Chapter 1: Ciao
"As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others." – Audrey Helpburn
Was it possible to want to murder your best friend?
Apparently, it was. Roxas Castello sighed wearily as he watched his so-called best friend, Axel Flynn, narrowly avoid setting the kitchen on fire. He then turned his gaze to the countertop, pretending that he had no idea who the redheaded lunatic was. Nope, he was just the unfortunate soul who got stuck working at the same place as him.
In the quaint little café, customers were chatting cheerfully as they sipped on hot chocolate and coffee, chewing on authentic spaghetti and garlic bread. Rosabella Café was primarily an Italian café, but a few different cultures were also haphazardly thrown in.
If there ever was a day Roxas regretted more than anything in his life, it might just be the day he decided to work at Rosabella. He could recall it perfectly; his innocent, completely normal sixteen year old self.
You see, Roxas used to be a perfectly normal lad. He had a pair of nice parents and a childish twin brother. Well, he still did. But anyway, the most important thing in his used-to-be-normal life was that he didn't know the maniacs at Rosabella.
The moment he saw the ad seriously changed his life forever. Roxas' parents had urged him to get a job. It would look good on his college applications, they'd said. It would be a nice experience for him, they'd said. Roxas didn't think burning down buildings and being on the brink of terrorism charges looked good on any kind of application at all. Except maybe a mental institute's.
None of this was his fault, of course. Nearly all of Roxas' problems could trace back to Axel.
When Roxas had gone up to the counter, he had asked about the job. Or, at least, he tried to. As soon as any mention of being interested in the job left his mouth, the man at the counter had slapped him on the back and told him he'd been hired.
"Wait, but I didn't even go through an intervi-"
"Don't sweat it, kid! You're hired, no buts! I'm sure boss wouldn't mind."
"But I-"
"Oi, boss! We got a new employee!"
Three guesses as to who this man was.
Who else would it be but Axel? Without allowing any protest on Roxas' part, he threw him an apron and told him to just memorize whatever the customers wanted and tell the chefs. He then proceeded to scurry on out and wreck havoc elsewhere.
Roxas had been confused, to say the least. He had thought he needed to go through procedures and such. He shrugged, however, and got to it.
Now, a year and a half later, things were just as random and out of whack. Even though the shop had four employees other than Roxas, not counting the boss, only he and Axel were in that day. Larxene had called in sick. This was her code word for playing tonsil hockey with whoever she was dating that week. Zexion needed to help out at the local library, where he volunteered. Demyx just didn't show up.
Really, Roxas considered himself and Zexion to be the only sane ones out of the group. Well, Zexion had his moments too, so he wasn't so sure…
Anyway. Moving on. Demyx was nice and all, but he could hardly be considered sane. He was so impulsive and strange, no one could tell what he would do next. Larxene was just straight up slutty. She also had a sadistic tendency, so Roxas preferred to avoid her when he could. Axel, well…he liked to burn things down. Roxas didn't think he needed to say more than that.
The boss…well, Roxas didn't really even know his name. That was how elusive he was. He had only met him once, and he had intimidated the crap out of him in the span of half a second. He had understood why all the employees were so out of control. The boss was probably batshit crazy.
He tried not to dwell on any of this, though. He still got paid, he had became friends with Axel and Demyx, and the customers were nice enough. He benefited from this. Roxas usually chanted this to himself whenever things went particularly haywire.
Roxas lifted his head when he heard the little bell chime over the door. He put on an easygoing smile, trying his best to appeal before Axel could scare them off with his little fire show in the kitchen. He threw the rag beneath the counter, swiftly swiping his hands on his apron.
"Ciao," he greeted."Welcome to Rosabella Café. What can I get you?"
Oh yeah, it was also mandatory for employees to know basic greetings and sayings in Italian. Roxas tried to hide his internal angsting from the young couple, his bright blue eyes warm and friendly.
After giving their orders, the couple walked over to a table. Their voices drifted toward Roxas, who couldn't help but listen. He was seriously going to hell for his nosiness.
"Ooh, I've heard such good things about this café from my friend-" Roxas couldn't help but snort."-who said that the staff here are absolute sweethearts!"
Roxas was having a hard time from bursting out in laughter. He didn't, though. No need for people to think he was as loony as his coworkers. Sweethearts? Rosabella's staff? Whoever the woman's friend was, they must've gotten the name wrong. Not his problem, anyways. It meant more customers, which meant more money. That was how it went in Roxas' opinion. The world went round with money.
"Well, the young man at the counter certainly seems nice. He looks pretty young, about 17. He's so responsible, already working when he's still in high school!" Well, he certainly didn't mind a stroke for his ego here and there.
Grinning to himself, he strolled over to the little window that connected the kitchen to the café.
"Axel! One carbonara and one tortellini!" Roxas called. He heard the tall boy grunt to show he had heard. He went and brewed a latte for the lady and some hibiscus tea for the man. Placing the cups on a platter, he went over to the table the couple had chosen and placed it down with a flourish.
