Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

Nyaa.

=^-n-^=

A month had passed since the mysterious death of Seifer. As horrible as it was, knowing that the man who had once tried to molest him was dead made Roxas calm down a bit. At least he wasn't staking out the coffee shop where Sora and Riku worked anymore.

Things seemed to be looking up, in Roxas' opinion. After all, he had a job, both he and his brother were out of their terribly empty childhood home, and he had someone who cared about him who didn't appear to be leaving anytime soon. The future seemed bright.

And then the worst thing he could imagine happened.

It was on a nice, warm day, a day where the air seemed to retain a wonderful briskness about it, probably due to the fact that autumn had made its entrance. He had taken his moment of alone time to go on a walk through the park, and was walking back to the Organization's headquarters. He wasn't even halfway there when Axel met up with him, that usual smirk on his face, to accompany him back.

Roxas smiled and waved through the crowds, and paused when he heard it.

"GODDAMMIT, WOMAN, STOP FOLLOWING ME EVERYWHERE I FUCKING GO!" a loud, angry male voice broke through the peaceful air.

He didn't even want to turn his head. It was so close, he was afraid that if he DID turn to look, they would see him and recognize him, and pull him into it somehow. Roxas snapped to attention when he realized Axel was already standing in front of him, staring at the scene over his head.

"Wow, that's a happy couple for ya, huh?" he asked, grinning at his uke. When he caught sight of Roxas' expression, he straightened up. "What's wrong?"

"WELL IF YOU'D STOP RUNNING ALL OVER THE PLACE, I WOULDN'T HAVE TO FOLLOW YOU TO DRAG YOU BACK HOME!" a shrill female voice screamed back.

"It's them." Roxas said, going paler than a corpse. He put his face in his hands, then slowly turned to look at the scene.

Pedestrians were walking around a man and a woman, who stood toe-to-toe yelling at eachother. The woman had long, dark brown hair and eyes, had breasts so huge they had to be implants, and was wearing a white tank top, black short-shorts, and calf-high black combat boots. The man, however, had a wild mess of blonde hair and vivid blue eyes, seemed entirely too lean to be considered of a healthy weight on appearance, and wore a blue, army-like suit (save that there was no camo-print), with brown gloves and brown army boots.

Dear god, it WAS them.

"WHY WOULD I GO BACK HOME WITH YOU? SO WE CAN FIGHT IN FRONT OF THE KIDS, AS USUAL?" the male yelled.

"WE WOULDN'T HAVE TO FIGHT IF YOU DIDN'T DRINK SO MUCH! YOU CAN'T HOLD YOUR LIQUOR FOR SHIT! AND YOU USED TO BE A HAPPY DRUNK!" the woman yelled right back.

"YEAH, AND LOOK WHAT HAPPENED THE LAST TIME I GOT DRUNK AND WAS 'HAPPY'! I MARRIED YOU!"

^This is familiar…^ Roxas sighed and rubbed his head.

"Damn, you'd think any straight or bi dude would be okay with gettin' free sex from a lady with jugs like that, too…" Axel commented, then looked down at Roxas. "So, how do you know them? They on some screwed-up reality show you hate or something?"

"Worse than that…" Roxas groaned. "They're my parents…"

"WHY DO YOU ALWAYS BRING THAT UP? WE COULD BE SO HAPPY TOGETHER!"

"NO WE CAN'T! GIVE IT UP, I HATE YOU! JUST SIGN THE DIVORCE PAPERS AND BE DONE WITH IT! I'M COMPLETELY GAY NOW CUZ OF YOU! THANKS FOR SHOWING ME I'M NOT STRAIGHT, YOU CRAZY BITCH!"

"They seem… nice…" Axel said, wincing as Roxas' mom slapped her husband.

"DON'T CALL ME A BITCH, YOU FAG! I'M YOUR WIFE!"

"You should see it when Dad's drunk…" Roxas said, frowning.

The man rubbed his cheek, almost like he was ridding himself of a slight itch. The woman continued on: "BESIDES, WITH YOU NEVER HOME, HOW ARE THE KIDS SUPPOSED TO FEEL? IT'S YOUR FAULT THEY'RE ALWAYS DEPRESSED! I BET IF I CALLED THE HOUSE RIGHT NOW THEY'D BE BEGGING FOR YOU AND ME TO COME HOME SO WE CAN BE ONE HAPPY FAMILY!"

Roxas' body tightened, and he felt the urge to run up and kick the awful woman in the head. He looked up when he heard a resounding smack, and saw his father had actually PUNCHED his mother, looking equally as pissed as Roxas himself.

"You do NOT bring them into this!" the man hissed, picking up a strangely angry calm. "I know I ain't the best dad in the world, but you're an even worse mother for coming after me rather than staying behind and comforting them! Face it, Tifa – Sora and Roxas haven't wanted us home since Aerith moved to the city to help her friend after he got hospitalized!"

