Please read and reveiw! I'm not sure whether I'm going to keep this fic, but if you like it let me know and I'll update. If not then I'll delete it! Thanks :)
Like Any Other Day
Today was going to be like any other. Get up, get dressed and go to school, then go home. And repeat. That's what Roxas had in mind, anyhow, after years of the same, unchanging routine. But he was wrong. Today would be the day that changed everything and it all started around seven am.
Lying asleep in bed, he was snuggled comfortably beneath the comforts of his quilt still in dreamland. He was having a pretty decent dream too, where he lived on a planet made entirely of sea salt ice-cream and the clouds were giant marshmallows. There were pixies and unicorns there, too. Then suddenly, there was a dark ominous shadow which immediately altered the mood of the dream. The skies darkened, grass yellowed and he was stood alone in the middle of a deep quarry. Sudden panic arose within him; he had to get out. He had to run.
"Roxas," a distant voice called.
His breath quicken as his eyes darted around him; he wasn't alone. The shadows were manifesting into dark beings that seemed hell-bent of reaching him.
"Stay away," he mumbled.
"Come on, Roxas!"
He frowned; that voice sounded familiar to him. He looked around through the advancing shadows, but couldn't see anyone.
"Roxas, you lazy bum, get up!"
Now that was strange. Who was that?
Then suddenly the ground started to shake beneath him, the shadows fell into nothingness, yet he stood, eyebrows knitted as he looked around for the source. Still there was no-one.
"Get up! Get up! GET UP!"
His eyes fluttered open on familiar surroundings; the sky blue walls of his room. But his vision was a little shaky and he groaned and turned over to face the object of his annoyance. His annoying twin brother, Sora, bouncing on his bed energetically, grinning down at him.
"Sleeping beauty awakes!" Sora exclaimed excitedly, plopping down with a boing on the bed and, as Roxas winced in pain, right on top of him. His bed was a single one, and a small one at that. All he could see was two bright blue eyes exactly like his own, grinning down at him.
"Five more minutes," he grumbled, shifting his squished limbs from beneath his annoying brother. He snuggled further under the blankets.
"It's seven o'clock! You have to get up for school," Sora argued, whipping off his covers. His unruly brown hair bounced as he moved.
Roxas' eyes widened with annoyance as he exerted another groan, flopping his hand over his tired eyes. He felt Sora's weight shift on top of him; Sora was now sat on him, but he was light so he didn't mind much. Still, he was still tired and extremely annoyed of his rather rude awakening.
"Come on." Sora was prying his hand off his face, only to get glared at. Unaffected, he just beamed at him, exposing two rose of perfectly straight, white teeth - typical morning person.
"Get off me, Sora."
"Are you going to get up?"
"Yes, now go away before I hurt you," Roxas drawled, sitting up on his elbows, still looking quite annoyed.
Of course he had every intention of staying in bed for another ten minutes, but Sora didn't need to know that. His words seemed to work though, because Sora happily climbed off him and turned towards the door.
"You better do; Mums made us waffles! And if you don't hurry I'll eat them all," he chirped as he went.
That made Roxas smile slightly. "You'll explode someday with the amount of food you eat."
Sora just laughed at him, opening the door and as he was about to walk out he turned, walked over to the bad and took the quilt in his hands. Before Roxas could react he hunched it in his hands and was out of the door with it in a matter of seconds. The door slammed behind him and Roxas just stared at the wood, dumbfounded.
That little…
"Now you'll get up!" Was all he heard before Sora burst into laughter.
"Sora!" Roxas barked, getting up. "I'm going to kill you when I get hold of you!"
That made the laughter louder. But Roxas suddenly smiled because their routine so far was complete; Sora would forcibly wake him up by all means necessary and he would eventually have to get up. Although he was admittedly annoyed at Sora's actions, mostly due to his lack of energy in a morning, he cared a lot for his brother. Apart from their mum, he was the one person he could always rely on, even if he was extremely immature for his age of fifteen. Still, he couldn't imagine a life without him - it would be a dull life indeed.
With a lengthy stretch, he shook his head of his sleepiness. Part of him just wanted to hop back in bed and sleep, but obviously without his quilt there really was no point.
