Risk Dodging


"Naminé, why America?"

"Because if it's the land of freedom, then I think we both need a taste of it."

Roxas tilts his head but still turns to start driving, stepping on the gas just a bit too quickly and causing the car to lurch forward. "Sorry."

They had landed in The Empire State but bypassed New York City. An hour later, they sit in a rented Chevy with Roxas driving and Naminé squinting at the GPS navigator in front of her. Five minutes later, she gives up on the device and spreads out the map she picked up at the coffee shop they left five minutes ago.

"I thought you knew where we were going."

"I do," Naminé mumbles, then re-folds the map. "But there's no risk in double-checking."

Roxas knows she's done more than that. She'd whipped everything out right before their plane took off, to ensure it was all there, highlighted their route on six different maps and scheduled in what times they'd arrive at which restaurants, how often they'd have to stop for gas, where they'd rest for the night—all pre-determined.

The car is silent. No one even thinks of touching the radio.

She reclines her chair and glances at him. "Plus, getting lost would cause a devastation. Axel wouldn't let me live."

Roxas snorts and when his phone vibrates, he wonders why Naminé wanted to make sure both of their phones would work on their road trip, but he still glances quickly down at it. Naminé glares at him, but he pays no mind since they're on the outskirts of the state. There's no danger because there's nothing in sight except for the farms with cows grazing the fields, maybe a deer or two walking along the highway.

A few seconds later, he speaks, "We both know that it'd be you everyone would worry about."


When he's off the runway for the last time that night, he looks around and sees her from across the room. She's walking back and forth, yet again practicing the walk she'd done hundreds of times and mastered far better than anyone in the room, but she still feels the need to do it over. She suddenly sits down and with a hint of curiosity leading the path, he walks up to her. A simple pat on her head makes her look up at him with big eyes and the words, "What's going on?" die on his lips as she tugs him down on the ground with her.

The layer of sequins adorning her right heel had come off and five minutes later, after Roxas had gotten one of his designer friends, Olette, to help out, Naminé confesses she had half a mind to grab some super glue and a handful of body sparkles to fix it herself.

"Body sparkles, really?" he laughs at her and she purses her lips right when someone yells for Naminé. With one last tap of her heels, she sticks her tongue out at Roxas and runs toward the stage.

He joins the crowd of designers and makeup artists who all want to watch the last model, the best model, make her run on the monitor. Once again, he feels like just like when he'd first saw her on a makeup commercial in between the FIFA match; he's back at the couch in his house, waiting for the FIFA match to resume, his impatience gone as his eyes are locked on the makeup commercial model instead. In an industry where everyone's beautiful, she seems like a rare combination of good things and when she gives the camera a shy smile, fitting the white outfit and perfectly portraying the image of innocence, he follows the crowd and falls a little more in love with her.

"How's it going, Lover Boy?" turning his head, he sees Kairi, of course, packing up her makeup kit.

"Not my title," he says as he watches Naminé skip over to them with a smile on her face.

She slips out of the heels and runs behind the nearby screen to throws her dress over it after a few moments, which Kairi catches. "Hey Roxas, we're headed to the after-party now, right?"

"Of course," he answers, handing her a jacket as she stands beside him. "Courtesy of the show," he says before she asks, and helps slide it on her before throwing an arm around her and walking towards his car.


After ignoring two calls, Roxas gets Naminé to put the call on speakerphone for him. "I knew the third time was going to be the charm," says his manager.

"Yes, Axel. Only because you changed my ringtone to a screeching chipmunk because you knew it'd annoy me enough to answer," Roxas answers back.

Axel's deep laugh fills the car and he talks to Naminé instead, "Hey girlie. Is he causing you any trouble?"

"Nope, he's been a kind taxi driver so far. But it's just the beginning so call back in an hour to make sure I'm alive."

Roxas smiles, he hasn't heard something like that from Naminé in a while and he wonders if he'll hear it directed at him anytime soon. "Xion will skin me if you're not," Axel mutters. "Speaking of your manager, she wants me to tell you that some designers want you to come in for a fitting. Milan's fashion week is coming!"

Naminé whines quietly and Roxas voices his thoughts, "Hey Axel? Not the time for that." He reaches over to Naminé's hand and ends the call as she stares at him.

