Warning: This right here is a Unicorn of death Fanfiction. For those of you who haven't read my other brilliantly amazing Fanfictions, that basically means that this thing will be filled with swearing, YAOI (dun dun duuun) and the occasional tasteless joke. Consider yourself warned.

Disclaimer: It's called Fanfiction because I am a FAN, not the owner of the damned characters.

Roxas will get better, right?

"Demyx, Demyx, Demyx, oh my God, oh my God, Demyx, oh my God..."

"Axel, for fuck's sake, either tell me what happened at the nurse's office or shut the fuck up," Demyx snapped, drumming his notebook with a pen. He was not having the best of days, having been punched in the face by me (totally by accident, but I don't think it mattered to him whether I meant it or not; all he cared about was the fact that his pretty little nose was now bruised and he had dried blood on his shirt. Then there was the fact that Xigbar had now ditched Natalie, which you'd think would be a good thing, but apparently not. Dem was worried that he was just the rebound and actually Xigbar was still hung up on the girl whose name was permanently engraved on his skin, and also, apparently Xigbar was a whole lot more grabby now that he was properly single. And by grabby, I mean that he had his hands all over Demyx whenever nobody was looking. Again, you'd think that was a good thing, but apparently not, because... well, I don't know. I zoned out for that part of Demyx's bitching and whining.

"But Dem, I can't breathe, Dem, oh my God..."

"You say "Oh my God" one more fucking time, and you will actually meet God." I pouted at Demyx, but I'm not cute or innocent enough to pout. "Now, either spit it out, or go sit next to Selphie and Kairi, because I'm sick of your stupid incoherent babbling."

"Okay." I took a deep breath. "Okay. Well. He came in, just to see me, which was amazing enough, you know? He just looked like this little angel, all shy and quiet and –"

"Axel, I don't wanna hear you fangasming about Roxas, okay? Just tell me what happened."

"I'm getting to that part," I hissed, taking another deep breath and thanking the powers that be for giving us such an incompetent French teacher. "Basically, he told me that I was an idiot for getting hurt because of him, but I mean, seriously, what else was I going to do? I couldn't very well let Seifer swan off thinking it was okay to hurt my Roxas. But anyway. And basically, he asked if he could stay at my place tonight! And now I'm freaking out, like, what if he finds those photos of himself? And what if –"

"Axel." I realised that that was about the fourth time that Demyx had said my name and stopped talking abruptly, looking down at my Converse. "You will be fine. Just don't jump his bones and you should be okay. He's a nice kid, he won't laugh at you for getting tongue-tied or any of the girly shit you do in his presence. And as for those photos, well, you should get rid of them, anyway, really, because it's not exactly healthy to –"

"No way am I getting rid of those! Don't you realise how much hard work it took me to get them in the first place? It's the closest I'll get to the real thing for a long while, and I need something to tide me over in case I do just jump his bones and then..."

Demyx frowned at me. "You know, one day he will actually realise just how much of a creepy stalker you are." I glanced at the clock. Ten more minutes until the bell went... "Do me a favour and wait outside Xigbar's classroom for me? I just need to talk to him for literally five minutes, and –"

"Fine, but if it starts sounding too gross I'm going to ditch you and actually be on time for Biology for a change." I paused. "How come you and I never get detentions from Marluxia?"

"He doesn't like taller kids," Demyx said with a shrug, "and I think we're a bit old for his taste. It's a shame, really, I've always wondered whether he's a seme or an uke –"

"Stop it, you sick little fuck!" I protested, covering my eyes. Demyx just laughed evilly and went back to drumming on his notebook, not nearly as aggressively this time. "You're so horrible to me," I mumbled.

"Fine, then I guess I won't lend you my hair gel again. And you can forget about Henna doing your make-up for you, because I'll tell her that she's not allowed to talk to you."

"Don't bring Henna into this, Dem. Next thing you'll be using Mr Bunny as a shield from nuclear explosives." We continued to banter back and forth for a while, until the lesson ended and we detoured to Xigbar's classroom, Demyx going inside (of the classroom, before you try and twist that into a sex joke) and me waiting just by the door, keeping an ear out in case things got ugly. Not that I was being pessimistic or anything, it's just that if I don't look after that ditzy blonde, I don't think that anybody will.

