Railroad Tracks Chapter 3: Because we talk, a kingdom hearts fanfic

Sora sighed again. And it was bugging the hell out of Roxas. "Shut up." He only sighed again. Roxas groaned. Sora sat next to him, fiddling with a box of Lucky Charms, shaking it once every few minutes and not pouring it into the bowl next to him. And Roxas just wanted some damn cereal! "Sora."

The back door burst open and Roxas screamed, tackled to the floor. Having trouble catching his breath thanks to a knee in his stomach, Roxas kicked upward and missed Axel who was on top of him. "Happy Halloween!"

"What?"

The two looked over to Sora, whose bowl was now filled with cereal. Roxas jumped up, grabbed the box and filled his own bowl. "It's Halloween you idiot. Don't you ever look at a calendar?" Roxas got punched.

"So, what are we doing?" Axel laughed.

"God, you don't remember anything! You signed us up for that carnival at school."

Sora glanced down at his bowl that Roxas filled with milk. "Oh, I did." The blond glanced down at Sora who ate his cereal slowly. He stole a marshmallow. "Hey!"

"You eat slow." Sora pouted.

"That's bad grammar," he mumbled.

"Shut up." Roxas glanced at Axel. "What the hell are you wearing?" Axel glanced down. He had on very colorful baggy pants with different designs and a shirt with big, fluffy, red buttons.

Axel shrugged. "I'm a clown." Roxas thought about commenting on that, but stopped as Sora laughed and shook his head. Today was going to be a long day. A hot hand touched his neck, making him shiver.

Damn pyro…

His lungs hurting, empty of air, Zexion's fingers slipped around the balloon. He cursed as it went flying across the room. Demyx laughed, letting go of his own and watched as it flew somewhere near the other. A few people ducked either glaring or found it amusing, swatting at the thing. Demyx looked over at Zexion and shied away from his look.

"I'll just go get those," he said, sprinting across the room. Zexion sighed, ruffling his hair and dragging his knees up to his chest. This day was too long. Who the hell signs up for a school thing on Saturday's? Apparently Sora's twisted little mind was the cause of all this. And he thought waking up at seven on a weekend was normal. Though the little brunet wasn't even here…

An orange object was thrown into his face. "Zexy? Your balloon."

"Ah."

"You space too much."

Sigh.

For the second time, Zexion put the elastic rubber to his mouth and blew. An orange blob started to form. "Where is," deep breath. "Sora," exhale. "I haven't," deep breath. "Seen him," exhale.

Demyx just shrugged, not taking a breath as he inflated a balloon. Zexion was afraid he might pass out. His face wasn't supposed to turn that color. Zexion grabbed another balloon, questioning how he got stuck with this job. A coughing fit started next to him and he closed his eyes knowingly.

Some other kids across the gymnasium laughed at some unknown joke or sight and crashes echoed as props and stands were brought in. He was starting to get a headache and watching the blond waving next to him was annoying.

He looked up as annoyingly, too large red shoes popped up in front of him. He couldn't help but let a small chuckle escape, but stopped as he looked up. Red hair, read shoes, clown suit – Axel never ceased to surprise him. The tattoos on his face made it that more enjoyable. The flaming redhead looked exactly like a clown. Though it may have not been wise to state it out loud. Roxas and Sora probably already did anyways.

Axel looked around. "At least I'm not the only one dressed up."

Roxas punched him. "We all have to dress up. You're just too childish to wait dumbass."

"You know you love it." Roxas punched him and Zexion with everyone else in unison turned away as Axel bent down, whispering as Roxas turned a deep red.

The blue-haired stared at Sora who kept glancing at his brother, his own blush creeping up to his face. "You guys are late. Where were you?"

"Uhm," he turned his attention him. Zexion knew that Sora knew that he knew. He paused, his own thoughts confusing him for a moment. He snapped back to reality. "I was… we had a late start and… it was a long morning." Sora glanced at the pair that had moved somewhere else, his blush growing deeper. "I'm just going to go to my station."

Demyx looked at him. "We have stations?"

"Yeah."

"What's a station?"

