There are just some things you can't get rid of, no matter how hard you try to. Axel x Roxas. -AkuRoku Day Dedication-
I was…having fun reading some lame pick-up lines on the bus one day. They were posted up on the side of the walls and I couldn't help but read them and laugh (out loud). They spawned an idea within me, and then I noticed some weird looks being tossed my way…But whatever.
I started this months and months and months ago, but it wasn't until recently that I was going through my folder that I spotted this and remembered it. Ahh memories…
I hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.
But one more warning before you decide to continue on; expect this to be covered from top to bottom in lameness. Huzzah!
On another note; Blue, this is also for you.
Dissing the claimer - Enough said.
College, in Roxas' opinion, was everything high school wasn't.
For one thing, college offered him a hell of a lot more freedom than compared to high school. But, high school was much safer in terms of being…well, closed off and not required to think outside the metaphoric box. If anybody understands what that means.
However, once you enter college, your views start to change, a little if not a lot. You get exposed to all of these new things and new experiences you never would've thought of before you graduated from high school.
Sure it gets intimidating, but well, that's life. Eventually, you're going to have to learn to grow up and deal with it. It was bound to come sooner or later anyway; whether you graduate from high school this year, or the next year, or the year after that.
Even if you decide not to go to college, you'll just end up skipping a step towards being a functioning member of society, but you miss out on actual proper higher education on certain fields of what the hell ever, and you get paid less, because you don't own a degree or bachelor or a friggin' diploma; a silly little piece of paper that's nicely decorated and framed to collect dust on the wall.
Anyways, digressing a bit.
There was another thing about college that high school didn't have. Or not a lot of.
People, also known as stalkers except maybe not quite so dangerous as just really annoying and bothersome, that don't understand the word no and won't bloody leave you alone.
Like that guy.
No, that guy to the left.
The other left, you moron.
Ok, zoom in. There you go. The red head.
Now, this is something Roxas never had in his years of high school, for which, he was a little ungrateful for. Because, had that red headed thing appeared in his high school years, he would've been better equipped in his later years to deal with people like him. But alas, things never quite go as planned, and now he has to suffer through it the hard way.
But maybe we're getting way too far ahead of ourselves. So let's just wind back, to the very first moment they met.
Roxas didn't appreciate the fact that his brother, who was his twin and was older by two friggin' minutes, switched off his alarm due to a silly lapse in memory of whose clock belonged to who sometime during the middle of the night and now, on his first day of college, he was late.
Although, lucky for him, it was only the first day of college, which meant lots of talking about random things like the basics of the course, introduction of teachers and lecturers to students and vice versa and well, a 'grace' period, basically.
And another thing, he was a little happy that he wasn't the only student who was late to class and stumbled in through the same door some minutes after he did.
The red head coughed loudly into his hand, "Uh...my bad, I was trying to score myself a locker before all the good ones were taken." the student reasoned as he stood by the door with one hand scratching his wild, red hair.
Was that even real?
The teacher, a tall blond with short hair and a goatee, stared at the red head with un-amused eyes, "Axel, you use that excuse every year." the class snickered.
The one named Axel grinned, "And every year it's true."
Eventually, the blond man who had earlier introduced himself as Luxord, sighed and continued on reading out a list of what was needed, what was optional and what was recommended but not compulsory.
The red head slipped into a seat at the very back of the class, closest to the door, and it also happened to be right next to Roxas as well who had wanted to avoid as much embarrassment as possible and sat down almost as soon as he walked in through the doors.
The red head sighed tiredly and groaned, "God, this is so lame." he whined as he turned his neck to the side and tried to get out as much tension from within it as possible.
Roxas cringed at the popping noises the other was making; it was disturbing.
After a while, the blond man finished reading off the list from his clipboard and tossed it back onto the lecture table, "Right, why don't you all get to know one another; we'll be spending the next semester together after all." he spoke as he gave them an encouraging gesture and moved away from the front of the room down towards the back.
Roxas raised an eyebrow at the lecturer; he wasn't at all what he had expected the man to be.
For one thing, he was completely unorthodox.
But it was just the first week of college, easy and laid-back. He figured things would eventually pick up next week or something and the stress would come piling in like no one's business.
"Axel," the man called out once he was close enough to the red head who had been busy looking at his fingernails, "Why do you bother coming to my class if you're not even supposed to be here?" the older blond asked as he regarded the said person with a raised eyebrow.
The red head grinned, "What? Am I not allowed to visit my favorite lecturer?"
Luxord smirked, "Flattery will get you no where my friend." he shook his head and leaned his body on the side of the table, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were just here to scout for some…" he paused and tapped his chin in a thoughtful gesture, "Ah, what's that word people like you use nowadays?" he asked himself and after a few moments of silence, he remembered, "That's right; fresh meat." he smirked.
