Someone was always looking out for me. I just didn't know who. Axel x Roxas. -Birthday Dedication to Jessie-
I don't like the title, so I'll probably eventually change it, who knows. We'll see though. So for now, it'll have to stick…
On the side note; homg this took me much longer than I expected to write out. I'm so sorry; I missed the deadline, but Happy Birthday to you Jess! I haven't forgotten you or anything. I'm sorry if you thought I did…
But I swears I didn't!!!
GAWD! I HOPE THIS ISN'T IN THE FRENCH SECTION AGAIN!!!
Disclaimer - I'm running out of things to say. But seriously, one day, I'll buy the rights to Kingdom Hearts and I'll rewrite it and everything!
JUST YOU WATCH!
Every since he was young, possibly from the very moment he was born, he had been blessed with a terrible immune system.
His parents didn't know why; neither of them, or anybody in their family, had anything like this before, even the doctors were a bit puzzled and could only assume that the baby boy just got …unlucky.
His immunity was weak; his body lacked the defense that it needed to protect itself from harmful viruses and bacteria that lingered in the air, and a simple cough or sneeze from any persons would immediately result in him getting sick for at least a few days.
And because he always got sick, was always confined to bed for a few days in an attempt to 'sleep it off', his body was frail and weak, but he tried to make up for it in everything else; confidence, determination to be better and his lively personality.
But it wasn't just sickness; he had severe allergies, only to dust and pollen and fur, especially from cats, but thank god he had no particular food allergies. He liked his food, and if he didn't have it, he'd probably have contemplated suicide.
Not that he'd actually go for suicide. That would be stupid; beyond stupid. So stupid that it was stupid to even contemplate such a stupid move.
And Roxas was far from stupid.
"Dude, can we switch papers?" his friend asked as he continued to ogle at the mark on the blonds' paper.
"Heck no."
He whined, "Aww, come on. My mum's gonna kill me when she sees my shit grade."
Roxas rolled his eyes, "Then try studying for once."
"Hell no." he scoffed as he crossed his arms in a defiant manner. "It's too hard to bother."
The blond smirked, "Then suffer shit grades and death."
"Asshole." he muttered out and everybody burst out in laughter.
"Hey." the dark haired boy started, "There's a new movie showing on Saturday, you guys up for it?"
"I'm in." Roxas grinned as he folded his test paper in half and stuck it into his bag.
"I'm all for it." the dirty haired blond gave a thumb's up.
"Oh! Me too!" the brunette spoke as she raised her hand and waved it excitedly.
It's been a while since the three of them have actually spent a whole day out together. They usually hung out for a while after school but it hardly ever counted because it was school and it didn't even involve any arcade games.
The last time since they had gone out to town together to do anything was during the summer holidays which ended way over two months ago.
Safe to say they were looking forward to it.
But the cooler months were slowly approaching and, predictably, the blonds' system started failing again.
Roxas just hoped his body would be able to hold out until maybe after Saturday's over and done with.
"I checked out the timetables and everything. It's all allocated seatings so we better buy them at the same time." Pence explained as he pulled out his handy notebook which he kept all his school notes and random notes in.
"Maybe we should wait? The cinema's gonna be packed isn't it?" the brunette spoke as she placed her hand on her cheek in a thoughtful manner.
"Good point." the blond nodded in agreement. He hated it when cinemas were packed. It got noisy and the people were always rude.
Like how the last time they went to watch a movie and it was packed with students and adults and the people some seats behind him would throw popcorn at the screen when something lame pops up.
"I think we should wait." Roxas spoke and tried to fight back the odd feeling that was growing inside of him. "The tickets would be cheaper after the hype's over too." he reasoned as he brought a hand up to the strap of his messenger bag over his chest.
"Good idea. I love cheap tickets."
"That's because you're cheap Hayner." the blond retorted with a smirk.
"Ah screw you."
They burst into laughter again.
Roxas curled his fingers tighter over the strap and pushed his knuckles into his chest, hoping it would fight off the odd feeling that was steadily growing.
"I'll check the website and see when the allocating seating blows over. At least we can buy the tickets when we want and grab whatever seats are available." Pence spoke as he quickly scribbled something into his notebook and tucked it back into his bag.