Zexion sighed again. He stuck another balloon in Demyx' open mouth. "Just use those excellent lungs for something helpful." The blond scrunched his nose up.

Zexion went back to watching the brunet. He was interacting with people around the smoothie station, mainly Olette and Selphie who had him tasting many kinds of drinks. By his facial expressions, some weren't as good as the others. Sora laughed as Selphie dumped a drink on her boyfriend Irvine for probably hitting on other girls and he almost fell out of his seat.

Zexion quirked an eyebrow, ignoring as Demyx said something most likely inappropriate. Sora sat with comfort and ease, like he always had. Zexion sighed again. Somewhere behind him, there was a thundering crash. It was a prop. Many of the girls screamed and people started to run over, gathering, to see what happened.

"Axel!"

Groaning, he glanced at Sora one last time.

A smile was spread across his face, blue eyes shining and smoothie on his cheek. Zexion wondered if he actually did know what happened.

"You look ridiculous."

Silence

"Scratch that, you look beyond ridiculous." Leon ducked behind his book as Cloud stood over the stove, an apron on that said "Kiss the Cook." Honestly, it wouldn't have been so bad if he wasn't making chocolate. "Are you going to confess to someone?" He chuckled at the glare.

Cloud put a lid on the pot, watching it carefully to make sure it wouldn't explode. "Sora and Roxas can't go trick or treating –"

"They're sixteen."

"And they love chocolate so much so I thought it would be… acceptable if I made them some."

Leon 'tsk'ed. "You're spoiling."

Cloud slammed his hand against the counter and Leon glared at the venom in his face. "No I'm not!"

Leon pressed his index finger and thumb against the bridge of his nose. A headache was coming. "Still nothing?"

"The boy is as stubborn as an ass." Cloud sighed, opening the pot again and stirring it. Deeming it done, he got the plates out. Working in silence like usual, the flipping of pages soothed his hectic heart. The sky had been getting darker much faster and looking at the clock, it was only four. The carnival started in an hour. The thought of Sora made his movements much fiercer. Leon sighed again.

Slamming the fridge door, the blond took many long breaths. Things were much easier when his parents didn't know he was gay.

He slammed his hand against the wall for thinking that. There was much more than a crack. "Great," he mumbled.

"Why so tense," Leon whispered putting his hand on the small of his back. A groan escaped him, annoyed that the man had to see him so much angrier than usual. "What happened?"

Cloud barked a laugh. "I don't know! That's exactly what the problem is! Teenagers just think they're so damn smart damn it! Why can't they just grow up?"

Rubbing circles, Leon stepped forward cautiously. "That's just what they're trying to do. You aren't much older than them."

Cloud growled, leaning his head against the cold kitchen appliance. "But why does it seem he knows so much more than me? Why do I seem like the kid when you really look at him?" Leon kept rubbing his back.

"Where'd you get the money to buy the chocolate?" Cloud sighed.

"I asked for an advance."

"Roxas and Sora are going to get really mad."

The blond raised an eyebrow. "They don't have to know."

"What happens when –"

Cloud turned on him, eyes icy blue, settling a frozen feel inside the brunet but he didn't show it. "They don't have to know." Leon just knocked their foreheads together. Outside, the sun was much lower, and leaves were falling out of the tree that stood in front of their house, too big for the small lawn. Birds weren't heard, and children's laughter and doorbells started to come out. Angels, demons, pumpkins, cowboys, animals – they all filled the streets.

Interrupting, a doorbell rang out in the house. Cloud groaned. He walked away from the embrace without effort and headed down the hall. Leon could hear the faint "Trick or treat!" of the kids and then the door slamming. Cloud came back in, a scowl apparent.

"Couldn't you at least do it with a smile?" An oven mitt met his face.

Outside was much colder than the gym but Sora made the best of it. After finishing up the interior of the school, Sora made the rounds he was supposed to do. Most of the stands had things running smoothly. Some not so much.

One kid had jumped much too high during a testing and was now stuck at the top of the Velcro Wall. It was too hilarious to do anything but they had been short on time, so they got a ladder and tried to catch him safely.

They tried.

