Title: One Track Town
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Pairing: AkuRoku, minor others
Rating: R
Spoilers: None. Unless you don't know who Axel and Roxas are and - in that case - surprise!
Disclaimer: In no way mine, or anything to do with me, I own nothing.
Chapter Summary: In which Axel arrives and Roxas is not impressed (but the rest of Twilight Town is).
AN: Welcome to the Hotel!AU of Kingdom Hearts. I know nothing about hotels and only a little about Kingdom Hearts, so let's hope I don't crash and burn and kill all the characters with me
It was hard to keep secrets in a town where everybody knew everybody (and everybody loved to gossip about everybody.) That's why, in Twilight Town, it was common knowledge that the supposedly-haunted mansion near the outskirts was really just where Larxene took her boy-toy of the week to make out, Mayor Zexion was crooked (but only in the good ways), and Pence likely (or not) sold drugs the next town over.
So, when Axel showed up at the Station Tower with only a battered backpack and a devil-may-care grin, it didn't take long for a veritable crowd of people to follow him to the only hotel around, making stories based on whatever small details they could see.
He had tattoos on his face, so he was obviously a gang member here to torment them. No, no, he had an iPod in one hand and an earbud in his left ear, so he was obviously a musician here to find his muse. Of course, they couldn't discount the quiet grace he walked with and outlandish hair, so perhaps he was really a clown or a tightrope walker for a performing group, here to scout for prospects.
That was how Roxas, standing behind the counter in the Twilight Inn lobby, first saw Axel. The redhead was ignoring the people around him politely and acting as though they weren't disgracing themselves by following a stranger around because they had nothing better to do. In fact, if Roxas was reading the man's expression correctly, he seemed rather amused by the whole scenario.
"Can I help you?" asked the shorter blonde flatly. He leaned over and glared at the group shuffling around in the background as they tried to appear busy and preoccupied while still eavesdropping. Roxas gave them a silent ten second countdown before he kicked them all out.
The redhead smiled and turned his iPod off, stashing it in the front pocket of his bag. "I'm Axel. I'm new in town and--"
"Yeah, yeah," muttered Roxas, cutting him off with a wave of his hand. He snapped twice and grabbed everyone's attention. "Anyone who is not checking in or already checked in, you've got fifteen seconds to get out before I point out that you're all children and need to find a better hobby than stalking people."
An irritated grumble swept through the crowd - there were only four or five, but it was still ridiculous - and they slowly filed out. Only an angry blonde in a white jacket remained and shifted back and forth uncertainly, then finally left with a scowl when Roxas drew attention to him ("That means you too, Seifer.").
Finally, Roxas focused his attention back on Axel and prompted, "So you're new in town…"
If anything, Axel's wide smile grew and his green eyes sparkled mischievously. "So I'm new in town and need a place to stay for a while. Do you have any vacancies?"
"We always have vacancies," muttered Roxas as though the fact offended him and it was Axel's fault. Typing quickly on the keyboard in front of him, Roxas said, "There's at least one room free on every floor up to the third, and one on the sixth, though it's a suite and is far more expensive."
When Axel said nothing for too long, Roxas placed his hand on his hip and looked up in irritation. The redhead was staring back contemplatively, tapping a discordant rhythm on his jean-clad thigh. Roxas coughed pointedly and Axel snapped out of his reverie, smiling absently.
"Sorry, uh, does the suite have a good view?" inquired Axel, shifting the strap of the bag on his shoulder. Roxas considered the room number and tried to mentally place where it was in the building. With a crease of concentration between his eyebrows and his eyes closed, Roxas nodded. "Okay. I'll take that room for a, uh, a week. Maybe a week and a half." Roxas stared back at him. "What do you think--" Axel looked at the nametag pinned to Roxas's green button-up shirt. "—Hayner?"
Roxas smiled sweetly and said, "I think you should make a decision before I discover that I misread and we actually don't have any vacancies."
"How do you not get fired?" asked Axel, genuinely curious. He had leaned over and was resting his elbow on the counter with his chin in his palm.
"My good looks and charming personality," replied the blonde emotionlessly. "And I'm having sex with the hotel manager."
"Sleeping your way to the top, huh?"
"With a hotel manager?" Roxas scoffed. Axel handed over his credit card, but made no clarification on how long he wished to stay. "More like sleeping my way to the middle."
"With your 'charming personality,' I don't think you can shoot much higher." Axel signed the receipt Roxas handed him without glancing at it, then placed his card back in his wallet. When he was done, he finally realized that might not have been the best of ideas, because Roxas's sudden grin was shark-like.
