Juukai says: Hello all!!! Oh, how I have missed you, my wondrous people. There's been a lot of moving and resettling and dealing with idiotic college people going on. I'm back at school, now, so mayhap being in the place where the story originated will help me push chapters out. I'm nearing the later chapters that I had things written for, in any case… AND THANK YOU SO MUCH ALL THE PEOPLE THAT FAVORITED, ALERTED, AND REVIEWED MY STORY LAST CHAPTER! IT SO BRIGHTENED MY DAY AND MADE ME WANT TO WRITE EVEN MORE FOR YOU! :'D

Disclaimer: I OWN NOT THE CHARACTERS YOU SEE, ONLY THE ORDER THE WORDS ARE IN AND THE IDEA BEHIND THEM. Thanks.

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Chapter 9

"That's it. I hate Marluxia. Gay fucking bastard." Axel threw himself into the desk chair next to Riku's.

Riku didn't lift his head from his arms. He'd stayed up late the night before finishing an essay he'd been procrastinating on that had been due the class before the one he was now waiting for, and he was tired and trying to catch some snooze time. "Need I remind you that you're gay?"

"Bi," Axel answered instantly, idly inspecting the tiny layer of dirt under his nails. "And that's not the point. The point is that he's a bastard. A fucking bastard, no less."

"You're disturbing my rest for this, so if you insist on being a rude idiot, at least tell me what the hell he did to piss you off. Kick your puppy? Make a dead baby joke? Insult your favorite pop star?"

"Never had a puppy, I'd kill him if he made a dead baby joke, and he wouldn't dare." At the sardonic glare that Axel could only just see coming from the crook of Riku's arm, he that knew he had better answer. "Nah, he's just been making me go friggen hoarse with his voice training crap for the play. As it gets closer and closer that asshole seems to think I'm getting worse, not better by his standards, so more practice with his dumb ass must be the remedy."

For another moment that eye just stared at him. Then it disappeared into the sleeve of Riku's jacket clad arm, for it was already getting too chilly for the islander to go outside without a coat on, and grumbled a weary, "poor baby."

Axel glared at the white head beside him and crossed his arms.

"Your voice sounds fine to me, anyway. You're certainly not going hoarse while you're whining at me."

"That's it, yo, don't ever come to me when you need to voice a few problems. I'm just going to sit on the fence poking you with the sharp, pointy stick of sarcasm like you're doing to me right now," the green-eyed devil snorted.

For a moment Riku didn't bother to grace him with a reply. And when he did, all he said was, "Your parentage is showing."

Axel thought about it for a moment, but it took Riku quoting him to realize that one of his father's sneaky "yo's" had ninja-snuck its way into his speech again.

"Reno hasn't even been here for like… a month and some odd weeks. Where did that come from?" Riku questioned, again slanting his head just right so that one sea-green eye became visible.

"Talked to him on the phone before I had lunch and rushed over to have my session with Marluxia. Must have polluted me then." Their professor showed up right then, cutting off any further comments from either of them, for this professor was older, but he had a strict policy about talking when he was talking. (Rude, the tottering old man called it, pushing the blue pointed hat back up his head.)

Riku kept dozing off in class, but every time he did, Axel would discreetly lay a hand somewhere on him, waking him right back up. At first he was annoyed, and batted the hand away with a grumble before going back to taking his notes, but before long he realized that he was doing it because the professor was keeping an especially close eye on the class that day, and that Axel was saving him from getting kicked out and marked as absent for the day. When he first noticed, he looked over at Axel, who wouldn't meet his gaze and his expression was hard.

Riku decided that the pyro watching out for him warranted him being a little nicer to Axel in the future. Even he had to admit that he'd been a little cruel to the man lately, picking on him relentlessly and having a short temper with him for absolutely no reason what-so-ever. Every once and a while, he thought he heard Axel mutter something like "pull the tampon outta yer ass, jerkoff," but he couldn't be sure, so he'd never actually growled at Axel about that on top of everything else.

When class ended, he was sure to give his roommate a begrudging apology for how he'd been treated lately, and had thanked him for saving him in class multiple times. As obvious as it was that Riku didn't really want to apologize to him, it still made Axel brighten, and the "thank you" made him smile one of his big, warm smiles that made his tattoos on his cheeks twist in on themselves.

"'Bout time you pulled the stick out of your ass," he chuckled. "Who shoved it up there in the first place?"

Riku could feel his eyebrow twitching, but obviously his hair was covering it from view, because Axel was completely ignoring it. "I'm going to pretend you didn't say that, and we'll both survive with our moods intact, alright?" He started to walk out of the learning building, intent on going to their shared room to relax for the day and get started on his homework. His Uncle had given him the week off, since their play was going to be showing pretty soon, on the condition that he had to go to Sephiroth's house for dinner one night after any of the showings. Riku hadn't been sure why his Uncle thought that would be a "condition" to Riku, but he'd accepted anyway.

