In joy and sorrow, my home's in your arms
In a world so hollow, it's breaking my heart- by HIM

&$&$&$&$&$&$&

"See you tomorrow," Sora said with one last kiss to Roxas after they had stepped out of the Q building. They made sure to hide in the shadow of the doorway, because Sora's mother had decided to pick him up from school in the last week, and she normally came from the west side of the building. So they sat where they knew there wasn't a snowball's chance in Hell for Acylone to see them. If she did…Sora would prefer not to think about it, but he and Roxas both knew Sora's life would end, or come fairly close to it.

Roxas nodded in agreement with a brief smile and waved as he walked away when he started out for his mother's car. He had only just stepped onto the dead, stiff grass when he heard a honk behind him, and his heart plummeted comically at the mere sound of a horn behind him. There was no other horn on the planet that could squeal like his mother's. It fit her perfectly in an almost terrifying way; what with its ability to make fear pulse through anyone's veins.

His mother had parked on the East side of the Q building today. Oh, god…

He turned back to glance at Roxas who was waving happily at his mother as if nothing had intimately transpired between them. There could be a chance… he looked back at his mother and found her waving back at Roxas with a smile. With a sigh of relief, he felt as if he had actually managed to effectively conceal that kiss. He would only have to make sure that their goodbye's were said inside away from anywhere there was even a chance his mom could see.

That thought tucked away in his mind Sora crawled into his mother's high mileage economy car.

&$&$&$&$&$&$&

Reno rested an icepack on his jaw, where Kairi had smacked him with the remote, looking up at Kairi like a beaten little boy, pout and all. He hadn't said anything to her past when she had first hit him, where he had yelled, "Hell in a hand-basket! Someone, someone get me a sedative!"

And she had been much too busy kicking herself for even breathing to have some manners for apology. She simply kept walking around the three friend's living room, smacking herself on her forehead, and debating on whether she should make her suicide quick and painless or long and drawn out.

"Did you just murder someone?"

She was thrown for such a loop in that one question; startled away from her train of morbid thought; and honestly just so strung up with stress she could help herself. She broke down into laughter…and tears at the same time. Harsh laughter escaped her at the same time she tried to inhale to continue a sob. Tears escaped from her eyes and fell to the ground, to where she was slowly following. Her hand covered her mouth as she made full contacts with the ground, holding herself up with her knees and one arm.

Over her laughing sobs, or sobbing laughter, she heard Reno asked, "Ar-are you okay?"

And for the life of her, she just couldn't deign to lie to him.

"NO!" She yelled as quickly as she could before she was overcome with more sobs, the laughter dying away as she realized just how not okay she truly was. She was not okay. She was a horrible, evil, cold-hearted shrew. She was hypocritical. She was judgmental with unfounded information. She was useless, and unneeded.

And Namine had been right.

Reno still sat on the couch, looking at Kairi with a look of horror. He could barely drum up enough courage to ask her, "Sh-Should I call Yuffie…or-or take you home."

"No, no. I'm fine." She sniffed waving him off. "I'll—be fine in just…" She took a deep breath, trying to calm her pathetic hiccups, "Just a moment," she finally said. She looked up at the ceiling, trying to keep the tears from coming back to her red-rimmed eyes. When she was sure there would be no more crying, she swiped at her eyes, thankful that she wasn't wearing make-up today as she normally would.

She sniffed again, and looked over at Reno, who looked uncomfortable. And he was, he had never before in his life seen a woman cry. He had only ever been associated with Yuffie and Tifa, both of whom were more likely to make men cry than to actually cry themselves. She gave him a sad smile, and asked pleadingly, "Will you listen to me?"

Thankful that Reno nodded, she began to tell him exactly how horrible a person she was, realizing with each sentence she spoke how much more of bitch she really was. She told him about everything she had said about Riku and Axel, including the day she had told Namine that they were barely in their futures. She told him about the terrible things she had said to Roxas, or any of the other people who weren't in her immediate group of friends. She told him what she had done to Namine, making their entire family hate her fiancé. And finally what Namine had told her, and how right she was.

