So, the girl of your dreams thinks you're gay. That's a misunderstanding…a very horrible misunderstanding. Axel x Roxas [Once again, for WGreyB]
Ahhahhaa, revamped! Take that bitch! I have conquered you once again!!
-evil laugh-
Oh yeah. I renamed the story too…Muahahahhaha…
…Although it did give me a bit of a panic attack when I couldn't find it under the original name…
Roxas enjoyed going to the city; he loved it. And he honestly couldn't wait until he graduated high school to enter college so that he'd have a reason to visit the city everyday while he attending his university classes.
But there was one thing about the city he didn't particularly like.
Billboards.
Sure most of them were coca cola ads with odd colors and pictures while some others were bank advertisements or holiday promotions, but recently, only just recently, something new, well more like someone actually, appeared on a few of them.
His pictures were on every billboard he saw in the city.
Well, that wasn't quite entirely true, but every time he looked up, he'd see him in all his posing glory.
He looked so…arrogant, for lack of a better word, displaying his 'perfect' form for a brand new line of clothing or accessories. It just rubbed him the wrong way.
Sure he had seen other models and what not posing on billboards, but there was just something about that guy that just seemed so…wrong.
Roxas didn't particularly enjoy going to the city much after that.
"He's the newest sensation to hit the world of modeling."
"He is so hot, I mean, seriously. Have you ever seen anybody with that natural shade of red for hair?"
Roxas sighed quietly to himself as he tried to drown out the conversation with his homework. What was the derivative of x again?
"Can you believe he's only two years older than us?" one of them squealed.
"That is so cool…"
He felt his eye twitch in irritation and finally, he closed his book shut and packed his things away.
Maybe trying to do homework in the cafeteria was a bad idea, but then again, he had been trying to multitask with eating lunch and doing homework. But in the end, he ended up eating lunch, doing homework and listen to random snippets of gossip.
On his way to his usual sanctuary of the library, his mind occasionally drifted back and forth his homework and the senseless gossiping.
Newest sensation…
Derivative of x and n…
Natural shade of red…
Solving the equation of x when n equals to…
Only two years older…
He groaned and felt a migraine come over him. Those annoying thoughts just wouldn't go away. Everywhere he went, everybody talked about it. It was annoying.
Feeling his headache growing worse with each step he took, he raised a hand to his temple, an attempt to ward it off.
But due to his carelessness and his slightly obscured vision, he accidentally bumped into another person.
"Shoot." he mumbled out and watched as half of his books fell to the floor. Things just keep getting worse, he couldn't help but notice. He sighed as he knelt down on one knee to pick his books back up again all the while managing a sort of 'apology' to the person he bumped into, "Sorry…"
There were two ways, well four actually, to go about the current situation. Either it was a girl and they would either say that it was alright or scoff in his direction, or it could be a boy who would either say that it was no problem or beat him up…
Hopefully, he ended up bumping into a girl. No bitch-slap necessary.
However, he was slightly surprised when he heard a voice, a deep one indicating a boy, speak to him, saying that it was alright. What surprised even more was that the boy decided to help.
"I can't see half the time with my hat down so low anyway." the other chuckled as he picked up random pieces of paper that flew out of the books and randomly tucked them back in.
The other wore a black jacket with the sleeves rolled up half way and black fingerless gloves. He even wore dark shades and a sports hat.
Now, that wouldn't be considered too weird, since it was a fairly sunny day. But wearing shades and a hat indoors, well, that was saying something different.
Roxas vaguely noticed red hair, which wasn't too strange, since he knew about two other people who had red hair although one was more orange than actual red and the other was more crimson or maroon than anything else. But what got him the most was when he peered behind the sun glasses and his blue eyes met suddenly met green. Green eyes that were envy-worthy.
He hadn't realized that he had been staring.
Finally, the other let out a soft chuckle and went back to helping out, and once everything was gathered together, in no particular order what so ever, he handed it over to the blond and winked. "See ya around." He saluted, got up and left.
It wasn't until later, that the bell had rung, signaling the end of lunch period, that he realized that he had been staring and that he forgot to do his homework.
He sighed, picked up his books which he only noticed now where left in quite a disarray, and moved onto the last class of the day.
Finally…
"Dude, should you even be here?"
"Oh chill Dem, it's not like anybody can actually see me."
He made a face, "Uh, hello, with your color hair, you're like a freakin' target, smartass." he pointed out and smacked the other lightly upside the head.
"Uh, hello, I have a hat on." he spoke as he wiggled the front bit up and down just slightly.
He scoffed and rolled his eyes, "Oh yeah, as if that really helps."
"Just chill Demyx, no one's seen me yet." he spoke with a slight smirk as the both of them continued to sit up in the tree, completely out of sight.
He sighed and decided to let go of it. It wasn't as though this was the first time his best friend decided to do something like this. Like rendezvous up in a tree, "You know," the dirty haired blond started as he looked down and idly kicked his shoes to and fro, "People are gonna start thinking about stuffs if we continue on meeting up here."
The other laughed, "Sorry, but you're not my type. And I'm pretty sure you go for emo boys."
Demyx blushed indignantly and made a move to punch the other, "Shut up!"
"Like, oh my god, have you heard? He's single."
A squeal, "What I wouldn't give to go on a date with him."
Roxas rolled his eyes as he walked past a couple of gossiping girls and moved on towards the common room where all the senior lockers were located.
"Did you know? On one of the magazines that interviewed him, he said he likes blue."
"Oh my god, I like blue."
"Oh shut up."
He found himself rolling his eyes yet again as he walked past another group of girls that were oh so obviously talking about the same guy. Seriously, get, a, life.
Eventually, after pushing his way through crowds of girls that were converging for the sole purpose of talking about him, the blond managed to finally get to his locker.
Eight left, thirteen right…
"Roxas!!" a voice called out to him and he lost his mark.
Not that he was annoyed, no, not at all. Because the person who called out his name made his heart beat faster and his stomach flutter.
"Hey Roxas." the blonde greeted him cheerfully.
"Hi Naminé." he smiled as he returned to his locker and pried it open to discard some of his books. Some of which were still left unorganized after this afternoon's earlier downfall.
She smiled and then she produced a magazine from her bag, opened to a page and shoved it right in front of his face. "Doesn't he look hot?"
He stared at a naked torso and slowly poked the magazine away, "Uh…" he replied nervously. "Why should I care?" he asked rhetorically with a raised eyebrow, ignoring the giggles coming from another source. "Hi Olette."
She continued to giggle but managed a wave in return.
The blonde hummed as she looked back at the picture and gripped her chin in thought, "I would've thought that you would've like him." she started and completely missed the look of shock coming from Roxas, but the brunette caught it and couldn't stop her laughter.
Naminé brushed the comment aside, tucked the magazine back into her bag and turned back to the blond, "Well anyway, how're things with you and Hayner?" she asked as she went over to her locker and started twisting the knob around.
He sighed and hung his head, "He's still angry at me for no reason." He spoke as he closed his locker and leaned his shoulder on it while Naminé continued to go through her things.
"You should apologize. Even if it's not your fault." Olette spoke as she started rummaging around her shoulder bag and pulled out a floral notebook.
"I would, but I don't even know what to apologize for." He sighed again as he shifted around until his back met the cool surface of the closed locker, "It's not that simple. Especially with Hayner."
She giggled again, "I suppose. We all know how Hayner can be."
Naminé laughed before offering her own opinion, "Maybe it's got something to do with Seifer?"
"Seifer?" Roxas asked curiously. What did Seifer have to do with anything?
"You know how he hates him." the brunette spoke as she pulled out a few books and placed in a couple more.
The blonde nodded, "We saw you talking to him the other day."
Huh with a capital H?
"Ok, first of all," Roxas started, stuck in between two girls, "What's Seifer got to do with anything?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. "And second of all, me and Seifer weren't even talking, we were arguing." He pointed out, huge difference. Huge, capital H.
Olette rolled her eyes, waved a hand and closed her locker door shut, "Oh it doesn't matter."
Naminé quickly followed suit, "What we're trying to say is; you know that Hayner hates Seifer, and you should've stay clear away from him!" she brought up as she began walking away, with Olette beside her and Roxas wondering what the hell was going on.
He was confused, "I still have no idea what you're trying to say." he spoke, the corner of his lip twitching up just a little.
The blonde sighed, "I mean, you're both going out with each other right? So obviously-"
"Wait, what? Going out? Me and Hayner?" he cried out and stared at the both of them who turned to look at him in surprise, "The hell made you think that??" he cried out and blushed furiously.
