Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Kingdom Hearts. No heart or any other internal organs. Oh yeah, and the characters aren't mine either.
Summary: Axel just recently moved into the boarding school where Roxas and his brother Sora live. After only three months most of the school is warming up to him. However, the person he wants, Roxas, has been avoiding him since a truth or dare game. Can Axel get Roxas to stop running away? And what is Roxas hiding from everyone that causes him to get so defensive? Au, AkuRoku, SoRi, ZexDem, and more...
A/N: I've wanted to do this for a very long time. And finally, this decent and lovely plot dropped into my brain and said "use me, I'm a whore". Okay, so it didn't really do that, but my imagination works in funny ways. Anyway, I don't want this to drag on forever, so... Here goes the prologue and chapter 1! In one shot (this isn't a one-shot, though, so don't get any funny ideas)!
Begin: Stay Away, Come Closer
Prologue
Double doors, here I come. You can't stop me! I'll do it! And he would've done it too, except that a hand pulled the red-head back towards the inside of the building. His father's hand. Regrettably he was being forced to start all over again at a brand new school. A brand new school in the strange new town with it's strange new (to him at least) people. He hated it with a passion. Always had, always would. It wasn't like they'd be here very long anyways. In another year his father would tell him to pack his things again and they would go on their way, moving to the next town. Stupid father's job with it's stupid requirements. He wasn't even really sure what his dad did, nor did he care. He felt like killing something. In a few moments, his dad would give him the "it's going to be okay" speech and he'd have to gag. He hated that speech (he hated a lot, huh?) for the sole fact that things were never 'okay'.
Everyone was staring at him, and he could understand why. His hair spike out in the back and was bright red. His eyes were just as bright, but green and his clothes... Well, they were odd. He had a black hoodie tank top with a white t-shirt underneath and black, baggy pants. He didn't wear any chains, but there was a necklace that he kept hidden underneath his clothing. The only thing he had left from his mother. Everyone whispered and he just grinned, that stupid nervous grin he got around people he wasn't really comfortable with. He hated that grin so much; everyone thought it was cute.
"Mr. Stevens, the principal is able to see you and your son now," the secretary informed them after hanging up the phone (which Axel assumed the principal had used to call in).
Both of them were ushered into the office and offered a seat. Axel quirked an eyebrow at the person sitting in front of him. He had freakishly long hair for a man. Hell, if he had boobs and a lack of muscle he would've looked like a woman. This was who his principal was? Wow, this school was absolutely pathetic. What kind of people did they hire? Axel didn't even bother listening to what the two adults were saying, just kept looking around the room and at the man behind the desk, trying to figure out whether he was like that because of a sex change or some other unknown genetic defect. A lot of the boys in the school looked sorta womanly. Hell, he couldn't talk all that much, the way he was built, but still. He was better than them, cooler than them. He just wasn't them. That was the key to it. Don't be one of them and he was going to be the best person in the world. This deprived little town that hid itself away from the rest of the world. Then again, it had said 'boarding school' right on the front... Woah, wait. He'd missed something in the transition.
He looked at his dad with his "I just figured out what you're doing" look on his face. Before he could even open his mouth, a uniform was handed to him. How come he hadn't noticed anyone else wearing the same thing on his way down the hall? Next, his father was standing and he felt himself mechanically doing the same thing. First his mom had left and now his dad was just dropping him off? How dumb was this whole idea?
"Listen, I didn't want to tell you because... I knew you'd argue," his father said to him. "The thing is, I need you to do this. My work yanks you everywhere and I want you to finally be happy somewhere. I'll come back and visit on holidays. Until things are really settled with my job, I don't want to drag you anywhere else with me."
Axel couldn't do anything at this point in time, he was already stuck here and he'd agreed to it. He was ushered back out of the office and into the hallway, where his dad hugged him goodbye. It was a quick hug, and Axel didn't bother hugging him back. He wasn't in the mood now. This had just gotten even worse than he thought it could. The principal led him down the hall, explaining things as he went. Axel hardly heard a word the man said, only really paying attention to the fact that he was going to be sleeping in a foreign bed, with a foreign someone in the same room. Everyone was staring and whispering again, and now he knew why he hadn't noticed anyone else wearing a uniform... They weren't.