He only ever slept in his boxers so the room was fairly cold in comparison to the warmth his bed offered. He trooped over to his wardrobe and pulled out some faded jeans and a blue t-shirt with some random logo on. He just pulled them on wearily, then made his way to the other side of his room to his en-suite bathroom his shared with Sora. When he reached the sink he picked up his toothbrush, smirking to himself at the green dinosaur toothbrush Sora insisted he wanted to have and began the daily routine of brushing his teeth, washing his face and attempting to flatten his unruly blonde hair. Long blonde tendrils jutted out in every direction on his head and no amount of brushing was able to soothe it, but he kind of liked it. He had to; there was nothing he could do about it.
At least it's not as bad as Sora's, he thought, smiling, his was like he'd been electrocuted.
Making his way down stairs, one step at a time (unlike Sora's clumsy two and three step), he hurried into the kitchen. Sora was already settled at the table, stuffing his fat face with waffles and orange juice. He had kindly saved him a few, but his pile was still larger than his own. Vaguely wondering were he put all them calories on his small frame, he made his way over to his regular seat.
Sora smiled in acknowledgement as he seated himself next to him. "Too you long enough," he commented through a mouthful of waffles.
A little repulsed at the front row view of the contents of Sora's mouth, he pulled a face and then leaned over to ruffle his hair. He circled his arms around his head, pulling him over and dug his fist into his hair.
"Hey! Roxas! Stop it!"
Roxas chuckled at Sora as he wiggled in his grasp. "Serves you right for stealing my blanket."
"You're ruining my hair!" Sora whined, gripping his wrists. "Mum!"
Jane popped her head up from scrubbing the dishes, yellow gloves on her hands. She smiled at the scene and said, "come on boys. Play nice."
"I am," Roxas answered, still mercilessly noogying Sora.
She put gloved her hands on her hips. "Roxas," she said in a warning voice. "Stop annoying your brother."
Rolling his eyes, he released his brother who whacked him on the arm. It hurt a little; for a little guy Sora sure good punch, but Roxas wouldn't let him know that. Instead he just smirked at him, picking up a waffle and taking a big bite of it.
"You boys got your things ready for school?" Jane asked, returning to washing the dishes. Her brown hair was pulled into a bun at the back of her head; she always did that when she was doing housework.
"Yeah," they chimed.
It was the first day of a new term at school; Roxas hated those. Everyone would be running around and exciting and worst of all, asking them about their Summers. Sure that was fine, but he really didn't want to talk about it. Especially when his own mother had decided to marry one of the most annoying people of Earth: his PE teacher. He was not looking forward to sharing that with anyone.
"You want a lift home today? It looked like it's going to rain. I don't want you catching a cold," she told them, whilst looking out of the window above the sink. The skies were a bright shade of blue, but the underbellies of the clouds were tinted gray. They seemed to darken by the minute.
"No, I do not want Mr. Strife to drive me home," Roxas answered bitterly and added under his breath, "it's embarrassing enough as it is."
Sora elbowed him and he shot him a stern look.
"You should be at least calling him Cloud by now. He hates Mr. Strife," Jane reminded him. "And why not? Too embarrassed?" Her tone suddenly became teasing as turned over shoulder to send him a knowing look.
"He's our P.E teacher, Mum! Couldn't you have pick someone else has a husband?" Roxas moaned, even though he knew it was pointless. They'd had the same discussion countless times. "Like for example, someone who wasn't our teacher?"
"He's your step-dad. Deal with it," Jane said tersely. "Besides, he's not that bad. He offers to help you with homework and take you to football games-"
"Which he's the coach off," Roxas interjected in a bored tone.
"Besides the point," his mother sighed.
"I don't mind, Cloud, mum. He's cool," Sora chirped in, as ever the loyal mummies boy.
Roxas rolled his eyes at him. Jane smiled appreciatively, snapping off her rubber gloves and putting them on the side.
"At least someone likes him." She looked pointedly at Roxas as she made her way over to the table. "Now are you sure you don't want a lift? I can call Cloud and ask him before his lessons start. He won't mind, he likes spending time with you boys."
"I don't know, maybe I'll ask him when I see him in P.E!"
Jane sent Roxas a stern look, folding her arms across her chest. She looked liked she was about to say something before Sora piped up.
"What he means to say is 'no thank you, mum. It was nice of you to ask, but I'd rather not die of humiliation'." Sora smiled sheepishly at Jane.
Sighing, she shook her head and leaned to kiss Sora, who was nearest on the head. "Maybe another day. You better had get going now before you're late." She kissed Roxas on the cheek and ruffled his hair. "Get up earlier next time."