"What? He's my manager and my best friend. He should know what we're here for," he defends.

Naminé nods in agreement and then rubs her hands together. It's not remotely cold, nor do her hands get cold easy (in Roxas' opinion, they're the exact opposite and emit a certain kind of warmth), that's why when she finally speaks, he's sure she is nervous about it. "So what are we here for?"

Roxas hums in pretend thought while he double-checks their route. "Well, you said freedom but I was hoping you'd tell me what that meant," he grins cheekily at her. "You did drag me all the way out here after all."

Naminé nods again. Roxas wonders when they'll go back to the days where they knew how to talk to each other.


It's hardly been a minute since they stepped into the venue for the after-party and Roxas is pretty sure a nearby bed is calling his name. Naminé is dragging him deeper into the crowd, until she stops in front of a group of people.

The immediate warmth from Naminé's hand is gone and only a lingering feeling remains as she steps forward, stretches up to wrap her arms around Riku's neck and leans up to his lips.

Roxas quickly turns and smiles at the rest of the group. He even teases Sora for the smoky eye makeup on his right eye, thanks to Kairi's expert work, and he gets a slap on the shoulder for it. But his thoughts haven't quite left the couple who headed toward a quiet corner on their own.

An hour later, he decides he's had enough and with Naminé practically falling asleep on the bar stool she sits on—Roxas figures she has too. When he asks her where her other best friend went off to, she merely mumbles, "I'm not sure. Riku likes kissing the other girls too, Roxas," and he remembers that sometimes, things aren't black and white to everyone.

At 3AM, Sora calls him. There's been a fire. Several people were injured, three of them makeup artists they worked with, five models they knew, and one person was severely burned because he had tried to save as many lives as he could hold.

10 minutes later, Roxas gets a text and rushes over to Naminé's hotel room so she doesn't have to cry over her injured best friend in the darkness. He says he'll take her to the hospital when she's calmed down.

But she only cries harder when they get a call a little later. Riku didn't survive.


They stop at a burger joint for lunch. Naminé pulls out her Japanese-English dictionary and scrambles for the common phrases at the beginning, but Roxas gently places his left hand on top of hers as they grip the book. He speaks to the cashier in fluent English while Naminé stares, wide-eyed. When they take their orders back to a table, she focuses on him.

"You never told me!"

Roxas shrugs, unwrapping his burger. "I've lived in this country for some time before my family headed back to Japan," he takes a bite and looks at her untouched food. "Hey, eat."

Naminé looks at her burger with wary eyes. "I'm not sure."

Looking for something smaller, he grabs a french fry and holds it out to her. "Oily and very bad for us," he twirls the piece in his hand and stops. "Now eat it," he says sternly.

Naminé leans forward hesitantly and Roxas takes the chance to shove the whole piece in her mouth. Her eyes widen and he laughs.

"Come on. I know our biggest job requirement is to keep our figure, but didn't you say we were here for freedom?" To prove his point, he takes a huge bite out of his burger, chews a bit so he doesn't blow chunks, but his voice still comes out muffled with food, "Doesn't this count?"

"Gross." Naminé pushes her food closer to herself. A few moments later, she complies and Roxas tries to hide his smile because soon enough, she's wiping her fingers from burger grease.

He decides to check his text messages and when he opens all eleven of them, he sees capitals and exclamation points from Axel. Roxas snorts when he sees a reminder not to show up in Japan looking like a cow. A few seconds later, he gets a new text from Axel (fifty exclamation points and "what's this") with a link to a tweet—it's a picture of Roxas eating, two burgers lying on the table in wait for him to finish his first.

"I saw that," he warns.

"Don't know what you're talking about, Burger Boy," she says reaching over to ruffle his hair, a slight smile on her face. Roxas feels himself mimicking it, while a feeling from awhile ago builds in him, but then he hurriedly coughs and is suddenly on his feet, ready to leave.


They've been on the road for two hours now and Roxas can tell he's nodding off. He pulls over to the side of the highway, not that he really has to since the roads are practically empty once again, and laughs at the girl beside him who now has one eye open to stare at him. Creepily, Roxas thinks.

"What happened?"

"Tired," he says.

She hums in thought while sitting up and rubbing her eyes open. "The plan's still not ruined. I'm awake now, so I'm taking over."

