FOR LOREN:
"Stop turning the radio pissface."
Roxas's knuckles are turning white from gripping the steering wheel so hard. Blue eyes meet indifferent green as the redhead hits one last button. Why did Sora have to invite Axel anyway? The stupid redhead drove him insane, and of course Axel didn't have a car.
"So why don't you take him?" Sora had suggested, and Roxas couldn't deny that stupid cheesy smile or those naïve, cerulean orbs.
"They need to stop playing these damn Christmas tunes." Axel punches the radio dial, trying to find something else, and watches as the spiky-blond-haired boy curses, slamming his head into the steering wheel. "Besides, you should have let me drive." He blows on the window, leaving steam so he can write his name: A-X-E-L. Roxas punches him in the arm. "What the hell is your problem, Blondie?" he hisses, grabbing his arm – he didn't even want to come on this stupid trip anyway. But Sora had insisted that it wouldn't be Christmas without him, and Axel gave in – he had a soft spot for Roxas's cousin.
"I don't want Olette to know you were in here!" Axel scoffs, putting his feet on the dashboard. Roxas sighs loudly. Axel was just like a child – constantly moving. The redhead hits the radio dial once more. "Are you done?"
"I'm just getting started, Roxy-baby." Axel leans his head into the boy's lap and stares at Roxas's chin. It's a tough fit, trying to lay down all over the car, especially with the console, but Axel somehow manages to do it while remaining comfortable enough to tease Roxas.
"Don't call me that!" He grits his teeth, but he's driving and there's not much he can do about Axel. Particularly since he's just so bored. He bites the inside of his cheek. Just keep driving, he prompts himself. We're almost there. He just has to deal with Axel for a few more miles, and then he can ignore him all he wants at the party. Olette will be there, and Sora, too – oh, he's going to kill Sora.
"Why not, Roxy-baby?" He takes one of his long fingers and brushes it against Roxas' knee. Around and around he goes. He can't see Roxas's face turn pink. He's not really thinking – he's just fucking with you, Roxas tells himself. "I bet Olette does."
"She does not." he mumbles back, focusing on the road. He ignores Axel and those warm fingers rubbing his knee, back and forth. "Get up." Roxas jerks his knee, but that only shakes the redhead for a minute. Roxas stares down at him, irritation written all over his face. The mischievous redhead just smiles, pushing his finger into Roxas' pant leg.
"But I'm comfortable," he retorts. "Why? Do you think you feel a boner coming on?" He waggles his eyebrows, and Roxas slams on the breaks, causing Axel to fall with an "oomph!" onto his feet.
"Get the fuck out!" His face is crimson, and he won't look at Axel. "You can fucking freeze out there!" Roxas kick the back of Axel's head, forcing him to get up; Axel just laughs. He opens the car door and plants both feet firmly in the snow before turning back.
"I was just kidding, Roxas." He taps the car door, looking back to the line that is starting to form behind them. "No need to get all bitchy." He rests his elbow on the door to prop his chin up. Roxas rolls his eyes at the piss-poor excuse that Axel is trying to conjure up. He told Sora. He told him, didn't he? 'Take Axel with you.' 'I'm going to leave him in the middle of nowhere!' For whatever reason, his cousin just wouldn't believe him.
"Shut the damn door!" he yells. The chill is starting to nip at him. It's a perfectly clichéd Christmas Eve, like the ones songs sang about on the radio – walking in a winter wonderland. As if. Roxas hates the holidays.
Almost as much as he hates Axel.
"C'mon, Roxy-baby." That tears it. Roxas stomps on the gas paddle, taking the door right out from under Axel and making him fall face first in the snow. The door slams shut, and Roxas can't but roar with laughter that shakes throughout his whole body. He can't even breathe.
Axel lifts himself out of the snow, shaking the cold substance out of his red mane, screaming after Roxas as he drives away, but Roxas couldn't hear him over his laughter. He hasn't laughed that hard in ages, so he guesses this was worth the drive.
Axel won't suffer that much of a cold walk, Roxas reasons when he pulls up to the old cabin that hasn't been used since they were kids. Sora's parents would invite him up there for Christmas parties, sleepovers, anything. Roxas had forgotten all about it until Sora mentioned the party he was throwing in the wooden cabin. It's so small, too. Roxas used to think that his Aunt and Uncle bought it out of a fairytale.
He used to be such a stupid little kid.
"Hey, fuckface!" Roxas should have known better than to turn around, but he did, earning himself a snow ball right in the face. Axel runs up to him, colliding with the younger boy, shoving another snowball down his shirt. Roxas thrashes around, but Axel pins him down and starts laughing. "You know, a car almost ran me over."
"That's fucking cold!" he hisses out. "I'm sorry! Now get off of me." Axel stares at him thoughtfully, pressing his nose against Roxas's; the blond stops trying to squirm away. He's stiff as a board, and Axel smirks, running one hand through Roxas's blond locks. He gripped a fistful of hair, and then Axel stops suddenly. Shooting up to his feet, he holds out his hand. Roxas doesn't move. He can't.
What the fuck was that about?
His mind plays the scene over and over again, but he can't come up with a logical conclusion. Was Axel going to…no. No, he couldn't – wouldn't. Roxas's heart is in his throat, and he feels as though he's going to vomit and spew all his important organs over his cousin's porch. Axel fingers waggle impatiently, but Roxas remains flabbergasted.
"I'm freezing my ass off, so gimme your hand or gimme the key," Axel comments.
Roxas pushes himself up, swatting Axel as he does so, and fumbles with the key until Axel swipes it from his hand and unlocks the door. The décor, like the cabin itself, is old – apparently his family hasn't been there in years, either. The furniture is covered with sheets, and dust is everywhere, but it's better than the outside. A warm buzz ran through the house.
Axel drops his bags in the doorway, a scowl on his face. "What kind of a fucking party is this?" He walks through the entranceway, kicking off his boots and unzipping his coat. "Where's the booze!" he yells out to nobody, and Roxas blinks, closing the door behind him.
"I guess we're the first to arrive."
Axel doesn't hear him. He's he was in search of the booze and has disappeared into the kitchen, where he flicked on the light. Roxas sighs as the redhead curses the refrigerator and its mothers, and he picks up the fallen jacket, hanging it up with his own.
He smiles – he can finally reach the hook. When he was little, he had to have someone else hang up his coat for him. He notices that nothing has changed as he looks around – just him. He's tall and out of place in these memories.
"What's wrong, Blondie?"
Roxas looks up. Axel has a salami roll and a thing of bread in his arms, and the blond doesn't have the heart to tell him that the bread has been here since before he was born. So Axel sits in front of the fireplace, digging out a pocketknife from his pocket, and begins to cut it into small pieces. Once down, he places individual slice onto the bread.
"It just seemed so much…better, when I was younger." Roxas watches as Axel bites into the bread before making a face and spitting it back out.
"So was this bread." He stretches out, pushing the food away from him, and then looks up at Roxas. "I'm bored."
"What do you want me to do about it?"
"I can think of a few things," he purrs. He edges close and then wraps thin arms around Roxas, who freezes when the redhead leans into his collarbone. Roxas can feel the Axel's breath hot on his cold skin, and for a moment he thinks that Axel is going to make a move on him – and Roxas is all too ready to comply. Instead, Axel just moves back with a smirk on his face. "So where's the booze?" he asks, and Roxas just glares at him.
It's going to be a long night.
a/n: end of chapter one, I figured the only way I'm going to get it done is to put it into a chapter fic. So it'll roughly be four chapters, maybe three. All to completed after SFUTS.
Sorry Loren it took so long ^^; But more epicness coming, promise.