"Hey, Beach Boy," Axel's aggravatingly smug voice made Riku want to hit him as he turned around.

"What, flamer?" His eyebrow was twitching even more, but apparently his hair was still covering the tick.

"The theater's the other way, remember? We're only two days away 'till opening curtain. Leon'll shit a moogle if you ditch this, and you'll be as good as dead," Axel snorted, his thumbs shoved through the front belt loops of his pants.

Riku thought for a moment, and then cursed. He was right. "Shut up," he grumbled, righting his course and brushing past his roommate.

"So, when is it you have dinner with your Uncle? I heard you talking to Kairi about it on the phone the other night…" It was a lame attempt at a conversation starter, and even Riku saw that as blatantly obvious, but Axel was trying.

"Uh… After opening night. We can get back to his house relatively early, and he says that he's even going to risk his masculine dignity and cook for me. The only hitch is that there'll be another guest." His uncle had graced Riku with the knowledge that Zack would be joining them for dinner, since he hadn't been able to contain his overflow of pride for his nephew and had invited his "friend" to the show. (And what Riku really got from that was that Zack had found out about the play from one of the people that went to the college, and he'd somehow gotten his hands on a copy of the cast, and had come straight to the Jenova offices to harass Sephiroth about not telling him and his uncle had finally offered to buy him a ticket to go see his nephews debut Traverse Town University show. Or he was just getting an easy way to explain off a would-be date like the shy man his uncle really was under all the posturing.)

"Ah, man. We were all going to hit that pizza place that you liked from before that night. Mean's we'll be down two blondes…"

Riku glanced over at Axel, paying no attention to the hall since it was empty, and he really had no danger of running into someone if he wasn't careful. "Two?"

"Yeah," the redhead sighed. "Nam can't go either. Says she's trying to cut back on expenses right now, so she can't afford the trip."

Well, that was interesting… He'd have to ask Sephiroth if it would be okay if he brought a guest along, too. There was no point in having Naminé being the only one not celebrating their rise to fame. Axel held the door to the theater open for him, and they walked in to be greeted by a nearly complete set, a few fretting other students that were mostly stage hands and the like trying to get everything set, and a Leon that was staring balefully at them.

"You're late," was all the brunette had to say before called everyone's attention so they could get started.

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Riku plucked at the ugly brown suit that had been made for him, tempted to pull his hair back in his face as he was used to wearing it. But Leon would kill him. Curtain opened in three minutes, and his hair had been gelled back away from his face, most of it hidden under the collar of the shirt. He saw Yuna smile meekly at him from the other side of the stage and wave. He waved back, doing his best to smile. That was obviously enough for the little woman who had started to grow on Riku during their rehearsals. She was sweet, once you got past her extreme shyness, and she was always smiling. Almost perfect for her role in this play.

There weren't many people crowding the area he was in; it was against the safety rules that had been drilled into the new kids to the school. If you didn't belong there, move back and stay out of the way. Axel was still back getting all made up for his role, as was Demyx, so he didn't have anyone to try and distract the butterflies crawling and dive bombing his stomach. But he was ready regardless of his nerves. He knew his lines, he knew his character… The only thing that made him really nervous was that his uncle was out there. With Zack, admittedly, but that wasn't the point. With his father, he never would have cared. But he wanted to show Sephiroth that the money he was using to help support his nephew wasn't being wasted. So he was going to be the best Charles he could be.

Yuna started her first lines, talking to herself about what she was going to say to win back her love, just before the curtains opened, and Riku moved to take his place as the car salesman giving schmoozy compliments to a bleach blonde in a low cut shirt.

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Axel had appeared in his bright green suit, which was nearly the same color as his eyes, red hair sticking out in all angles, making him look like some dog that had just shaken off, while Riku was backstage. He wasn't due for a while yet, actually, for his next scene. No it was mostly interaction with Axel and Yuna at the moment, as most of the play was. Yuna was doing well at being annoyed and upset, which was something that rarely really happened with her, to his understanding. It wasn't a stretch of the imagination to see Axel as who he had been cast; loud, obnoxious, goofy, and childish. Even now the man was making a mess all over the house with "smelly, smelly dog poo" while Yuna-Elizabeth dashed after him in a panic. She was yelling at him about her mother, and he was completely disregarding what she said, until she proposed a game of tag. He bounced off back stage, nearly toppling over Riku in the process, even though the man was standing far back from the entryway.

"Watch it, flamer," Riku grumbled, though his smirk gave away his good attitude.

