And I feel like I'm some kind of Frankenstein
Waiting for a shock to bring me back to life
But I don't wanna spend all my time
Waiting for lighting to strike
Chapter One: Trust Fall
Sora
"So how is he?"
Sora tried to sound concerned, but they'd been here before. If it wasn't a phone call informing him that his little brother had been arrested, then it was a phone call telling him that Roxas was in the hospital. It was an endlessly looping pattern where all roads led to Roxas' inevitable self-destruction.
"He's doing better, but everything else is a fucking mess. You remember Roxas' friend Hayner, right? They go to the same university and he called mom to tell her that Roxas had been missing for two days. Turns out Roxas hadn't been to class for a little over a week." Sora could hear the underlining tension in Larxene's voice, even if his sister was trying to hide it with choked-up laughter. Larxene paused to sniffle, exhaling static into the phone "He's back to seeing his psychiatrist and there's been some talk about trying to convince him to self-commit, but I doubt anything will come from that."
Sora shook his head in response, hollow laugh escaping from the confines of his throat, "Of course not, Larx! Roxas will tell everyone that he's got himself under control, mom will believe it, blatantly ignoring anyone's professional advice and the cycle will repeat." Of course, Sora knew Larxene would accuse him of being harsh, even if she didn't say it to him specifically. Sora was known for having virtually zero tolerance for Roxas or his mental illness, an illness that Sora didn't believe in. His low tolerance was usually why he was the last to be informed, and why Larxene was always the one to inform him.
There was an elongated pause before Larxene finally sighed, "Anyway, they're releasing him from the hospital tomorrow. Mom wanted me to call you, and—"There was another pause, followed by muffled noises in the background that Sora couldn't quite distinguish before his sister started again, "—that she's looking forward to you coming home. In fact, we all are." Sora didn't believe that was all she had to say, but he smiled nonetheless.
"Well, I'll be there Thursday. Told mom we'd stay for an extra week to help out with Roxas. So, don't worry, I'll be there and we'll face the oncoming storm together. " Sora paused, leaning back in the kitchen chair he'd been occupying, determined to change the subject, "Speaking of storms, any luck getting Marluxia to dye his hair for the wedding?"
"No! He insists on keeping it pastel pink. Something about preserving his image even in marriage, and don't even get me started on Demyx and his hair. I finally got him to grow out his hair and then he goes and shaves it again. If they want to hold on to their faux rock-and-roll lifestyles fine by me, but not for my wedding." Larxene huffed, and Sora was pretty sure he heard his cousin, Demyx, yelling in the background about Larxene being a soul-stealing harpy.
Sora cradled his cell-phone between his shoulder and ear, listening to a brief quarrel over the phone before Larxene was back, clearing her throat, "I swear, Sor, at this point my ideal wedding involves nothing catching fire and no one going to the hospital."
"Sounds like it'll be a wedding to remember." Sora laughed, shaking his head, "Can it really be a Woods wedding if nothing catastrophic happens?"
"Speaking of catastrophe, please, tell me you've given Axel enough forewarning before throwing him into the shark infested waters? "
Sora hesitated as he thought about his boyfriend and how little he'd told him about his family. In the year they'd been together, he'd spent all major holidays with Axel's family. The topic of Sora's family had come up a few times, of course, but Sora always shot down the conversation before it could even start. Eventually, Axel backed off on the line of questioning. As Sora was contemplating an acceptable answer to the question, Larxene interrupted.
"Oh my god, Sora! You've been seeing each other for a year and you still haven't told him?"
Sora flinched at the yelling, holding the phone away from his ear until his sister was finished before tentatively bringing the phone back, "Believe me, I want to. I want to just get it out in the open, to be honest, but I just can't. It's not like I'm telling him that Roxas is depressed, or something, I'm telling him that, on occasion, Roxas thinks he's three other people. I just—I just don't want to drive him away, is all." Sora finished, tone deflating.
For a moment, there was silence before Larxene sighed and spoke in a softer voice, "Sora, if this guy loves you, then he's not going to give a fuck how crazy Roxas is. But you have to tell him. Imagine how much worse it's going to be when you two get here and his first exposure is, like, Vanitas taking a baseball bat to mom's vases."
As always, Larxene had a point. Axel was going to find out about his brother sooner or later, and sooner seemed a lot less traumatizing. He bit the corner of his bottom lip before rolling his eyes in defeat, "I'll tell him tonight."
Roxas
Roxas stirred, exhaustion ebbing its way through a body that had been downwardly spiraling since awaking admist frozen ground. He'd been in the hospital for the last day and a half, forced to endure the persistant questioning that led to dead-ends. It was reasoned that Vanitas had been the one to hitch-hike across the country for reasons unknown to anyone other than Vanitas himself; who, of course, insisted on biting his tongue on the manner. It was also clear that something had gone terribly wrong along the way, resulting in Roxas' battered state. With so many questions left unanswered, Roxas was left with no choice but to endue everything from having flash-lights shined into his eyes to having a rape-kit performed. The latter to which Roxas vehemently refused until transitioning to Vanitas, who, in response to the percieved threat to the system, threatened bodily harm to anyone who came near him until he was finally sedated.
