Sugar Rush
Disclaimer: The moment Kingdom Hearts was released as Square Enix and Disney's product, it already meant that no one else could own it. Neither do I own any rights of designs of Lincoln automobiles or Toyota cars. And certainly not Barbie or any associated characters. Nor any design rights of any Gucci products.
Warning: AkuRoku romance below. Boy-boy relationship. Rated T for language.
A/N: Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I forgot to update this on the right day... :( oh well, sorry. Happy belated Valentine's Day! This was going to be a V's Day one-shot, but apparently my writing length issues refused. XD
Pt.1
It was a wide fine day at the Strife's. Birds were chirping in the grand regal garden; the sky was a healthy hue of cornflower blue; the sun reflected beams off of the gilded and gemmed gates of the Strife manor. Guards stood stiff and straightened at the gate, expressionless.
Before the majestic cherry wood entrance of the grandiose manor stood a maid, the Lord of the Manor and his son.
"Are you sure you want to do this, Lord Roxas?" The gentle woman asked, hands gripping the boy's worriedly.
"I will be fine, Selphie." The handsome young man replied reassuringly with an innocent smile, patting her hand, "Please tell Mother to take care."
"I will be sure to serve Madam Aerith well." Selphie nodded her head, concerned expression still visible.
"Well then," Roxas nodded slightly to the nanny that has raised him for years and then to the much older, taller blond male beside her, "I'll be going." With that, he turned away from his court of escort that consisted of ten people and walked down the stairs into the old 30s-styled Lincoln limousine.
Selphie turned to the Manor Lord, "Sir Cloud, are you not going to stop him?"
The solemn man waved an arm slightly, "No, no, Selphie; the boy has yet to learn of this world. He is too young. This shall open his eyes." He calmed the housekeeper, returning back into the large mansion.
----
It was Roxas' first time into the city. He was fascinated as their car drives down boulevards and avenues; his bright cerulean eyes never leaving from the window. Firstly, there were these strange looking things that resembled a large fat ladybug running alongside their car, with a name 'Toyota Hybrid' plated onto the back.
"Oh my!" The naïve boy exclaimed, "What are these? They too run on four wheels like our automobile, yet they look nothing like cars!"
"My Lord, that is a hybrid car." The driver replied, "They are designed to preserve fuels."
"Oh how great it is that the people are so thoughtful of this world!" Roxas smiled, catching a glimpse of an oddly loud bird in the sky, "My goodness! That's one peculiar looking bird!"
"Actually, that is an airplane, sir." The driver corrected the boy, finding it awfully funny that Roxas knew nothing of the modern world, "It is not a bird."
"Oh boy I have to tell Mother of all these amazing things!" Roxas pulled out a notebook made of parchment papers and starting taking notes of the new things he's just seen. A loud horn distracted him, though; he looked up and found an enormous boat sailing down the river.
"I've never seen a boat that big!"
"It's a cargo ship, Lord Roxas." The driver informed again, "Sire, I'm afraid we won't be able to get to the bakery in time with this intervention."
"Intervention? What intervention?" Roxas blinked obliviously.
"The cargo ship is passing through the bridge; this might take at least twenty minutes." The driver pointed to the front where the Tower Bridge of London was pulling up for the cargo ship to pass through.
"Oh my God! The bridge has broken into two halves!!" The boy exclaimed.
"No, no, sire." The driver laughed, "The bridge is designed to be able to pull up for ships to pass by; please do not worry yourself. But we might be late for the first day of your first job, I'm sorry."
"Oh I'm sure they will understand." Roxas said without a concern.
----
Roxas was thirty minutes late to his job when they arrived; but he couldn't be any more excited. The pastry shop was decorated in pink and white; the satin curtains had laces on them; roses were a common symbol; and the display shelf at the front, Roxas thought, was the most dazzling gem in its own sense. So happily he skipped into the store, titled 'Highwind Pastry and Confectionery'.
"Hello!" He exclaimed to the girl behind the counter, "I'm Roxas and I will be working here starting from today! Nice to meet you!" He held out a hand for a shake, but the greeting was not returned.
