Didn't Stand a Chance (At All)
A/N: So, this chapter came much later than it was supposed to. Blame it on Hell Week, AKA Final's Week. Don't shank me please. To apologize, I give you a 17 page chapter. Forgive me? Thanks to every one who read, reviewed, alerted and/or favorited. You guys are the most AWESOME humans to ever grace this earth. Don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise.
Song mentioned: Two-Way Street by Kimbra (I absolutely ADORE this woman, by the way)
Chapter 4 – Two Way Street
It took an entire week for Axel to finally admit it but there was really no way to avoid declaring it now. In accordance with the the way things transpired last Saturday night, he was officially the Prime Minister of Dumbassland. He'd been spending the better of the time most people spent sleeping, trying to scrub the smell of sweet tea and stupidity from his skin and hair, to no avail. The look of anger and hurt the shorter blonde male sported before assaulting him (It could totally be classified as assault; ice cubes crashing into your forehead at full speed hurt like hell) was engraved into the forefront of his mind. And for some reason, nothing could erase it or the feelings of guilt the image drug up.
He wasn't even aware of why he even cared so much. Roxas was hardly the first man to ever be offended by something he said. The redhead sighed and tilted his head back knocking it gently against the wall behind him. And now, here he was waiting in a near empty hallway on a Friday afternoon, getting side glances from passing students, while looking like the world's gaudiest wallflower. He made a puttering sound with his lips.
This is exactly what happens when you try to be honest and make friends. Stupid ass humans and their damn feelings.
Before Axel could finish his tirade against the entirety of the human race, he heard a distinctive giggle and the sound of multiple footsteps coming his way. He stood up straight, slightly feeling a hitch in his chest as his green eyes caught the gaze of a pair of familiar blue ones.
"What in the name of Davy Crockett's sweat-stained buckskins are you doing here?" Xion deadpanned.
Axel gave a sheepish smile. She turned to the girls she had been walking with, signaling that it was okay for them to go on without her. Axel opened his mouth to say something but was cut off as Xion turned on her heels gesturing for him to follow her. She led him outside to a picnic bench away from prying ears underneath a large tree near the girl's dorm that the two had just exited.
Xion crossed her arms and stared the redhead down making him feel very much like a kindergartener getting scolded for letting the class hermit crab out of his cage and right into his childhood rival's pants during nap time...not that he had ever done that before.
"I think I screwed up." He sighed after a couple moments of unbearable silence.
"Really, now? I honestly thought you did a smashing job that night, not to mention it only took you about a week to realize it."
"You don't have to be so sarcastic."
"I think I do. Let me summarize that night in one sentence: Let The Bodies Hit The Floor by Drowning Pool on repeat for two hours straight."
"I'm sorry."
"Apologizing to the wrong person."
"Damn it, Xion, can you take off the sarcastic asshole hat for one second, you don't wear it well."
Xion shrugged. Axel sighed. This was actually going much worse than he anticipated it would. If she was this pissed at him just think how hard it would be to get Roxas to even be in the same room as him. Not that Axel really cared to be in the same room as someone who previously assaulted him. No matter how hot they looked when they were pissed off to the very core of their existence.
Sometimes Axel just had to wonder if he just grew up to be a social screw up.
"You realize why I'm being hard on you right now, right?" Xion questioned, her tone softening just a bit.
"I can make a couple of guesses."
"Why are you really here?" Xion asked sighing deeply, turning the conversation in a different direction much to Axel's relief. He had a feeling he knew where that topic would stray if they stayed on that road.
"I feel bad."
"About?"
"How everything went down, I guess."
"Why?"
Axel rolled his eyes. He just came to say sorry. He should have known better than to go to a psychology major for a simple cut and dry solution to his problems. Xion looked at him expectantly. He groaned miserably, soul-searching was always so damning to the ego.
