Disclaimer: I still don't own it. D:

Beta: impish-nymph. She helps make my writing understandable. Thank you. -loves-

A/N: I love writing this. Thank you for the feedback so far! Hope this chapter is to your liking.

Also, some of this story had to be edited so it could be posted on this site. Mainly links and email addresses. If you would prefer to read the unaltered version, you can find it posted at fullrefund on LiveJournal.


Minus 13

There are times when stupid things happen, mostly you can pass them off and try to pretend they never occurred. Unfortunately, this wasn't one of those situations and Roxas didn't think Axel would ever shut up. Not even a nudge in his ribs could quieten him, he just continued to roll on the floor, gasping for breath and rubbing the tears from his eyes. In any other situation, with someone else, it would have been hilarious to watch, but because he was being laughed at by a stranger, Roxas didn't find it amusing at all.

Roxas wipes his face with a damp cloth their waitress has brought him, hiding her own amusement until she thinks she is out of ear shot. Her laugher just makes his blush more intense and he ponders on withholding a tip, just out of spite.

"Get up," he grumbles, picking chunks of egg out of his hair and dropping them back onto his plate. "You've been lying down there laughing for almost ten minutes. You're making a fool out of yourself."

"M-me? A f-fool?" Axel wheezes, pulling himself up so he is half draped over his chair, arms resting on the seat as he stares up at him. His face remains blank for a few seconds and Roxas begins to relax, thinking that Axel has finally gotten over it. Then his lips twitch and Roxas looks at him warily, opening his mouth to warn Axel not to start laughing again but it's too late.

"Idiot," Roxas groans as Axel falls back to the ground, laughing, and he throws the cloth down on the table and stands, moving over to Axel and crouching down next to him. "Why am I even bothering?"

Of course, the only reply he receives is more laughter and he watches Axel with a mixture of annoyance and very, very vague, highly suppressed, amusement. Bending down, he shoves at Axel's shoulder roughly, grabbing it and shaking him before he gives up. "Fine, stay right there. I'm going to pay for your wasted breakfast. Which, I should add, was taken away."

Without waiting to see if Axel is going to respond, he goes to pay, trying to ignore the pointing and laugher directed his way from the other people enjoying their breakfasts. Scowling, Roxas doesn't bother waiting for Axel and exits the restaurant. He walks towards the road and sits on a bench, crossing his arms over his chest and waits. Roxas isn't sure why he is even bothering waiting for Axel, he hadn't wanted to buy him breakfast in the first place, but he couldn't bring himself to just leave without saying anything.

There is a thump and a string of muttered swear words, and then Axel is splayed out on the bench next to him. His arms stretched along the back and Roxas can feel Axel's forearm on the nape of his neck. He shifts, leaning forward, and rests his chin in his hands, elbows supporting on his knees.

"Composed now?" he asks mildly, only a trace of bitterness in his voice. He's quite proud of himself for not sounding more annoyed.

"Much," Axel replies, and he ruffles Roxas's hair, sending his spikes in all sorts of directions. "I've never seen anything so hilarious in my life, kid."

Roxas abruptly stands, patting at his hair and scowls at Axel. "Stop touching me," he mumbles, letting his hand fall back to his side, giving up on his attempt to fix his now mussed up hair.

"What can I say? You're very touchable, Roxas." Axel reaches towards him, grabbing his wrist and twisting it so he can read his watch. "Unlike some people though, I have important places to be and can't afford to laze around, even if it is with great company and the food is free. Let us not forget the extra bonus of hilarious entertainment." There's that grin again, smug and confident, and it seems to take over his entire face.

Roxas glowers, irritated and embarrassed, and shakes Axel's hand off, looking away from him and he slouches. "I do have an important place to be and that is school."

"Yeah, that isn't my fault, kid. You're just lazy."

"I'mnot lazy," he snaps, glaring up at him. "I overslept. There is a difference."

