"I heard he got hit by a bus."

"Man, he's so quiet today, what do you think happened?"

"Maybe he got abducted by aliens…and… and they sucked the life out of him!"

"Someone told me Seifer lashed out on him for no reason."

"I reckon he just fell down the stairs like the idiot he is."

"He hasn't said a word all day."

"It's not like him at all…"

"Maybe it was…"

I tell you, the mutters and hushed secrets than fluttered into my hearing as I walked through the college hallways, they were unusually blunt today. Some poor chump had got himself at the top of the gossip board, and I was actually ashamed to be intrigued as to who it was. But me being the nice guy I am, I didn't let it bother me too much and I didn't stoop low enough to ask what the hell was going on. It sounded like someone had got hurt. That's all my curiosity needed to know.

I headed into the student café to grab some breakfast, seeing as Axel hadn't been thoughtful enough to leave me anything in the fridge. Man, he'd better hope I didn't see him today, for a number of reasons. Mainly because of how annoyed I was at him. I was actually hoping I wouldn't see him until we both got home anyway… I didn't want to imagine how awkward we'd be if we saw each other in college. Axel only seemed to open up when he was on his own. At college he just put on the tough guy act, which I guess was what any other guy would do normally. As for me, I couldn't care less, so I really didn't understand.

I grabbed an apple, a sandwich and an orange juice from the stall. Nice and traditional. Then I scanned the mass of students sat down on the grey coloured tables, all chatting and eating without a care in the world.

After a while I felt a bit stupid just standing there, so I started moving forward even though there wasn't really anywhere to walk to, but lucky for me I noticed Kairi in the distance talking to Riku. I hadn't spoken to either of them in a while. I wondered if it'd be awkward just sitting with them, but hell, I took my chances.

"Wow, hey Roxas!" Kairi kindly greeted me as I sat down. "Where have you been, stranger?"

I smiled at her, getting comfy in the seat opposite to the red head and the… silver head. We always thought Riku must have had a pigment problem, might explain how icy blue his eyes were as well.

"You know what exams are like at the moment, Kairi," Riku said, taking a bite out of his ham roll, "No one has time for friends anymore." His sharp beady eyes carefully looked at me.

I rolled my eyes at his snide little comment. It took a while to get used to Riku's arrogance and standards that the ladies oh so graciously fell for… all the time. After a while all you could do is laugh to yourself about it. But the guy was loyal and an incredibly trustworthy person, if you were on his good side. Once you were on you're his bad side… well, we'll leave that for now.

"Riku's half right. I have been really busy with exams."

Kairi shrugged and rested her elbow on the table. "Hmm, can't be helped."

A little silence fell upon us as Riku and Kairi took bites out of their food. It was a comfortable silence, the kind of silence that just couldn't affect anything no matter how silent it actually was. We were all friends, no matter how long we wouldn't talk to each other for. We'd always be there.

Riku swallowed his food and looked back at me with those solemn eyes. "Did you hear about Sora?"

I was going to take a bite out of my shiny red apple, but hesitated at Riku's tone of voice. It was so distressing. Like the whole world had suddenly imploded and left nothing but a shell that would last only 24 hours.

I looked at Riku, letting my confused expression speak for itself.

"The whole college has been talking about it all morning, Roxas," Kairi muttered under her breath.

Riku lowered his voice and hunched down a little. "You do know his parents came home yesterday?"

"Yeah he told me yesterday morning…" I thought back, remembering how disrupt Sora looked in Biology yesterday. Then realisation hit me and I closed my eyes, suddenly not interested in eating anymore. "Is he okay?"

"What do you think?"

I frowned, anger building up inside of me in thought of Sora's parents. The poor guy. His spirit was probably crushed to pieces, thinking how exciting it would be to see his parents again then getting thrown down by their inhuman methods of parenting. I hadn't seen him yet, but I could only imagine the inner and outer marks left on him. "Those fucks."

Riku looked at me. "I doubt he'll be staying in college the whole day. So if you want to see him, I suggest looking for him now."