Olette furrowed her eyebrows together in confusion and tilted her head to the side, "Aren't you? I mean, you guys are always together and everything…" she trialed off, feeling a little uncertain.
What?! Capital double-u!
"Well, yeah," he found his voice failing him, "But that doesn't mean we're going out!" he cried out and pulled at the collar of his shirt, feeling uncomfortably warm.
"Oh…we thought you were…" Naminé started, feeling and looking more than just a little confused, "Hayner thought you guys were."
Roxas felt a sudden weight fall down upon his shoulder and couldn't help but wonder what exactly he did to deserve this, "You thought I was…" he paused, a little afraid to continue on but did so anyway, "…He thought I was…gay?"
Olette stared at Naminé before turning back to the blond, "Um…yeah." She stated it like it was a well known fact.
He almost felt like laughing, like an idiot, "Well…I'm not…"
"Bi maybe?" The blonde asked curiously.
He couldn't believe this. What had he even done in the first place to show that he even swung that way? "No…I'm straight…"
He liked girls. Definitely. Just not gossiping girls. Although Naminé was a special case.
"Are you sure?" the blonde prodded on with furrowed eyebrows.
"Yes, I am very sure." He forced on a smile.
How could this happen to him?! The girl of his dreams was standing right in front of him and she thinks he's gay?!
She sighed, along with Olette, "Hayner will be crushed." she spoke, a little heartbroken.
'Hayner?' how could they do this to him?
'Hayner?!' how long had he even been considered 'gay' for?
"What…the…hell…" he found himself saying weakly as the girls continued to chat away, oblivious to the feelings of a blond not two feet away from them, saying 'Poor Hayner' this or 'Poor Hayner' that.
What about him?!
In the end, he decided to split up from Olette and Naminé and take the longer route home to think. And he hadn't even taken four steps away when he heard them start talking about that model again.
He couldn't help but roll his eyes, but felt cheated out of so many things.
'Gay?' he found himself thinking.
'They thought I was gay? Oh for fuck's sake…' he cursed in his head and let out a low growl. How could this happen to him?
"Great, the girl of my dreams thinks I'm gay." he muttered out as he continued to walk with hands in his pockets and his eyes downcast in a gloomy state.
He heard a chuckle from behind him and he immediately turned around and blushed. He hadn't meant to speak out loud, and even if he did, he hadn't expected anyone to be around him, since this was a pretty quiet neighborhood.
And then he realized, it was the same guy he bumped into earlier.
"The girl of your dreams thinks you're gay?" he laughed, "That's classic." He shook his head, feeling almost a little sorry for the blond as he reached up for his sunglasses and pulled them down just a little so that his eyes were visible.
Green eyes that were envy-worthy.
Roxas was not in the mood for this. So he quickly retorted with the finger and swore, "Fuck off."
The other held up his hands in defense, "Hey, I'm not the one that's talking out loud." He spoke with a slight smirk.
Unwittingly, he found his lower lip jutting out in a sort of embarrassed pout, "I wasn't expecting anybody to follow me." He reasoned and walked away, hoping that it would be the last of it, but unfortunately the other boy followed and walked right beside him, much to his chagrin.
The other chuckled, "So, you're 'suppose-to-be girlfriend' thinks you're gay." he smirked as he quickly walked right in front of the blond and stopped, almost making Roxas bump into him, again. "Why don't we just prove her right?" he spoke in a seductive whisper as he leaned down, his face barely even an inch away from the blond.
He blushed, his mind went blank, his heart raced and he was unable to form a coherent word, "The fuh-" he choked, "-huck?"
The other smirked and winked as he rose back to his full height and took hold of his sun glasses with one hand, "Well, maybe next time. I've got an appointment to keep." He spoke as he raised a hand to salute the blond before he walked back the way he came.
And it wasn't until later, maybe five minutes or so, he realized that he was still standing in the same spot, staring at the empty space where the other had last occupied before running away.
"…The fuck?" he managed to say properly this time.
"And just where the hell have you been huh?!" the man shouted out, the question not even a question to begin with.
He slipped off his hat and tucked his sunglasses atop his head, "Out." he offered as he began to slip off his gloves and saunter past the scowling man, "Don't get your knickers in a twist, I was only late for ten minutes."
"Make that half an hour." he continued to fume, his hand on the verge of breaking in half the pen that was within his grasp.
The other merely rolled his eyes as he stepped behind the door and slammed it shut; not bothering to come out until he was geared and ready to go for the day's photo shoot.
Which took the better part of an hour.
Being a model sure was tiring…
If Roxas had thought that yesterday was bad, what with all the accusations in the air of him being gay, today was pretty much ten times as worse. In the morning, he had to deal with a very infuriated Hayner, looking furious despite having a broken heart, and a confused group of friends who actually thought he was gay for the dirty haired blond.
"We're not together!!" he cried out to his friends then quickly focused his attention to Hayner, "I'm sorry, I don't know what I did to lead you on, but I'm not gay." he spoke, hoping that his words didn't sound as harsh as they really were before he turned back to his friends who started murmuring in confusion. "Who the hell thought I was gay?!" he pointed at them accusingly before he turned back to the dirty haired blond boy, "Not that I'm against gays or anything, seriously."
Man, could things get any more awkward already?
After through all that plus a bit extra more convincing and effort, he managed to claim back his status as being straight, or something close enough to it, and Hayner is still his friend, although he's pretty pissed off about it at the moment.
"I'm sorry Hayner, really." he tried to apologize over and over again.
"Yeah, sure." he grumbled out, careful to not look into eyes of blue, "Just leave me alone a while to think for a bit ok?"
Feeling horrible but unsure of what else he could do or say, he merely nodded, "Yeah, ok."
And for the rest of the day, Roxas couldn't help but feel horribly guilty for what he had done. Sure he cared for Hayner, but not in that sense.
The rest of his friends seemed to sympathize with the dirty haired blond a lot, especially the girls, although Hayner didn't want to be surrounded by girls. He didn't actually swing that way to begin with.
Roxas sighed; this was going to be one hell of a week.
"Alright, wrap it up boys! And girls." one of workers added belatedly.
He let out a tired sigh as he slumped down in his seat and tried to wave away the constant flash, flash, flash in his eyes. They were annoying as hell but it wasn't as though he wasn't already used to them by now.
This week had been especially busy. Offers coming in left and right and him not getting a choice between what he wanted to do and what he didn't want to do.
He just went in, did his job, and left again, all the while expecting his pay to pop up in his bank account within the new few business days.
After resting a while and putting up with getting the lecture from the photographer and his agent, he locked himself back into his room and didn't bother coming out until he was ready to go out in the world as an unknown entity.
With his hat and sunglasses on, he knew that he was making himself fairly suspicious and somewhat noticeable, but he didn't really give a fuck about that. He just wanted out and some freedom.
Was that too much to ask?
According to his agent, apparently so.
"And just where the hell are you going?"
He turned around, tilted his head up just a little until he could see his face and said one word, "Out." and then he was gone, out into the world, never once looking back.
"His horoscope's a Leo."
"Oh my god, oh my god. Read it!"
Roxas couldn't fathom why he was back trying to do his homework in the cafeteria when it was obvious that it was a breeding ground for gossipers much like those on the table next time him.
"Ok, ok, what does mine say?"
"What's your horoscope?"
"Capricorn."
The blond was just about to pack his bags and leave when suddenly, the empty seats on the other side of the table of which he sat on, was occupied by two familiar people.
"Hi Roxas."
He felt something flutter in his stomach and the hold he had on his chemistry book faltered just a little.
"Hi Naminé."
The blonde smiled as she tucked her hair behind her ear.
"What, no hi for me?" the other brought up.
Roxas fought the urge to roll his eyes, "Hi Kairi."
"Hello Roxas." she smiled, looking all innocent and curious and…something else which the blond was unable to guess.
It didn't take very long before she went right into business, "So Roxas, who's the girl that you like?"
He felt his face grow just a bit warmer than usual, "That, is clearly, none of your business." He spoke as he closed his work book and slipped it back into his bag.
"Aw come on," Naminé spoke, looking interested in finding out.
"Yeah Roxas, rumors of you bring gay are still floating about." the crimson haired girl spoke as she waved her fingers about.
"No thanks to people like you no doubt." He scoffed half heartedly.
The two girls giggled but pushed onwards, "Don't you wanna put those hear say's to rest and confess who's the girl that has stolen your heart away?" Kairi sighed as he placed her hands over her heart.
