Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. I do possess, however, a very bad temper that sometimes made me similar to Kairi. As she is written in this chapter, at least.

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 28: The Beginning of the End

"Wow, what happened to you, man?"

As of Wednesday morning, Sora's left eye had started to turn into a vivid bluish color and he could no longer hide it. He looked at the inquiring Axel while giving him a classic 'stop pointing out the obvious' look.

"I got a black eye."

"Everyone can see that. But how did you get it?"

At the cafeteria, the situation had quite shifted in just little more than a week: the central table, undiscussed domain of Seifer's gang, was now half empty. The only people still there were Saïx, Kairi and Hayner. And Seifer itself, of course, who was glaring at some imprecise point between Riku and Sora.

Riku's little slice of heaven -also known as the small table that already felt cramped were Sora had started to sit with him- was now on the verge of collapsing, with a grand total of five people sitting around it. Aside from Riku itself, the aforementioned brunet, and Roxas -whose company Riku was just starting to appreciate... well, tolerate-, Axel and Larxene were also there.

...and yet, Riku didn't seem bothered in the least.

Sora couldn't help but grin at that thought. At least before being abruptly brought back to reality by an insistent redhead inquiring about his black eye, Seifer's courtesy. Or, to be more precise, his own generous concession to Seifer in exchange for his silence.

"I got into a fight, nothing serious." he tried to banalize, despite knowing full well how that kind of attitude usually tended to sort the opposite effect. "More seriously..." he then continued, not giving his interlocutor the time to reply and turning his attention to the blond girl next to him. "...to what do we owe the pleasure of your company, Larxene?"

He had asked the question with the clear intent to divert the attention, but it was true that it was the first time that Larxene had chosen to have breakfast with them.

"I was curious to hear your side of the story about what happened on Monday." she answered nonchalantly while sipping her cup of coffee. She then smiled wickedly. "You know, the Struggle training. Is it true that you're responsible for Seifer's split lip?"

"Absolutely, Larx!" Axel answered in Sora's stead, showing disturbing signs of hyperactivity. More than usual. "Seifer made a scene after being expelled by old Auron and Sora stormed in and punched him twice!"

"Got to say: you punch like a pro." Riku interjected himself in the middle of the conversation. He was bearing a serious expression, which kind of collided with the way the sauce of the pancakes he was eating was pouring everywhere on the table. "Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"At the drama club, can we stop talking about me? I'm not thrilled to have gotten that close to being expelled from the team."

"Oh, right, that reminds me that you never told us how did you convince the coach to keep you on it." Roxas asked inquiringly, talking for the first time since that morning.

"Whatever, doesn't matter how he did it!" Axel talked again, putting an arm around Sora's neck. "What matters most is that we don't lose one of the best players in the team!"

"Seifer is still out of the team, though." Roxas objected.

"I was talking about Sora, duh."

Seifer was trying to find a rational explanation at what was going on. Without success.

Only a few days ago, Riku's life was miserable. And that was right.

Now, it seemed like he had suddenly become so interesting that people couldn't help but start gravitating around him. Or, more precisely: why did Roxas, Axel and Larxene prefer to spend their time with the loser gay boy instead than with him. How was that possible?

Seifer couldn't grasp the 'why', but he knew perfectly well the 'who'.

"Letting Sora join the group was a mistake." he hissed slowly, gritting his teeth while looking at the overpopulated small table.

"I always thought he was strange." a voice next to him said. Probably Hayner's. Seifer knew that the little brat was annoying, but now more than ever he needed to keep around someone who unconditionally agreed to whatever he said, something about reinforcing his authority. Right now, though, he was just annoying.

"He's just like Riku, I'm telling you." At the hearing of Kairi's voice, Seifer turned towards her, pleased at that answer. "Just another gay boy who thinks he can do whatever he wants with... us."

Seifer got the feeling that Kairi was going to say 'me' before correcting herself, but he chose to let that slide. What mattered most was that Kairi was also on his side, now that it was officially all-out war with the brunet.

"Don't you think you're exaggerating a little bit?" Most surprisingly, that irritatingly discordant voice belonged to Saïx. Now, what was that? Why did the always neutral Saïx was disagreeing with him? "Can't you just let it slide and pretend that nothing happened?"

Seifer knew he had to be wary of him: despite tending not to overtly confront people -that was Larxene's role- Saïx was one of those rare people who actually had the irritating habit of thinking by themselves instead of idly agreeing with him. He didn't get the occasion to answer back, though: Kairi was faster.

"You're saying that only because Axel decided to hang with them."

"And you're just mad because Riku and Sora ditched you. Your point?"

