Chapter I: Thump, thump, thump
x.X.x.x.x.x.x
The lights flicked on, providing Roxas with the first view of his new apartment. Scowling, sleepless blue eyes glanced with minor interest—if any interest at all—before he turned to grab his lumpy bags of belongings and stumbled inside.
It must have been a couple of hours past midnight and the seventeen year old blond was very much exhausted at this point.
He didn't even take a good enough look at his flat to even gain a first impression of it. His mother began renting the place for him before he'd had an opportunity to take a look for himself, and now that he was actually there, all he could think about was collapsing onto a bed, cramming a pillow into his face, and passing the fuck out.
Even with his sight failing in a sleepy haze, it was easy to drop the duffel bags beside a couch and find the bedroom since he knew that the place was going to be fairly tiny.
Dumping himself onto the small, twin-sized mattress, Roxas let out a breathy sigh, finally finding some contentedness after a long day of last-minute packing and smelly public transit. Closing his heavy eyelids, the blond was fully submissive to allow long-awaited sleep to devour him.
But not a second too soon, he flinched and opened his bluer-than-fuck eyes when he had heard...
"Ah...! Fuck me harder! ...Oh god...!"
Roxas' face heated up rapidly, hearing loud thumping coming from the wall next to his bed. There were simultaneous deep, almost breathless moaning, gasping, and panting—both male voices—and it was then that Roxas had to wonder if the walls were made out of fucking construction paper.
"Ah, fuck! Right there, babe! Ahh!"
Thump, thump, thump. Pant, groan, gasp, scream.
This was no fucking lullaby.
It had to have been two in the damn morning, but there were these two fuck-rabbits nailing each other in the next apartment, directly on the other side of the membrane-thin wall. Roxas wasn't sure when he'd decided to bury his head underneath his pillow, but it still deemed utterly useless as the people next door kept constantly going at it. Those bastards weren't even trying to muffle out the sounds!
They were sure considerate. Note the sarcasm. But on the bright side, even if it was going to be a regular thing, to be kept awake like this, Roxas would only have to deal with this for... his whole college life...
Great. Maybe it would have been a better idea to stay home with mom and dad.
x.X.x.x.x.x.x
Roxas was a living zombie the next morning. Or at least, glaring at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, the blond couldn't think of a better way to describe the sleep deprived creature scowling back at him. He even had a scar along his chin to add to the effect (though it was rather small and not noticeable).
Bags. He had dark circles under each eye—yippee. He looked quite paler than he normally did, and overall, he'd shown more cheerful expressions in his lifetime.
His hair was a standing wreck of blond, although, really, when wasn't it? When Roxas was little, back in elementary days, he used to be really self-cautious and hateful of his eternally disobedient hair that never, for the life of him, ever stayed down flat against his scalp. He'd learned to accept his lively spikes eventually, but it took some warming up to. Now he just didn't care.
Anyway. That morning, Roxas still didn't decide to unpack yet, but at least he got a look at how his now home looked like. It was small, as predicted, and plain. White walls, an ugly brown carpet (sprinkled with several dark stains), and your typical kitchen and bathroom—the kitchen was close to the front entrance and the bathroom was attached to the little bedroom.
Roxas really didn't mind the place at all and didn't really have any complaints... aside from the rather loud neighbours.
Ugh, the fuck-bunnies. Speaking of the couple of horny bastards, after a rather ear-piercing climax, the poor teenager had thought it was over and he'd get some sleep. Which he did, for, basically, ten minutes or so, until guess what. Thump, thump, thump, that's what! And the cycle continued for about three hours until finally, they settled down.
Tears of joy were damn ready to stream down the sides of his cheeks, but sleep had knocked him out before he could let them. Roxas woke up at about noon; he'd normally wake up around seven.
But enough about that. Back to Roxas' first apartment.
The location was at an ideal spot in Twilight Town, close to the university he would attend and shopping spots. His mother and father were paying for his rent, which they'd insisted because Roxas had managed to obtain enough scholarships to pay for much of his tuition in order to get a degree. His parents weren't rich, so he'd told them to pick a small, cheap place for him to survive in. And they did—which wasn't a bad flat.
