A/N: This is the last chapter, but I do intend on doing an eplilogue... someday.

Zexion concluded that he didn't have enough money to pay for carpet repairs, and as such, he should probably stop pacing a rut in his floor. He'd been up all morning thinking about the last night's events. What Roxas had said. What he had said. And unfortunately, he was finding no quick solution. As much as he hated dragging his friends into his personal problems, he decided it was necessary to get a second opinion. He quickly dialed some numbers and waited for the line to pick up.

"Hello?" asked the voice on the other end.

"Hey, Demyx. It's Zexion."

"Oh! Hey! 'Sup?"

"Look, I… Is it ok if I talk with you about something?"

"Uh, sure. Shoot."

"No, I mean like, in person. Could you come over or is this a bad time?"

"Uh, yeah, I can come over. What's this all about?"

"It's Roxas," Zexion sighed.

"What? Is he ok?" the other boy sounded mildly worried.

"Probably not," he heard Demyx gasp quietly, "I mean, he's physically fine but… I threw him out last night. I… I left him."

There was a long pause, "Oh man. Hey, I'm sorry man. You ok?"

"I'm… well, I'm not fine, but… I just need to talk to someone."

"Yeah, yeah. Sure thing man, I'll be right over."

"Thanks Dem," Zexion let a half hearted smile grace his lips.

The two said their goodbyes and hung up. Zexion plopped down in an easy chair in his living room. With one hand balled in a loose fist over his mouth, and his other hand supporting his elbow, he sat in quiet contemplation.

No more than fifteen minutes had passed before there came a knock at the front door. Zexion rose from his chair and moved to answer his visitor.

"Zexy!" the tall blonde leaned in, giving the shorter boy a hug.

Zexion attempted a smile, but was too lost in thought to really convey any sort of greeting. "Hey Dem," he said apathetically.

The mulleted boy stepped inside and quickly made himself at home, propping his feet up on the small coffee table in Zexion's living room.

"Demyx," Zexion scolded, "Feet off the furniture."

Demyx sighed, but did as he was told, "You're always so uptight about your stuff. It's just stuff man. Relax."

Zexion tossed him a chastising look, "It may be just stuff, but it's my stuff, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't ruin it." He sat down on the couch near the taller boy.

Demyx rolled his eyes, "Ok, ok. Whatever. So, what'd you wanna talk about?"

Zexion sighed, "Well, like I said. I threw Roxas out last night."

"What for man? Like, what happened?"

The shorter male frowned, "He cheated on me."

"What?! Roxas? Are you sure?" Demyx was truly shocked.

"Yeah, I'm sure. He told me himself," Zexion was finding this harder to talk about then he'd expected.

"He told you? What exactly did he say?"

"He," Zexion paused, "Well, it's a whole long story."

"I've got time," Demyx offered.

"Ok… well, see, the other day his best friend, Axel."

"The tall redhead?"

"Yeah. Well, he finally told Roxas that he liked him."

"What?! Like in front of you?" Demyx was loving the gossip.

"Yeah, in front of me. And after… after he had kissed Roxas."

"What?!!"

Zexion flinched, "It was horrible. And so I was trying to convince Roxas that he needed to stop being friends with Axel, but instead, he decided to go talk things out with him."

"Uh-oh." the blonde chimed in.

"Exactly. Next thing I knew, he's over here, freakin' out, telling me how he and Axel made out, and it was all his idea, but it was a stupid idea and he didn't mean to, and well, I didn't want to here it. He tried to tell me it wasn't cheating, but he made out with Axel of his own free will. I think that qualifies as cheating. So, basically, I told him to get out."

The two were silent for some time before Demyx finally spoke up, "Wow man. That's rough."

Zexion nodded, "I've been thinking about it all morning. Trying to see it from his point of view. Trying to convince myself that it wasn't cheating and that I should take him back, but…"

Demyx thought, "Well… I mean, you could always consider it cheating, but give him a second chance."

The blue haired boy sighed, "I know. I thought about that too, but it just hurts me so much to think that he'd do this to me."

