Astronomically Low, a kingdom hearts fanfic

Title: Astronomically Low
Author: Di / shinizero / whitereflection
Pairing/Fandom: Axel/Roxas (Kingdom Hearts 2)
Rating: G/K
Note: Originally written and LJ posted early this year. Just finally archiving here, too.

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"That one's Pluto."

A snort. "Hardly."

"It is, too! Planets shine like stars."

"Yeah, but they still have to be close enough to see. Like when Mars or Venus or one of those are visible. Pluto's too far away. It's not even a planet, anyway."

"Pluto is so a planet!" Axel flailed, brandishing a fist at the night sky. "Damn you, childhood-stealing scientists! Damn you! Plutoooooooooooooooo!"

Roxas caught Axel's wrist, pinning his hand back down against his chest with a (not really) surprisingly strong grip, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like the word dork. Axel struggled as if to free it, but only halfheartedly so--the pebbles on the hard-packed beach were digging in funny, and he really didn't relish the thought of the gritty, damp, seaweed-smelling sand managing to find its way into who knew what sort of unholy places even with his winter gear on (trench coat, black, most awesome; gloves, leather, black, Darth Vaderish; knee-high boots, leather, black, lace-up, sexy; scarf, neon pink and black striped thank you very much, knit by Mom).

But even that small amount of squirming nudged off his fleece headband (very possibly black, comfy), and he huffed in annoyance until Roxas shared a free hand to help tug it back into place--though the band ended up tugged down over his nose at one point and Roxas had poked him in the eye, most likely accidentally. The red spikes of his hair stuck out in bizarre directions, but Axel didn't want to move from the pillow of Roxas' crossed-leg lap any more than he already had to mess with it. Anyway, Roxas had seen his hair messed up and tangled plenty before--hell, he'd usually been the one at fault for it.

So he relaxed and stared once again up at the stars, idly making a mental note to yank the ties of Roxas' parka hood and knot them when the blond wasn't expecting it. This was the best winter ever; usually Seattle was temperate, even in the colder months, albeit windy and rainy--but December had brought the coastal city snowstorm after snowstorm, and even if it all melted fast each time it was still stupidly cold. Though who were the ones out stupidly stargazing despite that...? It'd seemed a good idea at the time, but wasn't that always the case.

"If it's not Pluto," he mused after a moment, "maybe it's Orion's crotch star."

There was a sputter behind and above him. "Orion doesn't have a crotch star!"

"Poor guy."

Roxas snorted again, and this time Axel was certain the word dork was involved, as well as the word weirdo, though in the dim orange glow of distant streetlights he could see that the younger man was trying to suppress a smile. And he could see Roxas' eyes gone black-blue and glittering just like the night-dark sea spread out in front of them; his breath caught in his throat, and something tightened somewhere in his stomach that felt a bit like awe.

Once upon a time there hadn't been a Roxas in his life yet. Once Axel hadn't even realized there should have been, though now he couldn't fathom how he'd not known it. But one drizzling, low-fog spring day a sun-blond youth with eyes as bright blue as the ocean in summer had wandered into the tattoo shop where he worked (the tattoo shop just up the road from the waterfront park where they now sat), looking to have the roman numerals for thirteen inked on his back, up on his right shoulder. He'd stepped forward to take the job, when the kid had shook his head and said "Not you" (and something inside him had hurt). "I want him to do it," he'd said, pointing at Axel's coworker, Zell (a goofball, but a genius at face tats). "You," he'd looked at Axel, gaze intense, and suddenly he was grinning and something in Axel was flying, "you sit where I can look at you."

And so he'd sat while Zell worked on Roxas, who'd stared at Axel like he was memorizing everything about him, and he'd stared back, and they were both smiling at each other like utter idiots, and who knew who started giggling first or why. That hadn't been such a good plan, considering the whole getting tattooed thing, and eventually after getting bitched at by his coworker, Axel and Roxas had quieted, speaking to each other in whispers and murmurs that blended almost hypnotically into the hum of Zell's tattoo machine. Remembrance built upon remembrance, and talking at the shop led to talking at a coffee shop/bakery down the block afterwards. Which led to talking while walking along the waterfront after the shop closed, which led to talking at Axel's apartment while sharing some of that sea salt gelato he'd gotten from some yuppie cafe downtown.

