A/N: I don't usually write AkuZeku (*cough* make that almost never *cough*), but this is for WeDidItForTheDead! :) Here ya go! One order of sweet!Axel, cooked to... well, as good as I could make it ^^; Debuting at this, so yeah, not as good as it could have been...
I know I should be working on those damn updates. I'm so sorry, everyone! D: I've left you hanging and didn't even give you a stepladder to tiptoe on. My bad...
But you forgive me, right? I keep writing! :D
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. You guys should know this by now! ^_^
Axel knew Zexion wasn't all that fond of him. It wasn't an obvious show of disfavour, but he could sense the subtle signs of dislike the other displayed whenever they interacted. Of course, Zexion was always courteous to him, and too polite to point out his opinion on the redhead, but for each of the two times Axel had invited him out for ice cream, the other had declined, though it was known that he had a sweet tooth for sea-salt ice creams.
Still, that didn't stop him from harbouring some affection for the quiet bookworm. He had no idea what had attracted him to the other in the first place. He was much too quiet at times, much too snarky at others, always scheming and thinking and plotting something behind a facade of indifferent charisma, and always with a book in hand.
Axel didn't much like reading. He found that if there were little to no pictures, then what was the point? His imagination wasn't quite suited for the books others usually read; but once he found himself liking the slate-haired schemer just a bit more than 'friends', he had done something no-one would ever have believed, had they not seen it: he went to the library and checked out a dozen or so of Zexion's favourite classics. Alice in Wonderland, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Lord of the Flies, Sherlock Holmes, Peter Rabbit, The Princess Bride, stuff by Homer, and a fair few other books he hadn't really cared to commit to memory.
They were decent stories, he'd give them that, and understood why the distant schemer liked them, but Axel wouldn't deny feeling glad at being shot of the books once he had returned all of them, unharmed, to the library; they had too many big words. Still, it did give him something to talk about to the slatette, and that was all that mattered. The two of them had conversed four or five times about the books, and the side Axel glimpsed during those conversations he found he rather liked.
Instead of being cold and a bit snobbish, Zexion had loosened up and talked more than he ever had around the redhead, and lost a bit of his courteousness, speaking with more friendliness and more thought in his words. He and Axel grew a bit closer during those times, though the redhead was always gently nudged out when their talks were over. But despite that, Axel still found that he liked the slatette.
Which was why, as soon as he heard that Zexion was in the hospital from another major anemic black-out (for Zexion had a strange blood disease that would periodically require him to receive blood transfusions and donations to keep him alive), he rushed over as soon as he could; Demyx and Namine were already there, pale and worried for their friend. Once Zexion stabilized and the doctors allowed them in, Axel was the first to enter the bookworm's ward.
Delusional and tired, Zexion smiled at the redhead upon seeing him, not recognizing who Axel really was - but still, that smile he treasured. He moved aside for Demyx and Namine to talk to Zexion, and haunted the corner of the white, white room as the three spoke.
He smiled at me. He really did have a nice smile. Zexion should smile more often, he thought, but then shook his head; it would be quite unlike the schemer to smile more unless he was persuading someone. The youth rather preferred to smirk instead.
Demyx's voice broke him out of his thoughts. "The doctors say we have to leave now, Axel. You comin'?"
"Hm? O-oh. Yeah, sure," Axel said with a smile. "We can come back tomorrow, right?" Demyx nodded, now mostly free from worry.
"Yeah. He'll be better soon - don't worry, Axel." Namine smile softly, hiding it with her hand.
"You look a bit like that time when you accidentally drowned Zexion's AP Bio textbook, Axel," she commented. The redhead cocked his head.
"Do I really?" Widening his smile, he shook his head. "Nah. Let's go; Zexion needs his beauty sleep." Looking back at the hospital bed, he saw Zexion give him one of his Looks.
"Dude, I think he heard you," snickered Demyx, before leading them out of the white ward and giving the bookworm one last wave. The patient gave them all one feeble wave of his hand before turning his head away from them to stare out the window.