"Like that'll happen," Sora answered as he stood up, grabbed some waffles and put on his bag.
Roxas followed his lead, minus the waffles. His glare only made Sora's goofy grin widen. "Lets go," he mumbled in a tired voice. He turned to give his mother a small smile. "See you later."
"Bye mum!" Sora called as he hurried after Roxas.
…
As he expected, the school halls were filled with laughter and loud chattering people. He managed through first and second period fairly well without getting a headache, but by break time in the canteen he was beginning to wish he had stayed in bed.
"Seriously?" His friend Hayner was saying, eyebrows rose.
"Yeah," Roxas said dryly.
"Man that sucks," his blonde friend sympathised.
"It's not that bad," a boy with longish silvery hair piped up. "My mum married her boss."
"He's your Dad, Riku," a girl with vivid red hair and smiling eyes said. "Mr. Strife is our teacher."
"So?" Riku shrugged. "It's still not that bad. It's not as if Strife's some dork with glasses."
This was killing Roxas; he was sure he felt his dignity being reduced to a tiny speck by each excruciating minute.
"I like him," Sora divulged, smiling. "He offered to coach me at football."
"You need all the coaching you can get," Roxas sniggered, nudging his shoulder. Sora frowned at him.
"Don't listen to him, Sor, you're good. I've seen you play," the red-head encouraged, grinning at him.
Sora smiled appreciably at the girl, his bright blue eyes twinkling. "Thanks, Kairi. But Roxas is right. I'll never be as good as Riku."
Roxas resisted the urge to barf; Sora and Kairi had been best friends since they could walk and everyone knew that they liked each other. It just annoyed him how they never said anything about it. Every time he mentioned her name to Sora he'd just blush madly and say he 'had to go do something'. It really made him laugh.
"Talking like that is exactly why I'm captain of the team," Riku said sternly, "you need to have more confidence. I'll even help you practice."
Just then a brown haired girl and a quite chubby boy with black hair came and sat down at the table. Everyone turned to acknowledge them, offering some 'hello's' and smiles. Roxas merely nodded at them.
"Have you heard?" the brown haired girl asked as she seated herself next to Roxas.
"What?" Sora asked, looking excited. Roxas mentally rolled his eyes at him, but he, admittedly was intrigued.
"There's some transfer students coming in. Two of them have just been in my class and they're hot!" the girl continued, leaning in closer to the table. "You should have seen them!"
Certainly not what Roxas was expecting. His eyebrows rose. Transfer students at Twilight High? Today? He certainly hadn't seen any. He even found himself looking around the canteen to see if he could see any and not surprisingly, so were a few other heads on the table.
Riku wasn't really interested, he was just sat, hands behind his head pretending to listen. He was in the year above them, but he'd somehow formed a close bond with Sora and decided to hand around with him. Roxas was really puzzled by it; Riku was mature and a whole lot cooler than Sora, who was just a childish little boy, yet he genuinely seemed to enjoy his company. Weird.
"How many, Olette?" Hayner asked.
Olette looked at the rounded boy. "Pence?"
The boy named Pence started counting on his hands, looking up thoughtfully. "Five of them."
"They're all older than us, too!" Olette added, grinning.
"They're college students," said Riku in a bored tone. "They have re-sit some exams or something like that."
"You knew?" Olette asked.
Riku just shrugged.
"Oh. My. God," Kairi squealed, making Roxas nearly jump. He glared. "I totally have to see!"
"Girls," Roxas mumbled under his breath.
Olette sent him a piercing look. "You can't talk. I bet you're just itching to see them."
Confused, he furrowed his brows. "What?"
"It's no secret, Roxas."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Olette grinned and he could hear muffled laughter from somewhere behind him. "You're gay, we know."
His jaw almost literally dropped. He was most certainly not gay.
"You're too funny," he said darkly, narrowing his eyes.
"You're in denial, I See," Olette replied, grinning even wider.
He swore that if she wasn't a girl he would've tackled her to the ground, proving exactly that he wasn't a sissy boy by now.
"I. Am. Not. Gay," Roxas said, in the same tone.
"Roxas, sweetie," Kairi spoke up, placing a hand over his shoulder. "Look at your clothes. Designer clothes. Even your hair is always styled like that-"
"It's natural!" he argued defensively.
"And we've never seen you with a girlfriend," Kairi continued, ignoring the interruption. "We all knew from the start you were gay."
"I'm not!"
