My chapters have reached a dozen. Hoo-ray.
Summary: When a disgruntled Sora lets his parents sign him up for a summer climbing camp, he's less than enthusiastic. But with some interesting new friends, crazy counselors, and a handsome, infuriating boy to deal with, this week might be more interesting than he thought...SoraxRiku, AxelxRoxas, AU.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but your love and affection. Which is not bankable. But it still makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Author's Note:
Golly gee whiz.
You guys are the bestest. I keep saying it, and I mean it. Reallyandtruly.
Loved that you guys loved the fluff. This chapter is not as fluffy, but we are having some chapters later on that will be like pure fluffenutter. So unfortunately, we'll all have to wait anxiously on the edges our computer chairs until then.
About Kairi and Hayner; I have sort of been ignoring them. Like in this chapter, too. Oops. –is a bad fanfic writer- I'll make more of an effort next time to make them feel all special and included.
Reviewers: (only gonna do a few from chapter 10, most are from 11)
ArosxIrukxOxarsxLeax: Oh my god, your review. For chapter ten. Made me laugh. So hard. You have no idea. It was amazing. It made my day. Totally.
Tihmm: Thanks for the compliments…and about the Alysa thing, I like to think she's based off the dark side of my personality…like the Darth Vader to my Luke…-cringes at bad metaphor-
RedBlackandWhite: Oh, the stomachs. See, in my mind, Riku had a six-pack, but Sora has a flat stomach too. Just not a six-pack. And in his mind in that chapter a long time ago, Sora was like "Wahhh why can't I have a six pack." But Riku doesn't mind so much, he's just like "Yay Sora has a flat stomach!". In my mind. Yes.
Slushie Blu: Oh dear. Don't faint too much. Then you won't be awake for this update.
Orangedcgirl: Oh man. Sorry for getting in trouble with your large family –smiles- and glad you think I'm funny. –self esteem is boosted- YAY!
Rivenwolfy: What's onigiri? –is intrigued-
AbnormallyWeirdPerson: Glad your French toast exploits went better than Alysa's. I kind of suck at making French toast. It's like, 50/50 as to whether it turns out edible. But I make a mean chocolate chip pancake.
Arika-of-the-Demons: "Cooking and pure wondrous evil don't normally go together..." How true, my friend, how true.
bob the builder: Oo you made me so happy with all the wonderful compliments. Though please don't go building altars just yet- I don't think I would be that great of a god. Too messy, for one thing.
AXENATOR: Ohmygod, best name. Yay for being un-lazy and liking it so much.. I love hearing you guys think it's funny. Cause most of the time I just think I'm being random. –shoulder shrug- YAY!
Kioko Yasu: Hahah. Oh, that made me chuckle lots. You say Alysa's name like Alissa or Elissa or Alyssa or however else you want to spell it, Alysa was basically like I bet Roxas and Axel hook up bet me twenty dollars and Doug was fool enough to take it, and that last part will be revealed this chapter. OOoooOO.
tiduskazurakitesora: Someone likes cheetos.
PLOT TWIST AHOY!
Roxas peered at his watch worriedly.
"Axel, we're already fifteen minutes late. Fifteen! Alysa could be tearing apart the camp in a womanly panic, looking for us, worried out of her mind. And whose fault is that? "
"Yours," the redhead said with a cheeky grin, butting his shoulder into Roxas'.
"Mine? How is it possibly my fault that you keep…you keep…"
"Darling, it's alright. You can use big boy words like 'kissing' and 'making out' and 'sticking my tongue down your throat'. I promise I won't tell mommy and daddy." Axel grinned and eyed the surrounding forest greedily. "Speaking of things mommy and daddy wouldn't approve of…"
"Axel… Axel, NO. We're already twenty—oooff!"
But he was cut off as Axel spotted a suitable tree and, after that, Roxas was unable to form coherent sentences.
Ten minutes later…
Roxas broke away from the intoxicating grasp of Axel's lips, gasping. "Half an hour, Axel! She could be sending out the St. Bernard's by now!"
"Damn. I can see your mind is still in control," Axel purred, leaning low so that his breath ghosted across the bare skin of Roxas' neck. "I'll just have to work on transferring your decision making skills that to another, more desirable, part of your body…"
"We have to go, Axel," Roxas said, but less enthusiastically; the other boy had started to trail kisses down his neck, sucking appreciatively at his collarbone, his hands bracing Roxas' waist. Roxas felt as if he was melting. What had he been saying? Something about St. Bernard's? Or poodles?