"Uh, sir... If a uniform is required, how come no one's wearing one?" He stared right back at one scrawny kid that dared to look too long. The boy panicked and looked away. Ha, he already had a hold over these people, not that it was making him feel any better about being here. They all looked like babies so far. The girls were pretty cute though, too bad he didn't swing that way.
"It's Friday. Students are permitted to wear whatever they like Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, whether they have classes or not." The man stayed at least two strides ahead of him, being much taller. It annoyed Axel to no end, who was trying desperately to keep up with the man. He had no personality whatsoever either. Made Axel sick. There went all his respect for the man that he ever might build up. Which was a bad thing because that meant he wouldn't care if he got suspended, or in trouble in any way. Yeah, he was definitely a model student. "I hope that you take care to behave yourself. If so, your stay will be enjoyable for everyone."
God, it was like the guy could read his mind or something. Creepy. His stay here was going to be just great.
Chapter 1: Three Months Later...
1
Axel stormed down the hallway, a red mark, vibrant as if he had been permanently branded, plastered on his cheek. Never before had he been slapped, and he most certainly hadn't planned on his first time being from a guy. Now, that wasn't necessarily degrading for himself as much as it was for the boy slapping him, but that wasn't the point. The point here was that he had been slapped, and he'd been slapped hard. All he'd done was wrap an arm around the kid's waist and ask him to go to the dance with him on Friday night. Of course, he'd been immediately turned down, the boy mumbling something about, "The last time I accepted an offer from you I was nearly raped." Axel knew that the boy was referring to the time he asked him to join 'The Organization'. The head had a thing for Roxas, everyone knew it (though the guy wouldn't admit it), and was constantly touching him in the littlest ways. That wasn't really rape, but when you were Roxas... Even the smallest look he didn't like was rape.
Flashback
"Hey, why don't you come to the dance with me this Friday?" Axel casually wrapped an arm around Roxas's small waist, smiling as they walked down the hallway, side by side. He received a warning glare from his target, but never caught it. That was his downfall right there and he would regret it in just a few moments. "I'll take you there, we'll dance a little, and then we could come back to my room and—"
That was when it happened. Axel suddenly lost his grip on the boy and felt a hand come in contact with his face. After that, Roxas had stormed off without even saying a word to him. No word as to what he shouldn't say (probably the comment about the room, though), nothing about whether or not he would go to the dance with him (though that was kind of assumed), and nothing hinting as to whether or not he would ever talk to him again. It was likely that the boy wouldn't, as he was known to frequently stop talking to friends and lose them all together. Just last week he'd stopped speaking to Hayner and now... Now Hayner was ignoring him. Though Roxas pretended not to care, he was constantly looking after the boy, Pence, and Olette whenever they walked down the hallway.
Axel had hoped to change that part of Roxas. He wanted to make him smile for real and all of the time, but it didn't look like that was going to be happening. It didn't look like much was going to be happening between them.
End Flashback
He wasn't going to be in a dancing mood now. Possibly not even by the time that Friday came around. Maybe Roxas would still go with him. Maybe not... During most of the Organization meetings Roxas would always sit across the room from him. In the hallways, whenever he shouted after the kid he always hurried up, so it was obvious that he heard Axel, but just ignored him all of the time. It was starting to really grate on his nerves. How many months had they been playing this game now? Two? Yeah, that sounded about right. Everything was fine when Axel had just acted like a friend, but ever since that stupid truth or dare game that they'd asked him whether or not he was gay... Well, Roxas had become a little distant. The kid's face during that game had been priceless. His bright blue eyes had gone wide at the answer, as if it had really mattered that he was gay, and from then on he (he being Roxas) had people ask him truths instead of dares (Axel figured it was because the girls tended to have them kiss, some infatuation they had).
