Title: Crystal Ball
Authoress: PockyLoveLove
Rating: M
Summary: And Roxas cursed every little thing that had gone wrong in his life starting with that damn crystal ball and ending with a hysterically laughing and soon to be dead former redheaded best friend. He wasn't supposed to believe in fortune telling. Roxas/Sora, SoRoku, RokuSor
Warning: Yaoi, language, OOCness (hopefully not too bad), mistakes because it's unbetaed, cross dressing

A/N: My justification for this story…would you all believe me if I said that a plot bunny was chewing on my head? No? Damn. Well, fine then, I was just growing a bit fed up with the case of writer's block I was suffering from which led to the birth of this oneshot. This one, beastly long oneshot heh heh. I was actually inspired by the sight of a fortune telling ad on a website I was on for the subject of this one. (Lame, I know XD) Anyways, please enjoy! (Definitions below provided by Wikipedia)

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of its characters in anyway besides owning a copy of both games. I only write to entertain others and for my own strange, twisted, yet loveable amusement. (And I worship Square and Nomura Tetsuya-sensei for their brilliant minds! And Sora and Roxas are both loveably admirable, holding the half needed to complete the other :3)

Crystal Ball

Crystallomancy: the form of divination or scrying achieved through trance induction by means of gazing at a crystal.

Fortune telling: the practice of predicting the future, usually of an individual, through mystical or supernatural means

"Dammit, Axel!" came the frustrated cry of a young blond of the tender age of seventeen, verging on eighteen. He reeled away from the said man, eyes narrowed dangerously and mouth set into a snarl. Naturally, it was all ignored and the insistent grip on his arm continued to drag him towards that infernal object known to the rest of mankind as a door. To the blond, at the moment, it was known as the very current bane of his existence. Yes. A door.

Another rough tug was given and the redhead coaxed, "C'mon, Roxas! Don't be such a sourpuss. It's just a club!"

"I'm only seventeen!" reminded Roxas with another particularly nasty snarl, trying to swipe his arm away from the other's vice like grip but failing again. "It's illegal, you bastard!"

"Oh gimme a break. No one gives a damn as to whether you're twenty or twelve. They're just numbers. As long as you look the part, no one will question you and the cops won't even come and bust down the place! So, see? You're safe and you're permanent record will remain untouched!" Axel reasoned, giving another persistent tug in the general direction of the flashy, neon lighted club.

"It's stupid!" countered the other teen, pointing an accusatory finger at the bright blue and gold neon sign framing the upper half of the doors. "It's even got a stupid name!"

Axel glanced up, catching the rather pretty decorative letters spelling out,Wishing Lamp. He silently had to agree with the struggling blond about the less than, uh, creative name, but it was an honest to good club with a good reputation—okay, as honest and good as a club could get but there was a noticeable lack of sleazy balls that hung around the other ones and to Axel, that was more than enough.

"Okay, so it's got a tacky name and it's got a bit of a tacky theme inside, but c'mon! Stop being such an antisocial little blond and party a little!" he exclaimed, successfully pulling the flailing boy through the doors and into the dimly lighted club.

Squinting in the sudden darkness to see, Roxas waited until his eyes adjusted to the low lighting and wished very much that they never had. He was so going to murder Axel the minute they were out of eyesight of potential witnesses.

"Axel," he hissed darkly, tugging the lanky redhead's arm to pull the other down. "Just what the hell is this?!"

Hand nervously scratching the back of his head, the redhead answered scanning the room with a just as confused look, "Uh, that's…"

"Axel."

He flinched slightly at the calm call of his name and emerald eyes peered down at his friend. "Yes, Roxas?"

"Why," began the blond nonchalantly, grasping the collar of the other's shirt and forcefully bringing him to eyelevel, "am I in a fruity club with fortune telling themes, genie lamps to rub, tarot cards being dealt, palm reading, tea leaves searching, ouija board perusing, and fucking crystal balls being looked into and telling the goddamn future of the surrounding twits in this room?"

Choking slightly against the tight grip, despite being smaller, Roxas sure as hell had strength to reinforce that grouchy attitude of his, Axel coughed, "G-Good question, Roxas. And I'll be glad to answer it the second you release me?"

Grudgingly, the blond did.

"Alright, don't get your panties in a twist," he started, holding his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "I think we may have come to the wrong place. Damn, Demyx better have not told me the wrong place or else I'll murder him."

Roxas crossed his arms, a petulant look contorting his face as he let out a sigh of frustration, glaring at all the fortune telling related crap in the room. He honestly couldn't believe these people and scoffed lightly as a loud cheer came from an embracing couple at one of the tables. He'd give them three more months as opposed to the eternity that the 'fortune teller' probably gave them.

"Demyx, what the hell?" came Axel's irritated voice from behind, probably only seconds away from yelling into the mouthpiece of his cell phone.

He ignored the rest of the conversation, cursing the redhead rather loudly for taking him away from his history report that he was still in the middle of writing to go to a damn fortune telling club filled with gullible morons.

"Hello."

The soft voice came from his right, prompting the grumpy teen to turn and find a white room bathed in ice blue. A petite blonde sat behind an equally white table, regarding him with an almost amused smile. He glared, finding absolutely nothing funny about his current predicament.

"You're a skeptic, aren't you?" she asked, voice still low and tinged with laughter.

"Isn't it obvious?" he scowled.

Brushing a lock of blonde behind her ear, she remarked with a gesture to the empty seat in front of her (white as well), "Why don't you take a seat?"

"No thanks. I'll pass. I don't believe in this kinda stuff."

"It has nothing to do with you believing in it, Roxas," she answered with a secretive smile that unnerved the teen. Just where the hell had she heard his name? ……Oh, that's right. He and Axel were just outside her door, talking. Hmph. Fortune telling his ass.

"Ha ha, good one, but you're gonna have to do better than that. You probably heard Axel saying my name earlier when we were arguing. Sorry, but I still ain't convinced and it's better if you don't bother trying."

The blonde shook her head, saying, "It doesn't hurt to just listen, right?"

Grumbling, Roxas sat himself in the seat, eyeing her warily and snorting at the sight of what looked to be a set of colored pencils, drawing pad, and a crystal ball precariously balanced on a velvet cushion. What were these, her tools of trade or something?"

"So, you don't believe in any of this, do you, Roxas?"

He nodded without hesitation, irritated upon being called by his name by an unknown girl he hadn't introduced himself to.

"I'm Naminé, by the way," the girl smiled, moving aside her pencils so that they no longer rested atop her sketch pad.

Roxas tipped his head into a nod, showing the girl that he was listening and even added a semi-pleasant, "Nice to meet you."

"So, Roxas, what makes you so opposed to believing in fortune telling?"

"It's stupid," he answered pointedly, staring at her. "And it's a joke. A scam to just let people hear what they want to hear."

The young fortune teller now identified as Naminé just continued to watch him with a faint interest, blue eyes crinkling in a soft, graceful amusement. Smoothing out the wrinkles in her plain white dress, she continued, "Then, regardless of what I tell you today, it shouldn't bother you, correct?"

His eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Don't worry, Roxas. I won't tell your whole future filled with rainbows, butterflies, and unicorns," she assured the other teen. "I just wanted to speak with you. After all, I've been waiting for you for quite a while now."

"Waiting for me?" reiterated Roxas with a raised brow, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. Really, could she have used an even more clichéd line?

Naminé carefully folded her hands in her lap and smiled pleasantly, "Yes. It sounds trite, I know. However, it's true. I've seen you several times in the past month."

Roxas didn't bother to point out how stalker-ish that sounded and instead let loose another soft snort as her finger tapped the crystal ball.

"You won't believe me, no matter how I put this, but Roxas, it's something I feel that I should tell you and that you should know." Naminé paused briefly to watch the blond's expression before saying softly, "Pools of blue."

"What?"

Carefully selecting a blue colored pencil, she brushed away a strand of hair and repeated, "Try not to miss the pools of blue. When you see them, you'll understand, Roxas."

The blond frowned, brow raised skeptically at the young girl's words. Rising from the chair, hand against the back to support himself, he remarked, "I don't see the point in this anymore. Thanks for the chat, but I'm gonna leave now."

He exited the room without a second glance back, decidedly in a grouchier mood than when he had first entered.

"Oh, and by the way, you wouldn't have finished that history essay of yours even if you had remained at home today."

How the hell did she know… Roxas turned around to find the blonde immersed with her drawing pad, ignoring his presence as though they had never spoken in the first place. Brows drawn together to come up with some sort of logical explanation as to how and why she knew about his history essay, the presence of one redheaded moron successfully skewed his thoughts by slinging an arm around his shoulders and sidling up to him.

"Alright! I got it now buddy! To the club we go!"

Roxas promptly elbowed the taller man in the stomach, muttering under his breath as he stomped out of the fortune telling club and back out into the streets. He was in a much grumpier mood now. Especially three hours later when the clock struck twelve and Roxas found himself still one history essay short and unfinished.

Damn it all to hell.

The door to his room slammed open and closed, leaving Roxas barely any time to glance up at the intruder—not like it would have mattered much anyways.

Emerald eyes took one survey of the room and then of the blond himself before declaring loudly, "Okay, that's it. We're going out. And by we, I mean you and me, Roxas. "

"I'd much rather go drown myself in a toilet than go out with you again, Axel," snorted the blond, still irritated over the whole fortune telling business. And that annoying girl. What did she mean by pools of blue anyways? He didn't see any pools. And besides, what color would pools be anyways besides blue? Hmph. Argh! Now he was letting himself get worked up over her words! Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Axel waggled a finger, smirking playfully as he interjected, oblivious to the inner torment of his best friend, "I don't think so, Roxas. You are definitely coming this time! I even got the right place, I swear! So, don't sweat it!"

"The last time you said that," Roxas began, hand twitching towards his desk lamp, "we ended up at the red light district and a drunk guy tried to hit on me by dangling a pack of condoms in front of my face while thinking I was a girl!"

The redhead laughed fondly at the memory. Oh yeah. That did happen one time, didn't it?

"Oh, c'mon! It was priceless! The look on your face and the look on his face! It was fuckin' hilarious!" He did not even bother to stifle his laughter like any other sane person would have even at the murderous death glare the younger boy was currently giving him, hand holding his stomach as he recalled the look on Roxas's face when the inebriated man suggestively waved the packet back and forth.

Sporting a nasty bruise on his cheek and a large bump on his head, courtesy of teen still sitting in front of him with a scowl, Axel just grinned, "So, as retribution for abusing this gorgeous body and face of mine, we're going out. I think you'll like the place, Roxas. And to make you feel better, it's got nothing to do with a fortune telling—although it's a bar. But that's not that big a deal. Now, let's get your skinny ass moving! Demyx and the others are waiting."

And before Roxas could protest and give Axel the dictionary again, he was whisked away from his desk and out of his apartment to the other's car. He cursed the other man who just whistled while making their way over to a less shady looking place than yesterday. At least it had a somewhat decent name…… Oblivion. Okay, never mind. That one sucked just as bad as that Wishing Lamp place. Okay, not so much as sucked as sounded sketchy. Just how did Axel get it through that thick head of his that he would actually enjoy a place called Oblivion?

"In you go!" And a flat hand against his back pushed him into the place, arms flailing to catch a sense of balance. He glared at Axel who stepped in after him, laughing and grabbing him by the back of his collar to take him upstairs over to the table where the rest of their "gang" sat. As soon as the two took a seat (meaning Roxas was shoved forcefully into one of the plush chairs before gaining a chance to escape), an ominous yelp for help was drowned out by the drifting music coming from downstairs.

Now, upstairs, behind the door of the management office of the upper half of Oblivion where Roxas had been subjected to the doom of the companionship of his so called friends, a dismayed brunet stared at his maliciously grinning redheaded friend and the dreaded object in her hand. That's right. A silver colored dress, complete with frills and ribbons and a black bow just below the chest. And resting on the desk were an arsenal of makeup, accessories, a hair straightener and various other hair products, a lacy black bra, and two decently sized oranges.

"Kairi, please. No," tried the brunet, helplessly glancing over at his silver haired friend who only smirked at the other's predicament. Riku was never any help when Kairi became like this. The jerk.

"Sora, you lost the bet, so now you gotta pay up!" Kairi smiled cheerfully, ignoring his protests and trying to strip him of his shirt. He lost the shirt and another strand of hope as she continued to advance, saying pleasantly, "You're not thinking of going back on our agreement, are you?"

Sora paled and he immediately shook his head. Why did girls have to be so scary?

"Now, then, Sora, don't struggle. And try on that bra, okay? I kinda just guessed for your size but it should fit," she remarked, enlisting the aid of Riku with a glare. The older teen hurriedly went off to help Sora change, not wanting to be on the receiving end of incurring her wrath.

"Alright, buddy, lose the pants."

Sora almost sobbed at the words, and his now former best friend's betrayal (How could he!), and grudgingly unbuttoned his pants, slipping them off his legs and leaving the poor teen in nothing but his boxers. Sniggering, Riku handed him the frilly black bra which was snatched from his hands with a glare.

"I can't believe you, Riku! I thought we were friends!" he cried indignantly, struggling to snap the bra into place until said friend came over and did it for him.

"Yeah, but your torture is still my best form of entertainment," retorted Riku evenly, tossing him the dress. "Plus, you've got the figure, Sora, so what's so bad about cross dressing?"

"I do not! I'm a guy! I have male pride and my dignity to think about!"

"Not anymore, you don't," interjected Kairi, helping the frantically protesting boy into the dress which, thankfully, fell to his knees, covering any parts of his male anatomy and the skin toned stockings nicely kept the brunet from having to shave. Seeing how flat the chest of the outfit was, Kairi eased in the oranges into the bra, adjusting them carefully to make sure that they didn't fall and gave off the impression of being real boobs.

Sora was near tears now as Kairi began to work on his hair, destroying his precious gravity defying spikes and replacing them with slight curls that framed his face quite nicely actually. And after abusing a can of hairspray, the redhead was satisfied that Sora's wild hair would hold and moved on to spraying glitter and adding a white ribbon.