Roxas goes around the car while Naminé climbs over, settling into the new seat. Roxas thinks he'll be able to catch some hours, but jolts awake when he realizes the noise of wind passing from outside his door is louder than he knows it should be.

"So, was it a Nascar racer that taught you to drive?" He asks, eyes wide in fear and checking all of the mirrors and windows to make sure the few cars on the road are nowhere near them.

Naminé laughs and slows down just a tad. "I figure if I can cut down the time it'll take to reach Jamestown, then we'll still be sticking to the plan."

Roxas decides not to dare override her logic and settles for staring out at the road in front of them, his anxiousness growing as they merge into more populated highways.

"Not tired anymore?"

"Of course not," he mumbles. If he'd known she would drive so recklessly, on roads with drivers who'll cut anyone off as long as they're still speeding 35 miles over the speed limit, then he would've dragged Axel along, just to drive them. But then the trip would have been different.

The ride is quiet for the next hour, he never knows how they fall into the silences when it used to be so easy before. "Hey," he says when he catches himself falling asleep. Naminé glances at him and he takes it as encouragement. "Why do you think you like planning so much?"

She shrugs and Roxas is about to tell her not to make any sudden movements, for fear of his life because he can't trust her driving, but she answers, "The oldest home videos my family has of me are my audition tapes for a diaper commercial. Modelling's always been with me which means my whole life's been planned out for me by my parents. Maybe it just passed on."

He'd known her for a few years, yet her parents had been a quiet subject for her. He decides not to test if he can overstep his boundaries. "So modelling, how's that been lately?" He tries going for airy and casual but the sleepiness eats away at most of it. He hopes she doesn't notice.

Naminé smiles, and it stays on her face as she replies. "You should know." He doesn't. They haven't talked in months, except for quick greetings backstage in the midst of the flurry of makeup artists and designers and models standing stiff straight as they let the professionals turn them into walking pieces of art. "Just busy lately. I like it though…" she trails off and then speeds up. Roxas has to grab onto his seat for stability. "Hey, there's the motel we're staying at!"


They get a room with two beds. The lady at the front desk had looked at them weirdly and let out a disbelieving laugh, but Roxas ignored it as best as he could.

Naminé takes the one closest to the window, but Roxas doesn't care as he runs into the shower after throwing his bag on the bed.

Less than an hour later, Naminé emerges from the bathroom and Roxas can smell the scent of her strawberry shampoo trailing after her as she walks over to the bed in the dark. He tries to breathe in the scent of his own pillow, calming freshly done laundry, to rid his mind of it.

He decides to wait for her deep breathing before he lets himself go to sleep. Instead, he ends up speaking to the dark thirty minutes later. "Can't fall asleep?"

"Nope. Maybe I'm too excited about this trip."

He sighs and turns to face her bed, her back silhouetted by the light coming from the window. "If we don't fall asleep soon then the plan will be useless."

"If there's anything I have confidence in then it's in my driving ability. I can keep us on track," and Roxas has to laugh because of the contrast between her words and the tired yawn she lets out.

"I was pretty sure I'd die today, you know." He kicks his sheets off and stares up at the ceiling, his hands crossed behind his head. "Hey Naminé, why haven't we talked in awhile?"

"Guess we've both been busy."

"We were busy before, too. You never told me you were going to be in Aerith's fashion show in New York," he's saying it and he doesn't know why it's coming out now, maybe the night had given him strength. Maybe he's just a coward who hides in the darkness. "Xion told Axel, so I heard. I used to be the first person you'd tell before. Well, after Riku..."

Roxas is ready to apologize and run out to buy her favourite strawberry donut as repentance because not only did he run his mouth but he dragged him into the conversation. Before he can, she speaks, "Is that what you're so hesitant to talk to me about?" She sits up in her bed and turns to him. "Welcome back, Roxas," she says with a wave.

He only watches as she drops back onto the bed, cocooning herself in blankets. The quiet breathing he waited for finally reaches his ears a minute later.


The moment he feels sunlights warming his face, he flips his pillow to the cool side and throws it on his face. He's about to let out a tired yawn when his ears pick up on it.

Humming. It's coming from the bathroom, he thinks as his eyes open into slits, staring at the door the sounds is wafting out from. He smiles as he falls back to sleep.

It's been months since he heard that. Welcome back, Naminé, he thinks as he falls asleep again.


