A/N: Yet another akuroku for all y'all, this time, we've got a flashbackw00t!fic. Huzzah! I actually wasn't sure how I was going to write this or how to establish the axel/roxas interactions. I wanted to write a fic where they were both together in an actual "couple" relationship, but I just can't picture them cozying up by the fire and snuggling, especially since we're already expecting a lot from these two characters by wanting them to have true, deep emotional feelings in the first place. Which, in retrospect, I really do think they have, but not enough for them to be all, "LYK, UR SO HAWT I HART U ROX!11!1one!11one!"/"OMG RLY, AX?"/"YA RLY!"/snuggle smooch.
Yes.
Yes, just like that.
…
Bitches…
Erm…anyway, that doesn't mean that I don't think they have their little fluff moments. I just don't think they have a thousand-million fluff moments, and even when they do, it's a pretty limited amount of fluff. Like in Build-A-Bear? When you stuff your teddy bear too much, the attendants and store people yell at you.
…
Bastards…
In any case, I suppose you could say that this fic takes place in the same universe as my other fic "Company Cannot Be Bought" (which you don't have to read to make sense of this of course but it would sure as hell be appreciated ;D).
Lucky Thirteen
"Something mysterious…"
"Play the card, Axel."
"Or dark-sounding, eh?"
"It's your turn Axel…"
"Club Noir?"
Roxas raised his brows. "You're kidding. That sounds like a gay club."
"So? Xemnas is an anagram of 'mansex'—you do the math."
Roxas snickered. "Nice."
Axel returned his smile. "Nah, don't praise me, Xigbar came up with it. Cleverest thing he's said all year if you ask me."
He rolled his eyes in response. "Just play your card."
"Like you got any other ideas?"
"Stop making up names for the Organization—it's fine the way it is!"
"But it's such a stupid name—'the Organization'…"
"Play. Your. Card."
Axel rolled his eyes, pulled out a card, examined it, then stared pointedly at Roxas. He gave him a questioning look. "Got any sevens?"
Roxas smiled. "Nope."
"Bastard," Axel remarked amicably as he leaned over to pull out a card from the deck to join his hand of eight.
It was certainly nice to sit down and play cards solely for the sake of playing cards (without Luxor's competitive streak, in other words). And it was nice, Roxas thought with a smirk, that he was winning.
He smirked into his hand of five, reaching up to wipe the back of his forehead with the other. The two sat in the vicious expanse of white in Roxas's room and for once, he was thankful for the blanketing colour (or lack thereof) of his room. Marluxia had thought it a fabulous idea to overdose on the heat lamps ("This is not the right environment for Venus Flytraps!"), thus temporarily destroying the temperature systems in the entire the castle.
Just my luck… he mused.
Now, Roxas, by in large, was not a superstitious person. Though every now and then he found himself wondering whether his fortune could be attributed to the fact that he was the last member in an organization of thirteen. It was, in his educated opinion, nothing short of a miracle that he was beating Axel so marvelously at the moment much less a miracle that the Organization was, in spite of Marluxia's heat-happy plight, somewhat getting along.
"Hey! Roxas!"
He snapped to attention. "Hm."
"Play your card…" he mocked.
"As soon as you do!"
"I already played my card," Axel remarked cheekily.
Roxas shot him a glare and asked, "Do you have any tens?"
Axel cursed under his breath and threw down the requested card. "How do you do that?"
He shrugged his bare shoulders. "I guess I'm kind of lucky today. That, and I have skill," he added pointedly.
Axel nudged him under the table. "Yeah, but so do I," he said with a wink and slid a naked foot near his opponent's groin.
"Axel, please…" he groaned in response, "no distractions…"
The pyro smirked and removed his foot though not before slooooowly sliding it back down his thigh. "Tough crowd…"
"I think I preferred your making up names for the Organization…" he murmured.
"You act like you never thought of it before."
"Axel…"
"Sure it's foreboding and all," he reasoned, "but it's a little bland."
"Real deep."
"I try every now and then."
Roxas snorted. "Are you for real…?"
He supplied him with a roguish grin as Roxas's mind began to wander once again. "As real as they come…"
-.-.-.-.-
"Are…are you for real…?"
It was the first thing Roxas remembered ever saying. It was cold. The darkness encompassed him, and he felt oddly blanketed by the frigidity of the water, and choked by the loneliness. His vision blurred and suddenly he was blinded by red.
"As real as they come," came a devil-may-care voice. "See, he can talk—I told you he was alive, Saix. Looks like somebody owes me five-thousand munny."
"Odd. He looks so weak. Usually they die within being," followed another icy voice.
"Psh, you're just mad because you lost."
Roxas tried to focus more but realized that his head hurt when he did so and opted to stop instead. He couldn't move for the life of him and try as he might, he could not get his subconscious to fully connect with his awareness (or lack thereof).
