'White Lies'

Disclaimer: if square enix and Disney didn't have such good lawyers i would have stolen the rights to kh by now. Seriously. No joke.

xxx

CHAPTER 7: The Confrontation

It was as if a train had smashed through the entrance to the Usual Spot when Roxas exploded into the small space. Only two others occupied the enclosed area; Hayner and Wakka. Roxas supposed this would make the whole situation easier if he only had a smaller audience witness Hayner's murder. Breathing deeply, Roxas felt the anger within only intensify as his friends continued their game of cards and seemed blissfully unaware of his fuming mood.

Roxas was one who rarely expressed himself so openly, so whenever he became angry, he went all out and became violently infuriated.

Finally spotting the livid expression on his friend's face, Hayner joked, "What's up your ass?"

Swiftly grabbing Hayner by the scruff of the neck, Roxas shoved his so-called friend up against the rough brick wall and ungracefully bellowed into his face, "Certainly not Axel's dick like you've been planning! That's for sure!"

"W-what?" Hayner stuttered, trying to pry Roxas's firmly clenched fists off his clothes.

"Don't. You. Dare." Roxas said, voice reaching the depths of pure hell, "Play fucking stupid with me."

Wakka appeared at Roxas's side, a worried look etched upon his face, giving an immediate albeit nervous apology, "Look, Roxas, about the whole Axel fiasco – I'm really sorry. It got a bit out of hand."

The blonde's response was forcefully polite, although his eyes didn't stray from Hayner's struggling face, "It's fine. Besides I've got a hunch that Hayner was the instigator of this whole mess."

When Wakka didn't move, Roxas sighed irritably and turned to look at him, whilst simultaneously still holding Hayner's neck with a vice-like grip, "Consider yourself forgiven. You can leave now."

An awkward moment that was shared between the three friends stretched as Wakka stubbornly stayed rooted to the ground – making it clear he had no intention to leave he's friends alone in such a conflicting state.

It was Hayner who spoke next, his voice unusually scratchy; courtesy of Roxas's hand clamped over his oesophagus.

"Don't worry, Wakka," Hayner said calmly, "Roxas wouldn't hurt me. I'm his mate." He said the latter with a hint of uncertainty.

The orange-haired friend's eyes flickered back and forth between Roxas and Hayner's faces; as if trying to decipher their skilfully schooled expressions. Grunting in eventual resignation, Wakka slowly departed, giving one last, long look over his shoulder at the pair as he shoved the flap of material aside and disappeared behind it.

Roxas kept his eyes glued to Hayner's face while his friend had his face turned deliberately to the side, avoiding all eye contact. Roxas searched for any sign of regret or admission of guilt for what he'd caused on Hayner's face – but dishearteningly saw nothing.

Growling, Hayner planted both his hands squarely on Roxas's chest and managed to break his hold on his neck, shoving Roxas a few steps away from him. Each of them knew that Roxas was only waiting for an apology. Unfortunately, the fact that they understood each other so well meant both of them also knew that Hayner's stubbornness and unswayable pride meant that the chances of his saying sorry anytime soon were basically nonexistent.

As predicted, when Hayner finally met Roxas's gaze with a steady one of his own, he merely excused his actions by claiming, "It was just a joke, man, calm down."

Hayner could practically see a sudden burst of steam erupt from his friend's ears. Catching the sudden expression change on Roxas's face, Hayner grumbled before getting comfortable on an old upturned crate and preparing himself for a good old-fashioned telling off.

Positioning his arms over his chest and giving Hayner a glare, Roxas tried to spell out to Hayner exactly why what he'd down had been so irresponsible. "Even though this started out as a prank you should have known better than to involve innocent bystanders who aren't part of our circle. You can't just toy around with other people's emotions, Hayner, no matter how tempting it is. This was by far your dumbest act – especially since I'm guessing you had Tidus telling you why you shouldn't have exploited Axel's vulnerable state in the first place. From now on, if you are to ever play some sort of childish trick on me again – it will only involve me, ok? You have made such a mess of things that I don't think you even realise..."

Letting a few seconds drift by, to ensure that Roxas's rant was indeed over, Hayner furrowed his brow and kicked idly at the crate he was sitting on before abruptly asking, "Are we on good terms now?"

