Roxas made it through school fine. History, Math, English, it didn't really bother him. He'd never really been in school before, so he didn't have eleven years of experience to whine about like everyone else. Sora seemed to have a good time introducing Roxas to every person he had ever known. Roxas learned something else about Sora on the first day of school; he was popular. Everyone liked Sora, some more than others even, and from what Roxas could tell, Sora basically liked everyone in return.
Roxas remembered about one or two of the people he was introduced to that day, and only if he could make a direct connection to them from someone he already knew. Selphie, for instance, was Kairi's friend. Roxas met her at lunch. She had cute flippy hair and a bubbly personality. Roxas thought she was probably an 'in small doses' type of girl.
Roxas also met Tidus and Wakka. Wakka had a funny accent, and unusual hair to match, he was easy to remember. Tidus was easy to remember as the only guy who had ever touched Roxas' ass before. Roxas' face had turned slightly red again and Sora had chased Tidus off down the hall.
"Don't send him any weird signals or his hands will be all over you," Sora warned. Sora was pretty comfortable with Tidus, used to his flirtatious manner. Roxas shrugged. "He reminds me of Axel," Roxas decided, being sort of forward and touchy feely like that.
"But Axel doesn't like-like you," Sora pointed out.
Yeah. Axel didn't like-like him. Right?
"Tidus might actually be interested," Sora warned him, opening the door to the locker room for them.
"How do I not send weird signals?" Roxas asked, just in case. Sora must know more about this than he did.
They both dropped their backpacks on the benches and went to get uniforms and locker numbers. "Stand at least two point five feet away, no touching unless its hitting or shoving, and no eye contact unless you're glaring," Sora shrugged. "And don't smile gayly," he added knowingly.
Roxas nodded, thinking carefully about it. So, then technically, doing all those things would be sending 'interested' signals? If so…Sora sure sent people a lot of signals. Roxas wondered why people never picked up on them. I mean, just look how close he stood? Roxas looked over at him, he'd barely have to shift to brush against him. And Sora looked directly at everyone he spoke to. Plus, he did random stuff like hug people and grab their arms.
Roxas must've been just staring at Sora because Sora looked at him confusedly for a second, before smiling brightly. "What?"
"Are you gay, Sora?" he blurted out. This could probably be classified as smiling gayly, couldn't it?
"WHAT?!" Sora exclaimed. The entire locker room stared at them. Sora's jaw had become momentarily disabled and was hanging open.
"Aha…I was just uh, kidding. You know?" Roxas said, throwing his arm over Sora's shoulders roughly and mussing his hair. He hadn't been, and in fact he was even more confused, but he shouldn't have said something like that in the middle of the boy's locker room.
Sora laughed too, and the locker room ignored them once again. Roxas noticed Sora's face was red.
Once they had their uniforms, Roxas and Sora retreated to where their assigned lockers were. Guys started throwing stuff off their bodies right and left, and shirts and pants went flying.
"Were you serious?" Sora asked quietly. Roxas looked over at him, and he was playing with the hem of his shirt, pointedly not looking at him, it seemed.
Roxas pulled his shirt off, feeling bad for saying something so dumb. "Sorry, Sora. I just misunderstood, I guess. I'm still adjusting to socializing, remember?"
Sora, of course, instantaneously forgave him. "Its okay, I don't mind," he smiled at Roxas before he started tearing his clothes off. It wasn't smiling gayly, Roxas decided. It was just Sora. His smiles were blindingly cute, if anything.
"I'm not, though," Sora added. Roxas nodded to acknowledge he understood. Sora was just friendly to everyone, that was all. "N-not that I mind!" Sora said suddenly, uniform shirt in his hand. He didn't want Roxas to think he was weirded out by it or anything.
"Its okay, Sora," Roxas assured him, chuckling. He reached over and patted Sora's bare shoulder without really thinking. Oops? Did that constitute as touching that wasn't hitting? Well, it was just Sora.
Roxas got dressed as Sora waited for him, and they headed out onto the track. Roxas learned another thing about Sora that period. He veered into people when he ran. Though mostly, he just veered into Roxas.
Sora learned something about Roxas that period, too. That his stomach looked particularly ticklish when not hidden by his shirt.
Sora yawned hugely as himself and Roxas made their way up the steps to their house. "How can you be tired?" Roxas asked, digging out the keys to open the door.
"Because!" Sora complained, following Roxas inside the house. "We ran a MILE in PE, then we had to WALK all the way home! Plus we got up so early."
"Yeah, and you usually sleep till noon," Roxas teased, dropping his backpack in the living room. Roxas padded up the stairs, and Sora walked off to the kitchen to drink a glass of water.
Sora swished the ice around in his glass for a minute. Roxas had done fine at school, he hadn't really seemed nervous at all. Sora was glad, he'd worried a little bit about how it would go. He found himself doing that a lot lately, worrying little bits over Roxas. Is Roxas comfortable, is Roxas having fun, will Roxas cope or handle it? He'd never really fret over anyone before, but he found that what Roxas felt and thought was just as important to him as his own thoughts and feelings.
Sora drug his backpack up the stairs, and turned to head towards his room. He passed Roxas' door and noticed the light was off. Sora paused in the hallway, and left his backpack there in favor of Roxas' room.
