Title: The Way You Look Tonight
Author: Riake
Pairing: Axel/Kairi
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Theme: #14 - radio-cassette player
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters. Nor do I own Frank Sinatra's "The Way You Look Tonight." This is for entertainment purposes only.
Author Notes: AU. It doesn't really feel up to some of my other things (the writing is very straightforward, but that could be because I'm rushing to get this done before I leave), but I guess I need to do these kind of things every now and then. :3 Also, Demyx/Namine side pairing. For the purpose of this fic, Tidus and Selphie are Kairi's younger siblings. It's also terribly corny. :D
"I can't believe this."
Namine patted Kairi's arm sympathetically, a frown creasing her face. "It'll be okay, Kairi," she said soothingly.
Kairi gave Namine a look. "No, it won't." She moaned, somewhat theatrical and unable to care. "I can't believe this. The senior prom - the defining moment for all couples, for all girls - and I can't go." With another moan, she dropped her head on her knees.
Namine sighed and continued her patting. "Are you sure you can't convince your parents to let you go?"
A brisk shake of Kairi's head destroyed that idea. "I can't. This business meeting of theirs is huge, by all accounts. They can't miss it. Which means I've got to stay home and babysit."
"Why can't they just hire a babysitter?" Sora asked, leaning around Namine, face scrunched with confusion.
She rolled her eyes. "Because the usuals have their own proms to go to, or aren't available, and they don't want to hire someone they don't know." It was a valid excuse, and Kairi knew that good and well, but she couldn't get over the fact that she would be missing her senior prom. She and Namine had been planning for ages. Kairi had even worked her butt off to make sure Demyx would take Namine and make the night perfect for her friend. She should have been more concerned with her own date - after all, Axel never had been very reliable, to say the least. But at least she had roped him into going. Now none of that mattered anyway.
Kairi pushed herself off the wall, running a hand through her hair and grabbing her bag. "I'm gonna go. No point moaning about it any more, right?" She tried to put on a smile, failing miserably.
"What about Axel?" Sora asked, swinging his legs and letting his heels bump gently into the bricks below him.
Kairi paused, biting her lip. She didn't really fancy telling him, especially after she made such a big deal about the prom in the first place.
Hopping off the wall with little grace and nearly falling, Namine gave Kairi a wide smile. "Don't worry. I'll do the dirty deed for you."
Kairi gave her friend a hug in thanks. "Hope you guys have fun."
Namine nodded, and continued to do so long after Kairi had disappeared. Leaning down next to her, Sora raised one eyebrow. "You have an idea, don't you?"
Namine let a slow, cattish grin spread over her face. "Indeed I do. Let's go find Axel."
It took roughly thirty minutes to track down the elusive redhead. When they finally did, he rolled his eyes and only left his friends reluctantly and at Demyx's urging.
A hallway down from the majority of the students still hanging around, Axel stopped and leaned lazily against the wall, eyes flickering up and down them as if afraid they were carrying some explosive. He probably would have asked to use them if that was the case, but Namine tried not to let such thoughts distract her. She had a mission, and she would fulfill it. She might not understand what Kairi saw in Axel - well, he could be nice sometimes, and he was hot, sure, but he was still a pompous ass sometimes - but she would do anything for Kairi.
"Kairi wanted me to tell you that she can't make it to the prom," Namine said, calm and sure, feeling safer with Sora next to her and Demyx peering curiously around the corner (what a cute little idiot).
Axel, mouth open to say something, froze. He blinked slowly, measuring Namine to see if she was making a joke. When it was obvious she wasn't, he gave a heavy sigh. "Damn. Why not? She's bugged me on end to go, and I've got a tux and everything, and now she's backing out?"
"It's not her fault," Sora put in. "Her parents are making her stay home and babysit." He gave a brief overview of the situation.
Axel sighed again when the brunette finished, and Namine could have sworn she saw a bit of disappointment in his eyes. "Well, I guess there's nothing to do, then."
