Early morning sunlight flitters through the white curtains, shining itself upon a certain spiky-haired blonde's sleeping face. Blue eyes peeked out from under the thick aquamarine sheets of his bed, calmly taking in the peaceful morning surroundings. He sat up, looking to the side to see the alarm clock had been silenced for the day and now displayed 6:15 in the morning. Lazily standing up and taking his phone with him, he noticed he had a few unread messages which he decided to read later. Walking out of the room and down the stairs, he was greeted by someone who looked exactly like him in almost every way. With a bright smile on his face, the other blonde turned his head to him as he sat at the table, a bowl of steamed rice, reheated miso soup from the night before, and a plate of grilled fish in front him. He closed the notebook in his hands and set it off to the side. "Morning, Rox!" he greeted with his usual cheer.
He noticed another blonde man much older than the two twins sitting at the head of the table. The man looked up from the newspaper he was reading, before setting it down and also greeted his son with a smile on his face. At that point, a faucet running in the kitchen was stopped and a woman with the same blonde hair and blue eyes as her husband stepped out, wiping both hands on the apron she adorned. She greeted her son as well and told him to sit down as she set his breakfast in front him. He sat down beside his twin as he greeted his parents back. If you looked at it, the way the twins looked so similar combined with the fact that their breakfast consisted of the same items made it seem like you were going cross-eyed. Roxas pushed that thought back as his phone buzzed. Remembering that he had other messages to look at, he took out his phone to look at the messages. There were two messages from Ven, and one from an unknown number. Just as he was about to check the contents of the messages, his mother suddenly spoke. "Now, Roxas, no phones at the table," she chided. Face turning slightly pink, he chuckled in slight embarrassment. "Yes, mother," he quietly said, and started eating.
As the family ate breakfast, the youngest spoke up. "Cloud's not here?" he asked, looking at the empty spot across from where he sat. "He left earlier," his twin explained, "You barely missed him, sleepyhead," he said with a bright smile and a light chuckle. "He said he got a part-time job," their mother said, taking a small sip from her mug of coffee. "Is that why he's always going out early in the morning?" Roxas asked, looking to his brother beside him who merely shrugged. "Where did he get the job?" the older twin asked, looking at their mother. The woman smiled at them before answering, "Remember that Zack fellow that always visits us here?" Roxas thought for a moment. Zack Fair, Sora Fair's older brother, is very close to his and Ven's eldest brother. It was through Zack that he and Ven met Sora in the first place. The raven-haired young man often visited their home for one reason or another. In fact, he was just here about four days ago, if Roxas remembered correctly. Roxas remembered him being a cheery lad. He's often reminded of an energetic puppy whenever he thinks about him. "Cloud and that boy got a part-time job at a local fancy restaurant," she explained. Their mother then got a dazed look in her face as she continued to speak, "Maybe we should eat there sometime." Their youngest fought back a frown from appearing on his face. That… didn't really sound like a good idea considering how their parents—their mother in particular—unintentionally do things that end up embarrassing their three children. "He's still a university student though, right?" Ven questioned. "Wouldn't it be hard for him to balance his time as both a student and as a worker?"
"Not really. The hardest part of college is getting accepted," their mother explained, "Once you get in, it's smooth sailing from there." Ven remained silent at that, seeming to suddenly be lost in thought. "Ah, your brother has started becoming a fine young man," their mother said, sighing dreamily. "Speaking of growing up, how have you two been?" she continued with a warm smile. "School's pretty much the same," Roxas answered casually, Ven nodding in agreement. "So I take it your grades are doing well? Have you joined any clubs? Do you have someone you like?" their mother bombarded them with questions. Roxas couldn't really blame her. Being office drones who only rarely get days off, their parents are always looking for a chance to have a heart-to-heart with their children. But somehow, she seemed to perk up even more at the last question, as if she was hoping for a very specific answer. Ven only smiled a bit awkwardly. Their mother can be a bit nosy at times. "Yes, I think our grades are doing good. I'm actually trying to get even higher in English," he answered, pointing at the closed notebook. "Uh, we haven't really joined any clubs… and we, uh…" he stammered, trying to answer the final question before turning to his brother with a red face, silently nudging him in an attempt to ask for help. It seemed even his father was staring at them with a… stern-looking face, seemingly waiting for the third answer. Roxas colored as well. Why the heck does he have to be the one to answer the question his parents seemed to be most interested in? "Well, uh," Roxas stuttered, trying to find the words to answer with without embarrassing both himself and his twin, but couldn't think of what to say. He opted instead to take a long sip from their mother's hot miso soup as he looked down and to the side, avoiding everyone's gaze. This made his mother gasp, her eyes brightening up as she covered her open mouth with both hands and her face tinted pink. "Don't tell me…" she began, and Roxas pretty much knew what she was about to say. "You already have a boyfriend?"
