This was made for an art trade with the lovely Kishaz of deviantART .com/ ! R/R, it'll make an author happy :)
The Red Crane of Justice
Roxas was a master of sequences. From waking in the morning, his mind processed the series of events that must happen before he could again escape to the gentle surrealism of sleep. Everything had an order in which it was supposed to be done: wake up, make coffee, make toast, butter toast, eat toast and drink coffee while reading sports section, brush teeth, shave beard, do hair, get dressed, go to work (left, right, left, left, right, right, right, left, parking spot 55K). When his mind was bereft of everyday sequences, he found other ones to occupy himself. Cooking was a favourite pastime, but this was not always an option in the tiny grey wall cubicle he inhabited as an intern in a law office. When Roxas was sequestered at work and could no longer mentally process his duties, he would grab a sheet of paper from the stack sitting neatly beside his dictionaries and began a sequence of another sort.
The folding of paper cranes was another sort of progression to Roxas. If someone were to ask him how he made paper cranes, he would never be able to explain it to them. It was more something that he felt rather than knew, in his hands and in his mind. Certain things had to happen at certain times, of which Roxas was aware of in some deep, tucked away part of his mind. He was essentially useless in all other forms of origami, but making paper cranes was something that had just stuck with him since elementary school, when they had learned the legend of the paper crane. The legend stated that if someone was to make 1000 paper cranes, a wish would be granted. Roxas wondered if he had already made that many paper cranes in all his hours of boredom, but he had never counted – and besides most of them were lost to his apartment anyways, never to be found again. As Roxas absently folded a crane from daffodil yellow paper, he realized that he had exhausted his pile. Finishing the crane, he tossed it over the wall of his cubicle towards the other intern, a blonde woman named Larxene. Roxas laughed as he heard a squeak of surprise as the paper crane landed in her lap. As he ducked under his desk to retrieve a new stack of paper, he failed to hear the voice of the other man in Larxene's cubicle. He also failed to notice Larxene and the man leaving her cubicle to look into his own. Roxas continued digging in the backpack underneath his desk, which contained a fresh stack of paper. The paper apparently did not want to be found, and so Roxas was down on his hands and knees, trying to coax it out.
"Come on, come on, I know I put you in there last night! Where did you go? I'll find you, and when I do…" The man coughed, scaring Roxas half to death and causing him to jump, striking his head on the bottom of his desk. Rubbing his head sorely, he stood up still somewhat dazed. He recognized Larxene, and was ready to gripe her out for scaring him until he saw the man she was standing with. It was all Roxas could do not to gawk open-mouthed. Tall, slender, athletic, crimson haired and emerald eyed; it was him, the man himself, the top of the totem poll, the be all and end all. Axel, one of the leading partners in the firm, stood before him in quiet splendour. Roxas' mind was still too busy processing to hear what he had said, but finally an order of events came to Roxas: clear head (check), realise who is standing in front of you (check), fix hair, try not to blush, apologize, ask him to repeat himself, try not to have hell rained down. Brushing his blonde hair from his eyes and taking a deep breath, he tried not to make anymore of a fool out of himself.
"Sorry, run that by me one more time." Roxas cringed. Out of all the stupid things he could've said, that one might have been just after "What's that, dickwad?"
"I said: name's Axel. I was just checking in on you guys, but I see that you're doing just fine." There was a purr in Axel's voice, dangerous and unpredictable. His emerald eyes sparkled with inner light, his lips curled up ever so slightly. Roxas knew that he was laughing, and it gave him some comfort. Better to have Axel laughing at him than throwing him across the room for fooling around, something that was known to happen to interns who got out of line. By this time Roxas and Axel were engaged in a firm handshake, Roxas just managing to meet Axel's eyes.
"In any case, I should be on my way. Roxas, right? I'll see you around." Axel's hand was still wrapped around Roxas', those eyes still levelled squarely and trying to peer into his soul. Roxas' grip loosened, but it had no impact on Axel, who continued to hold on. Roxas could not help but examine the man in front of him. It was no wonder women and men alike fawned over him. In fact, had Roxas been able to tear his gaze away from Axel he would have seen Larxene eyeing him up lustfully. However attractive Axel might have been, Roxas did not want to be just another person to swoon and faun over him. He was, after all, the one of the partners in the firm and Roxas needed to impress the man, not drool over him. The almost seductive glint in Axel's eyes began to change slowly; surprise crept in instead. He smiled at Roxas again, a somewhat genuine grin instead of a caustic smirk. He finally released Roxas' hand and walked away, nodded to Larxene on his way past. Roxas stood dazed for a moment, not quite knowing what to think of the strange silent encounter he had just had with his boss. Larxene giggled venomously as Axel strode away.
