Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts does not belong to me!

AN: Waaaa, I know, I know it's so, so late! I'm so sorry! Holidays and all, and then some problems with alerts... Also, I wrote this once and was extremely dissatisfied with it, so I had to rewrite about half of it. Anyways, thanks so much for all the reviews on the previous chapter! I think I was able to reply to most of them... if I missed yours, I apologize!
In other news, this chapter! is the second to last. And I'm posting it during class, so... I hope you guys like it! And once again, I'm so sorry for the delay! (And thank you for the reviews!)

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Axel shifted in his seat again, trying to get comfortable. The graduating class was so big that they actually had to hold the ceremony in the basketball stadium of a nearby university, and the only place they'd been able to find enough seats still open to fit their entire group (Axel and Steph, all of Sora's family, and Demyx's mom, plus Rikku and Namine, who'd decided to tag along for good measure) was in the upper balcony. The seats were extremely uncomfortable, and Axel had been trying to sleep (he was between Roxas and Rikku, neither of whom cared) to no avail. Some old guy had been talking for a good 20 minutes, and he didn't seem to have anything riveting to say, in Axel's opinion. He shifted to lean a little against Roxas's side, ignoring the blond's grumbling, and continued to space out, on the verge of sleep when he heard a familiar voice ringing out from the microphone.

"Um, hi everyone! I, um… My name is Demyx, and I'm gonna… um… I'm gonna be making a-a speech here, shortly. Right now, actually. I'll just, uh, I'll just get started then…"

Axel shook himself awake, leaning forward on the railing to see his friend. Demyx looked pretty small from far away, and he hoped the blond wouldn't get too flustered, as he had a habit of doing.

Just don't faint, or throw up. Or drop the mic. In fact, just leave the mic on the lectern. Leave it. Leave it, Demyx, I see you reaching for it. GOD DAMMIT, DON'T TAKE THE MIC OFF THE LECTERN, YOU WILL INEVITABLY DROP IT. Oh my God… oh my God, it's Demyx-proof. It's attached.

Roxas sighed as he watched Demyx figure out that he would have to stay stationary at the lectern. Finally, he gave up on trying to separate the mic from its stand, and he cleared his throat, looking out at the audience again.

"Heh, okay then… Um, alright! So, getting started. It's-it's kind of a funny story how I came to be the one giving this speech, actually. See, um, there's-well, there were two kids in our class with the exact same GPA, and, um, well, we tied. For grades, that is, this wonderful girl Larxene and I. So the administrators tried to figure out who they should call the, well, the model student, or whatever, but-but both of us had equally bad marks on our respective records, which is-which is another story, that we won't talk about now… But basically, we-we had to pick between us, and, um, and Larxene was gonna do it, but then, um, but then she didn't, so… so I am…"

"This is kind of painful," Roxas whispered, raising his eyebrows as Axel glared at him.

"Shut up, ok? He's trying. He'll… he'll figure it out," Axel hissed, leaning on the railing again.

"So I apologize if I'm not really the kind of kid you'd expect to see up here, but-but I'm gonna go for it here, ok? If you guys are ready… Um, so basically, I'm gonna… I'm gonna talk for a minute here about, um, about high school, and then really quick about-about all the other stuff. That isn't high school. Is that, um… is that good?"

Roxas groaned, his head in his hands. Axel dutifully ignored him, glaring around at the silent audience. He stood up, leaning over the railing, and studied Demyx's petrified expression.

"Yea, that sounds good, Dem!"

A low murmur arose, and Roxas groaned again, hiding his face as everyone around them turned to see who had just yelled out an answer to what they had assumed was a rhetorical question.

Demyx's eyes flickered up to the balcony, and he grinned nervously, giving a little wave.

"Heh… hi Axel…"

Rikku had dragged Axel back into his seat by that time, and he ignored the whispered punishments from his friends, focusing instead on the small smile on his mother's face and the grin that Demyx had given him. A newfound confidence in Demyx's voice, he continued.