Why would he stare out the window? Axel wondered. All you can see are the tops of the skyscrapers and the sky...
-x-
Axel returned to the hospital the next day, waiting until after noon to visit; he didn't want to disturb the resting Zexion, and reckoned that right about now he'd be staring out the window again in boredom anyway.
With a bouquet of flowers in one hand and the new book Zexion had been wanting, Sanctuary, in the other (neatly wrapped with a red ribbon), Axel entered the hospital once more with a hint of a nervous smile on his face and a confident stride. Aerith admitted him in immediately, recognizing him from yesterday, but warned him that Zexion was sleeping; noticing the gifts in his hands, she offered to take them for him and place them with Zexion's other presents.
"Other presents?" Aerith nodded.
"Mm-hmm. His friends and family visited a few minutes after you and your friends left, bringing with them books and balloons, flowers and sweets... Axel?" The redhead quickly returned the smile to his face.
"Yeah? No, don't worry, I'm good. Can I see him now? Er, please?"
Aerith tilted her head and raised an eyebrow, but smiled nonetheless and nodded, opening the door to the schemer's ward and letting him in, reminding him to stay quiet.
He looked like an angel when asleep. That was the first thought in Axel's mind as he walked in and saw Zexion lying motionless on the bed, save for the steady rise and fall of his chest (the second thought was of why on earth would sanitizers and cleaning stuff has such a strong, sharp smell?). He slept on his side, it seemed, facing the window to his right. His curtain of long, slate bangs presented some contrast to the sterile whiteness of the room, pillow, and bed.
Actually, it was pretty much the only colour around the sleeping Zexion, for even his clothes were stark white, and his skin was still pale from the attack; however, the neon pink paper bracelet on his left wrist, resting above the white blanket, did provide another hue to the washed out room.
Feeling intruding and somewhat awkward at watching Zexion sleep, he drew up the colourless chair standing off to the side by the (of course) ivory bedstand to Zexion's left and sat down, placing his two gifts upon the table beside the bookworm's favourite tome, Book of Retribution, and a glass of clear water.
"Hey," he said softly, unsure of how to begin. Maybe the slatette could hear his voice in his dreams... but Axel rather doubted it; but why not talk to him anyway, while he was there?
"I hope you're feeling better today," he added. "You gave us all a bit of a shock there, blacking out at home. You're lucky Roxas was there early for his piano lessons, else you'd probably be a goner. Don't ever scare us like that again Zexion, got that memorized? Because really, we'd all miss you a lot... I'd miss you a lot... even though you're always distant and cold, and never all quite there... you scheme too much, ya know that? And you shouldn't act like you're better than everyone else, because just because you know a lot more than us, just remember that I know how to burn things." He grinned a little, then sobered up. "Don't worry. I'd never burn your books." Axel shuddered, remembering what had happened the last time he'd burned Zexion's senior History notes. If a week's worth of nightmares and feeling sick was for one paper, he did not want to imagine how much he's suffer for an entire book full.
A smile returned to his face. "Ya know, I bought you that book you wanted, Sanctuary. Read a bit of it at the bookstore... Looks good. I also got you some flowers..." He chuckled softly. "I know that's kinda girly, but hey, Marluxia likes flowers... Hmm." He paused. "That wasn't such a great example."
Zexion stirred in his sleep, surprising the redhead; Axel laughed. "So you agree, huh? But for a dude with pink hair, he's straight as a ruler, and pretty strong for a gardener... so don't tell him I said those things, alright? Because I dunno about you, but I don't want ta get hunted down by him... I like my face the way it is." He smiled a bit sadly as Zexion stirred a bit more, turning his head and facing Axel. The layered bangs, flattened by his head while asleep, shielded his eyes from the sunlight, and as they began to flutter open, Axel took his cue to leave.
"I'm counting on ya to get better soon, Zexion. Got it memorized?" With a quiet groan as Zexion's inadvertent answer, Axel stood up and moved his gifts from the bedside nightstand to the chair, and gave the slowly awakening schemer a single pat on the head before turning on his heel and leaving the room. He gave Aerith a parting smile goodbye and took the lift down from the fourth floor to the first, and began walking back through the city to his home ten blocks away.