"I would so make him mine if he ever gave me the chance." She looked back, carefully considering Axel's rear.
"I'm sure you would, Lar, you and every other woman in the office…not to mention some of the men." Roxas regarded Larxene with a raised eyebrow.
"It's not something I would expect you to understand anyways, Roxyboy." Larxene's voice dropped to a seductive tone and she gave Roxas her best bedroom eyes. Roxas began to look even more incredulous. Larxene lifted a hand and began to raise it to Roxas' face, but was intercepted by Roxas' own hand.
"No. Never do that again." Roxas looked soberly at Larxene and shuddered. "It's actually difficult for me to quantify how uninterested I am in you. Like, it's literally impossible for me to find the words, Lar." Larxene sniffed curtly at Roxas, who was still looking her in the eyes with a warning glance.
"It sounds to me like Roxas has a little unspoken love for yours truly," Larxene purred at him, her assault beginning anew.
"Look, Larxene, unless you've been keeping something from me, I don't think you have a dangly and therefore I'm not interested!" Roxas looked smugly at Larxene, whose jaw was gaping open in shock. A boisterous laugh and applause were heard from across the room, which had mostly dropped into silence at Roxas' comment.
"Alright, Roxas! Nice one, kiddo!" His face wasn't visible, but Axel's towering red hair and clapping hands stuck out from across the room overtop of the cubicles. Roxas blushed slightly, and took an exaggerated bow as Larxene slunk back to her own office. Sitting down hard in his chair, Roxas sighed and laughed internally as he reflected on what just happened. He seemed to have made a good impression on Axel, which was good. Larxene would stay mad at him for another couple of days, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing either, seeing as she would speak to him. What was left to be seen was what kind of an impression Axel had made upon Roxas. The hand shake had been long, the eye contact extensive and the conversation that had occurred therein was most interesting of all. Axel had expected Roxas to faun over him and had been visibly impressed when he didn't. Roxas' had already gotten more visible preference than some of the actual partners in the firm; Axel's favour was rarely given out for anyone to see. As Roxas' mind wandered through the realm of possibility, he hand's automatically reached for a piece of paper to occupy his hands. When they fell upon empty space, he recalled his original purpose.
He reached into the smaller pocket of his bag and pulled out the stack of paper, thinking how much trouble it had caused. Then again, things wouldn't have happened the way they had if he would've been able to find the paper right away. Roxas smiled. The way things had happened was just perfect, he decided. Roxas patted the stack of paper gently, thanking it for the turn of events. Upon closer inspection, he realized the stack was of exactly 1000 pieces of perfectly square crimson paper. Roxas paused and blushed slightly. So many people wished for Axel, would folding 1000 paper cranes of this paper so similar to the colour of his hair bring him about for one of those people? For Roxas, even? Not that Roxas wanted Axel in that way. It most definitely was not Axel that Roxas was thinking of while he folded the crane with precision and care. Holding up the crane and examining it, Roxas tossed sadly into the trash can.
"I'm not in love with Axel…no, no…" Roxas murmured quietly, hitting his head against his desk repeatedly.
The next month passed in this way: Roxas continued his daily routine of work, folding a paper crane every time thoughts of Axel would drift into his mind. Most days he didn't even actually see Axel, much to his relief. However, on the days that he did see Axel, he usually spoke to him and usually folded at least 3 in the ten minutes after their conversation, how ever brief their exchange had been. He kept each of the cranes, taking them home after work and sorting them carefully with the ones already made in spare time or weekends. Soon he began to thread them in rows of 40, figuring that he should have 25 rows when the stack of paper was completed. This day came sooner that he expected, and it was an auspicious day indeed.
Just as Roxas finished off the last crimson square of paper, Axel sauntered up to his cubicle, a tiny smile playing on his features. His smile made him look more his age. His traditional serious look and venomous attitude gave the 20-something more seniority than his true age really deserved. Roxas couldn't help but smiling back, still fondling the red paper crane. The smile on Axel's face grew by the second.
"Rox, can I call you that? Anyways, Rox, the blonde one with the fear of cranes told me you're quite the chef." Roxas started at this statement, laying his hand down rather heavily on his paper crane.
"How did you…"
"She said something about a party you hosted in school. Not important. What is important, however, is what you're doing this fine Friday night." The unfortunate paper crane was crushed, much like how Axel's comment had completely floored Roxas. Roxas had to stop himself from doing a double take for real, but that utter confusion in his head ran unabashed.