Despite having accurately predicted what his mother would have said, Roxas still nearly spat the hot soup out as he choked on the broth. One look at his mother would make it clear that she was happy and proud for her son, but it didn't seem like his father agreed too much. With a frown on his face, he suddenly spoke. "Absolutely not!" he said, pointing his nose upwards to emphasize his disapproval. "You are way too young for something like that," he continued, both twins breathed a sigh and just smiled nonchalantly as the familiar scene unfolded before them. "Dear, we've been through this," their mother began with a sigh of her own, looking at her husband with a look of exasperation. "The boys are young—let them experience things like love and heartbreak." The man gave her an disapproving look as he crossed his arms across his chest. "I can't help it; as a father I feel compelled to protect my children's chastity."
The twins tuned out their parents' bickering, finished eating, and excused themselves from the table. Ven grabbed his notebook as the two headed towards their room to get ready for school today. Heading inside the bathroom as they shared the bath once more, Ven suddenly perked up. "That reminds me," he said, "I sent you a few messages last night, but you weren't answering, so I thought you'd gone to sleep," he said, enjoying the cascading warm water soothing his body. "Oh yeah, about that," Roxas spoke, lathering shampoo on his blonde locks. "yesterday, I had gone straight home and slept early again after I got back from the clock tower with Sora," he explained. "Sorry about not responding," he apologized, trying to avoid his twin's gaze, using the shampoo as an excuse to lower his head. Ven chuckled at his little brother. "You don't need to be sorry, it was just a stupid question about my story," he said, trying to comfort his twin who seemed genuinely upset at not being able to help his brother. Roxas perked up at his brother's words, face twisted into a concerned frown. "That… That story is important to you, right?" The younger slowly relaxed, a bitter look on his face. "I should've been able to help you… Damn it!" he muttered to himself. Ven heard what his brother said, though, and suddenly moved to his side. "Don't say that! It was really just a bunch of stupid questions. And besides, Terra and Aqua were with me, and we managed to come up with answers on our own," he said, rubbing the back of his head with one hand while the other rubbed comforting circles on his younger brother's shoulder. That didn't seem to help his mood any, though. Ven sighed, before he spoke again as gently as he could, "Cheer up Rox," he tried to plead with his brother. Heaving a sigh of his own, Roxas shook his head vigorously. "You're right. Sorry I was such a drama queen, Ven," he said, chuckling at himself. Ven brightened up once again at that, and both decided to drop the topic entirely.
Quickly dressing themselves and walking down the stairs, the two waved goodbye to both their parents and set off towards another day at school. As the two talked about some random quiz Mr. Jafar would be giving them today, Roxas just couldn't seem to shake off a weird feeling… like someone was following them. He stopped walking all of a sudden as he felt chills down his spine. "What's the matter?" Ven said, stopping a few steps after his younger brother had done so. Looking back at their path, Roxas didn't really see anything but the paved roads and a few streetlights that were turned off. There weren't really any other people walking with them other than the bunch of students walking behind them and making their own way to school. Shrugging, he turned to his brother, telling him it was nothing before the two continued to walk to school.
As the two entered the classroom, Ven went to his seat and greeted his classmates a good morning. He went and sat down on his brother's seat in front of Zexion, who only looked up from his book to give the blonde a glance, before returning to whatever he was reading. As Roxas also greeted their classmates, he noted that Kairi was already sitting on her seat, Riku on her table. The sliver-haired teen gave him a bored glance before looking over Kairi's phone, earning a small glare from the girl as she hid the contents of her screen away. Riku chuckled at that, before going back to his poker face. He didn't stare off into the distance though, as the door suddenly opened to make way for a brightly smiling brunette. Yelling a good morning to the entire room, he strode towards where his best friends were and nonchalantly started making conversation with them.