"Because I have no idea what the hell happened Saturday night. I kind of thought I was helping. I was getting to the relating part but before I could get there I had a face full of Lipton, lemon and ice. I'm not sure what went wrong."
Xion grinned. "Now, see how easy that was you big, whiny, XY chromosome carrying dummy."
Axel cringed. "Harsh."
"I can be harsher. Now shut up and listen."
The redhead nodded quietly. One thing was for sure, if counseling didn't work out for Xion she could easily get a job as a secret service agent or a mob boss.
"Delivery. That's what screwed you over. Honesty is great, but not so much when it's in the form of verbal diarrhea."
"What is it with you and using bowel movements as imagery?" The singer frowned.
The brunette woman ignored his complaints. "You can't just meet someone and start prattling off every flaw you see and say everything I told you not to say. He's still beyond pissed off. He's been held up in room like a quarantine patient all week –" She paused and sniffed. "You still smell like tea and lemon."
"I know, I've tried everything!" Axel whined, running his hand through his red mane. "How the hell's a man supposed to get laid if he smells like tea, unless there are some guys who are into that kind of – I... should... stop talking now right?"
Xion nodded curtly. "Don't start that with me, Ax. I don't really go for the whole 'blanketing my insecurities with innuendos and tactless jokes' facade. If you wanna start that go back to your enabling band mates."
Well, someone had on their anti-bullshit panties today.
Axel frowned and nodded and continued listening.
"You pretty much crushed the guy's image of you, which really kinda sucks because I think you're the most honest when you're on the stage. You performing was the perfect first impression of you for him to have. Maybe, you should show him that side of you again then, if he can remember why he was interested in you in the first place, you'd be free to apologize without getting disemboweled."
Axel perked up. "The kid was interested in me?"
"Were you not there when he almost had an aneurism after you heard him waxing poetic about you and your set. Even after that, when you were standing right in front of him being the biggest jerk in the history of the world, the guy was drooling so much I thought I was going to have to go and get a mop." Xion said wryly, trying very hard not to smile at the expression on Axel's face.
"W-well yeah, but I thought that was just because he liked our sound not – " Axel trailed off, hearing that Roxas had a thing for him, did strange things to his heartbeat. But the feeling stopped just as abruptly as it started. Had was definitely the operative word in this situation. Again, he was caring much more than he should.
Xion leaned in, intrigue dancing in her gaze. "You like him. Don't you?"
Axel gaped, before straightening his face and shrugging. "I'll admit, I like the kid's moxie and his musical ability, from what I've seen, is nothing to sneeze at but I don't know him, so no."
The brunette woman snorted, giving the redhead an eye roll. "A recent study at the University of Pennsylvania reveals that regardless of what people say they are looking for in a dating situation, they don't need a lot of time with or information about a person to tell if they're interested. In other words: I'm calling you on your bull."
Psychology majors suck so much ass. Axel grimly thought, not daring to vocalize his sentiments, he'd like to leave this little meeting with both balls in tact.
"Anywhoodle little poodle," Xion started "I think I may have a solution to your problem."
"You do?"
"Of course. I'm full of answers." She smiled brightly. Reminding Axel so very much of a serial killer. "You're going to the meeting tomorrow afternoon, right?"
The lanky man nodded warily.
"Good. Just have your apology ready and I will 'Take Care' of everything." Xion instructed, putting air quotes around two words, causing the man to raise a brow. "And stop calling him 'kid'. You've been forewarned and I won't call an ambulance if he breaks your nose because you obviously still have a lesson to learn if it gets to that point."
Axel stood to leave, this entire conversation had his head spinning, his mind was in an even bigger uproar than it had been in last night. He wasn't sure if he'd had some big revelation in the course of this conversation nor was he sure if the very thought of letting Xion 'take care' of things was going to be beneficial to his well-being.
"O-okay, uh, thanks?" Axel responded, very unsure of the status quo. He walked away trying to figure out, if things did go according to whatever crazy ass plan Xion had, what he was going to say to the blonde.
