I apologize for the late update. This chapter had a lot of rearranging done to it with a few scenes put it and cut and stuff, and yeah…

Plus, college sucks!

Probably not worth the wait but hopefully next chapter will be!

Awkward silence filled the room and it just got a bit too uncomfortable for Roxas as he approached the bed and took a seat in the chair next to it. So he decided he should start talking.

"I'm…I'm sorry…" and that was the only thing he could think of to say.

"For what?"

Roxas almost thought this was a bad idea…how he wished Cloud didn't ask that!

"You know…everything," the younger blonde shrugged as he stared at the ground,

"No, Roxas, I don't know."

Roxas only squirmed upon hearing the strong tone Cloud used, as if a warning. That body language caused Cloud to sigh before telling Roxas to stand up and help him into a sitting position.

"Alright, from previous talks I've had, I've been hearing a lot of things about you," Cloud confessed as Roxas sat back down who nodded, "Well…you can start confessing and I will do my best not to interrupt. But you have to tell me why you're doing all these things!"

"O-Okay…" Roxas nodded and took in a deep breath before letting it all out. And he started telling about the first time he snuck out, then how often he does it, the first time he went to a college party, also how much he does that, and finally…when he started to date Axel. Cloud didn't interrupt like he promised but his face showed a lot of disappointment…

But when it got to Axel, it was more of angry and he burst.

"You did what?" If Cloud could, he'd bang his head against the wall a few times to make sure he's awake but at the same time, make him feel maybe he didn't hear right.

"I'm sorry…" Roxas lowered his head, apologizing for the umpteenth time about something he did.

"Wait…so you met Axel…then you dated him for a while…did I miss anything?" Cloud asked as he counted with his fingers.

"Well…"

"If you had sex, you're grounded for a month!"

"…"

"Oh sweet Shiva…" Cloud lightly slapped himself, "You're grounded for a month as soon as I get out of here!"

"Okay…" Roxas murmured with a nod as he lowered his head.

"Roxas, have you learned nothing from sex ed? Did the possibility of getting diseases not cross your mind?"

"I…well I don't know…" Roxas had no excuse considering he passed Health with flying colors, "I guess I…forgot?"

Cloud rubbed his head and he leaned back against the pillow behind him. Despite how Roxas doesn't like being in trouble or troubling his father, he actually felt weight being lifted off his shoulders when he started confessing everything he's done. Even with the consequences, he felt good! Well good along with scared and a bit of regret.

"I'm not sure if I should be mad at you or your friend…" Cloud murmured.

"Don't be mad at Axel…" Roxas whispered, "I…I lost my virginity before we even started dating."

"…You're grounded for two months."

"Yes Dad…"

"I would say starting now but Sora's grounded and I can't have 2 grounded kids at the same time or Vincent's going to have one of your heads! So as soon Sora gets ungrounded, your punishment starts!"

"Okay…" Roxas nodded and Cloud let out a tried sigh.

"Please don't tell me you did drugs too!"

"That I didn't do," Roxas immediately replied, shaking his head and looked up at Cloud.

"Anything else that's as bad?"

"Um…I tasted bear once-but I didn't get drunk! I swear! It was only a taste!"

Cloud made a sound and closed his eyes to think.

"I'm sorry I disappointed you…" Roxas apologized and hung his head again.

"…I'm not disappointed, Roxas. At least, not in you. I'm just disappointed that felt you needed to do these things. If you're troubled, come talk to me. Of course…" Cloud paused and put his hand in Roxas's hair, "I guess I'm disappointed in myself for not letting you know I'm there for you…just as much as I'm there for Sora."

Roxas found himself tensing up as emotions ran through him.

"I'm so sorry, Roxas…I'm sorry I appear to neglect you or your feelings."

Roxas shot up and wrapped his arms around Cloud's waist as he fell on the bed and let tears run from his eyes. Cloud let out a small grunt of the pain but he started caressing the boy's back the moment the pain went away.

Now Cloud had more of a reason to make sure Roxas understands Cloud loves him just as much as he loves Sora. No matter how distance they are, Cloud wants to fix it.

