Ballad

by skinnedkneedmisfit

All Namine wanted was a cover band for her wedding. All Roxas wanted was to make his fiancee happy. All Axel wanted was to be heard.

22. B-Side: Teenage Dirtbag part two

°! SPECIAL NOTE !° - READ THE BOTTOM OF THIS CHAPTER FOR IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT ORDERING MY KINGDOM HEARTS PRINT AND A SPECIAL OFFER!

…

In this chapter: Sora learns what it takes to be a friend.

xxxXXXxxx

Ballad B-Side
"Teenage Dirtbag" part two

xxxXXXxxx

Flynn made sure to keep himself scarce for the next month. By then it was late July and there was only one precious month left of summer vacation. And by extension, just barely a month and a half until Sora's sixteenth birthday. Which meant one thing.

"I can't believe I'm going to school in the summer."

Demyx walked beside him on the scorching hot sidewalk. "Yeah, but… it's fun school."

"Yesterday they showed us a bunch of old VHS footage of car accidents. Like, accidents from before paramedics arrived. They forced us to watch amateur footage of actual dead bodies." Sora's face paled slightly at the memory.

"But… driving? Yay?"

"I get that, but at what cost?"

Sora would have to get thirty hours of classroom time, which meant two hours of class time, every weekday, for three excruciating weeks. And only after that would he be able to start training behind the wheel. He'd have to log over forty hours of driving and take a written exam before he would qualify for his license. Come hell or high water, he was going to get his licence by September fourteenth.

"But back to important matters," Demyx said, holding up his backpack with a rolled-up piece of posterboard sticking out. "Where should we try this first?"

It took a couple weeks of prodding, but they finally got Larxene to go out and buy them some spray paint. In Demyx's bag they had two cans of black and a stencil with a design they came up with.

"It's stupid doing this in broad daylight. We're gonna get caught."

"Not if we're smart about it."

To the casual observer, it may appear that someone like Demyx telling you to be smart about anything was a joke, but Sora knew better. His friend was a lot smarter than he let on.

The first place they marked was an alleyway downtown. It was safely out of sight and nobody would hear the can spray over the noises of the city. The alleyway was a narrow space between a brick building and another building with smooth cement walls. There was already graffiti art there, so they put their stencil someplace that wouldn't overshadow what other people had done. Judging by the splotchy paint job of the wall, they recoated this space at least several times a year.

The act itself took about thirty well-coordinated seconds. Demyx put down his backpack. Sora unrolled the poster and held it against the wall. Demyx took out a can, shook it quickly, and sprayed as thick and even a coat that he could manage. Quickly, Sora rolled the poster back up, they threw everything back into the backpack, and casually walked out of the alley like nothing happened.

It continued that way for the rest of the summer. Sora would get out of class, and Demyx would be waiting for him. Sometimes borrowing his sister's car, sometimes on foot, but always with his backpack on hand. They would sneak around underpasses and in alleyways, leaving their mark for only selected few of the world to see.

When they weren't tagging up the streets of downtown Bastion, they were at the arcade busting high scores and becoming legends. It was so much fun that Sora didn't want to summer to end. However, all good things must pass, and by the end of August his mom was pestering him about back to school shopping.

Sophomore year started with a fizzle. This year Sora didn't share any classes with Demyx. He was surprised at what a big void the punk left in his morning when they didn't get to chat between lectures in Health. Luckily, his first period class was Latin, and he was excited about being able to share that language with his friend.

His usual sophomore routine was hanging out with Tidus and Wakka by their lockers on some days, and other days hanging out with Demyx in the school library. Tidus and Wakka made it on the blitzball team and their time after classes was dedicated to practice, so it was the only time they really got to hang out. Demyx was busy studying for college exams. Sora felt kind of lost and pointless. Perhaps he needed something to distract him.

Flynn was there. He was a senior this year, and it seemed like he was in a desperate bid to get his act together for college applications. Neither him or Demyx would so much as look at each other, and Sora noticed his friend favored acting like Flynn didn't even exist. All just as well, since both were kept busy writing essays, doing research, finding places to do community service, and touring campuses. All this was just to apply to college, and spoke nothing of the mountains of paperwork required for scholarship and financial aid applications. Sora was dreading his senior year like a dog in the pound.

The year wasn't without highlights. Sora smiled as he marched into the library one October afternoon. Demyx was sitting at his usual table near the back with an open physics textbook.

"Ladies and gentlemen, hold your applause until the end of the presentation," Sora said, announcing his arrival. Demyx glanced up with a curious smirk. The brunet made a trumpet sound with his lips and unveiled the most important accessory any self-respecting sixteen-year-old owned: a driver's license.

"Impressive," Demyx cooed, taking the card and glancing it over. He admired Sora's small portrait and signature on the front. "You even managed to keep your eyes open. Well done."

"And no easy feat. The poor lady behind the counter retook my picture five times." Sora took his wallet out from his back pocket and returned his freshly minted license into its proper place. "My parents told me they're thinking about getting me a car. A clunker, probably, but still."

"That's exciting. Ultimate freedom."

"I'm curious though, how come you always borrow your sister's car? Doesn't she get sick of that?"

Demyx shrugged his shoulders. It was a pretty basic tram route from Demyx's neighborhood to their high school. Larxene was a night owl and didn't really need her car while Demyx was at school anyway, so if he needed to borrow it, it wasn't the end of the world.

It wasn't until the week before midterms, after classes ended on a Thursday, that Flynn approached Sora for the first time since Demyx punched him over the summer. Sora closed his locker door and there he was leaning with his back against the locker beside him.

"Hey, small fry."

Sora's heart lunged up his throat, and in doing so screwed with his basic motor functions as he dropped his a binder and several spirals on the ground. Paper went everywhere. "Flynn! Hey!" Sora cried, shocked. He started quickly picking up the papers and the senior knelt down to help.

The younger student was so sure that Flynn hated his guts. He was supposed to study with Demyx after school and he kept his eyes peeled for the punk to appear around the corner. Flynn seemed to read his mind and commented, "We both have Lit seventh period. The teacher asked him to help for a second, so we should be fine."

"...Look, about what happened, I-"

"Sora you have no idea how sorry I am. I'm such an idiot for not seeing how you were reacting."

Sora was about to apologize for Demyx punching Flynn in the face. He wasn't expecting to be apologized to. "What? No, that's… whatever, it's not important." What was important was that Flynn was talking to him. It seemed like he was trying to set things right. Maybe there was a chance for them after all!

"I just feel like I really screwed up what we had going… I mean…" the boy took a deep breath and shuffled his feet. "I'm still up for it if you are."

"Yeah!" Sora was singing on a mountaintop. "Of course!"

Flynn smiled a crooked, dreamy smile and nodded his head. "That's- that's great! So, um, I've got this party coming up, Friday night after mid-terms are over. It's gonna be at my place. Really small and low-key. Think you can make it?"

Even if Sora couldn't, that wouldn't stop him of trying. "Absolutely."

"Cool." Flynn gave a cursory look around the hall and hitched his backpack higher on his shoulder. "I should probably leave before your keeper arrives. Don't… let him know about this, okay?"

"He's not my keeper," Sora sighed, rolling his eyes. On top of that, telling Demyx wasn't an issue. He probably wouldn't have fun anyway. "My lips are sealed." Flynn beamed at him and waved to leave the hallway before the punk arrived. Right on time, Demyx turned the corner and sighed heavily.

"Sorry about that. My teacher made me deliver some worksheets to another room."

"No worries. Are you ready to head out?"

The following two hours consisted with the boys' noses being buried in textbooks and flashcards. Demyx only broke down and cried over AP calculus once. It was a miracle they made it to six o'clock. Sora's stomach growling alerted that it was time to wrap up so he could make it home in time for dinner. While packing up their books, they chatted about how great it would be once mid-terms were over.

"Oh, by the way, I'm going to be gone the bulk of break," Demyx said. It wasn't something they had discussed before and it caught Sora off-guard. A whole winter break without Demyx around? What hideous evils had he wrought in his past life to deserve such a fate? "It's no big deal," his friend went on to explain. "I wanted to visit Destiny U, and my parents decided to make a trip out of it, so we'll be spending a couple weeks there."

"But Destiny Island sucks during the winter time." Not warm enough to swim. Not cold enough for snow. On top of that it was the rainy season.

"It doesn't really matter to me. I'll be spending most of my time on campus. We've got a hotel at the harbor so they'll be spending most of their time there. That's where all the touristy stuff is."

"Yeah, in the summer. Ugh, that's so lame."

"I'm not the only one who's dreading it, either. My parents are dragging Larxene along because they demanded she spend Christmas with the family. She's pissed. But at least she's only gonna spend a few days." It wasn't fair that Larxene had a car and could come and go whenever she wanted. If Demyx had a car it wouldn't be too difficult for the punk to find a few spare hours to make the trip back to Bastion and hang out. Demyx ruffled Sora's already mussed hair. "It's not the end of the world. I'm not leaving until Saturday afternoon so you can spend Friday night if you want."

Sora paused for a second. It sucked that Demyx was going to be gone most of the break, but Flynn's party was on Friday. "I… can't. Sorry." He bit his lip. "My family's doing something that night."

Thankfully Demyx didn't seem to think too much about it. "All's good. I should probably spend that time packing anyway. I don't know how much to bring. They should have washing machines on campus, right?"

Demyx kept the conversation going until they had to split. Sora spent the rest of the week with a nagging sense of dread, worried that the senior would hear about Flynn's party and know that was where Sora was really going to be on Friday night. However, whether he knew about it or not, Demyx never mentioned.

°o°

"Okay, so," Riku said, still sitting on his spot at the dining table with an empty bowl in front of him, "you bailed on your best friend to go to a party hosted by a certified tool?"

Sora showed off a small grimace and glanced towards his bowl, still with a few bites of spaghetti left but now too cold to be appetizing. "Well, hindsight's twenty-twenty."