"Not to the both of you gossip sisters." He smirked and tucked away the rest of his belongings back into his bag, knowing that he probably wouldn't be able to get any other work done with those two girls around.
"Well," Naminé started suddenly changed the subject, "Sora's being kind of obvious with Riku, so we figured, you know." She ended with a slight shrug.
"What she means to say is she we figured that you'd be gay too." Kairi pointed out.
"You guys are brothers after all." The blonde smiled as she tilted her head to the side.
He sighed. News of his brother swinging in that particular direction was still somewhat new to him, safe to say, he was somewhat freaking out about it on the inside, "We're hardly alike. Apart from our blue eyes." He pointed out.
"True…" Namine nodded, having lost her point, but Kairi filled in for her, "He's more of the eccentric type while you're more of a conformist."
"I am not a conformist." He sputtered out.
"What she means is," the blonde took over, "You're the calmer of the two. Isn't that right, sister dear?"
"Yes, yes. Like yin and yang." She held out both hand then clapped them together and smiled.
"Guh…" he rolled his eyes and lay to rest his poor aching head atop the cafeteria table, "Whatever."
The two girls merely giggled, oblivious to the turmoil that was happening within the poor blonds' mind.
As soon as school was over, he proceeded to avoid, or at least try to, his friends, whom he would often walk home with, and decided to take the long way back. Just for some fresh air and some time to himself.
He took the long way home again, his thoughts filled with nothing but his conversation with the two sisters.
'Sora's being kind of obvious with Riku, so we figured, you know.'
'You guys are brothers after all.'
Repeated words were getting to his head, going on and on like a broken record which would stop, jolt, and then repeat.
It was getting on his nerves, and finally he stopped where he was, not even looking around to make sure he was completely alone before he took in a deep breath and let it all out in one good bawl, his fists clenched tightly.
Feeling better, after the shout and all the air was out of his lungs, a wave of dizziness swept over him and forced him to lean against a nearby wall.
He couldn't believe this. How in the world did his life manage to turn all upside down in less than two weeks?
He rested his forehead on warm, sunlit wall and half heartedly pounded it with his fist, "…God dammit."
This couldn't get any worse.
…Although you know what is it they say about things not being able to get any worse than it already is, because it did.
He heard a whistle and immediately turned to the source, blue eyes widened in shock and surprise and a bit of embarrassment.
"I wasn't expecting that." the person spoke as he raised his hands and gave a clap, clap. "Good show, good show." he spoke with a slight English accent.
It was the same guy as before, still in the same black jacket, wearing those dark shades and still with a hat on.
Feeling most of his embarrassment fade away, he fixed his face in a scowl, "Great, you again." He rolled his eyes and started walking away.
Footsteps followed after him and soon, the stranger was walking right beside him in a leisurely pace.
"Hey, hey, what's with the hostility hm?" he smiled innocently, revealing perfect white teeth.
Roxas started hating him even more.
He stopped and turned to the other, "You," he growled out, and pointed at him, "I don't even know you. Why are you hanging around me?"
The other grinned, "Because I find you interesting." he spoke as he tilted his head just a little to peer down at the blond from under his hat, "It's not everyday you meet a boy whose friends thinks he's gay, and it's not everyday you meet the same boy who screams his heart out in the middle of the day and starts hitting a wall."
The blond blushed furiously but still kept his finger firmly pointing at the other, "Go stalk somebody else." He growled out before he started to walk away again.
He chuckled, and called out to the blond who kept walking away from him, "I will, eventually."
Roxas paused in his steps a few feet away and felt something inside him twitch. "Idiot…" he murmured out and pushed onwards.
It was their third meeting, but he doubted that he'll ever see him again.
It's been a few days. But it all passed by in a blur for him.
Everyday was the same. Wake up, take a shower, grab a bite, go to work, stand around doing jack-shit for a few hours, leave, and walk around the city or the suburbs all the while looking out for a certain someone before calling it a day and going home.
Today was no different. Except that maybe he was posing for a billboard rather than for some ad on the magazine. He hadn't done a billboard ad in a while, but then thinking about it, it had only been a month at most since his last ad. But everyday seemed so long and tedious and just plain boring that it felt like it had been years since he had done anything remotely different.
"You're late again."
"As if I'm never?" thinking about it, they should've all been used to him by now.
He felt tired, which was awfully strange since he had managed to snag himself some ten hours of sleep before coming in.
He felt bored. He wanted excitement.
And normally, he would've gone to his buddy's school to maybe catch up and look around for that kid again, but with his schedule, and Demyx's exam timetable, he hadn't been able to.
"What's the deal today." the red head asked as he grabbed the clipboard his agent had been looking at before walking into the dressing room for whatever needs to be done.
Clothes and make up.
"Denim jeans." the man replied irritably before snatching back the limply held clipboard in Axel's hand.
He shrugged and reached up to take off his sunglasses, "Whatever."
He remembered that he used to love going to the city.
But now, he didn't like it so much. Billboards were everywhere; left and right, down the street, around the corner, on the building just across the road.
Two in every five are bank ads, or something to do with banks and financial assistance. One out of five would be something to do with food and drinks like Coca Cola. One would involve something to do from one or another fashion style or trend and the last one would always involve him.
Him in all his posing glory.
Fuck, he hated him.
Roxas didn't actually know why. He just disliked him.
"Like, oh my God, did you know he used to play on the piano?"
Oh wait, now he remembered why.
"Awwh, that is so romantic!" they swooned.
Roxas tried not to sigh out irritably and roll his eyes at the group of girls he just walked past.
He didn't know why he was in the city; didn't know why he bothered to come. There was an essay with his name on it back at home and it was due in the next week of school. Sure he was almost done with it, maybe a couple more paragraphs or so to go before finishing it off, but it was still incomplete.
Maybe it's not too late to turn back and catch a bus home.
"Yo Roxas, thought you were gonna ditch for a minute there."
Ah, too late for that.
"Hey guys." he tried not to greet too awkwardly and tried to remember that Hayner was still his friend, not somebody whose heart he had accidentally stepped (trampled) over repeatedly.
Once the blond had joined into the group, they all began to plan the day out.
"Ok, so here's the deal." the dirty haired blond started, "We catch a movie, grab a bite to eat after that, hang around a while and then do whatever."
Naminé smiled, "In other words, the usual."
The dark haired boy nodded, "Yup."
"No complaints here." the brunette spoke with a smile.
"Let's go to the cinema and see what they've got showing now."
"Hey, Hellboy 2's out. We should catch that." the dirty haired blond started as they began their walk to their first destination.
"I wanna watch Wall-E, I heard its cute." the crimson haired girl brought up and immediately garnered the attention of the other girls.
"Oh my god, Selphie said it was like the cutest movie ever." Olette gushed and ignored the incredulous looks from the boys, although Pence seemed neutral about it.
"Heck no I ain't watching a movie about two robots in love." Hayner brought up as he crossed his arms, completely defiant.
The girls immediately turned to him and groaned, "Awww. But Hayner!"
"Nope! Not doing it!" he called out with finality before he started walking away again.
"Meanie!" they shouted out at him.
"Well," the dark haired boy started, "Why don't you guys watch that and we'll watch Hellboy instead and meet after?" he spoke, ever the mediator.
"Sounds good," they decided with a shrug and then followed after the dirty haired blond.
It wasn't until they got to the cinema that they realized that Wall-E was already half an hour in and Hellboy 2 was halfway through. In the end, they decided to watch The Dark Knight instead because the girls wanted to see Heath Ledger and the guys were just in it for the storyline and the plot.
And the action.
"Aren't you gonna get in trouble?" he asked as he took a look at his watch. This was the longest time that Axel had ever hung around for. Even if the red head wasn't nervous or agitated, he sure as hell was.
He snorted and dismissed the topic, "No more than I already am, but it's not like I give a shit to begin with."
The dirty haired blond nodded, "True that."
"I gotta say though," he brought up quite randomly. "Hellboy 2 was way better than the first." he spoke as he tried to pick up the last of the popcorn stuck in his teeth.
"I know right?" Demyx voiced his agreement, "Most sequels aren't very successful but they somehow managed to hit it off."
"I totally digged the evil angel." he nodded and paused at the intersection.
"Knew you would." Demyx smirked, "Wish I was like Abe, swim and breathe underwater, how cool is that?"
The red head gave a low hum, "Nah, I'm more into pyro-works. You know, Liz's ability."
The dirty haired blond gave a loud laugh, drawing some attention towards him, "I knew you were gonna say that."