Which led to waking up the next morning to a shared bed, tousled spikes of blond hair tickling his nose, and a warm, snuggling body that he wrapped his arms around and swore to never let go of, ever, ever again. In that lazy time of slowly waking up, he'd brushed careful fingers over the other, older tattoo Roxas had--the odd, detailed, circular design he called a chakram done in red and black on his chest right over his heart. Axel had felt puzzle pieces settling into place, felt a key twisting in a lock and some door within him he'd never been aware of opening wide; at the same time there had been the feeling of turning the last page of a storybook and seeing the words 'happily ever after'.

Roxas poking at him drew Axel from his thoughts, and a shiver danced under his skin as gusts of wind picked up from over the sound. "You're being quiet." The blond was hunched over, peering closely at him with one eyebrow arched. "What're you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking about..." Abruptly, Axel took advantage of Roxas' slackened grip on his once-imprisoned hand and grabbed Roxas' wrist. "how you're wearing mittens!"

"I like those mittens!" Now Roxas was the squirming, flailing one, trying to yank his hand from the redhead's grasp.

"Mittens, Roxas! Little kids wear mittens!"

"Stoppit! Those're a gift from my sister!"

"Ohmygawd, there's Disney stuff on 'em--Roxas wears Mickey Mouse mitteeeeeeeens!" And then they were tumbling and wrestling and Roxas was gnawing on his arm and sometimes on his head to get him to let go, and suddenly his headband was off again (gah! cold ears!) and the blond was somehow managing to try to stuff it up Axel's nose or in his mouth or something, which wasn't too terribly hard since Axel was laughing so hard he couldn't breathe. Sometimes he honestly couldn't remember which side of twenty-one the both of them were on. Finally they came to rest, a gasping, sandy heap of tangled arms, legs, and winter coats. Axel was still using Roxas as a pillow, though more of the full-body sort as he was draped almost completely over the panting young man--whose mittens were still on his person, though Axel's fleece headband and scarf lay several feet away.

"Ge'rroff, you're heavy," Roxas groused, pushing at the taller man.

"Mittens!" Axel snickered again, though he relented when Roxas got him with a nudge to a ticklish spot along his ribs.

"I told you, they were a gift, for Christmas. And I like them, so I'm wearing them." He scowled at Axel as Axel settled his head back in Roxas' lap, as if daring him to tease again.

"Yeah, yeah. You're a wonderful and good brother." Roxas looked smug. Axel smirked. "With goofy bad taste."

Sticking out his tongue, the blond smacked him. "That's obvious. Just look at my choice of boyfriend."

Axel stuck his tongue out in return, waggling it, which elicited an eye roll from Roxas. Then all grew quiet as they both fell silent, and there was just the sky full of stars (and planets and not-planets) and the whisper and whoosh-hiss of the waves splashing onto the sand punctuated by the occasional rush of a passing car on the road back up behind them. The water was coming closer as the tide crept back in, but Axel didn't mind the thought of returning home soon. There would be a hot shared shower perfect for de-sanding and warming up, and there'd be cocoa with whipped cream, and maybe just maybe whipped cream with Roxas. Or maybe there'd be just Roxas. Really, that was good enough right there.

Reaching out toward the sky, Axel traced along the shape of the waning crescent moon with one hand, trailing his finger down to an invisible point, then mirroring the same motion with an arc to the right. Hand still outstretched, for a moment he could almost see it, a moon in the sky that was a heart--and then Roxas was clasping his hand, gently this time, not in play, interlacing their fingers with a reassuring squeeze.

"Say," Axel said quietly, Roxas leaning forward to hear, "you wanted to know what I was thinking about a bit ago?"

Roxas nodded, gaze serious, intense, focused, like Axel was the only thing in his universe. "Yeah?"

"Miracles."

Roxas bent forward, pressing his lips to Axel's, shaggy bangs tickling at Axel's chin, and Axel smiled into the kiss.

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Note: Title is punnish, having to do with the whole stars thing of course, but also tying into Axel's end comment. The chances of these two meeting again in a next life are so low that to finally do so is a miracle.

Other other note: Technically, this sort of fits with my 7am drabble with these two, into a little AU-in-my-head of these two in present times--along with other KH/FF characters--in a Seattle setting centered around/connected to a coffee shop. Said coffee shop and setting for this ficlet are very most likely based off the Alki waterfront area, and the Alki Bakery. No tattoo shop, though. I don't think. Been too long since I last visited.