A.N: Wow... my first fanfic... hope you like it... please review!!
Pairings: Axel x Roxas, Leon x Cloud x Sepiroth, Riku x Sora, Demyx x Zexion
Roxas is trying to repair what's left of his relationship after he left Axel two years ago, and Leon gets jealous after Cloud goes to see an old friend.
1.So Sick
It's ridiculous
It's been months
And for some reason I just
Can't get over us
And I'm stronger than this.
Enough is enough
Always walking round with my head down
I'm so over being blue
Crying over you.
---
Roxas sat silently at the dining-room table, staring with a mixture of amusement and disgust at Sora, who seemed to be having some difficulty mastering the act of eating noodles elegantly. His expression was shared by several others at the table, he noted, glancing around his friends- Namine, Kairi, Pence and Olette were all wearing a mixture of similar expressions. In fact, he mused, the only people not looking repulsed were Riku and Hayner, who was wearing an expression of complete awe.
"I didn't know you could get that many noodles in your mouth at once…" He said in an awestruck tone of voice, staring at Sora in fascination.
Riku, however, was crying with laughter, head resting on the table as Sora continued to eat his food with as much dignity as he could muster.
"Sora…" Riku's voice rang out, still trembling faintly with laughter. He straightened up slightly, apparently having composed himself.
"Umph?" Sora made a barely understandable noise of acknowledgement, turning to face Riku suspiciously, noodles swinging around from where they were hanging out of his mouth.
"You've… you've got… a little something… on your face." At this, he burst into fresh peals of laughter, collapsing back down onto the table.
"Huh?" Sora raised an eyebrow, confused, then realisation dawned on his face. "HEY! Thasnoverinis!" Slurping food into his mouth in an attempt to make his words more understandable, he tried again. " HEY! That wasn't very nice!" This time, he punched Riku for emphasis as well. "Just 'cause I can't eat noodles…" the brunette muttered, ignoring Riku's continued chuckles.
"Anyway…" Namine interrupted brightly, trying to drag the subject away from Sora's inability to eat noodles. "Remember why we're here? Roxas wanted to tell us something, right?"
Roxas paled visibly. "Uhhh… yeah." He muttered, looking away uncomfortably. How am I going to tell them? "Well, I… uh…"
"Yes?" Olette smiled unhelpfully from across the table.
Shit, now they're all happy.
"Well, I…" He mumbled something incoherent, then stuffed his mouth full of food in a manner that would rival Sora before anyone could ask any questions. That should shut them up.
Unfortunately, whilst not asking questions, all seven faces turned to eye him sceptically.
Damn.
Roxas fidgeted awkwardly, not coping particularly well under the death glares he was currently receiving, and sunk down further into his chair.
"Roxas…?"
Attempting an innocent face, he looked at Riku. "Yes?" he asked, sounding as nonchalant as possible.
"What have you done?"
Roxas paused. "Nothing…" he tried, glancing up hopefully. Riku raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.
"Right." Riku continued to stare him down with his grey eyes. 'Okay, I can do this. It's just a look, right? Roxas stared back at Riku, trying to look guiltless as possible. Must. Not. Give. In.
Roxas twitched.
"HA!" Sora immediately leapt in. "Something's wrong!"
Letting out a small inaudible groan, Roxas looked up, defeated. "Okay." He muttered reluctantly, cowering under the unrelenting gazes of his friends. Taking a deep breath, he let it out.
"I'm going back to The World That Never Was." He babbled as fast as understandable, then sank back down. "Happy now?" he grumbled, glancing at the shocked faces of his friends.
"But… Roxy…" Sora's eyes had doubled in size, and he looked like he was about to cry. " You belong here, right?"
Shit. Stupid fucking puppy-eyes…
"Yeah. Why are you going to Nobody-Land? What about us?" Hayner chipped in, not looking even slightly impressed, all traces of mirth gone from his voice. "Don't say you're abandoning us?"
"No, I just…"
"Will you come back?"
"Yeah, I…"
"Why are you going?"
"GUYS!" Roxas stood up and slammed his hands on the table, silencing his friends with an irritated glare. " I just… wanted to go on a break to see my old friends, okay? I left a lot of people behind there too, you know?" Like Axel…
Glad to finally see his friends subdued, he sat back down, looking away with an embarrassed look on his face. For a moment there was silence, as each person on the table digested the information.
"Sorry for shouting." Roxas said meekly, looking at the other people around the table under his eyelashes.
