Fuck, did his head hurt. Riku certainly hadn't held back with that last pass. Hell, a little bit of practice and formal training, he might have made a half-way decent football player. Not that Roxas gave a damn about Riku's athletic career at the moment; he was more concerned with not developing a concussion. You know, typical college stressors. Groaning, Roxas sat up, slowly, propping himself up on an elbow and gingerly running a hand through his hair, searching for a bump. There it was, as predicted, just behind his left temple; the tender and likely bruised skin that stung to the touch. Hissing, Roxas' face contorted into a sour expression, when it occurred to him that this was not his bed.
"Keep making that face and it'll get stuck like that,"
That voice wasn't his brother's, and it certainly wasn't Riku's. In fact, he didn't recognize the voice at all. Who was that, and more importantly, where the hell was he? His vision was a bit blurry at first, but after clenching his eyes shut a few times his world came into focus, and Roxas began looking around frantically, for once more disgruntled than he usually was. "W-Where…?" He began, staring angrily down what he now realized was a small mobile home.
The walls were a silver metal, and had it not been for the weird, hippie style decorations hanging off the walls, Roxas imagined the place would echo annoyingly. The bed was narrow, and he supposed it had to be, considering it was a trailer, but it was comfortable enough. Then again, it was a bit difficult to focus on how comfortable a bed was when you were lying in a stranger's bed having recently had a football drilled into your skull.
There were lots of colors, hanging around as well; even the lights were just those shitty little paper lanterns you could buy at any party favor store that made the entire place look orange. Leaning against the bed was a strange, guitar-like instrument Roxas hadn't seen before, and he was pretty sure the bag sticking out of the sound hole was full of pot.
"Uh, yeah, sorry about the mess," the voice said again, causing Roxas to finally stop looking around the trailer and look at who the hell dragged him here. "…Well, it's not my mess, but I figured I should say something. How you feeling, kid?"
"Who the hell-" Hell bent on getting some answers, Roxas stood up and demanded the strangers name. Or at least tried to, anyway. He stood up a little too quick and ended up flopping back down on the mattress, steadying himself on the bed's frame.
"Hey, take it easy. You're gonna want to take a minute," The man advised, clearly amused. He was tall, and ungodly thin. And his hair was a bright, fire engine red…
Roxas blinked in realization. He was that guy, wasn't he? The one who'd waved at him back in the court yard. Right before….wait, what happened again? "..What happened?" Roxas voiced in a groan, going back to rubbing his head again.
"You may as well just watch," The red-head said before tossing both a phone and a shitty, impromptu ice-pack consisting of a zip lock bag filled with half melted ice wrapped in a paper towel on the mattress. He seemed so blatantly amused with Roxas' attitude, which annoyed the blonde to no end. Reluctantly, he picked up his phone and hit play, the video named 'spacey kid gets owned' already loaded up and ready to go.
Frowning at the title, Roxas watched himself get victimized by Riku's merciless throwing arm, followed by the screen playing the moment of impact over and over again set to some sort of over-used techno beat. Great, now his temple and his pride could be the founding members of the 'bruised and damaged; don't fucking touch me' association.
"It's only gotten about five thousand hits over the last hour, so, all things considered, it's not that bad," the increasingly douchey man went on, making a lazy gesture at the ice pack in encouragement. "Go on. How big do you plan on letting that swell?"
"God, shut up," Roxas muttered after shooting him a look of pure resentment and tossing his phone aside. "Who are you? And where are we?" he demanded, wondering why Riku and Sora would just let some random guy drag him off after being knocked unconscious. Thanks, friends.
"Oh, feisty," he said, sounding more like a predator than anything else. "My name's Axel. And you're Roxas. And this…is not my trailer," he explained, with a stupid, wide grin plastered across his face as if his explanation deserved vast amounts of praise. "..And you should be thanking me," he went on while Roxas' temper soared to new heights. "Everybody else was recording you. At least I tried to help. Besides, what's the point in recording it anyway? At least fifteen people were already doing it. And they'll probably get a better quality video too, you know?"
"Oh? Really? Well thanks for deciding to haul my lifeless corpse to your damn itrailer/i in lieu of recording my finest moment. Really, man, thanks," Roxas snapped, glaring daggers at his newest 'acquaintance', for lack of better words.
"Hey!" Axel's sudden serious tone claimed Roxas' attention, and the man looked at him with such…authority. Not something you'd expect from a man with bright red hair and…were those tattoos? "..I told you," He continued, facing Roxas and crossing thin arms across his chest, glowering down at him. "..it's not my trailer. Weren't you listening? That's pretty rude, you know."
Roxas just...stared at him for a moment, with the most incredulous, are-you-fucking-kidding-me expression Roxas had conjured to date. "…Yeah, I need to leave," He was not about to waste any more of his life on this idiot. "You just stay. And I'll…go." God, this was not helping his headache.
"Alright, alright, but hang on a second, just…calm your jets," Before attempting the oddly difficult task of standing, Axel was pulling up a stool in front of him and getting much, much closer than Roxas would've liked. He said to 'hold still', and Roxas promptly did not, scooting back a bit on the mattress and eyeing him warily.
