Sorry for the delay. I have a bruised rib and shin splints from Warped Tour. There was also a massivo storm on the river by Cleveland, which Warped Tour was located on. Good times.

This chapter sets up a lot of events that will shortly follow. Nothing too major, just added a little to Roxas' side story and some conflict with Sora/Kairi.

Disclaimer: These characters belong to SquareEnix. I wish they were still Squaresoft... so much easier to say...

Loveless Lies

Chapter 10: Joy and Sorrow

"Smile!" Mina said a little too enthusiastically. Four different cameras went off snapping pictures of the "happy" couple. Spots floated in front of the obviously pissed off brunette as he retreated from his girlfriend to locate his father outside.

So far, Sora's day had been unpleasant, to say the least. Any important milestone in his high school career was always a mess. Between his father's new family arriving late, his mothers fussing over Sora's appearance and Kairi's parents being overly happy, Sora was always left with a headache.

Today wasn't any different, except now the poor graduating senior had to find time in between all the family doings to tell his long time girlfriend about cheating on her multiple times with two different people.

Sora sighed as his twin half brothers Zeke and Xavier led him to the back yard to play volleyball. At this rate, Sora would never tell Locke about his dilemma with Kairi.

The redhead had her own problems. She was certain that Sora knew some of what she had done in the recent past, but didn't want to ask. The girl thought is she ignored it long enough, the whole problem would go away, or explode in her face, either way, Kairi wasn't going to instigate confrontation with Sora.

People sleep with others even when they're in love, right? Kairi shook her head. I'm completely fucked, she thought as she headed to find Sora. Better get this done and over with before graduation. Could be a new start, or something.

It was one of those lovely 95 degree days on the islands. Sora's five-year-old brothers didn't mind the heat. When Sora was younger, he didn't either, but today wasn't the day to be sweaty and have a head full of decisions to make. He threw the ball towards Zeke as he spotted Locke sipping lemonade under Sora's old tree house.

"Hey, Dad," Sora threw himself into an empty lawn chair.

"Hey, kid. I heard your moving to Twilight Town. Got a job with that old hobby of yours?" Locke squinted as he looked into the sky. No clouds in sight.

"Yeah. My instructor here said the needed an assistant instructor at a branch out there," Sora set his gaze to the ground. He had wanted to tell his father everything from Zexion to Riku, but no words would come out, only small talk. "I'll be around more often. I could probably watch Zeke and Xavier sometime."

"Sounds good."

A silence fell over the father and son. Back when Sora was younger, he had always told his dad everything that happened in his life, but now he had Terra. Mina worked almost every waking hour of the day anymore, and Terra was always around. Sora felt bad for not keeping in touch with his dad like he should have. Things had just gotten too complicated in Sora's life, and his father had been left out for so long.

"So, when are you going to tell me about Zexion?" Locke turned his squinted eyes to lock with his son's.

Sora chocked on the air, blue eyes opened wide,"What?! I mean, how did you find out?"

Locke chuckled as he stretched out on his chair. He had brown hair just like his son's, only not nearly as wild and spiked. "About two months ago I got a call from him."

A blush rose to Sora's cheeks. Back in April he took off from Zexion's while leaving his cell behind. "Oh..Yeah, I left my phone there once. He must have looked for my home number in my contacts and stopped once he reached 'Dad'"

"I was a bit confused. When I asked how he knew my son, he told me you were his boyfriend," Locke closed his eyes and let the sun bake his already tanned body.

"He.. well.. We kinda were.." Sora didn't know how to explain the situation without sounding like a total slut.

"Don't hurt yourself, kid," Locke rose and hit his son on the arm. "Just tell your old man like it is. I won't judge you, you know that."

"I know, it's just hard to hear myself say it out loud..." the son sighed. "I thought Kairi cheated on me, so I called up Zex because I knew he liked me...I thought back then it was just so I could feel loved, but now I know...I'm gay."

Locke nodded, "So you love Zexion, then?"

"Uh, no. Remember Riku?"

The man smirked. "Who couldn't? That kid was almost more trouble than he was worth. I remember when you two were.. Oh wait. Riku?" the light bulb finally went off in Locke's head. "You love Riku don't you?"

Sora nodded.

"I should have seen that coming. And he loves you back, right?"

Sora nodded once more.

Locke stood from his seat and placed a hand on his son's shoulder, "Then you better tell Kairi." Sora looked up to see his father pointing at the redhead walking towards the pair.

"So you don't care that I'm..." Sora began.

"My wife left me for a woman, and we both lived to tell the tale," was Locke's only response.

"Oh yeah..." Sora laughed.

"Just tell the girl as soon as possible. Even if it isn't her fault that you're the way you are, the longer you hold it in, the harder it will hurt her in the end," a hint of past pain flashed in Locke's blue eyes.