"I've said such terrible things to and about all of them," She finished with a self-agreeing nod.

Reno let out a low whistle, nodding slowly while staring at the floor. "If there was a picture by the word bitch, I'd have to agree, it would be yours." Kairi snorted, appreciative that he didn't sugar-coat what he wanted to say. "It's not to say you're as bad a person as you say you are though," Reno said, as seriously as he could get away with. Reno was not one who could easily sit down and have a normal conversation with. "Your thoughts are…unwarranted when said, and, yeah, you should probably actually be on speaking terms with the person you're judging, but calling it as you see it doesn't mean you're 'evil'.

He looked her in the eyes, "It takes more courage than most people think to speak your mind. A lot of people like to sugar coat everything they say so they don't hurt anyone's feelings. But it would help if you actually knew why you were saying what you were saying when you said it, if you know what I mean."

She smiled, sadly, and short-cited what he had just said to her, "Say what you like as long as you have all the facts when you do so."

He cocked his head at her, "Hey, that's what I said. No paraphrasing!"

&$&$&$&$&$&$&

When Sora's mother parked in their driveway, he noticed that his father's truck was nowhere to be found. He normally didn't leave his truck at home, but on Monday's he usually car-pooled with a man named Vince, so his car was always left his vehicle. Sora asked, cautiously, noting how his mother had been scarily quiet the entire ride home, "Where's dad?"

"He went on a business trip for the week." She said coldly, getting out of the car and walking swiftly to the house. Sora was right behind her, trying to keep pace with her long legs. She stormed into the house, her son jogging behind her, and before Sora could properly shut the door, she whirled around, glaring daggers at her one and only child. "Pack your shit and get out of my house."

Sora felt his stomach plummet. He stopped even trying to close the door, and looked at her with shock and apprehension. "What? Mom…"

"I don't want you in my home." She snapped. "I don't want you soiling my furniture, you little fag. Get out of my house now!"

"You…mom, what?" Sora couldn't wrap his head around what she was saying. He didn't think…

"Did you think I didn't see you?" She hissed. "Did you think I didn't see you practically mauling your little boyfriend?" Sora looked into her eyes, seeing only hatred. Not motherly love that he had once seen in her eyes, regardless of what he was. "You disgust me!" She finished on a quiet note, which was what hurt Sora all the more. "I'm ashamed to call you my son. Now get your things and get out."

He looked back at her for a moment, feeling everything that she had ever said about most of his friends directed to him. He had always expected this day to come, but he hadn't expected the pain that would come with her words. He had heard it so many times, and had hated her for saying it so often that he had been sure that he would hate her too much to care what she said. But he did. In the end she was still his mother, and she was supposed to love him, goddamn it!

But she didn't, and that was all the mattered. He had to leave his home that he had always felt was a cage so many other times, because she hated him. Not what he was, she hated him!

He nodded, sullenly, walking up the stairs; the door left open a little, because he still hadn't shut it. He packed everything he could into his messenger bag, then going to his closet he pulled out a duffle bag and poured even more of his clothing into it. When he went back downstairs his mother was nowhere to be seen, but the door was still open, as if her invitation for him to get out.

He locked and shut the door behind him, out of habit, and he made his way to Roxas' house. He knew Phoenix would take him in, she had been telling Sora she was practically his second mother for years now. He would live with them for a while, he nodded to himself.

He didn't notice until later that night that he had left his cell phone in his mother's car. He missed six calls, all of them from Riku, all of them begging him to meet him at the school early tomorrow.

&$&$&$&$&$&$&

Larxene settled down in Elysian Field's Graveyard in front of a headstone she hadn't visited since…well, since she had basically lost all self-respect.

Three years. Three long years of being the world's biggest slut and this is what it had narrowed down to. She was alone. Her parents had found out yesterday, and kicked her out so fast she hadn't even had time to blink. All of her belongings—mostly her clothing, skanky and not—were at a friend's house, while she looked for a more permanent place to stay, and a job at that.

