There was definitely something bothering her.
In all their classes together, Roxas had never seen Namine quite so distracted. Already, she'd let the pot on the stove boil over, and forgot to set the timer for the noodles they were supposed to be cooking for their spaghetti. He'd had to remind her after she turned away without doing it. Now, his hands were busy molding meatballs out of the raw beef he'd seasoned, and she was supposed to be making garlic bread to put in the oven while the pasta boiled.
She'd only buttered and seasoned a couple slices of bread so far, and Roxas knew for a fact she could, and should, be going quite a bit faster.
"Do you need help with those?" the blond asked, eyeing his partner with concern. He still had quite a bit of beef to go, but at this rate, he would still finish first.
Namine seemed not to hear him, her expression blank save for tiny creases between her eyebrows that betrayed she was deep in thought. Slowly, she brushed the garlic-olive-oil-butter mixture onto a slice of bread, placed it on the baking sheet, added a sprinkling of parsley, and then a bit of mozzarella cheese over that. The next slice of bread was picked up and started without any increase in speed.
"Namine."
She still didn't look at him; he was almost out of beef, having now rolled a couple dozen meatballs to fry on the stove.
"Namine," he tried again, this time holding the vowels of her name in a slight sing-song in the hopes that it would catch her attention.
No luck.
"Hey, earth to Namine." Abandoning his task with just a small handful of beef left to be rolled, Roxas approached the other blonde and nudged her shoulder with his own, his dirty hands carefully held away from himself and her. "Hey, you okay?"
Her attention finally caught by the physical contact, Namine looked at him and blinked several times, her blue eyes clearing. "What?"
"I asked if you needed help with the garlic bread."
She looked down at the slice in her hand, then at the few she'd managed to prepare over the last handful of minutes. "Oh. Sorry, I was just thinking."
"Of what? Is something wrong?"
Namine shook her head and finished the slice of garlic bread at a much brisker pace. "No, I'm okay. Sorry, I'll pay better attention." She offered a smile and moved onto the next slice, going quickly to make up for the lost time.
"All right." Roxas wasn't sure if he believed her, but now wasn't the time to stop working and see if he could get her to talk to him. They only had a limited amount of time to finish this dish, and were already a little behind because of her distraction. So he returned to his place and finished the last two meatballs, then took the whole batch to the stove and turned on the burner he needed to fry them. He left them warming up while he washed his hands.
Soon enough, Namine had the garlic bread prepped, and he stepped aside just long enough for her to slide them into the oven.
"Eight minutes on those, right?"
"Right." Namine checked the timer. "The noodles have five minutes left, so when they're done we'll just have to set it for three more."
"Got it."
While Roxas tended to the meatballs, Namine gathered up the dirtied dishes and made a sink full of soapy water to get a head start on washing up while the noodles and bread cooked. She'd gotten through about half of them when the timer rang, and Roxas again moved out of her way as she took the pasta off the burner and carried it towards the strainer waiting in the empty side of the sink.
"Three more minutes on the bread."
He twisted the timer back to the 3 marker. "Set."
The meatballs sizzled in their pan, accompanied by the sound of pouring water.
"Is the sauce bubbling yet?"
One hand steading his fry pan and the other holding the tongs he was using to rotate the meatballs, Roxas leaned enough to see through the glass lid on the saucepan. "Yep, little bubbles."
"Good."
At least now she seemed focused, if not as cheerful as usual. It made Roxas nervous—Namine was shy, sure, but not like this. Something was definitely bothering her.
Three minutes later the timer rang again, and this time Roxas was the one to grab the oven mitt and pull the pan of garlic bread out to check that they'd all turned the proper golden brown—the smell made his mouth water.
"These came out great!"
Finally, Namine smiled and put two hot pads down on their table so he could set the pan there to cool. "The noodles are ready for the sauce."
"Got it!"
Roxas slipped the mitt off as he spun around, dropping it on the counter before turning off the proper burner for the sauce. He paused just long enough to check the meatballs, turned off that burner as well, then picked up the sauce pot and carefully turned back to Namine and the waiting spaghetti. Slowly, he poured the sauce over the noodles so as not to spatter the table and make yet another mess to clean up.
"Are the meatballs done?"
"Yeah."
She left him mixing the pasta and sauce and fetched the frying pan, then held it at the ready to add the meatballs in.
Pulling his hands out of the way, Roxas made room for her. "Okay."
Gently, Namine rolled the meatballs out of their pan and into the pot; Roxas gave the spaghetti a few more good stirs to mix the meatballs in.
"Okay, we should be done!" He grinned at his partner, and Namine smiled back.
"Coach Xaldin, we're ready," the blonde summoned their teacher, and stood by Roxas as he looked over their work.
"If this tastes as good as it looks," Xaldin spoke as he served himself a small plate, making sure to take a couple of meatballs and a slice of garlic bread, "then you two will have earned another A."
