First off, I'm sorry about the wait on this; I've had it written for at least a month, but I didn't like where it was ending. But now it's fixed! Anyway. I recently acquired a job (YAY!), so my time has become more precious, and with finals coming up, I'm having to spend a lot of it on school. BUT! I will be done with classes after the first week of May, and then I can devote some real time to this fic. :D
Anyway. Here's chapter six - I really never thought I would make it this far - and it's actually my longest chapter ever, by two whole pages on word. Rejoice!
EDITED: 1/17/2013
Roxas was still grinning when Axel dropped him off and walked him to his door, despite the fact that Axel was only going to the house next door and Roxas had mentioned, more than once, that it really, seriously wasn't necessary. As soon as he entered the house he rushed to the window to watch the redhead drive twenty feet to Riku's house, but ducked out of view before Axel could catch him spying.
A moment passed as Roxas stood by the window, heart pounding, before his brain caught up with him. What the hell was that about? His mind raced over the last few hours and immediately Roxas's wide grin returned. Yeah, it was weird how much he suddenly enjoyed spending time with Axel (though he'd never tell him that), but it wasn't a crime to have fun, and it certainly wasn't a crime to make a new friend… Okay, maybe that was pushing things a little bit. He hadn't known this guy a week yet. But acquaintances sounded good.
Solving this mental dilemma, Roxas turned to head to his room, and suddenly noticed the blaring music pounding through his twin's door.
"What on earth," he muttered to himself, following the noise. Sora didn't listen to music that loud, and especially not the emo rock currently playing; he was more a poppy kind of person.
"Sora!" Roxas yelled over the noise as he pounded on his twin's door, causing one of the many pictures of Sora and Riku to slip to the floor. "Turn it down!"
Roxas waited for a response, but received none, except for the music becoming even louder. He growled, not amused. "Jesus, Sora, this isn't funny! Find some headphones!" He wasn't even sure if Sora could hear him, and after a few more angry slams on the door, he gave up and went to his own room, still littered with tissues.
Roxas realized with a jolt that he felt better than he had all day, and made a face at the thought of Axel's "personal recommended treatment for all illnesses, real and imagined" (and his face became even more convoluted when he found that he could remember what Axel had said, word for word) had proven more effective than all the medicine he'd been dosed up on. As he bent over to collect all the tissues, something fell out of his pocket, which at first glance looked like another Kleenex, but a bit of writing peeked out from the folds. Roxas picked it up, curious, and unfolded it to reveal a phone number accompanied by a rough stick figure drawing of two people, one with longer spiky hair than the other and sporting two miniscule dots under his eyes. They were holding hands and smiling widely.
It didn't take long for Roxas to deduce who had left the message, and he glanced at his cell phone, contemplating whether a snarky text on the redhead's artistic ability was called for, but his headache was returning with a vengeance, and all he really wanted to do was sleep for a while. Getting to sleep, however, was difficult with the heavy bass line of Sora's music pounding through the wall that they shared, but with the help of some NyQuil, Roxas managed to slip into a deep sleep.
Saturday passed uneventfully for Roxas. Although he had felt better the previous night, he felt worse than ever when he woke up, and his only comfort was knowing that he could gleefully prove that Axel's "cure" was indeed the load of bullshit he had originally called it. Stumbling across the hall to get a glass of water from the bathroom was the limit of his strength, and he passed the hours drifting from one NyQuil-induced dream to another, occasionally waking long enough to bang feebly on the wall and hoarsely croak a demand for the music to please be turned down so he could rest.
Around eight that night Roxas decided that he had to eat something, so he slowly made his way to the kitchen, where he ate lukewarm spaghetti-o's from the can. This pathetic fifteen minute excursion out of his room left Roxas so drained that the next time he woke up was around six Sunday morning, just as the sun began to peek through the gap in his curtains.
Roxas groaned and rolled back over, burying his head under a pillow in hopes of drowning out the music that was inexplicably still pulsing through the house. The lit up screen of his cell phone informed him of the time, and he scowled; their mom would've gotten home about two hours ago and would have to leave again by nine. What was Sora thinking?