The bell suddenly went in the background and everyone was getting up to leave.
"Whatever," Olette called over her shoulder as she got up to leave. Kairi was giggling by her side and all the guys were staring at him, looking either amused or sending him knowing looks.
What the hell? Did they really think he was gay!?
"Not gay!"
…
The day certainly hadn't got off to a good start. First he was bombarded with questions about his gruelling summer and then to top it off, he was accused of being gay, which as far as he knew, was completely wrong. He liked girls, no he loved girls. He liked their hair, the way they smelt and their big eyes. See? He couldn't be gay.
What do they know, he scoffed, leaning back into his chair. Idiots.
He was in his French class, supposedly listening to a lecture, but he really couldn't concentrate. He didn't even know why he picked French in the first place; it was just so boring. He bet Sora, Kairi and Olette were having fun in their dance class right about now. And that pissed him off - Sora chose dance and no-one batted an eyelid. That had to be one of the gayest things to do, yet no-one accused him of being gay!
Eugh! Now I can't even stop thinking about it! Stupid people with their stupid accusation and stupid -
"You can sit next to Roxas," Madame Ward was saying. He looked up at the mention of his name.
The tiny figure of Madame Ward was talking to a tall boy with the reddest hair he'd ever seen. It was a big mass of red spikes on his head and Roxas thought that it was kind of cool. He must have been one of the transfer students Riku had told him about. The dude turned to look at him and he nearly fell off his chair, he had to grip the table before he toppled over. Two of the greenest eyes he'd ever seen riveted to look directly at him. They were like two large emeralds glimmering at him and they widened slightly when they saw him and then he smiled - no more like smirked at him. What? Did he have something on his face? Food from break, perhaps? His hands consciously checked his mouth for any signs of food. No. Then what was he staring at? - the stupid ignoramus.
The new dude nodded, red spikes bouncing slightly and made his way over to him; it was a strut the emanated confidence. He already seemed to be quite the character.
"Hey there, blondie," red said in a low, husky voice as he seated himself next to him. He slumped back in his chair, angled slightly so that he was facing him. The eyes seemed even greener up close and - wait - he had tattoos on his face! Two black teardrop tattoos!
Man, this dude was weird.
"I'm Axel," he continued. "A-X-E-L. Got in memorised?" He made a circle with his hand and pointed to his temple.
Roxas' eyes widened slightly and then he frowned. "That your catchphrase or something?"
"Yeah," he said proudly, smirking harder. "Something like that. So, you got a name, blondie? Or should I just call you blondie?"
His eyes narrowed at the nickname. "Why should I tell you?"
"Well when people tell you their name, usually, they get one in return." Axel leaned forward. "Am I right, blondie?"
He gritted his teeth. "Roxas."
"What?" he asked, but from the pleased expression on his face it was clear he'd actually heard him.
"My name is Roxas."
"Roxas?" Axel mused, rolling his tongue on the 'r'. "Okay, Roxy."
"Roxas," Roxas half-snapped, irritated.
"Sure, Roxy, I heard you." Axel was sat looking quite calm and relaxed despite the death glare he was sending him. Usually people looked away but not Axel. He was all smiles.
"Look, I don't know who you are but just keep your mouth shut before you loose your teeth." His voice was low.
"Oooh, a little feisty there, aren't ya blondie," Axel mused. "Just how I like 'em."
The younger boy leant back, repulsed. "Good for you. Now will you shut up so I can actually learn something here."
"Not very talkative, are you?"
Roxas sent him an 'are you crazy' look. "Only to people that annoy the hell out of me."
This seemed to please Axel because he again leant close, resting his chin on his fist as he looked at him. Roxas though he kind of looked like an oversized hungry cat ready to pounce on him; he shuddered. "I'm so flattered."
"It wasn't a compliment." Weirdo.
"You know, you're quite a snarky little brat," Axel commented in a pleasant voice. Roxas was about to retort, but Axel got there first. "I like you."
He shook his head. "You're weird, you know that."
"Sure," Axel said, unfazed. "But that's what makes you like me so much, right?"
"What the - like you?" Roxas repeated, alarmed. "I barely know you and already you've become the most annoying person I've ever met!"
Axel grinned. "Then why are you still talking to me?"
That caught Roxas completely off guard. Why was he talking to him? He could just plug his fingers in his ears and ignore him, but no he was in fact sat there having a conversation with this guy.
"See?" Axel probed, pleased with himself.