Axel let out a half-hearted scoff, "Come on Luxord, do you really think of me like that?" he asked almost rhetorically.
"Come now Axel, you and I both know exactly why you're here." he spoke as he leered at the said person.
The red head sighed, looking defeated for a few moments but quickly regained his composure, "Ok fine, let's cut to the chase then." he then promptly turned his attention to the blond and stared into eyes of a brilliant blue.
Roxas drew his head back a little, not at all liking the way the red head was looking at him like he was…fresh meat.
Axel smirked, his green eyes sparkled with hidden motive, "I lost my phone number. Can I have yours?"
Luxord shook his head, murmured under his breath something that sounded almost like, "He never gives up." and walked away.
Roxas felt his left eye twitch.
Violently.
And that was how they first met.
After that peculiar first meeting, Roxas made sure to always come to all of his classes on time and claim one of the first seats at the very front. But since he was a freshman, and it seemed like Axel was most likely probably not, they never shared a class together.
Which was so much a good thing for the blond because he didn't think he could handle being in the same room as the overly eccentric red head.
But just because they didn't share any classes together, didn't mean that they wouldn't end up bumping into each other. Everybody knew each other in college; whether you knew their names or not.
Roxas sighed as he skimmed through his new timetable and tried to compare it with the timetables he got from his other friends. It seemed that he wouldn't be able to see any of them, unless you wanted to count walking by to catch up for five minutes in between running to classes or whatever.
He had been in the middle of looking at his second semester timetable when suddenly, the seat across from him was occupied. By none other than an eccentric red head.
"Are you lost?" he asked innocently.
The blond stared, felt an alarm sound in his head as he pondered on the question. He had been present for orientation week and found out that he only needed to know how to get to two departments of the college, so no, he wasn't lost.
"No…" he eyed the red head cautiously; "I don't think so." it didn't seem possible that anybody could get lost in the cafeteria anyway.
Axel smiled, "Cause heaven's a long way from here, you sure?"
Roxas felt his expression drop and wished he had listened to that alarm in his head, "Go away."
The red head took it all in good stride, "Babe, somebody better call heaven, because they're missing an angel!"
Roxas felt his left eye twitching again, "Seriously, get lost." he hissed.
Axel quickly changed tactics, "I'm new in town."
The comment threw the blond off-guard, "Didn't you just ask me if I was lost?" why ask if he had no idea where he was in the first place? But what Roxas didn't know was that he fell right into the red head's trap by answering.
"Could you give me directions to your apartment?" he continued to grin.
Roxas felt the sudden urge to smack his face, "Oh good god…"
"Yes he is, for giving me such a beauty!"
Finally, the blond stood up from the table and glared at the other, "I'm very tempted to call the cops on you, but I'm just going to walk away." although he belatedly realized that he was wasting his breath on the other because Axel just wasn't listening.
"So," the red head caught up to the blond easily, "What's your curfew back in heaven?" he asked and continued to keep a wide grin on his face.
Something inside of Roxas snapped, "Seriously, beat it." he warned and was just itching to punch the other in the face and hope it'll be the last of him.
Axel laughed as he stopped in the middle of the pathway and called out to the blond, "See you next time angel!"
Roxas sincerely hoped not as he power-walked the hell out of there.
After that second meeting, Roxas made sure to avoid the cafeteria at all times; he got his food at the sushi shop halfway between the city district and the college campus.
He pondered on going to the library, maybe withdraw a couple of recommended but not compulsory textbooks for his lectures and tutorials, but decided that food was much more important.
He wished that the sushi pack didn't come with pickled pink ginger and green wasabi though…He hated those.
Even though he figured he was safe away from the red head, he should've known that the city wasn't as big as he previously thought it was and the seat across from his was occupied by said eccentric red head who was smiling like it was second nature.
Roxas choked on his sushi.
"So, what's a nice guy like you doing in a place like this?" he started with a grin.
The blond swallowed the rest of the sushi without chewing thoroughly and glared at the red head for interrupting what could've been a very peaceful lunch session.
Axel took the glare into stride and continued on without hindrance, "If I were to follow you home, would you keep me?" he asked innocently and curiously.
Roxas suddenly felt tired, even though he was only halfway through the day; "You know, this is getting really old." he spoke as he packed up his half-eaten lunch and walked away.
For one thing, he used to have a friend who would go onto websites to read pick-up lines to try on some girls. He failed almost all the time.
Poor Hayner.
He didn't manage to get very far before the back of his jacket was yanked and twisted to an odd and very uncomfortable angle.
"Hey!" Roxas shouted and grappled at the other, "What the hell are you--"
"I was right!" he red head called out excitedly and let go, "You are made in heaven." he beamed at the other.
The blond started to feel his left eye twitch again, "Fuck off, seriously."
