Chapter Eight
Pre-Author's Note: Ahem… I-… Is anyone still reading this? Heh heh…
Song: Trust Me
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"Are you sure you can manage?"
Riku pouted and glared at the older gentleman, Axel rolled his eyes. Really, Riku can be so stubborn sometimes… He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"I'm fine Axel, I can take care of myself," Riku whined, well it sounded like he was whining, but Axel got the distinct feeling he was trying (and failing) to sound impressive and independent.
"Alright, if you say so," said Axel slowly, "just be careful, I don't need you to trip and fall into a sewer hole."
Riku scoffed and muttered something like "ridiculous" under his breath. This action however only helped to add further humor to what he did next. Axel watched with a combination of sympathy and amusement and Riku proceeded to stumble down the steps that lead up to Axel's front porch. After much scrambling Riku managed to right himself. He glared at Axel, daring him to say anything.
"Bye!" called Axel cheerfully, and the look Riku sent him caused him to go into a fit of hysterics.
Stupid Axel, thought Riku grumpily as he walked down the redhead's street, limping due to his sprain, laughing at me when he's the one who made me fall in the first place… Idiot.
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"So…"
Thump, thump, bang, kick…
"You seem to be upset about something…"
Kick, punch, thump, bang, thump, thump…
"You wanna tell me what's up? Eh heh…"
Kick, kick, KICK!!!
"Er
Roxas?"
Roxas looked up from the wall he was currently kicking
the living shit out of and glared at Demyx. Said blonde was sitting
in a black computer chair facing Roxas, he was tugging at his shirt
nervously as he eyed the shorter one.
"What?" snapped Roxas, he stopped kicking and stood there rigidly in Demyx's apartment.
"What's wrong?" asked Demyx.
"Nothing," Roxas spat. He continued to kick the wall violently. Demyx watched him for a while until-
"OW!!! Shit, fucking son of bitch!"
-Roxas screamed in pain after a particularly ferocious kick. The short twenty-year old hopped on one foot for a while whilst clutching his injured foot. He glared at the offending wall, as if demanding an apology.
"Roxas don't blame the wall," said Demyx offhandedly as he stood and walked out of the room.
"Where're you going?" Roxas called after him, "I'm not done PMS-ing yet!"
"I'm getting something to drink," Demyx hollered back as he entered his small (he liked to call it cozy) kitchen, "at first it was entertaining but now I find your bitching is just a little dull."
"Hmph," scoffed Roxas, "shows what you know. Everyone knows my complaining is top of the line bitchy."
It appeared Demyx did not hear that last comment from his position in the kitchen for he did not respond. Roxas decided that this was probably for the better.
"Now," said Demyx again as he reentered the room and sat down in his black, computer chair backwards so that he was straddling the back of the chair, "let's talk," Roxas fought the urge to roll his eyes, "what's wrong?"
Roxas sat down in Demyx bed Indian style and crossed his arms stubbornly.
Demyx sighed wearily, "C'mon Roxas, you might as well tell me," when the other blonde refused to answer or acknowledge him Demyx pressed on and took a wild guess, "Does this have anything to do with Axel?"
Roxas's only sign of hearing Demyx was the slight twitch his jaw had given, Demyx took that as an affirmative.
"So it is about Axel," Demyx 'hmmed' and decided to press his advantage even more, "So if it has anything to do with Axel then there must also be some connection to… Riku as well."
The twitch that ran through Roxas's body was so evident the shorter one nearly toppled over. Demyx smirked as Roxas straightened himself.
"Aha! I gotcha now," smirked the sitar player, "you're what people like to refer to as… Jealous!"
Roxas all but hissed back at him, "I am not jealous!"
"And now you're defensive too, what a lovely combination," said Demyx lightly, as if commenting on the weather.
Roxas growled, "Fine! So what if I am?! Does it really matter?!"
"Well, usually it wouldn't matter and I would tell you to sulk a little and then move on," said Demyx but he paused meaningfully and looked Roxas in the eyes before continueing, "but it does become a big deal when you tell Riku that Axel's head over heels for him in a vain attempt to tear them apart."
Roxas gaped at Demyx and opened and closed his mouth for a while.
"…How'd you find out about that?" he asked quietly after an awkward silence.