"Sounds good to me." the dirty haired blond agreed with a curt nod.
Roxas let out a hum in agreement and brought his other hand up to scratch the side of his neck when his throat started to feel itchy from the inside.
"So what now? Up for going to the library?" the brunette suggested and immediately the dirty haired blond screwed his face up in disgust.
"Oh heck no, not the library."
"Come on Hayner, we've got a test tomorrow, remember?"
"Well yeah, but come on." he whined.
A rumble made its way up the blonds' throat and he turned his head away and coughed once before he suppressed the rest. But his friends knew and immediately, one of them gave a long sigh.
"Yo Roxas, ya sick again?" his friend, a dirty haired blond named Hayner, smirked as he gave a flippant wave, "Man, you're lucky. I'd do anything to skip on tomorrow's quiz."
The blond returned the smirk with one of his own, "That's just because you never study."
A wince, "Ouch man."
They laughed.
But it was cut short by a sudden onslaught of coughs the blond started having. It was a sign of an oncoming sickness.
He hated it.
"Roxas, are you ok?" a voice, soft and worried, asked him.
He suddenly felt so tired. This was always the case after a nasty coughing session and at the beginning of any sort of sickness. "I'm fine." he tried to reason but he knew that everyone knew that he was far from fine.
There was a hand on his shoulder, not even a hand, maybe a finger or two just hovering above his shoulder; cautious, careful to touch, afraid he might break.
Roxas knew he was frail, and often weak, but he wasn't something that would easily break from just a simple touch.
He hated this, almost wanted to scream out that he wasn't an antique doll behind a glass case.
He wondered what he did in a past life to deserve such a fate to be constantly sick and be so powerless.
"Come on, let's get sick boy home." Hayner spoke in a joking manner as they started walking in the direction of the blonds' home.
"Yeah, and then you guys can take idiot boy to the library to study." Roxas retorted with a smirk.
The dirty haired blond merely stuck his tongue out and threatened the other with a closed fist to which the blond rolled his eyes.
"Oooh, I'm so scared."
"Yeah, you should be."
He heard a sigh, a gentle sigh that almost sounded like the wind fluttering through the curtains.
He felt a cool hand brush over his forehead, maybe to check for his temperature.
He knew who it was; it was always the same person. It was always his mother, coming in to check on him, make sure he was ok; getting better, looking to see if he wanted anything, needed anything.
"Roxas, get well soon sweetie." a soft voice cooed to him before placing a gentle kiss on his clammy forehead.
The blond merely gave a soft grunt in reply and sank back into dreams.
"How is he?"
"He's still a little under the weather."
The man sighed tiredly as he took off his glasses and rubbed the corners of his eyes, "I don't understand how something like this could've happened."
None of them did really.
"Roxas is a good boy, he doesn't deserve this. He didn't do anything to deserve this."
"Maybe there's a reason for all this, we just need to have faith and trust." she spoke softly as she clung onto the man's hand for support.
He nodded sagely and placed his hand above hers, "And hope…"
In the dark of the night, he swore he dreamt of fluttering wings and faeries that sparkled in the moonlight.
And when he woke up, he noticed a small crack in the window where the smallest slivers of wind would come in and breeze through the curtains.
"Congrats Roxas, you made it the whole week and you're still alive and well!"
"Screw you Hayner."
"Sorry man, I don't swing that way."
The group burst out in laughter, hysteric and there wasn't an oncoming sickness to hold them back from the tears that were building up in their eyes.
Eventually, they calmed down.
"But seriously man, it's been like a week and a half. I think you're about to break your old record of three weeks."
"Shut up man, you're gonna jinx me." the blond spoke as he gave a half-flustered look.
He believed in karma a lot, and always did everything he could to make sure he never got on anyone's bad side. Do onto others what you want others to do onto you. It was a saying he practically lived by and lived with his whole life.
"Come on Hayner, don't be mean to Roxas." the brunette, the only girl of the group, chastised the dirty haired blond.
"Hey!" the dark haired boy started, almost immediately changing the subject, "You guys wanna hang out at the ice cream parlor today? We haven't been in a while."
"Oh!" Olette suddenly remembered, "We haven't watched that movie yet either!" she brought up as she clapped her hands together and jumped once.
