AN: I'm sooooo sorry it took me this long to update! I haven't given up, I swear. I still have readers for this story, right?

Long story short: I had this chapter almost done a looooong time ago, but then I lost the chapter and it's taken me this long to get out of the writer's block that I fell into. But I'm out of it now and I sat down at 11pm and I've pretty much been writing non-stop to get this done for you guys; it's 3am now. Please love me.

~*~

Chapter Five: All That's Left is a Hallow Pain

Selphie sat on her bed with her legs crossed and she stared impatiently at her cell phone that she had placed in front of her. The sun had set hours ago and the small brunet was dying to know how things went with her best friend; but Irvine hadn't contacted her or Zell to tell them what happened. She had already left a voice message and two text messages on Irvine's phone, but the stubborn teen hadn't responded to them.

Finally she sighed, getting up and putting the electronic device away and she gathered her things to get ready for bed. From time to time Irvine would purposely not talk to her or Zell about how his latest plan went and waited to tell them when he got to school but Selphie was hoping that this wouldn't be one of those times.

Irvine's most recent plan had definitely been one of his craziest ones. Pretend boyfriend, she thought as she pulled off her clothes and stepped into her bright yellow pyjamas. Selphie was just worried, not because it was a terrible idea, but the fact that Irvine had chosen Vincent Valentine.

After brushing her teeth, she climbed into bed. Hugging her pillow close, she tried not to think about everything that could have gone wrong. Selphie had to admit that when she was told that Vincent pulled a knife on Irvine, she had freaked out as much as Zell, but she had to trust that her friend knew what he was doing. He'll be okay, she tried to convince herself as she drifted off to sleep.

In the morning, Selphie had a quick shower and ran around trying to get her stuff together and ready for school. She rushed down the hallway, nearly knocking over her older brother in a fit of panic as she tried to remember where she had left her pencil case.

"Hey, watch it Selphie," her brother warned as he fiddled with the tie of his school uniform. "Where's the fire?"

Selphie pause for a moment and turned around to stare at her brother. "My pencil case is the fire," she explained. "And I'm looking for it."

"Is that all?" he asked giving up on his school tie for the moment. He ran a hand through his dyed blond hair with the roots showing. "Help me with my tie and I'll tell you where it is."

"Deal," Selphie said as she bounced over and attacked the material around his neck with her fingers. She pulled and yanked at the tie until it looked decent and then she stood back to look over her handiwork. "Kay Tidus, where's my pencil case?"

"On the floor by the kitchen table," he told her. "And don't leave your stuff lying around all the time. I tripped over it this morning while I was trying to make breakfast."

"Sorry," she called over her shoulder as she darted into the kitchen in search of her lost item. Selphie ducked around the table, finally spotting it and she quickly retrieved the green object. She stood up and tossed it from one hand to the other, celebrating her small victory when her eyes fell on what was lying on the table in front of her. "You made me breakfast too?"

"You're running late, aren't you?" Tidus asked following his sister into the kitchen. He was all ready for school and had everything neatly packed into the school back, which was casually resting over his shoulder. "I also made your lunch for you. It's on the counter," he said gesturing to the small brown bag that sat on the kitchen counter.

"You're my favourite brother Tidus," she said and quickly took her place at the table and started to dig in.

Tidus snorted at her comment and snuck up behind her to affectionately ruffle her hair. "I'm your only brother," he said. "Now hurry up or you'll make me late as well."

~*~

They ended up arriving at school later than Selphie would have liked. She didn't have much time to look for her friends so she quickly rushed into the school heading to the first place she could think of. But when she got to Irvine's locker, she was disappointed to find that no one she knew was hanging around there. A little bummed out but still just as determined, Selphie set off to see if they were at anyone else's locker.

A few minutes of racing around the school later, Selphie was tired and slightly aggravated. The small brunet stood by her locker, the last place she had chosen to look. While she was there she decided she might as well put her things away and get her books ready for her first class of the day.

She grasped her lock harder than necessary and used her thumb to do the familiar combination. Selphie yanked at the lock, but in her haste she must have overshot one of the numbers and the lock didn't budge. Frustrated she tried again, this time the lock opened without a hitch.

Selphie pulled her school bag off her shoulder and roughly shoved it in her small locker. Taking only her needed textbook, binder and pencil case out of her bag, she slammed the locker door shut and clamped the lock bag on.

