VII.
Axel is gone by time I wake in the morning.
I fall asleep the second I hit the pillow and am up and waiting in the lounge type room at early as fuck o'clock in the morning. I wait for almost three hours before Luxord enters the room and looks at me with an arched eyebrow.
"Rueki, love, I did not expect to see you up and moving, especially without your would be mentor." He says, taking a seat on the couch next to me. From out of nowhere, he produces a deck of cards, and I look at him with a face that's a little more than a little confused.
"Apparently Axel decided to sleep in. He wanted us to leave so early yesterday, I just kinda figured it was safer to get up earlier than not." I say with a shrug. "Whatever, it'll give me an excuse to harass him a little bit." Now Luxord looks confused. He stops shuffling mid way through to meet me with a scrunched up face.
"Love, Axel left at least four hours ago on a mission. Claimed that he didn't need your help on today's mission. Or XIII's either for that matter. Quite odd if you ask me." He says, resuming his shuffling. "Care for a game of Black Jack?"
"What did you say about Axel?" I ask, with wide eyes.
No fucking way. No way in hell. I mean, I didn't expect him to be completely normal after that little show he put on yesterday, but I did expect him to…I dunno…not leave me behind altogether this morning?
"That he left? No need to get worked up, number VIII is as unpredictable as they come." Luxord says with a shrug.
"What a dick though, my potential future freedom is tied to him!" I glare.
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news darling, but I don't think VII was exaggerating when he said our Superior has no intentions of setting you free." He reminds me, as though I need it. I sigh.
"I know." But it doesn't mean I'm not trying to play my role. If I keep playing the part of the good little prisoner, keep biding my time, who knows what kind of opportunities I'll have to sneak off and away from….
The man I'm fucking and some space case teenager.
What has my life become?
Luxord and I play cards through most of the morning. I knock on Axel's door in the early afternoon. There is no answer.
"Rueki!" Demyx suddenly comes barreling out of his room, eyes wide and frantic, looking at me with the utmost urgency. "I hear you have a new weapon." Which mildly freaks me out, because based on how Axel is acting, it wouldn't surprise me if the weapon he gave me was fake, or stolen. Or cursed.
"Uh yeah, a new claw. It's in my room." I confess and suddenly, the Nocturne's freaked expression becomes an easy grin.
"Oh, really? Did you get to test it out on your mission yesterday?" For some reason I am almost certain he knows the answer to this already.
"Nooo…" I trail off, only to watch his smile grow.
"Well, lucky for you, I'm on Heartless duty outside the Castle! And I hear that Axel booted you out of your mission today."
"Is this common knowledge at this point?" I roll my eyes and he snickers.
"Luxord might've told me." He confesses. "But, I was thinking, since you still have a shiny new toy to test out, why don't you come help me get rid of some Heartless, huh?" He asks.
I want to tell him no, to piss off. I want to tell him he's lazy. I want to grumble about how it sounds like absolutely no fun and how I'm going to end up drenched and he won't and fuck him for dragging me into this.
Instead, I grab my claw and that extra coat of Axel's that I stole and follow him out of the Castle.
I love the feeling of slashing through a Heartless. There's something so satisfying, watching it disintegrate in the darkness from which it came. I swing my arm around, within Survivor and tear straight through a Neo Shadow, huffing and puffing. I feel a deep wave of sympathy for all of the times Demyx has had to come out here and fight these creatures himself. The Heartless that try desperately to flock into The Castle That Never Was for shelter are particularly relentless and almost always lead by a pack of fucking Neo Shadows.
Demyx uses the weight of his Sitar to take out a hoard of Neo Shadows. We look at each other both of us irritated.
"This fucking sucks." I tell him, as though he needs to be told.
"Hey, I'm just thankful I don't have to do this myself anymore. Lucky me that Axel left you behind." He teases. I falter just a little and a Neo Shadow slashes it's claws against my leg.
"Ahhk!" I cry out and smash my claw into the culprit. It disintegrates. "Fuck the Heartless. And fuck Axel for leaving me behind. I don't know what crawled up his ass and died, but he best be preparing himself, because when he gets back, we're going to have words." I grumble.
"Don'tcha think you're overreacting a little?" Demyx asks me. I glare.
"Probably, but I need you to be my friend right now and not point that out to me." I say. He laughs, and it really is a pleasant sound, despite his nasally voice.
"Is that how friendship works nowadays?" He snickers, shooting a spike of water out of the ground, taking out a heard of Heartless.
