Disclaimer : Kingdom Hearts and its characters do not belong to me.

oooOOOooo

It was a cold day and the wind didn't help at all when it came to warming up. It seemed that no matter how many layers of clothes one wore, it would never be enough to block the fresh air. So it was not surprising for Axel to wonder how someone could stand in front of the school dorms for so long wearing only a jacket and a scarf. Eventually, the redhead couldn't refrain from getting out of his room to meet the stranger he had been watching for about an hour now.

"Hey, are you waiting for someone from the dorm?" Axel asked once he was close enough for the blond boy to hear him. Said blond turned around and sent an annoyed look towards Axel.

"Is that a problem?" The younger asked curtly, frowning.

"Whoa, cool down, man. I'm only asking," the green-eyed boy replied, raising his hands in front of him as if to shield himself from the fierce glare he was receiving. "You've been waiting here for a while and I just thought you needed some help."

"Well, I don't but since you've come here to help, I guess it would be a waste to just send you back."

Axel's eye twitched.

"What a brat! I'm such an idiot for worrying about him. Tch, I hope he freezes to death right here," he thought as he kept smiling.

"My sister's living here but I don't know her room number and that airhead doesn't answer her phone. Anyway, do you know someone called Naminé? She has long, blonde hair, blue eyes and –"

"Oh, sure I know her. She's in class right know, which would explain why she's not answering your calls," Axel told the younger. "But she should come back to the dorm any moment now."

"I see," the blond replied with a shrug before a heavy silence fell on the two.

Now would be a good time to explain something about Axel. When in a silent environment, such as the one he was in at that time, he had a tendency to become really nervous and to say pretty stupid things.

"Would you like to come inside?"

His question was met with silence for a moment.

"I don't even know you," replied the other boy, staring suspiciously at the tall redhead. "You could be a psycho for all I know."

"Come on, it's not like I'm the grim reaper or something!"

"Then prove it."

"What the?! Argh, fine, stay here if you enjoy the cold so much! I'm leaving," Axel exclaimed, turning to go back inside. But a familiar voice stopped him.

"Roxas, you're here!"

Naminé came running towards his brother, giving him a bone-crushing hug as soon as he was at arm's length. Behind her, Sora raised curious eyebrows, wondering who the boy called Roxas could be while Kairi remained emotionless.

"I've been here for a while, now. Thanks to you my fingers are completely numb," Roxas complained as he broke the embrace.

"Let's get inside, I'll introduce you guys then," Naminé offered, taking the blond's hand in hers to lead him inside the building.

They all went in the girl's room and sat on the beds, everyone facing one another.

"Everyone, meet my brother, Roxas. Roxas, meet my friends Kairi, Sora and Axel," Naminé said, pointing at her friends as she said their names.

"Oh no, so she really called him," Kairi thought, trying her best to not let her surprise show.

"I didn't know you had a sibling, Naminé. Somehow, I was convinced you were an only child," Sora admitted, scratching the back of his neck.

"So, where is he?" Roxas stated, effectively ending whatever conversation they were having until then.

"Where is who?" The brunet couldn't help but ask, looking at everyone but Axel. Even though a few days had passed, the redhead still hadn't forgiven his lover for talking to his best friend. It sounded stupid but that was to be expected of a reaction that was stupid itself.

"Riku's not here. He doesn't know I asked you to come," the blonde answered, her gaze not meeting Roxas'.

The brunet didn't know everything about the current situation but Roxas' look was enough to let him know he wasn't here for pleasant matters. His look was murderous and there was no doubt things would turn out bad if he saw, let alone talked to Riku. Sora now understood his best friend's words from a few days ago.

sOxOs

After walking Kairi to her dorm room, Sora went back to his own, bent on having a serious conversation with Riku. As dense as the brunet might be from time to time, he clearly knew there was something Riku wasn't telling anyone. He figured he'd talk freely with his childhood friend.

