Roxas was exactly right in his prediction.

Three days after the fight in the locker room, and Kairi was still not speaking to Riku or Sora unless she had to in class. Not that they were letting her cold shoulder treatment bother them. They were too busy enjoying the freedom that came with openly dating to really care. Besides, she couldn't stay mad at them for forever.

"Come on, Kai," Sora's tone was wheedling as he pestered her during their walk to lunch. "You were right! Don't you want to say, 'I told you so'?"

Kairi didn't deign to answer him, or even to acknowledge his existence.

"She's just mad we kept it secret so long." Riku had his arm around Sora's shoulders, comfortable and proud to be openly affectionate. "If she always knew we'd get together, then she should've known as soon as it happened, right?"

Nodding, Sora let his gaze shift away from Kairi. "Yeah, you're right! I mean, Roxas knew right away."

Riku nodded. "He did."

"I think I have an unfair advantage, being your twin, and all," the blond pointed out, kicking off another round of sage nods from Kairi's tormenters.

"Has Axel asked you out, yet?" Kairi asked suddenly, and Roxas' face reddened.

He mumbled noncommittally, shoulders hunched in embarrassment.

"Well?" Kairi turned fierce blue eyes on him, and he knew this was her revenge for joining in on Sora and Riku's game.

Face flaming, Roxas watched his boots as he walked. "Yeah."

"What did you say?"

"Yes," the blond mumbled, shrinking down inside his scarf as far as he could.

With a steely expression, Kairi faced forward again. "I told you so."

Namine was the only one to find that funny; the boys were too busy examining the way their boots crunched in the thin layer of snow on the sidewalk.

The heat of the cafeteria was more than welcome as the group filed inside, and they wasted no time in shedding hats and gloves and scarves.

"Your eye looks a lot better, Sora," Namine commented when the brunet removed his hat, revealing the purpled skin that stretched from his temple, where Seifer's knuckles had landed, to the soft flesh around his eye.

"Yeah?" Gingerly, he felt at the bruise. "Doesn't really feel better."

"He hit you pretty hard." There was a sharp edge to Riku's words, a bitterness that showed he'd love to return the favor.

"Naw." Grinning, Sora slipped his hand into the older boy's and held it firmly. "Not as hard as I wanted to hit him."

"Still think you should've. Could've given him some bruises and a split lip to go with that broken nose."

"Not even he deserves to be that ugly."

Riku snorted. "He might deserve it a little bit." Both he and Sora laughed as they walked towards the serving lines, happy and holding hands.

"How long are you going to stay mad at them?" Roxas watched them go, but his question was directed at Kairi, who was still situating her coat and bag on her chosen chair.

"I'm always mad at them."

"I don't think I'd tell anyone right away, either," Namine defended the pair. "I'd be too embarrassed."

"I didn't tell anyone that Axel asked me out," Roxas added, and Kairi sighed.

"It's not the same thing. You two are private people, and you wouldn't keep it a secret as a prank or a trick. They did it because it was funny to them."

"Yeah, but what else did you expect from them?" he emphasized the last word, and Kairi looked at him for a moment.

"This," she admitted, "but I'm still going to ignore them for the rest of the night, at least. Maybe until Monday."

Roxas and Namine looked at each other, and silently agreed there was nothing they could do to change Kairi's mind—no one could ever change her mind about anything.

"So," Namine decided to shift the subject, "what did Axel ask you to do for your date?"

Immediately, Roxas' face darkened, and he felt heat on his neck. "He just asked if I'd go out with him for Valentine's day, and I said yes."

Kairi studied him for a moment, half turned towards the serving lines. "Did he kiss you?" The alarmed look on Roxas' face was all the answer she needed; she stifled a laugh. "Congratulations."

"Thanks," Roxas mumbled, looking very much like he wanted the floor to open up and swallow him, which wasn't far from what he was thinking. He didn't wait for her to ask him anything else before he bolted for the buffet, leaving Kairi and Namine to follow at a more casual pace.

By the time he returned to the table, three more places had been claimed, and he, to his delight and resulting slight embarrassment, recognized Axel's heavy winter gear on the chair next to his own. Too shy to openly show his excitement at seeing the redhead again, Roxas sat and started eating with forced ease as the others slowly wandered back to the table with their own food.

"Hey."

He looked up at the greeting, mouth full of pasta, and managed a smile before swallowing. "Hi."

Axel sat by him, shifting his chair closer than he would have done before. "What's up?"

