For the record, I am going to eventually put chapters in Terra, Axel, and Riku's point of view too, but right now I'm sticking to Roxas, Sora, and Ven. Okay? Okay. Thank you to all who reviewed and read!! It's always appreciated!

Chapter 4:

Roxas' POV

Dinner went by quick enough. We gathered around the TV and put in a movie of Sora's choice (unsurprisingly one of his favorite animes, in which he demanded we watch as many of the episodes as possible before we crashed). About half way through the third episode, I stood, grabbed the phone, and made my way to the kitchen.

"Who are you calling this late?" Sora called after me. Why did he have to be so damned nosy?

"Cloud. I have to make sure he's free to take you to the doctor tomorrow." My response earned an exasperated groan from the brunette, which drew a giggle from Ven. I smirked and dialed the number.

"Yo?" I raised an eyebrow at the greeting, a blush lightly dusting my cheeks. Someone, please tell me I didn't interrupt anything!

"H-Hey Zack. Um…is Cloud there?" There was nothing that would get me used to Cloud being gay! Don't get me wrong; I have absolutely nothing against gays! In fact, I sometimes question whether I was gay. I also had no problem with Zack. Zack was a great guy and obviously cared for Cloud a lot. He helped take care of us when Cloud couldn't and often brought us presents. What I was wholly against was walking in on the two while they were…you know what I mean, right? Don't make me say it!

"Not right now. He went to get pizza!" I could tell he was grinning as he always did when he spoke about Cloud. "Anything I could do for you?"

"Do you know if Cloud's free tomorrow? Sora passed out earlier and I'd like to get him to a doctor as soon as possible." Zack hummed worriedly, the sound of his boots walking across the tiled floor of Cloud's kitchen echoing into the phone.

"Is he okay now? I could drive you to the hospital if you give me a few minutes." See? Zack was a caring guy, even if he goofed off most of the time.

"No, he's fine right now. He's resting on the couch and I doubt he'd let us take him to the hospital anyway." I heard something shuffling on Zack's end. He was probably checking Cloud's schedule.

"Well, it looks like Spike is all clear tomorrow. I'll tell you what! If everything's okay with Sora, we'll all go out to eat and watch a movie. My treat." I smiled. That did sound nice, but…

"We have guests. They couldn't make it back after the game—"

"That monster, right? Cloud told me about the whole thing. Really weird, but I'm glad you're all okay. But anyway, why don't you invite them along? Like I said, it's my treat!" I couldn't argue with that. It would give us a chance to get to know our guests better, especially Axel…

"If you're sure. Thanks Zack." I grinned. "But don't you have work tomorrow?"

"Mmm…eh, I'm due for a day off anyway! Sephiroth shouldn't mind!" Ah yes, the mysterious Sephiroth. He was technically Zack's boss, but they were more on a 'friendly' basis, but Sephiroth was so stiff and quiet that you'd never know it unless you truly knew him. I met him once and he was…intimidating to say the least. You know, when I think about it, I have no idea what Zack does. He never discusses it and we never ask. He does leave an awful lot though.

"Are you sure? I don't want you to get in trouble." Zack laughed.

"Trust me Roxas! Seph won't mind if I take a day off. Of course, if you don't believe me, I have his number right here. You could call him to make sure for me."

"Zack! Stop scaring my kids!" I sighed in relief. Thank you Cloud!

I heard the two begin to whisper between each other, Zack explaining the situation to the other blond. Yes, by the way, Cloud did call us 'his kids'. He used to do so jokingly, but anymore, I think he was serious and I was just fine with that.

"Roxas? Do you need me to come over there?" I shook my head quickly.

"No Cloud. He can wait until tomorrow; he's fine right now!" I heard Zack and Cloud whisper again, followed shortly after by a pained whine from Zack.

"We'll be there in ten minutes." I sighed at Cloud's stubbornness. Not even Zack could change his mind.

"But what about the pizza!?" Zack whined again. I could hear Cloud growl.

"Just take the damned thing with out!" That was followed by a click, signaling that I had been hung up on. I rolled my eyes and laughed. Yeah, they were a great couple.

I went back into the living room and sat next to Axel. I really wanted a chance to get to know him. That feeling of familiarity and warmth I felt when I was around him was driving me crazy! I just wanted to scream out, "Why do you make me feel like this?" but that may have made things a bit awkward between us. Didn't want that!

"You okay?" I looked up into his alluring, green eyes and nodded slowly. I probably looked like a lovesick, teenage girl! Dammit!

