connections

“Hey.”

A scrawny redhead reading a magazine looked up and locked eyes with his only customer in four hours. She was a cute girl of average height; her dark hair was cut haphazardly and reached down to her back. Her chocolate eyes were bright as they met his.

“Hey, yourself.” He shot her a smile and turned to his cash register. “What can I do you for?”

She slapped a Mars bar and a pack of cigarettes onto the checkout counter.

He smirked. “Got any ID?”

“I’m nineteen. My birthday was last month, and—“

 “Sorry, but I gotta follow store policy.” He nodded towards a sign which stated that tobacco and liquor wouldn’t be sold to minors. “I hope you understand.”

“The guy who was here three days ago didn’t seem to care about that policy,” she said, a grin crossing her lips. “What harm could it do?”

“You wanna know?” He picked up the box and scanned the warning. “Tobacco may cause lung cancer, heart disease…“

“Please?”

The boy watched the girl in the purple hoodie leave a few moments later with her purchases in tow. He sighed when she was finally out of sight. He would have liked to talk with her for a little longer, but she seemed kind of wild. The innocent types were his thing. Besides, kissing smokers was more than a little unappealing.

Karelos flipped her hood over her head once she was out of the gas station. It had started to rain during the two minutes she was inside the building. She hurried over to where there was an overhang, shoving the candy bar into her pocket. The guys who had been there moments earlier had vanished.

She ground her teeth together and looked around the area. Where the hell was he?

As if on cue, a lanky boy with a buzz cut waved her over from inside a white van. She walked to him slowly, watching him drum his fingers on the steering wheel impatiently. That’s what he got for not bothering to wait the briefest of moments for her.

“God, babe,” he snapped once she was by the driver’s window. “Could you walk any slower? Is there glue on the ground or something?”

“Don’t call me that.” She pulled out the cigarettes and flung them at him. “Here’s that waste of ten bucks you wanted.”

“Ow!”

He fumbled for them as they bounced off his chest and onto the floor of the vehicle. He bent over and picked them up. The other guys in the car laughed and made nonsensical comments, being either drunk, stoned, or both.

“Look, Tom.” She shook the wet bangs out of her face. “I got what you wanted, because you were too chicken to go yourself. Now it’s time for me to get what I want.”

“The name’s Tim,” he said, lighting up a cigarette.

“Whatever.”

He took a drag. “I didn’t promise you nothing, babe.”

“You told me that you knew where I could get a motorcycle for cheap,” she said, her voice low. “I swear to God, if you lied to me, your ass is mine.”

 “What do you need a motorcycle for?” He blew a breath of smoke into the rain, where it vanished immediately.

“None of your business.”

He chuckled through a sudden coughing fit. “Guess I can’t help you then, babe.”

Karelos stared in disbelief as the window rolled up. That son of a bitch, he couldn’t possibly be this low. She backed away as the tires squealed and the van peeled out of the parking lot. She saw the faces of the druggies pressed against the windows, distorted by the rain.

“Assholes!” she screamed after them.

The rain continued to fall and she dug her nails into her palm, taking deep breaths. She was cool. What had just happened didn’t faze her at all. She still had enough money left to stay at the motel, or she could always find a guy to stay with. Hopefully there was at least one here who wasn’t a fucking scumbag.

A load roar burst through her thoughts and she looked up. A large black and silver motorcycle had just pulled into the parking space that the losers had vacated. She stared at in awe; it was the one of her dreams.

“Hello.”

She peeled her eyes away from its beautiful build and looked reluctantly at the rider. He was dressed head to toe in black. She could definitely tell that his slender frame had some muscle, but she honestly didn’t care what he looked like. Besides, his helmet was covering his face. He was probably just another wannabe hipster.

“Hey.” She gestured at the motorcycle. “Nice ride. Yours?”

The man nodded and swung his legs over the side of the bike. He walked off and waved at her casually with one hand, keys glinting even in the heavy rain. She watched him enter the gas station enviously. She needed to get on this motorcycle. It suddenly felt as if everything depended on it. Forgetting about the teenage hicks, forgetting about the rain, Karelos smiled to herself and followed him.

Whoever this guy was, she could handle him.

Cloud Strife slid his helmet off and put it under his arm as he walked into the gas station. He crinkled his nose slightly in distaste; the smell of liquor was everywhere. He nodded at the skinny kid manning the cash register, but the boy didn’t return the gesture.

Instead, he dropped the magazine he was flipping through and his eyes grew wide.

“You’re the guy who was in that fantasy movie!” he exclaimed, watching Cloud with adoring eyes. “I’m totally a fan.”

Cloud shrugged. “That was a long time ago.”

“My favourite part was when you cut that dude in half with your sword. That was wicked awesome, man.”

“Thank the special effects crew,” Cloud replied, picking up a pack of Trident gum. “Passionberry Twist, huh? That sounds exciting.”

“Can I get your autograph?”

“Listen, I’m not interested in reliving my past.” Cloud allowed a smile to grace his lips. “I appreciate the kind words, but I don’t do autographs.”

The boy frowned and scanned the gum without responding. The bell jangled and he shot a sullen look at the door, where Karelos stood. She pulled her hood off her head and hurried towards where they were standing.

“Hey, it’s Cigarette Girl!” The boy grinned at her. “Back for more smokes already?”

 “No.”

She turned to face the motorcycle rider and she couldn’t help but appreciate what she saw. He was certainly a very fine specimen of the male variety. Not that it really mattered, since she wasn’t looking to get with anyone.

Cloud gave her a little salute. “Hey.”

“You dropped this, I think.” She held up a five dollar bill. “It’s wet, but—“

“That’s not mine.”

The cashier boy stared at Cloud expectantly. “How much gas you paying for?”

“Right, twenty dollars worth.” Cloud pulled out a credit card and handed it to the boy.

 “I saw it fall out. You must have forgotten that you had it,” Karelos insisted.

The boy laughed as he handed Cloud his gum and credit card.  “Just take it, man. Free money from a cute chick and you’re rejecting it?”

“Here, allow me.”Karelos reached around Cloud’s waist and slid the bill into his back pocket. “There you go.”

Cloud felt his cheeks grow warmer as the girl gave his ass a little more attention than seemed absolutely necessary, but he didn’t say anything. She pulled away and shoved her hands into her hoodie pockets right away; she seemed aware of the fact that she had practically groped him.

“See you around.” She grinned at him. “Enjoy riding your bike in this awesome weather.”

The guys watched as she sauntered out of the store with a definite spring in her step. The glass door closed behind her as she disappeared in the rain. Cloud was about to head out after her, when he remembered that he had promised to call Tifa at some point that day.

He ran his gloved hands through his spiky blond hair. “Is there a payphone around here?”

“You don’t have a cell phone?” The red head chuckled. “Guess they didn’t pay you much for—“

“Answer the question.”

The boy sighed and escorted Cloud to the back of the store, where a pay phone was practically hidden by racks of cheap trinkets. Cloud put a quarter into the slot and waited for her to pick up. He felt his stomach quiver in anticipation at hearing her voice; they had barely spoken since he went on his annual summer road trip.

Instead of hearing her familiar voice, there was only a dial tone. Cloud blinked and stared at the phone in his hand. Was it just him, or was there actually the sound of a motorcycle engine coming from it?

“Dude!” The boy suddenly appeared by his side. “That girl just like, took off with your motorcycle!”

“What?”

Cloud shoved him out of the way and ran outside the gas station. The rain pounded his hair, but he didn’t care. His blue eyes scanned the area in disbelief; his bike was gone. His fingers tensed beneath the weight of his helmet. This couldn’t be possible.

His keys were right in his back pocket, where he had left them...his fingers clutched at nothing but air and it dawned on him. That girl had used the cash as an excuse to steal his fucking keys, to steal his bike! Cloud should have known better than to allow her to get so close to him.

“What are you gonna do?” the red head asked, excitement dripping from every word. “Are you gonna call the cops or what?”

Cloud shook his head slowly. “I’ll find her.”

The boy took a step back, freaked out by the menace that his hero had become. He watched as Cloud Strife jogged off into the rain and hoped that he wouldn’t hear anything about a murder on the six o’clock news.

Roxas smiled to himself as he read a manga called Village Souls. It was a fairly interesting story about a boy who didn’t have a soul because he was just a copy of his “true form.” Roxas loved fantasy, and was always eager to learn more about worlds that were different than the reality he knew on Earth. That was why he was spending his day reading in Chapters on the first day of August. He could always go hang with his friends later at the beach.

“What are you reading?”

The blond haired boy looked up and locked eyes with a tall male dressed in a trench coat. He had red hair that was long and styled in spikes and tiny raindrop tattoos were beneath his eyes. All in all, he definitely looked unique.

Roxas held the manga up for him to see. “Have you read it?”

“No.” The red head chuckled and took a seat next to him. “I don’t read comic books. They’re kind of childish, don’t you think?”

“Childish?” Roxas held the book protectively to his chest. “What makes you say that?”

“How old are you?”

“Eighteen.” Roxas scowled at him. “Why do you—“

“That is definitely too old for this stuff. You should be in a relationship or something, you know? Live life a little bit.” He gestured around the book store. “I mean, come on. It’s summer. This is just sad.”

Roxas flipped Village Souls back open and pretended to concentrate on it, hoping that the weird guy would just go away. He could do whatever he wanted. So what if he still liked to read manga? At least he didn’t get wasted every night like his friend Kratalie’s good for nothing boyfriend.

“Hey!”

The guy in the trench coat snatched the book away and got to his feet. He waved it in front of Roxas’s face, clearly amused by the younger boy’s feeble attempt to grab it away.

“Give it back, you crazy person,” Roxas said, trying not to raise his voice.

“My name’s Axel. What’s yours?”

Roxas yanked the manga out of his hands and stomped off. Axel easily kept pace with him, following him around the bookstore. Roxas could feel the rage began to bubble in his chest, but he took deep breaths. It wouldn’t be good to have a commotion here.

“This is harassment,” Roxas snapped at him after their third lap around the store.

Axel kept on his heels. “Just tell me your name and I’ll go.”

“Why does it matter?”

Axel tapped him on the shoulder. “Oh, it matters.”

Roxas ground to a halt and shoved the book at him. Axel took it and raised his eyebrows, clearly wondering about the pissed off expression on the previously gentle face.

“I don’t want it, kid.” He held it out towards the blond. “Take it back.”

Roxas whirled around and shouted for help. A bunch of people looked up from around the store and turned to face them. Axel stood there in confusion as a pair of security guards appeared. They grabbed him by the arms before he had a chance to make a sound of protest.

“That guy took my book!” Roxas whimpered. “I think he was gonna do something to me, too. He opened his trench coat and showed me his,” the boy lowered his gaze,”you know.”

Axel stared at the boy in bafflement. “What the fuck? I didn’t—“

“We need to talk to you, sir.” The heavier of the two guards stated bluntly, escorting Axel out of the store.

The other guard turned to Roxas, concern written over his face. “Are you okay, son?”

“Yes.” Roxas blinked innocently. “That guy was just creepy. You guys did a great job. I don’t know what he would have done to me if you hadn’t been there.”

Roxas left the store a while later with a grin on his angelic face. He had a bag full of new manga that he had gotten free, courtesy of Chapters as an apology for his unpleasant experience. He felt a twinge of regret for what he had done to Axel, but the guy had deserved it.

No one should ever try to fuck with Roxas, or they would end up in a huge mess that they hadn’t bargained for.

After half an hour of questioning and a whole lot of good acting, Axel was released from a tiny back room which they used to question thieves and flashers, apparently. Axel felt a headache coming on and rummaged in his pocket for an aspirin. He popped it into his mouth and crunched on it as if it were candy.

That little asshole was going to pay for humiliating him like this.

---

The combination of rain and wind whipping at her cheeks made Karelos’s heart soar. She had only ridden a motorcycle a few times, but her body instinctively knew what to do, much like it did in all the best things in life.

She weaved a little bit, showing off even though there was no one around to see. The few cars on the street didn’t even honk at her because the drivers were used to seeing teenagers do crazy things.  She stopped at a red light, and the bike pulled to a buttery smooth halt. She listened to the engine purr and she smiled so much her cheeks hurt.

This was the life!

The engine roared the second the light turned green and she sped down the slick roads. Karelos felt vaguely uneasy about not wearing a helmet, but decided that the feel of her hair flying back was worth it. Better than being trapped under a helmet, all messy and itchy and gross.

She was near the only shopping plaza in town when she checked the meter and realized she was almost out of gas. With a heavy heart, she pulled in a parking space outside an IHOP and turned the key. The motorcycle instantly fell silent and her smiled faded.

“That’s that,” she muttered as she slowly peeled herself off the bike.

The rain was drizzling lightly now as she sat on the curb beside her new silver and black love. She didn’t want to leave it; she was a negative magnet and it was a positive one. They couldn’t help but attract one another. Karelos held the keys up in front of her face and wondered where the other one led. It was probably the way into that insanely handsome guy’s house. There was also some weird black tag on the key chain in addition to the keys; it felt heavy in her palm.

Her cell phone rang and she stared at her pocket, deliberating whether or not to answer. She had told everyone she knew not to call her, as she was on a spiritual journey or some other new age bullshit. But they still did, anyway.

Didn’t people have better things to do in the summer than call her? Unless it was him, of course; then maybe she would pick up.

She flipped her phone open and crinkled her eyebrows.  This was not the guy she was hoping would call her, but it was weird to receive a call from him nonetheless.

“Roxas?”

“There’s some creepy guy outside my house,” he whimpered. “What do I do?”

Karelos sighed. “Paranoid much?”

“No, I swear! I think it’s that guy, Axel or something, that I got arrested...”

She was about to tell Roxas to stop with the sugar and caffeine overloads when she sensed someone’s eyes on her. As Roxas continued jabbering incoherently Karelos steeled herself and looked up. Much to her surprise, it wasn’t the blond haired man. Surprisingly, it wasn’t an old pervert or a bunch of horny teen boys either.

“I’m Noctis,” the black haired, navy eyed young man before her stated once they met eyes.

Karelos snapped her phone shut. “Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

“Did you just cut that person off?” Noctis pointed at her phone. “That isn’t exactly the nicest thing to do.”

“Well, I’m not exactly what you’d call nice,” Karelos informed him, wrapping her arms around her knees.

Noctis raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“I just stole that bike.”

Instead of calling the cops or looking surprised, Noctis merely laughed and patted the seat of the motorcycle. Karelos watched him in bemusement as he hopped onto the bike and pretended to drive it. God, even while doing something so stupid, the guy was hot.

“Want to ride somewhere?” Noctis asked, flashing Karelos a winning smile. “I’ve always believed that these things were meant for two.”

“I just said that bike isn’t mine,” Karelos replied, unable to resist smiling back. “Besides, it’s out of gas. If it wasn’t, I would have been long gone.”

“Today’s my lucky day, then.”

