A/N: Hello everyone. This is my contribution for Akuroku Day this year. Hard to believe I'm posting anything at all with my track record, but I decided that I needed to do something for my OTP's special day and I came up with this. I'm sorry to anyone who's been waiting for me to update something, but I've determined that I officially suck at posting works in progress, or really anything in general. So in the future, I have resolved to only post things I've already completed, or at least have worked on it enough to be sure that I will eventually complete it. Which means outlining and having about 50% of it typed up for longer works. Again, sorry to those of you who've been waiting for me to update past works, it's not going to happen. Anyway, on with the Akuroku Day celebration! Hope you enjoy it!
Warning: There is a strong likelihood that the characters are OOC. Slight bashing of characters, in the literal sense of being hit, as well as slight author bashing, in the figurative sense, but you don't care about that. Also, this is shounen ai/BL/boyxboy. If you are offended by gay relationship in anyway, you should leave now. I don't really know why you clicked on this in the first place if you are offended by it, as it was clearly placed in the summary. There is some making out in this, however, there is no smut. Flames regarding any of the above listed thing will be ignored as i have warned you, however, reviews and constractive critisism are much appreatiated.
Disclaimer: I imagine that I'm a lot like you. I'm female, like many on this site. I'm a teenager, also like many on this site. And most importantly, I do not own Kingdom Hearts, like everyone on this site. I also do not own most of the poems used in this. However, I do own the idea, as well as one of the poems. Read the end notes to find out what the poems are.
Poems
It was a nice, quiet day in the World that Never Was. That probably wouldn't last very long considering the beings that lived there were general insane and would cause some sort of huge racket everyday with their antics. Whether that be holding a DDR contest on the roof with speakers used for rock concerts, or blowing up the kitchen trying to cook, something would always disrupt the peace. But that hadn't happened yet today, so it was still a quiet day.
And so, Organization member Number XIII, Roxas, decided to take advantage of this time of solace by heading to Marluxia's garden and reading poetry.
…what? You think that poetry is girly or something? That, by having him read poetry, I, as the author, am setting up Roxas to be a pathetic and girly character? Well, I'll have you know that this is not girly poetry. And even if it was, Roxas would still be kick ass anyway.
"'Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold'(1)"
See, told you it wasn't girly.
And so, the Key of Destiny sat there reading his non-girly poetry.
"'My Life had stood—a Loaded Gun—
In Corners—till a…'(2) huh?"
Roxas cut off when he heard something rustling. However, after a few moments had passed with no further noise, he continued with his reading.
"'I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
And Mourners to…'(3) wha?"
Number XIII stopped again. A couple of minutes had passed sense the first time, and now the rustling sounded closer. However, just as before, the sound had ceased so he couldn't be sure where it had come from, or if he had even heard it at all and wasn't just imagining things. And so, once again, he went back to reading.
"'…And Mourners to and fro
Kept treading—tre…' Okay. Now I know I heard something."
This time Roxas stood up and looked around him. There was no denying this time that there was something—or someone—else in the garden with him. But after a few minutes of looking around him, he could not see anything out of place to suggest that there was an intruder. Deciding that it was probably just some sort of animal Marluxia brought in to make the place seem more natural, he sat back down and picked up his book to continue his poem.
"Stupid Marluxia. He should let us know if he's bringing something alive into the castle. Ahem.
'Kept treading—treading—till it seemed
That Sense was bre…' "
"Boo."
"Ahh!"
The blonde whipped around in surprise only to find himself facing a laughing redhead. He felt his face heat up till it was the same shade of red as the others hair, half from embarrassment at the girly scream he had let out, and half from anger at the redhead for sneaking up on him.
"Axel!" Roxas seethed. "What the fuck are you doing here? And why did you have to sneak up on me instead of just walking up like any normal person would do?"
"Sorry, Roxie," Axel got out between chuckles, indicating that he wasn't very sorry at all. "It's just that you're so cute when you get all flustered and blushing that I couldn't help myself. Besides, you have to admit that your reaction was damn funny."
"I am not cute!" Roxas punctuated this statement by swatting the other on the head. "And you didn't answer my other question. What are you doing here?"
"Okay, okay." Axel said, rubbing his head where Roxas had hit him. The kid may not look like much with him being so small, but he could actually pack quite a punch. "I'm here because today is a very special day for us Roxie!"
"Oh, really?"
"-Gasp- Don't tell me you don't remember what today is!" Axel gasped as he draped himself over the blonde's shoulders from behind.
"It's Thursday." Number XIII stated. "And get off me, you're heavy."
