Hey guys, hope you're still keeping up with this :) Just want to say thanks for all the great reviews, they really brighten up my day!

xxx

The hotel room Sora and I were sharing was very small and cramped, but Sora was insisting it were described more as small and cosy. I found it hard to agree. The walls were stained, the floor was creaky and the other inhabitants were less then unsocial. Sora tried to make his mattress a little less hard by jumping up and down on it, making this awful shrieking noise as the springs strained on his weight. He agreed to stop when my glare was aimed in his direction.

So the room wasn't perfect but it was all our crappy part-time wages could afford, and it was a lot better than staying in a run-down bedsit at the other end of this strange town.

When the train had pulled up to our destination, it told us we'd arrived in Traverse Town and that it was the end of the line. It seemed far enough, we'd both been on that damn crowded train for about three hours. Sora was lucky enough to fall asleep next to me for most of the journey, his head leaning comfortably on my shoulder as the two business men sitting opposite us gave strange looks from over their laptops.

The town seemed tolerable. It wasn't the most well kept of places, and definitely didn't seem tourist friendly, but I seemed to think it'd be a refreshing change from Radiant Garden – the land of fake smiles and plastic blue skies.

The sky over in Traverse Town had dulled, and as I looked up at it with one backpack in hand, I almost saw it cracking in jealously at the sight of mine and Sora's intense blue stare. A gentle welcoming rain gradually began to shower down on us, the people around the station grumbling and flipping open their black umbrellas. But Sora and I just carried on walking, making our way out of the busy train station as the sky cried down on us.

Even though the streets were busy with people, there was still an immaculate silence that hung around the air that scared me to even let out a breath. Everybody's heads were low, either it being natural or they were protecting their faces from the miserable rain. There was no colour to the shop windows, every store, shop and bar having a neutral design palette. As we passed a tramp sitting outside a closed down store, he mumbled something to us about sparing any change. When we refused, he didn't say anything more.

It wasn't as if the town was poor or a typical 'wrong side of the tracks' place to be. It was just… depressing. As if not a single inhabitant had seen even an ounce of excitement in years.

Sora sat on his bed, watching me unpack my bag and neatly place some clothes into the tiny drawers in-between our two beds. "You reckon anyone's worried about us yet?" He quietly asked me, kicking his feet against the edge of the bed in a steady rhythm.

I snorted, reaching into my bag and pulling out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, the image instantly reminding me of that mane of red hair. "All I know is that Axel must be totally pissed."

Sora nodded slowly, contemplating on asking the next question that had come to his mind at the mention of Axel's name. I knew he had a few questions, and I knew at that moment he was dying to ask them. I did say I'd talk to him about it, so I let out a breath, zipped my bag up and sat next to him gently.

I looked at him, letting him know that it was okay to shoot. Then he looked at me, biting his lip. "There's something going on between you two, isn't there?"

"Is it that obvious?"

Sora edged himself forward, ready to burst with another fifty-thousand questions that sat on the tip of his tongue, but he held himself back, edging around his words carefully. "I would ask you to explain everything, but I know you're going to be stubborn about it."

My eyes lingered to the side, wondering whether I should be honest with Sora. I knew for a fact Sora wasn't the type of person to be a loud mouth about other people's business, especially one as private as mine. It was just Axel's trust that was on the line. It was obvious he didn't want anyone to know about what happened.

Sora was a good kid though, he would never let Axel know that I totally betrayed his trust.

My eyes focused again, letting them fall to my knees. I thought to myself how I'd say it. "Yeah Axel and I had a fight then we ended up sleeping together". I winced. No matter how I told it, it was always going to be blunt because of how surreal it was.

Sora watched me as my mouth opened and closed, stopping and starting at the first word I was about to say. He gave me a sympathetic look, knowing what I was trying to say was hard. I just wished he could be prepared for how shocked he was going to be. Innocent, naïve, little Sora.

I sighed in defeat, not wanting to fuss over it any longer. "I slept with him."

Sora didn't react, only looked at me dumbfounded. "What?"

Then I looked at him, giving him a look of total seriousness, that I wasn't joking and I wasn't fooling around and that what I said I did not mean literally.

