Disclaimer, I don't possess the rights to Kingdom Hearts
My first two happily ever after's didn't go exactly the way I expected. Sure everything turned out alright in the end, but getting there tended to be… hazardous to Roxie and I's health. Our first Christmas he had tried everything to show that he liked me, before nearly freezing himself to death in a snowstorm. And then of course there was Roxas' prank war against, well, everybody, during our first Halloween, which had ended with me 'stabbing' him.
The moments turned out perfect in the end, and we had had a lot of other misadventures together, but this time happily ever after would come without a hitch. I'd spent the last year working everything out, I had a backup plan for anything and everything. This was going to be the perfect Christmas. Why?
"Because I'm going to propose." I said simply, pulling the ring out of my pocket.
Riku and Kairi's jaws dropped.
"You're going to what?" Riku asked as Kairi squealed, beaming so widely I thought her face would split.
"I'm going to propose. We turned eighteen back in August and I know he's the one. I even talked to Cloud and so-"
"And he said yes?" Riku asked incredulously, eyebrows raised.
"Well yeah." I said, squirming uncomfortably.
Clouds answer had been rather neutral actually. Then again most people are pretty neutral after going through surgery, and he was still pretty out of it thanks to all the pain killers when I had asked him. I'm pretty sure he had said it was fine, but of course he had also been having an in depth discussion with the get-well-soon teddy bear Leon had given him at the same time, so some wires might have gotten crossed there.
The truth was I was a little more than anxious about asking him. Cloud put a lot of trust in me and had set the bar pretty high; Roxas and Cloud actually had a fallout when he started using us as a 'model' couple against Ventus and Vanitas. I was 99% certain he'd say 'yes' if I asked again and give me his blessing. I mean, he had already tied the knot with Leon last year, we already were practically family. But then there was that pesky little 1% that screamed he was going to gruesomely murder me, destroy all the evidence that I had ever existed in the first place, take over the world, and become a platypus loving dictator.
Sure the probability of that happening was literally impossible, but the more I thought about it all, the more probable it seemed to become.
"Oh my gosh, I've been waiting months for this!" Kairi gushed, practically hopping up and down "I already have the decor, flowers, and theme planned out. What kind of cake are you thinking, because I was thinking a classic vanilla with blueberry filling and a powder blue and cream icing would look gorgeous not to mention taste just divine. Oh, and I know this one band you'll just love, I know it. Let me see the ring."
My head was still reeling to catch up as Kairi snatched the ring from my hand, examining it closely.
"Uh… it sounds nice? I haven't really gotten that far yet."
"But if we don't take care of this now all the good dates and places will be taken! Are you proposing on Christmas Eve or morning, I can't remember when you two started going out."
"Christmas morning. But Kairi-"
"It's beautiful, I know he'll just eat it up! Just like the cake. Now I promise I'll take care of all the arrangements, the guest list, wardrobe-"
"Kairi."
"The catering, floral decorations, location, are you thinking springtime because I'm thinking springtime. Oh and we'll need-"
"Kairi!"
"A photographer, and I think I know just the place to go once we get them. I can get the cards ready, should the colors be blue and white? I was thinking some light shades of-"
Riku put his hand over her mouth, grabbing the ring and tossing it back to me.
"Kairi, if Sora needs a wedding planner he'll hire a professional, not a nutjob. You're not going to turn Sora and Roxas into Barbie boys and play wedding planner."
Kairi pouted, crossing her arms and turning to me, eyes wide. "But I've got the most amazing plan" she protested, eyes cute enough to put a baby seal to shame.
"An amazing plan for what?" Roxas asked, walking into the room with a smile.
I'm pretty sure all our hearts stopped for a moment as my blondie came in, shaking snow from his hair. I shoved the ring into my jacket pocket and leaped over, casting a panicked look to my friends as I tackled my boyfriend in a hug, spinning him around happily.
"What are you doing here, I thought you were at work?"
Roxas shrugged, his cold hands giving mine a quick squeeze before pulling off his coat and throwing it on the hook.
"I forgot my report for this month. Xemnas will have my head if I don't have it in on time."
Since the Halloween incident Roxas had gone from a simple worker at Club XIII to Xemnas' right hand man, working alongside him on all kinds of matters. Rumor was that when Xemnas decided to move onto the next town, Roxas might even stay on as the regional manager for the Destiny Islands club chain. Of course that meant a whole lot of paperwork, meetings, and an unfortunate amount of time away from me, but I was happy for him.
"I was wondering what all that stuff was. It's still upstairs on my desk."
"Got it, thanks love."
Roxas gave me a quick peck on the nose and ran off, while we all sighed.
