Another chapter! I know I upload at random times, but oh well!
This is the last one that I had pre-written, so updates will be coming less frequently, so beware.
Otherwise, I hope you guys have a good day!
I really appreciate all of the favorites/follows/reviews that I've been getting. Thanks for showing that you are interested!
Enjoy the chapter and drop a review if you can!
Messages in a Bottle
VII - The Trip
After the hour-long flight, Roxas, Namine, Riku and Sora finally got to Destiny Islands.
Axel met them at the airport. He looked slightly surprised at the sight of Riku. "Riku? Riku Hikaru?"
Riku grinned. "Axel, my man, how have you been?"
"Good actually," Axel answered, grinning. He and Riku hugged.
When they pulled away, Riku introduced Sora. "This is my husband Sora."
"Hi!" Sora said, waving energetically.
Namine was hiding behind Roxas' leg. Axel noticed her and smiled. "Hey, you must be Namine. I'm Axel." He held his hand out for her to shake it. The small girl peaked out from behind Roxas' leg and shook the hand shyly.
Roxas smiled.
"How about after you guys get settled, we go to the beach and swim?" Axel suggested.
Sora and Namine thrust their fists into the air. "Yeah!" They said in unison.
The other men chuckled. Axel loaded their things up into his truck and they all got in. "Sorry that it's a tight squeeze; I don't have another car."
Sora and Riku were in the backseat while Namine sat up front with Axel and Roxas in between them.
"It's alright," Roxas said. "You weren't expecting this many people."
After a ten minute drive, they arrived at the hotel where all of the guests would be staying.
Axel helped Roxas carry his and Namine's things up to their room while Riku carried his and Sora's.
Once everyone was settled in, they all changed for the beach while Axel waited outside. He had already been wearing swim trunks and a muscle shirt since he knew that they would probably be heading to the beach.
Roxas and Namine came down first; Roxas was wearing simple red trunks and Namine was wearing a cute blue one piece swimsuit. Right after them, Sora and Riku came down.
"We ready?" Axel asked them all. They nodded. At that, Axel drove them to the beach.
When they got there, it was surprisingly empty.
"Oh sweet, an empty beach." Riku said, grinning. Axel shrugged. "This is Dad's land so I come here to swim instead of those public ones."
Namine looked up at Roxas. "Can I go swim Mommy?"
Roxas smiled down at her. "Sure honey. Just stay where I can see you."
The small blonde nodded. "Mmkay!"
She ran toward the water. Sora followed, screeching, "Wait for me, Nami!"
Riku his husband as well.
Axel took off his muscle shirt and Roxas found himself staring. The redhead noticed and grinned. "Like what you see?"
"M-maybe."
Axel grinned. "Let's go play, Roxy." He grabbed the blonde's hand and they ran toward the beach.
They spent all day at the beach and had a wonderful time. Axel and Namine actually got along pretty well. She had even started calling him "Axie". Axel seemed to really like that.
At around seven o'clock, they left the beach and headed to a local restaurant to eat.
The service was great; they even gave Namine some crayons. Usually every restaurant that they went to in the past had always had problems with crayons. It was a catastrophe.
Since the restaurant was a seafood restaurant, Roxas ordered a snow crab and was not disappointed. It was delicious. Since Namine hated fish, she just got some chicken tenders and she seemed to enjoy them.
It was a great night.
Roxas and Namine ended up staying at Axel's place since they went there afterwards. Namine had fallen asleep on the couch and neither Axel nor Roxas had the heart to wake her.
The couple sat outside on the porch together, watching the sea.
Roxas' head was on Axel's shoulder. They were close to each other, just enjoying each other's company.
Axel pointed something out in the sky. "See that constellation there? That's Ursa Major and above it is Ursa Minor."
Roxas looked confused. "Those are the big and little dippers."
Axel chuckled. "Yes, but in Astrology, they're called Ursa Major and Minor. You see, if you look closely, you can see that one is a large bear and another is a smaller bear."
The blonde squinted and tried to imagine. "I see it," Roxas said, smiling. He looked toward Axel. "How do you know all of this stuff?"
"I majored in Astrology in college," Axel replied. "Though I knew that I'd be running the shop no matter what I studied, I figured that Astrology would be useful for my sailing."
