Alrighty, so Chapter 2 for Ms. Kare-Bear (aka Kitsune) This was actually supposed to be a lot more than what this is but I'm trying to keep them all in the 3k-4k range and I got this to 4k and realized that I still had a lot to type. [/sigh]
So I gave in and made it two chapters... I didn't wanna. I only want it to be like 5 chapters but it might end up being more now that I'm beginning to develope a plot in meh head. [/WOOT]
Yep... Oh! And their last names. My friend Sara demanded that Axel be irish... and the name Donovan was the only one that I though fit... It was either that or Kelly. You decide. And Roxas' sounds a little cute. Yeah. That's some late night/early mornin' thinking for ya.
Crap! This is annoying. Guess what I don't own?! That's right! This whole Kingdom hearts series and the Evernight series. Yay Original Authors! Okay. Done. And Go!
The next week was decently normal. No more stolen things and no more stalking from a distance. In fact, it probably would have been pretty great... if Axel hadn't wanted to be in every minute of it. Axel only had one class with Roxas but with all the others, the red-head would be standing directly outside the door the minute after the bell rang. He walked Roxas to every class, demanded to sit with him at lunch and dinner - even if he didn't eat - and walked him to his bedroom every night. Yeah, the stalking-from-a-distance was gone. Now it was up close and personal.
At first, the blonde had learned to tone him out but eventually Axel got to the point that he couldn't be tuned out. If he felt that the blonde was ignoring him, he would attach himself to Roxas' arm and speak directly into his ear or do something else so that he could invade the blonde's space. So, he just learned to deal with listening to the taller and finally he began speaking back. Then it moved to having full conversations at lunch. The vampire even got the human to laugh. A lot. But it'd gotten to be problematic. They had to stop going to the library during lunch because Roxas laughed too much.
But there were other places that they could hang out. One of these times were coming up soon. It was a monthly visit to the city that the school's faculty liked to set up. The only problem was even though Axel really wanted to go, in order to get there it would include crossing the river between here and the town. And as we all know, running water is NOT a vampire's best friend. It was almost 48 hours away before he would have to choose to either be waving to Roxas from the outside of a bus window or to be sitting in the seat beside him, sucking it up and crossing the damn thing to spend time with the other.
So, we find him pacing around his room, bugging the snot out of Zexion like he always did when he was nervous. He would sit, then stand, then sit, then lay down, hop back up, look out the window, look at the bluenette, do a funky jig - not really- but none of it helped him get an answer. Now he was just laying there on the bottom of his roommate's bed, staring at the cracks in the ceiling and whining. "Zexy! What should we do?!" Zexion as per usual wasn't really paying attention to him but instead, he was rereading Eclipse. Yeah, rereading. He'd already Twilight like 8 times. Nerd. But the smaller vamp looked up after it seemed like his book was being threatened by the acid-eyed man.
"First off, Axel," Zexion sighed. "'We' don't do anything. You, however, need to choose which you think is more important; a little fear of water, or a kid you want to be your boyfriend." Axel groaned loudly. As if that wasn't what he was thinking about. He was trying but it was just so freaking hard. That's why the teachers always went hours before the students did. They had to grow the balls to do it themselves. Axel stopped and looked at his friend.
"You said 'First off'. What's the second part?" The red-head sat up, putting his weight on his hands behind him.
"Two: You need to leave me alone so I can finish this!"
Axel threw the nearest object at him.
Roxas and Demyx were laying in their room. Literally just laying there. On the floor that only had one of their comforters on it. They liked to lay upside down facing the window and watch the clouds since it was getting too cold to do so outside. Roxas didn't know why. It'd been Demy's idea to do so since the beginning of the year. "Sooo," Demyx broke the silence that had set in between them. "How is the whole Axel thing going?" The shorter blonde had been trying to keep Demyx as uninvolved as possible so that he wouldn't freak out. The only thing that he'd really told him for sure is that Axel didn't want to kill him. And on occasion, Demyx and Zexion would sit with him and Axel. And that was the extent of that.
Roxas huffed to himself in thought for a moment. "Pretty good actually," He replied rather honestly. "Better than it was." He thought a minute about it. It'd been a full month since Axel had admitted liking the blonde. And even though Axel had been showing signs that he was getting a little impatient - nothing much just things like him hugging up to Roxas more and grabbing his hand every now and then - Roxas really didn't know if he had the intention of wanting to date a vampire. It wasn't Axel per-say. No, he had really grown to like the other's fiery and strong-willed personality and he'd thought that he was really hot for a long time now. It was just that the consequences were almost countless. It made him sad to think about the friends that he was making here would outlive him and so the thought would reverberate to dating a vampire, too. He knew that none of them would care to make him such if he consented but that was another thing. He didn't know if he wanted to be one or not. Not to mention the type of trouble that the school could get into for it. He knew that Axel didn't care about that - he didn't about most rules - and Roxas didn't really care either but he would rather not ruin a place that was helping vampires out a lot.