"That was still a colossally shitty thing to do."

At this, the brunet rolled his eyes so far back they could have fallen out of his face. "Oh, come on, Riku. You were sixteen once, too. I'm not saying that justifies anything, but you know how it felt."

The punk's cheeks tinted slightly. "Yeah, I remember," he mumbled.

"If I was going to get laid I needed to make sure that Demyx was kept busy and, perhaps more importantly, I needed to look good."

°o°

It was finally Friday, and mid-terms were dead and gone. Sora was sure he did well, but that didn't soothe his frazzled nerves as he paced the floor of his bedroom wondering which outfit he should wear that night. Despite insisting that he leave, repeatedly, Roxas insisted on laying sprawled across Sora's bed playing his DS.

Well, if he was going to just sit there being useless, Sora may as well make him help. "Which one?" he asked, holding up two different colored basic t-shirts.

Roxas glanced out of the corner of his eye and continued to mash buttons. "Red."

Sora held up two pairs of blue jeans, one with holes in the knees and another with a darker wash and holes in the knees. "Which one?"

This time, Roxas sighed loudly, pausing his game and putting it down. "They're both bad. You should get mom to buy you new pants." The older brother just shook his head and decided to go with the darker wash. "What does it matter, anyway? You're just staying the night at Tidus'…"

"Well, I don't want to look like shit in front of Tidus," Sora stated. As if he were imparting some precious, older-brother wisdom down to his younger sibling, he pointed at Roxas and added, "Dressing good is important."

Roxas clicked his tongue and went back to his game. Sora changed clothes and checked himself in the mirror repeatedly. His brother paused his game again. "Why do you keep checking out your butt?"

"Because butts are also important." Sora saw the time from his bedside clock radio and cursed under his breath. "I need to leave or I'll miss my bus. Out." He pointed Roxas towards the door and the kid reluctantly stood and meandered towards the exit.

"I don't get why mom or dad can't drive you."

"Because until I get my car I'm on my own for transport," which wasn't something his parents ever necessarily conveyed to him, but for obvious reasons he couldn't ask them for a ride to Tidus' house on the complete opposite side of town from where he was headed. He made it to his stop just in time for the lumbering bus to pull up, pick him up, and drop him off within walking distance to Flynn's duplex.

Once he got on the right street, he was surprised at the amount of cars parked on the curb. He could hear the music and chatting from a few houses down. Once he got inside he was surprised at how crazy the scene was. Flynn was nowhere to be found, but the place was small enough that he knew it wouldn't be a difficult task. In the meantime, he went to the kitchen and poured himself a drink to loosen up. Red cup in hand, he decided to make the rounds and see who all showed up to this 'small, low-key' gathering.

So far, he wasn't noticing anybody he was particularly familiar with. There were mostly seniors from Flynn's lower-level classes that didn't overlap with Demyx's AP class friends. There was, however, one face that shocked Sora to see.

The choir's golden boy, Phillip, sitting on the couch next to a pretty blonde girl that Sora recognized as the choir's junior head captain, Aurora. She was looking pretty blasé at her cell phone screen while Phillip talked animatedly to another boy about something that Sora couldn't hear over the music.

Just as Sora was about to go over and talk to him, he felt a hand on his shoulder pull him close to another body. He looked up and saw Flynn's dashing smile. "Hi," Flynn said, all cheese. He even wiggled his eyebrows. Sora laughed and nudged him away.

"Hey, I was looking for you!"

"How long've you been here?" he asked, looking in Sora's cup and noting it was almost empty. He led Sora back into the kitchen and poured him another drink.

"Not very. This is an awesome turnout!"

Flynn just shrugged and handed Sora his cup back, this time heavy with a Jack and coke. "It's modest, but I'm proud." Sora laughed. In a mansion like Demyx's house this crowd would look small, but squished inside the small duplex it made it seem like the party was hopping. Sora felt like he was lagging behind the kids that were already wasted and went through his drink rather quickly. "Hold your horses, small fry, this isn't a race," Flynn laughed. "Hey, if you're interested in trying again, we've got a circle going in the office. Wanna join?"

Tipsy on the wings of alcohol, the idea of trying out pot again sounded like the most amazing idea he had ever been offered. He took Flynn's hand and had the boy lead him down a short hall to a small room filled with a similar crowd Sora remembered from last summer. Another thing that surprised him, Larxene was there.

"Sora!" she said happily with bloodshot eyes. "C'mere, buddy. You've got to try this." She placed a blunt, newly lit, between the brunet's fingers. It was less complicated than a bong, but it also came with its own set of problems. Sora hesitated with all eyes on him as he slowly raised the blunt to his lips and took a small, short breath in. The smoke was a lot warmer this time, but since he wasn't trying as hard it didn't feel as bad as it did in the past. When he breathed out, a small puff of smoke released with it, and to Sora, it looked kind of cool. He tried taking another hit, this time a little deeper, but he coughed.

"Baby steps," Larxene laughed. "You did good, though! If you ever need more, lemme know."

While he still had his wits about him, Sora passed the blunt to the person to his left and turned back to Larxene, both his hands on her shoulders. "Hey, Larx? How sober are you right now?" She was smiling and giggling, which led him to believe that she was blitzed out of her mind. "Larx, this is important. You cannot tell Demyx I was here tonight, okay?"

She still laughed, but lifted up her hand with an 'O.K.' gesture. "Whatever, dude. S'not like we talk much anyway."

The weed was starting to take effect. It was a different feeling than before. Perhaps this stuff was better than whatever Flynn bought last time. It was like Sora had been sprinting down a long tunnel with the end in sight, only the tunnel suddenly stretched out into infinity, and he had all the time in the world to do whatever he wanted.

He spent some time talking with the people in the room. One of them looked vaguely familiar, but Sora couldn't put his finger on it. When he brought it up, the dude mentioned he was Lexaeus Marshall, Roxas' little buddy Hayner's older brother. Sora made sure to tell him not to say a word, but it was hard to stay serious and he just kept laughing.

Eventually Flynn had wrapped his arm around Sora's chest and pulled him away from the circle. "Let's have some fun," he whispered, and the led the brunet out of the office and towards the living room where the mood had changed slightly. Everyone was hammered and dancing to the loud stereo blaring music from the kitchen counter.

Sora easily sunk into Flynn's body as they danced. Under the influence, it seemed stupid to worry about the consequences, about what people might say tomorrow after seeing Sora Strife grinding on Flynn Rider. But it didn't seem like anyone was paying attention, and perhaps that was part of Sora's charm. Some kind of unbelievable luck surrounded him and made everything so easy when it came to getting the guy.

The spell he was weaving all night finally paid off when Flynn leaned into Sora's ear and whispered, "Let's go to my room." No matter how high or drunk Sora was at the moment, his racing heart gave him a moment of clarity as he nodded his head and followed Flynn's lead towards the door on the opposite side of the hall from the office. When they got inside and Flynn slammed the door shut behind them, the room was black, and in the darkness he started kissing Sora's face and neck with purpose. Light started streaming in from the street through the bedroom window, and Flynn slowly urged Sora to step backwards towards the bed.

This was different than the kissing at the party over the summer. Sora could feel his body reacting and could feel the same building up in Flynn when they were dancing outside. While Sora was sitting on the edge of the bed, the older boy stood pressed between his legs and pulled off Sora's shoes, making a move for the button on his jeans when he stopped cursed softly.

"Fuck… What do you want to do?" he asked, panting. He looked so freaking hot that Sora was sure he'd melt on the spot.

"Let's do this. I'm ready."

A large, pleased smile spread across Flynn's lips. He left his spot between Sora's legs and rummaged through the lower drawer at his desk, pulling out a condom and some body lotion. It happened quicker than Sora thought it would, or perhaps it was the effects of the weed and the alcohol. It hurt, which he had expected, but the lotion made it better. Sora waited for the big moment when everything would stop feeling so uncomfortable and all that hyped pleasure would start flaring up, but it never happened. Flynn came after only about a minute, leaving Sora behind. After heavy panting for a moment, there came a knock at the door.

"Yo Rider! Where are you?"

Flynn let out a string of short curses, quickly removing the spent condom and tossing it in the wastebasket, zipping up, and peeking out the door. Apparently someone had dropped an entire six-pack of beer bottles and there was glass and booze everywhere in the kitchen. Flynn turned and softly said, "I'll be right back," before leaving to help deal with the mess.

Sora was left alone wondering if he should jerk off or wait for Flynn to come back. After waiting what seemed like hours he decided if a job needed to be done right, he'd have to do it himself. Luckily there was a box of tissues in the drawer at Flynn's desk to clean up afterwards.

The aftereffects of everything were starting to weigh on Sora as he started to get sleepier and his eyelids drooped down lower. He wasn't sure what time it was, but sleep sounded awfully pleasant right about now. Still dressed in his red shirt and ripped dark-washed jeans, Sora slipped into Flynn's bed and fell asleep.

And a minute later he was being softly nudged awake. Only it wasn't just a minute, Sora discovered as he cracked his eye open and saw Flynn's bedroom filled with disgusting, painful sunlight. Sora groaned and attempted to hide his head under the pillow.

"Nope, you gotta wake up," Flynn said, gently shaking his shoulder again. "You need to leave. My parents just called and they'll be home soon. I still need to clean up."

Sora's head hurt. When he sat up in bed, he found the pain spread throughout his lower half, and memories of what they did last night flooded his now-sober mind. "It's too early for this," Sora groaned.

"I'm not joking, they'll be home in like a half hour. Everyone needs to leave." Without saying much else, Flynn left his bedroom. Sora noticed that the older boy was carrying a large black trashbag filled with clanking cans and bottles. He glanced at an alarm clock near Flynn's bed, noting it wasn't even noon yet. His parents wouldn't expect him home so early if he left now.

