Holy Hell High

[Rikugurl]

Ven swallowed when the car stopped and Zack got out.
God, why are you making this even harder...
He could only give a shaky smile when Zack came close... and for the first time just wanted to crawl into a hole when he felt his lover's touch.

He had totally forgotten about his black eye and the bruise around the corner of his mouth.
"Heh... yea... we got a little... carried away..." He shivered, the double meaning shooting into his heart.

He cuddled up to his hoodie, his other coat yet to be dried completely. "We were out for awhile... I wouldn't be surprised if I was catching something..." He smiled slightly as he rubbed his nose. Guilt ran through him like a million needles... and for once, the pain didn't feel good.

He slowly reached up and took Zack's wrist before pulling his hand away, only to kiss the back of his hand. "You should get outta the cold too, baby.... you might catch something too..."

[Reno]

Zack chuckled at the little kiss on his hand, shaking his head. He leaning close grinning. "The only thing I've caught is my love for you." He leaning forward giving the other a soft kiss on cheek - the unbruised one - before straightening. It was pretty brave of him, considering they were in front of Ven's house.

"Get some sleep, and eat lots of chicken soup." The elder ordered in a strict way, before sparing a glance over at Terra. "And you in the car. I don't need you getting sick too."

Terra looked up from his shoes, frowning a bit. He glanced at Ven, who wouldn't look him in the eye, for what seemed like eternity. He finally sighed, knowing his friend had decided. "Alright..." He murmured kicing up some snow and trudging for the car.

Zack watched his brother for a moment wondering what was up with his strange behavior. Usually he was bitching about any orders he gave him. Chalking it up to the fact that he probably feeling very well either (even if that usually made him more bitchy), he turned back to Ven bringing him into a hug. He could feel the other trembling... "Stay warm. I love you."

[Rikugurl]

Ven blinked as he felt the other come closer.
Ow... please.... please stop....
Why was this so painful? Why did he feel like such a dirty....

He stopped as he felt the warm kiss and his heart screamed out in pain.
He nodded as he coughed a bit, trying to keep back a whimper. How pathetic he was...

He didn't look as Terra was ordered into the car. He didn't know... if he could....
He did blink and wrapped his arms around the other in a hug.
He didn't deserve a hug... but if he refused it, Zack would know there was something wrong...
"I love you too." He tried to chirp out but let out another cough as they pulled away.

He waved as Zack got back into the car and slowly drove out and down the street.

A single tear ran down his cheek as he just watched the car drive down the street and then turned and disappeared into the night.

[Reno]

Zack frowned worriedly as he heard the others coughs. He wished... they did live together. then he could have taken care of Ven himself! Of course, he bet Bryna's chicken soup kicked his chicken soup's ass any day...

He ruffled the other's hair kindly, hoping he didn't have any bruises on his skull too - damn Terra! - and then broke away with a smile. He didn't suspect a thing. He trusted Ven that much...

He went back to his car, glancing over at Terra who was slumped against the door. He could see bruises on his brothers face as well. "Musta been one hell of a fight." He turned on the car and waved to his boyfriend before he pulled out of the drive and drove down the road.

"Yeah... it was." Terra murmured, looking out the window towards Ven. Somehow... he had a feeling the other was crying.

He shut his eyes and looked away as they road away in silence.


A few days passed. The outer bruises on Ven and Terra slowly started to fade. The inner ones, the one on their hearts, were less forgiving. Aqua was worried. Zack was worried. Hell even Roxas and Sora were worried! Ven was particularly bad. He had dark circles under his eyes, and his was getting thin because he was having trouble eating... and it was hard to remember the last time he smiled.

Terra, meanwhile, was sharp-tempered at work, melancholy at home and skipping assignments at school.

No one but they knew what was wrong though...


"I've got an idea..." Terra said as they walked down the street towards the flower shop, Ven pedaling along on his bike. "You don't work Saturday right?" He glanced at Ven getting the affirmative. "Okay, come over to our place - tell your parents it's for school or something. We'll tell him when he gets home."

He got an uncertain murr and sighed. "Ven we gotta stop putting it off!" He reached out grabbing the handle of the bike, forcing the other to come to a stop. He looked up at the other, his eyes serious. "Saturday."


Roxas grabbed some stuff from his locker, turning away to throw it into his bag - when a sudden slam made him go rigid, drop the music sheet notebook he had and slowly turned around. He had a feeling who he'd see would be Seifer - and he'd been doing so good avoiding the blonde too - and company.

It was to his complete and utter shock however, that he did not see the scarred male and his predatory grin, but a tall red-head with a furious scowl. Suddenly nervous, Roxas took a step back and looked into those blazing green orbs. "W-What?" He growled weakly.

He knew why Axel was pissed though. He'd been avoiding him over the contest All week now, making excuse after excuse - a good half of them lies.


