"I don't know about you…but this feels really odd…" Sora confessed as Roxas pulled the boy down the street.

"Why?"

"Well…we went a half hour without you trying to hurt me."

"Sora," Roxas stopped and gave Sora a look, "I would not be a very good friend if I keep trying to 'hurt' you. But just to prove to you it's really me…" without warning, Roxas plucked a single hair strand from Sora.

"OW! Roxas!"

It was an odd enough day for Sora already. First he and Riku went home together to study. Then Roxas pops in, uninvited, and no more studying was done after that(not with Riku anyway). Sora wasn't even sure what happened! One moment they were getting along and the next, Roxas and Riku stepped outside with only Roxas coming back in. Sora then received a text from Riku saying they need to talk later…he didn't like the sound of that even if it was through a text. Now after their very, very, very short so-called-study session, Roxas was dragging him around to go shopping. Though…it wasn't a total lost…

"Oooh! The new volume is out!" Sora nearly squealed in the bookstore as he pulled a manga off the shelf. Roxas peered over Sora's shoulder as he read the summary in the back.

"I love that series too," said Roxas as he went back to scanning the shelves.

"Really? I LOVE this one! It's so good! What else do you like, Roxas?"

This was the first moment in their lives, at least to Sora's memory, that they found a common interest. This was also the first time, to Roxas's memory, that Sora talked to him for so long (willingly).

"I hate her…she's so useless!" Sora complained as the two continued their little shopping spree.

"Really? I don't really care for her. I agree that she's useless though," Roxas stated as the two walked into a bakery for a snack.

"She literally does NOTHING! While the main hero is off saving the world, she sits there and 'waits' for him and gets kidnapped later anyway! She's been captured liked…4 times already and gets saved by different people each time! So yes, I hate that stupid hero/damsel pairing too!" Sora ranted but calmed himself down before he kept going, "Is there any character that ticks you off, Roxas? I mean, you never once mentioned someone you don't like…which is sort of the topic of our conversation…"

"Hmm…" Roxas paced to think as well as look at what he wants in the cases, "Well I'm really indifferent with characters. I don't like them but I don't dislike them either."

"There's got to be someone you don't like!"

Roxas pointed to a cake before answering,

"There are a couple I admit. There's this one girl I hate in a game…she's the worst main character ever created…"

"What game? I love video games too!" Sora asked excitedly. Roxas placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, telling him to calm down.

"Pick what you want, Sora. Then we can continue our conversation."

"Oh okay! Excuse me! I want a Strawberry shortcake, a piece of the Chiffon cake, that fruit cake right there, and oh! That chocolate cake too!"

Roxas eyes lightly widened at how much cake Sora can eat…

"Why don't you go take a seat? I'll get our order."

"Okay! Oh wait…our order?" Sora repeated as Roxas pulled out his checkered wallet.

"Yeah I'm paying."

Before Sora could argue, Roxas already pulled out some munny.

"You know, my brother says I should never let anyone pay for me for anything," said Sora when the two ate their sweets at a table by the window.

"Why not?" Roxas asked, though he honestly did not hear of anyone telling their younger siblings that.

"He says…well…he says it's to guarantee I don't get taken advantaged of…because then I won't owe anyone anything."

"Oh…"

"It's not that I think you would! Really! I wouldn't be telling you this at all if I thought so! But…Unless its birthdays or holidays, I always keep tabs on what is given to me and from whom. If they don't accept money back, I give them something."

"So…do you think that's good advice?"

"I don't know…well I think there's truth behind his advice but…I think it can hurt my friend's feelings…because you know, it appears like I don't trust them."

"Ah…do you think your brother ever let mine buy him anything?"

"Oh…I never thought about it! I should ask him! But…Nii-Chan pays for their dates."

"Really?" Roxas raised a brow in surprise; he's always thought Leon and Cloud split or switch their turns in paying or something.

"Yeah, but I really don't know if Cloud ever got my brother anything…I think he gave Nii-Chan a small gift for their one month anniversary, or was whatever-number-of-years-friend-a-versary…but Nii-Chan forgot and that resulted in their first fight."

