The blond felt like he was finely doing some good, the way his brother's eyes lit up at the idea of Roxas' helping him come out to his father was beyond words. The glow of his face kept Roxas awake late into the morning. Could he really leave his brother behind? They weren't that close, yet, but Roxas had something that could immensely help his brother.
He shook the thought out of his head.
Of course he had to, if it came down to his brother or his mother- he wanted his mother back.
But he didn't really want to give up his brother. The thought was laid to rest by the conclusion of when the time came, he would make it work. Everything would work out in the end, like his mother always said. If Roxas had to leave his brother behind though, even temporarily, he couldn't mess things up between Sora and his father. He never wanted to make his brother have to choose between him or the father he grew up. That was cruel.
"Cloud doesn't work weekends," the words rang through his head. It was officially the weekend, more than likely when he walked out in the morning Cloud would be there. If he wasn't, that would mean the man was going above and beyond to avoid him. It would be a little easier if his father did push him away, it wouldn't take any effort from the teen. But he wasn't sure if he really wanted that either.
Morning came late.
Blue eyes slowly opened, unware of the time, but blinded by the bright sun. A sweet smell slowly overwhelmed him. Noticing that his brother wasn't in bed, which surprised him, he decided to sit up. He'd been so distracted he'd slept in his clothes, but slowly standing up he hesitantly reached for the door knob, going forward with the day. Was he really ready to face the mystery man outside? Did he want to hide away a little longer. He took a deep breath. He opened the door.
He couldn't see anyone in the living room. There was laughter coming from the kitchen as he slowly approached. Pancakes, that was the sweet smell that awoke him.
"You're ridiculous," Sora laughed.
The blond froze, did he really want to impose on this family, that was perfectly happy without him?
"Roxas," a deep voice said, "Now that you're awake, come in here."
The tone was soft, one he hadn't heard before. After another deep breath, he began to take a step, but was stopped. There in front of him stood a man.
"Roxas," the man was blond, with blue eyes. An older version of Roxas, the spitting image. He let out a breath of his own, "You've grown so much..."
A smart remark didn't arise. The teen wanted to spit something out, but he was frozen. There was a faded memory that crossed his mind, a man looking much like Cloud, sat beside him, much larger in comparison to himself, laughing. Roxas could feel the smile on his face in that memory. It was short lived, the memory quickly ended.
"I'm sorry," Cloud waved the words away, "Come, Tifa's almost done making breakfast."
Everything the blond had prepared to yell at the man, all the animosity he wanted to portray, was gone. He stood silent, his jaw hanging open, and his mouth dry. As the man turned, Roxas' found his voice.
"Wait." He reached towards him, he did have questions but he didn't know how to make the thoughts coherent. His father turned back around and faced him.
Cloud seemed just as nervous as Roxas, but he was trying to hold it together. Before the teen could respond, Cloud gestured towards the living room. They sat in silence. It lingered on and on. Neither of them knowing what to say. Finally Roxas broke the silence.
"I knew you?" He rephrased it, "I used to live with you?"
The man only offered a nod, his mouth tightly shut.
"Why didn't I know that?" if it wasn't for the photo and note, Roxas wouldn't have believed it.
"I, I really don't know why... Your mother and I remained in touch till you started school. Then she stopped returning letters and answering the phone... I don't know why she cut me out. You'll have to ask her." He flinched at the last part, he instantly regretted saying it.
"She will get better." The teen had seen the reaction.
Cloud nodded his head, even though he didn't agree with his son. If his mother made it out in good physical health, that didn't mean they would see it as good mental health. But he didn't want to burst his young son's hope.
Roxas stared at the floor, he didn't know what to say. Apparently his father had given a damn about him, the man was in his life at one point, but he was saying it was his mother's fault he fell out of it. Why was he lying? Or, rather, why would that be true? He had so many more questions, but now he didn't know what to do. He needed his mother around to help clarify. His mother only ever talked about how his father was a great man, so why did she kick him out of their lives?
He shook his head, "Later," the single word quietly escaped him. Meeting his father was supposed to answer questions, not raise more. Grabbing his shoes, he slipped out the front door. A flood of emotions taking hold of him. The only option he'd ever given the man was to be a terrible person, and now that same man was turning the tables on his mother?
