I Can Move On With You Around.
Roxas stayed with Axel. Time wore on, the end of the week came and the next passed. Living together, Roxas and Axel found out more about each other than was strictly healthy. For instance, Roxas discovered just how much Axel smoked, which was not much, and Axel discovered Roxas' band, My Chemical Romance. Both where secrets neither wanted to share, but out they came anyways. The bruise from Roxas' cheek had flared and then dulled over a week, and then was gone forever. Axel still caught Roxas touching his cheek when he thought he was alone, at which Axel would back slowly away from whatever room he was about to enter. 'Roxas will find his own way' he reasoned, 'in time.'
During his stay, Roxas did everything he could around the apartment. He figured it was the least he could do, although Axel insisted he didn't have to. The small apartment was now completely clean and brighter than it had been before. Axel would watch Roxas work with mild amusement, a constant smirk gracing his thin lips. When Roxas got to work, he really worked. Hell, he even scrubbed the toilet one time.
On days will college, Axel and Roxas would hop on the bike and be off. Roxas bought a pair of riding goggles so his eyes didn't get a blow-drying. Axel thought he looked way to cute in them for his own good. Axel and Roxas ended up working together on the college project, to which Axel discovered Roxas' skills on the piano and keyboard. It was during of one such lesson that Axel had an encounter of the Riku kind.
Axel had been simply walking down a corridor to the equipment room when someone called his name.
"Axel!" And it didn't sound friendly. Axel turned around slowly.
"You bellowed?" he smirked.
"You and I need to talk." Riku said. "In here." he added, pulling Axel into the equipment room.
"Oh, very eager aren't we? You should know I don't screw other people's property..."
"Shut up." Riku snapped, looking pissed. "Why the hell is Roxas staying with you?"
"Ah, I see...Sora sent you...well fair enough. If you're really too dumb to understand, Roxas is staying with me because he wants to...
Riku's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Why?"
"That's for Roxas and Roxas alone to explain, but I can say this: my place must sure feel like more of a home than his place ever did."
Riku must have snapped, since he grabbed Axel by the shirt and pushed him against a wall.
"If you do anything to Roxas, and I mean anything, then..."
"Then it will be none of your business. None what so ever."
"I'm warning you..." Riku's grip tightened.
Axel's own eyes narrowed, flashing with hidden fire.
"Keep you warning. Now get off me before I slam you head through that amp." he hissed, nodding towards the large piece of equipment.
Riku let go and stalked out of the room
On one fine Saturday afternoon, Axel entered the local coffee shop. He was alone, since Roxas was at the movies with Sora. At the usual table sat the usual gang. Demyx, Zexion, Saix, Kairi and Namine. They where all spread out on the leather seats around the square table by the upstairs window, since the shop had 3 floors. Kairi and Namine where curled up on one seat, Saix was reclining in another. Zexion was sat in one with Demyx on the floor between his legs. Axel noted Zexion was holding a small plushie-doll that resembled Demyx. In fact...it was Demyx.
"Ah, the wanderer returneth!" Saix said, seeing Axel's fiery hair coming up the stairs. Axel slumped into a seat. Moments later a waitress came up with his coffee and muffin.
The gang sat and talked about just about everything for over an hour. Axel was pressed for details on Roxas, of which he gave few but with a smile. His muffin lay forgotten until Zexion asked if he could have it.
"Knock yourself out." Axel grinned. Zexion grabbed the muffin and bit into it.
"Ahhh...I love muffins..." he said though a mouthful.
"What about me?" Demyx whined from the floor, looking up with hurt puppy eyes.
"Uh...I love you too Dem'."
"More than muffins?"
"Yes Dem', even more than muffins."
Axel's phone rang as he drained his coffee. Roxas was finished at the movies. Axel clicked his phone shut and, after saying goodbye, took his leave.
"So...anyone notice anything different with our resident redhead?" Saix asked over his green tea. Zexion nodded, playing with the Demyx-plushie.
"He's a lot more...active. Like he's coming out of a hangover or something." Kairi said, braiding Namine's hair.
"Yeah...it's like he's a changed person." The blonde girl added.
"I hope the change lasts..." Demyx said from the floor. Zexion, who had remained quiet, was looking into the far of distance, out of the window.
"Zex'?" Saix said. Zexion continued to stare.
"Zex'y, hun...what's wrong?" Demyx asked.
Zexion was deep in thought. Thoughts that, in truth, terrified him. He knew Axel better than most, and what he was capable of.
"A storm is coming..." The quiet one said.
"So...how was the movie?"
