Disclaimer: I don't own KH, or the song Someday by Rob Thomas
"And maybe someday we'll figure all this out, Try to put an end to all our doubt, Try to find a way to make things better now, And maybe someday we'll live our lives out loud, We'll be better off somehow, Someday..."
I hated my job. Every day, day in and day out, I typed for hours on end, got a crappy half an hour lunch break where I had to sit and talk to people I didn't even like, and then do it all again when I woke up the next day, fifty hours, five days a week. Today had been no better than the rest, and I grumbled silently to myself as I took the bus from my office building in the business district downtown to my home. I lived with Roxas, the love of my life, in a small two-bedroom house with a small little back yard with a play set, and porch with two lawn chairs propped up on it with a make-shift side table between them.
Roxas was your typical blonde haired blue eyed angel, short but not child sized, with hair that like mine defied gravity, a temper that could flick on and off like a switch, and a smile that could melt me in seconds after getting home. Roxas was four years younger than me, finishing up his masters degree for business at some fancy schmancy University across town. The reason we lived here, and why I had such a shit job, was because it was close by Roxas's University, I got decent pay regardless of how much I hated it, and we rented our house and it didn't break our bank. Though, I never really told Roxas the full extent of how much I hated this job, or that I had a better offer in a city a few hours from here, but I never felt a reason to. I loved Roxas with all my heart, and to see him happy and finishing his college education at the University he had worked his butt off to get into was more than enough to make up for my job.
Today was a pretty normal day, and I got home sullen and with a semi-permanent scowl on my face, until I heard through the screen door out back Roxas calling my name. "Hey Axel! I'm out back." His voice soothed the scowl on my face to a tired look and I told him I'd be there in a sec. I ventured into our bedroom and threw my work clothes off and into the laundry hamper and dawned a more comfortable outfit of blue basketball shorts and a white t-shirt that Roxas always liked because it hugged my frame. Of course, I thought it was comfortable too, Roxas wasn't the only reason I wore it, just the most important reason I figured.
With a brighter mood coming over me, I walked out back to find Roxas on the play set we had out back. It was pretty simple, with a slide and two swings attached in a line, but it had come with the property and we weren't going to argue with free things. He sat poised on the top of the slide, a textbook on his lap and a pen being gnawed on in his hand and intently read whatever boring chapter he was one. He was adorable sitting there with his eyebrows scrunched together in concentration, and I chuckled to myself as I sat down in the swing closest to him.
"Long day?" He asked as I swayed back and forth on my swing, my long legs pushed almost up to my chest to avoid dragging too much on the ground.
I sighed. "Aren't they all." With that I pushed off hard off the ground and began to swing. I pumped my legs back and forth and went as high as I dared without tipping over the somewhat unsteady play set. Below me I could hear Roxas's twinkling laugh float up to my ears.
"Axel slow down! You're going to tip this whole thing over." Him laughing made me laugh, and in a fit of laughter I dug my heels into the dirt to stop myself. We laughed for no real reason besides we were happy to be together, until our stomach started to hurt and Roxas almost tumbled down the slide. When we composed ourselves and wiped the laughter induced tears from our eyes I stood up and, even though Roxas was sitting on top of the slide, I was still at eye level with him. I wasn't sure where my next move came from, maybe just from a long day or from the fact that in the aftermath of his laughter his cheeks were flushed and his eyes twinkled in such a way that I could hardly take a decent breath in.
"I love you," I told him gently, a smirk on my lips and one arm leaned up against the handles on the slide above him.
"You're such a softie sometimes." Roxas replied, trying to hold back his own smirk and looked down at his book in fake concentration for all of ten seconds before looking back up at me. "I love you too." He leaned over and placed one hand against my face to bring me closer to him as his lips brushed over mine. I moved the hand I had placed by his head on that back of his soft blonde spikes and pulled him towards be, effectively deepening our kiss. He sighed happily into our kiss, his free hand reaching up to tangle itself into my unruly red hair.
After a few blissful minutes we pulled away, breathless and lips tingling from the contact. As we caught out breath and looked into each other's eyes, Roxas said a peculiar comment.
"Would it be weird if I said I want you take me, right here and now, on this slide?" I stared at him for a few moments, before I couldn't stop the laugh that slipped between my lips, and again we found ourselves in a fit of laughter.
When we managed for a second time to compose ourselves, I leaned in next to his ear and whispered in the most sultry voice I could muster at five o'clock in the afternoon. "I'd take you anywhere, babe." Roxas shivered, and tried to playfully push me away, but failed as I latched myself on to his neck and left kisses along it, moving as slowly as I could.
