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Tomorrow We'll See	By : thegreatwhitewolf Category: Kingdom Hearts > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 975 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts nor am I making money by writing this.

Chapter List
- 1-Tomorrow We'll See
- 1
Tomorrow We’ll See
Summary: Roxas’s perfect life is merely an illusion. When that illusion is shattered, there may be no one left to pick up the pieces. AU. AkuRoku, Zemyx.

Author’s Notes: This began as an attempt to kill my writer’s block on Naught but Ash. Now it’s got a life of its own and is rapidly eating my brain. HALP! Inspired by the song “Tomorrow We’ll See” by Sting.
Warnings: --takes deep breath— cross dressing, prostitution, depictions of underage male on male sex (anal and oral), masturbation (solo), violence, blood, character death, moderate to strong language (including usage of the F word), mentions of drug use, and more that I just cannot think of right now for the life of me.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Kingdom Hearts nor am I making any money by writing this.

Don’t judge me
You could be me in another life,
In another set of circumstances
Don’t judge me,
One more night I’ll just have to take my chances
And tomorrow we’ll see
-Sting, Tomorrow We’ll See

Roxas stood on the side of the road, dressed in his usual outfit—electric blue tank top beneath a black leather jacket, black leather miniskirt, fishnet leggings, and knee-high black leather high-heeled boots. He wore little makeup—a little blue eye shadow, lip gloss, mascara. He smoked a cigarette, his fourth of the night. It was a nasty habit, he knew, but it helped keep him warm and passed the time.

It was a slow night tonight; it was cold and people were eager to get home, where it was warm. Roxas finished his cigarette and let it drop to the ground, snuffing it out with the heel of his boot. He shivered and rubbed his hands together to try and keep warm, silently cursing whoever designed his skirt for not including pockets. Some nights, like tonight, he wished he didn’t have to do this, but he really needed the money to help pay for college. College was still a number of years away, but he needed to start saving early so he would have enough when the time came. The only problem was that finding a job was difficult; here, in Hollow Bastion, much like pretty much everywhere else, the economy was in a downward spiral and decent jobs were scarce.
Just when it seemed as though Roxas wasn’t going to have any customers, a car slowed down, and then parked in the public lot next to where Roxas stood. It was an expensive car, a Mercedes or something like that. It looked like a custom car from what Roxas could tell, though he wasn’t completely sure; he had never looked because he would never be able to afford such a car.
The headlights were cut and a door opened. A pair of expensive-looking brown leather shoes exited the car first, followed by the rest of the person, a man. He was the tallest and skinniest man Roxas had ever seen with wild, unkempt red hair and vibrant green eyes. Beneath each eye was a purple teardrop tattoo. He wore nice clothes, expensive clothes, Roxas gathered from the way they were tailored. He had the appearance of a well brought up man (well, aside from the hair), but there was something about him that reminded Roxas of a caged animal. The man slammed the car door shut and stalked over to him.
“Can I…help you?” Roxas asked warily.
The man looked at him, tilting his head to the side. “You’re really pretty, not like some of the others who wear so much makeup it’s scary. You know what I mean?”
“What do you want?” Roxas asked irritably.
“I’m looking for someone to keep me company for a while, if you know what I mean.” The man winked suggestively.
“Well, you’ve come to the right place,” Roxas said dryly. “What exactly are you looking for?”
“That depends. What are you offering?” the man said.
Roxas leaned in close, his mouth hovering only inches away from the man’s. “I guess you’ll just have to find out.”
The man’s Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat as he swallowed. “How much?”
Roxas named his price. The man fumbled in his designer jeans and pulled out a thick wad of cash from an expensive-looking leather wallet. He counted out the appropriate amount of cash and handed it to Roxas. Roxas stuffed the money in an inner pocket of his jacket and smiled sweetly, glad that the man had not wanted to haggle over the price.
“You have a name?” Roxas asked, bringing his mouth close to the man’s again, so they were only inches apart.
“A…Axel,” the man stammered.
“Axel,” Roxas whispered seductively. “I’m gonna make you feel so good…”
He finally brought their mouths together for a coarse kiss. He licked and nipped at Axel’s lips until they finally parted and he could explore the hot mouth. Axel tasted of whiskey, though Roxas didn’t mind. After all, he had tasted much worse. He forced Axel to walk backward until he hit the side of his car.
“Open the backseat,” Roxas commanded huskily.
Axel hastily did as he was told. The interior of the car smelled strongly of leather. Judging from the smell, the car was probably brand-new. Roxas pushed Axel back until he was sprawling on the seats. There was hardly enough room for both of them to fit comfortably and shut the door.
Roxas kissed Axel feverishly, then moved down his pale neck, placing light kisses there. His hands moved down to Axel’s pants, feeling the bulge between Axel’s legs. He unbuckled Axel’s pants and brought them down, revealing his erection. With a sly smile, Roxas leaned down and pressed his lips to the tip of Axel’s cock. Axel gave a low, throaty moan and bucked his hips, eager for more.
Roxas moved quickly, as he always did. He closed his mouth around Axel’s cock and started sucking, his tongue working quickly to find Axel’s sensitive spots. All too soon, it was over, and Roxas was straightening up, wiping his dripping mouth with the back of his hand. He was startled when he felt Axel grab him and pull him back down.
“Wait!” he gasped, caught off-guard.
“I’ll pay you, I promise,” Axel whispered, cupping Roxas’ ass.
“But I’m not…” Roxas protested.
“I know you’re a man,” Axel said softly. “That’s why I chose you over the other prostitutes.”
“All right,” Roxas whispered.
Axel sat up and pulled Roxas onto his lap. He brought their lips together for several searing kisses that made Roxas breathless while his hand reached down to stroke his cock.
“Please tell me you have a condom,” Roxas managed to get out between kisses.
“Uh…yeah.” Axel nodded. “I think so.”
He searched through his wallet. Roxas nervously bit his lip while he waited. He had had sex without using a condom before, but he certainly preferred having protected sex. He wasn’t stupid; he knew what the risks of having sex without using protection were. At last, Axel pulled out a condom and fumbled with it for a few moments before managing to put it on properly. Roxas rolled his eyes at Axel’s bumbling, though secretly, he found it kind of cute.
Axel lifted Roxas’ skirt and slid his leggings and panties down. Roxas moved forward and positioned himself over Axel’s cock, then carefully lowered himself, allowing Axel to penetrate him. They moved in tandem, Axel thrusting his hips up, and Roxas pushing down, using Axel’s shoulders as leverage. The car was filled with their panting, their breath condensing on the windows.
“Nngh, harder!” Roxas gasped, squeezing his eyes shut.
He gave a low moan as Axel hit a sensitive spot. Axel cupped his ass beneath his skirt, trying to bring him closer, as if that was possible. Axel thrust faster and harder. Then, with a low grunt, he reached his climax. Roxas waited until the orgasm had ended before lifting himself up and twisting around so he was sitting on the seat next to the red-haired man. He sat still for a few moments, trying to remember how to breathe. Then, he bent over and pulled up his panties and leggings.
“You said you would pay…” he turned to Axel, all business.
“Oh yeah. Right.” Axel fumbled for his wallet again.
Roxas accepted the payment without a word and opened the car door, letting in a cold blast of wind. A hand grasped his arm and prevented him from leaving.
“Wait,” Axel called out softly. “Tell me your name.”
Roxas felt a stab of irritation. “What does it matter what my name is?”
“Please.” There was something sad and almost weary about Axel’s voice.
“Roxas,” Roxas finally said, swallowing hard. “My name is Roxas.”
“Roxas,” Axel repeated softly, letting go of Roxas’ arm. “Thank you.”
Roxas merely shrugged. “It’s my job.”
He did not look back as he exited the car and walked down the street.

Roxas walked the six blocks home. It was much cheaper to walk than to hail a cab even though it was the middle of winter. He walked briskly, eyes trained on the ground to avoid eye contact with anyone who might have passed him. Fortunately, the streets were all but deserted this late at night so he didn’t have a problem.
Within half an hour, he was home. He lived in a small town bordering Hollow Bastion called Twilight Town with his parents and three brothers in an average two-story house. His parents Aerith and Cloud Strife were refugees from Midgar, a city now in ruins and unlivable for at least fifty years due to a massive reactor leak that tainted the environment with toxic materials.
Roxas did not remember leaving Midgar with his family; he had only been a year old at the time. All he had ever known was his life in Twilight Town, his boring, perfect life. Nothing even remotely interesting ever happened. The town was so small that the primary method of transportation was by foot, sometimes by rail. It was the kind of place where everyone knew everyone else, had even grown up with them in most cases, and secrets were hard to keep.
Roxas hesitated at the door of his house, listening carefully. As soon as he was sure it was clear, he opened the door. He slipped inside and shut the door behind him as quietly as he could. None of his other family members were in sight, so he was able to sneak up to his bedroom without being seen. It was a little past midnight, so he assumed they were all in bed. He had to be extra careful to not be caught because it was way past his curfew and he would be in so much trouble if caught breaking his curfew.
He was quiet as he tiptoed into his room and got ready for a shower. He refused to go to bed without showering first, even if it was extremely late at night and he was tired. He made sure to change before heading down the hall to the bathroom so no one would see him dressed like this.
Roxas sighed as he stepped under the shower’s hot spray. It had been one of his easier nights, but it still was such a relief to clean himself up. He closed his eyes as the water washed over him and saw a pair of vivid green eyes. It was that man, Axel, eyes filled with lust. He reached down and grasped his erect cock. He rarely lost control like this, but there was something different about Axel, something about him that was familiar, though he didn’t know why. It was almost as if…as if they had met before, but that was impossible, wasn’t it? Roxas was sure that he would have remembered meeting someone like Axel. The man was pretty unforgettable.
His hand moved faster and faster. He titled his head back, eyes tightly squeezed shut, the image of Axel and his vivid green eyes, until with a low moan, he came. Breathing raggedly, he let go of his cock, and stood motionless beneath the spray for a few minutes, trying to regain his composure. When at last he felt calm again, he opened his eyes. He was slightly embarrassed that he had lost control like that, but there was nothing he could do about it except grit his teeth and move on. And above all, never let anyone know what went on behind closed doors.
He switched the water off and toweled himself dry, then dressed in his usual attire for bed; boxers, grey sweatpants, and a black tank top. He slipped back down the hallway, expertly moving through the shadows.
“You’re up late.” A quiet voice caused him to turn.
His twin leaned against the doorway of his bedroom, illuminated by the moonlight streaming in from his window. Ven was almost completely identical to Roxas, but couldn’t have been more different than him. Ven was gentle and sweet, unfailingly kind, and always happy. He often came across as naïve, though Roxas knew better. He knew that Ven knew more than he let on. Ven’s gaze was too sharp now, eyes too alert to suggest he didn’t know what was really going on.
Roxas swallowed hard and said, “Yeah. I had some homework to finish.”
“I see,” Ven said. “Well, goodnight.”
Roxas hurried back to his bedroom, feeling Ven’s eyes on him even after he crawled into bed.

He was in a room he did not recognize that seemed to be in a different place and time altogether. Everything about the room felt futuristic. The strange, ghostly creatures appeared without any warning, but Roxas was ready for them. He summoned his weapon almost instinctively and made quick work of them. He sensed another presence in the room and turned. He smelled darkness and a faint scent of dying embers and scowled.
“Show yourself!” he commanded.
A portal of darkness appeared first, stretching the space of the room, dropping the temperature several degrees. A figure cloaked in all black stepped through and lifted a gloved hand. The portal closed. The figure reached up and pushed the hood back, revealing the face of a man vaguely familiar to Roxas. He had wild, unkempt red hair and vivid green eyes. Beneath each eye was a purple teardrop tattoo.
“Simply amazing, Roxas,” the man said, arms folded as he crossed the room.
This man—why was he familiar? Why did he know this man? The memories were still vague, but the fog was lifting, at least enough for him to know the man’s name.
“Axel.”
The man unfolded his arms. “You really do remember this time.” He turned toward Roxas. “I’M SO FLATTERED!” The walls of flame burst out of nowhere encircling them. “But you’re too late!”
Roxas instinctively summoned his weapon—the Keyblade it was called. Yet there was something different this time. Power surged through him, a power that had been awakened by his desperation. A pair of Keyblades appeared, one in each hand. This seemed to anger Axel.
“Two?!” he bit out.
He lowered his head and stretched out his arms, calling his own weapons to hand, a pair of chakra. He looked up at Roxas with an animalistic grin. Everything about him screamed danger, but Roxas wasn’t about to back down. He charged forward and slashed at Axel, who easily dodged. He coated his chakra with fire and threw them at Roxas. Roxas fended them off with his Keyblades. The chakra circled around and returned to Axel’s hands. Roxas leapt at him again, slashing. Axel barely had time to dodge. Roxas missed him by mere millimeters. He charged again and this time, Axel wasn’t so lucky; Roxas grazed him with one of his Keyblades, drawing blood. He felt a slight bit of satisfaction at seeing the tear in Axel’s coat, the small line of blood dribbling down his arm. Axel glanced at the cut on his arm as though it was a mild annoyance, then looked back at Roxas.
“My turn,” he said, eyes glinting.
He stretched his arms out again, chakra in hand. This time, instead of summoning his weapon, he summoned huge pillars of fire. Roxas did the only thing he could.
He ran.

Roxas jerked awake, his breath catching in his throat. The dream had been so real. It had been a long time since he had had such a vivid nightmare. He lay awake for several minutes, heart pounding wildly in his chest. At last, he was able to settle down and drift back to sleep.