"That's better," Axel murmured into Roxas' skin. "Now, let me remove that pesky watch…"
Roxas slapped his hand away, which was made difficult by the fact that dizzy waves were jumping up and down his spine like excited kangaroos.
"I should have known you were a sex fiend," he said, not really caring in the least. What was Axel doing to his shoulder….ooooooh.
"Only for you, my pet," Axel said, smiling appreciatively as Roxas' eyebrows fluttered. Maybe next Roxas would fall into Axel's arms and he would have to carry him, bridal style, through the woods…maybe some secret cave, with a garden and twin-set mattress, with central air-conditioning, and a lifetime's supply of condoms…
"You taste like candy," Axel said, right next to Roxas' ear.
"What kind?" Roxas said, not opening his eyes.
Axel was momentarily stumped. "Umm, not any particular kind. Just yummy, you know. Tasty."
"Please tell me you're not a cannibal."
That earned him a laugh from Axel, and a laugh from Axel meant that Roxas was momentarily free from the stranglehold of Axel's lips. He wondered if the other boy had been some sort of leech in his other life.
He shuddered. That was an unpleasant thought.
"We really have to go," Roxas said, trying to keep his disappointment out of his voice.
He grabbed Axel by the cuff and dragged him down the beaten trail back to camp. Luckily, the rock-climbing site they had chosen today was within walking distance of camp. He didn't know if he had the upper body strength to keep a bored Axel from smothering him with sexually charged kisses in the van. It wouldn't really do for everyone else to witness Axel taking the "backseat of the car" cliché to whole new levels.
Axel skipped along beside him. "Look, a little birdie!"
"Someone's in a good mood," Roxas said dryly.
"You kissssssseeed me," Axel sang out triumphantly, leaping in the air like a sugar-high bunny rabbit. "And then I slammed you into a marble wallllll. And kissed you backkkkk."
"I was there, remember?"
Axel waggled his eyebrows at Roxas. "Oh, do I ever."
They walked in a comfortable silence for the next few moments. Axel had taken Roxas' hand, wrapping his fingers comfortably around the other boy's, and Roxas had admit it felt nice. Admittedly, Axel's hands were rough and chapped from climbing, and he thought the other boy might have a cut, or something, because he felt something warm and suspiciously liquid trickling between their interlocked fingers, but aside from that, everything was pretty much alright. Aside from the fact that they were coming up on forty-five minutes late.
Axel still wore his goofy-chipmunk smile. "I still can't believe you kissed me. And I thought you hated me."
"I did, for a while," Roxas admitted readily, smiling a little. "You were so goddamned annoying, and sort of a sexual predator..."
"Gee. Thanks, Rox."
"But you were a cute sexual predator," Roxas finished shyly. "And…well…when you said that…I don't know, it felt like the right thing to do. A gut instinct, or something."
"I don't think that was your gut talking, Rox."
Roxas blushed furiously. "Shut up. I'm still trying to deal with this. I mean, what are the others gonna say? Kairi and Hayner, Sora, and Alysa and Doug…Riku?"
"They will all be insanely jealous." Axel said promptly, squeezing Roxas' hand. More blood gushed out. "They know they want some of this."
Roxas laughed and pushed Axel, who teetered tipsily, both of them chuckling gleefully. They were almost to the road that divided the forest from the campsite.
Axel leaned over to give Roxas a quick, chaste kiss on the lips. "You ready, my darling dearest?"
"Ready, Axel."
Axel's eyes sparkled as he dragged Roxas across the street. "Whatever you say, my little sugar plum."
Alysa was standing smack in the middle of the campsite when Axel and Roxas trudged in. Her eyes were narrowed, and her mouth was pursed in a small line.
She was holding a spatula.
Axel and Roxas stopped dead.
"How late are you, boys?" she asked softly, whacking the spatula against her hand a few times in a menacing fashion.
Roxas gulped. She wouldn't attack them- right? Weren't there laws, or something, to protect him and his childhood innocence from the crazy threats of spatula-wielding counselors?
Well, maybe not that specifically.
"An hour?" Roxas guessed, resisting the urge to run and hide behind Axel.
"An hour, two minutes, and fifty two seconds!" Alysa said, stopping the stopwatch on her wrist with a small, pitiful beep. "That is a long time! What were you doing, searching for the Holy Grail? I hope you weren't doing crack cocaine, or heroin shots, or something. Did Riku give you brownies? I told you; NEVER TAKE THE BROWNIES."