"Ok, so basically, a few weeks ago I had this dream, right? This-this really weird dream, and I won't get into the details, but essentially, the dream really brought it home that I was graduating soon. I woke up with this feeling, like… like the apocalypse was coming or something. And what I realized was, um… was that I was scared. I was really scared. I was terrified, and for good reason. You know why? Because your whole life, everyone's always talking about how someday, you'll be done with whatever part of school you're in. When you're in elementary school, it's 'You just wait, you'll be in middle school before you know it!' And then junior high, and then High School, big scary High School, with a capital H and S, right?"

Axel opened his mouth to reply again, but before he could, Rikku had clamped a hand over his mouth, and Roxas was shooting him a dark look. He shot one right back, but by the time he managed to get free from Rikku's grip, Demyx had already begun to talk again.

"Right, so then you get to high school, and it's not so big and scary, and suddenly… the next step is gone. Suddenly, it's 'you just wait, in 4 short years you'll be in the real world, you'll be an adult.' And-and that's all fine and dandy when you're a freshman, you think 'Oh, I have time. I have time to do dumb stuff and be immature.' You get to sophomore year and you think 'Hey, I'm still in the first half of high school. I don't have to grow up yet.' Junior year, you're an upperclassman, you think 'Yea, I'm cooler than the lame Sophomores and the stupid froshies, but hey, I've still got half of high school to screw around.' And then you're a senior, and everyone's all over you to be grown up all of a sudden, and you're not ready because you spent the past 3 years telling yourself you didn't have to do it yet. You know, you've been taking little steps, because-because in High School, it's all about this-this weird balance, between being a kid and being an adult. You always… you always want to be grown up, you want to be older than you are, but then as soon as something comes along that says 'Hey! You! Be an adult! Take responsibility. Step up,' you're kind of glad you're still a kid, and you can go home and have someone else make you food and curl up in a blanket and watch TV all weekend. And-and ok, I'm getting off track."

Demyx paused for a moment, taking a deep breath.

"My point here is… my point is… is that you spend all of high school listening to people tell you that once you get out, real life can begin. And when you're suddenly faced with-with this enigmatic "Real Life" coming up in-in just a couple weeks, a couple days, a couple hours… It's scary as all hell. You feel like-like nothing could possibly prepare you for it, you know? Real Life. You wonder what the past 18 years have been, if not real life. And that's when I realized… there was no reason to be afraid. Because I was sitting there, I was wondering just that – what have these past 18 years been, if my real life hasn't even started yet? And I-I realized that it's a lie. Real life starts the moment you open your eyes and make some weird little crying noise and pee on the nurse's hand in the hospital. Or-or whenever, but-but you know what I mean, you know what I'm getting at here. Real life has been going on this whole time, and we've all been so busy telling ourselves that we still have time to be morons before Real Life starts that we've been completely unaware of it happening around us, and-and… And so there really isn't any reason to be afraid, right? It's just doing something different every day instead of spending it in the same big, brick building. We're all still us, aren't we?"

He paused again, his gaze flickering to the side as he saw Dr. Highwind gesturing for him to wrap it up.

"I guess, um… I guess I don't have anything really original to say. You know, eat food that's good for you, take care of yourself. Every time a door closes, another one opens. The world is full of opportunities. You can be whatever you want to be, don't get discouraged, all that. Don't get too busy to curl up with hot tea and watch a stupid movie, and don't get too lazy to make the tea for yourself. Enjoy youth while we're all still young; someday we'll be old, and it'll probably suck. Most of all, though, be nice, and don't be scared, because if-if all of us remember to be nice, then there's no reason to be scared, because the world will be full of nice people, right? Um, ok, so Dr. Highwind is gesticulating wildly at me to just shut up and get off the stage, so I should wrap this up. Thanks for listening, and really, the point of all this… Just remember to be nice. People are people, and we all deserve a chance. So I'll get moving, and we can all pick up our little pieces of paper and let Real Life begin, yea? Sound good? I thought so."

