Amethyst Eagle

"Hey, Axel? Did you hear we're getting a new student today?"

"Yeah, Demyx, 'cause I totally heard that."

Demyx smacked his friend across his head before sitting back in his chair. "You know what I mean," he replied once comfortable.

"Of course I knew. It's what everyone talks about in the hallways," Axel scoffed as he pushed a few strands of his bright red hair back.

"You know it's not very nice to read people's lips when they're not talking to you," Demyx scolded.

"Shut up. I can do whatever I want," Axel replied before promptly sticking his tongue out.

The bell, signifying the end of class, rang and Axel merely watched for a bit as everyone got up and left. When everyone was gone, he decided to leave as well. He stood up from his chair and displayed his tall and lengthy body as he stretched. Axel had bright, emerald eyes and the tannest skin around. But what really stood out on the boy was his bright red hair—that made him look like a porcupine— and his two upside down tear marks that were tattooed underneath his eyes. The boy being described pulled down his black t-shirt before fixing his loose pants, then finally slinging his backpack over his shoulder.

A hand was placed on his shoulder and Axel turned to his shorter friend, Demyx. The boy's blue eyes were filled with concern and Axel merely smirked.

"Don't worry, Dem. I'm fine. See you at lunch, okay?" Axel said as he ruffled the boy's dirty blond mullet-gone-wrong.

"I didn't ask if you were okay…" Demyx's mumble went unnoticed as Axel headed out the classroom door.

Axel is slightly different from everyone else. He suffers from conductive hearing loss. He hadn't always been deaf though. Actually, he only lost his hearing three years ago. Just a regular day at swim practice had turned into a day of horror for the boy. Back then, he had had a choice of learning either sign language or lip reading. He didn't want to be seen as a special person so he went with the less noticeable of the two.

His teachers all knew, of course, as did all his friends. The only person who didn't know was his number one competitor in the water, Roxas Strife.

After the accident three years ago, Axel had tried to compete in swimming, but he just lost it. He could only dive relying on his other senses. He couldn't hear the gun, nor the annoying cheers. He couldn't feel the excitement; only a dull noise in the back of his head. When Roxas questioned him on his abnormal forfeit, he had lashed out at the boy with harsh words and walked away. He hadn't seen him since then.

Axel had been thinking about Roxas as he walked down the hallway. Roxas' bright blond hair that swirled on the top of his head somehow managed to fit under the swim cap. His blue eyes would angle and his eyebrows would narrow as he readied for the gun. A shot would sound, and the smaller boy would jump into the water ahead of Axel; ending up with another win for Destiny Islands high school, and a loss for Twilight town high.

"Destiny Islands, huh," Axel whispered.

A slap on the back and Axel turned; he expected to see the blond boy himself—coming to congratulate him on losing to him in another race. Instead, his friend, Larxene, stood there.

"What are you mumbling about that putrid school for?" She asked, making sure he could read her lips.

Axel blushed and looked away before mumbling, "No reason."

Larxene poked him to get his attention again and smiled. "You heard the new student is from there, didn't ya?"

"He is?" Axel asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Yup. I had him in my last class. He is super small! Like, he is about a few inches taller than Sora, but that's it."

"Really? W-what's his name?" Axel dared to ask. He didn't want to get his hopes up.

Larxene immediately noticed something was different from Axel's normal self and Larxene new exactly why. She used to go and support the boy at his races and knew that he was thinking about swimming. He had a sort of lonely feeling whenever he thought of it. She knew just how to make it better and she was going to make it work. After all, Axel was gay.

"You have English next period, right? With Mr. Xigbar?"

"Yeah, but what is the kid's name—"

"Well you will have to wait and see then," Larxene giggled before lightly slapping the boy's cheek and heading off to class.

Axel wondered what the girl was talking about. Why wouldn't she simply tell him the boy's name? Was it so hard? Axel walked into class right on time and then walked to his seat. He hadn't noticed a thing, for he was bent on ignoring everyone like usual. He finally looked up to see the whole class was staring at him. Axel sat up a bit and looked to see a boy was standing up and walking over to him. The boy's mouth was moving too fast for him to make out any words. Axel promptly scooted back in his chair when Roxas got right up to his face.