Axel tapped his chin and hummed thoughtfully but kept in stride with the other, "I wonder if God would be mad that I stole one of his angels."
Roxas finally decided to put his foot down, "Dude! Seriously!" what did he look like? Gay? Certainly not! "I'm gonna call the cops for harassment!" he wondered why he didn't think of it in sooner.
The smile dropped and the red head stared at the blond with curious green eyes.
Roxas wondered if he hit the right note, but realized he didn't when the smile returned and turned into a smirk, "You wouldn't do that." he was pushing his luck.
He whipped out his phone and gave a blank stare, "I would."
Axel was suddenly convinced and quickly went the other direction, "Oooh-kay then! I'll catch ya tomorrow; I've got a ride to hitch anyways." he grinned as he gave a hearty wave at the blond, crossed the street without looking both ways and disappeared into a coffee shop.
Roxas let out a tired yet relieved sigh once the other was gone and proceeded to deposit his phone back into his pocket.
He wondered what he ever did wrong to deserve having some stalker who was stuck using lame pick-up lines that probably never, ever once worked on anyone.
In the end, while he was on his last roll of sushi, he decided that it was just his luck of the draw.
After that third meeting, and Roxas seriously, honestly, hoped to God he wouldn't see hide nor hair of the red head again, he decided to take refuge in the furthest, dustiest, loneliest corner of the college library.
He decided that it wasn't all too bad, because the library had a wireless connection and he was able to surf the net and research things if he ever needed to for any of his classes.
In the middle of his surfing, he stumbled his way into Connect; a well known website that allowed friends and family and strangers to…well…connect.
He clicked his way into his friends' pages and started writing random things into their profiles; something about stalkers and lame pick-up lines.
Eventually, he lost track of time, he tended to do that a lot while he played around with the many applications available on the site, and by the time his eyes gazed upon the digital clock displayed on the bottom right corner of his laptop, he realized that he was late to class.
By twenty minutes.
"SHIT!"
He was lucky nobody was around, but everybody within hearing range couldn't help but look around in search of who just cursed ever so loudly.
Roxas continued to curse under his breath as he quickly packed his things away as humanly fast as possible before bolting out from the library, down the hallways, around corners and eventually dash towards the other department where his lecture was located.
Of course, it wasn't until he got there that he realized that he went to the wrong department and the one he was supposed to go to was in the opposite direction of where he just came from.
He wanted to rip his hair out, "FUCK!"
By the time he finally stumbled his way into class, he was half an hour late and too tired to even bother anymore.
He reckoned he should've just stayed in his corner of the library and just play hooky instead.
It had been just a little over a week where Roxas hadn't seen the red head when, finally, he decided that he was in the clear.
He had been skittish on his breaks. Always looking around corners, making sure nobody followed him, and tried to keep himself safe and out of sight.
Thank God for whoever invented hoodies; they were a life-saver. Sure it blocked most of his vision half the time, but he was a paranoid kind of guy who wouldn't stop tugging down on it to make sure he was never seen by intrusive green eyes.
Roxas was walking down the corridor towards his next class; there was still ten minutes before it was supposed to start but he preferred getting there early just to be safe.
When he turned the corner, he felt a force much stronger than his push him backwards, but he was lucky that two hands took hold of his arms before he fell on his ass.
"Woah there little buddy, watch where you're going alright?"
He felt his left eye twitch all too suddenly at the all too familiar voice. Roxas bit his lip to keep himself from saying anything. Maybe he wasn't all that lucky after all. He'd prefer to land on his ass and sustain injury any day thank you very much.
"Hey, you ok there?" a worried yet curious voice asked him.
The blond spotted the other trying to look behind his hoodie, so he deliberately lowered his head down even lower and cough into his hand, "Fine."
He heard the other hum and before the blond could even retaliate, his hoodie was pulled back and he was completely and utterly exposed.
Green eyes seemed to shine for a moment before they narrowed.
Roxas groaned and could almost hear what was going to come out of the other's mouth as he tried to push himself away and escape to his class, but firm hands held him still.
The red head couldn't help but give a sly smirk, "Do I know you." it was not a question.
He tried his luck, "No." and continued to fight against the not-so-firm-but-still-firm hold.
Axel seemed crestfallen for a moment and sighed pitifully, "That's a real shame, I'd sure like to."
Almost desperately, Roxas started looking around him, his eyes searching for someone, anyone, to help him. And then he saw him, his savior, "Ok, on the count of three, I'm gonna shout to that security guard over there. One."
The red head pouted, "Can I at least get your name?"
Something finally ticked in his head; Axel didn't know his name…Thank God.
"Two." he warned and kept his gaze on the security guard in hopes his telepathy skills had gotten better. Unfortunately, the older man was oblivious to his inner cries for help.
"Pretty please?" he pleaded, tightening his hold on the blond but not enough to hurt.