"Look a bunny!!" Demyx's loud squeal broke his thoughts. He glanced up and sure enough there was a rabbit shaped cloud. Just like the ones on some pajamas of a certain blonde vampire beside him. He looked at the completely clueless vampire and laughed. It would eventually turn out for the best. Things always get worse before it gets better, right?
The day of the trip, Axel was all jittery. Axel was an ass everyday of his life in the first place. But today it was like his heart grew 8 sizes too small. He told off nearly everyone he'd seen staring at him and he'd even almost threw a hissy when Vexen told him to "take a chill pill." The only time that Axel had seemed in a decently good mood was in Literature; the class that he had with Roxas. And that was only so that Roxas wouldn't notice.
It couldn't have been that bad. The only way that Roxas knew about it was because that's what some people were talking about. Okay, so a little more that some. Alright, alright! A lot of people were talking about it. So, in truth, Roxas had known since his second class. But he tried to not think that it was as bad as they were saying. He decided that it would be best to just wait and see for himself. Innocent until proven guilty. But the only class that the blonde had the with Axel was a class that no one even dared to talk in.
Headmaster Xemnas' class was held like it was a court room; he asked a question, you would answer promptly, you took notes, you would answer again when your turn came, you spoke, you died. Okay, that part didn't happen in court rooms but it wasn't uncommon for people to quit Evernight just because of this particular class. Axel and Roxas basically sat beside each other, only separated by Zexion on Axel's right and Roxas' left. If one of them had leaned over even the tiniest bit then they could have seen each other. But Axel wasn't the only one in a bad mood today. This had to be the day that Xemnas basically started his man-period. He spat random insults out at students who even stuttered a little bit when answering things, and would ask ridiculous questions that seemed to have nothing to do with what they were reading. And it seemed that it would go on forever.
There were only five minutes left. Just five. Then the school day would be over. Roxas laid his head on his hand - one of the few acceptable things to do at the moment - but didn't catch himself looking towards the clock for too long. Or leaning sideways ever so slightly. To anyone else, he supposed that he looked like he was sleeping but that was very quickly changed.
"Mr. Price!" Roxas' head snapped back into place. Xemnas was staring at him, death glare just barely below the surface of what seemed he was trying to pull of the "normal teacher" attitude. "Were you trying to sleep in my class?" Shock ran a course through his body. Him? Sleep in class? No. It didn't happen. Ever. That was something that Roxas wasn't even capable of.
"N-no, Sir. I wasn't tryi-" First thing wrong: talking back. Second: He stuttered.
"Hush. I think you were, Mr. Price, and that's all that matters." Roxas felt everyone around him trying to hide themselves away like they didn't know him. He could feel their souls slipping away to a better atmosphere, abandoning him so that the devil could take him. "Now, how would you like to spend your detention?" The headmaster was now behind his desk, digging in the second draw that was known for its completely organized contents of woe. In other words, detention slips, tardies, and the like.
"But, Sir! I wasn't -"
"And you will stop there!" The slips, which were situated in his hands were now slammed onto the desk. The dark-skinned teacher leaned over his desk to write. Roxas' head dropped. That's just what he needed. Great. On top of all the other shit he was going through, that is EXACTLY what he needed. "Now, if you have nothing else to say, then will you tell me where you'd like -"
", that isn't fair!" Roxas shot back up. He looked around the room to find the idiot that was about to be destroyed. Oh. God. Even better. Axel was now standing up behind his respective desk. He didn't seem, extremely upset but just enough that Roxas knew that he wouldn't be the only one getting a detention. In fact, there might be some more coming. He groaned on the inside. "Especially not to Roxas. He's your best student." Xemnas' eyes narrowed on the red-head.
"I'll have you know, that as long as I am headmaster of this school, I can do whatever I please."
"But Roxas didn't do anything wrong! If he says he wasn't falling asleep, then he wasn't. Do you think he would lie about something stupid like tha-"
"I can think he's lying about anything, Mr. Donovan. Now shut up and sit down before I give you more than just a detention." Axel glared looks that could have killed. If that could really happen, that is. But it didn't and Axel just sat down, defiance still written all over his face and movements. The bell rang.
