Axel threw open the door to his apartment, shouting down the hall as he passed it, "GUYS, GET YOUR ASSES OUT HERE."

"For the last time, Axel, I'm a fuckin' GIRL." A female voice snapped back.

Axel rolled his eyes, plopping onto the couch in the living room and turning the TV on as loud as he could. Zexion's room was located directly behind the TV, and the younger boy hated it when the noise from Axel's "stupid, annoying, immature, brain-damaging MTV shows" woke him up/interrupted his reading/was existent. If anything could drive his friend out of his room it was this.

"AXEL!" Zexion screamed, the door from his room banging against the wall as he threw it open. "HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU TO KEEP THAT BRAIN-MELTING CRAP TURNED DOWN?"

Zexion quickly crossed the room and manually turned the stupid contraption off. "NO MORE NOISE!"

With a huff, he turned to head back into his room just as Cloud poked his head into the living room.

"Um... what's going on?" The blonde asked, eyeing his roommates.

Axel grabbed the back of Zexion's shirt, dragging him back into the room, "Uh uh. I put it on to get your attention, and now you're staying here."

Larxene rolled her eyes, "Well, you have everyone's attention. What?"

Axel cleared his throat and got up on top of the coffee table as if he was about to make a huge speech.

"I... have a boyfriend." Axel grinned maniacally, hopping off the table and walking into the kitchen before his friends could say a thing.

"Okay then. I'm going for a ride. Later." Cloud said, quickly shutting his door and leaving the house before Zexion could explode.

"YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS!" Axel shouted from the kitchen.

"AXEL!" Zexion yelled, quickly following the redhead. "You mean to tell me that you blasted that infernal contraption just to make a stupid announcement like that! After I've specifically told you a MILLION times to keep it down! What the hell! That's it - YOU'RE buying dinner tonight."

"I already ate." Axel shrugged, grinning at him. "Seriously, though, Zex. I wouldn't blast that if it wasn't important."

Larxene walked into the room, grabbing a coffee mug out of the cabinet and pouring a glass of the only food anyone in their apartment could make-coffee. "What's so important? You having boyfriends is no big thing since high school."

"Eh, there's one problem." Axel shrugged.

Larxene sighed, "Your definition of boyfriend is skewed right now, isn't it?"

"He is TOO my boyfriend." Axel huffed.

"In your head, at least." Larxene mumbled, pouring sugar into her coffee.

Zexion huffed, grumbling about loud annoying roommates before plopping down into the nearest chair. He maintained his glare for a full minute, then sighed. "So who is he, anyway?"

"I knew you couldn't hate me for long." Axel grinned, "Brother of a friend of Riku's. Roxas."

Zexion blinked. "Why is everything complicated with you?" He grumbled. "How the hell you'd meet him? What's he look like? Geez, Axel, way to make a huge announcement and then not give any details."

Axel grinned and began to recount the tale of how his amazing scavenger hunt for Riku lead him to a helpless little boy trying to cook and how said little boy had no chance of finishing without Axel's amazing pepper-washing skills.

XXXX

Cloud mindlessly drove around, with no particular destination in mind. All he knew was he was NOT going back home for a while, until they all calmed down. He tried guessing who Axel could have coerced into being his boyfriend, but quickly gave up that train of thought. He glanced around and realized he was two blocks from work so he shrugged and guided his bike in that direction, pulling into the Rusty Wrench a few minutes later and killing the engine, taking off his helmet, and glancing around.

"Hey, Cloud." Xigbar said, looking up from the desk on the other side of the garage, where he was reading a book. Pausing, he glanced at the calendar behind him, "Are you even on tonight?"

"No, I'm not." Cloud said, getting completely off his bike and striding over to the desk. "Roommates were becoming a pain. Just needed somewhere to go." The blonde said, shrugging and sitting down across from Xigbar.

Xigbar nodded in understanding, "Ahh, okay. Axel again?"

Cloud sighed, raking a gloved hand through his overly gelled hair. "Of course - who else is capable of causing that much chaos?"

Xigbar laughed, nodding and shutting his book, "Well, spend as much time here as you want. Nothing's going on tonight as far as I know."

As if they'd been waiting for a cue, the front door of the Rusty Wrench slammed open and two guys walked into the garage.

"Fuckin' asshole. Gonna kill me." Seifer muttered, sending a glare at his brunette friend.

"Maybe if you didn't go off grabbing the wheel while I'm driving, I wouldn't have almost driven the car off the road." Leon glared at his friend.

"I wouldn't have needed to grab the wheel if you weren't about to drive off the road!" Seifer snapped.

"Hi guys." Xigbar rolled his eyes.

Cloud shot his coworker a look. "You know these guys?" He asked, eyeing the newcomers.