Sora's eyes became a little wider as seconds flew by, noting how serious I actually looked. "You…?"

"Yes, Sora. The hard thing explaining is why."

Sora paled a little, turning his head forward and keeping his back painfully straight. Then I made an irritated noise in my throat.

"Sorry, but you asked."

"No, no. I know. I just… never thought it'd happen."

I frowned. "Huh?"

"Does this mean that you two are…?"

I closed my eyes. Sora was being as naïve as ever. "No, not at all."

"Why the hell not?!"

I kept my cool. "Sora, it's not that simple. We didn't have sex because we love each other or whatever, it was something different, like something we had to do."

"But you enjoyed it?"

I froze, my mind falling back to that night, remembering how hot everything was. How Axel's face gasped against mine as we rocked back and forth. How he looked so fucking sexy and almost godly. How incredible I actually felt. How feelings I'd never even known before swept over my body in a wash of ecstasy. How Axel made me feel so… amazing. Of course I fucking enjoyed it.

My shoulders hunched, my expression bleak and defeated. My mind was playing tricks on me. It was unnatural for such feelings to suddenly hit me and make me feel so incredibly alone. I felt a small hand on my knee, and I looked up to Sora's understanding expression.

"Roxas, stop being stubborn and tell me the truth. Why do you talk about Axel as if he means nothing to you?"

I was silent for a few seconds, letting Sora squeeze my knee a little for reassurance. "Because I don't want him to mean anything, because at the end of the day I'll never mean as much to him."

"That's total crap, and you know it."

"Is it? He has Demyx to make him feel totally amazing."

Sora smiled, and then I noticed that I'd just blindly admitted how Axel made me feel, but I didn't care.

He let go of my knee, looking up at the wall opposite us. "You know, I talk to Demyx a lot when we're in music lessons. I talk to him about nearly everything," he let out a small chuckle, "he's a really easy guy to talk to."

I scowled at the floor, wondering why Sora was praising him so much right infront of me.

"We talk about all kinds of things. He mostly likes to talk about his music and his collection of guitars and amps. But you know, whenever I ask him about Axel, he shrugs it off like it doesn't matter." Sora furrowed his brow, a little confused. "It wasn't as if he was uncomfortable with the topic, he just… he didn't seem to care."

I frowned aswell, suddenly intrigued about their relationship and if Demyx really cared about Axel at all. I looked at Sora, eager for him to carry on.

Then Sora looked at me. "Has Axel ever admitted that he was inlove with Demyx?"

I thought to myself, racking my brain over all the conversations I'd ever had with Axel and trying to pin-point the word 'love'. Then I remembered. "He said it once, but we'd had a fight and he was stupidly drunk and probably just trying to get on my nerves."

I remembered back to that night, we were both seventeen, the night before Axel's eighteenth birthday.

"Axel, hurry up," I mumbled, trudging myself down the darkened street, trying to head home and straight into bed. I had Namine next to me, she wasn't too drunk, just a little tired and quiet. I held her hand and was tugging her forwards, eager to get back to the flat.

Axel was a few feet behind us, stumbling over his footing with a beer in his hand and muttering incoherent things to himself. We'd both had a lot to drink, and my mind was too exhausted to play up to Axel's drunken annoying ways.

I looked sideways towards Namine as she let out a gentle yawn, scuffing her sandals across the pavement. "You okay?" I asked gently, giving her hand a little squeeze.

She smiled and turned her head toward me. "Tired," she replied. I gave her a warm smile and leaned my head to kiss her cheek.

"Guys, what time is it?" Axel blurted out loudly, stopping and leaning against the outside wall of someone's house. Namine and I stopped and turned around, myself giving him a harsh glare.

"It's time for bed, so stop stopping and get moving."

Namine gave a bored expression towards Axel. "Yeah, come on Axel, let's go already."

"Oh get bent Namine."

Namine's eyes widened and a low angry growl rose from my throat. "Axel! What the fuck is your problem?"

Axel sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Nothing, nevermind," he mumbled and carried on walking, heading straight past us with a gentle wobble. I glared at him through furious eyes as he walked past.

