So I know this one took a long time to upload. Like, a loooooong time. For me at least, given the amounts of time between each previous upload. Unfortunately, a lot has happened over the last few days, the most significant being my move back to college life. Again, I will try my best to not allow college to greatly impede my writing, but it will inevitably take longer for things to get uploaded considering I use the same medium for writing, homework, and reviewing a lot of the coursework, i.e., my beloved laptop Arcadia. Thank you for your patience and enjoy!
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Dreamer Boy
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Chapter 4
"All I ever wanted was to reach out and touch another human being not just with my hands but with my heart." –Tahereh Mafi, Shatter Me
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Roxas thought about how to approach Xion all throughout Mr. Hook's History class (and made sure to pay close enough attention to the oddly dressed man so that he wouldn't be reprimanded for a third time that day). After talking it over with Olette before she went off to her Biology class with Mr. Clayton, he found out that he actually had Art class with Xion at the end of the day and apparently never noticed her. Olette said she was a clay sculptor, so Roxas naturally thought of doing the classy thing and complimenting whatever pieces she's working on, but he hadn't the faintest idea of where to take the conversation afterwards that would lead to them being on a friendly basis. As the Captain droned on about the Spanish Inquisition, however, Roxas remembered what Cloud told him this past weekend about him over-thinking things and decided that just going with the flow was probably his best option.
The bell rang right as Hook was finishing up his last note. Roxas packed up his things, left, and walked down the hall slowly, working up the I'm-not-trying-to-get-to your-super-hot-twin-brother-through-you façade he'd been practicing since lunch. Before he knew it, though, he passed right by Mr. Geppetto's studio/classroom and had to backtrack past an amused (and slightly swooned) group of freshman girls. Roxas ignored them and entered the room.
Immediately, he began looking for Xion. The class had about 40 students in it, and the only one Roxas even bothered talking to was his table partner Namine, so it wasn't exactly easy. He eventually found her toward the back of the classroom placing a small vase in the kiln. Breathing slowly, making sure his façade was in check, he approached her and—
"You know, if you're going to work up the courage to ask me out, you probably shouldn't make it as obvious."
Completely taken aback, Roxas didn't know what to do, and found himself laughing at the sheer irony of the situation.
"No, I, umm, wasn't going to ask you out," he said through his laughter. "I was only going to comment on how nice your vase looks."
Xion contemplated that for a moment. "Well, you didn't slip up and say 'ass' instead of 'vase,' so I suppose I should believe you. Thank you."
Geppetto entered the room and attempted to say over the dull roar, "Alright class, get creating!"
Xion closed the kiln and moved to her table where her partner Larxene was working on a wood carving. Xion opened a portfolio of sorts, pulled out a picture of a very intricately designed vase, and began kneading a lump of clay. "So what inspired you to notice my vase?" Xion inquired.
"I thought the clay looked exceptionally smooth. Better than what most high school art students are capable of."
"Well, thank you, again. So what kind of art do you create?"
Roxas pointed to where Namine was already drawing an intricate lotus on her sketchpad. "My partner Namine and I are sketch artists. She draws the designs out, and I detail them with coloured pencils."
"Oh, were you two the ones who did the sketch of Oblivion Manor?"
"Yeah, we did it when…"
And they continued to softly ramble to each other about art until Namine came over with her finished lotus sketch about 15 minutes later.
"I've been wondering where you were," she said as she handed over the sketch. "I see you've been getting acquainted with the class's clay prodigy. Just make sure you finish that sketch in case you decide to partner up with Xion instead, kay?" Namine smiled and went back to the table as her signature sweetly sarcastic tone inspired Roxas to stick his tongue out at her.
As Xion was now shaping her clay, Roxas began finishing the lotus sketch, thinking it would make him look more genuine to her. Their previous conversation picked back up and moved from physical art to music, music to books, and finally books to family. Roxas lightly talked about how annoying Cloud was as an older brother while carefully deliberating if and how he should talk about Sora when Xion said, "My twin brother Sora is the same way! If I look away for even a second, he'll drain my bowl of Apple Jacks, and I'll have to eat the school's crappy breakfast."
Roxas mentally stumbled at the sudden inclusion of his crush in the conversation, and a few of his thoughts were almost blurted out. He attempted to recollect himself in enough time to not make himself look like an idiot. "Oh, you, umm, have a twin? Well, uh, what's he like?"
"Typical brother material," Xion sighed. "Eats my food. Uses my shampoo. Hell, if I don't go to bed early enough, he sometimes ends up sleeping in my bed because he was watching Netflix on our PS3, which we keep in my room. I mean, he's always really nice to me and everyone else, and he has a good taste in friends, though they're not the exact type of people I would normally hang out with. He can sometimes be a handful, though."