"Shut up, cabana boy," Axel grinned, breathing a little hard. He tended to get a bit worked up with how much he moved around the stage, and just how he had to belt out most of his lines. Loudly and childishly; everything was basically shouting.

"I didn't know you could walk on your hands that well." Riku ignored the elbow he got for that. "Here, I didn't open it yet." He pressed a bottle of water into Axel's hand. There was scene changing going on, so Axel had a while to catch his breath, especially since Elizabeth and her mother had to talk a bit before his cue.

"I'd say I didn't know you could be that much of a slimy little weasel, but I do live with you." The redhead teased in return, swallowing nearly half the bottle down in one gulp.

Riku raised a fist in response, and Axel just laughed softly in response to the threat. He looked back onto the stage. Together they watched as Yuna and Paine, a brunette playing Elizabeth's mother, moved about the "kitchen," and apparently got close to Axel's next part. He took another, smaller sip of the water before leaving it tucked in a corner for later. "Thanks, Riku." He then winked at the silver haired man. "See you in a bit!" And before his roommate could utter anything else to him, he was bouncing back onto the stage.

Riku moved away to the back room where everyone was resting, hearing cries of "it's the mega bitch!" echo out and shaking his head. Axel had adored that he had been allowed to scream that out when Leon had posed the question of cutting it or supplying some other nickname.

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The break in the middle of the show had already come and gone, though it hadn't made any difference to Riku. Most of the time before then had been his break as well. But he got to see Axel again, and Yuna. Demyx was all fired up from how they made it look like he could take pieces of his body off like it was Velcro, and how the audience had seemed to like that. And now Riku was back on the floor, pretending to be a perfect couple with Yuna while Axel complained about it the whole time. But every time he said something to her, Yuna just at a piece of bright green candy that had been explained as the pill that would make her stop imagining Fred, when it was in fact killing him. Each time Axel reappeared, there was more of his hair laying down, and a bit of white make up was added to make him look paler and paler.

And finally Axel-Fred pulled the last stunt. Riku-Charles came onto stage ranting about the literal mudpie that Yuna-Elizabeth had tried to serve him for dinner, wiping at a huge brown spot on his gray dress pants. He set up in the corner of the bedroom, taking the phone in hand and calling out while Elizabeth went to go make a "nice, perfect romantic salad."

Thanks to Fred, Elizabeth ended up hearing when he called to the woman that Charles had been cheating on and fainted on top of Fred, resulting in her being thrown into her own imagination. Riku only had two scenes left before he was through with the night. The set was changed into something that looked like it had sprung out of a toddler's mind, and Elizabeth wandered around in it for a moment. She investigated a few things before Riku showed up again, taunting her until Fred came back, and she finally got the courage to send him off rather violently. Elizabeth was also faced with her mother again, this time only made worse by her imagination until Fred coached her in defeating her. She realized that she could stand on her own through just these two acts, and asked Fred if they could return.

But he only shook his head, his appearance having returned to normal as soon as he had shown up in her mind. He offered her only a simple, "I can't. You've grown up now…"

She made to press her case, but again the redhead interrupted her. Riku knew from all the practices that Axel's song was coming up next, one of the two that had been added in, though the others had been short. He'd staked out a spot right where he was so that he could watch the man, not caring if Leon caught him. He could always just say he was standing ready for his next few lines. A soft music started to play, and slowly, Axel's voice came to accompany it.

"For a second of your life,

tell me that it's true.

Waiting for a sign,

it's all I want of you.

You're heart hides a secret,

a promise of what is.

Just a second of your time,

any one will do.

A taste of any other,

is all I want of you.

Offer me the world,

and how can I resist

something more than this?

Make believe in magic.

Make believe in dreams.

Make believe impossible,

nothing is as it seems.

To see, touch, taste, smell, hear,

but never know if it's real."

Riku could only stare as the redhead moved on the stage, hardly able to grasp the fact that the man he lived with could actually force out a singing voice like that. It was smoother and deeper than he was used to hearing, a product of all those hours that he'd had to spend with Marluxia that he had always been complaining about. He was moving around the stage slowly, touching certain items of the dreamscape, the lights dimming over whatever had been his victim as he walked on to something else.

"For this second of your life,

tell me if it's true.

Anyway we are,

is all I of you.

Your lips lies a secret,

a promise of a kiss.

Something more than this.

Just a second of your time,

any one will do.

To know of any other,

is all I want for you.

Giving me the world,

know I can't resist,

something more than this.

Make believe in magic.

Make believe in dreams.

Make believe impossible,

nothing is it seems.

Never really understand what anything means.

Another second of my life,

Not knowing if it's true.

Make believe in nothing,

is all I want with you.

Whisper me your secrets.

Whisper me what it is.