"Sorry," I mumbled to Namine.

Namine shook her head. "It's okay, he's just drunk I guess."

"Still, he's being a prick," I said, glaring at Axel's back as we started walking again.

"Ha!" Axel burst again, swooping himself around and pinning his gaze into mine. "If you don't like my boyfriend, then I won't like your girlfriend," he said, pointing directly at Namine. "Simple as that!"

Namine frowned, a little confused at the statement.

I rolled my eyes at his childish behaviour. "I don't not like De-"

"BULL! SHIT!"

Namine and I froze, a little startled at his outburst. I wasn't used to Axel being this aggressive when Namine was around, he'd usually keep his cool for my sake. I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to shout back at him in fear of scaring her or making her uncomfortable, so I had to bite my tongue.

Axel stalked forwards and I knew he was ready to explode at me, just by the look in those intense green eyes. Lucky for me, Namine spoke up quietly.

"Roxas, I'll head back to the flat okay? I'll let you two talk."

I thought about it, wondering whether it'd be safe for her to walk back on her own. It was only down the road, and right now it seemed like the only solution. Axel was too drunk to back down on me now, so I quickly nodded my head and passed her my keys. "See you later," I said, giving her a small kiss and she smiled, walking past Axel and away from us both.

We were both silent until she was out of eye's sight. Then I looked at Axel with a death glare, inwardly sighing at this whole situation. "Okay, so what have I done this time?"

Instead of a loud, angry reply, Axel stalked toward me and looked at me with searching eyes. "You've done nothing but been a sarcastic prick toward Demyx all night. Why the fuck can't you just get along with him?"

I glared at him. "Because I just can't. I don't have to get along with everyone Axel."

"You could at least try!"

I groaned, running a hand down my face. "Axel, it's too late for this, come on."

"Has he ever done anything to you? Said anything? Made you feel shit?" He asked, knowing the answers already.

My eyes went back to its usual worn out glare as I was getting really annoyed.

Axel stepped forward. "Or is it jealousy?" He asked carefully.

I frowned, my mouth opening in curious confusion.

"Does he have something that you don't?"

My eyes wavered unconsciously, that statement digging right into my nerves and plunging right into my very soul. And back then, for the life of me, I couldn't explain why.

Axel noticed my reaction, his expression curling into something curious as my eyes became hollow. Then he decided to dig even further, decided to hit the nail on the head, never breaking his eyes contact. "I love him," he breathed, making the statement so believable I lost my breath, and eventually I had to look away towards the floor. Knowing Axel had really hit a nerve, he leaned forward, "so cut the shit."

Then he backed off and stalked away, leaving me standing there not knowing what to do at all. Axel could be the most evil kind of creature when he wanted to be, and right then he'd proven that to its deepest. He knew exactly how to break me, and it seemed he wasn't shy about it when he was extremely pissed off.

I gripped my hands on the bedsheets, anger building inside me at the memory. A few days after that event I made myself believe he'd only said that to get to me. He couldn't love Demyx, it just wasn't Axel at all to love anyone.

Sora shuffled in his position, noticing how tense I'd gotten. "I can tell when someone's inlove or not, and even if you weren't good at predicting that kind of thing, anyone would know that Demyx does not love Axel."

I sighed loudly, finding myself annoyed. "What does love have to do with any of this anyway?"

Sora frowned, leaning forward a little, agitated with my tone. "Because love could be such a simple explanation for someone like you and Axel. You both care about each other so much no matter how much you deny it, you've put it up with him for so many years, he's always the first person you-"

"Sora," I interrupted him sternly, getting tired of him trying to convince me that I was inlove with my best friend, like some sort of cliché romance novel. Love was such a simple thing, it was definitely not the right explanation for what was going on. "I do not love Axel."

Sora's frowned deepened. "Maybe because you refuse to understand what love is, because you're the most stubborn person I've ever met."

I rose to my feet quickly, running a hand through my hair with a deep sigh. "All Axel and I ever do it argue about shit. How is that love?"

Sora scoffed. "You'd be surprised how much you don't argue. Maybe that's the only thing you focus on because it bothers you so much. Have you ever tried not arguing back at him?"

