Wow, it's been what? Two weeks? I'm so glad I got such a positive response! To all the people who reviewed, followed, and favorited, thank you so much! BTW, if you have any questions, you can ask me through a review or PM me!
Enjoy.
Axel watched as Roxas—once again—did a perfect dive into their school's pool. Mr. Lexaeus nodded approvingly once Roxas resurfaced. Over-chlorinated pool water ran down his torso as he shook his spiky blonde hair out.
Axel never admitted it before, but the kid had nice muscles. Definitely not someone he wanted to fight, even if he towered over Roxas easily. Which made him wonder, why didn't Roxas just beat him up or something? Maybe Roxas liked him a little bit. The thought made Axel grin wildly when he saw Roxas look up at him.
This might be easier than I thought . . .
"Hey Rox, why is Axel Sinclair grinning at you like some kind of idiot?" Hayner asked, pausing in his climb to the high-dive board.
"Oh yeah, you missed it. I'm playing Axel's love game now," Roxas said nonchalantly, ignoring the "WTF?" look Hayner was giving him.
"Why?" Hayner asked.
"I felt like it," Roxas said. Hayner didn't need to know about what happened to Ventus.
"Oh, so you just felt like getting your heart pulled apart in front of your eyes. Is this some sort of weird emotional masochism?"
Roxas shrugged. Hayner shook his head, and took his dive. When he resurfaced, he saw Roxas being pulled into Axel's lap. Axel was happy, but deep in Roxas' eyes—if you knew him well enough—you see something deeper. Not exactly hatred, but something close enough.
He may be the first to conquer Axel, Hayner thought. Satisfied with what he had seen, he treaded into the deep end to goof off with Seifer.
Roxas had realized (as much as he doesn't want to admit it) he liked sitting in Axel's lap. It was big enough for him curl into and it was warm, like his own personal furnace. But he denied that this had anything to do with liking Axel, and it didn't. Oh, not by a long shot. Roxas still wanted revenge for what had happened to Ven, even if he didn't know the whole the story. But the only people who knew that were Ven and Axel. Roxas figured Ven would come around eventually. Sighing into Axel's warm chest, he (kind of fakely) smiled like he was enjoying himself. But Roxas liked being warm, so maybe he was, just a little bit.
Kairi and Selphie ran Twilight Town High's gossip mill like a trade center. And what had happened between Roxas and Axel was quite the hot topic.
"No, no," Selphie said to a couple of seniors. "Roxas does not like Axel. He's doing it for revenge, it has something to do with Ven." The seniors gave her blank looks. Selphie gasped. "He was a senior last year! He took a few college courses though, so he wasn't around campus much. He was a real cutie though. He looks just like Roxas, but with lighter hair."
"So what happened between Ven and Axel?" The glasses-clad senior prodded.
"Actually, no one has any clue. Ven just stopped showing up, and Axel told us that Ven had lost and—"
"Axel specifically asked us to shut any rumors down and keep new ones from arising," Kairi said through gritted teeth, shooting a glare at Selphie before staring down the seniors.
"Come on Kairi. We all know all your info has a price. Name it, and we'll pay it, but this is too good a story to pass up," Glasses senior's friend said.
Kairi raised an eyebrow. "Okay, for the short version, I'll need one million dollars in cash, and two round-trip tickets to Paris, first class. For the long version, I'll need five million, and a pink private jet. Still think you can't pass this story up?"
Glasses senior scoffed. "Whatever. It's probably not that good anyway." With that, the two seniors walked away.
"Kairi, do you know anything about—" Selphie was cut off by Kairi's hand.
"No, I don't. But Axel's . . . Axel, so if he needs me to keep a secret, I'll keep it," Kairi explained.
"You won't tell me even for a two weeks worth of sleepovers?" Selphie pouted.
Kairi shook her head no.
Axel and Demyx were tuning their guitars in seventh period music, when Selphie walked up to them.
"Do you need something Selphie?" Demyx asked, ever the polite one. Axel simply ignored the co-queen of the gossip mill.
"Actually, I wanted to ask Axel something," Selphie said.
Axel lifted his head, a silent grant of permission. He hated talking to Selphie; she had a way of reading his expressions, tone, and twisting his words into was highly resembled truth. Kairi and Naminé were the same way.
"What happened between you and Ven?" she asked.
Axel hesitated, and he could see the sparkle in Selphie's eyes. "He played my love game and lost. After that, some family issue came up. Haven't heard from him since."
"Family issue? I'll ask Roxas about it, then," Selphie said, turning on her heel and walking out of the music room.
Demyx cast Axel a side glance. "What it really a family issue?"
"That's what Roxas knows, so that's the story I'm sticking to."
"Ax, I know you and Ven were over a year ago, but you're being really secretive about it and it's starting to freak me out. What happened that's so awful?"
"Look, Dem, I'd love to tell you. Really, I would. But this story has other stories, from different people with different views. In every version, including mine, I'm a total asshole. It's just a huge reputation damager. If your really wondering, I did hear from Ven about nine months after he transferred. He said he had forgiven me, so I put it behind me. But Roxas is starting to make complicated," Axel whispered, glancing around nervously for eavesdroppers.
"Who else knows?" Demyx asked.
"It's me, Ven, Naminé, and Kairi. Roxas doesn't know, and I don't want him to until either Ven or I tell him. Just pretend you don't know anything, okay? The last thing I need is Selphie to sell it off to the school."
"But what about Kairi? You said she knew, right? How do you know she didn't tell Selphie?"
"Because I know Kairi. Even though she's a bitch to me, she doesn't actually hate me."
Demyx nodded. "Uh-huh. Well, whatever you did to Ven, don't do it to Roxas. I heard he got kicked out of his private school for fighting. Kicked one guy in his nutsack so hard that he blacked out."
Axel shuddered. "Noted."
So what really happened between Axel and Ventus? That's for a little later in the story, but I'll keep feeding you clues. What do you all think about this chapter? I know, it's not a lot of Akuroku, but I wanted to get some of the school's reaction in there.
Thank you for reviewing ;)
-yoyoyo98
