Some may wonder... "Lera, what do you do while you're sitting at home, sick and disoriented and going through writer's block for SINthetic and Special Discount?"
This is what I do. I write crack one-shots. I have also written a Christmas special already, but you're all gonna have to wait for that one. xD
And remember, kiddies! For us authors, getting e-mails saying that you put a story of ours in favorites or on alert is nice, but reviews always say a lot more. So remember so just take a few seconds to leave a comment, kthx!
A Game of Strategy
Boredom. Everyone goes through with it. Everyone deals with it. It's one of life's greatest obstacles, because, as soon as it hits you, you're overwhelmed with a lethargic urge to either do something incredibly energetic, or sit around on your sorry ass for x amount of hours until you can't feel it anymore.
Axel and Roxas had already made it past that stage. They had resorted to collapsing onto the bed like boneless blobs so that their sorry asses could regain feeling again.
Whoever had coined the term "Lazy Sunday" had known what they were talking about. This particular Sunday was so full of lethargy and boredom and laziness that the two boys were overwhelmed by evening. It was pouring outside and while classes loomed ahead in the far-off Monday, they could find nothing to occupy themselves with, as even homework had miraculously been finished and done with.
Roxas sighed slowly, burrowing his face deeper into the pillow, simultaneously wiggling his hips into a more comfortable position. His second pillow grunted at the motion.
Because his second pillow happened to be Axel, who happened to be lying perpendicular to the pillow and Roxas. The blonde had flopped right onto him after Axel had lain back on the mattress. So hard, in fact, that their stomachs had slapped together and were now transmitting body warmth. Roxas lay with his face, as aforementioned, mushed into a pillow, while Axel contented himself with tucking his hands behind his head to stare up at the ceiling.
Axel was determined to find something to do.
He hummed under his breath. "... How about we dress you up in a maid outfit and role-play? I can be your horny master and you can't resist my charms and appealing looks."
Roxas grunted, unwilling to move or reply.
"Or maybe we can go and warm each other up in the shower? I'll wash your hair...?"
Another grunt.
"Would you prefer to take a bath?"
An even less audible grumble sounded from the blonde.
Axel clicked his tongue impatiently, perusing a list of ideas. "There might be some more ice cream left in the fridge! I can drip some onto your bare chest and then lick it off..."
Grumble-grunt.
"We could go outside in the rain and have hot, passionate sex with the fierce storm above us that only mirrors our love for each other. How about that, Rox?"
Roxas, this time, turned his head just slightly to reply past the confines of the pillow. "You can go and get hypothermia; I'm fine with staying here."
"Point taken." Axel noted as Roxas returned to his original position. "How about... we do it in front of a mirror! So you can see your face reflected with the ecstasy you're experiencing as I shove my-"
A louder grunt of protest stopped Axel before he finished his idea. Smirking slightly, the red-head teasingly poked his boyfriend's side before going back to brainstorming. Roxas simply twitched.
"You're right, we'll save that for later. Um. Oh, I know, we can... no, never mind." Axel frowned to himself, flummoxed and out of ideas.
Silence filled the room, broken only by the soft pattering of the rain at the window. It was warm and comfortable in the room. The two room-mates said nothing. Roxas appeared to be asleep and Axel's eyes glazed over. Yup. Just another lazy Sunday...
Roxas abruptly lifted his head, blinking. His voice came out surprisingly clear for someone who had just spent a decent amount of time breathing into a pillow, half-asleep.
"How about we play chess?"
Axel turned his head to meet the blonde's eyes, then shrugged. "'Kay."
It was better than checkers, at least.
This is what led to the blonde and the red-head setting up the checkered crimson and black board on the bed and settling in to play a nice game of chess.
The only problem was that Axel had no idea how to play.
Roxas smirked slightly, tipping his head so that some of the blonde spikes sprouting from his skull shifted with the movement. "You don't know how to play chess?"
The red-head shrugged, watching as Roxas rested his back against the headboard of the bed. He tugged at the wristband of his fingerless gloves and pouted slightly. "Not as if I had a chance to play or someone to teach me."
"Fine, I guess we should get this over with first, then." Roxas rolled his eyes and set up the pieces, going through explanations at the same time. Axel, to his surprise, actually listened. Roxas only knew the game because of Pence's fascination with it back in high school, but he was thankful for the knowledge now. They could most certainly blow off a few hours with this. As soon as all the pawns were standing rigidly on the board and Axel's eyes were bright with excitement of testing out his new understanding, Roxas set forth his white pawn in two squares.