The blond rolled out of bed still scowling, only vaguely registering that he felt considerably more like an actual human today. Slamming his door open, he stalked over to his brother's room and began pounding on the door, determined not to stop until his twin acknowledged his presence. His hand was beginning to tingle and turn numb by the time Sora opened the door, and he managed to stop the motion of his arm before he slugged Sora in the face, although that idea wasn't totally without merit. But then he actually looked at Sora, and all his intentions and anger were swept out of his mind.
Sora looked like hell. His typically well-cared-for clothes were wrinkled and his face was abnormally pale, except for where dark smudges rested under his puffy eyes, making it clear that he'd not slept at all last night. The sight made Roxas's skin inexplicably crawl.
When Sora spoke, his voice was dull and emotionless. "Go away, Rox." He made to close the door, but Roxas caught it with his foot before he could.
The attempted dismissal made Roxas remember why he'd come, and he snapped, "You're being a dick. Turn the music down. Mom's trying to sleep."
Sora closed his eyes for a moment in response, pressing his hand to his forehead, and Roxas thought that maybe Sora needed the sleep even more than their mother.
"Is that all?" The brunet opened his eyes as he finished speaking, his voice still frustratingly toneless.
Roxas stared at him for a moment, finally getting the sense that something beyond sleep deprivation was wrong with his twin, but not knowing how to address it. "What's your problem?" he asked, mostly unaccusingly, but Sora's eyes flashed in annoyance.
"Right now, you are. Seriously, leave me alone." He tried to close the door again, and again Roxas blocked it.
"Why?"
"I don't want to talk to anyone right now, Roxas, not you, not mom, not–" He blanched and tried to turn away to cover it up, but Roxas saw.
"Not who? Ri–"
"Don't say his name!" Sora cried suddenly, desperately, and Roxas was entirely speechless at this unexpected outburst.
Breathing heavily, Sora tried again. "Just leave me alone, Roxas. Please."
This time Roxas allowed the door to be shut quietly but firmly in his face. 'What the hell was that about?' Roxas could hardly believe Sora's abrupt personality change, and could not even begin to fathom what had caused it, but he did know someone who would.
"Damn it!" Roxas swore as Riku's phone went to voicemail again. He snapped his own phone shut, cutting off the cheery "Leave me a message!" that Sora had recorded to replace the standard voicemail greeting, since Riku didn't care enough to bother, and sat thinking for a moment. The situation was truly bizarre. It had been so long since Roxas had had to deal with a distressed Sora; Riku had always kept the brunet happy. What on earth could have happened between them?
A napkin sticking out from underneath his pillow caught Roxas's eyes, and when he pulled it out he recognized it as the napkin Axel had written his number on Friday night. He debated for a moment; talking to Axel was sometimes fun, but more often exhausting, and he wasn't in the mood to deal with Axel's unwelcome advances. But his concern for his brother won out over his trepidation, and Roxas punched the number into his cell, trying to ignore the sudden fluttering in his stomach. The phone barely had time to ring before it was answered.
"Roxie, sweetheart. I was wondering when I'd hear from you." Axel answered the phone, and although his words were teasing, his tone was serious, and Roxas had a feeling Axel knew something about what was up with Sora.
"Hey, Axel. I'm actually trying to get a hold of Riku."
"Wow, you really know how to flatter a guy." Again, although he knew he was being teased, Axel's tone was too sober. "I doubt he wants to talk to you. I've hardly gotten a word out of him. Had to track down Demyx to figure out what happened."
Roxas's stomach plummeted at that statement, knowing he was right in guessing that something horrible had occurred between Riku and Sora.
"What do you mean? What happened?"
There was a pregnant pause.
"Sora hasn't, um, told you yet?" Axel's voice was uncertain and a little fearful, and Roxas's eyes narrowed.
"He's not exactly in a talkative mood right now, and apparently you know why." The unspoken demand rang loud and clear in his voice.
"Well… I mean, I've only heard it from Dem, so I probably don't know the whole story, and I'm sure there's a completely valid explanation, and you should really be asking Sora about this; it's not my busi-"
"Axel," Roxas growled in his most intimidating manner, "What the fuck happened?"
Another moment of silence, this time lasting so long that Roxas was about to check if the call had been disconnected, but finally Axel answered, as seriously as Roxas had ever heard him speak.
"At Demyx's part, on Friday, after Sora left me at your house, he walked in on Riku and another guy."
Roxas's blood ran cold. "What?" he all-but whispered.