The girl had smooth black hair falling down to her shoulder, dark eyes and a bored expression. The clothes she was wearing were apparently too dark for the shop. She glared at the blonde boy, eyeing him up and down for a moment before yelling into the back of the store, "CIIIIIIID!! The new boy's here!!"
"Tifa, for the millionth time, DON'T YELL!!" An intimidating man with a cigarette hanging on his lips stormed out, before stopping dead in his track and glared at Roxas like Tifa did.
"Hello! I'm Roxas; thanks for hiring me!"
Cid looked at the clock on the wall, and turned back to the blond, "YOU'RE THIRTY MINUTES LATE!! On the first day! What the hell do you think this is?! Little Barbie's pastry kitchen with Ken?! Be late again and you're fired!!!"
Poor little Roxas wastraumatized. He hung his head low in guilt, tears ready fall out any minute. So much for being sure they will understand.
After reconditioning his mood, Roxas was generally briefed over the details of being a bakery shop's cashier. He was very disappointed because the reason he applied for the job was not to become a cashier, but a pastry chef. But of course Cid Highwind refused to let the late new employee step into the kitchen, so Tifa got unexpectedly promoted and moved into the kitchen (not like she was a good cashier anyway) while Roxas took her place.
"Hey, Aunty Yuna from across the street just sent in this." Cid mumbled, bringing up an awfully cute (for a girl) pink and white Lolita dress, "This would go just fine with the image of the store, so one of you two must wear it." He said to the only two cashiers, one being Roxas and the other a tanned blond boy, Tidus.
Tidus first looked at Cid skeptically, before saying, "There's no way I'm wearing that."
Roxas widened his eyes at his unhelpful colleague before shaking his head, a frown forming as Cid grinned maliciously at him. Tifa sniggered, "Roxas, you're bound for it. It won't fit Tidus anyway; and there's no one else here who needs to wear it."
Therefore poor little Roxas was forced into the outfit and stood behind the counter like a doll to smile at the customers and cashing. It was totally out of what he expected. So much for becoming a pastry chef.
-- Somewhere along the streets of London --
He was dreadfully hungry; his abused stomach growled violently in protest. Weakly he sat up from his position with the support of his bony limbs to glare into the bowl, only to found two rusted pennies sitting at the bottom. He sighed, his emerald eyes growing duller every second. This was too much; life was too much.
His attention diverted from the two tarnished coins to high heels knocks against the cold concrete pavement of the city of London. A well-off looking lady, most likely a businesswoman, walked down the street steadily. The pitiful beggar first thought maybe she's nice and will give him a pound or so; but that hope was shattered when she turned and opened the door to a shop.
He then noticed the sickly enthusiastic pink stickers on the door. 'Highwind Pastry and Confectionery'. He never knew there was a bakery shop right next to his spot… His stomach growled again, the hollow organ never ceased to be hungry. Looking up again, he could barely see the cakes and candies displayed out on the glass shelf. More growling. The snow white icing on the cake sparkled under the lights, sugary caramel frosting danced in his eyes, practically begging to be devoured.
He made up his mind. He knew what he was going to do is wrong; but it's what one must do to survive. Standing feebly, he made sure his black beanie securely covered his noticeable crimson hair and went up to the shop.
People were chatting casually in the shop; no one noticed him. Timidly he went up to the cashier girl with short blond hair and bright blue eyes in a Lolita skirt. "Hi, how can I help you?"
"I-I… I'm looking for… a cake." He stuttered, hanging his head low.
"What type of cake? We have Black Forest cake, Cheesecake, Angel Food cake, Cupcakes, Birthday cake, Tiramisu and oh! Wedding cake!" The cashier listed gently. The beggar didn't know there were some many types of cakes; whatever, just choose a random one.
"Um… Angel Food cake please."
"How much? A slice? Two slices? Or a whole cake?"
"Just one slice." He said, starting to get impatient. The girl nodded understandingly and disappeared behind a refrigerator shelf, getting a slice of the cake out. She put it into a box neatly and wrapped it, "Here you go. Thank you." She handed him the box, "That would be 3 pounds."