***
Six AM came too soon for Roxas, who spent most of the night tossing and turning, plagued with nightmares involving Axel. He groaned softly as his shrill alarm cut through his sleep. He stuffed his head under his pillow, trying to block out the sound, but he knew it was no use. Reluctantly, he got up and chucked his old-fashioned alarm clock across the room. It hit the opposite wall with a satisfying thud and broke as it hit his floor.
Roxas went to retrieve it and gritted his teeth as he saw just how damaged it was. He made a mental note to ask Sora for more duct tape so he could fix the clock. Again. He knew he should probably just get a new one, but he had sort of become attached to the thing.
Shaking his head, Roxas dressed in his uniform, cursing under his breath as he fumbled with the tie. Why a school required boys to wear ties was beyond him. It was ridiculous. Roxas groaned and went and knocked on Demyx’s door.
“Help,” he muttered when his older brother answered.
“Again, Roxas?” Demyx sighed, blocking the doorway. “You’ve gotta learn how to tie your own ties.”
“I’ve tried,” Roxas protested. “Like a million times, I swear!” Demyx raised his eyebrows at him. “I’m serious!”
“Come on,” Demyx finally relented.
He moved out of the way, allowing Roxas to enter. Demyx was the odd one out in the family, which was ironic considering that Sora was the only brunette in the family, aside from their mother. Sora, Roxas, and Ven were all natural athletes. Demyx was not. He was the clumsiest person Roxas knew. He had no interest in sports or any of the stereotypical activities boys did. Instead, he loved music. He spent hours playing any musical instrument he could get his hands on, though sitar was by far his favorite. Roxas hadn’t even heard of the sitar until Demyx did a presentation on it during their Music Appreciation class last semester. He even wrote his own music, though he certainly never shared it with anyone.
Roxas eyed Demyx’s prized sitar, something he had painstakingly saved up for on his own as he moved into the center of the room. He had never understood his brother’s obsession with music and probably never would.
“Let’s see then,” Demyx said.
He moved incredibly close to Roxas and for a moment, Roxas had to remind himself that this was his brother, not some random stranger on the streets. Luckily, Demyx took no notice, focused entirely on tying Roxas’ tie. Roxas was glad sometimes that at least two of his brothers were ridiculously unobservant. He spaced out as Demyx folded and gently tugged the material around his neck into obedience. For a moment, Roxas saw jade green eyes, but they melted into Demyx’s sea green eyes.
“Roxas?” Demyx asked, gently touching him on the shoulder.
“Huh?” Roxas blinked, coming out of his trace.
“You’re done,” Demyx said. His usual cheerful smile vanished. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Roxas immediately lied. He forced out a small smile to convince Demyx. “I’m fine.”
“All right.” Demyx didn’t look totally convinced, but let it drop. “Let’s go get some breakfast, huh?”
“Yeah,” Roxas said hollowly.
He followed Demyx to the kitchen. Meals were always his least favorite time of the day because he was forced to interact with the rest of his family. He didn’t have a problem with the rest of his family individually, but he could not stand being forced to sit there and act as though they were one big happy family, talking about the most mundane matters.
When Roxas and Demyx arrived in the kitchen, the rest of the family was already seated around the breakfast table in their customary seats. Cloud sat at the head of the table hidden behind a newspaper, an untouched plate of bacon and eggs in front of him. Sora and Ven sat on either side of him, chatting about something or other. Aerith was at the stove, as always.
“You’re late,” she said without turning around.
“Sorry mom,” Demyx and Roxas muttered at the same time.
They took their respective seats, Demyx next to Sora and Roxas next to his twin.
“How would you boys like your eggs?” Aerith asked.
“Scrambled,” Demyx answered at once.
“Um…I’m not really hungry,” Roxas answered.
Aerith turned away from the stove, frowning. “Are you okay? Are you feeling all right?”
“I’m fine,” Roxas said.
Before he could protest, Aerith had crossed the kitchen and placed her hand on his forehead.
“You don’t feel feverish,” she murmured.
“I’m fine,” Roxas protested loudly.
“All right,” Aerith said. “Are you sure you don’t want anything?”
“I’m fine,” Roxas protested loudly.
“Honey, he’s fine,” Cloud said, finally setting his paper down. “Stop worrying.”
“Sorry.” Guiltily, Aerith went back to the stove.
A few moments later, she set a plate of scrambled eggs in front of Demyx and then turned to Roxas, eyes filled with worry. Roxas felt bad for worrying her and took a couple pieces of toast to appease her.
“Aerith honey, sit,” Cloud said. “You’ve been on your feet for far too long. Sit. Rest. Have something to eat.”
“But I still have to make the boys’ lunches,” Aerith protested.
“Now.” Cloud’s tone was gentle, but firm.
Aerith sighed and sat at the far end of the table between Roxas and Sora. Roxas, who had barely touched his toast, took a large bite so Aerith wouldn’t worry. It was dry and bland, sticking in his throat as he forced himself to swallow it. He took a large sip of milk to help wash it down and tried not to gag.
Breakfast seemed to drag on forever. Roxas managed to take several more bites of his toast, though it was only for his mother’s benefit. When breakfast was finally over, Roxas hastily ran upstairs to brush his teeth. What followed was a normal occurrence in the Strife household; a mad dash for the only bathroom in the upper level that turned into a mild scuffle, which involved wrestling and tickling. Roxas stood back and let his brothers fight, then when they were occupied with their wrestling/tickling match, stepped forward and claimed the bathroom for himself.
“Rooooxas!” Sora whined as the three brothers realized they had lost again.
“You snooze you lose,” Roxas said, allowing himself a smug smile.
The door made such a satisfying sound as he shut it. He jabbed the lock into place and sighed. Almost immediately, the doorknob started rattling, followed by loud pounding.
“Rooooxas!” Sora protested. “No fair!”
“You shouldn’t have let yourself get distracted so easily,” Roxas snapped at the closed door.
The pounding and shouting stopped for a moment before starting back up again. Roxas rolled his eyes, then went to the sink to brush his teeth. Sora’s pounding and muffled protests never stopped.
And he was still sulking half an hour later as they were heading out the door. Roxas couldn’t help rolling his eyes. Sora was so childish sometimes. It was hard to believe he was going to be sixteen soon. He certainly didn’t act his age.
“Roxas honey, wait.” Aerith stopped Roxas at the door. “Don’t forget your lunch.”
She handed him a paper sack with his name on it. At least she had had enough sense to not draw little hearts and smiley faces on it this time.
“Oh, right. Thanks,” Roxas said, giving Aerith a false smile.
The smile had the desired effect; Aerith beamed at him.
“Hurry up or you’re going to be late,” Cloud said, coming to stand next to his wife.
Roxas gave them a small wave and hurried after his brothers, who were already walking down the street. He caught up with them easily; none of them were particularly fast walkers.
At the end of the street, they met up with a bunch of Sora’s friends. Roxas hung back; he didn’t particularly like some of his brother’s friends, especially Kairi. She only pretended to be nice, but Roxas knew that deep down, Kairi was a bitch. But Sora adored her, so Roxas tried to tolerate her, for his brother’s sake. As they went farther and farther down the street, they were joined by more and more people.
Their group had started with only the brothers, who had been inseparable from childhood. As they grew older, they sort of split apart as they had different teachers and different lunches. Somehow, their groups had all sort of coalesced into one big group by high school, though there were still some subgroups within their larger group.
Kairi and her twin Xion, Naminé, and Riku were all Sora’s friend, though the latter was relatively surprising; Riku and Sora were as different in personality as Roxas and Ven. Yet they had been best friends since kindergarten. Sora just seemed to have that sort of effect on people. Ven had Terra and Aqua, who were seniors like Demyx. How they had become friends with Ven was a mystery to Roxas. He seemed to have the same effect on people as Sora. Demyx had a couple friends, though he wasn’t as close to them as Sora and Ven were to their friends. And those friends were the oddest sort of people imaginable. Most of them were out of school and so Demyx didn’t see them very often. And Roxas had Hayner. But Hayner lived on the other side of town, so Roxas wouldn’t see him until they got to school. Maybe. He didn’t mind being alone. In fact, he would have remained alone if he hadn’t been befriended by Hayner. Normally, Roxas wasn’t much of a people person, but he had found it hard to not like Hayner. They had been best friends since kindergarten. Hayner was the only one he could trust. Hayner was…special.
When they reached the high school, their group split up, heading in different directions. There was only one school in Twilight Town due to its small size, split into elementary school, middle school, and high school. There were three separate entrances for each grade and they were kept apart for the most part.
Roxas’ first stop was his locker. He was surprised to see Hayner already there, leaning against the locker next to his. Hayner’s uniform was messy as usual, his shirt and pants rumpled, and his tie hanging loose around his neck. Roxas was half surprised that Hayner had actually come to school today, half surprised he hadn’t shown up high. At least he didn’t appear to be high, from what Roxas could tell. He had learned how to tell when Hayner was under the influence of whatever he was doing—Roxas had never asked. Part of him was curious, but another part didn’t really want to know.
“Hey!” Hayner called out.
“Hey Hayner,” Roxas muttered.
Hayner frowned at his unenthusiastic response. “Hard night last night”
“Not really,” Roxas replied. “Just cold.”
“Ah.” Hayner nodded in understanding. “That’s why I didn’t work last night.”
“Probably smart,” Roxas muttered.
Hayner was the only one who knew that Roxas was a prostitute. In fact, he was the one who got Roxas started as one. Roxas wasn’t really sure how it happened. He had mentioned that he was desperate for money and a few conversations and a week later, he was walking the streets, selling his body for cash. He had been so shocked to learn that his best friend was a prostitute and hadn’t believed him until Hayner brought him one night to watch. Roxas had to admit that he had been disgusted the first time he watched Hayner give some random guy a blowjob, but he quickly learned how much he could make as a prostitute and warmed to the idea. Now he didn’t think twice about it.
“Roxas?” Roxas blinked as Hayner waved his hand in front of his face.
“I’m here,” Roxas said.
“Riiiiight.” Hayner clearly didn’t believe him.
Roxas rolled his eyes and turned back to his locker. It took him several tries to get his combination right and even then, he had to give it a swift kick in order to get it open. Hayner sniggered Roxas turned to him and glared. Hayner fell silent at once. Roxas prided himself in his ability to silence people with a single withering glare.
“You all right?” Hayner asked with a frown.
“I’m fine,” Roxas snapped.
He shoved his things in his locker and grabbed his things for his first period Algebra class, then slammed his locker shut. He and Hayner walked to class together, stopping briefly at Hayner’s locker so he could grab his things. They arrived just as the final bell rang. The teacher glared at them.
“We’re on time,” Hayner protested.
“Just take your seats,” the teacher snapped.
Hayner and Roxas hurried to their seats at the back of the room.
“Geez, someone’s on her period,” Hayner whispered loudly.
Roxas snickered.
“Is there something you’d like to share with the class?” the teacher asked, her hands on her hips.
Hayner paled. “Uh, no ma’am.”
“Then take your seats,” the teacher commanded.
“Yes ma’am,” Hayner said meekly.
He and Roxas sat in their usual seats in the very back of the room.
“All right. Today we’re going to start Chapter 4 on ratios and proportions…” the teacher began her usual lecture.
Roxas found his attention drifting away, as it usually did during Algebra. He doodled mindlessly on a piece of paper until the bell rang at the end of the hour. He scribbled down the homework the teacher had written up on the chalkboard and shoved the paper into a random page of his Algebra textbook. Hayner waited for him at the door.
“Ready?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Roxas replied.
He followed Hayner down the hallway, to their next class; United States History. The teacher was extremely old and spoke in a dry monotone voice, droning on and on about dates of battles and other things that should have been important but Roxas couldn’t bring himself to care about.
After United States History was Introduction to Literature and Composition, which was only a bit more interesting than United States History. At least the teacher tried to make it interesting. Roxas wasn’t much of a reader—Ven was the bookworm in the family, but he did like some of the stuff they had to read for that class.
Their last morning class was Earth Science, another dreadfully dull subject. The only good thing about this class was that there were no assigned seats, so Roxas and Hayner could sit next to each other and pass notes while the teacher droned on about the different layers of the Earth.
There were two lunches at Twilight Town High School, one for the juniors and seniors and one for the freshman and sophomores. When the bell rang at the end of Earth Science, Roxas grabbed the paper sack containing the lunch Aerith had packed for him and snuck up to the roof, which was always unlocked. Hayner was already there, smoking a cigarette.
“Hey,” Roxas called out, crossing to where Hayner sat.
“Yo,” Hayner responded. He eyed Roxas’s lunch. “Your mommy pack that for you?”
Despite his sneering tone, Roxas knew that Hayner didn’t mean it. He was just jealous that Roxas’s mother packed him a lunch every day. Hayner came from a broken home; his father had run off when he was young and his mom was too busy working two jobs in order to support him and his baby sister.
“You can have some if you want,” Roxas offered. “I can never eat everything she packs. She thinks I’m too thin.”
Hayner gave a derisive laugh but did not refuse the offer of free food. Roxas was glad he had someone to share with; he didn’t feel as guilty that he didn’t eat the whole lunch.
After they had finished Roxas’s entire lunch, they each pulled out a cigarette and smoked in silence. This was something Roxas really liked about Hayner; he didn’t force conversations. If they happened, they happened. If they didn’t, they didn’t.
At the end of lunch, they gathered their things and got rid of any evidence they had ever been there. They made their way back down the narrow stairs and joined the crowd of students moving from the cafeteria to their fifth period class. No one even noticed they had been gone.
Fifth and sixth periods were different in that they were shared lessons. The first four periods were only for the specific grade, i.e. the freshman were all together, the sophomores were all together, the juniors were all together, and all the seniors were all together. However, the last two periods mixed the freshman and sophomores and the juniors and seniors together.
Fifth period was one of the words periods of the day—Health. No matter what they were talking about, whether it was about proper nutrition or safe sex practices, Roxas always managed to feel awkward. It didn’t help that the rest of the class was immature about it, laughing and making crude jokes, especially when the teacher talked to them about condoms. Today’s lesson was especially trying; the teacher was starting into the more embarrassing topics, starting with STDs. Later in the semester, they were going to have guest speakers, but for now, they had to settle for looking at disgusting pictures of what happened when you didn’t use protection.
Even worse than Health was Physical Education, which was Roxas and Hayner’s last class of the day. Roxas was unsurprised to see that Hayner had slipped away while they were walking to the gym; Hayner often cut gym class and left school early. Roxas would have gladly joined him, but he knew his family would notice since he shared the class with both Ven and Demyx, and they would certainly tell their parents if he skipped.
It was with great reluctance that Roxas headed to the gym alone and went into the locker room to change. The gym uniforms were similar to the regular school uniform except that there was no tie, blue shorts instead of slacks, and tennis shoes instead of black dress shoes. He joined the rest of the class in the gym and waited for the final bell to ring.
The gym teacher was the burly, bad-tempered football coach who was a big bully. He loved to push kids around, and came up with nicknames for everyone. The less he liked you, the worse the nickname was.
“O’Connor is missing again,” he noted with a snort as he took attendance. “He’s a slacker. Slackers never amount to anything. Now go run some laps!”

