"I had a great time tonight."

It was such a generic thing to say, but Kairi meant it, and she wore a hopeful smile as she spoke.

"So did I."

The snow had finally stopped, leaving everything with a pristine coat of sparkling white crystal, perfectly still and beautiful. She and Luxord stood outside the front door of her dorm hall, as he'd insisted on walking her back even though he initially hadn't wanted them to be spotted together on campus. It had been a pleasant drive back, and the walk was, too. So now they stood there facing each other, shy and uncertain.

Now what?

"Well, I should get going. It's late."

Should she shake his hand? Was that too formal? A hug would be strange…she wanted a kiss but had little hope for that. Besides, Luxord looked like he was struggling, too. Then a determined look took over his expression and he straightened his shoulders. With deliberate movements, he gently took Kairi's chin in his hand and leaned down to brush a chaste kiss against her lips.

Electricity ran to the tips of her fingers, made every inch of her tingle.

"Good night, Kairi." The whisper sent a shiver through her and put a blush on her cheeks.

"Good night."

He smiled at her then turned and walked away, quickly disappearing into the darkness. A little dazed, Kairi looked after him for a few moments before she remembered herself and went inside. She wanted to go to her dorm, knew Namine was waiting to hear how the date had gone. First, though, she had to handle the crisis that had made Riku call her those few hours ago.

So she passed her own floor and went straight to the athlete's room without bothering to change first. Any distraction would take too long.

"Riku?" she called softly, knocking, knowing he was probably still awake.

Muffled sounds of movement reached her just before the door opened. Riku, looking tired and disheveled, silently stepped back to let her into the room.

It was spotless, cleaner than she'd ever seen it, and that was saying something.

"Wow. You've been busy."

"I needed something to do with my hands." Riku shut the door and locked it, started fidgeting the moment he turned towards her.

"I see that."

They stared at each other for a few moments, then Riku began to restlessly move around the room. He straightened things, straightened them again then moved onto the next already-straight item.

"Riku."

"Yeah?"

Kairi sighed and sat on the futon. "Tell me what happened."

"We were doing that dumb Slave-for-a-Day thing and he won so I was his slave and he—you know how I made him dress up?"

"Yes." Her expression and tone were disapproving but Riku didn't notice.

"He got me back for that—made me dress like some slutty butler character and kept hitting on me. I swear I thought it would turn into a porno at any moment so I was…anyway. He made me cuddle him last night, which I didn't mind at all. But I woke up when he kissed my collarbone and that's never happened before, then I fell back asleep just to have a dirty dream and I've never had one of those, either. He thought I was having a nightmare…

"Today he made me give him a back rub and I swear he was trying to sound like he was having sex. Seriously, who moans like that just because of a back rub? No one. It was fucking ridiculous."

Slowly, Kairi allowed herself a grin. "He got you all hot and bothered, didn't he." It wasn't a question and Riku didn't deny it. How could he? The truth was obvious.

"He fell asleep and I…kissed his back…a lot…and then I called you. He was awake when I got back so we went to go shower and he had me wash his hair and his back and he was doing that damn moaning thing again and I can't believe how hot he suddenly is to me but I couldn't help it I just yanked him back and bit him and fucking bolted and…I don't know what to do…"

All right. Breathe.

He felt a little better to have gotten it all out but he was still bursting with nervous energy and fidgeting. Videogames had only kept him busy for so long. Then working out, deep cleaning his dorm, and wasting water in a long, unnecessarily hot shower had consumed his evening. At this rate, he wasn't going to get any sleep.

It was quiet for a long time after he finished, as Kairi thought and Riku waited. She had to come up with something. She had to.

"You apologized right after you bit him, right?"

"Right."

"And you haven't done anything since?"

"No."

"Okay." And she went back to thinking.

Riku started looking for a mess to clean up.

Suddenly, the redhead was on her feet and heading for the door. "I'm going to talk to Sora." She was gone before Riku had a chance to question or object.

As soon as she was alone in the hallway, Kairi sighed heavily and rubbed her forehead. Great. Okay. Talk to Sora. Easy.

She didn't see anyone as she rode the elevator up to the eighth floor then walked to Sora and Roxas' room.