When Sora entered their shared room, the silver-haired boy was lying on his bed, his eyes closed as if he were sleeping. The blue-eyed boy knew he wasn't from the small twitch his eye made when he had closed the door. Slowly, almost cautiously, the younger made his way towards his bed and sat at the foot of it, glancing at his best friend.

"You seem down," Sora stated. It was obvious the silver-haired boy was troubled. Riku wasn't the type to spend his day lying on his bed and staring at the ceiling. The simple fact he was doing nothing was proof that something was bothering him.

"Do you want to talk about it?" The brunet asked when his friend didn't say anything.

"What is there to say? I screwed up big time. End of discussion," Riku eventually said with a small shrug of his shoulders. "Where have you been?"

"In Axel's room." When his reply made the aquamarine-eyed boy sit up suddenly, the younger continued. "I was with Kairi and all we did was talk. About you."

"What did you discuss about exactly?"

"Listen, Riku, I know something's wrong with Naminé and it truly saddens me to see you two fight like that. You've been getting along just fine for all these years and you were even ready to get married. It really is hard for me to understand how your relationship ended up the way it did."

There was a heavy silence then. For a moment, Sora was afraid his best friend was mad at him because of what he said and was about to apologize but the silver-haired boy's chuckle stopped him.

"What's so funny?" The brunet asked, getting a bit defensive.

"It's so ironic, really," Riku told him with a shake of his head. "You want an explanation? Alright, you'll get one. To make a long story short, Naminé is pissed because we never went past kissing and she assumes it's because I'm not interested in her," the older explained calmly.

Sora blinked a few times. "And is she right?" He couldn't help but ask.

"I guess so."

"That's all it does to you? Aren't you even a bit sad?"

"What's to come isn't something to be sad about. Annoyed would be more fitting."

sOxOs

The raised voices coming from the silver-haired boy's room could be heard in the entire corridor and Sora found himself apologizing to his neighbours more than once. He'd been studying peacefully, with Riku still brooding on his bed, until someone knocked on their door – that someone being Roxas. Said boy bluntly asked the brunet to leave and let him have a quick talk with Riku. In the end, Sora was sure it had been an hour since he'd been kicked out of his own room. How rude was that?!

"Who the hell does he think he is? That damn blond," Sora cursed mentally, quickly apologizing to all the blonds, including Naminé. Really, he only had something against Roxas.

A particularly loud sound made the blue-eyed boy jump and stand up abruptly. Sora tried to hear what was going on inside the room but he heard nothing. Panic took over him and he began imagining the worst possibilities as to why it was so quiet. Maybe Roxas had hit Riku and the latter was now lying on the floor, unconscious. Maybe he was even hurt and bleeding to death while Roxas was just looking at him, grinning like a mad man. Murderers were often described as calm persons, right? What if Roxas was one of those persons?

The brunet couldn't take the heavy silence any more and burst into the room. The sight that greeted him was, thankfully, not as bad as he had first imagined. Roxas had his back turned towards him and Riku was sitting on the floor, his hand wiping at the corner of his mouth. Nothing else was needed for the younger to understand what had just happened.

"What do you think you are doing?!" Sora exclaimed, coming to stand before his best friend, who didn't dare look at anything but the floor.

"I'm just showing that bastard what it costs to make fun of my little sister," the blond snapped, glaring at the blue-eyed boy standing in front of him. "Now, move."

"No way! I'm not letting you hurt him!" Sora replied, standing his ground. "I'm really sorry for Naminé but I'm also sorry for my best friend that they have to break up. You should feel the same."

"How can I possibly feel sorry for that," Roxas said, pointing an accusing finger at the silver-haired boy. "When he's just told me that he likes someone else? He was cheating on her!"

"He wasn't! I've never seen him with any other girl," Sora protested, his fists shaking at his sides.

When Riku noticed his friend's nervousness, he stood up and put a hand on the brunet's shoulder, shaking his head slowly, almost tiredly.

"Just drop it, okay? He's right, I was an ass," the older admitted with a soft voice. Those few words left the brunet speechless and he simply stood there, not daring to talk for the moment.