"Hey, Demyx! How are you? You look great." Oh, fuck, why did I agree to come and wait outside the room?

"I'm great, Xigbar, how are you? You look pretty good yourself." There was a rather suspicious silence in which I like to think that they were shaking hands in a friendly manner.

"I'm brilliant. Um... don't you have, like, a lesson now? Not that I'm complaining or anything, it's just that I wouldn't want you getting yourself into trouble..."

Demyx chuckled darkly. "I think I'm pretty capable of getting myself out of trouble, Xigbar. I would've been thrown out of school long before now if it weren't for my... my social skills, shall we say." Ew, that's what we shall say. We shall say ew.

"Good to know, I guess. I'd prefer it if you used those skills of yours exclusively on me... although I suppose –"

"It's gone!" Wait, what? I mean, Demyx's attention span isn't the greatest, but that was really random. "Where'd it go?"

"Where'd what go?" Xigbar asked, sounding as confused as I was.

"Your tattoo! The one that said Natalie on it! Where'd it go, Xigbar?" The way Demyx said Xigbar's name, I think that Xigbar was going to struggle to lie to him. Or tell the truth. Or form any coherent sentence that didn't make me want to be sick.

"Yeah, about that..." Xigbar sounded rather awkward. "It... um... it wasn't a real tattoo."

Someone needs to give Xigbar a medal for being an ultimate troll. After they've given him a decent smack upside the head for upsetting Demyx unnecessarily.

"What... what d'you... so it was just a temporary tattoo?" Demyx sounded dumbstruck, and I couldn't really blame him. "So you and Natalie... you weren't as serious as you made out?"

Xigbar laughed nervously. "Here's the thing, Demyx... Natalie and I... we weren't really... well, um..."

"Spit it out. I promise I won't be mad."

"Well..." Xigbar tried again, "well, see, Natalie, she's... she isn't real."

"She what?" Demyx demanded, sounding not mad, but not pleased either.

"Yeah, I, um, I made her up. To make you jealous. So that you would want to prove that you're better than her – so I could finally get into your pants."

There was a long silence, and I had to wonder whether I should go in and check that Demyx was okay. Last thing I needed was to arrive ten minutes late to Biology with Demyx in tears. Everyone would assume that I'd just beaten him up or some shit.

"That's the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me!" Demyx squeaked. There was a really sickening kissing noise, and then the door was thrown open. "I have to get to Bio, I'll see you after school!"

"Bye Demyx," Xigbar called, sounding rather hazy and confused. I couldn't blame him. He had just got squealed at and kissed for basically lying his ass off. I would be fucking confused, that's for sure. Luckily Roxas was rather more sensible than Demyx. There again, Fireman Sam is more sensible than Demyx.

"I heard everything, you really don't need to gush about Xigbar, and if you do, I'll start gushing about Roxas."

Demyx grinned. "I've never been so happy, Axel. He's all mine! Natalie is non-existent!"

"Yeah, he's all yours... but are you all his?" Demyx opened his mouth to argue, but I held up a finger to stop him. "Think about it. Think about how you're always messing around with Luxord, flirting with Zexion and Xemnas. Do you intend to stop that, now you know about Natalie?"

Demyx cringed visibly as we turned into the corridor that our Biology classroom was in. "But then I'll fail this grade again..." he whined. I just shook my head.

"It's your life, Demyx. All I can do is help pick up the pieces when you break it."

"But you do that so well."

When things get tough...

"You wanna come to my place tonight, Roxas?" asked Hayner on the way out of Geography, smoothing his hair back as he spoke like he thought I cared what his hair looked like.

"I'm really sorry, Hayner, I've got plans."

He squinted at me, clearly not sure whether or not to believe me. I couldn't blame him. "What plans?"

Too tired to make up a decent lie, I just told him the truth: "I'm going to Axel's place."