Both students beamed at the compliment, then got busy with cleanup as their teacher returned to his desk to taste test their food. They wouldn't know their official grade until he announced them at the end of the period, so for now it was time to pack up the leftovers and get their unit clean. But as they set about their usual routine, Roxas noticed that Namine wasn't smiling anymore; that blank look was back already.
He was going to have to ask Kairi if she knew what was going on.
As soon as he walked into the cafeteria, Sora's suspicions were confirmed. People were definitely staring. He'd caught a few looks in his classes throughout the morning, thought he heard his name whispered in the halls during passing periods. That was easy enough to brush off. Lots of people had been talking about him early last semester because he could compete with Riku. This was different, but he still hadn't really thought anything of it.
Until now. Now he was definitely being stared at and talked about.
"Oh, boy."
"What?" Riku almost didn't stop when Sora did, looking back at the brunet in confusion. "I thought you were starving?"
Blue eyes scanned the cafeteria, taking in just how many people were looking at him and whispering. "I am."
"Then what's the hold up?"
"Is it just me, or are we being stared at?"
Now Riku paused long enough to look around for himself, taking in the same thing Sora had. "I think we're being stared at."
"Huh."
His movements were awkward as Sora started moving again, Riku following close at his side. The eyes tracked their path across the cafeteria, and by the time they'd gotten into line for their food, Sora was about ready to bolt.
"Not that I dislike attention," he muttered, making Riku smirk, "but I usually like to know why I'm the center of it."
"Just ignore them." Riku shrugged it off much more easily than Sora thought he'd be able to. This was sort of starting to freak him out.
"Do I have something on my face?" he asked quietly, worried that he'd marked himself with a pen during class or something.
"Naw, you're just as ugly as always."
Sora scowled and smacked the other boy's chest as Riku laughed. "Jerk!"
"Okay, but you walked right into that one."
Crossing his arms, Sora huffed and stepped forward as the line moved. "I should dump you. Calling your own boyfriend ugly. Terrible. Rude. You're rude."
With a cautious glance and a smirk, Riku moved close enough behind the younger boy that no one would see him grabbing Sora's ass. The brunet squeaked and turned a dark shade of red, but didn't dare move and draw attention to what had happened. "You'd miss me too much." He squeezed playfully, earning a glare.
"And you're gonna get us caught."
"What? I can't get in trouble for this."
They both moved with the line, Riku's hand still firmly in place.
"I meant by Kairi."
"So? You clearly don't mind it that much." He squeezed again, harder this time, and Sora's face sank into an annoyed frown.
"I'm gonna kick you in the shin."
That made the older boy laugh, and Riku finally took his hand away, putting a more socially acceptable amount of space between them. "Fine, I'll do it later when we're alone."
Rolling his eyes, Sora heaved a sigh, and focused on the line they were in. He didn't mind Riku's antics, honestly, but being stared at was putting him on edge. What had he done to earn the attention what seemed like the entire student body of Kingdom High Boarding School?
By the time the pair got through the line and made it back to the table, Hayner had already dropped by to talk to Roxas, and grinned the moment he spotted Sora and Riku approaching.
"Hey! Nice work!" the brown-eyed blond congratulated them, clapping Sora on the shoulder.
"Uh," he exchanged a confused look with Riku, "what?"
Hayner grinned widely, jerking his thumb over his shoulder. "That."
Leaning around him, both Riku and Sora looked towards where the junior was pointing. Several tables away, near the wall, Seifer was seated with a few other students. A large white bandage covered the entire bridge of his nose and stretched over halfway across both cheeks, and there were dark bruises under his eyes. He looked absolutely pissed.
"He's been griping about you all morning," Hayner drew their attention, still grinning. "Practically the whole school knows you beamed him in P.E. yesterday."
"Oh." Sora looked at Riku, laughed a little in relief, and finally claimed a seat besides Roxas. "Well, that explains the stares." At least it wasn't because there was something wrong with him today.
"Yep." The silver-haired athlete sat beside him and looked up at Hayner curiously. "What exactly has he been saying?"
"That Sora's a 'cocky asswipe' and he's 'gonna get him for that.'"
Both of Riku's eyebrows went up, and he looked over towards Seifer's table again. "I'd like to see him try."
"Aw, are you gonna protect me, Riku?" Sora teased, making moon eyes at the older boy. "That's sweet."
Riku rolled his eyes and pushed the brunet's shoulder, making him drop him spoonful of jello. "Shut up, Brat."
Sora stuck his tongue out at the other, then scooped up a new bite of jello and ate it before Riku could make him drop that one, too.
"I can't believe you broke his nose," Roxas was surreptitiously watching the injured senior as he ate, his head low to try to avoid being noticed by him. "Did you really have to hit him that hard?"