"Geez, relax or you'll break something vital." Axel lifts his hand up as if he is trying to protect himself from Roxas but he is still grinning. Roxas stiffens when Axel leans forward, his fingers brushing over the long strands of his hair, gentle this time and not rough like before. It takes a few seconds for him to react, ducking out of his reach. "You've got a curious white substance in your hair. Probably from that egg you got up close and personal with. Can't be from me, I'd remember if we got up close and personal."

"Good bye, Axel," Roxas replies, his voice oddly calm and controlled. He turns and begins to walk, not entirely sure where he is but decides that anywhere is better than staying here. Axel is just plain weird and unsettles him. He's not sure how to react to him, at all, and it is progressively getting weirder every time Axel opens his mouth or lifts his hand towards him.

"See you around, shortie." Axel calls and Roxas gives him a two finger salute over his shoulder. He rolls his eyes when he hears Axel laugh in response and he shoves his hands into his pocket, confident that he'll never see the red-headed freak again.

---

The rest of the day is spent glaring at the library computers from his desk next to the children's book section, wondering if it is too late to attempt hijacking the system and accessing the normal internet. Only the thought of his laptop at home with a perfectly working internet port and only another hour before he can return to it stops him from trying. Sighing, he casts one last resentful glower at the computers before returning to the spread of books in front of him. Guilt from inevitably missing school has him doing work so he doesn't fall behind. There isn't anything else worth doing anyway.

Tapping his pen on the blank page of his history assignment, he allows his gaze to wander around the building again, this time avoiding the computer terminal completely because Roxas doesn't want to spend another five minutes pondering ways to hack into them and get all twitchy in his seat. There really is nothing in this library; it's tiny and cramped, books overcrowded on the shelves and compared to the library at his old home, this one holds only a mere fraction of books. This amuses him slightly. Roxas rolls his eyes and jots downs a few sentences, frowning in concentration as he tries to remember the little amount of information about this town that he had picked up. How can they expect someone who has lived here only a month to know anything about the town's history? It was bad enough when he had to do a report on the Seven Mysteries of Twilight Town and they turned out to just be stupid rumors. At least they were allowed to work in teams for that and he could simply tag along for a day with Hayner, Pence and Olette.

"Well, well, well. Fancy seeing you here, kid."

Roxas freezes, eyes growing impossibly wide, and he can't bear to raise his head. It can't possibly be... Could the world actually loath him that much? It isn't fair. Roxas drops the pen on the table, not caring as it rolls away from him and falls from the desk, landing on the floor with a slight clatter.

"I'm hallucinating or maybe even sleeping with my head in my history book," he tells himself, closing his eyes and shaking his head. "When I open my eyes, I will be very much alone, nothing but my pen and my books."

There is a snort and then something is pinching his cheek, hard, and he yelps, eyes shooting open and he glares up at a very smug red head. "I should be flattered. Dreaming about me already, Roxas? My oh my."

"Don't put words in my mouth," he snarls, rubbing his cheek.

"I wasn't putting anything in your mouth." Axel murmurs, bending over so that he is leaning on the desk, and Roxas stares at him blankly. He blanches suddenly and scoots his chair back so fast that it almost tips over.

"Hey! None of that!" He chuckles awkwardly, feeling his face heat up like it's on fire and he wonders why the air conditioner was turned off. Suddenly suspicious, Roxas glares at Axel. "Why are you even here? Did you follow me?"

Axel rolls his eyes and grins even wider, fingering the edge of Roxas school book absently. "If I say yes, will you buy me a late lunch?"

"No!" Roxas retorts loudly without even thinking and when he notices that Axel is laughing, he realizes that he was joking. "Go away. I have work to do."

"As do I, kid. As do I." Axel admits with a grin and a wink, standing back upright and shifts the books cradled under his arm. "Why else would I be in a library?"

Brows creasing, Roxas looks at Axel and then around the library, not willing to believe that someone like him would or could even work here. "You work here?" he exclaims, baffled yet highly amused. "Sorry, but you hardly seem the type."

Shrugging, Axel turns and walks over towards the computer terminal, placing the books on the desk as he lounges in one of the chairs. "Gotta work to live, shortie. When you're big enough, you'll understand that."