"Sora?" She knocked quietly. "You in there?"

The door opened to reveal Roxas, relief coming into his blue eyes when he saw her. "Hey, Kairi."

"Hi." Leaning, the redhead peered past him into the room and spotted Sora lying on his bed.

"He's dozing," Roxas explained in a low voice. "This thing with Riku really wore him out."

"I'm not surprised. Riku's losing it. Can I come in?"

"Sure." Instead of stepping back, Roxas moved out into the hallway. "Come on."

To Kairi's surprise, Axel appeared in the doorway, comically bundled up, and followed Roxas.

"I'm gonna walk him down."

"See you when you get back." There was an unspoken suggestion that he take his sweet time.

Roxas nodded, then he and Axel headed for the elevator and Kairi went into the twins' dorm. With quiet footsteps, she approached Sora's bed, carefully sat down so as not to disturb him, then began gently running her fingers through his hair. It only took a few moments of this before the brunet shifted and blue eyes fluttered open.

"Mm….Kairi…?"

"Hey, sleepyhead. You didn't answer my text. Doing okay?"

"…text?"

"Mhmm. Where's your phone?"

"Uh…" Sitting up, he looked around the dorm and eventually pointed to where he'd dropped his bag on the floor, along with his coat and shoes. Kairi got up and searched through the pile, eventually locating Sora's phone—it appeared he'd tossed it into the bag haphazardly in his hurry.

"See?" She sat by him again and showed him the message she'd sent after Riku called her in the car.

"Oh. How'd you know?"

"Riku called me."

Instantly, guilt made Sora cringe and he looked away. "Yeah…"

"I already got his side of what happened. Want to tell me your version?" She kept her tone gentle and didn't try to touch him in any way. That wasn't what he needed right now.

The brunet shrugged. "I like him."

Right, but that wasn't all, except Kairi didn't push or try to hurry him, merely waited in silence.

Sora glanced at the door in an expectant way—Roxas should be back soon. "He's extra flirty sometimes. And really…suggestive. It makes me nervous 'cause I've never done anything like this before, but I like it. I'm just not brave enough to do anything back."

A deep breath shuddered in his lungs.

"So when I got such high marks, and knew I was gonna win the bet, I made a plan to…" he trailed off, gesturing vaguely as he tried to come up with the right word. Seduce? Provoke? Invite? "I don't know. But I wanted him to know that he could make a move. I've wanted him to do something for ages. And it worked."

Kairi waited when he fell silent; another deep breath.

"But," there it was, "I guess I didn't expect him to bite me. I thought he'd kiss me or trick me into agreeing to go on a date. But when he grabbed me like that and was…hard…and bit me…I got this weird feeling in my stomach and it freaked me out, so I ran…"

Oh.

An amused yet sympathetic and understanding smile appeared on Kairi's features and she hugged the younger student.

"He hates me, doesn't he," Sora mumbled into her shoulder, and Kairi, petting his hair, shook her head.

"He thinks you hate him."

"I don't. I feel awful. I did everything I could think of and then I chickened out. He's right—I'm such a brat."

"No, you got nervous. That's normal."

It was quiet for a few moments, then Sora pulled out of the hug and heaved a sigh. "I don't know what to do."

"Well, do you want him to know you did it on purpose or do you want things to happen by themselves?"

Sora's lips rolled in and he stared around the room. "Uh…probably by themselves." He pointed at himself, smiling sardonically. "Coward."

"You're not a coward, Sora. I'd have been nervous, too. Trust me." Kairi's smile was genuine, and her soothing tone managed to get Sora to relax a bit more. "But you two are both stubborn idiots, so things are going to need a little help getting started. I'll come up with something, okay?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know. First, we need to get you guys hanging out like nothing happened. Just to let each other know that you don't hate each other."

"Yeah."

"So I'll see what I can think up, okay? And you get to sleep."

A bobbing nod was Sora's only response, and he crawled under the blankets as Kairi stood, not bothering to change into his pajamas.

"Night, Sora."

"Night."