While Riku sat, watching in pure amusement at his best friend's status, the teen girl immediately set on working on his makeup, dusting a little here and a little there and glossing his lips with strawberries and cream flavored lip gloss. To Sora, it was official. His masculinity was dead. Dead. Far from revival. Dead, dead, dead, dead!

"There! Done!" exclaimed Kairi finally, pulling away to admire her work. And admire indeed. Sora had turned into a full blown woman in twenty minutes flat. No joke. Not even a trace of manliness could be found on the teen who was weeping woefully at the fact.

Nodding to herself, she motioned to Riku who stood up and together, they dragged the kicking and screaming Sora out of the room and into the workplace. "Alright then, Sora, you know the deal! At least one person's number…hmm…I say that blond over there at that table! Now, go out there and get 'em, Sora! Show those guys out there what you're made of!"

"But!"

And she shoved the poor boy out with a loud cheer of encouragement, leaving him teetering on his heels and giving the occupants in the room, who had turned at the sound of Kairi's loud cheer, a clear shot of his (fake) cleavage. He immediately straightened up, blushing red as he passed by over to a particularly rowdy table that had not missed his little blunder, ogling him with interest. Taking careful steps to make it over (Since, y'know, he wasn't used to wearing three inched stilettos with ribbons that snaked around his ankles and up his legs!), he gave a nervous smile over to the table Kairi had pointed to, wondering just how the hell he was supposed to get a phone number from the blond.

A pink haired (Who the crap had pink hair in this day and age!?) male raised his brow and remarked suggestively as he passed by, "How about you sit on my lap and we talk about the first thing that pops up?"

On the inside, Sora died a little—the manly part of him at least. The womanly part of him was snarling and demanding blood for that horrible pick up line used on him.

But the worst had yet to come.

"Marluxia, don't scare the poor girl away," laughed Axel, noticing the semi-horrified look being concealed with another nervous smile as the "girl" froze. "Sorry about that. He's got a thing for crap pick up lines."

Sora smoothed out the front of his dress, wanting nothing more than to crawl into a dark hole somewhere and never come out. Instead, he just gave a small giggle (and resisted the urge to gag and possibly murder the pink haired man with a pen) and said with an innocent tilt of his lips, his voice taking on a softer, more feminine lull, "It's fine."

"Well in that case, is this seat taken?"

A loud squeak which could never be emitted from any male came straight from the brunet's mouth. An offending hand had made itself known to his bottom. Three times if he had counted correctly. Face burning a bright red, Sora could not speak, wishing desperately to murder that stupid pink haired freak with a spoon. Even a spoon would suffice at this very moment! Oh hey, look, there was one right over there next to his left hand. Just a little further. No one would notice.

"Cut it out, Marluxia. You've been enough of an asshole already, just leave her alone," Roxas growled, swatting away Marluxia's arm.

Ocean blue eyes glanced over at the blond who had been silent until then, unspeakably grateful for the other's input. Sora gave him a genuine smile and Roxas nearly stabbed Axel's thigh with a fork, narrowly missing his groin which had the redhead yelling. Castration was definitely not on his list of things to do tonight. Of course, this was all the least of Roxas's worries. Why? Simple.

Pools of blue.

Roxas swallowed hard, hearing a voice that sounded remarkably like that blonde haired fortune teller saying, "See? I told you. Pools of blue."

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. No way. No freaking way. There was no freaking way that this was happening. And eyes? She had meant eyes when saying pools of blue? There was just no way Roxas was going to believe it. Not for a second. Nuh-uh. What had happened was that she had put that silly notion into his head and unconsciously, he had been searching for the said notion which was why he was now thinking that those eyes were his pools of blue. Yeah, that had to be it. Good old psychology.

While Roxas sat in self-denial, screaming no to the persistent voice of Naminé in his head, Sora used the opportunity to thank the other for his save, "Um, thanks for…"

"No, no, no, no!!! God damn it, no!"

All eyes turned to the young blond who sat there, holding his head. He slowly released the spiked golden locks and glanced up at his friends and the still unnamed girl. Uh, had he said that out loud? Whoops.

Slowly, Roxas rose to his feet, blinking before muttering a hasty, "I'm gonna head off now. Sorry."

And everyone just sat there blinking.

"So……nice shoes, wanna fuck?"

And Sora took that spoon and quite efficiently quieted the pink haired pervert in a way that had the other males at the table (and in the room) shuddering in horror and covering their own crotches. Needless to say, none of the other males in the room even tried to make a pass at the "busty" brunet.

…Well, not until Sora bent over to pick up a fallen object, giving everyone another good chance to ogle his fake orange boob cleavage.

A door was kicked open, a very disgruntled Roxas following after it. He did not even bother to glance in the general direction of the room, turning straight to his right to the quaint little white room which stood vacant at the moment. He stormed in, plopping himself down onto the little white chair and glaring with vivid blue eyes at the blonde haired girl sitting on the other side of an equally white table. She smiled in greeting.

"Hello again, Roxas. I thought you would come visit again, although, I thought you were a skeptic."

"Blue eyes don't mean anything close to 'pools of blue'," he stated sullenly, not even bothering to address the rest of her sentence.

Naminé smiled that mysterious smile again, finger trailing the cold outer glass of the crystal ball sitting harmlessly on the table against the plush wine colored cushion. "But it does refer to them, does it not? And I did tell you that once you saw them, you would understand."

"Dammit," cursed the blond lightly. Oh, he fell into that one quite easily.

A soft laugh escaped her lips as she watched the boy struggle with himself.

"This still doesn't prove anything."

"Then, perhaps we should give it another try?" she suggested, tapping the crystal ball gently. It glowed harmlessly and for a few moments, there was nothing but silence. During which Roxas used to reflect just what the heck he was doing.

Okay. Here he was, at Wishing Lamp. Again. Only this time, voluntarily. And talking with that strange Naminé girl. Again. And once again, voluntarily this time. Just what the heck was he doing? Why was he hanging out at a fortune telling place to argue with a fortune teller over some silly "fortune"? Was he really doing this? Ugh. What happened to being a skeptic!? He didn't believe in this crap!

"Hm. You should be careful, Roxas."

Crystal blues rolling, Roxas snorted, "Of what? Is a flower pot going to fall on my head ominously or something? Or should I avoid right turns and all signs that start with the letter 'p'?"

"No," she countered simply, ignoring his sarcastic tone with ease. "Don't be so easily deceived, okay? You shouldn't rely on just your eyes to do all your seeing. Remember that when you meet that brunet again, okay?"

"That's common se—wait a minute, how did you know about that brunette?"

"You were intrigued by the brunet, weren't you? That's why you came to me, isn't it? Because you were thinking about the person and the blue eyes until it bothered you to the point where you had to come back."

Roxas spluttered, whether in disagreement or disbelief, he wasn't quite sure and not ready to make a commitment just yet.

Naminé just shook her head, taking up another blue colored pencil and gently tugging at her drawing pad. Flipping through the slightly worn pages of the heavy sketchbook, she stopped at a newer sheet and began to draw, paying no attention to Roxas's gaping mouth and indignant squawking.

And so Roxas was left to shut his mouth, stand up, and leave with at least some of his dignity intact.

"Oh, and by the way, Roxas. You dropped, or rather, lost your cell phone."

It took everything in the blond not to scream every curse word he knew to be in existence when his hand touched his pocket to find it very much flat and empty and one cell phone short.

"You're still staring at that thing?"

Wide blue eyes turned up to find an exasperated redhead standing at his doorway, arms akimbo with a certain cocky silver headed boy in tow.

"I'm not staring," Sora countered childishly, sticking out his tongue.

"Ya know, Sora. When I said that you had to get the blond's number, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind," informed Kairi, sitting down on the bed with a sigh.

Indignant, the brunet exclaimed, swiveling away from the desk holding said item, "Hey, I did one better and got his phone!"

"Yeah, and about twelve different numbers, three proposals, five packs of condoms, two requests to bear children, eight drinks, and at least forty different pick up lines that I've never even heard," listed Riku with a cocky smirk, laughing at the dismayed look on the other's face. Yes, it had been quite an eventful night for their little cross dressing brunet after the blond had turn tailed and run. And the whole spoon incident only seemed to have increased his appeal to the other men in the room. Sora had been beating off potential suitors with his shoes (the spoon had been lost in the struggle) by the end of the night and without the help of his so called best friends who had taken it upon themselves to just sit and laugh their asses off the whole entire time, wiping tears from their eyes.

"Don't remind me!" whined Sora, covering his ears and shutting his eyes. "It never happened! It never happened!! Nothing happened!!"

Riku and Kairi just exchanged amused glances as the redheaded female held up her digital camera with a particularly evil smile.

"I wouldn't say that," she smiled sweetly, waving the camera which had two large puppy dog eyes following it. "I've got all the proof in the world that it did happen. From start to finish."

"Kairi!!!"

The two burst out laughing once more as Sora sulked, thinking up of potential ways to steal the said camera and delete all the incriminating photos. If he didn't, they would never let him live that shameful moment of his life down. Ever.

"It's too bad we couldn't tape it," remarked Kairi almost wistfully, shaking her head in disappointment. "It would have been the most amazing video to show to Sora's future kids and grandkids."

"Yeah. That line about the magic watch, priceless. Absolutely priceless," came the teasing jab from Riku.

Kairi momentarily screwed her face in thought before falling into a heap of laughter while Sora just continued to sulk, shuddering at the memory.

"That was AWFUL!" His nose wrinkled in distaste as he shuddered again. Never again did Sora want to incur the wrath of horny men armed with the power of pick up lines. Cheesy pick up lines.

"How'd it go again? Oh, right! 'My magic watch says you don't have any underwear. Oh, you do? Damn! It must be fifteen minutes fast!'" Kairi relayed, falling back onto the bed with laughter. She was soon joined by Riku and the two effectively paid no mind to Sora's glare-turned-pout.

"It's not funny!! Do you know how scarred that whole night left me?" he complained, turning back to his desk and resisting the urge to just plant his face across the smooth wooden surface. Unfortunately, his complaints went unheard.

"You're right. It's not funny. It's hilarious!" She broke out into a grin. "But really, c'mon, Sora! You gotta at least be happy somewhere! You made one hot girl! So hot that guys were practically throwing themselves at your feet! Not any girl gets that kinda attention, and you did! And you're a guy."

"That doesn't make me feel any better."

Deciding to save the torture for future use as well, Riku inquired, "Well, what are you planning on doing about the phone? It's been about four days now."

Ocean hues fell back onto the cell phone lying harmlessly on his desk, staring at them as though it would magically transport it back to its rightful owner. Of course, no such thing happened and it only continued to sit on his desk like every other inanimate object. Sora sighed, saying obviously, "Duh, Riku. I'm gonna return it to him. I can't just keep his phone. That'd be weird."

"How, genius? You don't even know him and I don't get the feeling that you'll be meeting him anytime soon again," he pointed out logically.

His brows stitched together. "Oh. Yeah. You're right. I don't know him, do I…"

Riku resisted the urge to allow the palm of his hand meet with his forehead. They were already acquainted well enough in the past, mostly thanks to the brunet sitting before him and his oblivious and rather obvious antics. Instead, he sighed and reasoned, "He'll probably end up calling it. I mean, it's not like he doesn't realize his phone's missing, right? So, it's only a matter of time until he calls it."

Kairi nodded in agreement, adding pensively, "You know, this is almost like a drama. Where a beautiful and mysterious woman picks up the phone of a handsome and nameless man and they meet and fall in love!" She squealed at the thought, being a complete sucker for romance.

"One problem Kairi. I'm a guy," mentioned Sora with a shake of his head.

"Detail!" she grinned.

Finger tapping against the shiny screen, Sora hummed thoughtfully. He never did properly thank the blond for helping him out that night with his friend.

"Awww, is Sora in love with this nameless boy?" cooed Kairi with a grin.

"Wh-Wha!? T-That's ridiculous, Kairi! I'm a guy! I like girls!" he cried indignantly, spluttering. Although, Sora wasn't completely opposed to the idea of liking guys. It was just whoever you happened to fall in love with, right?

Riku shook his head at their antics, straightening himself up. "Well, while you two kiddies continue with your little fight, I'm heading out. It's about time for my shift to start and I don't wanna be late again. Mickey's a pretty cool guy, but he's a stickler about being punctual."

"Bye, Riku!"

He left with a wave. And almost immediately, Kairi stood to her feet as well, stretching. "Alright Sora, I'm off too! Selphie heard of this new fortune telling café place or something and we're gonna go check it out with Tifa, Aerith, and Yuffie. It sounds pretty interesting. I'll let you know your fortune and if you'll be seeing that blond in the near future when I get back," she joked, exiting the room with a wink.

"Geez, why won't she just let that go."

As Sora carried an inner debate between studying and doing homework or playing his PSP, a strange melodic tune filled his room. He sat up in his computer chair, bewildered. What the heck? Was that… His eyes traveled down to find the screen of the once silent phone bright and colorful, singing its little electronic heart out. The name 'Axel' was scrawled at the bottom of the screen. Frowning, because Sora did not feel quite comfortable answering a stranger's phone (how comfortable could one be when doing such a stalker-like thing anyways), he gingerly picked up the phone and slid it open, halting the music and establishing a connection.

"Hey! Geez, what took you so long to pick up?"

Sora opened his mouth to tell this Axel person that he had the wrong person when the voice continued, cutting him off. "Well, whatever. Anyways, dude. I know you're probably still pissed 'bout the last two outings I took you out on, but this time, screw it! We're going to a club so don't worry about anything weird happening or anything, alright?"

The brunet tried again to speak and correct this little misunderstanding and was met with the same results.

"I'll come pick you up around ten since I don't trust you to come on your own two feet and on your own will. And it's not shady or anything! Promise! Ten, got it memorized? Good. See ya then!"

And the phone clicked and the screen lit back up saying, 'Call Ended', and leaving Sora to just stare at his bed.