"No," came the second voice again, laced with malice. "And I never agreed to such a preposterous action. Besides," and here he could detect that his acidic tone had increased twofold, "it may perish within the hour."
His vision was beginning to clear and he saw a pale man with a shock of red hair kneeling on one leg above him. Another figure stood not much further, though Roxas could not distinguish his features.
"You just hate being wrong," the redheaded figure accused and took his gaze off the standing figure to regard him with vivid, electric green eyes. "So, you're alive then," he remarked as if examining a mildly interesting specimen. "Well," he added as an after thought, "as alive as possible. Just so you know, it doesn't get better."
Roxas said nothing. Only shifted slightly on the ground. It felt gravelly, like sand. "Wh-what…where…"
"Welcome to Kingdom Hearts. Or Hell. Take your pick—"
"Stop dawdling," cut in the second figure, who he assumed was the "Saix" the redhead had been talking to. "We were to check to see if it was alive and then bring it to the Superior—"
"Yeah, I get it," snapped the first figure and he took the time to map out the second's appearance. Silvery blue hair and yellow, lamp-like eyes, and a countenance that complimented his glacial voice.
"Why is it so cold?" Roxas asked and tried to get up as the redhead moved to stand.
"You're naked," he replied bluntly.
Roxas once again remained silent and pulled himself up, not bothering to wash away the sand that stuck to his legs, giving them the appearance of stone.
"See, he'll live. He got up on his own. That's more than you can brag about," the first goaded Saix who snapped his murderous, cat-like eyes to him.
"I would watch what you would say…the Superior already battles with the notion of keeping you within the Organization," he hissed.
The redhead would not be deterred and narrowed his eyes to glare at him. "The Superior knows where my loyalties lie. I don't have to act like his damn lap dog to gain his trust, Saix."
The two chose to remain silent, opting to glare daggers at one another. Roxas shifted uncomfortably, noticing awkwardly that he was getting goosebumps and was about to protest, when finally, Saix bore his razor sharp canines and stalked off in a rather brooding fashion.
"Fine. Bring it with us. But you'll see. The Superior will have no use for it."
Roxas felt uncomfortable with Saix's less-than-glowing reference to him as an "it".
"Don't keep standing there," the redhead's voice startled him. "He's already irritable and I hate to say it but the Superior gets grouchy, too."
He said nothing.
"Man of few words? Whatever. If you're not going to move I'm going to have to drag you back, conscious or not."
Roxas knew this man was not to be argued with. He began following him.
"Good. I knew you had it in you. And don't worry about the naked part. Not like we don't have the same bits anyway. Except maybe for Larxene. She's a girl. And Marluxia. He's special. But you'll know soon enough."
"You haven't explained anything."
"You'll know soon enough," he repeated and Roxas could tell he had no more room to argue. "Got a name?" he asked with a casual wink.
He eyed him wearily before replying, "Roxas."
And he got real close and said, "Axel. Got it memorized?"
-.-.-.-.-
"Roxas. Yo! Roxas!"
Roxas snapped out of his reminiscence. "I…yeah, sorry, I was…yeah."
He raised a fiery brow. "Ooookay then…"
"Got any fours?" Roxas asked, changing the subject.
Axel cursed and threw down the requested card. "How do you do that? Talented..."
The key bearer gave a snort. "You know it," he mumbled as he put it down to join his other ten pairs ("You're killin' me, Blondie, you're killin' me!") placed neatly in front of him. "I still say that I'm unusually lucky today."
Axel smirked. "Lucky number thirteen?"
Roxas mock-glared. "That's not funny," he deadpanned, though he knew that a sliver of humour shone through as his mind, once again drifted.
-.-.-.-.-
"Sooooo," the redhead began, slow and deliberate, "You're Lucky Number Thirteen, eh?"
Roxas glowered under his critical eye. "That's not funny."
He gave a short bark of laughter as he clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Slow it down. You're too serious, lighten up, buddy," he said with a wink.
Roxas had just been called to see Xemnas, what the Organization called "the Superior", about something or other. Barely fifteen minutes in his newly assigned robes and already he was being called in. "You try being Number Thirteen."
"Why, superstitious?" Axel remarked with a mischievous sparkle.
It was at this moment that Roxas established that he was not superstitious. Then again, even he had to admit that he was having a rather unfortunate life...half-life...Whatever-It-Was. Still, he supplied him with a slightly cross, "No."
"All right, all right. If you ask me though, getting a summon from the Superior himself doesn't always mean a bad thing."
He gave him a weary look. "Not with my luck."
But Axel waved him off. "Nah, I bet you'll be the Superior's new favourite. Saix'll be pissed," he added as an afterthought.
Roxas felt his face grow hot. "I didn't ask to—"
"I know, I know. Just teasin', Blondie."
He sighed. "I don't know why he's so interested."
