I couldn't resist writing a Halloween-themed Akuroku fic. I hope you like it, I tried to put the amount of effort into it that it deserved. Reviews always appreciated, of course. Enjoy!
Golden and rust-colored leaves flitted over pavement, twirling unpredictably and dispersing on the cool autumn breeze. High above, Axel's black cloak billowed around his legs, and his spiked red hair rustled uncomfortably. He smoothed the rogue strands down with impatience and cleared his throat audibly, watching Roxas with a quizzical expression in his vibrant green eyes.
The two of them were standing atop the Clocktower, staring down at the people of Twilight Town, who were going about their daily business as usual, completely unaware of the fact that they were being watched. Each boy held a blue sea salt ice cream popsicle in one hand, half-eaten so far.
"What are they doing?" Roxas wondered aloud, bending over the ledge as far as he safely could without falling. He licked at his ice cream absentmindedly. Beside him, Axel tensed, ready to reach out and catch him if needed at any moment. The other boy wasn't particularly known for his balance and grace.
"What do you mean?" Axel shaded his eyes from the sun and squinted down at the people below them, shifting his weight.
"Why do they look so weird? Why are they wearing those strange clothes?" Roxas pointed with his ice cream down to a group of children in costumes, running around after each other in the station plaza. Their small feet slapped the yellow-paved ground as they ran, a sound barely heard from their distance. There were three children - one girl and two boys. The girl was wearing a princess costume, one of the boys was dressed up as a little devil, and the second boy was a cowboy.
"Those kids?" Axel gestured casually down towards them.
Roxas nodded. He looked particularly concerned, as if he was facing a new kind of danger.
"They're wearing costumes. For Halloween today," he explained simply, assuming Roxas knew what it was. Like perhaps he had just forgotten the date, or something along those lines. However, he was mistaken.
"Oh..." He paused for a moment, "Axel, what's Halloween?" Roxas tilted his head to the side ever so slightly, displaying his curiosity.
Axel paused for a moment, a little surprised that Roxas didn't know what Halloween was. Then again, how could he possibly know when the Organization usually avoided all contact with the normal humans? How could he learn about a holiday if he was never exposed to the culture?
"Well, um," He scrunched up his face, trying to find the right words to describe it properly. "You see, people - well, mostly kids - dress up in costumes like that, and they go around at night and do this thing called Trick-or-Treating, and ask people for candy at their doors. I've kind of seen it all in action before. But I've never done it."
"Halloween..." Roxas mumbled, watching the costumed children still. "Axel!" He turned so sharply that the red-head reached out, actually expecting him to fall. But, he remained steady, now gazing up at Axel with wide, blue eyes. "Axel, I want to do Halloween! It sounds fun!"
"Oh? Really? It's already Halloween though. And you don't have a costume," he pointed out. With a shrug, he bit off a small piece of blue ice cream, letting the taste linger on his taste buds for a moment before swallowing.
Roxas shrugged. "I could find something simple to wear. Right?"
Axel rolled his eyes and released a heavy sigh. "You know Trick-or-Treating is really a kid's thing, right?"
The blond boy stared up at him with sad, pleading eyes. "Please?"
"You think I'm taking you?"
He nodded excitedly. "Come on, it'll be fun!"
"Roxas - "
"Axel, please, just let me pretend to be normal for once?" Roxas begged, cutting him off. Something about the underlying tone to his words made Axel stop talking and eventually nod.
"Fine. I'll take you tonight."
"Thank you, Axel!" Roxas threw his arms around him in a hug that nearly sent them both over the edge. A few melting drops of his ice cream went flying at the motion. Feeling dizzy with vertigo now, Axel stepped away from the edge.
"Don't make a big deal out of it. It's just running around getting candy."
"It sounds great!" Roxas replied enthusiastically.
Axel rolled his eyes again, and let out a small chuckle. "Don't expect this to be something we do every year."
Roxas gave him a look that meant you know very well it will be, if we have fun tonight. "I want one of those pumpkin buckets. Like that boy has." He pointed down towards the one kid dressed up as a devil.
"Fine, fine, we'll get you a darn pumpkin bucket. Come on," Axel looped his arm around Roxas waist and opened a Darkness Door for them, guiding the two of them through the portal. The dark mist curled around them and whisked them away in just moments.
Roxas sat on the steps in station plaza, plastic orange pumpkin bucket in his lap, staring eagerly at the setting sun. Axel crouched on the step beside him, far more relaxed, holding a skull-shaped bucket that Roxas had insisted he buy. The two of them had changed out of their bulky cloaks and into more comfortable attire. Roxas now wore a black cotton tee-shirt and dark blue jeans, kept warm by a black hoodie. Axel, on the other hand, was wearing a dark gray peacoat, and tight black jeans. A crimson wool scarf, a few shades darker than his hair, was wrapped loosely around his neck to fend off the chilly October weather.
