Disclaimer: Not mine! None of it, not even the plot really, 'cause it's a challenge fic.
Read and Review please!
"Hayner, why are we here again?" Roxas asked for about the tenth time since they'd arrived at the ski resort.
"Because, it's our first winter as college students, our parents could care less if we were home, and because we've never gone anywhere with snow." Hayner replied, looking out over the brilliant white slopes the surrounded the resort.
It was Winter Break, and Roxas and Hayner were taking their month off at a very popular ski resort, Oblivion, which was named after the most infamous trail on the mountain. It was rumored that all who tried to go down it, perished. Not that the boys were going to try to go down Oblivion, since they'd never touched a snowboard or skiis in their life until today. Roxas heaved a sigh, trembling at the cold biting at him, even through his jacket and hoodie.
"Let's go put our shit in our room and then we can go and check everything out." Roxas grabbed his bags and began to lug them upstairs to their room. On the way up the stairs, passed by a taller young man, one with flaming red hair and green eyes. He caught himself staring at the man, until he turned to look at him. He quickly averted his eyes, and continued on up the stairs. "Hay, what's our room number?"
The dirty blonde came trudging up next to Roxas, "69." He stated, somehow able to keep his voice completely serious. Roxas gaped at him.
"You're shitting me, right?" He nearly fainted when Hayner shook his head.
"Sorry pal, I'm not. We are in room number 69, no joke." Roxas almost rolled all the way back down the stairs as he laughed.
"How can you be so serious?" His face had a cute tinge of pink across the tops of his cheekbones, tears running down his face.
"Who do you think called and got our room? I had my laughs when the chick told me over the phone. I thought my roommate was going to kill me, since he was sleeping." He thought back to the look on his roommates face after he'd explained why he was laughing. Riku had actually cracked a smile, something that Hayner had never seen out of the silver haired boy.
Roxas shook his head and stood back up, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes. "All right, let's get to our room and put this crap up so we can go and get our boards." They'd both decided that since they knew how to skateboard, snowboarding couldn't be that much different. Snow, instead of pavement or bricks, so any faceplants would be much easier to handle.
After getting their room set up to their liking, and fighting over who got which bed, the two boys made their way down to the rental shop to pick out their boards. Hayber picked out a solid green board (The closest he could get to camouflage), and Roxas picked one that was white with an intricate black and gold pattern sprawled over it.
"Ready to hit the slopes?" Roxas called out to Hayner as he pulled on his gloves and beanie. He grinned when he saw the other blonde fall on his ass again. "What? Can't get the hang of it?" That comment was rewarded by being flipped off.
"Shut the fuck up... Just 'cause you're better don't mean shit. I'll shred your ass once I get this down." Hayner's brown eyes glared at Roxas as he pushed off down the small hill, doing pretty well until he got to the bottom.
"Hey Hayner! Watch out for tha-..." His sentence was cut off by a dull thud. "...-t tree." He rolled his blue eyes and made his way down to where Hayner was currently flopped into the snow.
"Don't you say anything." Hayner growled as he saw Roxas getting closer.
"Wasn't planning on it." He grinned as he looked down at Hayner. "What the fuck Hay?!" He tumbled back when he felt something cold and wet come into contact with his face. He saw Hayner smirking.
"Serves you right, you smug ass bastard." Hayner packed another ball in his hands as he tried to get up. He was knocked back onto his ass as Roxas fired a snowball right into his chest, overbalancing him.
"Serves you right for being a cocky little shit." Roxas smiled innocently as he slid down the hill, leaving Hayner sitting in the snow, glaring at him. "Last one down buys dinner!" He called back as he got further and further away.
Hayner let out a string of curses, struggling to get up. Suddenly, he felt someone take his hand, helping him up. He looked up and saw a pair of aqua blue eyes, and blonde hair, styled in the strangest way.
"Hiya, I'm Demyx." The other grinned, still holding onto Hayner's hand. He quirked an eyebrow at this other blonde, confused as to why he was still holding his hand.
"Hayner." He stated, finally pulling his hand from the other's hand. "Er, thanks, for helping me up. It was nice of you." He said, feeling a slight flush creep onto his cheeks. What the hell? He thought to himself. Why am I blushing? He looked the other teen over.