Always something other,

something more than this…"

With the last syllables still echoing, Fred leaned forward, placing an obvious and gentle kiss against the crying Elizabeth's forehead. Then he pushed her into one of the two remaining lights on stage, everything have fallen prey to him and the darkening effect. Elizabeth reached for him, but he smiled and shook his head even as a tear crawled down his own cheek and the light that he'd stepped back into darkened so that the blackness of the stage swallowed him up. Elizabeth, distraught but with squared shoulders, turned away and walked off stage while the curtains pulled closed. Yuna was greeted with pats on the back that she smiled beautifully to, wiping her cheeks off so that any evidence of the tears were gone for the next act. Axel, on the other hand, was high fiving Demyx over at the stage exit that Riku had been watching from.

"Don't go fallin' in love with me just for my singing, now," the brightly dressed redhead teased upon catching Riku staring, his hands on his hips.

The silverette snorted. "As if, flamer. Your ego is far too big for my tastes." He was grinning in spite of his words, and he knew that it only gave Axel more of a reason to preen.

"Says the man whose email address is sex god-something-or-other," he snickered .

Riku fought a blush, glaring ineffectively at him. "Shut up, Axel." And since he couldn't find anything better to say, he decided to go with the truth. "I have to get back out there."

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One final scene until they were done. Riku had already completed his part. His last bit had been getting dumped by both the girl that he had been cheating with, and Elizabeth, the latter of which had thrown the romantic salad on him and stomped away. Now it was nearly over. Tidus was finally getting his girlfriend back, since he'd been granted the part of the childhood friend that dates Elizabeth in the end, and takes her home to meet his daughter. As they came in, Naminé came running up to them, managing to look like a small child in the sundress that she wore with her painted on freckles and her blonde hair in braided pigtails. She was running from her nanny, played by some woman Riku didn't know, and really hadn't even talked to during practices, and barreled right into Tidus.

"It's about time you got home," the nanny said. "That little monster…"

"Oh no, what did you do now," Tidus groaned.

"I didn't do anything! It was all Drop Dead Fred," Naminé giggled, pointing as Axel walked on stage making funny faces with two chopsticks shoved up his nose.

"Did… Did you say Drop Dead Fred?" Yuna-Elizabeth looked confused, and then excited.

"'Course she did, are you deaf?" Axel asked in an annoying voice that had Naminé laughing anew but that only she seemed to be able to hear.

"I quit!" The nanny suddenly shouted, stomping out of the room, oblivious to the jibes that Axel was seeing her off with. Tidus ran off after her, trying to talk her in to staying, but Yuna stayed to watch Naminé, smiling knowingly as the blonde girl and Axel linked pinkies, just like it had been shown she did in the scenes from her childhood.

Tidus called for her, and she looked up. Naminé was still having a giggle fit, so Yuna just waved. "Bye Fred," she said with a sad smile, and Axel gave her an equally sad look before Naminé tugged on his arm, and he and her skipped off the stage in the other direction, effectively ending the show.

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"That was freaking awesome!" Axel's voice could be heard over the other multitude of voices in the backstage area.

"Yes, congratulations, everyone," Leon commented in a much lower tone, though he was still able to be heard all the same. "You did very well."

Marluxia wasn't present, and that surprised Riku. He would have thought that the pink haired professor would have been there to hear his little voice pupils in action. But since there were still a couple more days for him to show up, he figured that they would eventually see him. Which reminded him…

"Can I go, Leon?" It didn't really seem like the man had much to say to them.

"Hold on a minute," the scarred brunette answered, shushing everyone so that he could make a general announcement on meeting tomorrow before the next show. He pointed out a few things that they needed to work on a little more, but conceded that it could wait until the next day when it looked like everyone was anxious to go. "Go on, get out of here."

"So you're going out to meet your uncle, right?" Suddenly Axel was right behind Riku, practically breathing in his ear as he spoke to him, and effectively scaring the islander into jumping forward.

"Axel! Don't do that!" He rubbed his ear, pretending that he wasn't getting a little pink in the cheeks. Since when did he even blush? "And yes. He and his friend Zack are waiting for Naminé and I."

This actually caught the man off guard, and he and Demyx shared a curious look. "Naminé? I didn't know Nam was going with you…"

Riku shrugged, loosening the tie he still wore so that he could pull it off, heading to their little dressing room, the other two close on his heels. "Figured that since she wasn't getting to go with the rest of the group, I could invite her to come with me. There's no reason for her to be left out just because she's watching her money."

"That's right," Demyx agreed. "She's lucky though. Wish I could meet the infamous Mr. Sephiroth."

Riku lifted one eyebrow at him. "Why don't you just go out there with me? He and Zack are waiting for us, after all."

Demyx nodded, quickly moving to go get dressed in his clothes, leaving just Axel and Riku, one of them in a growing state in undress. "Am I invited too?" The redhead asked with a chuckle, starting to strip out of his own bright suit.