"They were, well… you know… and Sora left. That's all I know."
A moment passed as Roxas's mind struggled with what Axel had said. The redhead started to speak again, more frantically, but Roxas snapped the phone shut, unwilling to listen, his mind whirling at the unthinkable explanation. But it was an explanation, and now that he'd heard it, Roxas could imagine nothing else that would explain Sora's strange behavior.
He felt like an idiot – a horrible brother – for not figuring this out sooner, and he approached Sora's door yet again.
"Sora," Roxas called a single time, resting his forehead against the wooden door. Barely a moment passed before the music was abruptly muted and the door swung open.
Sora's expression was annoyed at another interruption, but this time Roxas zeroed in on what he had not paid attention to previously: Sora's red, swollen eyes; the way his hair lay flat and dull against his head; his hunched, defeated posture; and, he realized after a moment, his outfit, the same that he had worn for the party Friday night.
A tense moment passed as Roxas struggled for words to confront him and comfort him, while Sora waited impatiently, his gaze growing more irritated. But Roxas's mind was silent for once, and instead of awkwardly standing in his twin's doorway, the blond let his fraternal instincts take over and he yanked his brother forward and into a rough hug, holding all the more tightly as Sora struggled against him, hoarse voice demanding release.
"It's okay," Roxas soothed, knowing it was anything but, and Sora stilled for a moment, perhaps hearing in his voice that Roxas knew, and he finally collapsed against his shoulder, his harsh, silent sobs moving them both.
They stood in the hallway for immeasurable time, Roxas's heart aching at its twin's anguish. He murmured more empty comforts, as much for his own benefit as for Sora's, and when the brunet's tears subsided into hiccups, Roxas led his twin back to his bed, which Sora immediately crawled into, pulling his twin along with him. Everything about Sora reeked of exhaustion. The twins curled around each other as they hadn't for years, not since their father had left, when Sora would wander into Roxas's room each night to crawl in bed with him, and occasionally when they'd both move to their mother's bed, unable to bear hearing her cry alone.
Now, however, Roxas felt a fierce ire toward his mother: they had done their best to be there for her, and as far as he could tell she hadn't even inquired about Sora, despite the obvious evidence that something was wrong. Above all, though, he was annoyed with himself; their mother, while she was supposed to have a sixth sense about these things, was not around often. He was, so he should have been the first to notice this.
Hardly five minutes passed before Sora was snoring gently against Roxas's bicep, but the blond, who'd done nothing but sleep all weekend, lay awake, thinking about Riku. How could he have done that? Anger at the silveret quickly built up. Sora had trusted him so entirely, loved him so devotedly; Roxas had never so much as seen the couple fight before, and for Riku to so drastically jump from adoring boyfriend to adulterous bastard made Roxas feel sick to his stomach with rage. Something had to be done – Riku deserved to suffer for this, Roxas thought, seething, as Sora murmured and shifted without waking up.
Roxas resolved to confer with Axel about the possibilities tomorrow; the blond wasn't creative enough to think of anything other than punching the bastard in his pathetic face until he hurt as much as Sora did, and although that would be satisfying, Roxas felt that Riku deserved much worse.
Some time passed, Roxas plotting all the while. Eventually he heard the door slam, but was unsure if it was his mother coming or going. Either way, he thought bitterly, gritting his teeth, she wasn't showing any concern for either of her sons, and with these angry thoughts still filling his head, he fell asleep.
The twins woke up at the same time, each with the other's feet in his face. Sora had somehow turned himself around, so that his head rested at the foot of the bed, while Roxas had remained in the same spot he'd fallen asleep in. Both feeling better than they had yesterday – it was Monday, though barely, the alarm clock declared – they giggled childishly for a few moments before Sora's memory seemed to rush back to him and his chuckle died out.
Desperate to keep Sora from sinking into depression, Roxas pulled his twin out of bed and into the kitchen.
"What are we doing?" Sora whined half-heartedly. "It's too early."
The window above the sink showed a still dark sky, so Roxas guessed it probably was too early, but already Sora was looking around, curious and interested, so the blond stuck with his plan.
"We," he began, his head vanishing into the pantry, "are going to have pancakes." Roxas punctuated the statement by successfully pulling out a half-squashed box of Bisquik with a grand flourish. Sora's face lit up, and it was almost like normal.
