"I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU AXEL." Roxas paced back and forth through the kitchen, while Axel sat at the table, helpless against this interrogation.
"But Roxas! I only-" Roxas raised his hand to silence Axel. Sora then bounded into the kitchen humming to himself, which if you know Sora is not unusual. He has a dangerously annoying happy disposition.
"Wow, what did he do?" asked Sora, taking an ice cream out of the freezer.
"Psst, Sora, could you hand me a sea salt one?" Roxas spun round violently and slammed his hands on the table bad cop style. He looked like Napoleon: short, angry and powerful (albeit not French).
"You will give him no such thing! Because he," Roxas near shouted, pointing dramatically at Axel in the process, "He not only burned my chemistry book to cinders last week-"
"It was an accident!" Axel pleaded.
"Sorry Ax, you ate the last sea salt two days ago." Sora leant against the freezer, sucking on an ice lolly. He watched them intently, it was clear Roxas was overreacting but Axel enjoyed the drama, and he would beg and plead forgiveness till Roxas gave in. It wasn't that Sora enjoyed arguments; in fact he hated them. However, Roxas and Axel arguing was normal. Everyone became suspicious when they got on for more than 3 hours.
"And," continued Roxas, "and you finished off the last bar of my FAVOURITE ice cream, but you...I can't even believe it. Tell him, Axel."
Axel looked nervously at Roxas who had sunk limply into the chair opposite, his head hitting the table with a soft thunk. Axel decided it was safe to continue.
"Well, you know the school dance in coming up, right?"
"Of course I do!" said Sora, obviously excited. "Kairi's on the planning committee. She keeps asking me red balloons or blue balloons, and I think-"
"ANYWAY, seeing as it's in a week and Roxy here doesn't have a date I took the liberty of asking a few girls for him. I sent letters to Kairi, Olette, Selphie, and Namine even though she said she's already got a date, which I find hard to believe. But, you know, I thought chances are ONE of em's gonna say yes. I mean Roxas isn't THAT bad..."
"Not THAT bad..." Roxas said to the table feebly. Sora pulled the lolly out of his mouth with a pop.
"I don't know why you can't believe it Roxas; it sounds like something Axel would do."
Axel nodded fervently. "Because I'm caring! I was doing you a favour Roxas – it's better than not having a date, right?"
"I could have gotten a date myself!"
"Oh really. As if you would get up the guts to ask anyone."
"Shut up! You never have a date!"
"That's cause I..." Axel stared at the wall.
"...Cause no girl in their right mind would go with you! You're a fire hazard." Roxas laughed.
"Sure." Axel smiled, seemingly forgiven. "No girl."
Sora, after finishing his ice lolly, was halfway upstairs, jumping them two at a time. He breezed into his bedroom, where Riku was on the end of the bed playing some console game. Sora jumped backwards onto his bed, landing on his bed. Perhaps he though he looked like a high jumper. He would be wrong.
Sora liked his room: it was blue, like the sea. Or the sky. Both, he decided.
"So what were they arguing about?" Riku asked, still staring at the screen.
"Oh, Axel asked some girls to the school dance for Roxas. It hurt his masculinity."
Riku laughed. "Typical. And he burnt his chemistry book last week."
"But that was an accident!" Sora said, trying to keeps thing fair.
"An accident? Really? Then why had Axel drenched it with ethanol before he held it over the Bunsen burner?"
"I thought ethanol was inflammable though?"
Riku laughed again. Only Sora could make him laugh, and usually it wasn't on purpose.
"It is inflammable Sora. Which happens to mean the same thing as flammable: it catches on fire very easily."
"Oh."
Riku paused the game and lay back on the bed beside Sora. All the beds in Sora's house were double beds, which Riku always found slightly odd. When they were younger it had made for comfortable sleepovers.
"Speaking of the dance, are you going with Kairi?"
Sora turned his head to look at Riku, who was staring resolutely at the ceiling.
"Huh? She hasn't asked me..."
"You're the guy Sora, you should ask her."
"Why would I?" Riku looked at him in surprise. Sora's eyes were completely genuine. "I mean, I thought," Sora turned away this time. "We would go together, since you usually come to my house first anyway and we're gonna sit and talk to each other probably.
Unless you have a date already! You didn't tell me, but I guess I didn't ask, so..."
"Go together?"
"Yeah. As friends. We don't have to, I mean, you could bring your date I don't mind."
"Stop babbling, I don't have a date. But sure, together." Riku smiled and rolled the word around his mouth. He liked the way it sounded.
Roxas found Namine the next day at school. They hadn't hung around together much before they met at their cousins wedding, Roxas's cousin marrying Namine's cousin. They weren't sure if that made them relatives but they got on well anyway.
"Hey Namine." Roxas said as she shut her locker door. "I heard you got a date for the school dance."
"Why wouldn't I have a date?" Namine was definitely pretty enough to have a date, but she was shy as anything. "You're just jealous."
"Jealous! Pshh. I have a date."
"Really? Cause I heard Axel asked out loads of girls for you." Namine grinned as Roxas hid his head in his hands.
"Right...I forgot you were one of the girls he asked. But who are you going with?"
"Not telling."
"Aw come on. I won't tell anyone."
"Seriously not telling! You'll find out on Saturday anyway." Namine walked to her next class, turning backwards to wave goodbye. "AND I'M SURE OLETTE WOULD LIKE TO GO WITH YOU!"
She cackled and swung her long blonde plait over her shoulder. Roxas slid to the floor, red in the face, as the whole of the crowded hallway turned to see who she was shouting at.
Authors babble: I love tapirs. It's Christmas Eve and I forgot to put any Christmas element into this story! Let's make it a Christmas dance... anyway, do you like it?