"See, isn't she cute?!" Sora trilled happily as he reached into the puppy pen, turning to Riku and holding up the border collie puppy. He was in a blue apron that read 'purr-purrsnickety' and over his heart was a little tag that read 'Hello, my name is Sora'. After all, he did work here. But it was the first time Riku came to see him 'in-action'.

Heh, he played more with the animals then he did talking to customers that was for sure. "She's been here for three weeks now!" Sora pouted, bringing the puppy to his chest, grinning when he got a lick under the chin. "I can't believe no one has adopted her yet but everyone wants labs and shepherds and stuff. I'm still trying to convince my parents to let me take her home. I-I even promised to pay for everything!" He pouted again, this time looking unhappy as he glanced at the marking on the pen. 50 for mutts, up to 200 for purebreds.

Heh, it was his own parents' fault. They were the ones who made him get a job, and now he had the perfect one - and wanted every animal in the store too. This puppy though had truly stolen his heart.

[Rikugurl]

It seemed like the life was just taken out of the blonde firecracker.
Everyone knew something was wrong when he didn't listen to his music in a blaring manor... and actually sat down at the KITCHEN table to do his homework.

He used the excuse that he wanted to cut his grounded time by being 'good'. That seemed a bit far fetched...
As for his poor diet and sleep... well... that was blamed on his nonexistent cold.
When his mother put the thermometer in Ven's mouth, she left the room to check on something and Ven quickly pulled it out. He quickly rubbed it against his jeans, creating heat and making the red bar rise until it was a fever high before quickly putting it back into his mouth.

He couldn't keep this up forever though...


There were others though.
Aerith could see it in Terra and asked him what was wrong. She got the answer she was expecting and sighed, not bringing it up again.

Then there was Ida.
She had called like she did every night to check on her boys... and the minute Terra got on the phone and said something...
"..........Terra, are you alright......?"


He sighed as he stopped from pedaling and let the bike just glide down the street. They had started to talk again the day before... and now it was only two more days until Saturday.
"Saturday...? No way... I'm not going to fucking---"
Strong hands came out and forced the bike to stop.

Blue eyes looked up, his black eye looking a bit better. They saw the seriousness and shook his head. "You know my dad won't let me over your house... no matter what. I'm grounded and can only be around.....Zack...... at work."
Working with Zack.... that was torture. Zack was sweeter than ever, knowing that Ven had a 'cold' and wanted him to call out. He also brought in some homemade chicken noodle for him one day and FED it to him.


The redhead frowned and crossed his arms. "Don't what me." He sighed before leaning down and picked up the papers that Roxas had dropped before handing them over.
Flute huh...?
"Look. We have a contest to worry about here. I know you're like in... what.... two other ones but listen... I NEED TO DO GOOD ON THIS ONE, OK!?"

He sighed as he pushed his hands in his pockets. "You don't know how important this is to my aunt." He looked away slightly before back down at the blonde. "What are you doing this Saturday and DON'T say to go buy ice cream with your girlfriend this time because I saw your chick over at the shopping center that day and you were NO WHERE in sight."


Riku laughed as he saw the puppy and shook his head. "Three weeks?" He looked up, seeing the sign that Sora had glanced to. "200 munny huh?" He tilted his head but smiled. "Maybe if you'd good, Santa will get her for you." He couldn't help but laugh as he walked around the store some more.

"Oh man!" He cried out as he stuck his face close to a glass. It was a snake of some sort just slithering around. "My mom would freak if I bought one of these!"

[Reno]

Terra frowned, seeing the others eyes flash with guilt. He rolled his eyes. "Ven!" He snapped, making the other startle. "I KNOW you Ven, so stop trying to fucking act like I don't. I know you can weasel your way out of trouble and you've done so before so stop using your grounding as an excuse to avoid this."

His hands tightened on the handles of the bike and he looked down, gritting his teeth. "Neither of us... can keep this up forever Ven. It's not healthy. Especially not for you."

"..... Y-Yeah mom I'm fine."

He shut his eyes, shaking his head. His mother had known he was lying and tried to interrogate him, she had always been able to see right through him, but for once in his life he hadn't budged an inch. how could he tell the person who gave him his life... that he had hurt her first born son, his own brother, in a such a way that was... unforgivable? And each night that call was getting harder to answer because he could hear her inner worries, her mental questions...

And Zack must have been tipped off by her or something - probably told him to 'look out for his little brother' - because he kept asking if he was alright. And... he said nothing.

And of course he said nothing to his boss either. It wasn't any of her business and even though he found it icnredibly easy to talk to her... this was just something she didn;t need to know. this was his ugly side. The boyfriend-stealing, backstabbing brother side.


Roxas flinched a little as the other raised his voice, his stomach sparking in anger and he looked ready to hell back - but the words died in his throat as the other continued and a frown pressed onto his lips. This really meant a lot to him, didn't it? And finally... he admitted it.