I knew his neck was like his Achilles heel, and when I planted one a kiss at the junction between his neck and collarbone and blew a small stream of cold breath onto it he let out a low moan and was like putty in my hands. I took this moment to slip my hand up the front of his shirt and let my hand roam freely along the contours of his well-defined torso. "A-Axel." He breathed out, his fingers curling tighter into my hair. "We, we shouldn't do th-this out here people can see-ngh." At the end his sentence I pressed my lips against his to silence him.
"Roxas, the Jamison's aren't home for the week they're on vacation somewhere tropical I don't care enough to remember, and your cousin and his boyfriend are out in their yard next door all the time getting it on, they won't care. This is definitely one of those, now or never moments." I don't think Roxas really heard a word of what I had said though, because my hand had wandered its way down to the button on his jeans and began unlatching it.
"But, it's the-ah! It's the principle of the thing." My fingers teased the elastic band of his boxers and he let out a strangled groan. With a smirk I pulled away, separating us completely and standing up while straightening my t-shirt.
"Alright, fine. If you really don't want to that bad, we don't have to." Roxas looked up at me, a murderous look on his face, and after shoving his textbook off his lap he slid down the slide so he was laying down with his feet planted firmly on the ground.
"Get. Over. Here." He said, trying to hold down his laugh, and I pretended to be uninterested.
I stretched my arms out and pretended to yawn. "Nah, it was a long day and I'm pretty tired. Maybe later." Just I was about to walk away I felt Roxas grab my arm and pull me back. For a shrimp he was pretty strong, and the tug made me lose my balance and fall on top of him.
"Bastard." He mumbled through his lips as me practically shoved his tongue down my throat. I smirked into the kiss, but didn't let him keep his dominance for long. With new found exhilaration I pulled his jeans down to his knees and ground down against his forming boxer clad erection. Just as I was about to finger the elastic of his boxers for a second time, taking full advantage of the fact that I would probably never get the opportunity to get at Roxas outside like this for a long time, we were interrupted.
I always hated phones, and the moment the annoying ringing sounded from inside I could feel something sink in both of our stomach's. Great. "Just let it ring," I mumbled to Roxas regardless, pressing my lips against his to distract ourselves. Once the fourth ring ended and silence hit our ears I felt Roxas slip his hands up underneath my shirt, a feeling of relief settling in without the phone to distract us.
I let out a low 'shit' when the ringing started up again. We looked each other in the eyes for a moment, and with heavy sighs we peeled ourselves apart and headed for the house. "This would happen to us…" Roxas mumbled as he strode ahead of me, determined to shut up our phone long enough for us to…get back to business. Of course, the problem in my shorts wasn't making the trip any more enjoyable, but we figured if someone was calling twice it probably had to be kind of important.
"If it's the Red Cross I swear they'll get blood, but not the kind they're looking for." Roxas grumbled out as he picked up the phone and pressed the talk button. "Hello, Roxas speaking…Hey mom, what's up?"
Shit, of all the times for his mother to call for a friendly catch-up talk...
"What?" Roxas's urgent and raised voice captured my full attention. "But…is she ok?...Oh, oh God…"
There's something unsettling and heart-wrenching about watching someone get bad news, the kind of bad news that takes their breath away and gives them that sickening feeling in their stomachs and buckles their knees. Watching Roxas, though, as his voice caught in his throat and his knees shook so bad I had to bolt across the kitchen to let him lean against me so he didn't end up sprawled out across the kitchen floor, broke my heart. "Roxas!" I shouted, as I gently tried to shake his shoulder to get him to snap out of that glazed over look in his eyes, but he remained somewhat out of it.
The phone slipped so gently out of his hand and quietly thudded onto the floor that I almost didn't want to disturb it. I heard through the receiver, even though it was a good couple feet away from my ear, the frantic voice of his mother shouting for Roxas. Taking up my role as the good responsible boyfriend I picked up the handset and pressed the receiver still warm for being near Roxas's head against my ear.
"Sorry Tifa, I don't think Roxas can talk right now. He's all right though; I think you just shocked him." I tried to remain calm and act as if Roxas's brain hadn't just shut down as I held him in my arms, but I knew a hint of panic escaped in my voice.
"Axel, is that you?" The familiar voice of one Tifa Strife rang out loudly into my ear, and I could tell she was crying, but just from Roxas I wasn't sure.
"Yeah, it's me." I wasn't sure what to say. I didn't know what was going on, but I didn't want to ask, since it seemed to be a family related problem. Sure, Roxas's family and I were pretty close, but I didn't want to overstep my boundaries as boyfriend.
