Sugar Rush
Disclaimer: Don't own any KH rights. Nor Henry Poole & Co. rights. Nor Converse designs.
Warning: AkuRoku romance below. Boy-boy relationship. Rated T for language.
Pt.2
-- Another week has passed… --
Cid let out a loud sigh, peeking into the front of the store through the blinds in his office where one could see Tidus making wild movements while trying to properly place trays of cupped crème brûlée and strawberry soufflé. Turning to the other blinds he could see Tifa dropping a pot of chocolate mousse, disrupting Yuffie in the middle of her cake-baking.
He heaved another sigh, mentally apologizing to his deceased wife for ruining her legacy, "Is there no one here who could sustain the store…?"
"Excuse me, I'm looking for a cake. But it can't contain vanilla, chocolate or pecans. My sons are allergic to them." a voice out at the front ordered.
Judging by how he has seen his wife and Yuffie make their desserts, it would be pretty hard to find a cake that had none of those three. First off, vanilla extract was almost in every single cake; so is chocolate.
"Oh! We have a solution to that!" Roxas' voice took less than thirty seconds to reply. "Here…" Cid peeked through the blinds, watching as the blond went behind the cake refrigerator and pulled a cake out. "This is an apple cinnamon cheesecake. It does not contain vanilla, chocolate or pecans. It does, however, contain walnuts and oats; are you alright with that?"
"Oh my husband's allergic to walnuts…" The brunette lady sighed, "I'm sorry, am I making it hard for you?"
"Oh no! Not at all!" Roxas grinned cheerfully, "In fact, we might have another cake that suits you also…" He put the apple cinnamon cheesecake back and pulled out another cake. "This is a Daiquiri Cheesecake with Strawberry sauce. It is made purely of normal cheesecake ingredients with lime and strawberry for syrup. No vanilla, chocolate, pecans or walnuts. If you don't want rum for the kids, our chef can take that out."
"Oh, no no. My sons are old enough to drink." The lady laughed, "Thank you. I'll take this one."
"Thank you, Ma'am." Roxas smiled with hospitality.
"Oh, is it possible to make it a birthday cake?"
"Absolutely." The blond nodded and pulled out an order form, "Please fill out this form and sign here, here and here. I will make a note for the chef to use caramel instead for the writings."
"Thank you so much. I looked everywhere and all the stores are full of sponge cakes with vanilla. Gosh… I don't know what I'm gonna do if I haven't met you." The woman giggled as she signed out the form as Roxas told her so.
"It's my pleasure, madam." Roxas replied when taking the form and ran the credit card through the cashier machine. "Your cake should be ready this afternoon at around four o'clock. Thank you and have a nice day."
The lady exited the store with a relieved smile on her face. Roxas grinned to himself as he turned around to put the order form into the chef's inbox.
"Roxas," Cid's solemn voice startled the blond. "Come 'ere for a sec." He waved his fingers gently, face solemn. Roxas followed after him fretfully.
"Yuffie." Cid called when he entered the kitchen, "This kid." He placed an arm behind Roxas' back, "Teach him how to bake."
"HUH?!" Tifa said unintelligently, "What is this?!"
"Are you sure, Cid?" The female chef with short hair asked. Roxas blinked, still trying to catch up with what just happened.
"Yes." The middle-aged man nodded seriously, "He's got the stuff for it."
"But wait!" Tifa argued, "What about me?!"
"Roxas, take off that dress." Cid ordered. "Not now, I mean, later. And give it to Tifa. Tifa, you're a cashier again. If you don't start smiling you'll be fired. Now get to work." He turned and entered his office without another word. Yuffie blinked like Roxas did, then looked at the boy, then at Tifa, and blinked again. "Okay." She sighed, "I guess he saw something in you that reminded him of her…"
"Her who?" Roxas asked innocently.
"Late Mrs. Highwind." Yuffie answered, "She was a great pastry chef. I was her apprentice… Anyway, go get that dress off now and get an apron; Tifa, don't start it."
Both Roxas and Tifa did as they were told. Yuffie decided to start with cupcakes; small and easy to make.