She couldn't go see her brother. Riku was sick and lord only knew what she would do to the poor boy if he saw her. He'd go into some sort of shock from which he couldn't escape knowing her luck this year.

Tracing the name in the headstone she snorted. It was barely halfway through the first month of the New Year…and her life had gone to complete and utter shit! She was pregnant without a home, a job, a family. She knew that it was all her fault. She knew if she had been what her parents wanted her to be, that she wouldn't be here, in a graveyard, feeling the most content she had felt all year. But it didn't make it any easier.

She felt cheated by everything, everyone! Everyone except the person under the ground she was currently sitting on.

She sighed.

Under the name were the words, 'Wonderful mother, and friend to everyone'.

She could be the person under the ground in a few years, and what would her stone say? She kept telling herself there was no way she could keep her child, so she could never be wonderful, not to a child or anyone else. And she wasn't a friend to everyone. Hers would probably say something plain and useless, like, 'She will be missed.' Something that made it sound sad that she was dead, but truthfully the day after her funeral everyone would forget she had ever been put on the earth.

A pang of hurt filled her heart, but she didn't let it show on her face. She never had around…"Hi, Lenore," She whispered lovingly to the stone. "I'm sorry I haven't come to see you in so long. Tell you the truth I probably wouldn't be here now, but…"

She looked down at the picture that had been set into the stone. It was of Lenore with Axel, barely two, pressed close to her side. She was smiling as she stared at her son, rubbing his unruly hair away from his eyes. Larxene closed her eyes, remembering the woman she had always felt held more love in her pinky finger than her actual mother had in her entire body.

She had been tall too. That was where Axel got his unearthly height from. Mother and son also shared the exact same hair color, and their smile; that was the same too. That was why she loved her brother's smile so much; it had always reminded her of the kind woman who had given birth to him. The only thing they really didn't share, as Larxene had always said, was their eyes. Lenore had the most beautiful blue eyes that Larxene had sworn were silver. And they were always filled with so much love. There wasn't a time when Lenore had looked at Axel or even Larxene that love hadn't shined in those irises. She had loved them both. She had loved all children.

But had there been even one moment when she first found out she was pregnant with Axel that Lenore had thought to herself, 'I can't do this…?' Had there been just one second? If there had it would make Larxene feel better. She would feel like she wasn't such a…a…a terrible person. But she knew deep down in her heart that Lenore had found out she was pregnant and immediately jumped with joy. Lenore was just that kind of woman.

Larxene sighed, again. "Lenore, I'm going to have a baby," she told the stone, harshly. "I'm having a baby and I have no fucking clue on what to do." The sun suddenly seemed to have shined only on her for a moment, because she was warm now. Closing her eyes, she let herself believe that it was Lenore, putting her arms around her, like she had just before she had gone into the hospital. She could imagine Lenore smiling and telling her encouraging things. Telling her she could keep the baby, and be just as happy as she had been with Axel. Warning that it wouldn't be easy, but that Larxene could do it, if she really wanted to and in the end just seeing her child's face would make it all worth while.

Breathing in deep the cool winter air, Larxene felt…she felt it was her duty to try. She could be a good mother. She could make it work. She would just work hard, and she would live simply, and she would do her best to be just like Lenore. She would love her child like Lenore had loved her Axel.

For some reason that didn't put her at peace, but she had a plan now. Opening her eyes, she didn't speak again to the stone, the picture, or the grass. She just let the odd comfort of a simple name on granite stone fill her.

&$&$&$&$&$&$&

Sora had been welcome at Roxas' house, and both of them told him he would be welcome for many more days to come. Roxas was shocked that his mother had kicked him out like that. He had known she was a homophobe, but, as Roxas had screeched, Sora was still her son! But Phoenix had been outraged, and had looked a bit guilty for a reason Sora couldn't honestly fathom. She had told him to stay as long as he like, then with a sad smile she had said he had better like to stay there forever. And whereas the idea was nice, he didn't think he could live there and stress Phoenix out with one more mouth to feed.