Noctis hopped off the bike and tugged her to her feet. Karelos winced slightly at the vice like grip he took on her arm, but he didn’t seem to notice her discomfort.

“Where are you taking me?”

Noctis continued to pull her arm and she stumbled along behind him, shooting glances back at the motorcycle as she did so. The rain had stopped and there was a slight mist in the air, making the bike look like a dreamy apparition.

Karelos tried to shake him off, but he wouldn’t let go. “What the hell are you doing, Noctis?”

“I’m taking you somewhere only people who’ve lived here for a while know about.” Noctis released her arm and grabbed her by the shoulders. “You in or you out?”

Karelos blinked. “I...”

“Whatever. Girls like you aren’t my type anyway.”

Noctis strode off and Karelos watched him go, feeling as if she were on a seesaw. Should she go with him? It wasn’t like she had anything to do anyway. It wasn’t like anything she did even mattered, so what would the harm in this be? At best, she would have some fun with a hot guy. At worst, she would end up cut into pieces and thrown into a dumpster.

“Noctis!”

He turned at the sound of her voice and staggered back as she slammed into his chest with her body.

“I’m coming.” She smiled sweetly at him. “And FYI, you’re not my type either.”

“You won’t get away with that again,” Noctis stated, expression void of emotion.

“What?” Karelos suddenly felt very cold as she stared at him.

He merely raised his eyebrows and continued walking with her at his side. Behind them, Cloud stood by his motorcycle and watched their vanishing backs. Noctis was with that girl? Cloud turned to his bike and busied himself examining it.

Cloud would have to go after her. Not because he cared about what happened to her, but because she still had his fucking keys. Lucky for him that he had programmed a tracker into his keychain and his bike, so it would be very easy for him to find what he was looking for.

Karelos opened her eyes and it was dark. She was confused for a moment as she felt a sharp pain stab in her skull. She winced and reached to assess the damage of the sore spot, but she couldn’t move her arms.

She swallowed once as it came back to her.

“She’s awake,” a male voice said gleefully. “What do we do now?”

Karelos struggled wildly, but the ropes or whatever the hell they had used to tie her to a chair held fast. She breathed in through her nose as she tried to calm her racing heart. Noctis, that pretty boy, lied to her; she wasn’t at some special place that only residents of the town knew about. She was in his house because he told her that he needed to get something, and apparently that something was her.

They were probably going to gang rape her or film some kind of disgusting torture porn, being messed up hillbillies. At least they were smart in having her blindfolded. If she saw their faces, she would fucking hunt down each and every one of them to exact her sweet revenge.

“Do whatever you want,” Noctis instructed casually. “Let me know when you’re done.”

Karelos wiggled her hands behind her back while they talked excitedly to one another; she could feel the rope get a little looser. She gritted her teeth as the stray threads sliced into her flesh, but she finally felt her hands slip free. Her feet were still bound together, but she could deal with that later. All she could do now was wait.

“Are you sure this is the girl you want?”

She heard Noctis laugh. “I think so. We’ll see.”

The door to the basement squeaked shut and Karelos felt some of her fear subside. If Noctis wasn’t there, she felt better. He was the one who worried her; he was intelligent and insane, a deadly combination. Unlike these other unschooled boys who just wanted to get their kicks.

“Hey, baby,” someone breathed into her ear.

Karelos leaned as far away as she could. He stank of cigarette smoke. She felt hands land on her shoulders and she resisted the urge to knock the boy out. She had to be patient. How many of them were there? She could probably take on a few, but if there was a pack of them she was in deep trouble.

She felt rough hands brush against her neck and she shuddered in disgust.

“She likes it, huh?”

“Slut.”

“You love ‘em, Henry,” a boy chuckled. “They’re the only way you ever get any.”

“Shut up!” Henry retorted loudly. “Man, I’m gonna fuck this bitch up since you guys are pissing me off.”

Karelos felt hot breath on her face and fingers fumbled at the back of her head.

“Man, what are you doing?” Henry asked.

“How the hell is having her mouth covered a good thing?” the leader snickered and the other boys followed his lead.

“She’ll scream. Don’t do it, Tim,” another boy warned.

Tim didn’t respond. Instead, Karelos felt the rag they had stuffed into her mouth be yanked away. She took a gasping breath despite herself; the combination of adrenaline fizzing through her veins and inhaling dusty basement air wasn’t a good one.

Tim spoke up slowly. “You call for help, you’re dead.”

“Okay.” Karelos nodded once. “Can you remove the blindfold too?”

“What, do you think we’re stupid?”

Karelos made her voice sultry. “I wanna see what you guys to do me. That’ll make it all so much better. Don’t I get some pleasure in this too, boys?”

“Let’s do it,” Henry practically panted. “She seems like she wants it.”

“Oh yeah,” Karelos purred, “I want it bad.”

Tim sighed. “Fine, she knows us anyway. Just don’t ask to be untied, because that would be a little too nice of us.” He suddenly slapped her and she heard a loud crack as stars swum in her dark vision. “That’s your warning, bitch. No tricks.”

“No tricks,” she agreed as her cheek burned.

The blindfold came off and she blinked at the sudden brightness of the basement. The losers from the gas station stared at her. There were only three of them, which was a good thing. If she knocked them out before Noctis got back down here, she would be free.

She licked her upper lip and gazed at Tim meaningfully. “Why don’t you come over here, Tom?”

“It’s Tim,” he replied, scowling at her. “I told you already.”

“I’m so sorry,” she lowered her voice and shoved out her chest. “Let me make it all better for you.”

Tim lowered his pockmarked face to hers and she felt his eager lips press against them. She willed herself not to barf and did the same, but made sure that her lips were firmly shut. She could already smell the nasty scent of his breath and she knew that the taste would be even worse.

His tongue began to probe her lips almost immediately and she counted to three. Suddenly, she whipped her hands out from behind her back and grabbed the sides of his face. She bashed their skulls together and Tim staggered back before crumpling to the ground.

Before the other two could blink, she reached down into her boot and pulled out the knife she kept stashed there. She cut the bindings at her ankles and was on her feet before the boys before her could even get over their shock.

Her breath was heavy as she stared them down.

“Who’s next?”

“Holy shit, dude,” a curly haired brunette uttered, eyes wide. “No one told me this bitch was like, a fucking ninja or something.”

Henry raised his hands and stepped back. “Sorry, okay? We had to do this. We didn’t wanna do it, but he told us to.” He eyed her knife warily. “Don’t stab me!”

“You guys were going to fuck me,” she stated flatly. “I think giving you a few paper cuts is the lesser evil.”

“Please,” Henry begged. “We’ll let you go.”

“You’ll let me, huh?” she snorted. “I guess I can let you go. Where’s the exit, asshole?” 

“Over here.”

Karelos yelped as she was tackled from behind. Her knife scattered away and lay just out of reach. Tim, who wasn’t stunned any longer, sat on her back. She bucked wildly, but he pinned her to the ground.

“You’re dead,” he whispered into her hair. “Remember the little rule you agreed to?”

He grabbed her by her hair and pulled her head up so far she thought her neck was going to snap. But she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of screaming. It didn’t hurt that much, anyway. She’d been through worse.

Tim slammed her face down into the floor and she tasted copper in her mouth. Her ears rang as she felt hands fumbling with her belt. She twisted and squirmed to no avail. She felt a breeze hit her ass and Tim laughed.

“Nice underwear.”

Karelos seized her chance and flipped over while he was too busy gaping at her pink plaid-patterned underwear. It had been a joke gift from her boyfriend a while back, and she never wore them unless she felt really lonely.

If only she had felt happier today, they wouldn’t have been tainted by the eyes of these perverts.

She kicked him in the chest and he fell back with a surprised gasp. She pulled her jeans up with one hand as she crawled in the direction of the knife. Henry and the nameless boy simply stood there as this all went on. She glared at them and reached for the knife when there was a loud creak.

“Well, this is interesting.”

Karelos clutched her knife and pressed her back against the plaster wall. Noctis stood in the doorway with wet hair and a towel slung low on his hips. The other guys shot glances at each other as they wondered what they could possibly tell him.

“She’s vicious,” Tim wheezed. “She’s going to kill us! All we wanted was to give her what she wanted, but she freaked out on us.”

Noctis flipped his hair back. “How would a little girl like her do that?”

Henry piped up meekly, “She has a knife.”

“I know,” Noctis said. “You should have checked before you tried to screw her.”

“I’m going now,” Karelos said, slowly rising to a standing position. “You guys are going to let me, or I’ll call the cops.”

The trio turned to Noctis, who shrugged and hooked his thumbs into the corners of the towel. They walked out of the basement with lowered heads, ashamed at the fact that they hadn’t even been able to handle one girl.

Karelos swiped up her belt and tried to keep her legs from shaking, but she couldn’t. The stress was too much and she felt her legs give out beneath her. She took shaky breaths as she looped the belt around her hips, feeling Noctis watching her.

“What?” she spat. “Got something to say to me?”

“You’ll do,” he said thoughtfully.

She narrowed her eyes and didn’t reply. What the hell could she say to something like that?

He walked to where she sat cross-legged and crouched down beside her. She could smell the scent of apples on him and that just made her even more anxious.

Someone like him could never be sweet.

“Cloud Strife was looking for you. He came over while you were,” his lips curved up, “busy down here. I was in the middle of my shower, so it was quite an inconvenience. I told him that you would go see him later.”

Karelos scooted away from him. “Don’t talk to me.”

 “I’m really sorry,” his voice grew soft as he reached towards her face. “I did what I did because it was a test.”

She didn’t have time to react as he pulled her into a kiss that made her head spin even more. She finally pulled away and drew in raggedy breaths. He raised her eyebrows at her.

“You passed with flying colours, so I can guarantee your safety.” He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. “Now, we’re going to go to the kitchen and eat. How does that sound?”

She closed her eyes as he continued to stroke her cheek. “You’re crazy. I can’t.”

“Can’t or don’t want to?”

“Please, Noctis—”

He smiled at her. “Where else are you going to go, Karelos?”

She fell silent and knew he was right. She stared wordlessly as he slipped his fingers through hers and pulled her close to him. She pressed her cheek against his warm chest and tried to keep her tears from flowing.

---

Cloud flipped through the channels on the TV without paying attention to what shows were on. He was merely biding his time until that thief showed up with his keys. It hadn’t exactly pleased him to have to speak to Noctis again, especially since Noctis had been in a towel, only making the situation more awkward.

Apparently the girl was too busy doing something in the basement, so Noctis had promised that he would send her over once she was finished. Cloud was fairly sure that she had been smoking weed with some guys that always hung around with Noctis. His former friend had always needed to be surrounded by others for some reason.

Cloud jolted awake when he heard knocks on the door. Rubbing his eyes with the back of one hand, unable to remember when he had fallen asleep, he made his way to the door. Shoulders tense, he opened it.

“Hi,” the girl said. “I’m here with the—“

Cloud grabbed her arms without warning and yanked her into his apartment. He slammed the door shut with the heel of his foot and pinned the girl to the wall. She stared at him, face frozen into an expression of shock which quickly faded into one of indignation.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she hissed.

“I should ask you that, seeing as you stole my motorcycle, thief.”

She looked away. “I was going to return it.”

“Were you?” Cloud tried to suppress the rage that bubbled up inside him. “Well, tell me something. How come you only stopped once the gas ran out? It seems that you would have kept my bike if there had been an infinite supply.”

She made an attempt to pull away, but he held her fast.

“I’m sorry. I’ll never do it again,” she said sarcastically. “Now, would you mind letting go of me? I’ve already been assaulted today.”

Cloud’s eyes were drawn to an ugly purple bruise on the girl’s forehead, partially covered by hair, and he felt his grip slacken. She ducked out from beneath his arms and rubbed at her wrists. From the back, she looked really tiny and somehow lonely.

“Are you okay?” he asked, concern taking over. “Did Noctis—”

She spun on her heels and smiled bitterly at him. “Did Noctis what? Go on. You’re his friend, right? What do you think he did to me?”

“We’re not friends,” Cloud replied automatically. “It’s because of you that I even had the displeasure of seeing him today.”

She crossed her arms. “Well, that’s another strike on the ‘Karelos is a failure’ list, I guess. It’s typical of me to screw up, yet again.”

“What are you talking about?”

Karelos didn’t reply. Instead, she pointed at the TV. “Watching anything interesting? Stuff on TV sucks these days. ”

“I don’t know,” Cloud said distractedly. “You should really get the bump on your head looked at.”

“It’s fine,” Karelos replied. “I survived and I’m over it. It’s not like I’ll need therapy.”

“That’s good.”

Cloud watched as Karelos reached into the pocket of her hoodie and pulled out a set of keys. He stretched out his hand and she deposited them. Their fingers brushed and Cloud felt a spark run all the way down to his toes. Karelos jerked her hand away.

“Static electricity,” Cloud explained, more to himself than to her. “Thanks for giving these back.”

Karelos shrugged. “I wanted to keep them in my stash of stolen goods, but Noctis made me play nice. So I guess it’s your lucky day, Cloud Strife.”

“You know my name?”

“Noctis told me.” She looked around his apartment once more before giving it a nod of approval. “Nice place. If I had somewhere to call home, this would be pretty much perfect.”

“I’m glad my things meet your standards,” Cloud said. “Do you still live with your parents?”

At his words, Karelos seemed to fold in on herself. She ducked her head and made for the door, which was only a few steps away. For some reason, they had gone from fighting to chatting like friends, and that made her very uncomfortable.

“See you, Cloud. Thanks for not kicking my ass, even though I kind of deserved it.”

Cloud followed her out. “Noctis seems to have done it for me.”

“Noctis didn’t do anything. He was quite,” Karelos bit her lip, “sweet to me, as a matter of fact. As for those assholes that leech onto him, they’re a different story.” She shook her head once. “I have no idea why I’m telling you all this. It must be the head injury.”

Cloud placed a hand on her head solemnly and she blinked.

“You’re not going back to him, are you?”

They stared at each other for a long moment, and Karelos wanted to speak but the words shrivelled up and died in her throat. Instead of staying with him, as she longed to do, Karelos backed away hurriedly and gave him a small wave.

“I’m staying in town for a while, so maybe we’ll meet again.”

Cloud watched her go again, the exact same scenario of that morning. Only this time it wasn’t raining and she wasn’t on a stolen vehicle. Somehow, this only made the whole situation seem even bleaker. He closed the door and leaned against it, wondering why he felt a ball of nausea grow in his stomach.

Karelos looked tough, but her eyes betrayed the fact that she could shatter at any moment if someone said the wrong thing. Those were the kinds of girls that Noctis loved the most.

Cloud knew that he could have asked her to stay with him, but he was too afraid. Maybe he was wrong about all of this. Noctis could have taken her under his wing out of the goodness in his heart, but Cloud didn’t believe that for a minute. If anything happened to Karelos, Cloud knew that the blame would lie on his shoulders.

