Tradition

by Azurela

Roxas and his friends had a tradition every Halloween, but what happens when their plans change unexpectedly and Roxas meets a red-head named Axel?

A/N: Mm… just something that popped into my head after thinking of things that inspire me; Halloween being one. This' my first attempt at a fic, tell me what you think? Orite, and obviously I don't own the KH chars. If I did it wouldn't be fanfiction.

Rating: K+

Description: Humor/Friendship

Summary: Roxas and his friends had a tradition every Halloween, but what happens when their plans change unexpectedly and Roxas meets a red-head named Axel?

Tradition

VvVvV

Roxas groaned to himself as he looked down at the pile of pink frill that was supposed to be a dress lying on his bed. Did he really have to wear that? He asked himself, surveying the atrocity that lay before him. Sadly, he already knew the answer and picked it up looking at it with disgust.

His attention quickly turned to his door when someone knocked "Ohhh Rooxxxasss, are you finished yet?" came a smug voice. Roxas rolled his eyes, annoyed, and frowned. "Not yet Hayner," he replied as he began to put on the dress. "Better hurry," the other blonde replied, still sounding smug. "We wouldn't want to be late for the Halloween dance, would we?" Roxas' frown deepened as he silently cursed himself. Why did they always have to have a stupid competition every year where the winner got to choose the loser's Halloween costumes anyway? And more importantly, why did he agree to it every year?? He thought about it for a moment. The competition had been a tradition for a long time one of which Roxas won a lot, making Hayner wear the most ridiculous costumes. He smirked at the memory. This year, however, Hayner obviously had won, much to the others' dismay. Roxas silently wondered what he'd make Pence and Olette wear if he had to wear a dress.

The blonde sighed, turning to look at himself in the mirror as he finished zipping up said dress. He was surprised at how well it fit and that it was actually comfortable. The dress was short, coming about halfway to the blonde's knees, but was full, poofing out a lot. The part that came around his chest was like a corset, tying in the front and sides with a black ribbon that also went around the lower region of the dress. The dress had long sleeves that were puffy at the top and frilly at the bottom; the black ribbon was at his wrists as well, right before the frill started. Roxas stared at himself surprised as he tied a black choker around his neck. When he saw the dress on his bed, he didn't think it could possibly look this good on him. He smirked a little, he actually looked good in it.

He continued to admire himself for a few minutes but jumped when another knock came from his door. "Roxaaas? Are you doooonnee yet?" came Hayner's sing-song voice. Roxas crossed his arms, annoyed. "Yes," he said finally.

Hayner, already dressed as a devil, didn't waste any time coming inside and stifled some laughter when he did, looking over Roxas. "Don't forget you wig and ears. Hayner said, handing him something. Ears?! Roxas thought, gaping at his friend. He looked down at them but just as soon wished he hadn't. Hayner smirked at Roxas when he put on an extremely long ivory wig with bangs and two pieces in the front separated by black ribbon and what almost looked like cat ears. "Oh and Roxas," said Hayner, smirk widening, "You're not allowed to say anything to anyone except Pence, Olette and I except for 'Chi'."

Roxas immediately pouted. "Why??" He whined. Hayner laughed. "Don't worry, Rox, it's not just you. The others have to act their parts too." He paused for a moment then said, "Don't forget to look clueless, and copy people." Roxas scowled at the other blonde. "Fine," he said, crossing his arms.

Hayner's costume definitely fit him.

"Oh one more thing," said Hayner like he'd just remembered something. "Wha-?" started Roxas as Hayner pulled down his sleeves, exposing his shoulders. "Perfect," said Hayner, grabbing Roxas' wrist and dragging him downstairs.

VvVvV

Roxas honestly thought that his costume was the worst there could possibly be. That is until he saw a gigantic Kool-Aid man sitting in his kitchen. Roxas quirked an eyebrow. "Pence?" he asked, watching the other turn toward him. "R-roxas?" asked the giant pitcher of fruit punch bursting out in laughter. Annoyed, the blonde crossed his arms and turned away. "Aww, c'mon Roxas," said Pence gasping for air, "I c-can't help i-it," he said clutching his sides. Roxas was about to angrily retort back, but instead all three burst out laughing when Olette walked into the kitchen.