"You know, I get sad when I'm back at home and playing video games with my little brother." They're sitting on a park bench, staring off at the families gathered at the park. It's not part of the plan but they're two hours ahead anyway, since Naminé couldn't stay asleep and had decided to dragged Roxas awake too.

"But you always used to beat me in third-person shooters," he grudgingly admits.

Naminé lets out a laugh and Roxas is sure that there's something different this morning, different for the both of them. "That's not what I mean. He gets to sit at home and worry about making sure his count of video game trophies keeps up with his friends'. My parents don't care. Then there's me, running to seven casting calls a day and sitting on a plane to go to a different city every few weeks."

"The splendid life of a model, I know it well." But it's five times worse for Naminé, he still remembers the many gatherings she had to skip out on because it clashed with her bookings. The point only gets punctuated when he feels his phone vibrate in his pocket, probably another text from Axel checking up on him. Roxas could care less about Cloud's new men's line right now.

"Home doesn't even feel like home sometimes, you know?" He nods in agreement and she continues, looking around the area, "So that's why we're here, where we can do anything."

"But you've already planned everything out," he teases, as he pulls on a strand of her hair lightly.

She slaps his hand away lightly, "Hush." But then she grabs his hand back and holds it. Roxas wonders if the pink on her cheeks is from the humidity of the park or something else. He tries not to let himself hope it's something else.

He stretches his legs out in front of him and he can feel Naminé shift closer to him. "I used to love soccer."

"I know."

He leans his head back and stares up at the clouds, but he doesn't see them really. "But being told I'd make it to second string next time, after years of playing, was enough. I wanted to be the best."

Naminé sits even closer, her arm brushing his sides. Her hears her turning to look at him, "It doesn't have to be soccer, you already are the best."

Roxas can feel the warmth from Naminé's hand as she rubs it in her own, trying to comfort him. He cracks a grin. "Thanks." He squeezes her hand. "I was stopped by a lady on the street. I don't know how but I ended up filling in for some supermodel, plus the super famous photographer liked me enough to help me meet people."

Naminé let out a low whistle, or tried to. "Lucky start. And I first met you backstage during your first fashion week, right? I never would have guessed you were so inexperienced is Kairi didn't ask." He almost laughs at her words because compared to her, a fairy on stage who sprinkled magic on the audience to mesmerize them, he was just an ugly fly.

"Hey Roxas," she says a few moments later. "Do you ever think we're wasting our youth? Keeping our figures unchanging and making ourselves into people's playthings for a job that's disloyal if we don't play by the rules? Are we wasting our time?"

"I don't know," he answers lamely. A couple more beats of silence and he speaks again, "Even if we are, I don't think I really have a problem with it."

Naminé nods, "I think so too." Her voice gets quieter, almost a whisper, "I don't think Riku regretted anything either."

He lets go of her hand and throws an arm around her shoulder. It's been awhile, but she feels the same (the warmth, the curves in her shoulders, the soft hair that brushes against his arm) and that almost makes his lips turn up."He died like he lived—making sure everyone was okay." Roxas leans in and lays a kiss on the top of her head, his lips touching her hair. "You be sure to remember that."

Leaning back into the park bench, his arm still around her, he speaks louder. "So I think we should get out of here before I start asking these families for their chicken wings."

"You're just taking this trip as a chance to stuff yourself anyway," she accuses, her eyes staring straight into his.

He forces a laugh and hides from her eyes, "Who am I to deny the seductive call of food?"


They're back to the musky scent of leather seats surrounding them and relying on the central air conditioning for sanity a few hours later. Still at least thirty minutes ahead of schedule, Roxas thinks it's safe to check his texts. He skips past Axel's nagging texts and sees one from Kairi. He tries to keep his blush down when he reads it.

you better talk to her already. u know what about, lover boy.

But when he looks at the driver, her hair blowing in the wind and eyes concentrated on driving in the condensed road where she's, thankfully, forced to drive carefully—he thinks it's not time yet.


Driving in to a nearby town, they curiously park behind a line of cars and walk towards loud music. They realize very quickly that they've walked into a street festival, one where the whole town is probably involved in from the looks of it.

The two decide to enjoy it. Roxas says he wants a bite and he's sure Naminé feels the pains of hunger chew at her too, so they stroll around.

