All Characters Owned by Square Enix

47.

Beat woke Sora a couple hours later, the brunette's phone alarm having gone off. Sora awoke in a daze. Unable to get a good sleep, he was so tired. "You've got to go to school, right?" Beat asked. The brunette jumped up to his voice. Something just made him uneasy.

"Yeah." He couldn't put his finger on it. He quickly moved around, turning off his phone, changing his clothes – which was pretty difficult. The light from outside had made the room dim and somewhat grey.

"About earlier-"

"It's okay…just forget about it." Sora said with a dreary smile.

"You're lying," Beat got up from the bed and grabbed onto Sora's arm. The brunette looked the boy up and down his lips slightly parted. "Don't let that come between us."

Sora licked his lips, his eyes frantically looking down at the floor. "I…I've got to go to school." He said, removing Beat's hand from his arm. Once he got his pants buttoned he grabbed his backpack and crutches and carefully climbed over the windowsill with unwanted – but appreciated – help from Beat.

Walking to school with crutches about fourty-five minutes away was like torture. By the time he got there, his arms were burning. He ended up arriving the same time as Axel, who was just getting off the commuter bus.

"Yo," Axel waved. "Sora!"

Sora smiled as the redhead approached him. "This is…different!" Axel said maybe a little too awkwardly.

"Yeah, you're not serenading Roxas for once!" Sora giggled.

"Well I will be in a few," Axel grinned, but then his brow raised. "Do you smell that?" He leaned in closer to Sora. "Were you smoking?" He said in a hushed tone, brow raised.

"Huh," Sora lifted the collar of his shirt to his nose and smelled the pungent odor. "Oh no!" He began to panic. Axel noticed and quickly ushered him into the closest boys bathroom. "You know I'm pretty surprised," Axel said. "I thought you were smarter than this!"

"I wasn't thinking!" If Axel could smell it…Riku would too. They sit together in their first class. How would he explain this? There was no simple way of explaining any of it. He began to feel his eyes begin to water.

"Do you have an extra clothes?"

"No."

"I don't even know if that's would help at all anyway."

Riku was going to kill him. Not that the weed was bad enough but where he was…who he was with. What happened when he was there…no…Riku doesn't have to know that much. Sora could feel his chest getting heavier. It was enough that he was already lying to Riku and now this. He couldn't breathe and his heart was palpitating. Soon he began to hyperventilate.

"Sora!" Axel grabbed a hold of him and stared concerned. "Just breathe slowly…take deep breaths."

After a couple of minutes Sora began sobbing. "I wa-wasn't where I-I was supp-posed to be last night," He cried. Axel pulled him into his chest and gently rubbed the back of his head. "Ri-Riku is going to be so m-mad…"

"It's alright, Sora," The brunette never realized how caring Axel could be. No wonder he and Roxas were so good for each other. Roxas needed all the caring in the world. "You're fine." Axel felt his phone begin to ring and answered it.

"Where are you?" It was Roxas.

"Umm, come to the bathroom in the east wing."

"Alright," Roxas responded. "You'd better not be doing some crazy shit."

"Yeah yeah."

Almost a minute later Roxas entered the bathroom. He saw Axel holding Sora and could hear the mumbled sobbing. "Sora? Are you okay?" Roxas came close to him. "And what's that smell?" He cringed a bit.

"That, my precious boyfriend, is the smell of weed."

"You told me you were finished with that Axel!"

"It's not me," Axel said. "It's Sora and you're going to be a good friend and switch clothes with him."

"What…why?"

Sora removed himself from Axel and unintentionally pouted at the blonde. "Please, R-Roxas? I'll d-do anything." He sniffled.

"What if I get in trouble?"

"They'll test you and I'm very sure you're clean." Axel responded.

"Are you clean?"

"This isn't about me! Hurry up and take off your clothes," This was probably the first and only time Axel would ever use that sentence in a non-sexual way. "Classes are going to start soon."

Roxas groaned before giving in and loosening his tie. Sora followed suit, leaning against the sink for support. Once they were done Axel made sure Sora washed his arms in the sink.

"What were you up to last night, Sora," Roxas asked. "And why do I have to cover for you?"

The bell rang.

"…I don't want to talk about it." Sora replied. They split off with Axel and went to their art class, sitting in their normal seats: Sora next to Riku and Roxas across the table with Zack.

"What kept you guys?" The snow-head asked Sora.

"Um...well…-"

Sora was terrible at lying.

"Sora wasn't feeling too well." Roxas explained, to which Sora nodded.

"That explains why you look like you got hit by a truck." Zack teased.

The brunette laughed nervously. "Yeah I didn't much sleep last night. I guess that's why I wasn't feeling too well this morning."

Riku leaned his elbow on the table, supporting his head in his hand. "You smell like weed." He said looking up at Sora.

Roxas saw the face of a boy who was about to burst into tears.

"It's me," The blonde quickly interrupted before Sora had another panic attack. "I slept over Axel's last night and he smoked. I guess the smell caught on to Sora since I was with him before class."

