WARNING:this story contains underage drinking/smoking, underage sex, and MILD mentions of drugs and self-harm. The story does NOT revolve around self-harm, but If you're uncomfortable with any of these, then I recommend not reading it.
I hope everyone enjoys this, we've been working really hard on it for the past few months! The updates may be a little slow since I'm still working on writing everything, this is part one of a trilogy; and first part will be roughly 9 or 12 chapters long.
I don't own kingdom hearts
"I promise you high school isn't as bad as middle school; you'll make friends in no time." Roxas rolled his eyes as his older brother gave him the same speech for the third time. It's been like this ever since he woke up; he couldn't help but smirk at his brother's concerns.
"Okay, Cloud. I heard you the first time."
"Good luck, kiddo," Cloud chuckled and tousled his little brother's hair. "Keep the door unlocked, text me if you go out after school, and just be safe." Roxas nodded and gave him a wave as he began to skate to school. Luckily, he lived only about a mile and a half from school, so Cloud was completely fine with him skating there.
Psychology was Roxas' first class, which he was pretty nervous about. Since a majority of high schoolers don't take psychology until at least their sophomore year, there won't be many 9th graders. Upon stepping in to the classroom, he saw a familiar face and felt a little relieved. It was a boy that was in his math class last year. He sat next to him and glanced over.
"Demyx?" Sure enough, Roxas was right; the other boy turned his head, revealing a huge grin on his face.
"Hey! Roxas! Thank god I'm not the only freshman in here. I'm not the nervous type at all but- you know, I was really enjoying middle school and had just gotten comfortable. Now I feel like I'm in 6th grade all over again." Demyx chuckled, running a hand through his hair as Roxas nodded in agreement.
The teacher went over the rules and expectations pretty quickly, along with passing out all of the papers that everyone's parents or legal guardians would have to sign. He then handed out another piece of paper, much to the student's dismay.
"Yes, I know," he stated, sitting back down at his desk. "Another stupid icebreaker. I have to keep you occupied in some way for the next 45 minutes, so just get up and make some new friends. You may be surprised to what kind of people you'll find."
"Find at least five people with an 'X' in their name?!" A guy, who was probably a junior, with long pink hair exclaimed, exasperated. "That's too difficult. It's got to be only me and Larxene, I doubt anyone else does."
"I have an 'X' in my name!" Demyx exclaimed and pointed to Roxas. "So does he! I'm Demyx, he's Roxas."
"I have an 'X' in my name, too. Xemnas."
"Same! I'm Xigbar."
"Saix here!"
"The name's Axel."
"Zexion; and he's Lexeaus."
"Xaldin."
"Vexen."
"Luxord."
The thirteen students were all in a circle, staring at each other in disbelief. The psychology teacher let out a laugh. "I had the same reaction when I saw the role. Never in my life have I had thirteen students in my class with an 'X' in their name. Now, go ahead and be friends."
"So," Demyx started, still a little flabbergasted at the situation. He looked down at his paper in hopes of breaking the silence. "Anyone from anywhere in Europe?"
"I'm from England." Luxord offered, putting his initials on Demyx's paper.
"I'm from Sweden." Axel sat on the desk right next to where Roxas was sitting. "Just moved here five years ago."
"I knew your accent sounded familiar," Saix said quietly. He had his hood up which revealed two scars on his face that looked like an 'X'.
"I'm from Germany; and no, I'm not a fucking Nazi." He seemed to glance at Demyx when he said that, almost like he knew that the freshman was going to ask him that.
The thirteen students asked questions amongst themselves and were able to fill out their useless icebreaker activity in no time. As Roxas handed his back in, Axel glanced over at him, smiling. "So- Roxas, Right? I'm guessing you're a freshman? You're quiet enough."
Roxas gave a small chuckle and nodded at the redhead. "Yeah, you caught me. Just a freshman. You're probably a junior, huh?"
"Think again kid. I'm not that old. This is only my second year here." Axel chuckled.
The younger boy blinked in surprise. There was no way he could only be a sophomore, he must have been pulled back!
"Hey! You know what we should all do? We should totally throw a party Friday night! My folks will be out of the house and I have plenty of room. It'll be a good way to really get to know each other, you know?"
Marluxia scratched his chin. "I'm not sure if Friday is a good day. That's when we have auditions. Oh! I know, how about you all come? You don't have to audition, but we definitely need as many 'techies' as we can get."
"Plays aren't really my thing." Zexion stated as he shrugged. "I'll check it out, though."
"Not interested." Saix's curt response was quick and emotionless. He crossed his arms, ignoring Marluxia's glare.
