A/N: If you need a refresh, it's understandable; go ahead, read a bit of the last chapter, this one won't go anywhere. :V

This is also unbeta'd. Like the rest of the chapters. If you feel like you could help me at all, even a little, you should be my beta. :D

Life's Cheat Code

-Level 15: Begin-

Upon waking up, and ignoring the intense taste of cotton and bed mouth, Axel realized he was alone. He reluctantly picked his tired body up into a sitting position, opened one eye to the blaring sunshine from the window, and glanced around the room.

He officially hadn't the slightest clue as to where Roxas had gone.

Axel groaned as joints popped back into life as he swung his legs off of the bed and settled his feet onto the floor. With a yawn, he stood and stretched his arms, hearing more joints pop and creak and snap, and –

He was naked.

Axel looked down to his fire-red happy trail and wondered where his boxers had flown off to; or his pantaloons, for that matter.

He found them by the mirror and his pants on the opposite side of the bed.

He had to find Roxas. Priority numero uno.

He did the fly and button as he opened the door of the younger boy's room and trotted down the stairs, listening to the sounds of the television on.

And, strangely enough, there was Roxas, watching his morning…Jerry Springer.

Roxas looked up at him as Axel plopped onto the couch next to him and sighed, putting a slender arm around the blond to pull him closer.

"You're up early."

Axel grinned tiredly, "What time is it?"

"Almost one-thirty."

"Wow geez, that is early."

Roxas settled closer to the other's body, turning his attention back to Jerry and the crazy, hillbilly, redneck guests.

"What did we do last night?"

Roxas scoffed, "What didn't we do last night?"

"Was I rough?" Axel asked.

Roxas paused. This was getting a little awkward, having this person not remembering the activities of the night before and trying to recall and reiterate said activities…

"I'm sore, if that's what you mean."

Axel grinned widely. He pushed the blond boy over, easily snaking his thin body between his legs and pinning his arms over his head. He pecked his lips tenderly, teasing his lips before kissing a trail down his cheek and to his neck, lapping his tongue gently against smooth, warming skin. He heard Roxas moan and all the events from the night before came flowing back, only fueling his movements.

He bit down on sensitive skin, moving the collar of the blond's shirt to access his shoulder to continue his biting. He felt the other's hips moving, grinding against his own with each bite he left. Roxas finally let out his restrained moans and his hands were released when Axel went for his shirt.

"W-what happened to the 'statutory rape' shit?"

Axel momentarily lifted the blond's body to get his shirt off and scoffed. "Fuck that."

Roxas laughed.

/L-C-C\

"And the only reason why he did it was because he couldn't bear the thought of cheating on you, Riku." Axel said in a low voice, watching the silver haired boy carefully. His eyes were downcast, making Axel and Roxas both uneasy.

Roxas shifted, leaning forward and lacing his hands in front of him, looking from the carpet of the living room up to Riku. He didn't move.

Axel uncrossed his legs, stood up and sat back down next to him. He patted Riku on the head, ruffled his hair, and sighed.

"Want to see people who are in worse situations than yours? I'll bet it will cheer you up."

Riku tsked. "Because, you know, there are things worse then finding out the guy you were dating left you to work on the streets. Sure Ax, why not."

And Axel suddenly had an unfamiliar look on his face.

"GET THE FUCK UP!!"

Roxas jumped, Riku only looked at him, eyes as wide as dinner plates. Axel had a look of 'oh, my god, when did I stand up?' before he went on.

"Get up, and just go do something! You have been sitting here ever since that faithful day you got dumped, feeling sorry for yourself and just being helpless little Riku for two months!"

Riku looked either like he could interject at any second and wanted to hear what he had to say or like he was at a loss for words.

Axel stood and paced, looked at the silver haired boy; this awkward pause had gone on a little too long for a continuation of this conversation, yet he was known for his awkward…awkwardness.

"Not a single person has ever made you break down like this Riku, and it's freaking me out. If you don't go and do something, I don't know, go take a piss, go make a sandwich and watch football, anything, I will leave, and stop feeling sorry for you."

