas said. "Thirteen sixteenths of the hardest parts are out of the way now."
Axel blinked. "...Wha?"
"Three hard parts left," Roxas said, waving his fingers in Axel's face. "Saying goodbye to this one," he said, ruffling Sora's hair, "the actual moving in part, and having to deal with my parents' goodbyes."
"I have a name!" Sora protested, keeping his face mostly neutral.
Roxas grinned. "You do. A really weird-ass one, but it's nice."
"It's not weird. It's Japanese."
"Eh, same difference," Roxas said, waving his hand dismissively. "Then again, I guess I can't really talk. With a dad named Cloud, I was screwed from the start."
Sora laughed. "Everyone kind of got a shorter end of the name stick..."
"Speaking of sticks..."
"I don't want to ask, do I?"
Roxas laughed. "You don't have to. I'm telling you, anyway. I just wanted to tell you to make sure you get Riku good and sexed up within the next few days. Otherwise, he'll be running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to deal with everything at once."
"He'll be fine."
"I know he will," Roxas said quietly. "Believe it or not, you both will be."
"Yeah."
"Should we send Axel back home to bed?" Roxas asked Sora, trying to prevent a gloomy silence from descending on the room by prematurely filling it with words. "It will be past his bedtime soon."
Sora laughed slightly. "Up to you."
Grinning, Roxas said, "Up to Axel, actually. My mom said you're free to spend the night if you want."
Axel shook his head. "My mom wants me home."
"Need a ride?"
"Nah."
"Okay," Roxas said, standing on his tippy toes and planting a kiss on Axel's cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah," Axel said. "See ya."
Roxas walked him out, and after a quick kiss on the doorstep, Roxas came back inside. "You have to visit me too, Sor," he said.
"Or you could just come home occasionally, since you're the one with a car," Sora replied.
"I will come visit," Roxas agreed. "You know my mom would totally buy you a car if you asked, though. The Great Car Escapade happened long enough ago that she might have forgotten."
"License, Roxas. I don't love you enough to drive illegally."
Roxas pouted slightly. "I'm so offended," he teased. "You don't love me enough to break the law and risk your life? What kind of friend are you?"
"The kind that likes being alive," Sora said matter-of-factly.
"Damn straight."
"I also don't trust public transportation enough for you, so there."
"Hey!" Roxas said. "Metrolink is legit. It's much better than some of the crappy transportation systems in other places I lived."
"I look younger than I am. I will get creeped on."
Roxas rolled his eyes. "You're ridiculous."
"When I end up raped and murdered in an alley from trying to visit you, you'll change your mind."
"The city is NOT that bad."
"It is for blue-eyed, brunette boys who look five years younger than their age!" Sora protested.
"Only if they go wandering around in sketchy alleys after dark," Roxas argued. "Blue-eyed, blonde boys who look five years younger than their age can testify to this."
"That's concerning..."
Roxas just shrugged.
"I'm sleeping with a frying pan under my pillow tonight so that I can beat you if you wake me up tomorrow morning."
"You're probably going to be woken up," Roxas said apologetically. "Not by me, but because my parents are going to be going crazy tomorrow morning. Does this mean that tonight is the last hurrah for us, too, though, since you don't actually want to be awake tomorrow?"
Sora looked at his feet. "I don't want to be awake because I don't want to cry. I'll do enough of that in a couple days."
A small crease appeared between Roxas' eyebrows. "It gets easier, Sor. I mean, I don't really want you to forget about how fucking awesome I am or anything, but it will get easier to push it back into the corner of your mind so it doesn't hurt as much. I know it's going to be hard missing Riku, and I can't really change that, but I'll try to pop in as often as I can."
"Okay."
Roxas held his arms out. It took a moment, but Sora hugged him.
"I love you, Sora. You've gotta promise me something, though."
"What?"
"If things get too bad, promise you will tell me and not let things build up so fucking badly, like they did this time," Roxas said seriously.
Sora nodded.
"No fingers crossed or anything? You promise?"
"I promise," Sora said. "I don't think it'll come to that, but I promise."
"Good," Roxas said. "If you don't follow through, fully expect me to come over here and kick your ass."
"Mmkay."
Seeming satisfied, Roxas yawned and stretched. "I wouldn't normally go to bed this early, but I've been threatened to be cockblocked for the next month and a half if I don't get a decent night's sleep. I should probably head off."
Sora laughed. "So the way to get you to behave is take away your sex... Too bad I can't pull that one, that'd be useful."
"Axel can't even use it effectively half the time," Roxas said, grinning wickedly. "I have designated Anti-Axel Cockblocking outfits that always work when he's trying to be determined."
"Axel is weak."
Roxas laughed. "Can't blame him. I mean, look at what he's dating."
"I'm not impressed."
"Psh," Roxas said, rolling his eyes. "I'd say that it's because you're blind, but I'm honestly really glad things are the way they are, or it'd be hella awkward."
"I'd apologize, but it'd be a lie. Now off to bed with you."
"God, is it National Everyone Try to Mother Roxas Day?" Roxas whined, but he ruffled Sora's hair again. "Night, kid."
"We're working on legalizing it." Sora grinned at him. "Night, Rox."
Roxas walked towards the hallway. Right before he left the room, though, he turned around and grinned. "See you bright and early in the morning!"
"Frying pan."
"My mom would kill you and you know it."
"She would not. She adores me."
"Frying pans are her weapons, and she likes them to stay in the kitchen," Roxas said, shaking his head. "Her love of you will not save you."
"I asked for permission to hoard it in my room until you left."
Roxas shook his head. "I call bullshit on that."
"Ask her," Sora said.
"Damn," Roxas said after a second of looking at Sora's facial expression and determining he was actually telling the truth. "Fine, Mr. Fun Ruiner."
The brunette grinned at him. "Bedtime, mister."
"Fiiine," Roxas whined. "See you, Sora."
"See ya."
Roxas headed off to bed, leaving Sora alone in the living room.
[TBC]