Sora crawled out of the bed and slipped his shoes back on. Every step brought new and regrettable flashes of discomfort in his body as he shuffled out the door and into the den. There were still about five other completely hungover kids shuffling around like zombies, most looking for items they misplaced during the night. Sora checked and was relieved that his cell phone and wallet were still in his back pockets.

"I can help," Sora said, getting a start by stacking empty plastic cups. Flynn walked over and took the cups from him.

"You look terrible," he said, quickly adding, "No offense. But if my parents come home and see you they'll know. They're okay with the drinking and the pot as long as I'm doing it at home, but the party would be taking things too far."

"Could you at least give me a ride?" Sora figured maybe he could hole up at the arcade for a few hours until it was a reasonable amount of time to fight off this sick feeling and head home.

"I can't," Flynn sighed. "I need to clean. Sorry, Sora." Upon seeing the brunet's disappointed face, he tried to cheer him up. "I'll text you later today, how's that?"

Sora didn't know what he was expecting. Breakfast and cuddling? He shook his head and walked towards the door. "Nah, it's cool. Do what you gotta do." For some reason, Sora doubted that Flynn would text him. He wasn't even sure he wanted to talk to him at the moment. "I'll see you at school?"

It was best not to get too attached. Sora got what he wanted, right? This was what he ditched hanging out with Demyx and playing video games for. No looking back, everything happened exactly the way Sora wanted it to happen. He had to keep telling himself that when he watched Flynn's face fall in regret as he left the shitty duplex.

Whatever. He wasn't that good of a kisser anyway.

Sora played off his red, watery eyes as allergies when he got home, locking himself in his bedroom for the rest of the weekend.

Yes, sophomore year was pretty terrible. When Demyx got back from his trip to the islands his face was lit up and he wouldn't stop talking about how beautiful everything was, even when it was rainy, and how excited he was to go there. He hadn't even received a response from his application yet, but he seemed pretty sure about it. The looming thought of Demyx leaving only added to the weight on Sora's shoulders.

"The harbor is really cool! Apparently that's where the students like to hang out during the weekends and holidays. There's a boardwalk that has a cool pizza place – family run – and a like this really old school style ma-and-pop video rental store. Everything's so small and indie, it's so rad! I can't wait to show it to you when you come visit."

At least Demyx was optimistic about Sora's chances of getting into such a prestigious school. The lowly sophomore had his doubts.

"And Larxene got herself a boyfriend during the trip, believe it or not. He works as a florist and has pink hair. It's a little weird, but they seemed to tolerate each other, so I can't judge." Demyx continued talking but it kept rolling in and out of Sora's ears like white noise.

"Hey dude, are you okay?"

The shrill sound of the school bell snapped Sora out of his daze. He turned to the side and noticed his friend looking at him, a tinge of worry on his brow. "Oh. Yeah, sorry. Winter break was a little lame."

"Says the boy who got a car for Christmas…" Demyx playfully smacked Sora on the back of the head as he stood up, grabbing his backpack off the floor. The brunet did finally get that car he was promised earlier last semester, a rusty 1986 sky blue El Camino clunker, just like he thought, but it was a car.

"Talk about it at the library after school?"

"It's our first day," Sora chuckled. If his teachers were already going to assign homework and studying the first day back from break that would be the final nail in the coffin.

"Then come back to my place and we'll play something."

The thought of vegging with Demyx made the day seem like it was going to suck significantly less. When he entered his first period classroom, he noticed the seating had been rearranged from last semester. There were instructions on the chalkboard for students to pick their own seats, rather than being arranged alphabetically like usual. In the chaos of kids trying their best to sit next to as many friends as possible, Sora noticed a fresh face in the crowd.

The new girl ended up taking the seat next to his, the one closest to the window. One of the first things he noticed was her incredibly long, golden hair, pulled back into a braid. She was also wearing flipflops, in winter. She noticed Sora sneaking a glance at her and smiled warmly towards him.

"Guten morgen," she whispered as the teacher stepped up to the front of the class. The teacher started to call attendance, but stopped a few students in.

"Oh, that's right, class! Settle down, please, I'm not going to ask again. Class, we have a new exchange student from Germany here to visit America for the next six months!" the teacher motioned towards the new girl sitting next to Sora. The blonde girl nodded and stood up. "Rapunzel, why don't you come to the front, dear, and say some things about yourself?"

She nodded and walked to the front of the class. She had an accent, but spoke perfect English. Her voice was a little shaky with nerves, but she seemed genuinely excited to be there.

"Hello! I am Rapunzel Allgaier! I'm seventeen years old. Um… I like art - painting, mostly. And… I love to read."

"Well, that's perfect," the teacher said, motioning for Rapunzel to return to her seat. "Everyone, get your textbooks out and turn to chapter seven. Sora? Since Rapunzel doesn't have a textbook, do you mind sharing?"

Of course he didn't. They worked together to scoot their desks closer together so the book could rest evenly between them. She smelled pleasant, like flowers.

The first day was simple, just going over new vocabulary. Sora assumed Rapunzel took some form of Latin classes in Germany because she already seemed familiar with some of the words and grammar. Between mini-lectures from the teacher they would sneak in a quick chat. Rapunzel was enrolled in the school's junior-level classes, but they shared the same lunch hour. The school had assigned her a senior student to escort her to all her classes on her first day. When the bell rang, he felt a little sad that they'd have to part so soon, but had made plans to eat lunch together.

What really shocked Sora was when he left the classroom and saw Flynn Rider waiting right outside. They made brief, painfully awkward eye contact before Rapunzel jumped in and hugged Flynn's arm. "Thank you so much for showing me around!"

Flynn was voiceless for a moment, mouth agape. "Uh… sure, blondie, no problem."

She giggled and released his arm, turning her attention back to Sora. "This is my escort, Flynn! Do you know each other?"

"Intimately," Flynn replied lowly, obscuring it with a cough. "Yes, we've met."

Despite the insane amounts of tension between them, Rapunzel continued unaware. She pulled a lilac binder from her satchel and opened it to her class schedule. "Next I have biology! What does 'GF' mean?"

Flynn gave a quick look to one of the clocks in the hallway. "That means 'Ground Floor,' it's kind of weird to get there. We'll have to hurry to make it there on time." Without giving Sora another look, he turned and started leading Rapunzel towards the stairwell.

Well, there went Sora's newfound friendship and good mood. He didn't even get to see her during lunch break, but he hoped it was because she was still busy with school stuff and not hanging out with Flynn instead. After school, he drove with Demyx back to the punk's house and played battle sims until he felt his thumbs would fall off.

"Somebody's in a bad mood today," Demyx said when Sora got in his fifth headshot of the afternoon.

"It's nothing."

"Seriously, dude. I told you we could talk about anything."

"And I said I don't want to talk about it." Perhaps his tone was a little harsh. Without even looking he could tell the punk was equal parts annoyed and hurt. "Sorry. I guess it's just… Flynn's just been a colossal douchebag lately."

Demyx frowned. "Ugh, you haven't been hanging out with him, have you?" When Sora didn't answer, he became a little worried. "Have you?"

Sora's hands were frozen on the controller. When his character was caught in a grenade explosion and died, he paused the game and put the controller down slowly. "I might've… fooled around with him a little bit over winter break." He winced when he heard Demyx audibly gasp.

"How far?"

The brunet boy nervously bit on the corner of his lip and glanced over his shoulder at his friend. "Uh… home run?"

A loudly, more devastated gasp and suddenly Demyx was by his side. "Why would you do that? He's literally the worst human being I've ever known."

For Sora, the wound was still relatively fresh. As much as he wanted to believe that he didn't make a mistake, Flynn Rider was kind of a mistake. "I said I don't want to talk about it," he repeated. "Let's just… switch to the zombie game or something. This is getting old."

Demyx had so many questions he wanted to ask. When? Where? For the love of god, why? But it was obvious he wasn't going to be getting anything out of Sora today, so he sighed heavily and switched the games out of the console. There was one question tickling the back of his mind, though.

"That person… that you had a crush on early last year. The one I bothered you about…"

Sora glanced over his shoulder again. "What about it?"

It was a boy, wasn't it.

"…I'm sorry," he said. Bright smiles, clueless laugh. "I get really nosey sometimes."

"Yeah. Don't I know it." Sora turned back to face the television as the main menu for the game came up. "Let's bash some undead heads in."

It was awfully therapeutic.

Sora had never felt so thankful when it started warming up. The rainy season was going away, tee shirts were back in his regular rotation, and the return of sunshine helped pull him out of his winter doldrums in a big way.

Rapunzel seemed to appreciate the change in weather too. Spring, Sora discovered in one of their numerous chats in Latin class, was her favorite season. She loved collecting flowers and some days she would even arrive to class with one tucked behind her ear. On Valentine's Day, Sora surprised her with a small bouquet of purple and white irises he secretly clipped from his mom's backyard garden. Nothing special, he just wanted to see her smile.

"Dude… do you like her or something?" Demyx had asked. Sora only laughed maybe a little too loudly and tried to change the subject away from why exactly his cheeks were burning up. After school he noticed her walking out the school with a nice box of chocolates and a pink heart-shaped balloon from another admirer. It wasn't like he had a chance, he wasn't even sure he wanted that chance, but she was so likable it was hard to deny the attraction.

Now that they were zeroing in on the end of April, school was abuzz with mixed excitement for finals, the end of the school year, and perhaps the most important for all the seniors, prom.

"Hell no I'm not going," Demyx said with a laugh when Sora asked him what his plans were. Apparently it was going to be hanging out at home and watching movies using his parent's projector and screen. It was finally warm enough to hang out by the pool. Sora never really went swimming in it, but it was nice to take his shoes and socks off after school and dip them in the water. Demyx kept his usual spot sitting on the end of the diving board.