"Yeah." I say. I fish a grenade out of my pocket and toss it as far as I can away from us. A group of shadows in the back of the heard get destroyed. "So, like, pretend to be sympathetic with me, and tell me how much of a dick Axel's being." Demyx blanches and turns to look at me, brow furrowed.
"Are the two of you together now or something?" He asks me and I flinch, throwing another grenade.
"Why is that relevant to this conversation?" I ask.
"There's something to say about women with hearts." He snickers, which is a joke that must be over my head. I take another swipe at a Neo Shadow.
"Can you please just say he's a douche?" I ask.
"Sure, he's a douche. Are you two together?" Demyx summons a series of Water Clones and sends them out to sick the Heartless.
"No!" I insist. "I mean, kind of. Like we've had a pretty reasonable amount of sex considering the short amount of time we've known each other. But like, we're not together, together. Like it's strictly a physical thing. Cuz he's a douche and all."
"I knew it!" Demyx grins. A Neo Shadow rushes me and I deliver a sharp kick to it, which sends it spiraling his way. He shoots up a spike of water and destroys the creature.
"Did not."
"I did! I mean, he's always a little obnoxious with everyone, but he seemed especially overly friendly with you at the meeting." Demyx cackles. I allow him to have this one, even though Axel and I had only slept together once at that point.
"Okay, but could you not be so gloaty about the whole situation? And also not tell anyone? Cuz I really don't need this getting around." I heave a sigh.
"Sure, sure." Demyx says with the wave of his hand, before slashing another Neo Shadow with his Sitar. "So why are you so pissed at your boyfriend then?" He asks and I contemplate throwing a grenade at him.
"Dude, you're supposed to be my non judgey friend." I whine.
"And who is your judgey friend?" He asks.
"Luxord."
"That's fair. Anyway, why are you so pissed at Axel?" He asks.
"Well, he's been on this kick like 'I know you from my past, blah blah blah'." I roll my eyes, kicking a Heartless to the ground and slamming Survivor down into it.
"Which is totally possible, since you don't have any memories from before you were nine. Axel is only a few years older than you." He tells me and I glare at him again. "Sorry, wrong thing again?"
"Yep, but you're forgiven. Anyhow, he's on about this kick, which is whatever, cuz he is fucking fantastic in bed." I say and Demyx scrunches his face up.
"That was something I never wanted to know, Rueki." He shakes his head.
"We'll call it even for all of the wrong things you've said so far today." I smirk a little bit, throwing another grenade at the group.
"I don't think that makes us even."
"Anyhow. He's annoying, but he's forgiven because I like to fuck him. And he's all insistent that he's not gonna fall in love with me, which is good, cuz I am definitely not gonna fall in love with him, so like, pretty much the perfect situation. We were having a perfectly nice day yesterday too, got our mission done, then him, me and Roxas went to get ice cream. And Roxas left and I made a comment on him being cute for a fucking zombie and then Axel got all weird and ~I've figured out where I know you from~, and then he up and ditches me this morning? Like what a cryptic fucking dick." I groan, parrying with a few more Heartless.
"Well I can promise you that he's not jealous of Roxas." Demyx laughs and I do think he's right, so I don't question him.
"I was pretty sure of that myself. And like whatever if he was, that's his own problem to deal with. All of these things are his problem to deal with, cuz he's not my boyfriend—"
"Really? I didn't know that. It's not like you've already mentioned it a thousand times." He summons another series of Water Clones and receives another dirty look from me.
"Fuck you. But am I wrong? Like he needs to sort out his problems on his own and maybe not take out his stupid shit on me. Like have some fucking professionalism, we're working together." I insist.
"I dunno, Rueki, Axel's kind of a wild card." He shrugs.
"So I've heard."
"I would just roll with it if I were you. I mean, you're not gonna be able to keep up with him anyway, so what's the point?" He asks. It seems like we've made a damn good dent in the Heartless population, which is a relief. I chuck another grenade.
"Have you ever heard that you're not very motivated?" I ask and he chuckles.
"Once or twice." He confesses. "But really, who knows what's going on in his mind?"
"Not me." I mutter.
"Exactly. So stop your worrying." He says with a shrug. We take a few more slashes and finally, the cluster seems to be gone. I'm soaking wet, thankful that I still had Axel's coat, because my clothes underneath are probably still dry.
And somehow the coat still smells like him.
Dammit.
"I'm still gonna fight him when he gets back." I say, a bit indignantly.
"As long as you leave me out of it, you can do whatever you want." He rolls his shoulders back.
"Dude, I helped you ward off the Heartless infestation from hell, you should be grateful enough to fight my battles for me." I set a hand on my hip.