Tall, taller than himself, and his hair was in this weird half mohawk/mullet thing, but it looked right on him. His bluegreen eyes danced in mischief. "I couldn't help but overhear you're friend challenge... If you don't want to lose, I know a quicker way to the bottom." He noticed the others brown eyes light up.
"Are you serious?" Demyx nodded, then turned to look behind him.
"Hey, Ax, go on down and see if you can distract the blue-eyed beauty." Hayner peered behind Demyx and saw an even taller man behind him, his red hair clashing with the surrounding snow horribly.
"As you wish, Demmy." Axel said, smirking as he made his way down the hill, after the blonde haired god he'd seen just a few hours before.
"Now, since your little friend will be distracted, let's get you down there without being spotted." Demyx looked around to see if anyone would see them. "Come on, this way." Hayner just gave him a confused look. "What?"
"In case you haven't noticed... I can't snowboard... I keep fallin' flat on my ass." Demyx chuckled.
"Of course I noticed that, it's why I offered to help you. Axel did the same thing to me when I got here... besides, I wouldn't be doing my job if I wasn't helping out resort customers."
"You work here?!" Hayner saw the other blonde shake his head.
"No, I don't, I just said that for the hell of it. Of course I work here." Demyx snarked back at him. "Couldn't you tell by the 'x' in my name?"
"You mean your name isn't really Demyx?" He shook his head.
"Nah, real name's Dyme, but when you start working at Oblivion, the owner changes your name around and put an 'x' in it randomly. Says it's supposed to help all of us feel brotherly, but it just confuses the hell out of us." Demyx bust out laughing. "There's only one employee that actually scared Xemnas into not changing his name around." He shook his head at the memory of Reno yelling and cursing out Xemnas for even thinking about messing his name up.
"Why's that? You'd think he'd want to be like you guys..." Hayner looked confused. "I know I wouldn't want to be the oddball." Demyx started laughing again as he heard someone shouting loudly, trying to 'encourage' his charge.
"C'mon Rude! You c'n do it, I know y'can!" Reno yelled at the other man, his eyes hidden behind a pair of dark sunglasses. Another angry voice called out from further down the slope.
"RENO! If you actually used those damn goggles for something other than holding back your fucking hair, then maybe you wouldn't always knock people over!" Axel yelled from his place next to Roxas, both were sprawled on the ground, staring at Reno and who he was helping.
"Shut ya trap Axel! Y'jus' mad that I c'n do better'n you." Reno's green eyes flashed with mischief. Axel glared up at his older brother.
"You're an ass, you know that, right?" Suddenly he smirked, "Wanna race?" He called out to Reno. "First one to the bottom is the best."
Reno grinned. "Fuck yeah! I'll race ya dumbass... Which slope?" He reached back and re-tied his long crimson hair so it wouldn't be as in the way.
"Oblivion." Axel nearly died laughing at the look on his brother's face.
"Y'jokin', right? You know I'll kick ya ass on that slope." Axel shook his head.
"First to the bottom is the best." He saw Reno hesitate. "What, not scared of your little brother beating you, are you?" That earned a growl from Reno, and his answer.
"Deal." Axel held out a gloved hand and Reno took it.
"Let's go then." And with that, Axel and Reno both took off, racing to the lift. Roxas, Rude, Demyx and Hayner all watched them trying to outdo each other the whole way.
"Move out of my way, fucktard."
"Awwww, should such dirty words come outta ya pretty mouth?"
"Assmonkey."
"Nice one, really Axel, did you think'o that one on ya own?" Fwump "Sonuvabitch! AXEL! Ya dead, d-e-d, dead!"
"Where'd you learn to spell? It's d-e-a-d, not d-e-d, dumbass." Fwoosh "Missed me, missed me now ya gott-." Axel's taunt was cut short by a good sized snowball straight to his face, which knocked him of balance and he tumbled the rest of the way down to the lift, Reno was right behind him, laughing the entire time.
"Shoulda seen ya face! See whatcha get f'r tryin'a tease me?" Rude was about to call out a warning when all four of them stood there and watched Reno go head over heels over the top of Axel. He hadn't been paying attention, and hadn't realized that Axel stopped rolling.
"Get offa me, you great lump!" Axel groaned as he tried to push Reno off of him.