"I'll let you off for now but I'll come back for sure," the blond threatened before he left for good, slamming the door shut.

An eerie silence filled the room as the two friends stared at the floor. Sora wanted to ask Riku if Roxas had lied or not about him seeing someone else and Riku simply wanted to say the truth. Both couldn't for fear of what would happen prevented them from talking.

sOxOs

The next few days, Sora discovered one thing about Roxas : he could be really mature except when it came to his sister. The blond hadn't talked to him at all and the few times their eyes met, Roxas would glare at Sora before looking elsewhere.

"That's so childish," the blue-eyed boy whispered, sitting on Axel's bed. It seemed the redhead had decided he had been away from his boyfriend for too long and wanted them to hang out again, which truly surprised the younger. But he wouldn't complain. A friendly Axel was far better than a pissed one.

"What is?" The green-eyed man asked, looking from his book to Sora, next to him.

"Roxas' behaviour. He's ignoring me just because I'm Riku's friend and tried to protect him. How immature is that?"

"He's just protecting his sister, that's all," the older replied, shifting slightly so that he could have a better look at Sora. "I think I'd act the same way if my sister experienced the same thing."

"You have a sister?" The brunet asked, tilting his head to the side as he raised an eyebrow.

"That was just an example, silly," Axel told his lover as he pushed him playfully.

"Yeah, right," Sora whispered. He faked being mad and pouted, his arms folded across his chest.

"Hey, there's something I've been planning to tell you for a while now," Axel began, closing his book and setting it on his bedside table. "Actually, it's about us."

"Okay?" The younger said slowly, not entirely sure about where this was going.

"Well, you see… How should I say this?" The green-eyed boy wondered aloud as he scratched the top of his head nervously. "It doesn't really feel like we're… Well, lovers."

"What do you mean?"

"We're holding hands, hugging and all and that's great. But we've never really kissed before."

Sora thought about it for a while and realized that they, indeed, hadn't even shared a kiss yet – while he was sober, that is. He also figured it might have had something to do with him. He liked Axel, he truly did, but he never imagined their relationship going past small shows of affection.

"Oh man," the blue-eyed boy whimpered, hiding his face in his hands.

"Don't worry your cute little head, now. I've realized this pretty soon so it doesn't hurt too much. It does, of course, but it's bearable," Axel half-joked.

"I'm so sorry, Axel. I didn't mean to hurt you or anything. It's just that," the other began. But he didn't finish what he was saying.

"There's someone else, right?" The redhead guessed, nodding to himself when his friend didn't reply. "I guess it's not likely to work with that special someone if you've agreed to date me."

"There were many problems, one being that person already dating someone. But they've broken up so maybe…" Sora trailed off, looking to the side. He felt a bit bad for Naminé for saying that but that was what he truly felt. He was so glad his best friend had ended everything with her.

"May I know who I've lost you to? I swear I'm not going to kick their butt or nuts, or both," the taller promised, raising his right hand to show his sincerity. But even without that, it was obvious when looking at his eyes that he meant every word he had said. Sora considered keeping his crush's name a secret but after what he had done to Axel, he figured the older had a right to know.

"I'll tell you but you have to promise not to tell anyone. Got it?" Sora asked, only continuing when Axel nodded in agreement. "The truth is I like Riku. A lot. Of course, he doesn't know this."

"Riku? Seriously?" The redhead asked, his eyes widening with surprise. "Man, now I understand why I hated to see you two together so much," he muttered, scratching the back of his head.

"Maybe it was more obvious than I thought, then," the brunet said timidly, his gaze not meeting the other's.

"You wouldn't want Roxas to know about this," Axel wondered aloud, lifting his head up to stare at the ceiling. "That little demon would probably try to rip your guts out for taking advantage of his beloved sister's misery." The brunet made to protest but his friend was quicker. "I know you're not but I'm pretty sure that's the way he would see it."