---

Karelos wandered aimlessly, hands hidden in the comforting depths of her hoodie. She walked briskly down the dirty gray sidewalk, keeping her head down. The pleasant temperature didn’t prevent her from feeling slightly chilled. The dark sky loomed up above her and she felt depressed that there were no stars out.

The last time she had seen stars, she had been visiting her boyfriend’s family, who lived in the country. Karelos loved nature, and so she had jumped at the opportunity, even though she had lied to her mom about where she was going for the weekend.

She and Joshua had walked hand in hand through a field of wheat and the stars glittered down at them. It had truly been a perfect movie moment.

Karelos didn’t feel as if she would experience anything like that again.

A girl wearing short skirt and too much makeup bumped into her, but Karelos didn’t bitch at her. She didn’t have the energy for it. The girl looked up and grinned; the smell of alcohol wafted from her pores in a very pungent perfume. Karelos stepped aside and the girl staggered by, giggling to herself. Karelos looked around expectantly, but no one followed the girl.

Karelos sighed. “Hey, why are you alone?”

“What?”

The girl stumbled and turned to face her, nearly falling flat on her face as she teetered on her metallic silver heels. Karelos reached out and grabbed her skinny arms, steadying her as best as she possibly could. The girl was a foot taller than she was.

“Where are your friends?” Karelos asked, trying to speak as clearly as she could.

The girl giggled and stared off into the distance. “They’re still at the club. I have to be home at midnight. My parents are so over-protective. I mean, come on! I’m like fifteen, you know?”

Karelos shifted from foot to foot, wondering how the time had gone by so fast. “Under-age drinking’s all the rage here too, huh?”

“How old are you?” the girl leaned towards her and Karelos stumbled back. “You look kinda young yourself.”

“I’m nineteen,” Karelos said, going with her usual lie. “Look, it isn’t safe for you to be drunk out here.”

The girl tossed her head back and laughed. “God, I swear you are exactly like my mother.” She spread her manicured hands out. “Look around you! This is like, a hick town. Everyone knows everyone. It’s totally,” she burped, “safe.”

Karelos stared at her. “You haven’t had much life experience, have you? Shit happens.”

“Whatever.”

The girl turned away and began weaving down the street. The light from the lamps made her blonde hair appear orange. Karelos hesitated, but continued walking. Who cared about what happened to some stupid girl like that anyway? She had tried to help, that was more than what anyone else would have done.

Karelos’s mind drifted to Cloud and the concern he showed her when he had seen the bruises on her face. Granted, he had been in the frame of mind to attack her and add to her injuries, but he had immediately backed off once he realized she was hurt. She even deserved a punishment from him, since she had stolen one of his prized possessions. Karelos saw him glow from the inside out when she had returned the motorcycle keys. He really loved his bike, and seemed to be a person who put all his effort into things that were of value to him.

Karelos wished once again that she had asked to sleep over, instead of brightly telling him that she had her housing accommodations covered. She would have to return to Noctis’s house, unless she wanted to blow her dwindling cash on a motel. Well, at least staying with a hot guy was one of her original options.

“Hey.” A chestnut haired boy emerged from the shadows, unlit cigarette in one hand. “Do you have a light?”

Karelos pulled a red light lighter out of her jean pocket and handed it to him. He accepted it with trembling fingers and flicked it open, impatiently holding his smoke to the tiny flame. Karelos watched with amusement as he dropped the lighter on the ground.

“Shit!”

“Not the first time someone’s been clumsy today.” Karelos took her lighter back and put it away.

The boy took a drag and held it in his lungs for a moment before exhaling. “Thanks. You have no idea how badly I needed that. The club scene’s kind of crazy tonight, so I guess I got a little nervous in there.”

“Partying’s not your thing?” Karelos raised her eyebrows.

He pulled the cigarette away from his lips. “Not really.” He squinted at her through a haze of smoke. “Hey, you look kinda familiar. Do I know you?”

“Please, I can so see through your pick up attempt.” Karelos kept her game face on, despite her heart having jolted in her chest. “Go find someone else to use your oh-so-sexy skills on.”

He grinned at her, revealing yellowed teeth. “I do know you. You’re Joshua’s—”

“Sorry, buddy. You have the wrong person,” Karelos stated flatly. “Must be all the chemicals going straight to your brain.”

The boy looked unconvinced. “I swear I’ve seen you before. I always remember the pretty ones. It’s one of my talents.”

“Well, I’m glad you have one.”

He tossed his cigarette to the floor and stubbed it out with his foot. “No need to be a bitch. Just because you ain’t from around here you think you’re better than us or something? Well, I got news for you, princess. There’s this guy called Noctis who rules this place, and everyone respects him. We’re good friends. If I tell him about your attitude, he’ll make sure that—“

“Shut the fuck up,” Karelos retorted. “I’m not afraid of anyone.”

She spun on her heel and headed towards Noctis’s place, hearing the guy yelling behind her. He was harmless, so no worries of a repeat rape attempt there. Of course, she had already seen him before. He hadn’t been wrong about that. Too bad she couldn’t remember his name, because he wasn’t exactly one of the hot ones.

So, Noctis was the prince around here, and not just the ruler of his little gang of criminals. That was new information, but it didn’t surprise her at all. Who else would be glorified here? She certainly hadn’t seen anyone who had the charisma that guy had. Except for maybe Cloud, but she had a feeling that the boy didn’t see too much of the outside world, and if so, it was alone on his motorcycle.

Before she knew it, Karelos was on Noctis’s doorstep. She hesitated, debating whether or not she really wanted to go through with it. After she had basically clung to him on the floor of the basement, they had eaten sandwiches that he had made. Karelos felt anxious the whole time, she couldn’t help but snapping at him whenever he had talked to her. Instead of blowing his top, Noctis merely smiled knowingly and returned to gazing at her with an expression of interest in his eyes.

Karelos didn’t know what to think, and she always wanted to have an answer to everything.

---

Karelos raised her hand and knocked on the door three times. The sound felt extra loud in the stillness of the summer night. Her first hovered in the air for a moment before dropping to her side. She tried to quell the fear that had begun to swirl around her ankles in a whirlpool, trying to suck her in. She refused to let it and took a deep breath.

No one answered.

Of all the things she had been expecting, it certainly hadn’t been that. She looked at the windows and noticed that some of the lights were still on. Either Noctis hadn’t heard her knock, or he was out and didn’t care about conserving electricity. Judging from what she had seen, he was wealthy, so it was probably the latter option. Noctis had told her that he would wait for her return. Maybe she had been gone for longer than he had expected and he got pissed off. She had been gone for quite a few hours, after all.

Karelos leaned her forehead against the cool glass of one of the front windows. She didn’t bother trying to look inside, as curtains covered everything. Her head had begun to pound and she desperately needed a few Tylenol to make this all better. Or a smoke, but she had quit a year ago. Even so, her body yearned for the relaxed sensation nicotine and tar brought her. Karelos squeezed her eyes shut.

‘You hate the smell,’ she told herself. ‘You hate the taste of those nasty things, remember?’

Those hadn’t been her words, exactly, but she could force herself to continue believing in them. He would have wanted her to. Joshua hated her smoking habit and she had given it up for him. It had nearly killed her those first few days, but he had gotten her through it with a lot of encouragement and other things which made her hurt too much to think about now. Thinking of happier times made her feel even worse.

A car screeched to stop behind her and she stared at it, headache half-forgotten. It was black, sleek and gorgeous; she didn’t expect anything less than Bruce and Kratalie stepping out of it with smiles and waves, even though they had no clue where she was.

Instead, a head of dark hair popped out from the passenger seat and slammed the door shut. Noctis appeared in full view and he was walking strangely. Karelos immediately realized that he was holding his left shoulder. Even in the dim light, she could see that his fingers were stained crimson. He hurried up the walkway and she tried to hide herself in the shadows, feeling like an intruder. He hadn’t seen her yet; she could still get away somehow. Cloud’s apartment was an even more attractive option at the moment.

Noctis stood in front of the door and reached into the pocket of his suit. He pulled out keys and unlocked the door, which made a soft click.

“I don’t know what you’re planning, but I’m afraid the surprise is ruined,” Noctis said, staring straight ahead at the door he hadn’t yet opened.

Karelos stepped out of her dark corner. “What happened?”

“Life happened.” Noctis angled his face towards hers and gave her a kiss. “I’m glad you made the smart decision of coming back here.”

Karelos tried to appear composed. “I know when I only have one option.”

“I see.” Noctis sounded amused as he let them both into the house. “Cloud Strife didn’t make the cut for you?”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

He pulled off his black jacket and neatly put it on a hanger, paying no attention to the gash on his shoulder that was trickling blood. The snowy whiteness of his white button down was quickly becoming an entirely different shade: pink.

“It means,” Noctis said, “he’s not the kind of guy that you’d sleep with?”

Karelos was momentarily distracted from his wound. “Excuse me? Look, I have a boyfriend. I’m not interested in having sex with Cloud Strife. You’re the one who talks about him all the time. Maybe you want to—”

Noctis held a finger up to her lips. “You should be careful with that temper. I wouldn’t want to see you get hurt so soon.”

Karelos pushed his hand away without replying. She took hold of his arm at eye level to look at it more closely. It appeared as if he had been stabbed with something sharp, and it didn’t seem to have been a knife. Something glinted from within the injury.

“Come here,” she instructed. “Don’t move, okay?”

Noctis sat on the couch compliantly. “I don’t need your help.”

She ignored him. “You have pieces of glass embedded in your arm. I’m gonna need a first aid kit, unless you’re too much of an idiot to not have one of those lying around.”

“It’s on the kitchen counter.”

Karelos furrowed her brows. “Why is it there?”

“I’m going to bleed to death, but I’ll be more than happy to tell you how it ended up at that location, if you wish.”

Karelos released his arm and stormed into the kitchen to fetch it. Here it was, past midnight, and she was playing nurse to some psychopath. This was wonderful, a summer night to remember forever and tell her future children about.

Noctis’s eyes were half closed when she returned but he opened them fully once she came into view with a white box in tow. She settled herself next to him and began removing all the necessary supplies while he watched.

“You’re in shock, aren’t you,” she stated as she removed a pair of tweezers from the kit.

He smiled, face paler than usual. “I haven’t lost that much blood, despite what I said previously. You know, he broke a window with an axe because I called him a bad name.” He chuckled as she swabbed his arm with rubbing alcohol. “Then he picked up an enormous piece of glass and proceeded to try to carve me up with it. He didn’t get very far, and now he never will.”

“You’re talking crazy here,” Karelos said. “Could you shut up for a second so I can concentrate?”

“Just let me do it.”

“No.”

He sighed and fixed his eyes on hers. “I won’t feel as if I owe you anything after this.”

“I don’t expect you to.”

“Good.” Noctis sounded surprised. “It’ll be interesting to see how you do.”

“I said shut up,” Karelos snapped. “I’m about to fix this whole mess.”

Noctis watched as Karelos carefully inserted the tweezers into his wound; his face betrayed no sign of pain.  She carefully extracted every single shard of glasses, adding them to a wet paper towel that lay next to her. Before long, she had deftly removed it all and proceeded to stitching up his arm. Karelos had wanted to be a nurse, so she felt fairly confident in doing these tasks, but Noctis’s eyes following her every move made it all slightly more difficult than she was used to.

“There.” She finished wrapping the gauze around his upper arm. “You’ll live to see another day.”

“How does that make you feel?”

Karelos snapped the first aid kid shut. “It makes no difference to me.” She got to her feet and gathered the paper towel in her hands, walking over to the trash bin and depositing the blood stained crystals.

Noctis rested his chin on one hand as she re-entered the living room.

“I wish you hadn’t done that.”

Karelos pulled off her hoodie and tossed it to the floor. “I’m starting to regret helping you myself, Noctis. I just want to sleep so I don’t have to see your face anymore.”

“Let’s go to bed.”

Karelos shot him a withering glare. “Could you clarify, please? I don’t exactly want to end up in bed with you, because I know the kind of guy you are. I’m not going to cheat on my boyfriend.”

“You’ve kissed me already. I believe that counts.”

Karelos yanked up the strap of her peach tank top. “Yeah, well, it doesn’t. You’re the one who started it, anyway. I didn’t do anything.”

Noctis got to his feet and stretched. He unbuttoned his bloodied shirt and folded it up neatly, deliberately placing it next to Karelos’s crumpled hoodie. Karelos stepped back as he came towards her, but didn’t resist as he wrapped his arms around her.

Her heart had a mini seizure. “Let me go.”

“Thank you,” he murmured into her hair. “You’re a good girl.”

“Shows how much you know,” she whispered.

“I know more than you think.”

Karelos stayed put for a moment longer, before she shoved him away, secretly thrilled by the feel of his taut muscles beneath her fingertips. At some point during this whole crazy evening (morning?) with Noctis, her headache had vanished completely. Hot guys could do that to a girl.

She padded over to the couch and curled up on it.

“Good night.”

There was no response. Karelos peeked through her eyelashes but saw that he had vanished. She felt a slight twinge of disappointment but shoved it into the back of her mind. Before long, sleep took over and she sunk into a dreamless slumber for the first time in a month.

---

The morning sky was bright and the air was sweet; it was another gorgeous summer day. Karelos stared out the window without blinking from her position in the kitchen. She wanted to get out of Noctis’s house and move on, but he was still asleep and she would feel weird if she left without a good bye.

Her stomach rumbled and she rubbed it absentmindedly. The last thing she had eaten had been the sandwiches that Noctis made. Thinking about food was only making her even hungrier, so she tried to shift her thoughts to something else. As always, she thought of Joshua. He was kind of a spoiled brat, but he made her laugh and she always had a good time with him. Besides all his positive qualities, he was very easy on the eyes.

She missed him, despite everything that had happened. Karelos blinked, surprised to find that her eyes were wet. She brushed the tears away with the back of her arm, inhaling shakily. This was definitely not a good time to be feeling sorry for herself.

“Did you touch anything?”

Karelos hid her face with her hair, looking up at the ceiling and praying for her eyes to dry quickly before he could see her like this. “No. This isn’t my house.”

“It’s nice to see that you have manners.”

She whipped her head around. “Noctis, I saved your life—“ her voice trailed off. “You look terrible!”

Noctis, who had a face even the gods would envy, had purple bruises beneath his eyes. His breathing was slightly off and it seemed as if he didn’t have the strength to stand. His hair, however, still looked beautiful despite it all.

“That’s a lie. You still find me handsome, don’t you?” He stared at her, a smile playing on his lips. “I’ve just had a difficult night. I couldn’t sleep because you weren’t with me.”

“God, let’s not start this now.” Karelos came to his side. “How’s the injury?”

“It’s fine.” He held still as she removed his bandages. “Should I take off the shirt? I think it would make this easier.”

