I haven't updated in a while because I'm lazy and like, never upload my stories here. Ah, well, here's the next chapter~
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It felt like only a few moments of blissful sleep had passed before the smell of cloves and tobacco filled his nostrils. His eyelids fluttered open, eyelashes brushing up against denim. His eyes were met with darkness, and he almost thought that he had slept all the way to nightfall. But as he shifted, he noticed the denim-clad leg by his face, and the black hoodie draped over his upper-half.
He turned his head to look up, and a pair of curious green eyes peered into his own sleep-confused blue.
"Axel." he said. Axel smiled at him and lifted his own hands.
"S-O-R-A." He spelled out slowly. He had asked the guidance counselor at school to teach him the alphabet in sign language, and apparently it pleased Sora, because the brunet grinned widely and sat up.
"A-X-E-L." Sora spelled back, and threw his arms around the redhead's neck. Axel's body went rigid, and Sora immediately let go. Axel didn't seem to be used to hugs. Axel pulled him back into it, however, and Sora smiled sweetly.
Axel finally pulled away, handing a note pad to Sora. He had written on it. The message said,
"You weren't in school today. Riku knows you, I assumed, so I asked what was up. I wanted to talk to you more – about us, and stuff. I almost had to beat the truth out of him – and I came close to throttling him just to get him to bring me here."
---
Axel watched as Sora read his message.
"You're stinking up my sheets with your cigarette stench." Riku said, leaning against his door frame. His arms were crossed, and one leg was crossed over the other. Roxas was nowhere to be seen.
Axel flipped Riku the bird. "Don't think I won't follow through on my promise to make you regret being born male." he threatened, as Sora handed the note pad back, smiling brightly. Axel glanced down at the reply he had written with the pen wedged neatly between the twisted wire binding.
"What do you want to talk about?" was the reply. Roxas walked back in.
"He's here?" Axel flipped another bird, and wrote his reply to Sora.
"I think we should go on a date." he handed the pad back to Sora, who squee'd happily a moment later and began to feverishly write down an excited reply.
"Is there a problem?" Axel demanded, turning to face the two light-haired teens.
"Yes. You're an asshole and you smell." Roxas replied.
"Not only that, but you're near Sora. That alone just makes me want to brain you good and proper with a brick." Riku added. Axel rolled his eyes.
"Listen, mama bear and papa bear, this little Goldilocks isn't looking to have a go in baby bear's bed. So can you shove it up your gaping assholes for five goddamn minutes?" he turned back to Sora to read his reply. "Son of a bitch; It's like trying to reason with rabid baboons..." he grumbled as his eyes scanned the paper.
"I like that idea. Any suggestions?"
Axel stared thoughtfully at the paper for a moment before responding.
"Let's trick-or-treat."
He handed the pad back to Sora, who laughed upon reading the suggestion. Axel's cheeks felt a bit warm, embarrassed. He had a weakness for sweets. And of course, Sora was sixteen years old; he would find it childish. Deaf or not, just because he couldn't hear, it didn't make him mentally retarded.
Axel made a mental note to stop thinking of Sora as a little kid. The pad was set in his lap, and he looked down.
"I'd love to!"
Axel nodded. So Sora was also the type of person who really appreciated the value of free candy. Awesome.
"What would you be?" he replied, passing the pad. It took Sora half a second to reply.
"You choose."
Axel smiled.
"I'll get us both some costumes." he said. They sat there in silence for a moment after Sora read the response, just kind of...looking at each other. His head twitching ever so slightly, Axel furrowed his eyebrows as he leaned awkwardly towards Sora.
"Oh, don't y' even go there." he heard Roxas say. He smiled and changed his course to kiss Sora on the cheek. As he pulled away, Sora turned his head and caught his lips in an innocent, closed-mouth kiss. Caught off guard, Axel panicked and pushed Sora away as he fell off of the bed. He floundered on the floor for a moment before getting up on his knees and grabbing the pad just as Sora let out a startled cry.
He scribbled a quick note before Roxas stormed over and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and half-dragged him out of the room.
"Out! 'Git out! 'Git the fuck out!" he shouted. "If I ever see you lookin' at Sora, I'll tear yer eyes right out o' yer face!" Axel pulled himself away from Roxas.
"He startled me, you freak! God, you're like a mother-in-law! I actually like him, but you're acting like a massive tool! Didn't you leave because your dad was acting exactly like you are now?!" with that, Axel turned and left. He wasn't going to put up with
that shit.
---
After Roxas left the room with Axel, Sora peeked out of the covers, to find the pad lying on the bed with a new message:
"You startled me. I'm sorry. I'll bring your costume to you."
Sora smiled, hugging the pad to his chest. When he looked up, he saw Roxas run into the room and practically tackle Riku. He was crying. Sora immediately stood, dropping the pad as he went to his brother, taking him from Riku's arms into his own. He hugged Roxas and rubbed his back, shoulders, and arms. He kissed Roxas' face and kept signing to him,
"What's wrong? What is it?"
Roxas could only shake his head and sign,
"Just like dad. Just like dad. I'm just like dad."
Sora shook his head.
"No. No. You're not. Not like dad. You're not." he said. "You're Roxas. You're like Roxas. You're my brother. Not like dad." in his worry, he couldn't be bothered to speak in full sentences.
Both Riku and Sora spent two hours trying to calm down a seemingly inconsolable Roxas, who finally tuckered himself out and cried himself to sleep.
---
The next day at school, Sora demanded [as forcefully as he could in writing] what Axel had said to Roxas. Axel sighed as he read the message:
"What did you say to my brother?! When you left, he was hysterical! We couldn't calm him down!"
he glanced down at the smaller brunet, who sat at his side glaring daggers at him. Roxas and Riku were off doing their own thing for a while.
"I was protecting our relationship. Your brother freaked out and told me that I couldn't see you anymore. I got carried away, and I'm sorry." Axel turned away from Sora as he tossed the pad into his lap. Fucking perfect. He and Sora hadn't done much of anything together date-wise or otherwise, and he had already fucked up.
He felt a gentle hand on his arm and turned to glance at Sora, who lifted the pad. On it, in big letters read, "IT'S OKAY. I FORGIVE YOU."
He smiled [just a bit], and turned back to Sora. He wish that it could be so easy as to just apologize using words, but poor Sora was unable to hear him, or anything, for that matter. He put an arm around Sora's shoulders as they just sat on the floor with their backs against the lockers, Sora's fingers entangled in yarn as he made an attempt to finger-knit and converse with Axel at the same time.
In a jumble of rainbow yarn, Sora began to write on the pad again. "Did you get our costumes?" he asked. After all, Axel had said he would. Axel nodded upon seeing the message, and reached into his bag. He pointed to the bathrooms just across the way. He took the pad.
"Let's go try them on." he suggested via paper. Sora gave him a queer look, but followed anyway as he got up to head toward the bathrooms.
FFFF short chapter is short. Whatever. :3