Waving goodbye, he left the stage with another "Thanks" before a sort of confused round of applause began, and Axel sat back, smiling quietly to himself.

"That was, um…"

"Interesting," Namine said, trying not to laugh.

"Different?" Rikku supplied.

"Well prepared," Roxas said sarcastically.

Axel snorted. "He was really nervous. They didn't tell him he was gonna have to do it until like, 2 hours ago, when Larxene backed out. She called in sick, can you believe that?"

The girls murmured replies, and they talked for a little while as names started being called. Eventually exhausting their topics of conversation, however, they lapsed into silence until Demyx's name was called, at which point Axel stood up and let out a loud whoop of congratulation, clapping hard despite the polite request at the beginning to hold all applause until the very end. It wasn't as if he was the only one – most people's families would cheer for them as they were called; you could tell the Legendary Sports Hero types because of the sheer amount of people cheering for them.

Roxas deemed himself too shy to do it, as did Namine, so when Riku was called (after what seemed like forever), Axel and Rikku stood up together to clap, Axel letting out a loud "Yea, Riku!" and Rikku simply squealing. The microphone picked up the boy's quiet laughter as he walked off the stage, and he gave Axel a small salute before taking his seat again, grinning up at him from the ground floor.

By the time Sora was called, Roxas had gotten up the nerve to cheer, and Sora could almost be mistaken for a Legendary Sports Hero judging by the amount of applause he got. He had always been incurably friendly, and most of the massive graduating class cheered for him as he walked across the stage. Outside of his classmates, Roxas, Axel, Rikku, and Namine all got up, as did Leon (although he was seated with the rest of the family further down the row) and Nana. Sora's parents chose to clap politely from their seats, although his mom did get up momentarily to take pictures of Sora shaking hands with Dr. Highwind. As he began to walk off the stage, Sora turned around to wave at the group in the balcony, and in doing so accidentally dropped his diploma off the edge of the stage. Turning bright red at the wave of laughter sweeping through the stadium, he hurried down the short staircase and picked it up, an earsplitting round of applause breaking out as he held it safely to his chest, heading for his seat.

Rikku stood up to cheer for Wakka, although since he was a bona fide Legendary Sports Hero her voice was drowned out among many others.

As she sat down again, she was met with a knowing look from Axel.

"So, you and Wakka, huh?" he asked, wagging his eyebrows up and down. "He took you to Prom, right?"

"Isn't he sweet?" Rikku gushed, clutching her hands together. "He's so cute. And so good at football. And he has really nice arms! And-and he said that I looked like Marilyn Monroe in my dress, except hotter!"

"God, Sora wouldn't shut up about that dress," Roxas muttered, putting his feet up on the railing and settling back as they made their way through the remaining W names.

"Don't be such a dick, Rox, I'm sure it was a nice dress," Axel replied, giving Roxas a playfully challenging look.

"Yea? You know, speaking of dick-ly behavior, who was it that got up and yelled during Demyx's speech?"

"I was being encouraging!"

"Uh huh."

Axel sighed, flicking Roxas in the forehead before turning back to Rikku, pointedly ignoring the punch in the arm he got back. "So, is he your boyfriend?"

Rikku snorted. "God, no! I mean, he's cute and all, but if I'm gonna call a guy my boyfriend, he has to be a little bit, well… smarter. Plus," she added, reaching over Axel to ruffle Roxas's hair, "I'm still holdin' out for li'l Roxy!"

She launched into a fit of giggles as Roxas smacked her hands away, grumbling at being called Roxy, which he had classified as even worse than being called kid.

Axel made a sort of snarling noise, wrapping an arm around Roxas's shoulders and giving the girl a disapproving look. "Mine, bitch! And, like I told Sora way back in the day, be careful who you call little."

His comment was met with a look of both intrigue and disgust from Rikku, and a smack from Roxas, who pointed out that his parents were sitting a mere three seats away. The two boys quickly became engaged in playful banter, Axel murmuring suggestive comments at Roxas, then laughing as the blond responded with exasperation.