All of a sudden he went tumbling onto the floor as he came in contact with someone who had a bigger build then his own (not that it was hard, but this time they were a little stronger than him). Xemnas. Oh great, that guy wouldn't stop talking until he got about fifty different apologies in possibly five different languages. Okay, so that would never happen, because Axel could barely manage to pass the one language class that he was taking. He waited as Xemnas turned around, a permanent scowl plastered on his face. Just when he went to say something, Axel mumbled and apology and stepped around him, heading down the hallway. The creepy senior could go fuck himself for all he cared. Seriously, anyone could go do that right now. Even Roxas. Stupid sophomore. Stupid underclassman. Stupid school. Stupid dad for making him go to this stupid school.
Axel sighed and stopped walking. He was getting mad over the smallest little thing. So what if Roxas didn't want to go with him? He'd just find someone else. Like a girl or something. That would make the kid jealous, he was sure. Or he would hate him more. Either way he was going to that damn dance and having a good time. And at least one dance with Roxas, whether the kid wanted it or not. Hm... Now he just had to go find Larxene.
2
Roxas didn't stop running from Axel until he reached his destination, not realizing the door was closed and running right into it. Luckily Riku and Sora were directly behind him, otherwise he would've had a very sore rear. Riku went to ask what was wrong, as he pushed him back onto his feet, but Roxas hurriedly opened the door and ran to his seat. Riku wouldn't follow in, as he was a senior and had different classes. However, Sora was right on his tail and didn't even care that the teacher had started lecturing. He sat down in the seat next to Roxas and pulled it right up next to him. Roxas did his best to ignore the fact that his brother was right there, staring at him and trying to scare an answer out of him. They didn't even need to ask each other what they wanted to know. Somehow they always managed to read the question the second the other was thinking it and next to them, but Roxas couldn't answer. Sora had been getting angry every time he started complaining about Axel. No one else got it... No one else knew why he didn't like being chased around by the older male.
Sora stayed that way for the whole class, ignoring the teacher whenever he asked Sora to move his seat back to it's original position. He made it very hard for Roxas to actually concentrate on the class and keep from saying what was wrong. But how could he tell Sora that he didn't want to go to the dance with Axel and he'd slapped him because of it? Okay, so he'd really slapped Axel because of the 'let's go to my room afterwards' comment. That one he probably hadn't even meant, because he'd seen Axel go on dates before and come back alone, even after saying something about his room while asking them out. Most of the time he didn't even go on a second date. Then again, that had been before he admitted to being gay and he actually attempted to date girls for whatever stupid reason he could think of.
"Roxas, talk to me." Sora grabbed his arm before he could leave the room. "What's wrong with you and why are you running away?"
Roxas had to keep himself from glaring at his twin (though he personally thought they couldn't be more different) and hitting him too. He just wanted to be left alone and... That was his defensive side. "Don't worry about it. Just... I gotta go to the library, Sora, let go."
"I'm worried. You ran into a door, Roxas, a door. How many times in a year do you run into a door?" Sora began escorting him out of the classroom and heading for the library. "You only get like me when you get aggravated or worried about something. So spill, I've got the time."
"No you don't! You've got class this period, you don't have any time." Roxas didn't want to go through this, not right now. This was just... Too early on to talk about it. He probably had been wrong for slapping Axel and he was probably going to regret it one way or another, but still. How was he supposed to be able to deal with it? The guy had pretty much offered him his bed, and Roxas didn't want it.
"Roxas, stop trying to—"
"I can't talk about it right now. I'll talk to you later."
He pulled out of Sora's grasp and ran down the hallway. Sora would probably hear it from someone else by the time he was ready to talk about it, which would make it easier or harder to talk to him, depending on how mad Sora was at him. He could deal with a mad Sora, though. It was a mad Axel that he would have trouble with. Seeing as the guy was pretty much a walking fireball and had a lot of trouble not flipping out at people when he was angry. He was probably yelling at every person that he came across. Roxas almost smiled, but stopped. He hated Axel. At least he hated the way that Axel acted towards him now that everyone knew he was gay. It was almost as if the second Roxas didn't want as much to do with the guy (who everyone seemed to be instantly attracted to), he wanted to chase him around and date him. Why? Roxas wasn't really sure. Axel had everything that he needed. He was popular and had a ton of people chasing after him; both girls and guys. Hell, even Saix wouldn't stop staring at him and he had some sort of stick up his ass that told him not to like anyone. Unlike Roxas who had pretty much isolated himself from the rest of the school. He wanted to apologize to a lot of the people that he wasn't talking to anymore, but for a majority of the people it was too late. They had moved on and were completely different from the people he'd been friends with.