"Don't look at me. They're big on the seniority thing so I never know what's going on in the 'inner circle'. Lexaeus is okay, though. He'll usually fill me in if I ask him nicely enough."
"There you are!" cut in a rather biting voice and the both of them turned their heads to find a very irate blonde.
"Then again," Axel muttered under his breath, "some are just plain annoying."
"Shut the hell up, I've been looking everywhere for you!" she snapped at Axel.
Axel rolled his eyes. "Number Thirteen, meet Number Twelve, Larxene. The only girl in the Organization though definitely not the only bitch—we still do have Marluxia after all."
And it was then that Larxene noticed Roxas. "Hmm…what do we have here? Fresh meat…?" she said with a saccharine smile, tracing a thin, gloved finger over his jaw.
Roxas flinched and resisted the urge to snap at her not touch him. Frankly, he wasn't in the mood.
"Leave the kid alone," Axel intervened with a practiced roll of his eyes, "we barely found him—he has to see the Superior."
At this, Larxene's face perked. "Off to see the Superior? Let's hope you don't die out beforehand."
Roxas narrowed his eyes at her. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked tonelessly.
But she didn't answer. Instead she turned to Axel and said, "Marluxia, Vexen, and I are going over the floor plans that the Superior's drawn out for us. And, of course, Zexion insisted that he oversee us. If you ask me, too many cooks spoil the stew."
Axel groaned. "Shit, that was today? I had to find the kid!" he said with nod over to Roxas who was beginning to grow more and more irritated with each passing statement.
"None of us care! You're needed!" she spat and turned on her heel and stormed off.
"Nice," Roxas deadpanned.
"Psh, she can wait a few minutes—"
He was suddenly cut off by an electric spike to his shoulder ("what the hell man!"). "NOW!" they heard Larxene's voice carry out through the rest of the hallway.
"You didn't have to attack me!" he spat and pulled out the spike, burning it to ash in the palm of his hand in his anger.
When she didn't answer, Axel spat a resounding "Bitch," and rubbed his arm before turning to Roxas. "I don't need to say that that's my cue. I'll send Demyx to lead the rest of the way. The guy's been itching for something to do."
Roxas said nothing.
"Man of few words," Axel mumbled his favourite mantra for him and melted into the darkness.
It would be another month and several drinks before they saw each other again.
-.-.-.-.-
"Checkmate!"
Roxas snapped out of it long enough to roll his eyes and accuse Axel of stupidity. "We're not playing chess, dumbass," he said with a short laugh.
The redhead blew a breath from the corner of his mouth. "Eh, gotta say something to get into that noodle-brain of yours," he remarked as he knocked his knuckles against Roxas's temple.
He shrugged. "Sorry I've been zoning."
"I can tell."
Roxas smiled slightly in response. "Any nines?"
Axel swore violently under his breath. "How do you do that?" he demanded for what seemed to be the millionth time.
"What?" Roxas remarked innocently as he took the moment to take the pair to join his twelve.
"Maybe it is a sudden stroke of luck?" Axel suggested with a pointed wink.
"I dunno," he replied truthfully.
Axel grinned impishly. "Maybe I'm your good luck charm?"
"Are you?" Roxas scoffed. "You get me in more trouble than anyone—including Saix, the manipulative bastard…"
His grin widened. "What can I say…it's a gift…"
-.-.-.-.-
"It's a gift."
"What, getting under the skin of every Organization member?"
"Nah, not every single one of them."
Roxas gave him a mock punch in the arm. "Dick."
"'Least I use mine," he countered.
"Ouch," the blond laughed.
The two, both hooded, continued their trek through the World That Never Was, enjoying the light drizzle of rain rather than the usual downpour that the wretched climate brought. They had, in essence, become each other's reality rudders. Roxas found himself drawn to Axel's mildly rebellious streak (emphasis on mildly—the Superior wouldn't allow too much out-of-line behaviour) and Axel to Roxas's softer, more grounded countenance. They complimented each other; at least, that's what Roxas told himself from time to time.
"Man, patrol is such a bitch isn't it?" Axel commented as he absentmindedly twirled a smoldering chakram. "Why'd I let you talk me into coming with you?"
"I dunno," he replied, "maybe it's my gift?"
Axel smirked. "Cheeky bastard."
"What can I say? It's better than getting under peoples' skin."
He raised an eyebrow. "Ah, you're just jealous."
Roxas snickered. "What, that I can't get Larxene to throw a spike through my shoulder? Or that I can't get Xaldin to shred my wardrobe to pieces?"
Axel shook his head. "Nah. More like you're irritated because I get under your skin."
The blond frowned. He supposed it was true. No one quite evoked such emotion from him than Axel, whether the sensation was happiness, or anger, or, yes, even irritation…
Axel pulled back his hood to reveal his face covered in droplets.