Their intense conversation was only broken when Zexion's name was called; he was the very last, and the applause for him bled into the applause for the whole class as the entire audience stood. One boring but mercifully short speech later, the group was attempting to make its way down the stairs and out the door, where they would get in their cars and head back to the high school. The graduates were being bussed back, and the school was holding a barbecue in the gym fields in their honor.

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"Okay, now one of just the graduates!"

Taking excessive amounts of pictures to document even the most insignificant memories had always been one of Cloud's guilty pleasures, and he was intensely enjoying playing photographer for the group's graduation photos. In between planned photos (like the one he was currently attempting to set up), he continued to catch candid shots of extreme importance: the back of Sora's mother's head as she turned away from the camera, unaware that she was being photographed; Zexion scratching his nose; Sora wiping the sweat from his brow as he attempted to stay cool in the hot, scratchy graduation gown. Herding the four graduates together, he stepped back and surveyed their overwhelmed expressions with a feral grin.

"Now, on the count of three, everyone say 'Thursday,'" he instructed, trying out different angles for the shot.

"What? Why 'Thursday?'"

Zexion was the one bold enough to ask the question – the others were fairly terrified of Cloud at this point. He channeled all the ferocity of a high school coach into his photography, and they'd learned that asking questions was futile and, in some cases, dangerous.

"Because," Cloud replied slowly, not taking his eyes off the small digital screen, "It gives you the perfect smile."

"What if you take it too early and we're all in the 'Thurs' part? Then we'll just look like morons," Zexion said, narrowing his eyes. "What happened to saying cheese? Or better yet, just smiling?"

Sora cowered behind Riku a little as Cloud wrenched his eyes away from the camera screen to raise his eyebrows at the small boy.

"Since you don't know me very well, I'll let you off with just a warning," he said, his words measured and deliberate. "I do not take pictures too early. And you will say Thursday."

Zexion opened his mouth to argue, but Riku kicked him hard in the shins before he could utter a single word of defiance.

"Just give up," he muttered, slinging an arm around Sora and gesturing for Demyx to close in a little for the shot. "You can't win, and the sooner we say Thursday and get it over with, the sooner he'll leave us alone and take pictures of Sora's family."

Sora let out a cry of protest, which was quickly silenced by an indiscriminate yet commanding noise from Cloud.

"Alright. On the count of three… Thursday."

The boys nodded, Zexion with a slight pout, and Cloud commenced the countdown.

"Three… two… one…"

A collective chorus of 'Thursday's sounded – Demyx and Sora giving it their all, Riku mumbling, and Zexion sounding vaguely confused. Immediately after being effectively blinded by the flashbulb, they all crowded around the camera to examine the picture.

Surprisingly, despite their drastically different looks, they all had two things in common – a perfect smile and an ugly gown.

Riku found himself deserted fairly quickly; Demyx and Zexion had run off to talk to their respective parents, and Sora had been dragged along to take pictures with Leon and Roxas. Having come to the ceremony and congratulated him already, Riku's own parents had dashed to a business meeting, leaving him at the barbecue with his friends. He didn't really mind that they'd gone; after all, they did have to work, and his mom had asked him at least 600 times if it was okay for them to leave early. They'd given him hugs and kisses and congratulations, and having sufficiently messed up his hair and showered their love, they were free to head out. That was how they had always worked: quickly and efficiently; and yet, Riku knew if he had asked them to stay, they would have found a way.

He stood around for a little while, watching Cloud rearranging Sora's family to his liking. Robed graduates waltzed by in the background, and as the sun began to set, the realization really began to set in that high school was over.

He watched his classmates grinning and laughing with their families.

I'm not going to see these people anymore.

He watched Zexion and Demyx helping each other climb out of their gowns, their faces, their movements so familiar now.

I won't see them, except on breaks when we're all at home.