When school was finally over, Roxas met up with his brothers and all their friends, and they walked home. Once again, Roxas hung out at the back of the crowd, not too keen on mixing with Kairi. Demyx walked beside him, his head in the clouds, as always. Several times, Roxas had to keep him from walking into random objects, such as light posts or garbage cans.
Aerith waited for them in the kitchen with a plate of freshly cut fruit for a snack. Roxas snagged several pieces of watermelon, his personal favorite, and barricaded himself in his room. He remained there until dinner, wading through the piles of homework he had been assigned.
Roxas was unsurprised to see only five plates set at the dining room table that night.
“Dad working late again?” he asked.
“Yes,” Aerith replied through pursed lips. She was already dressed in her uniform, Roxas noted.
Aerith worked in the local hospital as an emergency room nurse. She often worked the night shift so she could be home during the day in case the boy needed her .Cloud worked during the day at a global consulting firm in Hollow Bastion. He had been putting in a lot of long hours lately, something Aerith didn’t approve of.
Dinner seemed to drag on forever, especially since Cloud was absent. Aerith tried to keep the conversation going, though it only made things more awkward. Roxas was extremely relieved when he was excused from the table, even more so that he wasn’t on dish duty tonight; the brothers worked in pairs and rotated nights. Tonight was Sora and Demyx’s night to do the dishes.
Roxas went back up to his room and worked on the rest of his homework while he waited for nightfall. Aerith left at about seven for her shift. By eight, it was dark enough for Roxas to feel comfortable enough to sneak out without being caught. He dressed in his usual outfit and carefully applied his makeup.
By nine, he was walking the streets of Hollow Bastion, though tonight he had Hayner for company. It was warmer tonight, which meant that it was likely there would be more customers. And there were. Both Roxas and Hayner were kept busy for the next several hours with a wide assortment of customers. By midnight, things were winding down and Roxas was thinking about heading in when a car pulled up.
“I need a smoke bad,” Hayner said. “You can have this one.”
“All right,” Roxas replied, smiling.
His heart pounded in his chest as he realized he knew that car. There was no mistaking it; it was Axel’s car. Moments later, the car door opened and Axel exited. He saw Roxas standing on the corner and grinned.
“Hey!” he waved. “I was hoping I’d find you here tonight.”
“Back for more?” Roxas asked dryly.
Axel grinned. “Of course.”
“I trust you have money?” Roxas asked.
“Yep.” Axel pulled out his wallet and withdrew a wad of cash that he handed to Roxas.
Roxas counted what he had been given and then stuffed the cash in his jacket pocket next to his pack of cigarettes.
“You wanna do it in your car again?” Roxas asked.
“Yeah, that’s probably best.” Axel nodded.
“After you.” Roxas smiled crookedly.
Axel led the way to his car. He unlocked it and opened the back. They crawled in, Roxas closing the door behind them. There was a brief pause and then Roxas brought their lips together. Axel gently cupped his cheek. Roxas pulled away for a moment, then pressed their foreheads together. Axel pulled him onto his lap. Roxas could feel the bulge already between Axel’s legs and smirked.
“Impatient, are we?” he teased, nibbling on Axel’s earlobe.
Axel moaned softly in response. Roxas brought their lips together while he worked to remove Axel’s pants and boxers.
“Condom,” he reminded Axel.
“Do we have to?” Axel groaned.
“I don’t want to catch anything you might have,” Roxas said.
“I’m clean,” Axel protested.
“You ever been tested?” Roxas asked.
“No,” Axel replied.
“Use a condom,” Roxas said.
“All right, all right,” Axel huffed.
He looked slightly put out but obediently put a condom on. Satisfied, Roxas slid his leggings and panties down and moved forward so he was positioned right over Axel’s cock. He slowly lowered himself down. His lips found Axel’s again as Axel started thrusting. He closed his eyes as the thrusting intensified, biting his lip to keep himself from crying out.
Axel let out a low groan as he reached his climax, then threw his head back, panting loudly. Roxas pressed his lips to Axel’s forehead and moved off his lap. He bent down and pulled his panties and leggings back up. He turned to Axel, who had scarcely moved except for pulling up his boxers and pants again.
“Bye,” Roxas whispered.
He went to open the car door so he could get out, but Axel unexpectedly grabbed his arm and forced him to turn back around.
“A…Axel?” Roxas stammered.
Axel put his hand on Roxas’s crotch, his hand brushing against Roxas’s erection. Roxas flushed.
“May I…?” Axel asked.
Roxas hesitated for a moment before nodded. Normally, he didn’t let anyone touch him so intimately; he didn’t trust anyone. But for some reason, he felt like he could trust Axel.
Axel pressed their lips together for a coarse kiss while his hands worked to remove Roxas’s skirt. His leggings and panties quickly followed and Roxas was completely exposed to Axel. He couldn’t help blushing, though he didn’t know why.
“Aww, you’re so cute when you’re blushing,” Axel said.
“Shut up,” Roxas muttered, blushing even more.
Axel wrapped his hand around Roxas’s cock and started stroking. Roxas bit back a low moan, closing his eyes. Then, without warning, he let go. Roxas looked at Axel in confusion. Axel grinned. He placed several kisses on Roxas's lips and then slowly moved down. Roxas gasped harshly as Axel’s mouth found his cock.
“Is this okay?” Axel pulled away sounding concerned.
“Y…yeah.” Roxas stammered could have kicked himself for sounding like a naïve schoolgirl.
Axel smiled and put his mouth around Roxas’s cock again. Roxas closed his eyes and leaned back against the seat, his fingers lacing through Axel’s spiky hair. He gave a low whine as Axel’s tongue found a sensitive spot. He had never felt so good before. No one had ever touched him like Axel did. He moaned and arched his back. He cried out louder and louder as Axel worked harder and harder on his cock. He was trying to be quiet, he really was, but Axel was just making him feel so good. He never was this vocal with anyone, ever. He gasped sharply as he reached his climax and resisted the urge to scream.
His breaths came in ragged pants as Axel slowly pulled away, wiping his dripping mouth with the back of his hand. For a moment there, Roxas’s mind had gone completely blank and he hadn’t thought of anything really. It had been blissful..
“Here.” Axel’s voice caused him to open his eyes.
He was holding out a towel. Roxas accepted it with a quiet word of thanks and tried to clean himself up the best he could.
“So…uh…will I see you around?” Axel asked as Roxas prepared to leave.
Roxas smiled at him. “Maybe.” After a moment’s hesitation, he added, “My schedule isn’t exactly regular. If…if you want, I can give you my cell phone number so you can contact me and we can arrange to meet.”
“Yeah I’d like that,” Axel said.
Roxas knew he was stupid for doing this, probably insane, but he didn’t care. He would risk it.
“Fuck, I don’t have my phone on me,” Axel muttered.
Roxas rolled his eyes; what kind of idiot walked around without a cell phone, especially this late at night?
“Do you have a pen and paper?” he asked
Axel squinted. “Uh…I think I got a pen.”
He awkwardly squeezed through to the front and went into the glove box. He triumphantly returned with an ink pen.
“Here, write your number on my hand,” he said.
Roxas rolled his eyes again, but took Axel’s hand.
“Hold still,” he commanded as he began to write on the back of his hand..
Roxas tried hard to not dwell on the fact that Axel’s hand was extremely soft. Swallowing hard, he let go.
Axel looked at his hand and pouted. “You’re not gonna tell me your last name?”
“No,” Roxas answered.
“Why not?” Axel wanted to know.
“It’s not important,” Roxas said. “Why do you want to know anyway?”
Axel shrugged. “Just curious. So…uh…I’ll call you?”
“Yeah.” Roxas nodded. “Uh…try to call me after 8, okay?”
Axel studied him carefully for a few moments. “All right.”
Roxas was glad he didn’t ask any questions.
He smiled at Axel. “I’ll see you around.”
“Yeah,” Axel said hoarsely. “See you.”
Roxas opened the car door and started out.
That’s when the gunshots started.
Roxas’s head snapped up at once. The shots seemed to be pretty close. And Hayner…
Hayner!
Roxas gasped. Hayner was out there. And for some reason, he felt like he was involved. He couldn’t say how or why he knew. He just knew. He scrambled out.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Where are you going?” Axel demanded, trying to pull him back in.
“I’ve gotta go! My friend’s out there!” Roxas shouted.
“No, come back!” Axel yelled.
But Roxas was already sprinting down the street.
“Damn it Roxas! You’re gonna get yourself killed!” Axel bellowed.
Roxas ignored him. It was snowing now, giant flakes that clung wetly to Roxas’s skin as he sprinted down the street. He stopped dead. Hayner lay in the middle of the street, bleeding.
“NO!” Roxas cried, rushing forward.
This couldn’t be happening. It couldn’t—
Roxas dropped to his knees by Hayner’s side.
“Hayner!” he cried.
Hayner’s eyes opened and he tilted his head to the side.
“Ro…xas,” he said hoarsely.
He had been shot in the chest. Blood gushed out and pooled around him. His face was ashen, eyes dull and hazy.
“Oh god, Hayner,” Roxas whispered.
He took off his jacket in a rush, his cell phone, cigarettes, lighter, and all the cash he had earned tonight spilling out onto the sidewalk. He ignored it, pressing his jacket to the wound on Hayner’s chest, trying to staunch the blood flow.
“My god,” Axel whispered.
Roxas looked up at him. “Don’t just stand there! Do something!” Hysteria crept into his voice.
Axel squatted down next to him and picked up Roxas’s cell phone. He straightened up and, fingers trembling, called 9-1-1. Roxas tried not to listen to him, focusing back on Hayner.
“Don’t you dare die on me,” he growled, applying more pressure to the wound. “You hear me, Hayner? Don’t you fucking die on me!”
***
Roxas sat in a private waiting room at Hollow Bastion General Hospital, wrapped in a blanket one of the nurses had given him. He was still shivering, though he wasn’t sure if it was just from the cold. He couldn’t stop reliving the awful ambulance ride to the hospital, watching Hayner bleed and bleed and bleed while the paramedic tried in vain to stop it Hayner had immediately been rushed into surgery, but it was too late.
Roxas had barely reacted when the doctor came out to tell him that Hayner was dead. He had already known that Hayner was not going to make it. He knew he should have felt something upon learning that his best friend—his only friend—was dead, but all he felt was a great numbness. The worst part was Hayner’s parents, who burst in after the serious-faced doctor had left and basically accused them of killing their son. Roxas had never seen Hayner’s mother look so hysterical before. They were led out by a nurse, though they did not go quietly. And Roxas couldn’t help feeling guilty that he had let Hayner die.
Axel had gone to get them coffee. He had volunteered to stay with Roxas until his family came and Roxas hadn’t had the heart to refuse him.
Axel came back carrying two Styrofoam cups. “Here you go”
“Thank you,” Roxas murmured, gratefully accepting the cup from the redhead.
He was dealing with the revelation that Roxas was underage remarkably well. There had been no way to hide the truth from the paramedic who had pointedly asked Roxas how old he and Hayner were. Axel had given Roxas a long look but hadn’t said anything. Since Roxas was still a minor, they had had to call his parents. He was not looking forward to having to deal with them. All he wanted right now was to crawl into bed and forget this nightmare.
There was a knock on the open waiting room door and then a pair of men strode in. They were dressed nicely in white shirts, black pants, and black jackets. One of them was tall, skinny, and pale, with long wild red hair swept back into a loose ponytail and grey-blue eyes. He looked very much like an older version of Axel. His partner was large, completely bald, and had skin the color of a mocha latte. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of dark shades even though they were indoors.
“You Roxas Strife?” the red-haired man asked Then, he spotted Axel and his lips formed an ‘o’ of surprise. “Axel?!”
“Hey Reno.” Axel smiled tiredly.
Roxas glanced between the two of them several times. “Wait, are you guys brothers or something?”
“Yup,” the man named Reno said. “I’m Reno Sinclair. Detective Reno Sinclair. And that’s my baby brother, Axel.”
“Sinclair?” Roxas uttered. “As in…?”
“That’s right,” Reno confirmed with a nod.
“Oh god,” Roxas whispered, mortified.
He had been fucking a Sinclair.
The Sinclair family was an affluent and influential family of Hollow Bastion They had one of the largest and most successful oil companies in the world and had enjoyed a meteoric rise to the top. They were only second to the Shin-Ra family, head of the Shin-Ra Power and Electric Company. The two families had been in competition with one another for decades.
“Yo, you all right?” Reno waved his hand in Roxas’s face.
Roxas blinked and stared stupidly for a few moments before answering, “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“All right,” Reno said. “Anyway, as I was sayin’, I’m Detective Reno Sinclair and this is my partner Detective Rude Martin.” Rude acknowledged this with a short nod. “We’re homicide detectives and we’ve been assigned to investigate the murder of Hayner O’Connor.”
“Oh. Right.” Roxas shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
“We understand you’re a minor?” Rude asked.
“Yes,” Roxas whispered, his grip tightening around his coffee cup.
“Has your family been notified?” Rude asked.
“Yes.” Roxas nodded. “My parents are on their way.”
“All right,” Rude said. “We’ll wait for them, then.”
“Is that coffee?” Reno asked, eyeing Axel’s cup.
“Get your own,” Axel growled, pulling his cup closer to him.
“At least tell me where you got it,” Reno whined.
“There’s a vending machine down the hall. Costs $1.50,” Axel said.
Reno’s face brightened. “You’re the best, Axel!”
He headed out the door. Roxas stared after him, dumbfounded. Reno did not behave like a detective at all. How was he able to get away with this behavior?
“Reno is Reno,” Reno said as though reading Roxas’s thoughts. “Normally, his behavior would not have been tolerated, but he is a special case.”
And he did not elaborate further. Roxas went back to his coffee that was only lukewarm by now. He took a sip and made a face. He could barely stomach coffee as it was, let alone disgusting watered down hospital coffee that was lukewarm at best. He drank anyway, because it gave him something to do and helped keep his mind occupied. Yet he still felt the chill seeping through and shivered. He felt several pairs of eyes on him, but didn’t dare look up. He scarcely noticed when Reno returned with a cup of coffee and sat with Rude across from where Axel and Roxas were.
“Roxas?” the quiet voice caused Roxas’s head to snap up.
Aerith stood in the doorway still dressed in her hospital scrubs, staring at Roxas with a shocked expression.
Roxas managed a tired smile. “Hi Mom.”
“Oh Roxas, honey.” Aerith rushed forward. “Are you all right? What’s going on?”
“Mrs. Strife?” Reno asked, getting to his feet.
“Y…yes?” Aerith stammered, turning around.
“I’m Detective Sinclair and this is my partner Detective Martin.” It was remarkable to see how quickly Reno’s attitude had shifted. He had become cool, polite, and professional.
“O…oh.” Aerith looked like she didn’t know how to respond to this.
“We need to ask your son a couple questions about a murder that took place tonight,” Reno said.
Aerith’s eyes widened. “Oh my goodness. Who…who was murdered?”
“A boy named Hayner O’Connor,” Reno answered.
“Hayner?” Aerith gasped, hands flying to her mouth.
“Did you know him?” Reno asked.
“Y…yes.” Aerith nodded. “He’s…he was a friend of Roxas’s. What happened?”
“That’s what we’re trying to find out, ma’am,” Reno said.
“He was shot,” Roxas finally spoke up. He felt all the eyes in the room on him, but tried to ignore them.
“Roxas?!”
Once again, Roxas’s head snapped up at the sound of his name being called. Cloud stood in the doorway, but he wasn’t alone.
Roxas’s heart wrenched when he saw his three brothers standing there, all of them wearing equally horrified expressions. He looked away, filled with guilt.
Reno cleared his throat. “And who might you be?”
“I’m his father,” Cloud rumbled. He stepped forward. “I uh…brought you a jacket.”
“Thanks,” Roxas said, gratefully accepting the article of clothing from his father.
“Okay then.” Axel suddenly got to his feet. “I think I’m gonna head out. You know how to contact me if you need me.”
“Axel, stay.” Reno’s tone was uncharacteristically stern.
Axel pouted, but sank back down in his seat.
“All right,” Reno said. “Perhaps you’d like to sit, Mr. Strife.” He saw Roxas’s brothers. “Ah. Perhaps you three should wait outside.”
“Why?” Sora asked rather angrily.
“Don’t make them leave,” Roxas muttered, though he didn’t look up. “Please.”
“All right.” Reno sighed. “If you’re comfortable with them hearing this.”
“It’s fine,” Roxas said dully.
It wasn’t like he had any dignity left to lose. What did it matter if his brothers found out that he was a prostitute? They were probably going to find out anyway.
“Okay then.” Reno blew air through his teeth. “Rude, you wanna take notes?”
“Why me?” Rude asked.
“’Cause your handwriting is much better than mine,” Reno answered, rolling his eyes.
Rude sighed softly. “Fine.”
“Yay!” Reno’s child-like behavior was back, though for only for an instant. When he turned back to Roxas again, he was all business. “All right, Roxas. You know why we’re here.”
“Hayner,” Roxas muttered.
“Yes,” Reno said encouragingly. “I want you to tell me what happened.”
Roxas took in a deep breath. “I was…um…just finishing up with a client when I heard several gunshots. I ran because it came from the direction where Hayner was. I thought…maybe he was involved.”
“Why did you think Hayner was involved?” Reno interrupted.
“I don’t know. It was just a feeling I had,” Roxas mumbled.
“So you ran down the street,” Reno prompted. “Then what?”
“I saw…” Roxas swallowed hard. “I saw Hayner lying on the ground, bleeding. I…I tried to stop the bleeding, but I couldn’t. There was so much blood.” Roxas shivered at the memory.
“Did you see who shot Hayner?” Reno asked.
“N…no.” Roxas shook his head. “I didn’t see anyone.”
“All right.” Reno looked slightly disappointed. “When was the last time you saw him alive?”
“It was…like fifteen or twenty minutes before it happened,” Roxas answered. “Hayner said he was going to have a smoke. I left with a client. The last time I saw him, he was walking down the street a little ways, pulling out a cigarette from his jacket.”
“Do you know if Hayner had any disgruntled clients that might have wanted to harm him?” Reno asked.
“I…I don’t know,” Roxas answered. “We never discussed our clients with one another. We weren’t always on the street corner together. He would be out a lot more than me.”
“How often would you say Hayner was out?” Reno asked.
“Pretty much every night, or so he told me,” Roxas replied.
“You didn’t believe him?” Reno’s eyebrows raised in interest.
“Hayner…he sometimes lied,” Roxas admitted. “But he made a lot more money than I did, so it makes sense that he was going out more often, unless the money came from other places.”
“Do you think he was involved in things other than prostitution?” Reno asked.
Roxas heard his family members gasp in horror, but he didn’t dare look at them. Instead, he stared at Reno and Rude, who were watching him, their expressions unreadable.
“Hayner did drugs,” he finally admitted. “I don’t know what—I never asked.”
“You’re sure?” Reno asked.
“Yeah.” Roxas nodded. “I saw needle marks on his arms during gym—if he showed up, that is.”
“He cut class?” Reno interrupted. “How often?”
“A couple times a week,” Roxas answered.
“How long has this been going on?” Reno asked.
“Um…” Roxas tried to remember when Hayner’s strange behavior had started. “About nine or ten months ago, I think.”
“Is there any other strange behavior you’ve noticed, anything out of the ordinary?”
“Yeah,” Roxas answered. “He started getting really aggressive. He normally wasn’t like that. He also started acting really erratically and just…just weird. I can’t really explain it.”
“Did you ever see him doing drugs?” Reno asked.
Roxas shook his head.
“Did the two of you ever talk about it?” Rude asked.
Roxas shook his head again. “I tried confronting him about it once, but he got really defensive, and I dropped it. We never talked about it again.”
“I see,” Rude murmured.
Reno cleared his throat. “Well, I think that’s everything we need to know. If you think of anything else, don’t hesitate to contact me.”
He handed Roxas a business card.
“Thanks,” Roxas murmured.
Reno and Rude rose. At the door, Reno stopped and turned around.
“Axel, I’d like to speak with you now, if you don’t mind,” he said.
“Yeah, it’s fine,” Axel replied. He rose from his seat. “Just hold on a second.”
He walked over to where Roxas still sat. Roxas looked up at him, his heart pounding in his chest.
“I think this is all your stuff.” Axel’s voice was extremely soft. He shoved several things at Roxas.
Roxas looked down at what Axel had given him. There was his cell phone, lighter, pack of cigarettes, and the wad of cash he had earned from the night. He looked back up at Axel, who watched him anxiously.
“Is everything there?” Axel asked.
“Yeah,” Roxas answered. “Thank you.”
Axel smiled. “No problem. See you, Roxas.”
He followed Reno and Rude out, gently closing the door behind him. An extremely awkward silence followed. Roxas stared down at his half-empty coffee cup, silently wishing he could just go home and sleep. He had never felt as dirty as he did now. He longed to go home where it was safe, where he could shower and feel clean again.
“How long?” Cloud’s voice caused him to look up.
“Huh?” Roxas asked blankly.
“How long have you been doing…this?” Cloud gestured to Roxas’s outfit.
“Oh…um…about six months. Maybe a little more,” Roxas answered.
“…why?” Cloud’s next question came out as a strangled whisper.
Roxas refused to look at him. “Money.”
“No, you look at me. I want you to look me in the eye and tell me why you would do such a thing,” Cloud said harshly.
Roxas sighed and looked Cloud straight in the eye. “I needed the money. I tried to find another job, but there was nothing else.”
“So you decided to become a prostitute?” Cloud asked hotly.
“No. Hayner and I were talking about the fact that I couldn’t find work one day and he mentioned prostitution,” Roxas answered.
“So Hayner was the one who got you involved in all this?” Cloud’s eyes narrowed. “I should have known. That boy’s a bad influence.”
“Cloud!” Aerith gasped. “The boy has only been dead a couple hours. Show a little respect for him.”
“Did he convince you to do other things too? Steal? Lie? Cheat? Skip school? Do drugs?”
“No!” Roxas protested loudly. “I didn’t do anything like that. I swear!”
“Why should I trust you?” Cloud asked. “You’ve been keeping this from us. Who’s to say you’re not keeping other things from us?”
“But I’m not,” Roxas protested. “I swear!”
Cloud groaned softly and rubbed his forehead. “Look, I…I can’t do this right now. I need some air.”
He stormed out, slamming the waiting room door behind him.
“Cloud honey, wait,” Aerith protested, following him out.
Sora nervously cleared his throat. “I think I’m gonna go get a soda or something from the vending machines. Only…” he looked apologetic. “I don’t really wanna go alone.”
“I’ll go with you,” Ven volunteered. “Demyx, will you be okay with staying with Roxas until Mom and Dad get back?”
“Of course.” Demyx nodded.
And just like that, Roxas was alone with his older brother. He did not dare look at Demyx, choosing instead to study the intricate pattern of tiles on the floor. And Demyx seemed quite content with that; he didn’t try and start a conversation with him. Out of everyone in the family, it seemed like Demyx was the only one who understood that what Roxas really needed right now was space. Roxas appreciated this more than he could say. This quiet let him just sit and try to digest everything that had happened. It was a lot for him to take in and he immediately felt overwhelmed.
The tears came without warning. He had held himself together for most of the night, but now he felt himself coming apart. He barely noticed it when Demyx came over and wrapped his arms around his little brother. He started humming, his hands gently stroking Roxas’s hair. Roxas allowed himself to be cradled by his older brother, welcoming his gentle embrace. He had always been the stoic one of the brothers, taking after Cloud. Instead of crying, he would fall into a sullen silence.
Now he cried like a baby.
Demyx rocked back and forth with Roxas in his arms, singing gently. At last, Roxas fell silent, his chest heaved sporadically.
“God, I must look like a nightmare,” he muttered, wiping the tears away. “I bet my mascara is running.”
“I’ll get you a tissue,” Demyx said softly.
He found a box of tissues on a table across the room and put it on Roxas’s lap.
“Thanks,” Roxas said weakly. He grabbed a tissue and started dabbing at his eyes. As he feared, the tissue was black from his mascara. “Fuck.”
After a few minutes, he gave up trying to salvage his makeup and twisted the blackened tissue in his hands, his breathing ragged.
There was a soft knock on the door. The boys both looked up. Cloud stood in the doorway, his expression unreadable.
“We’re leaving,” he said stiffly.
“Okay,” Roxas whispered.
He grabbed several tissues and crammed them in his jacket pocket. Then, he rose, and followed his father out.
The rest of his family waited in the lobby, Sora and Ven carrying cans of pop from the vending machines. Without saying a word, the left the hospital, and headed for the parking lot.
It was snowing still, harder than ever. Now it was starting to stick to the ground, and by morning, Roxas better there would be at least an inch or two on the ground.
The drive back to Twilight Town was extremely awkward. Roxas stared out the windows, watching the snow fall. He turned when he felt a warm hand on his. Ven smiled sadly at him. Roxas squeezed his hand. He could see that Ven was trying to be supportive and Roxas really appreciated it.
Never before had Roxas’s home looked so unwelcome as the Strife van pulled up outside.
Cloud glanced in the rearview mirror. “Roxas, I’d like you to wait in the living room, all right? Your mother and I need to talk to you.”
Roxas felt a knot form in the pit of his stomach. The living room was where all the important family discussions took place. It was often the place where the Strife boys received bad news and where they were given a talking to when they were in trouble. Ven squeezed Roxas’s hand again. Roxas blinked; he hadn’t even realized that Ven still held his hand.
“What about us, Dad?” Sora asked from the backseat.
Cloud glanced at him through the rearview mirror. “You and your brothers should go to bed. It’s late and tomorrow’s going to be a long day.”
The four brothers silently went into the house. Roxas squeezed Ven’s hand one last time before heading into the living room to wait. He sank down on the couch and laced his fingers together. His brothers headed for the stairs. Cloud and Aerith went into the kitchen and did not appear in the living until Sora, Ven, and Demyx had gone to bed. Cloud carried a bottle of beer that he sipped at as he and Aerith sat on the couch opposite Roxas. Neither of them seemed to want to say anything, but neither did Roxas. He fidgeted uncomfortably until Cloud finally lowered his beer and surveyed Roxas carefully.
“Do you understand why we are upset?” he asked.
“Yes,” Roxas murmured, wringing his hands together.
“You have betrayed our trust. You were out long past your curfew and even worse, you were having sex with strangers for money! I thought you had better judgment than that. Didn’t we bring you up to be better than this?” Cloud said.
“I’m sorry,” Roxas whispered, blinking back tears.
“Until we feel like we can trust you again, you will be punished,” Cloud said. “You will come home from school and go immediately to your room. You will not leave the house without our permission. No video games or TV either, until you demonstrate to us that we can trust you again. Is that clear?”
“Yes Dad.” Roxas gazed down at his lap.
Cloud’s tone softened. “I understand that tonight has been a rough night for you. Try and get some sleep, okay?”
“Okay.” Roxas smiled wanly.
“Remember honey, we still love you no matter what.” Aerith rose and kissed Roxas on the forehead.
Roxas smiled weakly at her and rose. “I’m gonna take a quick shower before I go to bed.”
“Okay sweetie.” Aerith smiled sadly at him. “Good night.”
“Night,” Roxas replied.
He dragged himself up the stairs and down the hallway to his room. He gathered his things and went to the bathroom. He passed all three of his brothers’ rooms, but their doors were all closed. Not that Roxas expected anything different.
He flipped on the bathroom lights and quietly closed the door behind him. His reflection seemed to mock him as he undressed. Who was that stranger who stared at him through the mirror? Could that ghostly figure he saw really be him? He had Roxas’s hair and eyes, but he was too pale and thin to be Roxas. His eyes were ringed with black and lines streaked down his cheeks from where his mascara was running. His eye shadow was faded and his lips were cracked and bleeding from where he had repeatedly bitten them. Never before had he looked so unattractive.
His hand strayed to his cheek where there was a rust-colored splotch of something and his breath caught in his throat as he realized that it was blood. It was everywhere, he realized, as he looked down at his hands and at his clothes piled on the floor. He suddenly felt chilled even though the bathroom was warm. He hurried over to the bathtub and turned the water on as hot as it would go. He stepped into the shower, barely noticing the scalding water and just stood there for a long time. When he felt sufficiently warmed, he began cleaning himself up. His heart skipped a beat when he saw the rivulets of blood flowing down the drain.
It’s not my blood, it’s Hayner’s, he reminded himself sternly.
Still, even that thought made him feel sick to his stomach.
His hands were trembling, he noted, as he shut the water off. He quickly toweled himself dry and pulled his pajamas on. It was nearly three in the morning when Roxas finally crawled into bed.
That night, he dreamed that he was the one bleeding instead of Hayner. He lay on the sidewalk as snow fell around him. No one noticed him as he gasped for breath, dying alone on the sidewalk in the middle of Hollow Bastion.
Roxas woke with a gasp, his lungs constricting. His alarm clock was deafening. He groaned loudly and threw the alarm clock across the room as hard as he could. The door opened as the alarm clock slammed into the wall next to it and fell to the floor, breaking into several pieces. Demyx timidly poked his head into the room and eyed the alarm clock.
“Wow Roxas. What did the poor alarm clock ever do to you?” he asked.
“Go away Demyx,” Roxas groaned.
“Sorry, I can’t do that,” Demyx said, walking into the room. “Mom says you have to get up or you’re gonna be late for school.”
“Dunwanna,” Roxas grumbled.
“I know,” Demyx said sadly. “Today is really gonna suck, but we’ve gotta go.”
Roxas knew that Demyx wasn’t going away. Groaning softly, he crawled out of bed, glaring at Demyx. His older brother, like the other Strife brothers, used to Roxas’s grumpiness, just grinned at him.
“Can you at least turn around so I can dress without you staring at me?” he asked.
“Oh. Sorry.” Demyx blushed furiously and turned around.
Roxas had already let countless strangers see him in various stages of nakedness; he didn’t want to add his brothers to the list. He dressed swiftly in his last clean uniform and gathered the rest of his uniforms scattered on the floor to wash after school.
“You can turn around now,” he told Demyx as he threw his dirty clothes in his personalized laundry basket—one of Aerith’s many projects.
Demyx glanced at the tie hanging around Roxas’s neck and rolled his eyes. He stepped forward and began fixing the tie. Roxas smiled a little, glad that some things, at least, hadn’t changed. He could always depend on Demyx. Dopy Demyx, they called him at school. He wasn’t the brightest person perhaps, but he could always be depended on. People used him, took advantage of him, made fun of him, and yet he still had the most brilliant smile.
Roxas felt a huge wave of guilt all of a sudden; he had been one of those who had taken Demyx for granted all these years. He stepped forward and embraced his brother. Demyx stepped back a bit, taken off guard.
“Roxas? What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Thank you,” Roxas whispered. “For everything you’ve done. You’re such a good brother. You’ve always been good.”
Demyx smiled and ruffled Roxas’s hair affectionately. “You’re welcome. Now let’s go and get some breakfast, huh?”
“All right,” Roxas agreed.
He followed his brother down to the kitchen. It was clear right away that everything had changed and yet it seemed like nothing had changed at all. Roxas felt everyone staring at him as he took his usual seat beside Ven. Wordlessly, Aerith walked over from the stove carrying a large plate of pancakes. She set the plate in the middle of the table and took her place at the far end of the table.
It was as if a spell had been broken. Sora and Ven immediately reached for the plate and grabbed several pancakes each, striking up a conversation about something-or-other. Cloud buried himself behind the morning paper. After Sora and Ven were done, Demyx helped himself to a couple of the pancakes. From her end of the table, Aerith frowned at Roxas, whose plate remained empty.
“Roxas honey, aren’t you hungry?” she asked.
Truthfully, Roxas wasn’t, but he took a pancake or two, because he knew that it would make Aerith happy. The pancakes made him sick, but he forced himself to clear his plate.
After breakfast, the Strife boys made their usual scramble for the bathroom, but it seemed more subdued today. Roxas won control of the bathroom relatively easily and suspected that his brothers let him win, but he didn’t question it.
He forced himself to take his lunch from Aerith and shoved it into the bottom of his backpack
“Thanks Mom,” he said as he followed his brothers out the door.
As he expected, there was about an inch of snow on the ground. It was a bleak morning, cold and grey, a typical January morning in Twilight Town. Roxas shivered and shoved his hands deeper into his pockets. As usual, he hung back behind Ven and Sora as they were joined by their friends. Demyx stayed unusually close to Roxas today and seemed to be less dreamy than normal. He kept shooting Roxas worried looks, like he thought something was going to happen. Sora and Ven were oddly quiet as well, though they didn’t say why when their friends asked.
When they reached the school, they parted ways, as they always did. Demyx gave Roxas a worried look before heading left toward his locker while Roxas went right, to his. He half expected Hayner to be waiting for him at his locker, but he wasn’t there. Roxas’s throat constricted at the thought that Hayner was never going to be waiting for him at his locker, and for the first time, he felt lonely.
He grabbed his things for his Algebra class and closed his locker. He jumped when he saw someone leaning against the locker next to his, his things spilling from his hands and clattering loudly on the floor. Roxas ignored them, staring at the person blocking his path.
Seifer Altman was the last person Roxas expected to see standing next to his locker. He was a senior like Demyx, tall, and good looking, but with an abrasive personality and a bad boy reputation. He was known to skip class to smoke, beat up younger students or fight other seniors, and vandalize school property. He had been suspended more times than anyone else in the school, but his dad was on the school board and had enough power and reputation to keep Seifer from being expelled. It was rumored that he was also into drugs, and part of a gang, but those were only rumors, and had never been proven. Seifer was usually accompanied by his cronies Rai and Fuu, but today they were nowhere to be found.
“What do you want, Seifer?” Roxas snapped, not really in the mood to deal with Seifer right now.
“Is it true that O’Connor was shot last night?” Seifer asked, his face unusually pale. “Is it true?”
“Yeah,” Roxas answered grimly. “It’s true. I was there.”
“Fuck,” Seifer muttered.
“Why do you care?” Roxas asked scathingly. “It’s not like you ever really talked to him.”
Seifer gave him a long, hard look, and then walked off without saying anything. Roxas, used to this sort of behavior from Seifer, merely gathered his fallen things, and headed off for his own class. He was greeted at the door by stares and whispers that followed him to his seat. News traveled fast in Twilight Town. They all already knew that Hayner had been shot and killed last night and they probably knew that both he and Roxas were prostitutes as well. Roxas tried to ignore the stares and whispers as he sat at his desk and carefully arranged the things on his desk. Then, he put his head down and waited.
He did not stir when the teacher entered the room, nor when the final bell rang. He only lifted his head when the principal’s voice crackled over the ancient PA system. He had expected an announcement of some sort concerning Hayner’s death, though he didn’t know what would be said.
“Good morning staff and students.” The principal sounded very grim. “I have a very important announcement to make this morning.” Roxas nervously wrung his hands together beneath his desk as the principal continued, “It is my deepest regret to inform you today that one of your fellow classmates, Hayner O’Connor has…has been killed.” There was a long silence from the principal that was filled with the sound of gasps from Roxas’s fellow students. “He was shot last night while out on the streets of Hollow Bastion and was taken to the hospital, where he died.” Several girls burst into tears. “His killer is still at large and the police are asking anyone who might have any information on the murder to come forward.”
Roxas didn’t hear the rest; there was an explosion of whispers and crying. The pancakes he had eaten for breakfast churned unpleasantly in his stomach. He knew that he wasn't going to be able to hold his breakfast down and quickly asked to be excused to the bathroom.
He ripped the hall pass out of the surprised teacher’s hands and bolted out of the classroom. He streaked down the hallway, flashing his hall pass to a passing security guard who waved him on.
The bathroom was completely deserted when Roxas entered, something he was very glad for. He ran to the first stall, dropped to his knees, and vomited. He tightly clung to the sides of the porcelain bowl to try and keep himself steady, and vomited again.
“Roxas?” Ven’s quiet voice caused Roxas to look up.
Ven squeezed into the small stall and put his hand on Roxas’s back. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t need to; his presence was soothing enough. When Roxas was sure nothing else was coming up, he leaned back and took in several shaking breaths. The smell of vomit was heavy in the air and there was a bitter taste of it in his mouth.
“I’m going to go back to class,” Ven said softly.
“Okay,” Roxas replied. “I’m gonna rise my mouth out and maybe splash some water on my face. I’ll be back soon.”
“All right,” Ven said.
He squeezed out of the stall and was gone. Roxas rose, making sure to grab the hall pass from where it had fallen next to the toilet, and flushed. Then, he moved to the sink and, after setting the hall pass on the narrow counter, rinsed his mouth out. The water made him feel a bit better. When he was done, he looked at himself in the mirror. His reflection leered back at him, paler, and thinner than ever. Roxas angrily turned away and scrubbed his face dry with a scratchy paper towel. He balled it up and threw it in the trash can.
He was feeling much calmer by the time he returned to Algebra. The principal had finished his announcement and the teacher had started the lesson. Roxas tried not to look at Hayner’s vacant seat as he returned to his.
The teacher tried to carry on the lesson like usual, but Roxas could see that her heart really wasn’t in it. However, that didn’t stop her from assigning a large pile of homework. Roxas made a quick stop at his locker to drop off his Algebra stuff and grab his things for his United States History class.
The rest of the morning seemed to drag on forever. When lunch came, Roxas was halfway to the roof when he realized that Hayner wasn’t going to be there. His throat constricted painfully and he turned and headed for the cafeteria. At once, he wished he hadn’t; as soon as he stepped into the room, all conversations halted and everyone stared at him. From one of the corners, Ven rose, and walked over to greet him.
“Come on Roxas. You can come sit with us,” he said with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.
Roxas nodded absently and allowed his twin to lead him to his table in the corner. Demyx, Terra, and Aqua were already there. All of them stared as the twins approached the table.
“Here, there’s an empty seat next to Terra,” Ven said, pointing to a vacant chair next to the older boy.
Terra said nothing as Roxas sat next to him. Roxas hadn’t expected anything different; Terra was very much the strong, silent type. He was quarterback on the football team, though he chose to eat with them rather than with the rest of the football team. To this day, Roxas didn’t understand why. And Ven was surprisingly tight-lipped about it as well.
Roxas was silent as Ven and Aqua began a conversation. Terra listened quietly, only offering a word or two every once in a while. And Demyx was…well Demyx.
Roxas hadn’t eaten in the cafeteria in a long time. Ever since Hayner had discovered that they could sneak up to the roof, they had eaten up there, only joining the rest of the student body when the weather was too bad for them to eat outside. Now, he probably would never eat up there again. It would be filled with memories of Hayner and he didn’t think he could bear that. The thought of that caused a knot to form in his stomach.
Even more stares and whispers followed him as he got up and went to throw his half-eaten lunch away.
“Don’t listen to them,” Demyx, who had come with him to throw his lunch away as well, advised quietly.
Roxas tried to do what his brother advised him to do, but it was very hard. Demyx put an arm around Roxas and led him back to their table, glaring at the people who stared and whispered at them as they walked.