"Oh piss off." he smirked and walked as soon as the pedestrian lights turned green.
They walked on a bit further, talked more about the movie; the good parts, the bad parts, the bad-ass parts and the sorta-lame parts.
They were in the middle of debating whether or not Abe was a wimp when it came down to fighting or he was just very slick with his moves.
"Wimp I say."
Demyx didn't agree, "He's got agility!"
Axel coughed loudly, "Wimp."
The dirty haired blond growled and looked like he wanted to strangle the other.
But suddenly, without thinking, the red head stopped in the middle of the walk path and held out a hand to stop Demyx from walking ahead of him and trying to strangle him, "Hey wait, hold on a second."
"What? What? What're we looking at?" he asked, momentarily forgot his anguish as he searched high and low, not quite in the general direction Axel was looking at.
He grinned, "Come on, let's go to the arcade."
Demyx whined but followed the other regardless, "What? Now? I thought we were going for food!"
"Yeah, yeah, after some games."
The dirty haired blond rolled his eyes and spoke with as much enthusiasm as he could muster on an empty stomach, "Dance, dance, hurrah…"
"Ok, movie, check," Pence ticked off the imaginary list, "Food, check," he patted his stomach for proof, "Next on the list is--"
"Whatever." Hayner cut in.
"Exactly." he nodded his head, crossed his arms then looked at the rest of the group, "So what's next?"
The dirty haired blond shrugged, "How about the arcade?"
Olette cringed a little at that, "Isn't it a bit too soon for the arcade?"
Hayner raised an eyebrow, "What's that supposed to mean?"
Naminé was quick to clear the confusion, "She meant DDR."
Pence made a noise of acknowledgement, "But we don't have to play DDR; that's just you and Roxas' thing."
The blond turned his eyes away from a band poster when he heard his name being said, "What?"
"Wanna go check out the arcade?" Hayner asked as he nudged his head in the general direction of said place.
Roxas shrugged, "Sure." it was on the list of things to do anyway.
Halfway towards the arcade, they strayed into a store that had games, electronic devices, tons of music selections and countless DVD's of sitcoms, dramas, cartoons and movies, some new, some old.
By the time they came back out, Pence was in position of a new computer game, Hayner owned a new set of earphones, Olette was suffocating a new season DVD of her favorite TV drama, and Kairi and Naminé bought one music CD each.
Roxas was just fine with looking and browsing, in other words, window-shopping.
As soon as they entered the arcade, through a set of sliding doors and down some stairs, the boys strolled over towards the action games and car races while the girls stood by the photo booths and contemplated which one to use and whether they could get the boys to take pictures with them too.
But before they could even attempt, Hayner, Pence and Roxas already hunkered down in a three-player racing game against each other.
And of course, with boys being boys, they went for manual rather than auto.
"Manual all the way." Hayner smirked as the screen loaded onto the next stage.
"Which course?" Pence asked as he turned his wheel about to the available options.
"The longest one." the blond spoke. Might as well go for your money's worth right?
"Done." and then the screen faded to black but quickly loaded to a different scenery. And once a few screenshots of their chosen cars were showing, then countdown began.
The girls abandoned the photo booths to watch the boys race against each other.
As their chosen cars travelled at unlikely speeds on a not-very-clear highway, the girls cheered them on.
"Oi, stick to your side of the road." Hayner spoke as he tried to push the blond back into his lane.
"You're scratching my paint!" he retorted and shifted to sixth gear in hopes he could salvage his unreal car.
Throughout the entire race, they would constantly crash into each other. So it wasn't all too surprising when Pence won the race.
In the end, Hayner and Roxas ended up with the title 'The Destroyer', Pence with the 'First Victory' badge.
"Bow down to my leet driving skills." the dark haired boy held out both of his hands with peace signs.
The dirty haired blond snorted out in laughter, "Only you would say leet, ya noob."
Pence merely grinned.
Before any of the guys could go on over to the shooting games, they were first dragged towards the photo booths to appease the girls' each and every whim.
"Just a couple, please?" Olette begged as she clapped her hands together and stared at the boys with a hopeful expression.
"We promise not to put it up on the internet." Kairi added with an innocent grin.
"And we won't ask for you guys to stick it on your phones and/or wallets either." Naminé joined in.
It took a bit of convincing of Hayner before they were all squished into the small box.
"Ok, who can read Japanese?" Roxas asked when he realized that all the foreign words around him were definitely not English.
"Alright, bow down to my leet otaku skills." Pence grinned as he started clicking away at the available options but allowed the girls to choose the backdrops and frame designs.
"What about this one? It's cute." Naminé spoke as she pointed over at a frame that had hearts all over it.
Hayner cringed and turned to the blond, "Only Pence can say leet and get away with it."
"Twice." he added with a smirk.
What seemed like half an hour and some flashing later, the boys emerged from the photo booth gasping for some fresh air while the girls giggled at the pictures.
The dirty haired blond chose this time to skitter off while they were distracted to play with the first-person shooting game he had wanted to play before, "Oi, who wants to join?"
"Uh, I think I'm out of credits." Pence spoke as he waved his membership card around, "I'll go check."
"I'll play." the blond spoke as he whipped out his own card from his pocket and swiped it on the machine then picked up the black plastic gun.
It was a while into the game, some cursing here and there because somebody wasn't aiming properly and lost a life or because the damn game was rigged, before any one of them properly spoke.
"Hey Roxas."
"Sup." he threw a grenade at a large group of incoming zombies.
"Sorry about that time, back at school, you know?" he spoke with a low voice so that only the person closest to him would hear.
"Oh." ok, getting awkward, "Shouldn't I be saying sorry?" he added with a half smirk, because if he heard right, he had been leading 'poor Hayner' on.
"No, I mean, yeah, I mean." he let out a frustrated noise, "I never asked, so I assumed, and in the end I made an ass out of you and me." he pulled out his shotgun and gave a headshot at the boss.
Roxas winced, at what Hayner said and the fact that he just took away half of the boss' HP, "Yeah…"
He quickly changed the subject, "Hey, if you're cool with it, then I'm cool with it. We cool?"
He smiled. Trust Hayner to do his best to get rid of an awkward situation, "Yeah, we cool."
"Cool."
But almost as soon as they made up, they ended up getting kicked in the face and losing the last of their life by the big boss who was two shots away from dying.
"Damn you, I swear it's rigged." Hayner frowned at the big 'GAME OVER' words that flashed on screen before he childishly stuck it tongue out at it.
"Roxas!!" someone called out to the blond and he turned in time to see Naminé waving around some small cut-up pictures, "Pick the ones you want."
"Not a lot to go with." he spoke as he pushed around the pictures in her palm to look for the ones he wanted.
She laughed, "That's because while you and Hayner were playing your game--"
"Shooting deadly zombies." the dirty haired blond cut in.
"Me, Kairi, Olette and Pence already picked out the best of the bunch."
"Gee…" he laughed a little bit, "Thanks a lot."
"You're welcome." she smiled, "Want to go play DDR?" she asked as the blond picked out two pictures and slipped them into his wallet. "We haven't played in ages!" she squealed excitedly and clapped her hands as soon as Hayner picked up the last two pictures.
"Sure." He smiled and allowed himself to be dragged away while his friends followed behind and talked amongst themselves and Hayner tried to trade one of the pictures for another one where he and Roxas were a little closer than usual.
"Are you sure you're not gay?" Kairi asked as she saddled up beside him and giggled at his reaction.
His eye twitched and he forced on a smile to the evil-twin sister of Naminé's, "Yes, I am sure I am not gay." He gritted his teeth as he spoke while his friends laughed at his reaction.
"Not many guys play DDR and are good at it you know." She reasoned and paused short of stepping up onto the dancing platform.
"I've seen a few guys play, they're pretty good at it and they have girlfriends." he pointed out and wondered when they would drop the subject.
"Is Himawari ok for you?" Naminé cut in as soon as she swiped her own membership card and started picking out options.
"Sure." He nodded and stepped on one of the steps to change the difficulty setting. Naminé shortly followed suit, and switched off the mega fan located beside her in between another DDR machine.
As the both of them danced out to the melody that rang out from the speakers, the other guys watched and commented on their moves.
"Nice combo." Pence spoke when they reached the one-hundredth combo.
"Damn, someone's at my game."
Demyx snorted, "That's what you get for hogging the guitar."
"You hogged the drums." he retorted.
"It was double player!"
"Exactly, so you're partly to blame."
The dirty haired blond snorted and watched his friend pout his lips before changing his expression.
