Author's Note: Welpz, it looks like I begin my fourth year of college on Thursday :-/ Ugh, plus it's moving day into my new place on Wednesday :-/ I'll try my best to keep up with regular updates, but it may be longer intervals since I really need to concentrate on my studies and hopefully graduate in the Spring (that's a big IF so far) :-D No worries, I won't forget about this story!!! I love how this story is coming out and it would hurt me (and all of you) if I just stopped one day :-/ Thank you all once again for your continuing support on Roxas' Québécois Adventure!!! Heart you all :-D
And with that… enjoy Chapter 10!!! Don't forget to review!!!
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Oh… my… freakin'… God! Are… we… there… yet?!?
Roxas continually banged his head softly into his hand as the Sora's singing voice successively speared through his ears for what seemed to be for the last twenty-five minutes. From No Doubt to Paramore to Blink-182 and even the Go Go's and so much more, Roxas and Leon had to suffer from the mini-concert that they found themselves forcefully delved in, as they were all in a moving vehicle easily traversing at approximately 100 kilometres per hour on the Autoroute. The older Leonheart had attempted to cease the music blaring on the radio earlier in order to have his little brother refrain from anymore singing, but Sora's obnoxious and banshee-like whining made his singing a rather viable option.
Christ, for a sixteen year-old, he sure acts and bellyaches like a three year old!
Roxas irritatingly scratched his head at the musing, intensifying even further when he felt a particular brunet's voice rattle his eardrums, his breath practically being blown onto the blonde's ear.
"Well somebody told me you had a boyfriend, who looked like a girlfriend that I had in February of last year. It's not confidential; I've got potential," Sora's gleefully vocalised with a smile as his face was practically mere centimetres away from Roxas'. The blond, however, was not amused; leering at the bubbly brunet with a cold set of blue eyes and a scowl as if to warn him something bad would imminently happen if the singing did not culminate. Nevertheless, the younger Leonheart narrowed his eyes at half-mast, simply smiled back at the glare and continued on his performance.
"Ready? Let's roll onto something new," Sora made the gestures the lyrics suggested towards Roxas. The blond still sported on an expression of ire on his face. "Taking its toll and I'm leaving without you!"
"Yes… please go on without me!" Roxas scornfully replied at the prompted remark.
"Moi aussi! S'il te plaît!" Leon chuckled as well, but even he was starting to lose his cool gradually. Who could blame him, especially if he had to drive and be part of the audience?
"Cause heaven ain't close in a place like this!" Sora continued on with the show. "I said heaven ain't close in a place like this!"
"Jesus… I wonder why?" Roxas acerbically replied to said remarks, rolling his eyes as he focused his gaze from the brunet in-view on the vanity mirror to over the side of the road. With the landscape becoming increasingly denser, the blond started to realise that all this torture would come to an end soon. However, one particular thought just crept into his mind.
What the hell are we gonna do after this?
Just before he was able to formulate an answer, the singer was back.
"Bring it back down, bring it back down tonight! Ooh oooooohhhoooo! Never thought I'd let a rumour ruin my moonliiiigggghhhhttttt! Well somebody told me, you had a boyfriend who looked like a girlfriend that I had in February of last year…."
"Don't worry, Roxas…" Leon tried to maintain a calm and normal voice towards said boy, despite the loud and detestable cacophony coming from the back. "We're almost back at the apartments! Just a few more minutes…hang in there!" Leon tried to assure the blond next to him.
"Heh… dude, I really, really, really hope so…" Roxas groaned out as he desperately covered his ears.
Dude… I'm not sure if cutting my wrist… or his singing… is the worst pain on this planet…
The blond felt his wrist twitch a bit at the thought of the last time he let a cold yet sterile silver blade cut upon his wrists. He uncovered his chequered wristband that covered the scarring evidence. Though it was naturally healing, the paleness of his skin colour made the scars stand out in a fairly stark contrast. Sure, when he usually had those, er… dark moments… in his room or in the bathroom… the piercing of his skin were supposed to serve as anaesthesia of sorts from the miserableness of the outside world.
Now that he thought about, Roxas wouldn't mind cutting his wrists at the moment… Anything to drown out the pain seeping into his ears.
"It's not confidential; I've got potential!" Sora's face suddenly appeared in Roxas' vision in the most annoying way as possible.
Oh God… will this never end?!?
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Roxas was lying down on the Leonheart's sofa after finally managing to return back to the apartment, being assisted by Sora and Leon along the way due to the throbbing pain that was ever increasing on his sides ever since the car ride back to Dorval. If there were any positive thoughts on the blonde's mind, it was the fact that he didn't have to suffer through anymore of Sora's singing… for now, that is, unless the brunet had a karaoke microphone or Rock Band with him.
"Arrrgggghhhh!" Roxas agonised in a hush manner, holding onto his right side specifically, hoping to not let the others hear him.
"Roxy, ça va?" Sora came running to the blonde's side like a dog coming to the aid of his master, though not implying that he was a lapdog or anything. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah… couldn't be better…" Sarcasm was easily detected in the blonde's voice. "I'm sure your singing will make it all better."