She shook her head. “That would be too distracting.” She froze, bandages clutched in one hand. “I mean, you would probably use it as an excuse to like, try to do me on the table or something—”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself.” Noctis laughed despite his condition. “How’s the cut?”

Karelos probed around the stitches gently. “Well, it doesn’t look inflamed and there’s no pus or anything. Nothing’s wrong.” She nabbed the first aid kit from the counter. “I’m just gonna put some more antiseptic on here. It might sting a bit.”

“You sewed up the wound for me without any painkillers,” Noctis stated. “I’m sure I can handle some stinging.”

“Whatever, you deserved it,” Karelos retorted, swabbing the area. “Even if I did have painkillers, I wouldn’t have given any to you.”

Noctis remained silent as she placed the kit back to its original spot. She turned around and what she saw didn’t make her feel any better. He looked at his stitches with a fascination in his eyes that made her more than a little concerned.

“You should see a doctor.”

He looked up. “I have you.”

“Look.” She crossed her arms. “I’m not a health care professional. I did the best I could, but there is something wrong with you and I think you need to—”

He closed the distance between them in a stride and pressed up against her. Karelos felt her spine jabbing into the hard edge of the counter; she could practically feel a new bruise forming there. Noctis looked deep into her eyes and what he saw there made him smirk.

“I don’t need help,” he said. “I think you’re talking about the wrong person.”

Karelos glared back. “I’ll take that advice. Let go and I’ll walk out of your perfect life forever.”

“Then I’ll never let go,” Noctis answered, leaning towards her and tracing her jaw line with his lips. “You belong to me now, Karelos.”

Shivers raced through her but she wouldn’t succumb to the emotions that were beginning to take over. Karelos looked away from his piercing eyes and closed her own, refusing to show him that what he was doing affected her. His hands travelled up her back, beneath the thin fabric of her tank top, tracing small circles. Her breath caught her throat as he leaned even closer to her, nuzzling his cheek against hers.

“Stop,” she tried to say, but her voice was very small.

He kissed her, pulling her even closer by pushing his hands against the small of her back. His lips parted and she tried to keep hers shut, but she couldn’t help but being persuaded to go along with this at his firm insistence. Noctis kept his tongue in his mouth, which Karelos appreciated. There was something about French kissing that would have made this all too wrong. But what they were doing now was okay, wasn’t it? It couldn’t have felt so good otherwise.

Noctis leaned back suddenly. “You’re not going anywhere unless I let you. Do you understand?”

Karelos stared at him, feeling numb all of a sudden. She realized that this was the way she always felt, and that the excitement coursing through her had only been because of Noctis. She was nothing again.

“I can do whatever I want,” she finally said.

Noctis walked away from her. “Get me some painkillers at the store. Aspirin, Tylenol, anything will do. Money’s in the pocket of my coat.” He turned back and her heart ached at how tired he looked. “Get condoms too.”

Her sentimental feelings vanished immediately. “What the fuck did you just say?”

Noctis disappeared without another word. Karelos fumed in her place, before storming to the fridge and flinging it open. She didn’t care anymore about asking him for permission. The guy was an asshole. The fridge was stocked with barely touched foods of many varieties, and her eyes landed on a chocolate cake. She pulled it out and slammed it onto the table.

Who the hell said she couldn’t have dessert for breakfast?

After swallowing down forkfuls of gooey chocolate and washing it all down with milk, Karelos found her bags in a side closet. She pulled on her last clean change of clothes: shorts and one of Joshua’s T-shirts. She wasn’t sure where a grocery store was, but she had a vague remembrance of passing one when she had been wandering around last night. Not that she should even be getting Noctis anything, since he obviously had delusions in his pretty head that were never going to happen.

She strode down the sidewalk. The sun pounded on her head from up above and she wondered irritably why she loved summer in the first place. It was only when she was with her friends at the pool or eating ice cream when summer made her happy.

The jangling of a bell invaded her thoughts and she found herself in front of a run down store. The outside sidewalk had crates of various fruits and vegetables for sale. Flowers were there too, bright in their pots of soil. What really made her sit up and take notice, though, was the fact that a familiar figure had just entered the run down structure.

Karelos hurried in, eager to surprise him with this strange coincidence. She saw his blond head bowed over a rack of magazines. She crept up behind him. On a sudden impulse of craziness, she slapped his butt.

He whirled around and stared at her with wide ocean blue eyes.

“Karelos?”

She beamed at him. “Hey! I wouldn’t have known it was you if your cute ass hadn’t tipped me off. I’ll always keep it in my mind fondly.”

“So you can only remember me from the back view?” he inquired, cheeks were slightly pink. “That does wonders for my self-confidence.”

Karelos patted his arm. “You have a motorcycle! That would send my ego through the roof.”

“It’s nothing special.” He ducked his head. “What are you doing here?”

Karelos raised her eyebrows. “I should be asking you that question, hermit boy.”

“I’ve seen the outside world,” Cloud replied. “It doesn’t do much for me.”

“I can see why you’d think that.” Karelos held up a finger. “But, if you hung out with me, you’d see that it can be a fucking awesome place!”

Cloud took a magazine from the shelf. “You sound pretty sure of yourself.” He gave her a half smile. “I think you just want to ride my motorcycle again.”

Karelos was about to protest, but laughed instead. “You’re right. I can’t beat your powers of deduction, Cloud Strife.” She scanned the signs and found one for medication. “Give me a second, okay?”

He nodded and she hurried off. Cloud didn’t understand why he couldn’t just go with her; the store was minuscule and he could see her anyway, if she thought she needed to get something in private.

The magazine he had come for was one all about motorcycles; he usually got a subscription but cancelled it after he had met Tifa. She thought that he was obsessed with his bike and he didn’t want to upset her. She was always rambling how dangerous motorcycles were and how he would end up dead in a ditch one day. More often than not, she acted like his mother instead of his girlfriend. Cloud didn’t mind; he knew that she loved him, just as he loved her.

Everything was perfect despite their long distance relationship. Tifa was fine with Cloud having gone on his summer road trip. What she didn’t know was that he had moved back to his hometown to try to start a mechanic business. She would have known this crucial bit of information if she had bothered to pick up her phone. Maybe things weren’t so perfect after all, but they could work through their problems.

“Why are you so deep in thought?” Karelos asked, appearing with a basket full of pills.

“No reason. “ He nodded towards her basket. “Looks like you have one hell of a migraine.”

She smiled mysteriously as her only response. Before long, they were out of the store with purchases in hand. Karelos spoke with him confidently, but inside she was a mess of nerves. It was weird how much she liked him. It was as if they had known each other in a past life; she was aware of his every move. Gorgeous and sweet, he was truly an angel mistakenly living in this hellhole called Earth. If he had been in Noctis’s place, ill and refusing to see a doctor, she would have forced him to.

“Where did you end up staying?” Cloud asked as they came to a halt before his motorcycle.

Karelos gave a half shrug. “Drop me off where I tell you and you’ll find out.”

They got onto the motorcycle and Cloud handed her a bright pink helmet without a word. Karelos looked back and forth from it to him, wondering why he had such a thing hidden in the bike’s storage compartment.

“Is this for days when you’re feeling in touch with your feminine side?” Karelos snickered, sliding the helmet onto her head. “I know real men wear pink and all, but really!”

Cloud put his own helmet on. “That’s Tifa’s.”

“...I see.” Karelos wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek against his muscled back. “Let’s go!”

They rode in a comfortable silence. Karelos loved every moment of it; she enjoyed having someone to hold onto more than driving the motorcycle on her own. Being with Cloud, she felt as if the world held possibilities she had only dreamed of in childhood.

Even before they ended up at Noctis’s house, Karelos felt Cloud’s body tense. She wanted to ask him why he suddenly seemed so apprehensive, but having a conversation while racing at high speeds didn’t seem like a good idea. She kept her eyes and mouth shut, inhaling the leather of his jacket. This was definitely one of her better moments.

He dropped her off on the curb. “Here you are.”

“Thanks.” Karelos returned his helmet, standing awkwardly with her grocery bag. “Aren’t you going to say anything?”

He shrugged, face hidden beneath his headgear. “I guess I’ll see you around.” He nodded towards his former friend’s house. “If he lets you, that is.”

“Noctis doesn’t control me.”

“So you’re choosing to stay with him? You’re making a mistake.”

Karelos stiffened. “Well, what else can I do? I’m sort of trapped in my situation.”

“You could...” Cloud trailed off. “You could go home.”

“That’s the thing, Cloud.” Karelos maintained a cheerful face. “I can’t. You wouldn’t understand, seeing how you live alone in your bubble. Relationships are complicated.”

“Good bye.” Cloud revved the engine.  “Be careful.”

Karelos didn’t bother to stand and watch as he vanished. Instead, she walked up the path that was beginning to feel familiar and knocked on the door. Yet again, no one answered; however, she saw his car parked on the street. Irritated, she tried the doorknob and found it unlocked.

She pulled off her shoes. “Hey, I’m back!”

There was no answer. A sense of dread welled up in her stomach as she walked through the house, poking her head in every room. He wasn’t anywhere. She stood at the bottom of the staircase and with a sigh of resignation ascended them.

“Noctis?” She rapped on the first door she saw. “Are you in there? I have your meds.”

She opened it and saw a sleeping form on a bed covered in silk sheets. Looking around, she saw an antique looking room. Oil paintings framed the walls and black curtains were drawn over the windows. A single candle flickered on a dresser.

Karelos stood by the bed. “Wake up, sleepyhead!”

When he didn’t respond, she yanked the covers off him in irritation. What faced her was a boy who clearly wasn’t pretending to sleep, but unconscious. His breaths escaped his lips in barely audible sounds. She immediately sat next to him and patted him on the cheeks.

“Hey, wake up.” Her motions grew frantic. “Come on, you asshole. You think you’re so smart, why the fuck did you not listen to me? I told you to see a doctor.” A choked sob escaped her lips. “I told you to!” She shook him. “Noctis, I swear to god, if you don’t get up this second I’ll hate you!”

His eyes fluttered open and focused on her.

“Thank you, Jesus,” Karelos sighed, heart rate subsiding.

Noctis placed his hands on top of hers. “Why did you wake me up? You’re not supposed to go upstairs without my permission.”

“That’s the first thing you say?” she replied, dumbfounded. “You scared the shit out of me!”

Noctis raised himself to a sitting position. “Did I pass out? I admit, I did drink a little but my alcohol tolerance is extremely high.”

She noticed the nearly empty bottle of vodka on the floor. “Fuck, that’s a lot to be drunk straight up. Why the hell did you do that for?”

He laughed, squeezing her fingers. “I was lonely.”

“You told me to get you painkillers, which I did,” she said. “That’s why I wasn’t here. Don’t try to blame your alcohol poisoning on me!”

Noctis rested his forehead on her shoulder. “I don’t need them now.”

“Good.” She shoved him away. “I’m glad your self-medication worked. You could be friends with this guy I know, Bruce. He drinks like a maniac.”

“Friends,” Noctis murmured. “Karelos, do you like me?”

She buried her face in her hands. “You’re drunk off your ass. I’ll leave you to get some sleep.”

“Don’t leave me,” he said suddenly, wrapping his arms around her. “Don’t leave me.”

She relented and patted his back. “What’s gotten into you? You’re acting like a clingy five year old. I guess being drunk does different things to everyone.”

He searched her face with probing eyes, before lying back and sighing heavily. He gripped his hand tightly in hers, so hard that she thought her fingers were about to snap off. Karelos fought the urge to run away from this sad creature, so different from the cool and self-assured boy she had come to know.

Karelos was glad that color had returned to his face; he appeared much healthier than he had been. Now all she could do was wait for him to fall asleep. Surprising herself, she leaned over and brushed her lips against his.

She was definitely the best kind of nurse for a guy like Noctis. Or any guy, for that matter.

Cloud entered his apartment with a hollow pit in his stomach. He flicked the lights on and swept his gaze around the room. To his critical eyes, everything looked so cheap. There was no way that Karelos meant what she had said about liking his interior design.

He could never compare with Noctis in the style department; no matter how hard he tried, he would always be just a little bit less. At least he was better with his hands; Noctis had other people do things for him while Cloud did them himself. That was one way to learn.

Not to mention, Noctis had shattered Cloud’s life three years ago. Cloud had never done anything close to what that son-of-a-bitch had. It was hard enough thinking of that even now, especially because he had to keep it all a secret.

Cloud lay down on the couch and covered his eyes with an arm, not caring how pathetic he probably looked. He didn’t want to be thinking of the past. There was still so much grief inside him; it was all he could do to keep suppressing it. Cloud Strife would not cry, he could not cry, because he wasn’t that kind of person.

The newly installed phone rang. Cloud forced himself to get up and answer it. Had telemarketers gotten his new number already? It wasn’t like he expected anyone he liked on the other end. He couldn’t put many people under that category.

He put the phone to his ear. “Hello.”

“Cloud!” a feminine voice chirped. “I can’t believe I’ve finally gotten hold of you.”

He instantly felt better. “I could say the same thing, Tifa. How did you get this number? I haven’t given it out to anyone.”

“It’s a secret,” she giggled. “Now, the thing I want to know is where are you? You were supposed to be back yesterday.”

Cloud paced the hallway. “This news may surprise you.”

“Oh?” her voice grew suspicious. “That doesn’t sound good.”

“I’ve moved back to my hometown,” Cloud said. “Before you go crazy, listen—”

There was a sharp intake of breath. “What? You must be out of your mind!”

“Calm down, Tifa,” Cloud said. “You’re blowing this all out of proportion.”

“What happened to ‘going on a road trip’? What happened to ‘I’ll miss you so much, Tifa’? If you’ve rented a place to stay, I think it’s safe to say you don’t give a damn about me!”

Cloud fumed inwardly. “I have a dream. I want to open my own mechanics business.”

“Cloud, I can’t believe this,” she hissed. “It isn’t like you at all! You’re supposed to be the stable, rational one, not the guy who moves back home on impulse.”

“Then maybe you don’t know me as well as you think.”

She laughed bitterly. “Oh, that’s rich. If there’s any guy less mysterious than you on earth, let me know. You only care about two things: your hair and your motorcycle.”

“Tifa,” Cloud growled. “Don’t be like this.”

“Are you angry, baby? Good, because I am majorly pissed off,” she said, voice eerily soft. “Give me a call once you have these fantasies out of your head. I don’t want to marry a little boy who likes to play with cars.”

There was a click and then a dial tone.

Cloud fell back onto the couch and stared at the patterns on the ceiling. His heart hammered in his chest, spreading rage tainted blood throughout his body. Unable to stand it any longer, he got dressed and practically ran out of his apartment.

The woman at the cash register was startled when a blonde haired young man burst into the liquor store. He marched straight to the hard liquors without pause and began snatching them up. She was more than a little concerned; it was only early afternoon. There was no one else in the store as business didn’t really get going until the evening rush.

“Can I help you?” she called to him.

