Sora slept over that night after they all finished their hot chocolate and played a round of monopoly, Axel won and Seifer accused him of cheating since Axel was the banker and probably snuck himself money. Everyone ignored him and went to bed; Sora slept on the couch, even though Seifer offered for him to sleep with him in his bed. Roxas snickered when Sora rejected him.

"What are you laughing at prince charming?"

"Oh, just you're getting totally rejected." Seifer sneered and left to his bedroom.

"Are you going to be okay out here by yourself Sora? Seifer wouldn't touch you or anything." Axel said as reassurance but Sora nodded, saying he would be fine out in the living room alone. Roxas and Axel couldn't argue and so they left him to their room.

"I think Seifer has a thing for Sora, normally he wouldn't care where anyone sleeps." Axel said getting into his side of the bed as Roxas gave him a crazy look.

"Well, he better not try anything. Sora just went through some major heartbreak." Roxas got in on the other side and Axel turned out the light.

"I know, but Seifer has a heart, he can love just as well as anyone else. He has loved someone before…."

"He has? What happened?"

"It's not my place to share but… he fell in love during high school while in his rebel years of dating many guys and girls. He dated him from school, just another boy toy, until Seifer got dumped and the boy moved away. In the end Seifer wound up not being able to look at anyone else without seeing his face, it was odd to Seifer at first until he realized he wanted nobody else but the boy. He looked everywhere for the boy, thinking he had found true love."

"Did he find him?" Roxas asked, when Axel stopped talking, and snuggled up close to him. Axel held him close but didn't answer for awhile.

"You'll have to ask him yourself, the boy's name was Hayner. Seifer remembers the name well." Roxas sighed.

"I don't want to talk to that jerk, why can't you just tell me?"

"It's not my story to tell, you're lucky I even told you as much as I did." Axel kissed Roxas on the lips and told him goodnight, leaving him too curious to possibly sleep.


"Roxas, wake up." Axel shook him awake and Roxas grunted before opening his eyes and staring at the redhead with a slightly blurred vision.

"What?" He groaned out, evidently still tired.

"I have to tell you something."

"Go ahead." Roxas said, pulling the covers over his head.

"No, no, you need to hear this." Axel said, pulling the covers back off and Roxas shot up and glared at him.

"Then make it quick, I'm tired." Roxas barely got to sleep last night, he was too busy thinking about Seifer's past love life, when he realized how stupid he was being and finally fell asleep.

"Well, I just got two job offers from the mall we went to yesterday. They were desperate for help and both hired me right away; I'll be working both day and night so we won't be able to see each other very often anymore." Roxas was silent; he wasn't tired anymore, just silent. "I start right now; I was just getting my guitar and decided to tell you." Axel turned to leave with his guitar when Roxas grabbed him by the back of his shirt.

"Do you at least have days off?" Roxas whispered to him and Axel grinned.

"Of course, I'll be yours every weekend." Roxas smiled at that, even though it was only Tuesday and he'd have to wait a while before Axel got his freedom, he knew it would be worth the wait.

"Then good luck Axel, I'm right behind you." Axel smiled and kissed the blonde then left to let him sleep and get to work but of course Roxas couldn't go to sleep now, he was wide awake. He got up, made his side of the bed and went to head out and look for Sora.

"Can you please leave me alone?" Roxas heard Sora ask someone sternly; no doubt Seifer was bothering him again. Roxas was about to go out and smack the older blonde but he spoke before he could do anything.

"Fine, but I won't stop until I have you." Seifer said then left, he saw Roxas leaving his room and sneered at him before going into his bedroom and shutting the door. Roxas walked into the living room to see Sora just sitting on the couch with a blank expression on his face.

"Sora?" Roxas waved a hand in front of his face and Sora blinked, backing up a bit.

"Oh, morning Roxas. You just missed Axel, he went to work."

"I know, he told me. How are you holding up?"

"I was good until that guy," Sora gestured to Seifer's bedroom door, "started bombarding me with questions." Roxas chuckled.

"Eh, he's actually pretty alright once you give him a chance. Even though, I haven't given him a chance yet myself…." Sora laughed and got up; Roxas noticed his laugh wasn't the same as it used to be. It used to be more – lively.

"Since I know you can't make yourself breakfast, would you like me to?"

"Oh, you don't have to, you're the guest. I'll get Seifer to make me something or something."

"No, let me, please." Sora said, already marching into the kitchen and shuffling around for pots, pans, and ingredients he would need to make any normal breakfast.

"Well, if you don't mind." Roxas said, sitting at the mini bar in front of the kitchen.

"Just name your price."

"Well, I guess bacon and pancakes will do."

"One Jack and his pig coming up." Roxas raised an eyebrow, and then remembered how odd Sora could be at times. He was glad that Sora was returning to his normal self, he hated seeing the cheerful brunette cry like that yesterday. "You want to know something?" Sora asked and Roxas focused his attention on him now, tossing his personal thoughts aside.