"Oh, yeah." Xigbar said, "Cloud, this is Leon and Seifer. They're two of my friends, and I'm pretty sure they were married in a past life."

Hearing this, both boys redirected their anger at their other friend, who put his hands up in innocence, a smirk on his face. "Leon, Seifer, this is Cloud. He works here too."

Cloud gave a small wave as the attention of the two snapped to him. "Yeah, hi."

"Hey." Seifer smiled.

Leon just acknowledged him with a nod, before walking over to sit on the hood of the resident rust bucket that had NEVER left the shop. Xigbar had his doubts about the car's ability to start, never mind drive away, and apparently so had the owner, because it had been dropped off three years ago and never picked up.

"Hey, I wouldn't sit on that thing if I was you. Made that mistake myself when I was first hired. Never did get the stains outta the ass of my jeans." Cloud said, smirking at Leon.

"Eh, they're old pants and I'm too lazy to move." Leon shrugged.

Cloud shrugged. "Your loss." He turned his attention back to Xigbar. "Anyway, if you want me to go...?"

"Nah, no worries." Xigbar shrugged, "Leon and Seifer will find something to argue about in a minute and they'll be able to amuse themselves that way."

Seifer rolled his eyes, "We don't a-"

"Yes you do." Xigbar cut him off, "Yes you do and you've even argued about that."

Seifer opened his mouth to protest, but apparently thought better of it and shut it without saying anything.

Xigbar smirked, victorious.

Cloud grinned, enjoying the banter. "Well, then. I'm gonna work on my bike." With that, he took off his leather jacket, revealing his muscle tee underneath, and strode across the garage to his parked bike, guiding it over to his work station.

Leon looked over at him, "Nice bike." he nodded in appreciation.

Seifer snorted, glancing at Xigbar, "Think he's admiring the bike or Cloud's body?" he asked in a voice too low for either of the other boys to hear.

"Hmm... Tough call." Xigbar said, watching the two. After a pause, he pulled his wallet out, "Twenty bucks says they're together by Christmas."

"Easter." Seifer shook his head, "Leon's not gonna take the initiative."

"You're on." Xigbar nodded, smirking.

Seifer nodded, shaking his friend's hand and redirecting his attention to the subject of their bet.

Tuning out everyone else in the room, Cloud focused on his bike. He crouched down and lovingly ran his hand along its side, admiring the kick-ass flame paint job his roommates had gotten him for his birthday last year. He sighed almost inaudibly, then began to check the chains and oil, cleaning everything thoroughly with the utmost care.

Leon occupied himself with watching Cloud, not really concerned with the fact that he was technically staring and trying his best not to turn around and snap at Xigbar and Seifer, who were doing their best (aka horrible) impressions of Leon and Cloud's current situation in voices hushed enough that Cloud couldn't hear them but Leon could.

He settled for turning and glaring to let the two know his annoyance, but the only thing that did was make them continue with satisfied smirks on their faces.

Cloud wiped his brow and stood up. "Hey." He said, getting the attention of the other three. "I'm gonna get a drink - anybody want?" He asked, heading over to the door to the break room.

"Nah, I'm good." Xigbar said. Seifer was trying to hold in his amusement at almost being caught and failing, shaking his head because he knew that if he opened his mouth he would end up laughing hysterically.

Xigbar punched him lightly, rolling his eyes.

"Right..." Cloud said, shaking his head at the two. "What about you? Leon, right?"

"Yeah." Leon nodded, "And I'm alright."

Cloud nodded and disappeared into the break room, returning moments later with two cans of soda. "All right - one of you has to take this. If I'm gonna steal Cid's drinks, I might as well finish what's in there." He said, smirking and waving the can around.

Xigbar chuckled, "Pass it."

Cloud smirked and tossed the drink to Xigbar, making sure to give it a few more waves first. He cracked his own can open and grinned, waiting for the explosion.

Xigbar was oblivious to the extra shaking being done to the can and popped it open right after he caught it. Unfortunately, all the extra shaking meant that as soon as the can popped open, bubbles and foam exploded out at him and Seifer, soaking them in carbonation.

Cloud's grin widened impossibly, and he fought back his laughter in order to say: "You know, next time you should really save your chitchat for when I'm NOT in the room."

Leon laughed, "I'm glad you did it, 'cause otherwise I'd have just kicked their asses later, and your method was all the more satisfying."

Cloud turned to him, still grinning, and winked. "No problem. It was my pleasure." With that, the blonde sauntered back over to his work station, placing his drink down and reevaluating his bike.

XXXX

Hi guys! Cami here. Here's the next chapter of The Day That Some Things Happened, and we hope you enjoyed it! A little shorter than last time, but whateverrrrr.

So, who do you guys think will win the bet? I think you should all guess in reviews.

I'm not coherent enough to make an author's note now, so I'm just gonna email this to Jasmine and let her post it. Later!