"Yeah," I mumbled, grabbing the remote and pausing the show. "So, after Sora goes to the doctor tomorrow, a friend offered to take us all out to eat and to a movie. Sound good?"

"Coach said that if he didn't call by the end of the night, we would be stuck here another day. Sitting around doesn't sound too appealing, so I'm in." I mentally cheered at the red head's agreement. It was my chance to get closer to him. Thank you Zack!

"Yeah, that sounds fun," Riku confirmed and Terra nodded. Ven was beaming at Terra's nod and the corner of Sora's lips twitched upwards. I had to wonder if they were feeling the same as me. "So, when's his appointment?"

"Ten. Which mean we have until eleven or eleven-thirty to get there!" We turned to look at Cloud and Zack, laughing at Zack's joke. Hey, it was true though! Cloud glared back at Zack.

"Don't encourage them to sleep in! We're going t be there before ten. If they can get him in earlier, we'll have the rest of the day to go out and do…whatever you're planning to do." Zack pouted playfully.

"Don't be like that Spike! It'll be fun!" His eyes lit up suddenly and he was grinning even more than usual. "After the movie, why don't we go out to the island and go swimming?" Sora and Ven's eyes lit up.

"I want to go!!" They both called out excitedly. Zack nodded, punching his fist into his hand.

"Then we will! Now get to bed so you can be up early. We don't want to make Cloud all grouchy tomorrow, do we?"

* * *

I lay awake that night, staring up at the ceiling that I couldn't actually see. I couldn't wait for tomorrow. It was my chance to not only get closer to Axel, but figure out where I felt I knew him from.

"Roxas? Are you still awake?" I looked towards Ven's bed, startled by the sudden disruption of my thoughts. Ven's bed had been places against the window so that the streetlights, along with the moon and stars, always provided him with a comforting glow. He was so childish, but I loved him for it.

"Yeah. What's wrong?" I could see a movement from his side of the room and, before I knew it, he was climbing onto my bed. He curled himself close to me as I wrapped an arm around him. Ven often slept with Sora or I when he was scared, like during a storm.

"I'm worried about Sora. And…" he trailed off, burying his face into my shoulder.

"And what?" I asked, running a hand up and down his back. My little brother was so fearful sometimes, but that just drove me to keep him happy and safe.

"The monsters. I'm scared they'll come after us again. Then what would we do Roxas?"

"It'll be okay. Sora will be fine and I don't see any monsters coming after us," Ven gave me a look full of uncertainty. "If they do come after us, we'll just turn the lights on, okay?" Ven gave me a bright smile and nodded.

"Yeah! But if that doesn't work, maybe Terra's big enough to just scare them away." I rose and eyebrow at that. Where did that come from? "Hey, Roxas? Maybe you can tell me why."

"Why what?" I asked, turning on the lamp beside my bed. Ven's face held a thoughtful expression.

"Well, at first I though I was just grateful to Terra for saving me earlier, but now I'm not so sure." He was rambling; a bad habit of his when he was nervous.

"Slow down for a minute! Take a deep breath…good. Now, calmly explain to me what you're talking about." Ven sighed and rubbed his head. I had the vague idea that he didn't know what he was talking about.

"All through tonight, while I was sitting next to him, my stomach felt all funny. It kept flipping and I felt really jittery. But after he went into the kitchen with the others, the feeling went away. Then, when he came back, the feeling came back too."

I felt another weight settle on my bed. "I felt the same way with Riku." So Sora was awake too. "I don't know what it is. It feels so strange."

"It sounds like you two have crushes on them," I mumbled slyly. Sure, I had similar feelings around Axel, but my brothers didn't need to know that right now. I hear the two gasp in surprise.

"D-Do you really thing that's it?" Ven sounded worried. "That could make things weird between us. I don't like the thought of that."

"That doesn't make sense. We've dated girls! We can't be gay when we've dated girls!" I rolled my eyes at the two. It wasn't as bad as they were making it out to be.

"So? Zack and Cloud both dated girls before they dated each other. Besides, do you remember ever having a relationship with a girl that clicked?" They both spluttered, trying to think of an answer.

"Ah! Kairi and I were really close!" Sora seemed triumphant in his answer.

"And Aqua and me were happy together!" I snorted with a smirk on my face.

"You guys have been friends forever. It was easy to mistake the feeling. And even then, you didn't stay together." My brothers remained quiet for awhile before Sora let out a heavy sigh.