"Why Roxie, I'm hurt. How can you not remember what makes today so special?" Number VIII whined, ignoring the blonde's request and instead putting even more of his weight on him.
"Well, why don't you just tell me why it's so special instead of playing guessing games?" Roxas asked as he struggled futilely to get the other off him. "And could you stop calling me Roxie?"
"Roxie, Roxie, Roxie," Axel chided, shaking his head. "Tell me, what is today's date?"
"-Sigh- It's the 13th." Roxas resided himself to going along with the redhead. It wasn't as if he was having much success freeing himself anyway.
"Of what month?" Axel pressed on.
"August."
"And August is…?"
"The last month of Summer?" Roxas wasn't sure what he meant by that.
"I'm looking for a number here, Roxie." Axel said, slightly amused by the questioning in Roxas' voice.
"8. August is the 8th month." Roxas still wasn't sure where all this was going.
"And what do you get when you combine 8 and 13?" Axel asked slightly smugly.
"…21." The Key of Destiny stated after taking a second to do the math.
The Flurry of Dancing Flames proceeded to smack his own forehead. Sometimes he couldn't believe how dense Roxas could be. Must have been left over from his Somebody.
"NO!" He exclaimed, causing the blonde to jump at how load he was. Right next to his ear. Axel then stepped away so that they were facing each other. "You get 8/13! You and me! Axel and Roxas! Aku. Roku. Today is Akuroku Day!" Axel explained exasperatedly, pointing between himself and the other.
Roxas rubbed his ear a bit after the outburst. It felt like his eardrum might have exploded. "Alright! You don't have to get so worked up over it. Now explain what this has to do with you bothering me."
Axel looked at him in shock before putting on a puppy-dog eyed pout. It didn't really work for him, but it was still pathetic enough to get the point across. "I just told you Roxas. Today's our day! That means we have to celebrate it! Together!"
Number XIII stared at him for a long moment. He really just wanted the other to go away so he could continue reading his poetry in peace. But then again, he really hated seeing Axel's sad excuse for puppy-dog eyes. It was just so pathetic that it made him feel guilty. What was he supposed to do?
After a few minute had passed in silence, Roxas relented. "Fine. We can spend the day together if it really means that much to you."
"Yay!" Number VIII cheered. "Thank you so much, Roxie. That makes me so happy." Axel then wrapped the blonde in a tight hug.
"Yeah, yeah," Roxas sighed. "So what are we going to do?"
"I don't know. I was going to asked you what you wanted to do. So you can pick whatever you want, Roxie." Axel told him.
"You're not even going to give me a suggestion?" Roxas questioned.
"Well, I guess there's always sex, but…" Axel trailed off.
"Don't push your luck, pyro." Roxas hissed.
"Heheh. Yeah, that's what I thought you'd say." Axel laughed nervously.
Roxas then took a moment to think over his options. Roxas didn't really want to do anything that would require to much effort, such as a fancy dinner or something like that. He also didn't want to do anything that involved a lot of noise. Suddenly it hit him.
"Ow!" Roxas exclaimed, holding the back of his head. And you thought I meant that figuratively. "What the hell, Axel?! Why did you hit me with my book?"
"Well, you were just standing there and I tried to get your attention, but you didn't seem to notice. Then I saw the book and figured that if that didn't get your attention I'd have to use CPR or something. I was worried about you." Axel explained.
"Oh, really?" Roxas said, glaring at the book that was still in Axel's hands. After a moment however, it softened. "You know what, Axel, that's the perfect idea of what we can do."
"What? Hitting each other in the head with books?" Axel said confused. Maybe he hit him a little too hard. Roxas was usually a sensible person and would not want to do something so insane and hazardous to his health. Hell, not even Axel was crazy enough to think that was a good idea, and he was hyped up from all the sugar and caffeine he had for breakfast still.
"Huh? Um, no. I meant what's in the book. Poetry is considered romantic, right?" Roxas replied, slightly dazed. That happened when he had a truly magnificent idea. Or just an averagely good one, but that's irrelevant.
"Yeah, I guess it is." Axel responded. "So what are we going to do concerning said poetry?"
"We are going to sit down right here in the garden and read it to each other," stated Roxas.
"You mean, like you were doing before?"
"Exactly, except now it will be together and we'll take turns picking one to read."
"Hmm." Axel thought for a moment, tapping his chin. "Sure, I guess. There are worse things to do on someone's anniversary, after all."
