delayed-reaction – I feel the same way…I don't like to leave the comfort of my own home and civilization. Lols.
mornir-brightflame – Ah, sure some are nice, but boys will be boys. Stereotypical boys mind you.
Colonel Roxas-chan – Yeah, I read it over and over again and I got confused with it myself, and no matter how many times I re-worded it, it just…didn't work! (Cries)
Leixra – He's just being friendly. Lols, Matt already has a girlfriend, but she doesn't go to that church. I could either be making this up, or I'm telling the truth. Up to you. Lols. (Snorts)
Kiki Lelsissia – Lols, by the looks of your review, you summarized all you wanted to say in very short sentences.
Kev the She-Wolf – Lols, I see you don't like camp either. I've always had bad experiences, so I was never a big fan of it…I guess it makes it better if friends are there too.
WGreyB – Yeah, I try to remedy those parts. There're some parts where it's obvious and some others that aren't. Opps, my bad.
pride1289 – Yer…About that…Lols, he'll have dreams later on.
Plain Jane Is A Vampire – I agree with you one hundred percent. Testuya-san…Why do you do this to us?! As for Winter camp…I have no idea. I wasn't thinking when I wrote it out…
soraXxXriku – Lols, that cracked me up! I have no idea what I was on when I was typing that part out, but I was listening to The Used. They're fucking good.
Shadow of Darkness 22 – I don't think Roxas actually made some real friends, you know? Just chatting with other people and everything.
DarkEmoKitty – Lols, yes, my apologies once again…This is the longest story I've ever written as well, but…that's partly due to the fact that I never planned anything out with this story. (Cries)
Gecko Osco – I worship Dualism and Spot of Bother. I've always wanted to write a Zemyx, but I can't seem to portray them as perfectly as Dualism does. I don't think I'll ever be able to write in her style though. It's so…hard core. (For lack of a better word)
Ranchdressing – I wanna read the manga!!! I wanna buy the manga!!!! Oh my gosh, WHY CAN'T I FIND IT ANYWHERE?!!??!?
AnimeDragonofFire – Camp is fun, sometimes…But at least you know what I'm going on about with the layout and all. I'm glad you liked the chapter, and I'm so sorry for your loss…
RoraShigoto – Hahaha…I don't recognize that name either…My apologies.
Malik's Bunny Mika – The radio station guy made me laugh my head off, he was hilarious.
Conductor of Darkness – He's getting a little more self-conscious about himself because of (ahem), yeah, you know what I'm going on about. Kind of sad in a way…Poor Roxas. I can't believe I'm torturing him this much. Same goes for Axel too.
I saw a picture…Not just any picture. It was a picture of…hehehe…I'm not telling you. (Snickers)
"Alright, listen up everybody!" Matt, being one of the adult leaders in charge of camp sports activity, was standing in front of all four groups with a microphone in hand about to shout out instructions for the games.
"The object of the game is, to run up to your team leaders over there," he pointed to the row of four teenagers at the 100 meter mark. "Grab the pole, put it on your head and spin around with it twenty times." A few people groaned at this, saying how 'embarrassing' it's gonna be.
"No cheating, your team leaders are gonna count for you. And after that, you're gonna put it on the ground, jump over it then run back to your team, tag the next person and keep going until the last person finishes, then you all sit down with your hands on your heads. You got it?" a few people murmured their thoughts.
"Alrighty, first team to finish gets 400 points, second gets 300, third gets 200 and last gets 100." He turned his head to the side lines where a few people that weren't participating stood. "Point takers, ready?!" he gestured to the two male and female teenagers.
"READY!" they each smiled and waved a clipboard around.
Matt turned his attention back to the four lines or groups, "Teams, ready?!"
"Yeah, ready, whatever." They murmured out individually.
"I can't hear you! Are you ready?!" he cupped a hand behind his ear.
With a sign and an eye roll, they gave in and finally shouted back with equal enthusiasm. "Yes!!"
"Alright! On your marks, get set!" he quickly stepped over to the side lines, "And GO!"
Immediately, the first runners ran up to their team leaders, grabbed the pole that they held out for them, placed it on their foreheads and spun around like crazy.
After a few spins, a boy got too dizzy and fell over backwards. When he got up and tried again, he only managed half a circle before falling down one more time. The other team members were laughing and slapping their knees.
A girl who managed to get all twenty spins done, placed the pole on the ground and couldn't concentrate on which pole to actually jump over, eventually, she jumped the wrong way and started running off to a team that wasn't even her own. Again, the other team members laughed their heads off as they grabbed their stomachs in mirth.
Another boy spun away from his leader back towards his team without realizing, and when he threw the pole down and jumped over it, and started running in the opposite direction of where his team members were. They doubled over in laughter, some even falling to their knees at the display of hilarity.
After ten minutes of constant laughing and falling over, they moved onto the next activity after announcing the winner. "Coming fourth, are the Thresholders, third are the Ground Shakers, second are the Storm Riders and," before the first place winner was announced, everybody in the team jumped up and whooped for joy. "First are the Spell Casters."