She took one last look down both sides of the hall before giving up. She only had two minutes before the first bell rang for class and she still hadn't found anyone. Feeling defeated, Selphie slumped back against her locker and let gravity pull her down to the floor. "Why can't I find my friends?" she asked out loud.

"Perhaps you aren't looking hard enough?" a dark voice answered.

Selphie looked up and was surprised to see none other than Vincent Valentine standing in front of her. He had his usual rebellious red cloth tied around his head and his normally blank face sported an evil smirk at the ends of his lips.

"What do you want?" Selphie asked harshly. Her patience had worn thin and she didn't want to have to sit there and deal with Irvine's pretend boyfriend.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Vincent mocked. "I was under the impression that you were looking for your friends." He tuned to walk away but not before adding, "my mistake."

"Wait," Selphie called after him, quickly climbing to her feet. "Do you know where they are?" she asked when she had caught up to him. She had to take several steps to keep up with his long strides.

"I might," was his ambiguous reply.

"Where are they?" she tried again as she followed him around the corner and down another busy hallway.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because!" Selphie shouted, having had enough of Vincent's behaviour. She stomped her foot, making Vincent stop and turn around to smirk at her even more as she continued her angry outburst. "Irvine is my friend and I need to find him because I need to know what happened yesterday, not that you care!" She paused in her little rant to cross her arms over her chest. "You wouldn't understand," she glared at him. "You don't have friends."

Vincent seemed to consider her words carefully before he finally spoke. "In that case," he said. "Irvine's sitting outside on one of the picnic tables."

Selphie was thrown off for a second by receiving a straight answer for once. She muttered a quick 'thank you' at the older boy before brushing past him in the direction of the school's exit that led to the picnic area. Quickening her pace she pushed through the doors just as the bell rang signalling students to get to their classes. Selphie ignored the annoying ringing and looked around.

For a moment, she almost thought that Vincent had lied to her, but Selphie was thankful when she spotted Irvine standing up from a picnic table and he began to slowly walk in her direction. She waited patiently for him to reach her. Neither saying a word, they walked to class together, stepping inside the classroom just in time for class to begin.

~*~

By the time lunchtime had rolled around, Selphie was almost dying of curiosity. They hadn't had a chance to discus the previous day's events all morning. Irvine never talked about the issues with his uncle in class anyway; most people would get the wrong idea if they overheard bits and pieces of the conversation. They were especially worried about teachers or any other authority figure finding out. Irvine was afraid that if any adults knew that they might think it was wrong and try to separate the teen from his guardian.

"Irvine, hurry up," Selphie whined tugging impatiently on the sleeve of her best friend's uniform. "Let's go."

"Alright, alright," Irvine said as he closed and locked his locker after grabbing his lunch. He let the tiny girl drag him down the hallway to the cafeteria. By the time they reached their usual table at the far corner of the giant room, Selphie was practically bouncing with excitement. "Where's Zell?" Irvine asked when he realized their hot dog loving friend was nowhere in sight.

Selphie sat down across from Irvine and opened up the lunch that Tidus made for her and pulled out a turkey sandwich. "Making out with Seifer behind the school?" she guessed then took a big bite out of her sandwich.

Irvine was about to take out his lunch when he paused to raise an eyebrow at Selphie. "What makes you say that?"

The small girl shrugged as she continued to scarf down her food. "Seifer totally wants in Zell's pants," she explained between bites. "But who cares about them. What happened yesterday when you brought Vincent home?"

Irvine took his time in explaining, trying not to leave out any detail. "And then Vincent left," he said when he was done explaining. "Squall looked kinda confused and angry. Then he just told me to put my shirt back on and help him bring in the groceries."

"Hmm," Selphie said. Her mind was simply buzzing with all the new information; She'd have to try to remember everything to fill Zell in later. "Do you think that he was angry and stuff because he found out you're gay or because of the way he found out?"

"I don't know," Irvine answered honestly. "It could be either one." He sighed loudly and looked sadly down at what remained of the lunch his guardian made for him. "He should never have found out this way. I should have just told him."

"Irvine, you never would have gotten the guts to tell him," Selphie explained, playfully rolling her eyes. "At least he knows now. That's a big step for you." She twirled the empty juice box in her hand for a moment. "You can't back down now, not after you've come this far."

"I guess," Irvine half agreed.

"What happened after you brought the groceries in with him?" Selphie asked after a minute of comfortable silence.

