Chapter 25
The session was pretty quiet, I figured Sora would have been the one to keep talking with Vincent but he didn't say anything and I was in no mood to say anything for him, and Vincent let us just sit there in silence the entire time. We passed the time by either looking out the window- what I was doing, and looking at the door- what Sora was doing and what I was also doing a few times, as well as both of us staring at the clock. As we walked out to the hall, down the way we came, Vincent told us he wanted us to send Zell down, "Zell," I started, thinking Sora still wasn't in a talking mood but Sora finished my sentence, "He wants to see you."
Zell gave us the car keys and went down the hall to meet Vincent- who was just standing next to his open door waiting, and I'm not gonna lie- he looked a little like a creeper. When the tall blond got into the car he didn't say anything about what he and Vincent talked about, but rather asked us what we thought, "It's okay… but it's not like we said anything while we were there," Sora mumbled from the back seat, I looked in the side mirror at him. He huffed against the glass and was now lazily drawing on it, "Zell," I began while still looking at my brother before snapping my attention to the man driving, "You're not paying for this, are you?"
He looked at me a bit surprised before looking back at the road, "I pay about 30 percent of it… why?" "It just…" thinking my next words carefully before I spoke, "Seems like a waste of money…" "It's not a waste," he quickly countered, but he knew what I meant so I didn't bother to say anything more. Driving straight back to the house didn't make the silence seem any less deafening, finally pulling up and filing our way inside behind the house behind Zell he asked, "So what do you guys want for dinner?"
"It doesn't matter to me…" Sora mumbled behind me, when Zell looked at me I shrugged my shoulders, "That doesn't help me know what to cook," there was a brief silence, "What do you want?" my voice was quiet and that's when I finally took notice to something. There was this small tingle in the back of my head, ever since I had gotten back from the group home, that was telling me to be afraid, telling me to act calm so I don't start anything, stay smart so I don't get Sora hurt, and I was finally paying attention to it.
Slipping into the bathroom I looked at myself in the mirror, the low starting mirror made me look taller, but looking taller just made me look more like a piece of board, my hair was still swept to one side- I think it was permanent now, and my face was set. Leaning closer to the mirror to better inspect my face, I didn't look like I was afraid, I didn't look how I felt I did- like my emotions weren't reaching my face. Pulling away I looked at myself like I was a stranger- I had a frown in place, my eyes were gently set, and my posture was a bit on the straight side, my hoodie- which looked like it was a short sleeve over top a long sleeve shirt just made me look like I was trying to be tough, and I decided then that I was done looking at myself in the mirror.
Washing my hands I walked back out into the kitchen to find Sora standing in the kitchen and Zell nowhere to be seen. "Wanna help me cook?" my brother asked, I gave a smirk, "That depends," leaning on the counter I looked at him, "What is it?" he gave a small smile back, "Nothing too challenging to make, just some microwaveable frozen chicken strips and some mash potatoes." "Sure," I smiled, moving around the counter to find the chicken strips, setting them on a cookie tray and sliding them into the oven- it was easier to put them in the oven then in the microwave.
Zell came out of his room, while Sora was getting the stuff ready to make instant mash potatoes, I leaned against the counter with my arms propping me up on my sides as if I was going to push myself up and sit on the counter. Watching Zell fill up this glass with grape juice, I was intrigued by the cup not only because it was a thick glass and reflected the dark purple color through something like mirrors, but because on the thick glass was a detailed mold of what looked like a wolf's head with a bull ring through its nose.
Staring at the cup- I knew I had seen the detailed wolf somewhere before but I couldn't place it, "You like it?" I heard Zell ask; looking up at his face I hadn't known he was paying attention to me, "Oh… Yeah, yeah, where'd you get it?" "Believe it or not- I have friends and it's actually a gift from a very close one of them; I've had this glass for a very long time," he had a smile on his face, he was on the other side of the counter but I still had my back to him while looking at him as he set his glass down a little far in from the edge, "I almost forgot," he took one last sip before setting the glass back down, "I gotta work on something for class tomorrow," he gave a smile as he disappeared into his room.
I wanted to ask Sora if he thought the wolf looked familiar but I couldn't stop staring at it, trying to place it in my own mind, minutes passed as I heard the beeping of the microwave go off to alert me that the chicken was done, but before I could react, Sora was already on it. Everything happened in slow motion- watching the cup as it sat precariously on the counter, I saw Sora place a heat matt thing on the counter to set the cookie sheet on, I could hear the oven door squeal as it was opened and suddenly I heard a curse word from my brother. Before I could look at him I watched in somewhat horror as the cookie sheet was thrown onto the counter- sliding off the matt to ram into the glass cup I had taken so much interest in, the heavy glass gave way to the force and slid to jump of the edge.
My body twisted in reaction as if I might be able to catch the glass, but the heart shocking crash and ear splitting shatter as it hit the ground reverberated through the kitchen- through the house. My toes and legs tingled- like I had slipped but managed to get my footing back before I fell on my butt, I ran around the counter to look at the broken mess on the floor, Zell would be pissed about his cup, I looked up at Sora to see him clutching his hand but looking at me with the same wide eyes. It was like I could hear his heartbeat from more than an arm's reach away- and it matched mine, we both jumped as Zell's door flew open, Sora tried to hide his smarting hand as he stared up at the blond.
Before we bother to turn to look at the blond though, my mind reeled with a strange question, "Did I look like that right now?" were my eyes wide with panic, my heart beating out of my chest, my body completely still as if the slightly movement will alert Zell of our presence if the broken glass hadn't already, did I look that scared? Looking up at the blond that had just entered I felt like I was frozen right before I could jump- that moment when someone scars you, before relief settles over you when you realize it was them, I was frozen right before that relief could settle in. "What happened?" he finally asked, I could see Sora starting to move his mouth- no sound came out though, he was terrified and I could even think to get my mouth to work, I must have looked worse off.
"I broke your glass," quickly choking out the sentence, all eyes turned to me, I had practically shouted it to get it out, Zell seemed confused for a minute before I quickly bent down to clean up the mess. Taking in the shattered pieces, I picked out the still mostly together base and put the smaller pieces into it, cutting my finger while I tried to place the piece of glass inside the other glass but I didn't react. I could see Sora for the most part- he remained standing in front of me, my heart sped up in pace, and once someone placed their hand on my shoulder I practically threw myself to the side. The glass clattered the small distance to the ground, the one sound in the house as I fell back on my hands, one of my hands landing in the grape juice, I stared at the hand.
The hand seemed to remain there an eternity as it stayed stranded in mid-air, I waited- watched in stock terror to see when it would turn into a fist, trying to brace myself for impact, my heart made no noise- like it knew what was about to happen. My body tingled as if it was trying to use all its senses of feeling in fear that in a few seconds I would have feeling ever again, my breathing wasn't even there- it stopped along with my heart. Suddenly everything picked up, the hand shot up into the air, the body in front of me backing up; I watched the hands even though they weren't near me, air quickly finding its way into my lungs as my heart began to race in my ears.
"Woah…" the voice said, the look on his face was different, it wasn't right- it didn't look like it should, "Relax Roxas," he backed up, my temples felt like they were running past their power as they tried to figure out why he was acting this way. This wasn't how he would normally act, his face wouldn't look like that, his hands wouldn't be held in the air like that, he wouldn't be backing away, and he wouldn't be speaking calmly like he was speaking to a baby. Sora ran behind Zell, I felt him grab my upper arm, pulling me to the side as my feet continued not to support my weight but instead stayed bent in front of me, my eyes stayed locked on the man now a small distance next to me.
Clinging to Sora's arm I pushed my mind to work and my feet to function, tripping a few times to get my feet to work properly, once they did I was practically running away, still clutching Sora's arm as we sped up to get into the bathroom. Locking the door behind us, I was sat on the closed toilet, looking up at Sora I saw him take out something from beneath the sink, a white box. Shaking my head I stood up, taking Sora's hand in my own as I looked at the burn that stretched across his palm, it didn't look too bad but it was red and already turning a bit brown, I grabbed his shoulders and made him hit down.
Making a mess of the small organized box, my hands pulled out the gauze and medical tape, throwing them into the sink while my other hand continued going through the now messy box till I found a small white box with a little bit of red. Holding the box in front of me I scanned over the words, having to turn the box in my hands a few times before I found the front, seeing the letters that instantly triggered my mind into reading "Burn Ointment", I peeled open the box and struggled to open the ointment before squeezing the containments onto Sora's palm, gently rubbing it around his palm.
Looking up at Sora's face briefly I saw his eyebrows draw close together while he took in a deep breath, I moved back over to the gauze package that still lied in the sink, ripping the paper to pull the fabric like material out, placing it gently on Sora's palm. Reaching in blindly, my eyes locked on the gauze, I pulled out the medical tape- rolled into a small plastic container like a yo-yo, sliding off the shield around the edges I struggled to get the tape out, wiping the small amount of ointment still on my hand off on my pants.
Trying to get the end of the tape my hands would hold still enough to clearly grab it, finally I got a hold of it and pulled the tape out, holding the un-ripped tape above the gauze, trying to line it up right before I placed it against the material. I noticed then how much my hands were shaking, not only my hands but my whole body, the tremors spread throughout my being like my body wanted to flinch but couldn't agree on which way to flinch. Sora noticed my dilemma and placed his unburned hand on my wrist, gently holding my arm while he looked up at me, "Roxas… it's okay," he finally whispered, he seemed completely fine and I realized how much more terrified I was than Sora, forcing myself to take a deep breath I closed my eyes.
"We're in a bathroom, nothing's wrong, I'm just helping Sora patch up his hand, there's no problems," I ranted in my mind over and over again, opening my eyes a few seconds later to slowly place the tape against Sora's bare skin around the outer edge of his palm, running the tape around the outer edge of the gauze across his palm, around the backside of his hand, and then around the other outer edge of the gauze. Instead of wrapping around his hand against with the tape I wrapped it around the whole palm of his thumb, across the back of his hand under his thumb- pretty much to his wrist, then back up along the pad of his thumb, crossing the end of the gauze before ripping the tape and pressing the end into his skin gently.
Sora moved his fingers and his thumb, the gauze staying in place, he looked up at me, I still felt panicked and I couldn't tell why, "Rox…" Sora started, placing both his hands on my lower arms/wrists again, "It's okay," he said again, I nodded my head, I knew it was okay- but for some reason I just couldn't get my body to calm down. He stood up and moved me gently by his hold on me so I was now sitting on the closed toilet, he pulled out a disinfectant wipe and began to wash my hand, I noticed then the gash in my finger- wrapping around the tip of my finger, just around the edge of my finger nail all the way around to the middle of the pad of my finger, the cut deep, blood covered my finger tip and nail, some streams of blood having dripped onto my other fingers.
Sora cleaned and bandaged me up; telling me everything was okay before he signaled his leave- after cleaning up, and shutting the door behind him. I don't know how long I sat there, how long it took before my body calmed down enough so just my hands were shaking. Standing up I closed my eyes, walking to the door so I had no chance to look at myself in the mirror, I walked out through the living room and through the kitchen, bringing my hand up to knock on Zell's door. I didn't know what I planned on saying- I wanted to apologize for breaking his cup, and for how I acted, but I heard him talking; the small shrill sound after he spoke told me he was on the phone with someone.
I listened, I don't know why but I couldn't move, my hand stayed up to the door like I was about to knock, "I don't know Vincent, he looked like he was terrified," I heard Zell speak, I could hear the rhythmic thumping and pattering like he was pacing his room. "Yeah, I touched his shoulder and the look he gave me," the shrill voice continued to speak whenever Zell wasn't, "It was like he thought I was going to kill him over a cup," the shrill voice responded, talking an awful lot this time. "Yeah… well, I understand… yeah… okay, yeah, and," before I could hear what Zell said next my heart stopped beating.
A hand slid around my face to clamp over my mouth as hand shadowing my own, wrapping around it so I couldn't knock on the door, "Shh Rox…" they whispered into my ear, I instantly recognized the voice, turning around in his grasp I wrapped my arms around his waist tightly, holding onto the redhead like my life depended on it. The hand that was once covering my mouth was now buried in my hair, running through it softly while the hand that had been covering my own was now wrapped around my back to hold my shoulder.
I didn't want to let go- but we couldn't stay outside Zell's door much longer or he would come out and find us and I was not ready to deal with that. We walked into my room, Axel flipped the light on even though I entered the room first, I on the other hand blindly found my way to my bed and laid face down, picking up a pillow and placing it over top my head, my hands forcing the cotton object down. Feeling the bed dip beside me made me strengthen the force I was applying to the pillow, he placed his hand on my back and slowly began to rub between and over my shoulder blades.
"Are you alright?" the redhead asked, I turned my head to the side, moving the pillow a bit so my words didn't come out muffled but having it so it still covered the side of my face that wasn't in the bed, "I'm such an idiot…" I mumbled back, hating myself for how I acted but still unable to get rid of the shakes in my hands. The pillow was gently pulled away from me, managing to swipe my hair across my face; I could feel Axel looking at me, "You are not an idiot," "You should've seen his face when I looked at him…" I mumbled, "I acted like he was…" I turned my head into the bed and attempted to hide my face, embarrassed and ashamed at how I acted, and who I was comparing Zell to.
"Like he was who?" he asked, I felt his hand on my shoulder gently lifting up like he was trying to get me to face him. After a little bit of a fight- mostly me just being dead weight and quickly going back to the way I was before, he repeated, "Like who Rox?" finally I came to a quick decision, sitting up I looked at him and stared him in the eye, "Like he was Genesis," searching his surprised eyes my mind remembered. When Zell stood straight in front of me, his hands up at his sides like he was saying he wasn't going to do anything, his eyes wide like he was afraid, his face full of concern, and his voice gentle as he tried to calm me down. I pictured him as Genesis- that's why everything was wrong, Genesis would've had his hands clenched into fists, he would've been shouting, his face full of anger and hate, he would've been crushing me with his weight as he slammed his fists against anything he could touch. What Zell had done seemed wrong, like it wasn't the proper response.
Axel letting out a sigh brought me back to what was actually happening, "Rox," he began, not looking at me but rather off to the side, "Zell isn't Genesis…" "I know that," I mumbled back, still looking at his eyes even though he wasn't looking at me, "So you know that no one is going to hit you anymore?" I was shocked by the simplicity his voice did his statement, "I wasn't…" my mouth started moving, "It wasn't like that…" I finished, I wanted Axel to see it from my point of view, but I could tell by the way he scoffed that he wasn't- nor ever going to try. "Fine, whatever it was like, you know it's not going to happen again… right? You know not all people are like that, right?"
No longer able to look him in the eye I instead looked at the ground, his eyes felt like they were burning my skin, so I decided that it was time for bed, I pulled the blanket out from under me and curled up under the blanket. As soon as I settled down completely under the blanket I felt it get pulled down and the light bulb glowed in my vision even when my eye lids were closed. "Rox, look at me," I felt a comforting pressure on both sides of me and on top of my upper half, slowly I opened my eyes to see Axel's face inches from my own, "You know that," he said again, "Right?" I stayed silent I didn't know what to say- but the moment my mind decided to react I didn't have time to filter it from my leaving my mouth.
"You can't say that…" he seemed surprised by that, "You can't promise that..." he stayed where he was, he didn't move, he didn't say anything, he just continued to stare into my eyes, "No…" he finally said, "I can't promise you that... but I can promise I will do everything I can to prevent that from happening…" we stayed silent, him being nice only covered what I did to Zell for a little while, "Okay… but, I'm still an idiot," I brought the subject back, hoping he could give me answers of how to make it up to Zell. Instead I saw a smile light up his face, "You can be an idiot all you want- I'm smart enough for both us," he had the cocky smile on his face and I couldn't help but smile along with him.
"You're such a dork," I laughed, he feigned hurt but when I leaned up the small distance and kissed him on his cheek he smiled back. As he sat up, the smile still on his face, I sat up too, looking at him, "How'd you end up behind me when I went to knock on Zell's door?" I decided to ask, curiosity getting the best of me, he looked at me the smile slowly diminishing, "Sora called me… he told me I needed to come over… when I got here you were still locked in the bathroom… Sora told me what happened, I went into your room and figured I wait for you… but you didn't walk straight in here…"
Nodding my head it all made sense, we didn't say anything for a while, "So," Axel started, "You ready to go to bed?" I nodded my head, sliding out of bed and finding my pj's on top of the dresser from the night before, I slide them back on- the fabric now familiar, I slid out of my hoodie and then turned around, taking my shoes off in the process, sitting on the bed to take off my socks as Axel stood near the door, already stripped down to what he planned on wearing his finger waiting on the light switch till I got all situated in the bed, I nodded my head before laying down. I flew up in the air, a gasp leaving my lips as there was suddenly nothing underneath me for a second before the bed came back up and hit me.
Axel was laughing next to me, smacking him lightly I couldn't stop laughing, "You know- you jump on my bed too much and you might break it," his chuckling stayed the same as he wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled over to him, "I've got a better way to break it," I faced palmed, "Really?" I asked, unable to hide the laugh from my voice, his hand moved up from my waist to my cheek, tilting my face so I was facing him as much as I could from how I was laying. Feeling his lips press against my lips gently he pulled away and spoke, "Really," I smiled, "You're a perv," he buried his face in the pillow next to my head as he chuckled, turning so he had his arms wrapped around me, "Wouldn't be any fun if I wasn't," the smile stayed on my face, till dreamland took over and everything from the day came back.
The next day went by quick- mostly because I used every second to think about what to say to Zell, worrying about what he would think and what he would say, school ended and Axel drove me back to the house while Sora went to Riku's. We sat in the living room from the moment we got to the house till almost 6, waiting for Zell to show up, but he never did, I ended up going into my room, deciding to do some homework. Finally the front door opened, Axel talked to him for a second and then I heard another door shut- it was Zell's bedroom door though, I could already tell.
My door opened and I looked to see Axel walking through, I turned from my desk as Axel sat on the bed, "He had parent teacher conferences all afternoon… and he probably had to go to yours and Sora's also- that's why he was so late…" I nodded my head, a little disappointed but also relieved, I really didn't know what I planned on saying to him but I thought maybe when I got to see him I would be able to tell him- be able to come up with something to tell him. Axel waved his hand, asking me to come towards him and I was not going to deny him, once I was by the bed he pulled me in a hug, pulling me to lay on the bed next to him, my arm looped around his side. Needless to say I went to bed early that night- hugging Axel tight and hanging half off the bed.
When I woke up I felt wide awake- not I've been scared shitless and now I can't go back to sleep but rather I've slept enough and my body can't take anymore sleep- but in a revived way not sluggish way, looking around I saw Axel's sleeping face, his arm wrapped around my waist as he laid on his side and I laid on my back. Looking at the clock it was only a few minutes before my alarm would go off, I sighed- not wanting to get out of bed but knowing my alarm was going to scare the shit out of me if it went off while I was awake. I climbed out of bed and flicked the alarm off, looking down to see my sweatshirt and shirt had been taken off- leaving me in my beater.
"Axel," I started pushing his back, nudging him to wake up, "It's time to get up…" he grunted, rolling over on his back, "Did Sora come back last night?" he grunted again and it sounded like a no, but just to be sure I walked across the hall and knocked, when I got no answer I opened the door and found it empty. Back in my room I found Axel pulling his pants on with his eyes closed, "Tired Ax?" he shook his head, waving his hand like he could physically wave the question away. He pulled on his socks and found his shirt, "Hey," "Hey what?" he asked, his eyes still closed as he fell back on the bed, "We should throw a party for Sora this afternoon, you know- have everyone give him is presents that he never got at the holiday's or his birthday, we still have to give him all the gifts but I think we should do it today- after his therapy session."
I had already explained the therapy session nonsense to Axel in school yesterday- first thing I did when he asked what Zell wanted to talk about. "Yeah, sounds like a plan," pushing my school stuff into my bag I looked at Axel, "Do you think you could ask Zell for me?" there was a silence for a few seconds, "Yeah… I'll ask him," I smiled, "Thanks," not too long after that we headed out to school.
Zell said it was fine so Axel started texting everyone about the plans, Zexion couldn't make it but he was the only one, they would all surprise Sora after the therapy session at the house, I pretty much had to force Axel to text Riku. The school day was over and we went back to the house, Riku lied to Sora saying he had to go somewhere and couldn't give him a ride- so Sora was riding with me and Axel, Riku was actually going to help get stuff for the party. "Hey Rox," he asked me while we were sitting in the car, "Yeah Sor?" "Are you gonna go with me to that place today?" he seemed upset about something, "Yeah- I'll just wait in the waiting room when you're in your session, I won't be able to go in with you though," I saw in the mirror as he briefly smiled on for the smile to soon vanish and he looked even more sad than before.
Zell pulled up not too much after us, "Ready to go?" he asked Sora, "Can I go for the ride?" I hesitantly asked, Zell seemed shocked that I was actually talking to him but he didn't say anything about that, instead he said, "Yeah- the more the merrier," "What about Axel?" Sora asked, but before I could come up with a lie Axel spoke, "I plan on taking a nap, and copying most of Roxas' homework," I gave him a look because I knew he was being serious, "What?" he asked with an innocent look on his face, "I already know you finished it all," that innocent look turned into something that said, "Did you expect anything different from me?" shaking my head I laughed at him as I filed out the door, "Bye!" Axel shouted.
We stayed quiet in the car, I undid my seatbelt when we pulled up, but Sora spoke as he was already halfway out the door, "No, it's okay Rox, stay in the car," "Uh…" I said surprised, "Okay," I relaxed back into the seat. Zell yawned and I realized this was the moment I could talk to him- we would be sitting here for at least another hour with nowhere to go and nothing to say, so I figured I could talk to him about what happened a few days ago. "Hey… Zell…" "Hmm?" I stayed quiet, thinking of what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it.
"Well…" I started, itching my nose, "I'm sorry…" I decided to start, "About how I acted a few days ago… and about your cup…" "Roxas…" I heard him say, I heard as he took a deep breath, "I'm sorry I scared you," "You didn't scare me…" I mumbled, not liking that idea. He only let out a breath like a laugh, "And the cup- was just a cup, it would've broken eventually…" "Yeah," I thought, "But it broke sooner than it should've because Sora and I are now invading your life," if I had said that I think it would've started trouble, so I stayed silent not knowing what else to say.
"Roxas," he started, looking at me, "You know…" I was staring at my fingers and my palms that laid face up on my lap, "You know I wouldn't… hurt you… or ever do anything to hurt you or your brother… don't you?" I stayed silent, biting my lip, looking off to the side away from him. He let out a sigh, I could see out of my peripherals him rubbing his forehead, "Roxas… can I tell you something?" looking up at him I waited for him to continue, this time he didn't look at me. "You know I was really close to your brother, him and I were always together- as much as Cloud and Zack are now," I was a little surprised, I didn't think he was that close to Leon.
"Yeah," he saw the look on my face, "We were that close… you know how I wasn't really around all that much… Well… the reason for that was something only a few people know," I waited for him to continue but I could tell this was difficult for him. "While the three of you were going through that… I was going through something like it myself- it wasn't as bad as your guy's home… but I know Roxas…" he looked at me and my reaction was too slow to be able to look away without looking like I was avoiding him. "I know what it's like," he looked forward again, out the front of the parked car, "To worry for minutes outside the front door about who's inside, if they're drunk, if they're angry or upset, if you're going to get hurt or have to lie your way into your room to make sure you don't end up dead…"
I didn't care if he saw me looking at him this time, "It started to get worse that was near the time you stopped seeing me… I had seen you so much when you and Sora were babies and little kids, but once you got a little bit older… I couldn't be around as much- I talked to Leon, Cloud, and Zack still but only briefly, soon it was just too much… I moved away, moved in with my grandfather and life turned up for me but I was too far away to be able to help you and Sora…" he took a deep breath, keeping eye contact with me.
"I know what it's like, so don't for a second think I would ever do that to someone else, I would never hurt you or Sora, I can promise you that…" it was weird seeing Zell so serious and uptight, to think about it- before all this happened he was laid back and easy going, like Axel, and now he was being serious to reassure me. We sat in the completely silent car, both of us thinking about something, "Zell… thanks…" he gave a small laugh, "Of course," "And I'm sorry about the cup- again," "It's alright… besides… I know you didn't break it." I gaped up at him, he tapped his temple as if to say he was smart and could actually use his brain, I slid down in the seat, felling slightly embarrassed that I might have sorta played Zell as a fool.
Crossing my arms across my waist I held myself tight, finding myself to be cold now, I hooked my index finger on each hand around the front belt loop, relaxing into the seat and trying to keep warm. Hearing a knocking on the window I looked up to see Sora standing there, and with a tall dark haired man behind him. Quickly I sat up, unlocking the doors so Sora could jump in the back, "Zell…" I whispered, "Zell," Sora spoke louder, the man raised his head off the window and turned to look at us, he must have seen Vincent's face in the window because he quickly scrolled down the window to my door. "Hey," "You still want Roxas' appointment for this Friday?" Zell nodded his head, "Alright, the schedule for next week is already set, it was nice seeing you Sora," he nodded at me, "Roxas," he looked up at Zell, "Bye Zell."
As we drove back to the house I looked at Zell when Sora asked, "Do you and him know each other?" "Yup, we went to school together," the rest of the car ride was quiet; I wondered if that was before or after he moved in with his grandfather. When we pulled up to the house we started walked towards the house, Zell and I walking slower to make sure Sora would be the first one to open the door. He opened it slowly, not really in a hurry to get inside, and as soon as the door opened the lights were flicked on to help with the lighting- and a group 7 or 8 people all yelling "Surprise, Sora," was enough to make my brother gape.
When we got in and shut the door Sora looked all around the room, noticing everyone standing around, "Hi guys," he had a toothy grin on his face, "What's the occasion?" Kairi was the first to speak, standing in front of Saïx- who for once had a smile on his face, "It's a makeup holiday," Sora raised an eyebrow, "Well… since you were gone for a few major holiday's," Marluxia began, "Like Christmas," Naminé butted in, "And New Year's," Demyx added, "Valentine's day," Riku smiled, "A birthday," I put my hand on his shoulder, "We put all your presents in a room so we could give you your gifts when you got back," Marluxia finished.
"R-really?" he seemed surprised, "Really," I smiled, placing a hand on his back to push him into the room further, getting him in reach of everyone else who made him sit in the middle of the couch. Zell stood by the door as everyone took their seat, I wanted him to come over and watch Sora open his presents, but before I could ask I was grabbed my wrist and pulled over. Hands were placed on my hips and those hands pulled me down, I meeped in the process, not knowing what I was sitting on but knowing it wasn't a soft cushion on the love seat couch.
Looking behind me I saw Axel smiling, but not at me, at Sora, who already had a present shoved into his hands. I turned to watch, seeing Demyx was sitting on the two person couch with us, across the room Saïx sat in the chair while Kairi sat on the floor- deciding to be the one that was going to hand Sora all of his gifts. Next to Sora was Riku, and on the other side of Sora was Marluxia on the end and Naminé between my brother and her boyfriend, Sora looked around the room, looked at the giant mound of presents and then back at everyone.
In total Sora had 41 presents to open (including cards), most of them small trinkets like necklaces and bracelets- mostly homemade, he got 13 cards in total, everyone had given him at least one card- except for me, I gave him 4, one for each holiday. Most the cards were for Valentine's Day though, he also got a gift of photos, pictures of him and Riku and Kairi and Marluxia on the daily adventures they went through. By the end of everything, when all the trash had been put into trash bags and the cards back in their envelopes, Sora looked like he wanted to cry.
He had said thank you personally after every gift he opened, but after the 5th one Axel told him to stop saying thank you and just wait till the end, it was the end now, and Sora was looking around the room, "Thank you… thanks you guys- you're the best," "No problem," almost everyone said back, "You're a good friend, you deserve to know we care about you," Kairi smiled. The whole sentimental thing soon turned into any time you have several friends in one room, complete and utter ridiculousness. I had moved off Axel's lap to sit in front of the TV though I was still facing everyone, Axel followed me down- alone with Demyx, Marluxia and Naminé moved to the now free couch and everyone just moved closer to the table so we could see each other's faces and move about as we liked.
Somehow in all the childish laughter Demyx and Sora were having a stare down, trying not to blink and they were surprisingly getting very far, Axel winked at me as he moved closer to Demyx, looking him in the eye, inching closer and closer, Demyx only slightly moved away not wanting to lose. Axel slowly brought his finger up and pointed at Demyx's face, moving his finger closer to his cheek every second, Demyx saw out of the corner of his eye and pushed Axel's hand down. When the redhead tried with the other hand Demyx only pushed that hand down too, so Axel leaned closer and closer and then began to slowly blow air into Demyx's eye.
We all watched as his eye began to twitch, "Axel," Demyx warned, but Axel kept it up, and soon Demyx was blinking, his eyes crying a river as he swatted at Axel, who was in a laughing fit. Everyone in the room seemed to be laughing but Axel seemed to be laughing the hardest, he sat up, holding his sides as he laughed, and soon he began falling, and keeping his body bent the way it was while he was sitting up he was now laying with his head behind me, laughing into the carpet.
"You guys suck," Demyx whined, a small smile on his face, that only made everyone else laugh harder, Axel on the other hand had gained back some of his composure and was now sitting up. Instantly I felt hands on my thighs and hips, before I could react Axel pulled me up to sit on his lap, "Axel," I probably sounded like a two year old whining but I didn't care, he crossed his arms over my chest and held me tight, I looked up at him, unable to see his face even though I was trying. I huffed and let myself rest against his chest, looking around the room I saw Riku wiping Sora's cheeks where a few tears had fallen.
Kairi and Saïx were talking, Naminé and Marluxia were laughing about something and within a few minutes each one of them kissed I looked back over at the lonely Demyx, "You guy's suck!" he whined again, gaining everyone's attention as to why they were getting yelled at this time, Axel smiled, "It's okay Dem, you can kiss Roxas," I glared at Axel wondering where that came from, he had a shit eating grin on his face, "They all made out," Demyx countered, I could tell he was seeing how far he could go with this, "You could try with Rox, he tastes delicious," he smiled.
"Oh, 'cuz you know how I taste?" raising an eyebrow I looked at him and he just continued to smile, "I speak from experience," "You can't get experience from dreams Ax," I quickly countered, seeing the small look of shock on his face, everyone was laughing hysterically around the room, he whispered in my ear, too low for Demyx to hear, "If I dream about it enough it does," my face felt on fire, I froze, the blush spread across my face and Axel stopped me from moving away from him when he tightened his hold around me and buried his face in my neck.
Everyone left around the same time, leaving Sora, Riku, Zell, Axel, and I in the house, Zell smiled when Sora thanked him, thanking him for allowing it, Riku and Sora said they had it handled with taking everything into my brother's room so Axel and I went into my room.
Hiya. :D