"Uh," Roxas glanced at his other friends to check if they were listening, "Kairi realized that you kissed me and told me congratulations."

One of Axel's eyebrows went up and he smirked. "That's weird, I could've sworn you kissed me first."

"Are you complaining?"

"Nope." And Axel kissed him, right there in front of everyone. His face was flaming and he blinked rapidly in surprise, but Roxas didn't pull away. It only lasted a few seconds that felt like far longer, and Axel sat back with a grin and a wink.

Sora wolf-whistled. "Way to go, Rox."

The heat in his ears made Roxas feel like his sweater and jeans were way too warm, and he desperately wanted to melt right out of his chair and puddle under the table, safely out of sight. But before he had a chance to so much as hide his face, a hand grasped one of his own, and he felt himself looking at Axel almost without thinking. The redhead's grin had softened into a smile, his hand warm and comforting over Roxas'. Looking into his eyes, Roxas couldn't help but return his smile, and gave the older boy's hand a grateful squeeze. He didn't even notice the way everyone else was watching them.

"Sap," Sora eventually teased, breaking the eye contact Roxas and Axel had been keeping, and the blond stuck his tongue out at his twin.

Unphased, Axel turned mischievous green eyes on Sora. "Says the kid who's been pining after his 'gym class rival' since day one like some sort of cartoon character."

"I wasn't pining!"

One of Axel's eyebrows went up. "I'm in your gym class."

"You were so pining," Kairi added absently, stirring her pasta with her fork.

Sora sputtered indignantly while Riku laughed at his boyfriend's expense.

"Oh, don't even get me started on you," Axel turned his attention to Riku, who immediately froze in his chair. "Mister All-Mighty Athlete and his feisty new workout buddy. The sexual tension between you two was worse than the intro to a bad porno."

It was Riku's turn to blush furiously, though he stubbornly set his jaw and focused on his own plate instead of firing back.

"Well," Sora rose to Riku's defense, "what about you? Sending those cheesy notes to Roxas and calling him 'Baby Blues' and getting wasted just so you could try to kiss him?"

"Hey," Axel put his hands out, palms up in surrender, "I paid for my mistakes."

"Eventually," Roxas amended, and Axel grinned at him.

"Worth it."

"Speak for yourself." Zexion finally joined the table, his hands full of a plate and drink. "You were completely insufferable for weeks."

"As opposed to your existential crisis over your little songbird?" Axel replied coolly, just as Demyx arrived with his own food.

"Songbird?" he asked, not noticing the murderous expression on Zexion's face.

"That'd be you."

Instead of being embarrassed, Demyx just smiled and took his seat by Zexion, and leaned over to kiss the older boy's cheek. That seemed enough to end any violent thoughts Zexion was having, his attention shifting off of Axel to land happily on Demyx.

Suddenly, Kairi let out a small sound of dismay, drawing seven pairs of eyes to her as she stared at the tabletop with a look of awful realization.

"What?" Sora was the first to ask.

"I can't believe this. I cannot believe you're all finally dating each other and I'm single!"

"I'm single," Namine tried to comfort her, only for Kairi to drop her face into her hands.

"You're always single, Mi-Mi. Ugh, look at me. I spent all this time playing match-maker for my friends and having nothing of my own to show for it."

Tactfully, no one at the table brought up brought up their cynical history teacher—it wouldn't be a good idea to aggravate her, and she certainly didn't want that information getting out to the rest of the school. But, still, none of them had ever really seen Kairi do this before. She was supposed to be the one with eight plans and three backups, who knew everything about everyone. What were they supposed to do if she was the one with a problem?

But before any of them could try to comfort her, Kairi took a deep breath in through her nose, held it for a few seconds, then let it out in a rush and sat up straight with a self-mocking smile. "Well, that's what I get for putting all my energy into you idiots."

Several pairs of eyes shifted around the table—Zexion and Demyx didn't even bother trying to point out that Kairi hadn't been involved in their meeting—and then Axel cleared his throat.

"Uh. If it helps," he began cautiously, "I'm grateful."

"Me, too," Riku admitted grudgingly, but he couldn't keep one side of his mouth twitching up in a smile.

"So am I," Zexion added, "for getting Axel off his ass so I could have some peace," he clarified when Kairi gave him a confused look.

For a moment, she seemed to consider the three happy couples sitting around the table, her lips pursed to one side. Then she smiled and settled back comfortably in her chair. "I'm happy for you guys. Sorry to be a downer."