Sora shook his head furiously, an apologetic look on his face. "We should have understood, Roxy." He dashed around the table to grab Roxas up in a bear hug and squeezed.
Ow… pain… need air…
"Sora… can't breathe…"
"Oh, sorry." He released his grip slightly, although refusing to let go completely, instead settling with a slightly less life-threatening hug.
Riku rolled his eyes and pouted. "Where's my hug?" he demanded, patting his thigh impatiently. Sora looked from Roxas to Riku, torn. His decision was made easier after several muffled shouts and a few punches from the buried Roxas, and he skipped back around the table to sit on Riku, enveloping him in yet another hug. As the hug developed into nuzzling, then light kisses, then full on make out session, Kairi shook her head in exasperation, pulling Sora bodily off Riku and dragging him back to his seat. In a vain attempt to get back to Riku, Sora shot her a glance of his infamous cerulean puppy-dog eyes, but merely received a glare in return. "Nu-huh, Sora. That doesn't work anymore. And if you two wanna make out, there is a bedroom. And… various other private, secluded rooms around here."
At this last comment, Riku's grey eyes lit up.
"Dinner, Riku…" Olette's serene voice drifted across the table, and Roxas hid a grin as Riku visibly deflated, then proceeded to shovel food into his mouth at a ridiculous speed. Sora's mouth dropped open.
"He… didn't even make a mess…" he remarked sorrowfully, as Riku finished what was left of his food in what appeared to be little more than two seconds flat. Picking up his fork, he tried unsuccessfully to twirl noodles around it. Food flailing everywhere, Sora's mouth once again became covered in chow mein sauce, resulting in Riku nearly choking on a particularly large mouthful of food.
Roxas watched this with interest, contemplating how best to get away. If I sneak off and they realise, they'll skin me alive. He mused. But if I tell them, I'll get those looks again…
Dammit.
Biting his lip nervously, he spoke up. "Uh, guys? I really need to go and… pack." Wringing his napkin in his hands as he said this last word, he saw his friend's faces fall.
An uncomfortable silence rang around the room for a second, until Namine piped up.
"That's okay. Right, guys?"
Roxas received various murmured agreements, and a stiff nod from Hayner.
"See you guys tomorrow then…"
Standing up to exit, Roxas felt a frown creep across his face as he left the dining room.
Leon sat on the sofa, mindlessly flicking through television channels as his blonde companion slept on his shoulder, the occasional snore coming from him. After coming to the realisation that nothing interesting was on TV, he yawned and stretched, vaguely contemplating following Cloud's example and falling asleep. His dark brown eyes glazed over, and it was only when the blonde twitched in his sleep, waking Leon from his daze, that he realised he was drooling slightly. Very attractive. Hurriedly wiping it away, he noticed Cloud staring up at him sleepily with cerulean eyes.
"How long have you been awake?" he asked apprehensively, mentally crossing his fingers in the hope that his boyfriend hadn't noticed the fact he had been slobbering above him.
"'Bout… ten seconds." The blonde replied, blinking sleep out of his eyes and moving around on the couch until he was lying on top of Leon. "What're you watching?" he asked absentmindedly, stealing the remote away and flicking through the channels sceptically.
"You." The brunette replied teasingly, receiving a raised eyebrow from Cloud. "By the way, your bony elbow is sticking in my gut." The blonde rolled his eyes and shifted unhelpfully.
"Better?"
Leon wrinkled his nose. "Not really." Cloud squirmed as he received repeated pokes from the brunette, then frowned.
"I'm sure there was something I had to tell you…" he squinted, burrowing into his memory to try and remember despite the fact that the brunette was still prodding him resolutely.
"Whatever." Leon replied. "You're just making up excuses to get me to stop." He tickled the blonde, resulting in both of them falling off the sofa with a thud, the brunette landing above the other teen.
Cloud shook his head in exasperation, momentarily forgetting what he was attempting to remember. "You know, if you wanted to be on top that bad you should've just asked." he said mockingly, tilting his head up to kiss Leon. The brunette replied by joining in eagerly, pushing Cloud back down and deepening the kiss. Enjoying the feel of the blonde's lips beneath his own, he paused for breath before continuing, hands moving to caress the other teen's cheek. The brunette felt Cloud's hips grind against his own and smiled slightly, sliding his tongue into the other's mouth gently. The blonde responded willingly, wrapping his arms around Leon's neck and pressing himself against him urgently, feeling his need rub against the brunettes. Leon paused and detached himself from the blonde reluctantly, resulting in a cry of loss from Cloud.