Sora couldn't believe it. Roxas was his angel. How could someone lie so easily? He made mental note to thank him every day for the rest of his life. He sat down at the table.

"Better hope no one reports you," Zack explained to Roxas as the blonde took his seat. "Coach will be furious! Seifer almost got kicked off the team last year."

"Really?" Sora asked nervously.

"Yeah, it ruins the team and the school's image," Riku said. "Oh, by the way Roxas, on Friday there's a ceremony we have to go to for Blitzball."

"More information at the meeting after school tomorrow." Zack smirked.

"Alright."

Ventus rolled around in his bed sheets. He didn't know how to explain what he was feeling. He was sad, angry, and upset all the same time. 'Maybe this is really what it feels like to be Roxas.' He thought. The blonde had been awake for a couple hours now and decided he'd just stay in bed all day, as opposed to how much he used to hate being bed ridden when his health was in its worst condition.

'Why would Terra do this to me…?' That question had been in his head all night and ever since he woke. He began to cry for the umpteenth time. He didn't even know he could have this many tears. The blonde couldn't help being this heartbroken. After all, Terra was his first in pretty much every respect to the word and they had only been together for some months.

He remembered the first time they had sex. It was in the brunette's room when his parents were out. Ventus had been in Terra's room plenty of times before that day, but on that day the room had smelt a little different. It was a light cologne scent with a slight tanginess to it.

He remembered how it started…with Terra playfully pulling up the blonde's shirt and tickling his stomach. But then those tickles turned to small kisses planted all the way down towards his belly button. With each kiss they had become increasingly greedy for each other.

"Have you ever done 'it' before?" Ven innocently asked the brunette.

"Once in my freshman year," Terra was honest. "With a girl about the same size as you." Almost too honest.

Ventus blushed. "Can we…?"

He honestly wasn't even sure if his health would allow him to get through it. But he felt that this moment was right, and he was ready.

It had taken a couple of seconds for his boyfriend to reply. But after looking into his eyes he said, "Of course we can" in such a pleasantly gentle way. And that's how the sex was. Slow, gentle, and satisfyingly pleasurable after the initial penetration.

They had only been together a couple of months. Ventus squeezed a pillow over his head. "Maybe I am a whore." He cried to himself, remembering what Roxas had called him.

The blonde heard a knock on his door before it opened. Peeking out from his pillow he saw his Mom come in. "Ventus," She said worriedly. She held a brown paper bag in her hand. "I decided to come home from work to watch over you…I'm worried about you." She sat next to him on the bed, gently prying the pillow out of his hands. "Your face is still swelling. Does it hurt?"

"Yeah," He turned away from her. "You didn't have to come home."

"Like I said Ven, I'm worried," She reiterated. "I know what it feels like to lose your first love. But you're lucky, you're still young and as you grow older through everyone you meet you'll learn a little bit more of what true love is."

"You don't understand, Mom."

"You might think I don't but I do," She said. "It took me a long time until I found your father."

Ventus covered his face in his hands feeling himself about to cry once again. "You don't understand," He yelled. "We did things!"

"Things?"

"Yes, things!" He was full on crying now.

"Oh Ventus…" His mother sighed. "Fifteen year olds aren't meant to have sex!"

"What does it matter, I'm never going to find anyone again," He retorted. "You never did! You and Dad have been divorced since we moved here!"

"Ventus!" His mother was appalled. It was usually Roxas – who's had an unfixable foul mouth ever since he could talk – that would talk to her this. "What has gotten into you?"

"Please just leave me alone…" Her son cried, his voice calming down. "I'm sorry."

"We'll talk about this later," She noted. "Just make sure you do your online work your teacher set up for you."

With that she left the room, leaving the paper bag behind. Later Ventus would open it to find some food and a get well card.

After school Sora invited Riku over for more math tutoring later on in the day. The brunette wanted to take a shower before his boyfriend came over. He had hoped to wash the rest of the guilt away, but even after his shower he still couldn't get what he had done out of his head.

But he couldn't, and after his shower he just ended up laying on his bed anxiety ridden waiting for Riku to arrive. It was one thing to hide his whole past with Riku…but now he had to hide things that were happening in the present. Sora didn't know how long he could live with himself.

The doorbell rang, immediately sending the boys hard into a race. He could hear his mother open it and tell Riku to go upstairs. And as the footsteps drew closer and closer the feeling became more nauseating.

"You okay?" Riku stood in the doorway.

Sora sat up on the bed. "Yeah I'm okay." He smiled.

The snow-head went over and gave the boy a kiss, placing his backpack beside the bed. This had relieved some of Sora's previous nerves. "Do you want to start now," He asked. "The homework I got today was only a couple of questions."

"You said it was quadratics right?" Sora asked, remembering Riku telling him before they had went home.

"Yeah." Riku took off his shoes and sat opposite to Sora on the bed. He took out the homework as well as some paper and pencils and put it between them.