"I'm not doing anything this Saturday. But I'm grounded damn it." He got a disbelieving stare and his hackles rose - he hated it when people didn't believe him when he told the fucking truth! This was WHY he lied so much, because well fuck no one believed him no matter what! "Fuck don't look at me like that I'm NOT lying. I got grounded two weeks ago 'cause I fight too much in school okay?"

His cheeks darkened in embarrassment looking away. Why... he didn't just admit that to Axel in the first place, why he played this 'I have a busy-fucking life and don't have time for you' game didn't make much sense...

But in weird way... he somehow just didn't want to look immature to Axel. He hated being looked down at - not like that was hard for Axel, haha - especially by people he got this... nervous around. His mentality was sort of screwed up like that. He looked at Axel and saw someone he wanted to be friends with, but was too scared of looking like a fool or like a-a kid to want to get close.

He sighed unhappily before reaching into his bag, pulling out a pen and opening his music notebook. He scrawled his name, address and number in one of the corners. As he did he grumbled. "Might as well find another fucking partner. mom says if I get into one more fight at school she'll take me out of my contests." He tore off the number, being extremely careful not to lose any of his music notes in the process and shoved it into the other's hand.

"I'll talk to my mom but I'm not making any guarantees. She's not gonna let me leave the house so you'll have to come to mine that okay with you?" He said snarkily.


Sora smiled sadly. He doubted that - his parents were too busy freaking over Ven's off-behavior (of which he's inquired over to the blond a million times and mostly got shooed away) and Roxas' increasingly hostile one (he still wasn't talking to their mother or father) to worry about him and his wish for a little puppy - the unlucky thing about being the 'good' kid was that he often got shoved aside and not worried over.
That had its perks... and its downfalls. Lack of attention - ooooh top downfall.

He kissed the collie atop the head and set her back in her pen, following after Riku. When the other paused in front of the snake cage Sora went a little pale. "B-But Riku! They eat mice! Helpless defenseless CUTE mice!"

He glanced worried at the other end of the store where the mice were in their separate cages, running happily in their wheels. They lost a few every day to snake owners.

[Rikugurl]

Ven suddenly shook, his eyes wide as he was snapped back into reality. "WHA!" He blinked but frowned as he saw that angry wolf look on his best friend's face.

He knew Terra was getting hell too... and just LIVING with Zack...

He sighed. "Alright, alright... I'll see what I can do. I can make up a paper from.... math or something and make a digital copy of the teacher's signature." He looked away before catching something pink. He looked over, seeing a woman outside a flower shop looking at them from a far. Far enough where she couldn't hear them.

"IS EVERYTHING ALRIGHT!?"
The woman called and Ven sighed. "See ya..." He pulled his bike back and started to pedal off.


The redhead leaned back as Roxas started to talk. His eyes darkened as he heard yet another excuse and frowned. He was about to say something when the blonde suddenly shot words at him, making his mouth gape. He frowned slightly, his feelings a bit hurt as the blonde just kept talking.

He looked down as the paper was pushed into a hand.
Roxas Holani
213 Traverse Drive
00531-85-0118
He nodded. "Yea... that's fine...." He said softly before putting the paper in his pocket. He reached into another one and pulled out an old gas station receipt. "Can I have your pen for a second?"

He was given the pen and started to write with the paper flat on his palm.
Axel Xipil
101 Olympus Memorial
Unit 8
85231-45-0061

He handed back the pen with the paper and shoved his hands back into his pocket. He started to leave, passing the blonde and not bothering to look at him. "I wouldn't want you coming down to my neighborhood anyway... it's not that safe."


Riku blinked as he looked at Sora and smiled. "Well... we eat little baby cows, right? Cept they do it for survival." He looked back at the snake and smiled. He always liked snakes. He remembered that time when Sora's family went fishing and they brought Riku with them. He and Sora were playing in the water and a water snake went swimming by. Sora cried and ran for shore as Riku tried to swim after it.

"Can I hold him?"

[Reno]

That was the Ven he knew. He nodded slowly, but he looked back when he heard the hell. He saw the woman and could name her instantly. Aerith.

He blinked and the next second Ven was saying a farewell and riding off. He looking down the sidewalk wistfully as the other rode away. "Yeah... see you." But he knew the other couldn't hear him. He turned around and ran down the sidewalk over to where his boss was.

"I'm sorry I'm late Aerith." He murmured. "We were just discussing a homework assignment we have to do." Heh, what a lie. But it was sort of like an assignment... no a mission. A mission to tell the truth.

God that sounded gay.


Roxas rolled his eyes. Axel was trying to protect him? "Please," he shot back. "If I can live through school, I can live through anything." He was trying to be funny, but he was sure he was anything but. He reached down grabbing his bag and placing in the music notebook with considerably more care then he did for any of his textbooks, threw in the pen and closed the back.