"Ah ah ah, not so fast." Namine, grinning from ear to ear, rocked back on her heels. "I have an idea, if you want to hear it. It'll make Kairi over-the-moon happy."
Axel didn't even hesitate, and Namine decided that he wasn't such a bad guy after all.
000 000 000 000
The house was relatively silent. In the living room, Tidus and Selphie were half-asleep in front of the TV. Kairi knew she shouldn't have let them watch as much as they were, but she didn't feel up to entertaining them. She knew she was being silly for sulking so much, and she really had gotten over most of her annoyance at missing the prom, but she had built the idea up so much in her head, idolized it so much, that she couldn't help it. She was a stupid, shallow girl sometimes, a girly-girl, even though she took karate and was on the swim team. She loved her high school, and this last big event - outside of graduation, of course - was suddenly no longer attainable.
Besides, she really had been looking forward to dancing with Axel. To being with Axel. Because, even if some people said he was an egotistical jerk, she liked him. He wasn't like that around her (well, not much, anyway). He was sweet, in his own way, and he was a good kisser, and he always made her laugh. He knew how to have fun, and she was never happier than when she was with him.
The doorbell rang, jerking Kairi out of her thoughts. Letting the spoon fall into the half-demolished pint of chocolate ice cream, she rose and reluctantly made her way to the foyer.
"Hey."
Kairi knew she was staring, but she couldn't help it. Axel, decked out in the tux she had helped him pick out, holding a corsage in one hand and a large, bulky object she couldn't make out in the other, smiled at her.
"H-hey," she whispered, gripping the door tightly to keep herself straight. She suddenly felt exposed and inadequate, wearing nothing but an old T-shirt, shorts, and socks that bagged and fell around her ankles. "What are you doing here? Didn't Namine-"
He smiled again, and her heart stuttered to a stop. "Yeah, she did. And she also suggested I do something."
Kairi blinked.
"She didn't say what. Just that I should do something. Come here tonight. So I decided I would. Can I come in?"
She moved aside wordlessly, letting him enter and closing the door behind him. He'd been to her house before, but only in daylight and never looking so stunning in his half-buttoned tux and undone tie.
He glanced around briefly, waved hello to a sleepy and uninterested Selphie (Tidus, to Kairi's relief, was snoring loudly - he wouldn't have shut up near Axel, due to his extreme reverence of the older male), and confidently made his way to the kitchen. Handing her the corsage, which she took with hand that shook, he hefted the other object onto the counter. To Kairi's shock, it was an old, beaten up radio-cassette player.
Seeing her look, Axel laughed even as he plugged it in. "I know. It's Stone Age old, but I lent the CD player to Roxas, and he still hasn't given it back. Besides, I don't have a CD of this song, so I thought this would be better anyway. Are you going to put that on, or just stand there holding it?"
Snapping out of her reverie, Kairi took out the corsage and pinned it to her shirt. It looked ridiculous, but Axel seemed pleased.
With a click and a whirl, the player started up. The soft notes of Frank Sinatra's The Way You Look Tonight started.
Kairi felt her mouth fall open.
"Oh," she whispered as it suddenly clicked and began to make sense. She turned suddenly teary eyes to Axel. "Oh, Axel-"
He stopped her short with a small bow, a mischievous glint in his eyes. Holding out a dance to her, he asked, "Would you care to dance, Kairi?"
She took his hand, and he pulled her close, not seeming to care that she was in old, ratty clothes instead of a dress, that her hair was hanging around her shoulders instead of in a bun, that she wasn't wearing heels but socks.
He pulled her close, and she could feel him smile - softly, gently - against her skin.
"Thank you," she whispered into his shoulder.
"Anything for you, Kairi."
She didn't need a prom anymore - it was gaudy and fake and who cared about socializing? The only thing she needed was Axel's arms around her, his lips brushing her ear, knowing that he had done this for her, only for her.
Smiling, wondering if she could burst from happiness, Kairi let Axel lead her around the kitchen floor, swaying gently to music from an old radio-cassette player.
Just thinking of you, and the way you look tonight.
