When his cousin, Sora, made the suggestion that going an a blind date would be good for him, Roxas wasn't too keen on the idea. He had been on quite a few blind dates to know that they didn't always work out. Usually the person was too weird, creepy, or an uneven mixture of both.
It also didn't help that Riku made the suggestion to Sora who then mentioned it to Roxas.
Roxas had heard that some of Riku's friends weren't the most reputable and he highly doubted any of them were his type.
There was also the minor detail that Roxas just wasn't sure if he was really ready to date again. Sure, he had ended things with Vanitas almost 3 years ago, but that didn't change his views on starting something with someone new.
Years of abuse would do that to someone.
Roxas had been in the kitchen preparing his lunch for the day when Sora walked in. "Ya know, Roxas, it is just one date. If the guy is a complete creep you can just throw in the towel and not see him again." Sora argued, once again bringing up the idea of a blind date.
Sighing, Roxas shoved his sandwich into a ziploc bag. "Well, when you put it that way, I can't really argue with that." He hated admitting when Sora was right.
"And if it turns out he's not a creep, then cool, you got yourself a new boyfriend."
"I'll think about it." Roxas forced himself not to roll his eyes.
He was still really hesitant about meeting someone without talking to them a little bit first. Even he and Vanitas had a few years of friendship under their belts before a romantic relationship blossomed.
Shaking his head, Roxas blocked out the awful memories. He needed to constantly remind himself that not every person he encountered was like his ex.
Before any final decision could be made, Roxas had to think about his mental health. Would this person Riku was setting him up with respect that he had anxiety and PTSD? Would they respect that he was abused by his ex-boyfriend and understand that it would take time for their relationship to develop?
There was so much weighing on his shoulders. Was he ready to truly start dating? He had thought about the different possibilities of what would happen if he did agree to go on this date and things did work out.
The more he thought about it, the more Roxas leaned more toward yes. He just needed to get out there and do it. Go on the date and stop holding himself back.
Which is why he found himself now at the busy restaurant, waiting to be seated. Sounds of chatter and food being cooked filled the air. Waiters and hosts bustled around tables, passing food and drink to sitting patrons.
Roxas's hair was tamed as much as it would allow, a black dress shirt, black pants, a pair of converse, and then a final touch of a checkered bow tie, courtesy of Sora.
He would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous. He could feel his heart palpitating with each passing moment (and each passing patron that happened to catch his eye.) he was greeted by the host and lead to a table set for two.
The table itself had two menus placed across from each other and a basket filled condiments; ketchup, tabasco sauce, salt, pepper and those little jelly packs that usually only came in three flavors.
"Would you like some water? Or I could start you off with an appetizer, while you wait?" The waiter who seated him asked.
"Water is fine, thank you."
The waiter nodded and left, returning shortly with Roxas's drink.
Roxas sat playing with the straw wrapper as he waited, heart racing as each good looking patron walked up to his table, disappointment settling into his stomach when they passed instead of stopping.
As it inched closer to an half hour of waiting, Roxas started looking through his various social media sites, liking posts and retweeting things he thought were funny.
He looked through his text messages making sure he had the right place. Knowing his luck, Roxas would end up going to the wrong restaurant.
Thankfully luck was on his side as he confirmed he was in the right place.
The waiter stopped by his table, refilling his drink and asked if he wanted anything to eat while he waited. Roxas denied politely.
It was when the hour mark that Roxas started to get less anxious and anger started to settle in. He wish would've at least given this Axel person his number so if he was late or even had to cancel, Roxas was sitting at the table, looking and feeling like a damn loser.
After bouncing between twitter and tumblr for third time, Roxas leaned back and ran a hand through his hair. He should've brought some of his homework so he had something to do as he waited. His phone's battery could only live for so long.
It was getting close to an hour and a half, when Roxas got up to use the restroom. Once he was sitting back at the table, he started looking at the menu, deciding that he had been ultimately stood up.
As he was berating Sora for making him believe that a blind date was a good idea, someone ran up to him, nearly crashing into the table and knocking his water over.
Roxas looked to see a tall, thin, yet filled out red head, with striking green eyes and a face covered in sweat, leaning against the table, trying to catch his breath.
He was wearing a dark burgundy dress shirt, tucked into black skinny jeans. Shiny loafers adorned his feet. His vibrant red hair was long, pulled back into a ponytail and Roxas's eyes landed on the two delicate upside raindrop tattoos on his face. If he wasn't angry with the redhead, he'd probably find them sexy.