He took it, stared at the pink box, and ran. He ran with what little strength he had left, throwing away the last piece of dignity. He could hear the cashier yelling after him, chasing after him. He just kept sprinting. He hoped she wouldn't recognize him. Damn it, the cashier runs pretty fast considering she's a girl. His legs were starting to give out. He didn't run very far; he couldn't. He hadn't eaten for days. He counted down the seconds until she caught him by the shoulder. This is the end.
"Y-You haven't paid… yet…" The girl panted, grabbing the corner of his black tight long sleeve.
"I don't have any money." He replied plainly, "I'm sorry."
"A-Are you… stealing?" She frowned. She must have a very dense head.
"Yes." He answered after a pause.
"Why would you do that?" She inquired, "Don't steal; it's bad. Don't do bad things, you'll get punished."
Oh, if only he had a choice!
"Like I need you to tell me that…" He panted; his lungs were burning.
"Then why did you steal? You should be honest; if you are honest, good things will happen to you."
Now he was starting to get irritated, "Where are you from? Mars? Do you know where you are right now? You're in 21st century London! Honesty won't get you anywhere! Honesty won't fill up your stomach! Food will! But this is London, you can't get food without money. You can't survive without money!"
The innocent girl seemed to be shocked by this, "Why would you say that?! That's terrible! Money can't buy everything! Money shouldn't be what we live on!"
He laughed; which was more like barking coarsely, "Are you kidding me? You believe in that stuff?! Wow… Let me tell you something, little Miss: in this world, there's no such thing as unselfish people. Everyone –everyone – only cares about themselves. No one is not greedy, I tell ya. Honesty? Bullshit. You be honest and people turn their backs on you; you be honest and people cheat on you; you be honest and people steal your money away. Money can't buy everything; but without money you can't buy anything."
Roxas' frown deepened; this guy makes him so angry!
"That's not true!"
"Oh yeah?" He retorted, "Then tell me why that guy took my money and ran away?!" He shook the blonde by the shoulder, "Tell me why I trusted him, and he lied to me in return?!! Tell me why!!! Tell me why he lied to me when I thought he was my friend?!!!!" He was trembling with tears; his voice was breaking. He frowned intensely, his hands squashed the pink box of cake and threw it down into a corner, "Fuck!!"
Roxas didn't know what to say. He himself was covered in tears and fear. The beggar dropped to the ground, leaning onto the dirty wall. Roxas whimpered, moving a little closer to the stranger, "I-I'm s-sorry… H-Here… Take this…" He held out his palm which had a few pounds on it. The man slapped it away violently, the coins falling with clear clinks.
"I don't need your pity!" He bawled, "You've torn down my dignity… Go, get away. I don't want to see you…"
"I-I'm sorry…" Roxas sobbed as he stood up, "I'm Roxas… I… I'm actually a boy…"
The guy looked up to the blonde, "You're fucking weird…"
"I'm sorry…" Roxas mumbled in fear again, "W-Won't you tell me your name…?"
"Axel…" He replied lifelessly, "My name's Axel… Now get lost!" He curled up into his knees.
Roxas wiped his tears in a futile attempt to stop them and ambled back to the store. Tifa ran up to him, "Roxas? What was that? Did you catch that guy?"
"O-Oh! Um, erhm, y-yeah." The blonde dug out three coins from his pocket, "He paid me back. So, don't get him in trouble or anything, okay?"
"What, why?" The black-haired girl asked confusedly, "Do you know him?"
"N-No." Roxas replied in an innocent high-pitched tone, "I mean, he paid back, right? So, no troubles, right?"
"Well…" The girl shrugged, accepting the alibi Roxas made for Axel, "As long as he paid back…"
"What's going on? Did Roxas catch the thief?" Cid poked his head out from the door to the kitchen.
"Yeah." Tifa turned and replied, "The guy paid." She showed him the three coins. The muscular blond man barked happily, "Good job Roxas!" He went up to the boy and patted his back with his flour-covered hands, "Maybe I'll consider letting you into the kitchen!"
Frankly, Roxas was not happy when he heard that.
-- Later that day --
"Welcome home, Lord Roxas." Ten young maids greeted and bowed simultaneously at the front doorway towards the foyer hall. Selphie went up to the exhausted boy with a gentle smile and helped him take off his coat, "How was your first day, Lord Roxas?"
