Hi again. Uhm, review please? I ever do love a good review. I know if you're watching me without reviewing you know, and it's quite disconcerting, especially since this story has so few reviews. Yeah, thanks. Thank you to those who do review too.

So now, some semblance of a plot begins. Yay.


Carry this Picture for Luck

Chapter the Third


Sora's engagement party was a sordid affair for Roxas.

For one thing, Hayner was out of commission due to a slug to the head from Seifer during a fist fight. Never mind the fact that they were juniors in college and were too old for such antics; Hayner knew about the engagement party. He probably got a concussion on purpose just to avoid it; he seemed always able to brave frat parties after a fight, but tonight he just was dizzy all over. Couldn't even go to his boyfriend's brother's engagement party, even if begged, not that Roxas did that.

Also, Axel Kaze called, again, to profess his undying love, again. It's not that Roxas didn't like the red head. It's just that Roxas was attached and very much in love, thankyouverymuch, and didn't have much use for old flames that couldn't let go.

Like Riku.

Like Riku, who pulled him aside before the couple's toast to say, "I love you," and try to kiss him right there, in the corridor between the restaurant and the restrooms, pressed against the wall beside the payphone stall.

"No you don't," Roxas scowled, pushing Riku away. Roxas struggled to fix his tie and ignore the butterflies rampart in his stomach. "You love Sora."

"No, I love you," Riku insisted, touching Roxas' face. Roxas pushed him away violently.

"Then you're too late! You already got you chance, and I've already got Hayner. So you just back off. You and Axel both, or I swear I'll—I don't know, but I think I could strangle you." Roxas straightened his jacket and pushed past Riku, returning to the table and taking his place next to Sora.

"You okay?" his twin asked softly.

"I'm fine," Roxas told him as lightly as he could.

"Riku hasn't been an asshole, has he?" Sora cast a narrowed glance at the bathrooms where Riku had pulled Roxas minutes before.

"No," Roxas sighed. "Sora, please. Forget about it. This is supposed to be your night."

Sora gave him a worried look and clasped a hand on his shoulder. "You know, if there's anything you need—"

"Sora!" The brunet shrunk back at Roxas' harsh whisper. "I'm fine, really. Don't worry about me, just make a toast." Sora's hand remained for a moment, before he stood and made a toast, Kairi next to him. After the toast, there were handshakes and backslaps and hugs all around. During the commotion, Roxas slipped off to the bar where he ordered a whiskey and stewed.

He was on his third glass when Riku, already tipsy on too much wine, took the barstool next to him. Roxas groaned and tried to ignore him. Riku just wouldn't go away, not for the last four years, maybe not forever.

--

Roxas woke up with a headache. He burrowed his head back into the pillow and groaned. He took a breath of the husky scent of cologne that Hayner didn't wear. Hayner smelt more like sandalwood and—shit. Roxas bolted upright and looked around wildly at the unfamiliar settings. He was naked, in a stranger's bed with a hangover, and was that his picture on the desk there?

"Riku!" Sora's voice echoed after the slamming of the apartment door. It was then Roxas noticed his bed partner fast asleep beside him, hair spread out like a silver halo. Roxas stared. "Hey, so I wanted to talk to you about—" Roxas jumped out of the bed, but couldn't find a place to hide before Sora barged into his roommate's room. The brothers stood stalk still, staring at each other for three breaths.

"Hi Sora," Roxas greeted weakly, blushing to the tips of his ears.

"Hey," Sora gulped, expression similar. "I'll just… let you get dressed, huh? And let Riku, uh," here Sora glanced at his sleeping best friend for the first time, "wake up and we could have a, uhm, talk. Yeah." Sora paused. "I'll just be in the kitchen." And he stumbled out the door.

Roxas groaned. What was wrong with him?

--

"Please don't tell Hayner. Or Kairi, or anyone else for that matter." Sora shook his head mutely in acquiescence. "Don't get mad at Riku either, please." Sora just shook his head again. "We didn't mean to. We stayed a while, after the party, at the bar. I think we had too much to drink." Sora let out a long breath, like he had been holding it the whole time.

"You think? Roxas, this isn't like you. Getting drunk at a bar and sleeping with someone isn't something you usually do! There's something wrong, isn't there? You can tell me, you know. I'm your brother. I'm your best friend." Sora grabbed Roxas' hand tightly and looked his twin in the eye. "You can tell me."

"There's—there's nothing wrong," Roxas sputtered, looking away. He eyed the photographs pinned to the refrigerator.

"Then maybe you can tell me about Riku?" Sora persuaded. He released Roxas' hand and pushed back his chair. "I mean, I didn't know he was gay, all this time. Four years! It explains a lot, but why didn't he tell me?"

Roxas shifted uncomfortably. "I don't know."

"But you knew, didn't you?" Suddenly Sora was indignant, glaring at his blond twin as he leaned on his elbows over the kitchen table. "You knew! You're gay, you had a crush on him, you must have known he's gay. You two have probably been sleeping with each other for years and—"

"Shut up Sora! I'm not that much of a slut!" Roxas exclaimed. "I was with Riku for a month back in high school. A month! And so I've had a few boyfriends since, but I've never, ever cheated on anyone. Ever."