"Nah, not me." He says with the wave of his hand. "Fighting battles isn't really in my job description. I don't make it a point to overachieve. You start doing that, people start expecting stuff from you."
"We really need to work on your friendship skills." I shake my head.
"Hey, at least I can promise you that I'm never gonna sneak off with your boyfriend behind your back."
I knock on Axel's door for a solid fifteen minutes that evening. It's only when I start drawing in attention from other members that I give up and stomp back to my room.
On the second day, I am at his door first thing in the morning, and Saix appears behind me before I can even start knocking. Upon hearing his voice, I am almost certain that I jump three feet in the air.
"He's already departed on his mission, it would be in your best interests to refrain from causing a scene. Again." His voice is like ice. I spin around, wishing I was small enough that I could crawl underneath the frame of Axel's door and disappear, far away from number VII.
"Aren't I supposed to be going with him?" I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, trying to look unassuming.
"Number VIII has decided that you would not be of any use to him on this mission. Which begs the question, what use are you to the Organization?" He asks me, his voice piercing into me. A chill rolls down my spine. I sputter, opening my mouth only to make blank empty noises.
"Um, I'm gonna go help Demyx with Heartless wrangling…" Is finally what I come up with.
I disappear down the hall as quickly as I can.
I drag Demyx out of bed and outside of the castle at a time that he doesn't think anyone should be allowed to wake up at. But the idea of having to cut down Heartless alone is enough to get him dressed and out the door with me.
"I think Saix hates me." I say and Demyx laughs.
"Hate would require a heart, Rueki."
That joke I think is funny, because it wouldn't surprise me to find out that Saix doesn't have a heart.
We make a lot better time than we did yesterday, which is mostly because I'm being incredibly pushy and insistent that I need to confront Axel. I am at the door of his room, sitting outside it by noon, picking at split ends with my hair. After two hours worth of sitting, I hear a rustling in his room and curse.
"Fucking asshole." I mutter, under my breath. He must've opened a portal straight into his room to avoid me. I slam my fist into his door. "Dude, I know you're in there, I can freaking hear you!" I shout, and I know he hears me. He still refuses to answer the door though. I don't wait much longer, mostly because I'm too pissed to even see straight.
"You can't avoid me forever." I whisper as I stomp back to my room.
On the third day, I sleep in. I am not waiting for him outside his door, I am not going to sit there and scream at him until he comes and answers me.
I'm taking fate into my own hands.
I wait until late in the evening, when I know he will be back from his mission and I throw the door to his room open, not even bothering to attempt to be polite.
He is lying on his bed, arms folded behind his head, staring up at the ceiling. He doesn't even acknowledge me.
"Are you gonna tell me why you're avoiding me, or are we just gonna pretend we don't know each other now?" I demand, not caring that I did, very rudely, barge into his room. Fuck him for messing with me like this. Saying weird, cryptic shit and then not even having the balls to talk to me about it.
"I don't owe you an explanation, Rueki." He says, not even taking his eyes off of the ceiling.
"Is this some weird, jealousy thing because I said Roxas was a cute kid? Because if so, you can learn how to take a joke, you and I are not even together and—"
"Oh give it a break." He rolls his eyes. "And get over yourself. Maybe this isn't about you, hmm? Ever consider that, princess?" He nearly sneers at the ceiling.
"Well what else am I supposed to think when you literally go from zero to asshole and then go 'I know you' and storm off?" I say, making a face and a voice as I mimic him. He turns over in bed, though his eyes are blazing in a way that I don't like.
"Maybe I just needed some time away from you." He offers and I frown.
"And you couldn't have just told me that?"
"Again, I don't owe you an explanation. Or anything for that matter. So why don't you get out of my room? If I wanted you here in the first place, don't you think I'd have said something?" He arches an eyebrow. "I'm not looking for a quick lay today, sweetheart, but thanks for playing."
"Fuck you!" I snap, eyes narrowed, hands balled into fists. "And you assholes wonder why I want to leave this world?"
"Then be my guest." He flicks his wrist and in front of me, appears a black portal. I blink, looking from him to the portal and back. "Well? You want to leave so bad. Do it." He dares me.
I hesitate.
"Fucking do it, Rueki!" He barks at me and I flinch.
"You want me gone?" I ask, the words leaving a pit in my stomach.
"Doesn't matter what I want, it's what you're gonna do." He rolls back over onto his back and in a moment of utter stupidity, I walk over to him and climb up onto his bed. "What the hell do you—"
I press my lips to his, leaning over him, my hair spilling over my shoulders, making a curtain around his face. When I do pull away, I rest my forehead against his. For a second, I am sure his eyes are just as hard as before, but after a second, I notice them soften—barely. There's something he's not telling me and I don't like it.