"Right, I'll pick first." Roxas said. And so they sat down on the bench next to each other and Roxas started to look through the book for a poem to read. Axel couldn't resist looking over his shoulder as he did so. Roxas sent him an annoyed glance at this, but decided to let him be.
"Ah! Here we go." Roxas had found one. After clearing his throat briefly, he started to read.
"'We grow accustomed to the Dark—
When Light is put away—
As when the Neighbor holds the Lamp
To witness her Good bye—
'A Moment—We uncertain step
For newness of the night—
Then—fit our Vision to the Dark—
And meet the Road—erect—
'And so of larger—Darknesses—
Those Evenings of the Brain—
When not a Moon disclose a sign—
Or Star—come out—within—
'The Bravest—grope a little—
And sometimes hit a Tree
Directly in the Forehead—
But as they learn to see—
'Either the Darkness alters—
Or something in the sight
Adjust itself to Midnight—
And Life steps almost straight.'(4)"
Once Roxas had finished his recitation, he looked up at Axel with a small, satisfied smile on his face. He himself was rather pleased with the poem he had just read and he wanted to see the redhead's reaction.
Axel himself could only stare back at Roxas for a few moments.
"Um…, Axel?" The blonde inquired at the others silence.
Finally, Axel spoke up. "Roxas…"
"Yeah?"
"…that wasn't very romantic." The pyro told him rather bluntly.
At this Number XIII frowned. "Just because it wasn't all mushy and about love doesn't mean it's not romantic. The romantic part should be that I'm putting myself into reading you a poem, not the poems content."
"So you find reading non-romantic poems to each other romantic?" Number VIII asked skeptically.
"Yes, I do!" Roxas proclaimed.
"Okay, then. I'll read you a non-romantic poem then." Axel said as he took the book.
After flipping through it for a minute, he looked at Roxas with mischief in his eyes and grinned his infamous Cheshire cat grin. At this, the blonde raised one eyebrow curiously and tried hard to suppress any unease that it caused him. After all, it was only a poem, it couldn't be that bad. Then Axel began to read, loudly.
"'My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breast are dun;
If hairs be wires, then black wires grow on her head;
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks;
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go
(My mistress when she walks treads on the ground).
And yet by heaven I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.'(5)"
Axel finished the poem smirking. Despite Roxas' best efforts, he soon burst out laughing, just like the redhead knew he would.
"That…heheh…was completely…haha…ridiculous!" The blonde gasped out between laughs.
"I know. And it completely fails at being romantic in content, right?" Axel said smugly.
"Totally. Who wrote that anyway?" Roxas inquired.
"Shakespeare, believe it or not." Axel answered.
"No way! Seriously?" Roxas exclaimed as he grabbed the book out of Axel's grasp. Looking at the page he continued. "Oh my god, you're right!"
After allowing a few minute for the blonde to calm down, Axel asked, "So, what are you going to read for me next?"
"Well, since you had to go and start reading Shakespeare, I guess I can find it in myself to read you a more romantic piece by him." Roxas relented. "But only because can write truly good love poems without being all mushy about it."
"You mean, like Romeo and Juliet?"
"No. Despite the fact that they both end up committing suicide, the story of Romeo and Juliet is still thoroughly mushy." Roxas explained. "And besides, that a play and would take much to long for me to read it."
"Then, pray tell, what work of his are you going to read to me?" Axel wondered.
"Be patients and you'll find out." Roxas chastised.
"Now then, let's see, where is it?" Roxas mused as he turned a few pages. "Oh here it is! Now listen.
'Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments: love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
Oh no! it is an ever-fixèd mark
That looks on tempest and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within it's bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with it his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.'(6)"
"Aw, you really do love me, Roxie! But I'm sorry, you're still a bit to young to be getting married, no matter how much we want to. The Superior would never allow it till you're at least 18." Axel teased him. "That, or you get pregnant."
"Aurgh, Axel! Can't you ever take anything seriously?" Roxas was quite pissed that Axel would make a joke out of a perfectly serious poem.
"Oh, come on, Roxas." Axel whined. "It's not like it's anything personal. I just couldn't resist the opportunity to tease you. I mean, you have to admit you set yourself up for that one."
The blonde crossed his arms over his chest and pouted. He refused to speak to the redhead until he properly apologized.
"Fine." Axel sighed. "If that's how you're going to be, then I read you my favorite and you can feel free to make fun of me as much as you want for it."
"You have a favorite poem?" Roxas asked incredulously.
"Yes. For your information, I do." Axel stated, miffed. "Just because I don't regularly sneak off to read it doesn't mean I can't appreciate it as much as anyone else does."