"Naw," Sora waved off her apology, "we're absolute idiots and never would've gotten anything figured out without you."

"And now that we're done being absolute idiots, you can stop worrying about us so much and focus on yourself," Roxas pointed out.

Kairi quirked an eyebrow. "You'll never be done being absolute idiots."

That got a good laugh from the table, and more typical conversation took over as they settled down and ate. The dynamic was more relaxed than usual, thanks to the lack of tension of secret and one-sided feelings, and by the time they'd all finished, it was agreed that they'd meet up over the next half hour to have a movie marathon in Roxas and Sora's room.

"Want me to walk you?" Axel paused at the top of the staircase that lead down to the building's front doors, but Roxas waved him on.

"Go get your stuff, I'm gonna wait for Sora anyway."

"Sure." The redhead offered a reluctant smile, hesitated, then kissed Roxas' cheek before hurrying down the stairs to catch up with Zexion and Demyx.

Roxas watched him go, face a dark pink, his hands shoved deep in his pockets so he wouldn't fidget out of being flustered as he waited for Sora to come out of the bathroom down the hall. Trust the brunet to wait to pee until he couldn't even make it back to their dorm hall. He was just lucky they had time before people started showing up.

Footsteps—heels snapping on linoleum—approached him, but Roxas didn't turn. He barely even noticed the sound, already busy thinking about the movies he and Sora had in their room, and what was available online, and what snacks—

His knees buckled as something hard slammed into he backs of his legs, and Roxas lurched forward.

"Shit—!"

He saw the stairs flying up to meet him almost in slow motion and closed his eyes, instinctively throwing his hands out just as his knees cracked down on the edge of a step. Pain shot through his legs. Someone screamed behind him but he couldn't look, was already pitching headfirst down another few steps, his palms scraping and failing to catch him as he tumbled.

"Roxas!"

He twisted, pulling his arms to his chest and letting his shoulder take the brunt of the next roll, and tucked his chin to his collarbone as he continued to fall. By the time he stopped moving, Roxas had folded himself into a ball, and didn't uncurl even when hands began pulling at his arms.

"Roxas! Oh, my god!"

The insistent tugs eventually forced the blond to lift his head and open his eyes, and he immediately found his face in his twin's hands.

"Christ, Rox, are you okay?" Sora wouldn't let go of his face but was still desperately looking him over.

"Ow," was all the blond managed, and Sora let out a shaky laugh.

"Yeah, ow!" Finally, he let go of Roxas' face and started fussing over him, checking his head for injuries.

"I didn't hit my head," Roxas assured him, though he didn't resist. "Mostly my legs." He guessed that his thick coat had protected his torso and arms, though his left shoulder ached a little from the first time it hit, and his jeans had been practically useless as padding. It felt like someone had taken a baseball bat to his knees.

"Can you stand?"

Roxas nodded and took Sora's offered hands, letting himself be hauled upright. His knees protested under his weight, and he groaned at the sharp pain that lanced down his shins.

"We should get you to the nurse."

He didn't respond to Sora's suggestion, instead turning to look towards the top of the stairs. There was no one there, and no sign of whoever had screamed. It hadn't sounded like Sora; if he had to guess, Roxas would say it was a woman, but there was no one there to prove it.

"Someone pushed me."

"What?"

Roxas turned back this twin. "I didn't just fall. Something hit my legs."

A cold fury came into Sora's eyes, a fiercer look than Roxas had ever seen on his twin before.

"Let's get you to the dorm."

Nodding, Roxas let Sora pull an arm over his shoulders and help support his weight. He limped anyway, his knees stiff and uncooperative, so they made slow progress back to their dorm. When they got there, an impatient Kairi was standing outside their door, looking at her phone, and didn't notice them approaching.

"Hey," Sora called, and she looked up with a sassy one-liner already halfway out of her mouth before she took in Roxas' state. Immediately, her phone was tucked away, and she hurried to the blond's other side so he didn't limp quite so badly.

"What happened?"

"Fell down the stairs," Roxas answered before Sora could, and the brunet wisely didn't argue with him.

"Why didn't you go to the nurse?"

"It's not that bad, I just landed on my knees pretty hard."

Kairi tsked her disapproval but didn't lecture. She supported most of Roxas' weight when Sora had to pull away in order to unlock their door, and together they helped get him to Sora's bed and settled comfortably.