I nodded, shoving my untouched food into my bag and getting up. "Thanks."

"Give him my love, would you?"

I looked at Kairi, and her eyes were so worn down, so incredibly sad. Then I slowed down, just taking in the look on her face, grasping how much we all really cared about Sora. He was all our friend, yet I was the only one that ever spoke to him about serious things and maybe the only one he could ever own up to. I realised that now, just by understanding the empty look draining from Kairi's eyes. She wished she could help, they all wished they could help, but for some reason they all cried out to me because I was the only one that could help… help Sora.

"You know he'll be tugging at your hair by the end of next lesson," I said with a promising smile.

She gave me a smile, a smile that made me feel so warm. It was a smile that said she trusted me. "I hope so."

"Thanks, Roxas."

I turned my head to Riku, saw the impressed look on his face and just gave him a nod. Then, I was on my way.

xxx

I knew where Sora would be. He wasn't the type to run away or the type to change routine. So I knew he'd be sitting under the old oak tree at the end of the college playing field. Our group of friends had spent many a summer's day sat under that huge tree. When we were all younger it was sort of like our base, but now it was just like our small sanctuary to get away to, a little place to kind of escape from reality, and to let our minds take a break from control.

I looked at Sora from a distance on the green grass as he sat under the tree, leaning his back against the thick trunk and smiling up at the sky. It was easy to notice the marks on his face from yards away, and I had to slow my pace down a little in fear of scaring him half to death. I don't really know why. I guess everyone had instincts to be extra careful around people who had recently been in some sort of trauma.

When I finally reached him, I crouched down in front of him silently, just looking at his face with sympathy. Not too much sympathy though. I'm sure he'd had enough of that all day.

His beaten face lowered down from the sky to meet with mine and he just grinned at me. Just fucking smiled like nothing had happened and all was right with the world.

I found it somewhat hard to smile back at him. "How long are you gonna keep this up, huh?"

He simply folded his arms above himself and rested his palms on the back of his head. "As long as it takes," he calmly retorted.

I stared, feeling like it was useless in trying to talk him out of his whole charade in thinking his parents were good people.

"I'll do something right… one day."

"Sora you…" I stopped halfway, deciding not to argue with him about it. My mouth paused at what I was about to say, making a dumb little 'O' with my mouth. I paused because it was something I, Roxas, would probably never admit to anyone, but I went ahead and said it anyway because I felt like he deserved it. "You're the nicest guy I've ever met."

It was true. Sure he wasn't my closest or best friend, but he was damn well the nicest. He was too nice for his own damn good. Not like Axel, he wasn't a nice guy at all. In fact Sora was the only nice guy I could tolerate. Nice guys were too damn fake and clueless to know that the world really wasn't as perfect as they thought, and they'd only been dumb enough to get that idea because other people had shoved all that bullshit into their heads.

Sora wasn't exactly like that because he knew the world was shit, but he just didn't have the courage to admit it because he was scared of letting the world beat him down. But me, I didn't stick by him to protect him from the world, I stood by him to try and make him stronger so he could protect himself. The kid still had a lot to learn though.

Sora chuckled, the sun catching the side of his face. It highlighted the purple bruises around his eyes and the cuts on his cheeks, but if you ignored it all, he was picture perfect. Like his whole self was a ray of sunshine just proven through his childish laughter. I guess I couldn't help but smile at that.

Sora's big blues looked right at me. "You know Roxas, at the first moment I met you, I never took you for the cheesy type."

I waved my hand in the air. "Well excuse me."

Another smile from him, and I decided to sit myself next to him, ignoring the lesson I was supposed to be at.

I felt as if I should tell Sora. It was like he had a right to know. He told me all the things of his parents and what he was going through, and I never thought to return the favour.

"You know, my mother's going to be around town next week."

Sora's eyes widened a little in surprise as he looked at me. "Are you going to see her?"

"No."

He stared at me for a minute, then nodded his head. He started to pick at the green grass, obviously something bothering him.