After a smoothie fiasco – "I thought the top was on!" – and a chilling walk about around the school courtyard, Sora was back inside, watching with humor as Axel pouted inside a… well, a box. He scrunched his nose up pretty sure he never signed Axel up for the dunking tank. Roxas was bent over a table, trying not to laugh. Sora smiled brightly and waved at a growling Axel.

Looking up on stage, Demyx and Zexion were going through many boxes and bags CD's being piled sky high. They were definitely in for drastic music changes by the way the two were arguing.

"Sora!" He turned in time to dodge a very colorful blob. Yuffie stood up. "Hey. We need – oh, cute costume. You look like a cute little purple kitty!"

"I'm the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland, Yuf."

"We need you to go greet people at the opening gate and then I dropped my bracelet in the bathroom upstairs so I need you to go get that. Bye!"

Sora nodded then did a double take "What? Hey!" Yuffie was already gone. Sora sighed and bent over, really wondering why he was the one who had to do it. Why couldn't Axel… A yell was heard and a big splash. "Roxas!"

Oh right.

Well, Sora shrugged up, heading for the doors. Let the festivities begin.

Wringing out the last of the water from his hair besides Hayner, he smacked the boy. Shaking it off, even though it hurt, Hayner patted his back.

"Look at the bright side: you got to do a striptease," Hayner pointed out to Axel. He laughed again when Axel glanced at a red imprint on his stomach. "So Roxas slapped you. Big deal. I'm sure you're a masochist." He was hit again. "Ouch!"

The redhead walked away, straightening his buttons and waved as he got catcalls and shouts of encore. So maybe striptease was understating it a bit. But his real goal was ahead of him, at the snack tables. His blond was refilling the punch bowl and almost dropped it as hot hands wrapped themselves around shoulders.

"Wanna dance?" Roxas shrugged him off, an obvious 'hell no!' "Why not love?"

"I'm trying to work," Roxas stated.

Axel sighed dramatically. "And I'm trying to get a dance."

"You're idea of dancing is sex on the floor."

"Have fun!"

"Be mature," Roxas snapped back, turning towards him, a glare evident under layers of make-up. Axel rubbed his stitched cheek. Roxas swatted his hand away. "Stop, you're gonna mess it up. It took me forever to look like a fucking zombie."

Axel bent down, his wet hair tickling Roxas' neck. He swatted at the hair too. "Dance with me."

The blond pushed him away, not as roughly as he wanted too. "We're working. Aren't you supposed to be taking over at the Velcro Wall?"

Axel shrugged. "Irvine can wait."

"Sora will get mad."

"Forget about Sora!" The redhead raised his voice. He hooked his fingers around Roxas' wrist.

Roxas punched his arm. "He's my brother."

"Who won't even talk about it!"

"He needs time!" Roxas yelled.

Taking a step forward, knocking him into the table, Axel slammed his hand against the wood. "You're babying him!"

"No. I'm. Not!" Silence came. Even though music and talking shrouded the sound of their heartbeats, it wasn't comforting. Roxas turned away from him, his back just inches away from Axel's chest. Hot hands rubbed against his neck, wet, warm kisses being pressed gently into his shoulder blades. Axel loved how he leaned into them further.

"Please…"

Roxas groaned in frustration. "Later, Axel, I promise."

Axel grinned, counted this as a personal victory, and before running away from him, whispered hotly into his ear, "Or we can just do a quickie in the closet over there."

There was no way to explain how unbelievably fucked he felt. No way possible. Sure, a few select words kept tumbling from his mouth, but they didn't seem to quite fit. He cursed at himself, he banged his head against the wall and he held his breath till he got dizzy, but none of it fit. He wanted to know why? Why him? Why did this happen? Why were the thousand curses he learned from Axel and Roxas not working?

He retraced his footsteps – metaphorically, since he was a bit preoccupied.

He had greeted people, glad many people had got what his costume was – "the damn Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland, dammit!" – and smiled so brightly, wondering why it hadn't started to hurt. But he smiled all the time, so he never noticed. After talking to many people, people he was sure he didn't know, he begrudgingly made his way to the janitor's closet.

