Disclaimer: I do not own KH and it's characters.
Author's Note: Hehehehehe! Two updates in one day:D be happy. Anyway, this one is only marginally better than the last one. Sorry about it, but I think it's still pretty gosh darn good. So reviews are loved as always. Enjoy!
Everything interesting always seemed to happen on the streets as Roxas was walking home. Though lately, things had quieted down so drastically, especially after the fiasco with Axel a few weeks ago. Roxas had been avoiding the redhead and had been fairly sure that he was being ignored as well. That didn't stop Roxas from constantly seeing Axel everywhere. Every single day he saw him in two of his classes; Math and Art History. It didn't help that he lived practically across the street from the guy and that Axel was the one that always went to get the mail about the time that Roxas did. The blond didn't know if it was deliberate, but they always seemed to see each other in the afternoon on any day, getting the mail. Roxas sometimes saw Axel walking ahead of him on the way home from school. At times, he knew that the redhead was close behind him. It was like someone up there hated Roxas, or at least wanted to cause him some mayhem. Well, this certainly was getting to annoying. He was sick of seeing him everywhere. Just looking at him brought up guilty feelings and Roxas hated feeling guilty about anything.
For the past three weeks he had been feeling so irritable that he actually yelled at his mom for her cooking skills. Although she hadn't reacted, Roxas knew that she understood that something was going on with him. Of course, she had no idea what it was. She probably thought that he was starting to get stressed with homework and all the assignments that high school just happened to give him. Then again, she might have also thought that Roxas had finally, finally, had gotten a crush. It was one of his mother's dreams to see Roxas married off to a pretty girl who would provide him pretty children with good cooking skills. Of course, she probably had already figured out where the ceremony was going to be and where the party was going to be and who exactly was going to be on the guest list. It was kind of scary. It was whenever she'd start pestering him to get a girlfriend, that he wished the woman had birthed herself a daughter too. That could've saved him a bunch of time, plus he could easily avoid his mother's constant trips to the mall for clothing. He couldn't believe just how often she seemed to want to go buy clothing for him. Sometimes Roxas' father helped him, but his mother had a way of sneaking around that. Mothers were just sneaky that way.
Roxas shifted his backpack slightly, missing his bike. He wished that there wasn't frost and snow on the ground, and then he could've used the bike. If he used the bicycle, he probably would've slipped off of it and landed into the street and right at a car. Since he didn't have a death wish, Roxas was stuck walking to and from school every day, unless his father was nice enough to give him a ride, which he hadn't been that day. His father had gotten up around six in the morning to go to work at his chiropractic clinic and wasn't due home until six that night. Mr. Reigen was a chiropractor and helped run a decent sized clinic with a rather nice group of staff, his mother sometimes included. Actually, Roxas didn't really know what his mother did since half the time she stayed at home and did random things, while the rest of the time she was a secretary at her husband's clinic. The blond teen tried to remember what his father had said about what she had worked as prior to marrying him. He searched his memory for that and thought it had to do with selling houses. No wait, it was probably selling books. No... Roxas had no idea what his mother used to do.
The wind slacked a little as Roxas began to walk past the alley where he had seen Axel beaten a bit by the school's 'disciplinary committee'. Raising his collar, Roxas winced as a particularly annoying gust of wind blew airborne snow right into his face. Man, what he wouldn't do to drive his mom's car to school, especially since he'd gotten his driver's license over the summer. Of course he couldn't. Suddenly, Roxas felt something grab his wrist and pull him into the alley. His assailant pushed Roxas against the wall, but surprising not hard. Yet the blond teenager had his eyes closed and had started trying to pound at the assailant's chest. He was reward with a winded sound, but once he opened his eyes, he felt instantly ashamed of himself. It was Axel, with one arm on the wall on both sides of the blonde's head, looking right back at him, trying to regain his breath. Axel was close enough to Roxas that the blond teen could see the upside-down tear drops tattooed on his face. Didn't those usually mean that the person had killed someone? Actually, Axel was so close that Roxas could feel the redhead's breath on his face. He could even smell the mint of the gum he was chewing. He was making the blonde's pulse race. No one had been this close before, and it scared the shit out of him.
Axel looked down as he forced himself to take deep breaths. He could do this, he knew he could. He just had to swallow his pride a little bit first. Roxas swallowed, his backpack slipping off of his shoulders; he could feel the wall at his back more clearly as the bag slid further off his shoulders. The shorter male pressed his hands together and intertwined his fingers to warm them. What did the redhead want in this unseemly weather? Actually, Axel was wondering the same thing. Why was he doing this during a particularly cold afternoon at the end of November? Was he honestly an idiot? He probably was, since he had been acting like a jerk the whole month. Closing his eyes, Axel waited for a moment, collecting his thoughts. Roxas squirmed a little, uncomfortable at the closeness. It was awkward, oh boy, was it awkward.
"What do you want from me?" Axel's eyes shot open though they looked down in a guilty manner as Roxas demanded an answer. He didn't want to stand here for so long just talking. He wanted to run home and get into his nice and warm shower before buckling down to do his Art History assignment on Da Vinci. Roxas raised his arms and crossed them, holding in the warmth with the help of his coat. Axel's breath continued to hit his face gently. For some reason, Roxas noticed the differences in height; Axel was clearly a head taller, maybe even more. It didn't help that his hair took added about six inches of height. "Can you get on with it, already? It's kind of cold, if you hadn't noticed," Roxas said, trying to cover his actual interest in the matter.
