Title: Of Band Concerts and Anniversaries
Author: SaraChris
Summary: Roxas has never enjoyed or understood Axel's love for underground bands such as Hayner's band Twilight. Axel's not expecting much from Roxas whey they go to their friend's concert for their first-year anniversary. Big mistake.
Rating: T, for language and music
Setting: Alternate Universe
Inspiration: Fetish for rock bands and wondered how Axel would react with his Roxy's singing (please insert a nosebleed now).
Pairing: Axel/Roxas
Disclaimer: I don't own the KH series. I don't own the lyrics from this really good band. I can't name them at the moment, because I have yet to write them down. Yes, I'm so damn lazy I don't even want to rack my brain into finding out which bands I'm going to use. Oh, the shame.
XOXO
"Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life...You give them a piece of you. They didn't ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like 'maybe we should be just friends' turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate love."—Neil Gaiman
Roxas eyed the two slips of paper placed on the dinner table as soon as he had taken off his shoes. "What are those?"
Axel glanced up from the magazine he had previously occupied himself with in the past two hours, for there was no Roxas to be until after seven. It was ten after. "Tickets." He returned his gaze back to whatever article he had been reading. Hey, where was the sentence he was on?
"Tickets." Roxas echoed, eyes precariously narrowing. "Don't tell me… They're tickets to some stupid band you want to see?"
"They're not stupid," Axel interjected, dropping the neglected magazine on his lap. "Our anniversary is coming up—"
"In a week and a half," Roxas added impatiently.
"—and I thought that we could go to a concert, 'cause, you know, that's how we first met, right?"
"Yeah." Roxas couldn't help the smile come to his lips. It came naturally when this subject came up. "I was forced to go to that concert… and then your hair caught my attention." Once he had the faraway look in his ice-blue eyes, it fell into a frown. "But you know I hate those kinds of bands."
"Why?" Axel whined, leaning forward. His lower lip was jutted out in a pout. "Why, why, why?"
"Because," Roxas began, rotating around—not because of the fake pout Axel wouldn't pull off, but because he was sick of arguing with the nineteen-year-old about it. "They're bands that are yet to be known to the mass population."
"'Yet' being the key word, here, Roxy. And it's Hayner who's playing next week!"
"Don't you dare pull that card on me again, Axel."
"But you'd get pissed off if I tried the other one."
"I'd get pissed, regardless," Roxas retorted, walking over to the couch, plummeting all his weight on the loveseat. The cushions felt nice around his butt. Ooh, suede. Roxas peered up from behind the pillow he had encased in his slender arms. "Axel… those concerts are lame…"
The blond felt guilty when the hurt washed visibly over Axel's face. He wanted to admit he was wrong, wanted to compromise, maybe even just agree to go again, but Roxas had had enough. Axel had already taken him to three more concerts after their first encounter, one of them being their friend's, Hayner, band. He didn't enjoy it that much. Who could if you got soda poured all over the gold curvy spikes of yours with freaking diet Coke?
Pence—he played the drums—had apologized, Roxas nodding, still pissed, but that was beyond the point. The point was, Roxas didn't want to attend. End of discussion.
"Okay…" Axel murmured, getting up and heading for their bedroom. "I'll be in the room. And, oh," Axel stopped at the doorway, hand placed on the wall. "How was your day?"
"Mmm… Fine, I guess." Sure, if you think fine is, if the stupid boss starts bitching about every little flaw you make while cleaning the toilets. And don't forget to mention about that fucking D the Professor smacked right on a major test. "You?"
"Nothing much," the redhead answered dejectedly. He heaved a heavy sigh. "Same old, same old…" He disappeared into the small bedroom.
Roxas's head drooped on top of the pillow, the same sigh slipping from his lips. Maybe it would be nice to agree to the other card, no? Roxas deserved it and all. And perhaps he might just go to the concert, may even promise, but he'd be climaxing, so he'd say anything around that time.
He let out another sigh. Fine, if it was going to come to this, then he might as well…
"Hey."
Axel, who had already dressed into his Jack Skellington nightshirt and matching sweats, glimpsed up to see Roxas leaning against the doorframe, half-smile marking his features.
"Hey." The greeting came out coolly, colder than most. He tried to manage an ignorant aura, making himself busy by fixing his side of the bed, picking up the dirty sock he had left on the foot of the furniture.