"I've been talking to one of Riku's friends Sora," said Demyx easily, "we've been doing some detective work."
Roxas cocked an eyebrow, "So what are you telling me to do now?"
"Move on," came the simple response, Roxas grimaced.
"But I…"
"Oh please Roxas," Demyx said exasperatedly, "let's not make this too difficult. Isn't there anyone else you're interested in that Sora and I can set you up with?"
Roxas was about to shake his head and say no but then he stopped and considered it for a moment. Well… There was that girl at the rehab center…
"I'm sorry… I guess I should've been watching where I was going."
"Well actually, now that you mention it…"
"Guess I'd better get going. It was nice meeting you. Are you a patient here?"
"There's this girl I met earlier today…"
"Oh I see, I should be going… Bye…"
Demyx smiled encouragingly, "Yes? Is she someone I know?"
"Well, she was at the rehab center so, maybe," Roxas's voice trailed off.
"Hm, now that we're on the topic," said Demyx thoughtfully, "it has been a while since you've gone out with a girl hasn't it?"
Roxas mulled over it, "Yeah it has."
"Still remember how to be the dominant one?"
"Demyx!" Roxas cried as he flung a pillow at Demyx's face.
"Sorry, sorry, right… Where were we?" Demyx paused, "Oh yeah, so what's her name?"
"I'm pretty sure it was… Namine."
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"Hello? Is anyone home? I'm back!"
Riku stepped into his home, keeping a hand on the wall to steady himself as he pulled off his shoes and shrugged off his jacket. The house seemed unusually quiet for a weekday afternoon. Did everyone go out without me?
"Hello Riku!" called Natashi as he entered the silver-haired teen's line of sight, "How was school? Rehab? Anything big happening?"
"No nothing really," murmured Riku ducking his head and avoiding his father's gaze as he limped out of the entrance hall.
"What happened to your ankle?" asked Mr. Ishida, concern lacing his features.
"It's nothing, I tripped while I was walking," Riku responded quickly.
"Well it's not like you to just trip, mind if I see it?" Riku's dad moved closer to inspect the injured limb.
"I said it was nothing! And I already wrapped it so don't bother!" said Riku a little loudly as he attempted to dodge out of Natashi's grasp. But his injury was his downfall and pretty soon, Natashi had Riku sitting in a stool with his leg propped up on the kitchen counter.
"Well it's just a minor sprain," he concluded after much examination of the wound. Riku rolled his eyes, Axel figured that out much faster than he did and without all the fuss…
"Who did the bandages for you?" asked Natashi, folding his arms and looking at his son imperiously.
"Sora," Riku blurted before he could think it over.
"Sora?"
"Uh-huh, he and I were hanging out after school," Riku ad-libbed.
"You and Sora were hanging out after school?"
"Yes, now can I go do my homework? I have a lot."
Natashi sighed and closed his eyes, "Riku," he began, and Riku rolled his eyes and prepared for the lecture, "Sora called after you were supposed to leave rehab and asked if you could come over. He also mentioned something about not having any homework."
Riku opened his mouth and closed it, thinking quickly he said, "I probably arrived at his house after he called."
"What about the homework?"
"I just said that to get out of this lecture," said Riku blatantly, Heck, it sounds honest enough.
"I see," Natashi tapped his nose thoughtfully, Riku always had thought it was a weird habit of his. In fact Riku's earliest impression of his dad had been that he had some sort of itchy-nose disorder, "Well in that case-
"Can I go now?" asked Riku desperately, "Come on… It's no big deal and this isn't some sort of crime investigation show. You've been watching way too mush TV."
"Fine," said Natashi, he knew when to admit defeat.
"By the way, where's mom?" asked Riku, pausing in the middle of his assent up the stairs.
"She went shopping with Resa," said his dad, still tapping his nose.
"Oh… okay," said Riku, sounding a little disappointed.
"Riku whatever you want to tell her, you can tell me you know," said the older of the two as he scratched his head, causing his red hair to get mussed up, "I'm here for you too."
"I didn't want to tell her anything," said Riku defensively and he was about to start heading up the stairs again but he stopped when his dad continued talking.
"Riku, we're your parents, you shouldn't hide things from us. Chances are we'll find out anyways."
