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"My heart was once a lover's swing that creaked

in wind of these calm fall days."

---Jimmy Santiago Baca

"I thought there would be grilled cheese," Sora said, crestfallen.

Cloud looked grimly over the small brunette's shoulder. "Me too. I hate it when they get our hopes up like that." He looked disdainfully at the tuna fish and PB&J sandwiches that lined the cheap, plastic table. "Where are the grilled cheese sandwiches?" he asked mournfully.

"Only seniors get grilled cheese, Strife," a striking brown haired man in leather replied, a gloved hand holding a paper plate with one of the coveted cheese sandwiches on it. Cloud's mouth dropped and his brow furrowed.

"What? That isn't fair, Leon. C'mon, just give us a sandwich," Cloud pleaded, making the saddest eyes he could muster. Sora stood behind the blonde, mimicking his pose and expression in the hopes that he would receive half of said grilled cheese sandwich.

Leon looked thoughtful. "No." He then turned on his heel and didn't look back.

Cloud watched the senior's retreating form until he was so surrounded by the scrambling crowd that he disappeared. "Heartless bastard," Cloud muttered angrily, grabbing blindly for one of the tuna fish sandwiches on the table to his right. "Next year, when I'm a senior, I'm going to get two grilled cheese sandwiches. And I'll share with you, Sora," he added.

Sora beamed. "Sweet. So who was that?" he asked, grabbing a brown paper bag with a PB&J for himself. "I know he was partners with Riku, but what does he play? What's he like? He's really hot. Does he like guys? How did he get that scar on his face?" Sora questioned incessantly as he sat next to Cloud on the side of a grassy hill.

They were having a picnic style lunch, with the high school and university musicians mingling as they ate, relaxing and refueling after the competitions and exercise of the morning. Cloud lay flat out on the ground, blades of freshly cut grass getting caught in his bright yellow hair.

"You just saw what he's like. A total asshole. Don't know how he got the scar, but I don't really care. He is hot, he does like guys, and he plays trumpet, which is kind of sexy in its own right, but he's still an asshole," Cloud concluded, blowing the paper from his straw at Sora's face. "I've known Leon for three years and he hasn't been nice to me even once. Not that I'm bothered."

"Sounds familiar," Sora said dismally, thinking of Riku. Sure, the silver haired senior had never been mean to him, but he'd never been kind to the boy either. In fact, Riku mostly ignored him, a fact that didn't go unnoticed by Sora.

"Hm. It'll be okay, Sora," Cloud said softly, propping himself up on one elbow and ruffling the younger boy's hair. Sora basked in the attention, grinning as he crammed a handful of Oreos into his mouth. "Oh, there's Axel and that friend of yours," the blonde said excitedly, waving an arm to get their attention.

"They said there would be grilled cheese," the redhead murmured unhappily as he sat on the grass next to them.

"Get over it," Roxas said coldly, biting into his tuna fish. "It's just a sandwich."

Axel and Sora gasped, and Cloud frowned. Roxas rolled his eyes, all too used to being the sole voice of sanity in nearly every situation. As Roxas had found out when he met Sora's partner earlier, Cloud was just as odd as the rest of the RGU band members.

"I can't believe we didn't win anything," Axel moped, recalling the events following the balloon popping contest earlier. "I had a good feeling about this year, too." He picked mournfully at his PB&J sandwich, eating only after being pinned with one of Roxas' threatening glares.

"You're too skinny," the blonde boy admonished, waving the dill pickle that came with his sandwich at the redhead sternly. "You. Will. Eat," he said, punctuating each word with a poke of the pickle.

"Ew, I hate pickles. Get that thing out of my face, it's making me gag," Axel gasped, making choking sounds and covering his face.

"You're lying," Roxas said dismissively.

"Actually, he's not," Cloud interjected. "Demyx and I poured pickle juice on him once, and it made him throw up. Gross," he added, looking at the redhead as though it was his fault for not controlling his intensely negative reaction.

"Very gross," Axel agreed, sighing with relief when Roxas finally ate the offensive pickle. "Where's that hyper little friend of yours, Roxas? He was here a second ago," he said quietly, scanning the surrounding field and the nearby tent for Sora.

"If I know Sora, he's stolen our deserts and is hiding somewhere while he eats them," Roxas said loudly, a small smile creeping onto his face.

"Am not!" an indignant voice shouted from the opposite side of the hill they were sitting on. Cloud peeked over the top of the hill and saw a huddled Sora surrounded by empty bags and wrappers, chocolate and cookie crumbs covering his cheeks and hands. Sora looked up sadly, knowing he'd been caught in the act.