"Is it still allocated seatings though?" the blond inquired curiously.
"Yeah." Pence spoke as he pouted slightly, "It'll be like that for another half a week or so."
"You think you can hold out till then Roxas my man?" Hayner spoke as he swung his arm over the said person's shoulder.
"We'll see." he grinned and decided to change the subject again, "Hey guys, how're your reports going? I tried to go through as much of it as I could when I find out about it." he asked as he paused in front of a row of lockers in the hallway.
"Report? What report?" the dirty haired blond started as he moved his arm away and started looking flustered himself.
"English report, duh." Olette filled in with a roll of her eyes, "It's due in by the end of the week. Hayner, I've been reminding you about it!" she scolded him.
"No you haven't!" he protested.
"Hayner..." she spoke lowly, in a voice filled with warning.
He winced, "Ok, fine, maybe you have…" he admitted, just to avoid the brunette's wrath. "But it's not due to the end of the week right? I'll be fine."
"That's what you always say." the dark haired boy butted in with a grin.
Hayner started to whine, "Guys…"
And Roxas couldn't help but laugh again, despite the seriousness of the situation because the report was worth fifteen-percent of their grades for English. But seriously? Hayner was totally asking for it.
Suddenly, he felt the room tilt; dizzy spells wash over him, he heard voices calling out to him, then something hard and cold was suddenly right next to him, touching his arm, snapping him back to normal.
"Sorry." he apologized as he raised a hand to his head. Dizzy spells. They were another first sign of sickness to come.
Great, and it had barely been two weeks since he was last sick.
"Do you want to go see the nurse?" Olette started.
"Yeah man, you don't look too hot."
"Do you want to call back home instead?" the dark haired boy suggested.
It was an overload of words, and the dizzy spell still wasn't entirely gone, he couldn't think straight, couldn't see straight.
His vision was distorted, and the worried faces of his friends were blending and smudging against one another.
"One at a time." he almost begged as his fingers buried into his messy hair, an attempt to shoo away the wooziness, to stop the lines and images from distorting out of proportion.
Then someone whistled, cutting right through the dizzy spell and letting him see straight again, "Hey squirt, you're blocking my way."
The sick feeling was gone, but was replaced with annoyance.
The blond looked up; ready to retort that the other half of the hallway was still free for use, duh, but instead he lost himself in green eyes.
"Walk around you idiot." somebody retorted for him instead.
"Oh bug off, I wasn't talking to you." the green-eyed person bit back.
"Can't you see that he's not entirely well?" a female voice started, and fingers hovered over his shoulder again.
"He can stand; surely he can walk a couple of feet."
"Hey buddy, why don't you just fu-"
"Hayner," Roxas quickly jumped in before things got too rough, "Guys, I'm not completely weak and defenseless. I can look after myself." the blond tried to reason, tried to get his friends to stop being so overprotective of him.
When he was sure that a fight wasn't going to break out between his friends and the green-eyed guy, he turned back to the other with arms crossed, "Seriously, what's up with you?"
A raised eyebrow and then a point of the finger, "You're blocking my locker."
"Oh…"
"I think we should take him to the doctors. This isn't normal. It's too soon."
"Honey, this is normal. I'm sorry to say this, but I was almost expecting this to happen."
A sigh of defeat, "Poor Roxas, he's missing out on so much."
"But he's living his life the best way he can."
Another sigh, "…I suppose you're right, but he deserves so much better."
"I know..."
"Man, I can't believe he's called in sick again." Hayner sighed, along with everybody else. "How the hell does he even manage to pass without being held back?" he muttered out, a hint of jealousy in his voice.
"He studies." the brunette replied without missing a beat.
He winced, "Ouch man…"
They laughed, and didn't have to worry about coughing fits and sick friends to hold them back.
Unbeknownst to them that someone else was listening to the conversation.
He could hear someone sing a soft melody. It was something reminiscent of his childhood.
He remembered listening to it on his feverish days when he was younger, sick, unable to go to school and be like a normal kid like any other kid.
No, he just had to be special.
"Mum…?" he whispered out and coughed into the blankets that covered him and tucked him in.
"Hush," she cooed softly as she moved her cool hand over his forehead, "Shh, its ok Roxas, go back to sleep."