About a minute or two after he started talking to his friends, he excused himself for a bit, before walking towards Roxas, who was standing there beside his twin. "Did you get my message last night, Roxy?" he asked with a smile so bright Roxas swore he probably needed sunglasses just to look at his general direction. Roxas took a moment before he was able to push that thought away and actually register the words that were coming from the brunette in front of him. "You weren't replying, so I thought you'd gone to sleep," he explained. Roxas gasped internally, realizing that he had indeed neglected to read messages from both Ven and an unknown number. "O-oh yeah," he said, rubbing the back of his head with one hand, "I kinda fell asleep after I got home last night." Roxas took out his phone and went through his inbox. Sora slipped behind him, peeking at the contents of his messages.
From: Unknown Contact
Subject: u free this sunday?
hey roxy its sora
u have plans this sunday afternoon?
u still have that clock tower thing right?
if u want we could go see a movie or something b4 sunset
i can take you out to dinner too ;-)
if u want to that is (lol)
The blonde's face heated up ever so slightly. 'Sora invited me out next Sunday… That's tomorrow!' he thought, fighting a losing battle against his red face. 'If it's just the two of us, then doesn't that count as a da—' his thoughts were interrupted by the brunette's words from behind him. "The rumor said you needed to go up that tower for 51 consecutive days for it to work, right? Then that means you have to go on our days off, too. So I thought it would be better if we hung out together so I can go with you when you're gonna go up that tower," he explained, resting the back of his head on both hands. Roxas took a moment to process his childhood friend's words. When he didn't respond immediately, Sora was just about to peek at his face from behind and as he tried to do so, the blonde willed his red face away to turn around and look at him. With a smile on his face, he opened his mouth to accept the offer presented to him by Sora, but was interrupted by Mr. Jafar as the teacher strode into the room with his with a deep scowl on his face. Roxas smiled and gave Sora one last glance and the brunette returned it before rolling his eyes and trying his best not to glare at his teacher. 'Way to ruin my mood, your scaliness,' he thought, before begrudgingly walking back to his seat at the very back row behind Ven and beside Zexion.
Roxas silently sat at his usual spot beside his brother and Zexion at the cafeteria table. The older was too busy with his assignment to eat while the younger didn't bring his own lunch because his brother also didn't bring his own. Satisfied with just a small box of strawberry milk from the vending machine, he watched his brother write words on the pages of his notebook while his mind drifted back to what Sora had told him earlier that morning. That was when that uneasy feeling suddenly returned to the blonde. He felt like he was being stared at, but looking at the other people with him in close proximity, none seemed to have their eyes on him. Terra and Aqua were listening to Ven as he seemed to be proud of himself for having written three pages of his story down. Olette and Hayner seemed to be having another lover's quarrel about whether they should watch a horror or romantic comedy later after school. Pence seemed to be talking to Zexion about the book the boy across from him was engrossed in. Still, he felt… gross. Like someone was really staring him down. Shivers ran down his spine as he looked around the cafeteria full of students. Most of them he couldn't be bothered to remember, but it didn't seem like any of them had been paying any mind to the blonde's general direction. His eyes then happened upon a table of three people he had been acquainted with the past few days.
Kairi was, as usual, talking to her friends with her gaze on her phone, typing away to some other random student in the school as Sora had told him that she had pretty much everyone who had a phone's number in her massive contact list. Riku was also talking to Sora with a frown on his face—much different from his usual bored expression—arms folded across his chest looking at his brunette best friend with… disagreement? Sora gave his best friend a small glare. They seemed to be having a small spat with Kairi acting as a mediator of sorts. But not even Sora was looking at him right now.
… Not that he was expecting his crush to look at him just because he invited him out on what seemed to be a da—
Oh right. Sora said he wanted to hang out with him tomorrow. He hadn't given him a response yet. 'I thought he didn't believe in those rumors, so why does he want to keep accompanying me there even on our days off?' he thought briefly losing that uncomfortable feeling of someone watching him. 'But… it sure would be nice to have company while I'm up there,' he thought, at this point he was trying to make excuses to hang out with his crush. 'I wouldn't seem too suspicious… right?' he chuckled lowly as he thought, attracting weird looks from the people around him.