Roxas bit down the urge to smack his friend in the face. Typical. Of course Hayner thought that now he'd received an earful of scolding and ranting from Roxas he had paid his dues and that they were now on even footing. Normally Roxas would have allowed this, but for once he was going to get Hayner to do what he wanted.

"Not until you say sorry."

"Oh, come on, Roxas, you know I don't –"

"It's not me you have to worry about." Roxas cut off, "You're going to apologise to Axel."

Hayner opened his mouth, no doubt to decline, "Don't object to it." Roxas said icily before turning to march away, leaving his friend no time to protest. One could only hope now that Hayner would listen and do what he was told for once.

xxx

On a certain Thursday morning, the bitter cold quite suitably reflected the state of Roxas's current dilemma. Despite the dreary rain and windy weather, a pair of teenagers could be found sitting upon a bench at an unsheltered bus stop waiting for their mode of transport to school to arrive. Eventually the blonde brother spoke to his twin – his first words having been uttered that day.

"Hey Sora, what would you do if, say, you wanted to let someone down gently?"

Sora looked up from his shoes, his expression conveying his confusion that Roxas was even asking such a topic of question.

"I mean, like," Roxas stammered, "Hypothetically you ... seem to have a lot of admirers ... and I was just curious. It's got nothing to do with me." He quickly added. The lie hadn't sounded too bad, except for the gaping pauses between thoughts. He was betting Sora, not being a morning person, would probably overlook this flaw, his mind having not properly woken yet.

Sora gave an elaborate shrug, "I don't know where you've been, Roxas, but I don't get many admirers."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'm seen as a friend by people, not a sex symbol." Sora laughed at the image.

"Well," Roxas pressed, worrying that not even Sora seemed able to help him, "Just, say you were... a sex symbol or whatever, but like... you didn't like the person back, but you didn't want to hurt their feelings... or change the way things were. What would you do?"

"Roxas, what's all this about?"

The simple question highlighting his lack of subtlety triggered Roxas's heart to suddenly start pumping at double the pace. Panicking, the blonde stood, forgetting that the action seemed idiotic when the bus they were waiting for hadn't yet arrived.

"Nothing." Roxas said quietly, avoiding Sora's searching eyes, "I'm going to walk to school." When he noticed Sora make the move to stand also, no doubt to walk with him, Roxas shook his head.

"You wait for the bus, I just need to walk by myself... and have some time to think."

Ignoring the puzzled face Sora made at him, Roxas hunched over and dug him freezing hands deep into his coat pockets as he began to briskly walk down the street, slipping on the wet pavement every now and again.

It was strange. Now that Axel had confessed and Roxas had found out about his feeling about him, he felt slightly dense for not having noticed anything beforehand. Axel wasn't exactly renowned for his elusive body language. Axel did make a suspicious amount of jokes about planning for his and Roxas's future and how suitable a candidate Roxas was to be a wife and how cute he'd look in an apron. Roxas scowled, inclining his head so that the cold breeze discontinued its brutal attack on his face.

He'd always thought of the proceedings of math class as one big joke. But now that he really thought about it, he suspected that half the things Axel had kidded about had been true confessions. Maybe if Roxas had picked up on it previously, he could have somehow managed to manoeuvre Axel's feelings away from him and propel them onto someone else.

There had been one time, back when Roxas had been quite ill and had stupid forced himself out of bed and to school, which brought a heavy sense of guilt to the blonde when he thought about it now. Surely he'd had a bright red nose and horrific bags under his eyes, had been sneezing every twelve seconds and had a voice as blocked and nasal as a rhino, yet still ...

"You're looking awfully beautiful today, Rox, you know that?"

Assuming the redhead was being sarcastic, Roxas had of course proceeded to swear little obscenities at Axel for the remainder of the class, not without noticing the tiny, almost invisible smile on Axel's lips. He'd hadn't understood why he'd been smiling for back then, but he did now.

And he felt like a complete idiot for not noticing sooner.

xxx

"Hey Riku!"

Recognising the Junior's annoyingly cheerful voice, Riku ignored him and continued walking down the hallway.

"Didn't you hear me call your name?"

Riku nearly jumped out of his skin when he realised Sora was right beside him. Jesus, how fast is this kid?

"Hey." Riku said, deliberately distancing himself from Sora through both physical distance or not addressing him by name. Now that Axel had made it clear he didn't want Riku's help, Riku had no reason to associate with Sora and taint his reputation with the presence of the exuberant Junior.