"Oh." Hayner stopped short, just by my locker. "Um... why?"

"Well, I dunno if you heard, but he kind of got his ass handed to him by Seifer earlier today because of me. And he's a pretty nice guy, and he seems kinda lonely, and I know how that feels, so I figured I'd just keep him company, you know? Talk about the guy he likes and the guy I like and so on."

Hayner frowned. "Who do you like, then?"

"Um... I'm not telling. I haven't told Axel or Naminé or Olette or Pence or anyone. Wouldn't want it getting out, you know?"

Hayner smirked. Probably assumed it was him, the arrogant bastard. Oh, well. I just needed to find a way out of this conversation. "Okay, Roxas, I understand. You two have fun at your little gay sleepover. If you get bored of him, give me a call. I'd be happy to keep you entertained."

You creepy, creepy fuck.

"I'll bear that in mind," I told him out loud, taking care not to actually speak my mind in front of him. "I'd better get going, I said that I would meet Axel by the front gates so we could walk to his place. See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow, Rox." I felt his hand on my ass as I went but didn't say anything because why would I be stupid enough to say anything? It would probably just encourage him. To be honest I was kind of surprised that he hadn't backed off after giving me a handjob and a blowjob the other day. You'd think that that would be enough for a guy. But no, I think he was holding onto the hope that he could got the whole way with me. And if Seifer and his gang got their way, Hayner wouldn't even be my first.

And then there was Axel, but he was about five miles out of my league and liked someone else, so I doubt that that was ever going to happen. Anyway, those red spikes could kill a guy. Not that I ever thought about it in great detail.

I slipped between people, ducked under taller people and dodged around shorter people, spilled out onto the front steps with the rest of the school population, and wove my way to the front gates, where Axel stood, talking to Demyx. Of course it was Demyx, it was always Demyx.

"I just can't believe it, Ax! I just – oh my God, it's just so sweet of him!"

"And then you tell me off for babbling about – Roxas! Hey! Good to see you!" I smiled and waved, and Demyx waved peppily back, but Axel stopped. "You okay there? You look a little pale."

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said casually, inwardly wondering how pale I looked and whether he could tell that I felt like shit. "You wanna get going, or...?"

"Yeah, c'mon. Bye, Demyx, say hi to Henna for me!" Axel took hold of my wrist and began guiding me out of the school gates, just in case I had had a sudden blonde moment and forgotten how to walk through gates on my own. I was tired, not stupid, thanks.

"Who's Henna?" I asked, looking around at the damp roads and the sun glistening off them. Nice that the rain had stopped just as we were leaving school. That was really convenient. "Demyx's little sister. Well, he has rather a few of them. But Henna is one of the littlest, the one who always carries around Mr Bunny, and she always helps Dem do his make-up and give me advice about the guy I like. I promised her I'd tell him I like him soon, but you know, I just kind of get tongue-tied and I end up just changing the subject completely, know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I know." I didn't really know. I'd never had to tell someone that I liked them – usually I was just trying to get creeps to leave me the fuck alone. "You know, you never did tell me who it is that you like."

Axel grinned. "You wouldn't know him. And you definitely wouldn't expect me to like him, of all people. But... I dunno. It's weird, but I just can't ever stop thinking about him, dreaming about him, you know..."

"Sounds like you've really got it bad," I teased, poking him in the side. He... giggled? It sure sounded like a giggle. "Hey, are you ticklish?"

"N-no..."

"You're a shit liar, Axel," I told him as we emerged onto the street that held Axel's house. "I'm really ticklish too. I won't get you if you don't get me, deal?"

"Deal." Axel grinned at me, green eyes glittering in the just-appeared sunlight. "So, you hungry?"

I shrugged. "A little." In truth I was absolutely ravenous, but I didn't really want to tell Axel that. "You need a hand or anything?" I asked, watching him fumble with the keys because his hand was still mashed up from his encounter with Seifer earlier.

"Nah, I'm fine – shit!" He had just tried pushing the door with his shoulder and was now mouthing swearwords that I didn't even know existed. "Um. Yeah, that was really manly of me, wasn't it?"