Xion sat at the table and let out a breath she hadn't realized she had cooped up in her lungs. And men said women were complicated creatures, pfft. Pure shenanigans if she had ever heard it. She sat quietly for a while before a mass of blonde mohawk-mullet plopped down next to her.
"So, think your little idea is still going to work?" He asked, his mouth full of what could easily be half of the Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich he was clutching.
Xion looked over slyly. "The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances. If there is any reaction, both are transformed. Carl Jung."
Demyx smiled. "Whatever you say. Part of me still thinks it's hopeless."
Xion snatched a piece of Demyx's sandwich, as she stood up, ignoring his cry of protest. "Unlike you, I'm not a pessimist." She stuck her tongue out at him before popping the food into her mouth and strutting away. Carl Jung was rarely wrong in her book.
Sora sat down in his favorite spot right outside the cafeteria. It was unseasonably warm today and the blue-eyed brown-haired male was decidedly planning on soaking up as much of the sun's rays as he possibly could. It would just be another addition to his near perfect week. He'd spent majority of it wandering the campus to get away from Captain Pissy Pants (A.K.A. Roxas) and had been approached by quite a few people who had either been lingering after Open Mic Night and caught Dream. Drop. Distance's impromptu performance or had seen the anonymously recorded footage that had been uploaded to the campus website as well as Facebook.
He'd been asked a couple of times if they had any plans to perform again, to release a formal mixtape, EP or LP, and what exactly had gone down between the lead singer of their band and the lead singer of Re:Coded. (This last question gave Sora pause to which he tried to deflect with various answers: i.e. They were just tired. They hadn't had anything to eat all day. Uh, PMS? Before finally just deciding to chalk it up to good old fashion sexual tension. If Roxas or Axel ever asked, he was NOT responsible for that rumor.) He felt just a little like a B-list celebrity.
Sora let out a small hum of contentment as he leaned back in his chair, he'd finished his assignments ahead of time and his last class of the day had been cancelled. Nothing could make today any better.
"Hey, Sora!"
The seated young adult shot up at the sound of his name, looking in all directions before finally his eyes rested on a man of tall, athletic build and aquamarine eyes, slightly squinted from the glaring sunlight of the afternoon.
"R-Riku?" Sora half-asked half greeted, as he weakly raised a hand to greet the bassist. He could feel the knot-tying competition start within his stomach.
Well, so much for feeling content.
The brunette male was very unsure about this guy. Since a certain brother of his refused to spend more than a couple of hours outside of his dorm, he'd taken to tagging along with Xion during his downtime. It just so happened she frequently spent her lunchtime with Demyx and Riku (Axel had been M.I.A.). Sora found Riku to be a cool guy and he really enjoyed the time they all had been spending together. But every time he saw the silver haired male, he automatically did a mental instant replay of their first encounter.
That was when his mind decided that no one's eyes, especially a male's, should be able to hold his own gaze so intently as they shook hands back in the practice room. It had taken hours for Sora to come up with a plausible reason as to why a guy made him feel the same way he felt whenever he met an interesting girl.
Sora's reasoning: Yeah, he never got around to that, somewhere between meeting up with Roxas and a vicious pillow fight, he forgot to come up with one.
The brunette had only found himself in this kind of situation once before back in high school. He remembered catching himself, one too many times staring, a little too intently in the locker rooms but chalked it all up to teenage curiosity. This was a completely different ballpark.
"How's it going?" Riku asked, gesturing to the chair, non-verbally asking if it was okay to join. Sora nodded.
"Uh, it's uh, g-going pretty go-good and uh, you?" Sora internally winced at the number of sentence fillers that infiltrated his simple reply.
"Great, actually. I was just coming back from the practice rooms and saw you here, I'm not interrupting a moment of deep philosophical thinking or anything am I?"
Sora smiled a little at that. "No chance of ever interrupting something like that."
