I know I should have been working on the Akuroku Pirate story...but I had this awesome idea whenever I listened to Good Charlotte's song "Where would we be now" off of their new album Good Morning Revival. It's a cute song...but anyways, I thought to myself, "Maybe I can write this idea out in a day...and post it out as a Valentine's gift to all of ya'll." But...that didn't exactly happen because today is the 17th...and yeah. (sweatdrop). Sorry guys, but don't worry! The 7th chappie in Yo Ho, Yo Ho, This life is not the one for me? is ALMOST done. (smiles)
Anywaysssss...
HAPPY (very) BELATED VALENTINE'S DAY!
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, the song, or the places just the idea for this story.
P.S.: I'm sorry if my summary sucked...if anyone can save it from being...horrible...please message me what you think should be there. PLEASE AND THANK YOU! :D
I smile, you laugh, I look away
I sigh, you ask me "Why?" I say,
"It's ok and I am just feeling down"
Roxas looked up at Axel after hearing the other sigh heavily. The blonde noticed that Axel had been slightly depressed for a couple of weeks now. He figured that now was a good time to ask Axel what was wrong. Unfortunately, all he got from the red-head was: "It's nothing, Rox. Just feeling a little down today." He hated seeing his best friend upset knowing that there was absolutely nothing that he could do to fix it, due to the fact that Axel won't—freaking—talk about it.
Your hand on mine I hear the words
"If only love had found us first,
Our lives they would be different," oh
Deep inside Axel just wanted something that would probably never happen in a million years; Roxas being able to love him back. This dream--or fantasy, in other words--would never come true. Why? Fact number one: Roxas was pretty much as straight as a guy could possibly be. Fact number two: He was already in a relationship...with Naminé. And fact number three didn't even need to exist because number two was the biggest problem of all. Axel personally didn't have anything against the blonde girl--well, other than the fact that she was dating HIS Roxas. A small part of Axel's conscious always wondered what would have happened to the two of them if only love had found them first. Not Roxas and Naminé.
So, I stand and wait; I am just a man, oh
"Hey, uhh...I gotta go meet Naminé at the Tram Common."
"All right. Are you still free tomorrow? I mean tomorrow is Friday and we always grab some ice cream before sitting on top of the clock tower."
"Oh my gosh! I totally forgot! I'm supposed to take Naminé to the beach tomorrow afternoon."
Axel could feel his heart sink down deeper into his chest. Getting ice cream and watching the sun set from the clock tower was a usual tradition for the two boys after a long week at school, but now that Naminé was in the picture...Axel forgot that things might not be the same anymore. He looked down at his feet, trying to ignore any eye contact with Roxas--the biggest disappointment thus far.
"I'm so sorry, Axel."
"Uh-huh...well, maybe next time then..."
"So it's all right with you that I skip tomorrow and owe you some other time?"
"Sure." Axel lied, "Hey, I gotta get home...I'll see you tomorrow."
---
As Axel entered his house, he slammed the front door shut and trudged towards his room. Once he was in his room, he kicked his door shut before falling onto his bed, groaning in agony. He truly wanted to hate Roxas's guts right now, ditching him for his stupid girlfriend. Axel envied Naminé, of course she was the one who was going to spend Friday afternoon on the beach with Roxas and Axel was going to mope around the town trying to find something to do. It wasn't fair!
Where would we be now, baby,
If we found each other first?
Where would we be now, baby?
Axel heard a light knock on his door before he heard the knob turn. He lifted his head from the pillows and looked at the intruder to his room. It was his older brother, Reno. Axel groaned and then plopped his head back into the pillows. Reno cocked his eyebrows for a moment, seeing his younger brother's reaction to his arrival. He then walked over to the younger's bedside and sat down.
"If you dare try to talk to me, I will most likely throw something at you...and then set you on fire." Axel warned.
Reno laughed, "Looks like somebody is really pissed, yo. Normally is it 'GET OUT OF MY ROOM OR I'LL KICK YOU IN THE ASS!'..."
"I'll do that too...before I throw something at you...and before I set you on fire."
"The hell's wrong with you, yo?"
"Roxas..."
"Aaaannnnnddddd?" Reno tried to coax the answer out of the other.
Axel glared at Reno with deadly emerald eyes. There was no way in hell that Axel was just going to open up like a book, even if it was his older brother asking the questions. It was just too private and he really didn't want to blurt out to the public that he had feelings for his best friend. Axel decided to remain silent towards Reno. The older red-head furrowed his eyebrows before coming to a possible reason why Axel was so...moody today.