"You know we could just go buy you some candy," Axel told him, half-heartedly trying to talk him out of dragging him along to Trick-or-Treat all night. He felt more than a little silly planning to run around with children all evening.
Roxas shook his head furiously. "No! I wanna go around just like everybody else."
"Alright, alright, don't get emotional over it. The sun is almost setting, are you ready?"
"Hang on..." Roxas withdrew something from inside the pocket of his hoodie, brushing it off gently.
"Huh? What's that?" Axel peered at it closely.
"Cat ears! I bought them when you had me pay for the buckets. They were by the register." Roxas said, as if it was obvious, and how dare Axel even question what they were. With a swish of his hand, he flipped his hood down and placed the cat-ear headband upon his golden-haired head, positioning the ears carefully, sticking his tongue out a bit with concentration.
When he was satisfied with the way the ears were situated, Roxas jumped to his feet, pumpkin bucket swinging madly about his wrist. "Alright! Let's go!" He latched on to Axel's arm and dragged him to his feet and across the station plaza towards the town.
"Axel, Axel, come on!" Roxas urged, pulling him along. The two of them, although not really in costume, blended in with the crowd of costumed citizens easily. Axel was relieved to see there were teenagers and a few adults wandering about, also, so they didn't stick out too terribly apart from the children. They merged into a small group that was just approaching a door on the end of the block. Roxas eagerly gripped his jack-o-lantern bucket as they neared the open door. People in front of them got their candy and left, and finally it was their turn. Roxas all but skipped his way onto the doormat.
"Now, say Trick or Treat!" Axel whispered to him.
"Trick of Treat!" Roxas cried enthusiastically, holding his plastic pumpkin out in front of him. The woman at the door plopped a few chocolate bars inside, and Roxas thanked her happily.
"Alright, let's go - "
"No, Axel, you need to get some candy!" Roxas practically shoved him forward, back towards the open door. Reluctantly, Axel extended his skull bucket. "Trick or Treat..." He mumbled. The woman dropped the same candies into his bucket and he hurried back down the walkway with Roxas.
"You seem nervous, what's wrong?" Roxas asked him as they wandered up the next walkway.
"I just, um... It's weird being around so many people, that's all. Every instinct in my body is telling me to get out of here." Axel ruffled his own red hair absentmindedly, scrunching up his face.
Roxas took hold of his hand and squeezed it gently. "Don't worry, nobody is even noticing us. We fit right in just fine."
"I know, I know..."
"Just relax. Now come on!" Roxas bounded up to the next door, dragging Axel along with him.
Five houses further down the road, Axel reached a hand into his steadily-growing collection of candy, extracting a chocolate bar from the plastic skull. He was just about to unwrap a Kit-Kat when Roxas spun around and grabbed his arm by the wrist, his eyes wide.
"What are you doing?" Axel questioned, a little irritated. He arched an eyebrow and frowned, refusing to drop the chocolate.
"You have to wait!" Roxas insisted, his tone earnest. "You have to wait until we're done! Then you can see how many of each candy we got."
Axel couldn't help it - a laugh bubbled off of his lips, and he slowly placed the Kit-Kat back into the bucket with a noisy rustle of candy wrappers.
Roxas nodded, as if in approval, and released his grip on Axel's wrist, brushing his fingertips down to lace their fingers together.
"Come on," Axel encouraged, squeezing his hand ever-so-slightly. "The next doorstep awaits."
The wind was beginning to pick up speed and drop in temperature as they made their way down the block collecting sweets. Axel noticed that Roxas was starting to shiver every few moments. "Are you getting too cold? We can go home if you'd like to."
Roxas pressed closer to him, and Axel draped an arm around his waist, holding him near for warmth. The blond-haired boy shook his head vigorously. "I don't want to leave yet. We're not done."
"Alright, alright, fine." Axel noticed the other boy's cat ears were crooked and he tweaked the headband back into place. "Do you want my scarf?"
Roxas was shaking his head, but Axel was already unwrapping the fabric from around his neck. Ignoring the shorter boy's faint protest, he carefully tucked it around his neck. Just as he tucked the end in, he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss on Roxas' forehead. "Better?"
Roxas hunched his shoulders forward, pouting. "I was fine."
"You don't have to pretend you're not cold, Roxie."
"What about you, though? Now what's keeping you warm?" Roxas dragged his feet along as they walked down the sidewalk, but he was still holding Axel's hand tightly.
"I'm fine. It's my job to keep you warm. Besides, now my scarf will smell like you later," he mumbled, blushing. In response to the sarcastic look Roxas gave him, he picked up his pace. They approached the next door, and the man who opened it gave them mini bags of Skittles. By the time they were headed down the sidewalk once more, Axel had calmed his flustered red blush.
