characters; Roxas, Sora (Kairi, Riku, mentions of Axel)
pairings; None
related chapters; All
notes; Sora being weird and his friends going along with it. Roxas thinks that's worrying.

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Roxas, generally, was not clumsy at all. Sora tended to bumble about awkwardly, knocking things over and tripping over himself; but Roxas had good balance. Except when he had just woken up, but he liked to ignore that - it wasn't as though anyone else was ever awake to notice, anyway.

This was why it surprised Sora when, upon entering the house, Roxas promptly tripped and fell.

"Sorry," the brunette said, and quickly moved to help him up. "I didn't think you'd even notice them."

Roxas accepted the hand - this surprised both Kairi and Riku, who sat on the couch across the room, watching curiously. Once he was upright, Roxas surveyed the room.

"Er, Sora, why are there sticker sheets all over the floor?"

Sora beamed, proudly. "Well, see, Kairi and I have the same cell phone, and we keep accidentally switching. So we're putting our names on them with alphabet stickers."

The blond stared. Assuming that Riku was labeling his phone, and that they assumed that Roxas would label his phone - which he wouldn't - there still wouldn't be a need for more than twenty sticker sheets. After another over-view of the room, Roxas bumped his estimate up to fifty. Considering there were some in piles and some that had been shoved under the couch.

Riku sighed, noticing the skeptic look, and explained, tone affectionate. "We went to buy them last night, but Sora couldn't decide and the store was closing."

Kairi laughed and added "And, of course, he insisted that we buy them now."

The blond said "I see," shortly, and let himself fall onto the couch next to Riku. Sora sat on the floor, shuffling through sticker sheets and trying to decide which style he wanted - blue letters? That sparkle? Or white ones? Or he could mix and match.

Roxas only managed the patience to watch him for twenty minutes of indecision, then dismissed himself to his bedroom.

---

Cleaning, quite often, fell into Roxas' hands. Hikari made dinner and cleaned the kitchen every night, so the blond thought it was fair that he did some work around the house as well. The fact that Sora managed to weave his way out of any chore's path was just... A fact of life. ... An annoying one.

When the brunette had failed to pick up the sticker sheets, Roxas grumbled and began picking them up. Twenty minutes later found him in his bedroom, lying on his bed and staring up contentedly at his newly-labeled phone. In alternating black and white letters it said "Roxas XIII" - though he still wondered why he was going along with Axel's stupid nick name. He hadn't even met half the people Axel had grinned and called friends.

He had managed to fit all the unused sheets in his desk drawer. He left some bold, red letters to give Axel on the top of the pile. Granted, he wouldn't give them in the open. He would probably sneak them into the older man's pocket or dorm room when he wasn't looking, then deny it.

But it wasn't as though Roxas was shy.

Except for that he was.

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Roxas wasn't clumsy, so it was sort of worrying when he tripped twice in less than two days. The next morning, gathering his - and Sora's, because the idiot was sleeping in again - school supplies; Roxas tripped over a cell phone. Which frustrated him to no end. He'd told Sora to stop leaving breakable things on the floor.

He picked it up, turning it over, and blinked. He was greeted with pink, sparkling letters reading "Kairi" and finished with a heart.

So it wasn't Sora's.

Half an hour later found Sora pulling his shirt on and ranting about the evils of school schedules at the same time. When the brunette slowed down long enough to get a word in, Roxas held out the phone.

"Oh, you found my phone!" Sora remarked, and quickly slid it into his pocket.

Roxas blinked. "Your phone? It said..."

Sora nodded. "Yeah. Mine says Kairi, her's says Riku, and his says Sora. Now we won't get confused anymore."

Roxas stared. After a long pause, Sora simultaneously attempting to fix his tie and finish breakfast, Roxas sighed. It was one thing that Sora's logic was so messed up, but another that his friends went along with it so willingly...

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Pastel Ink