***
After school had ended, Roxas walked home with his brothers and their friends. When they got home, Roxas immediately went up to his room. He brought his laundry basket down and started a load of laundry before retreating back to his room to start his homework. He was just starting his Algebra homework when Aerith came up to check on him.
“Hey honey,” she said, smiling at him. “How are you doing?”
“I’m fine,” Roxas replied. “Just working on my Algebra homework.”
He showed her the open Algebra book on his desk and the list of problems in his Algebra notebook.
“That’s good,” Aerith said. “If you need anything, I’m right downstairs, okay honey?”
“All right,” Roxas responded automatically.
With a smile, Aerith kissed him on the top of the head and left, but not for long. A while later, she came back to check on him. And then again. And again. When she had to leave for work, Roxas’s brothers took turns sitting with him until Cloud came home from work. Even when Roxas went to bed, it didn’t stop. His father came in every once in a while to check on him while he was trying to fall asleep.

Saturday, a wake was held for Hayner. Roxas got permission from his parents to go, though he knew they wouldn’t have forbidden him from going. He was on his best behavior, already sick of being monitored day and night by his parents. Aerith had to take him and his brothers; Cloud had had to go into the office to put in a couple of hours of work.
Twilight Town only had one funeral home, on the west side of town. It only took ten minutes for the Strife family to walk to Trinity Gardens Funeral Home. It was already extremely crowded by the time they arrived; it seemed like at least half the town was already there. Roxas squeezed through the crowd of mourners and made his way up to the front of the room where Hayner was laid out. As he approached, Hayner’s parents shot him a reproachful look, but luckily, they didn’t bring up the scene they had made at the hospital. Roxas was very grateful for this. He slowly moved up to the coffin and, steeling himself, looked down.
Hayner's skin was a ghastly grey color, his hands folded across his chest. He wore what looked like a brand-new suit; Roxas certainly hadn’t seen him wear it before. He hadn’t even known that Hayner owned a suit. Probably not. Or if he had, he’d never worn it.

Hayner lay in the middle of the street, bleeding.

Roxas blinked. The image had come out of nowhere.

“NO!” he cried, rushing forward.

Roxas took a step backward and bumped into Demyx, who was right behind him. Why was this happening right now. Why—

He dropped to his knees by Hayner’s side.

“Roxas? You okay?” Demyx asked putting a hand on Roxas’s shoulder.

“Hayner!” he cried.
Hayner’s eyes opened and he tilted his head to the side.

Roxas pushed his brother’s hand off his shoulder and ran for the exit. He had to get out of here. It was much too hot in this room, crammed with all these people. It was so suffocating. He had to—

Hayner had been shot in the chest. Blood gushed out and pooled around his body. His face was ashen, eyes dull and hazy.

Roxas burst out of the viewing room, not caring about the scene he was creating. He just needed to get out of there. He felt like he was suffocating.

“Oh god Hayner,” he whispered.

He didn’t stop until he was outside, breathing in the cold winter air. He dropped to his knees and vomited up his pitiful breakfast into the rosebushes.
“Roxas!”
Roxas looked up. Demyx sprinted towards him, a look of concern on his face. Roxas tried to smile, but his eyes immediately filled with tears.
“Oh Roxas,” Demyx whispered, kneeling down beside him.
His eyes widened at the acrid scent of vomit that hung in the air and then his face went slightly green; he had never had a strong stomach. Roxas was just wondering if he was going to vomit too when the rest of his family ran over to him. He wasn’t surprised they were right on Demyx’s heels.
“Are you all right, Roxas, honey?” Aerith asked anxiously. Roxas managed to shake his head. “What’s wrong?”
But Roxas couldn’t talk. Instead, he let out a low, choking sob, and buried his face in his hands so his family wouldn’t see his tears.
“Mom, he’s really upset,” Demyx said, gently patting Roxas on the back. “You think we should just take him home?”
“Yes, I think that’s best,” Aerith said. “Is that all right, Roxas?”
Roxas only nodded. He slowly got to his feet. When he swayed unsteadily, his brothers were there to hold him up, Demyx on one side and Ven on the other. Roxas didn’t have the strength to resist them. None of them really spoke as they walked home.
“Roxas, maybe you’d like to take a bath?” Aerith suggested as he unlocked the front door. “It might help you feel better. And while you’re doing that, I’ll make you a nice cup of tea. Okay?”
“All right,” Roxas agreed.
A bath did sound good. He immediately headed up to the bathroom and ran the water for a bath. While he was waiting for the tub to fill, Roxas stripped off his clothes. He refused to look at his reflection, afraid of what he would find. Instead, he watched the water flow from the faucet and swirl around the tub.
When the tub was sufficiently full, Roxas shut the tap off and stepped into the tub. He sank down into the water and closed his eyes. At once, he saw Hayner laying bleeding to death and his eyes snapped open again. His lungs constricted and for a moment, he couldn’t breathe. But the moment passed, and he could breathe again. He sank back down and tried to relax a bit.

In the end, Roxas was barely able to relax at all. He toweled himself dry and dressed in a pair of sweatpants and an oversized sweatshirt. He went back down to the kitchen and found Aerith there waiting for him with a cup of tea.
“Here you are honey,” she said, pushing the cup at him.
Roxas smiled wearily at her. “Thanks Mom.”
He sat at the kitchen table with it and waited a bit for it to cool. He was not surprised when Aerith joined him at the table with her own cup of tea. They were quiet for a while.
Then, Aerith asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”
“No, not really.” Roxas shook his head.
Aerith looked slightly disappointed, though she tried to hide it. “If you want to about it, I’m here, all right?”
“All right.” Roxas smiled at her and went back to his tea.

