Warnings

Boy/boy pairings, the use and abuse of stereotypes, hints at original pairings, regular updates (I know people are not used to this), a sometimes excessive level of cuteness and a useless Warnings section at the beginning of each chapter.

Chapter Notes

You will be judged by the company you keep

Chapter 10: Lunar Eclipse

New day brings new beginnings. That's what Sora thought on Wednesday morning, when he reluctantly dragged himself out of his bed and towards the cafeteria. He was dead set on set things right with Roxas that day. Riku would've had to wait, and that was probably for the best considering what Sora had heard from him the day before.

'I don't want to see Sora!'

The upperclassman words still echoed into his mind, so he decided to brush them away by stuffing down his throat a gargantuan breakfast. After all, he needed energies for that day. And he still didn't know how much.

"Hey, kiddo! What's up?"

Sora spat orange juice all over the table. He then looked at the redhead that had just patted him on the back and smiled at him. "Hi, Axel! Take a seat, I'm having breakfast."

"Yeah, I can see that..." Axel looked at the waffles, hash browns, scrambled eggs, ham omelet, twin glasses of chocolate milk and the single slice of pizza that were lying on the table.

"I'm hungry." Sora replied anticipating Axel's question, all the while resuming his chewing activity. "In the last few days I've eaten little to nothing, so..."

"So, since you've failed to die of starvation, you've decided to die of cholesterol." the older boy interrupted, sitting next to him and grabbing a waffle. "Isn't your brother here?"

Sora decided to gloss over the fact that he wasn't precisely on speaking terms with Roxas, right now. "He's... having his classes right now." It was the truth, after all, if he remembered his brother's classes right. "Haven't you noticed that it's 10 o'clock? Don't you have classes too?"

The redhead smirked. "Nah, I got a couple of days off. You can call it a reward for special merits."

Sora looked at him skeptical. "What did you do this time?"

"Nothing at all. Prof. Lexue... Leaxu... L-E-A-Z-... man, that name... the phys ed teacher got mad at me just because I was laughing at him." He was saying it like it was the most normal thing in the world, but he didn't fail to notice Sora's inquiring look. "Come on, man, you would've done the same: seeing that big guy flattened under half a dozen of barbells was something hilarious, trust me."

"And you've got nothing to do with the fact that he actually was under those barbells, right?"

"Of course not: that was Saïx's doing, that's why he got a brief vacation too." Axel explained with the expression of someone who wasn't telling something new. "He has been luckier than me, though: he has been suspended for three days while I've got only two."

He paused for a moment, then he resumed, just the slightest change in the tone of his voice. Sora didn't like that pause, but he said nothing and kept on eating. "By the way... he was busy, but he asked me to search for you and let you know that he will wait for you here at the cafeteria at twelve o' clock, got it memorized?"

Sora looked at the redhead perplexed, then he realized. "Man, I was forgetting that Xemnas wanted me to see Saïx!"

Now it was the redhead's turn to look surprised. "You mean that it was the principal who arranged this meeting?"

"Well, yes, didn't you know? Why else should I go eat with Saïx, I barely know him..." Sora was deadly serious. "Axel, there's something I should know?"

"Nothing worth of mention, I suppose." the boy answered elusively regaining his usual cocky attitude and putting another waffle in his mouth. "Gotta go, things to do, people to see, you know the drill. Tell Saïx I said 'hi' and remember him to tell you about this weekend. Have a nice day, kiddo." And with those words he disappeared, leaving a confused and not at all satisfied Sora behind him.

After his only class in the morning, Sora was finally reaching for the already packed cafeteria, in search of Saïx. It needed just a couple of minutes to spot the blue-haired boy, sitting at a table in a corner of the room, the most isolated place he could have picked: Sora figured that he probably wanted to avoid attracting too much attention while being with him.

He looked around but, for once, nobody was paying attention to him. He took a sigh of relief, even if he knew that it wouldn't have lasted. With a rather forced smile, he walked towards the senior student with whom he was going to have to spend lunch with.

"Hi, Saïx. I'm Sora, remember me? We've met at the..."

"...Back To School Party, yes, I remember. When Dem's classmate kissed you." The guy answered in a tone completely devoid of any sort of emotion, slowly turning to look at the brunet. Sora froze at the abrupt remark and at the sharp yellow eyes that were inspecting him.

"Y-yeah, it's me. Uhm... how are you doing? Xemnas... I mean, the principal..."

"I know, he likes to meddle with my life, I'm sorry that you got caught in the middle."

