There are many types of strings.
Strings of thread for example. They are the bonds that hold together anything with a seem. They are strong for a while, but eventually decay and everything falls to pieces.
There is one type of string, however, that holds with a firm grip, and never seems to really let go.
These strings are invisible to everyone, even the ones they are attached to.
Even though they're invisible, doesn't mean we don't know they're there.
They leave subtle hints to remind you. A tug at your heart when your leaving someone you don't want to leave, a pain in your stomach as you say goodbye and walk away.
They hold us all together, mentally, emotionally and physically.
So what happens when even those strings begin to decay?
-----
The clouds were starting to roll in, their shade of light grey a sure sign of the usual rain. Upon realizing this, a deep scowl set in the flawless features of a now currently disgruntled blonde.
Blue eyes scanned the heavens, searching for any sign of a break in the looming sheet of grey, but found none.
With a heavy sigh, Roxas picked up his things from the park bench. He'd been working on his homework in peace, away from the family turmoil he now would have to face, and the sun out was only a plus for him. Now that it was gone, he'd have to retreat to his rusted white car to escape the impending rain.
Not even half way to the parking lot did it start to sprinkle over the city.
Roxas didn't bother to pick up the pace. His last hour was P.E. and he had already ran the mile for today, so no sense in straining himself. Plus it was a very light drizzle, nothing that could do any serious damage to his half-finished homework.
He climbed in and set it down next to him on the couch like front seat, lacking any consul between, slamming the door shut behind him. With that much force, he half-expected the door to fall right off. To his relief, it stayed bolted in place, even as he turned the keys in the ignition and the car shook violently into a steady grumble.
Roxas hated his car. A moving pile of junk was really all he could see when he looked at it. Apart from the occasional patches of eggshell white that littered the otherwise rust-orange cab, it was the closest thing to a 'rust bucket' you'd ever see.
The gears made an ugly growling noise as he shifted into reverse and pulled out of the parking space. It made a familiar click, click, click, click as he put it in drive, then surprisingly a smooth purr as he pushed on the gas.
He flipped on the headlights when the rain picked up and switched on the windshield wipers to full force. The annoying tapping of rain against the car made him wish he still had a radio. After a fight with his dad, it had been removed and tossed in the garbage.
He still couldn't believe how stupid that was. If he was going to take out his radio why not sell it for money? Why even take out the radio in the first place? Roxas hardly listened to it anyways.
A sudden movement to his left caught his attention immediately. Who would be walking in this? After further inspection, Roxas realized who it was, shook his head and pulled to the shoulder, cruising slowly next to the person.
He rolled down the window and said nothing as the person gave him a small glimpse.
"Are you gonna get in or what?" Roxas asked, growing impatient of being ignored.
The brunette stopped and cast his cerulean gaze towards the rusty car. Roxas lightly pressed the break and halted along with him.
There was a moment of silence before the boy finally decided to reach for the handle. He gently opened the car door, slid in rather gracefully and shut it silently behind him. Somewhere in between, he had managed to slip Roxas's homework safely to the backseat, but his blue eyes never met Roxas's, instead he kept his gaze on his delicate seeming hands, clasped loosely in his lap.
Roxas stared for a moment before he carefully placed a hand on his brothers small, and brokenly slumped shoulder, "Care to tell me about it?" he asked in a soft voice.
Insanely spiky, chocolate brown hair swayed slightly as the younger of the boys shook his head.
Roxas didn't move for a few seconds, in his mind he was easily piecing together what went wrong this time. Just the thought of it made him angry. Eventually, he pulled away after giving his shoulder a comforting squeeze.
"You shouldn't walk in the rain like that, Sora. You could catch something," Roxas commented, partially embarrassed of their brotherly moment.
When Sora didn't reply, Roxas stole a glance in his direction. Beneath the beads of rain slowly rolling down Sora's smooth skin, Roxas could see the trails of warm tears, marring the beauty of his brothers usually bright, happy eyes.
Roxas felt the anger from before bubble in the pit of his stomach, sending electrifying flashes of outrage through his veins as his brother let out a hushed whimper.