Roxas scratched the back of his head, a familiar habit when he felt nervous and awkward. "I…um, can we talk?"
"We talked," Axel said, climbing onto the left side of the bed and slipping the sheets over him. "We talked about our day, argued about something you can't even do for our own anniversary, didn't even say 'hello' to each other when you arrived home after work. Oh, we talked." He inclined his upper body to reach for the novel resting on his bedside desk, which was one of the two that rested on opposite sides of the bed.
Roxas sulked to his side of the bed, removing his shirt and throwing it on the floor. His pants went with it. The cold pinched all around him, so he quickly scrambled to bed, wrapping both sheet and blanket to his nimble body. Roxas glanced at Axel, back against the headboard, reading his book.
"Axel?"
"Hmm?" He didn't even look up from the pages. It must be an interesting book then.
"Are you mad at me?"
Silence.
"No, not really,"
"What do you mean, 'not really'?"
Axel grabbed both back and front of the book and brought them close to shut it. It didn't require a loud noise in the process, but maybe it was necessary in this case. "I don't know, Roxas, okay?"
"I'm sorry," the seventeen-yet-to-be-eighteen-in-two-months-year-old muttered, tugging the covers over his nose. "I really am."
Axel stared down at his boyfriend, blinked, then smiled. "I guess I can accept your apology."
"I'll go if you want."
That wasn't what Axel wanted or expected—though half of him did want Roxas to go, anniversary and all—but it didn't surprise him as much when he heard the words. "Are you sure? 'Cause you don't have to feel obligated to do it, and—"
"I…" Long pause. "I want to do it for you." Roxas faced his back towards Axel. He frowned against his pillow. "I… I just… yeah, I want to do it for you." Roxas peered from his shoulders. "You don't mind, do you?"
Axel leaned in, placing a small kiss on the boy's warm cheek. "No," he whispered against the skin. "I don't mind." He kicked the book off his lap, and wrapped an arm around him, snuggling close. The body heat felt nice against his crotch. Roxas's butt has lots of body heat.
"Hey, um, Axel?"
"Hmm?" Axel raised his head a little to face Roxas's turned one. The blond had positioned his body abreast from the redhead.
"Do you mind if you pull out the other card…?" The infamous pink blush popped up, doodled and remaining its rightful place: on Roxas's face. "You know, since I guess this is a deal and all…"
Axel pulled the covers over both their heads. A hand reached out to the lamp on his side, Roxas doing the same. He smiled in the darkness, emerald eyes piercing through blue, even in black. "Sure, why not."
- -
"Twilight" posters were plastered all over the club that rested beneath the roads and highways of the town. If Roxas had to see yet another one of those orange and yellow signs, he'd have a seizure right then and there.
"Hey, you okay?"
Roxas nodded at Axel, averting from the worried expression displayed on his boyfriend's face. "Yeah, I'm cool."
They're going down the many steps littered with trash and icky stuff, heading for the large metal door to enter the club. There was no special entry or V.I.P needed; just flash the tickets and waltz right in.
Though, Roxas still felt small in his outfit—turquoise tee with matching Chucks and skinny jeans—when the big bald dude sneered at the couple. Roxas was jealous. Axel could be so flamboyant, especially wearing his favorite attire of black leather pants, white skull tank, and red Chucks, waving the tickets in the big dude's face.
He had wished he had brought his silver pants-chain; it'd go perfect with the theme.
The building was crowded with people, newcomers and old past-timers, all sandwiched together, sweating and drinking and dancing. Loud music emitted from the speakers hanging on the corners, some resting right near the stage in the very back. A band was playing—a band Roxas had seen at his very first underground concert—the vocalist screaming obscenities about love and heartbreak.
Boring, thought Roxas, rolling his eyes with the beat. "You wanna drink?"
Roxas thought Axel was talking to him. "What?"
"I said," Axel yelled, trying to be heard over the noise, simultaneously swaying his hips alongside Roxas. "Do you wanna have a drink?"
"Sure."
"Be right back."
"What?-!"
Axel only shook his head, squeezing between the little spaces surrounding the moving bodies. If he were claustrophobic, he'd die right on the spot. But he wasn't, so he easily—though frustrating—swam around, reaching the bar, only to realize he didn't know what Roxas wanted.
