Chapter 11

The Pantry

Summary:

Roxas keeps thinking about the substitute teacher in anticipation of his next cooking lesson.

It had been a really long and strange day for Roxas. His mind kept wandering to the substitute teacher and all those strange remarks and looks he had gotten from him that morning. It still made Roxas feel queasy - or maybe it was excitement? He kept teetering from one side of the spectrum to the other; from being completely creeped out and annoyed, to being thrilled and wanting to spend more time with the guy. Roxas had tried to push the thoughts aside and concentrate on his other classes. He had achieved some success but it all came back whenever he had some quiet time. Which in Roxas' life seemed to a be a lot. He was left to his thoughts when he was at Zack's warehouse, and it was even worse when he went home with Cloud at the end of the day. Cloud still seemed to be very unhappy with Roxas for forcing his hand in the matter of leaving Roxas alone that weekend, so conversations were kept at a bare minimum.

Zack had appeared really concerned that afternoon, asking Roxas if everything was ok after the drama of the Friday night. He then also took Cloud aside to make sure he was happy to go along with the scheduled delivery plan before the brothers left for home that evening. Roxas knew Cloud would. No way was he backing down after he made a promise and commitment. Not unless Roxas changed his mind, which he was definitely not going to do under any circumstances.

Roxas had told Cloud that the arrangement had been made with Sora, making sure to leave out any details of what they had planned to do. He had asked Sora if he could stay over on the weekend that afternoon while waiting for Zack to pick him up. He was inundated with a barrage of hugs and a waterfall of words. They had sat down and planned everything they would be doing, even in the constraints of having to stay put at Sora's place. Sora had pouted but Riku being the ever present voice of reason had pointed out all the things they still could do while just staying at Sora's place. Roxas was looking forward to finally getting to learn some fencing, which was something he still never managed to bring up with Cloud. He was happy to keep it that way knowing the disapproval he would be met with. 'It's too dangerous.', 'You could really hurt yourself', blah blah blah.

He really couldn't wait for the weekend to roll around. It felt like the anticipation was going to kill him.

It didn't kill him however. Every day there was something exciting to do and occupy Roxas' mind with while he was at school with his friends. Sora was still excitedly talking about his place and how much Roxas would love it, and what a great time they would all have.

When Roxas was at Zack's he would spend his time talking to Zack. He even managed to convince Zack to get some of the music that Roxas liked and had discovered due to his friends. Zack even got a stereo system and speakers which they set up together. That definitely made the quiet times more enjoyable. Zack would also give Roxas a lot of materials to study regarding cooking and would let Roxas go upstairs to practice in the kitchen.

Thursday rolled around before Roxas even realized. He was eager to put his new found cooking knowledge into practice and maybe even redeem himself in the eyes of Axel after his chopping fiasco. Roxas, although now familiar with the way to the kitchens, deliberately took his time. He didn't want to appear too eager to be at the front of the classroom.

"Heeey Rrroxasss!"

His heart jolted and he looked behind him to see the familiar red spikes approaching. Axel was upon him in a matter of seconds, hand on Roxas' head, fiddling with his hair, and a disappointed look on his face.

"Still black, I see."

"Yeah, what else would it be?"

"Well, you know -," Axel winked at him and continued. "You planning to be late to my class again?" Axel moved his hand from Roxas' head to the small of his back to give the boy a push along and they both fell into a comfortable pace.

Roxas looked back down abruptly to hide his reddening cheeks. He hadn't realized how much he actually had missed Axel, and considering that they had only spent an hour together a few days ago, it was really embarrassing. He didn't know what was wrong with himself.

"I figured you'd be late again, so there was no hurry."

Axel let out an amused 'Heh!'

"I was late before because I had nothing to look forward to in this class," he stated matter-of-factly. "Now I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Roxas looked up incredulously and saw Axel staring down at him with a sly smirk on his face and heavily lidded eyes. Roxas picked up his pace to get away from him, only netting Roxas another audible laugh from Axel.

