In case anyone doesn't remember, which is highly possible, we left off with a very awkward dinner setting. PS - I have a new joint account with the lovely .Dance, we're called DancingEnigmas and we have a fabulous Zemyx going on if anyone's interested! Yea, shameless advertising, can anyone blame me?

"So boys," Riku said with a smirk and glance around the table. "What's everybody drinking on this fine evening?"

"I'll just have a beer." Zack said and cleared his throat awkwardly, slightly hunching his shoulders as if to emulate his masculinity. Cloud merely rolled his eyes as he propped his elbow on the table and rested his chin against his balled fist.

"We get it Zack, you're a manly man. You're just having dinner with a bunch of faggots, you're not one." The blonde said and aimed a lazy gaze in the raven haired man's direction.

"I never said that!" He insisted but Cloud and Riku only laughed. "I didn't!" Zack tried to argue again, but it was too late. Riku was already puffing his chest out, trying to look manlier despite his long, silky hair, girlish smirk and brightened eyes. "Shut up." Zack pouted and waved the waiter over. "Can I get a beer?"

"I'll have a blow job." Cloud said with a smirk. "And a beer I guess." He added with a wink, making the young male waiter blush profusely and bite his lip to try and keep down a smile. "Sora?" But the brunette was too busy focusing on not looking in Axel's direction.

"Sora!" Riku shouted, finally gaining his attention. "What do you want to drink?"

"Oh uh..." He thought for a second, accidently letting his gaze wander and of course, it landed right on the redhead. Sora groaned quietly and hung his head, focusing in on the wooden table. "Long island ice tea." He said and the waiter nodded with a last grin at Cloud before leaving the table.

"That's a heavy duty drink dude. I mean you barely ever drink and--"

"I know what I ordered Zack." Sora said with a slight attitude, prompting Zack to raise his hands in defense. Cloud and Riku exchanged confused glances as Axel was too busy mimicking Sora as he stared down at the table.

"Uhh...so." Riku began, striving to make this whole situation less awkward. If he didn't have to personally deal with it, he wouldn't have cared, more than likely would have found it extremely amusing. But since he was sitting here, he didn't like the awkwardness creeping up around him and nipping at his ankles like hungry puppies. "So Sora! How's school going?"

"Fine." He answered simply, still watching the table but as the drinks came, his ears perked slightly.

~0~

"Know what? This is so fun. I haven't hung out with you in so long Riku!" Sora said with a grin as he sloshed his cup around. Cloud smirked and shook his head slightly. "My gosh! My drink is gone!" The smallest guy at the table exclaimed as he stared down into his now simply damp cup. "I dunno what keeps happening!" He proclaimed as he started to giggle loudly, having to be shushed by a grinning Riku. "Oh shush shush!" Sora said with a quieter laugh and pressed his finger against his lips.

Axel couldn't help but smile gently as he listened to Sora giggling and drunken shouts reverberate all across the restaurant. He peered down into his drink, thinking of me only for a moment and remembering that when I got drunk, all I did was argue. How unfortunate.

"Hey! Hey! Waiter man! Can I get another one of these?"

"Sora, dude, you've already had like five. And those things are just about a hundred percent alcohol." Zack tried to argue but Sora only shook his head like child, pouting and sighing exhaustedly.

"No no no I want more. I need to drink." He said with a light laugh but then pouted again.

"Why do you need to drink?" Zack asked only to receive glares from both Riku and Cloud. He immediately regretted it.

"Oh why? Why? Because of him. Duh!" Sora said and scowled as he blatantly pointed at the redhead across the table whose eyes immediately widened.

"Wha--me?" Axel uttered his first words since the other three males had joined their table.

"No shit! You used me!" Sora cried out and threw his hands up in dramatic annoyance.

"I didn't use you!" Axel shouted back. Anyone in the restaurant would have assumed that he was just as drunk as the brunette, but the truth was he had stopped drinking after only his first drink of the night, his plans of drinking away his troubles had vanished as soon as he saw his problem walk through the door.

"Yes you did! You used me because you miss my fucking brother! And you're a creep!" Sora shouted and flung his chair out from beneath him, standing at the table with the three other boys staring at him, anyone else in the practically empty restaurant staring at him. He felt the tears rolling down his face and he angrily wiped them away though, even through his drunken stupor, he knew he looked like an idiot. He wobbled once his anger had passed slightly, feeling his eyes droop wildly and the last thing he saw before completely blacking out drunk was Zack lunging at him to keep him from bashing his head against the table.

"Jesus." Cloud said and rubbed his eyes.

"I think we should take him home dude."

"No shit sherlock." The blonde replied and stood, holding his hand up in apologies to the tables nearby and anyone who bothered to look.

"I guess you won't be needing that long island then." The waiter said with a small grin as he came back to the table, the tall glass in hand.

"No, I'm afraid not." Cloud said with a smirk. Zack rolled his eyes as he readjusted to hold Sora up better.