Roxas took a moment to consider, it was only really a split second actually, before he made his decision, "Three."
As soon as the blond sucked in a deep breath, a look of alarm passed over the red head's face and he released the blond, "Woah shit." and proceeded to run away like a bomb was about to blow off.
Once Axel was out of sight, Roxas let out a long huff, pulled his hoodie back on and proceeded his way back towards class.
Problem was though; he didn't think he'd be able to use the same hoodie trick anymore. Axel seemed like the kind of guy who would go up to anybody and pull their hoodies' off just to see if he'd hit a jackpot of some sort.
Roxas sighed, "Idiot…"
For the next month or so, the red head continued to make an almost daily appearance in the blonds' life. It happened almost everyday, except during the weekends where Roxas holed himself up at apartment in his room and no red head in sight knew where he lived.
Unless Axel was one of those stalkers.
He shuddered at the thought.
And he sincerely hoped his brother or flat mate didn't know of said red head. He seriously doubted that Sora and Vivi (the weird kid…) would know of the red head anyway. So he considered himself safe at home.
Roxas stayed inside most of the time; to study, watch a bit of TV, maybe a DVD or two if he was ever in the mood; he hardly ever left, unless his friends wanted to catch up with him or if there was nothing in the fridge.
Like now.
There was nothing in the fridge.
Unless you didn't mind eating jam or cheese and what looked like very old tofu.
The blond wrinkled his nose at the smell; he didn't remember ever buying it. Maybe it was Vivi, the weird kid…
Or it could be Sora. He often went crazy with food specials and bought anything that was discounted…
Eventually, after he scoured through the freezer and only found ice cream, he decided to head out and get some food. Maybe some takeaway; less chance of him being seen by a certain red head who would probably most likely follow him home on a whim.
After he found a hat, one he hadn't worn since his junior high school years, the blond made his way out of the apartment and down the streets in search of dinner.
He pondered getting a burger combo, but he decided that he wasn't in too much of a mood for greasy take-away foods. So he opted for a semi-healthier approach and stepped inside a Chinese restaurant.
But as soon as he stepped in, he couldn't help but wonder what was going on.
The girls behind the counter weren't doing anything, and there was a huge line of customers just standing around looking like they didn't have a care in the world.
Before he could even think about going back out to maybe try another place, a crimson haired waitress suddenly made an appearance, "Hi, welcome, how may I help you?"
"Uh…" he turned his attention back to the line of customers, "Busy night?"
She smiled, "Just for the takeaways, the restaurant is pretty empty."
"Oh." that explained why there was a line of customers who didn't look like they cared that they weren't getting much service.
"Would you like a table?"
"Uh…" he looked around and noticed that none of the tables were occupied; everybody seemed to be waiting for their takeaway orders.
He decided that he wasn't all too hungry yet so he didn't mind waiting, and if there was a long line for takeaway orders, it must mean the food must be pretty damn good. So he shrugged, "Sure."
"Just for one?" she asked as she picked up a menu and led the way in.
"Yes please."
Once he was seated and given a menu, Roxas took a look around the place.
It seemed like a nice place to go to; he couldn't help but wonder why everybody was doing takeaways instead of dining in instead.
He shrugged and decided that maybe there was a sports thing going on at the stadium or something. It was just as well that he wasn't too big on sports; too crowded.
Just as he looked through the menu, the crimson haired girl returned with a jug of water and filled up the glass before clearing up the unoccupied place setting. "Would you like to order any drinks?" she asked.
"No thank you."
"Ok then, I'll be back a while later." she smiled and left Roxas to himself again.
He took his time looking through the menu, spotted a few he liked and a couple that totally threw him off. Cold minced chicken dish with various herbs.
…Aren't chicken dishes supposed to be served hot?
Roxas shrugged again, might be a Chinese delicacy or something.
He figured he had probably gone looking through the menu about three times before the waitress returned.
"Hi, are ready to order?" the same girl from before asked as she held up a pen and pad.
"Uhh," he flipped through the menu again, "I'll have the…mixed entrée and the lemon chicken."
She nodded as she jotted the order down, picked up the closed menu that the blond and smiled, "Thank you very much, your order should be up in a while."
"Ok, thanks."
He wasn't sure how long he'd have to wait, there was still a bit of a line of people waiting for their orders. He wondered if they were short-staffed in the kitchen.
Eventually, he brushed it off and pulled out his phone to play around with the settings and applications.
As the minutes ticked by and people left with their orders, the blond found himself growing less hungry but more bored. Maybe he should've waited for a takeaway instead but decided that he couldn't be bothered with the dishes he'd end up making at home.
"Thank you for waiting." one of the girls spoke as she handed the order to waiting hands.
"Smells good, as usual."
She laughed, "Of course! See you next time." she waved and returned to her counter duties.