"I bet I know what happened..."
"Try me."
"Roxas ditched you for a chick, right, yo?"
"WHA--err...I mean...so what if he did?"
"I can see right though you, yo. Obviously, you really care about Roxas--I'm talking about more than a friend here--and it hurts to see him ditch you for a girl he probably cares about rather than you."
Reno was reading him like an opened book! It wasn't often that Reno would be able to guess something correctly. Axel looked over at Reno before pointing towards the opened door.
"Out."
"C'mon, yo! I could totally help you out!! I mean Vinnie and I was like that for sometime. It was always Lucrecia, Lucrecia, Lucrecia--"
"I said, 'Out'. Don't make me have to kick you out myself. Besides, your boyfriend is a freak."
"At least he's more mature than you are, yo!"
"Speak for yourself, Reno." Axel countered before shutting the door on his brother.
"Good afternoon, how may I help you?"
Axel sighed, "Aerith, do you always have to say that? I mean it's only me..."
"Sorry, Axel. Force-of-habit, I suppose." The brunette smiled up at him, "Two Sea-salt ice creams?"
"Actually, just make it one..."
Aerith looked up at Axel in confusion, "One? Where's Roxas?"
"Uhh...he's going to the beach with his new girlfriend today..."
The brunette continued to study the depressed red-head. Sadness was definitely not a face that suited him. Axel leaned forward onto the counter that separated the two of them. His eyes were glued to the granite countertop. Aerith lightly placed a finger underneath Axel's chin and lifted his head up. Their eyes locked together for a moment; Aerith smiled softly.
"I think you need to let Roxas know how you feel right now. Sulking around like you are now isn't going to do you any good..."
And now I must confess, that I'm a sinking ship
And I'm anchored by the weight of my heart
'Cause it's filled with these feelings
Axel closed his eyes and sighed, "You have a point there, Aerith. I think I'll go talk to him whenever he gets back from the beach."
"That's the spirit!"
Axel stood up straight and began walking towards the door. Maybe he will tell Roxas the truth today...if not today, then sometime very soon. Aerith was please that Axel was slowly beginning to regain his happiness. But didn't Axel come in here for something other than advice? Oh crap!
"Axel! I forgot to get your ice cream."
Axel turned around and remembered that he had come here for an ice cream in the first place. He walked back, got the ice cream from Aerith, and began to dig in his pockets to pay for it. Aerith shook her head and said that he could have it free today, besides he was having a pretty rough day anyways.
---
As Axel made his way down to the Clock Tower, he passed by a chain of shops advertising their products for Valentine's Day. Oh how Axel hated that day. Then he remembered that Valentine's Day was coming up soon...in fact it was this Thursday. Axel could already imagine Roxas arriving at school with a huge teddy bear in his arms, a box of chocolate, and a bouquet of roses ready to give it to his "valentine", Naminé. He groaned inwardly at the thought. Why did they pick out just one day where you show your love towards a special person? Axel's friend Demyx had brought up a good point the other day. Demyx was usually very simple-minded, but this one comment made it look like there was an intellectual DEEP down inside of him.
"Why do you have to show your love only on Valentine's Day? I mean, shouldn't you do that everyday, if you're in a relationship?"
Axel was abruptly stopped by a young girl on the corner of the sidewalk. She was standing outside of her shop waiting for a customer. Then she spotted Axel and tried to convince him to look around in the shop.
"Hey Mister, you look like you could use a very special Valentine for that very special someone!"
"Actually, I really have no use for a Valentine this year..."
"Hmm, that's weird...You seem to strike me as a guy that has several thousand girls fawning over you. And you don't even have a Valentine?"
"Nope, I guess not." Axel responded and kept on walking towards the Clock Tower.
---
Once on top of the Clock Tower, since Axel had already devoured his ice cream, he decided to just take a moment and contemplate everything thus far. He swung his legs back and forth off of the tower's edges. As he stared down at the empty beach, two small figures caught his attention. It was two little blonde kids playfully chasing each other on the beach. A blonde boy was chasing a blonde girl. When he finally caught up to her, he held her in a tight bear-hug, laughed, and tried to catch his breath before kissing her lightly on the cheek. Axel had a feeling that those two blonde figures were Naminé and Roxas. He his heart suddenly felt a lot heavier.
