For all those wondering how/why Roxas got more street cred than Martha Stewart these 'side chapters' will explain quite a bit.

I also apologize for the short length of this one, I just couldn't for the life of me figure out what I wanted to write.

-Elegant

Side Story Chapter 1: Revenge

"Look! All I'm saying is that you could keep your chin up! It wasn't as if that guy creamed you, anyway. Hell from what I saw you were the one seriously kicking some ass." Axel praised his blonde companion. Roxas had 'lost' in one of his fighting competitions, even though it wasn't exactly a fair panel of judges. Not to mention the fact that he'd been fighting someone who was his apparent superior, and the fight wasn't stacked in his favor from the get go. Maybe there was some solace to take in the fact that everyone thought he was good enough to take on someone who outranked him quite literally.

"I don't need a pep talk." Roxas rolled his eyes, scoffing a bit at Axel. "And I know that I was winning. He's just lucky daddy dearest had his back on the judges panel." He bitterly hated the fact that it came down to a tie, that was ultimately broken by the leader of the competition who was his opponents father. Whose bright idea was it to do something like that, anyway?

"Well look at the bright side- next time you can trash him in front of his dad and a bunch of onlookers. I'll come and watch. Then we can start a ruckus and you'll probably need to find a new dojo." Axel slung an arm around his best friend, grinning stupidly as he did so. "Won't that be better than a bullshit case of nepotism?"

Roxas let out a small snort, "Yeah, okay. And when I have to find a new dojo who'll be paying for it? Will you? Because I'm not about to get kicked out for something stupid." Even if he didn't outwardly admit it, Roxas was all for Axel's idea. There had to be some sort of recompense for the pathetically dull way he'd 'lost' his competition.

"Now I know you're the one who's lost his mind!" Axel joked, the pair skulking around their first class.

"It's all fun and games until consequences are involved, right?" Roxas asked, familiar with Axel's creed toward things. It must be nice to not worry about rules and regulations for the vast majority of your time. He could honestly say he had no idea what that kind of like was life. School was filled with rules, and so was home. It wasn't that he detested people having standards, or the constraints of rules- he just sometimes envied Axel's carefree lifestyle.

"Got it memorized?" Axel teasingly tapped the side of his head, grinning a bit at the blonde as he did so. "Seriously though- revenge, what are we gonna do to get back at that miserable little brat? Wanna go...egg his house?" There had to be something they could do. Roxas deserved at least some form of revenge, and if he wasn't gonna go all out just because they may hypothetically get in trouble, then Axel could fly it solo. What was the worst that they could say? 'Guilt by association'? Who's to say Roxas even had a hand in the revenge scheme? Maybe he did it completely on whim.

"Egg his house?" Roxas raised a brow, "Is that the best you could come up with?" He couldn't believe someone who was basically a career prankster just suggested they pull off one of the most textbook pranks. Axel could do way better than that.

"Hey! That was just a 'what if' scenario. I mean, come on, you never said you were in. If I knew that it'd be us pulling something off, then that'd make for one hell of a grand exit." Axel prodded slightly to see if Roxas actually meant he was in or pulling his leg.

"If you want me to join in- you better figure something out that's much better. And can't be traced back to either of us." Roxas wasn't in the mood for a few months detention just because he'd given in to yet another of Axel's schemes. Especially since he'd just gotten off from their last joined punishment. Since when had a superficial prank such as a stink bomb been an unwelcome thing in a school? It cleared a few floors and worse case scenario; everyone got to go home.

"Oh so you got a challenge for me? Alright. But you better not disappoint me." Axel semi-scolded his friend. Not that Roxas ever factually had let him down in one of their pranks, he just didn't want Roxas to back out for fear of detention or parental discipline.

"I expect the same." Roxas didn't back down from the challenge. When class started, only did he dare to daydream about the fact that he'd lost. Not that it really mattered when you had study hall, which was effectively a freebee 'complete your neglect homework' hour and a half class for procrastinators. Resting his head in his hand, he scowled slightly when remembering vividly his tournament from the previous day.

Roxas had been practicing, expecting to be pitted against someone from one of his Taekwondo or Ba Ji Quan classes, he was bracing himself for someone of 'low rank' yellow belt, much like himself. Working mostly on his kicks, he was going to use taekwondo to take on his challenger. Making sure his usage of high/mid/low blows were effective, he wanted to keep his opponent on their toes. He didn't want to appear 'weak' to any foe, which is why he dabbled in many different fighting styles, to make sure he had a back up in case they tried to pull something over on him.