Roxas was starting to get pissed off on how little he knows about Cloud's relationship with Leon.

"Luckily they kissed and made up! What a horrible way to break up over something so silly! Have you ever been in a relationship before, Roxas?"

"Have I…no! Definitely no!" Roxas immediately shook his head though he wasn't sure why he started to blush.

"Really? But you're so popular!" Sora nearly exclaimed in surprise after swallowing a bite, "And…well we're in high school already. Are you sure you never had someone?"

"Well…um…have you?" Roxas felt proud for saving himself.

"I don't know if it counts but Naminé was my girlfriend in Kindergarten!" Sora almost laughed at the thought, even finding that memory cute, "So yeah, I technically had one!"

"I…technically had someone too…" Roxas admitted though he mentally slapped himself for even talking about this!

"Really? Who? Who?" Sora eagerly asked, cake forgotten.

"Er, n-no one you know!" Roxas waved it off, "It's not important!"

"Aww, alright," Sora pouted before continuing to eat. Roxas found himself smiling at that face.

"Hey Sor-Sor…"

"What?" he replied in a whiny voice due to that nickname but was met with a strawberry in his mouth that Roxas lightly shoved in with his fork thanks to Sora's open mouth. Though Sora happily accepted it as he put on a bright smile as he chewed.

"So…about that character you hated…" Sora started after he swallowed the fruit and the two conversed all afternoon while stuffing themselves with bread and cake.

"See you tomorrow," Roxas waved as Sora opened his front door. The boy turned around and waved back.

"Bye, Roxas! Thanks for today! It was fun!" Sora smiled brightly for him before he stepped into his house and slowly closed his door. Roxas sighed as he stared at the door for a few moments before he actually started to head home.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Sora giggled to himself as he opened his shopping bag to take out his new manga.

"Sora!"

"Hmm?" Sora looked up to see Leon glaring at him from the stairs that he was just about to use.

"Where have you been? I was getting worried!"

"Sorry Nii-Chan…Roxas and I lost track of time! But he walked me home," Sora explained as he started to tread up the stairs.

"It's already dark! What were you two doing the whole time?" Leon asked as Sora walked past him to go to his room.

"I guess…talking," Sora shrugged, "What did you and Cloud do all day?"

"You sure it was just talking? And THAT is none of your business!"

After telling Leon what they did, Leon seems to have left…with a little disappointment. Though Sora shrugged it off as he tossed his newly-bought things onto the bed with him jumping on it the next moment. He reached for his laptop and immediately went online to see if his favorite manga site has updated any new chapters. Of course by habit, he checked his e-mail and was glad too since Riku sent him a message.

We have to talk. Call me as soon as you're done hanging around Roxas

"Okay then…" Sora murmured out loud and took out his phone to speed-dial Riku before going to do his usual browsing on the internet. Riku picked up by the second ring.

"Sora."

"Hey, Riku. You wanted to talk?" Sora asked, not sensing the irritable tone Riku used when he said his name.

"Yeah…tell me, what did you and Roxas do today?"

Sora groaned and rolled his eyes, not sure why everyone has to know what he and Roxas did today.

"Aw that's sad…I was so sure Roxas would've realized his obvious feelings for Sora…"

"You know, I'm right here!" Roxas barked at Cloud who made himself comfortable on Roxas's giant beanbag while chatting with Leon, "And why are you here? I thought you'd be home by now!"

"Because I wanted to know how the date went," Cloud replied with a shrug,

"It wasn't a DATE for the last time!"

"Sure…" Cloud nodded and went back to Leon, "Yeah I know! He still denies it!"

Roxas wanted to bang his head on his desk, not sure why Cloud loves to bother him since he talks with Leon in his room for some reason. And now that he knows they're dating, Roxas knows that Cloud sometimes purposely sounds mushy, sometimes dirty, when he chats with Leon just to annoy Roxas. By then, Roxas usually kicks Cloud out of his room.

"How is Sora? Roxas didn't dump cake on his head or something did he?"