"Hi." Sora grinned, "Uh – I know this'll sound a bit weird, but do you by any chance know what's going on with my brother Roxas?"

Although he was somewhat proud of Roxas for not telling Sora what had been going on, the fact that Sora had now come to him of all people for answers kind of put Riku in a difficult position. He blinked, realising he should probably reply so as not to seem suspicious. Shit. What was he meant to do now? Denial seemed an increasingly appealing option right about now. Although of course Riku knew what was going on with Sora's brother.

"No. What's wrong with him?"

"I mean," Sora continued, oblivious to the current overworking of Riku's mind, "I was guessing he was all depressed since he and his girlfriend, Kairi, broke up but when I asked him about it he didn't try to avoid it – which is what he normally does when something's bothering him."

So the kid ditched the girlfriend. Interesting.

"Any idea why they broke up?" Riku feigned disinterest as they continued to stroll down the hall. Maybe Axel would get the guy after all. Chances were still slim ... but weirder things had happened.

"The usual." Sora waved a hand dismissively. "The long distance relationship pushed Kairi into some other guy's bed. Meh."

"Oh." Riku said deflatedly. So it was nothing to do with Axel then. He then gave a hearty cough, "Just out of curiosity, Sora, why are you asking me of all people about your brother?"

"Oh, I just... I dunno. Roxas seems pretty down and you seemed awfully curious about him the other week. I figured you might know something."

Dammit. Clearly Sora had noticed Riku continuously bringing up the topic of Roxas (for Axel's benefit, of course). Fixing the Junior with an impressed stare, Riku decided that maybe there was more to this kid than he'd originally thought – such as the fact that he wasn't such an airhead and apparently could read people quite well.

"Actually, now that I think about it," Sora said, scratching absently at his brown spikes, "Roxas did mention something about wanting to let someone down at the bus stop today and –"

The only possible exit to the direction this conversation was headed was to flee, and now. So, in a suave manner that only he could fake, Riku steered himself down a hallway opposite to where he had been intending to go.

"Well, I've got to go to the library, so I'll see you around."

"Oh – well, hey! That's great!" Sora chirped, "I was actually heading there too!"

Riku figured he would just have to resort to putting up with the annoyance that was Sora for a while but to be sure to keep the topic of conversation clear from anything associating in any way with Axel and Roxas. Such a task shouldn't have been too difficult, as Riku had an uncanny ability to steer conversation when need be. In the end he did have a silver-tongue to match his hair.

xxx

Roxas had never gone this long without talking to Hayner. It had been six days since the last time they'd spoken – or rather – when Roxas had yelled in Hayner's face. Sure, there may have been the time when he'd gone away with the family for a holiday and had accidentally stood on his phone and broken it. But even then, Sora had always been willing to send Hayner a text on his behalf. This time around the lack of communication between the friends was undoubtedly worse. Roxas had still chosen to sit with the normal gang in the days following the incident but had pointedly not initiated any form of communication with Hayner during this period. Hayner had received the implication mere seconds into Roxas's silent treatment and had eagerly returned it full force. Roxas wouldn't have been surprised if Tidus had detected something was going on but, to be perfectly honest, he couldn't care less since he had other things on his mind, like, say, being pissed at Hayner.

And Axel? Well, he'd simply been planning on avoiding the Senior until he figured the whole issue blew over. Eventually. This tactic had been particularly difficult to follow in Maths class when Roxas had to choose between deliberately sitting away from Axel which would in turn make him appear a homophobe or continue sitting next to him as if everything were ok. Which it most certainly wasn't. He was in a bit of a pickle – to say the least.

This is why Roxas found himself perched on a ledge of the town clock tower late one afternoon. The whole gang had previously claimed the area as their 'hang out' spot – but after many near fatal falls, they mutually agreed to find somewhere else. Hence the Usual Spot was found. Despite this, Roxas continued to come back to the clock tower. It was undeniably a good place to think and ensure he was alone with no intrusions. Because of this, Roxas found it a particularly good place to go when in need of having a satisfying and conclusive deep think.

