Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. Also, I do not approve of bullying, even if you'll see a quite big amounts of it in the next few chapters...

Warnings: This fiction contains and is not limited to boy/boy moments, the use and abuse of stereotypes, hints at original pairings, very despicable people, emo-Riku, lustful teenagers, underage drinking, a mix of the last two points, questionable situations, morally ambiguous choices and a few, occasional and really shy attempts at humor.

Chapter 9: Just a Friend

It was strange to sit at that small table, isolated in the far corner of the cafeteria and clearly not fit to host three people at the same time. Roxas couldn't help but think to the last time he had shared a moment like that with his best friend. Ex-best friend, actually.

Riku probably wasn't happy to have him there: Roxas knew that that table was his little sanctuary, one of the few places he had carved out for himself and where none was welcomed. None but Sora, apparently.

Sure, someone could have said that the brunet had invited himself there, that he had forced his way in. But that couldn't have been farther from the truth. Roxas remembered way too well what had happened just one year ago. He remembered Riku sitting there, alone, looking around him like a feral beast trying to protect his territory. He remembered his aquamarine eyes reduced to slits, glaring at everyone who made the mistake of walking too closely. And, finally, he remembered the last words that he had told him, when he had tried to sit there with him.

"I hate you!"

And so, Roxas knew it: if Sora could sit there, it was because Riku had let him do it. The reason for that was behind his comprehension, but that didn't stop him from getting a few ideas... He looked at Sora, who was laughing.

"...no way, Riku! You really took his hand in front of the whole class? That's... like asking for it, you know."

"I told you I was six. It's not like I understood the difference between a boy or a girl back then."

"Actually, this proves that you understood it way too well."

"Has anybody ever told you that you're funny?"

"Plenty of times."

"Well, they were lying."

And at the sight of the two boys bickering, a certain one of those ideas kept growing stronger in Roxas' head. Even if 'bickering' wasn't the first word that came to his mind: even if he wasn't probably doing it on purpose, Roxas knew Riku way too well not to realize the truth.

He was flirting.

He clearly liked Sora.

"Hey, Roxas, you with us?" Sora asked innocently, making him realize that he was spacing out.

"Uh, sure. You were talking about the Struggle tryouts."

Riku snorted. "Yes, ten minutes ago." His tone of voice had gone back to ice cold so quickly that Roxas couldn't help but shiver. But at least he was answering him, now. It was a beginning.

"Don't worry, Rox. I gave up trying to convince you to join." Sora smiled. "...but you said that you'll come as a spectator."

"I did?"

"Sora has this fastidious habit to remember every word you say. And sometimes to twist them a bit." Riku smirked, his attitude just a little more relaxed than before.

And then the bell rang, and before Roxas could blink, Riku had already disappeared in the crowd muttering a 'goodbye' to the two of them. Left alone with Sora, he finally asked the question that was bugging him.

"How did you do it?"

The boy stared at him interrogatively. "Did what?"

"How did you manage to gain Riku's trust?" he specified, even if he was pretty sure that Sora had perfectly understood what he meant the first time.

As an answer, he started to gather his stuff and stood up. "Are you coming? We'll be late for chem class otherwise."

Roxas obeyed and followed him, determined to get an answer. Sora kept on walking, refusing to slow down to let Roxas reach him. He got the distinct feeling that the moment Riku had disappeared, Sora had become a lot less friendly with him.

When they finally reached a nearly-empty corridor, a whole minute later, Sora finally stopped, so abruptly that Roxas nearly bumped into him. And then Sora turned to look at him and, for the first time, Roxas saw a glimpse in his eyes that scared him. "I know it's not my business, Roxas, but what did happen between you and Riku?"

"What... How... I mean, why do you want to know?" And then Roxas realized the reason of Sora's cold shoulders: Riku had probably told him something. "What did he tell you?"

Silence.

"He told me that you outed him."

"That's not true!" he answered, way too fast to sound convincing. Even if it was the absolute truth.

"Why does he think so, then?" Piercing blue eyes were staring at him, carefully analyzing his reactions. Roxas didn't like that.

"I don't know." he answered, trying to keep his voice from trembling. "I tried to ask him multiple times, but he always refused to speak to me. I guess it's because he had... uhm... told me that he liked guys just the day before." In truth, there was something else, but Roxas wasn't sure what precisely Riku had told Sora and it wasn't his place to tell him.

"You sure you didn't do it?" Sora asked one more time. There was something strangely similar to hope in his voice.

"I'm sure! I'd never do something like that! Riku was my best friend, you know?" Roxas was starting to get irritated at getting a third degree for something he had never done.

Ten whole seconds passed, during which Sora's eyes didn't leave him for a second. Then, suddenly, he closed them and let out his breath.

"Whew. I'm glad you're not an asshole."