"Did Roxas like beer?" Axel asked himself, tapping a finger against his chin questionably. He turned, stepping on the tiptoes of his Chucks, peering over the heads for a certain blond.
There was no curvy spiked head in sight.
- -
It was almost time for Hayner's band's limelight, and still, no Roxas. Axel had fret and panicked, running around in circles, as difficult as that might sound, asking some of the people he knew by name if they've seen him. No luck.
The redhead was lonely. The rush came to him, being all too familiar, for Roxas has been disappearing after coming from home to change, saying he'd be right back, only arriving back around twelve or one in the morning. Axel had never complained about it—Roxas would never be the type to cheat on him—but he had had some doubts and questions about his boyfriend's late activities. He would only ask if Roxas wanted to talk about it; he was that kind of guy.
Axel was just about to ascend up the stage, steal the mike, and announce to the whole audience if they'd seen his short boyfriend, when the lights hit the said stage.
"Hey, rockers!" Hayner exclaimed to the microphone, receiving roars of cheering and people raising their "rock sign"—only the index and little finger were raised while the others were bent to the palm—up in the air. A guitar and bass, one strapped around the lead singer, and one from the bassist, Olette, strummed quickly with the noise, along with a drum roll from Pence behind Hayner. "I see everyone is excited."
"Not me," Axel muttered to himself, frowning and worrying in the center of the crowd. Where are you, Roxy?
"Well, you should be, 'cause we've got a special performance for the first song, then a break, then another song, blah, blah, blah… I get paid for saying these things, y'know?" People joined laughing with Twilight's vocalist. "Anyways, without further ado, I'd want you to meet one of my friends."
Roxas approached from a corner behind the curtain, all shy in his attire, clutching the mike which Hayner had handed to him.
"Uh… hi,"
Axel's eyes widened. What the hell?
"Um, this might sound stupid, but I've never done this, and—"
In the nick of time, Hayner had retrieved the microphone, holding it close to his face, whilst slinging an arm around Roxas's shoulder. "This buddy here, yes, this dude, has been burning his ass off for the past week or so." Hayner smirked, looking up and down at his audience. "You know what he did? He fucking went and asked if he could sing a song he wrote—yes, he wrote the damned lyrics, shocker—and asked us, Twilight, to help him out."
The applause and screaming and whooping crescendo-ed to the point it was deafening. Axel had to plug his ears with his hands to save his hearing.
"… Thanks, Hayner." Axel hadn't noticed he had his eyes close, until Roxas's voice came out of nowhere. The nineteen-year-old glanced up, watching Roxas cradle the mike. "Well, first off… I know this sounds really high school-ish and weird, but I dedicate this song to my boyfriend, who I've been with for a whole year."
Now this was becoming more interesting than anything else for Axel. He had no idea, had no clue, this would happen. All the pieces came into place. The late nights, the little conversations, lack of attention, all for this, this one night.
"Happy one-year anniversary, Axel."
While the band was setting up, including bringing out another guitarist, Roxas quietly placed the mike back on its stand, positioning to the right place for his height. He flashed a quick smile at the crowd when Twilight was ready.
"A one, two! A one, two, three…!" On the fourth beat of Pence's drumsticks, the guitars and bass and drums exploded from the speakers, which amplified the noise to the point the building was vibrating. Immediately, people went moshing, jumping and bobbing their heads, carrying people above each other, like a sacrifice to the band.
Axel didn't care; his eyes were locked onto Roxas's body, moving with the slow swish of his petite hips. The blond's eyes were closed, lip bitten, one foot tapping with the music.
And then there it was.
"I take the blame,
it's not the same,
what a shame,
future lessons for past insinuations,
it makes sense to me,
makes sense to me,
I left the keys under the seat."
The redhead's jaws dropped an inch from his mouth, almost unhinging the muscle.
"If you're fueling desire,
it's the need to,
hit the lights and,
fuck the liar,
when you're chewing on your words,
you won't need to believe me."
His voice, Roxy's voice, was… incredible. That was all Axel could process through his head, as he bobbed with the clubbers, following the rhythm of the drumbeats and everything else mingled in. Roxas and Hayner's band were in synch.