"Hey, I know that guy." the red head spoke as he raised a finger at the boy that was dancing with another blonde.
"Uh…" he vaguely recognized the blond as the one that went to the same high school as him, and then he noticed the others watching from behind too. "Ok, how?"
"Long story. Next time."
"Right…" in other words, 'I'm too lazy to tell you about it.' and 'There is no next time.'
Once the song was over, Namine started picking out the next song and Kairi went back to pestering Roxas.
"They're exceptions."
His eye twitched, "And I'm not one of them?"
She smiled, "I'm still thinking."
He sighed, and wondered when this topic would blow over.
"What do you think of Nijiiro?" Namine asked as she contemplated on whether or not she should change the difficulty setting.
"It's fine."
"Hey man, I'm suddenly getting bad vibes…" Demyx brought up and looked around feeling uneasy.
It wasn't very often his 'sixth-sense- would kick in, but when it did, it wasn't usually very good.
"Chill man, we're just watching."
He wasn't so convinced but tried to let it go and changed the subject, "How did you guy meet up?" he asked.
"Oh, we bumped into each other a few times here and there."
"Oh…" he wasn't so convinced that it was all though…
"You've got a good sense of rhythm, are you sure--"
"For the last time Kairi." He spoke exasperatedly, "I have a good sense of rhythm because I used to play the piano and violin." He regretted adding the last bit and tried to amend it. "I mean, you can't really forget certain skills you've acquired through almost ten years of learning." He added hastily.
"I suppose."
He let out a quiet sigh of thanks when the subject was dropped, for the moment time being, and the new song belted out from the speakers. Did the volume suddenly increase without their knowing?
"Oh my god, I think I'm going deaf." Naminé spoke but kept in beat.
"What???" Roxas called out exaggeratedly, earning himself a few smirks and laughs.
Halfway through the song, another DDR geek took residence in the other dancing game next to theirs, and a different music played over their song in an even higher volume. Roxas furrowed his eyebrows in concentration as he tried to listen to the one that he was supposed to be dancing to.
When the song ended, he let out a short string of curses. "I got the up and down arrows mixed up again."
"It happens to everybody." Namine sighed, obviously unhappy with her results as well ad she scrolled down the list of songs and listened to the previews before picking one. "Is True Love ok?" she asked as she turned to her dancing partner.
"Yup." He was glad that Kairi finally decided to drop the gay questions. Or so he thought.
"You move your hips when you're dancing Roxas. You looked pretty gay to me." She laughed and Olette giggled.
Hayner looked like he was enjoying the humiliation that Roxas was going through, although he didn't voice his opinion but merely smirked.
"I was playing with the melody!!" he cried out in defense and immediately turned back to the screen when the song started playing. But he couldn't help but listen to their giggles and wonder if his hips really are moving. He blushed when an image of him dancing popped up. 'They better not fucking record this.'
"I am so going to record this." Kairi immediately brought out her phone.
Roxas cursed in his head and made a few wrong steps. When the song finished, he was not happy with the score he got. 'No thanks to Kairi…'
"Ok, last stage. Do you want to choose Roxas?" Namine asked with a smile on her face, she was obviously enjoying the torment her dearest sister was putting him through.
"No, you can choose." he spoke as he let out an unexpected yawn and then Kairi came into view.
"Say hi Roxas." she spoke and gave him a wave. He flipped her the finger instead, "Good enough." she laughed and then scampered out of view again.
"What're you--"
"Shh, shh." he waved the other off with a smirk as he tried to fix his phone settings and switch over to the camera instead.
Eventually, Naminé picked a song and quickly changed her difficulty setting again. Just as the song started, something flashed at the corner of his eye and he knew somebody just snapped a photo of him playing DDR.
"Ok, whoever took that picture, you better fuck-" he stopped midway when he realized who it was that took his picture. "You again, you freaking stalker!!" he cried out and pointed.
Everybody turned to stare.
"Roxas! The game!"
But not for very long.
"Bad vibes, bad vibes." Demyx muttered out and was glad that they were looking at him but felt even more uneasy because they were looking at Axel and he didn't even look like he cared that he was about to be exposed. "…Bad…bad…bad vibes." or maybe he was just getting paranoid
Zexion always told him that he would turn into a paranoid person whenever he got nervous.
"Hey, that guy, doesn't he look familiar?" Olette whispered to the crimson haired girl.
"Yeah, but I can't quite put my finger on it." she spoke as she tapped her chin in thought.
"Maybe we've seen him around the city a couple of times today?" she brought up and watched as the hat-wearing boy played around with his mobile.
She nodded in agreement, "Possibly."
"Why this song?" Roxas asked, which unfortunately made him lose his beat and lose his place all over again
"It was an accident." she seemed a little stressed out. There were too many complicated combos and jumps to keep up with.
Not to mention that it was a song neither of them have heard of or played before.
When the stage finished with their life bar barely there, neither of them were happy. "That was the worse time I've ever played." Roxas commented as he stared at his score. C-…
She didn't do quite as bad, having scored much better in the other songs, but her average score still suffered. "Do you want to redeem yourself?" she smiled as she stepped off the platform.
"Yes!!" he cried out, on the verge of pulling his hair out.
"I'll play." another voice joined them.
The blond turned his head in time to see the speaker walk around him towards the vacant platform. He slipped off his glasses and placed it on the side so that it doesn't suddenly fall onto the floor or get crushed beneath his shoes.
"You? Play?" he almost laughed but held it back.
"Sure, I can play." He smiled as he pulled out his wallet from his pocket and produced a card then swiped it.
The different color of the card caught the blonds' attention, "Platinum member?" he was slightly shocked to see.
He grinned, "Yeah, played a lot of racing games and first shooter ones. There was the drumming and guitars too." He spoke as he chose the settings for the game and started picking out songs.
"Expert level?" again, surprise was marked all over his face.
"Yeah, I played a bit of DDR whenever the games I wanted to play were occupied by somebody else." He smirked and listened to the preview of a song. "How's this for ya?"
Roxas peered at the name, and listened to the preview, none of which he had heard of or seen before. He wasn't entirely comfortable with it. "Uhh…"
"Look at Roxas." Kairi snickered.
"I know right?" Olette gushed.
"Oh guys, leave him alone." Naminé chastised the both of them but couldn't suppress her own smile.
Hayner, however, didn't seem so happy.
"…Bad vibes, bad vibes…" he bit onto a nail as he watched his friend seemingly flirt with the blond.
"Demyx, calm down."
"But Zex, this is like…major," he spoke as he waved a spastic hand about, "And you know I'm right."
"Yes, he can be an idiot sometimes, but it's his life, let him live out his own consequences."
He suppressed a sigh, "…Bad vibes, bad vibes…" and went back to biting his finger nails.
"I'll keep you alive, so don't you worry." he smirked when he caught the worried look on the blonds' face.
"But I've never--"
"Like I said, no worries." He winked and immediately pushed the button to let the song play. Roxas heard a few giggles from the girls and immediately tried to hide his flushed cheeks away from their eyes.
As the song played, he had lost his footing more than a few times but still managed to keep up with it. When the song was over, he had to admit that the guy next to him was doing pretty good.
"See? I told ya I'll keep you alive." the other smirked and started picking out another song.
Just as Roxas was about to lean back on the bars to rest a little, a hand entered his peripheral vision and yanked him down.
"Who's that guy?" Kairi whispered with a wide grin on her face as she nudged her head to the other boy. The other girls were listening in close. Even Hayner looked a bit curious.
He raised an eyebrow at question, "Just some guy I bumped into once at school." and a couple of times more after that, but they didn't need to know that.
"What's his name?" Olette asked as she watched the other scroll down the list of songs, not even bothered about them.
"Dunno." He shrugged.
Another voice called out to him, "Hey, how's Afronova for ya?" the hat-wearing boy spoke as he regarded the group.
"That's fine." Roxas nodded and turned back to the girls, "Anything else you wanna know that I don't know myself?"
"Nope." They smiled and waved. "Have fun."
"Right…" he stepped back on the platform and got himself ready. Then the other pushed the button and allowed the song to start.
"Oh, it's a bit fast by the way, think you can keep up?"
"Of course." He smirked, although he was probably way in over his head. And he was right. Because he could hardly keep up with the steps.
"I don't know if he actually goes to our school." Kairi brought up, unable to stop staring at the stranger.
"He looks like…a college kind of guy. You know?" the brunette offered her opinion.
"Or maybe he's fresh out of high school?" Naminé suggested.