He was stressed that he was stressing her out, and stressed about having to leave his home, his father. He didn't know what to do. He didn't…

School. He didn't even want to think about school. Whereas at the beginning of the year it had been great, wonderful, he was almost out! He didn't want to leave now. He was afraid to death about what was on the other side of the door now that he didn't have his parents to fall back on. What would he do? He had always wanted to go to the Academy, but it seemed mute now that he didn't have his mother or father's money to help get him through. He was rather beginning to wish he could fail so he could stay inside the safe, free walls of his high school forever.

And to top it all off, he had lost his god damn cell phone.

All of this circled in his mind as he walked to school, mixed and mingled a bit in the courtyard, and just generally waited for the first bell to ring. He felt wrong, in his skin and in his mind. He had never been one to be especially stressed. He could be stressed but it was never this bad. What was worse was that he felt the need to act like he was especially happy for all the people would didn't know him for anything but bubbly. And that mixed in with the stress was making him frustrated, bordering on angry.

He didn't feel like being touched, and everyone patted his back, or ruffled his hair. Roxas kept his hand linked through his own. There were too many people in the courtyard…too many…

He forced a smile as Ollete and Hayner walked towards him, "Hey, guys. What's up?" He asked them, with sunshine in his voice that he didn't feel at all.

They looked at him curiously, apprehension shining oddly in there eyes. "Is it true?" Ollete whispered conspiratorially. "What they're saying about Riku…is it true?"

The fake smile fell a little, and he went along with the whispering as he asked, "Who is they, and what is being said?" He leaned in, but noticed Roxas stayed away from the close faces with a look of disdain on his features.

"The entire school is talking about it," Hayner said. "They're all saying that Riku is a whore out on Hollywood and 10th. That he's been sleeping with men for money for the past two…maybe three years…"

They looked at Sora worriedly, but Sora for a moment could do nothing but smile. It was on the tip of his tongue to tell them that that was ridiculous. That if Riku had been doing…anything! Anything like that, Sora would know; Riku would tell him. But it died; the knowledge that Riku would tell him anything and the smile left him all at once as he remembered.

Leon and Cloud had seen him walking down Hollywood, around 17th street; late at night back in November…Axel had always called him Hollywood.

Sora practically heard the mental snap, and definitely felt it echo, pounding furiously against his skull.

Riku had rarely been home in the last two years. He almost never had his homework finished until he started those detentions with Vexen last semester. He was always tired. He never had time for his friends anymore…

And holy rusted metal, Batman; it all just fell into place.

He backed away from Hayner and Ollete, shaking himself loose of Roxas' grasp on the way back. He didn't want to be touched. He didn't want to be looked at. He didn't want spoken to. He was angry; angry and so damn confused he wondered if the world was really spinning or if it was just in his head. It didn't make sense that Riku wouldn't tell him…just didn't make sense. Sora was his best friend; he could tell Sora anything. Why hadn't he? Why hadn't…

"Sora?"

He spun on his heels to face the most familiar voice he had ever known.

Riku.

The lunar haired man stood cautiously away from the crowd, his stance hesitant. He looked ready to run, and he probably would have had Axel not been standing behind him with a terrifying glare that was sure to keep the Devil away. He met Sora's glare calmly, though, no matter how unsure he may have been.

"So that's what you've been doing for the past two years?" he snapped, his voice so cold that he could practically feel icicles forming on his teeth. "Selling your body to anyone that'll fuck you?" From behind him, Sora heard Roxas call his name in warning. He paid the tone no heed and continued, an accusatory glare perching itself in his solid, dark blue eyes. "Is Axel one of your clients? He pay you good money to see you on your knees?"

That earned him several people shouting his name in shock, and Axel taking a step closer to Sora, looking ready to disembowel him. Sora stood his ground, never flinching, never fully loading what was going on around him in him mind. The world had shrunk, and his eyes had tunnel vision. It was just him and Riku in the world, and the elder of the two was in for it.