"So..." Axel, in response, moved his own black pawn. "Maybe we should set some stakes for this game afterwards?"
Roxas smirked, keeping his eyes on the board as he set forth another pawn. "Like what? Loser has to wear a maid outfit and role-play, while the winner gets to be the horny master?"
"Oh, I dunno." Axel replied nonchalantly, green eyes gleaming. A bishop made its move. "I was thinking more along the lines of you in a leash and collar, on your hands and knees..." He let the sentence trail off, allowing Roxas to interpret how he wished.
Roxas moved a rook forward and quirked his eyebrows, a light blush spreading just barely over his cheeks. "Oh? So you're saying that you're going to win?"
"Damn right I am." replied Axel with a cheery grin. Roxas paused, observing the board after Axel had retaliated with an attacking bishop to effectively eliminate the roaming rook. Finally coming to an internal decision, he began chuckling softly, tugging back the sleeves of his stripped long-sleeve shirt.
"You're going down."
Axel smiled, intrigued. He wasn't entirely sure who was winning yet, but it was he who had just taken one of Roxas's pieces, right? That had to have given him a small advantage of sorts. His voice dropped a few octaves to an almost-growl. "Is that a challenge?"
Roxas's sneaky grin only expanded. There was a thunderclap outside - very convenient timing - as the blonde simply put forward another pawn. Oh yes. It was on. The two proceeded to engage in a fierce battle of wits and strategy. Chess, it seemed, was more hardcore than Axel had once thought. Some dramatic classical music would have been appropriate at that moment. Perhaps a little Beethoven's 5th or something of the sort.
This was a test! Of whose mind was superior! Of who could out-wit the other! Of who wanted the other to be in a leash and collar more!
It was ferocious.
It was only when Roxas had sneakily maneuvered his knight around the red-head's defenses that all of the feverish frenzy came to a sudden halt.
"Check."
Axel's jaw dropped. "No way." His king was most definitely cornered by the knight, however. "How the hell did you do that?"
Roxas looked triumphant. Just one step closer to proving the red-head wrong. "Should've been paying attention. Or are you getting too distracted with imagining me on my hands and knees?"
"No..." Axel scowled, annoyed as he moved his piece out of harm's way. "Just a stupid mistake. I'll get you next time."
The game continued. Axel, despite himself, was getting nervous. He couldn't let Roxas win. The times he took to plan his moves stretched out and Roxas's expression only became more impish. The rain outside was hammering on the windows, evolving into a thunderstorm. Roxas snatched up black chess pieces. Axel won white pieces.
And then... Axel made a real mistake.
Roxas frowned after the red-head had drew his hand away from the board. "You can't make that move."
"What? Yes I can." Axel looked down at the knight that he had moved for the first time in the game. The move that had gotten him closer to checking Roxas's king.
The blonde shook his head, pushing the knight back into its original position. "Knight's move in capital L's. That's three blocks. Two squares horizontally and one square vertically, or two squares vertically and one square horizontally, remember? You moved two squares both ways. You can't do that."
"Bullshit!" Axel moved the piece right back to where it had been. "That's an L. See? L."
Roxas immediately furrowed his brow and his lips turned downwards in a scowl. Axel was unquestionably wrong, why couldn't he see that? The tension rose in the room. "What, are you trying to cheat now? Just make another move."
"Roxas, that's a legal move! What the hell are you doing?" Axel's voice rose as he protested, lifting the knight off of the board. Roxas only frowned more. Lightning flashed, Axel noticed out of the corner of his eye. Funny how those instances coincided with Roxas's emotions.
"If you're not going to play the right way, then don't bother playing at all and forfeit." said Roxas with a tone of finality, sitting back against the headboard.
"Y'know what? Fuck it." Axel had had enough. The past twenty minutes of straining over a damned board with its stupid fucking colored pieces had been a straining procedure, and now Roxas was even saying that he made an illegal move. So he did something which, in retrospect, was very immature and childish. Admittedly, the situation called for it, but the whole fiasco that followed could have probably been avoided he had swallowed his pride.
Alas, this is Axel we're talking about. 'Swallow his pride,' he does not.
He took the knight in his hand and threw it. The black knight sailed across the bed to thunk into Roxas's forehead with a soft clunk of wood to skull bone impact, and then harmlessly bounced off to land in the blonde's lap.
There was a brief shocked silence in which Roxas stared at Axel in disbelief, eyes wide, and Axel stared back, wondering what in hell's name had driven him to do that.