That was a low blow. Unfortunately for him, Seifer realized it only half a second after starting to laugh.

"Oh, you find it funny, Seifer?" Kairi seemed livid, and that was enough reason to shut his mouth.

"Well, it kinda was, Kairi." Hayner tried to temper the situation. Uselessly.

The redhead girl looked at him the same way one could look at an irritating mosquito, but in the end she decided to ignore him, focusing on Seifer, instead. "I'll tell you what I find funny, Seifer!" she started calmly, but in a tone that he didn't like in the slightest. "I find really funny how you could never accept that both Riku and Sora are more interesting than you."

None talked for the next ten seconds. It was Kairi who broke that awkward silence once more. "I'm sick of you, I'm out of here. Have fun with your faithful sidekicks. Those who can still stand you, at least."

And Seifer observed her standing up and walking out of the cafeteria, without adding another single word nor looking back once. And he couldn't do anything. He was too dumbfounded to.

When he finally snapped out of that trance -his ego still badly hurt by Kairi's words- he lashed out at one of the few remaining people around him.

"Why didn't you say anything?!" he nearly screamed towards Saïx, gathering the attention of the nearby tables.

"Excuse me?" Saïx answered, apathetically and quietly sipping his coffee, like nothing had happened at all.

"It was your stupid joke that made her snap at me, you should have told her something." He precised, forcing himself to show some restraint.

Saïx didn't answer immediately. It seemed like he was precisely pondering the potential consequences of his answer.

"Make peace with them before it's too late." he finally said, and there was a tone of finality in his voice.

Seifer had to do an inhuman effort not to scream at him. "Make... why should I make peace with a couple of gay boys?!"

"Yeah, why should he?"

"Shut up, Hayner!"

Saïx didn't say anything else that morning. Still, he couldn't help but look at Riku's table where Axel was laughing at that same precise moment, thinking back to the last time that the two of them had discussed about friendship.

It was sometimes halfway through breakfast that realization about how much his life had changed since he had met Sora hit Riku: being in the Struggle team, having people around him, talking again with Roxas... if someone had told him that his life would have changed so drastically so quickly just a couple of weeks ago, he would've thought to some kind of bad joke. I mean, he had kind of accepted that he would have spent the rest of his school life all by himself in a boring yet peaceful existence. Instead...

Instead that adorable, beautiful brunet that was sitting next to him had changed his life, just like that. During the last few days, Riku had finally come to peace with his feelings: he was in love with Sora, there was no way he could deny it anymore. Even worse, he was not just in love: he was a love-sick puppy that was finding more and more difficult to restrain himself around the object of his affection.

But, most importantly, the way he had reacted after meeting his parents had convinced him that Sora too had to feel something for him. There was no other explanation for the fact that he was still talking to him after that disastrous dinner, Riku was sure of it.

And maybe it was that state of unmotivated optimism that would've been -at least partly- responsible for the disaster that would have come just a couple of days later. A disaster that would've started that same morning, sprung by an innocent question from Axel.

"So, the party is this Friday, eh Larx?"

Larxene's party! Riku had heard about it, it was scheduled to be in a couple of days. It was kind of a yearly thing around this time of the year and he remembered very well last year's one. Well, he remembered having been there: details like 'what happened there' were a little hazy in his mind.

...but that was back when he was still part of his old group and was being invited to this kind of events. All things considered, he had to admit that he missed that kind of things. Especially considering that Sora would've been there...

And thinking about the brunet... it was kind of strange how he hadn't mentioned it to him. But he wouldn't ask to be invited, that was out of question: he had his dignity.

Larxene was eating a slice of pizza, but she didn't consider necessary interrupting herself before answering Axel. "Guess so. Remember that you and Saïx are expected to help me set things up tomorrow."

'Dignity, Riku!'

Axel didn't seem really happy about that. He started pouting, before looking around him in desperate search of something.

'Dignity!'

His search came to an end the moment he landed his eyes on none else than Riku. "Why don't you ask Riku for help?"

'Dign... uh?'

Riku needed a moment to realize that they were talking about him. In fact, they were asking for his help. It meant that they were going to invite him... right? "Uhm... yeah, it should be fine by me." he answered quickly.

Larxene took a long moment to scrutinize the silver-haired boy, then she smirked. "Fine, I'll need some muscles to arrange the furniture."

'Come on, just invite me!'

But none said anything else on the subject and Riku ended the breakfast with an uncomfortable feeling deep inside his chest.

End Notes: -3 to the party!

Preview: Riku, Axel and Saïx together, sweating under Larxene. Under Larxene's orders, that is. What could ever go wrong?

Next Chapter: Red and Blue