Author’s Notes
No, this is not the end. This is hardly even the beginning. Like I said, this little smutty oneshot has turned into a monster of epic proportions. Updates are liable to be slow so be patient with me. Tomorrow We’ll See
Summary: Roxas’s perfect life is merely an illusion. When that illusion is shattered, there may be no one left to pick up the pieces. AU. AkuRoku, Zemyx.

Author’s Notes: This began as an attempt to kill my writer’s block on Naught but Ash. Now it’s got a life of its own and is rapidly eating my brain. HALP! Inspired by the song “Tomorrow We’ll See” by Sting.
Warnings: --takes deep breath— cross dressing, prostitution, depictions of underage male on male sex (anal and oral), masturbation (solo), violence, blood, character death, moderate to strong language (including usage of the F word), mentions of drug use, and more that I just cannot think of right now for the life of me.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Kingdom Hearts nor am I making any money by writing this.

Don’t judge me
You could be me in another life,
In another set of circumstances
Don’t judge me,
One more night I’ll just have to take my chances
And tomorrow we’ll see
-Sting, Tomorrow We’ll See

Roxas stood on the side of the road, dressed in his usual outfit—electric blue tank top beneath a black leather jacket, black leather miniskirt, fishnet leggings, and knee-high black leather high-heeled boots. He wore little makeup—a little blue eye shadow, lip gloss, mascara. He smoked a cigarette, his fourth of the night. It was a nasty habit, he knew, but it helped keep him warm and passed the time.

It was a slow night tonight; it was cold and people were eager to get home, where it was warm. Roxas finished his cigarette and let it drop to the ground, snuffing it out with the heel of his boot. He shivered and rubbed his hands together to try and keep warm, silently cursing whoever designed his skirt for not including pockets. Some nights, like tonight, he wished he didn’t have to do this, but he really needed the money to help pay for college. College was still a number of years away, but he needed to start saving early so he would have enough when the time came. The only problem was that finding a job was difficult; here, in Hollow Bastion, much like pretty much everywhere else, the economy was in a downward spiral and decent jobs were scarce.
Just when it seemed as though Roxas wasn’t going to have any customers, a car slowed down, and then parked in the public lot next to where Roxas stood. It was an expensive car, a Mercedes or something like that. It looked like a custom car from what Roxas could tell, though he wasn’t completely sure; he had never looked because he would never be able to afford such a car.
The headlights were cut and a door opened. A pair of expensive-looking brown leather shoes exited the car first, followed by the rest of the person, a man. He was the tallest and skinniest man Roxas had ever seen with wild, unkempt red hair and vibrant green eyes. Beneath each eye was a purple teardrop tattoo. He wore nice clothes, expensive clothes, Roxas gathered from the way they were tailored. He had the appearance of a well brought up man (well, aside from the hair), but there was something about him that reminded Roxas of a caged animal. The man slammed the car door shut and stalked over to him.
“Can I…help you?” Roxas asked warily.
The man looked at him, tilting his head to the side. “You’re really pretty, not like some of the others who wear so much makeup it’s scary. You know what I mean?”
“What do you want?” Roxas asked irritably.
“I’m looking for someone to keep me company for a while, if you know what I mean.” The man winked suggestively.
“Well, you’ve come to the right place,” Roxas said dryly. “What exactly are you looking for?”
“That depends. What are you offering?” the man said.
Roxas leaned in close, his mouth hovering only inches away from the man’s. “I guess you’ll just have to find out.”
The man’s Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat as he swallowed. “How much?”
Roxas named his price. The man fumbled in his designer jeans and pulled out a thick wad of cash from an expensive-looking leather wallet. He counted out the appropriate amount of cash and handed it to Roxas. Roxas stuffed the money in an inner pocket of his jacket and smiled sweetly, glad that the man had not wanted to haggle over the price.
“You have a name?” Roxas asked, bringing his mouth close to the man’s again, so they were only inches apart.
“A…Axel,” the man stammered.
“Axel,” Roxas whispered seductively. “I’m gonna make you feel so good…”
He finally brought their mouths together for a coarse kiss. He licked and nipped at Axel’s lips until they finally parted and he could explore the hot mouth. Axel tasted of whiskey, though Roxas didn’t mind. After all, he had tasted much worse. He forced Axel to walk backward until he hit the side of his car.
“Open the backseat,” Roxas commanded huskily.
Axel hastily did as he was told. The interior of the car smelled strongly of leather. Judging from the smell, the car was probably brand-new. Roxas pushed Axel back until he was sprawling on the seats. There was hardly enough room for both of them to fit comfortably and shut the door.
Roxas kissed Axel feverishly, then moved down his pale neck, placing light kisses there. His hands moved down to Axel’s pants, feeling the bulge between Axel’s legs. He unbuckled Axel’s pants and brought them down, revealing his erection. With a sly smile, Roxas leaned down and pressed his lips to the tip of Axel’s cock. Axel gave a low, throaty moan and bucked his hips, eager for more.
Roxas moved quickly, as he always did. He closed his mouth around Axel’s cock and started sucking, his tongue working quickly to find Axel’s sensitive spots. All too soon, it was over, and Roxas was straightening up, wiping his dripping mouth with the back of his hand. He was startled when he felt Axel grab him and pull him back down.
“Wait!” he gasped, caught off-guard.
“I’ll pay you, I promise,” Axel whispered, cupping Roxas’ ass.
“But I’m not…” Roxas protested.
“I know you’re a man,” Axel said softly. “That’s why I chose you over the other prostitutes.”
“All right,” Roxas whispered.
Axel sat up and pulled Roxas onto his lap. He brought their lips together for several searing kisses that made Roxas breathless while his hand reached down to stroke his cock.
“Please tell me you have a condom,” Roxas managed to get out between kisses.
“Uh…yeah.” Axel nodded. “I think so.”
He searched through his wallet. Roxas nervously bit his lip while he waited. He had had sex without using a condom before, but he certainly preferred having protected sex. He wasn’t stupid; he knew what the risks of having sex without using protection were. At last, Axel pulled out a condom and fumbled with it for a few moments before managing to put it on properly. Roxas rolled his eyes at Axel’s bumbling, though secretly, he found it kind of cute.
Axel lifted Roxas’ skirt and slid his leggings and panties down. Roxas moved forward and positioned himself over Axel’s cock, then carefully lowered himself, allowing Axel to penetrate him. They moved in tandem, Axel thrusting his hips up, and Roxas pushing down, using Axel’s shoulders as leverage. The car was filled with their panting, their breath condensing on the windows.
“Nngh, harder!” Roxas gasped, squeezing his eyes shut.
He gave a low moan as Axel hit a sensitive spot. Axel cupped his ass beneath his skirt, trying to bring him closer, as if that was possible. Axel thrust faster and harder. Then, with a low grunt, he reached his climax. Roxas waited until the orgasm had ended before lifting himself up and twisting around so he was sitting on the seat next to the red-haired man. He sat still for a few moments, trying to remember how to breathe. Then, he bent over and pulled up his panties and leggings.
“You said you would pay…” he turned to Axel, all business.
“Oh yeah. Right.” Axel fumbled for his wallet again.
Roxas accepted the payment without a word and opened the car door, letting in a cold blast of wind. A hand grasped his arm and prevented him from leaving.
“Wait,” Axel called out softly. “Tell me your name.”
Roxas felt a stab of irritation. “What does it matter what my name is?”
“Please.” There was something sad and almost weary about Axel’s voice.
“Roxas,” Roxas finally said, swallowing hard. “My name is Roxas.”
“Roxas,” Axel repeated softly, letting go of Roxas’ arm. “Thank you.”
Roxas merely shrugged. “It’s my job.”
He did not look back as he exited the car and walked down the street.

Roxas walked the six blocks home. It was much cheaper to walk than to hail a cab even though it was the middle of winter. He walked briskly, eyes trained on the ground to avoid eye contact with anyone who might have passed him. Fortunately, the streets were all but deserted this late at night so he didn’t have a problem.
Within half an hour, he was home. He lived in a small town bordering Hollow Bastion called Twilight Town with his parents and three brothers in an average two-story house. His parents Aerith and Cloud Strife were refugees from Midgar, a city now in ruins and unlivable for at least fifty years due to a massive reactor leak that tainted the environment with toxic materials.
Roxas did not remember leaving Midgar with his family; he had only been a year old at the time. All he had ever known was his life in Twilight Town, his boring, perfect life. Nothing even remotely interesting ever happened. The town was so small that the primary method of transportation was by foot, sometimes by rail. It was the kind of place where everyone knew everyone else, had even grown up with them in most cases, and secrets were hard to keep.
Roxas hesitated at the door of his house, listening carefully. As soon as he was sure it was clear, he opened the door. He slipped inside and shut the door behind him as quietly as he could. None of his other family members were in sight, so he was able to sneak up to his bedroom without being seen. It was a little past midnight, so he assumed they were all in bed. He had to be extra careful to not be caught because it was way past his curfew and he would be in so much trouble if caught breaking his curfew.
He was quiet as he tiptoed into his room and got ready for a shower. He refused to go to bed without showering first, even if it was extremely late at night and he was tired. He made sure to change before heading down the hall to the bathroom so no one would see him dressed like this.
Roxas sighed as he stepped under the shower’s hot spray. It had been one of his easier nights, but it still was such a relief to clean himself up. He closed his eyes as the water washed over him and saw a pair of vivid green eyes. It was that man, Axel, eyes filled with lust. He reached down and grasped his erect cock. He rarely lost control like this, but there was something different about Axel, something about him that was familiar, though he didn’t know why. It was almost as if…as if they had met before, but that was impossible, wasn’t it? Roxas was sure that he would have remembered meeting someone like Axel. The man was pretty unforgettable.
His hand moved faster and faster. He titled his head back, eyes tightly squeezed shut, the image of Axel and his vivid green eyes, until with a low moan, he came. Breathing raggedly, he let go of his cock, and stood motionless beneath the spray for a few minutes, trying to regain his composure. When at last he felt calm again, he opened his eyes. He was slightly embarrassed that he had lost control like that, but there was nothing he could do about it except grit his teeth and move on. And above all, never let anyone know what went on behind closed doors.
He switched the water off and toweled himself dry, then dressed in his usual attire for bed; boxers, grey sweatpants, and a black tank top. He slipped back down the hallway, expertly moving through the shadows.
“You’re up late.” A quiet voice caused him to turn.
His twin leaned against the doorway of his bedroom, illuminated by the moonlight streaming in from his window. Ven was almost completely identical to Roxas, but couldn’t have been more different than him. Ven was gentle and sweet, unfailingly kind, and always happy. He often came across as naïve, though Roxas knew better. He knew that Ven knew more than he let on. Ven’s gaze was too sharp now, eyes too alert to suggest he didn’t know what was really going on.
Roxas swallowed hard and said, “Yeah. I had some homework to finish.”
“I see,” Ven said. “Well, goodnight.”
Roxas hurried back to his bedroom, feeling Ven’s eyes on him even after he crawled into bed.

He was in a room he did not recognize that seemed to be in a different place and time altogether. Everything about the room felt futuristic. The strange, ghostly creatures appeared without any warning, but Roxas was ready for them. He summoned his weapon almost instinctively and made quick work of them. He sensed another presence in the room and turned. He smelled darkness and a faint scent of dying embers and scowled.
“Show yourself!” he commanded.
A portal of darkness appeared first, stretching the space of the room, dropping the temperature several degrees. A figure cloaked in all black stepped through and lifted a gloved hand. The portal closed. The figure reached up and pushed the hood back, revealing the face of a man vaguely familiar to Roxas. He had wild, unkempt red hair and vivid green eyes. Beneath each eye was a purple teardrop tattoo.
“Simply amazing, Roxas,” the man said, arms folded as he crossed the room.
This man—why was he familiar? Why did he know this man? The memories were still vague, but the fog was lifting, at least enough for him to know the man’s name.
“Axel.”
The man unfolded his arms. “You really do remember this time.” He turned toward Roxas. “I’M SO FLATTERED!” The walls of flame burst out of nowhere encircling them. “But you’re too late!”
Roxas instinctively summoned his weapon—the Keyblade it was called. Yet there was something different this time. Power surged through him, a power that had been awakened by his desperation. A pair of Keyblades appeared, one in each hand. This seemed to anger Axel.
“Two?!” he bit out.
He lowered his head and stretched out his arms, calling his own weapons to hand, a pair of chakra. He looked up at Roxas with an animalistic grin. Everything about him screamed danger, but Roxas wasn’t about to back down. He charged forward and slashed at Axel, who easily dodged. He coated his chakra with fire and threw them at Roxas. Roxas fended them off with his Keyblades. The chakra circled around and returned to Axel’s hands. Roxas leapt at him again, slashing. Axel barely had time to dodge. Roxas missed him by mere millimeters. He charged again and this time, Axel wasn’t so lucky; Roxas grazed him with one of his Keyblades, drawing blood. He felt a slight bit of satisfaction at seeing the tear in Axel’s coat, the small line of blood dribbling down his arm. Axel glanced at the cut on his arm as though it was a mild annoyance, then looked back at Roxas.
“My turn,” he said, eyes glinting.
He stretched his arms out again, chakra in hand. This time, instead of summoning his weapon, he summoned huge pillars of fire. Roxas did the only thing he could.
He ran.

Roxas jerked awake, his breath catching in his throat. The dream had been so real. It had been a long time since he had had such a vivid nightmare. He lay awake for several minutes, heart pounding wildly in his chest. At last, he was able to settle down and drift back to sleep.