"We'll have to check that your knees aren't bleeding," Kairi pointed out, and Roxas sighed. Changing out of his jeans sounded like way too much work.

"Just scoot to the edge of the bed, I'll help," Sora volunteered.

"I'll go get some ice." Kairi excused herself from the dorm, giving Roxas and Sora privacy to get the blond out of his jeans. As soon as Roxas' knees were bared, Sora let out a low whistle.

"Those are some serious bruises."

"Shorts," Roxas urged, overly aware that Kairi would be back with ice at any moment, and decidedly not in favor of the idea of being caught in his underwear.

"Right."

To make things easier for both of them, Sora grabbed a pair of gym shorts from Roxas' dresser and helped him shimmy into them, then waited as Roxas pushed himself back to settle more comfortably against the wall.

"They look swollen."

Roxas grimaced. "They feel swollen."

"At least they're not all torn up." Sora took a moment to examine his twins' knees, gently pushing and pulling at the skin. A perfectly straight cut ran across each kneecap, not quite deep enough to be concerning, but they'd still left quite a bit of dried blood that had been smeared around inside Roxas' jeans; he tossed the soiled pants into the hamper.

A knock announced Kairi's return, and this time she entered with Namine close behind.

"Roxas!" the quieter girl rushed to his side, kneeling beside Sora. "Kairi told me you fell! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"Here." Kairi gave the bucket of ice she'd brought to Sora, then glanced over Roxas' injuries before fetching a rag and running it under warm water. Dutifully, both Sora and Namine gave her plenty of space when she came back and began to gently clean them up. "Do you have a first aid kit?"

"Uhhh," Sora thought about it for a moment before he dropped to the floor and started digging around under his bed. "Somewhere."

Louder knocks sounded, but only Namine looked towards the door. "Yes?"

"Did someone die, or what? No one texted me back." Riku let himself in, pausing at the site on Sora's bed. "Uh, would that be a yes?"

"No," Roxas answered him, "I fell down the stairs."

"Ouch." He claimed the chair by Sora's desk.

"Found it!" Sora wormed his way backwards out from under his bed and triumphantly held up the first aid kit he'd stashed under there on the day they'd moved in.

"Set it there," Kairi nodded towards an empty spot beside Roxas' legs, too busy wiping at his knees to look up properly.

Sora did as he was told then got out of the way, letting Kairi get on with cleaning up Roxas' knees, then putting ointment and bandages on them, and finally pouring some of the ice into a bag Sora fetched to rest over the bruises. Roxas endured her treatment in silence, just watching. Thinking about how much worse it could have been, how he could have landed on a wrist wrong and broken it, or hit his head, how many bruises he'd have if it hadn't been winter and he'd been in a t-shirt. He'd been lucky.

"Hey," Sora settled in beside his injured twin and bumped his shoulder, "you should probably let Axel know what's going on."

Oh, shit.

"My phone's in my coat pocket."

Sora looked at his boyfriend. "Riku?"

"Yep." The older boy got up and fetched Roxas' discarded coat, fishing through the pockets for his phone, and passing it to him.

"Thanks." Sora offered a winsome smile, and Riku leaned into the bunk space to steal a small kiss.

"Welcome."

Roxas ignored them, looking his phone over for damage before checking his messages. There was just one from Axel, saying to let him know when he and Sora were ready for company, and they'd be over. He tapped the phone icon in the corner.

It only rang once before Axel's familiar voice sounded on the other end.

"Hey, you ready?"

"Uh, more or less."

"More or less?"

"Yeah. I…had…an accident. Fell down the stairs."

"What? You okay?"

"I'm fine, Kairi patched me up. I don't know how much fun I'll be, but you can come over if you still want to."

"Of course I do. We'll be there in a few minutes."

"Cool. See you in a bit."

"See ya."

Roxas hung up and set the phone aside, more relieved than he'd admit that Axel was still coming over. His legs felt all right now that they'd been treated, but he was still feeling pretty shaken. Falling down a set of stairs was scary enough—being pushed was another thing entirely. Being coddled by the older boy should help.

Beside him, Sora shifted closer and took one of his hands, holding it firmly to calm them both.

"You're okay," the brunet assured quietly. "I won't let her do anything else to you."

He didn't have to ask who Sora was talking about. He knew his twin had seen whoever pushed him, and was grateful he wasn't correcting him every time Roxas claimed to have simply fallen. He didn't want any drama tonight, but it helped to steady him that Sora knew, and Sora was there, and he trusted Sora to keep that promise.