Poor Olette was dressed as Sailor Moon and didn't look happy about it at all. Hayner had even managed to find a wig for her. She crossed her arms giving them all, mostly Hayner, a death glare. "Hey Olette," said Hayner, amusedly "Don't forget to yell 'Moon Prism Power!' every hour, 'kay?" he said, making the others laugh even more. Olette angrily stalked to the door. "Let's just go," she snapped, making the others, still snickering, follow her.

VvVvV

The four walked to their school, where the dance was being held, more or less in silence after the snickering died off. Once they'd paid the admission fee (after getting amused looks from the chaperones) they all went inside. Hayner seemed to have a permanent smirk glued onto his face. "Don't forget to play the part guys," he reminded them, looking at Olette expectantly. Olette rolled her eyes, before twirling in a ridiculous manner and shouting, "MOON PRISM POWER!" She immediately blushed, because she just so happened to yell it right as the song that was playing stopped and everyone looked at the four friends, some laughing, making Roxas blush as well. The next song started playing soon though and the majority resumed dancing, while a familiar face came up to the four.

"Hey Naminee," said Hayner, waving as a greeting. She smiled sweetly before turning to Pence. "Hey, Pence, I like your costume, wanna dance?" Pence gave Hayner a nervous glance before turning back to the blonde girl. "OH YEAH!" he yelled, face matching his costume. She blinked at him then smiled, taking him somewhere with her as Hayner laughed. He was obviously enjoying this way too much. A voice soon interrupted Hayner's laughter, however. "Wow, nice costume, dweebs," came another familiar, but not nearly as pleasant, voice. Seifer. He laughed harder when he saw Roxas.

He laughed cruelly, before saying, "Roxas?" Roxas gave him a confused glance like he was supposed to, before saying "Chi?" making Seifer laugh even more. "And just when I thought you couldn't get any more girly," he said eying Roxas from head to foot. Roxas flushed in anger, balling his hand into a fist. "You should wear a dress more often, it suits you," Seifer taunted, his gang laughing behind him. "Can it Seifer,"Roxas said dangerously.

Bet or not, tradition or not, he would not let Seifer make a fool out of him and just say 'chi' in his own defense. Seifer snickered, "I'd fight you, but I don't believe in hitting girls," He said. "Maybe another time when you leave your dress at hom-" he was cut off when Roxas ran toward him and punched him in the face, successfully giving him a bloody nose and sending him flying into the punch table. He looked back at Hayner for a moment who nodded in approval, smiling but then looked behind Roxas, eyes widening. Roxas followed his eyes, seeing a chaperone, who happened to be a teacher, coming towards them. He had long blue hair and just so happened to hate Roxas' guts. At least that's the impression he gave. He stopped directly in front of Roxas, not seeming to care much about Seifer, and said, "Fighting is strictly prohibited."

He didn't seem to realize that it was Roxas. "I'm afraid you'll have to leave, miss." Roxas nodded, not wanting the teacher, Siax, to figure out it was him, and quickly headed for an exit. When he reached it, he waved at his friends, a little hurt that they weren't leaving with him. He sighed and opened the door, which lead to a grassy area in front of the school.

VvVvV

Roxas shivered slightly when the door closed behind him. It was October after all, and he was only wearing a skimpy dress. He stood under an outdoor light and looked around, jumping slightly when he saw he wasn't alone.

There, right next to him was a boy with the most shocking red hair he'd ever seen, smoking a cigarette. Even more shocking were his eyes and height. His eyes were a beautiful shade of green, maybe even emerald, and complimented his hair perfectly. His height was a wonder as well. He was at least 6'7, maybe taller. A quick glance and you could easily see that it didn't look like he was dressed up for the occasion, since he was in blue jeans and a dark hooded jacket. He seemed to have been watching Roxas, and probably was ever since the door had opened.

"Wh-who're you?" Roxas asked, feeling a little intimidated.

The other took a long drag from his cigarette before dropping it on the ground. He blew out the smoke before smirking and saying, "Name's Axel. A-X-E-L. Got it memorized?" he asked pointing to the top of his head.