Is that why his mother spoke so highly of him, because she never thought Roxas would meet him? Was it only to make Roxas have a sort of contentment of the man he wasn't supposed to meet? Was his father vindictive? Did he turn the tables to make everything everyone else's fault? The blond shook his head, the more he thought about it the more it angered him.
A determined look crossed his face. He'd have to evoke a reaction out of the man.
.
Roxas sat on the front steps of Riku's house, he didn't know how to get ahold of Axel but he knew Riku would.
"It's early," the silver haired man sat beside Roxas. He'd no idea how long he'd been there, but it seemed a little too purposeful that the blond was patiently waiting. A yawn escaped him as the teen began talking.
"I need to get ahold of Axel, so we can trip up Cloud.'
"You know," he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "You could call him your dad instead of his name."
Shaking his head, Roxas rolled his eyes. "Yeah, okay," he mocked.
The newly awaken teen stared at the troubled blond for a moment. Slowly he stood up, "I'll text him, he's probably not awake yet." Riku disappeared inside, finding his phone. Coming back outside he attempted to ask the blond a question, but Roxas had already taken off.
Roxas didn't feel like waiting, he wanted to do something right now. Running a hand through his hair, he kept his slow pace. He knew what he'd do.
.
Opening the door, Roxas smirked at the surprised face. "Forgot to knock," his tone unapologetic.
Cloud sat in the living room, a trouble expression already on his face. "You don't have to knock."
Approaching the man, Roxas looked down on him. He was so soft spoken, if his mother hadn't told him, he never would have believed this man was once a solider. Maybe he didn't know the man all that well, but the teen knew he could be a handful, and the way this man carried himself was like a stone in a glass house.
"I'm gay," he cut right to the point.
Cloud's mouth dropped, but no words came out. His lips flapped like a fish out of water, but the teen spoke again before he could form a sentence.
"Just thought you should know," he shrugged, "I don't plan on stopping it because I'm here. I already have a boyfriend too." Still he received no response, he wanted to add more but he didn't want to say something that would anger the man in a different way. He only wanted to see if Cloud had a thing against his 'son' being gay. After a few minutes of Roxas biting his tongue, the older blond finally spoke.
"Um... yeah, okay. I'm glad you're finding your way here."
If that was the only response he was going to get, then he was going to poke the lion some more.
"I invited him to spend the night," when the man's mouth dropped open, Roxas jumped on it. "Unless you have a problem seeing two guys kiss and sleep in the same bed?"
Cloud fished for words, "That's not... no... that's not what I was going to say." The man stood up, making Roxas feel inferior just by height, "We do have rules here Roxas, if you want to have friends over, you need to ask first, but-" he pushed his speech out before Roxas could interject. "It's fine if he comes over." When he added the last bit, the teen's face went red. "No sex, you're too young for that."
The man walked away from his son, leaving him with his mouth clamped shut.
"Dammit..." Roxas mumbled to himself. Cloud hadn't blown up like he wanted to, which was good in Sora's case, but not in his own. He wanted to test the man's patience, he wanted this stranger to be full of himself so his mother wouldn't be the bad one. But, apparently there was more to the history they shared...
Movement caught the teen's attention, he looked up to see his brother standing there, cheeky smile on his face. He mouthed 'thank you,' to his brother before disappearing back into their shared room. At least someone was happy with the outcome.
Turning around, the boy left again. He'd have to get Axel to join him, since he just volunteered him to spend the night, and see if they could stomp on some egg shells.
.
Roxas approached Riku's house again. He'd killed some time, maybe the redhead was finally awake, but he still needed a middle man. As he began to ascend the steps, the door was opened.
"Howdy there babe," the redhead smirked.
Taking a step back, Roxas squinted at the man in confusion.
"What," he said nonchalantly, "Trying to get into character." Joining the blond, they began to walk together to an unknown destination.
"Yeah," he nodded, "Well, so far Cloud doesn't have a problem with it."
"You went along without me?" The redhead feigned betrayal.