Roxas tensed when he felt his personal bubble burst at the intrusion of someone else's presence atop the clock tower and then heard them sit beside him. Hayner's awful habit of clicking his tongue when nervous gave his identity away, without Roxas even having to turn his head to look at him and figure out who it was. Only sluggishness and other lethargic characteristics resulted in Roxas not being bothered telling Hayner to go away nor getting up and leaving his friend alone.

As expected, Hayner apprehensively prompted conversation.

"Do you remember when we were about 15, and we used to hang out up here all the time, eating ice-cream?" He then cringed and laughed, "And I used to wear them ridiculously ugly army shorts."

An awkward silence stretched on for a few moments, as the pair absentmindedly watched people far below wandering.

"You used to gel your hair too." Roxas half-heartedly offered in order to keep the conversation rolling.

Hayner let out a bark of laughter, "Oh god, I forgot about that. And Pence was a real dork because he carried his camera everywhere ... and Wakka was set on becoming a Pro Blitz Ball player. And when we met you and Sora we thought you guys were some creepy Siamese twins..." he let out a nostalgic sigh. Roxas noticed he hadn't mentioned Tidus.

"You and Tidus aren't still fighting about all this are you?" Roxas frowned slightly as he became aware that he had condensed all the shit that had recently occurred into the two mere unsatisfactory words of all this.

"Nah..." Hayner threw some stray pebbles off the ledge of the clock tower absently, peering over the edge to see if they hit anyone, "I've got a feeling that since he predicted you'd get pissed at me, he'll forget all this since he reckons I got what I deserved."

Now that they were on the topic, Roxas promptly changed the central issue, "Have you talked to Axel?"

Hayner finally looked over at Roxas, as if attempting to decipher his expression, "I'm going to. I can't believe I'm going to apologize to him of all people but -"

"Hayner." Roxas had used this parental tone with his friend so many times that it induced immediate laughs from each of them.

"Yeah, yeah. I will. A promise is a promise." Hayner peered at Roxas again, "Have you?"

"What?"

"Have you talked to Axel lately?"

Roxas looked away, "Does it matter?"

"Hell yeah it matters." Hayner said in one of his rare moments of wisdom, "You guys have only been mates for a little while, Roxas, but I know he's easily your second best friend."

"Second best friend?" Roxas repeated, slightly amused, "How do you figure?"

"I'm first, of course." Hayner grinned widely saying and pointed his thumb towards his chest it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Then, before Roxas could reply, added, "If I have to talk to Axel then you sure as hell do too."

"Everything's gone to shit though." Roxas admitted bleakly. He didn't want Hayner to feel guilty, but felt he had the need to properly explain the situation and the fact that it wasn't going to be solved so simply, "It's not like I can just go up to him and say 'Hey Axel! You had a thing for me, thought I was bi and wrote me goddamn love letters... but let's just rewind and go back to being buddies, ok?' Sounds a bit far-fetched, don't you reckon?"

"Well, when you say it like that, yeah, it does actually." Hayner answered honestly. Roxas fixed him with a cold stare and Hayner raised his hands in surrender, "Ok, ok. Because I fucked this friendship of yours up I'll sort it out."

"No way, Hayner." It went unsaid that they both knew that Roxas thought that Hayner would, if anything, screw things up even more if he continued to intervene.

"Fine." Hayner scoffed, "Think about it this way though, all the issues with me, Tidus and the guys are fixed, so the only other problem is Axel."

"And Kairi." Roxas added. "But I suppose that was over a long time ago." It wasn't like he planned on staying in contact with someone he felt nothing for. The very idea itself seemed a redundant act more out of obligation than anything else.

"It's just Axel." Hayner shrugged, the words sounded so peculiar coming from him, seeing as he hated the redhead, "If he's as good a friend as you say he is, then all this reconciliation shit should be a piece of cake, right?"

I hope so.

Giving Hayner a small and slightly hopeful smile, Roxas felt the crushing weight in his chest ease slightly as he gladly discovered that at least one of his relationships was steadily on the track of improvement and normality.

xxx

A/N:
And there you go.

The last couple of months have flown by so im sorry i left this so late. Been enrolling in university and all that.

Man im so out of whack with writing again. *cracks knuckles* i really need to get back into the swing on things...

In all honesty ill probably update sooner if i get more feedback since itll motivate me and remind me that there ARE people who are actually reading my crap. Yeh, low tactic for reviews ... but whatever.

jordan x