Rude looked over at Demyx, "Are they always that way?" Demyx shook his head, and Rude started to heave a sigh of relief, until he heard Demyx's reply.
"Nope... Sometimes they're worse." Hayner and Roxas both laughed.
"They sound like you and Seifer." Roxas said as he continued watching the two redheads arguing, and struggling to get up without asking the other for help. He never noticed the slight twinge on Hayner's face at the mention of Seifer. They'd had a huge fight before he and Roxas left. Seifer was convinced that he was cheating on him, and it was with Roxas. He didn't understand that he and Roxas were very nearly brothers, and the idea of him and Roxas, like that... squicked him out. Besides, Roxas was too busy drooling over Axel. He'd always been partial to redheads anyway.
"Come on, let's go watch them." Demyx said, grabbing Hayner's hand and pulling him to the lift. Roxas and Rude followed after them, not wanting to be left behind, since it was the two that they fancied that were going down the most dangerous slope on the mountain.
Reno and Axel were waiting for them when they finally got to the top. They were glaring daggers at each other, green eyes flashing. "Will you two ever grow up?" A tall silver haired man said, standing next to the two of them.
"No Xemnas, they won't. It's impossible for them to even act their age, much less grow up." Demyx stated, watching the two arguing over who was going to be on what side. They honestly argued about everything.
"Gods, come on you two! Are you done arguing over who's on what side yet?"Xemnas snapped at the two redheads.
"Getcha panties outta ya ass." Reno said, slipping his goggles over his eyes. "We're ready."
Xemnas rolled his eyes at his disrespectful employee, and raised his hand. "On my mark.. Get set. Go!" And he blew a whistle, signaling those on the lower parts of the slope to abandon now, or else they might just be ran clean over by one of two red haired blurs racing down the mountainside.
Insults were flying fast and hard as the two streaked down the slope, nearly colliding with one another. This was actually a very normal occurrence at the resort. The brothers were the only ones who could make it down that trail without incident, and only because it was a near tragedy that very first time they'd gone down it.
Two years before:
It was a nice, crisp, overcast day at Oblivion ski resort, and the newb's were out in full force. Reno, his brother Axel, Demyx, Marluxia, Zexion and Xigbar were in charge of getting the new skiers or snowboarders going good enough to be out on the slopes on their own.
Reno and Axel were arguing, as usual, and their charges had gotten tired of it.
"Hey, let's go down this one!" The short blonde said. His friend nodded his agreement, and looked over the edge.
"Doesn't look near as bad as what those two," He jerked his thumb at Reno and Axel, "said. Looks damn near easy." This coming from someone who had just started to learn how to snowboard about a half an hour before.
Axel and Reno had taken their two charges up to the top of Oblivion, to show them how steep, craggy, and dangerous the slope was. No one who had gone down it before had lived, but of course, the two just thought that was a ploy to get more customers.
Just as they started to make their way over the edge, Axel looked over and noticed them. He slapped Reno upside the head and pointed to the teens. Both of them jumped for the boys at the same time and ended up getting tangled together. They saw that their sudden lunge had scared the teens from the edge, but they didn't see that it had also carried them close enough to it that when Reno rolled to extract himself from his brother's grasp, and slipped over the side.
"Axel!" Reno yelped out as he started to tumble down the slope, and the last thing he remembered was a particularly large rock up ahead, one that he couldn't avoid. Axel's head snapped up when he felt Reno slide over the edge, and he made a desperate attempt to grab at Reno, but it was too late.
"Fuck, Reno..." He muttered under his breath, then got up and steadied himself before he took off down the slope, desperate to catch up to his brother. He saw the rock, and Reno heading right for it, but he was helpless to stop what was going to happen. He heard the sickening crunch as Reno hit the rock, and then continued tumbling down Oblivion.
"RENO!" He cried out after the heard and saw his brother hit the rock, the younger redhead was flipping out now. He never saw the low tree branch ahead, all he could see was his brother's body continuing it's downward descent.
A resounding crack rang out over the mountain side when Axel connected with the tree branch. Now his own placid body was speeding down the hill, hitting any obstacle in its way.
By the time they had reached the bottom, all of the employees had gathered at the bottom of Oblivion, keeping the crowds away from the gruesome scene.