"Alright. Read it already then." Roxas said, rolling his eyes at the other's childishness.
"First to see if it's in here, I don't think I'd be able to recite it off the top of my head." Axel told him as he flipped to the table of contents. After looking for a couple of minutes he appeared to have found it as he exclaimed "Aha!" and started flipping pages. He cleared his throat before reading.
"'In Heaven a spirit doth dwell
"Whose heart-strings are a lute";
None sing so wildly well
As the angel Israfel,
And the giddy stars (so legends tell)
Ceasing their hymns, attend the spell
Of his voice, all mute.
'Tottering above
In her highest noon,
The enamored moon
Blushes with love,
While, to listen, the red levin
(With the rapid Pleiads, even,
Which were seven,)
Pauses in Heaven.
'And they say (the starry choir
And the other listening things)
That Israfeli's fire
Is owing to that lyre
By which he sits and sings—
The trembling living wire
Of those unusual strings.
'But the skies that angel trod,
Where deep thoughts are a duty—
Where Love's a grown-up God—
Where the Houri glances are
Imbued with all the beauty
Which we worship in a star.
'Therefore, thou art not wrong,
Israfeli, who despisest
An unimpassioned song;
To thee the laurels belong,
Best bard, because the wisest!
Live merrily, and long!
'The ecstasies above
With thy burning measures suit—
Thy grief, thy joy, thy hate, thy love,
With the fervor of thy lute—
Well may the stars be mute!
'Yes, Heaven is thine; but this
Is a world of sweets and sours;
Our flowers are merely—flowers
And the shadow of thy perfect bliss
Is the sunshine of ours.
'If I could dwell
Where Israfel
Hath dwelt, and he where I,
He might not sing so wildly well
A mortal melody,
While a bolder note than this might swell
From my lyre within the sky.'(7)"
"That was really wonderful, Axel." Roxas complimented, in awe that the pyromaniac had picked such a beautiful piece and not something more violent. "However, it's so totally unlike you. Why'd you pick it as your favorite?"
Axel shrugged. "I don't know. I just really like it. Do I really need a reason why?"
"No, I guess you don't."
"Well, what about you?" Axel inquired.
"What about me?" Roxas responded.
"What's your favorite poem?" He elaborated.
"Um…I don't really…have one." Roxas admitted.
"What? You're the one came up with the idea of reading poems to each other and you don't even have a favorite one?" The redhead asked.
"Um…no?" Roxas said, unsure. "I love them all! I can't just pick one above the others."
"You're just being indecisive." Axel accused. "Or is it that you really do have one and just don't want to tell me? Is that it, Roxie? You don't trust me with your favorite poem? I'm hurt. I told you mine, but you won't tell me yours. I thought I meant more to you then that."
"It's not that Axel. I just honestly don't have one. Please don't be like this!" Roxas pleaded.
"If you sincerely don't have a favorite one, then I guess I can forgive you…" at this Roxas let out a sigh of relief. "…but only on one condition." Roxas immediately tensed up again. Axel was known for having some pretty tough conditions. He once let Demyx borrow his hair gel when the Melodious Nocturne ran out on the condition that he wouldn't play his sitar within the castle for a week. Everyone else didn't mind, but for Number IX, it was complete torture.
"What's the condition?" Roxas asked warily.
"You have to make one up instead. Right here, right now." Axel ordered.
"Are you serious?" Roxas really didn't want to do that. It be way to embarrassing.
"Perfectly serious. If you don't, it means you don't really love me and I'll never forgive you." Axel pouted.
"You know, you're being completely ridiculous right now." Roxas told him. However, Axel didn't stop pouting. In fact, he only pouted even more at that.
Roxas sighed. "Fine, then. I'll make up a poem for you, just don't expect it to be any good."
Axel instantly brightened at those words and looked at Roxas expectantly.
Roxas sighed once again before starting.
"Um…Your hair, as red as fire,
Is all that I…uh…desire?"
He looked at Axel, unsure if he should go on. When Axel just grinned at him, he continued.
"Your emerald green eyes,
Mean more to me then…lies?"
This time, Axel just looked confused. Frankly, not even Roxas knew what that meant, but he decided to press on anyway.
"Yes, the lies of…hearts we do not own!
For those with them have more lies sown,
And even without them, love still pours,
For you are my heart, and I am yours. (8)"
Roxas ended his poem smiling, quite pleased that he was able to come up with something that good on the spot. That smile was quickly exchange with a look of surprise when Axel then proceeded to jump on him, which resulted in them both lying on the floor, with Axel on top of Roxas.