Roxas held out two key cards silently, but with the same hair-raising expression, and Axel took them, waiting for Roxas to explain his sudden mood. He didn't have to wait long.
"Right, enjoy your two month stay, Mr. Axel," said Roxas, pointing to the elevator. Axel's eyes grew wide and he hurriedly pulled out his copy of the receipt he had just signed on. He glanced between the exorbitant price and Roxas's laughing blue eyes twice, then three times. "Perhaps you need a bellhop to assist you…?"
Axel opened his mouth, but he couldn't force any words out. He was torn between being appalled at the service and being amused. It wasn't like he needed the money, and the gag had drawn a true smile out of the unusually melancholy (or just plain annoyed) boy in front of him.
Deciding that it had been an even trade, Axel smile flirtatiously and countered, "If you wanted me to stay longer, you could have just asked, Hayner."
It took Roxas a few seconds to puzzle out why Axel kept calling him Hayner and – for once – he was glad he had accidentally left his nametag at home and stole the spare Hayner left in the employee locker room. Roxas merely stared back and Axel eventually just sighed in an amused sort of way and walked to the elevator.
Just before the door closed and blocked Roxas out of view, Axel saw him smile pleasantly. In a split second, the expression was gone, but Axel smirked whenever he remembered it.
The elevator ride to the sixth floor was uneventful. He didn't encounter any other guests, even though he pressed every button in between the first and sixth floor. When he reached the top, he was half-tempted to ride back down again, just to see the look on Roxas's face when he stepped back out.
His door was the last on the left and, with Roxas already booking him for a month and a half more than he needed, Axel almost expected the room to be subpar in another act of sabotage by the blonde.
When he opened the door, he quickly realized the room wasn't subpar in any meaning on the word.
Roxas hadn't been lying when he said the room had a good view. Axel was surprised when he pulled the curtains back and was rewarded with the beautiful sight of the sun setting over the bay.
He threw his bag on the bed – more than large enough for three people of hefty size – and began to play with everything he could reach. There was a pamphlet on the night stand to the left of the bed and he leafed through it to find a menu for room service. When he realized he was absently bouncing on the bed, instead of stopping, he leapt to his feet and began jumping up and down, ruining the immaculate covers.
He quickly grew bored and moved to the miniature kitchen in the corner. There was a small fridge filled with liquor of all shapes and sizes. Axel poked through them with a passing curiosity, pulling out a bottle with a name he couldn't pronounce and placing it on the counter behind him. He'd decide later whether he wanted to drink it.
He searched through all the cupboards, but found nothing dirty, dusty, or even out of place. He had a stove and a sink and a small rack where he could place wine bottles if he so desired. Axel scoffed. Who really stayed in a suite long enough and with enough wine that they needed a wine rack?
He assumed it was only there to add to the ambiance of the room; to make everything seem more expensive and worth the money spent on it.
Toeing off his scuffed up sneakers, Axel opened the door next to the bed expecting it to be the bathroom and instead was attacked by an ironing board. He jumped backward and cringed as it crashed on the floor (the carpet did little to muffle the metal as it scraped against itself).
He picked up the board and laid it against the wall outside the closet. In all likelihood, he knew he was going to stub his toe on it in the morning when he walked around in a pre-coffee daze, but that mattered less to him than being scared out of his wits for a second time.
Axel finally found the bathroom next to another closet (why did this room possibly need two closets?), which was next to the dresser. The bathroom was fantastic. It had a nice and large bathtub in one corner and a slightly smaller shower with a glass door in the other. A mirror covered half the wall above the sink and an impossibly skinny door was next to the entrance.
When he tugged open the door – this time prepared for an ironing board to attempt to give him a concussion – he found only shelves filled with clean towels, shampoo/conditioner bottles, and tiny hotel soaps. Axel grinned at the hotel soap.
They had always amused him since he was a little kid and, in turn, he always felt the need to steal them even when he didn't have room for them.
Deciding to take a shower later, Axel flicked off the light and went back to the bed, laying down on top of the now-messy covers and thumbing through the room service menu.
During Axel's exploration, the sun had set and a few stars were beginning to blink to life across the horizon. Another ten minutes passed and Axel could find nothing he truly wanted to eat. Usually he was too busy and skipped meals, complaining all the while to Demyx until the sytarist hung up on him.
Now he had a rare night to himself and could find nothing that brought his appetite to life.
Axel pursed his lips thoughtfully and picked up the phone on a whim. He dialed the front desk and wasn't surprised when the same emotionless, yet still clearly irritated, voice answered.
"Front desk. How can I help you?"