Riku spun around on his heels and marched back down the stairs. His eyes were flashing a wide range of emotions. Each step he took was violent and jerky as if he was longing to kick something. And that something at the moment would have to be Natashi. In his anger he seemed to have momentarily forgotten about his ankle.
Natashi realized his mistake in words a second too late, and all at once Riku was standing face to face with him; nearly matching him in height.
"Now you listen to me," hissed the younger of the two as he jabbed Mr. Ishida in the chest with his index finger, "you're not my dad. You never will be. So don't start referring to yourself as my parent. Got it?"
Instead of waiting for an answer Riku began stomping up the stairs, not pausing or slowing in his stride once until he had reached his bedroom door and slammed it shut.
Natashi winced at the sound before sighing wearily and slumping against the counter. He put a hand to his face, I'm such an idiot.
Upstairs in his bedroom Riku was pacing furiously, finally after several minutes he looked down at his right leg, the pants leg was rolled up to reveal some bandaging. Quite suddenly Riku found himself remembering his sprain and thus fell back onto his bed clutching it tightly.
"Shit," he whispered. After a while the pain died away and he sat up a little straighter. Though they hadn't been assigned any homework today, Riku was still pretty behind on his work. So like clockwork he dragged himself out of bed and hauled his body over to his desk.
As he worked his way through his homework slowly, but diligently, he faintly registered the faded sounds of Resa and Ritsuko as they got home from their day of shopping. He didn't bother going downstairs though. No doubt Natashi was informing his mom of their little argument that had taken place after school.
------
"Um… Professor Higuchi?"
Zexion looked up from his papers he was grading and smiled at Riku, "Yes, may I help you?" Riku smiled back and nodded.
"Uh, yeah," he muttered distractedly as he began rooting through his back pack, "I finished that history essay from two weeks ago," he said, with just a hint of apology for the delay, "Sorry it took so long…"
"That's fine, your father called in and told the faculty that something was up," said as his eyes skimmed Riku's paper when he took it from the teen.
As soon as he spotted the look on Riku's face he realized he probably shouldn't have said that. Though Zexion didn't know it, it was the day after Riku had yelled at Mr. Ishida and the wound was still fresh and stingy for the silver haired teen. Riku stiffened at the mention of his "dad".
"Oh, I see," he muttered darkly, "Did he mention anything specific?"
"No, how's your ankle by the way?" Zexion mentally kicked himself. Oh shit! Lexaeus was right, I really can't keep my mouth shut!
"My ankle? I don't remember mentioning it to you," Riku all but snarled, Zexion gulped nervously.
"Well I just noticed that you were limping a little and drew the line myself," said the older man, though he was known for being a totally blabbermouth he was a quick thinker. A lucky thing it seemed at that exact moment,
"Oh," said Riku, though it was evident he didn't buy it, "well it's just a minor sprang. Nothing serious. It should be better in a few days."
"Ah, I see… That's good to hear, how you hurt it?" asked Zexion.
"I tripped."
"…Of course, how silly of me," muttered the professor, looking at his desk and fiddling with the papers lying on it.
"Right, um," Riku began rooting through his bag again, "I have some of the other assignments I er… neglected to hand in on time. Here."
He shoved a stack of papers into Zexion's hands and made to turn away. He was stopped however when Zexion called him back, voice filled with surprise and he was obviously impressed.
"Riku did… How long have you been working on all this?" he asked in awe.
Riku fidgeted a little, pleasantly embarrassed, "I… I've been getting a lot of stuff done the past week."
"It's nice to see you're improving so much," said Zexion, smiling at Riku fondly, "If you don't mind me saying that is. It's not really my place…"
"No it's okay," Riku ducked his head, "I think you're right."
And with that he walked out of his professor's room and proceeded to get ready for rehab.
-----
"Hey Riku," said Sora cheerfully as he and Kairi bounded up to him in the hallway of their High School once the bell signaling the end of the day had rung, "wanna hang out after school?"
"Uh…" Riku stopped and considered this proposition, truth be told he'd been planning to head over to Axel's house after school, "actually I was… planning on going… uh… I have plans."
