"Man Dem, you should have seen his face. It was like he'd just found the root of all that's evil! I mean, jeezus, it wasn't even my fault! It was Reno that was driving the car! Not me!" Axel ran a hand through his hair as his friend Demyx made 'uh-huh' and 'yeah' and 'of course man' noises through out the entirely one-sided conversation. The two of them had been sitting in the coffee shop for about an hour and each had drunk two cups of java.

Axel raised one of his bright green eyes and looked at the blue eyed air-head that sat across from him. He sighed heavily when he noticed the guy was making googly eyes at one of the waiters.

"Jeezus, Dem." Axel sat up from his slumped over form and glared at the waiter who'd just waved a small wave at the sandy haired scatter-brain. "That's what you get punk." He muttered as he leaned back over his coffee.

"Hey," Demyx whined. "He was cute."

"Yeah, well that's what you get for not listening to me." Axel looked out the window as a silver car zoomed past. Boy, things are not going well. "I just don't know what I'm supposed to do now."

"Well, you tried your best, didn't you? Hey! I know what we can do that'll cheer you up!" Demyx grinned over at his compadre. Axel looked over at the bubbly twenty year old with an arched eyebrow.

"Oh yeah, and what's that?" I'm just so enthusiastic about your ideas.

"Clubbing! Come on Ax, you love clubbing! And while I was ordering our- hey! Don't give me that look!- that cute barista gave me the scoop about where's best." Demyx looked so proud of himself at his 'find' that Axel just didn't have the heart to tell him he didn't want to go out tonight. "Come on, you know you'll love it! You always do!" The dirty blonde grinned like a puppy at the red-head. With a sigh Axel consented.

"Fine. When and where?" Axel just hoped that a late night might get rid of his problems.

"So, this is your car?" Roxas asked as he and the other two got out of the sleek, silver car they'd just raced through town with.

"Heh, yeah, my parent's are kind of into giving extravagent gifts." Something in the silver's voice and the look Sora cast at his boyfriend stopped him from saying what he was going to.

"Oh."

"So!" Sora chimed in happily. "You guys ready to look around some? I heard from Selphie that a new candy shop opened up around here. You guys wanna check it out?"

"Sure Sora, do you want to lead the way?" Riku smiled down at the brunet before he took off down the road.

"He's sure got a lot of energy." Roxas muttered to himself.

"That's just his way of coping. Sort of like what you're doing now." Roxas looked up at the taller male with wary eyes. "Don't tell him I told you this, but Sora always acts way more cheery when something's getting him down." Riku looked down at the blonde, expecting some sort of reaction, but he only got a stare.

"He acts happier, when he's sad?"

"Yeah, like you sort of push folks away, he tries to smile at everyone." Roxas stared harder at his cousin's boyfriend.

"How do you know I'm not always like this?"

"Whenever Sora came home from visiting you and your family he'd go on and on about you and how much you'd run around together around Twilight Town. To be honest I always wished I could go with him one day and meet you, but . . .,"

'Yeah, but . . ., that's going to be the motto of my life.' Roxas kept walking down the street with Riku as they slowly made their way towards where Sora was asking some guy for directions.

"You just head up the street a little ways and then it should be on your right. The next intersection, I think." The guy had really pink hair and was dressed up in some fanciful get up, all flowing and everything.

"Oh! Hey guys! I just got directions for the to the new candy shop. Come on, let's go!" Sora waved good-bye to the fancy guy and the man smiled back with a little wave himself before Sora took Riku's left arm and intertwined his hand with the silveret's. The boyfriends fell into a light conversation, inviting Roxas in as well, but he told them he wanted to look around while they were walking.

The light buzz of conversation next to him felt comforting as he thought about what Riku had said. He knew he wasn't as sociable as he was before the accident, but he didn't think he was really pushing everyone away. I wonder if I should talk to Sora later. . . maybe I should try to be a bit more . . . nicer.

"So-," Roxas started, but was immediately interrupted.

"Here it is! Doesn't it look cool?" Sora held his hands out as if the shop was his pride and joy.

The place looked more like a coffee shop than a candy shop, but Roxas wasn't complaining. The building itself was an olive green color that became a tannish color for the roof. The name of the shop was printed on a large, painted, wooden plaque that read 'Kingdom Coffees and Cakes'. 'Well, I was right about the coffee part.' Roxas thought to himself.

"Uh, Sora, you sure this is a candy shop?" Riku asked, noticing the fact that 'candy' wasn't in the name at all.

"Of course. Selphie said that they had great liquorice and the cakes are pretty good, too." Sora walked into the shop, the bell on the door jangling as the other two followed suit.

"Of course you'd come for the frosting." Riku sighed to himself as they walked over to the line. The inside smelled of coffee and sugar, not such a bad pairing, Roxas thought to himself as he scanned over the menu.