While Roxas had been busy texting to his brother that no, he wasn't kidnapped, and yes, he was eating dinner without him, his entrée dish came and was settled in front of him.
"Enjoy." she smiled, gave a curt nod at his word of thanks and walked away again.
Just as he was about to tuck in, the chime by the entrance rang and Roxas suddenly wanted to shrink into his little corner and hope he wouldn't be seen. He considered himself lucky that he still had his hat on.
"Yo Kairi, Ma wanted me to ask when you get off." the red head asked as he sauntered in like he owned the damn place.
"I get off at the usual time."
He snorted, "Yeah, which happens to fluctuate from one hour to two to the random and rare three." he sighed and regarded the waiting customers with a smile and stood by the counter, out of the way.
"Well, we're not too busy tonight; I might get out by 9:30, 10 at the latest."
"Oh yeah," he started off sarcastically, "I can see you guys making some real business here." he drawled on as he looked around the empty restaurant.
Roxas continued to continuously curse in his head and hoped that his hat covered enough of his face that he wouldn't be seen, but of course, he was wrong.
"Fancy seeing you here." the red head grinned as stood by the table.
He let out a grunt of sorts and picked up his glass of water.
"So, is this seat taken?" he asked as he gestured at the empty spot.
"If I said yes, would you go away?" Roxas retorted.
Axel hummed, considered the question, and then grinned, "No."
The blond let out a sigh and really wished he ordered for takeaway instead as the red head sat across from him. He realized that he wasn't all too hungry anymore and his entrée didn't seem as appetizing as it previously did.
As he played around with his food, the red head grinned, "It's my birthday, how about a birthday kiss?" he chanced as he rested his chin on his open palm.
Roxas raised an eyebrow at the question, "Is it really your birthday?" he asked, even though he knew what the answer would be.
"Well no…but can I get a kiss anyway?" he tried again.
His left eye started twitching again, "Go away."
Axel started whining, "Aww, come on!"
"Axel!" the crimson haired girl, also known as Kairi, called out to the said person, "Stop annoying the customer."
"But we're buddies!" he grinned, "This is the guy I've been talking to you about."
Roxas raised another eyebrow; Axel talked about him?
Kairi sighed, "I feel so bad for him having to put up with you."
Finally; somebody that actually sympathized him. Maybe the world wasn't as bleak as he thought it actually was.
Eventually, the red head sighed and gave up, "Ok, fine, I'll just do my own thing then." he then proceeded to take out a thick folder from his messenger bag and pull out random other bits and pieces of paper that weren't slotted in.
Roxas wondered why the red head couldn't go to another table and do it there instead of here.
But he sighed, decided that if Axel would keep his mouth shut, then no harm done.
The red head didn't seem to be bugging him, too much, so he decided to give the other the benefit of the doubt and just eat his meal in peace, or as much as he could take.
It wasn't long before Axel started talking again, much to the blonds' total disappointment.
"So."
"What."
The red head hummed as he continued to flip through several pieces of paper, as though he was looking for something, "Do you have an application?" he asked almost randomly.
Roxas raised an eyebrow at the question and wondered if there was a Help Wanted sign around, not that he was looking for a job either, "An application for what?"
Axel eventually picked up all of the pieces of paper and tucked them into a neat pile, "So I can fill in the spot for potential boyfriend." he answered with a straight face.
Roxas felt his left eye twitch again, it seemed to be a growing habit, "Don't make me punch you." or worse, throw his food.
Again, the red head took the threat into stride and slipped all of his things back into his messenger bag.
Lucky for the blond, Axel decided to mellow down and cut back on the pick-up lines; going for a semi-normal conversation instead.
Roxas wasn't listening half the time.
As the days and the weeks passed by, the red head continued to make Roxas' life a living hell by being overly annoying.
Sometimes, he couldn't help but wonder why the red head chose him and not some other guy.
The next few conversations, or not, went as followed;
Roxas had been minding his own business, ignoring Axel as usual when suddenly, something clicked and flashed and the blond looked up from where he had been trying to sort out his notes.
"What was that?" he asked as he eyed the red head who was playing around with his mobile.
"Picture." he replied with a grin.
The blond leered, "What for?"
"So I can tell Santa what I want for Christmas."
Roxas shook his head in disbelief, "Great." he started off sarcastically, "Are you really willing to send your phone in the mail?"
"Nah, I could always email him." he was pretty sure that Santa was a pretty up-to-date kind of person with the ever-changing technology.
"Uh huh…" he wasn't all that convinced that Santa had a computer, much less an internet connection. "You go do that." he figured that if Santa did have an email, it'll probably be santaclaus(at)thenorthpole(dot)com or something.
"Will do!" he failed to see, or chose to ignore, the sarcasm.
Roxas sighed and shook his head again, all the while murmuring out the ever-popular word; "Idiot."