After Roxas had finished with a nice, steamy shower to rinse off his grogginess, he stepped out to fetch his bag of clothes and got dressed.
Since he'd just settled in the night before, Roxas was aware that his place lacked food, which was of vital important to the growing boy. Especially when he was hungry and his stomach was growling, almost louder than the people next door last night (if possible), and he'd slept through his usual breakfast time.
The clothing Roxas tossed on was random, wanting to hurry up and grab some Subway or something to eat for lunch. A slightly tight, white T-shirt and some old, ripped up jeans that he thought he'd thrown out were what he wore. Whatever; Roxas was never too fussy about his clothing.
He walked out of the apartment, key in hand, and as he was sticking the metal thing into the hole, he heard another door open—a next-door neighbour's—and Roxas peered over to offer a friendly greeting to whoever'd walk out. 'Cause, of course, Roxas was a good person who had been taught manors.
Prepared to let up a smile bright as possible under his zombie-like exterior, nothing could have shocked Roxas more than seeing the person who slumped out. And there were a few reasons as to why.
Skin. So much skin. Smooth, bare, unclothed...!
Who the hell would decide to roll out of the front door in nothing but loose, black boxers hanging off narrow hips?
And... what was on the skin!
It was a fucking hickey convention. Around the neck, collarbones, chest... trailing lower and lower... disappearing behind previously mentioned boxers. Really, how yummy could a person taste for another to want to snack so much?
But, what really got Roxas' eyes widening and stomach twisting was red and green. The eyes and hair... there was only one person Roxas had ever met with such fiery hair and beaming irises.
Watching the rather groggy individual tumble out, Roxas' body instantly went into shock or something like that 'cause he forgot how to move. The man—slightly older than Roxas, from the looks of it—glanced over down the hall in the opposite direction of Roxas while slumping against the wall, before looking over and catching sight of the teen. At which the teen's heart leaped.
Instantly, the familiar-looking guy's grumpy expression faltered and instead settled with a grin that was friendly and laced with a little spark somewhere that was slightly more... flirtatious?
Roxas couldn't tell—all he could see was the toned (yet skinny) body turning toward him, one of the arms moving up to lean against the wall near his head and placing a hand on his hip with the other. Roxas couldn't look away; this couldn't be the same person. It couldn't be the same person who—
"Well," an amused voice drawled lazily on, flirty and damn well alluring. "Where'd this cute piece of ass come from? I just came out to see if my friend happened to get lost out here—I hadn't expected to instead find such a sexy little—"
At that moment, it seemed, Roxas had an abrupt jolt of panic. Without any thought, the blond violently yanked open his door again, raced back inside, and slammed it back shut with more force than necessary. His chest heaved as he breathed through his nose, leaning against the white door. On the other side, he heard the nearly-naked person's confusion.
"The fuck? I don't look that frightening in the morning, do I?"
Roxas closed his eyes, but in his mind, all he could see was red and green.
Fucking shit.
Axel? Was that Axel?
Duh, who else could it have been? That hair and those eyes. Roxas wasn't ready for that surprise. He hadn't seen Axel in years... but... if that really was Axel, then judging from what the man had rambled about, he probably didn't even recognize Roxas.
Quietly chuckling to himself almost manically, Roxas roughly threaded his lithe fingers through his hair.
'What the hell am I doing?' he thought bitterly to himself. His reaction to seeing the redhead after so long was dumb. They'd been friends who'd drifted apart, that was all. Nothing to freak out about. Actually, they hadn't even been friends, had they?
...No. They had never been friends.
Mentally giving his ass a harsh kick, Roxas went back out the door, just in time to prevent Axel (that was definitely Axel, wasn't it?) from retreating to his own respective apartment.
The much-taller male gave Roxas a look which seemed neither negative nor positive and Roxas stared at him back. Those eyes were drilling—simply intoxicating. Like venom; once again, Roxas found himself inexplicably paralysed under the man's presence.
Thankfully, Axel was the one to break the ice, smiling friendly. "So I take it that you're the new neighbour," he noted casually.