He watched Axel balancing a cigarette between his lips, watched him pull out the lighter he used when he didn't feel like drawing any attention to himself and his hands, watched him hesitate, his eyes ashamed as they met Roxas's disappointed expression. He sighed, slipping the lighter and cigarette back into his back pocket, then smiled as the blond reached for his hand, lacing their fingers together and giving him a light kiss on the cheek in appreciation of his efforts.

Roxas really isn't just Sora's little brother. He's a nice guy.

Axel was grinning now, his animated eyebrows raised as he laughed at something Roxas was saying. The redhead's laughter was loud and contagious – pretty soon he'd managed to include everyone around him in the conversation, and everyone was smiling.

He's… someone I wish I'd taken the time to know a lot sooner.

Cloud had finally pronounced the posed pictures to be done, and Riku gave Sora a weak smile as the brunet appeared beside him, allowing himself to be herded over to the food.

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"Ahhh…"

Axel let out a loud sigh of relief as he sat down on the picnic blanket between Roxas and Leon. It had taken him far longer than expected to get food; he'd been the last in their group, and Roxas (who had been right before him) had taken the last hamburger. Alas, he'd had to wait for the teacher volunteer to make more, and by the time he'd reached the blanket, the others were all almost done. At current, Sora was discussing his summer job options with Leon and Zexion while Demyx and Roxas took the mature route and threw chips at each other.

"You should work at a movie place," Axel said, completely disregarding whatever branch of ideas had been forming before he'd arrived. "So you get an employee discount and we can watch movies all summer for cheap."

"I'm not gonna have time to watch that many movies, though," Sora replied, licking barbecue sauce from his fingers. "I have to make a lot of money this summer. When I asked mom and dad if they'd pay for part of my laptop, they just started laughing."

Axel snorted. "So? You don't have to watch the movies, me and Rox can take care of that. You just have to get the discount," he explained, grinning at the sarcastic laugh he got from Sora.

"I was thinking of working at that one bookstore, you know? The one on, um… on…" Sora trailed off, staring past Zexion as he tried to remember the street name.

"You can read?"

Roxas's drawled comment earned him a heavy smack upside the head from Leon, who was attempting to comfort a now-sulking Sora.

Said sulker let out an exaggerated sigh, gesturing to Zexion's hamburger as he spoke. "I could always work at Burger King or something. I bet I could get hired there. I mean, I'm cheerful and stuff…"

Leon shook his head. "Sora, one of my English teachers in high school used to attach Burger King applications to failed tests. Plus, think of the ugly hat you'd have to wear. Why don't you work at that basketball camp? The one Riku worked for, remember? You're good at basketball, and you could easily coach a bunch of 10 year olds."

Sora's eyes widened in fear. "I'm afraid I'd lose one or something! Knowing me," he grumbled, rolling his eyes. "Speaking of Riku, do you know where he went? He was really quiet earlier… I hope he's ok."

"I think he's in the gym? Maybe?" Leon replied, leaning back on his elbows as he finished his food. "I was talking to Cloud a little while ago and he came over asking for keys to get inside, said he left some stuff in his gym locker and he wanted to grab it now so he doesn't have to come back later."

Axel grimaced, his knees cracking as he stood up. "I can go see if he's in there. I was gonna run to the bathroom really quick anyway, so I'll just check the gym on the way back."

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Riku was silent, staring at the thin, periwinkle blue gym uniform in his hands as if it were an old friend. The locker room around him was dim; the energy-saver light bulbs in the overhead lights took a few minutes to get to full brightness, and for the first time he could remember, he'd actually had to turn the lights on when he'd entered the room.

Without the usual teeming mass of bodies, the locker room seemed a lot bigger than he'd remembered, and he'd been taken aback by the way his footsteps echoed in the absence of the usual deafening roar of voices and laughter.

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Axel whistled a little as he left the bathroom, wiping his hands on his jeans. He was too lazy to use the noisy hand dryer, and the school no longer had paper towels in the bathrooms in an attempt to be good to the environment. The student body could be sorted into 3 groups depending on their reactions to the lack of paper towels. One group just stopped washing their hands altogether, another group walked around with big wet handprints on their jeans where they'd dried their hands, and a small but strangely enthusiastic group actually used the dryers.