Kairi's look was crestfallen to say the least and even Sora couldn't stop his smile from twitching a little. There was a frown audibly tugging at his lips and Riku hated knowing it was his fault. Still, he had already made plans in his mind and he couldn't just change them for Sora and Kairi.
"Maybe sometime during the weekend?" asked Riku, offering a weak smile, "After all it is Friday. Um… I'll probably be free both days."
"O-… Okay," said Sora, during the few seconds Riku had been talking he'd managed to plant another warm smile on his face, along with smiling eyes, "Sunday sounds good to me, Kairi?"
The red head girl looked up, startled out of her musings, "Huh? Uh… Sure… That sounds great…"
Riku frowned, "Is something wrong?"
"No, everything's fine," said Kairi quickly, she twirled around and faced both boys with her arms held akimbo, "I'm gonna get going now 'kay?"
"See ya!" called Sora holding up a hand to frame his mouth, next to him, Riku waved half-heartedly. He felt unusually bad about himself. He hadn't spent time with Kairi and Sora for a long time, maybe he should plan some stuff…
"Is something wrong with Kairi?" asked Riku quietly, suddenly he looked vulnerable and nervous all at once. Sora's expression softened.
"No, she's just a little stressed," said Sora, scratching the back of his head.
"…Is it… Because of me?" asked Riku timidly.
"Why would you think that?" asked Sora, knowing the answer already.
"I… I think I might've said some things that might've upset her," admitted the taller of the two as he hung his head, waiting for Sora to yell at him.
"Hey."
Riku blinked and looked up, Sora's hand was on his shoulder and he was staring hard at Riku. Riku stared back.
"It's okay, alright man? She's just a little sad because she thinks you're moving on and getting better and that you won't want us around anymore."
"She… She really thinks that?" asked Riku, Sora's explanation had startled him. He thought it was because Kairi was sick of looking after him. He'd never even thought that she didn't want him to get better. Riku frowned, that wasn't it either though was it? She wanted him to get better but at the same time, she didn't.
"I'm confused," said Riku quietly, "I… I don't know what to do anymore. I… Sora I think my… dad… hates me. And now Kairi's upset because of me, but I'm not even sure what I did wrong. The teachers are all talking about me behind my back and that makes me mad at them. But that's not right either is it? They're just looking out for me…" Riku was mumbling by this point, his thin hands were fiddling with the hem of his shirt and his gaze was downcast.
"Look Riku," said Sora, he was aware of the fact that Riku was getting upset by all this so decided to take his best friend's mind off things, "for now just do what you want. Try to catch up on your homework, not bite Mr. Ishida's head off at every turn," Riku pouted at Sora, Sora sighed and rolled his eyes, "Oh please Riku, you've got to stop… blaming him for things.
"And it might be a good idea to hang out with Axel a little more," the brunette added this like an after though. But it still caused Riku's head to jerk up in surprise.
"Yeah, I know all about you and him," said Sora, grinning easily.
"But, Kairi said you guys didn't get along," murmured Riku uneasily, "Why you want me to spend time with him if you don't like…" he left the sentence hanging.
"Because Axel seems to make you really happy," said Sora as if it were the simplest thing in the world, "He really does, in fact you've been improving a lot lately and I think it's all because of him. You should see him more. Don't worry about Kairi. She'll come around; I'll make sure of it!"
Riku nodded dumbly and began walking away, hesitantly at first but then he was taking normal strides. He turned back and waved at Sora calling out a quick, "See you later!" Sora was standing there and nodded in order to acknowledge Riku's words. He was still smiling his smile.
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"Hey Riku, rehab just got out?" asked Axel casually as he leaned on his front doorframe and smiled welcomingly at the silver haired teen. Riku ducked his head and smiled a little.
"Um Axel?" he asked nervously, "I know this may seem a little strange but uh… Can you maybe help me with my homework?"
Axel blinked in surprise, cocking his head a little so that his red spikes shimmied ever so slightly. The stiff strands of fire brushed the door frame a little bit and made inaudible swish sounds.
"Sure I'll help you!" he said, "You really don't have to ask. What subject?"
"Uh… Calculus," mumbled Riku.
"No prob! Come inside!"