The blond boy faked a smile, "It was great! I got to bake cookies and I learned a lot!"
Selphie, having been with the boy since his infancy, knew right away that he was lying. She frowned deeply, "Lo-"
"I'm tired!" Roxas sighed dramatically, handing Selphie his coat, "Don't count me in for dinner. I will sleep early tonight." With that and his fake smile, he went straight up to his room. Cloud passed by him and trailed his eyes behind his son; Selphie strode up to her master, "Sir Cloud, forgive my insolence but I told you this shall not go well. Lord Roxas seemed so disappointed!"
"H-How is my dear son doing?" A weak voice interrupted their conversation. Selphie looked up to the staircase behind her and exclaimed, "Madam Aerith! You should be in bed!" She rushed up and lent an arm to the fragile lady who already had three other maids helping her.
"Oh, Selphie, you worry too much." Aerith smiled unconvincingly, "I feel perfectly fine today! So tell me, how has Roxas been?"
"He is-"
"Our boy is maturing very fast, my dear." Cloud grinned reassuringly as he walked up to the stairs to hold Aerith's hands, "He is growing just fine."
"Sir Cloud…" Selphie still frowned.
"Now, Selphie." Cloud comforted, "I believe it is almost supper. Come, Aerith, we haven't had supper together for quite a while now."
----
It was the first weekend break Roxas has from work. The boy would've stayed home and played in the garden normally. But this year it was bound to be different. He woke up early at eight in the morning and ate breakfast by himself quietly (other times he would've waited until ten when his parents wake up). Then soon he left the mansion for the city. The driver was told to drive down to the bakery and was then brought into a prolonged searching that consisted of driving along narrow alleys and making multiple U-turns when they went the wrong direction.
Roxas was just barely able to catch a glance of those haunting emerald eyes before they crossed the toll across a controlled area.
"Stop!" The blond yelled, startling the chauffeur. The man did what he was told and parked the car to a side hastily.
"This is fine, thank you." He left the car, handing the driver a banknote of 10 pounds, "Don't tell anyone about this visit, please. Just drive around here as you wish; I shall be back before noon." After saying this he left quickly, crossing the crosswalk and disappeared around the corner.
There he was. Sitting at the entrance of the subway with nothing to do. Roxas wondered if he always loitered like that. He had so many questions to ask that guy. So many things he wanted to tell him. Roxas didn't know why he wanted to do that, but the way Axel viewed the world needed some serious correction, or so Roxas thought.
But as the blond approached closer he was not unnoticed. Green eyes met blue ones and soon Axel was pacing down the street, trying to get away from the stalking blonde.
"Wait!" Roxas called out, his short legs a terrible disadvantage to Axel's thin but long ones.
Axel turned around and walked backwards, "You again?! What are you trying to do?! Are you stalking me?!"
"I still don't think what you said was right!" Roxas yelled for Axel was at least ten feet away. The redhead rolled his eyes agitatedly and turned back around, his legs starting to walk faster and eventually they were running down the street. It was a Sunday morning and there weren't a lot of people there.
"Wait up!" Roxas shouted out but to no avail. In a split second his foot tripped over a rock, "Ahh!"
Axel was just about to turn around the corner until he heard the blond's agonized cry. He couldn't help but stop dead and turn around. Roxas was on the ground, palm scratched from the fall. Groaning with irritation, Axel walked up to the boy.
"Why are you so clumsy?" The redhead said in a scolding tone, arms wrapping around Roxas' shoulder to support the blond up. They went over (Roxas hopped) to a large circular fountain of a park and Roxas sat down on the concrete rim. The blond hissed and his face was scrunched up in pain.
"Let me see." Axel demanded, taking hold of Roxas' wrist. The scratch wound wasn't deep, just some puny beads of blood seeping along the lines, already starting to dry up.
"It's just a scratch." Axel commented jeeringly, "Is it really that painful for you?"
Roxas nodded, having barely ever experienced pain.
"Fine. I'll need water, mercurochrome and some band-aids for this." He said, looking into Roxas' eyes. The boy merely replied with confused stare.