Roxas rolls his eyes, but he stands, curious, when he sees Axel load a page that he shouldn't be able to access on that computer. Eyes wide, he wanders over and stands behind Axel, his hands resting on the back of his chair. "How did you get to that site?" he whispers.

"Huh?" Axel turns in his seat, craning his neck to look up at him upside down, and then he grins cheekily. "Library staff privileges, of course."

"So you can access anything you want?" he asks and Axel hums in agreement, distracted. Roxas watches at Axel pulls something out of his pocket, a card of some sort, and waves it in his face before putting it away.

"Have my very own access code," Axel says smugly. "I can use the normal Internet instead of just the Intranet. Pretty cool, huh?"

Nodding absently, he continues to look over Axel's shoulder as he flicks through random YouTube clips, not pausing to load any since there were no speakers.

"Shove off, Roxas. I got shit to do and I can't have you hovering like that over me. You're far too distracting and for all I know, you could sneak a glance at my passwords or email and become my stalker."

Roxas blinks, scratching the back of his head, and he realizes what he had been doing. He hates it when people hover around him when he is trying to check email or Minus 13, feeling a mix of self consciousness and annoyance until whomever it is wanders back off again. It is rude, and here he is doing it to someone else.

He mumbles an apology, quickly returning back to his desk and his books but he watches Axel out the corner of his eye as he types quickly over the keyboard, not even acknowledging his absence or his apology. Typical. So much for Axel needing to do 'work'. What type of library work could he be doing on the Internet?

Roxas can't believe it though; a simple code and you can easily access the Internet from these computers. All you need is to work here and you get it. If only he had known that, he could have gotten a part time job here during the last month and would have had Internet access. Figures that he finds this out when it no longer matters.

Sighing, Roxas looks at his watch and grins in relief, hurriedly packing his stuff away. Finally, it is okay to leave and head home without his mother getting suspicious. By the time he walks there, it would still be about ten minutes earlier than what he normally gets home at but if he walks slow enough or thinks of a convincing excuse, it should be fine. As long as the school hasn't rung home, he reminds himself, wincing at the thought of what might be waiting for him.

There is only one way to find out. He shrugs his bag onto his back and glances over at Axel, who is still typing away as if he doesn't actually have library work to be doing. Roxas rolls his eyes. Shouldn't be so surprising, Axel did seem like the lazy type.

And yet, "Bye, Axel."

"Huh?" Axel tears his eyes away from the monitor, like it is the hardest thing he has ever done, and looks slightly confused as he glances around. "Oh! Later, shortie," he grins, showing white teeth, and salutes him, winking slyly. Roxas snorts and returns the gesture, withholding the wink.

---

"I had an interesting phone call from your school this morning," his mother says as soon as he closes the front door. Roxas stiffens and slowly turns around, holding onto his bag and lifting it up to his chest, using it as a shield.

"I can explain..." he returns, laughing nervously and shifting from foot to foot, glancing to the side and away from his mother. Sometimes, when she isn't fussing and bringing him muffins that he doesn't want, she can be frightening and he is grateful that he never saw his parents argue. It isn't right seeing a man cower because of a woman, even though he is doing that right now but he tries to pretend that he isn't.

"I should hope so, Roxas. It isn't everyday you get phone calls like that." She crosses her arms over her chest and raises a brow, waiting. "Well?"

"Well..." Roxas doesn't know what to say, nothing seems to sound right to him, no matter how he tries to word it. He hadn't meant to miss school but his mom would just blame the laptop for keeping him up all night. "I didn't mean for it to happen..."

"How could you not mean for it to happen, Roxas?" Roxas winces and takes a side step towards the stairs, wanting to just run up them and hide himself in his room. Where he can lose himself online where school and attendance aren't a concern.

"I just didn't?"

"Uh huh," his mother says, skeptical and she points a finger at him, and Roxas isn't certain is he is seeing it right but she smiles. "How can you not mean to pass all your classes with top scores, Roxas?"

