Chapter 2: Meeting Roxas

We were all silent for a few minutes as we continued to eat our lunch. Axel was the first to speak and break the silence.

"Man, where are they?" he asked.

"No idea, man." Demyx responded. "Roxas said he'd be up in a minute, but that was like ten minutes ago." I turned to Xion.

"Who are we waiting for?" I asked.

"Our other friends, Roxas and Xeno. Speaking of which, wasn't Xeno here when he called me?"

"He was," Luxord said. "But he had to take care of something." A boy with short black hair walked up behind Xion, but she didn't seem to notice. I looked around at the others, but all of them gave me the vaguest headshake they possibly could. Xigbar and Luxord were even smiling.

"Why, are you worried he's found someone else?" Xigbar teased. I could see Xion's face redden at the comment, but she shook her head vigorously.

"N-no, I just thought he might actually like to join us for lunch."

"Well, I would've been happy to if you guys had waited another five minutes." The boy, obviously Xeno, said. Xion jumped a foot in the air and turned to glare at him.

"How long have you been here?"

"Long enough." Xeno winked, causing Xion's face to grow redder. Xeno sat down on the couch next to Axel and sighed in content. "Man, Seifer is being a real pain in the ass today."

"What's that beanie wearing bully up to this time?" Larxene asked. Xeno shrugged.

"Who knows? He was flirting with Olette again, but she slapped him into next week. Highlight of the day if you ask me." Xigbar and Larxene burst out laughing, while everyone else smiled and tried to hold in their own laughs.

"He had that coming." Zexion said. "Probably deserves a few from Larxene and Xion, too."

"I've already paid him back plenty of times over." Larxene said. "You guys remember that black eye he had last week?" Everyone nodded. "Courtesy of yours truly." Axel nodded approvingly.

"Good job." he said. "I just wish I'd been there to do it myself."

"You could always give him one to match that red cheek he'll have for the next few days." Luxord suggested. Axel smirked.

"I might just do that."

"Who's Seifer?" I asked Xion.

"Seifer is the son of some small time fight coach." Xion responded. "He's the definition of a ladies' man and he intimidates and beats up weaker people to get what he wants."

"You forgot to mention the fact that he's a complete and utter asshole." Xigbar said.

"Yeah, that too."

"Well, hopefully we'll be spared from his asshole-like tendencies for a few days." Axel said. "Seifer won't show himself in public until his cheek is healed."

"We can always hope, but we all know how well Seifer can take a punch." Xeno said. He stole one of Xion's chicken wings and ripped some of the meat off it. Xion glared at him, but didn't move to take back the stolen food.

"Not as well as he might like." Demyx said through a mouth full of fries. "He still couldn't beat any of us in a fight." Larxene faked a gag and glared at the mullet-haired boy.

"Chew with your mouth closed, would you?" she asked. The lounge door opened and a second blond- haired boy walked into the room. His hair was styled into spikes that protruded from his head in every possible direction. I noticed his eyes; a deep shade of blue that seemed to stare into your very soul with kindness. He caught my gaze and held it for what felt to me like forever before I was forced to turn away to hide my blush.

"Look who finally decided to show up." Xigbar said. "Decided to get into a little tussle with an ant, did you? Looks to me like the ant won." I then noticed the bruise that was dominant on his right cheek, but the boy didn't seem to care about it. The blonde glared at him with annoyance.

"Yes, I did finally decided to show up." he said. "And I'll have you know the fight was with a blade of grass. Those things can be vicious." Xigbar and the boy both suddenly burst out laughing, like some kind of inside joke was being shared between them. "But really, I actually got into a fight with Rai. He got pissed when Hayner tried to stop him from attacking Pence and I had to step in. Took a couple punches, but Rai's much worse for wear."

"I would hope so." Zexion said. "We didn't teach you how to fight just so you could get pummeled by that big ape."

"When did he get promoted to ape?" Axel asked. "I thought he was still on punching bag level."

"Nah, that's Setzer." Xion said. "Rai can at least throw a punch."

"True."

"So, did anyone save me some food?" Roxas asked.

"No, but you can always steal some from Xion." Xeno said. Xion glared daggers at him.

"You touch my food, you lose every appendage you touch it with." Xeno raised his eyebrow and held out his hand to Xion.

"I suppose I'm supposed to lose a few fingers then, aren't I?" Xion mumbled something I couldn't hear and went back to eating her chicken. Roxas plopped down onto a sofa next to Luxord and grabbed a biscuit to eat. We sat in silence for a few minutes while everyone finished eating. As soon as Demyx had finished his last mouthful of chocolate pudding, Zexion slammed his book shut and stood up.

"Alright, people. We have places to be. Let's move." Everyone else in the room stood up while I stayed sitting in confusion.

"I thought classes didn't start until Tuesday?" I said.

"They don't." Axel responded. "We've got our own stuff to do in our free time."

"Actually, if you guys don't mind, I'll just take Namine back up to our room." Xion said. "Kairi'll probably want her to hang out with her and Olette this afternoon. I'll meet you guys at the gym."

"Alright." Xigbar said. "We'll see ya there, Poppet." He led everyone out of the room, Roxas being the last one to leave. I caught his gaze one last time as he closed the door behind him and felt that infernal blush reappear on my face.

"You like him, don't you?" I looked up at Xion in shock.

"What? Who?" I asked. I didn't realize how stupid the question was until it had already left my mouth.

"Roxas, obviously. Every time you look at him your face gets red." I could feel the blush on my face deepen as she spoke. "Just like that."

"Is it that obvious?"

"Yeah. I don't think any of the others saw it though, so your secret's safe with me. At least until you decide to come clean. Now c'mon. Your cousin's already waiting for us."

A/N: Sorry about the long time with no updates, everyone. Junior year has been super busy and senior year isn't looking much better, so this may be the rate of updating for all of my stories for a while. Also, if anyone wanted to know, all my information on Xeno is now on my profile for public view since he has now been revealed. He will be officially introduced as an OC in a future story. Xeno's name is pronounced with the X making a Z sound, so it would be pronounced "Zeenoh."