Sapphire gems blinked uncertainly several times. Sliding the phone shut, he set it down on his desk once more and continued on his task, grabbing his PSP and flipping it on.

Hey. He tried. What more was he supposed to do? Call the person back and explain the whole situation to him? Not when his PSP was calling to him. Nope.

Roxas blinked. And blinked. And blinked some more as though it would make the image before his eyes disappear. Eleven… Twelve… Thirteen… Nope. Still there. Damn. It usually worked in movies. What did they have that he didn't?

"Axel. What are you doing here? Again?" added the blond, a sharp edge to his voice. He was about five seconds away from slamming the door in his face if the redhead didn't have a viable and very good reason to be standing in front of his doorway, which he had no right to in the first place.

"I told you that I'd be coming around ten to come pick you up."

Recalling all the events that had happened throughout the course of the day with an upward tilt of his head, eyes thoughtful, the teen could not find such a memory in his possession. Head tilting back downward to stare at the lanky man, he stated flatly, "No. You didn't."

"Yeah. I did. I called you like a few hours ago and you didn't complain."

And Roxas cursed. Again.

"Axel, I don't have my phone with me, you idiot. I think dropped it when we went to that Oblivion place. Or maybe even before that."

"Oh……then why didn't you say so on the phone?"

Roxas felt close to tears at the other's stupidity. Refraining from causing himself, or Axel, any bodily harm, he took a deep breath and elucidated, "I didn't tell you on the phone that I lost it because you weren't talking to me. I had already lost the phone by the time you called."

"Oh……then who the fuck was I talking to?" questioned Axel suddenly, bewildered.

"How should I know," was all the blond answered, hand on the door, ready to shut it now that he had patched up the miscommunication between himself and his best friend. He needed to go back and plan out just how to find his phone. However, as it was in the process of swinging close, long fingers caught the door to bring it to a halt in its movement, stopping the motion. A blond eyebrow rose.

Leaning forward with a smirk, Axel said, "Just because you didn't get my call doesn't mean that it gets you outta going. We are going out and having a proper night of wild partying and nothing is going to ruin it this time around. So there's no point in say—"

And that went straight into Roxas's pile of "not viable and very good reasons". Reject.

"No."

Roxas pushed the boy away from his door (rather easily at that) and slammed it shut in the redhead's face. Massaging his temples, he stopped short of falling onto his bed upon realizing that he had forgotten to ask Axel what his number was because like many good people, the blond just did not know his own phone number. Never bothered to remember it. Nor anyone else's. Why should he when they were all in his trusty phonebook…which was electronic data in his phone…which was missing for four days now. And reopening that door just to ask him that was just asking to be taken for another one of the redhead's little "adventure" which, he had enough of, thank you very much.

"Dammit."

Irritated with himself and the whole world, he immediately headed over to his refrigerator which stood with nothing but a bottle of coke, a carton of eggs missing eight of them, some milk, several bottles of water, and a plastic wrapped plate of what appeared to be fuzzy green jello. In other words, nothing remotely edible aside from the eggs and that strange green glob of fuzz.

Having no desire to see if said fuzzy food was edible or not, he grabbed his jacket and slammed the door shut, sucking in a breath of fresh air as he tried to think of the nearest grocery store or restaurant. Or maybe Naminé could just look into her crystal ball and find him a great place where he wouldn't meet anyone he knew or suffer the loss of another phone, not that he had another one to lose so it wouldn't matter anyways.

Wait.

What was wrong with that thought? …Ah, yes. The reference to Naminé and her fortune telling. Dammit, he was beginning to forget that he was skeptic.

While drilling into his brain that he did not believe in stupid things like fortune telling and crystal balls, he halted at two very distinct voices.

"–and he spouted another one of his really lame pickup lines and the girl slapped him in the face with her fish!"

"What the fuck was she doing there with fish?"

"Ehh, I don't know. But man, Marluxia is pretty weird. Right after he hit on her, he went straight for her boyfriend who, I swear, would have taken him up on his offer if she wasn't there."

"You think he'd learn his lesson after that whole damn spoon thing, although that was funny as shit."

"Dude, I could feel his pain from where I was. And I ended up having nightmares for two days! Two days!! That girl was brutal man–"

And he stopped listening at the very distinct sight of two very distinct people. Axel and Demyx. And well shit, they were coming his way. Frantically glancing around, and cursing himself for even thinking that going out would be safe, Roxas did the only thing that seemed reasonable at the time. Well, besides jumping into a dark alley and hiding behind some trash cans only to find some drug peddling shady people. He threw himself into the doors of the nearest store…Unfortunately, the door held a pull sign in its clear depths and his face slammed right against the glass. Stumbling back with a sharp pain in his face, especially his nose, the blond felt a gust of warm air pull him in as the twinkling of the bells chimed in his ears. (Look, he could see stars!) Warm hands holding his elbow and cheek gently led him into the store, a panicky voice filling his ears.

"Oh my god, are you okay? Ahh! I told him that we should put the sign up higher!"

He was pushed into a chair and the warmth momentarily left his body before being replaced by a sudden spike of cold. A hiss slipped past his lips.

"Ah, sorry! I should have told you that it would be cold…"

Roxas did not manage a reply, allowing the stranger to continue pressing what he guessed was a compress against his nose. Too focused upon trying to make the fuzzy little white dots disappear (They were kinda in the way, but just a little.), the blond completely missed the rather loud gasp from the stranger.

"You're bleeding!" A tanned hand clamped over his mouth, muffling another cry of surprise. Ocean blue eyes as wide as dinner plates stared at the blond sitting before him and the trickle of blood coming from his nose and instantly, Sora was frantically looking around the room as though a first aid kit would magically appear from out of the corners of the store. Or at least a bandaid, though it wouldn't have done much good. And as he searched, his hands, unfortunately (at least on Roxas's part), jolted at his inner panic, crushing the pint of ice cream further into the boy's face and eliciting a loud cry of pain. (Yes, he had been using an ice cream pint as a makeshift compress, but only because he didn't have time to go get the real compress and fill it with ice!)

"I'm sorry!! Sorry, sorry, sorry! I didn't mean to!" Sora cried, flustered as he set down the ice cream carton and hopped from one foot to the other as he looked around for some napkins or something. He was bleeding!! As in red stuff! Coming down! Dripping onto the table! Which he had wiped only ten minutes ago!

An eye closed (the curve of the lid had rammed into his right eye), Roxas glanced up and remarked offhandedly as he held a hand to cover his nose, "It's okay…"

He trailed off upon catching sight of the other boy. Bright blue eyes…Pools of blue… The girl from that bar?

"Umm, are you okay?"

Uh, no. That was definitely a guy's voice. Although if he talked softer and…no, no. He, yes he, was a guy because he definitely did not have any boobs. And a person with no boobs usually meant a guy. Yup. No boobs, not a girl.

Head shaking, he nodded, "Yeah…thanks uh…"

And just as Sora was about to helpfully supply the other teen with his name, his friendly nature overcoming his panicked searching for the moment, another squirt of blood streamed down the other's face, visible between the cracks in his fingers, and instead, the brunet hurried went to fetch a towel or some tissue while calling back, "Ack! Sorry!!"

Immediately, a warmed wet towel was swiped against his nose and lips, wiping away the coppery liquid. Sora held it to the boy's nose, tilting his head back gently in hopes of stopping the blood flow.

"Sorry 'bout all this," came Roxas's muffled apology, his hand taking the moist towel and allowing the brunet to let go and step back.

Sora shook his head, remarking with a concerned smile, "Oh, it's fine. Are you okay, though? You kinda hit the door pretty hard."

"Uh, yeah…hit the door," he replied, feeling even dumber upon hearing the actual words being spoken out loud. Run into a door? Yeah, great one Roxas. And then a nosebleed? Oh man, it just couldn't get any better, could it? All he needed was for Axel and Demyx to walk through those doors and see his current predicament and laugh their asses off. Which reminded him, this was all their fault. If they hadn't been walking on the same side of the sidewalk, he would have never needed to run into a door to hide!

And while Roxas mentally beat himself up over running into a door (because how lame could you get, to actually run into a door to escape the clutches of maniacal friends), Sora pondered silently for a few seconds, studying the other teen. There was a strange feeling of déjà vu which he could not throw off… Shaking his head, Sora was about to set off to bring the boy some napkins, since his wellbeing was the number one concern as of right now, after all, when the bells atop the door twinkled again. Automatically, his head swiveled to the door and his eyes lit up.

"Zexion! You're back!"

The slate gray haired newcomer just nodded his head in greeting, saying in what Roxas deemed as monotone, "You're still working? It's nearly twelve."

"What?! It's that late already!?" squeaked the boy, momentarily completely forgetting about the blond's existence. Although maybe it was for the better seeing as to how Roxas was still trying to reclaim some dignity leftover from suffering from a nosebleed and running into glass windows that clearly stated 'pull' and not 'push'.

A barely existent smile curved the other's lips as he headed over for the counter. "You should start getting ready to head home."

Head bobbing up and down, Sora remarked cheerfully, "Okay! Thanks, Zexion."

Turning back to Roxas, who sat there with his head still tilted and eyes focused on the ceiling, the brunet smiled apologetically, "I'm really sorry 'bout your nose and eye and everything. Has the bleeding stopped yet?"

"It's fine, really. I mean, it's all my own fault anyways. And uh, I think so." Head falling back down, Roxas was on the verge of removing the towel when he could feel the warm stream still flowing. His head tilted back upwards once more. "Never mind."

"I feel terrible… Is there anything I can do to make it up to you??"

"No, really, it's fine. This is pretty much all my own doing."

"Ah! I got it!! How about the next time you come, you can order anything you'd like, on the house!"

"…Huh?" Roxas wondered whether this kid had even really listened to what he had been saying earlier. Although, the offer of free food did not come very often or as cheap (only cost him a pained face, a nosebleed, and his dignity)…and this place was rather quite cozy. But something about the boy's eyes scared the thought away, hearing Naminé's voice in his ears whispering quite loudly, "Roxas, pools of blue. Don't be deceived by the pools of blue."

He was sorely tempted to yell back at the voice and say that these pools of blue belonged to a guy but figured that doing so would cause the brunet and his friend to stare at him strangely and he had enough of that—well at least from that slate haired coworker of his. He was looking at Roxas as though the blond had grown another head and a few dozen eyeballs to decorate said extra head. And not in that bulging eyed way but that creepy, studying and analyzing way.

Grinning, the brunet continued cheerfully, "Feel free to stop by anytime, okay? I work pretty much everyday: from six to twelve on weekends and from five to ten on weekdays. I occasionally stay until closing to help Zexion on weekdays though! Anyways, just come in at any time during my shift and I'll serve you anything that you'd like!"

Roxas managed a small smile, saying as he stood up, "Thanks… I'll remember that. Um, I need get going now. Your towel…?"

"Oh! You can keep it just in case! I think you should be okay now, but you should take it with you just incase," remarked Sora as he walked the boy to the door, holding it open for him. The bells rustled.

"Thanks for all your help."

"No problem," he chirped cheerfully, "Don't forget to come back, okay? I'll treat you to anything that you'd like!"

"Thanks," was all Roxas could think to say before he returned the brunet's wave with a rather awkward one of his own, slightly uncomfortable at the concern shining in the other's eyes. Did people really worry so much about strangers? He watched the glass doors swish close and the brunet head towards the counter, taking off his apron while chatting animatedly with the other worker. Roxas shook his head of thoughts concerning the kind brunet and glared briefly at the doors which he had already been so kindly introduced to before heading on his way home, sighing.

What a night. He was beginning to think that perhaps staying at home was really the best thing to do. At least at home, there weren't any friends lurking in dark corners to drag him to strange places, brunets with really blue eyes to help him and then offer him free food, or most importantly, glass doors to run into and cause embarrassing nosebleeds.

Speaking of which…what exactly was the name of that place anyways? The name of the shop was just a tad bit important and necessary if he wanted to go back for the promised free food. Now what was it…?

…………Great. There went his free food. All that pain and bleeding and dignity losing for nothing. ……Oh, for the love of—and he was bleeding again.

Sora stared at the ringing phone, eyes tracing the name of 'Axel' once more. Hesitantly, he picked up the phone, gingerly sliding it open. Maybe this time, he could get the person to listen to him?

"Hello?"

"Hey, are you the girl that picked up Roxas's phone?"

Roxas? Girl? What was this guy talking about? He wasn't a girl…

"Hel–lo? Girl that nearly castrated Marluxia with a spoon?"

And it suddenly snapped into Sora's mind as he remembered that horrid pink haired man (Was he even really a man? Who had pink hair?) and his horrible pickup lines ("Hey baby, if I tossed this coin, what are the chances of me getting head?"……Oh, wait. That came from that other guy with the dark hair. Whoops.) and all he could think was, Oh, shit. This guy was one of the pink haired bastard's friends, which mean that he was also one of the blond's friends. Oh, shit, indeed.

Juggling the phone between both hands, because he suddenly lost the ability to properly hold onto the electronic device, Sora cleared his throat, speaking softly and adopting that same quiet, demure lull from that painful night some weeks ago, "Sorry, yes? Are you the owner of this phone?"

He mentally kicked himself, knowing already that the phone most definitely did not belong to this Axel guy. Why would the phone's own owner put his own number into his phonebook? That was just lame.

"Nah, the name's Axel. Got it memorized?"

Sora resisted the urge to burst into a fit of giggles, instead coughing delicately.

"Anyways, so you're the one who picked up Roxas's phone, huh? Do you have a name or anything?"

"Err…" Ocean blue eyes frantically darted back and forth, panicking as he tried to think of a name, "Sora."

And Sora slammed his head into his desk for his stupidity. "Ow!"

"Uhh, you okay there?"

Jerking back upward, his forehead now sporting a bright red spot, Sora hurriedly responded, "Yeah, I'm fine! Sorry, uh, you were saying?"

"Right. Since Roxas is having some trouble trying to find his phone and everything, I figured that I would do it for him. Are you free anytime soon?"

