The Plan
Allowing himself to be pulled into Demyx's plan was a huge mistake. Huge. But he knew that if he ever wanted to do any of that - which was something he really, really liked - then he would just have to continue letting Dem do whatever he wanted. If it made the stupid, starry-eyed blonde happy then he suppose it would all be worth it in the end.
It sure as hell better be.
The World That Never Was never really had much of a garden - the outside was quite dreary and bland compared to the inside, which didn't look very appealing either. However, when there were people like Demyx and the strange (looking), loud Marluxia - who had pink hair, of all things! - the place was soon to brighten up. Not in the sense that there was a constant cheery atmosphere, but the actual surroundings.
He looked around absentmindedly. There were green vines growing inwards from the stone wholes they called windows; Zexion just thought that they were holes, because there was no glass. And then there was random pots of flowers, which did look attractive in their own right, but still, it made the whole place seem a little… gay? Well, that is considering that most of the inhabitants, excluding Namine and Larzene (who might as well have been born male), were male. Naturally, when there were guests around they would tend to get the wrong impression, or rather mostly the wrong impression.
Zexion did like girls - he told himself that anyway. But people of the opposite sex were in short hand as of and Demyx was the closest breathing thing to being a woman he had ever met. That was discounting Namine - she was far too young for him. Still, that didn't stop the twenty-however-old-he-was Axel from molesting the sixteen-year-old Roxas from time to time. Mind you, Roxas never really complained once.
Dirty adolescent.
Everything added up to why he was actually doing this; Axel wanted Roxas back, Roxas hated Axel. The end. Goodbye. But no, his boyfriend had to get him involved in a situation that, with all things considered, didn't involve him in the slightest. He would have preferred it that way, even if it meant getting his ears chewed off my Demyx. Then he figured that there could be a fun element in all this; he was given a chance dive beneath the surface of Axel and Roxas' relationship.
That should be fun. It better had be. If Axel even tries to touch my-
"Zexion!" A loud, whining voice said from his left. "Are you even listening to me? Do you want to do this, or not?"
Zexion groaned inwardly. "You know I don't."
Demyx pouted at him, then looked away sadly. "You don't have to. I'm not going to make you."
His eyes widened with surprise - sneaky, little… messing up my head.
He sighed, turning to send him a pointed look. "You know the only reason I'm doing it."
The blonde froze, two angry eyes blazing at him, but Zexion barely noticed. The only thing that caught his eyes, to his absolute amusement, were the two pink patches on his cheeks. "Well then pay attention. You haven't been listening to a word I said! What if it goes wrong? What if we mess it up? I'll be blamed for everything!"
The look of panic smeared across Demyx's face was enough to ease, even though slightly, his irritation. He suddenly smiled, reaching a gloved hand over to rest on Demyx's shoulder. It was a sign of reassurance that seemed to calm him down a little.
"I have been listening. I know what to do. It will be fine, so calm down."
"I hope so," Demyx said, sounding a lot more cheerful and optimistic. "You want me to go through it one more time to be sure?"
Zexion rolled his eyes.
Axel was stood, pacing around the make-shift garden, tapping his long tapered fingers against his chin in thought. He was inside the garden room, complements of Marluxia's wonderful talent for creating far too many flowers, in his opinion anyway.
He couldn't get Roxas' angry expression out of his head. It was the last thing he saw before a heavy metal key blade hit him square in the face. It was a good job Roxas was kind enough not to throw it so hard, otherwise he could have been dealing with some serious facial damage up there. He'd hate to spoil his charmingly good looks - come on, have you seen him?
He thought so.
Returning to more urgent matters than his attractiveness, he was mentally cursing himself for forgetting Roxas' birthday… again. He'd written it down on his calendar - which was his mind, because this is Axel here. He supposedly memorizes everything, right?
Wrong. He was a total idiot and he was extremely pissed at himself for it! How could he so easily forget something that important? He just wanted to tear out his ridiculously smooth, soft hair because he was that annoyed. Moreover, he couldn't come up one singular plan to get Roxas back. His mind was just a black void of increasing depression and hopelessness, certain that there was no way he could get him back now. It had been two days already and he still refused to let him in. And Axel was a persistent guy; he scaled the building walls to sneak into his room, singing to him - and was that enough for Roxas? No! Instead all he received was kick in the pride and a face full of wall.
Damn, stupid, stubborn boy! Why did he have to be so difficult! He was already sorry!
What could he do to earn forgiveness? Was there something so obvious that had easily slipped his mind? Was he completely doomed never to see that cute little annoyed look Roxas sent him every time he called him 'Roxy'?