"Axel, what happened the other day?" I murmur, my lips brushing across his. He takes a strand of my hair and wraps it loosely around his finger.
"Not really interested in talking about it." He says, not meeting my eyes.
"Let. Me. In." I breathe and he smirks, finally looking up at me.
"I'm gonna pass on that one. Not your boyfriend, remember?" He raises an eyebrow. I narrow my eyes but before I can make another smart ass comment, he leans up, pressing his lips to mine. I hear the portal he opened, close behind us as he tangles his hands further into my hair. I climb up onto him, straddling his lap as I feel his fingertips dance down my neck, across my shoulders, down my back and to the hem of my shirt.
"What makes you think I want you?" I breathe, though I don't stop him as his hands slide up my shirt.
"Do you?" He asks, and inside my shirt, I feel his thumbs, warm and rough brush, across my nipples. My breath comes in a short sputter and I pinch my eyes shut, not wanting watch him watch me.
"I fucking hate you." I choke out, but I take the zipper of my shirt between my fingers and yank it down. He slides it off of my shoulders and sits up, arms locking around my waist. He dives in, teeth at my neck, and I whimper pathetically. No, fuck this, fuck him, he's not watching me come apart. I grab his jaw roughly and pull his face upwards. In one swift movement, I take his lower lip between my teeth and bite down until I hear him grunt.
"Maybe you should calm down, sweetheart." He chuckles, as he unzips his own coat.
"Maybe you should shut the fuck up." I yank his coat down the rest of the way. He wriggles out of it, letting it fall onto the bed while I grind my hips into his. With my fingernails biting into his shoulders, I rock my hips back and forth against his growing erection. His hands fly up into my hair, nails sliding back through my scalp, down my back. I groan, my breath hitching before he captures my mouth with his once again. His lips bump and brush against mine, his tongue so hot, so wet, and so teasing as it slides against mine. He exhales as I inhale. It leaves me warm and dizzy, so I grip him tighter and grind down further, the sensation of the friction spreading delicious tingles up the inside of my thighs.
"Fuck, Rueki." He breathes, digging his nails into my hips, I pull away to suck the skin of his neck between my teeth. I lick up his neck, nipping his ear as I grab a fistful of his hair and yank. "Dammit." He hisses, so beautifully vocal, and even though I told him just moments ago to shut up, I hope that he doesn't.
"I'm going to make you fucking scream." I promise. I climb off of his lap and grab the zipper of his pants, yanking down in one fluid movement. As quickly as I can manage, I unbutton them and tug his pants and his boxers down in a swift motion. I look up at him, and see just how wonderfully hazy his eyes have grown, watching me with a look that borders on obsession. I curl my lips around my teeth before taking him into my mouth.
I catch him grip the fabric of his sheets, and I am living for the way it bunches into his fists as I hollow out my cheeks, bobbing my head up and down against his cock. My tongue brushes against the slit of his cock, experimentally, and this time his hips jerk and he slams back into my throat.
I love it.
I dive down, harder and faster than before, sucking him in tightly between my lips. Cupping his balls in my hands, I slide my tongue along the vein on the underside of his shaft.
"Rueki." He breathes my name, but not loud enough. I move the hand that was kneading his balls to the base of his cock, which I use as an extension of my mouth, jerking in time as I suck, swirling my tongue against his head. And I love how it feels, with him engulfed in the wet heat of my mouth. I love the feeling of gripping his cock, I love his scent, I love the way he tastes. His hips snap again, fucking himself straight into my throat, and I try to hollow out my cheeks further, giving him access, giving him room. He starts to moan, tossing his head, arching his back, choking on my name.
Fuck, he's beautiful.
His cock twitches in my mouth and I slide my tongue along his slit one last time before he cums with a cry—right in my mouth.
In one last brave move, I swallow his seed, lips still wrapped around his cock. He grunts again, looking me in the eyes as I resurface, lips wet and swollen.
Axel is panting as we both sit up. He leans in closer, taking my face in his hands.
"Maybe next time," He breathes, lips brushing mine "You can make me scream."
I reach out and slap him.
He grabs my shoulders and slams me back down onto his bed.
"I fucking hate you." I breathe, but he kisses me so furiously that I start to get dizzy. He grabs my ass roughly and I lock my legs around his waist, grinding my hips to his once again.
"Promise?" He chuckles, mouth now on my shoulder.
"Yes!" I snip and he leans up, looking down at me.
"Good."