For two hours from 3 to 5pm, they played nothing but sports, insert the occasional five or ten minute break to get a breather. After playing sports, they had an hour of free time which most people used to take a quick shower or grab a bite to eat or quench their thirst.
The red head came back out of the cabin, his hair still dripping wet after the shower he just took and he leisurely walked towards the food hall where the blond said he would be once he finished his own shower. He found Roxas sitting on an empty table with a warm cup of tea in hand.
Blue eyes looked up in surprise when someone sat down beside him.
"Hey," he casually greeted then sighed, placing his elbow on the table and resting his cheek in his open palm. "What cha drinking?"
"Herbal lemon tea." He smiled and took another sip. "There's the tea bag over there if you wanna make yourself some." He pointed to the small basket of numerous tea bags by the coffee machine. 'He smells…weird…'
"Good idea, maybe it'll wake me up a bit." He smiled as he got up and walked over to the table, grabbing a clean cup, putting in two teaspoons of sugar, ripping open a tea bag, chucking it in then pushing the button for hot water from the coffee machine. He sat opposite the blond and gently blew into the hot drink. "I know I'm not suppose to be using the coffee machine, but don't tell anybody." He winked and carefully took a sip.
The blond smirked, "Oh I don't know about that. I might accidentally let it slip out you know?" he looked over his shoulder and spotted a few adults that were in charge of the whole camping trip. "Oh look, there's Geoff." He turned his head back to the red head and smirked.
"Aw, that's so mean." He moped and tried to hide behind the cup.
"Don't worry, your horrible secret is safe with me." He laughed as he took another sip from his tea.
"Phew, I feel so much better." He wiped away the fake sweat from his forehead, a few droplets of water dripping onto the table from his hair as he moved his head.
"What's that smell?" he finally decided to ask.
"What smell?"
"You." He pointed at the red head. "You smell weird."
"Really?" he pulled his shirt a little and sniffed it. "Oh! It's the insect repellant. It's working so far. No flea bites yet." He grinned.
"Oh, ok, I was just wondering." He shrugged.
Axel chuckled, "Anyways, what's next on the timetable?"
"Ah..." he quickly reached to his back pocket and took out the folded up mini booklet then flipped it open, "We've got room time devotion next."
"What's that?" he asked as he tried to look at the paper.
"Well," he placed the booklet on the table so the red head could see, "It's just another way of telling us to get to know the other cabin members better, sometimes we'd talk about the camp, why we decided to come, read a bit out of the bible and then talk about it." He shrugged, unsure if his explanation was good enough or not.
"Oh yeah, ok. I got cha." He flipped the booklet over so he could have a read of it. "Room time devotion huh? No problem." He grinned as he looked at the timetable. "Oh, that's weird. After that, it's free time till 7.30 then its dinner." He quirked up an eyebrow at the strange timetable. "We just had free time, not that I'm complaining or anything." He laughed as he picked up the booklet and handed it back to the blond.
"Yeah well, last year, they crammed in too many things for us to do, and we hardly had any free time. I guess they decided to give us a bit more this year." He stuck the booklet into his back pocket and drank his tea.
"Ah, too much of something is never a good thing." He shook his head as he gathered his knowledge, "Too little of something else, is not that great either."
Roxas merely snorted and drank the rest of his tea before making himself another cup.
During the service, Axel almost fell asleep. The blond would give the red head a hard nudge into the rib cage to make him wake up. Even after that nudge, he would slowly eventually start nodding his head off, gaining the attention of the blond again. This time Roxas stood on his shoe, making the red head hold back a cry of pain.
Lucky for them, they sat at the very back of the church hall, where not many people were.
"What?!" he harshly whispered to the blond as he pulled his leg up on the chair and nursed his throbbing foot.
"You almost fell asleep, twice." He scowled at the red head.
"I'm sorry ok? I was too into sports today and I guess I tired myself out more than I thought I did." He reasoned as he embarrassedly looked away.
Roxas sighed, "Ok, fine. Just…try to stay awake for the rest of the service ok?"
"Yeah, ok, I can do that." He put his leg back down and folded his arms, keeping his attention on the speaker which happened to belong to another church, which was HBBC.
The red head had to put up with talking about 'climbing that mountain' for another half an hour before it was over, but even then there was still another five, ten or so more minutes before they could actually leave.
By then, the red head was on the verge of falling straight to sleep, given half the chance. His eyes were bloodshot and he kept on jiggling his leg or doing something to keep himself awake for just that little bit longer.
When it was all over, he had to hold back from running out of the door and screaming out, 'FREEDOM!!' or else Roxas would probably glare and kick him or something. The red head remained calm, cool and collected, up until they entered the cabin and closed the door where he actually fell to his knees and let out a long, tired sigh.
Roxas wasn't sure if he should be worried or annoyed as he approached the red head, "Go brush your teeth before you fall asleep, again."
He grinned as he looked over his shoulder at the blond. "Ok." He got up and walked over to his bunk, rummaging around in his bag for his tooth paste and tooth brush then walking out of the door towards the toilets.