"But my report…" he started weakly. It was due in a few days, he had almost been finished with it too.
"The teachers and principle will understand." she reasoned gently, "Rest now Roxas."
Unable to fight anymore, unable to even stay awake anymore, he fell back into the land of blank, hazy, fuzzy dreams.
"Dude…what are you doing?"
"Uh…taking down notes?"
"…"
He raised an eyebrow at his best friend, "What?"
"Ok, who the fuck are you and what the fuck have you done with Axel?" the dirty haired blond threatened.
He rolled his eyes, "Oh fuck off Demyx, I'm entitled to take down notes every once in a bloody millennia."
The threat disappeared, replaced with fear and shock and confusion and everything in between, "Holy shit, what have they done?!" he cried out as he pulled on his hair and paced back and forth the back of the classroom.
"Cut the drama man, you're embarrassing me." he groaned out and wished all eyes were somewhere else and not on him and his overly dramatic friend.
He wondered if this is the kind of crap he'd have to go through every time someone missed class.
In his dreams, he dreamt of floating ice cream scoops with dollops of whipped cream and twirling cherries.
And when he woke up, he noticed his pajamas; ice cream cones with whipped cream and cherry on top.
"Welcome back Roxas! We thought you actually died for a moment there!"
"Nobody would miss me."
"That's so not true Roxas!" the brunette cried out in disbelief, "We were all worried about you."
"Chill Olette," the blond smiled reassuringly, "I was just pulling your leg."
She giggled as she weaved her fingers behind her back and swayed left and right, "I know."
"So guys," Roxas started, changing the subject once again, "How did the report go? Did you guys hand it in on time?"
"Barely." Hayner scoffed out, "And I barely got a pass too."
"That's because you barely even tried." the dark haired boy butted in, "And yes, we all handed it in time. What about you though?"
"They gave me an extension but I handed it in once I got back into school today. I finished it over the weekend."
"Smartass." the dirty haired blond teased with a smirk.
"You wish you were one." the blond retorted to which the other merely scoffed half heartedly.
"Oh, before I forget." the brunette suddenly remembered, "We got some notes for you from the classes you missed out on, nothing too important, but you might have to ask the teacher about that one test in stats you missed out on." she spoke as she pulled out a stack of papers from her bag and handed it over.
Roxas took the papers from her and wondered how it even managed to fit into her small bag without getting too crumpled up, "Thanks Olette."
She smiled, "No worries, but we couldn't get anything from geo though, we don't share that class with you."
"That's ok, I'll just ask my teacher or something."
And it was just in time that the bell for the first period class rang, echoing throughout the whole school grounds and even ringing in the ears of many students and teachers even long after it faded away.
"I'll see you guys next period. Laters." the blond spoke as he waved to his friends, tucked his new notes into his messenger bag and walked towards his first period geo class.
"Bye." he heard his friends call out to him and he gave one last wave before turning a corner.
When he reached his classroom, he was a bit disappointed his teacher was no where to be seen. Hopefully, he'd see him soon enough and would be able to get some notes from the past half a week that he had missed out on.
Just as he sat on his seat, close but not too close to the front, someone tapped on his shoulder.
"Hey, you needed notes from geo?" a familiar red head asked curiously.
"Yeah, weren't you that guy who-"
"Yes I was. And uh," he changed the subject and averted his eyes, "I've got some in my locker if you need them?" he offered.
"Uhmm…" the blond just contemplated asking the teacher for them but instead agreed to it for reasons he wasn't too sure of himself. Maybe because he learnt that it was rude to turn down offers that were made to him, "Sure, sounds great."
His parents taught him well.
The red head grinned and almost immediately dashed out of the room, which Roxas hadn't been expecting at all. He wouldn't have at all minded waiting until the end of class or the day to get them.
Luckily, the red head managed to get back just in time before the teacher did, looking a little flustered and with a folder in his hand.
He walked over to the blond and doubled over with an outstretched hand, "Here ya go. It's sort of unorganized but all the new stuffs are at the back. I only organize it once a week when I take it home from school."
Slowly, the blond reached out for the folder, "Ok, thanks." it felt a little awkward talking to the guy who he hadn't really talked to before since that first meeting about a week ago.