"Sora, please. Let me explain…" Riku asked calmly, reaching out his hand for Sora.

It didn't register in Sora's mind that Riku's eyes shined with tears. In his angry rage he didn't realize that that was the only time in their entire history together that Sora had made Riku cry. Through all of his rage and confusion, he didn't even notice Axel seething at him, his eyes lightening to the colour of toxic green, as he yelled angrily at Sora. The only thing he focused on were his words, cold and calculated, methodical in their goal to cut threw Riku like a knife, and twisting them around so that Riku could understand, fully, just how angry Sora could get; just how real Sora could be. "You aren't denying it, Riku. Is that why you hated him so much? Because he knew? Did he reward you with silence for sex?"

Riku took a hesitant step towards him, his hand still outstretched, his eyes still shining, two tear tracks glistening in the sunlight of the cold January afternoon. "Sora, no. It's not…" He sniffed, "It's not like that. I swear it." He looked at the ground, Sora noticed with cold satisfaction, with fear. "I was going to tell you…"

He had taken a quick step forward trying to latch onto Sora, but the brunette stepped out of his reach, hissing, "Don't touch me!" The crowd around them gasped as Riku fell to the ground, knocking his elbows and knees hard.

There was a distant part of his mind that noticed a few people calling out to either himself or to Riku. A few taking hesitant steps towards the fallen heap that could once stare Sora into a ball, huddling in the corner. He still didn't notice Axel walking brusquely towards the two ensconced in the thick crowd. He didn't notice Roxas calling his name again, sounding nearly as dangerous as Sora did; sounding nearly as betrayed as Sora felt.

Sora glared at the bundle of disgusting something he wasn't even prepared to call human, as Riku looked up at him sadly, regretfully. Sora's lips curled as Riku laid his head back down against the freezing cement, and it wasn't until Axel kneeled beside the lunar-haired teen that Sora decided to speak again, pouring every bit of acid he could muster into his words as he said, "Don't bother helping him up. It should be a position he's used to by now."

Axel snapped his attention away from Riku completely as the words flew from Sora's lips without remorse. Standing quickly he stalked towards Sora with a look in his eyes that spelled murder out to the group around them. But he didn't make it to his feet, before Sora was shoved harshly against a tree not too far from the sidewalk. He felt jarred but his anger was still firmly intact as he shifted to look at the person who had pushed him into the tree; the person who was holding him firmly against the tree.

"Are you defending him too, Roxas? Knowing what he is? What he does?" Sora all but screeched at his boyfriend.

Roxas, who had been glaring dangerously at him, his hands still buried in the hoodie Sora was wearing, threw him to the ground with a vicious shout of, "Stop it, Sora!"

Sora looked back up to him, sprawled across the ground much like Riku was. He opened his mouth again to yell something else. Anything else! Just to let them all know what he thought! Just to let them all know what he felt! How could they not be just as confused that Riku had kept such a terrible secret from them all? How could they not be just as hurt that Riku didn't trust them?

His anger gave another roar, and he was just about to hurl exactly what he thought of Riku in everyone's face, but Roxas cut him off.

"Stop it!" He repeated, just as forcefully as the first time. "Just listen to yourself, Sora." Roxas took a step back, swiping his eyes, as they flashed with the same anger Sora felt. "You sound like your mother!"

The anger he felt dissipated rapidly from his vision, though the confusion stayed woven in his system. He looked around at the scene he had started, the people he had gathered. He looked at the teachers' and students' faces alike, seeing the horror and sadness they all stared between him and Riku with. He found Kairi in the crowd and she locked gazes with him, briefly, and he knew he had done far more than betray simple anger when she shook her head at him disbelievingly, and took a step back into the crowds, her mouth open in abject terror the entire time.