A few days later:

"You know…when I pictured myself being grounded. I sort of imagined myself cooped up in my room with nothing to do," Sora stated out loud.

"I know, that's why I'm making you do something," said Vincent as he flipped through the newspaper at the kitchen table.

"But Uncle Vinceeeeeent!" Sora whined at the kitchen floor, scrubbing it clean until it shines which was a lot harder than Sora originally thought it would be considering now he doesn't think it's possible to get it to literally shine. So Sora started praying, in hopes this torture will end soon…and his prayers were answered when he heard the front door open with Roxas and Leon chattering with each other. The moment they came into the kitchen, Roxas nearly slipped on the kitchen tiles and Leon had to grab a hold of him before the young blonde fell and hurt himself as well as drop his bag of groceries. One look at the area made Leon sigh,

"Sora, get up. And Vincent…ugh, never mind, I have nothing to say to you!"

"Good."

It irritated Leon to no end that Vincent has such a big non-caring attitude about EVERYTHING!

"You are so-UGH! Sora, I said get up!"

Sora obeyed while Vincent lowered his paper,

"I didn't say stop."

"But Leon said-"

"Does it look like I give a care of what he says?"

"Hey!" Leon nearly shoved his own bag of groceries to Roxas before he carefully walked over the wet floor, pulled Sora towards Roxas, and glared at Vincent, "Give him a break will you? He's not your maid!"

"Gee wouldn't that make a good present for Axel…" Roxas thought sarcastically with a sweat drop as he and Sora watched the two adults go back and forth with each other.

"I'm only punishing him."

"By making him do everything?"

"Then maybe he won't do any more stupid things if this is the consequence."

"You're insane you know that?"

"And you're stupid but we all know that."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

The twins can practically see Leon's rage that he's trying to hold in due his love for Cloud, and knowing he can't harm Vincent in any way.

With a sigh, Sora took one the bags and went to help Roxas put away the food.

"How's Axel?" Sora asked, knowing Roxas probably visited the man earlier today,

"Fine, but we don't have to worry about him trying to visit our house anymore. So long as Uncle Vincent is in the house, Axel is not coming near this place!"

"But Roxy, I WANT him to come over!" Sora pouted as he handed Roxas the food to put in the fridge like an assembly line.

"He's fine, don't worry!"

"Okay…and are you sneaking a visit to Dad today?" Sora whispered and Roxas nodded, "Then how is Dad doing? When will he get released?"

"He's doing fine; I'm helping him out with everything. And I'm not sure…probably at the very least 2 weeks but it could be longer," Roxas replied and Sora nodded. Sora is the only one that knew Roxas is making secret visits to Cloud. Even though Sora many times wanted to sneak a visit to the hospital with Roxas, Roxas downright said no and that it was important he's with Cloud alone. Especially after a long night with many confessions…

"Well can I can borrow your laptop again?" Sora pleaded, "And then you can sneak out the window while I pretend to be you?"

"You do realize that the only reason no one caught us breaking rules is because Vincent just sucks at being a guardian of any sort and Leon is left doing everything else around the house, right?"

"…So can I use your laptop to talk to Axel?"

"Ugh…yes…" Roxas rolled his eyes and then nodded.

Roxas parked his bike, locked it, and entered the hospital. It was still odd to talk to Cloud but…it was necessary.

"Dad?" Roxas peaked into the door to check if Cloud was awake and he saw Cloud waved him in indicating a yes.

"Did the house burn down yet?" Cloud asked as Roxas took the seat next to the bed.

"No, but Uncle Vincent was making Sora clean the house. Well until Leon and I got back from grocery shopping that is. They had their hourly fight."

"Ah…"

"How are you feeling?" Roxas asked as Cloud seemed tired. The man laid there and talked with his eyes closed.

"Alright I guess…I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night…"

"…Nightmare about Sephiroth?" Roxas guessed and when Cloud opened his eyes to look at him, he assumed he was right, "I started having some too…but Sora is always there to comfort me!"

That seemed to have brought a smile to Cloud's face…Sora always seems to cheer Cloud up even when he's not here.

"That's Sora for ya…the boy's not dating Axel is he?"

