A/U:
Hello there! I'd like to know what people think of my stories! Reviews are appreciated! :D :3
1. Reviews are nice! And it helps me get motivated and stuff which reaaalllyy does help!=D
2. And ideas or suggestions for the creation of other stories are accepted, always like fan service + cute ideas! And I think this'll be a long(?) one. Not sure yet. Or it might just be like a few chapters like my other ones, but I hope this fanfic will be a success! :D I'll try and update more often. I always try and set a time limit for myself (like a due date) but sometimes, I just can't really seem to make it. But I have been getting better at making the time. So hopefully I'll be updating soon.
Where No Man Has Gone Before :: Ch 1 - Game on
There he was again, the same as always. That blonde boy who sat in the middle row at the very left, who was first in class, and first to leave, who spent his lunch hour in the library doing his homework, who didn't talk much to anyone, and lastly, who didn't even glance at him.
Everyone knew of the spiky redhead sophomore who was infamous for his relationships. He was the most wanted guy in school, popular with the ladies and a few men, although no one really cared. He dated almost half the girls in school, but was never with anyone for more than a few weeks. Just about everyone wanted a shot with him, even if it was merely a one night stand.
Well, everyone except for that blonde boy, Roxas Moore.
He sat only a seat away from the hottest guy in the school but he didn't even look at Axel. Roxas had never even tried to talk to Axel, to him, Axel was like part of the wall.
Roxas was sitting silently in his seat, writing something in his blue notebook while resting his head on his hand. Axel on the other hand, was surrounded by a group of girls who were flirting heavily. The blonde, seemed oblivious to the noise around him, not giving any sign that he cared about the high pitched squealing of the girls.
The crowd next to him dispersed soon after the teacher, Mr. Ryan entered the classroom. Just about every student respected him; he emanated an air of authority which quieted everyone down in the room to silence. He also stood out from the rest of the teachers due to his admirable good looks. He was tall, much younger looking than his actual age (26), smooth dirty blonde hair and clear green eyes which were nicely framed by glasses.
Mr. Ryan stood by his desk putting down his black leather bag on his desk. He faced the soundless classroom with his usual reserved and serious expression.
"Mr. Smith has transferred to another school, so everyone move down a seat." He was referring to the boy who sat in the now empty seat between the polar opposites, Roxas and Axel. The redhead shrugged and moved into the seat next to Roxas, everyone else followed him shifting one seat to the left.
Halfway into the English lesson, Axel was as usual, not paying any attention to the lesson but was entirely focused on exchanging eye contact with the girls from before across the room.
"Mr. O'Dare. Please read the next paragraph." The teacher said pointedly.
The redhead took a moment before turning to his open textbook which was opened to a random page. He turned to Roxas expectedly, slightly perturbed when he didn't even look back.
"Do you know where we are?" He said sharply.
"Yeah…" Axel stalled, while kicking the guy on his right discreetly until he pointed out where they were on his own textbook. He took the textbook reading out the paragraph.
After he was finished, he leaned back in his seat observing the blonde boy next to him. This boy, Roxas, always caught his eye a little, with his clear deep blue eyes, his seemingly natural spiky blonde hair and his slender lean body, he was quite attractive. But no one really paid attention to him because of his – somewhat - introverted attitude.
What was really strange was that Roxas never showed even an inkling of interest towards him. It seemed like he felt nothing at all – no hate (like some people), jealousy, lust, friendship – towards him at all. Absolutely nothing!
While he was in his own little world, the class was packing up and moving out of the classroom to their next class. Even Roxas, who Axel was staring at the entire time, was already halfway out the door. He shook himself out of his trance slinging his bag over his shoulder.
He stopped by his locker on his way to history class taking out his other textbook and binder. He was stopped momentarily by his current girlfriend, Janet Klein. Ah… Axel thought disgruntled. They had only been 'dating' – if you can call it that – for a few days, and he was quite disappointed. She wasn't who he thought she was; she behaved jealously, needy, and clingy. There was an abundance of these kinds of girls at the school, nowadays, he was trying to avoid those kinds of girls.
Janet appeared just the opposite which was why Axel decided to take a stab at asking her out. But after just the one date to the movies – which Axel completely dreaded 15 minutes in – she had been mouthing off to anyone who would listen that they were going out.
"Axel!" She exclaimed happily jumping onto him. "I was thinking… there's an autumn leaves festival downtown. Let's go together!"
"Umm… I don't think that's going to happen," He said turning away and walking towards his next class' open door. He was planning to tell her clearly that they weren't going out and he didn't want to after school or something. He couldn't tell her now because he knew she'd make a scene and probably either cry or scream at him. This could not happen just before class, and most definitely not beside an open class filled with other people.
"What? What do you mean it's not going to happen?" Janet ran after him tensing up as she suspected what he was thinking.
"It's nearing midterms and stuff… err – homework. Is piling up, I'll just see you after school." He said not looking back at her; he walked quickly to his seat in the back and sat quickly pretending to be busy. Math class and science class were the only classes in which he had peace and quiet to himself. This was because the usual loud crowd of people who liked being around him weren't in any of his advanced math and science classes. He especially liked these two classes because they were smaller in size than his other classes – there were only about 14 people.
At first glance, his mannerisms and appearance made him out to be a simple minded, typical popular extrovert. But those who really knew him – which was only his childhood friends, Zexion and Demyx – knew his real personality which was different from his outward appearance. His true best friends were on a camping trip for a week, so he was completely alone for both classes.