"Not… here, okay?" he said softly, brushing blonde hair from off his boyfriends face.
The blonde rolled his eyes. "You weren't that picky yesterday." He muttered, sitting up and glaring jokily at Leon.
Trying to change the subject, the brunette attempted to pick up the conversation from where it had broken off. "So… remembered yet?"
Cloud stared at him blankly for a moment, working out what he was talking about. "Oh…" he said vaguely, looking away as he remembered exactly what he needed to tell his boyfriend. "Umm… you're not busy for the next two weeks, are you?"
Demyx ambled onto the almost deserted beach, a nervous expression on his face. Today was two years ago exactly that Roxas had left, and two years ago that Axel had begun his slow descent into depression. The familiar redhead sat on the shore before him, chin resting on his knees. Walking forwards uneasily, Demyx lowered himself onto the sand. "Hey." He murmured, not turning to look at Axel, knowing what his expression would be already. Lost, hesitant, uncertain, lonely. But mostly lonely.
Swallowing hard, he turned to look anyway. Axel's jade eyes glanced up, briefly caught his own, then turned to stare blankly out to sea again. Demyx sighed slightly. There it was, that lonesome gaze… but, this time, there was something more. Something… maybe… like hope? Secretly crossing his fingers, Demyx opened his mouth to speak, but Axel cut across him.
"I'm so sick of this." He muttered darkly, tearing his gaze away from the horizon and turning to look at Demyx in the eyes.
"Sick of… what?" Demyx asked cautiously, hoping Axel wouldn't do anything stupid.
"Sick of this!" Axel gestured out to sea heatedly, eyes narrowed. "Sick of… waiting for…fucking Roxas to come back when he's- never- going – to!"
These last few words were punctuated with several rocks being furiously thrown out to sea, followed by an uneasy silence.
"Axel…"
"No! You don't get it! It's been two fucking years. It's time I gave up. And I'm going to." Demyx flinched at how cold Axel's eyes had gotten. This was not good.
"Axel."
"I don't care if he's fucking coming back tomorrow! He's too fucking late." The redhead growled, his strikingly green eyes little more than slits.
"Axel!"
This time, he looked around, apparently having exhausted all negative energy. "Yes?" he asked, in a much softer tone.
"Roxas… is coming back. This week." Demyx bit his lip anxiously, waiting for his friend's reaction.
He was greeted with complete silence, and Demyx watched with baited breath as Axel's face went through a variety of expressions, before finally settling on cold determination.
"It's too late. I thought I said that, right?" Axel's voice was laced with bitterness, but Demyx still managed to catch the trace of desperation lurking underneath.
After a few moments of watching Axel's internal struggle, Demyx stood up with a sigh. "I need to go. Zexion will be wondering where I am."
This was met with a barely perceptible nod.
"Okay. So… I'll see you tomorrow." Demyx added, wanting to get some sort of verbal response from the once-again miserable redhead, who gave a quiet grunt in reply.
Deciding that would have to do, Demyx started to walk off reluctantly, before he heard a quiet voice behind him.
"Demyx?"
Pausing, he turned back slightly. "Yes?"
"Would… would you mind… staying for a while?"
As Demyx sat back down beside him, Axel felt a tear roll down his cheek. Roxas… why'd you have to go?
He felt slightly guilty for dragging Demyx into his misery- he'd always been so happy-go-lucky before, and now…
Now he was getting sucked down into Axel's own pit of despair.
Feeling more tear tracks on his face, he wiped them away angrily. Fucking Roxas. You don't deserve any fucking tears. He snarled to himself, trying in vain to stop the now constant flow of tears down his face.
Why the hell am I crying?
He felt Demyx's arm wrap around his shoulders comfortingly, and rested his head on Demyx.
"You'll be okay." He heard Demyx mutter into his ear quietly, and made no reply, choosing instead to pull himself off the mulleted blond gently, the last of the tears having been eradicated.
His resolve of two minutes ago now completely dissolved, he returned to staring mindlessly out to sea.
Axel rolled over in his bed sleepily, reaching out for the familiar blonde to hug him. Finding nothing, he opened one eye blurrily to see a faint shadow standing next to the door.
"Roxas?" he asked, sitting up slightly to get a better view. The silhouette paused for a moment, then replied.
"Go back to sleep, Axel."