When Roxas rounded the corner and stepped into the classroom he stopped in his tracks so suddenly that Axel almost ran into him.

"Sorry," Roxas mumbled and stepped aside.

The front desk was occupied by two girls, Mindy and Ophelia. Roxas had heard them giggling to themselves all through Monday's lesson and was pretty sure they had made the loudest swooning sounds whenever Axel had walked past them that day.

Roxas glanced around to find where an empty spot was, and found one to his left, at the very back. He felt disappointed. Apparently coming late wasn't a good idea. Maybe he needed to come extra early next time.

Roxas glanced to the front where Axel was getting himself settled in. Roxas didn't know Axel very well at all but he thought he also seemed a bit disappointed. Or maybe he was just imagining it. Roxas sighed.

"Alright guys! Another egg-citing day, another egg-static cooking lesson with me. So let's get cracking - them eggs!"

The class groaned as one.

Axel just laughed while ordering his errand girls to disseminate the recipes.

"You guys don't appreciate my yolks?"

Someone yelled back "You're such a rotten egg!"

Axel, still amused with himself sat down and stretched his legs out on his desk. "Well I'm scrambled then. I'll leave you chickens to it. And as before, don't burn anything, or maim yourselves."

Once the girls had gone around and everyone had their recipes the kitchen space came alive. There was one recipe for scrambled eggs and two different omelettes, as well as a poached egg recipe. Roxas decided that he wanted to try all the recipes again to maximize his time, and practice as many things as possible. After having made his decision he headed to the pantry to grab his ingredients. Roxas thought about how much Cloud loved eating eggs. He thought it be an excellent, or even egg-cellent - he groaned inwardly - surprise to make breakfast for his brother early one morning before he had to head off to work. Roxas became determined and resolute that this was something he would definitely do and get right.

Axel got up and walked around from time to time. Roxas tried to focus on his cooking but felt his attention deviate every time he caught red in his periphery. Roxas felt stupid for wanting that 'idiot,' as Kairi seemed to constantly call him, to come over and talk to him. All his other classmates seemed to take precedence over him, which just made Roxas want his teacher's attention even more. He cursed his bad luck in being shoved all the way in the back.

Roxas began chatting to a guy next to him, named Cedric. Cedric seemed really bored with the cooking, saying he only picked it because it was an easy pass. As he was very non-committal Cedric picked the easiest thing to make. He was done within twenty minutes, and decided to abandon his post and go talk to other people more interesting than Roxas.

Cedric had been gone for maybe five minutes when Roxas was pulled out of his reverie by the sound he had wanted to hear the most.

"Cooking everything again, are ya, Roxas?" Axel didn't trill his name as much this time around but he still said it with a suggestive rumble, and leaned against the bench-top like he could stay there all day.

Roxas shiver pleasantly at the sound of his name and he looked up into Axel's face.

"I can't tell which one of these recipes is any good if I don't make them all and try them," he stated coolly while trying to keep his pounding heart in check.

"Anything I give you will always be good, Roxas." There was that wink again. "You should just trust my judgement and pick your favorite thing." Axel said in a lowered voice and moved a lot closer to Roxas. Roxas looked up wide eyed, feeling butterflies in his stomach. He regretted having wished for this situation. It really had been stupid. Now he at least knew.

The prolonged silence from Roxas made Axel chuckle in amusement and he added more casually "Making everything is too much work, especially for the time frame you guys are given."

Roxas looked back down at his kitchen counter covered with pans, dishes and used up ingredients. He felt like Axel was chiding him again. Like Roxas made the wrong choice and couldn't get anything right. "But I wanted to try everything" he said softly.