It was so comfortable that they decided one day to study outside by the pool instead of in the library. It turned out to be a rousing success and for the end of the year they kept up the habit. Preparing for finals outside next to the sounds of water hardly felt like studying at all, but Sora felt like he was getting his assignments done in record time.

On some rare occasions, they would see Larxene go in and out from her pool house, never without her backpack. The Monday afternoon after their first day of finals was no different. Since Demyx was graduating in the top one percent of his class, he wasn't terribly worried about what his final scores were. "I could just not show up and still get an A in the class," he said when explaining his teacher's grading rubric.

As he was talking, Larxene had returned home from an errand, backpack on her back, and stopped by the patio table where the boys were working. "Hey loser," she said to her brother, ignoring Sora completely. "I need you to do a run for me."

Demyx gave her a look. "What? No. We agreed when I turned eighteen no more of this, I could get in trouble." Demyx had just celebrated his eighteenth last month. Any of his sister's usual bullshit could get him arrested now, or worse. She just rolled her eyes.

"It was a last-minute order, for that Rider kid. I'm going out of town for the week and I won't have time to pass it off."

"Where are you going?"

She smirked at her brother and did a little thrusting motion with her hips. "Just a lil' T n' A time at the harbor. I'll be back Sunday, but the guy needs this by Friday, and I'm-" she took out her cell phone to check the time, "-jetting in like ten minutes, so it's up to you."

"Larx, no…"

"C'mon, you've done this before, it's no big deal. Payment was even done in advance, all you have to do is drop it off."

"I'm busy with finals. Have someone else do it. Get Lexaeus or someone…"

"This is kind of a big purchase, I don't trust it with him, he'd just smoke it. I need you." Talking obviously wasn't working, so Demyx sided with the silent treatment and just kept his nose in his book. Larxene shrugged her shoulders and walked towards the main house. "Whatever, loser. Make the run and I won't castrate you. How 'bout that?" She slammed the door behind her.

"What is her deal?" Sora asked.

Demyx rolled his eyes and wrote down some study notes in his spiral. "She's just anxious to get laid. She'll make the run herself before she leaves town." As promised, about ten minutes later the faint sounds of Larxene starting her Lexus and peeling out of the long driveway. The info she dropped while whining wasn't lost of Sora. Prom was on Friday night, so either Flynn had a big party planned or he was gonna be high as a kite during the last dance.

Whatever the horrible senior's plans were, it was of no consequence to Demyx or Sora. The two continued on with their studies and finals as normal. It wasn't until Thursday, the last day of school, when shit started hitting every single fan.

Sora was hanging out outside the school with Wakka and Tidus. Summer was when blitzball really amped up, so even though there wasn't school, the team still played. They were going over sports stats for some NBBA players when Rapunzel rushed up to Sora, a happy grin on her face.

"Salve amici!" she said with a pleasant lilt in her voice.

"Salve Rapunzel, what's up?"

Her smile could light up a room. "I maybe possibly snuck into the Latin room earlier today to say goodbye to the teacher, and perhaps I asked about grades, and maybe I snuck a peek into her grade book and found your final score."

Sora's brows shot up past his bangs. "Seriously? How'd I do?"

Her eyes were wide as she tried to calm herself down. Sora loved that she could get so happy for her friends. "You got the highest grade in the class. With the final plus extra credit, you got over one-hundred percent!" She clapped her hands in celebration as she watched Sora's overwhelmed reaction.

His celebration was sidetracked when he noticed a couple of the campus police, a usual sight at their school, walk past with a police dog, which was not a usual sight. "A dog!" Rapunzel said happily.

"What's that about?" Sora asked aloud. Tidus responded.

"Oh yeah! I heard that a couple of third-year ass hats got caught smoking pot behind the cafeteria so now they're doing a search before school lets out."

"That'll be a fun way to start the summer," Sora sighed.

The bell rang, and excited students trudged towards their very final classes of the school year. His direct route to his sophomore lit class was cut short when he heard a familiar voice shouting his name. "Hey! Strife, hold up!"

Flynn placed his hand on Sora's shoulder to get him to stop. Sora glanced at it and waited until he moved. "What do you need, Rider?"

He looked anxious, brows knitted it worry. "Hey, so, Larxene said that Demyx was gonna run some stuff to me, but he hasn't done it yet." Sora was silent, gears turning. The police officer with his dog walked by and Flynn waited until they were out of earshot before continuing. "…Just- I dunno. Tell him to tell her the deal's off. I don't need it anymore."

"Larxene's out of town," Sora said. "I thought she was doing the run."

Flynn looked confused for a moment. "No, I talked with her on her cell just last night. She said she put the stuff in Demyx's backpack." Sora's cheeks paled. "But I don't need it anymore. I don't expect to get all my money back, but maybe we can work something out? Can you tell her that?"

Sora didn't care. He didn't give a shit about Flynn or his money. He pushed the senior aside and sprinted towards Demyx's seventh period classroom, AP World History. The warning bell rang and Sora knew he was going to be late for his final class, but…

Panting, he found Demyx sitting in a chair in the middle of the classroom, going over the some notes in his spiral. The punk seemed genuinely surprised to see him there. Unfortunately, his backpack wasn't by his side. "Sora? What's-"

"Backpack. Where?"

"…My locker? Why?"

"Combination?"

"I don't…" Despite being clearly incredibly confused, he tore off a corner of notebook paper and wrote the three-number code on it. "Dude, what's going on? What about your final?"

There wasn't time for words. The final bell rang. Sora's teacher was probably handing out test forms right now. By an act of pure adrenaline, the brunet rocketed through the halls, only told by an administrator in the hall to slow down once, and arrived at the punk's locker on the second floor. It took three agonizing tries to get the old combination lock to work, but finally he made it in.

"Hey! You need to be in class," a woman's voice said. Some senior-level History teacher Sora hadn't met yet, but she seemed serious and strict. Her heels echoed on the concrete hallway in a menacing way as she approached.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry! There was an assignment that I needed to turn in for my last class and the teacher let me grab it."

She didn't seem convinced. "Hall pass?"

"She didn't give me one." Sora slowly, carefully, put Demyx's backpack on his shoulders. He was already wearing a backpack. This was suspicious as hell.

"What's her name?"

"Ms.… Humphries." He paused. Dammit. He was so transparent and this teacher was going to know he was lying. Sora knew that Humphries was a teacher at the school, but he'd never actually had a class with her.

The woman looked annoyed, but seemed to be at a crux of whether turning Sora in for being tardy was worth her efforts. "Just… go. I don't want to make you any later than you already are." Besides, if this fictional teacher happened to find out Sora was late and it was all her fault, she didn't want to cause trouble. Sora thanked her and sprinted towards his class, ignoring her warnings of "No running!"

He arrived in his Lit class, panting heavily. His teacher was unamused. "Today was not a good day to be tardy, Mister Strife." The man's eyes followed Sora as he sat down in his assigned seat. The exams had already been handed out and everyone was busy writing furiously. Sora was handed an exam personally by the teacher, who gave him a grim look before returning to his desk at the front.

The student dropped the backpacks by his desk, looking warily at Demyx's as he tried to focus his attention on his final. Dammit, and he had worked so hard for his A in Lit, and the teacher took being tardy so seriously. On top of that he probably left a scent trail of weed all the way to his classroom. With the feeling of police canines figuratively biting at his heels, Sora violently started working on his essay.

Perhaps it was the terror of having a bag of pot in his backpack while a police dog patrolled the school, or maybe the intense level of stress he was under while the teacher eyed him from behind his desk that made him write extra fast. Either way, even with the late start, he finished his exam before everyone else. No matter how much he reread his answers, he felt everything was correct. The teacher frowned as he was the first to approach the desk to turn in his work.

"Thank you, Mister Strife. And since you're left with so much time, how about writing three pages about how you will never be tardy to another class for the rest of your academic career, hm?"

Sora sighed, teeth clenched. "Yes, sir. Can I have a hall pass to use the restroom first?"

"You should have taken that into consideration before arriving late to my class. Finish your essay and I'll consider it when you're done." He pointed to Sora's desk and the dejected student returned to his seat.

Since he couldn't exactly cheat on a tardy paper, he turned his attention back to Demyx's backpack. There were three compartments, starting with the largest one where the senior kept his textbooks and binders. There was nothing out of the ordinary there. The smallest pocket on the outside had his music player and some highlighters. The middle pocket held some CDs and tattered spirals, a half-empty bag of potato chips spilling everywhere, and- bingo. A brown paper bag that looked exactly like the one Larxene had shown him earlier that week. He took a peek inside and… that was a lot of weed.

The shock of seeing it made Sora crunch the bag shut and shoot up straight in his seat, taking a glance around to see if anybody saw. Jesus what was Flynn planning to do with all this stuff?

Sora wrote his essay. I promise I will not be late for class ever again. I will not loiter by my locker or attempt to use the restroom after the warning bell. I will not attempt to save my friend from a world of hurt by stealing his sister's recreational drugs.

He erased that last part.

It only took him forty-five minutes to write out the whole thing, and by then several students had finished their finals and started relaxing until the bell rang. Sora tried asking to use the restroom again, this time the teacher gave him a hall pass with minimal grousing and only side-eyed him a little bit when he left with his backpack. Sora really hated that the school wouldn't let them just go home until after school was officially over.

He went into the nearest bathroom and there was a janitor. Nope. The senior hall boy's bathroom had three students in it. Nope. He went towards the bathroom towards the science wing and there was the police dog, so nope and Sora booked it towards the freshman hall. That bathroom was completely empty.

He dumped half the weed into the toilet. Flush. Repeat. As he watched the grass swirl and eventually disappear he felt a huge weight being lifted from his shoulders. He tore the paper bag into small pieces and flushed it too, just to be safe. The plastic baggy was washed and rinsed twice before he threw it away, and he scrubbed his hands until he thought they would bleed.

