Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. Also, I do not support the resolution of conflicts between teenagers without the help of an adult... Also, don't do drugs, kids!

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 26: All or Nothing

As soon as the talk with Auron was over, Sora immediately started looking for Seifer. The search didn't take long, as he quickly found him in the cafeteria, sitting at the usual table while eating a sandwich. Or, more precisely, from the way he was crunching it, taking his anger on it.

He took a deep breath and sat just next to him.

Seifer's reaction was priceless: he didn't say anything, but from the way he started clenching his meal, Sora figured that he was imagining doing the same to his neck.

"I'm here to talk!" he announced, unusually serious.

"You've got some guts sitting next to me after what you did. If you think you can..."

"Shut up, Seifer!"

There was something strange in the way the usually cheerful Sora had pronounced those words. It wasn't the feral, nearly primitive way he had glared at Seifer during the Struggle match. It was more like a cold, calculative look; something so unfitting on him that Seifer didn't dare to reply.

And Sora was perfectly conscious of that.

"Now I'll tell you what we're going to do about this!" He was talking in the same quiet, cold, nearly monotone voice. He didn't look angry, but he surely wasn't smiling either. "You'll just shut up and won't go cry to the principal about the fact that I punched you in the face. This way you won't look like a crybaby and I won't get expelled."

Sora had decided that playing it that way was his best option. Now the cards were on the table, what was going to happen next would depend on what Seifer would answer.

A grin started forming on the blond boy's face. "In other words... your staying in this school depends entirely on me."

If looks could kill, Seifer would've been dead. He seemed to realize it, because his grin disappeared from his face as fast as it had appeared. "I know what you're thinking: don't!" Sora answered coldly. "Try to get me expelled and I can assure you that I have a more than one way to make you pay for it."

It was at that moment that Seifer seemed to realize that Sora was serious... but at the same time he also clearly knew that the brunet had nothing to threaten him with.

And then he clasped his hands behind his head and looked straight at Sora for the first time since he had arrived there. "What about our bet?" he asked calmly.

"What about it?"

"Stop playing coy with me!" It seemed like Seifer had managed to regain a little bit of his usual cockiness. Sora figured that he was simply too stupid for his own good. "We made a bet, you remember it, right?"

"What about it?" he asked again, but this time his voice was betraying just the slightest trace of anxiety.

"You want to do it that way? Fine, I'll just spell it out for you..." Seifer seemed to savor every moment of that situation, his shark-like grin wider than ever. "We both know that the only reason you got close to Riku was because we made a bet that you wouldn't be able to bring him to Larxene's party! How do you think your gay friend will react should he discover that you became his friend just because of that?"

"That's not like it!"

"Oh, right, I forgot!" Seifer kept going maliciously. "You're only pretending to be his friend to make him join Larxene's party."

"That was a stupid bet to begin with!" Sora answered trying to keep his cool, but realizing that he wasn't doing a great job at it.

"A stupid bet that you accepted!"

Sora shut up, trying to figure out what the best way to get out of that situation could be. "Fine, what do you want to shut your mouth?" he finally asked, glaring at the other boy.

"Three things." Seifer answered. "One: I get to punch you back. Two: you will stop antagonizing me. And three..." Sora waited patiently for Seifer to talk. "You'll still drag Riku to Larxene's party next Saturday!"

For Sora it was way too clear why Seifer had made that last request. It was the same reason he had initially proposed that stupid bet.

He had always wanted for Sora to win it. Since the beginning.

Seifer wanted Riku at the party for some reason, he didn't know which one, but he was sure he had to have some kind of hidden agenda.

Sora sighed. He didn't really want to do that, but he was left with no other choice. He put a hand in his bag and took out an old scholastic report from Radiant High that he slipped to Seifer.

"What's that supposed to mean?" the blond boy asked as he started reading the papers. Sora didn't answer: he simply observed Seifer's face gradually losing all of his color as he progressed through the text.

When he finally got to the end, he didn't even dare to look at Sora. "What... What's that supposed to mean?" he asked again in a feeble voice.

"Just an old report from Radiant High... you know, my old school." Sora had gone back to the monotone voice he had taken at his arrival. He then proceeded to quickly snatch those papers from Seifer's hands. "It reported in detail the reason my family had to move here in Twilight Town."

"You... you really did..."

"I was part of that, yes." A dark light crossed Sora's blue eyes. "Now, if you don't want to experience first-hand something similar, you'd better not piss me off more than you already have."

For Sora, that was the end of the discussion. He stood up, getting ready to go, when he realized that his interlocutor was trying to say something.