The red head smiled and was about to move to the back of the class before he paused, "Oh, and good to know you're feeling better by the way."
"Uh…thanks." Roxas wasn't quite sure how to react to the other who suddenly made his presence known when his presence had practically been invisible up until a week ago back at the locker incident.
The red head smiled, even wider, before retreating to the back of the class where his seat was reserved by one of his friends.
And it was then that Roxas realized that he didn't even know the guy's name yet.
But that was fine. He could wait.
"So…movie?"
"Sounds good."
"Tomorrow?"
"Yup."
"Same time, same place?"
"Yuh-huh."
Roxas sighed half heartedly at his friends who all had an ice cream and a plastic spoon in hand, "We're so talkative today."
They laughed, and once they calmed down, they went back to trying out the other ice cream flavors they each got, sitting at the booth at the local ice cream parlor.
"You know…that movie wasn't as great as I thought it was gonna be."
"I second that." Roxas agreed once they came out from the dark room and back into the world outside.
Olette frowned, choosing not to say anything as she stared down at the floor contemplatively, perhaps a little disappointed herself.
"Oh come on," Pence started, "The movie's not that bad."
"No, but it could've been better." the dirty haired blond spoke as he crossed his arms and stopped at the side of the crowded corridor.
The dark haired boy couldn't help but agree, "I guess…"
"So what now guys?" the brunette finally spoke up.
"Wanna hit the arcades?" Roxas suggested. The arcade was usually the next spot to hit after a movie or a meal.
"Arcade it is."
And it was almost as soon as they walked out of the cinema building that they suddenly gushed about all the wrong points in the movie, how badly it was done, how there was absolutely no plot what so ever and how the main leading girl was just stupid.
"She was not stupid." Olette defended the actress, "She was just…headstrong." she reasoned weakly.
"Yeah, right, sure Olette, whatever you say." Hayner brushed it off as they continued their way down the street towards the arcade spot.
It didn't take long before they were proceeding down the stairs towards a brightly lit room where sounds and neon lights immediately flashed in their eyes.
"I'm gonna go get some change." Pence spoke as he fished out his wallet and walked on over to the attendant behind the counter.
"Do you guys wanna take a photo together?" the brunette asked as she gestured over to the photo booths on one side of the arcade.
"Olette, you always ask this question, and we're gonna give you the same answer." the dirty haired blond turned to the girl and answered smoothly, "No."
She immediately started whining, "Come on! It's only one photo!"
"Technically, its sixteen." the blond butted in.
"Alright! Who wants some change?" Pence spoke as he walked right up to the gang with a handful of coins.
"Just one picture please?" Olette persisted in her pleading.
"No way man, I hate getting my pictures taken." Hayner spoke with a slight grimace, avoiding the way that the brunette was looking at him with that pout of hers.
Roxas laughed, feeling a high coming on for some reason, and immediately knew that Hayner was in a losing battle. Nobody ever won when Olette pulls out the heavy artillery, and he was a little surprised that she didn't pull it out sooner.
She probably wanted to try and convince them without using her 'secret' weapon first.
"Come on Hayner, it's not all that bad." the blond tried to convince his friend, "Just a couple of poses and it's over."
"We have to pose?!" he cried out in shock, "Oh hell no!"
"Please?" the brunette begged again.
Roxas continued to watch his friends duel it out as the neon lights flashed behind them, momentarily distracting him for a moment. It was bright and it caused little spots to appear in his vision.
So he looked away.
But he was surrounded.
Everywhere he looked, the lights were everywhere. The music followed, echoing in his ears. He suddenly wanted to get out of there.
"Roxas?" a distorted voice spoke to him.
But he couldn't focus, not with the sights and sounds that were constantly blinking in his eyes.
He tried to wave the pictures away from him, but something felt wrong.
"Oh my god, Roxas?!"
He heard someone shout out to him, calling out his name. He felt himself falling, but he wasn't too sure.
He probably fell unconscious before he even hit the ground. Did he even hit the ground?
He wasn't even sure…
He felt a hand, a warm hand; much warmer than his forehead, brush over his hair, maybe to check his temperature, make sure it wasn't in the danger zone.