Before he left, he meticulously went through every nook and cranny of Demyx's backpack to make sure there wasn't so much as a stem of weed. Finally convinced that Demyx wouldn't spend his time after high school in prison, he returned to his class and waited patiently for the bell to ring.

He met up with Demyx by his car after class and returned the punk's backpack to him. "You fucking terrified me, man. What was that about?"

Sora got him up to speed on the drive home. "And the thing that really pisses me off is that none of this would've happened if Flynn hadn't put in that stupid order. What was he thinking?" Sora balked. It was the last day of school, but it didn't feel like it.

"Well… thanks for doing that for me, man. That would've really sucked." To put it lightly, yeah. It would.

Larxene wouldn't be home until Sunday so they wouldn't be able to rip her a new one until then. Sora pulled into the long driveway and parked beside the fountain. The thought occurred to him that this was the last time they would be doing this. Once Demyx left for college, Sora wouldn't have anything to keep him occupied after school.

It was a pretty terrifying thought, and one that haunted Sora as he climbed up the big staircase in the entryway and to the left towards Demyx's bedroom. Who even knew how many more times they'd be able to do something as simple as this? As simple as playing stupid racing games together…

"When do you leave?" he asked, for probably the eleventh time since Demyx first brought it up. Demyx reminded him it was the end of June. June as in, in a couple days it'll be June. As in, Sora only had a precious week left of shooting the shit with his best friend before he left for college.

"I wanna do one last stupid thing," Sora said, after video games were put away and the boys had taken fancy to staring mindlessly at the ceiling.

"What's that?"

"I wanna crash prom."

It really was a stupid thing to try and do. Demyx, with his parents having money and reputable careers, had a penchant for getting their son a nicely fitted suit following every growth spurt since he was an infant. Unfortunately the most Sora could scrape up was an old pair of black slacks that were just a little too short for him now, but if he wore it with black socks and shoes nobody would notice, and a nice white dress shirt that was only for the fanciest of family dinners.

"You're going to prom?" his mom had asked when she asked what his plans were for Friday night. "With who?"

"Just going stag, with Dem." Although it wasn't encouraged for lowerclassmen to attend senior prom, it wasn't a rule the school board could exactly enforce.

That was Thursday night. When Sora woke up Friday, he noticed his mother was already out for the morning, and when she returned while he was making himself lunch a few hours later, she had a black blazer to go with his outfit. He didn't know how she did it, but it fit him like a glove. "A boy needs a nice blazer," she said.

Since Demyx still didn't own a car, and insisted he wouldn't need one on the island since everything was so close together, plus parking prices were ridiculous, and Larxene still had her car while at the harbor, it was up to Sora to drive. He was more than happy to oblige. In fact, and Sora thought this was really funny at the time, he stopped by a grocery store and picked up a couple of cheap boutonnieres from the floral department before picking up Demyx.

He pinned one flower on his lapel and took the other one with him as he climbed up the stairs to the front porch and rang the doorbell. In a few moments, the door opened and there stood Demyx. There stood Sora's best friend, wearing a nice fitting, expensive suit, nervously pulling down on the cuffs of his dress shirt, and sporting a freshly-shaved mohawk.

Sora was speechless. Since when did Demyx have such a strong jawline? And were his eyes always so bright, offset by dark blond hair? Did his body always look so fit, or was that just the flattering cut of the suit? The brunet gulped.

"I thought your parents were supposed open the door and then you'd make your grand, dramatic entrance coming down the staircase," Sora chuckled dryly.

Demyx reached up and ruffled the newly-shaved sides of his head. "You don't think it's too much?" he asked.

Hell no. His hair was clean and soft, and mohawk fell to the side, framing his face nicely. "You look great, I-" Sora stuttered, not really sure what he was going to say. He suddenly remembered the boutonniere in his hand. "I got this… I mean, you don't have to wear it if you don't want to…"

"Nah, man, this is cool! Way to go all out," Demyx said with a grin. He took the box and opened it up. The front door was still open and he just tossed it inside for him to deal with later. He tried to pin the boutonniere to his lapel but was floundering. "Did I get it?" he asked, pulling his hands away as the poor white carnation sadly limped sideways.

Without saying a word, only laughing slightly, Sora reached up and fixed it for him. This was weird. It felt like a date. That definitely wasn't Sora's intentions, but… he'd be lying if he said it didn't feel nice. It felt almost natural.

"Well, shall we?" Demyx asked, motioning towards Sora's car idling in front of the house. Yes, right, of course. They still had to drive to the school gym, which was going to be decked out to the nines in streamers and balloons. Demyx paid for the tickets since he was the one with the money. The girls manning the ticket booth gave them both odd looks when Demyx held open the gym door. "After you, good sir."

There were a few tables set up near the entrance. Towards the back, the bleachers had been pushed in to make room for a dance floor area. A small stage was set up with a DJ – it looked like a student from Demyx's graduating class – with a laptop and a small set up where she would mix songs together.

The DJ chose dance music, mostly remixes of songs that were popular on the radio at the time. She had a stack of post-it notes by her booth where people could write in requests and stick it on her mix board. There were stacks of large speakers near the dance floor from the music department that echoed throughout the whole room.

"What do you wanna do first?" Demyx shouted over the loud music.

Sora took a brief look around, not really seeing anybody he knew right away. His eyes landed on a refreshments table nearby. "I spy me some punch," he said, waltzing over to the giant bowl with a red mystery drink inside a large ladle. There were already pre-poured cups, and a teacher guarding the bowl from all potential spikers like a hawk. He grabbed two cups, one for Demyx and himself, and turned around. That's when the crowds parted and he saw her.

Rapunzel looked stunning. He wasn't sure what the magic trick was, just put someone in nice clothes and suddenly everywhere they go it's like time slows down, everything becomes soft focused, and some kind of seventies slow-jam love ballad plays in the background of your brain non-stop. It was like there was a spotlight on her at just that moment, showcasing her happily twirling to the music in a simple purple dress. Her braided hair had extra braids in it, perhaps to commemorate the extra special occasion, and it was sprinkled with small white flowers throughout.

Demyx must have noticed Sora's lingering stare and simply smiled as he took the cup from Sora's hand. "You should ask her to dance," he said, nudging him with his elbow.

And maybe Sora would have, until Flynn stepped in. He appeared beside her, wearing a black rented tux with a pocket square that matched her dress perfectly, and gracefully took her hand and initiated another spin. They were obviously there together.

"…Oh," Demyx sighed, seeing the two of them together, and feeling awful for his friend. He glimpsed over at Sora and saw him looking dejectedly at the stripes painted on the hardwood gymnasium floor. "Well, the night's not lost," he said, a bit louder and perkier to get the brunet's attention. He placed his cup on a nearby table and held out his hand. "Dance with me, Sora."

Sora took a moment to glance between the offered hand and his friend's sincere face. Demyx wasn't kidding, was he? He shook his head and looked away. "Not now, I mean…" He took a moment to seriously consider it. Demyx looked amazing and Sora wanted to be near him, but the tone didn't feel right. "…This isn't even a decent song."

Whatever chart-topping radio number blasting through the speakers that had the entire dance floor in a tizzy wasn't what he associated his best friend with. Demyx nodded as if he understood. "So let's fix the problem at the source."

At first Sora wasn't sure if he was supposed to follow. Demyx walked off towards the back of the gym where the DJ was set up. It was the middle of the song and she was watching the audience's reaction before picking what song to blend into next when she started focusing on Demyx approaching her booth.

She removed one of her headphones off her ear as Demyx leaned up to talk to her. He wrote down a song on one of the post-its and passed it to her. When she read it, she crumbled it up and tossed it so it bounced off the senior's forehead.

Sora caught up and looked between them. "What're you doing?"

"Trying to recommend a good dance song!"

"I'll tell you what," the DJ shouted over the music, "the next song will be for you losers. You're not allowed to complain the rest of the night, got it?"

Sora didn't know how she managed to do it, but the beats ending the last song meshed perfectly with the drums of the next. It was the Ramones. Sora remembered it from one of the mixes Demyx had made for him. He turned around and caught the punk laughing loudly.

"This isn't what I requested, but it'll do!" He grabbed the arm of Sora's blazer and dragged the kid into the throng of students confused by the sudden change in music. For a brief moment, all eyes were on the two boys jumping and bopping their heads to the beat. The energy was contagious, and once the senior star player for the blitzball team joined in, everyone followed. Demyx and Sora were heard shouting along above Joey Ramone.

Do you wanna dance and hold my hand?
Tell me baby I'm your loverman!
Oh baby, do you wanna dance?

For that one brief moment they were sweaty, they were exhausted, and their voices were hoarse from shouting, but they were happy. This was how Sora always wanted to remember Demyx. As a kid with a mohawk and a thousand dollar suit, slick hair backlit by multicolored flashes of light, eyes squeezed shut, huge smile, and screaming along to the music.

Well do you wanna dance under the moonlight?
Squeeze me baby all through the night!
Oh baby, do you wanna dance?

And nobody else mattered. Rapunzel could leave with Flynn to some cheap motel, for all Sora cared. Nothing could possibly beat this perfect moment. And it didn't matter that all the songs that played afterwards were club songs, synthetic and rushed. They continued jumping, dancing, and shouting until there was no energy left within them.

They didn't stop until the night was almost over. Exhausted, they collapsed at an unused table. "So, prom successfully crashed?" Demyx asked, holding a fist up.

Sora tapped it with what little strength he had left. "All other proms are ruined for me. Thanks for that, dude."

"Man, it's fucking hot," the punk sighed, pulling down on his shirt's collar and loosening his tie. "I'm gonna step outside…" It wasn't an invitation, but Sora followed anyway.

There were small groups of students outside, most getting ready to leave. They stood in groups and talked loudly about who was riding in which car, what restaurant they were meeting at, and who had the worst curfew. Demyx led Sora around the corner to the large, blank brick gymnasium wall. Just enough light and music trickled down from the narrow, open windows near the roof. It was significantly cooler and blessedly calmer.