"My bucket is getting full," Roxas mumbled, holding up the pumpkin in his grip and peering inside at the assortment of gathered treats within. He shook it a bit, judging the weight of it all.
"Mine too," Axel commented, holding his up. "We've almost been all the way through the neighborhood, let's get these last few houses and go home, alright?"
Roxas chewed his lip for a moment, gazing down the road. He looked like he wanted to protest, as if he could convince Axel to take him through an entire other neighborhood. But he shook his heavy bucket again and sighed. "Yeah, alright."
The next few houses didn't give them much candy because they were behind all the other groups. Slowly, the porch lights flickered off one by one, like lightning bugs going to rest. Finally, they had gone to every house. Axel was just about to open a Darkness Door so they could return to the Organization XIII castle, but Roxas stopped him.
"Wait um, Axel?" he stepped in front of the redhead, interfering with the portal. "Why don't we just... go up to the clocktower?"
"Won't it be dark?" Axel drew his eyebrows together, hand still poised and ready to open the Darkness Door.
Roxas shook his head, causing his blond spikes to sway and the cat ears to shift. Quickly, he reached up a hand the fix them. "There's a light up there, so people can see the clock at night."
"Well, that's true, I guess. Why don't you want to go back to the castle yet, though?'
"I just..." Roxas blushed, but Axel could barely see it in the dim illumination of the nearby streetlamps. "I'm not ready for this night to end. Not yet. I want to be alone with you, just a little longer."
"Aw, aren't you cute?" Axel grinned, leaning down to grip Roxas' chin lightly and plant a gentle kiss on his cold lips. "Alright, to the Clocktower, then."
Now, he opened a Darkness Door - one which took them directly to the top of the Twilight Town Clocktower, where they'd been perched hours ago. With a clatter of candy wrappers jostling in his bucket, Axel plopped down on the ledge, sitting cross-legged and placing the bucket full of candy in his lap.
"Come here," he beckoned to Roxas with a sly smile. Roxas started to sit down on the ledge to his left, but he hooked an arm around his waist and pulled the blond towards him, landing in Axel's lap with the soft plush sound of denim on denim. Roxas looked like he was going to try and squirm away, but after a moment's hesitation, he nestled close, leaning his head back on Axel's shoulder.
"Am I allowed to eat my candy now?" Axel asked him, speaking softly into his ear.
Roxas laughed, "Yeah, sure, let's see what we got." He brought his bucket closer to him, examining the haul. Carefully, as if it took a serious amount of thought, he pulled out a small Tootsie Roll and began to strategically unpeel the waxy wrapper. Axel watched him, amused, until he popped the small candy into his mouth and began to chew intently.
He randomly pulled a Reese's out of his skull bucket, tearing off the wrapper and throwing back in with the candy, a problem to be dealt with later. he crammed the candy into his mouth and pulled Roxas closer to him with an arm wound tightly around his small waist. Roxas gave a content sigh and selected another candy, peeling it just as methodically as the last.
"Axel?"
"Hmm?" he angled his neck slightly so he could see Roxas' face.
"I think... I really like Halloween."
"Oh, I knew you would," Axel responded with a slight eye roll. "You wanna know something? I like it a lot more now that you're here. And," he pinched Roxas' cheek teasingly, "your cute face gets us extra candy."
"Oh, shut up!" Roxas groaned, but the blush on his cheeks betrayed his attempt to disregard the flattery.
"I will not!" Axel scoffed mockingly.
In response to this, Roxas threw his weight back into him. Not expecting it, Axel went flying backwards onto the Clocktower balcony, sending both of them toppling one over the other, while candy was tossed haphazardly from their buckets with a clatter. Roxas rolled to one side, taking his weight off of the redhead, and flopped onto his back, staring straight up at the starry sky overhead. Laughter burst from within him, and in mere moments Axel was cracking up beside him. They laughed into the empty world, lifting the weight of the town's silence off their shoulders.
"Hey, you dropped this," Axel said somewhat sarcastically, picking up a chocolate bon-bon that had rolled onto the surface between them. Roxas turned his head to face him, and Axel tore the aluminum wrapper off of the chocolate. Before Roxas could turn away, Axel pressed the chocolate to the other boy's lips with his index finger. At first, Roxas could only widen his eyes in surprise, but then he slowly parted his lips and let the chocolate fall into his mouth.
"Good?" Axel asked, grinning.
"Mhmm," he responded around the bite. He swallowed after a moment, and licked a smudge of chocolate from his chin.
"Jeez, you're even cute while you're eating," Axel commented with a chuckle. "So, you had fun tonight?"
"Of course!"
"Well then," Axel stroked his cheek gently, leaning forward to steal another kiss, "Happy Halloween, Roxie."