"By the way, Roxas," Aqua said, brushing off that weird chuckle from the blonde. "Sorry we brought Ven back so late last night," she smiled and Roxas nodded. So they were the ones that brought Ven home last night? Maybe that's why his overprotective father hadn't called the police and demanded they organize a search-and-rescue. Lunch continued on like that, Roxas just ignoring that uncomfortable feeling of being watched. Wanting some kind of distraction, he took out his phone and read through his unread messages.
From: VenVen ^w^
Subject: My Assignment
Hey, Rox you still awake?
From: VenVen ^w^
Subject: My Assignment
Guess you're not? ^w^ (lol)
Well, I'll ask anyways in case you wake up (which you probably won't)
What do you think would be a good title for my story?
Roxas tried his best not to feel guilty that he wasn't able to help his brother. Ven did say it was alright already. Plus, he seemed to be on a roll today. The blonde saw the message from the unknown contact and saved the contact info for Sora. Then Roxas noticed another message. Come to think of it, he did receive another one this morning while he was having breakfast.
From: Ax the Pyro
Subject: Coming Back Home
Hey Roxas! Long time no see!
I'm taking a break from uni life and coming back home (LOL)
Not like I moved cities or something, but I'll be going back to my parents' house for a week or two.
What say we hang out like old times? Call Xion out and we can have ice cream or something.
Anw, see you soon kay? Hope your out of your zombie phase (LOL)
Roxas blinked at the message. Axel was coming back from university? A wave of nostalgia hit him as he remembered the friends he'd made during his middle school years. Has it really been two years since the three of them hung out? Sure, they exchanged messages pretty much every day, and Xion was in Olette, Hayner, and Pence's class so they often talked in school, but it still felt like it had been so long since they last had a heart to heart with just the three of them. A smile crept on his face as he started typing his reply.
To: Ax the Pyro
Subject: Coming Back Home
What? Really? Sure! When are you coming back?
I'll tell Xion, too. ^^
You're treating me to the ice cream though. I'm broke.
The blonde forwarded the contents of Axel's message to Xion and told her Axel was coming back home before setting his phone down to wait for his friend's response. When said friend hadn't replied immediately, he merely rolled his eyes and inwardly chuckled. Knowing him, he's probably genuinely busy, or is getting laid right about now. He was leaning towards the latter. Roxas shook it off and figured he would reply eventually. Looking at his current companions, he turned to his brother who had a sour look on his face. Repeatedly tapping the tip of his pen on the notebook he was writing on, he rested his chin on his free hand, staring down the paper as if words would magically start appearing on it if he did so. Not wanting to disturb his concentration, Roxas turned to his other side to see Zexion and Pence were still talking about the book. While Pence was obviously engrossed in talking about the mythical creatures from the book, Zexion was more nonchalant, not even looking up at the boy he was talking to, keeping his gaze focused on the words on the pages of that book. Roxas couldn't find an opportunity to jump into the conversation about the physical, emotional, and moral implications of a vampire falling in love with a human and vice versa, and so opted to stay silent instead. Thinking over Sora's offer once again, he figured he should accept. Opening his phone once again, he started to type his response to Sora's message, mostly because he couldn't trust his voice to be able to form cohesive sentences if he accepted Sora's offer in person.
Roxas set his phone aside once more after typing a simple message of acceptance, briefly glancing at the direction where Sora and his friends were sitting. It would seem like Sora and Riku had gotten over their little spat If the brunette's laughing face indicated any. Sora briefly stopped talking and took his phone out of his pocket, looking at whatever his phone had received. His eyes widened just a little bit at who it was from, and wasted no time opening and reading the contents. Roxas looked away, too nervous to see the rest of the brunette's reaction. He instead tried to direct his attention towards his twin beside him, who seemed to have gotten some of his inspiration back and had once again started to slowly progress writing on his notebook. This continued on for the rest of lunch period, Roxas too weary to look at anyone besides his brother he trusts so much.