Demyx leaned against the brick wall, but Sora's feet hurt so much from jumping around in his dress shoes that he opted to sit in the grass. It was a clear summer night and the stars came out in droves. The music was soft enough that they could hear the crickets chirping in the track field nearby.

The silence was broken momentarily by a familiar giggle. Sora watched the small corner of the parking lot that was visible from the wall as Rapunzel rushed up to Flynn's motorcycle. She grabbed a helmet and tossed Flynn his. Before he put the helmet on, he pulled her in for a long kiss. She hitched her skirt up and wrapped her pretty legs around Flynn's hips as he started his bike and then they peeled out of the parking lot, off to do who-knows-what who-knows-where. Sora hoped she had a better experience with him than he did.

Apparently Demyx had seen everything. "…I'm sorry you didn't get to dance with her," he mumbled.

Sora shook his head. "It doesn't matter. I mean, it's not like I stood a chance, right?" The thing that really sucked was that every time he saw her adoring eyes on Flynn, it reminded him of himself last summer. He was trying to be strong about it, but the memory still stung.

They rested in amiable silence until the music from the gym died down for a moment and the DJ started talking. "Okay boys and girls, grab your special someone and make it last. It's time for the final dance of the night."

Sora heard Demyx sigh loudly, coupled with the sounds of him pushing himself away from the wall. A couple footsteps later and Demyx was standing in front of him. "Dance with me, Sora."

The punk had his mouth stretched into a nervous line. One hand in his pocket fidgeting, the other reaching out towards the brunet. "…I don't-"

"It's okay," Demyx said, trying to dissuade any argument Sora might have had. "Just one little dance. A real one." He reached his hand out a couple inches further. Sora wasn't exactly sure what Demyx was expecting. The older boy already saw the extent of his 'dancing' and all it culminated to was a bunch of bouncing.

Sora took Demyx's hand. When he was drawn up, Demyx pulled him close. Comfortably close. Their chests touched. Demyx's chin rested at eye-level with Sora, and the boy was afraid if he tried to look up he'd slice himself on that jawline. Demyx took Sora's arms and wrapped them around his shoulders. He placed his hands warily on Sora's hips, and slowly started to move.

For the life of him, Sora couldn't remember the song they danced to that night. But he did remember the smell of Demyx's cologne. He wondered if his friend always smelled this nice, or if it was just another trick of the evening. He swore it wasn't there when he picked him up earlier.

"I'm gonna miss you…" Demyx said. Sora was standing so close that he could feel the tickle of his breath on his ear. "…A lot."

Sora waited a long moment to process this before trying to reply. "It's… not the end of the world, right? I mean, we've got cell phones, and- and you'll be coming home during breaks, right?"

It felt weird talking to him like this and not looking at each other face-to-face. Sora pulled back, just a little. Just enough so he could focus on Demyx's face, and when he did… Demyx's eyes dropped, just for a fragment of a second, to look at Sora's lips. Embarrassed, he gulped and glanced to the side, unable to even make eye-contact anymore. "…Right."

When Demyx finally gathered the nerve to look at Sora again, he was closer. Sora wasn't sure if it was Demyx leaning in or himself leaning up. Briefly, their noses touched and Demyx blinked at the contact. This was real. Sora tilted his head to the side and their lips just barely touched.

"Right."

It was as perfectly messy, clumsy, and disorienting as kissing your best friend should be. Demyx wrapped his arms around Sora's back and pulled him in close. Sora tightened his arms around Demyx's neck so the taller boy had no choice but to be dedicated to this moment.

Sora found himself pulling away from the kiss with a smile. Flynn Rider could go fuck himself. Demyx Skönstedt was an infinitely better kisser that he would ever wish he could be.

"How long have you been holding that in?" Sora asked. He loosened his hold on Demyx's shoulders, but wasn't quite ready to pull away completely yet. Demyx had hooked a finger into Sora's blazer pocket. The other hand reached up to scratch the side of his shaved head.

"Oh, you know… I figure a guy should at least be kissed before heading out to the big ol' cold."

Sora raised a brow. "You've never… Wait- that was your first kiss?" It occurred to Sora that in the past two years he spent becoming best friends with Demyx, he never noticed his friend dating anybody. Or showing any real interest in any particular girl or boy at school for that matter, besides… him.

"Hey, it's no big deal, okay? Kisses and stuff don't mean that much to me so… it never really dawned on me that maybe I should give it a shot. It'd be weird going out to school having never done anything, right?"

Demyx was the first to pull away. The last stragglers at prom were starting to ease out of the gym, and he didn't want anyone to see them so intimate.

Sora frowned a little. "What do you mean that kisses don't mean much to you?"

The punk shrugged, looking over towards the empty field. "They just… don't. I don't know." It wouldn't be for a little while later, but Sora and Demyx would realize there was a name for this feeling, and it would mean that their relationship would never be anything else but friendship. For Sora, it would take a moment of getting used to, but in the end there wasn't anything he could have wanted more.

Slowly, still standing comfortably close together, they made their way to Sora's car. Once inside, Sora waited a moment before attempting to start the engine. "…When you went to request a song from the DJ… she rejected your first request, right? What was it?"

The lights from the parking lot illuminated Demyx as his lips stretched into a large smile and he laughed. "Teenage Dirtbag."

Sora caught himself laughing too. "Dude, that's a terrible dance song." But before anyone could say anything else, the brunet was digging through the CDs in his glove compartment and pulled out one of the mixes Demyx had made him. One of his favorites, decorated in marker with the little upside-down heart symbol they had tagged the town with. Luckily, although his car was old, it had an updated radio. He popped the CD in and skipped to the sixth song.

When it got to the chorus, it didn't matter how used up their voices were, they just had to shout along. "'Cause I'm just a teenage dirtbag baby! Yeah, I'm just a teenage dirtbag baby! Listen to Iron Maiden maybe with me!"

After the song ended, Demyx realized that they weren't driving back to his house. "…Yo, man. Where're we going."

"I'm too tired to take you back home. You don't mind, right?"

It wasn't that Sora was ashamed of his family, or his house. It was just that when your best friend lives in a mansion, and has a pool and a huge television and all the latest video games, it just felt pointless. It was late. After midnight, but his parents hadn't set a curfew and had left the porch light on for when he returned home.

Demyx didn't say a word as Sora led him up the sidewalk to the front door, unlocked it, and stepped inside. There was a boy, half-asleep on the couch watching TV, who woke up with a start when the door opened.

"Hey, Rox," Sora said. The kid looked absolutely disoriented. "Are Mom n' Dad awake?" he asked, locking the front door behind them.

Bleary-eyed Roxas glanced between Sora and the stranger in the room. "Uh… They're asleep? I think…"

Sora nodded, shrugging a shoulder towards Demyx. "This is my friend Dem. We're going to my room. Don't bug us." The blond just slowly rolled his head in agreement and laid back down on the couch, bleary eyes returning their focus to the tv screen.

Sora led Demyx down the hall to his bedroom. It was small, the bed was only a double, there wasn't a television with video games or a connecting bathroom, but it was his. It was Demyx's first time ever being there. He took a moment to take it all in. The pile of dirty clothes by the closet, the video game posters on the wall, the stacks upon stacks of CDs on the shelf. Demyx took a step closer and realized they were all mixes, and smiled softly.

"This is all I have," Sora said. He turned and saw the brunet holding out a t-shirt. Apparently while Demyx was exploring, Sora had already taken off his blazer and dress shirt in the process of changing into pajamas. This wasn't something new. Demyx had seen Sora shirtless when they changed clothes in the same room at his house. Even seen him shirtless and wet all the times they went swimming at his pool. But after that kiss… it seemed different.

Sora didn't usually sleep with a shirt on, especially during the summer, but he hesitantly pulled an old tank top over his head and a pair of the ugly gym shorts he used for school. Demyx started undoing his tie and buttons on his shirt.

"So… sorry, but I don't have an extra couch or anything for you to sleep on. I'll sleep on the floor." Demyx looked up after pulling the old tee shirt over his head.

"No, I couldn't possibly…"

There was this awkward, silent back-and-forth between the two boys before Sora finally sighed heavily and pulled back on the sheets of his bed. "Well, look at it this way, if anybody at Destiny U grills you about it, you can say you've at least slept with someone."

Sora didn't have any sort of shorts or pants that would fit Demyx, so the punk ended up following him into bed wearing a torn up loaner shirt and his nice slacks. "It could always be worse," he sighed, melting into Sora's pillows. He didn't realize how exhausted his body was until he was laying down.

"Hey, Dem?" Sora asked. When he peeked his eye open, Sora was leaning on his elbow and looking down at him.

"Hm?"

Sora hesitantly brushed his hand across Demyx's stomach and planted it on the mattress on the other side. Leaning over him, he bent down close until their noses bumped together again. "Just one more?" he asked. "Please?"

Demyx sighed, then lifted his head the half-inch needed to kiss Sora. This time it was different. Slower. There wasn't a need to hold back in the privacy of Sora's bedroom, away from the eyes of the school, his parents asleep, his brother oblivious. Demyx welcomed Sora's tongue and started panting. His hands reached around and gripped on the back of Sora's shirt.

Sora pulled back for a moment to breath, and in that moment Demyx loosened his grip. "Hey, I don't… We don't, if you…" God, he was stumbling and if there were any light in Sora's room he'd probably be able to see the embarrassed glow on his face.

"Yes or no, Dem."

"…No."

Sora released a shaky, pent-up breath. "And that's okay." One last, careful kiss on the corner of Demyx's mouth. "Do you want to go home?"

There was another long pause as Sora backed away, still facing him. "Would you hate me if I still said 'no?'"

Sora tried not to laugh as he snaked an arm under Demyx's back and wrapped around him in a rib-crushing hug. "Whatever, loser. I'm still Team Demyx no matter what."