He glanced back at the others retreating form then sighed looking at the floor, feeling unhappy with that chance run in. He shook his head, mentally telling himself to stop acting like he was some sort of social butterfly when he was an anti-social as Ven for god's sake. This was just a contest - no one ever said they had to like each other.


Sora's eyes went wide at Riku's next statement. "Are you trying to make me a vegetarian?!" The poor calfs! He pouted unhappily, but when Riku requested to hold the snake he blinked and brightened immediately. "Sure, just let me the keys real quick."

He turned and hurried off to the stockroom. Of course they had all the reptiles, fish, and rodents in locked cages during the day so none of them got lost. the kitten and puppes were in high-walled pens that typically had tops when the stores were closed, but they took them off during store hours to make them more accesible to parents and kids.

Otherwise they'd be asked nearly every five minutes during the day for someone to see a kitten or dog. They were the lovingly popular animals - except for his little border collie buddy.

Sora snatched off the keyring marked 'Reptiles' and hurried back to his friend. He looked through them until he found the one he wanted and reached up, unlocking it and sliding back the top. He had grown pretty sued to this - Riku was naturally not the only one who wanted to hold the snake. Lots of little boys and even, strangely some girls, came in her asking for them all the time.

These ones weren't very big. They were corn snakes - the most common pet snake. They were easy to look after, rarely had to be fed and whats more, incredibly beautiful. They can in so many colors and scales - there was even one, a beautiful orange and yellow one, he had grown fond for and named it Sunshine, even if he didn't like snakes very much. He reached in the cage and pulled out the snake with care before handing him off to Riku in the way he'd been shown. He chuckled, seeing the other smiling happily. "He looks good with you."

[Rikugurl]

Aerith smiled as Terra rushed over and nodded. "That's alright... we aren't very busy today." She walked inside, letting the boy get out of the cold. The door jingled as the door closed and Flower was already getting on her jacket.

Aerith turned to Terra and smiled softly, her always very gentle, warm and welcoming smile. "You're friend shouldn't ride on his bike in this kind of weather. He might catch a cold." She giggled and waved Flower goodbye.
"Thank you and good luck!" She cried after before looking at Terra once more.

"Now, you know today was Flower's last day... so it's just... you and I." She sounded a bit happy... by scared as well. "I suppose I should make an ad in the paper..." She scratched the side of her head but sudden rose a finger. "OH! How about you help me make one!?"


The doors of the school opened as the redhead walked out. His tall stature and red hair caught the eye of his friend and heard footsteps coming his way. Axel didn't bother looking at Demyx as he sighed. "He told me to go look for another partner... little prick." He frowned as they started on their course back home.

In the hallway, a girl was looking around the corner, having seen everything.

As Roxas started to walk away, she sighed. "Roxas!"
The boy looked back before she hurried over to him.
Olette smiled as she pulled her jacket closer. "You should really give him a chance, you know?"


Riku smiled as Sora rushed off and just gazed at the little guy... or girl. His eyes wandered around as well, seeing other snakes like a milk snake and some frogs. There was even a lazy gecko on his log. He heard the large feet behind him coming his way and moved to the side to let Sora do his job.

His face only brightened when the snake was handed over and the pale fingers reached out for it gently. He held it carefully and smiled as it coiled around his fingers. "Hey there..." He brought it closer to his face, just admiring the detail. "You're a real cutie." He laughed as he watched the little tongue flicker in and out.

Slowly he brought it closer, wishing to kiss it on the head... but the snake suddenly looked at him and stuck out it's tongue, giving RIKU a kiss.
The sileverette blinked and laughed, shaking his head. "Hahahaha! First time meeting and already a kiss on the lips?"

[Reno]

Flower smiled, giving her old boss a nod and a thank you, saying a final farewell to Terra... and out the door she went. Terra blinked watching her go, a tad confused about the small conversation, but Aerith quickly cleared it up.

Oh... he didn't remember actually. He'd had more pressing matters on his mind...

He tilted his head at her suggestion nodding slowly. "I'm not exactly fancy with writing." He warned. Course, how hard was it to write a help wanted ad? Those types of things were blunt and stuff - then again with Aerith he couldn't imagine anything but the most fanciful of words.


Demyx chuckled at the first words out of the other's mouth. What, no hello? "Ah, he's probably just shy Axel. Haven't you ever noticed the way he acts around you?"

Well wait a second this was Axel, he probably didn't realize the way anyone acted around him. But Demyx did, and he might not be the brightest bulb in the factory, but he could tell between dislike and shyness.

Roxas blinked as Olette popped out of no where and he huffed crossing his arms. "I am, I invited him over didn't I?" What more of a chance is he supposed to give?!

Maybe he was just a really hard person to make friends with... but if that was the case how did Hayner, Pence and Olette ever give a damn about him?


Sora watched and smiled at the little kiss. He chuckled. "Ah it's love at first sight." He watched over the two, smiling more and more. He wished... Riku could have that snake.

