When the idea had hit Roxas, he had never contemplated that him and Sora wouldn't make good spies. He thought it would be simple; that they would simply follow Naminé and that guy, she would simply confess her love for Roxas (thinking he wasn't there) and they would simply live happily ever after. And the master plan would have gone perfectly and nothing bad would ever ever ever happen. Ever. Simple, right?
No. It was not simple at all as Roxas learnt that day.
It all began with the fine idea of spying on Naminé and her old friend. Quickly agreeing they would do so, the next step was changing their clothes so Naminé wouldn't recognise them easily. Roxas went with the casual outfit of jeans, a t-shirt and a cap to cover his eyes and distinctive hair. Quickly changed and ready to chase after Naminé, Roxas frustratingly thumped his fists on the bathroom door in hope to hurry Sora up.
Roxas felt his blood pump furiously when he saw Sora step from the bathroom door with obvious pride at his "achievement" of an outfit. Sora stood in full satisfaction of his all black combat outfit, sunglasses and walkie-talkie hanging from his belt.
"DAMN IT, SORA!" Roxas roared throwing a new outfit to him, "We don't want to be noticed!"
"Aw but spies look like this!" Sora whined, gesturing to his clothes.
Roxas, losing any thread of patience he had, ignored Sora's complaints and forcefully shoved him back into the bathroom.
And after a few grumbled minutes Sora was fully dressed and they were marching down the red carpeted corridor and to the elevators.
"Sora, Nam will be ages away by now." Roxas grumbled, stepping into the elevator.
Pressing the ground floor button Roxas tapped his foot speedily.
"Roxas?" Sora asked, half-aware.
"What?" Roxas snapped turning sharply to the dazed Sora.
"You know how Nam used to be French?"
"Hm."
"And that guy is French?"
"Hm."
"Will they not be speaking French when we are spying on them? So how are we going to understand them?"
Roxas' foot paused. He took a sharp breath of the stuffy air and glared to the ground. Shit. He had not thought this through properly. A sudden ding chimed in the tiny room. Roxas looked up to the shiny metal doors as they slid open. He dragged his hand down all the floor buttons and stepped out of the lift. Sora followed and waited beside him as he scanned the lobby.
"Shit." Roxas drawled out, throwing his hands to his head, "There's no way we will understand them!"
"Yeah." Sora said somewhat laughing.
"Aw, why do we have to suck at school work?" Roxas groaned, stomping his feet, "Why aren't you a genius or something?" Roxas threw at Sora, pointing.
"Me?! That would be short of a miracle, mate. And why aren't you?" Sora laughed pushing the accusing finger away.
"Because I suck at everything." Roxas moaned falling to the ground on his knees, " Damn it, Nam is always here to do this stuff when we do these kind of things."
Sora joined Roxas on the floor and sat cross-legged, "So what are we gonna do?"
"Maybe we should move from the elevator doors." Roxas sighed.
"Aww but I'm comfy now. Why?" Sora quizzed.
And right on the mark the two heard a familiar chime and both were suddenly hit on the back of the head with a suitcase trolley. Rubbing there heads, they groggily stood up, complaining all the way. They nodded away the French folk, that had hit them, who were now splurging apologies (so Roxas and Sora they guessed).
Slouching away from the scene Roxas and Sora sat down on the squishy red armchairs. Sighing Roxas irritably drummed his long fingers on his knee.
"So..." Sora piped up after a long awkward silence filled with Roxas' frustration.
Roxas ignored Sora's attempt at a conversation as he tried to bloke out the mental image of Naminé and that guy holding hands in the sunshine and eating croissants while laughing about things mini Nam and mini French prick done when they were little and of course they would be speaking French the full time; blocking Roxas out.
"Oi, Roxas?" Sora asked waving a hand in front of the glazed eyed boy.
Receiving no answer Sora stood up and took Roxas by the arm and dragged him out of the seat.
"We are going a walk." Sora concluded dragging Roxas along and out the lobby.
Roxas found his feet and stumbled along with Sora. They stepped out into the sun-filled street which blew a refreshing breeze over them. Roxas watched the people on the street go along with their business and minding themselves, not concerning anyone else around them. With a sigh he pushed his cap up slightly to examine the clear blue sky.
"Let's wonder around." He heard Sora chirp and before he knew it he was following Sora through the sun-hazed street.
The warm air clung to him as he turned corners and dodged the busy people. Sora babbled away about something on his new video game while Roxas merely watched his forever changing surroundings. He nodded and forced a smile when he spotted people from his class looking as equally lost as Sora and he had became. Suddenly Sora stopped, Roxas turned to see the problem.
"Maybe we should turn back?" Sora asked nervously with his eyes darting to Roxas and something behind him.
"Why?" Roxas chuckled, turning around.
He laughter cut immediately when he spotted Naminé and her "old friend" sitting outside at a nearby ice cream parlour. Roxas felt himself grin as he saw Naminé laugh, enjoying herself. But the grin decayed when he remembered the reason why she would be enjoying herself.