"Really?" the brunet asked, excited, as he clambered up onto the counter and sat there, legs dangling.
"Really." Roxas squinted at the directions, hoping he could actually do this. "Pass me the pan from that cabinet," Roxas ordered, gesturing vaguely to Sora's left, and the brunet complied happily.
Before long Roxas had the instant mix ready to go on to the hot skillet, and Sora appropriately ooh-ed and ahh-ed as he demonstrated his limited cooking prowess. They both watched as the pile of lumpy batter spread into a likewise-lumpy circle and slow bubbles began to appear. After what Roxas hoped was an appropriate time he "flipped" the pancake – the act was so much harder in practice than in theory – and finally they had a large, very brown, pancake-ish object lying on a plate.
"That's the ugliest pancake I've ever seen," Sora commented, a little awed.
Roxas agreed, but returned to the skillet anyway, hoping practice would make, if not perfect, at least edible.
Half an hour later each of their plates sported a respectable stack of not-quite circular, just off golden brown, mostly lump-free, but overall acceptable pancakes. The garbage can held its own respectable stack of the not-so acceptable ones.
"Well," Roxas remarked, eyeing their meal dubiously.
"Yeah," Sora replied, poking one of them.
Roxas went to grab some maple syrup, but seeing none, instead grabbed the chocolate syrup, peanut butter, and marshmallows. After piling these three ingredients into a small volcano (complete with chocolate lava) on top of their pancakes, they finally sat down to eat in the light of the newly-risen sun.
"Seriously! Those were the most amazing pancakes I have ever tasted!" Sora called after Roxas as he went to get ready for school.
"Yeah, I heard you the first time, Sora. Just clean something up, will you?" the blond yelled back. His cell phone flashing from his pillow caught his attention and he checked it to find a text from Axel.
"Need a ride? ;D"
Roxas grinned; he'd been about to text the redhead himself to ask for that very service. Sending back a grateful affirmative ("yeah thx"), Roxas shrugged his shirt off and grabbed one from the clean pile. Riding with Riku was definitely not an option, and Roxas wanted the chance to talk to Axel again – for entirely devious, revenge-seeking purposes, of course, and not because he actually wanted to, his mind reassured him, as butterflies cavorted merrily in his stomach.
Fully dressed and ready to go, Roxas returned to the kitchen to find Sora hunched over the table, sniffling into his arms. Roxas closed his eyes for a moment, resisting the urge to go find that cheating bastard and kill him right that second. Roxas sat next to his twin, rubbing his arm as he waited for the moment to pass. Sora stood suddenly with a watery smile and went to get ready, leaving Roxas to clean the kitchen, which he did without so much as a twinge of annoyance.
Just as Sora reentered the room, dry-faced, a honk sounded from outside. The brunet froze, eyes wide with panic.
"It's just Axel," Roxas assured him as he tossed their sticky plates into the sink, and Sora tried to force himself to relax. As they left the house, Roxas locking the door behind them, he wondered if Sora was really in a state to be going to school. Thankfully he – Sora, that is – had no classes with that bastard this year, but surely Riku would come up in conversations throughout the day, or worse, try to talk to Sora firsthand. Roxas nearly snarled at the idea; Sora did not need to be having that conversation any time soon, or ever, if Roxas could help it.
These worries still plagued him as Axel drove them to school. At first, the ride was almost painfully awkward. Roxas wanted to rant about The Bastard, as he'd re-dubbed him in his mind, but knew it would upset Sora, who sat silently in the backseat. Axel just looked as if he had no idea what to say in the situation.
"So, how was your weekend?" the redhead asked awkwardly, proving that he did indeed have no idea what to say.
Roxas looked at him incredulously. Through the rearview mirror he could see that Sora hadn't heard the completely tactless question, which was all that kept him from reaching out and smacking the older teen. Axel winced, apparently realizing his mistake.
"I mean… Wow, the weather's awfully nice today!" He announced too cheerfully. "All sunny and… and… spring-y…"
"It is spring," Roxas pointed out dryly, and Axel chuckled, taking one hand off the steering wheel to rub at his neck. The blond watched the road fearfully until he replaced his hand, although Axel was a much better driver than The Bastard.
"Yeah, I guess it is."
Awkward silence reigned once more.