Sora immediately went back to panicking as he feverishly racked his brain for some sort of excuse to feed this Axel person. Anything. Anything. Appointment at the dentist. Babysitting little children. Severe diarrhea! Anything would suffice!

"Uhm, I suppose we could meet at the nearby bakery?"

No, wait! That was NOT what he meant to say!

"Name and time?"

"Oathkeeper and around five tomorrow?"

Sora groaned inwardly as his mouth seemingly worked on autopilot.

"Sounds good. I'll bring Roxas around too."

And when they had both hung up and Sora knew that it was safe to perhaps vocalize his own self-inflicted doom, he let out a loud scream and repeatedly slammed his head into his desk until he could see dancing papou fruit. When the papou fruit stopped dancing long enough for Sora to blindly reach for and successfully grab his own phone on the fifth try, he turned his head to rest on a cheek as he dialed the number which finalized the signing of his own death warrant. He swallowed.

"Kairi, hey…I need a favor."

"Honestly, Axel, do you not have anything better to do than come find me and bother me?" hissed Roxas, refraining from bashing his head into the smooth surface of the table. He doubted that the librarians would very much care to have their tables stained with blood.

Axel smirked, a sight that Roxas still found highly annoying in their years of friendship, "Nope. My life's mission is to make yours miserable."

"You are a bastard."

He shrugged at the insult, sliding into the empty chair next to the blond and saying with a cocky grin, "A bastard who found your phone."

"You found my phone!?"

A loud, "Sh!" came from the nearby table.

Roxas repeated in a lower voice, "You found my phone? How? Where?"

"Whoa, buddy, one at a time. I called it up and talked with the person. I think it was the girl from the bar. Ya know, the one that Marluxia hit on before nearly being castrated by her with a spoon," grinned the pyro, sniggering at the memory.

"I feel like I'm missing something; what?"

Axel leaned back, arm thrown across the back of the chair as he spoke, "Oh yeah, you dashed outta there before it happened. Well, after you left, Marluxia thought to give that brunette one more try and said, 'nice shoes, wanna fuck?' and man, she lost it. Grabbed the nearest spoon and almost castrated our little Marly."

"A spoon?!"

"Sh!!"

Blue eyes glanced over at the same table, a guy holding his finger to his lips with an irritated glare. Roxas lowered his voice and tried, again, "A spoon? How the heck does she do something like that with a spoon?"

"Beats me. But man, it was hilarious. Marluxia looked like he was about to cry, man. You really missed out on it."

The blond snickered at the mental image of a sobbing Marluxia but winced at the thought of being emasculated with a spoon. Was it even possible? Shaking his head, golden spikes swaying, he instead asked, "Okay, but where's my phone?"

"Your phone? Oh, right. We're supposed to meet her at some bakery called Oathkeeper. I looked it up and it's within walking distance. Anyways, we should be there by five," listed off Axel, brow scrunching in thought.

"Today?"

"What day is it today?"

"Saturday."

"Well then, yes. Today."

"……Axel."

"Yeah?"

"It's," and here, blue eyes traveled to the nearby clock, "five-thirteen right now, you idiot!!!"

"Shhhh!!!!"

Roxas whirled to face the shushing guy and immediately rounded on him, saying loudly, "Why don't you just shush your own damn self?! You're making more of a damn racket then me by going 'shhhhhh!!' all the damn time! You honestly think that it works?! Would you like it if I shushed you all the time? Shhh! Shhhh!!!! SHH! Now sit down, shut the hell up, and go back to your damn porn reading because we all know that you have a Playboy magazine hidden in front of that book about quantum physics!"

The guy withered at Roxas's death glare, wisely doing as he was told as he colored a deep red.

Dumping his books into his bag and snatching the back collar of his friend, Roxas stormed out of the library, a few select choice words slipping from his mouth every now and then as he ran to the bakery with the help of some chokingly yelled out directions from a throttled Axel.

Kairi threw a sharp glare at the squirming boy before her and snapped irritably, "Stop moving around so much, Sora!"

"But…" whimpered the boy, trying to dodge the strange pencil that the girl held in her hand.

"I'm not going to poke you in the eye if you stop moving around so much," she correctly guessed, tagging on to the end, "Although I will poke you in the eye if you don't stop this instant. You need at least some makeup to look slightly more feminine. Now stay still!"

Sora did not answer, stilling himself while his fingers fidgeted in his lap. Maybe calling Kairi over to make him into a woman was not the best of choices that he had made in awhile. But if he didn't do this, he would never be able to return the phone and geez, his male pride was wilting again. Kairi stepped aside, nodding her head in satisfaction at her work. And when Sora looked into the mirror, his masculinity withered.

Attired in jeans and a yellow, bright yellow, hoodie, his breasts (orange stuffed bra) gave off the illusion of appearing fuller than when in the dress, but smaller as well, thank god. His chestnut brown spikes were straightened and loosely pinned together. Sora turned away, unable to take the image any longer. At least he was slightly more tomboyish. But more importantly, just what had he been thinking? Just telling the truth to these people that he would probably never see again seemed like a better option right now that going through with this ridiculous charade again!

Sighing longingly, he stood up, face feeling slightly heavy at the light makeup applied. A bright flash of light momentarily blinded him and when all the fuzzy little colorful rainbow dots disappeared, he caught sight of Kairi with her digital camera, a grin on her face.

"Kairi!"

"Oh c'mon, Sora. You didn't honestly think that I wouldn't take a picture of you cross dressing again! This is priceless stuff here; it's where we make our memories. Besides! You just look so cute as a girl!" Kairi giggled, motioning with a finger for the boy to twirl. He did as he was told and another satisfied nod came from the redhead.

"Okay, now you're ready to go wow those guys! Especially that blond," she remarked with a suggestive wink and Sora groaned.

"For the last time, I like girls!"

"Whatever you say," shrugged Kairi while pushing him out. (They had been in the management office of the bakery.) "If you need anything, just gimme a shout! I'm gonna be in the kitchen."

"Stuffing your face full of cake no doubt."

"Hey! Watch it mister!"

He playfully stuck his tongue out at her before dodging the towel thrown at him. Picking up his strawberry bubble tea, Sora sat at a nearby table, waiting. He spent five minutes sipping on his drink. Then, another fifteen minutes tapping his fingers restlessly against the tabletop. Then, another ten minutes chewing on his straw irritably while considering the possibility of just hurling the phone into a lake or something. Stomping on it and crushing it to millions of tiny little pieces sounded pretty good too.

The bells of the door twinkled, announcing the arrival of customers and blue eyes briefly glanced up from the worn straw and now almost empty cup.

"Sorry we're late!!" called out Roxas as he entered, panting wearily as he tried to catch his breath, an equally exhausted redhead in tow.

"It's okay."

Plopping down into the seats across the table, Roxas shook his head, nose wrinkled as he properly repeated, "Really, sorry 'bout all that. Were you waiting long?"

"It's fine," was all Sora offered, tempted to tell the blond that they were half an hour late but stopping himself just in time at the sight of the apologetic blue eyes.

"So, uh, you have my phone?" The sentence was awkward and came out as more of a question than anything else. However, it was all Roxas could think to say as he stared discreetly at the brunet. She looked awfully familiar; as though he had seen her before both this particular meeting and the brief meeting at the bar a week ago which had led to this. What had Naminé told him about this girl? Something about eyes? …No, wait, that was the first one.

Sora jumped slightly in his seat, reaching into his pocket to take out the black and white cell phone as he nodded, "Oh, right! Yeah, I picked it up that night at the bar when you left in a hurry."

For a few seconds, Roxas just stared at the offered phone as though not knowing what to do next. Axel moved his arm for him, making the boy grab the phone as he rolled his eyes.

"Uhm, yeah. Sorry about that and thanks."

"Oh, it was no problem," smiled Sora, relieved at how smoothly the whole scenario was progressing. Now that the blond had his phone, he could leave with said phone in hand, able to receive calls. The redheaded friend could then go back to badgering said blond on said phone. And he could remove the oranges from the bra and the bra, wipe away the gunk on his face, and re-spikify his hair while announcing his permanent retirement from cross dressing. Sadly, none of the aforementioned took place.

Instead, the green eyes from beside him said otherwise. They remained glued to his form as though silently trying to analyze him. Sora shifted away slightly from the redhead's gaze, unconsciously fidgeting with his fingers and occasionally the hem of his hoodie. Could he possibly suspect…? No way, Kairi's work was flawless! From the makeup to the hair to the boobs, everything was perfect! There wasn't a single mistake.

"You said that you're name was Sora on the phone yesterday, right?"

Sora could feel the goosebumps rising on his arms as he heard the other's suave voice. Still being careful to keep his voice soft, he replied, "I did. And you said that you were Axel, right?"

"Bingo. Glad to see that you remembered." At this, Roxas laid a hand to his forehead, shaking his head in disbelief.

"I can't believe you said that stupid thing to her," he muttered.

Axel continued on as though there had never been an interruption from the other boy, "Anyways, wanna come get dinner with us?"

And Sora gurgled just a little because boys just did not invite other boys, who happened to be incognito as a girl, to dinner. But then again, boys did not strip themselves of their masculinity and their male dignity and dress up as a girl.

For a few seconds, Sora pondered the offer but it was quickly struck down. Mouth opened to decline, since he had to work, before Sora could so much as get a word out, Kairi suddenly burst through from the kitchen doors (having secretly been listening in on their conversation) and said loudly, stars practically in her eyes, "Sorry, for interrupting and all, but I couldn't help but over hear you guys from inside. Sora would love to go!"

Sora spluttered.

"Kairi! I need to work!"

"Oh, don't worry about that. Riku said that he would fill in for you since he doesn't have to work tonight," waved Kairi dismissively, her eyes shining. "Now, go out and have fun!"

And at that moment, Axel decided that he very much liked this Kairi girl.

A smirk overtaking his lips, he swiftly picked up from where she left off, "Yeah, Sora. You should listen to your friend…–"

"Kairi."

"–Kairi, here, and come join us."

The brunet grimaced. He was backed into a corner with no escape. Heck, even the blond was looking a little bit alert and just as startled as Sora!

"Axel—"

"Make new friends, Roxas. It wouldn't be good for either of us to just always hang around the same people. We're making new friends," interjected Axel, effectively shutting up the younger boy who sat there offended slightly. He turned back to Sora and asked with a wily smirk, "So, what d'ya think?"

Sora was never given a chance to answer or even a say in the matter as Kairi whisked him up by the upper arm, saying cheerfully, "Sora is definitely going! Right, Sora?"

The fingers curled around his arm tightened ever so slightly and she spoke with a smile that spoke of future pain if he did not leave this instant with these random people that he barely even knew and thought of him as a girl. What happened to this whole situation going over easy and him retiring early from cross dressing?

"Right. Heh heh, you can let go of my arm now, Kairi," agreed Sora, trying to pry away her fingers.

"Good, now I trust that the two of you will take care of her, right? Because if you don't in any way, shape, or form…" The redheaded female trailed off, letting her sweet smiling face fill in the rest. Roxas involuntarily took a step back. He had a bad feeling about this. Freakin' Axel.

And Axel, being the gentleman that he was, bowed graciously and said, "Oh, you won't have to worry about a single thing, Kairi. Roxas and I will take good care of her and keep little Sora from harm's way."

Roxas had to erupt into a fit of whooping coughs to hide his laughter. Yeah, Axel taking good care of a girl. That'd be the day.

"Good," nodded Kairi, releasing her friend into the care of these two strangers. Hey, they seemed nice enough and psh, she had no ulterior motive other than getting Sora out to have some fun. Nope. No other ulterior motive.

The dinner actually had been pretty successful. Axel was as gentlemanly as he could be, which must have taken a lot of effort on his part and probably had something to do with the girl nearly castrating Marluxia, but that was just his opinion, of course. Anyways, the dinner had gone smoothly without a hitch. Which was exactly the reason why Roxas was sitting in that white chair across from an amusedly smiling blonde in a white dress. It had been too perfect. Axel was on his best behavior. The brunette, Sora, was amazing company. The food was delicious and best of all, free. (Axel so graciously paid for everything.) And then afterwards, they had all even visited a little café and talked for hours on end. It just seemed too perfect, (For Christ's sake, Axel paid for dinner! If that wasn't a warning sign of the apocalypse, Roxas didn't know what was.) which was why Roxas was tolerating this visit.

Oh how he hated the face of irony laughing at him right now.

"Hello, Roxas. What brings you back here? Again, for the third time?"

He gritted his teeth, finding the number count completely unnecessary, but spoke with hostilities lowered to a minimum, "Aren't you supposed to be the damn fortune teller?"

Unfazed by his biting tone, Naminé pushed back a lock of hair, securing it behind her ear before saying, fingertips pressed together, "Don't be silly, Roxas. Being a fortune teller doesn't necessarily mean that I can see into the future or past. Our futures can only be decided by ourselves, after all. And the same for our pasts."

Roxas did not speak, gaze sweeping downward in irritation.

"Although," began Naminé, feeling sorry for the boy, "I assume that you came because of the time you spent with Axel and that brunet, right?"

How did she do it…? There had to be some sort of logical explanation that did not involve looking into the future! Or in this case, the past. Stalker?

The blond paused, opening and shutting his mouth before finally saying grumpily, "Yeah."

"What bothers you about it? From the looks of it, you had a good time and so did both Axel and the brunet."

"That's what bothers me. There's something about her that's not–that's not right. I can't exactly explain it or place my finger on it, but there's definitely something off about her."

"And you came to me hoping that I would be able to tell you?"

Roxas refused to nod, but his eyes spoke clearly to the blonde.

Naminé shook her head, saying with a smile, "The only direction I can point you in, Roxas, is to go have a chat with Axel. For now, that's all I can tell you."

At the sight of a familiar drawing pad taken out and a familiar blue colored pencil in her hand, an aggravated sigh rose from his lips as the blond stood up, knowing that the young fortune teller would say nothing more.