It was definitely Roxas, Axel decided, but… something sounded wrong. His voice had sounded urgent, almost desperate, and for a moment the redhead considered doing what he'd been asked. Brushing this idea away quickly, he pushed the covers off himself and perched on the edge of the bed, trying to see through the foggy haze of sleep and darkness.
"Roxas… what are you doing?"
"Nothing." The reply came too quickly, and Axel stood up, worried. Walking across the pitch-black room, he stretched his arms out for the light switch.
"Axel. Don't. Just… go back to sleep."
Ignoring this command, the redhead reached out anyway and flicked the switch.
"Roxas…?"
The blonde stood next to the door, suitcase in hand, looking deliberately away from Axel. "I told you to go back to bed." He said in a low voice, avoiding the strikingly green eyes that were slowly filling up with tears.
"What… Why…" Axel's bottom lip trembled as he stumbled over his words; tear tracks slowly making paths past the tattoos on his cheeks. He took a step towards Roxas, who backed away evenly.
"Axie… just don't… I need to go…" Loosening his grip on the suitcase, the younger teen shook hi s head slightly. "It's not your fault, I swear. I just need to…"
"Please… stay here…" Axel interrupted urgently. Seeing the blonde shake his head again, he continued, searching for any strand of hope. "Then… let me come with you? Anything… just don't leave me."
Roxas looked around the room hopelessly, then grabbed the taller teen in a tight embrace. "I don't want to do this…" he murmured, stroking the side of Axel's face gently. "But… I have to." He stood up on tip-toes, kissing the tearstained tattoos on either side of the redhead's face tenderly, then took a step back, still holding onto his lover's hand. "I'll come back." Turning away to pick up his suitcase once more, he gave Axel one last look. "I promise."
Two whole years…
Roxas stared out of the window thoughtfully, thinking of Axel. Remembering the suitcase behind him, the blonde threw various items of clothing into a suitcase hurriedly, not bothering to fold anything. Quick, before they decide to come and try to be helpful and just end up delaying everything by about three weeks…
He ceased hurling things into the case for a moment to pause at a picture of himself and Axel, biting his lip, before placing it carefully on top of the hastily made pile of essentials. It seems like so long ago now…
He thought of Axel's face fondly, remembering how they used to sit on the tower and watch the sky together… amongst doing other things. A faint blush tinged his cheeks as he thought of their frequent night time escapades to the rooftop.
What's happening to you now? A worried thought crossed his mind.
The sooner I'm back, the better.
As he stood there reminiscing, he heard a knock on the door and slammed the suitcase shut swiftly.
"Come in." he called loudly, subtly trying to close the zip before whoever it was walked in. Unfortunately, he was too late. Sora raised an eyebrow as he opened the door and saw Roxas struggling, then walked over, nudging him to one side.
"How'd you get it stuck, huh?"
Roxas fidgeted slightly. "Dunno." He muttered, silently begging Sora not to open the suitcase and go through everything he'd just packed. Go on Sora, give up… please…
"Thanks for fixing it." he said quickly, fully aware of the fact that the zip was nowhere near fixed.
The brunette turned and gave him a weird look. "It's not fixed…" he said, still tugging at the stubborn piece of metal. "Hang on… now it is…" he continued, opening the suitcase with a satisfied grin.
"Hey, who's this?" He picked up the picture frame with a confused look, tilting it various ways and peering at it close up. "Is it.. hang on…no…"
Roxas reached out, grabbing for the picture with both arms desperately. "It's no-one… give it here…"
"Nu-uh. Not until you tell me who it is." Sora held the photo just out of Roxas' reach, waving it tauntingly close.
"It's just a friend..." Bastard.
"Riight. You two look pretty close… A name, please, dear cousin?"
Roxas let out a small groan. "Axel. Happy? Give… it… here… already!" he grunted, resisting the urge to wrestle the picture off Sora.
"'Kay." The brunette handed it back with a ridiculous grin on his face. "Does he live in The World That Never Was, perchance?"
The blond felt a blush spread across his cheeks unwillingly. "No. Yes. Maybe. So what if he does?"
"Well, I was just wondering… 'Cause we're coming too!" Sora shouted these last few words, his grin somehow managing to get even bigger.
Roxas paled visibly. What? WHAT?!
Somehow, he managed to croak out his thoughts. "Pardon?" he asked feebly, hoping he'd misheard the brunette in someway.