***
Six AM came too soon for Roxas, who spent most of the night tossing and turning, plagued with nightmares involving Axel. He groaned softly as his shrill alarm cut through his sleep. He stuffed his head under his pillow, trying to block out the sound, but he knew it was no use. Reluctantly, he got up and chucked his old-fashioned alarm clock across the room. It hit the opposite wall with a satisfying thud and broke as it hit his floor.
Roxas went to retrieve it and gritted his teeth as he saw just how damaged it was. He made a mental note to ask Sora for more duct tape so he could fix the clock. Again. He knew he should probably just get a new one, but he had sort of become attached to the thing.
Shaking his head, Roxas dressed in his uniform, cursing under his breath as he fumbled with the tie. Why a school required boys to wear ties was beyond him. It was ridiculous. Roxas groaned and went and knocked on Demyx’s door.
“Help,” he muttered when his older brother answered.
“Again, Roxas?” Demyx sighed, blocking the doorway. “You’ve gotta learn how to tie your own ties.”
“I’ve tried,” Roxas protested. “Like a million times, I swear!” Demyx raised his eyebrows at him. “I’m serious!”
“Come on,” Demyx finally relented.
He moved out of the way, allowing Roxas to enter. Demyx was the odd one out in the family, which was ironic considering that Sora was the only brunette in the family, aside from their mother. Sora, Roxas, and Ven were all natural athletes. Demyx was not. He was the clumsiest person Roxas knew. He had no interest in sports or any of the stereotypical activities boys did. Instead, he loved music. He spent hours playing any musical instrument he could get his hands on, though sitar was by far his favorite. Roxas hadn’t even heard of the sitar until Demyx did a presentation on it during their Music Appreciation class last semester. He even wrote his own music, though he certainly never shared it with anyone.
Roxas eyed Demyx’s prized sitar, something he had painstakingly saved up for on his own as he moved into the center of the room. He had never understood his brother’s obsession with music and probably never would.
“Let’s see then,” Demyx said.
He moved incredibly close to Roxas and for a moment, Roxas had to remind himself that this was his brother, not some random stranger on the streets. Luckily, Demyx took no notice, focused entirely on tying Roxas’ tie. Roxas was glad sometimes that at least two of his brothers were ridiculously unobservant. He spaced out as Demyx folded and gently tugged the material around his neck into obedience. For a moment, Roxas saw jade green eyes, but they melted into Demyx’s sea green eyes.
“Roxas?” Demyx asked, gently touching him on the shoulder.
“Huh?” Roxas blinked, coming out of his trace.
“You’re done,” Demyx said. His usual cheerful smile vanished. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Roxas immediately lied. He forced out a small smile to convince Demyx. “I’m fine.”
“All right.” Demyx didn’t look totally convinced, but let it drop. “Let’s go get some breakfast, huh?”
“Yeah,” Roxas said hollowly.
He followed Demyx to the kitchen. Meals were always his least favorite time of the day because he was forced to interact with the rest of his family. He didn’t have a problem with the rest of his family individually, but he could not stand being forced to sit there and act as though they were one big happy family, talking about the most mundane matters.
When Roxas and Demyx arrived in the kitchen, the rest of the family was already seated around the breakfast table in their customary seats. Cloud sat at the head of the table hidden behind a newspaper, an untouched plate of bacon and eggs in front of him. Sora and Ven sat on either side of him, chatting about something or other. Aerith was at the stove, as always.
“You’re late,” she said without turning around.
“Sorry mom,” Demyx and Roxas muttered at the same time.
They took their respective seats, Demyx next to Sora and Roxas next to his twin.
“How would you boys like your eggs?” Aerith asked.
“Scrambled,” Demyx answered at once.
“Um…I’m not really hungry,” Roxas answered.
Aerith turned away from the stove, frowning. “Are you okay? Are you feeling all right?”
“I’m fine,” Roxas said.
Before he could protest, Aerith had crossed the kitchen and placed her hand on his forehead.
“You don’t feel feverish,” she murmured.
“I’m fine,” Roxas protested loudly.
“All right,” Aerith said. “Are you sure you don’t want anything?”
“I’m fine,” Roxas protested loudly.
“Honey, he’s fine,” Cloud said, finally setting his paper down. “Stop worrying.”
“Sorry.” Guiltily, Aerith went back to the stove.
A few moments later, she set a plate of scrambled eggs in front of Demyx and then turned to Roxas, eyes filled with worry. Roxas felt bad for worrying her and took a couple pieces of toast to appease her.
“Aerith honey, sit,” Cloud said. “You’ve been on your feet for far too long. Sit. Rest. Have something to eat.”
“But I still have to make the boys’ lunches,” Aerith protested.
“Now.” Cloud’s tone was gentle, but firm.
Aerith sighed and sat at the far end of the table between Roxas and Sora. Roxas, who had barely touched his toast, took a large bite so Aerith wouldn’t worry. It was dry and bland, sticking in his throat as he forced himself to swallow it. He took a large sip of milk to help wash it down and tried not to gag.
Breakfast seemed to drag on forever. Roxas managed to take several more bites of his toast, though it was only for his mother’s benefit. When breakfast was finally over, Roxas hastily ran upstairs to brush his teeth. What followed was a normal occurrence in the Strife household; a mad dash for the only bathroom in the upper level that turned into a mild scuffle, which involved wrestling and tickling. Roxas stood back and let his brothers fight, then when they were occupied with their wrestling/tickling match, stepped forward and claimed the bathroom for himself.
“Rooooxas!” Sora whined as the three brothers realized they had lost again.
“You snooze you lose,” Roxas said, allowing himself a smug smile.
The door made such a satisfying sound as he shut it. He jabbed the lock into place and sighed. Almost immediately, the doorknob started rattling, followed by loud pounding.
“Rooooxas!” Sora protested. “No fair!”
“You shouldn’t have let yourself get distracted so easily,” Roxas snapped at the closed door.
The pounding and shouting stopped for a moment before starting back up again. Roxas rolled his eyes, then went to the sink to brush his teeth. Sora’s pounding and muffled protests never stopped.
And he was still sulking half an hour later as they were heading out the door. Roxas couldn’t help rolling his eyes. Sora was so childish sometimes. It was hard to believe he was going to be sixteen soon. He certainly didn’t act his age.
“Roxas honey, wait.” Aerith stopped Roxas at the door. “Don’t forget your lunch.”
She handed him a paper sack with his name on it. At least she had had enough sense to not draw little hearts and smiley faces on it this time.
“Oh, right. Thanks,” Roxas said, giving Aerith a false smile.
The smile had the desired effect; Aerith beamed at him.
“Hurry up or you’re going to be late,” Cloud said, coming to stand next to his wife.
Roxas gave them a small wave and hurried after his brothers, who were already walking down the street. He caught up with them easily; none of them were particularly fast walkers.
At the end of the street, they met up with a bunch of Sora’s friends. Roxas hung back; he didn’t particularly like some of his brother’s friends, especially Kairi. She only pretended to be nice, but Roxas knew that deep down, Kairi was a bitch. But Sora adored her, so Roxas tried to tolerate her, for his brother’s sake. As they went farther and farther down the street, they were joined by more and more people.
Their group had started with only the brothers, who had been inseparable from childhood. As they grew older, they sort of split apart as they had different teachers and different lunches. Somehow, their groups had all sort of coalesced into one big group by high school, though there were still some subgroups within their larger group.
Kairi and her twin Xion, Naminé, and Riku were all Sora’s friend, though the latter was relatively surprising; Riku and Sora were as different in personality as Roxas and Ven. Yet they had been best friends since kindergarten. Sora just seemed to have that sort of effect on people. Ven had Terra and Aqua, who were seniors like Demyx. How they had become friends with Ven was a mystery to Roxas. He seemed to have the same effect on people as Sora. Demyx had a couple friends, though he wasn’t as close to them as Sora and Ven were to their friends. And those friends were the oddest sort of people imaginable. Most of them were out of school and so Demyx didn’t see them very often. And Roxas had Hayner. But Hayner lived on the other side of town, so Roxas wouldn’t see him until they got to school. Maybe. He didn’t mind being alone. In fact, he would have remained alone if he hadn’t been befriended by Hayner. Normally, Roxas wasn’t much of a people person, but he had found it hard to not like Hayner. They had been best friends since kindergarten. Hayner was the only one he could trust. Hayner was…special.
When they reached the high school, their group split up, heading in different directions. There was only one school in Twilight Town due to its small size, split into elementary school, middle school, and high school. There were three separate entrances for each grade and they were kept apart for the most part.
Roxas’ first stop was his locker. He was surprised to see Hayner already there, leaning against the locker next to his. Hayner’s uniform was messy as usual, his shirt and pants rumpled, and his tie hanging loose around his neck. Roxas was half surprised that Hayner had actually come to school today, half surprised he hadn’t shown up high. At least he didn’t appear to be high, from what Roxas could tell. He had learned how to tell when Hayner was under the influence of whatever he was doing—Roxas had never asked. Part of him was curious, but another part didn’t really want to know.
“Hey!” Hayner called out.
“Hey Hayner,” Roxas muttered.
Hayner frowned at his unenthusiastic response. “Hard night last night”
“Not really,” Roxas replied. “Just cold.”
“Ah.” Hayner nodded in understanding. “That’s why I didn’t work last night.”
“Probably smart,” Roxas muttered.
Hayner was the only one who knew that Roxas was a prostitute. In fact, he was the one who got Roxas started as one. Roxas wasn’t really sure how it happened. He had mentioned that he was desperate for money and a few conversations and a week later, he was walking the streets, selling his body for cash. He had been so shocked to learn that his best friend was a prostitute and hadn’t believed him until Hayner brought him one night to watch. Roxas had to admit that he had been disgusted the first time he watched Hayner give some random guy a blowjob, but he quickly learned how much he could make as a prostitute and warmed to the idea. Now he didn’t think twice about it.
“Roxas?” Roxas blinked as Hayner waved his hand in front of his face.
“I’m here,” Roxas said.
“Riiiiight.” Hayner clearly didn’t believe him.
Roxas rolled his eyes and turned back to his locker. It took him several tries to get his combination right and even then, he had to give it a swift kick in order to get it open. Hayner sniggered Roxas turned to him and glared. Hayner fell silent at once. Roxas prided himself in his ability to silence people with a single withering glare.
“You all right?” Hayner asked with a frown.
“I’m fine,” Roxas snapped.
He shoved his things in his locker and grabbed his things for his first period Algebra class, then slammed his locker shut. He and Hayner walked to class together, stopping briefly at Hayner’s locker so he could grab his things. They arrived just as the final bell rang. The teacher glared at them.
“We’re on time,” Hayner protested.
“Just take your seats,” the teacher snapped.
Hayner and Roxas hurried to their seats at the back of the room.
“Geez, someone’s on her period,” Hayner whispered loudly.
Roxas snickered.
“Is there something you’d like to share with the class?” the teacher asked, her hands on her hips.
Hayner paled. “Uh, no ma’am.”
“Then take your seats,” the teacher commanded.
“Yes ma’am,” Hayner said meekly.
He and Roxas sat in their usual seats in the very back of the room.
“All right. Today we’re going to start Chapter 4 on ratios and proportions…” the teacher began her usual lecture.
Roxas found his attention drifting away, as it usually did during Algebra. He doodled mindlessly on a piece of paper until the bell rang at the end of the hour. He scribbled down the homework the teacher had written up on the chalkboard and shoved the paper into a random page of his Algebra textbook. Hayner waited for him at the door.
“Ready?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Roxas replied.
He followed Hayner down the hallway, to their next class; United States History. The teacher was extremely old and spoke in a dry monotone voice, droning on and on about dates of battles and other things that should have been important but Roxas couldn’t bring himself to care about.
After United States History was Introduction to Literature and Composition, which was only a bit more interesting than United States History. At least the teacher tried to make it interesting. Roxas wasn’t much of a reader—Ven was the bookworm in the family, but he did like some of the stuff they had to read for that class.
Their last morning class was Earth Science, another dreadfully dull subject. The only good thing about this class was that there were no assigned seats, so Roxas and Hayner could sit next to each other and pass notes while the teacher droned on about the different layers of the Earth.
There were two lunches at Twilight Town High School, one for the juniors and seniors and one for the freshman and sophomores. When the bell rang at the end of Earth Science, Roxas grabbed the paper sack containing the lunch Aerith had packed for him and snuck up to the roof, which was always unlocked. Hayner was already there, smoking a cigarette.
“Hey,” Roxas called out, crossing to where Hayner sat.
“Yo,” Hayner responded. He eyed Roxas’s lunch. “Your mommy pack that for you?”
Despite his sneering tone, Roxas knew that Hayner didn’t mean it. He was just jealous that Roxas’s mother packed him a lunch every day. Hayner came from a broken home; his father had run off when he was young and his mom was too busy working two jobs in order to support him and his baby sister.
“You can have some if you want,” Roxas offered. “I can never eat everything she packs. She thinks I’m too thin.”
Hayner gave a derisive laugh but did not refuse the offer of free food. Roxas was glad he had someone to share with; he didn’t feel as guilty that he didn’t eat the whole lunch.
After they had finished Roxas’s entire lunch, they each pulled out a cigarette and smoked in silence. This was something Roxas really liked about Hayner; he didn’t force conversations. If they happened, they happened. If they didn’t, they didn’t.
At the end of lunch, they gathered their things and got rid of any evidence they had ever been there. They made their way back down the narrow stairs and joined the crowd of students moving from the cafeteria to their fifth period class. No one even noticed they had been gone.
Fifth and sixth periods were different in that they were shared lessons. The first four periods were only for the specific grade, i.e. the freshman were all together, the sophomores were all together, the juniors were all together, and all the seniors were all together. However, the last two periods mixed the freshman and sophomores and the juniors and seniors together.
Fifth period was one of the words periods of the day—Health. No matter what they were talking about, whether it was about proper nutrition or safe sex practices, Roxas always managed to feel awkward. It didn’t help that the rest of the class was immature about it, laughing and making crude jokes, especially when the teacher talked to them about condoms. Today’s lesson was especially trying; the teacher was starting into the more embarrassing topics, starting with STDs. Later in the semester, they were going to have guest speakers, but for now, they had to settle for looking at disgusting pictures of what happened when you didn’t use protection.
Even worse than Health was Physical Education, which was Roxas and Hayner’s last class of the day. Roxas was unsurprised to see that Hayner had slipped away while they were walking to the gym; Hayner often cut gym class and left school early. Roxas would have gladly joined him, but he knew his family would notice since he shared the class with both Ven and Demyx, and they would certainly tell their parents if he skipped.
It was with great reluctance that Roxas headed to the gym alone and went into the locker room to change. The gym uniforms were similar to the regular school uniform except that there was no tie, blue shorts instead of slacks, and tennis shoes instead of black dress shoes. He joined the rest of the class in the gym and waited for the final bell to ring.
The gym teacher was the burly, bad-tempered football coach who was a big bully. He loved to push kids around, and came up with nicknames for everyone. The less he liked you, the worse the nickname was.
“O’Connor is missing again,” he noted with a snort as he took attendance. “He’s a slacker. Slackers never amount to anything. Now go run some laps!”

