A/N: Wow, it's been a year. I bet you weren't expecting me to update this, were you? Well, neither was I. But I realised that this is my most popular story, for some reason, and it's STILL getting favourites and reviews after a year of inactivity. So I thought I'd start it up again. Is that exciting? I hope so.

Also, you get brownie points for guessing why this chapter has this particular title. Really, I'd be impressed xD

Oscar

Forgiveness can be hard to come by at the worst of times. You may make a mistake, may do something foolish, and suddenly the entire world has turned its back on you. Walking down the street, you may be met with dirty glances cast your way, or a former lover may cross the busy road just to avoid you. It could be for any number of reasons, you could have done any number of things, but forgiveness is usually found in black and white. There is no halfway. You're either completely forgiven, or that flicker of resentment is still held against you, in which case you are only tolerable. But family is always an exception, and they are generally quicker to accept you and all the faults that trail along behind you. They'll pick you up when you've fallen down, and say 'Fuck You' to the world when it doesn't want to look at you. You know you're never alone when you have family to fall back on, but sometimes you're too blinded by emotion to see it; times like lazy Saturday afternoons.

The sun was setting. An array of warm colours were blending into one another smoothly, and the clouds were gradually dwindling into nothing more than wisps, and would surely be gone entirely by the time it got so dark that he couldn't see his hand in front of his face – usually around eleven o'clock. The little children who usually played in the streets were gone, leaving nothing but their bicycles and rubber balls in their wake. Dogs were barking stupidly at God-knows what, and he could see a cat prowling around the neighbour's hedges, eying a little bird as it hopped around aimlessly. It wasn't even dark yet, but the breeze had made a rapid decline from warm to bordering on freezing, and it made him shiver slightly despite his best efforts to ignore it. Roxas was sitting on the roof, his knees bent and his wrists balancing on them casually. There was a cigarette between two of his fingers.

"You really should stop that; it isn't going to help you any."

Without tearing his gaze away from a teenage couple making out on the doorstep of a house across the road, Roxas lifted his hand, sliding the cigarette between his lips. He sucked in a breath, and then pulled it away again. Returning to his former position, he waited a few seconds before bowing his head, exhaling and distantly noticing a loose piece of string in the crotch of his jeans. "Yeah, well, maybe it isn't help that I'm looking for." He muttered in response, fingering his pants curiously. Cloud was obviously standing on the ladder that Roxas had used to climb up from the balcony, because he had his arms folded on the roof with his chin resting on them, staring up at him calmly. There was a moment of silence between them, if you disregarded those bloody dogs.

"You're smoking the wrong thing if you're after an escape." He said gently. Roxas only scoffed, still observing the fabric over his groin with pseudo interest. He tapped one end of the cigarette, making ashes fall off of the other.

"I know, but my usual dealer is on holiday in the Bahamas." He sneered, lifting his head and bringing the fag to his lips again simultaneously. He made certain that he didn't so much as glance at his brother, and instead focused on the man that had come to separate that couple he'd been watching just moments before. He smirked. Suckers.

The past two days had been terrible. If they had just been bad, then he would've passed it off as any regular day, but they had been so much more. So much fucking more. Not only had he been forced to spend over five minutes with Miley Rivers, working with her on some stupid English assignment about 'To Kill a Mockingbird', but she didn't contribute a damn thing. He'd actually stopped talking at one point, staring at her in disbelief, and she continued to nod and 'Mhm' for a good thirty seconds until she noticed the daggers being thrown at her. It wasn't like she cared, though. Roxas could have broken down crying out of frustration and hurt, and she would have only complained about the noise he was making. Hell, he could pass out right in front of her, and she'd tell him to mind her shoes. He knew, because she was just that kind of superficial bitch.

But Miley wasn't his only problem, and she definitely was not the most stressful. Seifer had not some much as brushed the hairs on Roxas' arm since Cloud had intervened on Wednesday, but he was lurking around in an unfriendly manner that intimidated the smaller male. He was too proud to admit that he was bothering him, because he didn't want anyone to think that he was dependent on others to solve his troubles. The threats were still being thrown his way, but he found comfort in knowing that they were empty for the time being. It was all just a matter of how long it'd take for Seifer to deem it safe to beat him up, because it would be uncharacteristic for him to just forget about what Roxas had done. And Roxas highly doubted that he had it in him to deck him again.