That's just too much to bear!
By now his patience was thinning. He was seriously considering marching up to the blondes room, kicking down his door, pinning him to a wall and just shoving-
"Axel?"
-maybe he'd forgive him if he showed how much he cared. If that was the case then perhaps forcing himself upon him was not the best idea. That was how teenagers got; you had to gently persuade them and not just thrust things on them like he was planning.
He'd leave that as a last resort, but maybe Roxas wouldn't react badly. Even if he did he'd probably perk up when axel put his mouth on -
"Axel!"
Axel almost jerked out of his skin at the sudden, loud annoyed voice. However, surprise soon turned into happiness when there, the object of his affection stood frowning at him, with misty blue eyes narrowed to near slits.
He grinned manically.
"What were you doing?" Roxas asked, his voice lower than usual.
"Just thinking," he answered innocently. There was no harm in keeping his indecent thoughts to himself. "Have you come to accept my apology?"
Roxas' face screwed up slightly, then went back to normal again. He was sure he could see a smirk on his face. "Not yet."
Still angry? Damn that boy really was hard to please.
Eugh. He couldn't believe it. He couldn't stand it. He felt so uncomfortable and exposed under that unwavering adoring gaze Axel was sending him. It was almost like a tiger ready to pounce on his prey at any given moment.
He nose wrinkled with disgust - was this how Roxas felt all the time?
"Have you come to accept my apology?" Axel said, all-too-sweetly for his taste buds.
He couldn't help it when his face screwed up at the unpleasant sweetness of it. There mere thought of this actually being a real situation, where he was not pretending to be Roxas made his stomach churn. The poor kid had to put up with him? Of all people?
He'd be so much better off with me.
His eyes widened suddenly; he could actually have fun with this situation. Of course he would stick to the outline of Demyx's plan, but if he just side-tracked a little then it would all work out in the end. A little fun never hurt anyone.
Zexion couldn't help the grin that curved onto his lips. "Not yet."
Axel didn't seem fazed, in fact he looked rather hopeful and… happy? Whatever, the idiot just walked closer, grinning still.
"What do I have to do? Tell and I'll do it. You want a big cake with bunnies on it? I'll get you one!"
A cake with bunnies on? Roxas was a teenager, not a five-year-old. Axel was either really stupid, or Roxas really was that immature. He didn't doubt that it was all on Axel. Oh, well. Whatever floats his boat.
And now the fun beings.
Smirking to himself, he said slowly, thoughtfully. "You really want me to forgive you that much?"
Axel nodded yes, his hedgehog hair bouncing. "Come one, Roxy. I only forgot once!"
"Then beg."
Two green eyes widened. "Roxy?"
"I won't forgive you until you do it." He turned his head away from him, mostly to hide the wide grin slinking onto his lips. "Either you do it or I'm leaving."
"You're not serious?" He formerly confident voice was now faltering a little.
He made an immature 'humph' sound at him. That was due to the fact that he couldn't bare saying anything else without bursting into laughter. This stuff was hilarious.
That idiot.
To his surprise, however, the pyromaniac smirked at him. "If it wins my Roxy back, I'll do it."
Then, more surprising still, he gripped hold of his tiny hands - Roxas', remember - in his larger ones and bent down on his knees, looking up at him with two large, saddened eyes. Eugh, Axel was touching him.
Zexion bit his lip before he exploded. This was too much!
"My deer, sweet Roxas. I wholly apologise for forgetting your birthday and to make it up to you I shall be your slave for the rest of the week." His voice was loud, cocky and sincere. It was like he knew he would forgive him. However he didn't know that it was Zexion he was actually talking to.
His blue eyes, already wide, opened even more. He swore he even felt his cheeks blushing from the deep, unwavering gaze Axel was now giving him.
Snap out of it, idiot.
Shaking his head mentally, he tilted his head to the side, then slid his hands from his grasp. "Bullshit," he said.
Axel didn't seem at all surprised. "No, I mean it. I'll do whatever you want."
Interesting. He could have a little more fun with that.
"Even if I make you serve me tea in a maids outfit?" he asked innocently, smiling. "Zexion will be there."
For a moment, Axel seemed a little disgusted, but that familiar cocky grin soon returned. "I never knew you were so kinky. You hide it well."
The urge to Nauseate is horrible feeling and that was just what Zexion was experiencing at that very moment. He suddenly regretted ever mentioning Axel in a maids outfit… serving tea.
Axel gripped his hands again. "Am I forgiven now? My knees are hurting."