"I'm tellin' you Ax, we've got to invite someone else to come along with us. You've nixayed Xigbar and Xaldin so how 'bout . . . Larxene! She's great for a party!"

"No way. I'd invite Saix before that crazy bitch. Last time she came along with us she got wasted and couldn't drive us home even though she was the designated driver."

"Aw comeon Ax-,"

"No Dem. It can just be you and me, maybe Saix if you really want - oh, sorry there." Roxas was hit in the shoulder from behind and had stumbled a bit, causing himself to bump into Riku. When he looked to see who it was he looked directly into the eyes of the guy from yesterday.

"You!" They both shouted as the red-head pointed at the Roxas. The blonde was surprised he had run into this guy of all people, but he quickly got over his surprise and started to yell at him.

"The hell are you doing here?" He shouted. People began to throw glances at the area in which Roxas was standing.

"Listen kid-," Axel tried placating.

"I'm not a kid. Now what are you doing here?"

"All right, kid, it's a coffee shop, why else would I be here?"

"I told you, I'm not a kid, and how should I know what you're doing here?"

"Well, it's a coffee shop, I don't know why anyone would want to be here if it wasn't to drink coffee."

"Well you know what? We're not! We're getting candy!" Oh, wow, Roxas, smooth, really, the blonde thought angrily to himself.

"Really, you actually like sweet things? Wait," Axel held up a hand before the blonde started to bite his head off again. "I'm sorry about yesterday, okay? There, can't we have a truce?"

"Hell no." Roxas spat out as the red-head's face fell a bit. Shit, I should really stop being pissy, but it's his fault.

"Whatever brat. Come on Demyx, let's go before someone throws another hissy fit." Axel quickly drew back out the door, rolling his eyes at Roxas as a sandy haired blonde waved awkwardly on his way after the red-head.

"Roxas? You okay?" Sora asked timidly, worrying what the other guy meant by sorry about yesterday, but all he got was a wave and quick response.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll go save us a seat." Roxas brushed off Sora's outstretched hand and quickly made his way into a booth near the windows. He huffed out an angry sigh and saw a pair of motorcycles race down the street which made his gut twist with a small feeling of guilt.

"Do you really think he's all right?" Sora asked Riku, his blue eyes full of concern for his cousin.

"Hmm, I think he's just trying to deal right now." Riku moved forward in the line, looking at the display case for what he wanted to buy.

"But . . .," Sora was still caught up on Roxas' change of personality.

"Don't worry. Do you want to go talk to him? I'll pay for your food." Riku squeezed Sora's hand in encouragement.

"Thanks Riku, you're the best." Sora gave his boyfriend a quick peck on the cheek before moving over to the booth. The blonde was staring out the huge window and sighing, definetly not a good sign. Sora took a deep breath before braving the hectic waters that were Roxas.

"Hey Rox." Sora grinned as the teen looked stunned for a moment. "What? Did I say something wrong?"

"Huh? Ah- no, it's just that no one's called me that in a while. I was just . . . surprised." He looked back out the window and sighed again.

"Oh. Um . . . do you want to talk about it?" Sora looked hopefully over the table, willing his cousin to talk about his feelings. Roxas on his part looked skeptically over at his cousin, wondering why Sora was interested in him.

"Um . . . no th-," Sora's face fell a little bit and another twinge of guilt wiggled into Roxas' stomach. "Sure. I'll talk. What do you want to know?"

"I don't know. Everything! I want to know how you're doing?"

"Um . . . I don't know to be honest. I feel hollow. Like the accident just sucked everything out of me." Roxas looked away and out the window, feeling foolish for saying that out loud.

"That's nothing to feel bad about. When I was younger- do you remember how Kairi and I had a dog? Well, one day it ran away and I cried for days on end." Sora blushed a bit. "I know that a dog doesn't really compare to family, but-."

"Wasn't it that really big thing? With the weird name?"

"Pluto!" Sora smiled up at his cousin.

"Yeah! I remember him. He was a pretty cool dog. I always wondered what happened to him, but then we stopped coming over so much. . ." Roxas drifted off again, but Sora saw a small smile play across his face.

"Yeah, but we still saw each other sometimes." Sora felt a tug at his chest as he folded his hands on top of the table and a small tear fell down his cheek. Roxas looked over in time to see the brunet wipe it away quickly and he smiled a tiny bit.

"Thanks Sora. I promise I'll talk later. Just . . . maybe not now." Sora looked up at the blonde and saw his cousin wipe away a tiny tear. They both grinned goofily at each other while Riku came over with the food and drinks hoping for the best.

Okay, Riku's car is an Audi R8, very sleek, and that seemed to fit Riku a bit. I'm not sure who his parents are, but they're rich, so if you have an idea I'm open for it.

R&R is appreciated. thanks.