And then there was that whole dilemma with his parents …

"Roxas, put that out and come down." He heard Cloud say.

"What if I don't feel like it?" He snapped, "I'd like to see you climb up here and make me."

"First of all, you know I can. And second, I'm offering to take you to a party."

"… Party?"

Roxas didn't usually go to parties. He wasn't that type of person, really. They always had too many people, and it was always too loud, and everyone was always too drunk. But never, not even in his wildest of dreams, had his brother ever invited him to one. He cocked an eyebrow at him. "Is it a tea party?" He questioned, "Or a children's party?"

"I'd have thought they'd have been pretty much the same thing."

"Are you going to answer me or be a smartass?"

"Do you mean I can't be both?" Cloud asked coolly.

"You're a twat." The younger boy hissed.

"Please don't use that kind of language around me, it seems trashy to come out of a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, fifteen-year-old boy's mouth." Silence once again fell, and Roxas did nothing in the space of that time but stare blankly out at the street and smoke. Cloud seemed to be tapping his fingers against the roof. "It's just a regular party." He finally said, "You don't have to come, but I said I'd ask you."

Glancing at him, Roxas frowned. What did he mean? Sighing, he blew out the breath that he'd been holding in, ignoring the tendrils of smoke as they danced around him. His hand dropped and he ground the end of the cigarette against a tile. He concluded that it didn't matter what his brother had meant; he was tired of his everyday routine of absolutely nothing, and he figured that he deserved a night out to forget about his troubles. "Alright, I'll come."

"Don't slip on your way down."

"You're ever so caring. I love you."

"Shut your mouth and just get ready, Grumpy."

It was dark.

The park was swarming with people, and he was surely the youngest one there. It didn't help that he was short, and so maybe it wasn't entirely ridiculous for that guy to have mistaken him for a child. He probably shouldn't have called him a 'fucking moron'. But that was in the past, and he didn't want to dwell on it; as far as he could remember, his family didn't like to reminisce. He'd never known why, but he also never thought to ask.

Cloud hadn't stuck around after they arrived – or rather, hadn't stuck around Roxas. There were a lot of people from school, so it wasn't as if he was lost without his brother. A few people waved to him, and he returned the gesture half-heartedly, but continued on his search for those that he not only recognised, but felt comfortable around as well. It took a long time before he eventually spotted Sora. He should have known he'd be here; his cousin had always been the social type, and he was nothing less than popular. Despite what some close-minded wankers thought about homosexuals, Sora was typically the exception to everything, including irrational prejudices against sexualities. Nobody thought anything less of him for it, and the brat had never been treated any differently. Seifer knew better than to pick a fight with someone like Sora, because he had power in numbers; the moment fists were raised around him, you knew that there'd be about a handful or more other people lingering about with heightened vigilance. Besides, he was also stronger than he looked.

"Roxy, you're here!" The brunet chirped, smiling at him from his position atop the picnic table. Roxas only replied with a one-shouldered shrug. Riku didn't look to be there, surprisingly, but Sora was still surrounded by people, some of whom were unfamiliar to Roxas. He sat down on the bench, looking up at the other, who was sitting cross-legged on the table. "I didn't expect to see you tonight. Did you come with Cloud?" He asked, raising his voice over the chatter of the people around them.

"Yeah, but he ditched me." Roxas replied dully, taking to examining his fingernails with little interest. His brother was probably with Leon and Aerith, maybe Tifa, but obviously not Yuffie; he could see her from where he was sitting, and she was laughing hysterically at something Rikku had just said. Rikku was in most of Yuffie's classes, and she was only a little bit older than her. You wouldn't have guessed it, though, by the sight of her. Hell, Roxas acted older than the both of them combined, and that sometimes didn't say very much at all. When he wanted to be, he could be rather immature as well.

"So, where's Hayner?"

"Grounded."

"Oh really? What for?" Sora looked genuinely interested.