Roxas shivered before nodding, feeling nervous, he asked, "What're you doing out here?" Axel quirked an eyebrow. "I should be asking you the same thing, especially when you're only wearing a dress." Roxas' face flushed. He'd kind of forgotten about the dress. "I got kicked out for fighting," said Roxas looking down. "You?" Axel shrugged, "I don't like dances. They're boooooooring with a capital B." Roxas noticed that Axel sounded a lot like a little kid as he said it, finding it surprisingly cute. "I only came to drop off a friend and had a cigarette before you came out."

Roxas shivered again, angry that it was so cold out. He didn't notice that Axel had come closer to him and flinched when the red-head spoke. "Hey, do you want my jacket or something?" Roxas looked up at him, confused by the concern. "N-no, I'm fine," said the blonde, just before sneezing. Axel sighed and removed his jacket, placing it around the shorter boy's shoulders. He seemed satisfied when Roxas wore it properly.

"So, what's your name anyway," Axel asked the blonde.

"Roxas," said the other, zipping up the jacket.

"Odd name for a girl," Axel replied, tilting his head to the side.

Roxas' already slightly pink face darkened drastically. "T-that's b-because I'm not a girl," he stuttered.

Axel laughed when Roxas said this. "Seriously?" he asked, watching the blonde lower his head and nod. "What's with the dress then?" Axel asked smirking.

Roxas looked up timidly, "Well, it's always been a tradition between my friends and me to have a competition before Halloween where the winner gets to choose the losers' costumes for Halloween."

Axel laughed lightly. "Sounds like fun." Roxas smiled up at him.

"So, where are your friends?" asked Axel. Roxas sighed, frowning. "Dancing, I suppose. It kind of sucks that they didn't come with me after I got kicked out but they did just pay to get inside."

Axel shrugged slightly. "Do you need a ride home or something then?" he asked. Roxas smiled, "Yeah, sure, if you don't mind." Axel smiled again, "Ok, come on."

VvVvV

"Woah," Roxas said impressed, "You have a motorcycle?" Axel laughed once again "Yeah," said the red-head, getting on it, motioning for Roxas to do the same. Roxas did, folding his skirt under him carefully and putting on the helmet Axel had given him. "Ready?" asked Axel as Roxas wrapped his arms around the red-head's waist, noting, surprised, how skinny the other was. "Yeah," said the blonde, just before Axel took off. The blonde had to shout the directions to his house as the two rode, but even so, the blonde thought the ride was fun.

Axel parked on the street in front of Roxas' house, both dismounting afterwards walked up to Roxas' house. Roxas' parents had gone to a Halloween party of their own and were supposed to be gone all night, so the house was empty… or was supposed to be until he and his friends came back from the dance. Roxas went over to the family's secret hiding spot to get the spare key. He hadn't bothered bringing his keys since frankly he didn't know where to put them. He quickly opened the door and turned on the lights as the two walked inside.

Axel seemed to like the slightly bigger than average sized home looking around it slightly impressed. Roxas looked at the red-head rather timidly again. "Would you like to stay and hang out?" the blonde asked picking at the black ribbon on his dress absentmindedly, "I mean you don't have to if you don't want to," he added quickly. Axel smiled at Roxas again. "I'd love to," said the red-head. "One condition though," he added, making the blonde look up at him confused, "Lose the dress and wig; they're starting to bug me."

Roxas was more than happy to oblige and after pointing out where the living room was to the red-head, ran upstairs to change. The blonde had never been so happy in his life to change his clothes, and put on jeans and a black hoodie with a black undershirt, leaving the costume on the floor. He checked his hair to make sure the wig hadn't messed it up too badly, surprised that it hadn't and picking up Axel's jacket, made his way downstairs.

Roxas made a pit stop in the kitchen and started making popcorn while looking for his cell phone to call Hayner and let him know what happened.

He found it on the table, quickly dialing the number. It only rang only once before Roxas heard Hayner's voice on the other end. "Hello..?"