Sora pushed open his door quietly. He was lying on his bed in the dark, the lava lamp lazily sending blobs to its far reaches only to suck them back down. "Are you taking a nap?" Sora asked, the lack of light driving him to lower his voice.
Roxas turned his head in Sora's direction and watched him slowly approach his bed. He automatically scooted over to make space for him, only wondering afterward why he did so. Sora took advantage of the space and plopped down next to him on his stomach. "I was thinking about it," Roxas replied to Sora's inquiry. He hadn't even been as tired as Sora, but his body had just sunk into his bed the minute he laid down on it.
Sora propped himself up on his elbows. He watched the lava lamp for a while, before looking at Roxas out of the corner of his eye. He had been silent, but he wasn't asleep. He was staring at the ceiling as if he looked long enough, it might have some sort of answer for him.
"Whatcha thinkin' about?" Sora asked, almost abruptly. He guessed it was a weird question but he was honestly curious. Maybe he could tell Roxas a few things that the ceiling didn't know?
"I dunno. I was sorta wondering something," Roxas responded with a small and brief furrow of his eyebrows. He didn't usually just talk to people like this, but it was just Sora. A lot of things he just dismissed when around Sora. Things that used to be awkward became more natural for him.
"Yeah?" Sora prompted, sliding down to lay all the way on the bed, turning his head away and resting it on his arms. Maybe if he wasn't staring directly at Roxas, than he would be more comfortable talking.
"What's it mean when you're face gets warm and turns red?" Roxas asked. He'd been curious about this for a while, since it seemed to be happening for him a lot lately.
Sora thought at first this was a random question, possibly even a dumb one. He had to remind himself that Roxas hadn't entirely gotten used to real feelings yet. "If you aren't sick, in which case you should check your neck and forehead, too. Maybe lie down and drink a sprite if your stomach doesn't feel good…"
Roxas nodded. A little rambly, but he'd continue to listen. He was pretty sure that he wasn't getting sudden flashes of sickness at random, though.
"…And if you aren't drunk, then it means you're blushing cause you're embarrassed about something. Like, you know. Someone calls you names or you do something humiliating or you feel dumb in front of someone else. You know, or someone says something nice to you and you can't handle it." Sora explained thoroughly. He sat up. "Usually you get a little weirdness in your stomach, too. Like right here," Sora pushed his fingers into Roxas' stomach and he flinched.
Sora grinned impishly. He moved his hand over to the left. "Or right here," and pressed his fingers into Roxas' stomach again.
"Heh," Roxas said accidentally, squirming. "Stop that."
"Stop what?" Sora asked slyly, reaching over with his other hand and employing all of his fingers on Roxas' stomach.
"Stop! Haha…" he squirmed and one of his legs kicked on its own. It was a weird sensation, it made him laugh.
"No way. I knew it. You're ticklish!" Sora practically laughed maniacally aloud. He went after Roxas again and Roxas grabbed his wrists.
"No you don't, you little brat. I bet you're ticklish, too," he forced Sora back on his bed and pinned one arm with his knee, the other above his head.
"Roxas! Roxas, come on," Sora pleaded, pulling at his restrained arms. Roxas only smirked. Judging from Sora's panicked expression, he was ticklish. Possibly severely.
Roxas went straight for his stomach and Sora writhed, laughing hysterically. Roxas continued his torture, deciding it was a great idea to push Sora's shirt up and poke and prod at his bare stomach.
"Roxas! Stop! Nooo! Haha! Stooop!" Sora called out, his head thrashing from side to side.
Roxas merely laughed and let go, sitting back from where he had pinned Sora. He was grinning rather accomplishedly until he caught sight of Sora under him, drowned in dim light from the lava lamp. He was panting slightly and red-faced from what Roxas knew was the struggling, his shirt pushed up to his chest.
Roxas immediately climbed off him and crashed face down on the bed, knowing his cheeks has flushed redder than Sora's, and for an entirely different reason.
"You're a jerk," Sora said with a pout, sitting up. He looked down at Roxas. Could he breathe with his face crushed so far into his pillow?
"Roxas," Sora said, poking him. He flinched and grunted.
"Roxas," Sora repeated, prodding him again. Was he hiding for some reason?
"Go away!" Roxas' muffled voice said suddenly. He was sure his face was bright red, even in the dark. He definitely had that stomach issue Sora was talking about, earlier.
Sora frowned. "Roxas!" he poked him rather hard. Why was he being like that?
Roxas hit his hand away. "I said go away, Sora! You're embarrassing!"
Huh? Sora was a little taken aback. Earlier this morning came back to his mind briefly, Roxas asking, sounding rather annoyed, if he was always going to be this loud. "You're a jerk!" he repeated, this time no joking in his tone. He left Roxas' room closing the door not-so-quietly. In fact, the walls shook a little from the vibration.
Roxas sat up after a minute with a frown. Did he say something wrong? But Sora had told him…! So, what was wrong?! He pulled at his hair a little, confused.
Sora threw himself on his bed with a frustrated growl, Roxas' sharp words ringing in his head. Did Roxas really think…? Sora covered his face with his arm, trying to prevent any overanalyzing of words and situations from earlier from flooding into his head. Was Sora embarrassing? Did he stand too close to Roxas? Was that why he asked him if he was gay?! It was just…comfortable to be so close to him, was all. Sora just did it automatically.
Sora huffed and turned on his side, curling up around his pillow. Maybe it was better to take that nap.