Without really thinking about it, he wrapped an arm around his brother's shoulders and pulled him close. Sora was slightly surprised at first but he was tired, sad and not in the mood, so he didn't struggle playfully, like he usually would. Instead he fisted Roxas's shirt and buried his pretty face into his brothers shoulder, trying his best to muffle any pathetic gasps or whimpers.
Roxas not only hated his car, he decided. He also hated his brothers boyfriend, Marly. He was the biggest asshole Roxas had ever met. Not only did he never call, he was mean, cheep and worse of all, abusive.
Sora had never hid it well and Roxas saw right through it. He saw the bruises on his brothers wrists, ones obviously matching the pattern of a hand, the ones on his hips that seemed painful to even look at and the ones on his back that Roxas had forced Sora to show him.
Sora suddenly let out a sob and Roxas tightened his arm around him.
He pulled into the driveway to their house, put the car in park and cut the engine, turning to fully wrap his arms around his distressed brother.
Sora didn't deserve to suffer like this. He was the sweetest, kindest and most caring person Roxas could possibly think of. Sora deserved the best out of life, as far as he was concerned.
Hearing another muffled sob escape Sora's lips, Roxas decided it was time to have a real talk with Marly. He had already threatened him with the police if he found so much as another scratch on Sora. Now, he wouldn't be given a warning.
Roxas's eyes stayed locked on a few red marks on Sora's arm, a purple tint signifying a blossoming bruise.
-----
Acid green eyes watched as light grey smoke rose from between his slightly parted lips, semi-fascinated with how the drops of rain struck down on it and hammered it to the ground.
His fiery red hair was soaked to a deep crimson, the shorter strands in front sticking to and framing his sharp and pale features. Any sign of the spikes he usually had combed to the back and out of his face were gone. The rain had already thoroughly soaked him, his dark green shirt was black and heavy with rain and his ripped skinny jeans, a light grey before were now a dark grey.
"What're you doing out there? You're gonna get soaked, Axel!" a voice called from the door way to a rather nice house. Two stories, looked pretty big, had plenty of rooms and there was even space for two guest rooms. A certain rock star had always loved this place and really wanted to move here. He told Axel the place was always very beautiful so he agreed.
That's before he figured out he was lied to.
He didn't have to look to see who it was. He'd just see the tall, skinny friend he'd had since childhood. His easy-to-point-out, dirty blonde mullet-hawk, unusually colored eyes of turquoise and guilty expression as Axel answered his question.
"You told me the place was beautiful so I was just taking a look around, y'know? Admiring the disgusting smell of moss and mold, how there is no sign of the sun anywhere…," his sarcastic smile faded as he glared at Demyx and turned back around.
The fact that everything was covered in dark green moss was a sure sign that the weather was always this bad. It wasn't like he didn't like green, it was one of his favorite colors. He just didn't want to be surrounded by it under the constant sheet of rain.
"Look, I didn't lie to you, okay? When you asked me about it, I put out my definition of beautiful. I didn't know you wouldn't like it," Demyx tried to defend himself but he knew Axel was beyond pissed at the moment. He'd lived with him long enough to know to leave him alone when he was angry.
With a resigned sigh Demyx looked down and shuffled his feet a little, something he never grew out of as a kid, "I'll save up money from some gigs and we'll move somewhere else, if it makes you happy," he offered.
As he looked up, he wasn't surprised to see that Axel had looked back at him. His expression wasn't angry. What did surprise him was that Axel's expression was the slightest bit guilty.
Axel did feel guilty.
Demyx had always wanted to live here and now he was gonna sulk until he agreed to move. After all, Demyx was the one who put the bread on the table and willingly let Axel stay with him no matter if he didn't help pay for anything. How unbelievably unfair was that?
Axel took in his best friends appearance. Demyx was wearing a light blue shirt that said 'Bubble Buddy' in big bold letters with bubbles here and there. His pants were black skinnies accompanied by two belts, one black and studded the other white and studded. Axel didn't really check to see, but he was probably wearing his favorite light blue converse.
Demyx had a few piercings, too. He had both his ears pierced twice on the lobe, four black horse shoe earrings occupied those, and once on the cartilage of his right ear were a sapphire stud stuck through. Any other accessories were fingerless gloves and one peace sign necklace.