"What's... what's in it for me?"

He turned slowly to look at the blond boy, who was still avoiding his look. "Beg your pardon?" he asked calmly.

Seifer gulped noisily. "What's in it for me, if I do what you say?" he then repeated, just a little louder than before.

"For starters, you stay in one piece..."

And then Sora closed his eyes, remembering to himself that he couldn't use those methods anymore. Fine, he could afford to give him something. "And I'll accept one of the three requests you made."

"Uhm... ok, so you'll stop antagonizing..."

"Punch me!"

Seifer seemed stunned at those words. He clearly wasn't expecting that Sora would've agreed to that specific request. Not after what he had just read. He tried to make him change his mind and take another one of the two options left, but Sora was adamant.

"I won't tell anyone that I let you do it and you'll get to brag to whoever you want that you punched me." he specified. He then looked fiercely at the other boy, making him understand that negotiations were over.

"Just let Riku out of this!"

That afternoon, the courtyard was nearly empty. In the middle of it, three boys were discussing animatedly.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes, Seifer is out of the team." Axel explained, not even trying to hide an evident grin.

Roxas couldn't help but start thinking at the implications of all that. Being the smart boy that he was, he knew that the fact that both Sora and Riku had recently joined the Struggle team couldn't be a coincidence.

"And Sora will follow soon enough." Saïx, that until that moment had stayed silent, added drily, his usual poker face.

"Wait... what?"

The grin on Axel face quickly disappeared. "Sora punched Seifer in the face." he then precised.

"It's a pretty safe bet to say that he must have done something to deserve it."

Both Saïx and Axel looked at Roxas surprised: it was kind of unusual for the blond boy to be so blunt. Saïx was the first to talk. "I already told you, Roxas: Sora has a bad influence on you!"

"Wait! When did you tell me something like that?"

"When I told you to stop hanging around with Riku!"

A long silence ensued. Saïx's attitude was clearly irritating Axel, but when he talked, he did it in such a calm tone that it made evident how much of an effort he was making trying to keep his cool. "What Saïx meant is that it may be risky to openly antagonize Seifer."

"I never..."

"You will!" Saïx interrupted him once again. "You don't even realize it, but you're taking on Sora's attitude."

"Even if it was true, it would be bad?"

"It would be dangerous!"

Roxas couldn't believe his ears: what Saïx was saying was absolutely unlistenable! He was suggesting to avoid certain topics because, maybe, some person could take offense and get revengeful. Even worse! He was implying that just talking to someone was the same!

And yet...

A little voice in his head was telling him to stop being a hypocrite and admit the truth to himself: that kind of behavior was precisely what he had done his entire life.

Avoiding Riku.

Avoiding confronting people.

Avoiding talking about himself, about his feelings, in fear that someone could use that information against him.

When did it start being this way?

He knew way to well the answer to that question: that Saturday of July, years before. When he had told his parents how he felt, what he liked, who he was. That was, to his memory, the last time that he had really been himself. It was like his life had been put on hold from that moment.

No...

That wasn't totally true.

There was another time when he had felt the same way, that he had been honest with himself, and it had been just a couple of days before. Sora and Riku had made him felt that way.

And he didn't want to give up on that feeling!

Roxas felt like he was finally waking up from a long slumber. And so he looked back at Saïx, straight in the eye, wearing a confident smile on his face.

"So what?"

"Uh?"

"So what if it's 'dangerous'?" Roxas repeated, more confident than ever. "You know what? I don't care! I'm sick of shutting my mouth and never holding a position just to avoid getting on someone's bad side. If I want to be friend with Riku, what's so scandalous in that?"

"It's not... that simple..." Saïx answered, for maybe the first time since Roxas had known him, showing a hint of insecurity.

"Yes, Saïx, it is." Axel talked again, this time plainly taking Roxas' side. "There's absolutely nothing that stops us from siding with Riku if we really want to. You just have to want it!"

'You just have to want it!'

That sentence, so simple yet so enlightening, felt like a revelation for Roxas. Yeah, if he didn't like what he had become, he just had to change it. It was so simple, why hadn't he thought about it before?

"So, the question is: what will you do?"

Saïx stood in place for a whole minute, before slowly closing his eyes and smirking. "Umpf, it's not like you two left me with a choice, right?"

'You just have to want it!'

End Notes: Wow, I'm exhausted, these chapters are draining me faster than I initially thought! But... the best will come next week ;)!

Preview: Dinner time for Sora and Riku. And his family ;).

Next Chapter: The Day Sora met my Family