"What?"

"Riku used to complain about drunk drivers all the time, once he started – there was no stopping him." Sora turned around from the batter he was stirring and looked sadly at Roxas. "His father was a drunk, that's why." Sora said, turning back around and throwing butter into the frying pan then turning back to Roxas. "And it all feels like a cruel joke, you know? I feel like any minute now, his ringtone will play on my phone, I'll answer it and he'll laugh with that soothing voice of his and say "Just kidding, I got you" or "I hope you didn't get too upset, it was just a joke", Sora chuckled nervously, "but then I realize that won't happen and I feel sad again. I feel like I'm torturing myself with this." Roxas bit his lip, he didn't know how to respond, but he did agree that Sora was indeed torturing himself with those thoughts.

"Sora, I –" Just then a funny smell came to Roxas' nose and prevented him from finishing that statement, he looked to the stove and saw the pan Sora had just put butter in was on fire. "Oh Crap!" Roxas shot out his chair and banged on Seifer's door. "Seifer the kitchen's on fire! Where's the fire extinguisher!" Seifer threw his door open and raced to the kitchen, Sora was just standing there looking at the orange and yellow flames dance around, a strange look set on his face. Seifer grabbed him, quickly got the extinguisher and put the fire out. Seifer turned to Roxas, breathing like he just experienced a panic attack, then he looked at Sora, who was still spacing out. Seifer walked up to him, grabbed his shoulders and leaned himself close to the brunette's ear, Roxas couldn't hear what he said but he could see his lips moving. Sora's lips started to tremble and his eyes grew wide before he pushed Seifer away.

"You don't know anything! Just leave me alone and stay away from me!" Sora yelled at him and ran to the bathroom; the door slammed shut and there was an audible locking sound following that.

"What did you say to him?" Roxas asked, pushing Seifer as well. Seifer turned around and smirked down at him.

"I just told him the truth."

"What did you say?" Seifer pursed his lips and shifted his eyes, he wasn't talking. "Fine, then at least answer me this," Seifer looked back to the younger, "do you like him?" Seifer laughed.

"Of course I do." He grinned and Roxas glared.

"Well, don't push it. I'm sure even you know what's happened with him."

"I have no limitations Roxas, I'll do whatever I can to get him and that includes hurting him if I have to."

"Well, you better find some limits cause if you hurt him. I'll make sure you never get a chance with him." For some reason, when Roxas said that, Seifer's eyes lit up.

"Oh, that reminds me. Remember that first day you were here and I did something for you and told you that you owe me," Roxas didn't like the sound of this, "you can repay me by helping me win your friend's heart. You know him better than I do so surely you can help me, right?" Seifer ruffled Roxas's hair and Roxas swatted his hand away.

"What if I refuse?" Roxas asked, crossing his arms.

"I start bringing more guests over again and they'll be loud ones." Roxas shuddered at the thought, he sighed knowing Seifer had won.

"I won't help if your plans hurt him." Seifer nodded and stuck his hand out, Roxas reluctantly shook it.

"Glad we have an agreement, now go check on him. I doubt he wants to see me." Roxas did just that as Seifer went back to his room. "And try not to start another fire while I'm gone." He said before closing his door.

"Whatever." Roxas sighed as he knocked on the bathroom door, he could faintly hear Sora sniffle from the other end. Sora didn't speak so Roxas decided to break the ice. "Uh, Sora, you okay?" If Roxas could have slapped himself, he would of. Of course Sora wasn't okay; nobody would be okay in his position.

"I'll be alright." His voice was shaky yet he sounded somewhat happy, Roxas didn't want to bother him so he told him he would be waiting to talk to him when he got out. "Thanks Roxas."


Seifer sat in his room on his bed, typing furiously on his laptop as the screen shone on his face. He groaned and flipped over on his back, staring up at the ceiling. Sora, you remind me of him. He went through what you went through; I don't want to see it happen again. Seifer closed his eyes and pictured the cuts and scars on the boy's body, Seifer kissed every mark on his body. He wanted him to feel pleasure, he wanted him to feel better, and he wanted to save him.

"Sora, if you turn out like him, I don't know what I'll do." Seifer whispered to himself then shook his head and groaned again, flipping back on his stomach to face his laptop. I have work to do.


Roxas sat on the couch with Sora and eyed him curiously; he changed into another long sleeved shirt and kept his black pants on. Roxas once again looked down at his plain white shirt and black and white checkered shorts and wondered if Sora could feel the summer heat at all.

"Aren't you hot in that?"

"You guys have air conditioning… I get cold easily." Roxas nodded, it seemed to make enough sense.

"I'm sorry about Seifer back there, what did he even say to you?"