As he awoke, his eyes fluttered open with uncertainty only to narrow in response to the flourescent lighting. He found it difficult to move, persumably still pushing the sedatives through his body. More importantly, as he did a quick body-scan, he found himself transfixed on the black-nail polish that coated his finger-nails, "Did you paint my nails?"
The question came out in a soft-slur, eye-brows furrowing together as Roxas tried to lift his hand to look, but the sedatives he was still coming off of were making his movements stunted and languid. He inhaled sharply, wincing at the pain that had finally begun to settle into his body as he tried to sit up.
Beside him, Namine looked up from her phone, "Technically, I painted Xion's nails, but yes."
Roxas made a sound of acknowledgment in the back of his throat, cautiously flexing fingers before finally examining his nails with tentative appraisal, "Well, at least it's black." He spoke dryly.
Namine tossed blonde hair over her shoulders, extending her arms outward in feigned exasperation, "Well, I tried to tell Xion that you're definitely more of a 'hot-pink' or a 'bubble bath' color, but she wouldn't have it." Namine grinned, arching a perfectly manicured brow as she did, "You should see your eye-shadow."
Roxas wasn't biting on the taunt, "Is anyone else here?"
Namine shook her head, "No, your mother is currently making Martha Stewart roll over in her grave and Larxene is probably auditioning for Bridezilla's."
Roxas let out a choking laugh, "Two things. One, Martha Stewart isn't dead and, two, Bridezilla's isn't even on the air anymore," Roxas paused, measuring the look on his cousins face that read And you would know, how? "Which I only know because Ventus DVR'd the entire final season." Roxas concluded, meekly defending his sense of man-hood.
"Well let that be a testament to how utterly insane your mother is being about Sora's arrival. She has not stopped talking about Sora's new boyfriend, either, who, by the way, is an artist. With actual connections, but do you think Sora could drop me a line? No! I mean, really, Sora disappears for four years and now he's going to return with his super-hunk of a boyfriend and pretend that everything is liquid?"
Roxas found himself trying to stifle a laugh, holding a hand up to cover his mouth, "You're way more jaded about this then you should be. The only person Sora is genuinely angry at is me. Sora and I have always had bad blood between us, but at least with Larxene's wedding and the mysterious splendor of Axel, I will fade into the background with a flourish." Roxas spoke with animated hands, having regained his motor-skills once again.
"You sound like Ventus" Namine snorted, referring to the more dramatic and manic alter of the four.
Namine then sniffled, surprising the both of them as her eyes grew red with unshed tears. Rolling her sleeves down, she wiped away tears and hiccupped, "I'm sorry—I was just-I'm just so happy you're safe." Namine was crying now, tears freely rolling down her cheeks, mixing with an embarrassed laughter as she stood to lean over the bed and embrace Roxas.
Roxas involuntarily winced at the contact, reminded of the bruises that were littering his body, but he pushed his pain aside to embrace his cousin, "Thank you for answering my phone call" Roxas held on to his cousin, speaking into her shoulder as he found himself shaking with his own unshed tears.
Sora
As soon as Sora stepped foot into Breakers Hall, he was greeted with the numerous murals that littered the walls accompanied with the guttural sounds akin to the possessed that came from the first-year theater class that was mid-warm up, both attesting to the fact that Sora had walked into the art building of Radiant University.
The brunette had to stifle a laughter at the animalistic wails as he walked down the halls until he located the classroom Axel held his Drawing-I class in. Axel, who had a penchant for going far and above the conventions of practical teaching, had strung bed-sheets from ceiling to floor around the classroom in order to create dramatic drapery for his students to draw. Which they did, diligently so, while chattering among themselves.
If it weren't for Axel's vermillion eye-catching hair, he would've blended in with his students. The twenty-nine year old had his hair tied up in a bun, loose ends sticking out in gravity-defying chaos that had the amazing ability to only get gradually worse as the night wore on. The man wore form-fitting black-slacks and a maroon polo-sweater that showed off his broad shoulders. His hands were covered in charcoal residue, and as he strode around the classroom, his chartreuse eyes occasionally lit up before he launched himself into sincere and animated appraisal of work. High-lighting the atmosphere was Axel's ipod on shuffle, currently playing Bohemian Rhapsody much to everyone's amused enjoyment.
On more than one occasion, Sora would sit in on the class, casually observing so long as Axel wasn't lecturing on anything new. With the semester coming to an end, though, Axel was mostly winding everyone down with drawings in preparation for the portfolio review during finals week. Axel, tipped off by one of his students, finally noticed Sora, and striding over to him, Axel ran charcoal stained fingers through his tresses, "I didn't expect you to be stopping by. Thought you'd be packing."
Sora laughed, momentarily brushing the question to the side as he busied himself by grabbing a tissue and reaching up to gently remove a smudge of charcoal that was staining Axel's forehead, "I was packing, but I thought I'd come observe my favorite artist at work." Granted, Sora wasn't referring to Axel's actual art-work, but rather to the sheets hanging around the room in half-haphazard fashion, "You should've told me about your superior interior decorating skills."
