Disclaimer: Well, since I'm obviously not making a profit off of this, I think it's safe to assume I don't own it!
Warnings: Eventually slashy goodness of the Akuroku variety, adult language and situations, and oh-so-mature themes.
Author's Notes: Well this is a rather quick update – just don't get too used to it! I was wondering what you guys thought of some eventual implied Zemyx in this. I have a few ideas for where it could go, and I think it might be, well, cute. Let me know what you think.
Uncommon GroundChapter 4.
Roxas tried to sleep.
At first, when it became apparent that sleep just wasn't happening he tried resorting to the usual techniques.
Sheep counting failed – miserably.
Next he had tried simply envisioning an empty room, letting it fill with whatever came to mind and attempting to lull himself into the land of nod.
That one didn't stand a chance of working anyways. Finally he had just given up and opted to turn over to see what his roommate was doing. Although sleeping would have been the educated guess.
Something else might have been the perverted guess, but Axel wasn't up to that either.
As far as Roxas could tell he was sleeping soundly in the twin bed opposite. Red hair tousled, arms and legs sprawled about, and eyes closed. Typical sleep behavior. Actually Axel looked just a bit too tall for the bed, his legs hanging over the edge of the mattress just a little.
Roxas sighed and was about to try another attempt at sleeping when something stopped him.
Axel was sitting up, throwing back the covers, and getting out of the tiny hotel bed.
"Axel?"
There was no response. Roxas sat up and flicked on the bedside lamp. The room was drenched in abrupt brightness, and he had to squint for a moment before he could see straight.
"Axel?" He tried again, but to no avail. The redhead wasn't looking at him, but was instead seemingly focused on the hotel room door. Not that it was a very interesting door to look at.
"Are you awake?" Roxas asked, crawling out of bed and making his way over to Axel cautiously, but before he managed to get there Axel unlocked the door and wandered out into the hallway.
'What the hell?' Roxas thought, quickly following after him, clad only in a pair of black boxers and a white tee-shirt. He didn't bother worrying about putting a pair of shoes on, as it was, Axel was wearing even less.
The hallway was dotted with numbered room doors, and lit overhead by bright fluorescent bulbs, which hurt Roxas' unaccustomed eyes.
'Is he on drugs?' Roxas wondered silently, watching as his roommate stumbled along in a daze. Axel was now near at the end of the hallway, and was staring out the only window, a total lack of awareness showing in his presence.
He didn't flinch when Roxas walked up behind him and tapped him gently on the arm. Didn't even move when the younger blonde had resorted to pinching him on the neck.
Finally, growing impatient, Roxas hauled off and smacked Axel. Hard. Right across the back of the head.
"Wha…?"
"You were sleepwalking!" Roxas jabbed him in the center of his bare chest to emphasize the point further. Axel looked down at Roxas quizzically and rubbed his eyes.
"I was?"
"You got up, unlocked the bedroom door, and then walked all the fucking way out here!" He walked behind the taller man and gave him a rough shove in the direction of their shared room.
"I've never seen someone sleepwalk like that! Don't people grow out of that when they're like, ten?"
Axel remained silent, and for the most part completely groggy and half-asleep during the tirade. "What?" He finally mumbled, while being pushed through the room door, stumbling on the carpet near the entry.
"You were sleepwalking!" Roxas explained angrily. "You got up and went for a freaking stroll!"
"Oh." Axel sat down on the end of his bed and propped his head up with one arm on his knee. "I haven't done that for awhile…"
"Awhile?"
"Uh huh." He yawned, and flopped back down on the bed. "I used to do that all the time when I was a kid, then I sorta grew out of it. I'd still do it sometimes if I was in a new place, but that's the extent of it."
Roxas couldn't believe his luck. Just when he was starting to think Axel was somewhat normal – relatively speaking – this little bit of information comes up.
"You do realize," Roxas stated, looking directly at Axel, 'that you are in a new place right now. Just how have you managed staying at a new place almost every night without getting, oh I don't know…run over by a car?"
"Really awesome luck?" Axel hazarded, much to Roxas' annoyance. "Look," he began, "If it bothers you so much, and you don't want me winding up dead why don't you just sleep with me."
What?
What the hell?
Of all the possible suggestions Roxas had expected to hear, this one wasn't even on the list!
Him? Sleep in the same bed as Axel? It had to be a joke. A sick joke that was totally not funny.