"Or he's a pedo." Hayner cut in and all the girls turned to stare at him, "…What? I'm just saying…"
He didn't like the grins they were giving him.
He could follow it with his eyes, but his feet just couldn't catch up in time with the beat, and there were so many arrows playing at the same time he couldn't help but get confused. When the song ended, he noticed how sore his legs were getting.
"And here I thought you could keep up." The other smirked as he started choosing another song. "Do you need a break or something?"
"Just pick a song." He scowled and tried to regain his breath.
"If you insist." He chuckled and scrolled down the list and chose the song without listening to the preview. "This is one a little crazy with the beat. Listen with your eyes." He smirked as he tapped the side of his forehead. "And it might be a good idea if you go down a difficulty." He helped the blond go down a difficulty and started the song.
"Hey! I could totally-"
"Nope, I don't think you can." He adored the way the blond stood defiantly. "Watch and you'll see." The song began and the steps zoomed up the screen and the blond was more than surprised. "This song comes in three parts." He spoke as he continued stepping like crazy, keeping in time and beat. "First part goes really fast, and then the second goes slow. Like now." And the music slowed down to a comfortable pace and the blond could finally breathe. "Then it goes crazy again." He chuckled when Roxas let out an exasperated sigh.
When the song was finished, the blond almost collapsed. But he opted for a different choice.
"Ok, that's it. You're not choosing anymore!" he shoved the other away and started picking a song he would be able to dance to, changed his difficulty setting and pushed the button to start before the other could complain. But surprisingly he didn't, which was a bit of a let down for the blond. He expected at least a little 'something'. Like a scowl, or a pout, or a curse. But definitely not a chuckle.
"Alright, 'Number 13' it is then." He got himself ready and pretended as though he wasn't just rudely shoved away. Roxas frowned a little but quickly brushed it off when the music started.
"Bad vibes, bad vibes…" his finger nails were suffering.
"Demyx."
"No seriously, Zex, I don't know what's going to happen." all he could feel was that it was going to happen soon.
"Just calm down."
"I can't."
The other DDR player next to them suddenly cried out in exasperation and walked over to the large fan located in between the two dancing machines, pushed the button to go on high and powered it up. Almost immediately, a large gust of wind blew at the other and his hat flew off. Revealing his fiery red hair and his surprised look.
"Shit." He cursed as he tried to hide his hair with one hand while the group gasped in shock.
Roxas stared in disbelief and ignored the music. "You…" he murmured numbly as the music suddenly stopped and the words, "Aw! Too bad, maybe next time!" announced from the game.
"Shit." He cursed again and looked around for his hat which was located at the feet of a dirty haired blond boy.
But it was too late, they knew who they were and the girls elicited a gasp and a squeal of delight. "Oh my god!!"
"Oh fuck!" somebody else cried out and Axel turned to see his friend pulling his hair out and looking like he was about to hyperventilate.
Without a word or an explanation, the red head grabbed his glasses, pulled up the hoodie and immediately fled the scene, his friend in tow.
As the girls gossiped behind him, the music played around him, the lights flashed all over the place, Roxas found that he couldn't quite think properly.
Eventually, something entered his peripheral vision and he turned to see a familiar hat, and Hayner, "Who knew?" he shrugged as he continued to hold up the hat. "Take it or else I'll burn it." He warned and looked like he might actually go on ahead and do it.
Slowly, Roxas took it, for reasons he didn't know why, and then watched as his best friend walked away.
"I told you! I told you! Bad vibes!"
"Shut up Demyx!" he shouted, obviously unhappy about it as well as he tried to slip on his glasses and speed-walk the hell out of there. "Shit."
For one reason or another, the weeks seemed to pass by in a whirlwind of events.
Not a day passed by without the blond and his friends getting bombarded with questions and requests.
"Like, oh my god, you have to get me his autograph." one of the girls pestered him.
"Oh my gosh, you have to get me one too." another joined in.
Apparently, the paparazzi have been quietly pursuing the red head and were only just waiting for something to happen to get a big scoop.
Him accidentally revealing himself to a group of teenage kids was a big scoop.
"Are you guys, like, dating?" another girl asked with a scorned look.
"As if, there's no way a guy like Axel would go out with a guy like him." another answered, equally scorned that they didn't end up meeting with the red head.
Roxas snapped, but it wasn't him who spoke, "Would you guys, like, oh, I don't know, shut up?" Kairi spoke with a not-too-kind smile.
It was times like these that he immensely enjoyed her company, because it was her ferocity that made sure that he didn't end up getting mauled at the end of the day because he couldn't answer to a few questions and couldn't quite fulfill a few demands.
"Ugh, like, whatever." then they turned tail and left.
Kairi shook her head and rolled her eyes, "Ugh, gossip girls."
Roxas ended up laughing at the comment, "Speak for yourself."
She looked appalled, "Excuse me; I have more class than that."
He couldn't help but agree.
"So," she changed the subject, "What're you going to do?"
"Do about what?" he asked as he tried to get into his locker without getting asked another question about Axel.
"About Axel; that hat."
He sighed; so much for that, "Nothing, I guess." he spoke as he popped open his locker and spotted the hat tucked away into the deepest corner. He shoved a few books in and grabbed a couple others out. He had homework to do.
"Really?" she didn't seem so convinced, "Just nothing?"
"I mean, hey, he's famous isn't he? I bet he got into a load of trouble because of what happened last time." he spoke as he quickly pulled out the hat and shoved it into his messenger bag. He had thought countless of times to just throw it away, but couldn't bring himself to.
"That he did." she agreed and remembered reading some magazines about it.
Axel ended up going under hotel-room-arrest by his agent and word spread like wild-fire about his ridiculous rendezvous with Roxas and a guy named Demyx whom she remembered seeing at the arcade before.
He shook his head, "Doesn't matter anymore." he spoke and walked off, "See ya, got loads of homework to do. That, and I wanna get away from school as fast as I can."
She smiled, "I'd run if I were you." she called out, to which he immediately took heed and was able to exit the school grounds without too much trouble.
For the past few days, he had been taking lots of different routes from school to home, varying every now and then from short, to long, to the random going over to a friends' house first. He did it mainly because he would end up with a few stalkers along the way and they would continuously ask him for more information which he didn't even know to begin with.
They probably knew a hell of a lot more than he would ever.
When he turned the corner and looked over his shoulder, he felt safe seeing that nobody was following him, but when he looked ahead of him, he immediately stopped.
Ahead of him, with his back on the wall, stood a hooded figure.
It didn't take a lot of guesses to know who it was.
The other turned his head and watched the blond through blank eyes. There was no mirth behind them, no smirk playing on his lips. He looked like those posters Roxas remembered seeing hanging around in the city. Like an arrogant, self-centered, heartless model.
Roxas frowned at the other, didn't want anything to do with somebody like him, but shortly remembered that he had something that wasn't his in possession.
The sooner he returned it, the better. At least, that's what he thought so anyway, so with a steeled heart, he marched over to the red head and dug around his bag for the hat and eventually withdrew it.
He held it out for the other to take.
But he just stared at him, lips unmoving, eyes unblinking.
"Your hat."
"I know."
Roxas wondered what was going on in the other's head. He had no idea why Axel wasn't even taking it.
But he decided that he wasting too much time, decided that it wasn't a good idea to 'rendezvous' with the red head. So without much thought, he threw the hat into Axel's direction and walked back the way he came, opting for another route back home.
Axel caught it easily and watched the retreating form of the blond and called out just before he disappeared behind a corner, "Had we met under different situations, would we have been friends?"
He stopped and considered the question, and realized that he couldn't really find an answer. But really, who knew?
Axel was a celebrity; hot gossip. Roxas was nothing. Not much of anything anyway.
He didn't think he could answer a question like that, so he merely left.
"Roxas."
And then his feet stopped without his knowing.
He sighed. Why ask a question nobody would be able to answer?
In the end, he shrugged, "Who knows?" he finally replied as he walked away again.
When Roxas was gone, Axel felt like screaming his heart out and punching the wall.
"What're you doing here?"
"Was in the neighborhood," he sighed, "Mind if I come in?"
"Sure." he slowly nodded and stepped out of the way, "I see you got your hat back." Demyx pointed out.
"Yeah…"
It was his favorite hat, but why didn't he feel that great about getting it back?
Eventually, the buzz died down and everything was, more or less, back to normal.
Except for the…well…
Kairi insisted that Roxas had a 'thing' for the red headed model. Namine encouraged him with a smile. Hayner scowled and pretended he wasn't listening when in fact, he was curious to see if Roxas would actually go to bat for the other team or not.
