The Bet

~o~

Summary: It only took an hour after my friends found out to realize: this haddefinitely been the biggest mistake of my life—the only thing that could prove me more correct was the week to come. It was undeniably the worst week of my life, and it started with: "Hey jailbait."

~o~

Axel was someone untouchable—someone that you didn't mess with, regardless of the situation. Everyone knew that… but, even before the bet I'd been unfortunate enough to get sucked into after being caught openly staring at him by my friends, I'd always wanted to break through that barrier. I'd always wanted to know who he really was, ever since the first moment I saw him when I transferred schools. I'd had a case of 'love at first sight', you could say. I just wasn't courageous enough to do anything about it. In fact… my biggest fear was having him punch me in the face and making my life a living hell after he found out my secret. That was definitely on my list of things to never ever accomplish. Nope.

I could hear my friends snickering, even after I'd gotten the courage to go up to him and sit across from him. He didn't look at me and, honestly, it made me feel relieved. It gave me hope that he couldn't see how badly I was shaking.

"What do you want, newbie?" I took a deep breath. I had to talk to him, ultimately confess how I felt, and be completely honest and completely straightforward. Those were the terms for winning. I had to say that I rather preferred them to what my friends were concocting in the event of my failure. Yep.

"You." He smirked, the smallest fraction possible.

"How unoriginal." His eyes narrowed but he never looked up from his notebook. Instead, he gestured around the room effortlessly without giving anyone a spare glance. "Join the club, baby. Everyone wants this." His smirk widened dangerously and his sharp eyes flicked upward to appraise me. Silently, I begged my heart to stop beating so fast. "Not that I can blame them, of course. Just look at me." He twirled his lighter between his fingers in his free hand before pressing a cigarette to his lips flicking it to life and igniting it. "Sadly for you, I can't say I'm interested, blondie."

"Why not?"

"I don't do twelve year olds." My eye twitched in irritation when he blew smoke in my face.

"I'm seventeen!"

"Temper, temper, jailbait," he replied, patronizingly while tsking.

Stubborn, proud, arrogant, stoic, sharp… those were all synonymous for 'Axel'. I'd known that before I'd approached him… he was the most amazing, outspoken and beautiful person I'd ever met. I could say without an ounce of hesitation that I was undeniably and absolutely hooked on the idea of being with him every day for the rest of my life.

That being said… and Axel being …Axel… I didn't really blame my friends for betting against me. Not one bit.

"So, who told you about me?"

"What?"

"Come now, you must have some sort of boring, shallow, reason or another."

"No!" he stared into my eyes unflinchingly.

"Then why are you sitting in front of me?" I glanced elsewhere, scratching at my arm nervously.

"I want to be with you," I admitted aloud for the very first time. Axel laughed humorlessly, his expression becoming guarded.

"If you're trying to be funny, you're failing miserably, kiddo."

"I'm not!" I blushed darkly, timidly looking into his eyes. All I saw was disbelief. I wasn't going to convince him otherwise. I knew that. Tears welled up in my eyes and I couldn't face him anymore. So I ran. This was undoubtedly the biggest mistake of my life.

Yep. It only took an hour after my friends found out to realize: this had definitely been the biggest mistake of my life—the only thing that could prove me more correct was the week to come. It was undeniably the worst week of my life, and it started with:

"Hey jailbait." I'd jumped startled, recognizing that voice in an instant. Some higher power had to be getting amusement from this. That had to be it. Why else would he see me like this? A cocky grin spread across Axel's face and his eyelids lowered as he sauntered toward me. "Nice outfit." My mouth went dry and I struggled to breathe, wanting to die from sheer embarrassment. He scoffed. Not a good sign. "I knew there had to be a dumb reason behind yesterday." I crossed my arms, wishing I could disappear.

"Think what you want."

"Oh, I do, baby," he replied, patting my face. The spots where he touched me tingled and butterflies took off in my stomach, flying every which way. I subconsciously leant into his touch and he paused, watching color spread across my cheeks. "Trust me, I do," he said softly.

"Roxas?! Bwahahaha!" My eyes widened and I twirled around. My face had to rival Axel's hair already… and I'd only been at school for five minutes. Perfect.

"Can it, Seifer!"

"You know, we always had a feeling you swung that way, chicken-wuss. You didn't need to confirm it for us!" I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying my damnedest to ignore their annoying laughter. Honestly, if I'd been in his position, I probably would have assumed the same thing. Boys usually didn't wear purple skinny jeans, pink tie-dye shirts that said 'Hayner's Bitch!' with eyeliner and or rainbow accessories. Including barrettes. I looked skyward miserably, muttering:

"Just kill me now," under my breath. I tensed drastically when my crush decided to use my head as an armrest.