See, be normal. He's just another guy. Sora reassured himself, before daring himself to look up at the man sitting across from him.
"Really?"
"Ye-yeah, I'm not much of what most people would call a 'deep thinker'."
Riku pushed his bangs out his eyes a little before quirking up a brow. "Why's that?"
"I guess because I tend to blurt things out without meaning to, I mean, you saw what I contributed to after Open Mic Night." The brunette shrugged with a half sullen look.
"You know, I should probably formally apologize on behalf of Axel and the rest of Re:Coded," Riku flashed a contrite smile. "Axel is what some like to call 'special'. I suspect he may have a condition known as Fuckupperization, along with symptoms of ADHD, we've found the best treatment is usually a thorough ass kicking or sleeping pills. I hope everything is okay, with your brother, I mean."
Sora smiled a little Riku's diagnosis before answering. "Yeah, he stayed locked up in our bathroom for a couple of hours blasting some music that was just too emo to function, before Xion got fed up, grabbed her stereo system and played the chorus to Call Me Maybe for 10 minutes until he opened the door. It was... a long and interesting night."
Riku visibly shuddered at the thought. "He was that upset? I'm so sorry you had to go through that." The silver haired man smiled through his sympathetic words.
Sora could finally feel himself relax again as they fell into steady conversation. Talking to Riku one on one was nice. His sense of humor was right alongside Sora's and he didn't use words that made him want to yank out a dictionary, like Roxas and Xion did sometimes. His stomach finally gave up on tying knots, but he still couldn't figure out why his heart insisted on impersonating the quick movements of a butterfly's wings whenever Riku would smile or brush back his bangs giving Sora full view of those ethereal eyes and those wonderfully muscled arms.
Not that he found his eyes to be ethereal or his arms wonderful, it was just how others would describe the fellow musician.
"So, um I was wondering, if you weren't busy tomorrow night. I know it's last minute and everything but the campus is having that mini welcome festival that was scheduled in August but got washed out, thanks to that tropical storm. I was thinking we could hang out?" Riku asked nonchalantly
Oh, hot damn with a side of cold shit. Was Riku asking him out on a date?
Oh, this is bad, very very very...No, it was just hanging out, not a date, certainly not a date. Couldn't be one. It's just hanging out, like he said. Just making friends. The brunette reassured himself. But still he couldn't ignore that feeling...
"Sure,sounds like fun." Sora blurted, completely ignoring the warning bells that were emanating from his very essence.
Impulsiveness was a sneaky bitch.
"I actually have to go and finish some work. I'm already pushing it with the music, tattoos and homosexuality and all my parents need is another reason to disown their youngest delinquent, so I'll catch up with you tomorrow, yeah?"
Sora's eye twitched, barely fighting the urge to echo the words ' homosexuality' in a high-pitched squeak, before Riku had left the table. Sora wasn't too surprised that he was...gay...I mean he had asked Xion yesterday after lunch, to which Xion responded with a cryptic: "Do you really need to ask?" accompanied by a small smile.
But getting it straight from the horse's mouth was another matter totally. It wasn't like Sora had a problem with it, look at who his brother was for Pete's sake. It was just the yet unexplainable physical reactions that he had from being around the man that gave him pause.
"Aw, hell. What did you get yourself into this time Sora?" The brunette mumbled to himself.
No matter what anyone said, Roxas was not sulking nor was he avoiding the world. It had nothing to do with the comments he had read below the uploaded videos about him and a certain lanky redhead. It also had nothing to do with just a small chunk of his pride that had evaporated. He was just – resting. Last Saturday had been eventful and he needed that Sunday to rest. So, why exactly had he decided that on Monday morning that he was not going to show up to class? And on top of that, why had he used that week to avoid Xion like she had the bubonic plague? That, was exactly what the brunette woman was using that Saturday afternoon to find out as she stood over the male with her arms crossed, toe-tapping the carpet, her voice taking on that nagging air whenever she felt like Roxas needed a good motherly scolding.