"So anyway," he slipped his mobile away, "If this big red guy comes, picks you up and stuffs you into a bag, don't worry about it. Since, you know, I asked you for Christmas and all." he smiled and enjoyed watching the blonds' left eye twitch.
"Stop it." he growled out. To Axel or that tic in his eye, he wasn't sure. Maybe a bit of both.
The next one was more or less similar to the previous one;
"Well here I am Rox!" the red head cried out in glee.
Roxas eyed the other in suspicion, "I never called for you." not that he ever needed to. Axel tend to just pop up all on his own.
He took it all in stride, as per usual, "Oh well, now that's one wish out of the way, what's your other two wishes?" he asked as he kept up with the blonds' pace.
He sighed, decided there was no way he could get rid of the red head without inflicting some bodily harm, and went along with the game, "I wish for you to stop it with the pick-up lines." he chanced and hoped that'll be the end of it.
"Seriously? But they're so fun."
"They're annoying," he grated, "Now quit it."
Axel hummed, "I'm not sure if I can grant it."
Roxas rolled his eyes and turned the corner, "See you later Axel."
The red head did a quick double take and trailed after the blond, "Wait, wait! Hold on a second Roxy."
Twitch, "I wish for you to stop calling me that too."
Axel whined, "Aww…you take the fun out of everything."
Roxas couldn't help but smirk at that.
All in all, Roxas' days at college were filled with lectures, the random pick-up line from Axel, tutorials and breaks, and more pick-up lines mixed in with some conversation from Axel.
It seemed like almost all of his days, except the weekends, were filled with Axel.
Roxas was starting to wonder if he ever had a life before the red head appeared. He could label his years, BA and LA. That is, Before Axel, and Life with Axel.
"So Roxas." the red head started just as they walked out of the college campus, "Are you free tonight? Or is it gonna cost me to have your company?" he smirked.
The blond rolled his eyes, "Yeah, I charge fifty-bucks an hour." it was getting easier to go along with it now.
Axel pulled a face and took a look at his cellphone, "Well shit, there goes five minutes."
"And counting."
But despite that, the red head continued to follow after the blond, sometimes suggesting and offering to take him somewhere nice.
Like the bar.
"I don't drink." Roxas reasoned and made a move to go somewhere else. How did they even find a bar in the middle of the city, he had no idea. But then again, it is the city; there were bars everywhere.
He just never bothered looking.
"Well that's ok, they have non-alcoholic drinks too."
"Isn't it a bit early to drink?"
"It's Wednesday." he replied, as though it was the answer to everything.
The blond raised an eyebrow, "What about Wednesday?"
"It's the start of the weekend!"
"Bullshit."
"I shit you not! Come on. It's happy hour." he spoke as he pointed as the sign and went on inside without even showing his I.D.
Axel was probably a regular to the place, not that Roxas was surprised.
After a small hassle that no, his I.D was not fake and that yes, he was nineteen turning twenty in a couple of months, he was allowed inside.
It was still pretty early, so the place wasn't very crowded and there was only one bartender behind the counter.
"Hey Rox." the red head called out to him and gestured for him to come over.
The blond sighed and complied, all the while wondering why he even bothered coming here in the first place, "Yeah?"
"Does this tequila taste funny to you?" he asked with a smirk on his lips.
Roxas frowned and was tempted to smack the other on the head, but resisted, "I don't know, why don't you drink it and tell me?"
The smirk fell, and almost as quickly, the red head snapped his fingers, "Damn, I was hoping he'd fall for that one."
The bartender let out a loud laugh while the blond shook his head in disbelief; only an idiot would fall for that one.
It was a while later; one tequila, one cocktail and one beer later, that the red head decided that drinking alcohol by his lonesome wasn't all that fun and dragged the blond off to another place, preferably, somewhere with food.
"So, is it a religious thing or do you just not drink?" Axel asked, his cheeks pink but definitely not drunk.
"I just don't drink."
"Why not?" he started in a whiny tone, "It's a social activity!"
Roxas frowned, and decided not to tell the other that he was a light-weight and one cocktail would make his face pinker than the pinkiest dress, "I just don't."
Axel snorted, "Fine, you're missing out, but whatever!"
Eventually, they made their way into the food courts, ate something more or less healthy and by the time they came back out, the sky was colored a dark orange and blue.
"So," the red head started, "Your place or mine?" he asked with a smirk.
"Your place."
The answer completely threw Axel off guard and he bugged his eyes out, "Seriously?"
"Yeah; you go back to yours and I'll go back to mine." duh.
The red head pouted but just as quick as it came, it was gone, "If I followed you home--"
"No you can't follow me home and no I won't keep you." his apartment complex had this strict rule on pets…Especially cats. They bring in dead rats as presents.
Axel let out a groan of sorts, "Damn..."