"Look Sora, no offense, but this is ridiculous. You sound like a marriage counsellor," I said as calmly as I could and grabbed my coat, throwing it over myself and digging into the pockets to pull out Axel's pack of cigarettes. "Let's just drop it."

Sora threw up his hands in annoyed defeat then leaned himself back on the bed. "I don't get why you can't seem to care," he mumbled, looking up at the ceiling.

I rolled my eyes, plucking out a cigarette and holding it between my lips. I hadn't needed a smoke in so long until this moment. I realised that I hadn't had any cravings for one these past few days, which seemed slightly weird considering everything that had happened.

I zipped up my coat and looked at Sora who was fiddling with the edges of his red t-shirt. My eyes fixed on him or a second. "Why do you care so much?"

Sora's eyes travelled to mine, his fingers pausing. "Because I think someone should."

"But it's my problem. Why do you feel the need to care?"

"I just told you."

"No, Sora," I frowned, walking towards him to try and get my point across. I took the unlit cigarette from out of my lips. "There's something else isn't there? There's something you're not telling me."

Sora didn't reply, only frowned and began fidgeting again only a little more roughly.

A small part of me regretted what I'd told him in the first place. "You're getting riled up about all this for no reason…" I said softly.

"It's stupid how you think you can brush off something like that," he muttered abruptly.

"What else am I supposed to do?!"

"Talk to Axel about it!"

I growled in my throat in a habited, annoyed tone, swivelling my body away from him and taking a few steps forward to the centre of the small room. "It's not that simple. This kind of thing has never happened before. Even that time I kissed him when we were kids, we never dared to talk about it again." I sighed and ran a shaky hand through my golden hair, wishing and wishing and hoping and praying that this entire ordeal had never even happened at all. "This is a lot more complicated than a kiss… so it's a lot more awkward. I just don't know what to say to him." My tone became a little softer. "He made it pretty obvious that he'd rather forget about it anyway."

Sora sat up. "And you honestly believe that?" he sighed. When I didn't answer he looked up at me. "Would you do it again?"

I paused, thinking about it. If Axel could make me feel that incredible on just a whim, what would it be like if he really put some effort into it? In that moment I instantly envied Demyx. "Yes," I said quietly, not realising what I said, with the hint of a moronic blush on my cheeks.

Sora's eyes widened. "You would?!"

Then my eyes widened. "I would?! I mean, no, fucking no. Of course not!"

Sora grinned widely, like a little school girl who'd just been told the juiciest of juicy gossip. I shut my eyes tight with an aggravated expression, inwardly punching myself at what I'd so stupidly said.

"I need some air," I said quickly, shoving he cigarette back in-between my lips and heading out of the door with an awkward slam.

xxx

Riku sighed to himself, holding the phone between his shoulder and his ear. "Axel, I told you, Roxas hasn't said anything about going anywhere to me. Have you tried asking your mum?"

Axel slammed the fridge door closed on the other end of the line, noting how hollow it sounded as it rattled from the force. "She knows nothing," Axel mumbled, stalking out of the kitchen and into the living room.

Riku was sat at his desk, writing up an English report that was due in the next day, trying to concentrate as hard as he could despite Axel's constant grumbling on the other end. "Why don't you go and stay with Demyx until he comes back?"

"I probably will. But I'd rather be sat in my own fucking home eating my own fucking food, you know?"

Riku put his pen down on his desk and held the phone with his hand. As if he knew what to suggest to the redhead, he had no clue. "Look, if you wonna take your mind off of things, our lot are going down the beach tonight to just chill out. I know it won't help in the long run but at least it'd give you a chance to calm down."

"I am calm, Riku!" Axel shouted, kicking a cabinet harshly with his booted foot.

Riku rolled his eyes at the sound of something crashing then hearing Axel's curses following through. "Just come along. You'll enjoy it. Let Dem know about it aswell, okay?"

"Yeah," Axel muttered, picking up an empty bottle of vodka and scanning it curiously. When did he drink this much?

"By the way, Axel," Riku said, tone going deadly serious.

Axel put the bottle back where it was, waiting for Riku to carry on.