"Five minutes left, class!" Geppetto called out across the room. "Clean, reorganize, and if it's necessary, reassemble your tables!"
Roxas and Xion began straightening up their workspace. Xion still had some etching to do in her smaller model of the pictured vase, but Roxas had somehow finished the lotus sketch. "Holy shit, that's amazing!" Xion said a bit too loudly, earning a somewhat stern look from Geppetto.
"You think so?" Roxas asked.
"Of course! You know, you should come over some time and see my little gallery of my works." Roxas went a little red in the face and tried to hide it as he realized he'd just been somewhat indirectly invited to his crush's house. Xion saw this and added, "If you ever got bored of looking at clay art, we could always play God of War or something."
"Oh, umm, yeah, I'd love to come over!" Roxas said as he realized his mistake. "Actually, what are you doing today?"
"Nothing, really. If you want, you could ride home with me on the train."
Roxas got excited at the thought, but remembered Cid had procrastinated beyond Shera's limit for putting the part in Roxas's truck. "Well, I need to go home because my dad said he wanted to show me how to put this part in my truck, but I could be there around 5 o'clock."
"That would work! Here's my number so you can call me when you're on the way"
The final bell of the day rang as Roxas took the slip of paper. He grabbed his stuff, gave a cheerful "See ya!" to Xion who responded with a smile and a wave, and headed out the class room. He exited the school and trekked through the pot lot, making sure to keep his head down and move quickly to avoid its usual occupants. After starting his truck, he tried pulling out of the parking lot, but found that he was about the 20th person in line trying to do so at that time. Annoyed, he decided to use an old trick Cloud had used when he was in high school and plugged in his iPod. He went immediately to his Cradle of Filth songs, selected "Amor E Morte," rolled down his windows, and cranked up the volume. The driver in front of him was soon very irritated—Twilight Town was famous, or infamous as the case may be, among its younger residents for being a town whose musical preferences leaned toward 80's music and far away from any genre too different, death metal being a good example. The irritated driver honked his horn and threw a certain finger out his window, which made the driver in front of that driver assume it was directed toward him and mirror the action, and so on until the trend reached the driver in the very front who left as quickly as possible to avoid the angry onslaught of honking and air-fingering, which the cars behind him immediately began copying. Two minutes later, Roxas was finally pulling out of the lot, laughing at his success.
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"That's got her fixed. Your mileage should pick up a lot now."
Cid closed the hood of Roxas's pickup trick and lit a cigarette as the excited teen jumped in his truck. As Roxas was turning on the ignition, he heard his father knock on his window and rolled it down.
"Now, son, you know we're happy to pay for your first few tanks of gas, but your mother and I both think that you need to be on the lookout for a job so you can learn to be financially independent, not to mention a little pocket money. Keep that in mind while you're driving over to your friend's house, okay?"
"Sure thing, Dad. Bye."
Roxas drove off with an artist that Olette recommended to him named Janelle Monae playing on his iPod. He made a mental note to look up more of her music when he got back home as he half-danced to "Q.U.E.E.N." in his seat, getting a few weird looks from pedestrians when he had to stop at red lights. About the time he stopped at the third red light he came to, however, Roxas remembered he hadn't called Xion, called the number she gave him, and apologized for calling somewhat late. He was answered by blaring alternative music and hilariously bad singing being quickly hushed.
"Sorry about that, but yeah, I won't hold it against you. Where are you now?"
Roxas surveyed his surroundings. "I'm next to that old, run-down Burger King by the sandlot. What's that, maybe, five minutes from the station?"
"What colour's your truck?"
"Black. Why?"
"I'd say I'm right behind you."
Roxas turned around in his seat and saw through his back window a short, black-haired girl on the phone waving at him from the passenger seat of a little red Kia. However, what attracted his attention more was the brunet in the driver's seat who was still mouthing the words to the song Roxas now recognized as an old Chiodos hit that was playing (which Roxas only knew because it was high up on his list of favourite songs ever). Once again, Roxas was caught in a dream-like state, so much so that he didn't realize his red light had turned to green.
"Go, stupid!" he heard through the phone.
Roxas quickly returned to the proper driving position (as much as he didn't want to) and realized why he was being yelled at. "Oh, shit!" was the last thing he said before hanging up and fully returning his attention to the road.
He finally arrived at the station lot, parking near the entrance but not in the reserved ones, despite the reserved one next to him being flashily parked in by the red Kia as if the driver were starring in a car chase movie. Roxas hastily grabbed his things, knowing sketchy people like Seifer liked to prey those who left their possessions behind, and got out of his truck. As he was locking it with his key, the occupants of the Kia were getting out as well and walking toward him with their possession in hand. For some reason, the door lock, even though it was customized like the ignition, was being incredibly difficult and taking three times as much of Roxas's time (and seemingly all of his dignity) as he had originally intended. Before he knew it though, a soft, warm hand was on his shoulder.