Everyone began standing up to move to the door. "Sit down!" They all looked at Xemnas like he magically had a growth coming out the side of his head, but silently did what they were told, sitting in their seats respectively. There was silence for a minute, Xemnas staring everyone over one by one. When he was done he just blinked at then turned to put his things back in the desk. "Get out." Roxas hurried out as the first person.
Of course, Axel had to stay in the room and talk to Xemnas personally. Yeah, and of course that left Roxas out in the hallway to be stared at by everyone that passed him. But he wasn't really going to run off on the guy that had just tried to save him from detention. It would have been almost as rude and uncalled for as Xemnas giving out the detentions in the first place. But it happened. Roxas thought about the worst. What if he wasn't going to be allowed to go on the trip? What if he was going to be given more than a detention like the headmaster had threatened? What if Axel couldn't go with him? What? He stopped himself and the door opened to reveal a very miffed Axel. The red-head shut the door behind him and looked at the other.
"So?" Roxas started. They had began walking towards the dorms, ready to change out of the uniform as quick as possible.
"Sorry, Roxy. Couldn't save you from getting one." The vampire stated. Roxas shrugged. He guessed that he could live with one. There was a small silence. "But um..." Axel started and then stopped.
"What is it?" Roxas quit walking abruptly and looked at the taller. Axel stopped a little in front of him.
"Never mind." He turned around, with a huge smile on his face. "We need to go get ready if were going to be to the bus on time, though!" Loser, Roxas thought. He ran back up beside Axel and they continued to walk to the dorm rooms, chattering about what they would do on the trip.
He'd known. He knew everything. He kept up with everything. Axel didn't know how the man knew, how much the man knew, didn't exactly want to know, but he wished he didn't know at all. This was a problem that he didn't want to deal with yet. Axel knew that he would have taken care of it whether or not Roxas had accepted him but for Xemnas to cause him issues this early, he wasn't exactly sure what to do. He hadn't had time to think about it. And now he'd gone and lied to Roxy about it. That was sure to make things a whole lot better.
Was he scared because of it? Did he think that everything that he'd been working for for the last month and a half would be ruined because of it? Hell yeah, he did. To think that Roxas was finally talking to him and walking with him and they were actually hanging out - well as much as you could at this godforsaken place. He wondered as they walked up the staircase. He would ask Roxas tomorrow. He knew that he was going to. He had to. If he didn't then that would be too late. If Roxas said yes, he would do absolutely everything that he could to keep them together. Everything. Anything. It didn't matter to him. They would be together or be dead.
Roxas sat on the bus, keeping the seat open for as long as he possibly could. Well, as open as he possibly could. Demyx was currently keeping the seat safe. Yeah, vampires didn't like the whole running water thing, but every month Demyx was the exception. Demyx was a recently new vampire so it didn't matter to him all that much yet. Demyx had once described it to Roxas as it kind of getting a really massive cold chill with a little bit of pain in there. So, they sat there waiting for the red-head to stop standing outside like it was the last thing that he was ever going to see and get his ass on the it. It was at the very last moment that he even started walking to the bus, barely slipping in as the city bus driver closed the doors. The bus was already moving as he went to take his seat in the middle of Roxas and the other vampire, trying to get through the major mess of human children yelling at each other to counter-act the other's yelling.
"Are you sure that you're going to be okay?" Demyx asked, genuinely concerned. Roxas laughed inwardly at himself at how even though the taller blonde didn't like Axel, he was still worried. Axel kept a stern look on his face, his lips pursed like he was thinking very seriously. But he nodded. Slowly, but he nodded. He was sitting completely straight up in his seat, hands clasped in tight fists on his lap. Roxas almost felt bad about him being the reason that Axel was going through this, and then a part of him felt flattered, and then another smaller part was thinking that it was the vampire's own damn fault for having the crush on him anyway. But the piece that felt sorry for him was currently the dominating side.
Roxas reached out his hand to rub the red-head's forearm. Axel's hands released themselves, relaxing only to start to rub them together like a nervous twitch. They were quiet for a few minutes, Roxas looking out the window to watch for the bridge. He knew that Axel and Demyx could feel how far away it was but he was at the disadvantage. He stared until he felt the red-head's elbow bumping into him. He looked down at the other's hands. They looked like they had already been rubbed raw. Roxas huffed. "Don't do that..." He said barely audible against the rest of the racket made on the bus. He reached for one of Axel's hands and took it in his own. Not really thinking about it until after it happened. It was too late by then, Axel's hand already constricted around his. Roxas looked up.