-- Ten minutes later --
"Okay… Good." Yuffie complimented as she watched Roxas pour in the batter into the cupcake liners carefully. Then the blond proceeded to place the tray into the oven.
"It should be ready in about 30 minutes." She checked her watch, "Stay here and watch for the time. I have to go work on the cakes."
Roxas nodded, watching behind her as she moved to the larger part of the kitchen and started busying herself with cake orders. The blond suddenly started to sneak ingredients out, smelling here and there and tasted some supplies by himself. He found what he needed and turned to the oven, setting the timer to 25 minutes. With a satisfied smile he started to work with the ingredients he collected.
-- 30 minutes later --
"Roxas how are your…" Yuffie trailed off when she saw the blond working on something else. "W-What are you doing?"
The blonde was too busy to look up, "I'm making cupcakes."
"Stop! You're not following the recipe!" The girl went up and tried to snatch the tool from Roxas' hands; the boy pushed her hand away, though.
"Don't worry; I know what I'm doing." Roxas said as he finished dipping the last half-baked vanilla cupcake into white chocolate icing, placing them back into new paper cups. Yuffie blinked perplexedly, watching as Roxas applied whipped cream onto the cupcakes after the white chocolate dried and scattered colored sprinkles on top of that.
"There we go! Ta-da!" Roxas put aside the tools and smiled to Yuffie, who was still confused.
"Here, try this." The blond boy handed her one of the confectioneries. The short-haired girl took it, had a bite, and considered the flavor before realizing the brilliance of Roxas' creative idea.
"Hm… This is good…" Yuffie said after swallowing. Instead of doing the traditional sponge-cake-body plus icing-on-top, Roxas had coated the entire cake body with smooth white chocolate icing and used whipped cream on top instead to give a renewing variety.
"See?" The boy grinned. Yuffie smiled and picked up the tray, entering Cid's office to give the storeowner a try (and also Tidus who was [always slacking in Cid's office). Both were impressed with the new idea and Cid agreed to put them onto the products' list. Tifa was introduced to the treat too and finally admitted her defeat by Roxas.
"There's one more left…" Tidus pointed to the tray where two cupcakes sat (Roxas hadn't tried it yet; one extra), "I'll take it!"
"You keep your hands to yourself!" Yuffie slapped the boy's hand away, "Roxas, take the extra with you; you made it, after all."
"But what do I do with it?" Roxas looked at the two cakes in his hands, "I don't want two…"
"See? I said I'll take-"
"I don't know… Share it with your girlfriend or something… It's the first product you've ever made!" Yuffie cheered.
Share it with my girlfriend…? Roxas pouted internally, but I don't have a girlfriend…
-- After work that day --
Roxas happily exited the store with the box of two cupcakes in his hand. When he waited for his car a noise to his left distracted him. He turned and saw a dirty old beggar with ragged clothes digging into a bowl, retrieving two rusted pennies. It was then that he was reminded of Axel. The young beggar was sure a big contrast to the old beggar that stole his two abandoned pennies; Roxas wondered how Axel managed to keep himself clean.
"Sir? Sir? Lord Roxas?" The driver's voice snapped him out of his train of thought, "Are you alright?"
"Yes." The blonde nodded, "Um, I have somewhere I want to go…"
"Where is that?"
"I mean, I'll go by foot." Roxas reworded his statement, "Can you wait here for a while?"
"Yes, but… are you sure you don't want me to drive you there?"
"It's alright. I'll walk." Roxas smiled calmingly, "Just wait for a quick while."
He turned on his heel and headed for the same subway station.
-- Subway station --
Roxas was relieved to find Axel there. It seemed like the redhead had made this his new spot now.
"So you are here." Roxas greeted, successfully diverting Axel's attention from the gliding traffic.
"Roxas?" Axel asked, startled, "What are you doing here?"
"Work just ended." Roxas threw a casual finger around, slightly shy, "Um… I was wondering… are you hungry?"
Axel looked away, snorting contemptuously, "What? I said I don't need your pity. Are you trying to give me food or money again? No, I'm not hungry."
His stomach betrayed him all too easily.
Roxas giggled at the embarrassing growling the redhead's tummy made and sat down next to him. "Here." He opened the box in his hands and handed Axel one of the cupcakes.