It was a pleasant feeling, Sora decided, to fall asleep next to someone who would love you no matter what. To hold and be held by a person who meant so much and who would be gone in just a few short weeks… it was crippling. Even as Sora eventually drifted into sleep, his heart never stopped racing.

Sora was in a phase of drifting in and out of sleep. He could tell some time had passed because sunlight was drifting through his eyelids. What really woke him up was the dawning realization that he was in a cold bed by himself. An act of pure adrenaline made him shoot up in bed and look around the room. It was empty.

"…Demyx?" he whispered, just to make sure. He peeked over the edge of the bed just to check that he hadn't possibly fallen off. When he looked back around the room, he noticed the shirt he'd let his friend borrow folded nicely on his desk chair. Seeing that, he noticed that the dress shirt and suit jacket were missing.

Perhaps, Sora thought hopefully, the punk had ventured out into the rest of the house and made breakfast. His clock radio said it was just past eight in the morning. His dad would have already left for work, but while walking down the hall he heard his mom humming from the kitchen.

The dining room was empty. His mom heard the padding of his feet on the floor and turned to greet him. "'Morning, sweetie," she said happily. "Did you have a fun time last night?"

Despite himself, Sora could feel his face heating up. Luckily his mom didn't seem to notice. "Uh… yeah…"

"I'm heading out in just a minute. Dad went grocery shopping yesterday and bought more pop-tarts. And- oh! Before I forget, when you come home remember to lock the door. It was unlocked this morning."

Sora's stomach flipped. He knew he locked the door when they got home last night. That would mean that Demyx… He didn't want to believe it. He grabbed a pack of the pop-tarts, not bothering to toast them, and waited until his mom left for work before slowly returning to his room.

Once back inside, he stuffed an entire pastry in his mouth. There was a small flame in his heart, made of anger and confusion, as he glanced towards his dress shirt and blazer laying on the floor by the closet door. When he went to pick it up, he noticed the weight of his cell phone that he'd forgotten about resting in the inside pocket. The missed message light was blinking.

It was a text from Demyx, at two-thirty AM.

"I'm sorry."

Judging from the time stamp, he left not long after Sora fell asleep. Must had taken a cab home.

Sora threw the blazer back on the floor and didn't bother getting out of bed for the rest of the day. His parents didn't seem to question it when he wanted to eat supper in his bedroom instead of at the table. Thankfully, they were good at reading his moods and left him a lot of leniency in that respect. On the third day, however, they were starting to become worried.

His mom knocked on the door and waited a moment before entering. "Sora? What's wrong, sweetie? It isn't like you to stay cooped up indoors all summer…"

In reality, Sora had spent most of his summer so far replaying every single millisecond of what happened on prom night. Nothing seemed wrong to him. Not a single thing was out of place. Every word spoken was from the heart and sincere. If that were the case, why would Demyx leave him? He swore Demyx promised to be there for him. Demyx was on his side. But what if… Demyx was only on his side until things got awkward?

"I don't feel good." It had been his go-to excuse for the first few days because it was true. His mom sat on the edge of the bed and felt his cheeks and forehead.

"You don't feel warm," she said. "Is it a tummyache?"

Sora just groaned and buried his face further under his pillow. "It's more of a please-get-out-of-my-room-I'll-come-out-when-I'm-ready-ache."

"Ah. Heartache," she sighed, getting up. "Well, kiddo, you can't spend your whole summer in here. At least explore other parts of the house. And try to spend some time with your brother before he dies of boredom." It sounded like his words, not hers. "I'm going to work. Your father's already left. How about pizza for dinner, hm?"

"Pizza's cool," he mumbled, voice nearly indistinguishable from its hiding place buried deep within pillows and bedsheets. She patted him on the shoulder softly and quietly closed the door before she left.

On Tuesday Roxas decided to be bold enough and enter Sora's room. He would sit on his brother's desk chair and play games on his handheld for hours, not saying a word. He would only leave when he got hungry, and would always come back with an extra sandwich and bag of chips that Sora would silently munch on.

"What level are you on?"

"Cave boss."

"Ugh. Hated that part."

For a few more minutes the only sounds in the room were Roxas viciously tapping on buttons before letting out a disappointed grunt. "…Can you fight this guy for me? I keep dying."

Sora rolled his eyes. Little brothers needed help with everything. "Sure. C'mere." He shifted in his bed and Roxas crawled in and sat next to him, passing off the handheld. "What magic do you have equipped? The cave boss is weak against ice." Roxas leaned over and watched as Sora effortlessly ran around the screen and shot magical shards of ice into the cave boss' eye. Soon he defeated him and passed the handheld over.

"Woah," Roxas cooed, eyes large. "Hey, so… I'm having trouble with the swamp area in my game on the Playstation…" Sora sighed dramatically, rolling his eyes towards the ceiling, but mostly just for show.

On Tuesday he left his room for the first time to play videogames with his brother. On Wednesday he left the house for the first time to throw his blitzball with his brother in the backyard. The fresh air felt nice. Thursday was another day spent indoors, but on Friday he received his first contact from the outside world.

His phone buzzed from his bedside table and he jumped to check it right away. His heart slowed down when he realized it was from Wakka and not a certain somebody else…

"dude where u ?"

Wakka and Tidus had a game that night and invited him out. His parents were overjoyed he was leaving the house, or at least his mom was. His dad just nodded. There was a brief hope in the back of Sora's mind that he'd see Demyx there, but he knew it was ridiculous. The punk wouldn't be caught dead at an event like this.

But, like a good friend, Sora put on a happy face and cheered when the team scored. Tidus and Wakka spent most of their time on the bench, but for the few minutes they were allowed in the pool he was surprised at how decent they were. It made Sora wish that he had something to do other than school work.

For the next couple weeks, Sora spent exclusively almost all of his time with them. When they weren't in practice, they were hanging out with Sora at the arcade or goofing off downtown. It was cool, Sora thought, because this meant that he didn't need Demyx to survive.

It wasn't until a few weeks into summer, late in June, that Sora learned he was wrong. He was hanging out at Tidus' house with Wakka after one of their morning practices. Just boring stuff, watching a movie and eating flash-fried trash. Sora was expecting his mom to call with details on their summer vacation trip to grandma's house, and when his phone buzzed he answered with a mouthful of potato chips.

"'Ello?"

There was a long pause on the other end. Sora glanced at the screen to make sure he actually answered it, and his face paled when he saw the name on the screen. "Sora?"

He couldn't stop coughing. "Shit!" Flakes of soggy chips were flying everywhere.

"You okay, man?" Wakka asked. Sora shook his head, managing to get the rest of his food down, and standing up quickly.

"Yeah, sorry, one sec." He walked outside quickly and drew his phone back to his ear. "Demyx? God, you still there?"

"Yeah, I… I'm sorry to just call you like this…"

"Where've you been?!" Sora cried, trying to keep his voice to a minimum. "You just… left without saying anything! What was I supposed to think, dude?"

"I know, I just didn't know what I was supposed to do, but… I was just… I was hoping I'd get the guts to make the call before now, but can I see you one last time? Just real quick? I wanna say goodbye."

"Goodbye?" Sora echoed. Then in all came crashing down on him when he remembered that Demyx was moving to Destiny Island today and he wasn't even there to see him off. "Damn! I mean- Where are you? Your place?"

"Yeah, I-"

"I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

He was there in ten. He was already walking to his car before he bothered to hang up, and with a few help of a few rolling stops through stop signs, he found himself pulling up into Demyx's driveway in record time. There was a moving truck there and everything. Demyx was standing on the front porch watching as Sora kicked up dirt when he skidded to a stop.

Sora wanted nothing more than to rush up the stairs and give his best friend a hug, but at that moment two strangers walked through the front door. An older woman talking on her cell phone partnered with an older man sipping from a glass of lemonade.

"I told you three weeks. Not four. Four is a month and I told them our defense would be bulletproof before August." The woman seemed like she was about blow a coronary as she started pacing around the porch, ignoring Sora completely. The man glanced down at him.

"Who's your friend, Dem?"

Demyx snapped and jumped down the stairs, ushering Sora to stand next to him. "Mom, Dad, this is Sora Strife."

Sora gumped. Those strangers were Demyx's parents. He should've known, but for some reason he wasn't expecting it. His mother had dyed blonde hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. She had tight, small wrinkles starting to form between her eyes, probably from furrowing her brow at her incompetent paralegals. Demyx's mother said a few choice blue-collar phrases into the phone before nodding briefly in Sora's direction. That would be the only acknowledgment from her he'd ever receive.

His father had light brown hair peppered with grey, wearing thick-framed glasses and a sweater and a style that was everything and nothing like what Sora dreamed capable of raising a boy like Demyx. He had a fit frame and nice bone structure, which meant nothing but good things for Demyx in the future.

"So you're the kid who's been such a bad influence."

Sora quirked a brow. "Huh?"

"Da-ad," Demyx sighed, taking hold of Sora's shoulders and guiding him up the stairs. "We're gonna be in my room!"

The man looked down at the Rolex around his wrist. "Don't be too long, we're heading out in a few minutes."

Sora followed Demyx's lead and rushed upstairs to Demyx's bedroom. The place was strangely, but not unexpectedly, bare. The television and all the gaming paraphernalia were gone. Also packed away in the moving truck were all of Demyx's CDs and sound system, along with his books. Even the couch was gone.

"Here, um… I wanted to give this to you."

He handed Sora a paper grocery bag filled with spray paint, almost overflowing with cans of the stuff, and the stencil they made rolled-up inside. "…Where did all this come from?"

"An apology gift. Courtesy of Larxene."

"…Wow." While he was looking inside the bag at the paint - nice stuff, too, like the kind that won't fade or chip away right out the can - Demyx walked past him towards the door.