Roxas hadn't changed much. His face had matured a bit and his figure looked more refined. But having the boy yelling at him, he couldn't look at anything else. Axel promptly pushed back on the boy's head and held him at arm length, while using his other hand to cover the boy's motor mouth.

"You wanna try talking slower so I can understand you?" Axel smirked. He knew the boy didn't know he was deaf and he was going to use it to his slight advantage. Maybe he could go for the rest of his life without the blond knowing. Fat chance, though.

"What are you talking about? You leave me, forcing me to race against slow scum for the past three years, till I decide to come and find you, and you tell me that I have to talk slower?" Roxas mouthed incredibly.

"Yup," Axel said as he let the boy's head go.

"What the hell, Axel!" Roxas said as he hit the boy's arm angrily.

Suddenly, Axel sensed a dark foreboding to his right and turned to see Mr. Xigbar and his trusty eyepatch staring at the two boys.

"If you two are done with your little reunion, I would like to start class."

"Yes, sir," the two boy's said before heading back to their seats.

Class continued and Axel tried to stay focused but he couldn't. He was happy, elated, jittery, excited, and nervous, but mostly mad. Mad at Larxene 'cause she knew that the boy he had liked since he started swimming had just transferred not only into the same school—but into the same class!

Everyone suddenly began to leave and Axel noticed the smaller blond boy had once again made his way over to him.

"Do you have lunch next as well?" Roxas asked, awkwardly standing next to the taller boy.

"Why yes I do," Axel said as he ruffled the boy's hair—bringing back memories.

"C-can I sit with you?" Roxas asked, looking slightly nervous.

Axel's eyebrow quirked up when he saw the hesitancy in the boy. It was very uncommon and odd to see the boy so apprehensive. He would have asked the blue eyed swimmer, but decided to save that for later.

"Why did you come to Twilight High?" Axel asked as he ushered Roxas on a walk to their lunch. Axel bent his head slightly sideways so he could see the boy and walk with his peripheral vision. Heightened senses and all. Roxas immediately blushed at the question and looked away.

"Wait… so what you said was true? You came here to find me?" Axel asked incredulously.

"Of course I did! You were my best friend. When you suddenly left like that, I felt like something was missing from my life… I realized I had lost my friend… and… I came here." Roxas mouthed. Axel couldn't tell if he had whispered it or if he had said it normally, but Roxas blushed either way.

"…Was that a love confession?" Axel asked before smirking.

"No! I—" Axel put his arm around the blonds' shoulders, now not being able to read his lips, and ignored whatever the boy's argument was as they walked into the cafeteria.

"You're gonna love my friends. Oh, by the way," Axel said before bending closer to Roxas' ear and whispering, "I missed you too, tadpole."

"I told you so!" A small blond boy around the age of eight said as he placed his hands on the hips of his wet swimsuit.

"No, I just wasn't ready!" Another boy, the same age, argued as he dragged himself out of the pool. His short red hair was wet and his hands formed firsts.

"So! You still lost!" The blond continued to have his way.

"S-so? W-when you swim you look like a tadpole!" The red haired boy yelled before running in the other direction.

"That's not my name!" Roxas roared.

Having made it to the lunchroom, Axel quickly ran over to his group of friends who were sitting around a table. He hid behind Demyx and yelled, "The tadpole is going to gnaw on me!"

"I told you I'm not a tadpole! What the hell, Axel! You haven't called me that in years!" Roxas said as he stood in front of the Demyx-shield.

"Well I haven't seen you in years. I'm just making up for lost time." Axel said through his smirk.

Suddenly, Axel was picked up from behind and placed on a chair at the lunch table. The boy, Marluxia, who had just picked Axel up, now sat across from him, talking to his girlfriend, Larxene.

Larxene was a spindly girl with greased down hair with two antennas coming out of it. The whole thing made her look like a scary bug, which matched her personality well. While Marluxia, on the other hand, had pink hair that fell to his shoulders, and the gayest smile in all of the land. Yet, underneath his exterior, he was a total beefcake.

Roxas stood next to the table, unsure of what to do, till Axel waved him over to come and sit next to him. Roxas did just that and the table erupted with talk; Axel yelling for a piece of Marluxia's pizza or some of Demyx's apple. Questions of a boy named Zexion soon arose with a quick reply from Demyx telling them that he was in the library, studying.