"I like your car," Sora suddenly stated from the backseat, catching Axel's gaze in the rearview mirror with a small smile.
Immediately Axel's eyes lit up, and Roxas, who'd been watching him, felt his mouth go dry. "I've been working on her since before I could drive," Axel gushed, and he continued singing praises of the cherry red corvette, and Roxas listened politely. Although it was obvious to anyone that the car was rather nice looking, Roxas had never felt anything but passing appreciation for cars, mostly because they, y'know, took him places. He had never understood those people who would waste thousands of dollars restoring some pile of rusted metal to its former "glory" when they could just go buy a brand new one for half the cost. But now that Axel was talking about the car so adoringly, he found himself becoming more interested and impressed, and even asked a few questions about some of the mechanics (mostly things like: "It's got a motor, too, right?" and "What about… the tires?" in an uncertain tone) just to keep Axel smiling. Oh, and the lack of awkward silence was nice, too.
Before long the trio arrived at school, Axel still grinning and rambling on about his baby, unmindful of Roxas's serious car knowledge deficit. Roxas tuned the redhead out, however, when he emerged from the car and came face-to-face with another, less-welcome redhead, flanked by what could only have been her sister, sporting the same small nose and wide, blue eyes and peering at him from behind a curtain of blond hair.
"Kairi," Roxas said, surprised by her sudden appearance.
"Hi, Roxas," she replied, her tone infinitely less acidic than it had been at their last meeting. "I don't think you've met my sister, Naminé?" She placed a hand on the blonde's arm and guided her forward, to stand between her and Roxas.
"Hello, Roxas," Naminé smiled prettily, while Kairi abandoned the pair to greet Sora gently. Roxas guessed she must have heard about what happened.
"Hey," Roxas replied unenthusiastically, craning his head over his shoulder in hopes of seeing or hearing some of Sora's conversation with Kairi.
"She won't hurt him, I don't think."
Roxas turned to see Naminé standing a few steps closer and still smiling. "I know she can be… difficult, but I think I talked her out of kidnapping him 'for his own good.' She's just trying to help, honestly."
He blinked at the girl, impressed that she understood his worries about Kairi so thoroughly, and that she was working to keep her less logical sister under control. He smiled more sincerely, deciding he liked her, and opened his mouth to make hopefully not-awkward small talk, but at that moment Axel appeared from the other side of the car with a bright, almost-strained smile.
"I'm Axel," the redhead introduced himself abruptly, and without the roguish charm (or corny catchphrase) he had delighted Olette with the previous week. Roxas wondered at his strange behavior.
But Naminé took it all with that same guileless smile. "Naminé. I've heard quite a bit about you." Axel raised an eyebrow. "Well, both of you," she laughed, glancing at Roxas. "My sister has some very strong opinions."
Roxas grinned. "Yeah, I can believe that. We're not exactly on the best terms." He looked to Axel, recalling the night at the diner, but the older teen was looking at something a little ways off. He followed Axel's gaze and saw Demyx waving.
"I'll see you later, Roxie. Naminé, nice to meet you." And he was gone, leaving Roxas staring after him, puzzled and a little miffed. He'd gotten used to the redhead's constant presence and attention – not to say that he liked it, of course. After a moment he settled on being pleased that he would get a break from the constant flirting and teasing.
"He seems nice," Naminé remarked offhandedly as she started to walk toward the school, their twins a good twenty feet ahead. Roxas brushed off Axel's odd behavior and followed.
"He's alright."
Naminé raised a delicate eyebrow at this ambivalent response, no doubt under the impression that he and Axel were on friendlier terms (and Roxas wasn't sure why it suddenly seemed like they no longer were), but he didn't expound and she didn't pursue, so they dropped the topic and continued their walk in companionable silence. When they reached the building, Naminé hurried off after Kairi and Sora, who seemed to be in an okay mood, and Roxas walked to his class alone, trying to ignore how his solitude suddenly felt more like a problem than a solution.
Two hours later, Roxas shouldered his way past a group of freshmen filling the hallway, slowly making his way to the cafeteria for lunch. Although he knew he wasn't sick anymore, his head was pounding as if he were. Missing a day and a half of school left him with a slew of assignments and tests to make up – so much that Roxas wondered if his teachers were throwing extra homework on top just to see him suffer.