…or lust…
Roxas bit his lip and glanced downwards. What Axel had said was true at one point—the redhead had an unwavering ability to instill in him feelings he thought impossible for a Nobody. He, quite frankly, made him bolder…made him inexplicably feel.
"Hey, what's up, Roxie?"
He flinched. Sometimes, it made him uneasy. And sometimes it made him wonder whether Axel sensed just what he sensed.
"Yo! Number Thirteen!"
…or if he really was just trying to get under his skin.
"What is it, Number Eight," he replied in a tone that suggested that perhaps he was not necessarily jesting completely.
Axel gave him a peculiar look before chuckling lightly under his breath. "Just teasing, Lucky Thirteen," he remarked with a Cheshire cat-like grin.
Roxas pursed his lips. Of course he was teasing. Was he ever serious? Roxas stopped walking and was filled with an inexorable irritation. "Stop calling me that," he mumbled.
"What, Lucky Thirteen?"
"Yes."
The redhead cocked his head. "What's gotten into you?"
I don't know whether you feel or whether you pretend to… "I…nothing."
He rolled his eyes. "Bullshit, Rox, why the sudden mood swing?"
The blond remained silent for a moment. "Do you ever…actually do anything, or in this case…get under peoples' skin because it kind of makes you…feel?"
Axel seemed to consider this. "Kind of. But there are other ways I guess, to do it. Get under peoples' skin, I mean."
Roxas took an involuntary step forward—Axel mimicked his movement. "Why do you do it?" When had they become a mere breath away?
"Because…" he replied, "I can."
And suddenly Roxas could taste ash and water and he could actually feel his velvety, almost cat-like tongue, and it was strange and exhilarating and all-around fucking weird all at once.
"Sometimes," he heard Axel whisper harshly into his ear as they pulled apart, "getting under someone's skin isn't so bad, is it?"
"Why…do you really…do you do it just because, or…" he broke off as he felt him nibble his ear enticingly.
"No…I get under your skin, Lucky Thirteen," Axel murmured against his neck, "because I'm the only one who can…" another bite, this one to his lower lip, "and that makes this…entirely ours…"
He didn't reply. Perhaps it was the gentle touch of his hand or the tender touch of his lips that made Roxas understand that what Axel did was his…and just his. And that's when he knew they both felt their electricity…
-.-.-.-.-
"Are you just going to sit there?"
Roxas licked his lips. "What?" he snapped.
"Nothing, you won, man. I thought you would've, I dunno… celebrated by now," Axel remarked.
The blond simply offered a lopsided smile.
"Ah, lighten up, Roxas," Axel told him gently and wiped a bit of sweat from the other's brow. "You've won your game, Lucky Thirteen."
"Yeah, I guess I have."
They shared a moment of silence.
"You know what I've been thinking about?" Roxas began unsteadily.
"Hm?"
"Us. The day we first met…and how confused you made me. And all the days in-between, you know?" he mumbled.
Axel gave a bout of light laughter. "I happen to have that effect on a lot of people."
"What did you think of me?"
The redhead jumped slightly at the sudden question. "I…well…I…what?"
"The first thought you had when you saw me…what did you think of me?" Roxas specified.
"Hmm…you know," Axel admitted, laughing a little hesitantly, "I didn't really think all that much of you…now that I go back to it, I remember thinking that you'd be the type to have really angry sex," he remarked mischievously.
Roxas frowned. "What?"
"Well, I mean, I hardly knew you, all I saw you do was brood all the time…generally speaking, you were just another face to an otherwise faceless organization," he explained.
"Real smart."
"Bite me, Blondie."
"With pleasure."
This happened to surprise Axel a bit, Roxas noticed as the other jumped back slightly. "Hey, now, gettin' pretty bold, Roxie."
And then Roxas mentioned another statement that seemed to surprise Axel once again with the sincerity of it. "Well…maybe you made me bolder."
There was silence in the room in which they sat there and stared, until Axel got up to stand next to him, resting his hand on his naked shoulder.
"Ya know…" he began and Roxas felt the makings of a burning trail of fire as he slid his hand down his bare arm.
"Y-yeah…?" Roxas acknowledged blearily as he felt the redhead straddle him.
"You might have just done the same for me," he murmured into his ear with an affectionate nibble. "That, or maybe we're both just a hell of a lot luckier."
Roxas unconsciously placed a hand on his partner's neck. "Well, you know what they say…Lucky Number Thirteen…"
A/N: Ta da! That was it! D Hope you enjoyed it. As you can see, Axel made an impression on Roxas more than Roxas made an impression on Axel if you're judging by my previous akuroku fic. I dunno. The way I saw it is that Axel was basically the first person that Roxas saw so he was affected more easily than Axel who I have the feeling would need a lot to impress him. Like a very drunk Roxas. Muahahahaha.