"I said I don't want your food." Axel looked even farther away.
"Oh… really?" Roxas pouted disappointedly, staring at the small confectionery, "I made it with much effort…" He mumbled almost inaudibly under his breath.
Axel caught the saddened tone and looked at the boy's disappointed expression; a sour acidic feeling seeped through his heart. Rolling his eyes at himself for being too nice, he sighed, "Alright, alright, I'll take it. For the sake of you not crying."
"I'm not going to cry!" Roxas retorted immediately; but gave Axel his little food nonetheless. They silently enjoyed the treat; Axel never finding cupcake this delicious ever before in his life.
"Hey, Axel?" Roxas asked adorably with his mouth full, "What were you doing before you became like this?"
"…Lawyer." Axel answered after a pause.
"And then that… that guy stole your money?" Roxas asked hesitantly, feeling that it was inappropriate to butt into others' business.
"Yeah." Axel replied simply, "I should've known… I was a lawyer; I knew what responsibility I would have if he disappeared. But still I agreed to help him; and look what mess I got myself into."
"How did you pay the debts?" Roxas asked, "What about your parents?"
"Haven't got any," Axel answered. "My father left us when I was seven; my mother committed suicide when I was nine. That bastard father of mine was a gambler. He borrowed money from illegal usurers. Days at my family weren't really peaceful. It was either my parents arguing or usurers coming in and breaking things. It only got worse when my father left. They came every day, demanding an insane amount of money from my mother that no one would be able to pay. Then she finally shot herself when I was nine. I didn't want to be like my father; always so ignorant of his rights. Cheated by the casino; cheated by the usurers; cheated by himself. So I became a lawyer; I thought this way I wouldn't be so ignorant like him. But it seems like that failed… Anyway, when he disappeared I had to declare bankruptcy. It was the only thing I could do. With everything sold, I barely made the cut. But then I had nothing left. And I couldn't find a job. Pfff, no one will hire a bankrupt lawyer." Axel laughed leniently.
Roxas didn't understand how he could still laugh at times like this. "You should go find a job! Don't wander around here! Don't laugh!"
"As if…" Axel snorted, "Like I said, no one wanted to hire a bankrupt lawyer. They think I must be stupid because I got cheated off of. It's useless to resist… This world is too harsh… I'm not a survivor."
"How can you say that?!" Roxas suddenly stood up, furious. "I don't think it's because the world is too harsh or anything! It's not harsh by the way. I think it's simply because you're giving up!" The blond argued with a stubborn pout, "Look at you! You're young and all healthy except you're just a little too skinny! I mean, unless if you're disabled then maybe that explains why you're unemployed; but you're fine! You can walk, run, talk, laugh, jump and do all these stuff but you can't find a job?! You think the world's too harsh?! You're just making up excuses because you don't want to face your past and you don't want to work, maybe because you're… I don't know! Lazy!"
The redhead was shocked by the sudden outburst and sat dumbly with nothing to say. Roxas was frowning agitatedly when he finished. "Go get a job, loser!" That was the last thing he said before he stormed away, returning to where his driver was waiting for him.
"Sir, are you alright?" The driver asked on the way back.
"I don't know…" Roxas sighed, looking at his clenching and unclenching fist, "What do you call this feeling? It's like… I want to go up to this person and drag him up from his cowardice. I want to yell in his face so that he could hear me clearly and would finally face the truth. I want to change how he thinks of the world… I don't know what's wrong with me…"
"Sir, if you're simply talking about the feeling, that's called frustration and anger." The driver smirked, "But if you're talking about that specific person, it's called care."
-- Two weeks later --
Roxas had become an essential part of the kitchen. He had started making more intermediate dessert like parfaits, clafoutis and torte. Yuffie even started to let him help in some parts of the catering orders. Roxas loved this job; his smile never left his face. His attention always retained solely on the bakery in his hands. Presently he was drizzling strawberry glaze over an angel food torte; the fragrant scarlet syrup filled the kitchen with an elegant aroma.