He was bent over, inhaling deeply, in an attempt to catch his breath and his hand was massaging here his hip had made contact with the wooden table, which gave Roxas a full view of this person's stretched ear and industrial piercing.
Had he known, Roxas wouldn't have taken his own plugs of for the date.
"Roxas, right?" The man asked finally standing up, his breathing finally starting to stabilize.
"Yeah, you must be Axel?" Roxas questioned dryly, crossing his arms and leaning back in his seat. His date better have a good excuse as to why he was almost two hours late.
Being late wouldn't have been such a big deal to him, if Axel would've been able to give him a heads up on his tardiness.
Axel took a seat and rubbed the back of his neck. "I am so sorry that I'm late. Traffic was backed up so much; one of the public transit buses broke down and they had us detour. I really tried to get here earlier, I even took a half lunch so I could leave a half hour early. Riku was telling me about how great you were and I know two hours was a really long time to wait, but I really wanted to meet you. I am so sorry I'm late. Please, let me make it up to you." He pleaded.
Roxas just stared at his water, his lips pursed. His eyes met with Axel's and he sighed, his resolve diminishing with each second that their eyes stayed on eachother. Letting out a sigh, Roxas shifted. " Fine ." He agreed
After all Axel wanted to meet him.
Axel gave him a nervous smile, feeling Roxas's unfaltering gaze, and grabbed a menu to look at drinks as a waitress walked up.
Deciding to order himself a glass of wine, Axel directed his attention to the food portion of the menu, figuring he should focus on something other than the cute blond in front of him. It was hard for him to read the blond. Was Roxas honestly upset with him? He couldn't blame him, but at the same time, the public transit breaking down was not his fault. He hoped his apology came off sincere enough.
When Riku suggested the blind date, Axel didn't know what to expect but was completely on board. He hadn't really tried seeing anyone since Saix and the idea of dating someone new, after 3 long years, didn't seem so terrifying anymore.
Riku didn't have bad taste in men and when he mentioned it was Sora's cousin, he figured his date couldn't be too bad, considering Sora's big blue eyes and soft, cute, welcoming smile.
And he was right, his date wasn't bad. In fact, Axel thought he was quite the looker. Now if they could get past the awkward silence that blanketed over their table.
Axel looked at the menu, his eyes looking over the top to glance at Roxas, his heart beating in his chest, when sapphire blue eyes locked onto his. He leaned back against his seat trying to get the leather cushion to absorb him.
He felt like such a creep for just watching his date over the menu. As they looked at the menu (and each other) the waiter walked up, asking if he could get them anything to drink to start, which came as a relief to both men. Axel was still beating himself up over being late and Roxas couldn't keep his eyes off his dates tattoos.
Roxas ordered himself a root beer, since he wasn't much of a drinker and licked his lips.
Axel requested a glass of Pinot Noir.
"So…how do you know Riku?" Roxas asked while he tried to concentrate on something other than green eyes.
Axel chuckled before sitting up. "We were college roommates and then we became pretty great friends. After, my ex and I, uh broke up, Riku made the suggestion to move in together helped his avoid the costs of having to pay for room and board and I had a place to live," he explained. "How long have you known him? I know he and Sora were childhood sweethearts." Axel inquired, thanking the waitress as she set their drinks down in front of them.
"Oh, uh, I'm not entirely sure. I think I met him when I was 10? Maybe 11? My pre-teens are kind of a blocked memory. I just remember Sora being really excited that we were practically brothers." Roxas shifted as he sipped on his soda.
Biting his lip, Axel looked at Roxas. "Practically brothers? What does that mean?" He asked as a small chuckle followed.
Roxas looked uncomfortable and Axel internally kicked himself. First date etiquette; don't ask such personal questions. "Do you like Moogle fries?" Axel asked, skimming through the menu to try to change the subject.
"Of course." Roxas replied, nodding his head. If there was one thing in the entire world he liked, it was food.
"Oh cool, me too. Do you want to split them? I can order a full plate." Axel suggested as he continued to skim through the menu.
"Yeah, that sounds good." Roxas agreed keeping his eyes on his menu. He could feel his face flushing with heat every time he and Axel met eyes. He cursed those damn emerald green eyes.
"So, What are your hobbies?" Axel asked, putting down his menu once he knew what he wanted to order.
"Oh, um, you know the usual, video games, reading, learning to play guitar, tormenting my cousin. What about yourself?" he asked, hesitantly putting his menu away as well.