"Hey Hayner, its Roxas," Roxas said. "Hey Roxas! Where are you man? We've been looking for you for about ten minutes."Roxas blinked. "I thought you weren't gonna leave yet," said the blonde, surprised. "Well, we were gonna stay for a little while, but It's just not the same without you, ya'know? So where are you?"Roxas smiled. "I'm at my house," the blonde replied. "I met a cool new guy named Axel. He gave me a ride home and we're gonna hang out. You guys don't mind if he stays, right?" he asked, hoping his friends would like Axel. "No, it sounds like he's pretty cool, man. We're probably gonna come to your house then, ok?" "Ok," said Roxas, just as the popcorn got done. "See you then," he said before hanging up. He put his phone in his pocket and poured the popcorn in a large bowl, bringing it and some drinks to his guest.

"I brought you some popcorn," said the blonde, entering the living room and handing the red-head a soda.

"Thanks," said Axel, looking the blonde over.

"What?" asked Roxas, feeling self-conscious.

Axel smirked before responding. "I like you better this way."

Roxas smiled nervously saying thanks. "My friends will be coming over. You don't mind right?"

"Of course not Roxy," said the red-head

"Do you want to watch a movie? We rented scary movies for tonight." The blonde asked.

"We can wait for your friends," replied Axel, grabbing some popcorn, throwing a piece into the air, and catching it in his mouth. Roxas watched with interest as he did it three more times. "I wish I could do that," the blonde said. The red-head's attention snapped back to the blonde, "Try it?" he said.

Roxas laughed, "No, I'll miss."

"You never know till you try," the red-head pointed out, handing the blonde some popcorn.

Roxas tried, but missed. "See I told you," said the blonde, ready to give up. "Try again," said Axel encouragingly. The blonde reluctantly did as he was told, making it this time. "Seeeeee," said the red-head childishly again, "I toold you." Roxas frowned, "Shut up," he said, throwing the remaining popcorn in his hand in the red-head's face.

Axel looked at the blonde surprised then the look turned into hurt. Roxas panicked; he hadn't wanted to upset the red-head. "Axel, I'm sor-"

The blonde was cut off when Axel threw popcorn at the blonde, smiling devilishly. "You should've seen your face," he said, pushing the blonde down and laughing as the blonde was bombarded with more popcorn.

"Th-that's not fair," the blonde pouted. "I had to get you back somehow," Axel said slyly, ruffling the blonde's hair before letting him up. "I bet I'm gonna find popcorn in my hair up till next week, "Roxas complained, brushing off random pieces of popcorn. Axel just smirked at the blonde. He liked him; they seemed to be getting along well.

"Hey, Axel?" asked the blonde quietly. "Yeah Rox?" asked the red-head. "Are we… are we friends?" the blonde asked, finding the popcorn bowl very interesting all of the sudden. "Of course we are," Axel said, smiling when Roxas beamed up at him.

VvVvV

Hayner, Pence and Olette arrived at Roxas' house a good ten minutes later than they were supposed to.

"What took you so long?" the blonde asked, pouting. Hayner just smirked at him like he seemed to have been doing all night. "Well, since we left you by yourself," he began showing Roxas what he'd been hiding behind his back, "We all pitched in and bought sea-salt ice-cream for you, since it's your favorite." Roxas' eyes lit up at the ice cream, but he frowned when he heard Axel laughing behind him. "What?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at the red-head. "You've got a weird taste in ice-cream," Axel replied smirking when Roxas rolled his eyes at him.

VvVvV

After quick introductions, the five continued what they normally did on Halloween, eating popcorn and sea-salt ice cream, while starting the first of several movies. They ended up talking after watching 'House of Wax', 'SAW I' and 'SAW II', including Axel like he'd always been a part of the group. At around three am, they started the movie 'Saw III' but fell asleep on the floor halfway through. Just like old times.

They ended up waking up late in the morning, and said their good-byes, but whenever the group met to hang out again, they would always invite Axel, and sometimes Axel's friends, making the blonde and the red-head closer. Eventually the two became best friends.

VvVvV

In a single night, thanks to an unexpected fight with Seifer, the gang's tradition of the four friends holding a competition to determine Halloween costumes, and hanging out, having fun on Halloween, changed unexpectedly when it altered to five. But the change seems it was for the better, because after all, a blonde named Roxas got to meet a red-head named Axel and they became the best of friends.

-End-

Well that's it. Hope I didn't do too badly -.-;;;;

Review and tell me your thoughts?