Sora's reaction left Roxas speechless. But before he could say something, the brunet had already resumed his usual carefree attitude and was now smiling brightly at him. "Sorry, Rox. I just needed to be sure." He then dropped his smile and got a serious expression. "Even though, this means that there must be a huge misunderstanding between the two of you."

Completely baffled by Sora's mood swing, Roxas couldn't do anything else but nod. "Yeah, but I just don't see what I can do about it. Riku just wouldn't listen to me. Or to you."

His innocent smile creeped back on Sora's face. And, for the first time, Roxas got the feeling that it wasn't as innocent as it looked. "Just leave that to me."

By lunch, Sora had already a well-defined idea about how he would've made Riku and Roxas reconcile and was now deeply focused on discussing with Axel and Saïx about what the coach could have planned for the Struggle tryouts. Larxene, Roxas, Seifer and Hayner were sitting next to them, but weren't really interested in the discussion.

Axel was pretty sure that the old Auron would have fallen back on the classical 'the one left standing stays', which could range from multiples matches to a real battle royal, while Saïx thought he would have resorted to something more refined like individual tests to analyze the competitor's skills.

"By the way, how did you manage to find a spot in the team, Sora?" Saïx suddenly asked seriously, out of the blue. "Auron isn't the kind of guy to let someone join in just because."

"Now that I think about it, Saïx's right." Axel spurred him. "You got transferred in the middle of a school year. What did you do to get accepted? I couldn't even pass last semester's tryouts..."

"I hope it didn't involve some sort of sexual favors." It was difficult to say if Saïx was being serious or not, what with his everlasting poker face. Nevertheless, he earned a laugh from Sora.

Unfortunately, Seifer chose that moment to make his presence known. "Yeah, I'm quite curious too to know how little Sora managed to sneak his presence into our team."

"Trade secret, guys." Sora teased, still wary of him. "Let's just say that I have some high-profile connections."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot that you're the kind of guy that everyone likes." The sly smirk on Seifer's face remembered Sora the picture of a sloth he had recently seen on an internet meme. He couldn't help but grin. "Speaking of which, where did you left your boyfriend?"

Sora's smile disappeared immediately: if Seifer had slapped him in the face, it would have been less painful. And it also would have given him an excuse to slap him back. "Riku is not my boyfriend!" Man, even to himself, he sounded too much apologizing.

"Come on, man. Everybody knows it, right now you're the talk of the school, didn't you realize it?"

Of course, Sora knew way too well how the rumor mill worked in high school: people were constantly searching for something to gossip about. It didn't matter if it was true or not. And he could clearly see how him spending time with the gay boy of the school was something way too ambiguous to be ignored. He looked for support from Roxas, but it seemed the blond boy wasn't listening. Or that he was pretending not to.

"He's just a friend, alright? I didn't even know that he was gay when I started talking to him." He immediately hated himself for that sentence: it seemed to imply that he wouldn't have started spending time with him if he had known in advance his sexual preferences. But, at the moment, he just wanted to clarify how things were between them.

He checked the small table in the corner of the cafeteria where Riku sat every morning: as usual it was empty, the tall boy having the habit to disappear who-knows-where during lunchtime. It was better like that: he wouldn't have liked for him to overhear that conversation.

"'Just a friend'... of course he is." Hayner, that Sora had not even considered until that moment, felt the urge to side with Seifer. What a surprise.

And that made Larxene, who had been unusually quiet until that moment, roll his eyes. "Oh, for the god of... you're one to talk, Hayner."

The boy looked clearly shocked by that sentence, like if someone daring to question his sexuality was something absolutely unbelievable. "What do you mean? I've never talked to Riku since he has been outed." he declared proudly.

Sora had to make an incredible effort to restrain himself from punching him in the face right there. "Sure, he could've infected you with gay germs."

"Eh, nice one, kiddo." Larxene answered smirking. "And, for the record, I was referring to the way you keep on following Seifer around like a puppy."

If Hayner was trying to transform into a tomato, Sora had to admit that he was doing a pretty good impression: his whole face had become deep red so fast that Axel's hair looked a pale orange by comparison.

"Sick burn." the redhead commented whistling. "So, to get back on topic, what do you think coach Auron will have in store for us, Seifer?"

Luckily, thanks to Axel's intervention, the conversation managed to stay away from Riku for the rest of the lunch. That didn't stop Sora's mind from running wild at the possible consequences of keeping on spending time with his silver-haired friend.

But more than everything, there was something else that was bugging him. It was a detail, but he couldn't help but notice it. And it made him feel pretty bad.

Roxas hadn't said a single word during the entire conversation.

End Notes: What's going on? I'm getting less and less comments every chapter! I'm starting to wonder if my story is getting bad...

Preview: All bets are off: the Struggle tryouts are finally starting!

Next Chapter: Tryouts - Part 1