"I guess you're right. I'm gay…Cloud will be so proud!" he joked, a grin back on his face. Ven giggled and nodded.

"I wonder what Terra and Riku would think though?" Ven mumbled. They both fell silent again.

"Come on you two. You have all of tomorrow with them. We'll figure out how they swing then. Now, let's go to sleep!" I turned the lamp off once more and pulled the blankets over us. "G'night you two."

"Good night."

"Night night!"

* * *

"I've got it!" I called, grabbing the phone. Everything seemed unusually hectic today. Cloud was trying to cook us all a quick breakfast, Ven was begging him to let him help, Zack had taken our three guests to buy swim trunks for later, Sora was taking his time in the shower, and I was packing some things for the beach. I felt overloaded with how much was going on at once!

"Hello?" I answered, zipping the bag that held towels for our swimming trip.

"Is Zachary there?" My eyes widened slightly. Why did I have to be the one to answer the phone!?

"N-No sir," I stuttered, cursing my trembling voice. Even over the phone, Sephiroth intimidated me! "I believe he was requesting the day off."

"The day off? I received no such request." Though his voice was still soft, I could tell he was irritated. For those of you out there who hold a job, and you have a boss like Sephiroth, don't just assume you're good to miss work! It's dangerous for the rest of us!

"I-I, uh, don't know sir. He decided late last night, so maybe he didn't want to disturb you?" I swallowed nervously, tempted to hand the phone off to Cloud and let him handle it. I didn't want to get Zack into trouble.

"Hmm…does he have an appropriate reason to miss?" I inwardly groaned. I was so tempted to say he was sick, but lying only brought about trouble. Temptation be damned!

"No sir, I don't think so. H-He wanted to take my brothers and I out for the day." I scratched my head, knowing that Sephiroth would probably call Zack into work. I should've just stuck with the lie!

"So he's ill?" I looked at the phone blankly. Wasn't expecting the response! Was I thinking out loud?

"Sir?" I asked, confused. Sephiroth chuckled quietly.

"Tell him to take the rest of the week to rest. Understand?" He said it slowly and deliberately. Sephiroth was going to lie for Zack and give him the rest of the week off? Suddenly, Sephiroth didn't seem very intimidating.

"Yes sir! I'll be sure to tell him!" I was slowly relaxing, a small smile on my face. Zack must have mentioned us to him before. Sephiroth may have understood that we didn't to do much since our parents passed, or maybe he just felt that Zack deserved the time off. Either way, I wasn't complaining!

"Good. Have fun." With that, our chat was over. What a way to start the day, huh? I shrugged, grabbing the bag, and walked into the kitchen.

Ven was filling the plates with eggs, bacon, and toast, a smile on his face. He was always happy to help out. "Breakfast is done Roxas. Cloud says we need to hurry and eat."

I nodded, sitting at the table. I was more than ready to eat and get on with the day. "Where did Cloud go?" Ven sat across from me, picking up a piece of bacon and gnawing on it idly.

"He went to drag Sora out of the shower. Sora's trying to take as long as possible, hoping that the doctor will cancel his appointment." He sighed, poking at his eggs. "I just wish he'd hurry up. I wanna…you know."

I agreed. The sooner we got Sora's doctor's appointment over with, the sooner we'd be able to figure out just what kind of people our new friends were into. Wouldn't it be great if all of them were gay? That brought about a problem to my mind. Let's say…Terra were gay. Would Ven really be able to go with him knowing that Sora couldn't be with Riku because Riku was straight? This could potentially hurt us, but I was ready for that! I really hope the others were ready too.

"NOOOO!" Ven and I blinked at one another.

"I guess he got Sora out of the shower," I chuckled through a mouthful of eggs. Ven nodded quickly, grinning in amusement as a loud thump came from upstairs. After a few moments, Cloud came down the stairs, soaked.

"What happened to you?" Ven laughed. Cloud sighed, shaking his head and sitting at the table to eat his own breakfast.

"I told him I would come in after him if he didn't get out. He didn't come out." Outside, I could hear the sound of a car door being shut. Zack must've been back.

"You do realize that it's gonna take more time now that you have to go home and change, right?" Cloud's eyes trailed up from his plate to land on me. At first I thought he was going to glare, but he shrugged instead.

"It was worth it."

Well, there it is! Longer than the others too! Review and tell me what you think! Pretty please? Nah, I'm not gonna beg like that. Haha!