He was pulling this out of his ass, and it was rehearsed; Roxas really tried not to laugh at the redhead or kill the roll he was on. Axel was done this time, though, and he stood straight and crossed his arms over his chest, and held his head up for a minute, staring at Riku down his nose.

Riku didn't do anything.

Axel sighed in an annoyed fit, scrounged around for his car keys and tapped Roxas on the shoulder before heading out the door. The metal screen door sprung back and slammed against the frame, making Roxas once again flinch. Axel's engine roared from the curb outside.

Roxas sighed, and looked up at Riku, with his head hanging low and an undeterminable look on his face. The engine revved again from the curb, and Roxas stood. He looked down at Riku, who was staring at the carpet with almost a scowl on his face, walked up to him and patted his shoulder.

After another intimidating roar from the curb outside, Roxas flew out the door, leaving Riku behind.

/L-C-C\

Sora hurt.

His fingers hurt, his arms were sore, his knees were sore, he had a headache, and it was only 11:37 at night. Pain would have to be tended to later; for now, Sora would raid the kitchen.

Tonight's squeeze had a nice sized house with at least an upstairs and a nice kitchen. He wasn't a great lay, which would explain the entire house being empty, and had literally conked out after the first go, leaving Sora with some food time.

He wouldn't mind the three soup cans, bag of chips, juice box, two slices of bread and the peanut butter and jelly missing from his kitchen. And as long as the television was low, he was sure he wouldn't mind him watching the old-school batman cartoons he had on DVD, either. Hopefully, anyway.

Sora figured he would stay here the rest of the night; he couldn't leave without his money, after all. He washed his dishes and found the blankets and curled up on the couch in front of the television for some sleep.

Everything. Hurt.

/L-C-C\

Roxas sat with his arms and legs crossed early the next morning, not even wondering when Axel would wake up after the wild, animalistic sex the night before, not wondering how Riku was doing, and not wondering if he had anything to do from school.

No, today, Roxas was wondering how this situation was going to fix itself. Sora was stuck in this rut that he had given up on getting out of, Riku was lost to the thought of his boytoy becoming another dude's boytoy, and Axel had just plain given up. And Roxas was falling for the brunet on top of it all.

This would HAVE to be a phase. Things Sora had done had never really affected him like this before. The groping from the last time he had seen the taller boy hadn't had the same…well, Sora-Love he usually puts into everything he did, weird as it sounded. He had to see him.

The only problem was the hour and a half walk, and the sleeping lummox net to him, who had somewhere started snoring in his thought processing.

Roxas would have to wait…and plan.

/L-C-C\

"Okay, that's all of it, all $450 of it."

Sora didn't run cheap. He was a quality fuck, He was quietly thinking to himself as he took the money, thanked the nice man for his food and shelter for the night, apologized for taking it without asking, and even kissed him on the cheek. He was an aging guy, already getting some grey's and his skin wrinkling in certain places.

Sora mentally shivered.

He adjusted his coat and trotted down the paved path in his high heels up to Rufus' limousine, proudly sporting the ShinRa logo on the side. Rude, the driver, opened the door for him as he waved goodbye one last time before getting into the car, sitting to none other than the power-mad mongle himself.

"He…seemed nice." Sora said, avoiding Rufus' stare and looking down at the floor of the car.

"He paid well, I suppose…?"

"He paid in full." He replied, flipping through the bills, recounting them.

"Good then. Rude, back to Felicity, please." He said over his shoulder to his driver.

"I want to go home, Rufus, I need to go check in."

"You need to do as I say, or I'll start garnishing your wages like I should be."

Sora raised his eyebrows and sat back in his seat, staying quiet. He crossed his legs and huffed, looking out the tinted windows at the dark-bluish, snowy world. He remembered being stuck out there all night once. He decided to walk home, and was numb all over by the time he got into his warm soft bed.

"I'm not going to dance. My feet hurt."