Soon the table got a bit quiet and Roxas found that he had to use the bathroom. He saw that Axel was talking to Demyx about some game, and like a lost puppy, Roxas tried to get his attention.

"Hey, Axel?" Roxas asked.

No reply. In fact the boy seemed to have not heard him.

"Axel?" He said a little louder.

This time he had gained the attention of Marluxia—who frowned at the boy. Then, it suddenly dawned on him. No one had told Roxas that Axel was deaf. And it's not like Axel would tell the boy himself. Axel hated when people treated him differently, so he tended to keep it a secret.

"Axel!" Roxas practically yelled, causing Marluxia to cringe. Everyone at the table, except for Axel himself looked at the boy. Demyx pointed to Roxas and Axel finally turned to look at him.

"Hey, Roxas. What's up?" Axel asked nonchalantly. The whole table was silent; they knew what was going to happen.

"Didn't you hear me?" Roxas asked, his face bent with anger.

Axel immediately blanched, his face drooping and a look of nervousness covered his features.

"I-I'm sorry." Axel replied, "I should've told you sooner—earlier when we first met up."

"Told me what?" Roxas let his face relax and now he wondered what was wrong with his childhood friend.

"I—" Axel looked to his friends and they gave him nods of encouragement, "Remember when I told you to talk slower so I can hear you?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"I'm deaf, Roxas." Axel said. His face then hung low as he stared at something in his lap. He knew he should be looking up so he could see what Roxas' reaction was but he didn't want to. Besides, he knew his friends could handle it from here.

"When? Why? How!" Roxas asked franticly but the redhead refused to move an inch. He was going to reach out to the boy when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked to see Larxene. Her face was filled with sadness as she pulled over a chair to sit on while talking to the confused blond.

"He has to read your lips in order to know what you're saying." She said. She looked at the boy in question before saying, "He lost his hearing three years ago. It's why he quit swimming."

"But, how?" Roxas asked.

"He has to tell you."

"But what if he never tells me?"

"Oh, trust me, he will. There's not a day that goes by that he regrets quitting swimming. Not just because he can't feel the water, but because he can't swim against you." Larxene said with a smile before patting Roxas' back and going back to her seat.

Roxas looked back at the depressed red head. He moved his hand and placed it in front of the saddened face. Axel looked up into Roxas' eyes. His own were half mast as he tried to hold back his nervousness. What if Roxas didn't like that he was deaf? What if he would be mad at him? What if—

"Axel, you're an idiot."

The entire table gasped, including Axel himself. Axel let his head drop once more. Suddenly, Roxas' hands cupped his cheeks and brought his face to look up at him. The blond had a mischievous smile on his lips.

"That's why I'm going to teach you to swim again," Roxas stated.

"I already know how to swim," Axel said as he pushed the blond's hands off of him.

"Obviously not, or I wouldn't be here right now. Axel, you love swimming. Why let one tiny thing stop you?"

"I'm fucking deaf, Roxas! That's not really a tiny thing!" Roxas cringed at the harshness in Axel's voice but still stood his ground

"…That still doesn't change the fact that you are an amazing swimmer. Nothing should stop you."

"Yeah, well this kinda did," Axel said as he pointed to his ear.

Roxas had just about had it. He always knew Axel was hard headed, but this was pathetic. Roxas promptly got up from his chair, grabbed the surprised red head and headed out of the lunchroom, leaving everyone else to wonder what just happened.

Hey guys! Time for a new story! Yes, I know I have 3 other stories in process, but i figured that I'm gonna be finishing those stories up sometime, and I might as well, start another one! LOLOL Maybe this will cure my writer's block/ get me thinking. Meh, whatever happens first!

Anyway, this was written on a whim. So, you know as much as I know about the next chapter! LOLOL That's just how i do things though! Maybe I should actually try and organize my shit for once sometime... LOL
But, I finally (semi) got word on my laptop so I am finally able to type up stuff at home! UGH! 'Cept I have to like go into word and open the document that... stupid pre-setup things... idk... I vaguely remember my mama having to do this when she got her laptop as well.

Well, I hope you guys liked it! You know what to do already so yup! ;D See ya soon!