"Hey, don't just-"
"Calm down, blondie, I'm just trying to look at your eyes. I'm Pre-Med," he explained, as if Roxas should've been aware of this. He twirled a small, hand held flash light between his bony fingers and arched an eyebrow at Roxas. "You wearing contacts?"
"..Uh...no, I'm not," Roxas finally gave in, and scooted up a bit closer. Before long Axel was instructing him to 'look up', or to 'follow the light', and this and that. His hands were cold; which, Roxas supposed, was to be expected for one so long and thin. He probably didn't have the best circulation.
"Damn," he said eventually, causing Roxas to launch into a panic.
"What? What is it!?" He demanded, pulling away enough to give him the full effect of his discontent.
"Nothing, nothing, jeez," he explained, holding his palms up after clicking off his flashlight with a smirk. "Your eyes are just alarmingly blue. Very nice."
"Fuck off," And with one last look of disgust, Roxas forced himself up through sheer force of will and shoved past Axel, headed for the door. At this point, he'd do anything to get out of this hell on wheels. He ignored the heat rising up the back of his neck at Axel's compliment. The hit must be making him dizzy, or something. Anyway, once he opened the door and sat outside, he found Sora and Riku just…hanging out. They were sitting in fold out chairs with a few of those other 'probably art majors' he'd noticed earlier today; drinking, laughing, having a good time. "Really? Guys?!"
"Roxas! You feeling okay? You really got hit hard. Oh, and I told Mom," Sora was quick to set down his hard lemonade and come running to his side, conveying limitless, genuine concern for his twin. "..Really, man. You okay?" He asked, resting a hand on his shoulder while he stepped down from the slightly elevated trailer.
"Yeah...yeah, I'll be fine. Just tired," Roxas muttered, wanting nothing more than to rip Sora a new one for letting random people damn near kidnap him. But at least he and Riku stuck around while he was with Axel. "..You mind if we head back? I just want to.."be away from here. Be far, far away from him. "…you know. Lie down."
"Yeah, he's gonna need rest," Axel called from the trailer's door frame, leaning against it with false sense of pride. "..and keep him hydrated, you got that? Should be feeling better by tomorrow."
"Right, got it!" Sora said with a determined nod, as if he'd been entrusted with a task so grave it could alter he future of humanity. He kept close to Roxas' side, in case he lost his balance or needed something to lean on. Really, he was feeling much better with the fresh air, but Sora insisted. "..alright, let's get you home. Riku! Come on, let's go."
Riku seemed pleased to set the down the beer he was probably pretending to enjoy, muttering 'it's about time' under his breath as he stood. "Sorry about that, Rox," he said while joining them, giving Roxas a hard and 'good natured' slap on the back, right between his shoulder blades.
The hit made him see stars for a moment, his vision blurring. He shot Riku a glare; Was he pissed or something? Or was he really that oblivious to his own strength? Anyway, before long the three of them waved their goodbyes (mostly Sora) and they were on their way back to the dorms. Finally.
"Oh, Roxas," Sora began, fishing through his pockets for a moment before handing Roxas his phone. "You dropped it back at the court yard."
"Thanks," Roxas said, and as luck would have it, it buzzed the moment it hit his hand with a text from a number Roxas didn't recognize.
Now you owe me one. See you, pretty boy.
What? How the hell did Axel get his number? Well, at least, Roxas assumed it was Axel; it was all that made sense at the time. Roxas scoffed, angrily shoving his phone into his pocket, his face burning with…Anger. Right. Definitely anger.
"You okay? You're burning up," Sora commented, looking him over with concern as they finally reached the dorms.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Roxas responded quickly, wanting nothing more than to just lay down. "..You didn't tell Kairi, did you?"
"No, but she's probably heard. Tons of people were taking videos. It's all over campus," Riku explained with an obviously amused smirk. The bastard.
Great. Just...fantastic. Well, at least they were home, Roxas thought as they climbed the stairs and made it to their room. "..Alright, whatever, just…" he began, struggling to form a proper sentence. His head was splitting. "Look, if she comes over just…let me sleep, alright?"
"No promises." Sora said, flopping down on the couch. Roxas made for his room as fast as possible, closing the door behind him and collapsing into bed. He fell asleep almost instantly, all the while those two little words floating around in his head.
Pretty boy.
'All The Small Things' - Blink182
'Smells Like Teen Spirit' - Nirvana
'Don't You Know Who I Think I Am?' - Fall Out Boy
Naming it a song title because I'm a creative piece of shit.
So, uuhh apparently sitars don't have sound holes? And i had already written that scene when I found that out, and I really really wanted Demyx's sitar to be filled with pot, so I I guess this one does. Or maybe it's a ukulele. Whatever.
Anyway! Thanks for reading! Please review if you feel like it, or don't. Big, giant thanks to Emily, my editor for giving this a look over before I posted it. You can contact her via reallycoldcheese on tumblr. She's a fantastic editor, if anyone is looking.
If you'd like to contact me, you can send me a message here or through my blog at axelscurves on tumblr. Thank you, and expect an update soon!
See you next time!