"I just didn't...feel like hanging out." Roxas answered simply.
"Avoidance." She retorted.
"I just felt tired –."
"Avoidance." She cut him off.
The blonde sighed. Xion wasn't going anywhere. It was well past 2 in the afternoon and Roxas had only been out of his bed long enough to take a shower, get dressed, curse at homework and curse even more at the idea of leaving the comfort of his dorm to go get food.
"Come on, get up. Quit moping around like a pansy, put on some shoes and let's go."
"Go where?"
"Practice room."
Blue eyes sparkled a little at that idea. Xion smirked a little, she knew those two words could gain a reaction quicker than any other words in any other language. There were two things Xion knew for sure: the promise of music and clowns always lit a fire under the twins butts. Granted, the second one always accompanied a loud, panicked, wide-eyed exclaim of "Holy Shit!"
Roxas sat up, ruffling his blond spikes.
"What for?"
"I wrote a song and I really really want you to hear me perform it."
Roxas gave her a skeptical look.
"Please, Rox? Come on, be the Prince to my Sheila E. I already asked Sora and he said he already had something to do, so pretty please?" She gave a little pout and donned her best puppy dog eyes. Eyes that Roxas could never say no to. She used this tactic so rarely that Roxas had been unable to build up an immunity to it.
"What's it called?" Roxas tried to put on an air of nonchalance as he scanned the room for his shoes. It wasn't very often that Xion was actually willing to share a song she wrote. As much as he somewhat deplored the idea of going out there, the prospect of hearing his best friend sing was much more alluring.
"Two-Way Street. And they're under your bed."
"What kind of song name is that?"
"No, Doofus. The song is Two-Way Street. Your shoes are under your bed."
Roxas made a silent "Oh" with his lips and pulled on his Chucks. He grabbed his dorm key and wallet and headed out with his best friend. He took a deep breath as the two of them stepped out of the dormitory, making their way toward the large dome-shaped building where all the arts oriented classes met. He looked around, just waiting for people to start whispering or pointing at him, but it never happened.
"You know, this isn't high school anymore. People could honestly care less about your life, despite what's said in the comment section of a video." Xion spoke up with a sly look. "You don't have to run every time something you deem to be life shattering, happens. You're like a freaking meerkat. 'Scurry, sniff, flinch' It's quite tiresome to watch."
The blonde looked over at his best friend giving her Lion King 1 1/2 quote and observations a good glare. Xion shrugged in a 'I'm just sayin' kind of way.
"I do not run."
"True, it's much more like a sulky saunter. No one does it quite like you. By the way, you shouldn't run in public. Last time you did, I had the overwhelming urge to yell "Run Forest, Run!'" The raven-haired drummer grinned.
"Has anyone ever told you, you're not funny?"
"No, most think I'm an absolute riot. I was thinking of doing stand-up. I've got so much material just from you and Sora."
"Oh, really? Let me know when, so I can have my rotten tomatoes ready."
"Pfft, knowing you and Sora, it'd be rotten watermelons."
"Excellent idea. I should start stocking those for everyday use."
Xion made a face at her best friend. Roxas smiled, actually much happier than he thought he'd be getting some fresh air into system. He mulled over Xion's previous words a little. He didn't always run, he just liked avoiding confrontation. It seemed like whenever he put himself out there, it found him no matter how careful he was to avoid it. He was a magnet for troublesome situations in his opinion. Like Axel.
"He meant well, you know." Xion offered.
Roxas's head jerked towards her. "What?"
"You know what or rather, who I'm talking about."
Two blonde brows furrowed together. He hated when she did that. His brain was decidedly not safe when she was around.
"So, what? You're going to tell me he thought he was being a great help? Cocky attitude and all?"
Xion sighed. "The attitude is just who he is. The trying to help part, yeah, that was a fail. But trust me, he's not a total ass. He meant well."