She slipped out as quietly as she could, flicking the lights off on her way. There was no sign of Roxas, so he must be loitering somewhere nearby to wait until he thought he'd given them enough time to talk. The hallways were still deserted, completely silent and almost creepy, but her thoughts were too distracted to really notice it. How was she going to set things up for Sora and Riku to finally confess? They were going to be so awkward during meals now…

The door was unlocked when she reached her and Namine's room, so she didn't try to be extra quiet as she went in and locked it behind her.

"Hey. How'd it go?"

Namine was sitting up in bed with a sketchbook propped against her knees, fully ready to go to sleep whenever she got tired enough.

"Perfect. It was perfect."

"You don't sound very happy about it."

Her necklace jingled as she took it off, followed by her earrings and other jewelry. Then she kicked off her shoes, shrugged out of her coat and began replacing her clothes with pajamas. "My date was perfect. Dealing with Riku and Sora's stupid boy-love drama when I got back wasn't."

"Boy-love drama? What happened?"

"Riku bit Sora and it scared him but Sora was trying to get Riku to make a move and just lost his nerve. They're not currently speaking."

"Oh, not again…"

"Yes, again. And I want to fix it before Christmas so you're going to have to help me."

"Kairi, do we have to get mixed up in it? Why not let them figure it out for themselves?"

"Because Riku asked me for help and you know Sora's way too shy about his feelings to do anything."

Closing her sketchbook, Namine carefully dropped it down onto her desk along with her pencil and eraser. "Fine. But not tonight."

"Are you going to sleep already? It's only ten."

"It's almost eleven and yes, I'm going to sleep. You can gush about your date in the morning."

That made Kairi laugh quietly, but she didn't argue, merely finished getting ready for bed then settled under the blankets. "Night, Mi-Mi." There was no response, but the blonde had been quiet for a while and so was probably already asleep, so Kairi just shifted to get a little more comfortable and closed her eyes, focusing on the memory of dancing with Luxord to help her drift off.

X

Oookay this was awkward. Had it been long enough yet? Could he go back? Did he want to? Yes, but…he also wanted to stay.

"Is he gonna be okay?" There was genuine concern in his tone; he looked a little worried.

"Yeah, he'll be fine. Kairi will make sure everything gets straightened out." Roxas looked down at his sock-covered feet, curling and uncurling his toes.

"She puts a lot of effort into you guys, doesn't she." It was cute how shy the blond was acting, made Axel smile even though he knew he was behaving just the same with his hands stuffed in his coat pocket and his scarf pulled up over his chin. He hadn't stepped outside yet, was waiting with Roxas in the hall lobby until the blond decided it was safe to go back to his room. They hadn't said much, but he was enjoying it anyway. "You know, she gave me some advice back when you didn't want anything to do with me."

That made Roxas look up at him, blue eyes confused. "What?"

Damn he loved the color of those eyes. Er…liked. He liked them.

Axel grinned crookedly, scuffed the sole of his boot against the tile floor. "Yeah. She gave me a list of your likes and dislikes so I wouldn't screw up too badly. Came in handy, though I gotta admit, I enjoyed that book way more than I thought I would."

"It's a good story," Roxas said cautiously. "Are you serious? She gave you lists? That's so…it's like a teenaged movie. I can't believe she really did that."

"Well, it worked, didn't it?" the redhead asked, stepping forward to put only about a foot of space between them. Roxas started at the sudden closeness but didn't move away, just peered up at Axel through his eyelashes and wondered at the way the older student was smirking.

"I guess."

"You don't hate me anymore."

"I never hated you."

Chuckling, Axel shook his head, green eyes vanishing behind eyelids for a moment. "Liar. You hated me and everyone knew it."

Well, he couldn't deny that. He had very strongly disliked the senior, at least, and hadn't tried to keep it a secret at all. "Wouldn't you hate me if I did that to you?"

"Naw. I mean, I've known Miss Larxene way longer than you, so I should've known better, but if I'd gotten caught with the note instead of you, I wouldn't have blamed you for passing them with me, even if you were the one to start it. Besides, it's my fault she hates you so much, so I understood you not liking me."

"How is it your fault?"

A pained, self-mocking grin worked its way onto the redhead's face. "Didn't you know? I'm Miss Larxene's disobedient property."