"He was bullying you," was Sora's simple reply. "He should mind his own business."
"Yeah." Axel didn't hide the fact that he was looking at Seifer. "He got what he deserved."
Roxas wasn't convinced. "But what if he does try to get back at you for it?"
Shrugging, the brunet took another bite of jello. "Then I'll give him a black eye, add onto those bruises he's got going."
"Sora, he's way bigger than you."
"So?" He looked at his twin, brow furrowed at the complete lack of faith Roxas seemed to have in him. "C'mon, Rox. You know I'd never lose a fight to a guy like him."
"Especially with me around," Riku added. "Seifer's a coward. He'd only try something physical if he could get Sora alone, and he won't."
"That doesn't exactly make me feel better," Roxas muttered, but let it go. There was no use trying to argue with either of them.
"Don't worry," Sora bumped his shoulder, "he couldn't catch me, anyway."
That, at least, seemed to comfort the blond, and the conversation shifted towards less worrisome topics. Hayner eventually returned to his own table and friends, and the group ate and chattered like always. When the lunch period was over and they'd all stood to leave, Namine was the last to drop off her tray, and went slowly towards her next class.
She'd been dreading art all day.
Even with the list she'd made, and Kairi's advice, she'd made absolutely no progress on her confusion about Mister Marluxia. Did she like him? Of course. He was kind, and talented, and she hoped someday to be as skilled as he was. But did she like him? She shouldn't, but that didn't seem to be stopping her.
Joining her classmates, Namine shuffled into the art room and took her usual seat, keeping her bag on her lap as some sort of shield. She should get to work on her project, since it was the first grade of the semester and she wanted to do well on it, but she didn't move to gather any of her supplies. Other students milled about, chatting as they got ready to work, and she sat quietly, lost in thought.
Kairi went on a date with Luxord, and she said it was really great. Marluxia would probably be fine.
Except for what he did to Demyx.
But he apologized for that, Demyx said so. And he forgive him. They're fine. He knows it was wrong.
He still did it.
But he didn't mean to hurt anyone.
The back-and-forth was going to drive her crazy. Couldn't she make up her own mind? It shouldn't be this hard to know if she had romantic feelings for someone or not.
"Good afternoon, class."
The cheerful greeting drew her attention to the front of the room, where Mister Marluxia was just getting to his desk.
"I hope you're all having a good day!" He smiled at his students, hands clasped and held in front of his chest. "Remember, these projects are due on Friday, so now isn't the time to slack off." There was no hard edge to his tone as he said it, clearly not trying to threaten or frighten his students into rushing their work. "I'm very much looking forward to what you've all come up with, so let's get busy!"
Namine found herself smiling as she looked at her teacher. He really was such a kind, encouraging person. Never a mean or rude remark about anybody.
It probably wouldn't be too terrible, to like someone like him, she thought, watching as he looked over a few papers on his desk, then went to help a student who'd called his name. I wouldn't want to date anyone who isn't as caring as he is.
She watched him for a few more seconds, then sat up straighter in her chair and finally lowered her bag to its usual place under her table. The other art students had mostly finished gathering their supplies, so she didn't have to maneuver around anyone to retrieve her own things and get to work. Her canvas and sketching pencils were all she needed for now, so it was less than a minute before she was back in her seat and adjusting the table to her preferred raised position.
But instead of getting to work, Namine tilted her head and looked at her current project, bottom lip caught between her teeth. She chewed thoughtfully, blue eyes following the lines she'd sketched over the canvas. It didn't look bad, but she wondered if anyone would realize what her inspiration was. Last semester, she'd shamelessly done a charcoal portrait of her teacher, but she wanted to be more subtle this time. Her own feelings were confused enough—she didn't need anyone else questioning her about them.
No, this semester, she would do a rose, and the colors would be the only obvious tribute to Mister Marluxia. She intended to shade the throat of the petals the same color as his eyes, and from there they would fade into the color of his hair. In her head, it was a lovely picture. And, of course, she'd chosen a rose because there was no other flower that suited the sophisticated man quite so well. It made perfect sense to her, but she hoped none of her classmates—or worse, Marluxia himself—would make the connection.
"Having trouble, Namine?" a soft voice asked from just behind her, and Namine jumped so hard she nearly dropped her pencil.
"No, Mister Marluxia," she replied hurriedly, keeping her gaze trained on her canvas in the hopes that he wouldn't see the dark blush flooding her cheeks, "just checking my proportions."
"Mm." He hummed, looking at the canvas over her shoulder. "It looks perfect."
She smiled, albeit nervously. "Thank you."
Mister Marluxia lingered for just a few seconds longer before moving on to check on another student, and Namine let out a sigh of relief. The scent of roses, subtle as it was, hung in the air as if he still stood mere inches away. Namine let herself enjoy it as she got to work finalizing her lines.