Tifa, having fallen back out of shock when Cloud had punched her, got to her feet and scowled at the man. "Oh, is THAT why you ran here? Come to seduce the gay guy?"

"Well, at least you've been paying attention!" Cloud said, throwing his arms out with an exasperated look. "Yes, Tifa, I came to seduce a man I haven't talked to in YEARS, knowing that you may very well ATTACK him."

"HA!" Tifa pointed at him. "I KNEW IT! YOU BASTARD! THIS IS WHY NO ONE CAN STAND TO BE AROUND YOU, BECAUSE YOU KEEP PUSHING THEM AWAY!"

While Cloud, Roxas, Axel, and every other pedestrian wondered what the HELL this had to do with anything, she continued to rant and rave. Finally, Cloud sighed, looked around, and uprooted a street lamp; and this wasn't one of those public park, skinny 6-7' poles, but a large, side-of-the-road street lamps. People began running around freaking out, and even Axel had to take a step back when Cloud did this.

Roxas, on the other hand, ran up into the scene and grabbed the other end of the pole when Cloud swung it at Tifa, just missing her head. The older blonde's eyebrows shot up when he saw who was hindering his progress in beating the snot – and BRAINS – out of his pursuer.

"Hey, I know she's a pain, but ya can't just go killing her!" Roxas snapped once secure that he had his father's attention.

Cloud and Tifa just both continued to stare at him, dumbstruck, until the sound of police sirens led Axel to run up and grab his lover's arm. "C'mon, we don't need 'em finding US here, too!" he said before dragging Roxas away in a speedy run.

"This was the scene today taken by a witness via camera-phone…" the newscaster on TV was saying as Roxas and Axel were visiting with Demyx, Zexion, Sora and Riku at the short brunette's house.

Axel was telling the others all about the scene as he had witnessed it, his arms waving around in vibrant gestures. Demyx, Riku and Zexion were listening with rapt attention, whereas Sora and Roxas sat on the couch staring at the TV in a rather depressed manner. The older twin's head rested on his brother's head, which in turn was on his shoulder as they saw the fight all over again. Luckily, there was no audio on the camera phone that had been used, so no one knew their names, and the feed cut off before Roxas had gotten himself involved.

All the same, knowing that their parents were in Twilight Town saddened them to an extent; Roxas felt as though the life he was trying so hard to get them away from was chasing after them, and Sora was always sensitive to the fighting that went on between his parents. "Don't worry, Roxas. They might know we're here, but it's not like they know where we live or work or anything, right? We're okay, there's still a chance we won't have to deal with them too much." Sora pointed out hopefully.

Roxas hugged his little brother, glad that there had been no audio on the video. He didn't want to tell Sora what he'd learned of their parents' sham of a marriage. The two had always fought over little things so explosively, but never had they fought like that, at least not to a volume that the two sons could hear. Then again, they had gotten into a lot of hissing matches, especially when Sora and Roxas were younger, with barely a memory to speak of.

Although, he was starting to see his father in somewhat of a new light; in the past, Roxas had hated Cloud more so than his mother. He hated that Cloud was always the one that ran off somewhere and didn't come back until Tifa dragged him home, he hated that he looked so much like the older blonde – hell, he had once even said that he blamed his father for global warming. But after what he'd heard, he was sure of how wrong he'd been, and part of him wanted to find out if this was, indeed, the truth, and Cloud was really the better parent who had been roped into a marriage that he'd never intended to happen. Tifa, not even one to be praised for giving the two life in the first place, was starting to look worse and worse in her older child's mind.

^I should talk to Sora about it later.^ Roxas said to himself, ruffling the messy brown hair. ^Before then, though, I need to find Dad and talk to him…^

The group stayed at Sora's apartment for a while longer, until the clock hit 10 pm and he asked them all to leave. Riku asked if he could hang out for a few more minutes, and the brunette said he didn't mind and just plopped down on the couch. Riku settled in next to him, an elbow resting up on the back of said-couch.

"So, I take it you and your parents don't get along, huh?" Riku asked, trying to get his friend to talk about it.

"Why would you think that?" Sora retorted quietly.

"Well, you looked like someone had slapped you across the face when Roxas and Axel showed up and said they'd run into your mom and dad, AND you've been quiet all day since then." Riku pointed out bluntly. "If you don't wanna talk about it, I understand, but it's not good to keep that kinda stuff bottled up, ya know?"

Sora nodded, his hands holding up his head and his elbows digging into his knees. Suddenly he wanted Riku to leave, for fear the platinum blonde would worry about him; or worse, what if Riku left him too, like his parents? There was a long silence in which he reasoned with himself that Riku was definitely not crazy like his mother or a drinker like his father… ^At least I don't think he is… he hasn't been to a bar since we met, has he?^ he pondered to himself.

He felt a hand pull him back into an upright sitting stance and looked up at Riku with his sad, sea-blue eyes. Sora sniffled a few times, then tackled him over in a hug and burrowed his face into Riku's chest, trembling and whimpering about something until the hiccups started breaking up his muffled, incoherent sentences, making them even more indecipherable.