"I know this would never stay between us,
and that's all right cause I don't have anything to hide,
and my only, desire is to uncover,
the truth about me.
"Say oh well and grab a hand with anyone tonight,
but it's still life photos,
overexposed with a footnote hanging on the wall won't stop me now."
Every note was hit flawlessly, accurately, painfully close to perfect that Axel's head hurt from the goodness. It was all too good.
"And I'll shake this cage we call the stage,
it's too late to be playing games,
all I'm saying is if you don't see change,
it's cause you haven't seen what I have seen.
"This would never stay between us,
and that's all right cause I don't have anything to hide,
and my only, desire is to uncover,
the truth about me."
No way, that was not his boyfriend jumping up and down the stage, body hugging the stand. It wasn't the boy he passionately made love to the other night, but it could have been, seeing as he was as flexible as Roxas. But that voice…
"Say oh well and grab a hand with anyone tonight,
but it's still life photos,
overexposed with a footnote hanging on the wall won't stop me now."
It was Roxy's, and his alone.
Abruptly, to Axel's disappointment, the song ended, along with his daydreaming. Yelling and cheering was heard all over, people screaming at the top of their lungs for an encore.
"Thank you!"
But it wasn't Roxy on the stage anymore, just stupid Hayner with his stupid guitar and his stupid sweaty face. "We'll be back on shortly. Until then, dance, dance to 'Dance, Dance'!"
Axel had no time to laugh with everyone, or go back to the usual dancing as Fall Out Boy conquered the stereo sound. He dashed through the pools of people, almost dropping a teenage girl on the floor for getting in his way by her "crowd flying". Ignoring the curses behind him, the young male reached the steps to backstage, where he had only been there once to introduce Roxas to Hayner and friends.
There was Roxas, leaning against the wall, chugging on a bottle of water. The moment he laid eyes on Axel, he grinned.
"Did you see, did you see?" The alacrity in his voice was not buried, which usually happened when it came around to him.
Axel quickly came to his side, appalled at how much sweat matted Roxas's forehead. He kept silent.
"Axel, didn't you s—"
Nothing came out afterwards. The aforementioned person crashed his lips upon the younger boy's, capturing any coherent speech yet to follow.
Roxas moaned deeply, relaxing his back on the wall, allowing Axel's arms to snake around him. He was exhausted—and triumphant—from the singing, however, it wasn't as rewarding as this. Nothing ever was.
When they pulled apart, they instinctively brought their lips back together, except the kiss was more erotic, more compelling.
Fingers tugged fiercely on the fabric covering pale abdomens, the same fingers brushing the skin lightly. Groans could be heard through the moving lips, the lips that seemed to want to search every inch and more around, as if it never had done before. Necks were exposed, ready to be swathed in loving bruises and bites. Knees buckled, arms holding the body strong, keeping the balance. Hands kneaded the back, occasionally piercing it with impeccably manicured fingernails.
Roxas was the first to protest for air. He gently pulled his face away, avoiding the incessant pestering of Axel's pleas to do it again.
"How much time do we have?" he asked, eyes clouded with lust and something Roxas could identify with too well.
Roxas drew his face close to Axel's ear. His tongue probed at the ring dangling from the earlobe. "About twenty minutes, enough for Hayner's band to get ready for their jig."
Axel smiled ear to ear. "That's enough time." He guided the two of them behind the shadows of the curtains.
"Happy anniversary, Ax." Roxas said, transporting his body near his lover. Hands had already slipped past Axel's boxers, pressing against the flesh on his backside.
"The happiest anniversary to you, too, Roxy."
No one noticed where the loud wet noises were coming from. If they had, no mind would be unadulterated by the whole sticking-hands-into-skinny-jeans, anyway.
XOXO
Author's Note: What is it with me writing long Axel/Roxas stories, but really short Riku/Sora ones? Um, maybe I'm still getting used to the couple… but, no question, they're perfect for each other. And you know Axel secretly had a nosebleed when Roxas sang So They Say's "Over Exposed Photo". He loved it.
Cheekon's Note: Are you referring to Axel loving the singing? Or the making out?
Alter Ego's Note: I think she means both of 'em… or maybe the, um, other card scene, no?
Feedback: Whatever it is, I hope the reviews keep piling in her mail. :)