"Oh, Roxas, that was great! I love it so much! And it fits us perfectly!" Axel exclaimed, rubbing his face in Roxas' golden hair as he did so.
"Alright, alright! You liked it! Now could you get off me?!" Roxas yelled.
"Nuh-uh. I'm comfortable right here." Axel refused.
Roxas sighed and decided to stop struggling. It was pointless anyway.
After a few moments had passed, he spoke up again.
"Hey, Axel?"
"Yeah?" Axel responded.
"Do you really think it was good?" Roxas asked. "The poem I mean."
"Yeah. It was." Axel replied.
"Thanks." Roxas snuggled into him a bit before looking up at Axel's face as best he could.
"Hey, Axel?" He repeated.
This time Axel turned to looked down at him too. "Yeah?"
Without saying anything else, Roxas learned up so that their lips connected. It didn't take long before he could feel Axel pressing into the kiss also. Axel quickly took full control of it, moving lips sensually and straddling Roxas' hips so he had a better position.
After a few moments, they parted briefly to catch their breath, only for Axel to move in once again. Roxas let out a whimper as he felt the redheads tongue run along his bottom lip. Slowly, he opened his mouth for the other to access. Unsure of what else to do, he lets Axel fully dominate him as he reached up to run his fingers through the others hair.
Meanwhile, Axel explored his mouth with his tongue, memorizing every detail while his hands did the same to Axel chest. This caused Roxas to let out several more whimpers as he found the blonde's sensitive spots and teased him. Soon, the noises became to much for the redhead to take and he ground his hips into Roxas' and groaned into him mouth.
When this happened, Roxas let out a brief gasp at the pleasure coursing through his body. After that, however, he narrowed his eyes and bit down on the others tongue, causing Axel to jerk away.
"Ow! What was that for Roxie?" Axel whined, holding a hand to his mouth.
"We are not going to have sex in Marluxia's garden!" Roxas told him firmly.
"Fine, then." Axel sighed. "Your room, or mine?"
"Neither!" Roxas exclaimed. "We are not going to have any sex!"
"Geeze, okay." Axel relented. "Sometimes I really wish you weren't quite so virginal about everything."
"Well, then I guess you're just going to have to wait till I lose my virginity for that to happen." Roxas said, irritated. "And that's not going to happen until this author gets some guts." He added under his breath.
"What was that?" Axel asked.
"Nothing!" Roxas rushed. "Anyway, as long as you don't try that again, we can continue."
Successfully distracting from the brief breakage of the fourth wall and author bashing, Axel learned in to continue kissing Roxas. However fate was not on his side for suddenly there was a loud explosion from elsewhere in the castle.
The two jumped apart quickly in surprise and turned to where the noise had come from.
"What was that?" Axel asked. If he had a heart, it would be beating through the roof right now.
"I don't know. It sounded like it came from the kitchen." Roxas supplied.
"Oh. Then it's probably Demyx." Axel calmed down and turned back to looking at Roxas now that he knew what it was that had disrupted them.
Roxas also turned back to the other and questioned him. "What makes you say that?"
"I ran in to him earlier this morning while looking for you and he offered to make us a cake for our day. He didn't really give me a chance to say no before he was skipping off to find a recipe for it." Axel explained.
"Um, yeah. I won't be eating that." Roxas said. It was unwise to eat anything that caused an explosion while making. Or anything that Demyx cooked, period.
"Yeah. I won't either." Axel agreed.
They then looked at each other in the eye before cracking up with laughter. They had everything they needed right there, with each other. So no matter what else happened in the rest of the castle, for them, it was a nice day. However, you officially no longer call it quiet.
The End.
End Note: Okay. So the poems I used are as follows:
(1) 'Sonnet XVIII On the Late Massacre in Piedmont' by John Milton
(2) "My Life had stood—a Loaded Gun—" by Emily Dickinson
(3) "I felt a Funeral, in my Brain," also by Emily Dickinson
(4) "We grow accustomed to the Dark—" also by Emily Dickinson
(5) 'Sonnet CXXX' by William Shakespeare
(6) 'Sonnet CXVI' also by William Shakespeare
(7) 'Israfel' by Edgar Allan Poe
(8) 'Roxas' poem to Axel' by Me. Written on the spot so I was going through the same thing Roxas was with it. Which is why it sounds so bad and choppy. Please forgive me.
Also, I apologize for the formatting of the poems. Fanfiction net is giving me trouble with it so I had to go back and adjust it. It still won't let me indent them correctly.
That's about everything, I think. Happy Akuroku Day! Please review! Bye.