Both redheads were laying face down, looking for all the world like they had no life left in them at all. Blood covered the two of them, most of it on Reno was from his legs, which had been broken horribly when he had smashed into the rock. Axel's came from all over him, there wasn't a part of his body that didn't have some kind of injury.
A nearly inhuman shriek of pain filled the air moments later as Reno regained consciousness. He opened one eye and looked at Axel's still form, and let out a scream, one that pierced the hearts of everyone there.
Once they had gotten a medical team out there, they had loaded both Reno and Axel up in the back of their transport vehicle. Reno was still conscious, but barely, and Axel was still out cold, but they had at least gotten his breathing to even out.
Reno was released form the hospital two weeks later, his legs encased in casts from his feet up to halfway up his thighs. Axel had been released a few days before, but he'd stayed with Reno until he was given the ok.
Axel had suffered from a major concussion, many cuts, scrapes, contusions, and quite a few large gashes. He healed fairly quickly, but they had wanted to monitor his concussion a few more days, to make sure he'd really be ok.
Once Reno had gotten the casts off, and gotten through his physical therapy, the two made a trip up to the top of Oblivion. They looked over the edge, noting just how far they had both tumbled, and were grateful they'd lived. Axel, however, decided that that wasn't enough for him.
"I'm going for it." He stated simply before he pushed his board over the edge and went down the slope.
"Y'stubborn ass idiot!" Reno yelled after him, but followed his example.
When they reached the bottom, unhurt and unfazed, everyone was in shock. No one had ever gone down Oblivion without getting hurt or killed, those two included.
It became a regular thing, to see those two streaking down the mountainside, conquering Oblivion over and over again.
Back to the present:
Xemnas, Demyx and the others watched in awe as the two redheads made their way down the mountain, they were like poetry in motion. This was their slope, and they knew it.
"Who's going to win this time?" Sunset colored eyes turned to look down at Demyx,
He shrugged his shoulders. "I say this time'll be a draw. They haven't had one of those in a while..."
Luxord, Marluxia and Saix stood at the bottom, making sure to be ready for the redheads to cross the makeshift finish line.
"Why are they racing this time?" Marluxia asked in a bored voice. He had grown tired of Reno and Axel's competitiveness after the first dozen times they had done this. Luxord rolled his eyes.
"Not sure, love, not sure." He was playing with a deck of cards, looking like he could use a good strong drink. Saix, well... He was being Saix.
Three quarters of the way down, they were still neck and neck, and still playing dirty.
"Give it up! 'm gonna beat ya!" Reno yelled as his long crimson hair streamed out behind him. Axel shook his head, his now red and white spikes flying in all directions.
"Never! I'm not givin' up ta you!" His jade green eyes flashing, Axel pulled away right when they got close to the spray-painted line that signified the finish line.
"In ya FACE!" Axel yelled as he crossed the line just a head of Reno. His brother rolled his eyes, then looked up to see Xemnas, Demyx and the others had made it down just in time.
"Hiya boss!" Reno chirped cheerfully, then looked over at Rude. "How'd ya like th' show aibou?" He could hear Axel sniggering behind him. "I let ya win, ya know... Didn't want ta beatcha in fronta ya new boytoy." Reno watched Axel's face snarl up.
"He's not m' new boytoy... I jus' met'im." His accent came out when he was angered. Reno laughed.
"Ya say that now... Give it a few days... I know ya too well." He grabbed Rude's arm and pulled him towards the lodge for something warm, and preferably alcoholic.
Demyx, Luxord, Marluxia and Xemnas looked shocked. They'd never heard Reno sound quite so... disappointed, in Axel.
Axel brushed it off, and went inside as well, but he just wanted to get a warm shower and get some food. He'd rather not be around anyone right now.
"Hey.. Demyx, right?" Hayner looked at the older teen. "You wanna join me and Rox for dinner? Looks like your partner in crime needs some alone time."
Demyx nodded, watching the solitary redhead making his way into the lodge. "Yeah... That'd be great. I can show you a great place just down the road, they got good food. How long d'ya need to get ready?" Hayner shrugged.
"Not too long. Say we meet in the lobby around... Seven?"
"All right. I'll see if Axel wants to join us, but I think it'll be a useless attempt." Both of the younger blondes nodded.
"See ya at seven!"