He eventually joined the red head in the toilets who was slowly brushing his teeth and almost falling asleep as well.
"Don't make me kick you." The blond warned as he turned the taps on.
Axel immediately woke up and quickly brushed his teeth. Once he finished washing his mouth out, he beamed the blond a toothy smile, showing off his pearly whites, which was pretty surprising since he's a smoker.
After collecting his things, he went back to their cabin and when the blond returned some minutes later, the red head was already snoozing away in his sleeping bag.
Roxas closed the door and switched off the lights. He waited a while to let his eyes adjust to the darkness before moving around to his bunk and get changed into his pajamas.
Once he got into his sleeping bag, he quietly murmured out a goodnight to the red head.
He was pleasantly surprised when Axel mumbled it back to him.
Roxas went to sleep with a smile on his face.
The blond woke up sometime in the middle of the night and he heard rustling coming from somewhere. When he looked around, he noticed that the rustling came from the red head's sleeping bag and he wondered what was wrong.
He was about to brush it off as either Axel was trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in or a nightmare. It became apparent a few seconds later that it was neither.
"Dammit, I jinxed myself." He heard the red head curse lightly as he tossed and turned around.
"Axel?" he was careful not to be too loud. "What are you doing?"
"I'm scratching, I got the stupid flea bites."
"Stop scratching, you'll make it worse. Didn't you use the repellant?" he sat up and stared at the red head.
"I did, I guess it didn't work." He grumbled and continued scratching.
"Axel, stop scratching."
"But it's so damn itchy." He was now sitting up on his bunk as well.
"Stop it now or I will kick you where it hurts." He warned as he pointed at the red head even though Axel probably couldn't see it.
"Ouch Roxy…that's really mean." He stopped scratching momentarily, "You wouldn't do that would you?"
"I could, and I would. Now stop scratching and go back to sleep."
"But it's too hard." He whined.
They froze a little when somebody shifted from one of the other bunks. But when nobody woke up and protested at them, they continued whispering.
The blond started rummaging around his bag in search of something, "Here's some moisturizer, use it." He tossed the red head the item which fell on top of the sleeping bag with a soft thud.
"Will it help?" he asked as he picked up the item, his eyes finally adjusting to the darkness enough to see a little.
"A little."
"Ah, whatever. Anything to stop the itch." He ignored a snicker coming from the blond. "Oh ha ha Roxas…"
The blond went back to sleep a little while after that. The itching didn't stop, but eventually Axel tired himself enough to fall right back to sleep. The red head woke up the next morning feeling more tired than he did the night before.
He looked at his mobile and it wasn't even 7am yet. He was still tired, but at the same time, he felt horribly restless.
"I'm gonna go take a shower, I can't take this anymore." He grumbled as he took out some clean clothes from his bag, a towel, shampoo and a pair of sandals. He heard Roxas mutter out something incoherent as he got off his bunk and walked towards the door.
It was an extremely cold morning, and as he walked out of the cabin, he could see his breath in front of him. He shivered as he gently closed the door and scurried along the concrete path towards the toilets where the showers were also located.
He claimed the shower stall at the very end, furthest away from the door. And as he stepped inside, he closed the stall door behind him and turned on the shower taps to an extreme temperature before pulling the shower curtains in between him. As the water warmed itself up, he left his clothes on the hook at the back of the door and the towel on top of his clothes. He bent over and placed the shampoo on the floor and proceeded to strip down as quickly as possible without exposing himself to too much cold air.
He stepped under the water and it burned, but at the same time, it just felt so good. The heat was killing the itch. He'll endure the heat as long as it stops him from scratching.
He would occasionally turn the tap to a hotter temperature once he got too use to the one he was under. He never bothered using the shampoo he brought over with him as he continued to stand under the burning water.
His cheeks were flushed red and he couldn't concentrate on anything but the pressure of hot water droplets on his back. He didn't even notice someone coming into the toilets either.
"Axel?"
The red head jerked his head up and he suddenly felt horribly dizzy, "Yeah?"
"Why is it so steamy in here?"
He grabbed his head to stop it from spinning around and tried not to suddenly fall over, "Err…I'm uh…taking a shower?" he leaned on the wall for support.
"Yeah, right. More like cooking yourself." He retorted with a snort.
"Uh…yeah…well…" the red head replied tiredly.
"Axel? Are you ok?" the blond sounded very worried and even knocked on the stall door.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He didn't know how long he had been standing there for, but by the way his head was feeling, it probably had been a long time.
"Axel, put on a freaking towel and lemme see the damage."
The red head was silent, but within a few seconds, the shower taps were turned off and the door opened to reveal a slightly disheveled looking red head. The sudden wave of heat coming out of the stall towards the blond suddenly made him sweat a little. And by the looks of it, the blond wasn't sure if Axel was sick or if he was getting heat stroke.
The red head's shoulders were slumped and his eyes seemed very tired then Roxas noticed the bright red spots dotted all over his reddened body, "The flea bites I got were never this bad…Even so, you didn't have to burn yourself." he reasoned as he scrutinized at it, "Hm…Maybe you're more sensitive to the flea bites."
The red head shrugged and then suddenly rested his head on the blonds' shoulder. "I'm tired…"
"Ah…" he blushed a little, "Do you wanna sleep in for the day?"
"I don't wanna go back into that fucking room…" he muttered, unaware that he was getting Roxas a little wet due to his hair dripping onto the blonds' pajamas.
"I can ask Geoff to get you a different room, one of the adult lounges. It should be flea-free." He laughed a little while Axel merely grunted.
In the distance, they could hear the banging of doors and the shouting of words, "Spell Casters! Kitchen Duty!!"
"It's about 7.15 now, I'm sure Geoff should be awake, hopefully." He grabbed Axel's shoulder to put a bit of distance in between them, "Get changed and I'll go find him ok?" the red head looked as though he was about to fall over any second. "Axel?" he peered at the said person worriedly.
"Oh," he woke up a little, his eyes gaining back a little bit of awareness, "Yeah, ok, sure."
When the red head closed the door of the stall, the blond stayed behind a little bit longer before quickly going off to find his pastor. When he found him, he asked if Axel could have a room in the adult lounges, and after a bit of reasoning, the older man happily allowed the red head to have a room to himself.
"Ah flea bites, those nasty things. Just hate them. How is Axel?" Geoff asked as he walked with the blond towards their cabin.
"He looks pretty tired to be honest."
"Ah yes, those little vampires sucked his blood dry didn't they?" he chuckled as he walked inside to see that the red head was not in. "Where is he?"
"He was in the shower before, I'll go see if-"
The red head appeared by the doorway, lightly scratching his abdomen. "Good morning…" he tried to greet them in his normal voice, but it sounded worn out.
"Wow…you look a little worse for wear." The older man joked then turned back to the blond, "Which one is his bag?"
"The black one." He pointed to the bag on the small plank.
"Ok, could you bring his sleeping bag too?"
"Yup."
The red head stared at them tiredly and confusedly as the two walked out of the cabin and he slowly followed them. "Where are we going?"
"You're going to a new room," the blond smiled and tried to fold the sleeping bag into a neater pile, "Come on." He nudged his head towards the adult lounges and followed the older man.
The whole day was different after that, without the red head around. Roxas felt almost lost. He brought the red head breakfast to eat then left when it was time for morning service.
"The path to self discovery begins with an open heart and the willingness to accept the consequences. Be it good or bad." A few people nodded to Geoff's words, as though they've experienced the same thing before. Roxas wasn't able to empathize. "People may ridicule you, mock you, pressure you, but remain strong in what you believe is right and you will persevere."
The blond knew there was a hidden meaning in his words, but his mind was too caught up with worrying about the red head to really fully think it through.
He came back after kitchen duty with two plates of food for himself and the red head for lunch. He left shortly after they finished it to bring back the dirty dishes to the kitchen and left the red head to rest a bit more.
Axel joined them after an hour into the group meeting and insisted he was fine and he didn't need anymore sleep when the blond asked.
When that was over, it was time for sports activities. He didn't play any sports, but he had enough energy to laugh at them though, especially the blond. Sometimes the blond would come over and kick him on his shoe. "Stop scratching them."
"But they're so itchy!!" he whined and unwillingly stilled his fingers.
After the sports activity was over, the both of them agreed to meet at the swings later because the blond needed to take a shower.
When Roxas was done, he found the red head and drawing in the sketchbook at the playground.
"So Axel," he greeted casually as he sat on the swing by the said person, "What do you think of this camp so far?"
He looked up from his sketchbook and stared at the blond, "It's fine, as long as you're around." He smirked and went back to drawing.
The blond nodded and pushed himself off with the soles of his shoes into a gentle swinging motion. "You don't have to pretend to like it you know." He reasoned as he stared up at the sky. "If you want, you can go home early."
The red head stopped sketching and slowly turned his head to Roxas, "Do you want me to go?" he asked warily.
The blond skidded to a light stop and stared at the ground then eventually replied, "No…"
Axel smirked and started sketching again, "Then I'll stay. Besides," he shrugged, "We've already paid for it right? And I got upgraded to a nice kick-ass room with a comfy bed." He laughed when the blond retorted that comment with a shove of his foot to the swing that the red head occupied.
By the end of the day, Axel was still scratching although not as much. Maybe the fact that he took a shower whenever he could, contributed to it.
It was the last full day at camp and it passed far too quickly to everybody's liking. For breakfast, instead of the usual cereal and toast, they were served bacon and eggs and baked beans. Sora had asked the kitchen staff if they could have waffles tomorrow for breakfast.
Roxas did rave on about Thursday and Friday mornings just the other day now that the red head recalled.
For free time, they were allowed to use the pools located near the adult lounges. When Roxas insisted that he didn't want to hop in because it was too cold, the red head teased him, saying how he probably couldn't swim. In retaliation to that comment, Axel got shoved into the pool by the blond.
"You did not just push me into the pool." The red head stood up, waist deep in water, soaking wet from head to toe, ignoring the laughs coming from a certain brunet and the smug look from his silver haired companion.