"Oh my goodness, Roxas…" Tifa said as she went into the kitchen to pick up a ready plate of a slice of the Death by Chocolate cake. "Whatever you're making smells so freaking good…"
Roxas chuckled, completing the torte with fresh strawberry garnishment on top. "Angel Food Strawberry torte for table 3." He handed the dessert to black haired girl, quickly continuing on mixing the ingredients for the enriched chocolate truffles. Just as Tifa left the kitchen, though, Tidus came in.
"Roxas, someone's looking for you." The boy threw a thumb over his shoulder towards the door that led to the store's front. Roxas blinked, wondering who would be looking for him. He washed his hands and went out.
Who he saw next was completely unexpected. Not only was it because of the fact that he didn't expect to ever see that person again, or that the personlogically will not come here; but also the fact that the person now revealed something he never showed before, which completely changed his impression on Roxas' mind.
"Axel…?!" The blond whispered skeptically, hands and legs moving faster than his brain when he pushed the redhead out of the shop, "What are you doing here?! And… what's wrong with your hair?!"
"My hair…?" The redhead looked up as if he could see his hair that way, "They've always been like this…"
"They…have?" Roxas echoed, suddenly realizing that he has never seen Axel's hair; or barely, at least. "Now that you mention it, I've never seen your hair before… You were always wearing that beanie… Are they naturally that red?" He tickled a tuft of Axel's hair, surprised to find it soft.
"Um, yeah." Axel said as if that should've been the most obvious thing on earth, "Anyway, I thought over what you told me last time; and I figured that you're right… So I went to find a job, and I ended up in the law intern trainee class again." He scratched the back of his head, laughing, "Seems like I can never get out of the lawyer field. But you see, I only passed the first written test. And then it's the real training. The problem is… intern trainees aren't paid yet, and eventually I'll have to get a suit for the interview later."
"Wait… what?" Roxas frowned, confused by the complicated web of employment of the adult world, "You mean, you're being trained to become an intern which is still a training job? For no money?"
"Kind of." Axel didn't know how to explain it, "Let me say it as a story… What's happening now is that a group of kids went to the sorcerer and they all asked to be his apprentice. But the sorcerer only wanted one apprentice, so they all had to be trained by the sorcerer for a few months and then the sorcerer will decide who gets to be his apprentice. The kids don't get candies during this period of time." The redhead said, "And before the sorcerer truly decides, there is one last test that the kids all have to dress up nicely as princes when they take it. After the sorcerer has decided, then the apprentice will start to learn magic for real and eventually he too will become a sorcerer."
"Okay…" Roxas nodded his head, "And right now you are one of the kids onlyapplying to be the sorcerer's apprentice?"
"Yes…" Axel sighed, relieved that the boy understood it, "So I don't get paid right now… But hey, at least I found something to fight for."
"That's good." Roxas grinned.
"…And, um, I have a favor to ask of you…" Axel started embarrassedly. "When the final test comes… the guys will interview me. But I don't have anything nice to wear…" The redhead looked at his white long sleeve shirt that he picked up somewhere from one of his occasional visits to the city-ran homeless shelter.
"No worries on that! I'll get you a nice suit!" Roxas smiled innocently, "But you have to promise me that you'll pass the test."
"I won't be so sure on that…" Axel began logically, but stopped when he remembered Roxas' illogical perspective towards the world. "Okay, I promise."
"Yay!" Roxas cheered and before he could control it, he gave Axel a hug. "We both have to do our best!"
----
In the following months, Roxas dedicated most of his attention to improving his cooking skills. Yuffie finally allowed him to bake cakes; the first one he did was a Red Velvet cake covered by Vanilla Butter-cream icing and topped with blackberries. Yuffie had a slice and described that it was soft, delicious and sentimental. The rest of the cake was actually put into the store for sale.
On the other hand, Axel had become a frequent guest to the library, even though the librarian sometimes threw him out for loitering in the public building for too long. His day was now divided into two simple sections: 8AM to 5PM was the office time in the law firm and the rest of the day was study time. He'd been doing tons of reading and studying, although it became harder and harder to concentrate because he found himself falling asleep over half of the times. More reasons for the librarian to throw him out.
