Namine awoke with a terrible headache. Her eyes opened lazily and that's when she realized that she had no idea where she was. "Huh?" She said aloud, unknowing of Axel's presence in the room. She struggled to sit up. She grabbed her head when an extreme pain attacked it, closing her eyes, flashes of what happened last night flying through her head.
"I'll make sure you get home safe though." Ventus had promised.
"Did I ever tell you that you are kinda hot?" Riku grinned at her statement.
"Ai Yai Yai!" She shouted in the middle of a large group of people.
"Ax, Where's Roxy?"
She opened her eyes, the intense pain only mild now, and turned to her side, getting a better view of her surroundings. Axel was sitting there in the chair opposite of the couch. He looked reserved, as if he had something to say, but didn't know how to make the words come out. Ax opened his mouth, closed it, and ran a hand through his hair. He eventually decided on. "Hello."
"Axel, is something wrong? Why am I here?" She asked, really wondering what happened last night, fearing the worst.
"Well…" He was still having trouble with the wording. "I need your help." He shook his head. This is humiliating. He facepalmed.
"Axel, I mean. How did I get here?" She explained, grabbing her head again.
"One moment." He got up and ran to the kitchen, rummaged through the cabinets and brought back a bottle of pills. "I get bad hangovers a lot, so does Rox." He smiled at his boyfriend's name. Reminding him of why he was going to do this. He tossed the pills to her. "You passed out, and Ventus put you in my care, the boy is so trusting." He snickered. "I could never hurt you though."
Namine was extremely confused by his kindness and thankful for the fact that nothing happened. Sure, he had been nice to her sometimes before, but it was always with an underlying expression of anger. Namine examined the pills and took one. Lovely dry swallow. Axel just sat opposite of her, not knowing what to say.
"Well" Namine asked. "What do you need help with?"
Axel went through the monologue he had prepared while the girl was sleeping, but when he opened his mouth, all that came out was an apology. He spoke a million words a minute, so fast that Namine could barely keep up. "I'm sorry for what I've done to your brother. I really am. I love him, by the Gods, I do. I don't want to hurt him anymore, but I can't stop."
"There is this lovely Karaoke bar down the street Roxy! I'm thinking that we should go do our rendition of 'Buttons' again tonight." Xion tugged on Roxas' arm, leading him down the street. "You remember, right?"
How could Roxas forget? Xion and he had both turned eighteen, and got wasted. Axel was on duty then, so he and Xion decided to do something reckless for once. Roxas and Xion had come to this same karaoke bar then, almost four years ago, and sang 'Buttons' together, except their own version of course.
They had not stepped foot in that bar since the day it happened, too embarrassed. So when they walked in, they were in for a surprise. On the backwall of the club, right next to the karaoke stage was a picture of them. This was the wall of fame for the bar.
"Oh, wow." Roxas noted, pointing out the picture to Xion. She laughed, and went up to the bartender.
"Hey, how do we sign up to do Karaoke tonight?" She asked. The man looked at her a moment, then did a double take.
"Oh my gosh. Xion, 'Buttons' girl!" Xion flushed. "Remember me, Tidus?" She laughed.
"Oh yeah, you were trying to hit on me, but then Roxas punched you in the face." Roxas mouthed 'Sorry' from behind her. "How's it been?"
"Same old, same old. But Xion, it's more like how have you guys been? You were by far the best karaoke performance in here. Haven't seen you in what? Four Years?"
"Well yeah. Things happened, you know." She shrugged, "But Roxas has agreed to one more time." She tugged on the blonde's short jacket affectionately.
"Yeah, let's do it." Roxas enjoyed making Xion happy. He'd hurt her enough today.
"So, go on. Nobody else has the balls to do it. Maybe you can inspire them." Tidus laughed, pointing to the stage.
Xion and Roxas made their way to the stage.
Namine was utterly shocked. Disbelief was described this all encompassing feeling. Axel doesn't want to be like this? WHAT! Her expression said a mouthful. Her brow was furrowed and mouth agape with skepticism.
"Let me explain." Axel put his hands in front of him. Almost in a defensive position. Namine sighed, got up and walked over to the red head. She put her hand on his shoulder, still facing him.
"Explain." She faked a smile; she knew that he needed it.
"Go sit down." He pushed her arm away. "Don't fake sympathy. It looks pathetic on you." He smirked. "Just listen and give me the sodding benefit of the doubt." She was a bit taken aback, but proceeded to follow his instructions.
"So, you gonna talk or not?" She asked, impatient.
"Now that's the Namine I know." He inhaled deeply and ran his hand through his hair. "Imagine this…"
Xion and Roxas were on stage, both with their own microphones. "Yo, we're Roxas and Xion, and we're doing a personal rendition of buttons." The blond boy began.
The music started. "What it do baby boo?" Roxas started.
"Yeah, lil mama you looking good." He got closer to Xion, hand on her waist. "You say you wanna play with a keyblader from the hood." She acted along with him, portraying a bit of a slut. "Come holla at me, you got it like that, big Rox dog with his Xion pussycat." Xion rubbed her body up against his. "I show you how it go down, yeah I wanna go down." For that she turned around, grinding against him for a moment. " Me and you, one on one, treat it like a showdown, you look at me," She turned to him. "I look at you. I'm reaching for your zipper babe," Roxas reached for an imaginary zipper on her shirt, "what you want me to do?" He smiled.
Xion grabbed her mic and started her part of the song. "I'm tellin you to unzip my cloak now babe." She took an extra step and began removing Roxas' short sleeved jacket. "uh huh, but you keep frontin. Uh."
Tidus just watched and laughed. It was just as great as it had been last time. He snapped a pic to put beside the old one. They really got into it, and about halfway through the song, he had to end the song, cause Roxas was down to his pants. The blond was using his shirt to pull Xion closer to him.
"Okay! Okay!" Tidus shouted, after hopping over the bar. "Show's over."
Xion and Roxas flushed, realizing that they were sober and still making fools of themselves. "Wow." "Sorry." "We didn't," "Yeah." Came out of the two, who scurried off stage.
The two left the club, Roxas putting his shirt back on. And then placing his jacket back on. "Sorry Rox. I'd thought it'd be fun. I didn't mean to make anything uncomfortable happen." She flushed again.
"Nah, Xion." He laughed. "It was nice to be carefree again." Roxas thought about when Xion and he would hang out all the time, when Axel was at work, before they were going out. "We should do stuff like this more often. I've missed you." He put an arm around her, the two were back to being great friends again, ready to face anything. They walked silently, enjoying each other's company, until they reached Xion's house.
"Looks like this is your stop." He smiled, letting go of his friend. She turned to him, and without thinking, he gave her a peck on the lips.
Xion's eyes widened. "Um.." Roxas gasped.
"Bye." The word quickly escaped his throat, as he power walked away from her house.
"Goodbye," She murmered to his back as Roxas walked away. She touched her lips with her hand, perplexed at what just happened.
Author's Note: And you thought I had nothing to say. Yes, this is a late update, but come on, I got semester exams coming up. Yes, you will have to wait for the next chapter for some insight on Axel's past, and why he is the way he is. Oh My Gosh! Roxas just kissed Xion, was it a friendly thing or is he really straight? Who knows? Review if you love Roxas, Axel and Namine. :D
Ven: I only had..What? One line in this chapter. *scowls*
Sora: Dude, I haven't had a line in several chapters, get over it. *Goofy grin*
Terra: *still hiding from Kairi*