Sora's eyes lit up at the notion. "Real—"
"NO! NO!" The Strife held up his hand, nearly getting up from his laying position to prevent such actions. He thought twice when he winced from the pain due to the abrupt movements. "That's alright, really, thank you."
"Awwwww, c'mon, y'know you like my singing, n'est-ce pas?" The brunet initially had pout on his face before changing it as he came closer to Roxas. "Hey… uh… Roxy..." He sniffed deeply with his nose in between words.
Said boy sighed as he was trying to relax in peace. "Yeah?"
"Uhhhh… when was the last time you took a shower?" Sora waved his hand as he pinched his nose.
Roxas simply glared at him for the remark. "Well…" the blond rolled his eyes before continuing on. "Remember that I did have to spend the night at the hospital because I was r—" He abruptly stopped speaking as he mentally realised that he was going to let a keyword slip out; he simply still wasn't ready to tell anyone what happened on that dreadful night.
His sudden actions definitely caught the attention of the brunet above him. "Because you were what, Roxy?" Sora now seemed to press on finding out what happened to his new friend at the part. He donned a look of concern on his face. "C'mon Roxy, you can tell me."
"I—... er… rather not…" The blond averted his gaze from the brunet above him to the wall behind him. He really wished that Sora wouldn't continue pressing on the issue and just move onto to some other subject… perhaps his singing abilities?
"Plllllleeeeeeeaaaaaaasssssssseeeeeeee, Roxy?" Sora was now pleading on his knees besides the boy on the couch. He grabbed the Strife's hand and gazed into his deep blue eyes with a pair of puppy dog eyes of his own. If the blond didn't know better, he knew that Sora could give such a convincing and cute face when he was begging.
Damn… I'm sure that his puppy dog expression would work for begging money on the streets…
"Well… I—"
"Arrête ça, Sora," Leon suddenly came into the room with a glass of water and a two medicine bottles in his hand. "If he doesn't wanna say why right now, then let him be."
Roxas, who seemed unfazed by Leon's comment on the exterior, was secretly thanking the elder brunet in the inside.
Finally! Thanks Leon!
Sora's infamous pouty expression crept in once again, before deciding to let the issue drop. "Hrmph! Fine then…" Both Leon and Roxas rolled their eyes at the juvenile behaviour he was exhibiting.
"Anyways… here are your medicines and a glass of water, Roxas," Leon proceeded to hand the bottles and left the glass on the coffee table. Roxas then opened the bottles with his hand and took out one pill from each respective bottle. One of the pills was rather large, yellow, and capsule shaped, while the other was a small, blue-coated tablet. The blonde grabbed the cool glass of water and went ahead to take the pills, swallowing the bigger one first as he knew it would take effort to do so.
"Bleh…" Dissatisfaction was apparent as Roxas scrunched his face at the taste. "Thanks Leon."
"No probs, kiddo," Leon smiled as he took the empty glass back into the kitchen.
Kiddo?
The Strife raised an eyebrow at the brief, quirky remark, but didn't think much of it as the telephone rang.
"Allô?" Leon answered in a typical French-Canadian accent. "Ouais? C'est pas vrai! Vous êtes sérieux? Maintenant? Mais pourqu— Okay, okay, be there in a bit." He hung up the phone as he grumbled, grabbing his keys, wallet, and cell phone. "Câlisse!"
"Qu'est-ce qui se passe?" Sora inquired as he grabbed the remote for the television and sat into the recliner.
"Il faut que je retourne à l'office," Leon hastily began to put on his black and white Vans slip-ons. "They said that they have a big case on hand and need all the paralegals to come over and help with the files. Hmph, day off my ass…"
Roxas wasn't sure if he found the seemingly angry nature of Leon to be frightful or just downright amusing.
"T'en fais pas, Roxy…" Sora began to recline back on the recliner. "It's normal when he gets all pissy like this. As if he were PMS-ing…" The brunet couldn't stifle down the chuckle that ensued from his throat, earning the middle finger from his older brother. "Love you too, Leon!"
Though Roxas refrained, he couldn't help but to smile at the remark.
Yup… sounds like what Sora would say…
When the elder brunet finished getting ready to head out, he took out his wallet and whipped out some colourful bills. After all, Canadian dollars were coloured. "Aiiittteee you two, I have a feeling that I'll be gone for awhile so do yourselves a favour and order up some pizzas for you both for dinner. Je prends quelque chose après le travail. Okay?"
"C'est cool," Sora acknowledged as Leon bid the two of them their goodbyes until later. The brunet then proceeded to count the money given to him. "Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix… vingt… trente… quarante… cinquante!"
"Cinquante?" Roxas repeated in a form of a question.
"Fifty bucks yo!" Sora's face was anything but sad or angry as he whiffed around the money in a fan-like fashion.
"What the fuck?!? Fifty?!?" This startled the blond, as Cloud never gave him that much money to be trusted with, regardless of the exchange rate between American and Canadian dollars.
"Yeah, my brother always does this every time," the brunet simply shrugged his shoulders. "I guess he's always worried that I might need the extra money for more food in-case he comes back late, which does happen on occasions since he does work in a law office."