"That was a close one." Kairi muttered sitting back.
"Too close." I agreed, hanging my coat up. If I knew my boyfriend he'd stall until the last minute to be with me a little longer, and I didn't need him getting his hands on that ring. No hitches, everything was going to work out exactly as I wanted it too.
A few seconds later Roxas came trotting back downstairs, a bulging file in his hands, and an easy smile on his lips.
"You're going to be late." I warned as he flopped down on the couch beside me.
"Do you want me to go?"
I rolled my eyes, pulling him onto my lap and holding him tight.
"I thought so." Roxas said smugly, nuzzling my cheek.
Kairi giggled, trying to contain herself. On second thought maybe telling her about my proposal hadn't been the best plan…
"So what was that about amazing plans again? Are we gonna go pull off some Christmas miracles?"
Roxas waited expectantly while I racked my brain for an excuse.
"It's a surprise." Riku said simply.
There aren't many times when I want to punch my best friend in the face. This was one of those times. Roxas' eyes narrowed at the mention of a surprise, tensing up in my lap. Putting it lightly, Roxas didn't like surprises. And nothing was going to make him more paranoid and suspicious than his ex-arch nemesis saying we were working on a surprise.
Kairi picked up on my boyfriend's mood and nudged Riku, hastily adding "It's a gift exchange, we're taking on the whole group. Riku just want to make it a surprise for everybody, so try and keep it under wraps."
I gave him a reassuring squeeze, hoping he would but it. A few seconds went by while we waited with baited breath. Finally Roxas shrugged and smiled.
"Okay. So in that case…"
Roxie turned to face me, a pleadingly adorable expression on his face.
"What did you get me?"
Roxas' puppy dog face had improved a whole lot since freshman year. It had got to the point where it was almost impossible to resist giving him whatever he wanted. Especially when what he wanted involved us being alone, being close, and getting closer. Time for drastic measures.
"Oh my gosh, I haven't see your puppy dog rape face in ages! I knew you still had it in you."
Roxas spluttered, face flushing crimson while the others snickered.
"You big elephant eared jerk!"
He pushed himself off my lap and crossed his arms.
"At least I don't need to have a big chest to hold up that fat head of your."
"Oh shut up! At least I'm not flaming enough to go out in front of everybody in tights just to make people stare at my cute butt."
"You're just jealous."
"Damn right I'm jealous, that butt belongs to me and I don't like other people looking at it."
"Well why don't you do something about it?"
Roxas tackled me on the couch, pulling my hands above my head and straddling me, forcing me back on the cushions.
"Maybe I will." He whispered hoarsely, a mischievous smile on his lips.
"Bring it on." I whispered back, leaning up.
Across the room Riku coughed uncomfortably, looking away. Roxas and I glanced at each other, before snorting and bouncing up.
"Uh, Roxas? I don't want to spoil the fun or anything, but shouldn't you be across town right about now?"
Roxas frowned, pulling out his phone and checking the time.
"I'm late!"
Roxas was a blonde blur, racing to tie his shoes and pull on a jacket bounding out the door.
"See you guys after work, love you Sor!"
"Love you Roxie!" I called after him, smiling dreamily as I sat back down.
When I turned back to Riku and Kairi, they were staring at me, eyes wide with horror.
"What?"
"He took your jacket!" Kairi exclaimed, horror washing over her face.
"Yeah he takes my jacket all the time, what's the big deal."
Riku face palmed.
"You put the ring in your jacket, smart one."
My world screeched to a grinding halt. The ring. Oh crap. I sprinted out the door, chasing after Roxas as his car rounded the corner, waving like a madman, but he was already gone.
Kairi gabbed me from behind, dragging me into the backseat of Riku's car while Riku hopped in the front.
"He's going to find the ring! And everything's going to be ruined! He won't be surprised, and he'll say no, and I'm going to die! Riku speed up!"
"I'm going as fast as I can, I'm not interested in getting a Christmas Speeding ticket." Riku snapped, turning the corner.
I moaned, whole body shaking, anxiety pushing its way out as I nervously bounced and hopped around, thoughts moving at break neck speed. Okay, so I hadn't gotten a call from Roxie asking about the ring, so he probably hadn't found it yet. And there was a chance he'd just take off the jacket and hang it up, he might not even reach in the pockets at all.
Riku pulled up to the curb and Kairi and I sprinted out, charging into Club XIII. Zexion glanced up as we entered, making to wave only to stare as we zipped by and into the already large morning crowd. I could hear him and Riku shouting something, but I was too far gone to pay attention. Let's see, Roxas wasn't in sight around here, which mean he had already changed into his uniform and that means all his stuff would be backstage.