"I just, I don't want to know. I don't want to know the reasons of what she did. I don't even want to know what she's like, whether she be the nicest or cruellest person in the world. She's a memory that deserves to be forgotten."

"I guess ignorance is bliss…"

I nodded. "I think it is in this case."

Sora smiled, shuffling his body around to face mine. "Roxas, let's run away!"

I watched his bright face, his eyes pleading at mine.

"You were thinking of doing it anyway, weren't you?"

"How did…"

"Axel told me you weren't going to be around for a week or so, he never told me why though. I guess this is why."

I was surprised that Axel actually took me seriously. Even more surprised at how quickly Sora had caught on. "Sora, I'm only going for a week, then I'd have to come back. What would your parents do if you suddenly came back from a week's disappearance?"

His eyes lost their brightness, and he simply nodded. "Don't you have a lesson to get to?"

"Trying to get rid of me?"

He sat straight, staring back up the sky like it was going to throw some answers at him. "I was trying to sleep."

I squinted the side of my mouth. I guess he wasn't getting much sleep at home now. "Feel free if you ever need to stay at my flat… you know, if you ever need to catch up on sleep."

"And listen to nothing but you and Axel bitch at each other like a married couple?" He laughed, "No thanks."

I frowned. "Hey, I'm serious."

"Yeah, yeah I know. Thanks, Roxas."

I stood to my feet and held the strap of my bag on my shoulder, looking down at Sora's tired form. "I'll let you sleep then. I just wanted to check up on you."

A wave of his hand and his eyes slipped shut with a small grin still plastered across his face. "I'm fine you big tard. Now get out of here."

I gave a half hearted smile. The kid was brave… I had to give him that. "I'll be seeing you later, alright?"

He didn't bother answering, and with that, I headed off to my lesson.

xxx

I walked in the flat and shut the door behind me. I dumped my bag on the floor then headed into the living room. The warmth of the room made me moan into my mouth then I simply flung my body face first onto the sofa.

Today, yesterday, last night… had put a drain on me. I had a lot on my mind and I didn't know what to do with it. My main problem was next week and where I was going to go and how I was going to convince my college tutors that I needed the week off. The second being Sora and how shit I felt for him. Then the third being Axel.

I hadn't heard a noise since I came in, so I assumed Axel wasn't there. The utter fuckface had been avoiding me all day. I couldn't say I was surprised, but I could say I was very pissed at how much of a coward he sometimes was.

Just as I lifted my head up for air, my eyes caught sight of a small piece of paper on the coffee table. Curiously, I opened it and read the messy contents.

I suppose I'm being a jerk. Come to Hayner's party tonight and we'll sort it.

I read over Axel's blunt note a few times before coming to a conclusion. Yes, I would go. I deserved a night out anyway. I needed a drink, good company and a little escape. So I got up off my ass, headed upstairs for a shower and then smartened myself up with a nice shirt and a dab of cologne.

I headed out of the door and locked up about three hours later. I passed my neighbour on the way down and greeted him with a little smile. He gave a huge grin back, seeming impressed by something.

"Cor Roxas, you going on a date or something?"

"Oh come on Xigbar, you know Namine wouldn't approve of that."

Xigbar gave me a sly little smirk and then added his imfamous wink. "You're secret's safe with me, bud."

Before I had time to argue, he'd gone back inside and shut the door in my dumfounded face. I frowned, pouted, then made my way towards Hayner's house. I hadn't even noticed I'd made myself look that impressive. Just a few nice clothes, a little hair gel, a dab of my favourite cologne, even ironed my jeans...

Okay, so I made more of an effort that I thought. Shut up.

I headed toward the north of the town, where the pavement became steep and the streets alot leaner. Hayner was a rich kid, so it was expected that'd he'd live in a posh area of the town. He even owned a summer house down there as well as a normal mini-mansion. Tonight I was guessing his party was at the summer house as normal, otherwise Axel would have said something.