"Whatever, asshat," Roxas snapped, turning away from him.
He could hear Axel laughing next to him. He tried to drown it out, but it was just so… loud and happy. He was surprised no-one else seemed to hear him. It was one of those laughs that would turn heads and make you smile when you heard it, but Roxas was too annoyed with him to acknowledge that.
"Mr Strife," Madame Ward called out unexpectedly. "The answer?"
"What?" Roxas asked in sudden panic.
"The question I just asked. What's the answer?" Her beady little eyes seemed to be smirking at him from behind her thick-rimmed glasses.
"I-er-"
Dammit. Damn. Damn! What did she say? What was the question.
"Je voudrais une pomme, s'il vous plaît," Axel answered in a perfect French accent.
"Bien fait, Axel," Madame Ward said, smiling at him. "Faites l'attention, Roxas."
Roxas, somewhat reluctantly, turned to give Axel an appreciative smile. "Thanks, I guess."
Axel shrugged. "Anytime."
The rest of the lesson passed without much interruption. Axel didn't talk to him again after that, but Roxas would catch him watching him out of the corner of his eye. He wasn't really sure what to make of it, but he decided not to question it. He just wanted to get out of the lesson and get away from him as fast as possible.
At the end of the lesson the bell rang loudly. Madame Ward excused them and hurried out. Roxas and Axel were soon the last remaining ones in the classroom, mostly due to Roxas hadn't heard the bell go, too occupied in his thoughts and Axel was packing up his stuff. Slowly, too.
He picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder and non-surprisingly Axel followed his lead, falling into pace with him as he left the classroom. Roxas walked faster to shake him off, but Axel just did the same. He turned to glare at him and the red-head just smirked.
How annoying.
"So," Axel began, amused. "What do you have next?"
"Something hopefully you're not taking," Roxas scoffed, looking straight ahead.
"I have Math," he said brightly, ignoring the rude comment. Seriously, could nothing put this guy off?
"That's in the opposite direction."
"I know, I did graduate from this school you know. But I thought it would be more fun to follow you."
"Well quit following me, it's annoying and weird."
Axel leant closer to him. "What if I don't want to?"
The blonde stopped in his tracks, twisting around so that he was facing his stalker. Axel was a whole lot taller than he was when he was sat down, but that didn't stop him from glaring at him. He inhaled through his nose.
"I don't know what your problem is, but I'm really not interested." His voice was louder than he had thought because some people stopped briefly to watch them. He lowered his voice. "Just leave me alone."
"No need to get so worked up about it. It's just a little fun!" Axel said, laughing.
Roxas groaned; it was pointless talking to him. He was about to retort when a voice suddenly sprouted from nowhere.
"Axel, there you are!" A tall sandy haired boy yelled as he approached. His face had a somewhat child-like quality to it; big, round blue eyes and an innocent smile. It matched with his spindle-thin frame, that was just a little taller than him.
Then his eyes setlled on another boy, slightly taller than Demyx, stood behind him. He had grey hair and steely eyes that seemed to look right through you. He merely nodded at Axel.
"Yo, Demyx," Axel greeted, slapping the blonde's back. "Zex." He nodded at the slate-haired boy.
"Picked up someone already?" Demyx asked, looking over at Roxas. "You always go for the cute ones. Dude, you're so bad. They should lock you up."
Cute? Roxas? What the hell? Not another weirdo!
"Can't help it. They just pull me in," Axel replied, winking at Roxas (who almost wretched). "He's Roxas from my French class."
"Hey there, Roxas," Demyx spoke as though to an infant. "You doing okay?"
"I was before this ignoramus came along," he answered coldly.
Demyx and Axel laughed at him, but Zex was just staring at him as though with understanding and some… curiosity maybe?
"You'll get used to him," Demyx assured him.
No thank you. I'd rather die.
"We're going to be late," Zex announced suddenly. His voice was low and held an air of superiority to it.
"Right. Well nice meeting you, Roxas!" Demyx said in a sweet voice. He waved goodbye as he turned along with Zex in the opposite direction.
"See you later, cutie," Axel called, sparing him a wink as he, too, followed his friends up the corridor.
What was that? A wink? He just winked at him! Was that guy wrong in the head, or something? Did he seriously think that he'd like that? If he did, he was more fucked up than he thought. Like Roxas would ever like that… he was a guy! And he did not and would not ever like guys!
Why did everyone seem to think that he was gay!
***