Hitting the targets they had for practice, he was actually breaking a sweat.

A little bit in to his practice, he was forced to stop by his taekwondo master. As it turned out, there had been an 'odd' number of participants.

"Just pit Roxas against him. He's very advanced for his level. And I know that he'll at the very least do an average fight." Although the praise had been welcomed, and the honor that came of being selected to fight a very much higher ranked red belt, he had to wonder what his chances were of winning. If his master had this amount of confidence in him, then he had to be ready to take on such a challenge, right?

Heart pounding, Roxas made his way to the mat where they'd be fighting. It was here that he'd meet his opponent, and either lose or win what could be an important fight. Defeat a higher rank and he'd be seen as nothing short of 'prodigy'. Be defeated than a higher rank and some people would probably say it couldn't be helped in that situation. But he didn't want to do average, he wanted to win and blow people away. Too many people had invested their time and effort into him to be let down.

Roxas stood across from his opponent, the two of them giving a slight nod.

At first glance, his opponent was very tall. Roxas wondered just how tall he was.

"Go!" The match was announced. To his surprise, his opponent went immediately for the throat. Roxas instinctively caught the punch and flipped his opponent into a compromising position, then kicked him. Letting out a slight grunt, his opponent switched up tactics. He ripped his hand out of Roxas' grapple and hit Roxas with a roundhouse, sending the blonde a little ways back. Refusing to topple over, he heard a slight praise from the judges for maintaining his balance. Roxas ran back on the mat, and found himself caught by a punch. Mentally scolding himself for getting hit and coming off as stupid- he had to recover. Going for a sweep kick, he meant to go high, but hit the other competitor much lower. Hitting someone in the solar plexus wasn't exactly welcomed, but it was allowed. Not to mention the fact that it had scored him some 'points' as he imagined it would.

Seeing the wind literally knocked out of his opponent, Roxas waited for what was to come. Some people may have seen that moment as their 'chance' to keep on assaulting, but he wasn't taught to be so guileless. Day one of any martial art was learning how to respect your opponent under any circumstance. Although recovery time was a bit slow, he finally saw some movement from the other male. His opponent started a barrage of kicks, Roxas was able to defend the higher ones, but the mids caught him gradually. Trying to recover, he blocked the high kick and was caught off guard by a low kick. Falling to his knee, Roxas looked up, to immediately be hit with a forceful shove that knocked him down.

Hitting the bottom of that mat, the end of round one hadn't gone how he'd have liked.

At the beginning of round two, Roxas and his opponent changed sides this time. Seeing multiple onlookers who'd come just for him, he couldn't afford the distraction. Doing his best to ignore them, he had to focus.

Starting with a strong kick to break the space between them, he barely caught the bottom of his heel and saw immediate reaction on his opponents face. When his opponent went for a grapple, he spun around him and quickly elbowed his opponent in the back. Roxas found himself grabbed by the shoulder and a swift knee to the gut ensured he was off his opponent. Roxas made sure that he didn't hit the bottom of the mat, enduring through a slight burning from the knee. Hit with what essentially was a windfall, he blocked his opponents attack and grabbed his leg, wondering what to do next. The logical thing was to grab a weak opponent in this situation and punish them severely.

In that moment of indecision, he was knocked down and the match ended.

Listening for any news from the judges, he expected them to say something about the illegal grapple that was used by his opponent. You couldn't just hold someone down and repeatedly hit them. To his somewhat annoyance, no comment was made toward it.

Round three both switched sides, and prepared themselves.

Roxas and his opponent punched at the same time, and both found themselves dumbfounded when they missed. Mirror matching with kicks, Roxas striking as hard as he could to try and keep up with the older, physically stronger opponent. Both of them had spammed the same kicks, going around the entire circular ring. Realizing both looked stupid, Roxas caught a high kick by the opponent and punched him in the stomach. Grabbing his heel, he did his best to knock him down and defeat the opponent. Technically he had, but at the same time not. His opponents hand had hit the mat and he used that force to get back up.