"I didn't feel like waiting for you, besides, I need your help still. I volunteered you."
"Oh no, for what?"
"To spend the night."
"Why'd you do something like that?" there was a smirk on his face as he eyed the teen.
"Trying to push his buttons, didn't get me anywhere though."
Axel stopped walking, "Are you trying to help out your brother, or piss off Cloud?"
"Both," Roxas turned around to look at the man, "I want to push all his buttons about this whole 'gay' thing to make sure he's not just saying he's okay with it. What if he says he's okay with it, but the moment he sees two guys kiss, he's suddenly realizes he's against it?"
"How far are you trying to take this whole fake relationship?" another smirk, "I draw the line at marriage."
A blank look over took the blond's face, in a dead pan voice he answered. "That does not surprise me in the slightest."
"Ouch," they continued walking.
.
It really was unfortunate how early the house awoke, it was only a little afternoon and Roxas was already mentally prepared for bed.
Of course, Axel wasn't. They sat on the school playground, and aside from the warm breeze, the only other noise was the redhead blowing his own hot air.
It was a mean train of thought, the blond quickly gave up the inner conversation in exchange for his own 'hot air' blowing around. "You're talkative today..."
With a chuckle, he ran his fingers through his red hair, "Yeah..."
"Why is that?" Roxas figured it was insinuated with the original statement, but even though Axel was talkative he was forcing the younger teen to be too.
"Question for a question?"
Roxas was entirely sure what that meant but nodded either way.
"I took my pills this morning." He received a confused glance, "I took my anti-depressants this morning," he rephrased.
Slowly the small teens head nodded, "Oh..." silence for a few seconds, "I'm sorry." There wasn't any responses running through his head, an apology was the best he could muster.
"My question," the tattooed boy didn't miss a beat. "What do you like to do for fun?"
"Knitting," just as quickly, the teen answered.
There was a long silence between the two, Axel stared off into space and Roxas enjoyed the few minutes of silence, unsure of his next step.
"Okay," the redhead nodded, "Knitting..." he sounded confused but kept it to himself. "That's cool... I never... I never really saw you as the knitting type to be honest." Roxas rubbed the back of his neck, it was obvious he was nervous, "How'd you get into that? What do you make?"
The more questions Axel asked, the more on edge the teen became. "I lied," he finally blurted out. Axel paused again, sparing him a quick- questioning- glance. "I don't know how to knit," the blond finally admitted. "What do you like to do for fun?"
"Um..." Axel sidelined his thinking, only to answer the blond, "I like hanging out." With a shrug he continued, "Not too much, hanging out and relaxing I guess." The conversation was falling down hill again. "I used to be really into sports, but there was so much drama tied into it, for no reason. I have no talent for anything else..." another shrug, "I like to relax." It didn't uplift the conversation as much as the redhead was planning, but he felt like it gave him more incentive for his next question. "What do you like to do? And why did you lie before?"
"Because you wanted an answer," now it was Roxas' turn to shrug.
"Well, if we're 'dating' I should probably know some stuff about you..."
As much as Roxas wanted to argue, the man had a point. "Okay," he took a deep breath, but nothing came out. Looking off to the side, he continued to think. The longer the silence persisted, the more confused Axel became.
"Alright, what did you used to do before you came here?"
That didn't make the situation any easier for the teen, with another deep breath he lead Axel on, thinking he would answer.
"Alright," Axel repeated, "Where were you before you came here?"
"About 2 hours away," that wasn't what Axel was looking for. The teen took a deep breath and switched his mindset, "I lived with my mom."
"That's gotta be different, just the two of you and now a house full..."
"It wasn't just us two," he cut him off. "Her boyfriend, Zack, and Zack's brother, sometimes, lived there too." Axel's mouth opened, prepared to ask more questions, but the blond beat him to it.
"Where'd you move here from?"
"Um... about 4 hours," he looked around before pointing, "That way," he finished. Without giving the blond a chance, he answered what he believed to be the next question, "I'm the opposite of you. I lived there with my dad and older brother, moved here to 'reconnect' with my mom."
Roxas was surprised. "How'd it work out for you?"
