Author's Note: Finally!!! I'm a fourth year in college!!! Hahaha, it actually feels the same as my junior and sophomore year (freshman year… er, different story :-P) but because of the current economic recession, there was an actual walkout by a large number of staff and professors on the first day of instruction (24 September) o.O I didn't have lecture the first day since my professor is actually in Africa for a demography conference, but yeah, seems like an interesting year is coming up for me….
Anyways, I've also settled into my new place. It's pretty chill and two of my roomies are my friends so the house is gonna be chill (more parties!!! Haha). Hopefully I can keep up with the regular updates with my schoolwork, extracurricular junk, and my roomies not distracting me :-D
Once again, I thank you all for your continued support. I hope more and more people will be able to read this fic :-D
Author's Note #2: I know this is kinda late and random mentioning, but in case you've been wondering about the spelling style I use, I typically have more preference of using British/Canadian/Australian English spelling conventions. Since Canadian English is not present in my version of MS Office, I use Australian English spelling convention since I'd figure that's the next closest one. And for French, I of course use the French Canadian setting!!! Okay that's all =D Just fyi, haha!!!
And with that, enjoy Chapter 11!!! Don't forget to review please so that I know what y'all like and don't like and suggestions :-)
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Roxas quirked an eyebrow at the suggestion Axel made to him. Sure, he knew that this was a definite awkward situation the two were now engaged in, but the blonde's ever-nagging mind articulated that perhaps there was more to the mere suggestion of a foot massage then presented. He knew people loved the idea of massages, especially if they had been standing or moving all day; the expression my dogs are aching would be the response of the one receiving it. However, his feet were just fine since he was pretty much stationary the entire time from the hospital until now. So what was the deal with the suggestion of a foot massage?
Okay Roxas… you're probably taking this waaaayyyy out of proportion…
The Strife tried to rationalise with himself, maintaining a cool and flaccid façade on the exterior.
But then, who right in their mind would suggest such? But then again… he could be joking since he does have that sort humour in his persona… albeit being an assanizing characteristic… Plus feet? Eww, who talks about that in normal conversation? Bunions and all…
"Earth to emo dude!!!" Axel nearly had to yelp in the blonde's ear in order to grab his attention.
"Huh? What? What did you say?" Roxas snapped back into reality. Damn… he was talking to me? While I was thinking about feet? What the hell have I succumbed to now? Really? He mentally gave himself a smack on the head.
The redhead rolled his eyes to the side, but kept that irksome of a smirk on his face. "I said, you're actually considering the offer, eh?"
The blond was quick to widen his eyes and don an expression of ire towards the lanky, green-eyed boy. "Fuck no! Why the hell would I ever consider such an… er— atrocious offering by an asswipe like you?" Goddamn, I'm lying soooo badly through my fucking teeth!
Axel held a finger up as he began numerically listing his reasons. "Un: You stared at me for the longest time with a fairly intriguing look I might add. Deux: Such a long ass time would likely signify that you've been in deep thought. Et trois: I've been hollering out your name for a hella while, ergo you've given the offer quite the heavy amount of attention I wasn't quite expecting…" He gave off one of his deep chuckles as he coolly relaxed his hands behind his head. "You're a sick dude thinking about feet, y'know that? Quelle honte!"
That little bi—
"AGH!" Roxas winced as the pain reawakened when he unconsciously tried to sit up, specifically trying to get away from the lanky dude that kept his legs on his lap.
"Awwwwww, is our lil' emo dude gonna cry?" The blond glared at Axel for using such a condescending and mocking tone towards him. "Je suis très triste…"
Who the hell does he think he is? I swear that he only does this around me.
"You're an ass…" Roxas grumbled.
"Better than being a bitchass like you…" Axel fired right back.
"Moron."
"Prick."
"Retard."
"Asswipe."
"Cunt."
"Whore."
Axel received a cold glare when he fired that particular missile at Roxas. The Strife just about had it with the Le Beaufeu next to him when he tried to kick his legs off of the redhead's lap and tried to get up.
"Fuck this sh— ARRRGGGHHH! MOTHER FUCKER!" The blonde's sudden, hasty, and desperate manoeuvres caused his body to protest in pain, not appreciating what he was doing. "Fuck this pain!"