The hand was large, larger than his mother's, more calloused and rough, not at all like his mother's…
He thought it was his dad, checking up on him; to make sure that his son, his only son that constantly gets sick and only has brains going for him, was ok and not half-way dead. Or something like that.
He couldn't open his eyes, couldn't see who it was. All he could manage, all he could muster was a groan and in a muffled voice, ask, "Dad?"
The motion over his forehead stopped, but the hand, so rough and warm, was still there.
A cough escaped Roxas' lips and he struggled to keep it inside as it shook through his body.
And then a quiet voice, soft and familiar, spoke to him, "Go back to sleep Roxas."
It was comforting, the voice, and hearing it gave him a sense of security, a feeling of acceptance, as though it was saying that everything's going to be ok.
And for a while, everything was ok.
Roxas fell back into slumber.
"Is he going to be ok?"
"Oh, he'll be fine. A few days rest will do him some good, don't you worry."
"Ok then. I just didn't expect that to happen."
"It's nice to know someone cares for my little Roxas. What was your name again?"
"Oh, it's--"
"Axel, do you have any idea how late it is?"
"Uhmm…well yeah, but a friend of mine from school sorta collapsed and--"
"Oh my gosh, is he ok?"
It was funny how his mother's mood suddenly switched around so quickly, "Oh, no, I mean yeah, he's fine. Just needs to snooze it off."
She sighed out in relief but her stern look return, "And why did it take you five hours to come back home?"
"Uh…his parents asked me to stay for dinner…" and it was true too!
"You could've at least told me. I worried so much about you, especially since the car accident rates have been piling up high." she clicked her tongue as he continued to cover up the leftover food before bunking them in the fridge. "I guess that can be your breakfast or lunch tomorrow."
"Yay…meatloaf." he was almost glad he stayed at the blonds' house for dinner. Meatloaf Wednesdays weren't nearly as appealing as roast chicken with mashed potatoes and peas…
…Mmmm…
In the middle of the night, he kept waking up seeing spots and hearing music from the far-off distance. But he didn't have a radio in his room, his mp3 was out of batteries, and the lights were off save for the sliver of moonlight shining through the gaps of the curtains.
The next morning, he woke up and he swore he could still hear the sound and see the lights of the arcade located in an underground basement in the middle of the city.
"Mum, I'm heading out now."
"Are you sure Roxas? You can stay for an extra day or two you know. I doubt it'll make much of a difference." his mother spoke as she felt the temperature on his forehead. It was moderately normal. Or maybe her hand was just cold.
"Mum, I have to go to school, I'm not sick anymore."
"Aww I know," she cooed, "I'm just worried about you, that's all."
"I'm fine mum, and besides. I need to make sure my friends haven't thought I died or anything."
She laughed and eventually let him go with a kiss on the cheek, "Alright, have fun and be safe. Call me if you need anything."
"Ok mum, see you after school!"
"Buh-bye!!"
"Oh my god Roxas!"
"Roxas!"
"Welcome back Roxas!"
"You totally gave us a scare back then!"
"Guys!" the blond called out, earning all of their attention and then some, "One at a time please." he begged as Olette released him from the hug.
They grinned sheepishly, "Sorry."
Roxas smiled, "I guess you guys missed me?"
They all burst out in mutual agreement to which the blond couldn't help but laugh to.
It didn't take them long to fall back into routine where Olette would hand him the notes he missed out and tell him the things that he'd probably have to do to make sure his grades are kept to a level that was satisfactory to pass.
"So I have to go take out a book from the resource room for English?" the blond confirmed again with the brunette who nodded.
"Yeah, you'll need your I.D for that. We've only gone five chapters into it though, so you'll catch up in no time."
"Doesn't sound too bad." he spoke, to which Hayner let out a scoff and a not-too-soft mutter of, "Not too bad my freakin' ass…"
"Oh, Hayner," the brunette suddenly turned to the said person, "I need back my stats notebook you borrowed."
"Eh? But I haven't-" he managed to stop just as Olette gave him a stern look.
"You haven't what?"
"Uhmm…nothing." he grinned nervously before he turned to the dark haired boy and whispered, "Mind if I borrow your notebook instead?"
He laughed and didn't miss the stern look that Olette seem to be giving the dirty haired blond, "Sure."