"Alysa…it's really not that…"
"We were just…erm…lost…"
The boys huddled together for safety, withering under her smoldering gaze.
Alysa's eyebrows snapped together as she surveyed the two boys in front of her.
"Hey Axel?" she asked sweetly, taking a few steps forward.
"Yeah?" Axel said, wincing.
"Why is your hand on Roxas' ass?"
Both boys jumped apart as it bitten, blushing and trying furiously to explain themselves.
"Axel! How could you!"
"I was just looking for my…erm…lighter…it was in your back pocket, right, Roxas?"
"Oh, right, I thought something was burning back there…"
"Right, so I'll just remove my hand now and go stand over there…."
Alysa's grin had slowly been increasing throughout the entire conversation. She crossed her hands behind her back and leaned forward. Both boys, on opposite sides of the campsite, watched her in abject terror.
She looked at them.
They looked at her.
She opened her mouth.
Their faces fell.
"Alysa…no…wait!"
"AXEL AND ROXAS," Alysa bellowed, hands on her hips, "SITTING IN A TREE. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"
Sora's unruly head popped out from his tent flap, looking baffled. Riku stepped out from the fire-pit,wearing an expression that looked as though someone had just prodded him with a tazer, and even Kairi and Hayner staggered out of the forest, looking confused and disoriented.
Distantly, everyone could hear Doug's voice, all the way from the bathrooms, shouting despairingly, "NO, ALYSA! NOT THE SONG!"
The wicked grin was in full position on Alysa's face now. "C'mon, sing it with me!" she said, gesturing at her hapless campers. "AXEL AND ROXAS, SITTING IN A TREE. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"
Roxas was now trying to hide behind a large boulder. Axel ran over to where he was crouching in the fetal position, yanked him to his feet, and slung a pale arm around his shoulders, which was useful, as Roxas was trying to crawl back into his hole.
"And proud of it!" Axel yelled out, smiling encouragingly.
Roxas covered his face with his hands. "Discretion, Axel! What happened to being discreet!"
Axel shrugged. "Alysa ruined it."
"That's my specialty," Alysa said enthusiastically. "And let me tell you, I think it's smashing. You two are the cutest little oddball couple I ever helped set up!"
"What?"
"Oddball?"
"Set up?"
Alysa quickly summoned up a blank expression. "Did I say something? I swear, I can't remember saying anything. Must be your love-struck little ears playing tricks on you."
She grinned at the glares she was receiving. "Aww, shucks. There's an hour before dinner. Run, be free, frolic in the fields! I'm off to go collect on a bet…" she murmured under her breath, and disappeared down the long path through the forest.
There was an awkward silence as Axel and Roxas, pressed close in the middle of the clearing, were subjected to four simultaneous open-mouth gawks.
"What are you looking at?" Axel snapped.
The fellow campers quickly muttered things along the lines of, "water" "sleep" "food" and scattered like frightened fawns.
Except for Sora.
He tentatively approached the new couple as if they might explode at any second, and tapped Roxas on the arm. "Can we talk? In private?"
Roxas looked at Axel. He looked at Sora. "Sure," he said, a bit hesitantly. He hoped Sora wasn't some sort of homophobe who was about to beat him up. But he had admitted to liking Riku- hadn't he? Maybe it was some sort of clever ploy to get him to open up about Axel. Maybe he was a undercover spy, or murderer, or something…did he remember seeing Sora with any stakes? Sharp weapons?
Too late now.
"You hooked up? With Axel?" Sora said, his voice a decibel above squeaky.
Roxas shrugged in an embarrassed sort of way. "Well..yeah."
"How was it?"
Roxas double-taked. "What now?"
Sora shuffled his feet. "I mean, was it weird? Cause it was a boy?"
Roxas stared at Sora as if he had grown three heads. There went the theory about spies. "No. It was actually kind of awesome, to tell you the truth."
"Was it?" Sora asked wistfully, shooting a gaze across the campsite.
Roxas followed his gaze, to where Riku was engaged in deep conversation with Axel. "Why do you ask?" he said, his eyebrow raised.
Sora immediately turned the color of tomato juice. "Umm…n-no reason….n-no reason at all."
Roxas said nothing, simply stared at him in wordless disbelief.