He didn’t appear to have heard her, but she didn’t call again. She certainly wasn’t going to interrupt his intense concentration. She kept a smile on her face, hoping that he wouldn’t do anything violent against her.

Cloud stomped up to her and placed the bottles on the counter.

“Hello,” she said nervously. “How are you?”

He stared right through her. “I don’t want to chitchat. Scan the damn things.” He tossed a couple of bills towards her even before knowing the total. “I don’t have time to wait for change.”

She bagged his alcohol and handed it to him without another word.

Cloud made the familiar journey to the abandoned lot without thinking. He hadn’t been there for a few years, but knew the steps perfectly. He felt lucky that they hadn’t begun building a house there yet; the lot was still full of weeds and surrounded by a barbed wire fence. He crept through a hole in the chain mesh and settled himself in the bushes.

It was time to drink all his troubles away in a place that felt like home.

---

Karelos watched Noctis sleep for what could have been minutes or hours, observing the way his lashes brushed his against his high cheekbones. He was beautiful, the kind of boy that one would want to create a statue of. She was fairly sure that no one could create his exact likeness; perfection couldn’t be replicated twice.

She thought back to the kiss she had given him but told herself it had been a lapse in judgement. Of course she couldn’t have resisted those lips. No girl in her right mind would have been able to just sit there and not take advantage of an opportune moment.

Karelos gently untangled his fingers from hers. She checked to see if he had awoken, but his breathing was still deep and steady. She lifted herself off the bed and headed for the doorway. Unable to help herself, she looked back and smiled at him.

It was weird how she liked him better when he was drunk or asleep than sober.

She found herself in the kitchen. The cake had been delicious, but it was mostly sugar, which created only a temporary fullness. Her stomach started to growl again, demanding more food. She poked around some more and decided that she was in the mood for roast beef sandwiches. Funny how something so simple could taste so good.

Nibbling on one, she walked through the house, familiarizing herself with its layout. If she was going to be staying here, she should know what her new digs were like. Not that she would be here for long; Karelos knew that she would have to return home eventually. Even her careless mother would not stand to have her daughter go missing for too long. That simply wouldn’t be good for their family image, not that there was much left of it.

Swallowing the last bite of sandwich, Karelos entered the bathroom. It was large and luxurious, no different from everything else in Noctis’s house. Looking at herself in the mirror, she was embarrassed to see that she didn’t look her best.

Her hair was tangled and she had yellowing bruises on her arms. She felt filthy and the urge to be clean overwhelmed her. She hesitated for only a moment before stripping and hopping into the shower.

She raised her face to the spray of hot water and the tension in her muscles evaporated. For a moment, the world seemed to be a wonderful place. She grabbed a bottle of what was probably a super expensive shampoo (the labels were in Swedish or some other foreign language) and began to lather her head.

Immediately the scent of apples cloaked her and she paused, fingers buried in her hair. Okay, that felt more than a little personal now. It was almost as if Noctis was...she didn’t dare complete that thought and proceeded to rinse her hair.

She had just stepped out of the shower when she heard a creak. She shot a glance at the door which had begun to swing open and hastily wrapped a towel around her.

“I’m naked in here,” she warned, watching warily as the door continued to inch open. “I swear, Noctis, if you think you can come in here without me kicking you in the balls you are sadly mistaken.”

The door swung open and closed just as quickly, letting a wave of cool air into the steamy bathroom. Karelos’s eyes widened as she saw the person who entered.

“Cloud,” she sputtered, backing up. “I can’t believe this.”

He smiled at her, teeth white. “I’ve come here to rescue you.”

“That’s... noble of you.” Karelos tightened the knot of the towel. “But I’m doing okay. Look, what are you doing here? You and Noctis aren’t even friends.”

“The door was unlocked.” Cloud stepped towards her. “You’re fucking beautiful.”

“Oh, right.” Karelos cursed herself for not remembering to lock it. “Look, we can talk later. Let me get dressed—” She yelped as he pushed her to the ground. “Jesus Christ, this isn’t funny!”

Cloud straddled her. “Did you screw him yet?”

“Get off me!” she exclaimed. “That’s none of your business.”

“I think you did.” He stroked her shoulders lightly. “He doesn’t care about you, you know. All he wants are fuck buddies and you’re the girl of the moment.”

“What?” Karelos tried to act angry, but was taken aback as Cloud’s fingers danced over her thighs. “You’re not acting like yourself.”

He bent over and looked into her eyes. What she saw frightened her, but also made her heart race. He smiled and kissed her. Cloud had no problems with playing with her tongue, and he was quite skilled at it.

Karelos sighed and wrapped her hands around his neck, pulling him closer. The bathroom floor suddenly seemed like a very good place for this sort of thing. She never would have guessed, but that was apparently one of her turn-ons.

Cloud held her face in his hands. “Whatever Noctis did, I can do better.”

Okay, so maybe Cloud was the turn on.

“Cloud,” Karelos said, shivering beneath his touch, “This isn’t right.”

He nibbled her lower lip. “What?”

“You’re not doing this because you like me,” she said. “You’re drunk.”

He nuzzled close to her chest, where the towel had begun to slip. “There’s nothing wrong with that.” He fumbled with his belt. “Give me a second.”

Karelos struggled to sit up and he moved aside.

“Let me help,” she said, reaching for his belt. “If we’re gonna do this—”

“Well, would you look at that?”

They both froze and glanced towards the door. Noctis stood there, shirt unbuttoned at his throat. His eyes flashed, appearing red for a second as he took them in. Karelos removed her hands from Cloud’s jeans and got to her feet, gripping the towel in place.

“I heard you two from upstairs,” Noctis stated calmly. “Cloud, what do you think you’re doing in my house?”

Cloud staggered to his feet. “Shut up, bastard. I don’t have to answer to you. You’re lucky that I never told anyone about—”

Noctis leaned against the door frame. “Please, Cloud. There’s a lady present.” He didn’t look at Karelos. “She’s been naughty, though, so I suppose that term doesn’t apply.”

Karelos didn’t know what to do, so she kept silent.

Cloud stared at her and realization lit up his face. “Shit.”

Noctis snickered as Cloud brushed past him without another word.

“Don’t come back,” Noctis called after him. “If you finally want to have sex, Mr. Virgin, I would suggest you start with your own girlfriend!”

Karelos felt her stomach plummet to her feet. Cloud was a virgin? He certainly had seemed to know what he had been doing.

Noctis tousled his hair. “Why do you look so surprised?” He smirked at her. “Besides, I thought you were uninterested in banging a certain blue eyed blonde.”

“Shut up,” Karelos retorted hotly. “I don’t know what you’ve heard about me, but I’m not like that anymore. I’ve changed—”

“No need to be so defensive,” Noctis said. “And I am feeling perfectly fine now, thank you for asking.”

“Can I go now?” Karelos asked. “I’ve been in this towel long enough.” She glared at him. “Unless you want to satisfy your urges, guy who only wants me here as a fuck buddy.”

“Who told you that?” Noctis sounded amused.

Karelos shot him a saccharine smile.  “I hear things.”

“Come to my room once you’re done,” Noctis said. “I’ll show you what I’m all about.”

Karelos nodded, unsure of what exactly that was supposed to mean, and walked by him slowly. He avoided looking at her.  

Feeling lower than dirt, she headed down the hallway. Her confidence had been shaken, but with Joshua’s t-shirt, everything would be fine again. It wouldn’t be blasphemous of her to wear the comforting piece of clothing after she had nearly done it with Cloud, right?

---

Karelos dressed faster than she ever had in her life. The situation that had just occurred didn’t exactly make her want to be exposed for any longer than necessary. She blew out a breath after she had tugged on Joshua’s shirt. She glanced at the discarded white towel on the floor before picking it up. Unsure of where the washing machine was, she rolled it up and placed it in her bag. He probably wouldn’t notice it had been missing by the time she managed to return it.

She stood by the closet, arms folded. The last thing she wanted to do was go to Noctis’s room. There must be some way she could prolong going back up there. A pang in her stomach solved the problem for her; she headed for the kitchen.

The bag of Doritos barely made a rustle as she tore them open. She was quite skilled at this; back home, she had eaten many times late at night when everyone was asleep. It had become such a habit that she employed this silent stealth whenever she was in food quarters. She dipped her hand in the bag and withdrew an orange triangle.

“What are you doing?” Noctis asked, appearing out of nowhere.

She waved the chip bag at him. “Aren’t you supposed to be waiting for me in your love den, Romeo?”

“I don’t appreciate being teased.” Noctis’s gaze travelled the length of her body. “Why aren’t you naked?”

Karelos nearly choked on her chip. “What?”

“If we’re going to my love den, you certainly won’t need all those layers.”

“Shut up.” She tossed her damp hair back. “Will you quit staring at me? It’s freaking me out.”

He smiled. “I think I’ve seen everything already.”

“You’re disgusting,” she snapped, tossing a few chips into her mouth. “Look, can you take me to your room another time? I’ve already been there today.”

Shadows drifted over his face. “I haven’t allowed you to eat anything.” He held his hand out. “Give those to me.”

Karelos covered the chips protectively as a reflex. “I’m your housemate, aren’t I? I think I’m entitled to sharing your food. If you’re really upset, I can buy you more, for fuck’s sake.”

Noctis pried her hands off the bag and tore it away from her. “You have to ask my permission for everything. I don’t have housemates. I can’t believe that you could even entertain such a ludicrous thought.” He shook his head. “No, Karelos. You’re more of a slave.”

She narrowed her eyes. “That isn’t funny.”

“I’m not making a joke.” His lips brushed against her ear. “If you want to stay with me, you play by my rules.”

Karelos turned away. “If that’s the case, I’m out of here.”

“Are you scared?” he asked. “There’s no reason to be, unless...” He smiled at her mysteriously. “If you’re with me, no one will hurt you.”

She swallowed as he stroked the base of her spine. “We should be equals. I don’t know if I’m into that master-slave type of thing. I—” She cried out as he slid his hands into the back of her jeans. “Whoa! Don’t do that.”

“Say please,” Noctis instructed.

She turned away, embarrassed. “Please.”

Noctis pulled back and placed his hands on her hips. “I don’t know why you want me to stop. You were enjoying yourself back there with Cloud.”

“Don’t mention that,” she said. “Pretend it never happened.”

“Karelos, you’re always pretending.” He touched his lips to hers for a brief moment. “I suppose I don’t mind. But you know, there are some things you can’t fake.”

“I’m not an actress,” Karelos said.

Noctis pressed closer to her. “You could have fooled me.”

She feebly tried to wriggle out of his grasp. “I need some sleep. I think I caught whatever it is you have.”

“I don’t think so.” He kissed her softly on the mouth.

Her heart raced. “Anything potentially dangerous I should know about? You know, what with all the girls who end up in bed with you and everything.”

His fingers tightened around her upper arms. “I’m clean. I don’t know about you, though. Maybe we should get you checked out. There is a free clinic here. It’s very discreet.”

“Fuck you,” she spat, tearing away from him.

“Watch it.” Noctis reached for the chips and opened them. “I don’t tolerate language like that. Feel free to use it towards anyone except me.”

She glared at him. “Okay, fine. You’re nothing but a fucking bastard prick with an inferiority complex.” She laughed at the expression on his face.

He swallowed the remains of the single chip he had eaten and looked at her coldly. Karelos felt her smugness evaporate almost immediately. He simply turned and walked out of the kitchen. She hurried after him, shame flooding through her.

“Wait, Noctis!” She took hold of his sleeve. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

He turned to face her. “No,” he agreed, “you shouldn’t have.”

“I’m sorry.”

She gasped as he crushed his lips to hers without warning. She struggled to pull away, but he wouldn’t let her go. When she was seconds away from passing out, he released her roughly.

“Apology accepted.” His lips twisted into a smirk. “Somehow, I don’t think you liked that as much as I did. Sorry. My pleasure comes before yours.”

She pressed her fingers to her mouth. “You’re insane.”

“There’s really no evidence of that,” he stated. “I’ve been nothing but kind to you, even though you don’t deserve it. How can you even look at yourself? You should appreciate that I’m giving you a second chance.”

 “I wish I let you die in a puddle of your own vomit!”

Noctis hugged her to his chest. “You don’t mean that.”

“Why are you doing this?” she whimpered into his shirt. “Just give me some money and then I can go. I don’t want to stay here.”

“You like me, don’t you?” He stroked her hair tenderly. “I want to make you happy. I know you won’t be if you leave.”

She felt his heart beating and pressed her ear against his chest. He was so warm and solid; despite her reservations, she felt her worries begin to slip away. Noctis was right. Everything in her life was shit and it was all her fault. So what if she had to do whatever he wanted? She’d been selfish for too long. Maybe this was a way she could find true happiness.

He kissed her forehead. “If you honestly want to leave, go right ahead.”

“I’ll stay,” she said, resigned to her fate. “I want to change.”

“Good.” He coaxed her out of his arms. “You smell delicious, by the way.”

She played with a loose thread on his sweater. “It’s the apple scent, isn’t it? My friend eats apples like, every day. Or she did when we were in school.”

“Did they keep the doctor away?” He watched her fingers fiddle by his stomach.

She laughed. “No, Kratalie got sick all the time.” She paused for a moment. “That may be because of her boyfriend, though. He’s kind of high maintenance. I think she belongs with Roxas, but I’m not gonna tell her that ‘cause she’s obsessed with Bruce.”

Noctis took her hand and led her up the stairs. “You seem close to your friends.”

“I am.” Karelos smiled to herself. “They’re great.”

“It must be nice to have people you care about.”

Karelos thought she detected a wistful note in his voice but she didn’t say anything. Instead, she took in the sight of his room for the second time that day. It was exactly as it had been before, but the covers were neatly made.

Oh, and there were chains on each of the bedposts.

She sucked in a breath. “Okay, please tell me what this isn’t what you’re all about.”

“It basically is.” He squeezed her hand. “Sex and violence.”

Karelos dropped his hand and approached the bed. She shot Noctis a questioning glance and he nodded. She sat on the bed, surprised by how plush it was. It was strange that a man who lived for comfort and elegance was into this kinky stuff.

She picked up a chain; it was cool and heavy in her palm.

“This shouldn’t surprise me,” she said. “You’re in the whole S&M lifestyle.”

He sat beside her. “I like being in control.” Noctis rattled a chain around, a smile crossing his lips. “These are here to screw with you, basically. Don’t be concerned. If you don’t want to get tied up, you don’t have to be.”

“I thought I was your slave.” She raised her eyebrows. “I don’t have a choice in the matter, do I?”

Noctis leaned back and looked into her eyes. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re actually interested in doing this.”

She felt heat flood into her cheeks and she put the chains to the side.

“I’m just curious,” she amended hastily. “It’s not like I’m going to have sex right this second because I want to be chained to the bed. God, Noctis!”

“I want to,” he replied, lying on his back. “I want to fuck you right now.”