"I'll head over to my locker and get it now." Hayner spoke as he moved off towards said direction, "Go on ahead Roxas, we'll be there soon."
"Ok then." the blond nodded and watched as all three of his friends moved in the same direction, he didn't really know why they all had to go at the same time, but shrugged it off as he walked towards his first period class.
He didn't manage to get very far before someone tapped on his shoulder, drawing his attention away from the path ahead.
"Yo Roxas, heard from someone that you're better again."
"Uh…yeah, more or less." he managed to suppress a cough as he spoke to the red head whose name he still did not know, "What's up?"
"Nothing." he shrugged before digging into his messenger bag, "Got you a couple of notes from the geo classes you missed. There's a quiz later, hope you're ready for that."
"Oh," that was unexpected, "Thanks." not for the head's up on the quiz, he was always ready for that, but for the unexpected help from the red head.
It was usually his friends, Hayner, Pence and Olette, that would help him with notes and stuffs but with geo, he'd only have to go to the teacher to get some help.
"No problem. See you in class." he spoke as he sauntered off, shoulders hunched but with an air of confidence surrounding him.
"See ya." Roxas barely caught a glimpse of what seemed to be chicken scratch on paper before he looked up to watch the other move down the hallway to meet up with his other friends.
His other friends who weren't sick, and were completely, one-hundred-percent, normal.
Roxas wished he was normal too. Just to fit in. Even if for one day…
And it was barely a week later, he got sick again.
"Seriously, I can't believe this."
"This must be his worst year yet."
"Yeah, must be hard, coming in and out of it every other week."
"Yeah…"
But it wasn't like there was anything they could do about it.
"Hi."
"Oh! Please, do come in."
"Thanks, I don't mean to intrude."
"Oh not at all. I'm sure he'll appreciate it." she smiled as she ushered him inside then closed the door. "How did you and Roxas meet?"
"Uhh…" he wasn't gonna go into how their first meeting was actually him telling the blond to bugger off away from his locker, "I'm in his geo class."
"I see, I see! He's so lucky to have such a friend like you."
He laughed awkwardly, he wasn't entirely sure if they actually were even friends. Maybe acquaintances; class mates, but friends?
…Not that he'd complain.
"Roxas," a voice, soft and familiar and not his mother's, called out to him, slowly pulling him away from slumber and into the land of the awake, "Time for your medicine."
Roxas groaned, struggled to go back to sleep as he burrowed deeper into his warm cocoon of blankets and his pillow.
A chuckle, "Come on, don't be a baby now."
He groaned again and gave a muffled reply under a blanket, "'m not a baby…" he protested, but his protest fell on deaf ears and a laugh.
"You just proved my point," a poke, "Now get up and eat your medicine."
Roxas gave another groan, "I don't wanna. I hate it."
A sigh, "It'll help you get better."
"Then why aren't I better yet?" he retorted, feeling frustrated and angry, and only half groggy as he kept his eyes squeezed shut.
Another sigh and suddenly, his anger and frustration vanished, and he felt guilty. He felt immature; childish. Like a brat.
They were trying.
His mother and father.
They were trying so hard for him. And a part of him knew; was sure, that it was just as difficult for them to watch their one and only son go through this just as he was suffering through each and every sickness that came and passed.
Slowly, he began to toss and turn around his bed until he got himself into a good enough position before he, in a silent apology, extended his hand out from beneath the thick blankets that covered him and waited.
He didn't have to wait long before something cool was placed into the palm of his hand.
One, two…three, four.
Four meant that he was eating his afternoon prescriptions too, which was odd because he didn't even remember eating lunch. But then again, being sick did this to him, his memory was constantly fuzzy.
Quietly, he closed his hand and slunk it back beneath his blanket before he slowly sat up, the blanket still over his head and covering him, and popped the medicine in his mouth before he reached around his bedside table for a glass of water which was eventually handed to him.
Another chuckle, "You look like a ghost."
He gave a low hum, placed the half empty glass back on his bedside table, and laid back on his bed, slightly cool but refreshing.
The blanket was still over his head, and he kept it there because he didn't want to see his dad; didn't want to see the disappointment and sadness behind mimicking blue eyes.
Because it wasn't just his dad that was maybe disappointed in him; he was disappointed in himself, for everything that he was and wasn't.