"I'm not gay! I mean, not that t-that's a bad thing, hehe…"
"Sureeee," Roxas drawled, turning away from Sora. "But when you need to, go for the neck. Axel likes it- I'm sure Riku will, too."
Sora turned violet and sputtered incoherently for a few more seconds.
Roxas sighed and turned away, making his way back to Axel. Sora would realize it eventually. After all, he had.
But when Axel stormed over five minutes later, Roxas knew, with that exact sinking feeling in his gut, that something was terribly wrong.
And, as usual, he was totally right.
"That BASTARD!" Axel yelped, red-faced to match his hair. He stomped a circle around Roxas as if trying to make the ground feel his anger, and perhaps give him a sympathy earthquake.
Roxas quickly reached out to touch Axel's arm, slowing him down. "What's that matter? Who's a bastard? Do you want me to punch them?"
"Don't…he's just…ARG! RIKU!"
Sora peeked out from behind Roxas hesitantly. "Riku? What about Riku?"
"Riku? I don't know any Riku. Just a self-serving, mean-spirited, doesn't-know-how-to-stick-to-his-own-buisness BASTARD!" Axel shouted in the direction of Riku's tent, which neither opened nor responded.
"Wait. What is going on?"
Axel took a deep breath, some of the color draining his face and leaving him cool and pale; a scarier look that made the flashing emeralds of his eyes stand out sharply against his face, his hair like a flaming halo. His eyes locked on Roxas' own, he said simply, "He told me to break up with you."
Roxas stepped back as though slapped, his face wary. Sora was the one who managed to say, "But why?"
"I don't know!" Axel yelled, hands balled into fists. Roxas had never seen him this angry, only calm, only sad, only joking and sweet and passionate. But now he was mad, mad and frustrated and scary, pale-faced and intense.
"He told me that I should stay away from you and all the other boys here, that I shouldn't prey on them…like I was some kind of disease," Axel spat out, looking disgusted. "Then he told me that I would only confuse you and break your heart and keep you from living happily, and that I was a bad influence."
Shocked silence.
"Does…does that mean…" Sora looked as though he was about to throw up.
"Homophobe," Axel finished the sentence, his breath a whispered hush among the sudden onrush of silence.
Roxas suddenly rushed toward Axel and wrapped his arms around the other boy's small waist. Axel looked down at him, clearly shocked and pleased.
"Then he's an idiot," Roxas murmured into the soft fabric of Axel's t-shirt. "I'm staying with you."
Sora, off the side, watched as Axel wordlessly wrapped his arms around Roxas' slim frame, feeling his stomach churn. He felt sick. He felt disappointed. He felt stupid and embarrassed and most of all, he was pissed off. How could Riku say that, do those things, after….
A tent flap unzipped on the other side of the clearing, and Riku stepped out, a pained expression on his face.
Sora was the one who got to him first, the rage boiling in his veins encouraging him to skip right over the polite formalities of screaming abuses and skip directly to the next step.
So he tackled him.
"Sora, what—ahhhh!"
Sora hit any part of Riku he could reach, glancing blows off the arms and chest, his legs kicking fruitlessly at Riku's knees and feet, his hands landing faint blows on the neck and face. With every blow he felt dizzier and angrier, instead of calming down, and he realized, to his horror, that he was crying, warm tears spilling down over his cheekbones and falling lightly onto Riku's shocked face.
"Sora, what is going—ow, stop that! STOP!"
Riku pushed him off bodily as if he was a sack of potatoes. Sora landed heavily in the dirt. The silver-haired boy, horrified, rushed over. "Sora, I'm sorry, are you okay--"
"Don't TOUCH ME!" Sora yelled, scampering away until he was under the protective stares of Roxas and Axel, arms around each other. The three boys faced down Riku, cool and merciless.
A trickle of blood oozed down Riku's forehead, hanging off the point of his nose.
"I don't understand…" he said softly.
"I told them what you told me," Axel said levelly, glaring at Riku with a gaze that would freeze water.
Riku only looked more confused. "You told them…and what, now they want to attack me?"
Sora and Roxas nodded heavily.
"You told them what I said?" He whirled on the two smaller boys, his face a mask of anxiety. "And you want to stay with him? You hate me, because I told the truth?"
"You bet," Sora said, fire simmering within his veins. How could he have…how could he have ever…
"I don't buy into your version of the truth," Roxas said coolly. "Never have."