~*~

Irvine had finished placing the last two bags of groceries on the kitchen counter when he looked over to study his uncle's behaviour. He watched Squall's back as the man began emptying the bags and started putting the various items away. It had been a while since Squall had said anything to Irvine and normally it wouldn't bother him, but with the previous hour's events, the teen was dying to uncover his uncle's thoughts.

"I'll help put stuff away," Irvine said in a tone that he hoped wasn't as awkward as he thought. He picked up two cans of chicken broth and turned to go put them away in the cupboard but Squall quickly pulled the cans out of his hands.

"I got it," Squall said, his expression unusually blank. "Go work on your homework. I'll call you when dinner's ready."

"But," Irvine started to protest.

"Please," Squall interrupted.

Irvine knew that tone as Squall's parental way of saying 'do what you're told right now' so without another word, the teen retreated to his bedroom. Upon entering his room, he picked up his school bag and began to fish out his homework. Irvine didn't really feel like doing it, but it needed to be done and it was a simple enough distraction.

When it was time for dinner Squall silently appeared in the doorway for Irvine's room. The teen had already finished his homework and was lounging on his bed reading a book. Squall stood and observed Irvine's relaxed form for a minute before he spoke. "Come eat," he told his nephew. "I made fettuccini alfredo."

Irvine jumped slightly at the sound of Squall's indifferent voice. "Coming," he said putting the book aside and getting up to follow Squall back into the kitchen. Squall had already laid out the food on the table and Irvine sat down across from his guardian to eat.

They ate in silence; the only sounds filling the room were from knives and forks occasionally scraping against the plates or the sound of chewing and breathing. Again, Irvine found the absence of talking unnerving. Usually he could always find something to say or have an excuse to flirt innocently with Squall, but until he could figure out how the man felt about all of this, he remained silent.

Squall seemed like he didn't like the silence either. Or was it Irvine that he couldn't stand? He ate quickly and when he was finished, he got up from the table and unceremoniously dumped the dirty dishes in the sink. It was another bad sign, according to Irvine since they regularly washed and dried the dishes together.

"I've got to go to work early tonight," Squall said, still standing in front of the sink with his back to Irvine. "Just leave the dishes and I'll do them tomorrow when you're at school."

I'll do them tomorrow, the words echoed in Irvine's head. He was being left out of a task they had done together ever since he could remember.

"Okay," Irvine said as he put down his knife and fork and pushed his still half full plate of food aside; he had lost his appetite.

Irvine watched as Squall retreated to the kitchen's exit, but he stopped for a second and turned around again. He made his way back to the kitchen table where Irvine sat and reached out for his nephew. He leaned in and noticeably hesitated before he quickly kissed Irvine's forehead. It seemed like only a second had passed by the time Squall had grabbed his car keys and rushed out the front door.

~*~

"Whoa, he hesitated?" Zell asked. Halfway through the story he and Seifer had joined Selphie and Irvine at their lunch table.

"He did that this morning too," Irvine sighed. He leaned forward and rested his head on the cool surface of the table.

"I don't believe it," Selphie gasped, shock clearly written all over her face. "What does it mean?"

"I disgust him," Irvine mumbled in reply. "That's what it means."

"Oh Irvine," Selphie in a sad tone as she looked at her friend. She felt so helpless that she couldn't even think of anything comforting to say to him.

"He's probably going to our social worker right now to get rid of me," Irvine continued his depressed rant.

"Oh, shut up," Seifer finally spoke up. He leaned over and with a lot of force, smacked Irvine in the back of the head.

"Ow," Irvine whined. He sat up and put a hand over the sore spot on the back of his head. The initial hit had stung for a bit and now it just left a dull throb. "What the hell was that for?"

"You're being a wuss," he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You got exactly what you wanted, right? You wanted him to know you're gay and now he does."

"But he hates me," Irvine protested. "How is that exactly what I wanted?"

"Talk to him," Zell suggested.

Irvine turned to his tattooed friend and just started at the blond. "What good will that do?"

"You said so yourself that you two have pretty much been avoiding all forms of communication," Zell explained. "He's probably just shocked."

"Yeah," Selphie agreed. "You need to be yourself and show him that it doesn't change who you are. And I don't think that he's going to disown you."

Irvine took a moment to process the information. "I guess," he agreed. "I'll give it a shot."

~*~

AN: This chapter doesn't really have a lot of plot in it but it needed to happen. I promise the next chapter will definately not take me almost two years to write.

This chapter is dedicated to anyone who is still reading this story.

May 31, 2009
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