Riku snorted at him. "Of course not. Why would I want my family meeting you?" He smirked when Axel punched his bare arm. "Just hurry up or we'll leave your ass behind."

"Are you kidding me? Demyx's is going to take the longest. He's got to wash all that make up off. Whereas all I've got to do is this," he wiped his face against a towel he'd dampened with a half empty water bottle and grinned, tattoos now visible again, "and I'm almost ready!"

"Just hurry up and get dressed," Riku sighed, rolling his eyes. He was the first to finish getting dressed, his attire for the night being a pair of black pants and a calm green-blue color button up shirt that had been gifted to him by Kairi. Because, she'd said, it matched his eyes, and there for would look sexy. All he needed to know was that it was his last remaining nice shirt that was clean. Axel was next wearing another random, smart ass T-shirt, this one a dark blue color that oddly didn't clash with his hair, and his pair of black and white shorts that he'd been wearing when Riku had met him. They were experiencing a surprising little heat wave that had everyone breaking the shorts back out and forgetting their jackets in their rooms.

"Come on, Dem, Riku probably wants to get outta here sometime in the next decade." Axel was standing with a hand on his hip while Riku was just leaning against the wall next to the door.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Demyx was currently trying to force his head through the sleeve of his shirt.

"Even your little brain couldn't fit through that," Axel snorted, moving to right the dirty blonde's clothes so that he could finally pull it on properly. He grinned up at Axel in thanks and then shouldered his bag, announcing that he was ready to go.

Riku just shook his head, a small smile playing across his face as he turned his back on the two clowns to lead them out to where he told his uncle he would meet him. As they approached the spot, Riku could see the back of a silver head, the color contrasting so nicely with the black coat he wore as the hair swept down past the man's waist. He caught sight of Zack, obviously speaking of something that he was excited about since he kept gesturing in a way that reminded him of Axel on a sugar high and he had a wide grin on his face.

"There he is," Zack shouted, finally noticing the three walking up. Riku rolled his eyes at him, and the scarred man just stuck his tongue out in return.

Sephiroth turned, gracing him with one of his small, rare smiles, his eyes flicking to allow the other two the expression as well. "That was a good performance. I am glad to see that all the studying here seems to be paying off towards your goal." Riku was used to the calm, ever soft voice of his uncle by now, and he didn't look back to see how his friends were reacting to the meeting.

"Uncle, this is my roommate, Axel, and our friend Demyx," he introduced, "Ax, Demyx, this is my Uncle, Sephiroth, and his… work associate, Zack Fair." There was polite small talk after that, the awkwardness only dissipating when Demyx and Zack seemed to silently realize that their personalities were alike, and they both began to pester Axel and Sephiroth, each to his own friend, in small teases. Sephiroth ignored Zack, a small twitching of his eyebrow the only proof that he hadn't gone deaf, while Axel just puffed up his chest in annoyance and declared that Demyx should either get lost or pick on Riku.

Sephiroth eventually looked down to the watch on his wrist, and cleared his throat softly to gain Zack's attention, since he had been chatting away with Demyx. "I believe that if we wish to eat before dawn, we should be going soon. Where is the girl that you invited, Riku?"

Riku looked around, surprised to notice for the first time that Nam hadn't yet joined them. He'd assumed that she might have just been hanging back a little shyly. As he reached into his pocket to grab his phone to call her, he heard her voice shouting from the building.

"Wait! I'm coming!" She came running up to them, dressed in a simple but beautiful white dress. She was a little out of breath, and her cheeks were pink, though from embarrassment or from the run, Riku couldn't tell. "I'm so sorry. Larxene came to congratulate me on the play, and she just wouldn't let me go, even though I told her you were waiting on me…"

"No problem," Riku shrugged. He went through introductions again, shaking his head and smiling when Zack took her hand and got down on one knee, kissing it.

"Beautiful lady, it is an honor," he grinned, eyes shining.

Naminé looked flustered, even though she smiled prettily down at him.

"You'll only encourage him," Sephiroth sighed. Then he hit his friend lightly on the shoulder. "You're embarrassing the poor girl."

Chuckling, Zack got back up, ignoring the rest of Sephiroth's words. "Don't worry, I'll protect you from Sephy if he gets cranky, okay?"

Riku snorted, deciding it would be better for his help not to comment on that, or the expression on his uncle's face. "Zack, I told you not to call me that," the man glared.

"Now, now! Don't get upset! You'll ruin the celebratory dinner atmosphere!" Zack didn't seem to realize the danger of throwing an arm around Sephiroth, and Riku was surprised when he didn't immediately loose the limb, but was just pushed away.