Roxas didn't even know what he felt bad about the more he thought of it. As that sudden realization hit him his courage returned, and the embarrassment and butterflies faded. He looked back into those smiling green eyes and said with determination, "I am on top of everything. There's no reason why I should limit myself because of some stupid time limit. - Plus, you weren't horribly late, so I'll have more than enough time for everything today." Roxas added with some fire and cocked his head to the side.

Axel's face lit up and he laughed to himself quietly. "Fair enough then. I like your spunk, kid. If you can complete all the tasks in the time you're given you might actually be cut out to make it in a more competitive atmosphere. You should think about that as a possibly career path for yourself."

"Oh, thanks -" Roxas was quite dumbfounded and taken aback at that compliment. He had expected another snide comment.

"Any time, kiddo!" Axel pushed away from the counter, figuring that he probably spent more time than was deemed appropriate at this station, and moved on to go somewhere else that wasn't near his desk and those two girls, Minty and Opera, or whatever their names were.

Roxas finished his cooking well on time and was slowly and purposefully tidying up when the bell rang. He had been thinking about what Axel had said about a career path. Roxas had never considered what he wanted to actually do with his life. He and Cloud had always just lived day to day that it seemed absurd to make bigger plans. Or maybe it was more like there was no point in having hopes and dreams because they would probably never eventuate. Man that was depressing.

Doing a final sweep of his prep area Roxas found some untouched vegetables that had rolled under some plastic bags and went to take them back to the pantry. Mindy and Ophelia met him on their way out of the classroom and gave him disgusted looks. "Flirting with a male substitute teacher, Mindy. Some people have no shame" said Ophelia pointedly and loudly, causing some other kids who were close by to stifle giggles.

Flirting? But Roxas hadn't been -. He walked into the pantry, deposited his items and just stood in the back mulling it over. He never really thought he cared what other people thought of him, but maybe that was just because most people always seemed to like him. He never really had a problem with others before, which was clearly because he hadn't had a normal life these past few years.

But flirting? Did Roxas even like Axel? Roxas felt weird around him, that's all he could be certain of.

"Hey Rrroxasss! I'm gonna lock you in with those vegetables you seem to be so fond of."

"What?" Roxas startled out of his thoughts.

"Or maybe," Axel stepped into the pantry and closed the door behind him "I'll lock us both in here together. We can see who eats who first." He bore a toothy smirk.

"That's not funny Axel!" Roxas rushed towards him and the door but Axel's long limbs stopped him from getting past.

"No? Not even a little funny?"

Roxas rolled his eyes and sighed in exasperation.

All of a sudden the hand on his shoulder which was holding Roxas at bay pushed him to the side. Roxas' back made contact with the wall and he was pinned. Axel pushed his knee between Roxas' legs, and placed one hand on the wall next to his face, while cupping his chin gently with the other.

Roxas was breathing heavily and his heart was thumping. He had no idea what was going on. He all of a sudden really wanted Cloud. Axel just silently looked at Roxas' face.

"You know what, Roxy?"

"Roxy?" Roxas' head stopped racing through all the worst case scenarios once Axel began speaking. Maybe this wasn't one of those nightmare scenarios that Roxas dreaded and sometimes lost sleep over. Maybe Axel was just being his 'idiot self', and this was all just some weird 'fun'.

"I've decided to call you that whenever we are alone together from now on."

"You think we'll be alone a lot?"

"That's up to you."

Axel's eyes kept falling on Roxas' lips and he licked his own.

"I really want to kiss you." His voice had the same rumble as earlier in the week and Roxas felt the butterflies return and that knot tighten in his abdomen. Roxas felt one of Axel's fingers trace over his lips.

Did he want Axel to kiss him? Maybe -.

Roxas eyed Axel's parted lips and flicked his eyes back up to the green eyes which were relaxed and looking rather lustfully at him, if Roxas had any idea what lust even looked like.

Axel pressed his body closer to Roxas, pushing his hip and leg firmly against him. Roxas all of a sudden moaned and felt a shudder run through the length of his body as Axel rocked against an erection which Roxas didn't even realize he had.