Either way, Axel was whistling, and he felt oddly at home trudging through the empty hallways, his shoes occasionally squeaking on the linoleum floor. He had the urge to do a cartwheel or scream profanities or do something else usually frowned upon in the hallways, but then again, he was never one for talking when he was alone; he always felt weird about it and kind of inexplicably embarrassed.

Huh…

He had never noticed that there were actually signs on the corners with arrows and directions. He had never noticed that the trash cans said Trash Receptacle on them.

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Riku flipped the lights off as he stepped out of the locker room into the gym. Fumbling with Cloud's keys (there were so damn many, how did the guy remember which was which?), he managed to let both his gym shorts and his deodorant slip from his arms as he locked the door.

Bending down to pick them up, a dark mark on the otherwise wooden gym floor caught his eye, and he couldn't help but smile as he ran his fingers over the scribbled pen marks.

It had been his and Sora's freshman year, and they'd been sitting there on the sidelines waiting to be called out for volleyball or something. Riku couldn't remember exactly what they'd been doing that day in class; they hadn't been paying attention anyway. It had started innocently enough – Riku had been teasing Sora about something (What was it I said? It was… it was… you look like a hockey puck. Oh, right, we were playing hockey that day. You look like a hockey puck.), and the brunet had written a tiny 'Riku sucks!' on the floor in retaliation, to be preserved forevermore. Unfortunately, Riku had fought back in writing, crossing out 'Riku' to write 'Sora' and adding 'donkey cock' to the end of the sentence. Before either of them knew it, it was out of control, and it had escalated to a full out picture war, with tiny donkey cocks and spiky-haired boys wearing dresses. When Cloud had noticed, he'd been furious, but since he couldn't find any cleaner, he'd just had them scribble over the whole thing, claiming it was inappropriate and giving them both detention.

Riku leaned back against the wall as he remembered; fighting an odd sensation behind his eyes as he pictured angry Cloud (the man looked exactly the same as he had 3 years ago). Sora had been so apologetic, he'd practically cried, and Riku had just been embarrassed at their pictures. He remembered Sora slapping him after class and blaming it all on him… Sora had still had braces then. They'd been red and green for Christmas then; he liked to get the colors changed for whatever holiday was coming up.

He thought of Sora then, with his fluorescent colored braces and his disheveled chocolate spikes, the way his voice used to crack mid-word and how he'd have to clear his throat to get it to go down again. The memories were flooding back now, an unstoppable force inside his head – Sora running down the basketball court, his lean, lanky 14-year-old self; Sora trying to hide his tears as he got to his feet on the gym floor, his fingernail bleeding where it'd been bent back when he tripped and fell; Sora, taller and more filled out, dragging him into the locker room to show him a picture he'd drawn in art class that was in his backpack; dragging him down the street downtown to see the big Christmas display windows; dragging him into bed, his hair mildly tamed, his braces gone, definitely gone, nothing but smooth, slick teeth and slippery spit and tongue, that tongue he'd seemed to know how to use the second he'd started to use it; Sora dropping his diploma off the stage, the same bright blush in those cheeks that he got when Riku would come up behind him, whispering the next number on Axel's list to check off.

Sora had changed so much. Everyone had, hadn't they?

"There you are! Jeez, I almost didn't see you there."

Riku started as he heard Axel's voice beside him. He hadn't heard the redhead walk into the gym, and he turned to look up at him, attempting a smile.

"Hey."

He wondered idly why the taller boy looked so concerned as he took a seat beside him against the wall.

"Are you okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

Axel raised his eyebrows and shrugged. "I dunno, 'cause you're crying? And like, you never cry?"

Riku's hand went instinctively to his face, brushing away the wetness he found on his cheeks. "I didn't even notice… Wow. Sorry," he mumbled, looking away. "I'm not really like that. I mean, I'm…"

"You're…?"