"Here, let me help you with that," said the sweetest voice Roxas had ever heard.
Roxas immediately submitted—and to what, he wasn't quite sure—and let the gorgeous boy take his key from him.
"If you have a sticky lock like this, wiggle the key a little bit when you're turning it, and it'll open like a charm. The old hooptie I used to drive did the same thing, and it always worked with it." Both pairs of ears heard the lock click. The brunet stood up straight and faced Roxas with a smile that literally took his breath away as he took his key back from the angel.
"See, what did I tell you? My name's Sora by the way." He extended his impossibly soft hand once more for a handshake.
Fortunately, Roxas had been mentally preparing himself for this moment so he didn't completely freeze up. That still didn't keep his response from being delayed by about three whole seconds, though. When he finally extended his hand and shook, only being able to utter the word "Roxas," the brunet laughed a laugh that could've easily been mistaken for the sound of bells chiming. "You really are weird, aren't you? Seems to be the only type of person Xion meets."
Roxas instinctively and unintentionally took the defensive. "I'm not weird! Really! Totally normal!"
Sora laughed again, "Right. Of course you are."
"Are you two idiots going to kiss, or are we going to ever get on this damn train before it leaves?"
Xion had been trying to get both of their attentions from the station entrance with numerous nonverbal gestures to no avail for several seconds. Not noticing the deep shade of red Roxas's face turned upon the idea of the pair of them kissing, Sora shook his head and muttered something under his breath, said over his shoulder to Roxas "Come on, then!", and sped off to the station. Roxas meagerly walked behind and simply admired how the brunet looked like he could've been dancing to the station entrance.
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Upon taking their seats, Xion immediately and excitedly began talking about art again, but naturally, Roxas wasn't in the correct mental state to talk to her and answered with the polite bare minimum required for each question. Eventually though, she took notice went off on a tangent with Sora, and the two got into a light-hearted argument over anime at which Roxas finally cracked his frozen exterior and laughed. Both twins smiled at Roxas's apparent mood finally lifting.
"So I understand you're a sketch artist," Sora began, trying to keep the non-frozen Roxas alive. "What kind of things do you sketch?"
"Umm, well, I'm more of the detailing half of my sketch duo. My partner Namine does most of the actual sketching. I just go back and refine it, then add some colour to it."
"Oh, well I think that's even better, y'know?" Sora continued. "Like, you're the one behind the scenes who doesn't get much credit for making the masterpiece even better than it could've been, like the unsung hero or something."
Roxas blushed before he could hide his face. "Thanks," he managed to say.
Xion shot her twin a look that Roxas couldn't decipher and Sora himself completely ignored. "Sure thing, but I gotta ask, do you do anything athletic?"
"Ummm," Roxas unsurely muttered, given his almost complete distaste for athletics. "I'm not big on sports in general, but I do Struggle every now and then."
Sora's face lit up, while Xion's darkened in annoyance. "You Struggle?! No way! I love Struggle! I've been on the school team since middle school! You know there's a tournament this Saturday, right?"
As if he hadn't been heavily planning on going for the last three days for the very reason sitting right across from him, Roxas answered, "Yeah, I've been looking into signing up, but I'm still not sure."
"Well, you should. I'm going, all of my friends are going, Xion's going, although she's only watching, AND I heard they're having Setzer Gabbiani, a national champion, come for the winner of the adult tournament to have an exhibition match with.
"Oh, cool—," Roxas began to say before he was cut off by Xion impatiently yelling, "Can we please switch to a more interesting topic?!"
Sora jokingly glared at her. "Can it wait? We're arriving."
Roxas looked out the window for the first time during the train ride. What once was a surrounding sapphire-blue ocean was now yielding an emerald isle lined with white-gold sand. They had finally arrived at Destiny Islands.
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There it is. What you've been missing. Some face-to-face time with Roxas and Sora. Took long enough, right? Hopefully, those of you with Sherlockian skills have been able to detect the beginnings of the developing conflict (which I hadn't really started developing until Chapter 3 when I first thought of it). It's going to be juicy. Another issue I've been facing is that the time-setting is developing slowly. For those of you keeping up, this is only the third day of the storyline and the second day that has any decent amount of plot attached to it (I copped out of trying to make anything happen on Sunday). I know it seems like its going to take forever to get to that Struggle tournament on Saturday, but apparently my high school AP English teacher's lessons on a good plot having a shorter timeline stuck with me more than I knew. :P Love your reviews and questions, please keep them coming!
P.S. I hope you liked the blaring death metal part, even if you're not a fan of the genre. That tidbit was a story from my actual life (though the region of the South I'm from is much more into country music than 80's music), and I actually was that kid who would blare death metal to consecutively piss everyone off into moving faster out of my high school parking lot! Ha!