Roxas scoffed. If a person who called you out of your name, rudely announced your sexual orientation so loudly that other people could hear him, and then attempted to pick apart your psyche unsolicited didn't make them an ass, he didn't know what did. In his opinion if it walked like an ass, talked like an ass, it sure as hell didn't turn out to be a fluffy kitten named Mittens.
"I think you're just upset because he got under your skin. You're pissed he saw through you."
"No, it's just that the very thought of us sharing the same realm of existence, bothers me." Roxas waved a hand as if he could physically dismiss her words.
"Yeah, a bother of the 'hot and' variety." Xion giggled.
"Way off base."
" Yeah, I'm off base, just like what Axel was." Xion responded so quietly, Roxas nearly missed them.
"Whatever, Xi." Roxas muttered, shoving his hands into his pockets.
The blonde singer knew that Xion was usually spot on about people, but this time he had to question her opinion. Although he had to admit, he really did wish the man he saw perform and the one he threw his drink onto, were two different people.
The rest of their journey was made in comfortable and contemplative silence. It wasn't long before they stepped into the frigid A/C the building had waiting. Xion directed him down the hall.
"I thought you had to sign in before you went into a room?" Roxas asked, gesturing back to the sign-in desk.
"Uh, yeah, there's already a room reserved."
Roxas quirked a brow at her suddenly wavering tone, but continued following the woman down the hall. The only time Xion ever spoke with that tone was when she was –
"Here we are." She spoke up before opening the door, leading Roxas into one of the largest practice rooms he'd ever seen.
Until he realized, it was most certainly not a practice room. It was the blackbox, which already held about 20 or 30 people on its bleachers.
Was when she was lying. Roxas grabbed Xion by the wrist back out into the hall.
"5 Seconds to explain." Roxas hissed.
"See what had happened was..."
"4.5"
"Okay, okay..." Xion began "Look, I may have rearranged the truth just a little. I really am performing my song today, the part I left out was that it's in my music club."
"And you didn't lead with the truth, because?"
"You would've crawled straight up under your bed with some lame excuse about losing your contacts when we both know damn well you have perfect 20/20 vision."
Roxas scowled. Make one really bad alibi and she holds it over your head for life.
"Fine! Fine, I'll stay." The blonde gave in. He couldn't very well leave her out to dry like that. He'd stay but he wouldn't like it. Xion led him back into the blackbox and the two shuffled toward the bleachers when Roxas spotted it. A head full of bright red hair and impossibly green eyes that had yet to notice the two of them. A couple of the other club attendees noticed the way Roxas halted and he could hear them.
"That's the guy from Dream. Drop. Distance, isn't it?" A disembodied voice echoed in his ear.
Time to haul ass.
"On second thought, I forgot social gatherings give me hives," Roxas squeaked, turning on his heels, only to be stopped by a hard grip on both shoulders, much too strong to be Xion.
"Where ya goin, Rox? I can call you Rox, right?" Demyx greeted. "You're gonna miss the show."
"Yeah, what happened to being my support?" The brunette woman pouted.
Whipping out that defense twice in a day, huh? Roxas groaned.
"Fine, but I'm not – " The blonde was cut off as he was pushed in the exact direction he didn't want to go in, and pushed onto the bleachers next to the exact person he didn't want to sit next to. Things never could go his was, could they? He could feel the gaze of emerald-green eyes on his skin. Roxas could feel his skin prickling underneath it.
"Uh, So – ."
Roxas held up a hand, stopping Axel before he could even begin.
"Don't. I don't want to hear it. And if you utter more than five words to me, I will personally rip out your large intestine and skip rope with it, got it?" Roxas warned in a low and dangerous voice.