"Riku, Naminé, say your goodbyes and we'll go," Sephiroth said, nodding his own farewell to Demyx and Axel after saying a few polite parting words himself, and turned to leave. Zack followed suit with enthusiastic handshakes to Demyx and Axel, who both seemed to be trying their hardest to hide their amusement, something Riku wasn't used to seeing at all from either of them.

"I'll see you when I get back," Riku waved, taking off slowly after the two older men. Naminé took a little longer to say goodbye, but she jogged to catch back up with him, and the four of them climbed into Sephiroth's car, which was more than roomy enough to accommodate them all, and drove off to his house.

"Well, guess that's our cue to get going, too, sitar-boy," Axel said, clapping the brunette on the back and pulling him along as he headed for his truck in the opposite parking lot from where the other four had gone.

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The party they had brought together in the pizza place had already been going on for about an hour. Everyone was loud and animated, but it was no different than how they acted anywhere else. At first they had gotten strange looks from some of the other costumers, and from the waitress, but at this point it was mostly just the people who didn't really mind that were coming in, and the staff had decided that as long as they all paid and tipped, and they didn't get any complaints, then they wouldn't say or do anything about their volume.

Demyx had insisted that Axel sit on his one side, and the other had been specifically saved for Zexion, he found out as he arrived. Xigbar and Xaldin were sitting across from him, and he nodded to his coworker as he took his seat. Larxene, Lexeaus, Yuna, her friend Rikku, Tidus, Paine, Wendy (the woman who had played the nanny in the play), and her boyfriend Peter were all present as well. Wendy and Yuna seemed to be the only two a little surprised by the group's antics, though they quickly seemed to adjust and play along, though they didn't get quite as bad as some.

Zexion had been watching Axel a lot throughout the night, noticing where no one else seemed to that the man kept looking around like he was missing someone, and then he would look to realize what he was doing, and suddenly launch himself back into the conversation. It was obvious to the purple haired youth who he was looking for, since the silverette and Naminé where the only two missing from the party. And while he knew that the man was fond of their little blonde, he also knew that he never missed her quite that much if she missed a meal with them. No, there was just the other person that he was seeking.

It hadn't even taken until the six pizzas where delivered to their table for him to decide that the talk that he had been planning on having with Axel was going to have to happen soon; tonight if he managed to catch the man when he was leaving without others being present. Before he could dwell on it too long, he was being distracted by Demyx and the rest, even though he kept an unseen eye always on their redheaded friend. Now he was waiting, because it was becoming obvious that Axel was getting ready to leave. He had already given Demyx the money that was owed for his portion of the meal and had contributed to the tip. He was leaning back in his chair, becoming more of an observer in the conversations flying around the table than an actual participant, as was his usual routine in the dinning hall before he wandered off.

So as he finally gave Demyx a pat on the back, and waved farewell to everyone else, Zexion prepared to follow a bit more discreetly. Demyx wasn't going to follow, he was getting a ride back to the campus with his roommate, whom he had gotten over his fear of a while ago. Zexion himself was going to stop by his work before taking the bus back, so no one was depending on him, and no one would be there to intercept what he planned to say to the other man. He excused himself quietly from the table and followed the man outside, calling out once he was out the door to keep the man from getting too far ahead of him and leaving.

"What's up, Zex?" Axel reached his hand into his pocket, suddenly aching for a cigarette, something that he hadn't done for a while.

"I wanted to talk to you about Riku," he admitted immediately, watching Axel's expression closely.

"Why? Something wrong? He didn't manage to piss you off, did he?" Now he was obviously wanting to give into his old, dirty, long quit habit as his fingers kept twitching in his pocket in a way that even Zexion could see.

He sighed, fishing one of his own out for his friend. He kept them partially for himself, he would usually need one after work, and partially in case a costumer needed to bum one. He was oddly accommodating to the people who came to drink at the Tavern. Axel took it, eyeing him and then the old addiction for a moment, but then pulled his ever-present lighter out of his other pocket, and lit the stick with a small, "thanks."

"You seem to be growing very fond of the island immigrant." Zexion stated as he took one of the cancerous things out for himself and graciously accepted Axel's flickering flame to light it.

"Mm… Yeah, guess so. It's better than turning to Demyx, right?" He'd meant it as a joke, grinning shyly, though the expression fell at the look that Zexion gave him for the insinuation.

"You need to be careful, Axel. Tread lightly with him." He took a nice, long drag, still watching the other through his sheet of hair.

Axel just smiled sourly. "Aw, Zexy. I didn't know you cared." He flicked the ashes from his cigarette almost angrily. "Don't worry, I'm a big boy. I can handle myself." He turned to walk away, muttering darkly to himself something that Zexion couldn't quite catch. That was until Zexion stopped him, punching the wall right in front of Axel's face. Had the redhead been walking any faster, he would have been hit. Green eyes widened in shock, the smoldering stick falling from his lips to the ground. "…Zex?"

