"Anchor to Earth" by Txenriks – For the AkuRoku Contest XD
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, SquareEnix does.
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Axel was never one to beat around the bush- he'd step forward to take anything he wanted, and it /usually/ ended up falling into his hands. It wasn't always easy, but between his good looks and cunning nature, he had squeezed through some pretty narrow scrapes over the course of his brief nonexistence. But now, there was still one problem that faced him. It was a daunting task that refused to be conquered, no matter how hard Axel tried.
Put simply, Axel was in love, inasmuch as a Nobody could be in love. But Roxas, the golden-haired object of his affections, remained as cold and indifferent as- well, as one who had no heart. True, the boy tolerated him at a level far beyond that of the other Organization members. And for that, Axel was grateful. But like the ravenous flames he controlled, Axel remained hungry for more than simple tolerance.
As long as it was clear that Roxas felt no emotion- that he could love nobody and nothing- the pain wasn't so bad. Then at least Axel knew that it wasn't his fault for being less than Roxas needed. However, after a few months Axel could see that Roxas wasn't as heartless as he first appeared. The boy was possessed of rare flashes of emotion- faint sorrow at the news of Larxene's death, the beginnings of amusement glittering in his sapphire eyes as Axel performs some crazed stunt or another. Now, Axel could hope of a day when Roxas would return his affections...but the knowledge that that day hadn't yet dawned made his not-heart become heavy with grief.
Axel could remember the first time he'd felt that awful weight in his chest. He had been fooling around, as always. Joking, laughing, hanging upside-down off the side of his bed as Roxas listened silently from a nearby armchair. His crimson hair cascaded down onto the floor, framing his face like the plumes of a headdress.
"...And Vexen's voice was never quite the same, after that." Axel finished his story, bright grin flashing up at Roxas. Astonishingly, the boy's lips had twitched, then spread into a hesitant smile of his own. Just glimpsing the beauty of that smile had sent Axel roaring up to cloud nine, but unbeknownst to him, that gift had been a double-edged sword.
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As these lapses in his emotionless façade grew more numerous, Roxas found himself talking with Axel whenever he wasn't off running errands for the Superior. Together, they joked often about the "forbidden subject" of love, as such friends do. For a time, Axel was content using these jokes as a substitute for the real thing. Soon, he grew sick of the unreality- it was far too much like what he got every day as a Nobody. Enough jokes, he decided. Everything around him was so insubstantial, so shallow...he wanted just one real thing in his life.
The difficulty was, whenever Axel sought to escalate their games, Roxas' laughs would become slightly forced, his sapphire eyes dropping to the ground awkwardly. Not wanting to endanger the fragile friendship they had, Axel would immediately back off. And for the longest time, their jokes remained just that- jokes. Axel wasn't used to living with such restraint. Taming the inferno within him cost him dearly, but he was willing to do anything to keep Roxas by his side.
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It wasn't really nighttime...just as it was never really anything in these parts. Axel and Roxas were sitting in a small, out of the way den, bored out of their minds. (The den was named "Imminent Void", but the pair didn't really give a damn about Xemnas's ridiculous fetish for overly dramatic nomenclature.) "You know..." Roxas began, his face down turning into an exaggerated pout. "...I think I couldn't bear to live without you, Axel..."
The redhead barely suppressed an agonized groan. It was the same old joke, but somehow he just didn't find it funny anymore. Axel curled into a tight ball on the couch, turning away from his younger friend. If he had a heart, it would have broken then and there. If only Roxas knew how much he was hurting Axel with these sweet nothings...Now then, they might have gotten somewhere.
Axel knew what the boy expected- a witty comeback, some playful banter to shrug off the oppressive silence. But Axel wasn't playing along, not this time. "Please, Roxas." Axel begged. "Don't tease me anymore!" Feeling Roxas's icy stare on the back of his neck, Axel turned back around...to meet with the most serious gaze that he had ever seen.
"Whoever said I was teasing?" The blonde asked, tilting his head slightly to the side. Instead of replying, Axel fixed Roxas with a stare so acidic, it could have melted the covers of Xemnas's upholstery. Jade eyes met sapphire, searchingly. The den was so quiet, they could have heard a pin drop...but they were so absorbed in each other's eyes that they wouldn't have noticed it if one did.
"You..." Axel managed to break the silence, his normally suave air crushed before this surprising onslaught. "...weren't teasing?" He knew it was a stupid, lame thing to say, but it was all he really needed to know.
"I wasn't, honest!" Roxas protested, and he walked over to sit beside the older Nobody. His face lit up with that rare humor as he continued, "Got it memorized?"
"Hey! I thought I told you to quit with the teasing, already." Axel replied in mock hurt, but the blonde's smile was contagious, and he found himself drawing ever closer to the boy. One black-gloved hand crept around Roxas' shoulders, and, to Axel's delight, Roxas slipped an arm around his waist. Axel held Roxas as if the boy were made of glass, while the boy gripped him like he was his last anchor to earth.