"C'mon now, is it really fair to assume he's gay?" Seifer scoffed at Axel for defending me and it made my heart stutter. "I mean, this' a really popular look for twelve year old girls. Maybe he's just trying to fit in with people his own size." The blond thug and his posse laughed hysterically but I just remained frozen. Yeah… Dear whoever's up there, watching this: if you could strike me down now, that'd be great—love, Roxas. Yep. That's pretty much how I feel right now.

I bit my lower lip, ashamed that Axel thought so lowly of me. The more that people saw me… the more laughter there was. I was completely livid by the time Axel decided that he'd had enough fun at my expense. It was only when he was leading me away that I realized, he hadn't been laughing. I barely had time to see that we were entering the boys' restroom before I was pushed inside. Axel sent a frigid glare toward its occupants and they hastily exited.

"What are you doing?" I asked quietly.

"I should ask you the same thing, kid. Are you trying to get labeled as a freak?"

"You were doing an excellent job of that already, Axel," I replied, rolling my eyes.

"Trust me. It's better than being labeled as 'gay', sunshine."

"How would you know?!" Axel scoffed.

"You really don't know anything." He clicked his tongue disapprovingly, making his tongue ring visible for the first time. I stared at it fixatedly, missing what he said next. His snapping fingers in front of my face jolted me back to the present. "Oi, Roxas! Pay attention!"

"Sorry, what?" he sighed.

"You're hopeless." I scoffed at him, but before I could say anything, he was speaking. "I said, what're you doing?"

"What do you think I'm doing. I lost a bet. Duh." Axel snorted.

"What did you have to do to win? Get involved with me? Get my number? Fuck me?" I stared at him, horrified.

"No!"

"Uh-huh. Whatever, Roxas." He turned away, walking toward the door.

"Wait, Axel!" The red-head hesitated at the door, sighing impatiently.

"No," was his reply before he slipped out into the hall as the bell rang, leaving me alone and miserable. That's all I seemed to be until we spoke next—a pathetic, miserable, waste of space.

You see, Axel had always seemed unapproachable to me. However… knowing just how lowly he thought of me made me want to crawl into a hole and never come out… but I knew that, unfortunate as it was, that wasn't a possibility. It never really had been.

Two long weeks had passed until we spoke again. I knew I couldn't keep avoiding him. Not if I wanted to make things right. Having him hate me… was the worst thing that could've possibly happened. So, I went to him.

"Axel, can I talk to you alone?" I asked nervously. He didn't look at me, but his equally tough looking friends that were surrounding him regarded me suspiciously.

"No, you cannot jailbait. Whatever you need to say to me, you can say in front of my friends." A boy, shorter than myself, snorted amusedly from behind his book. I took a deep breath and braced myself.

"You're wrong." Everyone except for Axel stared at me unabashedly.

"Really now? Enlighten me," the red-head replied sardonically, not looking up from his notebook.

"I was supposed to be honest with you, and I was."

"Why were you dressed like my little sister for a week then?" he questioned without missing a beat, his beautiful emerald eyes locking with mine. His friends chuckled, remembering my embarrassment well.

"Because… I was too afraid to finish it… to confess how I felt about you to you. But… I don't really have anything to lose anymore because you already hate me. So…" Axel stared at me expectantly and I swallowed involuntarily. "Axel, I think you're amazing. You're brilliant and you're beautiful… proud and strong… but you're so unapproachable so I guess, I don't know, that I want to know you better…" I said lamely. Wow, I could express my feelings so much better in my head…

"You guess that you want to know me better?" he said blandly. Numbly I nodded my head. He snorted. "Anything else?" Panic crept into my chest. I'd never heard someone sound so unimpressed in my entire life.

"I-I want you to know that I haven't ever felt this way about someone before." That was a good thing, wasn't it? Axel shrugged.

"Uh-huh… well that's nice and all, Roxas, but honestly, I'm used to love confessions." He paused briefly, pursing his lips, "From boys and girls. And while it's nice that you feel that way, I've already been fair with you. I told you how I felt the first day you approached me for the sake of your bet." What had he said again? He wasn't interested and he didn't want to be involved with a minor. Right. But it was nice that I felt that way? What did that even mean?

"I don't understand…" Axel shrugged.

"I'm not going to spell it out for you, Roxas. If you can't figure it out, that only reaffirms my decision." I swallowed. I didn't want to lose him… but I didn't want to push him away either.