About an hour later:
"Hayner, dude, really... We're just going out to eat with Demyx and maybe Axel. No need to be so freaked about what you look like." Roxas grumbled as he heard Hayner rummaging through his clothing, groaning because he didn't have anything that looked good.
"So? Who cares if I wanna dress up some... Maybe I feel like it." Hayner finally dug out a white hoodie and a pair of dark blue jeans. He'd opted to not bring his signature camo shorts since it was cold here.
"You don't even dress up when you go out with Seifer..." He rolled his eyes.
"We never go anywhere that would require staying dressed for an extended amount of time after we got there." Roxas quirked a honey blonde eyebrow at that statement as he walked out of the bathroom, his hair still a bit damp and hanging in his eyes.
"Is that really all you two do? Go out and fuck?" Hayner nodded, actually looking a bit sad by admitting it. "And you two have been together for how long now?"
"Almost a year and a half." His tone was tired, and annoyed.
"And you still haven't gotten a decent date out of him?"
"Nope."
"Man... I'd break up with him. I did that to Tidus when he tried to pull that shit on me in high school."
"I know... but, it's hard... I have feelings for him, even if he obviously doesn't have them back." That stung saying it out loud, admitting it to someone else.
Roxas smirked and walked out of the room. "I know someone who obviously has feelings for you..." He heard Hayner trip over something on the floor as he scrambled to the doorway.
"Who?!" He was interested, since it seemed that he and Seifer weren't a sure thing anymore.
"Oh, you'll meet him soon enough... Maybe, tonight?" He loved doing this to Hayner, he was so easily annoyed when he couldn't figure something out on the first try.
"Tell me! Now I really do wanna dress up." He turned to go change again, but Roxas stopped him.
"You look fine, and I'm sure he'd say the same thing. Now, let's get going before Demyx leaves us in favor of food." He grabbed their room key and slid it into his hoodie pocket as he walked out the door.
"I'm coming, can I get my shoes on first?" Hayner yelled when he noticed that Roxas had gone out the door.
"No, you can't... Gotta go barefoot." You could almost hear his eyes rolling, "No shit sherlock, but hurry it up, I'm starving."
Five minutes later, Roxas and Hayner were standing in the lobby, waiting on Demyx.
"...and I had to hurry so we could wait on him?" Roxas sighed.
"Yes, you did, now get the hell over it. We said seven, and it's just now seven." He heard a loud voice up the stairway and turned around.
"Demyx, you can't be serious!" A pink haired man said, almost growling.
"Yeah, I am serious Marly... I can't do this anymore. You're jealous and overbearing." Demyx said as he started down the stairs.
"I am NOT jealous or overbearing, now get back up here and come back to our room." The blonde turned around and stared at Marluxia.
"Marluxia, did you even hear what you just said? I said you're overbearing, you say you're not, but you always try to force me to do what you say. I'm my own person damnit, stop trying to order me around!"
"You're cheating on me, aren't you?" Roxas and Hayner were waiting for the blow up... and a few others too.
"Am I WHAT?! You did not just seriously ask me that question. I know you didn't."
"I did. You are, aren't you?" Demyx glared up at him.
"Why should you worry about me cheating... It's you who I should worry about. I know about you and Vexen." It was Marluxia's turn to get indignant.
"There's nothing more than a strong bond of friendship between me and Vex." Demyx rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, it's just a strong bond of friendship, my ass... I heard you and him the other night... in OUR bed. Why else do you think I stayed with Axel and Reno? Why else do you think I'm STILL not staying in our room. Who knows where else you guys have fucked around..."
Maruluxia just gaped at him, he had no defense. Demyx looked at Hayner and Roxas, and nodded towards the door. As they walked out, he turned around, a small sad smile on his face.
"It's over. There is no more us Marluxia. I'll move my shit into Reno and Axel's room tonight, that way Vexen can move right on in." He heard Marluxia huff and storm off, probably to find Vexen.
After they walked down the road a ways and had made it into the small town close to the resort, Demyx spoke up.
"Sorry you guys had to see that. I'd hoped to do get that done in private, but Marluxia's always gotta be a drama queen and get a good show out of everything." Roxas shook his head.
"No need to apologize, not your fault. You really surprised him with that whole cheating bit though... The look on his face was worth a gold medal." Demyx let out a small chuckle.