Roxas thought the round had finished, as he saw him hit the ground. His opponent got up and rushed at him, hitting with a low, mid and near high kick that failed to hit. Recovering, Roxas and his opponent both tried 'poking' their opponent, the other blocking such advances. Eventually, Roxas found himself grappled and a knee to his stomach again, faltering a bit. Roxas tried to hit him with a back faced kick, missing and easily punished. His leg was grabbed and he was hook kicked in the side, but Roxas wouldn't let this be the end of him. Roxas grabbed his leg, pulled him over, and his opponent fell.

Looking to the judges, they grumbled a little.

"Round three is over. That was unnecessary grappling."

Unnecessary? Roxas scoffed at their idiotic ramblings. It was a fight- you were supposed to and allowed to grapple your opponent. It wasn't as if he had, oh, he didn't know, grabbed him by the shoulders and kneed him in the gut a few times. Yeah, he didn't 'cheat' and get away with it like his opponent. Why were people who clearly had no idea what they were doing judging his competition? But he had no time for that, he had to think about what was to come. His victory, or his loss.

Round four started, Roxas and his opponent kicked with the exact same move. Hitting at the same time, Roxas looked up at him. His opponent looked at his leg, Roxas walked over and took advantage of the situation. Hitting him with his heel, his opponent went to kick Roxas. Roxas landed a blow to his shin, side stepping yet another kick. The advantage to being a shorter opponent, apparently. Eventually, his opponent resorted to a barrage of kicks that had Roxas faltering.

He went for a roundhouse kick, Roxas ducked under it and hit him with what essentially was a haymaker, forcing his opponent back. His opponent faltered for a little bit, and Roxas overheard one of the judges remark that he'd actually gained some ground, for once. Roxas did a step kick, as his foot came down, the heel of his foot hit his opponent back. Thinking it over, he knew that at the very least he'd get points as the previous rounds he hadn't really done very well. The round had to be coming to an end. Maybe they had a little bit of time left.

His opponent got back up, spinning as he did so, and his heel hit Roxas' shoulder. Roxas almost fell to the ground, grasping his shoulder. Kicking again, he faltered back a bit. Roxas grappled yet another kick, using a bit of his ba ji quan heichu punches to deflect another attack. Later, he'd have to fib a bit and say that they were taekwondo moves.

"That's enough."

Surprised, Roxas and his opponent stepped back.

"Fighters, take your positions."

Roxas and his opponent had no other choice than to obey.

Hearing the first round of judges for Roxas, their words were "Yes, no, yes, no."

For his opponent, they were respectively. "No, no, yes, yes."

"Wow! A tie! For this, we're going to need an outsider." The announcer seemed equally astonished along with everyone else.

Roxas let out a sigh, and tried to get over the hype. Looking over at the alumni 'judge', he saw the man over by the male he'd been fighting for the previous 0 minutes. He'd been praising the fighter, and when he used the word 'son', Roxas knew at this point it was basically over for himself. There was no coming back from nepotism.

"Sorry. But you still did well."

Looking up, Roxas wanted to see who the speaker was. To his not so surprise, it was the man who robbed him of what would have been his victory. Of course he chose not to let the 'better' fighter win. It wasn't as if being a lesser rank and holding your ground wasn't a big deal, or anything. Not even bothering to speak to the man in question, he turned his back on him and walked toward those who'd come to watch him.

"Dude! That was bullsh-" Axel found himself instantly silenced when Roxas' parents frowned at his fowl language. "I mean, that really sucked."

"Yeah, it does." Roxas had to admit that it did. "But it's not as if I lost because of skill, or anything. I 'lost' because his dad was the fifth judge and tie breaker. Of course I wouldn't have been the winner."

"You still did great out there!" Roxas received pats on the shoulder from either parent.

"See? Parental bias." Roxas played it off with a light joke, but he was happy to get their praise.

Axel couldn't resist a small laugh that had been cut short when Roxas' mom looked his way.

He'd received a few medals, and that was the end of things. What good were medals, when you could have had a trophy? Many people had even agreed on the fact that it was ridiculous to have the other males father vote. A scowl made its way across Roxas' face. What wasn't there to be bitter against? He was also fairly sure that there was some mild use of karate in that fight.

"You look like a guy who's plotting some real good revenge." Axel piped up once their first class had finished. "Care to let me in on the fun? Or am I just going to end up pleasantly surprised when I have to give you an alibi? Because I'll do it, you know? The less I know, the less I can tell others and the more I can defend you."

Roxas heaved a heavy sigh. "I wish I was." He openly admitted, packing up his things. "What do you think I'm going to do? Kill him and his family? That's a little extreme. Especially over something like this."