"Oh, and by the way, the name of the bakery is 'Oathkeeper'."

Roxas just barely managed to swallow the exclamation of "OH!" in time, his hand slapping his forehead instead and drawing out an, "Ow!" instead.

The bells resting upon glass doors twinkled happily, jingling out the arrival of a customer.

"Hiya! Welcome to Oathkeeper!" exclaimed Sora cheerfully, turning around to find a familiar redhead coming through the doors. Just as he was about to sing out a greeting to his newfound friend, Sora stopped himself just in time. The last two times he had hung out with the redhead, he had been a she. Which would mean that…

Axel approached the counter easily, a sly look gleaming in his eyes.

"Hey."

He needed to act natural. Which shouldn't be that hard since Sora was used to being a boy, right? (There was a large neon sign hanging in the background with the words, "Wrong" in big, bright, bold letters of red.)

"Hi-hi-hiya," stammered Sora, giving a nervous laugh. "What can I get you today?"

"How about a honeydew bubble tea, your real gender, and your real name?"

Sora spluttered as his finger spasmed, accidentally hitting the wrong key on the register. His eyes were wide with surprise as he inadvertently took a step back, sweating slightly. Forcing another laugh, which only sounded shaky and high-pitched, Sora tried, "Ha ha, what are you talking about, Axel?"

It took a few seconds for the brunet to catch his own mistake and when he did, he squawked, "Uh, wait, I mean–That is…"

A smirk crossed the other's lips as he leaned forward, saying, "Well? I'm waiting."

"That is…uhm…fifteen munny, obviously a male, and Sora," ticked off Sora almost automatically, unable to not answer the redhead. He swallowed hard, fingers pressing the correct buttons this time like clockwork.

Easily handing over the munny, Axel remarked, "Hm, so you only lied about your gender, eh? Although, I gotta say, it's rare to find a kid like you who's into cross dressing."

"What? No! That's not it! My friend, Kairi, forced me to cross dress after I lost a bet and then, the second time, well, I needed to return the phone, and you called me, thinking that I was that girl and–and–and–"

"I get it, so it wasn't of your free will, in other words," Axel interrupted before the brunet began to hyperventilate, smirking still.

Sora found himself slightly unnerved at the smirk and took another step back after dropping the money into the compartment of the register. "Uh…right. How did you know, though?"

Finger tapping his head, he remarked with a grin, "Nothing gets by me. But, in that case, I guess that works out better for me. After all, girls are such high maintenance, and you're cuter as a guy anyways."

He squawked and spluttered. "Wh-wh-what?"

"I think you'll do."

"But I like girls!" cried Sora, face turning a bright red at the involuntary exclamation which had left his mouth before he could have even registered it.

Axel laughed at the other boy's expression, saying, "I'm sure you do for now, but that'll be rectified in due time."

"Wh-what?"

The melon colored bubble tea was gently set on the marble counter, complete with tapioca and an oversized red striped straw. As Axel took his drink, he pushed himself off the counter, shifting the weight to his other leg, studying the brunet and looking him over.

"Uhm, Axel?" tried the younger boy, confused.

The sudden merry jingling of bells so did not help to clear his confusion at all. Especially when it was Roxas coming through the doors. He panicked slightly, making wild hand gestures to the lanky man in front of him to warn him about Roxas being right behind him.

"Axel? What're you doing here?"

The called for man turned around, cocking an eyebrow at the blond before smirking. "What, I can't get some bubble tea from this cute brunet here?"

Blue eyes rolling, Roxas opened his mouth to make a sarcastic retort when his eyes widened and he found himself saying, pointing straight at Sora, "Ah! You're that guy that helped me when I ran into the doors!"

And the guy that looks a lot like Sora, he added silently in his head.

"Roxas, you know Sora?"

"Roxas, you're the guy that ran into the door!?" came the brunet's exclamation, eyes wide.

"Sora, you know Roxas?"

Sora was sorely tempted to throw the blender at the redhead, mouth set into a frown as he shouted indignantly, the blond momentarily forgotten, "Axel! What's the big idea?!"

Axel shrugged, saying with ease, "Whoops, my bad." However, it was clear to the brunet that the taller man was not even the slightest bit apologetic. If he hadn't known any better, he would have thought that Axel had done that on pur…pose… He did it on purpose?!

Meanwhile, poor little Roxas, who was left out of this exchange, finally interjected, "Wait a minute, Sora? But isn't Sora a…girl…"

"Don't be so easily deceived, okay? You shouldn't rely on just your eyes to do all your seeing. Remember that when you meet that brunet again, okay?"

"The only direction I can point you in, Roxas, is to go have a chat with Axel. For now, that's all I can tell you."

And suddenly, Naminé's words came together like the pieces of a jumbo-sized puzzle that even a four year old could put together revealing the picture of a cuddly bear (say, Winnie the Pooh) eating honey from a pot—or something to that extent. The point was, Roxas was able to put two and two together to finally get four.

"Sora, you're a guy!?"

"Eh heh, guilty," owned up the other teen, scratching the back of his head.

"Then, why did you – you were a girl – had boobs – what happened?"

Leaning against the counter, Sora explained apologetically, "I'm really sorry for deceiving you Roxas. It's just that, the night when we first met at the bar, I was only pretending to be a girl because I lost a bet with Kairi, and you have no idea how scary she is, especially when it involves me backing out of a bet. Anyways, and then I found your phone and then Axel called and only knew me as that girl from the bar so to give you back your phone, I had to pretend to be a girl again, and well…yeah."

"Then, what about when I ran into the door!?"

Axel suddenly perked at this bit of information, eyebrow rising as he momentarily stopped sipping his bubble tea. "You ran into a door?"

The two ignored the redhead and continued on.

"I honestly didn't know that was you, Roxas! Honest! Because you had your face always covered by something since you're nose was bleeding and everything," responded Sora earnestly, arms flailing as though it would bring more comprehension to his fumbled words. "I – I never meant to lie to you!"

Roxas silently mulled over the facts, eyes gleaming over the brunet's slumped form. Sighing to himself, he drew himself back together and remarked offhandedly, "Well, I guess that explains a lot of things. And I suppose that even though you were a girl the first few times we met, it doesn't really change the fact that you're still a friend."

The blond found himself being tackled into a hug. Sora had made his way from behind the counter to in front of the blond in no time, hugging Roxas quite literally to death. Or suffocation, which ever came first. However, he was let go just in time and was met with beaming ocean blue eyes.

"Thanks, Roxas!"

Somewhere, somehow, Roxas could have sworn that he heard a soft giggle of laughter accompanied by an amused, "I told you so."

And so, the cross dressing charade successfully came to an end and Sora never donned another woman's outfit ever again. Or a bra stuffed with oranges, for that matter. It was too bad though, in Axel's (and Roxas's although he would never admit to it) opinion. Sora made one hot chick.

And so, time continued on its path and soon enough two months had passed.

Two glorious months in which Roxas had finally received his free food from Sora, as promised, and hereby thus received even more free food and discounts seeing as to how they were fast friends. Two glorious months in which Roxas became closer friends with Sora. Two glorious months in which Roxas was only dragged out against his will by Axel on one of their little "wild adventures" only three times each month; ten times less than usual per month. Two glorious months in which Roxas did not ever step foot into the Wishing Lamp. Two glorious months in which Roxas did not have to stop by to have a chat with Naminé and her all seeing crystal ball.

Unfortunately, it did not progress past those two glorious months.

On the start of what was to be the (hopefully) third glorious month, Roxas ran into a snag. Actually, a lot of little snags actually, that eventually tumbled into one huge ass snag. As usual, he was on his way over to Oathkeeper, which had quickly jumped up in place on his 'Places I Like' list, to chat with Sora and walk him home when he stopped short of pulling open the glass doors. Yes, Roxas had finally learned to pull the door open as opposed to pushing it. There had not been another repeat of the painful encounter between himself and the glass doors.

Anyways, Roxas had stopped at the sight of Sora. With Zexion.

Now, the blond did not have a problem with Zexion. Never did in his entire two months of knowing Sora. Until now.

He watched the two of them interact, eyes narrowing as Sora lightly touched the older boy's arm, grinning. The two happy coworkers were frosting a batch of display cookies, their elbows occasionally bumping against each other in the tight space; although neither of them seemed to notice. He was tempted to try and listen in on the two's conversation but found that a bit stalkerish. After all, Zexion was Sora's friend. There was nothing to worry about.

Now, had Roxas listened in to their conversation, like a true creepy stalker, he would have heard a little something along the lines of this.

"Sooooo, Zexion," Sora began, adding a blue dab of frosting for an eye, "when exactly do I get to meet your friend?"

The older male continued to outline the cookie in white, only saying, "If I can help it, never."

"What! Why not?" pouted the brunet, swapping his blue icing for red.

"Because putting the two of you in the same room would undoubtedly bring about disastrous results," he answered simply.

Of course, Sora being Sora, asked, "How so?"

Setting down the frosting (He had finished his own batch.), Zexion remarked, "To put it simply, Sora, the two of you together would equate to an obnoxious, inebriated couple of college students who mistakenly believe that they possess even a modicum of talent in the area of singing."

"……So, he can sing really well?"

Zexion chose not to reply to the brunet's inquired statement.

"Aw, c'mon Zexion! I'm really curious! I wanna meet this someone who you opened up to aside from me!" pleaded Sora, setting aside a few extra cookies before wiping his own hands clean.

"Perhaps," started Zexion, calmly. And Sora, who after working with the older man for a full year, was able to translate that into a 'yes'. He cheered, missing the slightest tilt of the other's lips as he disappeared back into the kitchen.

And on the other side of the doors, Roxas still stood at the entrance, arguing with himself. When he found himself losing said inner debate, the blond gave up trying to make sense of anything and just walked into the quaint shop. ……Or would have had he remembered to pull on the doors. And thus, another repeat of Roxas and the door incident occurred. With an added bonus of an excess of cursing—on Roxas's part, of course. The door only gave a few merry jingles.

Sadly, this was not the snag, but merely a prelude of what was to come.

It only continued downhill from there, however. And by downhill, it was understood that it plunged into a spiraling trial of adversity.

After the prologue which clearly spelled out 'DOOM' in big fat capital letters for the blond, Roxas had returned to the bakery the next day, mind cleared of all strange thoughts of wanting to strange slate gray haired coworkers and focused solely on meeting up with his buddy and getting a bubble tea. Or some coffee. That worked too.

It was near closing time, eleven fifty-three to be precise, when Roxas came through the doors. A one hundred megawatt smile was directed at him from the counter along with a cheerful greeting that the brunet never failed to give, "Roxas! Heya!"

"Hey, Sora," he waved in return, making his way over to the counter and noting that Zexion was missing. That probably should have been an omen to Roxas over the events that were about to unfold. It was unfortunate that the blond did not believe in such things.

"Lemme guess, today is Sunday, so I'm guessing…" A finger poked into his cheek as his lips drew together in a line to think. "Lychee flavored bubble tea with some green tea cookies?"

Roxas nodded, impressed.

As Sora began mixing the drink together, Roxas's attention strayed away to admire the mouthwatering cakes sitting in the display case, courtesy of Sora, Zexion, and occasionally, Aerith when she stopped by to visit (it was her shop, after all). The only sounds in the background were that of the whirling of the blender.

"I still can't believe that you can bake," came Roxas's idle comment while he continued admire the tasty sweets.

"Yeah, it took me over a month to get it right. But Aerith was a really great teacher," he replied, humming along with the blender. It came to a stop just as the bells atop the doors tinkled together.

Despite it nearly being twelve (now eleven fifty-eight, two minutes away from closing), Sora still enthusiastically greeted the late customer, popping in the oversized blue straw into Roxas's lychee bubble tea and handing it to him, "Hello!"

Roxas was about to slink away to one of the tables while Sora dealt with the customer, straw already in his mouth, when he stopped short at the sight of pink. Pink hair, to be precise.

"Roxas?"

"Mar-" here, Roxas swallowed a tapioca whole and thus choked, "-luxia!? What the hell are you doing here!?"

Sora blinked, quite effectively confused but when he caught sight of pink as well, the blood drained from his face. It was that awful man with the pink hair and those god awful pick up lines!!! He resisted the urge to go for the spoon lying on the counter behind him.

"While that's none of your business," began Marluxia with a haughty smirk, "I merely came here for some coffee. What about you?"

Irritatingly, whatever Roxas was going to say in response was promptly shot down when Marluxia caught sight of the delectably cute brunet standing behind them and the counter, now inching closer to the spoon. Marluxia was suddenly in front of the counter, smoothing talking Sora who looked a tad terrified and more murderous.

"Say, what's your name?"

Sora did not bother to answer, blindly trying to grasp the spoon that sat behind him as he smiled pleasantly. Inwardly, Sora was cursing this pink haired twit to the very depths of hell with words that would undoubtedly make his mother burst into tears.

"Marluxia, back off," Roxas growled, giving an undignified shove to the older man.

"Now, now. I don't see really see a reason to," countered Marluxia, smirking. He leaned closer, to whisper into the other's ear, malicious glint and all, "I've been looking around for a good fuck and that brunet behind you is pretty damn cute." Marluxia leaned back away, saying aloud, "So, unless you've got a better reason, then I'm not about to just drop it."

A wink was sent Sora's way who just stood there with a rapid tick developing in his eye.

Now, Roxas knew that Marluxia was a man of his words especially when it came to the satisfying of his outrageous libido, so the blond was working his way to being stuck between a hard place and a rock. He could see no way out of this other than just stepping aside and letting the pink haired male try to woo Sora. Or, you know, he could just pretend that he was dating Sora, thus effectively turning the effeminate man away. ………Well, it was an idea and that was more than Roxas could conjure up at the moment. So, he took what he could get.

Roxas leaned over the counter, took the unsuspecting brunet's face in his hands and planted his lips against Sora's. Hard.

A squeak-like noise escaped from Sora's throat as he stood there with his ocean blues peeled open wide and his lips crushed against Roxas's.

Sora froze.