When school was finally over, Roxas met up with his brothers and all their friends, and they walked home. Once again, Roxas hung out at the back of the crowd, not too keen on mixing with Kairi. Demyx walked beside him, his head in the clouds, as always. Several times, Roxas had to keep him from walking into random objects, such as light posts or garbage cans.
Aerith waited for them in the kitchen with a plate of freshly cut fruit for a snack. Roxas snagged several pieces of watermelon, his personal favorite, and barricaded himself in his room. He remained there until dinner, wading through the piles of homework he had been assigned.
Roxas was unsurprised to see only five plates set at the dining room table that night.
“Dad working late again?” he asked.
“Yes,” Aerith replied through pursed lips. She was already dressed in her uniform, Roxas noted.
Aerith worked in the local hospital as an emergency room nurse. She often worked the night shift so she could be home during the day in case the boy needed her .Cloud worked during the day at a global consulting firm in Hollow Bastion. He had been putting in a lot of long hours lately, something Aerith didn’t approve of.
Dinner seemed to drag on forever, especially since Cloud was absent. Aerith tried to keep the conversation going, though it only made things more awkward. Roxas was extremely relieved when he was excused from the table, even more so that he wasn’t on dish duty tonight; the brothers worked in pairs and rotated nights. Tonight was Sora and Demyx’s night to do the dishes.
Roxas went back up to his room and worked on the rest of his homework while he waited for nightfall. Aerith left at about seven for her shift. By eight, it was dark enough for Roxas to feel comfortable enough to sneak out without being caught. He dressed in his usual outfit and carefully applied his makeup.
By nine, he was walking the streets of Hollow Bastion, though tonight he had Hayner for company. It was warmer tonight, which meant that it was likely there would be more customers. And there were. Both Roxas and Hayner were kept busy for the next several hours with a wide assortment of customers. By midnight, things were winding down and Roxas was thinking about heading in when a car pulled up.
“I need a smoke bad,” Hayner said. “You can have this one.”
“All right,” Roxas replied, smiling.
His heart pounded in his chest as he realized he knew that car. There was no mistaking it; it was Axel’s car. Moments later, the car door opened and Axel exited. He saw Roxas standing on the corner and grinned.
“Hey!” he waved. “I was hoping I’d find you here tonight.”
“Back for more?” Roxas asked dryly.
Axel grinned. “Of course.”
“I trust you have money?” Roxas asked.
“Yep.” Axel pulled out his wallet and withdrew a wad of cash that he handed to Roxas.
Roxas counted what he had been given and then stuffed the cash in his jacket pocket next to his pack of cigarettes.
“You wanna do it in your car again?” Roxas asked.
“Yeah, that’s probably best.” Axel nodded.
“After you.” Roxas smiled crookedly.
Axel led the way to his car. He unlocked it and opened the back. They crawled in, Roxas closing the door behind them. There was a brief pause and then Roxas brought their lips together. Axel gently cupped his cheek. Roxas pulled away for a moment, then pressed their foreheads together. Axel pulled him onto his lap. Roxas could feel the bulge already between Axel’s legs and smirked.
“Impatient, are we?” he teased, nibbling on Axel’s earlobe.
Axel moaned softly in response. Roxas brought their lips together while he worked to remove Axel’s pants and boxers.
“Condom,” he reminded Axel.
“Do we have to?” Axel groaned.
“I don’t want to catch anything you might have,” Roxas said.
“I’m clean,” Axel protested.
“You ever been tested?” Roxas asked.
“No,” Axel replied.
“Use a condom,” Roxas said.
“All right, all right,” Axel huffed.
He looked slightly put out but obediently put a condom on. Satisfied, Roxas slid his leggings and panties down and moved forward so he was positioned right over Axel’s cock. He slowly lowered himself down. His lips found Axel’s again as Axel started thrusting. He closed his eyes as the thrusting intensified, biting his lip to keep himself from crying out.
Axel let out a low groan as he reached his climax, then threw his head back, panting loudly. Roxas pressed his lips to Axel’s forehead and moved off his lap. He bent down and pulled his panties and leggings back up. He turned to Axel, who had scarcely moved except for pulling up his boxers and pants again.
“Bye,” Roxas whispered.
He went to open the car door so he could get out, but Axel unexpectedly grabbed his arm and forced him to turn back around.
“A…Axel?” Roxas stammered.
Axel put his hand on Roxas’s crotch, his hand brushing against Roxas’s erection. Roxas flushed.
“May I…?” Axel asked.
Roxas hesitated for a moment before nodded. Normally, he didn’t let anyone touch him so intimately; he didn’t trust anyone. But for some reason, he felt like he could trust Axel.
Axel pressed their lips together for a coarse kiss while his hands worked to remove Roxas’s skirt. His leggings and panties quickly followed and Roxas was completely exposed to Axel. He couldn’t help blushing, though he didn’t know why.
“Aww, you’re so cute when you’re blushing,” Axel said.
“Shut up,” Roxas muttered, blushing even more.
Axel wrapped his hand around Roxas’s cock and started stroking. Roxas bit back a low moan, closing his eyes. Then, without warning, he let go. Roxas looked at Axel in confusion. Axel grinned. He placed several kisses on Roxas's lips and then slowly moved down. Roxas gasped harshly as Axel’s mouth found his cock.
“Is this okay?” Axel pulled away sounding concerned.
“Y…yeah.” Roxas stammered could have kicked himself for sounding like a naïve schoolgirl.
Axel smiled and put his mouth around Roxas’s cock again. Roxas closed his eyes and leaned back against the seat, his fingers lacing through Axel’s spiky hair. He gave a low whine as Axel’s tongue found a sensitive spot. He had never felt so good before. No one had ever touched him like Axel did. He moaned and arched his back. He cried out louder and louder as Axel worked harder and harder on his cock. He was trying to be quiet, he really was, but Axel was just making him feel so good. He never was this vocal with anyone, ever. He gasped sharply as he reached his climax and resisted the urge to scream.
His breaths came in ragged pants as Axel slowly pulled away, wiping his dripping mouth with the back of his hand. For a moment there, Roxas’s mind had gone completely blank and he hadn’t thought of anything really. It had been blissful..
“Here.” Axel’s voice caused him to open his eyes.
He was holding out a towel. Roxas accepted it with a quiet word of thanks and tried to clean himself up the best he could.
“So…uh…will I see you around?” Axel asked as Roxas prepared to leave.
Roxas smiled at him. “Maybe.” After a moment’s hesitation, he added, “My schedule isn’t exactly regular. If…if you want, I can give you my cell phone number so you can contact me and we can arrange to meet.”
“Yeah I’d like that,” Axel said.
Roxas knew he was stupid for doing this, probably insane, but he didn’t care. He would risk it.
“Fuck, I don’t have my phone on me,” Axel muttered.
Roxas rolled his eyes; what kind of idiot walked around without a cell phone, especially this late at night?
“Do you have a pen and paper?” he asked
Axel squinted. “Uh…I think I got a pen.”
He awkwardly squeezed through to the front and went into the glove box. He triumphantly returned with an ink pen.
“Here, write your number on my hand,” he said.
Roxas rolled his eyes again, but took Axel’s hand.
“Hold still,” he commanded as he began to write on the back of his hand..
Roxas tried hard to not dwell on the fact that Axel’s hand was extremely soft. Swallowing hard, he let go.
Axel looked at his hand and pouted. “You’re not gonna tell me your last name?”
“No,” Roxas answered.
“Why not?” Axel wanted to know.
“It’s not important,” Roxas said. “Why do you want to know anyway?”
Axel shrugged. “Just curious. So…uh…I’ll call you?”
“Yeah.” Roxas nodded. “Uh…try to call me after 8, okay?”
Axel studied him carefully for a few moments. “All right.”
Roxas was glad he didn’t ask any questions.
He smiled at Axel. “I’ll see you around.”
“Yeah,” Axel said hoarsely. “See you.”
Roxas opened the car door and started out.
That’s when the gunshots started.
Roxas’s head snapped up at once. The shots seemed to be pretty close. And Hayner…
Hayner!
Roxas gasped. Hayner was out there. And for some reason, he felt like he was involved. He couldn’t say how or why he knew. He just knew. He scrambled out.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Where are you going?” Axel demanded, trying to pull him back in.
“I’ve gotta go! My friend’s out there!” Roxas shouted.
“No, come back!” Axel yelled.
But Roxas was already sprinting down the street.
“Damn it Roxas! You’re gonna get yourself killed!” Axel bellowed.
Roxas ignored him. It was snowing now, giant flakes that clung wetly to Roxas’s skin as he sprinted down the street. He stopped dead. Hayner lay in the middle of the street, bleeding.
“NO!” Roxas cried, rushing forward.
This couldn’t be happening. It couldn’t—
Roxas dropped to his knees by Hayner’s side.
“Hayner!” he cried.
Hayner’s eyes opened and he tilted his head to the side.
“Ro…xas,” he said hoarsely.
He had been shot in the chest. Blood gushed out and pooled around him. His face was ashen, eyes dull and hazy.
“Oh god, Hayner,” Roxas whispered.
He took off his jacket in a rush, his cell phone, cigarettes, lighter, and all the cash he had earned tonight spilling out onto the sidewalk. He ignored it, pressing his jacket to the wound on Hayner’s chest, trying to staunch the blood flow.
“My god,” Axel whispered.
Roxas looked up at him. “Don’t just stand there! Do something!” Hysteria crept into his voice.
Axel squatted down next to him and picked up Roxas’s cell phone. He straightened up and, fingers trembling, called 9-1-1. Roxas tried not to listen to him, focusing back on Hayner.
“Don’t you dare die on me,” he growled, applying more pressure to the wound. “You hear me, Hayner? Don’t you fucking die on me!”
***
Roxas sat in a private waiting room at Hollow Bastion General Hospital, wrapped in a blanket one of the nurses had given him. He was still shivering, though he wasn’t sure if it was just from the cold. He couldn’t stop reliving the awful ambulance ride to the hospital, watching Hayner bleed and bleed and bleed while the paramedic tried in vain to stop it Hayner had immediately been rushed into surgery, but it was too late.
Roxas had barely reacted when the doctor came out to tell him that Hayner was dead. He had already known that Hayner was not going to make it. He knew he should have felt something upon learning that his best friend—his only friend—was dead, but all he felt was a great numbness. The worst part was Hayner’s parents, who burst in after the serious-faced doctor had left and basically accused them of killing their son. Roxas had never seen Hayner’s mother look so hysterical before. They were led out by a nurse, though they did not go quietly. And Roxas couldn’t help feeling guilty that he had let Hayner die.
Axel had gone to get them coffee. He had volunteered to stay with Roxas until his family came and Roxas hadn’t had the heart to refuse him.
Axel came back carrying two Styrofoam cups. “Here you go”
“Thank you,” Roxas murmured, gratefully accepting the cup from the redhead.
He was dealing with the revelation that Roxas was underage remarkably well. There had been no way to hide the truth from the paramedic who had pointedly asked Roxas how old he and Hayner were. Axel had given Roxas a long look but hadn’t said anything. Since Roxas was still a minor, they had had to call his parents. He was not looking forward to having to deal with them. All he wanted right now was to crawl into bed and forget this nightmare.
There was a knock on the open waiting room door and then a pair of men strode in. They were dressed nicely in white shirts, black pants, and black jackets. One of them was tall, skinny, and pale, with long wild red hair swept back into a loose ponytail and grey-blue eyes. He looked very much like an older version of Axel. His partner was large, completely bald, and had skin the color of a mocha latte. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of dark shades even though they were indoors.
“You Roxas Strife?” the red-haired man asked Then, he spotted Axel and his lips formed an ‘o’ of surprise. “Axel?!”
“Hey Reno.” Axel smiled tiredly.
Roxas glanced between the two of them several times. “Wait, are you guys brothers or something?”
“Yup,” the man named Reno said. “I’m Reno Sinclair. Detective Reno Sinclair. And that’s my baby brother, Axel.”
“Sinclair?” Roxas uttered. “As in…?”
“That’s right,” Reno confirmed with a nod.
“Oh god,” Roxas whispered, mortified.
He had been fucking a Sinclair.
The Sinclair family was an affluent and influential family of Hollow Bastion They had one of the largest and most successful oil companies in the world and had enjoyed a meteoric rise to the top. They were only second to the Shin-Ra family, head of the Shin-Ra Power and Electric Company. The two families had been in competition with one another for decades.
“Yo, you all right?” Reno waved his hand in Roxas’s face.
Roxas blinked and stared stupidly for a few moments before answering, “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“All right,” Reno said. “Anyway, as I was sayin’, I’m Detective Reno Sinclair and this is my partner Detective Rude Martin.” Rude acknowledged this with a short nod. “We’re homicide detectives and we’ve been assigned to investigate the murder of Hayner O’Connor.”
“Oh. Right.” Roxas shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
“We understand you’re a minor?” Rude asked.
“Yes,” Roxas whispered, his grip tightening around his coffee cup.
“Has your family been notified?” Rude asked.
“Yes.” Roxas nodded. “My parents are on their way.”
“All right,” Rude said. “We’ll wait for them, then.”
“Is that coffee?” Reno asked, eyeing Axel’s cup.
“Get your own,” Axel growled, pulling his cup closer to him.
“At least tell me where you got it,” Reno whined.
“There’s a vending machine down the hall. Costs $1.50,” Axel said.
Reno’s face brightened. “You’re the best, Axel!”
He headed out the door. Roxas stared after him, dumbfounded. Reno did not behave like a detective at all. How was he able to get away with this behavior?
“Reno is Reno,” Reno said as though reading Roxas’s thoughts. “Normally, his behavior would not have been tolerated, but he is a special case.”
And he did not elaborate further. Roxas went back to his coffee that was only lukewarm by now. He took a sip and made a face. He could barely stomach coffee as it was, let alone disgusting watered down hospital coffee that was lukewarm at best. He drank anyway, because it gave him something to do and helped keep his mind occupied. Yet he still felt the chill seeping through and shivered. He felt several pairs of eyes on him, but didn’t dare look up. He scarcely noticed when Reno returned with a cup of coffee and sat with Rude across from where Axel and Roxas were.
“Roxas?” the quiet voice caused Roxas’s head to snap up.
Aerith stood in the doorway still dressed in her hospital scrubs, staring at Roxas with a shocked expression.
Roxas managed a tired smile. “Hi Mom.”
“Oh Roxas, honey.” Aerith rushed forward. “Are you all right? What’s going on?”
“Mrs. Strife?” Reno asked, getting to his feet.
“Y…yes?” Aerith stammered, turning around.
“I’m Detective Sinclair and this is my partner Detective Martin.” It was remarkable to see how quickly Reno’s attitude had shifted. He had become cool, polite, and professional.
“O…oh.” Aerith looked like she didn’t know how to respond to this.
“We need to ask your son a couple questions about a murder that took place tonight,” Reno said.
Aerith’s eyes widened. “Oh my goodness. Who…who was murdered?”
“A boy named Hayner O’Connor,” Reno answered.
“Hayner?” Aerith gasped, hands flying to her mouth.
“Did you know him?” Reno asked.
“Y…yes.” Aerith nodded. “He’s…he was a friend of Roxas’s. What happened?”
“That’s what we’re trying to find out, ma’am,” Reno said.
“He was shot,” Roxas finally spoke up. He felt all the eyes in the room on him, but tried to ignore them.
“Roxas?!”
Once again, Roxas’s head snapped up at the sound of his name being called. Cloud stood in the doorway, but he wasn’t alone.
Roxas’s heart wrenched when he saw his three brothers standing there, all of them wearing equally horrified expressions. He looked away, filled with guilt.
Reno cleared his throat. “And who might you be?”
“I’m his father,” Cloud rumbled. He stepped forward. “I uh…brought you a jacket.”
“Thanks,” Roxas said, gratefully accepting the article of clothing from his father.
“Okay then.” Axel suddenly got to his feet. “I think I’m gonna head out. You know how to contact me if you need me.”
“Axel, stay.” Reno’s tone was uncharacteristically stern.
Axel pouted, but sank back down in his seat.
“All right,” Reno said. “Perhaps you’d like to sit, Mr. Strife.” He saw Roxas’s brothers. “Ah. Perhaps you three should wait outside.”
“Why?” Sora asked rather angrily.
“Don’t make them leave,” Roxas muttered, though he didn’t look up. “Please.”
“All right.” Reno sighed. “If you’re comfortable with them hearing this.”
“It’s fine,” Roxas said dully.
It wasn’t like he had any dignity left to lose. What did it matter if his brothers found out that he was a prostitute? They were probably going to find out anyway.
“Okay then.” Reno blew air through his teeth. “Rude, you wanna take notes?”
“Why me?” Rude asked.
“’Cause your handwriting is much better than mine,” Reno answered, rolling his eyes.
Rude sighed softly. “Fine.”
“Yay!” Reno’s child-like behavior was back, though for only for an instant. When he turned back to Roxas again, he was all business. “All right, Roxas. You know why we’re here.”
“Hayner,” Roxas muttered.
“Yes,” Reno said encouragingly. “I want you to tell me what happened.”
Roxas took in a deep breath. “I was…um…just finishing up with a client when I heard several gunshots. I ran because it came from the direction where Hayner was. I thought…maybe he was involved.”
“Why did you think Hayner was involved?” Reno interrupted.
“I don’t know. It was just a feeling I had,” Roxas mumbled.
“So you ran down the street,” Reno prompted. “Then what?”
“I saw…” Roxas swallowed hard. “I saw Hayner lying on the ground, bleeding. I…I tried to stop the bleeding, but I couldn’t. There was so much blood.” Roxas shivered at the memory.
“Did you see who shot Hayner?” Reno asked.
“N…no.” Roxas shook his head. “I didn’t see anyone.”
“All right.” Reno looked slightly disappointed. “When was the last time you saw him alive?”
“It was…like fifteen or twenty minutes before it happened,” Roxas answered. “Hayner said he was going to have a smoke. I left with a client. The last time I saw him, he was walking down the street a little ways, pulling out a cigarette from his jacket.”
“Do you know if Hayner had any disgruntled clients that might have wanted to harm him?” Reno asked.
“I…I don’t know,” Roxas answered. “We never discussed our clients with one another. We weren’t always on the street corner together. He would be out a lot more than me.”
“How often would you say Hayner was out?” Reno asked.
“Pretty much every night, or so he told me,” Roxas replied.
“You didn’t believe him?” Reno’s eyebrows raised in interest.
“Hayner…he sometimes lied,” Roxas admitted. “But he made a lot more money than I did, so it makes sense that he was going out more often, unless the money came from other places.”
“Do you think he was involved in things other than prostitution?” Reno asked.
Roxas heard his family members gasp in horror, but he didn’t dare look at them. Instead, he stared at Reno and Rude, who were watching him, their expressions unreadable.
“Hayner did drugs,” he finally admitted. “I don’t know what—I never asked.”
“You’re sure?” Reno asked.
“Yeah.” Roxas nodded. “I saw needle marks on his arms during gym—if he showed up, that is.”
“He cut class?” Reno interrupted. “How often?”
“A couple times a week,” Roxas answered.
“How long has this been going on?” Reno asked.
“Um…” Roxas tried to remember when Hayner’s strange behavior had started. “About nine or ten months ago, I think.”
“Is there any other strange behavior you’ve noticed, anything out of the ordinary?”
“Yeah,” Roxas answered. “He started getting really aggressive. He normally wasn’t like that. He also started acting really erratically and just…just weird. I can’t really explain it.”
“Did you ever see him doing drugs?” Reno asked.
Roxas shook his head.
“Did the two of you ever talk about it?” Rude asked.
Roxas shook his head again. “I tried confronting him about it once, but he got really defensive, and I dropped it. We never talked about it again.”
“I see,” Rude murmured.
Reno cleared his throat. “Well, I think that’s everything we need to know. If you think of anything else, don’t hesitate to contact me.”
He handed Roxas a business card.
“Thanks,” Roxas murmured.
Reno and Rude rose. At the door, Reno stopped and turned around.
“Axel, I’d like to speak with you now, if you don’t mind,” he said.
“Yeah, it’s fine,” Axel replied. He rose from his seat. “Just hold on a second.”
He walked over to where Roxas still sat. Roxas looked up at him, his heart pounding in his chest.
“I think this is all your stuff.” Axel’s voice was extremely soft. He shoved several things at Roxas.
Roxas looked down at what Axel had given him. There was his cell phone, lighter, pack of cigarettes, and the wad of cash he had earned from the night. He looked back up at Axel, who watched him anxiously.
“Is everything there?” Axel asked.
“Yeah,” Roxas answered. “Thank you.”
Axel smiled. “No problem. See you, Roxas.”
He followed Reno and Rude out, gently closing the door behind him. An extremely awkward silence followed. Roxas stared down at his half-empty coffee cup, silently wishing he could just go home and sleep. He had never felt as dirty as he did now. He longed to go home where it was safe, where he could shower and feel clean again.
“How long?” Cloud’s voice caused him to look up.
“Huh?” Roxas asked blankly.
“How long have you been doing…this?” Cloud gestured to Roxas’s outfit.
“Oh…um…about six months. Maybe a little more,” Roxas answered.
“…why?” Cloud’s next question came out as a strangled whisper.
Roxas refused to look at him. “Money.”
“No, you look at me. I want you to look me in the eye and tell me why you would do such a thing,” Cloud said harshly.
Roxas sighed and looked Cloud straight in the eye. “I needed the money. I tried to find another job, but there was nothing else.”
“So you decided to become a prostitute?” Cloud asked hotly.
“No. Hayner and I were talking about the fact that I couldn’t find work one day and he mentioned prostitution,” Roxas answered.
“So Hayner was the one who got you involved in all this?” Cloud’s eyes narrowed. “I should have known. That boy’s a bad influence.”
“Cloud!” Aerith gasped. “The boy has only been dead a couple hours. Show a little respect for him.”
“Did he convince you to do other things too? Steal? Lie? Cheat? Skip school? Do drugs?”
“No!” Roxas protested loudly. “I didn’t do anything like that. I swear!”
“Why should I trust you?” Cloud asked. “You’ve been keeping this from us. Who’s to say you’re not keeping other things from us?”
“But I’m not,” Roxas protested. “I swear!”
Cloud groaned softly and rubbed his forehead. “Look, I…I can’t do this right now. I need some air.”
He stormed out, slamming the waiting room door behind him.
“Cloud honey, wait,” Aerith protested, following him out.
Sora nervously cleared his throat. “I think I’m gonna go get a soda or something from the vending machines. Only…” he looked apologetic. “I don’t really wanna go alone.”
“I’ll go with you,” Ven volunteered. “Demyx, will you be okay with staying with Roxas until Mom and Dad get back?”
“Of course.” Demyx nodded.
And just like that, Roxas was alone with his older brother. He did not dare look at Demyx, choosing instead to study the intricate pattern of tiles on the floor. And Demyx seemed quite content with that; he didn’t try and start a conversation with him. Out of everyone in the family, it seemed like Demyx was the only one who understood that what Roxas really needed right now was space. Roxas appreciated this more than he could say. This quiet let him just sit and try to digest everything that had happened. It was a lot for him to take in and he immediately felt overwhelmed.
The tears came without warning. He had held himself together for most of the night, but now he felt himself coming apart. He barely noticed it when Demyx came over and wrapped his arms around his little brother. He started humming, his hands gently stroking Roxas’s hair. Roxas allowed himself to be cradled by his older brother, welcoming his gentle embrace. He had always been the stoic one of the brothers, taking after Cloud. Instead of crying, he would fall into a sullen silence.
Now he cried like a baby.
Demyx rocked back and forth with Roxas in his arms, singing gently. At last, Roxas fell silent, his chest heaved sporadically.
“God, I must look like a nightmare,” he muttered, wiping the tears away. “I bet my mascara is running.”
“I’ll get you a tissue,” Demyx said softly.
He found a box of tissues on a table across the room and put it on Roxas’s lap.
“Thanks,” Roxas said weakly. He grabbed a tissue and started dabbing at his eyes. As he feared, the tissue was black from his mascara. “Fuck.”
After a few minutes, he gave up trying to salvage his makeup and twisted the blackened tissue in his hands, his breathing ragged.
There was a soft knock on the door. The boys both looked up. Cloud stood in the doorway, his expression unreadable.
“We’re leaving,” he said stiffly.
“Okay,” Roxas whispered.
He grabbed several tissues and crammed them in his jacket pocket. Then, he rose, and followed his father out.
The rest of his family waited in the lobby, Sora and Ven carrying cans of pop from the vending machines. Without saying a word, the left the hospital, and headed for the parking lot.
It was snowing still, harder than ever. Now it was starting to stick to the ground, and by morning, Roxas better there would be at least an inch or two on the ground.
The drive back to Twilight Town was extremely awkward. Roxas stared out the windows, watching the snow fall. He turned when he felt a warm hand on his. Ven smiled sadly at him. Roxas squeezed his hand. He could see that Ven was trying to be supportive and Roxas really appreciated it.
Never before had Roxas’s home looked so unwelcome as the Strife van pulled up outside.
Cloud glanced in the rearview mirror. “Roxas, I’d like you to wait in the living room, all right? Your mother and I need to talk to you.”
Roxas felt a knot form in the pit of his stomach. The living room was where all the important family discussions took place. It was often the place where the Strife boys received bad news and where they were given a talking to when they were in trouble. Ven squeezed Roxas’s hand again. Roxas blinked; he hadn’t even realized that Ven still held his hand.
“What about us, Dad?” Sora asked from the backseat.
Cloud glanced at him through the rearview mirror. “You and your brothers should go to bed. It’s late and tomorrow’s going to be a long day.”
The four brothers silently went into the house. Roxas squeezed Ven’s hand one last time before heading into the living room to wait. He sank down on the couch and laced his fingers together. His brothers headed for the stairs. Cloud and Aerith went into the kitchen and did not appear in the living until Sora, Ven, and Demyx had gone to bed. Cloud carried a bottle of beer that he sipped at as he and Aerith sat on the couch opposite Roxas. Neither of them seemed to want to say anything, but neither did Roxas. He fidgeted uncomfortably until Cloud finally lowered his beer and surveyed Roxas carefully.
“Do you understand why we are upset?” he asked.
“Yes,” Roxas murmured, wringing his hands together.
“You have betrayed our trust. You were out long past your curfew and even worse, you were having sex with strangers for money! I thought you had better judgment than that. Didn’t we bring you up to be better than this?” Cloud said.
“I’m sorry,” Roxas whispered, blinking back tears.
“Until we feel like we can trust you again, you will be punished,” Cloud said. “You will come home from school and go immediately to your room. You will not leave the house without our permission. No video games or TV either, until you demonstrate to us that we can trust you again. Is that clear?”
“Yes Dad.” Roxas gazed down at his lap.
Cloud’s tone softened. “I understand that tonight has been a rough night for you. Try and get some sleep, okay?”
“Okay.” Roxas smiled wanly.
“Remember honey, we still love you no matter what.” Aerith rose and kissed Roxas on the forehead.
Roxas smiled weakly at her and rose. “I’m gonna take a quick shower before I go to bed.”
“Okay sweetie.” Aerith smiled sadly at him. “Good night.”
“Night,” Roxas replied.
He dragged himself up the stairs and down the hallway to his room. He gathered his things and went to the bathroom. He passed all three of his brothers’ rooms, but their doors were all closed. Not that Roxas expected anything different.
He flipped on the bathroom lights and quietly closed the door behind him. His reflection seemed to mock him as he undressed. Who was that stranger who stared at him through the mirror? Could that ghostly figure he saw really be him? He had Roxas’s hair and eyes, but he was too pale and thin to be Roxas. His eyes were ringed with black and lines streaked down his cheeks from where his mascara was running. His eye shadow was faded and his lips were cracked and bleeding from where he had repeatedly bitten them. Never before had he looked so unattractive.
His hand strayed to his cheek where there was a rust-colored splotch of something and his breath caught in his throat as he realized that it was blood. It was everywhere, he realized, as he looked down at his hands and at his clothes piled on the floor. He suddenly felt chilled even though the bathroom was warm. He hurried over to the bathtub and turned the water on as hot as it would go. He stepped into the shower, barely noticing the scalding water and just stood there for a long time. When he felt sufficiently warmed, he began cleaning himself up. His heart skipped a beat when he saw the rivulets of blood flowing down the drain.
It’s not my blood, it’s Hayner’s, he reminded himself sternly.
Still, even that thought made him feel sick to his stomach.
His hands were trembling, he noted, as he shut the water off. He quickly toweled himself dry and pulled his pajamas on. It was nearly three in the morning when Roxas finally crawled into bed.
That night, he dreamed that he was the one bleeding instead of Hayner. He lay on the sidewalk as snow fell around him. No one noticed him as he gasped for breath, dying alone on the sidewalk in the middle of Hollow Bastion.
Roxas woke with a gasp, his lungs constricting. His alarm clock was deafening. He groaned loudly and threw the alarm clock across the room as hard as he could. The door opened as the alarm clock slammed into the wall next to it and fell to the floor, breaking into several pieces. Demyx timidly poked his head into the room and eyed the alarm clock.
“Wow Roxas. What did the poor alarm clock ever do to you?” he asked.
“Go away Demyx,” Roxas groaned.
“Sorry, I can’t do that,” Demyx said, walking into the room. “Mom says you have to get up or you’re gonna be late for school.”
“Dunwanna,” Roxas grumbled.
“I know,” Demyx said sadly. “Today is really gonna suck, but we’ve gotta go.”
Roxas knew that Demyx wasn’t going away. Groaning softly, he crawled out of bed, glaring at Demyx. His older brother, like the other Strife brothers, used to Roxas’s grumpiness, just grinned at him.
“Can you at least turn around so I can dress without you staring at me?” he asked.
“Oh. Sorry.” Demyx blushed furiously and turned around.
Roxas had already let countless strangers see him in various stages of nakedness; he didn’t want to add his brothers to the list. He dressed swiftly in his last clean uniform and gathered the rest of his uniforms scattered on the floor to wash after school.
“You can turn around now,” he told Demyx as he threw his dirty clothes in his personalized laundry basket—one of Aerith’s many projects.
Demyx glanced at the tie hanging around Roxas’s neck and rolled his eyes. He stepped forward and began fixing the tie. Roxas smiled a little, glad that some things, at least, hadn’t changed. He could always depend on Demyx. Dopy Demyx, they called him at school. He wasn’t the brightest person perhaps, but he could always be depended on. People used him, took advantage of him, made fun of him, and yet he still had the most brilliant smile.
Roxas felt a huge wave of guilt all of a sudden; he had been one of those who had taken Demyx for granted all these years. He stepped forward and embraced his brother. Demyx stepped back a bit, taken off guard.
“Roxas? What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Thank you,” Roxas whispered. “For everything you’ve done. You’re such a good brother. You’ve always been good.”
Demyx smiled and ruffled Roxas’s hair affectionately. “You’re welcome. Now let’s go and get some breakfast, huh?”
“All right,” Roxas agreed.
He followed his brother down to the kitchen. It was clear right away that everything had changed and yet it seemed like nothing had changed at all. Roxas felt everyone staring at him as he took his usual seat beside Ven. Wordlessly, Aerith walked over from the stove carrying a large plate of pancakes. She set the plate in the middle of the table and took her place at the far end of the table.
It was as if a spell had been broken. Sora and Ven immediately reached for the plate and grabbed several pancakes each, striking up a conversation about something-or-other. Cloud buried himself behind the morning paper. After Sora and Ven were done, Demyx helped himself to a couple of the pancakes. From her end of the table, Aerith frowned at Roxas, whose plate remained empty.
“Roxas honey, aren’t you hungry?” she asked.
Truthfully, Roxas wasn’t, but he took a pancake or two, because he knew that it would make Aerith happy. The pancakes made him sick, but he forced himself to clear his plate.
After breakfast, the Strife boys made their usual scramble for the bathroom, but it seemed more subdued today. Roxas won control of the bathroom relatively easily and suspected that his brothers let him win, but he didn’t question it.
He forced himself to take his lunch from Aerith and shoved it into the bottom of his backpack
“Thanks Mom,” he said as he followed his brothers out the door.
As he expected, there was about an inch of snow on the ground. It was a bleak morning, cold and grey, a typical January morning in Twilight Town. Roxas shivered and shoved his hands deeper into his pockets. As usual, he hung back behind Ven and Sora as they were joined by their friends. Demyx stayed unusually close to Roxas today and seemed to be less dreamy than normal. He kept shooting Roxas worried looks, like he thought something was going to happen. Sora and Ven were oddly quiet as well, though they didn’t say why when their friends asked.
When they reached the school, they parted ways, as they always did. Demyx gave Roxas a worried look before heading left toward his locker while Roxas went right, to his. He half expected Hayner to be waiting for him at his locker, but he wasn’t there. Roxas’s throat constricted at the thought that Hayner was never going to be waiting for him at his locker, and for the first time, he felt lonely.
He grabbed his things for his Algebra class and closed his locker. He jumped when he saw someone leaning against the locker next to his, his things spilling from his hands and clattering loudly on the floor. Roxas ignored them, staring at the person blocking his path.
Seifer Altman was the last person Roxas expected to see standing next to his locker. He was a senior like Demyx, tall, and good looking, but with an abrasive personality and a bad boy reputation. He was known to skip class to smoke, beat up younger students or fight other seniors, and vandalize school property. He had been suspended more times than anyone else in the school, but his dad was on the school board and had enough power and reputation to keep Seifer from being expelled. It was rumored that he was also into drugs, and part of a gang, but those were only rumors, and had never been proven. Seifer was usually accompanied by his cronies Rai and Fuu, but today they were nowhere to be found.
“What do you want, Seifer?” Roxas snapped, not really in the mood to deal with Seifer right now.
“Is it true that O’Connor was shot last night?” Seifer asked, his face unusually pale. “Is it true?”
“Yeah,” Roxas answered grimly. “It’s true. I was there.”
“Fuck,” Seifer muttered.
“Why do you care?” Roxas asked scathingly. “It’s not like you ever really talked to him.”
Seifer gave him a long, hard look, and then walked off without saying anything. Roxas, used to this sort of behavior from Seifer, merely gathered his fallen things, and headed off for his own class. He was greeted at the door by stares and whispers that followed him to his seat. News traveled fast in Twilight Town. They all already knew that Hayner had been shot and killed last night and they probably knew that both he and Roxas were prostitutes as well. Roxas tried to ignore the stares and whispers as he sat at his desk and carefully arranged the things on his desk. Then, he put his head down and waited.
He did not stir when the teacher entered the room, nor when the final bell rang. He only lifted his head when the principal’s voice crackled over the ancient PA system. He had expected an announcement of some sort concerning Hayner’s death, though he didn’t know what would be said.
“Good morning staff and students.” The principal sounded very grim. “I have a very important announcement to make this morning.” Roxas nervously wrung his hands together beneath his desk as the principal continued, “It is my deepest regret to inform you today that one of your fellow classmates, Hayner O’Connor has…has been killed.” There was a long silence from the principal that was filled with the sound of gasps from Roxas’s fellow students. “He was shot last night while out on the streets of Hollow Bastion and was taken to the hospital, where he died.” Several girls burst into tears. “His killer is still at large and the police are asking anyone who might have any information on the murder to come forward.”
Roxas didn’t hear the rest; there was an explosion of whispers and crying. The pancakes he had eaten for breakfast churned unpleasantly in his stomach. He knew that he wasn't going to be able to hold his breakfast down and quickly asked to be excused to the bathroom.
He ripped the hall pass out of the surprised teacher’s hands and bolted out of the classroom. He streaked down the hallway, flashing his hall pass to a passing security guard who waved him on.
The bathroom was completely deserted when Roxas entered, something he was very glad for. He ran to the first stall, dropped to his knees, and vomited. He tightly clung to the sides of the porcelain bowl to try and keep himself steady, and vomited again.
“Roxas?” Ven’s quiet voice caused Roxas to look up.
Ven squeezed into the small stall and put his hand on Roxas’s back. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t need to; his presence was soothing enough. When Roxas was sure nothing else was coming up, he leaned back and took in several shaking breaths. The smell of vomit was heavy in the air and there was a bitter taste of it in his mouth.
“I’m going to go back to class,” Ven said softly.
“Okay,” Roxas replied. “I’m gonna rise my mouth out and maybe splash some water on my face. I’ll be back soon.”
“All right,” Ven said.
He squeezed out of the stall and was gone. Roxas rose, making sure to grab the hall pass from where it had fallen next to the toilet, and flushed. Then, he moved to the sink and, after setting the hall pass on the narrow counter, rinsed his mouth out. The water made him feel a bit better. When he was done, he looked at himself in the mirror. His reflection leered back at him, paler, and thinner than ever. Roxas angrily turned away and scrubbed his face dry with a scratchy paper towel. He balled it up and threw it in the trash can.
He was feeling much calmer by the time he returned to Algebra. The principal had finished his announcement and the teacher had started the lesson. Roxas tried not to look at Hayner’s vacant seat as he returned to his.
The teacher tried to carry on the lesson like usual, but Roxas could see that her heart really wasn’t in it. However, that didn’t stop her from assigning a large pile of homework. Roxas made a quick stop at his locker to drop off his Algebra stuff and grab his things for his United States History class.
The rest of the morning seemed to drag on forever. When lunch came, Roxas was halfway to the roof when he realized that Hayner wasn’t going to be there. His throat constricted painfully and he turned and headed for the cafeteria. At once, he wished he hadn’t; as soon as he stepped into the room, all conversations halted and everyone stared at him. From one of the corners, Ven rose, and walked over to greet him.
“Come on Roxas. You can come sit with us,” he said with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.
Roxas nodded absently and allowed his twin to lead him to his table in the corner. Demyx, Terra, and Aqua were already there. All of them stared as the twins approached the table.
“Here, there’s an empty seat next to Terra,” Ven said, pointing to a vacant chair next to the older boy.
Terra said nothing as Roxas sat next to him. Roxas hadn’t expected anything different; Terra was very much the strong, silent type. He was quarterback on the football team, though he chose to eat with them rather than with the rest of the football team. To this day, Roxas didn’t understand why. And Ven was surprisingly tight-lipped about it as well.
Roxas was silent as Ven and Aqua began a conversation. Terra listened quietly, only offering a word or two every once in a while. And Demyx was…well Demyx.
Roxas hadn’t eaten in the cafeteria in a long time. Ever since Hayner had discovered that they could sneak up to the roof, they had eaten up there, only joining the rest of the student body when the weather was too bad for them to eat outside. Now, he probably would never eat up there again. It would be filled with memories of Hayner and he didn’t think he could bear that. The thought of that caused a knot to form in his stomach.
Even more stares and whispers followed him as he got up and went to throw his half-eaten lunch away.
“Don’t listen to them,” Demyx, who had come with him to throw his lunch away as well, advised quietly.
Roxas tried to do what his brother advised him to do, but it was very hard. Demyx put an arm around Roxas and led him back to their table, glaring at the people who stared and whispered at them as they walked.