"Don't you get it, Axel?" He growled, letting his anger get the better of him despite how he had been coaching himself to stay calm since he had decided to talk to him. "Don't you see how your messed up relationships affect everyone around you?"

At this, the taller man bristled. "Affect everyone else? Sorry, I guess I've been a little too selfish to notice how my fucked up choices in people ruin everyone else's day. How could I be so stupid?" Sarcasm dripped deep from his every word. He tried to push past Zexion's arm to leave again, but was once more stopped by the smaller of them. Zexion grabbed fist-full's of Axel's shirt and slammed him back against the brick of the building. "The fuck, Zex?!"

"Do you realize what you even did to Demyx? Do you even comprehend how it broke him to see you drunk and crying every night? Did you think that it wouldn't have any effect on him just because he wasn't directly linked to the situation? Were you honestly so short sighted?" He gave Axel a disgusted look. "Because of how you took the problems the two of you were having, he started to hate Roxas, his own friend! He came to me every time that it got to be too much, every time that he thought he was about to snap or hunt Roxas down." Axel tried to look away, but Zexion just slammed him against the wall again. "He worried about you being with the boy all during the summer. In all of those emails that he thinks I never read… You were in all of them, mentioned at least once with his wishes of luck and happiness. He's… Damned if I know why, but he's still worried about you. That you're just replacing Roxas with Riku, that it's all going to be a repeat of before. But he knows that you'd react like this if he tried to say anything to you."

Axel had the decency to look guilty, even if it was begrudgingly so. "I didn't ask or want him to worry," he said softly.

Zexion snorted, letting his hands fall to leave Axel to stand on his own. "Because it shouldn't happen unless you ask for it. So you can't be to blame for any of it just because Demyx has more compassion in one finger than you posses in your entire body."

"What do you want me to say, Zex? That I'm sorry? I didn't know what was going on with him! He never told me he had a problem, and it's obvious that I was already a little too fucked up to notice." Axel was glaring daggers at him. "Look, I won't make problems for your boyfriend, okay? If you're done here, I have places I'd rather be. You should go back in before your master misses his guard dog."

Zexion was dangerously close to losing his temper completely as he threw Axel against the wall once last time, though his hands clenched into fists at his sides to keep from holding him in place there once more. "Then go tell Riku about Roxas. Confess everything to him, and I'll leave you alone until Demyx comes crying to me again. But I warn you, Axel Flynn," he prodded the man's chest with a bony finger, "if Riku comes asking me about what's happening, I will tell him everything. Whether you want to hide it, or it pisses you off, or not. He'll hear everything from me, when I can assure you that he will want to hear it from you." He let Axel storm away, glaring after him with his good eye. He hoped that Axel wouldn't take him lightly on his threat. Zexion had long been of the opinion that the matter of Roxas shouldn't have been hidden as soon as it became apparent that there was some sort of chemistry between the room mates. He had told Demyx as much when they had discussed it one of the nights in his room. He deserved to know that Axel could get quite obsessive over the people that he liked, and that he was easily crushed by them, as had been proven by Roxas.

He walked back inside as soon as he was sure that he had pushed away most of his remaining anger. Demyx, he knew, would see the change in his mood almost immediately, and so he avoided eye contact with him, shaking his head silently when the brunette asked him what was wrong. He didn't say anything until he finally called it a night and bid them all goodnight so that he could go and pick up his work schedule for the next week and go back to his room to think in silence.

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Naminé smiled a happy farewell to Riku, once more thanking him for inviting her to dinner with his uncle. He waved off the polite gesture with a small grin of his own, parting with a promise to see her the next morning at breakfast before forking off the main path on a more direct route through the damp grass to his dorm. As Sephiroth had pulled in to drop them off he'd seen that Axel's truck was parked in his regular spot in the student lots, so he knew to expect his roommate to be in.

What he didn't expect was to find the man in a black mood when he finally trudged up the stairs and opened their door. He would have thought that being out with everyone at the pizza shop would have only improved his already obnoxiously good mood, not darken it to the point where he was sitting in a dark room with only his desk lamp on for light, earphones in and the volume on his computer up loud enough in the silent room for Riku to be able to hear it from the second that he walked in. It went without saying that he really didn't get a greeting from the redhead even as he flicked the light on and set his things down and touched his shoulder gently. The man lurched away from his touch, making Riku frown, and he got a look from over a bony shoulder, but that was it.

"Okay…" Riku settled into his desk chair and pulled it up so that he could sit looking at the other man at an angle that would make it hard to be ignored. "So, you want to tell me who decided to shove a lit explosive up your ass?"

