57.

As it has been briefly mentioned, students attending Kingdom High School are require to complete forty hours of community service upon graduation. Those whose families owned businesses had the advantage of getting their parents to sign off for them (completing all hours or not). Axel was an example of someone who took advantage of this. Zack was the sole proprietor of ACC, Auto Crisis Curaga. And as such, signed Axel's forty hours complete, after four weeks or so of the redhead supporting his janitorial staff.

Others preferred to strike out on their own and find placements where their skills were sure to excel. At many community centres, almost everyone who worked there were already volunteers and were wont for more. Was anyone else better suited behind the circulation desk at the Rouge River library than Zexion?

Demyx thought himself lucky that his mom was a person support worker at Markham-Stouffville Hospital. A bit of a humanitarian, he found no better place to complete his hours there.

"Demyx! Are you okay?!"

There he was. Flat, on the floor. Glass scrunching beneath him.

"Oh my god, the floor is wet! Where are all those wet floor signs?"

"Oh, it's right there. I guess I just didn't see it," he laughed, getting to his feet. He and this fellow volunteer had been rounding the corner of a counter, when Demyx slipped. His coworker, however, managed to brace herself against the fixed piece of furniture, only to drop all the contents of her hands.

"Well of course you didn't!" The yellow contraption was indeed not in plain, obvious sight as it should have been. "Oh my god, is any of that your blood?"

The glass that had scrunched beneath him was that of a vial she had been holding.

"Nope!" he smiled. "Just a …" he gingerly lifted a piece of glass that had a piece of the label still on it. "a mister R. Tuesti's." Demyx trotted over to a yellow box affixed to the wall with a biohazard symbol on it and disposed of the shard in his hand, then grabbed a roll of paper towels to quickly clean up the evidence of their collision.

"Here, let me help you."

"No no, I'm good here. You should probably go get another sample, though."

"Oh my god, you're totally right! I hope he didn't leave yet-!"

"Go go!"

She grabbed the bin of vials that had not fallen out and broken and the few file folders that had thankfully not landed in any blood. "Thanks, Demyx!" And she was gone.

The blond made quick work of the mess before anyone else had come through that particular hallway. He didn't know for what reason, but something told him he'd get in trouble or some other kind of unpleasant confrontation if that incident were to be discovered. Whatever it was or would have been, he preferred to avoid it all. Hurriedly stuffing the rest of the shards into the proper receptacle, and mopping up man's unusable fluids, he went along his merry way, for the next hour and forty-five minutes.

After all, he had a basketball game to make.


The too-perfectly manicured lawn with expertly-trimmed moogle topiaries that not two hours ago had rubbed him the wrong way had ironically become Roxas' refuge to seek after he'd been dismissed from the preliminary check-up at an office somewhere on SL5. Roxas dashed down the half-moon steps, sharply rounded the corner, narrowly missing a moogle's bat-like wing, and pressed his back against the wall of the building.

"Holy fuck," he panted, having all but ran out as soon as the elevator opened its doors. He dug through his pockets for his smokes and lighter with jittery fingers. The sight of that needle was still engraved in his mind's eye.

The main reason for him staying in this institution was to monitor his sleep. But the main reason for him being in this institution was to figure out what was causing his sleep to be affected. And that required a blood test, a urine test, an optical test and a few x-rays. Basically, it was a very in-depth and detail-oriented check-up. But after the sight of the long, thin metal piercing his skin, prickling his insides, making his arm numb, Roxas mentally shut down. He probably should have fought to stay attentive to make sure nothing got fishy, and look for opportunities to ask questions and stay informed and all, but it took every bit of his mental power not to wrench the needle out of the examiner's hand and chuck it across the room. Plus, the doctor didn't seem like the chattiest of people. Looks like Roxas was right about not all doctors making the effort to coddle their patients.

Roxas slid down the wall into a sitting position and lit his cigarette. 'Damn,' he thought with an exhale. He wondered what Axel was doing right now.

It was being near two-thirds done with his smoke when Roxas was pulled out of his mental war with himself on whether or not he wanted to think about Axel, by another's presence.

"Holy shit. Is that you, Chibi-Strife?"

Roxas whipped his head around. Surprise flared, fury bloomed, automatic-offence swelled, before all dying into mild apprehension. Then Roxas smothered it all with his mask of lazy indifference. "Tidus?" He lifted his cigarette to his lips. "'the hell are you doing here?"

"Getting some sun before dinner. What are you doing in the Core?"

Roxas would've answered since he kind of wanted to know the other boy's reason for being there as well, but promptly decided against it. This was Tidus. Tidus went to school with him, knew the people he knew, and was probably the last person he'd trust with saving him a spot in the cafeteria line, much less a secret. "None of your business."

Despite the tone, the other boy casually plopped down beside him. "Yeah, okay. Fair enough. Can I have a bogie? I'll give you one back if you stop by my room."

Roxas eyed him sideways. "Uh, sure." He handed over his blue pack of Studios and watched Tidus light up.

"Thanks, dude. I don't smoke regularly but I try to have some with me at all times in case I want one. 'Specially when I come here." The boy looked to the city buildings in the distance. "Bumfuck nowhere."

Roxas turned to face Tidus and the other did the same, giving him a big smile then sucking on the burning stick. Roxas narrowed his eyes. He fished out another smoke and began to light it with the end of his first one, knowing that in this state he could handle it.

"So, did you just get here?"

Roxas exhaled before answering. "Couple hours ago."

"And?"

"Can't wait for it to be over."

"Aw, look at you," Tidus laughed. "Just pray it's a one-time thing."

"What?"

"I've been coming here every weekend for the last four years." Now Roxas really wanted to know what his deal was. "It's not so bad. Food's good. The beds, you get used to. Bathrooms're nice and there's always hot water."

"Right."

They stayed in relative silence after that and while Tidus seemed to be completely at ease with it, Roxas found it a little more than unnerving. He barely knew the boy and all previous encounters bounced up and down around the 'civil' line. But then again, while the disadvantages of seeing someone from back in Markham were clear, Tidus was still a familiar person and maybe that could help make this whole trip of his a little more bearable.

"What time's dinner?"

"Five-fifteen if you want it early. Like if you have an evening session. Six o'clock for the rest."

"Seriously?"

Tidus smirked. "No dinnertime at the Strife-Crescent household?"

"Not really." Especially in the old house due to Cloud's odd hours. "It's more like 'when everyone's home and hungry." Nowadays with Riku and Sephiroth, they still didn't eat until around nine.

"Haha, yeah. I hear ya. So bad news for you is caf closes at seven and we're not allowed to bring food beyond that floor." Roxas gaped. "I usually wrap things up in napkins and stuff it in my sweaters. So, no worries, Chibi. I'll show you the ropes."

"Will you stop calling me that?" Tidus' eyes lit up.

"But you're so cute!" Roxas summoned the full wrath of his scowl but it only made Tidus gush even more. "That is so fucking adorable." Roxas sighed, rolled his eyes, and fished for another cigarette. "You are one cute piece of ass, Roxy."

Roxas was on him in a second, shoving him hard into the wall. "Don't EVER call me that."

Tidus blinked in surprise, but it was quickly replaced by a challenging grin, resembling the very first expression Roxas had ever seen on the boy. The douchebag face. "Right. Only Axel can call you that." A chill ran down Roxas' spine at the mention of the senior and with it, a withering, frigid mask doused the fiery light in his eyes.

With one last shove, Roxas pulled himself up and walked away, back towards the building's entrance. "Go fuck yourself," he spat, turning the corner.