"Dems, we're staying here. I'm just gonna take a while to get used to it, that's all," he muttered with a sigh. He moved to run a hand through his hair but stopped, remembering suddenly that it was soaking wet. And, upon inspection, a hit by a raindrop had put out his cigarette.
Axel sighed again and flicked it in some random direction, looking up to see Demyx holding his arms wide open, a dark blue towel held between.
With a small smile gracing his lips, Axel walked up to the front porch, climbed the three steps and turned around as Demyx wrapped his arms around him, covering him in a fresh-out-of-the-drier warmth.
He expected Demyx to pull away but chuckled slightly as he instead gave him a bear hug.
"I'm really glad you're my friend, Axel. I don't know what I'd do without you," he heard him say. Axel could hear the smile in his words, too.
"Hmmm, lets see. By a better house, one less mouth to feed, pay less by deleting my cell phone plan coming straight from your bank account. Take your pick, I've got more," Axel joked. He laughed again as Demyx gave him a tighter hug and picked him up off the ground, acting like the little kid he was at heart.
Axel didn't particularly like being picked up like that, but Demyx was happy for the moment so he just ignored it for now.
He staggered under the weight of picking up someone his same size, even so, he stomped one foot after another until they were inside and had Axel sitting down in a stool behind the island in the kitchen.
Axel kicked off his muddy shoes, making a mental note to clean it up later and started to towel dry his soaked red hair.
He heard a shuffling in the kitchen, peeking from under the towel to see that Demyx was cooking something. It looked almost done, so he must've started before he went outside to check on him.
Axel felt himself smile as Demyx ladled some soup into a large bowl and set it down in front of him. He fetched a soda from the otherwise empty fridge, them having only barely moved there, popped it open and handed it to his best friend.
Axel smiled widely, smelling his favorite flavor of ramen and began to scarf it down. It had been a long drive from their old home about a full twelve hours and he had neglected to eat.
"Maybe you should go change first…," Demyx suggested, watching as water dripped from the hem of Axel's shirt and onto the beautiful wooden floor boards he'd paid so much for.
"Hmmm?" Axel asked, turning around to face his friend, a noodle hanging out of the corner of his mouth. He felt it, sucked it in quickly and smiled.
Demyx glimpsed down at the mess before glancing back up at Axel with an expectant look on his face.
Puzzled, Axel looked down before noticing it, too.
"Oh," was all he said.
He put his fork down and leaned away from the counter abit, quickly removing his shirt. After which, he mopped up the water with his towel before tucking his shirt inside it and setting it aside. As soon as he was done, he went straight back to eating.
Demyx chuckled at his enthusiasm, picking up the towel and shirt.
He threw them in the laundry room before making his way back to the kitchen, getting himself a soda and leaning against the counter, not bothering to get himself any of the ramen left. Since he wasn't sulking about the place and was actually kind of ecstatic, he ate as soon as they arrived.
His eyes scanned over Axel's form for a moment, taking it all in. His skin was very smooth, the only "imperfections" in the beautiful pallor of it was a couple tattoos. One just below his collar bone that was eight in roman numerals, and a sort of tribal one around his left upper arm having the obvious look of flames.
Demyx had never liked tattoos and had always viewed them as "imperfections". Just the thought of someone forcing black poison into his skin by puncturing it with a needle over and over again made him shiver. Of course, the fact that Axel had a few of them didn't take away from his sheer perfection.
Axel never really tried to work on his muscles, the only physical exercise he's ever done was in school when he had to take P.E.. That is until he dropped out of high school sometime during his sophomore year. However, he was so skinny that his natural muscles did show somewhat from underneath his pallid skin.
He also noticed that Axel enjoyed to accessorize. He had a bulky, black, digital watch around his thin right wrist, a plain black chocker, four ear piercings on both ears, the first on either ear being a gauge of some size -Demyx didn't know much about the whole sizing thing but he could fit his pinky through it- and a few necklaces that hung from his neck. The longest one was a silver guitar pick with the Japanese kanji for 'fire', while the short one was a silver crucifix, one ruby dotted the very middle.
It was only when Axel got up to rinse his bowl and place it in the sink that Demyx realized he was staring. Intently, at that.