Roxas, knowing the type of person Marluxia was, pried apart the shell shocked boy's lips with a determined tongue. Not that much prying was needed as Sora did not resist, far too stunned to even blink. And so, Roxas did most of the work, tonguing the dazed Sora. Well, for the first five seconds at least. After the first five seconds, the blond found, much to his own surprise, Sora tonguing him back, lips pressing firmly against his own and arms coming up to lock around his neck.

Well, this was…unexpected.

The two separated just enough for their breaths to mingle as they panted and huffed after the kiss. Roxas found Sora's cheeks flushed to be strangely endearing and leaned back in to connect their mouths once more in one hell of a convincing kiss.

Marluxia forgotten and pushed aside, Roxas found himself entirely too focused on those delectable lips of Sora which tasted faintly of cherries and sweetly pressing his tongue into the other's mouth. A hand slipped away from the boy's flushed cheek and traveled down to rest on a slim hip, squeezing gently and eliciting a small moan from Sora who responded in like by trailing his nails across the back of Roxas's neck which drew a delicious shiver from his body. They parted entirely too soon, catching their breaths as their eyes met. And Sora smiled, lips still wet and glistening from their impromptu kiss.

The moment, however, was ruined by Marluxia's supercilious proclamation, a cruel, cruel smirk on his lips, "Now that's a better reason."

Roxas only tilted his head ever so slightly to the side to respond with a possessive growl, "Back off now, you bastard."

And so, Marluxia left. Which left Roxas and Sora alone and blushing like mad as they parted.

"Th-thanks, Roxas," Sora finally spoke, fingers playing with the hem of his apron.

"N-no problem." His reply was just as shaky as the brunet's whose cheeks were still stained a deep red.

An awkward silence was ensued between the two because there was a certain comfort level between friends that was most definitely breeched when, y'know, they happened to kiss. Twice.

And so, Sora found himself blurting out, like most poor fools tricked into saying the most random thing that pops into their heads after the issuance of an awkward silence (which was its power, really), "I was about to castrate him with a spoon if he didn't get the hell away from me. It's too bad that he ran."

Roxas blinked. And then again for good measure before a small smirk broke through his lips. "Didn't you already do that at the bar?"

Sora grinned, "Yeah, but that time, he totally deserved it! God, those awful pick up lines. He even groped me! Three times!!"

"You should have just gone for the steak knife."

"Spoon was closer," beamed Sora almost too innocently, which cajoled another laugh from Roxas now that the (sexual) tension was gone.

"The worst part about Marluxia though, aside from his twisted personality, has got to be the hair. Who has pink hair for crying out loud!"

"Dude, I know!!"

Thus, the two friends overcame the crisis of having kissed each other, despite being guys and possibly enjoying it (though it would be viciously denied by Roxas anyways), by chatting (read and pronounced as bashing) animatedly about Marluxia. And his freaky, unnatural pink hair.

Roxas had gone to work, like a good little kid, and heaved a sigh as his shift ended, leaving the music store with a wave to his other coworkers (Demyx). As the orange rays of the setting sun shined brilliantly in his eyes, he squinted, growling to himself. Stupid sun.

"Roxas!"

Automatically, his head snapped in the direction of the voice, brow raised as his mouth twisted into a frown. However, at the sight of a spiky haired brunet, the corners of his mouth eased, lifting upwards into a nervous albeit happy smile. After that whole kiss incident at the bakery, Roxas was still slightly uneasy around the brunet. Not because he was worried that Sora would suddenly confess his undying love for him or anything, but because after that, Roxas couldn't quite keep their kiss off his mind. It probably didn't help that he was now dreaming about the said kiss and having it slowly escalate into the beginnings of a wet dream. And while it had not yet become a full blown wet dream that left most guys with morning wood, the blond still found himself horror-struck. Because, you know, he was straight. Straight. Straight.

"Hey, Sora. What're you doing here?"

The brunet grinned, out of breath slightly as he spoke, "I came to meet up with you after your shift. I figured that maybe we could hang out together."

Sora, on the other hand, seemed wholly unaffected.

"Sure, what'd you have in mind?"

Sora beamed, taking Roxas's arm and tugging him excitedly in the opposite direction from where the blond's house was. "Ice cream!" he exclaimed happily, gently pushing the blond into a bench, "I'll go buy since you're tired, okay?"

Chuckling at the other's childish nature, Roxas humored the brunet, waiting patiently at a bench as he watched from afar. It felt slightly weird to be watching another boy, but hey, Sora was his friend. Plus, he was getting free ice cream. There was nothing wrong with that, right? Besides, it wasn't as if he stalking Sora or something. Just watching to make sure some creep didn't come and try to take advantage of the brunet's naïve and trusting nature. Yeah, that was it. And it had nothing to do with the fact that he was now talking enthusiastically with some stranger with a brown haired man with a strange scar—wait, what?

He blinked several times before finally registering that the sight of the chocolate brown haired man was, indeed, real. And just as a hint, it was not the nice lady named Aerith that owned Oathkeeper, much to the blond's dismay. Instantly, a worried scowl contorted his face as he watched the two interact. The subtle hints that man was dropping. Just who the heck did he think he was!? That…That…That creep! Was that a hand reaching out to pat him on the shoulder?! What the hell! There will be no hand-patting-shoulder moments!

Roxas jumped to his feet, running at full speed and tackling the mysterious man. He was knocked off his feet, arms stretched out to break his fall as he was propelled to the side of the ice cream vendor's store. Pushing Sora behind him, his arm stretched out before him as a makeshift barrier, Roxas glowered at the unnamed man.

"You creep! Don't you even think about laying a single finger on him, you child-molesting, candy offering pedo!" Wow, there was one for redundancy. Anyways, the brown haired man pushed himself to a standing position, highly bemused eyes landing on the blond haired boy.

"Ro-Roxas?" tried Sora, blue eyes wide.

"Sora, stay behind me, okay?"

As the brunet stared helplessly from behind, hands full of sea salt ice cream, Roxas backed away slightly as the guy opened his mouth. Ha, there was no way he was going to let this child-molesting, "here, have some candy little boy" saying, suspicious white van driving pedophile!

"Just what do you think you are doing?" he questioned, voice slightly harsh. Although, hey, who wouldn't be annoyed at being tackled into the side of an ice cream store by some random blond who obviously had some kinda issue.

"I could be asking you the same thing," Roxas snapped, blue eyes narrowing. "You can guess again if you think I'm gonna just stand by and let you molest Sora!"

"Roxas, wait," Sora interjected, but was ignored by both parties.

Hand on his hip (in a not so girly fashion because he would kill anyone that said anything about him being girly), the stranger scowled and barked in disbelief, "I don't have any intentions of molesting Sora. What are you, an idiot?"

About this time, seeing that it might escalate into some stupid, pointless fight, Sora poked his head from behind Roxas and remarked, voice a tad squeaky, "Calm down, both of you! Roxas, this is just my friend, Leon!"

"Your…friend?" repeated the blond, blinking.

Sora nodded vigorously, taking a small lick of a bead of melted ice cream, "Yeah, my friend!"

………Friend? Well…that piece of information would have been useful just five minutes ago.

The taller brunet, now identified and will be known as Leon, rolled his eyes, still sporting a scowl at the other's actions and hastily made assumptions. Arms crossed, he said gruffly, "The name's Leon. And for the record, I'm not a child-molesting, candy offering pedo."

He flushed slightly, embarrassed at the little mix up…okay, the huge, big fat stinkin' mistake of accusing an innocent man of being a pedophile. Geez, he hadn't made this bad of a mistake since that time when he first met Marluxia and thought he was a pink-wearing fairy with little tiny sparkly wings, a magical wand, and a frilly ballet skirt with pink tights underneath. Okay, not that distorted, but he really did think that Marluxia was some kinda pink-wearing, Disney fairy gone horribly wrong. And the only reason he had thought that, in the first place, was because the idiot…well, had pink hair and a set of sparkly fairy wings attached to his back along with a flower tucked behind his ear–a pink rose to be precise. Roxas never asked why and no one ever spoke of it again, which was fine with the blond since he did not want to know anyways. Anyways, his point was that was over two years ago! He did not make stupid, huge, frickin' mistakes very often! Only when goaded by some kinda silly subconscious notion put into his mind. Last time, Marluxia's less than noticeable sparkly fairy wings had been the notion. But this time…? What notion was there this time?

"Roxas? Rox–as!" Sora waved a hand in front of his face, taking another lick of the popsicle. Turning back to Leon who just stared at the now frozen and seemingly thousands of miles away blond, the brunet grinned sheepishly, "Well, since Roxas has entered sweet LaLa Daydreamland, Leon, this is Roxas," there was a short pause, "Oh, right! And he's very sorry for thinking that you were a child-molesting, candy offering pedo."

Leon resisted the urge to cringe at the title. Instead, he rolled his stormy eyes and asked, "Is he all right?"

Maybe it was the belts…?

"I think so," commented the brunet, poking at his cheek but to no avail. "Or maybe not."

No, it was probably the whole hand-patting-shoulder scene! Or maybe…

"So, how'd you come across this one?" asked the older man, slightly amused at the sight of Sora now trying to pry open the other's lips with the melting ice cream bar.

"Uhhh…he ran into the doors of the bakery," he replied with a grin (because there was no way that Sora was going to openly admit that he had actually met the blond while cross dressing the first time around), shrugging his shoulders and proceeding to consume the chilled salty sweet treat for himself. It was Roxas's lost for being so absorbed in his own little LaLa Daydreamland world.

Leon chose not to comment, instead saying, "Well, I need to get going. Take care, alright, Sora?"

The brunet nodded, giving a wave as well as Leon's hand reached out to pat him on the shoulder. Before either of them could blink, tight fingers were curled around his wrist, halting its movement.

"It's definitely the hand-patting-shoulder!" exclaimed the blond loudly, and quite incoherently to the other two who had not been present for his internal struggle. Roxas blinked several times before quickly grasping the situation. He released Leon's wrist with another embarrassed flush, and a quick mutter of, "Sorry."

"It's fine, kid," remarked Leon, amused. "I'll see you two around."

"Bye Leon!!" grinned Sora, waving enthusiastically to the departing man.

Roxas gave a small wave as well, mentally kicking himself in the balls for being a complete idiot in front of a complete stranger (okay, not complete stranger since he was Sora's friend and he had been introduced to this guy) twice in under ten minutes. Way to go, Roxas. Way to freakin' go.

"God, I'm an idiot."

"An idiot with no ice cream," corrected Sora, teasingly taking a bite of the ice cream bar and drawing out what most resembled a whiny sulk from Roxas who took a large bite of the ice cream in retaliation.

Leon was not more than a few feet away when he suddenly stopped, a pensive look overcoming his features. Turning back around to face the two teens who looked to be bickering, most likely about Sora eating Roxas's ice cream, he whistled, catching their attentions. Normally, Leon wouldn't even consider doing such a thing, but he was just so damn curious (which was unusual for him) that he could not help himself, deciding to indulge his curiosity for once.

"Hey, kid. How exactly do I look like a child-molesting, candy offering pedo?"

After the whole, go out for ice cream then accuse Sora's friend of being a child-molesting, candy offering pedo, things were looking none the brighter for the blond who had grudgingly told the story to Axel, who had promptly busted a seam laughing his ass off. The stupid bastard. Axel hadn't even come close to helping him out, opting to laugh some more instead.

Anyways, with things looking this bad, Roxas decided it was time for some…outside help of sorts. Yeah. That.

Shifting from leg to leg, he stared at the now more tasteful sign advertising Wishing Lamp, the fortune telling, genie lamp rubbing, tarot card reading, ouija board perusing, tea leaf spying, palm scanning, and crystal ball seeing galore. Two months. Two damn months and now he was back. An annoyed growl pressed past his lips as he grudgingly pushed open the doors and immediately headed to his right, the sight of ice blue and white entering his line of vision. Roxas dropped down into the white chair heavily.

"Hello, Roxas. What happened? You were doing so well too. Gone for two months," smiled the familiar blonde, hand setting down the blue colored pencil she seemed so fond of.

"God, it's like I'm back in rehab or something," muttered Roxas, annoyed. "Clean for two damn months and now I'm back."

Naminé did not comment, giggling softly. "Is there something you needed? I certainly do not think that this was just a pleasure visit."

"Damn straight it's not," he responded quickly, staring spitefully at the crystal ball still sitting on that same wine colored, velvet cushion as though his staring would somehow magically make the glass sphere spontaneously combust. Obviously, it did not because while this was a place of fortune telling and all that jazz, it was not associated with magic of any sort; thus enabling magic to still be impossible and an idea only found in fairy tales, books, movies, shows, games, and Disney. Oh, right, and adults and children who refused to embrace reality and tried uselessly to wave wands in hopes of levitating random objects or causing a huge pimple to swell on the faces of their enemies. Just his luck.

Smoothing out the creases in her plain white dress, she inquired again, "So, then, Roxas, is there something you need?"

"I called Sora's friend a child-molesting, candy offering pedo," he blurted out, unable to hold it in. Well, at least it was now out in the open. And thank God he hadn't said anything about full on kissing the brunet. But that was besides the matter at this point.

Soft blue eyes blinked, undoubtedly confused. However, her smile was placid. "I see. And this troubles you enough to come seek me after two months?"

Well, when put that way, it did sound like a stupid reason. But no, Roxas needed to preserve and so, he just nodded, tugging his eyes away from the crystal ball (bane of his existence number four—number one being Axel, number two being glass doors, and number three being school).

"What troubles you about it?" she asked with that same cryptic smile of hers.

"I don't know. Everything, okay?" answered Roxas, disgruntled. He folded his arms across his chest. "I haven't said something stupid like that since I first met Marluxia two years ago. Unless prodded by something, I don't usually say stupid things like that and then outright accuse innocent people of said stupid thing. It's bothering me. Why the hell did I seriously think that some guy was gonna molest Sora just because they were talking?"

Naminé smiled mysteriously as she tapped the glass sphere with dainty fingers. Watching the blond, she commented, "Perhaps, you were just being overprotective of the brunet."