"Nope."
"Why not?"
Zexion tried to yank his hands back, but Axel was too stubborn and refused to let go. "Axel, let go!"
"No!"
"I said now, dammit!"
Axel only gripped them harder. "Not until you forgive me. I'm not letting you out of this room until you say 'I forgive you'. I'm not spending another night outside your door!"
"I'm warning you, Axel!"
"Still not letting go," he said in a sign-song voice, getting to his feet.
He had never felt so small in his life; Axel was almost giant to him whilst in Roxas' form. It made his efforts to escape more urgent.
"Just forgive me and I'll let you go!"
Although Zexion - somewhat admittedly -could not deny that the experience had been fun, it was time for it all to end now. The plan had fallen into place and it was just a matter of waiting.
Gritting his teeth, he said, "Fine."
The hugest grin he had ever seen split Axel's face as he - to Zexion's disgust and surprise - pulled him into an overly close embrace. As much as he would have liked to wriggle out of it, he was trying to be Roxas and had so far fooled Axel, so he couldn't really decline.
But then, did Roxas really like this much affection? He really never showed it.
"I knew you couldn't resist me!" The fiery-haired male declared in his ear.
Grimacing, he slowly tried to pull away from the trap of his long limbs, but Axel was reluctant to release him. "Axel," he growled - did Roxas growl? He did now. "Let me go."
"Nu-huh!" He held him tighter. "I haven't hugged you in two days."
"You just said you'd stop touching me if I agreed to forgive you," Zexion reminded him coldly. Enough was enough. He didn't want Axel touching him.
Pulling back so that he was looking directly into Zexion's eyes, Axel grinned. "I remember agreeing to release your hands, not anything else."
Inwardly, Zex felt an atomic bomb explode in his head. He could almost see the fragments of his patience falling down into his boiling flames of anger.
"If you don't want me to hurt you then let. Me. Go."
Unnerved by the sudden cold tone, Axel released him. What the hell had gotten into Roxas. Normally he didn't mind his hugs… much. And he'd made him bed, too? Since when did Axel have to bed? All he usually did was crack a few jokes at how much he'd miss him if he left and everything would be fine.
Apparently not.
To put it plainly, Axel was really confused about his behaviour and it wasn't very often that it happened. Admittedly, Roxas was hard to read due to the fact that he tended to really keep himself to himself, but he had thought that he was beginning to figure him out, albeit a little slower. But at least there was progress. Now he felt that he didn't understand him at all.
He'd never been this weird with him.
"What's with you?" he asked, trying to sound cheerful and confident. "Did something crawl into your ass and die, or what?"
Roxas looked quite alarmed. Usually he'd just glare pointedly at him, or smile a little. But alarmed? Now he really was acting weird.
Roxas seemed to think for a second and then he looked away. "It's just I've been so mad at you I don't want you to… I…"
Oh. So that was it. He was just really mad at him. It figures. Roxas had always remembered his birthday. He just never imagined it would have upset him that much.
Gees, teenagers really were hard work.
Scratching the back of his neck, he smiled wearily. "If I had a heart I'm sure it would have broken."
Then, like magic, he was sure he heard sniggering. Roxas' shoulders were shaking visibly and his mouth was - it was covered by his hands. He was laughing at him. At last. He felt his chest relax with relief.
"I knew my charm would win you over eventually." He waggled his brows for extra effect.
Two bright blue eyes widened and then closed as he burst out in a loud barrel of laughter. Axel was… delighted? Was that what he was supposedly feeling. Oh well, it felt good at least.
"Axel, you're really-" Roxas' eyes widened.
It had taken a little bit of coaxing to actually be granted access into his best friends room and even more coaxing for him to actually listen to what he was saying. He wasn't greeted with the familiar cheeky grin that he was so accustomed to - he almost keeled over in shock - but a grim line that echoed with the dark embedded circles under his eyes.
Roxas looked a mess to say in the least. And it wasn't often; Roxas was usually in immaculate condition; sparkling blue eyes, rosy cheeks, flawlessly pale skin that glistened. Okay maybe that was altered - a little (a lot) - by his overactive imagination. But he still looked far from the 'normal' Roxas.
He tried to be his usual chirpy self but the dead, flat vibes he was receiving from Roxas was really killing his mood. That was hard to do.
"What do you want, Demyx?" Roxas asked tiredly. He looked mentally exhausted, too.
"I just wanted to see how you were," he half-lied.
Roxas still hadn't moved from the doorway. He was stood, back against the door as though guarding it (probably from Axel) and was watching him.