"Geez, don't get all man hungry until Zexion get's here," Axel joked, rolling his eyes. As he walked past Demyx to the general direction of his room he whispered, "He might walk in on something!"
A light pink dusted over Demy's face, ears and neck as he called after him, "I'm not 'man hungry'! I just can't get over how gross your tattoos look," he pouted, crossing his arms over his chest in a huff.
Axel's head peaked out from behind the corner after a few minutes, his red spikes already starting to develop as his hair dried, "When are they gonna get here anyway?"
Demyx looked at the clock on the microwave, making a disappointed 'tch' as he saw it blinking the green numbers 1:15 A.M.. Obviously not the time. They had plugged it in and hour and fifteen minutes ago.
Axel looked down at his watch, realizing what his friend was looking for. "It's 5:45 P.M.," he said.
Demyx put on his thinking face. His lips puckered very slightly and his eyebrows pulled together as he crossed his arms. Axel couldn't help an amused grin before he disappeared behind the corner again.
"Well, then that means they should be here in a few minutes. Want me to call them?" Demyx offered.
Axel nodded and walked into the kitchen, "Well, yeah, those bastards have to help us unpack. I'm kinda tired of looking for my stuff in a bunch of boxes," he complained.
He was now wearing a black muscle shirt that fit perfectly around his skinny torso, a new pair of skinnies that had a few red plaid patches here in there purposefully sewn in, a black studded belt and silver chains that hung from the two back belt loops in his pants to the two front ones, criss-crossing in the front and back.
Demyx also noticed he had put on some rings to balance out his exposed skin.
He laughed and pulled out his cell, speed dialing Zexion's phone number. Demyx heard the song "Paperthin hymn" by Anberlin.
Who's gonna call on Sunday morning?
Who's gonna drive you home?
I just want one more chance,
To put my arms in fragile hands
I thought you said forever, Over and over
A sleepless night becomes
Bitter oblivion
These thoughts run through my head, Over and over
Complaints of violins
Become my only friends
The music faded out before beginning again. And Demyx started to worry the slightest bit. Zexion always answered after the first chorus, if not sooner.
Who's gonna call on Sunday morning?
Who's go-
"Hello?" Zexion's naturally quiet and melodic voice answered from the other side. It was amusingly different from when he was on stage.
"Hey, Zexy!" Demyx greeted happily, inwardly sighing in relief.
"Hello, Demyx. I'm sorry for not answering right away, Lexaus was sitting on my phone," Zexion tacked on that last part, noticing the frantic edge in his lover's beautiful voice. Zexion was just a back-up singer/bassist for their band. Demyx, with his amazing voice was lead guitarist and lead vocals.
"Oh, that's alright. I was just wondering what time you guys would be here, that's all," he sighed out his words, to try and act non-chalant, but his expression worried Axel. His nail biting didn't help either. Somewhere in the background he heard a car door shut.
"Oh, we should be there pretty soon," Demyx was confused when Zexion's voice doubled suddenly sounding both real and fake but smiled when he heard the click of a cell phone shutting. He turned around to find Zexion standing in the doorway he now realized was left open.
He looked just as Demyx had last seen him. His silken hair the usual grey with a multitude of shades of blue highlighting it all around. A long fringe covering the whole left side of his face ending around two inches below his perfectly shaped chin. His eyes were an intriguing shade of deep blue that carried a world of affection for the person his eyes had landed on.
He was wearing his favorite black hoodie where the hood pulls were the closest thing to design it had and some regular light-grey skinnies. He wore black fingerless gloves and some all back, hightop converse.
Demyx marveled at the sight of Zexion. He was the best thing that ever happened to him as far as he was concerned. His heart beat sped up as Zexion gave him a soft smile.
With a grin, he rushed to the door and pulled him up into his arms, at the same time kissing him hungrily.
Zexion wasn't surprised at all. He kissed back with equal enthusiasm running his fingers through the soft hair at the back of Demy's head, moaning as he kissed him harder.
Demyx loved everything about Zexion. To him there was nothing better than what Zexion had to offer him. There was nothing more delicious than the taste of him. Nothing softer than the feel of his skin beneath his fingertips. There was nothing sweeter than the sound of him crying out his name in pure pleasure…
"Get a friggin' room, will ya?" Axel complained as he walked by with a few boxes in his arms. Lexaus traveled behind him with a considerably larger load.