"Beauty is pain, lovely." Rufus replied. Sora sighed annoyedly.

"Why don't you walk around in these damned shoes then?"

"Now, now, you need to rest your feet." He said, grabbing Sora's shaven leg and hoisting it up and grabbing his foot, undoing the high heel and began massaging.

This was beyond creepy to the brunet boy, who in turn tried to take his foot back. "I don't want a massage."

"Well then, needy brat, what do you want?" He said, throwing Sora's foot away from him and glaring at the brunet.

"I want to go home!"He shouted as he threw his fist into the older man's jaw, causing the wheels of the limousine to screech to a halt as Rude slammed on the brakes and threw the two off the seats.

Sora undid the other shoe, unlocked the door of the car and ran. He ran. He wasn't sure if anyone was following him, he wasn't sure if he was exactly going the right way, but he ran. The thought of being home was top priority at the moment, and nothing, Sora knew, was really fast enough to stop him.

He did hear the car wheels squeal to life after him, though, causing him to run faster, and take a few turns down some bad alleys and up some bad roads, but Sora eventually lost the limousine. He didn't even really mind if Rufus knew where he lived; he just needed the break.

It turned out that they were still quite a ways from his house, even after the chase. When he did arrive, it was late afternoon, and his lack of shoes had left his toes feeling like they had fallen off.

He shut the front door behind him and ran up the stairs to take a shower, already realizing that his mother was not home. Which was no big surprise.

He ran the water scalding hot. It burned his piercings, it burned his skin, but worst of all, it burned his feet. After the shower Sora tried his best to stay off of them. He went to his room with a towel around his waist and dirty ho-clothes in hand, which he tossed into a corner to be forgotten. That part was over now. He was going to get…

"What's this?" Sora said aloud, which he hadn't meant to, as he looked at…well, something.

It was an envelope. A lime-green envelope, with his name written in cursive and black ink on the top of it. He didn't remember seeing it before. And it was his favorite color, he would have surely seen it before. He picked it up and opened the envelope and pulled out a piece of paper.

Sora,
Thursday at 7:30pm.
Bishop's Pagoda.
We should talk.

There was no signature at the end of the folded paper. Sora looked at it peculiarly, even turning it over a few times. It didn't look like anyone's handwriting he knew… was he going to go?

He had a day to think about it. Maybe he would go to school tomorrow. Maybe. Sora fumbled with the paper to stuff it back into the envelope and put it back on his desk. He walked to ward his bed, glancing back at the paper, and humming to himself. It was odd...someone had gotten into his room while he was gone; or had gotten his mother to put it on his desk for him.

Well…whatever. His mind couldn't concentrate anymore; it was only seven and he was completely drained. The brunet climbed into bed and nestled in the blankets until he was comfortable enough to fall asleep.

/L-C-C\

"Okay, this is from two weeks ago, this is the Othello report. And here is the Oedipus Trilogy Vs. Star Wars comparison… And the Shakespearean Sonnet paper, I will have done…soon."

Ms. Lockhart skimmed across the two reports before looking back up at the smiling brunet boy. "And Sora, from what I've read so far, these are both…"

Sora held his breath.

"… Going to be excellent papers-" Sora exhaled. "These will bump up your grade for sure. I'm still not very clear on how you've missed so much school and still maintain straight B's."

"Well, I've had help; my buddy Roxas gives me the assignments…or, used to anyhow."

She straightened the papers and set them neatly on her desk before grabbing another, seemingly unimportant paper from the opposite corner and taking a pencil from her assorted bunch in a cup. "That sonnet paper was due today. If you hand it in tomorrow, that would be nice, but I can understand if you're not here."

"I think I will."

She glanced up at him. "Wow Sora, a whole two days in a row for you? It's simply impossible."

He only grinned widely. "I'll see you tomorrow then." Sora spun around on his heel, and headed for the door to the quieting quad. School hadn't been too bad today; he didn't miss the people, but it was as relaxing as it was going to get these days; the quiet before the Finals-Storm-of-Doom.