And without another thought Roxas turned to Sora and smiled,
"Don't act suspicious."
"No, we're not playing spies because we can't understand them right? Remember?"
"Come on!" Roxas urged walking away towards the parlour, staying behind a large group of tourists.
Groaning Sora followed.
Pulling his cap down to hide more of his face Roxas stayed close to the crowd and Sora. When close enough to the small ice cream parlour Roxas gestured to Sora to jump behind a small vine covered fence that was near Naminé's seat. With a successful departure from the tourists without being noticed the two boys found themselves sitting behind the fence and in ear shot of Naminé's voice. Grinning at their perfect hiding space the two perked their ears. And as expected Naminé's voice only spoke of a language impossible for Roxas and Sora. Roxas listened to her fluency of the language and smiled. But his face dropped and his hands became fists when he heard the boy speak, laughing slightly.
But suddenly he heard something he understood: English.
"Naminé." It was that boy's voice that had spoken and had a heavy French accent trimming it, Roxas listened more intently, "You haven't spoken French in a while, oui?"
"Ah, not in years." Naminé spoke, shyly.
"Shall we speak in English?" The boy asked.
"Yeah, but I didn't realise my French had gotten bad!"
Roxas sat up straight. He had thought she spoke it perfectly.
"It's not." The boy laughed. "But I want you to find it easy to speak with me."
Roxas gritted his teeth and scrunched his nose at that comment. So this guy is a charmer?
"Nicholas, you're always nice to me."
Roxas and Sora looked to each other. Nicholas? So that was this boy's name. Wait. As in the hotel of Nicholas?
Roxas shrugged the thought away when he heard Nicholas speak again. "I like being nice to you! It makes you smile."
Fucking charmer, Roxas thought.
It took every bit of Roxas' being not to shout in aggravation, leap up from his hiding spot and run for that boy. But staying to the ground Roxas bore listening to Naminé's laughter and his.
"Nic," He heard Naminé ask, "Do you want to go for a walk?"
"Oui."
With Roxas deep in thought of the tauntingly perfect sound of Nic and Nam Sora took action and dragged him further from the edge of the fence in hope they wouldn't have been seen. Roxas in a near coma state received a blow to the head from Sora. Turning to shout Sora hushed him and pointed to Naminé and Nicholas.
But they were on the couple's tail again and hid from them by standing in the large groups of people, hiding behind walls, fences and 'large' people. All throughout the good hour they followed them the phrase "remember when" popped up again and again, rearing it's ugly head and teasing Roxas. And with each time he heard that phrase Roxas felt his blood boil and his insides twist. He was sure if he heard it one more time he would voluntarily run into a wall.
"Nam, remember when..." Nicholas began but Roxas didn't listen to the rest because he was already marching towards the dark haired boy with fists ready. He only stopped when he, in his rage, failed to see the curb and embarrassingly thumped his foot on it and fell to the ground. Pushing himself up he ignored his throbbing foot and Sora's howling of laughter and scanned for Naminé again. She was gone.
"SHIT." He spat, loudly, and glad French people didn't really understand what he was saying.
Counting to ten and giving his ragged breathing time to calm he turned to Sora, who was still sniggering slightly.
"Shut up." Roxas whined, "Where did they go?"
Sora pointed in the direction of a quiet road. An with that the two sprinted towards the road. Stopping once close by they checked they wouldn't be seen. With Naminé quite a bit on they marched forward.
The road was a peculiar one. A dirt one in the middle of a busy town and once on the road the busyness of the town faded away almost instantly and they were suddenly faced with a more difficult challenge of being spies. With no crowds, vans, cars, shops they were left with the small road, a small wall trimming it and fields. Lots of fields.
"What the hell?" Roxas asked to no one in particular, "What's up here for them to remember?"
He looked to Sora who shrugged.
Roxas sighed and jumped over the small stone wall and to the grass. With Sora following the two crouched down and ran quietly, still shielded by the wall. They slowed down once hearing voices and become careful on what they treaded on.
Roxas become furious as he heard them laughing as they reminisced about their joyful French past. But he suddenly spotted a tree up ahead. A large one. But with branches low enough for, say, children to climb? Roxas paused and turned to the confused Sora who had fell on his ass at the sudden stop.
"I think they are going to that tree." Roxas hissed.
Sora's eyes widened, he looked up ahead to the tree and right on the mark they saw Naminé and Nicholas hop over the small stone wall and look up to the lush green tree.
Both boys cursed in sync and clumsily stumbled over the wall to the dirt road again.
Looking to each other and smiling in relief at how close they were to becoming the worst spies ever, they continued on. Once sure they were at the tree they paused, sat down, leaned on the little stone wall and listened.
"We had lots of fun at this tree!" Naminé laughed.
"I wish we could have had more." Nicholas chimed out in a deep, thoughtful voice.
"Yeah..." Naminé mumbled.