"That's so cool," Roxas breathed out. "I wish that I had taken some interesting classes during college. I just wanted to be a journalist and that's what I am. I worked hard and long and ended up wasting most of my life away.."
Axel chuckled. "I admire that you wanted to get your career in place first... it's always good to have a solid future."
Roxas smiled. "Yeah, I guess. The hours are good too; I can always pick up Namine from school on time.." He leaned closer to Axel. "Axel? If we were to move in with each other one day... where would we live? I mean... we live so far away from each other.."
The redhead frowned. "I don't know yet. I've been thinking about this a lot.."
They both sat there in silence for a while. They were thinking about each other, about their future.. about everything.
Nothing in life is ever simple, is it?
The next day when Axel woke up, he decided that he would take them on a boat ride.
When Axel told Roxas, Roxas trudged to the living room to wake up Namine. This took about twenty minutes since the small child hated getting up. The blonde child whimpered and held onto the couch as Roxas tried to pull her off of it.
"Come on Nami! You've gotta get up!" Roxas scolded. "We have a long day ahead of us!"
"Five more minutes, mommy!" Namine whined as she was dragged off of the couch.
"No! Axel's going to take us on a boat ride today so you need to get dressed!" Roxas said.
Suddenly the smell of breakfast drifted into the room. Namine perked up and opened her eyes. "Do I smell food?"
Axel peeked out from the kitchen. "Yes you do. But you only get it if you get up and get dressed!"
Namine immediately shot out of the couch and ran to her suitcase and picked out an outfit. She put it on herself and let Roxas brush her hair.
Roxas smiled.
Once the six-year-old was dressed, she ran to the kitchen. Axel was making pancakes and bacon. Namine watched in fascination as Axel flipped the pancakes with the pan.
Roxas watched as well, humming. He had always wanted to be able to do that. "How do you do that, Axel?" Roxas asked, tilting his head.
Axel chuckled. "My old man taught me. He's a pretty good cook. He taught me everything I know."
The blonde man smiled at the thought of Axel's father. He wondered if he'd ever get to meet the man. Axel had described him as an older version of himself. So Roxas was very interested..
Once the pancakes were done, the small unit sat down to eat together. In the middle of a conversation, Axel's cellphone rang. The redhead blinked and looked at it. "Oh its my old man. Excuse me." He stood up and left the table, leaving Namine and Roxas alone.
Roxas looked down at Namine. "Hey, Nami?" Namine looked up. "Yes Mommy?"
"Do you like Axel?"
Namine nodded. "He's really nice... Mommy? Do you love Mr. Axie?" Roxas blinked. "Why do you ask?"
"I saw you hugging him. You looked really happy Mommy; you must love him..."
Roxas blushed. "W-well.."
"Is he gonna be my new daddy? Cause if so, I don't mind... he's nice and has pretty hair," Namine continued.
A smile crossed Roxas' face. "We'll see, Nami.. okay?"
Namine nodded. "Okay Mommy."
After the two finished eating, Axel walked back in. "My dad wants us to come over for dinner."
Roxas smiled. "That's great. Are Riku and Sora coming?"
Axel nodded. "Of course. Dad wants to see Riku again."
"We're still going for a ride on the boat?"
"Of course! I want to show Nami what its like to sail," Axel said, ruffling the girl's hair. She giggled.
Roxas pouted. "Damnit Axel, I just brushed her hair!"
Namine gasped. "Ooooooo."
"What?"
"You said the 'd' word!" Namine said, looking completely scandalized. Axel gasped dramatically as well.
Roxas looked a bit embarrassed. "Sorry Nami."
"Its okay Mommy! You just owe me a quarter!" Namine said, grinning and holding her hand out.
"Right.." Roxas said, taking out a quarter. Axel looked a bit confused. "Why are you giving her a quarter?"
"Mommy said that any time he says a bad word that he'd give me a quarter! I have three dollars!" She looked proud.
Axel chuckled. "Wow, didn't know that you were such a potty mouth, Roxy."
"Shut it," Roxas said, sticking his tongue out.
Namine gasped again but Roxas shook his head. "I said 'shut it' so its not bad."
The girl pouted. She had wanted another quarter.
Axel looked at the clock. "We'd better get going; its already 10:00."
Roxas' eyes widened and he shot up. "But I haven't even showered yet!" And at that he ran to the bathroom to get showered and ready.