Spikey blonde hair suddenly appeared, coming out from the door leading backstage, and I skidded to a halt, ducking behind a dancing couple.
"Distract him!" I whisper-shouted to Kairi, carefully jogging to the back.
I glanced back in time to see Kairi pushing Roxas away from the backstage door, and sprinted over, sliding in just as it started to close. Alright, Roxie was out of the picture, maybe this wasn't going to be a disaster after all. I ran to the changing room, sighing in relief when I saw my jacket hanging on the nearest hook. I walked over and pulled it off, reaching in and pulling out the small blue box.
"You're almost as much trouble as Roxie is." I muttered, tugging my jacket on.
I turned around at the same time as Axel and Larxene came stumbling in, laughing hard. I hesitated a second to long, to unsure of what to do or how to act about being caught back here. In that one second, Larxene's eyes turned to me and found the blue box.
"Is that what I think it is?"
Before I knew it she had the box in her hand and the ring in her fingers holding it up to the light.
Axel whistled, smirking and raising his eyebrows.
"I think it's exactly what you think it is Sparks. The real question though is what lover boy here is doing with toy like that."
"Give it back!" I demanded, trying to snatch it back.
Larxene simply tossed me the box, holding the ring high out of my reach. Axel pushed me away, helping keep me just out of reach while I struggled to grab it.
"So the little squirt's gonna ask out our shrimp huh? That's so adorable!" Larxene gushed, giggling as she spun the ring around her finger.
"Looks that way. So kiddo, what's the plan?" Axel asked, smirk still in place.
I huffed impatiently, fists clenched.
"I'm proposing Christmas morning. Now can I have the ring back, I don't want him to see it!"
"Which is why you brought it backstage to his work?"
"No, it's not like that!" I protested "Roxas wasn't supposed to come home, but he did, and then I hid the ring in my jacket, and he had to go but he grabbed my jacket, and then I came here, and now you two are being jerks! Give me back the ring! Please!"
Axel and Larxene gave each other a knowing look, before Larxene shrugged and tossed the ring carelessly to me, spinning around and heading for the door.
"Good luck squirt, I'm sure you'll do just fine." She called.
"You won't tell him will you?"
Larxene just grinned, before turning down the hallway.
"She's not going to tell him, right?" I asked, torn between chasing after her and fleeing the islands forever.
"Tell him, no. Every other single person in the world though? Definitely."
I face palmed and groaned "I am so screwed."
Axel just grinned and slapped me on the back.
"Yes. Yes you are. Tough luck Sora. But hey I'm sure Roxy will make it all better if you know what I mean. And I mean all the fun, fun stuff he's gonna do to you when he finds out about this. Knowing him you won't be able to walk for a whole week, got it memorized?"
"Yeah, believe me I got it memorized." I muttered, cheeks flushing.
"Good boy. Now get out of here, I'll do my best to reign Larx in. Have fun out there kiddo."
And then he was gone, laughing down the hall. I groaned, trudging after him and back out into the main room. Why me? What had I done? Thanks to Larx, everyone in the entire universe and all of their friends were about to know I was proposing to Roxas. How was I supposed to keep that a secret? No, I could pull this off. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve, things couldn't get that bad that fast, this would all go down smoothly. It would be perfect, just the way it was supposed to be.
I was so caught up in thought that I ran right into my blondie, tripping him and only just managing to catch him before he hit the ground.
"Nice catch." Roxas said with a wink.
"Yes you are." I shot back earning eye roll.
"So what are you doing here? Xemnas has me working full swing, so I can't really hang out right now."
"Oh you, um… grabbed the wrong coat. I already put yours back there." I looked around, awkwardly scratching the back of my head.
I wished I hadn't. My eyes caught on Larxene, who was surrounded by a small congregation of the Club XIII staff. I watched in horror as she animatedly talked and laughed, before the whole group turned as one and stared at us, smiling and waving. The next second the group split apart, quickly meeting up with more staff and party goes, the word spreading like wildfire.
"Aw thanks babe. Sorry about that, I must have been really rushing there. Anyways, I gotta get back to the old Mansex, I'll see ya later."
He gave me a quick peck on the cheek, before sauntering off back towards Xemnas' private booth. Someone whistled, and I glanced around to see Demyx holding up a sign saying "Put a ring on it!", waving it wildly. I glanced back at Roxas, praying to goodness he didn't see it.
A perfect Christmas that involved Roxas and I? As if. I was so screwed.
Ok, so I know it's waaaaaay late, but my computer died, and I've had finals, and I'm swamped with life, so you know what, it's better late than never. So hope you enjoy, and late merry Christmas!