She fell onto her back next to him. “Why?”

“Because I’m horny and I screw anything that resembles a girl.” Noctis propped himself up on one elbow. “I’m into you, of course. How could I resist, after seeing you with him? I want a piece of the action.”

Karelos rolled onto her side and they locked eyes. “Were you jealous?”

“Of course,” he admitted without hesitation. “You’re hot. Cloud should consider it lucky that you even gave him the time of day.” He snorted. “I mean, if you had your way with him he would have died and gone to heaven.”

Karelos bit her lip to keep from grinning. “He has a girlfriend, though.”

“Yes, the woman’s name is Tifa. Big boobs, tiny brain,” Noctis said dismissively. “You have a boyfriend too, do you not?”

 “You’re so cruel,” Karelos said.

“Forgive me.”

Noctis  caught her lips with his and gave her a long, lingering kiss. Karelos sighed in frustration after he stopped too soon for her liking. He ran his hand along her side in short feathery strokes. She felt heat erupt from wherever he touched her and she couldn’t help but grab him and give him another mind blowing kiss.

He stopped again and she groaned in frustration.

“Noctis, go with the flow!”

“I can’t,” he said. “If I don’t break if off now, we’ll definitely end up going further than you want to. I can hardly control myself.”

“We all know how important that is to you,” Karelos teased. “Okay, I guess I can take these brief little pecks for now. ”

Noctis traced the outline of her mouth with his thumb. “You have no idea how attractive you are, do you? Even eating as much as you do...”

“Hey!” she said huffily. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“You’ll get fat.”

“Yeah, and morph into Chr— this guy overnight.” She slipped her hand back in Noctis’s. “Kratalie and I have been through this countless times. But he’s had a head start, so it’ll take a while.”

Noctis closed his eyes. “What are we discussing an apparently fat and hideous guy for? This beautiful moment has been ruined.”

“You started it,” Karelos pointed out.

“True.”

“Kiss me again,” Karelos said, pulling her knees up to her chest. “I want to see how long you can go for. Don’t feel bad if it isn’t quite up to my standards.”

“Is that a challenge?”

“Maybe,” she said coyly. “Please, master?”

He chuckled and slung his arm over her, bringing their lips together yet again. Karelos didn’t notice when, exactly, but at some point during the make out session she got it into her head that she was kissing Cloud. No matter what she did, his face lingered in her mind. She hoped Noctis didn’t have the ability to know what she was thinking, or he wouldn’t have been pleased.

---

“What are you doing, Bruce?” Kratalie asked.

The tall brunette looked up from his desk. He had a bunch of papers scattered all over it and an untouched   cup of coffee was steaming by his elbow. Kratalie swept her hair over her shoulders and remained in the doorway.

“Wait, let me guess.” She clapped her hands together. “You’re actually doing work for one of your businesses!”

Bruce chuckled. “Wrong.”

“I was being sarcastic,” Kratalie said. “But that was obviously lost on you.”

Bruce practically bounced up and down in his armchair of Italian leather. “Keep guessing. I think you’ll love it! It may be one of my most brilliant plans yet.”

Kratalie walked up to where he was and sat across the table from him. She looked him dead in the eye for a brief moment and sighed. People were easy to read, and Bruce Wayne was certainly no exception, especially since they knew each other quite intimately.

“You’re throwing another party.”

Bruce blinked. “How did you know? Alfred told you, didn’t he? It was supposed to be a surprise.”

“It was a lucky guess.” Kratalie leaned back in her seat. “You just had a party last month. That already cost in the six figures.”

“I enjoyed myself, that’s all that matters.” He waved a hand dismissively. “You seemed to like it too, if I recall.” He grinned. “A certain someone began dancing on the tables after too much champagne...”

Kratalie flushed. “Shut up. You spiked my drinks and you know it.”

“No, my dear, I didn’t. Your tolerance is ridiculously low. You’re like a child in that regard, really.” Bruce patted her hand affectionately. “Now, anyone you specifically want on the VIP list?”

Kratalie shook her head. “I’m not going.”

“Of course you are.”

He linked his fingers through hers and gave them a squeeze. She met his hazel eyes and saw the hope radiating out of them. She forced herself to look out the window; there wasn’t much of a view as trees covered everything. Kratalie caught his gaze despite herself.

Bruce brought her hand to his cheek and rubbed against it. “Please, with a cherry and your very favourite dessert from ‘Death by Chocolate’ on top?”

“Do you want me to be honest?” Kratalie said, hiding her hands behind her back. “I really wouldn’t mind going to your party, but...”

“There’s a catch?” Bruce questioned. “Tell me what it is, and I’ll do it. Anything you want.”

“I want Karelos to come.”

Bruce rubbed his stubbled jaw. “I should’ve known you would say that. You’ve been pining these last few weeks.”

“I’m worried about her.” Kratalie spun slowly in the chair. “She hasn’t contacted anyone since she left. For all we know, she could be in serious trouble.”

“Or dead,” he supplied.

Kratalie glared at him. “I was kind of hoping not to go in that direction, but thanks, Bruce.”

“I’m just trying to be realistic.”

“Well, you’re not helping.”

Bruce ran a hand through his hair, causing it to stick up at weird angles. Kratalie hid a smile and didn’t mention it. He wasn’t exactly fussy about his appearance, but he did like to have some air of elegance. Not that nearly being a full-blown alcoholic was beneficial in that department.

Kratalie pushed the coffee cup towards him. “Drink up, party boy. At least be sober before all the guests arrive.”

“I guess.” Bruce grimaced as he took in the brown liquid. “This stuff is from Belgium, but I think Starbucks is better.”

Kratalie shrugged. “You can’t beat all that sugary artificial goodness. Besides, Joshua makes the best vanilla—“ She stopped herself from continuing, face clouding over. “Anyway, do you think you can find her?”

Bruce sipped from the cup. “At some point in the future, yes. In time for tonight’s festivities, I’m afraid not.”

“Okay.” Kratalie smiled for his benefit. “I guess I’ll be coming, then.”

He walked around the table and knelt on the ground beside her. Kratalie smoothed out his mussed up hair.

“Love you,” he murmured. “Thanks for taking on this social event for me.”

“No problem, Mr. Wayne.” She watched him with an enamoured expression. “I love you too. Don’t forget it.”

---

Roxas peeked out from behind the curtains of his bedroom window. His eyes scanned the yard in short movements, keeping a look out for a very specific colour: red. When he saw nothing but green grass and trees, he exhaled in relief and pulled the curtain shut.

Karelos had probably been right. There hadn’t been anyone lurking around his house over the past few days. He wished she hadn’t hung up on him, but knowing her, there had probably been an attractive male somewhere nearby. Karelos tended to concentrate on one thing at a time. Roxas would have pondered his place near the bottom of his friend’s priority list, but he heard the doorbell ring.

Immediately, a blissful expression crossed his face. Those must be the people from eBay! He had bid on a bunch of Village Souls collector’s items and had been expecting them to arrive sometime this week. So what if that blew all the money he had saved up working as a caterer during Spring Break?

“Who is it, mom?” he called as he flung open the door to his room. “If it’s a guy with boxes, go back to bed. I ordered some math—“

He skidded to a halt when he saw his mother’s silhouette in the doorway; she was giggling with someone on the porch.

Okay, so maybe it wasn’t the delivery man.

He approached them, curiosity getting the best of him. “Mom?”

She turned to face him, a smile on her lips. “Good morning, honey! What are you doing up so early? You love sleeping in.” She tweaked his nose. “Don’t you, my little bunnykins?”

“Don’t do that.” Roxas brushed her off. “I’m eighteen, not eight.”

“He gets cranky,” His mother confided in the mysterious person outside the door. “I adopted him as a baby, and sometimes I don’t think he loves me like he should.”

“Mom!” Roxas snapped, poking his head onto the porch. “Stop telling strangers my life stor—”

There on his porch, in the fresh morning air, stood none other than Axel.

“Come inside,” Roxas said hurriedly, grabbing his mother’s arm and pulling her indoors. “I think the bathtub is flooding.”

“Oh no, I just got the tiles in the washroom replaced,” she fretted. “I hope you don’t mind the sudden departure, Mr...?”

“Call me Axel,” he said, smiling at her while pinning his gaze to Roxas. “It’s been nice talking with you. I hope you don’t mind if your son and I head out for a bit?”

“Not at all,” she said, already inside. “Tell me all about your new boyfriend when you get back, Roxas!”

Roxas gawked after her as the screen door slammed shut. He really wished he hadn’t dressed and put his shoes on; if he had stayed in his pyjamas he could have made an excuse to escape back indoors.

“Boyfriend?” Axel’s eyes flashed with sudden interest. “What have you been telling people about us?”

Roxas got as far away from him as he possibly could. “There is no us. One, I don’t even know you. Two, I’m into girls.”

“That’s what they all say.” He grinned devilishly. “At first, that is.”

Roxas blinked. “What?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. The only reason that I’m here is to exact my revenge on you, punk. You think I’ll let you walk free after that little stunt you pulled in Chapters?”

“What stunt?” Roxas looked at him with wide eyed innocence. “I’ve never even been there before.”

Axel appeared dazed for a moment. “You’ve...never...been there?”

“Never,” Roxas said compellingly. “You have the wrong guy.”

Axel almost believed him. The boy’s expression was perfectly honest, and his blue eyes were full of confusion. Maybe he had imagined the whole incident. Maybe this Roxas fellow didn’t even exist but was a mere fragment of his mind. There didn’t seem to be anything bad in the younger boy at all. Axel saw a flash of victory appear on Roxas’s face and he immediately broke out of his trance.

He would have to be careful; this Roxas kid was a con artist without a heart.

Axel stepped towards the blond. “I’m onto you. Don’t think you can fool me with those mind games of yours. I’m no idiot.”

“I definitely thought you were,” Roxas chirped. “Sorry, it’s my bad.”

“I’m gonna get you, you asshole!” Axel lunged towards the younger boy, but he swiftly ducked out of the way and Axel almost stumbled into the wall of the house. “Shit!”

Roxas bounded down his front yard and out onto the sidewalk. Axel followed him, seeing nothing but red clouding his vision. How could such a cute boy be such a dick? It defied everything that he had ever known.

“I’m gonna knock all your teeth out!” Axel roared.

Roxas barely picked up his pace. “That sounds like a neat game. Good luck!” He couldn’t believe that he was having fun with a stalker on his tail, but that was the beauty of life for you. Roxas heard his cell phone ring; he was tempted to ignore it, but Roxas took all his calls, unlike some people.

“I’m kind of busy,” Roxas panted, “but hello?”

The person on the line snickered. “Kratalie, Roxas is busy. Perhaps it would be better to call when he’s out of bed and alone.”

Roxas pressed the phone more firmly to his ear. “Bruce?”

“No, it’s me,” Kratalie said, laughter on her end nearly drowning out her voice. “Is this a bad time? Bruce jokes around a lot, so...”

Roxas glanced over his shoulder; Axel had vanished. He slowed to a walk, shooting an apologetic grin at a lady with a stroller he was inches from bumping into.

“No, it’s fine now,” Roxas said. “What’s up?”

“I was wondering if you wanted to come to a party tonight.” There was a slight pause. “It’s at Bruce’s country house. Do you know where it is?”

Roxas nodded before realizing she couldn’t see him. “Yeah, I picked you up from there once, remember? That sounds awesome.”

“Oh, right,” she said. “I know you two haven’t always been on the best terms, so I was kind of iffy about this. But I’m glad you’ll be there! VIP list, just so you know.”

“He can thank me later,” Bruce’s muffled voice travelled over the line. “Cash, credit, or coolers are acceptable too.”

“Be quiet, Bruce.”

“Okay, see you then.” Roxas was about to hang up before he added, “Is Karelos going to be there? She’s never missed one of Bruce’s bashes.”

Kratalie sighed. “No. Probably next time, though.”

They said their goodbyes and hung up. Roxas’s finger had barely left the “End call” button when he felt a cool hand land firmly on his shoulder. He knew who it was without looking around.

“I guess you win, Axel.” Roxas faced him with an indifferent look. “So, am I off the hook now?”

“No.”

Roxas shrugged his hand off. “Come on, I didn’t do anything too bad. You were bugging me when I was trying to read my favourite series in the universe.”

“That manga is lame,” Axel stated. “When I was your age, I certainly read more interesting material.”

“That’s too bad.” Roxas’s lips curved up into a grin. “I would think that a hand on experience is better for that sort of thing.”

Axel stared at him moodily. “And you would even know that how?”

“Hey!” Roxas slapped him on the shoulder. “What if I buy you ice cream? That would make everything better. It’s the source of all happiness.”

“It is?” Axel stared at him doubtfully.

Roxas beamed. “There’s nothing better than some ice cream and a good book!”

“We’ll see.”

They fell into a comfortable side by side walking position. Axel felt incredibly self conscious all of a sudden; the boy next to him seemed so unnaturally happy that it was frightening. Axel had never known anyone who radiated sunlight from within.

Roxas was cute, though.

---

Karelos was in her favourite place in Noctis’s house—the kitchen—eating Haagen-Dazs Rocky Road ice cream. After another night sleeping on the couch, as she didn’t exactly trust herself with sharing Noctis’s bed, she had begun to feel at ease here. This was turning into home, and she wasn’t sure exactly how she felt about it.

She perked up when she heard the front door unlock. Noctis walked in and removed his shoes placing them neatly by the door. From the angle they were at, she could see him but he couldn’t see her. It was a pretty useful set up. She watched as he reached into the pocket of his jacket and popped something into his mouth.

She craned her neck, trying to see more, but he moved out of sight.

“Good morning.” Noctis materialized before her. “I see you’ve managed to start the day off right with a nutritious meal.”

Karelos licked ice cream from the spoon. “Anytime’s the right time for Haagen-Dazs.” She smiled at his expression. “Don’t worry, I bought it myself, so I didn’t violate your permission rules.”

“But it’s my spoon,” Noctis said. “I didn’t let you use that.”

Karelos paused. “Are you serious?”

“When am I not?”  He planted himself on the bar stool next to her.  “You’ll have to owe me for this misdemeanour.” He watched as she continued to lick the spoon. “How about a blow—”

“We’re not going there,” Karelos raised her hands. “I surrender. Take your spoon back and let’s start this day off again.”

Noctis grinned. “Are you blushing?”

“No!” She pressed the spoon into his palm. “I have a sunburn, okay? I was out on a motorcycle yesterday, if you must know.”

“I remember. You stole Cloud’s that one time because you love them so much.”

“I thought we weren’t going to mention him.”

Noctis dipped the spoon into the tub of ice cream. “You said that, not me.” He placed the spoon in his mouth delicately and swallowed. “This stuff isn’t bad.”

“It’s amazing,” Karelos corrected him. “You’ll be addicted.”