"Here you go, signora and signore," Roxas said politely, smiling. He couldn't be too safe; he needed to sugarcoat everything, in case Axel accidentally burnt their pasta and it took extra time to make new dishes. That had happened more times than Roxas wished it did. Well, he wished it never happened anyway, but beggars can't be choosers.
This process continued for the rest of the day until the clock struck four, officially releasing Roxas from his duties. As it was a Saturday, he worked eleven to four instead of five to eight, like it was on school days. He had been lucky that day; Axel only burnt five dishes the whole day. Whoever said miracles didn't exist clearly didn't experience this kind of thing.
Roxas sighed in relief. Removing his hideous apron and hanging it on the rack, he grabbed his bag and shouted a goodbye to Axel. Sometimes, they hung out after work, but this was not one of those days. He decided against riding the bus, instead opting to walk home. A little exercise never hurt anyone, right?
Wrong. Roxas swore he tripped over every single crack on the sidewalk. A bird had pooped dangerously close to him. Just as he had cherished his luck, a second bird pooped on his backpack. He refrained from being too hopeful afterwards. A branch had conveniently snapped just as he was walking under it, cracking his head.
Twitching, the blond stomped home angrily. He swore to himself never to go on a walk again. Just as he had opened the door and carefully set his bag down, reminding himself to ask his mother to clean it out for him, he was tackled to the ground. He groaned; he could practically feel the bump on his head from the branch grow about three times larger.
When he felt good enough to open his eyes, his brother's ocean blue eyes stared back, his mouth pulled up in a ridiculously large grin. Well, Roxas hadn't expected anyone else to do a football tackle on him.
Despite being two inches shorter and a hell of a lot scrawnier, Sora Castello was stronger than Roxas by a wide margin. That wasn't to say Roxas was weak. He hoped not, anyway. Sora was one of the football team's star players. He was deceptively small for a football player; he looked like a puppy could probably crush him. Ha, not. His chocolate-colored hair was unreasonably spiky, jutting out every which way. Roxas supposed he had no room to talk, though; his hair spiked strangely as well. Genetics, maybe.
"Welcome back, Roxaaaaaaas!" Sora cheered, jumping up happily. Roxas grumbled, picking himself up off the floor. He glared monstrously at his brother, who seemed to not notice.
"Roxas, guess what!?" Sora continued to babble. Roxas tuned him out, ambling to the kitchen. Sora trailed after him, still yapping. Roxas absently nodded here and there, whenever he thought appropriate. As long as he looked even a little like he was paying attention, Sora wouldn't notice. He was that dense.
"-and our 60-year-old neighbor told me she wanted to have sex with you!"
Roxas choked on his Coke, spraying some out of his mouth. Sora stepped back, eyeing the newly-formed brown puddle.
"Ew, Roxas."
"Ew yourself!" Roxas cried in exasperation. Setting the Coke down on the counter, he went and got some paper towels to wipe the small mess up before his parents came and saw the mixture of spittle and soda on the floor.
"I was just joking, you know? I saw that you didn't seem to be paying attention, which is a sure sign of a bad brother!" Sora explained, pointing his finger at Roxas dramatically at the last part. Roxas rolled his eyes as he scrubbed vigorously at the floor.
"I hate you, Sora."
"Aw, thanks!" He grinned cheekily."I love you too, bro! Anyway, I got a call from Ven."
Roxas' head shot up."Woah, seriously? What'd he say?"
Ventus Castello was Roxas and Sora's older cousin. He hardly ever visited, but when he did, it was like Christmas times ten. He was, by far, their favorite cousin. He had a freakish resemblance to Roxas. Sometimes, his dad and his uncle joked that maybe Sora and Ventus were swapped at birth.
"He said that he's gonna visit in a few days," Sora told Roxas. Just as he was about to jump up and thump his chest like a wild monkey, Sora decided to be a jerk and add,"But there's a catch."
Insantly, Roxas' ecstatic expression melted into one of suspicion. Whenever there was a "catch" with Sora, it never really was just a small add-on. No, it was a gigantic disappointment that totally ruined the good news in the first place.
"Ventus has this friend, you see. His name is Vanitas Irving, I think. But anyway, this friend is apparently going to visit us along with Ven. That means he's gonna be staying in our house for…well, a while. You know how long Ven's visits can get."
Just as Roxas was about to open his mouth, Sora held up a hand."WAIT, I'M NOT DONE YET! Ahem, that's not what I was getting at. Vanitas has two younger sisters, named Naminé Irving and Xion Irving. Now, I know you're about to say something like 'cool, the guy has siblings. His parents had sex more than once' or something like that. But these sisters will, for some reason or another, also be living with us for the duration of Ven's visit."
Sora giggled like a little schoolgirl once he was done.
Well, hi there!
So, this is my first story. As in, ever. So...excuse me if it sucks. Criticism is completely accepted. Well, I really just want a review in general!
Anyway, I hope you like this story, Dusk by Light. It's a little story I decided to do on a whim, so most of this will be made up as I go. Also, I apologize if Roxas comes off as...girly. This isn't first point of view, but it is mainly told from his side of the story. I am a girl. He is a guy. I can't help it if I accidentally make him sound like...well, myself. So I apologize if it comes up :)