[Rikugurl]

Aerith only smiled as she walked behind the counter and pulled out an order sheet. "Sure you are... it all depends on what you're writing about, isn't it?" She smiled as she saw the look on Terra's face. "I bet you can come up with some lovely things when writing about wolves, right? Just think of this as looking for a new member to your pack." She laughed before handing him a sheet of paper.

"Just write an ad and when we're done, we'll put them together to make on, ok?" She smiled softly before looking down and biting the end of her pen, deep in thought.


Axel blinked and stopped, feeling his friend bump into him which nearly sent him flying due to not having any weight on him.

He slowly looked back and tilted his head. "Shy?" Roxas? Shy...? No way. Not that overbearing, short.... curly haired, beautiful blue eyed, fair skin, soft looking lipped... BIG FOOT PRICK.
He swallowed and rubbed his neck. "What makes you think he's 'shy' around me? I don't see it. I mean... he gave me his address and phone number. That's not something a shy person would do.... is it?"


Riku smiled and nodded. "Must be. Maybe I should stop working out." He joked before pulling the snake away. "Maybe I can buy it with my next paycheck." He nodded as he pet the little head. "Alright, sweetie, back you go."
He stood and carefully placed the snake on one of the tree branches that were placed in to give the little guy some place to roam.

As Sora started to fix the cage, Riku rubbed his hair. "Or maybe not. If I do, we can't go out on tomorrow."

[Reno]

Terra blinked then smiled fondly at her analogy. He wouldn't call working at a small flower shop on the corner of Celeste Drive a wolf-like activity. However, he didn't hesitate to set his things down and take out a pencil staring down at the white page blankly. And for some reason he thought of Ven and when he thought of Ven he thought of that day and cum and-

Well...

He frowned writing some things down.
Flower Shop seeking stuck up litt- He blinked, quickly erasing that and sighing. He wrote again, this time with the assignment in mind.
Aerith's Flowers seeking a future employee who is knowledgeable with the care and varieties of flowers. Little Experience needed.



"It took him two weeks to do so Axel." Demyx pointed out with a teasing grin. "He's been avoiding you like crazy and he can never look you straight in the eyes when you two talk." He chuckled. "I mean he hasn't hit you yet so he obviously doesn't hate you."


He smiled, watching Riku as he put the snake back. He walked over, closing up the top and glanced over. His eyes darting down at the cage, then back at Riku. "Hmmm... I guess so..."



On Saturday...

Terra was tapping a pen nervously on the kitchen table, staring at the clock on the kitchen wall. Ven should have been there three minutes ago! "You better not of chickened out on me." He grumbled.

In truth, he was the one who was chickening out. His stomach was in knots at the idea that the next few hours would be spent freaking out and figuring out how to tell Zack what they had done...

His head raised as he heard the sound of a car moving over gravel and he jumped up, running to the door like some eager girl. He hesitated at the door, glancing out the peephole and waited until Ven was out of the car, saying goodbye to his dad and climbing to the door before he opened it. "Hey..."


Roxas and Sora meanwhile were at home. One waiting for his best friend, the other waiting for an annoying redhead. At current the two were moving things around in the music room to give room for Roxas and Axel to dance.

"One... two... three." Roxas counted, before grunting, along with Sora as they hefted up the wooden harp and moved it to the farside of the room where the stands and other instruments were in their cases. "Did you have to get such a damn heavy instrument?"

"Don't cuss at my harp!" Sora cried, scandalized before leaning over and kissing the wooden instrument lightly. "Don't worry harpy he didn't mean it."

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright get out." He grumbled.

"Well you're welcome!" Sora said as he turned around and blinked, seeing someone familiar in the doorway. "How... long have you been there Riku?"

[Rikugurl]

Ven sighed as he felt the cold air nip at his cheeks, riding down the sidewalk on his bike. He had to do this... because he knew this pain was only going to get stronger and cutting himself could only take so much pain away.

He also couldn't keep up this act.
He couldn't keep avoiding the man he loved... and Zack should know... should know the true.
He deserves it.

So somehow, he would have to come up with something to convince his dad that he really had an assignment with Terra... and THEN try to convince him that they couldn't do this assignment at their house.
He was already brainstorming the first idea...


On Friday, he skipped a class... that didn't really matter all too much to him seeing that his grades were doing alright and who cares if he got detention for skipping it.
He instead sneaked down to the library and found a computer in the corner where no one could see what he was doing. Thankfully, there wasn't many kids at the lab today.

He logged in on the log-in sheet and made sure he logged his name in on the computer two seats NEXT to him so that if they figured out what was going on on the computer he was on, they couldn't trace it back to him.

He pulled his backpack onto his lap before carefully pulling out a portable scanner. He quickly plugged it in on the outlet on the wall next to him and leaned up against it so that no one would notice it. Then he put the USB in and Put his arm up to lean his chin on. This would block the view of that.
Next he easily hacked onto the teacher's site and looked at all the upcoming projects in mind, finding one for math.
His father sucked at math.