Sora heard the door shut behind him and the next moment Demyx and wrapped his arms around him into a tight hug. "I'm a dumbass."

"What? No…" Sora broke away from Demyx's hold so he could put the bag down and turn to face him. "A little dumb, maybe, but not a dumbass. Two different things."

Getting a good look at him for the first time in a month, Sora started to wonder if his best friend was going similar states of withdrawal like he had. The punk's eyelids were red from lack of sleep and the hair he'd shaved from the side the sides of his head had been left untouched and gotten shaggy.

"So… we're good?"

Sora let out a short laugh and shook his head. "I told you that night. Team Demyx no matter what."

He held up his fist, and Demyx glanced down at it before bumping it with his knuckles. "Team Sora. No matter what."

"Demyx! I wasn't kidding about leaving in a few minutes!" his dad shouted from downstairs. The punk sighed loudly and rested his head on Sora's shoulder.

"He's gonna kill me. I swear, they're both out to get me." He pulled his head back and took one, final cursory look around his bedroom. It wasn't like he would never be there again, but it would still be a pain if he forgot anything. He started walking towards his desk. "They were so pissed because I got back so late that night. And shaving my head. They blamed it all on you, of all people. All this blame on a mystery kid they've never met and absolutely not on the fact I've lived most of my life without parental supervision. Nope."

He opened a desk drawer and pulled out a thin jewel case, decked out with stickers and markings. "I'm glad you came," he said, placing the last mix CD he ever made for Sora in his hands. "I wanted to make sure you got this before I left."

The brunet looked down at the jewel case and smiled. "You know you aren't moving that far away. This is nothing."

"Yeah, well," Demyx shrugged. "It's a big nothing. I just want you to know that you're… special. And-" He scratched the back of head and looked to the side. "I… love you, Sora. And I'll be there for you no matter what… as your friend."

Sora glanced up and smirked. "Wouldn't have it any other way."

Demyx released a heavy breath and smiled. "Right."

The sound of the moving truck churning to life echoed in from outside. Sora sighed and motioned towards the door. "C'mon, dumbass. Let's get you to college."

He grabbed the back of Demyx's head and pushed him out the doorway. His parents were waiting in their car while he paused for a moment on the deck.

"I'll see you winter break, okay? I get like a whole month off and I fully expect us to fuck shit up while I'm here."

"Of course."

"And don't stop doing the stuff we were doing just because I'm not around. I'm passing the legacy down to you, man. Keep those high scores up. Keep up the art projects. Don't fuck off."

"Wouldn't dream of it." Sora held up the bag of spray paint as proof that fully intended on keeping up the habit.

"I'll call you, okay? Or email or something. Whatever."

"Same here, Dem."

His dad honked the car horn twice. Demyx winced and glanced over his shoulder. "Sorry 'bout that. Time is money, y'know? I'll see you in December…"

Sora reached out and wrapped his arm around Demyx's shoulders, pulling him into a tight hug. "Yeah. December." He was surprised when he felt a small bit of water gather at the edge of his eyes. He blinked hard and tried to hide it on the sleeve of Demyx's shirt as he pulled away, but looking into Demyx's reddening eyes proved they were both getting a little emotional.

"Sorry," Demyx sighed. "God it shouldn't be this hard." He laughed, shaking his head hard. When he stopped, he stood up straight, resolute and grounded. "Okay. I'm going to college, Sora. I'll see you later."

Sora walked down the steps with Demyx and watched from the front seat of his car as Demyx crawled into the backseat of his parent's sedan. They drove off first, followed by the moving truck, and Sora stayed for a moment, parked in front of this mansion and fountain that he probably wouldn't see again for months. The silence of the suburban neighborhood was relaxing, but when he reached into his pocket and check the time on his phone, he realized that he left his friends without saying anything and had several missed calls. He responded to one of Tidus' texts with a simple message.

"something came up. going home sry. hang tmw?"

When he started his car, the radio droned on quietly in the background. He remembered the CD that Demyx gave him, and he reached into the bag of spray paint for it. A small piece of paper fell out when he opened the thin case and landed in his lap. When he picked it up, it was one of those cheesey yearbook photo portraits all the seniors got where they made the boys wear a cheap scrap of fabric that looked like a tuxedo over their regular clothes. His eyes were closed for the picture. It was such a terrible picture of him that Sora just laughed, a desperate bid to hold back tears as he listened to the CD on his drive back home.

°o°

Sora didn't say anything else for a moment. It seemed like Riku was asleep. The brunet couldn't blame him. The room was dimly lit, with all the lights in the apartment off except for the single light in the kitchen above the sink. Riku was laying down completely and the younger boy had his back resting against the armrest, their legs getting progressively more tangled the further down they sank.

When he realized Sora had stopped talking, he cracked a wary eye open. "Wait, that's it?" Riku asked.

Sora looked at him. "Well no. I've still got two years of high school and college left."

Riku let out a heavy breath and glanced over to the clock. It was absurdly late, and Sora could tell the punk was exhausted. Driving all day then playing a hometown set probably killed him, and having to focus on him talking probably wasn't helping.

"…If you want, we can hang out later. Talk some more… Whenever you're ready." He sat up a little bit straighter, the beginnings of getting ready to get off the couch, leave the apartment, and go home.

In a move that honestly surprised Sora, Riku was able to sit up. He sat on his knees and leaned over Sora, pinning the boy between the couch cushions. "S'too late for a cab." Which was completely untrue, although Sora wouldn't have any luck hailing a cab in this neighborhood, he could probably call one and expect it there in a half hour. But who could possibly think of leaving right now?

Sora found himself holding his breath, completely distrusting his own body not to gasp loudly. Riku reached over him to move the cushions off so there would be more room for both of them. Even then, there wasn't nearly enough space for both of them, but Riku didn't seem to mind. He pressed next to Sora and wrapped an arm around. Sora had no choice but to lean in and let himself be held.

"You smell."

"Shhh."

Because honestly, who knew if Riku took a shower that morning, and he was stuck in a cramped van with another smelly boy for hours, and then played a show where he got sweaty and gross. But Sora was okay with this. It took him back to a time, nearly infinite ages ago, when Riku held him just like this after one of his shows. Sora took a deep breath and prepared for sleep, but Riku wasn't entirely ready for that yet.

"What was on it?" he said, voice dull and monotone as if he were talking in his sleep.

"On what?"

"The CD. The one Demyx made for you." The hum of his voice from his throat and chest felt good against Sora's ear. He could hear him talk like this for the rest of his life.

Sora smiled and let out an amused breath of air. "That's a secret I'm taking to the grave."

"C'mon…"

"It's personal, man. Can't do it. If Dem wants to tell you, then it's fine."

Riku shifted and buried his face into Sora's nest of hair, like he was giving it an affectionate noogie with his forehead as payback for not answering his question. It just felt so good to be so close. Sora felt like if he grinned any wider his face would split in half. "So…" Riku drawled.

Sora waited for him to continue. "So…?"

It took a moment for Riku to respond. "How… did I compare?"

"With what?"

"Kiss-wise. How did I stack up?"

Sora shifted so he could be at an angle where he could see Riku's face. The older boy was refusing to make eye-contact. "You're serious?"

"Forget it." He was blushing. It was dark, but Sora could tell, and seeing the punk's cheeks heat up only made his heart beat faster. He was sure Riku would be able to tell, but he didn't mind.

"Well, gee, I don't know. It's been such a long time I simply can't remember…" He leaned up and kissed him. Just a quick, simple peck on the lips. He laughed softly when Riku cracked an eye open and looked down at him.

"Jogged your memory any?"

Sighing deeply, Sora just smiled and rested his head closer to Riku's chest.

"You're pretty damn good."

xxxXXXxxxXXXxxx

So! This concludes the first part of Sora's backstory. Next chapter will take us back to Roxas and Axel (yaaaaay) with the mysterious origins of 13 Hearts, and then we go back to Sora's story. Unfortunately I'm not finished with the next chapter yet so next update is 98% likely to be late T_T; I encourage y'all to follow me on my tumblr for information regarding updates, since it's kinda hard to notify people if I'm going to be late with a new chapter on this site…

°! IMPORTANT INFORMATION ON ORDERING MY PRINT !°
GUYS! I made a Kingdom Hearts print for an art show and it looks REALLY NICE. If you ever liked reading Ballad and wanted to help support me, doing this is the best way! AND I HAVE A SPECIAL BONUS JUST FOR BALLAD READERS! If you buy a print from the gallery's online store, I'll do a digital art commission just for you! You'll get an email with the high-res file emailed to you, along with a low-res version for easy online sharing!

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO GET YOUR COMMISSION:
1) Visit the link in my profile page to the gallery's online store (I'll make the link painfully obvious at the top of the page, you can't miss it).
2) Add my print to your cart!
3) In the "view cart" section, there's a space for you to write comments before checking out. Comment with your email. !THIS IS IMPORTANT! ONLY YOUR EMAIL. If you mention anything about Ballad you'll be disqualified from getting a commission because the gallery owner will read over the comments and I really don't want him knowing about my fanfiction. (please respect my privacy! ;_; )
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I'll get the comment with your email and I'll contact you within the week to get details for your commission. YOUR COMMISSION COULD BE LITERALLY ANYTHING. Two characters. Small background elements. Some color. You want Kingdom Hearts characters? Awesome. Your OCs? Fucking awesome. Characters from a show/franchise I've never heard of? Radical I'll do my best. A commission like this is something I usually charge $30+ USD for! But I love my Ballad readers so much I really wanted to do something nice for my print JUST for you guys!

(If I don't get in touch with you within a week after your purchase, PM me and we'll go from there.)

(okay im done talking about my print now)

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I really had fun writing it. I love Demyx a whole lot and it was a relief to finally write a bit of his story that I've been sitting on for years. I hope you guys liked it too! If you did, PLEASE REVIEW! REVIEW! FOLLOW/FAV! Thank you and I love you!