"Okay…" The red-head sighed.

"Now please go. I need to concentrate on what I'm doing." I nodded, biting my lower lip.

"O-okay," I murmured, doing as he'd asked.

Honestly, it was in that moment, that I realized that I didn't know all that much about Axel, even though I thought I was in love with him. Equally honestly, he had a valid point in rejecting me. Sure, the rejection hurt, but I wouldn't be eighteen for three months and I knew nothing about him except for his personality. That really wasn't enough. I only hoped that respecting him enough to do as he'd asked would be enough to change his attitude toward me for the better because honestly, I'd screwed everything up. I should've been more thoughtful and considerate of how he'd feel about how I was coming across. For all he knew, I'd only approached him because of a bet.

So, in those months, I learned about him, any way I could. I wanted to be someone worthy of him. Know what? It turns out that that mysterious notebook he never puts down is a sketch book. Axel is an extremely talented and sensitive person but he built himself up to his current 'untouchable' status because he was bullied as a kid, up until high school. So, he took control of his life and the people in it. I was impressed anyway. It also helped me understand why he's the way he is.

Axel has plans and direction for his future. He wants to go to school for Art. The great part is that he's good enough to do so. I can only hope I can be part of it.

As fate would have it, there was an art show on my eighteenth birthday and Axel's work was being featured. Maybe someone upstairs likes me after all? I really hope so… because I swear if this' some kind of sick joke I don't know what I'll do. It's been hard enough, not being able to talk to him. Maybe I really will dig a hole and never come out…

Nervously, I paced in the bathroom, waiting for the show to start. I'd arrived early but had remained hidden. I didn't want Axel to see me. Not yet. Almost as if in response, there was laughter outside the door. "Yeah, I know, I'm such a klutz! I'll be right back." Then, the door was opening and I couldn't breathe.

"Roxas? Hey, you clean up pretty good." I froze at the teasing tone. It was a side of Axel I hadn't ever seen before… but I liked it.

"Oh! H-hey, I heard your work was being featured, so I wanted to check it out. I was just coming out…" I finished lamely. Why did I always have to sound so stupid around him?

"Sure you aren't stalking me?" he asked. I felt the color drain from my face. Oh fate, I should have known better…

"S-stalking? No!"

"Really now? That's not what I hear." I stared at him, mouth agape. Then he burst out laughing. "I'm just kidding. Man, you should see your face!" I blinked a few times, realizing he'd been poking fun at me. That's when I saw it.

"Axel, you're bleeding!"

"Oh yeah, I tripped," he replied, scratching the back of his head. Hastily, I retrieved some paper towels and held them up to his bleeding nose. "Tha'ks," he murmured, holding them to his face. He stood there for several moments, applying pressure before leaning against the sink. "Hey, I think it's done," he said cheerfully, examining it carefully. "Awesome." There was a space of silence between us but I couldn't speak, no matter how much I wanted to. He cleared his throat. "What're you really doing here, Roxas?" I swallowed.

"I wanted to see your work-"

"You wanted to see me."

"How did you know?" he smirked and I realized—never underestimate him. He was only a year older than me, but I'd never met someone so sharp in my life.

"I was actually guessing, but I'm glad I'm right." My brain stopped working.

"You're… what?" He chuckled.

"I know you've been keeping tabs on me… because I've been keeping them on you."

"W-what?" I asked stupidly. He chuckled and smiled.

"Come with me." I nodded, following him out of the bathroom and through the gallery as he walked at a brisk pace. "I want you to know, I thought about what you said… so I watched you… and I saw you… and then I fell in love with your smile and couldn't get enough." We stopped just as tears threatened to spill down my face. "I was hoping you'd come today because I wanted to show you… you're my featured piece." I gasped, staring at a painting of myself. There was so much emotion… so much sincerity, kindness and hope expressed. "That day that you told me I was wrong, you became my muse. I couldn't get this expression out of my head."

"I-it's beautiful, Axel…" he smiled and took my trembling hand.

"And I wanted to say… Happy birthday, Roxas." I smiled.

"Does that mean that your feelings have changed? I really hope so, because mine haven't." He smiled warmly. "I want to see you smile like that every day."Axel's smile widened.

"They have. So… can I take you out after this? For your birthday? I want to know you better." I smiled back.

"Of course you can, as long as you show me your other works, here in the gallery."

"Of course."

"Okay then," I whispered excitedly. "I think it'll be a wonderful start." His arm wrapped around me and he gave me a gentle squeeze, smiling fondly.

"I completely agree."

~End~

A/N: Thoughts? Thanks.