"Hey. Whatever you decide is worthy of killing a person over or not is your business. All I'm saying is to keep me in the dark about it so I can maintain your innocence." Axel walked side by side with the shorter blonde, wondering just what he was thinking about that ticked him off. Was it the loss? Because there were already plans set in motion for them to get some revenge. Harmless, no killing spree fun. Even though it was a joke on his part, Roxas did have a look on his face that almost said 'murder'.

Roxas scoffed a little, laughed and held a bit of a smile. "Idiot." He couldn't help but to criticize and laugh at his friend when it came to situations like this. Sometimes Axel's idiocy was just too much to handle.

"Yeah, but I'm your idiot." Axel shrugged. "Like it or not, you're stuck with me." Being best friends ever since either one could remember, they knew it very much to be true.

"Of course I am. You know too much and you'd be an invaluable witness for the prosecution. We're bound for life." Roxas decided to keep the joke going, even as they went to their second class.

"If it isn't the dynamic duo." Hayner commented, seeing Roxas and Axel step foot into the classroom.

"You know it." Axel couldn't resist leaping into the conversation while taking his seat. "So. What debauchery has landed you in detention for today?" Out of habit, he readily assumed Hayner wrote something the teacher would 'strongly dislike'. And that was putting it lightly.

"Nothing." Hayner tried to play the innocent act.

"Right. Just leave us out of it." Roxas honestly wasn't in the mood to deal with a double whammy loss, then detention.

"Ah, that's right. I'll have to sit this one out. We've got things to do." Axel winked at Roxas, not bothering to elaborate for a confused Hayner. It was fun to plot in tandem with his best friend for a change of things. So seldom did Roxas actually stoop to his level, that he actually had to savor this moment. Although there was the slight challenge of having to find a prank that Roxas wouldn't find entirely 'juvenile'.

"And what's got you in a huff?" Hayner asked, seeing as Roxas was far more short with him than usual. Of course, he wasn't as close a friend to him as Axel, so it was a given that there was a shorter fuse when it came to him and his antics.

"Nothing important." Roxas grumbled, narrowing his eyes at the bitter memories of a loss.

"Yeah, so don't worry your pretty little head about it." Axel shrugged, if Roxas didn't feel like sharing, then he didn't feel inclined to let others in on the secret. Not that it actually was a secret, after all. Maybe he was also a bit pissed that some of his friends didn't come along to see the crap he had to put up with at his tournament. Well, maybe it was a mixed blessing.

"Alright..." Hayner trailed off, not bothering to delve further into the current situation. So they didn't want to include him in on their current situation, no big deal.

Soon the bell rang, and their second class was in session.

The teacher walked in, made everyone sit down, and they all prepared for a very long, very boring English lesson. Naturally, all expectations were met when the class was lectured on what a well structured essay looked like in form and how to properly construct one. Considering the subject matter of their lesson plan, everyone could guess what they'd have to do next; a very lengthy essay. The reprieve was the fact that it could be on whatever subject matter they'd like- within reason. At that note, Axel had snickered, as he and Roxas knew fully well who the teacher was talking about. But Axel's amusement wasn't welcomed.

Roxas knew exactly what to write about; how bias affected peoples judgement. Writing out the introduction, he was making short work of their would be homework. A few supporting sentences in, he knew he was on to something. Bias made people blind to situational awareness, and that wasn't a very welcomed thing to deal with. Things like 'love' tended to cloud others judgement and make them do foolish things that people ordinarily wouldn't. Outwardly, Roxas would never admit the fact that he'd never felt that way toward anyone. There wasn't any sort of platonic relationships in his life. 'Friends' and 'Family' obviously didn't count toward 'love' because a familial bond was different from what he thought of.

No matter who you spoke to, people always brought up many different definitions of what 'love' meant. Almost always starting off with the phrase 'Love is...' and finishing it off with something meant to have a great 'depth' though it often came out as something shallow and dull. For Roxas, he silently wondered what such an experience would be like. Someone who made him outwardly foolish, that he wanted to monopolize more than anyone else, who he never wanted to share- could such a person exist?

Am I a possessive person...?

The thought had never really occurred to him, before.

Roxas honestly had no answer for the question, either. He'd never met a person who had him so enthralled that he wanted to be the only person they thought of. The only one that they wanted, and no one else. Absentmindedly, he had to wonder where these thoughts were coming from. Had he overheard something that stuck these pointless stigmas into his head? It all sounded like a familiar/odd romance novel. It definitely couldn't have come from Axel, maybe he'd overheard his mother reading some drivel along those lines? In any case, it didn't matter.