Axel cast him another look, annoyance written deep with anger that was still obviously cooling before he plucked an ear bud out gingerly. "Zexion decided to bring up a sore subject."

Riku didn't bother to hide his shocked look. "Zexion?" That was just odd. Zexion had never, to his knowledge, been one to start fights with people unless it was by ignoring them when they were angry and then lashing back once the confrontation was started. The man had a bad temper, Riku had discovered on the one situation he had seen. But he had never even so much as snapped with real intent to Axel before while Riku had been present. "What in Hades did he say to piss you off this much after tonight?"

"Leave it, Riku," he got in clipped tones. Axel was refusing to face him again. Riku just gave him a look and then shrugged.

"Fine. Guess since I finally gave up being a moody bitch, someone just had to fill the position just so that no one would miss it."

Axel just flipped him off, obviously trying to hold himself back from saying something in return as he bit his lip and jammed the earphone back in. Riku sat for a moment before he decided that he just didn't want to sit in the atmosphere of his roommate's bad mood.

He stood, grabbing his jacket and making sure that he had his keys, not worrying about his phone or wallet since he hadn't gotten the chance to remove them from his pockets. He left without a word to Axel, and the spiky-haired man never acknowledged that he knew Riku was leaving, too wrapped up in his music and whatever else he was doing on his computer. He passed by Demyx and Xigbar's room, fully intending to see if they were back so that he could talk to the shorter of them and see if he knew what had gone on, but he thought better of it and instead went to the source of the problem. He knocked loudly on Zexion's door, leaning impatiently against the door frame. He didn't hear anyone moving around inside, but knew that there was no reason to doubt the man was in there. Zexion always moved quietly.

"Open up, Zexion," he finally growled through the door when he didn't get any response.

It took only a moment longer before he heard the lock turn and the door slowly opened for him. For a minute or two they just stood and stared at each other before Zexion moved aside to let him in and closed the door again.

"I can assume by you expression that you're here because of Axel," the man began.

"Yeah. I decided to come and see just why you thought that pissing him off would be a good idea. We still have three days left of the play, and while he probably won't let that effect his acting, he's going to be a rabid wolf when he's not on stage." Riku crossed his arms over his chest, staring the short man down.

Zexion sighed, gracefully lowering himself into his chair and folding his legs in a way that made them look longer. "Sit down, Riku," he said, motioning to the two chairs and one beanbag- Demyx's- that he had set out for when people came to visit his single. He then sighed again, folding his hands in his lap, looking as if he was trying to figure out where to begin.

"Doubtless, you've heard of the name Roxas Koki." He waited, and Riku nodded. "What do you know of him?"

The silverette shrugged off handedly. "I've heard that he was part of the group last year from Naminé, and that he's from Twilight Town and a studying actor, just like Axel. And that he just didn't show up this year, and he obviously contacted the school about it, since I was assigned to be Axel's roommate instead, since Nam said they had planned on rooming together this year. But I never asked why he never came back. She said that they dated for a while, too…?"

Zexion nodded slowly. "Yes, that's all true, really. But there's a lot that Naminé didn't know and couldn't tell you." He had warned Axel… Riku probably had no idea what was about to be said to him, probably hadn't even seen it coming when he had asked what was going on. So now the redhead was going to see what he already should have known, that when Zexion said he was going to do something, he meant it.

"You see, a lot happened between him and Axel…"

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RyouSeiryuu- Yeah, I actually do say it when I'm tired sometimes. XD It's insane. And I don't mind. Lol, it's not like I coined the phrase, even for Reno. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! ^^

LawlietxRinoa- Ah, no Zemyx yet. Sorry! But it's getting there. I assure you that it is on the horizon. :3 Promise!

Envious Invidia- D: I am sorry that I made you wait so long! I appreciate you sticking with me, though. It makes me insanely happy that I still have readers, even when I fail so terribly at updating. Hopefully I'll be able to write a lot more now that I'm back at school and not working till summer.

Marlin Lette- Glad I'm not the only one, lol. You should rent it! It's good, even for it being from the 90s. I'm just hoping that I don't end up confusing people too much when I wrote all the play pieces. 0-0

Rulisu- ;w; Thank you so much! I always try hard to stay in character with them, but make it seem so believable. Like you could run in to a toned down (physically) version of them on the streets. And I hate doing (and reading, in nearly all cases) immediate character changes. It just doesn't make sense that way. You gotta lead up to those kinds of things.

Alright! Well, that was 20 pages to make up for my failure at getting this up any sooner! ^w^ Oooooh, what is Zexion telling Ri-Ri? Well, you'll just have to see, won't you? The next chapter won't start with that, I will tell you that now so you won't think that you missed something, but the discussion will eventually be mentioned. Until then, I leave you all, and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter.