***Hey guys, this is Xoxoroxas yet again to inform you about this new chapter THIS IS IMPORTANT PLEASE READ. Sorry, sometimes I skip the author's note, so I needed to be sure you're listening. THIS IS NOT REALLY PART OF THE CONCRETE HOUSE OF CARDS STORY. This is like a fanfiction of a fanfiction. I wanted to do a Christmas thing, but my idea screwed with the actual storyline. So enjoy!***
Roxas Pov
Roxas's mother had decorated the house. This hadn't happened for years.
Not since Xion died.
But her church friends were coming over for Christmas brunch. So everything looked straight out of Martha Stewart's stupid TV show.
Roxas sighed as he waited in the basement. Either Christmas would be great this year and his parents wouldn't touch him, or it would be horrible.
After brunch and the church ladies left, and Roxas's father wobbled down the stairs, drunk off eggnog.
Looking pretty horrible. The house of cards began to fall even before his fists Roxas's skin. But when they did hit the cards fell with vigor.
Roxas's father stumbled up the stairs laughing and Roxas moaned in pain quietly. Every inch of him hurt. He climbed onto his bed and made sure nothing was broken. Nope, nothing broken.
His mother came down the stairs.
"My brunch went well. Get the hell out of my house, they want to come back for dinner and they wanted to know if you wanted to be included. You will not. If you're not back by eight o clock no food for a week." She hissed. She shoved Roxas out of the house.
Roxas walked to the convenience store (thank God it was open) and asked to go to he bathroom. Mr. Happy (that's all everyone called the man who ran the store) knew Roxas enough to just give him the key and not ask for anything to hold onto to make sure he'd come back. He cheerfully called to Roxas to have a merry Christmas as he walked to the restroom.
As soon as he was in the bathroom Roxas did a damage inspection. His father had been too drunk to even try to hide where he hit the boy.
He sighed to himself and cleaned up the cuts as best he could with paper towels and soap.
He nodded to Mr. Happy as he returned the key and walked out of the store. He'd just go to the park and wait it out. Axel and the others wouldn't want him killing their Christmases with his problems.
Maybe he could see Sora or Cloud.
No… He didn't have any money to do that.
He shivered on the park bench, surrounded by snow, and tried to figure out where he could go to get warm. He couldn't go to a homeless shelter, his mother's friends worked there sometimes. Not to a restaurant, he had no money.
Damn! He had eight hours to wait!
He could go to the mall… no, it's closed today.
He just shivered on the bench for a while until he caught sight of a bright red fluff of hair.
No! He couldn't let Axel see him!
Roxas thought that, though Axel knew his secret and they were going out, the red didn't need to worry about him so much. This would just make things worse.
But he was so cold in his thin hoodie, he could barley move. His hood was over his face. Axel probably would just think he was a homeless kid. That'd be fine. He'd just walk by without a second thought and..
"Roxas?" The redhead's voice asked. Roxas kept his gaze down. He froze and stiffened while he waited for the redhead to realize he was mistaken.
"Rox… is that you?" Axel asked, kneeling down in front of the blonde boy.
He peeked up to Roxas's hidden face and recognition crossed his handsome features.
"Roxas…" he trailed off, and the blonde looked away, wishing Axel would just go away.
"What happened to you?" Axel asked in a strained voice.
"A Christmas present." Roxas whispered.
Axel took the shorter boy's chin in his hand, earning himself a large flinch, and turned Roxas's face so that Roxas was looking into his eyes.
Roxas's eyes were filled with dread as they met the redhead's.
"Roxas." The redhead said in a dangerous voice that caused Roxas to cringe, "When were you going to tell me about this?" Axel asked.
"I wasn't." Roxas whispered, extremely scared. He was shaking even more now and Axel seemed to notice.
"What's wrong?" Axel asked.
"Nothing!" Roxas answered too quickly, afraid of making the redhead mad. He averted his eyes and tried to make himself smaller.
"Hey now." Axel said gently, turning Roxas's face to look at him, "I'm not mad at you."
"You're not?" Roxas asked, truly surprised.
"No. I'm mad at your parents. I'm mad at your parents." Axel said, narrowing his eyes.
Roxas shrank back again and Axel closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.