"Thanks, Cloud-Nii!" Roxas shouted sarcastically.

"Oh he is? That's good!"

Eventually Roxas just blocked Cloud's conversation with Leon from his mind. The young blonde had to cram some homework time in as he didn't exactly have time to work on it since he sort of spent most of the time planning what to say or do when he entered Sora's house and get rid of Riku. Then of course the two spent the rest of the day together. Of course, just thinking about how they spent today together made him think back to when they were always brought along when Leon and Cloud wanted to hang out. But as they all got older, hanging around your family just got annoying. That's probably when Roxas stopped knowing anything that's been going on in Cloud's life. Then of course, Cloud moved out as soon as he started college and only recently hanging around his old home because of Leon…

"Waaaah! You're so mean, Roxas!"A young Sora wailed as he tried to run away from Roxas.

"It was an accident!" Roxas shouted as he ran after him after jumping down from the slide. When Sora stopped, Roxas stopped as well, "You forgive me?"

Sora didn't answer but just stared ahead at the panic table where Cloud and Leon sat talking to each other.

"Sora? Hello?" Roxas waved a hand in front of Sora but the boy just knocked his hand away before going to a different picnic table and crawled under it with Roxas following, "What are you doing, Sora? Oh! Are we playing spies?"

"Oh, I guess we are," Sora replied as he continued to spy on Cloud and Leon.

"Then…can we find better people to spy on?" Roxas asked though Sora didn't budge, he just continued lying in the grass on his stomach to watch Cloud and Leon.

"No! I want to see if Nii-Chan will finally tell your brother he loves him!"

"What? Eww! Why would anyone love Cloud-Nii?" Roxas almost wanted to puke at the thought. Though he didn't like the idea of anything mushy or related to love.

"You're so mean, Roxas!" Sora pouted but kept watching with hopes in his eyes, "Wouldn't it be so cool if they get married and lived happily ever after?"

"Don't you need to be a prince and princess for that to happen?" Roxas asked and Sora tilted his head in thought.

"Yeah! Nii-Chan is a great prince! Your brother can be the princess!"

Roxas burst out laughing at that which resulted in them getting caught by Cloud and Leon.

Roxas found himself trying to restrain himself from laughing out loud at that memory. He couldn't believe that he forgot how much Sora seemed to look at Leon and Cloud's friendship-at-the-time in hopes it'll turn into romance. They became the living fairytale for Sora. Now Roxas couldn't believe it took THIS long for anything to happen between Leon and Cloud! He also couldn't believe Sora had hopes for them even after this long!

"Roxas!"

Not to mention most of Cloud's teenage-drama-angst had Leon involved in some way. It was torture living in the same house as teenage-Cloud…

"Roxas!"

Roxas planned to continue ignoring Cloud but the man hit Roxas over the head.

"Roxas!"

"Whaaaat?" Roxas whined his reply and looked up at Cloud…who was looking very serious.

"Tell me the truth, Roxas: Were you planning to sneak out to see Sora tonight?"

"N-No! Of course not! Why would I do that?"

"Hn, he said 'no,' Leon…" Cloud replied into the phone.

"Why what's going on?"

"Sora's missing," Cloud replied before closing his phone, "I'm going over to their place to help look. YOU don't move!"

With that, Cloud ran out and Roxas could hear Fenrir's engines in about a minute. Hmm…listen to Cloud? Or go find Sora because as a friend and being protective that should be done?

It was an easy decision as Roxas dimmed his room's lights, faked his body with pillows on the bed, grabbed a hoody from the closet, and snuck out the window.

Notes:

-Originally, the 'useless girl' I'm implying at was Part I Sakura Haruno from Naruto, but…it became Kairi. Again, I was just implying it!

-The video game main character that Roxas was supposed imply that I despite more than anyone in all fandoms combined is Micajah…I'm sorry Failcaiah from Fire Emblem(real name: Micaiah) (Micajah is a reference to the serial killer). My gosh, I've never been so pissed off at Fire Emblem since I can't kill off main characters!

-You know…I'm quite worried about next chapter…and that's all I'm saying!

Please read and review!