"It doesn't look that way to me, candy-klepto," Cloud remarked, smiling softly and easily dodging an empty bag that the boy hurled at him.

"Sectionals, sectionals, sectionals," Axel said dryly. "I hate sectionals."

"I thought you liked being a drummer," Sora said, confusion drawn over his highly expressive face. The four were walking back to the art building of the main campus, where they would finish the rest of the day practicing music in their respective sections.

"I'm not a drummer, I'm a percussionist," Axel said huffily. Cloud snorted, earning an annoyed glare from the redhead. "There's a difference. And yes, I do like it. It's just the cocky, loud, unpleasant people I have to work with that I hate."

"Drummers do have that reputation," Cloud acknowledged, ignoring the peeved look that Axel sent his way. They stopped at the building's door, and Cloud scanned the list to find which rooms they were to be meeting in.

Roxas studied the outside of the large building as they waited. "Ansem Hall… Why is this building called Ansem Hall?" he asked, pointing to the swirling cursive script on the dark brick wall.

"Ansem Avant funded the arts program here, so he gets his name put on everything," Axel said offhandedly, moving to look over Cloud's shoulder at the list.

"Okay," Cloud muttered, pushing Axel away from him with his shoulder. "Flutes go to room 201, clarinets to 117, percussion… room 100, and trombones--that's me-- go to 215." Cloud pushed through the large glass doors, nearly shuddering in pleasure as the cool air hit him full force. The four walked blissfully into the air conditioned hall.

"Ah, that was nice," Sora breathed happily, taking in the massive exquisiteness of the art building. It was just as elegant and decorative as the rest of the campus, with polished floors, carved walls, and painted ceilings.

"Wow," Roxas and Sora said in unison. Roxas ran his fingers lightly over the pictures in relief that covered the walls. The images spanned everything from fantastic dragons and snow covered peaks to scenes of war and destruction.

"I know," Axel said, smiling. "At first I thought it was just over the top, like everything else around here, but it grew on me. The walls never used to look like this, you know. It wasn't until Ansem and a few other alumni made fortunes that they decided to renovate this place."

Cloud tapped the wall lightly as he passed. "The head art professor here did this-- most of it anyway. Maybe you'll get to meet him later. He teaches lots of weekend classes for high school students. He mainly does painting and stuff, but he sometimes covers classes on design and sculpting, too."

"Funny as hell, too," Axel added, smirking. "He's the most fucking amazing teacher I've ever had. Oh great, here's my room," he grumbled. He fumbled in his pockets before pulling out two small, yellow earplugs.

Cloud frowned. "I've never seen you wear plugs before," he said, pulling the bits of yellow foam from the redhead's hand and examining them.

Axel yanked them back. "I usually don't. I've been playing drums for ten years now, and God knows I'm half deaf from it. But it's common knowledge that if you fill a room with enough drums and people, there will be a fuckload of noise. Duh," he said crossly, putting the earplugs in. He pulled open the heavy wooden door and a blast of sound hit the four, making Sora squeal as he covered his ears and Roxas flinch as he did the same.

"Have fun, Ax," Cloud said over the clamor, blowing the redhead a kiss.

Axel replied with a none-too-polite hand gesture and stomped into the room, pulling the massive door shut behind him. Roxas could hear crashing and cursing from behind the closing door as the man brought order to the room.

"Okay, Roxas," Cloud said happily, ignoring the still audible shouts and screams from room 100, "your room is right down the hall. Go frolic with your fellow clarinetists." Roxas gave him a blank stare before turning to leave, muttering under his breath.

"Where am I supposed to go, Cloud?" Sora asked urgently after waving a quick goodbye to Roxas.

"Your room's right by mine, and it's upstairs," Cloud replied, gesturing to an imposing staircase at the end of the hall. "I'll race you," the blonde challenged mischievously, taking a head start toward the stairs.

"And I'll kick your ass," Sora answered, sticking one of his abnormally large feet in front of the running blonde, bringing him swiftly to the floor. The brunette jogged up the stairs and stuck out his tongue at Cloud as he lay flat on the tiled floor.

The blonde looked up and mimicked the brunette, winking. "You'd better keep running, Bigfoot," he threatened, pushing himself up and rushing toward the frantic, giggling Sora at the top of the stairs.

Paine glared at Roxas. Roxas glared back. Each seemed to have met their match in the glaring department.