Looking back to where Riku was where he had left him—let him fall—on the ground, Sora realized the devastation he had wrought. Riku sobbed quietly into Axel's shoulder, his face twisted into a painful grimace, as he murmured something into the redhead's jacket. Whatever he said, the other had obviously agreed, as he picked them both from the cement steadied them both. Roxas went to them, obviously sure that Sora had been put in his place with that last blow he had thrown. His boyfriend talked to Axel briefly, and in that few seconds, with Axel still supporting most of his weight and Roxas standing off to the side, Riku looked up at him.

Tear tracks racing down his face. His nose was red, and it looked like he had scraped his right cheek when he collided with the ground. Though, Sora felt wretched for those, they were nothing compared to his eyes. His cool beach-ocean eyes that looked on the world with a guarded impairment, they were open. They hid nothing from the world around him as he stared painfully into Sora's eyes.

"Oh, god!" Sora whimpered his dirty hand flying over his mouth. He was going to be sick. What had he done? His stomach churned violently as he scrambled to his feet, headed into the building, pushing through the bathroom's swinging door, and into as stall, before he heaved his breakfast contents.

Sora had never seen Riku look so… broken!

&$&$&$&$&$&$&

"I'm so ashamed," Sora whispered into Roxas' neck as they lay on the blonde's bed in the house Roxas and his mother had moved into over the winter holidays. "I shouldn't have said all of that to Riku. I—I don't even remember most of what I did say…but I shouldn't have said it."

"You were hurt," Roxas said with a sympathetic hug, hugging his brunette closer to him.

"I was…I was! Why couldn't he tell me?" he asked, suddenly hurt mixing in with his shame.

"Realizing who you are, and being okay with it are two completely separate ideas, Sora. He didn't tell you because he wasn't fine with who he was."

"What?"

"I'm…I'm going to tell you something that I've never told anyone…ever!" He sighed painfully. "God, if you still love me after this, I'll never know why. I set my house on fire. The fireman said it was an accident; that a potholder must have been accidentally left on a running burner, but the truth is…I did it on purpose."

"You did what?"

"I was tired of my father never coming to see me…I thought—I thought if something tragic happened to me he would come to my rescue. He would come see me. So when I took the pan off of the stove that night, I just threw the pot holder back, behind me. When it landed on the burning burner, I saw it. But I didn't move it. I left it, and went to bed." Sora looked up into Roxas' shining eyes. "You think my aversion to showing people my scar is a vanity thing? No. It's because it's proof of just how stupid I can be."

"I never knew. Is that why you defended Riku so much? Because you could imagine yourself being there?"

"Something like that." Roxas whispered. "To error is human, but to forgive is godly."

Sora closed his eyes. "I do. Still love you, that is." He said, running his hand along the scar he had admired for so long.

"Do you still love Riku?"

"He's my best friend of course I do."

"You should tell him then."

"I'm not sure Axel would ever let me within a ten foot radius of him," said with a sad chuckle.

Roxas kissed the crown of Sora's head. "I can talk to him."

&$&$&$&$&$&$&

The talk with Axel to get Sora within a ten foot radius of Riku was long and drawn out and had required more bribing than Roxas had ever had to deal with. Axel had been justifiably pissed off and Sora and had refused to even let him look at him. He had promised that Sora would not be uncivil and that he would remain with a chaperone. By the end of the Saturday that had followed Sora's outburst, Roxas had arranged the beginnings of peace-talk. By mid-afternoon on Sunday, Sora was fidgeting on the porch steps, while Roxas rang the doorbell.

"They aren't going to open the door," Sora said nervously, while rubbing his hands together in front of his chest. "They're going to look out and see me, and ignore the door."

Roxas stuffed his hands into his poofy jacket, shaking his head. He knew someone would answer; because if they didn't someone was going to get an earful. They had promised that they would at least talk. Sora deserved the chance to explain himself, just as much as Riku did. This had all been a giant misunderstanding caused by Seifer and his inability to be anything but an asshole.

They would open the door…

They opened the door! Roxas sang 'Halleluiah' in his mind.