Working on finishing off his essay, he didn't want to be stuck with homework for the weekend. With all of the cynicism and annoyance he had to the subject matter of his essay, it seemed the pages were basically filling themselves in. Roxas was also careful to not recycle the same materials and bore the reader/get less marks on the assignment. Glancing at the clock, he actually felt relief when it rang just as he'd finished. Handing in the few page essay, he walked out of class feeling accomplished.

"How'd you manage to get yours finished? You sell your soul to the devil or something?" Axel honestly couldn't believe how fast Roxas cranked out a 6 page double sided essay in an hour and a half. He had to be the pinnacle of evil, a devil, or something inhuman to finish something off so quick.

"No. I just happened to have a lot to say, and the assignment gave me that 'voice'." Roxas shrugged his shoulders, "I take it you're going to want my help on yours, aren't you?"

"Maybe." Axel shrugged his shoulders, giving Roxas a carefree grin as he did so. "You willing to bail me out, buddy? Considering I'm going to help you with your little problem, maybe it'll be payback?" He suggested the last bit just for a bit more incentive on Roxas' part. Axel knew fully well that Roxas was more than willing to bail him at out at any given time, he just liked to more or less have a 'reason' to do so.

"So, guessing by your typical 'work ethic'- if you could actually call it that...you slacked off entirely on the project, and want me to write the whole thing in exchange for your 'help', right?" Roxas knew exactly how an arrangement like this would go. It wasn't that he really minded at all having to redo the same tedious assignments, he just liked to say things for how they were. Axel slacked off, Roxas enabled him to do so, by helping him to pass courses. It didn't help that teachers knew about their little 'arrangement', but without proof they couldn't exactly do anything about it.

"Just don't try to make it sound too smart." Axel joked, "Come on, you know you like bailing me out. I keep that brain of yours working double time. At least we know it won't go to waste."

"Axel, ever the caring best friend." Roxas rolled his eyes, scoffing a bit. "Fine. I'll do it."

"That's what I like to hear." Axel couldn't resist a small laugh at Roxas' reaction to the situation. He always put up some sort of fuss, and acted as if he actually cared, like an assignment wasn't so utterly beneath him. Truth be told, Axel could have easily done it on his own, he just didn't feel the need to do so. Not when he had someone else who was very willing to do all of the work him. "What would I do without you?"

"Flunk out of school, more than likely." Roxas stated the obvious. Axel liked to screw around and play most things off as a joke, but Roxas didn't see that really carrying through in the 'real world'. Pranks and tedious things were fine to do during your juvenile years, but surely a person had to learn sooner or later these things got them nowhere in life. Not that high school taught things completely applicable to 'real life' situations, as most of it ended up being completely irrelevant toward the end. What practicality did things like wood/metal shop apply to the real world? None. That is, unless you wanted to be a carpenter or something along those lines. But if you didn't like nor care for the subject in question, then obviously you were going to suffer through it.

Maybe that was part of the reason he helped Axel so much. He could understand the dislike of subjects. Even so, there was nothing much to be done about the schooling system. Who'd listen to adolescents? Nobody.

"Hey! Earth to Roxas! You in there, somewhere?" Axel asked.

"Huh?" Roxas blinked in surprise, seeing his friend stare. A puzzled expression quickly crept across the blonde's face.

"You looked totally zoned out there for a little while. I had to see if you'd found out some way to fall asleep with your eyes open or something- I'd like to learn a trick like that. At the very least it'd save me a few boring lectures...or detentions. Whichever." Axel shrugged his shoulders, playing off potential punishments with little to no regard at all.

"I'm not sure that that's actually a thing." Roxas knew that was a 'recurring gag' for a few things, but honestly didn't know if it was feasibly possible. Plus, lots of people tended to do strange 'mannerisms' while sleeping, i.e. snoring, drooling, sleepwalking- it didn't seem ideal to try and 'sleep with your eyes open'. You'd also have to be pretty confident to try and pull one over on the teachers.

"Eh, maybe you're right." Axel thought that a person would probably look ridiculous while attempting such a thing, anyway. If anything, it would be creepy.

"Naturally." Roxas sighed and looked at the clock. Only a bit more until their next class.