"You missed the A sharp," Paine said flatly, brushing a hand through her silvery brown hair to sweep loose strands back up into her fauxhawk.

"Did not," Roxas protested amid the giggles of the rest of the room's occupants. He sensed that few ever argued with Paine, which was probably wise, given that she was first chair and the clarinet section leader. "It wasn't me, so you must have misheard," he argued.

Paine narrowed her crimson eyes at the blonde, looking ready to impale him with the pointy end of her clarinet. "Let's continue, then," she said tersely, instantly silencing the whispers and quiet laughter of the others.

'This is going to drag on and on and on,' Roxas told himself grimly. 'I can't believe it, but I agree with Axel. Sectionals suck.'

"All I'm sayin' is that you would look like… a billion times cooler, Ax!" Demyx cried happily, winding his fingers through the red hair. The lowering sun gave an orange tint to everything it touched, making the bright green foliage look golden and transparent. Groups of students trailed away from the campus and toward the parking lot, ready to start the drive home.

"No, Dem. I will not argue with you about this anymore, do you hear? And if you come near me with a pair of scissors or a razor, physical force on my part will be justified," Axel threatened, prying the blonde's hands from his head. Roxas approached the two quietly, standing just close enough to hear and just far enough to stay out of immediate sight.

"Aw, c'mon. Just buzz the sides and then… oh, I dunno. Some liberty spikes. Hell yeah! You'd look great with some of those," Demyx said, eyes glowing at the possibility of coercing his friend into getting a mohawk.

"Yeah, I'm totally going to take hairstyle advice from a guy with the mutant offspring of a mullet and a mohawk on his head," Axel said sarcastically, turning and seeing Roxas half hiding behind a shrub. He waved the boy over while simultaneously slapping Demyx's hands away from his hair.

"Um, hello? It's called a mollet," Demyx said loudly, flipping his hair dramatically. "You're just jealous."

Axel turned to the smaller blonde, completely ignoring Demyx and his hair flipping antics. "Hey, Roxy."

Demyx looked up. "Hey, Roxas! How was the clarinet thingy with Paine?"

Roxas remained silent.

"Ah," Axel said, smiling, "that means it was bad. I guess you and Paine aren't the best of friends, eh?"

"Has word gotten around already?" Roxas asked. He swung his clarinet case back and forth gently.

"Hell yeah," Demyx confirmed excitedly. "Word is out, man. Did you really bitch slap her?"

"What the hell? No, nobody got slapped. Is that what they're saying about me? Is Paine saying that? Who does she think she is?" Roxas questioned furiously, getting more worked up with each second.

Axel stepped between the two. "Ignore Demyx. There's a reason no one listens to him anymore. He's a shit-starter," Axel explained, paying no mind to Demyx's insulted expression. "Besides, I wanted to talk to you," the redhead said quietly, putting a hand on Roxas' shoulder and guiding him to a vine covered arbor in one of the university's many gardens.

"You came over here to say bye, right?" Axel asked softly, smiling as he sat on an elegant stone bench beneath a small, leafy tree.

Roxas nodded, putting a hand against the back of his neck nervously. "I just wanted to say that… I had a good time today. Even when you sat on me," he blushed at the thought, "and when you made fun of me, and when we did the games and stuff, and even when I complained. I liked it, really. So thanks." Roxas paused and looked around, unsure of what to say next.

"No problem," Axel said with a grin. He pulled out a nearly empty pack of cigarettes, taking and lighting one before continuing. "I had fun, too. So much fun, in fact, that I wouldn't mind doing it again," he said hopefully, looking up at the blonde. "You should stop by sometime."

"Oh," Roxas said dumbly. He didn't know if Axel meant this in the way he secretly hoped he meant it, but Roxas was going to take him up on the offer either way. "Yeah, sure, that would be great," he said enthusiastically, doing a poor job of covering up his excitement. "I could come by next weekend, probably."

"Really? That'd be perfect. Here," the redhead said quickly, standing and digging in his pockets. He pulled out a crumpled piece of red paper and put it in Roxas' hand, giving him a quick wave and trotting off before the boy had a chance to unfold it or ask what it was.

Roxas began walking to the parking lot, where he guiltily knew Sora was waiting for him. He opened the paper and read it over.

914-3706

My phone number! Call me anytime before eight. Or after eight, if you need to. It's fine with me. Just call whenever you feel like it. No time restrictions whatsoever. You can text me too! If you want.

FBIagentMacKenna

My email. Don't laugh! It's an inside joke that I WILL explain to you later. I check my email like 400 times a day. And I like to forward lame internet jokes.