"Have you spoken to Sora recently?"

"I rang him this morning… why?"

Riku paused, thinking to himself. "Strange. He's not answering his phone anymore."

Axel scoffed, putting a hand to his hip. "Well at least we know that he could never run away anytime soon."

Riku shook his head in dismay, his silver bangs flopping over his face delicately. He picked up his pen again but paused at the paper, his mind suddenly going blank. "You know, it would probably be the best thing for him…"

xxx

As I'd left the hotel in search of a little exploring, my feet found themselves standing in the doorway of a local bar, the left foot telling me to go ahead and order a drink, the right one screaming at me to turn around and leave.

The various eyes that had darted towards me were obviously telling me I wasn't welcome there. Maybe it was because of how young I looked. Or maybe everyone in this town was as cold as its wind, and didn't take too kindly to outsiders. However when I looked ahead at the bar itself, the bartender had only glanced at me once before returning to his stare at the beer glass he was drying with a dish clothe. Like any normal bartender would. With that tiny encouragement at hand, I took my chances and slowly picked up my feet towards him.

Once I'd got a little closer, his beaten down eyes glanced up at me again, watching me take a seat on one of the stools. By now I couldn't even see the harsh glares behind me, so I eventually forgot about them as I pulled the stool in with my legs.

"Got any vodka?" I asked, trying not to make my voice loud enough to break the silence in the room.

The bartender, who I'd now taken a closer look at, eyed me with a suspicious blue gaze. "You got any ID, kid?"

I pulled out my wallet, used to this kind of thing, and handed him a card. He scanned it for a brief few seconds, then let out a sigh.

"'Kay, whatever."

I frowned, putting the card away. The man looked to be no older than me, his skin still pale and young, his hair looking soft and blonde in an arrange of messy spikes. It was just his eyes that gave him away, they looked as if they'd had years of life experience, and judging by how worn down they looked, not many of them being good ones to remember.

"This place always so quiet?" I asked, surprised at myself at the sudden conversation starter.

The man's eyes flickered toward mine for a second as he reached up and pulled down a glass. His expression was blank, so I couldn't quite tell if he was going to ignore me or not. The people around here were so weird I half expected him to very well ignore me and leave me to my own lonely silence.

He poured a vodka shot into a glass, then pushed it toward me, stopping and staring at me weirdly. "Yeah, yeah it is."

I nodded slowly, keeping my eyes fixed on his in bewilderment. Why was he staring so hard at me?

When he returned to the dish clothe, his eyes finally averting from mine, I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. It didn't matter how beaten those eyes looked, it was the most intense few seconds of my life.

"Where you from, kid?" His quiet voice pricked my ears and I found my gaze looking down at the small glass in front of me, fingering it lightly in habit. Was it that obvious that I was out of town?

"Radiant Garden," I said a little sheepishly.

When I looked up again, I'd noticed a small change in his eyes once he'd heard what I said, a change so small he was probably trying to hide it away. I paused, looking at him questioningly, and he averted his gaze. "That's a while away, ain't it?"

I shrugged. "Needed to get away."

"And you come here of all places?"

I picked up the glass, eyeing it for a second, then swigging the clear liquid down my throat, feeling the sensation burn and rip as it ran down my body. I didn't wince though, in fear of looking stupid. Then I took a breath, putting the glass down on the counter.

"I guess fate brought me here."

The man was watching me again after what I'd said, and I couldn't help but feel a little annoyed about it now. So I returned the gaze in a stronger stance, as if my gaze was asking him what hell his problem was. But he didn't look away this time, only let a twitch of a smile form on his lips.

My brows knitted together, but the bartender only brought out the bottle and poured another shot into the sticky glass. "On me."

I watched as he poured the vodka into the small glass, then I looked back at his eyes. "Why?"

He only shrugged. "Think of it as a welcoming gift. It's all you'll be getting around here, I tell you kid."

I picked up the glass, eyeing it once more before bringing it to my lips. "Stop calling me kid," I muttered before gulping the liquid down.

The man watched me again, not surprisingly threatened by my tone whatsoever. "Then what should I call you?"