He was in a good mood.
-x-
Zexion awoke to bright sunlight, the faint and yet sharp scent of cinnamon and charcoal, and a lingering vision blurred by sleep of a tall man in black and red. Axel, he thought, recognizing the redhead's scent. His head hurt like mad, throbbing as though he had a hangover, and his bangs were hiding both eyes now. How annoying.
He blew them out of his face impatiently, still too groggy to lift his hands to do the job. He struggled to sit up in bed, and reluctantly pressed the button that would call Aerith.
He could hear the faint beep it rang through the walls and door. Aerith came in but a few moments later, greeting Zexion with a warm smile and a gently chiding glance.
"Mr. Evenson, you mustn't do that, or you'll hurt yourself." Zexion scoffed.
"Miss Aerith, 'Zexion' will do just fine." Aerith merely ducked her head and chuckled quietly.
"Sorry, Zexion. Here," she said, changing the subject, and reached behind him to stack up his pillows. Now, he could sit up with comfort and not have the chilling steel frame of the bed digging into his back. "Did you sleep well?" The schemer nodded.
"Yes, I feel quite refreshed... Thank you." He gave her a disarming smile; maybe if he acted better than he felt, he wouldn't have to swallow those awful pills. Aerith smiled back.
"That's good news. You'll feel even better once you've taken your medicine- Oh, Zexion," she laughed as the schemer failed to muffle a groan. "You of all people should know-"
"Yes, but that doesn't mean I like it," he interrupted, a bit put out at the prospect of more chalky pills to be dissolved into his system.
"It's that or the IV," Aerith commented with a shrug, a knowing glint in her eyes. Zexion huffed and crossed his arms, wincing slightly.
"The pills then, please." Aerith nodded and left the room, leaving him alone once more for a few minutes as she went to prepare a snack to go along with the medicine, for they were no good unless taken with food.
While alone, Zexion looked around his room, and gingerly touched his head where he was pretty sure Axel had... petted him. How dare he! he thought with a faint, indignant smile. He was no dog, and he had no recollection of ever granting anyone permission to pet his hair like that...
His eyes caught a glimpse of something new in his room, and he curiously tilted his head as he regarded the new gifts sitting innocently upon the white chair to his left.
What could this be?
He reached over with his right arm and picked up the bouquet of flowers. They had very, very light scents, and had pastel coloured petals - the sort of blossoms he had a liking to. For as his nose was quite sensitive, able to detect and identify faint scents, he could not stand being near flamboyant and perfumed flowers, or their strong (to him) aromas would irritate and tickle his nose, causing him to sneeze.
The second gift upon the white seat was a plain, navy bluish black book with a silver binding, and a spidery, chrome script embossed as the title. Sanctuary. It was a book he had been wanting to buy for a while now, and had been saving up money to purchase. As the sequel to Hikari, the bestselling novel, it was expensive and hard to find. He felt rather... touched, to be honest, that Axel would buy the novel for him. Had it been that obvious how he wanted to buy it?
He didn't think so.
Unwrapping the crimson, satin ribbon from the book, he cracked it open and was greeted by that fresh-book smell, of yet-to-be-crinkled paper and new ink. A tiny, genuine smile graced his lips, and Zexion hugged the book to his chest once before opening it further and skimming the first lines. Glancing out the window at the blue, blue sky (and a passing, grey airplane soaring through his square view to the outside world), he thought of Axel and tilted his head, humouring the idea that he wasn't so bad after all, and decidedly liking him more.
Thank you, he mouthed, and settled down in his numerous fluffy pillows to begin reading.
A/N: I know Sanctuary is the English version of Passion, and that Hikari is the Japanese version of Simple and Clean, but really, would you name your book Simple and Clean?
...I wouldn't. So that's the reason for the difference. Not that anyone really cared, though, right? ^^;
Hope anyone who read enjoyed!