"Uh..." Roxas swallowed, hard, his mind telling him to get a fucking grip. "Yeah," was what he said lamely. Really? How pathetic.
Axel fortunately thought nothing of it. The blond tried keeping his eyes focused on the face, not the body. Axel fully faced Roxas, once again smirking. "I thought I'd heard somebody move in already," he stated, as though proud of his human instincts. "I noticed you taking a shower just now."
Roxas. Paled. Instantly.
What?
Now what? Were there fucking peak holes in the bathroom wall?
Axel seemed to catch onto his little blooper after watching Roxas' facial features fall.
"I mean, I didn't watch you take a shower... although..." Axel's eyes roamed all over Roxas' body and the teen didn't even want to know what thoughts were running through his mind. At least now Roxas knew what it looked like when eyes were filled with desire for another person's body.
Roxas blinked, startled.
Had Axel grown up into a pervert?
"I just meant," Axel continued, looking back at Roxas' face, "that I could hear the water spraying out. This building has fucking thin walls, y'know? Not very sound-proof."
"Yeah, I get what you mean," Roxas muttered, finding a functional voice to work with. "Like... just last night... I'd arrived but I couldn't sleep until five in the morning because some douche bags were having sex so loud, and..."
Roxas trailed off his rant, caught by Axel's blank expression, and as those rather noticeable bruise marks regained Roxas' attention, his eyes immediately went wide.
Fuck. He'd been too shock-stricken earlier to even realize that Axel's apartment was the one that was on the other side of the bedroom wall. Axel was one of those fuck-rabbits. And Roxas had accidently called him a douche bag right in in his face.
'Roxas, you really know how to hit it off with people...' he scolded inwardly, staring at his shoes while waiting for some sort of negative reaction from the unreadable tall one. To be fair though, Axel was the one who was fucking for the whole world to hear.
"Heh," the blond heard unexpectedly. He glanced up once again to find a half smirk on the elder's face, looking somewhat sheepish. "So you heard us, huh? Sorry. Hadn't realized someone moved in there already."
Roxas nodded dully, not knowing what else to do. It was a reasonable excuse, Roxas reasoned. He wasn't a total jerk; he knew how to let people redeem themselves. Besides, he was sure he'd known this guy back nine years ago and he wasn't a bad dude. At least, not typically.
"Sorry, little man. Won't happen again," the redhead concluded.
Roxas tried to ignore that comment, though his knitted brows probably gave away his disapproval. "S'alright."
Redhead dude grinned, saying, "I'm Axel, by the way."
"Um." Roxas was right. This was him. "Roxas," he said.
"Roxas," the man repeated. The blond waited for any sort of sign that Axel might have recognized him, or at least his weird, mother-given name. Instead, all he got was a polite, "Nice to meet you."
Roxas swallowed once again. "You too..." Clearly, Axel didn't remember a single thing about him. It wasn't any surprise. During elementary, Roxas was always known as Roxie instead of Roxas. He wasn't affected by the blatant lack of recognition.
Okay. Maybe it did hurt, even if it was just a little. He'd remembered Axel vividly well, down to every detail. And now, seeing an older Axel speak to him like a stranger... well, it wasn't unexpected, but not very pleasant either.
Suddenly, Roxas began to feel very uncomfortable. Axel stared at Roxas attractively; Roxas gawked at Axel stupidly. He needed to conclude this brief little meeting—or reunion?—so Roxas could go get some food in his gut.
"So, uh..." Roxas started, "...You should really... get dressed or whatever." He didn't know what else to say.
"Oh." Axel's gaze fell from Roxas down to his body. "Probably should. I was just stepping out to see if Dem was still here... guess not."
"A roommate...?"
Axel's smirk fell into place. "Nah. Just last night's fuck," he said simply.
"...Oh." Somehow, Roxas regretted enquiring. Realizing his key was still stuck in the doorknob, he turned to lock the thing properly, saying, "I should really get going now." He dropped the key into his shallow pocket. "I'll talk to you later."