"Just so you know, I can swim. I'd just rather not swim right now." Roxas smirked as he folded his arms, taking a step back when the red head came close to the edge and hopped out. His clothes dripping wet and his shoes squishing with every step he took.
"Totally reminds me of a song." He twisted at the hem of his shirt and the water poured out and dripped to the ground.
"And what would that be?" he took another step back when the red head approached.
"Click Five, Just the Girl." He placed his hands on his hips as he stepped towards the blond.
The blond quirked up an eyebrow. "How does me pushing you into the pool remind you of that particular song."
"Ah," he furrowed his eyebrows then tapped his forehead in thought, "What were the lyrics again?" he gripped his chin, "Oh right," he smirked as he cleared his throat. "She pushed me in the pool at our last school reunion." He sang as he stepped closer.
"Oh, is that all." He scoffed as he rolled his eyes. "I am not a girl."
"I didn't say that you were, I was merely recalling the lyrics." He smirked as he stood in front of the blond then quickly snatched him up in a bone crushing hug.
Roxas hadn't expected the red head to do something like that, the sudden coolness and wetness on his skin made him shiver.
"Awwh! You're getting me wet!" he tried to force Axel off but his arms were squished in between their bodies.
"This is payback! Pay back I tell you!!" he cackled in delight while the blond continued to squirm in his arms.
After getting changed into a new batch of clean, dry clothes, they met each other again on the field for room time devotion. The whole cabin agreed to have their last session outside rather than inside. They sat on the grass and read a part out of the bible, chatted about the meaning behind the words, then finally ended the devotion in prayer.
Both Axel and Roxas were surprised when Josh, Chris and Jake approached them.
"Hey."
The red head eyed them cautiously, he hadn't been on best terms with them since day one of the camp. "Sup." He gave them a nod of his head.
"Look, I'm really sorry for what I said about the two of you on Monday." Josh looked away from them as he apologized. The two boys behind him nodded their heads in agreement. "And yeah, I know I came off as a jerk, but I'm trying to change that." He raised his hand and rubbed the back of his neck with it. "And um…well…I was wondering if we could start over again."
The blond looked up at the red head then smiled as he turned back to the brunet haired boy, "Sure, everybody deserves a second chance right?" he extended a hand to the boy who stared at it in shock.
"Cool," he laughed a little as he took the hand in his own. "We're about to play a short game of soccer, do you guys wanna join us?"
"Bring it on." Axel smirked.
For the next half hour or so, the five boys and a few more others played soccer, occasionally switching field positions every now and then. The red head proved to be an excellent goal keeper, what, with his long legs and arms and all.
When the game was finished, they found out they actually forgot to keep score. So the winner was left undetermined.
"Yeah well, when the winners of the teams are announced, we'll see who the real winners are." Chris panted out as he collapsed on the grass.
"Dude, the Thresholders were beating the Storm Riders by at least a thousand points." Jake was trying to cool himself down with a wave of his hand. "You're so last."
"The Ground Shakers beat the both of you!" Josh smirked at his friends as he bounced the soccer ball from one foot to another.
"We'll find out in a few hours." The blond smiled as he flopped himself on the grass, lying on his back as he stared into the darkening sky. Somebody's tummy growled and everybody turned to Josh who blushed slightly in embarrassment.
"I wonder what we're having for dinner tonight." He smiled sheepishly as he scratched his cheek.
"I heard we're having turkey."
"I thought we're having roast chicken."
"Well, I don't care as long as it's edible." The red head clicked his tongue as his arms supported his weight as he leaned back. "I liked the cheesecake we had on Monday though."
"Man! That was like the best dessert I have ever had!" Jake cried out and everybody nodded their heads in agreement as they laughed.
For dinner, they had roast beef and roast vegetables and apple crumble for dessert.
The church hall was crowded and noisy. The teenage occupants were restless with abundant energy and enthusiasm. Everybody was hall waiting for the team winners to be announced. Matt was holding a piece of paper with all the scores totaled up.
"And in fourth place, are the Ground Shakers with 3,250 point."
If possible, Josh's mouth would've dropped to the floor.
"In third place are the Thresholders with 3,600 points."
Jake smacked his forehead while Chris snickered behind his hand.
"In second place are the Storm Riders," immediately, Axel, Roxas and the other teams members jumped up and whooped in delight. Shouting out 'Spell Casters' over and over again in a continuous mantra.
With the winners announced, the final day duties were distributed. The team on last place had to clean out the toilets. Everybody cringed. Third place winners had to clean up the food hall after lunch, second place winners had to clean up the church hall while the first place winners just had to make sure their cabins were rubbish and junk food free.
Once the night service was over, everybody would head over to the food hall and eat cookies and hot chocolate. When it came time for bed, only a quarter of the teenagers decided to go to sleep.
The occupants of cabin 8 stayed up the whole entire night, talking to each other, sometimes drawing on a sleeping person's face in another room with a black permanent marker then snickering about it. They were quite surprised at how much of a heavy sleeper the people they drew on were.