Surprise widened blue eyes. "What?"

"I…got mixed up with her a couple of years ago. When I was done, she wasn't ready to let me go."

"You…what? With Miss Larxene?" He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Axel, the guy who had supposedly liked him since his very first day, had been in a relationship with Miss Larxene? "You mean…you were a teacher's pet? Flattered her to get better grades or something?"

Oh, man, how did he explain this? He didn't want to lie but the truth was so despicable and this was Roxas he was talking to, the one person he didn't want to alienate any more than he already had, but if this had to be something that came up now then he should probably just get it out of the way.

"I was her lover."

Blunt. Great.

Roxas took a step back.

"That doesn't mean I don't really like you," Axel quickly added, seeing that the younger boy was about to make a run for it. "I do. I really, really like you. And Miss Larxene hates that. She thinks you're stealing me from her or something, which is bull shit because I've been trying to get her to leave me alone for almost a year now. Whatever she told you about me isn't true and whatever I had with her was…wrong and gross and just thinking about it makes me sick and I can't believe I was so stupid…" he trailed off, staring at Roxas with pleading green eyes, hands outstretched a little in a silent offering of apologies that he couldn't voice.

"You had sex with a teacher." He seemed to be saying it to test how it felt.

Slowly, Axel closed his mouth and nodded.

"More than once."

Another nod.

"And she wants to keep being your lover even though you don't want to."

Two nods in a row.

Roxas took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Okay. Um. That's weird. And I kind of feel like I need to shower or something. But okay."

"You…you're not mad?" Axel couldn't keep the mild surprise out of his voice.

"No. I mean, I'm grossed out and suddenly I understand why no one can stand her, but I mostly feel bad for you I guess. You can't have known she'd be crazy going into it, right?"

The senior managed a laugh at that. "I was a dumb kid who thought it'd be cool to have a fling with the hot teacher. Call me an idiot for the rest of my life and I'll never argue because I know how stupid I can be."

"Right. So, no, I'm not mad. But you like me, and she hates me for that, and that's going to make school here suck really bad."

"Yeah. Sorry." He rubbed the back of his head, apologetic. "Wish I could fix it, but she's determined to 'take me back from you' or some shit. She wants to use you against me."

"What, be extra mean to me to force you to listen to her? Yeah, that'll work." The sarcasm helped lighten the mood and both boys managed weak smiles. "I'll just keep my head down. Meanwhile, you can still come over whenever you want."

"Really?"

"Really."

Wow, he hadn't thought it would go like this. He wasn't exactly shy about his past—most students knew about it because it had been a huge scandal that got covered over—but telling Roxas had been some dark, terrifying moment in the future. Except it had happened now, and he'd said it, and the blond didn't hate him for it. It had definitely gone better than he ever would have hoped.

"Thanks, Rox." Grinning because he couldn't stop himself, Axel moved forward and wrapped the smaller male in a hug, lifting him off the ground in the process. At first, Roxas tensed and tried to jerk away, but after a moment he relaxed again and returned the hug.

"You're welcome." He was lowered back to his feet but Axel didn't let go yet, held the hug for a few moments longer. They hadn't touched very often. This was a special occasion.

"Okay." The redhead laughed as he let the blue-eyed student go, smiled down at him for a moment before stepping back and turning towards the door. "It's probably safe for you to go back up there now. I'll see you at lunch tomorrow, all right?"

"Yeah, see you."

Axel waved then left the lobby, and Roxas began the journey back upstairs to his room. He was still a little shaken by finally learning why the blonde teacher hated him so much, but he also felt warm for an entirely different reason. No one had ever hugged him like that. Mostly because he'd never been very close to anyone but Sora and his parents, but still. Axel had picked him up, just because he didn't hate the senior for making a mistake before they even met. It had been warm and comforting and how had he never realized the lanky redhead would be strong enough to do something like that? There was a lot of lean muscle under all that bulky winter clothing.

Oh no, am I blushing?

He put his hands to his cheeks and, sure enough, they felt much too warm to not be blazing red.

Perfect. Sora had better be sleeping.

No way did he want anyone to witness that a simple hug could make him blush like this.