"Don't worry Roxas, you look fine." His brother was trying to help Roxas' nerves, but the boy didn't understand exactly what was going on in his mind.
"Yeah..." He followed Sora off the school bus. He'd always walked to school, but the big hunk of metal was the least of his worries. Second to least was being the new kid so early in the school year. The blond boy wasn't bothered in the slightest by that. But, starting at the school meant he'd be staying... a lot longer than he wanted to. When he asked Tifa how his mother was doing that morning, the woman gave an answer Roxas didn't trust- 'better'.
Sora was talking a mile a minute, "Woah, Sora, slow down." The teen stopped just outside the front doors. "Listen," he held his hands out like he was trying to reason with a wild animal. "I get it, you're excited, okay, yeah, that's cool, but... slow down a little." Roxas thought back to how Tifa described her son, she left out hyper.
"I know," the boy was visibly holding back the urge to spaz out again. "I'm just really excited, and I want to help."
Sora had already helped a lot, he chose an outfit out for Roxas to wear- that he thought the teen would like the most. He was spot on, and Roxas was impressed. Black clothes all around, Sora threw in a hoodie even though it was scorching hot outside.
The blond rolled his sleeves up, and took a deep breath for the both of them.
"Okay," the brunet tried to slow down, "We're in the same area, just different teachers."
Roxas really wanted to pay attention to his slightly younger brother, but his mind was else where. He didn't even know where. When a new person entered his field of sight, he was snapped back to reality.
"What the fucks your problem?" Roxas jumped between the new boy and his brother. Said new kid had approached the two of them and violently shoved Sora.
"It's okay Roxas," his brother piped up behind him but before he could elaborate the other boy spoke.
"Oh look, there's two of them now." He was a blond teen in a blue tank top with a black beanie. Roxas sized him up.
Roxas stayed quiet, the teen was a lot taller than him. Were they friends, or enemies? After the boy made a few more remarks, he walked away. The tension quickly died down, but Roxas never even noticed to begin with.
"What was that about?"
"Nothing," Sora adjusted his backpack, "That's Seifer, he's um... the school bully."
"And you let him push you around?"
"Well, no," he quickly defended himself. "I don't let him... he just... notices me from time to time." He tried to lead Roxas down the hall, but the blond wanted to continue their conversation. With a sigh, Sora comforted him, "It's okay, it's not like he hurts me, he just shoves me every once in a while. It's okay, it's not a big deal."
"It's always a big deal." Roxas' serious demeanor almost scared Sora. "It's never okay for someone to put their hands on you. Never."
Sora stood quietly, his fear began to morph into concern.
"If he bugs you again, let me know." He didn't wait for his brother, he began walking down the hallway.
.
Roxas sat in his first period class, surrounded by a bunch of loud kids. They were only a year younger than him, but the age difference was clear.
"Would you like to say somethings about yourself?"
Of course the teacher felt the need to point out that the boy by the door with his hood up was the new student.
"No."
The room was finally silent for the first time. The teacher continued to pick and prod but Roxas didn't nudge.
Once the class was over, he was surprised to find Sora standing in front of him, "Ready?"
"Yeah, sure." Roxas' followed his overly eager Irish twin to his next class. Roxas could have found his classes on his own, but his brother seemed to enjoy helping, and it wasn't hurting anything either, but by his fourth class Roxas snapped.
"Would you like to say something about yourself?"
Again, another teacher asked, but Roxas finally snapped.
"I don't feel good, I need to use the bathroom." Roxas didn't wait for a response, he was out the door and aimlessly walking around.
Something interesting finally happened.
Standing in the track was his murderer, smoking a cigarette.
Roxas hopped the fence, gaining the red heads attention, he held out his hand and after a smile the man gave him his cigarette.
"Damn." Roxas took a drag anyway. It wasn't a cancer stick like he hoped, instead it was a home made joint.
"Didn't know you smoked." The redhead, Axel remarked, continuing to walk around the track.
"What do you know about me?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Who is Seifer?"
"Did your brother have a run in with him?"
The concept of brother was still new to Roxas, but his question angered him too much to dwell on blood lines.
"You know about him?"
"Not really," he took a long drag, holding it in before slowly exhaling. "I've heard people say Seifer messes with Sora, but when I ask Sora he denies it, and Seifer does the same." There was silence but Roxas continued to walk around the track with him. "I'm Axel," he held out his hand. And like Sora's it was dropped. "And your name goth boy?"
"Goth boy," Roxas snorted, "Sure, sounds better." After another hit he indulged the red head. "I'm Roxas, you knew that."
"Did I?"
"Tifa told you my name when you were attempting to murder me."
"Look," he was almost defensive, "I thought you were Sora, you've met your brother, he's not easy to scare. He could've known that was me and he still would've been scared shitless."
"Hey! That's my brother" Roxas sounded offended, "But yeah, it seems like it."
They walked almost a lap in silence.
"So, why has your brother never mentioned you before?"
"Ask him." Roxas kept that in mind. Tifa mentioned she wanted them to get along, how Cloud always regretted not being in Roxas' life, but they couldn't mention him to Sora? They kept him quiet like he was some dirty secret.
"You guys look like twins," Another puff, "What brings you here now?"