"Don't worry about it, I'm a complete pussy sometimes, you have no –"

"For fuck's sake, stop doing that!" I blinked, mildly surprised. "You have got to stop talking yourself down like that, Roxas. It drives me nuts. You're really amazing, fucking well act like it." He lead me into the kitchen and opened the fridge. "You want anything to drink?"

"Um... you got any orange juice?" Gotta love orange juice. Safe, healthy and available in most people's houses.

Axel nodded, got out a carton of orange juice out with his good hand and then shut the fridge door with his elbow, not swearing as much this time. "Do me a favour and grab two glasses from up there?" he asked, pointing to an open cupboard way above my head. I reached up, feeling my shirt starting to sneak up my stomach, and went pink. Worse still, I could see Axel staring at me out of the corner of my eye. He was probably looking at how pale and untoned I was.

The doorbell rang just as I got my hands on two glasses and set them down on the counter. Axel went to get it and I poured two ample servings of juice before putting the carton back into the fridge.

I could hear sobbing from the front hall. Hm, that wasn't good. I decided to go and have a look and see if Axel needed any help with whoever had been at his door. "Demyx, c'mon, man, breathe... tell me what's wrong, Dem, please?"

Demyx made a horrible sort of keening noise, burying his face in his own hands. "Henna... she's..."

"What? Henna? What's up with her?"

"She's ill." Demyx started half-sobbing, half-coughing, and clinging onto Axel's wrist. "In... hospital... and..."

"Well, if she's in hospital, they'll be fixing her, right?"Axel patted Demyx on the shoulder awkwardly and I started to wonder why I had ever thought they could be a couple. They weren't even "just friends", more like brothers. "Come on, Dem, how bad can it –"

"She's got... she has..." Demyx inhaled, and you could practically hear his lungs rattling against the inside of his ribcage. "She has what his sister has," he said, pointing at me almost accusingly.

"But that can be fixed, Roxas is saving up munny for Naminé's surgery, right?" Axel asked desperately. I swallowed hard, hating myself for the news I was gonna have to deliver.

"The thing is... it depends on how old she is, and how big she is, and how early they caught the disease, and... it's a really rare disease, but it's starting to spread and nobody really knows quite why, and the thing is... they'll be able to fix Naminé, if I get the munny, because she's big enough now that her organs are sort of more spaced out and bigger, so it's easier for the doctors to see what they're doing..."

"But Henna's tiny," Demyx breathed. "Shit... I don't... don't want her to..."

"She won't," Axel said firmly. "They'll fix her, Demyx. She's Henna, for fuck's sake, she can't die." He said it as it if were the most preposterous thing he'd ever heard, like Henna was as likely to die as a pet rock.

"Can I stay here tonight? I don't think I can stay in that house knowing that Henna isn't in her room."

"I know the feeling," I muttered, which for some reason set Demyx off into another flood of tears. Shit.

"It'll be all right, Demyx, don't you worry," Axel said softly, putting an arm around his shoulders and steering him into the kitchen. "Take some deep breaths."

I couldn't even find it within me to be jealous of Demyx, because I knew exactly how he felt.

xxx

I got this review that basically complained about how I always beg for reviews but then never reply to them. I already explained this on another fic, so I'mma just copy/paste the author's note from there to here. Apologies if you've already seen it.

I read my reviews over and over again. Every time I am close to doing something stupid, every time I'm miserable, every time I'm angry, I'll read my reviews. And they cheer me up a lot. And I really enjoy writing and getting feedback for my writing. But the last thing I want is for it to become a chore to write and to reply to every review, so I'm just gonna carry on doing things the way I do them. I stopped writing songs because there was so much pressure on me to keep writing songs, keep writing songs, keep writing fucking songs, and it stopped being fun. I'm scared that this will stop being fun too, and I'll be left with nothing to make me smile when the depression and the anger reaches its worst.

Sorry about the incredibly long author's note, just thought I'd get that off my chest. Thanks for reading, and for sticking with this story all the way to this chapter. It means the world to me, you guys, it really does.