He opened the doors to the library and stepped inside. He loved how almost no one was here. It was huge, too, so even if there were a lot of people he could always find some sort of corner to hide in and do whatever he wanted. Most of the time he read or even did his homework, but at the same time he was thinking. This was where he came when he needed to figure something out. And right now, he sure as hell needed to figure something out. Merlin, the old librarian, never really cared where he sat so long as he was quiet about it. And he was always quiet about it, so there was really no problem. Then again, Merlin had a hard time telling anyone no, that's what Yuffie, Rikku, Yuna, and Paine were for. They always patrolled the library during their free periods. A group of girls that you never wanted to mess with. Yuffie and Rikku would take you down without a second thought and be hyper about it, Paine would just kill you with a look, and Yuna, being sweet and lovable to everyone, just convinced you to be good (until she walked away).
Roxas had heard somewhere that the library used to be a ballroom, back when the building had belonged to a wealthy Lord. They made it into a school after he died tragically, or something like that. It was the usual 'great Lord of the castle dies and haunts the place for the rest of eternity' story. They said the library was his favorite spot, so that's what he haunted. Then again, they also said that there were secret passageways in the library and he hadn't found any. Everyone exaggerated things so much, it was ridiculous.
He found a corner in the back and pulled a book off of the shelf. After memorizing the two books that came before and after it, he sat down and started reading, not really paying attention to the words, but more or less thinking of everything that was on his mind. Hayner was the first thing that he thought about. He'd gotten mad over the stupidest thing, as usual. He'd thrown his temper tantrum and hadn't spoken to his best friend yet. He couldn't even remember why he'd gotten mad, but it hadn't just cost him one friend, it had cost him three. Pence and Olette wouldn't look at him, never mind speak to him. He guessed that they were on Hayner's side for the fact that he'd kept his cool if nothing else. So now there was Sora and there was the Organization. Axel had asked him to join and he'd done so gladly, being apart of the mob that wanted to be Axel's friend really bad. However, that was the last time he'd accept anything from Axel, and it wasn't because he was gay. No, that part didn't bother Roxas, he'd just began getting distant and worried after he learned about it, though he wasn't sure exactly why. All he knew was... That was when Axel started actually taking an intimate interest in him. That scared him even more, but he had his reasons for that.
He put the book down and pulled a picture out of his backpack. He always carried it around with him now. It showed a spiky-haired, blue-eyed blonde hugging a brunette. He couldn't believe that it had already been five years now... And Sora couldn't remember a thing. No one told him either; it was better that way. But Roxas knew, and Roxas hated that he knew. All he wanted to do was forget.
3
The meeting had finally ended, so Axel could snag Roxas and apologize for earlier. Make sure Roxas knew that he hadn't meant anything bad by it. He had just been doing some friendly joking around, that was all. He was going to be a man and talk to Roxas, and if Roxas could be a man and talk back, then he was going to be okay. See, if Hayner would just talk to Roxas than everything would be okay, but both of them were so stubborn... They needed a major kick in the ass to get moving. He walked over to Roxas and grabbed his arm. The younger male looked tired, but Axel didn't care. That just meant there was less of a chance the he would get slapped for touching him. However, before he could even say a word, Roxas was speaking.
"Sorry... For slapping you, I mean. You... You didn't deserve that for just asking me to the dance. I could've just said 'no' and been done with it." Roxas couldn't believe that he'd actually apologized to Axel. He could count the number of times he'd done the apologizing on his hands, and they'd all been to his mother or to Sora. So why was Axel so different than everyone else? Well, Roxas could list a lot of things that made Axel different from everyone else, but none of them explained why he'd get an apology. Most of them just explained why he was so weird.
Axel stood there, not sure what to say, which wasn't like him. Roxas... apologized to him? Well, good, he hadn't felt like apologizing anyways. He, uh, wasn't in the mood anymore. However, he was in the mood to hold a friendly conversation with him, so that he could do. "Eh, forget about it. It never happened. Well it did, but we'll try to think it didn't."