"Well, that was almost 5 years ago, so I guess pretty good."
"How's she feel about your face tattoos?" He gestured to his own face, a smirk slowly growing.
"What these sexy things," he wore his own smirk, "I got them before I came here, she doesn't really have much of a choice but to accept them... I don't think she cares for them," he offered another shrug, "But she's laid back, keeps to herself a lot, so I don't really think about it." The silence returned as the redhead pondered the question more. "What about your mom?"
"What about her?"
"How's she feel about you being out here?"
"Uh," he shook his head, mumbling, "She doesn't know." Before Axel could chime in, he changed the subject. The conversation was beginning to lead down a dark hole, one the blond wasn't ready to vocalize. "It's late enough, right?" Without an answer, the blond began to head in the direction he thought his new found home was in. "This way, right?"
The redhead didn't budge, he watched the younger teen in concern before correcting him. "No," he pointed, "It's this way." His own questions were beginning to drive him crazy, torn between feeling like he could help the obviously troubled blond and feeling like he didn't really care. "Well, what do you think I should know, as your 'boyfriend'?" Once they were walking in unison, the redhead received an answer.
"My name is Roxas Strife, I'm blond, I have blue eyes, I'm short for no damn reason apparently..." the exaggerate frown on his face made a smirk form on the other boy's. "I didn't want to come here and I don't plan on staying..." Roxas stopped in his tracks, staring at the ground while he confidently spoke, "My mother will get better and everything else will get better too."
The statement caused more questions to pop in the redhead's mind, but the boy walked away too fast, as if he was walking away from the conversation itself. "Alright... that's not much better than nothing... but still better," Axel shrugged, following behind till it came time for him to lead the way.
Once down the street, the tone the blond emitted felt different- heavy. Axel kept a look out through the corner of his eye, it was clear Roxas was upset about something but it came out of nowhere, with no hints or clues. The closer they came to his house, he realized the teen was eyeing the car parked out front. Now it was Axel's turn to raise red flags, he'd never seen the car before. The flags Roxas raised, were different, like he knew the vehicle.
"Who's is it?" Axel asked, without sparing another sideways glance.
"He better have good news, or be getting the Hell out of here..." the last bit was a mumble that only raised more questions.
Following Roxas' lead, he found Cloud and Tifa in the living room, with another man he'd never laid eyes on before. No one looked happy, even as they walked in the house. Tifa was the only one to offer a fake smile, welcoming the blond teen home and greeting Axel.
"Hey Roxas," the dark haired stranger had a pleasant smile even though his presence didn't match, "I need to talk to you."
"That's a long drive just to 'talk'," the blond stood still, waiting for the stranger to continue.
Said stranger looked around the room, "I was hoping to talk in private-"
"Well then you shouldn't be trying to have a conversation with my son." No one missed the sharp edge in Cloud's voice, Roxas smirked and waited for the stranger to continue.
Tifa stood awkwardly beside Roxas and Axel, frozen in place after her pleasantries, but when the redhead turned to step out of the hostile room she grabbed his arm and shook her head. Axel was apart of this in her eyes.
"Well, your mom isn't doing very well." The stranger's voice was blunt and cold. "I thought it would be best to tell you in person instead of over the phone, the doctors don't think she's going to wake up, ever." His mouth moved like he had more to say, but he wasn't given the chance.
"That's bullshit." A dark scowl covered Roxas' face, "Of course she's going to wake up, you're just pissed because you know once she does she's going to kick your sorry ass out, Zack." The malice in his voice was worse than any tone he'd ever had with Cloud, even in his own thoughts.
"Yeah," Zack was matching Roxas' energy. "And you're just pissed because you know even if she does wake up, you wont be able to live with her till after you turn 18." Before the teen could call 'bullshit' again, Zack cut him off. "She tried to kill herself Roxas, she's not fit to parent."
If Zack hadn't been a reasonable distant away, Roxas would've swung at him. Instead the teen turned and stormed out the door, not caring to look back or to think how Axel was still tagging along.
.
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Long time no chapter, right?
Sorry.
Uploaded: September 21, 2019