Come morning time, one of them would walk around with a fake mustache and a large mole on one of their cheeks. One would have horrible looking black chicken poxes while a couple others walked around looking as though they belonged to the rock band 'KISS'.
They had a good laugh about it.
Before they knew it, it was time to leave. A few girls cried, some exchanged emails and phone numbers, other said they'll see each other again next year or some other time.
"Yo Axel, can't fit anymore in can ya?" Matt called out as he lugged a few bags towards the trailers.
"Nah, I can't even close the trunk properly." He opened the boot and shifted a few bags around to make some more room so that he could close the lid.
It was 2:13pm before they left the camp facility.
Roxas valiantly tried to stay awake to keep the red head company, but after half an hour, he was already snoozing away. Axel chuckled as he picked up the cup of coffee from the cup holder and took a sip from it. He bought it as soon as they left.
After he placed it back in the cup holder, he reached for the volume control and turned it down low before switching on the radio to 96.9 FM. He nodded his head to the music as he drove, tapping on the steering wheel as he mouthed the lyrics to the song he knew all too well.
"And that was 'Ready to Die' by Andrew W.K requested by David." The DJ sounded from the radio, "Next up we have on the request list is 'The Innocent' by Good Charlotte requested by Michelle. You're listening to 'That's so Emo on 96.9 FM.'"
The song started playing and the blond stirred in his sleep a little. Axel quickly turned down the volume.
He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding when the blond didn't wake up. He decided not to listen to the radio after that.
By the time the got back to church, it was just past 7 o'clock. The blond slept through the whole entire trip but he woke up when the red head turned off the engine of his car. It took Roxas a while to register that they were back in civilization.
After helping the blond with the luggage, they talked a bit before he had to go. Sora talked to Riku while their parents talked to the pastor.
"Watch the sun set tomorrow?" the blond asked as he tried to stay awake long enough to hold a decent conversation with the red head before he had to leave for home.
"Yeah sure." He smiled as he placed his whole weight onto one foot.
"You're coming in on Sunday right? We're all gonna re-cap about what we did at camp." He tried to rub the sleep away from his eyes.
"Mmhmm, I can do that." He nodded his head, "No sunrise?"
"Do you wanna see it?"
"I wouldn't mind."
"Ok, cool." He smiled and swayed slightly.
"Ok, ok. Go home and get some rest." He turned the blond around and gave him a gentle push towards where Sora was. "Goodnight."
The blond waved and smiled sleepily. "Goodnight."
When they each reached their respective homes, they fell atop their beds and instantly dreamt.
Bleary eyes slowly opened to the semi bright rays that peeked through the blinds. He sat up from his bed and wondered why he felt so refreshed but incredibly hungry. He stared at the clock that blinked at him from his bed side table and widened his eyes in shock. Roxas had slept through the whole morning and a bit of the afternoon. It was just after 2pm.
He yawned and then he smiled as he stretched before climbing out of his bed to go through his morning routines.
When he came back into his room, he noticed something twitch from the corner of his eye. He couldn't find the source as he walked closer to the table. But as he turned away, he heard the soft buzzing of plastic over wood then realized that it came from his phone.
He picked it up and looked at the screen where the words, 'You have 5 messages' stared at him. He wouldn't help but smirk as he pushed the button to go into his inbox.
As he suspected, all five came from the red head. Just as he suspected. The first one he received was at 9.26am.
'Yo Roxy, r u up yet? Reply if u r, but if not. im going back to sleep.' He let out a soft chuckle as he went to the next message that he received at 10.52am.
'Roxy, not up yet? Good, im still tired. G'night.'
The next two were practically all the same, but the last text he received just minutes ago said, 'Ok, that's it. im coming over now. I'll sleep earlier tonight instead.' It even had a smiley face at the end.
He shook his head as he placed his phone back on the table and proceeded to change out of his pajamas. By the time he finished changing and pulled his socks on, he could hear the red head's car coming around and waiting patiently outside.
When he came outside from his room, he noticed that his brother's door was wide open, meaning that he's out of the house. And as he walked down the stairs, he could hear nothing. That probably meant that his mother and Sora went out to do grocery shopping without him.
Now that he thought about it, he vaguely remembered seeing Sora grinning at him and telling him not to worry about going to the supermarket with them. Darn…his brother probably bought a lot of unnecessary things again.
He let out a soft sigh as he tugged on his shoes and picked up the phone that started ringing in his pocket.
"Yes Axel," he answered immediately, "I'm coming out now." The said person merely let out a noise of what seemed to be between a chuckle and a scoff. He smiled a little as he hung up and opened the door to see the red head smiling and waving at him.
When the blond hopped in the car, the red head pulled out an item from the side of his door and shoved it in front of the blonds' face.
"Reno told me it arrived on Wednesday. Wanna listen to it later?" he asked excitedly as he brought it back to his side and looked at the list at the back.
"What happened to the whole music trading thing?" Roxas laughed as he pulled on his seatbelt.
"Ah true…" he leaned over and threw the CD into the glove compartment, "Kupo?" he raised his eyebrows as he grinned at the blond.