He put an arm around Roxas shoulder and he felt the younger boy tense up. He wanted to say something like "I'm not going to bite you", but Demyx interrupted him with a jumping squeal of doom (and by that he meant that he got totally knocked down by the assault that was laid upon him by his friend). Roxas ended up going down with him, landing face down on the floor with Axel and Demyx piled on top of him. It wasn't the most comfortable position in the world, but he'd been in worse. He was soon losing oxygen and coughing, but Demyx didn't seem to notice and Axel was too busy trying to keep himself up to notice that he was practically sitting on him. Demyx was just happily clinging to the red-head's neck, not noticing poor Roxas on the bottom. All in all he was pretty much being ignored.
"Axel, Axel, guess what!" Demyx exclaimed, squeezing Axel even tighter than before. Now he was starting to choke.
"W-what? L-lose your virginity to a hamster?" He managed to say before he lost all of his air.
"No! Sick!" Demyx finally let go and got off of Axel, allowing Axel to breathe and get off of Roxas. It took until then to realize the position that they'd been in. Axel grinned when he saw Roxas's face all red, though he knew it was from the fact that he'd been unable to breathe for a period of time there. "'Member how I was gonna ask Xiggy to the dance? 'Member?!"
"Ouch, Dem, yes. I remember." Axel winced as Demyx tugged on his arm. He grabbed onto Roxas's arm to keep himself from falling over. "Did he say yes?"
"No! He said no, which was really depressing! So I was talking to Zexion about it because he, er, 'listens' and everything, right? And I asked him if he was going and he said no! I couldn't believe that he wasn't going. So then I started talking about all of the people he could make fun of for being so happy and wearing stupid things so he said he'd go! And I'm gonna go with him! Well, not with him with him, but he said it wouldn't be fun without someone to make fun of them with and I offered to go. Now that I think about it he didn't exactly say 'yes', he just kinda growled, 'fine, I'll go', before leaving the room, but he's still going and I still kinda sorta have a date! Even if he's emo and I don't really like him that way. I'm still sad that Xiggy said no, but I think it'll be easier to get over it if I go to the dance!" Demyx finally stopped talking and both Axel and Roxas looked at each other before bursting out laughing. They knew Demyx could talk, but damn. They didn't think he could go on like that without a single breath. Besides, this was Zexion they were talking about. He wasn't actually going with Demyx to make fun of people with him. As a matter of fact, he'd probably try to ditch Demyx and find Fuu or Paine or one of the two. Then that left open exactly why Zexion had agreed to go with him. The only explanation was that Paine and Fuu were either going with someone or weren't going at all.
Demyx looked absolutely confused as to what was so funny. "That's great Dem. You, Mr. Happy, is going to go to Friday's dance with Mr. Emo; that's just great. And priceless." Axel felt like he was going to die.
"I don't see what's so funny about it! I mean, at least I'm not going with Larxene when I don't even like girls! I mean, that's funny. I was surprised she didn't kill you in the hallway." Axel winced. He felt Roxas pull his arm out of his grasp, though he had only been holding on for the hell of it.
"Y-you're going with Larxene? So earlier, you weren't really serious?" Axel looked at Roxas, who had that look on his face again, the one that said he was irritated, but wasn't going to blow up. Demyx covered his mouth, remembering that he wasn't supposed to let Roxas know. He mouthed a sorry to Axel before running off towards their room. Roxas had actually been forgiving Axel for what he'd said, because he'd mentally told himself he didn't mean anything by any of it, but that didn't mean he believed it. But now it just... He hated being a joke. What if he'd said yes? Or maybe Axel knew he wasn't going to say yes? Oh this was stupid, it was Axel for crying out loud. He didn't even like the guy that way. They were just friends. "Demyx is right, that's definitely funnier than him going with Zexion. At least he's into guys."
Axel sighed as the anger seemed to wane and he actually seemed sincere about what he said, but it was still there. He had to be careful about what he said. "Yeah, uh... I was serious about earlier, but I figured you slapping me meant no, so I asked Larxene 'cause I knew she wasn't going to go with anyone. Marluxia's off on that trip, y'know? They can't hook up or anything. So I didn't want to leave her to go alone. But if you're reconsidering my offer, without the bedroom, then I can hook her up with someone else."