But I keep my true thoughts locked, beside my heart's black box
And it won't be found, it won't survive through the smoke or the wreckage
After tearing his gaze towards the young couple on the beach, he looked straight down from where he sat. Axel began to ponder if the height was enough to stop his aching heart from any more of this. He shook his head from the thought, besides...suicide wouldn't accomplish anything--other than pain amongst his friends and family, and maybe even Roxas. Axel released yet another depressed sigh.
So...I crash and burn, I got a lot of things to learn, oh
The golden sun began to set, soon leaving Axel contemplating in the midst of the darkness.
---
Where would we be now, baby,
If we found each other first?
Axel sat on his bed, deciding whether or not to press the "call" button on his phone. He had already dialed in Roxas's phone number, but he just didn't know if he really wanted to tell Roxas yet.
"It's now or never, Axel..."
He said to himself before swallowing his pride and pressing the button. Axel put the phone up to his ear as the phone began to ring. Mentally, he ran through what he wanted to say before Roxas picked up the phone. After the ringing abruptly stopped, Axel was met by a small silence before a voice rang into his ear.
"Hello?"
"Hey, it's me."
"I'm not stupid, Axel...my phone has a little thing called 'Caller ID'...of course I know it's you."
Axel chuckled a bit, "So, how was the beach?"
"It was okay. I mean...it's February, Axel. No one's gonna go in the water at this time in the season. In other words, we basically just walked along the beach, made little messages in the sand, you know...sand stuff."
"...I see."
"So, what did you call me for anyways?"
"Just wanted to get some things off of my chest..."
"Oh, sure. You know I'm always ready to listen whenever you need help. I mean...I've noticed that every since me and Naminé have been dating, the relationship between us hasn't been the best. You're always depressed and stuff, but you never told me any--"
What would you do now darling,
If I said these simple words:
He rolled his eyes at the rambling Roxas and blurted, "Roxas, I'm in love with you."
"...oh"
Then silence immediately fell between the two of them.
"I know this may be weird...seeing as how you're still in a relationship with Naminé and all, but--"
"Axel..." Roxas said quietly.
"--I mean...you can accept this or just reject it, but I really needed to get it out of my mind. If you want, I'll wait as long as you want..."
I'll wait, I'll wait
As long as you want
But where would we be now, baby?
"...Axel...I have to go. I'm really tired from today...So, I'll talk to you later."
"Alright. Bye, Roxas..."
"Bye."
Ever since Axel had opened up to Roxas, things had been very weird for the two of them. For instance, Roxas always seemed like he was thinking more than usual and Axel would kind of avoid any form of contact with the blonde. Axel's reason was fear of whatever negative reaction the other boy might have towards his feelings. If that wasn't enough turmoil for the boys, Valentine's Day was quickly approaching.
Axel was hanging around the lockers with Demyx, Zexion, and Marluxia after school was let out. Demyx was complaining about how hard the test in Algebra was causing Zexion to roll his eyes and try to explain to Demyx that Algebra was not hard at all. Of course, this was a battle that Zexion was definitely not going to win. Sure the kid was musically-gifted, but that overcompensated for the fact that Demyx wasn't exactly "math-smart". Marluxia leaned against a wall and just looked at the ends of each strand of his pink hair...most likely trying to find split-ends--as if the guy had any. Axel pressed his back against one of the lockers with his arms crossed as he watched the dispute between the blonde musician and the slate-haired genius.
Marluxia looked up from scanning his hair, "Uh-ohh. Roxas is coming this way."
Axel's eyes slightly widened, "You better be freakin' kidding, Marluxia."
"Nope, I'm not. If you don't believe me, look for yourself. He's coming this way from the 'A' Hall..."
He looked towards the A Hall and noticed that Marluxia was indeed telling the truth. Crap. Before Axel could fabricate an ingenious plan to flee from his current position, Roxas had already come up to the four of them. Demyx quickly forgot about his argument with Zexion and turned to Roxas before saying hello. Zexion rolled his eyes at Demyx once more; he thought that maybe math wasn't the only thing that Demyx's talent in music compensated for...one of them was definitely Demyx's attention span. Roxas muttered a quick greeting to Zexion, Demyx, and Marluxia before averting his look towards Axel. He asked the others nicely if they could leave so that he and Axel could talk one-on-one. The others nodded and made their way towards the doors, exiting the school.