Despite the obvious turn down, the red head continued to follow after the blond. And even after some hard-coaxing, he wasn't allowed to go anywhere near the apartment complex.
But the red head tried again, and again, and again...Much to the blonds' chagrin, "So,"
Roxas fought back the sigh that threatened to come out.
"You've got a roommate?"
"Yes." two of them actually.
Axel hummed as he dug through his pockets and produced a coin, "Here's a quarter."
The blond raised an eyebrow but made no move to take it, "What for?"
He grinned, "Tell them you're not coming home tonight."
This time, Roxas really did sigh.
When the exam times came around, Roxas found himself without a red head to constantly bug him. He wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not yet; he had grown accustomed to Axel and his silly pick-up lines.
As the days passed, and still no red head in sight, Roxas started to wonder if this part of his life would be labeled as AA, otherwise known as After Axel.
He found himself thinking more and more about the red head, like what he was doing and which poor soul he was torturing.
But when he thought about that last bit, his left eye suddenly twitched. He didn't know why.
As exams drew nearer, he found himself thinking less of the red head and more on his studies. However, whenever he had the chance to just relax his eyes and brain a little, Axel would pop up in his head and he would suddenly forget what he had just studied prior and would begrudgingly have to restart all over again.
He seriously hated that.
When the exams finally blew over, thank God, he found himself emotionally and physically drained. It was hard to concentrate during his lectures and even worse during his tutorials, and he spent all of his breaks inside the library, sleeping, and waiting for his mobile to ring off to tell him to get up for his next class.
The next days continued on by without the red head and Roxas found himself growing accustomed to being by himself again, only except, it was lonelier than he remembered it used to be.
He found himself growing more and more tired, sleeping more in the library than at home because he couldn't stop tossing and turning during the night for reasons he couldn't fathom.
Roxas was just about to give up, decided that Axel probably found somebody else to hang around with other than him, when his alarm rang and woke him up for his next class.
He was surprised to open his eyes and see Axel sitting on the empty seat across from him.
The red head smiled, and the blond expected a barrage of new pick-up lines to come spewing out of his mouth, but none did.
"So, how did exams go?"
He was cautious, but decided to answer anyway, it seemed like an innocent enough question, "…I think they killed me." he wasn't in the mood to go to class anymore. He was tired and he missed Axel.
And then he realized…
…He actually missed Axel.
The red head chuckled softly, "That's not good."
The blond let out a hum of sorts and slipped down further into his seat, too comfortable to move. However, he was a little unnerved that green eyes were intent on staring at him.
"How were your exams?" Roxas finally asked, just to keep the conversation going to somewhere sane or close enough.
"Shit." he replied simply, "I couldn't stop thinking about you, wondering if you found some other guy who'd teased you with pick-up lines."
He snorted, "I think one is enough." more than enough actually.
Axel grinned, rested his chin on his open palm and continued to watch the blond.
After what seemed like long minutes of constant silence, Roxas finally snapped, "Stop staring at me."
"But I've missed you."
He suddenly felt something hitch in his throat and he bit his lip to keep his mouth shut in hopes that it would help his brain think clearer. Did Axel just say what he thought he did?
"I wasn't kidding when I said that I couldn't stop thinking about you." the red head continued.
Suddenly, Roxas felt very uncomfortable. Maybe because half of his body wasn't even on the chair anymore.
"What? Cat got your tongue?" the red head tried, even put up a smirk just to lighten up the situation a bit, but it didn't seem like it was working.
Roxas' lips were glued shut. But his mind was far from being idle.
"So…" Axel tried to start a conversation, but he had a feeling that he'd probably just end up talking to thin air anyway. But even so, he tried, "The weather sucks."
But they were indoors and no windows were in sight. Roxas vaguely remembered walking out to a grayish sky though.
Axel eyed him expectantly, just waiting to see if the blond was going to do anything or even say something. He probably hoped for a little too much.
Eventually, he sighed, "Ok, maybe I was fooling myself, but I was sort of hoping you'd miss me a little bit too yeah?"
And really, Roxas did. He just didn't expect some other feelings to suddenly pop out of nowhere and confuse the hell out of him along with it.
"I don't know," Axel shrugged, "I thought that since we were hanging out so much, that we were a little bit more than friends, you know?" he reasoned, "I mean, I wasn't exactly being shy about it."
And truly, he wasn't. If anything, Axel was probably the most direct person Roxas had ever encountered. But after a while, it stopped becoming less of being picked-up by some guy than it was just…routine.
Roxas expected Axel to use his pick-up lines, just as he expected Axel to come along and find him everyday.
When did it all start to change and become something more?
Eventually, when it seemed clear that Roxas wasn't going to say anything, green eyes looked away and he sighed as he got up from his seat, "I really did miss you…Though I guess I can't say the same for you huh?" he forced on a smile, but couldn't keep it up.