"No way! I'm not going with you," Roxas laughed and walked away, leaving Axel to stand there frowning. That kid was a damn tease and he was going to get him for it. If he was irritated, then it was more so because he asked someone so quickly than for the fact that he actually asked someone. Or maybe because he was afraid he'd been toyed with and, even though he didn't want to go, he didn't like that. Ugh, he was like a friggin' puzzle that Axel just couldn't figure out. What would it take to get Roxas to trust him and let him take him to a silly little dance?
4
Sora squeaked as he felt himself lifted off of the ground. He turned his head and nearly kissed a laughing Riku (something that would've been extremely awkward for the both of them). He blushed and turned his head back, facing the door of their shared room. He kicked, trying to get the older boy to let go of him. "Riku! Put me down! Now!" He laughed as Riku tickled him and he tried harder to get down. The silver-haired boy put him down and opened the door to their room. The reason his hair was silver? Oh, that was a teenage fad gone wrong. However, it got him a lot of popularity with the girls, something that wasn't always a good thing (unless of course you wanted to know something, they were pretty good for that).
"So how many girls asked you to go to the dance with them today, Sora?" He always teased the brunette like that, because there was only one girl that ever asked Sora to the prom. Everyone else (except for Riku) seemed to get that the only person Sora seemed to be interested in lately was Riku himself. If Riku wasn't going the movies, you wouldn't get Sora there. If Riku wasn't going to the dances, Sora wouldn't be going either. If Riku wasn't going to sit at that table during lunch, then Sora most certainly wasn't going to sit there. If Riku wasn't there during lunch, then Sora stuck to Roxas and nobody dared talk to Sora while Roxas was around.
"Shut up, you know that Kairi asked me and that she was the only one. I hate having to turn her down, but I don't want to bring her and, y'know, have her think that there's something more than that friendship between us. I'd feel even worse if I really hurt her, y'know?" Riku nodded and shoved Sora inside, regretting he asked before they were inside. The brunette could stand in one place for hours at a time and talk about the same subject. "What about you? How many of the girls asked you? Did you beat your record for first day?"
"Nope, same number as last year, 17. I don't get why they all want to go with me. I turn them down every year and it's me and you going together, but, well, not together. We dance with who we feel like dancing with. We have the free exploration of the dance floor and all." He dropped his bag onto the floor and then plopped down onto his bed. "I hear Axel asked Roxas and then Roxas slapped him. What is your brother's problem with dating people? Remember when Kairi asked you out and he had a cow? It had nothing to do with him, and even though you said no he gave you this whole lecture about teen dating."
"So that's what he was so upset about... 'Member when he ran into the door? I'm guessing that's why. Wow, he's such an overreacter. Unless Axel said something perverted that I'm not aware of. In that case I guess he was slightly justified." Sora laughed. The thought of Axel saying something to Roxas and Roxas flipping out was a funny image in his head. "So I guess it's going to be the same routine this year as every other year, huh? You and I go alone, but hang out and Roxas just... Doesn't go?"
"Actually... I wanted to change that up a bit." Riku looked over at Sora, who was giving him a confused look. "I was thinking... We go together."
/End Prologue and Three Months Later
A/N:
BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Okay, so enough with the psychotic laughter. I just felt like ending it there. XD Seems like the best ending ever. I've got this whole idea of at least having one couple get together each chapter at any point in the chapter (I have this freedom, y'know?), with the last ones to get together being Axel and Roxas. Which means... I may have to drag that out a loooong ways. I can do it, I have confidence in myself. Though I really didn't like certain parts of this chapter... They were corny and not good. XD
But what's wrong with Roxy?! Why won't he fall for Axel's manly charms?! And what's with the picture?! You'll have to wait until the next chapter.
Roxas: She's using me for her evil deeds and plots. . She's manipulating me to make me do whatever she wants.
I'm not that underhanded. O.O;
Roxas: Whatever. . Er, we sincerely hope that you liked this chapter and... Click that button if you wanna. It's an icky button. I wouldn't touch it. It's got Axel germs. .
Thanks for reading! 3