"Kupo." He nodded and then smiled as well.
"So what week does this make?" Roxas asked as he bit a small chunk of sea salt ice cream while leaning on the front hood of the red head's car.
"You of all people should know." The red head smirked. He was sitting on the hood with his feet propped up on the front bumper.
"Yeah, happy third week anniversary." He smiled as he licked the bottom of the popsicle that threatened to drip onto his hand.
"Yup, this is our third week of friendship." Axel smiled as he turned to face the setting sun. "That's really a shocker for me."
"Why's that?" he asked as he turned to the red head.
"Ah…well, long story short, I'm not good when it comes to making new friends." He scratched his cheek and turned away from the blond.
"Bad first impression?" Roxas suggested as he bit into the ice cream.
"It's the way I look."
"They don't know any better." He reasoned as he looked back at the sunset.
"As if you do?" the red head smirked, ignoring the slight wetness dripping on his hand.
"No, but I'm starting to." He turned to the red head as he spoke.
Axel raised his eyebrows as he stared at the blond who sat beside him, feeling pleasantly shocked.
"Axel?"
"Yeah?"
"Your ice cream is dripping on you." Roxas pointed at his pants.
"Oh shit?!"
Roxas had set the alarm to wake him up at 5am. He went to bed extra early that night so that he might be able to wake up in time, but it was a lot harder than he had expected.
He decided to put it on snooze while he slowly tried to wake up a little bit at a time. His alarm clock rang once every five minutes, and every time it rang, he would groan and smack the button to make it go back to snooze.
Eventually, he got up at 5.30 and decided that it was time to get ready.
When he was done with his morning routines, and getting changed, he was downstairs in the kitchen, writing up a note for his parents and brother, saying that he'll be out but he'll make it to church on time.
Just as he put the pen down, he heard the familiar noise that belonged to none other than Axel's car.
He had his phone in his hand and he quickly picked answered before the first beat started. "Good morning. I'm coming out now." Again, he heard another half chuckle, half scoff as he slid on his shoes and quietly closed the door behind him.
They spent an hour watching the sun rise into the horizon before they decided to go to Kupo's for breakfast. Rikku was back from her unfortunate trip and since they gave her such a heart welcome back, they asked if they could get a discount.
The girl laughed and said no.
Axel had to go to work the next day, but he promised to meet again the day after. Roxas surprised him by going to see him instead.
It was only around fifteen minutes from his place to Axel's by skateboard. No big right?
Wrong.
The red head made the blond promise not to do something like that ever again.
"Some pedophile might've kidnapped you!" he reasoned
"How did you get that into your head?" the blond asked incredulously.
"Hell if I know," he shrugged as he took a seat by the counter top. "I'm just…you know. Hinting at possibilities…" he picked up the spoon filled with cereal and stuffed it in his mouth.
Roxas raised his eyebrows as he watched the red head eat. "Are you eating cereal…without the milk?" he walked closer to get a better look.
"Yeah." He let out a soft sigh as he picked up another spoonful.
The blond couldn't suppress his smile, "Why…?"
"Because I didn't check if there was any milk in the fridge before I poured myself a bowl of cereal. This is like…the millionth time I've done this. Next time I should just pour milk in before the cereal." He huffed as he stuffed another spoon full of dry cornflakes into his mouth.
Roxas laughed, "Ok." He shook his head in disbelief. "So, what's up?" he asked as he sat on the couch in the living room.
"Well…" he sniffed as he gripped his chin, "I was bored and lonely."
"Ok, what about now?"
"I'm excited." He grinned as he turned to the blond.
The blond quirked up an eyebrow at the red head, "Er…What for?"
"Because now we can go ice skating!" he jumped off the seat and fully turned to the blond, the spoon still in hand.
"What the-Ice skating? Today?" he stared at the red head as though he grew an extra head.
"Yeah! It'll be totally awesome!" he picked up the cereal bowl, stuck it in the fridge and threw the spoon into the sink.
"You." He pointed at Axel, "Want to go ice skating, today?"
"Yeah, you got a problem with that?" he raised an eyebrow at the blond.
"Well no, but why the sudden urge?" he asked as he watched Axel disappeared down the hallway into his room.
"Dunno, I was just thinking about something random and then the figure 8 popped into my head." He shouted out from his room.
"Do you even know how to skate?" he asked as he pushed himself off the couch and walked down the corridor.
"Nope, but I hope you do!"
"Sure, it's like rollerblading." He shrugged as he stopped short of the red head's room.
"Cool. You wanna borrow a jacket or something?"
"Er…" he looked down at his own clothes. He was only wearing a black t shirt and a short sleeve button up shirt that he left unbuttoned and a pair of black pants. "Yeah, probably."
An item was suddenly tossed out from the red head's room and then another, "Here's a scarf too. Do you want gloves?"
"Yes please." He spoke as he placed the black scarf around his neck and then proceeded to put on the black jacket. 'It's a little big, but it's quite snuggly.' He thought to himself as he zipped up.
"Do jeans keep you warm?"