It was a big open-porched house by the river-side. There were no neighbours, only one road and no one around to bother the inhabitants. Beyond it was the forest, where people would go on drunken adventures to either get a bit of nooky or just to be too high to know where they were going. The forest was a classic place. Axel and I had even woke up in there after a night out without knowing how we got there in the first place. It took us around three hours to finally find our way out again.

I walked down the narrow road and saw the house in the distance, noticing how the party had already started. I could hear yelling and music and all kinds of different voices. A few booming cars drove past me, sometimes shouting my name in greeting. I never really bothered to check who they were.

Once I stepped foot onto the front garden, a hand was already on my shoulder and I turned to see a very wobbly looking Kairi.

"Roxas! You came! I swear someone told me you had left town for a week…"

"Next week, Kairi," I smiled, holding her up so she didn't fall over. I took her drink out of her hand before she spilled it all down herself and ruined her pretty little dress, and she just grinned at me.

"I dunno where H-Hayner is, he might have gone into the woods… but I dunno where Hayner is…"

"Yeah wouldn't surprise me… uh… RIKU!"

Sure enough, the silver-haired boy turned around at his name and noticed me beckoning him over with my hand. He laughed, and strode over toward me and the drunken Kairi.

"Hey Roxas," he said and eyed the pair of us. "Need a hand?"

"Take her inside would you?"

He laughed and lifted Kairi's chin up so she looked at him. "You're alright aren't ya girl?"

"I'm fucking brilliant, Riku!" She laughed, flinging her arms around his neck.

Before I even noticed, Riku lifted her up into a fireman's lift and looked at me. "Axel's round the back by the bonfire."

Then he left, carrying Kairi into the house with the booming music. I just sighed, making my way around the house toward the back garden, avoiding all the beer cans littered on the grass.

Everyone was far more drunk than I had expected. I didn't anticipate the party to be a full-blown rave, just the normal house parties that Hayner threw that involved getting merry and having a good time. I didn't complain though, I left everyone to their own devices as they shouted and ran around the place like mad idiots.

The back garden was obviously huge. It stretched as far as the edge of the river side. People were scattered all over it, talking, drinking laughing, dancing, making out, puking… in a sense it was a typical teenage atmosphere. There weren't any adults to stand around telling us what and what not to do, everyone would do what their intoxicated minds told them to.

I looked towards the side and saw the huge glow of the bonfire that was neatly placed just on the side of the river, and low and behold there I saw the mane of bright red hair facing directly towards it. I looked around first, not noticing any sound of acoustic guitar, meaning it was likely Demyx wasn't here to annoy the hell out of me. I didn't get my hopes up though, that guy always popped out of places when I never wanted or expected him to.

I took a breath, and walked towards the glowing end of the party.

"Typical seeing you here and not getting wasted out there," I said, standing behind Axel's crossed-legged form.

He lifted his hand up where he was holding a cup of brightly coloured god-knows-what. "I can multi-task." He tore his eyes away from the fire to turn his body round to face me. "I didn't really expect you to come."

I sat down next to him, watching the bright coloured flames with him. The heat was intense. I didn't know how he could stand it for such a long time. "Well, surprise."

He smiled. "You smell nice."

I looked at him, the reflections of golden flames in his green feline eyes. Green, gold and red. Kind of reminded me of Christmas…

"Come on Roxas let me open the first present!"

"You opened the first one last year!"

"Mum, tell him!"

I chuckled lightly to myself and he looked at me. "Something funny?"

I watched the flames again, taking a little breath. "Just kind of realising how different things are now."

"What, since we…?"

"I guess that confirmed it, yeah."

Axel looked down at the burnt grass on the edges of the flames, and I could tell he was trying to think of something to say. Maybe an explanation or even an apology. To be honest, I didn't want an apology at all. "I don't know what happened, but I know you and I don't do things like that for no reason."