"I need to talk to you." Roxas's voice was sharp.
"What about?"
"The conversation last Friday."
"Oh...that one."
"Yes, THAT one." Roxas said, "You wanna go out for ice cream and then to the clock tower?"
"Uhh...sure."
Axel had a feeling about what was to come of this. It wasn't just a normal, "Hey, let's go get some ice cream and just have a good time up at the clock tower". No, this was probably going to be a more serious talk. Axel sighed heavily and followed Roxas out of the school doors.
---
Roxas took one more lick of his ice cream, "What's going on, Axel?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Don't be stupid..." He shot at the red-head, "Why have you been avoiding me all week?"
"I haven't been avoiding you all week. Besides, it's only Wednesday."
"Okay, smart-ass. Why have you been avoiding me for half a week?"
Axel pulled his ice cream out of his mouth as he stared at the beach. He was trying to think about what to say in order to not get shoved off of the clock tower. Roxas continued to look at him with ocean-blue eyes. He wanted Axel to stop leaning against the clock tower wall staring off into space and answer his freaking question. After a while, Axel looked away from the beach and towards the blonde boy sitting on the edge of the clock tower, staring straight at him with his blue eyes. Axel sighed.
"I was afraid of what you would say..."
"Why were you afraid? I mean, you're Axel...the guy whose never afraid of anything."
"Yeah, well, just because it seems like it...doesn't necessarily mean it's true."
"Oh."
That's all Roxas could say before he became silent once more. Axel was feeling uncomfortable with putting his guts out on display for Roxas to stare at. But Roxas remained calm, eating his ice cream, and staring out into the slowly fading sunlight. After several minutes of silence between the two of them, Roxas finally broke it.
"You know...Naminé and I broke up today."
Axel furrowed his eyebrows, "What?"
"We broke up today."
"But, it's the 13th...Valentine's Day is tomorrow."
"Yeah, I know. But, to tell you the truth...things were kinda awkward, seeing as how we've been friends for a long time. We didn't really want to ruin that...so, we just decided to be friends again. Besides, I think it'll be better that way."
"Oh...I don't know what to say..."
"You don't have to say anything, Axel."
"But--" He didn't even get to finish his sentence before Roxas interrupted again.
"Remember what you said in the conversation?"
"Other than pouring my heart out to you...no."
I'll wait, I'll wait
"You said, 'I'll wait for as long as you want'..."
"Oh, yeah. I did say that, didn't I?"
Roxas nodded and got off of the clock tower's edge, "Now that Naminé and I aren't together anymore...I want you to stop waiting."
"What do you mean? Like--"
Axel's sentence died on his lips as Roxas walked up to him and placed his hands on both sides of the red-head's face. He could feel a slight blush appearing on his features as the blonde just stood in front of him and smiled.
"Axel, shut up."
That was the last thing Roxas said before standing on his tiptoes and kissing Axel fully on the lips. At that moment, every single doubt that had been stored in the red-head's heart and mind exploded, leaving nothing but a light-hearted feeling inside of him. A thought came into his head as he tried to gain entrance into Roxas's mouth, which was not much of a challenge seeing as how they both had a mutual understanding between each other now. Maybe dreams do come true after all...
When both boys pulled away from each other, Roxas bit his lip and looked slightly embarrassed as he looked up at his best friend. Axel smiled at the sight of the adorable blonde in front of him. Roxas opened his mouth, but all that came out of the boy's mouth was silence. When he recovered his voice, he seemed to stumble over each word.
"I...uhh...didn't...errr..."
Axel pulled the blonde closer to his body, "I understand perfectly, Roxas. You don't need to apologize or anything, but I do have one question for you."
"And what's that, Axel?"
"Since both of us just made-out on the clock tower and neither of us have Valentines for tomorrow..." Axel smiled and looked down at Roxas, "Be my Valentine?"
"Of course."
"I had a feeling that you would say that."
Roxas playfully punched Axel in the stomach, "Sure you did...idiot."
Axel stood up straight and grabbed the other boy's hand before making their way towards the clock tower stairs. Maybe this Valentine's Day wasn't going to be so bad after all.
Where would we be now, baby,
If we found each other first?
What would you do now darling,
If I said these simple words:
I'll wait, I'll wait
As long as you want
But where would we be now, baby?
I'll wait, I'll wait, I'll wait, I'll wait