"He got suspended yesterday for putting geckos in the girls' bathroom." Roxas was smirking as he said it; it had been hilarious from their point-of-view. Not so much for the female students that had been in the toilets at that time, but it would have been a meaningless effort if it had been. Hearing those shrill screams had Hayner in a fit of laughter, one that quickly became contagious. Sora snickered.

"Kairi told me about that." He replied.

"Oh, was she in there?"

"Nah, but she might as well have been; she knew all the details, right down to how close one of them got to Selphie's foot." As he spoke, Sora held his thumb and forefinger up about a centimetre away from one another to demonstrate. Roxas gave a small laugh. Hayner came up with some weird, spur-of-the-moment ideas. He kept life fun.

After a little while, an older man had distracted Sora, and all those around him, by performing a card trick. Roxas wasn't interested, because he had never been particularly intrigued by such trivial "magic", so he wandered off again. He saw some of Cloud's friends, but he pretended like he hadn't so that he wouldn't have to acknowledge them, and simply kept on walking. His brother wasn't with them, probably because he was with his closer friends, like Leon and Zack and Aerith and God-knows who else. Roxas didn't much like them; it was like they thought he was a toddler. Tifa had once cooed over him. Really. And although the guys didn't think he was "adorable" like some of Cloud's female friends did, they didn't appreciate his level of comprehension. He'd be rich if he had a dollar for every time he'd heard: "It's not like he understands, anyway."

But he did.

He always understood.

A familiar voice reached his ears, and he turned around in hopes of seeing the person it belonged to. Not too far away, he saw Axel sitting in the grass, leaning against a tree. He was with people that Roxas had never seen before, but they appeared to be friends of some sort, judging by the way he looked so comfortable around them, like he'd known them for years. Maybe he had, Roxas didn't know. Eying them curiously, he noticed that one of them was babbling about one thing or another, and he had a hairstyle that he didn't see all too often. Roxas' had messy spikes that went whichever way they ended up in after he got out of bed, but this guy had a Mohawk. There was also a girl lying on her back, her arms folded beneath her head, and she had short blonde hair that looked sleek and thin. A smaller, seemingly younger boy was sitting quietly next to Axel, his cheek in his palm and boredom in his eyes. Roxas had never seen any of them before in his life, except the other male who had just approached them, standing over them with his arms crossed. He had faded pink hair, and Roxas had once seen him in the street.

Why was Axel hanging with these guys?

Frowning in wonder, he scratched just behind his ear absently. He didn't realise that Axel had noticed him. Roxas caught his eye, and his expression softened, his head tilting to one side a little. To his amazement, despite having looked right at him, Axel just turned his attention away, redirecting it to the blonde girl as she spoke. Something hit him in the chest, and he quickly identified it as hurt. He'd just been shunned, and he had no idea why. He hadn't done anything wrong, and he hadn't forgotten to do something, so what could he have possibly done that warranted the cold shoulder. Axel had just looked at him as if he were a total stranger, without any change in his expression, or even a lingering gaze. He'd just glanced at him like he was nothing. It wasn't even as though he had the excuse of not seeing him, because he'd unmistakably stared him straight in the eyes. Roxas took a couple of steps backwards, confused and saddened, before turning completely and walking away.

He bowed his head to watch his feet, and his hands slid into his pockets.

"Is everything okay?"

"Peachy."

Some girl had approached him whilst he sat on the swing, lazily rocking back and forth. She kneeled down beside him, quietly watching him for some time, before he finally deemed her dangerous and asked her what she wanted. Her dark hair glistened in the moonlight, because Roxas had situated himself a fair distance away from the centre of the party, and there weren't as many lights here. He'd picked up a glass of water from Sora on his way, because he was thirsty and didn't quite feel like drinking anything fizzy; it made his nose tingle. She offered him a sip from her glass, and he wrinkled his nose at her, before gesturing silently to his own. She shrugged and told him to suit himself, and then placed her drink on the ground.

"What's your name?" She asked. Roxas scoffed at her; like he was about to divulge his name to some creepy stranger. She'd probably stalk him. Upon seeing her persistently expectant gaze, he sighed and decided to give her what she wanted: a name.

"Aubrey." He lied, staring down at his shoes. He'd heard someone say that name today, and it was the first thing that came into his mind. Fortunately, it was also a male's name. It might have been a little suspicious if he'd said his name was Susan.