Roxas stole the dutch, "I don't do back stories."
Axel stole it back, "Alright, fine, why're you skipping class?"
"Would you like to say something about yourself?" the teen mocked.
"Yeah," Axel laughed, "They love that line. Shit," he thought back, "When I moved here I heard it every class, every day, for almost a week before they finally fucking dropped it."
"You haven't always been here?"
"No," he smirked, watching as he crushed the remaining paper under his shoe. "No, but," he lifted his eyes to stare at Roxas, "School here sucks, they're so ahead, no matter where you come from, you have to go back a year." Axel was beyond curious.
Roxas wore his own smirk, nodding his head as he looked into the distance. He wasn't going to answer any question he wasn't directly asked.
"Sora said your his younger brother, well at least that's the theory working it's way around."
"What else do they say?"
With a smirk Axel indulged the blond. "You're Sora's twin, spitting image, a total bad boy with Sora's cuteness."
Even Roxas had to laugh at that, looks seemed to be the only thing him and his brother had in common. Roxas' mind began to wander, he had so many unanswered questions that he never asked. But did he really want to. What was the point in investing so much energy in a life he wasn't going to be keeping.
"Yeah... whatever," he mumbled to himself, his smirk dropping. He didn't answer Axel's questions, but instead jumped the fence that surrounded the track and left school. There was tons to explore in a new town, right?
Roxas had no idea where he was going, he planned to walk back towards the house. Since he had no phone or watch, he didn't know when he was supposed to appear there, but that didn't matter because he couldn't even find the house. Not that he was looking for it either.
A car pulled up to him after what felt like hours.
"Roxas," it was Tifa, again. "Let's go home," she didn't get out of the car this time.
He thought about it for a moment before giving in. He'd already been there almost a whole day and he still hadn't met his father. Maybe he could get Tifa to get his father to get rid of him, she was good enough of a reason for his father to leave and never come back. They rode to the house in silence, the teen could tell the woman was frustrated, but she didn't want to explode. When they finally arrived, she kept the car running. A hint for Roxas to stay in the car.
"Roxas..." she took a deep breath, "I know this is hard for you, but you can't leave school like that. What would you have done if I didn't find you? Sora's been freaking out about you since he got home, what were you planning on doing? Do you want us to call the cops and have you taken away."
She really didn't beat around the bush. Maybe she wanted to call the cops, but she didn't want to be the bad guy. It was funny how she said us but as far as the blond knew, his father couldn't even bother to show up. Maybe it was his father who wanted to call the cops, he was imposing on all their lives. Like she said, Sora was the only one freaking out about him. He didn't have a problem with his brother, but he did have a problem with everything else in his life. It wasn't like he chose to move around and leave his mother behind.
"Tifa," he took a deep breath of his own, "Don't worry about it, you're not my mom."
.
Roxas sat on his freshly made bed, covered with a sheet and blanket and even a pillow. He watched as Sora continued to go through the mess that still occupied his bed. There were dressers on both sides of the room, and Sora had taken it upon himself to go through his clothes, putting all the clothes Roxas approved of in the blond's dresser. Dark clothes weren't something Sora had a lot of, but Roxas would take anything he could get.
"Mom plans to take you shopping soon," the brunet held up more random things, "But those should get you through till then."
"Why are you going through all that?" Roxas asked, ignoring the comment about Tifa.
"What do you mean?" Confusion washed over the bubbly boy's face.
"You've been throwing all of that stuff into the same pile, why bother doing it piece by piece?"
"Oh," Sora stopped what he was doing for a second. "Just seeing if there's anything in here that would be useful for you to have."
Sora seemed to love and accept Roxas, even with the blond's cold shoulder. He was about the only one. Roxas was beginning to really appreciate his brother.
A soft knock on the closed door gained both of their attention. Sora looked at Roxas as if to make sure he was okay with a visitor. Was it Cloud?
"Roxas, can I speak with you?" It was Tifa, was his father finally in the house, she seemed awfully serious.
With a little hesitation, Roxas followed her to the ill-lit living room. She held something in her hands, a picture frame. Once he sat opposite her, she began to speak.
"I was going to wait to tell you..." She handed Roxas the object in her hands, a picture frame. In it was the blond boy. "Do you know who that is?"
"No." There was no reason for the teen to think about it.
"Go ahead, take it out."
Roxas' hands began to shake, what was the big deal about the photo? As he began opening it, it popped open, a folded up piece of lined paper in the back, and writing on the back of the photo.
Roxas age 1
How did they have a photo of him?
"Go ahead, read the note..."
The note was perfectly intact, like it wasn't outside of it's frame in many years.
Dear Roxas,
How are you doing? Mommy loves you so much my little flower, I hope you know that. We've almost got your room set up, you'll be with me in no time. I know it feels like forever but Mommy can't wait to see you. I love you bunches.
Mommy
What the fuck was this?
"That's you..." Tifa pointed to the photo. "You lived with us the first year and a half of your life..."
Roxas stared at her in disbelief.
"Your mother, Aerith, and your father were still very close when you were born. Your father never chose us over you."
"Then why can't I remember him?" He went back to his room without another word.
.
.
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Uploaded May 1st, 2019