Demyx seemed a little confused at first before he realized where he was. Zexion was placed on the sky blue couch beneath him, panting for air as a rosy blush graced his cheeks, his hands gripping gently at Demyx's shoulders.
He didn't even remember getting in their current position. He just remembered his need for a more comfortable place.
He was positioned directly over Zexion, an arm wrapped around his waist while the other cupped the side of his face, his weight focused on his elbows so Zexion was confortable.
Zexion traded his grip on Demy's shoulders for gently holding his face in his hands as soon as he had caught his breath. He smiled gently and leaned upwards, brushing his lips across Demy's in a very innocent kiss.
Demyx smiled in his usual goofy way and sat upright, lifting Zexion with him so he was sitting on his lap, arms wrapped around him from behind. He rested his chin on his shoulder and kissed his neck a few times, "I missed you," he mumbled.
Zexion chuckled lightly, "I can tell."
-----
Roxas shut to door silently behind him as he exited his btoher's room.
It had taken him a while to actually calm Sora down, but in the end he had ended up crying himself to sleep.
The anger in his system was still alive and thriving, he wanted nothing more than to beat the absolute shit out of Marluxia for ever even thinking of being cruel to his beloved brother.
Unfortunately, he knew he couldn't. Marulxia was much stronger than he was and he knew it. If he wanted, he could have Roxas thrown out the window.
He sighed heavily and ran a hand through his golden spikes before moving to head towards the kitchen. He had to skip lunch to make up a test in science - his teacher was a hard ass old geezer that seemed to take joy in making Roxas suffer- so he hadn't eaten a thing all day long.
As if to agree, his stomach gave out a long and pretty loud growl. He was so hungry it was nearly painful.
Maybe a good order of pizza and a can or two of soda would make him feel better. Now he was really glad his parents were gone for the week. A family friend was dieing so they had to go visit or something like that. Roxas didn't try to pay attention to his parents anymore. They were just too weird.
He suddenly slammed into something rather hard, a wall he figured, and fell to his butt. He looked up to see exactly what he hit and a familiar face caused an embarrassed blush to color his face.
"What's wrong with Sora," an all too familiar voice spoke up.
It wasn't a question.
Roxas struggled to his feet, straightening out his clothes, "Thanks for the hand there, big bro."
He could tell the saracasm wasn't appreciated by the way his brothers deep blue eyes narrowed slightly.
"I just got him to sleep, he wouldn't tell me what was wrong," Roxas continued, walking past the tall figure. He made it obvious in his voice that the question wasn't appreciated either.
"Him again," his brother concluded, glancing at Sora's door before following Roxas out of the hallway.
Roxas slammed a bowl down onto the counter, his anger boiling again at even the mention of Marluxia through a personal pronoun.
He glared at the man, a deep frown pulled down the corners of his lips in an unflattering expression, "Yes. Him, again," Roxas sneered the word 'again', his brothers indifference infuriating.
"Hm," was the only response he got.
Roxas felt his eyebrows knit together and his frown turn into a scowl. He slammed his fist down on the counter. Was he the only one who cared about what happened to Sora?
"How can you be so…!" Roxas racked his brain for a word but was too angry to find one. He took a deep breath, remembering his sleeping brother and directed a heated gaze at the man, "…I don't even know why you bother coming around, Cloud."
Cloud glared at the younger boy, his blue eyes cold in contrast to his honey blonde hair, "Because you're my brothers and no matter how much you don't like me, I'll keep coming around to check on you both. Like it or not."
Roxas felt it hard to stay angry at Cloud. Sora held such a resemblance to him, apart from the brown hair he inherited from their mother, that Roxas felt like it was Sora who was glaring at him. It wasn't long before he had to look away.
He glared down at his empty bowl, until he felt a hand on the top of his head. Flinching, he waited for one of his brothers punches but slowly relaxed when he felt none.
"I care more than you think, Roxas. Staying with him is Sora's choice. Why? I wish I knew. But I want you to know, the minute I get an excuse, there's nowhere he can hide."
The hand disappeared, he heard footsteps and the opening and closing of the front door.
Now Roxas felt like the ass. Great.