Roxas blinks, confused, and he just stares up at her for a few moments. "Huh?"

"Why didn't you tell me, Roxas, honey?" There is warmth and Roxas blinks more, lifting his arms belatedly to return the embrace. "I'm so proud of you." Roxas panics when he hears her sniffle and her arms tighten around him, impossibly tight, and he pats her back awkwardly. "I'm so pleased that- that the divorce didn't affect your education negatively."

"Oh, yeah, me too, mom," he replies, beginning to understand what must have happened. Gradually, his heart stops beating so erratically, and he grins sheepishly, even though his mom can't see it. Relief that he hasn't been caught washes over him, and he hugs his mom more naturally, before carefully removing her arms from around himself. Holding her hands as he takes a step back, he smiles at her. "I told you not to worry about that stuff, mom."

She sighs and she smiles sadly. "I know, but I'm your mother, I'm supposed to worry about those things. You're the most important person to me; I don't want what happened between me and your dad to affect you badly." Letting go of his hands, she pats them before releasing them. "It was why I never complained about how much time you spent out of the house or how much time you spent online. It was your way of coping, I know that."

Roxas feels a spike of guilt tear through him, wishing he could restart this entire day so that he wakes up on time and doesn't miss his bus. Somehow, he decides firmly, he is going to make up for it. He glances up the stairs, up at his closed bedroom door, and he looks back at his mom when she laughs.

"Go on. I'm going to watch a movie anyway. You don't need to listen to all of this." She smiles, gesturing for him to go but he hesitates, looking from the stairs to his mom, and he returns the smile.

"What movie are we watching?"

---

Romantic comedies have never been his movies of choice, but it was great to see his mother laughing and relaxed, simply enjoying herself and they ate a bowl of junk food together, forgoing dinner for the night. It made him relax and enjoy himself; he even managed to laugh at some of the more corny moments in the film. He rolled his eyes when his mother got all weird when a sex scene came on and she shoved a pillow in his face, telling him to block his ears. It was all worth it though, to see the happy flush to his mother cheeks when the credits began to roll and to have her bid him a good night with a lighter step as he ascended the stairs.

Now, back in his room, he drops his bag onto the floor and casts a yearning look towards his cold, neglected laptop, but he needs a shower first. Roxas forces himself to grab a clean pair of boxers and then he shuffles reluctantly out of his bedroom. The shower is hot, refreshing, and he forgets about wanting the laptop as he simply enjoys the water on his skin, humming in contentment. The day seems to have gone by so fast, crazily so, and he still can't quite believe how he had spent it. He chuckles to himself as he turns the water off, telling himself that it isn't right to think about him while he is naked and wet. This morning was probably the most interesting thing that has happened to him since moving here. Not even the Seven Mysteries could compare. (Actually, he had never been so bored in his life during that whole mini adventure.)

Drying off, he glances at his reflection in the steamy mirror and frowns, leaning close to make sure that there isn't left over egg in his hair. Roxas rolls his eyes but he catches a tiny grin on his lips. He glowers at his reflection and switches off the light, hiding from the smile.

After he gets dressed, Roxas climbs onto his bed, pulling his laptop towards him and switches it on, stretching his arms over his head with a satisfied sigh as it loads. It feels so good to just relax completely, doing something that he enjoys and has wanted to do practically all day. He types in his password, smirking as he does, and watches the screen fade away to show his blank desktop. He'll have to find something striking to use as a proper, long term, background but right now he can't be bothered to go searching through various forums and sites just to find one that appeals to him. Generally, they usually find him and he falls in love with the picture and sets it as his desktop image. The last one he remembers having was something abstract, bright colors and almost painful to look at for too long. It helped deter the people who tried to watch his screen over his shoulder. For some reason they didn't like the image very much. Roxas had been very fond of it.