Something of Roxas' disbelief must have shown, because Axel started to laugh at him. "It's not like it's a big freaking deal Rox. There's lots of room!" He moved over on the twin bed as far as physically possibly. Leaving what could only be described as a 'smidgeon' of room for Roxas to sleep in.
"You seem like you're a light sleeper, so if I start to get up, whack me upside the head or something. And don't you dare tell me you wouldn't like to get a few punches in." Axel added, grinning roguishly.
"You're serious."
"Yeah."
Roxas bit his bottom lip between his teeth and hesitantly walked over to the bed, flicking off the bedside lamp on the way.
'Don't think of it as sleeping with a guy.' Was the repetitive mantra going through his head as he pulled back the blankets and crawled in beside the smirking redhead.
But of course, he was doing exactly that.
Roxas scooted as close to the edge of the bed as possible. Putting as much space as he could between himself and Axel. If he didn't wake up on the floor in the morning it would be a miracle.
"Night Roxas." The words were practically breathed right next to his ear, and Roxas had the sudden urge to run away – very quickly. If only Sora could see him. He'd never ever live it down. Not in a million years.
"Just remember something Axel. You owe me big time." Was the half-hearted reply spoken from the tired blond, before sleep finally overtook him for the second time that night.
The next morning could only be described as awkward. Although that really didn't do the scene justice.
The first thing Roxas was aware of upon awakening was an unwarranted amount of warmth underneath him. Far too much for a bed – maybe a heated blanket, but he knew for certain that he didn't have one of those. Also, he was fairly sure that heated blankets didn't usually breath. And if one did, then you likely had a very large problem on your hands.
Another thing the warmth had was texture. More specifically – a distinctly human feel to it.
It was at that point that Roxas' brain decided to play catch up with all the memories of the previous night. Axel.
Axel was sleeping underneath Roxas. Or more correctly, Roxas way lying on top of the dozing redhead, which made it seem that much worse.
The blonde quickly rolled over and off the edge of the bed, landing with a painful 'thud' onto the carpeted floor.
"Roxas?" Axel rolled over to look at his nighttime molester who was currently crawling backwards across the floor. "You alright?"
Roxas felt the side of the other bed with his hand. He used it for leverage, hauling himself to his feet and sitting down, filled with embarrassment, guilt, and no small amount of anger.
"Why didn't you push me off?" He finally asked, after Axel had stared at him in wonder for a good few minutes. "You should have at least had the decency to wake me up."
"Oh." Axel stretched his arms, all of his joints cracking in the process. He then gave Roxas a knowing smirk. "Well, you're the one who crawled on me, and you didn't seem to mind at all!" He stood up and walked over to his backpack, pulling out some clean clothes to change into.
"It's no biggie." He added on his way to the little bathroom to get dressed.
'No biggie?' Roxas thought. 'I damn well used him as a body pillow last night!'
Roxas wasn't given much time to ponder the matter much, because as soon as Axel was dressed he was ready to go.
"It's seven." He stated, pulling Roxas from his spot on the bed and handing him his bag. "Go get dressed and we'll hit a breakfast joint." Roxas didn't have time to retort before the bathroom door was shut in his face. It was going to be a long day.
Attached to the hotel lobby was a small café, and from the amount of people already seated and eating it looked to be a popular place for a quick, inexpensive bite. That suited Axel and Roxas fine. Time and money were two things they were lacking.
It was after they were seated at a window overlooking a busy street, and given menus that Axel decided to broach the topic of travel. In particular, where they were going, and whether if they would be sticking together.
"I think I'm going to catch a bus to York today." He said after a bit of consideration, chewing thoughtfully on a piece of bacon. "I've heard it's an okay place, and I figure I might as well check it out while I can." He motioned to the waitress to get a fill on his coffee and waited to see Roxas' reaction to the news.
It wasn't quite as he was expecting.
"Okay." He said without a hint of emotion. Axel wondered if he was always so agreeable, but brushed the thought off as ridiculous. He knew very well that Roxas wasn't the easy-going sort.
"Okay? Just like that?"
"Yeah." Roxas sipped from his teacup and nodded. "I'm sure you'll probably have a really good time there." He added.
Something in the wording gave Axel the clue he needed. '…you'll probably have a good time there.'
Him. Not Roxas.
"I don't think you understood what I was getting at." Axel explained. "I want to know if you feel like tagging along."
Roxas sat his teacup down gently, and gave Axel a hard look. His plans didn't include York in the itinerary. They included numerous museums, galleries, cathedrals and castles spread across several different Countries – but, definitely no stopover in York.