"He asked me if I really wanted to die that badly then he asked me if I really wanted to see Riku that badly." Sora choked back tears, Roxas clenched his fists.

"Axel must have told him what happened." Sora shook his head.

"I told him the story last night, I was crying in the bathroom again and I guess he heard me somehow. He asked me why I was crying so much, so I told him. That's when he asked me out."

"He asked you out?" Roxas yelled, completely baffled at Seifer's stupidity. Who asks out a person who just told them their boyfriend died? Who?

"Yeah, he did. I told him no and that he should go back to bed. He left me alone until this morning."

"He's a strange character…."

"Yeah, he is." Sora's voice cracked a little and once again Roxas wasn't sure what to say. He glanced over at a stereo that held the time; it said 4:24pm. Did I really sleep that late?

"Hey Sora, you want to go out somewhere?" Roxas asked, looking over at his friend and noticing his taken aback expression.

"Go where?"

"Surfing."

"Surfing? Sora looked at him, utterly confused.

"Yeah, surfing." Roxas said, smiling at him. "It's really fun."

"I don't know how and I don't have surf gear."

"I'll teach you and you can borrow Axel's, I don't think he'll mind. What do you say?" Sora thought over it for a while before nodding his head and giving a slight smile.

"Great, I'll ask Seifer to drive us there."

"On second thought, I'd rather not." Roxas pouted.

"Why not?"

"I don't want to go anywhere with…."

"Oh," Roxas sighed and dropped his head in defeat, "then how about we go for a walk?"

"That sounds better, I love to walk."

"Sweet, go get ready and I'll meet you out here in a few." Sora nodded and Roxas got up and half-jogged into his and Axel's room, closing the door behind him. Roxas opened a random suitcase, having not unpacked any clothes yet, and looked for an outfit. He found none of his clothes to his liking; he glanced over at Axel's closet and smirked before running over to it. "Wow." Roxas beamed at all the clothes Axel had; he picked a white designer shirt from Axel's closet and wore his own black shorts from his suitcase.

"I said leave me alone!" Roxas heard Sora yell from the living room, he rolled his eyes knowing it must have been Seifer again. Roxas went out to the living room to see Sora on the phone, he was crying slightly and he paced around the room. "I don't want to hear that!" Sora cried, his arm motioning with his voice. "Shouldn't you be bringing me up and not throwing me down, I'm already hurting Mom…." Roxas knew he shouldn't be eavesdropping, but he felt like he should or more like had to. Roxas never heard Sora talk to his mom or even speak of his family at all, except for the first time they met but even then it was a light topic. "I know he's gone mom, you don't need to keep telling me that." Sora whispered, shaking his head and letting his tears fall more. "I can't just get over it, you'll never understand." Sora hung up his phone and snapped it shut before throwing himself on the couch, his face buried in a pillow.

Roxas was about to turn back into his room and pretend he heard nothing when Seifer came out his room and turned to him, Seifer lifted his index finger to his lips and moved toward Sora. Roxas grabbed his shirt and pulled him around the corner where Sora couldn't see them.

"What are you doing?" Roxas whispered harshly.

"I'm going to comfort him, duh." Seifer shook free of Roxas' grip and raced out to the living room. Roxas wasn't able to stop him this time, he watched from the corner as Seifer stroked Sora's face. Surprisingly, Sora threw himself into Seifer's arms and cried on his chest. Wow, didn't see that coming. I thought he would have pushed him away again. Seifer whispered something in Sora's ear again and Sora pushed him away. That's more like it.

"What do you want Seifer? Why do you keep saying things like that?" Sora asked, standing up and looking down at Seifer. Seifer stood up and held him close, Sora fought to get free but couldn't.

"I want to help you."

"Well, you're not helping at all."

"But I can." Sora scoffed lightly.

"How?" Seifer yanked up Sora's shirt sleeve to reveal cuts and scars running everywhere on his arm. Sora quickly shoved him away and pulled his sleeve down, Roxas covered his mouth with his hand and backed away into his room, he didn't even want to know what happened after that, he didn't care what happened after that but he knew that Sora was hurting himself far more than he imagined. Roxas sat down on the bed and ran a hand through his hair repeatedly, he was waiting for a good time to walk into the living room and pretend he saw nothing.

"Sora's cutting himself?" Roxas asked himself foolishly, it was evident once he saw the cuts and scars on Sora's arm that those didn't just happen, that they were made. "Why?" Another stupid question, Roxas got up, sat down, and then got up again. He curled his fingers into a fist then uncurled them, only to curl them up again. "I can't just pretend I didn't see that." Roxas paced the room for a moment before stopping. "Wait, Seifer… how did Seifer know Sora had those cuts?" Roxas remembered Seifer yanking up Sora's long sleeve up, as if he knew those cuts would be there. "I need to talk to Seifer." Roxas heard a door close and figured it was either Sora going to the bathroom again or Seifer locking himself up in his room as he usually did. Roxas opened his own door and looked into the living room to see Seifer sitting on the couch.