Riku opened the door and peaked out from behind it, his eyes glossy and shining. When he looked at the two of them, though, he frowned, a sad glimmer coming to his eyes. Roxas got the feeling it wasn't because they were there.

Before either of them could say anything, however, he looked at the brunette and said in a watery voice, "Sora, I know you wanted to talk, and I swear to you we will, but not now. Aerith just called…"

He tried to shut the door, but Sora held out his hand, worry marring his face. "Woah, wait. Riku, did Sephiroth die?

There was a long pause, filled with the two friends staring at each other pleadingly, one asking silently for the other to leave, and the other asking silently for the first to tell him what was wrong. Roxas felt a little uncomfortable being there, but he was just as curious to find out about Riku, too. Hoping that nothing terrible had happened, for everyone's sake. Their little group had taken a bashing over the holidays, one more…he didn't even want to think about what would happen.

His hopes fell on deaf ears.

"No, Sora. I have Angel's disease," he said sadly, his voice breaking and tears filing his eyes. "She said it's most likely fourth stage and that I don't have that long." He tried to shut the door again, having cried in front of his friend enough that week or for a life time really.

"Riku, please!"

Through the cracked doorway, he said, "I just want to alone for a few days. I'll come talk to you next weekend. Tell everyone…" his note was interrupted by a small sob, "tell everyone why I'm not coming back."

With that he shut the door, leaving Roxas and Sora standing on his porch, their mouth hanging open in shock, one pair of blue eyes slowly filling with tears. And surprisingly, it wasn't Sora's eyes that were doing the crying. Surprisingly, it was Sora who led them away, and began leading them back to their home. And when they were inside, sitting on their couch, it was Sora who held Roxas. When it was over, when Roxas' tears had subsided, Sora calmly made dinner for the two of them, since Phoenix was out for the night.

It was odd. What was worse, Roxas hadn't noticed until after dinner that Sora had yet to shed a tear.

However, rapidly that changed.

"Oh my god!"

Roxas looked over to his boyfriend, worriedly. They had been watching television for the past hour, and Sora hadn't said a word since they had left Riku's place.

"Sora?" he asked worriedly, watching as the brunette's eyes filled with grief and terror.

"Roxas, my best friend is dying." Sora said looking over to him, past him and at the couch they were sitting on. His voice was slow and distant. It had just dawned on him. Everything had toppled down on him in an instant while he was quietly watching the show. "My best friend is dying, and I…I was pissed off because he never told me about his prostitution. I was pissed off because he was scared of losing me." He clicked his tongue against this roof of his mouth. "He's dying." He stood up suddenly, his hands flying to his hair. "WHY THE FUCK IS HE DYING?" He shouted. "Why him? What did he do? Are there not better candidates? I'm not that picky, as long as they leave him the fuck alone! Why not Seifer? He's a dickwad without a cause! We don't need him around. The world would probably be better for having him gone! Take Kairi, or Tidus, or Pence! I don't care, but why HIM?"

Sora fell back onto the couch, suddenly seized by painful, loud sobs.

&$&$&$&$&$&$&$&

That night dinner was left untouched and Riku's house. Boxes of Japanese food were left on the coffee table to be cleaned up on a different day, perhaps tomorrow, perhaps the day after. The television was off, even though there were two different marathons on that night. Neither of them were doing their homework; they didn't even think they were going back to school. Their cell phones were turned off; the home phone was unplugged. Every door and window was locked, making sure there could be no one to invade them tonight. No one was going to visit, no one was going to yell, cry, or question them.

It was just them, in Riku's bedroom with the lights turned off and the door cracked to let a little of the hallway light fall in across the bottom of his bed. Their legs were entangled as Axel hovered over Riku, petting his sweaty, silver hair away from his eyes. They were both spent, and understandably so, considering they had both spent the last two and a half hours in each other's arms.

"Please don't leave me. Please…"

"I'll be here until the end, Riku. You have my word."

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InnocentGuilt