Sora, his dearest brother, would occasionally pester him about it at all hours of the day when the others weren't around to do it.
It got to the point where it almost turned into routine.
But then everything went quiet.
He didn't know why, but he took it as a god-send and thanked the heavens that everybody finally calmed down.
Although he had no idea why some of the random gossip girls at school would sneer and scoff in his direction and look like he would be a good target for knives.
"Axel, shift a little closer to him would you? He's not going to bite."
The red head growled but complied and quickly tried to stop his eyebrows from furrowing so much.
"Geez, usually I have trouble getting you to keep your hands off them, what's with you??" the photographer commented as he clicked and flashed away.
Axel made no comment and continued to do his job.
"Ok, now, put one hand on his neck and lean down a little bit closer to his face yeah?" he instructed as he stepped back a little to examine the scene to try and make an exact copy of what was in his head.
The red head sighed, but did so anyway.
"Do you have a problem with me?" his partner quietly asked him, eyes focused on the camera.
"Axel, a little closer." the photographer spoke as he motioned the red head.
Once the right position was accomplished, the man behind the camera clapped his hands, "Perfect! Now stay there for a while." he smiled as he clicked the camera and everything flashed.
When Axel was sure he was fully blinded, he replied, "Not you, per se."
"Look, it's him."
"Not even, the guy looks way better."
"They're both one and the same."
Gasp, "No way."
"Way."
"…Bitch…"
If looks could kill, Roxas was sure he'd probably have died many times already. Recently, whenever he was walking down the corridor in between classes, before or after school or during breaks, he'd receive these 'looks'.
A few of them looked curious; those he wasn't too bothered with. But the others, sneers and jeers and hissy fits; he was a bit more worried abut those.
He never bothered bringing it up with his friends or asking them about it, he was fairly sure they didn't know what was going on either. But sometimes, he can't help but wonder if they're hiding something from him.
"Man," he sighed out as he flopped down onto one of the cafeteria seats, "I was just walking to my locker and these girls looked like they wanted to knife me in the back." he brought up as he gave a worried glance behind him, just to make sure nobody was anywhere near him with sharp, pointy objects.
Kairi and Naminé turned to each other for a moment before looking straight back at the blond, "What makes you think that?" the crimson haired girl asked casually.
Roxas shrugged, "I don't know. Not that I care, but it's starting to work on my nerves." he swore that there was somebody performing voodoo tricks on him too.
"Oh well." Naminé smiled, "Maybe they're still jealous of you."
"Of me? As if." he snorted. Sure he got his fifteen minutes of fame, but it was something he could go without. He didn't need this sort of thing in his life.
They could feel something hanging in the air around Roxas, a clash of a thousand emotions, but they made no move to point it out; it might make things worse.
Someone made a loud yawn, "So, there's this new movie coming out on Saturday, wanna go watch?" Hayner brought up.
"At this time?" he asked, disbelief marked on his face, "When exams are right around the corner?" he added, then shrugged, "Sure."
They laughed at his reaction, but some of them couldn't help but wonder what might happen when Roxas sees the billboards hanging in the city and the hear say that surrounded them.
"Was that really a good idea?"
"At this point, I don't think I give a shit anymore."
"You say that…" but deep inside, Demyx knew it wasn't true. And he was sure Axel knew as well. "How about some Wii?" he casually changed the subject as he scampered over to his newest console.
He rolled his eyes as the dirty haired blond pulled out the remotes and stuck a game in. "Oh yeah, that thing I bought you the other day."
Demyx laughed sheepishly, "Thank you for the present. Best birthday ever."
Axel smiled and took the offered remote. At least someone was happy.
So far, so good. At least, that was what Roxas thought so anyway. The movie wasn't as bad as he thought it was going to be; the trailer didn't do it much justice, so he had gone in with low expectations only to be pleasantly surprised about it.
But he still wished the popcorn didn't have so many unpopped seeds at the bottom of the pile. What a waste.
"So guys, what now?" he asked as they all walked side by side down the pathway.
"Food?" the dark haired boy suggested.
"Pence," Olette started, "You just ate a whole--"
"Half." he interrupted.
"More than half, a tub of popcorn. You're still hungry?"
"Uhmm…" he muttered out sheepishly, "Yes?"
She rolled her eyes but couldn't help but join in the giggles that Kairi and Naminé were in. Oh wells, boys will be boys.
"Should we go to the food courts?" Naminé suggested as she pointed to its general direction.
"Sure." the dirty haired blond shrugged and led the way to their new destination.
Along the way, Roxas made sure not to look up. Although sometimes he couldn't help it and accidentally turn to look at a billboard only to very quickly look away again and chastise himself. But it was ok, because it was just a 'Coca Cola' ad.
They saw his distress, and was very quick to bring up another topic to converse about; most of it revolving around food because Pence was just that hungry.
"Ok, I'm in the mood for sushi and dim sum."
"Eh, just get whatever you want, nobody really cares if you like eels or not." Hayner brought up.
Kairi blanched, "Ewww…"
"It tastes like fish I swear!" the dark haired boy protested.
They laughed at the pair as they crossed the intersection and made their way over to the food courts.
As they walked, Roxas could see vibrant colors hanging high above their heads from his peripheral vision. If he tried hard enough, he could make certain that he wouldn't end up looking at any other them.
But sometimes, in his lapse of concentration, he'd look up without thinking.
He saw it, saw a small glimpse of it then turned away. But when the image his eyes saw finally caught up to his mind, he did a quick double-take and saw double.
And freaked.
"What the hell!?"
Only one thought echoed through all of his friends' heads; 'Uh-oh.'
"Do you ever wonder if you're missing something in your life?" he asked out of the blue, missed his place and ended up falling off a cliff in the middle of the race.
Demyx paused the game and turned to his friend with a quizzical expression, "Uh…" he averted his eyes away for a second before looking back into contemplative green, "Well, I think we all go through that certain phase in our lives." he answered as best as he can, although he was sure that it wasn't what Axel was looking for.
The red head sighed and pushed himself off his seat, "I think I need some fresh air."
Demyx was quick to get up and follow, "To where?" the last thing he wanted was for Axel to get in trouble again. And Axel was the kind of guy to look for trouble rather than wait for it to come on by.
"I don't know, just somewhere quiet I guess."
The dirty haired blond slowed to a halt and sighed.
Somewhere quiet; that didn't sound too bad. Practically trouble-free.
So with a confident mind, no bad vibes about, he allowed his friend to walk out the door.
"Let's order pizza when you get back ok?" he called out just before Axel was gone out of sight.
The red head grinned as he turned and gave Demyx a salute, "Sure."
Only one coherent thought echoed through his mind, three words to be exact; "What. The. Fuh--"
Two and a half actually.
His mind was still processing what he was seeing. Why was he standing so close to the red head as if the word 'personal space' never once existed? Why were they so close together it seemed to imply something? And why was Axel's face so close to his?
"Ok, Roxas, just calm down." Kairi started as she looked through her bag for something.
"I am calm!" he shouted without meaning to and finally turned his eyes away from the billboard that featured him along with a certain red head.
At least, he thought it was him, but he couldn't recall ever going to a photo-shoot or whatever.
"Darn, I swear I put it in my bag somewhere." she spoke as she continued to rummage around.
"Roxas, just listen to us ok?" Naminé spoke calmly and hoped he'd stop clenching and unclenching his fists and looking ready to bolt and run away screaming his heart out.
"Uh huh." his voice cracked and wished the tic in his left eye would just stop.
"Found it!" Kairi cried out as she pulled the magazine from the deep confines of her little pink bag. How did she even manage to squeeze it in there in the first place? "Ok. Let's see here." she started flipping through the pages, "I know I bookmarked it somewhere."
Bookmark? She already knew about this? Why didn't she say anything?!
"You--"
"We didn't know how to exactly bring this up with you." Olette began as she started to wring the hem of her shirt together; a nervous habit she had developed over the years.
"We knew you'd freak." Hayner brought up.
"Which you obviously did." Pence joined in.
"Got it!" the crimson haired girl cried out in victory as she held out the page for the distressed blond to soak in.
It was a miniature picture of what was shown on the billboard. But before he could start barraging questions at them, Naminé began to read from it.
"Name; Ventus McCartney AKA Ven. Recently found by a well-known agency and showed great potential in the modeling career."
"And?" Roxas urged for some more information.
"Let's see, horoscope; Aquarius--"
"No! That's not what I meant!" he cried out before they gave him more information he didn't want. "I meant why does he look like me? Am I missing a twin or something?"