Mr. Xehanort dragged on about the, 'art of writing letters,' or something along those lines. Roxas wasn't really paying much attention to what the bald headed teacher was saying. Staring straight in front and writing random scribbles on his notebook to pretend like he was listening as attentively as possible, he just seemed so used to how boring his classes were. Then all of a sudden, he felt that same, uncomfortable feeling. This was weird. This was definitely weird. He whipped his head back, and saw Zexion reading that book of his behind an open English textbook, and Sora was staring at the window. He looked… out of it, somehow. Like he was sleepy and tired. Sora's eyes slowly turned to him, though, and a raspy clearing of a throat could be heard from the front of the room.
The blonde was surprised as his attention was called back in front where Mr. Xehanort was staring at him disapprovingly. "Mr. Roxas Strife," he began, "I would very much appreciate it if I could at least keep your gaze towards me during my class, even if you were so obviously faking attention and were only drawing on your notebook." Roxas tried his best not to flinch. Just how did he find out? "Sir," a voice behind the blonde suddenly spoke, everyone in the class directed their gaze toward the brunette behind Roxas. "I think he was genuinely taking notes and listening to your lecture," he said with his signature smile. The old man in front merely raised an eyebrow at this before he smirked and directed his attention to the blonde in question.
"Really, now? Well, then, Mr. Roxas Strife, since you were so attentively listening and were actively taking notes," he said mockingly, "would you happen to be able to tell me the proper use of a semi-colon?" Roxas couldn't answer—he wasn't listening! And he certainly wasn't seriously taking notes, not in this class, and most certainly not in any other. He wanted nothing more in this moment than to turn around and strangle the brunette behind him, crushes be damned. Instead, he desperately tried to keep his cool as the entire class waited in silence for the blonde to answer. The silence was broken not too long after, when all of a sudden, a loud noise erupted from the other side of the room, directing the attention of the whole class—including Mr. Xehanort's—towards it. "Whoops, my bad, sir," Riku said, picking up his English textbook that had somehow fallen down from the desk.
As inconspicuously as he could, Sora swapped his own open notebook with Roxas' and placed it on top of the blonde's desk all while his tall best friend insincerely apologized to the teacher. Even Kairi purposely turned on her ringtone once, having the flood of messages sound the tone at full blast, earning both teens a sharp glare from the old man. Roxas didn't have the time to complain about the brunette touching his stuff, as Mr. Xehanort's glare was directed back at the blonde was now clutching and quickly skimming through the notebook the brunette forced on him, seeing that the pages had very detailed notes on all of their classes—even Mr. Jafar's, and that was supposed to be the class the brunette hated the most.
"Mr. Roxas Strife. Please answer the question," the bald man spoke, a vein seemed to be popping on his forehead. Going back to where Sora had opened his notebook, and immediately read out loud what was written in the notebook. "Uh, a semi-colon is used to connect two independent clauses together if the second clause begins with a conjunctive adverb, and can also be used to separate phrases or clauses in a series if commas appear within any of the phrases or clauses," he answered, and the entire class went silent. The blonde felt like crawling into a hole somewhere and dying as the old man's eyes narrowed once more into slits, looking at the blonde intently. The old man sighed in exasperation. "So you were listening and taking down notes, after all," he grumbled, turning back towards the blackboard in front, arms twisted backwards to aid his aching back. Roxas heaved a sigh of his own in relief as he relaxed back onto his seat. He couldn't believe he actually survived that, though having Sora's notes certainly did help him through it. Thinking about it now, he was a bit confused as to how Sora even got those notes—he seemed so out of it a while ago, it didn't really seem like the brunette had been paying attention at all to any of his classes. Then again, he always seemed to pass his exams… He pushed this thought back, as a small piece of crumpled paper lightly collided with the back of his head. Roxas opened the piece of paper, seeing the words, 'You owe me one, Roxy,' written on it with a drawing of a small heart beneath the words.
The blonde's face flushed, not really being able to comprehend the words on the note, and instead just saw the heart on the paper. Brushing it off as a light-hearted joke from his childhood friend and trying his best not to misinterpret what the note really meant, he willed the heat on his face away and turned back towards the lecture, not wanting to be called out again by their bald headed teacher.