Axel, although having genuine concern for the blond next to him, especially since he was the one that sorta provoked it, simply moved his head side to side as if all of this was Roxas' fault. "See… that's what you get for aggravating your body and other people like that." He simply got the finger in return, laughing at the amusement he was seeing. Hmmm… I wonder if I should try it… or not…
"I know what can make the pain go away, Roxy!" Full attention was now on the Strife, the Le Beaufeu looking ninety degrees from where he was sitting. He suddenly began leaning his tall and lanky frame over Roxas' body, his face hovering closer towards the other boy's…
… And brushed his own lips against the blonde's pale cheek…
What… the… FUCK?!?
As Axel calmly resumed back into his seat, Roxas' face began to flush several shades of burning red in harmony with his own body temperature rising. Mouth left at an o shaped and eyes widened, he just wasn't sure on how to react to the situation. Was he supposed to be mad? Sad? Angry? Frustrated? Oblivious? Happy? Excited? What?
"I—… I—" The blonde's words were stuck in his throat, not wanting to come out unless they were the right ones. "I—… I have to go the bathroom… Excuse me…" He tried to get up from his laying position in a casual manner. He hissed as his sides protested once again from the awkward movements he was forced to make.
"Hey dude, you need any help?" Axel tried to offer his assistance, but was shot down immediately as the Strife nearly wobbled straight into place.
"Nah, I'm cool, really…" Roxas refused to make eye contact with Axel as he made his way to the bathroom in the hallway, the sound of the TV becoming fainter and fainter. He flicked on the light as he closed the door behind him. Once shut, he leaned his back against the wooden surface, exhaling heavily as he placed a hand against the flushed cheek that was touched by someone other than him.
Dude… what was THAT all about…
He tried to explore deeper in his mind and with thoughts of the events that occurred at the party… er, before the… incident. He knew that for some reason whenever he gazed at the tall, lanky, spiky redhead…
That particular feeling in his emotions would suddenly appear.
"What the hell is going on with me?" Roxas leaned on his hands on the counter of the sink as he gazed at his reddened reflection on the mirror, staring intently into his own pool of deep blue eyes. He relinquished the gaze when his eyes began to look elsewhere, particularly at the bathroom's features. The blond noted for two guys living together, the petit room was very clean and spacious. Furry sky blue bathroom rugs lie on the floor against the white tile, while a decorative shower curtain sealed off the bathtub. In addition, several small-framed artworks adorned the flowery wallpaper. Lastly, the scent was extremely pleasant, thanks in part of the Glade air freshener plugged into the wall.
"Nice bathroom…" Roxas roughly chuckled at himself since he knew he was trying to avoid the subject of Axel and what just happened. He tried to calm himself down by washing his face with cold water. He flinched a bit as the contrasting temperatures collided onto his skin, trying to find an agreeable temperature for the blond to stand. Though it did help manage to tone down the redness on his skin to a minimum, he was still mentally dazed.
"Ugh, what to do… what to do…" The Strife tried to keep a low tone of voice in hopes of nobody being able to hear him, especially Axel. Suddenly, an epiphany of sorts struck his mind as he quickly jerked his head up to face the mirror before scrutinising his chequered wristband covered wrists.
"Hmmm…" Roxas began to slowly slide off the wristband he had on, exposing the scarred skin he kept hidden from the world. "Well… if this'll calm me down…" He pulled out his wallet. Opening it, he zipped open a compartment and took out a cold silver blade. Putting liquid soap on it and carefully rubbing it, the Strife rinsed the blade with nearly scalding hot water before letting it bask in extremely chilly water. Turning off the faucet and wiping the blade dry with his shirt, Roxas took a few steps towards the bathtub, slightly moving the shower curtain to the side as he took a seat on the tub's ledge.
"Should I?" The blond hesitantly contemplated as he stared intently at the blade that was now resting upon the top of his left wrist. He recalled the last time he'd ever done this, there was no hesitation involved… though those times were pretty damn painful to him. But what about now? Would such circumstances that occurred in the living room earlier justify the use of the blade?
"I guess so…" He shrugged as he let the frigid blade come in contact with himself. He gritted his teeth a bit as the blade broke the top layer of his skin open. A small stream of warm and red liquid began to slowly gush out of the newly made wound and slither along his pale skin. More blood began to rush out as Roxas let the blade run down a bit more to expand his wound. What he failed to notice was that the cut he made was deeper than in previous times.