Roxas huffed and turned to Sora and hissed through gritted teeth, "She hasn't mentioned me all day!"
Sora shrugged.
For another twenty minutes they spoke of things that Sora fell asleep over and Roxas silently pounded the ground at.
But suddenly as the air become light and calm and the sun glided from the blue heavens onto Roxas, the noise of talk faded. It just got quieter until Roxas found his eyelids heavy. He cast a lazy glance to Sora who sat slumped against the wall, sleeping. A summery breeze twirled around Roxas and teased him to join the world of dreams. His body relaxed and his breathing got heavy and then a calm darkness engulfed his world. Soon the darkness swirled into happy pictures of him, smiling. But he was with someone. An angel? He had his arms around her waist and she was smiling at him. He knew her. She was important to him. She was everything to him. A name faded in and out of his mind. But it suddenly became clear as the silence that surrounded him; Naminé.
Roxas eyes snapped open and he found his body tense. The sky had changed to an orangey mist trimmed with pinks. He looked up and breathed into the cool air. Silence still closed in on him. He looked o his side and found Sora still sleeping. Suddenly the silence made his gut turn. He spun around into a crotched position and peered over the top of the small wall and past the tree. He couldn't see anyone. Standing up, a little confused he leaned over the wall and suddenly a blonde head of hair came into view. He smiled, relieved not to have been found.
Hearing voices he shot back down, behind the wall.
"Nic?" Naminé drawled, sounding extremely sleepy.
"Hmm" He answered, sounding asleep.
"You asked... you asked what was wrong with me earlier and I said nothing."
"I know."
"Well, there is something..." She yawned.
"What is it?"
"Roxas." Hearing his name Roxas sat up straight and leaned into the wall, "He was awkward with me before I left to see you. And I feel guilty now but I don't know why..."
Roxas eyes widened. His heart raced. A grin grew on his face. He listened with all his energy and thanked the heavens he had woken up.
"Maybe it is because..." Nic began grumbling almost, "You miss him?"
Hearing this Roxas did a mini "HA SUCKS TO BE NICHOLAS!" dance.
"Maybe but it is only Roxas. Why not Sora?"
A silence sounded out.
"..."
"Wait..." Naminé yawned clearly on the brink of sleeping, "I think... I think I know why..."
"Hmm."
Roxas waited through a silent moment and didn't dare make a sound. But after the long silence and Roxas impatience ready to tear through, Roxas took a chance. Standing up slightly he looked over the wall again. Seeing Naminé still leaning on the tree, slightly slouched and with her back to him he leaned over the wall a little more. And his jaw dropped at the sight. Naminé and Nicholas sat slouching against the tree, shoulders meeting and heads leaning on each other.
"WHAT THE F-" Roxas shouted with a strange high pitch voice and suddenly unaware of the meaning of spy but felt a sudden jerk on his hand and was tugged down to the dirt road again. He met Sora's 'you are a fucking idiot' face and heard a shuffling from over the wall. Both boys readied themselves and tensed up.
"Nic?"
"Hmm."
"Did you hear someone shout?"
"Sounded like a girl." Nic yawned.
Roxas felt his eye twitch at that comment but stayed low. Sora and Roxas waited for the silence to capture the environment before deciding they had had enough of playing spies today. With the sun low in the sky and Roxas unable to control emotion anymore they headed home, first running low from behind the wall and walking when sure they were far away enough and the French couple were sleeping.
Roxas felt himself turning around every other minute to see Naminé still with him, lying next to him, sleeping and carefree. An annoying itching to know what she had figured out before falling asleep clawed at his chest and mind.
"Sora, do you have a good aim?" Roxas asked with a sly grin.
"Yup." Sora answered, proud of himself.
Roxas scanned the dirt road and finding a small acorn he scooped it up, excited and shoved it into Sora's hand. With an evil sparkle in his eye Roxas nodded feverishly to Sora to which Sora smirked back and gripped onto the small acorn.
And with the whip of a hand the two watch the small acorn fly through the orange atmosphere and with perfection meet it's target. A small yelp was clear and the two peeking from behind the wall watched Nic sit up and look around while rubbing his head. Finding it difficult to hold in their laughter Roxas and Sora ducked under the wall and sniggered until they're faces were red. Finally calming down the boys stood up and walked into the town.
Once getting lost a good few times, they finally met their hotel again. Dragging their sore feet to the elevator. And soon Roxas was greeted with the usual 'hotel room' smell as he ran for his bed. Flopping down onto it, he guessed Sora to be doing the same thing as he buried his face into the soft covers and felt the pain ease away. The pain in his feet and the agonizing pain of waiting for Naminé, wanting Naminé and ultimately the idea of her with Nicholas. But the pain started to fade away as his body began to soothe to sleep's treatment.
Yay another chapter sorry for the wait - I was reading a fantastic ccs fanfic which was definitely one of the best fanfics I have ever read, you can find it in my fav stories it is called "I'm In Love With a Plumber"