I thought about it. Should I really be telling this strange blonde bartender my name? A strange blond bartender in an even stranger depressing town? Hell, I didn't really care. "Roxas," I said.

The man nodded. "Name's Cloud."

"Cloud?" I repeated, letting the name adjust in my head. "Bet the bullies loved that name in school," I mumbled, half snorting to myself as I shuffled in my seat to get comfy.

The man, now known as Cloud, stared at me again. "Not really. I was one of them."

I looked at him funny. He had to be joking. Him? A high school bully? He was thin, blonde, blue eyed with freckles around his nose. What on earth was so threatening about that? The look on my face must have told him I wasn't buying it, but he just looked right at me, dead serious.

"Were you one of the lackeys? The one the just shouted encouragement to the real bullies from the back of the crowd?" I asked, hoping to spring some humour into the conversation.

Before I even had time to think if what I said was funny or not, Cloud's arm had quickly reached out and grabbed ahold of my collar, forcefully pulling and leaning me forward over the bar counter in a vice like grip. My eyes nearly popped out of my sockets at the shock, the strain around my neck soon beginning to hurt.

"You tell me," he said to my face in a tone that made me want to run away like a scared little rabbit. What was this guy doing?!

I heard scraping of chairs behind me, feeling the broad men that had eyed me dangerously earlier step to their feet at the sight of me being near-choked by the honourable bartender. It was then I started to get really pathetically scared. The only thing rushing through my mind at that point was how pissed I knew Axel would be if he knew what this guy was doing, and that he'd probably step up to save my life if he were here. But Axel wasn't here, I'd ran like a stupid idiot from him and now I was going to be slaughtered by a freckle faced bartender for reasons I still had no idea of.

Cloud just looked up from over my head to the men with the sceptical glances, simply putting his free hand up as if to say 'it's alright, I've got this'. Great, so he was going to kill me with his own dirty hands, somehow the strength in his grip told me it really wouldn't have a difference anyway. This was still going to be painful.

Then the grip around my collar suddenly let go, and in an act of huge relief I scurried to my feet, standing fearfully away from the bar counter. I rubbed my neck, trying to breathe as I eyed Cloud, scared for my life.

Cloud simply shrugged, putting his hands up. "You shouldn't make fun of people, Roxas."

"But you-"

"Don't judge people by appearances," he cut with a serious tone to his voice. "Now, have another drink… as an apology from me."

I threw a dumbfounded look to him, my hand still rubbing my neck. What the crap just happened? Did that even happen at all? I did not trust this guy anymore. I didn't even think I trusted this town anymore.

"Come on, sit down." He started pouring another shot of vodka into the glass again. I had to wonder why the hell he suddenly wanted me to sit at his bar after I'd apparently pissed him off and bruised his ego. Surely I'd have been thrown out by the dirty looking men behind me by now, either that or by Cloud himself. But no, he was insisting I sit down and have another damn drink.

After he'd finished pouring the drink, I was still standing there looking a little dazed and confused. Cloud sighed, placing the bottle back on the shelf behind him. "You gonna stand there all day?"

I frowned, suddenly finding my voice again "What the hell was that for?!"

He gave me a bored look, resting one hand on the counter.

Before I could retort at his extremely unnecessary calm appearance, a loud bark of laughter shot from behind me, one of the men apparently amused by the situation at hand. I grit my teeth, the laughter blending into a voice. "Cloud, you picking on the nippers again?"

Without tearing his eyes from mine, Cloud calmly replied to the man, "Can it, Cid."

But the man decided to ignore that and instead rose to his feet, causing me to cast my eyes to the side at the sound of footsteps slowly making their way toward us. Then low and behold, the gruff looking man stood next to myself in the middle of the room, patting a hand on my shoulder. I looked up at the man who was grinning back at Cloud, then I soon noticed he was leading me back to my seat by the bar. "Come on, kid, don't be put of by Cloud's anti-social behaviour, he won't really hurt ya."

I wasn't too sure, but it looked like I didn't really have a choice as I was sat down onto my stool, and low and behold, the man sat on the stool next to me with a smile I couldn't quite make out. It wasn't a hostile smile, but it definitely wasn't a friendly one either.