"Roxy," Axel whispered, begging for his consent.

'Shit - Roxas closed his eyes as he focused on his pleasure. Was this what he had been feeling all week? Was this why Axel had been on his mind so much? Did Roxas actually like Kairi's idiot older brother? He didn't even know him.

Axel pushed and rubbed again. This time Roxas moaned louder. He could feel a hardness that was distinctly different from Axel's hip bone push against him. The thought of Axel wanting him caused his pulse to race faster.

Roxas had to get out of this situation. His body was betraying him. The delicious heat of Axel's body pressed to his was suffocating him. He needed to think this through more before doing something he might later regret.

Axel's face was only inches away from Roxas' when the boy opened his eyes again. Axel was hovering, and Roxas couldn't imagine how much self control Axel was exerting to not just take the lips and push his tongue into Roxas' mouth.

"Axel -," Roxas had to force his breath up through his larynx to make any coherent sense.

"Mmm?"

"But I'm not even blonde."

Axel laughed from somewhere low in his throat. "Up here you're not, but I bet down here -," Axel pushed and rubbed again.

Roxas' head swam. He had a vague thought that he hated it when Axel did that, because Roxas lost all composure and his will to get out of there wavered.

"You're just so fuckably cute, Roxy. And I like someone who has a little fire in them." Axel's mouth had moved to Roxas' ear where he began gently nipping at his earlobe.

Roxas got a good whiff of Axel's hair. He smelled like the ground spices that Zack had in his spice rack. Roxas really liked that scent.

"So what you say, Roxy? Just. One. Kiss." Axel had moved his head back to look into Roxas' very lidded eyes and by the last word he was again just inched from Roxas' mouth.

Axel's hands had begun roaming all over Roxas' torso until one was snaked behind his back and the other up and entwined with the hair on the back of his head.

Roxas had knitted his own hand into Axel's hair and an arm around his shoulder. He felt like he was under Axel's spell. Hadn't he resolved to end this ten minutes ago? Why were they still -.

Axel rocked his hips against Roxas' erection again.

Oh yeah -. That's why Roxas was still wrapped up. Roxas thought he had been a late bloomer. He never even knew he had any sexual desires for anyone until the pantry door had shut.

"N..not yet. No..not here." His body hadn't wanted to say those words. But his head finally won out triumphantly. Yet he didn't feel triumphant at all.

Axel looked at the boy for a long minute, seemingly contemplating the meaning of what Roxas had just said. As quickly as Roxas had been flung against the wall he was now free.

Axel melted away. The hands were gone, the leg and hip were gone. That intense heat was gone, but his scent still lingered. Roxas shivered in the cold of the pantry. He felt like a loser. Like he had just made the worst mistake in his life as Axel backed away and opened the pantry door.

"Axel -," Roxas, still dazed, looked around for him in confusion. But he had disappeared.

Roxas walked out of the pantry, feeling his heart rhythm still pounding wildly. Maybe even more wild right now than before. Axel approached him, carrying all of Roxas' things and thrust them into his arms.

"Here ya go Roxas. Now get out of here. We're both wasting our time. I need to lock up."

Axel had no affection in his voice, not even when he said Roxas' name. It's like Roxas had dumped a giant bucket of ice on the hot burning flame that had shone so brightly only moments ago.

Axel firmly locked the pantry door and walked over to the hallway door, switching off all the lights in the room.

"Axel -. It's not that I don't want to. I just -."

Axel held his hand up. "Not yet. Not here." Axel parroted Roxas' words back to him and pushed him out the door, locking it behind them. Axel walked away without another word or a glance.

Wow... had he messed up badly or what? Roxas had no idea what just happened, or how to fix it.

A note from Cream Pudding-

I drew a picture for this chapter. You can find it at my DeviantArt account - cream-pudding

I add a new chapter weekly. So please stay tuned. :)