"Pure crap...I fell asleep half way through."
Axle chuckled to himself; there was indeed sings of interrupted sleep all across Roxas' face. Roxas always pouted if his sleep was interrupted.
"Where's Sora?"
"He went to meet Riku."
"Don't you mean meat?" Axel grinned at Roxas
"Eww, Axel..." Roxas whined, slapping the taller redhead playfully on the arm.
"Well c'mon Rox...it's not like they're saving themselves." Axel said, lighting a cigarette. Roxas looked slightly put out.
"I thought you where stopping..." He mumbled, indicating the small white stick.
"I am. This is a peppermint thingy...no nasty cacogenics."
"Right...Anyway, what time is it?"
Axel glanced down at his watch.
"Holy crap...it's nearly nine..."
"At night?"
"No, in the morning...yes at night dufus."
"Okay...well let's go then."
Axel faked a hurt look.
"What? You don't want to go hang round the gay bars?"
"No...I'd rather spend more time with you." Roxas replied with a smile. A genuinely happy and contented smile. Axel couldn't help but smile right back.
The trip home was uneventful for the most. Let's face it, who ever expects huge amounts of action on 'the way home'? A bus ride and then a five minute walk. Axel wanted to get in and eat something. Roxas wanted to curl up on the couch with Axel and watch movies. As they walked home from the bus stop, Roxas somehow slipped his hand into Axel's. It caught Axel off guard completely. Roxas had been showing a lot more attachment to Axel in the past weeks, but he was never bold about it. Axel gave the hand a small squeeze; he enjoyed it, the holding hands. He enjoyed the little hugs he got from the blonde when they met up after being apart. He enjoyed the way they curled up on the couch at night and Roxas would play with his hair or throw popcorn at him after a dumb comment. All in all, Axel couldn't imagine a better place than with Roxas.
'Sure you can...' Axel's mind said as he walked. '...you know exactly where you'd rather be.'
'Shut up...I don't want to think about him.' Axel thought back, frowning.
'Maybe not, but what about Rox? For all you know he could be the same.'
'He's not. He's nothing like Xemnas.'
'Axel...think about it. If thing get any more complicated then the kid will only understand so much. Xemnas, now he understood...'
'He cheated on me! Not to mention...that.'
'Still can't come to terms with it?'
'You know I can. He beat the livin' crap out of me. End of.'
'But still...'
Time, like all things, is constant. Under cover of darkness Roxas stole into his house and recovered clothes and other items. It had become a kind of unspoken fact that Roxas didn't want to return home. Without a word, Axel had asked him to move in, and Roxas had wordlessly accepted. Axel was greatly disturbed that Roxas' parents hadn't tried to get him home, or reported him as missing. He guessed Sora must have told them where he was staying, but it had been going on several weeks. Roxas didn't seem t mind in the slightest. He hardly thought on it, since he had better things to think about. Better, taller, red-headed things with emerald eyes and small tattoos.
Roxas had come to accept his new found feelings for Axel. Around him, it was like the world had dissolved away like tunnel-vision. Together, it was like only they existed. One more than one occasion Axel invaded Roxas' dreams, like a guardian. Roxas discovered that he hadn't frowned or scowled in all the time he had been staying with Axel, such was the older boys affect on him. It only took one night for Roxas to decide that Axel was a little more than important to him.
Roxas had slipped into his bed in the spare room as usual. Nothing different about the nights events; movies, jokes, popcorn throwing. Roxas fell into a soft sleep within minutes, expecting the morning sun to be flooding him the next morning. What transpired within the next hours was nothing short of disturbing. In short, Roxas had a bad dream. But 'bad' would be a very loose way of putting it. Roxas tossed and turned silently, sweating, cringing, but making no sound. In his head, his deepest fears and regrets where visiting him. His mind was haunted by the invisible predator, the monster no one ever dares to face, the one who's appearance spelled certain doom for the pray. It was the classic something that followed with a steady pace, that turned the floor of dreamland to jelly, and the legs of the runner to steel. Roxas awoke, breathing as if he'd run a mile, drenched in cold sweat, trembling. With uncertain steps me made his way to the bathroom to wash his face. He assured himself it was just a dream. A little self assurance and he felt better. As he made his way back to his bed, something caught his eye. It made his blood turn to ice.
In the middle of the kitchen, Axel lay dead. Blood dripped from the table, from the wall and from the light frame. Axel lay on his back with a ragged hole the size of a wine bottle in his stomach. The floor was visible below him through the hole. Roxas almost died. He stumbled to Axel's side, placing his hand on the cold skin of his face.