"Roxas... I..." Axel paused, unsure. What did he have to be unsure about? He was just there to apologize, nothing more. Of course, he did happen to be standing in a very suggestive position and Roxas noticed it by the way he was squirming. "I'm sorry for the way I've been acting with you... and a bunch of other people." That sounded about right, Axel thought, a wind making his stiff hair wave a little. The smaller teen looked down, equally unsure of how to answer to that. What did he have to answer it for? Would anything change if he did? He didn't want to answer; he just wanted to run away.
"Does it matter... at all, whether you're sorry or not? You hate people, I get it. You should just leave if you hate it here so much," the blond replied quietly. Axel raised his gaze to meet Roxas' own gaze. There was that feeling of immense loss and sadness again. It had happened in the library and here it was again, though so much stronger now. He wanted to lose it, but it wouldn't budge. It was clearly coming from the way that Roxas had replied. He had said it in such a saddened tone that Axel couldn't help it. God, what was wrong with him?
"Can't you just say that's it's okay?" Axel pleaded unwillingly. Roxas looked down in surprise. Why was he begging?
"I-I don't want to. I'm supposed to hate you." It was Axel's turn to look surprised. He didn't understand that for a moment before he realized that Roxas was probably still upset about the way he had been spoken to. Then, giving a small, muffled sound of surprise, Axel watched helplessly as Roxas slipped underneath his right arm. The blond gripped his bag and pulled on, jogging to get away from Axel. Was he insane?! What was going in that red head of his?! Roxas mentally swore at the other teen, his head down as he carefully increased his speed, leaving Axel standing in the alley, confused.
The moment that Roxas had gotten home he had slammed his backpack down on his bed. Then he went downstairs and had a quick dinner and told his dad that he had to work on homework. Even though he had wanted a shower almost desperately, he really felt more like finishing that assignment and calling Sora for a very nice chat. Dumping the contents of his bag on his bed, Roxas pulled out the binder for Art History and leafed through it to the several pages of questions abut Da Vinci. Placing the binder on the desk with his computer, Roxas turned on the screen and opened a new page on his internet browser. Going instantly to one of the art links that Aeris had provided, Roxas began to fill in the blanks and answered the questions as best as his otherwise preoccupied mind could. Gnawing on the end of his mechanical pencil, the blond scrolled down the page, looking for the answer to the last question about half an hour after he had started the sheets. He stared at the assignment, his mind at a blank on what to answer. Grumbling, he got up and went into the bathroom, intent on getting that shower.
My sanctuary, my sanctuary, yeah
Where fears and lies melt away
Music will tie
The blond quickly exited the bathroom, steam escaping with the open door. The teen had already put on his sleeping pants and had quickly thrown on a shirt and sweater in the bathroom. Roxas quickly jutted his hand towards the vibrating cell phone. Flipping it open, he saw the screen said 'Sora'. "Talk to me." Roxas heard Sora chuckle at the other end.
"Hey, Roxy," Sora said, ignoring the annoyed 'shuttup' that Roxas gave. "I know you're probably busy, but I gotta ask you a question about that math assignment today." Roxas groaned inwardly, not looking forward to sharing his answers with his friend. That's what Sora called for half the time on a school night.
"Gah fine. What?" He began, waiting for Sora to answer. Their conversation revolved around the math problems for a little while with Sora asking for help every few minutes with pretty much every problem. Then once they had finished their discussion on all the ways to irritate students with math, Sora suddenly asked him what was up.
"You seem so preoccupied even though you're talking to me," he said, curiously.
"Oh... I..." Roxas had been thinking about none other than Axel and how he had apologized to him only a few hours ago. Sora clicked his tongue impatiently on the other end of the phone. "Sorry... I... this afternoon, Axel cornered me in that alley near my street, remember? And he..." Sora gave an exasperated sigh.
"Oh god, he what? He sang you a song? He gave you a cookie? He kissed you? What?" Sora said, clearly serious about the last suggestion. Roxas gave a disgusted look even though he knew perfectly well that Sora couldn't see it.
"What?! Ew! No! That's sick. I'm straight so don't even suggest it," Roxas practically screamed in reply.
"Hehe, I never said you did. I said HE. HE. God... so continue!"
"Gah, fine. He apologized." Silence greeted his words.
"You made such a big deal out of... that?" Sora said, clearly not happy with the answer. "And here I thought he asked you out." Sora gave a laugh, infuriating Roxas.
"No! I hate him! You know I do!"
"Of course I know. You won't let me forget it since you pretty much tell me that every. Single. Day," the brunette replied, his merry tone gone. In fact, it had acquired an edge. Since when did Sora get angry at his best friend?
"Sorry, but honestly-" He got cut off by Sora saying "Look I have to go." Roxas sighed, knowing perfectly well that Sora didn't want to talk to him anymore. "Bye, Roxas." The blond knew Sora wasn't happy since he hadn't used 'Roxy'. Roxas said his good-byes, writing down the final answer to the question on the sheet. Yawning, he turned off his computer completely after stowing away all his completed homework. Getting up, he shed his shirt and sweater. Shutting off the lights, he crawled into bed, putting his head on his hands as he stared up at the ceiling with the blanket covering his chest.
He saw nothing in the ceiling, but he was thinking. Had he really been complaining about Axel that much? Why couldn't Sora have just said something if it was that annoying? It certainly sounded like he had been annoyed. Why though? Why? Roxas turned to lie on his side, staring at the wall. He pulled the covers over his shoulder and tried to fall asleep.
That night, he dreamed about Axel.