332 Unread Emails. 6 Spam Email.

He'll have to do something about all those emails piling up sooner or later. It'll start to bother him after awhile. Roxas doesn't like it when his inbox isn't in some semblance of order, sorted into filters and folders, his contacts named correctly and in order of importance, and his spam email folder had to always be empty. With a sigh, Roxas deletes the spam first, not glancing at the subject or sender. There should be a way to permanently ban those sites from sending him spam, he muses, flicking back over to his main inbox. There is another email from the Organization and his fingers twitch, wanting to check it first but Roxas decides to leave it until he has the rest sorted. Something to look forward to and motivate him to keep going.

Selecting his family filter, Roxas groans when he sees all the emails from his cousin, Sora, and notice that a huge portion of the 332 are from his email address alone. They are all attachments and forwarded mail, naturally. Stupid jokes that Sora thinks are hilarious and Roxas thinks are stupid. None of those jokes are ever funny and no matter how often Roxas emails Sora to tell him to stop sending them, he continues. Not once has Roxas ever forwarded one of those chain mails. He thinks that by now he should have tallied up roughly 500 years bad luck, if not more, and that doesn't count a permanent bad love life and ghosts haunting his bedroom. The only reason he doesn't sort Sora email address into the junk filter is because every now and again, he does send him a proper email about what has been going on at Destiny Islands, about school, their family and Sora's friends, about how Roxas and his mother should have moved to the Islands instead of even further away, how they should go to the same collage next year...

Scanning through the pointless junk Sora sent, he spots three promising emails, and deletes about 200 others that don't interest him in the slightest. Roxas sighs in relief when his inbox drops considerably and he saves Sora's emails for reading later, after he deletes the rest and before he reads the Organization email. More junk mail that somehow slipped through the filter, random sites he had joined, private Minus 13 messages notifications, email from a few of his old friends, his dad… Roxas eyebrows shoot up when he sees that one and he opens it, briefly scanning it before he scowls and deletes it with a huff. Nothing new, just his dad apologizing, saying that he'll miss him, and that he cares about him but doesn't think it would be wise to see each other any time soon. Roxas doesn't think he should bother.

-

From: KeybladeMASTER. ipwntrinketkeyblades(at)hotmail(dot)com

To: SeaSalt. trinketkeyblades(at)gmail(dot)com

Subject: ROXASSSSSS.GUESS WHAT:D

ROXAS!

i asked mom and ill be visiting you guys in a month! isn't that great? you HAVE to show me around, promise? i havent been off the islands in AGES. i cant wait. riku and kairi are coming too. so you better make some room for us. im stealing your bed and you can go sleep on the floor. :D

WRITE BACK!

-

It takes all Roxas's self control not to twitch at Sora's disregard for punctuation and capitals but he can't help but grin. He is excited about the email but resists the urge to go wake his mom up and tell her the news. He glances at the date and his grin widens when he realizes that it was sent two week ago. Two more weeks and Sora will be here, in Twilight Town, and they can wreck havoc on the town and Roxas can show him how boring a place it is to live.

Roxas hasn't seen Sora in a few years, not since the last time Roxas and his mom and dad visited the islands. They must have been about fourteen or fifteen at the time and they had taken over the play island, tormenting Selphie and Kairi with wooden swords and water bombs, and being laughed at by Riku when the two girls got revenge by stealing their clothes when they stripped off to their underwear to go swimming. Not to mention the girls had also taken their boat, leaving them stranded on the island for two long, hot hours. Roxas shakes his head at the memory, laughing softly.

They had gotten so sun burnt. Instead of hiding in the tree houses until the sun set, they yelled on the beach, throwing clumps of sand at the retreating boats and tackling each other, wrestling in the sun. Eventually, Riku had taken pity on them and brought his boat back, throwing a spare shirt at them to argue over as they returned to the main land.

It was a good vacation. Roxas couldn't believe it had been so long since they had seen each other. Shaking his head, he clicks on the reply link and types out a quick message, his excitement building rapidly.

-

From: SeaSalt. trinketkeyblades(at)gmail(dot)com

To: KeybladeMASTER. ipwntrinketkeyblades(at)hotmail(dot)com

Subject: Re: ROXASSSSSS.GUESS WHAT:D

Hey, Sora.