"Not that I'm aware of…I let him borrow my laptop to talk to Axel though since Uncle Vincent confiscated everything from him."

"Then…how is Leon?"

"Leon is always bickering with Uncle Vincent. I guess I would only worry if they're NOT fighting!"

"Heh, good point. So tell me, Roxas…how have you been?"

Roxas smiled and readjusted himself in his seat before he started talking about what he's been up to.

Sora frowned upon seeing that Axel wasn't online. Now all he can do is browse the internet until his Roxas comes back or until he finds something better to do because Vincent literally confiscated everything.

He was knocked out of his computer-staring by some light tapping. When he looked up at the window, expecting a dizzy bird, he instead jumped when it was the fire-red-head himself knocking on the window. He's on the thick tree branch and reached out to knock on the window, but Sora was afraid he'll fall off! Sora quickly got up and opened the window to see Axel in his usual leather-attire but carrying a small brown bag that looks like it's leaking water,

"What are you doing here?" Sora hissed, trying to refrain himself from shouting that.

"Well you weren't in your room so I tried Roxas's," Axel replied from the thick tree branch,

"No! I mean what are you doing here-here! The house!"

"You don't want me here?" Axel asked with a like smirk and Sora pouted,

"Th-That's not what I meant! Aren't you scared of Uncle Vincent at all?"

"Well of course I'm scared, that's why I'm not going in there," Axel pointed inside the room.

"…So I guess I'm going out there?" Sora asked pointed,

"Yup! Especially if you want this," Axel teased and pulled out a wrapped ice cream bar from the small bag and dropping some ice to the grass below, "Sea salt ice cream?"

A bright smile appeared on Sora's face as well a giggle. With a light shrug, Sora carefully started climbing out the window and onto the thick branch with Axel's help. The two seated themselves on the branch and ate their ice cream as they stared ahead at the many rows of houses and their yards in the neighborhood.

"Are you okay, Axel? I'm sorry about what happened at the hospital," Sora apologized after a few moments of silence.

"I'm fine…took a bit to calm down but no big deal. And you apologized like a 100 times!"

"You sure? Axel I-"

"I'm fine!" Axel waved it off, "Really! Got it memorized?"

"Oh…yeah I got it memorized! Haha…I admire your bravery. Most people that Vincent points his guns to, they don't ever come within 500 feet of him."

"Well…there are some things worth risking for."

"Like what?" Sora asked and Axel lightly hit himself for not expecting that question,

"Uh, obviously our friendship!" now he just felt proud for giving the perfect answer, "You're grounded right? Nothing's worse than being cooped up doing nothing, especially when you're playing Cinderella for that gunman…Roxas told me."

"Oh, I should've expected he would," Sora shrugged and lightly giggled, "Thanks for visiting, Axel. You saved me from an afternoon of boredom!"

"It's no problem," Axel replied and played with Sora's hair.

"How is your quitting-smoking going?" Sora questioned while the hand was still in his hair, though the hand stopped upon the question.

"Fine…actually…I haven't thought much about it with everything you've pulled me into! Thankfully, I'm not wasting my money on cigarettes or gum now…I'm wasting it on ice cream!" and he lifted his melting sea salt ice cream to prove his point.

"Ice cream is better too! Good choice!"

The two finished up their ice cream before continuing some more random conversations. To Sora's memory, this is probably their longest casual conversation they had together and he quite liked it.

Roxas came back from visiting Cloud, without suspicion, thankfully.

"Hey Sora, guess what? I…" Roxas paused after entered his room to see Sora watching a movie on his bed instead of surfing the web.

"What Roxy?" Sora asked before giving off a dream sigh. Roxas slowly closed his door and looked at the movie,

"Oh, well, Dad might be back in a week in a half instead, but it's not official…Wow, this is an old classic Disney movie. Why did you dig it up?"

"No reason," Sora shrugged and let out another sigh.

"…Are you okay?"

"Yeah…" Sora replied with a silly smile on. Roxas only raised a brow in suspicious before he looked between Sora's dream-like nature and the Beauty and the Beast movie. Instead of questioning, Roxas casually joined Sora on the bed to watch for a few minutes. After some time of thinking, Roxas got right on Sora's back.