"Axel…You and Roxas should come over as soon as you can." There was such a sense of urgency and despair in her voice it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up straight. I looked down at Roxas to see him coming out of his initial shocked state, but he still didn't look all there. "It's about…Na-Namine." This time I felt my own breath catch in my throat. Namine was Roxas's older sister. She had just had a baby boy a few months ago, and her and her fiancé lived in Hollow Bastion, the same city her and Roxas had grown up in. She was like a sister to me, one of the first members of their family to really warm up to be being Roxas's boyfriend.
I tried to summon up my strength to get my next words out without my voice cracking. "Is…is she, I mean, is everything….is she all right?"
The sob I heard come piercing through the receiver, coupled with the state Roxas was in in my arms confirmed my worst fears.
I took up the task of driving an hour and a half to Hallow Bastion with Roxas half-asleep in the passenger seat. He was exhausted from crying, and although I was heart-broken and my eyes were still red and puffy from crying, I was in a better physical and emotional state than he was to make the drive, though not by much.
It took some time for all of us to calm down and bring ourselves back to reality just long enough to figure out what happened. Tifa had a horribly hard time retelling the story, which was understandable, and was why about halfway through the receiver was passed and Cloud, Roxas's father, continued for her. The complete devastation in his voice was just as apparent as with Tifa, but he held back his tears long enough for the story to be passed on to the two of us. The phone was in Roxas's hands on speaker phone as I wrapped my arms tightly around him, rocking him lightly when the silent sobs and free-flowing tears became too much for him to handle.
Namine and her fiancé Marluxia, set to be married in the summer, had been driving back from a long weekend visiting friends in another state. Their son, a lively seven month old baby boy with blonde hair and big blue eyes that made him look like the spitting image of Roxas named Ventus, had been at home with Roxas's parents since it was a long trip. The couple had been driving home early that morning, and were running later than they had wanted to. Marluxia, though I always warned him about it since I had known him since I was younger, drove fast, especially when stressed or in a hurry. It wasn't their fault speed wise that that guy had run a stop sign, but it didn't do them any good. Namine had been hit first, and died on impact. It was a quick and virtually painless way to go, which was little to rejoice about, but gave a tiny sliver of comfort. Marluxia died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. Cloud had told us, with great difficulty, that Marluxia had been in and out of consciousness and asked the EMT about Namine. They told him to just rest, that she wasn't in pain now. I think he knew what that meant though, cause a few minutes later he was gone right after her.
In another lifetime that would be a story about the power of true love. In our lives, it was a story of complete loss and disaster. Ventus was parentless, Roxas was sister less, and Cloud and Tifa were daughterless, and would never had Marluxia as a son-in-law. True, Cloud hadn't been fond of Marluxia in the very beginning, with his bright pink hair and somewhat cocky disposition, or that he had gotten innocent little Namine pregnant out of wedlock, but he loved Namine with all his heart, and no one could argue with that.
"Axel?" Roxas's voice was hoarse from crying, and I found it hard to believe only a couple hours ago we had been laughing till our stomach's hurt and the biggest concern on our minds was not getting caught having sex in the backyard on the slide.
"Yeah, Rox?" I answered quietly, keeping most of my focus on the roads, since even though I wasn't speeding and it wasn't bad weather, I wasn't taking any chances today. Especially not with Roxas by my side.
"What do you think'll happen to Ventus?" Roxas had a strong connection with the little guy, maybe because they looked so much alike, and I knew he would be wondering about him soon.
I sighed. Really, I had no idea. Cloud and Tifa weren't old by any means, but having to raise another kid, unexpectantly at that, would be more than likely too much for them to handle. "I wish I knew Rox, I really do."
"Do you think….no, never mind. It's a dumb idea." During our brief exchange he had turned towards me, but with that he curled up again facing the window. I was about to ask him what was on his mind, but I had a feeling I already knew. It was a thought involving Ventus that had already crossed my mind a few times. But, could Roxas and I really take care of a kid? An infant at that? No, that was too much to think of right now. I turned on the radio to fill some of the silence in my head and kept my watchful gaze on the road.
It wouldn't be till a few days later that I would figure out the answer to Roxas's unspoken question. I hadn't known then, but we would soon be making this same trip back, but with a certain blonde-haired addition strapped into a car seat in the back seat looking at me in the rearview mirror through happy big blue eyes, unaware for the most part of the tragedy that had just washed over his family.
Hey guys! The same with a lot of my stories, not quite sure where this story came from, except it's got a lot of meaning for me. I'll keep updating this one the best I can if people like it, so please read and review! Reviews are always so helpful for me and I love getting them :) thanks again!