Cloud eyed the man, resting his hand on the surface of the counter as the man known as Cid made himself comfortable. "Pour us a beer would ya Cloud?"

Cloud huffed but did at his job required, stepping away from us both and heading to the other end of the bar to the beer pumps. I tore my eyes from Cloud's back to the slick blonde haired man next to me.

"Roxas, was it?"

"Uh…"

"The name's Cid if you hadn't guessed. Work down at the garage a few blocks from here."

I nodded, not helping but feel a little intimidated at this whole situation. Here I was, known as a 'kid' to these people, being mentally ordered around and thrown all sorts of questions.

Cid hunched forward, pointing his finger towards Cloud as he searched the shelf for a beer glass. "He's a real softy at heart, don't feel like ya have to be treadin' on egg shells around him."

I gave him a strange look. "He almost choked me."

Cid let out a gruff laugh, the type of strong laugh you'd hear from any local bar-type. "He wouldn't 'ave actually tried to kill ya, he was just proving a fair point, kid."

"But I was joking," I mumbled with a pout, sinking down.

"Yeah you probably were, but that's Cloud for ya," he said, eyeing Cloud who was still looking for a glass and looking a little lost as he did so. Cid looked back at me. "Say, Roxas…"

Cid's tone had died down a whole lot, and I could just feel the seriousness kick in.

"Ya said ya were from Radiant Garden?"

I nodded.

"Ya know a man named Squall Leonhart?"

Leonhart. Leonhart? Where had I heard that name before? The only Leonhart I knew was Mr. Leonhart, my Biology teacher… how could my boring Biology teacher have anything in common with these brutes? However, I had no idea if he was talking about the same person. Squall? The name really didn't seem to suit him well.

I shrugged at him, drawing patterns on the wood of the surface with my finger. "I have a biology teacher called Mr. Leonhart."

Cid frowned, looking a little confused. "Brown hair? Huge scar across 'is face?"

I thought to myself, trying to picture his face in my head. He did have brown hair, and yeah, he was well known for his all-too-obvious scar that slit diagonally across his nose.

I nodded. "That's the one."

Cid looked surprised, his huge eyes travelling forward a little. "Well, shit. A biology teacher? Who would've guessed."

I frowned. "Uh, what?"

Cid looked at me, eyeing me suspiciously for a moment before sighing. "Him and Cloud, they used to be close, very close. Don't think Cloud's seen that guy for almost five or six years, but not a day goes by that I don't notice he still feels a little sentimental about him."

My mouth gaped. "They were… lovers?"

Cid nodded and I couldn't help but let my face turn undoubtedly shocked. Mr Leonhart did not seem to be Cloud's type at all. He was proper, seemed like a real gentlemen at heart no matter how harsh he was in class. The type that had a petite house wife and two kids waiting for him at home. But Cloud? His ex-lover? That was a story to tell.

I swallowed, and without evening thinking as to why this conversation had popped up in the first place, I asked, "Why'd they break it off?"

Instead of answering, Cid looked forward a little startled, noticing Cloud stood right in front of us with a sour look and a beer full to the brim in one hand.

The tension was thick, brutally thick. I noticed Cid seemed to sink in his stool a little sheepishly and all I could do was look away. I didn't really know whether to feel embarrassed or foolish. Probably both.

After a few torturing moments of awkward silence, Cloud spoke. "Because he was the worst person I'd ever met," Cloud said in an icy breath, slamming the beer on the counter then glaring at me with the most revealing eyes I'd ever seen, and I suddenly understood him clearly. Then he walked through the bar and into the back room, making his mood clear by the harsh bang of the door.

I watched after him, my mind trying to comprehend the look that was in his clear blue eyes before he left. Then I realised. "He was lying…"

Cid scoffed next to me, taking the beer in his hand and slurping on the froff on the top. "Glad you caught onto that. His eyes give him away far too much. Until he hides them peepers away, he's like a damn open book."

I looked down at the empty counter, feeling quite lost. The image of the expression in Cloud's eyes didn't seem to leave my mind. "Cid," I said quietly, "tell me what happened."

Cid sighed. "It's not my story to tell, kid."