"Thanks, Dad," Sora nodded and drifted towards Kairi. He took the girl's hand and lead her into the house.

Locke flipped open his cell and scrolled through his contacts. He watched his son walk into the house as the phone rang in his ear. "Hello?" a voice asked from the phone. "Hi, uh, is this Zexion by any chance?"

Kairi didn't know exactly how to act as she made her way to Sora's bedroom. Her boyfriend hadn't told her why he was fleeing the party, he just grabbed her hand and dragged her along. Of course the worst went through her head. She braced herself for a good scolding over her sins, but still part of her hoped this was all because the two hadn't had an intimate moment since after prom. Kairi shrugged to herself as she made her way to Sora's bed. She plastered a fake smile across her face, "What's up?" She bounced up and down on the bed. Keep your cool Kairi, don't over react.

Little did the young adult know, it was this erratic, hyper behavior that was getting on Sora's last nerve.

"I.. I wanted to tell you about the Riku situation," Sora really wanted to tell her everything, including Zexion, but he could only do so much. He knew he would tell her eventually, but right now, he had a promise to keep and that was enough for the time being. He glanced at his cell, 5:30, only an hour and a half until graduation.

"What about him? You're friends now, right?" Kairi asked as she pulled her boyfriend down beside her on his bed.

"Yeah, but there's more to it..." Sora began.

"Sor, as long as your friends again, I don't care what happened," the redhead interrupted. She didn't want to hear why they had fought, really, she didn't. She just wanted Sora to continue loving her, despite her past actions.

"You need to know," Kairi opened her mouth to interrupt but Sora placed a finger on her lips. "Seriously, Kairi. Let me finish." The girl nodded, the boy sighed. "At after prom Riku told me something." Sora took the time to gather the last few words he needed to say to make his promise to Riku a reality.

Kairi bit her lip and tried to not start crying, "Wha-What did he say?"

"He told me a lot of stuff I didn't know... He told me he liked..."

"Guys?!?!!?!" Kairi's face lit up. Sora doesn't know! She took this new information and ran with it hoping her assumption about Riku's sexuality was correct, "I knew he was gay! Ever since you two kissed. How cute!" Kairi squeeled.

The brunette twitched at the high pitched noise the girl had made. "But, Kairi, there's more..." again Sora was interrupted, but not by Kairi.

"SOOORRRAAA KAAAIIIRRRIII! Do you want to be late for grad-iation?" an eager Xavier ran about the hall leading to his big brother's bedroom. Once he spotted his brother he jumped onto him. "Come on! Everyone's waiting!!!"

Sora sighed. I was so close... He picked up his little brother and carried him down to the foyer. The almost graduate smiled at his and Kairi's family knowing that this may be the last time the two families were together in the same room. He would be dammed if he didn't tell Kairi the rest of the story tonight.

The families piled into their respective cars. Sora decided to ride with Locke. He sat in the backseat by Zeke and starred out the window.

"You okay, Sora?" the boy said with concerned eyes.

"Yeah, Zeke. It will be okay." he put an arm around the small child. I just hope Riku doesn't hate me because of this. What if Kairi tells everybody that Riku likes... Oh God help us all... Sora shook his head and sat in silence the rest of the trip.

The day of graduation and here I sit playing Lord of the Rings Online, by myself. I suck, Roxas thought to himself as his level 50 elf pwnd some n00b orc. He glanced at the clock, 3:55 p.m.- another hour and 20 minutes before Axel got home from work. Roxas sighed and slumped further down in his computer chair realizing this was going to be his future once his friends left for college and their careers. Yep, I'll be the lone gamer who does housework. Ugh.

He gave up his hunt for all things evil and made his way to the couch. Roxas didn't enjoy TV, he saw the whole process as a waste of time, so he flipped on the weather channel and decided to nap. Instead of easily drifting away, his head filled with thoughts of his past, where his family loved him and he was never alone. Yeah, he loved Axel. Yeah, he wanted to be with him more than anything, but still, a large part of the blonde's life had left him less than six months ago with no hope of returning. The teenager sighed as he crammed a pillow over his head.

Roxas' relentless pursuit of sleep was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening. The teen jumped to his feet expecting to be robbed since he had always thought the worst in situations. When his parents were late when he was little, Roxas had assumed they had died. Instead pf a robber, he saw a flash of red hair.

"You didn't think I would leave you alone up here all day, did ya?" Axel said smiling as he handed Roxas his portion of the mail.

"How are you getting so much time off of work? I mean, you took yesterday off and got out early today?" Roxas said as his attention slowly slipped to the stack of bills and junk mail he was handed.