"Hm- Why don't we have the party today? None of us will have homework for a good while; we won't do anything too crazy. In fact, you guys will have to leave before 8 anyways, since my dad will be home by then. Maybe that way some people will have a different opinion on the play?" Demyx asked. Everyone looked around; some nodding immediately, others taking time as if thinking if they have anything else to do. Saix let out an exasperated sigh.
"If the cute one is going," he glanced over at Xemnas, "then I guess I'll go for a few hours, too." Xemnas blushed just a little, looking away awkwardly and running a hand through his hair.
"Whaddaya say, blondie?" Axel's green eyes shot over to Roxas, who bit his lip. Cloud told him he'd start experiencing those three infamous things: drugs, sex, and alcohol- but, he didn't think it would happen this early. He looked at everyone, Demyx and Axel being the ones anticipating an answer.
"Sure," he grinned a little. "It'll be fun."
It was still too early in the year for the seniors and juniors to have a parking decal for the school, so it worked out perfectly that the thirteen were to walk to Demyx' house. Roxas quickly sent Cloud a text saying he was hanging out with some people and that he'd be home by 8 or so. Cloud replied, seeming really excited- it was nice seeing that his little brother was already making friends.
Xigbar whistled as they approached Demyx's house. "Geez kid, your folks must be stacked if your house is this fucking nice."
Demyx chuckled and unlocked the door, letting them all in. "Yeah, I'm kind of spoiled. Make yourselves at home! I'll order some pizzas and make drinks." He whipped his phone out and stepped into the kitchen as the other twelve stepped into the living room, sitting on the couch and the floor.
After a few minutes, Demyx came back with two 'fishbowl' drinks and set them down on the coffee table. "Pizza should be here in 20. I ordered two cheese and two pepperoni. You guys wanna play a game? It'll be a better icebreaker than the one in psych."
"Well, 'Never Have I Ever' is always fun. For those of you who don't know how to play," Axel's glance went to Roxas with a playful smirk, "someone says something that they've never done, and if you've done it, you take a drink. For example, I'll say I've never done Ecstasy, but scene boy here has," the red head pointed at Zexion, who scowled at him. "So, he takes a drink. Now who wants to go first? Or should I pick?" Axel trailed his finger around the room until it landed on Xemnas. "You! Go ahead and start us off."
"Never have I ever performed in a play." Xemnas said, looking over at Marluxia.
"Ugh! You did that on purpose!" Marluxia complained and took a sip of the fishbowl, along with Larxene and Demyx.
"That's the point of the game, sweetheart." Xigbar took a bite of his pizza. "Let's see…Never have I ever been to a different country." With that, Xemnas, Saix, Axel, Luxord, and Demyx all took a sip of the fish bowl.
"Forgive me if I upset anyone, but never have I ever had a family member close to me die." Xaldin spoke quietly. Roxas felt numb. Should he drink? Would anyone ask? Maybe they'll assume it's his grandparents or something. Still- what if someone wanted to know? As Saix took a drink, Roxas did as well. Of course, no one really seemed phased; except Axel.
"Never have I ever kissed someone of the same sex." Vexen stated almost too curtly; making Roxas wonder if he was in a room filled with homophobes. That's definitely the last thing he wanted. However, as Roxas took a drink, it relieved him seeing that everyone except Luxord and Xaldin did as well.
"Never smoked weed." Lexeaus said, and everyone but Vexen, Roxas, and Zexion drank.
"Never did any hard drugs. You know, like heroin or ecstasy." Zexion glanced at Axel, who chuckled and winked at him.
Saix took a drink, along with Xemnas. The two stared at each other for a good while before Saix finally started.
"Never blacked out from alcohol." Xemnas, Axel, and Xigbar all took a drink.
Axel leaned back in the couch a little, trying to get a little more creative instead of this stupid drinking, drugs, and sexual orientation. "Never have I ever self-harmed."
Very reluctantly, Saix, Xemnas, and Roxas took a drink. Roxas was almost shaking. These people, who he'd just met not even 5 hours ago, now knew too much about him. More than he was comfortable with, at least. He was very tempted to leave. He swallowed hard and looked at the floor, deciding to pull this through till the end.
"Never have I ever set anything on fire." Axel chuckled at Luxord's remark and took a long sip, along with Vexen, Demyx, and surprisingly the quiet Lexeaus, who had only taken one other sip so far.
When it was his turn, Roxas stared down at the fish bowl. There were a ton of things he hadn't done. I mean, he was only 14 for crying out loud! Still, he was intimidated by everyone who seemed like they'd done more. He spoke softly, "Never have I ever had oral sex."
"Psh, I'm gonna have to sip on that. First and only boyfriend never reciprocated. Fucking prick." Xigbar took a small sip along with Axel, Saix, Xemnas, and Larxene took a drink.