"Cloud, now is so not the time to try and fuck a waiter." The raven haired man complained with a scowl.

"Oh he doesn't have to try." The waiter replied quickly, locking eyes with a now obviously intrigued Cloud. "I'll go get my jacket." He said with a wink before leaving them. The blonde's eyes pleaded with Zack.

"No no no. We have to take our friend home."

"I haven't had sex in weeks." Cloud complained sternly.

"I haven't had sex in at least two months!" Zack countered angrily.

"Seriously? Why the hell not?" Riku asked with a surprise look, but quickly looked away when the taller man glared at him.

"We have to take Sora home." Zack insisted.

"I'll take him." Axel said, unable to wipe the slight frown from his face.

"I really don't think that's a very good idea Ax." Riku stated as he finally stood and sipped the last of his drink.

"Why not?" The redhead asked, seeming to be honestly surprised. All three guys arched their brows at him, only making him roll his emerald green eyes. "I'm not gonna do anything. Nothing's gonna happen to him. I just wanna help a brother get laid." He said and managed to smirk lightly at Cloud who only grinned.

"Well, I mean, I drove Zack here so--"

"I'll take you home. You're on my way anyways." Riku said with a shrug. The boys all looked at each other, slightly awkwardly until they finally gave up and started heading out into the parking lot. Zack holding the significantly smaller Sora in his arms, Cloud with a grinning waiter trailing behind him.

"Well..." Cloud awkwardly stood for a moment, the boy behind him simply waiting. "Bye guys." He finally finished and parted to his own car, bringing on an over exasperated eye roll from Zack who carefully set his friend down in the passenger seat of Axel's car, looking down at him with slight worry.

"Just...you know take him home and stuff." He said as he scratched the back of his head, looking between the two other conscious boys.

"Zack, I'm perfectly aware of what my mission is." Axel replied with a smirk and Zack nodded gently.

"Yea, he'll do fine. Come on big boy, maybe we can take care of that two month dry spell." Riku said with a grin and a wink making Zack roll his eyes yet again.

"Fuck you Riku."

Axel chuckled as they walked away, setting himself down into the driver's seat and pausing when he looked over at Sora in the passenger seat. He sighed heavily and kneaded his forehead in frustration. On one level, he deeply regretted kissing him the other night, he regretted making things more complicated than it already was; all the regret was just building up inside of him and he didn't particularly like it. But on some other level, he didn't regret kissing Sora. It was a strange feeling, knowing that something he did was wrong but right, ruining everything in the long run, but momentarily solving everything.

"This sucks." He whispered and leaned his head against the steering wheel. Sora whimpered in his sleep and curled into a tighter ball until he sat up in a daze and started gagging. "No no no. Shit." Axel started to panic and search his car for something the boy could throw up in. He finally found an old paper bag that he promptly handed to Sora who even more promptly threw up in it, his body heaving violently with each retch.

"Fucking rank..." He mumbled before falling back against the seat and breathing heavily. Axel only smirked as he grabbed the bag, opened his door and set it down on the pavement.

"That's gonna suck for whoever steps in it tomorrow." He looked over at Sora who was still trying to focus on breathing, his eyes glazed over. "Ready to go home?" The brunette shook his head gently.

"Can you take me back to your place?"

"Wha--why?"

"I hate being drunk at home, it feels..." He paused to gag and then breathe heavily again. "Unnatural." The redhead sighed gently as he started the engine.

"Under one condition ok?" Sora nodded as if to say anything. "Tomorrow morning when you're wondering what happened, when you're trying to figure out where you are, when you sit up and your head swims, and when you see me...don't hate me in the morning ok?" The brunette seemed almost lucid for a second as he held up his head, looked at Axel with a slight frown and shook his head.

"I can't promise that." He whispered hoarsely, feeling tears start to form in his eyes again. This experience was too sobering to handle.

"I don't want you to hate me Sora." Axel said and gripped the steering wheel, staring down at it. "I just...I mean you probably won't remember this, but I just don't want you to hate me."

"Axel, you did the stupidest fucking thing ever. Why'd you have to do that? What was the point?"

"I don't--"

"You did it to make yourself feel better. You did it because--"

"Sora, I don't know why I did it, I just wanted to."

"Well you can't do that! You can't just go acting on whims jackass! Not when they affect other people!" Sora didn't bother wiping the tears from his face now, he was just too damn tired. Axel finally looked over at him and frowned when he saw him. He raised his hand and gently wiped the tears away for him. The brunette closed his eyes and bit his lip, trying not to cry even harder.

"I'm sorry Sora..." Axel whispered as he wiped away the tears, feeling Sora's cheek press against his palm as his neck lost the drive to stay up. "I'm so sorry." He whispered as he pulled the boy closer, pressing his head against his chest.

"I know." Sora said exhaustedly.

I can't help feeling sorry for both of them. Oi. Why do I do this to characters?