"I can't." Roxas said finally. He would stay in London for a couple more days before going to Paris. That was the plan and he intended to stick to it.
Axel however, was not one to be deterred. "Why not? There's stuff in York I'm sure you'd like." He pressed. "And then we can split the cost of rooms. It'll be cheaper if we stick together."
"It's not on my schedule." Roxas pointed out. "I only have three weeks in Europe, I can't just do whatever I want."
The last part had Axel laughing. It seemed like an oxymoron to go on vacation and stick to the fine print. It had a feel of work to the idea, which made Axel feel a little sorry for the kid.
" I hate to break it to you Rox," he began. "But it's your vacation, and you can do whatever the hell you want to." He pulled a pen out of his bag and started to draw lines on a napkin.
"So, this here is London." He pointed to a large inked dot near the middle of the napkin. "And this," he drew a line up from there and dotted the end of it. "this is York. My next stopover. And that's it! That's my brilliant plan!"
"That's it?" Roxas was filled with horror over the idea. To travel all the way to Europe and not have a plan beyond two cities. The concept seemed ludicrous!
"That's it!" Axel grinned and crumpled the napkin up in a ball. "It's not like I don't have specific places I want to see – I do! Really! But I've been here a week already and the best times I've had so far have been unexpected. For instance…running you over. I hadn't planned on that one happening."
Roxas couldn't believe he'd use that as an example. If flying by the seat of your pants involved nearly killing people, then the blonde wanted absolutely no part of it.
"I can see you're not convinced." Axel wracked his brain for a better illustration. "Okay, so I flew into London a week ago, and from there I went straight over to Dublin." He ate a forkful of scrambled egg and continued his story. "So I had this plan to just check out Dublin and come right back to London, but it didn't work out like that. I met some really awesome locals who were going to visit Cork and they offered me a ride. And you know what?"
"What?" Roxas asked on the verge of exasperation.
"I had a kickass time there!" He pushed his plate away, already finished, and awaited some sort of reply from the blonde. It didn't arrive.
"Well?" Axel prompted impatiently. "You want to live adventurously for once?"
Roxas bit his lip in concentration and shifted the food around his plate with the fork. He was supposed to stay in London. He couldn't shake the feeling that something bad would happen if he didn't, but on the other hand…
Axel was sort of fun to be around. Well, in a completely annoying kind of way of course.
And, he was right about the costs. It would be cheaper if the two of them stuck together.
Roxas took a deep breath and made a decision. One he was certain he would later regret.
"Okay."
The trip by bus had started uneventful. About the only thing Roxas could think to complain about was how crowded the bus was, but that was only to be expected during the high season.
Axel sat beside him nearest the aisle seat. Craning his head over Roxas to get a glimpse out the window at the rolling farm land and small towns they passed by. It was quiet, peaceful even. Until the bus stopped in Peterborough to pick up passengers. That's when they met exuberance personified. The person in question had practically glowed with happiness and excitement when he stepped on the bus. Something that might have seemed normal on a small child, but they guy looked to be in his late teens.
Roxas thought the guy might be deranged, or completely retarded.
The stranger had dirty blonde hair in one of the most bizarre styles Roxas had ever seen. It looked something like a mullet and a mohawk's lovechild that even by British punk standards would have been considered bloody weird. When coupled with the multitude of colorful patches on the guy's bag, and his ratty jeans and generic black tee-shirt a picture of extreme eccentricity was formed.
Or maybe just borderline insanity.
"Hi! I'm Demyx!"
Roxas and Axel exchanged a look. It was just their luck that the newcomer would choose to sit directly in front of them. The stranger held seated himself at the window seat and turned around with his had outstretched.
"I'm Roxas," He shook the offered hand grudgingly. "And this is Axel." Roxas nudged Axel in the side to get him to shake Demyx's hand. It took a few jabs.
"Sweet! Are you tourists?" Demyx was practically bouncing around in his seat, putting most hyperactive kids to shame. "I am! I'm going on to York!" He answered before either Roxas or Axel had a chance to reply.
Upon hearing that, Axel hissed something under his breath, which to Roxas sounded suspiciously like a certain four letter 'F' word.
"And I'm going to stay in a hostel there, and visit York Minster and the York Castle Museum!" He said, smiling brightly.
Roxas had never been one to completely give in to despair, but if there was ever a time, it was now. Since he had decided to come along to York, he had planned on seeing those two sights himself. But if Demyx was going…
"He's going to both those places!" Axel piped up, pointing at Roxas. Demyx actually attempted to high five Roxas upon hearing the news, but refrained when he saw the look.