"... You just threw that at my head." Roxas said slowly.
Axel blinked, trying to recollect his thoughts. "Uh, yeah... what about it?"
"... You threw that damn piece at my head." Roxas repeated, inserting the 'damn' for effect. "... You are so. Dead."
In one fluid move, Roxas shoved the chess board off of the bed. As pieces sprayed every which way, clattering across the floor and bumping into bedside table, time slowed down. Axel saw a King and Queen soar by just as the blonde across from him moved to attack. Roxas pushed himself forward, mouth a grim slash as he tackled Axel off of the bed. The two fell heavily to the ground with a thud and a rough wrestling match began. Roxas was busy trying to punch the taller male in any place he could while Axel retaliated with his own flailing limbs as he simultaneously attempted to block the blonde's energetic attacks.
As soon as Axel tasted blood in his mouth, he decided to call forfeit, finally, but the weather did it for him. A resounding roll of thunder shook the walls and in the next second, all of the lights went out. The power was gone.
This left the duo on the floor, frozen in shock, and completely in the dark. Axel was pinned beneath Roxas, one leg loosely wound around the blonde's waist while his hands had found purchase in the other boy's shirt and hair.
Roxas's face, meanwhile, was buried in Axel's shoulder as his hands were stuck where they had been trying to inflict as much harm as possible, centered around the red-head's stomach and chest.
Axel licked away the blood that was sprouting from where he had bitten the inside of his cheek. "Ow. You have a nasty upper-cut."
Roxas unexpectedly slumped, falling limp on top of Axel. "You deserve it, you cheater."
Axel winced, feeling the blonde's weight settle onto his fresh bruises. "I'm never playing chess with you again."
"Oh yeah." Roxas chuckled, and Axel saw his lips pull into a grin. The blonde sat up slightly to poke him in the nose.
"I won the game. It's the leash and collar for you, Axel."
Axel's eyes narrowed. "You didn't corner my king a second time!" But Roxas had one more sneaky strategy. The red-head suddenly winced as Roxas's knee pressed into his groin.
Oh.
Roxas's grin had never been any wider or sneakier. He practically glowed in victory.
"Check-mate."
Damn. Damn damn damn damn damn. No way. No fucking way was Axel going to lose even more of his pride over that ridiculous game. Axel studied Roxas's face briefly before his own idea came to mind. Roxas only had a second to see the glint of green wickedness before he was grabbed and the two of them were rolled so that their positions were switched.
Axel kept his hands pinned to Roxas's shoulder as he leaned in to place a rough kiss on the blonde's mouth. Wriggling slightly, unable to throw off the taller male, Roxas merely scowled.
"Check."
"Still a cheater." Roxas growled back, trying to push Axel away by shoving at his shoulders. He could feel one of the chess pieces digging into his back, which was getting increasingly uncomfortable. And it was still dark, with the occasionally lightning bringing the room into view for a millisecond or two.
Axel disregarded the statement, sliding a hand beneath Roxas's shirt instead. He lightly pinched a nipple and Roxas growled louder, fighting harder to regain the upper-hand. Axel smiled teasingly at the attempts and pushed in for another kiss. Roxas didn't protest, but his legs did still kick out weakly. His foot only slipped on the abandoned chess board. He was stuck.
"I think..." Axel began to plant soft nips along Roxas's neck, "A nice furry collar would go good on you. Or do you prefer leather? I suppose I'll let you choose, seeing as you did win first."
"There aren't any second winners in chess, Axel!" hissed the blonde in response, trying to ignore the goosebumps that were popping up along his body from the attention.
"Leather, then." conceded Axel with a chuckle as he rubbed harder at the sensitive nub on the blonde's chest. "And we're still never playing chess again."
Roxas arched slightly, sighing, only to wince sharply in pain. "Damn chess piece..."
Axel paused, distracted and curious. He snaked his free hand underneath Roxas to pull out, oddly enough, the blonde's white King. Axel leered as soon as he recognized the piece. He moved closer to Roxas to wave the king from side to side a few times before tossing it away. Roxas watched it clattered away before looking back to the predatory, glowing eyes.
"Who's the cornered king now?" Axel grinned, voice husky as he returned to his previous activity of administering love-bites to Roxas's shoulder. He did, however, take the time to whisper one last thing to the blonde.
"Check-mate, Roxas."
Axel was no Fischer or Kasparov, but at times, his strategies were flawless.