Riku sighed. "I'm gonna miss this place," he said, picking his gym shorts off the floor and re-folding them as he spoke. "I guess. I guess that's it. Not the place, so much, but… I dunno, I spent the past 4 years waiting to get out of here, and now it just seems so sudden, you know?"

Axel nodded, staying quiet where he sat as the other boy sighed again.

"It's like… where did those 4 years go? Everyone's so different, and I know I was there when we were all changing, but it's like- it's like I blinked and we all morphed into graduates, you know? Like, we were freshman and now we're just suddenly done. And-and at the same time, it's like, this is my school. I'm sitting here in this gym, and it's all familiar, I know where everything is in the school, but now I-I don't go here anymore, it just feels weird to think that I'm not a student here anymore. It's like the time went by so fast but, like… I mean… It's like the time went by really fast now, looking back, but I still feel like I've spent the majority of 4 years of my life in this place. Do you know what I mean? I guess, I mean, I'm not really articulating this very well. Never mind."

"No, I think I understand. This place gets to feeling like home every once in a while. It would be weird to leave. And I imagine it's kind of like, well, have you ever gone back to visit your old middle school or junior high?"

Riku nodded, fiddling with the cap on his deodorant. "Sora made me go with him a couple times. Everything seems… smaller. I dunno, it's just… it's just…"

"Yea."

"Yea."

Both boys were silent for a moment, Riku wiping his eyes again.

After a few minutes, Axel grinned, looking up. "Hey, if it makes you feel any better, think of how fucked up it's gonna feel for me when I finally get out of here. I'm gonna be a 6th year senior, you know that?"

Riku snorted. "Jesus, I didn't even know they let people do that."

"It's my dashing good looks and boyish charm. They just can't deny me my 6th year…"

"Yea, boyish charm, sure…"

They both laughed, quietly but honestly, and Axel shifted his position to lie down on his back in front of the other boy, tugging idly at Riku's shoelaces until both had untied.

Riku blinked. "Thanks."

"Anytime."

Axel stretched his arms before folding them behind his head, forming a makeshift pillow with his hands and closing his eyes. "It's deceptively cool outside," he said, settling down a little. "There's this little breeze out there, so you think it's like, 70 degrees or so, but once the breeze isn't blowing, it's like… it feels like a summer night. The heat makes you sleepy."

Riku nodded, despite the fact that Axel's closed eyes meant he couldn't see the nod. He studied the redhead, lying so comfortably on the gym floor, his eyes closed and his t-shirt pulled up a bit by his arms. He poked at the bare strip of Axel's side with his foot, giving him a stern look when he opened his eyes.

"Exposed midriff," he said gravely, shaking his head. "You know, that's a violation of school dress code."

Axel snorted, tugging his shirt up even more. "Ha! Take that, administration..." He trailed off, making vague victorious gestures as he closed his eyes again. "I am stickin' it to the man, baring my sexy, sexy midriff for all to see…"

"I dunno, Axel, that's pretty risky. I mean, if a school administrator were to walk in right now, you'd definitely be in violation," Riku replied, his mock serious tone holding up well.

"Yea, and what are they gonna do about it?" he murmured, resting one hand on his stomach. "Kick me out?"

"Mmm… they could. I mean, it's a pretty serious offense, exposed midriff. On par with, I dunno, damaging school property, coming to class drunk, smoking cigarettes in the hallways… I think it would definitely be grounds for expulsion."

Axel grinned, his eyes still closed. "I'd like to see them try. Speaking of cigarettes…" He opened his eyes briefly to pull his lighter and the same slightly bent cigarette from his back pocket. "Don't tell Rox, ok? He gets all disappointed and sad, and it kills me, but I'm about to fucking scratch my own eyes out if I can't have one. This'll be the first one in 2 days."

"If you smoke one, you're gonna want another. I thought you were trying to quit. They say going cold turkey is the best way to quit."

"I know, I know it is, believe me, I'm sure it's true," Axel groaned, banging his head back against the floor. He paused. "I won't smoke the whole thing. Just half. Ok? You can take it and put it out after half."