It was a raining that day. The library was closed because it was their rest day. The redhead had nowhere to go; it was too late for the stores to stay open. Axel hid a book and paper under his shirt, trying not to get anything wet. Running along a dim street of closed stores, he hurried into one last shop that still had lights on.
Roxas was practicing how to make royal icing when he thought he heard something outside. Strange… Tidus should have locked the front door. Cid only left him the key because he wanted to stay behind to perfect the skill. Who could it be? The door must have the 'closed' sign on…
"Axel?" Roxas blinked, "We're closed."
"Huh?" Axel looked back at the door, then at the boy again, "Sorry, but it's pouring out there…" He said, boldly taking off his soaked white shirt in front of the boy.
"Oh…" Roxas said, blushing lightly and turning his head to the bad weather, "Okay… I guess you can stay here. I'll be staying up until around nine." He gestured to the kitchen where his icing was probably hardening. "Just don't try to steal anything," He added with a snort.
Axel rolled his eyes and set the book onto one of the tables in the cafeteria area, "So, I can stay here and work, right?"
"Yeah." Roxas smiled, "I'll be in the kitchen if you need anything."
Axel nodded and started his regular reading. He was concentrating all fine in the beginning, knowing that he was not alone in this strive. But then he saw it; through the fat round window on the door leading to the kitchen, he saw the way Roxas was lost in his own world when he focused on the cake he was making. The way his eyes fixed on the most detailed part, the way he so gently placed the small baby-blue roses frostings around the pure white cake body glazed with royal icing, the way his lips opened cutely like a confused baby does. It was hypnotizing. Soon Axel came in everyday just to see Roxas continue working on his first four-tier wedding cake.
What he didn't know was that Roxas stayed late after work every day just to wait for him. Yuffie would sometimes tell him not to push himself so much because the wedding cake isn't due until Valentine's Day anyway; but Roxas insisted he stay after work for it. Somehow he had starting feeling like taking care of Axel is a duty which he is absolutely willing to complete. Sometimes he'd make small confectioneries like chocolate-powdered caramel brittles or hazelnut mocha truffles; other times Axel would be his experimental white rat and eat those things that no one had ever had before. At times like this, the redhead would first screw up his face, and then laugh at Roxas when the boy actually believed that his food was repulsive. After a while of whining and laughing, Axel would resume work, Roxas falling asleep of tiredness. Then the redhead could stare at the blond for all he wanted. How lucky of him.
-- A few days before Axel's final interview --
Axel woke up early at the homeless shelter; he was excited. Finally he was going to get the suit today; finally he was going to change, to change back into that young, ambitious and confident self that had a prospering future waiting. He washed himself with what little limit of water the shelter provided and started out for the bakery.
Roxas met him at the door, looking forward to the day. They went to Henry Poole & Co., the blond taking all sorts of suits in all sorts of color to match. There was a lot of Axel being spun around, standing in front of the mirror, changing in the fitting room, more spinning, more changing, color-matching by Roxas again. The boy stood in between Axel and the mirror, facing the redhead and pondering whether a sapphire tie or a navy blue tie looks better with the light colored shirt. Axel was ordered to change into the outfit and came back out. Roxas went up and carefully adjusted Axel's tie.
"Do you think we look like a married couple to those guys?" Axel chuckled as he eyed the other customers, neck stretched for the blond to work with the troublesome necktie.
"What are you talking about?" Roxas blushed madly, "We're both guys."
"So? People could think you're a girl with the things you're wearing." Axel pointed out. Indeed Roxas was wearing a tight violet-muave striped zip-up jacket in mid-thigh length with sleeves long enough to cover half of his hands, his denim jeans was striped purple-taupe at the legs and his shoes were a simple pair of dark magenta Converse. Anyone could easily mistake him as a girl what with his pouts and adorable faces.
"Oh stop speaking nonsense." Roxas rolled his eyes. He failed to notice the fading of smile on the redhead's lips.
Finally the blond decided on five sets of outfits for the tailor to start measuring. The duo was informed that the suits would be ready in three days. Roxas decided that he should keep the suits just in case the people in the homeless shelters might try to steal them. It was the first time Axel had seen Roxas doubting the world.