Class continued like that until the bell finally sounded, signaling the end of the school day. Some students loitered around the school still, cleaning up hallways and classrooms. Most have started with club activities, while those who weren't in a club were starting to head home. Ven had told his younger twin that he'd head home first. Watching the students around the school busying themselves with their club activities, Roxas was reminded that his twin told him he wanted to join a club at the start of the school year, but he couldn't decide which one he wanted to join, so he decided not to join any instead, although he was constantly being berated by Terra and Aqua to join at least one to make his school life a bit more fulfilling. Roxas actually had a club he wanted to join, one dedicated to the local sport of Struggle. He couldn't bring himself to join, however, because a certain brunette—who he felt so shy and insecure around until now—was also a member of the club. But now that he had gotten back the nerve to talk and spend time with him once again after that incident that made them start to grow apart in middle school, he wondered if it would be a good idea to join…
Today, the Struggle Club had a meeting with all of its members, so Sora asked Roxas to wait for him near the school gate till they finished. Kairi and Riku didn't have clubs either and so told Sora that they would be heading home first. Still, he found it weird that Sora was really insistent on accompanying him on top of the tower for a rumor he didn't even believe in, even going so far as to invite him out on a Sunday and asking him to wait while he attended his club. The blonde sighed. He just couldn't tell what was going on through that brunette's head. Looking up at the afternoon sky transition from a pastel blue to hues of orange and red, he heard footsteps approach him from behind. "Sorry for the wait, Roxy," came the brunette's voice, that wide toothy grin on his face. And making small talk about the small things that have happened through their day, the two started to head towards the clock tower.
The sun had set, and the two were starting to descend from the tower when the brunette spoke up, making the blonde with him glance at his direction. "So about tomorrow," he began, seemingly nervous blue eyes moving around as if trying to avoid contact with the similar ones of his companion. "Should I… pick you up from your house?" he proposed, sounding just a tad unsure of what he had just said. Roxas blinked at that. What was that supposed to mean? "W-well! If you don't want to, we could just meet up at the sandlot… or something,"
Roxas fought the blush from spreading on his face. "Oh, uh, I don't mind if you pick me up tomorrow, but why did you ask?" Sora looked back at his childhood friend with a sheepish grin. "No particular reason," he said as he raised his arms to rest the back of his head on his hands. Roxas raised an eyebrow at that. Really, he was just too difficult to read sometimes. But that's one of the many things he finds endearing about the boy. "Do you still remember where my house is? I mean, you live at the other side of town and all," the blonde said, looking at anything but the boy walking beside him. "Yeah, I still remember," the brunette answered as the two reached the point where they would separate paths for the day. "So… see you tomorrow, 'kay, Roxy?" the brunette said with a smile. Roxas returned the gesture and also waved goodbye, walking down his path home.
When he was sure the blonde was out of earshot, Sora couldn't hold it anymore. Pumping a fist in the air, he shouted a "Yes!" out, startling some passers-by and getting weird looks from them. "Take that, Vanitas!" he said to himself, hands on his hips and chest heaved out in a proud manner. As he walked towards the trains station to take him to his home in nearby Destiny Islands, an arm extended from an alleyway, dragging the brunette into the dark and narrow space. The brunette was shocked as he was pushed against a wall. Getting ready to kick whoever was the prick that was trying to ruin his elated mood right now straight in the groin, he stopped when he heard that familiar laugh. "Hey there, 'cuz," the voice, similar to his but just a bit deeper greeted. Speak of the devil. "Get off me, Vanitas," the brunette said, annoyed at getting slammed and pinned into a wall by his cousin.
The raven haired young man ignored his cousin, instead leaning in even closer, their faces centimeters apart and their noses almost touching. "More importantly, Sora," he said, devilish smile widening, those piercing golden eyes barely covered by his black sunglasses. "What am I supposed to take?" he said lowly, a small growl emitting from his throat. "You know I prefer to 'give' than to 'take', right?" he said with a smirk on his face as he wiggled an eyebrow suggestively at his cousin. A fist collided with the raven's stomach all of a sudden, enough to make him stumble back, but not enough to actually hurt him. "Keep it in your pants, Vanitas," Sora grumbled, and his cousin only rolled his eyes at him. "Whatever," the other shrugged as he and his cousin went out of the alleyway to continue on the rest of the way home.