He pulled it up and skimmed through it, copy and pasting the important notes onto Wordpad before closing it.
He then pulled out a photo editor and pulled out another sheet of paper from his bag. It was just a notice to the students in the class about the quiz held today. At the bottom of the page was the teacher's signature.
He placed the signature on the small scanner and scanned it, then quickly pushed everything back into his bag.

He brought up the scan and edited it, making it dark and readable.
He pulled up Word Processor and started making the bogus notice. When he was done, he took a screen shot of it and pulled it up onto the program that he was working on the signature with. He pasted the signature on the notice and fixed it up so it was proportional. This was the final outcome:


Dear Parents,

The math division of Hollow Bastion High School will be holding a Math Stumping game on January, 3rd of next year. All students in a math course have been allowed to sign up with a partner to work on their part of the game.

The game will feature a problem that each set of partners came up with. The goal for the partners is to devise a problem in which seems to be unsolvable, therefore, calling it a Stumping game.

Your child, Ventus Holani has been assigned to his/her partner, Terra Tellis.

We hope your child and his/her partner will become the next Math Stumpers!

Sincerely,
Tiffany Tidwell

With that, he hit print and quickly pulled his backpack back onto his back and raced to the printer. It was coming out by the time he got up there and grabbed it.

Pfft... and all Terra had to do was fucking sit there.

Guess it sucks sometimes for being awesome.

The rest of the day went normal as always and then came night.


Sirocco blinked as he took the paper from his wife. "A math game? God I hated those." He shook his head and continued to read it... and frowned. "VENTUS!"
"COMING!" The blode boy jumped off the couch and turned off the tv before going into the kitchen. "Yea?"
"You just signed up with Terra so you could go see Zack... didn't you? You know--"
"Dad~~~ Terra's my BEST FRIEND remember? I signed up with him because of that reason. And I know I'm grounded."
"So you'll be working here?"
"Of course... but tomorrow Terra wanted me to come over because he has a lot of books in his library that could help us with an idea."
"Why can't he bring them here?"
"Do you KNOW how heavy those are!? And besides... Zack works all day Saturday... plus he needs to cover an extra hour because Marcy called out.... So Zack won't even BE there."

Sirocco gave him this look and frowned more.
"Look dad, if you don't believe me, you can even stop at Wall Market and see for yourself that Zack's there."
The man sighed but nodded. "Alright, alright. so when am I dropping you off?"
"1 o'clock."


The next day, Ven just got into a regular black, long sleeve shirt and some jeans. He wasn't out to impress anyone... especially not Zack.
He pulled on his Slayer hoodie, boots and a scarf before going downstairs. He caught his other brothers in the music room and tilted his head. What were they doing?

Sirocco was waiting for him at the entrance and they both left, getting into the car and warmed up for three minutes. Then they were off and down the road to the apartment complex that Zack and Terra lived at.
When Sirocco pulled up, Ven got out and turned, waving to his father and walked up to the door and up the stairs. Before he could knock, the door opened and the blonde looked up.

"Hey..." He swallowed before walking inside and into the warmth.
He sighed as he pulled off his hoodie and scarf off, placing them over a seat at the table before sitting down.


Riku laughed as he pulled away from the frame. "Long enough to hear you call your harp, 'Harpy'."
He couldn't help but laugh again as he saw the blush on Sora's face.

He walked in slightly and looked around, seeing that all the stands and things were against the wall.
"So what's going on in here?"
He got a small explanation about it and nodded. "Oh, so that's why I saw Axel all bundled up and walking down the street while we passed him." Axel had a pretty large duffel bag and seeing that the Holani's lived pretty far from the gallows, he was wondering what made him wonder up here.

He blinked when he saw a look on Roxas's face and his sentence repeated.
"Walking?"
Riku nodded. "Yea, I don't think Axel's family owns a car." He looked over at Sora and smiled. "Ready?"
They were out to the movies for the last time until next year. It was finals and everyone who was good had to study pretty hard.


Black boots crunched on the snow and ice as a tall teen turned onto Traverse Drive. It took him almost a hour and a half to get here. Why the fuck did he have to live this far away! He should of listened to his aunt and took the bus... if only he didn't spend his money on stupid shit.

He was wrapped up in a worn, red coat, a wool hat that had those little ear flaps, some worn gloves that had the finger tips cut off like Roxas had during band marches and a ragged scarf that seemed too big for him.
In his hand was a large duffel bag, filled with CDs and other junk for today.

He stopped and looked around, his face red from the cold.
"213..."
He looked over to the closest house and sighed.
122
He still had a hike.