His hand is suddenly grabbed and Roxas is pulled to the side in a rush. He has to train his eyes on her back as he tries to avoid bumping into many people. Not a possible task, he soon realizes when he starts mumbling apologizes on behalf of Naminé.

When they stop, he's ready to demand an explanation for why he became her rag doll she dragged through a crowd. However, the Middle Eastern kabob stand in front of him is enough explanation. As the mixed smell of spices and the sizzling sound of meat hitting the grill reaches him, he's already pulled out his wallet.

He asks for two sticks and while he and Naminé walk away, she holds her hand out and looks at him expectantly. He lowers one skewer towards her but as she leans in to take a bite, he holds it higher. A smirk reveals itself when she actually tries jumping for it.

"Hey!" Roxas finally gives, after a few more rounds of keep-away, he holds it out for her.

But instead of taking the skewer from him, she takes a bite of the meat, her eyes watching Roxas carefully. He's stuck in place under her gaze as she leans in more confidently, still watching him, and catches another piece of chicken in her mouth.

They walk around the festival like that, Naminé one step ahead and turning back every so often to take another bite of the kabob, Roxas trailing after her and pulling her back to point out things. They pass by souvenir shops and Roxas grabs Sora an I'm with dufus—wait, that's me shirt.

Roxas stops her to buy pineapple drinks for them. They're hard to carry as the drinks are inside carved out pineapples. Naminé takes a quick picture of the two of them holding their drinks out, matching grins on both of them. She texts it to both of their managers, who've been blowing up their phones with texts and calls, as evidence of their sustaining existence.

When Naminé throws their drinks away after Roxas persuades her that the pineapple would not make a great keepsake, she grabs his hand and they head toward the trinket shops. When she's pointing out the intricate phoenix origami, Roxas notices the fact that her hand is still in his. He continues to notice for the rest of the time they spend raking through shops and trying out food they'd only seen on television.


As they check into a hotel, they decide to spend a little extra cash for a decent room. But still, Naminé decides to ask for just one bed because it's cheaper that way. Roxas goes with it.

The sun's set long ago and an orange sky is left, smears of blue painted across it. Roxas calls for a sundae and when Naminé hovers behind him, he shoves his spoon in her mouth. Soon enough, they're both sharing the dessert together and laughing as she flicks some ice cream onto his nose. She's more carefree than he's seen her in months. It's a stark contrast to the sharp, cutting look she's always asked to maché herself into when standing on the runway. Roxas finds himself smiling more today than he has since they boarded their plane in Tokyo.

It's when Naminé gives him a lingering kiss on the cheek. after giggling at the ice cream sitting on there. that Roxas stops smiling. He turns his face, and she's still so close, not having leaned back. He watches her eyes flicker down to his lips and back up, but he refuses to think the same as he asks, "Why are we really here?"

"For the freedom to satisfy our wants," she breathes out so lightly that the words tickle his skin.

He stops himself from taking a sharp breath. "And what do you want, Naminé?"

"Ice cream."

Roxas gives in and leans back, resting on his palms. "When are we going to stop this?"

"Stop what?"

"Acting."

Naminé doesn't say anything, opting for a sigh as she moves away. She spares a few seconds to stare at Roxas before she walks over to her backpack, pulling out a sweater.

She's silent when she leaves the room as well. He stays seated on the ground, wondering if she had nothing to say or didn't want to say anything. Deciding to be productive, Roxas cleans up their mess and then lies awake in bed, waiting for the distinct creak of the door before he'll allow the blanket of sleep to fall.

He doesn't hear it for two hours. He falls asleep, making sure he's left more than enough space on the other side of the bed.


When he wakes up, it's to the smell of strawberries in the dark. The sun isn't even close to being up yet. Sleep is about to take him over once again when he realizes his left side is warm. Reflexively, he moves closer only to realize the space is being occupied. Roxas lets out a sigh of relief. He hopes it was quiet, but apparently not enough, he learns, because soon a pair of sleepy eyes stares back.

"Hey," he murmurs.

"Hey."

Roxas is ready to shift to the other side, closer to the edge of the bed, but it would make unnecessary noise and draw too much attention so he decides against it. The urge still remains though.

