Been gone for quite a while, guys. I got promoted at work, so between school and work and family, I wasn't writing anything worthwhile. At least, nothing that I could stick with longer than a couple pages anyways. Before anyone gets their hopes up, don't expect regular updates on this. This is more like something casual for me, and for the previously mentioned reasons I will unlikely be able to commit to regularly updating this story. And before anyone gets angry, I know I haven't finished Contract, that story is too much of a commitment for me right now, and I'm not about to screw it up by rushing it.
Now, for the new story. The main couples are obviously Sora/Roxas and Axel/Riku, it'll get there eventually.
:: Chapter One ::
It wasn't like he was jealous or anything, it was just a small passing crush, the kind you would get in high school, you know? Like you look over and fall madly in love with someone for a whole month, claim you're in love forever, and then by the end of the semester you're dating what's-his-face for like the third time in two years.
You didn't do that? Oh, maybe it was just him then. Well, to give him credit, it wasn't like he had a wide selection of other gay men to choose from in high school, so what's-his-face was the only real option.
Either way, he totally wasn't jealous. You see him? Sitting at his desk all that way across the room, hand clutched around the pen that really wasn't on the verge of breaking in his violent grip? He's the blonde guy, with the pretty blue eyes, beautiful and smooth creamy skin, and slim build? Okay, he just started biting the tip of the pen, you must see him now, he looks like he's about to try and gag himself with it.
That's him, that's Roxas. And he is not jealous of the conversation that is happening across the room right now. He is totally not glaring at them. He is not glaring at the brunette man with the charming blue eyes, he is not trying to send subliminal messages to the platinum blonde man with his eyes. He is just sitting there peacefully. Really.
Naminé finally left her desk to stop the nonsense, leaning against the edge of the blonde's desk and effectively cutting into his line of sight. Blue eyes darted up to meet her eyes with a venomous glare, Naminé just did her best to ignore it and act casual.
"You're subtlety does you no credit."
Roxas' eyes just narrowed, huffing as he leaned back in his seat and tapped the pen furiously against his arm, "Who's that guy talking to him? Never seen him. Is he gay too? I swear everybody in this office is gay, it's not safe."
One delicately manicured eyebrow rose skeptically, "He's not safe from gay men in this office? You make it sound like he's a lost child, you don't need to lock him away in a tower, Rox."
"That's what you think, just look at him!" Roxas practically hissed as he nodded in the man in question's direction, peering around Naminé to continue gazing at him, "He's practically oozing sex, they could issue warnings about him at the border."*
"Okay, now you're exaggerating."
"Obviously, doesn't mean it isn't a problem. And who the fuck is that guy? Why is he chatting him up? I've never even seen him before!"
Naminé just rolled her eyes at him, already tired of the conversation, Roxas was a good friend but he was just too much sometimes, especially when it came to Riku. Frowning at him, she folded her arms to block Roxas' view around her once again, "That man is Sora, and he's a prime example of how Riku is ruining your life."
"Excuse me?" Roxas grimaced, he didn't trust where she was going with this line of conversation, "How has he ruined my life, I haven't even dated him yet."
"Well there's that for one, pining for someone this long is ridiculous, if he's still not interested he isn't playing hard to get. You've started to cross the line into harassment," She sighed heavily when Roxas obviously chose to ignore her, plowing through his bullheadedness anyways, "Not to mention Sora has been working here even longer than you have, his desk is right there," She bit off bitterly, pointing to the desk right across from Roxas'.
Well, you see, now it makes sense as to why Roxas has never noticed him. When he came to work here, he immediately met Riku and began his obsession, and Riku's desk is three to the right of his, where that Sora guy is chatting him up now, so he would never be looking across from himself but rather to the right… And obviously at his work every once in a while, that happened sometimes too. He kept his mouth shut about this realization though, he figured out quite a while back that it was better to just let Naminé win their little arguments, it was just easier.
He attempted to lean back in his chair again, hoping to see around the rather thin blonde girl to see what Riku was doing again, until he saw that very man walk right past his desk. He snapped back to sit up straight almost immediately, eyes widening as he tried to not stare at him, he could hear Naminé sigh heavily again though. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the brunette Riku had been talking to sit down at his own desk. What was his name again?
Sora.
Sora was quite the opposite of Roxas, unfortunately, as he was quite aware of his desk neighbor. Extremely aware of him, in fact Riku even called it a little obsessive. He didn't particularly care though, because it wasn't like Roxas was about to notice it, he was much too busy staring at Riku to notice Sora staring at him.
If he and Riku hadn't been childhood best friends, he would have already named the man the bane of his existence. But Riku assured him that he held no interest in the blonde, so he at least knew that a relationship between the two would never happen. It was more reassuring than Sora had thought it would be, but at the same time it put everything in a stagnant rut. He would pine after Roxas, Roxas would pine after Riku, Riku would… be Riku. Yeah that was basically it.
He needed something to break up all the space between himself and Roxas, he just didn't know what. It's true that he could obviously just start talking to the guy, their desk were less than ten feet apart, but Roxas was just so… absorbed in Riku that any conversation started by Sora just seemed to slide right off the overall uninterested blonde. It wasn't like Sora fell for just anybody, the last person he became so infatuated with was Kairi in high school, and now they were just friends, but he just couldn't help but become hooked on him, if not just like with Kairi, then stronger.
It was just those eyes he could swear staring into those eyes was like reading a good novel, a story that would never end and one you would be horrified by the idea of ending. He just wanted to stare into those eyes whenever he felt like, to run his fingers through that short spikey hair at the base of his skull, curl the other one up in his arms and lay down with him for a while… He wanted him. And it wasn't just in a sexual way, he wanted him, all of him, all of his attention and happiness and life, he wanted to have the man with him forever.