Noctis placed the spoon on the granite countertop. “I don’t know about that.” He leaned towards her. “Let me try it again.”

They shared the briefest of kisses before Noctis withdrew.

“Now I’m addicted, Karelos.” He licked his lips. “That ice cream certainly is delicious.”

She tingled all over. It didn’t feel healthy to be in this state, but she didn’t care. All she wanted was more. She got to her feet and stood behind Noctis, wrapping her arms around his waist. He leaned back into her embrace.

“Let’s go to your room,” she whispered into his neck.

“What’s this?” He sounded bemused. “I thought you weren’t ready for that yet. Ice cream must be an unrecognized aphrodisiac.”

Karelos’s hands drifted towards his zipper. Except there wasn’t one where she expected it, as he was wearing dress pants, which was completely unlike the other guys she had gotten with. He spun on the barstool to face her, causing her to release him in surprise.

“It isn’t the right time.”  He pulled her onto his lap and she wrapped her legs around him. “But we have an opportunity tonight. I’ll be attending a party, and you’ll be my guest.”

She hugged him tight to her. “Doing it at a party? Noctis, that’s so trashy.”

“You haven’t been to this kind of party.”

“I might have,” she said. “I’ve been to more than my fair share.”

He kissed her again. “Don’t be too concerned. Tonight will be a night to remember, in any case.”

---

A yellow Lamborghini pulled into the square lot beside a mansion. It was early evening but the sun was still out, as the summer days clung tenaciously to daylight hours. Bruce and Kratalie left the vehicle and walked up to the front door. Since Bruce only used this building for parties, there wasn’t any high tech security in place, besides your typical alarm system.

The door swung open the moment they stepped onto the porch. A few maids curtsied and ushered them in. The ceilings were high and the windows were huge. Sun gently floated in from parted curtains and decorated the marble floor.

Bruce gave Kratalie a quick peck on the lips. “Stay out of trouble.”

“I’ll try.” She leaned into him for a moment. “Bruce, I feel weird about this whole thing.”

He held her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. “Nothing’s going to happen, Kratalie. Don’t be such a worrywart.” He kissed her again. “You look lovely.”

“You’ve said that already,” Kratalie huffed, but she was unable to keep from smiling even as Bruce was whisked away to make sure everything was in order.

Left alone with nothing better to do, she wandered into the library. Kratalie knew that no one would bother her there, since most people ran in the opposite direction when confronted with a room full of books. None of her friends would dream of catching up on their reading the night of a party. Except for Roxas, but he wouldn’t arrive until the party was in full swing, and she wouldn’t be with books then.

A man in an apron appeared at the entrance, poking his head in the partially opened doors.

“Miss Kratalie?”

Kratalie looked up from the book she was about to start. “Yes?”

“Care for some champagne?” He pushed a cart covered with various bottles towards her. “Master Wayne insisted that you try his newest purchase.” He picked up a green bottle from the tray and poured her a glass. “This one is from Switzerland.”

She accepted it graciously. “Thank you. Bruce knows how much I love to drink before the party has even started.”

“Bruce thinks everyone is like him,” the man chuckled. “Enjoy.”

Kratalie thanked him again with a smile and he left. The bottle of Swiss champagne remained with her, along with a plate of strawberries. She had planned to only take a sip so she could say that she had tried it, but it was actually quite good.

Before long, her glass was empty and she refilled it without thought. Curled up in her fancy, off the shoulder pearl dress—courtesy of Bruce—and engrossed in her book, Kratalie felt her worries slip away.

---

Roxas had no idea what kind of party he was showing up for. Bruce’s parties varied wildly every time; it was hard to be prepared, or so he had heard. He had gone with the safe choice of wearing his fancy-casual outfit, consisting of his only pair of designer jeans and the shirt portion of a tuxedo from long ago.

Parking his car in the nearly full lot, Roxas pulled the key out of the ignition and exhaled. A wave of paranoia overtook him and he glanced into the backseat. There was no one there, of course, but he had to be sure. Axel had insisted that he come with Roxas to the party, but Roxas had managed to convince him that another time— when they knew each other more— would be better.

Axel had been cool when they shared ice cream, but the man radiated waves of something that didn’t seem quite normal. Roxas was a pretty open minded and easygoing guy, but he wasn’t exactly eager to take it up the ass; Axel had alluded to this several times during their dessert fest at the clock tower.

Unless “male bonding in the privacy of a hotel room” meant something else, Roxas knew that he was going to be staying far away from the redhead starting now.

Roxas left his car and hurried towards the entrance, where people dressed in various outfits had been streaming into. Roxas melted into the crowd, relieved that this didn’t seem to be a serious type of party. He never knew how to behave at those upscale events.

“Hey, cutie,” a voice cooed in his ear.

Roxas’s heart pounded when he caught sight of red hair, but just as quickly the fear vanished. The person speaking to him was most definitely a girl. She smiled at him, amber eyes glittering, and he returned the favour.

“Do you have a date?” she asked, biting her lower lip. “My best friend set me up with her cousin, but something came up at his work.”

Roxas shook his head. “I’m solo tonight.”

“Great!” She grabbed his hand and looped it around her waist. “Let’s go together, okay?”

“I…” Roxas wasn’t normally shy, but he hadn’t had much experience with this sort of thing. “Well, sure. What’s your name?”

She grinned. “You’ll find out in about five seconds.”

Roxas was about to question this when he saw that there was a woman at the door who was taking names and checking if people were on the list. They stepped up to her and she flashed them a professional smile, teeth sparkling. Her eyebrows rose with sudden interest when she saw Roxas.

“Names?”

“I’m Emily.” The girl tilted her head towards him. “This is my date...”

“Roxas,” he filled in.

The woman scanned the list and her eyebrows lifted slightly. “Your name’s not on here, Roxas. And no, I haven’t missed it, because it’s unique. Not your usual Bob or Tom.”

Emily stared at him. “Are you crashing this party?”

“What? No!” Roxas let his hand drop from around her waist. “Could you let me see it, please? There must be some mistake. I’m on the VIP list and—”

The woman with the list shook her head apologetically. “I’m sorry, but we know all the tricks. Mr. Wayne is very thorough with these things, very professional.”

“He’s an alcoholic!” Roxas exclaimed. “How can you say that with a straight face when he’s drunk all the time?

Emily snorted. “May I go in?”

She brushed past Roxas and into the mansion without another word. He didn’t care that she had ditched him. Instead, he shot the woman a pleading glance. He could feel her resolve beginning to weaken and made his voice sweeter than honey.

“I’m telling the truth,” he said. “Even if I weren’t, what harm would it do letting one extra person in?”

She hesitated, pen hovering over her paper. “I can’t break the rules for you.” Her eyes drifted from his face to his feet and back up again. “I’ll tell you what,” she leaned close to whisper, “give me a kiss and I’ll turn a blind eye to this.”

Roxas stared at her in disbelief. She couldn’t have been younger than thirty. Hearing irritated voices behind him, Roxas knew that he had to make a decision quickly. He grabbed her and tilted her back, giving the crowd a full view of a movie star kiss.

He pulled away after counting to three in his head. The woman staggered to her feet, cheeks tinged pink. She batted her eyes in a most unprofessional manner and gestured for him to enter the mansion. Hearing laughs and wolf whistles behind him, Roxas held his shoulders back and walked in.

The first thing he needed to do was have a long, non-alcoholic drink. The taste of her lipstick clung to his mouth and he was desperate to get rid of it. The second thing he needed to do was find Bruce Wayne and beat that prick into a bloody pulp. It was obvious that he had left Roxas off the list on purpose, just because he hated him for no reason at all.

Roxas hurried past gyrating bodies and people huddled on the floor taking shots. Despite it taking place in a mansion, with many people decked in extravagant clothing, this was no different than a party anywhere else. Bruce had been going for an old school theme, apparently.

Eyes zooming in on a makeshift bar, Roxas headed toward it like an arrow to its target.

---

Karelos was having an interesting time in the backseat of Noctis’s chauffeured car. They had started the ride simply sitting next to one another and chatting, but that had slowly evolved into something a little more R-rated.

“This shouldn’t be happening right now,” he said, slipping a hand into her red, backless dress. “But I can’t resist when you look this delectable. “

“Fuck the party,” Karelos murmured beneath his touch. “Tell the driver to just keep going until we’re done back here.”

Noctis pressed her arms to the seat, trapping her body between his legs. He brought his lips to hers in a kiss so hot it made the windows fog up. Luckily for the couple, the glass was tinted black, so they had full privacy back there. The screen separating them from the driver was sound proof as well, perhaps specifically so for occasions such as this.

She hooked her fingers onto his collar and pulled him down to her face. They kissed with an urgency that was both frightening and thrilling. Karelos slid her hand up his shirt and stroked his lower back, causing his breath to quicken.

“Take it off,” she ordered between kisses. “I want it more than anything.”

Noctis kissed along her collarbone. “You need to control yourself.”

Karelos dug her nails into his back as he fondled her breasts. She wrapped her legs around him and he did the same with his arms. They held one another, trying to mesh together through their barriers of clothing.

 “This is enough,” Noctis said suddenly, getting off of her. “I don’t know what the hell I was thinking.”

She rested on her back in confusion. When he didn’t make a movement towards her, she sighed and raised herself to a sitting position. The straps of her dress had fallen around her shoulders and she was about to adjust them when familiar hands appeared.

“Let me.”

Noctis pulled them up in one rough motion. Karelos tried not to wince. He took in the sight of her and his lips formed a narrow line. She stared at him, wondering what was going through his mind. She was about to speak when he did so first.

“You look like a whore,” he snapped viciously. “Your hair is all messed up, your lipstick’s smeared and I can see your ass. Pull your dress down. It’s not that short.”

She straightened out her dress and folded her arms together. “Noctis, what the fuck has gotten into you?”

He turned to stare at her, midway through adjusting his shirt. She met his eyes stubbornly and refused to apologize. Screw this. If he was allowed to call her names after being a hypocrite, why the hell should she have to bow down to him?

He squeezed her thigh with merciless fingers. “It isn’t supposed to happen until you earn it.”

She refused to acknowledge the pain. “Earn it?”

“You belong to me. I’m in control here. I’ve been too lenient with you.” He pushed her leg away. “This isn’t supposed to happen.”

Karelos rubbed her sore thigh. “Noctis, you make absolutely no sense half the time.”

He reached out and drew her into a kiss that lasted long after the car had stopped. Noctis only pulled back once there was a knock on the door. He looked at her and gave her another short kiss. She didn’t respond but sat there passively.

Noctis bit her lip hard and she winced.

“You’re mine,” he breathed into her ear.

He exited the car. She followed suit, taking his outstretched hand and getting to her feet. When she saw where they were a sudden chill invaded her.

“This is your friend’s place?”

He refused to look at her as she took his arm. “We’re more what one would call acquaintances. We’re part of the same social circle and all that.” He glanced down at her suddenly. “Don’t tell me that you’re friends with Bruce Wayne?”

“No,” she lied. “I’ve never heard of him.”

Karelos found herself trembling as she entered the mansion. She remembered being here a few times before. Back then she had been with Kratalie, Roxas, and him, of course. It all seemed like a lifetime ago. Looking around at people basically wasting their lives away, she was all too clearly reminded of the person she used to be and the past she was trying to escape.

Without her noticing, Noctis had somehow managed to break away from her grasp on his arm. Feeling alone and unanchored, she tried to steady herself. She hadn’t worn heels in a while but the memories of doing so were still fresh.

“Would you like a gin and tonic?” A pleasant voice inquired.

Karelos looked up and was taken aback when she saw Kratalie standing there. A million different scenarios ran through her head; she didn’t know what to say. They hadn’t spoken since senior year had ended weeks ago. Karelos had abandoned all her friends as a way to cut off ties to things that hurt too much to bear.

“Hi,” she managed to choke out. “That would be nice.”

Kratalie giggled and shoved an overflowing cup into her hand. “This stuff tastes like, superstar awesome squared! It makes you wanna dance your pants off. I’m totally for serious.”

“That sounds good.” Karelos immediately realized that her friend was extremely hammered. “Well, I guess I’ll get going now.” She held up her drink. “Thanks for this.”

The brunette whirled around in a circle before grabbing Karelos in a drunken hug. Karelos had almost forgotten how weird her friend got under the influence. She gently pried Kratalie’s arms from her, trying not to spill her drink.

“What’s your name again?” Kratalie slurred. “I know your face from somewhere, but—“

Karelos fled without another word. She wasn’t sure whether to feel relieved or terrible about what had just taken place. If Kratalie had been sober, she could have explained her sudden departure. But maybe this way was better.

Not knowing how, she found herself on a balcony. She took in deep breaths, trying to soothe her jagged nerves. She swallowed the gin and tonic in one long gulp, enjoying the buzz she got almost immediately afterwards. It wasn’t going to be enough but for now it was okay.

“Shit,” she muttered, staring out at the darkening sky.

“I’m with you on that one.”

She whipped her head to the left and saw Cloud Strife sitting in a corner behind a potted plant. Karelos had no idea how she had missed him before. She smiled, heat rushing to her face when she thought of the washroom incident. Not to mention all those times she had superimposed his face onto Noctis’s in her mind.

“I never thought I’d see you again,” she said. “We meet in such odd places.”

Cloud sipped something blue and unidentifiable. “Maybe we’re meant to be together.” He pointed at the first star in the sky. “See that? It came out the second you stepped onto this balcony. We’re the first people who’ve seen it tonight, I bet.”

“Don’t pull this BS on me,” Karelos said, settling down next to him. “That’s been there since I arrived here.”

Cloud shrugged. “I wanted to make you smile. You look stressed out.”

“I’m fine,” she responded automatically. “What about you and this bender that you’re on?” She gestured at the cups which surrounded him. “Are you planning to share?”

“Go ahead.” He watched her slug a couple back. “I’m not as drunk as I was when I—you know. Sorry about that.”

“Don’t be.”

He stared at her before breaking out into the sexiest smile she had ever seen. God, he was gorgeous.

“Would you be pissed if I did it again?”

She placed her cup down. “I don’t know. Besides, even if you kissed me now, it would all be pointless. Last time I checked I was both a girlfriend and a slave.” A whoosh of warmth flooded through her and the world got slightly fuzzy around the edges. “Okay, so I lied about that first part.”

“You don’t have a boyfriend?”

Alarm bells rang in her head. “What? Yeah, I do. I got confused for a second.”

 She glanced down into the courtyard and her heart froze over. Noctis was making out with some blonde woman while two other girls seemed to be waiting in line. She watched as he tilted her back and buried his face in her neck; even from way up here she could here the bitch’s squeals.

Cloud placed a hand on her lap. “Karelos?”

“You’re hot,” she murmured, grabbing him and pressing their lips together. “I’m up for anything if you are.”