"Don't be jealous, babe." Axel snickered, taking the moment to lean forward, "Later, we can redecorate the bedroom, if you want." Axel punctuated his statement with a waggle of his brows, keeping his voice hushed.
Sora laughed, gently shoving Axel at his solar plexus in encouragement for him to return to his diligent students, "That was not nearly as suave as you think it was." Sora shook his head, snorting as the red-head returned to his students.
As Axel stepped away to re-enter the chaos of drapery, the red-head checked his watch before stepping into the center of the room to direct everyone's attention to him, "Alright guys, you're free from my drapery hell. Don't forget that your portfolios are due next class."
The room erupted in momentary chaos as students started cleaning up their work-spaces and began filing out of the door. As they did, Axel slid his hands into the pockets of his slacks, "And good luck on finals." He finished, taking a few moments to watch his students leave and answer any last minute questions regarding the impending portfolio critique.
When the last student left, Axel parted his lips in acknowledgement, raising an index-finger to the heavens as his iPod rolled over to the next song, "Is that our song? Y'know, the song that played when we first made eye-contact and new it was forever."
"No, Axel that is definitely not our song." Sora laughed, shaking his head in embarrassed disapproval as he watched his lanky boyfriend engage in the type of gyrating hip-movements that solidified just how little rhythm the red-head had when it came to dancing.
"Are you sure?" Axel pressed the issue, dancing toward his boyfriend in mock-sultry movements meant to seduce, but only left Sora laughing, gently clutching his stomach as he watched in idle adoration.
"I'm pretty sure I would remember if Britney Spear's Toxic was playing. I mean, we met at a library, so." Sora spoke through laughter, egging the man on.
"Must have just been me, then." Axel sang-song the last part, having finally reached Sora where he turned the iPod off, plunging them in silence that was filled with Sora's quieting laughs.
"Do your students know that you listen to Britney Spears?" Sora quirked a curious brow, trying to suppress the urge to smile and fall into another fit of laughter.
"'Ch'yeah. They know I run these streets with sick-beats and funky-moves." Axel snickered, gesturing to his classroom while referencing 'these streets', shit-eating grin plastered on his face, "But only on Monday's and Wednesday's which means I have to clean this up before we go home." The red-head made a clicking sound with his teeth, rolling his shoulders forward.
"Better get to work then, Vanilla Ice." Sora snorted, sliding off the desk to help Axel remove the sheets that were hanging from the rafters.
When they'd finally finished, the atmosphere had gradually become more solemn, finally prompting Axel to quirk an inquisitive brow, "Alright, spill it, kid. The last time you looked this guilty was when you accidentally killed my gold-fish." Axel took the sheets from Sora's arms, setting them aside before sitting on one of the table tops.
Sora frowned at his own transparency, rolling his jaw forward in thought before sitting across from Axel on one of the empty art-stools, "Axel, my brother, Roxas, he's-" Sora paused, wrapping his arms around in a protective fashion, "—sick." The brunette drew out the word, rolling it around on his tongue as if it was a foreign concept to him.
"He has dissociative identity disorder which means that he has, or—at least—thinks he has, multiple personalities." Sora's voice quivered, attempting to numb the speech by using his hands to aid in his speech, eyes-directed somewhere behind Axel, "So, most of the time, he's Roxas, my twenty-two year old brother who knows his way around the kitchen almost as good as my mother. And he's an amazing writer, even if he doesn't believe it. "Sora's voice was raised in honest admiration, faltering as he continued," But sometimes, he's also Vanitas, this total arrogant prick who is consistently getting arrested," Sora's tone changed to striking disdain, choked-up laughter emitting from his throat as his eyes became blurry with tears, "And then he's Ventus, this manic-depressive club-kid who couldn't sit still even if you paid them. And even then, there's still Xion, a painfully timid girl who collects sea-shells and hides in the closet when she's scared."
Sora inhaled sharply now, leaning back to wipe tears from his eyes, breathing out in an elongated sigh, "And I've been scared to tell you because I couldn't fathom openly asking someone to be okay with," Sora paused, trying to find the word for it before finally settling, "—that."
Sora tentatively looked up at Axel who had been listening patiently, eye-brows furrowed in vague comprehension before the red-head finally spoke, "Sora, I love you. If you told me tomorrow that you were joining a cult and sacrificing virgins in the name of our lord, and savior, Justin Bieber, I'd say 'Sign me the fuck up'." Both males laughed now, Sora hiccupping as Axel continue, "It's just me and you babe, everything else is just—"Axel paused, finishing off in a gentle tone, "—background noise."
In fluid motion, Axel slid of the table-top and embraced Sora, kissing the top of his head affectionately, "And I'm sure I'll love your family too, even your brother." They remained in embrace for a few moments longer, Sora shedding tears as relief settled in the pit of his stomach. When Axel finally leaned back, the red-head smile at him, "Come on, let's go home. "