657

My dorm room number. Just in case you ever want to pop in or anything. (wink wink) Awfully close to 666, isn't it? Dem and I share. His side is covered with punk and country music posters, so you can tell what stuff is mine.

Lennan

My middle name, just in case you wanted to know. It's Irish, go figure. My Ma was pretty big on "embracing our proud heritage". (That was her justification for making us eat potatoes and cabbage twice a week.)

I guess that's it. Call/email/visit soon! You can come over and we can play all kinds of juvenile pranks on Cloud and Demyx while they're sleeping and it'll be totally awesome and loads of fun fun fun!

And Cloud told me to tell you to tell Sora, "I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE". I have no idea. Cloudy says it's something about getting tripped, and then chasing and catching Sora, and Sora biting him, and something else. I stopped paying attention.

Have a great week, Roxy!

A number of smiley faces and hearts and stick people filled the margins of the note. Roxas smiled as he saw one of the stick figures was labeled with his name, holding a turtle and a tube of cookie dough.

"Roxas. Roxaaaaas," Sora drawled, waving a hand up and down in front of his friend's face. "If you don't answer me in the next five seconds, you'll end up riding home in my trunk," Sora said tonelessly as he slid into the driver's seat of his rusty, red '66 Chevy Impala.

"Okay, okay," Roxas replied quickly, knowing better than to take chances with an angry Sora. He stuck the paper in his pocket and clambered into the car. "What's got you so pissed?"

Sora sighed and leaned back against the tanned leather of the seat. "Riku. What else?"

Roxas nodded and rubbed his friend's shoulder. "He's ignoring you again. It's okay, Sora. He's not worth it," he said determinedly. "Forget him." Roxas didn't have anything personal against the senior, but if Riku's lack of caring was upsetting Sora this much, he was going to set things straight. No more Mr. Nice Roxas.

"No, no, no. It's not that. It's the total opposite now!" Sora exclaimed, beating the dashboard in frustration. It squeaked furiously in protest, making Roxas examine it worriedly. Sora's car wasn't exactly sturdy. "While you were off doing whatever the hell you were doing, Riku walked by and-and-and… I don't know. It's like he hated me! He stared at me the whole time he was walking to the parking lot. And it was not a good stare," Sora added in the hurried, choppy tone he tended to use when he was anxious.

"Maybe you still have shaving cream on your back or something," Roxas reasoned. "Or maybe he saw the new headlights on the Chevy and got jealous."

"Somehow, I doubt Riku and his Mercedes are jealous of my new, functioning headlights," Sora said dryly. He sighed loudly and turned the ignition. The car cranked to life with a loud roar and a lot of sputtering. He quickly pulled out of the nearly empty parking lot, rolling over the curb more than once.

"Let's stop and get ice cream," Roxas suggested, clutching the door handle as Sora swerved to dodge a squirrel. He could see Sora brighten just from hearing the words.

"Sweet! That's a great idea. It's the best idea you've ever had, Rox. I'm going to get three- no, four!- scoops. Mint chocolate, strawberry, pistachio, and cookies n' cream. Or maybe cookie dough. Yum," the brunette said, mostly to himself.

Roxas looked out the window and laughed as Sora continued muttering about the flavors of ice cream he would get. He fingered the note in his pocket contentedly, already eager for next weekend.

Hahaha. Sorry. That took longer than I'd expected, cause my family is here from England for Easter, and they keep hogging MY computer. Blarg. Sorry if it came out choppy or rushed, but I get ahead of myself sometimes. I want to get to the good stuff!

Answering questions! I try to answer whatever questions I get when I reply to reviews and stuff, but I figure I might as well put some of the ones others might want to know up here:

1) Will there be more Sora?

I think so. Yes, yes I do. I love RikuSora, but I don't think I've got it quite down yet, so I'm still deciding on how in depth I want to go with them. I also tend to plan out certain scenes in advance, and I'm working on a good one for Sora and Riku.

2) Shaving cream balloons?

Hell yeah. It was going to be water balloons, but that wasn't nearly messy enough.

3) Pronouncing Roxas' last name?

I will be honest. I don't know how to do the first part. It's Russian, and I do not know it. Monceaux is like c'mon, without the C, and ceaux is like so, and that is all I know. I tried to use names I heard while I was in Louisiana… eh. Oh well.

I love writing these things. Can you tell? I'm planning on including Cid in the next chapter. Yay! Be prepared for the cursing level to skyrocket.

I know I ask too much, but please review!