There was the bridge. Only about half a mile in front of them and already Axel's hand was cutting off the circulation to his. The blonde glanced at his face. His head was down, eyes shut so tight that Roxas could see the strain from his eyebrows. With his other hand, he began rubbing the vampire's forearm again. At that moment it struck him that he had no clue how old Axel was. Looking over at Demyx and seeing that he was still okay made him wonder how old Axel had to be in order for it to scare him this bad. Not to mention how much it would hurt.
Demyx caught Roxas' look and the smaller blonde could see the basic look saying that he would owe him later before Demyx took the older vampire's other hand. And so they sat there like that, each of them holding one of Axel's hands with him looking like he was in child birth - the only thing missing was the in-in-out breathing. There was a couple seconds of both vampires taking a large breath, one deeper than the other's, and Roxas having abslutely no feeling in his hand, and it was over. They both let go of Axel and his body relaxed immediatly. He slumped back in the seat and looked at the ceiling. "That was awful," He laughed slightly. "That completely sucked! How the hell do you do this every month Demyx?" Demyx shrugged and looked away for a moment.
"You know that you didn't have to do this, Axel." Roxas stated plainly to him. The other nodded.
"Yeah. But I want to spend time with you, Roxy." He replied. Roxas nodded and looked out the window again, smiling to himself. I know... I know. They were almost to the stop. And Roxas found that he couldn't stop thinking about how warm Axel's hands had been.
Fail. A complete epic fail. Supposed to get something to eat. Axel got in a fight and Roxas had to drag him away. Went to go shopping because there wasn't another movie playing that night. The red-head knocked over two different racks of clothes. So, they went to hang out at the very small park area that they had, only to hear some very awkward noises that Roxas wasn't sure if he ever wanted to hear again ((winkwink)). They were now on their way back to the bus, still sitting in the same place that it parked. They were the first two there - there was still about 15 minutes before people would even begin showing up.
Roxas pulled the bus doors apart and they walked up the stairs and back to their seat on the back of the bus. There were bags and a box in the seat. Roxas saw where Demyx had tried to move things over but it still took up more room then they could handle with three people in the seat. "Uh... looks like were gonna have a problem," Roxas said, trying to maneuver around the parcels. Axel smiled at the blonde who was moving and removing and arranging Demyx's things only to find that no matter how he moved them, they were still awkward. Axel put his hands on his hips and shook his head.
"Roxy," He paused and waited for the other to to look at him. "You realize that this is a lot easier than you're making it out to be." Roxas scoffed at him.
"Well then come and fix it." The blonde moved over to the other seat and waited for Axel to be done. But all he did was sit down next to the window. The red-head patted at the part of the seat that was left over. Roxas moved again, walking to go sit next to the vampire. "But then where is Demyx going to si- Oh!" He had began to sit down in what was offered but as he began sitting down, the taller wrapped his arms around his waist and pulled him into his lap. Just in time to have the mentioned come bouncing onto the bus.
"Oh, H-...Hey guys," Demyx didn't make eye contact as he walked back to them, but instead looked so that he was facing out the window. He took the open seat. It was entirely awkward. With the packages shoved up against the window, then Axel with a person in his lap, and then Demyx was put on the end. They fit decently now but they still didn't speak for moment. Waiting until Demyx got rid of the feeling that it was as weird as it seemed and Roxas to get used to the idea that he fit really well in Axel's lap. "So, um... what did you all do?" The human and the red-headed vampire looked at each other before laughing. Demyx finally looked at Roxas, then Axel, and then back at his friend. "What? What'd I say!?" Roxas took a deep breath before trying to answer the other's question.
"Okay! We had went to go get some food at the A&W food place, and we sat down, but this guy - wow he was weird - he kept looking at us and making these faces. So eventually this guy just got up and came over to us-" Roxas tried to breath, letting Axel take over.
"He tried to start shit! He was all like 'Dya'll go ta that Efernight 'cademy?'" Axel forced his voice down an octave to demonstrate the guys accent.
"We said yeah and this guy just about threw a fit. I literally though that he was going to have a hernia just talking to us!" Roxas continued and then laughed some more. "But we left. And he still tried to start crap but we lost him by going into this store -that sucked by the way!" By now the most of the people were already on the bus and the story began to get drowned out by other people screaming at their friends on the either side of the bus with their own stories.
Axel let Roxas continue the rest of the story. He didn't worry about it. He laughed at appropriate times so that he wouldn't alert Roxas to what he was really doing - trying to find Xemnas. Through the window he couldn't see many of the teachers and he didn't even know if the headmaster even babysat kids when they went on trips. By the time the bus started moving, the only important teacher that he found was Saix coming from the direction of the park. He wondered momentarily if he'd caught who'd been back there and then stopped thinking about it. He realized that he had to go over the bridge... again.