Kairi flipped to the next page, "Not at all."
"But it does make you wonder about parallel worlds and universes." Pence started but immediately snapped his mouth shut after one look from Olette.
The crimson haired continued to speak, "Father is the CEO of one of the most profitable companies in the world, and the mother is the owner of one of the most well known restaurants in the country."
Roxas' wondered if his mother and father led a double life and decided to have another kid without his consent. But it wasn't possible, because his dad is a mechanic and his mum is a regular housewife.
His eyes turned back to the poster and suddenly, events from the past week or so started making sense.
Why some of the girls at school wouldn't leave him alone while some others wanted to kill him in his sleep.
And suddenly, he felt light-headed.
"Roxas?" Naminé asked worriedly.
"Uh…I think I'm gonna go home." he started as he turned the other direction and started walking away.
"But Rox--" she began but was held back from following.
"Let him go Naminé, he looks like he needs some space." Hayner spoke and watched at their friend walked away.
He was right; Roxas needed some space. But he wanted so much more space than they were giving him right now.
He wished he could just turn back time and stop himself from ever bumping into that red head at school.
But another part of him knew he didn't want that.
He was just too confused to make sense of anything.
For some reason, despite the fact that he was walking under a clear blue sky, with trees left and right and was breathing in fresh air; it wasn't enough.
He was missing something, someone, and he knew exactly who he was missing. He just wondered if that someone was missing him the same way he did.
He eventually found a wall, slumped down to the ground and allowed his mind to think back on the past events of his life.
When two faces appeared in his mind, one he wanted to see while the other he didn't mind but wasn't at all the same, he swore out loud and buried his head in his hands.
"I should've said no…" but he had wanted to see him so badly.
He hadn't even cared that it wasn't even the same person.
Usually, he wouldn't bother with walking from home to the city or vice versa, because the distance was much too far and he wasn't all that patient.
Why settle for walking when public transportation was available?
Not free, sure, but it got from point A to point B and back faster.
However, today, he didn't mind walking that far distance; it gave him space and plenty of time to think to himself.
And on the positive side, no billboards along the way.
He sighed when his scatterbrained mine finally caught up with him and started making sense.
He realized that he made much too big of a deal out of it.
Ok, sure, there was actually a guy out there in the world that looked exactly like him, but they lived two completely different lives, so what did it matter to him? They weren't going to end up causing a huge fuss about it. At least he hoped not.
He liked his normal life, with his normal parents and his normal friends and his a little bit above-normal grades.
He couldn't ask for more.
But then why did it feel like he was missing out on something great?
That chance meeting with Axel was probably the only highlight of his mediocre life. But it scared him too much and he pushed it away and this is where he is now.
Stuck in between home; somewhere comfortable, and the city; a place filled with many twists and turns and corners and dead-ends.
Eventually, he realized that he had stopped walking and pushed himself onwards again, back home where he would be comfortable, and where he would live out the rest of his mediocre life.
That is, until he turned the corner and stumbled across something that wasn't at all mediocre.
"Watch it!" the lump in the middle of pathway yelled.
"Shit!" he lost his footing and tripped, landing himself on the floor on all fours.
"Roxas?"
"Shit!!" he recognized that voice and got back up on unsteady legs.
"What're you doing here?"
"I should be asking you the same thing!" he shouted and realized that his heart was in his throat and he couldn't quite breathe properly, "And who told you to sit there anyway?!" now his hands and knees and scraped.
Vibrant green eyes stared in his blue with a mixture of emotions passing by.
Roxas shook his head, decided that he didn't want an answer and walked away again. His mind suddenly scattered itself all over the place and he couldn't think again.
"Wait, Roxas."
"Go away." he tried to swallow his heart down, but it was proving difficult. He tried to walk away, but the hand holding him back was making it hard for him to.
"Wait, just-- I wanna talk to you for a sec."
"I can't talk right now." not when his throat was blocked and his mind wouldn't think straight.
"I've missed you." he let out by accident, but realized that it was true.
Roxas stopped clawing at the fingers that held him back; he hadn't even realized he had been doing it, not until those words were spoken and his mind was blissfully clear again.
But his heart was still stuck in his throat and he suddenly couldn't find any words to speak.
"Promise me you won't run away?" the red head asked, his grip on the blonds' arm loosening just slightly.
Blue eyes rolled and turned towards green, "I wasn't the one who ran away in the middle of a game."
The motion took his off-guard, but he couldn't help but smile, "It was game over!!" he cried out, a hint of laughter in his voice, but released the blond.
Roxas took a step back, or two, or three, and kept his hands in his pockets, his eyes glued to the pavement and the crack that separated them, "So…"
"How's school?" he asked casually.
"All the girls want to murder me and bury me in the middle of no where." he replied easily.
Axel let out a curt laugh and shook his head, "No guys threatening to beat you up?"
"They're probably still in the closet."
"Like you?"
Roxas looked up at the red head with an indignant look but couldn't fight back the blush that stained his cheeks.
With a grumble and another curse thrown at the red head, he looked away again, back to the crack on the pavement.
"…How was the shoot?" he asked awkwardly.
Axel tilted his head just a little at the question before he realized just which shoot Roxas was asking about. He shrugged, a small grin on his face, "He's no you."
Roxas scoffed and rolled his eyes, "Sure."
While green eyes were focused at the blond in front of him, blue eyes were much too interested at the footpath beneath them; like they were convinced the floor was going to open up a black hole and swallow them up.
But eventually, the red head spoke, "So…" or at least tried to.
"So…"
"Not gonna ask about me?"
"Why ask you when I can steal a couple of magazines from Kairi and find out from there?" he retorted just as easily and realized how true it could be. Except he was sure that Kairi was more than willing to just give them up to him.
Axel laughed, "Why read a bunch of magazines that may or may not be true when I'm standing right in front of you ready to answer any questions that you might possibly throw at me?"
The blond frowned a little but made no move to say anything more.
The red head sighed, "Ok then, how about that girl of your dreams who thinks you're gay?" he couldn't help but smirk at that.
Roxas made a face at the question, "Can we not go there?" and besides, he was certain that Naminé wasn't exactly the girl of his dreams anymore.
She didn't seem to mind though.
Axel grinned but decided to let it go, "So."
"So?"
"So…I'm about to go grab a bite to eat because I'm hungry."
Roxas scoffed, "You? Hungry? Aren't models supposed to never eat?"
"Yeah, but I won't tell if you won't tell." the red head smirked as he brought up a finger to his lips.
The blond shook his head, a small smirk on his lips as he walked past the red head, "You need a new disguise." he brought up as the other easily caught up to him.
"Like what?"
"Oh I don't know. Ever thought about dying your hair and getting contacts?" he asked as he stared at the red head, "Black would be good."
"Yeah, I decided that, and I even made a different name too."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, Zack."
Roxas laughed.
Axel rolled his eyes, "But my agent would kill me if I did that without his knowing."
"Contact lenses then?"
"Wanted blue, but then my tattoos would still give me away."
It was the blonds' turn to roll his eyes, "There's a thing called 'make-up', I'm surprised you didn't know."
"Well, there's that, but then my hair would still give me away." he spoke as he easily slipped an arm on the blonds' shoulder.
"Get a hair cut. And cover up the tattoos and put a different one on."
Axel hummed, "Gotta think of another name then. Zack is black haired and blue eyed."
Roxas shook his head, a smile still on his lips, "What about Reno?"
"Where the hell did you get Reno from?" he raised an eyebrow at the blond, "Although I do like the sound of it." he nodded his head as he tapped his chin in thought.
They spent the rest of the afternoon at a pizza parlor discussing possible disguises.
But halfway through it all, Axel couldn't help but wonder if he was missing something. But he brushed it off as something unimportant and continued on talking with Roxas.
"I think Axel forgot about me." Demyx whined into his phone as he sat upside down on the couch and stared at an upside down TV.
"I wouldn't be surprised, considering how Axel can be."
He sighed and tried to play the game while in his current position, "I'm hungry."
"Then go eat."
"But I want pizza." he flicked his wrist.
"Then go order one."
"But I can't eat it all by myself." he swung the remote.
A sigh, "Save it for tomorrow."
"But it won't taste as nice." he made squiggles in the air.
Silence, "…Do you want me to come over?"
Demyx grinned, "Yes please."
And ended up winning a game of tennis while upside down.
Huzzah! Finally revamped this beast of a one-shot. Gawd, my eyes hurt!
And I can't believe I more than doubled what I originally first wrote…