"I'm Vanessa." She purred, holding out her hand. He stared at it for a few seconds, and then stood up.

"I have to go. It's close to my curfew." He lied again; so long as he was with Cloud, he didn't have a curfew. Roxas bent down and picked up his glass, making sure that it was the one where he'd placed it. He cast her a hesitant glance and walked away. She was weird, and she'd undoubtedly made him anxious. He could have sworn that she was about to force him into the back of some van and kidnap him.

Roxas was tired; it must have been at least midnight. He was sitting on the picnic table next to Sora again, who hadn't moved since he'd last seen him. His fingers wrapped around his glass, tapping it idly, he wasn't listening to the conversation going on beside him between Sora and Yuffie. He didn't want his drink anymore; he'd only taken one sip of it back when he'd first taken it from his cousin, and he hadn't had any since, so it was still rather full. Gazing into it distantly, he swirled it around slowly. Maybe it was about time that he went home. He would have to go find Cloud, and then possibly persuade him to leave, but it wouldn't be too difficult; he'd use those sad eyes that his brother always found hard to say no to.

Bringing the glass to his lips, he figured he'd just drain it quickly and then be on his way. Tilting his head back, he poured the clear contents between his lips and downed it. It didn't take long at all for his throat to start burning. Out of sheer shock, he released the glass and it fell to the ground, but didn't shatter because the grass cushioned it. Roxas' eyes immediately started to water, and he was spluttering and coughing up whatever he could manage, spitting out what he hadn't yet swallowed. Sora looked alarmed, but the blonde paid no attention to him. He didn't know what had happened, and everything was suddenly moving so fast. Before he knew it, he was already on his feet and stumbling away, his body acting on instinct rather than a plan. Behind the safety of a tree, Roxas fell to his hands and knees, and his stomach was lurching. He threw up. His throat felt like it was on fire, and his breaths were laboured.

Someone was behind him, crouching down, and he whimpered weakly between empty heaves. He had nothing left to bring up, but he was still gagging. Whoever they were, they were stroking his hair and brushing his fringe from his eyes, comforting him. Roxas waited until his body had stopped jerking forward every time his stomach tightened, and then looked up at them through teary eyes. It was Cloud. His brother probably didn't know that it had just been a mistake, and Roxas worried that he thought he'd been drinking. He was shaking uncontrollably, and his mouth was producing excess saliva that dribbled down the side of his mouth unattractively, but it didn't drive Cloud away. His hand slipped down to rest between his shoulder blades as he sat up, wiping at his mouth, sniffing several times. Roxas shook his head, his jaw working as he tried to find the words to say. "I-I didn't …" He stuttered, "I thought … I'm s-sorry." Cloud stood up, holding the smaller blonde's upper arms to help him to his feet.

"It's okay, Roxas." He replied quietly, "Tell me all about it later. Right now, let's just get you home."

Crawling into bed, Roxas had settled down. Once they got home, he'd gone into the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water, and Cloud had disappeared into the bathroom. He appreciated the plain, non-alcoholic taste of water. His brother returned a little while later and told him to go have a bath, which he'd already run for him. He obediently did as he was told, because he was walking around on eggshells in fear that he'd get into trouble. Cloud didn't seem angry at all, but Roxas was worried that he might call up their parents, and then he'd be in for it. The bath had been good, it had been nice and warm, and it had relaxed the tension in his muscles. By the time he was in his pyjamas, Roxas' eyelids were heavy and his eyes were sore from fatigue.

Nestling into his pillow, wrapping himself up in the covers, the blonde heard the door creak slightly, and noticed that the light from the hallway was rapidly disappearing. "Cloud?" He called out in a whisper.

"Go to sleep, Rox." He replied softly, but Roxas wasn't satisfied. He'd sleep uneasily if he didn't have an answer to the question that was nagging at him.

"Are you going to tell Mom and Dad?" He asked, his toes curling anxiously. There was a pause, a long silence, before the door started to close again.

"No, I don't think they need to know."

There was a quiet click, and Roxas knew that the door was shut. Sighing in relief, his closed his eyes, willing slumber to come and take him away from the troubles of reality.

A/N: Did you recognise Vanessa? winkwink ;)