"So…what did you do while I was gone?"

"Oh…nothing…the usual…" he replied but added in a small giggle.

"Is that so?" Roxas raised a brow, not quite believing it, "So you…talked with Axel the whole time online?"

"Yeah…"

"About what?"

"Oh you know," Sora shrugged, "Just random stuff…things friends would talk about…you know…those stuff…"

If Roxas didn't know better, he would think Sora was high. Or…maybe he is?

"So tell me, Sora…" Roxas casually threw an arm around his brother and pulled him closer, "Can you explain to me why you have a small stain here?" Roxas pointed to Sora's sky white shirt.

"Oh, that's just some sea salt ice cream!"

"From…?"

"From…" Sora suddenly tensed and grew nervous, as he didn't have an answer.

"You had sea salt ice cream without me?" Roxas asked, "And we didn't buy any while we're out because Uncle Vincent knew that's what you like."

"Um…" Sora looked away as best he could, trying to think of something. Though as luck may have, or bad luck, Roxas's laptop let out a small ring, indicating someone IMd the still logged-in Sora. The twins exchanged a short glance before they both dove and fell out of the bed. They scrambled to their feet and both shoved their way to the laptop. Sora tried to reach for it and close the laptop but Roxas got his hands on his laptop first and pushed it farther from Sora as he used his body to keep Sora away.

"Got-It-Memorized?" Roxas read the screen name out loud, "Change of schedule, I can't make it tomorrow afternoon. But I can visit at night…"

Roxas sent Sora a glare who finally stopped reaching for the computer.

"…Um, what?" Sora tried to ask innocently.

"Why would Axel visit you tomorrow night?"

"Um…"

Though Roxas didn't brother waiting for an answer as he started to type…

Axel, this is Roxas-why are you trying to sneak a visit with my brother? And give him sea salt ice cream without giving me one?

After a pause, Axel gave his reply:

Ooh…hi Roxy. Um…you weren't home! Okay bye!

And the man signed out a second later. Roxas turned around in time to see Sora bolt for the door.

"Oh no you don't!" Roxas scurried after him and caught Sora before Sora reached the safety of his bedroom.

"Tell me before I tell Vincent!" Roxas threatened as he hooked Sora's arms behind him.

"Tell me WHAT?" Vincent's voice bellowed from below.

"Nothing!" the two replied in unison before Sora continued to struggle but Roxas held onto him tightly,

"If I catch you lying, you're both cleaning the kitchen with a toothbrush!" the man threatened.

"Yes, Uncle Vincent!" the two replied but Roxas still didn't release Sora.

"Okay fine! I'll tell you!" Sora replied with a hiss and stopped struggling, "Axel visited me today."

"Well that part was obvious! Why were you acting so weird earlier?"

"Uh…I'm in love?" Well it wasn't a total lie.

"Oh gosh, Sora, please say you're kidding!" Roxas feared this day. He always thought if he played his cards right, Sora's crush will eventually go away!

"Sorry, Roxy, but…I really, really, like him! So can you let go of me now and we can finish the movie?" Sora asked and flashed an innocent smile.

Roxas mumbled under his breath before he let go and the two retreated back to Roxas's room to finish the movie. Though after Roxas went off his back, Sora went back to his dream-like state. He sighed, giggled, and became overly happy as they watched the movie and Sora kept thinking back to his talk with Axel.

"What are you doing?" Sora asked Axel who looked around, as if expecting something to jump out at them.

"Um, nothing! Nothing…" he replied and after giving another few set of glances he looked at Sora.

"You sure?" the young boy asked with concern.

Axel put a hand up but dropped it.

"Ah…okay, um, Sora look at me."

"…I already am," Sora replied.

"Right, right…well…ah forget it…" Axel threw his hands up in defeat. A moment later those hands reached out to grab Sora's face and pulled him closer so he could descend his lips upon him.

Notes:

-Their kiss? Totally last minute add-in!

All I gotta say is…

Next chapter: Cloud is back!

And just to cause more problems: Riku finds out his best friend got kissed by a college man

Please read and review!