When he opened them once again he smiled. "Wanna come to my house for Christmas?" He asked.
"Uh… would you mind? Because if you have plans I'll be fine." Roxas said.
"Why were you on the bench?" Axel asked.
"Waiting for it to be eight o clock." Roxas shrugged.
"Why?" Axel asked curiously.
"My mother said that I couldn't come home until then."
Axel closed his eyes again for a bit.
He looked a bit stressed when he opened them again. "No other plans. In fact Ania's going to a 'grown up party' which I'm not allowed to go to." He said with a strained smile.
Roxas tried to return the gesture, but his face was too sore.
Axel led the badly shivering boy through the snow and to his house.
They sat in front of the fireplace and munched on Christmas cookies. Well, Axel munched on them. Roxas wolfed them down.
"Damn Rox, when was the last time you ate?" Axel asked worriedly.
"Uh…. The day before yesterday?" Roxas asked.
"Holy shit, Rox! We're getting you food. Now." Axel said. He left the blonde boy sitting on the carpet as he heated up some leftovers from last night's dinner.
Roxas ate it quietly while Axel watched the fire with great interest. His hand slowly crept towards the flames…
"No Axel! Fire will burn you! Bad Axel!" Roxas scolded with a smile.
"Aww, but it's so pretty!" Axel whined.
"I don't care if it's sparkly and shooting fairies. Don't touch it." Roxas said.
"I miss Christmas with my parents." Axel said wistfully.
"Hmm? What did you do then?" Roxas asked.
"Well, before Mom and Dad were fighting all the time, we used to go to bed Christmas Eve, then I'd wait for Kairi to run into my room to wake me up. That could take a while, but I'd always wait for her. Then we'd race down the stairs and tear open our stockings and play with the toys in them. Then we'd wait for our parents to wake up. When they finally did, we got to open the presents under the tree! It was great. And for the rest of the day we'd gorge ourselves on candy canes and cookies and hot cocoa." Axel said with a faraway look in his eyes.
"Before Xion died my family actually celebrated Christmas." Roxas said with a contented sigh.
"What'd you do?" Axel asked, surprised.
"Well, when it wasn't so bad, Mother and Father gave us stockings and a couple presents. I remember in my stocking one year I got play-dough and a candy cane. The present they gave me was a book. But we were pretty poor. We got to eat a big turkey diner and they let Xion put the star on the top of the tree." Roxas said with a smile on his face, lost in the past.
"I know our families suck, but I miss the way things used to be, don't you?" Axel asked.
"Yeah. But if things went back to the way they were I wouldn't know you." Roxas reminded the redhead.
"No. But I bet Xion would get us together somehow." Axel grinned.
"Oh, and I got a present for you." Roxas said, grateful he had grabbed it before his mother had kicked him out.
"I got one for you too, wait here!" Axel said, getting up and running over to the tree decorated all in red. He grabbed a blue wrapped present from below it and rushed back to Roxas.
"Here." Roxas said with a smile. He handed the redhead a small box with a bow on it.
"Are you proposing to me? I do!" Axel teased, pretending to swoon.
"Just open it." Roxas said, rolling his eyes.
The redhead smiled as he opened the bow. There were two new sparkling earrings.
"Holy… where'd you get the money for this?" Axel asked, beyond happy.
"I didn't. My mother never wore them. They were at the bottom of her jewelry box. If she ever figures out they're gone she'll just assume she gave them away or lost them." Roxas shrugged.
Axel crushed the smaller boy to him and whispered "I love them" into his ear. Roxas smiled softly, after he flinched, and hugged back.
"Well? Open your present!" Axel exclaimed after letting go of the blonde.
Roxas did and found inside his a new hoodie. It looked warm and it was black with little hanging silver things and a deep hood.
"Awesome! I needed a new hoodie." Roxas said with a smile.
The both were quiet for a bit, looking back into the fire again. Roxas looked up after a while and noticed something above them.
Mistletoe.
"Hey Ax, look." He said, pointing up to the plant.
Axel looked up and saw the green thing above him. He grinned and leaned into the surprised blonde's lips. Roxas's eyes drooped and he kissed back.
Best Christmas ever.
***Yeah I know. This isn't my best work. But I wanted to give you guys a good present.***