"I'm totally screwed. I can't even try to talk with Riku until Roxas leaves. How long does he intend to stay here anyway? Doesn't he go to college too?" Sora complained, eventually pouting.

"I heard Naminé will be leaving soon. I guess he's waiting for her," the older said. That caught the blue-eyed boy's attention.

"Wait a minute. When and where did you hear that?!"

"Roxas said it."

Sora said nothing and simply stared at the redhead.

"It's like what happened with Hayner and Olette. Naminé doesn't even want to hear about Riku any more, so she's leaving."

So that was it? Their relationship that had lasted for so long was going to end just like that? Somehow, it didn't sit right with Sora and he wished there was something he could do to make the situation better, even if just a little bit. It seemed Axel immediately understood what his younger friend was thinking about because he simply looked at him and shook his head, clearly disagreeing with the idea.

"It's their problem, Sora. Not yours."

The younger had nothing to reply. Axel was right, after all.

sOxOs

Naminé's lesson ended late that night so Roxas decided to wait for her outside. His plan was going smoothly until Demyx spotted him. It seemed the blond made it a habit to appear at the wrong time. It wasn't like Roxas knew him well enough to make such a statement but he assumed that was the case since Demyx was actually ruining his plan – which was to wait for his sister and help her pack the rest of her stuff.

"You sure like to wait out there," the older stated as he literally dragged Roxas to his dorm room.

"Yeah, so may I just do that? Wait outside?"

"No way. I need to have a word with you right now," Demyx told him, stopping before the door to his room. He took his keys out of his jean's pocket and unlocked the door. He then opened it and let the younger blond enter first. "Please, have a seat."

The older boy pointed to his bed and Roxas sat on it, looking awfully annoyed.

"What was it you wanted to tell me?" The younger asked, sounding uninterested.

That wasn't going to last long.

"Actually, it's about Riku," Demyx began, taking a seat next to Roxas, who turned a furious glare toward him. "Please, don't be so mad at him. It may be difficult for you but at least, try to understand that all he wanted was your sister's happiness. I must admit he didn't quite do the right thing when he accepted to go out with her but the events back then were – "

"Would you just get to the point?" Roxas cut him off, folding his arms before his chest in an impatient manner.

"Alright, alright. There's no need to be so rude," the older blond muttered, a pout making its way on his lips. "The truth is Riku have always liked his best friend but said friend never seemed to share his feelings. So, when Naminé confessed to Riku, he decided to try and forget him by starting a relationship with her but unfortunately, it didn't work as well as he'd imagined."

A long and heavy silence then filled the room. The smaller blond stared at the floor, thinking. His expression hardened as he raised his gaze and glared at the wall in front of him.

"So, basically, you're saying she was just a substitute?" He eventually asked.

"The way I see it, I'd say she was more like his last hope. Loving a friend you care for isn't so easy. You are afraid to lose said friend even if you know, deep down, that he will never leave you even if you were to tell him you've been in love with him for years," Demyx explained, his words secretly fuelling Roxas' anger. "I mean, come on, Sora's not the type of guy who'd – "

"Just wait a minute," the younger blond suddenly interrupted him as he stood up. "You mean Sora's the one Riku loves?"

Demyx could only nod in agreement as he realized his slip-up.

"That's sick. They're both guys."

And with that, Roxas left the room, leaving a now worried Demyx behind.

sOxOs

The next day, Naminé's friends bid her farewell. The goodbyes were a bit depressing with Kairi crying and everyone else not saying a single word. Riku was there too, even though he wanted to be anywhere but here.

"We'll keep in touch, right?" Kairi asked between sniffles, her eyes red and puffy.

The blonde smiled sweetly at her and nodded. "Of course," she replied as she gave the redhead a quick hug. "We'll see each other often. I'm not going that far, after all."

"We'll miss you, Naminé," Demyx stated, quickly taking her in his arms. Beside him, Zexion gave a nod and pated her shoulder.

"Well, good luck with everything," the blonde said once she faced Sora.