Sora sighed, adjusting the strap on his bag before making his way to the gate that would take him home for the time being. He had a date tonight; with a stranger, big surprise.

He shouldn't have worn chuck tailors to school when it was snowing; he had to walk in the swept streets to avoid the slushy buildup between his toes. He hadn't seen Roxas today; whether that was good or bad never made its' way across his mind as he walked down his street with the barren trees and not when he finally came up to his doorstep to an empty, quiet –

"Sora? Is that you?"

Sora stopped in his track and glanced around the house. The brunette woman came rushing out from the kitchen, face brightening as she laid eyes on Sora before squealing loudly and wrapping her arms around his taller form and shaking him back and forth.

"It's been days since I've seen you!" She said as she suddenly released him, Sora sucking in a large breath of air and stumbling a little.

Her smile turned into a look of disappointment. "Where have you BEEN? I've been worried sick about you!"

"I've been out, mom."

"Out where? I called Roxas' mom, and you haven't been there; I called everyone else I could think of, and it was like you dropped off the face of the planet!"

"I've just been…earning money, 'tis all." He said, watching as her eyes dulled and her expression dwindled into one of thought.

"Earning money?"

"To help, you know, pay for stuff."

Mayuka looked Sora over. "Like…bills? You have been the one taking the bills from the mailbox, haven't you? You've been taking them, and paying them? Is that why we still have our house? Water? Electricity?"

Sora blinked.

"What kind of money are you making?"

Sora didn't speak. He was looking down at the floor. "Can we talk about this later?" He glanced up, "We have catching up to do. And I have a date tonight, soooo…I kinda need a ride."

Mayuka set her hands on her hips, and giggled after a moment. "Well…alright. But I'm not going to let it go."

/L-C-C\

This restaurant was kind of cute.

It was decorated in all sorts of oriental lights and hanging things and sets of chopsticks on each table. It was a sushi restaurant; go figure.

Sora didn't really like it. It was a little too…unauthentic. Maybe they were compensating for something, like the only sushi they had were California rolls or other fake-Japanese foods. He felt slightly offended.

He sat alone at one of the tables. Sitting alone always was an awkward situation, especially when it was a good twenty minutes you've been sitting, by yourself, drinking lemonade, next to the loudest Asian people ever.

Dressing himself was rather difficult before this ordeal. A lot of his clothes were dirty, and he had to settle on jeans, a t-shirt, a sweatshirt, and his dryer-dried chucks.

He sighed, and stopped being polite and keeping his elbows to himself by placing them underneath his head on the table. Maybe this was a set-up… Sora growled underneath his breath. He felt stupid for falling for a stupid little fricken random green-enveloped letter thing that was probably not even from anyone important… He now had a headache.

Well, twenty-five minutes was long enough to wait; it was time to get up and storm off. He grabbed the sweatshirt he had taken off because this cute restaurant had no idea what a comfortable temperature was, and slipped it on, feeling his head catch in the hole. He paused before growling, tugging furiously at the end of the sweater to pull through to no avail.

"Whoa – quite a conundrum there, huh?"

Sora heard this as hands reached over and pulling the sweater down over his eyes. Sora's eyes were closed, of course; his hair must've looked completely gorgeous after that ordeal –

"There you are."

Sora paused and looked up.

"I'm sorry I'm late, I, uh…had to kind of sneak out…and such…"

It was like one of those really, really mushy reunion moments, where you can hear the grand piano playing some cheesy soft riff behind the rest of the soft noise in the background of some romantic restaurant.

"R…Riku?"

+Insert Coin To Continue?+

A/N: HAPPY TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARYYYYYYYYY! :D:D:D:D
And Merry Xmas! And Happy New year! DX I missed a lot.

A few things:
-I really did have a report on Othello to do, but it was about 4 movies we watched in class.
-I did have a Oedipus Rex Trilogy vs. Star Wars comparison Essay to do. It was a bitch.
-My English teacher rocks my socks.-I hate finals. :D
-Being a senior = being on top with no respect.

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