"Well… you know Cloud was going to see an old friend aswell, so Leon's going. But Riku didn't wanna let Leon get left with just Cloud for company, so we decided to come aswell!" He continued to beam as Roxas worked this out.
"You know, I'm sure Leon would be perfectly happy with Cloud for a week or two." He attempted unconvincingly, crossing his fingers behind his back.
"Yeah… but then you'd be all alone!" Stop smiling, dammit.
"Oh. Yeah. Thanks." The blond replied, quietly seething. Giving Sora what he hoped was a bright smile, he turned away to look out of the window, gritting his teeth all the while. This should be interesting… wonder if they'll get out of meeting my old friends with any of their limbs still intact.
He mused over this last thought for a second. Actually… they'd probably put up a good fight…
Sora's chirpy voice cut through his reflections rudely. "So, when are you leaving?"
Holding in a deep sigh, the blond turned around. " I was going to leave tomorrow morning." He saw the brunette hesitate slightly and continued, taking his chance.
"Really early." he added, hoping Sora's hatred of mornings would change his mind and make him stay.
"Oh." He caught the disappointment in Sora's voice and felt guilty for a moment. That was, until he heard the rest of Sora's reply.
"Well, at least we'll have plenty of time to spend with your friends!" the brunette replied with a grin, skipping out off the room. "I'd better go pack!" Roxas heard him call out as he ran down the hallway gleefully.
Once he was sure Sora had gone, he let out a low growl that he had been holding in for most of the conversation, kicking the wall irritably as he walked past it. Immediately realising what a stupid idea that had been, he sat down next to the suitcase, cradling his now throbbing foot in his hand.
Looking around at his bedroom, he noticed the discarded photo on the windowsill. Reaching out, he grabbed it and held it tenderly, stroking the miniature Axel's face, before placing it back in the suitcase and flopping down on his bed, exhausted.
Axel…
Leon yawned, stretching out in the double bed. Opening one eye blearily, he squinted at the clock through half-closed lids. "Six am…" he muttered, rolling back over and dragging the covers with him. As he did so, he noticed someone standing across the room and stopped, realising somewhere in the back of his mind that Cloud wasn't in bed, and was therefore probably the person standing in his room.
"Cloud, what are you doing?" he asked sleepily, staring sceptically from half-hidden underneath the bedcovers as Cloud obsessively removed everything from the brunette's suitcase, re-folded it, and placed it back in.
"It was messy." came the stubborn reply, followed by a mildly irritated glance from his azure eyes.
"It's six 'o' clock in the morning. You don't need to do that." Their eyes locked for a moment, then the blonde rolled his eyes.
"Maybe if you could fold properly…"
Leon shook his head with a laugh. "Maybe if you weren't so obsessively neat…" he replied, climbing out of bed to wrap his arms around the blonde's waist.
Cloud scowled and squirmed slightly. "I'm trying to fold…Get off…" Leon's response was to lay placatory kisses up the blonde's neck to his earlobe, which he tugged down gently with his teeth, resulting in a low moan from the other teen.
"It's fine… besides, I can think of much better things you could do." The brunette murmured into Cloud's neck teasingly, as his hands caressed the blonde's midriff slowly.
"Like what?" Cloud asked equally seductively, turning his head to make his mouth brush over Leon's. Discarding the item of clothing he had been attempting to fold, he twisted around in the other teen's grasp to face him, draping his arm around the brunette's neck to push their lips together slowly.
"Seems like you've got a pretty good idea already." Leon whispered breathily, wrapping his hand around the blonde's thigh and lifting him onto the bed gently. He slotted himself into the gap between the other teen's legs comfortably, one hand brushing a strand of unruly blonde hair off Cloud's face; the other travelling stealthily underneath his t-shirt to stroke the firm muscle. As his hands continued to explore Cloud's body, he pressed his tongue into the other teen's mouth hungrily.
The blonde felt the unfamiliar muscle in his mouth and opened his eyes for a second, momentarily thrown off guard. As he closed his eyes again to return the kiss, the door slammed open, revealing Sora standing in the hallway, suitcase in hand.
Cloud bit down on Leon's lip in shock, causing the brunette to pull apart from him rapidly, squinting in pain.
"Fuck." he muttered, glaring at Sora, who either didn't notice or chose to ignore it.
"Time to go, guys!" he said brightly, sending dazzling smiles towards the older teens, then turning on the spot and leaving, dragging his suitcase behind him cheerfully.
So there you go! Please press that little button... I need serious poking to write the next chapter!