Finally putting the blade down at the side, he intensely gazed as the warm liquid started to form a river-like path along his wrist, snaking along to his palms as the blood filled the grooves on his hand. As soon as red began to drip from his fingertips onto the white porcelain tub, he loosened his posture as he rested his head on the tile wall lining, sighing in comfort. This had to be the most relaxed Roxas has ever been in a long time. Despite the small stinging sensation coming from his wrist, he enjoyed the serenity and peace of mind that surrounded him.
"I haven't felt this much as ease…" the blond began to yawn in a very tiresome manner. "Since… for—… forever..."
And with that, he closed his eyes and fell into a deep slumber.
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KNOCK
KNOCK
KNOCK
"ROXY!!! Are you okay in there? Open the door!!!" Roxas immediately awakened as he heard the sound of pounding and Sora's voice penetrating through the wooden door. He wasn't sure how exactly he managed to fall asleep on the tub's ledge, but—
"Oh… God…" Roxas quietly shrieked as he saw his left hand nearly covered in coagulated blood, a trail in the bathtub towards the drain following right after. He shook his head side to side in order to wake himself up a bit and stood up to make his way towards the sink. However, the moment he stood upright, his body swayed a bit as he began to see dots in his vision. "Ugh…" He held his right hand over his forehead as he began to lean on the wall.
"ROXY!!!" Sora knocked on the door even hard. "Are you okay in there?!? Did you fall asleep or something?!?"
"I'm fine Sora!" The blond replied towards the door, still keeping a hand on his temple. "Really I am… it's just that the… uh..." He tried to seek some sort of a valid excuse rather than telling him the truth. Who knew how Sora would react if Roxas told him what he'd been doing for what seemed like an hour or so. Freak! What the hell am I supposed to tell Sora?
"Roxy, are you feeling sick?" The Strife could tell that the brunet outside was leaning right onto the door.
"Uh… yeah… must be the poutine I guess I had earlier…" Ugh… such a lie!!! But that's all I can think of for the moment!!!
"Bullshit!!!" Sora chortled from the outside, pounding hard on the door in laughter. "No one ever gets sick from such a heavenly dish!!! C'est impossible!!!"
"Well… I… er— have a sensitive digestive system…" Roxas rolled his eyes at that remark. Again... such lies!!! Surprised Sora hasn't picked up on it yet… though he does seem like an oblivious dude…
"Ha!!! Right!!!" Sora laughed off once again before his voice became fainter and fainter, indicating that he was now walking away from the door. "Il y a un bouteille de Pepto in the medicine cabinet if you need some, 'ya damn pussy, hahaha!!!"
Roxas scrunched his face at what the brunet called him, but decided to ignore it for time being. Recollecting his senses, he strode over to the sink and began to hastily wash away the blood that dried and stuck itself on his skin, yelping slightly at the cold water washing over his wound. The basin was nearly covered in red in contrast to the pure whiteness it was once earlier. Cleaning up the evidence in both the sink and the tub, Roxas flushed the toilet in order to make look like he had to take a crap really badly in accordance to what he stated earlier to Sora.
Washing his hands once again and putting the wristband back on, the blond made his way back to the living room, finding Sora on the couch watching TV. He also noticed a few additional things as well: the boxes and bottles of alcohol in the kitchen, and the lack of presence from Demyx and Axel.
"Feeling alright, Roxy?" Sora smiled and turned to face a deadpan looking Roxas.
"Yeah, I'm alright…" Roxas made eye contact with Sora for a bit to convince the brunet that he was being truthful before averting his attention towards the TV. "Where did Axel and Demyx go?"
"They'll be back in a bit. They had to go take care of a few more things before our lil' kickback tonight," Sora replied matter-of-factly before resuming his attention towards the TV.
"Oh… I see…" Roxas tried to look unfazed, but couldn't help it inside. Did he leave right after I went into the bathroom for a really long ass time?
"Yo Roxy!" The blond turned his attention back at the brunet and caught the plastic bag that was lanced towards him. Scrutinising it closely he noticed that the bag contained…
… Several wrapped joints.
"Dude!!! Where'd you get this?!?" A smile crept onto Roxas' face.
"J'ai mes hook-ups, hehehe…" Sora giggled as he pulled out a lighter. "Shall we?"
Roxas took another look at the carefully wrapped MJ's inside the plastic before turning his gaze at a grinning brunet. "Yes, we shall…"
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Don't forget to review :-D
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The Usual Translations
Quelle honte – what shame
Je suis très triste – I am very sad
Bouteille – bottle