Axel was already grinning. "Hayner, right?" There was silence on the other end, but the kid didn't hang up, so Axel counted it as a win. "It's Axel. I'm hungry."
"That's nice," was the stilted reply. No other information was forthcoming.
"Hypothetically, if one were new to Twilight Town, where would he find food of the most delicious kind?"
"In another town."
Axel wanted to laugh, be he had a feeling that if he did, the conversation would lose that spark he was so amused by. "You know, if you keep this up, I'm going to start thinking you don't like me. You wouldn't want that, would you?"
There was a second of silence before Roxas said mournfully, "It's too bad stupidity isn't painful."
There was a scuffle in the background and Roxas covered the receiver with one hand. Axel heard a muted conversation being carried on, and then Roxas's voice was replaced by another that was cheerful and inviting. "Hi! Sorry, Ro—" There was another brief moment of silence and muffled conversation and when the voice came back it sounded slightly confused. "Um, Hayner's shift ended ten minutes ago and he's been waiting for me to get here. Is there anything I can help you with?"
Axel quelled the disappointment he felt and shook his head before he realized the new voice couldn't see him. "Not really. Well…Does this hotel have a restaurant?"
"Of course. Cid's restaurant is practically famous," chirped back the new comer. "Those who aren't patrons of the hotel need a reservation, but you should get in easily enough. Would you like me to tell him you're coming?"
Again, Axel shook his head and, again, the man on the other end of the phone couldn't see him. "No, I'll just go down after I take a shower. Thank you…" Axel allowed his voice to trail off expectantly.
"Sora," said the pleasant voice. "I'm Sora. I'm sure I'll see you when you come down later. Do you need anything else?"
"No," said Axel. He absently tacked on, "Thank you."
"Of course, sir. Have a fantastic evening."
When Axel placed the phone back in its cradle, he stared up at the white plaster ceiling for a minute before sighing and getting to his feet. He had travelled ten hours from Hollow Bastion and only just now realized how exhausted he was.
Tugging his cell phone out of his pocket, Axel dialed Demyx's number, then stared at the screen for a while before pressing the call button. The musician picked up after three rings.
"Axel! Are you coming back yet?" asked the blonde. There was music playing in the background that suddenly ceased and Axel assumed Demyx had been listening one of his previous albums. When Demyx repeated Axel's name, the redhead realized he'd been silent for too long.
He coughed, then replied, "I only left this morning, Dem. And, uh…" How exactly was Axel supposed to phrase this…? "I'm staying for a month and a half longer than I had anticipated."
Axel expected an outburst, but got silence instead. When Demyx spoke, he sounded nothing like his usual expressive self and Axel shivered. "I'm sorry, I could have sworn you just said--"
Wincing, Axel hurried to find some way to stop the flood of tears/massive ass-kicking that would occur in the future (with Demyx, either option was just as likely). "I know, I know. But, if you wanted, I could pay for you to come here and--" Come on, Axel, think. Why would you stay in this town for longer than a week? "…And, uh, watch the scenery." Oh, God. "Yeah, the scenery." Kill me now.
There was silence and Axel waited patiently for his friend to speak. His reply was an over-enthusiastic agreement and Axel resisted the urge to bang his head against the wall.
"So, uh, yeah," said Axel awkwardly. He wanted to end this conversation as soon as possible. "I'm starving, so I'm gonna go get some dinner, so, uh…"
"Yeah, yeah," said Demyx and it reminded Axel of Roxas. "I've got some things to take care of, but I'll be there in two or three weeks. And, Axel?"
"Yeah?"
Demyx sounded as sincere as usual, though more serious than Axel was used to. "I'm glad you're taking some time off. You've been working non-stop for too long. Just relax for a while."
"Yeah," agreed Axel tiredly. "I'll call you later, Dem."
Axel hung up before his friend could continue the conversation any longer. Placing a hand over his eyes, Axel rubbed them gently as he dropped his phone somewhere on the floor. He sighed and sat up, pausing at the edge of the bed and debating whether he should just fall back down.
In the end, he tugged off his socks and threw them at his shoes – missing quite horribly – and placed his jacket on the bed in a crumpled heap. His shirt joined the jacket and he thought for a second about closing the curtains. Shrugging, he decided he was too lazy and – six floors up – who was really going to be spying on him?
When he got to the bathroom, he shimmied out of his ripped jeans and boxers, turning on the shower and waiting for the water to heat. In his spare time, he turned to the mirror and examined himself as objectively as he could.
Demyx always complained that Axel didn't eat enough – even though the blonde hung up when Axel complained about the same thing – but Axel didn't think he looked too skinny. Granted, his hipbones could probably kill someone with the way they jutted out, but he looked toned, not anorexic.