It was a bit awkward seeing as he was her ex's best friend but she was mature enough to not hold any grudge against him. She gave him a small smile before turning towards Riku, her smile disappearing as she did such.

"Roxas told me," she began, glancing at the brunet. "I'm still quite mad at you but I do understand how hard it is to let go of that special person. I hope you guys will be happy by each other's side."

She offered a warm smile to Sora only and said brunet's eyes doubled in size. He swiftly turned his head towards his childhood friend, thinking that maybe she was just smiling at him because she couldn't look Riku in the eye yet. But the older boy's red cheeks confirmed his suspicions and Naminé then realized her slip.

"Naminé, we're going. Come on," Roxas called her and she was more than glad to escape right now.

The siblings waved goodbye to their friends, who waved back and watched them leave before going back inside the dorms, leaving two embarrassed friends behind.

"Riku… Did I understand that right?" Sora asked, his voice no louder than a whisper. Seeing his friend was not replying, he heaved a long sigh and scratched the back of his neck. "Listen, I- "

"I'm sorry. I know it's weird and disgusting so I'll just forget about that. Please, just don't hate me, Sora."

The despair in Riku's voice truly surprised the younger boy. But what surprised him the most was that he denied nothing.

"Oh man," the brunet whispered, closing his eyes and his hands coming to rub his temples slowly like he was having a very bad headache. "This is so stupid."

"Sora…" Riku said, nervous.

"To think I've spent all these years believing it would be best to say nothing and kept my feelings for myself when you did just the same thing. Riku, do you realize how dumb that was?" Sora asked with a small smile playing on his lips.

"Wait, what do you mean?" The other asked, not wanting to get his hopes up and be depressed when he discovered he was wrong.

"Come on, I thought you were smarter that than, Riku," the blue-eyed boy teased, a goofy grin on his lips. "What you were feeling for me all this time… It wasn't, isn't one-sided at all," he eventually told his friend, his cheeks turning a deep shade of red.

Riku hesitated, debating whether he heard that right or not. When he saw Sora's face as red as it was a moment before, he decided that he wasn't dreaming and that his childhood friend liked him back. It felt so unreal, though. He had spent so many years hiding his feelings and thinking he'd never get to be together with Sora. And today, that finally came true and what was he doing? He was having doubts about the situation. Maybe he was dreaming and he'd wake up soon. Or he had died and God granted him a last wish before he was sent to Hell – because that was where guys like him were supposed to go. He so hoped Sora would never end up –

"Riku? What's wrong? You look sick," Sora commented, biting his bottom lip. Now, even he was having doubts.

"It's real, isn't it? It's not some kind of dream and I won't wake-up, right?" The green-eyed boy asked, his eyes finally meeting Sora's blue ones. They held a bit of worry but most of all, they looked amused.

"Of course not, silly," The brunet replied, closing the distance between them to quickly press his soft lips to Riku's. "See?"

The older boy heaved a pleased sigh and placed his arms around Sora's waist to bring him closer. He inhaled his soft spikes and found that they didn't really smell like what he had imagined. No cinnamon or vanilla or any other sent he thought it would smell. It just smelt like, well, hair.

"What are you doing?" Sora asked curiously, gazing up at his now boyfriend.

"I'm a bit disappointed. Do you even use shampoo to wash your hair?"

That earned him an elbow in the ribs that didn't hurt so much. He couldn't help but laugh, soon followed by Sora who held his hand in his and led them to the dorms. Both whished then that they would always stay that way and knew that it would never change, even if they wanted to. But why would they when they finally had what they wanted? They knew now that their love wasn't one-sided.

oooOEndOooo

You can't even begin to imagine how ashamed I am of this ending. It's so bad it could be in the History of Bad Endings. But I just can't continue this story anymore and I think it's better to stop now before it gets any worse. (it might be a bit too late for that but well…) I still hope you liked it somehow and that you're not too disappointed in this story. (though I'd understand if you were ^^;) Thanks for reading this and leaving reviews if you did. =)