"Roxas!" A voice called from behind him, and he turned, already smiling, to see the petite blonde girl dashing between people, hoisting her messenger bag more securely onto her shoulder.
"Naminé!" Roxas replied cheekily, stopping so she could catch up. "I hope your morning's been better than mine."
The blonde laughed, a little breathless from her run. "Well, I've only had art and study hall this morning, so I guess you could say that. What was so horrible about yours?"
"Nothing important," he brushed it off, more interested in her statement. "Please tell me your afternoon's not as easy as your morning."
She grimaced. "Not quite. I've got math and then science, but at least I end with English, and that's not so bad."
"Yeah, I know what you mean." He didn't actually, as his English teacher was demanding he write two papers and read an entire book before tomorrow, but he didn't see any need to share that with her. "Art, huh? You draw?"
"I try." Naminé's cheeks turned a light shade of pink.
Roxas grinned. "You're really good at it, aren't you? You seem like the artistic genius type."
Naminé's face grew redder, and she seemed at a loss for words, but at that moment they entered the cafeteria.
"Well, I'm going to go find my sister," she squeaked out in a tone higher than her normal voice, before smiling sheepishly. "I'll see you later, Roxas!"
He watched as she hurried off to where Kairi sat with Sora, his smile fading at his brother's slumped posture. Instantly re-incensed, he turned to locate Riku in the busy lunch room, but the table he usually shared with Sora, Selphie, and Tidus held only the latter two. A few feet away, however, Roxas did find Axel, sitting with Demyx. Their heads were bent close together and they seemed to be discussing something important, except that Axel was actually looking across the cafeteria, to where Kairi, Naminé, and Sora were sitting, though his face was void of readable emotion.
Suddenly Axel looked straight at him, and something in his chest clenched painfully at the redhead's expression, a cross between frustration and desperation. Their eyes remained locked, and Roxas had just decided to go and talk to him, but suddenly Demyx realized that Axel wasn't listening and playfully yanked a spike of his hair. Axel turned to the blond with an easy grin, and, feeling the moment was lost, Roxas likewise turned to his regular lunch table, where his friends were no doubt curious about his recent absences.
Of course nothing could be that simple, Roxas internally groaned as he sat hard on the unforgiving plastic seat. Olette sat on his left, with Pence flanking her on the other side, while Hayner sat across from her, with Seifer seated across from Pence. Roxas made himself an oath to never miss school again, since it clearly caused the entire world to turn against him.
"Roxas!"
"Man, where have you been?"
"What's up?"
The teen grinned at the exuberant greetings from his friends, and felt guilty for not spending any time with them recently. Holding a grudge against Hayner seemed ridiculously immature in the face of all Sora's problems.
"Hey, guys. You have no idea how glad I am to be back." He swallowed hard and plucked up his best manners (and a fair bit of courage). "Hey, Seifer. How was your weekend?"
While his friends stared, silent and (he hoped) impressed, Seifer raised a well-manicured eyebrow so that it met the bottom edge of his trademark beanie. "Not so bad that I need a twerp like you trying to make small talk." Roxas stared at him in disbelief, and finally Seifer's lip twitched and Hayner chuckled, obviously amused.
"He's just joking, Roxas. God, your face," Hayner laughed.
Roxas tried to see whatever Hayner saw in his boyfriend's face that led him to this conclusion, but there was nothing except apathetic disdain, and he felt quite certain that Hayner was absolutely delusional. Olette and Pence's lack of amused response other than a few nervous haha's definitely confirmed this theory in Roxas's mind.
When Hayner's laugh finally settled down, Olette pounced on Roxas with endless inquiries about his health.
"Seriously, 'Lette, I feel fine," He stressed the last word as if this would convince his concerned friend to back off. He knew better.
"How can you know that? You never went to the doctor, you took whatever medicine Sora gave you –" this was said in a way that made her trust in his brother's judgment abundantly clear, "– and I'm sure you didn't eat anything decent the whole weekend!"
Roxas opened his mouth to inform her that he had in fact eaten Axel's "personal recommended treatment for all illnesses, real and imagined," but had second thoughts when he remembered what exactly that meal had consisted of, and instead managed a convincing, "Well, I just know."
With a frustrated sigh Olette started her daily ritual of sacrificing half of everyone else's lunches in order to feed Roxas. Even Seifer allowed a bag of chips to be snatched from him without as much as a negative look. But Roxas had been starving, so he took what was given to him without questioning it.