"It's not my version, it's what's right!" Riku looked desperate for them to understand him. "I don't think you guys are getting the whole story…"
"I don't care about your stories," Roxas burst out. "I'm staying with him. I should have known you were going to be like this…you...you...you.…"
"I what?" Riku said, and his voice had taken on a hint of cold, quiet anger.
"You called me gay!"
Silence in the clearing.
"That was years ago, and I don't see how that's relevant," Riku said icily, and his hands were balled into fists.
Roxas practically choked on his laugher. "Don't-don't…we were eight! We were friends, Riku! You ruined it! Seems to be something you're good at , nowadays."
"I only called you gay because you kissed me," Riku said, his voice soft and deadly.
Roxas turned red; with anger or embarrassment; no one could tell. "You kissed me back! And then you told everyone that I was GAY!"
"I should have known that was still about this," Riku said, turning to go back into his tent.
"Hey! I'm not done!"
"No, I think you are!" Riku yelled for the first time, striding back to tower over Roxas. "You want to stay with him, you want to play your little games and blame me, again, you just go on your merry little way. Leave me alone, and have a nice life," he hissed, and strode back to his tent, quick, angry steps.
"And by the way….I was right, wasn't I?"
One last glare and he had vanished into the olive confines of his tent.
Sora felt like he had been punched.
"I can't believe it," he murmured, sinking the ground, clutching the soft tendrils of grass between his fingers, as if that would help him make the last few minutes disappear.
Roxas took a deep breath and patted him reassuringly on the head. "Don't worry, Sora. You're better off without him."
"I never had him," Sora said passionlessly. "I'm not gay, remember?"
Roxas and Axel exchanged a look. "Let's just forget him, 'kay?"
Alysa strode into the clearing, hesitation on her face for the first time in recent memory. She was holding a wad of bills, which she quickly stuffed into the pockets of her hoodie.
"You were listening the whole time, weren't you?" Roxas said dully, not looking up.
She nodded. "I suppose this isn't the best time to have the birds and the bees talk with you two?"
The joke fell flat, and she knew it. She intercepted Sora's pleading look and sighed, picking up instantly on what he was thinking.
"I'm sorry. I can't change the groups. You're stuck with him, sweetie."
"But…there must be something I can do, anything, anything at all…"
She shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry. The only thing you can do is try."
He buried his head in his hands. "If I die, tell my mom it was a crazed bear, not a homophobic maniac."
"Will do," Alysa said. "But maybe Riku isn't…"
"Did you just listen to that conversation?"
She sighed heavily, her arms folded across her chest. "I'm the counselor, right? I'm supposed to fix these things?"
She glared resolutely at the wall of the tent. "I'm going in, guys. Wish me well."
No one did.
"Riku. Riku. I know you're in there. Unless you've dug some sort of escape tunnel. Which I would be sort of impressed with, if I wasn't hopelessly confused as to why you went schitzo on three people who were on their way to becoming near and dear to you. Excuse my cheesiness."
Silence. She rattled the tent on it's foundations, feeling frustrated. "Riku. You can't stay in there forever. A man cannot live on marshmallows and grass alone."
"I don't understand…" came a muffled voice, which sounded, to Alysa's acute surprise,overwhelmed and despairing; so far from Riku's usual cool. "I only told them…"
He trailed off.
"Only told them what?" Alysa prodded gently.
Patience, patience. I know I have some of that somewhere.
Silence from the tent.
Screw it.
"Riku, you either need to tell me what's wrong, or you can sulk in this tent for the rest of the night. Up to you."
Nothing.
She sighed noisily, giving the tent one last shake. "Fine. We'll talk tomorrow. Preferably about how you're not going to kill Sora. Got me?"
Riku waited until he could hear her footsteps walking slowly away, then laid his head down gingerly on his pillow, resisting the urge to hug it- or punch it, he wasn't sure. Tomorrow. What was he going to do about tomorrow?
He was pretty sure about one thing, though; whatever happened, neither of them was coming back down there unchanged.
Oh. Don't hate me. Please. –cringe-
So basically...that was the plot twist. Who's confused? Don't worry, all will be explained. Just know that for now, Sora and Riku are angrified. Not the best, I know, but I couldn't just have them make out for the rest of the time.
-fans glare-
Well, it wouldn't have a plot!
-fans still glare-
It wouldn't survive on pure fluff!
-fans still still glare-
Oh, what the hell. It will all be resolved soon, anyways.
You know what to do. Review!