Demyx squirmed, "Uh, I know I'm suppose to be on your side and all, but you're sounding kind of selfish. I don't think he did this to you. I think he just did it. I mean, if he had done it to hurt you, why would he have come over here right after and confessed to everything? Honestly, it just sounds like he made a mistake is all."

Zexion pouted, "I know. I know it was a mistake. But I'm afraid he'll make it again. I don't want him running around behind my back all the time."

"Well, I guess… if you can't trust him to stay faithful, then maybe he's not the right one for you."

The shorter boy could feel his heart sink. He had come to this conclusion as well, but wanted desperately to find another answer, "I'm just so scared of letting him go," he admitted.

Demyx moved to sit next to his friend. He put an arm around the shorter boy's shoulders, "Hey. It'll be hard, but you'll always have your friends. I'll be here for you. And maybe you and Roxas can stay friends after all this. Then you won't really be losing him."

"What if he doesn't want to be friends?"

Demyx tightened his hold, "Well, then like I said. You'll always have me."

Zexion took a deep steadying breath and nodded his head, "Thanks Dem. I think I've finally got this all figured out."

"Hey, that's what I'm here for, right?"

Their conversation was ended there by a knock at the front door. Zexion looked to his friend worriedly; fairly certain of who was on his front porch. But Demyx just smiled sympathetically and motioned for him to answer it. Zexion took a deep breath and opened the front door, "Hey Roxas."

Roxas looked away nervously, "Hey Zexion. Can we talk?"

Demyx made his way pass both boys and out onto the porch, "I'll talk to you later Zex!" he waved as he headed down the front walk way.

Zexion waved a goodbye then turned back to Roxas, "Uh, yeah. I guess so." he stepped aside to let Roxas enter the house.

They stood in silence for a moment, then both tried to start in at the same time.

"Zexion wait. Let me say this first."

Zexion quieted.

"Zexion," he sighed heavily, "Zexy, I love you. I really do. But I don't think I love you the way you think I do. The way I thought I did. I love hanging out with you and being with you, but… I don't think I can love you as a boyfriend anymore. I've always had a crush on Axel, I just never wanted to admit it to myself. Then I met you, and my whole outlook on gay relationships changed. And I know this sounds like I'm just using you as a stepping stone to get to Axel, but that's not it at all. I loved our time together. I had lots of fun. And I did love you, truly. But now that I know that Axel feels the same way about me, I can't help but find myself wanting to be with him. I know I'm breaking your heart, and I am so, so sorry. I love you so much and I hate to see you hurt, but I have to tell you the truth, or it'll only be worse later on."

Zexion's heart really was breaking, "I… I know. I know you've always liked Axel. Even when you tried to hide it from yourself, it was obvious. I wanted to be with you so much; I love you so much, that I tried to pretend it wasn't real too. I just want you all to myself. But I know I'm just fooling myself. This is hard for me Roxy. You don't have any idea how hard, but… but I've decided to let you go. I won't stop you from being with Axel, if that's what you really want. I… if you'd still be my friend, I think I could live with that. I want you to be happy Roxy, but I also don't want to lose you completely. I need you in my life. You've become a part of my day to day. So, I'm willing to make this a clean break, no bitterness involved, if you'll just say we can still be friends."

Roxas smiled sadly at his now ex-boyfriend, "Zexy…" he embraced him in a loving hug, "of course I'll always be your friend. We've shared too much together to just part ways. Thank you for not hating me."

Zexion hugged the blonde back, "I could never hate you Roxas. Just don't ever break my heart again, ok?"

Roxas closed his eyes, "I'm so sorry Zexion. I never wanted to hurt you. I swear, this'll be the only time you'll ever have to feel like this. I'll make it up to you and things will only get better from here on."

"I'm gonna hold you to that," the blue haired boy teased.

Roxas pulled back and looked the shorter boy in the eyes, "Even though we're just friends, you'll always have a piece of my heart."

"I know. You too."

Roxas hesitated for a moment, then leaned in giving Zexion a soft, sweet kiss, "Thank you for all the memories Zexion."

"Thank you for loving me Roxas."

Roxas turned and headed out the door before Zexion could see tears rolling down his cheeks. It didn't really matter however, since the shorter boy's vision was already fuzzy with his own bitter sweet tears.