"I don't know, but a lot of people wear jeans during winter." He spoke as he pulled the scarf off and proceeded to wrap it around his neck properly.
"Hmm…Ok." He came out shortly after while he was pulling on a black sweater. "Here're your gloves." he walked past the blond while holding out the gloves in one hand and something else in the other.
"Thanks." Roxas spoke as he took the items from the red head and stuffed them in the pocket, there was no need for them now, although he felt a little stuffy now that he was wearing a scarf. Maybe he should take it off till later.
"No problemo." He plopped himself on the couch and pulled on a pair of black socks.
"How was work?" the blond suddenly brought up as he pulled off the scarf that wrapped around his neck.
"Meh." He shrugged, "Work is work. It's boring but at least I get something out of it." he smirked as he stood up from the couch and ruffled the blonds' hair as he walked towards the door.
The time it took to get to the skating ring was around twenty or so minutes. The blond quickly wrapped the scarf around his neck as soon as he entered the cold arena. There were lots of people inside. Although he shouldn't be surprised, considering that it is the school holidays.
He could see his breath in front of him as he pulled on the black gloves that he borrowed from the red head.
"Roxy, we gotta choose which skate sizes we want." Axel called out as he walked from the ticketing booth towards the counter where they rented out skates.
It took roughly five minutes for the red head to find out what size fitted him. The first one he tried was too small, the next one was too big.
"You want one that's kind of small, but comfortable." Roxas explained as he took off his shoes and pulled on the ice skates.
"I wouldn't know." The red head shrugged as he tied the laces together. "I'm new to this, so I don't even know what it's suppose to be like." He scowled a little, the skates felt horribly uncomfortable. "Should I get a different size?"
"Does it hurt?" he asked as he stood up from the bench.
"No…But it feels…weird." He reasoned as he let out a sigh, his breath visible in front of him.
"Stand up." He commanded as he offered the red head his hand for balance and support.
"Er…Ok." He pushed himself off the bench and lost his balance for a spilt second. He managed the grab the blonds' hand before he fell back down on the seat.
"How does it feel?" he asked with a smile.
"Er…" he placed his whole weight on one foot and then did the same to the other. "So-so I guess."
"Cool." He released the hold he had on the red head and bent over to pick up Axel's shoes. "I'll go put these on the bleachers over there." He pointed to the seats across the ice ring.
"You're gonna ditch me?!" he cried out.
"Just for a while." He laughed as he entered the ring and skated across gracefully. "I'll be back." He called back when he reached the half way point, careful not to bump into any people.
'Looks easy enough, I can totally do this.' He thought to himself as he took his first step inside the ring. He slipped but managed to grab the railings before he fell on his butt. 'Ok, maybe not.' He got back up on wobbly feet. 'Geez, this is a lot harder than I thought.' He scowled at himself as he tried to stand up normally.
"Doing ok Axel?"
The said person slipped and cursed.
Roxas laughed as he offered a hand to help the red head get up.
It took Axel half an hour to get use to the slipperiness of the skating ring but during that time, he had fallen over at least a dozen times.
In the end, he was sure he had fractured a bone or two in his hind quarters, but it was well worth it.
Considering that he got to hold onto Roxas' hands as he learnt how to skate. 'Maybe we should go ice skating more often.' He thought to himself with a smile as he slowly skated beside the blond. As soon as he's about to fall over, he'd grab hold of the blonds' hand for balance. Sometimes it'll work, other times, they'd end up falling on top of each other and then laugh about it.
Almost two hours later, he got use to the skating ring and didn't fall over as much as he use to. He'd get smug about it as he tried to do a 360 degree turn only to fail and fall on his butt again. The blond would laugh at his horrible attempt at the figure 8. It came out more like the figure B if there was one.
It was late at night, and the red head had just dropped off the blond at his house shortly after dinner and just before his curfew. He drove off shortly after singing 'Ice cold Roxas' one more time, leaving the blond in a slight huff.
Axel was now sitting in the living room of a certain friend's house.
"So Axel, how did you find the camp?" the dirty haired blond asked as he handed the red head a can of soda.
"Ah…" he took the offered drink and scratched his cheek as he searched his mind for the right words to explain, "There was a lot of preaching, and it felt a bit like brainwashing."
"Wow…" Demyx widened his eyes in surprise. "But at least you had a much more eventful week than me." He grinned as he opened the can and took a sip from it.
"Eventful, true." He stared at the unopened drink in his hand, "But I prefer to be at home. If you wanted, we could've traded places." He smirked as he turned to the blond.
"Sure, that is, if you don't mind me hogging Roxas all to myself." His smirk turned into a laugh when he saw the look of uproar from the red head.
"I change my mind. I would never trade my place beside Roxas, ever. Ever." He clarified with a point of the finger.
"Ok, ok. Geez. Calm down." He laughed at the red head who stood up and went into the kitchen for something to eat.
Demyx noticed the slight limp from the red head, but didn't think too much of it.
Ugh…Roxas' Japanese voice is just so hot and husky…Damn Axel, you lucky dog…Lol…
(Sobs…) I prefer writing one-shots…