My eyes forced themselves into his once I knew he was looking at me. It was true. I knew I had a reason, maybe it wasn't a reason that could be explained very well, but I knew there was a damn good reason that I had hard sex with my best friend. "You're right…"

Just when I thought things couldn't get any more awkward, it did. The oh so glorious music of acoustic guitar flowed abruptly through our hearing, and before I knew it, Demyx had come skipping along, putting his guitar down next to us and wrapping his arms around Axel's shoulders from behind.

"Hey baby, you've been sat here all night," then he whispered something into his ear, all the while making me want to shrink into a hole and just disappear.

Axel held the musically talented hands on his chest, looking to the ground in front of him but never smiling or ever making eye contact with either of us. I almost felt bad for him. "I'll be in a minute," was all he mumbled to his loving boyfriend.

I hated seeing Axel so vulnerable. Axel was a lot taller than Demyx, somewhat broader and his personality just completely dominated Demyx' at any occasion… but not this. When Demyx had his arms locked protectively around Axel like that, his body arching around his head, and his mood seeming a lot bigger than Axel's... it wasn't right. Demyx was the kind of person that reeked of submission, yet there he was grinning down at Axel's distressed expression. I had to bite my tongue as I glared at the boy.

Then Demyx looked at me, noting how equally distressed my eyes were. Then he suddenly looked puzzled. "You two have another fight or something?"

I couldn't help it, the boy irritated me to no extent, "Quite the opposite actually," I spat.

Axel's head snapped up and he glared at me, daring me to say another word. I frowned so hard my brows began to hurt as I looked right back at him, screaming at him that his boyfriend needed to be gone before I said something I regretted.

"Demyx, I'll be in a moment, okay?" He turned his head and gave Demyx a quick kiss on the lips. I crooked my head away irritated.

After he left, Axel looked back at me, obviously annoyed. "If you say anything to him Roxas, I swear I'll never forgive you."

"Yeah, yeah," I mumbled. "Pretty loving talk for someone who soberly cheated on him."

He didn't deny it and he didn't snap back at me, which kind of surprised me. "What about Namine?"

I scoffed. "You know me and her are practically on the verge of a break-up. I'm sure she's cheated on me thrice as many times."

"So you have nothing to regret, do you?"

My eyes widened for a moment, a wash of fear running down my spine before it disappeared again. "You're saying that you regret it?"

"No… but it was the wrong thing to do."

"And since when did you worry about morals, Axel?!" I slightly yelled, getting angrier by the minute.

I felt as if I had clearly over-looked the whole situation and that I'd been a fool to think it really meant something at all. Of course I wasn't expecting him to admit his undying love for me, dump Demyx then take my hand and run off into the sunset. I was only expecting a decent reason and no regrets. Regrets were pointless, because at the end of the day no one could ever turn back time so why should anyone worry about what they did or didn't do in the past. I didn't want anything else from Axel, I assumed it was a one time thing, so what was the big fucking deal? Axel and I had been together far too long and our relationship was beyond strong enough to handle a situation like this one. At least, that was what I thought.

"Roxas, this whole thing has really got to me, and for the love of God I can't explain why. Can you just give me a break for once?"

"What the hell do you mean? You asked me to come down so we could sort this. So let's sort this."

He picked at the grass, throwing it aggressively into the wild fire. "Things are just kind of weird between us, and I don't like it."

I pulled a face. "Well you should have thought about before you shoved your dick up my-"

"Okay! I fucking get it!" He turned around to fully face me and pierced his eyes toward mine angrily. "I just want to know if you're okay Roxas! Jesus fucking Christ!"

His outburst shut me up, and I just sat there silently for a minute. I realised that I was being quite insensitive to him, but I was used to it because he never usually seemed to care. I guess this time he really did care, and it confused the hell out of me. I didn't know what to say next in fear of saying the wrong thing, so I blankly mumbled, "I'm fine."

Axel watched me. He looked at my face with such a defenceless look. Then I really didn't know what to do. He sighed and rose to his feet. "I better find Demyx. Enjoy your night." With a soft ruffle of my hair, he left me there by the bonfire.

I stared into the flames with no expression. As the orange flames licked at the air, I winced. The heat was too intense for little old me.