But that was impossible with the way things are right now.
He jumped from the sudden soft "bing" that came from his computer, eyes finally breaking from Roxas gloomily filling out his paperwork to the flickering monitor. An instant message from Axel of course.
You're staring again.
He shrugged, knowing the redhead would see it from his desk to the immediate left of his. Sure enough, another message popped up as he tried turning his eyes back to Roxas.
I heard communication works well in these situations. Try opening with a witty break the ice joke. He's sure to not laugh but at least look at you.
Scowling, he finally turned to type back, glaring past his monitor to the redhead wiggling his eyebrows at him.
He was looking at me plenty when I was talking to Riku. That's not the problem.
The problem is that you want him, and he wants Riku, and Riku probably just wants lunch.
Basically.
You're wasting your time. I was in college with this guy, he gets hooked on a guy for a while, to the point where he'll chase him to the ends of the earth, and then after he gets them, gets bored and finds someone else.
He didn't believe that. That was much too shallow for Roxas, much too shallow for someone with eyes as deep as those.
I'm just trying to help here. There's always other fish in the ocean and all that.
Then I'll starve.
Sora had to hold back the urge to roll his eyes, Axel's weak attempts to discourage his pining were just becoming more annoying. He knew the redhead liked Roxas as well, if not just as much as he did, and he pitied him equally. Loving the blonde was not easy, but that didn't mean he was going to give up. Shifting his eyes back towards said man, he jumped in his seat when their eyes met. Roxas was practically glaring at him, clutching the pen in his grip so tightly he swear he could see it about to start cracking.
Gulping quietly, Sora tried to smile a bit, his heart dropping into his stomach as he just saw him snort and turn away. Sora swore he must be masochistic. At least Axel had his trust, they had been friends for years already, and after a couple months of this unrequited love business all Sora had was his anger. Sighing heavily, he turned back to his work, wondering if he would really lose Roxas, if he would lose him to that jerk…
Axel.
He practically growled in frustration, turning away from the monitor to glare at the brunette. Stupid kid was practically flaunting his little crush around the office now; he was surprised Roxas still hadn't noticed it. Or maybe he had and was ignoring it?
He let his eyes travel to Roxas again, breathing out softly. No, he wasn't the type to ignore it. If he knew, he would talk to Sora, he of all people knew what it was like to be strung along. Still… it frustrated him to no end with how obsessed the cute little blonde could get over some men. He wasn't as slutty as he made him sound to Sora, it wasn't like he changed his fancy at the drop of a hat, but he would become obsessed with someone for quite a while and then lose interest rather rapidly whether or not it was a success. Personally, he didn't understand why Riku hadn't been interested in him in the first place.
Well… it was true that he had got to him first. That may have helped him not notice the blonde.
It was dirty and deceitful, but he couldn't help it, it wasn't even the first time he had stolen the poor guy's crush from him without him knowing either. There were about three in college, and two before they started working at this office. He couldn't let them touch Roxas though, he couldn't stand the idea of some of these guys actually getting to his little blonde. Roxas was not pure or innocent or anything silly like that, but still… He was special, and he deserved more than the idiots he would normally choose.
Granted, this time he didn't have bad taste. Riku was quite something, physically he was as attractive as an underwear model, mentally he was mature and calm and collected and everything that would balance him out basically, and sexually…
Thinking on that now, he could still clearly remember just last night having the man in his bed, forcing him down into the mattress, grabbing platinum blonde hair roughly and forcing him to stay there, being anything but gentle as he forced himself on the man.
Sexually… he was into all the right kinks.
Which just worried the redhead all the more, he would kill the man who would try to force himself on Roxas like that, whether Roxas was willing or not. He had known the man long enough to know what was good for him, even if Roxas himself would not recognize that. He would never allow Roxas to be taken advantage of in such away, even thinking of it made his stomach twist in nausea and rage.
And the last person he would let touch Roxas was Riku, glancing from the blonde to said man across the room now, he watched out of the corner of his eye as Riku turned away quickly. Narrowing his eyes skeptically, his allowed his gaze to drift south, resting somewhere much less work appropriate on the man. True, he would admit that while he mostly would not allow him to touch Roxas was because he loved Roxas too much to allow him to be tainted like that, there was a small part of him that was possessive of Riku. He wasn't surprised by that though, he was having sex with the man after all, he figured it was only natural to feel a little protective of him.
Smirking, he watched as the man hesitantly looked over his shoulder back at him, he just allowed his eyes to meet with the others, watching the smile come over the other man's face at the same time. His heart clenched a bit at that. Riku was special, he admitted that, the man probably knew more about what was going on in this office than anybody else, he was friends with Sora, he was the object of affection of Roxas, and he was sleeping with Axel. He was not being deceived or left out of the loop by anyone, despite Axel never explicitly telling him he knew that Riku was aware he loved Roxas, and Sora told him every detail about his little crush, and it was impossible for him to not know that Roxas was obsessed with him.
Riku knew everything about this office, he was in the middle of it all, and yet he remained separate. Sora didn't blame him for being the one that Roxas loved, Axel far from disliked him for the very same reason but rather quite enjoyed the time they were together, and despite being his only focus Roxas felt much too distant from him to make a move. It was like Riku was an island, trapped there by himself…
Axel, somehow, felt at that moment a tug, like he wanted to be there with Riku on that island. But he brushed it off, Riku was not the one he loved, he was not the point of any of this…
Riku.
Riku just really wondered how any work got done in this office.
*Ten points to whoever gets this reference. It's from Dragon Age Origins, if you romance Zevran then after having sex he will make the joke they used to issue warnings about him at the Antivan border.