[Reno]

Terra stepped aside to let the blonde enter. He glanced outside waving to Sirocco before shutting the door, not letting anymore of the cold in. When he turned he found the blond already making himself comfortable at the little kitchen table. It wasn't very big - about a third of a pool table really. He and Zack had gotten it at a yard sale. The chairs they had stolen from home - which means they were all mix-matched and whatnot.

He walked over, sitting down at the chair he had been in before - ironically across from Ven. He had some books strewn about - a poor attempt to distract his mind by studying for finals. Hey, even if he was a senior he still had some work to do. He still had to actually pass.

"So..." Terra started, glancing down at his notes he had been making. Not to his surprise, there were about one or two sentences of notes, and then wolves took over the rest of the page. He frowned irratably - great he was going to lose his only brother, possibly lose the best friend he ever had, AND he was going to fail chemistry. Just fucking wonderful.

He sighed, stuffing the note paper in the book, shutting it closed and set the pen on top before looking across at the blond. The last time they had been alone like this, the results had been disastrous. Now here they were again - but this time there would be no fight that would cause hard-ons and sexual tension.

Of course, looking at Ven right now, he was hyper-aware that they were alone, could still clearly remember what they had done and how good it had felt...

The brunette glanced back down at the wood, frowning just a little. "Alright so... how are we going to do this?" He mumbled.


Sora faced heated up as Riku teased him and then laughed at him. What a bum. "Well I like my harp." Obviously, if he called it harpy. Of course, that was rather ironic, considering harpy's were mythological half-bird, half-woman creatures who couldn;t sing or make music to save their lives.

He blinked at Riku's next question, and the previous embarrassment was lost as he grinned. "Oh! Roxas and Axel are gonna be working on their dance contest and this is um the only room that has enough space that they can practice in."
"Yeah it'll be fun." Was the sarcastic intone, Roxas kneeling down to plug a little boom-box in the outlet of the room. However just as he had he heard the silverette talking about passing Axel...

He looked up, his face a mask of disbelief. "Walking?" As the other went on, his lips pressed tightly together, looking rather unhappy. Axel... didn't own a car? He was WALKING all the way here?! What was he, simple?!

Sora glanced at Roxas, grinning just a bit at the look passing his youngest brother's face. He'd known him all his life - and he knew without a doubt that his blonde brother was growing concerned about the pyromaniac he complained about almost daily.

His attention was caught once more by the silverette and he grinned. "Ah yeah, just let me get my jacket..." There was something mysterious in the way that he said that sentence and nearby Roxas shuddered, knowing what the other was planning. He, of course didn't like it one bit - then again he shared the same space as Sora so of COURSE he didn't like it.

The brunette grinned as he walked outside, knowing that Riku could tell he was up to something. He couldn't help it, he could be read like a book - so he didn't try to hide the grin on his face. It was enough to spark the others curiosity as they slipped into his room so he could get his jacket.

"Now where did I put it..." He said. He hummed, looking around aimlessly as if he couldn't find it, and Riku must of gotten the hint and helped him out. Obviously he wanted Riku to find it.

And it wasn't hard to find the blue blazer, since it was in front of the closet, laying over a box of some sort. He watched the silverette walk over to it and grabbed it up, throwing it off...
and in a little glass snake cage a corn snake raised its head and stuck its tongue out at Riku. The very same one that Riku had played with not two days ago. It's cage had a little fake-rock home that it could scuttle under when it wanted to hide, plenty of soft sawdust, and yes a little fake tree it could curl around.

Sora smiled softly, seeing the look of surprise passing across the others face. "Happy Early Christmas Riku." They hadn't done 'early' Christmas gifts for years - not since they were kids, when they were too impatient to wait for the actual date to open their gifts and instead they celebrated a mini early one.

Of course, this time it was early because his mother didn't want to host a snake in the house for two more weeks; though Ven didn't seem to mind it - he in fact had had a lot of fun feeding the thing it's first mouse (well Sora wasn't gonna do it!).


Meanwhile, Roxas was sitting on the floor frowning at the wall. Walking... Axel was walking to his house. In the cold. And the snow...

He grit his teeth before jumping up and rushing down the stairs. He shot out the door, crossed the small yard to the white picket fence. He jumped onto it, leaning over first looking left, then right, then left again. He saw no signs of the red-head. He wasn't surprised, Traverse was a LONG road. And Riku didn't live THAT far away if he passed him but...

But Olympus Memorial was.

A disturbing image passed his mind: Axel laying on the ground, lips blue and snow covering half his body while harsh winds whipped at his clothes.

Mind you, there weren't any winds today and it probably wasn't THAT cold... but Roxas had an over-active imagination every now and again. "MOM!" He yelled, spinning around and rushing back into the house. He found her in the living room watching some soap opera program or something. He didn't know, he didn't watch em. "Mom! We need to drive right now!"
Bryna glanced at her son in the corner of her eye. "We went over this honey no driving lessons until the snow clears."
"Not me! You! We need to go pick up Axel."
"Can it wait?"
"No he's WALKING here mom!"
"All that way?"
"Yeah!"
Bryna frowned and, like any good mother and lover and kids, she jumped to her feet and got her keys and coat. "Alright let's go."