"I have my ways," Axel walked behind his boyfriend and wrapped his arms around Roxas, resting his head on the boy's shoulder. He pointed to a rather large envelope tucked between the bills in Roxas' hand. "What's that one?" the older male said as his lips curled into a smirk unseen by the other.

Roxas examined the envelope, "What the... this is from Columbia University. I didn't apply to any colleges, let alone that one."

"Open it silly," Axel moved his lips to kiss his boyfriend's tender neck.

"Well, I would if someone would stop making out with my neck." He opened the letter reading its contents out loud, "Dear Roxas Huaya, It is our pleasure to inform you of your acceptance into Columbia University's School of Journalism and Mass Communication..."

Roxas stopped reading shocked by the words he had spoken and turned to Axel. "Oh my God. I got into Columbia!" the blonde's face lit up as he turned to fling his arms around his boyfriend. "Did you apply to college for me?"

"You sure as hell weren't going to," Axel said as he ruffled the teen's spiked hair.

"I just figured that I wouldn't be able to pay, so I didn't bother," the blonde shrugged.

Axel sighed, "Do you think that that I'm going to sit here and let you waste all your talent on video games and dishes? Hun, I will gladly pay for your tuition if it means you get to write for a living. You were the editor of Destiny High's paper for god sakes."

Roxas blushed, "You've been so good to me these past few months. I didn't want to ask for any more help."

"You didn't have to," Axel leaned in and closed the gap between their lips. "Congratulations, Roxas. You deserve it."

Just as the couple were about to emerge themselves into a make out session of epic proportions, the buzzer rang.

"Who the hell could that be?" Axel asked as he buzzed the mystery person into the building.

Roxas shrugged as he made his way to the door, "Riku maybe? I dunno." He starred intently at the door, waiting for whoever it was to make their way up the elevator. "Maybe Sora told Kairi."

"Doubt it. I'm going to play some Soul Caliber," Axel kissed Roxas' cheek. "Unless it's no one, then I know something else I would like to play with," he said with a wink.

"Maybe after graduation, I just showered."

"You're no fun," Axel walked into the living room, plopping himself in front of the TV. "What's with your obsession with the Weather Channel?"

"Hurricanes elude me," Roxas said with a sarcastic tone. Finally their visitor knocked. Roxas opened the door to an older man with blonde hair similar to his own. The teen gasped for air, "Galuf? Wha-what are you doing here? How did you find me?"

"I called the school looking for you. I came to apologize," Roxas' father said, looking his son directly in the eyes. The man wasn't intimidating, usually. He just always looked like a man with a mission.

The man's son had waited six long months for his parents to accept his sexuality and let him back into their lives. Roxas moved from the door motioning his father into the apartment, "Come in."

The father and son walked to the island separating the kitchen from the foyer and took seats opposing each other. Axel had long since paused his video game. The redhead looked for his boyfriend's approval to come and be a part of the discussion, but was denied with a shake of Roxas' head.

"We shouldn't have kicked you out," Galuf stated.

"I know," Roxas didn't know what to say to his father. So long had he waited for this day, yet all the conversations he played over in his head didn't help the boy with his current situation.

"I'm not asking you to come home. I can see you have a good life here with..."

"Axel."

"Right, Axel. I just want you to know that your mother and I are sorry for the way we acted. It was rash and uncalled for. You are our only son, and we were wrong to offend you," Roxas' father spoke as if he was talking about a business proposition.

"Thanks, Galuf." An awkward silence filled the apartment.

"Well, I should be going..." the man stood up.

"No, wait," Roxas motioned for his father to seize his exit. "Do you want to come to graduation? I have tickets."

Gulaf smiled, "Your mother and I would love that."

Axel appeared next to his boyfriend, "Mr. Huaya, I think you would like to see this." He handed the man the letter from Columbia.

Gulaf took a few seconds to inspect the letter. He looked up at his son. Approval set over his face, "Nice job, son."

"Thanks, but it was Axel who applied for me. I wouldn't be going to go to college if it wasn't for him," Roxas refuted.

The man turned to face his son's boyfriend, "I guess we were wrong about you, Axel. You've taken great care of my son. For that I am thankful."

"You're welcome," was all Axel could think of to say. He wasn't good with parental issues, having left his own house on his 18th birthday like Roxas.

Roxas smiled at this new development. It was completely out of the blue and awkward, but he would take it. At last, I have my entire family back.

I could keep writing this for the next 2 hours, but I think the boyfriend needs a ride to work at 8 a.m. and it's after 4...

Next chapter: graduation and the doings afterwards.

5 chapters left! Woo! I'm starting a new fanfic. The first chapter is finished... but I won't post it until this is done because I'm cool like that.

--Em