There were no words to express the kind of torment they were perhaps putting themselves through, the kind of strain the family was constantly under, the stress of having so many burdens on one's shoulders.
There was a rustle of clothing, and then movement shortly followed by the sound of wood lightly dragging over carpet.
Don't leave.
"I'm sorry…" the blond quietly apologized, his voice so soft he was almost certain that it couldn't be heard.
There was silence, and Roxas was convinced that his apology hadn't been heard, before a quiet voice answered him, "It's ok." and an equally quiet click signaled the closing of his bedroom door.
Roxas fell asleep before the last step of the stairs was even reached.
"How is he?"
"He's…fine. A bit stubborn if you ask me."
A laugh, "He gets like that sometimes. You caught him in one of his moods."
A sigh, "Why, lucky me..."
"Would you like to stay for dinner? As thanks for helping me take care of Roxas."
"If you don't mind…"
"I don't mind at all. Make yourself at home."
"Thanks."
There it was again, that hand over his forehead, warm and comforting and doing a damn good job at helping him fall back to sleep.
"Dad…?"
"Why do you keep calling me dad? That's just weird."
Confusion surged through his system and he was finally able to discern that that voice, did not belong to his father.
"Huh?" he tried to open his eyes, but it took a lot of effort out of him to.
His vision was still distorted, but he could see red. A lot of red, and specks of green. "Who…?"
"Don't recognize me?" a smirk.
Roxas didn't understand. Why was that red head, the one who always sat at the back of every geo class, the one who always helped with notes that he missed and told him snippets of things that was coming up, the red head who hangs out with normal people, people who aren't sick…why was he here?
"What…?"
The other hummed, "Must be the drugs talking now."
"Huh…?"
"Yup." the red head shook his head, "Go back to sleep Roxas."
The blond let his head fall back onto his pillow. Nothing made sense, and he was almost half convinced this way just a dream, a figment of his imagination.
"Get well soon."
He hoped it wasn't just some dream or some figment of his imagination.
When he slept, he dreamt. And he dreamt of red sunsets as he sat atop a green, green hill.
And when he woke up, he got up in time to catch a snippet of the sunrise coming in through the gaps of his bedroom curtains.
It was beautiful…
He didn't know how long he had slept for, but by the time he felt better; was able to get back on his feet again, it had only been a few days.
"Oh my gosh, Roxas? You're up early." his mother exclaimed, "Are you hurt? Is everything ok?"
"Mum, I'm fine." he spoke as he tried to get his prying mother from cuddling him.
"Oh my gosh, this is odd." she continued on, despite her son's protests. "You've recovered much quicker than I thought you would've."
"Huh??"
"I suppose it must be because of him."
"What?" he continued, feeling a little out of the loop with everything.
"You should thank that friend of yours." she smiled as she strolled back into the kitchen to prepare breakfast for three now instead of two, "He's been coming by everyday after school to help me look after you."
"Who?"
She smiled, "Now go get change and eat breakfast. Today's Monday."
He groaned and wished he woke up on a Friday instead.
It was still early, too early for any of his friends to be on school grounds. They probably wouldn't come by for another half an hour maybe.
The first place he stopped by was the office, to hand in his sick note even though it was no longer required of him to do so since his mother had already called in for him, but this was purely out of politeness and habit.
The next place he stopped by was his locker, there were some things he didn't manage to take home with him. There was still that stats homework he hadn't even started yet and it was from last week.
He was halfway through organizing it when he felt a tap on his shoulder.
"Hey son."
The blond quirked up his eyebrow at the voice as he turned to the red head and decided to humor him with a smirk, "Hi dad. What're you doing here? Shouldn't you be at work?"
The red head laughed, tears gathering at the corners of his eyes, but he managed to compose himself before he pissed his pants or something.
"I never got your name by the way." the blond spoke, turning back to his locker and keeping his eyes focused ahead of him.
Green eyes smiled, "Thought you'd never ask. It's Axel."
Is a bit fragmented if you ask me, but meh…
I feel accomplished.
It's been a while since I've written anything...How sad…
To Jessie - I'm so, so, so, sorry if this isn't what you wanted. I haven't exactly been online very much these past couple of weeks...months, more like. I hoped you liked it anyway.