See you still haven't figured out how to type correctly. Well, I'll be sure to show you how while you are here. :D Try not to get yourself lost on your way. Only you could get yourself lost in a place like Twilight Town annnnnd you are going to sleep on the floor. I'm staying in my bed. Since it is my bed and all, you'll understand.

See you in two weeks.

Roxas.

-

After he replies, he quickly glances over the other two emails from Sora and snorts when he realizes that they are just disguised junk mail and he deletes those as well. Bloody Sora. He should know that he would hide a few of those in with the rest of the emails. Out of 200 emails Sora sends, only one has a purpose. But at least it's interesting news, something for Roxas to look forward to over the next two weeks. Not to mention he'll have to figure out how the hell they are going to fit three extra bodies in their house.

The house isn't small but it isn't big either. It is comfortable for just the two of them. Three bedrooms. The third is a spare, currently full of left over boxes and with no bed. The only other suitable place for sleeping are the lounges down stairs and there are only two of those. Roxas has no idea how they are all going to fit. He'll definitely have to talk to his mom about it in the morning and hopefully she will sort something out. Maybe they could set up a tent or something in the backyard.

Sighing, Roxas finally opens the email from the Organization, pausing for a moment to collect his thoughts, somehow still nervous about the whole process and somewhat uncertain about whether he is definitely going to go ahead with the moderator position.

-

From: Organization. Organization(at)minus13(dot)com

To: SeaSalt. Trinketkeyblades(at)gmail(dot)com

Subject: Re: Moderator Application.

Welcome to Minus 13.

I apologize for not being the one to welcome you to our forum but as you could tell, another member decided it was his responsibilities to send you the necessary information before I had a chance to reply.

From this point onwards, if you require any assistance, please forward them to hipsdontlie(at)minus13(dot)com and not the main site email. HipsDontLie will introduce you to the site and how it works on the inside.

Good luck.

Regards,

TheBrainGame.

Organization.

-

"…What," Roxas gasps, eyes going wide very rapidly. He rereads the email a few times, hoping that he is reading it incorrectly or that his mind is playing tricks on him. A cruel joke, perhaps. Something, anything, other than what is currently on the screen in front of him. "Shit."

Roxas taps his fingers on the laptop, agitated and annoyed, and contemplates replying to the main email and tell them that he has changed his mind, that he doesn't think he is suitable for the position. It would be much easier, simpler, and he won't have to talk to HipsDontLie at all. Something he prefers to avoid, even before when he was just a member and frequented the site daily.

It wouldn't be hard to do and if they got annoyed at him for wasting their time, Roxas could easily create a new username and pretend the entire thing never happened. Only he would know. It wouldn't be an issue. Probably would need to change his email, and email all his other contacts with his new address…

Roxas closes the mail and blinks when he sees a new email pop up, recognizing the address immediately and groans aloud. It was like his thoughts were being read and there would be no escape, no peace until he figures what he is doing and makes a decision. Glaring at the email, he opens it, closing his eyes as it loads. Roxas opens his eyes and promptly reads it as fast as he can, like ripping off a band-aid as quickly as possible. Raising his eyebrows, he rereads it more slowly and actually takes his time to understand what he is reading.

-

From: Thrusty Hips. hipsdontlie(at)minus13(dot)com

To: SeaSalt. trinketkeyblades(at)gmail(dot)com

Subject: Ever had a sea salt ice cream, SeaSalt?

Yo,

Alright. Looks like I got ya all to myself now. Mr PainInTheBrain gave up rights and handed you over to my much better care. You still owe me thanks from my last email. So I'll just add this one to your tally with the other one.

To the point. I own your soul and you will kiss my ass daily, got it? I'm doing you a favor here so you best get used to it. Add me to whatever messenger you use. My addy is HipsDontLie for everything – Yahoo, AIM, MSN… Whatever. Just do it. Now. Why are you still reading this?

Your Master,

HipsDontLie.

-

What on earth was he getting himself into? Roxas smacks himself in the face, takes a deep breath, and moves the curser…

---

Reviews are appreciated.