"Pretty much the same, minus the tormenting my cousin bit and learning guitar. I'm more of a drums person, myself." Axel chuckled before he continued. "What consoles do you have? I have an old Super NES that I restored when I was in high school." he started unbuttoning his sleeves to roll them up, feeling rather hot from his previous rush to get to the restaurant, but also partly because of his date. Those beautiful blue eyes made him super self-conscious and he would be damned if he got food all over his shirt. He already felt terrible for being so late. He couldn't afford to also make a fool of himself on top of everything else
As Axel explained, Roxas happened to eye Axel's wrist, and his eyes went wide when they landed on a tattoo that wrapped around it. The word "Victorious" was scrawled in beautiful lettering.
"Victorious? Are you a 'Panic!' Fan?" Roxas looked up at Axel for a moment, his gaze falling back down to the tattoo.
Axel was surprised that Roxas seemed so intrigued. "Yeah, my band opened for them a few years back. We all decided to get our favorite songs tattooed, since 'Panic!' was one of the bands that got us into music to begin with. What about you?" he asked.
"Dude, Yes! They're my favorite band! Got me through a lot when I was younger. I have their logo right here." He pointed to the underside of his arm. "I'll have to show it to ya sometime. It's probably one of my favorite tattoos." Roxas explained.
The waiter made his rounds back to Axel and Roxas, taking their order and promising to have the Moogle fries out as soon as possible.
Both men gave him their gratitude before their attentions swung back to each other.
"What's your favorite song?" Axel asked leaning forward a little bit, resting his hands on the table.
"Far Too Young to Die. Also Nicotine. Those two songs are probably their best songs." Roxas answered.
"No way. Have you heard Death of a Bachelor? Those falsettos are in ranges my friend Marluxia dreams of hitting one day." Axel countered a smile on his face.
"Okay, I can't argue with that one," Roxas laughed. "You mentioned being in a band. What's it called?" Roxas asked, stretching out his legs a little. He had been so cramped against the seat, he hadn't realized how uncomfortable he truly was.
"13 Hearts." Axel stretched out a little, relaxing.
Roxas felt something brush against his leg and flushed and flinched a little with the realization that it was probably Axel's long limbs. He shook that thought from his head and focused back on the conversation, "Oh! Riku and Sora dragged me to one of their shows a few weeks ago. I had an assignment and they had an extra ticket. You guys were really good."
Axel chuckled as he watched his date flush, he stored that away for later. "Assignment?" he questioned.
"Yeah, I'm taking advanced guitar to add some election credits for my Zoology degree. My Professor wanted us to attend a concert of our choosing and write about the experience. I think he's living vicariously through us." he replied with a laugh. Axel smiled widely in return.
The waitress brought the fries to their tables, asking if there were any refill requests and Axel asked for another glass of wine and some ranch for their fries. Returning his attention to Roxas he asked, "What was your favorite song?"
Roxas looked up from lazily picking at the fries. "Assassins? I think is what it was called. It was like the third or fourth song you guys played."
"Ah. Yeah, that's a new song of ours. I'm glad you like it. I actually wrote that one by myself." Axel hid his smile behind his glass of wine. Not only did Roxas like his band's music, but he liked his song; the one Axel spent almost three weeks perfecting.
As the night progressed, nervousness was washed away by jokes, laughter and the pure joy of being in someone else's company.
"Stop it!" Roxas laughed, moving his fork around trying pry Axel's hand away from his fries. "You have your own!" He finally jabbed in the side of Axel's hands gently.
Axel laughed moving his hand away. "There's no way you're gonna eat all of that!" He laughed again.
The blond's eyes narrowed in a playful challenge before he leaned forward. "You're probably right, but still." He huffed jokingly.
Their banter continued, as Axel's legs brushed against Roxas, albeit on purpose, just to watch the blond's face flush.
Their check was placed down on the table and before Roxas got the chance to read it, Axel snatched it and set his card inside.
"What no!" Roxas said trying to grab the bill out of Axel's hands, leaning back and pouted as the waiter returned to grab the card.
Axel chuckled and shook his head. "You can pay for our next date." He signed the receipt once his card was returned to him and grabbed out his wallet and threw a $20 on the table, making sure to secure it with the salt shaker.
Roxas's face grew red and his pout deepened as Axel continued their game of footsies. He trapped his leg in between his and trailed his foot up his leg. "Who says I want to go on a second date?"
"It's just a feeling I have." Axel replied writing down his number. "You can even choose the time and place." He slid the napkin towards the blond.
Pocketing the napkin, Roxas blushed and smirked. "You got a deal."