***
After school had ended, Roxas walked home with his brothers and their friends. When they got home, Roxas immediately went up to his room. He brought his laundry basket down and started a load of laundry before retreating back to his room to start his homework. He was just starting his Algebra homework when Aerith came up to check on him.
“Hey honey,” she said, smiling at him. “How are you doing?”
“I’m fine,” Roxas replied. “Just working on my Algebra homework.”
He showed her the open Algebra book on his desk and the list of problems in his Algebra notebook.
“That’s good,” Aerith said. “If you need anything, I’m right downstairs, okay honey?”
“All right,” Roxas responded automatically.
With a smile, Aerith kissed him on the top of the head and left, but not for long. A while later, she came back to check on him. And then again. And again. When she had to leave for work, Roxas’s brothers took turns sitting with him until Cloud came home from work. Even when Roxas went to bed, it didn’t stop. His father came in every once in a while to check on him while he was trying to fall asleep.

Saturday, a wake was held for Hayner. Roxas got permission from his parents to go, though he knew they wouldn’t have forbidden him from going. He was on his best behavior, already sick of being monitored day and night by his parents. Aerith had to take him and his brothers; Cloud had had to go into the office to put in a couple of hours of work.
Twilight Town only had one funeral home, on the west side of town. It only took ten minutes for the Strife family to walk to Trinity Gardens Funeral Home. It was already extremely crowded by the time they arrived; it seemed like at least half the town was already there. Roxas squeezed through the crowd of mourners and made his way up to the front of the room where Hayner was laid out. As he approached, Hayner’s parents shot him a reproachful look, but luckily, they didn’t bring up the scene they had made at the hospital. Roxas was very grateful for this. He slowly moved up to the coffin and, steeling himself, looked down.
Hayner's skin was a ghastly grey color, his hands folded across his chest. He wore what looked like a brand-new suit; Roxas certainly hadn’t seen him wear it before. He hadn’t even known that Hayner owned a suit. Probably not. Or if he had, he’d never worn it.

Hayner lay in the middle of the street, bleeding.

Roxas blinked. The image had come out of nowhere.

“NO!” he cried, rushing forward.

Roxas took a step backward and bumped into Demyx, who was right behind him. Why was this happening right now. Why—

He dropped to his knees by Hayner’s side.

“Roxas? You okay?” Demyx asked putting a hand on Roxas’s shoulder.

“Hayner!” he cried.
Hayner’s eyes opened and he tilted his head to the side.

Roxas pushed his brother’s hand off his shoulder and ran for the exit. He had to get out of here. It was much too hot in this room, crammed with all these people. It was so suffocating. He had to—

Hayner had been shot in the chest. Blood gushed out and pooled around his body. His face was ashen, eyes dull and hazy.

Roxas burst out of the viewing room, not caring about the scene he was creating. He just needed to get out of there. He felt like he was suffocating.

“Oh god Hayner,” he whispered.

He didn’t stop until he was outside, breathing in the cold winter air. He dropped to his knees and vomited up his pitiful breakfast into the rosebushes.
“Roxas!”
Roxas looked up. Demyx sprinted towards him, a look of concern on his face. Roxas tried to smile, but his eyes immediately filled with tears.
“Oh Roxas,” Demyx whispered, kneeling down beside him.
His eyes widened at the acrid scent of vomit that hung in the air and then his face went slightly green; he had never had a strong stomach. Roxas was just wondering if he was going to vomit too when the rest of his family ran over to him. He wasn’t surprised they were right on Demyx’s heels.
“Are you all right, Roxas, honey?” Aerith asked anxiously. Roxas managed to shake his head. “What’s wrong?”
But Roxas couldn’t talk. Instead, he let out a low, choking sob, and buried his face in his hands so his family wouldn’t see his tears.
“Mom, he’s really upset,” Demyx said, gently patting Roxas on the back. “You think we should just take him home?”
“Yes, I think that’s best,” Aerith said. “Is that all right, Roxas?”
Roxas only nodded. He slowly got to his feet. When he swayed unsteadily, his brothers were there to hold him up, Demyx on one side and Ven on the other. Roxas didn’t have the strength to resist them. None of them really spoke as they walked home.
“Roxas, maybe you’d like to take a bath?” Aerith suggested as he unlocked the front door. “It might help you feel better. And while you’re doing that, I’ll make you a nice cup of tea. Okay?”
“All right,” Roxas agreed.
A bath did sound good. He immediately headed up to the bathroom and ran the water for a bath. While he was waiting for the tub to fill, Roxas stripped off his clothes. He refused to look at his reflection, afraid of what he would find. Instead, he watched the water flow from the faucet and swirl around the tub.
When the tub was sufficiently full, Roxas shut the tap off and stepped into the tub. He sank down into the water and closed his eyes. At once, he saw Hayner laying bleeding to death and his eyes snapped open again. His lungs constricted and for a moment, he couldn’t breathe. But the moment passed, and he could breathe again. He sank back down and tried to relax a bit.

In the end, Roxas was barely able to relax at all. He toweled himself dry and dressed in a pair of sweatpants and an oversized sweatshirt. He went back down to the kitchen and found Aerith there waiting for him with a cup of tea.
“Here you are honey,” she said, pushing the cup at him.
Roxas smiled wearily at her. “Thanks Mom.”
He sat at the kitchen table with it and waited a bit for it to cool. He was not surprised when Aerith joined him at the table with her own cup of tea. They were quiet for a while.
Then, Aerith asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”
“No, not really.” Roxas shook his head.
Aerith looked slightly disappointed, though she tried to hide it. “If you want to about it, I’m here, all right?”
“All right.” Roxas smiled at her and went back to his tea.

Author’s Notes
No, this is not the end. This is hardly even the beginning. Like I said, this little smutty oneshot has turned into a monster of epic proportions. Updates are liable to be slow so be patient with me.
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