He was paler than most people – he knew that for a fact – but it had more to do with genes than staying away from sunlight. His hair fell over his shoulders in progressively longer lengths and Axel, not for the first time, considered cutting it.
He immediately dismissed the idea if only to save himself from the amount of bitching Demyx would do when he found out.
The tear drops tattooed on his cheeks stood out in contrast to his pale skin and, when his eyes strayed to the twin tattoos, Axel found himself smiling. Those marks – gotten at the insistence of Demyx when they were still in high school – had gotten Axel in more trouble than he had ever been in his whole life.
Because of them, people constantly underestimated him and misjudged him, thinking he was merely the spoiled son of wealthy parents. He always relished proving those people wrong.
Steam was beginning to cloud Axel's view of himself and he checked to make sure a towel was within reach before he opened the glass door to the shower and then closed it behind him. The water was relaxing and Axel thanked himself for taking a shower instead of going to sleep.
Axel grabbed a washcloth from where it was hanging on the bar at his side and lathered it in soap. It wasn't until he reached down to clean his abdomen that he realized he was half-hard and he had a funny feeling it was because of the blonde at the front desk.
He jerked his hand up the length of his cock once, experimentally, and hissed. He didn't usually go for blondes. He didn't usually go for people he just met. And he certainly didn't usually go for people who liked to insult him and charge his card an extra ten thousand munny.
Except, now it seems like he does.
He put the dripping washcloth back on the bar and gently wrapped his right hand around his cock, stroking down to the tip and then back up to the base. And he was most definitely not thinking about the blonde from the front desk stretched out and compliant under his fingers.
He was certainly not imagining the boy's lips – full and just a bit too red to be innocent – stretched around his cock as he thrust in his mouth, blue eyes staring up from under blonde lashes. He would make low, guttural sounds every time Axel pushed in, but would grip the redhead's hips and push him in further than Axel would go alone. But only if Axel were thinking these things. Which he wasn't.
Then, Axel would turn him around and stick his fingers in the blonde's mouth, the other hand trailing down his back, leaving red, angry scratches down the unblemished skin. A mark of ownership, so anyone else he tried this with would know he wasn't the first.
"Hayner, Hayner," panted Axel as he thrust into his hand faster.
When he was ready, Axel would stretch him and push in and –
Axel came with a whimper and a reverently whispered name, sinking to the floor in exhaustion. He was tired, but only just realized that he was famished. He had been hungry before merely because he knew it was necessary to eat, but now he couldn't wait to get dressed and go try out the 'practically famous' restaurant.
It took longer than usual for Axel to get dried off and dressed in a plain white shirt and jeans with the same old tennis shoes. He grabbed his wallet from his other pair of pants – he only had two and three shirts, so he would have to go shopping tomorrow if he was going to stay here for two months – and made sure he had his key before turning his light off and closing the door behind him.
While he was in the elevator this time, a pretty maid with long blonde hair got on at the third floor with a cart of dirty towels. When she saw Axel, she very nearly stopped and refused to get on, but Axel motioned for her to continue.
"There's more than enough room for both of us," he said quietly. She smiled and nodded. Her eyes glanced at the buttons – all but two were lit up – and Axel cringed silently. He waited for her to admonish him for playing with the buttons like a child, but instead, she impishly reached out and pressed the third floor button as soon as they left it.
"You like to do that too, huh?" she asked. Axel laughed and held out his hand.
"I'm Axel," he said.
"Oh, the gangster-slash-musician-slash-clown, right?" asked the maid. Axel looked at her in confusion and she explained, "The gossip in this town is horrible. We have nothing else to do but make up stories about newcomers. I've been getting texts about it for the past hour."
"Huh. So that's why I was being followed."
The maid reached out and grabbed the hand that was still outstretched and introduced herself. "I'm Namine."
No one got on at the second floor, but when the doors opened at the first floor, Roxas was waiting outside. When he saw Namine, his face lit up, but went blank again when he saw Axel. The shorter blonde man had changed into street clothes with a patterned black and white shirt, black pants and checkered shoes. He also had two rings on his left hand, one of his pointer finger and the other on his middle finger.
Abruptly, Axel wondered if it was possible for someone to figure out that someone else just jerked off in the shower while imagining doing unspeakable things to him just from their guilty expression.
"Roxas!" greeted Namine brightly. She gestured to Axel. "Have you met Axel yet?"
Roxas groaned and covered his face with his hands while Axel turned to Namine with wide, shocked eyes.
"His name is Roxas?"