It was dusty, moldy, and smelled like puke had been rotting in there for years. Which was probably the case. Sora dug though the mess, not wanting to know what his hands were touching, and finally pulled out what looked like a new, unused glove. He hoped so.

Making it to the restrooms, which had a picture of the girl and boy, he went in. Why they had a co-ed bathroom was beyond him, not seeing the purpose and just wanted to get this over with. He walked over the third stall, peering around the door and took a deep breath.

Glancing into the white, sparkling toilet, Sora concentrated. Just nearly at the back, he could see shining, which was obviously a diamond bracelet. The brunet wondered why Yuffie didn't freak and reach in and grab it when she saw she dropped it. He shook his head, pulled up his costumes sleeve and managed to pull the glove on. It was tight, and he hoped he could do this quickly, already feeling the circulation being cut off and a pricking sensation start up.

Hoping this wasn't some practical joke and something wasn't going to pop out, he slid his hand in. Oddly, it felt weird to have his hand in a toilet. Disregarding that fact, he pulled at the jewelry. It didn't budge. Sora pulled again. It wouldn't move.

On his knees by now, he pushed his hand further and paused. For some reason, it was suddenly much smaller. Yanking at his arm, fingers gripping the bracelet like lives depended on it – which might have been the case – a small whimper resounded off the tile walls.

Banging his head against the stall wall, he groaned.

Why was this happening to him? It wasn't fair! He just wanted everyone to be together. Fuck, even that wasn't happening. He groaned again, slamming his head against the ceramic toilet. Just about to reach into for the phone he stuffed somewhere on him, the door opened.

In walked someone with silver hair and aquamarine eyes. In walked someone for some reason he didn't want to see. In walked someone who was laughing as he stared at him.

Sora paused, not being able to blush as a thought raced across his mind.

Riku laughing at him seemed to express exactly how he felt at that moment.

Damn.

"Favorite color?"

"Blue. You?"

"Green."

Sora stretched the fingers of his free hand, seeing as how the other seemed to mock him by being stuck in a toilet. He looked at Riku who sat in the oversized stall with him.

He took a deep breath. "So, you like sushi best, have two dogs named Pluto and Goofy, a friends duck whose name is Donald attacked you when you were little, you're here because you're parents are traveling and your uncle – Sephiroth – works at this school. You're home-schooled, like to read, take pride in your hair, grade papers and like the color blue. Did I get all of it?" Riku closed one eye and nodded.

"But that doesn't tell me why you're in this bathroom. It's supposed to be closed off."

Riku sighed. "I was grading papers for Uncle Sephy-kins when the sudden urge to go pee took over. It was the first bathroom I saw." He smiled up at Sora. "And now that I answered a question, please tell me why your hand is stuck in a toilet and you're dressed as a purple cat."

Sora blushed, trying to wriggle his trapped hand. Nothing worked and he was so passed the numb stage, he was afraid that he'd have to get it amputated with the way there was no blood circulation. "I'm the Chesire cat from Alice in Wonderland." He sighed. "Yuffie said she dropped her bracelet. I didn't know it'd be stuck and in return I wouldn't be able to move. God, why did I do this?" He laughed at himself, shyly rubbing the back of his head.

The brunet wondered why he hadn't grabbed his phone. It was right there for the past hour, and he was sure the carnival would be over pretty soon. Then what? Wait for Roxas to see he was gone? That could take hours with how mad Axel was. "He probably has a lot of pent up sexual tension now."

"What?" Sora glanced at Riku who had a confused face on.

"What?"

Riku coughed into his hand. "What did you just say?"

"I didn't," Sora trailed off, trying to think of what he just said. "I didn't say anything."

"Yes, you did. Something about sexual…"

"Oh…" Sora blushed. "Oh!" Stupid thoughts. Suddenly, a low rumbling was heard. Sora and Riku glanced down at a purple clothed stomach. Sora snapped the glove that was cutting off his circulation. "Man! I'm hungry!" He was really tempted to pull his phone out now. Riku chortled.

He glared. "You go three hours without eating anything!" He only laughed harder.

Silence.

"So…"

"I'm hungry."

"I think we covered that."

Oh.