The teacher, Ms. Reeva walked through the door carrying a tall pile of paper which was dangerously tipping to one side.
"You're all going to be very busy today, I'm going to give you the big project I was warning you all about weeks beforehand. And which I have been preparing you to the bone with all those notes and practice questions." She said. Ms. Reeva was a slim middle aged woman of about 35. She was known for being a great science teacher, which was good and all, but was also famous for giving out a lot of work.
They were each handed a stapled handout of the two big projects for the semester. One was for the science fair, the other a research paper on a specific subject of their choice.
"The science fair project can be on anything that we've learned so far, it'll be due in two months. The research paper will be a partner project and is due in two weeks' time. I expect that each and every one of you will do your best on the partner project and not slack off as all of you are in an advanced class."
Since Demyx and Zexion were away and Axel didn't have any friends in this class, he decided to wait until by process of elimination one other person was left. He noticed that one other person, besides him, was doing what he was doing. It was Roxas. Axel gazed at him curiously. He had thought that the blonde boy would be more interactive in a class such as this one, that maybe he had few close smart friends. But he was wrong. Was this boy simply a loner or just plain shy? What did he do for fun? Did he even have fun?
… And why was Axel so interested?
He leaned forward tapping lightly on Roxas' shoulder putting on a charming smile.
"Hey, do you want to be partners?" he asked friendlily, he was curious. Would the boy's attitude towards him change once they started talking like some people did? Or would he stay the same as always?
"…Sure." Roxas replied after a moment that was neither too long nor too short. Normally, people would have jumped at the chance, but he was acting like as if he didn't care either way. Axel wasn't so vain as to get offended that he wasn't getting attention from someone, but he had to admit, he was a little curious if the boy was immune to his charms which never failed to snag anyone.
"Great! Do you have a particular idea for the topic?" Axel asked smiling. If they were going to work together, he thought that they should at least talk more and become friendlier with each other.
"No." Roxas replied staring at nothing in particular next to Axel's chair.
"Ehehe…" Axel chuckled weakly. He wasn't concerned with whether or not this classmate of his would do his part of the work, because he knew that Roxas always did great flawless work. After all, the real reason that he wanted Roxas to be his partner was out of mere curiosity – on a whim.
"Well… Do you want to meet after school today to work on it? It would be better to get started on it sooner than later." The redhead asked.
"Uh, sure." Roxas replied, "We could meet in the school library, its open for at least an hour after school hours."
Ms. Reeva called the class to order; Axel nodded to the blonde who turned back to the front in his seat. The class finished after an hour or so. It was lunch time, and swarms of students were passing through the hallways making it hard to exit their classroom which was smack in the middle of the main hallway. Most of the people had to shove their way out, the rest followed suit. Axel stayed behind in the classroom and waited until everyone left to leave also.
Without Zexion and Demyx at school, he didn't feel like joining the people at his usual table in the cafeteria. Sure it was nice to be around them with their adoring looks, but to be honest, their superficial behaviours and shallow understanding of him irritated him. He could never really stand to be around them for too long without at least one of his two best friends around him.
He knew it was ironic of him to do what he told himself he hated, and to put up a very convincing front for everyone else. But he only did this in an attempt to make his life more interesting.
He pushed through the hallways wandering around to find a nice quiet place to just be by himself. He entered a quiet hallway that lead to a narrow staircase where it was completely silent, empty of any other person. This was one of the older staircases which lead to the library – not many people used it, so it was the perfect place for someone who wanted to simply withdraw from the loud noises of the school. Not to mention that the school library was very spacious and quiet. The huge stain glass window next to the staircase was beautiful, especially when the sunlight beamed through it, like now. The colours of the glass were reflected onto the clean steps – it reminded him of a dream.
After pausing by the window, he climbed further up the steps, through the old mahogany door, and entered a deserted section of the library. One thing he liked about the school library was that it had many high shelves close to each other and packed with books. It gave him a nice place to be hidden from view and to find so many books that he had yet to read - not that he read all that much.
He sat down onto the carpeted floor, leaning against one of the shelves. He picked a random book called, "Poison".
It was an interesting book, with a plot that drew him in deeper and deeper. He felt that he could in some twisted way, relate to the main character, Lucas, in the story. The story itself progressed magnificently as the addiction of the other person made him slowly mad. Lucas also wanted life to be more interesting, and so, started a "game" with someone else.
He was three chapters into the book when he heard a soft yawn coming from the other side of the bookshelf. It was more nearby than he expected anyone to be, he hoped that it wasn't someone that he was trying to avoid. Still hiding from view, he peered through a space in the shelf to make out a small figure leaning against the same shelf with blonde hair and smelled faintly of…
He should've known, it was his science partner, Roxas. Fate was funny this way.
Axel didn't feel like he wanted to avoid Roxas, like he did with just about everyone at the moment. So he closed the small book in his hand and walked to the other side sitting next to him.
"Hey." He said softly as to not disturb the soothing peace that filled his ears. He had a strange idea lingering in his mind since he had closed the book, which he didn't really know how to respond to. Should he follow this whim on hopes of making an ending for himself, or should he ignore it?
"Hi," Roxas said, something like surprise flashed across his eyes for a second and coloured his voice. This small bit of emotion that leaked through was one of the few times that Axel had witnessed from him.
You have to take risks in order for change,
At that moment, Axel decided that he would take the risk. See it all the way to the end. He needed this.
Perhaps… this Roxas was a good distraction; perhaps, just maybe he could become infatuated with this boy.
The game was on.