"Yeah…that does make the most sense. I mean, Sora's a bit ditzy, naïve, trusting, and waaay to nice for his own good, after all. I need to look after him," affirmed the blond, suddenly feeling slightly better at this new revelation.

Her nail made brief contact with the smooth curved surface of the crystal ball, eliciting a small tapping sound as Naminé looked upon the object with amused orbs. She spoke without lifting her eyes, "Are you sure that's all though, Roxas? Is that truly the only reason why?"

Ocean blues narrowing slightly, he asked suspiciously, "Just what are you insinuating? Of course that's the only reason why."

"Still such a long way to go," she murmured softly with a small shake of her head. Raising her voice back to an audible volume, Naminé spoke, "Roxas, if that is truly the only reason why you were so troubled, then you would not have come to see me in the first place—and please kindly remove your twitching hand some distance away from my crystal ball as it is a priceless heirloom and I would rather like it to stay whole and untouched."

His hand shrunk back to his lap as the blond processed her words. Obviously, he was still stuck on the bit about moving away his hand from that damned crystal ball of doom.

"What now?"

Sighing, Naminé shortened, "If you only felt the need to look after Sora, then you wouldn't have come to visit me and ask me about it. If you haven't noticed, Roxas, you only come to me when either distressed or on the brink of hurtling yourself off a cliff in frustration, which I sorely hope you will not do."

"I do not come to you only when I'm distressed or about to jump off a friggin' cliff!" scowled Roxas, brows stitched together in annoyance.

"Yes, you do," countered Naminé, fingering her collection of drawing colored pencils. "Now, what else brought you here? There was more than just that instance, right?"

Roxas stubbornly crossed his arms, refusing to believe the young fortune teller despite knowing very well that she was correct. As usual. Dammit.

"The sight of Sora and Zexion together annoyed me," he grudgingly admitted, irritated at how easily the blonde knew that there was more. "I don't know. The two work at the bakery and they're always together and all but…I just got so damn irritated at seeing them together, frosting cookies or whatever."

The smile was rekindled on the petite girl's lips. "Overprotective?" The word was spoken with a slight mirth.

There were no words as the blond rubbed random patterns into the fabric of his pants, hearing her words repeated over and over in his mind.

Seeing that only silence was her answer, Naminé suggested, tapping the crystal ball once more to dispel the eerie muted glow, "Why don't you think about the answer and then come back, okay?"

She picked up her blue colored pencil and flipped open her sketchbook with a soft smile. And so, Roxas was up on his feet and exiting the room without ever really knowing why or how.

"Oh, and by the way, Roxas. Demyx and Zexion are dating. Just thought you'd like to know."

It took a lot of self-discipline on Roxas's part to keep from screaming out a victorious "Yes!" (for reasons yet unbeknownst to him for Roxas was a slightly dense and slow blond at the moment, though that will be corrected later on). However, he could not keep the small smile from curving his lips as he exited the Wishing Lamp in a considerable better mood than when he had entered for the first time since he had started visiting there.

Still confused as hell and hated the place though.

Demyx frowned at the sight of Roxas slinking over to the stool behind the counter, arms crossed and a deep furrow creasing his brows. There was something definitely going on with his little blond friend, and Demyx, being the nice, caring guy that he was, decided to go over to lend a helping hand, ear…whatever appendage that was necessary and appropriate.

"Hey, why so down Roxas?"

The shorter of the two glanced up for a split second before his eyes strayed away. Okay, just to make sure, although Naminé was never wrong, maybe he could ask Demyx about the whole 'Demyx and Zexion are dating' bit that the young fortune teller had informed him of. Now, just needed to find some kind of delicate way of bringing up the topic…

"Are you and Zexion dating?"

Yes. Perfect Roxas. Such a subtle and sly way!

The older blond back stepped, eyes wide with shock at the other's bluntly asked question. How did he know? Bewildered, Demyx found himself nodding, "Yeah…How'd you know, Roxas?"

Roxas, not finding "I went to go see a fortune teller that I've managed to avoid for the past two months to talk with her about getting irritated over seeing Zexion and Sora work together and about my calling Sora's friend a child-molesting, candy offering pedo, when she conveniently told me as I was leaving that the two of you are dating" a proper or even reasonable answer, lied, "Uh…just a guess? I've seen the two of you…at the bakery…"

Demyx just gave a grin as a slight blush painted his cheek, "Oh, ha ha ha."

"So, you guys are dating," stated Roxas with slightly more conviction and when the other blond just beamed, he knew that it was official. A strange relief poured over him as Roxas smiled. "It's kinda late, but congrats."

"Thanks, Roxas," Demyx grinned. "Anyways, what about you and Sora?"

"What about me and Sora?"

"Well, aren't the two of you going out too?" came the slightly confused question which had Roxas nearly teetering from his stool, his arms out and flailing to catch his balance. Too late. The blond went crashing onto the floor, stars dancing across his line of vision which wobbled violently.

Panicked, Demyx hurried helped the boy, "Roxas! Are you okay?"

Hey, look! He could see nine different Demyx. Which one was he supposed to look at? Which one was he supposed to talk to? Uhhhh. A few moments passed before the nine melded back into one and the stars stopped parading around. Pushing himself up from the ground towards a sitting position, Roxas groaned, hand held to his head, "I'm okay…I think."

"Geez, you scared me! I think you busted your head open or something," remarked Demyx, hand held over his heart as worry gleamed in his eyes.

Roxas did not speak, still trying to get his head to stop spinning.

Once certain that the blond was okay, Demyx let loose a small laugh, "Man, so I guess it must be true if you're falling outta your seat when I asked."

"What must be true?" There was a sharp edge to his words which was promptly ignored by the other. Or maybe just gone unheard since this was Demyx.

"Aw, there's nothing to hide, Roxas. You and Sora are dating too, right? Marluxia even told us about that kiss between the two of you."

Roxas reminded himself to murder the pink haired male in the most horrifying way that he could think of. Before he could deny anything, however, the stool, which had been slumped against the wall during the fall, now fell, knocking down a stack of CDs which all hit poor Roxas in the head. The CDs themselves were perfectly fine, but Roxas, who had sustained damages from the fall as well, was knocked out cold. (Although, it was probably mostly from shock rather than the CDs.) But, the CDs were okay and that was the main point because they needed to be sold and if there were damaged in any way, Luxord (the owner of this fine musical establishment) would have their asses—and about three weeks worth of paychecks.

"Huh? Roxas? Roxxaasss! Was I wrong? Or maybe, did Marluxia say Roxas and Axel…?"

From beside, Roxas twitched. Violently.

"Hey, Roxas."

Blank stare.

"Roxas?"

More blank, empty staring.

"Uh, Roxas?"

More super blank and empty staring.

"Woo-hoo, Roxas? Earth to Roxas!"

A hand laid on his shoulder, shaking his body and causing his vision to sway.

"Huh? What? Sorry, what were you saying?"

Sora leaned back, cocking his head and studying the blond for a few seconds before saying, "It something wrong, Roxas? You've been spacing out on me all day."

"Sorry, just got…a lot on my mind," murmured the blond, taking a sip of his taro bubble tea and chewing thoughtfully on a few tapioca balls. A lot on his mind being that damn kiss which had finally spiraled into a wet dream last night that had left Roxas with one hell of a raging hard on when he woke up in the morning. Oh, and an orgasm that had the blond seeing stars. But the best part? He had been imagining Sora while in the midst of masturbating in the confines of his bathroom. Don't get him wrong. Roxas tried, oh so painfully tried to imagine a woman in the little brunet's place. He even tried to flip through a magazine of gorgeous beauties with huge breast that Axel had oh so conveniently left behind one day. Unfortunately, it didn't work. His subconscious apparently had other plans and those other plans did not include masturbating to the images of half-naked, voluptuous women. And so, Roxas had jerked off to the image of Sora pinned underneath him, cheeks rosy and lips parted in a breathy sigh.

As the brunet opened his mouth to offer a sympathetic ear, for Sora was completely unaware of the perverse and dirty thoughts running through the blond's head (unwilling on his part), the bells tolled and customers entered, demanding his immediate attention. Throwing the troubled blond an apologetic smile, Sora bounced along back to the counter, smiling brightly as he welcomed the customers. This, however, was all lost on Roxas who was back to his brooding thoughts.

"Hey, you're Sora's friend, right?"

The cheerful feminine voice pulled the blond out of his thoughts (that visit to Naminé only brought upon even more confusion and thoughts dammit and his talk with Demyx hadn't gone over too well either). To his surprise, a redheaded girl, whom he identified as one of Sora's friends, was now seated in front of him, having taken Sora's chair.

"Yeah. You're…"

The redhead sighed, finger waving at him disappointedly as she remarked, "Kairi!"

"Right, Kairi. Sorry," offered Roxas, rubbing the back of his neck. Despite having been friends with Sora for a little over two months, bordering three, he still did not know much about Kairi and Riku. The blond just did not click with the other two as he had with Sora.

"Don't worry about it," Kairi smiled, sneaking a quick glance over where Sora was, busy mixing more bubble tea and setting out cake, "But aside from that, I've been meaning to ask the two of you something!"

"What?" His response was somewhat terse and while he mentally grimaced at the one-worded answer, it did not seem to bother the other girl in the slightest.

"Are you two dating, by any chance?"

Roxas choked on his straw as the taro flavored liquid was swallowed down the wrong pipe initiating a long coughing and hacking spell that Roxas hoped he would not survive. Unfortunately, he did which meant that he now had to answer the girl's strange and illogical question. "Wh-what?!"

"Ya know, dating. I mean, c'mon, this is fate, right? Sora dressing up as a girl and meeting you at the bar. Then, you losing your phone only for Sora to be the one to have it. And then, Sora helping you when you ran into the door. Then, Sora dressing up as a girl again just to give you back your phone, and you eventually finding out that he's a guy, but still being his friend. Seriously, that sounds like a plot out of some romance movie."

Staring intently at the redhead, Roxas made sure to state clearly to leave no room for error, "…I'm a guy."

"Yeah, and?"

"Sora's a guy."

"Uh-huh." The fact that Kairi seemed so unaffected by these two very important little details frightened Roxas just a tad bit. You know, since most guys were paired up with girls, NOT other guys.

"I'm straight," tried the blond, blinding reaching for any sort of response that would deter the girl from going down this path…and dragging both him and Sora along with her.

"Really? Huh…I thought you were…" waving her hand dismissively, she only said, "Eh, well, you'll come around."

"What?" Because seriously. What? Come around to what? He was friggin' straight! As in, he liked girls, boobs, you know, the works! And the last time he checked, guys did not have boobs. Well, there were some guys with man boobs, but that was so not the point! His point was that he liked girls and that was that! Although that little blunder and confusion some days earlier could not quite attest to that now questionable statement. Nor that once-started-off-as-a-kiss-but-now-escalated-into-full-blown-wet-dream from last night either.

"Really, Roxas. You are about as slow and oblivious as Sora," smiled Kairi, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She stood up, suddenly, giving him a sly wink. "The movie still needs an end, you know. One that ends gaily ever after, like all good romances."

Roxas all but gawked at the innuendo as Kairi left the bakery with a wave to Sora and another suggestive wink to the blond who continued to gape like a fish out of water. Only, his mouth wasn't flopping open and close and he wasn't suffering from jerky, bodily spasms. But anyhow, he just sat there, slack jawed and wide eyed.

Since when did everyone start assuming romantic relationship over platonic friendship between two guys?

Needless to say, Roxas was having a bad day, week, and perhaps even possibly month with the overall way things were going. After that little life changing conversation he had with Kairi last week, Roxas had not stepped another foot into the Oathkeeper and had gone out of his way to avoid running into the brunet thanks to her inane ideas that had been permanently lodged into his head. Along with Naminé's words. And Demyx's mistaken inference. And even his damn subconscious and dreams! God, it was like everyone was against him being straight or something!

Thus, Roxas decided that it was time he did something…that did not include the aforementioned since he had already visited them (whether it was by choice or not) and they all seemed to hell bent on him being gay, which he was not. And even though it was a risky choice which he held a lot of qualms about, Roxas did it anyways.

He went to visit Axel.

"Axel, do I look gay to you?"

The redhead stared, blinking uncertainly as though trying to confirm that the sight of Roxas, yeah, Roxas standing in front of his door was real. (After all, Roxas hadn't voluntarily come to visit him in…what, a year now?) After blinking eight more times, he was satisfied that Roxas was, indeed, standing in front of his door. At three fucking am. With his damn pajamas on.

"Uh, what?" Axel, who was still very much asleep (at least wanted to be, dammit), leaned against his doorframe, arms crossed and eyelids barely managing to stay open. It was a miracle that he was even speaking with full blown words.

"Do I look gay to you?" repeated the blond almost tearfully, clearly off his rockers since no sane person would come to their best friend's door, that they haven't visited in over a year, at three fucking am in the morning with their pajamas on to ask if they looked gay. Oh man, Roxas was insane. Again. Probably had one too many bars of sea salt ice cream and was now the definition of loopy, the idiot.

Axel, finding himself slightly disgruntled at being woken up at such an ungodly hour (he only wanted to be awake at three fucking am when he chose to be), ushered the younger boy in, depositing him onto the couch as he asked once more, "Okay, what?"

"Axel. Do. I. Look. Gay. To you?"

Now, despite not being fully awake, Axel still could process a lot of things in his mind. Such as laughter and amusement at this whole scenario and an intent to do more harm than good. Thus, he leaned in as though studying the other's face before pulling back with a definite, and revenge packed, "Yes."

"Axel…you wouldn't lie to me, right?"

Oh, if only you knew, Roxas.

"Of course not."

Roxas quite literally almost wailed, and then tried, "Then, do me and Sora look like we're dating?"

Snickering with a malicious grin, the redhead pretended to think as he inwardly laughed at the look in the other's eyes which were a cross between horror and well, more horror. With a satisfied nod after his pretend thinking, Axel replied easily, "Yeah. You guys do."