Sora sighed and switched his positions. He did not need his legs to go numb. A big sigh came from Riku and he glanced up and sliver haired boy stood. "You aren't leaving me, are you?" Now he was going to be stuck here for who knows how long. It was much easier to pass the time by talking.

Riku walked over to the toilet and pushed the lever to flush it. Sora pulled back, and out came his arm, along with the bracelet pinched between his fingers. He was oddly surprised that he hadn't let go. He quickly tore off the glove and blood rushed back into cold fingers. He looked back up at Riku when he walked by.

"Why didn't you do that earlier?" His voice sounded higher than usual. Thankful, but confused. Maybe a little angry.

Riku glanced back at him, a small smile on. "The same reason you didn't call anyone," he said, glancing down at where a slight, almost unnoticeable bulge in Sora's pocket, telling him he had a phone. The burnet blushed. "See you, Sora." Sora felt weak in the knees, even though he was still sitting.

As if having a sudden thought, Riku's hand shot back to stop the bathroom stall door, keeping it open. He leaned in and, and even though he may have not meant too, whispered, "Happy Halloween." A blush crept back on.

Oh yes, Sora was going to kill Yuffie.

10/31/09 – Started

11/04/09 – Finished

Welp, there ya go.

Why do most of the KH crew seem emo enough to sigh so much? It just fits most of them so well it's hard not to put it in the story for me! Dammit! Oh! And you know what writers on FF love? When you add their stroy to the favorites AND review. Just a thought...

Side Note: Pst. Pst. – looks around and whispers – Please Review!

Thanking Corner:

luckless-is-me – Thank you my lovely! Finally someone has told me depressing children are so fun to write about! My parents think I'm crazy or something. And you are such a doll for reviewing. And please tell me what's confusing because for me, everything is and I hate it when people are confused because then I freak blah, blah, blah. I don't bite, so don't be shy! Haha, I'm sorry for my weirdness. Candy does this to the mind! ;)

Jaike Kyr – Thanks for reviewing love! I know exactly what you mean. I was flipping through pages of stories when I found one that I really liked and I read all the way through it and the author said she only had one more chapter for the story but it's been like a year since she updated. I was like "The F?$*! What the hell is this?" and my face made all these weird twitching motions. Sigh. Well, if I start to get lazy, poke me with a stick or something. Not really considering you can't, but you get it! No, they do not all live together. Only Cloud, Sora and Roxas live together. They were just over for breakfast because a big group of teens and a grumpy adult in one room never make the greatest combination.

YaoiLovingJew – (Side Not off yours: I am sorry your name never comes out on this. I've tried everything. So, for now, your name isn't going yo be spelled right. Sorry!) No, Riku is not dead! And that was the first time they met. Sorry for the confusion. When Sora introduced himself, I forgot to put the "I'm" in there. I fixed it. Sorry, sorry. Don't worry; I got an outline for the first six chapters. And I'm not even to the best part!

Neko Ninja Hezza – I know. But I do love a cheery emotionally in-tune Sora. Like in the story Perfect Match. Though it's a (but amazing story!)... And since he is usually full of happy bubbly-ness I made him very touchy. But I do plan for him to be happier at times, just too much drama shit to make him sad again. I'm just horrible. Poor KH characters! They're going to go psycho under me! Good thing I don't actually own them…

Victoria – I'm sorry for blowing your theories out the window, but then it wouldn't be a story with twists. Haha. Glad you're still interested though! Yeah, the dining scene was hard for me too. If it helps, I tried to make it in Zexion's point of view. And I thin k I made it confusing a few times in here too. It's hard to do multiple third POVs but I'm determined not to give up. Yeah, I was mulling on how I wanted Sora and Riku to meet. That's actually the only problem I had with that chapter. But since it was so weak, I wanted to make their second meeting better and… TAH-DA! And that little comment he made was actually the inspiration for the first meeting. I'm sad, yeah… sigh. Yes, I did love the hands! Story names are hard to come up with; let alone a summary. Just those rare chances you have a name and a summary that you just got to spring on it. Oh my gosh! I love it when people leave long reviews but if I go on any longer the Thanking Corner is going to be longer than the story!

Penelope