"Last night," she starts and Roxas tries to keep the surprise clear from his face. He thanks his years of modelling for being able to control, at least, his facial expressions. The pounding of his heart, on the other hand, he hopes isn't too noticeable. "I went out and jogged around. Just near the hotel, it wasn't remotely dangerous," she adds for good measure.

"After," she takes a shaky breath but manages to blow it out with precise control, "Riku's incident, I was out of it. More than usual."

"I know, he was your best friend."

"I should have said something, but I didn't. It was stupid." Roxas nods and she smiles. "But I think this trip is helping that."

He returns her smile, and ruffles her hair just a bit. "Glad to hear it, now go back to sleep."

Eyes not leaving his even though her smile does, she takes hold of the hand on her head and brings it away. "Wait, this is important, I need to say this." A yawn interrupts her and a blush spreads out on her face. "Sorry." And it takes even more from Roxas to keep another smile from cropping up again.

"Things with Riku were just friendly fun, but this," she looks at the space between them and suddenly, her body relaxes with her next words. "This is something else."

"What is it?" He's not sure he wants to know, but he hasn't for a while and he thinks it might be time to stop cowering.

"A risk," and she leans in to give him the kiss they've both been waiting for. Immediately, her hand goes to trail the outer part of his ear and it sends a shiver down his back which brings him to life. His free hand goes up to her cheek and stays there even as he pulls away.

It was quick kiss, but enough to make the task of moving away from her, for mere breathing space, hard. Her hand still holds his, but he maneuvers so they're entwined now. She's close enough that he can notice her eyelashes, especially with the way her eyes are downcast and paired with her blushing cheeks, Roxas thinks this a nice look on her.

"Morning breath. Gross," he whispers, pulling a face despite the fact that his smile won't wash off. It's enough to make her giggle and the sound is more beautiful to him now than it ever was. "But it's not just on you. I ran away too."

"Getting your makeup done before I arrived and hanging around Sora, more than usual. backstage? Yeah, I noticed," she says sleepily.

Roxas pushes her hair away from her face and pinches her nose, his smile growing again. His cheeks are going to ache soon if this keeps going.

But when she throws an arm around him, snuggling up to his side hesitantly, Roxas sighs and entangles her legs with hers, pulling her even closer with his eyes closed. The smile can stay on for a little longer, he thinks.


After walking out of the shower, he notices that she had turned his cellphone off. When he held his up to her in question after she re-entered the room, she only said that she did it to hers too. Once again, Roxas goes with it.

Hours later, they're both in the car. Naminé sits in the passenger seat, her legs thrown up on the dashboard as she reclines in her chair as far as it will let her while Roxas, having finally reclaimed the driver's spot, drives at a speed Naminé claims her grandmother drove much faster than.

Roxas finally remembers that the car has a working stereo system and in a few minutes, Naminé pulls out a CD. It takes him just a few more minutes to realize it's a mix of cheesy pop songs. "The perfect road trip music," Naminé says with utmost seriousness.

When they're out on the free road, Naminé tunes down the music and says, "Time to switch."

"We haven't come by the sea-salt ice cream shop yet! I'm sure it'll be at the next service area."

"You've been sure for past three hours now, and you've been wrong every time. Your arms are sagging already, get up!"

Deciding to stick to being stubbornly defensive, he speaks, "I just need a small energy boost, that's all."

He stays rooted in place, but when he hears shuffling beside him, Roxas turns to see Naminé whip out a bag of candy.

"When did you buy that? I thought you were trying to keep your model diet on this trip."

Naminé promptly proceeds to shove a lollipop in his mouth. "Last night. And hey, if you're breaking the rules, then I might as well."

He pushes the candy away with his tongue and attempts to talk, "A rebel now, huh?" Roxas realizes how difficult of a task it is to smirk with candy in his mouth. It's a tad bit uncomfortable.

"Just following your lead," she says and suddenly, her maps are out the window and flying in the wind, a small wrapper following them as she brings her own lollipop to her mouth.


A/N: I've been a bad friend lately, so I wanted to dedicate this story to EternallySky! For being my first friend on the internet and for still talking to me, despite the fact that I take months to reply to her emails.

I got stuck with this though (tears were almost shed when I scrapped 1k of model flashbacks) since it was the first time I tried to convey a handful of concepts at once. So I hope some sort of meaning was found in this story where nothing really happens!