"I see…" Roxas nodded, though still taken aback by the amount of money that Sora was always entrusted with. "Do you always use all the money given to you?"
"Hell naw!" Sora goofily chortled. "Pizza is usually only like $10 - $15. I use the rest for alkie and whatnot."
"Ohhhhhh… I see…"
So that's where Sora gets all the alcohol. Does Leon even know about this? Not like he needs to, but wouldn't something correlate? Does the extra money pay for the weed as well?
"And since Leon won't be back for quite sometime, I guess I could have a lil' kickback here then, hahaha." Sora seemed ecstatic about the possibility of having more alcohol and drugs at his place tonight. Roxas didn't seem to have a problem with this. Hell, he was all for the kickback as well. However, he just realised that he wouldn't be able to consume any alcohol due to his medications and he wouldn't be able to smoke any cigarettes due to possible interactions with the medicines... though the doctor at the hospital didn't say anything about not smoking any cannabis…
"Sora," Roxas still laid flat on the couch, but could tell that he had said boy's attention. "You know that I can't drink or smoke because of the medications…"
The brunet suddenly sat straight up, as such facts hadn't crossed his mind yet. "Oh, shit, Roxy… my bad… I totally forgot that you were taking stuff for your injuries. It could just be the two of us kickin' it tonight…"
"Oh no, it's alright, because I just realised two things: One, do you think you can get some 4:20's for tonight? And two, what about my brother being next door when he gets home?"
Sora knew how to answer question one, but had to take the time and ponder about the situation presented with question number two. "One: Yes, it'll be no problem. And two: …" The brunet pursed his lips for a moment before finally responding. "I'll have to do some serious downscaling so it'll look like a friendly little gathering. Cloud would believe that, yeah?"
Would Cloud believe that?
Roxas took the time to muse about that. Despite his past history about hanging out with other people at night time and the recent events that have transpired, since it was Sora that he would be hanging out with, and Cloud would know where he was, he can't see why Cloud wouldn't believe any type of shenanigans would be going on.
"Yeah… I don't see why not…" was Roxas' simple response.
"Swwwweeeeettttt!!!"
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A couple of hours have passed since Leon left the apartment. The two boys left behind sat in the living room and watched TV, attempting to keep themselves somewhat entertained since Roxas preferred to say immobile on the couch until pain was fully assuaged.
KNOCK
KNOCK
KNOCK
Both boys turned around and averted their attention towards the front door.
"Hmmm…" Sora wondered as he got up to answer the door. It was none other than a tall, lanky, spiky redhead with a mohawked/mullet blond at the door, carrying a bluish, guitar-like instrument. "Axel! Demy! Quoi de neuf dudes?"
Axel?!?
Roxas immediately got up from the couch when he heard a particular name creep into his ears. "Arrrgggghhhh!" Bad idea as his sides protested such actions.
"Awwwwww, is our little Roxy doing alright here laying on the couch?" Axel crooned at the blond below, trying to sound as pleasant as possible. However, glares resembling daggers of ice were the only gift that the redhead got in return from the blond.
"I'm doing alright, thank you very much…" Roxas coolly replied as he turned his attention right back onto the TV. Suddenly, he felt his legs being lifted up onto the air and finally being rested upon on the lap of the redhead. "Uh… what the hell are you doing?"
Axel simply shrugged his shoulders at the cold reception the blond gave him. "I wanted to sit down and watch TV… Is that too much to ask?"
"You could've sat in the recliner or the chair over there," the blond replied matter-of-factly.
"Um… nah, I think I like it right here…" Axel grabbed the remote and began channel surfing; unaware of the malevolent gaze he was being casted upon by Roxas centimetres away.
"Roxy! Axel!" Sora began to put on his Chucks, looking like he was ready to head out someplace. "On va au dépanneur pour l'alcool et des cigs."
"Dépanneur?" The blond questioned, making an effort to at lease build up his vocabulary skills.
"Yeah, the dép… or in this case, I believe it's called a liquor store in the States, no?" Axel answered the question with a question.
"Oh… I see…"
"We'll be back soon!" And with that Sora and Demyx were out the door… leaving Roxas and Axel by themselves.
"Well Roxy, looks like it'll be the two of us for now. Isn't that awesome?" Axel smiled as he patted the blonde's legs, causing a twitch to occur.
"Oh yeah… exciting indeed…" Roxas sarcastically commented, earning a chuckle from the redhead near him.
Jesus Sora… you just had to leave me here with him… how awkward can this get?
"You need a foot massage?" Axel tried to stifle down a laugh.
I think that just answered everything right there…
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"Somebody Told Me" by The Killers is featured in this chapter (with Sora taking the vocals as always) :-P
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The usual provided translations:
Moi aussi – me too/me as well/me also
S'il te plaît – please (using the tu form; can be s'il vous plaît as well, but usually used for former situations.)
Vous êtes sérieux? – Are you serious?
Qu'est-ce qui se passe – What's happening/what's the matter?
Il faut que je retourne à l'office – I must return back to the office (subjunctive tense)
T'en fais pas – Don't worry/no worries (fairly informal, slang)