He looked away; decided that he should start getting used to not seeing a certain blond in his life anymore and walked away with a barely audible 'bye'. He wished rejection didn't always have to hurt so badly, but it always did and it always tore at his heart.
As Roxas watched the red head walk away, possibly out of his life forever, something suddenly tugged at his insides and he realized that he didn't want this.
He decided that he was probably going to regret this later, but he figured he might regret it even more if he didn't at least try. So try he did, "…Hey, aren't you forgetting something?" he asked with a slight tinge of pink of his cheeks.
The red head turned to the blond, surprise mixed in with dejection in his eyes as he turned to the table and checked to make sure he hadn't dropped anything, "What?"
Roxas fought back that tiny groan that wanted to escape and said goodbye to the last of his dignity, "…Me."
Axel watched, speechless for a while before he suddenly laughed, "You do know some pick-up lines!"
"…I researched a few when you weren't around…" he wouldn't admit out loud that he missed the red head, but it was implied anyway.
Axel grinned as he slipped back into the seat across the other, "Guess you really did miss me too huh?"
"Begrudgingly." he murmured out and sat up because his back was starting to hurt at the odd angle he was putting himself through.
"So," the red head started with a grin, and Roxas didn't have to think twice as to what was going to come out of the other's mouth, "Are you religious?"
He frowned; he guessed wrong, "Didn't you already ask me that?"
"Well yes, but you're missing the punch-line here."
Roxas rolled his eyes and gestured for the other to continue. It was amazing how easily they fell back into the normal pattern of a daily conversation revolving pick-up lines.
"Cause you're the answer to my prayers!"
He found himself laughing, even though it wasn't all that funny to begin with. But despite that, he couldn't stop.
He didn't want to admit it, especially out loud, but it was nice to have Axel back. Lame pick-up lines and all.
Eventually, due to their loud talking, and laughing, they were kicked out from the library.
Not that it mattered.
"So, what is it with you and pick-up lines anyway?" the blond finally decided to ask.
He shrugged, "No idea, I was on the bus one day and saw them posted up on the walls and decided, hey, that one sounds cool."
Roxas felt his expression fall and his head shake, "…You're unbelievable."
"In a good way or a bad way?"
"Take a guess."
"I'll say good." he grinned as he casually slipped an arm on the blonds' shoulder which was promptly shoved off.
"Wrong." he couldn't stop the smirk from appearing on his lips though.
"Oh hey, gimme your hand." the red head suddenly requested.
"What for?" he asked with a raised eyebrow but didn't fight it when Axel took his hand and pulled a pen from his messenger bag.
"Ok, so, here's this line, pretend it's a river." he spoke as he drew it on the blonds' hand.
"Uh huh…" 'The River' looked pathetic, and he couldn't help but wonder what the red head was trying to do.
"And here's a rabbit who wants to cross over to the other side." he spoke as he stuck out his tongue all the while trying to draw a picture of two rabbits on either side of the line that was supposed to be a river. "But it couldn't because it can't swim."
"Uh huh…?" he failed to see the point of this exercise and he hoped that he'd be able to wash the ink off later.
"Every time it tries, the fur gets all dirty and gets all wet. So it thinks of another way to get to the other side without getting all down and dirty." there were squiggles all over the blonds' hand now.
"…Uh huh?"
"There wasn't a bridge in sight, and it wasn't strong enough to push a tree down."
Roxas frowned at the marks all over his hand; he still didn't understand where Axel was going with this.
"…And then?"
"It didn't know what it was supposed to do." he added solemnly and drew a tear drop on the rabbit's face.
Roxas stared at the red head, a little surprised at the tone and then down at the drawing on his hand; at the rabbits and the line that was supposed to be a river.
"So how is it supposed to cross to the other side?" he finally asked.
Axel shrugged, and smiled sheepishly, "I don't know, I just wanted to hold your hand."
Roxas suddenly found himself unable to stop smiling, despite his embarrassment that he got tricked into it, and allowed the red head to keep holding his hand, lines and crude rabbits and all.
They didn't get very far before the red head asked another question; "So, do you have any raisins?"
"Axel, why would I have any raisins with me?" he retorted as the red head started to swing their arm backwards and forwards.
"How about a date then?"
He scoffed, "You never give up, do you." he accused the other, a smirk on his lips.
"Now, you and I both know that things wouldn't be quite as fun without pick-up lines."
"Touché." he couldn't help but agree.
Plot-less, and lame all around. Hahaha.
Hope you liked it anyway.
I was going to make this a two-shot, you know, so it'll be easier on the eyes, but then I decided, pffft, why bother??
So there ya go, a long-as one-shot. As per usual. Hahaha!
And in case you didn't notice, I had major fun with this.
Major, fun.