"Did you see them too?" Seifer asked, without looking back at Roxas.

"How did you know they would be there?" Seifer shrugged and got up to go to his room but Roxas stood in his way. "No way was that a lucky guess Seifer, start talking." Roxas suddenly remembered the story Axel told him last night, if only he could remember the name Axel told him last night. "Hayson? Hayden? Hay…?" Seifer gave Roxas a confused look.

"What are you speaking about now?"

"Hayner!" Roxas exclaimed once he finally remembered, he didn't have time to celebrate though once Seifer pinned him up against the wall, slightly lifting him off the floor.

"Where did you hear that name?" Seifer yelled at him, Roxas was frantically trying to get away though and didn't hear the question.

"Seifer! Put me down! You're hurting me!"

"That name, where did you hear it?" Seifer's grip only tightened.

"Axel told me it, he said you fell in love with him but that was all he told me, I swear. Now please let me go." Seifer let go and Roxas caught his breath.

"Don't speak of that name again." Seifer said and his tone more fierce than usual.

"But does he have anything to do with how you knew? He has to be the answer right?" Seifer was silent but Roxas waited.

"He is." Seifer finally said his gaze not on Roxas but far off behind him.

"Did you ever find him?" Seifer narrowed his eyes at him.

"Do you want to die today?"

"Well, Axel told me you went looking for him but he never told me if you found him. He told me to ask you so I am."

"I did find him – underground." Roxas raised an eyebrow.

"Underground?"

"He was dead kid, I found his tombstone." Roxas immediately felt like a jerk for bringing it up now.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Seifer waved a hand.

"It's fine, that's life for ya. Harsh and confusing."

"Though, how did you know about Sora's scars from him? If you don't mind me asking…."

"In a way, Hayner went through what Sora's going through and he used to mutilate himself all the time. Sora didn't seem like the type at first but I noticed the long sleeves, the trips to the bathroom, it all fell into place and I knew he was exactly like him."

"I see, is that why you keep acting like a jerk to him?"

"It's for his own good."

"I see, well, I want to help." Seifer looked Roxas up and down for a moment, as if to confirm this was the right Roxas.

"If you want to help then just stick to the agreement we had earlier." Seifer finally said and Roxas nodded his head, just as Sora emerged from the bathroom, his eyes red and puffy. Seifer looked at him for a moment before shutting himself back in his room.

"You still up for that walk?"

"Did Seifer tell you?" Sora asked quickly changing the subject.

"No, I saw it. Sora, when did you start doing this?"

"It's my parents fault; they never supported me dating Riku in the first place. When they heard he died they were practically euphoric. Every time I cried they just told me to move on and find a nice girl in the neighborhood. It made me feel more dejected than I already did and before I knew it, I was doing this." Sora lifted his sleeve up and Roxas got a better view of the cuts, he had to stop himself from puking right then and there. The cuts were nasty, some freshly cut and some old that had just turned into scars but all of them looked deep and bloody. "It started when I was zoned out, making a snack, and accidently cut myself. It didn't hurt, it felt good and it drowned out my parent's noise… so I kept going."

"Sora, you can't keep doing this. You can't keep cutting."

"Then make my parents stop talking, cut their lips off, take away their voice. That's what it would take to make me stop." Roxas racked his brain for ways to make Sora stop.

"Live with us." Roxas blurted out.

"Live here? With Seifer? I don't think so; he's also given me a reason…."

"Is he worse than your parents?" Sora shook his head.

"Then go pack your stuff and live here, Seifer will back off eventually." Roxas knew what he said was a lie, if anything he would be helping Seifer annoy Sora into dating him. Sora looked down at his feet and rolled his sleeve down.

"Fine." He whispered.

"Great!" Roxas knocked on Seifer's door and Sora grabbed him.

"What are you doing?"

"We need a ride." Seifer opened his door and glared at the two younger teens.

"What?"

"We need a ride."

"Too bad, Axel has the car for work." Seifer closed the door in their face and Roxas stuck his tongue out at the door.

"I guess we go later…." Sora said, going back to the couch to lie down.

"I wonder when Axel get's back anyway…?" Roxas pulled his phone out his pocket and read the time. 7:44pm. Wow, time flies. "You want to just go tomorrow or should we wait for Axel to get back?" Roxas asked Sora, as an answer Sora snored lightly. I'm not surprised you're tired; you probably didn't sleep at all last night. Roxas covered the brunette up and went to his room to think things through; Roxas never imagined any of this would happen. Everything is all messed up now; I just hope I can keep up.


REVIEWS MAKE ME SMILE, - I made it not bold cause it's important. :P