Riku sat up and placed his hands on Sora's shoulders, pushing him back gently, standing up and leaving the room momentarily. He returned to his seat with a glass of water, which he handed over to the smaller man. After Sora's hiccups subsided, he said, "Now… what?"

Sora took in a deep breath, saying, "I w-was TRYING to s-say that I d-don't like my p-p-parents cuz for as l-long as me a-and Roxas can remember, th-they've n-never really CARED about us." He took a moment to rub at his eyes furiously, fighting back new tears. "W-We used to have an a-aunt who'd l-look after us when th-they'd DITCH us, but then sh-she moved to a c-city when one of her f-f-friends got in trouble and had to be hospitalized, so R-Roxas was always the one l-looking after m-me, but no one was e-ever around to p-protect Roxas! I could never help him cuz I wasn't strong enough, or smart enough or ANYTHING like that!"

Sora's hands had clenched into fists on his knees by the time he'd finished talking, and more tears were running down his cheeks. He looked positively MISERABLE, and it wasn't a look that Riku much liked seeing on the warm-hearted brunette. He pulled Sora onto his lap and into his arms, hugging him tightly. "Hey, it's not your fault that your parents are unhappy with their own lives. They chose it for themselves. And as for this 'not being able to keep your brother safe' stuff, did you ever know about it before or when something that would hurt him was about to happen?"

"N-No, but I still could have gotten him to tell me who it was or something!" Sora said.

"So you could do what? Beat someone up? What good would that have done? He would have just worried about you more if you did that, and that's probably why he didn't tell you in the first place – he may not have wanted to make you worry about him like your parents always were with their repetitively running-off scene." Riku wiped the wetness off of Sora's face, then held it in his hands, looking into those wide innocent eyes with his own calm aquamarines. "You did keep Roxas safe, Sora. Anyone going through that kind of thing would have gone insane left on their own, but he had you around. You kept him level-headed, and you kept him from getting lonely. See what I'm talking about?"

Summer skies blinked back at Riku for a moment, before the surprisingly strong youth tackled him over in another hug, this time reeling out "thank you"s instead of whimpers. Sora smiled up at the platinum blonde after a moment or so, showing the taller male he was all better now, and crawled his way up to Riku's face to give him another one of his innocent kisses on the lips. Riku ruffled the mess of hair as Sora placed his chin on his hands – both of which rested on Riku's chest – and said, "I'm glad I get to know someone as cool as you, Riku, cuz I know I can trust you."

"Yup." Riku smirked. "You can trust me to beat up anyone who goes messin' with ya, and you can trust me to let you cry on my shirt without making fun of you, even if you are a little weirdo."

Sora giggled. "You're mean." he said, pouting as Riku propped himself on his elbows and kissed the brunette's forehead.

Riku just closed his eyes and nodded indignantly. "Yes, I am." he agreed.

When he opened his eyes, Sora was thisclose to his face. He rose an eyebrow, tilting his head when Sora opened his mouth to say something. The little brunette fidgeted, putting his fingers to his lips in thought, until Riku chuckled lightly and said, "My, Sora, you're being even more talkative than usual!"

Sora growled at him lightly, then pressed his lips to Riku's again, lingering a little while longer than before. He pulled back and looked into Riku's eyes meaningfully, nervously biting his lower lip.

Riku sat up so his back was against an arm of the couch. He stared at Sora for a moment or so, then pulled him into his arms and asked, "Are you trying to say you love me?" Sora nodded bashfully, a red hue erupting across his face. He felt Riku's lips brush against his again and let out a little surprised gasp, giving the other's tongue a key opportunity to slide in past the parted lips. Sora blinked, then let his eyelids drop and leaned into the kiss, his tongue doing some exploring of its own.

When they broke apart for air, the clock showed a wonderful 11 pm at them. And here they had work in the morning. Any other day, Riku would have thrown his shoe at the clock for not letting time be slow enough to get a potential lover into bed, but today it didn't feel like it'd be right. Sora had just opened up to him about a lot of things, probably more than the average person should open about in one night, and he didn't want to leave the apartment feeling like he'd taken advantage of the smaller male while he vulnerable. That would just suck for BOTH of them.

Riku ran his fingers through Sora's wild hair and said, "I've got to go, it's late. We can hang out on our next free day, okay?"

Sora grinned widely. "I'd love to!" he replied, his happy self now back in full at the prospect.

=^n.n^=

I remember this point being right around the time where I was on and off this story a lot. When you don't keep an outline for these things, it's very bad, and in later chapters, it seemed to kind of show - of course, I was also burnt out on Kingdom Hearts and The Organization. I spread myself too thin with a couple of other fanfics, Chasing Shadows and Demons and Angels. I might finish those up and put them back up here someday, but I have a couple of other things I'm working on.

Plus, I think I would fix this one up before I worked on the others. It deserves the TLC.

Nyaa.