"It'd honestly been over before that, but that was the straw that broke the camel's back." Roxas noticed his gaze kept drifting to Hayner. He held in his knowing grin, opting to nod his head.
"Let's get some food... I'm starved." Demyx ushered them towards a set of doors, the sign over it reading "Cloud Nine"
"Ignore the sign, it's never been called Cloud Nine, the owner is too lazy to change the sign." He said as they walked in.
A tall brunette with wine colored eyes sat them down and took their orders. "I'm Tifa, I'll take your orders when you're ready." All three pointed to the same thing, at the same time. "Steak for all three of you?" They all nodded.
"Well done, though..." Roxas said. He hated seeing any kind of pink on his food, unless it was icing or something like that.
"Medium rare." Demyx and Hayner said at the same time. Even Roxas had to laugh at that.
"That was great... You should have seen the look on your faces!" They were all sipping their drinks while they waited for their food to come out. The door opened, and all three of the turned to look at who came in.
"Heya Ax." Demyx chirped when he saw the redhead walk in.
"Hey... So...heard about you and Marly..." Demyx nodded sadly.
"It'd been over, but him and Vex were the last straw."
"Fucking drama queen, he stormed off to Vexen's room and was playing him for a fool."
"Let me guess... 'Oh he was yelling at me, and I tried to explain, but he wouldn't listen, I love you... please, suck me off and make me feel better...'?" Axel nodded.
"Just about..." He turned to look at Roxas. "So, how do you like it up here far Roxy?" Roxas raised an eyebrow at the nickname.
"Roxy?" Axel grinned.
"I give all my charges nicknames. Ask Demmy..." Demyx rolled his eyes.
"Let's not... Axie..." Axel stuck his tongue out at him.
Dinner came out, and Axel just mooched off of them, since he wasn't that hungry. The conversation lulled, all because they were eating. Roxas was not the only one who noticed Hayner and Demyx trying to not get caught staring at each other.
"Could they possibly be anymore obvious?" Axel whispered into Roxas ear. He tried not to laugh.
"Sadly... I think they could... and they might, if I know Hayner as well as I do..." That made Axel snigger.
"What's so funny you two?" Hayner asked, looking between the two.
"Nothing." They said quickly, at the same time.
"Riiiiiiight." Demyx glared at Axel, daring him to say something.
After they'd finished eating, they paid and headed back to the resort. Their room in the lodge was sounding real good right then. They made small talk to whole way back, until they got inside.
"So... what room are ya'll in?" Demyx asked, as they walked up the stairs.
"69." Hayner and Roxas chorused, completely serious. The novelty had worn off for Roxas earlier that day. It hadn't worn off for Axel and Demyx however. They doubled over laughing, nearly falling down the stairs.
"You two have room 69?" Axel finally got his laughter under control, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah... we know, it's killer funny, but it's not as funny after the first couple of times hearing it." Roxas said as they walked to their room. "What room are you in?"
"61. Just down that way." Axel pointed to a door just down the hallway. Roxas was going to say something, but a yawn overtook him right when he went to speak.
"Shit... It's time for me to sleep... I'm tired as hell." He said, fighting back another yawn, unsuccessfully. Axel nodded.
"Me too. Racing Ren today took a lot outta me." He looked over Roxas shoulder, and directed the blonde to what he was seeing. Roxas grinned, knowing his gut feeling had been right.
Demyx and Hayner had their arms locked around each other, and it looked like they were kissing quite deeply.
"Knew it." Roxas whispered, laughing at Axel's face.
"I've never seen him kiss anyone like that... and I've seen him and Marly nearly sucking each others faces off..." He was staring in amazement. Apparently, they had felt the stares and they jumped apart.
"Errr... Yeah..." Hayner was rubbing the back of his neck nervously. Demyx was staring resolutely at the carpet.
"Night Hayner..." Demyx said, leaning down and barely pressing his lips to Hayner's.
"Night." The still shocked blonde said quietly.
As Demyx and Hayner made their way to their repesctive rooms, Roxas and Axel were trying not to crack up.
"It was so obvious." Axel said, biting his lip. All Roxas could do was nod furiously, he didn't trust himself to not crack up as soon as he tried to talk.
"G'night Axel..." Roxas said as soon as he could stop himself from laughing.
"See ya tommorow." Axel said walking down to his room.