Before she knew it, they had stripped. Their clothes lay scattered around them while they explored each other quite personally. Everything was a blur of tangled limbs and Cloud’s heartbeat and the warm summer air. When they broke apart for the final time Karelos knew that she was an appalling person: she had stolen Cloud’s virginity.

Although to be perfectly honest, it had been pretty fucking wonderful.

They remained curled up next to one another for only a moment longer before Karelos sat up. She shot a glance at Cloud and grinned when she saw him watching her. She motioned at her dress, which had been tossed aside in favour of better things, and he handed it over. She heard the sounds of the party still taking place indoors, but they were faint and dream like.

“So, what the hell was that?”

She stood and pulled the dress on over her head. “Oh, I don’t know, sex?”

“Very funny, you know what I mean.”

She turned to face him. “Is my hair messed up?”

“A little bit,” he said, caught off guard. “I can help—”

She pressed him back into a sitting position. “Put some pants on first.”

Cloud did as instructed. Karelos settled her elbows on the railing and stared out at the sky. There were no stars out, but she didn’t know why she even thought there would be. This all led back to Joshua’s stupid country house. She really needed to forget about that and wasn’t nearly drunk enough to do so at the moment.

Hands smoothed down her hair and she closed her eyes. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” She could hear the smile in his voice. “Right back at you.”

“I didn’t do anything worth thanking.”

He kissed the back of her neck. “That’s where you’re wrong.”

The urge to jump his bones again began to stir in her belly. She planned to kiss his full lips as soon as she turned around when she made the mistake of looking down. Noctis was still with his groupies, but he stood off to one side and sipped from a glass adorned with a red umbrella.

His eyes locked on hers and they simply stared at one another.

Karelos whirled away from the railing. “Oh, fuck!”

“What’s the matter?” Cloud followed her inside the mansion. “You’re pretty freaked out.”

“Noctis saw us,” she muttered. “He’s going to kill me.”

Cloud slowed his stride. “I didn’t see him.” His cheeks flamed. “Right, I was kind of occupied. But what does he care? You guys aren’t like that.”

Karelos laughed darkly. “No, we’re not. He’s an ass, to put it mildly.”

“Then there isn’t a problem.” He took her arm and she came to a halt. “You don’t need to run away from him. I’ll make sure that—”

“Who said I was running away from him?”

He dropped her arm as if it burned him. “Karelos...”

“That’s my name.” She placed her hands on her hips. “I’m going back to him because I have no where else to go. It’s not like anyone else wants me around.” She thought for a second. “Wait, maybe Tom does. But he tried to rape me, so that wouldn’t work, would it?”

“You mean Tim?”

She shrugged. “It’s one letter. No difference to me.”

“Go home.” Cloud’s eyes blazed as he looked into hers. “Don’t even tell me that you can’t. Of course you can. You shouldn’t be so afraid to face your past.”

“I’m not afraid,” she said in a clipped tone.  “I’ll go back home when I fucking feel like it, okay?”

He reached towards her face but she stepped back.

“Why do you care so much, Cloud?”

“I like you.”

She backed even further away. “You have a girlfriend. I have a boyfriend. This will never work, not in a million years. Maybe in some alternate dimension things would be different.”

“You don’t have a boyfriend.”

“I do,” she protested, hating how shrill her voice sounded. “I’m not functioning at 100% right now, okay?” She turned her back on him. “Tonight was fun, but I’ll add something new to your dictionary: one night stand.”

She ran down the corridor and he watched her go, like always. Cloud slowly trailed along after her. He knew that they had something special between them, but Karelos refused to acknowledge it. He snagged a glass from an unattended table and tipped his head back. Alcohol was the only way he knew how to deal with his problems when Tifa wasn’t around to help him.

The liquid—rum—burned his throat on the way down but he didn’t mind. He was too busy trying to quell the anxiety that had surfaced within him. He had a girlfriend. Of course he did, and he loved her. How could he have pushed that to the back of his mind? Karelos was just a random girl. She was beautiful and funny and adventurous but that didn’t mean anything. Cloud sunk down beside a couple who was making out on a couch. The din of the partygoers barely made an impression on him as he stared straight ahead at what seemed to be a tunnel of darkness.

“Hi,” a girl giggled. “Are you one of Bruce’s workers?”

Cloud blinked and caught sight of a brunette with an overflowing cup in each hand. She smiled at him, but her grey eyes were bleary. She plopped down next to him and the couple beside them simply continued playing tonsil hockey. Apparently, they didn’t mind PDA in the least.

“No,” he replied. “Are you?”

She snorted into the cup in her left hand. “I’m his um, what do you call it...girlfriend. My name’s Kratalie.”

“Oh.” Cloud took one of the cups from her. “You like having all that money?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because Bruce is busy all the time,” she complained. “I hardly get to see him and when I do, he’s like, freaking drunk as a skunk. I’m being for serious, you know.”

“Well, you make a good couple, then.” He tried to keep from gawking as she drained her glass in one shot. “You sure you’re not Bruce?”

She smacked his arm. “What? No!” She straightened up proudly. “I only drink on like, special occasions. Like funerals and stuff.”

“Funerals?”

“I’m bored,” she whined, oblivious to his question. “I want to do something fun!” her eyes flashed as she took in the nearly empty refreshments table. “Like, dance on that!”

Cloud felt a buzzing in his brain. “Huh?”

“Come on!” She grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet. “We can so, like, rock this party. What do you say, Mr. Cranky pants?”

“I don’t dance.”

She skipped away from him. “Fine. You can go bang some chick on the roof again or whatever it is you were doing.” She looked over her shoulder and giggled. “For serious, you smell like sex!”

Cloud blushed and cursed the effects of alcohol. It always heightened his emotions to an unhealthy degree. But he was still fairly sober; enough to realize that he would have to take a shower. In his own home, of course; he was sure that he would never take one in anyone else’s house.

Things like that didn’t usually turn out well for people in his experience. Although whether or not these shower incidents produced a certain level of satisfaction was entirely debatable. Cloud brushed by a boy with dirty blonde hair who appeared bewildered by the lap dance he was receiving.

The first time for everything was always a little odd. He thought back to Karelos and felt his blush return. Okay, so perhaps some first times were amazing, even if they involved cheating on your significant other. Cloud stepped out into the pleasant summer night and began to look for someone he could ask to borrow their cell phone. Cloud usually tried to be responsible and disappearing into the night on his motorcycle while tipsy didn’t exactly apply. Taxis weren’t so bad.

Karelos headed to the place where she had last spotted Noctis: the courtyard. She had a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach that told her he wouldn’t be there. He was probably pissed as hell and had taken off, leaving her to find a way home. Not that she had one.

She looked around, but all she saw were trees, grass and shrubs that had been trimmed into animal sculptures. She took a breath of the humid air. At least that annoying trio of women wasn’t around either. That was for the best. Karelos wasn’t sure if she would be able to resist punching their skanky lights out if they were around.

“What are you doing?” Noctis’s voice was low as he stepped out from behind a tree.

Karelos rubbed her upper arms. “I’m looking for my date.” She smirked at him, unable to even think about mentioning Cloud. “He looks kind of like you, actually. Seen him around anywhere?”

The corners of his mouth lifted up in a smile. “I hurt your feelings?”

“You wish! I had a perfectly great time tonight.”

“Good.”

A breeze blew around her legs and she firmly held her dress down. Noctis approached her slowly, thumbs hooked into the belt loops of his dress pants. She pretended to maintain eye contact, but she was looking at his forehead. She didn’t want to see what his expression held.

“Are we going back to your house?” she asked finally, breaking the silence.

“No.”

“We’re staying here?”

“No.”

She stuck her tongue out at him. “You know how much I love playing guessing games with you, but tonight’s not a really great time for that. Where are we going?”

“I’m headed to a club,” he said.

“Okay. I love after parties.” She reflected on this. “I used to, anyway. It wouldn’t hurt to go to one for a bit, like old times.”

“You’re not coming.”

Her voice caught in her throat. “What?”

“Like you said, it would be like old times.” He raised an eyebrow. “I thought you said that you wanted to change.”

“I do,” she said, “but I can still have fun.”

Noctis gazed up at the balcony. “All play and no work makes Karelos a sad girl.”

“You have that expression wrong,” she stated flatly. “I’m coming. End of story.”

He closed the gap between them. Karelos stood her ground, not caring what Noctis was going to do to threaten her. It wouldn’t work. There wasn’t anything he could say to keep her from attending this club. She didn’t even know why she wanted to go so badly, but the last thing she wanted to do was be alone.

“Tell you what.” He kissed her cheek, holding his lips there for a moment longer than necessary. “If you say please like the good girl you are, I’ll let you tag along.”

She shrugged. ”All right, please?”

“You didn’t even argue.” He placed his hand on her waist and led her out of the courtyard. “I think you’re getting the hang of this.”

“I’m a fast learner.”

The chauffeur held the door open for them and they slid into the back seat. Karelos wondered if the same thing as last time would happen, but Noctis kept his hands and lips to himself. She didn’t care one bit; she didn’t want to have to have the saliva of those whores in her mouth. Not that she had been any better, but Noctis didn’t bring the subject up. Karelos had almost fallen asleep when Noctis shook her bare shoulder.

“Are you sure you’re up for this?” He helped her out of the car.

She nodded. “Let’s do it!”

He stroked her jaw line. “You know you have to earn that.”

“Not literally.”

She rolled her eyes and brushed past him, hearing his throaty laugh behind her. Her heart sped up; god, why the hell did he have to sound so sexy even when he was a jerk? Whatever, she could stop thinking about him easily if she tried. She tossed her hair back and grinned flirtatiously at the bouncer. There was a line up snaking all the way outside the club, but she wasn’t one to do things the slow way.

The muscular man’s eyes practically glazed over. “Right this way, little lady. You look hot in that dress tonight.”

“Thanks,” she cooed.

Murmurs of protest were cut off as the door swung shut behind her. She knew that Noctis would get inside just as easily as she had, but somehow, she got the feeling that that the scantily clad women outside wouldn’t mind if he skipped the line. It was so unfair that hot men got all the free passes in the world, but that was just the way things were.

The club was jam packed. The music blasted so loudly that the room seemed to shake. Karelos threaded her way through the crowd, barely noticing the eyes that followed her. What she wanted was something to drink. Long silences in a car were stressful and she wouldn’t have a good time if she was this wound up.

A hand tapped her shoulder. “Can I get you a drink?”

“Sure.” Karelos smiled at a guy with generic good looks before her. “Get whatever you recommend. I need to try something different. Oh, and if you want to sleep with me? At least try to keep your eyes on mine.”

His gaze flicked back up to her face. “Right.” He trotted away to get the drinks, looking back at her a few times and nearly crashing into dancing people in the process.

Karelos sighed inwardly. Well, he didn’t have the charisma that she liked, but he was cute nonetheless. Besides, she wasn’t even interested in doing anything with the guys here. Even with everything that had happened, she still loved him and always would.

“Hey, d’you wanna go to the back room?

A boy with light brown hair smiled at her. He had an air of easy confidence about him that was appealing. She hated guys who reeked of insecurity and desperation. She wanted to ship those kinds of people straight back to their mothers.

“What’s in the back room?” she questioned. “Anything I would like?”

“You smoke?”

Time stopped for a second before continuing. She heard herself speak, surprised that she was witnessing this from a third person perspective.

“Yeah.” She bumped her hip against his. “Let’s go. Do you have Menthols?”

He bumped back. “I have everything you could dream of and more.”

“That’s what I like to hear!”

---

Noctis leaned against a wall, observing the people who swarmed over the dance floor like insects. He could feel interested eyes on him; normally, those would be the sort of invitations he would accept without hesitation, but tonight he wasn’t really in the mood. 

“Hey.” A girl in booty shorts popped up in front of him. “Want to dance, sexy?”

“No thanks, sweetheart,” he said. “Maybe in a little bit.”

She dug the toe of her stiletto into the floor. “But you look so lonely, just standing here and all. I think it would do you some good to dance.” Her eyes sparkled. “Maybe if you’re not up for that, we could go upstairs?”

He shook his head slowly. “You’d regret it.”

“I don’t think so,” she whispered into his ear. “You’re the hottest piece of ass in this room.”

“This piece of ass would prefer to stay still.”

“But why not?” she demanded, scowling at him. “Are you a fucking fag or something? That must be it. I’m Krista Parma. Everyone wants to sleep with me!” Her voice raised a couple of octaves. “What the hell is your problem?”

He grabbed her chin in one hand and held her so she faced him, increasing the pressure slightly with each passing moment. She squeaked and stared at him with wide brown eyes. He grinned, amused at how the fire had gone out of her so quickly.

“I’d sleep with you,” he told her carefully, “if I wanted to. But I think the message is pretty clear: I don’t want to.” His lips curled up in a smile. “Be a doll and get me a drink, would you?”

She blinked at him like a deer in the headlights. “U-um, okay…”

He released her and returned to gazing into the crowd, but he didn’t see a dark haired girl in a red dress anywhere.

---

Karelos tried not to cough as she took a seat on the floor in the back room. People were huddled together, passing joints and lighting up. She could see one guy trying to inject himself with heroin and growing increasingly pissed as he couldn’t find a visible vein. She looked away when Jack handed her a cigarette.

“This is just for you,” he said. “Enjoy.”

She held it in her fingers and inspected it, surprised by how natural this felt even after a year had passed. He held up a lighter and she thanked him with a nod before placing the cigarette into the flame. She held the cigarette between her index and middle finger, overcome by uncertainty. She wasn’t supposed to do this. They had promised each other that they would quit their bad habits.

“What’s wrong?” Jack asked. “Maybe you want a Marlboro?”

She shook her head. “It’s fine.”

Karelos took a small puff and immediately smoke invaded her lungs. They burned for a brief moment before the nicotine rushed through her. She felt the tension evaporate from her body and she leaned against the wall, a lazy smile on her lips. This had always worked so much better than alcohol. The only thing that could top this was being in his arms, but smoking would do for now. Besides, this was only for tonight. She would resume her healthy behaviour tomorrow.

Jack pulled a coffee table towards them and knelt down by it. He pulled a baggie of white powder from the pocket of his jacket and froze when he caught Karelos looking at him. She merely took another drag and blew out a breath of smoke without saying anything. He began to cut the cocaine into lines on the table’s surface.

“You’re into that?” Karelos said. “I should’ve guessed. You looked too clean, somehow.”

Jack rolled up a five dollar bill into a makeshift straw. “You should try it. It’s amazing, much better than cigarettes. Those are good, but this is heaven.”

“I know.”

He looked up. “You’ve tried this?”

“I have a couple of times with my boyfriend.” She watched him snort the coke. “He was into the stronger stuff.”

A dreamy grin was on his face. “Yeah? Where is he? I could make some great deals for him.”

“Joshua quit that shit a long time ago,” Karelos responded proudly. “Just like I quit smoking.”

Jack laughed. “Right!”

Karelos looked down at the burning cigarette in her hand. Fuck.