"You know, they say every cigarette you smoke takes a minute off your life."

"You are pulling that out your ass, you know that? You're fucking making that up!"

"Nope. I heard it on the radio."

"Oh, yea, you heard it on the radio," Axel repeated sarcastically, glaring exaggeratedly at Riku as he sat up and attempting to ignore the other boy's laughter. "You heard it on the radio, so it must be true."

"Hey, I'm just saying. This shit is horrible for you. You know it, you know it, don't look at me like that, you know it's true!"

Axel made a loud frustrated noise, looking pointedly away from Riku, then looked back up. "One drag."

"Just one?"

"Just one. A good one. You have to give me a second to get it burning, and then… one. And then you take it, and you put it out and rip it up and throw it away."

Riku nodded. "Fine. If you're sure. You're gonna regret it, though."

"I don't care," Axel muttered, placing the cigarette in his mouth and getting his lighter in hand.

"Aaaand, he's lighting it… he's… trying to light it, he is… is it lit? Are we good? Yes, folks, the cigarette is definitely lit, annnnnd he is glaring, he hesitates… the anticipation is killing me… he's inhaling, yes, folks, we have an inhale, and a long one, at that… and…"

A drawn-out sigh of pleasure and relief escaped Axel's lips as he exhaled a large plume of smoke straight up toward the ceiling, then a plaintive cry of protest as the other boy plucked the cigarette from his fingers, dashing out into the warm spring evening with his gym uniform in hand as well.

Groaning as he tried to get up off the ground, Axel managed to stagger out the door into the heat after his friend, and he watched in dismay as Riku ground the cigarette into the grass with his foot.

"No… you… I don't have any more… no…"

Riku shrugged, a wide grin gracing his features. "A deal's a deal."

He opened his mouth to say more, but a waving figure in the distance caught his eye, and he and Axel both turned to see Sora waving them over from across the field. He was shouting something, but they couldn't hear what. As Riku took a step, he felt a hand on his arm, and he looked up to see Axel's familiar smirk.

"Your face is still wet," he said quietly, looking away when Riku turned red. "Just, um… in case you didn't want Sora to see."

"Yea," Riku replied, pulling his sleeves over his hands to dry his cheeks and eyes. "Thanks. Don't, um… let's just… let's just keep this one quiet, ok?"

"Keep what quiet?" Axel asked, raising his eyebrows as his smirk grew.

Riku shot him a glare as he rolled his sleeves up to hide the wetness. "The crying part," he said, grimacing as he considered the childish habit.

"I dunno what you're talking about," Axel said, letting out a mischievous cackle and striding away towards the others. Looking over his shoulder at Riku, he repeated himself. "I dunno what you could possibly mean. Riku never cries."

Shaking his head, Riku headed off behind him, not particularly listening as the redhead rambled on ("Now, you listen! There are things in this world that just don't happen, and Riku does not cry. It just doesn't happen! It's just not possible! I-I don't know where you're picking up these ridiculous ideas!"), but instead simply watching Sora, who was jumping up and down now, and Axel's arms waving about as he spoke, and Roxas playing catch with Cloud, his blonde hair reddish in the sunset as he threw his head back, laughing at something the other man had said.

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AN: I hope you guys liked this one! So... the next chapter is the last one. I'm sad, but also excited. I need to buy some root beer, so I can make that float... Also, for those of you who have been asking about songs, I'll have a list of songs that have been in here at the end of the story, so that should clear up any questions. Also, if you find yourself with free time (ha ha, free time, what a novel concept...), check out Flyff (Fly For Fun), which is an awesome MMORPG you can download and play for free... if you decide to check it out, let me know and I'll help you level... XD (Yes, that was unrelated..)
So once again, I'm so sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, and I hope you guys liked it! The next chapter should be up pretty soon (Again, I can't promise a week due to finals and a class trip coming up, but it will be soon)! Thanks so much for reading, and please leave a review to let me know what you thought!