In about another minute, the car was peeling out of the drive and down the street, Roxas looking out the windows attentively. It didn't take long. Axel had gotten rather far on his own and, had they waited about ten or twenty more minutes, he would of been at their doorstep. Instead they pulled over on the curb by the redhead and Roxas opened the door stepping out on the sidewalk. "Axel!"

The other turned around, facing the furious blond. Roxas hadn't had the foresight to grab his own coat and his arms had goosebumps rising on them. Even still he glared at the taller. "Are you stupid?! Walking in this weather? God, we could of picked you up! Now you're probably gonna get a cold!" The other tried to splutter out an explanation, but he didn't let the other have a word in edgewise. "Get in the car right now!"

When the other didn't immediately move, the blond came over, grabbing his stuff then his arm. He shoved Axel towards the front passenger seat where the heaters would warm him quicker, then threw his duffel and himself in the backseat, grumbling.

Bryna couldn't help the little grin that crossed her face at her son's 'mother hen' attitude. She looked over at the shell-shocked red-head who was practically thrown in the seat next to her while her son sulked in the back, his arms crossed and grumbling.

"Ah so you're Axel, I've heard quite a bit." She said with a smile and holding her hand out. "I'm Roxas' mom, Bryna Holani." She grinned and once they had exchanged pleasantries, she order the boys to put ion their seat belts and pulled away from the curb. She went around the block to avoid having to turn around in the snow, and soon they were back in front of their small, two-story abode.

[Rikugurl]

Ven sighed as he leaned over the small table. Everything just... seemed to hurt anymore.
They had a lot of laughs at this table... and memories of him feeding Zack.

He shook his head as he heard Terra and leaned back into the chair. There was even more silence as Ven crossed his arms and looked down at the table.

He heard some bustling and glanced up, looking at the other.
Oh yea... their friendship was hurting too.
That was when Terra looked down and began. Ventus frowned more, his eyes dark from the whole situation. "I was hoping you would of had some idea."


Riku blinked at the tone, recognizing it as well as Roxas. He tilted his head and grinned, seeing Sora walk slowly out of the room and down the hallway. He knew to come with. He walked after his friend into the clean room with two beds. It was so spotless that it was hard to imagine two teenagers slept there. Especially two boys.

That was how Roxas was though. He knew if Ven and Sora were to share the same room, you might have a hard time even finding a bed.
And he could see why Roxas and Ventus didn't share a room... even if they were the identical ones.

He looked at Sora who seemed to be doing a half ass job at looking... especially for something that wasn't suppose to be too hard to find. Rolling his eyes, the silverette laughed, getting the idea once again. "Gee, you should look in the closet there, Sora." He laughed as he walked to the closet, one that was exactly like Ven's with the vents. He opened it to see the jacket laid out on a box and rolled his eyes again.

"Wow, that was a hard one this time." He teased before picking it up and throwing it to his friend. He was about to close the doors when he stopped. His eyes widened as the tank caught and slowly knelt down. "SORA! NO WAI!"
He laughed as he looked closer, seeing the snake look at him. Riku looked back, smiling brightly at Sora as he got the early Christmas.

He stood and smiled more, suddenly bringing his friend into a tight hug. "Thanks Sora..."


Axel sighed as he continued to walk... and walk.... and walk. Shit, damn wealthy people had to live on such long roads! He continued to walk down the sidewalk until he heard a car coming up behind him... and seemed to pull over. They must of lived in the house he was just pass---

Axel!

The redhead blinked and looked back, seeing the blonde... and an angry look. "Uh...." he looked over at one of the houses, seeing it read 102.
Heh, he was going the wrong away.
He rubbed the back of his neck as the other yelled at him. "Well, you see--- WAA!" he cried out as the bag was taken from him and he was SHOVED into the car. His lanky legs gave in and plopped onto the seat next to a woman. The seat was nice and warm from a butt and the heater was blasting on him. It made his face feel pretty numb and all he could do was push his hands against the vents.

He blinked though as he heard the woman and looked at her, his green eyes brought under the black hat on his head. "O-oh... I'm Axel Xipil." He reached out and shook her hand before they all buckled up and away they went.

Axel looked out the window and his eyes widened as they pulled into the driveway of a beautiful house. It even had a white picket fence! How much money did these people have? Obviously tons if they lived in such an area, was able to afford such a beautiful home, raise three kids, have two cars AND could buy the best instruments.

It must look like a god damn castle in there!

They got out of the car and all three quickly hurried into the house.
The redhead looked around the entrance, seeing the beautiful staircase. "Woooooow...." Roxas and Bryna actually had to walk AROUND him to get out of the way. As they passed, they could easily smell the heavy scent of incense on him.