Sora looked at the homework and read through it before going over each equation with Riku. After helping Riku with his work overtime he noticed his boyfriend was getting better from when they first started. It taking less time than the last tutoring session to get through it all.

After about an hour of the homework as well as extra questions Sora made up, they decided the session was done and Sora helped Riku put his stuff away.

"There's something I want to ask you." Riku scooted in closer to the brunette.

"What is it?"

"Were you smoking before school or something?"

"W-what," Oh no. "Don't you remember, it was from Roxas and Axel."

"Yeah that's what Roxas said, but it didn't add up," The snow-head explained. "Axel quit that stuff because of Roxas, so why would he have smoked with Roxas around." 'And adding on, the fact that Roxas is a liar.'

Sora didn't say anything. He was caught and he didn't know what to do. The boy felt his lip begin to quiver. Riku noticed the sudden sadness coming over the brunette, his blue eyes looking like they were about to pool over. To Sora's surprise Riku gave him a tight hug.

"It's fine, Sora," He told him. "I mean as long as you were safe."

"Really, Riku?" They released from the hug.

"Yeah," Riku smirked. "Selphie and I have done it quite a few times actually… just for fun."

Now Sora could feel less terrible about what he did considering half the truth was out. He wanted to tell Riku about Beat and what happened but he couldn't. Riku had a tendency of getting easily angered. Especially considering he was protective over Sora.

Sora rubbed his eyes before going in for a kiss and leaning his head into the older boy's chest and wrapping his arms around his waist. "I really like you, Riku." He smiled.

Riku blushed, un-expecting of Sora's sudden affectionate outburst.

The sun had set by now and moon was finally in the star studded sky. Roxas was over Axel's house, as he almost always was as of late. They had spent a lot of time just lying on the bed side by side, looking up at the ceiling and talking. This was their usual. The two could do absolutely nothing together and still enjoy the other's company.

"You've got a birthday coming up don't you?" Axel asked, although he knew full well.

"Yeah, I'm surprised you remembered," Roxas said. "I kind of forgot."

"How could I forget? You're gonna be the big one-two." Axel joked with a huge grin on his face.

Roxas elbowed the redhead in the side. "Ha ha," he gave a fake laugh as he sat up on the bed. "We're going to be the same age, Axel." Because Roxas was born in November he was held back a year by the school, being that that he was born after the cutoff date.

"Sweet sixteen," the redhead noted. "You happy or what?"

"Of course!"

Axel sat up, his arms on bent knees. "You sure?" He asked with downcast eyes.

"Yeah," Roxas noticed the sudden change of mood. "Why? Is something wrong?"

Axel ran his fingers through his hair before sighing, debating whether he should say anything in the first place. "I'm not dumb you know, Roxas," he began. "I noticed the cuts on your hip when you changed clothes with Sora. And you purposely showed up late to P.E. today too, just so you could change when no one was in the room."

Roxas stayed quiet, now becoming very upset. More so with himself.

"You know…I don't get it…," Axel shook his head. "What could be so possibly wrong that you would do that to yourself? Is it me?"

"N-no it's not you, Axel!"

"Then what is it? I'm always here for you and you know that," The redhead explained. "If you ever feel down you can just call me! I'll help you!" He started yelling without realizing it.

In the mix of emotions Roxas blurted out, "It's me! The problem is me!" He began crying and he realized he couldn't look at Axel like this. He couldn't let him see him vulnerable. The blonde got of the bed and headed for the door. "I'm leaving!"

Axel however got to the door quicker and shut it behind him. "You're not leaving." He said.

"You can't trap me here!"

"It's late and I'm not letting you go home alone."

If Axel were anyone else Roxas would've given a more physical effort at leaving. But he couldn't. Instead he just stood there not knowing what to do as he messily rubbed the tears from his eyes with his sleeve.

"Come 'ere," Axel sighed. He wrapped the blonde in his arms. "Your behavior has been so strange lately."

They sunk down to the floor, Axel holding the blonde between his knees. Roxas didn't know what to say and not wanting Axel to continue he grabbed the redhead's cheeks within his hands and pulled him into a kiss. He wanted him to forget about this. It was a rough kiss and at first their noses even kind of smashed into each other. But it was also a long kiss, much longer than anything Roxas had given to other boy before. And said boy was entranced. The blonde lips were salty from tears, his face still a little damp. But there was a sweetness to this kiss.

Feeling Axel's hands begin to wander in places he didn't want them to, he grabbed them and held them in his own. But this turned on him as Axel leaned the boy over onto his back, straddling over him.

"Axel wait!" Roxas gasped between one of their kisses.

Immediately Axel halted, looking down into the boy's eyes. Embarrassed, the blonde turned his head to the side to look away. Closing his eyes.

Axel bit his lip, being slightly frustrated. But he let himself get over it and got up, pulling Roxas up to his feet with him. "Let's do something else."

Reviews are loved. Thank you if you're still holding in on the story with me!