"I need to go to the pharmacy and I don't have any money." Axel explained it in simpler terms. Roxas let out an 'oh!' and dug for his wallet with the other hand.
"Stay here, okay? Don't go anywhere." Axel instructed and stood up, scanning around to locate himself on his mental map (years of loitering had enabled him to memorize the map of the city). Knowingly he started walking off to a direction; for the first time in years he was walking amongst the streets of London with a purpose.
He paused at a pedestrian island, suddenly noticing Roxas' wallet secured in his hand. It was a white bi-fold Gucci wallet. Axel scoffed mentally, finding it ridiculous that Roxas didn't believe money was superior while he was enjoying some luxury that the commons didn't have. Flipping through, he found two notes of 10 pounds. Man is this kid rich… A spurt of darkness suddenly sprouted in the redhead's heart.
Go ahead, Axel, take the wallet and run away! A little devilish Axel appeared on his right shoulder, with this money, you can finally eat something good for a week!
No! Don't try to steal again, Axel! An angelic Axel appeared on the other shoulder, Roxas was right; you shouldn't have stolen… Maybe it's true that being a good guy doesn't always get you something back, but being the bad guy is never going to get you anything good back!
You shut up you little pest! The devil screeched, that kid is filthy rich! It's people like him that made the world the way it is! Twenty pounds are nothing to him; this wallet itself takes more than a hundred pounds!
But you're not only taking twenty pounds away with you if you walk away! The angel argued, if you walk away, you're stealing away his faith too! Look at him, Axel! Look at that poor boy! He's hurt and he's sitting there, waiting for you! He believes that you will come back, even though there's a high chance you might run away! Are you going to just throw that away?!
Axel listened to his own conscience arguing and turned to look at Roxas. Sure enough, the boy was sitting there beside the fountain, looking around worriedly yet faithfully; always just waiting… just waiting for Axel to come back. Like an angel waiting for the lost human knight…
Bwah! Screw his faith! His faith can't fill up Axel's stomach! The devil retorted, our buddy is barely even standing!
Axel, if you are going to walk away just like this, you're basically doing to Roxas what he did to you! The angel finally reminded the redhead of his painful experience. Snapping his mind back into those dark memories, Axel shook his head determinedly, I'm not like him… I will not do what he did… I hate him and I will never do onto someone what he did to me… With that thought in mind, the devil was banished into the deepest black hole and cut off forever. The green pedestrian light was on by then; the redhead quickly crossed the rest of the crosswalk and went for the pharmacy.
Roxas only waited for ten minutes before Axel came running back, medical supplies in hands. The blond let the redhead run water over his wound, wincing when the skin burned. Then the injured area was treated with mercurochrome, which was accompanied with more hissing from the blonde; but to allay the pain the redhead also blew tenderly over the chapped wound, showing care in front of Roxas for the first time. At last a band-aid was applied, and Roxas was well again.
"Here." Axel handed Roxas all the chemicals, "These are all yours."
"Huh?" Roxas tilted his head cutely, "But you got them…"
"With your money." Axel added straightforwardly.
"Oh, whatever!" Roxas shoved them into Axel's arms, "You need them more than I do. You don't have anything."
"Gee, thanks for pointing out the obvious…" The redhead sulked.
"I'm sorry!" Roxas took Axel's joke seriously. The older male laughed, "I'm just kidding. You really are easily fooled."
"No I'm not!" Roxas pouted
"Yes you are. For instance, the way you just gave me your wallet just now." Axel pointed out as he looked at the half-clear sky, "I could've just ran away with it. And you'd be sitting here until dusk before realizing that you've been tricked."
Roxas' heart did a shameful drop when he realized Axel was right; nevertheless he smiled, "But you came back, didn't you? You're not really that bad, Axel."
"That's the problem. It's not every day you meet someone not truly bad and eventually you'll get cheated." Axel said, standing up to leave, "You're too honest."
"Is that a bad thing?" Roxas asked after him, "Is being honest a bad thing?"
The redhead stopped, truly considering the question this time, "…No. It's…It's not a bad thing. It's… It's fine."
Roxas stood at the side of the fountain, a smile spreading through.