Something stirred.
Roxas, filled with the most numbing dread, looked over his shoulder.
It was there.
The thing, the creature, the inhuman being. It was imposable to describe its body, as dark and out of focus as it was. The only thing that stood out where its eyes and mouth. The eyes where wide, perfect circles, with small black pupils. Its mouth was pulled up in a horrendous smile, the corners almost touching where its ears should be. Its mouth was filled with silver, dagger like teeth. The monster opened its mouth and issued a long, monotone sound. Not like a human moan, but just one sound, low and drawn out. Its sound chilled Roxas to the bone and he fell to the floor, his body convulsing. Fears ripped at his mind and heart as, from the floor, he watched Axel's dead head turn and face him, his face now replaced with that of the monster, startled eyes and crazed smile. The monster-Axel slowly opened its mouth and...
Roxas awoke.
Axel was torn from his slumber by nothing at all. He simply awoke, with no good reason to. Although he tried to get back to his rest, something kept him in the land of the living. He tossed and turned in frustration, but then he heard it: a sharp intake of breath, like a hiss, from the other room. Then the exhales, ragged, slow, like a cold person when they shiver too much. Axel got out of bed and padded to the door of Roxas' room. Pushing the door open a crack, he peered inside. Roxas was curled up on the mattress, on his side, rocking slightly. From the doorway, Axel could make out his face. It was the very mask of terror.
"Roxas? You okay?" Axel asked softly.
"Axel...help..." the blonde breathed, still staring wide eyed at the wall. Axel crossed to the small form, kneeling beside him.
"Rox, what's wrong?"
"I...can't move...Axel...too afraid..." Each word was a mere breath, no louder. It scared Axel.
"You had a bad dream?"
"So cold...Axel...I'm scared..."
Axel stood up, grabbed the kicked-off blanket and climbed onto the bed beside Roxas' shaking form. Pulling the blanket over them, Axel curled round Roxas protectively.
"You're safe Roxas...its okay."
Roxas slowly turned over and buried his face in Axel's shoulder. His own shoulders started heaving as he cried silently from the terror he had suffered.
"Rox...what happened?"
"You...It was after me...but I woke up and found you...it killed you...it was...so horrible...Axel...don't be dead..." Roxas sobbed, clutching at Axel like he had when Axel had found him at his door.
Axel pulled the smaller boy against him and kissed his head.
"I won't be Rox. I'm right here...I'm not going anywhere."
"Axel...I'm sorry."
"Hush now...you don't ever have to be.
Roxas awoke the next morning to the sunlight he had hoped for the night before. He awoke, still clutching to Axel, and Axel holding him close. It was then, as the memories flooded through, that Axel became more to him than anything. Roxas decided that Axel should know.
Over breakfast, Axel questioned Roxas about his dream. He was curious to know what had the boy so terrified. Roxas, however, didn't want to talk about it. He brought up another subject.
"Axel...Have you ever...I'm not sure how to say this...was I ever more than a friend to you? Like...have you ever wanted to ask me out or something?"
Axel looked up from his bagel and grinned.
"Awww, does Roxie have a crush on me? I'm so flattered!"
"...What if I do?" Roxas mumbled. Axel stopped laughing and raised an eyebrow.
"Are you serious?" Roxas nodded. "Well...since you brought it up, yes. I have, on occasion, wanted to be a little closer to you. But...well, lets say it's up to you and leave it at that."
Axel went back to his bagel. After a moments silence, Roxas spoke again.
"I saw Zexion the other day."
"Oh yeah? What's he up to?" Axel asked, munching away.
"He mentioned Xemnas."
Axel dropped the remainder of his breakfast as he face grew dark.
"Oh."
Axel got up and binned his leftovers. Roxas followed him and spun him round by his arm.
"I don't mind that you never told me, it's not for me to know. Axel...do you want us to be more than friends?"
"Are you asking me out Roxas?"
For the first time in months, Roxas frowned.
"Maybe I am. I know what I want, but what about you?"
Axel smirked a little.
"And what do you want Roxas?" he asked, leaning against the work table.
"I...I want us to be together. Like we are now, just closer."
Axel opened his mouth to speak, but Roxas silenced him, placing his hand gently on the taller teen's lips.
"...but only when you're ready. I don't want to share you with the ghost of someone else."
Axel smiled, glad for Roxas' understanding. He grazed his fingers over the blonde's cheek and down his neck.
"You won't have to Roxas...I can move on with you around."
A/N: Slight change made to this page (teensy correction). Carry on, more lies ahead, but stop to reviw first if you will.
Toodles!