Sora was embarrassed for his outburst, and stirred his tea quietly. "But you did know then," he stated. "And you didn't tell me. I thought you told me everything."

"It wasn't my place to say anything," Roxas told Sora guiltily. "Riku thought he'd lose you as a friend."

"But you're gay," Sora pointed out, "And I didn't shun you."

Roxas smiled grimly when he stood up, patted his brother's head on his way out the door. "Think about it."

"Oh," Sora said as Roxas closed the door. "Shit."

--

Three of the messages on his cell phone were from a worried Hayner, demanding to know where he'd been all night. Five of them were from Axel.

He returned Hayner's call first. Yeah, he was okay, just got smashed at the party and decided to crash at Sora's place. Of course he'd be coming home, what kind of silly question was that?

Axel, though… Roxas stared at the phone, flipped it open and started pressing 5. He flipped it closed, glared, flipped it open. Paused.

"Indecisive, are we?" Roxas whipped his head around to see the one person on campus he least wanted to see, including Riku. Axel Kaze raised a hand in greeting, slouching in his long jacket. "Thinking about calling your boyfriend to tell him you're breaking up with him and running away with your best best friend-slash-childhood sweetheart?"

"Get out of my face, freak." Roxas stepped into the gutter to avoid pushing past him.

"Roxas! I just found out that Sora and Kairi got engaged. Two really good friends of mine just got engaged, and I didn't get invited to their engagement party. Do you know why?" Roxas walked stonily past, jumped onto the sidewalk and continued to walk. "Because you asked them not to. Roxas, what do I have to do?"

"Nothing!" Roxas hollered, not turning around. "Just do nothing!"

--

"Hey," Roxas greeted Hayner with a peck on the lips. "I brought home some ice cream. Thought it'd help your concussion and my hangover." He tried to grin.

"Kaze called last night," Hayner informed him grumpily. "Woke me up at two in the morning, looking for you. Said something about concert tickets. I told him to fuck off."

"Did you tell him about Sora's engagement?" Roxas asked as he unloaded the plastic bags from the convenience store. Hayner made no move to help him.

"Might've. Dead tired, I was." He accepted a sea salt ice cream from Roxas and scooted over so that Roxas could lounge on the couch with him. The television was on. Saturday morning cartoons.

"Hayner?" Roxas asked. He had to get this nagging feeling off of his chest, away from the back of his mind.

"Hm?"

"Do you love me?" He held his breath.

"Of course."

Roxas let it loose, until he realized…

…the feeling had only intensified.

--

Roxas saw Axel studying at a table on the patio outside Leon's Coffeehouse. He hesitated, took a step towards, took two steps back. He paused and bit his lip—why was this so hard?—before turning around. "Yo!" Roxas stopped and turned back. Was it a good thing Axel spotted him before he walked away?

He paused before walking determinedly and dropping into the seat across from the redhead. "What do you want?" Roxas demanded to know, without greeting, without preamble.

"You," Axel replied easily, leaning forward.

Roxas sighed, roughly shoving a hand into his messy, wild spikes. "Why do you have to ask for so goddamned much?"

"It's only fair," Axel informed him. "I scrambled for every odd job, any legal means of making money, so I could come out here and go to Hallow Bastion University with you."

"I didn't make you do that," Roxas frowned. "I didn't make you do anything, so don't make it all my fault."

"Yes it is," Axel told him. "You made me love you. Got it memorized?"

"I never asked you to." Metal screeched on concrete as Roxas pushed his chair back. The most disgusting sound in the world.

--

"Hayner, what do you love about me?"

Pause.

"Everything."

"Everything?"

"Your eyes are blue, your smile's gorgeous, your tactlessness is adorable, and you're everything I could want in a man."

"Hayner?"

Kiss.

"I love you."

--

Roxas' phone rang in the middle of the night. It was Axel.

"The hell do you want?" Roxas growled into the phone, rolling into a more comfortable position, so that Hayner wasn't nearly pushing him off the bed.

"So you won't cheat with me, but you'll cheat with Riku?" Axel asked, bemused. Roxas shot out of bed and padded out to the living room, making sure Hayner was still sleeping. Hayner could sleep through almost anything. "I'm a little hurt. I've known you much, much longer. And I love you Roxy! You can't cheat with someone who doesn't love you. That's unethical."

"Who told you?" Roxas hissed. It couldn't have been Sora; he promised.

"Boy toy came over to the dorms," Axel informed him, suddenly serious. "Crying his eyes out, says Sora caught you two in bed. He's sleeping on my bed right now."

"What happened?" asked Roxas, alarmed. "How do you know Riku?"

"Riku wouldn't say anything except that Sora knows something, that Sora hates him now." Axel ignored the latter question.

"Shit. I'll be right over; I'll call you back after I'm dressed for directions."

"Sounds great. Love ya." Roxas was about to hang up, but he stopped. Axel was still breathing on the line. "Rox, aren't you going to get dressed?"

"Why do you love me?"

"You're Roxas; why wouldn't I love you?" That was enough to ease the ache in his heart, just the tiniest bit. "Are you coming now or what?"

"Yeah, I'll call you back," Roxas softly told him. He flipped his phone shut.


chapter end