It didn't take Riku long to figure out one thing. Doing school work with Axel was fun. When it came to math the red head had all sorts of colorful metaphors for each and every formula Riku needed help with. Quadratic functions were now associated with giraffes eating pink ice cream. The Pythagorean Theorem resembled a giant chunk of tofu floating in the ocean. And of course Axel had described symbolic manipulation as gay sex.
Riku had blushed furiously when Axel had launched into some long-winded explanation of the birds, the bees, and the x-intercepts.
But those colorful analogies Axel came up with weren't the only things Riku liked about doing home work with him. Riku also liked what Axel would do whenever one of the questions in Riku's math book stumped him.
First he would squint a little as if he thought he hadn't seen the question correctly. Then he'd try a few different methods of solving it (none of them worked of course). After that he would start getting irritated and would utter a few oaths under his breath. Next came the tantrums (Riku liked those; he thought they were fun to watch).
Axel jumped out of his chair and started pacing violently. Soon he began tugging on his flaming red locks. After a few minutes of this he would shout and rage until he burned out.
Then he'd trudge back to his seat at the table where Riku would be waiting for him quietly and with just a hint of amusement.
"Fucking theorems," muttered Axel grumpily, "what kind of fucking person spends their time inventing theorems?"
"Fucking idiots?" asked Riku, tilting his head to the side in mock thought. Axel smiled and punched him lightly in the arm.
"Yeah fucking idiots."
"That makes sense strangely enough," murmured Riku, and this time he actually was thoughtful.
"You doubted my methods?" asked Axel, aghast, "I'm insulted," he pouted and sulked in his little emo corner of misery. Riku found his smirk growing a little.
"Well let me put it this way," said the younger one delicately, "you're the only person I've ever met who would even think to compare symbolic manipulation with sex. Nevermind whether it's gay sex or otherwise… Does that make you feel better?"
"No."
"Axel, I love you but would you please help me out over here?"
"Fine, fine," he would say and by the time he turned around and faced Riku he would be grinning cheerfully.
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It went on like that for a while until eventually Riku's homework was done. And by done Riku meant done. It was the first time he'd actually been done with homework for a long time. Usually when he said done, he meant he'd done enough for the day and was calling it quits.
But today he was done. As in finished. All gone. No more. Zip. Nada.
"I," Riku paused and cleared his throat, "I'm done with my homework."
"Yeah so?" asked Axel cocking an eyebrow.
"I haven't actually been done with my homework in so long, usually I'm always behind but…" Riku voice trailed off as he eyed his stack of paperwork he'd gotten through, he turned his gaze back on Axel and smile broadly, "I'm not even behind anymore! That's so weird… I've been so behind lately but… We just got it ALL done!"
Axel smiled back at his enthused boyfriend, "You don't say," he paused in thought for a while, "well this calls for celebration!"
"What do you mean?" asked Riku curiously.
"Well for now it means we're going to pig out on ice cream," said Axel cheerfully as he walked into his kitchen and began pulling out assorted flavors, "but tomorrow I'm gonna take you to the big park! You know the one in the downtown area? Right well, we can spend the day. That's okay with you right?" he looked up from the two big cups of ice cream he was currently scooping.
"Yeah it's fine," said Riku.
"Great! Here's your ice cream," said Axel handing Riku a large (Very large, thought the younger one) bowl full of the sweet mixture. It didn't help that the concoction was doused (quite literally) in caramel and chocolate syrup alike. He took it dumbly and stared at it.
"Uh… Thanks."
"Wanna watch a movie?" asked the redhead as he back-flopped onto the couch.
"Sure," said Riku nodding as he sat down, "what movie?"
"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire."
Riku froze. Oh crap.
"Uh…" he looked around the room and eventually his eyes landed on the sugary syrup in his bowl. Slowly he felt a small smile making its way onto his lips, "Actually Axel I just though of a few other things we could do today…"
Author's Note: YAY for kinky endings! So it's been a while. Please review to let me know people are still reading this. By the way I'm going on vacation soonish so it might be a little over a week until the next installment. Yeah.
By the way, I know that not much happened in this chapter… well that's because I'm setting the stage for the next one, in which much happens and…. Well… I don't want to give it away, so in case I forget I'm leaving some tissues out right now for those of you who are emotionally crippled 'kay? Lots of stuff's gonna happen in the next chappie.
YAY for Spring
break!!!
bliss