"How's Sora?" Hayner asked, his face concerned.
Roxas hurriedly swallowed a gulp of particularly peanut butter-y PB&J in order to reply, "As well as can be expected. How did you find out?" His eyes automatically gravitated to where his twin sat, and the brunet did seem to be in better spirits as he munched away on a heavily frosted and sprinkled cookie, courtesy of Kairi, no doubt. The redhead herself casually brushed a crumb off Sora's shirt as he watched, but made no inappropriate movements toward him, which relieved Roxas. Sora didn't need that on top of everything else.
"I was at the party, remember? I kinda… watched it unfold, though I'm still really fuzzy on the details." His brow furrowed as he puzzled over something. "Riku was seriously torn up about it."
Roxas immediately felt his anger rise. "Good. That bastard¸" he stressed the word, and Hayner nearly flinched, "deserves to feel worse than the lowest kind of shit."
Seifer looked up sharply at this point, and Roxas grudgingly backed off; it wasn't Hayner's fault.
"No one's saying that Sora wasn't the victim, Roxas," Olette tried to smooth the tense moment over, "Just that every story has two sides, and you have to admit that this situation is a little off."
Roxas was about to go into a tirade about just how "off"" everything was, but he caught Naminé's eyes over Olette's shoulder by chance, and all his anger drained out of him at her concerned look.
"Maybe," Roxas compromised sulkily as Naminé turned to listen to something Kairi said, not missing his friends' raised eyebrows and puzzled looks.
Several minutes passed as they ate in silence, knowing lunch was nearly over.
"Where's Axel?" Seifer suddenly asked, looking genuinely curious, while Roxas looked at him in disbelief. Nobody else seemed to find the question odd, however, and there was a general murmur of not knowing.
Roxas finally supplied the information. "He's sitting with Demyx." The group turned to see that he was in fact with the musician, and they were apparently engaged in a conversation that required Demyx to lean his head against Axel's shoulder. A surge of irrational anger lurched through Roxas, but he brushed it off as just that: irrational. "Why?"
"'Cause he usually sits with us," Hayner replied offhandedly.
"He does?" Roxas asked, wishing his heart wouldn't beat quite so violently against his rib cage.
"Well, yeah. He doesn't know many people here yet, and he was waiting – well, you know." Olette cut off a bit flustered.
Roxas almost growled with annoyance; Olette clearly didn't understand how vital this information was. "No, I don't know. Waiting for what?"
"But that's just it. For you, of course," Roxas's heart fluttered madly into his throat, "but here you are… and there he is," and plunged directly down to the pits of his stomach. He pushed his food away queasily.
Olette watched him carefully, clearly hoping she had been delicate enough, and Roxas shrugged, keeping his face carefully neutral; he was more than sick of his body reacting to everything so dramatically and without his consent.
He laughed weakly, hoping to brush it off, and his voice grew stronger as he talked. "He's allowed to sit where he wants, guys. He's been friends with Demyx for years, and we hardly even know each other!" But here he lost his steam. "It's not like – like he belongs to me," his voice cracked dreadfully toward the end of his sentence and he looked down at his plate, swallowing back the tightness in his throat.
Thankfully at that moment the bell rang and Roxas escaped from whatever well-intentioned things his friends might be preparing to say. As he fought through the throng of students heading to their next class, Roxas heard Naminé call his name over the din, but he pretended not to and just kept pushing through people until he could walk the halls relatively unencumbered.
It took him a few minutes to realize that he was going the exact opposite of the direction his classroom was in and when he did it was with an audible groan of agony that earned him some doubting looks. As he whipped around his eyes caught on a flash of brilliant silver hair, hair that could only belong to one person in the school.
Before he knew what he was doing he was across the hallway. Images of Sora, broken-spirited in his doorway, sobbing in his arms, slumped defeatedly over a kitchen table, then images of Axel, aloof and ambivalent, and finally of Demyx, laughing as he leaned into Axel in a decidedly more than friendly way – these images ran through his mind on repeat as he grabbed the silveret roughly by the shoulder, slammed him into the lockers with a strength he hadn't known he'd possessed, and drove his fist straight into Riku's pretty face with a sick and satisfying crack.