The blonde smiled, feeling somewhat satisfied as he heard an audible gulp come from the man next to him. Roxas kept his eyes transfixed on the little area of stage ahead of him. He watched as Xion set up, adjusting the microphone to her modest height, a tambourine in her left hand. It was strange not seeing her behind a set of drums, not even the small pair she'd assembled after watching a video of her idol Sheila E so that she could do bits of back up without being confined to the back of the stage. She gestured toward Demyx and two other guys, one, he recognized from orientation named Terra and another guy he couldn't remember, taking on the guitar and keyboard respectively. For the first time since he'd known Xion, she looked nervous.
"Hey, so this is a little song I've been working on for a while now, I hope you like it. It's called Two Way Street."
Well at least she hadn't lied about the title.
She started shaking the tambourine, taking in a deep breath. "... the moment you appear , You wake me, wake me, wake me, Out of the slumbers of my head, From the slums of loneliness."
Roxas was speechless. Her voice was, well, amazing. He hadn't heard her sing like this, ever. He wasn't even aware that she could. She was always stuck behind that bulky drum set. Xion had done back-up vocals on occasion, small hums and "ahhs" but hearing this powerful yet quirky sound come out of the petite female had the man completely astounded.
"Amazing, isn't she?" Axel murmured, falling just below his five word maximum.
Roxas nodded, too taken aback to notice the redhead scoot just a little closer.
"You've never heard her like this before have you? You should come more often, she's a natural."
Roxas blinked up at the man talking.
"She's done this before?"
Axel nodded. "First time she's performed her own stuff, though."
Roxas nodded his own head in understanding that this little club must have been why Axel and Xion had become so close.
"You're way over your limit, you know."
Axel quieted himself, not daring to push his luck. He'd already seen the man mad before, and had no desire for a repeat. They both turned their attention back to Xion who looked much more comfortable on stage now. She bounced the tambourine on her hip with more enthusiasm and commanded the stage with more of her trademark attitude. She powered through the ending with haunting vocalizations that made the hairs on the back of her band mates neck stand on end.
Roxas joined the rest of the club as they got to their feet and showered the woman with applause, a surprised smile danced across her face as she took a small bow, much more earnest than the ones from Saturday night. She turned and thanked the men behind her before making her way back to Roxas who immediately grabbed her in a bear hug.
"That was unbelievable, Xion! How come you've never done that before?" He asked.
The girl shrugged. "I guess I just didn't think I could do it, you know."
"Well, I think you proved yourself wrong." Roxas felt very much like a proud big brother.
"I agree with the ki – I mean, Roxas here." Axel chimed in, earning a half glare from the blonde in question. "Hey, my intestines are staying put. The words were directed at Xion."
Roxas rolled his eyes. Now, that the performance was over he could focus on his initial plan: Getting the hell out of here and away from this guy.
"Well it was fun, but I think I should be going."
"So soon?" Demyx asked, popping up behind the trio, causing Roxas to jump four feet into the air.
Seriously, this guy must be part ninja because he was just too good at showing up out of nowhere.
"Yeah, I have a... pair of contacts to go find." Roxas gave Xion a smirk, who in turn rolled her eyes.
Demyx made a face. "But if you go now, you'll miss the best part of today."
Roxas opened his mouth poised to ask just what that was supposed to mean, when he heard a voice boom over the idle chatter within the room.
"Next up we have Axel Flynn and Roxas Strife performing."
The two men spun around to look toward the stage, then at each other, then to Xion and Demyx who were doing a very poor job of mimicking shock.
"What the hell?" The blonde and redhead asked in unison causing every head in the blackbox to turn towards them.
A/N: For those who don't know what a black box is, it's a small little theater without a traditional stage. It has a spot towards the front for the performers to do their thing. It's much more intimate than a traditional theater, I find.
Oh, and because I believe so much in writers supporting other writers, I'm giving a little shout out to meeka-eela and her awesome story "Signs That You're In Love With Your Best Friend" If you have the time, check it out!
As always, thank you for taking the time to read my story! Feel free to tell me how you really feel about it! Next chapter will be up as soon as I can make it happen.