"You came. You saw. If there's nothing else then you should leave." The monotone in his voice was killing Demyx. He just wanted to hug him so badly, his fingers were itching to close the distance between them.
"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about-"
He was cut off sharply. "The arsehole?"
Meekly, Demyx nodded. It was better not to contradict his heartbroken friend at this moment in time, especially when they were alone… and Roxas was pretty scary when he was angry. He'd seen that cut on Axel's head after the 'keyblade incident'. It wasn't every pleasant. He was lucky that Demyx had a few spare hi-potions going around to stop the bleeding.
Ouch.
"What he did was really mean and unforgivable really," Demyx started, a little nervous under Roxas' death glare.
"Please tell me he didn't send you here to plead for him."
Smiling, although a little tensely, he shook his head no. "I decided to come for myself. I hate seeing two of my best buds like this…"
Roxas made a 'humph' sound.
"You know, Roxas, Zex forgot that it was our anniversary once and I forgave him. It hurt, though. I almost cried."
"Would you have forgiven him if said, after being reminded that it was you anniversary" - his voice was rising by the second - "that there was always next year?" He clenched his fists at his sides. "Next year? What would be the point in that? Why can't he remember anything important without having to be reminded all the time? He even remembers Zexion's birthday!"
"Actually," Demyx said slowly. "I told him."
Annoyed, Roxas turned his head away, crossing his arms. "Beside the point."
Man, Demyx thought, chuckling inwardly, he really is just a kid. Too cute.
"The point is that Axel is really sorry. He wants you to forgive him. He was even going to throw his own surprise party for you" - he covered his mouth with his hands, surprised - "not that's it's much of a surprise now."
Okay, there was no surprise party, but Roxas didn't need to know that did he. A little white lie wouldn't kill him, then again, his chest did tighten a little.
Roxas seemed warm to the idea, because for a moment he looked over with wide cerulean eyes, almost hopeful and then his face fell. "Was?"
Damn, Demyx.
"Well, he… err… he may still be throwing you one. I'm not sure."
Shaking his mass of blonde hair, Roxas sighed dejectedly. "No, he probably forgot again. Idiot."
"You don't know that," he continued brightly. "You haven't seen him in three days."
Silence ensued and for Demyx it was a quite uncomfortable one. All he could do was watch and wait for Roxas' reply, if there was one. He seemed a little surprised to be honest and then his brows furrowed in deep thought. Roxas was a big thinker. He could always be found tucked neatly away in the library, dispersed in book and come to think of it, it was probably he and Zexion got along so well. Zexion was just a bookwork that happened to enjoy making fun out of people and one of those people had always been Demyx.
He though a little on how Zexion used to constantly tease him about his little intelligence and whatnot, but soon he eventually won him over with his music. A surprising thing really; one minute he was happily playing his music and the next he was crushed against the wall by Zexion, who he hadn't believed to be quite so strong. He hadn't even realised Zexion was gay, because apart from common belief, not all the member of the organisation were gay. Most were just bored… and with no women (Larxene didn't class a women here) around how better to fill their spare time other than with having hot butt-
"A lot can happen in three days," he said finally. "Look at the mess I am. Three days."
Demyx smiled encouragingly at him. "Axel is more of a mess than you."
Roxas looked at him again, surprised.
"Yeah, he's been moping around every day."
"You mean the last two days since he stopped annoying me through my door?" the younger boy mused, smiling slightly. But as quickly as the smile came, it went again.
"He just sits there. Thinking. I've never seen Axel like that before - he's a mess, Roxas. I mean it. You have to do something about it."
Roxas' face looked torn. He was probably contemplating staying in his shell for a few more days or doing the right thing and sorting things out before his face permanently stuck like that - all grey and aged. He didn't look well at all, but still, he managed to look cute. Somehow.
Go, Demyx's power of persuasion.
"I think you should go and talk to him."
For a moment, Demyx was unsure whether Roxas was going to accept what he said, which was the truth, but a little bit more… emphasised. That's a good word for it. He was merely using the truth to his advantage for the greater good. It did work much to his delight, because for the first time that familiar lob-sided smile was shaping Roxas' lips.
"What's there to loose, huh, bud?" Demyx probed after another long, drawn-out minute.
Then, to his surprise, Roxas grinned. And it was the most radiant grin that he seemed to have seen in ages. "I knew you were just the messenger," he said simply.
Demyx smirked in spite of himself.
Job done.
Thankies for reading ^_^
Reviews are appreciated and will reply to them all :)
Rose
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