"…. Playing hooky again?" the brunette asked his cousin as they boarded the train. Vanitas gave a smug smirk at that and told his cousin that he was right. "Mr. Xigbar's probably pissed at you, y'know," Sora said, with a smirk of his own. His raven haired cousin only shrugged him off and the two fall into a comfortable silence as they made their way home.
Upon arriving, the huge gates to their home were opened by a tall and tan-skinned man with long, white hair. "It is about time you come home, Sora," a deep voice said, and a frown etched itself on on his face. "… I'm home, Uncle Xemnas," the young brunette said, looking away from the man whose eyes were glaring holes into him. "And, you, Vanitas," the man directed his gaze towards the other, "are supposed to be at that event, aren't you? What are you doing here then, young man?" he questioned, the scowl on his face only growing darker as the three walk into the Fair Estate. As the older man continued ranting at the two about Sora's curfew, Vanitas' tendency to skip out on formal events, and just being an overall stick in the mud, they walked into the family room where Sora's big brother, Zack, was chatting with Mr. Xigbar, Vanitas' talent manager. Xemnas grabbed the raven haired teenager by the arm before dragging him towards the man who had a very dangerous aura despite the fact that he was acting cheerful at the moment. As Vanitas was interrogated by both Xemnas and Xigbar, Sora went to his brother who welcomed home with a happy grin on his face. The brunette told his older brother of his plans tomorrow with Roxas, who became one of Zack's younger brother figures along with Ventus and Vanitas. Sora grinned at his brother's approval of what he had in store for the blonde tomorrow. Giving a good night to his brother and then shouting the same greeting to the other men in the room, Sora made his way to the third floor of the large manor where his room was located.
Opening the door and immediately running and flinging himself towards the sky blue covers of his twin-sized bed, his mind wandered around to Roxas and their date tomorrow, which brought his mind to that rumor… 'He seemed so unsure of it so I tried to discourage him from doing something so half-heartedly… But yesterday he was so serious, like his mind was made up.' He rolled over to his back, spreading out his arms and legs and staring at the pristine white ceiling of his room. 'Who the heck is he doing all this for, anyway?' he thought, a frown forming on his face. 'He has to be a student at our school, right? Roxy won't be super stoked about a rumor only relevant in our school otherwise.' He sat up before jumping off his bed and going inside his walk-in closet to change into his sleepwear.
'Once I find out who that prick is…' he thought as he finished putting on his pajamas. 'What am I gonna do?' Deciding to make better use of his time, he started putting together the clothes he wanted to wear for his date tomorrow. 'I could convince Riku to beat him up at the back of the school,' he thought as he picked out a simple black, short-sleeved V-neck shirt with a symbol of a heart printed in front and a black overjacket. 'Or maybe get Kai to spread rumors about him and ruin his rep,' he thought, picking out a pair of baggy black shorts. Satisfied with the clothes he picked out, he hung them outside his walk-in closet, briefly wondering if his cousin's love for black clothes have rubbed off on him or something.
Shrugging, he walked towards his bedside table, which was empty save for a simple blue lamp, a digital alarm clock, and a framed photo of him and his childhood friends, Roxas and Ventus. His mind continued to drift about as he set his alarm earlier than usual. He didn't want to waste time, seeing as Roxas' home was considerably far away from his own. He laid down on his soft bed, and was about to fall asleep when he heard his phone suddenly ring from inside his bag. Grudgingly standing up to look at who it was that messaged him (not that he saves the contact information of people he didn't consider his friends), he opened his bag and took out his phone.
From: kai
Subject: Plans for tomorrow
Hey sora
Ur going with roxas tomorrow rite?
Riku and i wanna go with u too.
U dont mind, right?
U owe me one after all. :-)
Sora sighed at that. So much for being alone together tomorrow. Trudging back towards his bed and lying back down, his mind wandered one more time. 'If I make Riku beat that guy up, or ask Kai to ruin his rep, what would Roxy do? I mean, he likes the guy, right? Wonder if he'll hate me even more, then… I can't blame him. Not after what I put him through that time…' As his mind wandered back to his middle school years, he slowly drifted to sleep, vowing to do whatever he can to make it up for Roxas, no matter what. Clutching at the crown shaped pendant hanging from his neck, he thought about his childhood friend. 'I don't care if we end up just being childhood friends… as long as he doesn't hate me.'