"Well," Demyx got his third slice of pizza. "Xemnas, you don't seem like the person to do drugs."
"I don't anymore, I've been clean for 14 months."
Saix rolled his eyes and stood up. "Fucking congrats." He went out to the foyer, but Marluxia ran up to him.
"Wait, Saix!" The blue haired teen turned around, sticking a cigarette between his lips. "I know you have no interest in being in the play, but I know you're a really good artist. I've seen your paintings in the studio. Please, at least help out and make the props. You don't have to talk to anyone. You can work on certain things on your own!"
There was an awkward silence between the two, then Saix let out a sigh.
"Fine." With that, he left.
A few hours passed, and Roxas was having the time of his life. Demyx had brought out this instrument called a sitar and began playing some nice, slow indie songs as the others talked amongst themselves. Roxas even sang a few songs, making Marluxia really excited and insisting that he audition for the play on Friday. Soon enough they had to leave and Roxas was walking home with Axel, who had offered. At first it was an awkward silence. Roxas didn't know what to talk about, but soon the redhead spoke.
"You didn't drink that much."
Roxas shrugged, "Guess I'm not as adventurous."
"Well, with me as your friend, you'll definitely be adventurous." Axel smirked and put a hand in his pocket, "Who died?"
Roxas hesitated. "My parents."
"What happened?"
He felt stiff. No one had ever asked him that. He'd never even told Sora or Namine what the situation was.
"Mom died two years ago from cervical cancer and- Dad…"
He didn't know if it was from the alcohol or the memory, but Roxas began to feel numb. As he stopped walking, Axel got in front of him and put his hands on his shoulders.
"It's okay, I get it. You don't want to talk about it, the-"
"No. I have to talk about it. Cloud told me not to bottle my emotions up like this. I can't keep hiding from it. I'll tell you." The blonde teen let out a sigh, closing his eyes.
"Dad was in the marines. When I was born, my parent's relationship was already kind of rocky. They ended up getting a divorce when I was four years old. He wasn't….right. He shouldn't have been taking care of Cloud and I alone. One day, when I was 7 and Cloud was 15, he beat us. I was scared and Cloud was so pissed. He told Mom, and Dad lost custody over us. I was sad because it was only one day. One day- he had never laid a hand on us before! He loved us….. We could only visit him for a few hours every other weekend. After about a year….he shot himself. He said it was from the delusions…. I guess he had Schizophrenia? I don't know."
Roxas took a breath.
"And what's worse is that a week later, Mom was diagnosed with cancer. She died when I was 12, the day before Cloud's 20th birthday. Cloud adopted me and she left all of their money for the two of us. We sold the house and moved into his girlfriend's restaurant."
Roxas rubbed the back of his neck, trying to keep tears in his eyes and not let fall down his face. "That was a lot, huh? Sorry. We just met."
"No, I'm glad you told me that, I'm sorry that happened to you." The two began walking in silence again, and that's when Axel broke the silence again, "You've kissed a boy?"
"So have you."
"You're gay?"
"Bisexual. Are you gay?"
"Pansexual. Where do you cut yourself?"
"Arms in winter, sides in the summer."
"Why?"
Roxas stopped in his tracks, narrowing his eyes, "Why? Did you not just hear what I told you?! My dad fucking killed himself because he thought Cloud and I were…..conspiring against him or something! My mother died from cancer, forcing my teenage brother to basically raise me. So, don't ask me why I do it- I'm pretty sure I have a good enough excuse!"
His changed attitude caught Axel off guard, and the redhead put his hands up slowly.
"Okay, you're right. That was stupid to ask. Sorry." He wanted to say more; he wanted to tell him that none of this was his fault, that he didn't deserve any of the bullshit, and that he shouldn't cut himself. However, Axel could predict that he'd heard those speeches dozens of times, so he kept his mouth shut.
"What's your number? I would like to text you every once in a while." Roxas gave it to him slowly and Axel put it in his phone.
"I'll text you tonight," he grabbed the blonde teen's hands. "And if you ever need to talk to anyone, about anything, I'm your man. You have my word," The redhead leaned down and kissed the back of Roxas' hand, making him blush beet red.
"Goodnight." Roxas said softly and Axel smiled, heading back to his place. The younger teen quickly went inside and leaned against the door, sighing. High school was going to go way better than middle school.
Well, that was a hard first chapter to write. I'm trying to get more used to dialogue, so hopefully it will be better the more I write.
AGAIN, this story does NOT revolve around self harm! They'll only be mentioned briefly only about two or three other times after this. I hope you all enjoyed!