"Nothing," Roxas blurted out suddenly, wondering what the repercussions of his words would be.
"Ah! In fact, you're…making me dinner." Axel's smile was a little more tentative to come out this time, but after a moment of awkwardness it was out in all its sincerity, beaming warmly at Roxas. All Roxas could do was to stare blankly and finally to nod his head foggily. Axel paused, his smile fading, and a brief but extremely awkward exchange of phone numbers and addresses followed. Axel strode away so that no one else in the building would have any clue what had just transpired between the two, excepting if they took a look at Roxas' face, mouth still gaping open. He sat completely still for a few moments, blinking idly. He slowly came back to his sense, and noticed the destroyed paper crane under his hand and the lack of any more paper.
"Crane 1000…aren't you, little fella?" He asked the crane dreamily. "Well, I guess I know what I'll be wishing for."
The evening of the date came sooner than Roxas' could've imagined. The rest of the day flew by, and was mostly unproductive. Instead of actually working, Roxas carefully planned out a menu, making sure to showcase his absolute best talents. After a quick stop at the market for some fresh ingredients, he began to cook a delicious meal of lamb roasted with potatoes, carrots and spices with a heady foie de gras as an appetizer and some delicate broiled pear crêpes for dessert, all paired with an elegant Cabernet Sauvignon wine. While the meal was simmering, Roxas tenderly tied the last crane to its friends who were assembled neatly on the coffee table adjacent to the kitchen. He noticed there was something off, but before he could figure it out the doorbell rang and Roxas rushed to get it.
"Hey Axel!" He sputtered nervously, showing him in the door. Axel stood in somewhat awkward silence, but still managing to look poised and comfortable in all his tongue-tied glory. He shifted slightly, pulling out a humble bouquet of 3 white roses and offering it to Roxas.
"It's not cheesy, is it? I mean…" Axel trailed off, the talented lawyer for once having nothing to say.
"No, not of all, umm, no…did you know that giving someone white roses means you're wishing them death?" Roxas' clapped his hand over his mouth violently, blushing fiercely.
"That came out…completely wrong," Axel only looked away, blanching at the comment. His gaze was drawn to the display of red cranes in the living room.
"1000 paper cranes…that's gotta be more cheesy that roses. Did you really wish for me, Roxas?" Roxas rushed to the living room, pushing the cranes out of the way, laughing nervously.
"No. I, uh, it's a hobby, just a weird coincidence." Roxas continued to sigh awkwardly. Axel had a look of concentration on his face, his gaze still focused on where the cranes had been. In that moment, the timer on the oven went and gave Roxas and Axel a reason to shift their attentions.
The rest of the date went just as disastrously. Both men tried in vain to rescue it, to no avail. Axel left promptly after the meal, his attention still being drawn to the cranes as he and Roxas said their brief, passionless goodbyes.
Somewhat surprisingly, work the next Monday was not was awkward as Roxas would have expected. The two greeted each other cordially, didn't ignore each other and chatted, if a bit stiltedly. After the conversations, the two would breathe a sigh of relief that it had actually happened without too much awkwardness. Roxas' work week passed mercifully quickly, and Friday night was a comfort.
Getting settled into his comfortable little apartment, Roxas began to cook himself a quaint meal and have a quiet, regular, Axel-less night at home. It was strange that two weeks ago, Roxas' only opinion of Axel was a superior to be impress and now he was seriously considering what a relationship with him could have been. The door bell broke his quiet contemplations. It took him a moment to process what to do, but he labouredly got up and went to the door, determined to be mad at whoever was interrupting him. He opened the door with a jerk.
"999." It was Axel, leaning against the door frame with one hand behind his back, looking deadly.
"Beg your pardon?" Roxas had already given up trying to figure it out himself.
"999."
"So you've said…" Roxas said sarcastically.
"Last time I was here, I noticed something strange about your little shrine of paper cranes, but I couldn't put my finger on it. It wasn't until…about ten minutes ago that I realized what was wrong." All that crossed Roxas' mind was that Axel had picked up and driven to his house to tell him something about paper cranes. Axel continued.
"You're missing a crane, therefore, you're wish – which I assume was for our date to go smashingly – was a bust. However," Axel flourished dramatically, revealing the crane hidden behind his back, "I have solved your problem! However…since this crane is of my making, I believe that the wish should be mine."
Roxas could read Axel's expressions, and had a reasonable idea of what was coming next. He played into Axel's mischievous plot with all the joy he could quietly muster.
"And your wish would be?" Roxas grinned coyly up at the redhead, who only grinned roguishly. He walked into the room, bringing his hand to Roxas cheek.
"I think you're about to find out."