A very dirty look. Mostly directed at Axel, but still not something Demyx wanted to mess with.
"You should go together." Axel added, to Roxas' dawning horror. Axel was enjoying himself immensely – even if it was a cruel punishment to dish-out.
But Demyx seemed so very happy and insane. Probably nuttier than a can of salted peanuts in Axel's honest opinion. Combined with Roxas' many anal-retentive qualities something had to happen. Whether or not that something would involve a trip to the hospital or a night in the slammer had yet to be established.
"Yeah, that would be great!" Demyx was positively beaming. It actually hurt the eyes to witness. Something about it was similar to staring directly at the sun, and in some strange way it reminded Roxas of his brother Sora. He quickly brushed the thought aside. Nobody was like Sora, especially not the mentally deranged.
From that point the bus ride took on a different feel. Gone was the quiet pensiveness in the air, replaced by excited tension from one crazy traveler in particular. Everyone else settled on annoyance.
"…round and round – round and round – round and round! The wheels on the bus go round and round…"
"Shut up!" Roxas massaged his head. He had taken his pain-killers earlier, but they weren't designed to handle Demyx's singing. Roxas seriously doubted if anything was.
Axel was already out cold, leaning his head against the blonde's shoulder. Roxas wished he had the ability to block out the noise and just sleep. He was a light sleeper as it was, and Demyx's constant chatter and musical escapades was enough to keep almost anybody awake.
"So…" Demyx began, thankfully taking a break from bus songs. "Are you and Axel friends or whatever?"
"We're…" Roxas searched for the right word. 'Friends' didn't seem to fit. It gave the impression that they'd known each other for some time. "Acquaintances." He finally settled on.
"Oh, okay. I just thought, well, you know…" The statement's implications were not lost on Roxas.
"You thought wrong." He stated with a finality that brooked absolutely no room for argument. And for once Demyx used some good judgment and didn't push the subject further. On the contrary, he changed the topic quickly to neutral ground: Music, travel and the past few weeks he had spent on the road.
"…And I always wanted to hit the road for some inspiration. Ya know? Maybe get some insight for my music before I hit school in the fall."
Roxas thought he knew what Demyx was trying to get at, in a roundabout way of course. One that didn't involve stark fucking craziness.
The biggest shocker. The absolute wildest piece of information that the blond had gotten out of the other's inane ramblings had to be the bit about university.
Demyx and university. Or more correctly, the fact that Demyx was apparently actually going to a university. In a music program no less!
And that changed Roxas' opinion. Not necessarily about Demyx's mental faculties (which were decided 'special'), but rather about the quality of a university education. Or lack of.
"So Rox! You don't mind if I call you Rox, do you?" He didn't wait for a reply but kept right on going.
"I wanna see Stonehenge after this! We should all go! All three of us!" He gestured to Axel, who was still sleeping soundly, but had his head leaned the other way, which suited Roxas fine. He didn't enjoy being a post.
"I don't know…" Roxas began. It had been happening like this every few minutes. Every time a possible location came up, Demyx would get excited and mention traveling as a group.
Roxas didn't want that. Not one teensy, tiny, little bit. The problem was that it wasn't easy telling Demyx 'no'.
"But think of the fun we could have! You two seem really nice, and I'd love to hang out with you guys!"
And that was the problem. Roxas was learning that Demyx didn't seem to have a mean bone in his hyperactive little body, which made it hard to crush him. Practically impossible to be exact.
"Oh, why the hell not." The discussion ceased and both turned to look at Axel, who had finally awoken.
"You really mean it? I can stick with you two?"
The protest was in Roxas, just begging to come out and bitch slap Demyx back to wherever the hell he hailed from. He didn't want anyone else tagging along. It was bad enough just dealing with a certain annoying redhead, and the last thing he wanted was a total spaz to join in on the adventure.
But Demyx looked so damn, childishly happy when Axel said he could stay with them. Roxas couldn't say no. It was hard enough just looking at Demyx's expression without cracking a smile. How does someone say 'no' to that?
They can't.
And once again, Roxas found that his plans had changed. Not that he liked that fact.
He didn't like it one bit.
A/N: Well there you have it, the fastest update you are probably ever going to get from me, or at least the fastest in a while. I like reviews. Actually, scratch that; I love reviews! I really appreciate constructive feedback, or even just your two-cents worth!