Sora got the impression that Saïx was being honest there, nevertheless he couldn't help but notice that the tone of his voice was keeping on being utterly flat. Maybe it was a genetic trait of his family... "So... uhm... we get something to eat?" he asked, resisting the urge to grab and shake the upperclassman, sitting there completely apathetically.

"Yeah, whatever."

For the first half of the lunch, neither of them said anything. Sora figured that Saïx was experiencing the same awkwardness that he himself was feeling, being forced by his father to have lunch with that strange sophomore student for some unknown reasons.

Still, while the two of them did not exchange a single word, the blue haired boy had kept on staring at him with his usual blank expression, so reminiscent of and yet so different of Riku's.

"You're dating that Riku guy?"

Sora spat his drink all over the table, coughing loudly at the abrupt question. He would have thought of a joke if it wasn't for the serious expression plastered on Saïx's face. "What? No-no-no! It's not like this! I don't know what you've heard but he's my friend, not my... boyfriend or something like that!"

"That's fine. So I suppose you're single, right now?"

"Uh? Yeah, not by my choice but... yes, I am." Sora lowered his eyes instinctively for just a moment, but when he lifted them up again he could catch a glimpse of what looked like a smirk on the older boy's face. "Umpf, happy that you find it funny!"

Saïx immediately went back to his usual serious self. "It isn't a matter of finding it funny." the other boy replied leaving Sora even more confused. "What are your weekend plans, anyway?"

"Oh, yeah, Axel told me something along those lines. Nothing at the moment, but..."

"Then it's settled." he started quietly. "You're lucky, we've decided to bring you to a... very special place. We'll leave this Friday at five o'clock, take something with you because we'll be back only Sunday evening."

Sora gasped. The idea of spending the entire weekend with Saïx's gang was as appealing as the perspective of spending it with prof. Vexen. "Hey-hey, wait a sec! I don't know if I'll come, with whom would we go, anyway? And what is this place? And besides..." he paused for a moment, trying to get a grip over his thoughts.

"Why are you inviting me? Half of the school is laughing at me while the other half is waiting to get me alone so they can beat me up." Sora pointed at his still bruised eye, his voice now slightly shaking, but he continued to speak. "Even now I'm sure there are some idiots who are speculating on what we are doing sitting here together." Noticing Saïx's smirk reappearing, Sora blushed slightly. "I mean, you're putting yourself 'at risk' just by talking to me. Why are you doing this?"

The older boy didn't answer immediately. He put the last of his lunch into his mouth and then, after a few seconds, he replied. "You care too much about what people think. But I suppose I should be grateful for your concern." Another brief silence ensued. "I, Axel, Larxene, Zexion and Demyx." At the confused look the younger boy gave him, Saïx spoke again. "The people who are coming this weekend. You asked."

"Oh, right." Sora didn't know if he had to feel more relaxed or more worried about the confirmation that he was officially at risk of spending the weekend with a troublemaker, a pyro, a psychopathic and... a psychopathic. 'Aside from Demyx they are each more troubled than the other. I wonder what they could be thinking...'

"You don't have to worry, we'll simply catch up with some friends from another school for a... relaxing weekend." For a moment the brunet thought that Saïx could read his mind, until he realized his expression was probably giving away his every thought.

"And before I forget: your brother is invited too. Axel vouched for him. Just tell him not to be late." Sora felt a little more relieved at those words: at least, if he decided to go in the end, he wouldn't have to go alone. If he could find and make peace with Roxas before Friday, that is. 'Axel must have thought that I would feel more comfortable with someone I know, I guess.'

The rest of the lunch went by quietly. Despite his many attempts, Sora could not find who those 'friends from another school' were, nor where that other school was or why the heck the seniors had started to show so much interest in him as of lately. Then Saïx promptly left, muttering something about covering prof. Lexaeus car of air-filled condoms, and Sora ended up paying the lunch for the two of them. Still, he was thankful for the opportunity to rejoin his friends sooner than expected.

He spent the last ten minutes of the lunch break talking animatedly with Kairi, Tidus and Selphie and speculating about what the seniors could have planned for the weekend.

On a side note, he started to notice that when he wasn't alone people tended not to pick on him. Well, not as much at least, but that day the occasional whistles were covered by Tidus' lamentations that his brother never invited him anywhere and by his friends' laughters. He discovered himself smiling.

End Notes

Saïx is the mystery man and Axel is just weird, you get it right. Long story short, this chapter was all over the place before, spanning on three different chapters, so... yeah, I kinda changed it even if the content is pretty much the same. Hope you still liked it.

Preview

After searching him for nearly a week, Sora finally track down Roxas with a little help from someone unexpected. But will his brother wanting to listen to him?

Next chapter (04.19.2019): Crown of Guilt