Roxas made a move to walk past the towering redhead, but at the same time, Axel sidestepped to block his path. The small one blinked up to those green eyes as Axel spoke again. "Where're you going?"
"Apartment's still empty. Gotta eat stuff, right?" Roxas offered lightly.
Axel studied him. "If it's food you want, I can fill you up." At first, Roxas thought there was some sexual meaning behind those words and stilled, until Axel followed it up with, "You like Mr. Noodles?"
Fighting the urge to slap his own perverted assumptions away, Roxas remained hesitating. Would it really be a good idea to come into Axel's apartment? He felt iffy about befriending this guy... although, them being two young males with side-by-side apartment buildings, perhaps some sort of bonding relationship would be inevitable...
Noting Roxas' unease, Axel let up a short chuckle. "What? I won't poison it. And I'll get dressed now... uh... come in," he said, swinging the door open. The redhead strolled in, expecting Roxas to follow.
Which, after sighing lightly, the blond complied to, silently closing the door as he did so.
x.X.x.x.x.x.x
Roxie was on one of the basketball courts, practising shooting hoops. It was probably about ten minutes since the first school day of the year ended. Other kids who'd chosen to stay after school were usually on the playground or at the other, less hidden basketball courts, which suited the eight year old Roxie just fine because he liked the solitude in playing alone.
He wasn't the greatest basketball player, which was why he practised—besides, he liked the sport. All it consisted of was throwing an orange, rubber ball into a rusty old hoop; there was nothing too complex. Perhaps the simplicity itself was the reason why Roxie favoured it above all other sports.
After carefully dribbling the firm sphere a few times, Roxie positioned his arms, bent his knees, and aimed the ball at his target. From there, the small child pouted adorably while observing the ball just barely miss its place at the net and bounce away toward the school building.
His heel turned, not losing sight of the bouncy thing, as it rolled to a tall boy's feet.
The kid had insanely red hair that had been tied up on his head, and when he noticed the ball bump against a heel, he looked down and picked it up nonchalantly. Roxie ran up to him, wanting to retrieve his basketball.
"H-Hey!" he called feebly, voice shaky from his jogging motions. Impossibly green eyes spotted him catching up as Roxie continued. "Can I-I have my ball b-back?"
As Roxie came to a stop in front of him, the older kid simply gave the tiny, pale-skinned child a once-over. Roxie blinked at the tall one's hesitance, deciding to hold his arms out for extra encouragement.
"Um..." he said softly. "My ball..."
Doing nothing but peer into the insanely large, blue eyes planted on him for another moment, the kid, maybe in his early teens, wordlessly faced the hoop, positioned the ball over his head, and bent his knees. For the short second he was in that position, Roxie stared in awe while absorbing the sight in—it looked just like how those professional athletes on TV took their shots.
Then, the preteen's arms and legs sprung, sending the ball flying. Roxie's mouth fell open, seeing it fall swiftly through the net after bouncing off the abused headboard.
"...Whoa..." the dazzled blond gasped.
"Heh." The redhead let off a cocky air that went unnoticed as Roxie twirled to face him, eyes sparkling with new found admiration. He took a step closer to the teen, suddenly wanting to know all his secrets.
"How did you...? But we're standing so far away from the... A-And you didn't even take any practice shots...!"
In response, the redhead chuckled and plopped a head atop Roxie's fluffy nest of hair. He ruffled the soft spikes playfully while uttering something about lots'a practice, before starting to trek off.
Roxie kept staring at the god-sent basketball pro, feet stitched to the concrete ground. "Um..." he said weakly, seeing the older one stop walking for a moment.
As though already knowing what Roxie wanted to say, the boy said, "The name's Axel, kid. I'll see you around." With that, he continued off on his way.
Roxie never took his eyes off of Axel until he rounded a corner and was completely out of sight.
'Cool...'
x.X.x.x.x.x.x
AN: Short opening chappie to kick this shit off.
The stuff about their relationship as kids will slowly reveal throughout chapters. Don't hold your breath though; it's nothing that exciting. But flashbacks might be common so just note that I'll be calling Roxas 'Roxie' whenever it's them little. So yeah.
If you've read, please let me know what you think.