Chapter seven
Roxas woke up the next morning with the sun blazing through the windows. He felt an arm over his chest. He turned to face some wilted red spikes, not the usual silver.
His head pounded and his stomach churned. What had he done?
"Shit" He mouthed quietly
He slowly rolled over on the wooden floor of the stage. Memories of the night before flooding his brain. Being taken hard and fast over Zexion's drum kit being one of them. He found his phone. 5.30 am. He checked the messages. 16 from Riku. Drunken apologies then crying apologies asking him to come home.
He felt sick, not just from the bourbon. He'd betrayed his Riku.
He got up to find his clothes that were spread around the studio.
"Roxie?" The bleary voice came from the redhead. He sat up and rubbed his eyes and watched Roxas rush around in a frenzy.
"This was a mistake. I'm so sorry."
Roxas hurriedly put on his clothes and rushed out the door leaving Axel confused and a little upset.
He got to the house to find Riku already dressed for work and heading out the front door.
"I lost my key." he said sheepishly
"I have to go to work, we'll talk about this when I get home." He kissed Roxas on the cheek and left.
Riku arrived home at 6.30 and Roxas noticed that his eyes were red rimmed.
"Where did you say you lost your keys?" He said
"I didn't"
Riku threw a newspaper at the blonde, nearly knocking over his coffee.
"Evening edition."
He reached for the bottle of bourbon and couldn't find it. He found some Vodka, poured a shot, drank it and poured another.
"Look at the front page.
A grainy photo of him coming out of the recording studio stared out at him. The headline: Has Riku's boy gone bad?
"Explain" Said Riku
"I didn't know where else to go."
"Why there? You could have gone to your parents."
"They would have been asleep."
Riku considered the comment, then frowned. He looked at the picture again and noticed something.
"I didn't know you owned a shirt like that?"
Before Roxas could say anything, Riku had run up the stairs to the washing basket and had pulled out the offending article.
He stood at the top of the stairs and sniffed it.
"You fucked him didn't you?'
"You're insane, 'Ku 'Ku Clock"
"You can't sweet talk me this time Roxas. This shirt smells of sweat and sex and that goddamn redhead."
"Yes, is that the answer you wanted to hear? Yes. It was hot and loud and I loved it."
Riku sank down on the stairs and started to cry.
"6 years and it all ends like this?"
He looked up at Roxas.
"I want you to leave. I don't have to put up with this. Tonight you can sleep on the sofa. You know where everything is."
"Why don't I leave right now?"
"Do you even like him?"
"I don't know." Roxas replied as he walked down the stairs and out the front door, leaving Riku to watch in silence.
Roxas wandered the streets and ends up on the doorstep of Zexion's place. He knocked on the door and rang the doorbell a few times until an irate looking Marluxia in only his boxers answered the door.
"Rox?" He said sleepily "What are you doing here at .." He turned towards the clock "3.15 in the morning?"
"Riku kicked me out."
"Zex, we have an emergency." Marluxia called up the stairs.
Minutes later, looking like he'd been dragged through a hedge backwards and wearing a dressing gown and fluffy slippers, Zexion emerged from his bedroom.
Roxas felt like he was intruding, he'd only ever seen Zexion looking immaculate.
Zexion went into the kitchen and returned seconds later with what looked like whiskey and ice. He ushered the blonde to the sofa and he sat with Marluxia on the one opposite. He raised and eyebrow in a manner that suggested he spill his guts.
"He bugged me so much about Axel that I did something stupid. Now we're over and I've lost him for good. Also I don't think Axel will ever talk to me again."
Zexion and Marluxia shared a look, then threw a blanket that was on top of the sofa at Roxas.
"Stay here until you sort yourself out. Just don't use Marly's shampoo, he can get a bit pissy."
It sounded like Zexion was speaking from experience.
For the next week Roxas called Riku every hour, even in the middle of the night apologizing profusely. Some times horse from crying, sometimes angry. Riku never picked up. Once the house phone voicemail was full, Roxas started the assault on his mobile phone, hoping Riku hadn't changed his number.
On the second week, he called the home number on the off chance and heard a click on the other end of the line.
"Roxas, please stop calling me. I'd rather not talk to you."
"I'm so sorry Riku. It was a one time thing. You were so paranoid, I was driven to it."
"Don't pin this on me Roxie." Riku spat, sounding a lot like Axel, who wasn't speaking to him either. "You had a choice. You chose to betray me. I'm a role model, I have to set a good example."
He started to hang up.
"Riku." Roxas said quietly "Please forgive me. I love you. Let me come home."
The voice was so quiet and pitiful that the elder man took a deep breath and listened.
"Where are you living now?" He asked cautiously, expecting him to say with Axel and break what little was left of his heart.
"I've got my old room back at my parents."
"Did you tell them why you moved back in?"
Riku had liked Roxas' parents, they wouldn't be happy with Roxas telling them that he'd cheated.
"I just said that we'd had an argument, they didn't pry into the details. They aren't too happy with me either. They think I've thrown away one of the best things to ever happen to me."
Roxas was trying to appeal to the romantic in Riku and he could see right through it.
"Take care of yourself Roxas..."
"I fucked up 'Ku, I'm sorry. The project is done, I'll never see him again. I'll do anything you want."
The words were garbled and desperate. Riku could only just make them out.
"You had a choice." He said sharply, before hanging up.
The aggressive move was more for his benefit than the blondes. A sense of closure.
Riku pounded on the door of the recording studio early the next morning. A short man with blue grey hair he recognised as Zexion, answered the door and was shoved aside as Riku barreled through.
"Axel," He shouted "Get down here you miserable piece of shit."
Axel, recognizing the voice craned his neck around the door of the recording studio and recoiled it instantly.
"Why Roxas?" Riku bellowed "Of all the people in the city. Actually, of all the people in the world, why him? Was it because he was mine?"
Axel walked cautiously down the stairs towards his raging ex, wary of any sudden movements.
"Roxie came to me because he wanted to."
Riku stepped forward, assaulted by the smell of the redhead, one he'd never really forgotten.
"He wasn't yours to play with."
"He's not yours anymore either."
The nuances in Axel's drawl, the confidence in the tone. It took all Riku's willpower not to jump him right there. This was why he'd never answered his emails, asking to meet, knowing he would just give in and he had had made a promise to Roxas, not to cheat.
"Maybe I did it so I could see you again. You never answered any of my emails."
Riku punched him in the face. Axel toppled backwards against the wall. He rubbed his jaw. Riku had never been sure when Axel was joking, better to play it safe.
"I've moved on."
"Then, why are you here?"
Cocky asshole
"If you have any feelings for Roxas, any interest in him at all, please go and see him."
He pressed a piece of paper into Axel's hand
"Why are you doing this?"
"I'm not completely heartless like you. Even though he betrayed me, I still love him and want him to be happy. Just don't tell him it was me."
Riku turned away and left, not looking back. if he had, he would have seen Axel smile.
"I'm gonna see Roxie" he shouted to the rest of the band as he left the building.