If there was anything Axel loved, it would be messing with Roxas's usually superior brain just for the hell of it (since he was such a good friend and all). Sadly, it was a one-sided love.

"But–But–But! We're NOT dating! You know that, right!? And I'm NOT gay! You know that too, right!? RIGHT!?" Roxas cried, and Axel could not help the snort of laughter from slipping. It wasn't everyday that your best friend came to your door at three am to scream about not being gay. Had to savor moments like these because this was where all the memories were made. Or at least the jackpot of all blackmail. He was so holding this over the shorter boy's head forever. (Axel had yet to be told about Roxas's kiss with Sora.)

"I don't know, Roxas," smirked Axel deviously. "You and Sora seem pretty close and you guys are practically inseparable now. Plus, you were totally checking Sora out when you thought he was a girl. So, I'm thinking that maybe there's more going on between you two than you're letting on."

"I, I was NOT checking Sora out when he was cross dressing as a girl!" was the blond's weak, but loud reply. Mentally, his mind added so helpfully, Nope, just happened to have a wet dream about him and then fucking jerked off to the image of him in the morning.

Axel did not stop there, much to the younger boy's dismay. "Besides, those little pining looks you give Sora whenever you don't think anyone's watching, and the way that you're always rushing to go meet him at the Oathkeeper or walk him home after work. Now that I think about it, it's obvious."

Despite his better judgment, which was impaired at the moment anyways, Roxas asked, curious almost, "What is?"

"You're completely gay for Sora."

Axel smirked happily, and Roxas went spiraling into a series of cries, wails, shrieks of being straight, and other noises which vocalized his depression and distress. Now he was certain that everyone was definitely against him being straight.

Now, with all these confusing thoughts put into his mind by his so called friends and acquaintances, Naminé, Demyx, Kairi, and Axel in that order, (or rather, Naminé, Demyx, Roxas's damn subconscious, Kairi, and then Axel) Roxas was conflicted to say in the least. He was torn, because you see, Roxas was really beginning to think that maybe…just maybe, he really was gay. And not just gay, but gay for Sora.

This thought promptly scared the crap out of the young blond who screamed bloody murder after it occurred.

(Since, he was still trying to feign being straight and all.)

Anyways, and so, to test out this theory, Roxas very reluctantly went to go pay Sora a little visit at the Oathkeeper. It was too bad that he hadn't accounted for the rest of the gang being there. The rest of the gang being Axel, Demyx, Zexion, Kairi, and Riku. Along with a crapload of other people that he did not know and would probably never see again in his life so who cared about them. The point was that the bakery was busy which meant that Sora was busy (the brunet was running back and forth from filling one order to the next with what looked like relative ease) which meant that Roxas was going to have just a little bit of a problem testing out that tiny speckle of doubt that might signal that he was gay.

"Hey, look who decided to join us!" grinned Axel, far too cheerfully. Oh, something bad was going to happen.

Roxas reluctantly took a seat at the already overcrowded table, rolling his eyes at the redhead who continued to smirk in that creepy way of his.

"So, what are you here for, Roxas?"

The question was simple yet judging from whose mouth it came out of, Roxas's eyes narrowed in suspicion. Did Axel possibly know why he was here? But that was impossible! Only he knew! And he didn't know until thirty minutes ago!

To steer away any attention from himself, Roxas shrugged, "Just thought I'd stop by for some bubble tea."

There were no wily snickers or underhanded giggles as Demyx had just returned with a tray of different drinks. And it was like clockwork. The second Demyx had taken a seat, Riku stood up with an arrogant grin and said, eyes staring directly at Roxas, "I'm gonna go see if Sora and Zexion need any help."

The group all took a sip of their drinks as one.

Needless to say, Roxas was official creeped out. So he turned his attention away from them, to quietly study the brunet from behind, watching his movements. He noted how easily the brunet mixed together a drink, losing all sense of clumsiness that plagued him on a daily basis. And despite the hectic yelling of orders, blending of drinks, and grabbing of confectioner sweets, Sora looked as though he was thoroughly enjoying himself. The brunet was currently reaching an arm up to pluck the container of mocha coffee, giving Roxas a peek at the smooth skin of his stomach hidden beneath his black shirt and apron. And then Roxas pinched himself in the thigh for staring; although it ended up doing no good because his eyes had now decided to focus on those rosy red lips which were shouting one about one thing or another at Zexion who just nodded. He licked his lips, finding his throat unbearably dry.

Had Roxas been paying closer attention to the creepy group of friends, he would have noticed them all exchanging gleeful glances while taking another sip of their assorted drinks. He would have also noticed the "okay" sign Kairi had given Riku who rolled his eyes.

But Roxas wasn't paying attention and so he hadn't noticed. Which made Riku sidling up to Sora behind the counter all the easier.

It wouldn't have been a big deal if Riku had learned to keep his damn hands to himself in kindergarten! Nasty threats and growls were caught in Roxas's throat as he glowered at the silver haired teen in what could only be described as pure, unabashed jealousy. Riku currently had an arm wound around the brunet's waist, fingers rubbing circles into the boy's hip bone while he was busy packaging some cookies and liquefying another caramel frappaccino. In other words, Sora remained none the wiser about Riku's less than obvious intentions if that damn fucking hand was any indication! And to make it worse, the older teen leaned in close, mouth against the other's ear, undoubtedly whispering sweet promises of candy and ice cream if Sora got into that big white van with the tinted windows outside with him where he could take advantage of the brunet's innocent nature and have his way with him! God dammit no! Roxas was so not letting that happen!

(From in front of him, Kairi had to suppress a giggle at the other's fuming, Demyx choked heartily on a whole cookie to keep from laughing, and Axel? Well, Axel was laughing his damnedest into his straw, creating bubbles into his mocha flavored drink.)

And it so happened that the brunet's very own unawareness and naïveté had fueled a murderously jealous Roxas to jump up from his seat the second Riku pulled Sora into his chest from behind, nuzzling his neck. (Which amounted to a lot of confusion on Sora's part who seriously needed to get back to work if Riku would just let go.)

The blond charged straight for the pair, ripping Riku away from Sora, who let out an "Eep!" of surprise, and then taking the said brunet into his own arms and smashing their lips together.

In front of an eye rolling Riku, a giggling Kairi, a manically laughing Axel, a guffawing Demyx, a blinking Zexion, and just about everyone else in the whole damn store. Who Roxas cared a total of zero about.

Well, fuck. This wasn't so hard.

As for Sora? Well, Sora did not push Roxas away, swipe at his mouth, and then yell curses at the blond for assuming that he was gay when he was most assuredly straight, like Roxas had thought he might. No. Sora just fastened his arms around the blond's neck and kissed him back, fully on the mouth. For everyone in the entire shop to see.

And the occupants in the room burst out into cheers, whistles, and applause (the ones not appalled by this spectacle at least). Especially Axel and Kairi, who shared a decidedly devious glance, who cheered, whistled, and applauded the loudest for their two idiotic, pretending-to-be-straight friends and their gaily ever after.

"I can't believe this actually worked," deadpanned Riku, face palming his forehead.

"Of course it worked. My plan was flawless," Zexion scoffed, sending a glare towards the younger boy who just rolled his eyes.

From beside the slate haired male, Demyx questioned, "Are we ever gonna tell Sora and Roxas that we were the ones that put together this whole charade?"

"Hell. No." came Axel's adamant answer, a smirk stretching his lips. "Roxas would have our heads and Sora can do some scary things with a spoon. Nah, we're just gonna keep this little secret between the five of us. Since everything worked out and all, there's no reason to tell the two that it was because of us that they were confused about their sexuality and suffered from mental breakdowns. Well, Roxas at least." Axel laughed at the memory of the blond appearing at his front doorstep that day at three in the morning to ask him if he looked gay. Oh man, priceless.

"Sora was already halfway there," shrugged Kairi with a grin. "It wasn't that hard to convince him, especially not after Roxas kissed him the first time around. It was just the whole, getting Sora to actually notice part that was hard."

"Well, he is an oblivious idiot," Riku muttered.

Naminé stifled a giggle, saying, "Well, this was certainly fun. I'm surprised that neither of them caught on though."

"They're idiots," deadpanned the group as a whole—okay, half of them deadpanned, the other half laughed. Because seriously, no matter how much they loved their friends, the two really were idiots when it came to these types of matters. Hence the whole underhanded, evil, under the table, behind people's back scheming.

"The fake fortune telling was a nice touch, though. Ah, that's right! Axel, I'll return the crystal ball to you tomorrow, all right?"

Axel just nodded, waving his hand dismissively. That crystal ball was the least of his concerns, although it had been the perfect muse for the most perfect diabolical plan that he had hatched out—with the help of four others that is. Finding true love (or something close to it at least) through fortune telling.

"That reminds me. Just who sent Marluxia that day to the bakery when Roxas first made out with Sora?" posed Demyx thoughtfully. All eyes briefly passed by one another before all landing on Axel.

The maniacal redhead just grinned wickedly, arms folded across his chest.

The bells jingled as they rang out the arrival of a new customer who quietly closed the door behind them. The Oathkeeper was relatively filled with its share of customers along with a group of regulars who were poking fun at the new couple. A smile gracing their lips, the newcomer walked over to their table.

"Hello, Roxas."

Roxas gazed up at the sound of his name, eyes widening at the sight of Naminé who just waved.

"N-Naminé! What're you doing here?"

"Well, you always came to visit me, so I figured that this time, I would be the one to pay you a visit," remarked the petite blonde, setting down a large bag onto the table.

"The two of you know each other?" questioned Sora, staring from the pretty blonde to Roxas.

He turned to the brunet, nodding vaguely, "Yeah. Uh, guys, this is Naminé. Naminé, this is Sora, Axel, Demyx, Zexion, Riku, and Kairi."

They exchanged quick greetings with each other where Zexion dragged away Demyx afterwards and Kairi dragged both Axel and Riku away with a pleasant smile. The wink went completely unnoticed.

"So, uh, what's up?" Roxas inquired awkwardly, unsure of what to say to the young fortune teller. Thankfully, Naminé had more to say on her end which successfully dispersed the awkwardness.

"I just came to see how the two of you were doing. It took quite a long time for both of you to come to your senses, right? Especially you, Roxas," giggled Naminé as Roxas sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

Sora found himself answer seeing as the blond suddenly found himself tongue tied, "We're doing fine, thanks! Especially since Roxas has given up his perpetual denials of being gay and claims of being straight, and has finally realized that he likes me in a way that's considered 'abnormal' by the masses. Not that he cares now, right?"

At this, Roxas sent a glare his way, to which Sora just responded with a feigned look of horror. Turning his attention back onto the female in front of them, he remarked, smiling, "Yeah. Thanks a lot, Naminé. I know that I was kinda an asshole all the times I ever visited you when all you were doing was helping me. And it's thanks to you that Sora and I are now together." He squeezed the brunet's hand who returned the gesture with a smile.

Instead of replying, like any other normal person, Naminé just continued to smile mysteriously. "Well, I'm glad that the two of you are finally together. And to congratulate your love, I have a present for the two of you."

The two blinked at each other before turning back to the blonde who set a carefully cared for sketchpad on the table. Roxas recognized it instantly, "This is…your sketchbook? The one that you were always working on whenever I came to visit you or left?"

She nodded, sliding it across the table towards them. "I was working on it for the two of you."

The couple stared in awe as Sora was the first to touch the kind gesture from the blonde, thanking her, "Thanks, Naminé."

Naminé shook her head. "It was no problem. I had a lot of fun drawing it. Go ahead, open it."

And like some kinda highly trained robot built to take orders, Roxas flipped open the cover and nearly fell off his chair at the sight of himself and Axel standing outside of the Wishing Lamp the first time they had ever visited. His widened blue eyes stared up at the girl who just smiled, urging him to continue on. Flipping the page, Roxas found that it was of him in her room for the first time. He continued onwards, finding countless scenes all recreated in colored pencil. Even the kiss he and Sora shared that day in front of all those people at the bakery just a week ago. (It was Roxas's favorite picture from the whole collection.)

Glancing back up at her, Roxas could not speak, strangely touched by the gift from the young fortune teller who had been watching the two flip through the pictures. And it was okay, because Naminé was a fortune teller and knew just what words and what emotions the blond was trying to convey. (Although it was pretty obvious to just about anyone.)

"Hey, Naminé, what's that?" pointed Sora, poking at a larger object still concealed within her bag.

"Oh, this?" She tapped the obscured object with a fond smile. "This is nothing. Just something that needs to be returned. There's still one more page left."

Their attention fell back onto the sketchbook as tentative fingers turned the page to find a drawing of themselves, in the Oathkeeper, sitting in the exact same chairs and table where they were currently seated. The only difference between the picture and their reality was that Naminé was not present in the drawing and in said drawing, Roxas and Sora were locked in another kiss.

"Is this another fortune telling prediction?" joked Roxas, eyes turning back to face the blonde who shook her head, stray strands of hair falling into her face.

"Only if you want it to be."

Sora turned to face the blond with a raised brow, amused. "What d'ya say, Roxas?"

Roxas just grinned. Because he was still a hardcore skeptic. (With good reason, now.) And he still thought that fortune telling was a load of crap; which was why he let Sora slip his arms around his neck and kiss him hard on the mouth.

And the two laughed and smiled into the kiss that had allegedly been predicted by a glowing crystal ball.

A/N: Whew! This is a beastly long oneshot! But, strangely enough, I had lots of fun writing it despite the fluctuating OOCness of nearly each character and the lack of lots of interaction between Sora and Roxas. And it was fun writing in this sort of style which strays from my usual writings. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it—well, most of it anyways haha! Although going back to read it and edit it? Not so much. Not so satisfied with the ending, but oh well! To everyone who is still with me and made it down this lengthy oneshot, thanks and I really do sincerely hope that you guys enjoyed reading this! :3

Happy New Year's everyone! Let's all welcome 2009 with smiles on our faces and fond memories of 2008 on our minds!